John 5: 1-9
John 7: 37-39
Colossians 1: 14-18
It is wonderful to be able to stand up and speak today of the glad tidings of this glorious Person, our Lord Jesus Christ. The glad tidings, as it says in the scriptures are, ”glad tidings ... concerning His Son”, Rom 1: 3. What glad tidings they are that we have to speak of concerning this glorious Person! I wonder if you have noticed in this present day in which we live, how increasingly persons are beginning to think they can get by without Him. I hope you are not like that, thinking that you can get by without Christ. I notice it is so politically, that people do not want anything to do with the influence of Christianity, or God, in their affairs whatsoever. ’We can do quite well, thank you’, they say, ‘without His intervention; we will manage quite well by ourselves’. Do you not judge that is so? I think it is becoming evident, sorrowfully, that even those who profess the name of Christ will introduce something else apart from Him. God has no other man before Him but Jesus, and He has no other person for you, but Him. One thing that has greatly impressed me, in recent times, has been the line of that hymn 220 - ‘I could not do without Thee’. I suppose it would become quite evident if the preacher said that to you and had not proved it for himself. One thing I can say to you, and my life has not been that long, is that I cannot do without Him. I have found that to be true and I think in the glad tidings God would have you to prove it too, that you cannot do without Him. The hymn writer says ‘Why will you?’. Why would you do without Him? - because everything, my friend, for your salvation and your eternal blessing, as well as your present happiness, rests in coming to Jesus.
Now, in the scripture in John, there is a reference to the time when the Lord Jesus went up to Jerusalem. Jerusalem at that time was the centre of the religious world, and you might have thought that there would not have been such a company in Jerusalem as is depicted in this scripture. It is interesting that in Jerusalem there was a sheep gate. It reminds me of that word in scripture that “all we like sheep have gone astray, we have turned every one to his own way”, Isa 53: 6. But God is mindful of His sheep; He is mindful of his creatures. How wonderful that God is so mindful of His creatures! He has been mindful of me. I have been thankful for that, but I can tell you that He is mindful of you. God desires that all men should be saved. (A brother I knew said that it was interesting to note the ‘alls’ in scripture.) It is only a little word but it is very, very embracing. All men have sinned (Rom 3: 23) - all men have sinned, that is one thing that does not leave any of us out, does it? I do not suppose, actually, we need the word of scripture for that, but we are thankful for it. I suppose man’s conscience tells him that he is a sinner and it is evident in practice. I do not suppose anybody, would they, if you were to speak to them, would ever say they had done nothing wrong? I have never asked an atheist if he thought he had done anything wrong, but God has given man a conscience, and apart from that we have the word of scripture, the divine authority of the word of God: all men have sinned. I wonder if you are conscious that you are a sinner? Of course, it would not be much glad tidings if all I had to say to you was that; but God would bring to you the conviction of your sins. If He does, it is in His mercy and goodness that He brings any of us to the conviction that we are sinners and that we need a Saviour. The world around us is a witness to sin and here they were at this sheep gate; God is so mindful of His people. It reminds me of that scripture in John that speaks of the good Shepherd, John 10: 14. I know that scripture speaks of His sheep, but He is desirous of securing you as one of His sheep. How blessed that He has you in mind for blessing, my friend. There is a multitude of persons here at this pool but the Lord Jesus is the One who has come in, and He speaks of that in John, that He is the good Shepherd. The good Shepherd is the One who has laid down His life for the sheep. All others who come before me, he said, were thieves and robbers and he says they mount up elsewhere, John 10: 1. These persons, the multitude of “sick, blind, lame, withered”, have perhaps become victims of those who have mounted up elsewhere. I suppose that is a picture of the effects of sin on men, is it not? I do not suppose they would be a very happy company, but here was a multitude of them, sick, blind, lame and withered. What an unhappy company. Such is man in his sins away from God, and he can do nothing to help himself. That is why, my friend, the sinner needs Jesus. That is why he needs the Saviour; that is why he cannot do without Him because he can do nothing for himself.
