The sermon 'The Sovereign Mercy of Jesus' by Jason Dohm explores John 5:1-15, where Jesus heals a man who had been infirm for 38 years at the Pool of Bethesda. It highlights Jesus' sovereign mercy and compassion as a King, emphasizing how He chooses whom to heal. The sermon compares Jesus' earthly mission with His divine purpose, drawing parallels between physical healing and spiritual salvation. It addresses the Sabbath controversy, where Jesus heals on the Sabbath, challenging the Jewish leaders' interpretation of the law. The sermon also discusses the uneven mercy of God, urging believers to recognize their spiritual need for healing and to respond with obedience. By examining the marks of the Messiah, the sermon underscores the importance of recognizing Jesus as the prophesied Savior.

Sermon text is John chapter 5 verses 1 through 15. After this there was a feast of the Jews and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. Now there is in Jerusalem by the sheep gate a pool which is called in Hebrew Bethesda having five porches. In these lay a great multitude of sick people, blind, lame, paralyzed, waiting for the moving of the water. For an angel went down at a certain time into the pool and stirred up the water.

Then whoever stepped in first after the stirring of the water was made well of whatever disease he had. Now a certain man was there who had an infirmity 38 years. When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he already had been in that condition a long time, he said to him, do you want to be made well? The sick man answered him, sir I have no man to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, but while I am coming another steps down before me. Jesus said to him, Rise, take up your bed and walk.

And immediately the man was made well, took up his bed and walked, and that day was the Sabbath. The Jews therefore said to him who was cured, it is the Sabbath, it is not lawful for you to carry your bed. He answered them, He who made me well said to me, take up your bed and walk. Then they asked him, Who is the man who said to you take up your bed and walk? But the one who was healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had withdrawn, a multitude being in that place.

Afterward, Jesus found him in the temple and said to him, see, you have been made well. Sin no more, lest a worse thing come upon you. The man departed and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well. Let's pray. Dear Heavenly Father, I pray that you will be with Jason as he comes before us and speaks to us.

I pray that you'll send your spirit among him and among us. Please help us to hear your word and help us to be doers of your word. Help us not to be like the man in James who looked in the mirror and went away and forgot, but help us to hear your word and actually do it. In Jesus' name, Amen. The title of the sermon this morning is The Sovereign mercy of Jesus.

We see Jesus and his compassion. But it is the compassion of the King, of a ruling King that we see in this text. So that's why The sermon title is what it is. Last week we saw Jesus go from where He was wanted and honored. In other words, they were begging Him to stay and they are receiving Him as the Messiah.

He is an honored prophet, an honored messiah among these people. And he goes, he chooses to go from there where he's wanted and honored to Galilee where people were eager for the show, but many didn't believe on him as Messiah. He chose to do that. It's really sort of a little microcosm of the Gospel, where Jesus chose to go from heaven, where He was honored every nanosecond of time from all eternity to come to earth to take on the form of a servant to suffer and die here where so many people would despise him, where he would be mistreated, ultimately crucified. But it was to buy us.

It was to buy those who would be his people. One man though, in last week's text, did believe on him, both as one who was able to heal and ultimately as the Messiah and his whole family did. It was this nobleman who sought Jesus out when he heard that he would come into Galilee. He was a desperate father. His son was at death's doorstep.

Jesus doesn't even travel the 16 miles. Doesn't even bother. Doesn't even need to. He just declares him to be well. And we find out later that from the moment Jesus made that declaration, it was so.

Jesus doesn't need to go lay hands on him or pray for him or anything like that He can just declare that he's well and he's well. What a wonderful tax It should give us such confidence and joy in the Lord as we go to this week's tax. Let's go to the text in prayer. Our Father, I pray that in this text, Your Spirit would be working in our hearts to create such a desire to be healed by Jesus at the deepest levels. We wish that we didn't find in our hearts, in our members such disease, but we do find there.

Here we have a Savior who is proving himself to be able to heal not only the body, but the soul for eternity. Not only to justify us, but also to give us progress. Deal with every disease of body and soul. Thank you, God. Awaken, awaken a desire in our hearts that we would be healed more deeply, more deeply, more deeply.

We would be conformed into this precious image that we're seeing week by week in the Gospel of John. Thank you God. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. I'll be dividing the text into three sections.

The first section being verses one through four. So let's read it again. Follow along as I read John chapter 5 verses 1 through 4. After this, there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. Now there is in Jerusalem by the sheep gate a pool, which is called in Hebrew Bethesda, having five porches.

In these lay a great multitude of sick people, blind, lame, paralyzed, Waiting for the moving of the water, for an angel went down at a certain time into the pool and stirred up the water. Then whoever stepped in first after the stirring of the water was made well of whatever disease he had. Here in this section we have the healing pool of Bethesda. So if you're taking notes on the handout and filling in blanks, it's healing, the healing pool of Bethesda. There's a feast of the Jews, and Jesus goes up to Jerusalem.

