Bible Study - Encounter (2) - JESUS Restored My Life - John 2:5-11, 19-21 - March 12, 2023

 

Bible Study – Encounter (2) – JESUS Restored My Life - March 12, 2023

This is lesson two (2) in our series entitled “My Encounter With JESUS.”

Our focus scripture is John 2:5-11, 19-21.

JESUS restored what was broken in my life.

Have you encountered JESUS? If so, what was it like?

Often, I have found that those of us who have attended church for many years either have built upon the solid rock of JESUS but some may have built upon notions. Notions can be very misleading. The religious leaders in JESUS day were looking for and expecting the coming of the promised Messiah. But when JESUS began HIS earthly ministry, many religious leaders thought HE was an imposter. Why? It was because HE did not fit their definition of the promised Messiah, yet they had the scripture that gave them certain clues.

When we, as humans, try to figure out GOD and JESUS, absent from scripture, the human mind can construct all sorts of scenarios. That is why GOD’S Word, the Bible, must be our true roadmap.

Our study begins with a powerful event that took place in Jerusalem as recorded In John 5:1 but first let’s read John 4:46-54 that gives background leading into John 5:1 which begins “after this.”

Let’s read John 4:46-54:

⁴⁶ He (JESUS) went again to Cana of Galilee, where he had turned the water into wine. There was a certain royal official whose son was ill at Capernaum. ⁴⁷ When this man heard that Jesus had come from Judea into Galilee, he went to him and pleaded with him to come down and heal his son, since he was about to die.

⁴⁸ Jesus told him, “Unless you people see signs and wonders, you will not believe.”

Very important! JESUS is more than signs and wonders. HE is all about faith. So, what was JESUS teaching the royal official and others? FAITH!

⁴⁹ “Sir,” the official said to him, “come down before my boy dies.”

⁵⁰ “Go,” Jesus told him, “Your son will live.” The man believed what^[n] Jesus said to him and departed.

The “man” departed. The man’s rank had nothing to do with the fact that JESUS healed his son. Often, we think our stature in life gives us a leg up on having access to JESUS. What is important to JESUS and GOD? Obedience! Trust! Faith in HIM! Action!

JESUS said “GO” – “your son will live” - “the man believed what JESUS said to him and departed.” JESUS is all about faith. JESUS taught HIS disciples that it does not take much faith to move mountain-sized issues in their lives and in the lives of others. Have you seen a mustard seed? It is very small.

What was the message JESUS wanted to teach? JESUS did not have to be physically present for miracles to take place. JESUS just spoke and the boy was healed. WOW! This is a powerful message to us today. Often our notions limit the work of JESUS in our lives. Faith is the key!!!

⁵¹ While he was still going down, his servants met him saying that his boy was alive. ⁵² He asked them at what time he got better. “Yesterday at one in the afternoon^[o] the fever left him,” they answered. ⁵³ The father realized this was the very hour at which Jesus had told him, “Your son will live.” So, he himself believed, along with his whole household.

What was the result? Salvation came to the royal official and his household!

⁵⁴ Now this was also the second sign Jesus performed after he came from Judea to Galilee.

Heads of households/families hold a very valuable position in life. Often as you go, so goes your family. Do you know JESUS as your Savior? If not, why not? Ask HIM to come into your life, forgive you for your sins and to lead you through life by the indwelling Holy Spirit. Now you are a Spirit-born child of GOD. Eternal life through faith in JESUS is the greatest gift any person can have to equip him/her to lead their child or spouse to a saving faith in JESUS.

Please do not be a stumbling block but be a conduit for the love of JESUS to flow through you to your family and others, as GOD gives you opportunity. But first you must know the truth before you can lead others to discover that truth.

Now, back to our scripture.

Let’s read John 5:2-7:

5 After this, a Jewish festival took place, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. ² By the Sheep Gate in Jerusalem there is a pool, called Bethesda^[a] in Aramaic, which has five colonnades. ³ Within these lay a large number of the disabled—blind, lame, and paralyzed.^[b]

The Sheep Gate was where the sheep were led through on their way to be sacrificed for the sins of the people coming to the Temple.

[Notice verse 4 is missing from this version (CSB) with this explanation: John 5:4 Some manuscripts include here, wholly or in part, paralyzed—and they waited for the moving of the waters. Others say ⁴ From time to time an angel of the Lord would come down and stir up the waters. The first one into the pool after each such disturbance would be cured of whatever disease they had.]

⁵ One man was there who had been disabled for thirty-eight years. ⁶ When Jesus saw him lying there and realized he had already been there a long time, he said to him, “Do you want to get well?”

⁷ “Sir,” the disabled man answered, “I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, but while I’m coming, someone goes down ahead of me.”

This man had been disabled for thirty-eight years. He depended on others to get him into the stirred-up waters but no one helped him. When he tried, others got ahead of him.

We do not have to wait on some physical act before we approach JESUS with our needs? JESUS is the living water WHO is available 24/7.

The Holy Spirit led JESUS to this desperate man. Today the Holy Spirit leads us, who know the truth and have been Spirit-born, to those who need what we have received.

