Follow Up and Follow Through | April 26, 2026 PM

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The message you're about to hear was preached at Liberty Baptist

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message from God's Word will be a blessing to you.

John chapter 5 tonight. It was a close one this morning,

John 5 · chapter mention

Pastor said. John chapter 1 And we were just

John 1 · chapter mention

a few chapters shy of being in this almost the same place

tonight, but that would have been OK anyway.

And so we'll find our place in the 5th chapter of the Gospel

according to John. It's been a good day in the

Lord's house. It's good to have some visitors

here tonight with the Liberty Baptist Church.

And so you are honored guests as of course.

And so here we are back in the Word of God, John chapter 5.

John 5 · chapter mention

Well, the theme of the gospel according to John is that Jesus

is God and he is to be believed on for salvation.

Jesus is God and he is to be believed on for salvation.

Also in this gospel, Jesus proves his deity through the

power of his Word and through his miracles.

So through the power of His word and through the affirmation of

His miracles, it all goes and comes together to prove that He

in fact is God. And also, of course, as we would

find not just throughout Scripture and throughout the

immediate Gospels here, but we would also find a very strong

theme in John that salvation is offered to all people.

It's offered to the Jews, it's offered to the Gentiles, it's

offered to the Greeks, the Pharisees, the rich, the young,

the old, the poor, the gospel Jesus Christ is for all people.

So in this message tonight from our verses, we will see how

Christ pursued the soul of a man whose body he had used to affirm

his deity. Not only do we see that he's

going to heal a man physically, but that Christ will follow up

with that man in pursuit of his soul.

And so I, perhaps some of you watched the Red Sox today, and I

heard that they won five to three.

And I knew that, right, they were 5 to 3.

And so let's go ahead for another moment and think about

the game of baseball. And I want you to visualize the

pitcher preparing to pitch the ball.

He and the catcher are working together, and the catcher throws

him a couple of sign suggestions, and they find one

that they agree upon. And so the pitcher, he steadies

himself, he locks in on his target.

He takes a breath. He begins his wind up.

Then he brings his right arm through and he pitches the ball

into the third baseline dugout. What happened there?

Well, the pitcher released the ball much too early and he

missed the goal entirely. Pulled a Fauci, we'd say.

Some of you will catch that later.

No pun intended. We'd say that he didn't follow

through, correct? The pitcher did not follow

through with the routine, with the process, with the pitch, and

so therefore the ball totally missed the plate and missed the

catcher's miss Mitt. You know, we missed the goal.

As ambassadors for Christ in the world, when we don't follow up

and we don't follow through with the souls of people God has

providentially placed in our path to reach for Christ.

So often we don't follow up. We don't follow through with the

souls that God has placed right in our path.

And so I want to preach a message tonight from John

John 5 · chapter mention

chapter 5, verses one through 16 called follow up and follow

through. Follow up and follow through.

So if you're physically able to stand, let's stand for the

reading of the Word of God and our text tonight is verses one

through 16. Follow up and follow through.

The Bible says that after this there was a feast of the Jews,

and Jesus went up to now there is at Jerusalem by the sheep

market, a pool which is called in the Hebrew tongue Bethesda

had five porches. In these lay a great multitude

of impotent folk of blind halt, weird waiting for the moving of

the water. For an Angel went down at a

certain season into the pool and troubled the water.

Whosoever then first, then first after the troubling of the water

stepped in, was made whole of whatsoever disease he had,

whatsoever physical disease that He had, if I may clarify.

And a certain man was there which had an infirmity 38 years,

when Jesus saw him lie, and knew that he had been now a long

time. In that case, or in that

situation, he saith unto him, Wilt thou be made whole?

The impotent man answered him, Sir, I, I have no man, when the

water is troubled to to put me into the pool.

But while I am coming, another steppeth down before me.

Jesus saith unto him with his words.

He saith, Rise, take up thy bed and walk.

The man didn't need to go into the pool.

I just took the word of Jesus to heal him, and immediately, verse

9 And immediately the man was made whole, and took up his bed,

and walked, and on the same day catch this church.

On the same day was the Sabbath, was the Sabbath.

The Jews therefore said unto him, That was cured, It is the

Sabbath day. It is not lawful for thee to

carry thy bed. He answered them, He that made

me whole, the same said unto me, Take up thy bed and walk.

