Who Gave You the Right?

You may be seated.

Kids, you are excused to your King's Kids class.

And if you would open up your Bibles to John chapter 5,

John 5 · chapter mention

! It's on page 1057 of your Pew Bible.

I'll read that in a little bit, but let me just pose a question.

Who gave you the right?

Have you ever been asked that question?

Have you ever asked that question?

Who gave you the right to tell me what I can and can't do with my body?

Who gave you the right to say that your beliefs are right and my beliefs are wrong,

or your beliefs are better than mine?

Who gave you the right to tell me how to parent my children?

Who gave you the right?

When we ask someone, who gave you the right?

We are questioning their authority.

Authority is the right to impose your will on another and require obedience.

And biblically speaking, we see authority exercised in two ways throughout the Scriptures.

We see authority exercised with wisdom and with health in a way that's God-honoring,

that builds people up.

We also see authority that's exercised foolishly,

that is hurtful, abusive, self-serving, and does others harm.

We see it all in the Scriptures.

For the next three Sundays, we're going to be in John chapter 5.

John 5 · chapter mention

And John chapter 5 is all about the authority of Jesus Christ.

John 5 · chapter mention

And it is good news.

So this morning, we're going to look at John 5, 1 through 18,

where Jesus heals a man on the Sabbath.

And you may be thinking, how does healing a man on the Sabbath have anything to do with Jesus' authority?

Why does that matter to me?

Well, if you've come into the building with any kind of physical ailment in which you are hoping to be healed from,

this is for you.

The authority of Jesus over our bodies is good.

What happens with the healing of this man on the Sabbath

was actually Jesus taking issue,

challenging the authority of the Jewish religious leaders of the day,

and they didn't like it.

In fact, they respond in a way that goes something like this.

Who gave you the right to heal on the Sabbath?

And in fact, in this passage, we'll see that Jesus tells them what gives him the right

to heal on the Sabbath and challenge their authority.

So let me read John chapter 5, 1 through 18.

John 5 · chapter mention

Hear the word of God.

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 in Aramaic or Hebrew called Bethesda,

which has five roofed colonnades.

In these lay a multitude of invalids, blind, lame, and paralyzed.

One man was there 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 stirred up,

and while I am going, another steps down before me.

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.

Now that day was the Sabbath.

So the Jews said to the man who had been healed,

It is the Sabbath, and it is 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.

They asked him, Who is the man who 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.

After 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.

May God bless the hearing of his word.

So here's how we're going to proceed this morning.

I'm just going to get our bearings, and then we're going to look at three scenes.

Scene one, healing poolside.

Scene two, holiness police.

I'm going to have some helpful noises at that point.

Scene three, a heated provocation, and then I'll bring it all together.

What gives Jesus the right to heal on the Sabbath?

Let's get our bearings.

In verses one through three, we get a sense of this whole situation.

So it's setting up this whole situation.

In 5.1, we are told that after this, there was a feast.

What's the this?

Well, Jesus, remember, was down in Jerusalem.

He goes up to Galilee, but he goes through Samaria to get to Galilee.

Plants the first church of Sychar, remember that?

And then he goes to Galilee, and there he heals the son of an official who is on the brink of death.

It's after this, Jesus is like, time to go back to Jerusalem.

And he went back for a feast.

But what I want you to notice is in chapter 5, verse 9, a very important when.

And it would be this kind of when.

It would be dun, dun, dun.

Now that day was the Sabbath.

It's the Sabbath which Jesus heals.

It is the weekly holy day of the Jews in which they are commanded to rest from their labor.

It's Exodus 20, verse 8.

Exodus 20:8

It's the fourth of the Ten Commandments.

And just to let you know, it was no accident that Jesus was healing on the Sabbath.

Where this takes place, it's in Jerusalem.

It's the religious epicenter of Judaism.

It's where all the major feasts took place.

And so you would have this swelling of the city when people would come to observe these feasts.

And surrounding the city, there was this wall.

And in the wall, there were multiple gates for people to go in and to come out of.

And in close to one of the gates was this pool, the Pool of Bethesda.

Archaeology has discovered it.

They found the colonnades and everything.

Colonnades are a column or a row of columns.

And it was roofed.

So the idea is these columns with the roof provided shade for whoever was there to be at the pool of Bethesda.

And that's what's going on here in verse 3.

We have a multitude of invalids gathered together at the pool of Bethesda.

