Good morning to everyone. Good to see everybody this morning. And we are working our way through the Gospel of John on the last Sunday of each month for our communion services. And this morning, we come to John chapter 5. 

Now, up to now in this Gospel, John has been giving us accounts of Jesus' miracles in order to show who Jesus is, that he's the Messiah, that he is the Son of God. And remember that John's intent in writing is expressed in chapter 20, verse 30 and 31. He said, "And truly, Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book. But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing, you may have life in his name." 

In our text today, we see a bit of a transition. Jesus performs a miracle healing a man who's been bedridden for 38 years, unable to take up his mat and walk. And although the miracle, again, confirms Jesus' power over the natural and testifies to his deity, the primary purpose for this miracle is a bit different. The religious leaders of Jesus' time, the Pharisees, have been growing more and more upset with Jesus' ministry. We know that they were greatly concerned about the crowds following Jesus, and this has only been increasing. And so because of the threat that Jesus poses to their religion, to their authority and power, the Jews were seeking to kill Jesus.

What we see in our text today is that Jesus sets himself against these leaders, against their religion and false religion, all false religion, and he chooses to heal this man on the Sabbath. This seems to be the significant part of the story. We see from here on out in the Gospel of John, as well as the other Gospels, that the anger of the Pharisees continues to grow and their desire to take Jesus' life increases all the more until we come to the cross. 

So we see a miracle, a healing, affirming who Jesus is, but the primary point of the passage is the confrontation that the miracle sets up with the religious leaders because Jesus chose to heal the man on the Sabbath. We see that the false religion that man had designed, perverting the law of God and his word in the Old Testament, had failed this man for 38 years. We also see that hope in some mystical water had yet to deliver this man from his infirmity. Only Jesus could make this man well. 

And that's the question before us this morning from our text. Do you want to be made well? Let's look at our text, John 5 at verse 1. “After this, there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. Now there is in Jerusalem by the sheep gate a pool, which is called in Hebrew Bethesda, having five porches. In these lay a great multitude of sick people, blind, lame, paralyzed, waiting for the moving of the water. For an angel went down at a certain time into the pool and stirred up the water. Then whoever stepped in first after the stirring of the water was made well of whatever disease he had. 

Now a certain man was there who had an infirmity 38 years. When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had already had been in that condition for a long time, he said to him, “Do you want to be made well?” The sick man answered him, “Sir, I have no man to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up. But while I am coming, another steps down before me.” Jesus said to him, “Rise, take up your bed, and walk.” And immediately the man was made well, took up his bed, and walked. And that day was the Sabbath. 

The Jews, therefore, said to him who was cured, “It is the Sabbath. It is not lawful for you to carry your bed.” He answered them, “He who made me well said to me, ‘Take up your bed and walk.’” Then they asked him, “Who is the man who said to you, ‘Take up your bed and walk’?” But the one who was healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had withdrawn a multitude being in that place. 

Afterward, Jesus found him in the temple and said to him, “See, you have been made well. Sin no more, lest a worse thing come upon you.” The man departed and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well. For this reason, the Jews persecuted Jesus and sought to kill him because he had done these things on the Sabbath. But Jesus answered them, “My Father has been working until now, and I have been working.” Therefore, the Jews sought all the more to kill him because he not only broke the Sabbath, but also said that God was his Father, making himself equal with God.

Well, I've given you five points on your outline. First, the scene. Second, hope in miracles. Third, hope in religion. Fourth, hope in Jesus. And fifth, do you want to be made well?

First, we see in our text the scene before us. In John 5, 1, it says there was a feast and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. And in Jerusalem was this pool by the sheep gate. And in this lay a great multitude of sick people, blind, lame, paralyzed, it says, waiting for the moving of the water. 

Living in first-century Israel was not a walk in the park. It was a difficult life, a struggle for many to survive. They were working daily in the fields for their bread. But imagine being a leper, a blind man, a paralytic, a lame man in those circumstances, unable to get up off your bed, laying on the ground in the dust, dependent on others to move you around, begging for your bread each day. There were pools of water in those days in the city used for refreshment, cooling off. And there was such a pool, a large pool by the sheep gate, called in Hebrew Bethesda. It had five porches around it, covered areas which gave shade from the hot sun. 

