God is Still Working and So is Jesus, Part 1 (Just Jesus

Evangelistic Campaign, Day 51)

TEXT: John 5:15-18
15 The man departed, and told the Jews that it was Jesus, which
had made him whole.
16 And therefore did the Jews persecute Jesus, and sought to
slay him, because he had done these things on the sabbath day.
17 But Jesus answered them, My Father worketh hitherto, and I
work.
18 Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill him, because he
not only had broken the sabbath, but said also that God was his
Father, making himself equal with God.
---------Today, I am continuing the daily Just Jesus Evangelistic
Campaign sermon series, which is aimed at sharing the Gospel
of the Lord Jesus Christ with unbelievers and reminding
Christians, in this important election year, to keep the main thing
the main thing -- and that is reaching unbelievers with the Gospel
of the Lord Jesus Christ and praying for their salvation, for the
problem in America is not only disobedient presidents
politicians, and people, but disobedient pastors, preachers, and
parishioners who have refused to obey the Lords Great
Commission which is to, Go ye therefore, and teach all nations
and who have refused to obey God's repeated commands to
"pray without ceasing" for unbelievers, believers, and political
leaders. Yes, you should pray for the right candidate to win; yes,
you should vote for the candidate that the Lord gives you peace

about voting for. But, don't get caught up in it like the world does.
Nothing much is going to change until people get saved and get
their hearts right with the Lord.
This campaign is inspired by the following three verses: 1
Corinthians 2:2 which says, "For I determined not to know
anything among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified." Acts
5:42 which says, "And daily in the temple, and in every house,
they ceased not to teach and preach Jesus Christ." And 2
Timothy 2:4 which says, "No man that warreth entangleth himself
with the affairs of this life; that he may please him who hath
chosen him to be a soldier."
This series is not for Christians necessarily. However, I do hope
you are one of those saints who still loves to hear the "Old, old
story of Jesus and His love" -- As another hymn says, "For those
who know it best Seem hungering and thirsting to hear it like the
rest." This series is primarily for unbelievers, so they can hear
and understand the Gospel and be saved from sin and the
punishment of sin which is hell. This is message number 51.
Rick Warren said, "With God working in your life and in faith you
can choose to look expectantly toward the future. You can live
life to the fullest, without fear of making mistakes or stumbling
into some terrible circumstance that takes you out of Gods
control. Even when things appear to be terrible, you can trust
that God is working out some divine plan through you."
The story of Jesus healing the sick man at the Pool of Bethesda
gives us a handoff into the next conflict in John's Gospel. As you
recall, the healed man did not know who Jesus was when the
religious leaders asked him about the matter. After Jesus went
back to speak with the healed man in the Temple, the man went

immediately to the religious leaders and told them that Jesus

was the one who told him to pick up his bed and carry it on the
Sabbath day.
The religious leaders immediately go after Jesus for this (in their
minds) severe violation of their law. F.F. Bruce said, "Inciting
others to break the law was worse than breaking it oneself.
Therefore they launched a campaign against Jesus which was
not relaxed until his death some eighteen months later." Already,
the religious leaders did not like Jesus because He upset the
status quo; now they had legal basis for going after Him. Verse
16 says, "therefore did the Jews persecute Jesus, and sought to
slay him, because he had done these things on the sabbath day."
Jesus worked many miracles on the Sabbath. He healed a
demoniac; He healed a blind man; He defended His disciples who
picked grain; He healed a man's shriveled hand; He cured a
woman who had been crippled for 18 years; He healed a man
with dropsy -- all on the Sabbath. Warren Wiersbe said, Jesus
"deliberately challenged the legalistic traditions of the scribes
and Pharisees. They had taken the Sabbath -- God's gift to man -and had transformed it into a prison house of regulations and
restrictions."
When the religious leaders confronted Jesus regarding the man
whom He told to carry His bed, Jesus said, "My Father worketh
hitherto, and I work." The religious leaders understood these
words to mean that Jesus was claiming to be God. Dr. John
Walvoord and Dr. Roy B. Zuck write, "To make oneself 'equal to
God' was a claim of arrogant independence. In the Talmud, four
persons were branded as haughty because they made
themselves equal to God: pagan rulers Hiram, Nebuchadnezzar,
Pharaoh, and the Jewish king Joash."

