St. John's Gospel, chapter 5.
And I want to read, beginning in verse 1, concerning this incident
that happened in Jerusalem when the Lord came here to one of
the feasts of the Jews. He found this man who had lay
for 38 years in a dreadful state of misery and healed him. And let me read to you this account.
Beginning in verse 1, John chapter 5, 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 folk, lame people. They were blind,
haunted, withered, waiting for the movement of the water. Sick
people. For when an angel went down at
a certain season unto 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. And when
Jesus saw him lie and knew that he had been a long time in that
case, he said unto him, Will 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 am coming, another
steppeth down before me. Jesus saith unto him, Arise,
take up your bed, and walk. And immediately the man was made
whole, and took up his bed, and walked. And on the same day was
the Sabbath. The Jews therefore said unto
him that was cured, It is the Sabbath day. It is not lawful
for thee to carry your bed. He answered them, He that made
me whole, the same said unto me, Take up your bed, and walk. Then asked they him, What man
is it that saith unto thee, Take up your bed, and walk? And he
that was healed wished not who it was, for Jesus had conveyed
himself away, a multitude being in that place. Afterward Jesus
findeth him in the temple, and said unto him, Behold, thou art
made whole. Sin no more, lest a worse thing
come upon thee." The man departed and told the Jews that it was
Jesus which had made him whole. And therefore did the Jews persecute
Jesus and sought to slay Him because He had done these things
on the Sabbath day. I want to begin this morning
here in this account really at verse 6. Because this is an amazing statement. It's an amazing question. You
wonder sometimes why the Lord even asks such a question. There's
a reason for the Lord doing everything He does. But isn't it amazing
that He comes here and finds this man who had been laying
for 38 years. We don't know how many years
perhaps he had laid here at this pool. And the Lord asked him
this question, Will thou be made whole? Doesn't that seem like
somewhat of a useless question? What man had been this sick for
thirty and eight years, had gone to this labor to lay there by
this pool seeking an entrance to be healed? What man is it
that would not want to be healed of such a long infirmity? Seems
like a strange question, doesn't it? What does this teach us? You know what this teaches us.
This teaches us that the Lord Jesus Christ deals with us right
where He finds us. And when He begins to deal with
us, He deals with our essential need, with the worst need that
we have. He didn't ask this man, would
you like a cold cup of water? He didn't ask this fellow, would
you like for me to bring you a hot plate of food? I see that
your clothes are worn. You're not able to work. You've
obviously been begging. Would you like a clean change
of clothing? He didn't ask him any of those
things. There's no doubt a time for that. But it's not now. That's not the essential need
of this man. Other times, the Lord, after
He had healed a person, said, give that person food. He cast
all those devils out of the Gadarene, and then He clothed them. But
there is that essential need. The worst need that you and I
face in this world, and this man here faced it, and what was
it? It was to be made whole. Will you be made whole? Aren't
you glad the Lord knew where you were? Aren't you glad that He came
to where you were? And aren't you glad that He didn't
take up secondary issues with you? How's your health? How's your job? I see your cars
getting old. Would you like a new one?" The
Lord Jesus comes to us and He knows our desperate need. But He not only knows that, He
knows the remedy. He knows the remedy. That's something
this man did not know. He lay here for 38 years. He
knew something about his misery. He had been taught that. But
you know he knew nothing about the remedy. He had tried so many
things. I imagine when this man first
came here, he probably thought, now, I'm going to sit right here
and watch this pool. And when I see it troubled, I'm
going to be the first one in. But he wasn't. And he sat there until the angel
came down and troubled the waters again. And he tried to get in
again. But somebody stepped down before him. And he tried that
often and often. He never got into the pool. And after a while, he just lay
down. Do you notice what the Scripture
says about him when the Lord found him? He was laying there
by the pool. He didn't know where the true
remedy was, did he? And I love this question because
it seems to me that the Lord Jesus is going to stir up hope
in this man. You see, he's been laying here
now. And he's almost given up hope. Because he has no man to
help him get into the pool when he's troubled. And finally, he
seems like he's ready to despair. He's ready just to give up. I
can't be made whole. I can't get in the pool. So I'm
just going to lay here in my misery. But then the Lord Jesus
asked this question to him. Will you be made whole? And he
had almost given up hope, you see. He was ready to despair.
