Jesus: Our Healer

(upbeat music) - Good morning, Redland Hills. How's everybody feeling today, good? Come on, how's everybody feeling today? (audience applauding) Good heavens, man. Let's wake up. Hey, let's put our hands together for the worship team setting the table. Come on, come on, come on, come on. (audience applauding) Did a fantastic job, man. If you are new to Redland Hills, let me introduce myself. I'm one of the pastors here, Tony Mest. And if you're new, I'm pretty new. My family and I are going into nearly three months on staff here at Redland Hills. And let me just say something. If you're not aware of this, you have an incredible church, with an incredible staff, with an incredible senior pastor and elders who love your faces off, man, every single day. And so it's an honor. (audience applauding) It's an honor just to be a part of it. So we're going to be jumping into week five. And I want to introduce this message today in John chapter five with a story.

There was this man and he took his family to a circus and they enjoyed the circus time, right? Cotton Candy popcorn, seeing all the clowns and all these gymnastics and gymnast do these flips and things like that. And so it was a great day. And at the end of it, they walk out the back of this massive tent. And they see three massive elephants. These elephants were a part of the circus. And what the dad noticed was that there was this rope. And it wasn't that big, it wasn't that strong compared to the elephants, but it had each of those elephants tied together on one leg. Now here's the facts. These elephants, thousands and thousands and thousands of pounds, tons, right? They're huge, they're massive, they're incredibly strong. And yet they're tied together with this single little rope. He didn't see a cage, he didn't see change, just the rope. And what shocked him is the fact that they could break free of this rope, but yet they weren't breaking free of this rope. And so he asks the trainer, hey, why don't they escape? Like, why won't they break these, are you not afraid that they'll break these and escape and just go create, you know, go nuts and create mayhem? And he said, well, let me tell you this, we've had these elephants since they were young.

And we've had that same rope tied around their legs their entire life. And so when they were little, they didn't have the power to break that rope. But as they've grown up, they still don't recognize that they have the power to break this rope, because this is just their life now. This is what they've come to believe is that they don't have the power. And so here's the facts, is that the elephants were no longer trapped by the rope, they were trapped by what they believed, right? And so as we start today's word, I believe there's a lot of people in the room, a lot of people online and a lot of people in the world that live their life the exact same way. They're trapped in shame or fear or addiction or by wounds of the past. And it's not because Jesus can't free them, it's just because they've lived so long in this season and they're stuck in it and they feel some type of way that now they believe freedom isn't possible. And this is just how they live, this is just their life. And so in John chapter five, we see Jesus, he steps into this moment, this place filled with hurting people and disabled people. And he approaches a man, he notices this man, he learns about this man who has been stuck in the same sickly condition for a very, very long time. And he asks him a question, do you wanna get well?

Do you wanna get well? Do you wanna feel better about your life? Do you wanna be healed? Now here's the deal, is that question, we're gonna talk about it, that question is much deeper than physical healing. Because Jesus is not just trying to give this man relief, what he's actually trying to do is he's asking him, do you want an entirely different life one that is a living testimony? He's not so worried about the physical issues. He's more concerned. And so that's what we're gonna impact. Let me do this today. Let me pray. I know we've done a lot of praying, but I like praying in church. So let me pray as we set the tone of today's message. Keep warm today. Thank you for the gospel that will go forth. Your words, not man's words, but your words, God. Holy Spirit inspired words will go forth and will impact someone's world today. And God, I pray as it is planting a seed in someone's heart and their mind father, maybe today they're not impacted in this very moment. But we do know that the gospel's pretty clear that the word does not return void. And so as it goes forth, God today, I pray that it would get in their spirit,

get in their heart, get in their mind. And at some point in their life that that seed would begin to grow God. And they would learn, Father, how much you love them through the story of this man on a mat. Thank you again, Father, that is about you. It's your glory, God, and all we've done is set the table for you to do what you can do. In your name we pray, everyone said, amen. So chapter five starts with this man on a mat, and we're gonna unpack that a little bit, but he's been there for 38 years, 38 years of disappointment. I can't even, I'm 40, I can't even imagine living on this mat in the same place day in and day out for 38 years. And all he's doing every single day is he's living with disappointment. He's watching all of these people get healed or their life move forward. And every single day his condition stays the same. 38 years of that. And the Bible says that inside the city of Jerusalem, there was this pool of Bethesda. And this pool was a place where many sick and disabled people would gather, and they were hoping for healing whenever this water in this pool would stir. Now, it sounds cool. It sounds like there might be a lot of hope, but to be honest with you, all that there's thousands of people are gathered