They are all image bearers, but they have various problems.

Blindness, lameness, paralyzed.

And though they're all image bearers, they have something else in common.

Do you know what it is?

They all wanted to be healed.

They're there because they believe that the pool of Bethesda has healing properties.

Now, for those of you who are very careful in your reading of your Bible,

did you notice anything odd between verse 3 and verse 5?

There's no verse 4.

What's going on?

Can we trust our Bibles?

Yes, we can trust our Bibles.

Here's what's going on.

Verse 4 was included in a lot of the early manuscripts of this passage,

but not the earliest and most reliable.

So most likely, verse 4 is some kind of scribal note describing why people are gathering at this pool.

And I've got it for you, so let me read it to you.

It says,

For an angel of the Lord went down at certain seasons into the pool and stirred the water.

Whoever stepped in first, well, that person was healed of whatever disease they had.

And so how confident we can be and that that is accurate, you know, I'm not sure.

But let's just say there's enough here to say, okay, there's something going on.

And there's a competition among all those people who are at the pool of Bethesda to get into the pool first.

This is a competitive healing.

First come, first healed.

Now, before you start judging these first century invalids,

oh, these poor, uneducated, hurting people.

Let me just remind you.

We live in the 21st century among a host of invalids.

We have people of all kinds seeking, longing for healing, to be made complete, to experience peace, to be made full.

They may not be waiting for the stirring of the water in the pool of Bethesda,

but they're waiting for another kind of stirring.

You know what I'm talking about.

My wife, Jenny, has rheumatoid arthritis.

And for the last three months, we've been hoping and praying for some kind of stirring when it comes to her medication.

So maybe you're hoping for a stirring of medication for what's ailing you.

Or maybe you're hoping for a stirring of a new doctor with the hope of a new diagnosis,

with the hope of a new treatment.

Maybe you're hoping for a stirring that there would be some kind of organ donation.

Maybe it's not you, but it's someone you know who needs a new liver or a new heart.

And you're just waiting for hope to stir.

As we get our bearings here, I just want to make sure that you understand

what this multitude of invalids were experiencing at the pool of Bethesda in the first century,

we know firsthand in the 21st century.

So now that we've got our bearings, let's move to scene one.

Healing poolside.

In verse 5, we're introduced to a man who's been paralyzed for 38 years.

We're not told he's paralyzed in this verse, but we learn that later on.

And it really begs the question,

has this man been going to the pool of Bethesda for 38 years?

Has he been going there hoping to be healed somehow to get into the water first and then walk out?

38 years?

Maybe just 30 years.

20 years?

10?

3?

1 year.

It's a long time.

It's a long time to be going somewhere, wanting to be healed, hoping for something, but not getting it.

Jesus comes on the scene in verse 6.

And he has come to the pool of Bethesda, not because he needs healing, but to heal.

Of all these multitudes of invalids, Jesus looks on this man lying there.

And he knows he's been lying there, hoping to be healed for a long time.

And just a sidebar.

Isn't it good to know that Jesus, who is sitting at the right hand of God,

on the throne of grace, he has a direct line of sight on you?

Well, Jesus sees him lying there and he says,

do you want to be healed?

Now, some people have understood this to be Jesus questioning the man's motives.

It would go something like this.

If you've been here for so long, but haven't found a way into the pool,

I mean, do you really want to be healed?

Is this some kind of hustle?

That's how some people would understand what Jesus is saying.

And of course, there's definitely people who play the system.

But I don't think that's what Jesus is going after.

I think he's going after something else.

What is clear is that this paralytic believes his only hope for healing

is to be the first in the pool.

He has set his hope for healing in a pool.

In the ability to get there.

And so when Jesus says, do you want to be healed?

He answers in verse 7, very politely, sir.

He's a very polite man.

But as we go on, we're going to see some things

that are not too flattering about this paralytic.

So he says, sir.

And he answers him in verse 7.

He says, sir, I have no one to put me into the pool

when the water stirred up

and while I'm going another steps down before me.

This paralytic has no idea who he's talking to.

No idea.

We know who he's talking to.

We know that this paralytic is talking to God incarnate.

Remember John 1?

In the beginning was the Word,

and the Word was with God,

and the Word was God.

The Word was God.

He is God.

All things were brought into creation through the Word.

Nothing that was created,

everything was created by him.

This Word became flesh and dwelt among us,

and we've beheld his glory.

