Welcome to the defender bible study. A weekly encouragement to equip the body of Christ through the study of scripture and prayer to manifest the gospel to orphans and vulnerable children around the world. This podcast is a ministry of Lifeline Children Services where we believe that defending the fatherless begins by being rooted in God's word.

Good morning. It is Monday, December 9th, and this is Blake Wilson, Lifeline's vice president of operations. Glad to be with you guys again this morning. We're gonna jump in in our bible study and continue in the book of John. Today's gonna be John chapter 5 verses 1 through 18.

And this passage is really conveying. It's really looking through the heart of legalism and the example of the Pharisees, and how they missed a miracle, and they've really missed the Messiah because they were so caught up on the rules and regulations that they had put into place and how they had taken out of context the Lord's command earlier, that he had given to keep the Sabbath holy. And I think the reason this passage is so convicting is because we often take things out of context. We try to put them and culturize them, put them into our own view, without actually looking the heart behind the message of what Jesus actually intended as he communicated to keep the Sabbath holy. And it's a miracle that happens with the healing of a paralyzed man that was overlooked because rules were broken.

So let's jump in. We'll get John chapter 5 in the first 18 verses today. It says sometime later, Jesus went to Jerusalem for one of the Jewish festivals. Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a pool which in Aramaic is called Bethesda, and which is surrounded by 5 covered colonnades. Here, a great number of disabled people used to lie, the blind, the lame, the paralyzed.

So there's this covered colonnade with 5 covered porches, a pool in the center, you know, you think of almost a a regal setting, very official, probably very beautiful, and around this pool were what John describes as a great number of paralyzed, lame, and blind people. So I think this is also a reminder of us to look back. We just studied the story of the Samaritan woman, and we saw many times people would intentionally go around Samaria because they didn't want to interact with the Samaritans. But you saw Jesus go right into the heart of Samaria, go to the woman of the at the woman at the well, and ultimately change her her life. So he hit it head on, and I think in this situation, we see a very similar setting.

We it was no secret that there was a large number of people around the pool of Bethesda. The blind, the lame, the paralyzed were all there. Jesus could have easily bypassed this, but he went straight in, to be able to interact ultimately with this one man. So he goes straight in to enter into, a conversation with this man and it says in verse number 5, one who was there had been an invalid for 38 years. When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, do you want to get well?

So people would lay around this pool with the hope that they could get into the water and be healed. If you notice verse number 4 is left out in some Bible translations. If you're reading ESV, NIV, it's not included. But if you look in the King James version, verse number 4 is there. It was ultimately omitted because, scholars view that this was a verse to give context.

It wasn't actually a inspired verse by the Holy Spirit. So this verse was omitted. But for context, it says that an angel would go down at a certain time and stir the waters in this pool of Bethesda, and the first person who would get into the water would ultimately be healed from whatever disease they had. So there's these people would lay with a hoax that the waters would be stirred by the angel. They would get in and and become clean.

This man had been around this pool. I don't know if he had had been in the pool for 38 years, but we know that he had been an invalid for 30 8 years. And Jesus goes to him, sees him lying there, and says, do you want to get well? And I I think this is a a question, you know, that you can just say, oh, that's rhetorical, but I I think there's a healthy balance here and oral confession. You know, I think it's beneficial for us to to verbally confess, our need for Jesus.

He asked him, do you want to get do you want to get well? And I think that it is important for us to acknowledge our need for a savior. This man realized that he couldn't do anything independently. He he you'll see in the next verse, he knows that he's reliant up on somebody else to help him to get better. So Jesus asked this question, do you want to get well?

And this man responds, I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I'm trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me. So this this guy is saying, I'm I'm helpless. I can't do this by myself, but Jesus knows that he can change this man's this man's life. Verse number 8 continues when Jesus said to him, get up, pick your mat up, and walk.

