Truer Words…

John chapter five, it may seem
strange that we wanna step back having
already jumped into John chapter five, we wanna step back and
look at the structure of the overall chapter. But there was cause in chapter
four, we’re coming right out of Samaria and all of a sudden
Jesus having seemingly just left Jerusalem now doubles back for
the purpose of re-entering Jerusalem. And in considering that passage,
we just noted the seemingly abrupt nature of all of those things,
but we’re reminded that John takes a very scant, brief view
of his ministry in Galilee and re-enters him almost immediately
back into Jerusalem. In order to lay the foundation,
I wanna go to the entirety of the chapter, we’ll read it in
its entirety. And then I wanna come back and
just talk about the structure of John chapter five, and then
kind of set the guide on where we’ll be in the next few weeks.
and then dive in to today’s passage. John chapter five, verse one.
After these things, there was a feast of the Jews and Jesus
went up to Jerusalem. Now there is in Jerusalem by
the sheep gate a pool, which is called in Hebrew Bethesda,
having five porticos. In these lay a multitude of those
who were sick, blind, lame, and withered, waiting for the moving
of the waters. For an angel of the Lord went
down at certain seasons into the pool and stirred up the water.
Whoever then first after the stirring of the water stepped
in and was made well from whatever disease with which he was afflicted.
A man was there who had been ill for 38 years. When Jesus
saw him lying there and knew that he had been already a long
time in that condition, he said to him, do you wish to get well?
The sick man answered, sir, I have no man to put me in to the pool
when the water is stirred up. But while I am coming, another
steps down before me. Jesus said to him, get up, pick
up your pallet and walk. Immediately the man became well
and picked up his pallet and began to walk. Now it was the
Sabbath on that day. So the Jews were saying to the
man who was cured, it is the Sabbath and it is not permitted
for you to carry your pallet. But he answered them, he who
made me well was the one who said to me, pick up your pallet
and walk. They asked him, who is the man
who said to you, pick up your pallet and walk? But the man
who was healed did not know who it was for Jesus had slipped
away while there was a crowd in that place. Afterward, Jesus
found him in the temple and said to him, behold, you have become
well. Do not sin anymore so that nothing worse happens to you.
The man went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had
made him well. For this reason, the Jews were
persecuting Jesus because he was doing these things on the
Sabbath. But he answered them, my father
is working until now and I myself am working. For this reason,
therefore, the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him because
he not only was breaking the Sabbath, but also was calling
God his own father. Therefore, Jesus answered and
was saying to them, truly, truly, I say to you, the son can do
nothing of himself unless it is something he sees the father
doing. For whatever the father does, these things the son also
does in like manner. The father loves the son and
shows him all things that he himself is doing. And the father
will show him greater works than these, so that you will marvel. For just as the father raises
the dead and gives them life, even so the son gives life to
whom he wishes. For not even the father judges
anyone, but he has given all judgment to the son, so that
all will honor the son, even as they honor the father. He
who does not honor the son does not honor the father who sent
him. Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears my word and believes
Him who sent me has eternal life and does not come into judgment
but is passed out of death into life. Truly, truly, I say to
you, an hour is coming and now is when the dead will hear the
voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live for just as
the Father has life in Himself, Even so he gave to the son to
have life in himself and he gave him authority to execute judgment
because he is the son of man. Do not marvel at this for an
hour is coming in which all who are in the tombs will hear his
voice and will come forth. Those who did good deeds to the
resurrection of life, those who committed the evil deeds to a
resurrection of judgment. I can do nothing on my own initiative. As I hear, I judge, and my judgment
is just, because I do not seek my own will, but the will of
Him who sent me. If I alone testify about myself,
my testimony is not true. There is another who testifies
of me, and I know that the testimony which he gives about me is true. You have sent to John, and he
has testified to the truth. But the testimony which I receive
is not from man, but I say these things to you so that you may
be saved. He was the lamp that was burning
and was shining, and you were willing to rejoice for a while
in his light. But the testimony which I have
is greater than the testimony of John, for the works which
the Father has given me to accomplish, the very works that I do testify
about me that the Father has sent me. And the father who sent
me is testified of me. You have neither heard his voice
at any time nor seen his form. You do not have his word abiding
in you for you do not believe him whom he sent. You search the scriptures because
you think in them you have eternal life. It is these that testify
about me. And you are unwilling to come
to me so that you may have life. I do not receive glory from men,
but I know you that you do not have the love of God in yourselves.
