I'm reading this morning from
the Gospel of John chapter 5. John chapter 5. And I begin reading
verse 1. After this there was a feast
of the Jews and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. Now there is at
Jerusalem by the sheep market or gate a pool which is called
in the Hebrew tongue Bethesda, having five porches. In 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. The Lord Jesus
Christ, who was and is God manifest in the flesh, performed many
amazing miracles. Peter at Pentecost said, Ye men
of Israel, hear these words, Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved
of God among you by miracles. and wonders and signs which God
did by him in the midst of you. In another place, a man named
Nicodemus came to the Lord and said, ìNo man can do these miracles
that you do except God be with him.î These miracles proved him
to be the God-man, the great physician, Jehovah-Rapha, the
Lord that healeth thee. But all these miracles were stories
and pictures, types of a much greater miracle, which only Christ
himself can and did perform. The miracle of salvation, man's
greatest need. One time he healed a man that
was lame and asked the people around him, which is easier,
to say your sins are forgiven or take up your bed and walk?
Well, the Lord is the Savior of sinners, the only one who
can put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. Our bodies will die
of something someday, but the soul goes on. That is our great
need, healing of this fatal disease called sin. Well, in our story,
in verse 2 it says, there is at Jerusalem by the sheep market
or gate, a pool at Jerusalem. And this pool is called Bethesda
in the Hebrew tongue. Bethesda means a house of kindness
and mercy. God's word is so perfect. Every
word of God's Bible is significant. Jerusalem has always represented
the church of God, where God's true chosen people As the Jews
of old were chosen by God, so are all of his people. The true
people of God. Chosen people of God. They worship
him in the church. Sheep gate here is spoken of.
Sheep gate. Well, God's people, Christ's
people are called sheep. There are goats and there are
sheep. Christ said, I am the good shepherd. I know my sheep. He is the good, great, and cheap
shepherd. He is among his sheep. He saves
his sheep. He calls his sheep. He leaves
the ninety and nine to seek every single lost sheep, and he finds
every one of them. None of them is lost. Well, there's
a pool here in our story, a place to wash, a pool of water at Bethesda,
this house of kindness. God Almighty still has such places,
houses of kindness, where God Almighty is worshipped, where
Christ crucified is preached. Christ the fountain or pool of
cleansing for sinners. For mercy and grace, the kindness
of God is shown through the preaching of the gospel. Here at this pool
of Bethesda in verse 3 it says, In these porches lay a great
multitude of impotent folk, blind, caught, withered folk waiting
for something to happen. Again, this is a wonderful picture
of how the church, of where Christ is, where the gospel, the truth
is preached, the place that God has chosen, Scripture says, to
put His name there, where His glory is seen in the face, the
person, the work of the Lord Jesus Christ, where Christ Himself
dwells and is preached. The true church of God. The true
church is a hospital for sinners. It's not a poor man's country
club. It is not a matchmaking service. It is not a place where good
people, righteous people, wholesome people go to brag on themselves
and pat one another on the back. But it is a place for impotent
folk like these in our story. Impotent meaning powerless, helpless,
unable to save themselves. Is that you? It is a place where
the blind are. In John chapter 9, a few chapters
later, the Lord said to some Pharisees who thought they knew
everything, who thought they were righteous, the Lord said
to them in verse 41 of John 9, if you were blind, you should
have no sin. But now you say, we see. Therefore,
your sin remaineth. The Lord only heals the blind.
What about you? Do you know what that means?
The halt. In this story, there were those
who were, it says, the halt or lame. They couldn't walk. They
could not come. As this man in our story, he
could not put himself in that pool of water. He could not save
himself. He couldn't get up. He was powerless.
Our Lord said in John 6 verse 44, No man can come to me. except the Father which hath
sent me, draw him, and I will raise him up at the last day."
No man can. They are haught. They are lame.
