Evening Republican, Volume 20, Number 289, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 4 December 1916 — The Man at the Sheep Gate [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

The Man at the Sheep Gate

By REV. JAMES M. GRAY, D. D.

Dean ol Moody Bibl. ItutitnU, Chicago

TEXT—WiIt thou be made whole T-John 1:6. This question was asked by our Lord of hltn who is known to Bible

readers as the impotent man at the sheep gate. Jesus was in Jerusalem, and was passing by the gate through which the sheep for sacrifice were driven into the city. Near this gate was a pool of water of heal1n g properties, and around the pool porches erected for the ailing who gathered there for Its

physical benefits. In these porches were many sick folk, but there was one whose case was most hopeless of all. For eight and thirty years had he been a sufferer, and oh! how long had he waited to get Into the pool, but In vain. He was too weak to walk or crawl Into it himself, and never had there been a friend ready at the right moment to help him in. Hopeless was he as well as helpless. Type of the sinner who conscious of his lost condition before God, has tried every human means to save himself without avail. To this man Jesus addressed himself, not merely because his condition was the worst, but because he knew he had come to the end of himself. Jesus can never aid a man until he gets there, simply because the man is not ready to receive his aid, to yield himself up to be saved. (1) The question he put to him is one of health, “Wilt thou be made whole?" In this case physical health was in the foreground, but as the story goes on spiritual health followed. In the case of the sinner today spiritual health is usually In the foreground, but not infrequently physical health follows. Sin Is the cause of many of our diseases, and when that is put away through faith in Christ, we get well all round. However, spiritual health means salvation —full salvation. “Christ Jesus makes thee whole.” He removes the guilt of sin by his work on the cross, and the power of sin by his work within us through his Holy Spirit. (2) But this is also a question of will, “Wilt thou be made whole?” There was no doubt about it in this man’s case, so far as his bodily betterment was concerned, but there often is on the part of men whose souls are in danger. In an evangelistic meeting a few weeks ago I talked with a man who was literally trembling under conviction of sin. He said he kilew he was lost, yet he could not be persuaded to receive Jesus as his Savior. In his instance it was a fear that he would not be able to hold out, for he could not be brought to see that the one who was able to save him was equally able to keep him saved. Others hesitate, however, because of some, secret sin they are hugging to their breasts, or some gratifying habit they will not relinquish, or some iniquitous business whose profits they are loath to lose. Let any such think of it just now, that present and eternal salvation from sin and its consequences is here offered them in Christ if they really want it, if they are willing to be saved! What a responsibility rests upon us human beings in the possession of a free will! (3) In the third place, therefore, this is a quAion of faith. “Wilt thou be made whole?” It is not something you can do for yourself, but which another must do for you,' only you must yield yourself to him to do it. How often men trust themselves absolutely to a physician of the body, permitting him to administer poison to them, or to plunge his knife into their vitals if he says it is needful for their recovery? They trust themselves to other men in business and invest their all upon advice they give them. In a higher moral sense a woman trusts her life to the man she marries as her husband. We are all trusting ourselves every day in the fullest physical sense to mechanical and scientific appliances of men, which, if they should fall, would drop or hurl us into eternity in a moment. Why not trust Jesus Christ? Why not commit ourselves to him? He has said, “If any man willeth to do his will (i. e., the will of God) he shall know of the doctrine. Whether it is of God or whether I speak of myself.” (4) In the last analysis, this is a question for you, “Wilt thou be made whole?” Do not seek to avoid it/ Do not imagine it must be meant for someone else. For the purpose is disclosed there is not another being in the universe just now but thyBeif. What is thy name? Just substitute it for the word “thou.” Should you like your sins forgiven, your soul justified, your heart cleansed, your life changed, your future absolutely, and gloriously secured? O, hearken to Jesus, if that is true, and know what it is as this man did to “rise up and walk.’’ ■ ■ . . - ... ’ . ■ .