So this man goes from verse 7 from just saying, my hope is in that water. My hope is in the pool of Bethesda. It's in an angel stirring the water. It's in me becoming healed so that I can walk again. That is where he found his hope, and Jesus turns it and says, no, your hope is in me.

Get up, pick up your mat, and walk. He instructs his man to do something that he is completely incapable of doing. A man who was unable to stand, he instructs to pick his mat up and walk. You know, sometimes the lord will ask us to do things that are only possible through his intervention. This man was unable to walk if it wasn't for Jesus.

He tells him to get up and walk, and at once he was cured, he picked up his mat, and he walked, and the day on which this took place was the Sabbath. So you may say why is that phrase in there, what's the big deal of the Sabbath? You know, god had instructed his children to rest on the Sabbath. We see this from the very beginning in the Pentateuch. We see instructions of keeping the Sabbath holy, but what we see here is that the Jews took this in their into their own hands and they developed a whole different level of rules.

They created little subsets and sections of rules of what what is a qualifier, what is not, what is permissible, what is not. It is so detailed and legalistic that it was unbearable, like nobody could obtain these rules. It was impossible for them to do everything that the Pharisees has created. They took what God intended for good as a day of rest, and they made it into something legalistic and unachievable to obtain. And I think there's an important lesson there for us is to take the scripture for what it says, obey it, apply it, and accept it.

It is not for us to misconstrue. Misconstrue. It is not for us to develop and contextualize. It is what it is, and let's accept it at face value. It says the Jewish leader said to the man who had been healed, it is a Sabbath.

The law forbids you to carry your mat. But he replied, the man who made me well said to me, pick up your mat and walk. So they asked him, who is this fellow who told you to pick it up and walk? Isn't that crazy that they just missed the entire miracle that happened before them? You know, this colonnade was probably a very public place, 5 covered porches, a fountain in the middle.

I'm sure the this was a a destination. People walked by daily. This man who had been sitting there again, I don't know if he was there for 38 years, but we know that he had been an invalid for 38 years. His face was no stranger. I mean, he was no stranger to these Pharisees.

They had seen him sitting there for for so many years, and the first reaction when they see this man physically standing standing before them is who told you to pick this up pick it up and walk? It wasn't celebrating. It wasn't in awe. It wasn't excitement. It was laws.

It was disobedience. It was forbiddance and reprimanding. It's so backward from what Jesus intended this to be. You know, legalism is caring more about rules than people, and you see that play out so vividly here in this passage of scripture that they cared more about the rules than they cared about this man who the lord had healed. And you're gonna continue we'll continue studying this.

A couple weeks will be in John chapter 9, I think the week after next, but John 9 16 says, some of the Pharisees said, this man is not from God, for he doesn't keep the Sabbath. They overlooked the Messiah. They let the rules override his supremacy because he didn't keep the rules. Again, it's just mind boggling to me that they missed this. But I think introspectively, it's so easy for us to miss the miracles that are happening in front of us, that we make excuses or we give reasons of why things happen that we can't accept and celebrate the miracles that the Lord is doing right in front of us.

It says the man in verse 13 who was healed had no idea who it was for Jesus has slipped away into the crowd where he was. There or later, Jesus found the man at the temple and said to him, see, you are well again. Stop sinning or something worse will happen to you. I think it's important to to stop here and just say this isn't a blanket statement. This Jesus is not saying that just because this man was sinning is is the reason why he was an invalid or why this element came over this this man.

We are all fallen. We are all broken. Yes. We all have sinned in our in our hearts. We've seen this from the very beginning in the fall in Genesis.

Jesus isn't saying that something bad happens based on how how big of a sin you've committed or what it may be. The Lord obviously knew this man's heart and knew something that he was struggling with and challenged him to say stop it. Get back on track. Follow me. But it's not a blanket statement, and you can see that in in John chapter 9, we'll be there next week.

