Signs 3: Healing the Paralytic

I’m Pastor Joe Vivian. I have the honor of bringing the study on the 3rd Miracle in our 8 part series, Signs. We have studied the Water to Wine, The Healing of the Official's Son and now we will journey to Jerusalem for the third miracle in John’s Gospel. We will be in chapter 5 this morning.

VBS

It kicks off a week from this Monday. June 6th thru the 10th from 5-8pm. Dinner will be served each night of VBS to all volunteers and all children registered from 5-5:30. If you know of any child from preschool thru 5th grade, get them registered today. Goto the EHBC KIDS page on our web page and click on the VBS Sparks Studio Slide.

Auxano

Last Sunday as a church we took a “Campaign Readiness Survey.” If you did not have the opportunity to take it last week, you have an opportunity to take it today. This will be the last day to take it. If you did take it last week, Please dO NOT take it again. And, only one survey per couple please. This survey will provide us with valuable insight from the church family to help gauge how well we have communicated the direction and vision with the church, perhaps see any blind spots or things we’ve missed, evaluate the overall engagement of the church family, and just give an idea of the initial support that we might have available for stepping into phase 1 of the Master Plan. Reminder, The surveys will not be evaluated by any of us here, but by the staff at Auxano, who will then compiled the information and give us a snapshot of where we are at this moment, as well as the input that we get from the survey.

Memorial Day

Tomorrow we, as a nation, will come together to reflect and honor our country's military members who died in service. Memorial Day offers each of us a chance to reflect on the countless individuals who served and lost their lives and come together with the families and communities left behind. Because of the utmost importance of Memorial Day, the church offices will be closed tomorrow, May 30th. We will reopen on Tuesday, May 31st.

So let’s get ready to enter into the Throne Room of God this morning as we worship together, will you all please stand as we worship together.

The Healing at Bethesda Message

Brokenness

On April 3 of this year, Pastor Bill taught on the “Doctrine of Man” as he continued in our We Believe series.

One of his closing points was "Mankind: bearing the image of God, but in a broken way.”

Bill said, and I quote, “Humanity was truly made in the good image of God, and humanity is truly radically fallen, marring and defacing that good image of the One who designed us, rebelling against our purpose and design.”

I start here this morning because i ask the question, “How many of us stand before God ‘Broken’ today?”

Broken by a heart bent towards something that we deem pleasant and comforting.

Something that fills a void of loneliness.

Something that we see as necessary for our own selfish healing of hurts from our past.

Friends, this morning we each need to stop and ask God with a transparent heart the same question David posed to Him in Psalm 139.

Psalm 139:23–24 CSB

23 Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my concerns. 24 See if there is any offensive way in me; lead me in the everlasting way.

Will you all please stand with me, if able, and let’s read this morning’s focal passage.

John 5:1–9 CSB

1 After this, a Jewish festival took place, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 2 By the Sheep Gate in Jerusalem there is a pool, called Bethesda in Aramaic, which has five colonnades. 3 Within these lay a large number of the disabled—blind, lame, and paralyzed. 5 One man was there who had been disabled for thirty-eight years. 6 When Jesus saw him lying there and realized he had already been there a long time, he said to him, “Do you want to get well?” 7 “Sir,” the disabled man answered, “I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, but while I’m coming, someone goes down ahead of me.” 8 “Get up,” Jesus told him, “pick up your mat and walk.” 9 Instantly the man got well, picked up his mat, and started to walk. Now that day was the Sabbath,

Pray

(Pray for our nation’s healing from the tragic events this past week, the passing of Vivian Wootres on Wednesday evening, the many cases of illness of our church members, the Wilson Family and Kylie Wilson. Sister Church New Life Fellowship in Belen and Pastor Casey Goodson)

Now, some translations will include verses 3b and 4 to say, “waiting for the moving of the water, 4 because an angel would go down into the pool from time to time and stir up the water. Then the first one who got in after the water was stirred up recovered from whatever ailment he had.”

This verse (3b–4) is a later scribal commentary which tries to explain: (1) the presence of all the sick people by the pool; (2) why this man had been there so long; and (3) why he wanted someone to put him in the water, v. 7. It is obviously a Jewish folk tale. It was not part of John’s original Gospel.

I share this because it is important for us to understand the why of this man’s heart as we will further discuss.

Pools of Bethesda

I want to take a moment and explain the Where and the What of the location of this 3rd Miracle recorded in John.

Let’s start by the location. We often hear it stated as the POOL of Bethesda, that’s incorrect.

It’s the PoolS of Bethesda, plural, two pools. Bethesda is also translated “House of Mercy.”

Here’s a picture of what it looked like during the time of Jesus.

