VBC SERVICE 3/9/25 BROTHER DJ

JOHN CHAPTER 5

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:24

Love those songs we sang tonight, this morning. Love just being in the Lord's house with y'all. As we always say, just want to always give them a thank you for our music. I want to say as well, I've done it on a public another public platform. I want to do that tonight as well. Just have a moment just to thank you guys again for last Sunday. Uh, you don't know what it means, just uh just saying, just saying hello and thank you and fellowshipping with us and and uh all of you in this room. I just we love you so much, and you make it so easy to serve here at Victory Baptist Church. Time has flown. Uh the Lord is blessed, and uh I am so thankful uh to be his servant. I'm so thankful to be serving here at Victory Baptist Church with you all, and we consider you our friends and co-laborers, and so we we love you guys very much and thankful for you. We'll be in John chapter 5 tonight. John chapter 5. Uh the last time I was able to speak was a few Sunday mornings ago. Um, we spoke on John chapter 4. We went through the woman at the well, and just through studying in the last couple weeks, came back across this passage that uh I have looked through many times before. Uh I have preached it uh probably on more than one occasion in the last 20 years, and uh it's uh it's a it's a passage that I love. And here's what is amazing we say this, and we cannot say it enough. Uh, when you get in the Word of God, there is there are passages that you can read over and over and over and over again that say something different every time. I joke with my Sunday school class. I I do feel old many times. Some of you know that feeling, you just know the context of that. And sometimes after being in the ministry so long and preaching so many sermons, I feel like the JG went worth at. Every week I get up, 877 Cash Now. I go over there, 877 Cash Now. And then next week, I'm like, man, they've heard 877 Cash Now, right? And what's a here's what's amazing. I I say this because we want you guys to get in the word yourselves. Because here's what's amazing. I can preach and preach and preach and think, man, people are tired of hearing certain things. And I I there's certain things in this passage tonight that are new to me, even. But here's what's amazing: when you read it for yourself, when you put your hands on this book yourself, it is amazing. Brother Curtis will echo this that we can say 877 Cash Now a hundred times, and somebody in that week will come up to you and say, Hey, Brother DJ, did you know 877 Cash Now? Have you ever heard that before? I'll say, Wow. Right? So here's the truth. When you look at this passage, you say, Man, we know this passage. This is a crucial spot in Jesus' ministry. At this point, Jesus' fame had grown, especially in Jerusalem. In fact, chapter 2, Brother Curtis touched on it this morning, records his first miracle. His first miracle, Jesus at the wedding, turning water into wine. And it records that then he goes, the very next thing is he goes and he cleans out the temple. He overthrows the money changer's tables. This is in Jerusalem. Why is that important? Because I want you you'll see why so much of this is important. And looking back at these details, getting a little bit of context if you just jump into a passage sometimes helps so much. He was not liked by the Jews. If you notice, after Jesus overthrows the temple, he cleanses out the temple, chapter 3, one of the most quoted verses in Christianity, and one of the most quoted passages, Nicodemus comes to Jesus by night. Why does he do that? He doesn't, this is a controversial figure. He's not the most popular guy. And Nicodemus, a Pharisee, comes to Jesus by night to ask questions. And if you look at that, I believe because he's starting to see the truth of Jesus. You go all the way, you keep moving. In chapter number four, we see that Jesus goes to Samaria, which was scandalous, and it was not something you did. Not only did he go, but he talks to a Samaritan woman. And we know, if you remember a couple Sunday mornings ago and you know that story, not only does she believe, but many people, a multitude believes because he reached one woman. And now he comes back in chapter five. He comes back to Jerusalem. At the end of chapter four, he heals a nobleman's son just by speaking the word. His fame has grown, and he shows back up in Jerusalem. And he shows back up there. I want to just read the first four verses with you. And this is this is uh I do want to say this. I wrote this in my notes. These details that when you look at before, they help paint a picture. And then this is what else happens it prepares your heart to ask questions. And we say that enough, and I want you to hear this from both of your pastors. And I wrote this down in my notes because you need to hear this. Scripture can handle your questions. Ask them. Scripture can handle your questions. Ask them. So many times we have so many questions about the Bible and man, what is going on, we don't even ask. Here, I want to tell you this. This is the, I believe, complete written word of God. It is perfect. It can handle any question you got. Amen. Ask