For those of you who know me
very well, you know I have an order of service all prepared
before I come to service. This is the order in which we're
going to do things. This is what we're going to do when. And it's
set in stone. But today, for this second service,
we've just completely done this on the fly. Redid everything
just on the fly, and Isaac graciously volunteered to sing a special.
I wasn't gonna have another special sung. He didn't wanna wear poor
Isaac out, but he said he'd do it. Aren't you glad? Aren't you
glad? All right, if you would, open
your Bibles with me to John chapter five. As you're turning, I'll
make an observation. Brother Eric did not know where
I was intending to preach from today, at least I don't think
so, but he could not have read a better companion portion of
scripture than where I intend to preach from this morning.
Eric read to us about what happens when a needy sinner meets the
truth of God's electing love. What happened? She worshiped. Lord help me. This morning, from
John chapter five, I want to preach on what happens when wilt
thou meets sovereign grace. Wilt thou meet sovereign grace? Now, there are several different
kinds of error that you hear preached in the world today.
There are those who are called hyper-Calvinists. They preach
God's grace to the exclusion of man's responsibility. They
say, well, if you're one of God's elect, you'll be saved. You'll
wind up in heaven, whether you ever hear the gospel and believe
it or not. Armenians, They preach man's responsibility to the exclusion
of God's sovereignty. They say salvation's all up to
you. You have to decide to accept
or reject it. You've got to make it effectual
to you. Both of those extremes are wrong. But there is a point
where wilt thou, will you meet sovereign grace. A sinner is
willing to be made whole when that sinner meets sovereign grace.
And that's what I wanna preach on this morning. Now look here
at verse one of John chapter five. After this, there was a
feast of the Jews. And Jesus went up to Jerusalem.
Now we don't know which of the feasts that this was. John calls
it a feast of the Jews. Now that tells me this wasn't
a feast to worship God anymore. It was a feast of the Jews. It
was a feast that was filled with the Jews, false religion, it
filled with their self-righteousness and their legalism and it just,
they're getting together for the ceremony of religion, not
to worship God. Have you ever wondered, now that's
what's going on, this is a feast of the Jews. Why on earth would
the Lord go there? Can you imagine how miserable
that must have been for the Lord? To go to this place where just
all he'd be surrounded with all this self-righteous religionism
and all this form and ceremony, that had to be so miserable to
him. But he still went to the feast.
You know why? Because he went to fulfill every
jot and tittle of the law. See, he was required of the Jews
to attend this feast, and the Savior went to obey the law for
you and me. He went to obey the law. Well,
verse two, Now there's at Jerusalem by the sheep market, a pool which
is called in the Hebrew tongue Bethesda, having five porches. Now all the sheep that would
be used for the sacrifices were always brought through the sheep
gate. And the sacrifice is so important that when Nehemiah
came, and remember how he came and rebuilt Jerusalem, rebuilt
the walls? The first gate Nehemiah built, rebuilt, was the Sheep
Gate. This is where the sacrifice is
brought in. And it's no accident that right
beside the Sheep Gate is the pool called Bethesda. And that
word Bethesda means a pool of mercy. The pool of mercy is found
right beside the Sheep Gate because mercy from God can only come
to you and me through the sacrifice of Christ. That he's the lamb
slain from the foundation of the world. He's the lamb of God
which taketh away the sin of the world. God can be merciful
to you and me and be right to do it because he gave his son
everything our sin deserves. Mercy is always gonna be found
by where the sheep are slain. That's the backdrop to where
the Lord comes and introduces himself to this needy man. This
is my first point on wilt thou meeting sovereign grace. Man
is fallen in Adam and we desperately need a savior. Verse three, in
these five porches around this pool of Bethesda, lay a great
multitude of impotent folk, the 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 troubling of the water, stepped in, was made whole of
whatsoever disease he had. Now there's a lot of debate you
can read about, about whether or not people were actually healed
when they stepped into the troubled water. I don't know. It sounds
like it really happened, but I don't know. But whether or
not people were healed of a physical disease when they stepped into
the water that was troubled, That's not really the issue here.
