I've asked Brother Brian to come
this morning and read the Scripture for us and lead us in prayer. Darwin's subject matter is going
to be found in John 5. So we're going to read from verse
1 through 29. Chapter 5 of John. After this, there was a feast
of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. Now there is at
Jerusalem by the sheep market a pool, which is called in the
Hebrew tongue Bethesda, having five porches. And these lay a
great multitude of impotent folk of blind halt, withered, 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 after the troubling of the water, stepped in, was
made whole of whatsoever disease he had. And a certain man was
there, which had an infirmity thirty and eight years. When
Jesus saw him lie, and knew that he had been now a long time in
that case, he saith unto him, Will thou be made whole? The
impotent man answered him, 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. Jesus saith unto him, Rise
up and take thy bed and walk. And immediately the man was made
whole and took up his bed and walked. And on the same day was
the Sabbath. Verse 10. 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. Then asked they him, what man
is that which said unto thee, take up thy bed and walk? And
he that was healed wist not who it was, for Jesus had conveyed
himself away, a multitude being in that place. Afterward, Jesus
findeth him, in the temple, and said unto him, Behold, thou art
made whole. Sin no more, lest a worse 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 and sought to slay him because
he had done these things on the Sabbath day. But Jesus answered
to them, My father worketh hitherto, in eye work. Therefore the Jews
sought the Moor to kill him, because he not only had broken
the Sabbath, but said also that God was his Father, making himself
equal with God. Then answered Jesus and said
unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, the Son can do nothing
of himself, but what he seeth the Father do, for what things
soever he doeth, These also doeth the Son likewise. For the Father
loveth the Son, and showeth him all things that himself doeth. And he will show him greater
works than these, that ye may marvel. For as the Father raiseth
up the dead, and quickeneth them, even so the Son quickeneth whom
he will. For the Father judgeth no man,
but hath committed all judgment unto the Son, that all men should
honor the Son, even as they honor the Father. He that honoreth
not the Son honoreth not the Father which hath sent him. Verily,
verily, I say unto you, he that heareth my word, and believeth
on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into
condemnation, but is passed from death unto life. Verily, verily,
I say unto you, the hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall
hear the voice of the Son of God, and they that hear shall
live. For as the Father hath life in
himself, so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself,
and hath given him authority to execute judgment also, because
he is the Son of Man. Marvel not at this, for the hour
is coming in the which all that are in the graves shall hear
his voice, and shall come forth, they that have done good unto
the resurrection of life, and they that have done evil unto
the resurrection of damnation. I invite you to turn back in
your Bibles to John chapter 5. This is the account preserved
for us by the Holy Ghost. It should not ring of controversy
if I say the Holy Ghost said, no matter who wrote it, because
all scriptures given by inspiration of God. They didn't just write
to be writing, they wrote as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. So this is the account preserved
for us by the Holy Ghost according, or concerning rather, an impotent
man brought to a mysterious pool. And this pool was located not
at a sheep market, but a sheep gate. The gate that led into
Jerusalem where the sheep and cattle and different things came
through into the city. Mostly, I suppose, for sacrifice. But my subject this morning in
this text is hope for helpless sinners. That's what the pool's
all about. Hope for helpless sinners. And it's my prayer, my heart's
desire that the Lord will do for us what he did for this poor
sinner. And I pray that the Lord guide
my tongue this morning. I have trouble talking, trouble
thinking. I have trouble on every hand.
But I want to do my best to open to you, as the Lord did to His
disciples, the Scriptures. That's what preaching is. It's
opening the Scriptures. Now I have three things this
morning that I want us to consider about this account. You heard
Brian did a great job in reading the Scriptures to us. It was
very clear. There's three things in this account that I want us
to focus on this morning. I want us to think about the
view of it. How are we to view this pool?
