June 2, 2024
Morning Service

In last week’s study, we saw Jesus’ focus on things spiritual more than upon physical.  Jesus hungered and thirsted to do the will of His Father just as we hunger and thirst for food and water; spreading the gospel message is what truly satisfied Him.  The Samaritan city of Sychar was “white for the harvest” with many people ready to believe in Him as the Messiah even without Him doing any miracles.  Our challenge from this was for each of us to sit down in front of our spiritual mirrors and determine if we are focusing more on doing the will of God or the will of us.  There are those around us that are also “white for harvest” but we are too busy doing our own things to be sharing the message of God’s love with those around us.  In imitating Jesus, we need to be focused in on spiritual things first seeking His will to be done in our lives.  Seeking opportunities to be a tool in His hand to love those around us and share the message of salvation with them.  We can make a difference by seeking God first in our lives.  Today we see two miracles of healing on the physical realm, but I am going to ask you to view them from the spiritual realm and also to take it personal.  We begin right where we left off as John is seeking to convince us that Jesus is indeed the Christ the very Son of God.

Joh 4:46-54 So Jesus came again to Cana of Galilee where He had made the water wine. And there was a certain nobleman whose son was sick at Capernaum.  (47)  When he heard that Jesus had come out of Judea into Galilee, he went to Him and implored Him to come down and heal his son, for he was at the point of death.  (48)  Then Jesus said to him, "Unless you people see signs and wonders, you will by no means believe."  (49)  The nobleman said to Him, "Sir, come down before my child dies!"  (50)  Jesus said to him, "Go your way; your son lives." So the man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him, and he went his way.  (51)  And as he was now going down, his servants met him and told him, saying, "Your son lives!"  (52)  Then he inquired of them the hour when he got better. And they said to him, "Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him."  (53)  So the father knew that it was at the same hour in which Jesus said to him, "Your son lives." And he himself believed, and his whole household.  (54)  This again is the second sign Jesus did when He had come out of Judea into Galilee.

            This is the second miracle of seven that John shows us in his gospel and it is again one that goes under the radar of many people.  This nobleman was most likely a person of royal lineage who held a high position in the Roman courts giving him wealth, power, and influence.  His position however was of no value to him in the matter of his son’s sickness.  He recognized his need for divine help and he went seeking it.  He travels over 20 miles to see Jesus and when he found Him, he “implored” Him to come and heal his son.  Implored means to beg or plead with someone earnestly to do something.  This was a sincere cry from his heart out of the love for his son for Jesus to act.  He asked Jesus to come with him, but Jesus simply commands him to go his way and states “your son lives.”  If I put myself in the nobleman’s place here, I now have a choice to make; do I believe Him and act upon His Word alone or do I press to do things “my way.”  The nobleman “believed the word that Jesus spoke to him, and went his way.”  He chose to believe and to act upon that belief by obediently going home.  His act of faith and obedience proves to be the correct action as on his way home, notice the words the servant uses, “Your son lives!” the exact words Jesus spoke to him.  Imagine the joy those words were in the nobleman’s ears and heart!

            Two things to grasp here.  The nobleman “implored” Jesus with his son’s need.  When we pray are we “imploring” the Lord to move, or are we casually doing our duty of simply mentioning our many prayer requests?  When you pray, be sincere, reverent, humble, persistent and implore the Lord to hear you and move.  Also always include yielding to His will in the matter; “not my will but Yours be done;” He is leading and we are following.  Secondly, choose to believe in the Words of Jesus and act obediently in that way even if you don’t understand.  The nobleman really wanted Jesus to come with him, but accepted whatever Jesus offered.  When we truly believe, obedience to His commands will quickly follow (not only hearers, but doers).  The promises we read in our Bible are true and we need to act in such a way that we show our faith through our actions.  Now we move into chapter 5 with the third miracle in John’s gospel, another physical healing.  This again is by design that Jesus goes to Jerusalem to encounter a certain man at a certain place for a certain purpose.

Joh 5:1-15 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, which is called in Hebrew, Bethesda, having five porches.  (3)  In these lay a great multitude of sick people, blind, lame, paralyzed, waiting for the moving of the water.  (4)  For an angel went down at a certain time into the pool and stirred up the water; then whoever stepped in first, after the stirring of the water, was made well of whatever disease he had.  (5)  Now a certain man was there who had an infirmity thirty-eight years.

