We've had some interesting weather
today. We've had some interesting plumbing
issues here at the church. If you encounter any problems,
let me know. We've had some interesting construction going on above us.
I think they stopped about 20 minutes ago. We might be okay.
But if it gets loud, I'll get louder. It might keep us all
awake. And Lord be with us. No midweek service next week. We have it tonight, but a week
from tonight, Thanksgiving week. I know y'all be with families
and cooking and have a big, big things going on and busyness
and y'all spend time with your families and enjoy it. We have
a lot to be thankful for, don't we? Matthew chapter 12, Tyler's
message is stretch forth thine hand. I just want to look at
verses 9 through 14 this evening, Matthew 12. The Lord's going
to heal one of his sheep on the Sabbath. I thought a lot about
that this week. That still happens. Nothing's
changed, has it? Every day is the Lord's day,
but maybe he'll be pleased today to heal somebody in this room.
Do we hope so? Did we come here asking for that?
Did I? glory in him and pray he doesn't
work in somebody. There's three main characters
in this story we're going to look at. When we teach something,
if I'm given a block of instruction on something, if I have a book
and I want you to learn a story in the book, I'm going to teach
something. I want to lay it out in as logical manner as I can.
And I have a desired outcome. At the end, we might have a check
on learning. We call them tests when we was in school. A check
on learning. I won't be asking the questions. What if the Lord did? Did you
pay attention? I've taken all the messages people
miss. Cause of life. Cause of stuff
that comes in the way. Some reason to not go hear the
gospel preached. You're all here. But for those
that don't, I weep for them. But what if we were accountable
for those that we didn't attend to? And then I got nervous thinking
about that, and I said, what if I was accountable for every
time I sat in a pew and didn't pay attention to a message that
was preached? Boy, pray God be with us tonight. I want to lay
these characters out in this story. There's only three of
them, or a group of people, two characters and a group of people.
There's the Lord Jesus Christ. This is the good shepherd, the
scriptures say. He's called the great shepherd.
His name's the chief shepherd, and he's going to do the work
in one of his sheep. Then there's one of his sheep,
this man with a withered hand. He's unable to reach out and
touch the Lord as he passes by. He can't approach the Lord. He
can't bring anything to him. He can't wash himself. He can't
do any work. He's withered. He's unable. And
then there's the Pharisees all around them. That's the most
of them. They're walking along through
these cornfields and they're heading to the synagogue. They're
going to church. And they're not rejoicing along
the way, looking forward to a word from God. They're judging those
around them, being critical of those around them, trying to
find them and saying something. And that's, that's wrong. What
you said was wrong. I'm gonna call you about it. They're being critical. They're
not attending the house of God to come in and pray for his presence
to be with them and to be with their brethren. Maybe for him
to speak to somebody that's never heard him speak before. They're
under the law. They observe the law. You've
been around it. Y'all grew up across religion. You've seen
all these law workers. People that are under the law
and all they ever talk about the law, they're mean. They are. They're hard to get along with.
You say, you know what? I got an appointment. I got to
get to. They ain't fun to be around,
are they? They're critical. They're judging and they're hard.
You that believe. I thought about this. Would it
be all right for you if God's done a work in you and you come
to have a service and you come to worship God and you didn't
get blessed in the way that you wanted to when you walk through
those doors? and you want to come here and get a warm fuzzy,
and you didn't get you a warm fuzzy. Would it be all right
if through your presence, not your absence, through your presence,
that that preacher didn't get depressed? Because there's a
bunch of empty seats. And he thought, why am I here?
