The Book of John - 29

Introduction - In John chapter 5, we are confronted with the third sign of seven in the book of John.

All that the Savior does is with purpose.

The Lord in this sign displays His authority.

Following the sign of the healing of the impotent man, the Bible records for us an adversarial conversation.

The book of John is showing in these early chapters The Coming Rejection of the Word.

And even though the larger portion of people reject the Savior, we are also presented with marvelous truth and a group that receive Him.

Let us read together, beginning in verses 9-17.

John 5:9–17 “9 And immediately the man was made whole, and took up his bed, and walked: and on the same day was the sabbath. 10 The Jews therefore said unto him that was cured, It is the sabbath day: it is not lawful for thee to carry thy bed. 11 He answered them, He that made me whole, the same said unto me, Take up thy bed, and walk. 12 Then asked they him, What man is that which said unto thee, Take up thy bed, and walk? 13 And he that was healed wist not who it was: for Jesus had conveyed himself away, a multitude being in that place. 14 Afterward Jesus findeth him in the temple, and said unto him, Behold, thou art made whole: sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee. 15 The man departed, and told the Jews that it was Jesus, which had made him whole. 16 And therefore did the Jews persecute Jesus, and sought to slay him, because he had done these things on the sabbath day. 17 But Jesus answered them, My Father worketh hitherto, and I work.”

Let’s Pray

This is an amazing account isn’t it!

What a powerful scene that the Lord has recorded for us.

These signs are but a few chosen examples of what the Lord did in His earthly time recorded in the gospel records.

The Bible tells us in John 21:25 “25 And there are also many other things which Jesus did, the which, if they should be written every one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written. Amen.”

Boy, wouldn’t like to know what those other things were? Well, I guess maybe one day we can find out.

That verse is curious to me, because it gives us the idea that John is musing on the wonders of the Lord.

He is trying to wrap His mind around all that the Lord had done.

And so, we understand that these varying scenes are selected purposefully by the Holy Spirit in His infinite wisdom.

They are exactly what we need to know.

As we look back at this passage we are reminded of how the Lord entered into an area— the pool of Bethesda—the house of mercy.

The Word of God tells us were a great multitude of folks which had all manners of infirmities.

These multitudes were all waiting on a miraculous cure.

Their eyes were fixated on the pools before them.

Perhaps they contemplated how they could win the race and beat the person to their left and right to enter into these waters. Pastor and were discussing how terrible it must of been. It reminds me of folks panic shopping… during COVID it was Lysol… during COVID it was toilet paper… but I think about also Black Friday shopping of times past where you would read about people being trampled or crushed all because of selfishness and materialism… not trust…no peace… an every man for Himself mentality…man acting like animals with no compassion or any sort of godly virtue.

The Lord approaches a specific case, a man, who had an infirmity for 38 years.

He knew this man the Bible tells us.

He knew this mans plight.

And He spoke to Him first with a question, and then secondly with a directive.

The question as we saw was, “Wilt thou be made whole?”

It is the question for all humanity.

Here though we have this record of it.

The man in his response begins to enumerate His problem.

His problem however is not what he thinks. He believes He just needs another man to help. But he does not just need another man, He needs the Lord Jesus Christ. And this is true of all humanity as well.

And so, as if to dismiss the man’s faulty assumption the Lord challenges Him.

Notice with me the conversation as a whole beginning in verse 6.

John 5:6–9 “6 When Jesus saw him lie, and knew that he had been now a long time in that case, he saith unto him, Wilt thou be made whole? 7 The impotent man answered him, Sir, I have no man, when the water is troubled, to put me into the pool: but while I am coming, another steppeth down before me. 8 Jesus saith unto him, Rise, take up thy bed, and walk. 9 And immediately the man was made whole, and took up his bed, and walked: and on the same day was the sabbath.”

The man’s expression tells us He desired to be made whole, but lacked the opportunity.

And so the Lord challenges Him with a direct command.

John 5:8 tell us, “8 Jesus saith unto him, Rise, take up thy bed, and walk.”

