1 00:00:00,000 –> 00:00:04,940 Well if you would open your Bibles at John and chapter five as today we come 2 00:00:04,940 –> 00:00:10,820 to another marvelous story about a life transformed by the power of Jesus 3 00:00:10,820 –> 00:00:16,180 Christ. The story of the healing at the pool is of course the third of the 4 00:00:16,180 –> 00:00:21,799 seven miracles that are recorded by John in the fourth gospel, Miracles that he 5 00:00:21,799 –> 00:00:29,360 describes as signs. And we looked last week at what they are signs of. What is 6 00:00:29,440 –> 00:00:33,500 it that we’re to be looking for as we come to these remarkable and very 7 00:00:33,500 –> 00:00:38,680 wonderful stories of lives that were transformed by Jesus Christ. And we saw 8 00:00:38,680 –> 00:00:43,380 last week that John tells us at the end of the gospel that these things have 9 00:00:43,380 –> 00:00:47,340 been written. All the signs are there and all the words that Jesus spoke are 10 00:00:47,340 –> 00:00:52,759 recorded here so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God 11 00:00:53,119 –> 00:01:02,700 and that, by believing, you may have life in his name. So if today, we truly believe 12 00:01:02,700 –> 00:01:08,019 that Jesus is the Christ and the Son of God so that in that way we are 13 00:01:08,019 –> 00:01:15,580 receiving and enjoying life in his name, then we will have grasped and we will 14 00:01:15,580 –> 00:01:20,739 experience the proper application of this and indeed every other part of 15 00:01:21,120 –> 00:01:26,320 John’s gospel. In other words when we come to the gospel, when we come to the 16 00:01:26,320 –> 00:01:33,760 story, we are always to approach it in such a way that we seek to nourish faith 17 00:01:33,760 –> 00:01:38,339 in the Lord Jesus Christ because John himself says, this is why these things 18 00:01:38,339 –> 00:01:43,180 are written. They are given in order that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ. 19 00:01:43,180 –> 00:01:48,099 That’s why this story is here. That’s why John’s gospel is written so that you may 20 00:01:48,339 –> 00:01:52,180 If you know that he is the Son of God and that by believing, you may have 21 00:01:52,180 –> 00:01:58,660 life in his name. Now with that brief introduction, I want us to begin today at 22 00:01:58,660 –> 00:02:03,580 verse 2 and again we’re going to walk through the story making today two main 23 00:02:03,580 –> 00:02:09,899 observations. We’re told here that there is in Jerusalem verse two, by the 24 00:02:09,899 –> 00:02:18,259 ship gate a pool in a Aramaic called Bethesda which has five roofed 25 00:02:18,259 –> 00:02:24,419 colonies. So just following the journeys of Jesus as we’ve been walking through 26 00:02:24,419 –> 00:02:30,839 this gospel, Jesus has been in Jerusalem before and he had performed great 27 00:02:30,839 –> 00:02:36,740 miracles earlier in Jerusalem, though John does not record what they were. He 28 00:02:36,740 –> 00:02:42,500 then went north through Samaria where he met this woman at the well and that led 29 00:02:42,500 –> 00:02:47,940 to two days where he stayed in this little town of Sychar, Samaria and there 30 00:02:47,940 –> 00:02:52,500 was a remarkable spiritual harvest that took place there in which Samaritan 31 00:02:52,500 –> 00:03:00,000 people those who would not be likely to believe confessed clearly Jesus Christ 32 00:03:00,000 –> 00:03:05,399 as the Savior of the world. Then as we followed the story, he went 33 00:03:05,619 –> 00:03:11,720 from Sychar and arrived in Cana of Galilee and it was from there that Jesus healed 34 00:03:11,720 –> 00:03:18,720 the son of this royal official who came to him when his boy was languishing at 35 00:03:18,720 –> 00:03:24,279 the point of death in Capernaum that was you may remember twenty-eight miles away. 36 00:03:24,279 –> 00:03:29,839 It was an awesome display of the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ 37 00:03:29,839 –> 00:03:36,820 reminding us that the Son of God commands what He wills and He wills what 38 00:03:36,820 –> 00:03:42,880 He commands. And now with Jesus having gone north through Samaria and up to 39 00:03:42,880 –> 00:03:49,240 Galilee we find him back down again in Jerusalem and he came here to the pool 40 00:03:49,240 –> 00:03:58,520 of Bethesda. So, picture with me now this deep pool it’s a natural pool 41 00:03:58,699 –> 00:04:05,119 outdoors, but beside the pool there are these five pillars and they’re 42 00:04:05,119 –> 00:04:12,699 supporting this roof that gives shade from the heat of the Sun. And, verse 3, 43 00:04:12,699 –> 00:04:22,559 around the pool lay a multitude. Huge number, a multitude of invalids, the 44 00:04:22,959 –> 00:04:31,619 blind, lame and paralyzed. Now the reason that these people were here becomes 45 