Those of you who came out of
religion will recognize that hymn. I used to sing it a lot,
and I still do. as an altar call, so-called,
so to speak, at the end of a service, you know, invitation. Altar call,
they call it. Come down to the altar. Used
to have a bench, a mourner's bench, and a table. Altar call, you know. Well, we
sang that before the message, didn't we? We don't give altar
calls. We don't have an altar down here. We do. God's people have an altar.
It's not a piece of wood. It's a person. There's a bench, alright, for
mourners. It's called the mercy seat. And
it's in heaven itself. And it is a person. We don't give invitations. God
doesn't say by invitation. He says by command. Come. He says come. Not down
front, but to Christ. Don't move a muscle, Scott Richardson
would say. Come to Christ, but don't get
out of your seat. And the message is how God calls
people. The message. That's the call,
that's the powerful call. God pleased him by this foolishness
the world calls, or what the world calls foolishness. Foolishness
of preaching. Alright, back in our text. The Lord Jesus Christ was and is God Almighty. God that manifests in the flesh.
Peter preached at Pentecost one time. He said, you men of Israel
hear these words, a man, Jesus of Nazareth, a man, approved
of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs which God
did by him in the midst of you. You saw these signs and wonders
and miracles done by this man. And you have to know that he
is more than a man. Nicodemus one time came to him
and said, we know that God's with you. No man could do the
things you do unless God was with him, in him. These miracles proved who he
was. That he's God. But all these
miracles were performed by him and written down for us to read.
to show us a greater miracle, a much greater miracle. Everyone
whom the Lord healed physically died later of something. These weren't permanent. Their
physical healing, if they were blind, they kept their eyesight. But they died of something, disease,
sickness, something. These miracles were performed
by our Lord and written down for us to read to show us the
greatest miracle of all, the miracle of salvation, which only God can do. They said
no man can do these things that God do them through him. And
this, what we're talking about this morning, what we're going
to look at is only one that can perform this miracle. With man this is impossible.
The Jews of old said, who can forgive sin but God? John one time was in prison and
sent word to the Lord through a couple of disciples and said,
are you the one we look for or do we look for another? Are you
the Christ? And the Lord sent word back to
him to say to John, go show John again. Go show John again. Here's how you know I am who
I am. The blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers,
I mean the rotten lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the
dead are raised, and the poor have their gospel preached to
them, time and again. Our Lord here, it says in verse
1, it says, after this there was a feast of the Jews and Jesus
went up to Jerusalem. You know, in the story right
before this, it says He must needs go through Samaria. He must needs go through Samaria.
Why did He have to go through Samaria? He had an appointment. There was somebody going to be
there. See, our Lord came to seek and to save that which was
lost. The Father named him Jesus. Call his name Jesus, for he shall
save his people from their sin. He's the good shepherd who left
the ninety and nine and went into the wilderness to seek that
one lost sheep. Did he find them? Every one of
them. In the end, he said, none of
them is lost. I found them all. That's my name.
That's why I came. I've come to seek and to save
that which was lost. And so he did. This is a faithful
Savior. Christ came into the world to
save sinners. And that's what he did. If you're a faithful
preacher, that's what you'll preach. That he did what he came
to do. That he's the Savior. And I love
the thought that every step our Lord took was in the direction
of finding one of these lost sheep. And if you're one, He's
going to have you. And it says he must need to go
through Samaria. Well, here it says he went up
to Jerusalem. Why is he going to Jerusalem?
This is in the first part of his earthly ministry. He's about 30 years old. This
was about three years before he went to Jerusalem to be crucified.
But he's going up to Jerusalem. Why? He's got another appointment. There's somebody there that he's
going to see. Somebody needs him. Somebody
doesn't even know him. He knows him. A certain man. Well, in verse 2, it says, there
is at Jerusalem by the sheep market, or gate, a pool, which
is called in the Hebrew tongue Bethesda. It had five porches. Now, everything in God's Word
is significant. This is God's Word. And things
are written. Christ said, My Word is Spirit.
