Chapter 5, fifth chapter of the
book of John. We'll consider the first six
verses of that fifth chapter. using for our text the question
in verse number six, wilt thou be made whole? Our Lord
Jesus had just performed a miracle on behalf
of a nobleman there in the fourth And the result of the miracle
was that the boy lived and he believed and his whole
house. The story of that miracle of
the latter part of the fourth chapter is that a boy was brought
to the point of death that a whole family might have eternal life. Now, I remember reading in the
Bible where David, who was a man after God's own heart, he lived
to see three of his children buried. I remember reading in
the book of Job that Job, who was a righteous man, he had three of his children
to die in one day. Which leads me to say that I
don't know, and neither do you, what a day will bring forth.
He that is wise, a man that is wise, will never reckon confidently
on a long life. He really doesn't know what tomorrow
will bring forth. It says in the latter part of
this fourth chapter, it says in the fifty-third verse, So
the father knew that it was at the same hour in which Jesus
said unto him, Thy son liveth, and himself believed, and his
whole house. The story was that a boy was
brought to the point of death that the whole family might have
eternal life. And then he picks up in chapter
5 and says, after this, after what had previously taken place
about the boy being brought to the point of death, that the
whole family might have eternal life, he comes to another scene. And it's not a jubilant scene,
it's not a picture of men and women rejoicing, it's not a hymn-singing
congregation, but it's a group of downcast people, people full
of despondency and full of despair, an impotent, lame group of people,
crippled people, diseased people. After this, there was a feast
of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. Now there is at
Jerusalem by the sheep market a pool, which is called in the
Hebrew tongue Bethesda, having five porches. And in these lay
a great multitude of impotent folk, of blind, of halt, and withered,
waiting for the moving of the water. wasn't a hymn-singing
crowd or a hand-clapping crowd there. Impotent people, blind
people, haught, lame, crippled, withered limbs, 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 the water
was made whole of whatever disease he had. And a certain man was
there which had an infirmity thirty and eight years. When Jesus saw him, him in particular,
notice that. There was a great multitude of
people there, impotent, halt, lame, blind, withered. A whole group of people crowded
around that pool, waiting for the angel to come and trouble
the water, that they might jump into the pool and be cured of
whatever ailment they had. But Jesus saw one of them. Now, it would do you well, it
would do you well just to think about that, right there. A certain man, there was a certain
man, a particular man. Why didn't our Lord Jesus Christ
see them all there, impotent, the hawk, the lame, the crippled,
the blind? and manifest a compassion upon
all of them just with a general sweep of his hands, immediately
clear that poolside of all the impotent people and give them
all life, restore them to proper physical health. I wonder why
he didn't do that. wonder why the Spirit of God,
the Spirit of God is the author of the Bible, the third person
of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit of God, so moved upon men of
old that they might pen right on paper the very mind of God. And the Holy Spirit directed
This is not put in the Bible to fill up space. This is not
what they call a filler. Our Lord Jesus Christ never,
there is not anything, not any word that He ever said that was
said by accident or said just to fill up space or time. All had a particular meaning. And it would do us well if we
think about A certain man. A certain man
had been there 38 years. Jesus focused His eyes upon a
certain man. He saw him lie there. A certain
man. And He knew, our Lord knew, being
omnipotent, our Lord knew that this man had been there now a
long time in that case, in that shape. Crippled like he was,
this impotent man. And he said unto that man, that
certain man, not to all of them, he singled him out. You see what
I'm saying? He singled him out. Didn't say
anything to these other fellas. But he saw this man, he knew
this man's situation and circumstance and case, and he focused his
eyes upon him, and he directed a question to him, and he said
to him, Will thou be made whole? Will you be made whole? Ah, this fella had been laying
there for thirty, been laying there time after time and year
in and year out, waiting for that angel to come to trouble
the waters, that he might get into the pool. And he had hoped
for the healing of his body. He had hoped to be made whole
until his heart was sick. He had waited until despondency
had dried up his very spirits And now it had come to this,
and he scarcely cared whether he was made whole or not. He was listless and indifferent
as to whether he'd ever get in that pool or not. And our Lord
knew that. And he said unto him, Wilt thou
be made whole? Strange question, isn't it? Don't
you think that's a strange question? I bet that fellow thought it
was a strange question, Jack. He'd been laying there year in,
year out, year in, year out, summer and winter, summer and
winter had gone and come and passed and he's still there.
