Okay, so if you've turned to
Luke chapter five, I'd like to read a portion of what Brother
Randy read to us this morning. And I'll begin with verse 17
and read a few verses here. And it came to pass on a certain
day as he, that is Christ, was teaching that there were Pharisees
and doctors of the law setting by. which were come out of every
town of Galilee and Judea and Jerusalem, and the power of the
Lord was present to heal them." What a marvelous statement of
Holy Scripture. The power of the Lord was present
to heal them. And behold, men brought in a
bed a man which was taken with a palsy, and they sought means
to bring him in. And I want you to listen carefully
to every sentence of these verses. And they sought means to bring
him in and to lay him before him, that is, before Christ.
And when they could not find by what way they might bring
him in because of the multitude, they went upon the housetop.
and led him down through the tiling with his couch into the
midst before Jesus. And when he saw their faith,
and when he, Christ, saw their faith, that is the faith of the
four men, he said unto him, he said unto this man, this man
who needed to be healed, this man who had the palsy, Man, thy
sins are forgiven thee. Notice that he saved him first
before he healed him. And the scribes and the Pharisees
began to reason, saying, who is this which speaketh blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God
alone? They had that right. God alone
can forgive sin. But when Jesus perceived their
thoughts, he answering said unto them, What reason ye in your
hearts? Whether is it easier to say,
Thy sins be forgiven thee, or to say, Rise up and walk? but
that you may know that the Son of Man hath power upon earth
to forgive sins. He said unto the sick of the
palsy, I say unto thee, arise, and take up thy couch, and go
into thine house. And immediately he rose up before
them, and took up that whereon he lay, and departed to his own
house, glorifying God. And they were all amazed, and
they glorified God and were filled with fear, saying, We've seen
strange things today. The other evening at the Greenfield
School, Mike mentioned these verses. And I couldn't get them
off my mind. I felt strongly impressed of
the Lord to preach from them this morning. And so we will
attempt, by the grace of God, to do so. We find similar words
in Matthew's Gospel, chapter 9, and also in Mark, chapter
2, which we might refer to as we go along. But first of all,
in verse 18, you notice that, Behold, men brought in a bed
a man which was taken with a palsy, and they sought means to bring
him in. and to lay him before them. They sought means to bring
him in. Now here are four men with a
sick and very impotent friend. They found out where the Lord
was preaching and knowing that the power of the Lord was present
to heal those that were to hear our Lord and those that were
to have a word spoken from him to them. They picked him up on
his bed and sought a way to bring their friend into the presence
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now when the Son of God saw their
faith, in verse 20, when he saw their faith, That is the faith
of the four men. He said unto him, Man, thy sins
are forgiven thee. Note, these four men could not
do a thing to change their crippled friend's condition. There wasn't
anything they could do for him. All they could do for him was
to try to get him to somebody that could assist him, somebody
that could relieve his condition, somebody that could heal him.
But they knew that the Lord Jesus Christ, let me say that they
knew and they believed that the Lord Jesus Christ could do that
for their friend, which needed to be done. So they brought him
to the Savior, overcoming great obstacles, and because of their
faith in Christ, this poor sinner was both healed and saved. Maybe we should say that he was
both saved and healed. They overcome great obstacles
in verse 19 when they could not find but what way they might
bring him in because of the multitude. There was a multitude in the
house. There was multitude around the
house. And they could not get close
to the house. And so the only way that they
could bring him before Jesus was to get up on top of the house
and take the tiling off of the roof and lay it back and open
a passageway that they could let this man down on his couch. And the word couch here, it means
something like we would call a sleeping bag. It was just something
that could be rolled up. But they let him down, as it
were, probably tying ropes onto the corners, and let him down
through the tile of the roof into the very midst of the Lord
Jesus Christ. This was because of their faith
in Christ. This was because they believed
that this man must receive a touch from the Lord. And so they exercised
the faith that they had in their souls, and they let this man
down into the presence of Jesus. Oh, for such friends! Oh, for
such friends, to be able to have such friends that they would
see our need, they would see our impotence, they would see
our inability to do anything for ourselves, and they would
get us to Jesus. They would bring us to the Lord
Jesus Christ. They would get us in to the presence
of the Lord. Oh, for such friends like that. Do we believe that the power
of the Lord is present where the gospel is preached to save
lost men and women? Well, Paul said, I'm not ashamed
of the gospel for it is the power of God unto salvation. It is
the dynamite of God unto salvation to everyone that believes. Unto
the Jew first and also unto the Gentiles. And so there is power
where the word of the King is and where the gospel is preached.
