Jesus At Bethesda–or, Waiting Changed for Believing
A sermon
(No. 744)
Delivered on Lord's-day Morning, APRIL 7, 1867, by
C.H.SPURGEON,
At the Agricultural Hall, Newington
"After this there was a feast of the Jews; and Jesus went up to
Jerusalem. Now there is at Jerusalem by the sheep market, a pool which
is called in the Hebrew tongue Bethesda, having five porches. In these
lay a great multitude of impotent folk, of blind, halt, withered,
waiting for the moving of the water. For an angel went down at a
certain season into the pool and troubled the water: whoever then first
after the troubling of the water stepped in was made whole of whatever
disease he had. And a certain man was there, which had an infirmity
thirty-and-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there, and knew that
he had been now a long time in that case, He said unto him, Willyou be
made whole? The impotent man answered him, Sir, I have no man, when the
water is troubled, to putme into thepool: but while Iam coming, another
steps down before me. Jesus said unto him, Rise, take up your bed, and
walk. And immediately the man was made whole, and took up his bed, and
walked: and on the same day was the Sabbath."- John 5:1-9.
THE scene of this miracle was Bethesda, a pool, according to the
Evangelist, adjoining the sheep market, or near the sheep gate–the
place through which, I suppose, the cattle consumed by the inhabitants
of Jerusalem would be driven– and the pool where, perhaps, the sheep
intended for sale to the offerers in the temple were washed. So common
was sickness in the days of the Savior that the infirmities of men
intruded upon the place which had been allotted to cattle! And the
place where sheep had been washed became the spot where sick folk
congregated in great multitudes, longing for a cure. We do not hear
that anyone remonstrated at the intrusion, or that public opinion was
shocked. The needs of mankind must override all considerations of
taste. A hospital must have preference over a sheep market.
This day you have another case in point. If the physical infirmities of
Jerusalem intruded into the sheep market, I shall ask no excuse if, on
these Sundays, the spiritual sickness of London should demand that this
spacious place, which has up to now been given up to the lowing of
cattle and to the bleating of sheep, should be consecrated to the
preaching of the Gospel–to the manifestation of the healing virtue of
Christ Jesus among the spiritually sick!
This day there is, by the sheep market, a pool, and impotent folk are
here in exceeding great multitudes. We might never have heard of
Bethesda if an august visitor had not condescended to honor it with His
Presence–Jesus, the Son of God, walked in the five porches by the
pool. It was the place where we might expect to meet Him, for where
should the Great Physician be found if not in the place where the sick
are gathered? Here was work for Jesus' healing hand and restoring word.
It was but natural that the Son of Man, who "came to seek and to save
that which was lost," should make His way to the laver-house by the
side of the pool. That gracious visit is Bethesda's glory.
This has lifted up the name of this pool out of the common rank of the
springs and waters of the earth! O that King Jesus might come into this
place this morning! This would be the glory of this Hall for which it
should be famous in eternity! If Jesus would be here to heal, the
remarkable size of the congregation would cease to be a wonder! The
renown of Jesus and His saving love would eclipse all else, as the sun
puts out the stars. My Brethren, Jesus will be here, for there are
those who know Him and have power with Him, who have been asking for
His Presence. The Lord's favored people, by prevailing cries and tears,
have won from Him His consent to be in our midst this day, and He is
walking amid this throng as ready to heal and as mighty to save as in
the days of His flesh!
"Lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world," is an
assurance which comforts the preacher's heart this morning! A present
Savior–present in the power of the Holy Spirit–shall make this day to
be remembered by many
who shall be made whole. I ask the earnest attention of all, and I
entreat of Believers their fervent assisting prayers while I first bid
you observe the sick man. Secondly, direct your attentive eye to the
Great Physician. And, thirdly, make an application of the whole
narrative to the present case.
I. In order to observe THE PATIENT, I shall ask you to go with me to
the pool with the five porches, around which the sick are lying. Walk
tenderly among the groups of lame and blind! No, do not close your
eyes. It will do you good to see the sorrowful sight–to mark what sin
has done and to what sorrows our father Adam has made us heirs. Why are
they all here? They are here because sometimes the waters bubble up
with a healing virtue. Whether visibly stirred by an angel or not it is
not necessary for us to discuss. But it was generally believed that an
angel descended and touched the water–this rumor attracted the sick
from all quarters.