So it wasn't me who told me to do this.

It it was it was somebody else who told me to do this.

Then asked they him, What man is that which said unto thee, take

up thy bed and walk? Who is he?

What kind of authority does this man have?

Name him. And he that was healed with not

who it was, he didn't know who it was for Jesus had conveyed

himself away. A multitude being in that place.

And verse 14 is our key verse tonight.

Verse 14. Afterward Jesus findeth him in

the temple and said unto him, Behold, thou art made whole sin

no more, lest the worst thing come unto thee.

The man departed and told the Jews that it was Jesus which had

made him whole. And therefore did the Jews

persecute Jesus. This was the beginning of public

healings and miracles and persecution as well.

And sought to slay him because he had done these things on the

Sabbath day. On the Sabbath day you could be

seated. Thank you so much for standing

again the title, Follow up and follow through.

Let's pray. God, thank you for those who

have gathered in this place tonight, church members and

visitors alike. We thank you for the songs we

could sing to your glory and the fellowship we can have.

Lord, I pray now you'd bless this time around Your word.

God, I pray that your people would open their hearts now to

how it will be that you want to speak to them for it's in the

name of Christ. I do pray this.

Amen. We would see in verses one

through 9 that Christ had an agenda.

He was on a mission, as He always was.

In fact, He came here to earth on a mission with an agenda,

with a purpose in mind. So first of all, tonight Christ

had an agenda to come heal a man who was obviously diseased.

This man and people around him knew this man has a problem,

this man has a disease. This man is impotent.

So Christ entered into Jerusalem at the sheep gate during a feast

time and on the Sabbath. He didn't come with the

intention to observe the feast necessarily, not that we know

of. Nor did He come necessarily to

honor the Sabbath if it meant that He had to do the will of

the Father. And as we know, the Sabbath was

the traditional time of rest. There was to be no excuse for

anyone to do anything burdensome, not even carrying a

bundle of sticks, not even carrying maybe even their

sleeping bag. Christ entered into Jerusalem,

the Bible tells us, through the entrance of the sheep gate, the

entrance wherein shepherds would bring their sheep to be examined

and presented for the atoning sacrifice.

But additionally, the the Sheep gate was within close proximity

to the Lord's intended destination, and that being the

Pool of Bethesda. The pool of Bethesda was within

walking distance from the Sheep gate.

The Hebrew word Bethesda literally, literally means an

outpouring of God's mercy, an outpouring of God's mercy.

And apparently there was a pool of it.

There's a pool of God's mercy. The pool was where the Lord God

had ordered an Angel to stir up the waters.

And whoever was able to get into the pool, the Bible tells us

here, immediately was healed of any physical disease by the

mercy of God. This is not to be confused with

the salvation of souls. No one was necessarily born

again because they got into the pool of Bethesda.

That would be God's grace. But the pool was a place where

God showed mercy on people's physical ailments.

And it was at this pool where Christ came seeking a man

looking for a man who had been diseased with an infirmity for

38 years. Might have some 38 year olds

here tonight, but he wasn't necessarily 38 years old.

But his disease was, and he could never make it into the

pool in time for healing. So therefore, Christ found him

laying by the pool, waiting, and likely likely at his weakest and

most discouraged moment in his entire life.

He's at the pool of Bethesda. He knows that if he could just

get into that water, as he has seen happen for everyone who

steps out of that pool, especially if they were first,

they would be completely cleansed of their physical

disease. And he's discouraged.

He cannot get in for the life of him.

So when Christ approached this man, he did not know.

This man did not know who Jesus was.

He wasn't even looking for Jesus.

This man did not know it was the Messiah speaking face to face

with him. Therefore, when, when, when

asked by Christ if he desired to be made whole, it didn't even

occur to this man that this man who maybe had a few other of his

disciples with him, that he could heal him.

And so when Jesus asked him in verse 6, wilt thou be made

whole? In verse 7, the man does not

say, Lord, if thou wilt, he doesn't say if you are willing.

Yes, I believe he doesn't say any of that.

Perhaps he thinks that Jesus is maybe offering to carry him to

the pool when the Angel stirred up the water.

