POWERLESS OR IMPORTANT
OR
HOUSE OF MERCY
SUNDAY FEB. 24, 2019
Scripture To Consider:
“After this [the question concerning fasting] 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 thirty-eight 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 that day was the Sabbath.” John 5.1-9
Something To Consider:
Jesus moved south to Jerusalem and ironically as the true Lamb of God, possibly passed through the Sheep Gate entrance where the ceremonial sheep that were to be sacrificed were led into the city. He deliberately set His sights on a pool called Bethesda, having five porches or deck-like areas where it was customary to find what other versions of the bible call impotent or powerless sick people, weak and powerless to improve their conditions.
But, these powerless but important to God people have come to the right place. They have come to Bethesda which means house of mercy. And on this particular day Bethesda, because of the presence of Jesus, was indeed a house of mercy for one very much in need powerless but important individual. This great multitude of sick people at the pool of Bethesda are about to witness the unexpected mercy of One greater than any angel.
Have we experienced the new every morning mercy of the Lord? Have we received the mercy of having our past sins forgiven and cast into the depths of the deepest sea of forgetfulness, never to be brought against us ever again? Have we become important in the eyes of the Lord though we too are powerless to change our pitiful inherited from Adam and Eve sinful nature?
Or have we remained powerless in the overwhelming presence of our sin? The truth is that we are never too far from our own spiritual Bethesda. For there the water of the Word of God is always available to stir our hearts in the direction of Jesus at a moments’ notice, or at the sound of the voice of Jesus repeating, “Do you want to be made well?” Of which our answer should always be “Yes and Amen!” We are never too far from Bethesda.
Something Else To Consider:
Without the Word of Christ and the healing touch of Christ, all people are spiritually powerless. Without the presence and power of Jesus in our lives, our homes, our marriages, our churches, our nations, we are all spiritually sick, and without the power to change the past, the present, or the future. Without God stirring the water of our hearts and minds with the water of His word, we are all left powerless and no different than those at the pool of Bethesda.
But thank God, for if we are in Christ Jesus we have access to His house of mercy having been granted an inheritance of spiritual health and eternal wholeness as we endure to the end of our lives or the end of this age! The powerless man Jesus met that day at the pool of Bethesda, in essence was enduring to the end by his somehow getting himself to the edge of the pool in his seeking healing. And that is something else to consider!
And yet, there are those who teach we need not to endure to the end. There are those who proclaim a Once Saved Always Saved false theory that has greatly increased the numbers of those who have died in their sin and greatly enlarged hell’s eternal occupants. How shameful for religious leaders to pronounce a false teaching that helps no one to achieve holiness, of which without no one will see or enter the kingdom of God, according to the Word of God.
Something More To Consider:
Therefore, what messages are we listening to? Are we listening to messages created by the enemy to steal, kill, and destroy any thought of enduring to the end or overcoming sin and its strangle hold on humanity? Or are we listening to biblically sound teaching and preaching that can be substantiated from the pages of sacred Scripture, whether Old or New Testament?
If we were wise, we would check out the difference between the many false and the few teachings flooding the air waves in our 21st century generation. And if we did our due diligence, we might find more teaching that attracts the financial support of more false teaching than the actual biblical truth of Scripture. The end time prediction of the raising up of false teachers who will very talentedly teach what people are willing and wanting to hear rather than their teaching the truth of the Word of God in which they need to hear, is indeed upon us.
A Few Final Words:
According to Jesus, “Take heed [beware] that no one deceives you. For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ [saying Jesus is the Christ],’ and will deceive many.” These are the words of Jesus speaking concerning end time events and the wide-spread deception that will flood the globe just prior to the second coming of Jesus Christ. The earth is full of more church buildings and church congregations than ever before and yet there is more corruption and more lawlessness than ever before. We must sound the trumpet of awareness before it is too late. Do not be deceived. We have been warned!
The apostle Paul, even in the beginning of the early church was concerned about deceptive false teaching as he wrote in 2 Corinthians 11 beginning in verse 3. “But I fear, lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. For if he who comes [a false teacher] preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or if you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a different gospel which you have not accepted, you may well put up with it.”
Paul’s concern of course is that the readers of his letter who are desirous to live holy lives and to be found as faithful followers of Jesus, must not be deceived. According to the Word of God deception brings with it spiritual corruption and that which hinders the simplicity of the original gospel message. Paul warned of those who would come and preach another Jesus and another gospel that is not reflective of the Word of God.
And that is exactly what has taken place over time in Christendom. The true gospel according to Jesus is that we endure unto the end and become spiritual overcomers through the blood of Jesus! And if we are found enduring to the end and overcoming the enemy and our flesh, we will not be found powerless over sin as we seek to live within the house and kingdom of mercy led and directed by Jesus Christ.
The sad truth is that the majority of the end time population will be deceived by false prophets and the Antichrist because they will welcome and are welcoming a false Jesus and a false gospel message of I’m OK, you’re OK, we’re all OK, and that simply is not the gospel truth!
Millions have swallowed the false theory of Once Saved Always Saved no matter what carnal lifestyle they choose to live. If they are held spiritually captive to believing in a false salvation while the accumulation of unconfessed sin grows to overwhelming proportions, they may never seek forgiveness of which they wrongly believe they do not need. How sad to be deceived by a lack of true biblical knowledge in exchange for what itching ears false preachers preach in order to keep the pews filled and the financial coffers also filled!
Wise and discerning leaders and leaders in training understand that not everyone desires to be made well, for to be made well requires one to become responsible for themselves and for others. Believing the Word of God would mean repentance is required and the humility of seeking forgiveness for many is just not that important to their much-deceived minds and hearts. “When Jesus saw him lying there, and knew that he already had been in that condition a long time, Jesus said to him, ‘Do you want to be made well?’” What would be our answer?
Prayer:
Our Father in heaven, create in us a hunger and thirsting for Your life changing power in our lives, as well as in the lives of others. In Him Always, Amen!
According to Jesus 