Turn with me to John chapter
5. Let's ask the Lord's help as
we attempt to worship Him and praise
Him and thank Him and listen for Him to speak to us through
the Word. Father, we do thank You for this
occasion. O Lord, this is not an unusual
occasion for us. We come here on a Sunday night. We come, Father, to thank You,
to praise You, try to honor You, Try to exalt the glorious name of our
Savior. And try, Father, in our feeble
way, to show our appreciation and our
thankfulness for what you've done for us by saving our souls. Lord, bless the reading of the
Word, these feeble, weak remarks that we make. May it be down
to your glory and honor. Bless the name of our Savior.
Thank you for these, Father. I have a desire to hear. Remember those, Father, that we think of and know, concerned
about, wonder. Lord, give them a hearing ear
and a seeing eye. For your glory, in his name,
amen. In this fifth chapter of the
book of John, There's about 15 or 18 verses here concerning an incident
that took place at a place called Bethesda, there in Jerusalem. In that first verse, after this, after performing a miracle for a certain nobleman, after
that, there was a feast of the Jews, a religious feast, and
they were very punctual in observing the various feasts. More punctual
and earnest in observing certain ceremonies than they were keeping
the law of God. You remember it was to the Jews
that he gave the law of God. On Mount Sinai, he gave them
the law, the Ten Commandments. Of course, there is the moral
law and there is the ceremonial law that deals with cleanliness
and things of that nature. Well, they seemed to be more
enthusiastic for rituals and ceremonies and feasts and things
like that. But the actual law, they wouldn't
walk in the law. And anyhow, they went up to Jerusalem.
And there is at Jerusalem by the sheep market a pool of water, which is called in
the Hebrew tongue Bethesda, having five porches. And in these five
porches, lay a great multitude of impotent
folk." Five fortresses. It is crowded
with people. Impotent means without strength. Without strength. They were without strength, so
most of them were laying down. Impotent folk. Some of them were
blind. Some were hauled, some were withered, and they were waiting for the
moving of the water. For an angel went down at a certain
season into the pool and troubled the water. And whosoever
then first, after the troubling of the water, stepped in, was
made whole of whatever disease he had. I believe if I'd have been there,
I'd have been sitting on ready, wouldn't you? They knew now that there's a
time as this angel's coming down. When he troubled the waters,
if you got in the water, everything's all right. Well, keep in mind, first off, a great
multitude of people was there, a great, great crowd of people. And our Lord says in verse 5,
And a certain man was there, a particular man, a certain man. Was he any different than the
rest of them? I don't think so. I don't think
so. He might have been different
in the eyes of God, but if we'd have looked out at that crowd,
we couldn't have seen no difference. It's all laying there, waiting
for the angel to trouble the waters, and they're going to
jump in. And a certain man was there, which had an infirmity
Thirty and eight years. Thirty and eight years, that's
a long time, isn't it? Well, if we're sick two or three
days, we think the world's about to
come to an end. What if you're sick for thirty-eight years?
Thirty-eight summers and thirty-eight winters. That man was sick. He was in bad shape, wasn't he?
You ever hear tell of anyone that was sick for thirty-eight
years? You ever know anybody that was sick that long? I never
did. I never heard tell of a person
that was sick for thirty-eight years, day and night, which had an infirmity thirty
and eight years. Jesus saw him lie. A whole bunch
of people around there, but his eye was fixed upon this fellow. He was no different than the
rest of them, except he'd maybe been there
longer, I don't know. And knew that he had been now
a long time in that case. He knew that he'd been there
for a long, long time. And he saith unto him, Wilt thou
be made whole? And the impotent man answered
and said, Sir, I have no man. When the water is troubled to
put me into the pool, but while I am coming another, stepeth
down before me. And Jesus said unto him, Rise,
take up thy bed, and walk. And immediately, right now, the man was made whole. and took up his bed and walked. And on the same day was the Sabbath
day. And then let me skip on down
to verse 15, and we'll catch up in these other verses in a
minute. Verse 15 says, The man departed, this man that was sick,
38 years. and the Lord made him whole.
And it says this man departed and told the Jews that it was
Jesus which had made him whole. Now, this gives a completeness
to the whole incident here, him talking about the man's condition,
his pain, his suffering, anxiety that he had in order to get into
that pool. He's all of it. And his healing
being made complete. It was a miracle. Just a word. Our Lord said, Rise! And that
was it. I mean, that was it right there.
