JOHN 5:15-18 | DON’T SURRENDER
Notes
Transcript
JOHN 5:15-18 | DON’T SURRENDER
JOHN 5:15-18 | DON’T SURRENDER
ILLUSTRATION: I was a teenager when the men of our church decided to have a paintball event.
I remember he called out, “Do you surrender”
After shooting him, I said, “I surrender”
EXPLANATION: Jesus has just performed the miracle of healing this man of his inability to walk for 38 years!
A man who started the day with no hope, now carried his bed as a trophy of God’s power in his life!
You would think that everyone would be excited for him and rejoicing with him.
But then the religious crowd showed up.
The problem wasn’t with those in the world
It was the church people that weren’t happy.
Rather than rejoicing with this man over the miracle that had been done in his life, they immediately zero in on the fact he was carrying his bed… and it was the Sabbath.
And it was their belief that this never should have happened on the Sabbath day
And there was nothing that was going to make them surrender their position they had taken.
APPLICATION: It’s good to take a stand for things!
There are some things we should never surrender on.
Like the fact that olives are disgusting.
There are certain things we should boldly stand on unwavering… some of which we will be covering in the weeks ahead as we go through Christ’s message in the coming verses.
The doctrines of Scripture we should hold strongly to
The deity of Christ
The way of salvation
The authority of God’s Word for our lives.
But in the passage before us, these Religious Jewish leaders were taking a stand, but they were standing in the wrong place.
They were passionate about their position… but their position was wrong!
And maybe you are here today with some passionate position you are taking…
But maybe your position is in the wrong place.
Maybe your position is actually doing damage to the cause of Christ.
Just because you are passionate about something, doesn’t mean it’s the right position or the right thing to do.
For a few moments, I want us to see from this story, the position these religious Jews found themselves in.
And I hope it will serve as a warning to all of us today.
V.16, A DANGEROUS ELEVATION
V.16, A DANGEROUS ELEVATION
And therefore did the Jews persecute Jesus, and sought to slay him, because he had done these things on the sabbath day.
EXPLANATION: These religious Jew were furious.
This man had come on the scene and had broken the law and told this man to carry his bed on the Sabbath day.
How could someone have the nerve to so openly go against the Scriptures!
You would have thought that Jesus would have known the law!
There was just one problem… Jesus hadn’t broken the Scriptural command.
He had broken their law that they had come up with.
You see the pharisees and religious Jews, in an attempt to appear ultra spiritual, had added to the Law of God.
There are 613 commands in the OT Torah, but that wasn’t enough for them.
They added more to what had been written.
And one of the laws they had added to the Scriptures was that a man shouldn’t carry his mat on the Sabbath.
Now was this an actual law, or one they had just made up on the spot… it’s hard to say.
But in adding to God’s Word and elevating their traditions to the place of the law, they literally accused Jesus of sin.
They had elevated their man-made traditions to a dangerous level!
ILLUSTRATION: Over in Mark 7, Jesus and His disciples are confronted by the Pharisees because they had eaten without washing their hands.
The Pharisees had a law they had created that said it was a sin to eat without first washing your hands.
Now I know some of the moms in here would say “amen” to that belief, but at the end of the day, it isn’t a Scriptural command, so they were not committing sin.
But Jesus gives a stern rebuke to these pharisees and issues one of the great dangers of elevating traditions and standard to an unscriptural level:
For laying aside the commandment of God, ye hold the tradition of men, as the washing of pots and cups: and many other such like things ye do.
And he said unto them, Full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition.
Making the word of God of none effect through your tradition, which ye have delivered: and many such like things do ye.
Jesus literally says, “you have diminished the power of God’s Word because you have elevated your traditions… your standards to an unscriptural level and tried to impose them on others.
EXPLANATION: Now listen, would it have been ok if those religious Jews had a standard in their own life that they didn’t carry a mat on the Sabbath day?
YES!
But Jesus makes clear, that they crossed the line when they tried to elevate their standard to a level of Scripture and then impose it on others!
APPLICATION: Now hear what I’m not saying this morning
I’m not saying that having standards is bad.
We all have standards… we all draw lines in different places.
There are certain standards we all should keep because the Bible is clear about it.
And for the most part I think we would agree on it.
Let’s get some crowd participation… Right or Wrong… just say what your standard is:
Theft? Right or wrong?
Murder? Right or wrong?
Abuse? Right or wrong?
See we all have standards here.
But here is the key… there are some things that the Bible is more vague on
Like for example:
What you wear.
I grew up in a church that for a long time emphasized that men shouldn’t wear shorts.
We aren’t even talking about women’s dress… I don’t want to get into trouble.
