For today's Divine Encounter,
we'll be going through, again, another Divine Encounter. I imagine
we'll be doing these for a little while. And then what I'd like
to do is go through the Divine Encounters, which are the miracles
of God. And then I'd like us to go through maybe the parables
also of the Lord Jesus Christ, so we can really focus on what
our Lord said and what he did. Today's Divine Encounter, We
will be in John, chapter 5. We'll be traveling in the scripture
to a pool in Jerusalem called Bethsaida, where we see our great Lord and
Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, minister to a paralytic man. Now first, I'd like us to turn
to Luke, chapter 15. And then keep your finger in
John 5, because we'll be going right back there. Now in the
text that we're going to look at, we'll see another, again,
divine encounter that our Lord Jesus Christ had with one of
his lost sheep. And again, this is a divine appointment
with God. What we will look at is all being
appointed and purposed by God in eternity. Now this man woke
up that day. He had no idea. He didn't have
a clue that he was going to have a divine appointment with God
in the flesh. He had no idea. No idea at all. No idea that he would be healed
that day. We don't know what time of day
he was healed, but he had no idea that that very day that
he would be healed. And I mean absolutely healed,
made whole. No physical therapy for six months, but an instant healing. Instant
healing, made whole, right away. Because could you imagine if
you had over 30 years where you never walked? So those muscles
are gone. I've told you about when I was
in a cast for six months and then they took the cast off.
and from here to my toes. And when they cut the casts off
me, I couldn't stand up. I had to go in a wheelchair.
I had to learn how to walk again on those bars. I had to learn
how to step up steps again, because the muscles in my legs were gone.
So it took a good two months before it, while I was in the
hospital, the children's hospital, it took a long time to go through
all that. and to get those muscles built
up again, because they hadn't been used. But this man, over
30 years, didn't use those muscles. My, oh, my. So there'd be no,
he wouldn't, if it wasn't a whole
healing, he wouldn't even be able to stand up. He wouldn't
even be able to get up. He wouldn't even be able to get
on his knees. and then stand up. But this man, we're going
to see, he picked his bed up and he walked away. Oh, the mighty
power of God. Oh, the mighty power of God. It's absolutely amazing. So this
man, he didn't know he had an appointment with God. And as
we look at this narrative, this encounter, remember that we're
just like this man. We're lame from the fall. Right? I don't know what made him a
paralytic. I don't know. But we're lame
from a fall, though. We're lame from our birth. We're
born dead in trespasses and sin. So spiritually, we can't do anything. Can't save ourselves. So keep
that in mind as we look at this narrative. Now, and also what
we're going to see in John chapter 5 is a picture. The reason I
wanted us to go to Luke 15 is because there's a picture in
John 5 of what's brought forth in Luke chapter 15. This man who was a paralytic,
he had no idea that he was one of God's sheep from eternity.
He had no idea at all. Just as before the Lord saves
us, we have no idea that we're one of the Lord's sheep. But he was soon going to meet
his master. He was going to soon meet the great shepherd. He was
soon going to meet the one who loves his soul so much that he
went to Calvary and bled and died for him, to purchase his
soul, to purchase his soul. He was one of the lost sheep,
and the Lord left the 99 and went to him. Look at this in
Luke chapter 15, verses 1 to 5. Then drew near unto him all the
publicans and sinners for to hear him." Isn't that wonderful? Our Lord is in the midst of publicans
and sinners. Hallelujah. He's the sinless
one, and yet he welcomes publicans and sinners. Publicans were hated
by the Jews. They were the ones who collected
taxes for the Romans. They had an allegiance to the
Roman government. So they were hated by the Jews.
They were fellow Jews, but they were hated by the Jews. And then
sinners. Aren't you glad that he met with
sinners? I'm a sinner. I'm sure glad he met with sinners. And look at the religious folks.
