If so, the Lord just might speak
to us. Back to John chapter 5 now. John chapter 5. Wednesday night we looked at
this passage of Scripture. This story,
we looked at it as a picture of salvation, and indeed it is. This is a picture of salvation.
Let's read verses 1 through 4 again, in John chapter 5, and I just
want to rehearse some of these things. After this, there was a feast
of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. Now there is at Jerusalem, by
the sheep market or gate, a pool, which is called in the Hebrew
tongue Bethesda, having five porches. In these porches lay
a great multitude of impotent folk, of blind, hawk, withered,
waiting for the moving of the water. An angel went down at
a certain season into the pool and troubled the water. Whosoever
then first, after the troubling or moving of the water, stepped
in was made whole of whatsoever disease he had. Now, in verse 5 it says there
was a certain man there who had an infirmity thirty and eight
years. This is a picture of salvation. This story of this man who had
an infirmity a long time, 38 years, and that's a picture of
mankind who fell in his father Adam. This man couldn't walk. He was laying on both legs. He
was infirm. impotent. He was powerless. And
we are born without help, without hope, without strength, born
in sin. We live in sin. We're born blind. Verse 3 says, impotent folk,
powerless, unable to come to God, unable to call on God. A
blind cannot see God, cannot see ourselves. Halts ready to
quit, withered. And this man lay by a pool, this
pool of Bethesda. He lay by this pool waiting on
a miracle to happen, waiting on someone or an angel to move
the waters and then if he could just get into that pool. And
this is a picture of a man and a woman, men and women who are
in search of a miracle, looking for signs and wonders, or men
and women who are looking for what they don't know, looking
for something. Men and women are religious,
most everyone's religious, and they trust in many things, many
things that might save them. Many people get in the waters
of baptism and hope that that might count something. like this
man. And in verse 6, turn down there,
look at verse 6, and it says, When Jesus saw him, I knew that
he'd been there a long time in that camp. When the Lord saw
him and knew him. And verse 5 said this was a certain
man. And the Lord saves certain men
and women. The Lord saves certain individuals. The Lord elects a people. God
has chosen a certain number of men and women, certain people,
to be the objects of his sovereign mercy and his sovereign saving
grace. And when the eye of God's sovereign
love and mercy and grace comes to them, then they're saved. They're healed from this sin. Look at verse 7. The impotent
man answered the Lord, and after being asked, will you be made
whole? He said, I have no man to put me in the water if someone
gets in there in front of me. This man was ignorant of who
was standing before him. He was ignorant of the Christ, of true healing,
and so are men and women by nature ignorant where salvation comes
from. It doesn't come from the waters
of baptism. It doesn't come from a profession
of faith. It doesn't come from anything
but Christ. Christ is the water of life. If we're immersed in him, found
in him, then we're saved. We're healed from this sin disease. Verses 8 and 9, Then the Lord
saith unto him, Rise, take up thy bed, and walk." And immediately
the man was made whole and took up his bed and walked. The same
day was the Sabbath. One word from the Lord Jesus
Christ. Christ is the word. We sung that
in that song. He is that holy word, the truth
that saveth me. One word from him, or one word
from God's word that speaks to our heart of Christ and causes
us to look to him by faith. Immediately, the soul that hath
leaned for repose on the Lord Jesus Christ is healed from sin. Healed immediately. Faith immediately,
instantly saves those who look to Christ. But now I want us
to look at this story in a little different light. All right? That's a beautiful picture. We've
already gone over it twice now. We could certainly dwell there
some more, but I want us to look at this in a little different
light. I want us to look at this story
as a picture of someone who has gone through an outward change, someone who has gone through or experienced
