Do You REALLY Want to be Made Well?

Introduction

Thank you, good brother, for the fine way in which the songs were led this evening and the opportunity we’ve had to blend our voices together and praise God. I want to give you sort of a heads up. Tomorrow evening, the Lord willing, I plan to speak on a subject I’ve entitled a Rebel Returns. And what I’m going to be dealing with primarily in our study tomorrow night is a description of youthful rebellion and how that manifests itself and how that it can overwhelm an individual and lead one away both from home and God. And we’re going to use as our study the story of the prodigal son in the fifteenth chapter of the Gospel of Luke. And so if you have some young people that you think need to hear about the dangers of a rebellious attitude while they’re young, then please encourage them to come and be with us tomorrow as we study that particular subject.

Tonight, however, I want to invite you to open a Bible to the fifth chapter of the Gospel of John. Now, I’m going to put some verses up on the board, up on the screen behind me, but that does not mean that I I don’t want you to follow along in your Bible. This is just simply for my benefit as much as for anyone else’s benefit. But I want to begin by reading a few verses out of John chapter 5. And we’re going to find verses 1 through 4 says, After this, there was a feast of the Jews. And Jesus went up to Jerusalem. Now, there is in Jerusalem by the sheepgate a pool, which is called in Hebrew, Bethesda, having five porches. In these lay a great multitude of sick people, blind, lame, paralyzed, waiting for the moving of the water.

For an angel went down at a certain time into the pool and stirred up the water. Then whoever stopped, or whoever stepped in first after the stirring of the water, was made well of whatever disease he had. Now let’s stop right there, and we’re going to continue our reading in just a moment, but I want to sort of allow you to get a visual here. It was a time of a feast in Jerusalem. Now, there were three or four feasts every year that the Jewish population, the Jewish men, would have to migrate back to Jerusalem in order to participate in these feasts. Now we’re not told what feast this was, whether the Feast of Tabernacles, Passover, whether it was Pentecost, we’re just not told. What we are told is that Jesus goes to the city of Jerusalem.

Now, rather than going to the temple, the Bible says that Jesus went to a pool. He didn’t immediately go to the temple. He went to this pool that had some healing properties. Now I know our text says later on that our text says that an angel stirred the water in order to give it that healing properties. But whatever, you know, and I know that some translations do not have that particular section contained in it, but there were healing properties in the water. And so whoever got down into the water, when the water was stirred, or those healing properties were invogue, he was healed of whatever infirmity, whatever disease that he may have been afflicted with. Now, I want you to stop and think about something. This pool that Jesus would have gone to, which is in the Hebrew called Bethesda, would not have been a very sanitary place.

Just, you know, we we kind of know how an emergency room in a hospital is. You recognize you go in an emergency room in a hospital, there’s a chances there’s going to be bacteria and germs and all manner of diseases, perhaps just floating around in the atmosphere. This was how it would have been at this pool. There were all manner of sick people. There would have been diseases, there would have been bacteria, and it would have been a place that you would not necessarily have wanted to uh to be a part of because of all of the problems that would have been experienced by those who were there in this unsanitary uh condition. But now let’s continue on and let’s notice now that Jesus is going to encounter a man who is lying there by the pool of Bethesda.

1. Do You Want to Be Made Well?

Now we’ll continue our reading now with verses 5 and 6. Bible says, now a certain man was there who had an infirmity 38 years. When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he already had been in that condition a long time, he said to him, now we’ll stop right here because I want to focus upon something very important in just a moment. So Jesus finds a man that has an infirmity. What does that mean? The word infirmity just simply means a weakness of some sort, uh, a frailty of body. Now, I believe the indication here is that he had a paralysis or he was unable to walk. He would have been paralyzed, unable to get down into the water in order to enjoy the healing properties of the pool of Bethesda.

