That’s Not How It Works John 5:1-15
• There’s a story about a man who died and stood before the gates of Heaven
• An angel met him and said We have a new plan for getting into heaven
• We are now using a points system
• You need 1000 points to enter
• The man confident in his righteous life knew that this would not be a problem
• So he started rattling off his good deeds
• I was a member of First Baptist Church for 30 years
• The angels started to write down his deeds
• I taught Sunday school and paid tithe
• I went on three mission trips
• I handed out Bibles every year and I invited a lot of people to church
• The angel replied that’s all very good
• Let’s see as he checked the list and added up his score
• That’s worth one point
• You only need 999 more. What else?
• The man thought for a minute and said
• I was married to the same woman for 50 years
• I helped with our Church food pantry every month
• I was an honest businessman and never cheated on my taxes
• What about that?
• The angel replied well that’s worth another point
• Now you only need 998
• Frustrated the man explained do you know at this rate it’s going to take the grace of God to get me into this
place
• The angel responded that’s worth 1000 points!
• Folks, that’s not how it works
• Thank the Lord, we don’t have to rely on our works to get into heaven
• It’s only by the grace and mercy of God that we could ever be accepted into his eternal kingdom
• And it is that grace and mercy that we are going to look at today
• Read, John 5:1–15
• The healing at the pool
• We see here in John 5 another of Jesus’ miracles that he performs on the Sabbath
• Jesus has come to Jerusalem for an unspecified feast
• While in Jerusalem, He makes his way to the north side of the temple
• This is where the pool of the Bethesda is located
• Near what is a referred to as the sheep gate
• This gate was where sheep were brought to the temple for sacrifice
• So we see the Lamb of God by the gate used to bring sheep in for sacrifice standing by the pool of Bethesda
• The name Bethesda is significant since it means house of mercy
• Jesus was about to show his mercy
• Mercy that only the Lamb of God can bestow
• His forgiveness made available through his sacrifice on the cross
• Let’s take a closer look at this man beside this pool, this house of mercy
• First we see his…
1. Sorrowful condition
• As we look around the scene, we see this pool, surrounded by five covered porches • And all among these porches, a great multitude of people, suffering from a multitude of illnesses and
infirmities
• Suffering continually without any help from medical doctors
• Sick, feeble and powerless people
• Blind, lame and paralyzed
• Now as we read this passage, verse four is not original to the gospel
• The earliest and best Greek manuscripts exclude this verse
• It is believed to have been added by a scribe to explain why people waited by the pool in great numbers
• Here is where we find our lame man in his sorrowful condition
• This condition is probably a result of his sin
• Since in verse 14 Jesus tells him to sin no more in reference to him being made whole
• This man’s condition was an old standing disease
• 38 years’ worth
• As far as his own ability or any human power was concerned, he was passed hope
• This house of mercy was his last, and only hope
• The suffering ones at Bethesda we meet everywhere
• We see the hopeless on our streets, in the hospitals, weeping in their homes
• Sometimes, even in the church
• Our world seems to be an over-sized Bethesda
• The mercy of God is the world’s only hope
• It is only the mercy of God that allows us to even approach a Holy God
• Because our sorrowful condition of sin places each of us in a state of utter hopelessness
• Hopeless without the love, and mercy God extends to us, even in our own sorrowful condition
• This man’s sorrowful condition had placed him into his…
2. Humble position
• Here he was, among the blind, lame and paralyzed
• He was not ashamed to take his place among the helpless and the needy
• If he hadn’t, if he had refused to humble himself he never would’ve been healed
• Pride and shame keep many away from the healing touch of Christ
• Isn’t it ironic that he takes his humble place among the sick
• The blind, lame and paralyzed
• Right there in the shadow of the temple
• The place of worship
• The place so many people came to every day to worship God
• And this man didn’t look to God for healing
• He looked to his own efforts
• He was relying on earthly works to receive the healing he so desperately needed and longed for
• This man took his humble position, knowing he needed healing
• Knowing he needed mercy
• The only problem was his…
3. Fruitless efforts
• Verse 7 after Jesus asks him, Do you want to be healed?
• The man begins to explain his situation
• Sir I have no one to put me into the water
• While I am going another steps down before me
• He starts to explain how all of his efforts just weren’t enough
• He had taken his place among the invalids
• Now he is doing the best he can
• But his best only ends in failure and disappointment
• His works always fell short
• His efforts were fruitless
• But Jesus had asked him. Do you want to be healed?
