Today on the verdict with Pastor John Monroe. Encountering Jesus changes the un Changeable. Encountering Jesus changes the un Changeable. And in our passage, we're going to see five steps. to this supernatural change that all of us want.
that all of us need. Welcome to The Verdict, featuring the Bible teaching of Pastor John Monroe. Is there something in your life that you've been trying to change or overcome? But no matter how hard you try, nothing changes. As we continue our series, Encountering Jesus, John explains why an encounter with Jesus Christ makes the impossible possible.
And now. To introduce today's study on changing the unchangeable. Here's Pastor John Monroe. It's often said that the difference between religion and true Christianity is relationship. having a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.
There's a lot of truth to that. In the series which I've called Encountering Jesus, we're looking at various situations in John's Gospel where people have a personal encounter with Jesus. Last time you saw the sad situation of a man who had been paralyzed for 38 years. Perhaps it surprised you When Jesus asked the man, Do you want to get well? Jesus is God, and He's so powerful that not only does He forgive our sins, He knows our hearts.
and transforms every aspect of our lives. What about you? Do you want to be changed? Listen though. as I continue this message on changing the unchangeable.
John 5 then. Verses one Through Seven. After these things There was a feast of the Jews and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.
Now there was in Jerusalem by the sheep gate a pool who Which is called in Hebrew Bethesda, having five porticos. In these, Lay a multitude of those who were sick, blind, lame. and withered. Waiting for the moving of the waters. For an angel of the Lord went down at certain seasons into the pool and stirred up the water.
Whosoever then first, after the stirring up of the water, stepped in, was made well. from whatever disease with which he was afflicted. And a certain man was there who had been thirty eight years in his sickness. When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had already been in A long time in that condition, he said to him, Do you wish? to get well The sick man answered him, Sir, I have no man to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up.
But while I am coming, Another steps down before me. Encountering Jesus changes the unchangeable. Five steps to change, and here is the first one acknowledge that you need Help. acknowledge that you personally need. help.
For 38 years, just think of it, this man had been paralyzed, clearly needing help. And Jesus asks this man a question. On the face of it, at first blush, it seems a very strange question to ask a man who has been paralyzed for thirty-eight years. What's the question, verse six? Do you want to get well?
This morning I ask you this crucial question. Don't answer it too quickly. Do you want to get well? I'm talking spiritually. Do you want to get well?
Do you want supernatural change in your life, or are you really quite happy where you are? I meet people who tell me they want to be changed, but as I meet with them, as I pray with them, as I confront them with the truth of the Word of God, I often realize: no, they don't really want to change. They want to be reinforced in their lifestyle and their own prejudices. They want some sympathy. They want someone to listen to them.
But deep down, they don't really want to change because they enjoy. Situation. If that is where you are. There is no hope. Because first You must acknowledge You need Help.
Here is step number two: obey. Christ. Verse eight. Jesus said to him, Arise, Take up your palate. Take up your bed and walk.
And immediately The man hears, obeys, picks up his bed and he walks. changing the unit. changeable obeying. Christ. Are you obeying?
The word. of God. Here is step number three. Trust Christ. for the power To change.
That's what this man does. Trust Christ for the power to change. Jesus appears to be asking this man to do something which is physically impossible. A man who is paralysed for thirty eight years is asked to get up. kick off his bed and walk.
I mean, I'm not a doctor, but I do know That if even if this man were healed, Wouldn't the healing process take a long time? If you haven't walked for thirty-eight years, I mean, this man's going to take months, possibly years of physiotherapy, isn't it, in order to get him walking? But that's exactly What happens? Jesus commands him to get up and walk. The man believes, he gets up, he gets up.
He walks and the power to change is there. When Jesus gives you commands, Not only does he give you the command, he gives the ability, the power, the supernatural enablement to obey the command. When you obey the word of God, divine power is given to obey. The Christian life is a supernatural life. Christ gives us the spiritual power, the spiritual ability to carry out the command.
When I was a student, I got a job on a building site with to other students Building houses. I've never been the most practical individual I tell people good and easy they have handyman in their home. But I got this job And I was told we're going to build houses. And they got a little Carpenter's apron. I got a hammer and uh some tools, nails and so on.
Before these days, when you had this gun that you could fire all the nails, I think I could do that. But uh we could do it the old fashioned way. And so I remember the first day, the three of us, We're in this trying to frame this House. and uh trying to put wood on the ceiling. I don't know if any of you have tried to hammer a nail like that.
