Hi, I'm Darrell Bailey. Thank you for tuning us in, Servants for Christ. We'd speak in the Word here as we get back into our series, The Gospel of John. As the series goes, the identity, the deity of Jesus. Here we find that Jesus declares himself. We're going to be talking about the miracle and the message beside the pool of Bethesda. This is the 13th in this series. Take your Bibles over to John chapter 5 verses 1 through 47. You know, in John chapter 5, Jesus returned to the city of Jerusalem and we find him visiting the local pool, a place called Bethesda. It means house of kindness. This pool, it was different than the chemically clean blue water that we have in our parks and recreation. And the people gathered around this particular pool. They would have not been there to swim or sunbathe. John tells us that there were all sorts of sick and sad people gathered around this pool because they believed either superstitiously or soundly that the pool could offer them a miraculous healing. So on the day that Jesus arrived, a miracle took place beside the pool, not in it. Jesus found a man there who was truly fallen and could not get up. Our Lord miraculously and supernaturally raised him to his feet. He began to do the two-step, and then he quickly vanished, Jesus did, only to return and do a deeper work in the life of that man. You know, as this passage goes forward and as it develops in verses 1 through 47, we find that John, the writer, wants to tell us more than just the story of this poolside miracle. You know what? John is trying to reveal the glory of Jesus as the Son of God and the Messiah, the Lord of Lords and the King of Kings. He can do for you what no one else can is his story. John wants us to see that knowing and following that Jesus does not come without changes and challenges in all of our lives. And to put it another way, belonging to Jesus is no lazy day sitting around at the pool. No, sir. We look over this story. And what it says to us about Jesus, his work in us and our relationship to him is one of the things that we're fixing to see on the miracle and the message beside the pool of Bethesda. I want to welcome everyone to come and be with us at Bethel Crossroads Baptist Church. Amen. We're located at 450 Island Hill Road, Taylorsville, Georgia, 30178. We'd love for you to come and join us on behalf of our pastor, Keith Dipsy, And our Kids for Christ with Rusty and Lynn Lanier on Wednesday night But I'm glad that first of all come and be with us for Sunday school. Amen Sunday school at 10 a.m. Sunday morning worship at 11 and then on Wednesday night our Kids for Christ Rusty and Lynn Lanier from 6 to 7 in our Bible study Adult Bible study that we have as well. And so come and join us now this coming the Lord's will this coming February the 28th, we will not be meeting on that Wednesday night. And so make a note of that, Bethel Crossroads, that we won't be having our meeting this coming Wednesday, but the following. And so we'd love for you to come and be with us, Amen. Now, each and every one of us, as we met this past Wednesday, we had Valentine's Day. And I hope that you took care of the love of your life. And our Bible trivia for Valentine's Day, for Wednesday in the Word, is what book of the New Testament don't have the word love in it? You see, there's 27 New Testament books, and 26 of them got the word love in them, but there's one book of the New Testament that does not have the word nowhere in it whatsoever. Let me pause for a minute, let you think about it. Out of all of the 27 books of the New Testament, 26 of them, they've got the word love. When we think of Valentine's Day and flowers and loving our spouses, our wives, our husbands. But there's one book of the New Testament that does not use the word L-O-V-E. Now it has types and examples of it. but it does not have the word love, L-O-V-E. Are you ready? Here we go. This is it. The answer, the Book of Acts. Look for yourself. Look for yourself. Go through the Book of Acts and see if you could find the word love. I don't believe you will. Besides, we're fixing to get into some very good stuff tonight when we're dealing with John Chapter 5, especially of controversy and things that This is a very, very interesting text. Many of you had a lot of things going on and we missed you not being there. I don't want to tell you I'm glad that I've got this for you to study. When we look tonight at the Pool of Bethesda, down in the left corner is the correct pronunciation. As you say it the way it is, Bethesda. That's exactly how it's pronounced. Here at the time means the House of Grace and Mercy. around the time frame of AD 31, the miracle that we start out in verses 1 through 15. Then we get to the message. We had the miracle beside the pool of Bethesda in verses 1 through 15, and then the message beside the pool of Bethesda in verses 16 through 47. Here we look how John reveals Jesus to be the authority of all life. He is due the same worship, obedience, and servant as God, for he's equal with God. It tells us this in verses 17 and 18. And as God possesses life within himself, so Jesus possesses life within himself. And as God has authority over all life, so Jesus has authority over all life. In revealing his authority, Jesus first demonstrated the truth of his authority. He healed a man who had been ill for 38 years, and he healed him on the Sabbath. Both acts pictured the truth of his authority. The healing of the man showed his authority over the physical. And I'm glad that when we look at that, and realize that healing that man with that authority over the physical world and the breaking of the Jewish sabbatical law showed his authority to determine the rules of worship. After demonstrating the truth of his equality with God, that he's equal with God, he then began to teach the truth, praise God. This procedure demonstrated some truth, teaching it, that was followed by, again, revealing who he was throughout the Gospel of John. Now, I'm glad through this healing miracle, Jesus was claiming to have supreme authority over the Sabbath. And we look and we realize that as we get into this, The Old Testament paints a picture of what the Messiah would be. Over 300 descriptions, astronomical odds that one man would fulfill all of them. Jesus expounded on who he was to the two disciples on the road to Emmaus, beginning at Moses and all the prophets back in Luke chapter 24. The Jews knew the Word of God, the Logos, but they did not know the God of the Word. How sad that it was. Here, February 14th, Valentine's Day, 20,024, the 5th of Adar 1, 5784 of the Hebrew calendar. We get into a wonderful message. In this fifth chapter of the book and the Gospel of John, each one of the letters, the 21 chapters, tell the story in the Gospel of John by the Hebrew alphabet. The Hebrew letter He, the meaning, a revelation, a revealing that takes seed to be broken. It's an equivalent that equals to five. When you begin to look at it, you begin to realize that from writing the hay, which is the fifth letter of