Our Lord come up there and said, will you be made whole? I bet
he said, well what do you think? What do you think I've been laying
here for? What do you think? You think I'm just here resting?
You think it hasn't got a better place to go? It's hard to tell
what went through his mind. It's a strange question. Will
you be made whole? But our Lord did not speak words
without meaning. Willed to be made whole was a
question of profound investigation. It was the scientific probe of
a great doctor. Now, in the matter today, In the preaching of the gospel,
it would seem to be an impertinent question for me today, right
here, to ask a person who was not saved, but was gathered up
or in with those that were saved, wilt thou be made whole? Would you be saved? Now, everybody
would reply, Surely I would be made whole. Surely I'd be saved. But I'm not quite so certain as to the truth of that statement
there, that if I was to say, Wilt thou be made whole, that
everyone would say, now wait a minute, I certainly want to
be saved. This is a question that is not
understood like it should be understood. It's not the same
thing as this question, will you be saved from hell? Now,
that's not the question. Will you be saved from hell? Will you be saved so as to go
to heaven when you die? Everybody would say, yes, I would
be saved to escape the penalties of the wicked, to escape the
fire and brimstone of hell? Certainly, man, I'm not crazy. I certainly want to be saved
from hell. I want to be saved to enjoy the
eternal glories of the hereafter. I certainly want to live forever. You see, the hearts of gold,
and the blessedness of living forever, everybody has a strong
desire in that direction. But that is not the question. That's not the question that
our Lord proposed here to this man who had been there for all
of these years, year in and year out. You see, heaven and its
joys come out of what is proposed in our question as a result or
a consequence. But that's not the question right
now, will you go to heaven when you die or will you be saved
from hell? That's not the question. We're
not saying here in the question, we're not saying here to the
thief that has been caught in the act of robbing some home
of its guns and jewelry and color television set, we're not saying
to that thief who's been caught, we're not saying to him, would
you have your sentence remitted? That's not what we're saying.
We're putting it to him in another form, in another manner. We're
saying this, are you a thief willing to be an honest mate?
That's what we're saying. Are you willing to be an honest
mate? We're not saying to him, would you like to escape The
sentence which is due you for your robbery and burglary in
that man's house? No, that's not what we're saying.
We're saying to that thief who's been caught, who's been captured,
who's incarcerated there in that 5 by 10 cell with nothing there
but four walls and there's no way out, we're saying to him,
would you be an honest man? That's what we're saying to him.
We're not saying to the murderer. Or, would you like to escape
the hangman? Would you like to escape the
electric chair? That's not what we're saying
to him. Here's the fella that he's walked and went out and
he's just pulled his gun and he shot this woman in cold blood. Just emptied his gun into this
woman and shot her in cold blood. And then just went off whistling
down the street. But finally the long arm of the
law reaches out and captures this fella and puts him into
the penitentiary. He has his trial and the trial,
the result of the trial and the jury and the lawyers and all
comes out like this, we sentence you to be hanged by your neck
until you die. We're not saying to this murderer,
are you anxious to escape the hangman? We know what his answer
will be. Certainly he'll say, I'm anxious
to escape the hangman. But the question asked to him
in the context of this crippled Paul said, man that we're talking
about here lying by the pool is this, will thou be made upright
and righteous and kind and forgiving so as to give up all of your
evil tendencies to help us know, brethren, this morning what this
question is all about and what this question means. Do you know,
I think you do, that there were but two men that ever lived upon
the topside of God's green earth who were perfectly, completely,
absolutely whole. The two men were the two Adams. The first Adam, who is the offspring
of God's creation. He is that first man that God
created from the dust of the earth. There was a time when
there was no human race. There was no human race. There
was God the Father, and God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit,
and the vastness of eternity. That's all there was. There was
a time when there was no earth. There was a time when there was
no sun. And in the due process of time,
God created a man out of the dust of the earth, and breathed
into his nostrils the breath of life, and he became a living
soul. man's name was Adam. That's the first Adam. The first
Adam. Now, these two Adams that were
in the world and were the only two men that were completely
whole. These both showed us in their
persons inwardly and outwardly what a man would be if he were
whole. Do you see what I'm saying? These
two persons would answer the question there as to what a man
would be if he were made whole. There were only two whole men,
even right now there's only two whole men on the top side of
the planet, in heaven or under the earth, and that's the first
Adam and the second Adam. What a man would be if he was
made whole. Well, the first Adam was in the
garden of paradise, gathering there that ever luscious
fruit of that garden? This is a great question, I think,
brethren. I really do. I just can't get over this question.
