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Life Changing Questions from the Lord
John 5:1-15
Sermon by Rick Crandall
Grayson Baptist Church - Jan. 5, 2014
*The Lord Jesus Christ likes to ask questions, questions that make you think, penetrating, personal questions.
A great example was after the Lord rose from the dead and met His Apostles by the Sea of Galilee.
*Just before Jesus died on the cross, Peter had denied the Lord three times.
And now that Jesus had risen again, He had three pointed questions for Peter.
*John 21:15-17 tells this part of the story:
15.
So when they had eaten breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, "Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me more than these?''
He said to Him, "Yes, Lord; You know that I love You.''
He said to him, "Feed My lambs.''
16.
He said to him again a second time, "Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me?''
He said to Him, "Yes, Lord; You know that I love You.''
He said to him, "Tend My sheep.''
17.
He said to him the third time, "Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me?''
Peter was grieved because He said to him the third time, "Do you love Me?''
And he said to Him, "Lord, You know all things; You know that I love You.''
Jesus said to him, "Feed My sheep."
*Pointed, personal questions: "Do you love me?
Do you love me?
Do you love me?"
The Lord also had a powerful question for the sick man here in John 5.
And as we look at his story, we see that Christ has some life-changing questions for us
1.
The first question is: Are you willing?
*That's the question the Lord asked this sick man in vs. 6: "Wilt thou be made whole?" -- "Are you willing to be made whole?" -- "Do you want to be made well?"
*At first glance, this might seem like a ridiculous question, because the answer seems so obvious.
The Lord knew this man was ill, terribly ill.
And he had been for 38 years!
Pastor Guy Caley said: "Add to this the fact that the sick man was there at a pool known for healing.
And we begin to get a sense of how crazy it must have sounded for Jesus to ask, 'Do you want to get well?'"
*What kind of a question was that?
Does a crippled man want to get well?"
The question reminded Pastor Caley of one of his Dad's all time favorite questions: "Do you want a spanking?"
That's a question I often heard from my own daddy, and he never had to wonder about the answer.
(1)
*Jesus asked: "Are you willing to be made whole?" -- And it may seem ridiculous at first.
But our perfect Savior had a perfect reason for asking that question.
Melvin Newland explained: "Actually, it was a very valid question, for there are people who, if given an opportunity for healing, might actually choose to remain sick.
Right now they're free of some unpleasant responsibilities, and they get sympathy by complaining about their sickness.
They can manipulate people by being sick, or punish themselves if they feel guilty."
(2)
*Jesus' question was both necessary and proper: "Are you willing to be healed?"
It's as if the Lord was asking: "Are you willing to let go of the past?
-- Do you want to move forward in your life?"
*Think about the sick man's answer in vs. 7: "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.''
Here is a man who could have held on to his past.
He could have gotten tied down by his past set-backs, and disappointments: "Why don't I have somebody?"
God, why did they let me down?
Why did You let me down?"
*Author John Phillips explained the man's suffering by asking: "How can we measure the misery of this man?
He had no friends, no family.
His companions were life's victims: blind people, lame people, people withered inside and out.
All their hopes had shrunk to the small chance they had of outsmarting the others and being first in the pool.
There would be the usual jockeying for position with all the intensity of people obsessed with their own physical condition and their pathetic hope for a healing.
The sight, the stench of it all, must have been depressing.
Here was unmitigated misery and unending poverty."
(3)
*This man could easily have gotten bitter or envious.
Other people had someone to help, but he didn't!
Other people were getting healed, but he wasn't!
He could have just gone on lying there feeling sorry for himself.
*On a smaller scale, I've seen people do this, and I've done it too.
Rather than looking ahead to see what God has in store for us, rather than letting God bless us, we can get obsessed with what's gone wrong in the past, or who's done us wrong in the past.
*In vs. 7, the sick man told Jesus: "I have no man to help me."
But the Lord didn't want him to be thinking about what he didn't have.
Jesus wanted him to be thinking about what he did have standing right in front of him.
So, the Lord asked the question: "Are you willing?"
*And if we will listen, we can hear Jesus ask us the same question every day: Are you willing?
-- Let your answer to the Lord be "yes!"
2. But there's a second question from the Lord in this story: Are you believing?
*Take a look at the sick man's faith in vs. 8&9:
8. Jesus said to him, "Rise, take up your bed and walk.''
9.
And immediately the man was made well, took up his bed, and walked. . .
*Paul Decker asks us: "Do you notice what Jesus does here?
Jesus commands the impossible.
He says, 'Get up!' Now, I don't know about you, but if I had been unable to use my legs for 38 years, I would have some doubts about my abilities to accomplish such a task.
'Get up? -- I can't!
I have not been able to walk for 38 years.'
But Jesus says in effect, 'You can, because I say so.'" (4)
*Thinking about the sick man's faith, Ray Stedman wrote: "Perhaps the crippled man was thinking: 'If this man tells me to rise, and I cannot rise on my own, it must mean that he intends to do something to make it possible.'
Thus his faith was transferred from his own efforts to Jesus: 'He must do it.
-- I can't.'"
(5)
*It's hard to know how the man got the faith to follow the Lord's commands in vs. 8, because at this point he didn't even know who he was talking to.
But there must have been something in the authority of the Lord's voice, something in His face, something in the boldness of His commands.
*Something about the majesty of our Lord and Savior led this man who had not walked for 38 years to get up off of that sick bed and walk!
He believed!
*And the Lord wants us to believe too.
Jesus wants us to believe that He had the power to miraculously heal this man.
Jesus wants us to believe that He did heal him.
And Jesus Christ wants us to believe that He can and will heal us, according to His perfect will.
*But Jesus also wants us to believe that He will bless us even when He doesn't heal our bodies.
This world is not our final home!
And the Lord wants us to believe that He can give us victory, even in the worst circumstances of life.
*Most of all, Jesus wants us to believe that He is the only begotten Son of God, who humbled Himself to become a man, lived a perfect life, died on the cross for our sins, and rose again from the dead.
Jesus Christ is alive!
*Melvin Schroer went to church one Sunday when the pastor used the Easter story for his children's sermon.
The preacher said: "Easter is when we remember how Jesus died on the cross, was buried, and three days later rose again from the dead."
-- Then of the pre-school girls said in a real loud voice: "He must have had a good doctor!"
(6)
*Jesus Christ didn't need a good doctor.
He IS the Great Physician!
By the power of Almighty God, He rose from the dead!
And if we believe in Him, if we put our trust in Him, if we receive Jesus as our personal Lord and Savior, then He will forgive our sins, come to live in our heart, and give us everlasting life in Heaven with Him.
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