Spirit Stirred Waters (1)

By: Pastor Harold Boyd

John 5:1–4 (NKJV)

After this 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 Beth-zatha, which has 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.

Good Morning! B&S, today, I want the message to be a little interactive here at the beginning. Everyone knows what interactive is right? Good, I have several questions that I would like for you to answer. 1st Why is water so important to us as human beings? 2nd Why is drinking water good for you? 3rd What percentage of our bodies are made with water? (70%) 4th and final, What is happening to our water supply right now? In that case, why are we not doing more to protect all the water we have around us? If we truly look at this, we use water for bathing, cleaning dishes, swimming in it and so many other factors.

I would like to begin by using an analogy about water this morning. Once there was a sailor going through Navy Bootcamp and had to do the swimming part and every time he attempted, someone would end up pulling him up out of the water. Finally, after several failed attempts, they taught the sailor how to float, just enough to pass the course as a third-class swimmer. Afterwards the sailor was asked why he joined the Navy if he couldn’t swim, and the sailor’s response was priceless; he stated, “I joined the navy to be on ships made of steel and metal, that doesn’t require swimming, and if a missile hits the ship, swimming won’t save my life anyway.” No one was able to argue his logic.

Back in Jesus’s time there were many pools that the sick laid around waiting of the stirring of the water to be healed. If we were to read on in this story, we would know that when Jesus healed the paralytic man who has been suffering with this condition for 38 years, it wasn’t necessarily the healing, it was that Jesus healed him on the sabbath. They began to plot to kill Jesus.

These pools we know were in Philippi, Ephesus, Beitzel, even in the Jordan river which Jesus was baptized by JTB. These pools excluding the Jordan is where the sick would lay hoping to be the first in the water after it was stirred. So, can you imagine for just one second, being by one of these pools for 38 years?

B&S, Jesus gave this command to the disciples as part of the great commission, again, letting them know to do this to remember what Jesus has done for us. This is part of emulating Jesus in all areas of our lives, not just the ones that we have deemed appropriate..

In Zondervan’s Pictorial Bible Dictionary, we see tons of information that solidifies why we believe Baptism is a spiritual outpouring for an inward action; however, it also shows us how Baptism has changed in its meaning as it speaks and shows through the death and resurrection of Christ Jesus our Lord which is and should be our foundational reason for all things in our lives. Amen?

As I have stated in a previous sermon, the word baptism comes from the Greek word (Baptisma). The OT doesn’t mention the word baptized yet there’s a connection of the ritual washing in the OT and baptism of John the Baptist which was for repentance and cleansing.

We know that in the OT, cleansing and washing was well known to the Jews. For instance, in Exodus 40:12, the word washing comes from a Hebrew word which means ‘to wash off, or to wash away’. This gives us a great reference for the meaning of cleansing. The Holy Spirit works in us to cleanse us from the sins we have committed by allowing us to emulate the work of Christ by dying to our sins as we go under the water. Then as we are raised up from the water, we emulate the resuurection of Jesus and we become a new creature in Jesus our Lord.

We can see that there is a similar tone being set in the rite of the cleansing and washing that John speaks about to the baptism of Jesus which brings us to the word ‘baptized’, Amen? John the Baptist went throughout all Judea and baptized people with water for their repentance of their sins, informing them to watch for one who would come after him because He would baptize them with the Holy Spirit.

Our text today is just one of the ways that people were healed before God sent down His One and Only Son to give up His life for the propitiation of our sins once and for all. We are saved by faith through Christ’s grace. We must believe and become obedient to all that the Word tells us.

B&S, God told JTB to baptize people in water for the washing away of their sin. Then, when the time was fulfilled, Jesus’ baptism and the receiving of the Holy Spirit would complete the transformation that comes in baptism.

Christ’s baptism was an example just like his washing of the disciple’s feet. Remember John 13:15informs us, that Jesus said, “for I have given you an example, that you should do as I have done for you’.

Baptism, my friends, is a beginning as the value of beginning finds its value in what follows afterwards in our lives. “We enter with Christ unto His death, experience the forgiveness of our sins, and rise to a full walk in the newness of Christ’s life and into the ministry He led through the guiding and directing of the Holy Spirit.” (as found in Zondervan’s Bible Dictionary). Our Faith is a surrender process to the Holy Spirit through baptism which then brings us all to a full and complete union with God through Christ Jesus.

As I conclude, and as our music team gets ready to come back up and lead us in our final hymn, we open the altar so that we may be obedient to Jesus Christ and bring everything to Him in prayer and supplications. Baptism is on action and one that brings our relationship to Jesus and to all the other believers who have already been baptized, a common grounbd for all to stand upon.

It is imperative that we all need to come forward in a profession of faith in Jesus and be baptized. The altars are open as we come to sing, inviting anyone to come and pray no matter where you are with your relationship with God through Christ. May His peace be with us as we depart from this place. Amen! Please remember once we sing and have the benediction, to come forward giving Mike the right hand of fellowship.