The Healing at Bethesda: Omnipotence Meets False Religion

We see the objection of the religious Jews in verse 11.

The man that Jesus healed basically tells these religious Jews, the man who healed me, said to me, and now he's speaking about the

Lord Jesus Christ, take up your bed and walk. Take up your bed and walk.

That was the command of the Lord. Notice verse 12 in John 5. Then they ask him, who is the man who said to you, take up your bed and walk?

You can almost get the tone of what they're after. They really want to go after him now because, oh, he has really broken our tradition.

And they say the law, but it was not the law of God. It was their tradition. Another way to say that, paraphrase in our language today, would say something like this.

Who said such a thing as that? Who would dare tell you to do such a thing?

They demand it. You tell us, tell us who said such a thing. Who is this man who said to you, take up your bed and walk?

Now they want to know where the source is. Who was the source that told you this?

Verse 13, but the one who was healed did not know who it was. He did not know it was the

Lord Jesus Christ, for Jesus has withdrawn, the scripture says, and the multitude being in that place. So these self -righteous

Jews were anxious to find out who would dare tell you to break their

Sabbath tradition? Who would dare say, who would dare do this? So they ask him to identify the culprit.

We want to know who it is. Who told you this? So you notice their aim, it's hate.

There's no love here, folks. And if there is love, it's love of themselves. There's no love of God, there's no love for this man.

And all they had in their mind was the man who told the healed man that broke the

Sabbath. And the law of Moses decreed that one who would do such a thing should be stoned to death.

That's what's in their mind. This is what's going on in their mind. And it's fueled by hate.

It's fueled by their self -righteousness, that Jesus has broken this.

So the religious Jews cared little at all about this man that was paralyzed and that Jesus healed.

They could care less about him. Verse 14 says, afterwards Jesus found him in the temple.

He found this man in the temple. Something important for us to see here. Notice what the text said.

And Jesus said to him, See you have been made well. Sin no more.

Least a worse thing come upon you. That's sobering, folks. Our Lord gives this man that he healed.

And when he finds him in the temple, he gives him a sobering warning.

That's love. Jesus first healed him physically. But now he's going to do something even more of a greater act of love.

He's going to warn him about his eternal soul. And that reflects on something really that's a very important biblical truth.

Now first, before we get to a little bit more in this, let me say this. Several reasons here that's in this text that the

Lord says to him, Go and sin no more. Like he does to the woman that was caught in adultery.

He forgives her. And here he has healed this man. See that you have been made well.

Sin no more. Least a worse thing come upon you. Now, here's the truth that's given in Scripture about this.

It's very clear that this illness is not always an immediate result of personal sin. Not always.

How do we know this? Well, if you go over a couple of chapters. Chapter 9 of John.

Look at verse 1 to 5. The Scripture tells us this. Now, as Jesus passed by, he saw a man who was blind from birth.

And his disciples asked him, saying, Rabbi, who sinned? This man or his parents?

That he was born blind. Jesus answered. Notice what Jesus gives the answer.

Neither this man nor his parents sinned. But that the works of God should be revealed in him.

I must work the works of him who sent me while it is day. The night is coming when no one can work.

As long as I'm in the world, I am the light of the world. So, Scripture teaches there.

It's not always the case of that person that's at fault.

Now, it also teaches that some sickness is directly related to deliberate disobedience against the

Lord. This is clear in Scripture. Let me give you a few examples here. For example, after committing adultery and murder,

King David cried out in Psalm 32, verse 3 and 4.

Listen very carefully to what David says in the word of God. He says, when I kept silent about my sin, my body wasted away.

Listen to that. My body wasted away through my groanings all day long.

Verse 4, for day and night, your hand was heavy upon me.

It's almost like the disciplined hand of God. It was the disciplined rod. And then he said, my vitality was drained away as with the fever heat of the summer.

Then he says, Selah, that's a meditation there. Stop and pause as he's singing this.

And this is a prophecy that's given. Because of his sin, because of his disobedience against the

Lord, it honestly says right there in the scripture, my body wasted away through my groanings all the day long.

He was being disciplined of the Lord because of this. And his body was undergoing its punishment against the

Lord. Notice verse 5, and I can't leave this part out. It's very important.

And he says, I acknowledge my sin to you, and my iniquity I have not hidden.

I said, I will confess my transgressions to the Lord, and you forgave the iniquity of my sin.

Another Selah. And that's important because, you see, he comes to confess and forsake his sin.

He repents. It's important to confess these sins to God, to God, his transgressions.

And the Lord forgives. And that's how healing comes. That's the healing of the bones.