As a spiritual man. Jerusalem has always represented
the church. God's true people. Place of worship. Jerusalem. The house where the
temple is. Church of God. That's where Christ
will be. That's where you're going to find him. Where two
or three are gathered in my name, he said, that's where I will
be. That's where I will dwell. Sheep gate. gate. It mentions this sheep gate. Christ said, did not he say,
I am the door or gate of the sheep. Straight is the gate and
narrow is the way that leadeth unto life. What is that gate? It's not of what? It's a person. Christ said, I am the door of
the sheep. The straight gate. He said, I
am the way. I am the way. By which sheep enter into the
fold. You get into the fold, it'll be through me. By me. There
was a pool of Bethesda, it's called. A pool. A place where
sheep wash. A pool. A place where the sheep
wash. Bethesda means a house of kindness. So there's a pool here. And in
this house of kindness, where sheep can wash, What's that? Well, that's Christ, isn't it? A house of kindness. This is the place God has chosen
to put His name there. Where Christ is found, you'll
find a pool. Sheep, that is, will find a pool,
a fountain for sin and the unclean, where you can wash. Oh, is it
kindness if God has you lying there? and his good pleasure. Now look
at verse 3. In these porches, and the five
porches, what do those represent? I'm not sure, I don't know. I
know probably what came to your mind immediately. Five porches. Anything five points? Come to
your mind? In the house of kindness, you'll
hear of five points that all make up the truth. Man's utter
and total depravity, God's eternal, unconditional election of a people,
choice of a people, Christ's particular effectual saving redemption
of those people, the irresistible sovereign power of the Holy Spirit
to save everyone whom Christ died for, and every one of them
will be saved in the end, persevere to the end. You can just lie
right there. Rest right there. That all represents
the person and the work of our God and our Savior. Well, verse 3 says, Now in these
porches lay a great multitude of impotent folk, One time our Lord went to Jerusalem. I don't know if it was at this
time. It's not in this chapter. He went to Jerusalem. I didn't
look it up whether it was a separate time or not. The first time that
He went to Jerusalem. This may have been it. But the
first time He went to Jerusalem, He went straight to the temple.
Do you remember that? And he went into the temple and what
he found there were pharisees and scribes and lawyers and doctors
and religious people. What were they doing? It says
they were making money. That's what they were doing.
They were in it. They were in that place to make money. To
extort people for money. Get money from common people. And our Lord took a whip. He
didn't go there in a mission of mercy. He didn't go there
with an act of kindness. He went there and he plaited
a whip in anger and wrath. And he cleaned that place out.
He said, this has become a den of thieves. A den of thieves. That's all it is. And religion
is just that today. But our Lord came to this place
on a mission of mercy. And what you'll find, who you'll
find in this place at this particular time, to whom the Lord came on
a mission of mercy. Why this is a house of kindness.
What kind of people you find there? Not doctors and lawyers.
Not the well, not the righteous, not the whole. But the impotent. It says everybody
there. Look at that, verse 3. Everyone
there, a great multitude of impotent folk, of blind, halt. Blind halt. There was no government. Blind halt. Withered. And they were all waiting on
something. Waiting on a miracle to happen. Impotent folk. Impotent means,
we speak of God being omnipotent. That means all power. Potency is power. These people
were impotent. That means they had no power.
Male and female, they had no power. They were powerless. They were unable to do anything
for themselves. They were completely helpless,
powerless, impotent. That's who was here. That was
this man, this certain man. He goes on to say they were blind.
That means you can't see. I can't see. I'd like to say
I can't see. Can't see. Blind means can't
see a thing. Halt. A halt means you've been
stopped. Dead in your tracks. It means
you're lame. It means you can't take a step,
can't crawl even. You're halt. You can't move.
Paralyzed is what that means. Paralyzed. An old military term
you fellas used to hear all the time. You ever stand guard duty,
Brother Henry? Somebody approach, what's the
first thing you say? Halt! Stop right where you're at. Buddy,
you better halt. Hall. They were stopped dead. They couldn't move an inch. They
couldn't crawl if they wanted to. This man, he said, I can't. I can't. I can't move. Look at the next thing. It says
they were withered. Withered. That means everything
about them. They're faculties. Every one
of their natural faculty, bodily, their flesh, in their flesh,
dwelled no good thing. Nothing worked. They had hands,
but they couldn't perform anything with them. They had feet, but
they wouldn't walk. They wouldn't work. They were
withered. They had a mind, but it was gone. It was withered.
What's all this talking about? Everybody here was like that.
A great multitude. That's who Christ came into this
world to save. It's a faithful saying, Christ
came into the world to save sinners. What kind of sinner? Impotent. That means you can't
save yourself. No matter what you do. No matter
how hard you try. You can't do it. You've tried
and you've failed miserably. Try to do this. Try to work up
some kind of repentance. Work up some kind of faith. Work
up some kind of goodness or morality. Try to keep the law. Try, try.