on these porches surrounding this pool. And so when I read it, all I see is it's become a place filled with suffering, waiting, and desperate hope. It might be a place of healing, but for a lot of people, especially this man who's been laying there for 38 years, now I'm just desperate. Now I'm just waiting. Now I'm just suffering. And so whether it was tradition or belief surrounding this water, people came looking for a miracle. And then Jesus steps into the scene. And what he does is he shows us that true healing was never coming through the pool itself, but it was coming through King Jesus. And so this is what he says in verse five, or this is what it says. It says one of the men lying there had been sick for 38 years. And when Jesus saw him or noticed him or learned about him, he knew he had been ill for a very long time. Now, let me say this. I think that alone is powerful enough to just stop for a second and ponder and really look at how incredible Jesus was then and is now, because the man had been sitting there for 38 years. So my guess is he's starting to blend into the background. And nobody notices him. But Jesus noticed him. Jesus walked towards him.

He had been laying there for 38 years. And Jesus learned about him and walked towards him immediately. So Jesus saw the years, Jesus saw the disappointment. And Jesus saw the silent frustration that nobody else saw. And here's what I want you to understand that I get maybe you have a smile on your face today, but I want you to understand that our King Jesus sees beneath the surface. And I know that there are moments in your life where you feel like you have blended into the background, but Jesus sees you. The cross was for you. He hasn't forgotten about you. And when you put on the public smiles and you hide that season of pain and distress and spiritual dryness that you're going through, Jesus sees the exhaustion that people are carrying while they're trying to hold it all together. But here's what I love is that Jesus did not just simply approach this man to comfort him in his condition. Jesus approached him to deliver him out of it. Not just to be there, hey, it's gonna be okay. You're gonna make it. Do you want me to buy you a new mat? 'Cause this one's nasty. I came to do something about this. I came to change your life. And then it goes on and it says, Now, I'm gonna be honest with you,

and hopefully I don't fall dead here on the stage. That seems like a strange, dumb question. Is Jesus, and he has a reason for saying it, but it seems like a crazy question. Of course, 38 years. Of course, he wants to be free of this. Of course, he wants to be healed, but Jesus is exposing something much deeper than the physical pain and suffering this man had been experiencing for 38 years. After years on that mat, the greatest battle was no longer physical, it's internal for this man. It's no longer just about the physical suffering. He had developed something going on in his heart. And so what has happened is the man learned how to survive without expecting transformation. He learned how to survive in the disappointment. He adjusted to the limitation, and he adjusted to watching others move forward while he remained stuck. So this was just his life, and he was used to it. And here's what I want you to know this morning, and it may be you. Sometimes people can become so familiar with brokenness and survival that freedom itself begins to feel impossible. And so all we do is we just live in it, and we say, "This is my life." And so for 38 years, this situation, this season had done more than attack his body. It had slowly drained his expectation

until disappointment had become his identity. And so before this man could ever walk, there was some chains of hopelessness that was gonna have to be broken off his life. He was gonna have to live differently. So I don't know if you guys know this, but when explorers or hikers are caught in extreme cold, they sometimes experience something very dangerous called cold resignation. Cold resignation, and so after fighting for survival for so long, they start to give up, and they start to believe this is just it. This is how I've convinced that I cannot make it. This is just how it's going to be. And so the greatest danger is no longer the environment around them. The greatest danger is the hopelessness that has settled in them. It's no longer about the environment. And so for us this morning, let me just say this, that there are many people, spiritually, that's where we are. Cold resignation, maybe not outwardly destroyed, just inwardly convinced that nothing is ever going to change. And you can hear this immediately in this man's response to Jesus' question. This is what he says, I can't, sir. John chapter five, verse seven, I can't, sir. I can't, I know you want, I wanna be well, but I can't, I can't get well.

For I have no one to put me into the water when it bubbles up and when it stirs up, someone else always gets there ahead of me. Boy, listen to the language. Listen to this guy, I can't always, nobody. This is just how my life is. And I wanna get well and I wanna feel better, but this is just my life now. And hopefully you can see that, Jesus. This is just who I am. It's a defeated language. 38 years had done more than weak in his body somewhere along the way. Survival had replaced expectation and his limitation had become his new normal. This is just the way I live. And honestly, I'll speak to myself and for myself. First, I will get into those moments. It is a temptation that I think all of us lean into at some point in our life because after enough disappointment, people stop expecting things to change. We stop thinking that freedom is possible and we start expecting failure. We start expecting rejection. We start expecting spiritual dryness and life to remain the same. And so the mindset is just, I guess this is just how my marriage is. I guess it's just how my household is gonna be.