some sort of miraculous change, something has happened in their
life to cause them to maybe think about God, think about salvation
or something, yet they're not saved. They're not saved because
they don't, if they don't know Christ. This man didn't know
who healed him. If we don't know Christ, we're
not saved. I don't care what change has come over us. Look
at verse 9. Verse 9, now it says this man,
immediately the man was made whole and took up his bed and
walked, and on the same day was the Sabbath. Now let me just
address this for a moment. We touched on this Wednesday
night, but it needs to be dealt with a little more in depth. The Sabbath. And if you'll notice,
this is the first thing that caused the ire and the anger
and the wrath of these religious people. And this is when they
begin to plot and plan to kill the Lord Jesus Christ. This is
what started it, this Sabbath question. It's the same that
holds true to that. I think we'll see that. Listen,
there are many, many people who experience miraculous cures and
then become religious, like this man. The Lord found him in the
temple. Yet being religious is not salvation. Knowing God is. Knowing the true
Christ, that's salvation. Many people experience a real
change. They turn over a new leaf. They
get religion. They make a profession. They
quit their drinking, quit their smoking, and they're very zealous
toward the Sabbath and so forth. But that's not salvation. Knowing
Christ is salvation. Look at verse 10 and 11. The
Jews now, they persecuted this fellow. They questioned him. They grilled him. The Jews came
unto him. It was cured, and so it's the
Sabbath day. It's not lawful for thee to carry thy bed. Put
that bed down. Oh, my. How strict religionists
are about things that are just not that important. That's what
our Lord said to the Pharisees. You pay tithe of men and anise
and cumin. You're very careful about these
things, but have omitted the weightier matters of the law. Mercy is one of them. And verse 11, the man answered
them best he could. He said, Well, he that made me
whole, the same said unto me, Take up your bed and walk. Now, this man was cured. This
man did what the Lord told him, and he even suffered some persecution. He went through a little persecution.
He got religion, and he went out and told people. A little
bit about it. About like the man in John chapter
9. Do you remember that story in John 9? The blind man? Who
was partially healed and saw men walk in his tree. He had
known Christ. And Christ came to him later.
Do you remember that story? Well, this is very similar. Now
these Jews were strict Sabbatarians. You could very easily call these
Jews seventh-day Adventist. I'm not poking fun at anyone
in particular, but I'm just telling you just how the same, everything's
the same, nothing's changed. These Jews would be staunch,
strict seventh-day Adventists if they were here today. They are here. These self-righteous
Jews. They carefully kept the Sabbath.
They were very careful about the Sabbath. Very careful. The Sabbath was their religion.
They might not admit it. They would say they worshiped
God. But no, the Sabbath was their religion. You take away
that, and they wouldn't have anything to get excited about.
Really. My pastor brought that out one
time in an article. He said, you take the church,
so-called Church of Christ denomination, you take away baptism in the
name of Jesus only, and they have nothing. You take away Catholicism,
you take away the mass out of Catholicism, they have nothing
to get excited about, nothing to distinguish them. The Seventh-day
Adventists, you take away their worship or their insistence on
the Sabbath, and they have nothing to distinguish them from. and
so on and so forth. Down with that Baptist. You take
away baptism, they have nothing to distinguish themselves or
get excited about, right? How many of you baptized? Baptists
are good about that. How many of you all baptized
last month? They take great pride in that. Take away these things,
you have nothing to distinguish them or get excited about. Well, these fellows were very,
very, very careful about the Sabbath. That was their religion,
not the Lord of the Sabbath. They were more taken up with
keeping a day than they were taken up with Christ himself.