They found evidence of the remains of the pools at the end of the 19th century. The present day St. Stephens Church at the north end of the temple is next to the location of the Pools.

In Jesus’ time, these two pools were at the North end of the Temple next to the Sheep Gate. These two pools were each approximately 75’ long and about 30’ wide. At its deepest point, they estimate each pool to be about 25’ deep. It is later believed that currents would surge from below to create the illusion of water being stirred by an angelic hand.

Here’s a map of the Temple and the location of the Pools at the North End.

The nearby gate, Sheep Gate, was given that name because only through that gate, the sacrificial animals were brought into the Temple Mount.

With this background, information and better understanding of the location of the third miracle, we can now begin to glean today’s study and application for our hearts.

Brokenness Directs Us to Being Deceived

I was raised with the stories and legends of L’Arona and the Chupacabra.

See, these stories were passed down with a purpose, although both are quite frightening.

One is meant to keep you from playing in the river or ditches, L’Arona and the other is to keep you close to home lest you be dragged away, Chupacabra.

I use these two examples because, at 54 years of age, those tales still bring a chiil to the back of my neck.

I know they are just stories and there is not truth; however, for majority of my youth, they were REAL.

I was being deceived, I was allowing my heart to be led by a story and it took hold of my choices and actions growing up.

This is where we find ourselves with this man we read about in verse 5.

John 5:5 CSB

5 One man was there who had been disabled for thirty-eight years.

we continue to read what has gone on in his heart during these years at the pools.

John 5:7 CSB

7 “Sir,” the disabled man answered, “I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, but while I’m coming, someone goes down ahead of me.”

Remember what I shared earlier,

“Now, some translations will include verses 3b and 4 to say, “waiting for the moving of the water, 4 because an angel would go down into the pool from time to time and stir up the water. Then the first one who got in after the water was stirred up recovered from whatever ailment he had.””

This brings us to my first point:

Brokenness Directs Us to Being Deceived

Our own brokenness, our own rebelling against God’s perfect design and plan, directs us towards deception in our hearts.

See, when we are “Directed” towards a point or destination, we are given a choice whether to go to that point/location or not go.

No one forces us, we choose. The reality is that in our rebellious heart, we choose to be deceived or remain deceived.

The definition of Deceived is to be “misled and thus led into error.” “to be cheated of truth.”

This picture of being deceived began in the garden.

Genesis 3:1–7 CSB

1 Now the serpent was the most cunning of all the wild animals that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You can’t eat from any tree in the garden’?” 2 The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat the fruit from the trees in the garden. 3 But about the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden, God said, ‘You must not eat it or touch it, or you will die.’ ” 4 “No! You will certainly not die,” the serpent said to the woman. 5 “In fact, God knows that when you eat it your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” 6 The woman saw that the tree was good for food and delightful to look at, and that it was desirable for obtaining wisdom. So she took some of its fruit and ate it; she also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. 7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.

Deception of the heart. Misled and thus led into Brokenness.

Moses was deceived thinking he could display God’s power his way. Numbers 20 verses 9 thru 12

David was deceived thinking he could cover up Uriah’s murder. 2 Samuel chapter 11

Job’s friends were deceived in that they felt they were giving solid counsel to Job.

Judas was deceived by his own thirst for power over the Romans.

Peter was deceived by his anger.

We are deceived when we lean into our own truth, our own lies, our own agenda.

The paralytic chose to allow his brokenness of his heart direct him to being deceived that all he needed was the “Pool.”

All he needed was to wait for an angel to stir the water. He bought into the Jewish Tale of the Pools of Bethesda.

He cheated himself of the truth.

All he needed was the pool, then his life would be better.

What deception is in your life today?

What deception is telling you that if you just had that “Pool” that one thing, that one destination, that one additional step towards success, that your life would be so much better?

What “Pool” is deceiving you today?

Brokenness Directs Us to Being Discouraged

Because of the deception that our Brokenness directs us to, we then are directed deeper.

This brings me to my second point:

Brokenness Directs Us to Being Discouraged

Let’s look back at our focal passage.

John 5:5–7 CSB

5 One man was there who had been disabled for thirty-eight years. 6 When Jesus saw him lying there and realized he had already been there a long time, he said to him, “Do you want to get well?” 7 “Sir,” the disabled man answered, “I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, but while I’m coming, someone goes down ahead of me.”

We do not know the man’s age nor do we know how long he had been lying there next to the pools.

There may have been someone that brought him to a dwelling at night and every morning brought him to the pools, or he lived there among the rest of those disabled, we don’t know.

But what we do know is that he had been disabled for 38 years. John made note of that. 38 years is similar to the amount of time the Jewish Nation spent wandering in the wilderness.

