Jesus performed His first miracle in CANA turning water into wine. Then He took a trip to Jerusalem where He ran the moneychangers out of the Temple. Then back north where He met a Samaritan woman by a well. Jesus then heal a nobleman’s son via long distance while up north in Galilee. Jesus now makes a trip south again. Arrives during a FEAST(not know which)
1 After these things there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.
• FEASTS were big deals in ISRAEL. Made good BAPTISTS. We have one good one as a nation which is THANKSGIVING. Their lives revolved around their celebrations and they helped them to remember who there had been in the past and were supposed to be in the future.
a. Not watered down in meaning or made politically correct. Passover Bunny? Hanikah Santa in his chariot pulled by 8 camels?
b. Constant remembrance of their special relationship with God as a people. Shame Christians have allowed the world around to still so much of their distinction as a the people of God by hijacking our celebrations.
• At this celebration Jesus encounters an odd scene where many who are sick of various issues are gathered around a pool which is called the Pool of Bethesda.
Old story of a rich guy who threw a party at his mansion. One of his pride and joys was his new saltwater pool in which he had the ability to let swim in various specious of ocean fish. He had the party assemble along the edge of the pool as he proudly released into the pool his new collection of Great White Sharks. As the sharks swam back and forth in the pool the rich man offered 1 Million to anyone brave enough to swim across. Suddenly there was a splash and someone started swimming across at a speed never seen even in the Olympics. A man bounded out of the pool on the opposite side completely out of breath. The rich man ran to him and began to congratulate him on his courage. The tired swimmer said, ‘I only have one question… WHO PUSHED ME?’
Here is a story not of one man who had to be pushed into a pool but of many who all tried to push their way to the pool in order that they might be the first one in.
• Jesus speaks to one particular man who had been sick for 38 years(where were you 38 years ago? 1973? Watergate? AMERICAN GRAFFITI EXORCIST This man could have sung one of the top songs of that year: WHY ME LORD? HE had been sick since then when Jesus met him next to the pool.
2 Now there is in Jerusalem by the sheep gate a pool, which is called in Hebrew Bethesda, having five porticoes. 3 In these lay a multitude of those who were sick, blind, lame, and withered, [waiting for the moving of the waters; 4 for an angel of the Lord went down at certain seasons into the pool and stirred up the water ; whoever then first, after the stirring up of the water, stepped in was made well from whatever disease with which he was afflicted.] 5 A man was there who had been ill for thirty-eight years. 6 When Jesus saw him lying there, and knew that he had already been a long time in that condition, He said to him, "Do you wish to get well?" 7 The sick man answered Him, "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." 8 Jesus said to him, "Get up, pick up your pallet and walk." 9 Immediately the man became well, and picked up his pallet and began to walk.
Bob Shannon was the head football coach at East Saint Louis High School which has been called “one of the great high school programs in the nation.” Reader’s Digest had an article called “The Stuff of Champions” which was all about Bob Shannon and his amazing record at East Saint Louis High School. In twelve years his teams won five Illinois state championships and were once named the No. 1 high-school football team in the nation. Once they had a winning streak of 26 games YOU EVER BEEN TO EAST SAINT LOUIS? I have…Don’t stop for gas or even a stoplight. East Saint Louis is a sinkhole of crime and violence. One morning they found the body of an executed drug dealer on their practice field. Students often ran through a gauntlet of gang gun battles in order to get to class. Most of the players came from single-parent families and nearly all of them received public aid. It is as close to hopeless as any situation you would find in America. But Bob Shannon turns out winners. "My quarterbacks don't wear earrings. A quarterback must be a leader, must be held to a little higher standard. An earring shows that he is a follower." Over and over again reporters ask him how he does it. “We battle tough odds. But we don’t look for excuses to explain failure. We look for ways to succeed.”
• This morning I want to talk about why we might stay like we are for much longer than we should because of the obstacles we have allowed to keep us like we are.
• Verses 2-4 explain this strange scene Jesus encountered
THE PROBLEM BY THE POOL: 2 Now there is in Jerusalem by the sheep gate a pool, which is called in Hebrew Bethesda, having five porticoes. 2 Now there is in Jerusalem by the sheep gate a pool, which is called in Hebrew Bethesda, having five porticoes.
Thousands of pilgrims were there from throughout Israel. Bethesda literally means, “the house of mercy.” It was near the Sheep Gate in the northeastern section of the city. Five colonnades (or porches) were built by the pool. The Jews believed that an angel would come and periodically stir the waters. The first person to enter the water after it had been stirred would be healed of his diseases. So hundreds of sick and infirm people gathered around the pool, waiting and hoping for the water to be stirred.
Not completely sure about the power or validity of healing that went on here but it is clear that they Jews in and having traveled to Jerusalem believed there was healing power to be had here.
There are that the pool of Bethesda, like many similar pools in the Jerusalem area, is an intermittent spring. At times water is released in surges from hidden reservoirs in the hills around the city, causing these springs to rise and fall suddenly. Thus the pool at Bethesda had established a reputation as a place where people could be healed.
