John 5:1-9
Old or New?
What a powerful event! I see several great happenings:
1. A man that had been in capable of walking for 38 years was
healed.
2. Jesus demonstrated His great power. The power to heal the
broken, the forsaken, the helpless.
3. We get to learn some truths about sin, salvation, and the
Savior.
The healing took place at Bethesda. This is an area not far from the
temple—literally a stone’s throw. It was also near one of the
cities’ main gates, the Sheep Gate, which was used to bring the
sheep into the city for sacrifices.
The pool itself was comprised to two long man-made pools butted
together. They had a dam between them. Porches were built around
the four sides of the conjoined pools and across the dam, giving the
five porches mentioned \\#2\\.
King Herod had built a new water system for the city so this one had
become a gathering place for the public. \\#4\\ tells us that an
angel would come down to trouble the water and that whoever entered
afterward was healed. For that reason, a great many of the sick
gathered there.
On this day, Jesus came not only to the temple but past the Sheep
Gate and to the five porched pool called Bethesda. Let’s consider
the event by looking at Jesus’ three statements.
I. \\#6\\ A Question - "Wilt thou be made whole?"
A. That seems a foolish question.
1. Why bother asking a man who can’t walk if he wants to?
2. Even more, why ask one who has been in the condition for
most of his life?
3. Even more yet, why ask a man who is obviously waiting in
that place for a miracle?
4. Surely he wanted to be made whole.
B. And yet, it is not as simple as that.
1. This man had been trusting in one system to heal him,
angels and troubled waters.
2. Now Jesus was asking him if he were willing to accept help
from another Source, Himself.
3. The healing that Jesus was offering was much better than
the healing the man had been seeking.
a. As we read, Jesus was only going to speak a word to
heal him. With the old system, the man was had to
jump into the water at just the right time.
b. Jesus was dealing with this man one-on-one. With the
old system, the man was going to have to fight the
crowd.
c. For the old system to help this man, he had to be at
Bethesda. There were no waters like this any where
else in the world. But with Jesus , the two could
have anywhere for this man to be healed.
d. The man was incapable on his own of making use of the
old system. He had to have help, but Jesus was all
the help this man was going to need.
4. All-in-all, it seems that what Jesus was offering was
world’s above that which the man had been seeking, but it
was still his choice to make.
a. He could continue to wait on an angel to move the
waters or he could trust in Jesus.
b. The choice was his.
C. Interestingly, this was the choice that ever Jew has had to
make since Jesus came.
1. The Jews had a system of worship. It was called the law,
but Jesus came offering a new system, Himself.
2. The law had its short comings.
a. The law could not REMOVE sins. The Bible makes that
clear.
Hebrews 10:4 For it is not possible that the
blood of bulls and of goats should take away
sins.
(1) What it did was to COVER sins and the covering
was at most temporary.
(a) That is the root of the Hebrew word
"atonement."
(b) The idea of the word means to hide a thing.
(c) The truth is what the old system of worship
did for the Jews was neither complete nor
permanent.
(d) The Old Testament saints offered animal
sacrifices trusting that God would one day
send the supreme Sacrifice to remove
their sins.
(e) Had Jesus not come, that covering would have
disappeared.
(f) In fact, there is one sense in which the
annual Day of Atonement, one of the highest
and most holy days for the Jews, reapplied
the covering to the sins that were past.
(2) What the new, the Christ, came to do was to
forgive sins.
(a) Forgiveness means to leave, to let go, to
put away, to yield up.
(b) In short, forgiveness is removal of the sin.
b. The old required a complicated network of priests,
cleansings, holy days, sacrifices, and rituals.
(1) I have been a student of the Bible for years and
I still do not know all of their rules and what
they mean.
(2) In Christ, there are really just two truths we
need to comprehend.
(a) Repentance - Turing away from our sin and
yielding ourselves to Christ.
(b) Faith - Believing what the Bible says about
Jesus, His death, and His resurrection.
c. The old, like this poor man, required worshipers to be
in a specific place and rely on specific people for
the system to work.
(1) This man had to be at Bethesda to be healed by
the angel and troubled waters and he needed
someone to help him get into the water.
(a) This man was at the right place but lacked
the people necessary to get him into the
water.
i. He probably had friends there who
could help him, friends who were sick
but not lame as he was.
ii. But if the waters were ever stirred,
they would be too busy trying to get
what they needed to look after him.
(b) He could have just as easily had friends
elsewhere who could help him but if they
we’re not at Bethesda, he was still left
helpless and lame.
(2) So it is with the Jews and the law.