00:04:31,619 –> 00:04:38,279 clear in verse 7, where we learn that from time to time, the water in this pool 46 00:04:38,279 –> 00:04:44,940 was stirred up. Most likely, what this means is that there was an underground 47 00:04:44,940 –> 00:04:52,200 stream that periodically bubbled up. And, when this happened, I guess this pool was 48 00:04:52,200 –> 00:04:57,260 a little bit like a Jacuzzi. That’s what we would call it today, I think. We don’t 49 00:04:57,260 –> 00:05:03,320 know how often it bubbled up in this way but it must have been often enough to 50 00:05:03,320 –> 00:05:09,179 keep the crowds coming. So I suspect … I mean, a little bit like you know going to 51 00:05:09,179 –> 00:05:14,059 Yellowstone and and seeing Old Faithful and so forth. Old Hopeful kind 52 00:05:14,059 –> 00:05:18,920 of comes up what every 20 minutes or something like that. I expect that these 53 00:05:18,920 –> 00:05:25,420 waters bubbled up a few times each day, not infrequently, and so this was 54 00:05:25,420 –> 00:05:29,899 something of a spectacle. The people would come to see and it was always a 55 00:05:29,899 –> 00:05:36,200 crowded kind of place. What I seen it must have been when the Jacuzzi got 56 00:05:36,200 –> 00:05:44,399 bubbling. Scores of people piling in to this fairly small pool, from all sides. 57 00:05:44,679 –> 00:05:50,140 Those who were able to get in themselves, others who were not able to do it 58 00:05:50,140 –> 00:05:55,779 themselves, being helped in by friends, relatives, and then when the bubbling 59 00:05:55,779 –> 00:06:00,380 stopped, everybody is getting out again and drying off and taking up their place 60 00:06:00,380 –> 00:06:06,000 at the side of the pool. I expect that for most of the people there, it would 61 00:06:06,000 –> 00:06:10,200 simply have been what we would call today a therapy pool. You know, get in the 62 00:06:10,200 –> 00:06:14,359 bubbling water. It’ll do you good, good for your limbs, and clearly that would be 63 00:06:14,399 –> 00:06:21,619 true, especially for people with aching limbs and other difficulties in that 64 00:06:21,619 –> 00:06:27,820 regard. But there was something more that was going on here, because over the years 65 00:06:27,820 –> 00:06:35,179 stories had circulated to the effect that the first person to get into the 66 00:06:35,179 –> 00:06:40,440 pool after it began to bubble would actually be healed of whatever disease 67 00:06:40,839 –> 00:06:45,320 These stories sort of circulated around the community. It was, I think, what we 68 00:06:45,320 –> 00:06:51,799 would describe as a local myth, but a local myth that was well maintained by 69 00:06:51,799 –> 00:06:58,959 the community. And you know how these stories kind of get around. Oh yes, my 70 00:06:58,959 –> 00:07:03,220 friend at work told me that she knows someone whose mother’s cousin was the 71 00:07:03,220 –> 00:07:08,619 first went into the pool and actually got healed, and so forth and so on. And so 72 00:07:09,059 –> 00:07:14,320 the myth is sustained, and the crowds for that reason keep coming. I’m just 73 00:07:14,320 –> 00:07:19,339 thinking about this. I’m thinking, what would Scottish tourism be without the 74 00:07:19,339 –> 00:07:27,059 Loch Ness Monster? And if you’re asking does Pastor Colin really believe in the 75 00:07:27,059 –> 00:07:34,660 Loch Ness Monster, I can tell you today that I have a photograph 76 00:07:35,459 –> 00:07:45,160 of the Loch Ness Monster, taken myself from a boat, with a window that 77 00:07:45,160 –> 00:07:52,660 conveniently provides a black sticker in the shape of the monster so that if you 78 00:07:52,660 –> 00:07:58,500 shoot the water through the window you can too have your very own picture of 79 00:07:58,500 –> 00:08:04,239 the Loch Ness Monster. Never, never ask a Scotsman to deny the Loch Ness Monster! 80 00:08:04,239 –> 00:08:09,420 The community has to keep it going, it’s good for business! 81 00:08:09,420 –> 00:08:14,640 And of course we know this, wherever there is a myth there is a crowd, and wherever 82 00:08:14,660 –> 00:08:19,799 there is a crowd there is an opportunity to make money, right? And the Pool of 83 00:08:19,799 –> 00:08:24,040 Bethesda would have been a great spot for vendors, I mean, can you imagine it? 84 00:08:24,040 –> 00:08:30,459 Come and see the bubbling waters, rent a chair and shelter from the sun 85 00:08:30,459 –> 00:08:37,940 under our pillar supported roof. Snacks, lunches and cold drinks are available 86 00:08:37,940 –> 00:08:41,979 throughout the day, and so forth and so on, you get the picture, and these 87 00:08:41,979 –> 00:08:46,359 vendors have a guaranteed crowd by the pool every day. Some of them are 88 00:08:46,359 –> 00:08:50,260 tourists. Oh, we got to go and see it, if we’re in Jerusalem, we’ve got to go and 89 