John chapter number five, and I wanna ask you a question. Where is your hope? Where is your hope? John chapter five, and we'll begin reading in verse one. And what a privilege it is to stand and proclaim his message. And aren't you thankful for his death, burial, and resurrection? And while you're turning, I do wanna wish all the mothers a happy Mother's Day. Our Mother's Day isn't until May, and so I'm not sure if I have to get my mom a present here for today. And she's not here, so she doesn't even know. So she'll just have to wait till Mother's Day in next month. No? Two months. We've got two months. All right. John chapter number 5, we'll begin reading in verse 1. It says, After this, there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. Now there is at Jerusalem the 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, 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. And a certain man was there which had an infirmity thirty and eight 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. Jesus saith unto him, Rise, take up thy bed, and walk. And immediately the man was made whole, and took up his bed, and 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. He 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 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, a multitude being in that place. Afterward Jesus findeth him in the temple, and said unto him, Behold, thou art made whole, sin no more, lest the worst thing come unto thee. Let's pray. Our Lord, we love you and we thank you so much for who you are. Lord, we thank you for your majesty. Lord, we thank you for your power. Lord, we thank you for your love that you give to us, Lord. We understand that you are a just God and we also understand you're such a merciful God. And so God, as we look at your word today, I pray that you would comfort our hearts. I pray that you would encourage us through your word. Lord, there may be need some conviction here. And so God, I pray that you would convict hearts if necessary. Lord, I pray that you would give us exactly what we need, and I pray that Jesus Christ would be exalted through it all. And Lord, I pray if there's somebody here that doesn't know Jesus as their personal Savior, I pray that today would be the day that they would call upon his beautiful, marvelous name. Lord, would you please help me? I pray that you'd hide me behind your cross. Lord, we love you and thank you, and ask this in Jesus' name, amen. Hope is a wonderful, marvelous thing as long as your hope is in a marvelous thing. And when I say hope, I mean a joyful expectation. Not like my daughter, she loves horses and ponies, and every year she hopes that she's gonna get a pony for Christmas, but it never seems to happen. But when we hope in the right thing, when we hope in Jesus Christ, our hope isn't just, well, I kind of want it to happen. When we hope in the right thing and we hope in Jesus Christ, we understand that it will take place because our hope needs to be settled and our faith needs to be settled on the work of Jesus Christ that he accomplished on the cross of Calvary 2,000 years ago. And as we look at this scripture, we see a really unusual type scenario. In Jerusalem, there was a pool, and in that pool, miracles were worked. We don't really fully understand it, but at a certain time of the year, an angel would come down and step into the pool and stir the water up, trouble it up, and whoever stepped foot in the pool first was healed of whatever disease they had. So if a blind man got into the pool when it was troubled, He would come out seen. When a lame man would get into the pool, first, he would come out walking. It was a miraculous event that we don't fully understand, but this man had been here for such a long time. The Bible says, he doesn't tell us how long he'd been at the pool, but it does tell us that for 38 years, this man had a awful problem. He couldn't walk, and back in those days, it wasn't as easy as it is today. For those who have disabilities, because there's a lot of different things for people with disabilities, but back then what happened was somebody else had to dress him, somebody else had to take him places, somebody else had to feed him. He couldn't do anything at all on his own. It was always somebody else doing something for him. And so this man had been there for such a long time. And I imagine when he first heard about this pull, what a blessing it was. Could you imagine if you couldn't walk, you couldn't move, you couldn't do anything for yourself, and all of a sudden somebody tells you, listen, there's a pool down the street. And it may sound crazy, but whenever that angel comes down and stirs that water up, if you get in that pool, you will be healed of whatever disease you have. And so I'm sure this man, his hope was built up. He was a man with nothing, he couldn't do anything, but now he's got at least some hope in his life. He's got a hope