Chirst the Authority over Sickness & Sin

Gospel of John  •  Sermon  •  Submitted
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Jesus is the great healer

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Introduction:

STORY ABOUT PRAYER AND HEALING-
We are coming to a turning point in the gospel of John
John1 gives us an introduction to the message of entire book
it introduces jesus of Nazareth as the awaited Messiah, as the savior of the World.
Remember what John 1:29 “The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!”
John 2-4 showed us how people were interested in Jesus and his miracles . They saw him as a new prophet who had great power and abilities.
Jesus in his own words said in Verse 48 of chapter 4 “unless you see signs and wonders you will not believe.”
up to this point man had a great curiosity about Jesus and his powers.
and now as we come to John Chapter 5 the peoples curiosity of jesus and his power now turns to religious persecution and hatred
and this persecution from those who oppose jesus will keep increasing until they nail him to the cross. to die.
and in our story today we will see that The reason for this persecution is because of whatJesus is about to do.
You see the first 2 miracles that john records were done in private,
at the feast he turned water into wine but only the servants and a couple of other people even knew it happened.
and then with the nobleman’s son it seems that only the nobleman and his household new what had happened.
and now as we jump into chapter 5 Jesus not only performs a very public miracle but he does it on the Sabath., which captures everyones attention.
Transition: Turn with me in your Bibles to john Chapter 5:1-18 and listen as I read our text this morning
READ TEXT: John 5:1-18
1 “After this there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.
2 Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, in Aramaic called Bethesda, which has five roofed colonnades.
3 In these [colonnades] lay a multitude of invalids—blind, lame, and paralyzed.
These crowds of sick and wounded people would gather up and down the walkways hoping to be healed,
because at certain times an angel of the Lord would come down and stir up the water, and whoever was the first one into the water would be healed of all their sicknesses., and disease.
We aren’t given a lot of details about why this happens or event he circumstances around it, but what we know for sure is that the lame and blind and sick and diseased, all believed in its power to heal and this is why they were there - hoping to be cured of their illnesses.
5 One man was there who had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. [this means he had been crippled for 38 years and apparently could not walk]
When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had already been there a long time, he said to him, “Do you want to be healed?”
the sick man answered Jesus, “Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, and while I am going, another person steps down before me.”
Jesus said to him, “Get up, take up your bed, and walk.”
And at once the man was healed, and he took up his bed and walked.
Now that day was the Sabbath.
10 So the Jews said to the man who had been healed, “It is the Sabbath, and it is not lawful for you to take up your bed.”
But he answered them, “The man who healed me, that man said to me, ‘Take up your bed, and walk.’ ”
They asked him, “Who is the man who said to you, ‘Take up your bed and walk’?”
13 Now the man who had been healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had withdrawn, as there was a crowd in the place.
14 Afterward Jesus found him in the temple and said to him, “See, you are well! Sin no more, that nothing worse may happen to you.”
15 The man went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had healed him.
16 And this was why the Jews were persecuting Jesus, because he was doing these things on the Sabbath.
17 But Jesus answered them, “My Father is working until now, and I am working.”
18 This was why the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him, because not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God.”
BIG IDEA: JESUS HAS POWER OVER OUR SICKNESS AND OUR SIN
let’s begin looking at the Power jesus has over Physical Sickness