00:08:50,260 –> 00:08:53,460 see the bubbling waters, maybe we’ll be lucky enough to be there at the right 90 00:08:53,460 –> 00:08:58,400 time. Others are working people they’re simply in Jerusalem every day and it’s 91 00:08:58,419 –> 00:09:02,140 hot, they say let’s go and sit in the shade we’ll sit under the roof supported 92 00:09:02,140 –> 00:09:08,000 by these five colonnades and let’s relax for a little bit and get a rest and then 93 00:09:08,000 –> 00:09:13,940 on top of that there’s this multitude, this multitude of people suffering from 94 00:09:13,940 –> 00:09:19,820 all kinds of conditions who are in and out of the bubbling waters and just 95 00:09:19,820 –> 00:09:23,260 hoping that perhaps there might be something to the myth and maybe 96 00:09:24,219 –> 00:09:32,140 something more remarkable would happen That’s the scene and I want simply to 97 00:09:32,140 –> 00:09:39,679 make two observations from this story today. The first is a depiction of the 98 00:09:39,679 –> 00:09:46,020 human condition really a picture, a depiction of the human condition that we 99 00:09:46,059 –> 00:09:54,919 have in this man. In these ways first he is without strength. We’re told 100 00:09:54,919 –> 00:10:03,700 verse 5 about one man who was there who had been an invalid for 101 00:10:03,700 –> 00:10:16,919 38 years. Now, I love how the attention of Jesus is drawn here to one man. We read 102 00:10:16,919 –> 00:10:23,580 in other stories of the compassion of Jesus for huge crowds of people, but here 103 00:10:23,580 –> 00:10:28,739 the eye of the Son of God and the heart of the Son of God, His whole attention 104 00:10:29,260 –> 00:10:34,260 in a vast crowd of people, is drawn to just one person. If you and I had been 105 00:10:34,260 –> 00:10:38,580 there, this man would no doubt have been lost in the crowd to us. We wouldn’t 106 00:10:38,580 –> 00:10:45,500 have noticed him. But no one has ever lost in the crowd to Jesus, and His 107 00:10:45,500 –> 00:10:51,700 attention is drawn to this one man. He saw him, verse 6, lying there, and knew 108 00:10:51,700 –> 00:10:57,380 that he had already been there for a long time. We’re not told actually what 109 00:10:57,380 –> 00:11:02,900 the nature of his particular condition was. Most likely, he suffered from some 110 00:11:02,900 –> 00:11:08,799 form of lameness, or perhaps a partial paralysis, because Jesus says to him, 111 00:11:08,799 –> 00:11:12,739 rise, take up your bed and walk. That’s clearly what he was not doing in a 112 00:11:12,739 –> 00:11:21,000 normal way, though the man did have some movement, because he explains to Jesus 113 00:11:21,000 –> 00:11:26,239 in verse 7, why He was never the first to get in the pool. He says, while I am 114 00:11:26,239 –> 00:11:31,020 going, so he had some movement but he just couldn’t move very quickly because 115 00:11:31,020 –> 00:11:37,419 of his condition, while I am going, he says, another steps down before me. I’m 116 00:11:37,419 –> 00:11:43,820 always the guy who’s last and at the end of the queue, that’s what he’s saying. 117 00:11:43,820 –> 00:11:49,200 Try and take in for a moment what this man’s difficult and sad life was really 118 00:11:49,260 –> 00:11:56,900 like. Every day he makes his way to the therapy pool, he marks his spot, lays down 119 00:11:56,900 –> 00:12:02,200 his mat when the waters stir, he gets in more slowly than others who’re always 120 00:12:02,200 –> 00:12:07,659 ahead of him. And then he gets out and dries himself off but his condition is 121 00:12:07,659 –> 00:12:13,960 never any different from what it was before. His best hope in life is in a 122 00:12:14,559 –> 00:12:19,320 30-day myth, that just perhaps there would be something that might happen to 123 00:12:19,320 –> 00:12:26,359 him that was wholly out of the ordinary. And it had been like this for him day in 124 00:12:26,359 –> 00:12:34,559 and day out for 38 years. So this is a man who must have been in his 50’s or 125 00:12:34,559 –> 00:12:43,820 perhaps even older, and his whole life has been a life of frustration. He has a 126 00:12:43,820 –> 00:12:49,640 daily routine, a difficult daily routine of getting to the pool, waiting for the 127 00:12:49,640 –> 00:12:54,320 waters to stir, getting into the jacuzzi, getting out, getting dried, going home, 128 00:12:54,320 –> 00:13:01,919 coming back, on and on, day in day out 38 years. He was without strength. 129 00:13:01,919 –> 00:13:07,460 Second, he was without hope. And I want you to look at verse six particularly. 