Matter of fact, they didn't know him. And they refused to hear what
he said about the Sabbath. Our Lord said things about the
Sabbath. You know, our Lord mentioned the Sabbath several times in
the Scripture. He never once said, keep it. Did he? I challenge any man anywhere
to find where the Lord Jesus Christ said, now you keep the
Sabbath. Did he? Didn't do it, did he? Matter
of fact, matter of fact, the Lord said man was not made for
the Sabbath. It was Sabbath for man. And he gave the illustration
one time of David, whom he called himself the son of. Going in
the very holy place and getting the showbread, table of showbread. You talking about desecrating,
what they thought was desecrating. David went in the tabernacle
and got the showbread and passed it around. And they ate the showbread, David. And you said Christ broke the
Sabbath every time he did something on the Sabbath, didn't he? Christ
said man was not made for the Sabbath. The Sabbath was made
for man. We did go and learn what that means. I believe we
have. Thank God, I believe we have. Our Lord said, come unto
me and I'll give you rest. That's what the word Sabbath
means, rest. Things that are spiritual discerneth
all things. Rest. Are you rested? Yeah, I
keep Saturday. Are you not rested? That's a
rest, that's a refuge of life. We're not keeping it, though
we think we are. Are you resting? Yes, I'm resting,
fully resting. Where are you resting? What are
you resting in? A person. A person there remaineth
therefore, Ephesians 4 says. to those that know it. There
remaineth therefore a keeping of the Sabbath to the people
of God. Christ is the believer's Sabbath. Christ is the believer's resting
place. Christ is our rest. He said,
Come unto me, I am the Lord of Sabbath, and I will give you
rest. Because, you see, what was the
Sabbath all about? Why did the Lord ordain the Sabbath? Why? It was that men might rest
from their works, right? The Jews were under strict bondage,
plus they were go-getters. They were just like men today
in that if, you know, the almighty dollar and all that, they worked
seven days a week to get ahead. Right? The Lord said, no, you're
going to rest on the Sabbath. You're going to rest the seventh
day and you're going to devote it to me. Is that all that means? Is that
what that's all about? No, it's spiritual. God's word
is spiritual. He says, my words are, Deborah,
he said, my words are spirit and they're life, didn't he?
He said, they that are spiritual discerneth all things. They compare
spiritual things with spiritual things. They compare the Old
Testament with the New Testament. The Old Testament is spiritual
in its essence, as well as the New Testament. What's the Sabbath
all about in the Old Testament? Same as the Sabbath in the New.
It's a typical, and Hebrews 4 talks about it. He says, because he
that hath entered into his rest hath ceased from his own works,
as God did from his. What's the Sabbath all about?
What was the Sabbath all about? It's typical of Christ, who is
our rest, whom we enter into and cease from our works. as
God did from him. Christ is our Sabbath. Sunday
is not a Christian Sabbath. God never did say we're going
to change the Sabbath to Sunday. He taketh away the first, the
man establishes the second, or that is, the first, the law,
and so forth, and this thing like Christ arose from the grave
on the first day of the week. As the law pictures death, and
in Christ there's life. Oh, the New Testament church
went from meeting on that seventh day, which typifies the law and
death and the letter, and moved to the life in Christ, the newness
of the Spirit? Yes, but that's not our Sabbath,
either. We don't rest in Sunday as a
day and keep it before God and say, I'm keeping Sunday, I wouldn't
dare mow my grass, and God's going to accept me therefore.
No, Christ is our righteousness. Besides, every day is the Lord's
Day. A man must worship God in spirit
and truth on Monday as well as Sunday. You know, like Romans
10 we just studied, many are ignorant of the righteousness
of God, ignorant of the law, don't hear the law, and therefore
going about to establish a righteousness according to the law. And these
Jews of old were trying to keep the Sabbath. And they were ignorant
of it. They knew it a little better
than they don't know it now, those who endeavor to keep it. Because the law, oh, was so strict. Well, look down at verse, this
man, these Jews, these Jews, these Jews were going about to
keep the Sabbath, all right? very strict about it. Well, this
man was doing what he was told. He's walking according to the
light given him. That's good, isn't it? We walk
according to the light God gives us, and he gives us more light.
