That's Not How It Works

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