WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:09.019 Well, good morning, church. Our sermon passage today is John chapter 5. We are going to look 00:00:09.019 --> 00:00:13.679 at the whole chapter today, but we're going to begin just by reading the first 18 verses. 00:00:14.240 --> 00:00:18.199 So if you have a Bible with you, turn to John chapter 5. If you don't, that's okay. We're 00:00:18.199 --> 00:00:23.000 going to have it on the screen. Of course, if you're at home, I encourage you to follow along. 00:00:24.320 --> 00:00:29.839 So, let me pray for us, and then I'll go ahead and read John 5 verses 1 through 18. 00:00:30.179 --> 00:00:30.780 Let's pray. 00:00:35.119 --> 00:00:40.799 Our Father in heaven, we do pray that you would send your Spirit now to lead us into your truth 00:00:40.799 --> 00:00:47.400 and into your life. Lord, as we search the Scriptures this morning, we pray that in them we would see 00:00:47.400 --> 00:00:56.159 afresh the living face and hear the living voice of Jesus Christ, our Lord. In his name we pray. Amen. 00:00:56.159 --> 00:01:02.079 Amen. Okay, John chapter 5 verses 1 through 18. Let me read this for us. 00:01:02.079 --> 00:01:09.519 After this, there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. Now there is in Jerusalem 00:01:09.519 --> 00:01:17.679 by the sheep gate a pool in Aramaic called Bethesda, which has five roofed colonnades. In these lay a 00:01:17.679 --> 00:01:24.039 multitude of invalids, blind, lame, and paralyzed. One man was there who had been an invalid for 38 years. 00:01:24.680 --> 00:01:28.739 When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had already been there a long time, he said to him, 00:01:28.739 --> 00:01:34.919 Do you want to be healed? The sick man answered him, Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool 00:01:34.919 --> 00:01:40.099 when the water is stirred up, and while I'm going, another steps down before me. Jesus said to him, 00:01:40.699 --> 00:01:47.560 Get up, take up your bed, and walk. And at once the man was healed, and he took up his bed and walked. 00:01:47.560 --> 00:01:53.939 Now that day was the Sabbath. So the Jews said to the man who had been healed, It is the Sabbath, 00:01:54.299 --> 00:01:59.260 and it is not lawful for you to take up your bed. But he answered them, The man who healed me, 00:01:59.359 --> 00:02:04.020 that man said to me, Take up your bed and walk. They asked him, Who is the man who said to you, 00:02:04.099 --> 00:02:09.980 Take up your bed and walk? Now the man who had been healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had 00:02:09.980 --> 00:02:15.719 withdrawn, and there was a crowd in the place. Afterward, Jesus found him in the temple and said to him, 00:02:15.719 --> 00:02:24.620 See, you are well. Sin no more, that nothing worse may happen to you. The man went away and told the 00:02:24.620 --> 00:02:29.099 Jews that it was Jesus who had healed him. And this was why the Jews were persecuting Jesus, 00:02:29.180 --> 00:02:33.879 because he was doing these things on the Sabbath. But Jesus answered them, My Father is working until 00:02:33.879 --> 00:02:40.159 now, and I am working. This was why the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him, because not only 00:02:40.159 --> 00:02:47.479 was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God. 00:02:50.199 --> 00:02:56.319 Now, it doesn't take too long. If you surf the internet, if you stream your favorite programs 00:02:56.319 --> 00:03:01.719 on TV, if you listen to podcasts, if you read newspapers and magazines, soon you're going to find 00:03:01.719 --> 00:03:10.500 that there are all sorts of people full of advice on how to live better, happier, more fulfilled lives. 00:03:11.419 --> 00:03:16.219 Make more money, practice mindfulness, exercise regularly, the list goes on and on. 00:03:17.259 --> 00:03:26.560 So how do we choose which advice to listen to? And why listen to Jesus more than any of the others? 00:03:26.560 --> 00:03:35.219 In our passage, we're introduced to two very different sorts of people. First, there's this 00:03:35.219 --> 00:03:43.980 man with paralysis. And for life and for wholeness, this man was looking to this pool. He had heard 00:03:43.980 --> 00:03:49.500 that the waters of this pool might have some kind of healing properties. In fact, if you're looking at 00:03:49.500 --> 00:03:55.020 a copy of a Bible, you'll notice in the ESV anyway that there's a marginal note that contains a verse 00:03:55.020 --> 00:03:59.420 that wasn't in the original manuscript of John, but it sort of preserves one of these maybe early 00:03:59.420 --> 00:04:05.420 traditions or rumors of what this man might have heard, that when the water was stirred, someone 00:04:05.420 --> 00:04:13.080 might get healed. So for this man with paralysis, he was looking to this pool for life and for wholeness. 