Jesus's healing of the man at the pool of Bethesda illustrates humanity's helplessness and God's sufficient grace. The man's thirty-eight years of infirmity and inability to help himself contrast with Jesus's simple command to walk, which brought instant healing. This event symbolizes salvation, showing that wholeness comes through faith in Christ's word, not human effort or law. The sermon also emphasizes judicial forgiveness through Christ's sacrifice, ongoing parental forgiveness for confessing believers, and the necessity of forgiving others.
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The Lord willing, tomorrow night, we shall be taking up two of the miracles in John's Gospel that are found in the sixth chapter. So I'm going to ask you to do a little homework and read at least the first twenty-one verses of chapter six for tomorrow night. There are two of the signs, two of the miracles recorded in that short portion. And on Thursday night, we will take up the ninth chapter, and on Friday night, the eleventh chapter. Now, as you see, we're only taking parts of the Gospel of John this week.
It's quite impossible to cover the whole book, but we are looking especially at the signs or miracles, which he tells us in the twentieth chapter in verses thirty and thirty-one. are given, not purporting to be all of the miracles, because he says many miracles Jesus did which are not written in this book, but these are written that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you might have life through his name. If you and I get the good out of this study, that we ought to, we will not only have life in his name, but we shall be overcoming Christians, because he tells us in First John, the fifth chapter, he that believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and he that believes that Jesus is the Son of God will overcome the world.
Though there can be a great deal of blessing come to us if we accept these proofs of the deity of the Lord Jesus, of his sonship. of his ability, because we're seeing in these times, we're seeing that the glory of God is shown. This is what he said in the first of these miracles. In the second chapter, he said that the Lord did this miracle and manifested forth his glory and his disciples believed on him. So we see the glory of God in creation. In chapter two, And in that same chapter, the glory of God in judgment.
We looked at this on Sunday night. Then on Monday night, we talked about the glory of God in absolute power from the fourth chapter. Now tonight, we're going to read a story in chapter five. John's Gospel, chapter five, beginning at verse one. After this, there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. Now there is that Jerusalem by the sheep market, or literally by the sheep gate, a pool, which is called in the Hebrew tongue Bethesda, having five fortunes.
And these lay a great multitude of impotent folks. That's not important, that's impotent. Don't read an R in there. implicit means powerless, helpless, weak, of 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. 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, Will thou be made whole? The impotent man answered him, Sir, I have no man when the water is troubled to put me into the pool, but while I am coming, another step is 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. 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.
They asked him, Then asked him, What man is that which said to thee, Take up thy bed and walk? And he that was healed wished not who it was, for Jesus had conveyed himself away, a multitude being in that place. Afterward Jesus finds him in the temple and says 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. And therefore did the Jews persecute Jesus and sought to slay him because he had done these things on the Sabbath day. But Jesus answered them, My Father, work of hitherto, and I work.
Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill him, because he not only had broken the Sabbath, but said also that God was his Father, making himself equal with God. Then answered Jesus and said unto them, Fairly, verily, I say unto you, the Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeeth 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 he may marvel. For as the Father raises up the dead and quickeneth them, even so the Son quickeneth whom he will.
That's an old English word that means he gives life to them, quickens them. For the Father judges no man, but hath committed all judgments unto the Son, that all men should honor the Son even as they honor the Father. He that honoreth not the Son, honor is not the Father which hath sent him. Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me hath everlasting life. and shall not come into condemnation, but is passed from death unto life. Verily, verily, I say unto you, the hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and they that hear shall live.
For as the Father hath life in himself, so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself, and hath given him authority to execute judgment also, because he is the Son of Man. Marvel not at this, For the hour is coming in which all that are in the grave shall hear his voice, and shall come forth, they that have done good unto the resurrection of life, and they that have done evil unto the resurrection of damnation. I can of mine own self do nothing. As I hear, I judge, and my judgment is just, because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which has sent me. If I bear witness of myself, my witness is not true.
There is another that beareth witness of me, and I know that the witness which he witnesses of me is truth. He sent unto John, and he bear witness unto the truth. But I receive not testimony from man, but these things I say that ye might be saved. He was of burning in the shining light, and you were willing for a season to rejoice in his light. But I have greater witness than that of John. For the works which the Father has given me is finished, the same works that I do bear witness of me, that the Father has sent me. And the Father himself which has sent me hath borne witness of me.
