LIMAVADY INDEPENDENT METHODIST CHURCH
SERMON NOTES FROM SUNDAY 10 DECEMBER 2023
JOHN 5 VERSES 1 – 15
The master was performing many
mighty miracles. Multitudes were astonished
at his mighty working power. He had
transformed a terrible set of circumstances when he healed the nobleman’s
son. He had turned failure into success,
tragedy into triumph. The Saviour is
confronted by another man in our story.
The Saviour made his way to the pool of Bethesda where a great multitude
of people lay sick. Among them lay a man
who was a cripple for 38 years. Time and
again the waters were stirred. He tried
to get into the waters but was disappointed on every occasion. As he lay beside the pool the Lord appeared
and spoke words which brought about his cure.
Firstly we see the diagnosis
– verse 6. The Lord Jesus was fully
aware of this man’s sickness. He was infirmed
and without strength. The one who knows
all things had full record of this man’s situation. Why did he then ask him in verse 6 “wilt thou
be made whole?” In other words ‘do you
want to be made whole?’ The fact that
the cripple was here at this pool was evidence that he desired healing. There was a genuine purpose behind the
question. The Lord was drawing out a recognition
of helplessness and a desperate need of healing. This question brought home the recognition of
his problem. He had to face up to
it. He had to acknowledge it before he
would receive the cure. Many want to be
saved. They want the cure. They need a diagnosis but don’t want to face
up to the problem. They do not want to
confess and admit they are lost and in need of a Saviour. Many lost sinners don’t want to go to hell
but at the same time they don’t want to get saved. Have you faced up to the problem that you are
a sinner in need of a Saviour? The
Saviour knew all about this man’s problem.
He needs to hear the confession from your lips – that you are lost and
in need of him. The psalmist
acknowledged it – “I acknowledged my sin unto thee and mine iniquity have I not
hid, I said I will confess my transgressions unto the Lord and thou forgavest
the iniquity of my sin (Psalm 32 verse 5)
The cripple’s answer to the Saviour was somewhat moving. He had been lying by the pool for years
waiting to get in. Every time the waters
were stirred there was no-one there to help him get in and someone else got
there before him. Verse 17 “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.” The cripped was pinning his hopes on one
man. There was one thing he would learn
throughout this whole experience – not to put his confidence in a man. He would be no good to him in these circumstances.
Man could not help him. Many are
depending on a man to forgive their sin, to save them from a lost
eternity. No man can save an individual,
bring them from darkness into light.
Only one man – the Godman. There
is one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus. Something else the
cripple did not do – he didn’t try and cover up his problem. He was honest about his condition. He didn’t say “I am grand” to the question, “I
don’t need help.” No he expressed his
problem to the Lord and made no attempt to hide it. It is often when men are brought face to face
with the condition of their heart that they will seek to cover it up. They will make every effort to hid it. That could be the case for someone here
tonight. You are trying to cover up the
true condition of your heart. You are
not a bad sinner. You would say “I was
brought up in a good Christian home, I don’t smoke, I don’t gamble, I don’t
drink alcohol.” They are attempting to
cover up the true condition of the heart.
It is a serious thing to cover up your true diagnosis because you will
never receive the effective cure. If you
do not disclose to the doctor your problem but cover it up you will not receive
the cure. If you do not express your
true condition before the Lord he cannot impart to you the effective cure. “He that covereth his sins shall not prosper
but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy.” (Proverbs28 verse 13) The diagnosis.
The deliverance. Confession from the cripple was followed by a
mighty cure. “Rise, take up thy bed and
walk.” So great a three fold deliverance
took place in this man’s life. When the
Lord does mighty things in individual lives they will rise in character and
spirituality. Sin does the complete
opposite, it causes men to become lower and lower in sin but as a result of
this man’s desperate condition he was no longer lying low. The Saviour came and raised him up. You might be lying low tonight, in the depths
of sin but the Lord Jesus can work in your heart and life that will raise you
up. That is why the Lord went to the
cross. He was lifted up so you could be
raised up and rescued from your sin. “And
I, if I be lifted up from the earth will draw all men unto myself.” (John 12
verse 32) The Lord does not lower men in
morals or character. No, the business of
the gospel is to raise men. Have you
been raised, lifted from your sin?