Which feast is it? Is it the Passover or Tabernacles or one of the other feasts? Purim that we see established in the book of Nehemiah. We don't know, the text doesn't say, but I'd like to make three three quick points if the text If it was important that we know the text would have said we would know so there's no point in speculating But I would like to make three quick points one the People literally would go up to Jerusalem. So when it says that Jesus went up to Jerusalem, this is what Jews did when they went to celebrate.

Jerusalem really was a city on a hill. And so in the Psalms you have what? You have the Psalms of Ascent. These are songs that God gave to the people of God for them to sing as they would come up, up ascending into Jerusalem for the feast that God had prescribed. So it says that Jesus went up to Jerusalem.

Yes he did. Literally he went up to Jerusalem. He's probably singing the Psalms of Ascent. Number two, the Gospel of John is focused on Jerusalem. The things that were happening in Jerusalem.

Often in the feast that God had prescribed in how he wanted to be worshiped by his people. So this is a feature of the Gospel of John that we're encountering again. Overwhelmingly, Matthew, Mark, and Luke are centered in Galilee. Jesus' ministry in Galilee. Overwhelmingly, the Gospel of John is centered in Jerusalem.

So this is no small thing that we see Jesus returning out of Galilee to Jerusalem. Almost all of John is that. Number three, The law said, go up to the feast and celebrate the feast. And Jesus went, even though the men presiding there were lacking. And it is charitable to say that they were lacking, isn't it?

With what we know about the leaders of the Jews and how they not only didn't receive the Messiah but they rejected persecuted and eventually murdered the Messiah. These were unworthy men to be presiding over these feasts that did not keep Jesus from going. There's something for us to learn in here. Do not wait for perfection. This ebbs and flows, there are better and worse, but there are never perfect men presiding over the things that God has given His church to do.

Don't use that as an excuse to exempt yourself. Jesus never did. The ones leading these things in Jerusalem at the time of the Gospels were worse than me. Worse than me and James and any of the other leaders we know. Don't exempt yourself.

Jesus didn't exempt himself. God had prescribed he wanted to be worshiped in this way and even though the men leading it were so lacking, Jesus went up anyway. And now John begins to describe, John the Gospel writer, begins to describe a place in Jerusalem. It's the Pool of Bethesda, and John says that it's known as Bethesda in Hebrew. That just highlights the point that John the Gospel writer was expecting that his Gospel would be read by us Gentiles.

So this is just another clue in here that he expected Gentiles like us to be reading his Gospel. He clues us in. Hey, in Hebrew they call this pool Bethesda. It's by the Sheep Gate. The Sheep Gate is a gate in the wall surrounding Jerusalem that we encounter a couple of times in Nehemiah as they were restoring the wall.

It gets mentioned a couple of times. But the sheep gate is this gate in the wall that was near the temple. And sheep, literally, it's literally a sheep gate. They would have been brought through this gate in the wall surrounding Jerusalem, near the temple, in order to be able to bring sacrifices in. Animals were coming through the sheep gate, predominantly sheep, into the temple to be offered.

And that's why it was there. That was its purpose. And so this is a place that is near the temple and the Pool of Bethesda is there. And the text says that it has five porches. The NASB renders the Greek porticos.

The ESV renders the word colonnades. A colonnade is a series of columns in line. And this Greek word means a covered colonnade. So it would be sheltered. You would be able to get out of the weather when there was bad weather.

Well, you'd be able to get out of the rain when there was rain. I thought this morning was bad weather and this colonnade wouldn't have helped you. But it would be a row of columns that is covered that would allow you to get out of the sun or to get out of the rain. And there were five of them here, and archaeologists have excavated this area. And there were these covered colonnades at the four corners of the pools of Bethesda and then there were actually two pools with a divider down the middle and there was a colonnade on this divider between the pools.

So archaeologists say, yes, absolutely, the pools of Bethesda, it was this, and there were these five covered rows of columns where you could be out of the sun and out of the rain. And the text says in verse 3 that a great multitude, that's the exact phrase used in the text, A great multitude, not just a few, not just a multitude, but a great multitude of the sick were gathered in these five porches or covered colonnades. And then we get a list of these sick people. The word that is rendered sick here is a very general term, and it would match up really well with the word disabled. It was a great multitude of the disabled.

Well, what kind of disabled? We get a list. The blind, the disabled by blindness, the lame, the disabled by being lame, the paralyzed, the disabled by being paralyzed. And verse 4 explains why they were there. They were waiting for the water to be troubled, for the water to be stirred up.