Wilt that be made whole? This is a great question. All
of us, I guess, in a sense, would say yes. But what I'm trying
to say is, in regard to the question, in regard to this first Adam,
in that he was completely whole prior to the fall, is that if
a man was willing to be made whole, he would be made mentally
and morally what Adam was before he sinned, before he brought
that terrible disease on and in the human race. Would you
be like Adam was before Adam sinned? Wilt thou be made whole? What
do you mean, will you be made whole? I mean, would you actually
like to be like Adam was before the fall? Before he blighted
not only himself, but all of his seed which was yet to come
by his transgression and by his rebellion against God. Would
you like to be what he was in the Garden of Paradise? Would
you like to be wilt thou be made whole? What was Adam? Why, he was a man who knew his
God. He knew God, Adam did. Willst
thou be made whole? If you'd be made whole, like
Adam was made whole and complete, then you'd have to say, well,
yes, I would be made whole because I want to know my God. Adam knew. He knew a whole lot of other
things too. He knew a whole lot of things, Adam did. But one
thing that he did know, he knew his God. Remember I told you
the other day that those of us that profess to know Him, and
it is a must that we must know Him. To know Him is eternal life. There's no eternal life apart
from knowing God. A man's got to know Him. John
chapter 17 says this, and this is eternal life. Oh, please tell
me the rest of it. And this is eternal life that
they might know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom
he sent. Now what was Adam? He was a man
that knew his God. I said he knew many things besides,
but chiefly, his main occupation and enjoyment was his God. His delight was to walk with
God. The Bible says that God came
down in the cool of the day. And that was his custom. He came
down in the cool of the day and he talked with Adam. And Adam
talked with his God. And Adam listened to his God.
And Adam worshipped his God. And Adam knew his God. Listen, it was his delight to
speak to God as his friend. Until it fell, he was one whose
will was submitted unto the will of his Creator. And he was anxious
and desirous not to violate or transgress the will of him who
made it. Here is God. You see what I'm
saying? I'm saying, wilt thou be made
whole? If a man desires to be made whole,
he's saying, I desire to be like the first Adam. Before the fall. An Adam whose complete will was
submitted to the will of Him who made Him, whose chief desire
was to please Him. That was His chief desire. That was His chief enjoyment,
that He pleased God. Now listen, wilt thou be made
whole? Will you really be made whole
and desire that God be your chief enjoyment? over all and above
everything else, God will be your keep in time. You really
want to be made whole now? Huh? If it was put to you like that,
would you say, well, what about my family and what about my things
that I like to do and this and that and so forth? Well, that's
all right, but they'll have to take precedence To God, they'll
have to find their prospective place. God will have to come
first. He'll have to be first in your
thoughts, first in your desires, first in your will. God will
have to be all in all to you. God was Adam's all in all. God was Adam's chief pleasure
and enjoyment. Wilt thou be made whole? Will
you be made whole? I'm not saying, will you go to
heaven, do you desire to go to heaven when you die? That's not
what I'm asking you. I'm not asking you that. I'm not asking
you, well, would you like to escape hell? I'm not asking you
that. I'm asking you this question
right here. Wilt thou be made whole? Will you really be made
