Good morning. Please take your copy of God's Word and join me in John chapter 5.
You would have no idea. Perhaps maybe only my wife knows all the things we've been walking through and dealing with.
A lot going on in the life of our church.
And it's not all been good, but confident it's all being worked for good.
This past week at the end of the week, which we do every year, your elders had a retreat together.
We got away, got some rest, just spent some time having fun, talked through a few matters.
And it was good and it was rich.
But I will say that normally I do not plan to preach the Sunday after said retreat.
Just circumstances didn't allow for somebody else to do so.
So here we are, John chapter 5, verses 19 through 30.
And I think what you can expect from me is a little more devotional than it usually is.
Certainly good, I think, for myself and I think for you to be reminded that I am not the Lord Jesus Christ.
I don't think anybody had any notion of that at all.
But I am imperfect and I am frail.
Maybe a little more probable, it's also good for you to know that I am not just a handsome robot.
Which is what a handsome robot would tell you.
But I'm especially feeling my frailty this morning.
I'm grateful that God's word is not any less powerful as we open it together.
John's gospel follows a pattern.
First, he will present a miracle that Jesus performs.
A sign that grabs attention.
The characters in the story, they're paying attention now to Jesus.
Or it creates some kind of conflict.
And it's meant to do that for us as well.
Second, he will record something of great importance that Jesus says.
So we definitely want to pay attention to the sign itself.
But we really want to be paying attention to what Jesus says following that sign.
Last week we looked at the beginning of chapter 5 where Jesus recorded healing a man at the pool of Bethesda who had been lame for 38 years.
It has to be assumed that many people would have known this man.
That he could not walk.
And that his newfound ability to walk.
It just would have been attention grabbing.
It would have been an astounding thing to see this man healed.
It certainly got the attention of the Jewish religious leaders.
Particularly because Jesus performed this miracle on the Sabbath.
They had added all kinds of regulation to the Old Testament commandment to keep the Sabbath.
And they were vigilant about pointing out when people weren't keeping the Sabbath.
And so Jesus did not sin in healing this man.
Nor did this man sin in taking up his mat in obedience to Jesus.
But they thought that they had.
And so they were looking to kill him.
He was being disruptive to the religious order.
If you notice verse 16 and following of chapter 5.
It says,
And this was why the Jews were persecuting Jesus.
Because he was doing these things.
This healing on the Sabbath.
But Jesus answered them,
My Father is working until now.
And I am working.
It's an astounding statement that Christ makes of himself.
Of his deity.
And then it goes on.
John says in verse 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.
Blasphemy or profaning the name of God.
Was and is a serious infraction.
It would be blasphemy for me to call myself God.
It would be a terrible, terrible sin.
If Jesus was in fact blaspheming.
Then a pursuit of justice was in order.
That needed to be correct.
But he was innocent of this charge.
Because Jesus is God.
Who is Jesus?
Is the most important question to be asked or answered.
You must take up this matter.
Who is Jesus?
Who do you believe that Jesus is?
Last week I mentioned the trilemma.
Jesus makes some astounding claims about himself.
What do you do with what he says about himself?
You really only have three options.
The trilemma.
You must pick one of the following.
He was either a liar.
The things that he said about himself just were untrue.
And he knew exactly what he was doing.
And spinning this yarn.
Or he genuinely believed this about himself.
But it's false.
And so he's a lunatic.
Or what he said about himself is true.
And so it's right for us to worship him as Lord.
So that's the trilemma.
Is he liar?
Is he lunatic?
Or is he Lord?
And we encounter this kind of trilemma in life.
All the time.
Not nearly as weighty as the matter before us.
I'll give you an example.
Did you know that there are people today who think the earth is flat?
They really do.
If you're in the room, I don't mean to be insulting to you.
We have to do something with that.
What do we do with that?
These people either don't really believe this to be true.
They're fabricating it because they want to bother us and get it underneath our skin.
Or they really believe it's true.
Or they're right.
And I'll leave you to guess which one I think it is.