Deuteronomy 2:14 CSB

14 The time we spent traveling from Kadesh-barnea until we crossed the Zered Valley was thirty-eight years until the entire generation of fighting men had perished from the camp, as the Lord had sworn to them.

Do you also see a parallel here?

Spiritually speaking, Israel was a nation of broken people, waiting hopelessly for something to happen. They too were discouraged.

Friends, we get easily discouraged when the direction we originally set out on, by our own standards, does not produce the results we feel we deserve.

A broken relationship is not reconciling at the pace you want.

The request for forgiveness you feel you deserve is not forthcoming.

That promotion/raise you feel you deserve does not come.

Or, the discouragement is even deeper.

The prognosis of the disease ravaging your body is not better.

The broken trust in your marriage has all but destroyed your heart.

The shame of what you have said or done weighs down your heart to the point of numbness.

The discouragement is real. The desolation of your life is all too real.

Psalm 42:5 CSB

5 Why, my soul, are you so dejected? Why are you in such turmoil? Put your hope in God, for I will still praise him, my Savior and my God.

5 Why, my soul, are you so dejected? Why are you in such turmoil?

Psalm 88:9 CSB

9 My eyes are worn out from crying. Lord, I cry out to you all day long; I spread out my hands to you.

Friends, in our brokenness, we are easily deceived and while we stay deceived, we then become discouraged. Waiting for a miracle of our own making.

We wait by the “pool” of our making. A “pool” that is just that, a pool, nothing more.

The discouragement only deepens.

Brokenness Directs Us to Despair

This leads to my third point, my third direction of Brokenness.

Brokenness Directs Us to Despair

Despair is a heavy word.

Websters 1828 defines the word despair this way: “Hopelessness.” “An utter loss of hope in the mercy of God.”

When we allow the brokenness of our life to direct us to a false hope for the healing we long for, that falsehood will only lead us to be discouraged because we cannot fill that void with lies and deception.

If we, and it’s a solid “IF” statement here, If we continue in the direction that our brokenness takes us, we will land in Despair, hopelessness.

Again, listen to the paralytic by the pool.

John 5:6–7 CSB

Did you notice his response to Jesus. Jesus asks him, “Do you want to get well?”

This is a simple “Yes/No” question; however, the paralytic is without hope. He is so deep in despair of his heart he has no answer except to continue in the direction of brokenness.

We also need to look all around him.

John 5:3 CSB

3 Within these lay a large number of the disabled—blind, lame, and paralyzed.

There is hopelessness abounding.

I know that as of now, this has not been much of an uplifting message.

As I read through the first 17 verses of John chapter 5, I was continually reminded by God of my Brokenness, how I will redirect my path to what I want, what I need, what is necessary for comfort to my selfish needs.

The truth is that that Brokenness has always been a part of me.

Barb Mulvey says of her own life, “I was broke before I was broke.”

David said it too in Psalm 51.

Psalm 51:5 CSB

5 Indeed, I was guilty when I was born; I was sinful when my mother conceived me.

Paul writes about our failing even before we knew of the fail.

Romans 3:23 CSB

23 For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God;

We cannot sit here and tell ourselves that we can direct our own path, we can be in control of our destiny.

We need to stop looking for that “Pool” of healing. It’s a fable, it’s a direction of hopelessness.

We are broke and we were broke before we knew we were broke.

The paralytic was so deep in his own deception, his own discouragement, his own despair. He kept his eyes focused on a pool of water. One that will do nothing for him.

A pool that will only lead him deeper into Brokenness.

Jesus Brings Us Joy

There is wonderful, blessed hope though…It is seen in this morning’s passage.

John 5:6–9 CSB

6 When Jesus saw him lying there and realized he had already been there a long time, he said to him, “Do you want to get well?” 7 “Sir,” the disabled man answered, “I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, but while I’m coming, someone goes down ahead of me.” 8 “Get up,” Jesus told him, “pick up your mat and walk.” 9 Instantly the man got well, picked up his mat, and started to walk. Now that day was the Sabbath,

Jesus knew about the man. Jesus knew about his despair.

Jesus asked him if he wanted to get well.

The paralytic gave excuses but that didn’t discourage Jesus.

The Lord healed him through the power of His spoken Word.

“Get Up, pick up your mat and walk.”

Notice that it was instant.

The cure was immediate and many had to have witnessed this.

Let’s go back to Psalm 42:5 and finish the verse

Psalm 42:5 CSB

5 Why, my soul, are you so dejected? Why are you in such turmoil? Put your hope in God, for I will still praise him, my Savior and my God.

Friends, it was grace that brought Jesus to the Pools of Bethesda. Let’s be honest, who else would truly want to be mingling with a crowd of helpless people focused on fable towards healing.

