The Book of John - 31b
Series on the book of John • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Introduction - We are returning to our verse-by-verse study of the book of John. This morning, we will be in John chapter 5.
As we return to John chapter 5, let us remind ourselves of the chapter.
Let’s read verses 1 through 18.
Let’s Pray
In previous lessons, we have already dealt with the subject matter in the first half of this chapter.
From verses 19 down through the end of the chapter, the Lord expounds upon His authority as the God-man and makes some astounding and revealing statements.
This entire chapter might be rightly entitled, The demonstration of the authority of the Son of God.
In the latter half of this chapter, through the penman John, the Holy Spirit records the Lord’s response to some apparent opposition to the healing of the impotent man.
Before we engage in this recorded dialogue, we should remind ourselves that the enemy of our souls always opposes God’s work.
Just as there was opposition to the Lord’s work in this passage, there is and will be opposition to the Lord's work today.
I am bringing this up because this week, we are purposely meeting with the intent of personal and corporate revival, and there will be opposition.
With that in mind, this section of dialogue contains three central claims by the Lord.
Verses 19-23 The Lord Jesus Christ claims to be equal with God the Father.
Verses 24-29 The Lord Jesus Christ claims to have the authority to raise the dead.
Verses 30-47 The Lord Jesus Christ claims His witnesses to His deity are valid.
Notice with me in verses 19-23 the first claim:
I. He claimed to be equal with God the Father. (Vs. 19-23)
I. He claimed to be equal with God the Father. (Vs. 19-23)
You will remember from the last lesson that verse 19 is connected to the Lord’s introductory comment in verse 17.
According to our text, the Jews persecuted the Lord because He healed this impotent man on the Sabbath and, as we will discover, made Himself equal with God.
The Holy Spirit saw fit not to record the words of the religious leaders but, as is typical in John, gave us the Words of our Savior.
Notice the ongoing discussion that begins this lengthy reply from the Lord.
In verses 16 and 17, the Bible says, “16 And therefore did the Jews persecute Jesus, and sought to slay him, because he had done these things on the sabbath day. 17 But Jesus answered them, My Father worketh hitherto, and I work.”
Verse 18 gives us some insight into their response.
John 5:18 “Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill him, because he not only had broken the sabbath, but said also that God was his Father, making himself equal with God.”
This verse makes clear that they certainly understood what the Lord was saying.
When we read 17 and 19 together, the Lord’s comments read, “(17)…My Father worketh hitherto, and I work....(19) 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, there also doeth the Son likewise.”
In the first response found in verse 17, we made three definitive points:
1. His statement of personal relationship and unity is found in the words “My Father...”
He did not state, ‘our Father’ or ‘the Father’ but rather ‘My Father...’
The phrase ‘The Father’ would be an impersonal statement.
The phrase ‘Our Father’ would wrongly describe their relationship to God and would not describe His peculiar personal and unique relationship with God the Father…
Instead, in this matter of authority, He states, “My Father...”
There was a time you will remember when the disciples asked the Lord to be taught to pray--- He gave them an example of how they ought to pray in Luke 11.
Luke 11:1–2 “And it came to pass, that, as he was praying in a certain place, when he ceased, one of his disciples said unto him, Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples.[ To which He responds] And he said unto them, When ye pray, say, Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so in earth.”
On another occasion, the Lord was dealing with Pharisees and the religious crowd in the Temple when He made this statement in John 8:44 “Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.”
But here we see that the Lord states, “My Father...”
I found it interesting what Merril C. Tenney stated in His commentary on this chapter,
“It is significant that in the Fourth Gospel, Jesus said either “my Father” or “your Father,” but never “our Father.” (Tenney)
The Lord is claiming special unity and relationship with God the Father as the second person of the Trinity, the only begotten Son of God.
Not only does He use the phrase My Father, but He comments on His unity of work.
2. The work of the Lord Jesus Christ is in unity with the Father’s work.
The Lord asserts that God has been working and continues to work, irrespective of the Sabbath, given to the Jews.
3. The last statement of “...I work...” declares His imperative to accomplish the Father’s work.
Jamison- Fausset -Brown said it this way, “The “I” is emphatic; “The creative and conservative activity of My Father has known no sabbath-cessation from the beginning until now, and that is the law of My working.”
