Open your Bibles if you would
to John chapter 5. John chapter 5. The name of the message is a
certain man. John chapter 5. We'll read all the way to verse
18 from verse 1 to verse 18, but our text will be found from
verses 1 to 9. After this there was a feast
of the Jews and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. Now there is at Jerusalem by
the sheep market, a pool, which is in the Hebrew tongue, a sedia,
having five porches. In these lay a great multitude
of impotent folk, a blind halt withered, waiting for the moving
of the water. For an angel went down at a certain
season into the pool and troubled the water. Whosoever then first,
after the trouble of the water, stepped in was made whole of
whatever disease he had. And a certain man was there,
which had an infirmity thirty and eight years. When Jesus saw
him lie and knew that he had been now a long time in that
case, he saith unto him, Wilt thou be made whole? Wilt thou
be made whole? The impotent man answered him,
Sir, I have no man, when the water is troubled, to put me
in the pool. But while I am coming, another
steppeth down before me. Jesus saith unto him, Rise, take
up thy bed. and walk. And immediately the
man was made whole and took up his bed and walked. And on the same day was the Sabbath. Now what a miracle has just occurred. And now look at the self-righteous
religious Jews. The Jews therefore said unto
him that was cured, it is the Sabbath day. It is not lawful
for thee to carry thy bed. He answered them, he that made
me whole, the same said unto me, take up thy bed and walk. Then asked they him, what man
is that which said unto thee, take up thy bed and walk? And
he that was healed was not who it was, for Jesus had conveyed
himself away, a multitude being in that place. Afterward, Jesus
findeth him in the temple, and saith unto him, Behold, thou
art made whole, sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto
thee. The man departed, and told the
Jews that it was Jesus which had made him whole. Therefore
did the Jews persecute Jesus, and sought to slay him, because
he had done these things on the Sabbath day. The Lord of the
Sabbath had healed a man on the Sabbath day, and the self-righteous
Jews are ticked off, not knowing that Christ is the Lord of the
Sabbath, not knowing that Christ is the Messiah, but only upset
because he had done these things on the Sabbath day. He'd done
a miracle. But Jesus answered them, my father
worketh hither, oh and I work. Therefore the Jews sought the
more to kill him because he was not Because he not only had broken
the Sabbath, but said also that God was his Father making himself
equal with God. Now, what a privilege and what
an honor it is for we to gather together each week and to hear
the Gospel. And it's an honor and a privilege,
I'm telling you, it is. It's an honor when we sit down
and listen to a message Myself too, when I sit down and listen
to a message, and when the men are here at the conference and
preaching the gospel, and I'm feeding and feasting too, it's
an honor and a privilege to be able to come and to hear the
gospel preached and proclaimed each week. It's an honor and
a privilege to preach the gospel, but it's also an honor and a
privilege to be given ears to hear. It is. To be given ears to hear. And to be able to rejoice in
the gospel, because not everybody rejoices in the gospel. Not everybody
has ears to hear the gospel. And it's an honor and privilege
for God's people to rejoice in the gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ. And to rejoice in our Savior. It is in the preaching of the
gospel and the reading of the scriptures that God meets with
his people and comforts us. meets with us and comforts us.
He builds us up. He teaches us about himself. And he strengthens
us for our journey. The journey that we are on, we
as people, through this world. We saw this morning, we're just
strangers, just passing through this world. Our citizenship is
in heaven, in glory. And as we hear the gospel preached
and proclaimed, it gives us strength. And it also prepares us for glory.
Because remember, a few months back we looked at that we're
stones being made ready. One day we'll be made ready.
