I promised Duane I'd remember
to turn this thing on, so give me just one second. Good evening. So we'll turn to
John chapter 5. While you're turning there, I
want to ask you all a question. Have any of you ever considered the
hatred the Pharisees had for our Lord Jesus Christ? It's very
clear that they did hate him. We read of several instances
in the scripture where these self-righteous men, they attempted
to discredit our Lord. They attempted to entangle him
in lies. They even tried to persuade men that he was Satan himself.
And when all these ways of trying to discredit him failed, they
sought his death. Why? Where did that all start?
Well, I'll tell you, it starts right here in this story of Bethesda
in John chapter 5. I'm going to read this story
to you. I'm going to make a few comments on some of the scriptures,
and I want to bring out just a few points that were a blessing to
me, and I hope they're a blessing to you all tonight as well. So
pick up in John 5 in verse 1. 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. Now this word Bethesda,
it means house of mercy or house of kindness. And to give you
a visual of what you would have seen there, if you can imagine
a pool of water, it would have been somewhere near ground level.
And it would have had steps coming away from it called porches.
It would have surrounded it amphitheater style. And there would have been
some sort of roof or covering that would shade the people that
were near the pool from the hot sun. And it says that this house
of mercy was positioned next to the sheep market, and this
is likely the sheep gate we read of in Nehemiah, where the sacrificial
animals were herded into the temple. And so we have a house
of mercy which is positioned next to the sheep. And so pick
up in verse three, in these lay a great multitude of impotent
folk, of blind, halt, withered, waiting for the moving of the
water. For an angel went down at a certain season into the
pool and troubled the water, whosoever then first, after the
troubling of the waters, stepped in, was made whole of whatsoever
disease he had." Now this is miraculous. We didn't know, we
don't know when this season is or how often it is. Could have
been once a day, once a week, once a month, once every five
years, we don't know. But what we know is in a particular
season, an angel would come down and he would trouble these waters
and he would give these waters a healing virtue. And the first
man that would step in and would get into this water, he would
be healed of whatever ailment he had. And so I visualized this
in my mind, and if you can imagine the commotion this would have
caused. You have men who have been waiting for maybe years
to be healed, and all of a sudden the waters are troubled, and
so men are fighting with each other. They're striving with
each other. People who can walk are trying to thrust themselves
into the pool. Mothers who have sick children are trying to thrust
their children into the pool, all in hopes that they will be
the first one, that they will be made whole. And I thought,
being someone who was looking at it from the outside looking
in, it was probably a very pitiful sight, a very sad thing to see. So pick up in verse 5. And a certain man was there,
which had an infirmity thirty and eight years. When Jesus saw
him lie and knew that he had been now a long time in that
case, he saith unto him, Wilt thou be made whole? The impotent
man answered him, Sir, I have no man when the water is troubled
to put me into the pool, but while I'm coming, another steppeth
down before me. Jesus saith unto him, Rise, take up thy 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's a Sabbath day, it's not lawful for thee to carry thy
bed. He answered them, He that made me whole, The same said
unto me, take up thy bed and walk." Now notice what these
Pharisees were concerned with. Here we have probably the best-known
man of Bethesda's pool. He had been paralyzed for 38
years and all of a sudden he is up and he is walking and he's
carrying his bed and the Pharisees see him and instead of rejoicing
for this man, for being happy for him, they're skeptical. They're
skeptical of the manner by which he's been made whole and by virtue
they are skeptical of the great physician himself. Pick up in
verse 12, Then asked they him, What man is that which said unto
thee, Take up thy bed, and walk? And he that was healed wist not
who it was, for Jesus had conveyed himself away, a multitude being
in that place. Now make note of that, this man
was made whole, and initially he had no idea who it was who
had made him whole. Down in verse 14, Afterward 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.
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. So why did the Pharisees hate
our Lord? Why did they seek to kill him? Where did it all begin?
It began with this act right here where our Lord made a man
whole on the Sabbath day. You see, these Pharisees, these
religious Jews They believed in observing a strict Sabbath
day where no work could be performed. You couldn't carry your bed.
You couldn't carry firewood. You couldn't do anything. And
these Jews, they believed that in observing these rules and
regulations and honoring them and keeping them, that that was
their acceptance before God. They believed in their own works.