And I want you to notice he had that condition for a long time. Almost four decades. He had been in that condition 38 years. And I’m going to tell you, I believe it would be safe for us to assume that he had been there perhaps many, many, many times throughout those 38 years. I think we could probably even assume he had been there for 38 years, off and on. He had been brought there, unable to get into the water, unable to take advantage of the healing properties. Now he’s going to encounter Jesus. Jesus is going to encounter this man. Jesus, knowing that he had been in that condition a long time, I want you to notice what Jesus says to him. Jesus looks down upon this man and he says to him, Do you want to get well?

Do you want to be made well? Now I’ve got to tell you, I know you’ve read that many times. I know you’ve studied that as you study the book of John. Have you ever stopped to ponder that question? You know, it almost seems nonsensical. It almost seems, as some people would say, a no-brainer. Yes, he wants to be healed. He’s lying there by the pool of Bethesda. Sure, J.R., this man wants to be healed. Then why did Jesus look upon him and say, hey, do you want to be made well? You know what Jesus could have done? Jesus could have picked the man up and put him in the water. I’ll tell you something else, Jesus could have done. Rather than picking him up and put him in the water.

Jesus could have laid his hands upon him and healed the man where he was lying. Jesus got, well, as a matter of fact, Jesus wouldn’t have had to pick him up. He wouldn’t have had to lay a hand on him. Jesus could have just said, get up. Now he later on he’s going to be healed, but don’t you think that’s an interesting question? Don’t you? Haven’t you ever stopped to just ponder how interesting that question is? Do you want to be healed? That’s what he was asking. Do you want to be made well? And I know what we’re going to say. Well, yeah. He wants to be. But I want you to notice his answer. Well, in the first place, I want you to notice what he didn’t say.

In response to the question that the Lord asked him. When Jesus asked him, Do you want to be made well? He didn’t say, Yes, I want to be healed. When Jesus asked him, Do you want to be made well? He did not say, Yes, I want to have new legs. I want to be able to run, and I want to be able to jump, and I want to be able to walk like everybody else. Jesus said, Do you want to get well? What’s the answer that he ought to give? Been lying there for 38 years? Yes, Master, I want to be healed. But that’s not what the man said. Notice the answer the man gave. The sick man answered him, Sir, I have no man to put me in the pool.

When the water is stirred up, but while I am coming, another steps down before me. Now I’m going to return to that in just a moment. We want to examine his answer a little more thoroughly in just a second. But the thing that I want you to remember is that he did not answer Jesus, yes, I want to be healed. Now I know we may be just a little incredulous to hear that. I know it may seem something that causes us to be a little bit suspicious. Well, sure, obviously he wanted to be made well. Who wouldn’t? But I want to tell you something, ladies and gentlemen. I believe that question. I believe the question that Jesus asked this man is a dark, deep, probing and disturbing question.

I believe it gets down into the very psyche of who that man is. And I believe when we begin to consider that question, it gets down into the very core of who we are and what we are about. It is a dark question. It is a probing question. It is indeed a disturbing question. Because I’m going to tell you, ladies and gentlemen, there are many people, and I’ve encountered them over and over again. There are many people who say they want to be made well. There are many people who say they want to overcome their problems. There are many people who say, Yes, I want things to be better. But you know, in reality, they’re not willing to do one thing to accomplish that. They’re not willing to do one thing to be made better.

They’re not doing one thing to solve their problems. You talk to them, do you want things to be better? Oh, yes, preacher, I want things to be good. Oh, yes, preacher, I want things to be better in my life. But in reality, they do not do anything to accomplish that. It’s like an English poet said men are anxious to improve their circumstances, but are unwilling to improve themselves, therefore they remain bound. And I believe this is so. And I’m going to give you two illustrations of this if I might. There was a situation, comedy many years ago that used to be on television, and there was one episode where there was a woman who was a hypochondriac. She couldn’t get her placebo pills, and she took to the sick bed.