And he thought, you know what, there's somebody there. They showed up. They took
time to get dressed and wash their face and shave and prepare,
get dressed up, come in here, and I'm going to preach. And
the Lord used that man as a voice, and he saved someone in that
room that day. But you didn't get the warm fuzzy
you was coming with. Would that be okay for you? Well, you'd
have that warm fuzzy, wouldn't you? You'd be tickled to death. They've been sitting underneath
that gospel for 20 years and God finally woke them up. God
only taught them stuff. I sat underneath the gospel for
a decade and a half before God woke me up. That's a precious
day, isn't it? Those Pharisees, they were not
there to hear a word from the Lord, but to listen, to find
something wrong to use against him. Well, you said this, and
you did that, and you healed somebody on the Sabbath. Not
Lord speak. And whatever you feel like talking
about, that's a subject I'm interested in. Give us a parable. Show us something. We'd looked
at this passage a few years ago, but we focused on the first few
verses, and I wanna look at this man with a withered hand. Verses
nine through 14. Look at Matthew 12, verse nine. And it said, and when he was
departed thence, he went into their synagogue. There's not
a word that's out of place in these scriptures. We have those
three main characters. It's the Lord Jesus Christ, the
good shepherd. We have one of his sheep and
we have the Pharisees that's just onlookers, the mean, angry
crowd. And where did this take place?
He says, their synagogue. It used to be Lord's Passover,
and then he went there and they were observing the Jews' Passover.
He said, this is their synagogue. Isn't that grace? These people
that's just engulfed in the law and meanness, grace is coming
to them. The kingdom of God's come nigh
unto thee. Either side of the sword you're
on. He's there, isn't he? The Lord
came to this earth to meet with his people, and he still does. There have been people before,
they founded churches, and they've introduced themselves as, I'm
a founder. I plant churches. I started everything. And it's their ministries, and
their synagogues, and their buildings, and their pews, and their hymnals,
and they picked it out. And then the Lord comes down
to them, and he gave them a word, he saved them regardless. That's
happened throughout time. That's happened in this country.
Isn't that precious? Isn't that good? Isn't he gracious? It says in verse nine, and when
they was departed thence, he went into their synagogue, and
behold, there was a man which had his hand withered. What's
a withered hand? Boy, we can learn a lot from
this. There's so many things we can know about a withered
hand that's said about it that's good that we can learn from,
and there's a lot of things that's not said about this man and his
withered hand that we can learn from, that could apply to us. He had a withered hand. I thought
first, when was his hand injured? When did this man's hand become
withered? It could have been at birth, huh? He may have been
like that his whole life. That's a good picture of us.
We come from the womb unable to do anything. Maybe it was
a wagon accident. Maybe he was a young boy in a
wagon, run over his arm and broke his arm. Maybe he had a stroke. That can happen now, can't it?
Bob, maybe he had a bunch of surgeries. on that arm, and he
just couldn't use it. And it was drawn close to him
and withered, and he was unable to use it. Maybe it was misuse. Maybe he played too much baseball.
Maybe it was arthritis. It set in early on him. We don't
know how old he was. Could be young, could be old.
That's good, too, that we don't know. I'll tell you what it was. No matter which one of those
things it was, it was the Lord's doing. God withered that man's
hand. We need to learn that. We'd learn
he's on his throne. If we know him, we didn't know
where he is. He does all things. All things. Who withered his
hand? God did. When did it take place? Well,
it's purpose before time. I can tell you that. It don't
matter when it come to pass. God withered the man's hand. Why? For his glory. And for his good,
and not just his good, that whole body's good. For you. Thousands
of years later, so we can read it. And God can show us how he
deals with sinners and who he is and what he's accomplished.
Would you go tell him you're sorry that your hand's withered?
That blesses you. God gives you ears to hear. That's
a good thing. Good. Good. God did it. He's going to get
glory and it's going to be for my good and his body's good.
Makes me happy. Good. Why was it injured? It's for the glory of God, and
this man's good, and for all of our sakes, too. The scripture
said that. Why do you go through trials? That's for your brethren's sake,
too. That's what God says, isn't it? That's what he says in his
word. We read back in John 9, he said, his disciples asked,
he said, Master, when that blind man was there, when he healed
the blind man, he said, who did sin? This man or his parents
that he was born blind? Was it their fault or his fault?
Yes, right? Sin, that's why he's blind. But
Jesus answered and said, neither this man sinned nor his parents.