I can't. I can't. I can't do this. And now, before I go any further, God's people, when Paul wrote
Romans 7, he wrote that later on after he'd been a believer
for years. He said, the things that I would
do, I can't do. I'm impotent. Later on he even said that. See,
God's people need Christ every day of their lives. It's not like the one-time thing,
you know, He comes and then He leaves us to ourselves. No, no,
no, no. God's people are blind. All people
are blind by nature, but when God comes and finds His people,
they are blind. The ones He finds, the ones He
heals are blind, can't see. Do you remember the Ethiopian
eunuch? that God sent Philip all the
way out in the wilderness? One man. One heathen fellow from Ethiopia. He was out there reading Isaiah
53. And he read that and read that.
He just came back from church. Just came back from the services.
And he heard message after message after message. He didn't get
a thing out of it. It all sounded good. You know,
they were reading from the Bible. And so he started opening his
Bible, and he was reading his Bible and going along in his
chariot, and he was reading, and he didn't get a thing out of it but God. He's one of God's
chosen, one of God's elect. God sent him a preacher. His
name was Philip Deacon. And Philip went out there and
said, Do you understand what you're reading? He said, How
can I? No, I'm reading it, but I don't
understand it. I see it, but I don't see it.
I see it, but I'm blind. Whoever this is talking about,
whatever this is talking about, I don't understand. Would you
show me? I'll show you. God showed him. Blind. Halt. Halt. Couldn't go any further. Oh,
my boy, that doesn't, if that doesn't describe even an old
believer. Lord, I can't seem to make any
progress. I seem to be exactly where I
started. Anybody? Lord, after all these
years, here I find myself impotent, blind, haught, It looks like,
I feel like that I should have by this time made some amount
of progress. I can't seem to, it looks like,
I feel like I'm going backward. Anybody? Withered. Withered. Talked about their
arm, their hands couldn't work. Who shall enter into the Holy
Blood. These are clean hands. How about you? Oh Lord. These hands. Your hand offended,
cut it off. My hands. He had clean hands,
withered feet. Can't walk. Can't walk. Stumble
and fall. Stumble and fall. Feet that won't
work. Mine, withered up. Anybody like
that in here? Anybody? Well, you've come to the right
place. The Pool of Bethesda. House of
Kindness. where someone comes to find such
people as that. Isn't it wonderful? A fountain
open for the unclean. The church is a hospital for
sinners. That's what the church is. The church is a hospital for
sinners where only sick people, I mean sinners, will find mercy. This is what every human being
needs at the hands of a holy God. Mercy. And you know, people wander in
here according to the purpose of God, sovereign purpose of
God. They wander in here and other
churches, local churches, and they will hear. When you go into
the church house where God has put his name, where the gospel
is, where God's people are, where Christ is promised to be, what
you'll hear is an old message. You'll hear it over and over
again. You'll hear it every time. And you will hear it. If you
don't hear it, you're not in God's church. You'll hear a message
of a holy God. You'll hear a message of fallen
man. When we talk about fallen man,
I mean dead in trespass and sin. Helpless, hopeless. You'll hear
these things all the time, constantly said, that man is dead, that
man is wretched. We sing that song, Amazing Grace,
that saved a what? Everybody everywhere sings that
hymn, don't they? But they've changed that word,
wretch, to save a man like me. You know that? But Romans 7 says, O wretched
man that I am. God only saves wretches. He said even to his people in
the church, he said, you don't know. You've forgotten. These
people whom the gospel had ceased to be sweet to, who had become
lukewarm, who could take it or leave it. He said, don't know
that you're wretched. That's the first thing he said.
Wretched. That means sinful. Stinking in yourself. Wretched. God looked down and said, they're
all stinking. That's what you'll hear when
you come in. You'll hear that. You'll hear about how man is
miserable, a poor, naked, blind, halt, lame. You'll hear man spoken
of like this, from God's Word. He's a worm. He's a worm. You'll hear man talked about
like a dog, a dead dog. That's what the Scripture says.
