All right, brethren, if you will,
let's turn to John chapter 5. I hope the Lord will be pleased
to bless His Word. You're going to walk out of here
this evening and you'll say, Kevin, you're telling me that
I ain't saved unless Christ does it. All them years I wasn't saved
at all until Christ came to me. He sent His preacher to me and
preached the truth to me. He did a work in me in power.
Gave me His righteousness. And then I followed Him. Immediately
when I followed Him, that's when the Lord saved me. I hope that's the case. I ask
you a question in the title of my message. Will you be made
whole? Don't answer that until we know
what it means. That's not a, you want to go to heaven and
not hell. Anybody with common sense got enough sense not to
want that. I want to go to hell, I want to go to heaven. I want
to be wealthy, not poor. I want to be healthy, not weak
and sick. Will you be made whole? That comes with the price tag. In the beginning, here's what
I want to tell you. In the beginning, God, He made
a people whole. He made them righteous. He made
them holy in Christ in that covenant of grace way back when, before
that covenant of law ever come about. The first covenant, a
long time ago, was a covenant of grace God made with His elect,
with His Christ, with His Son. The righteousness of His people
was secured in Christ our surety when that covenant was made.
It had not come to pass yet, but it was certain at that moment.
It was sure at that moment. In that moral law, that Mosaic
law, that ceremonial law, every precept, man fought Every time
the Lord gave something, man thought that he was going to
be able to rest in it. That he was going to be able
to be saved in it. That's Adam coming out. I can
do it. Or in the religion of the explanation
of Moses. Say that slow one more time.
Or in the religion of the explanation of Moses. If you didn't catch
it now, I hope we catch it later. But wherever cross sheep are,
he sends a preacher to them. Those that he made righteous
before in time when he entered that covenant. Those that were
given a law that fell in that law, he uses as a schoolmaster
to bring them to his feet. That's where the works took place.
We'll see that tonight. And he comes to his sheep through
the preaching of the gospel. One by one, individually, he
comes to his sheep. This work of the Spirit is an
individual heart work. There's only one person allowed
on that operating table at a time. It's individual. What do you
think? It don't matter what they think. It's between you and the
Lord. Salvation is to come to Christ. To come to Him. To be in Him. But we're not able
to do that, are we? We're not willing to do that.
So those that God made a choice concerning, He chose some folks. Those that were unable to come
to Christ. Those that were unwilling to come to Christ. They are completely
helpless and hopeless. And they're made to know it.
They don't think it. It's not a theory. They know
it. He comes to them. He looks upon
them. Comes to them. And He gives a
commandment of life. And He gives the power to obey
Him. I can't explain that. We have
an obligation to obey the Lord. I'm not able to. He commands
it and He gives me the power to do it. And we do it. He gives
the power to obey that commandment. And there's a response to life-saving
power. There's a response to that commandment
of let there be light in a person's heart. I hope I don't hurt nobody's
feelings. It's the truth. There's a response to it. It
says here in John 5 verse 1, And 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. In these lay a
great multitude of impotent folks, blind, halt, withered, waiting
for the moving of water." What are they waiting for? The moving
of water. For an angel, they're waiting for this because an angel
went down at a certain season into the pool and troubled the
water. Whosoever then first, after the
troubling of the water, stepped in, was made whole of whatsoever
disease he had. And a certain man was there,
which had an infirmity thirty and eight years. When Jesus saw
him lie, and he knew that he had been now a long time in this
case, he saith unto him, Wilt thou be made whole? The impotent
man answered him, Sir, I have no man. when the water is troubled,
to put me into the pool. But while I'm coming, another
steppeth down before me." When he's trying to get himself there,
somebody beats him to the punch. Jesus saith unto him, Rise, take
up thy bed, and walk. And immediately the man was made
whole. He rose, and he took up his bed, and he walked. And on the same day was the Sabbath. I want to cover five short points
with you this evening. Righteousness, that's where it
all starts. Before we ever come on the scene,
righteousness must be dealt with. Man's inability into the law. Man's inability in religion,
in doctrine. He ain't got no ability. The preaching of the gospel.
