It’s Up To You!
None of us likes to take responsibility. We can always find someone else to blame our problems.
We all have heard about the woman ordering coffee at a McDonalds drive thru and she spilled it on her and she sued McDonalds for giving her hot coffee.
We find a man with a problem in John 5:1-9
Mt 4:23 And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people
John 5:1-9
1 After this there was a feast of the Jews; and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.
2 Now there is at Jerusalem by the sheep market a pool, which is called in the Hebrew tongue Bethesda, having five porches.
3 In these lay a great multitude of impotent folk, of blind, halt, withered, waiting for the moving of the water.
4 For an angel went down at a certain season into the pool, and troubled the water: whosoever then first after the troubling of the water stepped in was made whole of whatsoever disease he had.
5 And a certain man was there, which had an infirmity thirty and eight years.
6 When Jesus saw him lie, and knew that he had been now a long time in that case, he saith unto him, Wilt thou be made whole?
7 The impotent man answered him, Sir, I have no man, when the water is troubled, to put me into the pool: but while I am coming, another steppeth down before me.
8 Jesus saith unto him, Rise, take up thy bed, and walk.
9 And immediately the man was made whole, and took up his bed, and walked: and on the same day was the sabbath.
Jesus went to Bethesda,
There he met a man and Asked
I. A Strange Question (John 5: 6) When Jesus saw him lie, and knew that he had been now a long time in that case, he saith unto him, Wilt thou be made whole?
Here is a place where sick people congregate because they believe that they can be healed by getting into the water whenever it is stirred.
Jesus approaches a man obviously crippled. This man had all the stuff that is common to cripples who begged for a living in those days--
* a mat to lay on,
* a collection plate for the alms of those who might take pity upon him,
* perhaps he had crutches if he was able to use them.
Jesus was speaking to him and had learned that he had been this way for 38 years.
Add to this the fact that he was hanging out at a pool that was known for healing and we can begin to get some sense of how strange it must have sounded for Jesus to ask, "Do you want to get well?’"
What kind of a question is that? Does a crippled man want to get well?
That’s a question that rivals one of my Dad’s all time favorites: "Do you want a spanking?" "Well Dad, I’ll have to think about that.
Let’s just think for a moment. Here is a man who had been crippled for 38 years. All of that time he had relied upon others to make his way in life.
If he were to "get well" he would have to earn his way for the first time in 38 years--perhaps the first time ever. He would no longer have an excuse for what his life was. The responsibility would be his.
So maybe the question "Do you want to get well" wasn’t such a strange question at all.
Maybe it was a question that pierced to the very center of the man’s heart and exposed the motives that lay deep within.
And what about us?
As Jesus looks at us crippled by problems, crippled by circumstance, crippled by sin, what does He say to us? Could it be that he asks us the same question “Do you want to get well?"
Do you want Jesus to heal the parts of your life where you’ve been damaged or is it easier to hold on to the hurt?
Is it easier to let bitterness fester and to wallow in the hurt and betrayal, licking and liking our wounds.
Often we hold on tightly to the things that paralyze us spiritually.
Jesus can heal us of those things but when he does we will be left without excuse for our lives and the choices we make.
We will no longer be able to cry "My life isn’t my fault, others are to blame"
So the question isn’t strange at all, "Do you want to get well?"
To the one crippled by past hurts, Jesus asks, "Do you want to be healed?"
To the one chained by secret sin Jesus asks, "Do you want to be loosed?"
To the one battling addiction Jesus asks, "Do you want to overcome?"
To the one who has not yet asked Him in Jesus asks, "Do you want to be saved?"
To all of us who need His healing touch in any part of our life He asks "Do you want to get well?"
To receive the healing He has for us we must desire to be changed.
We must answer, "Yes, Lord, I am ready to put the past behind me."
The man’s answer to Jesus’ question brings us to the second part of this conversation, it involves...
II. A Sorry Excuse (v. 7) The impotent man answered him, Sir, I have no man, when the water is troubled, to put me into the pool: but while I am coming, another steppeth down before me.
Look with me at verse seven: "Sir," the invalid replied, "I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. (While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me.")
