Wilt Thou be made Whole?
"Jesus saith unto him, Wilt thou be made whole? The impotent man
answered him, Sir, I have no man to put me into the pool. Jesus
saith unto him, Rise and walk. Immediately the man was made whole,
and walked."--JOHN v. 6-9.
"Peter said, In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and
walk.... The faith which is by Him hath given this man this perfect
soundness in the presence of you all."--ACTS iii. 6, 16.
"Peter said, AEneas, Jesus Christ maketh thee whole: arise. And he
arose immediately."--ACTS ix. 34.
Feebleness in prayer is the mark of disease. Impotence to walk is, in
the Christian, as in the natural life, a terrible proof of some evil in
the system that needs a physician. The lack of power to walk joyfully in
the new and living way that leads to the Father and the throne of grace
is specially grievous. Christ is the great Physician, who comes to
every Bethesda where impotent folk are gathered, and speaks out his
loving, searching question, Wilt thou be made whole? For all who are
still clinging to their hope in the pool, or are looking for some man to
put them in, who are hoping, in course of time, somehow to be helped by
just continuing in the use of the ordinary means of grace, His question
points to a better way. He offers them healing in a way of power they
have never understood. And to all who are willing to confess, not only
their own impotence, but their failure to find any man to help them, His
question brings the sure and certain hope of a near deliverance. We have
seen that our weakness in prayer is part of a life smitten with
spiritual impotence. Let us listen to our Lord as He offers to restore
our spiritual strength, to fit us for walking like healthy, strong men
in all the ways of the Lord, and so be fit rightly to fill our place in
the great work of intercession. As we see what the wholeness is He
offers, how He gives it, and what He asks of us, we shall be prepared
for giving a willing answer to His question.
WHAT THE HEALTH THAT JESUS OFFERS.
I might mention many marks of spiritual health. Our text leads us to
take one,--walking. Jesus said to the sick man, Rise and walk, and with
that restored him to his place among men in full health and vigour, able
to take his part in all the work of life. It is a wonderfully suggestive
picture of the restoration of spiritual health. To the healthy, walking
is a pleasure; to the sick, a burden, if not an impossibility. How many
Christians there are to whom, like the maimed and the halt and the lame
and the impotent, movement and progress in God's way is indeed an effort
and a weariness. Christ comes to say, and with the word He gives the
power, Rise and walk.
Just think of this walk to which He restores and empowers us. It is a
life like that of Enoch and Noah, who "walked with God." A life like
that of Abraham, to whom God said, "Walk before Me," and who himself
spake, "The Lord before whom I walk." A life of which David sings, "They
shall walk in the light of Thy countenance," and Isaiah prophesies,
"They that wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall run
and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint." Even as God the
Creator fainteth not nor is weary, shall they who walk with Him, waiting
on Him, never be exhausted or feeble. It is a life concerning which it
could be said of the last of the Old Testament saints, Zacharias and
Elisabeth, "They were both righteous before God, walking in all the
commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless." This is the walk
Jesus came to make possible and true to His people in greater power than
ever before.
Hear what the New Testament speaks of it: "That like as Christ was
raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we also should walk
in newness of life." It is the Risen One who says to us, Rise and walk:
He gives the power of the resurrection life. It is a walk in Christ. "As
ye have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye also in Him." It is a
walk like Christ. "He that saith he abideth in Him ought so to walk even
as He walked." It is a walk by the Spirit and after the Spirit. "Walk by
the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lusts of the flesh." "Who walk
not after the flesh, but after the Spirit." It is a walk worthy of God
and well pleasing to Him. "That ye would walk worthy of the Lord, unto
all well pleasing, being fruitful in every good work." "I beseech you,
that as ye received of us, how ye should walk and please God, _even as
ye do walk_, that ye would abound more and more." It is a walk in
heavenly love. "Walk in love, even as Christ loved you." It is a "walk
in the light, as He is in the light." It is a walk of faith, all its
power coming simply from God and Christ and the Holy Spirit, to the soul
turned away from the world. "We walk by faith, and not by sight."
