Let's open our Bibles again to
John chapter 5, the title of the message is Sovereign Grace
Meets Wilt Thou. Sovereign Grace Meets Wilt Thou.
Now, hyper-Calvinists, they preach sovereign grace to the exclusion
of man's responsibility. They say it doesn't matter what
you do. God's elect are going to be saved whether you believe
them or not. Armenians, they preach man's responsibility at
the exclusion of God's sovereignty. Doesn't matter whether God chose
you or not, it all depended upon you, whether you will accept
Him or not. And both of those extremes are
wrong. But there is a point where sovereign grace meets will thou. Sovereign grace meets will you. And if you're willing to be made
whole. If you're willing to be made
saved, made righteous, you know this. It's because of God's sovereign
grace. And Lord willing, that's what
we'll see this morning. We'll see this point where sovereign
grace meets willpower. Now, verse 1, John chapter 5.
After this, there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went out
to Jerusalem. Now, we're not sure which feast
this is, and it really doesn't matter. There were several feasts
given in the Old Testament law. at special times to worship God. But as John so frequently points
out to us, this wasn't a feast to worship God anymore. It was
a feast of the Jews. It was a feast filled with the
Jews' false religion and their self-righteousness. But our Lord
went to the feast anyway. Can you imagine how miserable
He must have been at this feast of the Jews? You know, I won't
go to a house of false worship just because it makes me miserable.
Think how grievous this was to the Holy Son of God. Well, then
why did he go? Why did he subject himself to
this? Because he must keep the law in every detail. It was required
in the law for the Jews to attend the feast. So our Lord went to
the feast in obedience to the law. And we should be thankful,
because his people, his obedience is our obedience. I'm thankful
he went to this feast, even though I know it was a grievous doing.
In verse 2, John says, Now there was at Jerusalem, by the sheep
market, or by the sheep gate, a pool, which is called in the
Hebrew tongue, Bethsaida, having five porches. Now this sheep
gate is the gate that they brought all the sheep through, all the
sheep that they would offer as sacrifices in the temple. And
this gate is so important, the Sheep Gate, the sacrifice is
so important. When Nehemiah rebuilt the walls
of Jerusalem, remember Israel was in captivity, the walls of
Jerusalem were destroyed. Nehemiah got permission to go
back and rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. Well, the first gate
Nehemiah rebuilt when he was rebuilding those walls was the
Sheep Gate because it's so important, vitally important. that we have
the gate that the sacrificial sheep come through. And right
beside that gate was a pool called Bethsaida. And that word means
pool of mercy. The pool of mercy must be right
by the sheep gate. Because mercy from God can only
come through Christ, the Lamb of God, who would take away the
sin of the world. And around that pool were five
porches. Now, I've told you before, I'm not big on numerology and
scripture, but I do know this. The number five is the number
of grace in scripture. So in this one area, we have
this picture here. This is the place where the sacrificial
lambs enter the city around the pool of mercy and their grace. And what that scene is teaching
us is this. There is such a place, such a
person, such a thing. as a pool of healing, and it
comes from God's mercy and grace through the sacrifice of our
Lord Jesus Christ. But this picture is ruined, marred
by man's religion, marring this pool of grace, this pool of healing.
And that's my first point. Man is fallen in Adam and desperately
needs a Savior. Look at verse 3. In these five
fortunes lay a great multitude of impotent folk, the 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 the troubling of the water,
stepped in, was made whole of whatsoever disease that he had."
There's a lot of debate about the troubling of this water.
really was healed when they got into the troubled water, and
I don't know. It sounds like it really happened,
so we'll leave it there. John describes it as it really
happened, so we'll leave it there. But whether or not people were
healed of their physical diseases is not the issue. The issue is,
what's the Holy Spirit teaching us about salvation right here,
through sovereign grace in our Lord Jesus Christ? Christ is
the fountain. open for sin and for uncleanness.
Sinners are healed of all of our sin when we are washed in
the blood and the water that flowed from his wounded side."