Jesus has Power over Physical sickness

So here we have Jesus in Jerusalem to celebrate a religious feast
While he is there He goes to the pool at Bethesda.
a Place where multitudes of hurting , broken and diseased people are gathered in hopes of finding physical healing for their bodies.
The Bible doesn’t give us any details in scripture as to why or when the healing’s happened at all.
or even why only the first person into the water is the one who is healed?
But what we do know is that the lame the blind and the diseased believed that it was possible.
and this is why they stayed close by for years- hoping that they could be the one who gets healed.
I would believe that this was not a place of happiness and Joy but a place great sorrow and agony and desperation.
In all reality, is was a place of hopelessness, a place of last resort.
5 So in verse 5 our story picks up with Jesus walking through the crowds of people and he singles out one man.
John’s description of this man was quite simple “now a man was there who had been disabled for 38 years.”
Why did Jesus choose to only heal this man?
I think we can see the answer in verses 6-7
“When Jesus saw him lying there and when he realized that the man had been disabled a long time already, he said to him, “Do you want to become well?” 5:7 The sick man answered him, “Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up. While I am trying to get into the water, someone else goes down there before me.”
This man was hopeless and helpless, He couldn’t save himself -
he needed someone to step into his life and save him.
and that is what Jesus offered to do. He offered the man salvation from his sickness.
8- verse 8 tells us that Jesus didn’t give the man a hand to help him get a better spot by the pool , but Jesus simple Spoke!
“stand Up, pick up your mat, and walk.”
9. “ Immediately the man was healed, and he picked up his mat and started walking.”
Public Miracle- This miracle that Jesus just did was as public as anything he could do. Everyone probably new this man because he had been there a very long time.
Jesus walks past the crowds of hurting people and singles him out and simple says stand up ;pick up your mat and walk- and the man stands up grabs his mat and walks for the first time in 36 years.
Can you imaging what the crowd must have been thinking at that moment? I am sure that it got real loud with very saying there is a healer in our midst this man is now walking?
TRANSITION: As I was studying this passage I came across a desxcription of this miracle by Matt Carter andHe wrote 4 truths that we can see from this miraculous Healing and I want us this morning to look at those 4 truths.
It was NOT a fake healing
Remember how long this man had been lame? 36 years-
He was not faking it to get attention from Jesus.
if he was faking than he would have had to plan it 6 years before Jesus was even born - since Jesus was about 30 years old when this miracle took place.,and the man was 36.
he was not faking it to get pity from the crowd.
remember what he said to Jesus in verse 13? I have no one to put me into the pool, He was an outcast- he had no friends.
I am sure that this man has spent hours upon hours trying to find a cure for his sickness, and the reason he is even at the pool is because he has no other hope left in this world.
For this man to be healed it was going to take a miraculous work from God. Only God had the power to do what was the impossible.
It was not a faith healing
there are many preachers and books out there today that tell people “if you just have enough faith all of your sickness and physical ailments can be miraculously healed.”
No where in Scripture does it say that the amount of healing we receive is based on the amount of faith we posses.
Story about Eekoffs- growing up there was a family in our church, In fact the husband was even a deacon in our Baptist church.
This couple loved the Lord, they loved the church, and the loved serving.
They had a deep faith in God
When they were in their mid 40’s the wife was was diagnosed with MS
I remember praying often that God would heal her and take the disease from her. But that never happened.
They had been watching one of the famous faith healers on tv and believing that God, as the great healer , does has the power to cure her disease decided to drive to Florida and go to one of his revival healings.
But they left very disappointed- Even when they met the faith healer face to face - he wasn’t willing to talk with her . Why -because her sickness was real and he couldn’t actually heal people’s genuine sickness.
The reason this lady wasn’t healed wasn’t because of a lack of faith, they had a deep faith in Jesus, They trusted God with the sickness and they believed that God alone had the power to heal her.
The reason she wasnt healed was because that was Gods sovereign plan for her life.
We believe in the power of prayer over our sicknesses, but we also believe in the sovereignty of God
We believe that if we pray in faith for healing, God hears our prayers and many times he chooses to heal us.
but praying in faith also means having enough faith to believe that there are also times that God chooses not to heal us physically because that is His will for our lives.
The account of the lame man being healed by Jesus in John chapter 5 in no way supports the claim of being a faith healers.
In fact this was as far away from a faith healing as you can get.
This man had no faith- In fact he didn’t even understand the question Jesus was really asking him when he said “ do you want to be healed”.
Look at his response in verse 7
““Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, and while I am going, another person steps down before me.”