00:04:14.300 --> 00:04:20.800 But we're also introduced here to the religious authorities. In fact, from John chapter 5 onward, 00:04:20.800 --> 00:04:27.280 the religious authorities begin to play a bigger role in John's gospel as the conflict starts to grow 00:04:27.280 --> 00:04:34.080 between Jesus and the religious establishment in Jerusalem. And for this group, they weren't looking 00:04:34.080 --> 00:04:42.540 to pools. We might say they were looking to rules. The pathway to life, the pathway to wholeness for them 00:04:42.540 --> 00:04:48.100 was keeping the precepts, keeping the ordinances, keeping the traditions that had been passed down to 00:04:48.100 --> 00:04:55.120 them through the Jewish religious tradition. Now, I wonder if you can see yourself in either of those 00:04:55.120 --> 00:05:03.120 groups. Maybe like the religious authorities, you thrive with structure, with goals, with self-improvement 00:05:03.120 --> 00:05:09.320 programs, with how-to manuals. When it comes to finding life, you're pretty open to the rules. 00:05:09.319 --> 00:05:17.860 But some of us are drawn to the more mystical, the more experiential. And we might find ourselves 00:05:17.860 --> 00:05:23.500 a little more close to the man with paralysis, especially if we've come to see that following 00:05:23.500 --> 00:05:29.659 rules isn't always what it's promised. So there we are. We're hearing the rumors. We're gathering 00:05:29.659 --> 00:05:36.279 around the pool looking for wholeness, looking for healing, looking for life in something a little 00:05:36.279 --> 00:05:46.399 more experiential. But then Jesus shows up. Amidst the rumors about pools, amidst the traditions about 00:05:46.399 --> 00:05:56.019 rules, here comes Jesus with the startling claim of nothing less than equality with God and eternal life. 00:05:58.319 --> 00:06:04.679 Now, we have to see that John chapter 5 has three parts to it, three sections. In verses 1 through 18 00:06:04.680 --> 00:06:12.300 that we just read, here we find Jesus demonstrating his equality with God. But then in verses 19 through 00:06:12.300 --> 00:06:17.780 30, we're going to see how Jesus defines his equality with God. And then in the last part of the chapter, 00:06:18.040 --> 00:06:25.960 we'll hear how Jesus defends his equality with God. And what this equality with God means is that 00:06:25.960 --> 00:06:32.480 wholeness in life can't ultimately be found in the rules of personal self-improvement or in the sort of 00:06:32.480 --> 00:06:39.980 experiences or pools of mystical experience. Wholeness and life is ultimately found in the person of Jesus 00:06:39.980 --> 00:06:42.819 in hearing his voice and responding to him. 00:06:44.840 --> 00:06:50.640 So let's consider then this stunning claim of Jesus's equality with God. Let's look first at how Jesus 00:06:50.640 --> 00:06:57.000 demonstrates his equality with God in verses 1 through 18 that we read. And what's important to notice here in these 00:06:57.000 --> 00:07:04.699 verses is when all this takes place. When does it take place? It takes place on the Sabbath, the seventh day, 00:07:04.800 --> 00:07:11.540 the Jewish day of rest. Now that day stood as a reminder, the Sabbath stood as a reminder in the midst 00:07:11.540 --> 00:07:18.899 of the ordinary life that God was their creator. God had rested on the seventh day of the creation week, 00:07:19.060 --> 00:07:26.319 and so the people must rest knowing that God, their creator, will provide. But the Sabbath was also a 00:07:26.319 --> 00:07:32.459 reminder that God was their redeemer. Just as God had granted the people release and rest from their 00:07:32.459 --> 00:07:39.839 slavery in Egypt, so they must set aside one day in seven to experience again that rest and that release 00:07:39.839 --> 00:07:49.600 from labor. And ultimately, the Sabbath day had a future component too. God was leading his people 00:07:49.600 --> 00:07:57.320 to an eternal rest. As you get into the prophets in the Old Testament, you start to see that God was 00:07:57.320 --> 00:08:03.800 leading his people onward to an eternal rest, a new heavens and a new earth. And the Sabbath was the sign 00:08:03.800 --> 00:08:10.600 in the present of the glorious future to come that God had in store. So you see then that the Sabbath day 00:08:10.600 --> 00:08:17.660 was just massively important. It was a day rich with theological and experiential meaning. It was part and 00:08:17.660 --> 00:08:26.020 parcel of Jewish identity, and rightfully so. And on this day so full of meaning, Jesus comes to a place 00:08:26.020 --> 00:08:34.320 full of men and women longing for true Sabbath rest. Rest from physical disability, rest from illness, 00:08:35.399 --> 00:08:41.480 rest from emotional weariness, rest from social alienation and shame that their sickness had brought. 