Latest / Bayside Davis Podcast / The Gospel of John | John 5:1-18

Transcript

The Gospel of John | John 5:1-18 · Bayside Davis Podcast

• 0:04
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome to the Bayside Davis Podcast.
• 0:07
  SPEAKER_00: You are now listening to our current teaching series in the Gospel of John.
• 0:16
  SPEAKER_00: There are certain conversations in life that you will have that will mark you forever.
• 0:23
  SPEAKER_00: They'll be etched on your soul, your mind, your heart, you'll never forget them.
• 0:29
  SPEAKER_00: One of those conversations I had probably 15 years ago when I was meeting with one of my mentors who happened to be a pastor of a church of around 8 to 10,000 people, a lot of people.
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_00: And he had been a pastor for about 40 years at this time.
• 0:48
  SPEAKER_00: And I remember sitting in the green room in between services with him.
• 0:55
  SPEAKER_00: I think they had like five services on a Sunday.
• 0:59
  SPEAKER_00: And we were having a conversation about something that I was walking through that was quite difficult.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_00: And he said to me, Wesley, I pastored this church for almost 40 years.
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_00: And I've come to find that 90% of the people who show up on a Sunday morning to church at that moment in their life that they're coming to church have some aspect of human suffering intersecting with their life on that Sunday morning.
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_00: So when I preach to those who are suffering on a Sunday morning, I know that I'm literally preaching to 90 plus percent of the church.
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_00: And I never forgot that conversation.
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_00: And I've thought about that conversation over and over and over again over the years.
• 2:02
  SPEAKER_00: And suffering, the subject of suffering is such a nuanced and sometimes difficult conversation to have.
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_00: Difficult because there's care and there's fragility in the subject of suffering.
• 2:18
  SPEAKER_00: So you don't want to speak about it in a trite way, you don't want to say anything that's not going to be helpful.
• 2:25
  SPEAKER_00: You really want to be thoughtful about it, and then nuanced because everyone's suffering is different and everybody's story is different, and so it makes it quite nuanced, multifaceted.
• 2:37
  SPEAKER_00: But also the subject of suffering is incredibly relatable.
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_00: Because every human being, 100% of human beings, are either suffering in the present or have suffered in the past, or I don't mean to say this as a discouragement, but just as reality, or will suffer in the future.
• 3:03
  SPEAKER_00: 100% of us.
• 3:07
  SPEAKER_00: There's few things in life that you can say 100%.
• 3:11
  SPEAKER_00: This is one of those.
• 3:13
  SPEAKER_00: You know, some of us positive people, we go, you we're in a conversation, somebody says something, and we're like, 100%, 100%.
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_00: That's Mia.
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_00: 100%.
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_00: Amazing, 100%.
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_00: But this is that's an exaggeration.
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_00: This is literally one of the few things in life that you can bank on, is 100%.
• 3:33
  SPEAKER_00: And we come to a story of a man that Jesus interacts with that had been suffering for 38 long, hard, difficult, painful years.
• 3:49
  SPEAKER_00: John chapter 5, verses 1 through 15.
• 3:53
  SPEAKER_00: There's really four movements in this story.
• 3:56
  SPEAKER_00: The first movement is in verses 1 through 3, the scene.
• 3:59
  SPEAKER_00: Let's set the scene.
• 4:01
  SPEAKER_00: Verse 1.
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_00: Sometime later, we'll pause there.
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_00: This phrase is an interesting phrase because it marks an indefinite period of time between the previous events and the events that we're going to read about as we're setting the scene in this story.
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_00: And some scholars believe that up to a year and a half have passed since the last recorded festival that John mentions.
• 4:31
  SPEAKER_00: So he says, sometime later, Jesus went up to Jerusalem for one of the Jewish festivals.
• 4:40
  SPEAKER_00: So here's Jesus.
• 4:41
  SPEAKER_00: He goes up to Jerusalem.
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_00: Literally, that's how you go to Jerusalem.
• 4:46
  SPEAKER_00: It's a climb, it's elevated.
• 4:49
  SPEAKER_00: So he's traveling up to Jerusalem for one of the Jewish festivals.
• 4:53
  SPEAKER_00: Notice that the author here does not say the specific Jewish festival.
• 4:59
  SPEAKER_00: But likely it was one of the three major festivals that took place every year in Israel.
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_00: These were pilgrimage festivals where all the people surrounding Jerusalem, the north and the south and the central part of Israel, and then those who worshiped God outside of Israel would travel to in a pilgrimage up to Jerusalem.
• 5:22
  SPEAKER_00: And the three pilgrimage festivals were Passover, number one, which celebrated the exodus from Egypt.
• 5:30
  SPEAKER_00: All of these were reminders of what God had done in the past.
• 5:34
  SPEAKER_00: Second, the Feast of Weeks or Pentecost, those kind of merged together, which was originally a harvest festival celebrating the first fruits of wheat in an agrarian society, but later celebrating the giving of the law at Sinai.
• 5:50
  SPEAKER_00: And then the Feast of Tabernacles, the Feast of Tents, celebrating the temporary tents or tabernacle shelters that the Israelites lived in during the wilderness journey to the Promised Land.