Well, what's the significance of that? Well, the text says that an angel would go down into the water, how would you know? Well the water would be disturbed. This calm water would stop being calm. It would be stirred up.

And the first one in, when the water was stirred up, whatever their disease was, would be healed. There's lots we would like to know about this that the text doesn't say anything about. So whether or not we believe really, or a real angel really went down in the pool, really stirred up the water, and the first one that went in really was healed, whether we believe it or not, all we need to know for this text is that a multitude of disabled people believed. Enough to gather and enough to race into the water when they saw it disturbed. Ok, so you have a great multitude of sick people who believe when the water is stirred up first one in is going to be healed.

Listen to Hebrews 1 verse 14. Hebrews 1 is talking about the superiority of the Lord Jesus Christ to all angelic beings, But then it really gives us sort of a description of angelic beings at the end of the chapter Hebrews 1.14. Are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to minister for those who will inherit salvation. So this is a place in scripture where we learn something crystal clear about angels, that they are spirits, they are ministering spirits that God deploys, God sends forth to bless and help his people all those who are going to inherit salvation are Receiving aid whether they know it or not most of us don't know of it and spend one second of the day thinking about it and yet God is deploying ministering spirits to bless and help you. Think about that for a minute.

And so when angels appear to Joseph and Mary and Zechariah to tell them about the birth of the Messiah and the birth of the forerunner John the Baptist. We don't look for an alternate explanation. Well what could that really be instead of being an angel because of course we don't believe in angels. We do believe in angels. And when angels minister to Jesus after his 40 days of fasting and temptation in the wilderness, we don't look for an alternate expectation there.

And when an angel appears and releases Peter from prison in the book of Acts, We're not looking for an alternate explanation there. So my encouragement is don't look for an alternate explanation here. I personally believe that a real angel, Not visible, but a real angel would stir the water and the first one in would really be healed. So my exhortation to you is if you have skepticism about that, and there might be good reasons for that skepticism. Here's one.

The Jews were messed up about how they thought about a lot of things. Just because a crowd believed it enough to gather and to jump in the pool as soon as they saw it stirring doesn't necessarily mean that they were thinking about that right and seeing that right. Maybe they weren't thinking about it right. Maybe they weren't seeing it right. Maybe their religion had too much superstition mixed into it and this was part of that.

That's possible. But if you have skepticism, make sure it isn't formed by anti-supernaturalism. Don't let it be formed by that. You want to be skeptical about the Jews during that time, go for it. You have warrants.

You can substantiate that from scripture. What you can't substantiate from scripture is doubt that God deploys ministering spirits to help and bless his people. That is not in dispute. Now verses 5 through 9, the next section. Follow along as I read 5 through 9A, meaning I'm going to split this verse just because the second part of nine really goes with that last section.

So I'm going to stop in nine. John chapter five starting in verse five. Now a certain man was there who had an infirmity thirty eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had already been in that condition a long time, he said to him, Do you want to be made well? The sick man answered him, Sir, I have no man to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, but while I am coming another steps down before me.

Jesus said to him, rise, take up your bed, and walk. And immediately the man was made well, took up his bed, and walked. In this section we have a lame man healed. So if you're filling in blanks on your handout, it's lame. A lame man healed.

So up to this point in the chapter we've been given the background, there are these, this pool of Bethesda where These disabled people have gathered, a great multitude of them have gathered now, the text zeroes in on one man of the great multitude. And this man has been an invalid for 38 years. This text made me think about my mom's cousin Jerry. And my experience with my mom's cousin Jerry. I never saw Jerry except one way, in a wheelchair, that was equipped to allow him to operate the wheelchair with his mouth because his arms were totally useless and his legs were totally useless.

I never saw Jerry in my life any different than that. He died a couple of years ago. At my grandmother's funeral, also a couple of years ago, we were looking through these pictures, and there was a picture of a little boy playing baseball. And I said, who's that? He said, it's Jerry.

Jerry was once a little boy who played baseball like the other little boys. But he got polio. And I never knew that. I knew he'd had polio, but it took the picture to bring home the reality that he was once just a little boy who played like the other little boys. And if you've been in this state for 38 years, there's not many people around who remember you being a little boy who played.

The people who encounter you day to day just know you as the guy in the wheelchair that's equipped so you can operate it with your mouth. So this man is like this in some ways. And Jesus sees him and being Jesus he knows the back story. He's not like the rest who pass by him and it's just one lame man among a great multitude. Jesus knows it's been 38 years this man has been lame.

So Jesus says to this man do you want to be made well I think This man is by the pool of Bethesda for one reason. It's the same reason that the whole multitude is crowded into these five porches. Why would Jesus ask that question? There can only be one answer to that question. Can there be a second answer to that question?

