Sermon Central
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An Invalid Man Series
Contributed by Shawn Drake on Oct 10, 2004 (message contributor)
Summary: This is the 4th sermon in the series "The Touch Of Jesus".
Series: The Touch Of Jesus [#4]
AN INVALID MAN
Introduction:
As we have been studying “The Touch Of Jesus”, we have seen the power of Jesus over and over again and will do the same this afternoon.
Here we find Jesus attending a Jewish feast in Jerusalem. The feast is not named, but it was probably one of the three Feasts of Obligation: the Passover, the Feast of Tabernacles, or Pentecost. These were called Feasts of Obligations because every male Jew who lived within twenty miles of Jerusalem was required by law to attend them. It is significant that Jesus attended the feast because it gave Him an opportunity to reach a large number of people and it shows us that Jesus was faithful to attend services of worship to God.
Scene #1: The Needy
The scene here is of diseased and the ill. This is a picture of those in the world who are gripped by desperate need. At this pool were all types of sick and crippled people. There were the blind who could not see. There were the lame who could not walk. There were the withered who were deformed and paralyzed. There were so many who were poor and beggarly. So many in the world are blind, lame and withered spiritually today.
They were desperate. They would try anything to be healed. Apparently there was a pocket of energy, either air or a stream underneath the pool that caused the pool to occasionally bubble up. The people of that day, grasping for something to help them in their daily lives, said that a supernatural occurrence was happening when the water bubbled. An angel was thought to be swimming around in the water and the first person to move into the water after the bubbling was believed to be healed.
Men are always grasping for something to help them in their daily lives. It may be some supernatural or magical power in a pool of water or in the astrology of stars above or in some magical person on earth. Men never change, regardless of the generation. In their grasp for help in life, they continue to seek everywhere except in Christ, the Son of God Himself. They hope and put their faith in everything except Him.
Scene #2: The Invalid Man
This is a picture of Jesus, who has the power to meet the needs of the desperate in the world. The man was either paralyzed or lame and had been that way for 38 years. He was helpless and no friends or family to help him.
Jesus saw the man lying there and knew how desperate he was. Jesus reached out to this man and helped him. Notice that Jesus told him to get up, pick up his mat, and walk. The man had to obey Jesus’ command if he wanted to be healed. His obedience showed the level of his faith.
This man was helpless and all alone. He had to choose whether to continue on with a life of desperation, loneliness, and hopelessness; or he could place his trust in Jesus. When Jesus touches our lives we are never alone again.
There was another problem. Jesus had healed the man on the Sabbath. By healing the man on the Sabbath, Jesus was breaking the Jewish ceremonial law; He was committing a serious sin in the eyes of the religious leaders, violating a ritual and rule of religion. The rest of the man’s story centers upon this fact.
Scene #3: The Religious Leaders
In this scene we find the religious leaders trying to meet the needs of the world through their traditions.
Their religion was a religion of legalism. They were trying to meet the spiritual needs of the people by following their many rules and regulations that they had made. The religious leaders were more concerned about the man breaking the ritualistic rules they had made than they were about his terrible condition.
Their religion was a religion that did not recognize the power of God. Again they were more concerned with the fact that one of their rules were broken than the fact that a man was healed.
Their religion was a religion that was blind to love. They did not see the motive of love in what Jesus did, they saw a rule breaker.
Scene #4: After Jesus Healed Him
This scene was that of Jesus and the man after he was healed. This is a picture of the believer’s responsibility. Note that Jesus had left the man right after healing him because of the large crowd on the porches. For some unstated reason, Jesus did not want to attract a crowd at this time. Jesus sought the man out again. Remember, Jesus had reached out to save the man; now He was reaching out for another purpose. When He found the man, a picture of the believer’s responsibility was painted.