And then the fact of it. There was a pool. It wouldn't
be recorded in the Word of God. God, who cannot lie, inspired
these things and they're definitely true. So we have the fact of
the pool and then we have the gospel of the pool. So let's
begin here with the view of it. How we see a thing can make all
the difference in how we perceive a thing, how we look at it. Some folks years ago, thousands
of years ago, they saw a high priest. He came forth in all
his glorious dress as it was given to Moses in design for
him to wear. And he entered into a temple,
a great temple. And all the common priests were
around working within the temple. And there was a great labor there.
And as you moved a little further on, you saw a golden table. And
on that table was divided out what he called the showbread. You got a little bit past that
and there was a great lamp there filled with fine oil that glowed
within that area of the temple. And there was an altar of incense
in which incense was put on the hot coals and the aroma of the
incense filled that temple. And then you faced this great
veil hanging from the ceiling to the floor. And what this veil stood for
was a division. There was a division between
the first part of that temple and the part in which the high
priest alone could enter. The high priest alone could go
in where the ark of the covenant was and the mercy seat that was
above that and pour out the blood and make atonement for the people.
And what a glorious thing it must have been to see all these
things as they were practiced in their day. I just can't imagine
the glory involved. The scriptures talk about it,
Paul talks about it in the book of Romans, or 1 Corinthians,
I'm sorry. I'm wrong again, 2 Corinthians.
He talks about the glory of that old law, that old temple worship
and priesthood. It must have been a glorious
thing to see. So much so that these things
were carried over into the worship of God even after their purpose
was fulfilled. You still, if you look at the,
I'm going to use the Catholics as an example, but many of the
other organized religions do so too. They're structured after
the priesthood. They have a clergy and a laity.
They have big cathedrals. They have incense inside the
building, candlelight, all the things that was incorporated
in Old Testament worship being carried over. And when you see
these things, you walk in there and you're just in awe of the
architecture and the artwork and the stained glass windows
and all these things and there's kind of an aura about the place. With the incense burning and
you look and here's a priest and he's dressed to the max.
I mean, he'd stand out anywhere. No problem finding the priest.
He really sticks out. But this is a mysterious pool
is what I'm getting at. It's a mysterious pool. It must
have been something to come there and watch those waters trouble
and watch these impotent people being helped into that water
and come out of that waterhole, praising God. It must have really
been something. But that's where we have to leave
it. How do we view the pool? That's my point. How you view
the pool has much to do with how you perceive what's going
on. The days of visual aids are over
with. I have to come and see a thing
for what it is and why it's there. Now here's the view of the pool
by natural man. They went over and excavated
Bethesda. And they found this pool. 360
feet long, 130 feet wide, and 75 feet deep. And it was not a reservoir filled
by a conduit, which they ran from some stream somewhere, but
it was a spring-fed pool. It was a mysterious pool. God
would send down an angel at a certain time and trouble the waters.
And after the troubling of the water, the first one into the
pool was made whole. And it's such mysteries as this
that give birth to the idea that God grants His mercy and shows
His grace with unusual cloud formations and unusual rock formations. You see it every so often. This
woman seen this and took a picture of it as a cloud formation. It
looked like Christ with a staff or something and they'll give
it a name and then they'll, they try to put some benefit out of
that cloud, some unusual benefit from deity out of that cloud.
And all of these things, visions in the skies, mountains and so
on. But you and I are not shut up
to the natural. That's the natural view of the
pool. I read much by historians and they went on and on and on
about the mysteries surrounding the pool. You know, what might
have been in that water to heal and on and on and on they go.
But we're not shut up to the natural. In 1 Corinthians 2.15
it says, but we are spiritual and know all things. That is,
the things that God would have us to know. We know these, we
see them, we understand them. And then in verse 16 he says,
because we have the mind of Christ. What is it to be spiritual? It's
to have the mind of Christ. Spirituality is not walking around
and Never making a mistake or never
doing anything wrong and your speech is perfect all the time.
