I'm going to ask you to take
your Bibles and turn with me to the book of John chapter 5. John chapter 5. I began to look at this passage
of scripture a few days ago and my heart was
just drawn back to it. As I've said before, when that
happens, it's a good indication. That's where you need to go. John chapter 5. I want to read
the first six verses, and then we'll take a look at them for
a few minutes. John 5. 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. In these
lay a great multitude of impotent folk, 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, wilt thou be made whole? Now this is a very unusual passage
of scripture, and it's a passage of scripture that sets forth
the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ and his work, his work concerning
the one who sent him, his father. Here is the obedient Lord and
Savior, Jesus Christ. Now, the scripture says that
he had healed some people. And in chapter
4, it says, verse 51, as he was now going down, his servants
met him. There was a servant that had
approached the Lord. And this servant's son was sick. And he approached the Lord and
asked Him, he said, would you come and heal him? And as he
was going down, Lord told him, he said, you go home. And says,
now he was going down, the dad, verse 51, and his servants met
him and told him saying, thy son liveth. Then inquired he
of the hour, which he began to amend. And he said unto him,
yesterday at the seventh hour, the fever left him. So the father
knew that it was the same hour in which Jesus said unto him,
thy son liveth and himself believed and his whole house. This is
again, the second miracle that Jesus did when he was come out
of Judea into Galilee. Now here's, here's the master.
and he's going about doing the will of his father. I do always
only those things that please him. Here was a work that the
father had given him to do. Now the scripture says, after
this, after I wanted to read that first part to tell you what
had gone on, what the Lord had done in the scripture says, after
this, there was a feast of the Jews And Jesus went up to Jerusalem. Now, we're not told which of
the feasts that this particular feast was. There were some different
feasts, but we do know that the Lord was there. It says after
this, there was a feast of the Jews and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. Now, we know that the Lord was
present. We know that for a fact. We're
not told which of the feasts it was. There was three main
feasts, but we're not told which one of these feasts he attended. But this is the point that I
want to make. The feasts that were required
of the Jews to attend, according to the law, the Lord was there. That's the point that I want
to make of this. He kept the law. After this, there was a
feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. He kept it. He obeyed. He obeyed every jot and tittle. Here he is obeying his father
in the establishment of righteousness. Had he not attended this particular
feast, he'd have broken the law. They were required to attend
these priests. He had to. Here He is, He's working
the works of His Father. I worked the works of Him that
sent me. And so these feasts were to be
obeyed. And all that were chosen in Christ,
being charged, His righteousness, the Lord's righteousness, imputed
to us, what the Lord did right there, we did. In Him, we obeyed. We were obedient unto the Father
in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. In ourselves, we've never
been obedient. But in Christ, so the scripture,
here was the law, Deuteronomy, I'll just read this to you, Deuteronomy
16, 16. Three times in a year shall all
thy males appear before the Lord thy God in which He shall choose
in the feast of bread, in the feast of weeks, in a feast of
tabernacles, they shall not appear before the Lord empty, or that
is, without an offering. Well, here's the Lord Jesus Christ,
and He's appearing. Whichever one of these feasts
it was, it doesn't tell us which one it was, but three times in
the year, the Jews, the males of Jerusalem, the Jews were required. And they had to come, but they
couldn't come without an offering. He came Himself. He is the offering. And so here He is obeying the
law. Here was God's Lamb, and He was
exhibiting His obedience to the law of God, doing that which
was Right, doing that which was the will of him that sent him. So here's what we know. There
was a feast of the Jews and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. Now verse
two, now there is at Jerusalem by the sheep market or the sheep
gate, a pool, which is called in the Hebrew tongue Bethesda,
having five porches, and there were 10 gates. If you want to
read all 10 of them, I looked through them, they're in Nehemiah
chapter three if you want to know the names of the different
gates that were there in Jerusalem and the gates that were being
rebuilt that had been destroyed. But this particular gate right
here, at Jerusalem by the sheep market, which means the sheep
gate, there was a pool. pool there. And it was called,
in the Hebrew tongue, Bethesda. So here's the Lord Jesus Christ.