The Lord describes His oneness, unfettered fellowship, and communion with God the Father in the following verses.
Warren Wiersbe stated this: [In verses 16-18, Jesus] “simply replied that He was doing only what His Father was doing! God’s Sabbath rest had been broken by man’s sin (see Gen. 3); and ever since the fall of man, God has been seeking lost sinners and saving them. But when Jesus said “My Father” instead of the usual “our Father,” used by the Jews, He claimed to be equal with God.”
In the following three verses (vs. 19-21), the Lord describes His proof of equality with God the Father.
In these verses, we see:
His Omniscience
His Omnipotence
His Right to Judge
As a side note, when we use the prefix ‘omni,’ it means all.
The word omniscience, for instance, is made up of two words: omni, meaning all, and science, meaning knowledge.
Notice in verse 19. The Bible says,
John 5:19 “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.”
Think about this statement for a minute.
This is a statement of equality and oneness with God the Father.
The Lord is, in effect, saying, I do not operate in contention with the Father, but in concert with the Father.
The Tri-unity of God is a mystery indeed, but it is taught in the Scriptures.
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…”
I wish that could be said of me. This ought to be our desire to do nothing of ourselves but rather to be yielded to the Lord.
Unfortunately, I find myself opposing the Holy Spirit of God and yielding to my flesh.
But this was not the case with the Lord; He is the sinless Son of God, fully God and fully man.
The Bible tells us in Hebrews 7:26 tells us He is “...holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens;”
1 John 3:5 states, “And ye know that he was manifested to take away our sins; and in him is no sin.”
Concerning the Lord’s statement of action, 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.”
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 communicated to Him, but because He has an innate consciousness of it. The Father shows the Son 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.”
Next, we see a statement of the Lord’s Omnipotence— that is all-power.
Let’s read verses 20 and 21.
John 5:20–21 “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. For as the Father raiseth up the dead, and quickeneth them; even so the Son quickeneth whom he will.”
In verses 20 and 21, the Lord builds upon the prior statements and states that greater works will be done than, for instance, the healing of this impotent man.
Such is the case as we go through the book of John; the Lord would do many more works.
In His famous “All” series, Herbert Lockyer has a book entitled “All the Miracles of the Bible.”
In this, He names many of the miracles dealing with the life of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ:
The Water Turned Into Wine (John 2:1-11)
The Healing of the Nobleman’s Son (John 4:46-54)
The Healing of the Impotent Man (John 5:1-9)
The Catch of the First Draught of Fishes (Luke 5:1-11)
The Casting out of the Synagogue Demoniac (Luke 4:33-36, Mark 1:23-24)
The Healing of Peter’s Mother-in-Law (Luke 4:38-40, Matthew 8:14-17, Mark 1:29-31)
The Healing of the Masses and Casting Out of Demons (Luke 4:40, Matthew 8:16, Mark 1:32-34)
The Cleansing of the Leper (Matthew 8:1-4, Mark 1:40-45, Luke 5:12-15)
The Healing of the Paralytic (Luke 5:18-25, Matthew 9:2-7, Mark 2:3-12)
The Healing of the Withered Hand (Luke 6:6-10, Matthew 12:9-14, Mark 3:1-6)
The Healing of the Centurians Servant Luke 7:1-10)
The Raising of the Widow of Nain’s Son (Luke 7:11-18)
The Stilling of the Tempest (Luke 8:22-25
The Healing of the Two Blind Men (Matthew 9:27-31)
The Healing of the Dumb Demoniac (Matthew 9:32-35)
The Healing of the Gadarene Demoniac (Luke 8:26, Matthew 8:28-34, Mark 5:1-20)
The Healing of Jarius Daughter (Matthew 9:18-26, Mark 5:22-43, Luke 8:41-56)
The Healing of the Woman With the Issue of Blood (Matthew 9:20-22, Mark 5:25-34, Luke 8:43-48)
The Feeding of the 5000 (Matthew 14:13-21, Mark 6:31-44, Luke 9:10-17, John 6:1-14)
The Lord Walking in Water (Matthew 14:2-36, Mark 6:45-54, John 6:15-21)
The Healing of the Syro-Phonecian Woman’s Daughter (Matthew 15:21-28, Mark 7:24-30)
