In John chapter 5, at the Pool
of Bethesda, the Lord Jesus Christ had healed a severely crippled
man. Scriptures tell us that for 38
years he had been impotent, helpless, powerless to walk. But not one
day longer. This man who is called in verse
5 of John chapter 5, a certain man. He was called a certain
man to distinguish him from all the other multitude of blind,
haught, and withered folks mentioned in verse 3. next to this pool
of Bethesda, in verse 3, and these lay a great multitude of
impotent folk. But our Lord passed over all
these other afflicted men and women to show mercy and to make
whole one certain man. We're told of no one else that
was healed that day among the multitudes around this pool of
Bethesda. And with one powerful command
in verse eight, our Lord said, you rise and take up your bed
and walk. And immediately the man was made
whole, took up his bed and walked. And on the same day was the Sabbath. God's grace, dear friends, is
always effectual. When God passes by certain men
and women and commands in His sovereign power, rise. They'll
rise. Immediately they'll rise. But
this made the religious Jews mad. They did not rejoice that
the man was made whole. They were beside themselves in
anger because our Lord had done this on the Sabbath day. And
still today, religious men and women deny God's saving grace
unless it's done the way they think it should be done according
to their denominational creeds and laws. So these angry religious
men begin to inquire as to how the healing of this man had come
about. And in verse 10 they said, it's
not lawful according to our religious beliefs for this to be done on
the Sabbath. Here's a man who had lay helpless
for 38 years and he's walking about and they're mad because
it was done on the Sabbath. But I love the answer that the
healed man gave in verse 11. He said, He that made me whole. The same said unto me, take up
thy bed and walk. And there sitting there was scowls
on their face, angry and mad, and said, it's not right to be
healed on the Sabbath. He goes, I don't know about all
that. But when He said walk, I walked. I walked. Oh, the irresistible
power of God. Who can resist His will? And with the command of God is
always given the power to accomplish it. And when our Lord Jesus had
rise, this man began to feel strength in his broken and lame
legs. Oh, a feeling that he hadn't
felt for 38 years. And I'll tell you this much,
his concern was not what day of the week it was. No sirree,
I can assure you that. But these religious haters begin
to inquire of this man as to who told him to rise up and walk. They didn't ask him because they
wanted to thank our Lord. They didn't ask him because they
wanted to worship and praise him. They weren't interested
in one who had such authority and power. No. They wanted to
know who He was so they could kill Him. And that's exactly
what they wanted. Look at verse 14. And afterward,
Jesus findeth him, that being the man that He had healed in
the temple. And He said unto him, Behold,
thou art made whole. The Lord always finds His people
when He makes them whole. And he said, Sin no more, lest
the worst thing come upon thee. And the man departed, and he
told the Jews that it was Jesus which had made him whole. He
confessed that Christ was his healer and his Savior. And therefore
did the Jews persecute Jesus, verse 16, and sought to slay
him. Why? Because he had done these
things on the Sabbath day. When they finally met up with
our Lord, He said in verse 17, He said, My Father worketh hitherto,
and I work. Now, in other words, what He
said was this, My Father, who is God, He's Lord of the Sabbath. He does as He pleases. He does
how He pleases, when He pleases, to whom He pleases, and so do
I." And that really made him mad. That made him even more
angry. Verse 18, "...therefore the Jews
sought the Moor to kill him, because he had not only broken
the Sabbath, but said also that God was his Father, making himself
equal with God." Now Christ did not make Himself equal with God,
dear friends. He's always been equal with God. Always been. He was with the
Father as God the Son in eternity past in the creation of all things. The Scriptures tell us for without
Him, there was not anything made that was made. Hold your place
here in John chapter 5 and look at chapter 1 with me. Chapter
1. It's a few pages back. John 1,
verse 1. In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was what? With God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning
with God, and all things were made by Him, and without Him
was not anything made that was made. And we're told later on
in this chapter that the Word became flesh and dwelt among
us. We know who that speaks of. That's
the Lord Jesus Christ. And friends, He is God. Co-equal with God because He
is God. God the Father, God the Son,
God the Holy Spirit. Now back in chapter 5, verse
19, Our Lord said unto them, Verily,
verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of himself, but
what he saith the Father do. For what things soever he doeth,
these also doeth the Son likewise. For the Father loveth the Son,
and showeth him all things that himself doeth. And he will show
him greater works than these, that ye may marvel." Friends,
only Christ can do the works of God. And I've already told
you why. He is God. He is God. The Father loves His Son. And
His work cannot be separated from anything that the Father
shows Him to do. And He adds these words, paraphrasing,
You haven't seen anything yet. You haven't seen anything. Now
look at verse 21. As the Father raiseth up the
dead and quickeneth them, even so the Son quickeneth whom He
will. Salvation is of the Lord, friends. God says whom He wills, how He
wills, when He wills. It's not dependent at all upon
man. And even so the Son quickeneth
whom He will. He's God. for the father judges
no man but has committed or has given and trusted all judgment
unto the son now let me tell you what a blessing that is he
who will one day judge our sin is the very one that paid the
debt of our sin yes he's committed all judgment unto the son verse
twenty three that all men should honor the son even as they honor
the father And he that honoureth not the Son honoureth not the
Father which hath sent him." Now again, I ask you, do you
understand what these verses mean? They mean that Jesus Christ
is God. You'd be amazed at how many people
don't see that. Christ as God quickens, makes
alive whom He will. All judgment is committed, given
unto Him. And if you don't bow to Christ,
and if you don't honor Him as God the Son, you can in no way,
shape or form, honor God the Father. You cannot believe and
bow to God without believing and bowing to Christ. He that
hath the Son hath life, and he that hath not the Son hath not
life. Okay, verse 24, Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that
heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting
life, and shall not come into condemnation, but is passed from
death unto life. Now, you notice the order of
things there? We're passed from death unto life. We're born dead.