whole? Ah, listen. In all things, O Adam was anxious
and desirous to do what his Lord commanded. That's something,
isn't it? In all things. In all things
he was anxious and desirous to do what God told him to. put there in the garden to till
the ground, and to dress the garden, and all this he did,
and he did with joy. Wilt thou be made whole? Be like
Adam? Here was a whole and a sound
man, and his whole enjoyment consisted in God. I don't know
whether you and I can stand that or not. Could we? All of our
enjoyment being that we are submitted to the will of God, that God
was our portion. God was our portion. He's all
that we need. We need nothing else as long
as we've got Him. As long as He fills our little
cup with His presence and with His love and with His mercy,
we'll be satisfied and we'll be content. Would that be enough
for us? Would we have to have 10,000
other things? Listen, it was His one object
as a living creature to do the will of Him that made Him. He
knew nothing of rioting and drunkenness. He was pure and He was upright
and He was obedient. How would you like to be like
Him this morning? You who are doing your own will,
you who find happiness in doing your own will, satisfying your
own desire and your own pleasure, how would you like to be like
him? You who find happiness in sin
and in filthiness, would you be willing to come back and find
happiness in God alone and serve Him alone? Would you be willing
to do that? That's what he's saying. Wilt
thou be made whole? Will you? You say, yes. Now, are you sure you know what
you're talking about? You sure? You sure that you know exactly
what you're talking about? Huh? What would life be without? Or what would life be without
the fire of lust in our bosom? Without the excitement of drink
and drugs and these things that are so prevalent on our scene
in this century? What would it be like to be without
the pulp of pride and self-esteem and self-recognition? What would
existence in this world be without these things that I've mentioned?
Huh? You sure that you'd want to be
made whole if all your time and all your thinking and everything
was anchored in a person? Just God and God alone? What about the second man? I
said this to men. That's the first Adam. He finally
failed. Everything that man ever touched,
he spoiled. Leave man to himself and he'll
spoil, pollute, and corrupt everything. Let's talk about the second Adam.
The second Adam, he didn't come from the earth. The first Adam
came from the dust. But the second Adam, the Lord
Jesus Christ, He said, I didn't come from below. He said, I come
from above. He said, you're earthly. He said,
I'm heavenly. I come from my Father's bosom. The second Adam, He is the second
Adam that was whole. That was the Lord Jesus. And
He dwelt here among man. He didn't dwell there in paradise
where the first Adam dwelt. He was here in the midst of trials
and troubles. He is here in the midst of grief. He was here in the midst of temptation. and all of its elements, yet
he is a whole, a complete and a sound man. Sickness, the Bible
says, he took upon himself as to his body, and our sins were
reckoned unto him. He had no sins. The Bible says, but in him was
no sin. says the prince of this world
came and sized him up and searched and looked him through and through
but could find no unsoundness nor no sin in him, our Lord Jesus
Christ. Ah, the perfection of our Lord's
manhood consisted in this. that he was holy, he was harmless,
and he was undefiled. Wilt thou be made whole? To be a whole man, a man's desire
has got to be that he be holy and harmless and undefiled. Wilt thou be made whole? Do you
really want to be made whole? if that's what it consists in. He was whole towards his God.