C.S. Lewis wrote in Mere Christianity,
I am trying here to prevent anyone from saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Jesus.
I'm ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher,
but I don't accept his claim to be God.
That is the one thing we must not say.
A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus would not be a great moral teacher.
He would either be a lunatic on a level with the man who says he is a poached egg,
or else he would be the devil of hell.
A liar, right?
You must make your choice.
Either this man was and is the Son of God,
or else a madman or something worse.
You can shut him up for a fool.
You could spit at him and kill him as a demon,
or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God.
But let us not come up with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher.
He has not left that open to us.
For us to reduce him to merely a teacher, Lewis is saying,
is a great insult to what he said about himself.
He's either a liar or a lunatic,
or he is in fact who he said he is.
He's the Son of God,
the Lord of the universe.
The Jewish religious leaders had already decided what they believed about Jesus.
In some places, it's recorded for us that they think he is insane.
In others, that he is of the devil, the father of lies.
John 5.18,
This is 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.
And it is in response to this judgment in their minds
that John records the following teaching of Jesus.
It's on the heels of this, right?
John has been very careful about what he's recorded for us here.
Here, it's following this that Jesus is going to teach.
Let me pray for us, and then we'll read the text.
Father God, we do thank you this day for Christ, your Son.
We are so very glad that he is, in fact,
true to all of the things that he said about himself.
But we know that we need your help this morning
to rightly understand this.
What a vast thing to try to wrap our minds around.
What an incredible thing to have worked down deep into our hearts
that it might bring forth fruit.
We thank you for your word this morning
and for what it says to this end.
We thank you that your word itself is powerful to change us,
and we pray that you'd work by it.
Help us to believe its promises and obey its commands
and have affection for you, its author.
We know we need your help in doing so.
So we pray that you would help us,
and we pray in Christ's name.
Amen.
So John 5, beginning in verse 19 and following.
So, Jesus said to them, those who want to kill him
because of what he said about himself being God,
truly, 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.
For 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.
For as the Father raises the dead and gives them life,
so also the Son gives life to whom he will.
For the Father judges no one,
but has given all judgment to the Son,
that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father.
Whoever does not honor the Son
does not honor the Father who sent him.
Truly, truly, I say to you,
whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me
has eternal life.
He does not come into judgment,
but has passed from death to life.
Truly, truly, I say to you,
an hour is coming and is now here
when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God
and those who hear will live.
For as the Father has life in himself,
so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself.
And he has given him authority to execute judgment
because he is the Son of Man.
Do not marvel at this,
for an hour is coming
when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice
and come out,
those who have done good to the resurrection of life
and those who have done evil
to the resurrection of judgment.
I can do nothing on my own.
As I hear, I judge,
and my judgment is just
because I seek not my own,
but the will of him who sent me.
All right.
So words of Jesus,
which are not always easy to navigate through.
Sometimes he speaks in ways
that can be a bit difficult
for us to understand.
However,
there is a literary structure
found in the book of John
that helps us to this end.
It's there.
I need to put this in your notes for you
so you can see it better yourself.
But this text,
verses 19 through 30,
is, once again,
a chiastic structure.
Okay.
And I'm going to show you
because why?
Why is he repetitious?
It doesn't feel like
he's making a progressive,
logical argument
the way Paul writes in many places.
So this, then this, then this.
Right?
This language seems to loop back around.
You're right.
Right?
That impulse in you is correct.
Right?
So if you're unfamiliar
with the chiastic structure,
it comes from the Greek letter
for X, chi.
Right?
There's a center point
to this text.
So I want to show it to you
really briefly,
show you what the center of it is.
It'll help us a bit
as we look on.
So first,
verse 19 and verse 30
correspond to one another.
Right?
Fairly easy to apprehend
that very thing.
So you've got A and A prime,
verse 19 and verse 30.
So Jesus said to them,
Truly, truly, I say to you,
the Son can do nothing
of his own accord.
You see the phrase?
And then again,
in verse 30,
I can do nothing
on my own.
See how the two things
correspond.