Of course they were sinners. That's not the root cause. God
allowed that to happen. He allowed that man to be blind.
But that the works of God should be made manifest in him. He said,
I'm gonna do something to him. I'm gonna show you how God saves
sinners. You're gonna rejoice in me. There will be a day that
we thank the Lord for everything exactly as it took place, as
it came to pass throughout time. That's so. That's so. There's gonna come a day, we
will know as we are known, and we'll say all that stuff, and
I was bellyachin' and murmurin', and I was prayin' it wouldn't
come out that way. Lord, thank you for that. That mountain genius
up there in Fairmont, West Virginia years ago said if we had the
power of God, we'd change everything, and if we had his wisdom, if
we knew what he knew, we wouldn't change a thing. It come to pass
exactly the way it had. I want to know him, and I want
to dwell on him, and I want to be a profitable child. He's my
father. Do you want to be a good child?
Mike, you want to be good to your mother, don't you? You want to
be a good son? I want to be a good son. I want to trust my father. Hmm. What a thing, isn't it?
Which hand was it? I always assumed it was his left
hand. Maybe it's because of your left hand, Mom. I just thought
it was his left hand. That'd be most convenient for
me. I'm right-handed. Only 10% of this world's left-handed,
and a small fraction's ambidextrous. I know a couple of them, and
that confuses me, something horrible. But we read in Luke there, he
said there's another Sabbath came to pass, and they entered
into the synagogue and talked, and there was a man whose right
hand was withered. This wasn't just his A hand,
this was his right hand. His problem was what he's coming
to God with, do you know that? What do we have to come to God
with, Christ? Did you know the scriptures call him the son of
the right hand? Acts 7 says, Behold, I see the
heavens open, the son of man standing on the right hand of
God. David said in Psalm 60, Save with thy right hand and
hear me. Psalm 138, Though I walk in the
midst of trouble, Thou wilt revive me. Thou shalt stretch forth
thine hand against the wrath of my enemies, and thy right
hand shall save me. Shall save me. Says shall. Christ shall save his people
from their sins. Call his name Jesus. He shall. Turn over to Job. This is gonna
be good for you, I think. Job 40. Job 40, just before you get to
Psalms. Get to Psalms and turn left one page. Maybe two. Job
chapter 40. The Lord's speaking to Job. He
got him by himself and he talked to him and he had sent Elihu,
that real young fella, to go witness to him and preach to
him because of them three miserable comforters that come to him.
And the Lord reinforced what Elihu told him. And he's talking
to Job now. God's speaking. God speaking,
Job 40 verse nine. And he asked him a question.
Job 49, hast thou an arm like God, Job? Or canst thou thunder
with a voice like him? We's done our operations today.
I walked in and this whole side of my face was black. All my
ear was black, that dust was kicking. Before the storm came,
the wind was coming. And the thing that houses the carts,
the thing that holds the buggies, it caught wind and just shifted
sideways and folded like an accordion. And I thought, oh, storm's coming.
We got inside and it started thundering and lightning. The
people in the pharmacy screeched. They shrilled, screamed. They
said, whoa, that was thunder. I said, Lord speaks loudly sometimes.
Might want to pay attention to him. Canst thou thunder with
a voice like him? Deck thyself now with majesty
and excellency, and array thyself with glory and beauty. Cast abroad
the rage of thy wrath and behold everyone that is proud and abase
him." You go find somebody that's proud and make them not be proud.
I can't do it. If I was alone on an island,
I couldn't do that either. That'd be the hardest one. This right
here is the hardest one to keep from being proud. I can't knock
a wind out of nobody's sail. Look on everyone that is proud,
verse 12, and bring him low and tread down the wicked in their
place. That's what Nebuchadnezzar said,
didn't he? He said, Lord, you can bring anybody down. You can
embrace anybody. You're the king. Hide them in
the dust together and bind their faces in secret. Can you do all
those things, Joe? Let's be honest, ain't nobody
that's ever been born an Adam that's like us that can do that.