that one day he's gonna be able to get into that pool and be healed of his problem. And so he goes, somebody takes him down there, sits him at the pool, and there he waits. And probably at first, he was probably excited. I mean, I just imagine this guy, he's like, I've got something to live for now. I've got some hope in my life that one day I'm going to be able to get in that pool. And I imagine the first time that angel came down and stirred that water up. Could you imagine? He probably got a smile on his face. Hey, this is actually going to happen. This is something I really didn't know if it was true or not. Maybe I just thought it was a myth, but now I've seen it. Maybe he saw a blind man step in and he came out and he was able to see. And what a blessing that would have been. And that built his hope up a little bit. And then the next time the angel came down, oh, somebody else is getting in there. That's all right, because I know that it's real. This isn't just a figment of my imagination. That blind guy, yeah, he was able to see. Now this guy, he's able to walk, too. He was in the same condition as I was. Now he's able to walk. And so I imagine that his hope kept building up. But could you imagine after being there for so long? after seeing so many people being healed, and yet he was still laying there. So many people had the miracles happen to them, but yet that man was disappointed time and time again. This led to not only his hope fading, but I believe it also added to some jealousy. I believe he probably started seeing other people get in there and, yeah, what can they go and why can't I? And many times we're in a similar situation. Have you ever wondered why everybody else seems to be being blessed and here we are and we've got no money, we've got nothing going on, everything's just bad. Every time it rains, it just pours on us and we can't do anything. We can't get out of this humdrum life. It keeps getting worse and worse and worse and worse. That's what this man felt. And I believe by the time we get to this scripture, I believe this man had lost all hope. I want you to notice what Jesus asked him in verse 6. It says in verse 6, when Jesus saw him lying, knew that he had been now a long time in that case, he saith unto him, wilt thou be made whole? This is kind of a silly question. Jesus is asking somebody who needs help, needs some physical help. He's asking him, do you want to be healed? Jesus wasn't asking because he didn't know the answer. But Jesus wanted to reveal the heart of this man. And so Jesus says, will you be made whole? Don't you want to be healed of your infirmity? Don't you want to be able to walk again? But I want you to notice what this man says. And it really shows his heart. It really shows that he is lacking hope in his life. 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. He says a few things that show that his hope's gone. One, he says, the pool is only troubled at a certain time. Maybe he thinks Jesus doesn't really know about this miracle. Maybe Jesus is just a passerby. He doesn't know him from anybody else. And he says, listen, this pool, you can't get healing all the time. You can only get healed once every now and then. Whenever the angel comes down and stirs this water, it doesn't continue to come. It's only for a certain time and a certain season. And so he says that this pool is only troubled at a certain time. He says, I have no man when the water is troubled. He said, the only way I'm going to get healed is when that pool is troubled. And he says also, he says that every time this pool is troubled, somebody else gets the blessing. And here I am left alone. He says others were stepping down before him. Other people were getting blessed. Other people were getting miracles worked in their lives. But there he is all by himself, because look what he says. At the beginning of his statement, he says, Sir, I have no man. And I believe this is really where his hopelessness lay. He said, I don't have anybody who cares about me. If I had somebody who cared about me, they would stick around with me. They would sit by this pool. And as soon as the waters were troubled, I would get thrown into that pool so that I would be healed. But I don't have anybody who cares about me. This isn't the first time that people have said to Jesus that nobody cares about me. And you remember the disciples, they were in a great storm and many of the disciples, they were professional fishermen. So they'd been out on the sea when a storm would come, but yet this was a storm like no other. And so they're toiling, they're taking their buckets and they're throwing the water out there. They're trying to do everything they know to do to protect themselves. And they go back and find Jesus laying down asleep. He's back there taking a nap, and the disciples accuse Jesus of not caring about them. They said, Master, carest thou not that we perish? Don't you even