But what does this question do to this man? Well, it revives the desire,
doesn't it? It revives that felt need. It stirs up some hope. Be made
whole, he says to himself. You mean there's still hope?
There's still hope? Not in that pool. Not in that
pool. Not where you've been looking,
there's no hope. But there's hope. There's hope. Here was a man that knew his
misery. For 38 years he had been sick,
but he knew nothing of the true remedy. He had been looking in
the wrong place, waiting to get in to the wrong fountain, the
wrong pool. You know what we see in this?
That a man may know something of the misery that he's in and
still not know the Savior. Can you and I testify something
of that? I went through years in my life. I knew something about my sin. I knew something about the misery
that I was in. But I tell you, I looked in a
lot of different pools seeking the remedy. I knew not the remedy
was in the Lord Jesus Christ. And almost I reached the place
where I was ready to say, there's no hope for me. I'm ready to
despair. Oh, this is a good question.
Will you be made whole? How many people this morning,
how many people this morning in this world, and you and I
may know some of them, have all but given up hope? They've tried
religions, they've tried ordinances, they've tried reformation, and
nothing's worked. And there they lay in their misery.
Oh, may the Savior this morning pass by and whisper to them and
stir up some hope in their heart. Will you be made whole? That's a good question, isn't
it? That's a good question. I love what he says here in verse
7. The impotent man said unto him,
Sir, I have no man to put me into the pool. And I bet you
he lived to thank God for the day that there was no man to
put him into the pool. It's a good thing, Larry, that
Camelot wasn't around that day. Good thing that school hadn't
been invented yet. Or they'd have got him in that
pool. The church of Christ would have ducked him in that pool
and healed his wound slightly. But don't you know he lived to
thank God that there was no man to help him? Even though he had
to wait so long, finally the Savior came and said, will you
be made whole? Will you be really made whole? Aren't you thankful, brothers
and sisters, in Christ this morning that you were brought to the
desperate place where no man could save you? No man could do you any good, and you could do nothing but
lay and wait, even though you did it unconsciously. Did you
have any knowledge that you were waiting for Christ? You were
miserable, weren't you? Before the Lord saves us, we
get miserable. We get sick of sin. We get sick
of this world. We get sick living under the
burden of guilt. But we can't find the remedy. And there we're made to wait,
not even realizing what we're waiting for. And then the Lord
comes. And he says, well, it's time.
Will you be made whole? Will you be made whole? There's
three things that I want to see concerning verses 8 and 9 this
morning. I want to show you three simple
things, and I won't keep you very long. And it seems like
this is the way the Lord deals with people in bringing them
to Himself and even deals with his people whom he saved. These three things, and you'll
probably recognize this in yourself. First of all, here in verse 8,
notice how the Lord begins with this man. Or here in verse 8
and verse 9, verse 6, I'm sorry, look in verse 6. These three
things. First of all, He begins with instructing him. Did you
notice that? Verses 6, "...will thou be made
whole?" He asked that question. And then in verse 8, he instructs
him to do this, "...arise, take up your bed, and walk." He tells
this man what to do. Now that's very important. He
tells him what to do. He instructs him. If the Lord
never comes to a man and begins to instruct him and teach him,
a man will never be saved. Do we realize that? This man
would have never been made whole if the Lord Jesus Christ had
not come to him and said, Arise! Here's what I want you to do.
Here's my command to you. Arise! Take up your bed and walk."
That's instructions, ain't it? The Lord is teaching this man
what he must do. You know the way of salvation,
the way of life eternal, the way of the healing of a person's
soul begins with hearing instructions from the Lord. Do you know that? Turn over here in the 6th chapter
in your Bibles and look at this. In verse 53. Chapter 6 and verse
53. The first thing we see in the
Lord healing this man is He instructs him to do something. Arise, take up your bed and walk. The Lord does that in all His
teaching. Look here in chapter 6 and look in verse 53. He was
teaching to a large group of Jews. And here's what he said
to them. Verily, verily, I say unto you, except you eat the
flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in
you. Whoso eateth my flesh and drinketh
my blood hath eternal life, and I'll raise him up at the last
day. My flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed.