Boy, you don't want to be around me when I hit my finger with
a hammer. My speech ain't perfect. And sometimes it don't even take
that much. To understand the pool, I must
view it as it was purposed with the mind of Christ. All right,
now here's the next thing. The fact of the pool. The pool
was a real pool. It's not just a fable given to
inspire men, but it was a real pool. There was a pool there,
and you can read about it in the book of Nehemiah. It goes
back thousands of years. There really was a pool. The
name of the pool was Bethesda. It means house of grace. House
of Mercy, how fitting for a pool. And men and women were brought
there who were beyond help. They were past help. You know,
I took Kathy to the doctors that I was supposed to take her. She
was diagnosed with terminal cancer. And they did what they could
do for her. And then after a while, they couldn't do anymore for
her. And they turned her over to what's called hospice. They
did the same thing to my sister not too long ago, and then she
died. Well, that's these folks here,
helpless. They were beyond hope, no hope
for them. This man was paralyzed from head
to toe. He couldn't walk, he couldn't
move, he couldn't raise his hand, he couldn't do anything. He was
paralyzed. He was beyond help. And they
brought him down to this pool. Everybody here was beyond hope, impaired by some infirmity, and
they were either led there or carried there, as this man was.
Someone built five porches going out into this pool, like a dock
going out into a lake. And then they put a roof over
it to shield them from the sun, and so they acquired the It was a long thing extending
out into the water, and there were multitudes of people brought
there, lying all around this pool. Just untold multitudes brought
there, hoping against all hope to be healed. And the man in
this account was impotent. He was paralyzed. You know, a
few months back I had a stroke. And I couldn't, with my left
hand, pick up a pencil. Did all my strength disappear?
No. But there was a disconnect between
my brain and my fingers. And I had to, what they said,
by practicing these things, you don't really get stronger, but
you retrain your brain to be able to do what it used to know
how to do. Well, this man's paralyzed. He
couldn't do anything. There was a total disconnect
between his brain and his body. But I can identify with him in
some things. You just... I know how to do
it. I picked the pencil up my whole life and wrote with it,
but I could not even pick the pencil up and hold it in my hand.
Dropped everything. If I got it in my hand, I'd drop
it. The other day we were painting
and I picked up a little thing and poured some paint in it and
I was helping Yvonne paint some paneling. And I was just brushing
along there. My hands still don't know the
difference. And I had that thing over and I poured paint all over
my feet and all over the floor and everything else. I was trying
to paint. But there's a feeling of helplessness that goes with
this. This man was helpless and he
knew it. He knew it. And I'm going to
tell you something. All sinners are totally depraved
and they're helpless whether they know it or not. Spiritually,
not physically. I know you can run in a race
and you can do this and do that, and some of you are young and
just full of vitality, but you're helpless spiritually. You can't
do anything. That's what Christ told His disciples. Not some stranger out here in
the world, not some drunk. But he looked at his disciples
and he said, without me you can do nothing. We're helpless. So God in his providence brings
this man to the pool. How come? Because there's nowhere
else to go. Where are you going to go? Where's a helpless sinner going
to go? There's no hope in a treatment There was no hope. Nobody was
going to come along and all of a sudden this man was going to
get up and walk. That's not going to happen. There was nowhere
else to go, so they brought him to the pool. There was a pool. That's my point.
Well, what do the facts of the pool teach me? First of all,
that God has purposed to save sinners. Boy, if I had been there, I would
have put up a blinking light. I want everybody to know, God
intends to save sinners. And God always does what He pleases. In salvation, now listen to me,
I'm talking about God doing what He pleases. In salvation, He
calls everything concerning it according to the good pleasure
of His will. Now here's a doctrine and a statement
that'll back that up. Having predestinated us unto
the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself according to
the good pleasure of his will. And down in Ephesians 1.9 he
said, having made known unto us the mystery of his will according
to his good pleasure which he's purposed in himself. When God
talks about His good pleasure, He's not talking about judgment,
He's talking about salvation. It's according to His good pleasure.
