In our text this morning is a group of people that were probably very pitiful to behold.
We gather daily at a gate at a pool called Bethesda, which translated means house of mercy.
In them we see more adequately all the wretchedness, all the misery and the broken lives that formed
the result of sin among people who come to church today.
They were sick, some of them lame from an improperly functioning body part.
Some of them were withered, due primarily to a disability rooted in disease that left
them paralyzed, sick people, lame people, paralyzed people.
Here in this amalgamation of crippled, blind, lame, paralyzed people was institutionalized
misery in the house of mercy.
In the first sign in John's Gospel where Jesus turned water into wine, he demonstrated
his absolute power as Lord of nature.
In the second sign where he healed the nobleman's son, he proved that his absolute power was
in being Lord of life.
In this third sign he demonstrates in this double miracle of healing that he has absolute
authority as the restorer of lost power.
The pool of Bethesda was as large as a football field and was about 20 feet deep.
The five porches or the five covered colonnades were like a hospital filled with a crowd of
sufferers.
Verse four, which may not appear in your Bible, sounds like a scribal note of explanation
that was incorporated into later copies of the Gospel of John because it does not exist
in earlier manuscripts and does not appear again in some translations today because verse
four is an explanation pointing towards verse number seven.
The pool was built on an artesian flow of water that bubbled up from time to time and
perhaps through some folk legend or folk tradition or superstition perhaps, people believe that
the first person into the pool at the troubling of the water would be healed because there
was some healing properties they believed in the troubling of the water.
Tertullian called the father of Latin Christianity of Carthage in North Africa.
Tertullian used this spurious verse four for his favorite conception of what he called
a baptismal angel troubling the water.
Ambrose, the bishop of Milan, and John Chrysostom, the golden mouth, early church father and
bishop of Constantinople of the Prachistic age say in their writing that this troubling
of the water is a prophecy of the descent of the Holy Spirit consecrating the water
of baptism to a mystical washing away of sin.
Whatever they believe, whenever the water was stirred up, they believed whoever got in
first was healed of their disease.
But look with me now at this man in the text.
Verses five, six, and seven talks about the man in this text.
The duration of this man's illness is significant because it has taken away all hope of a cure.
He has been paralyzed 38 years.
He was disabled.
He was desperate and he was often disappointed.
He has to be carried everywhere he goes and he is reduced to begging for a living because
he is totally helpless and useless to everyone around him.
Time and again, he has come to the pool of Bethesda only to see others get in the water
ahead of him.
Shattering his hopes of a completely whole life.
Nowadays he gets there too late.
While he is still coming, another goes down before him, preempts the precious spot where
the water is troubled and in the rest to get there, others are always ahead of him and
he is left hopelessly behind.
Jesus comes walking through this great multitude of sick people gathered around what was superstitiously
considered to be a sacred place of healing.
The man thinks that the solution is in the waters of the pool of Bethesda when he is
only feet away from the water of life.
He thinks the healing is in the water but the water is walking right next to him.
Brothers and sisters, here is a plain instance of a miracle preceding faith.
Nothing in the text is said about this man's faith.
Jesus just decides to work a miracle.
I want you to see something.
Of all the sick people at the pool, Jesus singles him out for a healing because for
38 years he's been coming and he has not been healed in 38 years but today is his day.
He's in the right place at the right time and of all the people in this church, the
blessing might be today just for you because Jesus may just decide to single you out because
you showed up.
I wish I had help to preach it.
He's not mad at anybody.
He's just looking specifically to bless somebody who is here today because today is your day.
That's why you ought to keep showing up at church because you don't ever know when the
day is going to be your day.
I wish I had somebody to help me preach.
You need something from the Lord especially today and you showed up today not really thinking
that God is going to do it but this hour, this minute, this moment, this day of all
the people in this sanctuary, God may single you out.
Jesus asked the man a question that to the politically correct ear sounds injurious and
it borders on sarcasm.
It seems almost an insult.
A man paralyzed 38 years and Jesus has the nerve.
Jesus has the gall.
Jesus has the temerity to ask a paralyzed man, do you want to be healed?
The question sounds sarcastic but it's really truly a sincere question.
The question is really would you like to stand on your own feet and take responsibility for
your own life?
Would you like to have your lost power restored?
Would you like to be made whole because once you're made whole you got to get off the welfare.
Think twice before your answer because once you're made whole you got to stop depending
on people to carry you.
Jesus said do you want to be made whole?