He's God. You're not. Somebody's going
to tell you that. Christ asking a very unusual question to every
believer. I have a dear friend of mine
that always starts out a lot of points. He preaches in another
state. And he said, this is true to
every believer. And I mean, I'll park the car. I want to hear
what he has to say. The Lord asks His people, every
one of His people, every believer, a very unusual question. And
then the result, the result of that powerful commandment, when
He gives power, the obedience that comes with it, the obedience
of faith. So first righteousness. It says there in verse 1, we
know that in this book every word has purpose, every word
has meaning. We may not understand it, we can't wrap our heads around
it, but the Lord wrote this entire scripture on purpose. On purpose,
every word means something. It says here in John 5 verse
1, After this there was a feast
of the Jews, And Jesus went up to Jerusalem. Our Lord traveled
many miles. He walked 40-some miles one way,
and He called out one of His elect. And then He went back
72 miles, and He called out the woman at the well. And then He
walked back to Galilee, and He held the nobleman's son. Now
He's walked up to Jerusalem. For His sheep, our Lord travels
a long way. He travels a long way. For our
salvation, He journeyed from His rightful home and glory to
this earth that He created to be made a man like His creation. But after all this, after all
this journeying, there was a feast of the Jews. Jesus was there. This is important. Which feast
was it? We don't know. We don't know
which feast it was. Some say it was a Passover. Some
people like to stumble around. They take that stumbling stone
and they get a toothbrush out and they clean every little angle
on it, don't they? Got to look at it good. Y'all see a stumbling
stone? Well, he had to have this many
Passovers if he had lived to 33 and a half years. That's got
to be a calendar out. Try to count these things. The
importance is not which feast it was. It was the fact that
Christ was there. There was a required feast and
he was at it. He went to it. All these Old Testament feasts,
all these Old Testament ceremonies, they were appointed by God Almighty. He gave them. They're given in
His law. But through Christ our Passover,
He came to fulfill all this for us. He is our Passover. That's
why He told the children of Israel. He said, you take this... He
brought them out of Egypt and He said, you have this Passover.
And he said, that's going to make you holy. No, that's not
what he said. What happened? You mommies and daddies, whenever
you butcher them lambs and you take hyssop and that blood and
mix it with water and you sprinkle it on your doorpost, your children
are going to say, why in the world are you doing that, daddy?
And he said, come here, son, let me tell you. Here's what
God does for his people. He sent himself a propitiation,
a bloody sacrifice, himself a lamb. It's just a picture. It's just
a token. This don't mean nothing. That
one coming does. You tell your children from a
young age, they're old enough to ask, why are you doing that?
And you tell them about Christ until they leave the house, out
from underneath your roof. That's why I gave it. That's
Christ our Passover. Christ is our Passover. But he
hadn't went to the cross yet, had he? So he kept every jot
and tittle of the law. His work as our Passover was
completed, He kept every Passover. He kept every feast, every law.
In His earthly body, He was circumcised on the eighth day. Mary went
through all those orders of purification that was required. He was taken
to the temple at all the certain ages. That was required to all
them Jewish boys. He fulfilled it. He did it. He observed every
day, every feast, every ceremony that the Father had ordained.
Because it was required. It was required for us. we had."
It says in Luke 4.16, and he came to Nazareth where he had
been brought up and as was his custom, he entered into the synagogue
on the Sabbath day and stood up for to read. Boy, there's
a whole lot there. You think those people there
are hypocrites? You think that preacher, that high priest up
there was any good? That was his father's house. He didn't
miss one. He showed up. We had to. That was His custom. He never
failed to keep a Sabbath or feast or precept. That was His custom
to be about His Father's business. That's what the Holy Ghost is
pointing to us here in our text. The Lord Jesus Christ was fulfilling
all righteousness for His people and honoring the Father and in
the law in all things, first and foremost. Now we have an inability under
that law, don't we? That's why He must be our righteousness.