I want us to see that Jesus did not heal all of them; He singled out one man and healed him. The fact that Jesus came to the man, spoke to him, healed him, and then met him later in the temple is proof of Jesus’ grace and mercy.

Remember, Bethesda means “House of Grace.” We each have the choice to see the Grace of God at work in our lives.

This is our truth to land on this morning:

Jesus Brings us Joy

He doesn’t direct or point, He brings His love, His Grace, His Mercy, His Joy into our lives.

We must not confuse Christ’s Joy with our happiness. When we seek our happiness, it is fleeting and extremely subjective to the moment at hand.

When we seek our happiness in times of broken trust, anger/frustration, terminal illness or sudden loss, too often we will become disillusioned, discouraged and brought down into despair.

Why? Because we are relying on our broken self, not relying on the power of Christ in our lives.

Instead, Jesus Brings us Joy, His Joy.

Biblical Joy, Christ-Centered Joy, is dependent on who Jesus is rather than on who we are or what is happening around us.

Joy comes from the Holy Spirit, abiding in God's presence and from hope in His word.

This Joy brings comfort when we feel stress.

This Joy brings calm when everything seems to be falling apart.

This Joy brings peace when there is conflict in your heart.

This Joy brings you into an intimate relationship with God.

This Joy brings Jesus into your life.

Jesus Brings us Joy

Do you want to get well?

Jesus is Truth, there is no deception in Him

John 14:6 CSB

6 Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

Jesus is Peace…in Him there is no discouragement

John 14:27 CSB

27 “Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Don’t let your heart be troubled or fearful.

Jesus is Life.

John 10:10 CSB

10 A thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I have come so that they may have life and have it in abundance.

We live in a fallen world, we each will deal with the brokenness of this world.

There will continue to be death, hatred, fear, anger, shame, depression. That is the reality of the worlds we live in.

The choices we make each have consequences…good or bad, but they will always have results.

What I’m sharing this morning is that my prayer is we each choose to seek Jesus first.

Many of us are like the paralytic. We each are seeking a “pool” of healing. A quick fix that everyone else seems to be gravitating to.

Yet, let’s not forget, the pool never healed the man, Jesus did. Even in the man’s discouragement and despair, Jesus continued to shower him with grace and mercy.

He will do that for you, for each of us who are allowing our Brokenness to direct us.

Let me speak to those who have not had an encounter with Jesus Christ. You have not known of Him until this morning.

Well, now you have heard of Him. You have even heard the Gospel message.

John 14:6 CSB

6 Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

Jesus is the Way…He is the Truth…and He is Life Eternal.

When you surrender your life, turn your life completely over to Him, that is the Way!

You may be able to relate to the paralytic form this morning’s message.

You are broken, defeated, losing hope everyday.

Stop, listen to the words Jesus spoke to the paralytic.

“Do you want to get well?”

He’s asking you the same question. He also knows your answer, so respond to the Joy He brings you today.

Now for those listening who have a relationship with Jesus; however, this morning, this past week, maybe this past year…Brokenness describes your heart best.

Again, how are you responding to that same question?

“Do you want to get well?”

You have the power of the Holy Spirit indwelling in you!

Paul said it beautifully as he wrote to the church at Galatia

Galatians 2:20 CSB

20 I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

We each need to own and apply that truth into our lives, our hearts.

Jesus Brings us Joy!

This morning is the time for each of us to “Pick Up Our Mat and Walk!!”

Walk in righteousness of Jesus Christ

1 John 5:11 CSB

11 And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.

As we close and the band comes down now, I want to invite you to come and pray at the steps if you'd like. Kerry and I will be down here as well to pray with you.

Stop looking at Pools and look towards the Truth, Jesus Christ.

And if you’ve made a decision to surrender your life to Jesus this morning, we want to know about it. If that’s you online watching, then please email me at joe@ehbc.org. If that’s you in this room, please come down and pray with us. Either way, we want an opportunity to pray with you.

Friends, the Brokenness in our lives will only direct us deeper into an empty pool of despair.

Please, choose to begin to follow Jesus, trust Him, allow Him to begin today to build on brining you Joy.

Will you all stand as we pray together.

Pray

Closing Announcements

You can remain standing as the closing announcements are short

If you’re following along in our reading plan, we are in chapter 16 of 2 Kings today. We will finish up our reading through 2 Kings during the week of VBS and then begin reading through the gospel of Luke.

Tonight, for Pastor’s Bible Study, join us as Mark Yee will lead the discussion in Miller Hall at 5:30pm.

Benediction

1 John 5:20 CSB

20 And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding so that we may know the true one. We are in the true one—that is, in his Son, Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.

Friends, let me say this…you are not dismissed this morning…you are SENT! Sent to display the Joy of Christ!