The Five Robbers — Edgar F. Parkyns

It's exciting because my spirit of truth is moving, how are you doing? He took me to the Book of Psalms, and noticed, too, blessed me, for I did not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.

The Blessed Man in Psalm 1

But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in his law doth he meditate, day and night, and he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, and bringeth forth his fruit in his season. His leaf also shall not wither, and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.

The ungodly are not so, but are like the chaff which the wind drives away. Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, not nor sinners in the congregation, but the righteous. For the Lord knoweth the way of the righteous, but the way of the ungodly shall perish.

Before I turn to the second blessed man, I would like you to take a little note of Psalm 2. For Psalm 2 is one of the great recognized Messianic Psalms, and it refers to God's King, set upon that holy hill of Zion.

The Lord has opened up to me, partly through the ministry of an Irish brother, whose notes I have been reading, that many more of the Psalms belong to Jesus, than we have given them credit for. Not only the couple dozen ones that we mark out particularly, but many, many others find their solution, their unraveling, and their full meaning in Jesus and him alone.

Thus it is to you that Psalm 1 and Psalm 2 are a pair. Psalm 1 is God's blessed man. Psalm 2 is God's exalted King. ...aspects of the same person. Anyone here who feels qualified to say Psalm 1 belongs to me?

Do you know anybody whom you can really recommend as coming under the definition of the blessed man in Psalm 1? And I'm sure that Paul knew that he didn't qualify, because right toward the end of his days he said, faithful is the saying and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief.

And if Paul didn't feel quite able to qualify, I think it would be presumptuous of me to try and put in my claim. But if I recognize that Psalm 2 belongs to Jesus as God's King, and Psalm 1 belongs to Jesus as God's man, my problems are solved.

For Jesus did qualify. He was that man who walked not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stood in the way of sinners, nor sat in the seat of the scornful. His delight was in the law of the Lord. In his law he did meditate day and night.

He is like a tree planted by the rivers of water, who brings forth his fruit in this season. His leaf also shall not wither, he is the tree of life, and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. Jesus fully qualifies to fulfill Psalm 1 as he qualifies to fulfill Psalm 2.

Moreover, if you look at Psalm 1, you will notice that the blessed man is a solitary man, but the ungodly are a whole company. Both Psalms belong to one man only. His name is Jesus. Hallelujah. But of course, if you grove in him, you begin to get a share in both.

A share in his reigning, and a share in his living. But that's not the ground on which you stand for blessing. Now look at Psalm 32. Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is pardoned.

Blessed is the man to whom the Lord imputed not iniquity, and in his spirit there is no guile. I suggest to you that not one of us qualifies on our own right to the blessedness of Psalm 1. All right? All come under the same condemnation.

But thank God I can qualify, and so can you, for the blessedness of Psalm 32. Hallelujah. The man whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord imputed not iniquity, and in his spirit there is no guile.

So when you look at Psalm 1 with its high, holy standards, you recognize the rightness of it, see it as belonging to the only man who truly fulfilled it. It is his, and only yours as you share his life.

But Psalm 32, with its equal blessing, is open to every needy sinner. Hallelujah. So why sort of spend all your time trying to scale the heights of Psalm 1? Who has really done it is the Lord Jesus. When Psalm 2 offers you entry into the same blessing on ground level, your blessing.

Forgiveness and the Blessedness of Psalm 32

Blessed is the man. When Paul picks up this theme in Romans 4, he talks about the blessing as being a positive reality. Not just a little pat on the back, but something solid, real, eternal. And he asks the question, cometh this blessedness on the circumcision only, or on the uncircumcision also?

That is, the blessedness of the forgiven man is something solid, real, practical. Having its outworkings in every sort of life, in all kinds of circumstances, the blessedness of the forgiven man is a solid thing.

It's not being on parole. You know, I'll forgive you this once, if you promise me you'll never, never do it again. No, not that. It is the solid kind of blessing that the prodigal father gave to his son.

Can I say the prodigal father gave to his prodigal son? The son was prodigal in spending his money. The father was prodigal in pouring out his forgiving love. That's right. And he didn't say, well son, we'll accept you if this, this, this, this.