• 6:03
  SPEAKER_00: So all of these were the major festivals.
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_00: So likely one of these festivals was taking place when Jesus went up to Jerusalem.
• 6:13
  SPEAKER_00: Verse 2.
• 6:15
  SPEAKER_00: Now there is in Jerusalem near the sheep gate a pool, which in Aramaic is called Bethesda, and which is surrounded by five covered colonnades.
• 6:28
  SPEAKER_00: So as you go up to Jerusalem and then you head into the city gates, in the northeastern corner of the city of Jerusalem, the walls around Jerusalem was a gate called the Sheep Gate.
• 6:45
  SPEAKER_00: Now, you're like Wesley, why is it called the Sheep Gate?
• 6:49
  SPEAKER_00: Because all the sheep who would be sacrifices and offerings in the temple of Jerusalem, they went through this gate to their ultimate destination.
• 7:03
  SPEAKER_00: Now, near the sheep gate, which was a well-known gate, the specificity and the historicity of all of this has been proven by archaeology, which is amazing.
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_00: The Bible is not just general, it's very specific.
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_00: And that that is validation of the historicity of the text, because over and over and over and over again, all of these things are proven by archaeology.
• 7:28
  SPEAKER_00: Now, one of those things that have been proven by archaeology is this pool near the sheepgate called in Aramaic Bethesda.
• 7:39
  SPEAKER_00: So there's this pool, which was actually two pools.
• 7:44
  SPEAKER_00: They were separated by colonnades, but two pools that were quite large, possibly the size of a football field.
• 7:54
  SPEAKER_00: Each pool, the size of a that's a big pool.
• 7:58
  SPEAKER_00: And historians say that these pools were likely 20 feet deep.
• 8:06
  SPEAKER_00: You could do a full dive into them.
• 8:08
  SPEAKER_00: 20 feet deep, the size of a football field, two pools next to each other, and these pools were used for two purposes.
• 8:18
  SPEAKER_00: One, to wash sheep before they went into the temple.
• 8:23
  SPEAKER_00: And two, there was a superstition that they were healing pools, so all of the sick and disabled and paralyzed congregated at these pools every single day to be healed.
• 8:42
  SPEAKER_00: Now, Bethesda, notice in your Bible that term Bethesda, that name Bethesda, it means in Aramaic house of mercy.
• 8:54
  SPEAKER_00: Every single day the sick and those who couldn't walk, those who had some sort of injury, those who were paralyzed, they would congregate at the pool called Bethesda, the house of mercy, every single day.
• 9:13
  SPEAKER_00: That's what verse 3 says.
• 9:15
  SPEAKER_00: Look at verse 3.
• 9:17
  SPEAKER_00: Here a great number of disabled people used to lie.
• 9:20
  SPEAKER_00: The blind, the lame, those who were disabled in their feet or legs, and the paralyzed, those who were unable to walk, the sick, the diseased, those who were weak or incapacitated in some way, they would come there every day.
• 9:42
  SPEAKER_00: They would go to this place called Bethesda or House of Mercy.
• 9:46
  SPEAKER_00: Now, these pools adjacent to one another, maybe a football field long, 20 feet deep, washing sheep and all the sick and all the hurting and all the broken, they would congregate there.
• 10:00
  SPEAKER_00: These pools to those people were a place of hope and healing.
• 10:06
  SPEAKER_00: They were a place of anticipation.
• 10:09
  SPEAKER_00: Everybody who came there that was sick or hurting or paralyzed or injured, those people came every day in anticipation that something good could come about.
• 10:21
  SPEAKER_00: Now, the people that hung out there were not the rich or the religious.
• 10:28
  SPEAKER_00: They were the hurting and the broken.
• 10:31
  SPEAKER_00: They were the people desperate for divine help and hope in their life.
• 10:37
  SPEAKER_00: And at the pool of Bethesda, House of Mercy, there was a local superstition about this pool.
• 10:47
  SPEAKER_00: Those who were hurting, those who needed healing, those who needed hope, they viewed this pool as a healing sanctuary.
• 10:56
  SPEAKER_00: And the superstition was that an angel, an angel would descend on the pool and stir the water of the pool.
• 11:06
  SPEAKER_00: And the first one to touch the water after an angel descended on the pool would be immediately healed.
• 11:12
  SPEAKER_00: So whoever could get in the pool the quickest, when the waters were stirred, they couldn't see the angel, but they just thought, you know, the water stirring, it must be supernatural, divine, it's a place of hope and healing.
• 11:24
  SPEAKER_00: So the minute you get in there, then they thought you would be healed.
• 11:30
  SPEAKER_00: That's the scene.
• 11:32
  SPEAKER_00: I want you to note it though in most of your Bibles, verse 4 and the end of verse 3 is missing.
• 11:40
  SPEAKER_00: You might say, why is that?
• 11:41
  SPEAKER_00: I might just give a note because I don't want you to be confused.
• 11:45
  SPEAKER_00: There's no mention of verse 4 because it's not in the best Greek manuscripts, Greek being the original language of the New Testament.
