Sermon Brief
Date Written: February 12, 2011
Date Preached: February 13, 2011
Where Preached: OPBC (AM)
Sermon Details:
Series Title: Falling in Love With Jesus
Sermon Title: Jesus – Deliverer
Sermon Text: John 5:1-15 [HCSB]
1After this, a Jewish festival took place, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 2By the Sheep Gate in Jerusalem there is a pool, called Bethesda in Hebrew, which has five colonnades. 3Within these lay a multitude of the sick—blind, lame, and paralyzed [—waiting for the moving of the water, 4because an angel would go down into the pool from time to time and stir up the water. Then the first one who got in after the water was stirred up recovered from whatever ailment he had]. 5One man was there who had been sick for 38 years. 6When Jesus saw him lying there and knew he had already been there a long time, He said to him, "Do you want to get well?" 7"Sir," the sick man answered, "I don't have a man to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, but while I'm coming, someone goes down ahead of me." 8"Get up," Jesus told him, "pick up your bedroll and walk!" 9Instantly the man got well, picked up his bedroll, and started to walk. Now that day was the Sabbath. 10So the Jews said to the man who had been healed, "It is the Sabbath, and it is not lawful for you to take up your bed." 11But he answered them, "The man who healed me, that man said to me, 'Take up your bed, and walk.'" 12They asked him, "Who is the man who said to you, 'Take up your bed and walk'?" 13Now the man who had been healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had withdrawn, as there was a crowd in the place. 14Afterward Jesus found him in the temple and said to him, "See, you are well! Sin no more, that nothing worse may happen to you." 15The man went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had healed him.
Introduction:
Robert had graduated from High School, attended Abilene Christian University where he rec’d a degree in Latin. He went on to teach at a Community College in the St. Louis area. Robert was active in his church and went on many mission trips, ultimately surrendering to the mission calling on his life where he ended up in Portugal. Robert had been a missionary in Portugal for 6 yrs, and this is where he had met his wife AND where he had led so many people to the Lord.
In looking at Robert’s life, you can see great successes and great accomplishment. But to look at Robert… you may wonder how... You see Robert has severe cerebral palsy. His hands and feet are twisted to the point they are useless. He cannot feed himself, comb his hair, bathe himself, brush his own teeth… Robert cannot even dress himself!
He cannot drive, ride a bike or even go for a walk as he is confined to a wheelchair. But in spite of that, Robert answered the call of God in his life in 1972. Robert moved to Lisbon, Portugal BY HIMSELF and rented a hotel room. He hired a tutor to teach him the language and every day he would station himself in the park out beside his hotel and hand out tracts about Jesus.
Do you know what Robert was recently quoted as saying? He said, “I have EVERYTHING I need for joy in my life!” You see Robert does not see things as the world sees them… He does not see his condition as an excuse nor does he allow his cerebral palsy to limit his service OR cloud his attitude toward His Savior.
But that is not the way the world sees things in our society today. You hear, “It’s NOT my fault!” That phrase is uttered for almost every egregious action that there is... all to relieve themselves of any responsibility for their actions. Today, EVERYONE seems to believe that they are the victim of something else and NO ONE seems to want to take personal responsibility for their own actions.
But this did NOT start in our society… but it has been around since the Garden of Eden. Do you remember the story about Adam and Eve in the Garden… Eve partook of the fruit… she was deceived by the serpent, and then she had Adam eat of the fruit… they were BOTH disobedient.
When God came in the cool of the evening and asked Adam why he had done it… he said, “It’s NOT my fault God… SHE made me do it!” God turned to Eve and she said, “The Serpent tricked me… it’s his fault!” Neither of them would take responsibility for their actions.
Today society teaches that you don’t have to take responsibility for your actions… blame it on someone else or some event from your childhood… Freudian thought teaches that every wrong action taken in our lives can be blamed on things that happened to us in our childhood and that we should NEVER have to be responsible for our actions… in other words, “It’s not my fault!”
In our passage of Scripture today… we find someone else who falls into that category. Let’s look at the miracle Jesus performed and at the man Jesus helped… from this story we can learn in 2 things …
1st from a negative aspect, we can see how this man acts and learn how we are NOT called to live and act…
2nd from a positive aspect, we can also learn from what Jesus does for this man in healing him and warning him. AND how Jesus can transform anyone from helpless victim to heavenly victor!