The Bible says that it was the meat and drink of the Lord Jesus
Christ to do the will of Him that sent Him. To do the will
of God the Father that sent Him. He done everything that God What's
in Him to do? He did it without murmuring,
without complaining, without turning back, without shrinking
back from it. He did everything. And I have
a hard time getting people to come to church. People that say
that they're whole. Preacher, I'm whole. I confess
I believe in Jesus, and I want to go to heaven when I die. I
don't want to go to hell, but I want to go to heaven. Oh, I
just weep when they sing those old hymns, but I have an awful
time getting them people to come to church. Well, now, if I asked
them people, I said, do you believe that it is the will of God that
you who say that you've been redeemed by the blood of the
Lord Jesus Christ, do you believe that it's the will of God for
you Not to forsake the assembling of yourselves together as some
do. Do you think that's the will of God? I don't know what they'd
say. I don't know. I don't know. But I know this. Brother, I have
a hard time. I have a hard time myself. I have a difficult time in accomplishing
anything in regard to the will of God. But here's the man, the
second out of the Lord Jesus Christ who came from heaven,
he said that my whole life is given to obedience to His will
and His will alone. And I won't shrink back from
it. Even if I've got to go to the cross. Even to the awfulness
of being forsaken by God. He carried out in complete obedience
the will of God. He was totally, absolutely, 100%
surrendered to the very desire of God in all things. Wilt thou be made whole? This
complete, perfect, untainted man, he was whole towards his
God. It was his meat and his drink
to do the will of God. He was as he came from his Maker's
hand, without blot and without blemish. without the absence
of any good thing. The Lord Jesus Christ was whole,
W-H-O-L-E and H-O-L-Y. Now, would you like to be like
Him? Would you like to be like Him?
It goes right back to that verse in 1 John that I was talking
to you about two or three times here recently. Remember? Beloved,
now are we the sons of God. It doth not appear what we shall
be, but we know that when he shall appear, we shall be like
him, for we shall see him as he is." Now the next verse says,
if any man has this hope, What hopes that? The hope of
being like Jesus Christ, exactly free from sin, perfectly sinless. That's the believer's anxiety
and hope. He hopes, he desires that one
day he could be free from bigotry, free from prejudice, free from
anger, free from all of this that is sin. He could be free
from it and he could be just like the Lord Jesus Christ, a
whole, complete, sound, holy, harmless, and undefiled man. That's the believer's hope. It
says that any man who has this hope purifies himself. Oh, my soul. Listen to me. We'll doubt be made whole. We
have been made whole. When a man is whole and complete
in what a man should be, they are certain evil propensities
which are expelled from that man. And there are certain moral
qualities which he's sure to possess. When a man is made whole
before his God, he's a man that's made honest before men. When
he's made whole before God, he's made honest before men. To be made whole involves a man's
truthfulness. Some people can't speak the truth.
To them, two and two is always twenty. It's never four. To be
made whole, a man speaks the truth. A man's honest. To be
made whole, a man can forgive even seventy times seven. When a man's made whole. Some
live and die just to gratify the anger of revenge. Sweet is
revenge to many a man and to many a woman. But it's useless
for a man to say that I would be made whole while he still
cultivates in his heart malice and bears ill will towards his
fellow man. It's useless, it's senseless,
and he's a hypocrite. I'm saying, brethren, wilt thou
be made whole? And when a man is made whole,
he's made honest before men. He's made truthful before God
and truthful before men. And he's a man who can forgive.
And he is a man that will do his best to try to forget. Some
men are afflicted with a miserly, grasping disposition. If you
were to be made whole this morning, and if I was to be made whole,
I'd be a generous man. And you'd be a generous man.
You'd be kind to the poor. You'd be ready to give of your
patience, of your money, of your time, of your talent to the Lord's
worth. You'd be ready to do that. But would a man be made whole
this morning? if it's left to his own choice.
Most people say, what good's money if you're going to give
it away? You mean to tell me I'm going to work all my life
and accumulate twenty-five, thirty, forty thousand dollars in the
bank, and then come along and give two or three thousand over
the way to this fella, and a thousand to this fella, and five thousand
to my daughter, five thousand to my son, and five thousand
to you? Oh, no. No, that was never my
intentions when I accumulated this money. I save them that
money up and one day I'll have to be in the nursing home, maybe,
and those that oversee will have to pay so much a month. Well,
let's cross that bridge when you come to it. Well, is God
dead? Is God dead? Did God die? He
said, I'll never leave you nor forsake you. You say, well, I
believe that to a degree, but I still think that I kind of
got to help him out a little bit. Huh? Will doubt be made whole? What
good is it to have money if you're going to give it away? If a man
be made whole, there are not only moral virtues which abound
in him and is very evident in his life, but there are also
spiritual graces as well. For a man who is whole is sound
in spirit as well as he in outward characteristics. Well, if a man's
made whole, you don't have to worry about him desiring to do
evil. You don't have to worry about that. He won't desire to do it. He
may fall into something, but he'll not stay there. No, sir.