And the Lord said to him, Now whatsoever he saith unto you,
do it. You see, we're under But it's not the old covenant. It's
not the old law. The law of the keeping of the
Sabbath. It's the law of liberty. The law of Christ. And whatsoever
John, whatsoever he sayeth unto you, do it. Do it. Better do it. He said, I say
unto you, whoever breaks the least of these commandments and
teaches men so, judgment is on them. All right? What commandment? The things he was saying there
in Matthew 5. And whatever he says, John, chiefly,
do it. Do it. It will be well with you. But I tell you what, though,
you've got to know Christ to be saved, though. You've got
to know Christ. Look at verse 12 and 13. Then
they asked this fellow, well, who told you you could take up
your bed and walk? Who told you you could do this
or do that on the Sabbath. Well, he did. The same that made me whole,
he said, take up your bed and walk. Pick your bed up and go
home. You see, it was so strict. The Lord was so strict. Why was
the Lord so strict about the Sabbath? Barbara, you couldn't
pick up sticks on Saturday. I mean, you couldn't bend down
and pick up sticks. You couldn't travel away from
home. You couldn't, you couldn't do anything. If you're going
to really keep it, you had to better just sit in your home
or in the, in the temple. If you, if to defend in one point,
you've broken it. Why was the Lord so strict? Because
he's very strict about faith in Christ. Right? Any addition to. Any subtraction to Christ and
Christ alone as your acceptance before God, you're guilty. Are you with me? It's very important. Any addition to the blood and
the righteousness of Christ as your acceptance before God, any
subtraction from that, take away from it, you're guilty of offending
at every point. Every point. Well, look at verse 12 and 13,
and they said, who told you to take up your bed and walk? He
that was healed didn't know who to walk. For Jesus had conveyed himself
away, a multitude being there. He got out from the multitude.
He got out of that mess. And religion is a mess. It's
in a mess. And Christ is not in it. He's not. You say that's awful
bold, preachers say that. We have many instances like this.
Christ just did not save people in that mess. In that mess. That Jewish synagogue was a mess. Oh, it was what the Lord told
them to do, sacrifices and all that. Remember in Isaiah 1? where
they were bringing sacrifice and sacrifice, and the Lord said,
This stinks. Remember that? It's a stench
in my nostrils. Remember that? And so is religion
today. It's a mess. It's a mess. And if we're going to meet Christ,
we're going to have to go without the camp. That's what the Hebrews
say. Go unto him without the camp,
outside of organized religion, outside of the majority belief. Go to him without the camp. Meet
him away from the multitude of voices. You will not be saved
by coming to the front, by making a big show of religion. You see,
that's just what religion's all about, a show. And the sole winner, see, when
somebody comes down front and makes a profession, the sole
winner gets a notch on his belt, and so does the person who makes
the decision. They get a little credit there.
But we'll be saved when Christ comes to us alone. That's what
the Lord said there in Matthew. He said, when you pray, you go
home and get in your closet, and your Father would see it
in secret. We'll reward you up with that.
That woman at the well. Remember that? The disciples
had gone into town to buy meat. Christ appeared to that woman
just he and her, alone. He and her alone. You remember
the woman that came in to wash his feet with her tears and dry
them with the hair of her head? She and her. You remember the
woman they brought in, caught in the act of adultery, and he
began to write in the sand, and they all dispersed, and eventually
it was just he and her. He came to a fellow who was up
a tree. I mean, he was up a tree. He was in bad shape, up a tree.
And the Lord said, Come down from there, Zacchaeus, and I'm
going to your house. I must abide at your house. Let's
get out of here. I'm going home with you. Salvation
is coming to your house. Salvation is coming to your house. God will not share his glory
with another. Well, not with a man and not
with a denomination. Christ must get all the glory.
I told a brother the other day on my letter, his son is moving
up into West Virginia, and his son doesn't believe the gospel.