John Phillips stated concerning this verse, “The Lord spoke, with Divine authority and with enabling power, directly to this man’s will.

There are three impossibilities in this command.

The first was the word ‘Rise.’

It is seen by the man’s remarks that evidently He could move, but perhaps very meagerly.

For He stated in verse 7, “while I am coming, another steppeth down before me..”

But His energies and strength were concerned with getting in the pool.

This command was directed to this man’s will, and demanded faith in the one who spoke.

The command as a whole is a challenge of trust and belief.

And so He tells the man, Rise.

And here is the lesson for you and me.

Sometimes after the command from the Lord to get back to work God has called us to, after being beaten down, tossed about, or even being knocked down by the Devil and our own sinfulness, we need to obey the Lord, rise up and continue forward for the Lord.

Many sit around often times licking their wounds and waste vast amounts of time doing so.

I remember back in my younger days of school having to get up way before sunrise…times like 5:00 am and my parents would come in and say “rise and shine…” There isn’t anything shiny about 5:00 am my book… But this was different, the Lord told this man first to rise.

That often quoted proverb is applicable for you and me.

Proverbs 24:16 “16 For a just man falleth seven times, and riseth up again: But the wicked shall fall into mischief.”

The strength to rise again, is given by the Lord, just as in this situation with the impotent man.

God healed Him and gave Him the strength to rise up.

By the way, let me help you, that this strength was by God’s grace and mercy, through faith.

And so this first impossible challenge was to rise up.

Now, perhaps that was enough, but then Lord tells Him further, “take up thy bed…”

The bed that is spoken about here was a light mattress or cotton quilt which could easily be taken up by one who was in good health.

Further, it would perhaps be all this man had.

But the command pressed the impossibility further.

It would be one thing for the man to get up, but another to carry something else with Him.

And then we have the third impossibility. He says, Rise(1) , take up thy bed(2), and walk(3).

The word used here means not just to walk, but to walk about.

Strong’s concordance states that the word translated as ‘walk’(περιπατέω peripateō) means, “…tread all around, walk at large (especially as proof of ability).”

It also gives the idea to live. And in this context we can understand that this man had no life sitting in the state he was.

We might say it this way, go ahead get up and walk around so everyone can see you.

Oh how that exemplifies what the Christian ought to be in this world walking in the newness of life for folks to see the work of our awesome God. To see what real life looks like.

John 10:10 “The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.”

Matthew 5:14 “Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid.”

1 Peter 2:9 “But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light:”

This man was a walking example of the grace and power of God. And by the way you are too if you are a child of God.

I wonder how many other folks this man would witness to telling his personal testimony of how the Lord made him whole?

We might say it this way, He was singing a new song.

Psalm 40:3 “And he hath put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God: Many shall see it, and fear, and shall trust in the Lord.”

Before He told of his sad state and impossible situation, now he would tell of a Savior that made him whole.

The Lord Jesus Christ was working in this man’s life, but also was showing the world, that He has authority over all things.

He has authority over sickness.

He has authority over the sabbath.

We will touch the latter statement here shortly.

Notice the next verse.

John 5:9 “9 And immediately the man was made whole, and took up his bed, and walked: and on the same day was the sabbath.”

This word ‘immediately’ not only speaks to the immediate healing power of God, but also the act of faith by the man.

Again, John Philips stated, “It never occured to the him to disobey, what on reflection, must have seemed an impossible command. Faith surged in His soul, ability to respond flooded into his paralyzed limbs. He did what he was told.”

And as I think about that statement, I wish it were so with us as well, that it would not even occur to us to disobey the clear commands of God.

What was the result?

We see that immediately the man was made whole.

Did He obey the Lord’s command?

Why yes he did, for the Bible tells us that He rose up, He took up his bed and he walked.

The same Greek word for walk as the Lord commanded in verse 8.

And so the man obeyed by faith the command God gave Him.

It is not recorded for us, that there was a stampede of folks that rushed the Lord after the miracle. And perhaps, this is a subtle reminder of the blindness of man’s spiritual condition.

The Lord did convey Himself away according to verse 13.

As is typical in these accounts, immediately the opposition to the Lord is seen.

