RISE UP AND WALK
John 5:1-9
INTRO: One night a drunkard sat at a table in a bar, drinking with his companions. Soon his wife came in and set a covered dish before him, saying, “Jack, you seem too busy to come home for supper, so I brought your supper to you.” As she left the saloon the man’s companions roared with laughter. Jack then invited them to have supper with him.
He removed the cover and found the dish to be empty, but in it was a note which read, “Jack, I hope you enjoy your supper. This is just what the children and I have at home.”
Yes, Satan’s dishes are always empty. But Christ fills the Christian’s dishes with the best things for time and eternity.
In this Bible story we learn how He blessed a man who had been sick and needy for thirty-eight years. Jesus asked the man if he wanted to be healed. He replied that no man ever came to put him in the healing waters. So Jesus said, “Rise, take up thy bed, and walk.” And the poor man, after thirty-eight years of suffering, rose up and walked. In this story we find three meaningful facts.
I. THE CONDITION OF THE MAN.
1. He Was Helpless. Probably someone brought him to the pool every morning and came after him every night, but all the day long he lay there in a helpless condition. Now this is a picture of a lost sinner. He is helpless, he can’t do anything to save himself.
And isn’t that the condition of all of us? Without Christ we can do nothing. Yet Paul said… (Phil 4:13). All of our talent, all of our wisdom, all of our personality is as nothing unless Christ is in it. What we could do if we were fully surrendered to Him!
2. He Was Hopeless. Surely when he first came to the pool of Bethesda, he must have had great hopes of getting well. At the end of the first year he may have said, “Surely I’ll be all right by this time next year.” But the years came and went and he soon gave up hope.
No life is so bleak as the one which has no hope. The man without Christ has no hope. There is no future for him.
But thank God, the Christian has hope. He has hope that God will take care of him and his loved ones. He has hope that God will comfort him in sorrow. He has hope that God will take him home at the end of life.
3. He Was Friendless. A friend is one who know all about you and still loves you. A friend is one who comes in when all the world goes out. But the best friend is Jesus. He is a friend who sticks closer than a brother. He is a friend who will never forsake us in spite of our sins.
So here is the man, hopeless, helpless, and friendless. Jesus is the only one who can help him. When we come to the end of our resources, when we feel the whole world is against us, Jesus is very near.
II. THE COMING OF THE SAVIOR.
We read that Jesus saw him and knew he had been there a long time. Yes, He sees and knows all about us. But here is a comforting thought. When we are in trouble or sorrow He sees us also. You may think that you don’t count with God, that you are simply one small person among the millions on earth, but you are someone in His sight.
Now Jesus proceeds to heal this man. The man had been looking to the pool for his healing and had been bitterly disappointed, but here is the Great Physician ready to do all for him that he needs. Here is where the religious world divides today. Some people look to their own works for salvation. Some look to Christ and Him alone for salvation.
Some say, “He has done it all.” Others say. “I must do something.” Some say, “Jesus paid it all.” Others say, “I must pay my way to heaven.” But Jesus looked on this man, loved him, had compassion on him, and healed him in the twinkling of an eye.
III. THE COMMAND OF CHRIST.
He said to the man, “Rise, take up thy bed, and walk.” He says the same thing to us. After we have been saved we are not to remain seated, we are to rise up and walk for Jesus.
ILLUS: Suppose you were in a burning building and a firemen rushed in and saved your life, but suppose that it cost him his life. Wouldn’t you go to his funeral, wouldn’t you send some flowers, wouldn’t you show some appreciation in some way? Surely you would.
Well, Jesus has saved you from the burning pits of hell. Shouldn’t you acknowledge it in some way?
WHAT DOES HE CALL UPON US TO DO?
1. He calls us to rise up and walk in an open confession of Him. If we have been truly saved we will do it. If we have had the tremendous experience of sins forgiven, we will be glad to confess Him before all the world.
ILLUS: I have known people to make a confession of faith in the hospital or in the home, but they stopped right there. They never came out on the Lord’s side. They never came to church to confess Him publicly. They went on living in the same old way. I doubt if their conversion is genuine (See Rom 10:9-11).
2. He calls us to rise up and walk into the baptismal waters. When a person has been really saved, his first impulse and desire is to follow Christ in baptism. This is not something that brings salvation, this is a matter of obedience which follows salvation.
3. He calls us to rise up and walk to a faithful church membership. Nothing in the world can benefit a Christian as much as a faithful relationship to a gospel church. And how wonderful it would be if all church members were faithful. Think of the added spiritual power our churches would have. Think of the many souls that would be won to Christ.
ILLUS: Some American soldiers found a ruined church in Germany. In it they found fragments of a statue of Christ. They set about to put all the pieces of the statue together, but they could not locate the hands. When they had finished putting the statue together the put this inscription on the base, “He has
no hands but your hands to do His work today.”
4. He calls us to rise up and walk in a life of communion with Christ. That means prayer and Bible study. This is the secret of power and peace in a Christian’s life. Leave these things out and your religion becomes a dead formality.
ILLUS: The great preacher Spurgeon, preached to thousands each Sunday and hundreds were saved. When someone asked him the secret of his power and success, he said, “look in the basement.” An the one who asked him the question found a large group of men praying as Spurgeon preached.
It is as we commune with God that we get power and strength to live the Christian life.
5. He calls us to rise up and walk as consecrated Christians.
6. He calls us to rise up and walk as faithful stewards.
7. He calls us to rise up and walk in a life of service.