He doesn't know Christ. And he's moving up to West Virginia,
and he'll be near where a gospel church is there. And I told him,
and I know he feels the same way, I said, you know, I don't
care who my daughter And I'm sure you don't care who your
son hears the gospel from as long as he hears it and believes
it. It doesn't matter. Now, this man had received mercy. Look at it. This man, it says,
was made whole. He took up his bed and walked. This man had received a miraculous
recovery. Who gave it to him? Who did this
to him? The Lord Jesus Christ, all right? But he didn't know
it. He didn't know Christ. He didn't acknowledge him when
they said, who did this for you? When they said to that fellow,
who did this for you? I don't know. And this is the same way that
men and women are today. All men and women and children,
for that matter, receive everything from above. A man can receive
nothing except it be given him from above. Every man and woman
and boy and girl has what they have by the grace of God. Everything. Every good and perfect gift cometh
from above, and that because of Jesus Christ, the one sitting
at the right hand of God. God's blessings are in the Son. If the Son had not come and died
and did what he did for a certain people, God would have destroyed
this world a long time—he just destroyed Adam. There'd be no mercy now. There'd
be no grace. There'd be nothing good for man.
He's not deserving of it. And it's all through Christ.
You see, you remember the story of Joseph on the throne in Egypt?
Pharaoh had given all the storehouses into the hands of Joseph to distribute
as he would. All right? Who was it all about? What was it all about? What was
the story all about of Joseph? Joseph was on the throne. Joseph
was in charge of the storehouses. Joseph doled out all the food
and everything. If anybody got any food, they
got it from Joseph. If you have any food, if you
have a home, if I have a home, I have any food, I have any good
thing, I get it from the hands of the Lord Jesus Christ, who
has all authority over all things, and whose hands are all the blessing.
Whether I know him or not, whether I thank him or not, he's given
it to me. And do I like no man? I think my lovers are giving
it for me. I think I, by my own strength and power, have gotten
this thing. It's the Lord Jesus Christ giving it to me. And Romans 1 says that very same
thing. It says, Though they knew God,
and though they knew this, and you're hearing it now, and I'm
hearing it now. but were not faithful, never raised their
hearts or minds and souls to God, and thanked God through
Christ for his mercy and grace in every good and perfect gift,
he said, because they weren't faithful, God's going to leave
them alone and cast them out of me. And Joseph, the story of Joseph
goes on to say that Joseph doled out to everybody. Everybody got
from Joseph, but all his brethren. That's who got the special blessing.
You see, the scripture says he's the Savior. God is the Savior
of all men. Scripture says he's the Savior
of all men, or that is because you live right now. It's God
that giveth us breath. The God, Daniel said, in whose
hands thy breath is. Why are we breathing now? God
says breathe. It's his breath. the God in whose hands thy breath
is, and all thy ways, and every good and perfect gift you have
not glorified and thanked him, he says, now therefore prepare
to meet him." Scripture says he causes the
rain to fall on the just and the unjust. There's a wicked
man out there plowing his field, and that's wicked. He doesn't
thank God for his land, for his plow, his horse, his mule, and
the seed that he puts in the ground, if he doesn't thank God
for all. And in all, he's a wicked man. What he's doing is wicked. But God, hear God, in his reign,
hear God, rains down his crops, and they grow up, and he gets
food, and he gets clothing, and his family's well, and everything's—it
is not well with him. Say to the wicked, John, say
to the wicked. It shall not be well with them.
Now what Isaiah said. Let's say. You see. We get everything we
have. We are what we are. Paul said,
by the grace of God, a gift of God. What do we have that we
have not received? Here's your husband. Here's your
home. Here's your son. Here's your
two sons. Here's your three daughters.
Here's this. Here's that. Here's your car.
Here's your job. Here's this. Here you go. Here, here, here, here. Thank you. What do you think God thinks
about those who never thank you? Who gave you all this? Where'd
you get all this, man? Well, I worked hard for it. I
went up, I moved up the ladder. I worked hard. I worked overtime.