It pleased God through the foolishness of preaching to save them that
believe. You know, salvation, well, I'm
going to save him, but I really don't want to. But I'm going
to save him because his name's in the covenant. No. No, it's
His good pleasure to save him. God delights to show mercy. I
wish we could get that in our head, in our heart. There was
a pool, and it was there to give hope to helpless sinners. But
the facts of the pool just make it the more mysterious. If God
has purposed to make Himself known in Christ and has given
all things into His hands and has purposed to save Man, through
the preaching of the gospel, why is there a pool? Well, the pool's a picture. That's
what it is. It's just like so many things
that we've looked at in the Old Testament. It's a picture. It's
an illustration of how God saves sinners. It's a type of Christ
in his salvation of sinners. Now listen to me, hope is built
on facts. We're talking about the facts
of the pool. Where there is no facts, there is no hope. Now
you think about that because most churches don't have the
facts. You listen to them and read the scriptures, you'll find
that out. Where there is no facts, there
is no hope, just a mysterious confusion. Men and women come to the pool,
and this pool was accompanied by the power of God, and it was
made effectual by an angel coming to trouble the waters. The pool
was an established fact. Mercy from God was an established
fact. The angel of God was an established
fact. Men and women who have no hope
are not calmed by these TV evangelists trying to get them to send in
their last nickel. They're not calmed by that. They
need a real hope and that hope is built on facts. They go where
the facts of grace and mercy are established. Well, what do
the facts of the pool teach us? That our God delights to show
mercy. That our God ordains the means,
be it pool or river or whatever it is. He told Naaman, he said,
you go dip in that river, that muddy Jordan. You go down there
and dip in that pool. He ordains the means. He said,
well, there are clean rivers in our country. Well, go dip
in them and see what happens. You're going to dip in Jordan
or go the rest of your life being a leopard. Well, what about these infidel
folks, these helpless sinners? They're going to go to the pool
or die. That's just a fact of it. That it teaches us that he has
compassion. He looked at this man and had
compassion. You know, I looked that word
up. It has to do with pity. But it's more than pity. It's love desiring to be manifested. That's what it is, compassion.
He loved this sinner. And He's going to show mercy
to him. It moved Him. Compassion moves
a man if he has it. And then thirdly, let's consider
the gospel of the pool. Certainly Christ is the water.
I'll be in them a well of water springing up into everlasting
life. And He's the angel of the covenant who comes to the waters
and makes them effectual. In fact, this whole thing is
designed to bring us to Christ. The power of the pool is Christ.
He established that. The pool didn't come to Christ.
Christ came to the pool. Now watch this. This man wasn't
saved by the pool. The pool brought this man to Christ. This whole thing is a picture
of the preaching of the gospel and the washing of regeneration.
That's what it is. The facts of the pool were always
there as they are in every local church established by Christ.
They are the pillar and ground of the truth. And they become
effectual when God's angel is sent to trouble the waters. You
think an angel had power to trouble the waters? He did if God gave
it to him. If that's what God sent him to
do, he could do it. People by the thousands gather
around the facts, what they call Calvinism or Tulip, the depravity
of man, the unconditional election of God, limited atonement or
particular redemption, irresistible grace and the perseverance of
the saints. These are a pretty good summary
of the gospel and thousands lay around on the porch finding some
kind of hope and assurance in the facts. There's no hope and
assurance in the facts. The hope's in the troubled water.
