Rule Breaker or Son Maker

All right, today we're in the Gospel of John, continuing our series there.

And today's sermon is called Rule Breaker or Sun Maker.

It rhymes.

Here are some rules to live by that I personally live by.

Maybe you got rules you live by too.

Never, under any circumstance, for any reason, ever take a sleeping pill and a laxative at the same time.

This side of the room thought that was hilarious.

You know, that's from experience.

Okay.

Wow.

Okay.

Well, if you must choose between two evils, pick the one you've never tried before.

Someone may use that rule.

You know, there's some strange rules out there.

There's the, you know, do you know there's a pocket ice cream band in uh Alabama?

Anyone in here from Alabama?

Okay.

We had a guy last week from Alabama.

Well, in several places in Alabama, it's illegal to carry an ice cream cone in your back pocket.

Did you know that?

And I was like really curious.

I was like, why who came up with this?

It was actually an old rule from the 1800s to stop horse thieves from luring horses away without looking suspicious.

When was that invented?

When what you said, when was ice cream invented?

Right after you're born.

Okay, all right.

All right.

Speaking of Alabama, it's also illegal to wear fake mustache in church if it causes laughter.

All right.

So, ladies, if you wore a fake mustache and it caused laughter, that's no good.

Yes, we as humans, we love our laws and our rules.

There's this quote by Bridget Ann Henninch that says, It is the nature of man to build the most complicated cage of rules and regulations in which to trap himself and then with equal ingenuity and zest to bend his brain to the problem of wiggling triumphantly out again.

True.

Done.

Okay.

All it means is we love our rules and then we love wiggling our way out of them.

Right?

That's what we as that's our nature.

Okay.

Well, let's read, let's see what happens.

We're we're picking up our story.

You guys remember that Jesus healed the man at the pool of Bethesda?

And he said, Do you want it?

That's what we talked about last week.

We're gonna pick it up.

Verse 8, Jesus said to him, Rise, take up your bed and walk.

And immediately the man was made well, took up his bed and walked.

And that day was the Sabbath.

That's the important part.

You guys know what the word Sabbath means.

It was the seventh day.

It was it was the day at creation that God rested, and then He He commanded a day for Israel to not work.

That's the Sabbath day.

And therefore verse 10 Therefore the Jews therefore said to him who was cured, it's the Sabbath.

It is not lawful for you to carry your bed.

Okay.

It's pretty hard for us to understand and comprehend what this meant to that culture, this whole Sabbath day.

But it was like the most intense of all their spiritual rules was the Sabbath day.

So in Jesus' day, the Sabbath ran from sunset Friday to sunset Saturday.

Okay?

And it was it was their seventh-day rest that they had to do.

It was it was supposed to be to celebrate God's rest after creation, that he took time to enjoy his creation and to serve as a covenant sign for Israel, saying, You're my people.

What which why did it show that they were his people?

Well, all the people in the world worked seven days a week just to survive.

But his people, he said, Guess what?

I love you.

I think you're great.

I'm gonna do something really special for you.

I am going to make a rule saying, don't work one day a week, but it's not supposed to be a burden.

I'm gonna provide everything you need in six days of work for seven days of life.

You get a day off.

And I'm gonna give you everything you need to enjoy that day.

Why?

Because I'm good and it foreshadows Jesus' work for us, as we're gonna see as we learn about the Sabbath over time.

This was supposed to be freedom to enjoy your life, to look forward to one day a week where you didn't have to go to work, but you can enjoy it with your family.

You could watch football, you could enjoy it with your God, a day where you could completely check out and spend time with him.

It was so, so special.

Supposed to be that way, but it became a huge pain in the butt for everybody.

You know why?

Because the religious leaders made it a burden, everything was a pain, even going to the bathroom.

Wait till you guys hear about this.

The religious leaders were so obsessive.

I'm gonna say anal, but that's kind of for this situation.

In Deuteronomy 23, they read that and it gave these commands that told it it taught Israel to practice good sanitation when going to the bathroom.

So they had to walk a certain distance away from the camp in order to go to the bathroom.

Okay, and they had to bury it and be sanitary.

Okay.

Well, the rabbis took that and they combined it with the Sabbath regulations, which means you couldn't travel more than 3,000 feet within the city.