JESUS was at the right place at the right time to minister to this desperate man. What did JESUS say to this man? -----

Let’s read John 5:8-11:

⁸ “Get up,” Jesus told him, “Pick up your mat and walk.” ⁹ Instantly the man got well, picked up his mat, and started to walk.

JESUS simply gave the man a command “Get up and pick up your mat and walk.” Once JESUS uttered those words, the man had a choice to make. He could either respond to JESUS, question HIM or do what JESUS told him.

Many people are waiting for those of us who know the truth to share the Good News of JESUS with them or meet them at their point of need. FATHER, help us to respond to the needs of others.

The Jews were under the law but a new day was coming when JESUS would usher in GRACE! Spirit-born people live under GOD’S grace through faith in JESUS. I am so glad!

Jealousy spawns’ opposition and the law was ridged.

Now that day was the Sabbath, ¹⁰ and so the Jews said to the man who had been healed, “This is the Sabbath. The law prohibits you from picking up your mat.” We know that “⁹ Instantly the man got well, picked up his mat, and started to walk.” After thirty-eight years, healing was instant and he was fully restored.

¹¹ He replied, “The man who made me well told me, ‘Pick up your mat and walk.’”

The law wants people to remain under the law but grace gives people the freedom to live their lives under the leadership of the Holy Spirit.

So, the Jewish leaders wanted to know just who this person was who gave this poor, needy man the orders to do work on the Sabbath. So, they pressed this man hard for an answer ----

Let’s read John 5:12-16:

¹² “Who is this man who told you, ‘Pick up your mat and walk’?” they asked. ¹³ But the man who was healed did not know who it was, because Jesus had slipped away into the crowd that was there.^[c]

¹⁴ After this, Jesus found him in the temple and said to him, “See, you are well. Do not sin anymore, so that something worse doesn’t happen to you.” ¹⁵ The man went and reported to the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well. ¹⁶ Therefore, the Jews began persecuting Jesus^[d] because he was doing these things on the Sabbath.

The Jewish inquisitor pressed the man hard to identify the person who had told him to “pick up his matt”. But the man did not know until JESUS found him. The man went straight to the Jews.

So, what do we read? JESUS located the man in the temple and had a message for him. “See, you are well. Do not sin anymore, so that something worse doesn’t happen to you.” ¹⁵ The man went and reported to the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well.”

It was important that the man, who was healed, to know who had healed him.

Should the healed man have kept quiet? NO! The religious leaders needed to know that JESUS was The ONE who had healed him. Why? It was a sign to the religious Jews that healing this man was a sign of the promised Messiah. Proof that JESUS was the promised Messiah and had come. Rather than rejoicing, what did these religious leaders do?

¹⁶ Therefore, the Jews began persecuting Jesus^[d] because he was doing these things on the Sabbath.

Religion can blind us to the truth. There are many who follow the rituals but never find the truth in JESUS. JESUS gives, all who ask HIM, forgiveness for their sins and then HE forgets their sins and restores them to walk in the fulness of a new Spirit-born life with JESUS. They are new and their old life is gone. Their new life in CHRIST is just that, “new.” Old things have passed away and behold all things are new.

You even smell great, as recorded in 2 Corinthians 2:15:

¹⁵ For to God we are the fragrance of Christ among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing.

Oh, my you smell so good!!!

Let’s read John 5:17-23:

¹⁷ Jesus responded to them, “My Father is still working, and I am working also.” ¹⁸ This is why the Jews began trying 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.

The religion blinds. We get caught up in the mechanics of worship rather than the joy of knowing that we have been Spirit-born through faith in JESUS. It is the indwelling Holy Spirit WHO gives the Spirit-born person this joy and confirms and seals his or her salvation.

¹⁹ Jesus replied, “Truly I tell you, the Son is not able to do anything on his own, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father^[e] does, the Son likewise does these things. ²⁰ For the Father loves the Son and shows him everything he is doing, and he will show him greater works than these so that you will be amazed. ²¹ And just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so the Son also gives life to whom he wants. ²² The Father, in fact, judges no one but has given all judgment to the Son, ²³ so that all people may honor the Son just as they honor the Father. Anyone who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him.

WOW!!! This scripture is loaded with truth. JESUS did “only what HE saw what HIS FATHER was doing.” That gives us a huge clue for following JESUS. When we see GOD at work, that is our invitation to join HIM in that work. The Holy Spirit opens the Spiritual eyes of those who are Spirit-born so they can join HIM in what HE is doing.

Notice in verses 22-23, “²² The Father, in fact, judges no one but has given all judgment to the Son, ²³ so that all people may honor the Son just as they honor the Father. Anyone who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him.”

Some people say well “I worship or believe in God.” JESUS defines the ONE TRUE GOD, “I AM.” Faith in JESUS is the only path to eternal salvation.

Some people want to pick and choose what they believe about what the Bible says, which usually best fits their lifestyle.

Not to be crass but my wife and I ate in a small restaurant in Alaska that had a sign over its door “Take it or leave it.” It was the only restaurant in the town and the food was very good.

If you have not asked JESUS into your life, please do so now. If you have but have not been living for HIM, pause and rededicate your life to HIM. Keep in mind that GOD desires truth because HE is truth. Salvation is only through faith in JESUS. Do not let Satan talk you into any other way to salvation because it will be a lie.

Blessings!!!