“Get Up! Pick Up Your Mat And Walk”

<John 5:1-9,13-14>.

1 Some time later, Jesus went up to Jerusalem for one of the Jewish festivals. 2 Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a pool, which in Aramaic is called Bethesda and which is surrounded by five covered colonnades. 3 Here a great number of disabled people used to lie—the blind, the lame, the paralyzed. [4] 5 One who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. 6 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?” 7 “Sir,” the invalid replied, “I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me.” 8 Then Jesus said to him, “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.” 9 At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked. The day on which this took place was a Sabbath….

13 The man who was healed had no idea who it was, for Jesus had slipped away into the crowd that was there. 14 Later Jesus found him at the temple and said to him, “See, you are well again. Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you.”

Why did Jesus work miracles? 

1) To show WHO HE IS, so that the gospel can be validated.

* “Signs” – To attest to Jesus’ divinity.

* <Jn 14:11> … at least believe on the evidence of the works (signs) themselves.

* <Mt 11:4-6>: 4 Jesus replied, “Go back and report to John what you hear and see: 5 The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is proclaimed to the poor. 6 Blessed is anyone who does not stumble on account of me.”

2) To illustrate God’s spiritual works upon man (i.e. to Save his soul)

* <Jn 5:20>: … he will show him even greater works than these, so that you will be amazed.

* <Mk 8:36>: What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul?

* <Jn 5:14>: “See, you are well again. Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you.”

Quick Background:

* Many sickly people were in Jerusalem, near the Holy Temple.

* Legendary belief in Bethesda Pool (water stirred? Angels?)

* The sickly were all bought into the legend, yet no one notice Jesus.

The invalid man at the pool of Bethesda

* Had an infirmity for 38 years.

* Were in that state because of Sin.

1) He is terribly miserable.

2) He is totally helpless.

3) He lost all sense of discernment and cling on every possible solution.

<Eph 4:14>: … blown here and there by every wind of teaching.

<Ro 7:18,24>: For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out… What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death?

The Lord Jesus Christ who came to the pool of Bethesda

1) Our Lord Jesus came uninvited

*  <Ro 5:8>: But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

2) Mercy and compassion of Jesus

* <Jn 5:6>: When Jesus SAW Him lying there…

* <Jn 3:16>: For God so loved the World, that he gave His one and only Son…

* Only God truly knows the depth of man’s problem.

* <Lk 19:10>: For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.

3) Sovereignty of our Lord

* <Ro 9:15>: God will have mercy on whom He has mercy, and HE will have compassion on whom He has compassion.

* Knowing God’s sovereignty in showing mercy and compassion brings repentance.

The Salvation and Deliverance that Jesus brings

1) Jesus didn’t use the pool at all, but simply said: “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk”.

2) Put down all human competition.

3) Deal with the old man and spur us to live by that new man.

* Jesus said: “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk”.