They set up some bookends
to this passage of text.
Next we see,
so B and B prime
corresponding to one another,
verses 20 through 23,
and then verses 25 through 29.
So larger sections.
But thematically,
you can notice a pattern.
talk of resurrection
and then judgment.
In the case of verses 20 through 23,
then honor.
So resurrection, judgment, honor.
And in the second case,
verses 25 through 29,
resurrection,
judgment,
and reward.
So honor for Christ
and the Father.
In the one case,
resurrection, judgment, honor.
In the second case,
reward for those
who place their faith in him.
Resurrection,
judgment,
and reward.
Which brings us
to the center
of the chiasm,
which is verse 24.
There Jesus says,
Truly, truly,
I say to you,
whoever hears my word
and believes him
who sent me
has eternal life.
He does not come
into judgment,
but is passed
from death
to life.
Now there is a lot
to talk about
in this passage.
We don't want
to neglect it,
but if,
if we had a really
limited amount
of time together,
which is fairly limited,
a limited amount
of time together,
I would suggest to you
in this case,
what you most need
to hear is what's
being communicated
in verse 24.
It's being built up,
it's being clearly
communicated to us
in other parts
of the passage,
but verse 24,
if you needed to hone
in on a central thing,
this is the thing
that you should notice.
And this shouldn't
be a surprise to us.
In John's structuring
of Jesus' words,
he's driving a point
that he's going to drive
all throughout
his gospel,
like the greatest point
that he could
possibly drive.
For us to have
eternal life,
we must go to God
through Christ.
Jesus is the Messiah.
It's the way
that we can be saved.
He states the purpose
of the whole book.
John 20,
verse 30 and 31.
Now Jesus did
many other signs
or miracles
in the presence
of the disciples
which are not written
in this book,
but these are written
so that you may believe
that Jesus is the Christ,
the Son of God,
and that by believing
you may have life
in his name.
This is the point
that he's driving us at.
Now I will tell you
at this point,
there's a temptation
amongst pastors,
people who preach.
We don't want to get up
and be boring.
I just don't want
to be boring.
The effort that I put
into preaching sermons,
I want to be well received.
I want you guys
to appreciate
what happens
on a Sunday morning.
at my purest intention,
I want your lives
to be changed
from one degree of glory
to another,
the praise of Christ.
We want it to be effectual.
We want it to actually
accomplish things
when we come together
and the temptation
is to be innovative.
The temptation
is to somehow say
the same thing
in some new way,
some thing that will
grab your attention
otherwise.
And I think
this is a grave error.
I'm so glad
that when that little
impulse rises up in me
that the response
to it is,
just preach the word.
People are going
to have tickling ears.
Don't entertain them.
Just preach the word
and let us be a people
who never grow tired
of musing
about this reality.
Apart from Christ,
we are due death
forever.
But in Christ,
we have eternal life.
This ought not
be a thing
that grows cold
in our hearts.
Perhaps the Bible
is so replete with it,
it says it over
and over and over again
because we need to hear it
over and over
and over
and over again.
So we'll spend some time
in these next few moments
doing that very phrase.
Jesus makes
three astonishing claims
in these 12 verses.
That's what we'll do
as our outline.
I want to draw your attention
to three claims
that he makes.
The first claim he makes
is that he is aligned
with the Father
in action.
Jesus is aligned
with the Father
in action.
verse 19-20
and verse 30.
He's upping this claim.
The Father is working
and I am working.
Not only that,
but I'm doing exactly
what the Father does.
He's doubling down
on this claim
that he is God.
Truly, truly, I say to you,
the Son can do
nothing of his own accord
but only what he sees
the Father doing.
Whatever the Father does,
the Son does likewise.
The Father loves the Son.
This relationship
shows him all
that he himself is doing.
He's going to do
greater works
than healing the lame man,
greater works
than these will.
Verse 30.
He says,
I can do nothing
on my own.
This isn't speaking
to Jesus' sovereign power.
It's speaking to
his relationship
with the Father.
He doesn't go rogue
with his own will.
