That's a real one. That's a legitimate
one. You should get a bell here. Okay. Good morning. We're going to
start our second service singing number 485. 485, revive us again. We praise Thee, O God, for the
Son of Thy love, for Jesus who died and is now gone above. Alleluia, Thine the glory. Alleluia, Amen. Alleluia, Thine the glory. We praise Thee, O God, for Thy
Spirit of light, who has shown us our Savior and scattered our
night. Alleluia, Thine the glory. Alleluia, amen. Alleluia, Thine
the glory. Revive us again. All glory and praise to the Lamb
that was slain, who has borne all our sins and has cleansed
every stain. Alleluia, thine the glory. Alleluia, amen. Alleluia, thine the glory. Revive us, O Lord. ? Revive us again ? Fill each heart
with thy love ? May each soul be rekindled with fire from above
? Hallelujah, thine the glory ? Hallelujah, amen ? Hallelujah,
thine the glory ? Revive us again Our second hymn will be number
257, 257, "'Tis So Sweet to Trust in Jesus. It is so sweet to trust in Jesus,
just to take Him at His word, just to rest upon His promise,
just to know, thus saith the Lord. Jesus, Jesus, how I trust
Him, how I've proved Him o'er and o'er. Jesus, Jesus, precious
Jesus, oh, for grace to trust. Oh, how sweet to trust in Jesus,
just to trust His cleansing blood. Just in simple faith to plunge
me beneath the healing, cleansing flood. Jesus, Jesus, how I trust
Him, how I've proved Him o'er and o'er. Jesus, Jesus, precious
Jesus, oh, for grace to trust Him. Yes, tis sweet to trust in Jesus
Just from sin and self to cease Just from Jesus simply taking
Life and rest and joy and peace Jesus, Jesus, how I trust Him
How I've proved Him o'er and o'er Jesus, Jesus, precious Jesus,
O for grace to trust Him more. I'm so glad I learned to trust
Thee, Precious Jesus, Savior, Friend. And I know that Thy work
with me will be with me to the end. Jesus, Jesus, how I trust
Him, how I've proved Him o'er and o'er. Jesus, Jesus, precious
Jesus, oh, for grace to trust Him more. You may be seated. Turn with me to 2 Timothy. 2 Timothy. Chapter 1. 2 Timothy 1. Paul, an apostle of
Jesus Christ by the will of God, according to the promise of life
which is in Christ Jesus, To Timothy, my dearly beloved son,
grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus
our Lord. I thank God whom I serve for
my forefathers with pure conscience that without ceasing I have remembrance
of thee in my prayers night and day. greatly desiring to see
thee, being mindful of thy hearts, that I may be filled with joy.
When I call to remembrance the unfeigned faith that is in thee,
which dwelt first in thy grandmother Lois and thy mother Eunice, and
I am persuaded that in thee also. Wherefore, I put thee in remembrance
that thou stir up the gift of God, which is in thee by the
putting on of my hands. For God hath not given us spirit
of fear, but of power and of love, and of a sound mind. Be not thou therefore ashamed
of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner, but be
thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the
power of God, who has saved us and called us unto a holy calling,
not according to our works, but according to his own purpose
and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world
began, but is now made manifest by the appearing of our Savior
Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death and hath brought life and
immortality to light through the gospel, whereunto I am appointed
a preacher and an apostle and a teacher of the Gentiles. For
the which cause I suffer these things, nevertheless, I am not
ashamed. For I know who I have believed and am persuaded that
he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against
that day. Hold fast the form of sound words,
which thou hast heard of me, in faith and love, which is in
Christ Jesus. That good thing which is committed
unto thee, keep by the Holy Ghost which dwelleth in us. This thou
knowest, that all they which are in Asia be turned away from
me, of whom are feligious and homogenies. give mercy unto the
house of Onesiphorus, for he often refreshed me and was not
ashamed of my chain. But when he was in Rome, he sought
me out very diligently and found me. The Lord granted to him that
he may find mercy of the Lord in that day, and in how many
things he ministered unto me at Ephesus, thou knowest very
well. Let's pray. Father, we come to you again
Thankful, thankful this morning for a place to come to worship
and for father, the group of believers you've put together
