The Book of John - 31
The Book of John • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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· 1 viewSunday School series on the book of John
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Introduction - As we come to this last section of the 5th chapter of John, we have recorded for us a response that the Lord made concerning the religious leader’s claim that He had broken the Sabbath.
At the onset before we read these section, I want us to understand that the Lord was not just trying to win an argument with these Jewish leaders. Rather He was shining His Light.
Let’s read together beginning in verse 19.
Let’s pray.
In our last lesson we began to look at this response that the Lord made and that is recorded here for us.
We see three different claims:
Vs. 19-23 Jesus claims to be equal with God the Father.
Vs. 24-29 Jesus claimed to have authority to raise the dead.
3. Vs. 30-47 He claimed His witnesses to His deity were valid.
John 5:19–23 “19 Then answered Jesus and said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do: for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise. 20 For the Father loveth the Son, and sheweth him all things that himself doeth: and he will shew him greater works than these, that ye may marvel. 21 For as the Father raiseth up the dead, and quickeneth them; even so the Son quickeneth whom he will. 22 For the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son: 23 That all men should honour the Son, even as they honour the Father. He that honoureth not the Son honoureth not the Father which hath sent him.”
This first section is a claim to be God and in perfect unity with the first person of the Tri-unity of God, God the Father.
In verse 19, the Lord declares the oneness of the Godhead.
This is a mystery indeed, but is taught in the Scriptures.
And in this verse, the Lord Jesus Christ is making clear that His actions, are in fact in concord with God the Father.
Notice what He states, “The Son can do nothing of himself…”
The Lord is in effect saying, I do not operate in contention with the Father, but in concert with the Father.
There is nothing the Lord ever did that was not according to God the Father’s will.
There were no arbitrary steps, no separated plans.
All was done in perfect concert with the Godhead.
“These assertions went far beyond a profession of prophetic office. Jesus claimed authority to duplicate and continue the Father’s works, to bestow life upon men and to execute judgment upon them, and to raise the dead in the last day.”(Tenney)
In fact, it is impossible for the Lord Jesus Christ to be anything but God. He is fully God and fully man.
Albert Barnes stated it this way, “When it is said that he can “do nothing” of himself, it is meant that such is the union subsisting between the Father and the Son that he can do nothing “independently” or separate from the Father.”
And though you and I are not a part of the Godhead, there is a good application for the Christian, as you and I are to be conformed to the image of Christ.
Our objective ought to be that we do nothing independently of our Lord.
Consider Moses’ statement in Numbers 16:28 “And Moses said, Hereby ye shall know that the Lord hath sent me to do all these works; for I have not done them of mine own mind.”
When we think about the immense task that the Lord has called us to, it is not without danger, difficulty and disappointment.
When we think about the immense task that the Lord has called us to, it is impossible in the strength of our own flesh to accomplish God’s work.
In this statement of oneness as part of the Godhead, the Lord not only teaches about His unity, but also states that He has full conscious knowledge of God the Father’s work as well as the ability to do what God the Father does.
Notice the latter part verse 19.
John 5:19 “…but what he seeth the Father do: for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise.”
“These assertions went far beyond a profession of prophetic office. Jesus claimed authority to duplicate and continue the Father’s works, to bestow life upon men and to execute judgment upon them, and to raise the dead in the last day..” (Tenney)
As we think about this statement by the Lord, We are familiar with the Old Testament passage from Isaiah 55:8–9 which states concerning God speaking to man, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, Neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are my ways higher than your ways, And my thoughts than your thoughts.”
Listen to this verse in Deuteronomy 29:29 “The secret things belong unto the Lord our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this law.”
All I am simply trying to illustrate, is that this statement by the Lord is not one any mere man could make. It is impossible for us to understand all that God does, or even presume to do all that God is able to do.
John Phillips stated “This [statement] means that to creation’s remotest bounds, in the godhead’s most distant and secret operations and councils, the Son knows what the godhead is doing. He knows it, not because this knowledge is communicaed toHim, but because He has an innate consciousness of it. The Father shows the Som all things therefore the Son must have a mind coextensive with the mind of God, the mind of omniscience, in order to grasp what is being shown.”