130 00:13:07,460 –> 00:13:12,859 When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had already been there for a 131 00:13:12,859 –> 00:13:20,780 long time, Jesus said to him, do you want to be healed? Now, is that not an 132 00:13:20,780 –> 00:13:28,080 interesting question? And I wonder what you make of it. I wonder why you think 133 00:13:28,080 –> 00:13:37,840 Jesus asked this question. Anyone who has ever been involved in counselling knows 134 00:13:37,840 –> 00:13:47,000 that in trying to help another person, you have to engage their participation 135 00:13:47,000 –> 00:13:55,080 in the therapeutic process. So, a counsellor will often say, I need you to 136 00:13:55,080 –> 00:14:00,119 work with me here. You know, we’ve come to an impasse. I 137 00:14:00,119 –> 00:14:04,820 need you to look at where you are. I need you to look at where you want to be. And 138 00:14:04,840 –> 00:14:11,599 I need you to decide if you are going to move forward or if you’re going to stay 139 00:14:11,599 –> 00:14:18,020 where you are. And I’m ready as your Counsellor to walk with you. But I can’t 140 00:14:18,020 –> 00:14:26,440 help you if you don’t engage. None of us has the power to change another person’s 141 00:14:26,440 –> 00:14:32,500 life. You’re trying to help a neighbour, or a family member, or a friend. You know 142 00:14:32,539 –> 00:14:38,500 what it is? That you depend on something coming from within the other person 143 00:14:38,500 –> 00:14:43,940 in order for progress to be made. The Counsellor’s role, the Friend’s role, may 144 00:14:43,940 –> 00:14:49,340 be one of supporting, strengthening a person’s desire to get better. The 145 00:14:49,340 –> 00:14:53,659 Councillor may give light, the Counsellor may give direction, understanding in the 146 00:14:53,659 –> 00:15:00,520 process, but we do not have the power to change another person’s life. And if 147 00:15:00,539 –> 00:15:07,619 another person does not want to get better, there’s very little that those of 148 00:15:07,619 –> 00:15:11,559 us who love that person are actually able to do. As many of us have discovered 149 00:15:11,559 –> 00:15:17,500 in our own families and with friends, and we become exasperated that for one 150 00:15:17,500 –> 00:15:21,719 reason or another there has been no desire or interest or application from 151 00:15:21,719 –> 00:15:28,859 the person in moving forward. Now that is our reality. We cannot change other 152 00:15:28,859 –> 00:15:35,919 people’s lives. And so you see, because we always think the Gods like us, 153 00:15:35,919 –> 00:15:40,559 it’s natural for us to think that this is how it is for God as well, which is 154 00:15:40,559 –> 00:15:44,799 why people are saying all the time, God helps those who help themselves. 155 00:15:44,799 –> 00:15:49,960 You’ve heard that phrase, people say that all the time, right? God helps those who 156 00:15:49,960 –> 00:15:56,679 help themselves. Well that makes sense to us of course, because the only people we 157 00:15:56,679 –> 00:16:01,039 are able to help is those who are ready to help themselves, and if that’s true 158 00:16:01,039 –> 00:16:06,859 for us we assume you see, that that must be how it is for God as well, He must 159 00:16:06,859 –> 00:16:11,700 help those who helped themselves. And so this question, do you want to be healed? 160 00:16:11,700 –> 00:16:21,140 Has often been psychologized along these lines, as if Jesus were trying to elicit 161 00:16:21,200 –> 00:16:28,460 the cooperation of this man in his own healing. In fact, staggeringly, William 162 00:16:28,460 –> 00:16:31,580 Berkeley writes this in his commentary, quote, 163 00:16:31,580 –> 00:16:42,080 it is as if Jesus said to this man make a supreme effort and you and I will do 164 00:16:42,080 –> 00:16:48,260 this thing together. I have no idea in the world how William 165 00:16:48,340 –> 00:16:54,299 Berkeley could get that out of this story. Actually, correction, I do know the 166 00:16:54,299 –> 00:16:59,000 man, though he was a brilliant scholar and so insightful in so many ways, did 167 00:16:59,000 –> 00:17:04,119 not believe in miracles. So he had to find, whenever he came to a miracle, 168 00:17:04,119 –> 00:17:08,520 another explanation so you get stuff like this, that Jesus asked this question 169 00:17:08,520 –> 00:17:12,540 because he’s saying to the man make a supreme effort and you and I will do 170 00:17:12,540 –> 00:17:19,339 this thing together, that’s to bring God down to our level, isn’t it? Surely the 171 00:17:19,339 –> 00:17:25,380 obvious point of this story is that this man is absolutely without strength, and 172 00:17:25,380 –> 00:17:30,619 far from cooperating with a miracle, he is absolutely without hope. In fact, the 173 00:17:30,619 –> 00:17:34,439 answer that he gives to Jesus’ question makes this very clear. He is so 174 00:17:34,439 –> 00:17:37,819 overwhelmed with his own problem he actually doesn’t even answer Jesus’ 175 00:17:37,859 –> 00:17:43,199 Jesus says, Do you want to be healed? The man responds by telling Jesus why he 176 00:17:43,199 –> 00:17:49,839 