Rise and walk! Man, he stood up and put his
bed on his shoulders, and he began to walk. Well, as soon
as he did that, they began to ostracize him. They began to
criticize him. And they said unto him that was
cured, this is the Sabbath day. It's not lawful for thee to carry
thy bed. Here's a man who was laid there
for thirty-eight years. I mean, that's a long time to
suffer. And God cured him, and he got to start to walk away,
and here they are criticizing him. Why are you carrying your
bed? You ain't supposed to carry your
bed on Sunday, on the Sabbath day. He answered them, He that made
me whole. The same said unto me, Take up
thy bed, and walk. Then asked they him, What man
is that which said unto thee, Take up thy bed, and walk? And
he that was healed wished not who it was." That's strange,
isn't it? He didn't know who he was. He
didn't know who he was. Well, let's talk about it a little
bit here. We see this man here in verse
15. He had been healed. Now we see
him confessing with his lips the one who had saved him. The man departed and told the
Jews. Up here I read to you, when they
were criticizing him and asking these questions, who done all
this? He said, I don't know who it
was. He found out who it was. He departed and told the Jews
that it was Jesus which had made him whole. Well, I think what
happened here, it seems like to me anyhow, as soon as this
newly awakened newly born soul. He was born from above. He was
the subject of God's unmerited favor. He was a recipient of
the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. And as soon as Jesus Christ had
revealed Himself to him, He looked up these very ones that ostracized
him and criticized him previously, to this point, and told them,
it was Jesus that made me whole. He made a point of it. It was
Jesus. He probably went to every one
of them Jews that said, asking these questions against the law, He went to them and said, It
was Jesus that made me whole. Now, let's think about this for
a little bit. There was a great multitude of
people, blind, halt, and withered. Now, Israel as a people, Israel
as the nation now, as they are today, it's still a nation. The Jews have a nation over in
Judea. And their capital and the city
of Zion is Jerusalem, the holy city. And they are a people that are
hated by some and loved by others. But Israel as a people were impotent. You say, why would you say they
were impotent? Because they had the law. They
had the law and really boasted of it. They said, We are of Abraham's
seed. We have never been in captivity
to any people. We have Moses and the law. Well, they had the law and boasted
about it, but they were unable to keep it. To be impotent is
to be without strength. They didn't have the strength
to keep it. They were impotent. not only impotent, but they were
blind to their impotency. They couldn't see that. They
couldn't see their helplessness and hopelessness as a nation,
as a people. They were blind to their wretchedness. They were blind to their desperate
need, so blind that the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ, who
stood in their midst, They could see no beauty in him that they
should desire him. That is how blind, impotent,
and haught and wretched Israel was as a nation. But, of course,
there is no difference in Israel as a nation as to their state
and their condition. No difference with the Gentiles. If you are not a Jew, you are
a Gentile. And all of us are Gentiles, and we are as bad as
they are by nature. By nature we are like Israel. Israel is a picture of this awful
result of Adam's sin in the garden, our fall from favor, our fall
from the state of innocence into ruin. picture of it. They saw in Him,
the Lord Jesus Christ, no beauty that they might desire Him. Now,
another thing that needs to be said here is that another word
that describes their condition is halt. Halt means one who is
crippled or lame. Crippled or lame. Now, they had
the commandments. God gave them the commandments
on Mount Sinai through Moses. As a matter of fact, He gave
them to them twice. Moses broke the first table of stone, and
God gave him another one. Now, they had the commandments,
but they were unable to walk in the way of the commandments,
so they were halted. They were crippled. They were
lame. You know, a cripple, a cripple
cannot walk at all. A blind man is able to grope
around in the dark. He can feel this and feel that
and move around, but a cripple, a cripple, one that's halted,
he can't do anything. That's the condition of Israel
as a nation. That's the condition of every
unregenerate man, woman, boy or girl. Everyone that's not
been quickened by the Spirit of God, everyone that hadn't
come to Jesus and trusted Him as the Bread of Life, they're
blind, they're wretched, they're haunted, they're crippled, they're
lame, they can't move, undone, they're withered. That means
some part of those people were paralyzed, probably their hands. halt and lame and withered and
paralyzed. As a people, that is, as the
nation of the Jews, and it applies individually to every member
of Adam's race, if he is unregenerate, if he is not saved by the grace
of God, it tells us that they were totally incapacitated to
do anything for the glory of God. haught and wretched and
blind. That's the way we can't do anything.
People talk about, you know, taking up the cross. Man can't
take up the cross and do anything for God until God does something
for him. God's got to take the initiative
and do something for me before I can do anything for Him. It's
not me do something for God to get God to do something for me.