And she just was, she thought she was going to die. And someone said of this woman, she is someone who enjoys poor health. And I’m going to tell you something. I know people like that. She enjoyed all of the attention that she was getting. She enjoyed all of the food that was being brought her way. She enjoyed all of the things that people were doing for her. She enjoyed poor health.

I really do. You know, we know that how you, you know, good evening, how are you doing? That is a form of greeting. But you know, you can ask some people, how are you doing? And they think that you have invited them to reveal to you all of their medical problems. And they begin to just listen. Well, you know what it is? They enjoy poor health. Do you want to get out of that sick bed? Oh, yes, honey, I want to get out of that sick bed. Oh, would you bring me another piece of you know, ham or whatever? They enjoy poor health. The late Paul Harvey was telling about a man that was a prisoner. And he was an ideal prisoner. And he’d been in prison for a long time.

He’d been institutionalized. And Paul Harvey said that this man was he was just a model prisoner. He went to bed when he was told to go to bed. He got up when he was told to get up. He ate when he was told to eat. He would go to the shop and work and do the things that he was told to do. And as a result of being a model prisoner, he was granted early release. Good idea, right? No. This man had been institutionalized so long he couldn’t function on the outside. Had you visited with him. Hey, fellow, do you want to get out of jail? Yes, sir. I really do. I am reab I’m rehabilitated and I’m ready to take my part in society. And so he gets out, but he can’t function on the outside.

2. I Have No One to Put Me in the Pool

Now he’s got to get a job. Now he’s got to, now he’s got to pay taxes. Now he’s got to have a schedule that he has to keep. He has to have some self-discipline here. And unable to cope on the outside, he committed a crime, violated his parole, and he was right back in the prison where he felt comfortable. This is what I’m telling you. There are some people, ladies and gentlemen, who do not want to be made well. Now let’s go back to our text. Jesus said to him, sir, or do you want to be made well? The sick man answered him. Now let’s notice what he says. The sick man answered him, sir, I have no one to put me in the pool. Did you ever think about that answer?

I don’t have anybody to put me in the pool. As a matter of fact, when I try to crawl down there myself, when I’m trying to get down into that water, it just seems like somebody is always there before me. You know, I’ve tried. You’ve got to understand Jesus. I can’t do it. You’ve got to understand Jesus. There’s nobody here to help me. You’ve got to understand Jesus. Somebody always gets there first. It’s no fair. It’s no use. Don’t you see what’s happening here? Don’t you see what this man is saying? I can’t, you know, it’s like somebody said one time, well, it is what it is. You ever heard that? You ever heard somebody? Well, it is what it is. You know, I used to think that when people say it is what it is, they were stating the obvious.

That’s not it. They’re stating to you the hopelessness of the situation. I’m 38 years here. I’ve tried to get in the water and I can’t do it. Jesus, it is what it is. No one will help me, and somebody always gets there before me. This is the way that it’s always going to be. Now don’t misunderstand me. I, you know, I the guy may feel like he’s a failure. He may feel that it’s hopeless. And I’m not trying to criticize the man. I’m just simply saying, did you get a handle on his answer? Now I’ll tell you what I want us to do. I want you and me tonight. I want us to begin to be face to face with the question that Jesus asked. Do you want to really get well?

3. Do You Secretly Enjoy Victimhood, Blaming Someone Else?

Do you really want things to change? Do you really want things to be better? Do you really want issues in your life to be ironed out? Is this something you really want? Or perhaps are you like the man lying there by the pool of Bethesda? It is what it is. And this is the way that it’s going to be. Do you really want to get well? Or do you secretly enjoy being a victim? And there are people who do. I’m sorry to have to tell you that. That’s just the case. There are people who enjoy victimhood. I’ve tried, but I can’t. I’ve tried, but there is no use to this. And just think of the number of people that I’ve talked to throughout the years, ladies and gentlemen, that have a have an addiction to tobacco.