God's angry. God says you thank Him. I gave you everything. I gave
you a mind to think and hands to work, and you don't give me
the glory? Let not the strong man glory
in his strength. Let not the wise man glory in
his wisdom. Let not the beautiful woman glory
in her beauty. Let not anybody glory in anything
but glory in the Lord, who did all the things for us." This
man didn't know Christ. He didn't know who healed him. Oh my, but God is rich in mercy. That was us. That was me. That
was you, wasn't it? Huh? My father-in-law, a hard-working,
industrious young man. I looked at a picture of him
the other day, and he was about thirty years old. Man, a picture
of strength. Just a picture of biceps bulging,
and he used to work Ricky worked eighteen hours a day. He worked
at Armco for ten or twelve and go build a house on the side,
another eight, as long as it's daylight. And then sometimes
afterwards. Six days a week. He worked seven if it just wasn't
looked down on, you know. And just got and obtained and
got and obtained and worked hard and worked hard and became relatively
well off as a young man. And all his days, growing up,
he thought, and looked down on people who didn't have, if you're
just willing to work hard, you'd have it too, you know. Look at
me. Ask him now. He's going on 70 years old. He's had triple bypass surgery.
Couldn't lay a brick if he tried. Where'd your strength come from?
Where'd all you have come from? He'd saved by grace. It's all
about grace. Everything I had, I received. Oh, my. Well, look at, and I'm
going to close here. I've got to deal with this. Look
at verse fourteen. Afterward, Jesus findeth him
in the temple. Now, this is salvation, not us
finding him. let him find in us. And he found
a bunch of us in religion. John, is that where you found
you, John Feasley? Found you in religion, didn't you? You're
going to church. Found him in the temple. He found
us in... Now, I don't know why you are
here, and I don't know why this man was there. Because I know
God had him there. God put him there. I know where
I was going for a while. I know when the Lord found me
through the preaching of the gospel, when I was found in the
place of the preaching of God, I know why I was there. She was
there. That's why I was there. Now,
I don't know why you are here this morning, but this man, something
had happened to him. You know, men get real religious
when somebody dies. You let a man's mother or friend
or somebody die, and you'll be, I guarantee, I can bet you my
house on the fact that he'll be in church Sunday morning. I can bet, without deception,
a miracle happens. That man or woman's going to
be in church. Something scare them, some miracle, whatever.
They'll be in church on Sunday. Well, this fellow was in, but
he didn't know Christ. He's about to. A word of power. Look at verse 14. The Lord says
unto him, Behold, thou art made whole. Sin no more. the worst thing
come unto them. Behold, thou art made whole. The Lord spake the word of power
to him, and revealed himself to him." Now, there's more that
went on here than what we read. We don't hear Christ telling
him what his name was, do we? He went out and told them who
it was, didn't he? There's more that went on here.
See, if the things that the Lord did and said were written in
the scriptures, the world couldn't contain More dialogue went on
between the Lord and this man. But the Lord revealed him. Of
this you can be certain. He revealed himself to this man.
This man knew who this was now. Knew who the Great Physician
was. Knew who his salvation was. Knew who it was. Heard the word
of his power. The Lord said unto him, You are
made whole. The same word, a word of his
power, that he says unto every child of God, I am thy salvation. The same word, the same voice. This is a shepherd's voice, and
this is one of his sheep that has said, Let thy sins be forgiven
thee, who says, I am thy salvation. Now, I wonder, and I close with
these thoughts, I wonder if the Lord has said
this to you. He asked at first, will you be
made whole, didn't he? And then, see, if you knew, you'd
ask, and you'd get one. He said, will Thou be made whole?
And then a little later he said, Behold, Thou art made whole. Now, I didn't ask us if we believed
in the doctrines of grace. Scripture doesn't ask us that. We're about to be made whole.