And so one of the primary themes of the gospel according to John

is Christ affirming his deity through the power of him simply

speaking his word, Not needing a pool, not necessarily even

needing the mud that at times he had taken up from the earth and

spat upon it and put upon people's eyes, but all it took

was his word. There were other times in the

gospel where Jesus would be looking at somebody asking him

to heal maybe their daughter, and he didn't even have to go be

that person's daughter. He healed them at the power of

His will. But the Bible says, as we heard

this morning in John, the very first book, very first chapter

of John, the book in which we're in tonight, in verse one in the

beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word

was God. Jesus throughout this book of

the Bible is affirming His authority just by people placing

faith in His Word and by Him speaking His Word.

So the next thing the diseased man knows is that Christ tells

him to in verse 8. He tells him, rise up, take up

thy bed and walk. The man is entirely healed of

his disease. I mean from, from from the top

of his head to the bottom of his feet.

He's entirely healed of his disease.

For the first time in 38 years, the man is experiencing life

without his debilitating, miserable disease.

For the first time in 38 years, he stands up and picks up his

bed, carries it, and walks away as free as a bird.

The man walks away from Jesus, and Jesus, likewise, he also

walks away himself. The man is no longer physically

burdened. He's no longer physically

burdened by the disease, and he has a happiness he hasn't

experienced probably since he was a toddler.

He's free. He can go where he wants, He can

do what he wants. He can make decisions.

It's just like someone getting a driver's license for the first

time. They're free.

They can do whatever they would like to do.

He was healed, but hold on, it was the Sabbath.

Didn't Christ know this man wasn't supposed to be carrying

his bed, considered a burden by the culture's religious elite?

Didn't the Word of God know better than to not only let this

man carry his bed, but he told the man to hunch over, pick up

his bed, carry it, and walk? It was the Sabbath.

He wasn't supposed to be doing anything burdensome.

So I want us to see secondly tonight that the culture of the

day could not stop Christ from being glorified as God.

The culture could not stop Christ from doing the will of

the Father and that was to be glorified as God.

What is to notice again, verses 10 through 13, Bible says, so

this man picks up his bed and he walks away on the Sabbath

carrying this bed. The Jews, verse 10, the Jews

therefore said unto him, that was cured.

It is the Sabbath day. It's not lawful for thee to

carry thy bed. He answered them, he that made

me hold the same said unto me, the he this some other man told

me, take up thy bed and walk. Then asked a him, What man is

that which said unto thee, take up thy bed and walk?

In verse 13, he, he pretty much says, well, honestly, I, I don't

know, I don't remember what he looked like.

I, I was on the ground and, and, and he, and he was speaking to

me. And by the time I got up, he, he

walked away. So the culture of the day could

not stop Christ from being glorified as God.

But yes, it's true, Christ defied cultural norms not to

cause a stir. I wanted to catch that tonight.

His intent was not necessarily to cause a stir among the

religious elite and cause a distraction, but primarily to do

2 other things in particular. Number one, first of all, Christ

was endeavoring to expose the hearts of the Pharisees.

As we learned this morning, He was shedding light on the true

nature of the hearts of the Pharisees.

The Pharisees were more concerned that the man carried

his bed then they were glad he no longer carried the burden of

a debilitating disease. They were more bothered that the

man carried his sleeping bag. Then they were glad that this

man everybody knew for 38 years had a disease.

And here he is walking. They don't even show an inkling

of rejoicing with Him, of being happy for Him or or celebrating

with him. No, they were more concerned

about the law than they were concerning themselves with

loving and being happy for people.

And so first of all, Christ is in is exposing the hearts of the

Pharisees, but secondly, He is affirming His deity and thus His

authority as God, that by His spoken word He could heal

people's diseases. You see, God was at, is was and

is at work in the world with the agenda of reproving the world of

sin, of exposing the sin of people by his word and with His

Spirit. And the very reason why the Word

of God is doing that and why the Holy Spirit is working in the

world to do that is not just to leave the people in conviction

and leave people in guilt, but so the light can be shed up upon

them and they can realize that they are in fact sinners and

that they have need of a Savior. And so Christ was endeavoring,

he was rebuking the Pharisees, but he was also evangelizing the

Pharisees. The work of the Word exposes the

true nature of the heart of man. And that's why we we read it.

That's why we teach it. That's why we preach it, not at

times to make you feel bad, but so you can address problems and

follow the Lord Jesus Christ, right.