They believed in do and live. And they hated our Lord because
the message he preached and the actions he took defied their
self-righteous religion. Our Lord told these men in no
uncertain terms that they could not do. That all men by nature
are sinners. He told them in no uncertain
terms that he was the Christ. And if any man was going to be
saved, it was going to be by him. And when these men perceived
that they were in the hands of a sovereign God who could do
with them whatever he wanted, that's when they said, we're
going to kill him. We're going to take him out. So this story
of Bethesda, this is a very intriguing story. And in this story, I see
four major points. I want to bring this out to you.
First, I see a picture of the depravity of all men by nature. Second, I see a warning. Third,
I want to consider this man whom the Lord made whole physically.
And fourth, I want to consider what it means for the Lord to
make a sinner whole spiritually, what's involved there. So if
you would pick back up in verse 3, and I want to talk about this
multitude for a moment. I want to discuss them. And I'll
reread verse 3. It says, in these lay a great
multitude of impotent folk, of blind, halt, withered, waiting
for the moving of the water. Now, visualize these people for
a moment. They were a very pitiful bunch,
were they not? A diseased group of people, men
who were tormented by their own infirmities, and they had no
hope of curing themselves. They wouldn't have been at Bethesda's
pool if they could have. And I find it interesting that
the four words that are used to describe these men physically,
they're the same words that can be used to describe every man
by nature, spiritually. And the first word that's listed
here is impotent. Impotent. What does impotent mean? Impotent
means unable. It means without strength, without
power, weakness. And it is no trivial thing that
this word impotence is listed first. It's listed first because
it is all-encompassing considering the state of the natural man
spiritually. Let me give you an example. If I wanted to describe
my daughter, Macy, in exceptionally general terms, I would start
with the most general term I know to describe her, and that she's
human. That's the most general term I know. And under that umbrella
of being human, I can give you more detailed information. I
can tell you that she's female. She's Caucasian. She has strawberry
blonde hair, so on and so forth. And this is why impotence is
listed as our first characteristic, because it is our broadest category. And then the next three words
that are used in this passage of scripture, they're used to
describe that impotence, describe in what way we are unable. And
the next word we see is blind. Blind. What does it mean to be
blind? It means you can't see. Men by
nature are spiritually blind. We cannot see. We can't see who
God is. We can't see him in his holiness, in his sovereignty,
in his power. And by contrast, we can't see
who we are. We can't perceive how truly sinful we are. We can't
see how wretched we are. We can't see our poverty and
righteousness. We're spiritually blind. The
next word that's used is halt. And this word halt, it refers
to being unable to walk correctly. And when I was considering this,
when I was thinking about being unable to walk correctly, I remember
Genesis 17, 1, where the Lord speaks to Abraham and he says,
Abraham, walk before me and be thou perfect. Now make no mistake,
the Lord demands a perfect walk of obedience in his holy law.
But we, all men by nature, we are halt. We are unable to keep
the law. We are unable to walk. But understand
this, our inability to keep the law does not negate our responsibility
to keep the law. And while we're on this topic
of law, no one will find this interesting, but I find laws
interesting. And I'm not talking about the Law of Moses. I'm talking
about the laws that men make. I find it interesting that men have
come together and have decided that a charter of rules and regulations
must exist that govern men's actions. If you break those rules
and regulations, we hold you accountable. You are punished
for your crimes. And we do not let a man's inability
to keep our laws to negate his responsibility. Now, to give
you an example of that, let's say a man is a serial killer.
And he has killed many innocent people. And finally, he's caught,
and he's brought before the court system. And he says, you know,
you're right. I did it. I killed all those people. I did it in
cold blood. But here's the thing. Ever since the day I was born,
I've had this deep-seated compulsion to kill. I've tried to stop,
and I just can't. Kill I must, and I can do no
other. Now, does anyone think that we
should let that man go free? No. No, absolutely not. Not if
we have any sense of justice. But yet, when a natural man looks
at God's holy law, and he sees that he can't keep it, he says,
the law is too strict. He said, God is too strict. And
he finds fault with the law, and he finds fault with the Lord,
instead of finding fault where he should. And that is with myself. Or halt. And the last word that's
used to describe this impotence is withered. Now this physical
ailment, it normally pertains to the hands or to the arms.