Well, an angel descended at a certain season in the pool and troubled the water. I have been wondering about it. I suppose it was a divine intervention in mercy for men. God is very merciful in relation to His creature but here there was no universal blessing available for men. One came into blessing and got healed through the mercy of God (what a God He is!) - an angel disturbed the water at a season and one man could get the blessing. My friend, has it ever dawned on you that God has one Man who has come into this scene, who has given His life and shed His precious blood for guilty sinners that whoever believes on Him will be saved. How wonderful, what a Man He must be! How great this glorious Person must be! He could take up the whole question of what sin was before God, the whole question of man’s guilt and need and glorify God as to it by offering Himself as a perfect sacrifice for sins, that “every one whosoever, who shall call upon the name of the Lord, shall be saved”, Rom 10: 13. What a multitude there are who need it! I do not know the size of the multitude in this chapter but what a multitude there are in this world who need Jesus. So it says ‘there was a certain man there who had been suffering under his infirmity thirty and eight years’. I wonder if you have been suffering that long - thirty eight years? “Jesus seeing this man lying there, and knowing that he was in that state now a great length of time”. I suppose He looked round; in a company like this, He sees us. I do not know the detailed history of everybody here, far from it, but He does, and He sees, and He is moved with compassion knowing this man had been in that state a great length of time. How God feels for persons bowed down under the bondage of sin; how He feels for them. Do you think He feels like that for you? I can tell you, my friend, He does. Do you think He is any different now to what He was then? There is no change with Jesus. ‘”Jesus seeing this man lying there, and knowing that he was in that state now a great length of time, says to him, Wouldest thou become well?”. Well, that is a question, is it not? If there is anybody here labouring under the burden of their sins, I would ask you, 'Would you become well?' Would you? Well, this man does not exactly answer this question, he does not say ’I would like to become well‘. He says, ”I have not a man”; that is what he said. ‘I have not a man who is able to undertake for me’. There are others who would use whatever natural advantage they had to get down first, but this man knew he could do nothing for himself. He knew that if ever he was to get well he needed somebody to help him, somebody to come in and take up his cause, someone to look upon him with compassion and see the need that he had: someone who would come in and undertake for him, and take an interest in him. Well, he found that man in Jesus. He said “I have not a man”. My friend, we present to you Jesus, this glorious Person, and He is able to undertake for you. Jesus says, “Wouldest thou become well? The infirm man answered him, Sir, I have not a man, in order, when the water has been troubled, to cast me into the pool; but while I am coming another descends before me. Jesus says to him, Arise, take up thy couch and walk.”
In Mark’s gospel the Lord Jesus says, ”Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, Thy sins are forgiven thee; or to say, Arise, and take up thy couch and walk?“ chap 2: 9. My friend, I would entreat anyone here who is still labouring under the guilt of their sins and its burdens to come to Jesus. What a work has been done at Calvary, what a precious work has been done, all the guilt of my sins borne by Jesus on Calvary. He has shed His precious blood that my redemption and yours might be secured. What a work He has done, how much it cost Him! It was no light matter for Him; how much it cost Jesus!. We read of His agony in that garden - “My Father, if it be possible let this cup pass from me; but not as I will, but as thou wilt”, Matt 26: 39. What it cost Him! How much He felt it! to undertake the whole question of sin and sins for a holy and righteous God. The judgement that was due to them, and to me as a guilty sinner, was taken on by Jesus in those three hours of darkness on Calvary. God is fully satisfied in the work that He has done. That has been attested to and is witnessed to in the fact that He is raised from among the dead, having taken up the whole question and exhausted the righteous judgement of God against sin. So as the hymn writer says -
The sinner who believes is free,
Can say, The Saviour died for me;
Can point to the atoning blood,
And say, This made my peace with God.
(Hymn 357)
Well, do you have your peace with God? “Wouldest thou become well?” Will you do without Him? Why would you do without Him? You cannot do without Him. Your eternal salvation, your present salvation, and your present blessing depend on coming to Jesus. Why not come to Him? What is holding you? What should hold any of us? How approachable He is. He asks a simple question - “Wouldest thou become well?” He has done everything for you; according to the gospel all you have to do is come. How simple! Is it too simple for you? I suppose some people may think that nothing so great as this can possibly be so simple. You see, that is the gospel - everything has been done. How thankful I am that He has done it, because I am quite conscious that I could do nothing. There was nothing that this man could do that would affect his salvation, there is nothing I can do and nothing you can do, but I would like to assure you of His willingness - “Wouldest thou become well?” Well, would you? I just leave that simple question. Come to Jesus. You cannot do without Him.