He that eats my flesh and drinks my blood dwelleth in me, and
I in him. As the living Father hath sent
me, and I live by the Father, so he that eateth me, even he
shall live by me. This is the bread which came
down from heaven, not as your fathers did eat manna and are
dead. He that eateth this bread shall live forever." What's he
instructing these men to do? Eat of my redeeming body. drank
of my redeeming blood. Believe me. Believe me. That's the way we eat of it,
isn't it? He instructs them. But look here in verse 66. Well, look in verse 60. Many, therefore, of these disciples,
when they heard this, said, This is not hard saying. Who can hear
it? These are hard instructions.
Who can hear it? Now you talk about hard instruction.
Listen to this. Take up your bed and walk. Is that hard instruction? This
man has lain for 38 years. He's a cripple. He is just laying
now. He probably can't even sit up.
Take up your bed and walk? That's an impossible saying,
isn't it? That's where the Lord begins
with us. To instruct us. And these fellows said, this
is hard instruction. We can't hear this. In verse
66, look at it. From that time, many of His disciples
went back. They went back and walked no
more with Him. Look over in the 8th chapter
and we find almost the same thing. And look in verse 24. Verse 24. I said therefore unto you, that
you shall die in your sins. For if you believe not that I
am, that I am He, you shall die in your sins." I wish they would
have left out that little He there, don't you? It's in italics
though. The translator supplied that.
But if you read the whole context of this whole chapter, the Lord
Jesus is proclaiming Himself to be the I Am, the Eternal God. If you don't believe I'm the
Eternal God, you'll die in your sin. Did they believe Him? Well, look
on down in verse 58. Jesus said unto them, Verily,
verily, I say unto you, before Abraham was, I am. And they took
up stones to cast at him." Instructions. Both of these groups refused
instructions and got themselves in an awful condition. Let me
read a passage to you. You just hold there. Let me read
a passage to you. Proverbs chapter 6. Listen to
this. My son, keep your Father's commandment,
your heavenly Father. Forsake not the law of your mother.
Bind them continually upon your heart. Tie them about your neck. When you go, they shall lead
thee. When you sleep, they will keep
you. And when you awake, they will talk with thee. For the
commandment is a lamp. The law, the gospel, is a light. And reproof of instruction are
the way of life. See that? Let me read you another
passage in chapter 10, verse 17. Listen to this. He is in
the way of life that keepeth instruction, but he that refuses
reproof erreth. Where does the Lord begin when
He comes to save a person? When He comes to do us good,
where does He begin with us? He begins with instructing us. You remember when the Lord stopped
Saul of Tarshish in Acts chapter 9? When Saul was persecuting
Christians. And the Lord smote his conscience,
appeared to him, and said, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? And he said, Lord, who are you?
And he said, I'm Jesus of Nazareth. Whom you persecute. And then
he told him this. Remember what he told him? He
said, you go into the city and to the street called Straight,
and there it will be told you what you must do. He instructed. He taught him. He instructed. Why does the Lord
Jesus begin with instructing us? Why does He begin with teaching
us what we must do? Why does He begin by commanding
us to do something? I think it's very easy to understand
that, and it's a simple reason. Because He's the Lord of glory,
and His intentions are to secure our obedience to Himself. Until He secures our obedience
to Himself, everything else is in vain. Until He brings us to
obey His voice, we'll never be saved, we'll never be helped.