I have come in my father’s name and you do not receive me. If
another comes in his own name, you will receive him. How can
you believe when you receive glory from one another and you
do not seek the glory that is from the one and only God? Do
not think that I will accuse you before the father, the one
who accuses you as Moses. in whom you have set your hope.
For if you believe Moses, you would believe me. For he wrote
about me. But if you do not believe his
writings, how will you believe my words?” And so I want to step
back and look at chapter 5. There are really three sections
to chapter 5. The first one we’ve already covered.
That strange or seemingly strange account of Bethesda, the waters
stirred up by the angel, we saw the clear explanation of that
in the weeks past. Those are words, the end of verse
3 and verse 4, that got filtered into the original text. They weren’t part of the original
writing of John’s gospel. And so we have this healing on
the Sabbath, and it stirs Jesus’ enemies to essentially a threefold
action, and it’s rapid fire. Initially, they’re just irritated,
but that irritation gives way to persecution, and persecution
very quickly gives way to a plan, a plot to execute the Lord Jesus. The second major section follows
immediately on verse 18. Verse 18 is that plot unfolding where Jesus says
in verse 17, my father is working until now and I am working. And
that irritates the Jews and it says they were seeking to kill
him because he was not only breaking the Sabbath, but also was calling
God his own father, making himself equal with God. Well, if there
was ever a time for Jesus to clear this up and say, look,
you’re making too much of this. I’m not making myself out to
be God incarnate. I’m not calling God my father
in that sense. If there was ever a time to clarify,
if there was ever a time to put these guys back in their place
and say, look, you’ve overplayed this. It’s now. And not only
does Jesus not do that, He drives home the point with a threefold
declaration that He is indeed God Almighty. There are three,
what I would refer to as solemn declarations here in this middle
section, verses 19 through 30. The first of which is that the Son does as the Father
does. We’ll look at that, the beginning
of that in just a moment. The second grand and solemn declaration
is that the Son grants eternal life. We tend to think of that
as something that God the Father does, but here Jesus says explicitly
that it is Jesus, it is He that grants eternal life. The second
is the sun grants eternal life. The third solemn declaration
is that the sun raises the dead to judgment. The sun raises the
dead to judgment. We’ll look at each of those statements
in the days and weeks to come, but it’s the deity of Christ
that’s clearly in view in all of chapter five. the relationship
of the son to the father, the structure of the passage we’ve
already looked at is built around those three declarations, Jesus
introducing each one by saying, truly, truly, I say to you, these
statements are of the utmost importance. Jesus wants his doubters
to be perfectly clear about his insistence on deity. He’s not
just picking a fight. I think he really, truly, genuinely
wants them to know about his true claim to be God incarnate. These three sobering, absolutely
clear statements together proclaimed with a common purpose that they
might come to know Jesus Christ as Savior, they’re very clear.
But they’re loving declarations. See, the Jews had seen in Christ,
or so they thought, blasphemy. And Jesus meets those charges
head on. Rather than trying to equivocate
or trying to play word games, or trying to convince them otherwise,
Jesus takes it head on. As one pastor said, he was replying
to those who sought to kill him. He was answering his enemies
who were enraged, having made himself equal with God. And here
we have the Lord’s response to their charge of blasphemy, the
vindication of his claim that he and the father were one. Having already considered this
point, I found it absolutely fascinating this past week to read this statement in one
of the many commentaries that I considered. Speaking of this blasphemy, this
accusation of blasphemy, one commentator said, in the end,
It was this kind of claim that stirred the implacable hostility
of the Jewish hierarchy and brought about Jesus’ death. In the end, in the end, as we saw last week,
it started immediately. It started at the very beginning
of Jesus’ ministry. It wasn’t just irritation. It
moved very quickly to persecution where they began to dog his steps
and it moved quickly from there to a plan to execute the Lord
Jesus. Well, Jesus doesn’t back away
from any of this. As I said, he meets it head on.