• 11:53
  SPEAKER_00: And it's not in any manuscripts earlier than the 400s or the 5th century.
• 11:58
  SPEAKER_00: So the best collection and families of manuscripts, text types, they don't have this.
• 12:05
  SPEAKER_00: So likely it was a later insertion to explain why the pool of water was stirred in verse 7, understanding the historicity of why the people went to the pool, but that's not in the Bible on purpose, and you shouldn't be worried about that because it doesn't belong in the Bible as it is.
• 12:22
  SPEAKER_00: It's just kind of a history insertion.
• 12:25
  SPEAKER_00: Make sense?
• 12:26
  SPEAKER_00: You ready to move on?
• 12:27
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, let's move on.
• 12:28
  SPEAKER_00: Amen.
• 12:29
  SPEAKER_00: Verses 5 through 9.
• 12:30
  SPEAKER_00: So we have the scene, and now look at verses 5 through 9, the healing.
• 12:35
  SPEAKER_00: Verse 5.
• 12:37
  SPEAKER_00: One who was lame, or one who was there had been an invalid for 38 years.
• 12:46
  SPEAKER_00: The term invalid, I don't love it, but it means a state of debilitating illness.
• 12:54
  SPEAKER_00: So here's a man who had a physical debilitating illness or ailment for 38 years.
• 13:04
  SPEAKER_00: Now note, John doesn't tell us how old the man was.
• 13:09
  SPEAKER_00: He just says how long this man had had this ailment for, 38 years.
• 13:16
  SPEAKER_00: Now, this is remarkable, especially in the ancient world where the life expectancy of males was about forty years.
• 13:29
  SPEAKER_00: This man had lived maybe, probably, possibly, the majority of his life in this condition.
• 13:41
  SPEAKER_00: Now, anybody in this room who has dealt with long-term suffering and pain and ailment and physical, bodily sickness, you know, like this man.
• 13:53
  SPEAKER_00: There were many days of discouragement.
• 13:57
  SPEAKER_00: There were many days of depression.
• 13:59
  SPEAKER_00: There were many days where he probably felt helpless and hopeless as he came day after day after day after day to this place called Bethesda, which means house of mercy.
• 14:16
  SPEAKER_00: But note, he kept coming.
• 14:20
  SPEAKER_00: He kept coming.
• 14:22
  SPEAKER_00: He never gave up.
• 14:25
  SPEAKER_00: Every day he came to that pool, it was another statement that he was keeping hope alive.
• 14:33
  SPEAKER_00: Every day he got somebody to bring him to the house of mercy, to Bethesda, where the sheep were washed and the sick came, was another day he was proclaiming, I still believe I can be healed.
• 14:51
  SPEAKER_00: He never gave up.
• 14:54
  SPEAKER_00: I do think that it is of importance, verse five, to mention that we've got to be thoughtful around suffering.
• 15:08
  SPEAKER_00: I think it's really important for Christians, for followers of Jesus to be very thoughtful around different kinds of suffering.
• 15:16
  SPEAKER_00: And it's it's important for me to note for you guys, but also for all of us collectively, just to have a really healthy, thoughtful view on suffering.
• 15:25
  SPEAKER_00: That number one, some suffering is visible.
• 15:30
  SPEAKER_00: Its signs, its symptoms are written on the body for everyone to see, like when you have a severe injury like this man possibly could have had, or a terminal illness, or cancer, or Parkinson's, or what have you, you can see the effects of that on the human body.
• 15:47
  SPEAKER_00: It's visible.
• 15:49
  SPEAKER_00: And normally when we think about suffering, at least in previous eras and generations, we would have deep mercy on the suffering we could see in people, especially in Christianity.
• 16:03
  SPEAKER_00: If it was visible, it would be met with prayer and thoughtfulness and compassion and mercy and so on and so forth.
• 16:12
  SPEAKER_00: But there's another form of suffering that I think we have to be just as thoughtful about.
• 16:19
  SPEAKER_00: Some suffering, number two, is invisible.
• 16:24
  SPEAKER_00: Meaning you could show up, there's no visible things on your body or physically that we look at that you're like, oh my goodness, this person is suffering.
• 16:34
  SPEAKER_00: No, some suffering sits quietly within the human soul, within the human body, leaving no trace on the surface for the world to visibly see.
• 16:48
  SPEAKER_00: These are things like anxiety and depression and brain injuries and neurological conditions that sometimes nobody knows about.
• 16:58
  SPEAKER_00: Everybody treats you normal, but you're not feeling normal.
• 17:02
  SPEAKER_00: Everybody treats you like you're well, but you're not well.
• 17:08
  SPEAKER_00: The church has always met the visible with great love and mercy and compassion and prayer, but we need to meet the invisible with great love, mercy, compassion, and prayer.
• 17:20
  SPEAKER_00: Amen.
• 17:22
  SPEAKER_00: We should be aware of both, we should recognize both, we should be equally compassionate to both.
• 17:30
  SPEAKER_00: And I also want to say that whenever somebody is suffering visibly, they're likely suffering invisibly.