Ye have neither heard his voice at any time, nor seen his shape, and ye have not his word abiding in you, for whom he has sent him you believe not. Search the Scriptures, for in them ye think ye have eternal life. and they are they which testify of me, and ye will not come to me that ye might have life. I receive not honor from men, but I know you that you have not the love of God in you. I am come in my Father's name, and ye receive me not. If another shall come in his own name, him you will receive. How can ye believe which receive honor one of another, and seek not the honor that cometh from God only?
do not think that I will accuse you to the Father. There is one that accuses you, even Moses, in whom you trust. For had you believed Moses, you would have believed me, for he wrote of me. But if you believe not his writing, how shall you believe my words? This chapter tells us about a very wonderful miracle. Let's look at the miracle first of all. We have a hopeless man here. He is not only totally incompetent of doing anything for himself, but he can't even find anybody to help him.
And this is a pretty sad state to be in. There have been people who have had problems, physical problems. There have been people who have been helpless. but they have had someone who could help them. This man had neither health nor friends. And he's been like this for thirty-eight years. That's about as permanent as you can think of. That's more than half of the expected lifetime of a man. He's been lying here helpless for thirty-eight years.
But the Lord Jesus came along. The man thought that he needed somebody to help him in the pool. I often think about this pool. I think it's a good picture of what people could expect under the law. It was strictly competition. The person who got blessed was the person who needed it the least. The man who was fastest on his feet was the one who got the healing. Everybody else is left out. Isn't that like the law? That's what the law says. This do and thou shalt live. The law puts you in competition. The law says if you're good enough, you can attain to it.
The trouble is none of us are good enough. The law is a sweeping condemnation of the whole world. And why in the world? Anybody. wants to put himself back under the law. I don't know. There's a verse that says, Thou restest in the law. That is, you are resting on the law, and then shows them why they can't rest there. Mr. A. and O'Brien used to say, I never read that verse without conjuring up in my mind a picture of of an Indian faker lying on a board that's driven full of spikes.
This fellow does this in order to show what a holy man he is and to get people to pay him for his prayers, and that fellow actually has lain on that bed of sharp spikes so long that he can sleep there. He said, that's the picture I get when I think of this statement, thou restest in the law. what poor rest you'd ever get from the law, because the law can save nobody. By the deeds of the law shall no flesh be justified, for by the law is the knowledge of sin. And yet you will be surprised at how many people believe that our salvation depends upon our keeping the law.
I was preaching out in eastern Colorado in a dance hall some thirty-five years ago. The only church in the county was a dance hall. So that's the one I used. And the people were coming out pretty well, and I was hoping to see somebody saved. Instead of that, I got all kinds of complaints. And the principal of the little school in the community came to me, and he said, I don't like your preaching. Well, I said, I don't like it sometimes myself. What is it you don't like about it? He said, well, I don't like this idea that you have that people can be saved instantly.
Well, I said, how do you think people can be saved? Well, he said, I think you have to keep the law and follow the golden rule and live the life of Christ. Well, I said, all three of those are exactly the same thing. If you did any one of them, you'd be doing the other two. If you kept the law, you'd be living like the Lord Jesus did. If you lived like the Lord Jesus did, you'd be keeping the golden rule. If you kept the golden rule, that is the law, the Lord says. That's the law and the problem. So, you're talking about the same thing. Well, he said, that's the way I think you have to be saved. I said, have you tried that? Well, I most certainly have. I said, how long have you been trying it?
Well, he said, I joined the church when I was fifteen years old. And I'm sixty-five now. Well, I said, you look like an honest man. I'm going to ask you a question. Now, I said, I know that a fifteen-year-old farm boy is a fairly innocent boy. He's lived in the country, and he's only fifteen years of age. He doesn't know too much about the world in worldly ways. When you were fifteen, I judged that you were probably an average farm boy. He said, well, yes, I guess it was. Now, I said, after fifty years, that you've been trying to keep the law, I want you to tell me, do you believe that you are any closer to heaven now than you were fifty years ago?
Then I gave him plenty of time to think it through, and his face was the study, I'll tell you. And he kind of dropped his face, dropped his eyes, and scuffed on the floor, and I said, well, how about it? Well, he said, I don't know whether I could say that I'm any closer to heaven now than I was fifty years ago or not. Well, I said, that's pretty discouraging for me. I'd sure hate to take up something that you tried for fifty years and it didn't work. I believe I'll stick to the way of salvation that the Bible teaches. I think I'll just put my trust in the Lord. I believe that I'll rest on His finished work on the cross. I believe that I will hide my soul under the precious shed blood of Christ."
He didn't say anything more, but he left the room and he left it in a pretty thoughtful mood. I hope I'll see that man in heaven sometime. He undoubtedly is dead long before this, because that's been, as he'd be, a hundred years old, if he was alive now. And I'm sure that that man is gone. I hope, I hope that he abandoned. any idea of saving himself by the law and that he put his trust in the Lord Jesus. That's what I think of when I think of this man waiting for the troubling of the waters and then trying to compete with somebody else. May the best man win.