care about what's going on? You're back here with your nice nap, and here we are doing everything we can to save our lives. You don't even care about our souls. And this man is in a situation similar, and he says, I don't have anybody who cares about my life. And maybe you've been in that situation, I know that I have, where everything is just being poured down upon us, and it seems like we're the only ones going through a problem, a trial, a storm in our life, and it seems like nobody else in the world cares about us at all. Have you ever been in a hopeless situation? Have you ever felt hopeless like this man by the pool of Bethesda? It seems this pool was like a dangling carrot and just teasing the man. Well, I might be able to get healing, I might be able to get it, but as much as he reaches, as much as he runs, he can never get to the healing that he needs. And so this man, he goes from being full of hope to now he is hopeless in his life. And there is a reason why he was hopeless in his life is because his hope was settled in the wrong thing. You see, his whole life, he had been focusing on that pull. He was focusing on the temporal. He was focusing on the earth. And he was thinking, you know what? I'm going to get healed. I'm going to get healed, but I've got to make sure that this pool is stirred up. I've got to make sure that nobody else gets in front of me. I've got to make sure that somebody is going to be able to throw me in. I've got to do something on myself. But what he was doing, his hope was in the wrong thing. And many of us, we do the same thing. Many of us put our hope in our jobs. We put our hopes in our kids. We put our hope in money. We put our hopes in all kinds of different avenues. But can I just go ahead and tell you that if your hope is in anything else apart from the Lord Jesus Christ, your hope is not going to last. Because this is the way it works. Everything on earth is going to end one day. If it's a relationship that you have your hope in, your relationship will end eventually. And you may be married for the rest of your life, but eventually that relationship will end. It'll end by death. Some people hope in their kids, and I don't know how it is back here, but I know back home, Many parents put their hope in their kid's sports ability. And they'll say, you know what? My kid is better than your kid. So I'm going to push my kid to the limit. And they're going to be the best basketball player. They're going to be the best baseball player. They're going to be the next Michael Jordan. And I don't know how that would translate over here. I would assume that there's people who want to make their kids the best rugby stars and the next footballer, those who strive. But then you know what? Most of the kids that are pushed and their parents have their hope that their kids are going to make millions. You know what? It usually doesn't pan out. Even if a child is good, You know how many professional athletes are absolutely broke today? It's because their hope is in the wrong thing. Their hope is in the temporal and not in the eternal. And so this man at Bethesda, his eyes were fixed upon that pool. His eyes were fixed upon what he thought was everything that he hoped in. He put all of his eggs in the basket of the only way that I'm gonna be healed is by getting in this pool when that angel comes at the certain time before somebody else gets the blessing. And his hope began to fade. His hope began to wane, and eventually, by the time Jesus came on the scene, all hope was lost. And that might have been the best thing for this man. Because he realized that he was never going to get healed from that pool. And so Jesus comes along and he asked him that question. Don't you want to be healed? Will you be made whole? And when Jesus asked that, I believe it caused something to happen in this man's life. I believe first this man had to look up. He had to take his eyes off of the temporal and he had to focus on, and at the time he didn't know who it was, but he had to focus on the Son of God. He asked him a question and the answer was, Sir, I have no man. Whenever the water stirred up, somebody else steps in before me and I don't have anybody who cares about me. Lord, there's nothing that I can do. And so Jesus, he just simply says something marvelous and beautiful, he says, rise, take up thy bed, and walk." Now, if Jesus did not have the power to heal, if Jesus was just like you or me, then Jesus would have been a very cruel, mean man. I don't have the authority or the ability to say to somebody who's blind, just open your eyes and look. I don't have the ability to say, you know what, if you're in a wheelchair, just get up and walk. And unfortunately, there's a lot of charlatans out there that try that, and they make a lot of people give them money, and it's all about themselves. But can I tell you that Jesus has the authority over every disease, every sickness, every