You see that Pharisee? You see that Pharisee down there
at the temple? There's two fellas down there,
and one of them's a Pharisee. He has all of the external qualities
that religion demands. Brother, look at that fella.
You talk about, if anybody's going to heaven, he's going to
heaven. Anybody's going to make it, that fella's going to make
it. That's what most people say. Why? Well, because he prays three
times every day. And he's not ashamed of it. He'll
go right out in the middle of the street. He'll go right out
there at 10 o'clock in the morning, 2 o'clock in the afternoon, 6
o'clock in the evening. He don't care if there's a big
crowd or if there's no crowd at all. He'll pray right out
there openly. He'll pray loud and long. Why, he gives 10% of his income
to the church. He tithes. You see that Pharisee
out there? He's thanking God now. You remember
what he said, I thank God. Alright, what's he doing? He's
thanking God that he's not quite as bad. Well, he's thanking God
that he's not as good as he should be, but he's not quite as bad
as that other fella. See? I'm not like him. I'm not
as good as I ought to be, but I'm a little bit better than
most men." That's what he's saying. Listen, if this Pharisee out
here, if he's ever to be made whole, you know what he's going
to say? I'll tell you the exact words
that that Pharisee is going to say if he's ever to be made whole.
He's going to say this to God. God, be merciful to me, a sinner. But if I ask him, if I ask that
Pharisee, would you like to change places with this publican over
here, this publican, he doesn't have anything. He doesn't have
any reputation, he doesn't have any character, he doesn't have
nothing! He is an embarrassment to his family and to society. He is the off-scouring of all
of the sin and evil of this world. There he is. He hasn't got anything.
He sneaks off way off yonder there to the other side of the
temple. Sneaking off there. He doesn't
want anybody to see him. Got his head down. Got his head
down. And he can't say anything. He
can't make long prayers. He just smites his chest. He hits his chest and he said,
God, be merciful to me, a sinner. I know what I am. I'm a sinner. I know what I am. God, be merciful
to me. All right, if I asked this Pharisee,
would you like to change places with this publican? He'd say,
why should I? He's degraded and debased and
he's a terrible sinner. Listen, he don't want to be made
whole because he thinks that he's whole right now. And that's
the way a lot of people are. Most people. They want to be
made whole. Well, I'm all right now, preacher.
You don't have to talk to me. Don't talk to me. You're wasting
your time. Why don't you go somewhere else?
Go over there to Madison Street where those poor winos hang out
there at the liquor store. Sitting around on the rail trying
to bum a quarter to buy a fifth of wine. Go talk to them. I don't
do anything like that. I'm respectable. I've got my,
I've worked all my life and then I've got my pension now. And
look at me, people, people everywhere, they see me and they say, hello
Mr. So and so. Hello Mr. So. I'm respected. I'm whole. Would that be made whole? If
you're ever going to be made whole, you're going to have to
come to the end of yourself. And you're going to have to see
yourself as God sees you, unfit and unholy and defiled and corrupted
and helpless and hopeless before Him. You're going to have to
see Him in all of His glory and His holiness and see yourself
in all of your sin, all of your need. You need a Savior, but
you don't know you need a Savior. You need a righteousness that's
just like the righteousness of God, but you don't know it. You
think that your righteousness is alright and it's enough, and
you think that that's the whole covering right there, that's
the whole bolt of cloth, is your little old righteousness, your
little old set of rules, your little old rules and regulations
that you go by. What you do and what you won't
do, you think that's going to get you to heaven. My soul, you're
going to miss it. 500 million miles. You're going to have to be like
this publican. You're going to have to smite your breast. And you're going to have to say,
Lord, God Almighty, show mercy to me. You don't have to show
no mercy to me. I'm a sinner and if you send
me to hell right now, You show mercy to my wife! You show mercy to my neighbor! You show mercy to the Bible sinner! Lord, show mercy to me! Show
mercy to me! He doesn't have to. He may. But you have to come to that
place where it shall be made whole. That Pharisee, he doesn't
want to be made whole because he thinks he's whole already.
