Gospel of Matthew, chapter 9. This story is recorded three
times in the scripture. It's in Matthew, in Mark, chapter
2, and Luke, chapter 5. And I do want you to turn to
those and find them so we can refer to them, okay? Mark, chapter
2. and Luke chapter 5, Mark 2 and
Luke 5. This story is recorded three
times. Anytime whatever is in God's
Word is of infinite importance, life and death, glorious story. But if it's recorded three times,
it's of great importance. And this is another story of
the sovereign Lord and sovereign Savior who came to save His people
from their sin. Jesus Christ didn't come to try
to save anybody. When His birth was announced,
the angels said that. Call His name Jesus, for He shall
save. Not try to save, not might save,
not make an attempt to save. If men let Him, He shall save
His people from their sins. His people. His sheep. All that
the Father gave Him, He said, shall come to them. He came to
save His people. He came to seek and to save that
which was lost. He told that story of the shepherd
who went seeking his sheep that was lost and when he had found
it. Not if, but when he found it. He finds all his lost sheep.
They are given him by the Father. And he said, in the end, of all
which thou hast given me, I have lost nothing. He's a sovereign
Lord. He's a sovereign Savior. He came
to fulfill a purpose given to Him by God in saving His elect
from their sins. And that's exactly what Jesus
Christ did. That's exactly what He did. In
verse 1 of this text, it says, He entered into a ship and passed
over, came into His own city, He entered into a ship. He gave
orders for this ship to be prepared. He told these disciples, get
me a ship. The Lord didn't ask anybody ever
for one thing. Kings don't do that. The Christ
of Scripture, the God of Scripture doesn't ask men anything. He
gives command. He sent for this ship. It was
His ship. Those were His men that He hand-chose. It says He came into His own
city. This was His city. The earth
is the Lord's and the fullness thereof. The world and they that
dwell therein. It's His. It all belongs to Him.
And I love how that every word that He spoke, every act that
He performed, every gesture He made, every step He took was
ordered in all things and was sure. according to God's eternal
purpose before the world began, to seek and to save, to find
his people and save them. And he found them all where he
put them. He put one man, a publican, up a tree. He had one woman at
a well waiting on him. And on and on it went. The Lord
had just left Capernaum, the city of Capernaum. and told his
disciples to get this ship. We're going across and he didn't
tell him why he didn't. The Lord God does not give an
account of his matters to anybody. But they did what they were told
and they crossed over because he had an appointment. He had
a divine appointment with an appointment which he made before
the world began with the man filled with devils. It was in
the tomb. He went all the way across that sea. The Lord will
go to great lengths to save one of his elect, because he must. He must. He crossed that sea,
his sea, mind you, and met that man in the tomb and saved him
and then told his disciples, get back in the ship. We're crossing
back over to Capernaum. Now there's somebody else over
there I've got to meet. There are no accidents. with the Lord. Everything is
by His appointment. You're not here by accident.
You're not here by chance. You're not here according to
your free will because you don't have one. You don't have one. The lot is cast to the Lamb,
yes, but the whole disposing thereof is of the Lord. That's what God's Word says.
We do what we will, we think, but we do what God determines
before to be done. That makes the world mad. That
makes me mighty glad that nothing's by accident. Nothing's by chance. There's no chaos. It's all ordered
and sure, according to our God's infinite wisdom and power. Our Lord just left Capernaum.
Now He comes back. It says He entered again in another
place. I think it's Mark's Gospel. Yeah,
go over there. Go over to Mark chapter 2. Some
things happen between verse one and two of Matthew's account.
And in Mark, chapter two, go over there. There's more recorded
here. I need to mark it myself. OK. The more is recorded, and
you remember the scripture that says, if all the things that
he said and did were recorded in books, the world couldn't
contain them. And that's partly why there are four gospels, to
give a different, not a different account, but more of the same
account. And in Mark chapter 2, it says
in verse 1, again he entered into Capernaum, a certain day.
Again. And I thought what mercy it was
that he came to the town of Capernaum. The Lord, again, the Lord sovereignly
chooses and chose where he would go. And he chose Capernaum. And he went there and did many
wonderful works there and saved some people in it. It's the same
today. His gospel, he sends his gospel
where he will to his people. And what great mercy it is if
the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ is in our town. It's not
everywhere. Not everywhere. What great grace
that he came to Capernaum And not once, but he came again.