            This pool was a pagan place in which at times the water in the pool was stirred and many believe that the first one in would be healed.  This drew a crowd of those physically and spiritually oppressed in hope that healing would be found there.  Bethesda actually means “the house of mercy” drawing in all those who were without power, strength or hope.  It was a place that reeked of despair and a great crowd assembled there.  Jesus comes to this place with only a single man in mind.  The man Jesus sought out had been unable to walk for 38 years.  Notice the helplessness he portrays as Jesus comes to him with a question.

 (6)  When Jesus saw him lying there, and knew that he already had been in that condition a long time, He said to him, "Do you want to be made well?"  (7)  The sick man answered Him, "Sir, I have no man to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up; but while I am coming, another steps down before me."

            Do you find it odd that Jesus asks him; “do you want to be made well?”  He has been in this state for 38 years and sits by this pool day after day searching for just that.   It seems like a no brainer that “yes I want healed.”  The man however does not answer so quickly, but makes excuses that he has not been healed because he has no one to help him into the pool.  His circumstances are someone else’s fault not his own.  Many times we have a tendency to dwell in our troubles and even let them define who we are.  It seems we enjoy putting “woe is me” on social media just to be noticed rather than doing something about it.

            Here is where I want you to put on your spiritual glasses.  Each of us are like this man.  We have a terminal disease that will bring about our death if Jesus tarries.  We are inflicted with the terminal disease of sin.  “The wages of sin is death.” (Rom. 6:23) Jesus comes to us and asks us the very same question; “do you want to be made well?”  We too are not quick to answer the question, but make excuses why we have not accepted the remedy our situation.  It is never our fault, but it was how we were raised, or our own unique circumstances, or someone or something that hinders us from asking Jesus to heal us of our sin disease. Or maybe life is just too busy and you keep putting Jesus off for a more convening time.  In the end, there will be no excuses accepted.   You will stand alone before the judgment seat and answer for the choice you made to Jesus’ question.  The choice is yours alone.  What will you choose?  Do you just keep doing the same things and hope something better comes along (coming to the pool of Bethesda); or do you choose to believe Jesus is the remedy to your terminal state and act on it?  The second half of Romans 6:23 is this, “but the gift of God is eternal life.”  “Do you want to be made well?”  Believe Jesus at His Word, accept His free gift, and follow Him by obeying His commands.  Let’s watch how this plays out from the Chosen.

 

Chosen Video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5FlO1U95Vws

https://www.thechosen.tv/

 

(8)  Jesus said to him, "Rise, take up your bed and walk."  (9)  And immediately the man was made well, took up his bed, and walked. And that day was the Sabbath.  (10)  The Jews therefore said to him who was cured, "It is the Sabbath; it is not lawful for you to carry your bed."  (11)  He answered them, "He who made me well said to me, 'Take up your bed and walk.' "  (12)  Then they asked him, "Who is the Man who said to you, 'Take up your bed and walk'?"  (13)  But the one who was healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had withdrawn, a multitude being in that place.  (14)  Afterward Jesus found him in the temple, and said to him, "See, you have been made well. Sin no more, lest a worse thing come upon you."  (15)  The man departed and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well.

            We as terminally ill patients can choose to be healed spiritually by accepting the gift Jesus offers us of eternal life and a much more fulfilling, purposeful life here on this earth.  Doesn’t that choice seem like a no-brainer?  We must first realize we need a Savior and then accept His gift of the remedy and answer “YES!”  Only you can do it for yourself; I can’t do it for you or anyone else around you can do that; only you.  This goes for salvation and also for healing from drifting away from God into a life that is not in obedience to Him; putting your will above His.  I implore you today to come to Jesus and lay your life at His feet surrendering all that you are to Him to be made spiritually whole.  No matter what you are struggling with, He can and will make you well!

 

Heavenly Father, our hearts are an open book to You and we implore You Lord create a clean heart within us that seeks Your will over our own.  We choose to be made well, come and heal us spiritually to become all that You desire us to be.