infirmity that anybody has, Jesus has the power to heal people of those things. And so he says, rise, take up thy bed and walk. If Jesus didn't have the power to do this, then Jesus would have been so cruel to this man. But he says, rise, take up thy bed and walk. And the Bible says, and immediately, and immediately this man was made whole and took up his bed and walked. and on the same day was the Sabbath. So this man goes from lying down, being carried everywhere he goes, to being a really burden on people, to now immediately, the Bible says, that he is made whole from his disease. He is immediately given the strength that he needs to not only get up, but to be able to carry his cot out of the pool. Jesus says, rise, take up thy bed, and walk. He says, get away from where you're at, stand up, take up your bed, and just get out of here. The man was immediately made whole and took up his bed and walked, and on the same day was the Sabbath day. You see, a lot of people have their hope in the temporal. in what's around them, what they can see and what they can feel. But what we need to do is get our eyes off of the temporal and focus on the eternal Son of God, Jesus Christ. The Bible says in Hebrews 12, verse two, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, suffering the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. That is where we need to fix our eyes. That's where we need to focus, not on what, what the world can do for us, not what the happiness that the world can bring us. We need to focus on the joy that Jesus Christ has for us, all the peace that we need in our lives. We must focus on the eternal and not the temporal. We need to look up. We need to look up at Jesus Christ. Paul, I believe he was in a place of hopelessness when Jesus said to him, my grace is sufficient for thee. For my strength is made perfect in weakness. And Paul says, Most gladly will I rather glory in mine infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. And he said, I glory God in necessities and trials and tribulations. He says, For when I am weak, Then am I strong. We need to focus on Jesus Christ because he is the only one that can help us out. In another storm, they were on the Sea of Galilee and Jesus wasn't with them, but then they see Jesus and Peter says, Lord, if it's you, tell me to come out. And Jesus says, come. And Peter, he's walking on the water for a little ways, and then he sees the waves, he feels the wind, and he began to sink. His eyes weren't fixed upon the Lord Jesus. His eyes were fixed upon the temporary storm. But Jesus is the master of the seas. Jesus is the one who's in control. And Jesus, as it says in Colossians 1.27, the Bible says, "...to whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory." The hope that we have in this world, it will fade away. It will be gone, but the hope that we have in the Lord Jesus Christ, it will never fade away. The hope that we have in Jesus Christ, it's not temporary, but it is eternal. And it's the Bible says, He is the hope of glory. What that means is one day you and I, one day we are going to step foot into heaven with Jesus Christ. It may go through the death of our lives, but it also may come when Jesus Christ comes and raptures His church away. But the fact is, He is our hope. He is our blessed hope. He is our living hope. We must fix our eyes upon Him. Now, I want you to notice, What's that? Immediately the man was made whole. He took up his bed. But then the last part of the verse 9, it says that on the same day was the Sabbath. And if you study the Bible much, you'll know that those Pharisees and those scribes were always watching Jesus Christ. on the Sabbath day, because they wanted to see just what Jesus was up to. They wanted to find something to accuse him by. And it says in verse 10, the Jews therefore said unto him that was cured, it is the Sabbath day. It is not lawful for thee to carry thy bed. So they said, you can't carry your bed out of here. This is Sabbath day, don't you know? Well, this man had been 38 years in a condition that kept him away from worshiping God any time. He couldn't go to the temple, he couldn't make sacrifices, he was in a bad situation for 38 years and now he's healed of his disease and it says, who's the one? He said, he answered him, he that made me whole, the same said unto me, take up thy bed and walk. This man had a simple answer. He said, the guy who healed me, he's the one that commanded me to take up my bed and get out of here. And they said, well, who is that? 