We're born condemned. He that believes not is condemned
already. We are dead in sin and trespasses. So, I want to ask you just simply,
those of you here this morning, do you believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ? Do you believe that He's God?
He's wherever lasting life is found. And Christ's sinners have
passed from death unto life only in Him. in him. And this is a
witness of all the scriptures. Christ is the only one who can
save sinners. Now in the next few verses our
Lord exposes these religious people's unbelief and rebellion
and mainly their unwillingness to believe on and trust in Him.
In verse 31, paraphrasing, he said, if I were simply speaking
on my own account, it would be an empty, self-serving witness.
And then he tells them in verse 33, he said, John the Baptist
bore witness to me. He stood there and as Christ
came upon the scene, he said, behold, the Lamb of God that
taketh away the sin of the world. And he said, but you didn't believe
John. No, you didn't believe John.
In verse 36, our Lord tells him that there's yet a greater witness
than John. The works that he did. Just like
this healing of this crippled, impotent man that he had just
healed bore witness of who he was. Only God could do what this
man did. Only God. And in verse 37, he
tells them that the Father who sent him confirmed him. And he
said, and you missed it too. That day that Christ came out
of the water, we looked at this last Sunday, a voice from heaven
said, behold, my beloved son and whom I'm well pleased. You
never heard his voice. You never saw his glory, our
Lord said. And our Lord not only speaks
here concerning the writings of Moses and the prophecies of
the Old Testament, but refers to the audible voice from heaven,
speaking of His beloved Son, in whom He is well pleased. Now,
all the way back to the prophecies given by God, even in the Garden
of Eden, Before Adam and Eve were thrown out, God made prophecies
of the Lord Jesus Christ. And up until Christ's incarnation,
up until His birth, they did not see Christ of whom the Scriptures
testify. In Luke 24, verse 25, you don't
have to turn there, He said unto them, O fools, and slow of heart
to believe. all that the prophets have spoken.
Ought not Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into
His glory?" And then it says these words, "...and beginning
at Moses and all the prophets, He expanded unto them the Scriptures,
the things," now listen, "...concerning Himself." Don't miss this. This is a hymn book. We say it
all the time. H-I-M. That's a hymn book. It's about hymn. And I thought
about that verse there in Luke where it says, "...in the beginning
in Moses and all the prophets, God the Son expounded unto them
in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself." Boy, what
a message that was. Can you imagine what a message
that was? Here's God testifying of Himself and showing them in
the Scriptures, this is about me. You see Noah's Ark? That's
a picture of me. All those that were in the ark,
that's a picture of Christ. The wrath of God fell on them,
but those in the ark were saved. That's Christ. That's Christ.
All through the Old Testament. These are the words which I have
spoken to you while I was yet with you, that all things must
be fulfilled which were written in the Law and Moses and in the
Prophets and in the Psalms concerning me. concerning me. Now I want you to look in John
5 verses 39 and 40. We must remember here that our
Lord Jesus is talking to religious people. These were people who
went to church every service. These were people who were students
of the scriptures. These were men and women who
had read and studied their Bible. And he says to them, search the
scriptures. Search the scriptures. For in
them you think you have eternal life. And they are they which
testify of me. And you will not come to me that
you might have life. Here we find Bible-reading, conservative,
religious, church-going people who read and memorized and faithfully
studied the Word of God. And our Lord says, search the
Scriptures. And they did. We got people today
searching the Scriptures. And in them, they think that
they have life. They think. Know what I'm saying? They think they have life. But
they've not seen the most important thing. They've not seen the one
thing needful. Have you? Have you? Have you seen that Christ is
all? Our Lord tells them, He says,
in your searching and studying and researching the Scriptures,
you think you have eternal life. But if you've missed Christ,
you've missed it all. He says, they are they which
testify of me. That's the message, friends.