As soon as the stir was seen in the waters the whole mass probably
leaped into the pool–those who could not leap themselves were pushed
in by their attendants. Alas, how small the result! Many were
disappointed. Only one was rewarded for the leap! Whoever first stepped
in was healed, but only the first. For the poor and meager chance of
winning this cure, the sick folk lingered in Bethesda's arches year
after year. The impotent man in the narrative had most likely spent the
better part of his 38 years in waiting at this famous pool, buoyed up
by the slender hope that he might one day be first of the throng.
On the Sunday mentioned in the text, the angel had not come to him, but
something better had come, for Jesus Christ, the angel's Master was
there! Note concerning this man that he was fully aware of his
sickness. He did not dispute the failure of his health–he was an
impotent man–he felt it and he admitted it. He was not like some
present this morning who are lost by nature, but who do not know it, or
will not confess it. He was conscious that he needed heavenly help, and
his waiting at the pool showed it.
Are there not many in this assembly who are equally convinced on this
point? You have for a long time felt that you are a sinner and have
known that unless Divine Grace shall save you, you can never be saved.
You are no atheist, no denier of the Gospel–on the contrary, you
firmly believe the Bible and heartily wish that you had a saving part
in Christ Jesus–but for the present you have advanced no further than
to feel that you are sick, to desire to be healed, and to admit that
the care must come from above. So far, so good, but it is not good to
stop here. The impotent man, thus desiring to be healed, waited by the
pool expecting some sign and wonder. He hoped that an angel would
suddenly burst open the golden gates and touch the waters which were
now calm and stagnant, and that he then might be healed.
This, too, my dear Hearers, is the thought of many of those who feel
their sins and who desire salvation. They accept that unscriptural and
dangerous advice given to them by a certain class of ministers–they
wait at the pool of Be-thesda–they persevere in the formal use of
means and ordinances, and continue in unbelief, expecting some great
thing. They abide in a continued refusal to obey the Gospel and yet
expect that all of a sudden they will experience some strange emotions,
feelings, or remarkable impressions! They hope to see a vision, or hear
a supernatural voice, or be alarmed with deliriums of horror.
Now, dear Friends, we shall not deny that a few persons have been saved
by very singular interpositions of God's hand in a manner altogether
out of the ordinary modes of Divine procedure. We should be very
foolish if we were, for instance, to dispute the truth of such a
conversion as that of Colonel Gardiner, who, the very night when he
made an appointment to commit sin, was arrested and converted by a
vision of Christ upon the Cross, which, at any rate, he thought he saw,
and by hearing or imagining that he heard the voice of the Savior
tenderly pleading with him. It were idle to dispute that such cases
have occurred, do occur, and may occur again.
I must, however, beg unconverted people not to look for such
interpositions in their own cases. When the Lord bids you believe in
Jesus, what right have you to demand signs and wonders instead? Jesus
Himself is the greatest of all wonders! My dear Hearer, for you to wait
for remarkable experiences is as futile as was the waiting of the
multitude who lingered at Bethesda waiting for the long-expected angel,
when He who could heal them stood already in their midst, neglected and
despised by them!
What a piteous spectacle, to see them gazing into the clouds when the
Physician who could heal them was present! But they offered Him no
petitions and sought no mercy at His hands. In dealing with the method
of waiting to see or to feel some great thing, we remark that it is not
the way which God has bid His servants preach. I challenge the whole
world to find any Gospel of God in which an unconverted man is told to
abide in unbelief Where is the sinner told to
wait upon God in the use of ordinances so that he may be saved? The
Gospel of our salvation is this–"Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and
you shall be saved."
When our Lord gave His commission to His disciples, He said, "Go you
into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature." And what
was that Gospel? Tell them to wait in their unbelief in the use of
means and ordinances till they see some great thing? Tell them to be
diligent in prayer and read the Word of God, until they feel better?
Not an atom of it! Thus says the Lord, "He that believes and is
baptized shall be saved; but he that believes not shall be damned."