His name is Jesus,

and he has made known,

revealed in his incarnate body,

the unseen God.

We know who this is.

Sir, that guy does have no clue.

What we know is that this is the same God incarnate

who just turned this water into wine in Cana.

We know that this is the God incarnate

who went to Samaria and told a Samaritan woman

all of her most guarded secrets.

We know that this is God incarnate

who brought an official's son back from the brink of dead

with words 22 miles away instantaneously.

We know who this is,

but this guy doesn't.

He says,

there's no one to help me

as he speaks to God incarnate.

He's going to catch 22.

He needs to be healed of his paralysis,

but his paralysis keeps him from being healed.

And if you've been around the world,

if you've been on this planet long enough,

either you or you know someone

who's been in a similar catch 22

where what they need,

they can't get because of the problem they have.

It's a difficult place to be.

One can get helpless in those situations.

This guy is thinking that

when the water stirs,

he just needs to get himself into the water.

First come, first healed.

In their minds,

all of these invalids

have bought into the same kind of thinking

that somehow their healing

is dependent on their ability

to get them into the pool first.

You know what that kind of mindset is?

This mindset is a mindset that is common to man.

It permeates people's thinking.

When we think about in terms of getting to heaven,

the greatest pool of all,

when we think about getting to heaven,

many people think it's about what I can do

to get myself to heaven

and then I'll be healed of everything.

It's a common mindset.

I need to work to get God's grace.

But the thing is,

just as this paralytics paralysis

kept him from getting into the pool,

our sinfulness cripples us

from getting into heaven.

That's the effect of sin in us.

We do not have the ability

to make ourselves holy.

Well, Jesus takes his answer of saying,

yeah, there's nobody that put me in,

you know, I try to get in,

somebody jumps in front of me.

Somehow Jesus takes this as a yes

to his question.

So Jesus,

because he's wearing a tank top,

his muscles are blasting,

veins popping in his biceps,

grabs the invalid,

tosses his hair back

because there's a slight wind blowing,

walks him down into the pool of Bethesda

just as it starts to stir.

And as he puts him in,

this man's eyes go wide.

That's not what happens.

No, what happens

is Jesus speaks.

God incarnate speaks.

He says in verse,

he says in verse eight,

get up,

take up your bed and walk.

And those words have immediate effect.

Immediate effect.

Just think about him healing the official son.

Immediate.

At once,

the paralyzed man

is made whole.

His paralysis is gone.

He takes up his mat.

Verse nine,

he walks away.

He's like,

see ya,

I'm out of here.

Let's go get some Chick-fil-A.

Wait, it's a Sabbath.

Let's go get some stuff.

See what Jesus does

is he skips the pool.

He is our healing.

Now typically,

we think of healing

as the climax of a story.

We think of a healing like this

as the focus of a story.

But that's not what's going on here.

Because this healing actually raises tension.

And here's the noise.

Dun, dun, dun.

The rest of verse nine says,

now that day was the Sabbath.

And we're asking the question,

uh-oh.

What does that mean?

And what that means is scene three.

Holiness police.

In verses 10 through 15,

the holiness police come on the scene.

Now before I get into this,

remember,

this passage is about authority.

Who gave you the right?

Verse 10.

The man who's been healed

is walking along.

I mean,

he's stretching his legs.

He's like,

man,

this feels good.

And he happens to be carrying his mat.

And let's just say

he gets pulled over

by the holiness police.

Whip, whip.

Whip, whoop.

Whip, whoop, whoop, whoop.

At least two Jews.

And it's kind of like,

what are they doing?

Are they just kind of like

hanging out,

waiting for someone to break the Sabbath?

It kind of sounds like that.

They see him walking with his mat

and they go to him.

Whip, whoop, whoop.

It's the Sabbath

and it is not lawful

for you to take up your bed.

You are breaking the Sabbath.

He gets pulled over.

They walk up.

Sir,

we couldn't help but notice

that you're carrying your mat.

Did you know

that's a Sabbath day violation?

According to the tradition of the elders.

The tradition of the elders

was a collection

of explanations

of God's law

and how to apply it.

And it was developed

over a long period of time.

And just to let you know

how it worked,

how elaborate it was,

it's an elaborate scaffolding

around God's word.

So in regard to

Exodus 20 verse 8,

Exodus 20:8

the command

that you should keep your,

keep the Sabbath holy.

the tradition of the elders

had 39 categories.