• 17:37
  SPEAKER_00: And whether whenever somebody is suffering invisibly, that also affects them physically.
• 17:44
  SPEAKER_00: All of us are not segmented, bifurcated parts of being human.
• 17:50
  SPEAKER_00: We're all interconnected and integrated.
• 17:53
  SPEAKER_00: Every part of you affects every other part of you.
• 17:59
  SPEAKER_00: So this man had been suffering in multiple ways for a long time.
• 18:04
  SPEAKER_00: Then verse 6 happens.
• 18:06
  SPEAKER_00: When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, Do you want to get well?
• 18:15
  SPEAKER_00: Now that seems kind of offensive.
• 18:19
  SPEAKER_00: But I want you to know that Jesus did not ask this man because he was not sure the man wanted to get well.
• 18:25
  SPEAKER_00: The fact that he showed up to this place meant he wanted to get well.
• 18:29
  SPEAKER_00: Jesus asked this question to grab his attention and to raise his level of hope in the moment.
• 18:39
  SPEAKER_00: He wasn't saying this with offense, he was saying this to make this man attentive and to make this man realize that this was his moment.
• 18:50
  SPEAKER_00: Look at what the man said to him.
• 18:53
  SPEAKER_00: Sir, he didn't know who Jesus was.
• 18:56
  SPEAKER_00: Sir, the invalid replied, I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred.
• 19:03
  SPEAKER_00: While I'm trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me.
• 19:07
  SPEAKER_00: He's focusing on the pool and not Jesus.
• 19:13
  SPEAKER_00: The man's answer focuses on his inability to get into the pool when the water is stirred because he's lacking mobility.
• 19:20
  SPEAKER_00: He couldn't get in before other people, he couldn't get somebody to run him into the pool and throw him into the 20-foot pool.
• 19:28
  SPEAKER_00: He's focused on the pool, but notice what happens next.
• 19:31
  SPEAKER_00: This is amazing.
• 19:33
  SPEAKER_00: You guys with me?
• 19:34
  SPEAKER_00: Isn't this a great story?
• 19:36
  SPEAKER_00: Then Jesus said to him, Jesus said, He just speaks some words.
• 19:41
  SPEAKER_00: He says, All commands.
• 19:44
  SPEAKER_00: Get up, pick up, and walk.
• 19:48
  SPEAKER_00: Get up, pick up your mat and walk.
• 19:54
  SPEAKER_00: And then verse 9, once the man was cured.
• 20:01
  SPEAKER_00: He picked up his mat and walked.
• 20:04
  SPEAKER_00: Jesus simply spoke words.
• 20:08
  SPEAKER_00: And the man was healed.
• 20:12
  SPEAKER_00: That's when you know this is somebody different.
• 20:15
  SPEAKER_00: That's when you know that this somebody who is different is the same somebody in Genesis chapter 1 who spoke creation into existence with his words.
• 20:28
  SPEAKER_00: God's words can change a life.
• 20:35
  SPEAKER_00: And Jesus meets this man 38 years, nothing worked.
• 20:39
  SPEAKER_00: I'm sure he went to the all the doctors.
• 20:41
  SPEAKER_00: Doctors are wonderful, but none of the doctors could heal him.
• 20:44
  SPEAKER_00: He went to the pool every day.
• 20:46
  SPEAKER_00: The pool couldn't heal him.
• 20:47
  SPEAKER_00: The superstition couldn't heal him.
• 20:49
  SPEAKER_00: Nothing worked until Jesus spoke words.
• 20:58
  SPEAKER_00: You might be here this morning and nothing's worked.
• 21:02
  SPEAKER_00: The same problems, the same issues, the same conundrums, the same consternation, the same difficulties, and it's like a cycle, and you're exhausted.
• 21:11
  SPEAKER_00: And you need to know at the words of Jesus, your life can be changed.
• 21:19
  SPEAKER_00: This man had the same cycle, maybe like you, the same troubles, the same issues, the same problems year after year after year after year.
• 21:31
  SPEAKER_00: And at the words of Jesus, this man, verse 9, was cured.
• 21:40
  SPEAKER_00: Cured.
• 21:41
  SPEAKER_00: Now I'm a Bible nerd, and I like to get into the details sometimes with you guys.
• 21:45
  SPEAKER_00: I think about the details far more than I say any of them.
• 21:49
  SPEAKER_00: But the term cured means to be physically well, and it's a it's an aorist verb indicating summary action.
• 21:56
  SPEAKER_00: In other words, he is saying, This man is.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_00: Is physically well permanently at the words of Jesus.
• 22:06
  SPEAKER_00: Immediately healed.
• 22:08
  SPEAKER_00: He didn't need healing pools.
• 22:10
  SPEAKER_00: He didn't need human assistance.
• 22:12
  SPEAKER_00: He simply needed Jesus.
• 22:18
  SPEAKER_00: He needed Jesus.
• 22:20
  SPEAKER_00: Same thing I needed, the same thing you need, the same thing all of us need.