Background Info:
Like most humans today, I believe the man mentioned in our passage this morning suffered from what we would call a “victim’s mentality”, and let me explain what I mean,… the original Greek that John uses here in v.5 tells us:
5One man was there who had been sick for 38 years. Now the Greek word for sick here is as-theh-nay-ee-ahh. This Greek word can be translated into many different words, such as invalid, diseased, that mean essentially the same thing but not necessarily the same thing.
For example it can mean, invalid, feeble, malady, frail, diseased, infirmed, sick or simply just weak… The implication of the Scripture SEEMS to point to this man being an invalid because he could not walk… thus lying by the pool for 38 yrs.
This man was sick, but there is nothing in Scripture that tells us that he was infirmed to the point where he could NOT get up and get to the pool when the waters were stirred by the angel. In fact, this man relates to Jesus that he was a victim and that NO ONE would help him.
With a victim’s mentality…all responsibility is removed from the ‘victim’… this man had laid beside this pool for 38 yrs. It could have been that he had trouble walking, or over the yrs his muscles had atrophied to the point where walking was impossible for him…OR by this time this man may have given up on life. After all he had been here 38 yrs…
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Have you ever ran into someone like that? Someone who’s constant cry is US against THEM… who’s constant cry is that “It’s NOT my fault… because…” Someone who is always blaming others and situations for what is going on in their lives, and refuses to look in the mirror for the one responsible for improving their lives!
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I know I have! I have seen ‘victims’ all my life…those who believed the world had cheated them, those who believed the world owed them something, those who thought that they were only DOWN in life because of other people HOLDING them down. Never once do they look within and see that the most difficult barrier they have to get over is themselves!
Here we find a man who had been at this pool for 38 years and when Jesus asks him, “Do you want to be healed?” do you notice his response to Jesus? “We it’s because NO ONE will help me… I’ve been here for 38 years and I can’t get ANYONE to help me!”
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In other places in Scripture we find people coming to Jesus for healing and when asked the question they are ready to say YES!! Yes, I am ready… Yes! I want to be healed… but this man, instead of saying yes to Jesus, he begins to complain and tell Jesus about how bad the world has treated him.
Jesus Delivers us from our Faithless Fear – v.5-6:
5One man was there who had been sick for 38 years. 6When Jesus saw him lying there and knew he had already been there a long time, He said to him, "Do you want to get well?"
In 1932 after defeating Herbert Hoover for the presidency, Franklin Roosevelt uttered these memorable words in his inaugural address to the nation. “The only thing we have to fear…is fear itself!”
Fear is a huge part of our lives as human beings. We fear everything, but most of all we fear the unknown. We fear NOT knowing what is around the corner. This man’s fear were based on NOT being able to get help… not having someone there for Him.
However, in the midst of his fear… in the midst of his loneliness, this man met Jesus. Jesus came to this man in his worst hour… in his darkest moment and asked him if he wanted deliverance…
Now I want us to see the significance and spiritual template this situation paints for us today. This tells us that no matter how dark the hour… no matter how terrible the foe… Jesus offers deliverance!
This man’s attitude had kept him by this pool for far too many years, his stubborn pride had left him as an invalid with NO ONE in his corner. No family to help, no friends to rely upon, not even a stranger to feel sorrow for him… he was all alone!
And at his darkest hour, Jesus came! Jesus came and offered deliverance to this man… why? Because Jesus loves, and because that is what Jesus does… He is the redeemer and Savior, who has come to save that which was lost!
When ministering here on earth, Jesus used physical issues and healing those physical issues to point out spiritual problems and spiritual downfalls. In this story Jesus comes along and offers redemption to someone who had possibly ran off everyone who had ever loved or cared about him… his attitude was toxic and his demeanor was terrible…
Now we all know someone like this man… we all know someone who simply cannot be happy, unless they are Unhappy! For many of us that sounds ridiculous to say, but I know I have met so many people that seem to thrive on being down and troubled in spirit…
This man did not answer Jesus question like many of us would have answered it… can you imagine someone coming up to you… you been in poverty for 40 years and they say, “Hey, do you want a million dollars?” Would you tell them… well if my boss didn’t hate me and if my co workers were not against me… if my wife just supported me more… if my children did not expect so much of me… I would be rich!
