ARE YOU POSITIONED FOR REVIVAL?
John 5:1-11
INTRODUCTION
A. HUMOR
1. A professor gathered the papers after an exam and found a $100 bill attached to one of them with a note saying: "Dear Professor Smith, here’s a $100 bill which you may keep if you give me 100 points - a dollar per point."
2. When the professor returned the graded tests, the student got his test back with a grade of 36 and with $64 change!
B. TEXT
Some time later, Jesus went up to Jerusalem for one of the Jewish festivals. 2 Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a pool, which in Aramaic is called Bethesda and which is surrounded by five covered colonnades. 3 Here a great number of disabled people used to lie—the blind, the lame, the paralyzed [—and they waited for the moving of the waters. 4 From time to time an angel of the Lord would come down and stir up the waters. The first one into the pool after each such disturbance would be cured of whatever disease they had.]* 5 One who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. 6 When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, “Do you want to get well?” 7 “Sir,” the invalid replied, “I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me.” 8 Then Jesus said to him, “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.” 9 At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked. The day on which this took place was a Sabbath, 10 and so the Jewish leaders said to the man who had been healed, “It is the Sabbath; the law forbids you to carry your mat.” 11 But he replied, “The man who made me well said to me, ‘Pick up your mat and walk.’” John 5:1-11
C. TITLE: The title of this message is “Are You Positioned for Revival?”
I. THE STIRRING PICTURES THE SPIRIT’S MOVING
A. A DIVINE APPOINTMENT
1. The word for “time” (vs. 4), is “kairos,” a special moment of divine favor and intervention. When the angel came down, it was a supernatural moment. We can’t make the winds of the Spirit blow; they happen when God decides.
2. But our mission is to not miss the wind of the Spirit – to set our sails to catch as much of the divine gusts as we can handle. We can’t control when they will blow, so we need to be ready. We don’t know when God will blow; we may have only one shot!
3. I believe that today may be a divine appointment for some of you. Usually an angel would come down to cause the stirring, but in John 5 Jesus Himself passed by. I believe He is passing through here today. Are you ready to receive blessings from Him?
B. MANY TIMES THE WATERS HAVE BEEN STIRRED
1. “At Creation the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters” Gen. 1:2. In the Flood of Noah, God loosed the waters from above and below, Gen. 7:7.
2. For Hagar, God made the waters flow in a dry desert, Gen. 21:19. When Moses struck the Rock in the wilderness, it poured out 100 million gallons for 120 days, Exodus 17:6.
3. For Samson, God poured water from a donkey’s jawbone, Judg. 15:19 (see Matthew Henry). With heavenly rain God caused Barak to defeat Sisera, Judg. 5:4.
4. On Mount Carmel God sent the first rain on a repentant nation after 3½ years, 1 Kgs. 18:42-45. Naaman the leper was healed by submerging under the water seven times (2 K.5:12). We need that submerging too!
5. The Israelites walked between walls of water (at the Exodus) and the Lord Jesus walked on top of water. Paul told us to be “Be filled with the Spirit” Eph. 5:18.
6. The Lord Jesus said, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within him.” By this he meant the Spirit." (John 7:37-39)
C. LEARNING OF THE HOLY SPIRIT
1. The early Christians learned to COOPERATE with the H.S.
2. David learned to WAIT on Him.
3. Samuel learned to be SENSITIVE to Him.
4. Samson learned to YIELD to Him.
5. Peter & John learned to let Him MOVE through them.
6. Paul learned to EXPECT the miraculous, to ALLOW the supernatural.
7. Are Christians today hungry, waiting, sensitive, yielding and expecting?
D. HUMOR
1. A man had an operation and the doctor accidentally left a sponge inside him.
2. A friend asked the patient, “Are you in any pain?” He answered, “No, but boy do I get thirsty!”
3. May God make us thirsty for the Holy Spirit!
II. THIS MAN WAS A CANDIDATE FOR REVIVAL
A. NO ONE CAN GET YOUR REVIVAL FOR YOU
1. God has made each of us a free moral agent; we each choose for ourselves. I can’t get revival for you. You can’t get revival for me.
2. You must decide you want it yourself. If you sit back and wait, you’ll never get it. If you’re waiting on someone to package it just right and put it in your lap, it’ll never happen.