He doesn’t downplay it, he doesn’t moderate it, doesn’t try to explain
it away. Instead, he reinforces it in
these statements. And he begins this lengthy explanation. One pastor said this verse begins
a long discourse in which the Lord formally defends himself
from the charge of laying claim to what he had no right to claim.
He asserts his own divine authority, commission, dignity, equality
with his father. He brings forth the evidence
of his divine commission which the Jews ought to consider and
receive. This is a crucial passage of
scripture. As another characterized it,
nowhere else in the Gospels, and really nowhere else in all
of Scripture, do we find our Lord making such a formal, systematic,
orderly, and regular statement of his own unity with the Father. His divine commission and authority
are proofs that he was the Messiah, just as we find in this discourse.
And so, given what time left we have today, I want to take
us back to the first of these three solemn declarations of
a loving Savior. He’s not railing at them. He’s
not battering them with these words. I believe that Jesus met
these head on for the purpose of laying the truth to them in
a loving manner. I have no doubt that there are
probably some in that mix that ultimately came to Christ, either
at the cross or in the days ensuing. They had heard these things,
they saw the Savior for who He was, and they repented of their
sin. But I want to look at the first
of these solemn declarations of a loving Savior. First, the
Son does as the Father does. Look at verse 19. Jesus answered
and was saying to them, truly, truly, I say to you. Now we’ve
dealt with this formula before, and it happens, as I’ve already
said, three times in this middle section. Verse 19, verse 24,
and again in verse 25. The word translated here, truly,
we would say amen, amen, or in the old King James, verily, verily.
It’s an affirmation. It is, it is, it speaks of firmness. It is worthy of credit. And it always precedes a solemn
statement. It is, it is always something
deep and important. It was a way of affirming something
or some statement. It was a way of attesting to
the truth of a matter. And when you double the amen,
truly, truly, It served to strengthen that statement even more. This
is a feature, this amen, amen, this truly, truly, verily, verily,
this is a feature that’s unique to John’s gospel. Jesus no doubt
said it in the hearing of the other gospel writers, but John
was acute to pick it up and to record it for our understanding. In other words, what Jesus is
saying here is of utmost important. There isn’t anything more important
than what he’s communicating to the Jews on this occasion. It occurs only in John’s gospel
and that some 25 times. So here when Jesus begins his
statement saying, truly, truly, it is a solemn, powerful truth
that he is preparing to announce to them. Look at verse 19, therefore
Jesus answered and was saying to them, truly, truly, I say
to you, the son can do nothing of himself. Now that, just on
the face of it, is a shocking statement, isn’t it? The Jews had accused him of blasphemy. And the interesting thing is
that blasphemy essentially is opposition to God. It’s an undermining
of God and his glory and authority. Moses had the same idea about
not being able to do anything in and of himself. Only what
God had empowered him to do, but that’s not what Jesus is
saying here. What Jesus is saying here. is
that this relationship between father and son, between the two
members of the Godhead, the two that are mentioned, this relationship
is so deep, so intimate, so strong, so profound, so interrelated,
that it is physically impossible for Jesus to detach and carry
out his own agenda. It isn’t a matter of a defect
in Christ’s ability. It isn’t that Jesus was too weak
to accomplish one of these things or did not have the power at
his disposal to accomplish those things. Essentially what Jesus
says is, it is impossible. I cannot possibly function independently
of the Father. And you would put that in the
same category of some of the other statements made about God
in scripture. Titus 1-2. God cannot lie. From time to
time you get in one of these silly conversations where people
talk about is there anything that God cannot do? Well, God
cannot lie. James 1-13, God cannot be tempted
with evil. And in like manner, Jesus cannot
operate independently of his heavenly father. What he’s making clear to the
Jews is that not just equality with the heavenly
father, though we’ll get to that in a moment, but that the father
and the son are one in the same nature. They have one and the
same very purpose. They cannot possibly function
against one another. They can’t operate in contradiction
to one another. It’s morally impossible is essentially
what Jesus was saying. And so the charge, this accusation
that Jesus was blaspheming the father is really absurd. Because
if the son were functioning independently and separately distinct from
the father, it would be not only blasphemous,
but it would disintegrate the Godhead. As I mentioned a moment ago,
the very core essence of blasphemy was independence, rivalry. with God and Jesus, he didn’t