I guess this is just how my kids are gonna be. I guess it's just how my job's gonna be. This is my personality. This is just who I am. And that's what we start to believe about ourselves in our season. It has beaten us down into this cold resignation I'm too different. I've been through too much. This is just who I am. And the cold resignation sets in. But here's what I love is that Jesus didn't argue with the man's excuses. All he did was, hey, I'm commanding you to do this. He didn't argue with him. He didn't ask any questions about that. This is what he says, says, Jesus told him to stand up, pick up your mat and walk. Exclamation point, he must be yelling at him. Pick up your mat and walk. Let me tell you what this man, Jesus was doing for this man. He was calling him out of the identity that he had learned to live with. That's what he was doing. He was calling him. Jesus met him where he was, but if you can't see this for yourself already, let me tell you this. He loved him too much and refused to leave him there. I know you're broken. I know this is just the way you think it is, but I have a greater testimony waiting for you on the other side of picking up the mat. Pick up the mat. And the Bible says that instantly in verse nine, the man was healed. Exclamation point. He rolled up his sleeping mat and began walking. Exclamation point. This is a pretty exciting moment. We got exclamation points all over the place. This is incredible. Can I just say this? This is where faith becomes real because faith is not just believing that Jesus has the power. Faith responds when Jesus speaks. And faith gets up when everything in the natural says down. The enemy, the devil, who is a liar and a thief who comes to steal, kill, and destroy and tells you this is just the way it is after 38 years. Your marriage is over. Your kids are done. Your job is over. Your finances are done. But Jesus has the ultimate say in the authority over what's done in my life, not you. And so we have to believe that faith responds when Jesus speaks. The miracle began the moment the man trusted the word of God more than the history of his condition. Can you imagine the moment after 38 years? How incredible in just a few words what Jesus did for him? 38 years. I don't know what other medical stuff he looked into worldly medicine and voodoo water whatever he did to try to to gain some

significance in his life and no longer be lame for 38 years. But in just a few words Jesus changes his entire life in one moment what carried him for decades became evidence of what Jesus brought him out of. It became a testimony of God's power. And so here's what I want you to know that is the power of Jesus. That is how powerful our God is after 38 years of limitation. It had been shattered by just a few words from Jesus. And what may have been shame and fear and what may be addiction and bitterness and straw spiritual dryness for you and maybe it's held you captive for more than 38 years. None of that is greater than the authority of Christ Jesus. And so let me just say this when the world says people cannot change Jesus still speaks life into dead places. And my hope for you this morning whether you've been a believer for years for 30 minutes or you or not you will understand how powerful Jesus is that there is no other God like him. And I don't know what limitations and I don't know what you're living in and I don't know what mistake you've made. But God has the authority to bring you out of that and allow it to be your testimony of his goodness and his power. And watch how many lives it'll change if you'll change your mindset and to believe what Jesus says and move when he speaks instead of always going back to this is the history of my condition and my life and this is who I am. We're going to talk about that in just a second. The command is incredibly important after the healing. Let's back up for a second. PICK UP YOUR M- all right, I'll see you later. You're good. Go do whatever you want. But the command after the healing pick up your mat and walk for years, that mat represented limitation and dependency. It was evidence of what the man could not do. But after encountering Jesus, the same object now tells an entirely different story. Once what once represented weakness now is revealing the power of God. It's a mat that he slept on for 38 years. And that's just where he was for 38 years. And now it's a living testimony of how incredible God is. And here's what I want you to know is that the enemy wants people to remain attached to the old versions of themselves. He wants that long after God calls you out of it, he wants you to stay attached to what was. He wants you to remain in the shame. And so he keeps speaking it over your life.