What is Jesus doing here? Well, I think he's doing something like he did with the woman at the well. Remember how hard he labored to make her thirsty for living water. So I mean I think Jesus, like he did with the woman at the well, there's an element where this question is designed to cause desire for what Jesus and only Jesus can give him to well up in his heart. But I believe that there's also something else here.

That he's pointing out the insanity, the impossibility of a negative answer. In other words, can you imagine a world where this man says, no. That world doesn't exist, not in my mind, not where we're living, but where a man who's been disabled, infirm, unable to walk and carry his own bed for 38 years is Honestly posed the question do you want to be made well? And he would say, no, that's insane. The question's not insane.

The possibility of the answer being no is insane. Who could say no to this question? Why is that significant? Well, I want to bring us back to the title of last week's sermon, which was The Meaning of Jesus' Healings. And what I was trying to do last week, and will do this week, and will do again and again in John, Is to, Yes, enjoy and rejoice in the stories of Jesus reaching into human suffering and healing.

But don't stop there. Oh, go beyond there to what it means. What it means is, He can give you, He can solve your deepest needs. He can solve your deepest problems, which are not physical. They're wonderful, they're important, but there's something beyond that which we look to.

That he can do these things means he is God's promised Messiah who can deal with our sin. Who can deal with our sin. Jesus in Matthew 9 verse 12 says, those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. Is Jesus speaking about physical things there? No way!

He's using an example of physical things to look beyond that to what matters most. Listen to that again. Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. Now, is Jesus saying that there are people who are spiritually well who have no need of Jesus? Could it be possible that Jesus is saying that?

If you take that together with the other things that he said, that's impossible. Jesus can't possibly be teaching there that some people need Jesus and the salvation that he offers, but some people are free and clear and don't need that. He can't be teaching that there. In the context of that, makes it clear that what he's teaching is some people have a sense of need that drives them to the doctor. And some people are dying of hidden unfelt diseases and they don't know it and they never seek out a physician.

And he's come for the people who feel the pressing need and he passes over those who have no sense of need for salvation. It's a sign that he has passed over them, if they have no sense. God gives that need, God gives that sense of need for salvation. That is a gift of God. Back in our text, Jesus was right there, standing right next to this man and offering all that the man needed to be healed of what had kept him from walking for 38 years.

All he had to do was want to be healed. And it's unthinkable to us that there's any scenario in which he would say, no, I don't want to be healed. Now, apply that to your soul. Here's the first application. Again, I'll be sprinkling applications throughout the sermon instead of consolidating them at the end.

Here's the first application. Do you want to be made well? Do you think your spiritual condition outside of Christ is any different than this crippled man? No, it is worse. It is worse.

At least this man has breath in his lungs. You spiritually, if you're outside of Christ, are dead. You want to be made well? Do you have any sense that there's need? This is a man with desperate need and no one doubts that he feels it into the core of his being.

But many people live and die and never feel that about their spirit even though it was true about them every day of their lives. Think about the insanity of a negative answer that Jesus would be right here having purchased right here having purchased redemption and saying do you want to be healed and you would say no thanks. Who could say no? Maybe this text will awaken a sense of need in someone's soul, not to be healed in their body, but to be healed in their soul. From the things that would have them cast into hell.

The man is focused on the angel and the pool, not on Jesus. He doesn't know that Jesus is God and that the man standing right there can heal him. He doesn't need someone to get him in the pool first. He's just thinking about his not having a helper. Jesus doesn't explain.

Jesus just commands him, rise, take up your bed and walk. This bed would have been a mat made out of straw probably, made out of reeds or straw, something that you would roll up, put over your shoulder that would just keep you off of the ground. That's what his bed would have been. Rise, take up your bed, and walk. Jesus commands him to do something he's been utterly incapable to do for over 38 years.

If Jesus is not healing him, this is the cruelest thing he could possibly say. This is mockery of the man. It's a cruel question. Do you want to be healed? And it's a cruel command.

Rise, take up your bed, and walk if Jesus isn't intending to heal him. Jesus wants the man to believe and obey. You've been utterly incapable of doing the thing that I've commanded you for the last 38 years, now will you try it? Based on my word. He's calling him to literally walk by faith.

That's always used figuratively in the Bible. Walk by faith just means go forward because you believe what God has said. This is literally walking by faith. In other words, try it After 30 years of utterly being incapable, try it now. And he does try it, and he's able.

He gets up. He picks up his map. Now I want to address something that is in the text by its absence. Something that is in the text by its absence. The text doesn't say there was a man by the pool waiting for the waters to be stirred.

The text says that a great multitude was filling five covered colonnades. Every man for himself, the waters stirred and we all try to get in first, convince that the first one in will be healed. Jesus heals One. Jesus heals only one. How come?

If you think about this text for long at all, it's in this text by its absence. There's a multitude of people whose stories are probably as sad as this man's or sadder. Jesus heals one and only one. Why? Is it insensitivity?