First spiritually, then physically. You see this, many people that live

BC days, and as a heathen, they waste away through drugs, and through shots, and LSD, and they're addicted, and they cannot find deliverance.

And you see pictures of this at times, before and after. And it's like a totally different person when

Christ comes and supernaturally delivers someone from such awful, horrific addictions, and the sin affects the body.

It affects the mind. It affects the entire person. God desires for us to be made well, to be made whole in our soul.

But it brings wholeness to our being as well, our physical being. This fits right along with 1

John 1, 9. If we confess our sins, He is faithful. Don't you love that?

God is faithful. It's not something, yes, there's a part and a condition we are to do, but God is faithful and just to forgive us of our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

He cleanses us. He makes us whole. And God is the one that is faithful to do that.

That's an attribute of God and His justice, His faithfulness and His justice to forgive.

Isn't that great? To forgive us our sins. To cleanse us. Forgiveness and cleansing.

We all need that, don't we? We need it as we come to the Lord Jesus Christ, but as a believer, we need it every day of our life.

We come to find out that this walk of sanctification is a constant walk of repentance daily and forgiveness daily.

Have you noticed that? It's just not a one -time act. It's a constant act.

It's the whole life of the Christian. Well, Moses warned in Israel, also here's another example, in Deuteronomy chapter 28.

And here's some warnings. Chapter 28, verse 58 to 61.

If you are not careful to observe all the words of this law which are written in this book.

Now listen to these warnings. I tell you. Strap on your seatbelts. These are strong warnings, but it's out of love to observe all the words of this law which are written in this book.

To fear this honored and awesome name, the Lord your God. Then the

Lord will bring extraordinary plagues on you and your descendants and even severe and lasting plagues and miserable and chronic sicknesses.

And He will bring back on you all the diseases of Egypt of which you were afraid.

And they will cling to you. Also every sickness and every plague which not written in the book of this law, the

Lord will bring on you until you are destroyed. Folks, that's warnings.

There's the fear of the Lord. That we are to respect God and have a holy respect and an awesome reverence of who

He is. This is missing today, but we do not need to forget these things.

That warnings after warnings are here. And also if you read the very last chapter and the very last words of the book of Revelation, there's warnings there that anyone that was a tamper with the word of God is going to give a serious account to God and even the plagues of the book will be upon them.

You just don't play around with God. I like what Brother Keith says, you can play at six flags, but you don't play with God.

That is the truth. God is to be feared all the way through the whole entirety of the word of God and all the 66 books of the

Bible. God is to be reverenced. God is to be feared. God is holy.

But He's loving and He's kind. And I tell you what, when you see His goodness and kindness, that makes me fear even more.

Because He's so good and was so evil, was so bad.

Sobering warnings for all who disobeyed the Lord and to those who do not fear the

Lord. May God give us the grace to fear Him more and more.

Oh, how we need a revival of the fear of the Lord. Even in the

New Testament. And we're going to take communion today and you're going to see this as we prepare our hearts to examine ourselves to see whether we're in the faith.

And it's called self -examination. But, you know, in the church age, Paul wrote to the Corinthians believers in 1

Corinthians 11 -30 for this reason, he says. What reason? The sin. The sin that they were still practicing.

He's basically saying, you know, many among you are weak and sick and a number sleep.

They basically died because they did not discern the body of the Lord in communion.

Very serious, isn't it? And God could take believers out.

You know, I used to be of the opinion when Ananias and Sapphira was smitten down by God, I used to think they were non -believers.

There's a very good chance they were believers. They disobeyed the Lord and what did they do?

They lied to the Holy Spirit. They were playing the hypocrite. And they were trying to do something that Barnabas was doing that he did rightly, but they did it in a hypocritical way.

They held back. And they lied to the Spirit of God. And God used them as an example and removed them.

And as you well know, God smitten them and smote them dead. Drug them out.

And you know what the Bible says? Then great fear came upon the church. That's God's way of growing the church.

Great fear, great grace, great power came upon the church. And that gives us attention.

And you know something? God does these things for our admonition, as examples.

Somebody may ask, why doesn't God smite more people down? All the heretics that's just running amok today in the churches and just poisoning

God's people. Well, you know, their day's coming, folks. God's time clock clicks. And no one's not going to escape the judgment.

But God did set Ananias and Sapphira as examples in the New Testament for us to see that God is to be feared.

Well, these are great warnings. We need this. I don't know about you. I need this in my heart because we all have a tendency to be apathetic and to fall into a lull and forget the

Lord our God who has loved us and given so much to us. Well, back to verse 14 of John 5, the most natural understanding of the

Lord's warning is this, that this man's illness was a result of a specific personal sin on his part.