the gematria of five, we see here of the things that it talks about, that it's made up the letter hay from the dallet, from the yod and the vah. Out of this we see the door that we talked about back in chapter 4, the door and that deals with thought and how that when they went into the tent they had to be a humble person to bend down low and to go into the tent door of humbleness and so the hay is created from that door and thought of the Dalet but also from the yod and there's so much I can say about this I can't I don't have a lot of time to stick with this but the yod it means the hand and it means action and the vav that it talks about the picture of a man or the word of God and so it means to give as it were to the dalit the poor person and now it becomes the letter of the hay That represents a unification of giving and receiving. It's a letter of great unity. And we're taught that the letter HAY stands for expression, revelation, and revealing. Jesus revealed his deity of who he was. He's the son of the living God. And the languages, when you get to someone's attention, when you want to express yourself, you say, And we have the expressions that what is hey, it means here it is. Here I am. This is what it is. Jesus said, hey, here I am. It's me. I'm the son of the living God. I'm going to reveal myself to you. And that's exactly I could go on and on. But that tells us of the meaning of what this fifth chapter of John goes into. Now, when we get into this, what a special because the pool of Bethesda, the pools were originally associated with healing. But recently, archaeologists discovered the pools were also a methic, or a purification bath, which was a site that was first discovered, only noticed, and so Bethesda means in Hebrew again, the house of mercy or the flowing water, and the Hebrew name of a reservoir or a tank with five porches close upon the sheep gate or the market. Now, Bethesda, as you look at it, you're going to see it here, right here, Bethesda, right in these areas. Here is Bethesda of the water baths. But also right here is the Sheep Gate and how that they would come from the Sheep Gate. I'm glad as they come around in here, you've got the Temple Mount. And so when we look at the difference, I'm going to go into a little bit of that in just a few minutes, but I'm glad that as we look at what Bethesda means and what it talks about of all the Sheep Gate, that when the waters of the pool moved or were troubled by an angel, Now, I'm going to talk a little bit more about this in detail in just a minute. But right now, let me finish going through this. This pool attracted a lot of people for a healing purpose. And so John begins to go into the expression of who he is in just a minute. But I'm glad that way over here is the crucifixion site, the Tower of Antonium, the Temple Mount, Here is another pool that is of Israel, the eastern wall here. And when we look at all of these things, we begin to realize that from all of this, we see that from the sheep gate, west of the prison gate, that the Temple Mount at this time was a perfect square as we saw in Ezra's explanation of the rebuilding of the foundation of the temple. Solomon's temple, the perfect square, was 500 cubits, which according to the royal cubic would have been 861 feet per side, making the total surface area 17.2 acres. Today, the only portion of this square that we can see is 861 foot section of the eastern wall. The reason is because The Hasmonean dynasty extended the mount toward the south, and Herod later extended it to the north, south, and west in the time of Christ. And the Sheep Gate, also known today as Stephen's Gate, or as it was by this gate, that St. Stephen, that was martyred, or the Lion's Gate, as the Suleymans of the Muslim leaders who captured Jerusalem had a dream that lions were attacking Jerusalem. And so we built this gate with the pictures of lions on it to protect the city. Little did he know that one lion was Satan trying to bar God's people from entering the city and so I saw all of these gates when I was there in Jerusalem. I've done a study that's on our sermon audio that deals with all of the gates that you can look for later on. But I'm glad that when we look at this and realize all about the history of this, let's move on because I'm just showing you the location of Bethesda and the pool that where you pictures in 2008 that I took of the pool of Bethesda when I was there with John Hagee's ministry. Amen. Several different pictures. I took these myself. Amen. These are my snapshots. Or as also me and Deacon Bob Carroll together took a bunch of photos and shared them with each other. So whether they're his or mine, it doesn't matter. But we together went over there and had a fantastic time, praise God. And so out of all these shots, some shots that you don't see except these are some that you see where when you go over there, or you look at books, you only see certain shots. I've got a lot more than this, but for the sake of time, that's all that I can show. When we look at it, Jesus goes to Jerusalem for one of the Feast of the Jews, and there were three feasts that every Jewish man was required to attend. If he lived within 15 miles of Jerusalem, Passover, Pentecost, and Tabernacles, Jesus arrived at the Pool of Bethesda, and the word pool is from the verb kolumba. And it means to dive. This pool was deep enough to swim in. The word Bethesda means mercy. And this was the pool of mercy that had the five porches that covered the walkways surrounding the area. And of course, we know five in the Bible is the number of grace or favor. And so when we look at this, we see, first of all, the miracle beside the pool of Bethesda that it gets into. When we look at this, we talk about how Jesus attended a Jewish feast in Jerusalem in verse 1. In verses 2 through 4, we see the first scene that the diseased and all the ill, a picture of the world's desperate that are in need, amen. Now, as we do, and we get ready to go into this, the crippled man and the Messiah was their first meeting that we're going to show. But before I go any further, let's have a word of prayer. Father, I want to thank you for the good news that pastor sent out today and shared with us as Lord that one of our members. Father has no longer signs of cancer. I want to praise the Lord for Sister Carolyn Bentley getting to come home or being able to get out of the hospital. I thank God for all the prayer warriors as well that were praying about that and for all the needs. I thank God for many of our members that have been able to come back this past Sunday that had been out, that had been sick, some that were going under the hand of the surgeon, some, Father, that are going through very difficult times with their health. And we just want to praise your mighty name and thank you. Now Lord, do a great work to get somebody's attention that they may be saved by your marvelous grace in Jesus' mighty name. Amen. And so, as we go on, we look and we see that in John chapter 5, we see the feast of the Jews. Here