Is he just oblivious to the other people? He just, in a sense, doesn't even see them. He sees this man, but he's oblivious to them? No, It cannot be that. Is it the lack of ability?

Would it be too draining for Jesus to heal more than one? No, it cannot be that. Is it the lack of desire then? Does he not want to? Here's the answer.

We don't know why. And God refuses to explain it to us. We don't know why. God won't tell us why. Listen to what the apostle Paul writes in Romans 9 verse 15.

Paul says, in essence, like forget about crippled people. We're talking about souls eternally saved or eternally damned in Romans chapter 9. Here's what Paul says in Romans 9.15. For God says to Moses, this is what God says to Moses, I will have mercy on whomever I have mercy, I will have compassion on whomever I will have compassion." He's quoting Exodus 33, 19 And if you back up a verse, God is responding to a request from Moses, please show me your glory. God's response is, I'll show you my glory.

I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy. I will have compassion on whom I have compassion. I am king. I'll not explain myself. I am a God of mercy, but I will not explain and make myself subject to you regarding my mercy, regarding anything else.

We think if I had been Jesus, We wouldn't have healed them all. We would have destroyed them all. We wouldn't have healed them all. We would have destroyed them all. You say, what do you mean?

Here's my question. Why is sickness in the world? Why is sickness in the world? Sin. Did this man have his part in that?

Did this man have a nature inclined to self-love and self-service? And did he act consistently with That nature did he act out of self-love did he act out of? Self-serving Yes, he had that nature Yes, he acted according to the inclinations of that nature. He should have been loving God and serving God, but he was loving himself and serving himself even in his condition where he couldn't have walked. He's a traitor!

That is treason! That is treason. So this traitor deserves eternal death and torment for his crimes, but for the moment he is experiencing disability which is better than he deserves, not worse. Now doesn't that put a different slant on it? Attack the logic if you can.

This man who has been a cripple for 38 years has gotten better from God than he deserves, not worse. Better! And the same for the great multitude around the pool of Bethesda, and the same for me, and the same for you, no matter what your circumstances. So when we think it through, when we think it through, we're actually struggling with the uneven mercy of God. Which he refuses to explain to us.

Not with innocent victims, and a God who is obligated but refuses to meet his obligations. I'm going to say that again. It's the most important thing I'm going to say today. When we think it through, well, God, why would you heal one? When there's a great multitude desiring to be healed, wanting to be healed, why would you only heal one?

What we're struggling with is uneven mercy. Uneven mercy. And God won't explain why it's uneven to you. We're not struggling with innocent victims. And we're not struggling with a God who is obligated, but refuses to meet his obligations.

God doesn't owe you mercy. He doesn't owe you compassion. He'll have mercy on whomever he has mercy, and any mercy is above and beyond. Any mercy, by its definition, is above and beyond what is deserved. All mercy is above and beyond what is deserved all mercy is above and beyond What is deserved?

Consider second Peter chapter 3 I'm going to do this fast unless you're really fast, don't bother to turn. Second Peter chapter 3, in verse 4, Peter quotes scoffers who are saying, where is the promise of his coming? Peter is saying, Jesus said he would return, where is he? He promised he would return but he hasn't come yet and it means he's not going to come. Now this was two thousand years ago, How much more so for us?

How many more scoffers are there who say, oh, Jesus, coming back, where is His coming? Then Peter talks about the flood and the destruction of the world in the time of Noah. Then Peter says that our world now is reserved for a judgment like that and yet by fire and then he says this in verse 9. Second Peter 3 verse 9, The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some count slackness, but is long suffering toward us.

This is how Peter explains why Jesus hasn't come back yet. He says, no, no, no, He's not being slack about fulfilling his promise. He's being patient with sinners who haven't repented. He doesn't want them to perish, but that they would take the time and the opportunity and repent. Friends, don't marvel that anyone is handicapped or sick.

Marvel that you're not handicapped or sick or worse. If you were, if you couldn't walk today or tomorrow or next week, and that was going to be perpetual as far as you knew, Could you say that you're an innocent victim? You might not be able to point to the thing that led to that, but could you say, I have no sin that God would bring this into my life. God has no justification for treating me other than how I want to be treated. Could you say that you were innocent victim?

Could you say that God had failed in an obligation to you if you can't walk next week? Friends, please heed this admonition. Think of God as sovereign, king, ruler, not as stingy. When you come away from this text, please don't think Jesus was stingy at the pool of Bethesda. Jesus is just king at the pool of Bethesda.

Think of him as sovereign, doing the wisest thing for the wisest reasons. But not willing to explain it to you. Not as someone who's stingy, withholding good. Listen to Matthew 9 verse 35. Jot this down.