• 22:27
  SPEAKER_00: Now, I come to this story and I read about this miraculous healing and I think about all the people that I know and all the people that you know that have longed to be healed physically of some ailment or disease or what have you that have never been healed.
• 22:45
  SPEAKER_00: And the question arises to the surface, as it should, what about me or what about them?
• 22:53
  SPEAKER_00: Let me give you just a quick theology of healing, and I think this summarizes everything the Bible says about healing.
• 22:59
  SPEAKER_00: Number one, number one, Jesus healed some people.
• 23:04
  SPEAKER_00: Write this down.
• 23:05
  SPEAKER_00: If you're not a note taker, today's the day to start.
• 23:08
  SPEAKER_00: Jesus healed some people.
• 23:10
  SPEAKER_00: And the people that Jesus healed, it was a foretaste of what is to come.
• 23:17
  SPEAKER_00: It's a picture of the future, and it was a validation of who he was, that he was the Son of the living God.
• 23:25
  SPEAKER_00: He was God in the flesh.
• 23:26
  SPEAKER_00: He came from heaven to earth and he did what heaven does.
• 23:30
  SPEAKER_00: He healed people.
• 23:32
  SPEAKER_00: So Jesus healed some people.
• 23:34
  SPEAKER_00: Number two, Jesus did not heal all people.
• 23:38
  SPEAKER_00: He went to the pool, he healed one person.
• 23:41
  SPEAKER_00: Nobody else this day at that pool was healed.
• 23:44
  SPEAKER_00: Just this one person.
• 23:47
  SPEAKER_00: Not everyone, this is really important for us to know, not everyone is healed here and now.
• 23:54
  SPEAKER_00: We all face physical suffering at some point.
• 23:56
  SPEAKER_00: You're like, well, what about me?
• 23:58
  SPEAKER_00: How come this person and we don't know.
• 24:02
  SPEAKER_00: But here's the good news.
• 24:04
  SPEAKER_00: If you are healed, God is with you.
• 24:06
  SPEAKER_00: If you're not healed, God is with you.
• 24:10
  SPEAKER_00: I have suffering in my life that God did not supernaturally heal.
• 24:19
  SPEAKER_00: But man, my soul knows the Lord and has seen the Lord come through in such beautiful and deep and hopeful and life-changing ways.
• 24:30
  SPEAKER_00: God's with all of us.
• 24:33
  SPEAKER_00: And we all face physical suffering at some point.
• 24:35
  SPEAKER_00: Number three, even people that Jesus did heal when he was on the earth were only healed temporarily on earth.
• 24:45
  SPEAKER_00: Let me explain this to you.
• 24:48
  SPEAKER_00: So let's say this man gets healed as he does.
• 24:52
  SPEAKER_00: This man could not evade the effects of the fall permanently.
• 24:56
  SPEAKER_00: Every human body, every human body will experience death at some point.
• 25:04
  SPEAKER_00: Meaning that the healing of some disease or some ailment or what have you, it's not healed permanently.
• 25:14
  SPEAKER_00: Every human body shuts down at some point.
• 25:18
  SPEAKER_00: Now, that's not great news, but that's just reality.
• 25:22
  SPEAKER_00: All of our bodies will shut down at some point.
• 25:25
  SPEAKER_00: Some of us have a lot longer than others.
• 25:29
  SPEAKER_00: But all of us, our bodies will shut down at some point.
• 25:34
  SPEAKER_00: These are the physical repercussions of human sin and the fall that has invaded humanity and undone, that has undone God's good design for the world.
• 25:46
  SPEAKER_00: These are the consequences of the invasion of sin and the permination of sin and in society and people and everything experiences death at some point.
• 25:54
  SPEAKER_00: And so even people that Jesus did heal like this man were only healed temporarily on earth.
• 26:00
  SPEAKER_00: Eventually, this man died.
• 26:04
  SPEAKER_00: But here's the good news.
• 26:06
  SPEAKER_00: Number four, all of Jesus' people will someday be healed permanently.
• 26:12
  SPEAKER_00: All of Jesus' people will someday be healed permanently.
• 26:16
  SPEAKER_00: The promise of the kingdom of God, the promise of Revelation 21 and 22 is that every person and all creation, all of God's people and all of creation and all the things that God has given life to will be healed permanently and death will be no more.
• 26:40
  SPEAKER_00: Isn't that great news?
• 26:42
  SPEAKER_00: So this man, there's great discussion about this man probably not believing in Jesus.
• 26:49
  SPEAKER_00: Did he believe in Jesus?
• 26:50
  SPEAKER_00: This man faced death, but all of God's people will face death at one point, which is just a moment in time, but the Bible says to be absent from the bodies, to be present with the Lord, they will immediately face death and life in the same moment, and you will have life forevermore, and death will be no more.
• 27:13
  SPEAKER_00: Come on, somebody.
• 27:17
  SPEAKER_00: So the man gets healed.
• 27:20
  SPEAKER_00: The man is healed.
• 27:22
  SPEAKER_00: Verse 9.
• 27:22
  SPEAKER_00: Now look at verses 9 through 13.