You ever seen a dead dog? Is this crude? This is Bible. You ever seen a dead dog on the
side of the road? Do you need that? Do you want
that? Is it good, nice to you, sweet
smelling to you? Is it something you can't live
without? That's man to God. That's what God, God doesn't
say anything good about man in this book, nothing. Dog, worm,
wretched, poor, miserable, blind, naked, hog, lame, lepers, unclean,
stinking. That's what you'll hear every
time you come in the church of God. Why? It's a hospital. Who's here? wretched, miserable,
poor, blind, naked, dogs, worms, sinners. And people walk in and they hear
that and they walk out and never come back. Why? They must not
be wretched, poor, miserable, naked, blind, haught, lame, a
sinner. Must not be a sinner. This gospel
is for sinners. Those that know, I can't do anything
good. In my flesh dwelleth no good
thing. God be merciful to me, the most
miserable sinner on the face of the earth. I've got good news
for you. You mean you can't do anything? No. Well, listen up. You're in the right place. You've
come to a house of kindness. It's the kindness of God to make
you realize you're a dog. That's not being cruel. It's
being truthful. You remember that woman, that
Syrophoenician woman that came to the Lord? And he ignored her. He said, Lord,
help me, help me. He ignored her. He didn't pay
anything. He ignored her like she wasn't even there. And she
kept that. He ignored her. And finally,
he said, I'm not going to give the children's bread to dogs. And he turned away. What did she say? Truth. It's truth. Everything you say
and do and are is truth. What about you? When you heard
all of these, I just told you what the Bible says about man.
What do you say about all that? Everything about it? I mean about
yourself. Is it truth? Is that the truth
about you? God said it. You don't just believe
it because God said it. You believe it because you feel
it. Because you know it from experience. Truth, Lord. She said, truth. But you know
dogs. Dogs, all they can expect and
hope to have is a few crumbs. My dog doesn't eat crumbs. You
know that? My dog doesn't eat crumbs. I know people who have dogs.
There's a man down in Crossfield, Tennessee who has a dog. I think his wife passed away
and his dog is his best friend, companion. He takes that dog
everywhere with him. Every single day of his life he goes to McDonald's
to the drive-thru and buys his dog a Big Mac. That ain't fit for dogs. Dogs
are supposed to eat bones and all that. Boy, if you're one
of the Lord's dogs. And our Lord marveled. And what
he said was, Oh, woman. Oh, woman. Great is thy name. He said, I haven't found faith
like this in all of history. Got all these good people. You
know, all these expect me. They think I'm just waiting to
drop everything so I can save those good people. And here I
have ignored you, not paid any attention to you whatsoever,
and said you don't deserve anything from my hand, and you said it's
truth. So therefore, I'm not going to withhold anything
from you. You're not getting crumbs. You're
going to sit at the table. Isn't that what Phibosheth did? And what would he say? Who am
I? A dead dog sitting at the table. That's the only ones that will.
My pastor preached that message one time on all dogs go to heaven.
Real dogs. So people come in and they leave. They hear these offensive things.
They're offended by it because they're not sinners. This gospel
is for sinners. Christ came, he said, to save
sinners. What kind? It doesn't say. That means no matter how bad. Not used to be. Now, Paul said, I am the worst
right now. Oh my, this gospel is good news
to sinners. They were waiting though, these
people, all of them were waiting on something to happen. The legend
had it, the story had it, that an angel went down, verse 4,
a certain season into the pool and troubled the water. And whoever
got in first, something happened, this miracle happened, and whoever
got in first was, whatever they had, they were healed of it.
They were waiting on a miracle, something to happen. And I wish
I had more compassion on the people of this world. I really
do. I really, really do. I wish I did. May the Lord give
it to me in the years to come, if I have any. But there are
a multitude of people all over this world waiting on something
to happen. Aren't there? And they go into these houses,
these various religious houses, you know, looking for something.
They don't know what they're looking for. They're looking
for something. They're waiting on something to happen. a miracle,
a sign, a wonder. But there's no cure, no miracle,
no salvation in signs and wonders. People go to a man, here's a
man who's had a bad, rotten life and he thinks, if I can just
start going to church, I'll be alright. No, that won't make
you alright. You think, I'll just get baptized.
That'll do it. Baptize. I'm convinced. It says be baptized. I'll be
baptized. I'll be. No, you'll be a sinner
when you come out of that water. It won't change you. Well, activities, programs, music,
tongues, miracles. None of that will do it. There's
only one hope for a sinner. Only one hope. for a sinner,
that the Lord Jesus Christ in sovereign mercy, he doesn't have
to, but in sovereign mercy that he will look on you, find you
where you are, come to you, call you, reveal himself to you, redeem
you, raise you up, have mercy upon you, put away your sins
by his precious blood, cover your shame and your nakedness
and your guilt with his righteousness. There's only one hope for one
for a sinner. Only one hope. Christ. I thought about this. You know,
the only hope for someone who does not even know what they're
looking for. These people didn't, you know,
they were waiting on something and people everywhere now, all
over. Waiting on something to happen.
