[Music] hey this morning we're Kona continuing on from a message we started last week in the Gospel of John chapter 5 we're making our way chapter by chapter verse by verse through the Gospel of John and so today we're gonna begin at verse 10 of chapter 5 and continue on through about verse 18 kind of the difficulty with that is it is a bit of a two-part message and so this is what I want to do I want to start reading the text from the beginning of verse 1 that's where we started last week and then I'll continue on to the full section that we're going to cover today so we kind of set it all in context so this one those mornings what I'm gonna read the entire text before we get into it and if you don't mind in reverence to the Word of God would you please stand as I read this morning's text again I'm gonna begin at verse 1 but really gonna focus in my teaching starting at verse 10 so already here John chapter 5 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 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 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is the man who said to you take up your bed and walk but the one who was healed did not know who it was for Jesus had withdrawn a multitude being in that place afterwards Jesus found him in the temple and said to him see you have been made well sin no more lest a worse thing come upon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 Father in heaven we pray for a blessing now upon your word of course but even more so Lord upon our hearts and minds that we would receive everything that you have to give us this morning fill us with the anticipation of faith right now as we understand your word in Jesus name Amen amen you may be seated in John chapter 5 the first nine chapters the text that we took a look at last Sunday we saw that Jesus remarkably healed a man there it was at the Pool of Bethesda at say at feast time there were perhaps hundreds of lame and blind and ill and afflicted people gathered around these pools waiting for a stirring of the water because a legend a superstition a story I can tell you what it is for sure was that when those waters were stirred by an angel the first one in the water would be healed and Jesus went up to one man who would have never made it into the water first by himself this one man who needed healing because he had been in a paralyzed condition for thirty-eight years Jesus went up to him and he told him that he could be healed and that he could be healed without getting into the water first that he could be healed by believing in the word that Jesus spoke to him so jesus told me dude three impossible things to rise to get up to his feet to take up his bed and put it on his shoulder presumably or under his arm and to walk three things that were impossible for the man to do a moment before Jesus commanded him to do it and believing in the Word of God to him the man was able to do it and he stood up and he was marvelously healed and we saw last week at the very end of verse nine there was an ominous line that says at verse nine it says and that day was the Sabbath and you and I some 2,000 years removed from the events we read that we go so so what's the Sabbath God did a wonderful thing on the Sabbath doesn't that deserve a little more applause than less applause the friends we got to understand the people in Jesus's day especially the religious leaders didn't see it that way at all so look with me now at verse 10 where it says the Jews therefore said to him who was cured it is the Sabbath it is not lawful for you to carry your bed now once you notice first of all when it says the Jews therefore said friends he's not talking about all the Jewish people in Jerusalem at that time John uses that phrase the Jews almost a technical sense to refer to the leadership especially the religious hierarchy of Israel at that time you're talking about the high level scribes the high level Pharisees the high level Sadducees those who were rulers of the Jews especially in a religious sense at that time that is to whom John refers to when he says the Jews and it's that way used familiarly throughout the Gospel of John and what did they say look at it there in verse 10 it is the Sabbath it is not lawful for you to carry your bed now carrying your bed and again I mentioned this is last week but it's not wrong to mention again he's not talking about a guy carrying a twin you know orthopedic there on his back through the streets of Jerusalem no he's talking about a bed mat it would be something stan shil you know a thick sleeping bag or straw mat that you would roll up and put on your shoulder or carry on your arm it would be obviously that you were carrying something but it didn't require a superhuman strength to carry it so here he is walking through the streets and the Jewish leaders see him and instantly say Sabbath violation you are carrying your bed on the Sabbath now friends this is what I need you to understand and once you understand that this was a violation of the rabbi's interpretation of the commandment against doing work or business on the Sabbath I want to make it clear this was not a violation of God's law of the Sabbath but it was a breaking of the human commands interpreting the Sabbath do you get the distinction I think it's a very important distinction to make you see understand it this way if you are familiar with the life of Jesus and the Gospels you know that he often got into trouble with the religious leaders over this matter of the Sabbath and when we think about it there's a lot of important points to considered first and foremost the Sabbath that is a day of rest was commanded in the Old Testament and it was very much a part of the Covenant relationship that Israel had with God and the Sabbath was one of the things that set Israel aside from the other nations you know just when we were in Israel a couple weeks ago our tour guide told us something that I had heard before but I had forgotten that ancient visitors when they visited Israel when they visited what we call today the Holy Land they often remark that there were three remarkable things that they saw in the Holy Land the three remarkable things were this number one they saw a sea without fish that's the