Notes:

House of Grace    See Session Slides Here

• Jesus came to a place called Bethesda, i.e. house of mercy or house of grace.
• Occasionally something disturbed the pool. People believed that at the time of this agitation, the first person to get in the pool would be healed. Note: the NIV finishes at word ‘paralyzed’ (Jn.5:3) until Jn.5:5.
• Did an angel really stir the pool? If you are focused on this you are focused on the wrong miracle!

The poverty of the law to heal

• Jn. 5:7. Many were disappointed at the pool. None more so than this man. He spent 38 years waiting.
• This demonstrates the poverty of the law. It is powerless to heal.
• The man was like this for 38 years, the same time the Jews wandered in the wilderness,  Deut. 2:14.
• He was at the very edge of healing but all his efforts to get into the pool were unsuccessful. Similarly, the law leaves us at the very edge of salvation but falling short. ‘One thing you lack…’ See also  Gal. 3:21.

What the law could not do grace can!

• What the law could not do, God did through His Son. Jesus brings us to the true house of grace.
• Jn. 5:6. Jesus saw him. This man was so weak as well as paralyzed. Jesus picked the most hopeless case.
• After 38 years he lost all his friends. Our helper is the Holy Spirit. People can point us to Christ, but not be a substitute for him. Christ-dependency is the goal of all Christian ministry.
• Jesus first asked the man if he wanted to be made whole. Maybe when Jesus asked the question the man thought that Jesus was offering to help him in the water.
• After 38 years hope had probably died. Maybe he was happy in his comfort zone. He was asking, ‘Are you ready to change?’ Not are you willing to make yourself whole, but be made whole.

The gospel is the power of God unto salvation

• Instead of saying ‘I’ll help you into the water’ He said, ‘Get up; pick up your bed and walk.’
• Jesus gave a commandment. The gospel is a command to ‘Believe!’ Evangelism is a command to obey the gospel,  1 John 3:22-23;  Jn.10:16; Rom.1:5; Acts 6:7;  1 Pet.1:17;  2 Thes.1:8.
• Jesus commanded him to do 2 things: 1) Rise, take up your bed, and 2) walk. Rise: a picture of the new birth; take up your bed and walk: a picture of the new life, the new walk. Walk worthy.
• Jesus asked him to do what he could not do. But because it was Jesus who asked him he could do it.
• He was to carry that which had carried him for 38 years. He empowers us.   2 Pet.1:3. The power is not in us but in the command. When He said rise and walk the withered sinews and muscles received strength.
• Likewise, we yield our members as instruments of righteousness unto holiness. The same gospel that saves us, changes us.

Be healed; then walk worthy

• Jn. 5:10-18. The Jews had turned the law into thousands of rules.
• He who said ‘rise up’ to a man who has been paralyzed for 38 years has the right to say take up your bed and walk. If Jesus has divine authority to heal He has divine authority to command.
• He who says to me you are washed, you are clean, you are holy, also says, therefore offer your members as servants of righteousness unto holiness.
• He who says to me you are righteous, you are complete, you have been perfected forever, also says to me walk worthy.

• The Pharisees pounced on the little Sabbath violation and ignored the transformation in this man’s life.

• Jesus ‘found’ the man, i.e. He was looking for him. The two most important things are God and people. To the degree that we are self-righteous to that degree we will be void of love for God and people.
• He said to him, ‘sin no more’. Just like the woman in adultery. First, He says, ‘Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more.’ Religion turns that around.

# Answers to this quiz are found in the notes above. Click on quiz to commence. Only correct spelling is recognised. A minimum 70%  correct is required to advance to the next session.