DO YOU WISH TO GET WELL?
John 5:1-17
INTRODUCTION (v. 1-4)
1. Review of miracles and their purpose
2. When – Passover, all the Jews were present in Jerusalem
3. Where – Pool of Bethesda, where healing took place through the angel of the Lord
4. Who – a multitude of “sick, blind, lame and withered”, those unable to get to the water
IT’S NEVER TOO LATE (v. 5-6)
1. A man who has been ill for 38 years was healed by a word from Jesus.
a. Luke 8:27 the man was possessed “for a long time”
b. Luke 8:43 the woman was hemorrhaging for twelve years
c. John 9:1 Jesus heals a man who was “blind from birth”
d. Luke 13:11 Jesus heals a women who “for eighteen years had had a sickness”
e. Acts 3:2 man lame from his mother’s womb
f. Acts 9:33 Peter heals Aeneas who was “bedridden for nine years”
g. Acts 14:8 Paul heals a man “lame from his mother’s womb”
2. Faith and Patience.
a. Abraham’s example (Hebrews 6:9-20)
b. As long as you are alive and living by faith, God can bless you and sustain you. This man waited 38 years and left that day completely healed.
c. Some people are like Timothy growing up knowing the Scriptures and some are like those who must be snatched out of the fire (Jude 23)
DO YOU WISH TO GET WELL? (v. 6-7)
1. If you have the desire, God can enable you
a. Mark 10:51 “I want to regain my sight”
2. Jesus is asking the same question today and everyday. We answer by the way we live.
a. Illustration: If a man wishes to be a professional athlete he will train night and day, have a healthy diet, practice, condition himself for that very task. The man who says he wishes to be a professional athlete and does nothing is simply a liar. The way it is said is, “he doesn’t want it enough.”
b. In the spiritual world God has made it easier. All a man has to do is wish to get well or wish to have eternal life or wish to be a godly man and God can work it out. This is why the invitation of God is “anyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved”
i. Psalm 86:5 “For You, O Lord, are good, and ready to forgive, and abundant in loving kindness to all who call upon You.”
ii. Joel 2:32 “And it will come about that whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be delivered” (cf. Acts 2:21)
iii. Acts 22:16 “Now why do you delay? Get up and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on His name.”
iv. Romans 10:12-13 “For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, abounding in riches for all who call on Him; for whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
v. 1 Corinthians 1:2 “To the church of God which is at Corinth, to those who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus, saints by calling, with all who in every place call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, their Lord and ours”
c. And even in Christ there is the everyday need and dependence on God. And He is available.
i. Hebrews 4:16 “Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”
d. Do you wish to get well – turn to Jesus.
I HAVE NO MAN (v. 7)
1. In the ministry of reconciliation, there is always a need for a man
a. God needs someone to go (Isaiah 6:8; Matthew 28:19)
b. Sinners need a preacher (Romans 10:11-17)
i. Philip was sent to the eunuch to “preach Jesus” (Acts 8:26-29)
ii. Paul was sent to Ananias to be told what to do (Acts 9:5-6)
c. The church needs each other
i. Paul sent Tychicus to Colossae and Ephesus to inform and encourage and comfort (Col. 4:8; Eph. 6:22)
ii. Paul sent Timothy “to strengthen and encourage” the church in Thessalonica (1 Thess. 3:2) and teach the church in Corinth (1 Cor. 4:17)
d. Everyone needs Jesus
i. John 8:42 “Jesus said to them, ‘If God were your Father, you would love Me, for I proceeded forth and have come from God, for I have not even come on My own initiative, but He sent Me.” (cf. John 3:16)
PICK UP YOUR PALLET AND WALK (v. 8)
1. Same thing Jesus said to the paralytic (Mark 2:1-12)
2. When he was healed he was expected to no longer lay there by the pool. In the same way, those who are plucked from the muck and mire of sin are expected to no longer wallow in it.
a. Romans 6:12-13 “Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts, and do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God.”