Look here in verse 2, John 5 verse 2. Now there is at Jerusalem
by the sheep market a pool, which is called in the Hebrew tongue
Bethesda, having five porches. In these lay a great multitude,
a lot, a great multitude, that's not a few, a great multitude
of impotent folks, of blind, halt-withered, waiting for the
moving of the water. This house of pity, that's what
Bethesda means, house of pity, house of mercy, house of kindness. It was right next to the sheep
gate. Somebody come to town, they put
all them sheep in that one pen. And then whenever their owners
went to go take them out, that's done to a business in the city, they'd
whistle and click and call, and them sheep would come out, and
just their sheep. That is something to watch, I've seen it. There's
a fountain of mercy right close to where the sheep was. And anybody
that'd go to this fountain of mercy, an angel would come down,
trouble the waters, and the first person to get in would be healed
of all their diseases. any disease, whatever they had,
it's plumb healed, fully healed. That's what happened there. This
really happened. They said Thomas Jefferson, everybody
loved him, he was a good president, or a good founding father, wasn't
he? Oh, Thomas Jefferson, you know, he made his own Bible.
He didn't believe in miracles, he took every one of them out. Ain't such a good guy now, is
he? There's a king in our scriptures that took a pen knife and cut
all of the scriptures. He didn't like that too, didn't he? This happened.
There was, past tense, a fountain in Jerusalem that an angel would
come down in certain seasons and trouble the waters. And if
you was the first one to get in it, you wasn't sick no more.
You didn't get sick after that. It happened. Many of the commentators, they
say these five porches are the five books of Moses. Man tries
to find shade from that scorching sun of God under them, but he
can't save his life, and he can't move, and there's no healing
in it. That's where they try to stay.
All of mankind was born under these five porches, weren't we?
That's who we came into this world as, born under the law,
same as our Redeemer. Made a woman, born under the
law, but we're all unable. We're paralyzed, we're blind,
we're halt, we're withered, and we're all waiting for the waters
to move. waiting on something else. That's
our nature. How often, how sad it is when
somebody like Felix waits till tomorrow. I can pay attention
next week. Whenever I get a little older,
once I get a house and once I get settled some, it's getting me
a good job, get the family, get the kids raised, then I can go
to church. Then I can worry about these things. continues to try
and rest to no avail under the law, under religion, and does
not go into Christ the living fountain. That's a sad time. Sit there and stare at it. Arms
reach. You can see it. Never enter in. Why did I say religion and not
just the law? I'm going to try to say something without saying
it. Man is totally depraved and that pool may not work. Some
people say that, don't they? No, you will be healed. You're
the first one in those waters. You're going to be healed. But
you think the illness is greater than the physician. You think
the disease is more powerful than the healing water, the healing
fountain of life. God chose the people by His pleasure
and nothing in them. It must not be me. Maybe it's
not, but have you come to Him? Have you climbed in the fountain?
When God saves someone, they cannot resist Him. So I'll wait
for Him to come to me in power. Lord Sovereign of all things.
If He wants me to have a preacher, He'll send me one. Then I'll
go hide in a cave. Is that getting in the pool?
Is that getting in the pool? We're going to see some things
in this effectual call. Is that seeking Him while He
may be found? After I get in that pool, I won't
have any diseases anymore. I'll be preserved forever." Very
true. But have you gotten into waters?
Every person, that great multitude, they were earnest, weren't they?
They made it all the way there. Many throughout this nation,
they think they rest under five points of Calvinism. But they
have not came to Christ. They only have a pergola. They
have a gazebo. They got a porch of doctrine
that they're sitting underneath. They're not getting into living
waters. There are many that have the full gospel of Christ preached
to them. His righteousness, His faithfulness,
His loving kindness, His truth. And they cannot and they will
not enter the waters. They won't enter Christ. They'll
learn all they can about it. That's what Paul told Timothy,
but they won't enter in. They won't enter into Him. How's the
Lord going to tell somebody about those things? The preaching of
the gospel. Near the sheep, wherever they
are, Christ sends His preachers. Look here in verse 4. John 5
verse 4. For an angel went down at a certain
season into the pool and troubled the water. Whosoever then first
after troubling the water stepped in was made whole of whatsoever
disease he had. Many of the commentators of old
had some bold and interesting theories. They thought a lot
about what this was. They slaughtered the sheep over
there, and then the blood come down. It was a real hot day,
and it made the water bubble, and they thought the waters was moving.