them. So when you look at this, there should be some questions in this passage, but look at the first four verses with me. And after this, there was a feast of the Jews. And Jesus went up to Jerusalem. Now, there's at Jerusalem by the sheep market a pool, which is called in the Hebrew tongue Bethesda, having means five porches. In these lay a great multitude of impotent folk, of blind, halt, withered, waiting for the moving of the water. For an angel went down at a certain season into the pool and troubled the water. Whosoever then first, after the troubling of the water, stepped in, was made whole of whatsoever disease he had. So when you look, Jesus is returning to Jerusalem. Why? Because there's a feast. We don't know exactly what feast. Many people believe it was the Passover, studying other texts and looking at other things, and they use that as a way to gauge the time period of Jesus' earthly ministry of about three and a half years. They use this particular text. But Jesus goes to Jerusalem. Now I want you to stop there for just a second, take all the details that we discussed before, and see something very important right out of the gate that I want you to see about Jesus' life because it'll show up later on. Jesus didn't excuse himself. Going to Jerusalem was dangerous. This is not a place he was popular. You're going to see that in the text. They already had problems with him. You're going to see that by the end of this story. They're not just angry with him anymore, but they're ready to start the process. We hate him. We want to kill him. We want to destroy this man. And Jesus returns to this place. Another verse in the New Testament says that Jesus obeyed the customs and the laws. He went to the temple when it was time to suppose when it was time for him to go. And here's what I mean by that. It's right out of the gate. If any person had an excuse to skip certain things and certain responsibilities, it was Jesus. Can we all agree on that? Now I know that if you look at this, these are these you say, listen, these are laws of Judaism. This is different. But I want you to see this principle in Jesus' life, the New Testament. It gives specific instructions for Christians on being faithful to meat, being faithful in numerous areas of our daily lives, being faithful and accountable, what God said to do. And here's what you're seeing in our culture. You're going to see this later on in the text. Jesus, as an earthly man, had no excuse. So neither do we. And I say that because the culture, especially the young culture, needs to hear that. When it comes to what the Bible says that you're supposed to do as a follower of Christ, stop giving yourself excuse. Amen? I know that's hard, but you don't have one. If Jesus had no excuse, you have no excuse. And this is the pool by one of the sheep markets. This place that has five different porches, and there's water in the midst of it. And all around this pool, there are people with all sorts of diseases, lame in their feet, blind, various handicaps, and all these different things that they suffered from. And they all, this was the belief. Now, me and Brother Curtis were just talking about this before church. When you look at the way John writes this, he's not writing this as a skeptic on this idea. He didn't say the people believe that an angel stirred up the water. He says an angel stirred up the water. And whoever came in first, they were healed. I don't know why some people struggle with that. Can I tell you this? God has all forms and ways and mysterious workings to heal people. He does it all through the Bible and finds ways to heal people of their infirmities and sickness. And so this isn't out of reach. But these people knew that this event took place. Many of them believed that the certain time was around the Passover, probably looking back in the rear view. And so they're all gathered watching and waiting and hoping that they can find healing in this miraculous event. Look at verses five and six. And a certain man was there, which had an infirmity thirty and eight years. When Jesus saw him lie, and he knew that he had been now a long time in that case, he saith unto him, Wilt thou be made whole? So you get this picture. There's this man, the Bible says he's lying there. He has been in this condition for 38 years, Scripture said. That's a long time. And Jesus comes by him, and Jesus sees him. This man's not crying out to Jesus. Nobody is in this in this passage, but Jesus sees him. And the Bible implicates it that he has compassion. He says, he sees that he has been in this condition for a long time. And Jesus walks up to him, and you've got to understand the context of this. And he looks at this man with this great illness, this disease, this infirmity, and he says, Do you want to be well? Do you want to be made whole? This is as a question. We see it, we know who's asking it. We're standing on the outside looking in the context of Scripture. But in this passage, you can imagine walking up to someone who can't speak, asking if they want to speak. Walking up to someone who can't see and asking them, Do you want to see? Walking up to someone who can't walk and saying, Do you want to walk? This is bold. And this