3rd Sign: A Miracle Of Grace And Religion, Part 2

Today on Fellowship in the Word, Pastor Bill Gebhardt challenges you to become a fully functioning follower of Jesus Christ.

Right here is the linchpin. Jesus had one run-in early in his ministry with the Jews. Remember, he cleansed the temple.

And he said, this is my Father's house. You're not going to turn it into thieves and robbers. You're not going to do that. They didn't like that. But they couldn't make much of a case against them.

Now they have them. He's violating the Sabbath. He's violating our religious establishment.

That's what he's saying is happening. Let me give you a general definition of religion. Religion is the establishment of standards celebrating human achievement under the guise that it pleases God. And that's not just the Jewish religion.

That's all religion everywhere. Thank you for joining us today on this edition of Fellowship in the Word with Pastor Bill Gebhardt. Fellowship in the Word is the radio ministry of Fellowship Bible Church located in Metairie, Louisiana. Let's join Pastor Bill Gebhardt now as once again he shows us how God's Word meets our world. So the Jews were saying to the man who was cured, it is the Sabbath, it is not permissible for you to carry your power. When have you noticed that a man who was a beggar for 38 years right close to the temple is walking right now? What have you mentioned that? What have you said anything? Let me put it this way.

Say you have someone who is a paraplegic or a quadriplegic next door to you, and they've lived there for 20 plus years as your next door neighbor. And let's just say you're a legalistic Christian. You're what is called a Sabbath keeper. Now, legalistic Sabbath keepers who are Christian are kind of funny to me because the day they keep is Sunday, which is not the Sabbath. So they don't keep the Sabbath, they keep the first day of the week. Sabbath is Friday night sundown to Saturday night sundown.

But say you keep it. And if you remember, did many Christians keep the Sabbath? You ever heard of the blue laws all over our country, the laws?

We've had all kinds of blue laws of what you could do on a Sabbath day. But let's just say you're that way. And then that morning, you're thinking and praying, doing something religious in your house, and you hear a lawnmower start. And you wonder what's going on with the lawnmower and look out the window and your neighbors mowing their grass. Just with it, with a joy in their step.

Now, if that happened to you, you would get out to the porch and go out to them and you would say, you can't mow your grass on the Sabbath. Is that what you say? Or might you say, what happened? How are you walking? But they didn't even notice that he was walking.

They only noticed that he was carrying his pallet. To me. It's amazing what religion sees and what it doesn't. And it says, he who made me well was the one who said to me, pick up your pallet and walk.

What could I do? Now, this sounds like an innocent thing, but you'll see in a moment it's not too. This guy doesn't want any attention or any kind of influence against himself. He said, the guy told me to walk, pick up my pallet and just take a walk with it. I'm here. So they said, who is the man who said it to you?

Pick up your pallet and walk. And the man who was healed did not know who it was. For Jesus slipped away while there was a crowd in that place. He has no idea who Jesus is at all. So for those in our culture that say, look, the whole key to miracles is how much faith you have.

If you have enough faith, God will give you a miracle. But if you don't have enough faith, you don't have a chance. This man has no faith, none. He doesn't even know who Jesus is. And yet he's healed.

You see, he has no idea at all. So what ends up happening here? It then says in verse 13. After the man did not know who he was and Jesus had slipped away while there's a crowd in that place. Thousand people or more in there. He left them all there. He wasn't there to deal with that. He was there for this man to pick up his pallet and go to the temple where the religious leaders are.

That's what this is about. Verse 14. Afterward, Jesus found them in the temple.

That would be hard in and of itself, wouldn't it? There's thousands of people in the temple grounds. Thousands. It's like Mardi Gras here.

At least not to this year, but in the past. Mardi Gras. Jesus just walks right up to them. Jesus has got something going on. He's going to walk right up to the man. And he does it. He says to them, Behold, you have become well.

Do not sin anymore so that nothing worse happens to you. Now that's debated. There's somewhat of a debate here. Is Jesus inferring from that statement that his condition, his illness, is based on his own sin that he did?

Unlikely, but possible. Is it possible that you could be your conditions based on your sin? Well, think of the Corinthian church. They abused the Lord's table.

What Paul say to you? Many of you are sick. You see, why what you did to the Lord's table?

Some of you even sleep. Metaphor for death. Why? What you did to the Lord's table.

It can happen. On the other hand, remember when the man was blind, born blind, and the disciples said to Jesus, Who sinned, this man or his parents? And Jesus said, Neither. He said, So is what does Jesus mean here?