The Healing of the Deaf Man of Decapolis (Mark 7:31-37)
The Feeding of the 4,000 (Matthew 15:30-38, Mark 8:1-9)
The Healing of the Blind Man of Bethsaida (Mark 8:22-26)
The Transfiguration of the Lord (Matthew 17:1-13, Mark 9:1-13, Luke 9:28-36, II Peter 1:16-18)
The Healing of the Lunatic Boy (Matthew 17:14-21, Mark 9:14-29, Luke 9:37-43)
The Coin in the Fish’s Mouth (Matthew 17:27)
The Healing of the Man Born Blind (John 9)
The Healing of the Woman With A Spirit of Infirmity (Luke 13:10-17)
The Healing of the Man With Dropsy (Luke 14:1-6)
The Raising of Lazarus From the Dead (John 11:1-46)
The Healing of the Ten Lepers (Luke 17:11-19)
The Healing of the Two Blind Men (Bartimaeus and Unknown) (Matthew 20:29-34, Mark 10:46-52, Luke 18:35-43)
The Fig Tree Withered (Matthew 21:17-22, Mark 11:12-14, 20-24)
The Healing of Malchus’ Ear (Matthew 26:51-56, Mark 14:46-47, Luke 22:50-51, John 18:10-11)
The Lord Jesus Christ gave up the ghost. (John 10:18, 19:30)
The Resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ (Matthew 28:1-10, Mark 16:1-11),Luke 24:1-12, John 20:1-18, I Corinthians 15:4-8)
The Second Draught of Fishes (John 21:1-13)
The Ascension of the Lord Jesus Christ
This list is based on what is recorded in the Gospel records.
According to John 21 (John 21:25), there were many other things that Jesus did that were not recorded.
The point of even attempting to name these found in the written Word of God is that Jesus Christ, the God-man, often demonstrated His omnipotence and equality with the Father.
The proof of the Lord’s divine omnipotence is seen not only in the other works that He did but notice in verse 21, the claim to “quicken whom whom He will.”
John 5:21 “For as the Father raiseth up the dead, and quickeneth them; even so the Son quickeneth whom he will.”
In His alliteration of this section, John Phillips stated that in verse 19, the Lord’s statement demonstrates His loyalty as part of the Godhead.
In verse 20, He demonstrates the question of His love.
But here, in verse 21, He demonstrates His authority over life.
“The Lord claimed absolute power over the dead.” (Phillips)
This claim to raise the dead would classify as a greater work.
He states even as God the Father raises the dead and brings them to life, so do I.
When considering the Old Testament accounts of raising the dead, we immediately think of Elijah (I Kings 17, Widow of Zarephath’s Son) and Elisha (II Kings 4, Shunammite’s Son).
Those prophets were instruments used by God to raise the dead.
The Lord, however, claimed to be able to raise the dead physically and also to eternal life.
As we will see, the Lord will repeat this truth in this chiasm.
A Chiasm (also called a chiasmus) is a literary device in which a sequence of ideas is presented and repeated in reverse order. The Greek letter Chi looks like an X, and the idea is that the central truth is emphasized because it is in the center.
This is what we find here in our text.
Verses 19 and verse 30 speak about the unity and oneness with the Father.
Verses 19-20 and 28-29 speak to the magnitude and amazement of the works that Jesus did and will do.
Verses 21-23 and 25-27 speak to the Lord’s authority in judgment and His possession of life in Himself.
Verses 24--- the central idea is to Hear my Word and life.
The term the Lord uses in verse 21, ‘quickeneth,’ means life or to make alive.
The Lord demonstrated His absolute authority over life by raising Lazarus (John 11), the widow’s son (Luke 7), and the ruler Jairus’ daughter (Matthew 9).
As one man stated, it is hard to see how anyone could maintain a case that the Lord did not claim to be God.
We have seen in His claim to be equal to God, His omniscience, and His omnipotence, but verses 22 and 23 assert His absolute right to judge.
Notice what the Lord states in verses 22 and 23.
John 5:22 “For the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son:”
John 5:23 “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.”
It is no wonder that they sought to kill Him in unbelief. These statements are about as radical as one could make.
Since the Lord claimed to have a monopoly on judging all men, He would have to possess all the facts and have personal knowledge of them.
I am reminded of Moses’ dilemma when judging the people.
