Chapter 5, verse 1. After this, there was a feast
of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. Now there he 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, a blind hawk 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
step it down before me. Jesus saith unto him, Rise, take
up 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."
We'll stop reading right there through verse 9. And our subject this morning
would be this concerning this passage of Scripture. Sovereign
grace in a suffering place. Oh, I'm glad for that. Sovereign
grace in a suffering place. It does not stretch the imagination
of any of us to understand the extreme suffering in this place. The number of those suffering
is said to be a great multitude. The various types of suffering
and infirmity is said to be blind or first impotent, blind, halt
or crippled, and withered. The span of their suffering in
this place is indefinite. The man in this story we read
in verse five had lain there for 38 years. It was like a rest home with
no rooms and no beds and no employees and no medicine. They were displaced there to
suffer. No doubt a few died every day
and a few more were brought there every day. Sad, sad place, suffering
place, miserable place. But one man's misery is about
to be met with mercy. How wonderful that is. The Lord
Jesus Christ, the Son of God, God the Son, God the Creator,
is about to pass by that way. He who is sovereign in all things. His power is unlimited. His wisdom
and understanding without limits. His mercy and His grace are His
to bestow or to withhold at His will. Romans 9.18, He hath mercy on
whom He will and He hardeneth whom He will. The Holy Spirit
records this for us and has kept it for us since John wrote this
almost 2,000 years ago. as another use of physical healing
to demonstrate the principles and the order of spiritual healing. And it is only those who have
been spiritually healed, who have been quickened, who have
been regenerated, who have been born again, it is only those
that can or will receive these things with joy. I'm telling you, the deceived
religious world will fight against these things. I'm fixing to show
you from this passage. And they'll call us heretics
and they'll label us a cult, when in reality, they're the
deceived ones. Now, this is not hard to follow
and see these blessed truths. And I trust you believe these
things we're about to point out with all your heart, mind and
soul. Now, this suffering place, a
place of physical suffering, a place full of helpless and
hopeless people. It exemplifies the spiritual
condition of all humanity by nature. It is a condition of
total depravity. These people are in a shape cannot
help themselves. And so it is in the spiritual
realm for the natural man born in sin, conceived in sin. Man can do nothing or even desire
to do anything toward finding acceptance with God. The natural
man is perfectly content to live without God. You see that all
around you. One of our local radio kings
around here said, man is depraved, but he's not totally depraved.
He said, we can do some things right. Well, he don't even know
what the biblical doctrine is. Of course, you can help an old
lady across the street. Of course, you can buy a hungry
person a meal. Of course, those things are good.
But the Bible truth, I said Bible truth, for centuries now referred
to as total depravity, and for centuries now has been Baptist
doctrine, is clearly understood to refer to the subject of salvation. It's not about doing good deeds.
It simply means man can do nothing and wills to do nothing to find
peace with God. This doctrine is demonstrated
in the condition of this great multitude in this passage. Verse three says, it was a great
multitude of impotent folk. The word impotent meaning without
strength, without strength. Isn't that what Paul said to
the believers at Rome? Romans 5 and 6, for when we were
without strength, in other words, we were impotent, helpless, and
hopeless in ourselves, Christ died for us. In due time, Christ
died for the ungodly. But now people in our day, they
deny being ungodly. and they deny being without strength.
But all this crowd here is impotent, without strength, without ability
to change their situation. One of the conditions mentioned
here is blindness, blindness. And this describes blindness,
describes the unconcerned and the uncaring attitude of sinful
humanity today, even in America, even in the church world. Totally ignoring the certain
end of an eternity without God. Totally ignoring God's Word and
the truth of perishing without Christ. and falling into the pits of
the damned forever. And yet they hasten on the broad
road to destruction, unconcerned, uncaring. Now, you
ask them if that's their intention, and they'll tell you, no, that's
not my intention. I'm hoping to change before I
die. But they're making no effort to change. and they have no will
to change. Don't want to change, knowing
the consequences of their condition. That's depravity. That's total
depravity. Unable and unwilling to do anything
about it. Others, it says here, were halt.
That means crippled. Unable to walk. Others, it says,
were withered. that is paralyzed, drawn up,
unable to work, unable to do anything. So this pretty much
summarizes the condition, unable to see, unable to walk, unable
to work. I'd say that qualifies for being
helpless. Hopeless, that's depravity. Now
the depravity exists all the way along, but it really comes
out in the presence of the Lord Jesus, as this story continues,
and we'll see it in a minute. So overall, this is a suffering
place. Oh, but now comes sovereign grace. I'm telling you, folks, I'm going
to enjoy this for a few minutes, whether y'all do or not, because
I want to tell you the truth about it. I'm going to tell you
the truth about it. So, now you know grace means,
and you've all heard this many times, it means unmerited or
undeserved favor. That's what it is. You don't buy grace, you don't
earn grace, you don't merit grace. It is undeserved favor, the favor
of God. Well, what does sovereign mean?
