of living water this morning.
It's in Christ's name we pray. Amen. John chapter 5. Now one thing God's people know
about the Lord is that He is absolutely sovereign. Sovereign
over all. Sovereign over the inhabitants
of earth. Sovereign over heaven. And that salvation is of the
Lord. It's His. It was wrought by Him. It was
bought by Him. By His own blood. It was for
the purpose of saving his people from their sin. The Lord has
the right to do with whomsoever what he chooses, however he chooses
to do it, whenever he chooses to do it, and whatever way he
sees fit to do it. So our hope this morning is that
he would be merciful to me, the sinner. If he's not merciful
unto us, there will be nothing but wrath, nothing but judgment.
because with that sovereignty as one of his attributes also
comes his character of holiness. So he, justice must be satisfied. He will not acquit the guilty. None can stay his hand or say
unto him, what doest thou? He is God. One thing the Lord's
people know is that he is God and I am not. He is God and we
are not. If he doesn't do all the saving,
none will be saved. Let's read this. This is a familiar
passage. It's a simple message this morning. John chapter 5 verses 1 through
9 says, After this there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus
went up to Jerusalem. Now there was at Jerusalem by
the sheep market a pool, which is called in the Hebrew tongue
Bethesda, having five porches. In these day 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, Wilt 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, take
up thy bed, and walk. Immediately the man was made
whole and took up his bed and walked and on the same day Was
the Sabbath? He Lord asked him a simple question
a very simple question wilt thou be made whole He already knew
what his answer was gonna be before he even asked the question
That's something I love about our Lord and every time he asked
a question. It is a rhetorical question It is a question that
he doesn't need the answer for it's for you to answer not for
him. He already knows and Lord said,
wilt thou be made whole? But the qualification for being
made whole is that you have to be sick. You have to be incomplete. You have to be undone. The Lord
tells us clearly that they that are whole need not a physician,
but they that are sick. He said, I come to call the righteous.
He said, I come not to call the righteous, but sinners. to repentance. And he looks at this man and
he says, will thou be made whole? This man had been 38 years sitting
beside a pool in hopes that one day he might be able to jump
in, but every opportunity that he had, somebody else jumped
in right before him and they were made whole instead. And
he said, sir, I have no man. I have no man. Only those made
needy will come to Christ. Only those that he chooses to
make needy will choose will be able, will be enabled to come
to Christ. Only those that the Lord comes
to. I wrote this down to, as a reminder,
because our people were taken back with this statement I'm
about to make and the question I would ask is, is salvation
a choice? Is salvation a choice? And did
you know the answer is yes, absolutely. Just not my choice and your choice.
It's God's choice. That's the truth of it. Salvation
is God's choice. If he doesn't come to where we
are and do all of the saving, none will be saved. None. None can be. See, you and I,
we're bound by our nature. Our nature hates God. Did you
know that your flesh hates God right now? your flesh hates God
right now, everything about God. God did not come to save this
flesh. God did not come to give you a chance in order for you
to do something in the flesh to please Him. The Lord Jesus
Christ came to save His people from their sin and to give us
a new heart. You ever heard the statement, why don't you just
give Jesus your heart? Anybody ever heard that before?
It's a very popular statement among many churches, but the
Lord don't want our heart. He doesn't want it. You know
why? Because it's deceitful above all things and desperately wicked,
the scripture says. So what does he do? He gives
a new heart, a heart of flesh. He takes out the heart of stone
and gives a heart of flesh, one that looks to him through the
eyes of faith, not one that looks to circumstances with the natural
eye, not one that weighs their own salvation based upon what
they do or they do not do, but one that looks to Christ alone
as all of our righteousness before the throne of God. This man had this condition for
38 years. 38 years he waited. And he waited
and he hoped. And he hoped and he didn't know
on this particular day at this particular time that God was
going to walk up to him. And you and I didn't know that
whatever particular day at whatever particular time the Lord decided
to say live. And we received the breath of
life and we don't know the date and time when that happened.