It's too easy for us to get our eye off the ball, isn't it? We're
all worried about, were they really healed? That's not what
the Holy Spirit is teaching us in this passage. What's being
taught here is salvation through the sovereign mercy and grace
of God that's found in Christ Jesus. Christ is the fountain
that's open for sin and for uncleanness. Sinners are healed from all of
their sins by plunging into that fountain, open and proceed. And
you don't have to be the first one. Maybe you'll be the last
one. But whoever plunges into that
fountain will be made clean of all of their sin sicknesses. And the multitude that's surrounding
this pool is a picture of our fallen race. John describes them
here as impotent folk. That word impotent means powerless. They're without strength to do
anything for themselves. That's what happened to you and
me when Adam fell. We were made impotent. We became powerless. We became incapable of doing
anything spiritual. We became incapable of doing
anything that God requires of us. We cannot produce spiritual
life. Don't ever be mistaken, just
because we can reproduce physical life, That doesn't mean we can
reproduce spiritual life. That's up to God in both physical
and spiritual. Life can only come from God.
We are impotent. We cannot produce it ourselves.
All of us are born spiritually dead. So not only do we not have
the ability to please God, we're offensive to God. And we can't
make ourselves whole. We can't make ourselves clean.
We can't make ourselves unoffensive. If an impotent person is going
to be saved, how are they going to be saved? Christ has got to
do all the saving for them, doesn't he? Let me show you that in Romans
chapter 5. Romans chapter 5. Romans 5, verse 6. For when we
were yet without strength, when we were yet impotent, without
strength, in due time, Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely
for a righteous man, a self-righteous man, one who's strict and legal,
scarcely for a righteous man will one die. Yet for perventure
for a good man, a kind man, some would even dare to die, but God,
commended his love toward us, and that while we are yet sinners,
Christ died for us. Much more then, being now justified
by his blood, we should be saved from wrath through him. How are
the impotent, those without strength, how are they saved from wrath?
Through him, through the sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ. Then
John also describes this multitude as blind. Now again, that describes
all of us spiritually. You and I are born spiritually
blind. So we can't see. We can't see
any spiritual truth. We can't see who God is. We can't
see how it is that God could save sinners. And the biggest
evidence of our blindness is we can't see our sin. We can't
see how sinful, we're born dead and we can't see we're dead.
We don't understand it. We don't see our need of God.
And I think about those folks laying around this pool waiting
for the water to be troubled. The blind, they had to be so
miserable. How's a blind man gonna be the
first one to step into that pool? He can't see when the water's
troubled. He can't see. You know, if you're blind, you
can't see the smile on your loved one's faces. This weekend, our four children
have come home. And Friday, Janet and I anxiously
awaited, you know, their arrival. And they came in, I saw those
big smiles on their face, just, ugh. If I was blind, I couldn't
see that. I mean, it's sad, isn't it? I
feel so sorry for people. You can't see the beauty of God's
creation. David talked Friday night about
in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. And
even though this creation is marred by sin, it's beautiful.
And you can't say, I just feel so sorry for somebody who can't
see that, you know. A blind person can miss a lot
of things in this life. A spiritually blind person, left
to themselves, will miss Christ every single time. We can't see
him. If a blind man's gonna be saved,
how's he gonna be saved? Christ has got to come and give
him sight. the seeing eyes of the Lord, isn't it? The Lord's
gotta give us sight. Then John describes the multitude as halt.
The word means lame or maimed. It means someone has a hand or
foot or leg or an arm cut off. They're maimed, they're halt.
That's all of us by nature, we're maimed, we're halt. We can't
do anything, we got missing parts, we're missing a righteousness,
we're missing a heart that loves God, or missing a heart that
believes God. We're missing parts. We're maimed. Yet false prophets
tell us, now you get up, go do something for God, and then God
will bless you. You know, they say meet God halfway. Or if you
just take the first step. But the problem is I'm lame.
I can't walk. I'm maimed. I can't do anything
for God. I can't do anything to please
God. I'm deprived of the ability to do those things for God. Well,
if a halt man's gonna be saved, if a man who's maimed spiritually
is gonna be saved, how's he gonna be saved? Christ has got to come and have
compassion on him and do all the saving for him, doesn't he? Then John describes the multitude
as withered. The word means dried up and wasted
away. That's what happened to us when
Adam fell. Spiritually, there's no water of life in us. We're
just dried up, and withered away, wasted away. All we are is a
dried dead corpse that's been dead a long time. Well, if that
dried up dead corpse is gonna live, can these bones live? Huh? Who's gonna give them life? Christ is the only one who can.