And the result was there was practically a prohibition from going to the bathroom on Saturdays.

That's how crazy this rule was.

So they would, with their diet, they would stop themselves up.

That's insane, right?

They need more prunes, not less.

So that's this world that they're living in, okay?

Where the Sabbath dominates.

I mean, for two days getting ready for, you're you're getting ready for the Sabbath, and you're you're like, okay, I gotta do this, I gotta do that, and I gotta make sure I have everything ready.

Instead of it being a blessing, it was a burden.

So Jesus comes on the scene and he purposefully breaks this man-made rule, but it was a God rule, but he breaks the man-made part of it.

He he does this to confront the religious preconceptions that were going on there.

He Jesus was always focused on doing good, right?

He he didn't bother with what people thought, and so carrying a bed or the sleeping mat that this guy was had been, Jesus told him, take up your bed and carry it out of here, was actually a violation of the rabbis' interpretation of the law.

It wasn't a violation of the law, the law just said don't go to work.

But the rabbis were interpreting it so intensely that they believed if you had a needle in your robe accidentally, you violated the Sabbath.

A needle.

And if you had a peg leg, or maybe a false knee, I don't know what they would say, or if you had artificial teeth, you were not allowed to put them on on the Sabbath day.

And you know what?

This this Sabbath day interpretation, it even it even endures to today.

If you go to Israel today, you are not allowed to push an elevator button on Saturdays.

They have the elevators running all day long up and down.

So if you're there on a Saturday, you just have to wait for the elevator to show up, and then you get on, and then you one, two, three, that's that's how life is in Israel.

And in 1992, there was an apartment complex that caught fire in Israel on a Saturday.

And they had to so picking up a telephone was considered work.

They were not allowed to pick up telephones, so they had to go to their rabbi and ask him if they could call emergency services.

And while it took a half an hour for the rabbi to decide yes, the apartment burned down and two others next to it also.

That's not that's not doing good, right?

That has to be the opposite.

I mean, we look at that and we're like, that's insane, but they're like, the rule, we have to follow the rules.

Why are they so our our guys here?

These these Pharisees, they they look at the the guy who's just healed and they said, It's not lawful.

They look at him healed, carrying his, and they're like, it's not lawful.

They're more interested than having control over the situation and the people than they are about what is good and right.

And they're using these interpretations of the law to control people.

Have you ever felt like someone at church was trying to control you?

I hope and I pray that that is not your experience in the true church because the church is not supposed to control you.

We want there to be the fruit of righteousness in your life, and we want to disciple you and we want to raise you up and encourage you, and we want to see you not walking in sin but walking in righteousness.

But how do we do that?

It cannot be by control because that's just man-made religion.

It has to be by the grace of God transforming our hearts so that we see that his way is our way, that that's where we find life, and what is good and right comes from Jesus.

Does this mean that no one should ever stand up for what's right?

That we should never say, hey, what you're doing is stupid and wrong and selfish.

Should we confront each other in these things?

That's a really good question.

We talk about grace a lot, but we also talk about God's will a lot.

How do we do this?

If we never confront anybody and we say everyone can just, that's how it was back in Noah's time when it says everyone did what was right in their own eye.

Everyone just does whatever they want.

Like thinking, I don't think this thing I'm doing is sin, even though the Bible clearly says that it's sin.

So I'm just gonna keep doing this thing that's clearly not holy and righteous.

No, that's not okay.

Why is it not okay?

Because it's not who you are anymore as a believer.

You've been united to Christ, who you are anymore.

There is a perfect standard of right and wrong.

You can find what it looks like in the Ten Commandments, or you can connect with Jesus, and Jesus himself is the law, and as you are connected to him, he lives through you, and you know the Ten Commandments, you know God's righteousness from the heart, from the spirit, not from a list of rules, but you know what Jesus asks of you and desires because you share his heart.

And when God gives us his law, his rules, his it's for your good that he gave it, right?

We walk according to his way.

Uh, if we walk according to his way today, we're gonna love as he loved and and um and we're gonna trust him, and he's gonna meet our needs if we trust him.

And I'm gonna use a prime example that that uh we have in our world today, and that's the example of purity, you know, sexual immorality.

We all have to deal with this, right?

There's a law in the Bible that says it's just for marriage, sex is just for marriage.