Seeking something to happen. There's only one hope for someone
who does not know what they're looking for. And it is that he
is looking for them. You know that they won't be found,
Nancy. They're lost. And they won't
be found unless he finds them. And I tell you how the Lord said
it's done. It's this right here. It's preaching. Compel them to
come in. This is the message. We don't tell people what to
do here. We tell them who did what. We don't necessarily tell people
how to walk. We tell them who walked this
earth and why. My, my. Well, this is what happened
to a certain man. A certain man. I know you saw
that, Sherry. A certain man. Verse 5 says there was a certain
man there. He had to get there. Boy, this
is his lucky day, wasn't it? There ain't no such thing as
luck. Scripture says this so many times,
a certain man, a certain woman which had an infirmity, a certain
man had an infirmity, a certain man. God's salvation is for certain
individuals. Salvation is something that God
Almighty has purposed before the world began, a fixed purpose,
certain, ordered in all things and sure. According to his will
and his counsel and the covenant he wrote down, the foundation
of God's standard is certain or sure. Having this seal. Boy, some people don't like this.
I do. If my name is in that book, it's
sealed. If I'm in Christ, one of God's
chosen, In the ark, what did God do to that door? Sealed it. Inside and out. Sealed. It standeth sure, certain, having
this seal, the Lord knoweth them that are His. He said, I know
my sheep, and I am coming to find them. And He does. Coming to find them. Oh, my. Oh, may one of His sheep be in
here this morning. A certain man said he had an
infirmity. Thirty-eight years, when it said
he was impotent, what it said, infirmity, I believe he was all
these things. You know, when the Scripture
says he healed the lepers, he healed the blind, he healed the
deaf, he healed the lame, he healed those cast-out devils,
God's people are all of those things. They have all of those
infirmities. Thirty-eight years. A long time
he lay in this infirmity. This man was helpless. He'd laid
there a long time. I don't know how old he was.
Maybe thirty-nine. Thirty-eight. All his life he'd
laid there helpless like this. And he would have died. Listen
to me. Stay with me. A few more minutes. The end of this is wonderful. He would have died. He would
have laid right there. until he died, unless somebody came to him. You see? We have people that were concerned
about our children, our spouses, our parents, and so forth. And
we've talked to them. We've done all we can do. You
know, with man, it's impossible. Isn't it? You've talked to your
father, your mother, your husband, your wife, your children until
you're blue in the face and you've quoted all the scriptures you
can quote. You've given them all the tapes you can give them.
Haven't you? I can't do it. We can't do it. What's there hope? That if he
does it, or if he does it, it's done. Well, the Lord, look at
verse 6, when Jesus saw him, when the Lord saw him, the Lord
Jesus Christ came to him, the Lord looked upon him, the Lord
spoke unto him, this was a confrontation. The Lord himself came to where
this man was personally, and it was a personal confrontation.
And that's what it will be for you, for me, for us, everyone. Christ said, My sheep hear my
voice. And you tell me if it's not so
with you. Those of you whom Christ has
revealed himself to through the preaching of the gospel, when
you first heard it and when you continue to really hear it, does
it not seem to you that he's speaking to you and you only?
I don't know how many times you've said to me, not only at first,
But now, when you hear a message, you say, that was for me and
me only. Juanita, you say that to me all
the time. You say, now Paul, I'll tell you. That's good preaching,
wasn't it? That's what she said. She said,
now that was for me and nobody else. Well, that's the way it's
supposed to be. If the Lord speaks, He speaks
to you. He'll speak to you. And he saw
Him. The Lord, He said, My sheep hear
My voice. Only when Christ is pleased to
speak will we hear. My father and mother, you know,
I heard message after message after message. I grew up under
the sound of the Word and, you know, it seemed like I was interested. One day. One day, I thought, that's the only one
in there. I thought, he's speaking to me. Only when the Spirit of Christ
wrestles with us like Jacob, There came a time, finally, when
a man came to Jacob and got him down on the ground and said,
ìWhatís your name?î Well, this man, it happened.
