Today is the day that the Lord has made. So let us rejoice and be glad in it. And everyone said, amen, amen. So today we are talking about one of those just classic stories of Jesus. It has all the makings of a great Jesus story. He heals a man and then the religious people get all upset and they try to kill him for it. But then rather than backing down, Jesus doubles down because that's our Jesus. Amen. Amen. We are in our Easter and Lent sermon series as we're walking through the Gospel of John together, as we're looking at this this notion here that Jesus brings about the great reversal, how he brings us back to everything good. And in this series, as we walk through the Gospel of John together, we're seeing does not just stop what sin has done, but by the power of the gospel, he restores what is broken. It's today, we're looking at this notion here of going from rejected to restored. From rejected to restored. Go ahead, if you have your Bibles, please turn to John chapter five. Now that's on page 1132, if you wanna use the Bibles that are here. Now if you are following along with our Lent reading as we walk through the Gospel of John, as we do daily readings in this gospel, you'll notice that the passage that we're going to look at today was the passage that we read yesterday together through this reading. And if you read it yesterday, you might have noticed something that I've got to take a moment and just acknowledge. If you did the reading yesterday, or even if you begin to look at the passage now, as we look at verses 1 to 18, you may notice that for many Bibles, most Bibles, including the Bibles that we use here at Peace Church, verse 4 is missing. It goes right from verse 3 to verse 5. Now, the reason that verse 4 is omitted is because the oldest manuscripts we have, meaning those documents that are closest to when John wrote his, the copies that we have, they don't include this verse. And so what we're trying to do, we're just trying to be more in alignment with what John the apostle actually wrote. And so the ESV Bibles that we use here, that's one of our preferred translations, the English Standard Version, it does not include this verse, but it does make note of it in the margin. It's a verse that provides some interesting details to the story, but it does not appear to be part of the original writing as John first composed the Gospel of John. So, we make note of it, but we don't include it as being part of the divinely inspired Word of God. So hear me, no one's trying to hide it or suppress it. It's noted in the Bibles. It's there if you want to read it. We'll make mention to what it says. But again, we just don't believe it was part of what John originally wrote. And so with that, we are gonna read verses one to 18 together, that's a little bit longer of a passage. And so I would ask you, if you are able, would you please stand for the reading of God's word? Would you hear the gospel of John, chapter five, verses one to 18? Would you hear God's word? After this there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. Now there is in Jerusalem by the sheep gate a pool, an Aramaic called Bethesda, which has five roofed colonnades. In these lay a multitude of invalids, blind, lame, and paralyzed, one man who had been an invalid for 38 years. 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 him, sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up. And while I am going, another steps down before me. Jesus said to him, get up, take your bed and walk. And at once the man was healed and he took up his bed and walked. Now that was the Sabbath. So the Jews said to the man who had been healed, it is a Sabbath, it's 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. And they asked him, who is the man that said to you, take up your bed and walk? 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. Afterwards, Jesus found him in the temple and said to him, see, you are well. Sin no more, that nothing worse may happen to you. The man went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had healed him. And this was why the Jews were persecuting Jesus, because he was doing these things on the Sabbath. But Jesus answered them, My Father is working until now, and I am working. 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. Amen, this is God's word. Would you please remain standing as we say a quick prayer. Father, we pray that you would bless our time here this morning with the moving of the spirits and with the knowledge of your gospel truth. Be with us as we learn from your word and as we learn all the more about the power of the gospel, our savior. For it's in his name that we pray these things in Jesus mighty name. And everyone said, amen, amen. Go ahead and have a seat here. So as we walk through this passage today and we learn this story from the life of Jesus, we're going to focus on this one main idea here today. And that's the fact that the gospel. The next one will say the gospel brings us from rejected to restored. Now, again, let's make it clear. Not going from condemned to clean, but rejected to restored. Because Jesus brings about the true reversal of things. But here's an interesting note about this passage. If you like history, you're gonna love this. So, this passage in particular, for a long time, was used as a passage to try to prove that the Bible is not historically reliable. Now, see what had happened was that John gives us a pretty specifically detailed description of where this took place. But the problem was, is we didn't really see a place like that in Jerusalem. Again, John's really detailed here.

He gives specifics.

It's in Jerusalem. It's by the sheep gate. This is where sheep were brought in to be prepared for sacrifice. It was a pool, so water was there, right? And it says it was also surrounded by five-roofed colonnades. Now, a colonnade is like a portico or like a porch. So we have some pretty detailed description here, except there wasn't a place like that found in Jerusalem. So for many, many years, liberal historians and liberal theologians would say, see, the Bible is not historically reliable.

Until guess what? We found it.

