Todd's Road Grace Church would
like to invite you to listen to a sermon by our pastor, Todd
Nybert. We are located at 4137 Todd's
Road, two miles outside of Manowar Boulevard. Sunday services are
at 10.30 a.m. and 6 p.m. Bible study is at
9.45 a.m. Wednesday services are at 7 p.m. Nursery is provided for all services.
For more information, visit our website at toddsroadgracechurch.com. Now here's our pastor, Todd Nybert. John's gospel is centered around
seven miracles that the Lord performed. The first was the
water made wine. The second was the healing of
the nobleman's son. I'm skipping the third right
now because that's what I'm going to preach on. But the fourth
was creating food, bringing matter into existence. The fifth was
walking on the water. The sixth is giving sight to
a man that was born blind, and the seventh was raising Lazarus
from the dead. And all of those miracles give
us some aspect of his salvation. But the third miracle we're going
to consider is the miracle in John chapter 5, where there was
a man who had been paralyzed for 38 years that he healed. And I think it's very interesting
that after this healing, the Jews were angry, and they wanted
to kill him because of healing this man. Now why in the world
would that be? I hope we'll have some understanding
by the end of this message. Now we read in John chapter 5
beginning in verse 1, and I've entitled this message, The Remedy
for Inability. The remedy for inability. We read in verse 1, and after
this, there was a feast of the Jews. Now, I think it's interesting
how John calls it a feast of the Jews. It was given by inspiration
of God, but the Jews had turned it around and made it merely
a religious ceremony men use. They didn't really understand
it, so John calls it the Feast of the Jews. There were four
different feasts where God required the male Israelite to come to
Jerusalem to observe. And we don't know which one of
these feasts this was, but the Lord came to Jerusalem to observe
this feast in obedience to the law. And Jesus went up to Jerusalem. Now there is at Jerusalem, by
the sheep market, the place where sacrificial animals were sold,
a pool. which is called in the Hebrew
tongue Bethesda, having five porches. Now, picture this in
your mind. There's an amphitheater with
five tiers and a pool in the middle. In these tiers is where
these sick people were, but I love the name Bethesda. It means the
house of mercy. And there've been hospitals,
there've been orphanages, There have been churches named after
this word, Bethesda, the house of mercy. And in these five tiers
of this amphitheater, in these lay a great multitude of impotent
folk. Blind, halt, withered. waiting for the moving of the
water. Verse 4, 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 he had. Now there's been a lot of debate
over this passage of scripture, whether people just thought this
would take place, and there they were waiting because of a religious
tradition, or whether it really happened. But I believe the only
safe thing is to take it just as it's stated. At a certain
season, an angel would come down from heaven and trouble the water. and whoever got in first was
made whole of whatsoever disease they had. Now in this, we have
a picture provided for us of human nature. Impotent folk who were lame, who were blind, who could
not walk. Now, a picture of human nature. What do I mean by human nature? What is meant by nature? It's
the inherent features we are born with. You know, you're born
with the DNA of your parents in you and there's certain things,
certain ways you will be because of who your parents are. But the parent I'm talking about
is not your biological mom and dad, I'm talking about Adam.
Because of Adam, our first father, he rebelled against God, he became
dead in trespasses and sins, and we're born with his sinful
nature. You ever wondered why you don't
have to teach a child to lie or to be selfish? Because it's
natural. It comes natural to them. It's
as natural to them as breathing. It's their nature. Why is that?
Well, there's only one explanation for that. When Adam ate of the
fruit, he died. Now, he didn't die physically,
his soul didn't die, but he died spiritually. And he now no longer
has a spiritual nature that will love God. that will love men. He is now self-centered. He is
now sinful. Now, what is this thing of being
spiritually dead? You know, Paul did say, and you
have he quickened who are dead in trespasses and sins. There's
two words that describe this. Total depravity and total inability. Now, when we talk about total
depravity, that sounds like a very negative, morose thing to even
think about. We think about somebody who's
out doing dark crimes, and it certainly could include that.
But total depravity means that because of Adam's fall, I'm born
into this world with every faculty under the dominion of sin. My
will's sinful. My affections are sinful. My
intellect is sinful. My conscience is sinful. It is not, it doesn't work right. Every aspect of myself, every
man by nature is under the dominion of sin. That's what total depravity
means. And here's what comes out of
total depravity, total inability. That means I cannot love God.