Look at this. Look at the religious folks in verse 2. And you can
just hear them dripping with hatred. And the Pharisees and
scribes murmured, saying, this man receiveth sinners, and eateth
with them. He even eats with them. Little
do they know they're so full of self-righteousness. They're
sinners themselves to the core. They're no better. They're no
better than those publicans and sinners. They think that they're
on a higher plane in God's eyes. And yet they're absolutely no
better than those publicans and sinners. Matter of fact, some
of the Lord's sheep are in those publicans and sinners. My, oh,
my. And he spake a parable unto them,
saying, what man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he lose one
of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and
go after that which is lost, until he finds it? So he's saying,
if you had a hundred sheep, to these folks, if you had a hundred
sheep, and one of them got lost, you'd go look for him. You'd
go look for him, and you'd find him. My, oh, my. Now, in religion,
this story goes, I remember in religion hearing this. This was
awful. I heard that in religion, the Lord goes, finds the lost
sheep, and then breaks his legs and puts them on his shoulders.
Breaks his legs so he's lame, so he can't... That would make
a lame sheep, wouldn't it? God wouldn't do that. The Lord
wouldn't do that to one of his sheep. No, you know why he puts
them around his neck? You know why the Lord puts that
little lost sheep around his neck? So that little sheep can
look right at his face. So that little sheep can just
look right at him. Oh my! That's what he did with
us, beloved. He just took us, he didn't break
our legs, he tenderly lifted us up. Took us into his bosom. Now we get to look at him, don't
we? Now by faith we look at our King. Look what it says in verse
5. And when he hath found it, he
layeth it on his sheep, rejoicing." Our Lord rejoices when he finds
one of his lost sheep. Ever hear that saying? People
say, I found Jesus! And I like one preacher, I think
it was Henry, said, I didn't know he was lost! No, he wasn't, was he? We were
lost, and he found us. He found us, beloved. We were
the lost ones. We were the one lost sheep that
had left the flock and is wandering around in the wilderness. We're
the ones that he tenderly picks up when he finds us. He finds us, and he puts us on
his shoulder, and he rejoices. Let that sink in for us as believers.
When he finds us, he rejoices. They say there's joy in heaven
amongst the angels when one's saved, when a God's lost sheep
is born again. Well, it makes sense that the
Master's rejoicing. He found one of his lost sheep.
He's rejoicing. My, oh, my. See, we're the lost ones, beloved.
We're the lost ones. I read a thing this week, and
it reminded me of how You've heard me say, we'll never know
this side of heaven, the damage that Arminianism has done. And
I got that quote from Henry. He said that back in the 80s.
People bowing their head and repeating a prayer and all this.
I read an article this week. 70% of professing born-again
believers believe that Christ is not the only way to heaven.
My gosh. And this was on a huge Christian
website that they do. 70% of those who they interviewed
believe that Christ is not the only way to heaven. I'm here
to tell you, there's only one way to heaven. There's only one
way. And his name is the Lord Jesus
Christ. He's the great shepherd. There's no other way to heaven
except in Christ and him alone. And we see that so clearly. We've
seen that in these divine encounters, haven't we? Man's totally helpless!
Hopeless! And think of this, too. The Lord's
fetching these saints out of false religions. He writes to
the Thessalonians, or Paul writes to the Thessalonians, thanking
God that he delivered them from idols. and turn them to the true
and living God. There's only one true living
God. And that's the Lord Jesus Christ.
He's the only one. Muhammad can't save you. Buddha
can't save you. Catholic Church can't save you.
Mary can't save you. And the list just goes on and
on and on and on. A rock can't save you. A piece
of wood can't save you, no matter what it's carved into. Can't
save no one. There's only one who can save,
and his name is the Lord Jesus Christ. He's God in the flesh. Neither is there salvation in
any other. No other but Christ. No other
but Christ. And we as God's people say, hallelujah.