Dead Sea because no fish live in there it's just a very salty mineral filled sea so they saw a sea without fish how crazy is that secondly they saw a temple without an idol in it and that was the temple in Jerusalem I mean listen the ancient world had temples all over the place but a temple without a statue or Idol and how strange but then the third remarkable thing that they saw in Israel was a day without work because there was a Danish war people didn't work businesses were closed people weren't transporting goods they weren't doing trucking or transportation or whatever you want to call it in the ancient equivalent back then they shut down business for the day and they simply took a day of rest to honor God this was absolutely revolutionary thing in the ancient world but it was widely respected by the Jewish people no friends from a New Testament perspective we say this that the Sabbath is fulfilled in Jesus Christ he is our Sabbath rest and under the new covenant we remember the completion of God's work and the rest that he has for his people every day the friends the Sabbath isn't only a part of the new coming of the Old Covenant that God made with Israel that is an important feature of it but the Sabbath also goes back to the very beginning where God rested from his work of creation on the seventh day the Sabbath did not begin in the law of Israel it began when God created the heavens and the earth and even though the Sabbath law is fulfilled in Jesus the principle of the Sabbath is a gift of God to humanity that goes beyond Israel it goes beyond the Old Covenant let me put it to you this way we work better and we live better with a day of rest 1 in 7 we just do that's how God made us and that's not part of the Old Covenant or the Old Testament law that's part of creation going back to Genesis chapter 1 you have to say even as I speak those words I feel conviction in my own spirit my my-y Fingal oh she's smiling to me from the front row and and and God forbid that I would project what she's thinking but I can predict what she's thinking right now she's thinking when do you take a day off in 7mr and I find it a great challenge I actually do and and it's something that I got a deal with in my own life it's very difficult for me to turn down an appointment offer because I say we'll forget I'm not gonna see anybody on this day I look at my Congress well it's open day I could meet with this person and they want to see me and if I can't meet with them this day it might be ten more days until I can see him it's just it's just very easy for me to rationalize away instead you're saying no this is an empty day and it's gonna stay empty that's it no studying no preaching no you know preparing for my next level no meeting with people and that it I got to say that's a very difficult thing for me but I will tell you this undeniably I work better when I have it I live better when I have it so this is a gift of God given to us in creation itself but when it comes to the law of the Sabbath Jesus kept it perfectly Jesus never violated God's command of the Sabbath yet in the days of Jesus there was more than this to the Sabbath then the laws that God said do not work one day and seven there was also the human laws that were there to interpret and explain and to protect the Sabbath you see in the days of Jesus rabbis debated it and we have this because we have their written records they debated things like this can a man carry a needle in his robe on the Sabbath is that breaking the Sabbath can a man wear an artificial leg on the Sabbath is that breaking the Sabbath can a woman wear her false teeth on the Sabbath is that breaking the Sabbath you see how intricate it could get how many rules and regulations a man can get built up around a general principle you see they put it like this in one place they said that it broke the Sabbath to tie a knot in a rope okay you can't do that on the Sabbath but they said putting on your clothing for the day that was prohibited so a woman could tie a knot in her GERD on the Sabbath that's okay but you can't tie a knot in a rope well what do you do if on the Sabbath you need to draw water from a well with a bucket you can't tie the rope to the bucket that's breaking the Sabbath but you know what you could do you could take your wife's girdle and tie the girdle to the bucket and then take the other end of the girdle and tie the girdle to the rope and then pull up the rope with a bucket that was okay to do in this do you see what I'm getting at you have all these manmade regulations trying to interpret and protect and understand the law of God matter of fact rabbis do it today it was many years ago but I read in the newspaper many years ago this news item that came from Jerusalem where in an Orthodox neighborhood in Jerusalem a fire started engulfing an apartment on the Sabbath and the people saw the fire they had a big theological discussion that they had to bring to the rabbi is it okay for us to call the fire department on the Sabbath and in the time it took the rabbi to decide which was about a half hour but a half hour later the rabbi said no you know it is okay to call the fire department the fire spread to two neighboring apartments again you see how this continues to the present day so but understand this Jesus always kept God's law regarding the Sabbath but he often offended human traditions and interpretations surrounding the Sabbath now that brings us to verse 10 again where he says the Jews therefore said to him who was cured it is the Sabbath not lawful you to carry your bed now verse 11 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 whom 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 notices the Jewish leaders come to this particular man why are you carrying your bed on the sabbath who told you to do that and the guy instantly I could put it this way I don't mean to sound offends the guy instantly rats out Jesus and he says why am i carrying my bed well the guy who made me well told me to carry my bed had the power to make me well I figured he has the power to know whether or not I can do this on the Sabbath and once you notice this the Jewish leaders told the healed man that he was wrong that he was doing work on the Sabbath