How many believers there are who regard such a walk as an impossible
thing--so impossible that they do not feel it a sin that they "walk
otherwise"; and so they do not long for this walk in newness of life.
They have become so accustomed to the life of impotence, that the life
and walk in God's strength has little attraction. But some there are
with whom it is not thus. They do wonder if these words really mean what
they say, and if the wonderful life each one of them speaks of is simply
an unattainable ideal, or meant to be realised in flesh and blood. The
more they study them, the more they feel that they are spoken as for
daily life. And yet they appear too high. Oh that they would believe
that God sent his Almighty Son, and His Holy Spirit, indeed to bring us
and fit us for a life and walk from heaven beyond all that man could
dare to think or hope for.
HOW JESUS MAKES US WHOLE.
When a physician heals a patient, he acts on him from without, and does
something which is, if possible, ever after to render him independent of
his aid. He restores him to perfect health, and leaves him. With the
work of our Lord Jesus it is in both respects the very opposite. Jesus
works not from without, but from within, by entering Himself in the
power of His Spirit into our very life. And instead of, as in the bodily
healing, being rendered, if possible, independent of a physician for the
future, Christ's one purpose in healing is, as we said, the exact
opposite. His one condition of success, is to bring us into _such
dependence upon Himself as that we shall not be able one single moment
to do without Him_. Christ Jesus Himself is our life, in a sense that
many Christians have no conception of. The prevailing feeble and sickly
life is entirely owing to the lack of the apprehension of the Divine
truth, that as long as we expect Christ continually to do something for
us from heaven, in single acts of grace from time to time, and each time
trust Him to give us what will last a little while, we cannot be
restored to perfect health. But when once we see how there is to be
nothing of our own for a single moment, and it is to be all Christ
moment by moment, and learn to accept it from Him and trust Him for it,
the life of Christ becomes the health of our soul. Health is nothing but
life in its normal, undisturbed action. Christ gives us health by giving
us Himself as our life; so He becomes our strength for our walk.
Isaiah's words find their New Testament fulfilment: They that wait on
the Lord shall walk and not faint, because Christ is now the strength of
their life.
It is strange how believers sometimes think this life of dependence too
great a strain, and a loss of our personal liberty. They admit a need of
dependence, of much dependence, but with room left for our own will and
energy. They do not see that even a partial dependence makes us debtors,
and leaves us nothing to boast of. They forget that our relationship to
God, and co-operation with Him, is not that He does the larger part and
we the lesser, but that God does all and we do all--God all in us, we
all through God. This dependence upon God secures our true independence;
when our will seeks nothing but the Divine will, we reach a Divine
nobility, the true independence of all that is created. He that has not
seen this must remain a sickly Christian, letting self do part and
Christ part. He that accepts the life of unceasing dependence on Christ,
as life and health and strength, is made whole. As God, Christ can enter
and become the life of His creature. As the Glorified One who received
the Holy Spirit from the Father to bestow, He can renew the heart of the
sinful creature and make it His home, and by His presence maintain it in
full health and strength.
O ye all who would fain walk and please God, and in your prayer-life not
have your heart condemn you, listen to Christ's words: "Wilt thou be
made whole?" He can give soul-health. He can give a life that can pray,
and know that it is well-pleasing to the Father. If you would have this,
come and hear how you can receive it.
WHAT CHRIST ASKS OF US.
The story invites us to notice three things very specially. Christ's
question first appeals to the will, and asks for the expression of its
consent. He then listens to man's confession of his utter helplessness.
Then comes the ready obedience to Christ's command, that rises up and
walks.
1. Wilt thou be made whole? About the answer of the impotent man there
could be no doubt. Who would not be willing to have his sickness
removed? But, alas, in the spiritual life what need to press the
question. Some will not admit that they are so sick. And some will not
believe that Christ can make a man whole. And some will believe it for
others, but they are sure it is not for them. At the root of all lies
the fear of the self-denial and the sacrifice which will be needed. They
are not willing to forsake entirely the walk after the course of this
world, to give up all self-will, and self-confidence, and self-pleasing.