This was the Gospel and the only Gospel which Jesus Christ ever bade
His ministers preach! They who say, "Wait for feelings! Wait for
impressions! Wait for wonders!" preach another Gospel which is not
another!
The lifting up of Christ on the Cross is the saving work of the Gospel
ministry, and in the Cross of Jesus lies the hope of men! "Look unto Me
and be you saved, all the ends of the earth," is God's Gospel. "Wait at
the pool," is man's Gospel, and has destroyed its thousands. This
ungospel-like gospel of waiting is immensely popular. I should not
wonder if well near half of you are satisfied with it. O my Hearers,
you do not refuse to fill the seats in our places of worship! You are
seldom absent when the doors are open! And there you sit in confirmed
unbelief–waiting for windows to be made in Heaven–and neglecting the
Gospel of your salvation! The great command of God, "Believe and live,"
has no response from you but a deaf ear and a stony heart while you
quiet your consciences with outward religious observances!
If God had said, "Sit in those seats and wait," I would be bold to urge
it upon you with tears. But God has not said so! He has said, "Let the
wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; and let
him return unto the Lord, and He will have mercy upon him." He has not
said, "Wait," but He Has said, "Seek you the Lord while He may be
found, call you upon Him while He is near." "Today if you will hear His
voice, harden not your hearts." I find Jesus saying nothing to sinners
about waiting, but very much about coming. "Come unto Me, all you that
labor and are heavy-laden, and I will give you rest." "If any man
thirsts, let him come unto Me and drink." "The Spirit and the bride
say, come. And let him that hears say, Come. And let him that is
thirsty come. And whoever will, let him take the water of life
freely."
Why is this "signs and wonders" way so popular? It is because it
administers to the conscience. When the minister preaches with power
and the hearer's heart is touched, the devil says, "Wait for a more
convenient season." Thus the arch enemy pours his deadly drug into the
soul and the sinner, instead of trusting in Jesus on the spot, or
falling on bended knees, with tearful eyes crying for mercy, flatters
himself because he is in the use of the means. Which use of means is
well enough as far as it goes, but which is bad as bad can be when it
comes into the place of Christ Crucified! A child ought to hear its
parent's command, but what if the child puts hearing into the place of
obeying? God forbid that I should glory in your listening to the Gospel
if you are hearers only–my glory is in the Cross–and unless you look
to the Cross, it were better for you that you had never been born!
I ask the candid attention of everyone who has thus been waiting while
I mention one or two points. My dear Friend, is not this waiting a very
hopeless business, after all? Out of those who waited at Bethesda, how
very few were ever healed? He who stepped down first into the pool was
cured, but all the rest came up from the pool just as they went in. Ah,
my Hearers, I tremble for some of you–you Chapel-goers and
Church-goers, who have for years been waiting– how few of you get
saved! Thousands of you die in your sins, waiting in wicked unbelief. A
few are snatched like brands from the burning, but the most of those
who are hardened waiters, wait, and wait till they die in their sins. I
solemnly warn you that, pleasing to the flesh as waiting in unbelief
may be, it is not one which any reasonable man would long persevere in!
For, my Friend, are not you in your own person an instance of its
hopelessness? You have been waiting for years! You can scarcely
remember when you first went to a place of worship. Your mother carried
you there in her arms, and you have been nurtured under the shadow of
the sanctuary like the swallows that build their nests under God's
altars– and what has your unbelieving waiting done for you? Has it
made you a Christian? No! You are still without God, without Christ,
without hope! I shall put it to you in God's name–what right have you
to expect that if you wait another thirty years you will be at all
different from what you are now? Are not the probabilities most strong
that at 60 you will be as graceless as you are at thirty?
Let me say it–and I dare say it without egotism–some of you have
listened to the Gospel preached to you in no mincing manner. My dear
Hearers, I have been as plain with you as I know how to be! I have
never shunned to declare the
whole counsel of God, nor even to pick out an individual case and deal
with it closely. Short of actually mentioning people's names, I have
hardly stopped. I have sought to commend the Gospel to the conscience
of every man as in the sight of God. Remember the warnings you had in
Exeter Hall–some of you remember how you broke down in the Surrey
Gardens! [See first six volumes (7he New Park Street Pulpit)]
Remember the invitations which have already come to you in this very
Hall! And if all these have failed, what more is to be done in the way
of hearing and waiting? Many of you have listened to other preachers,
equally earnest, equally tender, perhaps more so. Now, if all these
have had no effect upon you–if waiting at the pool has done nothing
for you–is it not a forlorn and helpless mode of procedure? Is it not
time that something better were tried than merely waiting for the
troubling of the water? Is it not time that you remembered that Jesus
Christ is ready to save you NOW, and that if you now trust in Him, you
shall this day have everlasting life?