He came back. What mercy that his gospel is
here, that the Spirit of Christ came and comes again and again. You know, we're not worthy of
this gospel. I'm not worthy to tell it, and you're not worthy
to hear it. And we hear it again and again. And we quickly forget
what we've heard, and we take it for granted, and we go on
as if we haven't heard anything at all. Hear of the Lord Jesus
Christ dying on Calvary's tree for such a worm as I. And we
go away, act like we didn't hear a thing, or fall asleep or something. Should he tell us that gospel
again? And I'm the same way. Should he tell
us again? But he does. Why? Because the
Lord is merciful and gracious. He knows our brain. Go tell John
again, the Lord said. Didn't He? To those disciples.
Go tell John was full of doubt. One day John's up, the next day
he's down. One day he's full of faith, the next day he doesn't
have any. And the Lord says go tell him again. And again, he came to Capernaum.
You see that? I couldn't pass that up. So again,
he came to Capernaum and look at read on. It says it was noise
that he was in the house. Where two or three are gathered,
Christ said, I'll be there right in the middle of the people.
He was in the house. He really is. And straightway,
verse 2, there were many gathered together, and so much there was
no room that received them, though not so much as about the door,
and he preached the word unto them. Those that were gathered
together, the Lord Jesus Christ preached the word to them. That's
what I need. I need this more than anything
else. Do you? I need the Lord, not a man, although
the Lord uses a man. And if we won't hear that man,
we won't hear from him. But the Lord does speak through me. I
need to hear from the Lord, don't you? He says, except you receive
the Word as a little child. The Lord spoke the Word to them.
The Lord spoke the Word to me. We need to be like Cornelius
every time we meet. We need to be like Cornelius
every time. We're here to hear. Who did He say that to? Peter. A man. But what He was saying
is, We need to hear what the Lord says to us through the Lord's
people. And he preached the word unto
them. The vast crowd was there. How
many heard it? I don't know. I don't know. I know there's one fellow that
heard it. I remember going to, there's
a big crowd here, and I don't know how many heard the The Lord,
what he said, it says in Luke's gospel, go over there, Luke chapter
5. They were present while the Lord was preaching. Luke chapter
5, look over there. The same account, verse 17. You
have it? Came to pass on a certain day.
This is when he's in the house. He was teaching. There were Pharisees
and doctors of the law sitting by. Sitting by the wayside, actually. They were in there. They've come
out of every town, Galilee and Judea and Jerusalem. They were
curious. What's the teacher, what's the preacher going to
say? That the power of the Lord was present. They didn't hear it. We're going
to see. They didn't hear it. The power
of the Lord is His Word. The gospel is the power of God
and salvation. But they didn't hear it. But
it was present. And whenever the gospel is preached,
The power of the Lord is present. Why didn't they receive it? Why
didn't the Pharisees receive it? They were there to criticize
it. They were there to catch him
at his word. They were there to be critical of it, weren't
they? Not like little children. One
man came in here, a helpless, hopeless sinner, and he went
out praising God. For infinite mercy to Him and
one man. So the Lord preached the Word,
and it says they brought to Him a man with a palsy. Look at Luke
5, verse 18. Behold, men brought in a bed
a man that was taken with a palsy. Now, all three Gospels tell us
that this man had a palsy. That's paralysis. Paralysis. He could not walk. He could not
walk. He never had. He could not come
to this place unless he was brought. Right? What does the Scripture
say? Christ said, you will not come
unto me that you might have thine. No man will. Not of him that
willeth or of him that runneth. But it's of God that shall have
mercy. And he said in another place, no man can come unto me
except God do something. Except God draw him. Except the
Father which has sent me draw him. You'd be at home laying
in bed right now if the Lord hadn't brought you. I wouldn't
be. Somebody brought this man. Well, verse 18 here in Luke 5,
it says, they sought means to bring him in to lay him before
the Lord. These men knew who Christ was. How did they know? God revealed
Him to them. There were four men, it says
in Mark's Gospel, born of four. Four men that were his friends,
or maybe his brother, and they knew the Lord. They knew that
Christ was the only way, that Christ was the sinner's only
hope, that Christ was the lame man's only help, that Christ
was the only way that this man is going to be healed, that this
man is going to be saved. Christ is it. The only one. They
knew Him. And they brought Him to Him. They brought their friend to
the Lord Jesus Christ. They sought means to bring Him
in and lay Him before the Lord. It was the Lord that they wanted
this man to be before. It was the Lord that they wanted
this man to be. It was the Lord that they wanted
this man to have. It was the Lord. Not my church. You know, I tell you, us all
the time, don't go, come to our church. Come here, come to our
church, because we have a family church. The church is called
the pillar and the ground of the truth. Come hear the truth.