Like that is the law.

And everyone in the world is like, yeah, maybe.

Or uh that's old school, you know, but they're missing that's okay.

So how men take that is they can they can turn it into a legalistic thing where they they actually go, all sex is bad, and don't speak with anyone of the opposite sex, and don't even enjoy sex in your own marriage.

It just it becomes everything becomes like a burden about it.

It's not it's not a the joy that God made it to be.

Or man transforms it into a non-legalistic way where they say, just have sex with anybody.

That's how you feel value or feel loved, or decide, you know, it's it's how you can say, no one's the boss of me.

I'm not gonna uh no one's gonna tell me what to do.

I'm gonna have this freedom, I can do whatever I want.

And all of these ways of connecting and being under the law, they all miss one thing, which is God's heart.

God's heart for you is that He loves you and He wants what's best for you.

So He gives a rule, a law, to guide us into what is best for us.

God's love is God's life.

God wants you to experience the greatest, the joy of life.

There is no life in rules themselves.

So when we try to follow the rule too much, we go crazy and we don't find life.

And then when we try to disregard the rule, we go crazy and we don't find life.

So no matter if we use too many rules or too few rules, we don't find life.

Well, where do we find life then?

Jesus, I heard you.

30 Jesus points for you.

Where do we find life?

In Jesus alone.

The only way we can share in life and experience everything is when we have his heart and we're walking in his spirit, though it's his will.

And that life is a free gift.

You don't have to earn it at all.

It's freely given to you, not through rules and not through sin.

So you don't get life through rules and you don't get life through practicing sin.

You get life as a free gift of grace through Jesus.

It's a completely different way to live than the way the world lives.

The world either makes too many rules and you get legalistic and bitter, or you too few rules and you you just walk in in sin and dishonoring God and your own body.

What is going on here?

How is this happening?

Jesus says, I came to give you life and life abundantly.

That's where we find everything God has for us, is in Jesus alone.

And it's so good, it's so beautiful to share the life of Jesus.

Look what Jesus says, verse 11.

Or sorry, the man answers them.

He says, He who made me well said to me, Take up your bed and walk.

So they asked him, Who is the man who said to you, Take up your bed and walk?

But the one who was healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had withdrawn a multitude being in that place.

So these Pharisees, they're like, How dare anyone reject our petty rules to actually do something good?

Because that's all Jesus did.

He did something good.

He he healed this man.

They're so obsessed with their own ways that they ignore the miracle that just happened.

They're blind to the good works of God, they're blind to his grace.

So Jesus disappears from the whole situation, and as he disappears, he exposes their reality.

So Jesus disappears, and now all that's left is what they believe.

You can't be a Christian unless you attend our church and do things our way.

That attitude that these Pharisees had, that's what led us to all these multitudes of denominations in the Christian church.

Probably shouldn't be all these denominations.

I understand explaining what you believe about certain things, but the division of saying you are wrong if you don't believe exactly like me, that's what that's what led to all these denominations.

And yes, sometimes Jesus has to depart and hide himself from some churches to expose what they're all about as well.

You know, just because you go into a church doesn't mean that Jesus is is there, or Jesus is being glorified, or Jesus is being trusted in by God.

Just because it's a church doesn't guarantee that he's gonna be there.

He's in people who humbly trust him.

Look at verse 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.

Go and sin no more.

That's very interesting.

Okay, here's the question.

Is Jesus threatening him?

Is this a threat?

You see, when you heard that word, when you heard this word, how did you take it?

Because how your heart took that sentence exposes what you think about God your father.

Go and sin no more lest a worse thing come upon you.

If you take that sentence to mean I have been threatened, that is a threat that God will follow through on, and now I'm scared, now I'm worried.

What that means is there's a disconnect between who God really is and what we think of him.

But there's another way to hear that.

Because that doesn't sound like grace, God threatening you and saying, Go and sin no more, lest a worse thing come upon you.

If you sin, I'm gonna be angry with you and I'm gonna punish you.

Worse than, you know, being paralyzed.

Well, I'm gonna look at it in two perspectives.

Both of them are gonna help us out.

First for the actual man, and then we'll look at it for us, okay?

So for this actual man, he got healed physically, but he still has a sin problem because Jesus hasn't died on the cross yet.