We can't do it, we ain't God. God's gonna have to prove to
us that we ain't God and bring us down and exalt Christ and
lift him up, or we're gonna be in a mess of trouble. The Lord
said, if you can do that, verse 14, then will I also confess
unto thee that thine own right hand can save thee. What's the
natural condition that everybody that's ever born on this earth?
Our right hand's withered. And I ain't talking about a physical
arm. You get that? We're sinners. We can't do nothing
to please God. Back in our text here, Matthew
12. Matthew 12, verse nine. And when he was departed thence,
he went into their synagogue, and behold, there was a man which
had his hand withered. And they ask him, all those Pharisees,
saying, is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath days that they
might accuse him? We got him now. We're going to
ask him this question. He'd been healing people left
and right. Always does it on Sabbath. Does it a lot on Sabbath. We
got him. Matthew records this as the Pharisees
asking the Lord, is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath day? We'll
see later, Mark writes, it's of the Lord asking them a question.
John did too. And I thought, one interaction
and infinite applications. People say, that contradicts
itself. No, it does not. The Lord's magic. His word's
majestic. I was talking to Kierman the other day. I said, the Lord's,
it's just marvelous. His hands withered up. You know
what he talks about later on in John? Giving. I'll get to
that in a minute. I don't want to jump ahead. This
is amazing. Verse 11, and he said unto them, they asked him
a question, and he said, what man shall there be among you
that shall have one sheep? And if it fall into a pit on
the Sabbath day, if it gets in need, it's gonna die without
me. You're in trouble, you don't
need a little bit of help, you need saved. Will he not lay hold
on it and lift it out? How much then? The answer is
yes. It's a rhetorical question. The answer is yes, they would.
They'd go get that sheep out of there. How much then is a
man better than a sheep? Wherefore is it lawful to do
well on the Sabbath day? Does that suit your law? Is it all right if I save somebody
to do well? This is something that is needed.
There was healing that was needed. And someone, a certain someone,
needed that healing. That's why the Lord came there.
To come for that one, the one sheep. What did this injury mean? Physically,
we know that, right? It was his right hand. He could
not work. What does the scripture tell
us? Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with all thy might.
If you can find something to do to serve God, do it with all
your might. And he says, hurry up and do
it now, because you're going to die and we won't be working.
We'll just be worshiping all day. This is your only opportunity.
Get after it. Get after it. Not halfway, buddy. Give it all
you got. It's the only chance you have. He could not work. He could not
provide for himself. That's what it means. He couldn't
provide for others. He could not clean. He couldn't wash himself.
He couldn't brush his teeth. You ever tried brushing your
teeth with the off hand? It's all over it, ain't it? That's
just physical. He couldn't comb his hair. He couldn't be presentable.
Couldn't provide for himself. Couldn't clean himself. He could
not give or help. He couldn't give because his hand was withered.
You know what the term is for somebody that likes money? We
can go through a long line of synonyms, can't we? They're tight.
They got a fist full of dollars, and they hold it in close. That's
mine. Mine. You know babies come from
the womb with what? Flinched hands. And then parents,
we pry a little hand open, and we put our finger in, and we
say, look, they love us so much. It's their instinct. That's the
way they're designed from birth, isn't it? He could not protect
himself and he could not protect others. He was this clenching
self. Get that? Clenching self. He
could not save himself. He couldn't do anything until
Christ came and commanded it. And that's physical or spiritual.
I can't brush my teeth unless the Lord's pleased to let me
brush my teeth and give me the power to do so. Who shall ascend to the hill
of the Lord? Who shall stand in his holy place?
He that hath clean hands and a pure heart. And to have clean
hands, not a withered hand. We can't ascend, can't we? Christ
can. This man could not, he could not, but he was willing. There's a difference between
could not and would not. That man would. He would. Why? He was at the synagogue. Like
at Ethiopian Munich. He was going up to Jerusalem.
He said, that's where they said the Lord was and I want to meet
him. And he was sad heading all the way back down to Ethiopia.