And you know, well, I’d really like to quit. Really? Yeah, I’ve tried, but I can’t do it. And I’m telling you, it’s just something that I can’t do. Well, what they’re telling me is I’m a victim. I’d like for things to be better in my life, but I’m a victim. It won’t happen. You think about the number of diets we got. Yeah. Giving us, I mean, I’m watching, I’m watching the news. And every time there’s a commercial, there’s a new diet, you know, the South Beach. Uh or there’s a Weight Watchers, or there’s Genie Craig, and all of these diets, you know. And people get on all of these diets, and you know what they say? No use, it don’t work for me. You ever notice that?

It’s kind of like a fellow said one time, you know, he he he came into work and he was telling the people, so well, you know, I I I started a I I’ve been on a 30-day diet. I started a 30-day diet. And I said, Really? He said, Yeah. They said, How you doing? He said, I lost 19 days. You know, it don’t do him any good. I got a son-in-law. And uh I tell you, uh, Bob and Arlene know him, and he’s a great guy, great Christian, good, good son-in-law. But he he battles his weight, you know, he dies. And so he’ll he his blood pressure get up, you know, and so the doctor tells him he needs to lose some weight, and he’ll tell my daughter, he said, You listen, you’ve got to put me on a diet.

And so she puts him on a diet. And he’ll lose a little bit, and pretty soon he back up. Down a little bit and back up. Down a little bit and back up. And finally he told my daughter, he said, you know, he said, diet don’t work for me. And she said, Well, why is that? He said, Well, I I you know what? I’m just big bone. My daughter said to him, she said, Well, wait a minute, Brad. How many fat skeletons have you ever seen in your life? You know. But but you see one point. People, some people don’t, they just can’t do it. Because they they just enjoy being a victim. I’m a victim. I try. But it don’t. Is that you? Do you really want to get well, or do you secretly enjoy being a victim?

Well, do you really want to get well, or are you going to keep blaming somebody else for the issues and the problems in your life? It’s my wife, it’s my husband, it’s my children, it’s my parents. You know, I I hear that sometimes from young people who want to rebel against the Lord and they stop attending church and they stop being the kind of kids that they ought to be, the kind of young people that they ought to be. You talk to them about it, well, I’m going to tell you what. Preacher, I’ve been drugged down to that church so many times, I don’t know anything else. Man, I’ve heard about Zacchaeus and that sycamore tree so many times. And I tell you what, I I just they made me go, they just crammed religion down my throat.

And so I’m gonna just die and go to hell because mom and dad love me enough to bring me to church. That’s really what they’re saying. But they’re just, they’re just they’re claiming victimhood. They’re claiming, you know. I tell them, I said, I bet you sleep, don’t you? Yeah. I said, Mom and dad used to make you go to sleep, didn’t they? I bet you brush your teeth. And mom and dad used to make you brush your teeth. And all that’s doing is blaming somebody else. You know, people, I I’m not going to go to church. I’m not going to do what’s right before God because, you know, they’re just some hypocrites. I know people that go to church of Christ and they’re nothing but a bunch of hypocrites.

4. Afraid to Try? Rise, Take Up Your Bed and Walk

I know them too. But I tell you what, I’m not going to use them as an excuse for not being able to get down into the water and find a healing. And find redemption. I’m not going to do that. Now, do you want to get well or do you just keep blaming somebody else? Or is it you’re afraid? You’re afraid to try. You know, I know people who are afraid to fly on airplanes. I know people who are afraid to ride in elevators. I know people who are afraid to get on escalators. And the reason is because they have allowed themselves to live in this little small, comfortable box. And they will not get out of that box. Anything outside that box is terrifying to them.

I’m just simply not going to do it. I’m afraid.

Are you kidding me? Is Jesus asking us something that’s impossible to do? No. It’s because we’ve got this little box and we’re afraid. We’re afraid to get out of that box. Now, do you want to be made well? Or are you afraid to try? I want you to notice what Jesus told this man in verse 8. Jesus said to him in John 5 in verse 8, rise. Okay, fella, it’s time to get up. You’ve been lying here for 38 years. Get up. Move. Change your position. Change your perspective. Get out of your box. Get up. Now he says, take up your bed. Hey, whatever you’ve got lying there, take it with you. Take all of your excuses, take all of the blame, take everything that’s hindering you.