It's where the moisture or the life leaves the limb and it becomes
useless. It becomes unprofitable. What
do the hands do? They produce work, right Claire?
And this is our case by nature. We are spiritually withered and
we are unable to produce good works. And so the question I
had to ask them is why? Why is man impotent and blind
and halt and withered? To answer that question, I want
you to turn to Ephesians chapter 2. I want you to hear how Paul refers
to the church at Ephesus. I think it's important. Ephesians 2 verse 1, and you
hath he quickened? who were dead in trespasses and
sins. Why are we impotent? Why are
we without strength? Well, it's because we are spiritually
dead. Now let me ask you a few questions.
Number one, can a dead man do anything to bring himself back
to life? Can a dead man repent of his sins? Can a dead man believe
the gospel? Can he produce love for Christ?
love for his people. Can he muster faith? No, I dare
say a dead man cannot. A dead man is dead. And this
is our case by nature. We are impotent folk who are
spiritually dead. But let's go a step further.
Why? How? How did we end up in this spiritually
dead state? Turn to Romans 5, verse 12. I'm
going to ask you to turn to a lot of scriptures, but I want you
to see this. I think it's important. Romans 5 verse 12, Wherefore,
as by one man, sin entered into the world, and death by sin.
And so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned. Now who is this one man by whom
sin entered the world? This is our first father, Adam
of Eden. And you all know the story. Adam was placed in the
garden, and the Lord said, You can eat of all the fruit of all
the trees of the garden, except for the tree of the knowledge
of good and evil. In the day you eat thereof, you shall surely
die. And what did Adam do? Adam disobeyed God, he ate of
the fruit, and when he did, he died. He didn't die physically,
not immediately, he died spiritually. Adam lost his innocent nature
and he took on a fallen, sinful nature that was capable of nothing
but sin. And so someone says, okay, I
understand that. I understand how Adam took on this evil, sinful
nature. I understand how that happened.
Why do I have an evil, sinful nature? Why do you have it? To
answer that question, we must first understand how the Lord
deals with men. Look at 1 Corinthians 15. 1 Corinthians 15 and pick up in
verse 20. And now Christ hath risen out
of the dead, the firstfruits of those sleeping he became.
Since through man is the death, also through man is a rising
again of the dead." Now, key in on this point, this is what
I want you to see. For even as in Adam all die, so also in the
Christ also be made alive. So how does God deal with men?
Well, according to Scripture, it is through two representatives.
The first one is our first father, Adam, wherein all die. And the
second is the Lord Jesus Christ, wherein all, speaking of his
elect people, shall be made alive. Now understand this, just as
every believer has always been in an eternal union with the
Lord Jesus Christ, every man born into this world also shares
a union with our first father, Adam. Now back in Romans 5.12,
you don't have to turn back there, I'll quote it to you. But in
Romans 5.12 it said, death passed upon all men for that all have
sinned. It did not say that Adam's sin
was ceremoniously laid to my charge. It says all have sinned. And here's what we have to get
hold of, and the Lords have to give us the grace to get hold of this.
But here's what it is. When Adam was in the garden,
and when Adam disobeyed God, and when Adam ate the fruit,
I was an Adam. I ate that fruit. I disobeyed God. Now, do I understand
this? No. No, I absolutely don't. But
I tell you this, I see that it is the teaching of Scripture.
I believe and I'm content to take the Lord at His word. Now,
men are going to have objections. They always do. And one of the
more common ones would be something like this. Someone would say,
well, Aaron, I don't know this Adam you're talking about. I've
never met him. And I certainly don't think it's fair that I
suffer the burden of his disobedience. OK. For a moment, forget the
past. Focus solely on the present.
Do you and I not presently sin? Do we not presently commit evil
acts? Do we not presently think evil thoughts and have evil intentions
and evil motives? And where is Adam? My friends,
Adam has been dead for thousands of years. He has not been here
to force us into sinning against God. We have done that just fine
on our own. And understand this, if you will
have no part in the imputation of sin through Adam, then you
will have no part in the imputation of righteousness through the
Lord Jesus Christ. Another argument a man may make
is, well, what about the Lord? Could the Lord have prevented
the fall of man if he wanted to? Absolutely he could have. So someone says, well, it's his
fault. It's the Lord's fault. He should have prevented the
fall of man. That's what got us in this mess to begin with.