I think Jesus is reading this man's spiritual condition. And he said, Look, I've given you a chance to start all over. I've given you a chance to put sin behind you.

And if you don't, you're going to face something much worse than being a paraplegic. You're going to face the wrath of God. That's an eternal judgment from God. That's what I would believe he's saying.

That's kind of an amazing thing when you think about it. Now, what's interesting about this to me is that after he finds him, the man went away and told the Jews it was Jesus who made him well. He's a snitch. He's a snitch. A guy made him well just by talking to him, made him exactly like brand new.

And as soon as he found out it was Jesus, he takes off for the religious leaders to tell them it's Jesus. It tells you a little bit about the man. See, what's good about this guy? Nothing. There's nothing good about this guy. It also tells you something about the power of religion. This guy is terrified of the religious authorities in Jerusalem.

He's terrified of them. I've got to get on their right side. I'm not going to do this. I'm going to go. I'm going to tell them who he is.

I'll choose the Jews, the religious Jews over Jesus. That's what he does. He's a man of pretty low character. Well, it then says that in verse 16, for this reason, the Jews were persecuting Jesus because he was doing these things on the Sabbath. That little statement from John means this. It's the linchpin. This story right here is the linchpin. Jesus had one run in early in his ministry with the Jews. Remember, he cleansed the temple.

And he said, this is my father's house. You're not going to turn it into a thieves and robbers. You're not going to do that. They didn't like that.

But they couldn't make much of a case against them. You know, he's taking a high view of the temple. So how do we get him?

But when he comes back and does this, now they have him. He's violating the Sabbath. He's violating our religious establishment.

That's what he's saying is happening. That's why we got him here. Let me give you a general definition of religion. Religion is the establishment of standards celebrating human achievement under the guise that it pleases God. And that's not just the Jewish religion. That's all religion everywhere. That's what religion is.

Religion is the establishment of standards celebrating human achievement under the guise that you're pleasing God. Boy, when it comes to the Sabbath, are they good at this. Since the Pharisees have been around for the last couple hundred years, they have 39 different complete categories of violation of Sabbath laws. It actually turns out to be hundreds upon hundreds upon hundreds of Sabbath laws. They have Sabbath laws that are just beyond belief.

They took the Sabbath laws, and they made anything it does as a violation against our religion. Now, I'll show you a verse in the Old Testament where they get the idea, but they take it out of context. Jeremiah, and hold your place here, Jeremiah 17 and verse 21. Jeremiah 17 and verse 21.

Now, context. Jeremiah is a prophet. What is his job? He's trying to get Israel to turn back to God and repent. What happens if he doesn't succeed? God says, I'll rip you out of the land and I'll put you in captivity. You see, I'll take you out of the land and I'll put you in captivity. Did he succeed?

No. He ripped them out of the land. One of the things that they showed God was at this time, they completely ignored the Sabbath, completely. They figured out Sabbath is a good business day on the Sabbath. This is a day to do business.

And they did it. So, here's what God says in verse 21. Thus says the Lord, take heed for yourselves. Do not carry any load on the Sabbath day or bring anything through the gates of Jerusalem.

You can't do business as normal on that day. Notice their response, verse 23. Yet they did not listen or incline their ears.

They stiffened their necks in order not to listen to the correction. Now, according to Nehemiah chapter 13, on the Sabbath day in Jerusalem, you close the gates. We don't do business on the Sabbath.

That's what God didn't want. Now, what's interesting about this is their religion completely warped the idea of what the Sabbath is. It says that in Exodus 30, after God had made the creation, He rested on the Sabbath.

Right? Why did He rest? Was He tired?

Now, see, that word rest in Hebrew doesn't necessarily mean rest only. It means He ceased. He's done. You see, He's done. He didn't, oh, man, this was hard. I mean, I got out there a couple of those galaxies.

They were rough. You know, I'm exhausted. God didn't rest because He was tired.

That has nothing to do with it. He rest because He was finished. He had ceased. When He said to man, I want you to honor the Sabbath, His point was, I want you to enter the rest. That's what I want you to do. You see, I want you to do business as you have to do business. But on this Sabbath, I want you to rest. In fact, what is it He wants us to do on the Sabbath for the Jews? Worship. I want you to worship Me. And relax.