can’t be. Why he doesn’t have any hope. Sir, I have no one to put me into the 177 00:17:49,839 –> 00:17:55,739 pool when the water is stirred up. So what he does, you see, when Jesus asks him 178 00:17:55,739 –> 00:18:02,979 this question is explain why there is no hope for him. Here’s the problem. Here’s 179 00:18:03,140 –> 00:18:08,359 the thing that I can’t get beyond. Here is why I have not been able to make 180 00:18:08,359 –> 00:18:11,699 progress in the past and here is why I am still not able to make any progress 181 00:18:11,699 –> 00:18:16,459 and move forward now. You have to understand life is never going to be any 182 00:18:16,459 –> 00:18:20,959 different for me. I once had hopes and dreams of what life might be like for me 183 00:18:20,959 –> 00:18:26,739 but it’s quite clear to me now it just isn’t gonna happen. I wonder if there’s 184 00:18:26,739 –> 00:18:32,540 someone here today and you hear the echo of your own voice right there. The 185 00:18:32,540 –> 00:18:37,520 story of something that was done to you. 186 00:18:37,719 –> 00:18:45,060 The disappointment of someone who has let you down and your journey has led 187 00:18:45,060 –> 00:18:52,640 you to a place where you no longer have hope and if someone asked you today do 188 00:18:52,640 –> 00:18:57,979 you want to be well? Here is what you would do you would explain why it’s not 189 00:18:57,979 –> 00:19:07,140 possible for you. So here’s a man who’s without strength he’s without hope if he 190 00:19:07,140 –> 00:19:12,900 ever had it it’s though long since gone and he’s also without faith. Notice that 191 00:19:12,900 –> 00:19:18,300 after the healing when the man is asked who was the one who had healed him who 192 00:19:18,300 –> 00:19:22,760 said to you verse 12 take up your bed and walk John tells us that the man who 193 00:19:22,920 –> 00:19:29,900 had been healed didn’t know who Jesus was that’s after he’s been healed. So far 194 00:19:29,900 –> 00:19:34,359 from having great faith in the Lord Jesus Christ this man doesn’t even know 195 00:19:34,359 –> 00:19:38,939 who Jesus is and it’s not until verse 14 where Jesus catches up with him 196 00:19:38,939 –> 00:19:43,640 subsequently in the temple that he comes to a realization of who it is that has 197 00:19:43,640 –> 00:19:49,959 healed him. Now this is obviously in marked contrast to other stories that we 198 00:19:50,219 –> 00:19:52,660 have in the gospel where faith very clearly does 199 00:19:52,660 –> 00:19:57,060 have a participating role. Last week for example we looked at the royal official 200 00:19:57,060 –> 00:20:01,939 who clearly had faith in the Lord Jesus enough faith to walk twenty miles when 201 00:20:01,939 –> 00:20:06,579 his son’s at death’s door and asked Jesus for this great answer to prayer. 202 00:20:06,579 –> 00:20:11,599 There are other stories for example about the centurion who Jesus commended 203 00:20:11,599 –> 00:20:17,579 as a great man of faith or rather a man of great faith and he said to Jesus you 204 00:20:17,819 –> 00:20:21,660 need to say the word and my servant will be healed. 205 00:20:21,660 –> 00:20:23,699 And do you remember there 206 00:20:23,699 –> 00:20:30,020 are other stories where Jesus actually commends faith as in some way 207 00:20:30,020 –> 00:20:34,780 participating in the great event that is taking place for example with the woman 208 00:20:34,780 –> 00:20:40,219 with the hemorrhage she says your faith has made you well and on one occasion 209 00:20:40,219 –> 00:20:45,540 where there were two blind men at Jesus said to both of them according to your 210 00:20:46,479 –> 00:20:53,680 But when you come to this story surely the point that is abundantly clear is 211 00:20:53,680 –> 00:20:59,199 that this is a man without strength without hope and he has absolutely no 212 00:20:59,199 –> 00:21:01,920 faith whatsoever he didn’t even know who Jesus is. 213 00:21:01,920 –> 00:21:08,199 No this is a man who’s simply overwhelmed by his own problems 214 00:21:08,199 –> 00:21:14,680 without strength without hope without faith and even after he’s healed 215 00:21:14,760 –> 00:21:24,739 not knowing who Jesus Christ is so when Jesus is to him do you want to be healed 216 00:21:24,739 –> 00:21:31,459 he is certainly not drawing out some great contribution that this man is 217 00:21:31,459 –> 00:21:35,040 going to make towards his own healing what he’s doing actually is exposing 218 00:21:35,040 –> 00:21:39,599 and making clear that this man is absolutely nothing whatsoever to offer 219 00:21:39,599 –> 00:21:46,239 make a supreme effort and you and I will do this together how could you get that 220 00:21:46,239 –> 00:21:56,459 out of this story so you see this is how the story speaks to us what hope can 221 00:21:56,459 –> 00:21:59,660 there be for a person