Verse 6, it says, ìWhen the Lord saw him lie a long time in that
case, you know, the Lord said, ìBefore I formed you in the belly,
I knew you.î How long has he known his people before the world
began? He knew them a long time. Now,
he said in verse 6 to the man, "...wilt thou be made whole?" Now, the Lord is not saying to
this man like these false preachers do to everybody, will you accept
me as your personal Savior? Are you willing? I'm willing.
Are you willing? I came and I can't do anything
unless you let me. He's impotent. He can't do anything
unless the Lord lets him. The Lord came to this certain
man. He's not coming to ask him anything for information. He's
not coming to see if he'll have him. He's coming to have him.
He's coming to heal him. He came from heaven for that
certain man. He's not asking him for information. The Lord never asks anything
for information. He's omniscient. Will thou be made whole? It is God that worketh in us,
both to will and to do of his pleasure and his good pleasure.
Thy people are made willing in the day of his power, not of
him that willeth, him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy.
We are not born of blood or the will of man or the will of the
flesh, but of God. He is not saying, Are you willing? If you are willing, I am willing.
If you will just let me do this, I want to do it, I am standing
here, that is why I am here. And if you won't let me do it,
I can't do it. That's not what he's saying. What he's doing
is demanding a confession out of this fellow. Like Jacob. What's your name? He knew his
name. He knew his name. He came for
him. This is the God of Jacob. He came to Jacob to wrestle with
him. He said, What's your name? Not like he found the fellow,
he didn't know who he was. He got him down and said, What's
your name? Jacob means cheat, scoundrel,
no good, usurper, sinner is what it means. What's your name? Confess
it right now. What's your name? Jacob. Esau
said that about his brother. His name Jacob, and that's just
what he is. Jacob didn't know it yet, Kelly,
until God got him down and said, What's your name? He said, Jacob.
That's my name. That's what I am. This man, the Lord said, wilt
thou be made whole? Here's his confession. He said,
Sir, I have no man. But when the water is troubled,
put me into the pool. And while I'm coming, when I
make some attempt to get in, somebody gets in before me. He's
saying here, I'm without help, I'm without strength, I'm without
hope. Nobody can help me. I have no
one who can save me, who can help me, put me in that pool.
In fact, I'm less than the least. I'm not first. Everybody else
seems to be able to get in the water. I can't move. I'm last. I'm always last. Let me get this
straight. You're saying, That even if you were willing,
you couldn't? You're saying that there's no
one anywhere that can do anything for you, and you can't do anything
for yourself? You're impotent? Huh? No power? That you're not the
first? That you're not the best? That
everybody else is better and faster and bigger and stronger
than you? That you're the last and the least? That you're last,
the chief? Is that what you're saying? Yes.
Rise! Rise. Take your bed up. Walk out of here. And he did. Oh, you don't mean surely. Surely
it's something I've got to... With a word, the Lord Jesus Christ,
with one word, absolves His people of all their past, all their
present. Are you hearing this? Is there
a center? Is there an impotent, lame, halt,
blind, no good, wretched center in here, huh? Now it used to
be. With a word, and here's the word
every time, a faithful saint, Christ came to save sinners.
And with a word, he absolves us of all our past. It's over. He said, I'll not remember it
anymore. It's not there. Past is not there. Your present
is not there. Your future is not there. holy, unblameable, unreprovable
in God's sight, justified from all things, all manner of sin,
and forgiven, freely forgiven, justified by His grace, freely
through the redemption that's in Christ Jesus our Lord. Is
that the best news? Anybody in here? It's about the
best news you've ever heard. It can't get any better than
that. Not for a second. Take up your bed, that old bed
you were lying on. And all these years, pick it
up, get out of here, don't lie on that earth anymore. Walked. And he did. He walked. And it goes on, I don't have
time, but the rest of the story is he walked out of there and
some religious people immediately said to him, why it's a Sabbath
day. You can't do that on a Sabbath
day. They'd seen him for 38 years
lying in that state, and all they could say was, You're not
wearing your hair right. You can't cut your grass on Sunday. Man, oh man. My sins are gone. And the Lord met him later on,
and he said, I'm doing what I'm doing because he told me to.
If he told me not to carry it, I wouldn't. But he did, and he
told me. And the Lord came to him and said, you're a hoe. Don't listen to what they say.
I've made you a hoe. Oh, my. If we confess our sins,
he is faithful and just to forgive our sins. And the blood of Jesus
Christ, God's Son, cleanseth us.