Traditions vs. Truth (True Wellness)- John 5:1-15
7 Signs in John • Sermon • Submitted
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· 24 viewsJesus once again does what no natural man can do. In this miracle, not only does Jesus heal a man who had been suffering for almost 40 years, but He also reveals His authority over the Sabbath day, and thus His authority over God’s Word and man.
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Do you want to get WELL?
Do you want to get WELL?
Merry Christmas. What a wonderful day.
Today was a first for me - maybe in my entire life. Liz and I got up BEFORE our kids! Not your traditional Christmas morning. We actually aren’t super big on traditions. No main Christmas meal, or habits. OTHER THAN BEING HOME.
Liz and I want our family to be at our house. We don’t put out any presents before the kids go to bed on Christmas Eve. WHY? Some practical reasons - but ultimately because we think this will provide the best experience of Christmas for our family. We control the setting.
I’ve been around friends and family that are - and they can be fun for sure.
But, Traditions DON’T Change TRUTH. Whether you open one present the night before, read a certain story, eat a certain meal, or celebrate in a certain location - CHRISTMAS IS ALWAYS ABOUT THE BIRTH OF JESUS!
God created, sustains, and declares TRUTH - reality. And it is immutable.
But our understanding of it, muddled by our pride, can distort and alter that reality.
Passage:
Passage:
After these things 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 Bethesda, having five porticoes.
In these lay a multitude of those who were sick, blind, lame, and withered, waiting for the moving of the waters;
for an angel of the Lord went down at certain seasons into the pool and stirred up the water; whoever then first, after the stirring up of the water, stepped in was made well from whatever disease with which he was afflicted.
A man was there who had been ill for thirty-eight years.
When Jesus saw him lying there, and knew that he had already been a long time in that condition, He said to him, “Do you wish to get well?”
The sick man answered Him, “Sir, I have no man to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, but while I am coming, another steps down before me.”
Jesus said to him, “Get up, pick up your pallet and walk.”
Immediately the man became well, and picked up his pallet and began to walk.
Now it was the Sabbath on that day.
So the Jews were saying to the man who was cured, “It is the Sabbath, and it is not permissible for you to carry your pallet.”
But he answered them, “He who made me well was the one who said to me, ‘Pick up your pallet and walk.’ ”
They asked him, “Who is the man who said to you, ‘Pick up your pallet and walk’?”
But the man who was healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had slipped away while there was a crowd in that place.
Afterward Jesus found him in the temple and said to him, “Behold, you have become well; do not sin anymore, so that nothing worse happens to you.”
The man went away, and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well.
PRAY
This is the THIRD Sign Miracle in John:
Therefore many other signs Jesus also performed in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book;
but these have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name.
SIGN - or ATTESTING MIRACLE - A FLAG
Teaching Point #1: The Setting - the Problem(s).
Teaching Point #1: The Setting - the Problem(s).
After these things 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 Bethesda, having five porticoes.
In these lay a multitude of those who were sick, blind, lame, and withered, waiting for the moving of the waters;
for an angel of the Lord went down at certain seasons into the pool and stirred up the water; whoever then first, after the stirring up of the water, stepped in was made well from whatever disease with which he was afflicted.
A man was there who had been ill for thirty-eight years.
Context:
Context:
John 1 - Jesus has always existed - He is God.
John 2 - Water to Wine in Cana, other miracles in Jerusalem
John 3 - Nicodemus
John 4 - Women at the Well in Samaria, healing the official’s son in Galilee
John 5 -
After these things (an undefined amount of time)
Jesus went to Jerusalem.
the Pool of Bethesda
House of grace/mercy
fairly big
just outside the old city wall, just north of the Temple - maybe on the road to Jericho - but either way a populated place
The Problem:
The Problem:
John 5:3 - a ‘multitude of sick, blind, lame, and withered’
a lot of people with bad problems
John 5:3b-4 - potentially/probably added in later BUT
John 5:7 shows that the people there THOUGHT they could be healed
maybe they were - doesn’t say that no one was ever healed
(Acts 16 - slave girl who was a fortune teller b/c of a demon)
talking snake in the Garden of Eden
Many people were waiting by a pool for a superstition they held to be healed physically. So close, but yet so very far away....
2 PROBMLEMS
1 - physical
2 - SPIRITUAL
Britannica Dictionary definition of SUPERSTITION. : a belief or way of behaving that is based on fear of the unknown and faith in magic or luck : a belief that certain events or things will bring good or bad luck.
IDOLATRY
What about us? We also have problems. Some have very hard problems in the physical world.
Do you now or have you ever struggled or suffered a hardship that pushed you to consider or even pursue or HOPE in a superstition?
Not medicine, but wanting a spiritual cure to a physical problem.
Physical problems are a consequence of the Fall - of our sinful life. But we were created to be dependent on God always. Adam needed food (Gen 2:9) - our means to acquire the physical things we need became TOILSOME.
We all have problems that have different causes. Some are preventable and others are not.
We don’t know anything about the cause of these problems, only that it drove this man to this superstition - and he totally misses the REAL PROBLEM - the spiritual problem - his sin.
We need to be careful that we don’t do the same. Let’s keep going
Teaching Point # 2: The Physical Cure
Teaching Point # 2: The Physical Cure
When Jesus saw him lying there, and knew that he had already been a long time in that condition, He said to him, “Do you wish to get well?”