There was something significant about this pool in the minds of those who lived around there. It was purported to have healing power. Some of you may have noticed, if you have the NIV, for example, that verse 4 is omitted from your Bible or it may be in italics. From the evidence of the oldest manuscripts, it seems apparent that this verse was added at a later time and is not in the original, probably in the mind of the scribe added to make clarification of verse 7, which is in the original. There was apparently a superstition that this water had some healing power. The myth began that an angel came and stirred up the water to cause healing for the first to enter after the stirring. 

Regardless of this, the man believed that he could be healed if he made it into the water at the right time. So you can imagine the scene. This is a large pool with five covered porches around it, all filled with sick, lame, paralyzed, infirmed people finding respite from the hot, dry conditions of the city, hoping that they might be healed. It does not tell us how long this man may have been coming to this place, how long he'd been hoping to be healed. But it's clear that this hope had failed him. And the text tells us he had been infirmed for 38 years.

This kind of superstitious hope and the mystical and the healing of the water, the stars of the sky, the potato chip that looks like the Virgin Mary, these kinds of things are not foreign in our day either. They're all around us. Matter of fact, on the way down here, I was listening to a Joe Rogan podcast because Will Harris was on there. And he's a farmer who we went and met in southern Georgia. And I was interested to hear him. He does the same kind of farming we do, only about $25 million a year in sales. 

So I was listening to that, and Joe Rogan, he brought him a little satchel that they make out of the scrotum from bulls. And they use it for like a little purse. And Joe Rogan went on about how it'd be good to put his crystals in there, the healing crystals. This is something super prevalent in our time. So we may look back and say, "Well, this was silly of this man to hope in the waters of this pool for a healing miracle." But the world's no different today. Mystical healing is a huge business. People put their hope in horoscopes and healing crystals, any number of pills and treatments, even faith in healers who claim to be able to make you well. 

And this is not foreign to the religious world, even those who name the name of Christ. I remember several years ago, I came across a man named Creflo Dollar. Anybody know who Creflo Dollar is? What a name for a TV evangelist. He was preaching. I heard it on the radio. And he was in some sort of hotel conference room, from what I could gather. And the essence of it was that Creflo had a box of healing stones. And he was preaching about debt, specifically credit card debt. And his pitch was that you could get one of these healing stones from him for a modest gift and put it in your pocket. 

Whenever you were stressed financially, you could just reach in your pocket and rub that stone. He kept saying, “Rub that stone.” He said, “If you're at the gas pump and the price has you stressed, just rub that stone. And if your groceries were taxing your checkbook, you've got just reach in there and rub that stone.” The kicker was that you had to use a credit card to buy the stone from him. Because if you did, God was going to pay off your credit card over the next couple months. And people were hooting and hollering and lining up to get the magic stones. 

I had one lady come to me years ago suggesting that we all go down to Florida, Lakeland, I think it was, because God was doing miracles there. And there were, in the worship services, gold flakes falling from the sky. This was our old buddy Todd Bentley, part of the New Apostolic Reformation heresy, who was leading this thing. I just wanted you to read the Wikipedia entry about the Lakeland Revival. 

It says, "The Lakeland Revival was in many ways similar to the revivals that occurred in the 1990s, notably the Toronto Blessing in Canada and the Brownsville Revival in Pensacola, Florida. However, the Lakeland Revival had a greater focus on divine healings, was much shorter than the previous two revivals, and was nearly inseparable from Todd Bentley. The revival displayed many ecstatic manifestations, and some participants claimed esoteric experiences, such as divinely inspired visions and prophecies. In addition to claims of numerous miraculous healings, leaders claim that at least 25 cases of resurrection from the dead took place away from the stage. 

The revival streamed. This was new. You've got to imagine now, way back then. The revival streamed live via Ustream and received over 1 million hits in the first five weeks of transmission. After the initial weeks, God TV, a Christian satellite channel, preempted its primetime programming and broadcast the Lakeland meetings nightly. The revival attracted up to 10,000 attendees nightly and around 30,000 over the week. Through its airing on God TV, the revival became well-known by Pentecostals and Charismatics worldwide. By May 29, Bentley's ministry estimated that over 140,000 people from over 40 nations had visited in person, and 1.2 million had watched via the internet. And by June 30, over 400,000 people from over 100 nations had attended. 