Well, we didn't, I didn't hear no good news up there. Here come
Phillip Brunnen. that this man was there at that
synagogue. That may have been the first
time he was there. He may have been going there
for 35 years, and God ain't never spoke to him yet. Why? Because his hands still withered.
That didn't do anything for him. It could be the first time, though.
He may have been coming daily. I don't know, but he was made
willing. He was willing to be there. Thy people shall be willing in
the day of thy power. He could not, but he would. He would. He wanted to be healed.
That's what Simeon went in there daily looking for the Lord. Every
day Simeon went and said, I'm looking for the Lord. And then
the Lord came. And he said, Lord, you can kill me now. I've seen
thy salvation. I've held him in my hand. On another Sabbath, the Lord
healed that impotent man that was unable, an unable man, didn't
he? And he said he had an infirmity 38 years. That's wonderful, isn't it? This
man's not listed, the withered hand. It don't matter how young
you are. It don't matter how old you are.
Come to him, come to him. And when Jesus saw him lie, he
said it'd be a long time that way. And he said to him, will
thou be made whole? Will you? Will you be made whole? You can't be, you can't. The
possibility of doing it, you could not, but would you? Would
you be made whole? We looked at that a while back
too, didn't we? That fellow there by the pool.
People's gonna stop giving you handouts. They're not gonna bring your
food to you no more. They're gonna stop taking pity on you.
They're gonna start providing your clothing for you and your
food for you and entertaining you. And you're gonna have to
get up off that sick bay and get after it. Would you have
your hand? I read somewhere they said this
man, they think he was a bricklayer. Where in the world they got that
from? I mean, I know the historical way of research, but that's a
lot of reason. I'd go with a withered hand.
You have to get back to bricklaying, will ya? Hmm. Who was doing this? There was
a lord and a man with a withered hand. What was he doing? He was
healing him in an area he could not do anything. But he desired. When was he doing it? You know
when it was that day? Today. Every day is the Lord's
day. Do you know when it is right
now to come to the Lord and be saved? Right now. Today. What'd you do last week?
It don't matter. I ain't alive last week. I'm
alive right now. What about tomorrow? We ain't promised tomorrow. Lord
might come tonight. He may be riding on them clouds.
I don't know. Come to him now. Today. That's when, today. Why? We'll get to that later on. Where
did this take place? It's going to be in public. Not in a closet. Turn with me over to Mark 3.
I've got to show you this. Mark chapter 3. There's so much wisdom
in that. If the Lord saves a man, even
his dog is going to be able to tell. It's so. There's going to be a difference.
He's going to do something. It's gonna be public, and public's
gonna know about it. Y'all know who they are, the
infamous they, everybody's scared to death of? Well, they are gonna
take notice, and they ain't gonna like it too much. So, your old
friends ain't gonna get along with you no more. Mark 3, verse 1. And he entered
again into the synagogue, and there was a man there that had
a withered hand. And they watched him, whether
he would heal him on the Sabbath day, that they might accuse him.
And he saith unto the man which hath a winter hand, Stand forth,
stand forth, get up, and stand up here in the middle of everybody.
Over in Luke we read that, he said, Rise up and stand forth
in the midst. And he rose up and stood forth.
God commanded and he did it. Why'd he do that? Why'd he have
to be right in the middle of everybody? The Lord said this,
and it's as plain as he could write it. Plain as I can read
it to you. Don't turn there, but Matthew
10 says, Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men,
him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven.
But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before
my Father which is in heaven. He said over Mark 16, he said,
Go ye in all the world and preach the gospel to every creature
and he that believeth Hey, you can do that right there. Right
where you sit right now, you can believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
You can come to Him right now. "...and is baptized shall be saved. But he that believeth not is
damned." I didn't know this until about two weeks ago. It's been
commonly taught for 60 years on the radios throughout this
nation that you don't have to have water baptism. Now, the
person that taught that directly benefited them, but that's a
lie. God said, you be getting that
baptism, stand forth out here in front of everybody, and you
declare me in front of men. He gave us that ordinance. You get
in the water and be baptized. Do you have to be baptized to
be saved? No. What's the proof text? Do y'all know? Name me a child
of God that could not be baptized. The thief on the cross, right? Man that got the most assurance.