No. We can take the Scriptures at
face value. There was a fountain there. An angel came to it, and
it troubled the waters. And whoever was first one to
get in it, they was healed. It literally means exactly what
it says. But what does that mean to us in our day? I ain't in
Jerusalem. That fountain ain't there no
more. Angels don't come down troubling waters no more. What
spiritual meaning does that have to us? God sends a servant to
trouble the waters in certain seasons. What's that to me and
you? For Hamul, every Wednesday and twice on Sunday, the waters
get troubled. What's that mean? In this area,
that's what happens. God's servant comes to those that are dying
and they trouble the waters. That means to stir. They agitate
the waters. Those that are deaf, you lift
the waters up. Let it fall down so they can
see it. Here's the waters. Wave your arms to the deaf people. Here's the water of life. Here's
Christ. Come to Him. Those that are blind, stir the
waters. Make waves. Slosh it around some. Yell, this is water. Listen to
it. Obey it. Come to it. Get in it. Come to
these waters. Enter into the Lord's presence.
Come to Him. Here's where wisdom is. Here's
where righteousness is. You want sanctification? Listen
to the waters. Redemption. Regeneration is right here. Shouting
and stirring and troubling the waters to show everybody. consistently,
and only the first one that gets in is healed. There's a certain
season. It's prescribed. We have a God
of order, don't we? It's consistent. But the first
one to get in was healed. What's that mean? Does that mean
God only saves one person a day? No, it doesn't. But the one that
he's given power to straightway enter the water. When he called
out to those apostles, he said, follow me. What did they do?
They threw the nets down and they straightway followed him.
They just let it go. James and John, what are you
doing? Follow me. They straightway left the boat. They followed
him. Did the Lord say those that hear
my voice, my sheep hear my voice and they follow me? I think he's
telling the truth. Those that he's empowered. He
gives the command and he gives the power to obey the command.
He says, follow me. You have to do the following.
He says, come unto me. They come to him. Every time. Some say, well, maybe tomorrow
I'll get up real early and I'll be first in line. Tomorrow I'll
go get first in line to the earth in pools. You know that real
fountain where this really happened? That ain't there no more. Lord
dried it up. That servant, that angel he sent
to stir the waters, he's doing something else. Lord moved him. Took him away. Today is the day
of salvation. This might be the last time I
ever preach. Might be the last time you ever hear it preached.
Lord may dry it up in this whole nation. We got to travel to a
war-torn country to hear the gospel preached. I don't know.
That fountain ain't there no more. There are many waiting for the
angels, that's what they were there for. To see a sign, to
see something miraculous. They had no interest in getting
in that water. There's an angel that comes out here every night
and I want to see it. I want to see them waters go around. There are many
waiting for someone else to get healed. They think of themselves
as not that bad. That's in them and that's in
us today too, isn't it? Oh, so and so, they're much worse off
than me. Me and Cameron was watching a show and this girl was doing
all these physical competitions, had one arm. And both of us have
some ailments. And we said, well, that'd be
hard for us. But we got it way better than she does. She's only
got one arm. She's doing all that stuff. That's
what those people at the pool was doing. Well, they need it
more than I do. I'm waiting for tomorrow. So-and-so needs to
be up here to hear this. That's what so-and-so needs to hear. There are many waiting for the
waters to be troubled because they want to see a revival. And
we'll see a whole bunch of folks get there. I'll start going to
San Diego Grace Fellowship when they've got 200 people there.
Then I'll know the Lord's working there. It's the truth, ain't it? Ain't
big enough crowd for them. Ain't got enough pull. They don't
need Christ. They need Christ plus something. Many waiting for the Lord's servant.
They're waiting for that angel, the man, the preacher he sends,
that jawbone he sends. And that's the only thing they're
interested in. Not what he says, but the person. to hear a particular
person speak. All those people sitting around
that, that couldn't be it. Every one of those, that great
multitude, this ain't some, this is a picture of every continent
we have. All of mankind, that great multitude
was sitting there waiting for something, waiting for an angel,
waiting for troubled waters, waiting for something to happen.
And the Almighty God walked right through them. That angel, the
one he served, the living water, the one could have healed every
one of them in a word, walked right through them and they didn't
pay him no mind. I want to see that. I want to
hear that servant speak. I want to watch these waters
shake around. It's like an earthquake, just in one place. That's something
to see. I want to see somebody else get healed. He said, you will not come to
me that you may have life. They didn't. He told the truth,
didn't He? They didn't come to Him. Great multitude. Thousands. A whole mess of people there.