Now, this multitude that is lying on these five porches is a picture
of Adam's fallen race. John describes them with four
words. The first one is impotent. That word means powerless. And
that is us. In Adam, we are impotent. We are powerless. Because in
Adam, we died. Now, a dead person is powerless.
They have no power. They can't do anything because
they're powerless. And when Adam fell, you and I
became incapable of producing spiritual life. Now, when God
grants it, we can produce a little bit of physical life. We cannot
produce spiritual life because we're impotent, we're dead. And
all of us are born that way, dead. So none of us have the
ability to please God. We don't have that ability. We
can't make ourselves holy. We don't have the ability to
make ourselves righteous. A lot of people think some sinful
act caused the illness of this impotent man here in the text.
If you look in verse 14, I'll show you where they kind of deduce
this from. Afterward, Jesus findeth him
in the temple and saith unto him, Behold, thou art made whole.
Sin no more. lest a worse thing come upon
me." And some of the writers take that to mean that some sinful
act in his past caused this illness. Could be, I don't know. But I
do know this. Some sinful act in the past caused
you and me to become impotent, caused us to become dead and
powerless. When Adam sinned, the effect
of his sin killed you and me. Killed him, too. Made us dead
before God. And if an impotent person is
going to be saved, isn't it obvious God must save them? Look over
at Romans chapter 5. If a powerless person is going
to be saved, God must save them. Romans 5 verse 8. I'm sorry, where is it? I've
lost it. For when we were yet without strength, when we were
impotent, without any ability, in due time, according to the
appointed time, Christ died for the ungodly. When did Christ
die for the ungodly? When we were powerless, impotent. Second, John uses the word blind
to describe the sick in those porches. Again, that's you and
me. We're born spiritually blind.
We can't see God. We can't see spiritual truth.
We can't see our sin. We can't see even our need of
God. I think it would be miserable
to be blind. It would be miserable not to
be able to see the smile on your loved one's faces. That'd be
so sad. It'd be miserable not to see
the beauty in God's creation. When I was a boy, I thought my
parents were nuts saying, look at those clouds. Aren't those
beautiful? I bet half the time me and Jan take a walk and say,
look at those clouds, aren't they beautiful? But that'd be a shame
if you're blind and couldn't see that, wouldn't it? You miss
a lot of things if you're blind. A blind sinner will miss Christ
every time. We'll grope around in the dark
forever, but we'll miss Him every time. We're blind, we can't see
Him. If a blind man is going to be saved, Isn't it obvious? God's got to give him sight,
save him. That's just obvious. Third, John uses the word halt.
That word means lame, deprived of a foot, and maimed. False
prophets, it's obvious they're blind. They can't see. They can't
see you're missing a foot and you're lame. They can't see about
themselves either. Because they tell men, get up.
and come to Christ, you take the first step and he'll meet
you the rest of the way. You come to Christ and meet him
halfway. Brother, we can't meet God halfway. We can't take the
first step to Christ because we're halt. We're missing the
foot. We're lame. We cannot walk. We don't have the ability. If
a halt man is going to be saved, Christ must come where that halt
man is and do all the saving. Isn't that obvious? Then fourth,
John uses the word withered. And that word means dried up
and wasted away. And that's us spiritually. In
us, there's no water of life. We're just dried up and wasted
away. All we are is a dry, dead corpse. That's what we are. And if a
dry, dead corpse is going to live, if those dry bones are
going to live, God must give life and cause that dead corpse
to live. He must give life to the dead. That's just obvious. And this
multitude of sick people is lying around and all they're doing
is waiting. Waiting for the water to be troubled. They're waiting to try to jump
up and be the first one to get in the water when it's troubled
so they can be healed. And I bet the fellow, whenever
it happens, He was the first one in, and he was healed. I
bet when he went and gave his testimony, he bragged about how
he was the first one in the water. I hear this after sports games
all the time. They interview somebody out in
the field, and they say, well, we won because we wanted it worse
than the other fella. Well, I'm not so sure about that. I don't
think they wanted to lose. And this guy gets healed. He
says, well, I was healed because I wanted it worse than the other
fella, so I got in first. That brings me to my second point.