Is that right? Wasn't no hope on the porch. But nobody was made whole until
the angel came and troubled the water. When God the Spirit attends the
ministry of the minister, the things that make up the water,
the doctrines of Christ, if a man comes and don't have those doctrines,
don't invite him into your house and don't bid him Godspeed, you
become partaker of his sin. These doctrines. Now listen to
me. When God the Spirit attends the
ministry of the minister, Depravity all of a sudden is not a doctrine. It becomes an experience. His
words are made power by the Lord. And these doctrines begin to
disturb a man. He don't just memorize them and
say, well, I'm in agreement with them. No. No, all of a sudden
they become real. His depravity becomes exceedingly
sinful. He looks at himself and now,
This man knew he was paralyzed, but he didn't know it so much
as when they brought him and set him on the porch and others
were going into the water and coming out whole and praising
God and he was just laying there and couldn't do anything. That's
where the Lord is going to bring you. To show you your helplessness
before Him. And He does that before He shows
mercy. Oh, I can just, I remember. And some of you ought to remember
what it is to be convicted of sin and then convinced of righteousness. Boy, don't that turn you upside
down. All our righteousnesses are filthy rags. That's become
a trouble to me because I've been taught all my life that
all these acts that I did and things that I wanted to do and
did the best to do, they're just filthy rags. That's no righteousness
before God. You see what I'm saying? It becomes
a trouble. The waters are troubled. And the reason they're troubled
is because they're in conjunction with the Word of God. They're
in harmony with the Word of God. God's everlasting blessings are
according as He has chosen us in Christ before the foundation
of the world. Oh, you mean God's just going
to save some? That's exactly what I mean. Those
He chose in Christ, He's going to save. Nobody else. He died
for them, nobody else. That's what the Scripture teaches.
Limited atonement doesn't mean that the atonement is limited
in its power. It's limited to whom He chose
to save. He died for only those given
to Him by the Father. He prayed in John 17, As thou
hast given me power over all flesh, that I should give eternal
life to as many as thou hast given me. Thine they were, and
thou gavest them me. And oh, how the waters of the
gospel are troubled when God accompanies His angel to the
pool. The reality of salvation appears, and men become desperate
sinners. But then the troubling ceases. Here's what it says, whosoever
after the troubling of the water stepped in was made whole. There comes a time when the gospel
that troubled a man becomes his hope. Is that true there? That gospel that made you mad,
that gospel that troubled the waters, All of a sudden, it becomes
your hope, and it's not a trouble anymore. It's like a fine dish
set on the table that you can hardly resist. I have to have
it. There was a calming effect that
came over the center. All of a sudden, it makes perfect
sense. Salvation by grace, not by words. Huh? And so the sinner leaves the
safety of the porch and rolls over into the depths of the pool,
sink or swim. Now I've read this account I
don't know how many times and in my mind it's funny how you
read something and then you form this picture in your mind. I
always pictured this pool being about this deep. I don't know
why I just did. And when they let a man in there,
he could go down and stand in the water. This pool was 75 feet
deep. When you left the safety of the
porch, you're going into the depths. Might as well be bottomless
as far as you're concerned. And only a man convinced that
he's going to be made whole would go in that pool. He's paralyzed. He can't swim. He ain't going
to bob around like a cork. He's going to sink. He's going
to the bottom. But not if he's made whole. Comes a time when the gospel
that troubles you becomes your hope. And it has a calming effect. It makes perfect sense. And so
the sinner leaves the safety of the porch and rolls over into
the depths, sink or swim. And then something happens that
even stirs the unbelievers. Suddenly a man comes into view.
Jesus Christ of Nazareth. What's He doing here? Oh, He's
what the pool's all about. He's the reason for the pool. He comes to the sinner, and He
sees him laying there helpless, and He has compassion on him.
He can't even understand what the pool's about. He's so helpless. He's just laying there. And the
Lord comes and He said, Will God be made whole? And listen
to what he says. He said, I have no man. What about you? Could it be that God has sent
me to this place to make you whole? Can it be? Well, you ain't
going to be made whole apart from preaching, I can tell you
that. And you're not going to be made whole in the preaching
until the waters are troubled. And after the troubling. There's
going to be a troubling. And after the troubling. That's
where the hope starts. Sir, he says, I have no man to
put me in the pool. I can't get there from here.
Now here's my question. Are you a helpless sinner? Or are you just one that's been
wounded a little bit and still think you can do this and do
that? Are you seeing others being fully
restored and coming up out of the water praising God while
you just lay there paralyzed spiritually, can't do anything?