And he comes to this particular gate, which the sacrificial animals
were brought into the temple. This is where they brought them.
They brought into this particular gate, into this particular place. This is where the Lord's coming
in. And here's the Lord. He's coming to Jerusalem to attend
this this sacrifice and he's come to that place where they
would bring the sacrificial lambs, where they bring the lambs in
to be sacrificed. Just read this and you can see
it just unfolding, see how the Lord is by his spirit is just
laying out before us the beauty of what the Jews by nature, the
Jews by nature, they would do these things. They'd go to the
feast and they would, you know, just like, you know, so many
people will, they'll go to church, you know, they'll attend, go
through the ceremonies, but for God's people, they see this beautifully. Here's Jerusalem. Here's this
sheep market, here's this sheep gate, and there's a pool there,
and it's called Bethesda, peace, mercy. That's what that means,
that's what it means. So here they are, mercy. So here
we find at the place of mercy, at this gate, we find this whole
scenario being laid out before us, the one who now is being
led, eventually going to bring down, he's going to give himself
into the hands of these wicked men, all according to the will
and purpose of Almighty God. Just whatever, whatever gate,
whatever it was, whatever, I mean, whatever sacrifice. I mean, I
knew what gate it was. I knew what it was. It was the
sheep gate. I knew that. But whatever this particular
one was as far as this sacrifice, we're not told, but suffice it
to say that at the pool of mercy, pool of God's mercy, God's lamb
is being found. What a beautiful picture. So
here's the Lord. Now, verse three, in these, in these five porches, these
five porches that were spoken of in verse two, in these lay
a great multitude of impotent folk, blind, halt, withered,
waiting for the moving of the water. Verse four, an angel went
down at a certain season into the pool and troubled the water,
and whosoever then first after the troubling of the water stepped
in was made whole of whatsoever disease he had. Now, just consider with me for
a minute this, scenario. Here is a group of a bunch of
people. The scripture says that there
lay, in verse 3, a great multitude of impotent folk. Look, look what their problems
were. They were blind, halt, withered,
waiting the moving of the water. Now, here's their situation. They're sick. They've got a variety of problems.
They're just held in subjection, unable to change their state. The man is blind. The man is
hauled. This is a picture, spiritually
speaking, of all men born in Adam. There was a great multitude
in these places, in these porches, great multitude, impotent folk. Impotent, what does that mean?
No power, no power, impotent, impotent. This great multitude,
they were impotent. The scripture says in Romans
5 and 6, when we were yet without strength. In due time, Christ
died for the ungodly. These people represent all of
us by nature. What power do we have? Blind. Blind. Unable to see. Oh, but unable to see what? unable to see our true nature
before God, blind to our impotency, blind to the beauty of God's
Lamb, blind. Psalm 146 verse 8, the Lord openeth
the eyes of the blind. Proverbs 20 verse 12, the hearing
ear and the seeing eye, the Lord hath made even both of them. They had problems. The scripture
says also in that third verse, halt and withered. It made me think of, hold your
place right there, turn to Genesis 32, halt and withered. Genesis
chapter 32. Remember Jacob, you know where
I'm going with this. Jacob, Genesis 32. Met a man, Jacob did. man was none other than the man
Christ Jesus. Genesis 32, verse 24. Jacob was left alone, and there
wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day. And
when he saw that he prevailed not against him, he touched the
hollow of his, that is, Jacob's thigh, and the hollow of Jacob's
thigh was out of joint as he wrestled with him. And he said,
let me go for the day breaketh. And he said, Jacob said, I will
not let thee go, except thou bless me. And he said unto him,
what is thy name? And he said, Jacob. Oh, I read
this. Every time I read this, I think
how fitting it is, a description of all of God's regenerated sheep,
all of God's people regenerated by the grace of God. What is
your name? This is what every child of God will say of himself. My name is Trickster, Huckster,
Cheat. That's my name. My name is Jacob,
