Do You Wish to Get Well?

Text: John 5:1–9
Series: Sermons 2001 Rewritten
Date:
Speaker: Ed Rangel
Location: Waupaca Church of Christ
Bible Version: NASB 1995
Sermon Type: Expository

Learning Objectives

1. Explain the setting of John 5 and why Jesus’ question to the sick man was spiritually searching.
2. Show that Christ’s healing exposed both need and responsibility.
3. Connect the healed man’s command in John 5:14 to the necessity of repentance and continued faithfulness.
4. Apply the question “Do you wish to get well?” to sinners who want salvation but resist the cost of repentance.
5. Call hearers to obey the gospel and give up whatever sin, tradition, or false doctrine keeps them spiritually sick.

Thesis

Jesus’ question, “Do you wish to get well?” presses every sinner to face his true condition, accept Christ’s authority, and give up whatever must be surrendered in order to be made whole.

Introduction.

1. John records signs that reveal who Jesus is. a. In John 2, Jesus turned water into wine at Cana. b. In John 4, Jesus healed the nobleman’s son. c. In John 5, Jesus healed a man who had been sick for thirty-eight years.
2. The setting is Bethesda. a. There was a pool in Jerusalem with five porticoes. b. Many sick, blind, lame, and withered people gathered there. c. They were waiting for hope, healing, and mercy.
3. Some translations include a note about an angel stirring the water. a. The last part of John 5:3 and all of verse 4 are textually disputed. b. The details explain the popular belief connected with the pool. c. The certainty of the passage does not rest on whether that tradition was true.
4. Jesus saw one man lying there. a. He had been sick for thirty-eight years. b. He had no one to help him into the water. c. He was helpless, overlooked, and unable to change his own condition.
5. Jesus asked him a question that sounds almost unnecessary. a. “Do you wish to get well?” b. The answer seems obvious. c. But Jesus never wastes words.
6. That question still reaches into the soul. a. Many people want relief. b. Many people want heaven. c. Not everyone wants the surrender, repentance, and obedience that come with being made whole.

I. Jesus Saw the Man’s Condition Clearly.

A. The man had been sick for thirty-eight years.

1. John 5:5 says a man was there who had been ill for thirty-eight years. a. This was not a brief inconvenience. b. This was not a passing weakness. c. This was a life marked by helplessness.
2. Thirty-eight years is long enough for hope to fade. a. Long enough to be forgotten. b. Long enough to be defined by the condition. c. Long enough for others to walk past without feeling the weight of it.
3. Jesus saw what others may have stopped seeing. a. He saw the man. b. He knew the length of his suffering. c. He knew the helplessness beneath the surface.

B. The scene exposes human helplessness.

1. The man could not heal himself. a. He could lie near the pool. b. He could explain his situation. c. He could not make himself whole.
2. The man had no one to help him. a. John 5:7 says, “I have no man to put me into the pool.” b. While he was coming, another stepped down before him. c. He was close to the place of hoped-for healing and still helpless.
3. Sin places man in a worse condition. a. A sinner may be near religion. b. A sinner may be near people who worship. c. A sinner may be near the truth and still remain lost if he does not obey Christ.

C. The Old Testament shows that God sees the helpless.

1. Exodus 3:7 says God saw the affliction of His people in Egypt. a. He heard their cry. b. He knew their sufferings. c. He acted to deliver.
2. Psalm 34:18 says the LORD is near to the brokenhearted. a. God is not blind to suffering. b. God is not indifferent to the crushed. c. God sees what man often ignores.
3. Isaiah 35:5–6 pictured the coming blessing of God. a. The eyes of the blind would be opened. b. The lame would leap like a deer. c. John 5 gives a glimpse of the power of Christ to do what man cannot do.

II. Jesus Asked a Question That Forced the Man to Face His Need.

A. Jesus asked, “Do you wish to get well?”

1. John 5:6 says Jesus saw him and knew he had already been a long time in that condition. a. Jesus knew the answer before He asked. b. Jesus was not naïve. c. Jesus was not being cruel.
2. The question brought the man’s need into the open. a. It made him speak. b. It made him face his condition. c. It made him acknowledge his helplessness.
3. Jesus’ questions often expose the heart. a. God asked Adam, “Where are you?” b. God asked Cain, “Where is Abel your brother?” c. Jesus asked this man whether he wished to be made well.

B. The man answered from the only solution he knew.

1. John 5:7 says he had no one to put him into the pool. a. He was still thinking in terms of the pool. b. He saw his problem through the limits of human help. c. He did not yet understand who stood before him.
2. The man’s answer reveals frustration. a. Others got there first. b. He could not move fast enough. c. His hope kept being beaten by his helplessness.
3. Many sinners answer Christ the same way. a. They explain their circumstances. b. They talk about what others have done. c. They describe why they cannot change. d. They do not yet see that Christ is the answer standing before them.

C. John 4 gives a useful comparison.

1. The Samaritan woman needed spiritual healing. a. She came for water. b. Jesus exposed her life. c. She had to face her sin before receiving the truth fully.
2. Jesus offered her living water. a. She first thought physically. b. Jesus pressed spiritually. c. Her need was deeper than the well.
3. John 5 works with the same kind of pressure. a. The sick man’s need was physical. b. His later warning in John 5:14 shows spiritual danger too. c. Jesus’ mercy never excuses sin.