Get up, take up your bed and walk. Go forward. Be confident. Don’t wallow in I can’t. Don’t allow yourself to become a prisoner to this idea of it can’t be done. You know, I like to, I like to tell people about a young man that I met several years ago. I was in a meeting in southern Kentucky. And I was going home with this lady for evening meal. And she was inviting a number of other members of the church there to her house. And we were all going to have a uh a dinner before we went to services. And she had a brother that she took care of that had Down syndrome. He was mild, but but he had some learning disabilities. Philip, we called him Big Boy, affectionately, he referred to himself that way.

Well, big boy had obeyed the gospel. And he wanted to lead in prayer that evening for the evening meal. You ever know Christians and say, don’t call on me for prayer. I can’t wait on the table. I can’t teach a Bible class. I can’t do this and I can’t do that. Get somebody a little bit better. You see, they got this little tiny box that they’re living in. Well, this lady of the house, she said to me, she said, Brother Bronger said, uh, uh, big boy wants to offer thanks for the meal, and after he’s finished, would you would you then uh turn thanks for us? And I thought that was sort of a strange request, but he caught me off guard, and I said, Well, okay.

Big boy started praying. And the longer he prayed, the more excited he got. And the more excited that he got, the faster that he talked. And he just prayed and prayed and prayed and poured his heart out to the Lord. And I’m telling you, if anybody else was like me, they couldn’t possibly understand anything that he said, picking a word here and there, until he reached the end of his prayer. In Jesus’ name, amen. And the hostess turned to me and she said, Now, Brother Bronger, would you offer thanks? And I said, No. Won’t do. I said, There’s no way that I can improve upon what we just heard and what we just participated in. Well, here is a young man that’s willing to do what he can.

He’s not going to live in this little box. He’s not going to allow the disabilities that he has to keep him from doing what he can. We need to get out of our box. We need to rise, take up our bed and walk, go forward. Some years ago, about two, about two years ago now, we had or had had a number of young teenage boys, members of the church there where we are. And they a couple of them were designated spokesmen, and they came to the elders and said, we’d like to have a meeting with the elders. And you never know what may you just never know what’s coming down the pipe when you hear something like that. And so they they called a meeting with the elders, and so we get in there and meet with them.

And you know what they were telling us? And I’m telling you, just thrill my heart. They were telling us, please, let us have more to do. Let us take a public part more often than we’re getting able to do it. Let us do things for this congregation. I love it because here is some young men that are rising, taking up their bed, and they’re walking. It’s not going to be always the status quo. They’re going to move forward. Do you really want to get well or are you afraid to even put forth the effort? Do you want to get well or do you just want some relief rather than a cure? A surgeon said one time that he had many patients who would rather have surgery than to actually operate on their lifestyles.

5. What About Your Marriage? What About Your Addictions?

And this describes a lot of people that I know I’d rather take a pill, I’d rather have a drug, I would rather do this or that rather than coming to the great physician. Now, do you want to get well? Or do you secretly enjoy victimhood, blaming someone else for your difficulties? Are you afraid to get well, or do you just want some relief? Now you thought, you thought I was making applications here. I wasn’t. I’m getting ready to make some applications. I’ve just shown you the reason that some people do not want to be made well. Now let’s ask this question more pointedly as we give the answers or we try to give answers to Jesus’ question. What about your marriage? Now I don’t know what kind of condition your marriage is in.

I don’t know if it’s rocky, I don’t know if there are bumps in that, or I don’t know if it is a period of utopia. But chances are that, and it’s been my experience throughout the brotherhood that I’ve been associated with, then probably in every congregation, you’ve got some couples that have a good facade when they’re at church services like this, but in reality, there are some serious issues at home. And so it’s time sometimes that we come face to face with this. Do you really want your marriage to be better? Do you really want your marriage to be what God intends for it to be? If you do, then I’m telling you, my friend, there are certain things that you’ve got to do. Yes, you’re going to have to rise, pick up your bed and walk.

