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!
Do you want to get well?
I’ve heard plenty of people say things like “I’d do anything to play the guitar.” My response: would you practice?
I do anything to be free of this addiction. Will you repent of your part in bringing it about? Will you establish relationships of accountability? Do you really want to be made well?
When Jesus asked the man this question, his response was to say “I have no one to help me…” But Jesus lets him know (with his swift action) that he was wrong. He had someone to help him standing right there talking with him.
If you want to be made well – if you want the broken places of your life to be made whole – Jesus is the answer. But he will not do it all for you. He will provide you the resources, but you’re going to have to make your own choices.
When you look at the broken places in your life – the first step to healing is honestly answering the question “Do you want to get well?”
I am convinced that if you want to be made well – in the areas of your life that are broken – you can.
ILLUS: Drs. Minirth & Meyer have written a book about overcoming depression entitled "Happiness Is a Choice." They wrote, "As psychiatrists, we cringe whenever Christian patients use the words, `I can’t’ & `I’ve tried.’ Any good psychiatrist knows that `I can’t’ & `I’ve tried’ are merely lame excuses. We insist that our patients stop saying `can’t’ & say `won’t’ instead."
"They need to see what they are really doing, so we make them face up to it by saying, `I just won’t get along with my wife.’ `My husband & I won’t communicate.’ `I won’t discipline my kids the way I should.’ `I won’t find time to pray.’ `I won’t stop gossiping.’ When they change their "can’ts" to "won’ts" they stop avoiding the truth & start facing reality."
We live in a broken world. Full of broken people and broken relationships with each other and with God. If we want to be made whole – the first and most important step is to say, “Yes. I want to get well. And yes, I will take responsibility for doing the things I can do to help bring about that healing. I will repent of those things in my life that the Bible calls sin. I will turn away from the world’s plan for healing – whatever it is – and will fix my eyes on Jesus as the only source of life.
As Minirth and Meier put it, “I will stop avoiding the truth and start facing reality.”
When Jesus commanded the man to GET UP – Pick up your mat and walk!” it must have sounded like an impossibility. But guess what. It wasn’t impossible because Jesus had already brought about the healing. The man didn’t know it, but he’d been given a supernatural healing right then and there. Jesus told him to stand up and walk because he never would have even known he had been given new legs if he hadn’t had the faith to stand up and take some steps.
ILLUS: “once bitten twice shy”
I’ve been trying to convince Ryan to practice riding a two-wheeler, but he is never very excited about it. Why? Because he’s crashed a few times even with training wheels.
I know he can ride that bike. The skills to do it are in him, but as long as he lets his past failures and his fear of pain rule him, he will not learn to master that skill.
Now I know sooner or later he will learn to ride that bike.
I think the man who Jesus healed was a lot like that. He had tried so many times to get healed by getting into the pool (the wrong way) that he didn’t realize that there was another way to be made whole. It was through Jesus. And after 38 years of nothing happening, it must have taken quite a bit of faith to put weight on those atrophied legs. But he did it. He conquered his past, and all the years of doubt and all his failures and fears.
What about you? When Jesus asks you “Do you want to get well?” your answer might be “Yes – but I know what I’ll need to do and last time I failed miserably. I’d rather just put up with my problems than to know that pain again.”
I want you to remember this man with legs that hadn’t worked properly in 38 years. Like going back to the days of the Truman presidency. But because he WANTED it, and was willing to do what Jesus asked him to do – he was set free.
CONCLUSION:
If there is one major area of your life that you want to see changed – that is broken or hurting and you want healing – what is it?
Tell the Lord – “I want you to make this area of my life well.”
Now ask the Lord, “What do I need to do?” “What do I need to repent of?” “Who do I need to talk to?” “What do I need to get rid of?” “What habits do I need to form?” “What habits do I need to break?”
Now, if you’re wanting change, stand up and promise Him that you will do your part. Let this be your way of getting up, picking up your mat, and walking.