See, what had happened was in the 400s AD, during the Byzantine Empire, because this was a holy place where Jesus performed a miracle, what they did was they built a little church over this section of Jerusalem, over this little pooled area. I don't know why they would do those things back in the day, but they did. This was the 400s AD, and about 200 years later, roughly in the 600s AD, 614 to be specific, the Persian Empire came in and sacked Jerusalem and they destroyed this little church. And so the rubble from the church caved in upon this pool. And there it sat, undisturbed and undiscovered for 1200 years, until archeologists began to dig out Jerusalem and they discovered this very unique setting with this pool and these five porticos. And because of John's detailed description that matched perfectly, archaeologists realized, this is the pool of Bethesda. And it was because of John's detailed description. My friends, the Bible is historically reliable. Reliable. And more than that, it's true. Its message is true. Its message is trustworthy. It will stand the test of time. It will outlast you, it will outlast me. And that's why its truth is so important for us to know because it gives us something eternal. They said, see, the Bible isn't historically reliable,

and they were wrong.

This is where Jesus himself stood and performed a miracle. So my friends, trust the word of God. It stood the test of time and it's true, and it's message is true. And this morning we're gonna look at this message here that the gospel brings us from rejected to restored. So let's look at three things from this passage. And the first one is this, Christ sees you when you are unnoticed. Christ sees you when you are unnoticed. So here's, let's walk through the story. So Jesus and his crew, they go to Jerusalem for a festival and they come upon this pool called Bethesda. In the original language that meant house of mercy. Now here's what was going on with this pool. It had been come to be to be believed that an angel at certain times would stir up this pool and when the pool was stirred the first person who got in would be healed. Now there's not much to go on in history as to know where that legend or that story or that belief arose, but when archaeologists discovered the pool of Bethesda, they also found near that pool some marble carvings from outside the Jewish faith that denoted that this pool performed miracles. So people even outside the Jewish faith believe that there was something unique about this pool. Again, we don't have much history to understand why they believed that. But either way, Jesus comes up to this pool. There are many people there. But Jesus sees this one man who apparently was sick and could not walk. This man waited and wanted to be the first person in the pool, but it was not going to happen because no one was going to help him. He was overlooked, ignored, forgotten, rejected. This was truly a marginalized man. We talk these days a lot about marginalized people. The thing though about that is, as I said, marginalized people. You thought of somebody, but you need to understand, when we talk about marginalized people, we're talking about those people that nobody thinks about and that's this guy He was passed over he was stepped over Like literally he was this he was at the bottom of the barrel But Jesus comes and when everyone else had ignored him when everyone else was stepping over him Jesus sees him Because that's who Jesus is. So my friends, if you are feeling like you have no place, that you're rejected, that you're ignored, that everyone just passes by or passes over you, let me just tell you right now, the Son of God sees you. Because Jesus sees you when you are unnoticed. Look at verse three, and there lay a multitude of invalids, blind, lame, and paralyzed. And one man who was there had been an invalid for 38 years. This man was sick. We don't know exactly what. We just know that he was sick and unable to walk. And he was like this for nearly four decades. This was a man who knew pain, humiliation, rejection like so few of us do. Verse 6, when Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had been there already for a long time, he said to him, do you want to be healed? Hold on a second. Like it's like, Jesus, are you kidding? Of course he wants to be healed. What else do you think he's doing here? Now, if you thought that, then let me just say this, my friend, I don't know if you know this or not, but some people act like they want help, but they really don't. Many people, they just want a handout. They don't actually want help or healing. Surprise, surprise. People come to the church and they want us to give them money.

They look at a large church like Peace

and they think that we just are overflowing with cash or something. And we're just gonna freely just give it to anyone. Now listen, when people come to the church and they want help, I need you to know as a lead pastor, we do not respond with judgment. We respond with kindness and a willingness to help. When people come and they want to seek help, of course we want to help them. And we say that we want to help you. We want to help you more than you actually realize. We don't want to just pay your bills. We want to help you get to a better place in life. You think people stick around after that? Not very many. We want to help. We're commanded to help. We are blessed and we want to help, but we wanna do more than just pass out money. We wanna help people get out of their situations, not just continue to support a lifestyle that keeps them in the down and out. Notice, Jesus does not ask this man, do you wanna get into the pool? He asks him, do you want to be healed? This is key, because many people, they just wanna get into the pool. They just want the handout. They just want to do what they think is the next thing. They don't have a bigger vision for their life or their life situation or how the gospel can bring them into a better and a larger healing to their lives. Jesus asks, do you want to be healed? Look at how the man responds. Verse 7, the sick man answered him sir I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred while I'm going another steps down before me Did you notice this Jesus asks about healing and this man can only think about the pool Now listen, you have to have empathy for this man He wants to be healed But he's going about it the only way that he knows or has access to and yet Jesus is trying to show him something bigger and better. Jesus is essentially saying to this man, you don't need the pool, you need me.