He's the one who saved me. I was that lost sheep, and he
sought me out. he saw me I was wandering around
in this world and wickedness and in sin and he saw me and
he saved me by his grace and now I'm still a sinner going
through this world I seek a better country now I'm looking to glory
I'm looking to my king and I can't wait to see him can you we're
homesick for heaven aren't we beloved He puts this lost sheep on his
neck So it can just gaze into his face And then look what it
says here in verses 6 and 7 of Luke chapter 5 and when he come
at home He calls together his friends He calls to get his friends
neighbors saying rejoice with me for I found my sheep which
was lost and Now the sheep was lost, right? Sheep couldn't unloose itself. It was lost in the wilderness.
I don't know much about sheep, but I know that if they get lost,
they can't find their way back. You ever get lost somewhere?
You ever get lost in the woods as a kid or something? You're
out playing around in a gully or something, and you can't find
your way out? You get a little scared, don't
you? I remember being in gullies back home in Canada, playing
in the gullies. We had this huge gully, and we used to go in there
and play. Boy, you get deep in that gully, you can't find your
way out. It's a good thing you had friends with you. My, oh, my. But then, when you're
with a group of friends, you all get into a frenzy, and you're
running around trying to get out of there. It just goes to show you that
we can't find our way to God. We can't find our way. And he
says, then he rejoices. He calls his neighbors. Rejoice
with me, for I have found my lost sheep. I say unto you that
likewise, look at this, joy shall be in heaven over one sinner
that repenteth more than over ninety and nine just persons
which need no repentance. There's joy in heaven when the
Lord saves one of his sheep. My, oh, my. And notice, the sheep
never sought the shepherd in that narrative. The sheep never said, oh, I'm
going to go find the shepherd now. Oh, he's just wandering
around lost. That was us in our natural state,
beloved. Wandering around lost. He's a hopeless, helpless little
sheep of God. Bye, that's what we were. Now
we're seeing our text in John chapter 5, one of God's sheep.
who was not seeking the shepherd. Turn, if you would, to John chapter
5. Now this man was not seeking the shepherd. He was seeking
to get into the pool to get healed. That's what he was seeking. But
our Lord Jesus Christ, He always seeks out His sheep. And I also
want us to think about, as we look at this narrative here,
God's distinguishing grace. Because there's a great multitude
of people there, and the Lord goes right to that man. and He heals them, leaves everybody
else where they're at. Oh my beloved, the Lord came
to us, didn't He? Chords of mercy and love He drew
us. By the power and wooing of the
Holy Spirit, which we could not resist. We were born again by
the Holy Spirit of God, given faith to believe, and oh, we
just looked to Him and run to Him. Oh, it's wonderful, isn't it?
But God saw us out, didn't he? So this man, all he wanted to
do was be healed. He wasn't looking for Christ.
He just wanted to get in that pool before everybody else, but
we're going to find out that he couldn't. Because the other
folks had people helping him get in the pool. And this poor
man had no one to help him. But who's coming to heal him?
The only hope for sinners. The only hope for the helpless.
God in the flesh, and his name is the Lord Jesus Christ. He's coming. He's coming. He's
got a divine appointment with this man in John chapter 5. Look
at this. And 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 Hebrew tongue, besedia,
having five porches. And we see here that the Basadia
pool had five porches, or five entrances. That's what that is,
five entrances. Now this is a puzzling feature
I was reading about, the suggestion of an unusual five-sided pool.
Now most scholars, most, most scholars, dismiss this. They dismissed it as an unhistorical
literary creation. They thought somebody just created
the fact that there was five porches. these so-called scholars. Now
we as God's people, we read the scriptures and we believe it,
right? We believe what it says. Well, lo and behold, the site
was excavated and it revealed a rectangular pool with two separate
basins separated by a wall, thus a five-sided pool, and each side
had a porch. My oh my, scholars are wrong
again. Scholars always believe God's
word, even in the little facts like that. Even in the little
facts like that. Once again, the Bible is true.