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 hath conveyed himself away a multitude being in that place. And it says in verse 14, Afterward Jesus findeth him in the temple, and said unto him, Behold, thou art made whole. Sin no more, lest the worst thing come unto thee. This man was not only healed of his affliction, his temporary lameness, but this man was healed of his eternal soul. He was ready to die and go to hell were it not for Jesus Christ coming by his way that day. He had no chance of making it to heaven because he was a sinner just like you and I. His hope was in that pool, but Jesus Christ helped him to get his hope on him. And so Jesus says, you're not just made whole physically, but you are made whole spiritually. We are sinners and we have a void in our lives. And there is nothing that we can do to fill it. We can't do anything to take care of the problems that exist in our soul. We are sinners and that means we deserve damnation in hell for all of eternity But aren't you thankful that Jesus Christ came by us? Aren't you thankful that Jesus Christ came by where we are? Aren't you thankful that Jesus Christ came down from heaven? He was born of a virgin He came to the place where we are and he gave his life on the cross for our sins and the Bible says that that he was made He made was made sin for us who knew no sin that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him, we were in a worse situation than this man sitting by the pool. Many people like this man try to earn their eternal life by dealing with temporal things. They try to do good works, and they try to come to church, and they try to give offering, and they try to help people out. But those temporal things will never cure our eternal problems. This man, his hope was in the pool. His hope was that somebody would care enough for his soul. And there he is, laying on the ground by the pool. He's laying there and he looks up when Jesus asked him the question, will you be made whole? He looks up and he says to Jesus Christ, Sir, I have no man." This man is about to meet the Savior of the world. He says, Sir, I don't have anybody who cares about me at all. Nobody cares about me. Nobody even knows that I exist. Every time that pool is stirred, somebody else gets in the pool. Somebody else gets healed. Somebody else gets a blessing. And here I am. Nobody cares about my soul. Can I just tell you, even if there is not one person on earth who knows you, who cares about you, even if everybody in the world would hate you, there is still someone who loves you. Jesus knew this man long before, long before he was at that pool that day. Jesus knew this man, he knew this man before the foundation of the world, and Jesus was ready to give his life. In fact, the Bible says that before the foundation of the world, Jesus was a lamb ready for the slaughter. Jesus was ready to go, to be our sin bearer, to take our problems, to take our curse, our guilt, Jesus was ready to do that for this man. And this man, not knowing who Jesus was, says, nobody cares about me. And there are a lot of people in that same situation today. A lot of people live their lives in just the temporal. They see the problems that they have, and maybe they have hope at one point, but that hope begins to fade. and their hope not being on the eternal Son of God, their hope goes away and they live a life of hopelessness and brokenness. But even though they don't realize it, there is somebody who cares about their soul and his name is Jesus Christ. This man that day at the pool of Bethesda, he looks up and he sees Jesus and he doesn't know him from anybody and he says, I don't have anybody who cares enough for me. Jesus had the answer for that man that day. And can I tell you that Jesus has the answer for our problems today. If you're here today, and maybe you're living a life of hopelessness like this man. Maybe you're focused on the temporal. You're focused on the earthly things. You're focused on what you can do. And maybe you're at a point right now where you've lost your hope. Just look up. Look up because Jesus wants you. You may think nobody cares about you. You may think nobody knows you. The Bible says that he even knows how many hairs are on our head. That's such a silly thing to know, but what he's saying is Jesus knows every single thing about us. He knows our weaknesses. He knows what our stressors are. He knows the good things about us and He knows the bad things about us and yet He still loves us. And so if you're here today and you are not in a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, you can be made whole today. You can be made whole of your void that is in your life. You need Jesus Christ to save you. And the Bible says it like this, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. So if you're here today and don't know him, just look up, look to the cross, look at what Jesus Christ did for you. Confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God hath raised him from the dead and thou shalt be saved. But many of us here are probably believers in the Lord Jesus Christ already. And as we look at this Scripture, I believe it's a help to us as well, not just for those who are unbelievers, but many of us, even as believers, can get our eyes off of Jesus Christ. We can lose our focus and it can go