Verse 8 and 9, 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. Because my friends, Christ sees you when you are unnoticed. But also, Christ serves you when you are unknowing. As if a miracle wasn't cool enough, here's where the story takes a different turn. Verse nine continues by saying, now that day was the Sabbath. Dun dun dun. Uh oh, take note here my friends. The Jews were not allowed to work, not even allowed to carry things on the Sabbath. So the Jews said to the man who had been healed, It's the Sabbath, and it's not lawful for you to take up your bed. Verse 11. 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 that said to you, take up your bed and walk? Take notice, they don't even mention the miracle. They don't want to mention the miracle. They don't want to mention the good things that God's doing. They just want to know if this man broke the law or not. Verse 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. Jesus healed this man and the man didn't even know it was Jesus. And I think for many of us, it's the same. We don't realize God working in our lives in that moment. Many of us have to get through, look back, and then we see it was God working all along. My prayer is that you have the eyes to see right now in the moment that God is moving in your life. But if it takes you getting through it and looking back to see, then I pray you have the eyes then to see it. But notice, Jesus does find this guy a little bit later, but look where? Verse 14, afterward, Jesus found him at the pool? No, at the temple. Did you notice this? Because I love this, don't miss this. This man went to the pool, let's just call it the pool of superstition. This man went to the pool of superstition to get healed. But when he was truly healed, he did not stay at that pool. He went to the temple. Why? Because he went to worship God. My friends, is that your response when good things happen to you? Do you go to the church and give gratitude and give thanks to God for what he's done? Afterwards, verse 14, Jesus found him in the temple and said to him, See, you are well. Sin no more, that nothing worse may happen to you. Time out. Time out. Big time, time out. We have to handle this verse carefully, otherwise we are liable to seriously misapply what's going on here. We really have to understand what Jesus is saying here. Jesus is not saying that because he sinned he was an invalid for 40 years. What Jesus is saying, what he's telling the man, is that sin brings destruction and ruin to our lives. Jesus is saying to this man, I've healed you, so don't go and continue to live a life of sin because sin will lead you to a place that's worse than what I found you. So you need to understand that Jesus' work in our lives is not to give us what we want. What that man wanted was to get into the pool. Jesus does not come into our lives to give us what we want. He comes into our lives to give us something better, to give us healing, to heal us, to save us, and to give us a mission and a purpose in life where we do not sin anymore but we go and we live as people who are made whole, holy, and righteous. People who are restored to God so that we can live rightly with God. Jesus said to the man, see you are well. Sin no more. But now that the man is healed and he knows who saved him and who healed him, look at verse 15. That man went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus who healed him. And this gets Jesus in hot water because he healed, because he did a miracle on the Sabbath. Oh, my friends, can you imagine being so religious and legalistic that miracles are considered a crime? If that sounds crazy to you, and that may sound crazy to you, but I wonder how many good things that God calls us to do that might be considered a crime if they go against our laws. Well, you may scoff and say, well, the Pharisees, they were following man-made laws. All laws are man-made. American law is man-made. I'm not saying it's bad, I'm just saying at some point you have to realize at the end of the day where does your ultimate allegiance lie? if it's right before God, should not we do it even if it gets us in trouble? If it's wrong before God, should we stand, celebrate, and enforce it? Jesus Christ was doing miracles. He was doing good things in God's name, and they said that's illegal. That's against our laws. And I'll just ask you, if you were in this story, which side would you have been on?

Listen, we often ask that question, right?