People are all too willing to put their hope and their faith in miracles. I always think of Benny Hinn. I don't know if you ever saw that when he was in India. He came down with lights out of a helicopter in a white suit. And he's honest. And I've been to India, and I've seen the people there. And they're giving him their last rupees, you know, thousands upon thousands of people for healing. When I was there, I had a young couple ask me to come and pray for them. They had a newborn baby and had trouble at the hospital. Would you come and pray? So I went in their little hut, prayed for them, prayed for their baby. And he was trying to give me money. I said, “No, I don't want any.” But that's what they're used to, preachers taking money for prayer. 

So people put their hope and faith in miracles and experiences. But true revival is not found in ecstatic experiences, but in faith and obedience to the word of God. Much like the sick man in our text, all those who put their faith in these kinds of things will find themselves disappointed and disillusioned. If you want to be made well, if you want to be whole and complete, there's only one answer, and his name is Jesus. 

Next in our text, we see hope and religion. Verse 5, “Now a certain man was there who had an infirmity 38 years.” If you go to verse 9, it says, “And immediately the man was made well, took up his bed, and walked. And that day was the Sabbath.” Here’s the rub. The Jews, therefore, said to him who was cured, “It is the Sabbath. It’s not lawful for you to carry your bed.” Can you believe that reaction? The religious leaders, to be the shepherds of these people, to care for these people. 

This man's 38 years infirmed. Jesus heals him completely in a moment so that he picks up his bed and walks. And what do the religious leaders say? “You can't carry your bed. It’s the Sabbath.” What an attitude. And it says they wanted to kill him. They sought to kill him because he did these things on the Sabbath. 

We don't know the details of this man's life, but it's apparent that he was a Jewish man under the authority of the religious leaders. For 38 years, this man had this infirmity. He got no help. He got no deliverance, never made well or even comforted through all the trappings of his religion. In fact, it's likely that he only received disdain and condemnation for his condition as they blamed it on his sin. This man had no hope in his religion, in his leaders. 

Yet I think it's very interesting what we see in verse 15 after he realizes it's Jesus who healed him. What does he do? It says, “The man departed and told the Jews that it was Jesus who made him well. For this reason the Jews persecuted Jesus and sought to kill him because he’d done these things on the Sabbath.” 

Jesus healed this man and he knew that the Pharisees were looking for Jesus and wanted to kill him, and the man did not know who had healed him but then Jesus comes to him in the temple, and the man reports Jesus to the religious leaders. I think this is interesting. There was no hope in religion for this man all of these years, neglected, despised, condemned, and yet he remained loyal to his religion even over the man who healed him, perhaps afraid of what the Pharisees would do to him. 

False religion held power over this man even after Jesus had healed him. I wanted to show you something that I think is significant concerning the healing miracles of Jesus. Sometimes, such as the case before us in John 5, we don't really see anything happening apart from physical healing. We don't know from the text if this man was affected spiritually. We don't see any indication here that the man was changed inwardly, just outwardly, and his actions along with the seeming intent of the miracle concerning the Sabbath and the Jews incline me to believe the man was not changed spiritually.

But in other instances, we do see a consistent use of words and phrases that indicate that some that Jesus healed he healed completely physically and spiritually. I just want to show you some examples of that in the Gospel of Luke. If you turn to Luke 8, Luke 8 at verse 43, really a sad story of a woman who'd had a blood flow for 12 years so she'd be unclean, that she spent all her livelihood on physicians and could not be healed by any. She came from behind and touched the border of Jesus' garment, and immediately her flow of blood stopped. 

Jesus said, “Who touched me?” When all denied it, Peter and those with him said, “Master, the multitude strong and press you, and you say, ‘Who touched me?’” But Jesus said, “Somebody touched me, for I perceive power going out from me.” 

Now when the woman saw that she was not hidden, she came trembling and falling down before him. She declared to him in the presence of all the people the reason she had touched him and how she was healed immediately. And he said to her, “Daughter, be of good cheer. Your faith has made you well. Go in peace.”

If you go over to Luke 17, we'll look at another example. Luke 17 at verse 12. “Then as he entered a certain village, there met him ten men who were lepers, who stood afar off. And they lifted up their voices and said, ‘Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.’ So when he saw them, he said to them, ‘Go show yourselves to the priests.’ And so it was that as they went, they were cleansed. And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, returned and with a loud voice glorified God and fell down on his face at his feet, giving him thanks, and he was a Samaritan.” 