He's got to come give life to the dead. And here's this multitude
of sick people They're lying around these five porches. Now
this is a miserable scene. These are people who can't be
treated with medicines and treatments like we have today. I bet there
are lots of groaning and moaning and the smell of sickness and
decaying, dying flesh. They're all laying around waiting. If that water would be troubled,
maybe I could be the first one in. Maybe I could be the first
one in. There are no buddies there, is
there? I can't be buddies with this guy that's lying here withered,
wasted, and dying next to me. I got to get to the water for
him. There's no buddies here. And here they are. I mean, they're
dead serious about this. I got to get to the water first. Yet here they all lay, a multitude. They're still laying there. No
hope. And that's what happens to you and me. If we try to save
ourselves, if we're trying to get into the water first, if
I'm trying to save myself, I'm going to lie here impotent and
go to hell. Unless, unless God is pleased
to show sovereign grace to me. All right, here's the second
point. And we're falling in Adam and man cannot be saved by our
obedience to the law. Now there is a fountain. open
for sin and for uncleanness, but you can't enter into it by
your own merit. You can't enter into it by your own ability.
Look at verse five in our text. And a certain man was there which
had an infirmity 30 and eight years. When Jesus saw him lie,
knew that he had been now a long time in that case. He saith unto
him, wilt thou be made whole? The impotent man answered him,
and sir, I have no man. when the water is troubled to
put me into the pool. But while I am coming, another
step down before me. Now you see this over and over
and over in the scriptures. The Lord comes to a certain man,
a certain man. This is a man who is an object
of God's sovereign grace. The Lord came to this certain
man because he's gonna save this man. Sovereign grace is always
for certain sinners on certain days, in certain places. Determined before, my God. This
man had been sick 38 years. Shoo! I've been sick and kind
of laid up for six, seven weeks before. 38 years. And that's not coincidence,
that he tells us 38 years, because the Spirit's teaching us something
here. This is a picture, this man is a picture of what the
law does to us spiritually. It kills us. After Israel received
the law at Mount Sinai, you know what they did right after that?
They wandered in the wilderness for 38 years. Joshua brought
them into the promised land. This is a picture of sin, how
it kills us. Now this man, he knew some facts. He knew some facts. He knew if
he could be the first one into that pool and the water was troubled,
he'd be healed. That's a fact. He knew that fact.
But here's another fact he knew. He couldn't get himself into
the water. He couldn't do it by himself. He was miserable
and he couldn't do one blessed thing about it. But now listen,
our inability does not relieve us of responsibility. This man
trying to get himself into the pool when the water was troubled. It's a picture of the law. It's
a picture of us trying to justify ourselves by the deeds of the
law. Now this is a fact. If you would be justified, you
want to be justified before God? Tell you all you got to do. Keep
the law perfectly all your life long. That's all you got to do.
If you obey God's law perfectly all your life, you'll be justified,
you'll be accepted of God. But here's our problem. We already
looked at what happened to us in Adam. We can't keep the law,
can we? We can't obey it. Even if I could
start obeying it now, my sin of the past, it's too late. I've
already disobeyed God's law. I came forth from the womb speaking
lies. But our inability to keep God's
law does not relieve us of our responsibility to keep God's
law. I'm unable to keep God's law. But if I keep trying to
come to God through the law, I'm failing. God's gonna send
me to hell. And my inability to keep the law won't have anything
to do with it. Won't have anything to do with it. And I'll give
you an example that I think will help you understand. Suppose
there's a man out somewhere and he's drinking alcohol. And he
drinks way too much alcohol. But instead of giving a designated
driver for himself, he gets into his own car and tries to drive
himself home. And while he's driving home,
he runs into one of these four sitting right here. So dear to
me. And he kills one of them. Now
he's incapable because he's drunk so much alcohol. He is utterly
incapable of controlling that vehicle. Has no capacity to do
it. Am I going to still hold him
responsible for that? You bet your bottom dollar I am. You
bet your bottom dollar. Our deadness in Adam makes it
impossible for us to obey the law. But our inability to obey
God's law does not relieve us of the responsibility. Justice
must be meted out. There's got to be death for sin. Now you'll be justified if you
can obey God's law perfectly, but you can't do it. But you're
still responsible to do it. And if you don't establish a
perfect righteousness, God'll damn you. That's a fact. That's a fact. That is just what
happens to us with our sin nature. We don't have any ability to
fix the problem of our sin and establish a righteousness before
God. We can't be saved by our works. And here's the third point.