And we'll be with our Lord in glory. It's wonderful. We'll
be with him forever. In his presence forever. And
here before us in our text, we have brought before us one of
the Lord's miracles of how he heals a certain man. who had an infirmity 38 years,
38 years. Now in the miracles which our
Lord and Savior performed, the gospel of God's free grace to
sinners is on display. Man's inability to heal himself
is evident through these pictures, through the miracles which he
performs. And a mighty work of God must be done. And it's God
and God alone who does it. by and through the Lord Jesus
Christ, who is God incarnate in the flesh. And we're gonna
see this in the passage here before us today. We have right
here before us in this portion of scripture, a very clear picture
of man's inability to save themselves. Man's absolute inability to save
themselves. And God's grace being bestowed
upon one whom the Lord chooses. One whom the Lord chooses. And
think of how in the various miracles of our Lord, we'll just mention
a few here, with certain people a different attribute of God's
saving grace is on display. God's sovereign almighty power
to save by his grace is on display in the raising of Lazarus from
the grave. The effectual invincible call
of his sheep. through the preaching of the
gospel is also on display in the rising of Lazarus. When he
said this, when he had thus spoken, he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus,
come forth. And what happened? Lazarus came
forth, didn't he? It was an effectual, invincible
call. And that's what happens to every
one of God's saints. We're called through the preaching
of the gospel. And the Holy Spirit draws us
to Christ. Think of this, when he called
our name by the preaching of the gospel. What did we do? We
came forth, didn't we? We came forth. Thy people shall
be made willing in the day of his power. By his sovereign,
almighty power, beloved. The scriptures declare, turn
if you would to 2 Corinthians chapter 2, or chapter 4, 2 Corinthians
chapter 4, verses 5 and 6, the scriptures declare this. 2 Corinthians 4, verses 5 and 6. For we preach not ourselves,
but Christ Jesus. The gospel preacher doesn't preach
himself, he preaches Christ, the only Savior of sinners. For
we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus our Lord, and ourselves
your servant for Jesus' sakes. God's preachers are servants,
just like every other believer. Look at this, for God who commanded
the light, it's God who commanded the light to shine. out of darkness
has shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of
the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. God, by His
almighty sovereign power, commands the light to shine, to shine
out of darkness. This is what happens in every
single believer when we're converted, regenerated by the Holy Spirit
of God. Turn, if you would, to Luke chapter
5. In Luke chapter 5 there's a leper which comes to Christ
and proclaims that, Lord, if you will, you can make me clean. Another miracle. Luke, chapter 5, verses 12 and
13. And it came to pass, when he was in a certain city, behold,
a man full of leprosy, who seeing Jesus, fell on his face, and
beside him saying, Lord, if thou will, Alkins, make me clean. If you will, Lord, if you will. And he put forth his hand and
touched him, saying, I will be thou clean. And immediately the
leprosy departed from him. Again, we see God's sovereign
almighty power at work. And we see here, though, when
the Lord proclaims, I will, this shows that God, by his power,
wills to save those whom he will, those whom he chooses. Turn, if you would, to Luke chapter
7. Luke chapter 7. In Luke chapter 7, verses 36
to 50, we have a woman who is a sinner come to Christ, and
she's washing his feet with her tears. Look at Luke 7, verses 36-38. And one of the Pharisees desired
him that he would eat with him. And he went into the Pharisee's
house and sat down to meet. Now it was customary then for
the person to have the visitor's feet washed. It was part of their
custom. And behold, a woman in the city,
which was a sinner when she knew that Jesus sat at meat in the
Pharisee's house, bought an alabaster box of ointment. and stood at
his feet behind him weeping and began to wash his feet with tears
and did wipe them with the hairs of her head and kissed the feet
and anointed them with the ointment. And then look at the last verse
in Luke chapter 7 verse 50. The Lord says to her, thy faith
has saved thee, go in peace. This shows the necessity of God-given
faith to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. In this portion
of scripture there in Luke chapter 7, it shows the necessity of
God-given faith to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. And it's
a gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. So
the miracles which we see in the scriptures which Christ performed
set forth who he was. Who he was. He's God incarnate
in the flesh. They set forth that he's God
incarnate in the flesh. And they set him forth as the
one who's worthy of all glory, honor, and praise in the salvation
of sinners. So let's consider this wonderful
passage. We'll see God's sovereign almighty
power on display. Back to John chapter 5. We'll
see God's sovereign almighty power on full display. And the
inability of man to heal himself is the impotent man is a picture
of a sinner who's dead in trespasses and sins. And we know that that's
the state of every one of us when we come into this world,
right? Scripture declares we're dead in trespasses and sins.
That's our natural state. So we're just like this impotent
man where we can't do anything. We have no ability to save ourselves. Contrary to the lies that are
told by people that you can save yourself. You cannot. You cannot
save yourself. Salvation is of the Lord and
the Lord alone. And in the Lord alone. Look at
John chapter 5 verse 1. After this there was a feast
of the Jews and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. Now there is at
Jerusalem by the sheep market a pool which is called in the
Hebrew tongue, beseda, having five porches. Jesus was in Jerusalem
for a religious feast. It doesn't tell us which one.