Now, that's the way most religion is today. Do something for God
so God will do something for you. Help this charity out and
give them some surplus of your old clothes or surplus of your
money that you don't need. It may be perchance God will
do something for you. A man's not fit or qualified
or capable. He's incapacitated to do anything
for God. He can't move his hand. He can't
say a word. He can't draw a breath that will
bring glory to God as long as he's in this rebellious state
and in this condition. He's a cripple. He's halt and
lame and blind and impotent without strength to do anything. This
man had been sick for no less than thirty-eight years. I went
through that, didn't I? Thirty-eight years. Thirty-eight
weary summers. Thirty-eight weary winters. He
had endured pain and suffering. He had seen others healed. And
he had seen them going home with their hearts filled with joy
and rejoicing that they were new. New creations. All of this has left him as healthy
and whole. But for him, for this fellow
that's been there for 38 years, there's no healing for him. He
was friendless, hopeless, and helpless. He didn't have anybody. It says here, when the Lord asked
him a question here, the Lord said, Willst thou be made whole?
This man said, Sir, I have no man to help me. when the water's
troubled to put me into the pool, but while I'm coming, another. No mercy for this fella, by others. These are a bunch of selfish,
selfish people, looking out for themselves and themselves alone.
He said, while I'm getting ready, I'm impotent without strength,
and maybe he's trying to crawl or pull himself over there to
flop into, somebody jump in front of him. See that? While I'm coming,
another steppeth there before me. Here he was, friendless,
helpless, hopeless. He lay near this wonder-working
water, but had received no benefit from it. For thirty-eight years
he lay here. No benefit from it. No help did
he receive from this pool. Years came and years passed on
away, no relief, no change for the better, and it seemed like
to Him, I believe, that it was unlikely that any change would
come. Thirty-eight years. You know
that thirty-eight years is significant because it was thirty-eight years
that Israel wandered in the wilderness after they received the law at
Mount Sinai. Exactly thirty-eight years they
wandered in the wilderness. Thirty-eight years this man lay
here, wretched, hopeless, helpless, friendless, lay here, impotent. The whole world, the Bible says,
let me see if I can find that in 1 John, I want to read this. 1 John chapter 5 and verse 19. Listen to this. John says, And we know that we
are of God. Now listen to this statement.
And the whole world lieth in wickedness. Isn't that what we've
been saying? Everybody outside of the world
of believers lies in wickedness. Everybody. Everybody. No good
thing in a man. Remember I told you that this
morning? If there is something in a man's will, if he could
exercise his will to accept or reject, if he could do that,
there would be a good thing found in him. But there is no good
thing in him. Well, he asked him this question. He said, will
doubt be made whole? And I think there's a reason
for that. He asked this question to impress upon the man the utter
helplessness of his condition. It's not until we abandon or
give up all efforts to save ourselves and learn that we are impotent
that help will come. But as long as a man entertains
any ideas that he can do something that can persuade God to show
favor to him, then he hasn't reached his helplessness yet.
He's got to reach his helplessness. And I think that's the reason
why our Lord said, Will you be made whole? that he wanted to
be made whole. He looked at him there and he
couldn't move. He couldn't move. He is impotent. The Lord saw
him there. Why would He ask him a question
like that? Wilt thou be made whole? To impress upon him is
helplessness. Well, we need to learn that we
are impotent. And if there's ever any hope
for any of us, we've got to look out We've got to look outside
of ourselves. It's found outside of ourselves. That's the problem with the religion
of the 20th century. They get men and women and boys
and girls to look at themselves. And they look at themselves and
there's no hope there. They're without strength. They
can't keep God's law. They can't do what they ought
to do and know to do. But they keep telling you, you've
got to do this and you've got to do that. in order to gain
the favor of God. Oh, no. He is more willing to
save a man than we are willing to be saved. When he was talking to this fellow
and said, Will thou be made whole? He was saying unto this man here,
Are you ready for me to do for you what you are unable to do
for yourself? Are you ready? That's what he's
saying. Are you willing to be my dinner? Are you willing to commit yourself
to me? He didn't say anything, this
fellow. But he failed in one thing here. He failed to realize
that Christ Jesus could cure him with just a word. You see,
his problem was, He had more faith in means than he did in
the Lord Jesus Christ. He was looking to some man to
help him. Sir, I have no man to help me.