I mean it's difficult enough for me to do it when it's down there. But up there And of the three students, one of them was doing it pretty well. He told us he'd done it before, and he's going along very well. with the nails. The other fellow and myself We were having grave, grave problems, hitting our thumb, the nail falling down, the nail being bent, trying to get it out.
And I thought, this is absolutely terrible. I wanted the job, I wanted the money, I had a good attitude, I did exactly what the boss told me, I listened carefully to the instructions. What was the problem? I didn't have the ability. I did not have the ability to do the job.
It was rather humbling. We've all tried to do something. Sincerely, focused, been told how to do it, and we just cannot Do it, we don't have the ability. God never deals with us like that. The question is Do you want to change?
You say, John, I. You know, my situation, I I I don't know if I could ever do that. That would be like the man saying, I don't think I can walk. Are you open to the word of Christ in your life? Don't say your situation is impossible.
Don't say your sin is so entrenched, so deep, so long-standing, so habitual that you can't change. Don't say your relationship with your wife, your husband is so bad, has gone on so long, it's generated so much bitterness and anger that it is impossible to change. Don't say that. Don't say, John, I've messed up my life so badly, made such a mess in my life that God can do nothing with me. I've blown it once too often.
Don't say that. Don't say the Christian life is too hard. Faith laughs at life's impossibilities. Our God is a God who can do the impossible. When you hear the word of God, to renounce that sin.
To walk in the paths of righteousness. When you hear the word of God today to you. And you know, this is God speaking to me. Trust Christ. for the power to change the Christian life.
Is a life of faith. It is stepping forward one step at a time. This is a step of faith. a step of trusting Gods. That is all of the Christian life.
One step. at a time. Are you ready for God to do a miracle in your life? Or are you going to stay where you are? Feeling sorry for yourself, feeling discouraged, full of guilt.
Are you ready to change? Not holding on to some religious superstition. Really believing that Jesus Christ, who's conquered death, who is alive, can perform a miracle in your life, that He truly can change the unchangeable. That's it. Changing the unchangeable.
Today, this very moment, I'm asking you. To open your heart, open your life, open your very soul to all that God has for you. open to the power of Jesus Christ To change you, to transform you, to save you, to forgive you, to lead you. In the path of righteousness, yes, to do a miracle in your life, to end the paralysis, trust Christ. For the power to change, the paralysis will go.
He changes the unchangeable. First, acknowledge you need help. Secondly, obey Christ. Third, trust Christ for the power to change. Fourthly, repent of your sin.
and live a changed life. enthusiastic about this one, but it's essential. Repent. of your sin and live a changed life. Verse 10.
John ten John five, verse ten. Therefore the Jews were saying to him who was cured, It is a Sabbath, it's not permissible for you to carry your pallet. He answered them, He who made me well was the one who said to me, Take up your palate and walk. They asked him, Who is the man who said to you, Take up your bed and walk? But he who was healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had slipped away while there was a crowd.
In that place. Afterwards, Jesus found him in the temple and said to him, Behold, you become well. Do not sin any more. Notice that. Notice verse fourteen.
Do not sin any more. So that nothing worse. may befall you. Interesting, isn't it? Jesus later speaks to the man.
Now, the man is obeyed, he's not walking. He's rejoicing. And now he's in dialogue with the religious establishment. We don't know what this man's sin was, we don't know the particulars of the sin, but we do know that Jesus is telling him that there must be a repentance in his life, there must be a change in his life. Don't sin any more so that nothing worse may befall you.
You've come in contact with the living Christ. Your life. At the spiritual level, As well as the physical level, must never be the same again, Jesus is saying to this man. Have you noticed how Unconfessed sin, unrepentant sin in our life hardens our heart. Sin paralyzes us.
Sin changes us. Don't think That you can sin. And continue in sin and be unchanged. We see that often very Rather obviously in the lives of others We say what's happened to this individual. This individual has become very hard.
This individual was once very loving and very caring. He's kind of hard. He used to be quite a generous kind of individual.
Now he's rather selfish. He's rather self-centered. He's becoming rather brittle and. Bitter. What has happened?
unconfessed unrepentant sin. Sin takes us in its stranglehold, it squeezes the life out of us. It hardens us, it paralyzes us. How are we going to be soft and open to God? Go.
and sin No more. Yeah. Jesus is not saying here in verse 14, he's not teaching that all sickness or problems in life are due to particular sins. That's not the point. But clearly, this man had been involved in some sin.