It's another healing that Jesus, performed a miracle when he healed the blind man from birth, and and the disciples asked him, like, who sinned? This man or his parents that he was born blind? And Jesus' response in John 93, neither this man nor his parents sinned, but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him. So this blind man was blind because this is part of the master plan. The Lord knew that he was going to heal this man, and it was part of him, displaying his power and displaying his might.

So Lord works in different ways and heals people in different season. Verse 15 says, the man went away and told the Jewish leaders that it was Jesus who had made him well. So because Jesus was doing these things on the Sabbath, the Jewish leaders began to persecute him. In his defense, Jesus said to them, my father is always at his work to this very day, and I too am working. You see, God made the Sabbath for man because we need to rest, but God doesn't need to rest.

He says in verse 17, my father is always working to this very day, and I too am working. So he is saying, I don't need to rest. The Sabbath doesn't mean anything to me. I it was an instruction that I gave to my people, but I am the Messiah. I don't need I don't need to rest.

And it says in verse 18, for this reason they tried all the more to kill him. Not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling god his own father, making himself equal to god. You see in verse 17, he called God his father. He was claiming his deity. He was claiming his equality with God.

You see, we are we are God's children as well, but we are his adopted children. We were adopted into his family because of what Jesus did on the cross for us, but Jesus was his begotten son. So he he came from God and is equal to God. He's the exact representation of God. So we are his adopted children.

Jesus was his begotten son and was equal to him. So, again, I love the book of John. If you look on in John chapter 10, it says, I this is the words of Jesus, I and the father are 1. And, again, the Jewish opponents in verse 31 picked up stones to stone him, but Jesus said to them, I have shown you so many good works from the father, for which of these do you stone me? We are not stoning you for any good work, they replied, but for blasphemy, because you, a mere man, claim to be God.

They couldn't handle that Jesus was the Messiah. A Messiah in their eyes would never break the Sabbath. He would obey the rules and do exactly what they had created. You see, they were trying to get the Messiah, Jesus, god in flesh, to obey man made rules. And because he didn't obey their rules, they could not contextualize that he was truly god.

They heard the truth, but they refused to believe it. And that's our challenge today is believe it. We have the complete canon of scripture. We have the complete story of the writings of the gospels, the documents documentaries of Jesus in the flesh, the miracles that happened even as we read this morning. May we believe it, trust in it, and rest in it.

We have the hope of the gospel. Let us not become legalistic, but let us celebrate the completeness of the gospel and the goodness of Jesus and the miracles that he performs. As we close out today, we're gonna spend some time in prayer. So let's close out our time today. God, thank you for, Lord, just your goodness.

We thank you for, Lord, the the gospels and for how we are able to see you working even today. Lord, may we reflect on what we've what we have read, what we will continue to read as we study the book of John and the miracles that took place of the healing of the deaf, the lame, the blind, the paralyzed. And, lord, may we understand and celebrate the fact that those same things are possible today. You are the same god. You have the same power.

And, lord, may we believe just as this paralyzed man believed and was healed. Lord, may you challenge our our hearts. Lord, may we not get caught up in traditions or the things that maybe we have have been taught. The lord, may we read the scripture for what it is, apply it to our hearts, and trust and know that you are the Messiah, that you have died, you were buried, and you were raised again on the 3rd day. And, lord, now you are seated on your throne in heaven, and you will soon return.

So, Jesus, as we wait in expectation for that day, lord, may we work diligently to proclaim your message, to take the gospel to the ends of the earth, and to celebrate the miracles that you have performed and will perform. God, use us to, to do your work or to be your hands and feet, to be aware of those around us, and to spread this gospel message. We ask these things in your name. Amen.

Thanks again for joining us for the Defender Bible Study. If you enjoy making this podcast a part of your weekly routine, we'd love for you to take a moment to subscribe, rate, and review the defender bible study to make it easier for more people to find. For more resources and information on how you and your church can partner with Lifeline, please visit us at lifelinechild.org. Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter by searching for Lifeline Child. You can email us directly at info at lifelinechild.org.

We look forward to seeing you again next week for the defender bible

Study.