He that is made whole by God becomes a self-renouncing man. Paul, the Apostle Paul, we talked
about him, what a great Christian he was. Why, we're not even fit
to quote him. We're not even fit to talk about
his life. Our lives are poles apart from
the life of the Apostle. But I'll tell you this about
him. He is a whole man. He is a whole man. Here are some
things that he said. Over there in the book of Romans
when he said, not having, listen now, not having my own righteousness,
which is of the law, is a whole man. He said the righteousness
that will gain me entrance into glory is not my righteousness,
but he said it is the righteousness of Jesus Christ imputed to man,
given to man. He said, My sins are all gone. They're all taken away. Why? Because Jesus freely offered
Himself in my stead and my room and bore in His own body the
penalty that was due my sin. Hear the whole man when he said
that. Oh, my soul. Paul said, My righteousness.
He said, My righteousness and everything about me. He said,
I count it but done. Done. Done. Off scouring of the
camels. The off scouring of the burros
and the donkeys and the mules and the horses. He said, My righteousness
is but done. That's what matters. In comparison
to the glory of God and to what God demands, He said, My little
old righteousness, He said, where I'm a Pharisee and the son of
a Pharisee and before the law, He said, I lived blameless and
I did this and I did that. He said, That righteousness is
but done where the flies and the worms live. Oh, he said, mine own righteousness,
he said, is of the law. Not having that, but that which
is through faith, the faith of the Lord Jesus Christ, the righteousness
which is of God by faith, he is a whole man. Sickly men, sickly
men. They think their own righteousness
is good enough. Sickly men. You ever talk to
any sickly men? I talk to them all the time.
Sickly women and sickly men. First thing you know, they'll
find out you're a preacher and they'll begin to parade their
righteousness before you. First thing you do, they'll jerk
it out. They may not come right out,
you know, in uncertain terms, but that's the way it comes out.
They're going to let you know how righteous they are. They'll
tell you real quick, I'm this and I'm that. Oh, my soul, brethren,
sickly souls are trusting in all righteousness. Something
they do, something they thought, something they have, something
they give or something they didn't do. Rules, regulations, that's
their righteousness. Oh, sickly men think their own
righteousness is good enough, and they wrap themselves up in
it. And that's not enough. They keep going about to establish
more righteousness. Huh? God says that He demands
that you have a perfect righteousness. You say, well, how good do I
have to be? You have to be as good as God. Are you that good?
You have to be as good as the second Adam. You have to be as
good as the Lord Jesus Christ. How am I going to be that good?
I'll never be that good. Not in yourself. Not in yourself. And when you renounce yourself,
and renounce your doing, renounce your trying, and cease to do,
and rest in the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ, and
rest in Him, and trust in Him for your righteousness, in your
righteousness alone, then you'll be as good as the Lord Jesus
Christ. You'll be as good as He is. That's right. That's what the
good news is. Good news is not being baptized. That won't help
you. Being baptized, you can go down
into the water ten million times and you'll never have a perfect
conscience before God. You'll still wonder, have I done
enough? Have I done enough? You reckon I've done enough?
Oh, and I told you about this old lady that raised me, the
biggest part of my life was a nurse, and she told me one time about
going to this most respected woman in the church. Most respected
woman. Everybody in the church looked
up to her. She was the mother of all Israel in that area. And
she got sick. She had cancer. And Sister McDougal
went there to nurse her. She nursed her day in and day
out, day in and day out, until the very night she died. But
every time she came back from nursing that lady, she was always
despondent. And she always told me, she said,
you know that woman? She's went to church all her
life. She's the organist at the church. Her husband's the chairman
of the board of trustees or deacons. She's highly respected. And says
she's kind of out of her mind now. Says all she wants to talk
about is, have I done enough? Have I done enough? Have I done
enough? Have I done enough? I think so. Have I done enough? Have I done enough? Quit your
doing! Quit your doing and start trusting
in Him who done it all. The Lord Jesus Christ. You'd
be made whole this morning. You don't have to quit your doing.