verse 28. He said, thy name shall be called
no more Jacob, but Israel. For as a prince, thou's power
with God and with men has prevailed. Jacob asked him, he said, tell
me therefore thy name. And he said, wherefore is it
that thou dost ask after my name? And he blessed him there. And
Jacob called the name of that place, Peniel. I've seen God
face to face, my life is preserved. And as he passed over Penuel,
the sun rose upon him and he halted upon his thigh. And therefore
the children, of Israel, eat not of the sinew which shrank,
which is upon the hollow of the thigh unto this day, because
he touched the hollow of Jacob's thigh and sinew that shrank. I think about how the Lord teaches
his people of their frailty. Here was a, back in John chapter
five, here was a big group of people, they're all standing
around, and there's this great, verse three, great multitude,
and they're sick, all kinds of diseases, blind, half-withered,
waiting for the moving of the water. Now, verse four says,
while they were waiting, For the moving of this water, this
is what the scripture says concerning that moving. 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. Now, I tried to read as many men that
I trusted, and what I appreciated about so many of them was those
that stuck with the scriptures. They stuck with what God said.
Some of them said, well, actually what it was, it was just a rumor. It was just a, it was a, an old
wife's tale that somebody had, you know. Really, I look back
over these scriptures to see whether or not the scripture
said it was an old wife's tale. And you know, I didn't find that
in the scriptures. Here's what the scripture says.
I, now I'm going to tell you right now, I can't explain this.
I cannot explain to you what happened. I can't tell you the
fullness of what was going on. I can't tell you the depth, the
reason why, and nobody else could either. Speculation was all I
read, and speculation don't get it. Let me tell you the safest
thing you can do. Take the scriptures at face value. If it's an old saying, the scriptures,
the Holy Spirit will tell you. It was said of old, or it was
something. But when the scripture, read
what it says. In those days, verse 3, lay a
great multitude of impotent folk, blind, halt, withered, waiting
for the moving of the water, for an angel went down. Some say it was just, it was
a messenger of the Lord, I know that there are scriptures that
say that the messengers of God are called angels. There's the
angels, the angel at the church of Ephesus, the angel. It doesn't
say that. So again, if you're going to
err, err on the side of safety and stick with the scriptures.
Again, I can't explain this. Now nobody else that I read that
really was honest about it even tried to explain it. They all
said this is what it says. Take it at face value. For an
angel went down at a certain season into the pool and troubled
the water and whosoever then first after the troubling of
the water stepped in was made whole of whatsoever disease he
had. Now my question is this. What
did the scripture say happened that there was a troubling of
the water? What does that mean? Well, it means a stirring, it
means a swirling, it means something happened. Are you trying to tell
me that actually that whoever got into that water at first
was healed of whatsoever disease they had? Is that what you're
trying to tell me? I said, no, I'm not trying to
tell you that. That's what I'm telling you. That's what I'm
telling you the scripture says. Well, does it say that they were
healed spiritually? It said they were healed of whatsoever
disease they had. How many things do we read in
God's word that we can't explain? Can you explain God's eternal
purpose and will to choose one and pass by another? Can you
explain that? Do you believe it? Do you believe, do you believe
that before the foundation of the world that the Christ, that
God Almighty purpose and will and chose out of every nation,
kindred, tribe and tongue, you believe He really chose a people
that He was going to save? I absolutely do. Can you prove
it? Yeah, I can prove it. Turn over
to Ephesians chapter 1 and I'll prove it to you by the word of
God. Let God be true and every man,
Mitch is a liar. Well, can you explain the depth
of what happened to this man right here? No, I can't explain
it to you. But it's enough that God said
it. Why did he do it? I don't know why he did it. He
doesn't owe an explanation to anybody. He said that. He gives
no account of his actions to anybody. Don't you love that?