is controversial. But he asked this man directly, Do you want this? And look at verse number seven. The impudent man answered him, Sir, I have no man. When the water is troubled, to put me into the pool. But while I'm coming, another steppeth down before me. Jesus said unto him, Rise. Take up thy bed and walk. Anybody wish you could see that? And immediately the man was made whole. And he took up his bed and he walked. And on the same day was the Sabbath. This man answers Jesus really out of honesty. He either does not know who Jesus is yet, and or if you look at scripture, because it kind of implicates this, Jesus is kind of disguising himself. He does this several times. If you remember, he does this in the garden to Mary, who knew him well. He disguises himself to her. He does this to the two guys on the road to Emmaus. They're walking with him. And then all of a sudden they realize, oh, this was Jesus. We don't really know the implications, but we know that he doesn't know what he's talking to. He's missing something very big. I have no one, he says, to put me in the water. Jesus is like, do you want to get well? Do you want to be healed? Do you want to walk? And this man says, That's why I'm here. You get the undertone? I got nobody to help me. Whenever the water is troubled, nobody will put me into the water. And even when I've gotten close, someone always steps down into the water before me. He gives this answer from his heart. Of course I do. But don't you see my predicament? Jesus says to him, Rise, take up thy bed and walk. No more games, no more joshing around. You're healed. Get up, take your bed and walk. He's not only helping this man, he's not only healing this man, but if you're going to see, read the rest of this passage, Jesus is now using him to accomplish work that needs to be done for him. He's going to send this man ahead, carrying his bed into the temple for a specific purpose, I believe. He gets up, he picks up his bed, and he walks, and this day was the Sabbath. And isn't this incredible, if you think about this, how Jesus changes the narrative by suddenly speaking in a different way. He suddenly speaks in such a way that even the lost, even this man, he lost his ability to disobey. Brother Curtis, like we talk about in the Garden of Gethsemane when Jesus speaks and all of a sudden they fall down. There's this power, there's this moment where Jesus is speaking to him, and the man is talking back to him plainly, but now all of a sudden Jesus looks at him and says, Rise, take up your bed and walk, and he just does it. Suddenly it goes from a man speaking to him to God just spoke. Amen? And it's like this moment. It's so incredible. I would love to see it. He just speaks. It's no more, it's not a stranger questioning him anymore. He just speaks, and the man can't do anything but obey. He just grabs his bed, takes it up, and takes off. Look at verses 10 through 13. The Jews therefore said unto him, That was cured, It is the Sabbath day. It's not lawful for thee to carry thy bed. And he, this is the man that was healed, answered them, He that made me whole, the same said unto me, Take up thy bed and walk. Then asked they him, What man is what man is that which said unto thee, Take up thy bed and walk? And he that was healed wist not who it was. For Jesus had conveyed himself away and a multitude being in that place. This man obeys Jesus and he immediately finds himself being questioned and criticized. I want you to hear something. There's a healthy balance of this when you're walking right with Jesus. When you're walking right with Jesus, you're going to be inspired some people to believe and you're going to inspire other people to anger. Just know that. Immediately, why are you carrying your bed? Don't you know this is the Sabbath? Do you honestly think that when this man just got healed of this infirmity for 38 years and he picked up his bed, that he was thinking, oh no, it's the Sabbath? This is the happiest day of his life. And he's so fired up. And they say, look, this is against the law, man. And notice the context of the verses. If you look at scripture, if you just slow down a little bit, it shows you the implications that are there. And he says, Look, I'm just obeying a man who healed me. Notice what he says. When he speaks to the Pharisees, he says, There was a man who made me whole, and he told me, after he made me whole, to pick up my bed and walk. Notice the Pharisees' response. They didn't say, Who made you whole? Who healed you? What do they say? Who told you to pick up your bed and walk? That's all they've got their eyes on. Who told you to pick up your bed and walk? And this guy doesn't know the name of the man now. He can't even look to point him out. Jesus has slipped away. But notice in this context, Jesus, this man that has been healed, he sees Jesus as a healer. And the Pharisees see Jesus as a lawbreaker. Same man, two different perspectives, two different viewpoints. One of them is not even acknowledging the healing. Look at verses 14 and 15. Afterward, Jesus findeth him, it's the man that's been healed, in the temple. And he said unto him, Behold, thou art made whole. Sin no more. Lest a worse thing come unto thee. The