Live Free with Josh Howerton - Missing the Miracle | Ep. 259 | Thursday, February 1, 2024

Episode Date: February 1, 2024

Instead of celebrating Jesus' miracles, the Pharisees focused on anyone who might be breaking their rules. The Sabbath was supposed to be a gift to humanity, but the Pharisees turned it into a burden. Trying to follow the rules won’t save us, but following the one, true Savior will. Don’t miss the miracle Jesus wants to work in your life. For more information, visit lakepointe.church/dailydrive

Thanks for tuning in to today's Daily Drive with Lake Point Church, a daily dose of God's word for your morning drive. When the word, not the world, becomes the majority of your week, your life will start to change. For that reason, our prayer is that God will speak to you through today's devotional. For more digital content to feed your faith, visit lakepoint.comit. Church slash daily drive. And now let's dive in to today's devotional. Hey, welcome to the Daily Drive. My name is Mike, and whether you're on your way to school or work, or maybe you're stuck in traffic, you're out taking a walk,

or taking a spin class with your earbuds in, or sipping coffee in a coffee shop. So grateful for you wherever you're at and thankful to be on this journey of just pursuing God with you. We've been walking through the Gospel of John, one of the first four books of the New Testament section of the Bible, which is all about Jesus, and we are in Chapter 5. And we've just been slowly working our way through this encounter that Jesus has

with a paralyzed guy at a pool called Bethesda. We left off yesterday with Jesus healing the guy and telling him to pick up his mat and walk. And we talked about how all of us have a mat. We all have a story that God can use to bring hope and healing to other people. So let's pick the story back up. I promise we're going to get through this chapter soon.

It's just a long chapter and it's got so much in it. Verse 9. Instantly, the man was healed. He rolled up his sleeping mat and began walking. Now this is another miracle that John records that pointed to the identity of Jesus as God's son, and then he adds this, but this miracle happened on the Sabbath. So the Jewish leaders objected. There's no high-fives here, no hugs, no celebrating, no all, no worship,

they're just wrapped up in their own rules, and they say to the man who was cured, you can't work on the Sabbath. The law doesn't allow you to carry that sleeping man. You know what's so sad. when you know the lyrics but your heart misses the music. And that's what religion does to you. And I'm not talking about a real relationship with God, but just mere man-made religion that's all about rulekeeping and self-righteousness.

The kind that makes you more legalistic and less grace-filled, the kind that makes you think of yourself as a little bit superior to everybody else. They object to this man breaking their rules. He replies, well, the man who healed me, the man who healed me told me, tick up your mat and walk. And again, there's no congratulations for being healed. There's no excitement in this man's freedom from 38 years of a paralytic condition. They simply demand, who told you that?

Who said such a thing? It says in verse 13, the man didn't know for Jesus had disappeared into the crowd. Now, there's two things I circled here in my Bible about this. First of all, this guy didn't know who it was that healed him. He'd never met Jesus. He didn't call him Lord. He didn't say, oh, the one that everybody's talking about. As far as he did, was just some random guy who noticed him and asked him if he wanted to get well.

And then healed him with supernatural power. And then the second thing of circle was Jesus just getting lost in the crowd. Although there were times he healed lots of people, this time he doesn't say, okay, everybody line up, who's next? He just kind of fades into this huge festival crowd. Later on, Jesus sees the guy and tells him, now your wells, stop sending, or something even worse can happen to you. This outward physical healing is only temporary. Even though you can now walk, you need to pursue an inward healing as well. You've got to change your lifestyle.

Or spiritually, you're going to be in worse shape than you are when I found you. And John doesn't record this conversation. We don't know how this guy responds, but we do know he goes and tells the religious leaders that he found out who it was, that the identity of his healer was the one they called Jesus of Nazareth. Verse 16. So the Jewish leaders began harassing Jesus

for breaking the Sabbath rules. Again, this is so sad to me. They don't say, it is so incredible what you did for that poor broken man. No, they say, hey, he's carrying a mat. And what do you think you're doing? Telling him to carry his mat. What do you think you're doing?

You're healing people on the Sabbath? And I love how Jesus responds at verse 17. He says, my father's always working. And so am I. In fact, we came up with the whole Sabbath concept. In another passage, Jesus says, man wasn't made for the Sabbath, but Sabbath was made for man. Verse 18, so the Jewish leaders tried all the harder to find a way to kill him, for he not only

broke the Sabbath, he called God his father, thereby making himself equal with God. Then Jesus takes this to another level, explaining how he and the father are one, but as the son, he submits the will and the activity of the father, and the father is given all authority to him, the authority to heal, heal people like that man by the pool, and even authority over death and life, and then verse 24. It's some of the best news you will ever hear. Jesus says this. I tell you the truth.

Those who listen to my message and believe in God who sent me have eternal life. They will never be condemned for their sins, but they have already passed from death into life. You see, religion can't do that for you. Oh, it can turn you into a, can't believe you'd heal a poor man on the Sabbath kind of person, but it can't give you eternal life.

believing in Jesus, it can and it will. In fact, when you place your faith in Him, you've already bypassed death. As the late Dallas Willard used to say, eternity is now in session. Eternal life begins not when we die, but when we believe in the one sent by God, Jesus Christ. So I pray if you haven't yet that you'd believe and place your trust in the one who came to give you life, eternal life, that starts right now. Well, Jesus has a few more words for these religious guys and for us, and we'll wrap this up tomorrow. See you then.

Have a great day. Thanks for tuning in today. For more biblical teaching and worship, join us for our church online live weekend services on Saturdays at 5 p.m. and Sundays at 9.30 and 11 a.m. Central Standard Time. For more information, visit lakepoint.com.com. Thank you.