And so God is proving time and again that he alone has the

power to do wonders in people's lives.

But in addition, church to to Christ, exposing the heart of

the Pharisees. And secondly, in addition to

this, He was affirming His deity.

In addition to all of this, to exposing their hearts, Christ

showed on this day that there is no law against love.

There is no law against love. It was His Word that taught them

to observe the Sabbath day. We understand that.

But He demonstrated once again on this day that the law of His

love Trump's all the law. Listen to Galatians chapter 5

Galatians 5 · chapter mention

and 22 and 23. But the fruit of the Spirit is

Lovejoy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,

meekness, meekness, temperance. Against such there is no law.

And then in Galatians chapter 6 and verse 2 says, Bear ye one

Galatians 6 · chapter mention

another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.

And that's exactly what Christ did.

He bore this, this man's burden. Yeah, relieved him of his

physical burden. And this is that which the

Pharisees were upset with, was that this man was loved.

But it is never wrong to love. It's never wrong to love

biblically. In fact, Christ the Word was the

spiritual rest that all the Pharisees needed.

Christ, the Word of God gave the Sabbath day, but it was to

reveal that He truly was. The rest that He needed in

Christ demonstrated His love toward the man at the pool of

Bethesda and granted to him some more physical rest.

In fact, a perfect love for God wouldn't need the law.

Let me say that again. A perfect, sinless love wouldn't

need the law. If Adam perfectly loved God in

the Garden of Eden and therefore obeyed God, there would not have

to be a law, because man is in love with God and therefore in

love with people. OK, so the Pharisees never

appreciated. They never appreciated what

Christ did for others, but especially if they disrupted or

contradicted their cultural norms.

In fact, once the man who was healed was finally able to

identify after verse 14, that it was Jesus who healed him, the

Pharisees demonstrated a measure of persecution toward Jesus and

really, for the first time, Jesus of Nazareth.

The Christ began to face serious opposition from those without.

They didn't rejoice with the healed man.

They didn't respond with worship and appreciation to Jesus.

They were angry that the man carried his bed.

So I think we understand this, the mood of the Pharisees, and

we understand what Christ did for this diseased man.

He did a wonderful thing for that man that day, 38 years

impotent, laying at the pool of Bethesda, not knowing if he was

going to survive, not knowing if he'd ever be free, if he'd ever

get into that pool. And Jesus did a wonderful thing

in his life. But what about this now healed

man's relationship with Christ? Did Christ pursue this man any

further than just healing him? Did Christ only want to heal him

to show the Pharisees the true nature of their heart while

showing them the true nature of His deity?

Was Christ only? Was Christ only interested in

giving him mere physical relief, or was Christ interested in much

more than that for this man? Could Christ go beyond physical

healing? Could Christ reach below the

surface and touch this man in a way other than the physical way

of of healing his body? Was Christ interested in much

more than that for this man? Did Christ follow up and follow

through with the man who was now healed?

Did Christ track this man down? Did did Christ go and find this

man and find where he was and follow up with him and and go

with him from the position that he started in and try to take

him further as a person? I want us to think this tonight.

What can be said of an unsaved person who experiences mercy

from God in the midst of their difficult life?

What can be said of an unsaved person who experiences a mercy

from God upon their physical life, who experiences a mercy

from God, maybe upon their emotions or their situation?

The Bible says that God lets it rain on the just and the unjust.

He gave the pool of Bethesda where perhaps unbelieving,

unconverted people could just get in there and experience

healing. What can be said of those

people? What can be said of this man who

was, as far as we know, very clearly, it's made known to us

He was healed physically. What can be said of an unsaved

person who experiences this mercy from God?

It isn't made clear in verse 14 that which we'll read in a

moment, that this man was ever born again, but it was made

clear that he was physically healed.

But unsaved people experience a mercy from God.

They recover from a near death experience.

They're in the hospital, they're on their backside.

There's a surgery that helps them, there's a medicine that

helps and they they pull through, they come through and

they walk out of the hospital. Maybe they're unsaved and they

lose a child, maybe a miscarriage of something of that

nature and are are greatly comforted by friends and family

and some of which might be Christians themselves, their

friends or their family. They're comforted.

They are invited and visit a Bible believing church and are

drawn back to take in such a positive environment to

experience temporary relief from their difficult life.