That means I cannot believe. I cannot repent because I'm dead.
I can't do these things. That provides me no excuse, but
that's the fact. And what do we have in these
people? We have people who are impotent. That means powerless, total inability,
impotent. The natural man cannot, cannot
receive the things of the Spirit of God. The carnal mind is enmity
against God. It's not subject to the law of
God. Neither, indeed, can be. Now, these people were impotent,
and they're described in three ways, blind, halt, and withered. Blind. You know what that means? That means I can't see God as
He is. That means I can't see myself
as I am. That means I can't see the gospel
as it is. I'm blind. Not only am I blind,
the scripture says that these people were halt, lame, unable
to walk in the commandments of God. And then they were withered,
dried up without the moisture of life. Ephesians chapter two,
verse one says, and you have he quickened who were dead in
trespasses and sins. Now there's something interesting
about this particular miracle though. When that angel would
come down and trouble the water, who would get in? The one who
had the most ability. the one who's the strongest.
He's the one who got in quickest. Maybe it was someone who had
somebody to help him. Maybe a mother had her baby waiting
for the water and she was in full health. And as soon as she
saw that water troubled, she would get in with her baby and
she would have an advantage over everybody else. Here's the point. In this miracle, The strongest
were the ones that were blessed, the ones who had the most ability
to get into the water. But what about someone who had
no ability? Well, let's go on reading and
we'll see who that certain someone is. Verse five, and a certain
man was there. which had an infirmity thirty
and eight years." A certain man. And this man, we know the length
of his infirmity because verse 14 of the same chapter, the Lord
said, when he found him, Behold, thou art made whole, sin no more,
lest a worse thing come unto thee. It appears that some sinful
activity had brought this man into this position. Now, the
point behind that is not to see someone get sick and say, well,
I wonder what kind of sin they committed that brought all that
on. That's foolishness. If I do that, I'm looking at
a self-righteous wrong view. I ought to be looking at myself,
not looking at somebody else and thinking, what have they
been doing? But what this is to teach us is that our sinfulness
is our fault. We can't blame our circumstances.
We can't blame God. We can't blame the devil. All
my sin is all my fault. I have to take complete responsibility
for my sin. You know, not too many people
do that. It's always somebody else's fault. It's only those
who, by the grace of God, who are enabled to see that their
sin is all their fault. Well, this certain man, you know,
the Lord could have healed everybody there, but he didn't. This is
a demonstration of his own sovereignty. There was a certain man, many
great multitudes were there, but this certain man was the
one that he healed. Verse six, verse five, and a
certain man, which was there, which had an infirmity 30 and
eight years, when Jesus saw him live. Now he saw those others, but
he saw this man in a special way because this is a man that
he was going to do something for. When Jesus saw him lie and
knew that he'd been now a long time in that case, 38 years,
that would be the equivalent of 1985 in our year. What all has happened in your
life since 1985? That's a long time that he'd
been in that case and the Lord saw it and he asks him this question,
wilt thou be made whole? What a question. Are you willing
to be made whole? Now, he didn't say, do you want
to go to heaven when you die? He said, do you want to be made
whole? Are you willing to be made? Don't miss that, to be made. That's something I do for you.
Salvation is what God does for the sinner. It's not a cooperative
effort between God and the sinner. It's what God does. It's what
Jesus Christ does. Are you willing to be made? He's
made unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption.
For he hath made him to be sin for us who knew no sin that we
might be made the righteousness of God in him. If God saves you,
he makes you something. He makes you something you were
not before. He makes you something. Art thou
willing to be made whole, complete, Are you willing to be made whole? What a simple question. Now listen
to me. My only hope of being saved is the Lord saving me. Him doing it all. Him making
me whole. If he saves me, I'm saved. And
my only hope of being made whole is if the Lord makes me whole. I have some understanding of
what that leper understood. In Matthew chapter eight, when
we read, behold, the leper came and worshiped him saying, Lord,
if you will, you can make me clean. Now this leper knew who
he was. He knew he's the Lord. Now anybody
who knows who Christ is, this they're dead sure of. He's the
Lord. He's the Lord. That means he's the one who's
in control. He's in control of everything. I mean, you can't
take that too far. He's the Lord. This leper came
and he worshipped him. He worshipped him for who he
was. He didn't know whether the Lord was going to heal him, and
he certainly didn't think he deserved to be healed, but he
knew who the Lord was, and he worshipped him for who he was.