The gospel is just the opposite. The gospel is for the worst. In Lincoln, I visited the man who told me that he was the worst man that I had ever met. I didn't say it, he did. He said, I am so wicked that I don't think God could save me. And I said, if I showed you from the Bible that the worst man who ever lived is already in heaven, would you believe that you could be saved? Well, he said, I'd have to. So I read to him, First Timothy This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners of whom I am chief.
I said, the chief of sinners, according to the Bible, is already in heaven. If the chief of sinners got there, it looks to me like you should be able to trust your soul to what Christ has done for you. That's the gospel. Hope for the hopeless. and salvation for the helpless. And the Lord Jesus made this man well. Now, the miracle was complete because the man passed all tests for reality. He was a man who was unable to walk, and he immediately stood up, rolled up this little pallet that he was carrying that he lay on, and carried it, and walked off.
No one could question but that that man was made perfectly whole. That's the miracle. That's the story. And we have no reason whatever to question it. This happened in the full view of hundreds of people. The pool of Bethesda was a place where people congregated in great numbers. It was a kind of a health resort. And these people saw it happen. It came to public attention because there was an arrest made as a result of it. They said this man didn't have any right to carry his bed.
He said, Jesus told him to carry it. So they looked up Jesus and said, what business did you have telling that man to carry a bed on the Sabbath day? And the Lord soon put them in their rightful place. There's no question at all, but that this happened, that it happened just as was said here, and that it was a perfect proof of the ability of our Lord Jesus Christ to save the helpless. But now there's some lessons to be learned from it. The first one I would like to take up with you tonight is a lesson of typology. This is a picture of the nation of Israel. I suppose you're all watching the Jewish nation in the newspapers and you're all wondering what's going to happen yet and next.
You're wondering whether the Arabs are going to be able to crowd them into the sea or not. You're wondering whether this little nation will continue to stand or not. Well, let me tell you that the present nation of Israel is not the nation that God anticipates at all. This is the Zionist movement, and it is atheistic. The people are returning to Israel in unbelief, and when God gets through sifting them, And when he saves a hundred and forty-four thousand of them and sets up a kingdom at the end of the Great Tribulation period, which was long into the thousand-year reign of peace, it won't be the present kingdom of the Israelis at all, but it will be the believing Jews who then recognize that they have crucified their Messiah and accept it.
Keep your eye on Israel, however, because the fig tree is budding. And this is a great indication of the nearness of the coming of the Lord. I object to men on the radio saying that this is a wonderful fulfillment of prophecy. It is not a fulfillment of prophecy because no prophecy will be fulfilled until the Lord Jesus comes back for his own. My reason for saying that is that if there was any unfulfilled prophecy, then we would be wrong in looking for Christ. We would have to look for the fulfillment of that prophecy before Christ could come. But there is no unfulfilled prophecy. The Lord Jesus could come at any time. And then, and not until then, will the clock of prophecy start again.
And God is going to continue to work with his earthly people, Israel. He's going to fulfill his promises to them. This is typical of Israel because these people were in the right place. They were Jerusalem. That's the place where God placed His name. If you're looking for a place, that's the only right place on earth. The right place on earth is not the chapel at forty-fifth and Hamilton or any other chapel. Christians in the New Testament are not gathered to a place at all. We're gathered to a person. And when the new building is ready, the Christians will move out of this building and move into another building, and they'll still be meeting in the scriptural way.
Has nothing whatever to do with the location. We should never be attached to a building. Let cats be attached to buildings, not Christians. We should never think of a place. There was only one place on earth and that place was Jerusalem. And these Jews were exactly where they belonged. Not only that, but there were angelic manifestations. Wherever Israel was gathered God sent angels for their blessing. At the very beginning, when they came out of Egypt, it was an angel who delivered the law into the hand of Moses.
We're told this plainly. The law was given by the disposition of angels. It was handed out by the angel. God himself wrote the law. Angels handed it to Moses. And all through the history of the Israelite people, you find angels in constant attendance. Messages were delivered to them. When they were down in the land in captivity, an angel appeared to Daniel. He said, I am the one appointed by God for the care of your people, Israel. He was Michael, the archangel. God gave the highest of all the angels the responsibility of caring for that little nation of Israel when they were down there in captivity.
Angels are seen frequently through the Old Testament, bringing messages. and doing various things for the people. At one time, when the Assyrian army was crowding the children of Israel and it looked like they would be annihilated, God sent one angel, and in one night that one angel obliterated a hundred and eighty-five thousand Syrian soldiers. That's the way God did it for his people, Israel. Those angels were used of God to bring blessing to them. You find this all the way down until you come to the advent of our Lord Jesus himself. And when Christ was born, angels brought the message.