Categories

of how you could not

work on the Sabbath.

Not five.

39.

And one of them

was carrying something

on the Sabbath

from one domain

to another.

So according to the tradition

of the elders,

these Jews

that pulled over

the man that was just healed,

whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop,

whoop,

they were well

within their rights.

The problem was

that the tradition

of the elders

was not God's word.

It's not God speaking.

It is the creation

of well-intended

men and women.

men,

but it didn't have

the authority

of God speaking.

Which means

it's not altogether clear

that this man

was actually

breaking the Sabbath.

I would say

he was not

breaking the Sabbath

because he wasn't

carrying his mat

for his employment,

for his work.

One could actually say

that this man

was carrying his mat

because Jesus

just brought

Sabbath to him,

giving him

fullness of rest

with his body.

Peace,

goodness.

But these Jews,

they had elevated

the tradition

of the elders,

the tradition of men

on par

with the Scriptures,

which means

they were appealing

to a false authority.

they were binding

this man's

conscience

without biblical

warrant.

And this false

authority is

oftentimes what's

at the heart

of legalism.

When you're

insisting on

something that

God is not

insisting on

of other people,

even yourself.

You know what's

most striking

is that these

Jews who

pulled over

this man

make no reference,

they have no idea

that this man

was just healed

of being paralyzed

for 38 years.

It's no mention.

You see,

one of the things

that legalism does

is it makes you

focus on little rules

and blinds you

to God's glories.

You know,

we can be just

like these Jews,

these holiness

police.

We have a tendency

for calling things

unlawful,

sinful,

when in God's eyes

they're not.

So for example,

drinking alcohol

is in and of itself

not sinful.

Getting drunk

is.

Eating certain foods.

Jesus declared

all foods clean.

It might not be

wise to eat

three bags of

twizzlers.

Listening to

certain music.

We can be

quick to judgment.

Where you send

your children

to school.

There can be

quickness to

judgment,

holiness police,

when some

parents choose

to send their

kids to public

school or

home school

or private

school.

The reality is

God calls all

parents to raise

their children in

the fear and

admonition of

the Lord.

Think about it

this way.

Think of God's

law represented

by the Ten

Commandments as

this God-given

granite foundation

to live.

granite foundation

and what the Jews

had done is

they had built

this elaborate

scaffolding system

around this

granite foundational

way of living

and they built it

around it to

explain it,

to support it,

though it didn't

need it.

But you know what

happened over time?

people started to

confuse the

scaffolding with

the granite.

They started

thinking that the

scaffolding is just

as authoritative as

the granite.

They're treating the

scaffolding like the

granite, but it's

not.

In verse 10,

you see,

so the Jews said to

this man,

it is the Sabbath,

it's not lawful for

you to take up your

bed.

They are making

that claim under a

false pretense of a

false authority.

In verse 11,

we start seeing more

about this man's

character.

He says,

but he answered

them,

the man who healed

me,

that man said to

me,

take up your bed

and walk.

The healer made

me do it.

This brings up

another way of

dealing with sin.

Pass the buck,

the blame game.

We are inclined to

that as well,

aren't we?

What he's saying,

it's not my fault.

It's his fault.

He told me to do it.

And then in verse

12,

what we see,

these Jews asked

him,

who is the man who

said to you,

take up your bed

and walk?

Give us a name.

Give him up.

Who gave you the

right to take up

your mat?

These Jews were

questioning the

authority of this

healer.

They considered him

having committed a

greater wrong for

having told this man

to take up his mat.

In verse 13,

again,

telling of this man's

character,

he doesn't know.

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.

But,

you know,

Jesus withdrew,

yeah?

But don't you

think that you

would pause for

a second after

you've been healed

of a paralysis

for 38 years and

just kind of say,

by the way,

what's your name?

No reference.

And apparently,

this man gets

off with just a

warning,

because in verse

14,

Jesus finds him

in the temple,

which means Jesus

was looking for

him,

which helps us

understand Jesus

had something else

going on here all

along.

Jesus,

in verse 14,

finds him in the

temple and says,

see?

Hey,

look at that.

You're walking

great.

Let me see you

take some steps.

And then Jesus

says something a

little dark.

He says,

sin no more

that nothing

worse may happen

to you.

Let me just

explain that.

Not all

physical ailments

that we experience

are the direct

result of our

personal sin.

Because you get

the flu doesn't

mean you've just

sinned.