EVERYONE of us in this room would accept one million dollars very quickly if it were offered. And what Jesus had to offer this man was far more valuable than money… Jesus was offering him a physical healing, but he was also offering him deliverance from a life of being an invalid…from a life of being a laughing stock… from a life of being a pariah in the eyes of society. Jesus offered this man deliverance from his pathetic situation, and all this man could say to him was that… hey man its not my fault, NO ONE will help me!
And today, Jesus is still the same. He sees us in our life… He knows our situation. Jesus comes to us today and offers deliverance from the fears of this life… from the fear of failure, from the fear of intimidation, from the fear of the unknown… Jesus offers deliverance!
Today you can know that deliverance… today Jesus is standing and knocking at your heart’s door… saying “do you want to be healed?... do you want to be saved?”
What is your answer going to be this morning? Will it be like this man, where you simply begin to complain to God about your life… about what others have not done for you OR what others have done TO you…OR are you going to step up and say YES to Jesus?
Today we can see in this passage that Jesus delivers us from or faithless fears, but we can also see that…
Jesus Delivers us from Physical Fear – v.8-9:
8"Get up," Jesus told him, "pick up your bedroll and walk!" 9Instantly the man got well, picked up his bedroll, and started to walk.
For the longest time this man had wallowed in self-pity, with a sense that the world had come against him and that NOBODY cared! But today, here is a man who is reaching out to him…
Life had become routine for this man, in fact there is a term that is used today that fits this man’s lifestyle. This man had become “institutionalized”… it is something like prisoners who are released after spending decades in prison… many don’t want to leave prison!
That may sound crazy to us, but for so many years they have been told what to do, when to do it, and how to do it… they have lost all self-confidence and don’t know how to do ANYTHING on their own!
This man had been laying at this gate begging for so long, he did not know any other life. This could be the reason why he answered Jesus the way he did… maybe he did NOT want to be healed because healing him would mean he could no longer sit and beg for money… but would be forced to walk, and work for a living.
Jesus asks this man if he wants to be healed and the man answers Jesus with complaints and accusations against everyone else but himself. Still Jesus is seeking to deliver him from this terrible life… now Jesus does not ask a question but issues a command to him… “Get your bed mat, get up, and walk out of here… YOU ARE HEALED!”
Now, there is nothing to tell us that this man could not walk… although the ‘healing’ from Jesus seems to indicate that was his problem. And I am not going to say that he could walk… after 38 years his muscles had probably atrophied so much that it would have been impossible for him to walk… but his malady went far beyond his ability to walk… this man was terrified of living in the world…terrified of being a member of society, he had been here too long!
But Jesus came along and offered deliverance to Him… a deliverance that not only meets the fears of the heart, but it also meets the fears of the physical! Jesus offers this man a challenge to get… and although his legs had stopped working so many years ago because he had given up… Jesus delivers him from this fear and provides him with the physical ability to get up and walk away from where he had been trapped for so long…
Was this man healed by Jesus? Absolutely! Jesus came to him in his darkest hour and offered healing and deliverance. But this man suffered from more than just a physical issue, this man was deep in despair and Jesus came to deliver him! Like so many other people that Jesus touched…
He used a physical healing to reveal a spiritual need for healing! Jesus touched and healed this man’s physical body, but he wanted to heal his soul as well… this leads me to my 3rd major point of the day…
Jesus Delivers us to Spiritual Freedom – v.14:
14Afterward Jesus found him in the temple and said to him, "See, you are well! Sin no more, that nothing worse may happen to you."
This man was healed by Jesus, but this man was not impressed by Jesus. He did not even follow Jesus. Here was a man who had blamed others all his life that had experienced a great healing, but had simply walked away without fanfare…
So often Jesus would tell people to keep their healing quiet and they would jump up and down and follow Jesus and scream to the top of their lungs about what Jesus had done for them… but this man, simply got up and walked away. He was then challenged by the Pharisees as to why he was carrying his bed on the Sabbath…
The man reverts back to the same mentality that had kept him by that pool for 38 years and that was “Hey, it’s not MY fault… this guy came along and told me to take up my bed and walk away from the pool!”