• 27:25
  SPEAKER_00: There's a controversy that happens after this healing.
• 27:28
  SPEAKER_00: So the man gets healed, and then a controversy ensues.
• 27:32
  SPEAKER_00: Verse 9.
• 27:33
  SPEAKER_00: At once the man was cured, he picked up his mat and walked.
• 27:37
  SPEAKER_00: Now notice the end of this verse.
• 27:38
  SPEAKER_00: The day on which he took place, the day on which this took place was a Sabbath.
• 27:43
  SPEAKER_00: It was a Shabbat.
• 27:46
  SPEAKER_00: And so the Jewish leader said to the man who had been healed, it is the Sabbath.
• 27:51
  SPEAKER_00: The law forbids you to carry your mat.
• 27:53
  SPEAKER_00: Isn't this amazing?
• 27:54
  SPEAKER_00: The religious people, they don't even say, Wow, this is amazing.
• 27:57
  SPEAKER_00: We've known this guy for 38 years.
• 28:00
  SPEAKER_00: He came every day.
• 28:01
  SPEAKER_00: They're like, It's the Sabbath.
• 28:04
  SPEAKER_00: You're carrying your bed.
• 28:07
  SPEAKER_00: Notice what happens next.
• 28:10
  SPEAKER_00: So they asked him, Who is this fellow?
• 28:13
  SPEAKER_00: Who told you to pick up your mat and walk?
• 28:17
  SPEAKER_00: Who's this guy who did this miracle?
• 28:20
  SPEAKER_00: Now you're walking and you're carrying your bed?
• 28:23
  SPEAKER_00: Verse 13, the man who was healed, the man who was healed had no idea who it was.
• 28:29
  SPEAKER_00: For Jesus had slipped away into the crowd that was there.
• 28:32
  SPEAKER_00: He didn't get the applause.
• 28:33
  SPEAKER_00: He didn't do some healing miracle crusade.
• 28:37
  SPEAKER_00: He wasn't look at me, how amazing I am.
• 28:40
  SPEAKER_00: He just simply did what God called him to do and slipped away into obscurity.
• 28:44
  SPEAKER_00: Isn't that great?
• 28:46
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe we should do that more.
• 28:49
  SPEAKER_00: We want everything to be on social.
• 28:51
  SPEAKER_00: We're like, oh, God's using me.
• 28:52
  SPEAKER_00: I just healed somebody.
• 28:53
  SPEAKER_00: Let's take a testimony video.
• 28:57
  SPEAKER_00: Look at all the great things I'm doing for the Lord.
• 29:00
  SPEAKER_00: Let's take a selfie.
• 29:02
  SPEAKER_00: Jesus didn't do any of that.
• 29:04
  SPEAKER_00: He's just like, I did my work and I slip away into obscurity.
• 29:07
  SPEAKER_00: But notice what happens here.
• 29:09
  SPEAKER_00: The religious people were mad because it took place on the Sabbath.
• 29:14
  SPEAKER_00: What was the Sabbath?
• 29:15
  SPEAKER_00: The Sabbath, the Shabbat, was a day of rest that God gave to his people.
• 29:21
  SPEAKER_00: It was woven into the creation story.
• 29:24
  SPEAKER_00: According to Jesus, the Sabbath was meant to be a blessing, not a burden.
• 29:29
  SPEAKER_00: And they had made it a burden, the religious system of the day.
• 29:33
  SPEAKER_00: In fact, the religious leaders had created a set of rules and regulations around the Sabbath.
• 29:40
  SPEAKER_00: God's like, this is to be a blessing to you.
• 29:43
  SPEAKER_00: They're like, let's make it a burden.
• 29:47
  SPEAKER_00: So the scribes had listed 39 tasks that were prohibited on the Sabbath.
• 29:55
  SPEAKER_00: And according to Andreas Kostenberger, a phenomenal scholar, according to Jewish tradition, he says, the man was violating a code that prohibited the carrying of an object from one place to another.
• 30:10
  SPEAKER_00: However, it was permissible to carry a bed with a person lying on it, but not a bed that was empty.
• 30:21
  SPEAKER_00: Religion is so dumb sometimes.
• 30:26
  SPEAKER_00: You're doing God's work if you carry a bed with somebody on it.
• 30:30
  SPEAKER_00: But if you're healed and you're carrying your own bed, you're violating the religious rules and regulations.
• 30:41
  SPEAKER_00: Crazy.
• 30:43
  SPEAKER_00: Crazy.
• 30:46
  SPEAKER_00: They should have been celebrating this man, but legalism blinded them to what God was doing.
• 30:55
  SPEAKER_00: And guess what in our life?
• 30:57
  SPEAKER_00: Legalism would blot will blind us to what God is doing.
• 31:06
  SPEAKER_00: You guys good for 10 more minutes?
• 31:09
  SPEAKER_00: Everybody say amen if you're good for 10 more minutes.
• 31:12
  SPEAKER_00: Notice verses 14 and 15.
• 31:16
  SPEAKER_00: The conversation.
• 31:17
  SPEAKER_00: This is really important.