There is power to save, power to heal lost men and women. Now
if we do believe that there is power where the Word of the Lord
is present and where it is being preached, there are some things
that we can do for poor lost sinners. Those lost sinners that
live around us, those lost sinners that are in our homes, those
lost sinners that we come in contact with every day of our
lives. Now we have many things in common.
We have many things in common, those of us that are here today.
There are some here today that believe, bless God. There are
some here that trust the Lord. There are some here whose sins
have been forgiven. And we praise God that we have
this in common. There are others that have other
things in common, and one of them is they believe not the
gospel. They have not believed the report
of the gospel. They have not believed savingly
in the Lord Jesus Christ. Their sin is yet upon them. The
wrath of God now abides upon them. They are sentenced to everlasting
burning, and the sentence hasn't been carried out yet. but you
are under the wrath of God. We have these things in common
and there are some things that we can do for you this morning
and we hope that we will continue doing these things for different
ones that we come in contact with in this world. Now I know
that we cannot change a sinner's condition. I know that. I know
that we're helpless because the sinner is powerless himself to
change himself. You're here this morning and
you're bound up in the chains of sin, and you have many, many
habits that are dragging you down to the pit, and you know
that you're under the bondage of sin. My friend, you have not
the power. You're without Christ. You're
without hope. You have not the power. Oh, it's only as the Father
would teach you to the Son. It's only as you were drawn by
the Divine Spirit that you can get to Christ and get your sins
and the shackles of sin broken from all for your life. Look
at this man. This man is a type of the sinner,
helpless, helpless and undone and unable to do anything for
himself. Here he is. Do you think that
he would have ever showed up in that house before Christ if
it had not been that others bore him into that place? No. He was helpless, totally unable
to do anything for himself. Man is absolutely afflicted with
inability. He has no power to lift himself
up. No ability to bring Himself unto
the Lord that He might be delivered. But you can do some things for
lost people while you can't change their condition. You can shut
them up to Christ. Christ only can do something
for them. But there are some things that
we can. And what we can do, we are responsible to do. And we
must do. I believe these four were responsible
to bring this man before the Lord and to take the tile off
the roof. You say that's beyond the call
of duty, preacher, for people to do things like this. They're
going to extreme. They must have been fanatics.
Oh, my friend. Oh, for such fanatics. that would
do this for a poor, impotent sinner, somebody who needed to
be healed. They were responsible to do whatever
they could do in order to get this man before the Lord. Well,
what can you and I do? What can we do? What are we responsible
to do? Well, number one, I believe that
were responsible to pray for those who believed not. You remember
how Abraham prevailed before God for Ishmael? He prayed, O
that Ishmael might live before thee. Ishmael was his son, you
remember. And he prayed to God that he
might live before him. Oh, there has been a prayer meeting
called. And there are some of the men
that are meeting together where they can to pray for lost sinners. And we pray for them in the young
people's meeting. And we prayed for them apart.
We prayed for them separately. We will pray for the lost. We
will not. We will not give up on those
of you that are listening and hearing the Word of God. Our
responsibility is to bear you before God. Your name is heard
before the throne of grace every day. You are mentioned before
the throne of grace. Somebody said, has my name been
mentioned in heaven? It has been mentioned in heaven,
my friend. And those of you that are here
this morning that are lost and in need of Christ, just remember,
there's somebody mentioning your name before God every day, praying
that you will be delivered. We have seen some souls delivered
that we have prayed for, but we have prayed for all of you
that you will be delivered. And we will not be denied by
the grace of God. We will see others converted
and brought unto the Lord Jesus Christ. So take to your closet,
my friend, and begin to pray. Brother, sister, the songwriter
said, see poor sinners round you. slumbering on the brink
of woe, death is coming, hell is moving, can you bear to let
them go? No, you seek the Lord, who can
do something for these sinners. He is mighty to save, the scripture
says. Isaiah 59 and verse 1 says, Behold,
the Lord's hand is not shortened that it cannot save, neither
his ear heavy that he cannot hear. The Lord can both save
with his arm and he can hear with his ear. And so our responsibility
is to bear these souls up unto the Lord. Number two, we can
tell them what we know of Christ and what we know of his grace.