(a) To worship God with the law, the Jews have
to be at the temple and to have God
anointed priest.
(b) In 70 AD, the Romans destroyed the Jewish
temple. Since that time, it has been
impossible for the Jews to worship God by
the old system.
(c) In 135 AD, Rome expelled the Jews out of the
land.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jewish_diaspora
(d) As far as I can discern, over time, the
priesthood was just lost.
(e) No Jew has been able to worship under the
law—even if they wanted to do so—for
almost 2,000 years.
(3) For Christians, all we need is Jesus. Any time
and in any place we can enter into the presence
of God almighty to worship and to praise Him.
3. I could go on but it seems to me to be obvious.
a. What Jesus was offering the Jews was way better than
the old system they had, but like this man, each
would have to make their own choice.
b. By the way, so do you.
(1) Your old system of living is just as busted as
this man’s legs.
(2) You have tried to find peace in fun, in filth,
in fornication, in finances, and in fame; but it
has not helped you.
(3) The question Jesus asked still rings today, "Wilt
thou be made whole?"
II. \\#8\\ A Command - "Rise, take up thy bed and walk."
A. Jesus gave the man a command to ignite his healing. That
command did three things.
1. It tested the man’s faith.
2. It tested the man’s obedience.
3. It tested the man’s anonymity.
B. The man’s faith was tested.
1. After being incapable of walking for so long, this was an
immense test.
2. \\#7\\ called him "impotent," powerless, feeble.
3. We do not know the nature of the man’s sickness or
injury but it is possible that the man had not even tried
to use his legs in years.
4. I do not know how long it had taken the man to accept the
fact that he was lame and could not walk. I can only
speak for my own stubborn self. I would not take
anyone’s word for it. I would have to fall many times
before I would accept it.
5. Jesus’ command was to walk now summoned him back to a door
that he has long since closed and locked.
a. Jesus was saying, "Trust Me above what you believe to
be true, above what you experiences tell you, above
what the learned have taught you.",
b. Jesus was saying, "Trust Me to do what is impossible."
6. Perhaps your experiences and life has taught you that you
cannot trust God, that God does not love you, that God
does not even exist; but today, Jesus summons you back to
that locked door and says, "Trust Me!"
C. The man’s obedience was tested.
1. Now, this man was being commanded to do what he had
already attempted and failed to do, repeatedly.
2. This command was a test to see who would control his life
from now forward.
3. Obedience is the cornerstone of repentance.
a. We have all lived our lives as we wanted, as we deemed
fit, but salvation and the Christian life require
that we surrender control to Jesus.
b. That does not mean that we will be perfect or even
that we cease to make our own decisions.
c. Rather, it means that moment by moment, we must choose
to surrender our will to Jesus’.
d. Like this man, we must obey Jesus.
D. The man’s invisible status was about to be changed.
1. There is no telling how long this man has been sitting at
the pool waiting for the angels to trouble the waters.
2. And while the Bible does not say, I suspect most people
did not know who he was except that he was another man
who needed help.
3. But Jesus’ command to take up his bed and walk on the
Sabbath Day just a stone’s throw from the temple was
about to put into the spotlight like nobody’s business!
4. I do not have the time to deal with it this morning, but
Jesus knew when He told the man to pick up His bed that
this man was going to get caught by the Temple police and
drug into a public confrontation.
a. But Jesus did it anyway.
b. Jesus could have healed the man without him picking up
his bed but that is not what Jesus wanted.
c. Jesus wanted the man to get noticed, and Jesus wanted
the man to have to deal with the repercussions of
meeting Him.
5. If you met Jesus in salvation, Jesus will also want you to
get noticed.
a. You can forget about the anonymous life!
b. Those who saved by grace are expected and commanded to
display that grace both by words and deeds and the
only way you will live to be a secret disciple is to
fail Jesus test!
c. This man did not fail!
III. \\#14\\ A Warning - "…Sin no more, lest a worse thing come
unto thee."
A. Jesus warning makes me think it is possible that this man may
have been responsible for his condition.
1. The Bible does not make that clear but Jesus definitely
associated sin with this man’s condition.
2. Of course all sickness and problems are caused by the
sin that Adam’s fall brought into the world, but God
does sometimes send specific problems as a result of
our deliberate sin.
3. What sin might this man have committed? I do not know
and it is not important.
4. What is important is the warning.
B. If you have met Jesus, do not continue to live sinfully.
1. Sin is what Jesus died to save us from.
2. If a Christian sins, God may step in to demonstrate His
displeasure.
3. You ask, "What might God do?" I don’t know and I don’t
want to find out!
<OutlineIndex>
<Close Window>