You'll be with me today in paradise, the Lord told him. Like here
in a few minutes. You're gonna love it. People use that to say,
that's why I don't need to get in waters of baptism. Didn't he profess Christ in public? You wanna get strung up on a
cross? No, get in water. He's been gracious to us. That
blows my mind. I just can't wrap my head around
it. That's why he wasn't baptized. No, he was nailed to a cross
next to our Lord and proclaimed him publicly to death. all the
way to death, and then was with him right then in glory. What
a privilege, privilege that was. Even young people know about
that thief on the cross, don't they? You still Mark three, look at
verse four. And he saith unto them, is it lawful to do good
on the Sabbath days or to do evil? Is it lawful to save a
life? Should I save somebody's life
or should I kill them? You pick. But they held their peace. They
knew either way they answered is wrong. They knew that's wrong. You're all grownups, a bunch
of you are. You know when you're wrong. And you get in a conversation,
you won't just bow and say, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I was wrong. We just, we'll fight
tooth and toe now. We'll wither ourselves up to
not say that. But we know we're wrong. They
knew it. Verse five. They were too self-righteous
to say, I'm sorry. They were too self-righteous
to give an apology when they'd done wrong over something they
knew they'd done wrong. They knew it, and they wouldn't do it.
How do you think the Lord handles that? I want you to look at this,
verse five. And when he had looked around
about them, around about on them with anger. That's a just, holy, righteous,
perfect anger. I can't understand that. If I
look at somebody in anger, it's wrong. Even the apostles, those
sons of thunder said, we'll call enlightenment on them. He said,
you don't know what spirit's in you. This is a perfect spirit. And
he looked on those, it's always those that's self-righteous,
always those religious folks, always those that's, I know,
I know, and I'm never wrong, and everybody else is, and I'm
gonna find something on you so I can put you down. The Lord's
angry with the wicked. And I don't see a needy person
that needed mercy, that needed healing, needed help, that ever
come to him that he didn't say, come here. Come on. He delights. That means he enjoys thoroughly
and thinks about showing mercy. He delights to show mercy. But
he looked on these with anger. Don't you want to warn him? Knowing
him, You see that look, knowing what they just said, wouldn't
you want to go over and say, hey, boys, I don't know what you're doing.
I got goosebumps all over me, want to tell him. When he looked around about on
them with anger, being grieved for the hardness of their hearts,
he saith unto the man, stretch forth thy hand. And he stretched
it out and his hand was restored whole as the other. I can't qualify
that look, but I can tell you what's the opposite of that look
he gave Peter. Remember when Peter denied him
three times? That was wicked, wasn't it? But he looked on his
son and said, it's all right, buddy. Because of that, that's
the reason I'm dying. I'm going to go to the cross
for you. These he looked on with anger. They had hard hearts. We have a new heart that he's
given us that way. Back in our text. Who's doing this? Who's the characters? The Lord and the withered man,
isn't it? What's he doing? He's healing him. When's he doing
it? Today, the synagogue, right now. Why? There's a need. How? How's this man going to be healed?
By the commandment, by the word of God. Yes. But how's he going to be given
eternal life? In all these instances, the Lord said, stretch forth
your hand. He stretched it forth. That's all he has to do. But this isn't
just somebody getting their hand fixed. He died. That hand ended
up going in the grave and turning into dust, didn't it? That physical
hand. How's it going to get eternal life? Verse 9. And when he had
departed thence, they went into their synagogue. And behold,
there was a man which had his hand withered. And they asked
him, saying, Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath days? They
might accuse him. Regardless of all that, he said
unto them, what man shall there be among you that shall have
one sheep, and if it fall into a pit on the Sabbath day, will
not lay a hold of it and lift it out? You know what their problem
was? They didn't know they was in
a pit. That's just fine. We're in that deep miry pit,
and he has to come down, condescend, how deep? All the way to get
underneath us, and lift us up out of that pit. How's this man with a hand gonna
be saved eternally? How's he gonna have eternal life?