We don't know what the sin is, or was, I should say, if the man persisted, continued in an unrepentant sin.

But Jesus warned him. And what was He warning him of? That he would suffer a fate infinitely far worse than 38 years of deliberating temporal disease that he was afflicted of.

Think of this. Jesus is basically telling him, go sin no more, lest a worse thing come upon you.

Worse than 38 years on that mattress? Being paralyzed?

Yes, there is something worse. It is the eternal punishment in hell, suffering under the vengeance of the wrath of God.

You don't want to go there. But I'm telling you, brothers and sisters, and whomever you may be here today, if you do not know

Jesus Christ on that day of judgment, that will come. There's no escaping it. And the scriptures warn this, warn this, and once we get into eternity, listen to me closely, there's no backing away from it.

There's no second chances. J .C. Rowell said this, there's no repentance in the grave.

No repentance. No second chances after we get there. Today is the day of salvation.

Our time is short. It's very little. It's a speck compared to eternity. No wonder

Jonathan Edwards says, stamp eternity on my eyeballs. That's why we should be passionate about the eternal things of God.

What else matters? It's Jesus Christ and Him crucified. And He is the

Lamb of God. And no one will enter into heaven's gates, and the gate of pearl, and the streets of gold, and see the glories of God in which everybody wants.

They must have a passionate love for Christ. And that passionate love comes by the Holy Spirit as we're born again.

I'm telling you, it's a very real and serious thing, isn't it? It sobers me every time

I think about the grave, and I see the grave sites, and I see little ones being buried. And I've seen many of them.

I did funerals of many little children. I did many funerals of elderly people. And I'm telling you,

I've seen the saints and the sinners. My own father died without Christ.

We do not want to die without Christ, folks. It's such a serious thing.

Eternity is here, but the Lord graciously comes in His goodness and His mercy, and He's given us the

Lord Jesus Christ, and now He commands men everywhere to repent and to believe the gospel.

Well, verse 15 is a tragic verse, beloved.

Let me tell you why. This man, Jesus healed, suggests that he failed to heed

Jesus' warnings here. This is really a striking, sobering story.

Listen very carefully. The man departed. He told the Jews that it was Jesus who made him well.

Now, think about what he's doing here. Beloved, let me say this. Let me say this with all my heart, with love in me, but a burden, to warn you.

It is far, far more serious to sin against grace than it is against law.

And this man sinned against grace. Think of this.

Jesus had showed this man the awesome, amazing love and mercy to heal him.

He healed him from his infirmity. He healed him from his being paralyzed for 38 years.

I was reading MacArthur's notes on this, and listen to what he says. It's astonishing that he would accept this healing after nearly four decades of terrible distress and then walk away from Jesus and show his loyalty to the

Jews who hated him. This has to be one of the great acts of ingratitude and obstinate unbelief in Scripture.

He did not intend to praise or worship Jesus for healing him. Since the Jews had already manifest open hostility toward Jesus in verse 10 to 12, it would have been incredibly naive to think they would now react positively.

He further aided their hostility by identifying Jesus. More likely, the man's actions were a further attempt to defend himself for breaking the

Sabbath regulations. He could now answer the authority's question of verse 12 by naming

Jesus. This man has not been delivered of himself.

He was delivered from his physical ailment and Jesus goes and warns him not to sin anymore lest a worse thing come upon you.

And verse 15, the man departed, listened to his actions and told the Jews that it was

Jesus who made him well. That's a sad verse, folks.

That's a sad commentary on this man's life. I pray as we all look at these verses, may this not be true of us.

May this not be true of us that we will end our days by denying our

Lord Jesus who has done us so much good. May we persevere in the grace that He has given us and the salvation that He has given us and obey

Him to the utmost because of His great love toward us. Verse 16 says this,

For this reason the Jews persecuted Jesus, sought to kill Him because He had done these things on the

Sabbath. He'd done these things on the Sabbath and that's where they're aiming their sights on.

They're going after Jesus. These religious leaders on a regular basis quarreled with Jesus over the apparent lack of respect for the

Sabbath. That's basically what they're thinking. Now, there's a few verses I'd like for you to follow me with very quickly.

I'll look at Luke chapter 6. Luke chapter 6. Let me read verse 1.

I'm just going to read these. Notice Jesus heals on the

Sabbath here in Luke chapter 6 verse 1 to 11. Now, it happened on the second

Sabbath after the first that He went through the grain fields. His disciples plucked the heads of grain and ate them, rubbing them in their hands.

And some of the Pharisees said to them, Why are you doing what is not lawful to do on the

Sabbath? There it is again. Jesus answered and said to them, Have you not even read this?

