Introduction:
John 5:1-18
1 After these things there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.
2 Now there is in Jerusalem by the sheep gate a pool, which is called in Hebrew Bethesda, having five porticoes.
3 In these lay a multitude of those who were sick, blind, lame, and withered, [ waiting for the moving of the waters;
4 for an angel of the Lord went down at certain seasons into the pool and stirred up the water; whoever then first, after the stirring up of the water, stepped in was made well from whatever disease with which he was afflicted.]
5 A man was there who had been ill for thirty- eight years.
6 When Jesus saw him lying there, and knew that he had already been a long time in that condition, He *said to him, “Do you wish to get well?”
7 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.”
8 Jesus *said to him, “ Get up, pick up your pallet and walk.”
9 Immediately the man became well, and picked up his pallet and began to walk. Now it was the Sabbath on that day.
10 So the Jews were saying to the man who was cured, “It is the Sabbath, and it is not permissible for you to carry your pallet.”
11 But he answered them, “He who made me well was the one who said to me, ‘Pick up your pallet and walk. ’”
12 They asked him, “Who is the man who said to you, ‘Pick up your pallet and walk’?”
13 But the man who was healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had slipped away while there was a crowd in that place.
14 Afterward Jesus *found him in the temple and said to him, “Behold, you have become well; do not sin anymore, so that nothing worse happens to you.”
15 The man went away, and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well.
16 For this reason the Jews were persecuting Jesus, because He was doing these things on the Sabbath.
17 But He answered them, “My Father is working until now, and I Myself am working.”
18 For this reason 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
(John 5:1-18 NASB)
Theme: Three reasons why Jesus is equal with God so you will believe in His deity
I. The Command to arise, which accompanies the miracle, points to His power vv. 5-9a
II. The Controversy over the timing of the miracle points to His authority vv. 9b-16
III. The Comment about working as His Father points to His equality vv. 17-18
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