I was blind, now I see. But he purposed this time for
this man. Purposed this time. And notice
it calls him a certain man. It was a particular man. What
does that mean? Well, how many people did the Lord Jesus Christ
pass by? Thousands, maybe? At least hundreds. He's in, uh, Sure, I'll tell
you exactly where he is. He's in Jerusalem. That's what
I thought. He's in Jerusalem at the Pool of Bethesda. And
so he's walking in Jerusalem. This is a big city. How many
people did he just walk past? This is a pool where so many
would have been laying, so many would have been impotent, so
many would have been sick, so many would have been in need of healing,
and yet he passes by all of them. Why? Because God loved this man. God loved this man. and God had
purposed to reveal not only healing to him physically, but to bring
him to the knowledge of the truth. That happens later on. The Lord
reveals who he is, not just that the man can walk now, that the
man can have strength, but the Lord reveals his truth to this
man. The Lord saves him. That's the glorious part of salvation,
is that the Lord comes to where we are, passing by others. See, it's not based upon my merits
or based upon what I do or what I don't do. hold too dearly. They believe, well, I don't do
this, or I do this, this makes me a good person, or even some
say that's what makes them a Christian, but that's not true. That's not
true. It's not by works of righteousness that we have done, but according
to his mercy that he saved us. It's according to his mercy that
he loved us. And so that's exactly the case with this man. Why did
the Lord choose this man? Was he an attractive man? Was
he an unattractive man? Was he heavyset? Was he thin?
Was he smart? Was he a little slower than others?
Completely irrelevant. God looks upon the heart, and
we have a heart problem. It's not based upon outward appearance. It's not based upon outward doings.
It's not based upon outward efforts. It's based upon what he chooses
to do, how and when he chooses to do it. The only way that you
and I can ever be saved is if God does all the saving. He passed by all these other
people. Now, think about this. This is something that really
made my mind do a backflip, I guess, if I could put it that way. Nobody
knew that God was walking in front of them. How many people
talked to Him, didn't know who He was? This is God incarnate. This is the fullness of the Godhead
bodily. This is the Lord Jesus Christ. This is God in the flesh. Nobody knew who he was until
he reveals himself. Nothing's changed. Nothing's
changed. It's exactly the same now. Unless
he chooses to reveal himself now to me and to you, we won't
see him. We won't know him. We won't have
any understanding of spiritual things. We're in the flesh, and
they that are in the flesh cannot, cannot, cannot please God. And so he walks by all these
people for one purpose, for this one certain man. That's called election. That's
what that is. That's called election. He chose
the covenant of grace before time ever began of people to
redeem. And this is one of the ones that
he chose to come to, one of the ones that he chose to redeem.
he comes to him he has a simple question will now be made whole
that's what I've titled this will now be made whole will never ever need him but
he does for everyone of his children member will be speaking he was
quoting Isaiah they said is this not Joseph's son you and I cannot see the things
of God, the flesh's enmity against God, until He gives us a new
heart, until He births us into His family, until He reveals,
breathing His Spirit upon us, reveals the Lord Jesus Christ,
and gives us faith to believe. We're not equipped with anything
to become saved. The Lord has to do it all. And
the Lord's people love that, because that's exactly what He
did. Did all of it. Every bit of it. So who do you see? Who do you see in Christ? Do
you see the Lord Jesus Christ like Isaiah did? Isaiah said,
In the year King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a throne
high and lifted up, and His train filled the temple. Do you see
Him that way? you seem like joe's own job said I have Wilt thou be made whole? How
do you see him? If you see Christ as he is, you
will see yourself as you are. It goes hand in hand. It's called
repentance in faith. It's called repentance in faith. The Lord gives both simultaneously.
That's what Peter was talking about over in Acts, where he
said, They were given repentance toward God and faith for the
Lord Jesus Christ. So they had repentance and seeing
God as sovereign, seeing God as holy, seeing God as just and
good and seeing themselves as the chief sinner. But then they
had faith in Jesus Christ that he satisfied God's demands upon
the cross and everything required for their salvation was completely
dependent upon the Lord Jesus Christ and not them. that's what
faith does it looks to Christ that's what faith does faith
looks to Christ faith doesn't look to circumstances this man
was looking at the circumstances sir I have no man that's a good
confession to very good confession will get that a minute but the faith comes from him. It's
the faith of Christ that's bestowed to his people. It's not faith
that you and I... You ever heard somebody say,
exercise your faith? You can't exercise something that's a gift. The Lord gives us faith. And
the Lord's disciples said, Lord, increase our faith. And how does
the Lord do that? Well, he does it by the preaching
of his word. He calls the circumstances to happen. And the more things
that happen in our life, the more that we're drawn, made to
look to Christ alone, he increases our faith. One thing I want to notice is
the fact that he did pass by all these other people. And if
you talk to some people about him passing by, you talk to them
about election, you talk about predestination with some, they
become very offended very quickly because it takes them out of
the equation. Man wants to have his glory. Man wants to have
his glory in all things, in all things, especially in salvation.