What music you listen to
We had certain CD’s you could get from the church and those were the songs that were approved.
Only Christian music, and only a specific type of Christian music was acceptable.
If you listened to something else, it was a sin.
The list could go on and on about different things that I was taught was a sin if I didn’t do them that way.
Here was the problem, there wasn’t a Bible verse that says men shouldn’t wear shorts.
In fact, if you are of the opinion that all men should only wear pants, you’re going to have to take it up with Jesus because the customary attire of His day was a robe!
So, you’re thinking, “Great that means we can live however we want and do whatever we want to do.”
No, hold on…
You see, as NT Christians we have another way to establish standards… and it’s two fold
We develop our standards based on Biblical principles.
You see the Biblical principle on dress is modesty… it literally carries the idea of now drawing attention.
There are certain things that you could intentionally wear to draw attention to yourself in a fleshly way.
There is some music that glorifies God and some that doesn’t
We base our standards on biblical principles.
But the second half of the equation is the conviction of the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit is by very definition “Holy”
And He will always guide you into all truth.
So when the Holy Spirits convicts you that you should hold a certain standard in your life, you should hold that standard.
Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.
But here’s the key, your personal standard that is based on Biblical principles and Holy Spirit conviction, will likely vary from other Bible believing Christians!
When you judge others spirituality based upon your standard you have become a Pharisee.
And even more dangerous, your elevation of your standard to a level of Biblical requirements and commands takes away from the very power of God’s Word!
Charles Spurgeon the great preacher of yesteryear once cautioned, "He who adds to the Scripture is as much a rebel as he who takes from it."
He added that the "clear water of the Word" is often muddied by the "sewage of human tradition."
Every word of God is pure: He is a shield unto them that put their trust in him.
Add thou not unto his words, Lest he reprove thee, and thou be found a liar.
Church, have personal standards…
Base them on the Bible.
But don’t glory in them
And don’t judge others by them.
If I could say it simply to you this morning, Stop being a pharisee!
Don’t fall victim to this dangerous elevation.
V.15, A MISSED OPPORTUNITY
V.15, A MISSED OPPORTUNITY
The man departed, and told the Jews that it was Jesus, which had made him whole.
EXPLANATION: Can you imagine this.
Your standing there and all of the sudden this guy comes walking our of the pools of Bethesda carrying his mat he’s laid on for years.
You would think there would be some questions being asked.
“We’ve heard about the troubling of the waters, did you make it down to the water first?”
“No, some guy just came in and healed me from my inability to walk.”
“How’s it feel after 38 years of being stuck in that condition?”
“What words did he say?”
“What did it feel like when it happened?”
There are so many questions that should have been running through their minds.
But there was only one question they asked because there was only one thing they were concerned with “Who told you to carry your bed on the Sabbath day?”
They were so concerned with their methods of doing things they missed the opportunity to praise God for the miracle.
We talked last week of the focus of any miracle should be the source from which it came.
And this miracle came from God!
Only God can make a man that wasn’t able to walk for 38 year, able to walk with only His Words!
They should have been searching for Jesus so they could worship and praise Him!
And yet they missed an opportunity to worship and to praise God because they were so concerned with upholding their methods.
Because God wasn’t allowed to do miracles on the Sabbath according to their way of doing things.
APPLICATION: What if God wants to work in a way that makes you uncomfortable?
What if His plan for how He works doesn’t line up with the way you planned things to go?
What if it doesn’t fit your methods or the way you’ve always done things?
ILLUSTRATION: Can I be transparent with you this morning?
There are so many events we do here at our church that make me uncomfortable.
The first time we did the Cowboy church, someone reached out to me about doing a service on the Green on the Sunday after Frontier days.
And honestly, at first, I wasn’t comfortable with it.
I knew we’d have to close the doors of our church and have a service somewhere else.
And then I have to dress up western.
The first year we did it, I had to go and buy a Cowboy hat because I didn’t have a cowboy hat that fit me.
The whole thing, just made me nervous.
But you know what I found, God wasn’t concerned with me being comfortable… He just wanted my compliance.
He just wanted me to obey and jump on board.
And you know what I discovered over the past three years we’ve done it… there’s been a whole lot to praise God for!
APPLICATION: Friend, if I ever stand up here and I preach heresy.
If I ever question the doctrine of the trinity
Or if I question the deity of Christ
If I tell you this isn’t God’s Word
Or if I tell you that you can get to heaven another way besides Christ
Throw me out!
But if God is doing a miracle and changing lives and we are seeing people come to Christ, friend, don’t miss the opportunity to jump on board and be a part of what God is doing!