It doesn't tell us which one because that's not what's most
important. But we see in our text that he went to the northeast
section of the city near the sheep gate to a pool which is
called Bethsaida with its five porches around the pool. And we will see that our Lord
had a divine appointment with a certain man. He had a divine
appointment with a certain man. Verse 3, And these lay a great
multitude of impotent folk of blind halt withered waiting for
the moving of the water. Let us note that there's not
just a few folks here. There's a great multitude. There's a great multitude, the
Scriptures declare. Some are blind, some are halt,
and some are withered. Some are impotent, which means
that they were sick in weak persons. What a picture of we who are
sick with sin in our natural state. Sin is from the top of
our heads to the bottom of our feet. Unable to save ourselves, And
in a state of unregenency, sin has made us impotent, and we
are unable to keep the law of God. We cannot keep it because we
don't have the power or the ability to keep it. Nor can any one of
us atone for even one of our sins. Not one. Not one of our
transgressions. We cannot redeem ourselves. from
the curse of the law. We cannot save ourselves. We're
just like this man lying there. And there are some folks here
also that are blind. Well, in our natural state we
were blind to the things of God, weren't we? Ignorant of who God
is and blind to the true knowledge of who Christ is. And blind to
salvation only through Him. And in Him And sinners in their
unregenerate state are blind to the plague of their own hearts. We come into this world dead
in trespasses and sins, and we are blind to the plague of sin
in our own hearts. We think everybody else is worse
than us. We do. But no. All are dead in trespasses
and sins in their natural state. Blind to the things of God, blind
to the exceeding sinfulness of sin, blind to who the Father
is, blind to who the Son is, blind to the Holy Spirit of God
and His work which must be wrought upon the sinner, blind to the
truth of the gospel and salvation in Christ alone. And it says,
there's halt and lame ones. The halt, which are lame. They're
lame. They cannot move. What a picture
of man in our natural state. We're lame from a fall, aren't
we? We fell in Adam. And the whole
reason why we're dead in trespasses and sins, because we're sons
of Adam. We're lame. We're blind, lame. We have no ability to save ourselves
in our natural state. The scriptures also mention the
withered. These are they who are paralyzed in some way, unable
to move. Unable to move certain limbs.
They have one limb or another that's withered up. Their arms and their legs are
so withered that they cannot, they're not able to use them
properly. And we see that these are the people around this pool
in various forms of infirmity. And notice in verse 4, they're
waiting for the moving of the water. Why? Because our text tells us, for
an angel went down at a certain season into the pool and troubled
the water. Whosoever then first after the
tremble of the water stepped in was made whole of whatever
disease he had. Now note, The text which follows
this, and a certain man was there which had an infirmity 38 years. A certain man. A certain man,
the scripture declares, is in this place at this time. All by God's providence. All
by God's providence. All by God's direction. And we
see in verse one that our Lord went to this place. Our Lord
went to, after this there was a feast of the Jews and Jesus
went up to Jerusalem. Why? This man, this certain man
has a divine appointment with the Lord of glory. One of God's
sheep, one of the Lord's sheep is over there. A certain man,
he's called in scripture. Doesn't give us his name, but
it says a certain man. Look what John 5, verse 6 says,
When Jesus saw him lie and knew that he had been now a long time
in that case, he saith unto him, Wilt thou be made whole? Now
note, our Lord looks upon this man lying there. There's a multitude
of people there, right? Scripture declares that, a great
multitude of people. But the Lord passes by all of
them. It goes to this certain man. Goes by all those other folks.
It goes to this certain man. My. And this man is only different
because our Lord's eyes are upon him. And our Lord saw Him lying there, unable to help Himself with no
ability. What a picture of divine election.
One of His sheep. Christ has looked upon us since
eternity. He's looked upon His people since
eternity. And He's still looking at us.
and watching us, he's our shepherd. And think of this, how long has
he loved us for? From eternity. Here's one of
his sheep. And he looked upon him. Who made
this certain man to differ from all the others? Only God. Only God. He's no different than any of
the others, right? They're all lying there. They're all in various
states of infirmity. But the Lord looked upon this
one man. He looked upon this one man. Passed by all the others.
