28-31
August 2016 _ Grace Greater – Manna by Dorothy Callies
This
Monday morning song came to me:
Grace Greater Than Our
Sin.
Marvelous
grace of our loving Lord,
Grace
that exceeds (beyond) our sin and our guilt,
Yonder
(looking) on Calvary’s mount (much) outpoured,
There
where the blood of the Lamb was spilt (cut shed).
Chorus:
Grace
… grace … God’s grace …
Grace
that will pardon and cleanse within;
Grace
… grace … God’s grace …
Grace
that is greater than all our sin.
(Wrote by Julia Harriette
Johnston, Sing His Praise)
Jesus
Healed a Sick Man at the Pool of Bethesda, Proving His Deity in His Power to
Give Life – Reading from John 5:1-18. The deity of Christ means that Jesus is God.
Key verse: John 5:8-9 Jesus said
to him, “Rise, take up your bed and walk.” And immediately the man was made
well, took up his bed, and walked. And
that day was the Sabbath.
(1) From the book of John, he explained the seven
signs or miracles to prove that Jesus is God. I was impressed with the third of
the seven signs proving the deity of Jesus Christ happened in the city of
Jerusalem at the pool of Bethesda, near the Sheep Gate. Bethesda means “House of Mercy.”
(2) Here one lame man out of a multitude (many) of ill people found
grace in the eyes of the Lord Jesus, who said to the man, “Rise, take up your
bed and walk.” This healing was pure
grace—that is, it was unmerited
(unworthy) and solely (only) due (something owe) to God’s kindness
and mercy (grace).
(3) It is important to understand the word
“unmerited.” Let’s focus on the meaning of the word, merit. It means the actions that determine one’s
worthiness of reward; a quality worthy of praise; a person’s worth. Now, the
word, unmerited means not worthy. A person being good cannot earned God’s
grace.
(4) Jesus found the man in the temple, and said
to him, “See, you have been made well.
Sin no more, lest a worse thing come upon you” (John 5:14). The man’s healing was instantly and
complete. The man did not seek Jesus;
Jesus sought him. The man did not ask to
be healed; it was Jesus who asked, “Do you want to be made well?”
(5) Even after Jesus healed him, he did not know
who Jesus was. The Jews asked him, “Who
is the Man who said to you, ‘Take up your bed and walk’? But the one who was
healed did not know who it was . . . Afterward Jesus found him in the Temple”
and he finally learned who had healed him.
He then left the temple and told the Jews that it was Jesus (John
5:12-14).
(6) Now the last thing Jesus said to him was,
“See, you have been made well. Sin no more, lest a worse thing come upon you”
(v.14). Of the seven signs, this was the
most unusual. Only God has perfect,
eternal knowledge of all people and all events—past, present, and future.
(7) In this sign or miracle, when He revealed to the man
that his sins had caused his sickness, and warned him not to continue to
practice sin. Jesus had shown that He
has all knowledge.
(8) In this sign or miracle we see Jesus the
Creator giving life to one of His creatures (person) according to His sovereign
(supreme ruler) will, by giving grace upon a hopeless, helpless, sinful man who
had suffered physical infirmity for 38 years.
Question: Why did Jesus heal only one
man out of a multitude of sick and lame people waiting to be healed? The man had no one to help him, and this sign
or miracle shows us His grace upon this man.
This shows us that we have hope in forgiveness of sins and to sin no
more. That story tells us of Jesus’ amazing grace and healing.
This
miracle was the most unusual because Jesus has shown what His grace really mean.
This man didn’t even know who healed him until later Jesus met him and told him
that it was He that healed him. Jesus knew the man’s problem and encouraged him
to “sin no more.” Only God has perfect,
eternal knowledge of all people and all events—past, present, and future. This
is why I sang it this morning:
Grace … grace … God’s
grace …
Grace that will pardon and
cleanse within;
Grace … grace … God’s
grace …
Grace that is greater than
all our sin.
May
the Lord bless you today!
Dorothy
PS.
Part of this came from my personal Bible
studies and I change it to Manna and I thought to share this part with you. This would be a very good sermon to preach if
you want to tell this story about God’s grace.
No comments:
Post a Comment