He just flung his arms around the lad and held him tightly, dirty and smelly, no doubt, and loved him back home. Hallelujah. Blessed is the man whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputed not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no pining.

Luther is said to have had three favorite psalms, and he wasn't ashamed for anyone to know. One was Psalm 51, the other was Psalm 32, and the third was Psalm 130. For Luther was one of those few men who made the breakthrough into this area of forgiveness.

He didn't see the whole of the New Testament truth, but he cracked open the impossible prison of guilt, when God opened to his desperately needy soul, the secret of a total forgiveness in Jesus Christ.

The blessed assurance that my justified one lives by faith, that he that believeth hath. He cracked open that awful prison of religious guilt, which was holding everybody down, which held him down. In his desperation, he found a way through.

And when he discovered it, it changed his life and liberated him over and over and over again. And this great basic thing, as we have been singing and meditating on in our Psalms of Praise, is the basis of all Christian function, life, liberty, and holiness.

So if Psalm 1 is a little bit out of your reach, well, just turn away for a bit, just notice Jesus making that high ascent into the hill of the Lord and standing in the holy place, and then find your ground in Psalm 32.

David's Sin and the Cry of Psalm 51

The story is familiar to us all, and we need to link up Psalm 51. Forgive me talking about familiar things this evening. I talked about unfamiliar things this morning, so I thought I'd compensate for talking about familiar things this evening.

Psalm 51. And there's a little note there,.

No doubt put in by Ezra or someone like that, to the chief musician of Psalm of David, where Nathan the prophet came unto him after he had gone in to Bathsheba. When David was a lad, he wrote, The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.

In his youth he knew and loved the Lord. In the early days of his struggle and adversity, he got to know his Lord more and more, escaping from Saul, running from one hiding place to another, avoiding killing any Israelite, but quite merciless to the Philistines.

In all that, those years of trial, he was growing in God. And after he had gained the throne, and gained riches and wives and concubines, and began to live in comfort and ease, a king like the other heathen kings around him, he began to lose out on that vital relationship.

Until that sad day came, and Joab took the armies out to war across Jordan and up into the city that is now known as Amman. Then it was Rabbath. Rabbath, Amman. And fought the battles for the king, while David, like any comfortable, well established heathen king, stayed at home.

And it was there that this man, who had loved the Lord, fell into deep sin. Looked from a battlement at his little rough-built palace, and saw in the neighboring courtyard, the beautiful Bathsheba, the young wife of Uriah the Hittite.

And he coveted her. And as he had learned by this time as king, he could have anything he wanted. And fairly sure that he was one of God's favorites, he let argument and excuse join forces with his lust, and he sent for her, took her, lay with her.

And thought nothing of it, until the news came that she was with child. And then David woke up to the fact that he was in social trouble. He had offended people. A trouble which had to be covered. Uriah the Hittite, he wasn't an Israelite, he was a Hittite.

One of those dreadful people. But who had really been converted over to the side of the Lord, and was a very faithful, loyal servant of David. Uriah was over at the battle in Ammon. And David sent a messenger to his general, Jeriah, and he said, send Uriah home.

And sure enough that stalwart soldier came back hot-foot from the campaign, and presented himself to the king. And the king said, well Uriah, how are you? Nice to see you. And you've been doing ever so well, I've had such good reports about you.

Will you, I think it's time you had a little rest. Stay up, go home, and wash your feet. Just enjoy a little domestic life. But Uriah was strangely loyal, and strangely stubborn. And he went not down to his house, and David said, camest thou not from my journey?

Why then didst thou not go down to thy house? Uriah said, the ark, and Israel, and Judah abide in Thames, and my lord Joab, and the servants of my lord are encamped in open fields. Shall I then go into my house to eat and drink and lie with my wife?

Let's not live this, let my soul live, if I will not do this thing. David said, no, no, you just stay around for a bit. I'd like to see you Uriah, you're so nice. Stay with us. And he spoke to his tenants, and he said, round the fire tonight, make him drunk, and then send him home.

And so Uriah was fine with drink, until he was stupid. And they said, go on Uriah, go home now, home to your wife now. And poor befuddled Uriah said, no, I'm a servant of the king, and insisted on staying there, for I have the interest of the royal palace.