was Passover. After this, there was a feast of the Jews and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. Amen. Here we see He goes on, now there at Jerusalem by this sheep market, a pool which is called in the Hebrew tongue Bethesda, having five porches. In these lay a great multitude of impotent folk, of blind, haught, withered, waiting for the moving of the water. In verse four, for an angel went down at a certain season into the pool, troubled the water, whosoever then first after the trouble of the water stepped in was made whole of whatsoever disease he had. Now, When we look at this, we're reminded how that during this time that the scholars unanimously talk about how that the copyist in attempt to help the reader to explain to us why people waited at the well added a section about the stirring of the water and basically in verse four, and this, as the copyist was in an attempt to help the reader and explain to us why people waited at the well, it got added the section about the stirring of the water and it was basically a marginal that was put in for explanation but not of the original text. And so there's a lot of discussion that goes into this. But if you'll pay attention that 400 years later, instead of a couple of dozen Greek manuscripts, we now have about 8000 Greek manuscripts, including dozens which are from the first four centuries. And this information has allowed us to be much more confident about the accuracy of our best Greek text of the New Testament. You see, The Texas that was done during the King James in the 1611, it was based on that from that transcription. But later on, they found other texts, that ancient Greek manuscripts that were later that had a difference of those. And because of these that had been printed, they were left that way. Now, the Bible is infallible. But when you have men involved doing copying and translating, that's when you get your era from anything that comes in. There's nothing wrong with the King James, the NIV, or any of the other translations of what translation you want. I prefer the King James. That's why I use the King James. Everyone has their preferable preference that they like. And so the scholars discovered that none of the earliest manuscripts included John 5, verse 4. with addition from the 6th century. And so I'm glad that when we look at that, and I try to explain this to each and every one of you, we look that John explores the union of the deity of God with the humanity of human form. Jesus lowered himself to become a man, and in the form of a man, he became the servant of the Father. The relationship between Jesus incarnating the Father in heaven is the focus here in John chapter 5. And when we look at it, John highlights the way Jesus was constantly contended with religious authorities. You know what? Jesus and the Pharisees will conflict over certain rules of life that the religious leaders imposed, but Jesus ignored. And so the question that arises, why are these conflicts happening? And what do they say about Jesus and these men? Well, Chapter 5 describes a miraculous healing which sets up the conflict with the religious leaders. It revolves around the leader's challenge to Jesus' teaching and Jesus' response. And so Christ on the Sabbath day cures the man who was diseased 38 years, amen. And so back in chapter 2, John again describes a feast in Jerusalem that requires Jesus to travel back down to the city. And Jews talk of a feast without mentioning it by name. They are always referring to the Feast of Passover, which was the most important feast on their calendar. And so Jesus travels to Jerusalem during his earthly ministry. That would set the time of these events to be about a year after the events in chapter four, that the timeframe takes place. Almost halfway through his earthly ministry, going back to Jerusalem meant Jesus would also run into Jewish religious leaders. John sets up one such conflict with a story of a healing by a pool in the city called Bethesda, located by the Sheep Gate, which was located in the northern part of the city. Well, according to Nehemiah, the pool means house of mercy. It had been excavated in that place and today it's called St. Anna's Pool. We had one of the most powerful prayer services and singings in that chapel. Praise God, the power of God came down and hovered all around. I ain't never felt a presence of God like that in all of my life when we begin to sing together. About like when I was down with Jerry Vines and 10,000 pastors and their wives begin to sing the hymns of the songs and the glory of God begin to come down and hover around and he began to show out, praise God. And I'm glad, except perhaps the number five that it talks about. Here, a pool of healing. People were gathering around the water because they believed the angels stirred the waters from time to time. And when the waters were stirred, the first to enter the pool would be healed. But this attracted a large number of sick who sat around the pool, watching the water for hours or days at a time. But listen, the explanation of this, it sounds very curious, doesn't it? but only one person would receive the benefit of the Lord's mercy, no matter how many were present around the pool. That doesn't sound biblical, does it? No, because if it was up to the Lord, he'd take care of everybody. He'd heal everybody. But because of this one man, there was something that was going on that just this one man beside that pool for 38 years that Jesus began to pick him out and he met with him. It was like God was dispensing his mercy Amen. But if only there was a limited healing. No, God is not limited to healing. He could have healed every single person. He's got enough power to go around that would have healed all of them. Why would the Lord ever dispense his mercy and grace in such a frustrating way as to somebody had to go in and only one could be healed? Does it even sound biblical? Does it? Well, You know what? It was some copyist that was trying to explain why they were standing around the pool. And when we look at this by the sheet gate and that pool, we see the miracle beside the pool of Bethesda, a crippled man and the Messiah, their first meeting, and the crippled man and the critics, how he's now confronted by the wicked Jewish leaders and then on down further. This is where we're going. The crippled man and the Christ, their final meeting, that Jesus warns him not to keep on sinning. You see, the transformation had taken place. And from then on out, He was no longer the same cripple man that he was, but he was transformed. He didn't have to depend on nobody else. He could walk. He could run. He could skip the doodad. He could do any kind of dance you could think of, amen, because God had transformed and healed him. And so the Lord began to tell him, you're no longer the one that keeps on sinning. You're transformed. And now don't act like you did before because you are changed. But I'm glad too, this verse, when we look at it. the best that we can and the sake of King James. I'm