In today's episode of the Take Away, we step into one of the most revealing moments in John's gospel: the healing at the Pool of Piseda in John chapter 5, verses 1-18. Here we see Jesus approach a man who has been helpless for 38 years, waiting for change he could never bring about on his own. Rather than waiting for faith to rise or for the waters to stir, Jesus speaks a sovereign command. Get up, take up your bed, and walk. This passage confronts us with a profound truth about grace, that God's commands don't merely tell us what to do. They reveal our inability and then supply the power to obey. In this scene, the Son of God makes his authority known, not only over sickness and Sabbath, but as the one who works with the very authority of the Father. Joining Pastor Harry Barrens as he unpacks how this miracle exposes human helplessness, reveals divine initiative, and calls us to rise at the voice of Christ. Here's Pastor Harry with today's teaching.

And today we're beginning John chapter 5, looking at verses 1 through 18, and we're going to see something that's been building since the very first chapter of this gospel: that wherever Jesus speaks, his words don't just inform, they transform. Every divine command carries divine power. And in John 5, Jesus speaks right into human helplessness and tells a man who cannot move, rise, take up your bed and walk. This isn't just a healing story. It's a revelation of who Jesus is, why he came, and how grace actually works. Let's walk through this together. The Gospel of John is a revelation of command, revelation, grace, and glory. Every chapter so far has shown us how the voice of Jesus calls, commands, and reveals the glory of God. In John 1, the command was follow me in 143. Through that command, Jesus revealed his person, the eternal word made flesh, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. At his command, disciples left everything because his voice carried both authority and invitation. That's command, revelation, grace, and glory. In John 2, the command came at a wedding. Fill the jars with water in John 2, 7. Through obedience, they saw grace manifested. Water became wine, and his glory was revealed. That command showed us that Jesus came to bring transformation. The old purification jars are now filled with new covenant joy. He revealed himself as the bridegroom of grace. John 3. Jesus doesn't give Nicodemus a command to perform, but a declaration of divine necessity. You must be born again in John 3 7. He's not saying, Do this. He's saying this has to happen to you. It's not a work we perform, it's a work of the Spirit. That statement revealed man's inability and God's sovereignty. New birth is a miracle of grace, not human effort. John 3 is where the need for divine power is exposed. And it sets us up for John 5, where Jesus commands life into the helpless. Now, John 4, Jesus says to the Samaritan woman, give me a drink in 4.7. That simple request, opened revelation, that he is the living water who satisfies the soul. Then later to the official whose son was sick, he says, Go, your son will live in John 4.50. That revealed his power over distance and disease. Every word he speaks carries the creative life of God. And now we arrive at John chapter 5. And here comes another command spoken right into the impossible. In verse 8. Now, this time Jesus doesn't speak to someone seeking him, he speaks to someone stuck, someone who's been there a long time, someone who can't move, someone who has no one to help him. The command comes where faith has failed, where strength is gone, and where hope is paralyzed. In John 5, the command reveals grace in the impossible. Where man cannot move, Christ commands movement. Where religion waits for the water to stir, grace speaks a word. This moment shows us that every divine command carries divine power, and the command to rise and walk becomes the stage where grace performs the miracle of life. So just listen to the progression again. In John 1, follow me, reveals his person. John two, fill the jars with water, reveals his power to transform. John three, you must be born again, reveals divine necessity and human inability. John 4, give me a drink, go, your son will live, reveals his provision and his authority over distance and disease. And John 5, rise, take up your bed and walk, reveals his deity, divine authority commanding the impossible. That's the command, revelation, grace, and glory concept. So the setting for grace is now we're going to see in John 5, 1 to 5. It reads, After this there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. Now there is in Jerusalem by the sheepgate a pool in Aramaic called Besseda, which has five roofed colonnades. In these lay a multitude of invalids, blind, lame, and paralyzed. One man was there who had been an invalid for 38 years, John 5, 1 to 5. Now the pool is called Besseda, interpreted house of mercy. But what we actually find there is not mercy, it's misery. A multitude of broken people waiting for something to stir, waiting for healing that never really comes. This is a picture of Israel under the law, waiting beside a powerless pool, unable to make themselves whole. John MacArthur notes that this pool stood near the sheep gate, where lambs were brought for sacrifice. Now, how fitting that the Lamb of God enters through that same gate, walking toward human helplessness with divine mercy. This man has been paralyzed for 38 years. Now that number is not random. Israel wandered in the wilderness 38 years, as we see in Deuteronomy 2.14. This man represents human inability, stuck, waiting, powerless to move. Here's the takeaway from just these opening verses. We all have our own Beseda, a place where we've waited too long for change, hoping something around us might save us. But grace doesn't wait for the water to move. Grace comes walking toward us. In John 4 with the Samaritan woman, Jesus was already there waiting. But in John 5, the man is already there, stuck, and Jesus comes to him. There are places in our lives where we've been stuck for years, unable to change, unable to do the very thing