And it's God

punishing you

somehow.

Or you get

cancer and this

is God bringing

that back on

your head.

But there are

some physical

ailments that

are the direct

result of sin.

STDs.

Alcoholism.

But you know

what?

That's not the

real big,

that's not the

question here.

You know what the

real question is?

What is worse

than being

paralyzed for 38

years?

Sin no more.

Lest something

worse may happen

to you.

What's worse

than being

paralyzed for 38

years?

I'll tell you

what's worse

than being

paralyzed for 38

years.

Being tormented

by God's wrath

because of your

sin for eternity.

That's worse.

So what Jesus

is doing here

is he's bringing

up a bigger

issue for this

paralyzed man that

just been healed.

And so the

paralyzed man is,

yeah please tell

me more.

How do I deal

with my sin

problem?

No.

In verse 15,

again this man's

character is on

display.

The man went

away and told

the Jews that

it was Jesus

who had healed

him.

He's healed

by Jesus but

goes and gives

Jesus up.

You know guys,

you know you

asked me about

who it was that

healed me.

Well I just met

him in the

temple area.

It's Jesus.

And they're like,

oh yeah, we know

who that is.

He's on our

radar.

The holiness

police have come

on the scene.

Now what's

going to happen?

And we see

what happens in

scene 3,

verses 16

through 18,

a heated

provocation.

This is where

this passage,

it reaches

its climax.

climaxes in a

conflict between

Jesus and

these Jews

over the

authority to

heal on the

Sabbath.

This is a

passage about

authority.

Verse 16,

we're given a

reason why

these Jews had

begun to

persecute Jesus.

In verse 16

we read,

this is why,

because he was

doing these

things on the

Sabbath.

They were

seeing this

as undermining

the Jews'

authority,

like pushing

the envelope.

They're seeing

this as some

kind of big

no-no threat.

He is

challenging.

Think about it

like this.

Jesus has just

gone up to

the tradition

of the elders,

put his hands

on the scaffolding,

and just shook

it.

This isn't

solid.

There's no

life here.

And apparently

there's this

dialogue,

because in

verse 17

we read,

but Jesus

answered them.

Look what he

says.

My father's

working until

now, and I

am working?

Let me help

you understand

what he's

saying.

What Jesus

is saying in

verse 17

is this.

Who gives

me the right

to heal

on the

Sabbath?

And then

he says,

my father

has been

working on

every

Sabbath,

and I

am working

on the

Sabbath

too.

You know

what he's

saying?

I'm

exempt

because I'm

God,

because I'm

the Lord

of the

Sabbath.

I'm the

giver of

the

Sabbath.

It's a

huge claim

of authority.

What he's

saying is he

has the

right to

do whatever

he determines

best on the

Sabbath because

he's the

Lord of the

Sabbath.

He's the

giver of

the Sabbath.

Just as the

father is

exempt from

working on

the Sabbath,

so God the

son is

exempt from

working on

the Sabbath.

God has

been on

every Sabbath

since creation,

been holding up

the universe,

just making

sure all the

stars are in

place and all

the galaxies

are working

just fine.

God the

father has

been making

sure on

every Sabbath

that all of

the inhabitants

of the

earth,

human and

non-human,

make sure

they get

water and

are fed.

God has

been working

on every

Sabbath for

all 8

billion people

on the

planet to

make sure

they get

their next

breath.

Of course

God is

working on

the Sabbath.

Both God

the father

and God

the son

are fully

God.

It's not

breaking the

Sabbath for

the Lord of

the Sabbath

to heal

on the

Sabbath,

to bring

Sabbath

fullness

to an

invalid.

Here's how

to think

about these

miraculous,

healings Jesus

performs

throughout the

Gospels.

Think about

it as

advances

of the

glory to

come.

The

healings that

Jesus

performed,

the authority

had over

sickness.

It's just a

little down

payment of

what's going

to happen

when he

comes back.

When Jesus

comes back,

he's going

to bring

full,

final,

and forever

healing to

our bodies.

Full,

final,

and forever.

And the

our bodies,

the our

are those,

all those who

believe in the

name of Jesus

Christ.

We will be

given sinless

and pain-free

resurrection

bodies,

and we will

exercise them

in a sinless

and pain-free

new creation.

Are you

wanting to be

healed?

Christian,

it's not a

question of

if,

it's a question

of when.

and it's

coming.

In verse

18,

we're given

another reason.