You’re going to have to put forth some effort. You can’t just lie there by the pool of Bethesda and hope someday you’ll get in the water. Get up and do something. Husbands, begin to love your wives as Christ loved the church. You know, I’ve learned over the years that there’s nothing in the scriptures that tell a man that he is to command his wife. Women are told to be in submission to their husband. This is true. There’s no question about that. But a husband is not told to command his wife, he’s told to love his wife. Love your wife as Christ loved the church and see how that improves the relationship at home. And wives, when your husband loves you as Christ loves the church and as he loves his own body, then submit to him, surrender to his will.

Be obedient to him and see how that improves things at home. Begin to respect your husband. You’ll see how things are improved. Husbands, dwell with your wives according to knowledge. 1 Peter 3 and verse 7. And see how, you know, somebody asked me one time, said, JR, what does Peter mean when he says that the wife is the weaker vessel? I said, you know what? I’m not going to get into a deep theological discussion about that. I’ll just say that God is saying, Men recognize that your wives are women and treat them as such. And you’ll see how things improve at home. Like some of the things we talked about on Sunday morning. You know, let there be kindness in your words, let there be sweetness in your disposition.

Let there be tenderheartedness in your spirit. And see how things improve at home. Do you really want things to be better? Then I’m going to tell you, my friend, there are things that we can do to improve our marriage. If in fact we really want that to happen. But let’s ask this another way. What about your addictions? What about your habits? Habits that are destructive and addictions that are destructive. Both to your to your to your life, your body, and to your soul. Do you really want these things to improve? Do you really want to be made well? You know, I’ve got to tell you something. I’m going to deal with something that’s dark and disturbing because I think the question Jesus asked is likewise dark and disturbing.

We’ve got in churches of Christ, ladies and gentlemen, whether we want to admit it vocally and publicly and audibly or not. We’ve got addiction problems among our brethren. This is just the fact of the matter. Whether we’re talking about alcohol addiction, whether we’re talking about drug addiction, whether we’re talking about tobacco addiction, or whether we’re talking about pornography addiction, which I believe is beginning to run rampant in many churches. This is a problem, and people understand that they are ensnared by this, and they want to break out of this. They want things to be better, or so they say, well, I’m telling you, it’s time to come face to face, lying there by the pool of Bethesda. Do I really want this to improve? Do I really want to break my addiction?

Do I really want to break out of this that I know that’s destroying me and eating me inside? Is this something I really want to do? You’ve got to come face to face with that. This is the reality of it. Do you know there are many people who go to AA meetings who stop by on the way home and stop on the way home and buy liquor? They’ve just been to an AA meeting. There are many that go to meetings for drug addictions and do the same thing. There are many who go to sex addiction or sex addiction counseling and do the same thing. Go home and begin to hoard these things on the computer. What this tells me is they really don’t want to be made well.

Some years ago I was in a meeting in Ohio and a young man on one night of the meeting came forward. He sat on the front row and he talked to the preacher. Pretty soon the preacher got up, walked to the front microphone, and he said, Well, brother so and so has come forward this evening. And he’s confessing that he’s been battling with an addiction problem. That’s all they’re saying.

After services were over, people sort of gathered around him, got to talking to him, patting him on the back, telling him they love him, praying for him, hope things go well. And then they would depart one by one by one by one, going on to their homes. And I waited around and everybody had left him, and I walked up to him and I said, Sit down, I want to talk to you. And he sat down beside me, and I said, Well, now I understand the preacher said that you’re struggling with addiction. He dropped his head down and said, Yes, sir. I looked him in the eye and I said, It’s pornography, isn’t it? He started crying. He said, Yes, sir, it is. He said, and I promise God every time that I look at it, I promise God it’ll be the last time that I look at it.