It's a big city. The Servant of God came in a particular season
to preach Christ to those who were dead. But in the instant,
in that instant of the first one that came to Him, got in
the water and was healed, and in this instant of this impotent
man, and in the instant of every believer that He saves, Christ
asks a very unusual question in the heart of a person. You've
got to face something. There's going to be an answer
to it too. He says here in John 5, verse 5, And a certain man
was there which had an infirmity thirty and eight years. How many
people were there? Multitudes. But there was a certain
man. A certain man. Our Lord made a choice of this
man well before he showed up that day. He did not choose Christ. Christ chose him. He didn't come
to Christ. Couldn't come to Christ. Christ
came to him. And he saw this certain man and he knew him.
How old was this man? He was at least 38 years old.
I pondered on that a long time. Over half. Over half. However, if he lived to 100,
it's over half. Or no, it ain't over half. The common age of
the time. Over half his life. He was wounded,
he was impotent, he was crippled, and he was sitting under the
porch of religion. Sitting under the law. Majority of his life. That adds up to the whole of
him. But he was Christ's sheep. He was a very certain man. A
very particular man. His name was written in that
Lamb's Book of Life, and that is who Christ came for. He didn't
come for everybody at that pool. He could have healed everyone
of them. He came for one. One out of a great multitude.
Not the multitude. He didn't make an offer to everybody
there. He didn't do it by accident. He came on purpose for one man.
It says in verse 6, And when Jesus saw him lie, who saw who
first? When Jesus saw him. When he saw
him lie, and he knew that he had been now a long time in that
case. He knew his heart. He knew his
whole life. He knew everything about him. He saith unto him, Wilt
thou be made whole? Are you up for being made whole? Does that seem like a strange
question to you? That man could not move around
on his own. At some cost, at some time it
took, some pain, he had to give up. He had to get somebody to
take him to this pool, take him to Bethesda. If he didn't want
to be healed of his physical infirmities, he could have had
them take him anywhere else, couldn't he? Take me down to
the Bahamas. Take me someplace else. I'm going
to live out my days in joy the best I can. He had somebody at
some cost, at some price, take him to this place. And our Lord
does not use idle words when He asks questions. He didn't
ask this for information. He didn't need to be informed.
He knows all things. He said, Adam, where are you?
He knew where Adam was, didn't he? Cain, where's your brother?
He knows exactly where Abel was. Peter, do you love me? Lord,
you know all things. You know I love you. Spiritually, are you willing
to be made whole? That's what it's going to take. Are you willing to be made holy?
Is that really what you want? What holiness is that? What wholeness
is it? The righteousness that Christ
fulfilled up in verse 1. He didn't come to help you out.
He said, you want me to help you out getting a little bit
holier? You'll be made whole. That's the only thing that's
holy. Christ our Savior. Natural man has some serious
issues with that. You get them along by themselves in a closet
somewhere, in a room somewhere, and say absolutely everything
you eat is going to be stripped away and burnt and Christ is
going to be left in you. His righteousness, His holiness. When we get down to business,
when we get down to brass tacks, if God does not give the power
to believe Christ and trust Him for all things, we instinctively
cling to something of our wholeness. Well, I done something. I chose.
I was baptized. I let God. I kept the Sabbath.
I didn't eat this or that. I quit smoking. I quit drinking.
I learned. I figured this out on my own.
I read. The Lord had to come to me. He had
to save me. That's where He's going to bring
me. Here's the question. If God is going to have to do
everything that it takes to make you whole, including making you
His righteousness. For He hath made Him to be sin
for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made, made the righteousness
of God in Him. Are you willing to be made His
righteousness? Or are you wanting to still wait
underneath one of them five porches a little bit? Physically, in our walk in this
life, are you willing to be made whole? There, think about it. They sit in auto-question. Physically,
you're ready to be made whole. A whole man, this relates directly
to the spiritual. It goes hand in hand. And Lord,
be with Lord. Teach your people this. A whole
man does not keep laying here under the porches for the lame
and impotent order. If there was serious sick folk
down at the hospital and I was in good shape, would I go down
to the hospital? No, I'd stay away from that place. That's
where the sick folk are. A whole man doesn't stay where
the impotent and the sick are. When the Lord makes someone whole,
it involves some things. First off, you move out. You're
grown now. You're well. You don't stay in
a hospital. You go. You get out of all that
stuff you was in. You get out from underneath them
porches. You're freed from it. Go. You move out. Second, a well
man, a whole man, goes to work. They go to work. He said, you've
been lying here in this bed for 38 years. People's been feeding
you. They've been providing you. They've
washed you. They've clothed you. Now you're
whole. And you're going to leave, and you're going to take care
of somebody else. You're going to start providing instead of consuming.