It was an angel that said that Jesus would be born. It was an angel that appeared to Zechariah to tell him about his own son as a forerunner. It was an angel who appeared to Mary. It was angels who appeared at the birth of the Lord Jesus. and praise the Lord as they made known the news of the birth of the Lord Jesus. Angels were there when he suffered in the garden. Angels were there at his resurrection to tell them he's not here. He's risen. Angels have always attended Israel, and undoubtedly the angels are caring for them in this present day in spite of their unbelief and their rejection of the Messiah.
But with all of this, with all of this, the right place, and the blessings of God upon them, they were lying there hopelessly impotent. Why? There wasn't any man. That's what's the matter with Israel today. They don't have the man. Recently I was talking to a friend of mine who operates an antique and second-handed store combination in Colorado Springs. His brother is the superintendent or principal of the largest school for rabbis in the world.
I've been there, seen it, in Brooklyn, New York, where there are more Jews than there are in the land of Palestine. This man is the principal of the largest school for rabbis in the world. His brother is in business in Colorado Springs, and I often talk to him about his need of Christ. If I can keep his wife out of the place, we get along fine. When she comes in, she gets pretty rabid about it. She's afraid I'm going to convert him to Christianity. She told me so right in front of him. She says he hadn't got any sense. He's allowed to believe that stuff. So I watch and she's not in the store. I go in and visit with her.
He said to me, I know what you believe. He said, you believe that Jesus Christ was our Messiah. Now he said, we don't believe that. We believe that our Messiah is coming. Well, I said, your Old Testament told you that when the Messiah came, you would know it by certain proof. Now did Jesus Christ bring those proofs? Well, he said, yes, that's what bothers me. He did. Well, I said, if he did, then why don't you accept his credentials? Because he says, we believe there's another one coming. I said, didn't Daniel tell you that there was another one coming? And he looked startling and he said, well, yes, he knows his scriptures.
Yes, he did. And didn't he tell you that when this one comes, that he will mislead the people and oppress the people? And his eyes got bigger yet. Yes, he did. Well, I said, you're laying yourself wide open for deception. The true Messiah has come and you've rejected him, so you're waiting for the false Messiah. Oh, he says, Holy Moses, I hope not. You see, the man was really disturbed by this thing. He was asking Moses, keep him from being deceived. Of course, if you'd listened to Moses, he wouldn't have been deceived. That's what the Lord Jesus said. If you'd listened to Moses, you'd have believed me. If you don't believe his writings, how do you expect to believe my words?
They're waiting for a man. Israel is waiting for a man, and they're going to get a man. And that man's going to be a false man. He's described in II Thessalonians chapter two. He's also described in the thirteenth chapter of the Revelation. He's called the man of sin. He's called the Antichrist. He's called the son of perdition. His number is said to be six hundred and sixty-six. He's going to demand worship. He's going to make an agreement, make a contract with a Jewish nation, and three and a half years after he makes it, he's going to break that contract, and he's going to force them to let him sit down in their own temple and demand their worship.
If he doesn't get it, they're going to die. Israel is in for some terrible times ahead. And incidentally so are the Gentiles who are left behind when Christ comes. If I'm talking to anybody here tonight, Jew or Gentile, who has not yet trusted Christ, let me tell you, I wouldn't be in your shoes for anything in this city of Omaha. I think it's a terrible thing to be facing the judgment of God. If the Lord Jesus should come before this meeting is over, you would be left behind for the most awful judgment that has ever come upon this earth. So it is a good picture of Israel, the futility of Jewish religion without the Messiah.
Do you know that the Jews celebrate the Passover by killing a chicken today? Do you know that? I know a rabbi who does this regularly. Just think of it. The Jews who have the sacrifices of the Old Testament scriptures, the Jews who had all those wonderful types killing a chicken, in hopes that in some way this will supply the blood that they recognize as missing. Do you know that when they have the Passover, they don't have the roast lamb on the table at all? I was in a rabbi's home on the Passover evening at his invitation. Do you know what they bring in?
They bring in a platter with a lamb shank on it. If you ever cooked a leg of lamb, you know that shank is absolutely worth it. You can't even eat the marrow out of it. There is nothing on the shank of a leg of lamb. That's what they bring in at a Passover dinner. And the rabbi says a prayer, and his face shows the pain as he says to God, we have no lamb. No, they don't have a land because they rejected the Lamb of God that taken away the sin of the world. And you don't have a land because you've rejected it.
If you're not saved, then there's another lesson to be learned here. This is a wonderful gospel illustration. What happened here in this chapter is what happens every time a soul gets saved. Now, the first thing about this is that we are faced with a totally helpless and hopeless thing. Nobody else ever gets saved. People who are making it all right don't get saved. They just get religious. People who just need a crutch never get Christ. But people who are hopeless and helpless and lost, they get to the Lord Jesus. You know what we need to do, brethren and sisters?
