I Have No One to Help Me

In John 5:1-9, the Lord Jesus came to a man lying by the pool of Bethesda who had suffered with an infirmity for thirty-eight years. Knowing his helpless condition, the Lord asked him, "Wilt thou be made whole?" The man's answer revealed both his misery and his inability: "Sir, I have no man, when the water is troubled, to put me into the pool: but while I am coming, another steppeth down before me" (vs. 7.)

He could not help himself. He had no strength to remedy his condition and no one to do it for him. He was completely dependent upon another.

 

This is the place to which every sinner must be brought. Salvation begins when a sinner sees that he is utterly helpless before God. Sin has rendered us unable to save ourselves. We cannot remove our guilt, change our hearts, or make ourselves acceptable to God. Like the impotent man at Bethesda, we are completely dependent upon another. That One is Christ.

 

Unless the Lord comes to where we are and saves us by His sovereign power and grace, we will never be saved. Our hope is not in ourselves, our efforts, or our decisions, but in the mercy, power and substitutionary person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ.

 

The good news is that Christ does not just offer help to the helpless—He gives life to the dead and strength to the powerless. When He speaks, His word accomplishes what He commands. To the impotent man He said, "Rise, take up thy bed, and walk" (vs. 8.)

 

And immediately the man was made whole. So, it is with every sinner whom Christ saves.                               

 

-preacher John Chapman

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