He keeps speaking fear over your life so that it will control you. And he wants past failures to continue shaping your present identity. But when Jesus makes someone new, he says, leave that behind. The old life is gone and there is a new life. And second Corinthians, anyone who belongs to who Christ Jesus has become a, what a new person, the old life is gone and the new life has begun. So pick up your mat and walk. Forget all the pull of Bethesda, keep all that walk and move. Be a testimony of God's power and what he's done in your life. And can I just say this as somebody who does this often, too many believers spend their lives revisiting what Jesus has already redeemed them from. We spend too many times in our life. Well, look what I was and look who I am. And, but maybe that this is my family history and none, I redeemed you of that. You're a new person in me. That's just a testimony of who you were and now who you are in me. Because in your weakness, my power is made perfect. You got to remember I'm in control now. You're following me. So that's the old you. They continue to carry the mindset of bondage even while standing in freedom, but faith moves differently. Faith stops measuring the future by pain of the past. Faith is different. It trusts what Jesus said more than the circumstances that were. And this is where that man is after 38 years. He had spent 38 years, decades next to this pull watching people's lives be changed. And after one encounter with Jesus, he couldn't stay there anymore. I can't stay here anymore. I can't be like this anymore. He told me to get up and go. So I'm going to get up and go. And so I want you to know there is a moment where every believer must decide the same thing. Will I continue to return to the place Jesus has called me out of? Or will I now walk in the new light that he has already spoken over me? Do I just continue to live in this old nasty life? That's who I was or I'm going to live in the newness of Christ Jesus.

Because let me say this, the mat may remind you of where you've been, but it no longer has the permission to tell you who you are. It's a testimony. That's not who you are. I'm new in Christ Jesus. And and and after all this, you would expect a celebration like 38 years on a mat. And you would expect like this, exclamation points everywhere. You would expect a celebration. We're throwing a party. This is amazing. And then there's some religious leaders that step on the scene in the atmosphere changes immediately. And so they become angry that he's carrying this mat around on the Sabbath instead of celebrating the healing that had taken place because of Christ Jesus. This is what it says. So the Jewish leaders objected. They said to the man who was cured, you can't work on the Sabbath. The law doesn't allow you to carry around that sleeping mat. How big was this mat? Oh my gosh. Let me let you in on some. It was not it had nothing to do with the mat. It may have been. What treats you? Imagine after 38 years seeing this man healed, and you're more concerned about the mat than the miracle. Imagine how ridiculous that is, and I want you to understand I need you to hear me church people in the room and watching on. You say I'm a follower of Christ, church people. That's what happens when you have religion and without a relationship with Jesus. I want you to understand that. 'Cause what I'm about to say is I've only been here three months, so I don't wanna hurt anybody's feelings, but this is just the biblical portion of this moment

where I believe what Jesus was saying to these religious leaders. And so they had become so consumed with rules and appearances and systems that they completely missed the heart of God standing in front of them. The religious leaders could quote the law and they could defend tradition and they could debate theology, but they failed to recognize the very Messiah the scriptures were pointing to. And so all they were doing was focused on this and A and B and C that they totally missed out. Hey, this is what we wanted. This is what we learned. This is the structure we put in. This is how things are supposed to be done. 'Cause this is what we said and we totally missed the whole point of all of this that it ain't about us. And that's what they missed. Jesus was exposing the danger of outward religion without inward transformation and the danger still exists today in the local church and in the world. And I want you to know something. I said earlier that, man, what's happening here, I hate to say this, it doesn't happen at every church. What is happening here is abnormal. God is doing something incredible in this church and in this church body and in this community.

And I cannot believe that we get to be a part of it. How incredible is that? There are lives that are being changed. And when lives are being changed, that means new people are coming. And when the gospel is being preached without apology, people will walk in and their lives will change and it will have growth. And what comes with growth is stretching and change. But let me just say this, if we're not careful, it can become real easy to focus on the methods and the preferences and the routines of what was than the miracle of what God is actually doing in the people's lives. And we have to recognize that this is about life change and dead hearts coming to life. The religious leaders were so focused on the fact that the man was carrying the mat on the Sabbath that they completely missed the fact that the man who had been broken for 38 years was healed and transformed. And so sometimes we as believers can face the same temptation today. We can become so focused on preserving what feels similar, excuse me, familiar that we fail to celebrate the transformation happening right in front of us. But the mission was never and has never been about protecting comfort and maintaining our routine. The mission is about King Jesus encountering people,

people encountering King Jesus and being changed by his power forever. And that's why later on in chapter five, this is what he says, he says that Jesus, he says, you search the scriptures because you think you give eternal life, but the scripture points to me. And yet you refuse to come to me to receive this life. That may be some of the saddest words of this entire chapter. That these religious leaders studied the word and they rejected the Savior, the word was revealing. Some of the saddest words, and that's what this, this proves something, that it's possible to be a round truth and still resist transformation. It's possible to see King Jesus. It's possible to sit in a church every single day and call ourselves a Christian and not really live the life. It's possible, it's possible. It's possible to become so familiar with religion and church that we slowly lose the closeness with Jesus. But Jesus never came to call people into a lifeless religion or empty routine. He called people to walk in him with relationship. Now, as we close this, There's a man who is broken and has bought into, this is just how my life is, but I think he knows he needs help because he's stuck. I'm here. I can't. And then there are religious leaders who are standing nearby watching this happen or watching him carry this mat, and they don't know they need Jesus. They think they're right. And so there's this broken man who is lying there and is stuck.