we know we need to do. That's exactly where Jesus shows up. Paul said it like this for I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing in Romans 7.19. That's this man. He wants to get to the water. He can't. Israel wanted to be righteous by the law, they couldn't. The pull didn't heal. The law doesn't heal. Both only point to what needs to be healed. Grace has to come, and grace does come through a command. This whole scene reminds me of the rich young ruler. We see this story, Matthew 19, Mark 10, and Luke 18. He comes to Jesus and says, Teacher, what good deed must I do to have eternal life? Jesus brings him to the law. The man says, I've done all that. Then Jesus goes to the heart, sell all that you possess and come, follow me. The man walks away sorrowful because he had great possessions. Peter then says, Who then can be saved? Now that's the right question. We often read that like that text, like Americans. We think the issue is just that the man was wealthy, and yes, wealth can be a snare. But in Israel's mindset, wealth was a sign of God's blessings. So Peter's really saying, if the guy who looks the most blessed can't be saved, who can? And Jesus' answer, with man, this is impossible, but with God, all things are possible, Matthew 19, 26. That's the whole point. You can't save yourself. Just like the lame man couldn't get into the water, just like Israel couldn't keep the law, just like the rich young ruler couldn't lay down his idol, we can't do it. That's why grace comes first. The command of God often comes not to tell us what we are capable of, but to reveal what we are incapable of, so that God alone gets the glory. Now we're going to see in verses six to nine, when Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had already been there a long time, he said to him, Do you want to be healed? The sick man answered him, Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, and while I am going, another steps down before me. Jesus said to him, Get up, take up your bed and walk. And at once the man was healed, and he took up his bed and walked. Now, notice the order here. Jesus saw him, Jesus knew him. Jesus spoke to him. Grace initiates. The man doesn't call out, Jesus does. Jay Vernon McGee pointed out, this man didn't even know who Jesus was. That's the wonder of grace. The Lord meets him where he is. Jesus asks, Do you want to be healed? The man doesn't answer with faith. He answers with frustration. I have no one. That's the voice of religion, the voice of helpless flesh. I can't get there. I don't have what it takes. Someone always gets there before me. And Jesus doesn't argue with him. He doesn't give him a lecture on faith. He just commands get up, take up your bed and walk. The Greek word behind get up is used for raising up. It's resurrection language, the same voice that will later call Lazarus out of the tomb now calls this man out of paralysis. When Christ commands, he also enables. His word carries the power to perform what it requires. That's CRGG right there. Command, get up, revelation, his authority is revealed, grace. The man is instantly healed and glory. He rises and walks, testifying to God's power. Command, revelation, grace, glory. This is why all our little theological systems break down when they try to overexplain the how of salvation. Jesus says, with man it is impossible. That's enough. The why is clearer than the how. The why is for his glory. He reveals himself to dead, helpless, paralyzed people so that he gets the glory. We are the canvas. We bring the broken stain surface, he paints his glory on it. Now, this is worth slowing down on. There were many people at the pool, and Jesus heals one. Is that fair? He had the power to heal every single one of them. But John wants us to see something. God is sovereign in his mercy. He heals whom he wills. Not everyone cried out after. In fact, Jesus disappears into the crowd. The man doesn't even know his name. That's grace. Grace comes first. We don't track Jesus down and get ourselves fixed up. Jesus walks into our stuck place and speaks life. And now in verses 9 to 13, now that day was the Sabbath. So the Jews said to the man who had been healed, It is the Sabbath, and is it not lawful for you to take up your bed? But he answered them, The man who healed me, that man said to me, Take up your bed and walk. Now the man who had been healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had withdrawn, as there was a crowd in the place. John 5 9 13. So instead of joy, they bring judgment. Instead of worship, they bring accusation. They cared more about the mat than the miracle, more about the rules than mercy. This shows us something huge. Transformation is not the reward of knowledge, it's the fruit of mercy. The man didn't even know Jesus' name yet. Grace preceded understanding. Jesus does something similar in Luke 13, 10 to 17. He heals a woman bent over for 18 years on the Sabbath, and the synagogue rulers get angry. Jesus rebukes him and says, in essence, the Sabbath was always meant to put God's mercy on display, not to hide it. Grace focuses on what God has done. So just like that woman glorified God in Luke 13, 13, this man in John 5 is now walking a walking testimony. That's the point. God does the work, we do the worship. God initiates, we respond. God heals, we praise. God moves, we testify. Our problem today is we often miss the grace of God in our lives. So we don't worship. We live as if we earned, built, achieved, and acquired everything we have. Now John the Baptist said, a person cannot receive even one thing unless it is given him from heaven in John 3 27. Everything is grace. So everything is for his glory. And moving on to 14 to 15, afterward, Jesus found him in the temple and said to him, See you are well. Sin no more, that nothing worse may happen to you. The man went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had healed him. Now Jesus finds him again. Grace doesn't just heal and walk away. Grace pursues. And Jesus gives another command, sin no more. This is just like John 8 11. Neither do I condemn you, go and from