Let's take our Bibles once again
and turn to John chapter 5. John chapter 5. You know, we went through the
book of Acts a few years ago, and the book of Acts is actually
the record of the evidence of God's grace in the regeneration
of His people. It's how God's people act. How they, you know, what happens
to them. How they walk in this life. Well, the Gospels. Matthew, Mark,
Luke, John. That's a first-hand account of
what happened when our Lord was in this earth walking, crossing
paths with, calling out His sheep. How the Spirit of God. Let's
bless that ministry to the salvation of God's elect. So today we're going to start
in the fifth chapter, and we're going to behold the obedience
of our Lord as He works the works, works the works of Him that sent
Him. Verse 1 says 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 was, but we do know that concerning our
Lord's presence at this feast was essential to our salvation.
He had to be at this feast. He's here obeying His Father.
in the accomplishment, in the establishment of righteousness
by obedience to the law. Remember this, the righteousness
by which the saints of God are robed is the obedience of our
blessed Lord before His Father in the obeying of God's law. God's law is holy and just and
good. The problem is I can't do it
because of the weakness of my flesh. I need one that can. God has sent Him. We have. That's what we looked at the
other day. We have such a high priest. Here's what the Scripture
says concerning the attendance. Deuteronomy 16, 16. Three times
in the year shall all thy males appear before the Lord thy God
in the place which he shall choose in the Feast of Unleavened Bread,
the Feast of Weeks, and the Feast of Tabernacles, and they shall
not appear before the Lord empty." That means without a sacrifice.
Well, here was the Lord Jesus Christ. He had in possession
His sacrifices Himself. Here is the very Lamb of God
doing the will of Him that sent Him. Well, verse 2 says, Now
there is at Jerusalem by the sheep market a pool, which is
called in the Hebrew tongue Bethesda, having five porches. Well, there were Actually, the
word right there, the market, if you may look in your margin
right there by the sheep market, it's actually a gate. It's a
gate. And then these gates had been
mentioned in Nehemiah chapter 3. They had been repaired after
the destruction of the temple. And these gates, different gates,
go back in Nehemiah, you can see all the gates. particular
gate right here was called the Sheep Gate. Sheep market, that
word market there means gate. Now there is at Jerusalem by
the Sheep Gate a pool. Now this gate, that particular
one, was called the Sheep Gate because all of the sacrificial
animals that were brought into the temple came through this
gate. Boy, don't we begin to see now. You see that. And there it is.
That gate right there. There's where the sacrifices
were brought in. And there's our Lord. A believer. You just read that. And your
heart just, you know, it just melts. You think, that's Him. And the Scripture says also that
there at Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate, a pool which is called
in the Hebrew tongue Bethesda. Mercy. That's what Bethesda means. And here's the Sheep Gate right
there by that pool called Mercy. And here's the Lord Jesus Christ,
the mercy of God. Mercy that's only found through
the shedding of the blood of God's Lamb. You know, we looked
the other day at that Scripture that says it's not possible that
the blood of bulls and goats should put away sins. And you
know, as we looked at that, you know why. You remember why. When
Adam fell, this whole earth was cursed. The ground, the animals. And there's blood that was being
shed, the blood of animals, the blood of bulls and goats. And
that was a picture, a beautiful picture of our Lord Jesus Christ,
but that was cursed blood. It's not possible. that the blood
of bulls and goats could put away sin. Wow, that's not perfect
blood. That's not holy blood. That's
not innocent blood. Almighty God is not going to
accept anything less than His character. Oh, but concerning the Lord Jesus
Christ, by that sheep gate, by that place where the sacrifice
is brought in, by that pool which is called mercy. Here He is,
holy, undefiled, separate from sinners, innocent blood. God said, when I see the blood,
when I see Thee blood, the only blood, I will pass over You. Well, there were It says there
was five porches there. Now, I just looked up, you know,
there's numbers mean things, reasons for numbers. And I just
looked up the number five, what it means. And the number five
in the Greek, it means grace, favor, or redemption, the number
five. But I'll leave that to the good
providence of our God. There were five porches there,
and I can see where in that language it means that. But suffice it
to say that the pool of mercy and God's Lamb standing by the
sheet gate is now made evident. Verse 3 says, In those porches lay a great
multitude of impotent folk, blind, halt, withered, waiting for the
moving of the water." Now, just consider the awful condition
of those that were laying in that place, held there in subjection. Do we not see the awful state
of man as he is falling in Adam? Now, here's a picture. Eyes to see, see that. I mean, you just read it and
you just saw it. There's the Lord Jesus Christ,
and He's coming through the gate where all the sacrifices abroad
and He's standing by this pool. It's called Bethesda. And Bethesda
means mercy. And here's just a great multitude. All have sinned. All have sinned
and come short of the glory of God. There was a great multitude
of impotent folk. No power. That's what impotent
means, no strength. Well, when we were yet without
strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly, without
strength, impotent, blind. That's what they were, blind,
unable to see their true condition, unable to see the glory of Almighty
God. Psalm 146, verse 8, the Lord
opened the eyes of the blind. Hearing ear, seeing eye, the
Lord made both of them. Here they are. Here's where we
are. This is all of us by nature. All of these characteristics,
all this description, here we are. Great multitude, all of
us, impotent, no strength, blind, halt. Crippled in the fall. Unable to walk with any uprightness
before God Almighty. Oh, and I consider Him who did
only, always those things that pleased His Father. Walked in
absolute obedience. Here's these right here. Halt.