It's the Lord's fault. This is a very dangerous way of thinking,
and I can assure you it will get you nowhere. And Paul responded
to this same line of thinking. He did it in Romans 9. I want
you to turn there with me. I want you to see this. Romans 9, verse 20. Nay, but, O man, who art thou
that replyest against God? Shall the thing formed say to
him that formed it, why hast thou made me thus? What right
have we to dictate to the Lord how he purposes his creation?
None. We are the thing formed. We can
go no further in this message until we have gotten a hold of
this point. I want you to see this, and I pray the Lord will
give you the grace to know this, is that my sin, which is the
reason for my spiritual death, is all my fault. There is no
room to blame Adam. There is no room to blame the
Lord. My sin is all my fault. Now someone says, okay, I see
that. I think I grasp my depravity, but what must I do? But before
we answer that question, I want to answer the question, what
should we not do? Like I said in the beginning of the message,
I saw a warning in here. So if you would, turn back to
John 5. Look back at verse 3. In the last part of verse 3,
there is a verb that is used to describe what the multitude
at Bethesda was doing. And that verb is waiting. Now
understand there's a sense in which waiting is a good thing.
Andy pointed out a lot of them this morning. There's waiting
on the Lord. It oftentimes speaks of patience
during tribulation where despite our present circumstances we
trust that whatever the Lord does is right and it's right
because he does it. We trust that everything he does
is for his glory and for our good. That's a good waiting.
There's waiting on His return. It's where we cease to find our
joy in this world. And we patiently wait to the
day we will see Christ face-to-face when we will be perfectly conformed
to His image and we will share a perfect communion with Him.
That is a good waiting. But the waiting that's spoken
of in verse 3 here is not waiting in a positive sense. It's a waiting
in a negative sense. This is the waiting in unbelief.
And this is my great fear for all of us this night. is that
we would perceive our need of salvation, but we would wait,
and we would not come to Christ, and we would not believe on Him.
Now, while I was thinking about this, I thought, why would a
man think that he needed to wait? What fears might he have? What
might be out there? The first one I thought of is
perhaps a man believes that he is not allowed to come to Christ, that
he has no right, that he will be rejected if he comes. I'd like to answer this fear
with a scripture. Turn to John 6, if you would. John 6, and look at verse 37.
The Lord says, All that the Father
giveth me shall come to me, and him that cometh to me I will
in no wise cast out. We should never doubt our Lord's
willingness to save a sinner. Now the Lord clearly states in
His word that He has not come to call the righteous. If you
are a righteous man, if you are righteous by your own estimate,
if you seek to approach unto the Lord on the grounds of your
own obedience, on the grounds of your own works, then make
no mistake, you will be rejected. But a man who comes as a sinner,
a man who all you do is sin, and your sin is all your fault,
you will in no wise be cast out. the more wretched the sinner,
the more willing the Savior to save. And perhaps another man
is waiting to get better. He waits until he stops doing
this sin. He waits until he stops thinking this way. He wants to
get his life straightened out before he comes to Christ, before
he believes on Him. Now, I am an advocate of straightening
out your life. I don't want to sin anymore either.
But for what it's worth, here's my experience. With every day
that passes, I do not find that I get any better. I find that
I only get worse. You see, my sins are ever before
me, and if I were to wait until I was less sinful to come to
Christ, to believe on Him, then I would never come. I think of
the song we sing, just as I am, without one plea, except thy
blood was shed for me, and that thou bidst me come to thee, O
Lamb of God, I come, I come. Perhaps a man is waiting to know
more. He feels that he must have a solid doctrinal understanding
before he comes to Christ, before he seeks to believe on Him. Once
again, and for what it's worth, here's my experience. With every
scripture I read, with every opportunity I have to witness,
I find that I know less and less. The gospel is more deep and more
vast and more mysterious to me now than it's ever been. And
so a man may say, well, what must I know? What must I know?
Do you know that you're a sinner? Do I know that I'm a sinner?
I'm talking about a man who all you do is sin, and it's sin because
you do it. Is that me? Is that you? Do you
know that he is able, all by himself, your works excluded,
to save even you, even me? Do you know that to be the case?