and the love that we show one another and father that we ask
that you continue to have us do that. Show care and love and
concern for one another. Father, we ask that you watch
over and care for us. Father, open our ears and hearts
as you bring the message. Father, we ask that you watch
over the one that you've sent to bring the message. make his
words clear and make us able to hear and understand. And Father,
we just again ask that you watch over and care for us. And we
thank you in Christ's name. Okay let's turn to John chapter
5 and I want to look at verses 1 through 16 with you. This text
here regards the healing of an impotent man and to do this our
Lord had to Fulfill all righteousness for his people every blessing
we receive is because Christ our Lord fulfilled all righteousness
for his people and that's Witnessed here in this first verse which
says after this there was a feast of the Jews and Jesus went up
to Jerusalem He was there at Jerusalem because all of Israel
was required to go there at certain times of the year and present
themselves unto the Lord. And so he's here now. And as
it is with the Lord, he is purposed to have mercy on one of his children. And there's a miracle that takes
place and it's at this pool of Bethesda near the Sheep Gate. And verse 2 says there is at
Jerusalem by the Sheep Market, while market isn't in the original,
it likely, the margin says gate, and it likely refers to the Sheep
Gate, there's a pool which is called in the Hebrew tongue Bethesda,
having five porches. Now many believe that this Sheep
Gate was that one that was sanctified back in Nehemiah's day when Jerusalem
was being rebuilt and they were rebuilding the walls there. Nehemiah
writes that Eliashib, the high priest, rose up with his brethren,
the priests, and they builded the sheep gate, they sanctified
it, and set up the doors of it. All right, so there seems to
be some spiritual significance here with this pool there that's
what's called Bethesda and this spiritual one of the spiritual
significance is that we see about this Bethesda is that it means
the house of mercy Bethesda means house of mercy and what's pictured
there for us is this place where the sheep are gathered at the
pool in the house of mercy waiting for a the Lord Himself to come
and to stir up the waters, to trouble the waters, that we might
be blessed of Him, that we might be healed by the angel of the
Lord, the Lord Jesus Christ, that He would heal us of our
sin-sick diseases, of our infirmities and our spiritual inability to
know Him and to serve Him and to understand and worship Him. And so we wait upon the Lord
to bless, to attend the preaching of His Word that we might be
comforted and healed and delivered of our sicknesses and infirmities
that have bound us and kept us shut up in the prison of darkness. So what I'm getting at is that
We see here pictures of the Lord's grace in this miracle that Christ
works for this sinner. And we also see here at this
place pictures of the saved. And they are described as impotent
folk. They are described as being blind. They are the halt. They are the
withered. They are ones who are waiting
upon the Lord for His mercy. I've titled this, Gathered at
Bethesda's Pool. All right, and so first we're
gonna look at somewhat at this pool there at Bethesda. At the
end of John 5, verse 2, we read that this pool at Bethesda had
five porches, five porches. Now, some have observed and said
that perhaps what these five porches represent is the law. It's the law given to Moses recorded
in the first five books of the Bible, which we call the Pentateuch.
Right? So it's the law. And what we
see is that any sick folk, any that were there, impotent or
blind or halt or withered, so long as they stayed on those
porches, when that water was stirred, they received no healing. Right? They received no healing
because they were stuck up there on those porches. Right? Which
is a picture of the law. So long as they stayed there
in the law, there was no healing for them. Now, these sick folk
here, they're described in verse three, John 5, three, and we'll
look at verse four. In these porches lay a great
multitude of impotent folk, of blind, halt, withered, waiting
for the moving of the water. For an angel went down at a certain
season into the pool and troubled the water. Whosoever then first,
after the troubling of the water, stepped in, was made whole of
whatsoever disease he had." All right? So that's why I say, if
you stayed up there in the porches, you would receive no healing.