• 31:18
  SPEAKER_00: Verses 14 and 15, the conversation.
• 31:21
  SPEAKER_00: So we had a scene, we had a healing, we had a controversy around the Sabbath that was not a breaking of the Bible.
• 31:28
  SPEAKER_00: It was a breaking of religious rules and legalism that people had inserted and placed on the Bible.
• 31:35
  SPEAKER_00: And I always tell people who are new to teaching the Bible, I say these two things.
• 31:39
  SPEAKER_00: I said, don't say less than the Bible says, and don't say more than the Bible says.
• 31:46
  SPEAKER_00: Don't say less than the Bible says.
• 31:48
  SPEAKER_00: Don't acquiesce to some cultural narrative that goes against the Bible.
• 31:54
  SPEAKER_00: And don't say more than the Bible says.
• 31:56
  SPEAKER_00: Don't add a bunch of rules and regulations to the Bible and burden everybody around you.
• 32:01
  SPEAKER_00: So both of those are equally dangerous when you're teaching the Bible.
• 32:05
  SPEAKER_00: Now, then there's a conversation, verses 14 and 15.
• 32:09
  SPEAKER_00: Later, we don't know how much later, later, Jesus found him, the man who was healed, at the temple and said to him, See, you are well again.
• 32:23
  SPEAKER_00: This is an interesting phrase as well.
• 32:26
  SPEAKER_00: It has the indication that Jesus was once again validating that this man had been permanently healed.
• 32:34
  SPEAKER_00: You know how some Christian groups, and you know, we're we do funny things sometimes.
• 32:39
  SPEAKER_00: So some Christian groups will pray over everybody to get healed, and somebody will be like, I'm healed, and then the next day they go to the doctor and they're not healed.
• 32:47
  SPEAKER_00: Now, sometimes that happens.
• 32:49
  SPEAKER_00: You know, you're in an emotional situation and there's no validation, you think you're healed, and then the next day you're like, wait, my leg hurts still.
• 32:59
  SPEAKER_00: This man, Jesus indicates, once again, was permanently healed.
• 33:07
  SPEAKER_00: You could get the best doctor at UC Davis Medical, the best doctor at Sutter, the best doctor at whatever else medical group, and this person would say, the doctors would say, you were healed.
• 33:21
  SPEAKER_00: And we don't know how you got healed.
• 33:24
  SPEAKER_00: This is outside of our scope.
• 33:26
  SPEAKER_00: You are healed.
• 33:28
  SPEAKER_00: Then, notice, he says to him, Stop sinning.
• 33:33
  SPEAKER_00: Or something worse may happen to you.
• 33:36
  SPEAKER_00: This man went away and told the Jewish leaders that it was Jesus who had made him well.
• 33:42
  SPEAKER_00: What in the world is Jesus saying here?
• 33:46
  SPEAKER_00: Stop sinning, or something worse may happen to you.
• 33:54
  SPEAKER_00: There is a great discussion that in this story this man never puts his faith in Jesus.
• 34:05
  SPEAKER_00: Miracles do not save.
• 34:07
  SPEAKER_00: You find that to be true over and over in the Bible.
• 34:11
  SPEAKER_00: Miracles do not save.
• 34:15
  SPEAKER_00: And so it's potential that Jesus is warning him to repent and to turn to him in faith.
• 34:21
  SPEAKER_00: And if he doesn't, then there will be worse suffering than his physical condition.
• 34:25
  SPEAKER_00: He would suffer judgment from God through his rejection of Jesus as Messiah and Savior.
• 34:32
  SPEAKER_00: God wants to save everyone.
• 34:34
  SPEAKER_00: Don't reject Jesus.
• 34:36
  SPEAKER_00: There are consequences to rejecting Jesus as Lord and Savior.
• 34:41
  SPEAKER_00: That could be the case.
• 34:42
  SPEAKER_00: That could be what Jesus is saying here.
• 34:44
  SPEAKER_00: The other case is the great question is Jesus saying that sin is the reason for this man's physical condition or infirmity for 38 years.
• 34:57
  SPEAKER_00: Let me discuss that for a moment because I think this is a really important moment to have that conversation.
• 35:05
  SPEAKER_00: Sin is the ultimate reason that we live in a broken world.
• 35:09
  SPEAKER_00: Post-Genesis 3, you could read Genesis 1 and 2.
• 35:12
  SPEAKER_00: Here's God's design.
• 35:12
  SPEAKER_00: In Genesis 3, this is not God's design.
• 35:15
  SPEAKER_00: Human beings undid all the good and perfection that God created in every facet of creation, including human health, our bodies, our mental health, all of that is affected by the fall.
• 35:29
  SPEAKER_00: And so we all feel the effects of the fall on our bodies and souls, right?
• 35:35
  SPEAKER_00: Amen.
• 35:36
  SPEAKER_00: You guys all agree.
• 35:37
  SPEAKER_00: You feel that.
• 35:38
  SPEAKER_00: Or else we're walking around in complete perfection and we never have any struggles internally or externally.
• 35:44
  SPEAKER_00: That's not the case.