Then you know all. You know everything. Come to
Christ. Believe on Him. Perhaps another
man waits for a feeling. He wants to sit and hear the
gospel and have a warm sensation come over him. He wants to be
gripped by strong emotion, but what is the song we sing? Feelings
come and feelings go and feelings are deceiving. Christ, the mighty
maker, died. Not else is worth believing.
I tell you what, I have no trust in my feelings. One day I'm high,
one day I'm low, but Christ is constant. And finally, perhaps
another man waits for a miracle. He waits for lightning to strike.
He waits to be spoken to from a burning bush. But what we must
understand, that it is very rare that a man is brought to a saving
knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ through extraordinary circumstances.
It is through the preaching of the gospel in the power of the
Holy Spirit. Now I'll ask you, have you heard?
Have you heard? Come to Christ. Believe on Him. So what then? If we are not to
wait, if we see that there is no cause to wait, no man has
ever been commanded to wait in unbelief, then what should we
do? Turn to Matthew 11. Matthew 11, verse 28. This is
our Lord speaking. He says, Come unto me, all ye
that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Now this verse of scripture is
often referred to in theology as the great invitation. And
I understand why men would refer to it in this way. It's because
it is so inviting. It's so gracious. There's nothing harsh about it.
But I want us to see what this verse of scripture is first and
foremost. And that is a command. You see, I can find all different
kinds of reasons to ignore an invitation. Kids are sick. Not
going to be able to make it. I worked a lot this week, just
not going to be able to make it out tonight. They were just
being nice. They really don't want me there.
They were just being nice and sending an invitation. There's no reason for me to go.
I'll just stay home. I can find all kinds of reasons to ignore
an invitation, but a command, a command I must obey. And when I was thinking about
this thing of commands, I remember my time in the Marine Corps.
Funny, right? And I remember that every time
you switched bases or you changed units or job roles or anything
like that, they would send you orders. And the orders, they
were a document. It was a document that told you
everything you needed to do to make that change. And there was no
doubt who those orders were directed to because it had your name in
big, bold letters along the top. And then it told you where you
were supposed to report to. It told you what date and time
you were supposed to be there. It even told you what uniform
you were supposed to be wearing when you got there. Everything was
laid out for you. And here's the thing. This was no invitation.
This was a command, and the Corps had the power to make sure I
obeyed this command. They could cause me to do it,
and it is no different with our Lord. He issues this gracious
command, come unto me, all ye who labor and are heavy laden,
and I will give you rest. And so a man says, how do I know
if this command is to me? How do I know it's addressed
to me? Well, I would ask, do you fit the description of the
one to whom it's addressed to? those who labor and are heavy
laden? Have you labored in this thing
of trying to justify yourself before a holy God and you've
found that you just can't? Are you heavy laden with everything
you've done, and everything you've said, and everything you've thought,
and your evil motives, and your evil intentions? Are you heavy
laden with all your sin, like a burden that's on your back?
Do you fit that description? and be of good cheer, this command
is to you. You are commanded to believe
on Christ. You are commanded to come to
Him. You are commanded to trust Him as all in your salvation.
It is to you. And this is my favorite part.
It fills my heart with joy. With a command comes the ability.
When I was doing my studying for this message, I came across
one of Spurgeon's old sermons. And in that sermon, he talked
about a believer's first coming to Christ, what that looked like.
And it was such a great blessing to me. I'm just going to read
it to you verbatim, because he said it better than I ever could.
So this is Spurgeon speaking. This is what he said about a
believer's first coming to Christ. Spurgeon said, so sometimes we think,
how can I believe? How can I hope? How can I follow
Christ? Ah, but let Christ get near us.
And he finds us with all that. We do not come to Christ to bring
our repentance, but to get repentance. We do not come to him with a
broken heart, but for a broken heart. We do not so much even
come to him with faith as to come to him for faith. Does that
fit the description of anyone here tonight? Does anyone here
need to be given the ability to believe? Does anyone need
to be given the ability to repent, to change your mind about who
you are and about who God is, to take sides with God against
yourself? Does anyone need to be given
the gift of faith? You know where you can find it.
Obey the command. Come to Christ. Believe on Him. And so, we see this. We see that
the great command is to come to Christ, to believe on Him.