There lies our poor friend, still waiting at the water's edge. I do not
blame him for waiting, for Jesus had not been there before and it was
right for him to seize even the most slender chance of a cure. But it
was sad that Jesus should have been so slighted. There He went,
threading His way among the blind, and the halt, and the lame, and
looking benignly upon them all, but none looking up to Him! Now, in
other places, soon as Jesus made His appearance they brought the sick
in their beds and laid them at His feet and as He went along He healed
them all, scattering mercies with both His hands!
A blindness had come over these people at the pool. There they were,
and there was Christ who could heal them, but not a single one of them
sought Him! Their eyes were fixed on the water–expecting it to be
troubled! They were so taken up with their own chosen way that the true
way was neglected. No mercies were distributed, for none were sought.
Ah, my Friends, my sorrowful question is–shall it be so this morning?
The living Christ is still among us in the energy of His eternal
Spirit! Will you be looking to your good works? Will you be trusting to
your Church attendance and your Chapel-goings? Will you rely upon
expected emotions, impressions, and fits of terror–and let Christ, who
is able to save to the uttermost–have no glimpse of faith from any
eye, no prayer of desire from any heart? If it shall be so, it is
heartbreaking to think of it!
Men, with an Almighty Physician in their house, dying while they are
amused with a hopeless quackery of their own inventing! O poor Souls,
shall Bethesda be repeated here this morning, and Jesus Christ, the
present Savior, be again neglected? If a king should give to one of his
subjects a ring, and say to him, "When you are in distress or disgrace,
simply send me that ring and I will do all for you that is needful"–if
that man should willfully refuse to send it, but purchase presents, or
go about to do some singular feats of valor in order to win his
monarch's favor, you would say, "What a fool he is! Here is a simple
way, but he will not avail himself of it! He wastes his wits in
inventing new devices and toils away his life in following out plans
that must end in disappointment." Is not this the case with all those
who refuse to trust Christ? The Lord has assured them that if they
trust Jesus they shall be saved–but they go about after ten thousand
imaginings, and let their God, their Savior, go!
Meanwhile the sick man, so often disappointed, was growing into deep
despair. Moreover he was becoming old, for 38 years is a long time out
of a man's life. He felt that he should soon die. The brittle thread
was nearly snapped, and so as the days and nights wearily wore on,
though he waits, it became heavy work to wait. My Friend, is not this
your case? Life is wearing away with you. Are there not gray hairs here
and there? You have waited all this while in vain, and I warn you that
you have sinfully waited. You have seen others saved. Your child is
saved, your wife is converted, but you are not. You are waiting, and
will wait, I fear, till the tune of, "Earth to earth, dust to dust,
ashes to ashes," and the mold shall rattle on your coffin lid, and your
soul shall be in Hell!
Do not, I pray you, play with time any longer. Say not, "There is time
enough," for the wise man knows that time enough is little enough. Be
not like the foolish drunkard who, staggering home one night, saw his
candle lit for him. "Two candles!" he said, for his drunkenness made
him see double, "I will blow out one," and as he blew it out, in a
moment he was in the dark. Many a man sees double through the
drunkenness of sin–he thinks that he has one life to sow his wild oats
in–and then the last part of life in which to turn to God. And, like a
fool, he blows out the only candle that he has, and in the dark he will
have to lie down forever. Hasten, Traveler! You have but one sun, and
when that sets, you will never reach your home. God help you to make
haste now!
II. Let us look at THE PHYSICIAN Himself. As we have already seen, our
Lord, on this occasion walked, forgotten and neglected, through that
throng of impotent folk, no one crying, "Son of David, have mercy upon
me!" No struggling woman seeking to touch the hem of His garment that
she might be made whole! All were desirous of being healed, but, either
no one knew or no one trusted Him. What a strange, soul-sickening sight
it was, for Jesus was quite able and willing to heal and to do it all
without fee or reward! And yet none sought Him.
