Dear friends, turn with me to the Bible, to John's Gospel, Chapter 5. My subject for this message to you is waiting for an angel meeting Jesus. Waiting for an angel meeting Jesus. Here we have an account of this paralyzed man that while he was waiting for an angel, this describes that he was waiting for this angel to come and touch the water and stir the water. But he met the Lord and the Lord asked him this, this question, very important question in verse six. He says, will thou be made whole? Will you be made whole? Would you want to become well? Will you be healed? Will thou be made whole? That's a question that I would put to you as a word from God. Not merely about your bodily health, and I'm sure all of us could say we have some problem, all of us. Your soul's health. This outward man, the Bible refers to the body as an outward man, it perishes. But it's the inward man. That's the issue. That's the inward man that will go beyond the grave. Would you want to be made well in your soul? That's the subject of my message from this passage from verses 1 through to 16 of John's Gospel chapter 5. Archaeology has confirmed the authenticity of John's reference to this pool of Bethesda. For many years, for centuries, critics were saying, well, there was no such a pool. We've never found one. The Bible is not true. John was making it up. But in 1888, Excavations in the northeastern section of Jerusalem uncovered the remains of a pool surrounded by five porches or colonnades. And then also on one of the colonnades there was what is called a fresco or a painting of an angel, painting on a plaster in the act of troubling the waters of the pool. Therefore, Bethesda has been uncovered, dear friends, as the Bible described what it was for and what it was like. So it corroborates the testimony of Scripture concerning this miracle and it silences the critics that poured scorn on this passage. And it happens again and again and again. Dear friends, there was a time that they were saying, oh, there were no such tribes as the Hittites. And they were found and so many, many claims that these critics made. My friends, if you want to criticize the Bible, you will be the one who would be criticized ultimately. You would be the one who would be found wanting. And that's what I found 20 odd years ago when I began criticizing the Bible, before I ever had any idea of what the Bible was about. And here, part of the narrative. reveals to us that the pool of Bethesda had been the scene of a supernatural activity before the Lord Jesus Christ did any kind of miracles there. At certain times, an angel, the Bible says, troubled or agitated the waters of the pool. And the first person to enter the waters immediately after they had been stirred by this angel they would be healed, miraculously healed of any diseases that they had. And admittedly, there is some mystery about the troubling of the water of this pool. We don't know how long this had been going on, how long this had been taking place in terms of the passage of time, whether it was for a shorter or longer number of years. Moreover, we don't know how Frequently the angel came to trouble the water. Verse 4, it simply says that an angel went down at a certain season. Literally, this reads from time to time. So there's nothing definite about the frequency of this miraculous activity. However, with all the mystery that surrounds this information, We are not surprised to read about this miraculous troubling of the waters of Bethesda. You must understand something, dear friends, about miracles. The miracles of the Bible. The miracles of Scripture were always performed in connection with the giving of divine revelation. It was when God was revealing himself, when God was showing himself and showing who he is and what is his will. And as God progressively revealed His word, miracles were performed in conjunction with the giving of the divine truth. So it happened at the same time the word was given and miracles were given to corroborate that. These miracles were often illustrations of the truth being given. And they were also brought about in order to verify divine source and infallibility of what was being revealed. Let me give you the explanation of the miraculous troubling of the water. There is a spiritual explanation here as well. It was for the purpose, this troubling of the water and the healing of those who would go in first. It was for the purpose of preparing the way of Christ's revelation as the Messiah, as the savior of sinners. The miraculous healing in the waters of Bethesda. may rightly be regarded as a portrayal of healing, cleansing power of the Lord Jesus Christ in the lives of sinners. That's what it's telling you. It's saying that your sin can be cleansed, but by the Lord Jesus Christ yourself. There are people right now, they went on Wednesday to put a cross on their heads and they say they would do Lent. Where is that in the Word of God? Can you find that in Scripture? No, that doesn't produce any kind of cleansing. It's just a hocus-pocus ritual that takes place. And people think that this is spiritual, this is a Christian. Because a so-called bishop has done this marking on your forehead, it doesn't do anything to you. And so my friends, you can have all of these things done, even the Lord's table. You think to yourself, if I take part in the taking of the bread and the wine, something miraculously will happen to me, or in baptism, or if I become a church member. I was talking to one minister and he was saying that how we ought to preach the word of God and the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ to even the church members because we don't see people's hearts. We don't know where people are at, if they are truly converted