But let's ask this question. Truly, who must come to who first? Go back to John 5. I want you
to look at verse 5. For a moment, I want to consider
this man whom the Lord made whole physically. John 5, verse 5. And a certain
man was there, which had an infirmity thirty and eight years." Now
there is one word in this verse of scripture that jumps off the
page at me, and that is certain. He was a certain man. He was
a particular man. He was a special object of our
Lord's affection. And I find it interesting, I
can't help but notice, and I want to say this right, so if I get
it wrong, I'll explain it. I find it interesting that the story
of how this man is made whole physically, how that story begins,
it begins in the exact same manner that the story of how every sinner
is made whole spiritually. They begin the exact same way,
and that is with God, in His sovereignty, making a choice. Now visualize it with me for
a second. Our Lord walked amongst five porches of a great multitude
of impotent, blind, halt, withered men, and he stops at one. And he is gracious to that man.
He shows him favor that is unmerited. He was shown kindness he did
not deserve, and he was made whole. What a picture of divine
election. And someone says, well back up
some. Hold on. Could the Lord have made every man whole, Bethesda,
if he wanted to? Absolutely, he could have. Well,
why didn't he? Because he wasn't pleased to.
It wasn't according to his purpose. Well, a man says, well, that's
not fair. That's absolutely not fair. If the Lord had the power
to make every man whole, he should have made every man whole. There's
nothing loving about that. That's unfair. Show me in this passage of scripture
where any man cried out to the Lord to be made whole and our
Lord told him no, that he refused the request. Show me. You can't,
because it's not there. It's not recorded anywhere in
this story of any man of Bethesda's pool crying out to the Lord to
be made whole. And so a man may argue and say,
well, He didn't reveal Himself to them. If He would have revealed
Himself, if He would have told them that He could make them
whole, that He could cure them, surely they would have cried
out then. Surely they would have asked to be made whole. Oh? Our Lord did much better than
tell these men that He could make them whole. He showed them. Think about it. Visualize it.
In the midst of the five porches, in the midst of this great multitude,
our Lord stopped at this one particular man, probably the
best known man at Bethesda. He had been paralyzed for 38
years. And our Lord healed him. And
he caused him to do what he could not do before, stand and walk. And so I would ask, Is it wrong for the Lord to withhold
from men what they do not want to begin with? No. It absolutely is not. And men in the religious world,
they will say that election holds men off, men who want to be saved.
It holds them off and keeps them from being saved. It's a lie.
It's an out-and-out lie, and we see that from our example
here. Consider this certain man. Where are his cries? When did
he cry out to the Lord to be made whole? He didn't. It's not there. See, this man
was just like the multitude. He was just as content to sit
and wait by that pool as everyone else, and he was content to die
by that pool just as everyone else. But our Lord intervened. He came to where he was, and
he showed that man grace. He showed him unmerited favor,
and he made him whole. Our Lord's choice at Bethesda
did not keep any man from being made whole by Christ alone who
wished to be made whole. It only included a man who would
have otherwise died by the pool. And this is the same with divine
election and salvation. Election does not keep any man
from being saved who wishes to be saved. It only saves men who
would otherwise be damned. And on a personal note, I love
this thing of election because I see the necessity of it in
my salvation. Because I know that if he would
not have chosen me first, I never would have chosen him. Turn back to John 5 if you wouldn't
look at verse 8. I want to consider for a moment
what the Lord did for this certain man. Verse 8, Jesus saith unto him,
Rise, take up thy 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. Now what did the Lord do for
this man? He made him whole. Our Lord came to this man, this
paralyzed man, where he was at. Our Lord cured him of his disease.
He gave him a command to do what he could not do before, and with
that command came the ability. And that man stood. We see what
this Lord did for this man physically, how he made him whole physically,
but how does the Lord make a sinner whole spiritually? Well, I think
first we have to examine this phrase, made whole, and first
this word made. Made is an interesting word.
It implies that the thing that is made, it was not that thing
until it was created to be that thing. Now, I know that's a hard
concept, but let me give you an example. Remember our Lord's
first miracle at Cana of Galilee, at the wedding feast Todd talked
about this past Wednesday. The wedding patrons had drank
all the wine, they were out of wine, and so the Lord ordered
six water pots, water vessels, to be lined up before him to
be filled to the very brim with water. They couldn't hold another
drop. And our Lord made that water
wine. It was made to be something that
it was not before. And this is the case with every
believer in Christ. We are made to be what we were
not before. And then we have the word whole.