who’s without hope without faith and doesn’t have any 222 00:21:59,660 –> 00:22:09,420 strength how does that cycle get broken into and that of course is the whole 223 00:22:09,420 –> 00:22:21,660 wonderful point of this story Jesus here comes to a man who after years is without 224 00:22:21,660 –> 00:22:32,140 strength without hope and without faith and Jesus wonderfully heals him so we 225 00:22:32,140 –> 00:22:38,140 have here a depiction of the human condition is that the Bible makes clear 226 00:22:38,140 –> 00:22:43,300 is is our condition without strength while we were yet powerless Christ died 227 00:22:43,300 –> 00:22:49,579 for us without hope not great people of faith in God but people in great need of 228 00:22:49,859 –> 00:22:55,500 God and he comes to us the second observation is simply this I want you to 229 00:22:55,500 –> 00:22:59,500 notice here not only a depiction of the human condition but a marvelous 230 00:22:59,500 –> 00:23:07,599 demonstration of divine power verse eight Jesus said to him get up he’s 231 00:23:07,599 –> 00:23:11,739 cutting right through the man has nothing to contribute here so just Jesus 232 00:23:11,819 –> 00:23:23,160 He says now get up take up your bed and walk and a once the man was 233 00:23:23,160 –> 00:23:35,119 healed and he took up his bed and he walked. I was just let’s try and take in 234 00:23:35,119 –> 00:23:40,839 what a marvelous miracle this was I mean this is a guy over 50 what’s it 235 00:23:41,020 –> 00:23:46,079 like when you are in a car on a long journey and you’ve been six hours and 236 00:23:46,079 –> 00:23:50,520 you’re over 50 years of age and you get out at the gas how do you walk when you 237 00:23:50,520 –> 00:23:57,280 get out the car right okay muscles have tightened at limbs or 238 00:23:57,280 –> 00:24:09,280 stiff now here’s a man who’s been lying on a mat day by day for 38 years and he 239 00:24:09,280 –> 00:24:19,380 gets up and walks without physiotherapy I mean this is a miracle of 240 00:24:19,380 –> 00:24:30,380 extraordinary proportions in which joints are instantly strengthened muscles 241 00:24:30,380 –> 00:24:38,839 are instantly formed and a man who has been lying on a bed for 38 years 242 00:24:39,300 –> 00:24:46,199 gets up and walks absolutely staggering only the son of God himself could do 243 00:24:46,199 –> 00:24:57,199 such a thing now remember that these stories are being given to us as signs 244 00:24:57,199 –> 00:25:02,439 we are being taught John says so that we may believe in the Lord Jesus Christ 245 00:25:02,439 –> 00:25:07,400 through all of these things that are here in the gospel and what we see in 246 00:25:07,400 –> 00:25:16,479 this sign is that when Jesus speaks a word of command he gives what is lacking 247 00:25:16,479 –> 00:25:27,119 so that what he wills comes to pass this is why there is hope you see when Jesus 248 00:25:27,119 –> 00:25:33,420 speaks the word of command he gives what is lacking so that 249 00:25:33,420 –> 00:25:41,979 what he wills comes to pass he commands what he wills and he wills what he 250 00:25:41,979 –> 00:25:48,060 commands Augustine in a prayer that many of you will be familiar with really 251 00:25:48,060 –> 00:25:56,300 caught this he he said to God command what you will only give what you command 252 00:25:56,859 –> 00:26:01,859 and you see what Augustine was saying was something like this 253 00:26:01,859 –> 00:26:10,060 look Lord you can command what you want the problem is I don’t have the capacity 254 00:26:10,060 –> 00:26:18,420 to do what you command that’s the problem you can say God love me with all 255 00:26:18,420 –> 00:26:25,060 your heart soul mind and strength the problem is I don’t have that in me you 256 00:26:25,079 –> 00:26:29,699 can say God love your neighbor as yourself here’s the difficulty I love 257 00:26:29,699 –> 00:26:35,140 myself more God you can tell me to repent but 258 00:26:35,140 –> 00:26:39,640 what I find when I hear that is that I actually want to keep hold of my own 259 00:26:39,640 –> 00:26:48,099 sins and you can tell me to believe but I find that I am more inclined to trust 260 00:26:48,099 –> 00:26:55,540 myself or my friends or my money than to put my trust in you see Augustine had 261 00:26:55,540 –> 00:27:01,939 deeply understood that the human heart is in the same position as is pictured 262 00:27:01,939 –> 00:27:11,699 by this man beside the Pole without strength without hope and without faith 263 00:27:11,699 –> 00:27:16,979 so Augustine said in this very famous prayer he said to God now you command 264 00:27:17,540 –> 00:27:24,020 what you will but the only way that anything good is ever going to happen in 265 00:27:24,020 –> 00:27:27,859 my life is if you give what you command you see how that relates to the story 266 00:27:27,859 –> 