Withered. Withered. That's what it says.
withered, dry, without ability to hold water, withered, not able to hold the water of
life. That which is flesh is flesh. Men set forth that Fallen creatures
are able to be made to possess and to understand. They set forth
that men can be reformed. No, the Scripture never sets
forth that men are reformed, straightened up, turn over new
leaves. There's got to be a brand new
creation there. There's got to be a new man.
There's got to be life. They've got to be born again.
There's got to be a new creation created in righteousness. Listen to this, Matthew 9, 17.
Neither do men put new wine, life, spirit, life from above. Neither do men put new wine into
old bottles, else the bottles break and the wine runneth out
and the bottles perish. They put new wine into new bottles.
Both are preserved. Men by nature need life imparted. And here they are. A great multitude,
impotent, blind, halt, withered. And they lay in there, the Scripture
says, waiting for the moving of the water. Verse 4, and I'm going to speak
of that moving of the water right now while reading verse 4. For
an angel, the Scripture says, 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, I've heard just, I don't remember
where I heard it, but I just had it in my mind, I'd heard
that that was just a story that someone had thought maybe it
was you know, or just passed down, you know, the Scripture
doesn't say that that was just a story. The Scripture sets forth
right there, and no place could I find that that wasn't so. And
so therefore, since the Scripture doesn't say that it was just
a story, we accept it as absolute fact. That picture, sets forth
that those impotent, blind, halt, withered folks were not waiting
for the healing of their souls. Here's what they were waiting
for, for the possibility that maybe the one that was most capable
or the one that could get somebody to help them get there for somebody
else. Maybe we might get somebody to
help us when the angel comes down and the water starts swirling
around. Maybe I might be the one that
gets there, and I'm the lucky one. They were waiting for the moving
of the water. 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 whatsoever
disease he had. As of this point right here,
it's all left up to timing. It's all left up to who happened
to be there at the right moment It all happens to come down to
the possibility that maybe you might have your buddy there that
day. Boy, what uncertainty! The Scripture sets forth in verses
5 and 6, and a certain man was there and 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? Here's a certain man. You can't
even read that word without being tender. You can't even look at
that word without seeing the distinguishing grace of God. Thirty-eight years he had been
in that infirmity, that state. And the Scripture says that the
Lord Jesus Christ saw him lie and knew that he had been there
a long time. Look at the omniscience. Look at the distinguishingness. look at the mercy of our Lord,
who would know. The Lord Himself saw. He knew He had been there a long
time. How long? Physically, 38 years He had that
infirmity. But He was born with a whole
lot worse infirmity. than that physical. He was born
spiritually impotent, spiritually blind, spiritually withered,
spiritually halt. And the Lord saw him. The whole
bunch of the folk were all impotent. And the Lord came and there was
a certain man there. A certain one that was in the
same boat as everybody else. Does the Lord have the right
to look upon one as He sees fit? Yes, He does. Yes, He does. And a believer, when he's taught
of that truth right there, and the Spirit of God gives a man
a willing heart, A man that sees himself as impotent, halt, blind,
withered. He said, Lord, look on me. If
he says that, God has already looked on him in mercy. I can
tell you that right now. He would have never said that.