Like that woman at the well, she ran home and says, come see
a man. Not the preacher. Come see the Lord Jesus Christ. Come hear the message of the
gospel. It just happens to be here. This is the only thing
we have here, the only thing we do. The term is not to know
anything among you, save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. They
wanted this man to hear the Lord, to meet the Lord. So they sought
means, you see that? They sought means to bring Him
in and lay Him before the Lord. The Lord uses means. He doesn't
have to. He doesn't always, but He does
use means. He has ordained means. The Lord
uses the means of prayer. He said, ask and you'll receive.
Seek and you'll find. He uses the means of prayer.
He uses the means of the word of witnessing. He uses that means. And we have them here. We have tapes and CDs and books
and tracts and so forth. And these men sought means for
this man to come and meet the Lord. And so they sought those
means. And we have them. And we don't
despise the day of small things. We don't despise the means. We
don't put our confidence in, our trust in. We don't glorify
the means. We please God by the foolishness
of preaching. Just a common ordinary. We have this treasure, an earthen
vessel, just a sinful man. But God is pleased to use them. We don't despise the means. We
don't trust the means. We don't glorify the means. But
we use the means. They sought means, and it says
they could not find means. They sought means and could not
find, verse 19, could not find by what way they might bring
him in because of the multitude. These four friends or brethren
loved this man. And they were concerned about
it. Wouldn't you like to have friends
like that? Better yet, be able to be a friend like that. The best friend a person can
be to somebody else is to tell them the truth. You know what? Tell them the truth. There's
another story. Peter and John went into the
temple, and the man asked alms and wanted some spare change.
He said, we don't have a health and wealth gospel. We don't have
any silver and gold to give you. But here's what we have, a gospel
of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what we'll tell you. The
Lord uses means. There's a brother in here, many,
but one in particular I'm thinking of that is such an encouragement
to me. tells me what a blessing the
messages are and even calls me. One time he called me at a time
when I greatly needed it. I was feeling like a horrible,
an abject failure, and he called me telling me what a blessing
the Word was to him. Well, that same man often gets
these CDs down there. Not many are obtained, but he
does, and he mails them out and gives them to his family constantly. He's obviously concerned about
them, like this man. What a friend. What a friend. What a brother. All right, now
go back to Matthew chapter 9. We're going to stay there, stay
in Matthew's gospel until I say leave. Keep Luke 5, OK? Keep Luke 5. We may come back
then. But they sought means, now what they did was, Mark's
gospel and Luke's gospel says that they climbed up on the roof,
the four men carrying this man on a stretcher, and they climbed
up on the roof. They couldn't get in the door.
There were too many people standing around. They couldn't get in
the door. They climbed up on the roof of this alley. You know
the story. And it was tile roofs back then, and they climbed up
on the roof of that. Can you imagine? carrying a man
on a stretcher, four men, up onto a roof. Did they want this
man to meet the Lord, or what? Did they believe the Lord? Did
they believe that His Word was His power? Did they believe that
it's the only thing that's going to make this man walk? Nothing
else. Not me talking to him, not me
doing anything, not anybody laying their hands on him. And they
climbed up on this roof and began to uncover the tile. And they
let this man down in the middle of this crowd on ropes, down
through the roof of that house, right down in front of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Can you imagine the hush that went over that
crowd, everybody? My, my. These men were desperate,
weren't they? They were desperate for their
friend. This man was desperate. He was going to die without Christ.