Now let's bring this right home for us. Who made you to differ,
beloved of God, from the multitude of humanity all around us? He's amazing. Who made us to differ from all
the people in our lives from when we were just little? Till
we're right now. Who's made us to differ? From
all the people that we rub shoulders with, that we work with, that
we see in everyday life. Only God. Only God's made us
to differ. Only the Lord. What a picture
of salvation by the grace of God alone. What a picture we
have here of a lost sinner who's unable to save himself. With
the sickness of sin, no way to cure himself. And our Lord saw
him lying there. And look at what our text proclaims.
And knew that he had been now a long time in that case. As
far as we know, the Lord had never talked to this man before. He's God incarnate in the flesh,
beloved. The Lord knew that he had been
like that for 38 years. What a comfort for the believer.
To know that the Lord knows everything about us. That there's not one
thing that we go through in this life, from the moment we breathe
our first breath, even in the womb, that He knows us. What
a comfort for God's people. All the trials and struggles
that we went through in our lives. And I know that every believer
has their own trials and their own struggles. Even in our lost, unregenerate
state, His eye was upon us. As the Lord's looking at this
man in the state that he's in. No way to help himself. The Lord knows everything. He
knows every heartache we go through. He knows the silent suffering
that we go through. He knows his people intimately. Note, the Lord asked him a question.
Will thou be made whole? And note the response of the
impotent man. The impotent man answered him
saying, answered him, Sir, I have no man when the water is troubled
to put me in the pool. But while I'm coming, another
step it down before me. Now what a miserable state this
man's in. He can't help himself, and he
doesn't have anyone else to help him. But little does he know the one
standing before him is the great physician. Little does he know
the one standing before him is the only one he needs, the only
help he'll ever need. What a miserable state he's in,
and this is the state that our Lord finds this man. And what
a miserable state we were in, dead in trespasses and sins,
when the Lord found us. The only one who can help him
is here before him. The only one. And each week,
gospel preachers get up and preach and proclaim the gospel of the
Lord Jesus Christ. The only one who can help sinners.
The only one. This man is lame. He cannot get
into the water before the others. He has no one to help him. And
he proclaims to the Lord, another step down before me. And here
we see in a In our next verse, God's sovereign
will and the saving of a sinner. As our Lord tells this man, by
his sovereign will and by his sovereign power, rise, take up
thy bed, and walk. And note, our Lord and Savior
walks to this place. And again, there's a great multitude
all around there. And He walks right by all of
them. And he walks right to this certain man. There was people all around him
in various sicknesses, forms of sicknesses. And he goes to
this one man. This one man. Will thou be made whole? And the man didn't even say yes.
He went on to tell the Lord that he had no man to help him to
get in the pool. He just complained. And he did not answer the Lord's
question. But oh, the sovereign grace of
God in Christ. Note what we see here, beloved,
the free grace of God bestowed upon this sinner. What a picture
we have here of God's electing grace as Christ went to the sinner
and this sinner alone. And he didn't say, please accept me. Did he? Like religious folks say, just
accept Jesus. Just walk down that aisle and
pray a prayer. No, God, by his almighty power,
by his sovereign almighty power, worked a miracle of grace upon
this man. Rise, take up thy bed and walk. He passed by all the others and
his eyes were fixed upon this man alone. Rise, take up thy bed. And walk. Is this not a picture of God's
distinguishing grace? The fact that he went to this
certain man in this certain man alone. Picture of God's distinguishing
grace in the salvation of a sinner. The only difference between this
man and everyone else who was lying there was that the Lord
sought him out. Just like he does for every one
of his lost sheep. He seeks us out. We never seek
Him, but He seeks out His lost sheep. Christ did not see this lame
man seeking Him or making a decision for Him. No, He saw Him lying
there in Potomac, and that's just where He found us. in the
same state as this man right here, dead in trespasses and
sins, impotent, unable to save ourselves. What a miracle of
God's sovereign electing, distinguishing grace is here before us. What a picture of God's sovereign
electing, distinguishing grace in the salvation of a sinner
by and through the Lord Jesus Christ alone is set forth right
here before us. Let us look a little further
down this chapter. Look at John chapter 5 verses
19 to 21. Then answered Jesus and said
unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, the Son can do nothing
of himself, but what he seeth the Father do. For what things
soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise. For the Father
loveth the Son, and showeth him all things that himself doeth.