And this is a vital truth for you and me. We would like to think that the world around us would welcome the Lord Jesus Christ and His ways. But the truth is, that in spiritual progress there is opposition by the Devil and His workers.

The Bible gives us the purposeful information that these things were done on the Sabbath day.

You will find that comment at the end of verse number 9.

The Jews, it seem immediately challenge this man.

We see in verse 14 that the healed man is found by the Lord in the Temple and this is perhaps where the contention with the man rose up.

Verse 10 tells us, “10 The Jews therefore said unto him that was cured, It is the sabbath day: it is not lawful for thee to carry thy bed.”

It is interesting and sad at the same time, that these folks who were to be concerned with the people completely disregard the fact that He was healed.

In other words, by there comment that were in effect saying, We don’t care that you were made whole. We don’t care that you have been healed. We don’t care that you are able to come here to the Temple. What we do care about is that you have broken our rules.

You see “the Rabbis had hedged the sabbath around with dozens of rules and regulation.”

There were, in fact, 39 categories of regulations with a resounding total of 1521 individual regulations related to the Sabbath, I am told.

It almost sounds like the United States tax code.

One Rabbi by the name of Simeon Ben Lakish after 3 1.2 years of study characterized all of these ‘regulations’ as a mountain suspended by a hair.

I found this interesting nugget from a Jewish website, “We can get some idea how serious carrying on the Sabbath is from the following law. When Rosh HaShanah (The Jewish New Year) falls on the Sabbath, the Shofar is not sounded. This was legislated by the Sanhedrin for a most interesting reason. Suppose that a synagogue has only one Shofar, and it became lost or damaged. Imagine the embarrassment and breach of ceremony involved in not being able to sound the Shofar on this most solemn day of Rosh HaShanah. How great the temptation to carry a replacement Shofar from another synagogue or from someone’s home! But this would involve a gross violation of the Sabbath. To avoid this problem the Sanhedrin decreed that the Shofar never be sounded on the Sabbath at all.”

And so you can see the layer upon layer of mountainous burden that was added to what God intended to be a day of rest and satisfaction for man.

“What God had ordained to be a blessing they converted into a burden. Ruler number thirty-nine forbade the carrying of a load rom one dwelling to another. According to them, the man should either have stayed where was until the sabbath was over (as though the man was not heartily sick o the place) or else should have left his bed there, taking a chance on its being stolen (which would be unthinkable for such a poor man).” - John Phillips

One expositor suggested that what the Lord stated was in effect, Take up they bed and walk, the Sabbath was my idea not theirs.

The discussion between this man and the authorities ensues. They tell him you have broken the law.

Notice this man’s understanding of authority.

Verse 11 tells us, “11 He answered them, He that made me whole, the same said unto me, Take up thy bed, and walk.”

By what authority or power do you do these things, they asked of Peter and John in Acts chapter 4 in that account of an impotent man healed?

Acts 4:10 “10 Be it known unto you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even by him doth this man stand here before you whole.”

It is interesting that this man responds to the authorities that same way Peter and John did.

The healed man states, the authority that healed me, is the same authority that commanded me to take up my bed and walk.

In other words, we could say this way, the authority of the one who healed me is superior to yours!

This brings us to a vital point. There is coming a time when we will be challenged to answer the question who has the authority over your life, Man or God?

It was just pointed out to me recently by Shannon that the freedoms that we have in this country to witness and to declare the name of our wonderful Savior are being challenged in the court of law.

All around this country the enemies of the cross are standing up and declaring you do not have the authority to say this is right and this is wrong.

You do not have the authority to speak about the name of Jesus Christ and tell others He is the Savior.

You do not have the authority to tell people that God commandeth every man every where to repent and receive the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior.

Our lesson coming up in HRSOTB is on the authority of the local New Testament Church. Where does this local church derive its authority?

For that matter, where does the Christian get their authority?

This man had it right, he states, “He that made me whole, the same said unto me, Take up thy bed, and walk.”

We will close for this lesson, but the question for you and me this morning is simply this— By what authority do you live your life?