Man cannot be saved by his own will, by his will. Did you notice
what the Lord asked this impotent man? He says, will you be made
whole? Now on the surface, that could
sound like a strange question. I mean, I've been laying here
by this pool all these years trying to, I mean, yeah. If I
could make myself whole by getting into the water first, I'd have
done it a long time ago. And that's the way this man heard
the question, but that's not what the Lord was asking. The
Lord already knew this impotent man couldn't be healed by his
own power. He already knew this man couldn't heal himself by
his will. The Lord already knew this man could not get into that
troubled water first. So the Lord didn't ask him, can
you get into the water? He didn't ask him, son, can you
make yourself whole? What the Lord asked him is, wilt
thou? Will you be made? made whole
by somebody else. Are you willing? Are you willing
to be saved on God's terms? Are you? Are you willing to surrender,
submit, and be saved, be saved, be made righteous, be made saved,
be made whole without any contribution from you? Are you willing? Are
you willing to have Christ do all of the saving for you so
that He gets all of the glory and you get none of it? Are you
willing? Are you willing to be a debtor
to God's grace? Are you willing to admit the
truth that you're in the hand of Almighty God and He can do
with you as He will? He can make you a vessel of honor.
He can make you a vessel of dishonor. and he's right to do either one.
Are you willing? I know this. I know this. All
my friends, I know this. Especially you who don't know
the Lord, I know this. I feel for you because I remember
being there. I know this. I know you are willing
to do anything to be saved. You're willing to do anything
to have eternal life. I mean, there's nothing you wouldn't
do. to be accepted of God. But this is what I'm asking.
The same question the Lord asked this man. Are you willing to
do nothing? Are you willing to be made whole? Are you willing to be made what
you are not? Are you? Look with me to 2 Corinthians
chapter 5. David, I think it's true. We've
all quoted this verse this week. In every message, but I want
you to read it and look at it. 2nd Corinthians chapter 5. Verse
21. For he God the Father. It made him sin for us. God the
son. Who knew no sin? That we might
be made. The righteousness of God. In
him. Now there's two Greek words here
translated made. The first one, for he hath made
him sin for us. That word, that word means caused
to be. Caused to be. Christ was caused
to be sin. That's something only God can
do. I know Brother Roland said, I'm not gonna try to explain
that, because I can't. I'm just gonna declare it. This is what
the scripture says. caused his son to be seen for
his people. The second word, made, that we
might be made the righteousness of God in him, that's the same
word that the Lord used when he asked that impotent man, will
you be made whole? Made whole. That word made means
generated or created. Will you be made something that
you're not? Will you be made righteous? See,
that word made relates to being born again. And the reason that
we, I think I'm right about this, that in six messages this week,
somebody in all six messages, they quote this verse, because
this is the very heart of the gospel. The only way God can
have mercy on me and make me righteous is if he made his son
sin for me so he could put my sin away. It's the only way that
can be done in justice. It's the very heart of the gospel.
And a believer is generated, regenerated, born again as the
righteousness of God in Christ. As righteous as the son of God
himself. Now if a sinner like you and
me is gonna be made whole like that, the Savior is gonna have
to make himself something he's not. So he can make us something
that we're not. That's what he's gonna have to
do. God the Holy Spirit is going to cause new life to be born
in that person. And that new life is holy and
righteous. Now, isn't it obvious? That can
only happen by the will of God. I mean, if the word of God didn't
say the father made his son sin for us, I would never dare say
that. But you know why people can't understand this verse?
Their problem is they're trying to understand and say, just believe
what God says. That's the problem. But we can't understand how is
it that the father in his will and his power can accomplish
this, that he made his son sin. We don't understand that because
we cannot accomplish that by our will. You see, salvation
is something God does. Salvation is what Christ makes
his people. So this is the question. Are
you willing to be saved that way? Are you willing for Christ
to make you what you're not without any help from you? Are you willing? Will you do nothing and depend
on Christ to make you whole? Will you? Now listen, I'm specifically
talking to those of you who do not believe Christ. You're lost
and you know it, you don't believe Christ and you know it, and you're
troubled by it. My heart breaks for you. I mean, literally, my
heart breaks for you. I know how miserable that is.
I know that you can't make yourself believe. You're trying to, and
you can't do it, I understand. You can't make yourself come
to Christ. Like Todd said yesterday, coming to Christ is believing
Christ, and you can't make yourself do it. I understand. But listen
to me, the Savior does not say here, are you able? He doesn't ask, are you able?