Basically, Jesus tells the Jewish leaders, 'Healing that man was
the work of God. I just did God's work. Do you want to stop God's
work, even if it is being done on the Sabbath day?' The religious
leaders must have been shocked, as they would have taken this
to mean that God works on the Sabbath day. They, like us, had
probably never thought of that.
So, does God work on the Sabbath? Although God established
the Sabbath as a day of rest, God never stops working. The
Sabbath was created for man. In fact, Jesus says this in Mark 2:
"The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath."
God does not need rest; He never slumbers or sleeps. Adam
Clarke said, "Though he rested from creating, he never ceased
from preserving and governing that which he had formed: in this
respect he can keep no sabbaths; for nothing can continue to
exist without the continual energy of God." Philo, a first century
Jewish philosopher, said, "God never stops working, for as it is
the property of fire to burn and of snow to be cold so of God to
work."
The Bible Exposition Commentary says, "British writer George
MacDonald pointed out that John 5:17 gives us a profound
insight into our Lord's miracles. Jesus did instantly what the
Father is always doing slowly. For example, in nature, as
mentioned earlier, the Father is slowly turning water into wine;
but Jesus did it instantly. Through the powers in nature, the
Father is healing broken bodies; but Jesus healed them
immediately. Nature is repeatedly multiplying bread, from sowing
to harvest; but Jesus multiplied it instantly in His own hands."
The fact that God is still working today is a powerful testament to
us in modern times. Some believe that God is no longer working

miracles, that God is not concerned with humanity, that we have

been left to struggle on our own. But that is not true. God is still
working! He has never stopped.
God is working every day in the hearts and lives of those who
love Him, who believe in Him, and who have trusted Jesus Christ
as their Savior. He gives hope, life, light, and assurance to His
people in a dark world. You can invite God to work in your life
right now, by believing in Jesus Christ and placing your life in
His hands. I promise you that He will do a wonderful work in you
that no one else can do.
Are you ready to give your life to Jesus Christ today and open
your heart to let God work in you?
First, please understand that you are a sinner and that you have
broken God's laws. The Bible says in Romans 3:23: "For all have
sinned and come short of the glory of God." Please understand
that because of your sins, you deserve punishment in hell.
Romans 6:23 says "the wages of sin is death" This is both
physical death and spiritual death in hell.
But here is the good news. John 3:16 reads, "For God so loved
the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever
believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life."
The phrase "For God so loved the world" means that if you are in
this world, God loves you no matter what you have done.
The next phrase, "that He gave His only begotten Son" refers to
Jesus Christ. He is God's son who suffered, bled, and died on the
cross for your sins and for mine, and He was buried and rose
again.

Our next phrase is "that whosoever believeth in Him". The word

"whosoever" means anybody at anytime. The phrase "believeth
in Him" means to trust in Him, to depend upon Him, to rely on
Him, or to have faith in Him for your salvation.
Our next phrase, "should not perish", refers to eternal
punishment in a place called hell.
And, lastly, the phrase "but have everlasting life" means to live
eternally in Heaven with God.
The Bible also says in Romans 10:9 and 13: "That if thou shalt
confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine
heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be
saved.... For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord
shall be saved."
Dear friend, if you are willing to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
for salvation, please pray with me this simple prayer: Heavenly
Father, I realize that I am a sinner and that I have done some bad
things in my life. For Jesus Christ sake, please forgive me of my
sins. I now believe with all of my heart that Jesus Christ died for
me, was buried, and rose again. Lord Jesus, please come into my
heart and save my soul and change my life today. Amen.
If you believed in your heart that Jesus Christ died on the cross,
was buried, and rose again, allow me to say, congratulations on
doing the most important thing in life and that is accepting Jesus
Christ as your Lord and Saviour! For more information to help
you grow in your newfound faith in Christ, go to Gospel Light
Society.com and read "What To Do After You Enter Through the
Door". Jesus Christ said in John 10:9, "I am the door: by me if
any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and
find pasture."

If you accepted Jesus Christ as your Savior today, please e-mail

me at dw3@gospellightsociety.com and let us know. There is
some free material that we want to send you. If you have a prayer
request, please e-mail that to us as well, and we will pray for you
until you tell us to stop.
God loves you. We love you. And may God bless you.