The sick man answered Him, “Sir, I have no man to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, but while I am coming, another steps down before me.”
Jesus said to him, “Get up, pick up your pallet and walk.”
Immediately the man became well, and picked up his pallet and began to walk.
Now it was the Sabbath on that day.
Enter JESUS.
Jesus knows all about this man. We have already seen in John that He knows the hearts of man. He is able to see what we cannot - God knows all.
Jesus SAW ALL of the multitude, but chose only this man. Why? I don’t know why - I just know He did. He doesn’t always explain everything. And that’s ok.
The wine at the wedding eventually ran out.
The official’s son eventually died.
Sometimes God rescued saints from danger. Sometimes their entire lives were very hard.
WHY?
In the day of prosperity be happy,
But in the day of adversity consider—
God has made the one as well as the other
So that man will not discover anything that will be after him.
GOD LOVES TO BE TRUSTED.
Everything is about our relationship with our Creator. Everything.
Jesus initiates contact - this is the first sign in John in which Jesus goes to the person and not vice versa. The man didn’t even know who Jesus was.
What a gracious question - “Do you want to get well?” - reminds me of John 4 and the living water.
Jesus addresses the physical need
Jesus simply commands the man to do what he was unable to do before Jesus spoke.
The man obeyed.
TIME STAMP - the Sabbath. Why? (we’ll see in a minute)
Teaching Point #3: The Spiritual Cure
Teaching Point #3: The Spiritual Cure
So the Jews were saying to the man who was cured, “It is the Sabbath, and it is not permissible for you to carry your pallet.”
But he answered them, “He who made me well was the one who said to me, ‘Pick up your pallet and walk.’ ”
They asked him, “Who is the man who said to you, ‘Pick up your pallet and walk’?”
But the man who was healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had slipped away while there was a crowd in that place.
Afterward Jesus found him in the temple and said to him, “Behold, you have become well; do not sin anymore, so that nothing worse happens to you.”
The man went away, and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well.
The Jews wanted to know why he was breaking their rules
‘Thus says the Lord, “Take heed for yourselves, and do not carry any load on the sabbath day or bring anything in through the gates of Jerusalem.
“You shall not bring a load out of your houses on the sabbath day nor do any work, but keep the sabbath day holy, as I commanded your forefathers.
Jewish leaders defined 39 types of work that they say God was meaning when He forbid work on the Sabbath.
We must be careful that we do NOT PUT WORDS IN GOD’s MOUTH!
It came from good intention - example at camp of DON’T SIT ON THE TRAILERS.
When we get our own authority mixed into God’s word - our true problem - our sin problem - gets distorted and hidden and we are deceived to think we are OK.
At least with a physical problem, we can easily understand our physical need. It isn’t tied to our character. But our sin is US, it is WHO WE ARE - and that is too personal.
The Jews and the man MISSED their true spiritual need.
Jesus finds the man and initiates contact again - this time to address the SPIRITUAL problem.
Look - you wanted to get better, and now you have. That problem has been solved. Yet, you still have a problem that remains.
Jesus gives another command - Stop Sinning.
what is this sin…? Nothing specific is defined. It could have been the cause of the physical problem
but - 38 years…?
not specifically mentioned.
maybe it was the deeper need -
concerning sin, because they do not believe in Me;
There is no immediate response from the man recorded, other than his going to share the news of WHO with the Jews.
Maybe out of obligation
Maybe out of excitement
What now? What about us?
What now? What about us?
Question 1 - Do you have a problem? Do you have a need?
That’s a loaded question. Of course the answer is YES.
What is the problem? If it is physical - know that God cares.
GOD LOVES TO BE TRUSTED. We are allowed problems to give us opportunities for faith.
Never forget that He made an axe head float!
We also have a spiritual problem.
BUT always remember Ecc 7:14
In the day of prosperity be happy,
But in the day of adversity consider—
God has made the one as well as the other
So that man will not discover anything that will be after him.
Above all GOD LOVES TO BE TRUSTED. He allowed this man to suffer for 38 years!!!
Question 2 - Do you want to get well?
Thousands of years ago, God initiated contact once again thru the virgin birth.
Jesus was born to save us - to make us well! To cure us from our SINS!
NO SUPERSTITION OR TRADITION OF MAN CAN DO THAT!
“And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved.”
LIFE IN HIS IS NAME.
Therefore many other signs Jesus also performed in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book;
but these have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name.
THE SON OF GOD:
Physical healing with just a word. He did what none other could do.
THE CHRIST:
He addressed sin. He commands us to stop sinning and BELIEVE!
Keep it simple - Just DO WHAT HE SAYS. Let His word be the definition of the reality that you live by. Learn what HE SAYS - not what OTHERS SAY HE SAID OR MEANS.
This Christmas, if I could give you one thing - it would not be health or wealth. It would be a deep craving for the WORD OF GOD.
Therefore, putting aside all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander,
like newborn babies, long for the pure milk of the word, so that by it you may grow in respect to salvation,
It would be that you would believe that Jesus is the CHRIST, the SON of GOD - so that you will have LIFE in HIS NAME!
What are you going to do?
Do you want to get well?