The Wilson times. [volume] (Wilson, N.C.) 1896-19??, 1918-05-21
WHY DID THEY
NOT COME?
The Men of the City and Ask
Christ to Heal the
Folks at
THE POOL OF BETHESDA

Mr.. Smith took his subject for
Saturday evening from the story of
the man in the fifth chapter of John
who was lying SICK by the pool of
Bethesda, his text was, Now Jesus
went up to Jerusalem"
l have often wondered why the
pool of Bethesda should have been
connected with this special trip Of
Christ to Jerusalem. 1t was not His
first visit. He had oeen there be-
fore. And then I want to ask my
self this question, "Why did not the
big men of the city, the men who
tramped to and fro from the church
each day, the men who were inter-
ested in the civic affairs of Jerusa-
lem, why did they not 60 to Christ
and ask Him to come down to the
pool and try and heal some of those
folks?" Surely they knew nothing
of the broken hearts and withered
limbs and the sleepless nights, and
to know and not to care was devil
ish. And then I want to ask myself
this question, "Why did not the re-
ligious monopolists of the day ask
Him to 60 down to the pool and try
and heal those folks?" They had
no room for Christ in the temple, at
least they didn't want Him there.
Why didn't they go to Him and say,
''here come down to the pool. You
say.vou can heal folks. Come down
and try your hand at the pool. We
have lots of them there" And then
A want to askmyself this other
question, why didn't the relations
and friends of those sick people try
and get Christ also, for they must
have heard that He was healing
folks" and I think II I had a sick
brother or friend, and Christ was
anywhere near, I think / should try
and get them together that my
friend might be healed.
Why were not all those folks in
crested in bringing the sick and a
healer together? l think for the
same reason that we are not inter
ested in the sin-sick Of our commu-
nifty, for there are these sin spots in
Wilson and If you don't know where
hey are it is because you are not
and if you are not inter-
,sted in trying to alleviate some
hing Of the suffering and Of tho
broken hearts in your own communi-
y, it is because other things have
,rept in, and have crowded out what
should be the essential thing, for the
damaging sin of this age is not muir
Ter or Immortality or some of the
great vices, but it is Indifference.
You and as Christian people have
never realized how tremendous are
our opportunities and privileges and
power, and we stand between liv-
ng Christ and a sin sick world, and
t is our privilege, if we will, to be
he mediator, and to Bring these two
ogether.
This spirit of Indifference gets
lold of all of us, and If we realized
he awfulness of sin and something
If the awful misery that is around
is, think we should feel concerned
o see what we could do. The fact
s we do not know how to pray. We
Knock at the door Of Gods throne,
Ind then in kid-glove fashion. II we
'ealized that those of our loved ones |
Who donot own Christ as their Lord
md Master are lost, think some Of
Is would spend many sleepless
lights.
Do you know what it is to pray
With your boy?
You say, well, pray for him."
,ut there is nothing like praying
With him. Nothing will break the
leart of an ungodly child like pray
ng with him, and If you and l are
,oing to do anything in this series
Il meetings here IL. Wilson we must
ultivate an atmosphere of prayer.
The life of the soul is only sustained
n an atmosphere of prayer.
Now, may I turn that picture
round, and isn't 1t true that there
5 in every church in Wilson folks
Who are typical of the crowd around
he pool at Bethesda? We have the
lind folks who don't want to see,
hey don't care to see, they want to
'reacher to cry peace. How dare
Minister Of the gospel to cry peace,
'eace, when your life and soul are