3 In these lay a multitude of those who were sick, blind, lame, and withered, [waiting for the moving of the waters; 4 for an angel of the Lord went down at certain seasons into the pool and stirred up the water ; whoever then first, after the stirring up of the water, stepped in was made well from whatever disease with which he was afflicted.]
• There are so many ways that life can attack us and defeat us. Many of which God is waiting with the answer to set us free if we are willing.
• Verse 5 has one of the most amazing questions you find in the Bible.
THE PERSON BY THE POOL: 5 A man was there who had been ill for thirty-eight years. 6 When Jesus saw him lying there, and knew that he had already been a long time in that condition, He said to him, "Do you wish to get well?"
• A very strange question is asked by Jesus. ‘What do you really want to happen here?’
Last February we had the power team in our church and had some great nights of demonstrations of strength and sharing the gospel. Lots of decisions were made. I ended up making one myself. I had to get on stage with those muscle guys and let them knock my block off(300 pound block of ice off my chest) Photo opportunity and seeing myself on film made me realize how heavy I had become. It made me finally willing to do some things I had not been willing to do in the past. I always wanted to lose excess weight but never more than I wanted to keep doing the things that kept the weight on. We dislike something about us but dislike the CURE even more. Jesus asks an amazing question of this man who had lay next to this pool and had been ill for 38 years, ‘DO YOU WANT TO BE WELL?’
1. Many reasons why this man might not actually want to be made well today.
a. 38 years is along time and you can get used to most anything after that long. I don’t know how old the man is but maybe this is about the only way he can ever remember life being. Married 27 years and it is hard to remember what it was like to not be husband or a father.
Prison shows I watch(no connection to previous statement) where there are many who come back because they had been in so long that they have no idea how to live in any other setting.
b. Maybe most of his friends were in similar conditions.
Surprised how much easier it is to enjoy the comradely with others in similar situations of defeat than to start getting set free and no longer having that point of connection with those you have an affection for.
c. Maybe he enjoys the help he gets from others and is not really interested in taking over taking care of himself. He got there with somebody’s help.
As a kid I liked being sick. Meant no school, more TV and mom to take care of me all day. One particular day I really wanted to stay home and told my mom I didn’t feel good. She went and got the thermometer and stuck it in my mouth, back then it took about 3-5 minutes or so for the mercury to rise, so she left to come back later. I knew I might not be sick enough to have a fever so I decided to help it about a bit and stuck the thermometer next to the light bulb in my lamp. When I heard her coming back and quickly stuck it back in my mouth and it was everything I could do not to scream from the pain of the hot. She took it out, looked at it with a puzzled look cause I know it said 142 degrees or at least 106 cause that is all it went to. For some reason she let me stay home and never asked any questions nor did she rush me to the hospital or put me in a bathtub of ice. POINT IS: Sometimes being sick has some appeal.
d. For many it is a mindset or a way of life to be a VICTIM of someone or something in life.
David Gelernter suffered permanent injuries when he opened an explosive package sent by the man known as the Unabomber. But he has refused to view himself as a helpless victim or to wallow in self-pity. Gelernter writes, “When you encourage a man to see himself as a victim of anything —crime, poverty, bigotry, bad luck—you are piling bricks on his chest.” The tendency to see oneself as a victim of life’s injustices is epidemic today. Many feel that misfortunes have somehow deprived them of the opportunity or the will to become the kind of people they long to be.
2. Jesus began by asking the man if it really was his heart to be well.
Do you understand that you need to be changed? Do you want the Me to change you?
COMMEDIAN: Reason God allows us to have teenagers. So we can know what it is like to create someone in our own image who wants nothing to do with us, doesn’t want to hear what we say and treats us like we don’t exist.
Why else would the man be there? Jesus was asking a very serious question because it was entirely possible that the man did not want to get well.
Jesus is probing at the level of the will. “I have the power to make you well. But I will not exercise my power until you decide you want to be well. If I make you well, you can’t sit here and gossip all day. If I make you well, you can’t be a beggar anymore. If I make you well, you can’t use your illness to get special treatment. If I make you well, you won’t get all that sympathy anymore. There’s a price to be paid for being well. Do you want to pay it?” Jesus is saying, “Do you really want to be changed?” If the answer is yes, then miracles can take place. If the answer is no, then even Jesus cannot help you.
Man told his Pastor: “You’re right. It is hard to change. It’s scary because you get comfortable with the way you are—even if you know that the way you live is not good. Change is scary. It takes a lot of faith to truly want Jesus to change you. Sometimes it’s easier to stay the way you are.”
The man answers this way: “You must be new here. You don’t understand the problem. Every time the water is stirred, somebody else beats me to the water. No one will ever help me. They just push me out of the way.”
7 The sick man answered Him, "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."
• The man begins by letting Jesus know why he is like he is and the reason why there is little hope for change. EVER HAVE THAT CONVERSATION WITH GOD? Excuses
Bruce Larson at seminar where Dr. William Glasser, the founder of Reality Therapy was speaking. The talk had one main theme: Healthy people do not make excuses. He used as an example the tendency people have to make excuses when they are late for an appointment. They will say the traffic was heavy, they got a last-second phone call, a crisis came up at the office, and so on. Dr. Glasser argued those kinds of excuses cover up the real issue. If you are late, it is because you are incompetent to run your own life. He suggested that instead of making a lame excuse the next time you are late, simply say, “I’m sorry. I guess I’m incompetent to run my own life.”