And he will show him greater works than these, that ye may
marvel. Now look at this last verse here, and think of this
man sitting there, and think of the Lord passing by all those
other people, right? He passed by all those other
people and came to this certain man. John chapter 5 verse 21, For
as the Father raises up the dead and quickeneth them, even so
the Son quickeneth whom He will. God has mercy upon whom He will
have mercy. And God's people marvel in this.
We marvel in God's distinguishing, electing grace. The Son quickeneth whom He will. What a picture of that we have
before us today. The Lord passed by again, the
multitude of people there, and sought out this one man. And
look at what he says unto him. Jesus saith unto him, Rise, take
up thy bed, and walk. Remember, Lazarus, come forth! Commands him to come forth and
what does like Lazarus come flying out of that to him? Well as fast
as he's all bound up, but you know I mean he's With God commands
it happens it happens oh my Rise up rise take up thy bed
and walk The Savior walks to this place.
Again, there's a multitude of people all around, men and women,
in various sicknesses, state of sicknesses. And he says, wilt
thou be made whole to this man? And then he says, rise, take
up thy bed, and walk. There's a multitude waiting for
an angel to come down and stir that water. And the one who commands
the angels, the one who is the captain of the Lord's host, is
among them, and they do not know it. They have no idea at all. The one who has all authority
and power. And if it was his will to heal them all, he would
have. He's walking in their midst. Standing in their midst. The
one who can give them perfect healing and they do not know
it. They're waiting for the stirring of the water. And the Great Physician
is walking among them. And he comes to this certain
man. This certain man. And says to him, Rise, take up
thy bed, and walk. Salvation is only in Christ and
Christ alone. God's people praise God for this.
We praise God that he seeks out his sheep. Because again, we
know we'd never seek him out. We'd be like these people lying
around in their infirmities. looking at the water rather than
looking at the great position. That's us. That's all humanity
in his natural state right here before us. And the Lord comes
to one of his lost sheep, and he says, rise, take up thy bed,
and walk. Oh, my. What a Savior. What a Redeemer is Jesus Christ
our Lord. Salvation is only in Him and
by His almighty power and grace. What a picture of God's salvation
in and through Christ alone. God's people praise God that
He chose us in Christ. Christ has purchased His people
upon Calvary's cross. What was the cost? the shedding
of his own precious blood. And the scriptures declare the
life of the flesh is in the blood. He gave his life for sinners. What a Savior. What a Redeemer. The perfect, spotless Lamb of
God dying in the place of sinners. Greater love hath no man in this
than a man lay down his life for his friends. Christ has purchased his people
upon the cross at Calvary. And the Holy Spirit regenerates
us. All because the Father chose us in Christ. We saw that in
Sunday school this morning. And note our Lord commands this
man to do something that he cannot naturally do. You notice that? Rise. Take up thy bed and walk. He's lame. He's impotent. He can't move. But this is no mere man commanding
him to do this. This is the Lord of glory. This
is God incarnate in the flesh, commanding him to do something
that is impossible with man, but it's possible with God. Because
when he commands, power comes with that command. And immediately,
now think of this, this man had been in this state for 38 years. When
I was 12 years old, I went through a bunch of operations. And I
had a cast from here to my toes. For six months, I was in that
cast. Now, when they took that cast off me, I couldn't walk. I was in a wheelchair. And then
I had to go on these bars, and I had to learn how to walk all
over again. You know why? Because there's no strength in
my legs. Because the muscles wouldn't work. But think of this
man here, though. 38 years he's been in this situation. He has
no ability to just get up. But God's perfect healing. Oh
my, look at this. Look at this, beloved. He instantly
receives strength. Instantly the muscles are working.
Instantly. Instantly. And immediately the
man was made what? Whole. He's made whole. When God commands the light to
shine in the darkness, how many of our sins are forgiven at Calvary's
cross? All of them. We're made whole,
aren't we? By the precious blood of Christ.
We're born again by the Holy Spirit. Now we still sin, don't
we? We don't believe in sinless perfection here. We're still
sinners until we get the glory. But what does God look at us
now? Who does God see us in? And he sees us clothed in the
righteousness of Christ, and behold, this beautiful balloon,
this beautiful. But this man was made whole,
and what did he do? He picked up his bed, and he
walked. Those legs hadn't moved for 38
years. I remember how hard it was for
six months, struggling on bars to try to walk again. 38 years, and then he's up walking.