And I've told you this before, the word sovereign, the prefix
sov, S-O-V, It means highest. It means above all. And the suffix
reign means to rule. You know what a reign is. It's
a rule, a dominion. So then sovereign means the highest
rule. The very highest rule. It means
one who answers to no one. It means one who does his own
will and is accountable to and chargeable
by none. It means one who don't have to
have anybody's permission to do what he wants to do. Now there are men in this world
that have been called sovereigns over in the old country, king,
rulers. But hey, no, they have to answer
to somebody, if not me and to God. Only God is the true sovereign,
sovereign. And He's about to demonstrate
sovereign grace. He walks in, He walks past, or
maybe He walks between some of this multitude. And according
to this story we've read, Christ is guilty of a crime that we've
heard a lot about in our generation. Extreme discrimination. Extreme. But we read here that He passes
by to deal with this one man. And there's no mention that He
did anything for anybody else there. This is divine election. This
is his choice. He said to the father in John
17 too, I give eternal life to as many as thou has given me. Not one more, not one less. You say, well, now in this story,
wouldn't he have helped anybody that cried to him? I answer,
yes, but nobody was crying to him. Not even this man, not even this
man. People hate the Bible truth of
God's election because they don't believe in human depravity. But understanding human depravity
will make you thank God for election, knowing that it's the only hope
any of us have. Like this man and like this crowd,
none of us went looking for God. Uh-uh. You say, well, I did. Not until he was looking for
you and put you to looking for him. By nature, all men are perishing
in sin and wouldn't have it any other way if left to ourselves. So now this multitude, they see
Christ coming and they see him as just another man passing by.
They don't know who he is. Obviously this man don't even
know who he is. But now who he is, He is the
divinely appointed sacrifice, appointed from eternity to come
into this world to suffer and die, to shed His blood, to make
atonement for the sins of all the Father had given Him, to satisfy the justice of a holy
God for the sin of His people. For all those, Paul said in Ephesians
1-4, who were chosen in Him before the foundation of the world.
Now here in verse 2, this pool, it says, was by the sheep market
or sheep gate, which is one of the 12 gates
or entrances into Jerusalem. We mentioned the story of Nehemiah
earlier in our Bible class. You can read that book of Nehemiah
where some of the Jews returned from the Babylonian captivity
and they set about the task to rebuild the walls around Jerusalem. And those 12 gates are named
there in Nehemiah. This sheep gate was one of them.
It's called the sheep gate for a reason because it was the gate
through which all the lambs were led that were to be sacrifices. That's significant that it's
at this gate. This multitude did not know that
the Lamb of God had just walked through there. He who was to
suffer, he who was to die, he who was to shed his blood for
the sins of his people. He has come and He calls one
of His own from among this multitude of people. He didn't give an
open invitation and say whosoever will, no. He
came to one of His. His sacrifice, His shed blood,
was a definite atonement for his people. And as Christ did
not heal this entire multitude, he did not die for all humanity. You see, the father was well
pleased with the sacrifice of his son. He couldn't be pleased
anymore. Therefore, all for whom Christ
died, according to Ephesians 1, 6, are made accepted in the
beloved. Not made acceptable, but made
accepted. It's not what he did plus our
part, it's what he did. Made accepted in him. Most people
don't understand this. You see, salvation is not through
him, it's in him. We're not in pursuit of a condition,
a safe condition or position. We're in pursuit of a person.
Salvation is in him. And all who were in him on the
cross are accepted with God. It's what the scripture teaches.
That's who he came to satisfy the justice of God. He came in
the behalf of his own. Matthew 1.21, Thou shalt call
His name Jesus, for He shall save, who? His people from their
sins. Isaiah 53.12, He bear the sin
of many. John 10.11, The Good Shepherd
giveth His life for the sheep, not the goats. Those for whom
Christ paid the sin debt cannot perish. I'll tell you, I'm glad
about that. I don't know if you are or not.