Instead of being so concerned about how well we're planting the seed, we ought to learn how to run a plow. You need to plow deeply if you're going to see any blessing. Many years ago, there was an old preacher by the name of Don Ross who went to the north of Ireland in one of the fishing villages where there were only four hundred people living. And he got the use of an abandoned warehouse or dock, covered dock. He got the use of this for gospel meetings. Right from the first, the people crowded in, and they walked from neighboring fishing villages until as many as six hundred people were crowded in that uncomfortable covered dock.
He said we never saw anything like it in our lives. The very first night when they began to preach, there were groans and cries all over the place. They weren't even able to finish the first gospel meeting. People crying out and wanting to be saved. He said it was the same thing every night, and this went on for six weeks, and they saw literally hundreds of people saved in that six weeks of meeting. He said we couldn't understand. We had never seen anything like it. When we began to inquire, we found out that in the year before we came there, two Presbyterian ministers had come from southern Scotland with a burden...
about the terrible wickedness of the Scottish fishermen of the north, and they had come into that place, and for six weeks they had hammered on the law. They never told them the way of salvation. They never preached the gospel once. They preached the law. They thundered from Sinai. And when they left, those people were crushed. They said, we're doomed, we're damned, there's no hope for us. According to what those men have preached, we are hell-bound sinners. And they sat there for months and wept over this thing.
And when Donald Ross and his friend came in and preached the gospel of the grace of God, those people were glad to be saved. They couldn't wait till the end of the first meeting to accept Christ as their Savior. I'd like to see that tried in Omaha. I'd like to see six weeks of preaching of judgment and the law. I'd like to see more of it in our gospel meeting. Don't be afraid to tell people the truth. People want to know the truth. We have a saying today, and our young people are foremost in using it. Tell it like it is.
And I believe they want to know it like it is. I believe that people want the truth. I believe that we told people the exact truth about their spiritual condition we might see some souls saved. Don't hesitate to plow deeply. Now, this man, I don't know about the other people here, but this man was willing to be saved. Don't talk anybody into a profession. If they have to be talked into it, they're not ready. You should never need to urge anybody to make a profession.
You never need to urge anybody to be saved. You see, this house was on fire, and I could convince you that this house was on fire. I wouldn't say, now, folks, please get out. Oh, come on now. Surely somebody, there must be somebody in this room that wants to get out with your life. be idiotic. I'd be the first man out the door myself. If you had any saints, you'd be second. I mean, good lay, as well as saints. What I'm talking about is this. You don't have to urge people to get saved when they know their loss. And the Lord just asked this man one question. Do you want to be whole?
He doesn't say anything about can you get somebody to put you in the water. Forget your religion. The question is, do you want to be made whole? He didn't say, have you got any plans for making yourself whole? If a man had any plans, he'd have had them used up a long time ago. He's been lying there for thirty-eight years thinking about it. Of course he has nothing he can do himself, and he has no friends that can help him. But the Lord said, do you want to be made well? The Lord's looking for willing people. The next thing I see in this, it's a good picture of the gospel, is that this man was made well not by braces, not by treatment, not by surgery, not by medicine.
He was made well by the word of the Lord. Do you know how people get saved? We read it in verse twenty-four. Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that heareth my word, and believeth on him that set me. have everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation, but is passed out of death into life. People get saved by hearing the word of the Lord. Mr. A. and O'Brien was much misunderstood. I mentioned a little while ago I preached with him for eight and a half years, and I knew him very well. He was a much misunderstood man because he insisted that nobody ever got saved who did not hear the voice of the Lord.
And some people thought they had to hear audibly. Now, if you get to hearing voices, you probably need to see a psychiatrist. You're not going to get any voices coming out of the darkness. You're not going to hear the Lord audibly speaking to you. If the Lord ever speaks to you, he'll speak to you through this book. And he will speak to you through this book if you'll give him a chance. You get that book open. I don't think there's any wrong way to read the Bible. I think we just get people to read the Scriptures. The Spirit of God would be able to speak to them. I've known the people to get saved through the strangest verses. Verses that I would never think of giving to a person.
I know a lady who tried for a long while to get saved, and she was saved by reading the verse that says, If therefore ye seek me, let these go their way. That's what the Lord said in the garden. Now, would you think of that as a gospel verse? Well, she saw it immediately. If you seek me, let these go their way. He died so I could go my way. It's very plain. Once you see it, the Spirit of God can use any scripture. I know an atheist. I did know he's gone home to heaven now. He was an organizer for the foray. That's the American Association for the Advancement of Atheism. They call it the Dan Soles Society. It's a horrible thing, a blasphemous thing.