glad, I like what Matt Dobbs does back in March the 20th of 2008 and you can reference this and go to this same place or click on his name and it'll take you right to the study. But I'm glad that out of the King James, the English version or the NIV of any of those that you see, what happened to verse 4? Well, from Matt Dobbs and I like his explanation is, the King James decided to include it because it was in the manuscripts that they had at their disposal. The NIV decided to omit it because in the 400 years since they was translated, which was older manuscripts that had surfaced that they did not have back in the King James of 1611 when they did it. Remember, the King James was translated largely from the Texas Receptus, which was a compilation of manuscripts that did not even date prior to 1100 AD. The NIV Translation Committee had access to manuscripts dating back within 150 years of the original documents of the New Testament. And so that's why there's a difference. They omitted or left them out. because it was something of the marginal that they were putting in the margin to explain why they were around the pool, but it was not meant to be a verse. And so when we look at this and we realize from the Texas Receptus, which is there, We know that the Word of God, the chart of the manuscripts, when we look at it and we begin to realize that there was a lot of ones that were not substantiated to use. But ones that I want to pick out and notice is the Vaticus that was found, that had been hidden by the Catholic Church. in 1475 AD, but they held on to it. I don't believe they were aware of this, of the King James writing, plus here again in another Catholic church, they found another copy of the Sonatus that was found in a monastery in St. Catharines, and Mount Sinai in 1859 AD. And so because those were held on to or was found later at that time, they did not know of them when they did the translation of the King James. And so when I brought that up, notice in the 1611, of what you see of the Vaticus found but was hidden by the Catholic Church in 1475 and the Sinaitis found by Tischendorf at the monastery of St. Catherine at Mount Sinai in 1859 and so that's why when these things were made available for use in 1775 AD. Then you had the reverse, the revised and the NIV and all of the modern translations. They were able to have this copy of the original ones that were not found at that time. And so that's the difference. And so that we say, I hope I had to do it very quickly because of the sake of time. And so Jesus attended a Jewish feast in Jerusalem. the scene of all the deceased ill, a picture of the world's desperate need of 2, 3, and 4, but then also a picture of Jesus and the man that Jesus had the power to meet the world's needs in verses 5 through 9. Because we see, and a certain man was there which had an infirmity 30 and 8 years, and when Jesus saw him and knew that he had been now a long time in that case, he said unto him, will thou be made whole? So what is he saying? Hey, do you want to be healed? I'm glad that when we look at this and begin to realize that the Lord gives help to the helpless and he extends grace and mercy. And I'm glad that when we look at how the measure of human effort and the words to benefit from God's mercy. We see the healing happens, but the angel of the Lord stirs the water. But the angel of the Lord, the second person of the Godhead, that pre-incarnate Jesus. Yet for the past 30 years, Jesus had lived in human form. And so he couldn't have been stirring the waters at Bethesda unless his physical hand dipped in the water and moved it. And so what are you looking at here? You're looking at almost like somebody that would go down to a auction at Las Vegas, Nevada, and you say, and you'd be counted off, and they would be rattled off $100, $200, as if somebody was trying to do some kind of a bidding. Listen, I want to tell you something. If Jesus would have been involved in it, he would have healed everybody. But he only chose to do the one man that had been there for 38 years. But all of these people have been around this pool all of this time as somebody had started this. And you know what? It's sad because every one of them were waiting, and the man said, I can't get in there quick enough. He goes up, and when Jesus saw him lying, knew that he had been now a long time in that case, he said unto him, will thou be made whole? Jesus knows everything about us. Nobody had to tell Jesus. He knew that he had been there 38 years. But it says in verse 7, 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 steppeth down before me. And so we look and we see that he goes on, he says, Jesus said to him, rise, take up thy bed and walk. And so when we look at this, we begin to realize that Jesus is doing a great a miracle. because the Lord never stirred the water and this pool did not produce healing effects. You know, there's people out there today that they can do all kinds of things. Like they say, why don't you send me in some money and you'll be healed. Sometimes television evangelists are really bad about that. Or some people start some kind of rumor about some kind of healing effect and everybody flocks to that. It's happened so many times over the centuries and years, and that is one of the instances that is taking place here at the Pool of Bethesda. Something that's basically not true. and could never heal anybody, but because the one that can heal was there beside the Pool of Bethesda, a miracle transpired. And I'm telling you the gospel truth, praise God. Desperate people had continued watching the water, expecting healing, and had been reaching and doing this for many years. But listen, the story of this pool wasn't a true story. The Lord never stirred the water, and the pool did not produce healing until the miracle of Jesus himself showed up beside that pool. The myth had taken hold that many people had chosen to believe this. Desperate people assembled at that pool, hoping that the superstition that they had been told was true. And perhaps when the wind might have moved the water because someone claimed, hey, they saw the water stir. And then a great rush of cripples began to get into it. Perhaps once in a while someone claimed to have been healed, but then who could be sure? And so the story of God healing through a pool was not true, though the idea held a power over the people. And so that happens today when you got a con artist that works within a religion, and miraculous healings who meet sometimes out there. The nonsense of things that people do with religious superstition, like weeping statues of Mary or grilled cheese sandwiches that look like Jesus, but they substitute for true relationship with the living God. And that's why John included this explanation in his account if it wasn't a true story. The answer is John didn't include this in his account. Rather, it was the copious. that added this detail that I just explained to you, that it was a marginal thing to explain why people gathered around it. And because