Man cannot be saved by his obedience to the law. Now, there is a fountain
open for sin and for uncleanness, but you cannot enter into it
on your own. You can't enter into it by your
own works or your own ability. Look at verse 5 here in our text.
And a certain man was there which had an infirmity thirty and eight
years. And when Jesus saw him lie, he was just laying there
on a mat. He couldn't get up. And he knew
that he had been in a long time in that case. He saith unto him,
Wilt thou be made whole? And the impotent man answered
him, Sir, I have no man, I have no friend, when the water is
troubled to put me into the pool. But while I am coming, another
steppeth down before me. Now just like last week, we saw
this certain. There is a certain man. that
the Lord came to say, oh, what a blessing. Sovereign grace
is always for certain sinners in a certain place on a certain
day. Salvation is certain. It's for
certain sinners. Salvation by sovereign grace
cannot come by obedience to the law. It must be by grace. This man had been sick for 38
years. Now, to you children, that sounds
like a long time, 38 years. I'll tell you what this is. It's
not just accidental, this man had this disease for 38 years.
This is a picture of what law does to men. It kills us. I'd make good on that. After
Israel went to Mount Sinai and they received the law, You know
how many years it was before they entered the promised land? 38 years. That's no accident. This is a picture of what law
does to men. It was 38 years after they received
the law before Joshua, Jesus, brought them into the promised
land. Now, this man was laying by this pool. He knew the pool
could heal him if he could get into the water when it was troubled,
if he could be the first one in. But he couldn't do it. This man knew something about
misery. And he knew he was unable to
do anything about it. But now, that's you and me. We're
unable to please God. We're unable to keep the law.
But now, inability does not remove responsibility from you. This
pulls a picture of the law. Now, you can be justified. By
the law, if you keep all of it, you don't slip up once, you could
be justified by the law. Just like you'd be healed if
you were the first one into this pool when the water was troubled.
But here's our problem. We're unable to keep the law.
We cannot keep God's law because we have Adam's nature, his sin
nature. It's all we can do is sin. We're
not capable of keeping the law. You know, this pool could not
save the most sick because the most sick couldn't get there
first. They were unable. We're unable to be saved by our
obedience to the law, but that inability doesn't remove the
responsibility to keep the law. Even though we're unable, God
still requires perfection to his law. Let me give you an example. Suppose one evening a man goes
out to a bar He drinks way too much alcohol. He can barely walk. He certainly has no ability to
control that vehicle. And he gets in his car anyway
and he drives it out and he runs it into my two daughters and
kills them. And he apologizes. He sobers up. He apologizes to
me and Janet. He says, I'm sorry. I didn't
have the ability to control that vehicle. I didn't have the ability
to steer it right. I didn't have the ability to
hit the brakes in time. And I killed your daughters.
Do I still hold him responsible? Do we say, well, he didn't mean
it. He wasn't able. Absolutely not. He's still held
responsible. Our inability to keep God's law
does not remove our responsibility to keep God's law. He requires
perfection. And I want you to see how the
law is. The law is stingy. It's impossible for us to keep
the law because the law is stingy. The law requires perfection.
You can't mess up once. This pool, you could be healed
by it if you got in the water when it was troubled. One at
a time. Just one. It's stingy. That's
a whole lot different than grace, isn't it? Oh, God's rich in mercy. He has abundance. of grace for
the guilty. I'm telling you this, I'll take
grace every time. I'd a whole lot rather be saved
by grace than by law, because grace is abundant for the guilty. That brings me to my third point.
Man can't be saved by our own will. We can't will it to happen. The Lord asked this impotent
man, will thou be made whole? That's a strange question, isn't
it? Does it sound like a strange question? It's not a strange
question, but at first glance it might sound like one. I just
imagine what went through this man's mind. If I could have made
myself whole and gotten into the water, I would have been
made whole a long time ago. But that's not what the Lord
asked, is it? He already knew that impotent
man could not be healed by his own will. He knew that impotent
man was not able. to get into that troubled water.