So Jesus answered and said, “Were there not ten cleansed? But where are the nine? Were there not any found who returned to give glory to God except this foreigner?” And he said to him, “Arise, go your way. Your faith has made you well.”

Now Luke 18 at verse 35, just a chapter over. “Then it happened as he was coming near Jericho that a certain blind man sat by the road begging. And hearing a multitude passing by, he asked what it meant. So they told him that Jesus of Nazareth was passing by. And he cried out, saying, ‘Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me.’ Then those who went before warned him that he should be quiet, but he cried out all the more, ‘Son of David, have mercy on me.’ So Jesus stood still and commanded him to be brought to him. 

When he had come near, he asked him, saying, ‘What do you want me to do for you?’ He said, ‘Lord, that I may receive my sight.’ Then Jesus said to him, 'Receive your sight. Your faith has made you well.’ And immediately he received his sight and followed him, glorifying God. And all the people, when they saw it, gave praise to God.” 

This phrase, “your faith has made you well,” I believe indicates salvation. The word translated made well is "sozo," meaning to save. In fact, the King James translates it, “your faith has saved you.” We don't see this kind of wording in many of the healings Jesus performed, including the one in our text, but when we do see this phrase, such as in the three cases we just looked at in Luke, we also see a positive response of worship and following Jesus. 

It's a fascinating thing to consider, but I don't see any indication here in John 5 that this man was saved. He seems, by his actions, to still be under bondage to false religion. We see this in our time as well—people in bondage to false systems, to false teachers, very hard to separate. There's no hope in religion, no hope in rites and rituals and doing good works in order to establish your own righteousness. There's no deliverance, no salvation in the religions of man. 

I think this is why Jesus performed this miracle in this instance, to set himself against the religion of his day, to show the futility of the laws and systems that the Jews had developed, twisting and perverting the law of God. The issue here was the Sabbath, a day that God had set aside for rest, enjoyment, contemplation, worship, thankfulness. But the Jews had made it into a day of bondage, burdensome, destructive. 

Turn over to Matthew 12 with me, Matthew 12 at verse 1. “At that time, Jesus went through the grain fields on the Sabbath, and his disciples were hungry and began to pluck heads of grain and to eat. And when the Pharisees saw it, they said to him, ‘Look, your disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath.’ But he said to them, ‘Have you not read what David did when he was hungry, he and those who were with him, how he entered the house of God and ate the showbread, which was not lawful for him to eat, nor for those who were with him, but only for the priests? Or have you not read in the law that on the Sabbath, the priests in the temple profane the Sabbath and are blameless? Yet I say to you that in this place there is one greater than the temple. But if you had known what this means, "I desire mercy and not sacrifice," you would have not condemned the guiltless, for the Son of Man is Lord, even of the Sabbath.’ And when he departed from there, he went into their synagogue, and behold, there was a man who had a withered hand, and they asked him, saying, ‘Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?’ that they might accuse him. 

Then he said to them, ‘What man is there among you who has one sheep, and if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath will not lay hold of it and lift it out? Of how much more value then is a man than a sheep? Therefore it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.’ Then he said to the man, ‘Stretch out your hand,’ and he stretched it out, and it was restored as whole as the other. Then the Pharisees went out and plotted against him how they might destroy him.” 

Jesus said, “I desire mercy, not sacrifice.” The purpose of the law of the Sabbath was not to be a religious burden impossible to bear. Man was not made for the Sabbath, but the Sabbath for man. And God's intent is mercy, grace, not law and religion. 

Mark's account gives us some more details. He says, “So they watched him closely, whether he would heal them on the Sabbath so that they might accuse him. And he said to the man who had a withered hand, ‘Step forward.’ Then he said to them, ‘Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?’ but they kept silent. When he looked around at them with anger, being grieved by the hardness of their hearts, he said to the man, ‘Stretch out your hand.’ He stretched it out, and his hand was restored. Then they went out to seek how they might destroy him, plotting with the Herodians against him.” 

The Pharisees never cared about people, about the man with the withered hand, about the man in our text today who had lied 38 years unable to get up. They never cared about the good of the people they oversaw, about their salvation or their well-being. There was no mercy, only law. The law they had designed and added to and twisted was all that they cared about in order that they might accuse men and condemn them. As Jesus said, they strained out a gnat and swallowed a camel. 