And king David realized that social revenge was on the way. What to do now? He sent Uriah back with a sealed note. Don't you open it Uriah, this is to Joab. And when Joab on the battle front read that note, it was Uriah's own death warrant.

The note said, set him at the very front of the battle, and in when the battle is hot, withdraw from him, that he may die. Possibly they went up to the gate of Aaron. Those eastern gates are an absolute trap, where you come in this way, you go that way, you go this way, and then you're a little box, and all around on the walls, the enemy can just destroy you.

And probably it was some place like that, a battle at the gate, that poor Uriah was engaged in, and suddenly he found that everybody had left him there. It wasn't long before he died. Joab sent a messenger back to David and said, we had a tough battle, the Anamites killed several of our people.

And Joab said to the messenger, if David is angry with you, and starts reading you a lecture, just tell him that Uriah, that he died tired of you. And so the story was told. And David said, that's all right, it's the fortune of war.

Then it was that the prophet Nathan, came to the king, brave man, stood before him and told him the story. My lord the king, there are two men in one city, one rich, the other poor. The rich man had exceeding many flocks and herds.

The poor man had nothing, save one little little lamb, which he had brought up and nourished up. And he grew up together with him, and with his children, and ate his meat, and drank his own cup, lay in his bosom, and was unto him as a daughter.

And there came a traveller unto the rich man, and he spared to take of his own flock, and of his own herd, to dress for the wayfaring man that was come to him. But he took the neighbours, the poor man's lamb, and dressed that for the man that was come to him.

David leaned forward in his throne, angry, and he said, As the lord liveth, the man that hath done this thing, shall surely die, and he shall restore the lamb fourfold, because he did this thing, and because he had no pity.

And Nathan pointed to the king, in his hand his knife lay, and said, Thou art the man. Thus said the Lord God of Israel, I anointed thee king over Israel, I delivered thee out of the hand of Saul, I gave thee thy master's house, and thy master's wives, into my bosom, gave thee the house of Israel, and of Judah, and if that had been too little, I would moreover have given thee such and such more.

Therefore hast thou despised the commandment of the Lord, to do evil in his sight. Thou hast killed Uriah the Hittite with the sword, and hast taken his wife to be thy wife, and hast slain him with the sword of the children of Ammon.

And then God went on to foretell the judgments that would overtake him, and we thank God that David broke. And in his breaking and in his compassion, Psalm 51 came into the picture. And here it is. He had known the favor of God.

He had known such blessing. He had known it all. He had known the Spirit of God moving through him. And now the double sin of adultery and murder,. But all that is guilt and horror, have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness, according to the multitude of thy tender mercies, blot out my transgressions.

Wash me truly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. For I acknowledge my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight, that thou mightest be justified, and thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest.

Behold, thou has shaken iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me. Behold, thou designest truth in the inward part. In the hidden part thou shalt make me to know wisdom. Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean.

Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. David had often seen the priest take a little bunch of hyssop and tie it with scarlet wood onto a cedar handle, and use it to dip in the sacrificial blood, and cleanse the leper with it.

O God, he said, I've seen the sign, but I want the reality. I want you to purge me with hyssop, you to sprinkle the blood upon me, and I shall be clean. Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. I can't be content just with a priest's administration.

My God, I must have cleansing from the throne. Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean. Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Make me to hear joy and gladness that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice.

Hide thy face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities. Yea, create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from thy presence, and take not thy Holy Spirit from me.

Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation, and uphold me with thy free spirit. Then will I teach transgressors my ways, and sinners shall be converted unto thee. Deliver me from glad guiltiness, O God, thou God of my salvation, and my tongue shall sing aloud of thy righteousness.

O Lord, open thou my lips, and my mouth shall show forth thy praise. For thou desirest not sacrifice, else I will give it. Thou delightest not in burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and a contrite heart, O God.

Thou wilt not despise. Do good in thy good pleasure unto Zion. Build thou the walls of Jerusalem, then shalt thou be pleased with the sacrifices of righteousness. With burnt offering and whole burnt offering, then shall they offer bullocks upon thine altar.

The Broken Heart of David and the Sacrifice of Christ

Oh, what a prayer to come out of such a man. He would have wiped him out of God's book forever. But God let him cry. 17 says the sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and a contrite heart, O God.