of human error of copying on the Texas receptus, it got put down. But on the older versions that were found later on, because the Catholic Church had found some and had them kept and hid or monasteries, that those didn't come out until the 1700s. And then when it did, these had already been published. And so those, they omitted them and did not put that verse in. And so the answer is John didn't include this in his account. But I'm going to tell you, as it begins, here we see that as the earliest manuscripts haven't appeared centuries later, the copyist was attempting to explain why so many gathered at the pool and inserted the commentary to explain the myth, though he presents the explanation as if it were true. But it was not. And so the fact that even when someone tries to add something to the scriptures, the spirit has ensured that we can have a discernment of the truth from not the truth. And so Jesus asked a crippled man that he wanted, do you want to be healed? And the man responds, he hasn't been able to be healed yet because he can't make it happen. And someone has always beat him to it. He's been waiting for a miracle. for 38 years of his life, trusted in this superstition to heal him. And so friends, religious leaders simply told him he wasn't worthy of God's mercy. Maybe you're out there and something has happened and somebody's told you this or that, but God's desire is to heal everyone. But it may be sometimes that healing doesn't come till he brings you home into his presence. And so Jesus was prepared to extend God's mercy to this man. Jesus asked if he wanted healing, and the man responded by explaining that why he couldn't be healed. Clearly, his answer implies that he wants healing. And so it tells us the cripple was not yet aware of who Jesus was. At that, Jesus orders the man to get up. Jesus said to him, rise, take up thy bed, and walk. And so, again, we see the marvelousness of this, of what the Lord is doing, praise God, healing of the impotent man. just as Jesus will one day call the dead bodies of his people up from the grave to resurrection. He spoke to the dead legs of this man and they produced life and lifted him up. And he no longer needed to depend on anybody to do or take him anywhere. Amen. And so I'm glad that again, we see the crippled man and the Messiah, their first mate is God. We also look and we see also what's transpiring. Amen. As we look at this and we see that as we go forward, that not only that Jesus and the man, a picture of Jesus's power to meet the world's needs, But also, that third scene, the religionist and the man, a picture of dead religion trying to meet the world's needs in verses 10, 11, and 12, praise God. I'm glad when we look and realize, and immediately the man was made whole and took up his bed, walked, and on the same day was the Sabbath. The Jews, therefore, said unto him, that was cured. It is the Sabbath day. It is not lawful for thee to carry thy bed. Can you imagine? They know they saw this man for all these years and they instead of jumping up and saying, glory, hallelujah, praise the mighty name of Jesus. He's healed. He's no longer lame. He's no longer crippled. Hallelujah. Praise the mighty name. You know what? They begin to pick on all the rules that he's carrying his bed and it's not lawful to do on the Sabbath. Now, it's sad. because here it produces really a strong contrast with the myth. The man had been taught a superstitious myth of human religion that emphasized that he must be worthy to receive God's mercy. And year after year, that falls short. It's discouraging, it's hopeless, and yet this is always the recipe when men invent ways to find God. There's always somebody out there inventing something But at the core, false religion always relies on some human achievement to please God. And so, when the system fails us, we fall back to blaming ourselves for not doing enough to satisfy God. But the living God doesn't dispense grace according to human rules or expectations. He gives to all. He reigns on the just and the unjust alike. And the Lord brings grace without a catch. Amen. Praise his mighty name. You can get grace. Praise God. You can come by the way of the cross. It doesn't matter what side of the tracks you're on. It doesn't matter what your race is. It doesn't matter what your kind is. or where you're from, or your background. Praise God, hallelujah. Listen, when the Lord decides to bring healing and the outcome, does it rest on the human abilities? No, it doesn't. The angel of the Lord did visit the pool on that day, and his name was Jesus, hallelujah. Praise God. Jesus had the power to part the waters in the pool, but less he could stir them. Jesus didn't need parlor tricks to accomplish a healing. Now, I'm glad that God's word reveals the power because he spoke the universe into existence. By the word of God, a healing took place. And to the least powerful member of the crowd, the one with no ability to save himself whatsoever, Jesus didn't even wait for the man to make a request. Hallelujah. He said, listen, you know what? He says, rise up and take your bed and walk. Amen. And so the Jews, therefore, it's the Sabbath day. It's not lawful for thee to carry thy bed. In verse 11, he answered him, He that made me whole, the same said unto me, Take up thy bed and walk. And he says in verse 11, Then asked they him, What man is that which said unto thee, Take up thy bed and walk? Amen. I'm glad that when we look and we begin to realize that the thing that God is doing, amen, each and every one of us, John mentions that his healing happened on the Sabbath day. and the key details setting up the rest. I'm glad that of the disputes between the Lord and the Pharisees over the rules surrounding the Sabbath observance, under the scribes and the Pharisees, the Sabbath day observance in Israel had become a religion all its own. The rabbis even come to call in the Sabbath day the bride of Israel or Jehovah's Queen. But you know what? Almost any action a person might take on that day could be deemed as an offense against the Sabbath law. But Jesus first coming, the rabbinical system in Israel had established something like 1500 additional rules for our Jews must observe the Sabbath. The penalties for breaking these rules were severe, including death. And they had no relationship in the law God delivered to Israel. And so. Here we look and we begin to realize. That the Pharisees, John simply calls the Jews. And I'm glad that they tell him it's not permissible to carry the mat. God hadn't declared it. God hadn't declared it was impermissible because it was not permitted according to their man-made rules concerning the Sabbath. Yet they portrayed their rules as equal to God's law. And in fact, they taught their obeying God's law was achieved by following their rules. But listen, they led people to believe that what they were violating, one of these 1500 rules, they were offending God. But this wasn't in God's rules. People believed what they were told. The Pharisees retained control over people