This book is all about Him. This sacred book that you hold
this morning contains a clear-cut message of redemption, and it's
only found in Jesus Christ, the Son of God. And if you miss that,
then you've missed it all. You've missed it all. Oh, you
may believe in a Supreme Being. You may believe in an eternal
heaven and a burning hell. That's not salvation. You may
believe in your head that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and
still perish in your sins. What? What did you say? That's what I said. You can believe
in your head. And you can make middle of sin
and even confess the words, I believe Jesus is the son of God and still
perish in your sins without hope and without God. How can that
be? Our Lord tells us in verse 40,
you will not come to me. You will not come to me. That
you might have life. Salvation is coming to Christ. One writer said it best when
he said, Christ is the way. and yet all without him are lost
in wondering in the wilderness of sin. Christ is the truth,
and yet men and women without him live a lie. Christ is the
life, yet all that are without him are dead in trespasses and
sin. Christ is the light, and all
that are without him are in utter darkness. Christ is divine, And
without Him, we are but withered branches to be cast into the
fire. Christ is the rock. And yet without
Him, your foundation is built upon nothing but sinking sand. Christ is the bread. Christ is
the water of life. Yet if you're without Him, you'll
hunger and thirst throughout eternity. So why will men and
women not come to Christ? That's not an unreasonable question. Christ said you will not come
to me that you might have life. Why won't men come? Christ is
most able to save and He promises to save all those that come to
God by Him and salvation is by Him and in Him and with Him.
Then why won't you come? I'm going to tell you. I want to give you three quick
reasons why men and women won't come to Christ. The first is,
they're spiritually dead. Spiritually dead. Natural men
and women are not just wounded. Some preachers often portray
fallen, depraved men as wounded. No. They don't just walk with
a limp. I can assure you that. They don't
just have a little heart issue that's corrected by medication.
No, they're dead! Dead. spiritually dead. Physical death is separation
of the body and soul, but friends, spiritual death is a separation
from God and man. Oh, God did span a mighty gulf
at Calvary. Man is separated from God. Men and women will not come to
Christ because they're dead in trespasses and sin. They must
be made alive by the Spirit of God. Now, in the heart of man
there dwells an old good thing. We know that. There's nothing
to do with good, no, my Lord. In the soul of man, there's no
spiritual life. You're dead in trespasses and
sin. In the mind of man, there is
no longing for God. Man says in his heart, I will
not have this man rule over me. The mind is enmity against God. Men and women that are not in
Christ are spiritually dead. They're just as dead, helpless
spiritually, as a corpse is helpless physically. And I've used this
illustration before. Have you ever been to a funeral
home and walked up to a corpse in the casket and said, would
you go and get me a drink of water? It's ridiculous to think that.
And it's just as ridiculous to think that a spiritually dead
person can do anything to earn, merit, or deserve God's salvation. I'm going to tell you this. If
a fallen sinner is ever saved from sin, God will have to make
him alive. Dead. Spiritually dead. I've heard men say all my life.
Now God's done His part. God has done His part. And you must do yours. But can
a dead man do anything? A preacher told me for years
that I had to make a decision. I had to exert my so-called free
will and accept Jesus into my heart. But does a dead man have
a free will? Can a dead man make a decision?
Have you ever asked a dead man to decide on something and get
an answer? Of course not. Let me take it
a step further. Can a dead man accept a gift?
No. You see, man made his decision
in the Garden of Eden and he chose to disobey God. And when
he did, he died. The Lord said, Of the tree of
the knowledge of good and evil thou shalt not eat. For in the
day that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die. And man did. Men won't come to Christ because
they're dead. Spiritually dead. God's not obligated
to give you life either. Don't ever think that. Don't
ever, ever think that God is somehow obligated to save you. He's not. It's unmerited favor. It's undeserved. That's why it's
called grace. That's why it's called mercy.
Don't ever think that you somehow deserve the blessings of God.
That in itself is blasphemy. We deserve nothing but death
and condemnation. God said to Moses, and he still
sovereignly says, I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious and
show mercy on whom I show mercy. And men don't like that. Don't
like it. You might as well. You might
as well grow to like it. That's the way it is. God has
mercy on whom He wills. If you ever come to Christ, dear
friends, it's because He's determined to be gracious to you. And you
hath He quickened. Made alive who were dead in trespasses
and sin. People won't come to Christ because
they're spiritually dead. And it should go without saying
that if a man is spiritually dead, that he's also spiritually
blind. And that's the second thing.