He says,
As I hear,
I judge,
and my judgment
is just
because I seek
not my own will,
but the will
of him who sent me.
Jesus is God.
Jesus does
the very things
that God is doing.
Later on,
he's going to say
that he comes
to seek
and to save
the lost.
He has a purpose
in the world
to redeem
God's people.
So,
what do we do
with this information?
Is there anything
applicable to us?
Of course.
Of course there is.
Firstly,
we should trust Jesus
with confidence.
If we can behold Christ,
then we are seeing
the Father as well.
If the Son does
only what the Father does,
Jesus never
misrepresents God.
He was
chapter 1.
He's an exact
imprint
of his nature.
To know
Jesus
is to know
the Father.
There's no
contradiction
between them,
which means that
Jesus is
entirely
trustworthy.
If we take up
his word,
we can know
that this is God
himself speaking
to us.
Which means
we should submit
to Jesus'
authority,
secondly.
his perfect
unity with the
Father means
his words
carry the
weight
of divinity.
To resist
Jesus'
words
is to resist
God
himself.
It's the invitation
to come and
believe in him
that we might have
eternal life.
Who Jesus
is
matters
immensely
because he's
aligned with
the Father
in action.
This should
cause us
certainly to
marvel at
his works.
Jesus says
the Father
will show him
greater works
so that we
will
marvel.
The right
response
to this
is
worship.
And,
beloved,
let me tell you
that we live
in a world
that is looking
for
signs.
the greatest
work
that the
living
Christ
accomplishes
is bringing
dead
people
to life.
And this
is happening
all the time
around us.
Dead people
brought to
life,
moved along
in holiness.
It's a
miraculous thing
when people
put off the
way of the
world,
when they
deny their
flesh and
they take
up the
things
of God.
Because this
is not our
natural
inclination.
Right?
By nature,
we were,
apart from
Christ,
children of
wrath.
But now
we desire
to seek
holiness
and this
is
miraculous.
It's
miraculous.
We ought
to come
together
at church
and we
ought to
look around
at one
another
and see
the evidence
of God
and grace
in our
life
and be
moved
by it.
Look at
the goodness
of our
God
in your
brothers
and in
your
sisters.
If you
were
unmoved,
unmoved
by that
on Sunday
mornings,
ask that
God would
open your
eyes to
see the
greatness
of Christ
in the
people that
you come
to fellowship
with.
Marvel,
marvel at
his
works.
Fourthly,
we should
pattern our
obedience
after Christ.
Jesus
sought not
his own
will but
his
father's.
And that
same
posture
of
joyful
submission
should
mark
our
lives
as well.
And we
do not
have to
wonder
what his
will is.
We have a
text.
It's been
granted to
us.
We can
pattern our
lives after
the commandments
that have been
given to us
in the
scripture.
So that's
Jesus'
first claim
that he
is aligned
with the
father in
action.
Second
claim that he
makes is that
he has the
power to
grant
life.
Jesus has
the power.
As God,
he has
the power
to grant
life.
In verse
26,
he says,
for as the
father has
life in
himself,
he is a
source of
life.
He doesn't
need any
sustaining
power.
He is
the power,
so the
son has
life in
himself.
He doesn't
need sustenance
but grants
it to
others.
Notice
verse 21,
for as the
father raises
the dead
and gives
them life,
so also
the son
gives life
to whom
he will.
Verse 24,
truly,
I say to
you,
whoever hears
my word
and believes
him who
sent me
has
eternal
life.
He does
not come
into judgment
but has
passed
from death
to life.
Verse 25,
truly,
I say to
you,
an hour
is coming
and now
is here
when the
dead
will hear
the voice
of the
son of
God
and those
who hear
will live.
Today's
passage
presents us
with two
forms
of
resurrection.
There is
a physical
resurrection
that will
come
and every
single one
of us
will experience
it.
We'll address
it briefly
in a moment.
But here,
those who hear
the voice
of the son
of God
are experiencing
spiritual
resurrection
now.
The time
is coming
and is
now
here.