3. If your waiting on your pastor to bring revival to you, you will be waiting forever. We have to get it for ourselves.
4. ILLUSTRATION
a. I remember the true story of the 4 men, the last survivors of a sea tragedy, afloat in an open life boat. They were attempting to catch a few drops of rain in a piece of canvas to quench their tortured thirsts.
b. A small boat ventured near. “Please give us some water!” they cried. The other ship sailors replied, “Just reach over the side and get some!”
c. “We can’t drink salt water! We’ll die!” “No,” they said, “where you are now is near the mouth of the Amazon River! It carries fresh water many miles out to sea. You’re surrounded by fresh water. All you have to do is lower your bucket for a drink!”
d. It’s the same with us. We are surrounded with the wonderful freshness of the Holy Spirit. All we need to do is take advantage of the great satiating tide that sweeps around us!
B. OTHERS AREN’T GOING TO WAIT FOR YOU
1. The other needy people around the pool didn’t wait for the lame man to get in. Often times in church, we’re waiting on a certain person to get into the Spirit before we do. Or we think revival must come here the way it happened somewhere else. Keep limiting God and you’ll probably miss it!
2. Can you imagine the scene at that Pool? The waters began to be agitated. There’s a mad rush to get in. Everybody is bumping into each other. People are yelling, “the waters are troubled!” Each is trying to be the first one into the water. There was probably a big dog-pile of people at the pool’s edge.
3. They were fighting to get in, desperate for the move! There is a truth here. Only those who really want it and who make preparations to get it (expecting), are going to get it!
4. A second truth: either get in or get out of the way! If you get in the way of revival, you may get trampled by desperate people. WE’RE COMING THROUGH! DON’T GET IN THE WAY!
C. YOU MUST BE POSITIONED FOR REVIVAL
1. Why after 38 years had this man not been the first into the pool? Because he didn’t position himself appropriately. Who got blessed and healed? Those who were close to the water. If it’d been me, I’d have been hanging over the edge every day!
2. Who’s going to experience revival? Those who position themselves close to the Holy Spirit!
3. You can’t be a long ways-off and expect to get in in time. If revival hits and you have to begin preparing, praying, & fasting, you’ll miss the wave. Get ready! Position yourself! Get close, stay close! Camp out near the water. Don’t miss, don’t skip, don’t blink! Get ready, stay on the edge.
4. HUMOR. CHANGING SOMEONE ELSE.
a. In Charles Schultz’s cartoon, “Peanuts,” Lucy was saying that if she was in charge of the world, she’d change everything.
b. Charlie says, “That wouldn’t be easy. Where would you start?” Lucy looks directly at him, pointed her finger & said, “I’d start with you!”
c. IF GOD IS GOING TO BRING REVIVAL, IT MUST START IN YOU! WILL YOU PASSIONATELY DESIRE REVIVAL?
III. WHEN JESUS PASSED BY
A. THE FOREKNOWLEDGE OF JESUS
1. This pool was no tourist spot. You wouldn't go to a garbage dump, slum, or emphysema ward while on vacation. This pool was similar to a hospital.
2. When Jesus came to Jerusalem, He didn't visit the palaces, but the hospitals.
3. Foreknowledge. He knew and considered how long this man had lain in that condition! Take courage! God knows how long you've suffered!
B. COMPASSION OF JESUS
1. Out of all the multitude, Jesus chose this one; the most helpless of all attracted Christ's attention.
2. JESUS ALWAYS SURPRISES US!
a. We’re SHOCKED HE CARES ABOUT US! David said, “When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him?” Ps. 8:3-4. Wow! How true!
b. We’re SHOCKED HE HAS PLANS FOR US! He’s so awesome, compassionate, kind, and loving. “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future” Jer. 29:11. Sweet!
c. We’re SHOCKED BECAUSE GOD DOESN’T HAVE THE LIMITATIONS that limit our options.
3. As a result, we’re BLINDSIDED BY LOVE! As David says, “He does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities” Ps. 103:10.
a. Instead, He loves us.
b. He cares about our insignificant lives.
c. He plans wonderful things for us.
IV. JESUS’ CRAZY QUESTION
A. DO WE REALLY WANT REVIVAL?
1. When Jesus asked the man if he wanted to be healed, it seemed like a crazy question; of course the man wants to be, if he’s hanging out at the Bethesda Pool. But like Christians today, asked if they want revival, there’s hesitation and not an instant “Yes!” Why?