The walk in Christ and like Christ is too straight and hard: they do not
will it, they do not will to be made whole. My brother, if thou art
willing, speak it out: "Lord! at any price, I will!" From Christ's side
the act is one of the will: "I will, be thou clean." From your side
equally: "Be it unto thee as thou wilt." If you would be delivered from
your impotence--oh, fear not to say, "I will, I will!"
Then comes the second step. Christ wants us to look up to him as our
only Helper. "I have no man to put me in," must be our cry. Here on
earth there is no help for me. Weakness may grow into strength in the
ordinary use of means, if all the organs and functions are in a sound
state. Sickness needs special measures. Your soul is sick; your
impotence to walk joyfully the Christian walk in God's way is a sign of
disease; fear not to confess it, and to admit that there is no hope for
restoration unless by an act of Christ's mercy healing you. Give up the
idea of growing out of your sickly into a healthy state, of growing out
from under the law into a life under grace. A few days ago I heard a
student plead the cause of the Volunteer Pledge. "The pledge calls you,"
he said, "to a decision. Do not think of growing into a missionary:
unless God forbids you, take the step; the decision will bring joy and
strength, will set you free to grow up in all needed for a missionary,
and will be a help to others." It is even so in the Christian life.
Delay and struggle will equally hinder you; do confess that you cannot
bring yourself to pray as you would, because you cannot give yourself
the healthy, heavenly life that loves to pray, and that knows to count
upon God's Spirit to pray in us. Come to Christ to heal you. He can in
one moment make you whole. Not in the sense of working a sudden change
in your feelings, or in what you are in yourself, but in the heavenly
reality of coming in, in response to your surrender and faith, and
taking charge of your inner life, and filling it with Himself and
Spirit.
The third thing Christ asks is this, the surrender of faith. When He
spoke to the impotent man His word of command had to be obeyed. The man
believed that there was truth and power in Christ's word; in that faith
he rose and walked. By faith he obeyed. And what Christ said to others
was for him too--"Go thy way; thy faith hath made thee whole." Of us,
too, Christ asks this faith, that His word changes our impotence into
strength, and fits us for that walk in newness of life for which we have
been quickened in Him. If we do not believe this, if we will not take
courage and say, with Paul, "I can do all things in Christ, which
strengtheneth me," we cannot obey. But if we will listen to the word
that tells us of the walk that is not only possible, but has been proved
and seen in God's saints from of old, if we will fix our eye on the
mighty, living, loving Christ, who speaks in power, "Rise and walk," we
shall take courage and obey. We shall rise and begin to walk in Him and
His strength. In faith, apart from and above all feeling, we shall
accept and trust an unseen Christ as our strength, and go on in the
strength of the Lord God. We shall know Christ as the strength of our
life. We shall know, and tell, and prove that Jesus Christ hath made us
whole.
Can it indeed be? Yes, it can. He has done it for many: He will do it
for you. Beware of forming wrong conceptions of what must take place.
When the impotent man was made whole he had still all to learn as to the
use of his new-found strength. If he wanted to dig, or build, or learn a
trade, he had to begin at the beginning. Do not expect at once to be a
proficient in prayer or any part of the Christian life. No; but expect
and be confident of this one thing, that, as you have trusted yourself
to Christ to be your health and strength, He will lead and teach you.
Begin to pray in a quiet sense of your ignorance and weakness, but in a
joyful assurance that He will work in you what you need. Rise and walk
each day in a holy confidence that He is with you and in you. Just
accept Jesus Christ the Living One, and trust Him to do His work.
Will you do it? Have you done it? Even now Jesus speaks, "Rise and
walk." "Amen, Lord! at Thy word I come. I rise to walk with Thee, and in
Thee, and like Thee."
A PLEA FOR MORE PRAYER