Those who are still without Christ will not come to Him because
they're spiritually blind. The word of God is very clear
and plain concerning the sons and daughters of their father
Adam. They're spiritually blind. Do
you remember what Christ said to Nicodemus? He said, unless
a man be born again, he can't see the kingdom of God. He can't
see the kingdom of God. We must be made alive before
we can ever see. Can a dead man see? No. No. Paul said that the gospel of
redemption is hid from them that are lost. 2 Corinthians 4, For
if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost, and whom
the God of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe
not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the
image of God, should shine unto them. Blind. Unless God Almighty perform a
divine operation on lost men and women's blinded minds, friends,
and open their eyes to receive God's truth, they'll remain blind. They'll remain blind. And I don't
care how many times you raise your hand, or you say a sinner's
prayer, or you're walking out, or you jump in the water to be
baptized, unless God make you alive, you're dead and you're
blind and you'll never see. Now listen to me, sinners will
not and cannot come to Christ on their own accord. They don't
have the ability to come. No man can come to me. Except! That's the key! Except! The Father would send me, draw
him. There's your hope. Accept. Accept God. Intervene. Oh, I'm telling you, you'll never
see your condition and your need of Christ. Accept. Alas, the
Father give you eyes to see and draw you. Why won't sinners come
to Christ? They're spiritually dead. They're
spiritually blind. And lastly, their hearts are
filled with enmity against God. Isn't that what we see in John
chapter 5? The mercy and grace of God in
the flesh, healing the man who had been sick for 38 years, and
men hated it. Well, it's not lawful to do it
on the Sabbath. and they sought to kill him.
One who did such a marvelous work of grace and they're going
to kill him because he did it on the Sabbath? Men by nature,
now listen, men by nature hate God. They hate God. Men and women by nature despise
the fact that God declares them to be doomed, damned, and dead
sinners without any ability to come. You know what we call that?
Total depravity. Man is totally depraved, totally
inane. No man can come to me except
the Father which sent me drawing. Unregenerate men and women hate
hate the fact that salvation is by the will and choice of
God alone. And you know what believers call
it? We call that unconditional election. We say God chose the
people before the foundation of the world and called them
and drew them by His grace and saved them in the Lord Jesus
Christ. Oh, how natural men and women
hate the fact that salvation comes to sinners by the merits
of Christ's effectual redemption. You know what we call that? We
call it limited atonement. We rejoice in the fact that God
has mercy on some. Friends, if God didn't have mercy
on some, there would be none in heaven. No sirree. We call it limited atonement. Not universal, but limited. Sinners everywhere despise and
hate that salvation comes only by the effectual call of God
the Holy Spirit. No man can come except And the
child of God says, well, we call that irresistible grace. Who's
resisted His will? Oh, He makes us willing in the
day of His power. Sinners hate being told the salvation
security is completely assured to all who trust in Christ because
we're preserved and we're kept by God's almighty sovereign hand
of grace. They hate it! And the child of
God says, well, we call that perseverance of the saints. Now
let me say most assuredly to you that Calvinism The five points
of Calvinism is not salvation. Christ is salvation. But I will
tell you this, John Calvin had five good points. He had five
good points. Oh, now they're basically in
closing. They're basically two kinds of
faith. What? Yep, there you are. There's
a wrong kind and a right kind. The wrong kind of faith centers
itself in the sinner and what he can get from God. Had a whole
lot of that going on this day and time. What can God do for
me? That. That one centers itself
in the sinner and what he can get from God. And the right one
is the faith that centers in God and His glory. If my faith
is primarily concerned with me, now listen, if my faith is primarily
concerned with me and what I want, then the object of my faith is
me and I really worship myself. But if my faith is primarily
concerned with God and His glory, then Christ is my object of faith,
and I worship Him. Oh, do you see? I say to you
that are lost, you search the Scriptures. Beg God to show you that they
are they which testify of Him. He is the message. Someone asked
me one time, he said, well, are you going to straighten those
people out Sunday when you preach? Who's going to straighten me
out? How can I stand up and tell people how to live when I can't
live right myself? That's not the message. That's
not the purpose of preaching. It's to tell people, God is not
for sinners. And He gets all the honor, and
He gets all the glory. And friends, I can assure you
that if you sincerely, sincerely want Christ, you can have Him. He never turned down anyone that
truly asked for His mercy and grace. You see, friends, the
Scriptures testify, speak of, and point only to Christ. Salvation is in a person. And
that person is Christ. Search the Scriptures. In them
you think you have life. But they are they which testify
of me.