The Lord didn't ask, can you get into the water? The Lord
didn't ask, can you be made whole? The Lord asked him, wilt thou? Are you willing to be made whole? And that's what I asked you this
morning. Are you willing? Are you willing to be saved on
God's terms? Are you willing to be made saved? Are you willing to be made righteous? Are you willing to be saved without
any contribution from you whatsoever? Are you willing to have Christ
do all the saving so he gets all the glory in your salvation?
Are you willing to be a debtor to Christ? Are you willing to
be a debtor to his grace? I despise owing a debt. I hate it. I just cannot stand
that. Are you willing to be a debtor? Are you willing to admit you're
in God's hands to do with as He pleases? Your will has nothing
to do with it. You're in His hands to do with
as He pleases. And whatever He does is right. Are you willing to admit that?
Are you willing to be made whole? Are you willing to be made what
you're not? Look over 2 Corinthians chapter
5. This made has to do with creation. The word our Lord used means
created into existence. Here in 2 Corinthians 5, verse
21, we have the same word. Don Fortner says he wants to
have this verse in every message he ever preaches, so here we
go. For he, God the Father, hath made him, God the Son, to be
sin for us, to be sin for his elect, who knew no sin, that
we might be made the righteousness of God in him. Now, this verse,
I know you know it well. Look on the front of your bulletin.
You'll see it every week. It's the heart of the gospel.
Now, there are two words here that are translated made in our
language, but those two words are two very different words
in the Greek. This verse made, he hath made him to be sin for
us. That word made means caused to
be. Christ was caused to be sin. It wasn't like he was guilty.
It wasn't like he was sinned. He was caused to be sinned. That is an act only God can do. He was made to be sinned. Now,
the second word translated made is a very different word. It's
the same word our Lord used when he asked that impotent man, will
you be made whole? That word means generated. It means cause to come into being. Cause to come into existence.
It relates to being born again. A believer is generated righteous. A believer is born again righteous
in God. Righteous in Christ. If a man
is going to be made whole, it's not going to be by his will.
It's not going to be by his law keeping. It will be because God
made life. to be born in him. He's generated
righteous and generated whole. Now, salvation cannot be accomplished
by man's will. Salvation is the making of Christ. He makes his people whole. He makes them saved. He makes
them righteous. Now, are you willing to be saved
that way? Are you willing to be made saved? Well, if you're not willing,
I understand. That's my nature, too. It's the
nature I was born with. If you're not willing, I understand.
But now let me tell you, if you're not willing, your damnation is
just. Is it unjust for God not to give
you what you don't want? If you're not willing, it's your
own fault, not God's fault. It's your fault. Now, someone
will ask me, Frank, are you preaching man's free will? No, I am not. I hope you all heard that. No,
I am not. This doesn't have anything to
do with man's free will. Our Lord's not asking about this
man's free will, the will that he was born with. Man's will
is not free. It's changed to sin. I know you're
not able to believe. I know you cannot come to Christ,
but the Lord's not asking you, are you able? He says, are you
willing? And if you're willing, this is
what you know. I was made willing in the day of His power. I was
made willing because of His sovereign grace that He freely bestowed
upon me. So you see, this wasn't a strange
question at all, is it? Before the Lord moves in sovereign
grace, He always makes the object of grace see our total inability
and our complete, desperate need of Christ. Then he'll move in
grace. Now what's on display here is
God's sovereign grace. It's not man's will, it's God's
sovereign grace. And that's my fourth point. Salvation
is by God's sovereign grace. Salvation is the gift of God's
free grace. Our Lord walked through a multitude
of sick people. Bob, not one person asking for
mercy. Not one person begged him to
heal them. Not one person said, Lord, I
heard you save that nobleman, son. You didn't even have to
be there. But you're here with me. Would
you heal me? Not one person. So if there's
going to be any healing going on, it must be by sovereign grace. Is that obvious? I mean, that's
so obvious to me. This great multitude of needy,
wretched people laying there on those five porches. Can you
imagine that scene? I mean, these are real sick people. The moaning, the cries, the smell
of that place. All that multitude. Our Lord
saw one man. Not He saw everybody, because
He sees everything. But He saw one man in sovereign
grace. He saw Him. He knew Him. The
Son quickeneth whom He will. God will have mercy on whom He
will, and whom He will, He heartened." Now, salvation is by God's sovereign
grace. God's sovereign. And He saw in
His sovereignty one impotent man. God always goes to the sinner
first. Grace always comes to the sinner
first. I am found of them that sought
me not. God goes to the sinner first. Abraham wasn't looking for God.