The Lord is worthy of worship whether he does anything for
me or not. As a matter of fact, if he leads me to myself and
lets me go to hell, he's still worthy of worship. He is the
divine Lord. This leper came and worshipped
him, saying, Lord, if you will, He acknowledged, it's up to you. It's not up to me, it's up to
you. If you will, you can, you have
the ability. I don't have any ability, you
have all ability. Lord, he's to be worshiped. Lord,
if you will, you can make me clean. He came for the right thing,
and he knew only the Lord could do it. Make me clean. That's very much the same question
the Lord asked this man, will thou be made whole? And I love the Lord's answer
to that leper. Immediately, he was made clean. The Lord said, I will. The Lord
said, if you will, you can. The Lord said, I will. And he
says, I will to everyone who comes to him saying, Lord, if
you will, you can make me clean. He said, I will. And immediately
his leprosy was cleansed. Now, the impotent man answered, verse
seven, after the Lord said, wilt thou The man didn't understand a word
the Lord said, because we see that from his answer. The impotent
man answered and said, Sir, I have no man. When the water is troubled
to put me into the pool, but while I'm coming, another step
down before me. Now the Lord didn't say, are
you able to get in? This man, all he heard was, I
don't have any way of getting in. He did not give the appropriate
answer to the Lord's question, which could have been answered
with a yes or no. He says, I don't have anybody to get me in. I'm
in this rut and I can't get out of it. There's nothing I can
do. While I'm coming, another steps over me who's stronger.
Perhaps he was a paraplegic and would use his arms to try to
pull himself in the pool. And somebody stronger him would
walk right past him and get in the pool. And there he was. I have nobody to help me. All this man heard was, I can't
do it. I don't have the strength. But
that's not what the Lord said. He didn't say, do you have a
man to help you? He didn't say, do you have the strength? He
said, will thou be made whole? Well, man didn't understand the
question. And then we read in verse eight,
Jesus saith unto him, rise, take up thy bed. and walk." Now, I
entitled this message, The Remedy for Inability. Here it is. Omnipotence. The Lord says, with
the voice of God, the voice that raises the dead, rise, take up
thy bed, and walk. Now, he'd said this before. I
want to read a passage from Mark, chapter 2. And again, he entered
into Capernaum after some days, and there was noise that he was
in the house. And straightway many were gathered together,
insomuch that there was no room to receive them, no, not so much
as about the door. And he preached the word unto
them. And they come unto him, bringing
one sick of the palsy, which was born of four, And when they
could not come nigh unto him for the press, there was such
a crowd in there, nobody else could get in the room, what did
they do? They climbed up on the roof.
I love to think of this. They uncovered the roof where
he was, and when they had broken it up, they let down the bed
wherein the sick of the palsy lay. Picture that in your mind,
the people listening, all of a sudden the ceiling breaks open
and they lower down on ropes, a man sick of the palsy, a paralytic
man. When Jesus saw their faith, he
said unto the sick of palsy, Son, thy sins be forgiven thee. Jesus Christ has the authority
to forgive sins. You hear that? If He wills, He
can forgive you of all your sins. Now, it's up to Him. You know,
if somebody says to you, it's your responsibility to forgive
me, you're not gonna have a very good response to that, will you?
If they come like that. But if somebody says, would you
be pleased to forgive me? I know you don't have to, it's
up to you, but would you please be forgive me? You're gonna be
much more moved to forgive that person. Well, the Lord says to
this man, Son, thy sins be forgiven thee. But there were certain
of the scribes sitting there, reasoning in their hearts, why
did this man thus speak blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God
only? That's the truth. He's the only
one who can forgive sins. They got that right. And immediately
when Jesus perceived in his spirit that they so reasoned within
themselves, he said to them, why reason ye these things in
your heart? Whether is it easier to say to the sick of palsy,
thy sins be forgiven thee, or to say arise, take up thy bed
and walk? What's easier? For me to say your sins are forgiven
or to tell someone who is paralyzed, rise, take up your bed and walk?
Why it's a lot easier to say your sins forgiven because you
can't see whether or not they are. It's a lot harder to say
to somebody that's completely paralyzed, get up, take up your
bed and walk. But that you may know, hath the
son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins, he saith to
the sick of palsy, I say unto thee, same thing he said to this
man in John five, arise, take up thy bed and go thy way into
thine own house. Rise, take up your bed, and walk."