Man, by nature, we are our own God, and we want our own glory. when it comes a salvation that
all is his glory it's all his glory in the words people of
that you know why will because we see plainly we understand
why he would hate the soul you understand why the lord of the
soul of the because he saw he hated the birthright which in
turn he despised Christ that's the whole idea he was a center Jacob have I loved, Esau have
I hated, because of his good pleasure and own will and purpose. Because of the good pleasure
and will of God, he chose Jacob. He chose the trickster. He chose
the supplanter. He chose the liar. He chose the
thief. Why did he do that? For his own
good. For his own glory. For his own glory. Guess what he says about Jacob?
I've bought you. I've redeemed you I've loved
you with an everlasting love You're mine You're mine. That's what he told Jacob. That's
what he tells Jacob Second Timothy 1 9 says God saved
us and called us what came first the saving or the calling a man
and woman don't believe in order to be saved they are a They believed
because the Lord saved them and then called them and gave them
the ability to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ God saved us and called us not
according to our works But according to his own purpose and grace
given to us before time ever began because of this the Lord
comes to the pool of Bethesda with this impotent man the full
of the Bethesda and It just so happens. No, there's no happenstance. There's no Accidents in this
but Bethesda means the house of mercy the house of mercy And
that's where the Lord meets sinners to save them. That's where the
Lord meets. His people is the house of mercy
the house of grace comes to the house of mercy To heal and save
one of his sheep. He passed by so many, but it
was all purpose to honor the father. All purpose to honor
the father. Comes right to where this individual
is. Now, does he say to him, if you'll
do your part, I'll do mine? I'll meet you halfway? Certainly
not. Why? Because he's God. Because
he's God. He asked him, wilt thou be made
whole in order for him to confess, I have no man. We have no man
either to fix our current circumstance, to fix our state of sinfulness. We're not, and I'm gonna be speaking
about dogs the second hour. I don't wanna get too far ahead
of myself, but a dog doesn't become a dog the first time that
it barks. It barks because it's a dog. We're not sinners because
of what we do. We're sinners because of what
we are. We need to be saved from self. We need to be saved from
sin and self. This man said, sir, I have no
man. I can't get help from family. I can't get help from friends.
I can't help myself. I have no man. In me and my flesh
dwelleth no good thing. That's what the picture is here.
He said, I can't be healed. Not by this pool. Can't do it. If you do it, the only way I
can be healed is if he does it. He does it. And that's what he
makes us see. That's what he makes us see. He asked him this question to
draw this answer. Verse seven. Look at verse seven.
The impotent man answered, Sir, I have no man when the water
is troubled to put me into the pool. But while I am coming,
the other steppeth down before me. Sir, I have no man, not a
friend. I can't trust in my flesh. Yeah,
I'm a man, but I can't trust in this man. Can't fix it, can't
make it better. Matter of fact, every time I
try to make something better, I make it worse. You know, if
you see yourself a sinner, if the Lord reveals to you that
you're a sinner and you try to do something to fix that, that's
called iniquity. The Lord said, I hate all workers
of iniquity. We can't fix our sin. All we
can do is just continually add another part to the mountain
of sin that we are and the mountain of sin that we've done. Powerless to heal myself. I have
no hope in self. Can you relate to this man? Can
you relate? Will thou be made whole? That's
the question this morning. Will thou be made whole? We're born in sin, we're shapen
in iniquity, without any hope of fixing it, without any hope
in fixing it. So will thou be made whole? Now,
I love an analogy that is in the Old Testament about a leper.
When a leper would come to the high priest, as soon as the first
spot of leprosy would show up on a, and you probably already
know this, but the first time leprosy would show up on an individual,
whether it be a little bit or whether it be a lot, they were
told, go show yourself to the high priest. And the priest was
the one that declared them as clean, or the priest was the
one that would declare them as unclean. Well, the beauty in
salvation and what the Lord has done in the picture is, whenever
the leper was actually covered from the top of their head to
the bottom of their feet, they were considered clean. They were
considered clean. Unless God makes us 100% sinners,
first, we will not need the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. We'll
hold on to one little piece of flesh that doesn't have the leprosy
on it that we can see but were covered from the top of our head
to the bottom of our feet with that we need to be made whole in a He drank the cup of damnation
dry. He was the one that was made
sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness
of God in Him. That's the good news of the gospel.