He was merely going around his way until God said, Abraham,
get out of your father's house and go to a place I'll tell you.
Then he began to look for God. Saul of Tarsus. was not looking
for God. He was looking for people he
could throw in jail. Until God threw him off his high
horse and put him in the dust and blinded his eyes. Then Saul
of Tarsus began to look for God because God came to him first.
And right here is where sovereign grace meets willfowl. The Lord saw a certain man. He
saw him first. That man didn't see the Lord.
The Lord saw him. The Lord knew him. You'll see this in a second.
He didn't know the Lord. The Lord knew him. The Lord called
him. He didn't call to the Lord. The
Lord called him. And the Savior sovereignly came
to a helpless sinner and asked him, wilt thou be made whole? Now, this poor man, he does not
have the foggiest idea what the Lord just asked him. He tells
the Lord, well, I don't have a friend. help me get in the
pool. If I just had a friend, I could be made whole. Well,
he does need a friend, but not the kind of friend he's thinking
of. He needs the friend of sinners. Sinners who can't do anything
but offend, they don't have many friends. And you and I need a
friend. We need the same friend this
man needed. It's hard to find anyone who will be a true friend
to a sinner, to an impotent, halt, blind, withered person. It's easy to find a friend if
you're, you know, rich and influential. Boy, it's hard for a sinner to
find a friend. Thank God there is a true friend. There's one who's ticket closer
than a brother. And this man came face to face
with the friend of sinners. And look what the Lord said to
him, verse eight, Jesus saith unto him, rise. Take up thy bed
and walk." Now this is sovereign grace at work, saving a sinner.
The Lord didn't make this man healable. The Lord instantly
healed this man. Just like God doesn't make people
savable, He saves His people from their sins. Now this is
what we call irresistible grace. If that man wanted to resist
this command, he couldn't do it. He was made both willing
and able at the moment the Lord gave the command. This impotent
man was both willing and able to rise, take up his bed and
walk at the very moment God gave the command. It sounds like to
the natural man our Lord issued an impossible command. This man
had been trying and failing to rise and walk for 38 years. But with the command came power,
and with the command came sovereign grace. A sinner is both willing
and able to come to Christ and to believe Christ, to do the
impossible, when that sinner meets God's sovereign grace.
And even though spiritually speaking you're impotent, you don't have
the power to believe, you will believe at the very moment you
meet sovereign grace. Even though you're impotent and
you're halt and you cannot rise and come to Christ, you will
come at the moment you meet sovereign grace. Even though you're blind
and you can't see the way to come, You will come to the Savior
without running into any obstacle at the very moment you meet sovereign
grace. Even though you're dead, you
can't move, you can't hear, you can't breathe, you can't do nothing. You will arise and come to Jesus
at the very moment you meet sovereign grace. Salvation is by grace. You're willing and able the very
moment the Savior himself says rise. Take up your bed and walk. Now, it takes grace to believe
that faith is the gift of God, isn't that right? You're saved
by grace through faith and that in and of itself is the gift
of God. And, you know, even for the believer, it takes grace
to continue believing. Are you worried about anything
this week? Things come up in our life and we worry about them.