or not. And so we all need the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. And as you know, it has happened in the past that there were ministers who were preaching the gospel and they were converted in the middle of their own preaching. The miraculous healing in the waters of Bethesda, it speaks about the cleansing that Jesus Christ brings, the power of the Lord Jesus Christ. The gospel presents the great truth of the fountain opened for sin and uncleanness, this fountain of cleansing for our sins. And so you may feel so unclean this morning. Your thoughts go back to your memories, the secret sins that you have done, the thoughts in your mind and so on. What can wash away these things? There's a fountain that has been opened for sin and for uncleanness. Only the Lord Jesus Christ can cleanse you, dear friends. So the fact that the Lord Jesus Christ brought this miracle by this pool, that was itself the scene of supernatural cleansing. It underscores the great gospel truth. Christ came to cleanse men of their sins and make them new creatures. That's what he did. And it's from this gospel, this gospel perspective, that we want to consider this particular miracle. It's true that there is the historical, there is this physical element in the entire event and that the Lord Jesus Christ certainly healed this unnamed man by the pool of Bethesda. Yes, that's true. But keeping in mind that all of the Lord's miraculous acts were a part of the revelation of God. God was showing who the Lord Jesus Christ is, what is his will is, and what is his gospel. then it is that we can only do justice to the interpretation of and understanding of this miracle by looking for the spiritual message that it contains. So it sets out to consider this truth. And in setting this out for us to understand this, the spiritual message in this miracle, it is noteworthy that throughout its entire length, the Lord Jesus Christ spoke only three times to this man. Only three times. That's it. Three times. Not a big explanation. Not saying, well, go and read this book. and then do this and do that. No, none of those things. Just three times he spoke to him. First was a question. It's amazing. Will thou be made whole? All of these things showing you the Lord Jesus Christ is sovereign. His word is word of authority. He says in verse eight, he says, rise, take up thy bed and walk. And then verse 14, he says, behold, thou art made whole, sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee. That's all he says to him. That's it. But also what you notice is that when we look carefully at what he said to the man, it will be found that there is a natural progression in the spiritual and gospel truth that the Lord Jesus Christ presented to this man. So to sum it up, What we have before us is Christ's threefold word to a sinner. Three things that the Lord Jesus Christ says to a sinner. And this shows to us the manner in which he deals with men in their sin. So this is what the Lord Jesus Christ would say to you this morning. So you're here this morning. I'm here this morning. What is the Lord Jesus Christ saying to me, saying to you? These are the three sayings of the Lord. He is the only one who can save us. So we must listen to him because we are desperately in need of his salvation. I think of some of you, all the friends, and you must think about this and you must think about the end of your life. You must think about what will happen to you after you die. So these are serious things that we are talking about. So the first thing that I want us to think about is a word of challenge. And this will be the most lengthiest part of the message. A word of challenge. Look at verse six, this question that our Lord Jesus Christ asks. He says, will thou be made whole? This is a word of challenge. Will you be made whole? Would you want to be healed? Think about that for a second. This was certainly a word of challenge to this individual concerning his physical need of healing. But carefully, if you think through this, you'll see that in these words, there is this challenge that sinners must face, I must face, you must face about our need of salvation. And there are a number of things I want you to notice under this. Not the subject of the challenge, the person who is being challenged. The challenge that the Lord Jesus Christ presents to the man had to do with his being made whole. Certainly that's a vital subject or issue as far as this man was concerned. This is the issue at hand. This is why he's here. And think about this. Note his condition. What's his condition? The man's own personal condition is described there in verses 5 through to 7. And a certain man was there which had an infirmity 30 and 8 years. When Jesus saw him lie and knew that he had been now a long time in that case, he saith unto him, Wilt thou be made whole? The impotent man answered him, Sir, I have no man when the water is troubled to put me into the pool. But while I am coming, another steppeth down before me. So here is a man who had, it says, an infirmity. He was lying by the pool. And that for a long time. In that case, it says. In other words, he was absolutely helpless. And that's illustrating the spiritual aspect of things. It's illustrating that sin has left man, mankind, the helpless and the hopeless victim of its power. And so there is clearly pressing urgent need for sinful men to be made whole. So this is a subject in which the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ challenges you, it challenges me. Your need of a spiritual healing, my need of a spiritual healing. So that's this condition of this man and that's our condition this morning. And then you note the company, the company this man is keeping. Verse three, look at it. He