There's nothing there for you. And it's a picture of those who
remain in the law, who remain under the yoke of the law, there's
no healing for them. There's no help for them in Christ. they trust that their righteousness
is found in the keeping and the observances of the laws of the
do's and the don'ts of man's religion, right? Trusting the
things of the flesh and the traditions of men. Whereas these pools,
the water of these pools, they're a picture of that healing. cleansing
of the fountain of Christ's blood which cleanses his people. Ye
purges his people from their sin, from our disease that we
have in Adam when we sinned and rebelled against God in the garden. We fell. The fellowship was severed. We died spiritually and cannot
know God. Now naturally in its place is
enmity, hatred against the true and living God who created us.
And there's no desire for him, but we see here in this pool,
a picture of Christ, the fountain of blood, which heals the diseases,
the sin diseases of his people. In Zechariah 13 one, we read
that in that day, there shall be a fountain opened to the house
of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for
uncleanness. It's speaking of the fountain
of Christ's blood, which he shed for his people. And you cannot
be saved. If your hope and trust is in
the law, you cannot be saved clinging to that law. God must
deliver you out from under that yoke and thinking that is your
righteousness and that's your acceptance with God. You must come to Christ. He is
the savior of his people. Now I'm going to read from Galatians
chapter two, verse 16, because it speaks to both. It shows us
that where our confidence is to be, where our hope is, it's
in Christ as opposed to that law. All right, Galatians 2.16.
knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but
by the faith of Jesus Christ. Even we have believed in Jesus
Christ. Even we Jews also trust the same
Christ that we preach unto you Gentiles. We're not looking to
the law for our righteousness. We too believe on Christ, that
he is the hope and salvation of his people. that we might
be justified by the faith of Christ. The faith of Christ speaks
to His works, what He accomplished for His people to save them from
the punishment and from their sins. And not by the works of
the law, for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified. All right, so all Christ's sheep,
they are drawn to this pool at the sheep gate where the sheep
gather together, who are watching and waiting for that water to
be stirred, that Christ would heal them, that he would speak
to them and have mercy upon them and deliver them from their infirmity
of all these years that we've borne with it, that sin, that
darkness, that corruption, that impotence, that lameness of feet,
that being withered by our sin. And so Christ is our healing
waters, which we hear of and rejoice in through the gospel
and by his spirit. As he said to that woman at the
well back in John four, verse 14, the water that I shall give
him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting
life. Okay, now we also have here in
verse three, a multitude that are described that gather at
this pool, right? And it's a picture, of sin-sick
souls who are gathered to see, to hear, to meet the Great Physician,
the One who alone heals the sin sickness, the diseases of His
people. John 5, verse 3. In these, in
these porches here, lay a great multitude of impotent folk of
blind, halt, withered, waiting for the moving of the water.
So first they're described as impotent folk. And that's a picture
of man who is fallen in sin, who is now powerless to keep
and fulfill the righteousness of the law. You may think you
keep the law, but you are mistaken. No man keeps the law perfectly.
Only the Lord Jesus Christ kept the law perfectly and is righteous
before God. And all who come to the Father
in the Son are righteous, perfectly righteous, and stand before God's
throne faultless in the Lord Jesus Christ. But we are described
here in Adam as impotent folk. fallen and dead spiritually,
unable to keep the law, powerless even to stand before the evil
one. We can't stand against him, and we can't stand before the
law. We cannot do or keep the law. We are impotent foe. And
then we're described here as blind. Man naturally is ignorant
of the things of God. We are ignorant of the spiritual
truth of God. We don't know God. We don't understand
him. We don't walk after him. We do
not worship him in the flesh. All our good works apart from
Christ are but carnal and fleshly works and do not gain us any
favor with the Father. And that's because man is spiritually
blind. He thinks he's pleasing God,
but he's spiritually blind. He's the blind folk, right? And so then we see there that
we're described as halt, right? Described as halt. That's a description
of a person stuck between two opinions, right? Halt between
two opinions so that they don't know whether to go left or right.
