A Kansas man by the last name of Florence told a story about his daughter who was suffering from an illness. Mr. Florence said, “My daughter, suffering from anorexia and bulimia, was undergoing treatment at Baptist Medical Center in Kansas City. On one particularly difficult day she was told to drink a glass of [milky looking medicine], but she just couldn’t. Her doctor was called in. He sat down beside her on the bed and said, ‘You are a Christian woman, correct?’ She answered yes, so he said, ‘Do you remember the man Jesus healed near the pool of Siloam? Jesus put mud on his eyes to bring about his healing. But what really healed him?’ She thought for a moment and then answered, ‘His faith.’ ‘Good!’ he said. [You have to believe in the procedure, and believe that it’s going to work, even though it tastes bad and might not make sense.] ‘Now, drink your mud’.”(1)
There are believers in this room right now who are suffering from some illness. Many have physical ailments; however, this morning I am going to be addressing emotional and spiritual illnesses and see how they can be healed. In our passage today, we will learn how Jesus confronted a man who had been ill for thirty-eighty years, and asked him if he desired to be healed. The entire time we’re looking at this passage I want you to be asking yourself if you desire to be healed of your emotional or spiritual illness; for God’s Word will show us that some of us are not healed simply because we don’t want to be healed; or, because we lack the faith to be healed.(2)
Do You Have A Lifelong Disorder? (vv. 1-5)
1 After this there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 2 Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, which is called in Hebrew, Bethesda, having five porches. 3 In these lay a great multitude of sick people, blind, lame, paralyzed, waiting for the moving of the water. 4 For an angel went down at a certain time into the pool and stirred up the water; then whoever stepped in first, after the stirring of the water, was made well of whatever disease he had. 5 Now a certain man was there who had an infirmity thirty-eight years.
In these verses we find a great deal of symbolism. First, we find that this large multitude of sick people were lying by the Sheep Gate. Warren Wiersbe tells us that the Sheep Gate speaks of the sacrifice of God’s Son, the Lamb of God, who had to die in order for God’s grace and spiritual healing to be poured out on sinners.(3) Next, we see that the name of the pool was Bethesda. “Bethesda” means “house of grace,” and this is a picture of how God extends His free “gift” of salvation which heals us of sin.(4) This emphasis placed on grace and salvation through Christ tells us that many of these people lying around the pool waiting to be healed were in need of spiritual healing, and not just physical healing.
In Mark chapter 2, someone brought a paralytic to Jesus to be healed, and Jesus said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven you” (Mark 2:5). Today, we see illnesses related to sin primarily in the area of emotional illnesses. You may not realize it, or perhaps you think it’s superstitious, but there are people who are experiencing emotional pain because they’re living in sin. Jay Adams, who is the founder of “nouthetic” (confrontational) biblical counseling, tells us that many times mental and emotional illnesses are the result of unconfessed sin and the dodging of responsibility for our actions.(5)
If we harbor hidden sins then we can become tormented and fall under bondage. You see, the walls we put up to hide our sins from the world can become the very walls that keep us penned up behind emotional bars, and feeling as though we’re trapped with no way out. This is known as spiritual bondage, and the only route of escape is by taking responsibility for our actions, confessing our sins and accepting the unconditional love and forgiveness found in Jesus Christ. Jesus said in John 4:10-14 that there is a well of living water that exists for our healing; and there are some of us here this morning who need to jump into that pool of grace, and allow ourselves to be healed.
Some people are having painful emotional feelings such as depression and hopelessness, and they can’t understand why because they’re unable to identify any obvious sin they’re committing. Some people, like the man who had an infirmity for thirty-eight years, have been living with a “lifelong disorder.” They have lived with their illness for so long that they don’t even realize they have one; but if a person is experiencing emotional or spiritual pain, then more than likely he or she has sin which needs to be confessed and forgiven, and which needs to be healed.
If someone has a lifelong disorder then many times it will be manifested in a harmful behavior pattern, one which has become deeply embedded in their personality. Exodus 34:6-7 speaks of generational sin, and teaches us that children can learn sinful behavior from their parents; behavior they carry with them throughout their entire life, and which can be passed on to successive generations. This process of passing on harmful behavior does not stop until the sin is identified and dealt with – and dealing with his own individual sin is exactly what Jesus confronted this man to do.
Do You Want to Be Made Well? (v. 6)
6 When Jesus saw him lying there, and knew that he already had been in that condition a long time, He said to him, “Do you want to be made well?”
When Jesus saw how the man was lying just at the edge of the healing water, He thought it rather strange that the man hadn’t entered into the water in all those thirty-eight years. So He asked him, “Do you want to be made well?” This question might seem rather harsh to someone who had been sick and was lying at the very place where people were gathered to be healed; nevertheless, it was a legitimate question. Jesus saw that in all those thirty-eight years the man had not been healed. It just didn’t make sense! The only possibility was that he didn’t want to be healed.
There are people today who are lying right at the edge of the healing water and have refused to enter in. There are people who don’t know Jesus as Savior and Lord, but they come to church each and every week. They are just on the edge of the pool. When the invitation is given at the end of the service, they refuse to come forward and be spiritually healed. There are also individuals who have accepted Christ as Savior and Lord; and yet they refuse to dive into a deeper relationship with God and let Christ have complete reign over their lives. There are people right on the edge of the healing waters, but they are not healed because they don’t really want to be healed.