Can't will, can't want, can't do anything. You're just laying
there. What's the problem? The problem is we have no ability. That's the problem. God has to
do something for us that we can't do for ourselves. And my friend,
if God ever brings you to that place, the next voice you're
going to hear is the voice of the Son of God. Where are you
going to hear it? Right here. He that heareth you,
heareth me. He speaks through his ambassadors.
And what does he say? He said, take up your bed. Quit
laying there. Take up your bed and walk. He couldn't, but he did. Ain't that your story? I couldn't, but I did. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
I can't, but I did. I said earlier that this pool
is a picture of the preaching of the gospel and the washing
of regeneration. This washing is not just the
blood being applied to the conscience. That's so it is. 1 Peter 1, you
can read about it. But it's not just the washing
away of our guilt by the sacrifice and suffering of Christ, putting
away our sin, but it's a washing away of our unwillingness. It's a washing away of our unbelief. He describes his work in John
1 12 as a soul being given power to become the sons of God, being
born of God. And there's a washing involved. No less than Paul said that God
worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure. I
know your election of God, Paul writes, because my gospel came
not unto you in word only, but it came in power and in the Holy
Ghost and with much assurance. That paralyzed man would never
roll into a 75 foot deep pool without assurance of being made
whole. And neither will a guilty sinner
cast his soul on Christ until he's convinced that he's able
and willing to save him. What does a man have to know
to trust in Christ? Enough to make him trust in Christ.
I don't know how much that is. Less for some than others. And
then rebellion is another thing washed away in regeneration.
Regenerate people obey God. Know you not, Paul said, that
to whom you yield yourselves servants to obey his servants
you are to whom you obey? whether of sin unto death or
obedience unto righteousness. Oh, but thank God you were the
servants of sin. Now listen to this. But you have
obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered
you. Being then made free from sin,
you become the servants of righteousness. That's pretty clear, isn't it? Regenerate people obey God. Perfectly? No. No. We believe, Lord help
thou our unbelief. But we do obey. Jesus Christ
commanded this man to do what no man in his condition could
ever do. And he couldn't, but he did. What he did, now I want you to
listen to me, is totally contrary to reasoning. Well, I just need
to think about this. No, you don't. What he did was
totally contrary to reasoning. Now, I'm a paralyzed man. This
man tell me to pick up my bed and walk. I can't do that. No,
it's contrary. Totally contrary. Contrary to
anything that he'd been told. Let me get that. You can't do
that. Listen to this. Paul writes this
in Titus chapter 3. But after that the kindness and
love of God our Savior appeared toward man, not by works of righteousness
which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us by the
washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost. He makes us
a new creature in Christ and all our limitations are gone.
God himself sets our limitations after that. He had a man to tell the sun
to stand still, and it stood still. He had a man pray that
it wouldn't rain for so many years, and it didn't rain. He had a man that went out there
and caused iron to float out of the river. God sets your limitations. We're His. After all the mystery of the
pool is seen, there's just the sinner and the Savior. Think
about that. The pool wasn't even involved
in this thing except to teach you a lesson. That's all it was
there for. The pool was just a picture of what
our Savior was to do. And as we all lay around the
pool today, may the Lord Himself come and speak to us and make
us whole. All that he'd do for us, what
he did for this poor, impotent man. Make us whole. And I'll tell you what's going
to happen after that. All these law, righteousness, works, religious
folks, they all going, what are you doing carrying your bed on
the Sabbath? You can't do that. Who told you to do that? Christ
did. Well, that's contrary to the
law. My friend, he is the law. He is the Word. That's his name.
He's the Word. In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. And they started
hick-hacking around about what he did and what day he did it
on, and here's what he told them. He said, my father's worketh
hitherto, and I'll work. What are you doing this? Of course,
my father told me to do this. That's why I'm doing it. Why
would he come to the pool and save that poor sinner? Because
God loved that sinner and gave him to his son. And he said,
go save him. And he said, I will. Oh, man. That old leper looking up at
him. Lord, if you will, you make me clean. I will. Huh? Can't be that easy. It's exactly that way. I will. May the Lord teach us all these
things. Cause us to believe on Him.