Introduction:
- There’s a little boy who is paralyzed. His family is poor, and they can’t afford to take him to the specialists who might be able to do something to help him. They’re listening to the radio one day in their barely-running junker of a car, and they hear something that gives them hope. An anonymous donor is willing to pay for treatments for one person. The only catch is that you have to be the first person to call in to the radio station. The family swerves to the side of the road into a gas station parking lot, and the father runs to the payphone to call the toll-free number. But he’s too late. Someone already got through first. All their hope, which for a moment was through the roof—for a moment they had no worries at all because they saw that glimmer of hope—all that hope came crashing down on them.
- There’s a man, unable to walk, struck with a disease that’s left him helpless for 38 years. He’s been brought to a place where the rumor is he can be healed. But the catch is that only one person per day can be healed—and it’s on a first come, first served basis. With no one to help him, his hope is gone. He hears the call to come for healing, but he has no way of going, and someone always gets there first.
- But there’s another man. This man walks up and says, “Are you wanting to be healed?” You can imagine this poor man getting angry—I’m laying here by the healing place. I can barely move. Of course I’m wanting to be healed! That’s how a lot of folks would respond. But this man was so depressed, so hopeless, that he couldn’t even get angry. “Sir, I have no one to help me, and another one gets there before me every time.”
- Could this new man be the one I’ve been waiting for? Could this new man be the one to help me get to the healing place first? Is it possible that there’s really hope for me? Can I possibly be healed? This poor man is hesitant to allow any hope in his heart—after all, it’s been 38 years that he’s suffered with this horrible disease. But maybe?
- Read John 5:1-9
He recognized his condition.
You’re probably thinking, Of course he recognized his condition. He was crippled! He lives with this debilitating disease every day for thirty-eight years. He can’t escape it. It’s always right there in front of him. His limitations. His disease. His inability to be like everyone else. He has no family—at least, no family that cares enough to try to help him. You can hear the heartbreak in his voice as he tells Jesus, “I have no one…”
But every day, you can find him sitting at the place where people say you can be healed. You find him there, hoping, wishing, probably begging for someone to help him. He knows that he’s broken. He knows that he’s not what he wants to be.
There’s no healing without first recognizing your condition. A woman goes to the doctor. After running some tests, the doctor is overwhelmed. “Have you been feeling OK?” he asks the woman. “Well, I’ve been having some headaches, and there’s been some blurriness in my vision, but I’m sure it’s nothing.” The doctor sits down, shaking, and says, “You’ve got cancer on your brain.” “What? That’s not possible!” “It’s spread to the point that there’s nothing that can be done. If you’d have come in earlier, when you first started having the headaches, we might have been able to take care of it. But now, it’s too late. At most, I think you’ve got a month to live.”
If this woman had recognized her condition—recognized that she had a need, then healing was possible. But since she kept putting it off, ignoring it, it was too late. Even when the doctor told her of the condition, she refused to believe it.
There’s no spiritual healing without first recognizing your condition. The number one reason why people aren’t being saved, being brought into Christ through baptism, is that they don’t realize they’re lost! They don’t recognize their condition. They don’t realize that they are sick and dying. They think they’re doing A-OK.
Jesus says, “Those who are whole don’t need a physician, but those who are sick” (Matthew 9:12). The thing is, everybody is sick—whether they realize it or not.
“For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God” (Romans 6:23), and the wages for sin is death (Romans 3:23). Everyone is sin-sick. Everyone is dying from sin. And everyone needs the doctor, the healer, the physician—Jesus Christ.
Until someone recognizes their sin-sick condition, they’ll never be healed—because they’ll never look for healing. People who think they’re just fine don’t have a reason to look for healing. What’s your condition?
He looked for healing.
Granted, he’s looking for it in the wrong place, but at least he’s looking. He is a man who knows he’s got problems, and he’s trying to fix them. We ought to admire that. He has failed for 38 years to fix the problem, but he keeps trying. I wish more people were like that.
He hears that there’s some special healing power in the pool of Bethesda, and he makes sure he’s there. Whether the healing powers were real, or whether they were just a rumor, the point is, the man is looking for healing, and willing to go wherever he needs to try to get it.