What can be said of these people?

Is God satisfied with their physical recovery?

Is God satisfied with their their comfort?

Is God satisfied that they found the environment of a church to

give them brief encouragement? Or is God using all of that for

a greater and deeper and spiritual end result?

Is God trying to humble them and draw them to themselves and

helping them to connect the dots that the God of the universe is

the one who gives life and takes away life?

He's the God who can humble and exalt.

He's the God who provides friends and lets it rain on

their farms when they have no faith in Him.

What is God endeavoring to do? Is He simply trying to make

their temporary life a little bit more enjoyable?

Is God trying to do a deeper work in someone's life?

Well, I believe that as we look at verse 14, we could say that

Christ absolutely is after more than just physical miracles and

and temporary physical blessings, although He gives

those, He's in pursuit of something deeper.

So notice verse 14. The Scripture says that

afterward Jesus findeth him in the temple, where he was likely

giving thanks, as was the tradition when something like

this happened. And said unto him, Catch this,

Behold, thou art made whole sin no more, lest a worst thing come

unto thee. The word of God healed the

diseased man indeed, But why? So that he might choose a life

of fulfillment in following Christ.

He healed him, He healed him, he relieved him, He proved to him

that he was God. And he followed up with this

man, but not just to heal him, not just to relieve him of

temporary for temporary pleasure, but for this man to

now make a decision to follow Christ and find fulfillment in

him. Church.

Christ followed up with the now healed man in order to help him

realize what exactly transpired in his life.

Let's think of the term follow up.

Follow up. It means to pursue, encourage,

prioritize the continuation of something that has already been

started. It was up to that pitcher at the

beginning of the message to follow through with the process

that had already been started. And if that pitcher doesn't

follow up, that ball is being thrown into the dugout.

If it's going to miss its intended target, its purpose is

going to be totally avoided and averted.

So follow up after Christ used this man's life to expose the

hearts of the Pharisees and to affirm his deity.

Christ follows up with this man, finds him in the temple and

encourages him to connect the dots.

This man didn't know it was Jesus who healed him.

He may not have known a ton about Jesus, but here Jesus says

verse 14 says that Jesus found him, He looked for him.

He went out of his way to reconnect with this gentleman.

The man needed to behold that he had been made whole and

connected all and associated all with Jesus Christ.

The word behold means to mentally process and comprehend

what you see. Behold to realize whole that

thou thou has been made whole. Whole is completely and entirely

restored to a clean bill of health.

He needed to behold that Christ had made him physically whole.

The Lord further instructs in verse 14.

He instructs him to sin no more. Sin no more which had a twofold

meeting his previous disease. This man in particular, which is

not the case with every person who has had a disease and has a

disease today. But apparently this man in

particular was in his disease was brought upon because of his

own sin in the past and Christ knew that entering back into

that sin would bring the disease back in greater force.

He says sin no more lest a worse thing come upon thee and so

therefore Christ was inviting him to find fulfillment instead

by putting God in his rightful place in his heart that he might

sin no more I mean think about it church.

This man is is paralyzed, he's unable to just live his life and

live the life that he sees everyone else living.

And all of a sudden after 48 years he's healed, he's relieved

he has his his license to go and do what he pleases.

Do you not think if this man is not born again that he might

want to get involved with all matters of sin?

Hello. What would you do if you weren't

saved? What would you do Maybe if your

walk with God as a Christian is not that of someone who follows

through with following Jesus Christ and what would you do?

And so Christ knows all of this. He knows his whole back story.

He knows that he didn't just come to this man to use his body

as a platform to expose the hearts of the Pharisees.

And he wasn't just using this man to to prove his deity.

But no, he, he wanted something personal with this man.

He was after the soul in the heart of this man.

God never shows mercy to the unsaved without the end goal

being the salvation and transformation of their souls

because the primary desire of God is that unsaved souls repent

of sin by turning to faith in his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.

He's always in pursuit of a relationship with every Sinner.

And he can use humbling circumstances, He can use

difficult circumstances to finally bring them to the point

where they're going to look up where they're going to begin

reciprocating God's search for them.

And they're going to be in searching for for God himself.

Listen tonight, Church, the message is that God relieves us

of sinful burdens, not for the sake of relief and public

attention, but for us to replace those burdens with Christ in his

rightful place. There was now a a vacuum.