Thou wilt not despise. When we compare the rest of David's prophetic writings, we may see that it is not merely his own broken spirit that he sees as a sacrifice. He sees something more. Isn't it an amazing thing that when Jesus died, he died because reproach had broken his heart.

And he, our sacrifice, was our pioneer in repentance on behalf of the whole race. He took our place and stepped in before his God with the sacrifices of a broken heart and his own shed blood on behalf of a guilty world.

Hallelujah. I believe that David saw something more than his own broken heart. He saw prophetically the broken heart of his great Redeemer whom he had understood by the Spirit. And you know, God heard him.

Just amazing. God heard him. Let me repeat it. God heard that cry. I doubt if any of us would have given him. It was so utterly evil the thing that this privileged man who knew the movement of the Holy Ghost had done.

And we come to the blessed man of Psalm 32. Here he is,.

Looking back upon his experience. He's lost much.

War and trouble come to his house. There are some aspects of his life which have their aftermath in this life. But, oh but, with the Lord is mercy and with him is plenteous redemption. And here is David's psalm of rejoicing where he describes his own experience.

Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord imputed not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile. He doesn't cover up anything. Often a sense of guilt is there because we try and cover things up.

That's not the way to get rid of sins. He that hideth this sin shall not prosper. But there is such a thing as being right. In God's presence. When I kept silence. Oh, that was in those intervening months when he sat there on his throne with business as usual.

Wiped his lips after his adultery and murder and pretended it was nothing. Underneath, this is what really happened to him. When I kept silence, my bones waxed old through my roaring all the day long.

For day and night thy hand was heavy upon me. My moisture is turned into the drought of summer. There are some men who can commit sin with impunity. But when the Holy Ghost has touched your life it's going to cost you a fearful price.

When I kept silence, my bones waxed old through my roaring all the day long. For day and night thy hand was heavy upon me. My moisture is turned into the drought of summer. I acknowledge my sin unto thee.

And mine iniquity have I not hid. I said I will confess my transgressions unto the Lord. And thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin. David, you treacherous man. You blood guilty man. You adulterer. You murderer.

Dare you look up into the face of God and say he's forgiven you? Yeah. Blessed. Blessed. Blessed man. The forgiven man has a bigger blessing than the moral man. For the moral man is only deceiving himself.

But the forgiven man has found the ground of truth. Hallelujah. Oh, and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sins. And then he begins to reach out to others. And he knows that what has happened to him although it's so horrible God can, in the infinite alchemy of his eternal plans turn to blessing.

Look, there may be some, I don't know who I'm talking to here but there may be someone here way down with a sense of guilt and a feeling that you have done things in the past which can never be thoroughly remedied.

Within limits, that's possibly true. But God has a way. When we get right with him and enter into the sweet fullness of his forgiveness God has a way of taking the very worst things that we have done and somehow making them into a blessing.

I don't understand the prodigal mercy of God. For not only did he forgive David but he forgave Bathsheba as well. Did he forgive them? But if you'll find them mentioned in the genealogy of Jesus Christ.

David, through whom Christ came, blessed be God forever came into being through the union of David and Bathsheba. I don't understand it, it doesn't add up to me. And that's way beyond my measure. But I will comment on this.

That thousands of sin-burdened men and women have found Psalm 51 bound to their souls. And Psalm 32 restoration, hallelujah. And Paul was able to reach right into this thing and pull it out of his Old Testament background and put it into the New Testament to establish forever that even to this day real blessing belongs to the forgiven sinner.

And all God's blessing is focused in that direction for this fallen human race. Hallelujah, thank God for the thousands and no doubt millions who have read these two Psalms and have moved out of the shadow of guilt into the sunshine of divine favour.

Glory to God. Oh David, man, if you had kept silence forever you would have gone down into eternal hell. But you spoke up and God had mercy on you and you have opened up the way of life for thousands.

For this shall everyone that is godly pray unto thee in a time when thou mayest be found. Surely in the floods of great waters they shall not come nigh unto him. Thou art my hiding place. Thou shalt preserve me from trouble.