He was an organizer for it. My cousin wrote him a letter and sent him a tract, and he got saved. in spite of himself. You know how he got saved? Reading the book of Leviticus. When he got this letter from her telling her that he was not honest, that he only read the Bible to argue with other people, he said, well, I'll prove to myself that I'm honest. I'll read the Bible once with an open mind to find out. And he said, I'll even pray about it. So he said, I prayed, O God, if there is a God, show me yourself through this book. He said, I started to read. I didn't get through the Book of Leviticus until I get saved.
You advise people to read the Book of Leviticus when they want to be saved? Why lots of people get saved reading the Book of Leviticus, or the psalm, or the Minor Prophets, or the Epistle, or the Book of the Revelation. It's God's Word. It's powerful. He says it's quick and powerful. That means living and powerful. You count on the Word of God. You don't need to organize another committee. You don't even need a better building. I mean, so far as winning souls are concerned. If your building needs to be replaced and you get a better location, that's fine. But the building is not going to save souls. That's my point. It isn't that you're going to see more souls saved because you got a better building.
If you count on that, you're going to be terribly disappointed in the next year. But if you say it's the word of God, and I'm going to preach the word, I'm going to get the word to as many people as I can, then you're going to see souls there. I have a friend who won the national award selling life insurance. And at the national meeting, the president of the company presented him with the award, sold more life insurance than anybody in the company, is one of the biggest companies in the United States. And the president said to him, maybe you would tell the people how you sold so much insurance. And he turned to the president and he said, sir, I did exactly what you told me to do.
And the president's mouth opened, you know, you didn't realize that anything he'd said had really counted, I guess, with the boys. And so he said, well, do you mind telling the folks what I told you? He said, you told us that if we want to sell life insurance, to remember that you ring so many doorbells for every thousand dollars worth of life insurance you sell. This was the average, the national average. This is the way it works out. So you figure out how many thousand dollars worth you want to sell, you multiply that by the number of doorbells you need to ring, you ring that many, and you sell that much. He said, that's what I did. I found oversimplified. Well, let me tell you, brothers and sisters, if you read the scriptures to enough people, you're going to see souls saved by the end of this year.
Now you try it and see if I'm not right. Even if you have to go and ring doorbells in your neighborhood. Even if you have to call people up on the phone. Even if you have to write letters. If you ring enough doorbells. If you present the gospel to enough people, you're going to see souls saved. Because that's the way souls get saved. He that heareth my word and believeth on him that set me. Now this man proved that he had life. And the Lord asked him to do two things. He asked him to get up and walk. That's to show people that he's alive. And then he asked him to behave himself in the future. That's what God asked you to do.
He wants you to walk like a Christian. He wants you to behave like a Christian. Is that asking too much? Is it asking too much if we expect this of a new convert? Is that asking too much? When you tell me that you're saved, don't I have a right to expect to see a change in you? When I tell you that I'm saved, do you have a right to expect to see a change in me? This is all God is asking, and it proved to be true in this man's case. And immediately he began to talk about the Lord Jesus to others. Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. If Christ fills your heart, He'll also fill your mouth.
If you're satisfied with the Lord Jesus, you'll talk about it. Many years ago in Iowa, there was a man who got a Ford Model T car when the Model T's were first coming out. And he bored everybody silly, talking about his Model T. Finally, a man said to him, look, we're sick and tired of hearing about your Model T. Well, he said, I'm sorry about that because he said, you know, I think when a man's got a good thing, he ought to talk it. And I've got a good thing. Let me tell you why. Here we go again. If a man can do that with enthusiasm about a Ford car, why can't we who are believers think with enthusiasm about our Lord Jesus Christ?
He's the best friend of man ever had. There's another lesson here, and I don't want to pass this by, and that's the lesson of forgiveness. Actually, this is the heart of this story. You may have missed it as we went along, but it's here, all right. The Lord Jesus said to this man, sin no more, lest a worse thing happen unto thee. Why was this man thirty-eight years in this condition? Because he was a sinner. I don't know what kind of sin he was guilty of. The Lord doesn't tell us. Not any of our business.
It's all forgiven. That man is in heaven tonight. just one more forgiven sinner. I don't know what sin he had committed, but this was integral to his healing. Do you remember in the second chapter of Mark, when the Lord Jesus healed the man who was let down through the ceiling, they tore the roof off and let him down into the midst of the crowd. People do that today. They really get in trouble, wouldn't they? We're so careful we don't spoil any property. But they wanted to get this man to Christ, and they got him there, no matter what it took. And the Lord looked at him and he said, Your sins are forgiven.