It's a miracle of grace, beloved. Think of this. We were dead in
trespasses and sins, and God commanded the light to shine
in the darkness. We're born again by the Holy
Spirit of God. We run to Christ. We run to Christ. We run to the one we never wanted
to run to before. Oh, my. Walked in on the same day was
the Sabbath. What power is on display here, beloved? These
words were spoken by this man. The words, what powers on display
here is as soon as these words were spoken, this man, this man
walked and he picked up this bed as soon as, immediately. Oh, this is incredible. Turn if you would to Mark chapter
three, Mark chapter three. What a miracle. What a miracle
we have in this picture today of the power of God going forth
with the words of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. He's God
in the flesh. We've seen this before, though.
It shouldn't surprise us, but we always marvel at God's miracles
and His power and His authority. Look at Mark 3, verses 1 to 5. one to six and he entered again
into the synagogue and there was a man there which had a withered
hand and they watched him whether you would heal him on the sabbath
day that they might accuse him they're always trying to catch
him up and trip him up and he saith unto the man which had
the withered hand stand forth and he saith unto them is it
lawful to do good in the sabbath days or to do evil to save life
or to kill but they held their peace when he had looked around
about Round about on them with anger, being grieved for the
hardness of their hearts." And when it says anger there, when
our Lord's angry, it's righteous anger. There's no sin. No sin. It's righteous anger. No sin. When we're angry, we sin. "...being
grieved for the hardness of their hearts, he saith unto the man,
Stretch forth thine hand." Look at this. "...and he stretched
it out, and his hand was restored whole as the other." So with
the command comes power. He's God incarnate in the flesh.
And the Pharisees went forth and straight away took counsel
and Herodians against him that they might destroy him. Same
thing happens here as happens in John chapter five. The religious
folks are going, they're angry with our Lord performing a miracle.
Look at John chapter five verses eight and nine. Again, Jesus
saith unto him, rise, take up thy bed and walk. And immediately
the man was made whole and took up his bed and walked. And on
the same day was the Sabbath. Now nothing but divine power,
nothing but divine power can able one who had been crippled
for so many years to move his limbs and to carry a burden too.
So not only is he walking, but he's carrying a burden. Oh my,
all at once. But again, this is the Lord of
glory who commanded this man to do this. And what did this
man do? And immediately, the man was
made whole, all by the power of Christ. Remember? And we know it's all by the power
of Christ, because this man was sitting there in the stake and
couldn't help himself. And immediately, the man was
made whole. When God saves a sinner, oh. And you know? The Lord Jesus
Christ can save you if you're here lost. The Lord Jesus Christ
can save you without you moving a muscle. We see that here, don't
we? We see that right here. Yeah. Because if any works are involved
in your so-called salvation, it's not salvation. But salvation's all a grace.
We're either saved all by the grace of God in Christ or we're
not saved at all. And immediately this man was
made whole and took up his bed and walked. What a miracle of
grace. This is what occurs when God
saves a sinner. We are lying in our sinfulness
and potent and unable to save ourselves. And the Lord comes
to us. He comes to us just like he came
to this certain man. Certain man. And saves us by his grace and
we are regenerated by the Holy Spirit of God and we rise up
like this man. We rise up in newness of life.
We rise up in newness of life. All by his almighty power. And
then for the rest of our time on this earth, we praise His
name. We give Him all the glory for
what He's done for us. And then when we get the glory,
we'll praise His name forever for what He's done for us. What
a Savior, what a Redeemer is Jesus Christ, our Lord. Gracious
Heavenly Father, we thank Thee once again that we could look
in Thy words Oh, what a wonderful picture we see here today. Picture
of a man who could not help himself. What a picture of us dead in
our trespasses and sins. And Lord Jesus, you came to us.
You come to every one of your sheep. Oh, Lord, and you tell
us to rise up and walk. And we walk in the newness of
life, born again by the Holy Spirit of God. And we praise
your name for your mercy and goodness and grace to us in our
wondrous Savior. and you who are the Redeemer,
the Purchaser, the Keeper of our souls. O Lord, may we glorify
you this day. May we leave here rejoicing,
we who are redeemed. And if it's your will, may you
draw in one of your lost sheep. O Lord, if it's your will, may
you save one of your lost sheep. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.