That's what I want for you. Jews didn't view it that way in any sense of the word. They didn't see it as a time to do anything like that. They saw it as a religious obligation to God. Then they created hundreds of laws to say, look, if God is impressed with just telling us that, we'll do hundreds of more things, make people do it, and then God will be really impressed. That's just a statement of religion that God has never impressed, ever, with something like that. I've said this in the past, but whenever, after the fall of Adam and Eve, all human beings have two tremendous propensities.

One is pretty clear to us. You have a propensity to sin. We just do. You see, all of sin falls short of the glory of God. Wages of sin is death. We're all sinners.

Paul said, even after he was saved, I'm the chief of sinners. We know sin. But we have another capacity as human beings, and you see this evidence all over the world. We have a capacity to be religious. A capacity to be religious. Everywhere in the world you go, you find religion.

Everywhere you go, you see it. What was the first act of religion? Tower of Babel. That's in Genesis.

What did they do? We're going to build a tower so high, we're going to walk into heaven. Really? That's religion. Religion is always the same.

We will do things, and then God will have to accept this. That's the heart of religion. If you took all the religions in the world, if you said, do they have any one element that is the same?

Yes. They all deny grace. Every one of them. Every one of them is a list of things that you and I have to do in order to be right with God. Even under Christendom, you'll find this whole idea that they'll say, I know that Jesus died on the cross for the sins of the world or for your sins. However, if you want to be right with God, you see, if you want to be right with God, what really happened is Jesus died so you can save yourself. You can't save yourself. There's no amount of anything you can do. Attendance, sacrament, none of that matters.

You can't save yourself. That's the point that Jesus is trying to make here and why it's so important to him. Now, back to the passage in John.

Once Jesus goes after this as wholeheartedly as he can and for that reason, he wants to tell them how he feels about it. This reason the Jews are persecuting Jesus because he was doing these things on the Sabbath. But he answered them and he said, my father is working until now. I myself am working.

Now, this is a tremendous statement. What's he saying? What are the Pharisees saying through their religion? Can't work on the Sabbath.

No work. I mean, it's just an amazing thing. You're not allowed to cook on the Sabbath. But if on the day before the Sabbath you put an egg in the sand and the sun hit it hot enough and it hard-boiled it, you could kick it up with your foot as you walked by and as long as you didn't pick it up in your house but kicked it into your house, you could pick it up and eat it.

These are just hundreds of these things that they had. Jesus says, my father, my father, he said, is working until now and I myself am working. That's what I'm doing.

I'm doing every bit of it. God is always at work. Let me explain what that is. I'll give you another word for that. Grace. That's grace. Grace is God is always at work. Never stops. You see, it never stops.

God is always forgiving us. God is always at work. He's always sustaining the universe.

He's always at work. God wasn't tired when he rested. Then he said, God is always at work and I am always at work.

What would you conclude from that? I am God. That's what he's telling them. I am God. I am God. It's always a matter of authority. Remember what he said about the temple?

This is my father's house. You see, and God is always at work and so am I. Notice the Jews took it exactly the way you would think they would. For this reason, therefore, the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him because he not only was breaking the Sabbath but also calling God his own father, making himself equal with God. Yeah, he was exactly that. This is exactly what he wanted to do.

I am amazed at this, how this worked out. You know, I want to go back for just one moment and show you how he orchestrated this. After he had talked to the man, verse 16. For this reason, the Jews were persecuting Jesus because he was doing these things on the Sabbath. That's after the man had told him who it was.

Now watch. But he answered them and said, what do you mean he answered them? Notice what it doesn't say. It doesn't say the Jews found the Sabbath of the man and then they went looking for Jesus and found him. They didn't look for Jesus. He's right there. When that man went to tell the Jews what Jesus was, Jesus walked right behind him. That man told the Jews and Jesus is standing right in front of them. He wants this conversation. You see, he wants this conversation. He wants to expose religion for what it is. Religion is a killer of grace.

Always. From its biggest, most magnanimous way to the smallest little issues. It kills grace. Do you remember in the letter of Galatians, Paul was writing to the Galatians? These were barbaric believers in southern Turkey. When Paul went up and gave them the gospel, a group of Judaizers, you know what a Judaizer is? A legalistic Christian. They are Christians who are legalists.

They're religious Christians. They followed Paul into Galatia. And here's what they told the Galatians. Look, I know Paul came and said, all you need to do to have your sins forgiven and go to heaven is believe in Jesus and his finished work on the cross. But that's not enough.