He said sir every time the water is stirred up somebody steps in in front of me.
The man is prone to excuses.
And the only thing this morning that stands between you and salvation is a flimsy excuse.
My pastor the late Reverend John Wilkerson said that an excuse is a high class lie which
stands between you and heaven this morning is a flimsy excuse.
And listen to the excuses people make for not coming to Christ.
I wouldn't go to church but I didn't get my hair done this week.
That's a flimsy excuse.
I wouldn't go to church but I don't have anything new to wear.
That's a flimsy excuse.
I wouldn't go to church but all them people at church there ain't nothing but hypocrites.
That's a flimsy excuse.
They're hypocrites at H-E-B but you go there every week.
They're hypocrites at the bank but you deposit your money.
They're hypocrites at the club but you drop it like it's hot.
We're always coming up with flimsy excuses.
An excuse is a lie.
Every time I get ready to get in the water somebody jumping in before me I can't ever
have a chance to sing.
I don't ever get a chance to lead devotion.
I don't ever get a chance to be the president.
That's why I don't go to church because they use the same people all the time.
I don't ever have an opportunity.
We got to use who shows up.
You want to be used?
Sure.
You want God to bless your life?
Sure.
You want a miracle to come in your situation?
Show up.
Ninety percent of being blessed is showing up.
Now I've been trying to get to this point since Wednesday.
I wrote this down Wednesday and I've been trying to get to this since Wednesday.
His first response, every time I get ready to get in the water somebody gets in before
me.
His first response makes me suspicious that after 38 years his disability has become his
identity.
He's so hooked on being disabled that he's hooked on being disabled.
His disability has become his identity.
And if you hang around lame people, if you hang around lame conversation, if you hang
around lame attitudes and crippled disposition and blind ambition, your disability will become
your identity.
Because you will invariably become what you are around the most.
Conversely, I really want you to hear this.
Conversely, I worked on this, I want you to hear this.
Just like your disability can become your identity, conversely your identity can become
a disability.
Because if you don't have the complexion for the protection, your identity becomes a disability.
You will never be a good doctor, you are a good black doctor.
You'll never be a good basketball player, you are a good black basketball player.
All of that noise at the border, don't let Governor Abbott fool you.
That's brown people trying to get in a country that's run by white people, that's owned by
red people, that's built by black people.
And if you don't have the complexion for the protection, your identity becomes your disability.
Sometimes I get full of the devil.
And I park in the handicapped spot at the store.
I park in the handicapped spot at the bank.
You can't park there, I've been handicapped for 100 years.
If you're black, you've got to be better.
Somebody ought to help me here.
Your job tomorrow morning depends on how some white person feels about you.
That's why you ought to come back over here and meet us at the black church who know that
everything we got comes from the Lord.
Know who you are, know who it was that brought you, know who it was that kept you because
your identity can become your disability.
Now, brothers and sisters, hear me.
This man makes excuses.
Jesus said, you want to be made whole?
He said, every time I get ready to get in, somebody stumps in before me.
That's the man's excuse.
You walk with me in verses eight and nine, and let's turn our eyes now away from the
man to the Messiah.
And what may be the greatest move of all?
Jesus literally comes to where this poor man is and reaches out to him in genuine grace
and love.
Three mighty verbs, three mighty words from Jesus do more than 38 years of effort.
The effect of these verbs are instantaneous.
All traces of the 38 years of paralysis have vanished.
The command of Jesus brings the courage of faith to his soul.
The courage of faith to his soul brings power to his limbs.
And the power in his limbs gives him the ability to obey the command.
Jesus does not say go to physical therapy and gradually start getting better.
Note the punctilier, ariseness of the verb become well at once.
All of a sudden, suddenly, a man who had never walked in 38 years.
He hears the strong word from Jesus, and without faith acts on a word.
Rise.
Take up your bed and walk.
And once and what once carried the man, the man is now carrying.
Because when Jesus says rise, when we do what Jesus commands, the energy of God becomes
my energy.
We can do the impossible.
All Jesus has to say is rise.
This rise, this point has come so close to home for me.
Because some years ago when I was in the hospital, I was in intensive care, critical care at
MD Anderson, stayed in the hospital in bed for 16 days.
And when I got up from the bed, got out of the hospital, I had to go to physical therapy
to learn again how to walk.
I was at home with a walker.
Everything I needed had to be brought to me.
My sister, Gwen, got in the shower with me and bathed me.