This book is true. And the scholars are wrong. My, oh, my. This book is our
final authority, beloved. It says in John 5, 3. And there
lay a great multitude of impotent folk, of blind, halt, withered,
waiting for the moving of the water. 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. So look at this. We see
a great multitude of people, impotent folk. So they can't
walk. Blind. They can't see. halt and withered, I mean the
man with the withered hand or he couldn't use that hand, waiting
for the moving of the water. So our Lord Jesus, do you know
why he went down to Jerusalem? When there was a feast, he's
going down there to fulfill the law's demands for us. He's going down there to to go
to the feast to fulfill God's, what the law demands, going up
to keep the feast for the Jews in Jerusalem. And Basidia in
the Greek is house of mercy. House of mercy. Oh, what mercy
we're going to see on display. Oh, my. Today we will see our
Lord Jesus Christ. having mercy on one of his lost
sheep, an undeserving sinner, just like you and I. And again,
the shepherd is seeking out his sheep. The sheep's just looking
at the water, thinking, oh, I wish I could get in there first. But he can't. This man had a divine appointment.
with God and God in the flesh had a divine appointment with
this man. Think of that in light of our
salvation. The Holy Spirit came into us at the exact time that
God had appointed and drew us to Christ by the preaching of
his gospel and gave us life all by the divine appointment of
God. So this man has an appointment
with God. And our Lord approaches this
lost sheep. And as he approaches this lost
sheep, he's not recognized. No one recognizes him. Is that not true of us in our
natural state? We don't see Christ in our natural
state, do we? We're blind and halt. Just like
these people, can't save ourselves. In our natural state, we don't
even see them. We don't even see them. Here was the light of the world
walking among them. The light of the world walking
among them. And they have no clue who he is. They don't have
any idea who he is. There's a whole great multitude
of people, and imagine he had to walk through people to get
to this end. And he's just passing all those
people by, and they do not know even who he is. Here's the master
of all. Here's the king of kings and
the lord of lords in the flesh, walking amongst these people,
and they don't even know him. We'd have been in the same boat.
If we were one of the folks there, we'd be in the same boat in our
natural state. We wouldn't have known them.
Did you know them in your natural state before the Lord saved you?
I didn't know them. I had a God cooked up in my imagination,
but it wasn't the God of the Bible. Not at all. And there was a great multitude
of people. They were not only sick, but they were helpless. Now they hoped that they could
get in that water before another person. But my oh my, they were all equally
needy, weren't they? They were all equally hopeless.
All of them. They were all equally helpless.
They couldn't help themselves, and no one could help them. So again, what a picture of us
in our natural state. We're impotent, which sums up
that we lack the ability to come to God. We're blind. Our understanding is darkened
to the things of God. We don't have any spiritual understanding
in our natural state. We're blind to the things of
God. Halt, which means cripple. We
can't come to Christ on our own. We have no ability to do that.
We don't even have the power to do that. Withered, well, we're unable
to work our way to God. We can't get to them. So this
pictures our natural state, isn't it? All these people picture
our natural state and actually picture us in general in the
world. But the Lord knows His sheep,
don't He? You see? See what we're seeing here? The
Lord knows His sheep amongst all those people who are lost.
There's a sheep over there. There's a sheep over there. And not one person in the above
states that we looked at there, not one of those people could
come to God on their own. God must come to them. He must
save them out of that condition. He must heal them out of that
condition. Whatever condition they're in, whether they're in
boat, whether they're blind, whether they're withered, whether
they're old, He has to come and He's got to heal them. He's got
to help them. Scripture says this, no man can
come to me except the Father which has sent me draw him, and
I will raise him up at the last day. So we see a picture of that
with this whole multitude of people, including the lost sheep
of God. He can't help himself. He can't
come to God on his own. He's just as hopeless and helpless
as everyone else. As a matter of fact, now think of this. The natural eye can't even tell
the difference. between God's sheep and all those other people. I keep saying, we don't know
who God's sheep are, do we? But he knows, he's beelining
it right to that sheep. That sheep has an appointment
with him. So, think of this, as the messages
go out in the world, we don't know what the Lord's doing with
them, we just rejoice that the Lord's using the message. and
his brother Neil prayed for. We pray that the Lord will just
use it to convict sinners, turn them to Christ. That's our hope.