Do I believe that Christ really came in the flesh? That he is
the son of God sent to save his people? Or do I believe what
the world tells me that This is it, and there's nothing after
this life. What do I believe? I don't know,
right? That's one who is halt. They're lame on their feet. They're
incapable of walking after Christ. They don't know what to do. They
don't know what to believe. They're stuck between two opinions
and having no faith. They cannot walk in faith before
the Lord. They cannot walk on that path
of righteousness. All right, then they're also
described as withered. dried up and withered. Their muscles and sinews are
tiny and dried up and withered away so that they can't even
move a muscle. They're so weak. There's not
a single drop of that refreshing gospel water which he gives to
his people to give them any refreshment, any light, any understanding,
any ability to to understand and hear what the Lord is saying,
all right? And then they're described as
waiting, right? Waiting, given all their infirmities,
given all their weaknesses, the Lord has gathered these together
to hear his word, and they're waiting. Lord, help me, have
mercy on me. Lord, I cannot do the things
that you require in your law. I have no strength or ability.
Lord, would you bless me? Would you cause me to hear? Would
you give me of that water and give moisture to my bones and
my muscles? Give me faith whereby I may walk
after you. Help me, Lord, to see. Lord,
give me the power of your son, that power which saves your people
by the crucified Savior. Have mercy on me, Lord. Help
me. All right, so they're gathered
there watching and waiting expectantly for Christ. All right, now we're
told in verse 5, and a certain man was there which had an infirmity
thirty and eight years. This man had been waiting a long,
long time for some relief from his oppression, from the bondage
that he experienced there in his disease. He waited a long
time. And that might be true of some of us here, been waiting
a long time that God would speak to me, that God would heal me
and have mercy upon you, right? That might be some of us here.
And this man, he's waiting for the angel who troubles the water
to come there and stir that water up. Now, this angel is a picture
of the Lord Jesus Christ. And many people have different
opinions about this account here. Whether it's true or whether
it was just some superstition that the Jews had, but it didn't
happen. They just thought it happened, but it really never
did. But John doesn't really say that it doesn't happen. He
just gives it to us as it is. He just says, at a certain time,
an angel will come down and trouble the waters, and whoever was the
first to get in there, they were healed of whatever infirmity
that they had. But that's really not even the
point. It doesn't matter whether you think it was real or not.
What we see here is that when Christ came, when he came, he
healed this man, and he did so without the waters of this pool.
Rendering that pool moot, it doesn't matter whether it was
real or not, because now the great physician, Jehovah Raphael,
has come, the one who healeth you, the one who heals his people,
The Lord Jesus Christ has come and he's come among, in the midst
of his people to heal them of all their diseases and infirmities
in sin and in death, all right? So there's a spiritual parallel
that we draw from this, all right? Today, the Lord has given us
local assemblies where he calls and gathers his sheep, those
that are infirmed, right? Those that are impotent, and
blind and halt and withered who are waiting to hear the Lord,
who are waiting for the Lord to come and to stir those waters
up, to trouble our mind and our hearts, right? Not to trouble
them in a negative way, but to provoke us that we might hear,
that we might see Him who alone has the ability and who has the
ability to heal us and to deliver us. So we minister the word. We preach the word of reconciliation. Because when the Spirit of God
is pleased to attend that word and come with power, there's
someone there that he has been pleased to have mercy upon. That
one waiting, who's desiring to hear from the Lord. And so we
hear in the appointed time of his grace, that mercy that he
has upon us. and that He blesses us by His
Son, Jesus Christ. And so, it's only here that He
does this work for sinners that are looking for Him and waiting
for Him to come in that power. Now Christ came, it's because
He can do that, because He fulfilled all righteousness. He did all
this work for you. He went to the cross for His
people, bearing their sin to put it away forever. before God,
to deliver you, to propitiate God, to satisfy holy justice
and to set you free from the fear of death and punishment
and to reconcile you in fellowship and in spiritual understanding
of your God who created you, of your God who formed you, of
your God who calls you, who redeemed you and now calls you under his
gospel. Now verse six says, when Jesus
saw him lie, he saw him lying there. This man didn't see Christ,
this man didn't seek out Christ, Christ saw him. You that are
broken, you that are sick and delirious from your wounds and
the pain and suffering of your sin and have no relief from God,
Christ sees his sheep. He sees his people that are suffering. He sees his people that are halt