Desperate men seek desperate measures. You and I were talking about
those men that were guilty as charged, and they put ropes around
their neck, knowing that they possibly might be hung by the
King of Israel, but they're going to die if they don't get mercy
from Him anyway. So they came with ropes around
their neck, and they said, We hear that the kings of Israel
are merciful, and they went to him with ropes around their neck,
and he showed mercy. Ah, sink or swim, I've got to
get to him. And all three Gospels say this. Verse 2 of Matthew 9 says, Behold,
they brought to him. You see, when we went over there,
they didn't just, they went to great lengths to bring They brought
to him a man sick of the palsy, lying on the bed, and brought
him down through the roof. And it says, Jesus seeing their
faith. All three Gospels say that. Seeing
their faith. Now, he certainly knew who they
were, didn't he? Oh, he knew them long before
they knew him. You see, the foundation of God
stands assured, having this seal. The Lord knoweth them that are
His. These four men were His elect, His chosen. That's why
they knew Him. He foreknew. For whom He did
foreknow, He did predestinate. Whom He did predestinate, He
called by the gospel. Whom He called, justified and
he justified, he glorified his people. Seeing their faith though,
he certainly knew them and he certainly knew they had faith. Where'd they get this faith?
Where'd they get this faith? That they'd one day decide to
let Jesus into their heart? Did they accept Jesus as their
personal Savior? Did they? Did they accept Jesus
as their personal Savior? It doesn't say that in the Bible
anyway. It does say we're accepted in
the beloved. See, God's not the one up for acceptance. We are. We all reject him by nature,
as we just read. He will not come unto me. No
man can come unto me. They didn't know and believe
the Lord until the Lord revealed himself to them. You see, by
grace he is saved through faith, and that is not of yourselves. It's the gift of God. Nobody's
going to brag or boast because they believe Christ. No, no.
They're going to boast in him. They're going to thank him. They're
going to glorify him for giving them the faith to believe him. Faith's a miracle. Ephesians
1 says, according to the working of his mighty power. Making someone
believe in someone you can't see. Making someone hate what
they once loved and love what they once hated. Making someone
see their need of Christ who was blind. Someone hear the gospel
who was deaf. Someone walk who was lame. Someone
come who had the palsy. Salvations of the Lord. But he
saw their faith. You see, the Lord honors faith. The Lord gives it, and then He
honors it. That's just like a father, isn't
it? Isn't it just like a father, Wesley? You teach your children
all that you do. You bring them up to everything
they know, everything they have, you gave it to them. Everything
they know, you taught it to them. And then when they do something,
it's a reasonable service, but they do something that you taught
them with the things that you gave them, you say, good job,
well done, my good and faithful child. So it is with the Father. See their faith, what He gave.
But the Lord honors faith because faith honors the Lord. Faith believes Him and honors
Him and promises and acts upon Him. Lord, You said it. You said
ask, and I'm asking. You said seek my faith, so that's
what I'm doing. Faith honors the Lord. These
four fellows were persuaded that Christ was their only hope, their
friend's only hope, able to save, so they carried their friend
to Christ in spite of the crowd and obstacle, and the Lord saw
their faith. That's why I believe, and I'm
sure that some in here who have for so many years brought before
the Lord Jesus Christ in prayer and through the Word And those
that you are concerned about, I very much expect him to do
something for you. This is in keeping with his word.
That's what he does. He honors faith. And I can't
wait to say, I told you so. That is, he said so. Because
he's faithful. Now, here's the heart of the
story. Here's the heart of the story. If you haven't heard anything,
if you're a sinner, You listen up, okay? This is the gospel. This is the good news. Listen
up now, alright? Here, this man is lame from his
mother's womb. He has the palsy. He's lying
on a bed. He's helpless. He's hopeless.
He can't do anything. He can't do anything for Jesus,
and neither can we. What does the Lord Jesus need
with him? Nothing. Nor does he need us. But this
man needed Christ in him. He was brought to the right place.