We don't know what the sin was. But the point is this, that Jesus saves us from our sins, not to continue in our sin. I think sometimes we've got this wrong. People say, well, I really appreciate the forgiveness of God. If you really appreciated the forgiveness of God, you would turn from your sin.
That's repentance. Repentance is not saying, well, I've had this wonderful experience of Jesus, and now I'm just staying where I am. In my sin. in my sinful lifestyle with the same attitudes, with the same paralysis. No.
Jesus is saying no. Don't sin any more. I say to you today, you really want Jesus Christ. to do something miraculous in your life, in your circumstances. Today Christ is speaking to you.
He's saying, get up. Get up. Get moving. Leave the old life. And move on.
Move on. To enter the new life. You must abandon the old life. That is repentance. The gospel is repentance towards God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.
This man trusted in Christ, he obeyed Christ, and Christ is saying to him, All right, now there must be this radical change. If you're not prepared to change and to abandon your sin as Christ Gives you the very power to do just that. You will continue. Unchanged. Encountering Jesus results in a radical change.
Repent. And live a changed life. Here is the fifth step, the final one. Expect. opposition.
Verse 15, the man went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well. And for this reason, the Jews were persecuting Jesus because he was doing these things on the Sabbath. But they answered that my father is working until now and I myself am working for For this cause, therefore, the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him, because he not only was breaking the Sabbath. but also was calling God his own Father, making himself equal With God. in this range.
The religious establishment, they don't rejoice. that a man Who had been paralyzed for 38 years is now healed. They don't rejoice that the man is healed. What are they concerned about? He did this on the Sabbath.
No love, no concern for the man. All they cared about is the legalistic interpretation of the Sabbath regulations. They had analyzed the Sabbath regulations into thirty nine classes of work. You couldn't carry anything on the Sabbath, they said, or tie or even loosen a knot. on the Sabbath.
The Pharisees said that a woman was forbidden to paint her eyelids on the Sabbath, for that would be working. Any breach of the Sabbath here, by the way, and that anyone painting their eyelids. Hopefully no men will stand up, but we've really got problems. The Pharisees Thoughts? They were in outstanding health.
They were outstandingly spiritually healthy. The truth was, they were paralyzed. They were shrivelled. Barnhouse says they wanted rules, they did not want God's grace. They wanted human merit, they did not want the simplicity of divine pardon.
They wanted to do something for themselves. No, they were shriveled in their own legalism, their own judgmentalism, and therefore missed the change. which only Christ can do. Christ had come To change, to soften hard hearts, to forgive and to change and to give his new life. But what do they do?
Verse sixteen, they persecute Jesus. Verse eighteen, they sought to kill him. They were opposed to the supernatural. Jesus upset the religious categories and lifestyle. Do you understand if you're going to follow Jesus Christ and live a godly life, there's going to be opposition?
I don't know where that opposition will come from, but I do know there will be opposition. Maybe opposition in your own home. Your own husband, your wife, your children, your parents. Brothers or sisters? You may get opposition in the school.
Where you're a student, where you teach. In the office where you work? Why? Because following Jesus Christ means that things are different. You're going to do your business in a different way.
Your relationships now are no longer going to be sleazy and immoral, but they're going to be pure and they're going to be honorable and they are holy because Jesus Christ delivers us from our sin and gives us new power and a new life. One thing is guaranteed. That when you follow Jesus Christ, there will be some opposition. And sometimes the opposition comes from unexpected sources. Such as it did here.
From religious people. Don't be devastated when that opposition and problems come. Encountering Jesus will change your life. Trust him. He changes the unchangeable.
Now before I finish, Look quickly down at verse twenty four. We're seeing that encountering Jesus, It changes the unchangeable, it changes life, but also encountering Jesus changes your eternal destiny. Verse 24. Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and does not come into judgment by this past, has crossed out of death. into life.
How wonderful. Those who believe in Jesus Christ have present tense eternal life. Many people believe Probably the majority of people believe that you can't ever be sure that you're going to heaven. You can just do the best you can and hope for the best. Fear the worst, but hope for the best.