or lame and don't know what to think. He sees them and he goes
to them in the time of his love. He saw him and knew that he had
been now a long time in that case. He saith unto him, wilt
thou be made whole? For you here this morning, there's
that question, will you be made whole? Now the Lord knows the
answer to that question, but doesn't it stir you up when we
hear His word? It comes to us and we hear His
voice. Will you be made whole? Do you
need the Savior? Do you need the Son? Or are you
so perfect and so whole and so righteous that you need not the
grace that God gives in His Son? So this gospel comes to us as
a poke and a prod, right, in that tender spot. I remember
one time I was at the doctor's because I was sick and I didn't
know what it was. And then he pushed in a certain
spot and I winced. I didn't feel any pain there
until he poked and prodded it. And then I knew that there was
a problem. Although I said, that's fine. And he said, well, why'd
you wince? He said, there is a problem. And he sent me to
the doctor's and it was a good thing because I probably would
have died if I didn't go to the doctor. So that's what the gospel
does for us spiritually. The Lord brings things to our
attention in his word that poke us and prod us and show us our
need of him, show us our disease, the sickness that is in us, that
we are dead spiritually, that we are going to die and perish
eternally except God have mercy upon us. So he does that to reveal,
which he did to this man, to reveal to him You are sick, aren't
you? You know you're sick. You know
that you are diseased and cannot save yourself. You need mercy. And that's what the Lord teaches
his people here under the sound of the gospel. Christ said in
Luke 5 31, they that are whole need not a physician, but they
that are sick, right? So where do the sick gather?
They come gathered under the preaching of the gospel to hear
and to meet the great physician, the one who heals. We come gathered
to this Bethesda pool, the house of mercy, that we might know
him when we wait expectantly. Lord, speak to me. I see you
speaking to all these other people. Speak to me, Lord. Have mercy
upon me." And that's because this is a place for the sick,
right? And you know of a truth One place
you don't find too often in the house of mercy are those that
are whole, those that are well, those that aren't sick, because
they have everything they need. They don't need the mercy of
God, so they don't gather where the sheep are gathered, because
they don't think there's anything for them there to hear. And our
Lord addressed that saying, I came not to call the righteous, but
sinners to repentance. And so that's why at the house
of mercy around the pool of Bethesda, you find sheep gathered that
are impotent and blind and halt and withered and waiting expectantly
for the Lord. It's where he gathers his people
and that's where his people will be gathered. They'll come, right?
Even if you don't know, but you need him, you know you're a sinner.
You don't know if he's your savior, but if you, if you're a sinner,
and you need grace, you'll be gathered where the Savior meets
his people and heals them, at the pool of Bethesda in the house
of mercy where the gospel is preached. That's what the Lord
is saying to us here. Now, when Christ spoke to this
man, verse seven and eight, the impotent man answered him, sir,
I have no man when the water is troubled to put me into the
pool, but while I'm coming, another steppeth down before me. And
Jesus saith unto him, Rise, take up thy bed, and walk. So the
command here to this impotent man by our Lord is to rise. Rise up and believe Christ. If you are a sinner, believe
the one whom God is declaring to you this day that is the Savior,
the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the one who is willing and
accomplished the salvation of his people, rise up and believe
him. He said, take up thy bed, right? The dead and the wicked of this
world, you have no more part with them. Take up your bed,
your abode from there and come follow me, right? Which he said
there, walk, walk in the light which God has given you. though
it be small and tiny and dim compared to what you think others
have. walk after Christ, believe him, follow after him, that's
what he says to his people. And immediately the man was made
whole, verse nine, and took up his bed and walked, and on the
same day was the Sabbath. All right, so now this man goes
forth believing this one who spoke with power to him, all
right, on that day, and he went out resting in his Sabbath rest. He went out in the Sabbath rest,
believing, comforted, delivered from his labor in the law there
at the five porches. He was delivered from that yoke
of bondage. Now, to the legalist who has
no confidence that Christ has authority over the Sabbath, well,
to that one, our Lord gives no rest. They have no rest, no comfort
in the salvation of God. And John 5.10 says, the Jews
therefore, they saw this man and they said unto him that was
cured, it is the Sabbath day. It's not lawful for thee to carry
thy bed. All right, that was their response
to him, okay. And what does the man answer
there in verse 11? He answered them, he that made
me whole, the same said unto me, take up thy bed and walk. Verse 12, then asked they him,
what man is that which said unto thee, take up thy bed and walk?