There was a doctrine that came on the scene probably in the
generation before me, and it went something like this.
that you can have Jesus Christ as your Savior. All you have
to do is receive Him as your Savior. And then later on, perhaps,
you can decide to obey Him as your Lord. And that doctrine
began to spread like wildfire. But here we see in this cripple,
that's not so, is it? That's not so. Where does the
Lord begin with this man? He begins with him instructing
him to do something. Arise, take up your bed, and
walk. Peter was preaching to those
Jews on the day of Pentecost. Preaching with the Holy Ghost
sent down from heaven. And he instructed them to do
something. You remember what he told them
to do? Repent. Every one of you. Repent, every
one of you. Listen to these passages of Scripture.
Isaiah chapter 1. The Lord was speaking and said,
Come now. Come now. That's a command, ain't
it? That's instructions, you see.
Come now. Let us reason together, saith
the Lord. Though your sins be as scarlet
They shall be as white as snow, and though they be red like crimson,
they shall be as wool. Listen, if you be willing and
obedient, you shall eat the fat of the land. But if you refuse
and rebel, you shall be devoured with the sword. Listen to this. Seek ye the Lord while he may
be found. Call upon him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake his way. and the unrighteous man his thoughts,
and let him return unto the Lord. For he will have mercy upon him,
and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon." Seek ye the Lord. Turn from your evil thoughts. Turn from your evil ways. And
seek the Lord. That's a commanding. That's instruction. And he said again in Matthew
chapter 11, Come unto me, all you that labor and are heavy
laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. Lord,
what would you have me to do? Come to me. What is His command? Come to me and take my yoke and
learn of me, and you'll find rest for your soul. Now let me
ask you this question in the light of these scriptures. Can
a sinner find rest without obeying Christ? Can a man be forgiven of his
sins and be washed whiter than snow without coming and reasoning
with the Lord and obeying His Lord? He can't, can he? He cannot. Listen to this. In Revelation
chapter 1 and verse 5, the Scripture says the Lord Jesus loved us
and washed us from our sins in His own blood. And then in Revelation
chapter 7 and verse 14, it says this, and it seems to be contrary.
They washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the
Lamb. Who was it that washed us? He
washed us. And yet we are said to wash ourselves.
How can it be said that we wash ourselves when we submit to the
blood of Jesus Christ? When we bring our guilty conscience,
and as the psalm writer said, plunge it beneath that fountain
filled with blood, open for sin and uncleanness. Brother Larry
dealt with this when he dealt with 1 Peter chapter 1. when
He talked about obedience unto the sprinkling of the blood. Ain't that what that means? The
Lord finds us in our misery and He says, will you be made
whole? Will you be made whole? Are you sick of your misery?
Are you sick of your sins? Will you be cleansed? Then do
this. Do this. Plunge beneath this
fountain filled with blood. Believe me. My body was broken
upon the cross of Calvary. My blood was poured out for sin. Plunge beneath this fountain. Obey my voice. Obey my voice. And being made perfect, perfect
through His sufferings, Jesus Christ became the author of eternal
salvation. To who? To all of them that obey
Him. Peter said this, we ought to
obey God rather than man. The God of our fathers raised
up the Lord Jesus, whom you slew and hanged on a tree. And God
has exalted Him to be a Prince and a Savior, to give repentance
to Israel and forgiveness of sins. And we're witnesses of
these things. And so also is the Holy Ghost,
whom God has given to them who obey Him. Instructions. That's what I'm
saying. Instructions. One of my favorite passages of
Scripture is found over in Psalms 18, verse 43. It says this, Christ
speaking. Christ speaking to His Father,
and He says this, You have delivered Me from the strivings of the
people. Three and a half years they strove
with Christ. Almost every time He went to
preach, the Pharisees were there mocking Him, ready to stone Him.
On the cross! If you be the Son of God, save
yourself and come down, and then we'll believe you. The Lord Jesus
said here, My Father has delivered Me from all this striving. He's raised Me from the dead.
