Romans5:18-19 MSG
Here it is in a nutshell:
Just as one person did it wrong and
got us in all this trouble with sin and death,
another Person did it right and got us out of it.
But more than just getting us out of trouble,
He got us into life!
One man said no to God and put many people in the wrong;
One Man said yes to God and put many in the right.
With:
John5:1- 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.
4- because 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].(HCSB)
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,
John 5:1-9NiV
INTRODUCTION:
v.6 “... “Do you want to get well?”
What kind of Question is that?
What a strange question to ask of a man who had been sick for 38years! "Do you want to be healed?”
But Jesus never asked a foolish question in His life.
Obviously it was important for this man to answer
(at least to himself) the question, "Do I want to be healed?"
The answer could be a simple “of course yes!” from the man...
It should be an obvious answer, but Jesus wanted to expose something in the man’s heart... where is his faith?
Why did Jesus asked that question?
Would you like to get well?
Sick for 38 years
AND HIS ANSWER WAS.... “I can't sir!” (v.7)
Many of us is like that man....
We have tried to correct things.
We have asked for help but nobody seems to care;
it only gets worse.
Many people are right where this man was,
with a sense of helplessness and hopelessness
of making any change.
#I- NO ONE
v7 “...I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred.”
I have no one to put me in the pool
In other words, "Yes, I want to be healed, but I cannot.
I've tried, I've done everything I know how.
I want to get into that water, I want to be healed, but I lack the ability; I've no one to help me.
I've given up.
I have no hope."
*The Man Was Desperate (v.5)
Just the fact that he was there at the pool
is an indication that he was desperate for healing.
The problem with most of us is that
we are all looking for a way other than God’s way.
People seem willing to try any plan but not God’s plan.
#II- SOMEONE (v. 7)
v7b “While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me.”
Someone else always get there ahead of me.
He Was Often Disappointed
Time and time again, this man had seen others
get into the pool ahead of himself.
Time and time again, his dreams of a completely
whole life were shattered.
Time and again, he was forced to drag his broken body
back to his old pallet and wait for yet another time of disappointment!
Illustration:
Jairus‘case of an emergency in the life of his 12year daughter who was at the point of death where a woman of the 12year issue was healed and Jesus stopped... asking who touched Him?
THAT SOMEONE AHEAD OF US ALWAYS WOULD LEAD US TO DISAPPOINTMENT AND DISCOURAGEMENT
BUT....
There is always our....
#III- ONLY ONE!
vv8&9...
What does Jesus say, then?
All these are involved in His words in this verse....
Rise, take up your pallet, and walk."
And at once the man was healed,
and he took up his pallet and walked. (John 5:8b-9a RSV)
Notice carefully his method:
1- He asks an IMPOSSIBLE thing;
2- He removes all possibility of a RELAPSE
3- He expects a continued SUCCESS
NOTICE:
Jesus says to do is what the man could not do,
what he had tried for 38 years to do.
On what basis does Jesus say these words to him?
It is important to see that.
Somehow this man senses what that basis was.
Perhaps he was thinking,
* “If this Man tells me to rise (and I cannot rise),
it must mean that He intends to do something to make it possible."
Thus his faith is transferred from his own efforts to Jesus:
“He must do it. I can't."
The man also might have reasoned somewhat along these lines,
* “If this Man is going to help me then....
I’ve got to decide to do what He tells me to do."
This is a critical clue many of us miss when we are looking for help from God. There is always something God tells them to believe, and do, and act on. This is a word of action.
Jesus did not say, "Try to build up faith in your mind.
Try to fasten your thoughts on this or that."
He tells them to do something: "Rise! Stand up!"
Obviously it was Jesus'will that this man should do what He told him to do, and the moment the man's will agreed with the Lord's will the power was there. We do not know whether he felt anything or not.
All we know is that strength came into his bones and into his muscles and he could stand.
He knew he could stand, and he did!
CONCLUSION:
What about you?
How about me?
Jesus is walking through this place this morning.
Perhaps He has been speaking to our hearts as we have listened.
Like this cripple, we should know that we need the touch of Jesus in our life. How we need this One Man...
That He might single us out of this multitude...
Only by His grace...
It takes one silly question for us
But needs One Man to answer it in impossible ways,
No relapse only learning to depend on the Savior thus a whole life of wholeness and succes!
It takes a silly question from the One Man
to answer the need of the one man...
“ARISE, TAKE UP YOUR BED, WALK!