That's our hope, beloved. Is that God would save sinners
with the preaching of his word. We get edified here as we're
sitting here, and we rejoice in Christ, but also our hope
is that as the message goes forth, it leaves them for your glory,
Lord. That you might be praised. that others might come to know
you. Think of the mercy manifested
already in this picture here. A whole group of halt, lame people
who can't do anything to help themselves, nothing, blind. He's
a paralytic. They can't do anything to help
themselves. They can't change the condition by anything they
do or anything anybody else does. Behold, I will send my messenger,
and he shall prepare the way before me. And the Lord, whom
ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger
of the covenant, whom ye delight in. Behold, he shall come, saith
the Lord of hosts. Malachi chapter 3, verse 1. So
here we see before us Jehovah Raphi. He's the Lord, our healer. That's
what that means in Hebrew. Here comes the Lord, our Healer.
Not only does He heal us from our dead, fallen state, but He
saves our souls. He makes us whole, doesn't He? Makes us whole. And what a condition
of darkness we're in. We don't know Him, just like
these people. We don't even know who, when He's walking in our
midst, we have no idea. My oh my. We can't cure ourselves
from sin. We're born dead in trespasses
and sins. Adam, our father, fell. And in
him we fell. And now we come into this world
born dead in trespasses and sins. And we produce children who are
dead in trespasses and sins. And they're going to produce
children who are dead in trespasses and sins. Were it not for sovereign mercy,
were it not for sovereign grace, all of humanity would perish
if God didn't have mercy upon us. Because we're all undeserving,
aren't we? We deserve the same punishment
as those who go into eternity lost. But God is showing us mercy. It's not anything in us. And
again, there's only one way to heaven, and that's Christ in
him alone. He's revealed himself to us. He sought us out. Look at this in John chapter
5. Look how again he identifies this man. We've been seeing this.
Certain village, certain leper. Look at this. John 5.5, and a
certain man was there. Doesn't give us his name because
that doesn't matter. He's one of the Lord's sheep. What matters
is what the Lord's going to do. That's how we should take our
place, right? I'm a certain preacher. We're certain saints, aren't
we, of God. We don't need the recognition.
We don't need that at all. We're here for the glory of God.
We're here to praise his name. We rejoice when he uses us. Certain
man was there, which had an infirmity 38 years. 38 years he was a paralytic. His muscles be gone. He wouldn't
even be able to lift himself. Well, he could probably lift
himself with his hands, but he had no strength in his legs.
We don't know if it was a full body that he was paralyzed, or
if it was just his legs. We don't know. And here, again, is something
for us to ponder. There was a great multitude of
people, and the Lord passed them all by, to come to this one certain To get to this certain man in
our text, and then our Lord comes face to face with him. Think of this. What made that
man to differ from all those other people? Was it anything
in him? Was it the fact that he was a
paralytic, and the others were blind, and halt, and withered,
and lame? No. No. Was there anything good in him?
Did the Lord look at him and say, oh, he's a good fellow?
No. Because we're all dead in trespasses
and sins. He made this man to differ from
that whole multitude. Let's just think about that this
week. Let's meditate upon that this
week. And just let's soak into our hearts and our minds. The
only one who made us to differ out of the whole multitude. We
were driving through Detroit last night and coming back from
seeing Joshua. And I said to Vicki, how many
people as we're driving by, how many of these folks even know
the Lord? We have no idea. And the Lord saved me. Think
of that when you're in an airport, and you see all these people
in an airport. Or if you're in a stadium or something. All these
people. And look at those people. When
you're in a mall, all those people walking around. Lord, how many
of these people are yours? And you saved me. How many of
these people are not, and you saved me? It'll humble you. It'll leave you in awe of the
distinguishing grace of God. And that's what's on display
here, is God's distinguishing grace is on display here. My, oh my. Only God made this
man to differ. Everybody else was in the same
hopeless, helpless state, but only God made this man to differ.