00:08:41.480 --> 00:08:50.320 And Jesus finds a person who had been groaning for real Sabbath for a long time, 38 years. 00:08:51.800 --> 00:08:59.480 And he looks at this man, and I imagine Jesus sort of coming next to him, looking at the water with him, 00:09:00.060 --> 00:09:04.360 and then turning to him with a smile on his face saying, do you want to be healed? 00:09:06.220 --> 00:09:10.279 Jesus' question is sort of like a friend pulling up to your apartment in a brand new car, and you're there 00:09:10.279 --> 00:09:14.240 sort of unlocking your rusty bicycle, and your friend sort of smiles out the window and says, hey, 00:09:14.720 --> 00:09:21.240 you want to ride to work? So Jesus looks at this man with love and says, you want to be healed? 00:09:21.899 --> 00:09:26.620 And the man says, yeah, yeah, but I can't make it into the pool on time. And Jesus in effect says, 00:09:26.659 --> 00:09:31.539 friend, you don't need a pool. You just need to hear my voice. Take up your bed and walk. 00:09:32.199 --> 00:09:38.259 And instantly the man who had yearned so long for real Sabbath wholeness, instantly he's made well. 00:09:38.259 --> 00:09:45.960 He picks up his mat and walks for the first time in 38 years. Why? Because right there, 00:09:46.519 --> 00:09:51.980 just past the sheep gate, beside the pool of Bethesda, which by the way, archaeologists have 00:09:51.980 --> 00:10:01.019 found physical evidence for that site today, right there, the very God of the Sabbath meets this man 00:10:01.019 --> 00:10:04.399 in the flesh. The incarnate Word of God, Jesus. 00:10:07.980 --> 00:10:15.240 But now here's what we have to see. Jesus didn't just do this just for the sake of this man. You know, 00:10:15.279 --> 00:10:19.779 Jesus could have healed him any old time, right? Any day of the week. But Jesus chooses the Sabbath day, 00:10:20.039 --> 00:10:24.699 and he chooses not just any Sabbath day, he chooses a Sabbath day in the middle of a national festival. 00:10:24.700 --> 00:10:31.060 Now, which feast it is, John doesn't say, so that must not be all that important to the story. But we 00:10:31.060 --> 00:10:36.700 know it was an annual feast. And the point is, Jerusalem is crowded with worshipers. And on a day 00:10:36.700 --> 00:10:42.240 when Jerusalem is packed, on a Sabbath day, Jesus finds a man, heals him, and then tells him to walk 00:10:42.240 --> 00:10:48.280 through the city carrying his mat. In all probability, knowing that doing such a thing on such a day, 00:10:48.279 --> 00:10:56.039 at such a point in the year, would absolutely force the hand of the religious authorities of that day 00:10:56.039 --> 00:11:04.379 in the city. And that's exactly what happens. In verse 10, the Jews, and remember in John's gospel, 00:11:04.679 --> 00:11:09.220 the Jews means the Jewish religious authorities, most often in Jerusalem, they stop the healed man 00:11:09.220 --> 00:11:14.039 and they say, look, you can't do this. It's the Sabbath. What are you thinking? Now, their response takes a 00:11:14.039 --> 00:11:18.579 little bit of explaining, doesn't it? In the Old Testament, what the Sabbath prohibited, if you just 00:11:18.579 --> 00:11:23.039 read the Old Testament itself, what the Sabbath prohibited was what we would today call our jobs, 00:11:23.199 --> 00:11:26.759 right? If you were a farmer, you were supposed to stop farming. If you were a merchant, you were to 00:11:26.759 --> 00:11:34.599 stop buying and selling. But after the Babylonian exile, tradition started to develop and to be codified 00:11:34.599 --> 00:11:42.679 that sort of further defined what work was. And in an attempt to sort of protect Sabbath observance, 00:11:42.679 --> 00:11:47.079 over time, there were something like 39 categories of work that were identified 00:11:47.079 --> 00:11:53.500 that you couldn't do, that apparently broke the Sabbath law. And one of those 39 codified traditions, 00:11:53.699 --> 00:12:01.199 you guessed it, was carrying something. And so according to the religious authorities, 00:12:01.399 --> 00:12:04.639 according to their tradition, this man who had been healed was breaking the Sabbath. 00:12:04.639 --> 00:12:09.980 And as they soon found out, Jesus was behind it all. 00:12:13.279 --> 00:12:23.460 Now, notice here, as Jesus demonstrates his equality with God, that he both heals and he challenges. 00:12:24.759 --> 00:12:32.620 He heals and he challenges. He heals this paralyzed man, right? But then he challenges him. What does he say 00:12:32.620 --> 00:12:38.240 to him when he finds him a little later in the temple precincts? Sin no more, lest something worse 00:12:38.240 --> 00:12:46.100 happen to you? And to the religious authorities, Jesus intentionally challenges them, but his 00:12:46.100 --> 00:12:51.639 challenge comes out of a desire to heal, so that they might stop looking to rules, but look to him. 00:12:53.799 --> 00:12:57.899 So how does this demonstration of Jesus's equality with God strike you today? 