Have you not read this? What David did when he was hungry and those who were with him.

How he went into the house of God and took and ate the show bread and also gave some to those with him which is not lawful for any but the priest to eat.

And he said to them, The Son of Man is also Lord of the Sabbath. That's the point.

In verse 6, now it happened on another Sabbath. See, it's a Sabbath. Also that He entered the synagogue and taught and a man was there whose right hand was withered.

So again, you see the scribes and the Pharisees come in the picture. They watched Him closely. They had their eyes on Jesus because after they're persecuting

Him they were already intending to plot something to kill

Him. The scribes and the Pharisees watched Him closely whether He would heal on the

Sabbath and they might find an accusation against Him. But He knew their thoughts.

Jesus knew their thoughts. And He said to the man who had the withered hand, Arise and stand here. And he arose and he stood.

And Jesus said to them, I will ask you one thing. It's like this healing was a lesson for these self -righteous scribes and Pharisees.

I will ask you one thing. Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do evil?

To save life or to destroy? Verse 10,

And when He had looked around at them all, He said to the man, Stretch out your hand.

And he did so. And his hand was restored as whole as the other. Notice verse 11.

But they were filled with rage and discussed with one another what they might do to Jesus.

Now that's one example. Here's another one. If you go to chapter 13, there's so many, so many scriptures on this.

If you go to Luke chapter 13, look at verse 10 to 17. 10 to 17.

And He was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath. And behold, there was a woman who had a spirit of infirmity 18 years and was bent over and could not in no way raise herself up.

And when Jesus saw her, He called her to Him and said to her, Woman, you are loosed from your infirmity.

And He laid His hands on her. And immediately she was made straight and glorified God. But, here it comes.

You know when the but is there, something's coming. But the ruler of the synagogue answered with an inundation because Jesus had healed on the

Sabbath and He said to the crowd, There are six days on which men ought to work. Therefore, come and be healed on them and not on the

Sabbath day. And the Lord then answered him and said, Hypocrite! Does not each one of you on the

Sabbath loose his ox or donkey from the stall and lead it away to water it?

So ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has bound, think of it, for 18 years be loosed from this bond on the

Sabbath? Verse 17, And when He said these things, all of His adversaries were put to shame and all the multitude rejoiced for all the glorious things that were done by Him.

So you get the picture. There's one more. Next page over. Chapter 14 of Luke.

We see verse 1 to 6. A man with drops he healed on the

Sabbath and now it happened as he went into the house of one of the rulers of the Pharisees to eat bread on the

Sabbath that they watched him closely. Again, they're watching him. And behold, there was a certain man before him who had the drop seat.

And Jesus answered and said to the lawyers and Pharisees, saying, Is it lawful to heal on the

Sabbath? He asked them the question. You know what

I love about the Lord Jesus Christ? He's never ever on the defense.

He's always on the offense. Perfect wisdom. Perfect wisdom here in demonstration.

Perfect wisdom. Perfect holiness. Perfect love. But these self -righteous

Pharisees and scribes and the religious leaders thought they had one up on them. They could never get one up on them. But they kept silent.

Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath? They kept silent. They didn't know what to say. And He took him and healed him and let him go.

And He answered them saying, Which of you, again, having a donkey or ox, again, the same question that He said in the other chapter, that falling into a pit would not immediately pull him out of the

Sabbath day? They could not answer Him regarding these things.

Well, you see the picture here. Jesus had not only confronted the Jewish legalism of these scribes, these religious leaders, at its very core by disregarding their

Sabbath rules, their traditions. John 5, verse 17 to 47, then you read, we read,

Jesus challenged them with His true identity as the Son of the living God. By what authority

He does these things. He has the authority because He is the Son of God.

He's the Son of Man. He has the power and He has the authority to do this. To heal on the

Sabbath. Whom all the fullness of the deity dwells in bodily form, as Colossians says.

The Jews' opposition to their own Messiah would not only harden and intensify until finally they were able to satisfy their wicked hearts and that was to when they would crucify the

Lord of glory. And that's what they wanted. And God allowed this to happen even though they will be held accountable for such a sin.

And I'm going to close with this before we have communion. Go with me to Acts chapter 3. And I want you to see another story of a lame man.

A man that was lame. These, keep in mind, are the continuing works of the

Lord Jesus Christ. Even though He is not physically present, the Spirit of God is working through the apostles.

These are the continuing works of the Lord Jesus Christ that He may be glorified and that the Father may be glorified.

Now, I'm going to read this chapter and listen very closely what the point is. There's a healing.