There's no hope in religion, my friends. No hope in self-righteousness and law-keeping and rites and rituals. There's only in Jesus. 

Verse 5 of our text again: “Now a certain man was there who had an infirmity 38 years. When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had already been in that condition a long time, he said to him, ‘Do you want to be made well?’ The sick man answered him, ‘Sir, I have no man to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, but while I am coming, another steps down before me.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Rise, take up your bed and walk.’ And immediately the man was made well, took up his bed, and walked.” 

This man spent 38 years infirmed. He had hoped day after day in the mystic healing of the pool when the water stirred up but found no salvation there. He'd been part of the religion of Judaism of his day and found no solace there. But when he met Jesus, he found healing and restoration of his physical condition, a picture or a sign of salvation and redemption that only Jesus can offer. 

Only in Jesus can we find hope and deliverance, only when we look to him. Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except by me.” There's no other name given under heaven by which we must be saved. The only way to be righteous, to be fit for heaven, is to receive God's righteousness as a gift by faith alone. When we believe Jesus, we pass from death unto life, as we will see in our studies later in this chapter. 

When we believe Jesus, we are delivered from the penalty and the power of sin, just as this man was delivered completely and wholly in an instant from his physical infirmity. It's not like Todd Bentley or Benny Hinn that smacks you in the face or kicks you with a hiking boot like Todd Bentley did, and then tells you to go home and over six months you might get better. When Jesus heals a man, it's instantaneous, it's full and complete restoration. And this is true spiritually. When a man turns from trusting in religion, in himself, in this world, and turns to Jesus, his faith has made him whole. He is delivered from death and hell, and he is delivered from the controlling power of indwelling sin, the law, and the fear of physical death. 

Jesus' salvation is complete and full, and our hope rests fully in him and the grace that will be revealed in his coming at glorification. Jesus is the only way. 

So the question in our text before us this morning is this: Do you want to be made well? Do you want to be restored spiritually, reconciled to God, made new and fit for heaven? Do you want to be made well? 

When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had already been in that condition for a long time, he said, “Do you want to be made well?” Jesus looks at us, he sees that we've been in a condition of sin for a long time. He offers to make us well. 

In Matthew 9 too, we read this: “Then behold, they brought him a paralytic lying on a bed. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, ‘Son, be of good cheer, your sins are forgiven you.’ And at once some of the scribes said within themselves, ‘This man blasphemes.’ But Jesus, knowing their hearts, said, ‘Why do you think evil in your hearts? For which is easier to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Arise and walk?’ But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins.’ Then he said to the paralytic, ‘Arise, take up your bed and go to your house.’ And he arose and departed to his house. And when the multitude saw it, they marveled and glorified God who had given such power to men.” 

Jesus not only has power over the wind and the waves and all of creation, not only over disease and sickness, over principalities and powers, but Jesus has the authority to forgive your sins. This based on his one-time death in our place for our sins. God can forgive our sins, the penalty we deserve, because Jesus took his wrath for our sins in our place on the cross. And the scriptures tell us again and again that the means of receiving, apprehending this gift, is faith. Faith alone in Jesus alone. 

In John 5 at verse 24, Jesus says this: “Most assuredly I say to you, he who hears my word and believes in him who sent me has everlasting life and shall not come into judgment but has passed from death into life.” Do you want to be made well spiritually, eternally? He who hears my word and believes in him who sent me has everlasting life, shall not come into judgment but has passed from death into life. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved. 

That's why we're here this morning, my brothers and sisters, to remember, to proclaim what Jesus has accomplished for us in his death, burial, and resurrection from the dead. He has conquered sin and death and hell, and we are in Him. And all of the promises in Him are yes. We want to remember that. We want to proclaim His death. We want to say, “Thank you, Jesus, for what you've done.” That's why we're here together this morning. 

Let's close in prayer. 

Father, we thank you. We thank you for the truth of salvation through faith in Jesus. We thank you that you gave your only begotten Son to take your wrath that we deserve for our sins. We're thankful that you raised Him from the dead and showed Him with power to be the propitiation, the satisfaction, the full payment for our sins, Lord. And we thank you through faith in Him we can receive your righteousness. We can be made right with you, reconciled, redeemed. And we thank you for the hope, the hope that does not fail, the confident assurance that we have, that we have life in His name now and for eternity. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.