2. We’re comfortable with our lifestyle and schedule and don’t really want to change or have things interrupted. Do we want our families saved? Do we want God to touch our city? Or are we comfortable with millions lost and going to hell? We must realize WE are the key to our family’s & nation’s revival.
3. A.W. Tozer wrote, "Revivals come only to those who want them badly enough. The problem is not to persuade God to fill us, but to want God sufficiently to permit him to do so. The average Christian is so cold and so contented with his wretched condition that there is no vacuum of desire into which the blessed Spirit can rush in satisfying fullness." [Born After Midnight]
B. GOD IS JUST WAITING ON US
1. CHARLES FINNEY DENIED WE HAVE TO WAIT FOR A MOVE OF THE SPIRIT OF GOD.
a. He said that God is always ready to have revival.
b. He claimed that, “When the conditions are right, it will rain. Likewise, when God’s conditions are met, there will be revival.” He taught it’s just as predictable as the weather.
c. In 2 Chron. 7:14, God gives the conditions, “If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.”
2. So the real question is whether we want revival or not. Do we want the infilling of the Spirit? Do we want the miraculous in our lives? Are we hungry for God?
3. We must make up our mind that we want revival so bad that we will take it any way we can get it and at any cost. THE PROOF OF DESIRE IS PURSUIT. We must desire revival so bad that we will pursue it eagerly. And the great news is that God’s just waiting to pour it out on you!
C. THE POWER IS AVAILABLE IF YOU WANT IT
1. A mother and her family were taking a tour of a mill where power was generated by a fast-flowing river close to its walls. The interior of the mill was filled with giants gears and axles going in every direction.
2. The gears, however, were all still, giving the impression that the mill was broken and no longer worked. The lady asked the guide, “If this mill worked, how would you set it in motion?” “Just pull that handle,” said the guide.
3. When the lady pulled it, the entire machinery began moving. The wheels and axles were alive with motion! The power of the water was always available; what was needed was someone to take the handle and set it in motion.
4. So it is with the Spirit of God. He is always available, but we have to pull the handle – ENGAGE HIS POWER!
CONCLUSION
A. ILLUSTRATION
1. On the night of March 29, 1848, Niagara Falls completely and mysteriously stopped flowing. The estimated 681,000 gallons of water per second that customarily rushed over the falls stalled to a trickle.
2. Francis Macklem, a village justice of the peace in the Niagara area, wrote that as he witnessed the subsidence of the waters and the phenomena of the Niagara running dry, it "caused great excitement in the neighborhood."
3. To some, the mystery of this sudden "turning off" of the River seemed to be an ominous portent, and nightfall found most of the churches packed with praying people talking in frightened voices about the end of the world. Fear grew into the proportions of panic.
4. The cause of this unusual event began along the shores of Lake Erie near Buffalo. For several days, the wind had been blowing to the East over Lake Erie, driving much of its ice flow down the river.
5. Then the winds suddenly shifted to the West, driving the Lake water West and causing the Lake’s ice to break up and dam the river.
6. The Niagara River ceased to flow for almost 30 hours until the ice shifted and the dam broke up.
7. When we become cold toward Christ and don't let the Holy Spirit flow through our lives, it can become disastrous. The love for Christ can become dammed up in us.
B. THE CALL
1. How hungry are you for revival? For the infilling of the Spirit? David said, “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a contrite spirit in me. Cast me not away from Your presence and take not Your Spirit from me!”
2. Are you willing to repent of your lukewarm lifestyle, and seek the fullness of the Spirit and let Him have all of you? Let’s all come to the front and wait on God. Ask God to renew your first love! PRAYER.
*Textual Note. The Pulpit Commentary says that verse 4 was “retained by Lachmann on the strong authority of A, C3, E, F, G, T, Delta; Tertullian, Didymus, & Cyril.” However, the overwhelming evidence is that this verse is a gloss – added later as an explanation. Except for Tertullian, it’s not found in any early witnesses and contains 7 words/ expressions not used by John in any of his writings (Bruce Metzger).
[This is a rewrite of Steve Ely’s message, “Living on the Edge.”]