man departed and told the Jews that it was Jesus, which had made him whole. He finds this man in the temple, and later on he gives them an important message. He says, Look, now you're made whole. And I want you to think of the context of this. We'll go over this in depth in just a moment. But he says, Look, now you're not just lying on a mat anymore. You're healed. And you've got things waiting on you that you don't even understand. Jesus takes the time to find this man and says, Look, if you don't get this right, I need you to hear me. Go and sin no more. Otherwise, there's something worse coming for you than what you've been healed from. That's a heavy, heavy statement. You've just been healed, but I need you to hear this next. There's something worse if you don't get control of this problem of sin. He says, Go and sin no more. And I like what happens next. We don't really know why. But maybe it's because he didn't want to be disobedient to the leaders. And so he goes and then reports, hey, the man's name. And notice what he says right here in verse 16 or verse 15, the man departed and told the Jews that it was Jesus which had made him whole. Do you see the context? When the Pharisees addressed Jesus, Jesus is the one that told him to pick up his bed and walk. When this man addresses Jesus, it's the man who made me whole. So when he goes and reports back to let them know once again, he says to them, he doesn't go and say, Hey, the man who made me take up my bed and walk, his name was Jesus. He goes back and says, The man who healed me, his name was Jesus. It's very important. Because they're still not hearing it. Finish this section of verses. And therefore did the Jews persecute Jesus. And they sought to slay him. Because he had done these things on the Sabbath day. But Jesus answered them, I love this. My father worketh hitherto, and I work. Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill him because he not only had broken the Sabbath, but also said also that God was his father, making himself equal with God. The Jews just heard again, this man has been healed. He's explaining his situation to them. I was afflicted. This man healed me. This man made me whole. And all they're focused on is the things that they think Jesus is doing wrong. And they come to Jesus and they are so upset that he did this on the Sabbath. And Jesus' answer is amazing, as it always is to the Pharisees. Sometimes he asks them a question back and baffles them. This time he just cuts right to it. And they said, Look, you've done this thing on the Sabbath. And he says, I want you to get what he's saying. My father's working today. So am I. Do you get that? The Pharisees wanted God working on the Sabbath. They wanted God available. They were there, supposed to be talking to Him, spending time with Him, crying out to Him, focused on Him. God is supposed to be available on the Sabbath, and Jesus is letting them know clearly who He is. He says, Look, my Father's working today. You don't have a problem with that, and I'm working also. He cut straight to the point. I am the Son of God. And the Pharisees are angry. They're enraged. This man broke the Sabbath, and now he says he's an equal to God. Use these 18 verses, I'm going to give you just a few things tonight to send you out with. First of all, this is my first point, because man, I miss this so much. This may make some of you uncomfortable, but I want you to hang with me. Jesus is in charge of who gets the healing. I'm going to change that to say this. Jesus is in charge of salvation. Jesus is in charge of salvation. I want you to look at this passage. This man didn't cry out for Jesus. I'm going to show you that in just a second. And just go a little deeper into it. This is not a multitude where they're crying and they're pressing on him. In fact, they're all focused on this pool, it seems. This man is laying there minding his own business. And Jesus walks up to him. And Jesus points at him and asks him, Do you want to be made whole? And this man's response is not even, hey, yes, Jesus, I see you are the Messiah. Yes, heal me. His response even indicates that he's still missing it, and Jesus still heals it. Amen? You still use them and it gives you this picture. I want you to get this. It's an important point. And if you miss this, it's so easy to get off track in life. It's something dangerous. It can fill us with the most dangerous thing. It fills us with pride. There's often times we make salvation so much about us and what we do. We don't even realize it. I want to say a few things tonight. I thank God that I was raised in a Christian home. That's a blessing. That my parents took me to church. They did a good job raising me. But I want you to hear me. That's not why I'm saved. That's not why I'm saved. In fact, I know many people who grow up in church. I've got many friends. My own father is here tonight. If he tells you his testimony, he is, to me, my Mima is a saint. I still would, I'm going to be so surprised to hear that she was a sinner when I get to heaven. Anybody else have a Mimaw like that? And she raised him at church. And he had a loving stepdad who stepped in his life and made sure that he was growing up in church, but