00:12:57.899 --> 00:13:04.019 Is it a healing word for us? Is it a challenging word for us? 00:13:05.799 --> 00:13:13.659 If it is a healing word, do you also hear the challenge? Don't let your new life in Christ simply 00:13:13.659 --> 00:13:19.459 end there. Follow him in obedience. You've come to him as Savior. Now follow him as Lord in the newness 00:13:19.460 --> 00:13:27.960 of life. But if it comes to you as a challenging word, do you also see that it is for your healing? 00:13:29.700 --> 00:13:36.280 Yes, Jesus is saying that your own attempt at rules, at moral self-improvement, won't really get you 00:13:36.280 --> 00:13:37.420 anywhere with God. 00:13:37.419 --> 00:13:49.439 But that challenge is for your healing, so that you can let down your exhausting self-salvation 00:13:49.439 --> 00:13:54.459 project, and so that you can find rest in the healing voice of Jesus alone. 00:13:56.939 --> 00:14:04.819 So Jesus here is demonstrating his equality with God. But now, as Jesus has sort of forced our hand, 00:14:04.820 --> 00:14:09.420 and as the controversy and conflict start to break out with the religious authorities, Jesus goes on 00:14:09.420 --> 00:14:13.980 in the second part of our passage, not just to demonstrate his equality, but to define it, to 00:14:13.980 --> 00:14:20.260 define his equality with God. Now here again, it's helpful to understand a little of the Jewish context 00:14:20.260 --> 00:14:24.040 of Jesus's day. You see, there was a theological discussion that developed in the Jewish tradition 00:14:24.040 --> 00:14:30.640 about whether God actually stopped working entirely on the Sabbath. In other words, what exactly does it 00:14:30.639 --> 00:14:37.639 mean to say that God rested on the Sabbath day? After all, if God ceased from all activity on the 00:14:37.639 --> 00:14:42.879 Sabbath, then wouldn't the universe just simply cease to exist altogether? Because as the Old Testament 00:14:42.879 --> 00:14:46.539 affirms again and again, the world is upheld by the power of God. So if God stopped working, 00:14:46.899 --> 00:14:55.340 poof, one day in seven we wouldn't exist. So God's rest on the Sabbath day must mean that he rested 00:14:55.340 --> 00:15:03.820 from that original work of creation. But as God, his ongoing work and activity sustaining creation 00:15:03.820 --> 00:15:13.639 continues. So then, we might say that God on the Sabbath day continues working. Man must not continue 00:15:13.639 --> 00:15:22.120 working, but God does. And so, in verse 17, when Jesus says, my Father's working until now, 00:15:22.120 --> 00:15:31.080 and I am working. Do you see there that he's drawing a very clear line? He's drawing a line, 00:15:31.179 --> 00:15:39.440 and on one side are created things, created humans, and on the other side is the Creator. And Jesus, 00:15:39.720 --> 00:15:45.039 although clearly a fully human person right in front of them, is saying, I'm on this side of the line. 00:15:45.039 --> 00:15:50.819 My Father is working on the Sabbath day. I work on the Sabbath day. 00:15:52.860 --> 00:15:57.019 Now, imagine how Jesus could have answered their complaints. He could have taken them back to the 00:15:57.019 --> 00:16:01.399 law of Moses, right, and argued against their tradition on exegetical grounds and said, hey, 00:16:01.480 --> 00:16:06.339 guys, you're blowing things out of proportion here. Or he could have appealed to the character 00:16:06.339 --> 00:16:11.939 of God's compassion and the fact that Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. And in other 00:16:11.940 --> 00:16:18.100 places in the Gospels, Jesus will approach Sabbath controversies with his fellow Jews in similar ways. 00:16:18.280 --> 00:16:24.240 But here in John 5, he goes straight to the heart of the matter. He looks his opponent straight in the 00:16:24.240 --> 00:16:33.600 eye and says, does God work on the Sabbath? And I work on the Sabbath. Now, let's listen to how Jesus 00:16:33.600 --> 00:16:39.480 defines his relationship to the Father in verses 19 through 30. Let me read these quickly for us. 00:16:39.480 --> 00:16:44.920 So Jesus said to them, truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of his own accord, 00:16:45.060 --> 00:16:49.980 but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise. For 00:16:49.980 --> 00:16:54.779 the Father loves the Son and shows him all that he himself is doing. And greater works than these will 00:16:54.779 --> 00:17:00.200 he show him so that you may marvel. For as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also 00:17:00.200 --> 00:17:05.220 the Son gives life to whom he will. For the Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son, 00:17:05.220 --> 00:17:10.620 that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not 00:17:10.620 --> 00:17:15.900 honor the Father who sent him. Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who 00:17:15.900 --> 00:17:21.559 sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life. 00:17:22.940 --> 00:17:28.100 Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming and is now here when the dead will hear the voice of the 00:17:28.099 --> 00:17:33.500 Son of God. And those who hear will live. For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted 00:17:33.500 --> 00:17:38.679 the Son also to have life in himself. And he has given him authority to execute judgment because 00:17:38.679 --> 00:17:43.659 he is the Son of Man. Do not marvel at this, for an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will 00:17:43.659 --> 00:17:48.619 hear his voice and come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life and those who have 00:17:48.619 --> 00:17:54.539 done evil to the resurrection of judgment. I can do nothing on my own. As I hear, I judge. 00:17:54.539 --> 00:18:00.460 And my judgment is just because I seek not my own will, but the will of him who sent me. 00:18:02.220 --> 00:18:07.379 Now, notice three things about Jesus defining his equality with God here. First, it's clear from 00:18:07.379 --> 00:18:12.579 Jesus's words that the Father and the Son are distinct persons. You know, the Father and the Son 00:18:12.579 --> 00:18:17.139 aren't simply sort of two masks that God can kind of take on and off. Now God's the Father, now God's the 00:18:17.139 --> 00:18:22.480 Son. No, the Father and the Son are in a real relationship. And verses 19 and 20 show us that. The Son 00:18:22.480 --> 00:18:28.299 sees what the Father does. What the Father does, the Son does. The Father loves the Son. They're in a real 00:18:28.299 --> 00:18:34.740 relationship. They're distinct persons. But the second thing to notice is that the Son is as much 00:18:34.740 --> 00:18:44.339 God as the Father. Jesus mentions two exclusive prerogatives of God here. Two things that only God has the 00:18:44.339 --> 00:18:52.299 right to do. The authority first to give life and the authority to judge. And according to verses 21 and 22, 00:18:52.299 --> 00:18:58.639 the Son has those prerogatives, has that right as much as the Father. Verse 21, the Father raises the 00:18:58.639 --> 00:19:04.019 dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whom he will. So Jesus the Son, as much as the 00:19:04.019 --> 00:19:10.680 Father, has divine authority to give life. Verse 22, the Father judges no one, but has given all judgment 00:19:10.680 --> 00:19:18.500 to the Son. So Jesus the Son, as much as the Father, has divine authority to judge. So how do we hold 00:19:18.500 --> 00:19:23.079 these first two observations together? The Father and Son are distinct persons, but they are both fully 00:19:23.079 --> 00:19:29.380 God? Are there two gods? Well, no. The Bible's clear that there's only one God. You can't read the Old 00:19:29.380 --> 00:19:35.759 Testament and come away from that thinking that there's not just one God. Well, maybe the Son is 00:19:35.759 --> 00:19:41.920 sort of a little less God than the Father. But Jesus wouldn't be fully God with the full rights of 00:19:41.920 --> 00:19:47.880 Godness if he was a little less God, right? That doesn't make any sense. So Jesus here brings us 00:19:47.880 --> 00:19:55.480 face to face with what we now call the doctrine of the Trinity, that God is one in essence, but three 00:19:55.480 --> 00:20:02.240 in persons, Father, Son, and as the New Testament unfolds, we'll see the Holy Spirit. Now, is there a 00:20:02.240 --> 00:20:07.380 practical outcome of all of this? Well, this brings us to the third observation that we need to make about 00:20:07.380 --> 00:20:12.520 these verses as Jesus defines his equality with God. One, the Father and Son are distinct. Two, the 00:20:12.520 --> 00:20:18.500 Father and Son are both God. Both have full authority to judge and give life. Three, what this means is 00:20:18.500 --> 00:20:26.720 that we cannot honor God without honoring the Son. Look again at verse 23. Why has God the Father 00:20:26.720 --> 00:20:32.960 entrusted all judgment to God the Son? Jesus says that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father. 00:20:32.960 --> 00:20:38.160 Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him. 00:20:40.319 --> 00:20:49.360 Now, friends, let that sink in. It is impossible, Jesus says, to honor God the Father if we do not honor 00:20:49.360 --> 00:20:58.059 the Son. Do you see what Jesus is saying here? Any religion or spirituality that doesn't put Jesus in the 00:20:58.059 --> 00:21:09.440 center does not ultimately honor God? Now, I know that's a fairly offensive thing to say, but it's not 00:21:09.440 --> 00:21:14.799 something Christians just made up to sort of make people angry. It's what Jesus himself taught. You can't 00:21:14.799 --> 00:21:22.419 fully honor the Father unless you honor the Son. Now, that's not to say that there aren't some true things in 00:21:22.419 --> 00:21:27.700 other religions and other worldviews. That's not to say we're not supposed to be ultimately respectful and show 00:21:27.700 --> 00:21:33.019 everyone dignity and honor who believe different things than us. But Jesus cuts a very clear line 00:21:33.019 --> 00:21:43.220 here and says, the only way to truly honor the Father is to honor me. That is challenging, absolutely. 