Matthew 9 verse 35. Just listen. Then Jesus went about all the cities and villages Teaching in their synagogues preaching the gospel of the kingdom and healing every sickness and every disease among the people Friends, this is the rule not the exception Jesus went about offering salvation He was preaching the gospel city to city, synagogue to synagogue, and bringing all comers, bring your sick, and healing one after the other. The pool of Bethesda where he only heals one of a great multitude is the exception. The rule is Matthew 9 verse 35.

You see it overwhelmingly. Jesus isn't stingy. He's just sovereign. He's doing the most wise thing at the most wise moment. We're just bothered because he won't explain it to us.

And somehow we feel like if he heals one, he's been obligated to heal them all. That's not true. That's not true. Micah 7 verse 18 says that God delights in mercy. Micah 7 verse 18.

God delights in mercy. He's not stingy, he's just king. Don't think that means God is a debtor to you, that he delights in mercy, that he has to have mercy on you in the way that you want him to have mercy on you. He does delight in mercy, but he is not a debtor to you or to me. Friends, here's the application, the second application, application number two.

Strive to shrink man and expand God in your view. The reason that we come to the pool of Bethesda, see one healed among a great multitude, and we're offended by it, is that man is too large in our view and God is too small. Strive to shrink man and expand God in your view. It's called being connected with reality. Man is really nothing.

God is really everything. He is a great king. And he is a compassionate king, but he just won't answer to us. Okay? Get over it.

For your own mental health, for your own happiness, Get over it. God will not explain Himself to you or to me. I thank God that He won't. It would just swell my pride and I would never be satisfied. You wouldn't either.

It would swell your pride too. One final note on this section. We are witnessing a mark of the Messiah. God promised all through the Old Testament to send a Savior for the people And he gives those promises with marks. In other words, you can tell it's him when...

Turn to Matthew 11. Turn to Matthew 11. Matthew 11. Verses 1 through 6. Hopefully you're there.

Matthew 11 verses 1 through 6. Now it came to pass when Jesus finished commanding his twelve disciples that he departed from there to teach and preach in their cities. And when John had heard in prison about the works of Christ, he sent two of his disciples and said to him, Are you the coming one, or do we look for another? Jesus answered and said to them, Go and tell John the things which you hear and see. The blind see and the lame walk, The lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear.

The dead are raised up and the poor have the gospel preached to them. And blessed is he who is not offended because of me." John the Baptist sends these two disciples to ask Jesus to confirm that he really is the Messiah, that they're not waiting for someone else. That's a longer discussion about why he would do that. That's not the point of me coming here. The point is that Jesus says, Just tell them what you see.

The lame are walking. John will know what to do with that information. John will understand that the lame walking, the blind seeing, the deaf hearing, the dead being raised to life, he'll know what to do with that information. These are marks of the Messiah. These are proofs that God is fulfilling his promise to send the Messiah in the life of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Just listen to Isaiah 35. When that news came back to John the Baptist, John the Baptist who no one can convince me wasn't thoroughly acquainted with the scriptures would have thought immediately of Isaiah chapter 35. Listen to Isaiah chapter 35 verses 3 through 8. Strengthen the weak hands and make firm the feeble knees. Say to those who are fearful hearted, be strong, do not fear, behold your God will come with vengeance with the recompense of God.

He will come and save you. Then The eyes of the blind shall be opened, And the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. Then the lame shall leap like a deer, And the tongue of the dumb sing, For water shall burst forth in the wilderness, and streams in the desert. The parched ground shall become a pool in the thirsty land, springs of water, in the habitation of jackals where each lay. There should be grass with reeds and rushes.

A highway shall be there and a road, and it shall be called the highway of holiness. The unclean shall not pass over it that it shall be for others. Whoever walks the road, although a fool, shall not go astray." This is about the times of the Messiah. This is about the salvation promised through the anointed one, the blind will see. The deaf will hear.

The lame will leap like a deer. This is a mark of the Messiah. Back to John 5, the next section, just this last sentence in verse 9 through the end of the chapter. So 9b through 15. Follow along as I read.

And that day was the Sabbath. The Jews therefore said to him who was cured, It is the Sabbath, it is not lawful for you to carry your bed. He answered them, He who made me well said to me, take up your bed and walk. But the one who was healed did not know who it was for Jesus had withdrawn a multitude being in that place. Afterward Jesus found him in the temple and said to him, see you have been made well, sin no more lest a worse thing come upon you.

The man departed and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well. In this section We have a Sabbath controversy and the healed man instructed. So if you're filling in blanks on your handouts, it's Sabbath instructed. A Sabbath controversy and the healed man instructed. And instructed.

If you look across the gospels, Jesus often heals on the Sabbath. It happens all the time in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. It's hard not to think that he's picking a fight. That's how I read it. That's how I understand this, that Jesus' healings on the Sabbath are very purposefully on the Sabbath, and he is picking a fight with the Jewish leaders in doing it.