And listen to this, He has made Me the Head of the heathen. A people whom I have not known
shall serve Me. As soon as they hear of Me, they
shall obey Me. and they shall submit themselves
unto Me." This is the first thing we see in this man. The Lord
Jesus instructing him. And what does He instruct him
to do? Arise, take up your bed, and walk. Now that leads us to my second
point, and it's this. The Lord commanded this man to
do that. which was impossible. If this
man could have did this, don't you think he would have done
it long before now? If it was just a matter of mere willpower,
don't you think he tried this many times? Don't you think he
saw some strong man coming by and said, Sir, I'm feeling pretty
good today, would you help me up on my feet? I'm going to just
exert all my energy, and I think I can do it. I'm going to beat
this thing." And somebody helped him up, and down he went. Down
he went. But here is this man who looked
like a mere man. There's no halo around his head.
He looked older than what he really was. And everywhere he
went, he was persecuted. He didn't have a house to dwell
in. He's just a common looking man. And here he comes up and
stands over this cripple and he says, Arise, take up your
bed and walk. But I'll tell you what had to
happen. With that commandment had to come grace and power and
healing. Notice what he said. Notice back
in my text what he said. In verse 7. In verse 9. And immediately the man was made
whole. Ain't that wonderful? He can walk now. Because with
a command comes grace. With a command comes power and
desire. If the Son of God had only stood
over Him and commanded Him to take up His bed and walk, He
could never have done it. The Lord may command a man to
do something, but I'm telling you this, brothers and sisters,
if He don't give grace, you won't do it. And you can't do it. With a command came power and
ability. and desire. You know the Lord
commands us to make us a new heart and a new spirit. Ezekiel
chapter 18 verse 31, O house of Israel, make you a new heart
and a new spirit, for why will you die? If you don't do this,
you're going to die. Now brothers and sisters, that's
an impossible task. You try it and see if it's One
fellow said, I was reading him, and one fellow said, now God
would never command anybody to do something that they didn't
have the power and ability to do in themselves. Well, you try
this then. Take up your bed and walk? That's
not an impossible command. The Lord could have stood over
that man and commanded him as many times as He wanted to. But
until He gives power, until He gives grace, until He gives the
ability, He never stood. He never stood. So the Lord goes on in Ezekiel
chapter 37, and here's what He said. Are you fellows still trying
to make a new heart and a new spirit? How's that working for
you? Have you done it yet? You see, sometimes the Lord tells
us these things to make us know that we can't do it. He commands
us to do these things and then turns right around and says,
without Me, you can do nothing. So He goes on in chapter 37 of
Ezekiel and He says this, I will give you a new heart and a new
spirit. I command you to walk in My statues
and keep My judgments and do them. Now I'm going to make you
able to do it. I'm going to give you a new heart
and a new spirit. And then he goes on in chapter
37, verse 37, and he says this, I will yet be inquired of by
the house of Israel to do it for them. He didn't wait on this man, this
cripple, to say, Lord, give me strength and I'll walk. You told
me to rise and take up my bed and I can't. Lord, would you
give me grace to do it? He didn't wait and pray that.
But I bet you he would have. I bet you he would have. How
often have you prayed, Lord, give me a new heart and a new
spirit? And it's because you felt your inability to do it
yourself. There's a vast difference in
what God commands a man to do. And justly so. If God commands
it, then it's just. It's right. But there's a vast
difference in what God commands a man to do, and then what that
man has the ability and power to do. There's a vast difference. God is just and commanding it.
But man is unable to provide it. You say, Bruce, are you excusing
men and women? Are you telling them not to obey
the voice of the Lord? No, I'm not telling them that
at all. As a matter of fact, let me stress this. Except you
believe that I am He, you shall die in your sins. Except you repent, you shall
all likewise perish. Except you eat My flesh, you
have no life in you." I am saying this. No man ever repented. No man ever believed. And no
man ever ate of the Son of God's savings, except he did it through
grace, through the strength and power that the Son of God gives
him. We have people come here. We've
had several come through here. Sometimes we talk about it. And they sit and listen for a
while. And there is no doubt in my mind that they are being
instructed as to what they should do. I mean, it's too evident. When you keep telling people,
come to Christ. Forsake your sin. Forsake yourself
and come to Christ. God has put everything in Him
that you need. There's life. There's forgiveness
of sins. There's a righteousness to clothe
the shame of your nakedness. There's reconciliation. Everything's
in Christ. Come to Christ. Believe in the
Lord Jesus Christ. And you know it's not long. They
leave. And boy, it breaks your heart.