as a result, and the people responded by explaining he was told to carry his bat by the man who healed him. The man was saying a lot more than merely explaining his rationale for walking, being healed. He implied that a man who told him to walk had greater authority than these men who tell him not to walk. Hallelujah. The one that could heal a body by his word demonstrated the authority as the creator of the universe. The creator tells you to get up and walk with your palate. You don't do it, no matter how many men you might offend. Jesus told the man to walk and to carry his palate. Jesus could have just told the man to walk and to leave the pallet behind, but instead he had a reason and he was ready to maintain that reason and to tell these Jews what it was that God intended for him, praise God. Jesus was inviting a confrontation with the Pharisees. Jesus slips away before they find him because he's got more important things to attend to. But revealing that when the Pharisees hear the man's explanation, they show no interest in the story of the healing. And so the violation of their laws. Once again, notice the man still doesn't know who Jesus is. He had no idea who he was. He can't identify Jesus to the Pharisees right now. And he doesn't seem to appreciate that Jesus is the Messiah. And which tells us that Jesus didn't require this man to possess faith as a prerequisite for the healing. So it didn't depend on a person accepting his testimony at that time. Nevertheless, Jesus still wants to bring his identity to the man's attention after the healing. And Jesus avoids the Pharisees for now so that he can seek the man out and clarify his identity. And when Jesus finds the man in the temple, perhaps thanking God for the healing, he tells the man now that he has become well. Do not sin anymore so that nothing worse happens. Though the language is a bit odd, especially the King James to our ears, we recognize that this is the moment of this man's salvation. Jesus says to him that he has become well, and it suggests that his physical healing. But in this case, Jesus' words go much deeper. Jesus follows that statement by saying, do not sin anymore. And I'm glad that it appears in other places in the gospel as well. But Jesus, as he encounters a woman caught in adultery and after saving her, he says in John chapter eight, straighten it up. Jesus said to her, woman, where are they or the accusers? I'm paraphrasing. Did no one condemn you? And she said, no, Lord. Jesus said, I don't condemn you either. Go and sin no more. And so from the Gospels, we learned that the phrase go and sin no more is an instruction that Jesus offers to those who have experienced spiritual healing. Amen. And there Jesus is saying to this man that since he has been made well spiritually as well as physically, he must live according to his salvation. So the result of receiving God's mercy, the man's expected to live a new life without sinning. If he continues in sin after becoming a child of God, he is at risk of the Lord bringing discipline upon him. And it could result in even worse a calamity than being a cripple. And so the result that we see from this, that he goes on and he tells us, amen, Jesus came to give us eternal life, that eternal life that is to come, full and final healing will be given to all his people. If he chooses to heal us, temporary in this life, it is only a shadow, a foretaste of the glory that will be in the life to come, praise God. Again, the crippled man and the critics, he's now confronted by the wicked Jewish leaders, praise God. And so when we go on, We see Jesus and the man after healing, a picture of the believer's responsibility. Amen. And I'm glad that through this, the religious against Jesus, a picture of the world rejecting God's savior. Here we look and we realize again, in these three verses. And he that was healed was not who it was. He didn't know who Jesus was, for Jesus had conveyed himself away, a multitude being in that place. Afterward, Jesus found him in the temple and said to him, Behold, thou art made whole. Send no more or less a worse thing come unto thee. The man departed and told the Jews that it was Jesus which had made him whole. And so I'm glad that as just as the Samaritan woman did, He has become a disciple of Jesus, this man. And John had set the scene for what follows because across all the Gospels, we find a total of seven disputes between Jesus and the Pharisees over the Sabbath. John's Gospel records three of the seven moments. But in this case, when the Pharisees learned that Jesus was the one that told the man to pick up his mat and come after, I'm glad that here we look. And I'm glad that when we see this, the father rested from his work of creation, but that doesn't mean that the father ceased all his work. I'm glad Jesus says that his father's working all the time, even until now. And I'm glad that maintaining the operation of the universe, God spoke it into existence. And the things that happen that we take for granted every day, God is watching over all of the things. He's in control of everything. The Bible says God is holding all things together. He's working according to his design. And Jesus' point is that God can't be accused of failing to rest on the Sabbath because He, God, is free to work continually. The Sabbath rest requirement was given by God to man so that man might benefit from it. And the Pharisees understood that God was not subject to this Sabbath day commandment. And so that's where Jesus began in his defense. But by calling God his father, by saying that he's likewise working as well, Jesus went a step further than the Pharisees could accept. And I'm glad that when we go on and we see this, we look as we read on and how that he tells them, amen, here in the scriptures. As we continue on just a little bit more, Jesus claimed equality with God and his obedience. Amen. When we look and see, he tells us, he says, And therefore did the Jews persecute Jesus and sought the slave because he had done these things on the Sabbath. But Jesus answered them, My father worketh hitherto and I work. Therefore, the Jews sought the Lord to kill him because he did. He not only had broken the Sabbath, but said also that God was his father making himself equal with God. And verse 19, Then answered Jesus and said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he saith the Father do, for what thing soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise. I'm already out of time, ain't I? And so when we look at this, I'm probably going to have to break in between the two of these in just a minute and put them in two different sections for the sake of time. But Jesus existed in the form of man, but he was subject, but he was subject to the Sabbath law. And so, listen, Jesus, was he breaking the Sabbath? John says the Pharisees sought to kill him. John lists two reasons why Jesus upset them. They said Jesus was breaking the Sabbath. But since Jesus existed in the form of man, he was subject to the Sabbath law just as Jesus