You will remember how He was wearied with the task. No doubt, if the figures were 1.5 to 3 million people, His mind required enablement and wisdom from God, not to mention God-enabled stamina just to hear and judge the problems.
In Exodus 18:13, the Bible says, “And it came to pass on the morrow, that Moses sat to judge the people: and the people stood by Moses from the morning unto the evening.”
Can you imagine the strain of the situation?... And this, my friend, is just one group of people in one moment of time.
In the next verse, we see how this perplexed His father-in-law.
Exodus 18:14 “And when Moses’ father in law saw all that he did to the people, he said, What is this thing that thou doest to the people? why sittest thou thyself alone, and all the people stand by thee from morning unto even?”
In Verse 18, we find further, “Thou wilt surely wear away, both thou, and this people that is with thee: for this thing is too heavy for thee; thou art not able to perform it thyself alone.”
It was then, on advice, that He would appoint others to handle this judgment business, at least in the smaller matters.
Now we fast-forward and realize that the Lord is making a statement of deity.
Only God could judge all men. Only God has the right to judge all men.
And this is what the Lord states: God the Father has given all judgment to God the Son.
For God the Son to judge in righteousness, He would have to know not only the outward appearance but also the inward experience of every man.
We often will think narrow-mindedly, only considering our current generation. But the Lord Jesus Christ will judge the “quick and the dead.”
Acts 10:42 “And he commanded us to preach unto the people, and to testify that it is he which was ordained of God to be the Judge of quick and dead.”
2 Timothy 4:1 “I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom;”
1 Peter 4:5 “Who shall give account to him that is ready to judge the quick and the dead.”
Not only must He know all men, but He must know all righteousness. (All that is right.)
This means that the Lord is claiming to know both the letter and intent of God perfectly.
All that is contained in this book----
We study, learn, and grow. We memorize scripture. And sometimes it seems we forget some of what we have studied. We have to go back and ‘refresh’ ourselves again.
We may discuss who the two witnesses are in the book of the Revelation of Jesus Christ or what the phrase Sons of God and daughters of men mean in the Word of God. Perhaps we may grapple with who will be the antichrist… Some may argue about the definition of legalism or differ in what they interpret to mean women not wearing what pertains to a man and vice versa… But there is no confusion with the Lord.
Some men may fool the world and act as if they have no hypocrisy, they may fain themselves as men having no guile--- or perhaps argue about what is an abomination or not an abomination.
The Lord Jesus Christ, in this statement, is saying I will judge!
Not only will He judge, but secondly, He claims the same honor as God the Father.
The lie that they would report is that they were defending God’s honor by persecuting the Lord.
Oddly enough, this is what Saul of Tarsus believed.
Even today, folks of false religions may believe that by killing Christians, they are doing God’s work.
But the Lord states, “...He that honoureth not the Son honoureth not the Father which hath sent him.”
You cannot dishonor the Lord Jesus Christ and honor God the Father.
No more can one walk in darkness and have fellowship with someone in the light.
When I read this verse, it brought to my mind the sevenfold appellation given to the Lord in Revelation 5:11–13 “And I beheld, and I heard the voice of many angels round about the throne and the beasts and the elders: and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands; Saying with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing. And every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying, Blessing, and honour, and glory, and power, be unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever.”
And so He is worthy of all power, riches, wisdom, strength, honor, glory, and blessing.
We will stop here for this week, and next week, we will continue in this passage with verses 24-47.
There are two other areas the Lord speaks on.
II. He claimed to have the authority to raise the dead. (Vs. 24-29)
II. He claimed to have the authority to raise the dead. (Vs. 24-29)
III. He claimed His witnesses to His deity were valid. (Vs. 30-47)
III. He claimed His witnesses to His deity were valid. (Vs. 30-47)
You might be thinking, what’s the point in us knowing all this, Pastor James?
And I would say to you first because God has recorded it for us.
Secondly, we should desire to know all we can about our Saviour.
Thirdly, we ought to be able to give an answer to every man who asks us a reason for the hope that is in us. By necessity, we must present to them the Lord Jesus Christ.
Fourthly, there are an endless amount of cults and false religions that attack the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ, often His deity, and we ought to be able to take the Scriptures and show the truth. It is the Devil’s game to attempt to sell a lie as the truth.