Is this scene to be repeated this morning? Jesus Christ is able to save
you, my Hearers. There is no heart so hard that He cannot soften it.
There is no man among you so lost that Jesus cannot save him. Blessed
be my dear Master, no case ever did defeat Him! His mighty power
reaches beyond the uttermost of all the depths of human sin and folly.
If there is a harlot here, Christ can cleanse her! If there is a
drunkard or a thief here, the blood of Jesus can make him white as
snow! If you have any desire towards Him, you have not gone beyond the
reach of His pierced hands If you are not saved, it is certainly not
for want of power in the Savior!
Moreover, your poverty is no hindrance, for my Master asks nothing from
you–the poorer the wretch, the more welcome to Christ! My Master is no
covetous priest who demands pay for what He does–He forgives us
freely–He wants none of your merits, nothing whatever from you! Come
as you are to Him, for He is willing to receive you as you are. But
here is my sorrow and complaint–this blessed Lord Jesus, though
present to heal–receives no attention from the most of men! They are
looking another way, and have no eyes for Him. Yet Jesus was not angry.
I do not find that He upbraided one of those who lay in the porches, or
that He even thought a hard thought of them. I am sure that He pitied
them, and said in His heart, "Alas, poor Souls, that they should not
know when mercy is so near!"
My Master is not wrathful with you who forget Him and neglect Him, but
He pities you from His heart. I am but His poor servant, but I pity
from my inmost heart those of you who live without Christ. I would
gladly weep for you who are trying other ways of salvation, for they
will all end in disappointment. And if continued in, will prove to be
your eternal destruction! Observe very carefully what the Savior did.
Looking around among the whole company, He made an election. He had a
right to make what choice He pleased, and He exercised that sovereign
prerogative! The Lord is not bound to give His mercy to everyone, or to
anyone! He has freely proclaimed it to you all–but as you reject it He
has now a double right to bless His chosen ones by making them willing
in the day of His power.
The Savior selected that man out of the great multitude, we know not
why, but certainly for a reason founded in Divine Grace. If we might
venture to give a reason for His choice it may be that He selected him
because his was the worst case, and he had waited the longest of all.
This man's case was in everybody's mouth. They said, "This man has been
there 38 years." Our Lord acted according to His own eternal purpose,
doing as He pleased with His own. He fixed the eyes of His electing
love upon that one man, and, going up to him, He gazed upon him. He
knew all his history. He knew that he had been a long time in that case
and therefore He pitied him much. He thought of those dreary months and
years of painful disappointment which the impotent man had suffered,
and the tears were in the Master's eyes. He looked and looked again at
that man, and His heart yearned towards him.
Now, I know not whom Christ intends to save this morning by His
effectual Grace. I am bound to give the general call, it is all that I
can do! I know not where the Lord will give the effectual call which
alone can make the Word saving. I should not wonder if He should call
some of you who have been waiting long. I will bless His name if He
does. I should not marvel if electing love should pitch upon the chief
of sinners this day! If Jesus should look on some of you who never
looked on Him, His look shall make you look, and His pity shall make
you have pity upon yourselves, and His Irresistible Grace shall make
you come to Him that you may be saved!
Jesus performed an act of Sovereign distinguishing Grace. I pray you do
not kick at this doctrine! If you do, I cannot help it, for it is true.
I have preached the Gospel to every one of you as freely as man can do
it, and surely you who reject it ought not to quarrel with God for
bestowing on others that which you do not care to receive! If you
desire His mercy, He will not deny it to you. If you seek Him He will
be found of you. But if you will not seek mercy, rail not at the Lord
if He bestows it upon others! Jesus, having looked upon this man with a
special eye of regard, said to Him, "Will you be made whole?" I have
already hinted that this was not said because Christ wanted
information, but because He wished to arouse the man's attention.