This is one of Christ's sheep. This is one who the Father gave
to Christ in eternity. Wonder of wonders, God incarnate
in the flesh is seeking out this sheep. You know, the Son of Man came
to save that which was lost. The Son of Man came to seek that
which was lost, to seek and to save that which was lost. And
the shepherd always seeks the sheep, always. Here's this wandering sheep,
and by God's amazing grace and God's divine mercy, this man
has an appointment with God in the flesh. Now, notice in John
5, verse 6, our Lord manifests His deity, His divinity. And he shows us his deity with
these words. When Jesus saw him lie and knew that he had been
now a long time in that case, he saith unto him, Wilt thou
be made whole? As far as we know, this is the
first time the Lord's seen this man in the flesh. Don't forget who this is. This
is God. He says he knows. He knows he's
been in that state a long time. Then he asked them, will thou
be made whole? Oh, my. This is one of the Lord's
sheep. This is one of the ones the Lord
said, I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known
of mine. And the Father knoweth me, even
so I the Father, and I lay down my life for the sheep. And other
sheep I have, which are not of this fold, them also I must bring.
They shall hear my voice, and there shall be one foal and one
shepherd." John chapter 10, verses 14 to 16. One commandator said,
God delights to help the helpless and have mercy on whom He have
mercy. And notice he singles this man out. It says, when Jesus
saw him, his eyes are fixed upon this man. His eyes are fixed
on one of his sheep, beloved. Fixed on his sheep. You know,
his eyes are fixed on every one of us who are his people, all
day, all the time, even while he governs the whole world. His
eyes are ever fixed upon you and I as his people. My, his eyes have been fixed
upon this man for eternity. You know, the Lord says, Behold,
I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands. Thy walls are continually
before me. That means that we're ever before
the Lord. Look what it says again in verse
5, When Jesus saw him lie and knew that he'd been now a long
time in that case, he saith unto him, Wilt thou be made whole? And notice it's our Lord here
who moves first, not the man. It's our Lord who moves first. We won't come to Christ unless
he draws us. This man was looking at the pool,
keeping his eye on that pool. And there before him is the great
physician, standing right in his midst. He's a lost sheep,
and he don't even know it. It does not say, when this man
saw Jesus, does it? It says, when Jesus saw him lie. God must come to us. This man's not seeking Christ,
but our Savior passed by all that multitude to come to this
man. And beloved, I'll tell you this,
he will not pass by his sheep. He will not. You're passed by others, but
he will not pass by his sheep. And we're living proof of that
as God's people. He won't pass us by. So this
question wasn't for information. The Lord knew who he was. The
Lord knew he desired to be healed. John Gill says that this question
was asked to raise hope in this man of a cure. Look what it says in verse 7.
The impotent man answered him, sir, I have no man when the water's
troubled to put me in the pool, but while I'm coming, another
step down before me. Now, with that answer, we see
this man didn't even have any idea who Christ was. I thought
he was just speaking to another man who's asking him a question. This man didn't know that Christ
could heal him just like that, just with a word. He had no idea. He had no idea who was standing
before him. Did we have any idea of who the
Lord was before he saved us, even before he drew us? Oh, my. What a wonderful picture
we see here. He was helpless, helpless in
himself to get into the pool. He was friendless. No one helped
him get in the pool. He was hopeless, as someone always
made it to the water before him. Look what Jesus says in verse
8. Jesus saying unto him, rise,
take up thy bed, and walk. Now take the wonder of these
words. This man had been a paralytic
for 38 years. He had no muscles in his legs,
nothing. We have to go through physical
therapy if we are in that state to be able to... Right? We do. But we see the mighty power of
God on display here. And think of this in light of
how he makes us whole. Even though we're still sinners
in this earth, we're forgiven of all our sins. Right? We're forgiven of all our sins.