He had to bring my breakfast to me because I could not walk.
I had walked all my life.
I've been walking since I was 10, 11 months old.
But I went to the hospital and laid in the bed 16 days and had to go to physical therapy
to learn how to walk again.
But a word from Jesus.
A man who has not walked in 38 years, rise and he got up.
No physical therapy, no walker, no occupational therapy.
Just a word from Jesus and immediately, strength came in his limbs and he got up and did what
he hadn't done in 38 years.
There's somebody in here this morning.
Got some river you got to cross and you've never been there before and you think you're
not going to make it.
Jesus says rise.
And when the Lord Jesus says rise, whatever Jesus commands, he enables.
Whatever Jesus tells you to do, he gives you power to do it.
Stop talking about what you can't do with God.
All things are possible.
He'll make a way out of no way.
Rise.
Get up.
Rise and get away from lame people.
Get away from lame excuses.
Rise.
But that's not the only way.
Take up your bed.
The reason why take up your bed is such a shout is because when you take up your bed,
it makes no provision to return into your old life.
When you take up your bed, it keeps you from relapsing.
When you take up your bed, you don't just roll it up and then use it again.
You roll it up and put it away.
Because when you rise and take up your bed, that's where it take up your bed means you
ain't got nowhere to lay now because you walk it.
You have nothing to depend on but yourself because there's strength in your legs now.
Stop crying about what you don't have anymore and thank God for what you got right now.
Rise, take up your bed.
Don't keep a pack of cigarettes in your pocket just to smell the tobacco.
Throw it away.
Don't keep liquor in your cabinet just to remind yourself because when you had a hard
day, you say, well, the Lord understand.
I'm going to get me a little something for my nerves.
Throw it out.
See how quiet you got right here on this side.
When you decide that you are going to take up your bed, there are some friends you got
to unfriend.
There are some people you got to dismiss from your life because you will never get where
you going trying to hold on to what used to be.
That Negro is out of your life.
Rise, take up your bed and walk.
That disability, that setback, that trial, that circumstance.
God moved it.
So why you want to go back to what God delivered you from?
But that's not the only word.
Rise, take up your bed and walk.
Because you can take up your bed and stand right there.
That means you've been carried long enough.
You have complained long enough.
You have been in the back long enough.
You have been wounded long enough.
If somebody knocks you down, the fault is on them.
But if we come back here next week and you still down, that's your fault.
Get up from there.
Stop worrying about who likes you and who does not like you.
Who's on your side and who's not on your side.
If God be far off.
Rise, take up your bed and walk.
That's the man.
That's the Messiah.
I'm through, here's the miracle.
The miracle required no input from the man.
All he had to do was get up and walk on the command of Jesus.
And when the Pharisees saw a man who had been paralyzed 38 years, walking around,
they said, wait a minute.
Why are you carrying a mat on the Sabbath day?
They never once saw the miracle.
Because they were too busy looking at the mat.
And you can't wait, you can't depend on people to shout about your blessing.
You got to learn to pat your own self on the back.
You got to learn how to be able to encourage yourself because everybody can't celebrate
with you when God blesses you.
Whether or not some folk don't want to see you bless, they like having you on the mat
because they above you.
They have to look down on you.
And they will give you anything they have as long as they are handing it down to you.
And God wants you to stand on your feet.
And if the Pharisees can't celebrate with you, celebrate by yourself.
If you're in a row with some Pharisees, find you a place where some people who've been
hurt and bruised and beaten and locked out and pushed down and denied and God has opened
the door for them.
God has made a way for them.
Some folk are shouting even though you don't want to shout with them.
They've learned how to shout by themselves.
I've noticed some people.
I've been paying attention to some people here at Lily Grove who bring their own tambourine.
And the choir ain't doing it like they think they ought to be doing it.
They do it themselves.
Then there's some folk in here who shout all by themselves.
They just dance around in a circle.
They just give God the glory because you don't have to wait for somebody else to help you
praise God.
I don't need no choir director telling me to give God a hand.
I don't need no musician telling me to give God some praise.
I don't need anybody telling me to put my hands together when I look back over my life.
And see how many doors God has opened.
How many prayers God has answered.
How many tears God has dried.
Man said, the man said, the man said, I'm carrying my map because that man over there
told me to rise, take up my bed and walk.
He didn't even know who Jesus walked.
He didn't even know his name.
He said that man over there told me to rise, take up my bed and walk.
But here's the real shout.
Jesus went and found him.