Lord, look upon me. Here is light right here. Christ
Himself. The light of the world. And He
is standing right there in the midst of this great multitude
Light was shining in darkness, and the darkness comprehended
it not. Imagine the miracle of God's
grace that Almighty God would shine. Shine in a place of mercy
and compassion, and until a man or woman's eyes are opened, they
don't see it, you know. As far as man by nature is concerned,
well, we just came to church this morning. That's the only
reason we came anyway. I mean, it's Sunday. Oh, but to those that He's given
a heart. They're sitting and they just
sit there and they feast and they read that right there. A
certain man. And Jesus saw him lie. And they
spiritually just eat of that bread. And they think, oh, that
tastes so good. Oh, what a savor of life! A savor
of hope and peace and comfort standing in the midst of a bunch
of impotent folk. They didn't know Him. They didn't
seek Him. Neither did this man. He wasn't doing anything. What
was he doing? He's just lying there. Halt. Name. He's infirmed. Impotent. If salvation comes to any sinner,
it must be by grace. Sovereign. saving, distinguishing
grace. Can you imagine how much of a
mockery that would be if the Lord had come to these, and here
they are blind, and they can't walk. They're just impotent. They just lay in there struggling,
and they're just pitiful, pitiful. And the Lord would say to them,
If any of you will exercise your free will, get up and come on
after me. I'll make you whole." How insensitive. Men tell men
that they can't do that. Sovereign grace. And the Lord
came to this man and asked him a question. Saw him, knew him,
and He asked him this, Will thou be made whole? Will you be made whole? The following verse reveals that
at this point, this man still knew nothing. He was still in
unbelief. But you consider the question
that was asked by our Lord to the object of His mercy. This is what He said. What do
you want? Will you be made whole? Remember when the Lord came to
blind Bartimaeus? Blind Bartimaeus said, Jesus,
thou son of David, have mercy on me. And the Lord asked him,
what wilt thou that I should do unto thee? What do you want? A leper, Matthew 8, said, Lord,
if you will, you make me clean. What do you want? Let me ask
you that. This is what I ask you right
now. What do we want? What do we want? Our Lord truly
did heal these physically. He healed. He healed the blind
and made the lame to walk. He was able to do that which
He was pleased to do. But if a man or a woman is brought
to the point to where the Spirit of God gives them a heart of
understanding, and once God Almighty gives a man a new heart and he
hears that question, this is life already speaking. Lord, have mercy on me. No man,
no woman ever said that until God calls them out of darkness. Life imparted speaks. Life imparted sets forth the
glory of Almighty God. Wilt thou be made whole? Here is the Lord that comes to
this man. All of those infirmities all
of the problems that he's got, but listen to the Spirit of God
as he speaks to God's elect. And they realize then their helplessness
and their need. And he tells them in power through
the preaching of the gospel, you're impotent. Until that,
I never believed that I was impotent spiritually. I'm able. I can do whatever I please. And the Spirit of God in mercy
and grace comes and reveals to me, You're helpless. You're withered. Without Me, you'd do nothing.
Will thou be made whole? Those words come to the objects
of God's mercy in regenerating grace. And here's the wonder of that
miracle. If Almighty God in His Spirit
comes to a man and asks that man, will you be made whole? That
man, spiritually, by faith, he comes to the Savior. He says,
Lord, have mercy on me. What do you want? That's the
question. That's the question this morning.
What do you want? In regenerating grace, I'm going
to stop with this verse right here because of time. I'm going
to go in Lord's will and we're going to pick up right here next
time. But let me ask you this. What do you want? Do you want your
debt? Do you desire your debt paid before God Almighty? If you have a heart, truly, for
His honor, the Spirit of God reveals your debts have been
paid. He has redeemed you by His blood. A man, a woman, that by the grace
of God can look away from themselves. Don't look in. What do you want?
I don't want to look anymore to myself. I need a righteousness before
God. He that hungers and thirsts after
righteousness, you're blessed. Not a righteousness of my own.
Here's what I know about my righteousness. Filthy rags. Now, I know that. I know that. What do I want?
I want a righteousness that Almighty God will look at and say, well
done. And there is righteousness only
in Him. What do you want? What do you
desire? Only a regenerated sinner when
the Spirit of God comes to him in power and grace and speaks
just as the Lord Jesus Christ spoke to this man. Ask Him, Will
thou be made whole? Will you be made whole? Do you want to leave and walk
away? Do you desire life in Him? Do you want to? If you do, flesh
and blood didn't teach you that. That's what the Lord told Peter.
Flesh and blood did not reveal my Father which is in heaven.
This is what a believer wants. Lord, save me or I'm going to
perish. I have hope in no other. I have
peace in no other. I have comfort in no other. If you would desire Him, He has
made you willing in the day of His power. You have no nobility. You have no confidence. You have
nothing in yourself. If He gives you a heart, then
this is what I would say. Come to Him. Come to Him. Someone says, how do I come?
If He gives you a heart, He'll teach you. Call on the Lord. Seek the Lord.
That's what Mike just read. Seek the Lord while He may be
found. The preaching of the gospel that honors Christ. What do you
want? Lord, help me, or I perish. Lord, thank You for Your mercy
to me. Thank you for not leaving me
to myself. For Christ's sake, Amen.