On account of its being a Sunday, the man was not thinking of being
cured, for to the Jew it seemed a most unlikely thing that cures should
be worked on a Sunday. Jesus, therefore, brought his thoughts back to
the matter in hand, for,
mark you, the work of Divine Grace is a work upon a conscious mind, not
upon senseless matter. Though Puseyites pretend to regenerate
unconscious children by sprinkling their faces with water, Jesus never
attempted such a thing–Jesus saves men who have the use of their
senses–and His salvation is a work upon a quickened intellect and
awakened affections. Jesus brought back the wandering mind with the
question, "Will you be made whole?" "Indeed," the man might have said,
"indeed, I desire it above all things–I long for it–I pant for it."
Now, my dear Hearer, I will ask the same question of you. "Will you be
made whole? Do you desire to be saved? Do you know what being saved
is?" "Oh," you say, "it is escaping from Hell." No, no, no! That is the
result of being saved, but being saved is a different thing. Do you
want to be saved from the power of sin? Do you desire to be saved from
being covetous, worldly-minded, bad-tempered, unjust, ungodly,
domineering, drunken, or profane? Are you willing to give up the sin
that is dearest to you? "No," says one, "I cannot honestly say I desire
all that." Then you are not the man I am seeking this morning!
But is there one here who says, "Yes, I long to be rid of sin, root and
branch. I desire, by God's Grace, this very day to become a Christian
and to be saved from sin." Well, then, as you are already in a state of
thoughtfulness, let us go a step further and observe what the Savior
did. He gave the word of command, saying, "Rise! Take up your bed and
walk." The power by which the man arose was not in himself, but in
Jesus! It was not the mere sound of the words which made him rise–it
was the Divine power which went with it. I believe that Jesus still
speaks through His ministers. I trust that He speaks through me at this
moment, when in His name I say to you who have been waiting at the
pool, wait no longer, but this moment believe in Jesus Christ! Trust
Him now!
I know that my words will not make you do it, but if the Holy Spirit
works through the words, you will believe. Trust Christ now, poor
Sinner! Believe that He is able to save you. Believe it now! Rely upon
Him to save you this moment. Repose upon Him now! If you are enabled to
believe, the power will come from Him, not from you, and your salvation
will be effected, not by the sound of the word, but by the secret power
of the Holy Spirit which goes with that word. I pray you observe that
although nothing is said about faith in the text, yet the man must have
had faith. Suppose you had been unable to move hand or foot for 38
years, and someone said at your bedside, "Rise"? You would not think of
trying to rise, you would know it to be impossible!
You must have faith in the person who uttered the word, or else you
would not make the attempt. I think I see the poor man–there he is, a
heap, a writhing bundle of tortured nerves and powerless muscles–yet
Jesus says, "Rise!" and up he rises in a moment! "Take up your bed,"
says the Master, and the bed is carried! Here was the man's faith! The
man was a Jew and he knew that, according to the Pharisees, it would be
a very wicked thing for him to roll up his mattress and carry it on
Sunday. But because Jesus told him, he asked no questions, but doubled
up his couch and walked. He did what he was told to do because he
believed in Him who spoke. Have you such faith in Jesus, poor Sinner?
Do you believe that Christ can save you? If you do, then I say to you
in His name, trust Him! Trust Him now! If you trust Jesus, you shall be
saved this morning–saved on the spot, and saved forever!
Observe, beloved Friends, that the cure which Christ worked was
perfect. The man could carry His bed! The restoration was proved to a
demonstration! The cure was manifest! All could see it! Moreover, the
cure was immediate. He was not told to take a lump of figs and put it
on the sore and wait. He was not carried home by his friends and laid
up for a month or two, and gradually nursed into vital energy. Oh, no!
He was cured then and there! Half our professing Christian imagine that
regeneration cannot take place in a moment, and, therefore, they say to
poor sinners, "Go and lie at Bethesda's pool. Wait in the use of
ordinances. Humble yourself. Seek for deeper repentance."
Beloved, away with such teaching! The Cross! The Cross! The Cross!
THERE hangs a sinner's hope! You must not rely on what you can do, nor
on what angels can do, nor on visions and dreams, nor on feelings and
strange emotions, and horrible deliriums! You must rest in the blood of
my Master and my God, once slain for sinners! There is life in a look
at the Crucified One, and there is life nowhere else! I come to the
same point, then, upon the second head as the first. Thus says the
Lord, "Look unto Me, and be you saved, all the ends of the earth."