I throw away the movies that I have and I delete these things on my computer and I put filters on, and I promise God it’ll be the last time. He said, But you know what? It’s never the last time. And I said to him, Do you want to get well? Is this something you really want to do? If it is, it’s not something that you can keep private. You have got to get this thing into the open, and you’ve got to take control of your life. And I said, God has given you the key to take hold of your life if you really want to do it. Paul said in 2 Corinthians 10 and verse 5, casting down arguments, that’s imaginations in the King James verse.

And I tell you something, one of the reasons why addictions have such a strong hold upon people is what it does to our imagination and our fantasies. He said, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ. You have got to surrender your mind, your soul, and your heart to Jesus Christ. He’s got to take control of you. And this can only come when you surrender to him and you come clean. You’ve got to come clean to him about what the addiction and what the problems are. Now, is this something you really want to do? Do you really want to change your behavior? If you do, change your thoughts, keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it flows the issues of life.

6. Being Spiritual, Devout Children, and Being Saved

Do you really? You say it’s a probing question. Jesus looked at that man and said, Do you want to be made well? Well, do you? And what about being spiritual? Do you really want to? I hear people talking all the time, you know, J.R., I just want to become more spiritual. I I just want to be more spiritual in my in my life. I I want to just feel close to God. What do you? Well, I’m telling you, my friend, there are things that you can do. It’s just not something you talk about. It’s just not something you fantasize about. It’s something you take care of. You’ve got to seek that which is spiritual. Study, showing yourself approved unto God. A workman that does not need to be.

Get into the Word of God. Get into the Bible. Yeah, I’m going to tell you something. You’re not going to be more spiritual when you spend more time at the gym than you do in the Bible. You’re not going to be more spiritual when you spend more time watching television and doing all of these other extracurricular activities than you are in the scriptures. This is the problem. If I really want to be more spiritual, if I want to be able to quote verses and I want to be able to answer these things that people bring up to me, then I’m going to have to spend some time in the Bible. Is there something you really want to do? Is it something we just talk about? Jesus said, Do you really want to be made well?

And what about your children? Do you really want your children to be more devout? You know, I’m telling you, we’re having an epidemic, ladies and gentlemen, of losing second and third, fourth generation Christians. We’re losing our children. You know, statistics are showing, and I recognize statistics can be, you know, they can be manipulated to say about anything that somebody wants them to say. But I believe this is true. Statistics are showing that we’re losing better than 25% of our young people that are that starts in the nursery class and goes through high school class in churches of Christ. And I believe in some instances is a lot higher than 25%. What’s the problem? I bring them to church. They know better than this. What’s the problem?

Well, I think the problem is that we have not invested ourselves in their lives sufficiently in order to see that they grow up to be devout and committed to the Lord. Paul said to Timothy in 2 Timothy 3 and verse 15, he said to Timothy, he said, you know what? From childhood. That word childhood sometimes is translated infant. It’s breathos in the Greek. And sometimes it’s even translated about the babe that’s still in the womb of the mother. Paul says to Timothy, from childhood, from breathos, from infancy, you have known the holy scriptures which are able to make you wise unto salvation, which is by faith in Christ Jesus. Parents, we’re just not spending sufficient time with our children from the time that they’re sitting on our lap, from the time that we bring them home from the hospital, to the time, you know, we’ve just gotten them a short period of time.

We just have a short, a very brief window of opportunity. And it won’t be long before they’re leaving home and going the way of the world. And we’ve better spend the time that we have diligently, diligently instructing them in the Word of God. Listen to how. This is how this is put in the old covenant in the old covenant. In the book of Deuteronomy. It begins, this is called the Shema. This is what the Jews would build their lives upon. Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one, Deuteronomy chapter 6 and verse 4. And you shall love the Lord your God with all of your heart, with all of your soul, and with all of your strength. And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart.