kept all the law. But Jesus wasn't breaking the Sabbath, not as God commanded it, because instead Jesus was breaking one of the Pharisees stupid extra rules. It wasn't God's rule. It was a stupid thing that the Pharisees had come up with. And so the rule that Jesus followed was a prohibition of carrying anything because of all the things the Pharisees had added these commandments to it. But when the cripple picked up his mat and moved it out of the portico, he was edifying that rule. And those man-made rules were not in keeping with the spirit or the purpose of the law. The Sabbath was given to Israel to ensure a day each week without a need to work for their existence. But I'm glad that when Jesus hung on the cross, he changed everything. And when he rose on that Sunday morning, He changed everything completely, praise God. And I'm glad that every one of us, when we look, Christ's work on the cross brings us salvation, so that we have no need to work for our own salvation. When we believe in Christ, we rest in his work, and we enter into his rest, and Jesus is our Sabbath fulfillment. which is why the Christian is not required to keep a Sabbath day since we have fulfilled the Sabbath requirement in coming to faith in Jesus Christ when he rose from the grave on Sunday morning. Hallelujah. They wanted to kill Jesus because he made himself equal with God. And of course, all Jesus could say to this accusation was guilty as charged. But Jesus was saying that he was equal to God because he is the Trinity, the basic doctrine here. the proof that Jesus called himself God. And I'm glad that when we look at this and realize what God is doing, amen, as we move faster on, when he became equally with God, I'm glad that as he talks about, which means my father keeps on working even until now, he is working and he's doing everything. My father worketh hitherto is the word, and I work. Heos art ergatha. which means my father keeps on working even until now. He doesn't stop working. He's in control of everything. And so we see the second portion that comes on the scene from 16 to 47, the message beside the pool of Bethesda, the triad, or the argument of the fussing in the speech of the Pharisees, the tirade against Jesus, amen, is what that means, amen. And so we look And we see the message beside the pool that is transpiring and that's taken that he claimed equality with God, his great works, his power to quicken and give life to raise the dead, and his control over the whole judicial process. Here we see what the Lord is telling these Pharisees, amen. And so for the father loveth the son, she with him all things that himself doeth, and he will shew him greater works than these that ye may marvel. For as the Father raises up the dead and quicketh them, even so the Son quicketh whom he will. For the Father judges no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son, that all men should honor the Son, even as they honor the Father. He that honors not the Son honors not the Father which hath sent him." And so here, when we look at the deity, the proof, that Jesus was equal with God. Jesus claimed equality with God. And I'm glad here we see that he made the statement that the father loves the son. The idea is that the father continues to love and he never stops loving the son. There's never a moment when the love diminishes. It's a perfect love. Ain't this a fantastic one for Valentine's Day? Here it is a perfect love that never ceases to give. Therefore, the father showed the son all things which he did. the very things which the Father did. Jesus said that the Father was going to show him greater things, amen, to do, greater things than the healing of the paralyzed man. Jesus would be controlling the forces of nature, the storms of the Sea of Galilee, multiplying food, raising the dead, healing multitudes, instituting the greater law, and all of these ordinances of everything that Jesus would be doing, praise God. And so, as we try to hurry and get through to the end. Amen. Here, the message beside the pool, we see the Trinity and Jesus as well. So, as we go forward, praise God, of trying to show the message beside the pool, praise God, all of the things that as we look at this, how power is to quicken and to give life, to raise up the dead and his control over the whole judicial process. Amen. And the fifth proof, his authority over man's destiny to save men from death to life. Amen. And then the sixth proof, his energy of life, his self-existence. Praise God. Here we look. And we see, verily, verily, I say unto you, he that beareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation, but is passed from death unto life. Verily, verily, I say unto you, the hour is coming, and now is when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and they shall live. For as the Father hath life in himself, so hath he given the Son to have life in himself. We look at the resurrection of the dead, praise God, and what is transpiring of that. I'm glad that here we look and we see the proof that Jesus is equal with God, his power over man's destiny. The power to save man from death, amen, is what he's telling us. And so through all of this, when we look and realize the power that's transpiring, expressing his path from death to life, that man is presently in a state of death. That is, man is in the process of dying. Man must die and will die. He cannot stop that process. But I'm glad that the result of all of this, that the Lord can raise us because he gives us an eternal promise that will never change. Amen. Jesus Christ possesses the very being of life. the power and the energy of self-existence within himself. And it's very clear that Jesus Christ has the power to give everlasting life to those who hear and believe on him. And so we see as we talk about this that the task that's assigned to Jesus, amen, that he's able to do these things, amen, as we continue to show the proofs, amen, all the way down as we get to His claim to be the Son of God, His power to resurrect all men from the grave. Here we get into the discussion of the scripture that tells us, amen, down to verse 30. And hath given him authority to execute judgment also because he is the son of man. Marvel not at this, for the hour is coming in which all that are in the grave shall hear his voice and shall come forth. They that have done good under the resurrection of life and they that have done evil under the resurrection of damnation, I can of my own self do nothing. As I hear, I judge, and my judgment is just because I seek not my own will, but the will of the Father which has sent me. And so, we see here the proof that Jesus was equal with God was His power to execute judgment. Amen. And so, I'm glad that each and every one of us, when we look at that authority, Jesus Christ is the Son of Man, having lived just as all sons of men live. He worked through His life as man, bearing all the weight, the pressure, trials, and temptation, suffering, and death, joys, and victories that men experience. But He knows every faucet