I'm thrilled about that because I believe He died for me. And I believe what He did was
sufficient. And for God to refuse even one
for whom Christ died would be to refuse Christ himself. And
he never did that. He'll never do that. And for
God to even approve one apart from Christ's atoning work would
make his work unnecessary. If there's another way, but there
is no other way. He came for his own, not to get
himself a people, but to die for his people. This man in verse
five is called A certain man. I've told you many times I love
that word certain in the New Testament. You find it a lot
of places. You ought to take your concordance and follow it
through sometime. Our Lord deals in certainties,
not possibilities. That's not what today's religious
world thinks, but He deals in certainties.
This man is not possibly one of Christ's sheep. This man is
not potentially one of Christ's sheep. He is certainly one of Christ's
sheep. It says he's a certain man. I'm glad he deals in certainties.
Now look at the deliberate discrimination, verse six. when Jesus saw him lie. Don't say that he looked at anybody
else. Don't say that he acknowledged
anybody else's existence when he saw him. Was he the only one
lying around? Certainly not. There's a great
multitude. But when Jesus saw him lie and
knew that he had been now a long time in that case. You reckon he's the only one
been there a long time? No. He saith unto him. It's not a
general invitation here. He saith unto him, wilt thou
be made whole? Thou, singular. Well, it was
the right question. He surely needed to be made whole. It was the right person asking
the question. Christ was certainly able to
do the job. But now, here comes that ugly
depravity again. Watch this. This is the moment
of a lifetime. This man has lain for 38 years, and somebody comes along and
says, will thou be made whole? All the man has to do is say
yes, or nod his head yes. It is all so simple. But he is also depraved. And he starts in to try and to
explain to the Lord Jesus how the system works. And how it
is that he hadn't been healed in these 38 years. I can hear him now bragging on
the system. Just like most of the religious world is doing
this morning. It's a good system. But it hadn't worked for me because I have no man to help
me meet the conditions. I plan to make it someday, but
I haven't made it in these 38 years. Christ never asked him
about the system. He never asked how long he'd
been there. or why he was still there. Christ knew. He knew the
answer to all those questions. He never asked those questions.
His question was simple. Will thou be made whole? He's
applying to the man's will. What is it you want? Would you
like to be made whole? Well, now, if this man had a
free will, as so many say he did, He'd simply have said, yes,
I would like that very much. But he didn't say that. He couldn't say that. His will
was in bondage because his mind was in bondage, enslaved. He could not understand. He could
not see beyond having to do something himself. He's hooked on the system. Now, if today's gospel is right,
this man's not going to get healed. He didn't respond right. He didn't
make that decision. He's supposed to make. But you
see, when Christ is calling his sheep, it is not dependent on
the sinner's perception. it is dependent on the shepherd's
power. Christ knew who he was and what he was doing. This fellow
didn't even know who he was or what he was doing or who Christ
was or what he was doing. But something's taking place
here. This is that blessed old doctrine of the effectual call. Dear old Mr. Spurgeon said, when
Christ is calling one of his sheep, that call will have the
effect. It's designed to have. When it's
the preacher's call, or the church's call, or some religious call,
you can choose and un-choose a hundred times if you want to.
But when it's the gospel call, When it's the shepherd's call,
when it's the Spirit's call, it's a certain thing. It's a
certain thing. It's going to happen. This man never, he never did
anything to make this happen. It's like he's trying to talk
the Lord out of it. That's true. Nobody is brought in follows Christ against their will. Don't misunderstand. We're charged
with preaching that sometimes, but it's the spirit's work to
change that wheel. And he does, he does. We've been talking with a dear
man that's convinced he's gonna die. And he may be going to. And I told him, if you've determined
that you're going to, and you've settled it that you're going
to, there's no use in me trying to tell you you're not going
to. You done made up your mind, that's how it is. But I reminded
him that there's one bigger than me and bigger than him that has
the last word, that has the final say in this. This man wanted to be healed.
Sure he did. But because of the bondage he was in, sin, deception, depravity. He could not answer the Lord's
simple question and simply say, yes. He just couldn't do it. But you see, his response did
not affect what Christ was there to do. And I'm glad, thank God,
that's the case. I hadn't always responded right.
You hadn't always responded right. I will tell you, you'll go crazy
listening to this bunch that tells you, you've got to get
all this figured out and get your ducks in a row and answer
everything just right. It's not like getting accepted
into college here we're talking about or something like that.
No. It's not a job application. It's
your interview. No. It's not your response that
makes the difference. It's whether or not you're chosen
in Christ before the foundation of the world and the Holy Spirit
convicts you of your sin, changes your heart and your will, and
you will respond in the way He's determined. His problem did not deter Christ
in His purpose. Now, after the man did not answer
the question, he's rude. He totally ignored
the Lord's question. Went and talked about something
else. Why didn't Christ say, well,
if you're not going to cooperate, if you're going to be that way
about it, I'll just go on. All I did was ask you a simple question.