• Jesus was seeking a testimony from the man
• Not for Jesus’ benefit, but the secure the confession from a lowly man
• For the benefit of those nearby who heard
• This question was designed to focus the man’s attention on Jesus
• Not on his own efforts
• Is was to stimulate his will and to raise his hopes
• In the spiritual sense man’s great problem is either he does not recognize he is sick
• Or he does not want to be cured
• People are often happy for a while, at least, in their sins
• This man has suffered 38 years
• 38 years is a long time
• 38 years ago was 1985
• You older folks might be saying, hey that wasn’t that long ago. Really?
• In 1985 Yul Brynner was still performing on Broadway in the King and I
• The first mandatory seat belt law went into effect in NY
• Some of the top country songs were
• Lost in the Fifties Tonight by Ronnie Millsap
• And Have Mercy by the Judds
• I was 11 years old
• And loved watching the top movies of 1985
• Back to the Future, Rocky IV and Rambo: First Blood Part II
• 38 years is a long time
• People are spiritually ailing for many years
• 12 years, 18 years or 38 years
• And are now willing, desiring to be made new in Jesus
• This is a matter for serious consideration for every unbeliever
• Too many though, are relying on fruitless efforts of their own doing
• Salvation is not of works that any man should boast
• This extends to our lives as believers as well
• We far too often are relying on our own efforts
• We are working for God, but not following His lead
• We are going through everyday life, never even looking to Jesus for direction
• Are we stuck at our own pools of Bethesda?
• Jesus was there but the sick man did not recognize him
• He is right next to us in our lives
• But our eyes are often fixed onto our own Pools of Bethesda
• Trying to use Him to fulfill our own visions
• Jesus wants to heal us and to take our eyes off our own Pools of Bethesda
• He wants to move us forward in the plans He has for us
• He wants us to rely on Him instead of our own fruitless efforts
• Our efforts that led to repeated failures
• This man’s repeated failure makes him more prepared for the saving grace of Jesus Christ
• As he lifts his eyes up from the explanation of his fruitless efforts
• He looks away from the pool he so desperately wanted and thought could heal him
• He looks into the eyes of his…
4. Merciful deliverer
• Jesus knew of this man’s affliction, well before he entered the gates of Jerusalem, and visited the pool that
day
• Jesus knew long ago this man was there, which had an infirmity for 38 years
• And Jesus knew this man was ready to be healed and forgiven
• God knows where you are!
• He knows and cares about the situation you are in right now!
• Our world is full of people who feel like failures
• Our world is full of people suffering from defeat and depression
• Many people are suffering even in the church
• But God knows where you are
• He loves you and cares about you
• Psalm 142:3 says when my spirit fails within me, you know my way
• When we are overwhelmed by our situation, God is not!
• He still sees and knows the way we are to go
• He is still concerned
• This poor man was searching and waiting for a more convenient season
• But that was not what he needed
• He needed one to save him where he was, and as he was
• He lacked not the desire, but the means to be healed
• Without strength, and without friends, he could not be helped when the water of the pool was stirred
• He had tried, but without success
• Did he know that the one to whom he was explaining his predicament was the one who could save him?
• That is what Christ offered
• Deliverance from his affliction
• His merciful deliverer was standing before him
• Those who are saved by Christ need no other man
• Our merciful deliverer came to this earth to save the lost
• Jesus ultimately didn’t come to earth to heal the lame
• He didn’t come to heal the deaf and the blind
• He didn’t come to feed the 5,000 and walk on water
• He didn’t come to cast out demons and raise the dead
• Jesus came to this earth to die on a cross for you and for me
• The world’s Merciful Deliverer came to deliver you from sin
• And He extends that call personally
• So Jesus gives this lame man a…
5. Personal call
• Rise, take up your bed, and walk
• With his three-part command, went out power from Jesus to enable him to obey
• This call must have come to him with startling suddenness
• He had not walked for 38 years
• But there is always that unexplainable something about the person and word of the Lord Jesus Christ
• That awakens the confident expectation of the diseased and downcast
• It was utterly useless for any other man to say rise and walk
• I imagine over the past 38 years others may have mockingly told him to rise and walk
• But coming from the lips of the savior, these words were spirit and life
• This personal call produced a…
6. Sudden change
• And immediately the man was made whole
• Praise God! Isn’t that an amazing statement?
• Have you ever been immediately made whole?
• Has your spiritual sickness of been healed?
