God with Us In Our Greatest Need

God With Us

In our Greatest Need

John 5:1-14

Theme: God shows us how He meets our greatest need.

Welcome to our last Sunday before Christmas. I want to personally wish you a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. Some of you are having family in for the holidays and some of our people are traveling for the holidays. Let’s pray for each other.

Welcome today to our first-time guests. We are delighted to have you join us today. Tonight, we will enjoy a wonderful candlelight service at 5:00 PM. We will have special music, sing carols, and a Biblical message. It will be a tremendous blessing to have you attend.

Our Christmas series this year has been God With Us. We learn from “Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.” (Matthew 1:23)

Emmanuel means God with us. This is not just a one-time event that happened in Bethlehem during the first century but this is a reminder to us that God is always with us. The message centers around God being with us in every aspect of our lives. The first week we learned that God is with us in the storms. Everyone deals with storms and we learned having God with us in the storms is a tremendous blessing. Last week, we learned that God is with us in the lonely times. There are times we all feel lonely and God comes to us in the lonely times.

It all starts with God with us in our Greatest Need.

What is your greatest need? Often the greatest need is whatever need is shouting at us the loudest. One day Janet and I were going to Malibu for a drive and we came upon a major accident. It happened right in front of us and we are both mandated to stop. Janet is an RN and I am chaplain so we stopped. The lady who apparently had caused the accident was having a heart attack. Janet was there helping her and in the two cars she hit, one person was begging for my help. This gentleman had the greatest need in his life and was crying out for someone to help him.

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If you were to take a poll on the streets, many would say: finances, security, shelter, protection, a job, or family. While all of those are important, none point to our greatest need. Our greatest need is a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.

Here in this account of the man in Jerusalem by the pool of Bethesda. The word means house of mercy. Here is a miracle of mercy that’s going to be performed at the house of mercy.

This man here is looking for life. Some believe life is in possessions as commonly believed at Christmas time. Some believe life is in more money or more status or better circumstances. A meaningful, fulfilling life, a life that is worthwhile is not found in this world or the things of this world.

You may be here searching for life, maybe casually or seriously, but if you looking the wrong place, you will not find it. Adrian Rogers tells the story of a woman who was looking in her purse for her keys. When she first started looking. She was shaking her head and had a little grin at first. Then her grin turned to a frown, and then she looked frantic as she dumped out all her contents looking for those keys. Suddenly she realized, she was looking in the wrong purse. Pause. Many a person has been looking for life but looking for it in the wrong places.

Here is a man who has been lame for 38 years. He was looking for life and he was convinced his greatest need was physical. This morning let’s unpack this story and see the steps God took to cure this man.

Step 1 . . .

His desperation

As he was lying there in this place, he focused on the pool. If he could just get someone to help him get into the pool, his life would change and his life would get better. This must’ve looked like a hospital with all the sick and those who were diseased. An angel would stir the waters and the first one in was healed. This man was convinced if someone would be merciful enough to help him, he could be healed. It seemed nobody would be merciful enough.

The reason for his condition was sin according to v.14. He was unable to do what he ought to do, what God created him to do. This pictures every human being without Christ. Everyone is born in sin.

“For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.” (Romans 5:6)

Every day, he was hoping things would get better but it only got worse. Perhaps in this place of mercy someone would help him into the water. This is where man is without Christ.

We look on the TV or internet watching some program that gives a false narrative of life as being happily ever after. A life without God, a life without prayer brings satisfaction and contentment. A life filled with money and pleasure is the best life. A person who follows that way of thinking will only have a worse life.

Jesus comes to him personally in the middle of the sick. Just as He is coming to you today. He comes to you through His Word and through the work of the Holy Spirit. He comes to show us that we also are desperation without Him in our life. Life is not having a quick fix to a problem or heartache.

This poor man thought his life would begin when he got into the water after the angel stirred it. He thought when he was healed everything would be wonderful. The only thing he could see was getting the physical healing he needed so he could go on with life. There are times when people come to church thinking this will fix them so they could go on living like they wanted. Church will solve their problems.

The man failed to realize his desperate life was because he did not have Christ in his life. Jesus asked him a penetrating question: it may seem obvious on the surface, but it was much deeper. In verse 6, wilt thou be made whole? To be made whole is more than just physical healing, it is complete healing.

What about you today? Do you want to be whole? I don’t mean to help “fix your problem” and go on with your life without God, but whole means to meet Jesus in the place of your greatest need.

Step 2. . .

His decision

The man said he wanted to be healed but nobody would help him into the water. He thought he needed water to be healed. Water doesn’t wash away a man’s sin. Many people confuse baptism and water for salvation. The impotent man here was appealing to Jesus for someone to get him into the water.

This man did not need religion or water or any denomination to bring healing. People have to decide for themselves to accept Jesus Christ as their Savior. Wilt thou be made whole? Jesus is saying, do you want to be a Christian? Do you want to know you are saved and have personal relationship with Jesus Christ?

The lame man had to change his mind about trusting in the water and trusting in religion to trusting in Jesus Christ. There are many who will not turn from their self-righteousness and will not turn from their good works to trust in Jesus as their Savior.

Today, will you turn from your sin and yourself and accept Jesus Christ as your Savior. It is totally your choice and God will not force you to trust Him. He will not trounce on your freewill.

Can you imagine if you went to the hospital and aske a person do you want to be healed? They may look at you like you are crazy. Do you think they would say, “no, I am enjoying bad health.

It would also seem strange for a person to refuse to be saved. You invite them to turn to Christ and they might say, no, I want to continue the way I am.

Some might say, what do I have to give up? You will want to give up everything that will hurt you. Anything that would hurt you, you want to give up. Just like the man with cancer. Do you want to be healed, no, I can’t give up my cancer.

The decision is yours to accept Christ and live for Christ.

Step 3. . .

His deliverance vv. 8-14

In verses 8-9, the man was saved by grace. He’s totally unable to do anything to save himself physically and this show us the way of salvation. It’s not what we do for ourselves, it’s what God does for us. We are saved by grace through faith.

“For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.” (Ephesians 2:8–10)

Salvation is Jesus plus nothing.

We don’t add to salvation we simply turn from ourselves, our sin, and turn unto the Savior. The miracle was not the physical but the spiritual healing that came through the gospel.

“Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost;” (Titus 3:5)

The healing physically is so evident by the fact he took up his bed and walked. Wouldn’t you know it. The religious crowd did not recognize his spiritual healing. They were accusing him of breaking the Mosaic law by carrying his bed on Sunday. But Jesus knew differently v. 14-go and sin no more.

What Jesus is saying is when you are spiritually delivered from your sin, you don’t need to go back to your sin. Jesus comes to take care of our greatest need and it is salvation and deliverance.

Will you call upon Him today? Will you accept Him as your personal Savior? “But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:” (John 1:12)

If you are a Christian, today you can rejoice with the fact that God came to you and met your greatest need. Our great need is having a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Christmas is a time of great blessing knowing that God has taken care of our sin. The greatest need is our relationship with Jesus.

All of this is possible because: Emmanuel, God with Us.