was part of a great multitude of impotent folk, it says. The word for impotent, it simply means sick. It was a part of this great number of sick people. They were obviously the worst cases imaginable. It wasn't a cold that they were there for or a broken finger or something like that. It was serious issues. Their ailments were not minor injuries. They didn't just walk into minor injury section of the hospital. No, no, it wasn't like that. They were all sitting there as it were in the accident and emergency section of the hospital. They were in the intensive care unit of the hospital. And their place, their only place of hope was this pool. and they're waiting for the angel. Well it could actually be like the Cheltenham A&E doesn't it? You can wait there for a long time. Not 38 years but for a long time you can be there and hoping someone will come and help you. But it's a serious matter here. They are there with great illnesses. Nobody caring for them. So the picture that is painted here is of the company of which every sinner is a part. We are part of this group. innumerable throng of fallen humanity ravaged and ruined by the terrible effects of sin. That's what you see all around you. You see the headlines of the news. Someone showed me the newspaper yesterday evening and that was it. Just a list of all the sad things happening around the world and in this country. That's the picture here. People with many, many ailments and sin is the root of it. And note that the Holy Spirit identifies three segments of this group of people. They were blind people, it says, they were halt, and they were withered. These are the three categories of people who were there, generally speaking. And we can think about them as spiritual illustrations. Spiritually, there is represented here the terrible effects of sin upon the soul of man. This is a picture of man's soul. Man is spiritually, the Bible says, is blind. And this is very heart-searching. For me to be told that I am blind, that's quite offensive to me. But that's what the scripture says. It points to my depravity of my will. The Apostle Paul says in 2 Corinthians 4 and verse 4, "...in whom the God of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of God, who is the image of God, should shine in them." He says there is a God of this world. That's another term for Satan. He has blinded the minds of those people who are not believers. So those who are not believers, those who are not Christians, their minds have been blinded by Satan. And those who are Christians, their minds used to be blinded. It's not that they're any better than anybody else, but their minds used to be blinded. But by the grace of God, they've come to see. Not by any works that they did, but this is it. An old Puritan preacher, John Tramp, He explained this text like this from 2 Corinthians 4 and 4. He says, And if we could rip up their hearts, we should find written therein the God of this present world." This is, dear friends, what the scripture says. This is the kind of freedom. Yes, man has a free will. Of course he has a free will. But his freedom is bound in his sin. His freedom is to serve himself and serve the devil. That's quite humbling for us. That's why people don't want to hear these things and preachers don't want to preach these things. But the scripture says here, there are these people who are blind. But also there were these halt people, these lame people. This is another category of people. This is talking about the depravity of man's walk or walk. Halt, lame, they can't walk properly. The Scripture says this in Ephesians 2 and verse 2. It says about Christians, it says, This is what you were like, wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience. What's that talking about? It's meaning that unconverted people. are going in the direction and the way of the world to destruction. There is this way that seems right to them. It's a wide gate. It is a wide road. It's a highway, but it's leading them to destruction. And they are not going towards heaven. No, they're going according to the devil's plan and his will. who is working in them to disobey God. Why is it that people disobey God? Their natural tendencies, but also Satan's temptations. So, sinners walk is lame. That's what it's saying. And then it speaks about those who are withered. It's underlying the depravity of man's works. And so this is a reference to his limbs being withered through disease. He's unable to work. And so the description is of the ruin that sin has brought on the human race. And so you note the order of it. Note the order of how the Bible speaks about this and the Holy Spirit has given this to us. When a sinner is blinded by sin, his will is biased against God. That's why some of you children, you just are resisting all of these things. And so because your will is against these things. And so then that person, he cannot walk in the way of God. And so you try and you try and you try and you can't walk in that way unless you're converted. So you can try to do those things yourself and you try to keep the commandments. All it does, hasn't it made you miserable? Hasn't it made you realize what an awful person you are and horrible you are? This is how it makes us. You see, what the law of God does, it humbles us. It shows us we don't meet God's perfect standard. But this is it. That I'm unable by my good works to please God. Humanity is altogether, the scriptures say, ruined by sin. It breaks God's commands and is an enemy of God. Imagine that, you know, an ant, if it has a fist, you know, throwing his fist at you. Who are you, oh man? This little ant talking to you like this. And you say, who are you? You're just an ant. I can squish you with my little finger. But