And there's religious people think they got it all together. One is physically stuck. The others are spiritually stuck. One had 38 years and he was unable to walk. He was sick. And the others had been spent years surrounded by the scripture, surrounded by what they had been taught to study and missed the entire point of the scriptures. They missed the entire point. And so both conditions still exist today because there are people that are exhausted in their pain and in their shame and in their disappointment or their spiritual spiritually weary. And there are other people that look spiritually strong on the outside and yet deep down they have settled into a routine without a real closeness with Jesus. Two different types of people, but I want you to know today that Jesus did not come to simply improve our lives and make us more religious. He came to bring dead hearts to life and he came to give us a living testimony and he came to give us new life and the old life is dead. And so I can leave my mat behind and I can celebrate those as a Christian who leave their mat behind and their life is changed and maybe things aren't going the way that I thought they should. But this is all about King Jesus. So what? This is about him. It's not about me. It's not about my preferences. It's about you, King Jesus. What do you want done? You change their life. How can I celebrate that? How can I be a part of this? Jesus steps into the brokenness of our lives and into this world and he carried what we could never heal on our own. And he took our sin and our shame and our judgment upon himself so that we could be forgiven, restored and made new. And when he rose again, he proved that neither sin nor death would ever have the final word. And so whether someone feels broken today in the room or online, like that man who is laying on a mat for 38 years or spiritually distant, like these religious leaders, the invitation is still the same. Come to Jesus. My favorite part about all of this is that he noticed the sick and he went to the sick. And he noticed the religious leaders and he went to them too. There may have been a different outcome, but he didn't avoid them. Here's what I know is that Jesus loves us. And he doesn't want us to be this heartless religious people in a local church. And he also doesn't want to leave us on a mat of brokenness. And the same Savior who said, "Do you want to get well?" The same Savior who said, "Then you need to get up, get that mat, and walk. You have been healed." Is the same Savior that is calling people out of bondage and out of hopelessness and into a new life today. And I want you to know that Jesus is still changing lives. He is our healer. And you don't have to stay where you are today. I don't care what you've been through. I don't care what the enemy is feeding you. Because when God speaks into your life and you respond,

you get up and you walk and you never have to live on that mat ever again. That is the old you. You were new in Christ Jesus. And if you're in the room you go, "I don't know this Jesus as my Savior." Romans 10, 9 and 10 is pretty clear that if I want to know him as my Savior, I'm going to declare it with my mat. Sin live a sinless life here on earth And if I believe that and declare that with my mouth, I'll be saved And if you're in here and you go, I know Jesus he is my savior Then let's celebrate those that are getting up off the mat and Don't you allow the enemy to talk you back onto that mat? You speak life over yourself You speak life over those people around you and you celebrate those hey I know life is tough and you just came out of it, but look how God how good he is Let me celebrate the let me pour into you. Let me help you make you a disciple of Christ Jesus Let me show you what the word of God says. Let me spend some time with you Let me celebrate you forget all the routines. Don't worry about all the systems and stuff be willing to change be willing to go Be willing to move when faith says move when Jesus speaks Don't get caught in your routines Don't get caught and this is the way it should have been and this is how it's always been because that's not how Jesus moves What an incredible God we serve and hopefully you see that today and John Chapter five, let me pray for you father today God, thank you so much for your word Thank you King Jesus for what you've done Thank you King Jesus For the incredible story true story and John chapter five and We're believing today father That there's people in the room or watching the line that doesn't know you as their savior They'll come to you today father Those that are in the room and again watching online. We are believers and God that we won't get stuck in the old past of who we were God and those that are now getting up off the mat that they'll recognize

That Jesus is now giving them a testimony to share with the world of his goodness and his power and that us Believers will celebrate them and do whatever we can to help disciple them and Plug them into the local church and into the body of Christ. Thank you, father for what you've done today in your name We pray amen