The man did not answer Jesus’ question,
but offered an excuse for why he hadn’t been healed yet:
"I’m all alone, there is no one to help me"
We can’t help but feel sorry for the man, alone in the world,
* his family having died or deserted him, crippled and lonely.
"Sir, I have no one to help me."
It really is a tragic cry. But It’s Still Didn’t Answer The Question, "do you want to get well," and it still amounts to an excuse.
To say "there’s no one to help me" means also, "I can’t help myself and God’s not doing anything for me either."
ILLUSTRATION :
David Ring is a modern-day walking, talking miracle. Afflicted with cerebral palsy at birth, This did not stop David. The Ringing Question from David is “What is your Problem?”
And what about us today? When Jesus asks, "do you want to get well," what is our response?
Jesus asks "do you want to be healed from your past hurts?" Do we reply, "you don’t know how bad they hurt me"?
When Jesus asks "do you want to be loosed from the chains of your secret sin? Do we answer, "I just can’t control myself"?
When Jesus says to the addict, "do you want to overcome?" Is the answer, "I have an addiction. It’s a disease and it’s not my fault"?
When Jesus asks, "do you want to be saved?" Will you excuse yourself, "I’m not nearly as bad as other people I know."
Jesus said to the cripple "Do you want to get well?" And he replied, "I don’t have anyone to put me in."
To receive the healing Jesus has for our lives we must put away our SORRY excuses.
Jesus ignored the Sorry Excuse and gave the man...
III. A Saving Solution (v. 8) Jn 8 Jesus saith unto him, Rise, take up thy bed, and walk.
Look with me at verse 8. "Then Jesus said to him, ’Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.’"
Jesus Brings healing to us today in the same way He did back then.
He didn’t come to him with a syrupy sympathy that accepted his excuses, but with a message of life and vitality. A Solution.
He says to us as he said to that cripple by the pool, "Get up and walk."
This is the Gospel according to Nike "JUST DO IT."
The man complained "I don’t have anybody."
In Jesus we have somebody:
* not just someone to drag us around on our mats of self pity
* but someone who can bring life to our own withered limbs,
* bring healing to our own damaged emotions,
* bring strength to our own resolve,
someone who can say with all authority, "Get up and walk!"
I want you to understand that this is not a self help gospel I’m proclaiming. The healing is wrought 100% by His power, it is all of Christ, all by grace but there is a factor of human responsibility here.
Think about it with me.
* Who healed the man at the pool? Jesus.
* Who had to walk? The man.
* Who saves us from our sins? Jesus.
* Who must repent and believe? We must.
* Who sanctifies us and gives us the power to live above sin? Jesus.
* Who must decide day by day to follow Him and do what is right? We must.
In the church there have been far too many excuses.
* I’m not saying we are the masters of our own destiny or that we have the power in and of ourselves,
**** the Bible says that we’ve been made more than conquerors through Him who loved us.
* For us to act as if we are defeated is to deny the truth of God’s word and call Him a liar.
Jesus came and died on the cross to pay the penalty for our sins.
The blood he shed washes us from sin and its bondage.
The fact that he rose from the dead demonstrates his victory over Satan.
Now we are able to be partakers of that victory if we will reach out to him in faith. He still calls to us "Get up and walk."
It would have been easy for the man at the pool to laugh off Jesus and dismiss Him as a nut.
It takes more strength and courage to obey His Solution and leave the hurt behind, and accept the salvation He offers.
God’s work in our lives is accomplished by His grace.
To experience it we must reach out in faith and cooperate with Him in the process of repentance--living life in a new way.
Conclusion:
Jesus’ question to us today
*"Do you want to get well?"
* Today Jesus waits for your response.
* Will you offer Sorry Excuses?
Or will you listen to the Solution of Jesus and reach for that which is beyond yourself.
* Will you "Get up and walk"?
I’m going to ask each one who feels that the Lord is dealing with them to come forward to pray. There are workers here who will pray with you. Perhaps you want to come and give your life to the Lord for the first time. Others may want to rededicate their lives to Him.