00:27:33,219 where Jesus commands what was absolutely impossible for this man he commands what 267 00:27:33,219 –> 00:27:39,060 he wills and he gives what he commands and so the man gains a capacity and 268 00:27:39,459 –> 00:27:48,800 before now do you see how Jesus is teaching us here take up your bed and 269 00:27:48,800 –> 00:27:59,819 walk and with the command comes the strength for the man now the point of 270 00:27:59,819 –> 00:28:08,660 this story then is not that faith makes what Jesus does possible that’s not 271 00:28:08,660 –> 00:28:14,619 what’s being taught here the point of this story is not that faith makes what 272 00:28:14,619 –> 00:28:19,239 Jesus does possible the point of this story is that what 273 00:28:19,239 –> 00:28:26,339 Jesus does makes faith possible that’s what it is and do you see how this is 274 00:28:26,339 –> 00:28:31,640 the most wonderful good news for the person who is without strength the 275 00:28:31,640 –> 00:28:36,160 person who has come to church today and you’ve come and you don’t have a great 276 00:28:36,699 –> 00:28:40,780 sense of hope, your faith if you have any is burning very very low and perhaps you 277 00:28:40,780 –> 00:28:50,439 feel you have none whatsoever and Jesus Christ gives what he commands when he 278 00:28:50,439 –> 00:28:55,020 calls you to trust him he’s the one who is the source of faith that you will 279 00:28:55,020 –> 00:28:59,780 exercise and when he calls you to hope he’s the one in whom that hope is to be 280 00:28:59,780 –> 00:29:04,079 found, when he calls you to be strong he’s the one who is the fountain of that 281 00:29:04,160 –> 00:29:10,500 strength in your life. Now friends this takes us back to the theme that we 282 00:29:10,500 –> 00:29:15,520 touched on just a little last week the theme that is right at the beginning of 283 00:29:15,520 –> 00:29:21,239 John’s Gospel where we read this wonderful contrast that the law, the law 284 00:29:21,239 –> 00:29:27,640 that tells us what to do was given through Moses but grace and truth came 285 00:29:28,040 –> 00:29:35,520 through Jesus Christ. And we saw the contrast between Moses signs you know 286 00:29:35,520 –> 00:29:40,020 turning water into blood and Jesus’s better signs turning water into wine 287 00:29:40,020 –> 00:29:46,459 Moses sign the death of the Royal Son Jesus sign life coming to the Royal Son 288 00:29:46,459 –> 00:29:53,920 and here we have a story in which that same contrast is surely clear. The fact 289 00:29:53,920 –> 00:30:03,380 that this man had been suffering for the unusual number of 38 years not not 40 290 00:30:03,380 –> 00:30:10,800 38 would surely have brought to mind to any thinking Jewish reader and surely to 291 00:30:10,800 –> 00:30:16,319 anyone for that matter who is familiar with the Old Testament another story 292 00:30:16,500 –> 00:30:26,880 about languishing in frustration for 38 years and many of you will have jumped 293 00:30:26,880 –> 00:30:31,160 immediately to what that story is you remember how Moses led God’s people to 294 00:30:31,160 –> 00:30:36,739 the very edge of the Promised Land? They sent out spies who came back with 295 00:30:36,739 –> 00:30:41,400 the report that the land was full of good things, it was a land flowing with 296 00:30:41,400 –> 00:30:45,339 milk and with honey but that there were giants in the land and the majority 297 00:30:45,339 –> 00:30:50,160 report was hey we’re not strong enough to take them on or to take possession of 298 00:30:50,160 –> 00:30:54,920 this land. Caleb and Joshua plead with the people, God is with us and he will 299 00:30:54,920 –> 00:31:00,859 fight for us, but there was no faith and there was no hope and there was a sense 300 00:31:00,859 –> 00:31:04,660 of having no strength and so the people turned back and what did they do? They 301 00:31:04,660 –> 00:31:09,579 wandered in the desert without strength, without faith, without hope and how long 302 00:31:09,880 –> 00:31:15,640 did they do it? Now letter right there in Deuteronomy chapter 2 in verse 14 and 303 00:31:15,640 –> 00:31:23,420 the time from our leave in Kadesh barnea until we crossed the brook of Zered was 304 00:31:23,420 –> 00:31:34,040 38 years, 38 years of frustration not being able to get in until the 305 00:31:34,040 –> 00:31:38,979 entire generation. This is what happens if the Son of God doesn’t come until the 306 00:31:39,199 –> 00:31:45,839 entire generation that is the men of war had perished from the camp as the Lord 307 00:31:45,839 –> 00:31:53,739 had sworn to them. They never got in, never got beyond a frustrating life that 308 00:31:53,739 –> 00:31:58,020 was marked by an absence of strength and an absence of hope and an absence of 309 00:31:58,020 –> 00:32:04,439 faith, and even Moses himself who could have glimpse of the promised