Now look at it. Verse 2. He saw their faith,
Jesus seeing their faith, and said unto the sick of the palsy,
Son... Now to the naked eye, this is
a 33-year-old man standing there. I don't know how old this man
was lying in the bed. He could have been 40 or 50 or
60 years old. He says, son, how degrading, how condescending. No, what great mercy. As a father,
he had his children. This is the father. Call his
name wonderful. Counselor, the mighty God, the
everlasting Father. He that hath seen me, Christ
said, hath seen the Father. How can he be the son and be
the father? I don't know, but he is. Boy, things seem pretty good
for this fellow, don't they? They're looking up. Son? He calls him son. The Lord didn't
call everybody that, did he? He said, scribes, Pharisees,
hypocrites. He said, you're of your father
the devil. God's not the father of all mankind. He's plainly
said to some, you're of your father the devil. But all that
the Father giveth me, the children that thou hast given me. Adopted, chosen, born of God,
not of the will of the flesh, not of the will of man, born
of God, chosen of God, redeemed by Christ, regenerated by the
Spirit. My children, God's children. Son, if he says, calls us son, the sky is not the limit. Son, oh my, be of good cheer. Thy sins are forgiven." That's
the greatest thing a sinner could ever hear. That's why we always say, this
gospel is for sinners. It won't mean a thing. What the
Lord just said doesn't mean a thing to somebody unless they're a
sinner. Son, be of good cheer. Thy sins
be forgiven. That struck me. Be happy. Cheer up. Be glad. Be exceedingly glad, son. Your
sins are gone. Be happy. Smile. Your sins are gone. Past, wiped out. Everything you've ever done against
God, against man, is gone. Your present sins, You're going to be a sinner to
the day you die. And your future sin, maybe your
worst sins are yet to come, but they are forgiven. Every one
of them. I say, forgiven. Be of good cheer. Now, what about repentance? Our Lord said, except you repent,
you'll perish. This man hasn't said a word,
and he's not going to. You're not going to hear a word
of it. You don't know who this fellow is. That's not important, is
it? There's one important here. One
that we know. One to get the glory. We don't
know who he is. We don't know where he came from.
We don't know what he had, his possessions. We don't know what
he knew. It doesn't matter, does it? You know what matters here?
Here's a sinner. And the Lord said, His sins are
gone. But what about repentance? Except we repent and perish,
the Scripture says. Christ preached repentance. He
came to repent that the kingdom of heaven is at hand. John preached
repentance, didn't he? Repent. Paul said, I cease not
to warn you day and night. We're preaching repentance toward
God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ. Peter, all of them. This is the missing message today.
Repent. God is angry. God is holy. God
will punish sin. Repent. Repent. Repent. What
about repentance here? Did this man have any repentance?
Well, of course he did. Of course he did. But repentance
is not for you and I to see it. There was a woman that came in.
The Lord was in the house of the Pharisee. She came in and
was weeping the whole time that she was with him. She brought
in a box, a precious one, broke it over his head and began to
weep and wipe his feet with her hair of her head and wash them
with her tears and never said a word. And the Lord turned to
her in a little while. The Lord turned to her after
He rebuked these Pharisees that were just curious, just curious. No, he's a good speaker. In came
one sinner, and the Lord turned to her, turned his back on those
fellows and said, Woman, thy sins be forgiven thee. And she never said a word. The
Lord looketh on the heart. With the heart man believeth
unto righteousness. Like that woman, this man is
silent, but his heart is crying out. And the Lord sees it. The Lord gave it, and the Lord
sees it, and he says, Be of good cheer, thy sins be forgiven you. How can the Lord forgive sin? He will by no means clear the
guilt of sin. God can't just forget and forgive
sins. God must punish sin. The Lord
will punish sin. Every sin shall receive a just
recompense of a war. Now let me read to you. My glasses are working today. And let me read this to you in
Romans 3. Listen carefully. You don't have
to turn. Just listen very carefully. See, by the deeds of the law,
no one will be justified before God. Not what we do. The law is a
knowledge of sin. But now, the righteousness of
God, that God receives someone as holy, righteous before Him,
without the law, that is, without us keeping it, is manifest. It is revealed by the law and
the prophet. The righteousness of God, which
is by the faith of Jesus Christ, His faithfulness, unto all and
upon all that believe, Abraham believed God and it was counted
to him for righteousness. Not his works. with faith, and
even that faith was not a work, it was a gift of God. But all
have sinned. You know, many quote that, but
not what's before it and after it. But all have sinned and come
short of the glory of God. That's you and me. But how are
they justified then? How can God be just and justify? Justified freely by his grace.
Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is
God that justifies. Like that Pharisee and that publican
came into the temple. And Christ said that publican
is justified. That Pharisee is condemned. According
to who? According to Him. He said so. God justified. And Christ died
through the redemption that's in Christ Jesus, whom God set
forth to be a propitiation, that is a bloody sacrifice, through
faith in His blood to declare His righteousness for the remission
of sins. This man's sins were paid for
by Christ and Him crucified. You say He wasn't crucified yet.
Yes, He was. He's the Lamb slain before the
foundation of the world. He said your sins are paid for.
They're already paid for. This Lamb slain. The Lord knoweth
them that are His. He came in this world to lay
down His life, not for everybody, but for His sheep. To pay their
sin debt. To live their law debt. And He
fulfilled it. He paid it all, Christ Jesus,
all the debt I owe on Calvary's tree. And He said, your sins
are forgiven. They're paid for. They're put
away. I'll remember them no more. And I forgive you. We need both. We need pardon. We need justification. It's two different things. We
need to feel His pardon. We need to know that they're
gone. We need to know that they won't be brought up again. He
said they won't. Believe me, they won't. They'll
be sought. They won't be found. Why? They're on the heads of scapegoats.
Did that need to be said? I didn't preach the gospel unless
I did. Without the shade of blood, there's no remission of sin. Christ said, your sins are forgiven
you, because God didn't forgive me. God spared us, his people, but
spared not his own son. God laid on him the iniquity
of all of his people. He was made sin. Brother John
quoted it in his prayer. For us, God's people, who knew
no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.
Now, that's the gospel. Christ pardoned it. Well, look
at this. He said, Be of good cheer. Now,
this man is still lying flat on his back. He's paralyzed. He's still paralyzed. How could the Lord say, be of
good cheer? Well, if you have to ask that,
I don't reckon you're a sinner. Can you be lying flat on your
back and still be of good cheer? Huh? Can you be paralyzed and
still be of good cheer? Some of you know that name. Can
you be paralyzed, wheelchair-bound, and still be a good cheer? You have a brother, you believers
in here have a brother that you maybe never met named John Howsam.
He's with the Lord now. You'll know him someday. When
he was a young man in his thirties, he was at the pinnacle of his
profession. He was an architect in the Air
Force designing airplanes on his way up in promotions in the
airport. Married, had his first child,
a daughter. And the Lord gave him multiple
sclerosis. The Lord says, I won't, and I
heal. The Lord gave him multiple sclerosis, struck him down, and
it became worse until he was wheelchair bound. And in a wheelchair,
his speech began to slur. His motor skills began to lose
him. He had everything in this world.
And now he's losing it all. His health. His wife took their
daughter when she was how old? Just a young child, wasn't she?
And left him. And she didn't see him for 20
years. He didn't see her for 20 years. He was sitting in his apartment
and turned on the TV. Means, the Lord uses means. And
there was a man named Henry Mahan preaching the gospel. And that
boy heard it. That his sins were forgiven.
Through Christ. He heard Christ crucified. Saw
his need of Christ. He lost everything. But he found
it all in Christ. That Christ is all. He packed
up his belongings and moved to Ashland, Kentucky, where he sat
until the day he died, until he gradually deteriorated to
the point he couldn't function. Would you ever see John that
he didn't have a smile on his face? Huh, Tammy? You knew that.
Did you ever hear John complaining? No, sir. Can you be flat on your
back and still be a good chair? You better believe it. John has
some. This man. The Lord said, Be a
good chair. He's still paralyzed. Well, but your sins are gone. You know, we heal, we get our
health, and we're going to lose it somehow, aren't we? We're
going to lose it sometime. We're going to get sick and die
of something. But no matter. If our sins are
gone, all is well. All is well. Another story that most of you know. There
was a man who had vast holdings in Chicago named Horatio Spafford. The great fire in Chicago that
burned down that city, he lost all of his holdings. The Lord
taught him the gospel. And then he lost his son, his
only son. The Lord gave him four daughters,
four daughters. But he lived in New York. wanted to go to a meeting that
was being held in Great Britain and sent his wife and four daughters
on a ship over before him and he's going to meet them afterward.