This was why

the Jews were

seeking all the

more to kill

him.

It now just

got ramped up

from persecuting

him to wanting

to kill him.

Why do they

want to kill

him?

Because in

their minds,

not only was he

breaking the

Sabbath,

he was claiming

to be equal

with God,

which is

blasphemy.

Sabbath-breaking

and blasphemy,

let's kill

him.

Tragically,

both of

their reasons

for hating

Jesus were

wrong.

Jesus wasn't

breaking the

Sabbath.

He was

exercising his

dominion on

the Sabbath.

And Jesus

wasn't blaspheming

because he's

God in the

flesh,

God's son,

equal to

God.

And the

tragedy of

it is he's

come to his

own,

John 1,

9,

and his

own did

not receive

him.

That's the

tragedy.

But all

who do

receive him,

to those who

believe in

his name,

they're given

the right to

become children

of God,

they're given

eternal life,

and they are

given this

promise,

this hope

of a full,

final,

and forever

resurrection

body.

Because our

trust is in,

not in a

pool in the

person of

Jesus Christ.

Our hope

for our

healing is

Jesus.

Which brings

me to the

point.

The healing

pool side

provoked the

holiness police

and resulted

in a heated

provocation

between Jesus

and the

Jews.

And it's all

over authority.

Who gave

Jesus the

right to

work on the

Sabbath?

He's always

had the

right.

Because he

is fully

and forever

God.

He is our

hope of

healing,

not a

pool.

And he's

at work

today.

So briefly,

let me just

give you three

ways to

respond.

We welcome

his authority.

His authority

is good news,

not bad

news.

In Matthew

28,

Jesus is

raised from

the dead.

He says,

all authority

in heaven and

earth has been

given to me.

authority.

That's good

news.

He's got the

whole world

in his

hands.

That's good

news.

And so our

response is

to gladly

submit to

him.

It's to come

under his

life-giving

authority.

That is what

it means to

receive Jesus

and believe in

his name.

To come

under his

life-giving

authority.

He has the

right to

impose his

will upon

us because

of who

he is and

we are to

welcome it.

When he

exercises his

will, his

authority, it's

always wise.

It's always

healthy.

It's always

God-honoring and

it always results

in our good.

That's the kind

of God our

God is.

Always for

our good.

When he says

to the

paralytic

sin, so

sin no

more so

that nothing

worse may

happen to

you.

If you're

not a

Christian in

the room,

your hope

is to

submit yourself

to the

life-giving

authority of

Jesus so

nothing worse

may happen

to you.

Let's not

resist him.

Let's

welcome him.

Second

is a

warning.

Don't be

part of the

holiness

place.

Let's

just move

on to

the

third.

Are you

hoping for

healing?

For

yourself or

for someone

else?

Our hope

is not in a

pool.

Our ultimate

hope is not

in a

medication or

a new

treatment or

an organ.

Our hope is

in Jesus.

And so

here's what

that means.

Here's what

we do.

When people

in our

lives are

saying,

I am

hopeless

with this

physical

or mental

difficulty,

we don't

say,

man,

there's a

time coming

where everything

will be fine.

Buck up!

Here's what

we do.

we say,

oh,

it's a good

thing that

Jesus is

alive.

And so

let me pray

for you

now that

Jesus would

heal you

on the

spot right

now.

And I'm

going to

pray this

knowing full

well that

the full

final and

forever

healing is

on the

way.

And if he

should not

heal you,

healing's

coming.

We're one

day closer.

welcome,

warning,

healing,

it's all

about hope

in Jesus,

that's how

we respond.

Who gives

Jesus the

right to

tell us

that we

must come

to him

alone for

forgiveness

and eternal

life?

To tell us

to stop our

prideful

judging,

to tell us

what to do.

What gives

Jesus the

right?

We're going

to see this

played out in

the rest of

John 5.

life.

But what

gives him

the right

is that he

has always

had the

right.

Because he's

fully and

forever God.

We pray.

God, I do

pray for the

people in the

room who've

come in here

who are

in pain

physically,

mentally,

emotionally.

God, would

you heal

them?

Would you

bring Sabbath

rest to their

bodies, to

their minds,

to their

emotions?

And if

you should

choose not

to, God,

we're not

going to

blame you.

We're going

to hope

in you.

That knowing

that this

full, final,

and forever

healing is

one day

closer.

In your name

we pray.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.