One of the examples that we have of this in the word of God is
found in the book of Saint John in chapter nine. Beginning with
verse 8. Beginning with verse 8. This
was a blind man that was healed here by the power of Christ.
And the neighbors therefore, and they which were before, had
seen him, that he was blind, said, Is not this he that sat
and begged? Some said, This is he. Others
said, He is like him. But he said, He said, I am He. This was the testimony of this
man who was delivered by our Lord. But He said, but He said. Now you see, there's some things
that we can say. Some of us have something to
say. Let the redeemed of the Lord
say so. Let them say so if they've been
delivered from the hand of the enemy. Let them bear testimony
to the fact. that our Lord has reached them,
touched them, and delivered their poor soul. So he said, I am he. Therefore said they unto him,
How were thine eyes opened? And he answered and said, A man
that is called Jesus made clay, and anointed my eyes, and said
unto me, Go to the pool of Siloam, and wash. And I went, and I washed,
and I received sight. I received sight. Now what we're
hearing here is the testimony of a man who had been affected
by Christ, touched by Christ, delivered by Christ, and he told
those that came around and those that he had opportunity to witness
to, he told them what the Lord had done for him. You can tell
friends and neighbors, relatives and acquaintances what you have
seen and what you have heard and felt and experienced of the
gospel in your own life. You don't need to tell them something
you haven't experienced. You can't tell somebody something
you don't know anymore, and you can come back from someplace
you haven't been. But if you have been touched,
and if you've been dealt with by the Lord, and if you know
that something's took place in your life, then you can tell
them. Tell them of your hope. 1 Peter 3 and 15 says, but sanctify
the Lord God in your heart and be ready always to give an answer
to any man or to every man that would ask you a reason for the
hope that is within you. Be ready always to give an answer. Be ready always to tell men and
women what you know. Alright, now the third thing
that we can do is we can distribute tracks, we can distribute tapes
if we can find some, and we can buy some books, and we might
give to those who might profit from them. We might give them
these things. They might, it would cost us
very little to do it. But it might be of infinite value
to other people to pass out. And some of you are doing that.
Some of you are getting some tapes out. And I just heard the
testimony the other day of a man who said he had been saved by
listening to one of the tapes. from this church and I know that
God is using what is being preached and we must continue to give
out these books and to sow the seed of the Word of God. How
do you know but what God may bless just a word spoken in season
And they that go forth bearing precious seed shall doubtless
come again rejoicing, bringing their sheaves with them. Sow
the seed of the word of God any way that you can. Any way that
you have opportunity, give the message of the gospel out before
men and women. That is the obligation and responsibility
of the Lord's living family. Well, fourthly, we ought to use
what God has given us. for the support and the propagation
of the gospel. Let me read to you out of 3 John
chapter 5. Nope, there is no such thing. It's just 3 John verses 5 through
8. There's only one chapter in 3
John. So it's verses 5 through 8. Beloved,
thou doest faithfully whatsoever thou doest to the brethren and
to strangers. which have borne witness of thy
charity, thy love, before the church, whom if thou bring forward
on their journey after a godly sort, thou shalt do well. Because that for his namesake,
that is, for the namesake of Jesus Christ, These warriors
of the faith went forth taking nothing of the Gentiles. They
went out into the world and they did not take anything from those
Gentiles to whom they preached. They preached the gospel free
of charge to the Gentiles that they were preaching to. And so
they are exhorted here, the churches, to do faithfully toward these
brethren and to strangers. Bring them forward on their journey.
after a godly sort, that they would do well, meaning that they
ought to contribute of their means to enable these men to
go forth and continue to minister the gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Now the scripture says in Galatians
6 and verse 6, Brother Randy read last Sunday out at Fort
Shaw this chapter, and in verse 6 it says, let him that is taught
in the word, share, communicate unto him that teacheth in all
good things. There's a responsibility. There's
an obligation here. And in 1 Corinthians 9 and 14,
even so hath the Lord ordained that they which preach the gospel
should live of the gospel. And in the same book, he says,
if we have sown into you spiritual things, is it a great thing if
we shall reap your carnal things? Who goeth to warfare any time
at his own charges? What I'm trying to say to you,
that it is perfectly scriptural for you to stand behind, for
you to use your means to support those that are carrying the message
of the gospel. Now, you may not be able to preach,
but you can help feed and clothe the man who does. Now, this is
very important that we see this, that we can be used of God if
we will obey what the scripture says. And God will make all grace
abound towards you, that you always, having all sufficiency,
may be able to abound to every good work. In 2 Corinthians 9
and 6, and I like this verse, but this I say because I want
you to understand that there ain't nobody ever outgave God.