That's what whole folks do. A well man is going to give up
all the pity. Oh, that's a tough one. That's
a tough one. Everyone's always so kind and
so gentle to a sick person, aren't they? Somebody parks my parking
spot, I'm going to get pretty mad about it. Well they got cancer,
they need to be closer. Oh, poor fella. All of a sudden
you get soft for them, don't you? Who's going to pick on a
sick man? Nobody. We'll pull your weight
for you. You don't have to carry as much.
You don't have to do as much. You're bad off. I'll take care
of you. I'll help you. So careful what words we say
around them. You all walk over them real gentle. Oh, don't say
nothing. That's a sick man. Old man can take it. Well people,
grown-ups, they get told the truth plainly and they have to
deal with it. They have to get work done. You're
right. Thank you for that. Let's get
to it. Let's get after it. That's what old people do. That's
what well people do. Paul told us there in 2 Thessalonians,
For even when we were with you, this we commanded you, that if
any would not work, neither should he eat. In our economy, it's been all
over the news, ain't nothing but jobs open all around this
county. They can't get nobody to go.
Quit feeding them. Bet they'll go to work then. A well man has to go to war. Here's the reality of it. You've
got to move out. You've got to start taking care
of other people and still letting other people take care of you.
You're going to have to get up all that pity, getting handled
with kid gloves and just coddled your whole life. Everybody looking
out and saying, well, don't say nothing wrong around them. You've
got to give that up. You've got to start taking it like a man. And you've
got to go to war. There's going to be a war coming.
Physically, that is a draft in our country. Wouldn't it, Tim?
If you wasn't whole, you couldn't go. You get them 4-F blues. You
can't go to war if you ain't whole. You want to be whole? You're going to go to war. Physically, we understand that,
don't we? You want to be whole? You have to go to war. You sure
you want to be. Spiritually, you didn't have
two natures before the Lord made you whole. That wasn't a war.
You may have had some what you thought was scrimmages or skirmishes
going on inside just because you weren't happy with the situation
or happy with your parents or siblings or family or children
or whatever. That ain't a war. In your own
heart and mind, There's going to be a two natures war with
one another. When you're made whole in your
family, there's going to be a war taking place. In your own home,
whenever you're made whole, now there's a war front at work. You're different than you were.
You moved out. Things have changed. You're about
to pick up your cross and follow Christ. Are you willing to be
made whole? There's going to be a price to
it. Standing right in our midst tonight is the one who can heal. The one who can save, who can
redeem, who can make us whole. And he comes with this same question.
Will you be made whole? Anyone will go to heaven. Anyone
will accept a pardon. Anyone will accept physical healing.
I don't want to hurt. If I had a bad pain, I want that
to stop. Anybody would accept that. But
will you be made holy? We be made a new creature. That
requires putting away of everything before and being used of the
Lord. Pastor told me that growing up.
He said, you better be careful asking the Lord to use you. He might
do it. I didn't know what he meant 25
years ago. I do now. Oh, but to be made whole. ready
to go to war, ready to serve others, ready to lay down your
life for Christ's sake. He's my first love. That's my
beloved. I love you, honey, but I'm sorry.