Don't you just love it when the Lord says, and thus saith the
Lord? I think God said that. And that's
fine. Now what do you believe happened?
I believe that there was a stirring of the water and Whoever got
in that water first was healed of whatever infirmity, whatever,
according to the scriptures, I think, whatever natural infirmity. That's as far as I'm gonna go
with it. And that's far enough. If that's where the spirit of
God stops, then stop. Stop right there. All you're
gonna do is get in trouble. So just leave it right there.
The scripture sets forth this as a fact. fact, and it set forth
that which pictured, it pictured something. There was a picture,
there was a type of here. All of these actual diseases
of these people, they were halt, and they were impotent, and they
were blind, and they were sick, but now that right there, I can
see the picture of all men by nature, but that fact that they
were that they were in that pool waiting for the stirring of the
water. It didn't happen at any specific
time. When it happened, whoever was
there and got into the water first, they were healed of whatever
disease they had. And the Spirit of God was pleased
to give us that information. Verse 5 and 6 says, And a certain
man, which, and a certain man, I'm sorry, was there, which had
an infirmity 38 years. And when Jesus saw him lie and
knew that he had been now a long time in that case, he saith unto
him, wilt thou be made whole? Here's a certain man. Who was
he? He was a certain man. He was
a man of God's choosing. He was a man of God's attention. God looked at him, God saw him.
In the midst of all of this other, everybody else was waiting for
that water to stir. And whoever could scramble there
fast enough and get in there first, It was a competition. Let's go and see who's the quickest,
who's the fastest, who's the most nimble, who can handle this,
who's the most capable to get in here. It wasn't this man. This man, he couldn't do it.
This man, the scripture says, certain man, he'd been there
38 years. And he obviously was no closer,
right now, than he was 38 years before when he first started.
To be able, of his own ability, his own will, his own quickness,
his own cunning, he couldn't figure it out because the stirring
of the water didn't happen at any certain set time. When it
happened, may have been there, just lie there all day, maybe
he went to sleep, I don't know. It doesn't say. That man had
been there, a certain man, 38 years, and he had an infirmity. And the scripture says that the
Lord saw him lie. It means the Lord saw that he
was sick. The Lord saw that he was sick.
And the Lord knew that he had been there a long time. You think
how this is unfolding. Here's showing the omniscience
of Almighty God. Look at the omniscience of God.
The Lord knew. The Lord knew he'd been there.
The Lord saw him before the foundation of the world. Scripture says,
1 John 5, 19, the whole world lieth in wickedness. A whole bunch of these folks
were all in trouble. They were all impotent. And the
Lord comes to one man. How many were there? A great multitude. That's enough. A great multitude. How many did
the Lord look at in mercy? As far as we know, one man. The Lord saw him. And the Lord
calls to this one certain man. Oh, the beauty of distinguishing
grace. Distinguishing grace. You think
this man Had any idea that the Lord was looking at him? Doesn't
say he did. It says the Lord saw him, that
meant 38 years. And the Lord saw him. Let me
ask you this question. Does the Lord have the right,
out of a whole multitude of impotent folk, does the Lord have the
right to look upon one in mercy? Does he have the right? He does as he willed in the army
of heaven among the inhabitants of the earth. He has the right
to show mercy and compassion to whomsoever he will. Here is
light himself shining in darkness. In the darkness, comprehended
it not. Scripture says in verse seven,
I'll come back to verse six here in a second, but it says in verse
seven, the impotent man When the Lord asked him in verse six,
wilt thou be made whole? Here's what the Lord asked him.