Get comfortable with being uncomfortable.
You see Jesus likes doing new things.
Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.
A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.
O sing unto the Lord a new song: Sing unto the Lord, all the earth.
O sing unto the Lord a new song; For he hath done marvellous things: His right hand, and his holy arm, hath gotten him the victory.
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.
Behold, I will do a new thing; Now it shall spring forth; shall ye not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, And rivers in the desert.
We aren’t talking about doing unscriptural things or things that take Christ off His throne
We should always seek to make sure Christ is high and lifted up in all that we do.
In fact, we are going to spend multiple weeks walking through the rest of Jesus message to these religious Jews in which we will clearly see the deity of Christ on full display!
But if we get so focused on doing things “my way” that we miss the blessing that God is doing all around us, we are the ones missing out!
ILLUSTRATION: There were a couple new songs that had come out, and the opposition to them was fierce amongst many churches that opposed the new music.
The criticism was intense!
The issue of the songs actually found it’s way to the newspaper.
The critics of the songs said they were:
“Too new”
It was “Worldly music”
“It put too much emphasis on human emotion.”
There were actually churches that split over the new songs that had come out because some held firmly to their tradition while others were being carried away by the “new songs”
The new sons that were causing so much division: “Joy to the World” and “When I survey the Wondrous Cross” by the writer was Isaac Watts in the year 1723.
APPLICATION: Friend, don’t get so distracted by the “new song” that you miss the opportunity!
It’s a missed opportunity to do the thing we will spend eternity doing… “Praising God!”
Friend, don’t miss it!
Don’t fall into the same trap as these religious Jews and miss the opportunity to praise God for all He’s done and is doing!
There was a dangerous elevation, there was a missed opportunity
V.16-18, A SERIOUS OPPOSITION
V.16-18, A SERIOUS OPPOSITION
And therefore did the Jews persecute Jesus, and sought to slay him, because he had done these things on the sabbath day.
But Jesus answered them, My Father worketh hitherto, and I work.
Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill him, because he not only had broken the sabbath, but said also that God was his Father, making himself equal with God.
EXPLANATION: With the elevation of their traditions, they truly believed they were doing the work of God.
What they didn’t realize was the dangerous elevation of their tradition had put them in opposition to God!
Jesus tells them in v.17, “My Father has worked, and I’m continuing that work with the same authority and power that my Father has.”
Jesus was making clear to them just Who He was!
And they missed it!
They missed God in the flesh standing right before them!
And instead they dug in there heels in opposition to Jesus… God in flesh.
They were more concerned with protecting their positions (their authority and their rules) rather than fulfilling their purpose (pointing people to God).
Pointing them to the One Who they didn’t even realize was standing right before them.
I don’t have to tell you this morning… they chose the wrong side!
APPLICATION: Friend, don’t be guilty of being more committed to the methods of doing ministry than you are to the Master of the ministry!
Don’t miss your purpose: pointing people to Christ, because you are so focused on your positions!
It is this very issue that often leads to major issues within the church!
EXPLANATION: When the Jews began their opposition to Jesus, they sought to persecute Him.
But the more He offended there positions, the more their minds went to murder!
APPLICATION: Now maybe you are here today and you are fully on board with pursuing Jesus above all else.
You are careful not to elevate your standards to unscriptural levels.
You are looking for every opportunity to praise God for the miracles He is doing in and around your life.
Friend be prepared for the opposition to come!
Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.
Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.
And purpose today to continue on!
CONCLUSION
CONCLUSION
ILLUSTRATION: You know, that day as I stood in that trench completely surrounded by the enemy, after firing off that ill-advised shot, I said, “I surrender”
But can I tell you this morning, if I could do it over again, things would be different.
If I could do it over again, I wouldn’t surrender!
I’d go out in the blaze of glory, getting peppered with paint balls while yelling at the top of my lungs, “Never surrender”
They would have to make a movie out of it.
APPLICATION: Church, don’t surrender and give in to the dangerous elevation of your standards to a place that it takes away form the power of God’s Word!
Don’t surrender to the feeling that it has to be done your way, and you miss out on the miracles God wants to pour out all around you!
Don’t surrender and find yourself on the wrong side in opposition to Jesus Himself because you wanted things to be done your way!
Instead, decide today that you know whose side you are on… and determine to never surrender to the pressures of the religious crowds or to the pharisees!
Let’s decide to do as Philippians 1:27
Only let your conversation be as it becometh the gospel of Christ: that whether I come and see you, or else be absent, I may hear of your affairs, that ye stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel;
For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.
Let’s determine to stand boldly and let’s rejoice as Jesus does the miracles all around our lives!