He said, are you willing? Are you willing to be made whole
by the power and will of God Almighty? Are you willing? See,
before the Lord moves in sovereign grace and reveals his sovereign
grace to his people, this is what he always does. He always
makes that object of grace miserable. I mean miserable, because we
see our total inability and our desperate need of Christ. And the Lord shows us our desperate
need of Christ. then he shows us my fourth point.
Salvation by sovereign grace. Salvation is a free gift of God's
grace. And that's demonstrated, pictured
to us here in our text. Our Lord came to this feast and
here he walked to a multitude of sick people, laying on all
different levels, these five porches. As he walked through,
scripture doesn't tell us that one person begged him for mercy. Not one. Nobody said, Lord, I've
heard of you. I heard you healed that nobleman's
son. I heard you healed the centurion's servant. Would you heal me? Not
one time is that recorded as our Lord walked through this
multitude. Well, if somebody in that multitude is going to
be saved, it's got to be by sovereign grace, doesn't it? Not by man's
will. but by God's will. Here is a
great multitude of needy, wretched people lying in these five porches,
just moaning and crying in their misery. It's just awful. And
the Lord walked up to one man. He singled one man out to be
an object of his mercy, that sovereign grace. And the Lord
didn't heal everybody in that, those five fortress. And it wasn't
because he didn't have the power to do it. He had the power to
do it. But he is displaying to us his
sovereign grace. The son quickeneth whom he will. He will have mercy on whom he
will have mercy. And that makes me cry. Lord have
mercy on me. Lord, give me life. You give
life to him, you will, you quicken him. Lord, give me life. The
Lord is merciful to him, he will be merciful. Lord, I need mercy.
Be merciful to me. See, our God is sovereign. And
our Lord, as he walked through this crowd, sovereignly saw this
man. Now, I know he saw all the people
laying there. The Lord sees everything. But
the Lord saw one certain man in sovereign mercy. He saw one
man in grace, in love. He's not gonna heal everybody.
He's not gonna heal everybody. But he's gonna heal everybody
the father gave him to heal. Christ didn't die for everybody.
He's not gonna, he's not gonna, he's not trying to save everybody.
He's not going to save everybody. But he's gonna save every last
lost sinner that the father gave him to save. Every one of them.
And this is the way God's grace always works. I am found of them
that sought me not. You see, God always comes to
the sinner first. First. And I hope you're thinking,
I'm seeking Christ. Oh, I'm glad. You know why you're
seeking Him? He sought you first. He's already
working on you. The sinner never comes to God
first. always comes first, always. Think about Abraham. Abraham
wasn't looking for God. Abraham was real happy living
in his father's house, worshiping these idols and sounds like being
pretty prosperous. Abraham wasn't looking for God
until God called Abraham and said, get thee out of thy father's
house and go to the land I'll show you. Abraham spent the rest
of his life looking for God, following God, didn't he? Saul
of Tarsus. The last thing in this world
Saul of Tarsus was looking for was God. He wasn't looking for
mercy. He wasn't looking for grace.
He said, it's touching the righteousness, it's in the law, it's blameless.
I didn't need Christ. And God met him and threw him
off his horse, put him down in the dust and said, go see a man
named Ananias. See, here's where wilt thou meet
sovereign grace. Wilt thou meet sovereign grace?
Because the Lord came to a certain man. And he knew him. He knew
he'd been in this state a long time. The Lord wanted to put
him in that state, physically speaking. And then he called
him. The Savior comes to the sinner
and sovereignly says, are you willing to be made whole? Now I know the impotent man,
he doesn't understand what the Lord just asked him. What he's telling the Lord is,
I can't do this by myself, I need a friend. I need a friend who's
willing to sit here with me for months on end until that water's
troubled and help me into the pool. Well, he needs a friend
all right, doesn't he? But not the one he's thinking
of. It's not the friend he's thinking of. You have sinners. They can't do anything but offend
God. They can't do anything but offend
one another too. A genuine sinner is just so offensive,
can't do anything right. He can't have very many friends.