Even Jesus recognized that this man was looking for the cure to his disease. Jesus asked him, “Are you wanting to be made whole?” (John 5:6). The man knows he’s broken. He knows he’s not well. And he’s not content to stay that way. He’s looking for a way to be fixed—to be healed.
There’s no healing without looking for it. William Clairemore is sitting at his desk, writing a letter. He is incredibly depressed. He’s got a flesh-eating disease that has gradually destroyed his leg, and it is slowly creeping up towards his chest. He’s stopped going out in public. He refuses any visitors. The only one who ever sees him is his wife, and even then it’s only long enough for him to take the plate of food that she’s prepared before he shuts the door. There’s no one that can help me. What’s the point? There’s no hope.
If William would make up his mind to look for help—to look for healing, he would find that his disease is treatable. But instead, he sits. Alone. Depressed. Fully aware of his sickness, but refusing to look for a cure. And then he dies.
There’s no spiritual healing without looking for it. There’s no such thing as accidental forgiveness. You aren’t going to be going along in life one day and God just accidentally forgives you.
God offers forgiveness to anyone who’s willing to take it. It’s like a free clinic that heals your sin-sickness—and there is a 100% success rate. The thing is, God isn’t a door-to-door doctor. He doesn’t come knock on your door and say, “Hey, I’m here to forgive you.” You have to go to Him.
If you want to know about the healing that’s available, where to get it, and how to get it, you’ve got to read the Bible. You’ve got to read it with an open mind and an open heart. In the pages of this book the cure can be found. In the pages of this book, you can learn about the healing that will save you from dying.
But if you’re not willing to look for it, you can’t be saved. “Seek and ye shall find” (Matthew 7:7).
Jesus gives the healing.
The man has been looking for healing in the wrong places. But we can’t be too harsh on him. After all, he isn’t the only one thinking that this was the way to be healed. There’s blind folks, and crippled folks, maimed folks, folks who are every bit as broken as he is. But if he wasn’t there—if he wasn’t looking for healing, he never would have met Jesus.
Jesus asks him, “Are you wanting to be healed?” And the man’s answer expresses Yes! I long to be healed. I am so broken, and I struggle. I want to be made whole again. But I don’t see any way to do it. I need help.
Jesus saith unto him, “Rise. Take up your bed, and walk.” And immediately the man was made whole, and took up his bed, and walked. (John 5:8-9).
Jesus is the way that this broken man is healed.
There is no spiritual healing without Jesus. Jesus Christ of Nazareth…Neither is there salvation in any other; for there is no other name under heaven, given among men, whereby we must be saved (Acts 4:12). Jesus is called the Savior because He is the only one who has the power to save—the power to heal. “The great Physician now is near, the sympathizing Jesus.”
Jesus says, “Come to me, all of you who are laboring, and who are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my burden on you and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and you shall find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light” (Matthew 11:28-30).
The gift of God is eternal life through His Son (Romans 6:23).
Conclusion:
- John is dying. Years of smoking invited cancer to make its home in his lungs. Then one night, he’s reading on the internet and comes across this webpage advertising a “heal-yourself-at-home” product. His interest is piqued, and he keeps reading. As he reads, he sees a testimonial from Wilma of Akron, OH who says that after just two weeks of being on this program, her lung cancer is gone! So John excitedly enters his debit card information and anxiously awaits the package. When he opens it, he finds a professional-looking book and a bottle of special powder. He mixes up the powder just like the instructions say, and takes some before every meal. As the days go by, he says to his wife that he thinks this new product is working. His lungs don’t seem to feel as heavy as before. By the end of three weeks, he’s convinced that his cancer is in full remission, if not gone completely. At the end of the fifth week, John dies as the lung cancer wins. You see, the powder didn’t do anything. He had convinced himself that he was healed, and all the while, he was still dying—the disease was still there.