This may sound rather strange, but the fact of the matter is that some people are addicted to their sins. If someone has learned a bad attitude or behavior pattern, then it has become a habit in their life. Habits and addictions go hand-in-hand. We can become addicted to complaining. We can become addicted to feeling sorry for ourselves, and we can become addicted to depression. We can become addicted to any type of sin; and when we become addicted, it’s hard to let go. We know that what we’re doing is wrong, and so we stand by the water’s edge hoping that this will be enough to make our lives right with the Lord. We want to hang on to the addiction, or sin, and at the same time be in the water; but since we can’t do both, we wind up flat on our back at the edge of the healing water, talking about how we want to be healed but never really meaning it.
Do You Tend to Make Excuses? (v. 7)
7 The sick man answered Him, “Sir, I have no man to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up; but while I am coming, another steps down before me.”
Some of us want to look spiritual in the eyes of our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ, and so we let on to them that we want to be healed. We reason within ourselves, “Isn’t a Christian supposed to want healing? If so, then I must not let on to people that I’m addicted to my particular sin. What would they think if they knew?” So, we wind up telling our Christian peers that we desire healing, even though we don’t really mean it. The man in this passage was sitting at the water’s edge trying to make people believe he wanted to be healed, but the fact is that he wasn’t really committed enough to get into the water. He was probably accustomed to living in his condition, and the fear of change frightened him so much that he wouldn’t roll over into the pool.
Some of us are addicted to our emotional or spiritual illness; and when our Christian brothers and sisters ask us why we’re not being healed we make excuses for the shape we’re in, in order to hide the fact that we really don’t want to put forth the effort to move and be healed. The man in this passage said, “Sir, I have no man to put me into the pool.” He basically said, “I can’t do it!” How many of us, when confronted with a change in our life, have said we can’t change? I’m sure some of us have. We also see how this man said, “But while I am coming, another steps down before me.” He basically said, “It’s just too hard!” Has someone ever confronted you about a problem, and you told them you don’t know what to do about it, and it’s just too hard to deal with? People make these excuses in trying to dodge the fact that they just don’t want to change.
It was obvious that this man didn’t want to change. You would think that after thirty-eight years this man could have at least scooted to the edge of the pool. “Even if that man had only moved an inch a year, it seems that in thirty-eight years, he ought to have been able to get close enough to the edge to just roll over into the water when it was stirred up.”(6) That man should have been determined enough to say, “Either I’m going to get healed or I’m going to [drown], but I’m not staying like this.”(7) If we are ever going to be healed of our emotional or spiritual illnesses then we need to stop making excuses, and we need to become determined to be healed even if it kills us! We may think it will kill us, but it will actually heal us.
Are You Determined to Get Up? (vv. 8-9)
8 Jesus said to him, “Rise, take up your bed and walk.” 9 And immediately the man was made well, took up his bed, and walked.
It’s interesting to see that the man was healed, but he was not healed by the water. He was healed when he responded in obedience to Jesus’ command of “rise” or “get up!” Some of us believe that in order to be healed we need to have some kind of miraculous experience take place in our life. Before we will ever attempt to let go of our sin, we feel that God must show us some miraculous sign; that He must mystically take away our problem. Jesus is not going to show us a sign to prove that we can be healed. He doesn’t have to prove anything to us because He is Lord, and what He says is absolutely true; and He’s the final authority. His Word tells us we can be healed, and Jesus says to each of us today, “Rise and get up!” We just need to be determined to be obedient; for determination goes a long way. Allow me to share an illustration concerning determination:
Executives from two hundred of the nation’s largest companies were asked, “Of the successful people you have met over the years, which of the following is the main reason for their success: (a) contacts, (b) determination, (c) hard work, (d) knowledge, or (e) luck?” In response, 40 percent of these high-powered executives indicated that success was due to hard work, and 38 percent said determination. Seventy-eight percent of these who have succeeded in their professions said that people achieve success through hard work and determination.(8)
This illustration continues to say, “We all have a tendency to look for the ‘magic potion’ that will give us immediate results. To such thinking we should expose our minds to the information learned from this example. Success usually requires a great deal of hard work and determination; not to mention, plenty of prayer.”(9) In applying this information to our passage, we can see that determination is also a key factor in overcoming emotional and spiritual illnesses. So, if God tells us we can rise up from our illness or sin, then we can indeed rise up! If we are determined enough to get up, then we will get up! We just have to have the desire to do something about it.
Time of Reflection
We have seen this morning that some of us – like the man lying by the pool of Bethesda for thirty-eight years – might be dealing with an illness that has been with us our entire life; and this illness could be either emotional or spiritual, or perhaps even both. At the heart of our illness is a spiritual sickness called sin; and Jesus is asking some us here today, “Do you want to be made well.”
Some of us aren’t healed of our problems because we’re addicted them, and we really don’t want to go through the hassle of change, or perhaps we even take pleasure in our sins. However, Jesus tells us that we need to stop making excuses and get up! If we are truly determined to be obedient to Jesus then nothing will stop us from receiving spiritual healing; and if you’re here today without knowing Jesus Christ as your Savior and Lord, I want you to understand that nothing can stop you from receiving eternal life. You just have to be determined to get up and walk the aisle!
NOTES
(1) Perfect Illustrations for Every Topic and Occasion (Wheaton: Tyndale House, 2002), on CD-ROM.
(2) The outline and some of the insights found in this sermon are taken from Joyce Meyer’s book Eight Ways to Keep The Devil Under Your Feet (New York: Warner, 1998), pp. 23-36.
(3) Warren W. Wiersbe, Wiersbe’s Expository Outlines on the New Testament, (Wheaton: Victor Books, 1992), taken from Logos 2.1 on CD-ROM.
(4) Ibid.
(5) Jay Adams, Competent to Counsel (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1970), refer to chapter three, “What Is Wrong with the Mentally Ill.”
(6) Meyer, p. 34.
(7) Ibid., p. 34.
(8) Pryor Report, May 1993, p. 2.
(9) Ibid., p. 2.