Knowing how they'll react, knowing what they'll say, and wanting them to bring it on. When it says the Jews, the Jews question this man, What's implied is that it's the representative of the Jews. It's it's the leaders of the Jews This isn't just random Jewish leaders. These are people who are in charge of monitoring policing How people keep or don't keep the Lord today? They should have been recognizing the marks of the Messiah.

They should have been as good as John the Baptist who when they heard of this thing would trace it right back to Isaiah chapter 35 and say the highway of holiness is here. A way for us to be made righteous is here. The lame are leaping like a deer, but no. They were censuring Jesus. They were impugning the Messiah for the way what he was doing, what he was saying.

Why were they doing this? Well, they had the fourth commandment, observe the Sabbath day to keep it holy. And then in Nehemiah 13 And Jeremiah 17, part of keeping the Sabbath in Nehemiah 13 and Jeremiah 17 is not carrying burdens. So that language is expressly used in Nehemiah 13 and Jeremiah 17. Words from God, don't carry burdens on the Sabbath day.

And they see this man with his bed of reeds, his bed of straw rolled up and over his shoulder, and they say, Sabbath breaker. Well, Nehemiah 13 and Jeremiah 17 do say that we're not to carry burdens on the Sabbath day, but it's not more clearly defined than that. So questions such as, am I allowed to take the Bible bag to church, are there. We're smiling over that, but if you're not supposed to carry burdens on the Sabbath day, that's a real question. I mean, That's a heavy bag.

We've got five or six Bibles, depending on the Sunday, in that. Does that work? So you have to make decisions and draw lines here. And boy have the Jews drawn lines. They've got the Mishnah, this tome, big fat book that applies the law very specifically.

It takes, observes the Sabbath day to keep it holy, and fleshes that out across 39 classifications of work. That's what you'll find in the Mishnah. 39 classifications of work. The last one, the 39th, is the carrying of burdens and rolling up your straw mat and putting it across your shoulder on the seventh day is against the Mishnah, though it never ever was against the fourth commandment. That's what's happening here.

Nehemiah 13 is clear enough. There were people who were bringing goods into Jerusalem, carrying goods into Jerusalem for the buying and selling on the Sabbath day, and that was always a violation of the Sabbath and forbidden. It did not have to do with the rolled up mat of a man who had just been healed. Now let me make some propositions that I think are helpful. Proposition number one, the Sabbath was in full force.

Meaning, don't be confused by the incarnation. Wondering, well is the Sabbath still in force now or not? Even if you hold that the Sabbath is not in force under the new covenant, that's not my position by the way, at all, I'm the furthest away from that, but even if you hold that there should be no question in your mind that the new covenant was sealed by the blood of Jesus Christ. It was not in force until Jesus died for his people. Jesus is under the old covenant.

He is obligated to fulfill the law of the old covenant and at the time that this is happening the Sabbath was in full force. That leads us to proposition number two. Therefore, Jesus never never violated the Sabbath And your salvation depends on it. If Jesus committed one sin, if he violated the Sabbath which was in full force during the time of the gospel accounts. If he violated the Sabbath one time, you cannot be saved because Jesus has his own sins.

There has never been a time in human history when what happens in our text would have been a violation of the Sabbath in God's eyes. Never. Not before the law of Moses, not during the law of Moses, not after the law of Pope Moses. Never, never, never was this a real violation of the fourth commandment. Jesus is not violating the Sabbath.

He's freeing it from all this baloney that is now wrapping it up. He's freeing it from the 39 categories of work that have been spelled out in such great detail. Number three, proposition number three. Acts of mercy and necessity have always been lawful in any time and dispensation on the Sabbath day. Acts of mercy and acts of necessity in any dispensation of human history, the past, the present, the future have always been lawful.

I'm teaching right out of our confession. Mercy and necessity, always lawful, so easy to prove from the gospels. Proposition number four, this is the final one. Proposition number four. Jesus never wants, violates the Sabbath, speaks against the Sabbath or indicated the Sabbath was passing away.

If you want to make a case for that, this text that we're studying in John chapter five is useless. You have to find another text and another person will never come from the mouth of Jesus. Jesus was completely right to heal this man on this day. The Jews, the Jewish leaders were completely wrong to question this man over this point. Jesus doesn't draw attention to himself.

There's a multitude. He uses the opportunity of the multitude to withdraw. And so the man doesn't even know who it was who healed him. Jesus did intend to heal this man. Jesus did not intend to make a show of it.