Take what comes, believing that at the end of the day, God is loving and He's going to give you the benefit of the doubt. The Washington Post asks Do you believe in the concept of sin? Here is one person's response. Yes, I do believe in the concept of sin. I'm a Muslim by faith.
I understand what my sins and sinful decisions are. I ask God for forgiveness and try to make. Better decisions going forward. And I hope that when it's all added up, I've done more good than bad in my life, and I'm given eternal rewards when my life is called. It's not just Muslims who believe that, many professing Christians, churchgoers, believe that.
The very opposite of what the Bible is teaching, the very opposite of God's grace. Look again at verse twenty four. Jesus is saying He, any person who hears my word, Do you hear the word today? The word of the gospel to believe in Christ and believes him who sent me has. Present tense, eternal life.
doesn't come into judgment, but is passed out of death into Life. Because of our sin, we deserve to die. But Jesus is saying, I've come not to judge you, but I've come to give you life. And when you believe in me, and when you trust in me with all of your heart, you will have passed from death. to life.
So we don't need to wait until we die to find out whether or not we're going to go into heaven because Jesus offers us now His life, His eternal life. as we acknowledge That we are sinful, that we are spiritually paralyzed, and we cry out to the living Christ. for mercy and forgiveness, the one who died for us. And the one who is alive, if you've never done that. I ask you to trust Christ.
You see, Jesus is saying the clear implication of verse 24 is: if you stay paralyzed, If you stay unchanged and you die spiritually paralyzed, spiritually dead, you will never ever come into eternal life, but for all of eternity. you'll be shut out of life and experience the judgment of God. Oh no, the Christian life is for here and now as well as for the hereafter. Do you want Christ to change you? Encounter Christ, trust him.
in your life to change the unchangeable. Admit that you're paralyzed, that you can't cure yourself, and look to Christ. and Christ alone. for change. in your life.
Many of you here are true believers in Jesus Christ. But perhaps some paralysis has come. Into your life, some sin.
Some hardness of heart.
some disobedience. And you know what it is? You failed to forsake some sin, you failed to obey God in some area today. Will you pray, Lord? Remove my spiritual blindness.
Remove my paralysis. Forgive my sin, change me now. Help me. to live. for you.
Because Christ Changes. the unchangeable. But the question is, what change in your life Are you looking for from coast. If you have a change in your life, a change in the life of your loved ones, Change in the life of this church, something that only Christ can do. Will you write down that prayer?
Symbolizing that you are committing this to the Lord. This is something that you cannot do. That this is something that only God Can do that. You're asking God. to do a change in your life.
You are in symbol form committing this situation to the Lord. and asking him to do a miracle in your life. or in the lives of others, remembering that Jesus Christ changes life. and encountering Jesus Change is the unchangeable. Changes your life here and now.
and changes it for all. of eternity. This is the verdict with Pastor John Monroe. If you missed any part of today's message titled Changing the Unchangeable, Or if you'd like to find more sermons from John, visit our website at the verdict.org. Today, John reminded us that the impossible becomes possible when you have a real relationship with Jesus Christ.
But perhaps you've been reluctant to put your trust in Christ. Maybe you don't understand why trusting God will make any real difference in your life as you face difficult issues. such as the death of a loved one, loss of employment, or broken family relationships. That's why John has written a guide called Trusting God in Tough Times. And no matter where you are, we'd love to send you a free copy of this helpful booklet today.
Just go to our website at theverdict.org and request your free copy of Trusting God in Tough Times. And if you value the gospel work of this ministry, we invite you to be a part of our radio outreach and help us share these biblical teachings with new listeners by giving a financial gift of any amount. Your generous contributions help us deliver the truth of God's Word through the radio to your neighbors, your community, and all around the world. to give today. Just go to the verdict.org.
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Now, here's Pastor Jean Monroe with his closing remarks.
Well, what's your verdict? I love this story because it gives hope to all of us.
Sometimes it can be difficult to admit that we cannot change our own situation. Perhaps you feel paralyzed by some problem or bitterness in your life. What's the answer? Our Lord Jesus Christ. To know Christ is to be forever changed.
Place your faith in Him and allow Him to lead you.
Next time we think of another amazing situation where the disciples face an impossible situation. Yeah. When you encounter Jesus, You can face the impossible. Thanks for joining us today on The Verdict. I'm Michelle Davies.
Today's program with Pastor John Monroe was produced and sponsored by Calvary Church in Charlotte, North Carolina. Mm.