III. Thirdly, we have to APPLY THE INSTANCE IN THE TEXT TO THE PRESENT
OCCASION. I hope, Believers, your hearts are going up in prayer this
morning. What a scene is before us! If someone had told us that this
mass of people would have gathered to listen to the Gospel, are there
not hundreds who would have doubted it? Mark this, we have had nothing
novel to attract this multitude–nothing by way of gorgeous
ceremony–there is not even the swell of
the organ! I declined its pealing notes lest we should seem to depend
in the slightest degree from a thread even to a shoe lace, upon
anything but the preaching of the Gospel!
The preaching of the Cross is enough to draw the people, and enough to
save the people, and if we take to anything else we lose our power and
shear away the locks which make us strong. The application of the text,
this morning, is just this–Why should we not, on this very spot, have
instantaneous cures of sick souls? Why should there not be scores,
hundreds, thousands, who shall this morning hear the gracious words,
"Arise, take up your bed and walk"? I believe it is possible! I hope it
will be done!
Let me talk with you who doubt this matter. You still think that you
must wait–you have had a sufficient spell of waiting, and you are
getting tolerably weary–but still you stick to the old plan. Hopeless
as it is, you still catch at it as drowning men do at straws. But I
want to show you that this is all wrong. Regeneration is an
instantaneous work, and Justification an instantaneous gift. Man fell
in a moment. When Eve plucked the fruit, and Adam ate it, it did not
require six months to bring them into a state of condemnation. It did
not require several years of continued sin to cast them out of
Paradise. Their eyes were opened by the forbidden fruit. They saw that
they were naked and they hid themselves from God. Surely, surely,
Christ is not to be longer about His work than the devil was about his!
Shall the devil destroy us in a moment and Jesus be unable to save us
in a moment?
Ah, glory be to God, He has power to deliver far more than any which
Satan uses for man's destruction. Look at the Biblical illustrations of
what salvation is. I will only mention three. Noah built an ark–that
was a type of salvation. Now, when was Noah saved? Christ has built the
ark for us. We have nothing to do with building it. But when was Noah
saved? Does anyone say, "He was safe after he had been in the ark a
month and had arranged all the things and looked out on the deluge and
felt his danger." No! The moment Noah went through the door, and the
Lord shut him in, Noah was safe. When he had been in the ark a second
he was as secure as when he had been there a month.
Take the case of the Passover. When were the Jews safe from the
destroying angel who went through the land of Egypt? Were they safe
after the blood which was sprinkled on the door had been looked upon
and considered for a week or two? Oh, no, Beloved! The moment the blood
was sprinkled, the house was secured. And the moment a sinner believes
and trusts in the crucified Son of God he is pardoned at once–he
receives salvation in full through Christ's blood. One more instance,
the bronze serpent. When the bronze serpent was lifted up, what were
the wounded to do? Were they told to wait till the bronze serpent was
pushed into their faces, or until the venom of the serpent showed
certain symptoms in their flesh?
No, they were commanded to look. They did look. Were they healed in six
months time? I read not so, but as soon as their eyes met the serpent
of brass, the cure was worked! And as soon as your eyes meets Christ,
poor Trembler, you are saved! Though yesterday you were deep in your
cups, and up to your neck in sin, yet if this morning you look to my
once slain but now exalted Master, you shall find eternal life! Again
take Biblical instances. Did the dying thief wait at the pool of the
ordinances? You know how soon his believing prayer was heard, and Jesus
said, "Today you shall be with Me in Paradise." The three thousand at
Pentecost, did they wait for some great thing? No, they believed, and
were baptized!
Look at the jailer of Philippi. It was the dead of the night, the
prison was shaken, and the jailer was alarmed, and said, "Sir, what
must I do to be saved?" Did Paul say, "Well, you must use the means and
look for a blessing upon the ordinances"? No! He said, "Believe in the
Lord Jesus Christ, and you shall be saved, and your house," and that
very night he baptized him. Paul did not take the time about it that
some think so exceedingly necessary. He believed as I do, that there is
life in a look at Jesus. He bade men look, and looking they lived!