Now, I ask thee, not do you believe in the doctrines of grace, but
has grace broken your heart? Does grace rejoice your heart? Have you heard the bridegroom's
voice, and your heart rejoices and just leaps at the sound of
the gospel? But there's a difference. The
difference is good sermon, good preaching. The difference in
that and, oh, what a great Savior. So great salvation. Bless the
Lord, O my soul, all that is within me. Blessed be God and
the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with
all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. Bless
the Lord. That's the difference in complimenting
the preaching and blessing the Lord. Difference in saying, I
believe in grace, and oh, amazing grace, how sweet the sound that
saved a wretch like me. Difference in, that's right,
man's dead, and saying, oh, you hath he quickened who were dead
in trespasses and sin. He walked according to the course
of this world, but God is rich in mercy for his great love.
Even when we're dead in trespasses, has quickened us together with
him. By grace I am saved. That is the difference. And are we made whole? Are we
made whole? If any of them be in Christ,
he's a new creature. Can a man know? Paul said, Know
ye not your own selves? Hath not Christ be in you, except
ye be reprobate? Christ is a new creature. That's
the way all things become new? Are you a lover of God and Christ
more than anything else, then? Come on! If it's not so, if this
issue had been settled in your own heart and mind, maybe you're
not made whole. Are we indeed? Behold, thou art
made whole. Look at what he says here. Go
and sin no more, lest the worst thing come on you. Now, turn
with me. In closing, I want everybody
who's got a Bible to turn to 2 Peter, chapter 2, OK? You've got a Bible, 2 Peter 2? 2 Peter 2, our Lord said, Go
and sin no more, lest the worst thing come on you. Sin no more? John? Don't ever sin again? Is that what he's saying? Well, sort of. Little children, I write unto
you that you sin not. Don't sin. Go and sin no more. What is he saying here? If I'm
a sinner, my sins have gone over my head. 2 Peter, chapter 2. He said, let the worst thing
come on you. 2 Peter 2, look at verse 20 through 22. If after
they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge
of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled
therein and overcome. The latter end is worse with
them than the beginning. It had been better that they
had not known the way of righteousness, that after they had known it,
turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them. As it has
happened, it has happened unto them according to the proverb,
dog back to his bombardment, the sow to her mire, to her mud. Hebrews 6, turn over there, very
quickly. Hebrews 6, I'm going to close,
just 45 seconds of reading God's word. What's this talking about? Look
at Hebrews 6, Hebrews chapter 6, and this applies to everyone
that's been under the sound of the gospel in here. Everyone. Hebrews 6, verse 4, it is impossible
for those who were once enlightened. We have an enlightenment that
very few places have. The light of the knowledge of
the glory of God is shown forth from this place in the face and
the person and the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. once enlightened,
and have tasted of the heavenly gift." Oh, we've heard the gospel
and said, mm, that's good, I like that, I like that. Read on. And
we're made partakers of the Holy Ghost. What's that? The Holy
Ghost comes and takes the things of Christ and shows it unto us.
Like the children of Israel, they are out of court, watching
those sacrifices after sacrifices, beholding the shekinah glory
of God. Come a distance. Read on. If they've tasted the
good word of God, we have, haven't we? How many epistles? How many gospels? Taste it. We've just taken this role and
devoured it, verse by verse by verse. We don't. And the powers
of the world to come. We felt the shiver up our spine
when the gospel's been preached. We felt like we've been cut out
of our seat when the gospel's been preached. If there's six,
they shall fall away. It's impossible, he said, to
renew them again, to bring them back if they leave the gospel. That's
what the sin is. This is the sin that does so
easily beset us. It easily beset Peter, didn't
it? I'm going fishing. Thank God, he said, go tell Peter
he's going to fish me out. If they should leave the gospel
and it happens, and it's going to happen again, it's going to
happen again. It's happened to somebody in
this congregation that everyone in this congregation wouldn't
have believed. Right? They didn't think Jesus. Nobody suspected Jesus. Now, that person, that's the
last person. It's happened to preachers. Well, everybody says,
well, if everybody leaves, the preacher won't. It's happened
to preachers. So, this sin which does so easily
beset us, he said in Hebrews 10, all right, here's the answer.