Start trusting. Start trusting. Renouncing. Renouncing yourself. A man, listen,
a man who's made whole, he feels in his own heart a perpetual,
constant gratitude. He exhibits in his life praise
unto God. And he's not perfect, and he
knows he's not perfect. But in all things, brother, he's
seeking God's glory. He's wanting God to be glorified.
He's wanting the Lord Jesus Christ to become exalted, exalted in
his life and in his service. If he sings, he sings for the
glory of God. If he preaches, he preaches for
the glory of God. If he serves as a custodian,
he does it for the glory of God. Whatever he does, he does that
God might be magnified. Oh, listen, his mind is fixed
on eternal things. His mind is fixed on the Word
of God. You know, I got to thinking the
other day, I was reading this book, and I got to thinking about
all of this that I hear on every hand from this fellow and that
fellow and this church and that church and this denomination
and all, what you see on the television and everything. I
got to thinking, I got to reading in the Bible, And I've come to
this conclusion not because I've just read it for 10 or 15 minutes
one afternoon, but because I've spent my life, I've spent a lifetime
going to church. I went to church thousands and
thousands of times. And I've preached hundreds and
hundreds and thousands of times. I've preached so many times,
Why, I don't know what I preached about. I preached so many places,
I couldn't name them all. I've read the Bible. I've drawn this conclusion after
a lifetime. I've drawn this conclusion that
the whole Bible is about one person, the Lord Jesus. The Bible
is not about baptism. The Bible's not about keeping
the Sabbath. The Bible's not about keeping
the time. The Bible's not about rules and
regulations. The Bible's about a person, the
Lord Jesus Christ. That's what the Bible's all about.
On every page, it's about Jesus. It's about Jesus. Now I'm saying
that a man's made whole. He's not perfect. He's not perfect. He's the biggest sinner in the
world in his own eyes. But I'll tell you this. He's
seeking, Pat, God's glory. He wants God to be glorified.
He wants Christ to be glorified. If everything else dies and goes
to hell, he wants Jesus to be glorified. I'm telling the truth,
brethren. He seeks God's glory. If you're
honest this morning, I'm going to quit and answer to the question,
willst thou be made whole? I know there's a whole lot here
this morning. You'd say, well, I'd still like to go to heaven
when I die. I certainly don't want to go to hell, but I don't
want to practice this holiness business you're talking about.
I don't want to go to hell, and I don't want to go to heaven,
but this business This business of giving myself
over, lock, stock, and bound to the Lord Jesus Christ, these
spiritual graces that you're talking about, about seeking
God, about praying to God, about being faithful, about exhibiting
these graces outwardly, loving my brethren over and above myself,
and loving God with them. I don't know about that. I don't
want to practice all that business. That's too much for me now. I
want to go to heaven. Now, don't misunderstand me,
preacher. I think heaven is a mighty fine
place to go. And I think hell is a place that
ought to be avoided. But, but, I've taken a long,
hard look at what you're talking about, and brother, what you're
talking about is not very easy. You're making some demands. Only
the demands of the gospel, that's all. Only the demands of the
gospel. Thinking about it and considering
it, I wouldn't want to tell you. I wouldn't want to tell anybody,
but down in my heart, I love being my own boss. So preacher,
I think I'll just leave it with you. If you want it, that's fine. And if you want to spend your
time telling people about it, I'll help you now and then do
it. My little money, I'll give you a dollar now and then. You
need a car ride sometime to go somewhere, I'll do that. I don't
think I'll get involved in it. Oh my soul. Wilt thou be made
whole? I'm going to quit.