You notice there how the fact that he was just healed by this
man meant nothing to them, right? They skipped right over that.
All they heard is who told you that you could take up your bed
and walk? Forget about the fact that you
were just healed of your infirmity of 38 years. How dare you take
up your bed and leave us? How dare you try and escape from
the law? And that's what religion will
do, right? They'll oppose you. They'll stand
in opposition to the freedom and the liberty that you now
have in Christ, that deliverance, that cure, that help, that comfort,
that peace in Christ. The world and its religion will
stand in opposition to you and point out anything they can to
try and poke holes in the comfort and the peace that you now have
in the Lord Jesus Christ. All right, now afterwards we're
told, oh, well, verse 13, he that was healed wist not who
it was, for Jesus had conveyed himself away, a multitude being
in that place. And isn't that true? With many
after conversion, our understanding of him is so small, sometimes
so that we hardly even know. We don't even know who it was
that just delivered me. Now, I mean, we know that it's
Christ, I think here you have an understanding to see that
he didn't really know who it was that saved him. And that
shows us just how small our understanding is at first and why the Lord
continues to gather us back together that we might learn and hear
of him, right? And so verse 14, where do we
find him? Well, the Lord found him in the temple. He found that
healed man there in the temple. That man was praising God who
healed him, giving him thanks and glory and praise for healing
him, and likely seeking, Lord, teach me more, show me more,
give me more light. Give me more of your glorious
power whereby I may walk after you and praise you. and serve
you for your grace and mercy to me. All right, and so the
Lord said unto him, behold, thou art made whole, sin no more,
lest a worse thing come unto thee. And so this man, he was
healed and had no possibility of being eternally lost or separated
from the Lord. But some people stumble over
that. They think, well, what is Christ saying? You're now
made whole, sin no more, lest a worse thing come upon you.
And I think the best understanding is one brother said, read it
as cease from sin, right? Cease from sin lest a worse thing
come upon you and turn over now to 1 Peter 4. 1 Peter 4, and
we'll just read the first four verses because Peter speaks to
what the Lord is saying here. He helps us understand it a little
better. 1 Peter 4 verse 1 For as much then
as Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves
likewise with the same mind. For he that hath suffered in
the flesh hath ceased from sin, that he no longer should live
the rest of his time in the flesh to the lusts of men, but to the
will of God. For the time past of our life
may suffice us to have wrought the will of the Gentiles when
we walked in lasciviousness, lusts, excess of wine, revelings,
banquetings, and abominable idolatries." All things picturing the disease
of man, that sinful disease, corruption of man's heart. Wherein
they think it strange that ye've run not with them to the same
excess of riot, speaking evil of you. All right, so what the
Lord is teaching us is He's made you whole, right? He's delivered
you from the guilt and the punishment of sin. Why then will you go
back to those things which are just pictures and emblems of
your disease? And why would you go and do those
things? Cease from your sin. Walk in the light that Christ
has given you and don't use that liberty for a cloak of unrighteousness
Why drink in this world? It's quickly passing away. We know that and we know that
Christ is our inheritance. And so that worst thing that
comes upon believers, what does that mean? What's the worst thing?
