The One Who Can Make You Whole Series

Who Is This Jesus?

5. The One Who Can Make You Whole

John 5:1-9

October 9/10, 2004

Don Jaques

MAIN IDEA:

Jesus can heal you if you are willing to do what He asks.

INTRO:

What were you doing in 1966? (Get some replies.)

I wasn’t born then but here are some of the big events:

World Population: 3.415 billion (currently over 6 billion!)

President: Lyndon B. Johnson

Life expectancy: 70.2 years

Medicare Begins (July 1)

Supreme Court decides Miranda v. Arizona protecting rights of the accused.

Unemployment: 4.5%

Cost of a stamp: $0.05

Baltimore defeated the L.A. Dodgers in the World Series

Boston defeated the L.A. Lakers for the NBA championship

Tom Jones won a grammy for best new artist

CBS deems "Psycho" too violent for at-home viewing

The Academy Award went to "The Sound of Music"

FDA declares "the Pill" safe for human use

Walt Disney died

What’s the big deal about 1966? It was 38 years ago. A lot has come and gone in that time frame. But that is how long a man in today’s scripture has suffered an ailment making him an invalid. 38 years. But it was all about to change – the day Jesus walked by. Let’s turn in our Bibles to John chapter 5.

John 5:1-9

1Some time later, Jesus went up to Jerusalem for a feast of the Jews. 2Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a pool, which in Aramaic is called Bethesda and which is surrounded by five covered colonnades. 3Here a great number of disabled people used to lie--the blind, the lame, the paralyzed. 5One who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. 6When 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."

8Then Jesus said to him, "Get up! Pick up your mat and walk." 9At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked.

Who is this Jesus? He is the One who can make you well.

I’ve got a pretty simple message today, and the main point is this: Jesus can heal you if you are willing to follow Him. If you want to be made well of the broken parts in your life – you’ll need to come to the only One who can bring that change.

Some people waste their time chasing after myths and hoaxes and self-help remedies when there is a solution that God is offering.

ILLUS: On vacation in Vancouver at the children’s mall at Granville Island. Kids had some money to burn and we went in a shop that featured beautiful colored stones (among other things). Heard the lady behind the counter talking with a customer about all the healing properties of the different crystals she was selling. There in the corner was a “meditation room” to sit among all the rocks and find inner peace. How sad.

“Do you want to get well?”

ILLUS: A family member of someone in our small group has been looking into Wicca as the solution for her life’s problems. “It’s totally misunderstood”, she says. “It’s all about ‘good’ magic.” How confused, how sad.

“Do you want to get well?”

ILLUS: Never forget spending an hour in a casino in Reno and seeing the sad people there looking for some sort of escape from their woes in the liquor that was so freely flowing and the possibility of getting rich quick.

“Do you want to get well?”

It seems like such a silly question.

Here is this pitiful man. He’s been chasing the fantasy of getting into the water first in order to be healed for 38 long years! Jesus has compassion on him. But at first he needs to know if the man really wants to be made well. Perhaps he liked his life as a beggar. Perhaps all his friends were there at the pool and he didn’t like the idea of having to work and leave his comfort zone.

ILLUS: We’ve all met people who actually were homeless by choice. Rick – the homeless man in OH who recently passed away – was one of these. If you asked him he would have told you he didn’t need any help. He was just fine the way he was. Or was he?

If you want to get well it will mean obeying Jesus. It will mean following His word.

Do you want your marriage to be made well? Start with the word of God. Are you willing to obey it?

Do you want to be set free from an addiction or a destructive habit? First you’ve got to understand that the answer is in relying upon the help that only God can provide – and then DOING what His word and His Holy Spirit instruct you to do!