and the man instantly told him yes I'll tell you who told me to carry this on the Sabbath the man who made me well not gonna say this probably seemed very strange to the man who was healed he was probably confused he said listen today is the Sabbath and when I came to the Pool of Bethesda today men had to work to carry me to the Pool of Bethesda because I couldn't walk if I was not healed today those same men would have to work to carry me back home it's less work me just carrying this little bed mat that I have isn't this a net plus for the Sabbath but again man trapped in his religious traditions can't see it I want you to notice a difference if you look carefully at verse 11 look at how the man refers to Jesus he refers to Jesus as he who made me well in the mind of the Jewish leaders Jesus was the guy who broke the Sabbath in the mind of the man he was the one who made me well and you know what if he had the power to make me well if he had the power to tell me rise take up your bed and walk then I'm gonna listen to him and that's exactly what the man did now notice this verse 12 they responded who is the man who said to you take up your bed and walk you see the Jewish leaders didn't want to know who healed you they didn't want to say well who is this man who made you well we're very interested in this there's a man who told you a man who's been crippled for 38 years and now miraculously by the power of God you walk this is amazing tell us who that is they were completely uninterested in that what they were interested in was in their human rules being violated who told you to carry your bed mat on the Sabbath and these religious and the guy says I don't know I never even learned his name and Jesus had slipped away look at what it says there in verse 13 for Jesus had withdrawn a multitude being in that place Jesus didn't want to remain there with the commotion of the man's healing because he did not intend to heal that entire multitude surrounding the Pool of Bethesda Jesus said this is a good time for me to go I'm just gonna disappear into the crowd and so the man didn't even know where Jesus was or the name of the man who had healed him now verse 14 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 so notices verse 14 says that afterward Jesus found him in other words Jesus made a point to look for this man throughout the crowd there he is I must go speak with him why did Jesus feel this need to find the man and speak with him because even though the man was healed of his physical paralysis Jesus was concerned about something going on in his heart Jesus was concerned about something even greater than physical Perales notice what Jesus says here he says verse 14 he says see you have been made well sin no more lest a worse thing come upon you friend I want to assure you you have been made well maybe you've seen a lot of people go into the waters at the Pool of Bethesda and and they were healed for a day so to speak through an adrenaline rush or psychological suggestion or something like that well forget about that sir I want to know you have been made well you are not going to be paralyzed again but he says he says please understand this Jesus continued he said sin no more lest a worse thing come upon you the implication behind those words and I have to admit it's not more than an implication Jesus does not spell it out but the implication behind those words is that the man's injury or illness was in some way connected with sin in his past and if he did not live more wisely he might end up in a worse situation both in this life and the next and again we don't exactly know what Jesus is getting at we can make it up in our minds and it's nothing more than a suggestion but let's just say that this man when he was 13 14 years old was stealing from his neighbor he was breaking into his neighbor's home and trying to escape from the roof and when he was trying to escape from the roof he fell and then he was crippled for 38 years maybe Jesus was young mister and once you know don't go back to that life if you go back to that life something worse may come upon you you've been healed physically and right now it's easy for you to believe that that's the most important thing in your life and Friends you know how it is when somebody's suffering physically it's just in their mind it's in their heart that there could be no greater release in their life than to be healed of their physical affliction and we understand that but friends do you understand that in the big picture there are worse things than being physically affected afflicted there are worse things than paralysis there are worse things than those physical afflictions there are the afflictions of the Spirit of the soul and of the spiritual life that can be even worse now after this heart felt very pastoral word from Jesus to this man he's really speaking into his life almost like a counselor or someone to minister to him on a very deep personal level look at what the man does in verse 15 it says the man departed and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well doesn't he seem like a rat like an informant like a telltale oh now I know who it was before I didn't know who it was but now he came up to me on the Temple Mount now I can tell you exactly it's Jesus that guy over there that's the guy who made me well that's the guy who told me to break the Sabbath now many people think that this man was something like an informant to the authorities something like a rat and there's some ways true to that idea but listen it's important to remember that the man faced very serious penalties as a Sabbath breaker he was very intimidated by the religious system of his day you see in theory the penalties for disobedience on the Sabbath were very serious but one commentator that I read quoted an ancient rabbi to say that if somebody did work on the Sabbath accidentally they could sacrifice an animal and be forgiven but if they did work on the Sabbath intentionally then they should be stoned to death now I'm not saying that it was carried out but at least that threat was present in the world of Jesus's day and Friends that's what I want you to understand just for a moment when people begin to put the traditions of man