Then Peter takes the opportunity to preach on Solomon's porch. Listen to this.

Now Peter and John went up together to the temple at the hour of prayer. They went to pray the ninth hour.

A certain man lame from his mother's womb was carried whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple, which is called

Beautiful, to ask alms from those who entered the temple.

Who, seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple, asked for alms, fixing his eyes on Him, when

John and Peter said, Look at us. So He gave them Him His attention, expecting to receive something from them.

And basically, to receive personal monies, because that's why

He was there. He was begging. But what did Peter say? Silver and gold

I do not have, but what I do have I give to you.

In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk.

Rise up and walk. And He took them by the right hand and lifted them up. And immediately His feet and ankle bones received strength.

And He, leaping up, stood and walked and entered the temple with them, walking, leaping and praising God. This man praised

God. And all the people saw Him walking and praising God.

And they knew that it was He who sat begging alms at the beautiful gate of the temple.

And they were all filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to Him. Now as the lame man who was healed held on to Peter and John, all the people ran together to them and the porch, which is called

Solomon's, greatly amazed. Now, notice this, verse 12.

So when Peter saw it, he responded to the people. And now in Peter's mind, he's going to preach the gospel, folks.

He says this, Men of Israel, why do you marvel at this? In other words, why are you marveling at such a miracle?

Or why look so intently at us as though by our own power and godliness we had made this man walk?

Peter's getting to something. It's not by something that they did. It's something that the Lord did through them.

And notice how he preaches. He preaches now. He said, The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of our fathers, glorified

His servant Jesus, whom you delivered up and denied in the presence of Pilate when

He was determined to let him go. But you denied the

Holy One in the just and asked for a murderer to be granted to you and killed the

Prince of Life whom God raised from the dead, and of which you are witnesses.

And in His name, through faith in His name, has made this man strong, whom you see and know.

Yes, the faith which comes through Him has given Him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all.

Yet now, brethren, I know that you did it in ignorance, as did also your rulers.

But notice what he says here. But those things which God foretold by the mouth of all

His prophets that Christ would suffer, He has thus fulfilled.

Repent. You see where he goes. Repent, therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that the times of refreshing may come from the presence of the

Lord, and that He may send Jesus Christ, who

He has preached to you before, whom heaven must receive until the times of restoration of all things.

That speaks to us as well. Which God has spoken by the mouth of His holy prophets since the world began.

For Moses truly said to the fathers, The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brethren.

Him you shall hear in all things whatever He says to you.

And it shall be that every soul, every soul who will not hear that prophet shall be utterly destroyed from among the people.

Yes, and all the prophets, from Samuel and those who follow, as many as have spoken, have also foretold these days.

You are the sons of the prophets, and the covenant which God made with our fathers, saying to Abraham and your seed, all the families of the earth shall be blessed.

And notice how he ends it. To you first, God, having raised up His servant,

Jesus sent Him to bless you, and turning away every one of you from your iniquities.

And I'm telling you folks, this leads as you read onward, and Acts 4 leads to their arrest.

They arrested them. I'm telling you folks, when Christ is truly preached, when the gospel goes forth, persecution always follows.

People love their darkness rather than light. They don't like to be exposed, and especially when it comes to the self -righteous hypocrites within the church.

The most deadly, the damnable thing. Knowing that these people had the law and the prophets, and yet they played the hypocrite.

They played the hypocrite. Well, I think that's a good place to stop.

Let's seek the Lord as we come before Him in communion. Let's pray.

Our Father in heaven, we praise You and we thank You for Your Word. It's so powerful.

It's sharper than any two -edged sword, but yet as it cuts, it has the power to cut deep within our hearts and to expose us for who we really are.

Lord, it helps us to come to the light, and it brings a healing balm to heal us.

If only we would but come, confess our sins, forsake them, mercy would then be given.

Lord, You have given such mercy through the Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son, Your goodness,

Your mercy, all in Your Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, in whom

You are well pleased. The ultimate price has been paid for.

When Jesus cries out, it is finished. The victory was won.

Paid in full. All because of Your great love nails our horrible sin to the cross as He became sin and take upon Himself Your wrath.

Oh Lord, we just cannot comprehend such great love all through the precious blood and the great high cost of Your dear

Son that ultimately satisfied Your wrath.

Lord, we are forever grateful for this. Eternally grateful.

And we will praise You throughout eternity for such a great price.

Lord, as we come to the table now to remember the sufferings of our Lord Jesus Christ, help us to discern that body, that precious body, that what

He did for us, the price that He paid. May we be sober. May we have self -examination.

Oh, blessed Spirit of God, help us in these things, we pray, to give You honor and glory.