from the eternal to the temporal. We know that Satan is a master at deceit, and he tries to get us stressed and focused on the things of this world. Can I tell you, whatever the problem is in your lives, the only thing that's going to help is Jesus Christ. Now, that doesn't mean everything, if you're saved, that doesn't mean everything's just going to pan out and everything's just going to fall into place and everything's going to be a bed of roses, but can I tell you, I would rather Him be on my side than be against. Can I tell you that Jesus Christ is the one who we need to put our focus on to fix our eyes upon, looking unto Jesus. Where is your hope today? This man at Bethesda, had he never met Jesus Christ, he would have lived a life of hopelessness and helplessness, and today he would be in hell today. Aren't you thankful that Jesus came by? Aren't you thankful that He came by your life if you're a believer? If you're not, He's here today. He's calling your name. Will you answer? He says, rise, take up your bed, and walk. Leave your sins behind and follow Jesus Christ. Heads bowed and eyes closed for a moment today. If you're here today and maybe you say, I don't know Jesus Christ, you've never met Him, and maybe your hope is, as you might be honest and say, my hope is not in Christ. I've had my hope in many other things, but I've never placed my faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Would there be somebody this evening that would say, brother Zach, I have never been saved. I've never called upon the name of the Lord. And if I were to die today, I'm not sure where I would spend eternity. Would you by uplifting your hand say, I'm really not sure where I'm going to spend eternity. See, I'm really not sure where my hope is. Would you be willing to slip your hand up and raise your hand and say, yes, that's me. I would love to pray for you today. Christian, what about you? Would there be somebody that would say, brothers, I know that I'm saved, I know that I'm a believer, but my hope has been fading because my hope has been on things of this world. Maybe you've lost focus this evening. Maybe you need to get rededicated to the Lord and say, Lord, forgive me where I have failed you. Forgive me for taking my eyes off of you. Would there be somebody that would be willing to raise your hand and say, yes, I've taken my eyes and my focus off of the Lord Jesus Christ, and I've been hoping in the wrong things. Would there be somebody that would lift your hand? Thank you for that hand. Thank you. There may be others here this evening. Thank you. Let's pray together. Our Father, we love you. And God, we thank you so much for who you are. Lord, we're thankful that you came by that pool of Bethesda that day. But Lord, I'm thankful you came by me, Lord, when I was a sinner. Lord, I'm thankful that you caused me to look at the eternal instead of the temporal. And Lord, I pray that you would be with each person here today. Lord, I pray that we would all leave here knowing for sure where our hope is. Lord, I'm looking forward to that blessed hope. Lord, I'm looking forward to the day that I'm gonna see Jesus Christ face to face. But Lord, there may be somebody here that isn't ready. And God, I pray that you would help them to understand that that need is not something to put off. But Lord, I pray that they would take care of it now. But Lord, I pray that you would be with all of us. Lord, be with those who raised their hand and said that they've kind of got their eyes off of Christ. Lord, I pray that you would help us all to look unto Jesus, to fix our eyes upon the only one that matters. Father, I pray that you would help us, bless the rest of the service, and we'll thank you for it and ask this in Jesus' name, amen. My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness. On Christ the solid rock I stand. Everything else is sinking sand. Everything. If you are without Christ, then you are without hope. There is no hope. But I'm thankful as believers in Him we look for that blessed hope and that glorious appearing of our great God and Saviour. Jesus Christ. If you don't know him tonight, then please don't leave this place without speaking to somebody, speak to your brother Zach, speak to myself, and I'd love to show you in the scripture what the Bible says you need to do in order to be saved. And if you are struggling, then you will walk with the Lord and stop looking at temporal things. Look to Jesus. That's what Andrew was singing earlier, look to Jesus, not just for salvation, but we keep our eyes fixed firmly upon him because he is our hope. He's our hope in this life and in the life to come, amen. All right, let's stand and say our last hymn and we'll sing 808. And let me tell the old, old story, amen. I'm sorry. you Please don't rush off tonight, please join us for a time of fellowship downstairs. Make sure you get to see Pastor Zach and Angie and the family and just