How about you? And it says there were those
here who were withered. Everything about them was withered,
useless, dried up. They were unable to use their
faculties. They had them, they had arms,
but they were unable to work. They had feet, legs, they were
unable to walk. How about you? Anybody out there? Helpless, hopeless, cannot do
anything for yourself, impotent, blind, halt, lame, withered,
no faith, no works, no goodness, no righteousness, no ability? Look at verse 3 and 4, it says,
In these lay a great multitude, and 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 of
whatsoever disease he had. In this story there were multitudes
of folk in helpless, a helpless condition, hopeless state. And
they were all waiting on a miracle to occur, waiting on something
to happen, something to happen. And still today, I look around,
the world is full of people, whether they know it or not.
They're helpless, hopeless, powerless, doomed as it were. And yet they
go, they look for various places to attend, religious places,
buildings, looking for a miracle. Waiting to see something wonderful
happen, some sign, some wonder, some miracle. Waiting for something
to happen. People, there is no cure. There is no salvation. There
is no peace in waiting for something to happen, to see some miracles. There is no salvation in mere
church membership, attending church. There is no salvation
in baptism. making a profession of faith,
turning over a new leaf, and no salvation, no peace, no cure
in activities and programs and feeling music and so forth, pageantry. For sin sick souls, dead and
dying souls, there is only one hope. Only one hope for the hopeless. And that hope is that the Lord
Jesus Christ Himself through the Spirit of God, through the
preaching of the gospel, that he will in sovereign mercy and
grace condescend to look upon us, to come to where we are,
to call us by his power, to raise us up, to have mercy upon us,
to put away our sins and our guilt by his precious blood. It's the only thing that will.
to cover our nakedness before our holy all-seeing God, and
our shame, to cover it with His robe of righteousness, His skirt. Salvation is of the Lord. People,
salvation is of the Lord. It's His will. It's His choice. It's His power. It's His blood. It's His right. It's His prerogative. Well, this is what happened to
this man. In verse 5 it says there was a certain man there
which had an infirmity thirty and eight years. A certain man. Scripture says the foundation
of God standeth sure having this seal the Lord knoweth them that
are His. How does He know them? Because
He foreknew them. He chose them. Their names before
the foundation of the world were written in the Lamb's book of
life. Now this man, it says, had this infirmity 38 years,
he lay helpless and would have died there had not the Lord Jesus
Christ come to him. And so will we if Christ does
not come to us. In verse 6, it says, When Jesus
saw him lie. When the Lord Jesus Christ came
to where he was. This man didn't come to Christ.
Christ came to him. When Christ says, Come unto Me,
all you that labor and are heavy laden, I just read to you where
He said no man can come except drawn. Whoever does come, they
do so because Christ came to them and drew them by His mercy,
by His power, by His grace. When Jesus saw him, it said,
when the Lord Jesus Christ looked upon him, He saw him first. He foreknew him. He chose him. There were many people. It says
a great multitude there. Oh, lame. What does the Lord
need with any of these? Why, nothing. Do all of these people deserve
to be saved? No, the Lord chose whom He would.
Whom He will. He has mercy on whom He will.
Whom He will. He pardoned them. The Lord chose
this man. a certain man chosen by the Lord. He came to him. He looked upon
him. He foreknew him, a man that he
knew before the world began and put him in this place at this
very day to come to where he was, like the woman at the well,
like Zacchaeus up a tree, and spoke to him. For whom God does
foreknow, he predestinates, and whom he predestinates, he calls. In verse 6, our Lord said, Will
thou be made whole? He is not asking this man for
information, not to see if he will let Him save him, but for
this man to admit, for this man to confess his inability to realize
his powerlessness. He said in verse 7, the man said,
Sir, I have no man when the water is troubled to put me into the
pool. I have no man. I can't do it. No man can do
it. If I will, I can. With man it
is impossible. So it is not of him that willeth,
Scripture says, or of him that runneth, but it is of God that
showeth mercy. The question is not if we will,
but will he? Is he willing? He's able. Well,
our Lord with one word in verse 8, Jesus saith unto him, Rise,
take up thy bed, and walk with a word, a word of his power,
a word of mercy, grace, the gospel of his power and his glory. The
gospel of his son said, rise by the word of Christ. This impotent
man was raised to walk, to do what he could not do, to walk
by faith in newness of life. Any impotent folk out there,
may the Lord be pleased to, in mercy, to call you by this gospel. Amen.