Larson decided to take Glasser’s advice. “It took me just one late appointment to cure myself of a lifelong habit.” Then he added this comment: “When I stopped making excuses for myself, I discovered I had it in my power to be on time.
On the first day teaching his class of 250 college freshmen, R. C. Sproul carefully explained the assignment of three term papers. Each paper was due on the last day of September, October, and November. Sproul clearly stated there would be no extensions (except for medical reasons).
At the end of September, some 225 students dutifully turned in their papers, while 25 remorseful students quaked in fear. “We’re so sorry but we promise to do better next time.” He bowed to their pleas for mercy, gave them an extension, but warned them not to be late next month.
The end of October rolled around, and about 200 students turned in their papers, while 50 students showed up empty-handed. “Oh, please,“it was homecoming weekend, and we ran out of time.”
Sproul relented once more but warned them, “This is it. No excuses next time. You will get an F.” The end of November came, and only 100 students turned in their papers. The rest told Sproul, “We’ll get it in soon.” “
Sorry, it’s too late now. You get an F.” They howled in protest, “That’s not fair!” “Okay,” Sproul replied, “you want justice, do you? Here’s what’s just: you’ll get an F for all three papers that were late. That was the rule, right?”
“The students had quickly taken my mercy for granted,” Sproul later reflected. “They assumed it. When justice suddenly fell, they were unprepared for it. It came as a shock, and they were outraged.”
• Unanswered question about this situation is why this man? Jesus is surrounded by a multitude of sick folks so what is unique about this particular man who was sick even before Jesus was born on earth.
MAN’S ANSWER with the EXCUSE for his continued hopeless condition showed how he was at the end of his options. There was no other hope but Jesus. Many people are still working down their own personal list of solutions and aren’t ready to turn this over to Jesus while they might still solve this and get come credit for the change that might come.
GOD WORKS IN THE LIVES OF DEPERATE PEOPLE: Desperately want to change and see no other hope but God and in desperation cry out to Him.
We live in a sin-damaged world and we will suffer many struggles in life and things that are not fair. Obstacles don’t disappear for a believer but actually increase. Jesus did not deny this man had lived a horrible past and lay in a difficult present but Jesus was offering Him a victorious future and the struggles and obstacles could be the very arenas that God could be seen in the man’s life.
THE POWER BY THE POOL: 8 Jesus said to him, "Get up, pick up your pallet and walk."
“Do you want to be made well?” (Jn. 5:6). The man answered with an excuse that was overpowered by the command of Christ: “Rise, take up your bed, and walk” (v.8).
1. Jesus tells the man to get up. By Himself
The man’s excuse was that he had nobody to help him, and Jesus doesn’t ask somebody to come over to help, but asks the man to get up himself.
Jesus could have said, “Peter and John help this man to his feet”. But He didn’t.
Sometimes we cheat ourselves out of God's blessings in our lives because we want them to come through a person.
You don’t need to wait til you get to church to deal with something between yourself and God. Do it right where you are WHEN He speaks to your heart about it.
My life took a dramatic turn in January 29, 1979. 32 years ago yesterday. I had grown up in church but had been very sporadic for at least 6 years or so. When my life was changed there was no Christian I could point to that had any part in it. No witness from anybody, no great example, no amazing sermon.
All I remember is that for the last month of 1978 that a very strong presence or even a voice in my head would come out of nowhere saying, ‘Something amazing is coming, get ready’.
Early January of 79 I went with a friend to Australia and backpacked up and down the Eastern side of the country. While walking along one of the amazingly beautiful beachs(Oklahoma boy) that voice and presence returned saying, ‘This could not have just happened, I am real, what are you going to do about it’? DAMASCUS BEACH
2. Jesus tells the man to pick up his bed
3. Jesus tells the man to start walking. Not towards the old pool but towards a brand new future
9 Immediately the man became well, and picked up his pallet and began to walk.
A 2008 Harris Interactive survey found that 10 percent of the adults polled were driving a car whose “Check Engine” light was on. 50 percent said the light had been on for over 3 months. This light can signify something potentially costly and possibly dangerous to the passengers or others on the road.
The survey found drivers had excuses for ignoring the light. Some said the problem seemed questionable due to the car “running fine.” Others pointed to a lack of sufficient funds. Still others simply noted that they just didn’t have time to worry about diagnostics and subsequent repairs.
• I think we all should see that the true message this morning is not for those with physical sicknesses but that the major changes we have need of today have to do with some glaring spiritual issues in our lives. The warning lights have been on for a long time regarding some spiritual issues in your life
• What will be your excuse this morning when you walk out of here still having done nothing about that issue in your life? Have you?
a. Just learned to live with it?
b. Cost is too high to change it? God asking too much of you to give you the only future that would truly matter in your life?
Jesus stands before you this morning, just you. You may be surrounded by a lot of other spiritually sick folks but the question is , ‘WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO?’