Do you want to be whole? Wilt thou be made whole? Do you
want to be? Listen to his answer. The impotent
man answered him, sir, I have no man when the water is troubled
to put me into the pool. But while I'm coming, while I'm
doing the best I can, while I'm struggling, while I'm crawling,
while I'm just doing everything I can possibly do, another step
down before me. What he's saying is, I just don't
have the ability. Everybody else is faster than
me. I have no hope in here 38 years. And the Lord said, unto
him, verse 38, rise, take up thy bed, and walk. And immediately
the man was made whole, took up his bed, and walked. On that
same day was the Sabbath day. Would you be made whole? Here's a picture now. Here's
a picture of all God's elect. How the Lord comes to his people
out of all the mass of humanity. This man was not seeking God. And you that know him weren't
either. I wasn't either. I wasn't seeking the Lord. I
think back years ago, I was in Louisiana over at some friend's
house and there was a man and his wife that I believe knew
something, who God is. He was talking to me about God's
sovereignty, Fred. First time I ever heard of God's
sovereign grace, sovereign electing grace. And as they told me of
this God that I'd never heard of, I thought to myself, this
is the most far-fetched, thing I've ever heard in my life. I've
never heard anything like that before. That just, that can't
be. That just, you mean there's no
invitation? There's no, you're not going
to give every man a chance? You know, here was a man that
did not know God. He wasn't seeking God. If this
man would have initiated the conversation, you might say,
well this man had something to do with it. He saw the Lord and
he He had the wherewithal to say, the scripture says this
man was 38 years infirm, and the Lord saw him, and this man
was asked by the Lord, will you be made whole? And he said, verse
seven, I can't. I just can't do it. I don't have
anybody to pick me up and put me down. Beloved, if salvation
comes to any sinner, It comes by the grace and the will and
the purpose of Almighty God. Sovereign grace. Why does it
have to be sovereign grace? Because man is blind. He's impotent. He's haught. And this certain
man, certain man, what made this man different than anybody else? The grace of God. sovereign,
saving grace. The Lord saw him. The difference was God's good
pleasure. Our Lord saw him, knew him, and
said to him, wilt thou be made whole? And the scripture says
that the man, I read to you in verse seven, seemed to give excuses
why he couldn't be. His answer was, I don't have
the capability. Nobody's there to pick me up.
Nobody can get me there. That's my problem. But here's what happens. Whenever
the Lord is going to save a man, save a woman, God speaks to them
in power. And the Lord said in verse eight,
rise, get up, get up and take up thy bed and walk, and immediately,
immediately, the man was made whole, took his bed, got up,
and went with the Lord. Wilt thou be made whole? Do you desire life? Do you desire wholeness of life? Spiritually speaking, We've got
to be made willing in the day of God's power. You leave it
to us. You leave it to us. I hear people
say all the time, God wants to, but he can't unless you. Everybody's
got a chance. This man, if it left up to him,
he'd have gone to hell. If the Lord left this man to
himself, will you be made whole? I can't. I don't have anybody
to pick me up. Man by nature has no desire to
come of himself. He has no desire, by nature has
no desire, unless the Lord makes him willing. Wilt thou be made
whole? The Lord comes to his own in
mercy and compassion, finds them in the place where they are. He speaks life to them. He gives
them a new heart, new will, new desire. And they follow after
Him. This is how God saves sinners. This is how God saves His people.
Not with their help. Against leaving it to themselves. It's against their own will. He gives them a new will. He
doesn't leave it up to their will. being made whole spiritually
before God is going to be accomplished only by the one who was made
sin for his people and bore all their guilt, all God's wrath
and justice in his own body, shed his own blood, imputed his
own righteousness. Will you be made whole? Lord,
make me to be so. Lord, make me. Lord, save me.
I find for myself, I find that prayer to be more and more precious. I say, well, I was saved years
ago. The Lord saved me. I don't ask the Lord to save
me. I'm asking the Lord to save me right now. Lord, save me.
Don't leave me to myself. God, be merciful to me, to me. God, be merciful for Christ's
sake.