Thou shalt compass me about with songs of deliverance. God, the awful God who has searched him out. God who would have been normally just waiting to bring divine vengeance upon this man for defiling his name.

God, the terrible, the righteous, the awful. The inescapable. David had the strength not to run away from him but to run right into his arms. Thou, my hiding place. Hallelujah. Oh, if there's anything like guilt hanging around you don't run away.

Run to the God who rightly accuses you. Right into his arms. Thou shalt preserve me from trouble. Thou shalt compass me about with songs of deliverance. Fancy God singing around your life. My Satan has been sneering at you for ages telling you you could never get out of the ditch.

Fancy coming into a place where God sings round about you. Songs of deliverance. Oh, glory to God. Oh, the Gospels there in the Old Testament you see. They're in seed form long before Jesus ever came.

And then the Lord speaks and comes on the scene and gives this forgiven man some advice. God says, I will instruct thee and teach thee the way which thou shalt go. I will guide thee with mine eye. As many as are made by the Spirit of God they are the sons of God.

Forgiven men who having come back home to God are now submitting to the leading of the Holy Ghost. I will instruct thee and teach thee the way which thou shalt go. I will guide thee with mine eye. Be not as the horse or the mule which have no understanding whose mouth must be held in with bit and bridle lest they come near to thee.

A half-broken war horse is a dangerous creature. It won't always behave. It has to be held in. It won't respond to the gentle touch of a rider. It has to be held in with bit and bridle. Don't be like that, says the Lord.

I don't want to be continually pulling at you, correcting you, spoiling your plans, holding you back, keeping you under control. I want to guide you as you yield to me utterly. You forgiven men, forgivable.

Praise the Lord. Many sorrows shall be to the wicked but he that trusteth in the Lord mercy shall compass him about. Be glad in the Lord and rejoice ye righteous and shout for joy. All ye that are upright in heart you forgiven men and women like me, says David.

Shout for joy. For God has set you free from your iniquity, from covering your guilt. He's set you free from the whole beastly thing. And he's brought you back to himself. He's blotted out your iniquities.

He's restored you to favour. Shout for joy. Your uprightness is not founded upon the fact that you never sinned but that God had mercy on you in his dear Son. Hallelujah. I wish I could get it home to every heart of mine more and more and more.

Who's a pardoning God like thee? Or who has grace so rich and free? I made a note of one of Wesley's lovely little hymns. Here's half of it. O come, ye sinners, to the Lord. In Christ to Paradise restored.

His proffered benefits embrace the plenitude of gospel grace. Upon him written with his blood the favour and the peace of God. The seeing eye, the feeling sense the mystic joys of penitence. Do you know them?

Hallelujah. My, do you know the blessing of being broken before the Lord? The blessing of knowing that you have been forgiven by grace and grace alone. Not because of your little vows but because of the blood which Jesus shed.

The mystic joys of penitence. The godly grief. The pleasing smart. The meltings of a broken heart. The tears that tell your sins forgiven. The sighs that lift your soul to heaven. The guiltless shame.

The sweet distress. The unutterable tenderness. The genuine meek humility. The wonder why such love to me. The overwhelming power of saving grace. The sight that veils the serous face. The speechless awe that dares not move.

And all the silent heaven of love. Westerly mirth, do you know it? Glory to God. That sweet brokenness in the presence of a holy God.

When you have not done so.

Leave someone for a little while to Jesus. And when you've thoroughly digested and received your rites in Psalm 32 come back to Psalm 1 and see your Lord Jesus there. God's King in Psalm 2. God's blessed man in Psalm 1.

And you are complete in. In the next section, the condemnation. I want to tell you a story. I'm not sure why I haven't told you this one before. I make it up myself so I know it's good. Once upon a time, all good stories begin that way.

The Five Robbers and the Consequences of Evil Company

A gang of thieves. Expert at their work. Who knew precisely how to break and enter without disturbing the occupant. They were quite prosperous in their business. Sometimes they would operate under Capernaum.

Sometimes even risk a night raid in Tiberius. But Tiberius was a dangerous place for them. Because that was a Roman resort. And if you got caught by the Romans they'd probably crucify you. Or at least cut your hand off.

But if you got caught by the Jews well you'd be up before the elders and they'd give you a good lecture and fine you but tell you not to break the law again. They did fairly well. I don't know quite how many.