Well, I know with me that the Lord deals with me on certain
things and he probably deals with you on certain things. And
when you do those things, the Lord deals with you very sharply
in that in a way that you know the Lord has taught me not to
do those things and shown me don't don't don't do do those
things don't dabble in that don't go there don't say that the Lord
deals with you on certain things and another he deals with them
and other things and when you do those things they they hurt
there's sorrow there's guilt why would you want to bring in
the shame and the guilt when you know every time you do that
you feel that shame and sorrow and guilt So why do you keep
doing it? Cease from that sin. That's the
worst thing is that, that feeling that the Lord is disappointed
with me, right? We know in Christ he isn't, we're
always his, but he keeps us. He's turning his people and using
them in that which he's given them to do and save them in that
particular service in his body for the people. And so he deals
with them in that, in that matter, right? Now verse 15, the man
departed and told the Jews that it was Jesus which had, and again
he says his testimony, which has made me whole. Jesus made
me whole. You see how now this man knows
him. He, he, the Lord attended. him, met him, found him in the
temple and revealed more of himself to that man. Now this man knows,
oh, this is Jesus who saved me. Christ has done all this work
for me. And now he goes back and he bears that same witness
and testimony to those who asked him, who told you to pick up
that map? Well, he doesn't even focus on who told me to pick
it up. He focused on the one who healed me is the Lord Jesus
Christ. It's, it's Jesus who did that.
All right. And so What we find though here
is that walking honestly before this world, it's never going
to satisfy them. They're never gonna be satisfied
with your hope in Christ and believing on him. Therefore,
verse 16, did the Jews persecute Jesus and sought to slay him
because he had done these things on the Sabbath day, right? And there, you know, just be
honest with yourself, right? Be honest before the Lord. Don't
halt between two opinions. Either serve the Lord or serve
this world because the lukewarm person is just going to be spewed
out of the Lord's mouth. You're either the Lord's, serve
Him and walk before Him. Love Him and serve, walk in the
light that He's given you or just go into the world and do
what the world says. I don't advise you to go into
the world but He's saying Be honest before the people, because
the world's not going to accept you, and then Christ's not going
to accept you. You're just a wishy-washy person.
Believe Him. He saved you from your sin. Walk
in that light that He's given you in Him, all right? But to
you that are healed and redeemed by the Lord Jesus Christ, He
gives us that word of encouragement in Romans 12, verse 1 and 2.
Romans 12, 1. He says, Paul says, I beseech
you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present
your bodies, a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which
is your reasonable service. All right, that's what Isaiah
did in Isaiah six. Isaiah didn't feel he had any
special power or gifts or abilities, but the Lord said, who will go
for us? And he said, here, my Lord, send
me. That's what it is to present your body. is, Lord, use me. I don't know how. I don't have
anything to give you. I'm really nothing special at
all, but use me how you will, Lord. And be not conformed to
this world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind,
that ye may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect
will of God. And so we gather here, brethren,
because this is where the sheep are gathered. in the house of
mercy to hear, to waiting upon the stirring up of those waters
where the Lord stirs up our hearts and minds and shows us our need
of Him, shows us that we are diseased and He's the only one
that can save us. And it's His miracle of grace
that does that for His people. The Pharisees in this world,
they're no friend of the people of God. And so don't expect anything
from them. We have to live among them and
do what we have to do, but love your brethren and serve them.