• Have you immediately been made spiritually whole and received eternal life?
• This man believed the word of the Lord
• Acted on the authority of it
• And found in this happy experience that he had received a blessing
• The blessing for which he had so much longed
• God’s supernatural power was evident in the man’s instantaneous cure
• Muscles long atrophied were completely restored
• He received this healing not by working, striving or struggling, but by simply believing
• The change in him was both sudden and complete
• Immediately made whole in the same way that God spoke the world into being at creation
• Jesus’ spoken Words had the power to cure
• Because he believed in the words of Jesus
• He acted on that belief and stood up and walked
• After this miracle, Jesus slips away among the crowd
• He had turned aside, avoiding a public uproar over the miracle He had just performed for His hour or time
was not yet
• Jesus knew a better opportunity would be His to lead and instruct the man
• But at this moment the man had been miraculously and suddenly made whole
• In the latter part of the passage, we see the man’s
7. Fearless testimony
• In verse 14 we read, Jesus found him in the temple
• This implies that Jesus sought him out in order to speak to him
• Jesus looked for him in order to teach and help him more
• I find it interesting that the first place we see this formally paralyzed man after the healing is in church
• How many people that God blesses in their trials and afflictions
• Who afterward do not so much as go to His house to worship and thank Him
• And receive more blessings
• This man came with his back on a bed, he leaves with his bed on his back!
• His vision has moved from the pool to Jesus
• What is our vision on?
• Jesus, warns him to sin no more
• Although disease and death come ultimately from sin
• His affliction appears to have been a consequence of sin
• Jesus says stop or something worse may happen to you
• This warning was that his tragic life of 38 years as an invalid was no comparison to the doom of hell
• Jesus is interested, not merely in healing a person’s body
• Far more important is the healing of his soul from sin
• I saw a church sign that read
• God isn’t seeking compliments, He is seeking commitments
• Jesus was seeking a commitment from this man
• A commitment to live a God honoring life
• Once the man learned who it was that healed him, he fearlessly shared his testimony of his encounter with
Jesus
• Having met the Lord in the temple
• He now confesses Him before men
• Before the very men who had scolded him earlier
• He was not afraid of the rebuke of the Jews
• For Jesus had saved him
• With the heart, man believes, and with the mouth confession is made onto salvation Romans 10:10
• By grace, we are saved through faith
• The life application study Bible says this about verse 14
• This man had been lame and suddenly could walk
• This was a great miracle
• But he needed an even greater miracle to have his sins forgiven
• The man was delighted to be physically healed
• But he had to turn from his sins, and seek God’s forgiveness to be spiritually healed
• God’s forgiveness is the greatest gift you will ever receive
• Don’t neglect His gracious offer
• This miracle is a great illustration of what it takes to receive salvation
• This man’s sorrowful condition of being paralyzed for 38 years is a picture of our sin
• We are completely paralyzed by our sin
• We cannot step one foot into heaven unless we are healed of our sin
• This man’s humble position among the sick and afflicted shows us that we need to humbly admit
• We have a sickness, the sickness of sin
• Our fruitless efforts to work our way into heaven is shown in the man’s unsuccessful attempts to be healed
• We cannot heal ourselves of the sin disease
• Thankfully, along came in merciful deliver, Jesus
• We cannot make the payment necessary to cleanse away our sin
• The wages of sin is death, and Jesus died on that cross to pay those wages
• Only he can heal us from our disease of sin
• Jesus is extending a personal call directly to you today
• He is coming to your Pool of Bethesda today to offer you healing
• He is ready and able, waiting for you
• He is asking do you want to be made well
• Do not rely on your own efforts to receive forgiveness
• Do not rely on your own works to get into heaven
• All of our works fall short of what it takes
• Even if you are first in line when it comes to good works that pool will never cleanse you of your sins
• Only the merciful Jesus Christ can heal you
• And when He does, you will experience a similar sudden change that we see in the lame man’s story
• 2 Corinthians 5:17. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ he is a new creature, the old has passed away; behold, the
new has come
• Then we can all have a fearless testimony about what Jesus has done for us
• Christians do you have a fearless testimony?
• Are you telling the world about what Jesus has done for you?
• God’s grace and forgiveness is the greatest gift you have ever received
• Tell others about it
• If you have yet to accept that gift, do it today
• Just like the man trying to work his way into the water for healing was not going to work
• Working your way into heaven by your good works will not have the results you desire
• That’s not how it works
