Rise up. Pick up Your Stuff. And Walk.

John 5:6-8

Do you want to be made well? What kind of question is this that Jesus is asking?

Throughout Scripture, God asks questions like this during difficult circumstances:

Adam and Eve are hiding from God in the Garden, and says says, “Where are you?” God knew exactly where they were, but Adam and Eve didn’t know exactly where they were and how to get out from where they were...

Elijah is depressed and has asked God to take his life. He is led to a mountain and he has this mountain top experience with God, in and through which God asks the question: “What are you doing here?” God knew exactly why Elijah was there, but Elijah didn’t really know why he was where he was.

Questions get us thinking. Questions lead us to know what is going on, on the inside of us. Questions get the truth out of us. Questions get confessions out of us...

“Do you really want to get well? Are you willing to do anything?”

This man has had this debilitating disease for 38 years. For almost 4 decades he has suffered.

Are there other sick people here? Absolutely. This is the place people are coming to for healing. They believe that an angel is going to stir the waters, these waters that were most likely spring fed.

They believed that this pool has healing powers. Some ancient sources say that this pool was red from all the minerals it had in it.

And Jesus points this man out, chooses him, and gets straight to the point, not beating around the bush, talking about the weather, or having some other idle conversation...

You know we have a lot of those: Idle conversations. Souls are at stake, hearts are hurting, people are lost, people are struggling with so much that life brings… and what do we do… beat around the bush and talk about things the don’t matter...

Jesus speaks with purpose. Jesus speaks with intent. Jesus speaks to the heart, to the hurting… and gets to it. He would not make a good politician.

Jesus is the Great Physician, not the Great Politician.

We don’t need more politicians today. We need people who will actually say something. We need people who will get to something that matters, and talk about life, and spiritual things.

“Do you want to be made well?”

How does the sick man respond? “Sir, I have no man to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up… people get in my way, and another person steps down before me...”

How long has it been that he has waited to receive healing? How long has it been that people kept jumping in front of him, cutting him off… never offering to put him in.

Everyone is there for healing, and everyone is out for themselves. “I am hurting, you are hurting, we are all hurting… I don’t have time for you; I have my own issues.”

No one has time to help. No one has time to wait on this one.

“I have no man to help me...” This man is possibly bitter and hopeless, after so much time passing without a man to help him. He has probably lost all hope and faith in man...

And now… He is in a place of utter desperation.

And you know what? That is a good place to be in. Where? In a place where we are no longer looking to man to save us, to fix us, to make us whole or complete...

It is possible that everyone around him can walk, run or jump, move quickly, and fight their way to the front.

Not this man.

He is always last. He has never been the head, always the tail. And today… the last will be first.

“Do you want to be made well?” “I have no man to help me.”

Then the voice of God spoke to every cell of his being. The same voice that spoke the world into being, that created man from the dust of the ground… The Word of God penetrated this man’s body and the power of Almighty God restored him health. He was healed...

Rise. Take up your bed. And walk.

1. Salvation: This man was no more deserving than the others, but God chose him. This is a beautiful picture of salvation, and how it ought to humble us to know that we are chosen “in Him” and not because of our own merits but because of His grace (Eph. 1:4).

We must come to this place to receive salvation. God meets with us, and in our brokenness, and in our total dependency upon God, and we are hopeless; we have lost hope in ourselves to save us and we have lost hope in this world to save us… There is no man to help me. There is no man to save me… I don’t just need help, I need healing and salvation.

This is where the Lord finds you, and lifts you up from the miry pit and sets your feet on a solid rock.

Not that you are deserving. Its not because you can perform or do anything for Him. He just chooses to love you, heal you, and save you… This is our Jesus.

Quit looking to men, quit looking to people to make you complete… They can and will never do it. Only Jesus can.

2. Now Christian. Rise up. And Walk.

Verse 14 - “You have been made well. Sin no more, lest a worse thing come upon you.”

You have been made well, now walk in the newness of life. Not all disease is the consequence of sin, and some diseases are the consequences of sin.

Believers can also be spiritually sick in the sense that they are living in unconfessed sin or they are failing to pursue personal spiritual growth. The Bible promotes what is spiritually enriching as opposed to what would cause us to be spiritually sick: “The fear of the LORD leads to life” (Proverbs 19:23).

And, “Truly the righteous attain life, but whoever pursues evil finds death” (Proverbs 11:19). “Physical training is of some value,” Paul says, “but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come” (1 Timothy 4:8).

Godliness, righteousness, and the fear of the Lord are the remedy for spiritual sickness.

Spiritual sickness can be closely related to physical and emotional sickness. In Psalm 32, David writes of the impact his sick spirit had on other areas of his life:

a. When I kept silent, my bones grew old… I groaned all day… for all day Your hand was heavy upon me… my vitality (strength/energy) was turned into the drought of summer. Then David acknowledged his sin, confessed it, and the Lord forgave him...

James 5:16 - Confess yours sins/trespasses to one another that you may be healed...

God desires us to be spiritually healthy. He wants us to live in His forgiveness, free from the penalty of sin, the power of Satan, and the accusations of a guilty conscience.

Christian: Do you want to be made well? “Well I am looking for a man… to help me...” I am looking for a minister… I am looking for a man or a woman, or a child… to take away the pain and despair I feel...

Rise up dear Christian. And walk to Jesus this day, and be healed from the consequences of your sin...

The sin that has been festering, taking away your joy, your praise, your worship, your prayer life… that has been robbing you of the Christian life...

Be healed today, in Jesus Name.