Hebrews 10, Hebrews 10.25, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves
together. Where's your help? Where's your
hope? Terry, where's your help and hope? What's going to keep
you from falling? What is Christ? What is the gospel?
What is the power of God? It's the gospel. Invariably happens when somebody
leaves, they become their own pastor. They become their own
authority. They no longer need a pastor
or preacher. They no longer need a congregation.
They no longer need a church. Like a woman wrote me, who pursued
the gospel. Very critical of me. She said,
don't need a place to go to. It happened every time you watch
every time somebody become critical, start becoming critical and find
fault with the preacher and the people and the church and justifying
themselves. It happened. God dwells in a congregation.
He does in heaven and he does on this earth. We're two or three
together. That's all I know. Hebrews 10, verse 25, the
manner of some is, To forsake the assembly of ourselves together
is the manner of sons. That's the manner of those in
Hebrews 6. That's the manner of those in 2 Peter 2. That's
the manner. That's what it is. But Paul,
the scripture says, as his manner was, was in the tabernacle. The
Lord Jesus Christ, as his manner was, was in the tabernacle. As every sheep is his manner,
he dwells with the sheep under the shepherd's boy. Look at verse
26. Here it is, all right? If we
sin willfully, have we received a knowledge of it? Who hath bewitched
you? Paul said that to the Galatians.
Who hath bewitched you? Before whose eyes Jesus Christ
hath been so evidently set forth. Who or what could bewitch and
take somebody away from the gospel? That's just it. Evil men and
seducers. This and that and the other will
draw people away. And this is exactly what the
Lord is telling this man. Go and sin no more. This fellow, every man in this
family, this fellow had never given God a thought. I don't believe, I believe he
was just an old, rotten, wretched, well, just like anybody else,
until the Lord reveals himself to him. Maybe religion, but he's
not in it. He's not in it for God's glory.
I think about Christ, and Christ comes to him and reveals the
gospel to him, pulls him out of the pit, gives him legs to
walk on, saves him by his mercy and his grace. He says, no, don't
you sin, don't you leave. Do you remember the pit from
which you were dug? You worship me from here on out.
Don't forsake me for any idols, lest a worse thing." Oh, it's
worse. Worse. Of how much sore punishment
that Hebrews 10 says, how much sore punishment shall he be thought
worthy who hath cast underfoot, trodden underfoot, the blood
of the Son of God. And that's what a person who
leads the gospel walks out and says, don't need it. Don't need
it. Sore punishment. And the last
verse in that chapter, God is a consuming fire. But if we're found in Christ,
the bush that doesn't burn. The angel's in that bush. Can
I go on another hour? At seven o'clock. All right,
Joe. Oh, may the Lord give us ear.
He that hath ears to hear, let him hear what the Spirit saith
unto the churches. We're just going verse by verse
through the Scripture. Joe, what's that number? 310. And notice the words, Lord
Jesus, I long to be perfectly whole. Create in me,
David said, a right spirit. Renew within me a right heart,
a constant spirit. Restore unto me the joy of thy
salvation. May somebody say that right now.
Oh, Lord, make me whole. Let me sin no more, lest a worse
thing come unto me. Let me never leave thee, nor
forsake thee. All right. 310. First and the
last then. First and the last. For Jesus, I long to be perfectly
whole. I only forever do live in my
soul. Break down every idol, cast out
every foe. Now watch me and I shall be whiter
than snow Whiter than snow, yes, whiter than snow Now watch me
and I shall be whiter than snow For Jesus, I'll see Him, and
I'll faithfully wait. From now and with me, a young
heart I'll create. To those who have fault me, I'll
never stand slow. Now watch me, and I shall be
wiser than slow. Wider than snow, yes, wider than
snow. Now watch me and I shall be wider than snow. I want to hear it. you.