By Faith

John 5:14-22

14 Afterward Jesus found him in the temple and said to him, "See, you are well! Sin no more, that nothing worse may happen to you." 15 The man went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had healed him. 16 And this was why the Jews were persecuting Jesus, because he was doing these things on the Sabbath. 17 But Jesus answered them, "My Father is working until now, and I am working."18 This was why the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him, because not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God. 19 So Jesus said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise. 20For the Father loves the Son and shows him all that he himself is doing. And greater works than these will he show him, so that you may marvel. 21For as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whom he will. 22 The Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son.

Go and sin no more, that nothing worse may happen to you. What could be worse than being an invalid for thirty-eight years? Jesus had just begun working in this man’s life. Just beginning a journey where upon the man would see that there are worse things that can happen to you besides being an invalid for thirty-eight years. Often when we first come to Christ it is out of a physical need, an emotional upheaval, or something that has knocked us for a loop. Even if you have known Jesus all your life (it seems) you will come to a time of great need when it is not your parents turning to Christ for you, but you will turn to Him all by yourself. This man began his journey with great physical needs, and Jesus points him in the direction of the exploration of his sins. Wait a minute, does this mean Christ is saying that the man is responsible for his physical condition? No, but Jesus is always taking us one step further, maybe farther than we want to go. He is nudging him toward truth. The truth is that he was powerless toward his illness, and he is powerless to do anything about his sin as well. Jesus is not sending him into some “works” righteousness kind of mentality. This man will see that there really are worse things than the pain of lying by a pool, friendless, and powerless for thirty-eight years. Has Jesus led you down that path too? Where you feel absolutely powerless to anything about your sin, in whatever form yours comes in? That is exactly right where Jesus wants you! He took care of your sin on the cross, and paid the penalty for that sin, not just in a salvation kind of way either. He wants you to depend on Him for it all. The Galatians were “bewitched,” as Paul said, by thinking that grace was a thing that only applied to salvation, then we work for everything else. Listen to this:

1”O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified. 2 Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith? 3 Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh? 4 Did you suffer so many things in vain—if indeed it was in vain? 5 Does he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you do so by works of the law, or by hearing with faith— 6 just as Abraham "believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness"?

7 Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham. 8 And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, "In you shall all the nations be blessed." 9 So then, those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith. 10 For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, "Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them." 11 Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law, for "The righteous shall live by faith."

You will more and more understand the depths of your sin, and the depths of Christ’s love for you, by faith. He is always leading us towards this point, by faith. ‘For the righteous shall live by their faith.”