And I pray the Lord bless that word and I'm thankful for you
and thankful for what the Lord works in your hearts and is keeping
of you. All right, let's close in prayer. Our gracious Lord, we thank you,
Father. We thank you for your grace and mercy. We thank you,
Lord, that you are the Savior, that you deliver your people
from their sin, from the disease of our death, Lord, and that
we now know you and are reconciled to our God by your blood, by
your mercy and grace. Father, keep us. Keep us walking
after Christ. You have healed us, made us whole,
and reveal to us your son more and more in the light of your
gospel. Father, we ask that you would
continue to keep us, that you would seal us with your Holy
Spirit, that we might be preserved in you and kept ever looking
to you and walking after your son. Lord, we trust you. We know
that you alone must do this. And so we ask you to have this
mercy on us to do your will and reveal your son in us more and
more to the praise and the glory of your name and lord if there
is any here who has been suffering a long time and their sin and
doubts and darkness lord give them that waiting heart looking
for you and then lord bless them come by them and stir them up
asking them Would you be made whole? Show them their need and
show them that the Lord you've sent, that the Lord Jesus Christ
is the one who heals. Jehovah-Ravi. Lord, we thank
you for this word. We thank you for your grace to
us. We pray for our brethren that if there's any hurting or
sick or just weary, Lord, we pray that you help them and strengthen
them in the gospel. It's in the Lord. Jesus Christ
that we pray these things. Amen. All right. So we're gonna take the Lord's
supper then, and then we'll enjoy a meal together if we're able
to stay. So Brother Scott and Levi, could you also come and
hand out? And Scott, would you be able
to pray? Yeah. All right. Father, again, we come to you
thankful for the message you just brought to us. And Father,
we hope that we can all see ourselves in that lame man. And Father, that we can see that
those five portraits are nothing but death. and years and years
of torment and pain father we just ask that you always keep
our eyes open to the fact that we are lame and we do need someone
to walk for us and father we just ask that you again watch
over this congregation and father watch over our pastor and father
watch over us if it be your will for us to grow father have our
Have our church grow, Father, and watch over us as we make
decisions on buildings. And just lead us and guide us
the way you have us to go. Father, we ask this in Christ's
name. I'll be reading in Mark 14, starting verse 27, where our
Lord says unto his disciples, all ye shall be offended because
of me this night. For it is written, I will smite
the shepherd and the sheep shall be scattered. But after that
I am risen, I will go before you into Galilee. You know, the
fact that There are things under the preaching of the gospel that
offend us in the flesh, that are hard to hear. That doesn't
mean necessarily that you're cut off or that you have no hope.
The Lord is going to show us our need. He's going to show
us the weakness and the incompetence of this flesh, right? These disciples
were all offended in Christ and scattered from Him. And yet the
Lord, when He rises in the heart, that day star rises in the heart,
as He said, He draws His people to Himself. He heals His people
with that warmth and that light of His shining and His glory.
All right, then verse 22, Mark 14, 22 says, and as they did
eat, Jesus took bread and blessed and break it and gave to them
and said, take eat, this is my body. Our Lord's body was broken for
his people. He sacrificed himself. He gave
his life for your life, that you might know him and have spiritual
life eternally in him. All right, then verse 23 says
that he took the cup and when he had given thanks, he gave
it to them and they all drank of it. And he said unto them,
this is my blood of the New Testament, which is shed for many. And verily
I say unto you, I will drink no more of the fruit of the vine
until that day that I drink it new in the kingdom of God." It's our Savior's blood that
justifies us and cleanses us of our sin. We in him drink that
now under the new covenant and the understanding that he's given
to us of what he's accomplished for us. All right, and verse
four says, and when they had sung in him, they went out into
the Mount of Olives. So brother, come and lead us
in the closing hymn, and then we'll be dismissed to have lunch
together if you can stay. Our closing hymn will be number
128 in the hardback. 128, Wounded For Me. Wounded for me, wounded for me. There on the cross, he was wounded
for me. Gone my transgressions, and now
I am free. All because Jesus was wounded
for me. dying for me, dying for me. There on the cross He was dying
for me. Now in His death my redemption
I see, all because Jesus was dying for me. Risen for me, risen for me. Up from the grave He has risen
for me. Now evermore from death's sting
I am free. All because Jesus has risen for
me. Living for me, living for me. Up in the skies, He is living
for me. Daily He's pleading and praying
for me. All because Jesus is living for
me. coming for me, coming for me. One day to earth he is coming
for me. Then with what joy his dear face
I shall see. Oh, how I praise him, he's coming
for me. Mm-hmm.