I refer to that scripture in John 7 because the Lord Jesus is speaking to persons that are thirsty. “In the last, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried saying, If any one thirst, let him come to me and drink.” Thirst generally speaks of the desire for satisfaction and refreshment, and it is wonderful to be able to be here as a believer, satisfied and refreshed and happy. It is wonderful to be satisfied. The gospel is preached that persons may be happy, happy in the liberty of knowing that their sins are forgiven. They are forgiven, and refreshed in their spirits and joyful: that is the path of the Christian. God wants to bring you into the best, you know, where there is satisfaction, and where peace and joy can be found. God would bring His people out of Egypt and deliver them through the Red Sea, but His purpose was to bring them into the land, the land of Canaan where they would find satisfaction and peace and joy and rest. His desire was not exactly to bring them into the wilderness. He passed them through that, but His mind was that they should come into the land. That was the purpose of God for them, that they should enjoy all the blessed fruits and fulness of it. They had to learn God in the wilderness, and they had to find out what He was to them and what their hearts were too. God’s desire is that persons should come into blessing and find peace and joy, rest and satisfaction. I think there are many believers who are conscious that their sins are forgiven and that they will go to heaven finally. But in the meantime, what are their lives? Sometimes life is short and sometimes longer, but what is it to be? What is your life, I would ask you? Where is your present life, even if you are a believer? How are you finding it, my friend? How am I finding it?
You may seek after many things but you will never find peace and satisfaction in them. You may think you will find some joy and happiness in them. The world appeals to our natural hearts and I would be the first to acknowledge it. One thing I can tell you is that you will not find satisfaction in it; you will only find it in coming to Jesus and receiving blessing from Him. Now the Lord says here “If any one thirst, let him come to me and drink … But this he said concerning the Spirit, which they that believed on him were about to receive; for the Spirit was not yet”; and I judge from that scripture that it means that the Spirit was not yet dwelling here. The Lord Jesus was here, but the Spirit, He says, “was not yet, because Jesus had not yet been glorified”. The Holy Spirit came from a glorified Christ, which is very wonderful, but where is He? He is indwelling believers, how wonderful that is! Have you ever thought about that, that God would not only give you the gift of the forgiveness of your sins but the gift of the Holy Spirit? Now, I say, will He give that to me? Would He give that to you? To receive the gift of the Spirit - wonderful blessing. Well, how am I going to receive the gift of the Holy Spirit? You come to Jesus to be cleansed from your sins, and you can receive too the gift of the Holy Spirit from His hand. It is given to those who obey the glad tidings, those who receive Christ. We have to receive gifts, do we not? That would be evident. God offers this priceless gift but then you have to receive it. Presented in the gospel are wonderful gifts for men but it is that you might receive. So He says, “He that believes on me, as the scripture has said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water”. That is the man satisfied. The Holy Spirit has come here to occupy us with Christ. He has come here from a glorified Christ and He has come here to glorify Him. What He does is that He magnifies Christ in the heart of the believer and that, my friend, I can tell you, is where you will find satisfaction. I can tell you simply that you will not find it anywhere else. I wonder if you have found that? Certain things may gratify, but if they gratify anything they tend to gratify the flesh, but to be satisfied my friend is, a question of your heart. Well, the Holy Spirit has come to magnify Jesus. What a glorious person He is! So if you want satisfaction you must come to Jesus, and receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. Now, you say, will He be willing to give it? How willing God is to give! Have you ever thought that God is far more ready to give than you are to receive? The Lord Jesus says elsewhere that “what man is there of you who, if his son shall ask of him a loaf of bread, will give him a stone”, Matt 7: 9. Would he? What kind of father would that be? It says, “If therefore ye, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much rather shall the Father who is of heaven give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?”, Luke 11: 13. That would encourage you to ask, would it not? Ask liberally, ask of God and He will give to you. Come to Him, receive the blessings at His hand. How ready He is to give. What a God He is that we might be satisfied in our souls.