Now that must have surprised everybody in the room, including the man. He thought he was there to get healed. Everybody else thought that's what he needed. What did the man really need? Why he needed his sins forgiven. The fact that he was paralyzed was only incidental. What good would it do? to change a paralyzed man into an able-bodied man if he's still a justice sinner. All you've done is make an able-bodied sinner out of him. A young man was in one of our penitentiaries, and the lady who was teaching school in that penitentiary took an interest in this boy, felt sorry for him because he'd grown up in the hills and never heard anything, never gone to school, didn't know anything. So she taught him to read, and while he was there, he was in for moon shining, selling liquor, illegally, and while he was there in the penitentiary, she gave him almost a complete high school course.
And when he left, she said to him, now, son, don't go back to the old way of living. You're capable now of making a good living, and I don't want you to get into trouble. Well, he said, you don't need to worry about me now that I've learned to read and write, and I know I can make my way, I'm going to get along fine. In just a month he was back in prison. She said, oh, no, don't tell me you went back to moonshining. Oh, he said, lady, I'm not here for moonshining. He said, I wouldn't do that kind of a thing. He said, I'm here for fortune checks. He got educated. He's now a better educated sinner.
What good would it do for the Lord to heal his man if he didn't forgive his sin? And it's because God alone can forgive sin, that the glory of God is shown in the work of our Lord Jesus Christ in forgiving this man's sins and then giving him the strength to go out and live without sinning again. Be of sin the double cure. Cleanse me from its guilt and power. The Lord doesn't want you to go on sinning. God will call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins.
And this man was saved from his sins. Now, in that second chapter of Mark that I was talking about in verse seven, the Jews said, who can forgive sins but God alone? And they were absolutely right. A man came to a lady and said, I want to forgive your sins before you die. And she was almost in a coma and unable to see, and she reached out and got all of his hands, felt the inside of his hand and shook her head. She said, The one who forgave me my sins as a whole in the middle of his hands. Who else can forgive sins but God alone? On the cross the Lord Jesus prayed, Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.
What is the basis of that prayer? Have you ever thought of this? How could the Lord Jesus ask for the forgiveness of these wicked men who were mistreating his father's son? How could he ask for it on the basis of what he was doing right at that minute? We're told in Ephesians chapter four, even as God, for Christ's sake, for Christ's sake, has forgiven you. Why are your sins gone? because the Lord Jesus righteously took them away. Never forget that, brother and sister. You're not dependent upon the mercy of God now.
You're dependent upon the holiness of God. God's mercy produced a righteousness for you which was consistent with his own holiness. And for God to fail, to take you to heaven, would mean that God would fail. would mean that God would go back on his word and he'll never go back on his word. You and I are as sure of heaven as God's own holy word can make it. And don't you ever forget it. Well, the Lord Jesus saw that this man needed something worse, something much more than the healing of his body, and so he forgave his sins.
I want to say a little word to you about the forgiveness of sins. Acts chapter thirteen, verses thirty-eight and thirty-nine, go like this. Be it known unto you, therefore, men and brethren, that through this man, through the Lord Jesus, is preached or announced unto you the forgiveness of sins. And by him all that believe are justified from all things, from which he could not be justified by the law of Moses. Now according to the law of Moses there were seventeen sins that could never be forgiven. You can read the list yourself in the book of Leviticus. There were seventeen sins that God never offered any forgiveness for. It's all under the law. But when you come to the New Testament, he says, All manner of sins shall be forgiven me.
Whatever blasphemy is, they blaspheme the Son, except the blasphemy of the Holy Ghost, which of course was the same as what Christ did. He did by the power of the devil instead of by the power of the Holy Ghost. This was not even possible in our day. Not a sin to be even taken into account in our day. So nobody could commit the unpardonable sin in our day. There's no such thing as an unpardonable sin because we're told in First John one and seven, the blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleanses us from all sin. How many of that leave? If the blood of Christ takes away all sin, what in the world do we get to worry about? Well, I'll tell you what we get to worry about.
That's the sins that we commit as believers. But if the Lord Jesus died for my sins, they're already paid for, and I can go ahead. Now, wait a minute. You're getting on dangerous ground. The Bible doesn't say anything of that kind. The Bible doesn't say it's all right to go ahead and sin as much as you want to do because they're already paid for. The Bible doesn't teach that. After we're saved, we have another kind of forgiveness offered to us. This is not judicial forgiveness. The forgiveness of the judge. That took place at Calvary. But this is the forgiveness of the Father, parental forgiveness. You see, when we sin now, we're not sinning against the judge.