Dead
people
will come
to life.
And the
eternal life
that we
have now,
we don't
ever want
to belittle
the eternal
life that
comes after
this temporal
life,
but we also
don't want
to neglect
that we
have eternal
life now.
I grew up
in a tradition
that was
constantly
looking heavenward.
what a good
thing to do,
but often
at the
neglect
of now.
I grew up
in a tradition
that sang
the first,
second,
and fifth
verse of
every single
song.
And you know
what we
missed all
the time
in our
singing?
The now.
The eternal
life now.
We were
constantly being
told about
how to come
to faith in
Christ,
and we were
constantly being
told about
what would
await us
later,
but never
anything
in between.
The in
between is
rich,
and it's
good.
it's not
easy living
on this
side of
glory,
but it's
good.
Eternal
life now,
John tells
us, and I
can't wait to
get there,
because it's
so very
good in
chapter 17,
is that we
know God
and Jesus
Christ,
who he has
sent.
That's John
17,
and verse
3.
We can
know
God
now.
And that
phrase,
to know
God,
again,
ought to
warm us.
Those who
know him
have some
sense of
what that
means.
It's a
good,
glorious
thing to
know
God.
By faith
in Christ,
we can be
made alive,
brought to
life,
have eternal
life now
and forever
more.
We see him
now in a
glimpse,
because we
still are
burdened by
our flesh,
we still
live in a
cursed world.
Someday we're
going to
behold him
without any
encumbrance to
that reality,
knowing God.
The glorious
thing about the
life beyond
this one
will not be
streets of
gold,
crystal lakes,
it's not the
mansions,
that's not the
point.
is all
that going
to be
there?
Yeah.
New heavens
and new
earth,
it's going
to be
wonderful to
behold,
but the
most wonderful
thing about
it is going
to be that
God will be
there.
That place
will be lit
by his
glory.
I don't
know exactly
what that
means,
but it
means,
I think,
that he's
everywhere all
the time,
that we will
behold him
forever.
It's glorious.
If you can
imagine a life
after this,
with all of
the possible
things you
can think
would be
great about
it,
and God
the Father
and the Son
are not
there and
you're okay
with that,
it's a
problem.
The point
should be
that we
would be
with God.
The judgment,
the eternal
destruction,
is that we're
not in
his presence.
God's
And so
what are we
to think
of this?
We should
believe.
We should
believe now
and live
now.
We want
to hear the
words of
Christ and
believe in
him,
his person
and his
work,
so that we
would be
granted
eternal life,
so that we
would be
spared
judgment,
that we
would pass
from death
to life.
Not just
a future
hope,
although it
is.
It begins
the moment
that one
believes,
eternal life.
Do not
delay,
respond,
respond to
the word
of Christ
today.
We can
rest in
Christ for
our assurance.
If you
hear his
voice and
believe,
you have
passed from
death to
life.
So thankful
we haven't
been saved
by Christ.
Our salvation
is secure
in him,
not because
of some
works that
I do or
fail to
do, but
because of
his power
to give
life.
Jesus has
the power
to grant
it to us.
We also
want to talk
about this
life giver.
I'm really
grateful that
my full-time
employment
sets me to
the task of
talking about
Jesus all
the time.
Christ.
When I'm
by myself,
I'm usually
reading about,
studying about
this Christ,
and then I
get to be
with people
and I
get to
talk about
this Christ.
Some of
you have
to put
yourselves
to different
tasks.
Your day-to-day
doesn't look
like this,
but I think
there should
be something
in you
pent up.
Any opportunity
you have
to talk
about the
one who
brought you
from death
to life.
life.
The door
gets barely
cracked open
and you
kick it
the rest
of the way
because you
want to
talk about
this glorious
Savior.
If Jesus
alone grants
eternal life,
and he does,
then the world
around us,
which is
spiritually dead
apart from him,
desperately needs
to hear that
good news.
Evangelism is
not just a thing
that the rare
Christian does.
It ought to
be the
lifeblood
of who
we are.