They asked who told him to do such a thing, but he could not remember. Later Jesus comes to this man in the Temple complex and admonishes him for his unbelief and lack of thankfulness. He tells this man, “Hey you have been delivered, you have been saved, you have been healed!” the implication here is why are you not more joyful!
Jesus then says, “SIN no more, unless something even WORSE will happen to you!” Jesus had delivered this man… both physically and spiritually…he told him that his sins were forgiven! Was it because this man had repented? NO… was it because this man had great faith…NO!
A few chapters later in the book of John there is a story about a woman who is caught red-handed in the very act of adultery and she is brought before Jesus and Jesus is told that she deserves to die… to be stoned to death! Now I have always wondered why they did not bring the MAN as well… wasn’t he just as guilty?
Anyway… Jesus looks to the crowd and tells them that they are right, she does deserve death and let the one among them with NO sin in their lives throw the 1st stone! One by one they all dropped their stones and walked away… then Jesus turns to this woman and asks her where are all those who wanted to have you killed? She does not know… Jesus then tells her to go and sin NO more… with the implication that He had forgiven her at this time!
Both of these stories illustrate a great truth that so many believers miss out on… and that is FORGIVENESS of sin comes FROM God and it is initiated BY GOD! We are called to confess our sin… but our confession does not forgive our sin! Only God can forgive sin… and here we find that He forgave these people even when they did not seem to deserve it… ask for it… or even confess their sin!
The truth we must understand is that we do not deserve ANYTHING, but Jesus has come to deliver us! We cannot EARN anything… but still Jesus has come to GIVE us a great gift of eternal life and forgiveness! We are so unworthy, but still Jesus came… Jesus forgives and Jesus delivers us to spiritual freedom!
We don’t hear anymore about this man in Scripture, but we do see that his situation cause quite a commotion among the religious leaders. Jesus forgave the unforgiveable and they were LIVID!
How often do we find ourselves in that same boat… we see God move in the life of someone who has lived a terrible life… a drug dealer, a murderer, a sex offender, a rapist, a man who cheated on his wife, a woman who left her family and small children…
God comes into their lives and forgives them and delivers them and we get MAD! We think to ourselves… they don’t deserve to be forgiven… and we are right they DON’T deserve it, but that is the good news of the Gospel of Jesus Christ!
NONE of us deserve His forgiving touch in our lives… but still He comes and offers that forgiveness!
Conclusion:
Today you may be sitting here in this room full of fear… fear of the unknown… fear that you have lived your life in such a wrong way that there is NO hope for you… fear that God does not care about you… for all of you here today… Jesus comes to deliver us from that fear! Deliver us into His forgiveness and salvation.
You may be sitting here today thinking that you have done WAAAAAY too much for God to forgive you… you don’t even know how to get forgiveness… where do I start? How can I get it? But here is the truth you need to hear… when it is left up to YOU… you have NO hope! We can do NOTHING to rid ourselves of sin… but Jesus has come to deliver us from our sinful lives… just as he came to deliver this man from his heart breaking life beside this pool…
He did not deserve Jesus’ healing… in fact, most of us believe that we may have simply walked away from him, but Jesus did NOT walk away, Jesus came to deliver him… Jesus came to save him!
Today, Jesus is here… Jesus is ready to move in a mighty way in your life. Jesus wants to forgive you… Jesus is ready to clean up your heart… He has come to deliver you, are you ready to accept this great gift! You cannot earn it… but He is here to grant it to you!
This morning as we sing our hymn of invitation I want to open up this altar to all of you who are in need of Jesus’ touch in your life… today Satan is trying to keep you under his thumb as a helpless victim! I am calling on you this morning to shed that ‘victim mentality’ and allow Jesus to touch your life… allow Jesus to make you into a Heavenly Victor… victorious over your life, victorious over your sin, victorious over the Enemy… Come today to win that victory in your life… I call for you to come as we begin to sing!