And there come a time where he would need to deal with the fact that Jesus is the Messiah or he's gonna reject him as the Messiah.

And what Jesus is saying is when the time comes, I die on the cross for your sins, and you have to make a decision about me, don't make the wrong decision.

Because if you reject me, the only source of life, the only resulting consequence is death.

That's the only thing left.

If you reject life, all you get is death.

And it's not because God is angry with you, it's that's the natural consequence of rejecting life.

I'm gonna hold my breath until I die.

Okay, then you're going to die.

You're rejecting life in exchange for death.

So this man is so Jesus is talking to him about a spiritual death, which is worse than the paralyzed life that he was living.

This man was still living under the old covenant, the law, even though Jesus was in the process of bringing the new covenant, okay, so he had to be aware of the consequences of sin that he would have to bear himself until the ultimate sacrifice would be made.

Okay, so that's this guy.

But now I want to shift our attention to you, to me.

We also are this man, we have been healed, and he tells him, do not sin anymore.

He tells us, do not sin anymore.

Wow, that's crazy.

What he's saying is, once you become born again, once you become a believer, and I've washed you, I have made you a son, I have adopted you, I have brought this new life to you.

Don't return to the sinful pattern of the sinful and destructive path and pattern of living that you left behind, that I set you free from.

Sin brings painful consequences in this life, even to us.

Yes, we are forgiven of sin.

We're you never are gonna be judged for your sin.

You're never gonna stand before God and say, and He's gonna say, Why did you do this thing?

No, your sin hung on the cross with Jesus is dealt for forever.

You we can all rejoice and smile because we are forgiven.

But if you go sin today, there will be natural consequences for your life.

And Jesus is giving us an insight into what that looks like.

Not because God is punishing believers for their sins, because Jesus already was punished for us, but because sin itself is destructive.

Jesus is warning this man against something worse than physicality, spiritual deep ruin of rejecting him.

Have you ever met Christians that are depressed and despondent and not happy and not yeah, we've seen that.

And Jesus is saying, I don't want that to be you.

You can still experience depression, discouragement, despondency, all the bad things that you thought maybe Jesus had healed you from, but it's still there.

And Jesus is saying, I know why it's there.

It's still because of sin, and I am here.

Follow me, keep your eyes on me, give your burdens to me, give trust me, and you will find I will give you life.

I promise you, I will give you life.

So let's go back to our purity example because sexual sin is guaranteed to bring pain into our lives.

It is as well as all those close to you.

It is a the Bible describes it as when you put fire in a stove, it does its job.

It does it.

When you put fire in a firearm, it also does its job as well.

When you put fire in your hand, it does its job, but it will burn you, it will always burn.

And that's why the Bible describes sex as fire.

If you take it close to you when you're not supposed to in the wrong way, it's going to burn you.

There will be pain, it will be consequences.

It's guaranteed.

Even if we're forgiven, you can hurt people deeply if we do these things again.

And Jesus is saying the reason I'm telling you to not do those things anymore is because it's not you anymore.

So don't test whether it's gonna be true for you because it will be true for you.

You will hurt if you participate in these things.

You think you can run, you can't, you think you can hide, you can't.

God sees it all.

And he says, Don't test me, this is true, and I don't want you to have to experience pain because I have come that you may have abundant life.

So trust me.

Now, this verse doesn't teach that every illness is caused by a person's sin, okay, or that Christians must maintain their healing and their salvation through flawless behavior.

That's not what's going on here.

Jesus has finished his work and that provides complete forgiveness and permanent acceptance for us.

But the the grace-centered message that Jesus is giving us is Jesus heals first and then he calls his people into freedom.

But it's not freedom to go willy-nilly sin all the time.

It's freedom from sin, freedom to live as a new creation, united with Jesus.

And so you share his heart, you share his will.

That's who you really are as a Christian.

You do what he desires in your heart.

That's that's what you most desire.

So you're expressing his love and his light in your behavior instead of expressing sin's selfish and destructive influence.

Sin wants sin is crouching at your door, and and Satan just wants us to choose sin because when we choose sin, it it's like mud, it just gets all over everyone around us.

And so Jesus is like, don't choose that life because it's not you and it's not loving for everyone around you, because sin is just the opposite of love.

Sin is the opposite of love.