now on sin no more. Now, can we actually live sinless in the absolute sense? No. Paul said the thing, I don't want to do, I do. Sin is still present. But here's the point Grace doesn't ignore sin. Grace empowers us to leave it. Go and sin no more is an impossible command unless grace supplies what the command requires. That's how God works. He commands what we cannot do in the flesh so that we learn to live by the Spirit. John Piper has said it this way: Every act of grace is meant to draw us deeper into obedience. Healing was mercy. Holiness is the call. Physical restoration pointed to a greater spiritual need, the healing of the heart. Now, a lot of people want the blessing of healing without the burden of holiness, but true grace restores us for righteousness. God's not trying to fix you up so you can present yourself to him. You have nothing to present. You bring brokenness, sin, and wrath deserving rebellion. And this is important. The goal of everything is his glory. Not his love as the final end, even though he is love, but his glory. We are not the center of God's existence. God is to be the center of ours. Now moving forward in verse 16 to 18, and this was why the Jews were persecuting Jesus, because he was doing these things on the Sabbath. But Jesus answered them, My Father is working until now, and I am working. This was why the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him, because not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own father, making himself equal with God. Now, here's where the store the story lifts off. The real issue isn't the mat. It isn't even the Sabbath. The real issue is authority. Jesus says, My Father is working, and I am working. He is not just a prophet doing God's work. He is the Son revealing the Father's heart. He is claiming equality with God. Other scriptures, scriptures echo this. All things have been handed over to me by my Father, Matthew 11:27. I and the Father are one, John 10:30. In him all things hold together, Colossians 1:17. So here stands Jesus, not another miracle worker, but the eternal word, equal with the Father, Lord over creation, life and law. The same voice that spoke the world into existence now speaks to a paralyzed man and says, Rise, and creation obeys. This is the point in John where things shift from wander to warfare, from curiosity to confrontation. Because once Jesus makes his deity clear, people have to decide. And this miracle in John 5 is setting us up for what he's about to say next in the rest of the chapter. That as the Father raises the dead, so the Son gives life to whom he will. He doesn't just heal bodies, he gives life spiritually, sovereignly, completely. Salvation is not something we obtain through effort, and it's not something we keep through our strength. If we could obtain it, we wouldn't need Christ. If we could lose it easily, none of us would keep it a day. We need grace on every level: grace to hear, grace to believe, grace to rise, and grace to walk. That's the gospel. What is impossible with man is accomplished by God. So as we stand here at the edge of John 5, we're watching the Son of God reveal the mystery of eternal life, that he alone has the power to raise the dead, to call sinners from the grave of guilt, and to give a life that cannot die. The miracle at the Seda was not just about legs that could walk, it was about a Savior who gives life where there was none. And the same voice that said, Rise and walk still speaks today, calling the dead to life, the broken to wholeness, and the sinner to grace. He is God, He is life, and He gives it freely to whom He will. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for your Son Jesus Christ, the eternal word made flesh, the Lord of the Sabbath, the one who speaks into our helplessness and commands what we could never accomplish. Thank you that your commands are not cold demands, but living words filled with grace and power. Thank you that when you say rise and walk, you also give strength to stand. Lord, we confess our inability. We confess that we cannot save ourselves, cannot heal ourselves, cannot make ourselves righteous. We have waited by many pools, looking for something to move. And today we see that it is you who has come to us. Let your grace awaken us, let your spirit empower us. Help us to walk in holiness, not in our own strength, but in the life of Christ within us. And above all, let our lives glorify you. Make us the canvas on which you display your mercy so that our lives would testify, Jesus did this. We ask it in Jesus' name. Amen. Now before we close today, let's take a quick look ahead, and our next message will continue in John chapter 5, where Jesus begins to explain the miracle we just witnessed. After healing the man at Besseda, he boldly declares that just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so the Son gives life to whom he will. It's one of the most powerful and controversial moments in his ministry. A direct claim to divine authority will explore what it means that Jesus not only heals the body but gives eternal life and how this truth shapes our understanding of salvation, judgment, and grace. So join me next time as we continue in John 5 and uncover the full meaning behind Jesus' words, the Son gives life. And as always, I want to thank you for joining us today. And I hope this episode has helped you take a step closer in your relationship with Jesus and that you now have a deeper understanding of just how much God loves you and wants you to know Him. Now, if today's message encourages you, would you please take a moment to follow the takeaway and share this episode with someone who needs to hear it? Your support helps us reach more people with the hope of the gospel. And if this ministry has been a blessing in your life, we would love to hear from you. Just leave a quick word of encouragement or share how these messages are impacting your walk with Christ. It's our desire that this ministry be a tool to reach the lost and equip the saints for a life that brings glory to God. God bless, and we'll see you next time on the takeaway.