land died 310 00:32:04,439 –> 00:32:12,739 in the desert. The law gives you a view of what the blessed life looks like 311 00:32:12,739 –> 00:32:19,579 but only Jesus Christ is actually able to take you into that life, and that is 312 00:32:19,579 –> 00:32:23,280 what he came into the world to do. Friends, please understand and get hold 313 00:32:23,280 –> 00:32:27,680 of this. Here’s the great difference between Jesus and the law. The law came 314 00:32:27,680 –> 00:32:31,479 by Moses, grace and truth by Jesus Christ. Here’s the difference. The law 315 00:32:31,479 –> 00:32:37,640 tells you what to do, but it can’t give you the power to do it. Jesus tells you 316 00:32:37,640 –> 00:32:47,479 what to do a new commandment I give to you, and he gives you the power to do it. 317 00:32:47,479 –> 00:32:56,939 And do you see there for that that is where strength and hope and faith begin? 318 00:32:57,339 –> 00:33:02,680 Begins because the Son of God has come. It begins not in us. We don’t find it 319 00:33:02,680 –> 00:33:11,859 there. We find it in him. That is why in Romans in chapter 8 for the Apostle Paul 320 00:33:11,859 –> 00:33:18,079 brings these great great themes together. He puts it like this. He says, God has 321 00:33:18,079 –> 00:33:25,020 done what the Law could not do. What can the law not do? The Law can tell us what 322 00:33:25,020 –> 00:33:29,239 we need to do. Yeah but the Law can’t forgive our past sins and the Law can’t 323 00:33:29,239 –> 00:33:34,119 empower us for future obedience. So what did God do? He did what the Law could 324 00:33:34,119 –> 00:33:41,000 not do, and how did he do that? He sent his own son. And what did the Son of God 325 00:33:41,000 –> 00:33:46,579 do in order to achieve what the Law could never bring for us? He did two 326 00:33:46,579 –> 00:33:53,439 things. He condemned sin in the flesh. That is, by dying on the cross where his 327 00:33:53,599 –> 00:34:00,920 own flesh was torn and his own blood was shed. Jesus Christ made provision for the 328 00:34:00,920 –> 00:34:07,420 forgiveness of all of our sins and offenses against the law of God, but it 329 00:34:07,420 –> 00:34:14,580 doesn’t end there. He rose from the dead and as the living and as the ascended 330 00:34:14,580 –> 00:34:27,060 Savior, He works by His Holy Spirit to give strength, hope, faith. And he does it 331 00:34:27,060 –> 00:34:31,899 in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fulfilled 332 00:34:31,899 –> 00:34:38,600 in us. Who walk not according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. That 333 00:34:38,659 –> 00:34:48,280 is, by the power of the very Spirit of Jesus that He gives to His people. I was 334 00:34:48,280 –> 00:34:58,340 reading just this week about a woman who endured a long period of darkness and of 335 00:34:58,639 –> 00:35:07,520 depression. It was after some years that by God’s grace she finally gained relief, 336 00:35:07,520 –> 00:35:16,439 and when she did, this was her testimony, and I was very struck by these words. 337 00:35:16,439 –> 00:35:27,320 She said, after all these years, I realized that I was looking to find in 338 00:35:27,320 –> 00:35:38,100 myself what I needed to find in Him. There’s this woman emerging from a place 339 00:35:38,100 –> 00:35:45,860 of darkness and she says, I see now. For years I’ve been looking to find in 340 00:35:45,860 –> 00:35:56,340 myself what I needed to find in Him. And so to the person today who has come and 341 00:35:56,419 –> 00:36:01,600 you’re feeling your own need of strength, your own need to be renewed in hope, 342 00:36:01,600 –> 00:36:08,159 your own need to be established in faith, I’m saying to you don’t look for it in 343 00:36:08,159 –> 00:36:18,280 yourself, you find it in Him. Let’s pray together. Father we bless you that 344 00:36:18,280 –> 00:36:25,840 you’ve given us something better than the law, that you have sent your own Son 345 00:36:26,639 –> 00:36:35,919 whose divine power is able to give to us what we do not find in ourselves, and 346 00:36:35,919 –> 00:36:42,280 therefore today in our weakness and sometimes despair and in our low 347 00:36:42,280 –> 00:36:50,239 spiritedness and in our need for faith, we look not to ourselves but to Jesus 348 00:36:51,219 –> 00:36:59,100 In his great mercy, we pray that you by your Spirit will feed our souls and 349 00:36:59,100 –> 00:37:04,399 nourish us that the life that is in him alone and not in us may be truly 350 00:37:04,399 –> 00:37:11,820 experienced by us, that the reality may be for us today that believing that 351 00:37:11,820 –> 00:37:19,100 Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, we may indeed find life and all that we 352 00:37:19,100 –> 00:37:29,500 need for life in his name. These things we ask together through Jesus. Amen.