Trusting in me is how we can love people.

So, verse 15 the man departed and told the Jews that it was Jesus who made him well.

So the Jewish leaders didn't even want to know who healed the crippled man at the beginning, but the the the man who was healed, he's like, I'm gonna tell you who did this.

They wanted to know who told, they didn't care about that that he healed him, they wanted to know who told the man to carry his bed mat on the Sabbath day.

That's all they wanted to know.

Who broke our rules?

Not who healed this guy.

I don't care who healed, who broke my rules, who's not religious enough for us, who's threatening our control.

So the religious leaders, Jesus was just a man who broke the Sabbath, but to the man, the healed man, Jesus was the man who made me well, that made me acceptable, that made me a son, he adopted me.

So I beg you to ask answer this question as we wrap up today, because it's a real short sermon today.

Who is Jesus to you?

Is he the man who just breaks the rules and encourages others to break the rules?

That's what the Pharisees thought he was.

Is he just an anarchy guy that's like stick it to the man no matter what?

Anarchy.

Is that who Jesus is?

Or is Jesus the the man who heals me so that I can walk his way?

Is he that man?

The son of God who heals me so I can walk as he walked and love as he loved.

So we've we've touched on the a deep thing today, which is does it matter how I walk?

And what if I have failed, and what if I have not represented God, and what if I have fallen short in in an area of my life?

I have not lived with purity.

I'm telling you right now, God is so full of love, and God is so full of mercy, and God is so full of grace that He can wash everything clean that you've ever done, no matter what sin you've participated in, you can be washed clean today, right now, forever.

Say, Jesus, I'm sorry.

Jesus, forgive me.

Make me new, help me to walk in your way.

I will follow you, Jesus.

It's the cure for everything, it's the only cure for everything.

And so that's put out to you today.

And each one of you in your heart do business with Jesus as we sing this song.

Okay?

Don't even stand up.

I want everyone to stay seated and close your eyes and deal with Jesus and say, either forgive me or thank you for forgiving me.

Father, we worship you, we praise you, and we ask you to do deep and powerful and great things in our hearts.

It's through your son, Jesus, that we have life.

We confess that.

It's not through anything we get ourselves that we have life.

So we surrender everything to you.

We're sorry, and Jesus, give us the life that we're that we're hungry and thirsting for.

Through your son, Father, we we ask this in Jesus' name.

Amen.

And I've heard a thousand stories of one thing.

The tender whisper of love.

The ten of night in itself, and then your peace and I'm never alone.

You're a good god, it's true, it's too hard, it's too hard, and I'm a love fire, it's you I am, it's you I am, it's you I am searching for elements for and white I know the we're all searching for elements, only you provided not just for one we need before we stay away.

You're a good fight, it's too, it's too, it's too, I'm a love eye, it's too I am, it's too I am, it's too I am, you're a good one, it's too you up, it's too, it's doing love, it's too I am it's do I am you are perfect in all of your weight You are perfect in all of your ways You are perfect in all of your ways You are perfect in all of your ways you are perfect in all of your ways You are perfect in all of your ways to undeniable like I least beep so unexplainable like I think it should come deepest dear yes you come deepest still it come Deepest still it's love La la love You're a good Godfather It's too you are it's too you are it's too you are and I'm a love by you It's too I am It's too I am It's too I am You're a god Godfather It's too I It's too I It's too I'm a love It's too I am It's too I It's too I perfect in all of your weight You are perfect in all of your weight You are perfect in all of your ways You are perfect in all of your ways You are perfect in all of your ways You are perfect in all of your ways to Amen Sometimes your Father tells you uh that's not the path, follow me, and that's what our Father does for us, and he's so good, and his way is always so good.

So this week just follow your father and delight in his presence, delight in his word.

Uh you're loved and you're valuable, and and uh if you need anything at all, please talk to me.

If you're confused on how to follow the Lord, reach out.

We can help you learn how to follow the Lord.

It is not difficult, it's not even a burden, it's a light uh it relieves burdens, it gives you lightness, it's a joy.

So you're loved, uh God, we pray that you would fill us with your spirit and your joy as we go from here.

Help us to remember your presence is with us everywhere that we go, that we stand holy and righteous and loved and with no shame.

In Jesus' name we pray.

Amen.