when they begin to put human interpretations of the Bible above the Bible itself there's always an element of religious tyranny in that there's always a level of domination over other people and it Institute's fear among people why did this man run to the authorities and say it was Jesus that's the guy because he was afraid and he was afraid not of keeping the Sabbath that wasn't the problem with the guy at all he was afraid of the human institutions of the human religious hierarchy around him it might sound strange to you for me to say it but friends religion can be a very dangerous thing there can be an institutionalization of power and human traditions and human customs that is oppressive to people the greatest longing of my heart is that we as a congregation would enjoy the freedom of Jesus Christ and the freedom of the move of the Holy Spirit and that we would be very careful with human traditions friends every group has their traditions it's very wrong for a group such as our say well you know we don't have traditions in the our church it's other church of course we have traditions this isn't something that just belongs to other church no the problem isn't in and of itself having traditions its exalting your traditions to the place of Scripture as long as you keep square in your mind that this is what the Bible says and then this is what human traditions and human traditions can change human condition traditions can be molded to best suit the purpose at the time but friends better be very careful you never want to change the Word of God but human traditions are always below and subservient to the Word of God itself now we get to verse 16 for this reason the Jews persecuted Jesus and sought to kill him because he had done these things on the Sabbath did you just do a little woe when you read that verse because jesus healed a man on the sabbath and told him to carry his sleeping bag from one place to another they said kill him because he did this on the Sabbath friends that's the power even the darkness of human traditions the healing seemed to make no difference to these people who persecuted Jesus all they could see was that their religious rules were broken and that those rules were beyond the command of Scripture itself didn't seem to bother at all instead as verse 16 says they sought to kill him the anger the rage of the religious traditions it's very difficult for us to explain apart from seeing that it had a spiritual root there was something so strong about their religious traditions and their systems that it made them want to kill Jesus for doing what for healing a man who had been paralyzed for 38 years that's your crime friends do you see the potential power of religious traditions to do wrong friends you know in the first great awakening this happened in the 1700s there was a lot of controversy because men like George Whitefield and John Wesley preached and brought men and women to Jesus but they preached here's a shocker outside of churches and it's very strange idea they stretched out in the open field out on the street corners under the trees in the marketplaces and many people thought that it was a sin to preach or to teach the Bible anywhere other than inside of a church now you and I we smile I go oh how silly the friends isn't it possible for us to be overcome by religious traditions just the same well Jesus challenges all that look at how he continues verse 17 it says 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 would you look at those words at verse 17 again my father has been working until now and I have been working Jesus did not try to explain that he had not truly worked on the Sabbath oh no you guys missed it I wasn't working on the Sabbath oh no he didn't mess around with that at all instead very boldly he explained to the religious leaders that his father works on the Sabbath and therefore Jesus the Son also works on the Sabbath friends this is a mind-blowing answer she's good you guys accuse me of working on the Sabbath she's kind of Santa maybe that's true you know God doesn't take a day off on the Sabbath and neither do I as I picture this scene in my mind I picture the religious leaders their mouths a gape ah did he really say that did he really say that just as God his father works on the Sabbath so he does friends I want you understand one thing from this before we move on please understand God works he's a work in God my father has been working until now and I have been working that's what verse 17 says god works the ancient Greek philosopher Philo said God never stops working for as it is the property of fire to burn and snow to be cold so it is the property of God to work God is a working God and I want you to know this was an upsetting thing to the ancient world you see in some ways it was strange that the God of the Bible was presented as a work in God in the ancient world work was not honored work was for slaves and strangers work was not for Freeborn men and in the thinking of the ancient world the the idea of work and greatness it didn't go together one preacher William Morris and he said that the idea of a working God was completely foreign to the ancient world he said it was a revolution when Jesus taught God loves but it was hardly less of a revolution when he taught that God works the friends God is working God that's why he wants his people to be a working people God works I mean he rested the seventh day from his work of creating but he has never stopped blessing and preserving and guiding everything that he's created nothing in this world can exist nothing can fulfill its purpose apart from God's work upon it you know the Bible very clearly says that God does not slumber or sleep the Bible very clearly says that God gave the seventh day of rest not because God was tired but because man needed the example for him to take a rest on the seventh day so God works but Jesus added to that verse 17 my father has been working until now and I have been working first of all notice us Jesus claimed to have a very special relationship with his father very special in other words there is a sense in which we can say we are all the offspring of God we are all created as image there's a sense in which that's true of all of