There was a void now in this man's life.

There was something no longer holding him back.

And Christ was supposed to fill that vacuum.

He was supposed to fill that void lest that man get into

something else or another lifestyle that would take the

place of God and perhaps land him back in a worse place in

where Christ found him. God always shows mercy.

Catch this. He always shows mercy that He

might show grace even to the unsaved.

He shows mercy that He might show grace.

Mercy is God taking away what I do deserve, and grace is God

doing for me what I do not deserve.

So I believe that verse 14 yields to us the liberty to

apply what Christ was doing within the verse in several ways

regarding the principle of following up with people,

following up with people, following through with the whole

process of discipleship, the whole process of the Great

Commission, the whole process of evangelism.

So let's look at that verse one more time.

Afterward Jesus verse 14. Afterward Jesus findeth him in

the temple and said unto him, Behold, thou art made whole, sin

no more, lest a worst thing come unto thee.

Church, we need to follow up with the unsaved.

We know upon whose lives God has shown mercy.

You know people who have been in serious accidents.

They've been, they've recovered, they've been released, they've

dealt with serious sickness and issues in their life and they

recover and they come back into regular life.

They've been released from hospitals.

We need to rejoice with them that God has had mercy on their

life, but we need to learn, be reminded of this tonight.

Why did God who gives life, has the power to give life and the

power to take life? Allow them to recover, that they

might have the gospel of Christ declared to them again, But God

is long-suffering to us word, not willing that any should

perish, but that all should come to repentance.

The Bible teaches us in the book of Peter, we need to rejoice

with them that they're here and we know them all the time.

Oh yes, I know God. I was in the hospital and God

healed me. Of course I have faith in God.

And there comes a time where we need to look at those people

after we've rejoiced with them that God has had mercy on their

body and has allowed them to, to come back to healing.

We need to rejoice with them. But then we need to declare to

them the saving gospel of Christ.

We need to follow up. We need to be sensitive to the

fact that God has placed these people in our lives.

We need also to follow up with the unsaved we know who are

experiencing tragedy and crisis. We need to be there for them to

put the love of God in on display in their in our lives to

their lives. We need to show comfort to them

and and rejoice with them and show them the love of Christ and

and pray with them and and be a friend to them.

Why? So that we can then declare to

them the saving gospel of Christ.

We need to also follow up with all kinds of people.

The people who have visit us, visited us as a church, and have

been encouraged by God's presence among us, we need to

follow up with them. We need to go to where they are

as Jesus went to where this man was.

We need to go to where they are, show our interest and love for

them while they're perhaps in the building or in their very

homes. We we can't just be satisfied

that unsaved people have come and has have seen what the Lord

might be doing. We can't just be satisfied that

we've got random people to church.

We, we, we cannot be satisfied until we have at least declared

unto them the gospel of Jesus Christ and perhaps have seen

them converted from death unto life.

We're not just trying to fill this house with visitors.

We're trying to fill this house with visitors who have come to

Christ and have joined the church and are going to follow

through with their own discipleship by following Jesus.

Jesus was not just satisfied that this man was now healed and

the Pharisees had a stir and that he proved his deity and all

of that was necessary, but he came back to this man and showed

serious interest about his soul, because if he only healed a man

of his sickness, he has done the lesser of the two healings.

That's right, the spiritual or the physical.

And if you're here tonight and you're battling a physical

disease, but you were born again and you are saved, I want to

remind you tonight, maybe you're watching tonight because

something is keeping you home. If you're born again, you have

been healed of the greater sickness, the sickness of sin,

and there's coming a day where all of this disease and the

temptation to sin will all be banished.

But you have received the greater of the healings.

Christ was not just satisfied that He made very necessary

points on this Sabbath day. We need to follow up also.

Church with ourselves, with our born again selves upon your

faith and our faith in Christ. We were brought from death to

life by His grace. You have been forgiven by God

and restored into a relationship with God, and it's going to lead

to heaven. It's a guarantee.

But in the process of time, you have experienced increased

victory over sin and perhaps bad habits and addictions.

You must follow up with yourself.

Every day with these gospel realities, why that you sin no

more Christ. I let me say this, that Christ

is not just satisfied alone that people get saved.

He has commanded us to make disciples.