There were at least five of them. And one of them a bit younger than the others less experienced was the lad who sort of carried the bag the jammie and the rope and the sack and the gear. One, he had parents.

Godly parents. Father and mother who feared the Lord. And they used to wonder where their boy was getting at night times. They knew he was in bad company and father would shake his head and weaned a bit out of the Old Testament for him.

About obeying your parents. About fearing the Lord. And the boy would listen and wait his chance to get out again and give it up with his gang. And they'd drink in their local inn and laugh over their exploits and the successful way they made their escapes.

But one night they weren't successful. And alarms roused and they fled from housetop to housetop. The lad, the younger man, carrying the bag hurried along behind the others in the uncertain moonlight.

He would cry behind them but they knew the way through the town over the rooftops and down the back alleys. But alas, he slipped and plummeted into a dark alley. And in desperate pain dragged himself into shelter and shadow and the chase passed him by.

A long time after, his friends came back for him. And as soon as they tried to touch him he had difficulty in suppressing a scream. They didn't know quite what to do with him but somehow they managed to get him back home in tremendous pain.

And in the morning when he didn't get up his mother was there. What's the matter with you, son? You're lying there pallid in fearful agony. The feeling was going out of his limbs. Paralysis creeping up from his feet section after section of the body becoming lifeless.

My boy, I told you, said his father. I warned you, didn't I read Proverbs to you? Didn't Solomon warn you about evil company? I know you haven't been up to good and see now how God has judged you in your sin and mother wept and prayed but little by little his life was going down and death wouldn't be very far away.

The sense of guilt was heavy on him. He knew he deserved what he'd got. And then there was excitement in the area. The news of a healing campaign as we would say this our day of the prophet of Nazareth bringing life and health and restoration to many and preaching the good news of the kingdom.

And even his parents got excited and went off to the meeting in the big house in the middle of the town. No sooner had they gone than his four friends turned up. All at God's expense. It was an awful job getting them to see if either one had ever seen any time but we'd watched them go.

So we know we're alright. God, we're taking you with us. Come on. They called each other and someone brought in the ropes and someone brought in the poles and they got swinging on a stretcher before he realised what was happening.

And soon they were swinging down the street toward the big meeting. How horrible it was. Bad enough to be guilty. Bad enough to be dying. But then to be exposed with the gaze of everybody. This was worse than ever.

And he begged them to let him go but they would insist on getting him there. He said, no one is like this man. We've seen him heal the sick and give sight to the blind. He can heal you. But the wretched man was unable to silence them or answer them.

He lay there in his misery. He knew nothing could happen to him. They set him down outside the great crowd. There were the names of other people all the way around him. And that was all he could see. One of the number went to find a way.

They said, excuse us, excuse us. We have a sick man here. But no one would move. The whole place was chock-a-block. They said, be quiet, be quiet. We're listening to the man inside. We don't know what it's like.

Just be quiet. And they looked at each other and shook their heads and they held a consultation. And one of them nodded his head and went off. And some time later he came back with a bang. A magenta. And all the poor.

Come on, let's go this way. And down the back street they went. Up an alley. And then up somebody's stairway. Up the roof. And the wretched sick man was sprung across from one roof to the other. Oh, how terrible it was.

Although his life was almost gone. And to that last, they got him to the very house where the meeting was. And they ducked down behind the parapet and that man was lying there. And nobody in the great courtyard knew what was going on.

And silently, cunningly, those experts at housebreaking broke up the roof without dropping one bit on anybody. Only experts can do that. And they cleared a great gap. And then they changed the arrangement of the roofs.

And they are guilty. God can't heal me. He can heal other people. But he can't heal me. But they took no notice. Those poor rascals up there. They peered down at the crowd. There were the Pharisees. All sitting in a nice half circle behind the preacher.

There was the preacher almost below them. And they began to pay out the ropes. And down, down went the sick man. And all around him arose the faces of people beginning to look horrified now as he came down with a pale gaze and a mask.

He was at the feet of the prophet. And he looked up in despair. He knew that nothing would happen at all. Absolutely nothing. He was under the judgment of God. And then Jesus looked down to him and looked up.