it was in his mid-twenties when he saw that he needed Jesus. And I look at that and I remind myself of these things. Romans talks about this all throughout, and it's the coin, side of the coin you need to get a hold of. Your salvation is Jesus reaching down and choosing you and saving you. I know it's a side of the coin we don't like to entertain. You know where our stance is, so don't panic on me. It is whomsoever will call upon the name of the Lord, but God is the author of salvation and God is the initiator of it. It is God who does. And I want you to get this. Jesus saves. I have never saved anyone. Amen? I have never saved. I've been a part of some incredible divine moments where I see other people. God reached down and save them. And He used me as an instrument. But I've never saved anyone. We get so prideful sometimes because we make it sometimes. I know I have in my own life about how we're raised or thinking we're better than others or I chose better than this person. But listen, friend, do not miss the grace of God. The grace of God and the truth is that God, if you're in here and you say, I know that I am a child of God, it's that God reached down and he saved you. And that's a wonderful thing. And you know what? He didn't have any reason to save me. I wasn't extra awesome. I wasn't standing out above everyone else. I don't believe that for a second. But here's the truth. Some of you, maybe even tonight or maybe in the future, God's grace is going to change you one day. Because here's the honest truth. Here's why we got to go with that side of the coin and understand that sometimes. Because he can save anyone. And Jesus can swoop down into anyone's life, even when they're minding their own business. Just ask the apostle Paul, and he can turn their life upside down. The grace of God also reminds us not to give up hope for others. Amen? Because it's Jesus that saves. I love that. It's Jesus that saves. I want you to get this. The religious people missed the healing. And instead, here's a shocker. They were offended. They were offended. This is what religion does. It takes your joy. Religion takes your joy, it blinds you. And it fills you with pride. I remember just even in the last two years, one of the most joyful conversations I had with someone and sitting in my office and seeing someone that we had prayed for accept Christ as their Savior. It took this moment, and God just is just speaking to me where I said, Hey, look, this you think that Christianity is just following a list of rules. You look at the Bible and you look at Christianity, and I'm hearing you, and you think it's just this list of rules. And here's what happens. When you look at Christianity that way, it causes you to miss the grace of God. Just stick with me. Christianity is not a list of rules you have to follow. When you view the Bible as a list of rules that you're supposed to and you have to line up with, you know what happens? You start looking just like the Pharisees. You're carrying around a prideful burden. And you know where you find peace? The only way you find peace is you realize you're ahead of some others spiritually. You ever been there? So you get real honest with yourself tonight. Where the only peace you have in your life is because you feel like you're doing a better job than others. You're following more rules than them. I want you to hear this. When you see the grace of God, it takes what many people believe is a list of rules, and it becomes a list of ways you can love God. See, Jesus says this, if you love me, what? Keep my commandments. Because of my grace, you should love me. And then you can do things that please me. I want you to get this tonight, and some of you, and just hear me. If you're coming to church tonight, and we use this illustration because it's what I had in Sunday school growing up, so that you can get a sticker on your chart in heaven. And we're gonna go over attendance, church attendance in heaven, and we're gonna sit there and we're gonna get awards. Who attended the most church services? Can I tell you that's not gonna happen? You know why you're in church tonight, and I want you to hear this because you may not even realize it. I'm in church tonight because I love God. Because I love God. And if it becomes this thing that is a burden to me, I have to do this thing, and I have to do this thing. You know what happens to people when they look at the word of God and they look at the Bible with this religious view, and they're constantly offended, and everything's a burden, and they can't seem to have joy and peace. And I've been there before in my own life, but we miss it. And it's just one of the many ways that we show God tonight, I love you. I want to worship you, I want to hear from you. How many times do we meet and we miss the power of God because someone is in some sort of violation that we see? And usually it's a violation that's part of uh section A, column two, row 36 of an addendum that we've made to scriptures. I've been there. I've had times where even in this church years and years ago, even in other churches, I remember even in Bible college, people get saved, and we had an incredible thing, and all these good things happen, and