take that position at all. He essentially said that he and
the father were both working, that he and the father were essentially
working together. That he was absolutely subject
to his father’s will. This accusation was also made
against Christ by the devil himself, remember? The devil tempted him. Jesus says that this idea of
self-determination, this idea of his own personal agenda, this
idea of an ability to carry off on his own and to go off on a
tangent, to do his own thing, to establish different priorities
or a different order, because he now is earthbound, whereas
God is still in heaven, that Jesus somehow knows better or
differently. It’s impossible. The Jews had
accused Jesus on another occasion. You know this passage well. In
fact, Abraham Lincoln used it as a biblical text one time,
the house divided. House divided against itself
cannot stand. And it’s that same argument that
Jesus uses here. God cannot oppose God. They have to be in perfect union,
in perfect unison They have to have one purpose all the time. Otherwise you have essentially
two gods, don’t you? And if you have two gods, and
if you have at any instance, a variance of approach, let’s
just do things just a little bit differently today. I know
what you sent me to do, but I see an opportunity here and I’m gonna
take it. If you have even one instance, there. Now you have
not one, but two supreme beings and they’re at opposition with
one another. Look again at verse 19. Therefore Jesus answered
and was saying to them, truly, truly, I say to you, the son
can do nothing of himself unless it is something he sees the father
doing. Jesus was so totally in sync
He and the Father were so totally on the same page with this entire
plan of redemption, that it was they that had conceived it, it
was they that put it into practice, it was they that were carrying
it out step by step, moment by moment, that it was impossible to do
otherwise. Whatever the Father does, these
things the Son also does in like manner. In a sense, this is the
original, like father, like son. The son of God could not act
of himself, otherwise he would no longer be God. He would be
in opposition with God the father. And so he says here that he is
always, ever and always engaged in exactly what the father’s
doing. They are doing the same thing. One said it this way,
there is a continual contemplation of the father by the son, and
uninterrupted communication. It is true communion. Do you
realize that when you come and celebrate the Lord’s table, we
call it communion, that we are not only communing with God,
we are communing with one another. All the more reason that there
should be oneness in what we do. What he points to here is that this suggestion that
the Jews had made against Him, that He was claiming to be deity,
was absolutely correct. He was making Himself out to
be God. And note this, as one pastor said, that whatever
things that he mentions, whatever the Father does, these things,
The Son also does. Notice the beauty of this. The
whatever things are without limit. All that the Father does, the
Son likewise does. This is an high assertion as
possible of his being equal with God. If one does all that another
does or can do, there is proof of equality. If the son does
all that the father does, then like him, he must be almighty,
omniscient, all present, and infinite in every perfection.
Or in other words, he must be God. Jesus doesn’t back away
from it one inch. Look at verse 20. For the father
loves the son and shows him all, there were no secrets in the
Godhead. Shows him all things that he’s doing in one constant
moment. From eternity past, the Godhead
was absolutely on the same page at every moment. And this affection this fatherly,
father-son, son-to-father affection, is a description that we can’t
even begin to fathom of the divine love that they have for one another.
But essentially it’s meant to communicate that it was so deep,
so intense, so complete, that whatever one did at the moment was essentially
in representation of the Godhead, the deity, the Trinity. In other words, the action of
the son, whatever Jesus did was completely dependent upon the
plan that God had conceived in eternity past. It was just playing
out in real time. And so for the Jews to accuse
him suddenly of blasphemy, they couldn’t see how utterly wrong
they were that Jesus was in opposition to God. One of my favorite Puritans,
John Brown, there, but by the grace of God go I, that John
Brown said this. All is of the Father, all is
by the Son. Did the Father create the universe? So did the Son. Does the Father
uphold the universe? So does the Son. Does the Father
govern the universe? So does the Son. Is the Father
the Savior of the world? So is the Son. Surely the Jews
did not err when they concluded that our Lord made himself equal
with God, He who’s so intimately connected with God, is so intimately
connected with God that he does what God does, does all God does,
does all in the same manner in which God does it. Surely such
a person cannot but be equal with God. Back again if you would,
one last time to verse 20. And take a running start at this.