Going out,
rescue mission,
carrying this
message that's
empowered by
the Spirit
to bring
dead people
to life.
And the
last little
thought here,
I've mentioned
it kind of
already,
but we ought
to treasure,
we ought to
hold tight
to appreciate
deeper our
life in
him.
Understand
what it
means to
know God
and set
ourselves
to the
continuing
task of
knowing
God.
What a
privilege it
is.
Great
privilege.
Blood-bought
privilege to
know God.
Last claim.
Claim number
three.
Jesus has
the authority
to judge.
See this in
verse 22 and
23 and then
in verse 27
and 29.
Here we see
Jesus says the
Father judges
no one but
has given that
judgment to
the Son.
The triune God
at work.
This is what
Jesus does.
He's a Savior
but he's also
a judge.
Philippians
chapter 2
verse 5
through 11.
Paul gives
to us an
example of the
mind we ought
to have which
is ours in
Christ.
It's this mind
of humility.
But listen to
what he says
going on in
verse 6 and
following.
Jesus who
was in the
form of God
did not
count equality
with God
a thing to
be grasped
but he
emptied himself
by taking the
form of a
servant being
born in the
likeness of
Ben and
being found
in human
form.
He humbled
himself by
becoming
obedient to
the point
of death
even death
on a cross.
Therefore
God has
highly exalted
him and bestowed
on him the
name that is
above every
name so that
in the name
of Jesus
every knee
should bow
in heaven
and on earth
and under
the earth
and every
tongue confess
that Jesus
Christ is
Lord to the
glory of
God the
Father.
Everybody
everybody
one day
will bow
before Christ.
He is
Lord.
I don't
want to find
myself
bowing
because of
judgment.
I want to
find myself
bowing because
of worship.
Because I'm
found in
him.
And this
will be the
basis of
his judgment.
That one is
mine.
By faith in
my person and
work he is
found in
me.
I am
united to
him.
That's what
grants me
eternal life.
To the
other not
mine.
I never
knew him.
Verse 27
says he's
been given
authority to
execute
judgment
because he
is the
son of
man.
You have
to understand
what this
title means
of Jesus.
Son of
man.
It's his
favorite way
to refer to
himself.
He calls
himself the
son of
man over
and over
again.
And as I
said I hope
that you
already know
but just in
case you
don't and
it's okay
if you
don't.
This
comes from
Daniel chapter
7.
It's found
one place in
the Old
Testament.
Jesus
elicits this
title over
and over
again because
it is
incredibly
significant.
Daniel chapter
7.
This is
verse 13
and 14.
Daniel says
I saw in
the night
visions and
behold with
the clouds
of heaven
there came
one like
a son
of man.
There's the
phrase.
Son of
man.
And he
came to
the ancient
of days
and was
presented
before him
and to
him to
the son
of man
by the
ancient
of days
was given
dominion
and glory
and a
kingdom
that all
people's
nations and
languages
should serve
him.
His
dominion
is an
everlasting
dominion
which shall
not pass
away and
his kingdom
one that
shall not
be
destroyed.
This is
Christ.
He refers
to himself
this way
over and
over again.
And in the
establishment
of this
unfading
not passing
away
everlasting
dominion
kingdom
this thing
that he's
going to
reign over
forever
that there's
going to be
peoples and
nations and
languages all
part of
he's going to
judge.
He's going to
judge.
He's going to
cast out of
that kingdom
those who
don't believe
in him.
But he's
going to
welcome in
warmly and
reign over
forever those
who do.
What an
astounding
thing.
Place your
faith in
Christ.
His person
and not a
lunatic.
He should be
worshipped as
Lord.
Flee from
your sin,
from the
judgment and
wrath to come.
place your
faith in
him.
Jesus is
God.
Charles Spurgeon
once said,
this is the
quotation on the
back of your
bulletin today,
it is not
possible that
the man who
denies the
deity of
Christ can
be a
Christian.
He
deliberately
refuses the
only way of
escape from
the wrath
to come.
Jesus is
Christ.
Let's pray.
God