Jesus asks the man if he wants to be healed and the man looks up at him and instead of answering the question he complains and grumbles.
he’s an old grump gripping about everything.
I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t want to be healed!
but I don’t have anyone to help me. down to the pool.
The man is bitter the man is angry
In fact, The man’s character comes out again later on the passage when the Jews asked him why he is carrying his bed on the sabbath which is agains the law.
he says “the man who healed me, that man said to me, ‘Take up your bed, and walk.”
He blames Jesus
The healing Jesus gave this man had nothing to do with him but all to do with Jesus
Jesus chose him out of the crowd
Jesus offered him healing because he was probably the most desperate person there.
He had absolutely nothing - He had no hope.
and that is when Jesus stepped into his life.
The truth we must understand and see from this story of the lame man is this.
Our healing is not based on the amount of Faith we have but on God’s sovereignty and his plan for our lives.
Many times God chooses to not heal us but instead use our sickness and even our death for his glory.
The 3rd point we can see from our text this morning is this...
It was a free healing
This man paid northing for it, and he offered nothing in return.
in fact, he didn’t even know who it was that actually healed him.
He didn’t do anything to deserve healing, but it was only because of Jesus’s grace and compassion for him that he was the recipient of this miraculous healing in his life.
Jesus didn’t say if you do this for me than I will heal you
He didn’t say if you send me enough money then you can be healed,
he didn’t say if you serve me you will be healed.
Jesus simply gave healing to the man because He chose to heal him.
it was a free gift fromJesus to this man in desperate need.
The 4th truth we can see about this miracle was that the healing jesus gave this man was complete
it was a full healing
When jesus spoke the man was completely healed. He wasn’t getting better , he wasn’t partially healed, he was completely and instantaneously healed.
When Jesus told this lame man to get up, pick up your bed and walk- the man was completely cured of all sickness and disease.
There was nothing left for this man to do to be fully healed. No physical therapy, no counseling sessions, no follow up visits he was healed!
When Jesus Changed this man it was complete.
I think too often as the church today we forget about the Power Jesus has over sickness. His power today is the same power that he had at the pool of Bethesda when he spoke and healed this man completely.
If Jesus chooses to command sickness to go away today, it must obey him.
In James 5:13-16 we read about the power of prayer when it comes to sickness in our lives.
“Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praise. Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.”
Jesus is the Lord over all Sickness and He has the power to eradicate it from our lives.
This is reason why the apostle James tells us to pray in faith for physical and spiritual healing in our lives.
When we pray in the name of Jesus we are putting our faith in the one who possess the power to heal the sick and the hurting.
verse 16 tells us that “the prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.”
God hears your prayers for healing.
and God answers your prays
sometimes his answer is healing because that is what he sees will bring him the most glory from your life.
and sometimes his answer is to endure because that is what will bring him the most glory from your life.
There is great power in praying for one another when it comes to our sickness. God hears our prayers snd he answers our prayers.
The second big idea that I want us to see from this passage is that
Jesus has Power over Spiritual Sickness.
The man Jesus just healed went down the street carrying his mat
I would think that he was carrying it noice and proud - so that everyone saw that he was healed.
and when the Jewish leaders saw him carrying his mat down the street, instead of marvelling that this man could walk again after 36 years, they found him and said”
It’s the Sabbath our day of rest- how dare you work on this sacred day by carrying you mat down the street.!
These religious men were more concerned about their rules than than they were about what God had just miraculously done.
They were more concerned about their religion than they were about the person.
Are you kidding me A Man has just been healed! This should have been a time of great celebration!
but yet they were more concerned about the rules, and the traditions than they were about the changed life.
Today we can have this same judgmental attitudes as the Religious leaders did back then.
When we let The love of rules, traditions and possession dictate our decisions more than our love for people -we will miss what God is doing in our church and in our community.
But the story doesn’t seem to get any better- did you notice that this man’s response back to the Religious leaders wasn’t any more grateful than their lack of amazement at what had just happened?
He cared more about what Physically happened than the Miracle.
When the Jewish leaders asked him why he was breaking the law and working on the sabbath
he said WHOAH WHAOAH WHAOH this isnt my fault- “the man who healed me told me to do.”
instead of praising God for what had been done in his life HE blame shifted.
and so the Jews asked him, “who was it that has this kind of authority to give you permission to work on the Sabbath?”
and the man answers them, “I have no idea. This guy came and told me to get up and walk and when I got up and started walking he was gone?”