And so this man here, he's in this paralytic state. And this
fellow comes up to him. He don't know who he is. He starts
to ask him a question. Well, do you want to be made
whole? Yeah, but I keep trying to get into that pool. See, he's
got his eyes in the pool, doesn't he? Oh, before the Lord saved us,
we had our eyes on ourselves, right? Trying to make ourselves
right before God. Trying to do something. Somebody
always told you, wait, you can do this, you can make yourself
more joyful. I could never make myself more
joyful. I became more miserable. Now I have the joy of the Holy
Spirit, and I think I'm the happiest man on earth in that sense, because
I have joy, unspeakable. My, oh my. I still go through
everything everyone else goes through, but I have a peace now
that passes understanding. Christ is the only unfailing
friend, beloved. He's the friend of the friendless. He's the hope of the hopeless.
He's the help of the helpless, the Lord Jesus Christ. And here
we see him coming before this man. He says to him, rise, take
up thy bed, and walk. You know what God commands? It
comes to pass. If God commands life for a sinner,
That sinner is born again. God commanded the light to shine
in the darkness in our lives, beloved. That's what the scripture
says. He commanded it, and it was so. We see a command
here by the Lord. And think of this. This is an
irresistible command. The guy couldn't say, well, no,
because all of a sudden he could get up. And what God commands immediately
comes to pass. Immediately comes to pass, beloved. You remember the leper that we
looked at? Lord, if thou wilt, thou can
make me clean. I will be thou clean. Boom. And immediately,
the leper, she departed from him. Oh, my beloved. Oh, look at the power of God
here on display. God incarnate in the flesh. The
same words that spoke, Lazarus, come forth! The same words have
just told this man to rise. The same Savior, the same one
with all powers, just said these words. And look at verse 9, and
immediately the man was made whole. Immediately, beloved.
Just like that. He's made whole. You know what? He wouldn't even probably remember
how to walk. Immediately he's made whole, and he grabs his
man and takes off! This shows that God's healing,
spiritually, is a complete healing. We're healed from all our sins,
beloved. We're cleansed from all our sins. We're forgiven
of all our sins. Past, present, and future. Hallelujah! What a Savior! In an instant, this man's made
whole. When God saves a sinner, he's instantly made a new creature
in Christ. When God regenerates a sinner,
instantly made a new creature in Christ. Being born again by
the Holy Spirit of God. And when Christ saves, he saves
his people. They're not lost ever again.
Never. When Christ saves us from our
sins, he saves us from all our sins. Every one of our sins was
laid upon Christ at Calvary's cross, and he bore them all.
Bore them all. And in his perfect righteousness
is imputed to us. I was thinking about that this
week. When he's living in the world, he's fulfilling all righteousness. He's doing that for me. He's
doing that for you. Think of that. Every jot until
the law was fulfilled by him, the sinless one. in our room
and place. Not only is He our substitute
in His death, but He's our substitute in His life. Living what we could never, satisfying
all of God's law in our place, beloved. All the demands of God's
law. It says, love the Lord thy God
with all your heart, mind, and soul. We can't, but Christ did
it for us. Right? We wish we could do that,
don't we? Every believer wishes we could
do that. But we can't, we're sinners. Christ did it for us,
beloved. He did it as our substitute.
Hallelujah. What a Savior is Jesus Christ,
our Lord. And we are forgiven all our sins
because of the perfect, complete, sin-atoning work by the Lord
Jesus Christ in Him alone. Neither is there salvation in
any other, no other, no one else, no other Savior than Jesus Christ.