Therefore Jesus answered and was saying to them, truly, truly,
I say to you, the son can do nothing of himself unless it
is something he sees the father doing. For whatever the father
does, these things the son does in like manner. For the father
loves the son and shows him all things that he himself is doing.
And the father will show him greater works than these. Jesus
already knew the plan of redemption. Jesus already knew about the
cross. Jesus already knew about the resurrection. Jesus already
knew about judgment, as the next verses tell us. These signs that
He was already doing. This sign that He had just performed
in healing the crippled man on the Sabbath. It was a work. It was a miracle,
no doubt. But what John tells us here in
recording Christ’s words is that this was just the tip of the
iceberg. This was only the beginning of
amazing works that were going to be done. And in the following
verses, as we’ll see, those things are specified. That Jesus claims
in his second truly, truly to have the prerogative of granting
eternal life. And in the third truly, truly
statement, that he has the prerogative of bringing the dead back to
life for the purpose of judgment. And note what those works will
generate. Marvel. The Father will show
him greater works than these so that you will all marvel. we probably would even alter
the use of that word, perhaps awe. You will stand in awe when
you see what God is about to do. God is about to raise the
dead. God is about to grant the son
the ability to bestow eternal life on whomever he wishes. God
is about to raise all who have ever died to life for the purpose
of giving an account in judgment. The miracles, for the most part,
fell flat. They weren’t impressed. In fact,
they wouldn’t even acknowledge the most recent miracle that
was done. But one day, they will stand in absolute awe of Almighty
God for what He was doing. They will stand, and they will
look, and they will see God for who He is. And I close with this quote by a pastor. We must carefully remember the
utter inability of human language or human ideas to express perfectly
such matters of which our Lord is speaking. In fact, Augustine
said it this way. There are times when speech is
deficient, even when the understanding is proficient. In other words,
what Augustine says is even the most intelligent, wisest, sharpest
individual doesn’t know everything. Then he concludes by saying,
how much more does speech suffer defect when the understanding
is less than perfect? That’s a really intelligent saying.
He says we’re limited. We can only grasp so much. And
if you Stand back and look at this passage. What Jesus is attempting
to do is take us into the inner workings of the Godhead. This
is how God functions. This is who He is. This is how
He functions. I and the Father are one. As
the Father is working, I too am working. He concludes. language is intended to specially
express things about God. We must remember that they are
expressions accommodated to our weaker capacities. They are intended
to explain the relation between divine beings who are in essence
two persons. One in mind and will, two in
manifestation, equal in all things touching the Godhead. There must
needs be immense difficulty in finding the words to convey any
idea of the relation between two persons. What he says there is that we
should come already in awe. In a very real sense, Jesus was
predicting to these men that one day they would be brought
to awe by all that God was doing. But in a very real way, we can
stand before the Godhead and see that though Jesus was sent
to earth, he never operated independently of God. That Jesus Christ came
willingly and everything he did at every moment was exactly a
representation of what God desired. We’ll begin to unfold exactly
what that looks like. We’ll look at the granting of
eternal life. We’ll look at the resurrection
of the judgment or of the dead to judgment. But the first thing
that we have to stand back and enjoy is that the father and
the son are in absolute unison in what they do. They’re in absolute
unison. The son does as the father does.
Let’s go before him in prayer. Our merciful King, we humble
ourselves in your glorious presence. And while these detractors of
yours maligned you, saying that you are blaspheming,
making yourself equal with God, they had one thing right, that
you indeed are equal with God. but they were dead wrong and
that you were blaspheming. Somehow you were in opposition
to almighty God. Lord, we thank you for the practical
nature of this very truth. That our salvation was no accident. Your visit to earth was no accident. Your crucifixion was no accident,
but was on our behalf. It was for our sake. It was for
our salvation. Lord God, we humble ourselves
in your glorious presence. We pray these things in Jesus’
name. Amen. As healthy oceans…