III. Jesus Made the Man Whole by His Word and Demanded a Changed Walk.

A. Jesus commanded the man to rise, take up his pallet, and walk.

1. John 5:8 says, “Get up, pick up your pallet and walk.” a. Jesus did not perform a ritual at the pool. b. Jesus did not help him race into the water. c. Jesus spoke with authority.
2. The command required action. a. Rise. b. Take up your pallet. c. Walk.
3. The man had to obey the word of Christ. a. He could not remain lying down and claim healing. b. He could not argue about his condition. c. The authority of Christ called him to move.

B. The healing was immediate.

1. John 5:9 says the man immediately became well. a. No gradual recovery. b. No long rehabilitation. c. The miracle was real and complete.
2. He picked up his pallet and began to walk. a. The very mat that had carried him now had to be carried by him. b. His former condition no longer ruled him. c. Christ’s word changed his condition.
3. The miracle reveals Christ’s authority. a. Authority over sickness. b. Authority over helplessness. c. Authority to command obedience.

C. Jesus later gave him a moral warning.

1. John 5:14 says Jesus found him in the temple. a. The healed man was not forgotten after the miracle. b. Jesus sought him again. c. Physical healing was not the end of the matter.
2. Jesus said, “Behold, you have become well; do not sin anymore.” a. Christ connected mercy with responsibility. b. Grace did not mean permission to continue in sin. c. Healing called for holiness.
3. Jesus warned, “so that nothing worse happens to you.” a. There are things worse than physical sickness. b. Sin’s final consequence is worse than thirty-eight years of disease. c. Hell is worse than any earthly suffering.

IV. Christ Still Asks Sinners Whether They Truly Want to Be Made Well.

A. Many want salvation, but not repentance.

1. Most people want heaven. a. They want peace. b. They want forgiveness. c. They want escape from hell.
2. But the real question is what they are willing to surrender. a. Sinful relationships. b. Drunkenness. c. Sexual immorality. d. Dishonesty. e. Pride. f. Worldliness.
3. First Corinthians 6:9–11 names sins that exclude from the kingdom. a. The unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God. b. Some of the Corinthians had lived that way. c. They were washed, sanctified, and justified.

B. Many want salvation, but not the truth that corrects their religion.

1. Matthew 7:21 says not everyone who says “Lord, Lord” will enter the kingdom. a. Religious language does not save. b. Religious activity does not save. c. The one who does the will of the Father enters.
2. Mark 7:7 says worship is vain when men teach human precepts as doctrine. a. Tradition can be wrong. b. Sincerity can be wrong. c. Childhood religion can be wrong.
3. Some must give up religious misconceptions. a. Faith-only salvation. b. Once-saved-always-saved security. c. Total depravity. d. Baptism as a mere symbol. e. Denominational identity over the one body of Christ.

C. Many want healing while holding on to cheap substitutes.

1. The heart often clings to what cannot save. a. A favorite sin. b. A family tradition. c. A false doctrine. d. A relationship God does not approve.
2. The gospel calls us to let go. a. Not because God wants to rob us. b. Not because obedience is cruel. c. Because Christ gives what sin can never give.
3. The pearl illustration presses the point. a. A child may cling to cheap pearls. b. A father may wait to give the real thing. c. The cheap must be surrendered before the better gift is received.
4. God is not asking sinners to give up treasure. a. He is asking them to release what is killing them. b. He offers forgiveness. c. He offers life in Christ. d. He offers eternal hope.

Application.

1. For the sinner. a. Do you truly want to be made well? b. Do not answer with words only. c. Your repentance will tell the truth about your answer.
2. For the religious but disobedient. a. Do you want Christ, or only the religion you inherited? b. Will you let Scripture correct what you have believed for years? c. Will you obey the gospel as written?
3. For the Christian struggling with sin. a. Christ’s mercy does not excuse you to continue. b. “Do not sin anymore” still speaks. c. Repent before something worse comes upon you.
4. For the church. a. Do not offer people comfort without repentance. b. Do not promise healing while ignoring sin. c. Preach Christ’s mercy and Christ’s authority together.
5. For parents and teachers. a. Teach children that wanting heaven means submitting to Christ. b. Do not raise them to think salvation is desire without obedience. c. Teach them to let go of cheap things for eternal things.

Conclusion.

1. Jesus saw a man who had been sick for thirty-eight years. a. He knew the man’s condition. b. He knew the man’s helplessness. c. He knew what the man needed.
2. Jesus asked, “Do you wish to get well?” a. The question was not ignorance. b. The question forced the man to face his condition. c. The question still presses every soul.
3. Jesus healed him by His word. a. Rise. b. Take up your pallet. c. Walk.
4. Jesus later warned him to stop sinning. a. Mercy required responsibility. b. Healing demanded a changed walk. c. Something worse than sickness awaited if sin ruled.
5. The question now belongs to us. a. Do you want to be saved? b. Do you want to go to heaven? c. Do you want it enough to obey Christ and give up whatever keeps you sick?

Invitation.

1. Hear the word. a. Romans 10:17 says faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.
2. Believe Christ. a. John 8:24 warns that unless you believe that Jesus is He, you will die in your sins.
3. Repent. a. Acts 17:30 says God commands all people everywhere to repent.
4. Confess Christ. a. Romans 10:9–10 teaches confession with the mouth and belief in the heart.
5. Be baptized for the remission of sins. a. Acts 2:38 commands repentance and baptism in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins.
6. Live faithfully. a. Revelation 2:10 calls the Christian to be faithful until death.
7. Let go of what keeps you sick. a. Sin is not worth your soul. b. False doctrine is not worth your soul. c. Pride is not worth your soul. d. Come to Christ and be made whole.

Word Study.

Scripture Interlock Table.