And that ship sunk and all four of his daughters drowned. All four. And he took ship to join his
wife. She's all he's got. No, she's
not all she's got. But he took ship across, and
when they got to the spot, he asked the captain if this is
about the spot where the ship went down. The captain said yes. Do you know how grief stricken
he must have been? Do you know how... He took a pen out. began to write
a hymn. And here's what he wrote. My
sin, O the bliss of this glorious thought. My sin, not in part,
but the whole, is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord,
O my soul. It is well with my soul. All
is not well with my body, but it is well with my soul. All
is not well with my family. David said, although it be not
so with my house, yet the Lord hath made with me an everlasting
covenant, ordered in all things and sure, and this is all my
salvation. What is, David? What's your hope?
What's your joy? What's your gladness? What makes
you cheer up? That my sins are gone. And that's what everybody in
glory is going to be cried out for all eternity. Everybody,
not just Mama's there, but unto Him that loved us and washed
us from our sins in His own precious blood. Son, be of good cheer. Your sins are forgiven you. I bet he's got a smile on his
face. The Lord wouldn't have mocked him. The Lord wouldn't
have told him that if it didn't make him glad. And the Lord doesn't
tell the gospel to somebody that doesn't make them glad. He's
got a smile on his face now. Whether he walks out of there
or not, it's going to be okay, isn't it? Huh? Whether he stays
or whether he goes, he's standing on the rock now. His sin's gone. It's all good. Brother Scott
once said, I've never heard any bad news since I heard the good
news. And believe you me, brother Scott, it's a bad news. Sin's gone. Well, these Pharisees,
who can forgive sins but God? That's right. The priest can't
do it. The soul winner can't do it.
That one who pronounced forgiveness of sin must be God. He is. He's the only one that can. The
only one that can. And the Lord rebuked them, why
reason ye in your hearts? They were there to criticize.
They weren't sinners. That's the reason they didn't hear what
he said. They didn't need it. And our Lord said this, and I
quit. He said, which is easier to say, thy sins be forgiven
thee or arise and walk? Let me ask you that. Which is
easier? You know, that pinhead Pope over
in Rome, he wears that funny fish hat. You know, he says that
all the time. Your sins are forgiven. And all these phony priests,
you know, your sins are forgiven. Father, bless me. I bless you,
my son. That doesn't mean it's so. That
doesn't mean your sins are gone. They can say it all day long.
It doesn't mean it's so. But this man, this man, when
he says it, it's done. See, that's why you want him
to say, say unto my soul, I am thy salvation, David said. Tell me my sins are gone. Because
when he says it, it's done. Which is easier? To say your
sins are forgiven? To put away sin? Or say, get
up and walk? Neither is easier. With man,
it's both impossible. But with God, all things are
possible. Yeah, in Christ, it's certain.
And as if in person, as if As if in passing, as if this
is not of great importance that he walk yet. He said, and it's
in parenthesis, Then saith he to the sick of the palsy, Arise,
take up thy bed, and go to thy house. And he did. And he arose and
departed. And when the multitude saw it,
they marveled and glorified God that had given such power unto
men. They didn't understand. They still didn't know who he
was. God gave power unto man. This is God. This is the power
of God. This is God. But he went home, and Mark's
account, I believe, or Luke, I forget which, says that he
went home and he was glorified God. It says he was glorified
God. He went home. I don't know if
he was married. Could have been. But he was glorified
God. He came home. It's a real story.
He came home. What do you think his wife thought? He comes walking in the door.
He'd never walked before. He comes walking in the door.
She said, Honey, look, look, you're not paralyzed anymore.
He said, I've got better news than that. My sins are gone. Jesus Christ
said, My sins are gone. And yours can be too, if you
hear Him. You need Him. But Honey, you're walking now. Everybody walks. Here's a glory,
here's a miracle. I'm walking by faith. I have faith that He gave me.
I didn't have it before. That's a miracle. But, but, but,
but, here's glory. Christ puts away sin. That's good news. That's the
good news. May I hear it, but I sure need
it. All right, let's sing in closing. Number 199. This is a good hymn. John, if you'll come. 199.