And look at where he found him in the temple.
Because when the Lord does something for you that you can't do for yourself, the first
place you ought to go is to the house of God and raise your hands by yourself and tell
Him thank you.
I see some quiet folk in here probably because you ain't got nothing to be grateful for.
But there's some of us in here who got so much food on the table, a car to drive, a job
in the morning, somebody to love us.
Jesus found him in the temple.
And he said, you heal now.
Go get it twisted.
Go and sin no more.
The double healing I mentioned to you earlier, the double healing is that Jesus made him
walk.
But that is secondary to what he really needed.
What he really needed was salvation.
And so when Jesus found him in the temple, after he made him walk, he forgave him of
his sin.
And the reason I shout so much this morning is because when Jesus found me, he forgave
me of my sin.
He washed me thoroughly from my sin.
He cleansed me from my sin.
You can't make me doubting because I know too much about it.
I need somebody who's been forgiven.
I need somebody who's got some skeletons in your closet, some decisions you wish you
could take back, some words you wish you could unsay.
But Jesus forgave you.
And because he forgave you, every time you get a chance, you make your way to the church.
I know you shout at your house.
I know you're shouting the car on the way to work.
I know you shout before you go to bed, but it ain't nothing like shouting in the house
of God.
It's nothing like giving God glory in the house that he has designed for glory.
I wish I had somebody to help me shout here.
God has been so good to me.
I said God has been so good to me.
I'm gonna say it one more time.
You get it the next time.
God has been so good to me.
God has made so many ways for me.
God has answered so many prayers for me.
God has put down so many enemies for me.
God has raised up so many friends for me.
And sometime I just can't wait till Sunday morning.
I start shouting on Monday morning.
I start praising him on Tuesday morning.
He brought me from a mighty long way.
Is there anybody here who knows God's been good to you?
Anybody here?
No God made a way for you.
Is there anybody here?
Can't wait till Sunday to shout.
Sometimes standing up in the kitchen.
You think about you got food for everybody in the house.
You just start giving God praise.
Sometimes you're walking around on floors that belong to you.
God has blessed you with a nice house to live in.
You can't wait to get to his house.
You start praising at your house.
God is giving you a job tomorrow.
Thank you Jesus.
I can take care of myself.
Thank you Jesus in spite of all the prejudice in this country.
Thank you Jesus in spite of the racism and sexism.
Thank you Jesus.
I can handle my own life.
Because my life is in your hand.
Is there anybody here?
Got a story to tell.
If the Lord opened doors for you.
Why don't you help me give him glory?
If the Lord made it away.
Why don't you help me tell him thank you?
If the Lord brought you out.
And you're not ashamed to testify.
Why don't you help me tell him thank you?
He's been a mother for me.
He's been a father for me.
He's been a brother for me.
He's been a rock in a weary land.
He's been a shelter in a time of storm.
He's been a friend when I'm friendless.
Bread when I'm hungry.
Water when I'm thirsty.
Y'all know him don't you?
You don't mind if I talk about him do you?
He's Adam's Redeemer.
He's Abel's Vendor Cater.
He's Abraham's sacrifice.
He's Noah's Ark.
He's Bush on fire.
Y'all don't mind if I talk about him.
He's Mary's baby boy.
He's James and Jude's older brother.
He's Matthew's king.
He's a Mark's suffering servant.
He was born in Bethlehem.
Reared in Nazareth.
He died.
Didn't he die on a hill called Calvary?
But a hella.
I said a hella.
Sunday morning.
He got up from the grave with all power in his hand.
Has he been good to you?
Why don't you grab somebody?
Tell him you see my glory.
You see my glory.
You don't know my story.
You don't know where God brought me from.
You don't know how good God's been to me.
That's why I shout so much.
That's why I holler so much.
That's why I pray so much.
He's brought me up.
I know he's all right.
He made a way.
Somebody has been sick and God made a way.
Somebody has been broke but God made a way.
Somebody here got a divorce but God made a way.
Somebody thought you'd never make it but God made a way.
Why don't you hug somebody?
Tell him he made a way.
He made a way.
I know he's all right.
He made a way.
After Jesus saved him.
When Jesus healed him, he said that man over there.
But after Jesus saved him and went and found him, the man went and found him.
The man went and found the Pharisees.
Read it.
It's right here in the text.
He went and found the Pharisees and he said it was Jesus.
It wasn't your doctor.
It wasn't your lawyer.
It was Jesus.