this is it. That's what man treats God, in our pride. And so here it is. If, dear friends, if you are not born again of God's Spirit, if you're not a true Christian, then you're a member of that countless company. And so you're in desperate need of being made whole. So your prayer should be, Lord, make me whole. Lord, make me whole. Then another thing is this, in this challenge that the Lord gives, not the sympathy of this challenge, not the sympathy of this challenge, You see, I've tried to show you the worst situations, the sad situation of sin. But look at this sympathy of this challenge. When the Lord Jesus Christ issued the challenge, it clearly implied that he was presenting himself as the one who makes the sinner whole. He says, I am here to heal you, to help you, to save you. That's what he was doing. He wasn't just pointing out the finger and pointing to all his problems. And so he's sympathetic towards this man. He would save him. So his sympathy towards sinners is so amazingly displayed in the word of God. All you need to do is read the Bible for yourself and see how sympathetic and loving the Lord Jesus Christ is to sinners. The very fact that this man was in this place called Bethesda. It was a pool of Bethesda. That's a wonderful word and it is a good indication that there is mercy found there. You see Bethesda means house of mercy. House of mercy. The pool there had five porches. Five is, when you look at the numbers in the Bible, you see that the number five is the number of grace. This pool was located, it says, by the sheep gate or by the sheep market. And if you were to read about this and find out what the scripture says about the sheep gate, the sheep market, you'd see that through that gate, They were going to take sheep for the sacrifice. That was the sheep brought for the temple sacrifices. And if you were to read for yourself about how this gate was built, it is recorded in the book of prophecy of Nehemiah. Nehemiah chapter 3 speaks about the sheep gate. And I won't go into all the details about it, but just out of interest for you to see, this man was in the place of mercy. This man was in the place of God's sympathy. He was in the best of places. All around him was illustrating the goodness and the mercy of God. You see, when Nehemiah speaks about the rebuilding of the wall, of surrounding wall of the city, it commenced there and finished at the Sheep Gate. And the truth of the gospel, dear friends, begins and ends with the Lord Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God. He is the author. He's the finisher of our faith, the Bible says. But also the Sheep Gate was built by the high priest. The gate itself was built by the high priest. No one else was allowed to build it. And that underlines the truth that sinners have access to God only through the ministry of the great high priest, the Lord Jesus Christ. And then another thing we know about the Sheep Gate, again, you read Nehemiah chapter 3 and you'll see it for yourself. It was the only gate without locks and bars. The only gate that had no locks, had no bars. The others had, but there's no mention of bars and locks for the Sheep Gate. could bring the sacrificial lamb anytime they wanted. They could go in and out as it were. The way to God is saying the way to God is through Christ's merit and is ever open for sinners. And so Our attention is directed at once to the sacrificial work of God's Lamb, the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. So in other words, the house of mercy is truly at Calvary, where the Lamb was slain and the grace of God is to be obtained. You need to go to the Lord Jesus. You need to know what He did on the cross. That's where you find mercy for your soul. So when the Lord Jesus Christ spoke to the man about being made whole, He is revealing His own great heart of sympathy. He's not coming with judgment. The very surroundings of this man, this man has to look around and he would see it's echoing the message of mercy found in Christ's sacrifice. And then something else we see is that you need to note the distinctiveness of the challenge. He says, Thou, will thou, will you personally, in a singular pronoun, emphasizing that the challenge was issued to this man individually. You see, there were many people at the pool. The Lord Jesus Christ didn't go to all of them. He went to this man. And he said to this man, he singled him out. And this is something that illustrates the point that the challenge of the gospel is singular. It is coming to men individually. That's what you should take home with you. It's coming to you. It's not just coming to the church in general. It's coming to me, you should say. This is a message for me. The Lord Jesus Christ is talking to me. So think about this man. He was at the pool. He professed that he wanted to be healed. But was this really so? Had he become so used to this condition? that he just accepted it? That he just come to this position and said, well, I've been sitting here and that's just going to be the case for the rest of my life. Maybe that is you as well. You are sitting there and you have done various things and things haven't changed. And you think to yourself, well, that's how it is going to be. Nothing's going to change for me. But the Christ challenge to him was the revelation that he could deliver him. Nobody else had come to him like with this word. So when challenged, there was not a plea for what he needed. So you look at verse seven, that's the man's response. The evidence there is that he still leaned on his self-effort. He still leaned on assistance from man. And that's what many of us would think that it is down to me. I need to try harder. He had not come to an end of himself and the effort of the