someone comes up, and they've got section A, clause 13, addendum number 12 to share with me. And they're in a rage about it, they're upset. I think about this: how many youth have come home from camp? Bragging about their lives being changed. Come home carrying their mats and saying, Hey, God changed my life, but instead the parents are more focused on some little thing that happened at camp and some little problem that they just have to address, and they're not even listening that their life has been changed. They're missing it. How many services ruined? Because someone missed the grace of God. Did an investigative drama. Can you imagine how frustrating this man probably was getting as he's talking to these Pharisees? As they're like, who told you to pick up your bed and walk? It's the guy who healed me. Did you hear that? He healed me. I was sick for 38 years, and this guy spoke and it was over. What's his name? Did he tell you to take up your bed and walk? What do you look like? Can you give us a description? Who was he? He's a man who healed me. He's a man who healed me. My life has changed. I'm a new creature. Religion will cause you to miss the power of God, it'll cause you to miss the grace of God. But here's my next point. Jesus then warns of a worse condition than this man's previous disability. And that's a life of sin. I wrote this down because I need you to hear this. Jesus is serious about sin. It's not funny to him. There's something our culture cannot seem to grasp as well, going the other direction. The grace of God is important. And we that Jesus did fellowship with sinners. However, he did so to free them from a life of pain and consequences. From a life spent an eternity spent from a God who loves them. Our culture runs the wrong way with this one. It's in every interview, inside and outside of Christianity, when the church comes up. I've heard it even this week. Oh, Jesus is just some cool dude. And if he was around today, he'd be partying it up. He'd be smoking this and drinking that and acting this way. That is my Jesus, they say, wrong. Where's Jesus in this passage? He's in the temple. Amen? He's in the temple, and every time it's time to be in the temple, Scripture says that's where Jesus was. Sure, he had compassion on the lost. He had compassion on the sick. He had compassion on the rotten religious crowd. All the way till he went to the cross. Even for them. For all of us. But it was all about saving us from our sins. When the angel made the announcement to Mary and Joseph, what did he say? He will save his people from their sins. Jesus doesn't think sin is funny. He hates it. He suffered gruesomely because of our sin. He goes out of his way to warn this man. He says, Look, there's something worse waiting around the corner from you. It's a life of sin. There's things that you now, you've been in this condition for 38 years, you're heading into a whole new world. There's things waiting on you you don't even understand. And if you don't get a grip on this, if you don't get a hold of this, there's something worse coming than any physical disability or any physical ailment you can think of. And you better watch out for it. After every healing interaction, even the woman caught in the act of adultery, what does Jesus say? Go and sin no more. He brings it up constantly. If you continue on and look at the life of Jesus, he heals people from demon possession. There's one man in particular, he heals the man, and then Jesus gets a hold of the man after the healing. He says, Look, now you are free. And you are no longer demon possessed. But if you're not careful, it's going to be more than one next time. You better fix it. Better hear what I'm saying. There's danger. Sin is not fun, it's not cool. It's not something Jesus shrugs his shoulders or scoffs at. It's something that scars, that hurts. And that you should avoid. Brother Curtis did such a great job talking about David and Nathan last week. And you read that passage, it's the same even today. Nathan comes to David and he says, Look, the Lord has put away your sin. He's going to save your life. Well, that'll preach. Amen? The Lord has put away my sin. And he has saved my life and spared my life. Praise God. But then Nathan looks at David and he says, But there's heavy consequences coming. There's heavy consequences coming, David. God has spared you. And I need you to hear this. There's consequences for your sin. And they're coming, and you're not going to be able to handle these. These are rough. Can I tell you this sin is not something that we look at? Sure, Jesus doesn't want a school of religious piety. You know one of the terms whether Curtis helped me so much with? You know what a hypocrite is? You don't know what's a hypocrite? Am I a hypocrite? Hypocrites are hyper-critical. So when you find yourself in Psalms chapter 1 sitting on the seat of the scornful, and you're constantly in the place of criticism, can I tell you this? I want to give this identity to every person in this room. You're a hypocrite. You're okay with your sin, and you get angry at everyone else's sins. Hypocrites are hypercritical. Jesus doesn't want us in that mode, but he doesn't want us full of sin either. Maybe some of