He imputed righteousness to His people on the cross. So now when
God sees us, He no longer sees the sin that we are and the sin
that we do, but He's made His people whole. now he's walking
up to this man where he's already Grace and peace with God before
the world began because we were in Christ even then So he comes
to this man because he has already made him whole He's just gonna
let him know about it. He's just gonna let him know
about it. He has to physically do it and he does but then whenever
he reveals himself spiritually the man that he then sees Christ
for who he is he then sees his Standing with God is perfect
It's perfect. He Was how I'm sure he was happy
to walk and you know, he was 38 years in infancy I'm sure
he was happy to walk but oh to see the Lord Jesus Christ as
Isaiah saw him as Job saw him and as David as David knew him
a man after God's own heart to see that that's abundantly better
than Not being able to walk, isn't it? I would take that over
Being able to see the Lord any day Not being able to see him
would be well, it's it's detrimental isn't detrimental God doesn't reveal himself. We
will remain lost We will remain lost and I have another analogy
to give you on that You know the Samaritan woman a chapter
before this and John chapter 4 The Lord says these words I
have I must need go through Samaria and I love that and The Lord
said, I must need go. He didn't just say, I'm going,
but he says, I need to go. Why did he need to go to Samaria? Why? Because he had a sheep there,
a Samaritan woman. And he chose to go there, tell
his disciples, I must need to go through Samaria for that particular
purpose, for the salvation of that woman. Well, he goes. He goes and finds the woman sitting
at a well, and he says to the woman, give me drink. Give me
drink. And she says, sir, you have nothing
to draw with, for the well is deep. And he says to her, if
you knew who had asked you give me to drink, you would have gave
him, you would have asked of him, and he would have given
you the fountain of living water, springing up into everlasting
life. He would have said, if you would have asked of him,
he would have given you a drink of living water, springing up
into everlasting life. Her reaction is the same as our
reaction would have been. Sir, give me this drink. Oh, I'll
take it. Give me this drink. Lord, in his wisdom says to her,
go call your husband. Go call your husband. And she
said, I have no husband. He said, you've well-spoken.
You've had five husbands, and the one you have now is not your
own. And you know, immediately she says, sir, I perceive that
you're a prophet. Have you ever been around somebody
that finds out you go to church, finds out that you come to church? I know, Eric,
you might better relate to this even better. For somebody that
stands in the pulpit, if they ever find out that you preach
before, they're gonna, immediately, they're gonna run to their righteousness
right in front of you. They're gonna say, hey, I go
to church, too. I believe this, too. I do this,
too. I don't do that, also. And they assume that it's the
same God, or they assume it's the same belief, but it's not.
And this woman says to, this woman says to the Lord, oh, I
perceive you're a prophet. And she said, we worship in this
mountain. And there was her righteousness right there. She was a half-breed
Jew. She was a Samaritan. So the Jews
had intermingled with some Gentiles back around the time of Balaam.
And so now they're outcasts among the Jews because they don't keep
the custom of the Jew, number one. But number two, because
they're not full-blooded Jews. And the Jews held to their own
bloodline as being the righteous bloodline. And the Lord came
to save a people spiritually, not physically. That's what the
scripture is talking about when it says they are not all of Israel
that are of Israel. It's a spiritual family. It's
a spiritual church. It's a spiritual Israel. It's
a spiritual Jerusalem. that being said this woman said
we worship in this mountain but they were worshiping god in the
form of a donkey and a form of a son in the moon in the form
of a cat and a dog they wouldn't worship in Jehovah at all they
had their cat propped up and like yeah that's Jehovah they
had their son that's Jehovah they didn't know who God was
and the Lord said the time's coming and now is that you won't
worship in this mountain or in Jerusalem because the woman had
said you say we should worship in Jerusalem not this mountain
that mountain if you turn back to do run me that was the moment
was blessed of Moses the lord told him to curse one bless the
other will that's what they held to this mountain they thought
it was blessed of god that's where they should worship Well, the Samaritan woman, she
kept talking. You know, sometimes it's just
good if we don't talk. I think it was Scott Richardson
said, never miss an opportunity to shut up. I like that. I need
to hear that. I'm my own worst enemy when it
comes to that. I put my foot in my mouth every
chance I get, it seems like. But here we have this Samaritan
woman, and she says, OK, well, whenever Messiah comes, he'll
tell us the truth. And you know what he says to
her? I am God spoke the word of power necessary
for her salvation. I am. And that's what he has
to do to you. And that's what he has to do
to me. He has to come to where we are. See, we're either, we're just
laying at the pool of Bethesda with no hope, no hope in this
flesh, no hope in our works, no hope in our anything. If he
doesn't choose to come to where we are, we have no hope of salvation.