flesh. And what an illustration of who, of those who are sunk in their sin. We are at the house of mercy. We have the gospel preached to us. We have the Bible before us, this book of mercy and the testimony of God. But how do we answer the challenge of Christ's question? Do you really want to be saved? If you do, why then cling to sin and all that goes with it? The gospel challenge reveals to you that the Lord Jesus Christ is able and willing to save. That's why you still have breath in your lungs. You still have ability. You still are able to come and hear the word of God. Why then will you not trust him? Will thou be made whole? That's the challenge. Secondly, very quickly, there's a word of change. There's a word of change. Look at verse 8. It says, Rise, take up thy bed, and walk. Rise, take up thy bed, and walk. Note, in these words, the sovereign grace of the Lord. The Lord commands him. He has no choice. He's given a command, rise. The Lord Jesus made the approach. The Lord Jesus Christ overcame the man's unbelief. He spoke the word of power and totally changed the man. So, and there are a number of things you can think about when you come to this text. You see the transformation. He says, rise, rise. You see this man for 38 years, he had been laying prostrate, but now he's transformed. He can rise. The Lord Jesus Christ calls him to rise. He stands up right now. Christ transforms sinners in that He lifts them up out of sin, out of sin's circumstances. The psalmist says in Psalm 40 and verse 2, He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of a miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock and established my going. You see, the gospel reverses all the effects of sin. So we must trust in the Lord Jesus Christ for that in your life. Another thing that you see, not just transformation, but you see transportation. He says, take up thy bed, take up thy bed. He literally transported his bed as evidence of the physical transportation that he had taken place in his life. He'd been transported away from the awful situation where he had been for all those years and he was not going back to it. He wasn't going back to it. Aim and say, no, the Lord has transported me. He's taken me out of that situation. I'm not going to go back to my old life. What's the point? What's the use? God's grace not only transforms the sinner, it also takes the sinner out. away beyond the clutches of the former life. But another thing is the testimony and that's the walk. Rise up and walk, it says. All who saw him walk would have observed a living proof of the power of the Lord Jesus Christ to change. His work was marked, yes, with opposition. People said to him, what are you doing? It's a Sabbath day. You're working and so on, taking up your bed. But you see, they didn't realize that on the Sabbath day you could do works of mercy. And this is what the Lord Jesus Christ had done. And also another thing that we see, by way of testimony, yes, he was opposed, but he was obedient. In verse 11, he answered them, he that made me whole, the same said unto me, take up thy bed and walk. The Lord Jesus said to me, I don't know his name yet, but he told me. And this is true of all those who seek to walk with God. And then finally, With this I finish. There's a word of counsel here. Word of counsel from the Lord. In verse 14. It's the counsel that has much to teach every child of God. It's the counsel full of assurance. There was assurance. It says, It's an amazing thing. Behold, thou art made whole. You are made whole. Literally, it says, Behold, thou hast become whole. Well, it says. Those Christ saves, He assures that it is well with them. It is well with their soul. That's the assurance. You may not feel it. You may not always recognize it. You may be tempted to look away from things, but the reality is not going to change because of how you feel. If the Lord Jesus Christ has done a work, then it is true. If He assures you from the Word of God, then it is true. Don't depend on your feelings, dear friends. Don't look to yourself. Look to the Lord Jesus Christ. There was also admonishment. It says, sin no more, sin no more. Obviously, in this case, sin was the reason for his infirmity. And so, He is admonishing him to forsake his sin, sin no more. And so, the Lord Jesus Christ, He calls men away from the sins of the past. Don't sin anymore. Don't go after those things again. And then there is something else. There was also authority. He says, lest a worst thing come upon thee. This was obviously the voice of authority. It's conveying the message that the Lord will chastise his children who obey him. And that's something we read in Hebrews chapter 12. We won't have time to read that. He says, something else will come. I'll have to come after you and chasten you. If you go after those things again, and this is showing the authority of the Lord Jesus and the care of the Lord Jesus. So there is the three words that the Lord Jesus Christ gives this man. A challenge, a change, and a counsel. And maybe receive these things as well and say, the Lord has spoken to me these three things today. And so may we go and meditate on these things and pray to God that He would write them upon our hearts and believe them to be true. Believe the Lord that He is true. What He says to you today is as powerful as when He said it to this man. So may God bless His word to us. Let us pray. Our Father and our God, we bless Thee and thank Thee this day for Thy word and its truth. And we pray that our Lord Jesus Christ by the Spirit would speak to our hearts and challenge us and change us and give us the counsel that we need for the transformation of our souls and for the glory of thy name. We pray these things in his name. Amen.