But he finds him in the temple later, and he says this, See, you have been made well. Sin no more, lest a worse thing come upon you. Lest something worse than not being able to walk or really function in a normal way for 38 years come upon you? There are lots of speculation in the commentators on this. Is it because, does Jesus say this because there's a specific sin in this man's past that is directly connected to his 38 years of being an invalid?

We just can't know from the text. I don't think so, but at least not necessarily so. I think it's simply this. The wages of sin is death. Not just physical death, eternal death, eternal separation from God and torment.

Sin will kill you and Sin will take you to a place of eternal separation and torment That will make 38 years of paralysis seem like a walk in the park Sin will take you to a place that will make 38 years of paralysis and misery seem like a walk in the park. This man's greatest peril was not his paralysis. And like we said last week with this nobleman's son who was at death's doorstep what if Jesus should buy him a few more days of life but he'd spend eternity in hell what has really been gained What if this man after 38 years is healed? Healed and he can walk and for the rest of his life, short or long, function as a normal human being as we conceive of that, and Yet he is damned for all eternity. What has really been gained?

Nothing, nothing has been gained. In fact you can make an argument that his infirmity might give him a sense of need that would cause him, would drive him to Christ. Sometimes people who can walk are in the greater peril. Sometimes people who are well are in greater peril. Sometimes, Often, God uses infirmities to cause people to understand that they need because their life is not so beautiful every minute.

It has them awake to their greater needs. Turn to Matthew chapter 5. This is our last stop. Matthew chapter 5. Matthew chapter 5 verses 29 and 30.

This goes right to the heart of the matter, Matthew chapter 5 verse 29 and 30. If your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out, cast it from you. For it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and cast it from you, for it is more profitable for you that one of your members should perish than for your whole body to be cast into hell. In the light of eternity, would this man rather drag himself into eternity in heaven or walk into hell?

That question is such a no-brainer it's almost rhetorical. Would you rather drag yourself into heaven where there's no more lameness then, No more paralysis then, no more tears, no more sorrows, eternal joy in the presence of God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Would you rather drag yourself there or walk into hell? You will be eternally separated from God and tormented forever. Contact with the results of the curse should help us hate sin.

Contact, interaction with the results of the curse. Sickness and death should help us to hate sin. Don't let them remain disconnected in your mind. What do I mean by that? Don't allow yourself to take pleasure in sin without the backdrop of sickness and death in your mind.

They are connected. They cannot be separated. Sin may deliver, does deliver a cheap thrill. They get cheaper all the time if you head down that track. The pleasure lasts, lasts and lasts and lasts and lasts.

Don't separate that in your mind from your sicknesses, from your infirmities, from death. As if you could experience the cheap thrill of a sin and be exempt from the results of that in this world. The application is clear. It's application number three. If you haven't already done it, flee from the wrath to come.

These self-righteous Jews come to John the Baptist and he says, who told you to flee the wrath to come? There is wrath coming. God, like we saw in 2 Peter chapter 3, God is so patient, he's so long-suffering, that that is so likely to be misinterpreted as the bill will never come due. Don't interpret God's patience and long suffering and kindness and say that means the bill is never coming due. The bill is always come due.

The bill is always come due. The wrath of God is coming. Flee. Flee. If you haven't already done it, flee the wrath to come.

One final application, is application number four. Obey the one who heals you. They say, why are you carrying your mat on the Sabbath? The man who healed me told me to. Good enough for me.

No telling how many people walked by this man, never offered to help him in the pool when it was stirred, never lifted a finger for him. I just obeyed the man who healed me. What he commanded seemed good enough to me after he wiped away 38 years of paralysis. Makes sense to me. He who made me well said to me, Take up your bed and walk.

So I took up my bed and walked. They would have had him lay there till the first day of the week. How can we not joyfully, wholeheartedly offer our obedience? If you're born again, God has done so much more for you than to wipe away 38 years of paralysis. Just think about that for a minute.

If you're born again, God has taken you from death to life, from the kingdom of darkness into the marvelous kingdom of light, the kingdom of His Son. That's so much better than having 38 years of paralysis wiped away. Our perspective gets Our perspective gets so skewed. Texts like this are given to us as a gift to bring us back into the frame. To Have the perspective be right.

How can we not joyfully, wholeheartedly offer our obedience to this healer? We have duty, but for a moment, forget duty. But forget duty. You need duty to obey this Savior? After what He's done for me, I need duty?

God, let us joyfully, wholeheartedly God, let us joyfully, wholeheartedly offer our obedience to you. Yes, Lord. Let us be ashamed of our stinginess, our obedience, our slowness. Let us see it in the backdrop of your great mercy. Great mercy.

You've passed over so many. In being king and deciding who would have your mercy and who would have your compassion. You passed over so many. How could we be stingy with our obedience? Yet we find ourselves so.

Oh Lord forgive us. Forgive us Lord. Change our hearts. Pray in Jesus name, Amen.