you tonight in God's house, Jesus says to you, You better set this down. Yeah, you've been saved. But there's some things you better figure out, or there's danger ahead. There's something you've been struggling with, there's something you better watch out for, there's something you're playing with now that's going to turn into this massive thing that is going to get out of control and it's going to scar you and it's going to hurt you. And there's something worse ahead than you can imagine if you don't come give this to me tonight. Maybe Jesus speaks to you tonight about some sin in your life. He says, Hey, tonight's the night you need. He looks at you and he grabs you tonight with his word and he says, Hey, there's some things you better get a hold of. Some things you better get a control of. And then here's my last point. Everyone had their eyes on the pool, and Jesus was in their midst. I thought about this picture. There's a multitude of needy people. Yet none of them looked to Jesus. I love this quote from Spurgeon. He says, A blindness had come over these people at the pool. There they were, and there was Christ. Who could heal them? But not a single one of them sought him. Their eyes were fixed on the water, expecting it to be troubled. They were so taken up with their own chosen way that the true way was neglected. Now we don't know the full details. Jesus hidden intentionally from the multitude. Was Jesus fame not available to the sick and needy in this area? That'll preach as well. What's the situation here? But I am certain of this picture. And taking it right here in Scripture, this picture we see and applying it here to us tonight. Here's one of the only scenes in the Bible that you're going to see where Jesus passes by a group of people. These are people that are sick, they have diseases and infirmities, they're blind, they're halt, they're withered, scripture says, you name it, there's a multitude of people suffering from it, and Jesus passes by. And typically in Scripture, when you see this and you see Jesus in his ministry, he is overwhelmed because everyone's screaming out, Jesus, heal me over here, Jesus, Jesus. They're pressing on him and they're trying to get to him, but this is not the scene. Here's a group of people that are sick and in need of help. And for whatever reason, they got their eyes on the wrong thing. Whatever the reason, it's a powerful reminder. Jesus is there in the midst, and the focus is on the wrong thing. Fast forward to where we are even today. We have church services each week when we open the word together. We give opportunities for prayer. We remind ourselves each week that Jesus is here in our midst. And he's here, he's available, and our minds are elsewhere. We wake up in the morning beaten down. You ever been there? Beaten down sometimes by our sin struggles, drowning in different ailments, maybe even health, maybe it's financial struggles, anger, lust, greed, you name it. And we wake up and our eyes are everywhere but Jesus. Everywhere. If I could just get my hands on this, if I could just get some more cash, if I could just spend some more time and leisure, if I could just rest a bit more, if I could just volunteer for a couple more things, even things that are not bad things, and we've got our eyes set on all these things. If I could just get a few more hours at work, if I could just do this or that, if I could just have this person, or if I could just have this thing, and meanwhile, Jesus waits. He's right there in the midst. If you were here Wednesday night, Curtis did an incredible job reminding us again from Luke 10 about Martha and Mary and the sisters. I love that story. And Jesus, Martha is doing a good thing and she's working, but Jesus tells her at the end of the passage, he says, Look, Mary chose the one thing that's needful. Just stop right there, rewind, say, what's the one thing that's needful? It just says that Mary sat at Jesus' feet and heard his word. That's it. She sat at Jesus' feet and heard his word. And she doesn't lead a crusade, she's not doing this thing, she sat at Jesus' feet. And when he was speaking, she listened. And Jesus says, Man, Martha, there's one thing that's needful. You know what that means? It means it's the most important thing. It doesn't mean the other things aren't good. It means don't mean that they don't have a list of importance. That doesn't mean that they don't need done. But the most important thing is Jesus. Every single day. It's Jesus. You walk around in a sin suit. I hate that term, but it's it's what it is, isn't it? And we say, Man, I Jesus has saved me, and we want to do all these incredible things. I remember challenging Brother Curtis talked last week, and he had to nail on the head. He said, There's all these people that want to do all these big things, and they want to volunteer, they want to lead these missions, they want to do these things. And he has to tell some of them, hey, you're not ready. I told, I remember going to a dean now a couple of years ago and looking at some young people and saying, look, some of you are all fired up, you're all stirred up, and you're wanting to do all these big things. What if God's calling you just to get out of bed