00:21:44.920 --> 00:21:51.819 It was challenging to Jesus' first hearers, and it's still challenging today. But just as we were saying, 00:21:51.819 --> 00:22:03.539 Jesus challenges us to heal us. If Jesus is the only Son of the Father, then let's listen to what Jesus says 00:22:03.539 --> 00:22:12.000 in verse 24. Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my voice and believes him who sent me has eternal life. 00:22:12.819 --> 00:22:19.960 He doesn't come into judgment, but has passed from death to life. And in verses 25 through 30, 00:22:19.960 --> 00:22:25.100 Jesus will say that at the end of history, his will be the voice that opens the graves, 00:22:25.100 --> 00:22:29.360 and his will be the voice that utters the verdict over our lives. 00:22:31.120 --> 00:22:36.720 God the Son is God, and he will act in all of his godness when the time comes. 00:22:37.380 --> 00:22:42.759 But what will be true at the end of the ages is also true right now, 00:22:42.759 --> 00:22:49.319 that those who hear his voice and believe are granted eternal life. 00:22:50.980 --> 00:22:55.660 Jesus says, even now the dead are hearing my voice, and those who hear pass from death to life. 00:22:56.599 --> 00:23:00.359 Just like the man beside the pool heard the voice of Jesus say, 00:23:00.700 --> 00:23:05.220 get up, even now Jesus continues to speak from heaven through the words of Scripture, 00:23:05.599 --> 00:23:08.799 through the proclamation of the church, and Jesus continues to say, 00:23:08.799 --> 00:23:16.319 get up, leave death, and come into life. Step away from the pools and the rules, 00:23:16.539 --> 00:23:22.039 and come find real, lasting Sabbath rest and wholeness in me, the God of the Sabbath. 00:23:24.539 --> 00:23:30.819 You see, the good news, friends, is that if Jesus is God, then eternal life can be had as a gift 00:23:30.819 --> 00:23:35.619 just by responding to his voice. He has life in himself. 00:23:35.619 --> 00:23:42.859 And as the gospel of John unfolds, what do we see? That Jesus, God the Son, with all authority to give 00:23:42.859 --> 00:23:50.479 life, with all authority to judge, is willing to lay down his own life for sinners. He's willing to be 00:23:50.479 --> 00:24:00.339 judged for us in order to grant us that eternal life. So now we too can get up and walk, 00:24:00.339 --> 00:24:07.119 so that we can get up and walk in the newness of life. Paul says in 2 Corinthians, if anyone is in 00:24:07.119 --> 00:24:12.539 Christ, he's a new creation. The old has passed away. Behold, the new has come. 00:24:15.659 --> 00:24:22.099 So then Jesus demonstrates and defines his equality with God. But to conclude then in the third part of 00:24:22.099 --> 00:24:28.119 our passage in verses 31 through 47, Jesus now defends his equality with God. 00:24:30.359 --> 00:24:37.379 You see, the reality is Jesus knows that his claims here are massive. 00:24:39.719 --> 00:24:43.439 As he says in verse 31, we're going to look at verses 31 through 35 first. 00:24:43.959 --> 00:24:48.939 He says in verse 31, look, if I bear witness about myself, my testimony is not true. 00:24:48.940 --> 00:24:53.039 Jesus is admitting that like, look, if I'm just walking around saying, I'm God, 00:24:53.140 --> 00:24:58.480 you probably shouldn't pay attention to me. But he says, it's not just me. 00:25:00.340 --> 00:25:06.340 Jesus marshals in this section three witnesses as evidence to his claims. 00:25:07.539 --> 00:25:14.980 First, the first witness he points to is John the Baptist. In verses 32 through 35, Jesus says, 00:25:14.980 --> 00:25:18.740 there's another who bears witness about me, and I know that the testimony that he bears about me is 00:25:18.740 --> 00:25:23.900 true. You sent to John, that is John the Baptist, and he's born witness to the truth. Not that the 00:25:23.900 --> 00:25:28.620 testimony that I receive is from man, but I say these things so that you may be saved. He was a 00:25:28.620 --> 00:25:35.559 bright and shining lamp, and you were willing to rejoice for a while in his light. Now, even Jesus's 00:25:35.559 --> 00:25:41.859 opponents respected John the Baptist. They respected him as a prophet from God. And what was John the 00:25:41.859 --> 00:25:47.259 Baptist's message? Ultimately, his message was, there's one who's coming after me whose sandals I'm not 00:25:47.259 --> 00:25:52.480 worthy to untie. I'm preparing the way for the Lord to come. And when John finally set his eyes 00:25:52.480 --> 00:25:57.779 on Jesus, what did John say? Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. 00:25:59.859 --> 00:26:06.119 The Jewish authorities of Jesus' day respected John the Baptist, and Jesus says, well, for starters, 00:26:06.420 --> 00:26:12.319 why don't you just listen to what he was saying about me? And if you're wrestling with the claims of 00:26:12.319 --> 00:26:19.159 Christ today, I wonder if you might consider the witness of some Christians that you respect. 00:26:20.980 --> 00:26:25.659 Is there someone in your life or in your profession that you might pause and consider? 00:26:27.579 --> 00:26:32.759 Does their life point you in some small way to consider the truth of Jesus's claims? 00:26:34.759 --> 00:26:39.759 If it's true for them, might it also be plausible for you? 00:26:39.759 --> 00:26:46.900 Now, Jesus admits this isn't a great sort of, this is just a first step, right? Humans are flawed. 00:26:47.180 --> 00:26:51.920 John the Baptist wasn't perfect. But might it at least open the door a little bit for you? 00:26:54.379 --> 00:26:59.740 And for those of us who are Christians, do we see our lives a bit like John the Baptist? 00:27:01.180 --> 00:27:04.720 Pointing others not to ourselves, but to Christ? 00:27:04.720 --> 00:27:14.019 How can your life, how can my life, how can our life as a church bear witness to Christ like John the 00:27:14.019 --> 00:27:20.200 Baptist's life did? In the rest of John's gospel, he'll start to, Jesus will start to tell us that. 00:27:20.920 --> 00:27:25.160 In the upper room, before he's crucified, Jesus will say, love one another. That's how the world will 00:27:25.160 --> 00:27:29.079 know that you're my followers, if you love one another and if you serve one another. 00:27:29.079 --> 00:27:35.960 But then Jesus goes on to the second witness. And the second witness is the works that he's done. 00:27:36.439 --> 00:27:37.980 Let's read verse 36. He says, 00:27:37.980 --> 00:27:55.059 So Jesus is pushing them here. He's challenging us. Have you investigated Jesus' works? 00:27:55.799 --> 00:28:02.660 Jesus had just healed a man who had been paralyzed for 38 years. Would his opponents have the open-mindedness 00:28:02.660 --> 00:28:10.560 to look past their rules, look past their preconceived notions, and consider the challenge 00:28:10.560 --> 00:28:14.519 that Jesus poses? And look at what's right in front of them. 00:28:16.960 --> 00:28:21.060 You know, it's very interesting that in the earliest testimonies to Jesus that we have outside of the 00:28:21.060 --> 00:28:26.440 New Testament, nearly all of them mentioned that Jesus worked miracles, and practically none of them 00:28:26.440 --> 00:28:32.519 dispute that claim. For the witnesses closest to Jesus, his miraculous works weren't really in 00:28:32.519 --> 00:28:40.700 question. And for us today, perhaps the greatest work that we need to reckon with is Jesus' own 00:28:40.700 --> 00:28:47.740 resurrection from the dead. Jesus claims to have life in himself, and he claims to have the authority 00:28:47.740 --> 00:28:53.379 to give life. And the question we have to ask is, the question on which, as Paul will say, the whole 00:28:53.379 --> 00:29:00.839 thing rises or falls is, did Jesus rise from the dead? Did he work that mighty work? 00:29:02.519 --> 00:29:09.559 And I don't think we can be spiritually or even intellectually honest with ourselves until we've 00:29:09.559 --> 00:29:16.740 given the resurrection of Jesus a fair evaluation. And for those of us who are Christians, those of us 00:29:16.740 --> 00:29:23.480 who believe in the resurrection, who believe in Jesus' works, do we live our lives as echoes of that work? 00:29:23.480 --> 00:29:35.000 You know, God doesn't save us by our good works, but he does save us for good works. Jesus has prepared 00:29:35.000 --> 00:29:44.279 good works in advance for us to do. And again, as Jesus says later in John's gospel, it is our works of 00:29:44.279 --> 00:29:51.599 love. It is our works of service, our works of love for one another and love for the world that will draw 00:29:51.599 --> 00:29:59.399 people's hearts and minds to consider Christ. Jesus then calls the third witness in for his defense. 