Does it bother you when you see people leave? And they don't take heed to these
instructions. They don't listen. But you know what I know? You
know what I know? If the Lord doesn't give grace,
they will not come. They will not believe. They will
not repent. And I'll add what the Lord Jesus
said. They cannot. They cannot. No man can come to me, except
my Father draw him." That don't excuse man. Boy, that
puts a responsibility on me. If the Lord begins to instruct
you, my, listen, listen. And when you can't find it in
yourself, the desire to obey Him, you can't find the will
to obey Him, when you knew you must, You can't find the will
to submit to Christ when you know you must? Then get along
with Him and say, Lord, I know what You command of me. Give
me grace to do it. Draw me to Yourself. Kill me to myself. Give me a
desire to come to You. Open my understanding. Do for
me what I need. If I'd have been that cripple
in there with that pool and the Lord said, arise, take up your
bed and walk, and I couldn't have done it, don't you think
I'd have been crying, Lord, grace, give me grace, give me grace.
Don't discommand me to repent. Don't discommand me to seek you.
Give me grace to do it. Let me know how to do it. Have you ever had this to happen
to you? I've had this to happen to me. I think it goes right along with
what I'm saying here. Something happens in your life,
and you start worrying about it. Maybe it's in the family,
family problems, and you're worrying yourself sick about it. Maybe
it's a job or something, and you just fret, and you worry,
and you can't get it off your mind. And you know that it's
a sin. You know that you're not supposed
to fret and worry. You're to leave these things
with your heavenly Father. And don't be anxious about tomorrow. But you can't do it, can you?
You ever had that happen to you? And you try to do it and you
can't. And you start looking for a promise, looking for some
strength and you can't find anything. And you go and pray and it doesn't
help. And you pray some more and it
doesn't help. And you realize, you realize
what the Lord tells me to do and what I'm able to do is vastly
different. He tells me to trust Him, not
to worry, but here I am, and I can't do a thing about it.
And then what finally happens? Huh? What finally happens? Grace
comes. Strength comes. And then you
leave the whole burden of it with Him. Peace comes then. Before, what you could not do,
even though you knew you must do it, But boy, when He gives
grace to do it, what do you do then? Immediately, you take up
your bed and walk, don't you? And that brings me to the third
thing quickly. You're in verse 9. Rise, take
up your bed and walk. And immediately the man was made
whole and took up his bed and walked. This is the way the Lord
often deals with us. And I'm not saying, I'm not saying
that this takes place over a period of time, in this exact sequence
that this happens, then you wait for the second step, then you
wait for the third step. But can't you see this in your
life? Can't you see how the Lord dealt
with you this way? That He begins by instructing
you. Warning you of your sin. Warning you that the end is coming. Then He gives you some hope that
you can be saved. Then you start listening to His
instructions. And then you find out He makes
these statements to you. Come unto Me. Come unto Me. I'll give you rest. And by those instructions, and
you remember this well, don't you? Because you were in your
sins a long time and had some knowledge of it too, I bet, before
you came to Christ, did you not? Why didn't you come before you
did? Somebody probably told you, didn't
they? Why didn't you come before you did? Well, you really didn't
have that much desire to come, did you? You really didn't have
a will to come, did you? Well, what changed all that?
Why did you finally come? What do you attribute that to?
When like these Jews, everybody else went away and said, I ain't
obeying Him. I'm not submitting to Him. Who is He anyway? Who
is the Lord that I should obey Him? But what happened to you?
You came. Why? Grace, wasn't it? Because finally when He said,
Come, with that command came power. and grace to come, a desire
to come, a need to come, the ability to come. You came and you took up your
cross, and what are you doing this morning? You're following
Him, aren't you? You're following Him. You're following Him. Ain't
this a wonderful lesson? Good preaching, ain't it? Good
preaching. Good preaching. May the Lord bless this Word.
Let's pray.