He's my first love. Lay down my life for his sake
and for his people, him dwelling in you. When Christ makes a man
whole, he goes to war, he works, he serves, and he doesn't continue
to lay over in the shade and be coddled and fed by everyone,
having pity on them, being babied in every area. No, it doesn't
happen. They are well and they get after
it and they serve the Lord. They follow Him. They walk. Sick
people get offended and they're just petted to death, aren't
they? Well people follow Christ. They serve Him. Will you be made
whole? That's a powerful question, isn't
it? That ain't some dime store of salvation. This ain't from
Walmart. There comes a call. There's an obedience of faith
in salvation. The Lord commands it in the heart
and He gives the power to obey Him. But there's an obedience
of faith. What's the answer to that question? You notice the
man really didn't answer him? He did, but he didn't outright say
yes, did he? Look here how he answers him,
verse 7. The impotent man answered him, Sir, I have no man when
the water is troubled to put me in the pool. If somebody wants
to help me, if I had not a substitute, but a helper, a copilot, a good
friend, good friend, I don't have nobody to put me in that
pool. But while I'm coming, what little bit I can wiggle to get
down there, somebody else jumps in before me. I'm completely
helpless and hopeless. Helpless and hopeless. Here's
the commandment in power. Verse 8, Jesus saith unto him,
Rise, take up thy bed, and walk. You know what rise means? Look
and live. Look to Christ. Look to the Redeemer.
Look at that raised serpent. Rise. Take up your bed. Get stepping. Do you think that
man said, well, let me stretch a little bit. It's been 38 years.
I got to stretch a little bit when I get up in the morning.
Didn't he? The Lord said, rise, take up your bed, and walk. That's
our response to Christ's ability. Man has a responsibility, but
he has to give the power to do it. Noah wasn't carried into
the ark, was he? The Lord said to Noah, come into
the ark. God didn't put the blood on the door there in Egypt. He
told Moses to tell the heads of those households, you go out
and put blood on the door. He made them do it. He uses men
to do it. We're commanded to rise, but
we're also given the power and the faith to do so. Not everybody,
not multitudes, one in a big old crowded pool. We're commanded
to take up our bed. There's no more rest in there.
Not in that place, not in false religion. You get your bed and
you get out. That don't need to be a stumbling stone for those
that's still there. Clean out, sell out everything
you've got and get out of there. And you don't need a resting
place. Well, I'll go back there every now and then. I'll sleep
there on Tuesdays. The Lord said, take your bed, take all your
resting under them five porches and walk. Christ is your rest now. You
don't need a bed. He's your rest. What's the response
to the commandment of God whenever He's given this in power and
gives the willingness in the heart? He said, you'll be willing
in a day of my power, didn't He? What's the response to that?
Look here in verse 9. Let me rub my legs a little bit.
Hold on. Let me wiggle my toes. Give me about three hours. I
need to stretch some. No, immediately. Straight away. Like that first one that got
in the pool. When the Lord spoke in power, immediately the man
was made whole and he took up his bed and he walked. That's
what happened. This is plain. God's people follow
Him and they serve Him. And you know where they serve
Him at? Where'd that man walk? Where did he go? Did he go down to
the bar? Oh, I'm going to go see if any of Rahab's relatives
are around here. That's what he's accused of,
isn't he? That's what everybody said. Look
at that heathen. Antinomian, running around this place. It's
a Sabbath day. What are you doing? You kidding me? Where did he
go? Where did he go? Look down at verse 14. Afterward,
Jesus findeth him in the temple. He went to the house of the Lord,
didn't he? God comes to His people. He's already made them righteous
before time was. He convinces them they're nothing
but sin. That's what they are. It's not a verb, it's a noun.
It's what they are. Inside every fiber of their being,
they're sin and Christ is all their righteousness. It ain't
their knowledge, their doctrine, nonsense. It's Christ. That's
what they need. He convinces them of it wholeheartedly
through the preaching of the gospel. Someone told Him, here's
the water, get in it. And Christ asked an unusual question
to those believers. Are you willing to be made whole?
You sure about this? Ain't gonna be what you think
it is. This ain't health and wealth
religion. You willing to be made whole? And the result of that
is the power of the commandment of Christ in the heart of His
people, making us obedient in faith. Now I understand Salvation
takes a while sometimes. We have been saved. We are being
saved and we shall be saved. We have repented. I'm repenting
today. I'll repent tomorrow. We had grace yesterday and mercy. We'll have mercy today. Tomorrow
we'll have mercy. We grow in grace. I understand that. But
immediately, he took up his bed and he walked. He didn't hem
all around. That thief on the cross didn't
have time to hem all around, did he? He couldn't even move
his arms. He took up his bed and walked.
In his heart he did. Rise. This could be the last
day this fountain may be done with. Rise. Take up your bed. You have a new rest now. And
walk. Serve your Lord. Amen.