The man was so focused on his physical problems that even when he was completely healed he didn't ask the name of the one who healed him.
How many times in our life are we so focused on ourself that we fail to see what Jesus is doing in us?
But notice how our story picks up in verse 14
JOHN 5:14 “Afterward Jesus found him in the temple [so apparently the Jews let this man go on his way] and Jesus said to him, “ See, you are well! Sin no more, that nothing worse may happen to you.””
JESUS IN THIS SIMPLE STATEMENT TOLD THE MAN THAT THE REASON FOR HIS 36 YEARS OF SICKNESS WAS A RESULT OF un-dealt-with the sin in his life.
and unless he stops the sinning it’s going to get a whole lot worse for him in this life.
This man wasn’t grateful for his physical healing because he still needed spiritual healing.
Jesus had just done what was impossible- He healed this man of all sickness and disease, and instead of gratitude He just went on his way.
We need to understand this truth this morning
some times tour Physical sickness is a result of our spiritual sinkcness.
This man had been unable to walk for 36 years as a result of unconfessed sin in his life.
again let’s Look at James 5
In James 5:13-16
“Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praise. Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up.
And if he has committed sins, [ if the one who is sick is in sin] he will be forgiven. Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, [why,? so] that you may be healed.
The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.”
James is reiterating what Jesus said to the lame man
If you have sickness in your life that doesn’t seem to go away- it may be because of unconfessed sin that is still lingering on.
When we pray for healing we need to begin with confession, because sickness can be a result of sin.
NOW I need to stop and make a very important point before we move on- just because someone is sick does not mean that it’s the result of sin in their life.
Many times God gives us sickness and pain to grow our faith,
We see this in James 1:2-3 “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.”
Sometimes our sickness is just the result of living in this fallen world.
2 Cor. 4:16 “So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day.”
We are all getting old- our bodies are all going to just ware out someday.
Sometimes our sickness could be because Satan wants to destroy our faith
Remember the story of Job?
Satan comes to the throne of God
Job 1:8 “And the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil?”” that there is no one more righteous than Job-
Job was righteous and feared God and yet he had to endure more than most of us will ever endure.
At the hand of Satan trying to prove God wrong- Job loses his children, his possessions, and his health - He had boils from head to two.
Job’s sickness was to prove his faithfulness towards God and not a result of sin in his life.
and at the end of the book it says that God had great respect for Job.
Meaning Job endured well. meaning God allowed these things into Jobs life and he endured well for the glory of God.
So we can see that sickness is the result of many things.
But what we do see from our text in John and in James is that some people are physically sick because of their sinfulness, and what they need more than physical healing is spiritual healing.
I love what Jesus said to the healed lame man- “STOP SINNING or else Its going to be a lot worse than not being able to walk”
Jesus has authority over sin.
He has the power to punish our sin
but also has the power to forgive our sin sand to cleanse us from all our unrighteousness.
We are just like this lame man in John 5-
We are desperate for someone to step in and save us-
we as the human race are spiritual sick with sin and we need Christ healing power in our lives.
The only solution for our spiritual sickness is Jesus- he alone has the power to forgive your sin and cleanse you from ALL spiritual sickness. .
1 John 1:9 “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

Bring it home

Sometimes we forget about the power of Jesus in our lives.
He has authority over our sickness.
Illustration of Larry Hearn. i
-in hospital since October (5 months) on ventilator.
-Doctors said he’s gone and wanted to pull the plug.
-Doctors said his lungs could never recover - he will never breath on his own.
But what the doctors didn’t see was the faithful men and women fervently praying for a miraculous work in Larry’s life, and on Friday Larry walked out of the hospital and went home.
We pray to a God for healing because sickness is no match for his authority!
and Like james said- The prayer of righteous man has great power as it is working.
We have a direct line of communication to the the one who has all authority over our physical sickness.
When we cry out to God for healing he hears our prayers and He listens.
and He promises each of us that he will do what’s best for us.
it may be healing
It may be a time of endurance and spiritual growth
it may be to bring you home to glory.
But what we can be sure of is that whatever he chooses - that is what is best for our life. and He will give us the peace we need to endure until the end.
Too often we forget the Power of Jesus over our spiritual Sickness.
We are quick to cry out for physical healing when we are sick
But yet we fail too often to cry out for healing from our spiritual sickness.
Don’t let sin go unconfessed- Cry out to the healer and let him heal your heart from the disease of Sin, so that you can be freely and fulling cured.
PRAY
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