They need to be saved and then they need to obey this, their

Savior as their Lord. Why?

Because they'll find something else to be committed to and get

involved in and get distracted in.

One of the greatest things about the Kingdom of God and the local

Church of Jesus Christ is it distracts us from sin.

We keep our eyes on the agenda of the Lord Jesus Christ and it

distracts us from an alternative lifestyle, something else.

And Jesus was telling this man, Behold, you've been made whole

by me, sin no more lest a worse thing come upon you.

We need to follow up with ourselves.

We need to follow up with one another of these gospel

realities that we sin no more. We need to stay in the light.

We need to meditate upon the gospel and you say, well, I've

already received the gospel. The gospel is for the lust.

Why must I meditate upon the gospel so that I become good at

giving the gospel to lost people?

No, Romans chapter 6, Romans Chapter 7, we need to meditate

Romans 6 · chapter mention Romans 7 · chapter mention

on the fact that God has given us new life and that there is

victory in Jesus and that we have been passed.

We've passed from death unto life and that we have the power

of God within our lives to have the victory over sin.

We need to meditate upon the gospel when when there is there

is issues happening in our family and we have a temptation

to be bitter. But the gospel teaches us that

we need to forgive and we need to forget and we need to move on

in newness of life. The gospel teaches us how to

have a healthy marriage, how to love another Sinner who is a

Sinner as yourself, to forgive and give unmerited undeserved

love. The gospel teaches us those

things. It doesn't just bring us to

salvation. It's it's a template for how to

live our life. We need to follow up with

ourselves. We need to follow up with one

another and be and remind one another of these truths.

Lastly, we need to follow up with newly saved members.

Newly saved members, we need to follow up with them why?

That they fully devote themselves to their Savior Jesus

Christ and the cause of His Church.

That they sin no more. But that is the goal.

Fruit. The will of God is fruit that we

would bear the evidence that Jesus is in us and we need to

follow up so that this is the case in their life as Jesus did.

The essence of the gospel is that it it took a mighty act of

God through his word Christ, to take our away, our sin and

reconcile us to himself. Not just for us to marvel.

Wow, this is great. I'm saved, so I'm going to

heaven. Yeah.

Oh, no, this is great. No, not just for us to marvel,

not for us to just become emotionally worked up and

religious. No, no, no, no, no.

But for us to love and devote our lives to following through

with Christ. But we will not experience

ourselves and others following through with Christ unless we

follow up with it. Because following through with

Jesus is contingent on following up with ourselves and those

among us. We have to take responsibility.

We have to recognize the people that God has providentially

placed in our path on the job, in your extended family, in the

marketplace, you have to see this.

If Jesus prayer was for us to see as he sees, he sees the

Father working, He listens to people, He listens to the Holy

Spirit and he goes to where he's LED to change people's lives.

It's no different for us. That's exactly what we're to do.

That's exactly what we're to do and we need to be listening.

You've got people in the workplace say, yeah, man, I just

two months ago, man, I should have died, man, I should have

died. But you know, the good Lord he

had, you know, he had mercy on me and you know, I said, well,

whatever, right? And I go on the that's your cue

to rejoice with them. And over time, God kept them

alive to hear the gospel. That's right.

Again, this is the way we need to think.

John 514. Mark it in your Bible.

John 514 Every head bowed, every eye closed.

Let's think about perhaps how the Word of God spoke to your

heart. Think of the people God, the

people God that God has providentially placed in your

life. God has given them a chance to

be spiritually healed. He's kept them here.

He's allowed people into your life who have heartache, who are

living miserable lives. They're always in a crisis and

you know them, and we're not supposed to just make sure we're

not bothered by them. There are boundaries to be to

in, lines to be drawn, and you need to protect yourself, but

you also need to balance that with love and discernment and

grace. Think of the many people who are

looking for God when they visit our assembly.

We need to get them the gospel of Christ.

Think of the brethren here. We need to be following through

with following Christ. He doesn't just want your soul,

He wants your body, your heart, your life, your all.

Thank you for listening to the sermon from the pulpit of

Liberty Baptist Church. If this message was a blessing

to you, or if there's any way we can serve you, please let us

know by contacting us at [email protected].

Or you can visit us this Sunday at 800 Washington St. in Easton,

MA. May the Lord bless you as you

grow in His Word.