“From sinking sand He
lifted me
With tender hand He lifted
me
From shades of night to
plains of light
Oh praise his name he
lifted me.”
Not only see the rising
but the taking. “Take up thy bed.” This was no comfortable bed but a pallet with
a piece of material. It could be moved
easily from one place to another. When
this cripple received the cure and received it here he was commissioned by the Saviour
to roll it up. By doing so he was
removing everything that was attached to his former life. He was raised up, cured. His old bed no longer was needed. He was not to return to the old ways of
living. He was gloriously healed. He lived differently from then on. To take his bed, to roll it up. Can this be said of everyone who has received
the cure spiritually? What about those
of us who are saved tonight? We have
received the cure, we have been raised up – have we rolled up everything that
was associated with the old life or could it be there are things we go back
to? Sins from a former life we still
cling to? We must roll them up, be done
with them. There can be no turning
back. We have been saved therefore we
must live differently. “Old things have
passed away behold all things have become new.” (2 Corinthians 5 verse 17). The rising, the taking and the walking –
verse 8. What a deliverance this man
experienced. Surely it was the talk of
the country. This man who was unable to
move or do anything for himself has been raised up, rolled up his bed and is
now walking. The wonderful work Jesus
did in his life would be clearly noted in his walk. When an individual becomes a believer he is
raised up from sin. It will be shown in
their conduct. Does your walk show
others the wonderful work Jesus has done in your life? When the master heals us from the plague of
sin he expects us to walk in a way worthy of him. We cannot witness with our words if we are not
witnessing with our walk. The diagnosis. The deliverance.
The direction – 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.”
This cripple who was raised up could find no better place to be thanking
God for the wonderful miracle taking place in his life than in the temple. It was in the temple he was commissioned to
live a life of certainty. “Behold thou art
made whole”. Giving him great assurance
about the completeness of the work performed in his life and walk. You have experienced the full extent of my
delivering power. This is one of the
first things every believer should be taught when coming to know the Lord as
Saviour. The certainty. Assurance is not
to doubt the work Christ has done in their lives. Are you doubting? Are you beginning to doubt. The old devil is trying to rob you of radiant
certainty. It is not something to
question or doubt but believe and rejoice in.
Thou art made whole. “These
things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God that
ye may know that ye have eternal life.” (1 John 5 verse 13) The Saviour called him to live a life of
certainty and victory – verse 14 “sin no more.”
By making this statement he was expressing God’s standard of
holiness. He could not endorse sin. He could only say what God the Father would
say. “Sin no more”. The Lord was not telling him to do something
that was beyond him. The master was
fully aware that victory over sin in the Christian life is possible. Living a victorious life is achievable
through the help and strength of the Lord.
Romans 8 verse 37 “Nay in all these things we are more than conquerors
through him that loved us.” Someone said
the victorious Christian life is the victorious Christian life. Live a life of certainty. Victory.
Also loyalty. “Lest a worse thing
come unto thee.” A warning from the
Saviour would encourage loyalty to the Saviour.
To fail at this point in his life would invite a worse disaster than the
38 years of illness he had just been delivered from. The Lord never said what the worse thing
would be. He wanted to understand sin
has far more devastating results than sickness.
He showed mercy and love to this man.
It is a terrible thing to turn back to a sin. Sinning against the light he had just
received from the Lord. A dangerous
thing to do. Sinning against the light
you have received. This cripple would
have realised loyalty to Jesus was not optional but mandatory. He had to be loyal. There was no going back. We are living in a day when loyalty is scarce. Where is the commitment and loyalty from the
followers of Jesus? We are living in a
day when turning back and sinning in the light they had received. What about us? Are we loyal followers of Jesus? Committed and dedicated to his cause? If we are going to please our Saivour and
enjoy the fulness of his blessing we must be loyal to him. Revelation 2 verse 10 “be thou faithful unto
death and I will give thee a crown of life.”
We have discovered that Jesus does not do things by half. He goes all the way. In response to all that Jesus has done for us
tonight are we going to go all the way with him? I trust you will take the right course of
action and direction and life of certainty, a life of victory and a life of
loyalty.
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