Yes, you have to believe in Jesus, but there's one thing you have to do. You have to have all your male children circumcised. They have to be circumcised.

Why? Well, that's the mark of the covenant for Judaism. You have to get this done. What did Paul write to them? Oh, my goodness. Oh, foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you? Paul said, you know what they did? They now gave you another gospel. It's not the good news of Jesus Christ. They've destroyed the gospel. He said, and you know what I wish for all of them?

They would all be anathema, curse forever. He said, if an angel from heaven came and told you, you need to believe in Jesus and be circumcised, I'd say the same thing to him. Because once you put a legalistic or a religious condition on grace, you kill grace.

Grace is over. You're not saved because you believe in Jesus. You're saved because you believe in Jesus and get circumcised.

See, that's the way this works. So if I believe in Jesus and I'm not circumcised and you believe in Jesus and are circumcised, the only one that's going to go to heaven under that is you. Why am I going to hell?

Because you're not circumcised. Jesus just crosses out. It doesn't mean anything there. Now, has the church ever fallen for stuff like that over the years? Oh, my goodness.

I mean, think about that. All these conditions. I mean, there are conditions where you have to believe in Jesus, but if you're not water baptized, you're going to go to hell. Now, water baptism is a privilege.

It's a testimony of what happened on the inside to us. But it can't be the condition of a saved human being. That's not salvation. You see, salvation is do I put my faith and trust in Jesus Christ and his finished work on the cross. That's what this is about.

But we'll add the conditions. And depending on what kind of history you come from or where you're from, there are tons of conditions for many Christians. If you really want to go to heaven, this is what you have to have happen.

It's just amazing. All this is religion. I mean, what Paul say, when you're absent from the body, what are you if you're a believer? Present with the Lord, right? Well, how did we invent purgatory?

You can go there for thousands and thousands of years and people have to light candles and pray. If you want any hope that didn't come from the word of God. Somebody made that up. But, boy, they have power. See, they have power.

That's what you see here. This this man, these Jews have tremendous religious power over them. Religion and legalism has to be exposed, and that's what Jesus did. Jesus healed an undeserving man so he could expose the religiosity of the Jews. He represents grace all the way.

There's no merit in this man at all. We can see ourselves there. Also, they hated him for it. And from that moment on, they set their mind, we're going to kill him because he's attacked our religion. How many people in this world have died, been killed by religious people?

It's incredible. Kill people that don't agree with you. They hate him. They said we're going to kill him. And you know what?

They did. They set in plan now, and he dies on that cross of Calvary. You can't mix religion and grace. You can't mix religion and Jesus Christ.

That's what this tells us. Let's pray. Father, this is a difficult temptation for all people. Even those who believe in your name, Father, and put our faith and trust in Christ, it's an easy turn into a turn of legalism for us.

We start setting up other rules, things that have to be done, and order that. But we can't mix that kind of thinking with your grace. I love what Paul said, I am what I am by the grace of God.

Yes, I have responsibilities because of the grace of God. Jesus said, follow me. There are all kinds of things as a disciple and follower of Christ that I will do because of what he's done for me. But I don't do those, Father, for him to love me and to accept me.

He already has done that. That's what the grace of God is. Father, let's be careful that we don't find any kind of religious activities in the way in which we serve you. Thank you, Father, for this very unique miracle.

In Jesus' name, amen. At that website, you will find not only today's broadcast, but also many of our previous audio programs as well. At Fellowship in the Word, we are thankful for those who financially support our ministry and make this broadcast possible. We ask all of our listeners to prayerfully consider how you might help this radio ministry continue its broadcast on this radio station by supporting us monthly or with just a one-time gift. Support for our ministry can be sent to Fellowship in the Word, 4600 Clearview Parkway, Metairie, Louisiana, 7006. If you would be interested in hearing today's message in its original format, that is, as a sermon that Pastor Bill delivered during a Sunday morning service at Fellowship Bible Church, then you should visit our website, fbcnola.org.

That's fbcnola.org. At our website, you will find hundreds of Pastor Bill's sermons. You can browse through our sermon archives to find the sermon series you are looking for, or you can search by title. Once you find the message you are looking for, you can listen online. Or if you prefer, you can download the sermon and listen at your own convenience. And remember, you can do all of this absolutely free of charge. Once again, our website is fbcnola.org. For Pastor Bill Gebhardt, I'm Jason Gebhardt, thanking you for listening to Fellowship in the Word. ... ...