There ain't nobody that can in any way, shape, or form impoverish
themselves by assisting in the spread of the gospel of Jesus
Christ. Paul said, but this I say, he
which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly, and he which
soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully. And so, my
friend, if we will sow the seed of the Word of God, and if we
are behind in support and stand with the Church, and we will
assist in getting out the message of the grace of God by our means,
then God will bless that and use that And the church is obligated,
of course, to that degree. And the fifth thing is that we
need to bring sinners to hear the gospel. And, of course, these
four men that brought this impotent man, this man with a palsy, are
an example of that. We need to bring sinners in. And if you don't want to, And
you say, well, I just don't care. Well, of course, your attitude
is very poor. Your attitude is wrong. You're
to make every effort, my friend, to get people under the joyful
sound of the gospel. You're to make every effort.
And you parents, you do quite well in bringing your children.
And you must do that. You must insist. that they come
with you to hear the gospel. When they're of age, if they
make a decision to do otherwise, that's between them and the Lord.
But as long as they're under your control, you need to get
them under the sound of the gospel. And so that'd be our duty, that'd
be our responsibility as we go out through this world attempting
to get people. Don't tell them to come to hear
the preacher, tell them to come to hear the word of God. Tell
them you want them to hear the gospel and to come and listen
to the sound of the message of God's grace. And then, sixthly,
you can exemplify the grace of God in your own life. You can
adorn the doctrine of God so that those who know you will
want to hear the gospel that you believe. And how important
this is. In the book of Peter, it talks
about how that the women who are godly women, how that they
can win their husband by their chaste behavior, by their conversation,
and that word conversation is behavior, and win them without
the word. Without the word! They don't
have to preach to their husbands just by their attitude, by their
submission. unto their husband, and by their
caring attitude toward their husband and their home and their
children, they can affect their husbands and bring them face
to face with a true gospel witness. God has done something in you
And without the word, you can win them. You don't have to preach
to your husband, and you ought not. You don't have to preach
to your wife, and you ought not. Just preach to them all the time.
And ride them all the time. Be an example before them. And
do what, and pray to God that he'll use that example. and they'll
be won without the word by the example of their wife, by their
husband. Okay, so we can adorn the doctrine
of God, live in the grace of God and by the grace of God,
and that will have a tremendous effect on those around us. All right, there are two things.
We've kind of opened up the text here somewhat, but there are
two things that I see here that I want to talk just a little
bit about. Number one, there's a doctrine here in this text,
and number two, there's a question that I want to try this morning
to ask you. But the first thing is, there's
a doctrine here that we need to think about a little bit.
And the doctrine teaches that it's one of the greatest comforts
in the world to have your sins forgiven you. The Lord said to
this man, son be of good cheer, son be of good cheer, thy sins
are forgiven. Now you take note that it's more
comfort for our sins to be forgiven than it is to be healed in body. Now then, If you and I face reality, we must face reality here this
morning. It is taught here that the pardon
of sin is one of the richest comforts which the Lord can give
to a man. Now just think about that a little
bit. The pardon of sin is one of the richest comforts that
God can give to a man. You say even if that man comes
sick, you mean the pardon of his sin is the richest comfort
that God can give him? You mean if a man comes and he's
poor, desperately poor, the richest comfort that God can give him
is the pardon of his sin? Absolutely. It is so because
the pardon of sin removes the heaviest sorrow which a man can
feel in this world. Now I believe in Holy Spirit
conviction, and I believe that God can bring conviction upon
a man for his sin. Beloved, sin digs graves for
bodies, and sin kindles hell for souls. Sin is a terrible
thing. That is a sufficient cause for
trouble that is the cause of all the trouble in the world.
