Jesus healed a crippled man at the pool of Bethesda, and later told him to stop sinning or something worse might happen to him. A study of this man by the pool of Bethesda will enable you to understand the terrible consequences of sin.

On a closer look at this man, you will identify some consequences of sin. It is important that you pay attention to these consequences.  They are reminders of why you must not have sin in your life.

 “From time to time, an angel of the lord will come down and stir the waters. The first one to get into the pool after each disturbance will be cured with whatever disease that he had. ”
~John 5: 2-9

A lot of sick people were around the pool of Bethesda – the blind, the lame, and folks with all manner of diseases. At certain times, an angel of God will come down from heaven and turn the water; sort of activate it with the power of God. Then the first person to jump into the pool will be cured immediately of whatever disease he had. Jumping into pool was not enough to get you healed, even after the disturbance. To be healed, you had to be the first.

This man’s problem was that he couldn’t get into the water fast enough. He told Jesus, “While I’m trying to get in, somebody gets in ahead of me.” In other words, jumping into the water was not enough to get healed, one had to be the first to get into the water.

There’s something about being the first. There is something about timing. If you want to be successful in life, you must understand that it’s not enough to do the right thing, you must do the right thing in its time.

Many people fail today not because they do wrong things, but because by the time they get it right, it’s late. By the time they finally get their acts together, the time for that particular thing has elapsed.

The bible says:

“There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven.”
~Ecclesiastes 3:1

I want you to know that there is a time to get married; there’s a time to graduate from school; there’s a time to achieve a certain level of success in life; there’s a time to fulfill to certain dimension of your mission on earth. There’s a time for everything. You don’t have forever to do the right thing.

Now, what sin does, is that it causes you to miss the time.

The first consequence of sin on the man at the pool of Bethesda was that it attacked him, and prevented him from being the first. It stopped him from being the first. Thereby causing him to remain in his paralyzed state, though other folks around him were getting their own miracles.

Memory Verse:
~Ecclesiastes 3:1
“There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven.”

Prayer:
Father, I understand that there is a time for everything and a season for every activity. Please help me to apply this principle to everything I do, in Jesus’ name.
Amen.