Now, this is the voice of authority. This is the voice of omnipotence. The same voice that would later
say, Lazarus, come forth. Could Lazarus have said no? Absolutely
not. He that was dead came forth. This is the voice of irresistible
grace, divine omnipotence. Now, what did this man do? When
the Lord said, rise, take up your bed and walk, verse 9, and
immediately the man was made whole. Remember, that's what
the Lord asked him. Will thou be made whole? Immediately. The man was made whole, and he
took up his bed and walked, and the same day was the Sabbath. Now, notice the order. He was
made whole. He took up his bed, and he walked. He didn't walk before he was
made whole. He didn't take up his bed before he was made whole.
He was first made whole. Now, in this thing of salvation,
the order is of critical importance. 2 Timothy 1.9 says, He saved
us and He called us, not according to our works, but according to
His own purpose and grace, which were given us in Christ Jesus
before the world began. What came first, the saving or
the calling? The saving. He saved us, completely saved
us. Everybody he saved was saved
before they had any consciousness of it. When he said, it is finished,
all of God's elect were saved. He saved us and he called us
with a holy calling. This man was made whole. And what did he do? got up, picked up his bed, completely
healed, and walked. Immediately the man was made
whole and took up his bed and walked. And we have this interesting
detail, and the same day was the Sabbath. Now remember, the
Sabbath was the day you're not supposed to work. And the Jews
had made a work out of not working. They didn't have any understanding
of the Sabbath, and all they saw was the letter of the law,
you shouldn't pick up your bed, you shouldn't walk. And they
saw after this miracle, now they're already mad at the Lord. And
they were looking to find fault. They got mad at him when he drove
the money changers out of the temple previously. And they said, who gave you the
right to do this? And they're already mad. They're looking
to find fault with him. And when they see he heals this
man on the Sabbath, they're ready to criticize. So they say to
this man, the Jews therefore said unto him who was cured,
it's the Sabbath day. It's not lawful for thee to carry
that bed. Have you ever thought about how
ridiculous that is? This man gets up on the Sabbath
day, having been healed by Christ, and they're all upset about him
breaking the Sabbath. They didn't know what the Sabbath was. He answered them, he that made
me whole, the same said unto me, take up thy bed and walk.
That's the only reason I need. He told me to do it. And he that was healed was not
who it was, for Jesus had conveyed himself away, a multitude being
in that place. And afterwards Jesus findeth
him in the temple and said unto him, Behold, thou art made whole. Sin no more. Now the call of
the gospel is God has saved you. It's not now it's okay to sin
since salvation is by grace. You're in good shape. Don't worry
about it. No, the command of the gospel, just like he said
to that woman taken in adultery that he did not condemn and save,
he said, hath no man condemned thee? No man, Lord, neither do
I condemn thee. Go and sin no more. And that's
what he said to this man. I love that exhortation. Sin
no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee. Then the man departed
and told the Jews that it was Jesus which had made him whole."
Now, here is my confession of faith. Here's everything that
I believe. The Lord Jesus is the one who
saved me and made me whole. You know, I hear religious people,
they say, I got saved. You know, there's something wrong
with that kind of language. I didn't get saved. The Lord
saved me. The Lord made me whole. That salvation, what the Lord
does for you. And therefore did the Jews persecute
Jesus and sought to slay him because he had done these things
on the Sabbath day. They actually wanted to murder
the Lord over this. And here's why. You think, were
these just extra bad people? No, they're people like you and
I are. We naturally have a religion that we think is going to save
us, the things we do. And when we hear the gospel,
we find out those things count for nothing. They thought their
Sabbath-keeping was going to save them, and they found out
there's no salvation in that. Their hope is taken away, so
they're angry with the Lord, and they actually want to slay
Him. And I love in verse 17 where
he replies to them, my father worketh hitherto and I work.
My father's working here on the Sabbath day and I am too because
I'm one with him. He's my father. Whatsoever the
father does, the son does likewise. Now, we have this message. If
you get on the church website, you can get a copy or write or
email the church or call. This is Todd Nyberg praying God
will be pleased to make himself known to you. That's our prayer.
Amen. To receive a copy of the sermon you have just heard, send
your request to todd.nyberg at gmail.com. Or you may write or
call the church at the information provided on the screen.