an hour earlier? Ugh. Like I mean, that was the tone of the room. Yuck. I don't want that. Give me something good. What if he's just calling you to get up earlier and spend time with him? Learn how to pray, learn how to talk to him, open his word and hear from him and do it on a daily basis. Let me tell you this. I'm gonna close with this. I'll ask our musicians to come. What do you have your mind on for the cure? I want you to think about that. Do some introspection tonight. Some of you, if you were to be honest, maybe even some of you with our ages, you can say, Man, I I probably have an infirmity. I think I've got something that's been with me 38 years or more. Man, I resonate with that. I've had things in my life that I just can't seem to put down. They have whooped up on me for a long time. Let me ask you a question. What do you have your mind on for the cure? Every person in this room, I believe this tonight, you got some sort of problem in your life that you need help with. If you don't, as Brother Burton says, come, please come pour into me after the service. You got something that Jesus needs to address that he's speaking to you about, that's a problem day in and day out. You seem to go to the throne with it every day, day after day, again and again and again. Let me ask you a question. What do you have your eyes set on for the cure? Because whatever it is, it's not working. And I do this all the time. It's Jesus. Get your eyes on the master. Off the pool, on to him. What thing are you going all in on that hasn't worked? It's so simple. Maybe even tonight you say, Brother DJ, I need to give my life to Jesus. I have tried everything possible. I've tried to clean up my act myself. I've tried to do all these things. I've got my eyes on thinking I can just come to church more. I got my eyes on thinking I can try to be a better person. I'm going to try to stop doing this sin. And it just is such a heavy burden. I don't know what to do anymore. And I just need to give my life to Jesus. I want this rest. I want this peace. I want to meet with Him and I want Him to call me His child. I want to be saved. That's what happens, and heaven rejoices. And every person on earth, you got to make that decision in your life. And when God's calling you, He's drawing you in tonight, I would ask you, there's grace waiting on you. If you need to be saved, I know this is a church crowd tonight. Others, you say, I know I'm saved. I just need to give him more of me. There's power in his presence. I spend, can I just be honest with you guys tonight? You may ever just feel like they just do circles sometimes in your walk? Some days I just wake up. Some people just make something like, oh, this is my pastor. He's not supposed to be saying this. He's supposed to be perfect. But I wake up and I feel like I'm going in circles. And I got all I got my eyes set on all these other things, and I start heading all these other directions. And I think I'm going to get traction by doing all these other things, and I end up right back where I started, making no progress. And I keep thinking there's another way. I keep thinking there's I can just bypass and do all these other stuff. And then I get myself at a breaking point. God, I won't say he loves those, but that's where I just fall down on my knees and I spend time with him. And you know what I start seeing? I start seeing more victory. Start feeling more joyful, more encouragement. He's my strength. I would tell you tonight, what do you have your eyes set on for the cure for your ailment? There's a whole group of bunch of people that are gathered together thinking, man, I know I got all these problems, but I'm going to look this way. And Jesus is going, hey, you can talk to me about it. You can pray. You can pray. You can pray. You can come to me. You can open my word and let me speak to you. Maybe some of you are struggling with what it says, I ask you to head bowed and eyes closed to stand with me. Jesus is speaking to you, and you just get honest tonight, and because every person in this room is a sinner. You're saying, God is getting a hold of me tonight about some sin in my life. I know I'm a sinner like every other person in this room, and I need to give some things to him tonight. Because if I don't, I'm going to be in trouble. I'm going to be in trouble. There's some things waiting ahead that are dangerous, and he wants to protect me from them. Maybe you're here tonight and it's the religious concept of you just can't really seem to find joy. And you just, and you're getting feeling like you're carrying a burden, and it's been a long time since you celebrated the grace of God that your salvation has nothing to do with how good you are. Jesus saves. It's him that does the saving. What do you have your eyes on for the cure? Let's pray, Lord Jesus. You are our cure. All the way back in the days of Moses, Lord. The pictures you give us there set their eyes on you. And every day, Lord, it's so easy for us to take our eyes off you and put it on all these other remedies that just don't work. Lord, as the old Psalm says, just the closer walk with you. Well, let us desire that. Draw us into that. We set our eyes on you for our elders. Jesus' name.