All you had to say was yes or no. No, in spite. of the man's helplessness
and hopelessness and lack of understanding and failure to
cooperate, Jesus went ahead and spoke in power. In verse 8, Jesus
saith unto him, Rise, take up thy bed, and walk. The man was made whole, took
up his bed, and walked. And on the same day was the Sabbath. Christ didn't have to do it. This man didn't deserve it any
more than any of the rest. But Christ did it for this helpless and hopeless
man. And he can still do it. He don't have to. He's not obligated to, but he can. And I'm gonna shock some of you
now. Contrary to just about every preacher I know, I do not have
the right to tell you God will save you. If you want him to. I don't have
the right to tell you that without also telling you that He must
give you the will to. And when He does, it's done. Multiplied thousands of people
just like you perish in their sins and drop
off into hell every day. Not because God can't do anything
for him, but because he don't. He is not obligated. You hadn't been good enough.
You hadn't been religious enough. You hadn't been moral enough
that God owes you anything but hell. And neither have I. His saving work here And His
saving work here is in sovereign grace. He, the highest authority
who answers to no man just because He wills to, does reach down
and quicken such as you are and such as I am. He does give us
a new heart and a new hope and everlasting life. Concerning any individual, whether he'll do it is his business,
not mine, not yours. Like it or not, that's the truth.
I don't think there's anybody here that questions if he can.
You know he can. I won't tell you this much. You
certainly better plead with him that he will, that he will. There's a fellow in the New Testament,
a leper, said, Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean. He never did have a question
of whether the Lord could, and neither do we. But he sure had
a question of whether he would. And that'll be our question and
our plea is, Lord, will you? Lord, will you do something for
me? It's all locked up in His will.
You better not try to climb up any other way. Let me mention
in closing the repentant thief on the cross. And I'll wind this
up. How foolish would it have been for him to start telling the
Lord how that he hadn't been as bad as the other fellow. Hadn't killed as many people.
Hadn't robbed as many banks. I've done some bad stuff, but
I'm not as bad. Well, had he been left to himself,
that's what he'd have done. That's the way he'd have argued. He'd have said, if you're going
to save anybody here, I'm the one. But no, his heart was already
melted. His foolish pride was already gone. He knew the only
hope for him was God's mercy. And all he says
is, Lord, remember me. Remember me. In my hand, no price
I bring. simply to thy cross I cling." He could have said, all these
years, all I've done is prove how qualified I am for hell.
I deserve nothing more. But you, Lord, on that cross
are qualifying sinners like me to be like you. And I want that. Paul says we're not only qualified
to be like him, but we're predestinated to be like him, to be conformed
to his very image. And John said, 1 John 3 and 2,
when he shall appear, we'll be like him. It's for certain. It's for certain. Final thought. Sovereign grace preserves and
perseveres. in the hearts of God's elect.
Jesus left the scene and the Jews flogged this man. They said,
it's the Sabbath day. Who told you you could do this? Well, I believe I'd have been
like him, been laying there 38 years and was made whole. Who gives
a flip what they thought? Who told you you could do this?
It's not lawful for you to do this. Did they actually expect him
to go back to that perishing multitude, throw down his bedroll
and say, well, I've got to stay here a while longer. No, that
ain't happening. But they try to beat him down.
Just like the world tries to beat us down. But where did he
go? Where did he go? Verse 14. And
afterward, Jesus findeth him in the temple. Pretty good sign. Pretty good sign. This man hadn't
been to see his grandma in 38 years. He hadn't been fishing in 38
years. He hadn't been to the beach in 38 years. He hadn't been on a picnic in
38 years. But Jesus findeth him in the
temple. That's worth something. said unto him, Behold, thou art
made whole. Sin no more, lest a worse thing
come unto thee." This is a reminder that we're all still responsible
to God. Sin no more. The man is genuine. The man departed and told the
Jews that it was Jesus which had made him whole. Don't you
guess they suspected that anyway? I think they probably did. But
you see the whole story, this whole story teaches us that if
you've made up your mind, you will perish in your sins. You
might be right. But it's also teaches us that
Christ can deliver Redeem, forgive, change people as bad off as you
are. And you certainly ought to pray
that He will, that He will. It's not my brother, it's not
my sister, but it's me, O Lord, standing in the need of prayer.
Bless His holy name. Stand with me.