My friend, let me say to you that you, if things are right,
the Spirit of God is working in your heart. He is going to
bring you into conviction because of your sin. Because of your
sin. And you're going to feel in your
heart a heavy sorrow for your sin. Oh, that ever lost sinner
here felt this heaviness. To know the burden of sin is
to carry a crushing load. Thoughtful people who have seen
things in true light, I'm talking about honest people who refuse
to be flattered, people who want to be right with God, all of
these people will tell you that sin is a misery and the conviction
of it is very sharp and disquieting to the soul. anyone that's ever
been under the hand of God, anyone that God has ever brought into
a state of darkness, into a place where they felt the heavy hand
of God upon them and recognized that hell was gaping open in
front of them and that they were very near in sliding into the
pit everlastingly, they'll tell you that sin is like a hard iron
on the conscience of a man. To know that you've sinned, to
know that you've sinned against light, to know that you've sinned
against knowledge, to know that you walked contrary to the law
of God and to the truth of God, and all sin, David says, is against
God. You say, I didn't mean to sin
against anybody, preacher, but you've sinned against God. All
sin is against God. There's no rest, day or night,
to a soul which carries this hell within it, who is under
conviction. cannot, cannot get this conviction
off of their heart. The poet said, sin, like a venomous
disease, infects our vital blood. The only balm is sovereign grace
and the physician. only balm, sovereign grace, and
the physician God. Once let conviction come on the
soul, and the world loses its fascination. The amusements of
this world are robbed of their enchantments. Even business worries
a man who is under conviction. Domestic joys are deprived of
their sweetness to the man who feels the hand of God upon him
and is convicted of his sin. Guilt on the conscience hangs
over everything like sorrow in a funeral home. Sin, sin is the
disease, and a man infected with a deadly disease is never, never,
never comfortable. Oh, my friend, you know that
what I'm telling you is the truth. Let him put forth. Here's a man
and he is afflicted. And we know of some. We know
their names. We know them. And let that man
who is afflicted with cancer put on the best clothes that
money can buy. Let him. Let him eat the most
palatable food that he can keep down. Let him eat expensive expensive
food and meals that are well prepared by the best of chefs. He's unhappy. He's unhappy. Nothing can please him. Nothing
can please him. Because he's ill. Because he's
sick. Till the disease is taken away. He goes to bed with it. And he gets up with it. He cannot
get away from it. I'm ill. I'm ill. I'm terminally
ill. I have cancer and I cannot get
away from it. I'm in an awful state of distress. I cannot get away. That's the
way a man is under the conviction of sin. And I'll tell you that's
why when the Lord says, Son, thy sins be forgiven thee, that's
why that is such a boom, why it's such a blessing, why it's
such a comfort and rich, rich comfort, is because when a man
goes to bed with his sin and gets up with his sin in the morning
and he feels so desperately that something must be done or he'll
go out of his mind, Then, my friend, he knows what a blessing
it would be if God was to speak to him. And God alone can speak
the word. My son, be of good cheer. Thy
sins are forgiven thee. So it is with the sinner here
under the conviction of sin by the Holy Spirit. The pardon of
his sin removes the bitterest cause of distress and alarm. Next thing about this is forgiveness
of sin is a great comfort because it is indispensable. You can
have the world by a downhill pull, and there's some that do,
and you may be living on the shady side of life, but you'll
never be solidly happy till your sins are forgiven. A man cannot
really be happy till his sin is pardoned, because sin brings,
more or less, a sense of condemnation. He just feels condemned. Picture
a man, if you will, on death row. Would you go into a prison
and go down to where men are on death row and try to make
those people comfortable? Try to make them comfortable.
Give him anything short of a pardon and he'll hate it. It don't make
any difference what you got in your hand. What kind of a letter
you got? Maybe you got letters from the
neighbors, and they all tell them about how much they think
of him and so on, and they all butter him up, you know, and
they tell him, you know, about how they miss him and everything,
but that's not gonna please that fella. He's on death row. Nothing
is going to satisfy him. He's going to hate everything
that you say to him. You know what he's looking for?
He's looking for a pardon. That's what he's looking for.
And there ain't nothing else. I'm telling you the forgiveness
of sin is indispensable. There isn't any way you will
ever be happy until God forgives you of your sins. How can you
enjoy anything else? I'm condemned to die. How are
you going to enjoy anything in this world if you're facing eternal
judgment? If you're facing the lash of
God for all eternity on your back, how can you enjoy even
common grace? How can you enjoy it? If he could
just hear that the governor has pardoned him, oh, he'd be so
happy that he'd enjoy it so much And it wouldn't make any difference. You could offer him whatever
he pleased, but he'd enjoy life. You might come and say, you owe
me a big debt, and when you get out of here, you got to pay it.