You know, the Bible tells us in the book of James that we’re to engraft the living word into our hearts. This was something that was even emphasized in the Old Testament. These words shall be in your okay, what am I to do? They’re in my heart. Now what am I to do? Verse 7, you shall teach them diligently to your children. He didn’t say just gather them up and help them get the Bible lesson on Saturday night and on Wednesday afternoon before church. He said, You teach them diligently to your children. Talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down and when you rise up. You notice, my friends, let me tell you something. You want your children to be more devout?

Just listen to what he said here. When they lie down and when they rise up. The last thing your children need to hear before they go to bed is the word of God. The first thing they need to hear when they face the morning sun is the word of God. When they lie down and when they rise up. But J.R., you’ve got to understand. I’ve got a job. You’ve got to understand. I have commitments. I have I have clubs that I’m a part of. I have responsibilities here and responsibilities there. No, parent, you have the primary responsibility to raise your children in the nurture and the admonition of the Lord. Is this something we really want? Do we want our children to be more devout? There’s a young man.

He’s left the Lord now. His family have been friends of ours for a long time. He stopped by our house a few years ago. He had left home and he hadn’t left the Lord yet at that time. And he was selling some things. I’m not even sure what it was he was selling. I wasn’t there. He stopped by and talked to S. And he got to talking about his family and his growing up. He made this confession to my wife. He said, You know, Sister Bronger, he said, in all the years that I was living at home, I never one time ever remember seeing my mother pray. Is there a correlation here? You betcha. If I want my children to be more devout, there’s something that I’ve got to do.

I’ve got to invest myself in that. And then finally, do you really want to be saved? Somebody said, Well, J.R., that’s a no brainer. Well, sure, I don’t want to go to hell. I want to be saved. I want to be with the Lord forever and forever. Really? You know, in Matthew 19, there was a young man that came to Jesus and asked, you know, what to do in order to have eternal life? And Jesus said, well, keep the commandments. He said, Well, I’ve done all of these, you know. He says, which, and Jesus lists a few of them. And he said, Well, I’ve done all of these for my youth up. And then you know what? This man asked you, which man is the rich young ruler.

We often refer to him as such in Matthew 19. This man turned and asked Jesus, he said, What do I yet lack? Did you ever stop and think? That the devil is in that question. What do I do to have eternal will keep the commandments? Which ones? Well, these. Well, I’ve done those. But now something somewhere in his soul. What do I yet lack? What did he know? That he thought the Lord didn’t know. What do I yet lack? Jesus said, Well, if you’re serious about this, sell everything you’ve got. Let go of the covetousness and the greed that is controlling your heart. Let it go. Sell everything that you have, give to the poor, come follow me, and you’ll have riches and efforts. Is that what you want?

I got a grandson doing his very best to teach people the gospel. He’s working at Chick-fil-A, and there’s just all kinds of people working. They even brought he brought a young Muslim with him to church services the other day. Adam is doing his best to convert people. And Adam came up to me the other day and had tears in his eyes, and he said, Granddad, I don’t understand. He said, I show people in the Bible what the Bible says. And he said that they’re just not accepting that. They’re just arguing about it. And they just want to accept what God says. And I said, Adam, you’ve got to understand something, son. Not everybody, no matter what they say, wants to be saved. They just don’t want it.

Conclusion

And that’s why times like this are so crucial. Because we’re challenging you to look deep down into the recesses of your heart. Is this something you really want? Do you want to have a relationship with the Lord? Do you want to be saved? Do you want to go to heaven? Do you want to have the joy of being part of God’s family? If this is something that you really want to do, then don’t just lie there by the pool of Bethesda. Rise. Take up your bed and walk. If you believe Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God, you have within your power the right to become God’s child. Repent of your sins, turn from them. Confess your faith that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God, and be baptized in water for the remission of your sins.

And you can have those sins forgiven and the hope of heaven. Don’t you want to be made? Well, if you do, why don’t you make your way to the front right now? As together we stand as we sing.