The man huddled on the cabin floor was slowly freezing to death. It was high in the Rockies in southwestern Alberta, and outside a blizzard was raging. John Elliot had logged miles that day through the deep snows of the mountain passes. As dusk and exhaustion overcame him, he decided to "hole-up." He made it wearily to his cabin but somewhat dazed with fatigue, he did not light a fire or remove his wet clothing. As the blizzard blasted through the cracks in the old cabin walls, the sleeping forest ranger sank into oblivion. Suddenly, however, his dog sprang into action, and with unrelenting whining, finally managed to wake up his near comatose friend. "If that dog hadn't been with me, I'd be dead today," John Elliot says. "When you're freezing to death, you actually feel warm all over, and don't wake up because it feels too good."

This moving story illustrates the spiritual condition of many people. They are cold spiritually, and sadly oblivious to their true condition. Wouldn't you say it's true that we often get real comfortable with things that are really harmful, maybe even fatal, for us spiritually? Thank God for all the ways in which He arouses us when we are sleeping! He sends his messengers to nudge us awake. To lift us back up! Sometimes the methods used to awaken us are drastic, but always for our good. It's because God loves us and wants to save us from eternal death, even if we don't realize that is our most important need. Sometimes we can see that we are lying on our backs. Other times we have no idea. Either way, our plea for help is the same every day, "Lord, Lift Me Up!"

In our text was a man who wanted the Lord to lift him up. Jesus had returned to Capernaum to a house so filled with people that it was standing room only all the way out to the street. As He was preaching the Word to them, four men climbed to the roof and dug a hole into it to get their friend to Jesus. As the little chunks of mud-brick were hitting Jesus on the head, and dust was filling the room, you can imagine that the show stopped for a while! Imagine the stares when this paralyzed man was being let down on a pallet in the middle of the crowd. This man who had been let down, wanted to be lifted up, allowed to walk again! He and everyone else in that house thought that was his greatest need! Everyone else but Jesus.

As urgent as his physical need was, we might have missed what must have been an even greater burden for him! It was a need only Jesus could see, the press and weight of his sins, which kept him from standing upright in God's presence. Jesus saw that this man's greatest need was the forgiveness of his sins! Even if he could stand up physically and walk around, that would mean nothing if he could not stand up spiritually before God with a clean conscience! And so, tenderly, like a father to his son, Jesus spoke kindly to him: "Son, your sins are forgiven. I'm lifting the weight of guilt from your shoulders so that, pardoned by me, you can stand upright before God, even though you are still lying flat on your back!"

That is also our first need. Lord, Lift Me Up! Not from all of the troubles in my life, but from the trouble that I have made! Lord, lift me up From the Guilt of my Sins! You and I are all guilty of thinking things, saying things, and doing things that have put us "flat on our backs" spiritually before God. In the way that we have lived our lives, we are spiritually paralyzed. We can't stand before God on judgment day with our own record any more than that paralyzed man could have stood up and walked on his own power without Jesus' help. That is how helpless you and I are! We are guilty and need forgiveness if we can ever stand before God.

And without any further ado, Jesus has given us that good news! "Son, Daughter, your sins are forgiven!" God has made you spiritually whole again. He has forgiven you. Jesus completely took all the sins from your life that would have made you look bad in front of our heavenly Father and took those to the cross Himself to pay the price for them. He perfectly kept God's will in your place so that his sacrifice would actually mean something for you and so that He could give you a soul that is perfectly whole and healthy - one that will be able to stand before God and dance and sing! Jesus has raised you up from the paralysis of your sin and given you legs and arms that can praise Him and rejoice that you have been made whole before God. You can rejoice because now, your diagnosis is very positive! You are going to live with God forever because you have been healed perfectly! Forgiven completely! He has lifted you up!

In the 14th century, Robert Bruce of Scotland was leading his men in a battle to gain independence from England. Near the end of the conflict, the English wanted to capture Bruce to keep him from the Scottish crown. So they put his own bloodhounds on his trail. When the bloodhounds got close, Bruce could hear their baying. His attendant said, "We are done for. They are on your trail, and they will reveal your hiding place." Bruce replied, "It's all right." Then he headed for a stream that flowed through the forest. He plunged in and waded upstream a short distance. When he came out on the other bank, he was in the depths of the forest. Within minutes, the hounds, tracing their master's steps, came to the bank. They went no farther. The English soldiers urged them on, but the trail was broken. The stream had carried the scent away. A short time later, the crown of Scotland rested on the head of Robert Bruce.

The memory of our sins, prodded on by Satan, can be like those baying dogs - but a stream flows, red with the blood of God's own Son. By grace through faith we are safe. No sin-hound can touch us. The trail is broken by the precious blood of Christ. The purpose of the cross is to repair the irreparable. To heal the unhealable. To lift us up from the guilt of our sin so we can stand before God in joy and confidence as his forgiven children!