3. When we are saved we are expected to get up and walk. Walk how?
a. In the way God commands (Deut. 5:33; Jer. 7:23)
b. In His ways (Deut. 28:9; Josh. 22:5)
c. In the old paths (Jer. 6:16)
d. As taught by Him (1 Kings 8:36; Isa. 2:3; 30:21)
e. In integrity (Prov. 2:7)
f. In His ordinances (Eze. 37:24)
g. In newness of life (Rom. 6:4)
h. Not after the flesh, but after the Spirit (Rom. 8:4; Gal. 5:16)
i. By faith, not by sight (2Cor. 5:7)
j. In a manner worthy of the calling (Eph. 4:1-3)
k. In love, following Christ (Eph. 5:2)
l. In a manner worthy of the Lord (Col. 1:10)
m. In Christ (Col. 2:6)
n. According to the pattern of the apostles (Phil. 3:17)
o. In a manner worthy of God (1 Thessalonians 2:12)
p. In the light, as He is in the light (1 John 1:7)
q. According to the commandments (2 John 1:6)
r. With Christ in white garments (Rev. 3:4)
s. In the light and glory of heaven (Rev. 21:24)
IT WAS JESUS WHO HAD MADE HIM WELL (v. 9-16)
1. After an encounter with the legalists of the day, among whom are those who wouldn’t help the man into the pool of Bethesda, Jesus said, “Do not sin anymore”
a. There is an expectation to live for the one who set you free
b. You have been bought, purchased, redeemed.
i. 1 Corinthians 6:18-20 “Flee immorality. Every other sin that a man commits is outside the body, but the immoral man sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body.”
ii. 1 Peter 1:17-19 “If you address as Father the One who impartially judges according to each one's work, conduct yourselves in fear during the time of your stay on earth; knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers, but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ.”
2. He is the only One who can save and destroy. At the end of the day it is just you and Jesus. He is only One that matters.
- Alpha and Omega, Almighty (Revelation 1:8)
- Apostle and High Priest (Hebrews 3:1)
- Author and Finisher of our faith (Hebrews 12:2)
- Great God and Savior (Titus 2:13)
- Head of the Church (Ephesians 5:23)
- High Priest (Hebrews 9:11)
- Holy One of God (Mark 1:24)
- Holy One of Israel (Isaiah 12:6; 48:17)
- I AM (John 8:58)
- Image of the Invisible God (Colossians 1:15)
- Immanuel, God with us (Matthew 1:23)
- Judge (Acts 10:42)
- King of Glory (Psalm 24:7-10)
- King of kings, Lord of lords (1 Timothy 6:15)
- King of the Jews (Matthew 27:37)
- Lamb of God (John 1:29)
- Lord of All (Acts 10:36)
- Lord of the Sabbath (Matthew 12:8)
- Prophet (Matthew 21:11)
- Savior of the World (1 John 4:14)
- Shepherd and Bishop of our souls (1 Peter 2:25)
- The Christ, the Son of the Living God (Matthew 16:16)
- The Redeemer (Isaiah 48:17)
- The Way, the Truth, and the Life (John 14:6)
- Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9:6)
- Proclaiming Him who is able to save
a. Acts 4:12 “And there is salvation is no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved.”
b. Sometimes a personal testimony is enough. John 9:25 “He then answered, ‘Whether He is a sinner, I do not know; one thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see.’”
EVERYONE IS WORKING (v 17)
1. Jesus should have known that He wasn’t permitted to work on the Sabbath. But He who is Lord of the Sabbath says, “My Father is working until now, and I Myself am working.”
a. God is working
i. Psalm 74:12 “For God is my King of old, working salvation in the midst of the earth.”
ii. Ephesians 3:7 “of which I was made a minister, according to the gift of God's grace which was given to me according to the working of His power.
iii. Colossians 2:12 “having been buried with Him in baptism, in which you were also raised up with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead.”
iv. Philippians 2:13 “for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.”
b. Jesus is working
i. 1 Peter 3:18 “bring us to God”
ii. Hebrews 2:10 “bringing many sons to glory”
iii. Hebrews 7:25 “He always lives to make intercession”
c. The Holy Spirit is working
i. 1 Peter 1:2 “by the sanctifying work of the Spirit”
d. Angels are working
i. Hebrews 1:14 “Are they not all ministering spirits, sent out to render service for the sake of those who will inherit salvation?”
e. The Church is working
i. 1 Thessalonians 2:9 “For you recall, brethren, our labor and hardship, how working night and day so as not to be a burden to any of you, we proclaimed to you the gospel of God.”
ii. 2 Corinthians 6:1 “And working together with Him”
iii. Ephesians 2:10 “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.”
2. There will be rest
a. Hebrews 4:11 “Therefore let us be diligent to enter that rest, so that no one will fall, through following the same example of disobedience.”
b. 1 Corinthians 15:58 “Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that you toil is not in vain in the Lord.”