And we know I should not worry about this. I know. I know this. God's on the throne. Everything that's happening is
happening according to his divine decree. I got nothing to worry
about. But we worry because you just
can't help it. You know what will quiet those
worries? God's grace. Reading about it. hearing about
it, meditating upon His grace will quiet those worries every
time. And this is a blessed display
of God's sovereign grace. I just thrill reading it. Oh my goodness. It was the Sabbath
day. How awful to heal me merciful
on the Sabbath day. Look at verse 10. Or in verse
9, immediately the man was made whole. He took up his bed and
he walked. And the same day was the Sabbath. The Jews therefore
said unto him that was cured, It's the Sabbath day. It's not
lawful for thee to carry thy bed. My goodness. What are you doing? They said.
These Pharisees. That's how cold-hearted religion
is. Instead of being thankful and
amazed at God's sovereign grace, they were mad at this man for
carrying his bed on the Sabbath day. Now the Sabbath day was
given to Israel as a day of rest. Only man could take what God
gave them to be rest and turn it into a burden. They turned
rest into a burden. Only sinful man could take something
that's good for us and make it bad for us. Our Lord performed
many of His miracles on the Sabbath day to show He's the Lord of
the Sabbath. Christ is the believer's Sabbath. Christ is the believer's rest.
And in Christ, there's no law. except the royal law of grace."
That's it. Well, verse 11, he answered them,
he that made me whole, the same said unto me, take up thy bed
and walk. I don't know about you fellas, but I'm going to
do what the one who made me whole said. The law is that it made
me whole. I'm going to do what the one who made me whole said.
Well, verse 12, they asked him, what man is it that said unto
thee, take up thy bed and walk? And he that was healed, wist
not. He didn't know who it was. For Jesus had conveyed himself
away, a multitude being in that place. He had to admit, I don't
know. I don't know who healed me. That
just shows us how much ignorance is left in every believer. This
is sovereign grace. Our Lord healed one certain man
and vanished from that multitude because he's not going to heal
anyone else in that crowd. He healed whom he would. But
the impotent man who was healed, he never got the Lord's name.
Now, he will in a very short while, because every believer
knows the name of Christ. We know who it is that made us
whole. There's nothing more important for me and for you than knowing
the name of Christ. I want you, I desperately want
you to know the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. But if you look
over in Galatians chapter 4, I'll show you something more
important. What's more important is that Christ know my name.
If he knows my name, I'll know his name. Look at Galatians 4,
verse 7. Wherefore, thou art no more a
servant, but a son. And if a son, then an heir of
God through Christ. When ye knew not God, ye did
service unto them, which by nature are no gods. But now, after that
ye have known God, or rather, after that you are known of God,
I turn ye again to weak and beggarly elements. What is more important
is that you are known of God. And if God knows your name, you
will know his name every time. And that is what happened to
this man. Look back in our text, verse 14. Jesus findeth him in the temple,
and said unto him, Behold, thou art made whole, sin no more. Lest a worse thing come unto
thee." Now this man, he didn't know the name of Jesus. But boy,
he's thankful he's been healed. And he wanted to give thanks
and he wanted to worship God. He went to the temple. He ain't
able to go there in 38 years. He wanted to go worship. And
the Lord found him there in the temple. Imagine that. The Lord finding one of His children
in a place of worship. Do you want to be found of the
Lord? Do you? Would you like the Lord to find
you like He found this man? It would be a mighty good idea
to be in a place of worship. The Lord Himself said, where
two or three are gathered together in My name, they are Mine in
the midst of them. If you'd like to be found of
Him, if I was you, I'd be where He's worshiped. I'd be where
His Gospels are preached, because that's where He is. And he's
going to find his children there. And the Lord told him, behold,
you're made whole. You consider this healing. Do
you know Christ? I tell you, you consider your
salvation. You consider your healing. How
cheap was it? Oh, it's free. It's free to you,
wasn't it? It cost our Lord dearly, but
it's free to you. You consider How easy it was. How easy is salvation? Oh, it's
easy. I just received what God gave
me. Just received what He gave me by sovereign grace. It's easy.