- Jason is looking for healing from sin. He knows he’s lost. He feels the immense weight of guilt and shame of his sins. He desperately wants to be made free. His friend tells him, “Jesus is the only one who can take away your sins. Let’s bow down together and ask Jesus to come into your heart.” And Jason does. He gets up, convinced he’s free, convinced that he’s been healed. But he’s still dying. The disease of sin is still there, because he bought into a fake cure.
- Jesus wants you to be healed. He gave up His own life so that you can be healed. But Jesus doesn’t come to you. You have to come to Him. Where is He? Well, He’s up the steps:
- Step 1: believe in Him (John 3:16).
- Step 2: leave behind the things that were making you sick in the first place—repent (Acts 17:30).
- Step 3: acknowledge Him as the only one who can save you—Jesus Christ, the Son of God (Romans 10:9-10).
- Step 4: bury your old, dying self into the watery grave of baptism—be buried with Christ, and rise up a brand-new creature—one that has been healed! (Romans 6:3-4).
- There is healing—you don’t have to be broken anymore.
- But what if I get sick again? What if that sin-sickness comes back? Go back to the doctor. Go to God in prayer, confessing that you let yourself get sick again, and He will heal you (I John 1:9).
JESUS AND THE TERMS OF PARDON BY STEVE FINNELL
What are the terms for pardon under the New Covenant? Did Jesus give us the terms of forgiveness from sin before He died or after His death and resurrection?
WHAT DID JESUS SAID WHILE HE WAS ALIVE?
1. Luke 18:18-22 Now a certain ruler asked Him, saying, “Good Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? …..20 “You know the commandments: ‘Do not commit adultery,’ Do not murder,’ Do not steal,’ ‘Do not bear false witness,’ ‘ Honor your father and your mother.'” 21 And he said, “All these things I have kept from my youth.” 22 So when Jesus heard these things, He said to him, “you still lack one thing. Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; come, follow Me.”(NKJV)
Would the rich ruler have been saved had he obey Jesus? Yes. Was Jesus giving the terms for pardon under the New Covenant. No, He was not.
2. Mark 2:1-5….5 When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic,”Son, your sins are forgiven you.”(NKJV)
Were the sins of the paralytic forgiven? Yes. Was Jesus saying that under the New Covenant men will have their sins forgiven because of the faith of friends? No. He was not.
3. John 8:3-11….10 When Jesus had raised Himself up and saw no one but the women, He said to her, “Woman, where are those accusers of yours? Has no one condemned you?” 11 She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said to her, “Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more.”(NKJV)
Was the woman condemned by Jesus? No, she was not. Was Jesus saying that under the New Covenant if no man condemns you that I will not condemn you? No, He was not.
4. Luke 23 39-43 …..Then one of the criminals who was hanged blasphemed Him, saying , “If You are the Christ, save Yourself and us”. 40 But the other, answering, rebuked him, saying , “Do you not even fear God, seeing you are under the same condemnation? 41 “And we indeed justly, for we receive the due reward of our deeds ; but this Man has done nothing wrong.”42 Then he said to Jesus, “Lord, remember me when You come into your kingdom.” 43 And Jesus said to him, “Assuredly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise.”(NKJV)
Was the thief saved? Yes. Was Jesus giving the terms for pardon under the New Covenant? No, He was not.
WHAT DID JESUS SAY AFTER HIS DEATH AND RESURRECTION?
Mark 16:14-16 After He appeared to the eleven…16 “He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned.(NKJV)
Jesus gave the terms for pardon, under the New Covenant, after He was resurrected.
Luke 24:36-47 …..”and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.(NKJV)
Peter gave us the terms for pardon under the New Covenant at Jerusalem on 33AD. Acts 2:22-41
Peter preached the terms for pardon under the New Covenant.
Faith: John 3:16
Confession: Romans 10:9
Repentance: Acts 2:38
Water Immersion: Acts 2:38
Jesus never told one person that under the New Covenant they did not have to be baptized in order to be saved.
Jesus never told one person that under the New Covenant they did not have to repent to have their sins washed away.
Acts 2:38 And Peter replied, “Each one of you must turn from sin, return to God, and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ; for the forgiveness of your sins; then you also shall receive this gift , the Holy Spirit. (The Living Bible -Paraphrased)
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