Now I read that scripture in Colossians because it speaks to me of the glorious greatness of Christ. It says, “giving thanks to the Father, who has made us fit for sharing the portion of the saints in light, who has delivered us from the authority of darkness, and translated us into the kingdom of the Son of his love”, v 12, 13. What a thing it is to be delivered from the authority of darkness! I wonder whose authority you are under, my friend. It does not seem from this scripture that there are more than two authorities. It says “who has delivered us from the authority of darkness, and translated us into the kingdom of the Son of his love”. I wonder if it has dawned upon you that Christ has a kingdom. He is the centre of another world altogether. There are two worlds, there is this world and that world. “That world,” of which scripture speaks, “and the resurrection”, Luke 20: 35. Christ is the head and centre of it. This world is under the authority of the enemy of our souls. But coming to Christ, and receiving the forgiveness of our sins and the gift of the Holy Spirit, He would deliver us from the authority of darkness. We have to walk our way in this world, that is perfectly plain, but we are “delivered ... from the authority of darkness” as we come under the Lord’s sway. It is a very blessed thing to be delivered from your own will; do you not think so? I suppose naturally we do not because if there is one thing we like more than anything else it is our own will. Mr Raven taught us that man does not know how to cater for his own happiness, vol 12 p32. It is a blessed thing to come under the divine will. Now, you say, ‘is that going to be onerous?’ No, not if you love Jesus, not if you love Him, not if you have received the gift of the Holy Spirit who has made Christ precious to your heart: the One who has done so much for you, the One who has not only died for you but lives for you. His will is the will of blessing. He would give you His Spirit so that you would desire to do the things that please Him, so that His will does not become hard, His will does not become difficult. You learn that His will for you is blessing. God would bring us into the kingdom of the Son of His love. How great this Person is! Could I just refer to these verses so that the Spirit of God might give you some impression of it? It speaks first that it is in Him that we have redemption, so you know it is in this glorious Person. You know it is in this One who has loved you, and died for you and secured your redemption at the cost of His life. It is in this person who is image of the invisible God. It is He who is the Firstborn of all creation because by Him were created all things. This is Jesus. The things in heaven and the things upon the earth - we may know a few of the things upon the earth, I do not know much about the heavens, but He created them all anyway. The visible - things you can see - not one thing that has received being has received being without Him - this is Jesus; and the invisible things - you cannot see them. I suppose we know the influence of some of them, magnetism and all those things scientists get to know about. Things that they cannot see, the invisible, well He created them all. Thrones, lordships, principalities, authorities, governments, rulers and nations - His hand is over it all. How great men sometimes think they are. Nobody is greater than Jesus, nobody is greater; and these things have all been created by Him and for Him and He is before all. What does that mean? He could say “Before Abraham was, I am”, John 8: 58. What a glorious Person Jesus is, glorious Son of God; and He is before all and all things subsist together by Him; that is, they subsist. He is in control of everything: so do not be too afraid of global warming. I suppose man will wreck the earth as through his activities he wrecks so much. All things are in Christ’s hands, all things subsist together by Him. Our very existence, our very life, our very breath we breathe, everything is in His hand. How great He is! “And he is head of the body, the assembly; who is the beginning, firstborn from among the dead, that he might have the first place in all things,” v18. He is great enough, He is worthy to have the first place in all things. Are you not glad that He is going to have the first place in all things? Would you trust all things into the hands of anybody but Christ? I rejoice that I know that God is going to head up all things in Christ, everything. The things in the heavens and the things upon the earth. I am so thankful that they are in His hand because I can trust them there. The Person who has come in, in wonderful grace, to take up my lost condition, who has given Himself for me, given His life for me, secured me through the giving of His precious blood, manifested the love of God to me: that Person is the One who has been established heir of all things (Heb 1: 2), has been given “a name, that which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow”, Phil 2: 9, 10. How delightful it is to bow the knee to Him now, is it not? He is going to have the first place in all things. It is His right and He is worthy of it. That means that He wants the first place in your heart. My friend, I think, in the preaching He would have the first place in your heart because He would win it. It is His by right, by redemption, but I think He has the first place because He wins it, do you not think that? The first place in my heart, the first place in my life and every department of it, belongs to this glorious Person that we read of here in Colossians. Now, you say, is this to be all blessing? I tell you it is all blessing to come to know Jesus as your Saviour and Lord. It is absolute blessing. There is peace for your conscience through His precious work and He becomes a Man too for your heart. Now, one thing that scripture speaks of is the love of the most growing cold, Matt 24: 12. The gospel is preached to revitalise us in our affections for Christ, for Himself personally. Christ, spoken of in Colossians, so glorious, so great, who has secured everything for God, is the same blessed Person who has secured everything for you and me. How wonderful that is! And He is going to be glorified. Publicly He is going to be glorified. What will be the effect in this world then as He takes up the reins of government? It will be a scene and time of blessing that this world has never ever known, and why will they know it? Because He will have dominion. This blessed Person who is so great and so glorious will have absolute dominion, and for man it will be a time of untold blessing. Now, that is to be known now. In a scene where we are in adversity, contrariety, sin and self will, evil and wickedness, these blessings are known as Christ is received and the Holy Spirit is received so that He has this supreme place in our hearts.
I leave this simple word. I trust that the Spirit of God would impress you that He has secured everything for God and that you will find, my friend, as you desire to receive a blessing at His hand, that He becomes absolutely indispensable to you. May it be so for His Name’s sake.
West Norwood
10th February 2008