We'll never be brought into judgment. There is no judgment for them who are in Christ Jesus. But we are responsible to our Heavenly Father. And if you and I, as Christians, sin against our Heavenly Father, he's going to take us to task for this. He will correct us if he can, gently. The Spirit of God will make us unhappy. The Word of God will point out our sins, and we're permitted to confess it. And if we confess our sins, don't ever give that verse to an unsaved man. That's for Christians. If we, Christians, confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
But suppose we don't. First Corinthians chapter eleven says, For this cause many are weak and sickly among you and many sleep. First John chapter five says, There is the sin unto death. I do not say shall pray for it. It's possible for a Christian to go on in self-will until God has to take him away. He loses his life on this earth. He doesn't lose his salvation, but his life is taken from the earth because God will restore his people or he will take them all. And if you're playing with sin, if you're having your own way, if you're refusing to confess something in your life and refusing to put it away, let me tell you, you're on pretty dangerous ground.
One more thing, coupled with the Father's forgiveness is fraternal forgiveness, the forgiveness of our brothers or brothers and sisters in Christ. In the sixth chapter of Matthew, the Lord gave a sample prayer, not the Lord's prayer, because the Lord would never pray such a prayer. That prayer asks for forgiveness, and the Lord Jesus had no sins to be forgiven. We call it the disciples' prayer. It's not intended to be repeated, but it is given as a pattern. And you and I may well study that prayer and learn the six things that the Lord tells us to pray for, and then pray for them in our own language.
You don't repeat the prayer. You merely use that as a pattern. That's what the Lord intended. And one of the things that are mentioned in that prayer is this. For if ye forgive not me, bear trespasses, neither will your father forgive your trespasses. Now that's the only comment on that prayer. There are six petitions in that prayer. The only petition the Lord Jesus commented on was the one that said, Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us, or forgive our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. Or forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors, depending on the version or the book from which you're quoting.
And the Lord commented on that, and he said, Remember, your forgiveness of your brother. is necessary if you are to enjoy the smile of your Heavenly Father. Now it's true that our sins are forgiven judicially. It's true that this is unconditional. It's true that they'll never be brought up against us again. It's true that we're going to be in heaven. But if you ought to be restored to your Heavenly Father, God expects you to forgive your brother or your sister. Whenever anybody says to me, well, I just can't forgive them that. I know right away that person who is saying that is so utterly selfish, is so completely self-centered that he has forgotten either his own sinfulness or the kindness of the Lord in forgiving it.
Because anybody who really sees what he is himself and who really sees what God has done for him in the person of Christ would say, as he says in Ephesians chapter four and verse thirty-two, be kind, tender-hearted, forgiving one another. even as God, for Christ's sake, hath forgiven you. You are forgiven judicially. It will never be brought up again. If you want to be forgiven paternally by your Heavenly Father, then see to us that you forgive anyone who has offended you. Brother and sister, these are serious things. We need to be thinking about this. There may be difficulties between Christians right here in this room.
I don't know you. I'm surprised at how few people I know in Omaha have been away too long. There may be difficulties between Christians here in this room and Christians in some other part of the city. Whatever problems there are between you and any other living brother or sister ought to be settled. And the sooner you can settle it, the better. It isn't hard to do. All you need is a little piece of humble pride. All you need to be willing to do is to admit the truth. That is, that you have faults, too. I was talking to a man recently who's having difficulty with another Christian. He said, well, it could easily be settled if he would just admit that he's wrong.
I said, could you possibly be five percent wrong and him ninety-five percent wrong? Well, he thought a little bit. He said, oh, I suppose I'm more than five percent. Well, we just say five percent. Could you be five percent wrong? Well, yes, I'm sure of that. Well, I said you're the older one of the two. Why don't you go and confess your five percent? Don't say anything about the rest of it. And I'll guarantee that if you go and tell that man the five percent that you're wrong about, you'll find out that he'll think of some things that need to be settled, and it could be that you'd think of another five percent about that time, and then maybe he'd think of a little bit more, and it wouldn't be long until this thing would be cleared up.
Our problem is, that we are so utterly self-centered that we think only of how we feel. You don't know how he hurt me, me, me, me. But you don't know how you hurt the Lord Jesus. You don't know how much it cost him to put your sin away on the cross. You don't know how it hurts him now to see unforgiving spirit in the hearts of Christ. You don't know how it hurts you now to see God's people divided and the unsaved stumbled on all the other things that are happening because of unforgivancy. Let's pray.
Oh, our Father, we are ashamed of these things in our lives that ought to have been put away. When we first heard that forgiving voice of our blessed Lord, we pray that thou wilt restore us. and revive us and grant that we may again enjoy the smile of the heavenly Father and his forgiveness. We pray our Father for any here tonight who have never yet come to Christ. We pray that they may see their need of him turn to him quickly. We pray for poor suffering Israel in their blindness We ask our Father that thou will bring the peace of Jerusalem again.
Now we commend us all into thy care as we separate. We give thee our thanks in the precious name of the Lord Jesus. Amen.