Wouldn't bother him a bit. Wouldn't bother him a bit. He'd
be glad to satisfy you and anybody else that had a claim against
him as soon as he hears those words from the governor. That
his pardon and that his past has been blotted out. When he
gets home, everything's going to look different to him. You
say, well, the grass is three foot high and the house needs
to be painted and the roof's falling in. Won't make any difference
to that fella. Won't make a bit of difference
to him. He's got a pardon. And he's been pardoned. He was
on death row and he got a pardon. I'm telling you, you'll never
be solidly happy until you hear from the Lord Jesus, the Son
of God himself. Thy sins are forgiven thee. A man must have forgiveness or
else everything in this world will be empty to him. Now note,
if you will, that the pardon of sin is the forerunner of other
blessings. It was in this man's case. Is
it any surprise to you that after the Lord said to this man, thy
sins be forgiven thee, that then he said to him, take up your
couch and walk? You're healed. Is that any surprise
to you? Now the Lord, in Romans 8, 32,
by the mouth of Paul the Apostle said, he that spared not his
own son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not
with him also freely give us all things? Freely give us all
things. If he's done the greatest thing
for thee, my friend, he will do the lesser things for you.
And you say, well, you mean the healing of my body is one of
the lesser? It is. Because you see, even if the
Lord was to heal you, you still got to get sick and die. You
still got to leave this world. And that's one of the lesser
blessings. And the chief blessing, we've described it to you, the
forgiveness of your sins. When Christ said, Thy sins be
forgiven thee, This was the great blessing. Others were to follow.
The same love that forgave him said, you take up your couch
and go into your house. If God pardons you, you will
never have a need, but God will assure surely. According to Philippians
4, 19, but our God will supply all your need according to his
riches in glory by Christ Jesus, according to his will, and we
are submissive to his will. Covenant mercies follow each
other like the links of a chain. who forgiveth all thine iniquities,
who healeth all thy diseases, who redeemeth thy life from destruction,
who crowneth thee with loving kindness and tender mercies,
who satisfieth thy mouth with good things, so that thy youth
is renewed like the eagle's. Pardon is the pledge of everlasting
love and security, and this pledge will never be forfeited, so much
then for the doctrine. We told you that the doctrine
here is that the greatest comfort that God could ever give you
is to forgive you of your sins. Cast them behind his back. Bury
them in the deepest sea. That's the greatest blessing
God can ever give you. Now the question, and we'll close,
are we forgiven? Have we heard the voice of the
Son of God saying, be of good cheer, thy sins are forgiven
thee? That's the question. Has God,
for Christ's sake, forgiven you? You say, preacher, don't judge
me. I cannot be sure, and I don't think anybody else can be sure.
of everlasting life, of salvation, that their sins are forgiven.
How can anybody be sure of such a thing as weighty as that? that their sins are forgiven.
Well, is that so? You say, well, I'm here to testify
differently. You see, I believe that a man
can know. I believe this man in Holy Scripture
in Luke 5, I believe he knew that his sins were forgiven.
I believe that was a blessed and happy day. And our Lord said
to him, be of good cheer. Be of good cheer. Thy sins are
forgiven you. Now, I know that you cannot be
happy now, And you cannot be happy this side of heaven or
hell if you do not know your sins are forgiven. How can we
rest in a fear of hell, in danger of eternal wrath? We must know
rest. We must know that we're saved
if we're going to be able to rest in our souls. Don't you
long to be certain? Don't you want facts, my friend?
We must never be content. till we're sure, till we're infallibly
sure and assured that we are forgiven, that God has put our
sin away. Well, there's a way by which
we may know that we are forgiven. You know the Word of God says
in 1 John 1 verse 9, I quoted this to Benjamin at his baptism,
it says that if we confess our sin, that he is faithful and
just to forgive us our sin and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. What a verse! What a verse! Do
we believe that verse? Now my friend, the only way that
the devil is ever going to get upper hand of you if you're a
child of God, a believer, is for him to get you to doubt that
God is faithful and that He's just, and make you believe that
your sin is yet upon you. And you that are here this morning
lost outside the Lord Jesus Christ, the blood of Jesus Christ, God's
Son, cleanseth us from all sin. And the devil wants us to get
hung up on this thing saying, well, something about the way
that I communicate with the Lord, there's something about it that's
not right. Somehow or other, I just don't
know whether God is forgiving me when I ask him to forgive
me. My friend, do you not think that
God has ears? He that made the ear, can he
not hear? God can hear. He can hear even
if you don't have the words to set forth the condition of your
heart and soul unto Him. God hears the groanings of your
heart. He sees the desire of your heart.