Possibly you will see this still more clearly if I remind you that the
work of salvation is all done. There is nothing for a sinner to do in
order to be saved–it is all done for him.
You need washing. The bath does not need filling. "There is a fountain
filled with blood." You need clothing. You have not to make the
garment, the robe is ready. The garment of Christ's righteousness is
woven from the top throughout–all that is needed is to have it put on.
If some work remained for you to do it might be a lengthened process,
but all the doing is accomplished by Christ. Salvation is not of works,
but of Grace, and to accept what Christ presents you is not a work of
time. Once more, let me say to you that regeneration itself cannot be a
work of a long time, because, even where it seems to be most gradual,
when looked at closely, it turns out in its essence to be the work of a
moment.
There is a dead man. Now, if that man is raised from the dead there
must be an instant in which he was dead, and another instant in which
he was alive! The actual quickening must be the work of a moment. I
grant you that at the first the life may be very feeble, but there must
be a time when it begins. There must be a line–we cannot always see it
ourselves, but God must see it–there must be a line between life and
death. A man cannot be somewhere between dead and alive. He either is
alive or he is dead. And so you are either dead in sin or alive unto
God, and quickening cannot involve a long period of time.
Finally, my Hearers, for God to say, "I forgive you," takes not a
century nor a year. The judge pronounces the sentence, and the criminal
is acquitted. If God shall say to you this morning, "I absolve you,"
you are absolved, and you may go in peace. I must bear faithful witness
as to my own case. I never found mercy by waiting. I never obtained a
gleam of hope by depending upon ordinances. I found salvation by
believing. I heard a simple minister of the Gospel say, "Look and live!
Look to Jesus! He bleeds in the garden, He dies on the tree! Trust Him!
Trust to what He suffered instead of you. And if you trust Him, you
shall be saved."
The Lord knows I had heard that Gospel many times before, but I had not
obeyed it. It came, however, with power to my soul, and I did look, and
the moment I looked to Christ, I lost my burden. "But," says one, "how
do you know?" Did you ever carry a burden yourself? "Oh, yes," you say.
Did you know when it was off? How did you know? "Oh," you say, "I felt
so different. I knew when my burden was on, and, consequently, I knew
when it was off." It was so in my case, too. I only wish some of you
felt the burden of sin as I felt it when I was waiting at the pool of
Bethesda. I wonder that such waiting had not landed me in Hell! But,
when I heard the word, "Look!" I looked, and my burden was gone! I
wondered where it had gone–I have never seen it since, and I never
shall see it again! It went into the Master's tomb, and it lies forever
buried there.
God has said it, "I have blotted out like a cloud your iniquities, and
like a thick cloud your sins." Oh, come, you needy, come to my Master!
You that have been disappointed with rites and ceremonies, and
feelings, and impressions, and all the hopes of the flesh–come at my
Master's command, and look up to Him! He is not here in the flesh, for
He has risen. But He has risen to plead for sinners, and, "He is able
to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by Him, seeing He ever
lives to make intercession for them." Oh, if I could know how to preach
the Gospel so that you would feel it, I would go to any school to
learn! The Lord knows I would willingly consent to lose these eyes to
get greater power in my ministry. Yes, and to lose arms, legs, and all
my members!
I would be willing to die if I could but be honored by the Holy Spirit
to win this mass of souls to God! I implore you, my Brothers and
Sisters, you who have power in prayer, pray the Lord to bring sinners
to Christ! Let me say, solemnly, to you who have heard the Word of God
this day, I have told you the plan of salvation plainly. If you do not
accept it, I am clear of your blood, I shake my garments of the blood
of your souls. If you come not to my Lord and Master, I must bear swift
witness against you at the Day of Judgment!
I have told you the way–I cannot tell you it more simply–I beseech
you to follow it! I entreat you to look to Jesus! But if you refuse it,
at any rate, when you shall rise from the dead and stand before the
Great White Throne, do me the justice to say that I did entreat and
persuade you to escape, I did impress upon you to flee from the wrath
to come! The Lord save each one of you, and His shall be the praise
ever more. Amen.
__________________________________________________________________
The Unsearchable Riches Of christ
A sermon