You don't want to be on the wrong side of history. I'll tell you right now, I don't care what side of history I'm on. I don't care what future people think of me. I care what God thinks. My allegiance is to Him. I stand before Him at the end of the days, not before future people. I don't care what side of history I'm on. I want to be on God's side. I want to be on the side of Jesus Jesus was doing good things and they said it's illegal. I'm asking you. What side do you want to be on my friends? We are faced with this every day Which side do you want to be on following God's righteous law or our own man-made ones again? I'm not calling anyone or telling anyone to break the law But I am asking you to consider, where does your ultimate allegiance lie? Now listen, this is a thought experiment, and I understand that we stand dangerously close to the edge of a cultural cliff. And I'm not going to push anyone off it, and I'm not going to ask anyone to jump. I just want you to consider this, so I'll say it again. How many good, godly things are considered a crime because they go against our law? And on the flip, how many things are legal that are actually sinful? Let me just say, dads, that's a great conversation to have with your kids on the ride home. And right now, I think some of us are trying to think, what am I getting at, who am I pointing at? I'm pointing at everyone right now, especially the guy in the mirror, but I'm pointing at both sides of the political and cultural divide right now. Because both of us, all of us, fall short of this. And so this is why I'm here to tell you that only Jesus can heal us personally, only Jesus can heal us culturally. Only Jesus can heal us because only Jesus can save us. That's the last thing we're going to look at. Christ saves you when you are unable. Verse 16, And this was why the Jews were persecuting Jesus, because he was doing these things on the Sabbath. Meaning, these guys were showing their true colors, and Jesus knows that they are coming after him, and so does Jesus back down? No, he presses in. He does not back down. Verse 17, but Jesus answered them, my father is working until now, and I am working. Jesus is like, you want to persecute me because I did a miracle on the Sabbath. I love how Jesus responds here. He sort of rubs it into them. Notice he keeps using the word working the thing you weren't supposed to do on the Sabbath. He said, God is constantly working, even on the Sabbath, and God's my father, so I will constantly be working, even if it's on the Sabbath. I love Jesus Christ, I'll just be honest with you. This is why I follow him, he's amazing. Working, he says this, the thing you weren't supposed to do on the Sabbath. And with that, they go from wanting to persecute him, now they want to kill him. But listen to me, it's not just because he was breaking their Sabbath law. Verse 18 tells us, this is 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. So Jesus goes from, in their mind, breaking the Sabbath law, to tried and true, utter, blatant blasphemy. The officials went from wanting to arrest Jesus to wanting to kill him. Because the Jews, we may miss this with our modern ears, we may not understand what's going on here, but the Jews knew exactly what Jesus meant when he said this. He was making himself equal with God, thereby calling himself God. But we must understand this, my friends, if Christ is not God, he is not able to save you. Because Jesus Christ was fully man, this made him be able to pay for human sin. But because he was God, this made him able to pay for all of human sin. Because Christ is God, and he does not just heal us in the moment, doctors can do that. Jesus restores us for eternity. Christ showed that he was able to do this by healing a man who had been sick and neglected for almost 40 years, but Christ proved it once and for all with his own resurrection from the dead. So my friends, here's the gospel, that Christ died for our sins and on the third day rose again from the dead so that we could go from being rejected by God because of our sin to restore fully into the family of God where we can now experience the love of God and worship him freely as we were meant to do. Let me just level with you for a moment. As I look out here and I see faces of my church family and I know some of the pain that some of us are dealing with. I know that in the gospel, God's promises may not feel like they are ever going to be immediately fulfilled. We may not see immediate healing, but God's promises, hear me, are bigger and more eternal than this momentary life. You are not made just to get into the pool. You are made to be healed forever. And we find our eternal healing and restoration through the gospel when we let Christ do that work in his work in our lives. And the story that we looked at today is a true account from history, a place that you can actually go visit and stand. And while it's a true account from history, you need to understand this this little story shows us so much about ourselves as well This story is about a man Broken and unable to save himself rejected by all and yet Christ comes to offer him healing But listen to me Jesus does not just awake something inside of us So that this man can so that we or this man can heal himself. Christ heals this man when he could not heal himself. And then Christ calls him to stand, go, and sin no more, restoring him to good health. My friends, this is a picture of us, broken by our sin that we honestly love so much. And because we love our sin and give ourselves to sin, God rejects that and rejects us. But yet, Christ comes in and saves us, undoes the work of sin in our life so that we could be welcomed back into the family of God, we could be welcomed back into the presence of God, and Christ calls us to stand up. Don't let sin bring you down anymore. Stand up, go, walk, and sin no more. And what Christ does is not just restore us to health, he restores us to God Himself. You know, I, as a pastor here, I get up on most Sundays, for some reason you keep coming in here and you preach. And I'll be honest with you, every single week, every single Sunday morning, I think and pray this all at the same time. Lord, why would this sermon matter to anyone tomorrow morning? We're here on Sunday morning, but I want to say something that's going to matter to you tomorrow morning. And I ask God to answer that prayer, and I don't know if He does or not. I pray that He does sometimes. But when it comes to this passage, well-known Bible story many of us learned in Sunday school. Why would this matter to you tomorrow morning? Here's what I want you to remember tomorrow morning. When the media wants to tell you the sky is falling, when you're unsure of what to do next, when you get lost in the daily grind of life, I want you to remember this there is a God in heaven who sent his son to die for you So that by the power of the gospel you can understand that you are not rejected by the king of kings You are not rejected by the God of the universe anymore. You are restored to him Because that's who you are in Christ so no matter what the world wants to tell you or say to you Christ has a better word and And that word is that you are welcomed back into the family. You are restored as a son or daughter in the kingdom of God. And that should matter to you more than anything else come tomorrow morning. You are rejected no more, but now finally, fully and forever restored, restored to God so that you can truly know his love, so that you can truly worship him freely. And this happens through Christ, by Christ, because He has brought us from being rejected to restored. And this happens through Christ, by Christ, because He has brought us from being rejected to restored. And all God's people said, Amen. And Amen.