humanity but friends it's a very special sense in which Jesus himself is the son of God notice it when he continues here in verse 18 this is what offended him so much but that he also said that God was his father making himself equal with God this is what I want you understand the religious leaders understood Jesus perfectly there was no doubt Jesus was making the claim that he was equal to God the Father in heaven they knew clearly that when Jesus said God was his father in this unique way that he declared himself to be equal with God he was claiming that God was his father in a special sense that he had the same nature as his father and friends this one I went to understand he made actually very sophisticated reference to what we call Christianity the understanding of the Trinity he and the father are different persons the father is not the son and the son is not the father but they are equally God and then when you add in what the scriptures say about the holy spirit that's our whole basis for the understanding of the Trinity so the answer of Jesus my father works on the Sabbath and so do I that was bad enough but when the religious leaders understood that he clearly claimed to be God himself they were absolutely outraged therefore it says in verse 18 did you notice this therefore the Jews sought to kill him all the more the thought is simply this because a man stood before them and claimed to be God they understood this man has to die not this way don't you understand if Jesus were not God then what should he have done in this situation should not have Jesus told the religious leaders whoa whoa guys you've got it all wrong I never claimed to be God why could you misunderstand me on this point no no I'm not God and explained why and his exact relationship with author if he were not God this was the place for him to explain it but friends here's the point and I can't get around how big this is in my mind over the last few years the radical truth that Jesus is God and they couldn't get around it in their minds and all the more sought to kill him and we kinda have to end it right here next week we're gonna get into this great section where Jesus explains to them what his deity means now he's gonna sort of unpack this in a marvelous speech the kind of speech that fills the Gospel of John was so much wonder and amazement that's for next week as Jesus explains to these religious leaders exactly what he means and exactly where it's going with this but this is what I want you to get four basic things first of all have it in your mind friends Jesus claimed to be God now you might be saying oh that's absurd how could Jesus be God I don't believe there was God okay fine if you reject it you reject it God's given you the choice whether or not you're gonna accept it or reject it this one once you say Jesus clearly claimed to be God is there any doubt I mean do we leave this passage with any doubt that Jesus claimed to be God now you're either gonna agree with him about what he believed on himself you're gonna disagree if you want to disagree God gives you that right God will allow you to disagree with him all the way into eternity the friends don't deny that this is what Jesus said about himself matter of fact I would hope that each and every one of you would be able to say it about yours for yourself I should say not about yourself for yourself what would you say for yourself Jesus is God in fact I think you should just say those words to yourself right now you see III don't want you to say it all in unis and I'm not gonna lead a cheer because I don't want to coerce anybody by manipulation but man I just wish you would vocalize it for yourself right now where you're saying I'd saved you'd say in a whisper right now Jesus is God he's God even though it's radical even though the world thinks you're foolish and rejected this is what he said about himself Jesus is God that's the first point second point don't forget this God gave us the Sabbath and this is the thing I highlight my own notes for me to apply for myself this week and in the future God gave us the Sabbath number three understand this that man's rules are never greater than God's words even the religious rules man's rules are never greater than God's words never God's words are always higher and always greater and it's possible to set up rules of man that violate the words of God and we should never be in that position and the fourth thing it's kind of weird for me to say this but I must religious authority can find itself in opposition to Jesus friends all the more reason for you to pray for your leaders and other leaders in God's family it's possible it's possible for religious leaders to find themselves in opposition to Jesus I pray God all the time keep me humble keep me lonely keep me centered in your word to be able to make that clear distinction this is the Bible this is a man this is the Bible this is a man because God forbid that I or anybody else would find themselves in opposition to Jesus father this is our prayer Lord my earnest prayer this morning is that everybody here would recognize that Jesus is God and that they'd find the courage even if it's in a whispered voice to vocalize it that they'd just be able to say Jesus is God because Lord to know you the first thing about it is to recognize the truth about who you are and if it is true which the scripture so is it's true that Jesus you are God then we want to recognize it we don't want to resist it but Lord I in a deeper sense I pray that you would help me as a man and as a pastor I pray that you would help us as a congregation to always make the distinction between the Word of God and the rules and the traditions of men Lord we just want to know which is which and we want to always give the high place the ultimate place and Lord I pray I pray for those in our midst Lord who in some way had been oppressed or abused by a religious authority in some way or another Lord I pray that you would grant them restoration and freedom but Jesus I pray that you would make us a congregation that is safe from that Lord that truly where Jesus as God can reign in this place it is our earnest desire so move among us towards that end we pray this in Jesus name Amen [Music] you