• 35:45
  SPEAKER_00: That will be the case in the future.
• 35:47
  SPEAKER_00: So when Jesus says this to the man, he could be indicating that somehow his personal sin is connected to his personal suffering.
• 35:58
  SPEAKER_00: But there's a couple ways to think about this that I want to mention before we end, because I think we don't want to go away thinking that all of our suffering is connected to our personal sin.
• 36:09
  SPEAKER_00: I think that is a great danger and a miss theologically.
• 36:15
  SPEAKER_00: So write these three things down.
• 36:16
  SPEAKER_00: Number one, we live in a broken world.
• 36:19
  SPEAKER_00: We live in a broken, fallen world, and as a result, all of us experience suffering in various ways.
• 36:27
  SPEAKER_00: That's not necessarily our personal choices to do things contrary to God.
• 36:34
  SPEAKER_00: Our personal choices to do things that God said not to do.
• 36:37
  SPEAKER_00: It's just the fact that our whole sphere and ecosystem of life is in this place called earth that is broken and fallen, and as a result, all things in creation experience some form of suffering.
• 36:54
  SPEAKER_00: Nothing is in perfect harmony with God's original intent and design, but someday it will be.
• 37:01
  SPEAKER_00: Second, most of the time in the Bible, a person's suffering is not directly connected to their own personal sin.
• 37:12
  SPEAKER_00: Most of the time in the Bible, a person's suffering is not directly connected to their own personal sin.
• 37:19
  SPEAKER_00: They just live in a fallen world and human suffering, physical maladies beset us in different ways.
• 37:28
  SPEAKER_00: You can read about this in 2 Samuel chapter 4, verse 4.
• 37:31
  SPEAKER_00: Jonathan's, the king, Saul, Jonathan's son had major physical suffering unrelated to his sin.
• 37:38
  SPEAKER_00: You could read this about this in 2 Kings 13, verse 14, where Elijah the prophet, one of the greatest prophets in the Old Testament, he was experiencing suffering, physical suffering, unrelated to anything he had ever done.
• 37:53
  SPEAKER_00: You could read this about this in the story of Job, the great man, Job, the most righteous person on the earth at that time, faced unbelievable amounts, myriads of human suffering, unrelated to his sin.
• 38:08
  SPEAKER_00: In fact, all of his friends were like, you must have sinned, that's why you're experiencing suffering.
• 38:15
  SPEAKER_00: And at the end of the book, God rebukes his friends.
• 38:19
  SPEAKER_00: So don't be that friend.
• 38:20
  SPEAKER_00: That's a bad friend.
• 38:22
  SPEAKER_00: That's a bad friend.
• 38:24
  SPEAKER_00: Don't be that friend.
• 38:26
  SPEAKER_00: But sometimes, number three, sometimes the Bible shows a clear connection between a person's suffering and their personal sin.
• 38:37
  SPEAKER_00: Some scholars believe that is the case in this text.
• 38:40
  SPEAKER_00: It's the case in 1 Kings chapter 13, verse 4 with Jeroboam.
• 38:46
  SPEAKER_00: It's the case in 2 Kings chapter 1, verse 4 with the King of Samaria.
• 38:53
  SPEAKER_00: It's the case in James chapter 5, verse 16.
• 38:56
  SPEAKER_00: It's the case of 2 Chronicles chapter 16, verse 12.
• 39:00
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes, most of the time, a person's suffering is not directly connected to their own personal sin, but sometimes the Bible does show a clear connection between a person's suffering and their personal sin.
• 39:11
  SPEAKER_00: And that would make sense, right?
• 39:13
  SPEAKER_00: Like you could do things, patterns, and have so many opportunities to change your life and drug addictions or what have you, and then that at some point in your life can deeply affect you physically.
• 39:25
  SPEAKER_00: Does that make sense?
• 39:27
  SPEAKER_00: Just one example, but there's many examples.
• 39:30
  SPEAKER_00: But let me give you an important caution.
• 39:33
  SPEAKER_00: We must be extremely careful here.
• 39:38
  SPEAKER_00: We are not called to judge or assume the hidden causes of someone else's suffering.
• 39:45
  SPEAKER_00: That's not our job.
• 39:47
  SPEAKER_00: Only God has that perfect knowledge.
• 39:50
  SPEAKER_00: So don't be the person that goes around and being like, oh, you know, you must be sinning and you because you're suffering or what have you.
• 39:56
  SPEAKER_00: Most of the time it's not the case.
• 39:58
  SPEAKER_00: But if it is the case, it's not your job to be the judge.
• 40:04
  SPEAKER_00: It's still your job to love and to pray and to be concerned and compassionate on that individual's life.
• 40:12
  SPEAKER_00: Amen.
• 40:14
  SPEAKER_00: No matter, only God knows.
• 40:17
  SPEAKER_00: And since only God knows, and only God's the judge, and since only God is the judge, our job is just to redemptively love people in this world.
• 40:27
  SPEAKER_00: Whether it's connected or disconnected, they're suffering from their personal choices.
• 40:33
  SPEAKER_00: Our job is to be a redemptive presence in this world.