00:29:59.679 --> 00:30:07.500 After John the Baptist, after his own works, finally Jesus calls in the words of the Father himself, the 00:30:07.500 --> 00:30:14.799 words of the Father in Scripture. So let's read the rest of John chapter 5, verses 37 through 47. Jesus says, 00:30:14.799 --> 00:30:21.599 And the Father who sent me has himself borne witness about me. His voice you've never heard, his form you 00:30:21.599 --> 00:30:27.519 have never seen, and you do not have his word abiding in you. For you do not believe the one whom he has 00:30:27.519 --> 00:30:35.559 sent. You search the scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life. And it is they 00:30:35.559 --> 00:30:42.139 that bear witness about me. Yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life. 00:30:42.140 --> 00:30:48.700 I do not receive glory from people, but I know that you do not have the love of God within you. 00:30:49.220 --> 00:30:53.480 I've come in my Father's name, and you do not receive me. If another comes in his own name, you'll 00:30:53.480 --> 00:30:59.860 receive him. How can you believe when you receive glory from one another and don't seek the glory that 00:30:59.860 --> 00:31:07.400 comes from the only God? Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father. There is one who accuses you, 00:31:07.400 --> 00:31:15.420 Moses, on whom you set your hope. For if you believe Moses, you would believe me. For he wrote of me. 00:31:16.940 --> 00:31:20.720 But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe my words? 00:31:23.620 --> 00:31:29.480 Jesus's opponents, you see, considered themselves experts in the scriptures, and therefore experts 00:31:29.480 --> 00:31:38.819 in the word of God. But Jesus says, the scriptures, the voice of God, is ultimately about me. 00:31:40.480 --> 00:31:47.200 Now, what did Jesus mean by this? On the one hand, there are many explicit prophecies about the coming 00:31:47.200 --> 00:31:52.019 Messiah that Jesus fulfilled. Some of those found in the very writings of the first five books of the 00:31:52.019 --> 00:31:58.319 Old Testament, the law of Moses. But in addition to the prophecies, there are overarching stories and 00:31:58.319 --> 00:32:07.639 themes that Jesus fulfills as well. Every prophet bringing a word from God. Every priest offering a 00:32:07.639 --> 00:32:15.660 sacrifice to reconcile us to God. Every king coming with the rule of God to put down injustice and to 00:32:15.660 --> 00:32:22.000 rescue the people. All of these Old Testament stories are part of a grand narrative that finds 00:32:22.000 --> 00:32:32.200 its climax in Jesus, the true prophet and priest and king. So if you're genuinely seeking God, 00:32:33.759 --> 00:32:45.460 take up the invitation that Jesus makes here. Read the scriptures for yourself. But don't read them 00:32:45.460 --> 00:32:50.240 as a big pile of rules that you have to follow in order to earn eternal life. Jesus says, 00:32:50.240 --> 00:32:54.900 that's not the right way to read scripture. And of course, don't read it as a big sort of pool, 00:32:55.019 --> 00:33:01.759 a big mash of collected religious experiences. No, no, Jesus says, read it as a witness, 00:33:02.400 --> 00:33:09.720 as the voice of the Father witnessing to me, the person of Christ. Put Christ in the center of your 00:33:09.720 --> 00:33:17.940 study of scripture. And maybe for the first time, the Bible will start to make a lot more sense to you 00:33:17.940 --> 00:33:25.140 and start to be heard as the good news that it is. Not the mountain we need to ascend to get to God, 00:33:25.220 --> 00:33:33.500 but the story of a God who's come down to rescue us. And maybe as you read, you'll start to hear the 00:33:33.500 --> 00:33:42.440 voice of Jesus say in your heart, do you want to be healed? And if you hear his voice, friends, 00:33:42.440 --> 00:33:50.900 do not harden your heart, but enter the rest that he offers through faith. And for those of us who 00:33:50.900 --> 00:33:56.600 are followers of Christ, those of us who've heard his voice in scripture say, get up, take your mat, 00:33:56.960 --> 00:34:05.000 walk. Friends, remember we have passed from death to life. So let's keep listening to his voice in 00:34:05.000 --> 00:34:15.019 scripture. And then let's go. Let's walk. Let's witness to him with our life. And let's witness to 00:34:15.019 --> 00:34:24.579 him with our works. And let's witness to him with our words. And let's live in the eternal life 00:34:24.579 --> 00:34:33.019 that we know only hearing the voice of Jesus can bring. Because Jesus is one with the Father, 00:34:33.019 --> 00:34:36.619 equal with God, and he's come. Let's pray together. 00:34:41.360 --> 00:34:48.699 Our Lord Jesus, we thank you for these moments in the Gospels where you come forth and you give us 00:34:48.699 --> 00:34:57.000 such clear teaching about your true divine identity. Lord, soften our hearts to hear your voice 00:34:57.000 --> 00:35:03.659 that we might pass from death to life. Lord, perhaps there are those hearing your voice even now. 00:35:04.679 --> 00:35:11.059 By your spirit, would you liberate them to reach out to you in faith and cling to you. 00:35:12.019 --> 00:35:16.940 Lord, for those of us who've heard your voice, help us to walk in the newness of life that you bring. 00:35:17.860 --> 00:35:24.079 And so testify to your glory and your goodness. We pray this in your name, Jesus. Amen. 00:35:24.079 --> 00:35:24.199 Amen. 00:35:25.900 --> 00:35:26.300 Amen.