and fiber of the human life. Praise God. And so, here, He is the Lord of Lords and the King of Kings, and of all the things that He does, praise God, we look and we realize that He's the witness of all these things, praise God, because as we go forward, and as He tells us in the Word of God, the task that's been assigned to Jesus, amen, we look on and we continue to get into this as we see, verses 31, 32, and 33, and 34, and 35, Amen that we get into if I bear witness of myself my witness is not true Therefore is another that beareth witness of me and I know that the witness which he witness of me is true Ye sent under John and he bear witness under the truth, but I received not testimony from man but these things I say that he might be saved he was a burning and shining light and You were willing for a season to rejoice in his light. And so what do we see we see a that from all of this, the message beside the Pool of Bethesda, the testimonies concerning Jesus from verse 30 all the way down to verse 47. First, we see the witness to supernatural claims of Jesus from four sources. The first one, John the Baptist, because he preached the truth. Amen. And I'm glad that that's exactly what he's telling us. John, as we see, John, he bear witness unto the truth. John the Baptist, a man. And so. We look and realize that the testimony is concerning Jesus, a man of these one's own testimony is unacceptable. The witness within the spirit. I'm glad the witness of John the Baptist. And so we saw the witness within the spirit, the witness of John the Baptist, the witness of a miraculous works and the witness of God himself that he tells us about and the witness of the scriptures themselves here of all the witnesses that speak of our Lord and Savior. here but I have greater witness than that of John for the works which the Father has given me to finish the same works that I do bear witness of me that the Father has sent me the witness of the Father and the Father himself which has sent me hath borne witness of me ye have neither heard his voice at any time nor seen his shape and ye have not his word abiding in you for whom he has sent him ye believe not search the scripture for in them you think you have eternal life and they are they which testify of me Amen. And so, when we see this, the testimonies that continue of all of this, the rejection of Jesus' claim, men do not will to come to Christ. Men do not love God. Men receive false messiahs and men seek the approval and honor of mere men. And I'm glad that when we read on, that he tells us And these verses 40 down to verse 44. And ye will not come to me that ye might have life. I receive not honor from men, but I know you that you have not the love of God in you. I am come in my father's name and you receive me not. If another shall come in his own name, him you will receive. How can you believe which receive honor? One of another seek not the honor that cometh from God only. And so when we look, And as we see the testimony and how those that rejected it of the Pharisees, hear how sad it is that the rejection of Jesus's claim as it transpired, men did not believe the words of the true Messiah. And it's sad today that when we look at these things that are taking place, do not think that I will accuse you to the father. There is one that accuses you, even Moses, in whom you trust. For had you believed Moses, you would have believed me for he wrote of me. But if you believe not his writings, how shall you believe my words? And so one day the Antichrist will come. And he will be received as the Christ instead of Jesus who already came. He'll come in his own name. Jesus came in the Father's name. The world will go after that antichrist. Moses wrote about Jesus in the first five books of the Old Testament. Another prophet of Deuteronomy chapter 18. But other places where Moses wrote about Jesus, you'll have an idea of what Jesus gave when you read Luke chapter 24 and how it was like. The Bible will not bring you to heaven. Jesus will bring you. Studying the Bible will bring heaven to your soul and it will nourish and feed your soul. But I'm glad that when we look at these things and we're reminded of what the Lord will do. Jesus is calling himself God. He's the only one. that can do anything, that can make a change in all of our lives. The cripple started as like the Pharisees, believing in myths and man-made rules, looking for supernatural things. And, you know, when we look and realize that at these supernatural things that was transpiring. But then Jesus entered and by his word granted the man a healing that only God can work. And the healing came by the power of Christ's word. And that healing testified to Christ's identity as the Messiah. And the crippled man got up and walked and carried his mat. The Pharisees did not. They did not receive the message. And I'm glad that that's the miracle and the message beside the pool of Bethesda. The crippled man got it. The Pharisees did not. And the difference was that of the word. Boy, I'm Darrell Bailey. I hope and pray that as you begin to look, every one of us, when we go through life, every one of us, when we begin to see what the Lord can do for us, it started out a penetrating question, you know, do you want to get well? Listen, do you want to get well out there? I'm going to tell you something. Then listen, you can make a change in all of your life. You can leave your old sinful ways behind and walk in a new way of life. That's the penetrating question of the miracle and the message beside the pool of Bethesda. But you know what? God's son is perfect. He always does the will of the father. And here we see that the Jewish leaders committed to persecuting Jesus because he was doing his father's work. You know what? I'm glad that every one of us Who is the only one that can take away the sin of the world? Jesus, the Son of God. We've got to remember that when we go and get up each and every day, that the miracle and the message is in the man called Jesus, and he can change and bring a house of grace and mercy your way, even if he was to call it Bethesda. Heavenly Father, Lord, while we face ridicule or even persecution, because of our faith, we know, Lord, that you, our Lord and Savior, have given us eternal life. We've crossed over from death to life. And now, Lord, we leave the old sin patterns that doesn't always happen instantly. We never cease needing your conviction and forgiveness and sanctification. Teach us to be on our guard against temptation and to choose you over our self-indulgences. Lord, thank you for the man beside the pool that got and understood and received the healing of salvation. Lord, we're still praying for the Pharisees out in the world of America and all over the world that are still looking at their own laws and traditions and myths and fables and traditions and are not getting anywhere. Father, because they have not got the truth of the Son of God. Help them to learn and to see. Open up blinded eyes in Jesus' marvelous mighty name. Amen. God bless you.