None. And he sought us out. We were
that lost sheep. And he sought us out. Now look
at these religious hypocrites in verse 10. The Jews therefore
said unto him that was cured, it is the Sabbath day. It is
not lawful for thee to carry thy bed. This man has been healed
by the power of God, by the very one who is the Lord of the Sabbath.
Think of that. The very one who is the Lord
of the Sabbath told this man, take your bed up and walk. See,
but the Jews didn't believe he was the Lord of the Sabbath.
They didn't believe he was the Messiah. They despised him. But the very
one who's the Lord of the Sabbath says, pick up your bed and walk.
What did the guy do? He picked up his bed and he walked,
didn't he? And here's these Jews, they're so mad, oh, you're doing
this on the Sabbath. But remember in Luke 15, which
one of you, if one of your sheep is lost, even on the Sabbath,
you go get it. You go get it. Oh, he's just
seeking one of his sheep on the Sabbath. Oh, my. See how God turned these guys
into pretzels? It's just incredible. With his words, he could just,
they'd try to trap him, and he'd just spin it right around on
them. Incredible. This man being healed. This is
a miracle. 38 years this man's been in this
state. This man's now healed. Oh, he's
cured. It's a miracle. And these religious
folks, they get angry. They get angry. The Lord of the
Sabbath just healed him. The Lord just performed a miracle.
This man was laying for 38 years. He was in a paralytic state.
Now he's made whole. He doesn't have to go through
any physical therapy. He doesn't have to go through anything at
all. He's absolutely healed. His muscles are strengthened.
He's able to walk. Remember that man at the gate
called Beautiful? When Peter and James were there
and he was healed, that man started leaping and praising God. Well, I could see that. I could see why. Oh, hallelujah. This is a miracle
of God's grace. And look at John 5, 11 to 15. He answered them, he that made
me whole, the same said unto me, take up thy bed and walk.
He doesn't even know his name. He says, this man told me, take
up my bed and walk, and he made me whole. He can't even tell
him who it was. And he that was healed was not
who it was. For Jesus had conveyed himself
away, a multitude being in that place. So he just merged into
the multitude. He healed this man, and it just
disappeared. Oh, but you know what? The Lord's
going to reveal who he is to this man, though, because this
is one of his sheep. Look at this. Afterward, Jesus findeth
him again, the Lord seeking him. Right? The Lord seeks him where?
In the temple. Now he's worshipped. And said
unto him, Behold, thou art made whole. Sin no more, lest the
worst thing come unto thee. The man departed and told the
Jew to meet him whole. They'd be mattered in the white hornet.
I'll tell you what. He knows who healed them all.
And he's going to tell everybody now. Jesus healed me. I couldn't
walk for 38 years. He told me to pick up my bed,
and I picked my bed up and walked. My, oh, my. Is it not the same
for us, beloved? Do we not tell who healed us?
Do we not tell who cleansed us from all our sins? Oh, my. Jesus did it. Jesus and Jesus
alone, he made us whole. He saved us from our sins. Therefore,
as God's preachers, we must preach Christ and him crucified. We
must. We must. He's the only Savior. He accomplished
a perfect salvation. It's perfect. There's nothing
to be added to it. And he did it all by himself. And only he
can save sinners. He's the only one. He's the only
one. And salvation is not based upon
what we do, but it's based upon what he did. what Christ did. He died on the cross for sinners.
His blood redeems us from our sins, and only He could satisfy
the law of God. Neither is there salvation in
any other, for there is none other name, none other name,
none other name, under heaven, given among men,
whereby we must be saved. Acts 4.12. No other, salvation
in no other but the Lord Jesus Christ. If you're trusting in
yourself, or trusting in your works, or trusting in Buddha,
or trusting in Mohammed, they're refuges of lies. Cast them aside. Trust Christ in him alone. May
God give you faith to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and
thou shalt be saved.