Or maybe we're, maybe we're filling up water pot. maybe that's what
we're doing going through the motions alive if he doesn't come
where we are stoppers where we are and say I am will never see
him as he is salvation is of the more it's of him and by him
and through him all for his people isn't a glorious for this purpose you and I could
have done anything in this place to please god that he did choice and right and Purpose
in grace. He chose to take that for his
people and by his own blood He put away all the sin of every
one of the elect of God everyone that God loves. He put it all
away Now the scripture says there's therefore now and I like that
word now. When is it not now? It's now
right now, right? Well, it's now right now. It's
now right now. There is therefore now no condemnation
to them which are in Christ Jesus. No condemnation. Right now. Right
now. Right now. It'll never not be
now. In time or eternity, it's now.
The Lord wasn't just dying to offer to man, but to the Father.
His soul was made an offering for sin. And was God satisfied
with that? Yes. Was every person that Christ
died for, were they redeemed? Yes, absolutely. How do you know?
Because our Lord cannot lie. And he said, it is finished. It is finished. Nothing left for you and I to
do. Somebody said, well, you have to believe. Believing is
a gift of God. Believing is by grace, by faith
bestowed. Believing is not a choice that
you and I make. Believing is the gift that God
gives to his people and enables us to do. Can you relate to this
impotent man? He wanted to be healed, but he
didn't have anybody. Just as you and I are born, not
having any hope of eternal life. And yet our hope is that the
Lord would come to where we are and say unto us, take up your
bed and walk. Lazarus, come forth. That's the
hope. That's the hope. And what'd Lazarus
do? The Lord say, Lazarus, if you
take the first step, I'll take the rest. No, Lazarus is dead
and he stinks. He had to come to where Lazarus
was and say, come forth. That's what he does for his children.
That's what he does for his chosen people. He says, Lazarus, come
forth. He knows them by name. Oh, he knows them by name. He
calls them by name. The question remains, brethren,
will thou be made whole? Cry out for mercy. Cry out for
mercy unto him in the heart. I like saying this because it
doesn't make sense to the flesh. Come to Christ. Don't move a
muscle. Come to Christ. Don't move a
muscle. Come to Christ through the heart
of faith that he has bestowed to you. Come to him. and look
what the Lord says here in closing, verse eight and nine. Jesus said
to him, rise, take thy bed, and walk. Now, did the Lord say to
him, hey, if you would like to do this, or if you would like
to do that, or I'm gonna give you a couple options here. No,
no, our Lord has power in his word. He has all power, both
in heaven and earth, as we already heard. He said, rise, take up
thy bed and walk. And what happened? Did the impotent
man say, ah, you know, I don't really, I think I'm gonna lay
here about 38 more years before I decide to do that. No, no,
what does he do? Immediately the man was made
whole and took up his bed and walked, and on the same day was
the Sabbath. Immediately. We're dealing with
an immediate salvation, an immediate God. He says, rise, and we respond. Why? Because he's God. He's God. Immediately, right now, wilt
thou be made whole? Well, Lord, if I'm gonna be made
whole, you're gonna have to be the doer of it. can you relate to that
more of them won't be made whole you're going back to the viewer
of you have to kill me I can't be made whole and of myself would
have to say rise will now be made whole lord if you make me
whole I will be made whole otherwise I have no I'm gonna lay here a dead corpse
forever and ever and ever. Thank God we get to hear the
sweetest words like David heard after he had sinned with Bathsheba.
He was guilty. you know the Lord said to him
through Nathan fear not. For the Lord hath put away thy
sin, you shall not die. The Lord put your sin away. You
can't put it away. He did. For everyone he loved,
everyone he died for, he put the sin away. It's gone. Cast
into the depths of the sea of forgetfulness as far as east
is from the west. You know, you can go as far east
as you want. You'll never start going west. Or you can go west
as far as you want. You'll never start going east.
But you can go north and eventually you'll be heading south again
or vice versa. It's gone. Sin's gone. Wilt thou be made
whole? There's only one way. Not by
the will of man, nor by the will of flesh, but by the will of
God. Wilt thou be made whole? If God
Chooses to make you whole it'll be by mercy and by grace alone
not by what you've done not by works of righteousness Which
you have done but according to his mercy if you desire to be
made whole look to Christ as all your acceptance before God
look to Christ as all your wisdom all your righteousness all your
sanctification all your justification all of your redemption Will thou
be made whole? Let's take a break