But boy, we need a friend. And it's hard for a true sinner
to find a friend. Well, thank God there is a friend
for sinners. There's one friend that stick
it closer than a brother. Look at our Lord says in verse
eight, 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 here is the sovereign grace
of God at work, saving a sinner. The Lord did not make this man
healable. The Lord instantly healed him,
instantly. And this is the problem or one
of the problems with man's religion. God doesn't make anybody save
a bull. It doesn't give you any other power to go do something
good and complete the transaction and make yourself saved. God
doesn't make anybody savable. Almighty God saves His people
fully and completely by His will, by His grace, by His mercy, by
His blood, by His power, by His calling, by His keeping. Salvation's
of the Lord. It's all of the Lord. The Lord
instantly healed this man. and he gave him a command. He
gave him a command. And this is what we call irresistible
grace. This man was made both willing
and able at the very moment the Lord gave him a command. This
impotent man could not rise up and walk. If he could rise up
and walk, he wouldn't be there in the first place. If he could
rise up and walk, he could get down into the pool first when
the water was troubled. He could not rise up and walk,
much less carry his bed. His legs can't support his own
weight, much less the weight of the bed he's laying on. And
our Lord told this man who had no ability to do anything, rise,
take up your bed and walk. The Lord issued an impossible
command. I mean, I would just imagine
that man's legs look like twigs after laying there for 38 years,
wouldn't you think? I mean, there's no muscle. And that man was willing and
able. He took up his bed and walked. The command of God Almighty to
you is believe Christ. Come to believe Him. I mean believe,
trust and cast your entire soul upon Him and do it right now.
Right where you sit. The command of God is even though
you're impotent and you don't have the power to believe, God
says believe. And you will if you ever meet
sovereign grace. Even though you're impotent and you don't
have the ability to come to Christ, God's commandment to you is come
to Christ. And you'll come running the very
moment you meet sovereign grace. Even though you're dead in sin,
You can't see any spiritual truth. You can't hear any spiritual
truth. You can't love any spiritual truth. There's no breath of life
in you. The command to you from God Almighty
is arise and go to Jesus. That's the command. And you will
the moment you meet sovereign grace. You will be willing to
trust Christ and Christ alone till God takes you home as soon
as you meet sovereign grace. Now, I want to be careful how
I say this. I want you to understand what I'm saying. I'm not issuing
a altar call at the end of a conference. I'm giving you a commandment
from God. It's not from praying. It's a commandment of God. On
the authority of God's word, I'm commanding every one of us
here, take up your bed and walk. Come to Christ. Believe on the name of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Quit lying there. It's a lot
of them sick folk waiting for something to happen. Waiting
for the ability to do something that you can't do and believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ. Believing. Now I'm 59 years old. I grew up under the sound of
the gospel. I grew up in a home where the
gospel was taught, where the word was taught, where, buddy,
we're not missing service. I mean, the first service I really
remember, you know, being able to miss was when I was in seventh
grade, I made the basketball team, and they had a practice
on Wednesday, and I couldn't, you know, get out of practice
to get home. That was like the first time I remember my parents
did not make me go to service. But I mean, I mean, If it's humanly
possible, you're going to the service now. I've been to a lot
of conferences. I've been to a lot of conferences.
Those of you who remember them, conferences Henry had years ago,
it went Monday through Friday, and Monday through Saturday,
whatever, you know, morning and evening services. Whew! I've been to a lot of conferences.
By God's grace, I heard a lot of preaching. I don't think I've ever been
in a service, in a conference. that would be more special than
this one. You have heard Christ preached
this weekend as clearly and as powerfully as it can be done.
Believing. Believing. Rest in Him. Cast
your soul on Him. All right, let's bow together. Our Father, We thank you for
this weekend. We thank you for this time that
we've had to hear your gospel preach. We thank you for condescending
to meet with us. We thank you for sending your
spirit to send forth your word in power. Father, I pray that
you would not let us now go back to our normal everyday lives
and forget what we've heard. Don't let us be stony ground
heroes. Father, I beg of you to apply your word to each heart
here that you give us faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. How we
thank you for the gospel of your sovereign grace that you've given
to us. Of all people, you've given it
to us here to preach and to believe. Father, how we thank you. How
we thank you for your sovereign grace. We could be saved no other
way. Father, we pray that you'd be
with those who be traveling back home. I pray you'd give them
traveling mercies, that you'd be with them. Fathers, David
and these other men go back home to prepare to preach to your
people again on Wednesday. Father, bless them. Bless them
on that Wednesday night, that midweek service, as much as you've
blessed us right here this weekend. Oh, how we need you. We need
to hear of Christ. We need your gospel. Father,
bless. Father, we thank you for this food that we're about to
eat. We thank you for these dear ladies who've prepared it for
us, and we pray that you bless a time of fellowship for everybody
has to go back home. Father, it's in Christ's name,
for his sake and his glory, we pray, amen. All right, Isaac,
come lead us in the closing hymn before we serve.