This word whole implies being complete. Nothing left to do. Nothing to be added. Just like
those water pots, full to the very brim. Couldn't hold another
drop. Well, what does the scripture
say about being complete? Well, Colossians 2.10, it says we are
complete in Him. Speaking of the Lord Jesus Christ,
through our union with Him, that's where our completeness lies.
But how? In what ways? Turn with me, if
you would, to 1 Corinthians 1. 1 Corinthians 1, verse 30. But of Him are ye in Christ Jesus. who of God is made unto us these
four things, wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. These are four things that I
am not by nature, but in Christ, he is made unto me these things.
This is my completeness. And the first one is wisdom.
By nature, I am not wise. I'm ignorant and I'm blind. But
in Christ, I see. I have some sight. I see something
of my own sinfulness, albeit I couldn't bear to know the whole.
I see something of the beauty and the glory of Christ, yet
I see through a glass darkly. And I want to know so much more,
don't you? I see something of how God can be just, and He can
justify a sinner as me. He has made unto me wisdom. some
wisdom. Righteousness. By nature, I'm
not righteous. I haven't kept one commandment one time, not
in my heart. I know that about me. But right now, in Christ,
I'm righteous. I have a perfect standing before
the wall. He said, how can that be? When
our Lord Jesus Christ came to this earth, when He lived a perfect
life, and He worked out a perfect righteousness, and He honored
His Father in all things, I was in Him. Now I ask you, how righteous
is Christ right now? It's how righteous I am. It's
how righteous every believer is. Because our righteousness
is in Him. Sanctification. To be sanctified
is to take something common and ordinary and make it holy. This refers to the regeneration
of a believer in the Holy Spirit. Now by nature I am not holy.
We talked about this before. I'm evil and sinful and wretched
but in Christ. He has made me holy because He
is holy. I am in Him, and every believer
is in Him. Redemption. To be redeemed is
to be bought or purchased back. For me to be made whole, I had
to be purchased, and it was a purchase of blood. This is a transaction
that took place between the Father and the Son and is seen at the
cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. For me to be made whole, Christ
had to be made sin. He had to be made my sin. He
had to be punished with a punishment that was reserved for me. And
when he hung his head and said, it is finished, and he gave up
the ghost, every elect son of God was made whole. We were purchased. So in conclusion, I want you
to turn back to John chapter 5. Look up at verse 6. In verse
6, the Lord asks this certain man a question. It's a question
I want us to ask ourselves tonight. I want to ask it to me and I
want to ask it to you. And the question is this, will thou be
made whole? Now, I'm not asking you if you
want to go to heaven. I dare say if any man has the choice between
heaven or hell, he will choose heaven every time. I'm asking
you, will you be made whole? Or rather, will you be made whole
by the means by which Christ makes a man whole? Will you be
saved by free grace alone, by Christ alone, your works excluded? Will you be saved by a God who
will have all the glory in your salvation for himself. And you
will be a trophy of his power and his grace and his mercy. Will you be a debtor to grace?
Now, I was thinking about this. You know, a sick man draws out
a lot of pity. No one expects much from a sick
man. But if the Lord makes you whole,
if he makes you well, you're not going to be allowed to sit
idle. I'm experiencing a little of that right now. You're going to have a purpose.
You're going to be useful to Him. Is that what you want? Will you be a debtor to grace? And these are legitimate questions
because the multitude of Bethesda was not willing. They were unwilling. And I'm going to be honest with
you, if you walk out these doors tonight without Christ, it is
for one reason, and one reason alone, it's because you are unwilling. So someone may say, Aaron, are
you talking about a free will? A man exercising his free will?
No, I am not. There is no such thing as a free
will. Your will is tied to your nature. And if the Lord passes
you by and leaves you alone, then you will hate this message
of salvation by free grace by Christ alone. You will not be
saved by Christ because you won't want it. But if you will be made
whole, if you will be saved by Christ alone, it's because you
have been made willing. It's because you were elected
by God the Father before the foundation of the world. It's
because you were saved on the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ.
It's because you have been quickened by the Holy Spirit. Now, come
to Christ. Believe on Him. and wait for
nothing.