The cross was there on earth, dealing with a bunch of mire
all around him. And it was throwing at him and
gnashing its teeth at him. And they said, I come to save
that one. And they was mattering wet hands about it. Like their
father, the devil. He came down to this mirey pit
to pull us out, didn't he? And he says, how much then is
a man better than a sheep? Wherefore is it lawful to do
well on the Sabbath day? He can do with his own as he
sees fit, is what he's declaring. He's able to do with his own
as he sees fit. And that man with the withered
hand, that's his sheep. That one everybody despises and
they thank the least of, he goes, that was the one I came in here
for. And this is the shepherd right in front of them, laying
down his life for his sheep. He left the ninety and nine that
needed none. They needed no justification. They got all their doctrine sorted
clean out. And he went to that one and he threw it over his
shoulder. What if it's kicking the screen? He'd break its leg.
He would wither its leg if necessary. He brings it home. Verse 13. Then saith he to the
man, stretch forth thine hand, and he stretched it forth, and
it was restored, whole, restoration. He went to prepare a place for
him. and he's gonna show him by fixing his hand. He's restored
whole, like as the other, like all the other hands. Every hand
he has is restored whole. You get that? This man with the
withered hand, he had nothing that he brought with him. He
didn't have nothing in that hand. He didn't say anything. We don't
know his name. There was nothing he did. Lord
came to him. Only thing this man possessed
was infirmity. He had no confidence in the flesh,
did he? We're the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit,
because he gave us his spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus,
because we know who he is, and have no confidence in the flesh. He that glories, let him glory
in the Lord. He said, stretch forth thy hand, and he stretched
it forth, and it was restored whole like as the other. And
the whole place erupted in praise and celebration and clapping.
Oh, look what the Lord did. The great shepherd, he left the
99 and he came and got the one. Let's rejoice at him, praise
him. We gotta watch him work. I'll tell you, every time he
healed a blind person, he took him off by themselves. We gotta watch
him. No, it wasn't it, was it? In the withered man, the man
with the withered hand, in his heart, you betcha, he didn't
care what anybody said. They could say anything they
want to that man. We'll kill you, you do me a favor. In his
heart, he rejoiced. And all the Lord's sheep that
were there that day and saw his disciples, they rejoiced, celebrating. And us that read it now. If he
melts your heart, there's going to be wax all over your body.
Let's get Stanley Steamer in here and clean these carpets,
huh? But for the unregenerate, envy.
Verse 14, just like their father, the devil. Then the Pharisees
went out and held a council against him, how they might destroy him.
Oh, my prayer for us. My prayer for us. I don't say
it's for you. I forget my pastor reminded me
recently. He said, you need to just go
listen for you. Quit trying to find a message
for everybody and go seek the Lord's face. I pray he'd command
us. His word would go forth and command
us to stretch forth our hand, to reach out and touch the Lord
as he passes by. You'll find he's not too busy
to hear your heart's cry. He's passing by this moment,
your need to supply. Now reach out and touch him.
He's moving. He may not be here long. This
might be the last time he walks past. Reach out and touch him.
Confess him out in front of everybody. I pray his word come to command
us to believe him. Because I can't. Unless he makes
me believe, I can't believe. have everlasting life if we believe
on him. His command to come to him, to
seek him. That's what David said, seek.
When you said, seek ye my face, my heart said unto thee, thy
face, Lord, will I seek. Command me to seek you with everything
in me. And command fear not. I don't know if the Lord's healed
my hands. It's like in Valley of Dry Bones.
Oh, we're gonna die. Well, no, you was dead 10 minutes
ago. You're finally alive now. I pray you command, speak that
word, fear not. Look to me, fear not. Don't say
a word, fear not. Bring the infirmity to me, fear
not, fear not. Amen.