How miraculous was it? You will never, ever, ever get
over God's sovereign grace. You'll never get over the fact
that God in His sovereign grace saved someone like you. Greg Anquist made this statement
yesterday. He said, I live in a town, what
did he say, 1.5 million people. There's a bunch of people. A
bunch. He said, and I see them go through my day. He said, they're
nice people. A lot of them. God's going to
send them to hell. Unless God does something for
them, God's going to send them to hell. And he said, I look
and I think, why did the Lord choose me? by this vast number. Never get over it. Ever. It's
miraculous. You consider that. You consider
how effective was it? Oh, it was effective. I was made
saved immediately. Immediately! I was made righteous. Immediately! I was made holy. None of this progressive sanctification
stuff I was immediately made holy. Nothing progressive about
it. It was immediate. You consider that. How effective
was it? Well, after you consider that,
don't go live like a child of wrath anymore. Don't live a life
of sin anymore. Live as an obedient child. Like
I told you Wednesday night, striving to be holy just for this reason,
because our Heavenly Father is holy. And He said, Be ye holy. Well, now I'm going to do what
he said. I'm going to at least try. I'm
going to give it my best. Earlier now, this man didn't
know who the Lord was. But the Lord found him. The Lord
revealed himself to this man. And the first thing he does is
he finds those fellows he'd been asking. Who was it that made
you whole? Who was it that said, take up your bed and walk? And
he didn't go tell them. Now this man, he's risking something
here. He's risking excommunication. He's risking never being able
to go back to that temple again. He's risking ridicule. He's risking
persecution. But he didn't care. He knew the
name of Christ and he wanted to be sure Christ got all the
glory. He didn't go tell who made him
whole. Well, look at verse 15. The man
departed and he told the Jews that it was Jesus which had made
him whole. Therefore, did the Jews persecute Jesus? and sought
to slay him because he had done these things on the Sabbath day.
He's been merciful on the Sabbath day. They wanted to kill him.
Now this man, he just went and testified what he knew. He knew
it was the Lord Jesus that made him whole. And the world, the
religious leaders hated him for it. You know why? They hate sovereign
grace. That the Lord save whom he will,
when he will, even if it violates their Sabbath day. And they sought
to persecute the Lord, because he is merciful on the Sabbath
day. That's what the law does. All the law can do is persecute
and kill. Grace makes whole and gives life. Now, on the authority of God's
Word, I'm commanding everyone here this morning, you take up
your bed and walk. But now, pray with your right
hand. I know you can't. I didn't ask you if you can.
I said take up your bed and walk. Believe on the name of the Lord
Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. Obey. God says believe,
just obey him and believe. All those sick folks were in
those fortresses. What were they doing? Waiting. Don't wait. You're not promised
tomorrow. You're not promised this afternoon.
Quit waiting. Believe on the name of the Lord
Jesus Christ. You'd be willing to be made whole. You'd be willing to be made the
righteousness of God in him. And God will save you. Because
if you're willing like that, to be made whole, you've met
sovereign grace. And God will save you. His grace
is not in vain. His grace saves. All right, let's bow in prayer. Our Heavenly Father, how we thank
Thee for Thy sovereign grace. Oh, we're so thankful. And we
can truly say, those who know Christ can truly say, I'd a whole
lot rather be saved by sovereign grace, by Your infinite loving
unsearchable sovereign grace than by anything we could do.
Father, we are dependent, completely and utterly dependent upon thy
sovereign grace. And we do beg that you would
be merciful, that you would be gracious to us here this morning,
that you would come in power, not that anyone would hear the
voice of a man, but you would come in power and speak to the
heart and make thy people willing. Art thou, wilt thou, are you
willing to be made whole? Oh, Father, we beg thy mercy
and thy grace and we do thank you for it. How we thank you
for your grace. Cause us, Father, to be like
this impotent man and go into the world telling who it was
that made us whole. giving him all the glory and
all the credit, for it all belongs to thee. It is in the precious
name of our Lord Jesus Christ we ask thy blessing on thy word. Amen.