That's what this world, that's what this world of religion is
about. Men helping other men. He said, I have no man to help,
if I had a man to help me. He had more. more confidence
in humanity than he did in the Son of God, who was right there
in his midst. No man to help me, to put me
in the pool, and while I'm coming, another. He thought he had to
get in that pool, didn't he? He's like the Church of Christ
people. They think they've got to get
in the water. They think baptism saves you. Baptism don't save nobody. You
just go in as a dry sinner and come up a wet sinner. Don't change
anything. It's just a picture of what does
change you. The Lord Jesus Christ, the blessed
gospel, that He lived and died and was buried and rose again
on behalf of His people. He thought He had to get to the
pool. His eye was fixed upon a man, not God. He was looking
to humankind for help. And our Lord Jesus said there
to him, He said, Rise and walk. You know, if the Lord Jesus Christ
waited until there was in the center a due appreciation for
His person, None of us will ever be saved. If He waited on every one of
us to duly appreciate His person like we ought to, nobody would
be saved. Nobody. Let's strive our dead-level best
to give Him His due. give him his due, honor him,
glorify him. He'd do it. He said, Take up
thy bed and walk. Take up thy bed and walk. Will he walk? Well, I've seen
a lot of people that started out in this religion business
I've seen them raise their hands, and I've seen them walk the aisle,
and I've taken them to the baptismal pool and baptized them. I've
seen them come to church for two or three weeks, two or three
months, or a year or so. But they quit. They quit walking. They walked for a little while,
took a few feeble steps, and the first thing you know, they
was back in bed where they came. And their last end is worse than
the first. Did he walk? Did he walk in the
strength of the faith of the Son of God? He walked. He said, Rise. Immediately the man
was made whole and took up his bed and walked. And he walked
the same day on the Sabbath day too. Boy, that made them mad. He that made me whole, the same
said unto me, take up thy bed and walk. The man departed and
told the Jews that it was Jesus which had made him whole. You'd have thought that that
crowd there would have been so appreciative. Those that had seen this, they
couldn't dispute this miracle. It could not be copied. He was one-of-a-kind, man-sick,
38 years, and impotent, can't walk, and the Lord just says,
don't pour no water on him, He don't touch him, He don't have
him go through any Bible verses or nothing, and He doesn't call
everybody to pray for him. You know this Benny Hinn on the
television that heals all them people? He'll get a letter, you
know, from someone that's got cancer of the throat or something,
And he'll appeal to all the people and all the people in his audience
and said, send your letters in and we're going to pray over
them. We're going to pray over them and get them healed. My
God, he didn't have no letters to pray over here. He said, arise,
take up thy bed and walk. And man, that's what he did.
Took up his bed. That's the way it is with God.
Benny Hinn, them fellas. They're fakes. They're frauds.
They dishonored God, dishonored the Lord Jesus Christ. They are
not the salt of the earth. They are dumb. You would have
thought people would have been excited about this, these people
seeing this miracle, especially these Jews. You know what it
says? This man departed and told the
Jews that it was Jesus which had made him whole. And the next verse says, And
therefore did the Jews persecute Jesus, and sought to kill him,
because he had done these things on the Sabbath. Wherever you find man, you find
him the same. Wherever you find God, you find
him the same. Man is totally depraved, isn't
he? If it was not for God's sovereign grace, We'd be lined up on that
side too. Sovereign grace. God chose us,
gave us grace in Christ before the world ever was. Predestination. The predestination of God Almighty
guarantees preservation. God's predestination guarantees
the preservation of our souls. Left to ourselves, by nature,
without strength, wretched, hogged, and blind, we'd be like these. We'd seek to slay Jesus and persecute
Him. Oh, my soul! Men and women need
to know Him, don't they? I sure can't make them mind. I can't make them rise and walk. I can't unstop their ears, give
them a perceiving eye. I can do it. I pray that God in His mercy
will. And if it's according to the will of God,
it will take place. But we ought to desire, anyhow, desire in
ourselves through our prayers unto God, that God be pleased
to help these that we love and know, that do not know Him. God's
got to speak to him in an automatic voice. He doesn't have to do
that. You don't have to go up to heaven and bring him down. He's as near. He's as near as
the breath that you breathe. It's a business that you do in
your heart. It's the giving of yourself to it in this inward
man in your heart. He's saying, I'm the one. I'm
this cripple. I'm this cripple. I renounce
all my good works. I trust in you and you alone.
That's what we ought to do. You might not even know, when
I talk about the glory of this person, find out who Jesus is. This guy didn't know who Jesus
was. He was ignorant of him. We need to be. We need to be
very careful in talking about what a man has to know and what
he doesn't have to know. This business of finding out
the perfections of the Son of God. They don't come right off
in most cases. Gradually, gradually. They say,
who was it? Who is this man that healed you? He said, the man that healed
me, I don't know who he was. I don't know who he was. But
he soon found out, didn't he? He went and told everybody about
it. Let's stand and be this man. Father, we have a time to do
that again. Thank you for the Lord, our Savior,
who saves us, who calls us to the Holy Ghost. Oh, gracious,
gracious Father, loving Father, generous Father, kind, compassionate
Father. Oh, Father, through the pity
of such a Father,