So what about our other needs? Our physical hurts? We often run into other kinds of hardships in life too, don't we? In fact, we can really get ourselves into some jams where we need help from somebody! Will God lift us up From Lying Flat on our Backs? I just have to share with you this response from an injured person to an insurance company…

"I am writing in response to your request for additional information. In block #3 of the accident form, I put "trying to do the job alone" as the cause of my accident. You said in your letter that I should explain more fully, and I trust that the following details will be sufficient… I am a bricklayer by trade. On the date of the accident I was working alone on the roof of a new six story building. When I completed my work, I found that I had about 500 pounds of brick left over. Rather than carry the bricks down by hand, I decided to lower them in a barrel by using a pulley which fortunately was attached to the side of the building at the 6th floor. Securing the rope at ground level, I went up to the roof, swung the barrel out, and loaded the bricks into it. Then I went back to the ground and untied the rope, holding it tightly to insure a slow descent of the 500 pounds of brick. You will note in block #11 of the accident report that I weigh 135 pounds. But to my surprise at being jerked off the ground so suddenly, I lost my presence of mind and forgot to let go of the rope. Needless to say, I proceeded at a rather rapid rate up the side of the building. In the vicinity of the third floor, I met the barrel coming down. This explains the fractured skull, and broken collar bone. Slowed only slightly, I continued my rapid ascent, not stopping until the fingers of my right hand were 2 knuckles deep into the pulley. Fortunately, by this time, I had regained my presence of mind, and was able to hold tightly to the rope, in spite of my pain. At approximately the same time, however, the barrel of bricks hit the ground, and the bottom fell out of the barrel. Devoid of the weight of the bricks, the barrel then weighed approximately 50 pounds. I refer you again to my weight in block#11. As you might imagine, I began a rapid descent down the side of the building. In the vicinity of the third floor, I met the barrel coming up. This accounts for the two fractured ankles, and the lacerations of my legs, and lower body area. The encounter with the barrel slowed me enough to lessen my injuries when I fell onto the pile of bricks, and fortunately only three vertebrae were cracked. I am sorry to report, however, that as I lay there on the bricks, in pain … unable to stand … and watching the empty barrel six stories above me … I again lost my presence of mind and let go of the rope. The empty barrel weighed more than the rope, so it came back down on me, and broke both my legs. I hope I have furnished the information you have required.

Have you ever been flat on your back? Have you ever really needed God to give you some relief? Some healing? Have you ever prayed, "Lord, lift me up!"? Well, the first thing we need to know is that He does have the power to do it! After Jesus did what He knew was the most important thing for this paralytic, and every bit as miraculous, then He even helped the man with his physical need to show that He had the power to do the first thing - which was more vital. He lifted the man up off of his back to perfect health!

So what about you and me? We need to know that God has the power to heal us from any illness or lift us up from any problem we have gotten ourselves into. Pray for his help! Trust He will help you. But also realize that He is going to help you in the way that is best for you - for your soul. Like the paralyzed man, He might help you by taking your ailment away. But like the Apostle Paul, He might allow you to suffer with your ailment for a while longer. No matter what his answer to you is going to be, it is going to be what is best for you. The Lord's purpose in your life is to Lift You Up so that you can stand spiritually healthy before God someday. And even if you are flat on your back, that truth will absolutely Lift You Up!

There was a Christian woman who was always bright, cheerful, and optimistic, even though she was confined to her room because of illness. She lived in an attic apartment on the fifth floor of an old, rundown, building. A friend decided to visit her one day and brought along another woman - a person of great wealth. Since there was no elevator, the two ladies began the long climb upward. When they reached the second floor, the well-to-do woman commented, "What a dark and filthy place!" Her friend replied, "It's better higher up." When they arrived at the third landing, the remark was made, "Things look even worse here." Again the reply, "It's better higher up." The two women finally reached the attic level, where they found the bedridden saint of God. A smile on her face radiated the joy that filled her heart. Although the room was clean and flowers were on the window sill, the wealthy visitor could not get over the stark surroundings in which this woman lived. She blurted out, "It must be very difficult for you to be here like this!" Without a moment's hesitation, the shut-in responded, "It's better higher up." She was not looking at temporal things. With the eye of faith fixed on the eternal, she had found the secret of true satisfaction and contentment.

Lord, lift me up like that! So that I Might Lift You Up in front of others! Let's ask God to forgive us for the times we have been like those teachers of the Law, who let their human reason and intellect crowd out any possibility of believing Jesus could help them. And in the joy of the forgiveness that Jesus HAS given to you and me, let's ask Him now to help us be more like those four men who risked reputation, bodily harm, and even lawsuits to bring their friend, who needed his Savior so badly, right to Jesus! Their faith lifted the Lord up in front of those who witnessed their actions! And let's ask Jesus to help us be like the other people in that house who were so amazed by his power and love that they praised Him and lifted Him up in front of others: "We have never seen anything like this!" Friends, we have never and will never see anything like this Jesus, our Lord and Savior! He has lifted us up from lying flat on our backs in the guilt of our sin. Let's lift Him up in front of others! Amen.

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