Even if there's no words coming out of your mouth, you may be
dumb to the point where that you're not able to speak a word.
But does that disqualify you for this blessing in this verse? Absolutely not. God sees the
heart. The Bible says that man looks
on the outward appearance, but God looks on the heart. And He
knows your heart this morning. And if you confess your sin,
unto God in your heart. Confess it with all honesty,
with Judgment Day honesty. Confess your sin unto God. He
is faithful. God is faithful. Didn't tell
you the preacher was? Didn't tell you the deacons were?
Didn't tell you the church members were? God is faithful and He
will Blot out your sin. He will blot out your sin. He'll
forgive you of your sin. He will say unto you, Son, be
of good cheer, thy sins are forgiven thee. He will do that, you see,
because God is faithful. He that called us into the fellowship
of his Son is faithful. Now, I like what is said here.
You know, sometimes people that have received forgiveness of
sin, they don't have any gratitude for it. They ought to have, we
all ought to have gratitude. I believe if we do something
for somebody, we like to see a little gratitude on the part
of those for which we do things. Well, you see, the Lord said
to this man, he said, I want you to be a good cheer. Now,
what the Lord meant by that was that he wanted this man to be
of good spirits. He wanted him to be merry of
heart. because his sins have been forgiven. And that merriness
of heart is the readiness of mind, that joyousness, which
will prompt us to do anything the Lord will ask us to do. It
puts us in a hilarious frame of mind. If God has forgiven
you, he wants you to show that. Now, my friend, would there be
anything wrong with a man whom God has forgiven his sin? I mean
a man who's carried this heavy load for years, and this burden,
this sense of guilt. Wouldn't there be anything wrong
with that man being happy? Go back to that man on death
row. He gets a pardon. You think he wouldn't choke?
You think he wouldn't be hilarious? You think he wouldn't? You think
if the governor said, I want you to come mow my grass next
week, what do you suppose that fellow would do? Anybody knows
what that fellow would do? He'd just go right over there
and mow the grass, wouldn't he? He'd be hilarious. Because God, listen,
and God loves, the Bible says, for His people to be hilarious.
And He loves a hilarious giver. 2 Corinthians 9 and verse 7b
says God wants His people to be in this frame of mind where
they're cheerful. And where they show their cheerfulness
in that that He deserves gratitude. And those around you, live up
to your privilege, my friend. Why should you carry your head
down? Why should your head be on your
chest? Why should you walk through life
with your harp hanging on the willow tree and having no song
in your heart unto the Lord? Why should it be so when the
Lord has blessed you with the richest comfort? that a man can
ever enjoy in this life. Why should we not? Why should
we not give praise that those around us may say, the gospel
those people believe gives them some assurance. The gospel those
people believe readies them for eternity. Those people are meet
for the inheritance of the saints in life. These people are ready
to go to be with the Lord. These people are ready to meet
God. These people are ready to stand in this world to do whatever
the Lord calls upon them to do, and then to go forth out of this
world. They're ready to cross the river
of death with joy and peace in their souls. Their sins have
been put away. They're forgiven. And I say to
you this morning that are here, oh, may we see that hilarious
joy, that merry spirit, that good spirit in those of you that
have trusted Christ and those of you to whom the Lord has spoken.
If he spoke to you this morning and said, son, oh, that the Lord
would come up behind you and speak a soft word in your ear,
son, Thy sins are forgiven thee. They're forgiven thee. I have
nothing against you anymore. Go in peace. Go in peace. Go
with a happy spirit. Pardon I've given you. Oh, go
and rejoice in the Lord and the power of his might. Father, in
the name of Jesus, take the words of this message and use it, dear
Lord, in the hearts of these that have come out today. May
Christ be honored, and may they give Christ the honor and the
glory of believing in his name and not in any way, shape, or
form casting aspersion on Christ, saying he didn't mean what he
said. He didn't mean what he said when he said he would forgive
me of my sins if I confess my sin that he would forgive me.
Oh, Father, help us in faith to lay hold today of sins forgiven
and rejoice with a great rejoicing. And even as the angels of God
in heaven would rejoice over one sinner that repents. May
there be joy in your living family today. Great peace of heart.
Mighty joy. We pray for Jesus sake in his
name. Amen. Thank you.