"a Hardened Heart In A Healed Body" (Message 11 In Gospel Of John 2021) Series

“A HARDENED HEART IN A HEALED BODY”

John 5:1-15

Message 11 in Gospel of John 2021

Greenmount and O’Leary Churches of Christ, March 28, 2021

Video Link: https://youtu.be/8YfVvENb5Ro

INTRODUCTION:

1.) Over the past few weeks, I have said the miracles of Jesus were to bring people to faith.

2.) Yet even the miracles of God cannot bring to faith one who has hardened his heart to God.

3.) Today I want to introduce you to just that kind of man.

A.) The fifth chapter of John, tells us of a man whom Jesus healed, but whose heart was to hard to put his faith in Christ.

I. OUR SCENE OPENS WITH HOSPITAL BEDS AT THE POOLSIDE

1.) “A great number of disabled people used to lie.” (5:3a)

A.) There at the pool of Bethesda from time to time the water would bubble up from an intermittent spring underneath.

aa.) When this spring would bubble up it would stir up the sediment in the bottom.

aaa.) Jewish tradition held that it was an angel that stirred up the water and also brought healing.

ab.) It is possible there may have been some degree of healing properties in the minerals of that sediment, but beyond that it was more superstition than reality that the water would provide healing to the body.

ac.) Just the same in Jesus’ day many in need of healing would gather there hoping to be healed.

aca.) On this particular day Jesus came to the area around the pool.

.01) We are given a description of who Jesus saw there.

B.) “The blind, the lame, the paralyzed.” (5:3b.)

ba.) Anyone with a physical ailment would have congregated there.

C.) In many ways this was an open-air hospital.

2.) Though many came for healing, Jesus focused on only one man.

A.) Sometimes we feel that Jesus healed everyone he met who was sick or had physical ailments.

aa.) Nothing could be further from the truth.

ab.) John 5 is proof that Jesus did not heal everyone.

aba.) We are told there were many people at this pool, but Jesus chose only this one man from the group for physical healing.

B.) John 5:5

ba.) This man had been disabled for thirty-eight years.

C.) Jesus saw him lying there. (John 5:6)

ca.) “He had been in this condition for a long time.” (5:6b.)

cb.) Perhaps Jesus chose this man because of the hopelessness of his case.

cba.) If you had been unable to walk for thirty-eight years, the chances of healing now were unlikely.

3.) Jesus came to the man and asked if he wanted to get well. John 5:6c.)

A.) “Do you want to get well?” (5:6d.)

aa.) What kind of a question is that?

ab.) This man had been on a bed for 38 years, of course he wanted to get well, at least we would think he would.

ac.) But that is perhaps not the case.

aca.) There are people who enjoy ill health, and the attention it brings to them.

acb.) Daily he received attention from people who might otherwise not even notice him much less give him the time of day.

acc.) Not only this, but his thirty-eight years of sickness meant he did not have to work for a living but had his every need met by those who were passing by.

acd.) Yes, there was a certain degree of embarrassment, and shame to lie there and beg, but he had got used to it, and now the begging was just part of his daily life.

.01) It is also possible that he had become quite good at it.

ad.) These could all have been reasons why Jesus asked him if he wanted to get well.

ae.) I think there could have been another reason for Jesus to ask him if he wanted to get well:

af.) Jesus was likely speaking of both physical healing, and spiritual healing.

B.) In response to Jesus’ question the man focused only on his own abilities.

ba.) John 5:7

bb.) In fact, we will see later in this text that He did not even know who Jesus was, so had no reason to put his faith in Him.

II. HEALING FROM THE HEAVENLY HEALER.

1.) The healing was done through the spoken word.

A.) John 5:8-9

B.) “Get Up!” (5:8a.)

ba.) It was a commandment from the very one who had created his body.

ba.) “At once the man was cured.” (5:9a.)

bb.) The words of Jesus came as a commandment to the man, but it was also a commandment to his legs and body to come back to life so the man could walk.

C.) “Pick up your mat!” (5:8b.)

ca.) That may not seem that big of a request, but we will see in our text that it stirred up trouble because this was the Sabbath, and the Pharisees considered him to be working on the Sabbath.