Well, tonight, if you'd turn with me to the book of John, we'll be looking at John chapter five, verses 19 through 30. If you're visiting with us this evening, it's a reminder that we are an expositional church, that is, we preach through a book of the Bible, and so we have preached through the first four chapters, and the first part of chapter five, we come to verse 19. And by this point, Jesus has just healed a man on the Sabbath, And the context here is that the Jewish leaders in particular were seeking to kill Jesus because not only it says in verse 18, was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own father, making himself equal with God. So I wanna ask you the question before we approach our text tonight. If you knew something you said would make people so mad at you that they wanted to kill you, what would you do? Well, apparently Jesus decided he would pretty much just double down on what he said. In fact, the passage we're about to look at is a continued teaching on Jesus declaring himself to be the divine son of God and equal with the father. He claimed this because it was true. And we hear these words picking up at verse 19 through verse 30 of John 5. So Jesus said to them, 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 will, but the will of him who sent me. As we consider these words inspired by the Holy Spirit, written by his servant, we think it's John wrote this gospel. Let us bow briefly in prayer. Father, by your grace, may you give us ears to hear and hearts to understand your word tonight. Remind us of the wisdom contained therein. and help us to apply these words to our everyday lives. Lord, I pray as I do each time that if there is anything inconsistent with your word, either by the words spoken, the actions done, or the thoughts of our hearts, we pray that they might pass away never to be heard from again. We pray in Jesus' name, amen. When the society around us, I found it interesting that one of the ironies in the present age is the idea that freedom would come from limiting speech. In fact, it was discovered over the last few years that there have been not only organizations and companies that would stifle free speech, but there were government agencies evidently that at least monitor speech of different sorts or kinds, particularly those that were considered either unpopular or against the government position. Our forefathers in America were very much proponents of free speech. allowing dissenting opinions to be given without repercussion. In fact, if you ever go back and read some of the newspapers of the day, you would be shocked at some of the things that were said about the opponents of those newspapers and their views. In fact, it's funny, we tend to think that people are more crass and more awful today than they ever have been in the history of our country, but let me tell you, it's rooted in the politics of our country. Well, the irony here among the Jews of chapter five is in some ways much the same. They thought that by finding a way to kill Jesus, they would rid themselves of some kind of problem that he represented. They thought, these Jewish leaders in particular, thought that he was blaspheming God and worthy of death because of that. And instead, the very thing that they would do in trying to kill Jesus was the very thing that would springboard the Christian faith all across the world. In fact, the very thing they thought would solve a problem of someone claiming to be equal with God, that is to kill him and rid his teaching and rid him from the face of the earth, was the very plan that the father had from the very beginning. And in this, Jesus just continues on his journey to the cross. And on that journey in opposition, even knowing that there were those who were seeking his life, he gives this teaching on his identity as the son of God. In fact, this is of course, is in reference to the purpose statement of the book of John. Part of the purpose statement is that you may know that Jesus is the Christ, the son of God, and that by believing in him, you might have life in his name. And so here it is, he claims to be the son of God. And he reminds us tonight that the son deserves honor, that the word of the son brings life, and also that the voice of the son brings life. First of all, I think it's always kind of funny when you see this truly, truly in the English Standard Version. I thought maybe if there were more Baptists in the Translation Committee, they would use the word amen, because that's the word in Greek is amen. So be it. It is true. And therefore, I have divided up these three points of the sermon to the three occasions in this text where it says truly, truly or amen, amen. And here in this passage we're reminded that the son deserves honor. Notice how he begins. He says 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. Now the context here if you remember was the healing of the lame man on the Sabbath. We don't know why he chose this particular individual of all those that were waiting by the pool of Bethesda. We don't even know if this gentleman actually ever came to faith in Jesus Christ, but Jesus healed him. And when he healed him, those Jewish leaders were upset with him because not only, it says, was he doing things on the Sabbath that they didn't think were appropriate, but it says he was making himself equal with God. And so how does Jesus respond to this? He tells them, the son does nothing of himself. In fact, here's what he says. He does what he sees the father doing. In other words, he takes their understanding that he's claiming to be equal with God, calling God his own father, and he continues to call him his father saying, I only do what I see my father doing. And if that wasn't clear enough, he says, I only do what the father does likewise. Now, as a father, I understand how wonderful it can be for your children to see what you do. Now, sometimes we don't like to see for them to see what we do, and we're not proud of it. But if we have a job or some kind of occupation or some kind of things we do, we love to bring them along and show them what we do. And of course, I have the special privilege as a pastor of my kids seeing that every Sunday morning, the efforts and fruit of preparing a sermon. And here in this case, Jesus says, my father, of course, referring to God, the heavenly father, he says, I see what he's doing and I just do what he does. And then there's this little word here, likewise. In other words, he not only does what the father does, He doesn't like the father, does it? In other words, he's claiming not only that unique relationship of a son to a father, but he's claiming equality with God in his ability to do things in a divine way. In other words, he's doubled down on the idea that he claims equality with God. But he goes on in verse 20 to describe that relationship between father and son. He says, the father loves the son. And of course, these individuals that are opposed to him, they obviously think that God hates this individual because this is not a legitimate teaching or relationship, but he tells them, 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. You see, he shows him. It's not just that the sun sees what's going on. You know, when you have a profession perhaps where you work with your hands, then your children get to see what you do. If you're a carpenter, they see you working with the wood. They see you shaping it. with the tools. They see you cutting it and measuring it and putting it together and making it into something beautiful. But they not only see it because they just see what you're doing, you even tell the child, come here and look and see what's going on. You may have that child feel the grain of the wood. You may have them come and experience what it's like before and after it's sanded. They may have you come together and show how the joints are put together or how different things work in that carpentry construction. And so it shows the joy of the father showing the son what he's doing. You almost get the picture of God in heaven saying, look, look what I'm doing over here. Or look what I'm doing with these people over here. And Jesus is shown all that the father is doing. And of course, by this time, what has the son been doing? He's been healing people. He's been teaching amazing things. He has been healing not only that lame man, but an official son and others. He's been doing amazing and powerful things, and yet it says the father will show greater things so that you will marvel. The father loves the sun. And of course, what is one of the things that the father does? He gives life. We even have in creation and the creation account, it says when the father Created all things. When God created everything, he breathed the breath of life in the man and he became a living being. Here's what it says in verse 21. As the father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the son gives life to whom he will. This is the new life. God can do this. He gives us a new heart. He can raise us from death in our sins to life in Christ. And he says this, the Son, it says, also gives life, and notice this, to whom he will. You know, just two chapters ago was the teaching of the Holy Spirit, where it says the Holy Spirit is like the wind, he blows where he will. You don't know where he's going or where he's come from, it's like the wind. And so here is a reminder, Jesus himself, he will give life to whom he will. This is what the Father does. Why is it that one man from a family is saved in Christ and another is not? Why is it that one individual from a far away place comes and responds to the gospel given by a missionary and someone else does not? We don't know. But the son has the authority to give life to whom he will. This is why we have the great joy of the gospel. This is why I went to Latvia to teach people. how to be pastors and teachers proclaiming the word of God in their own country, in their own language, in their own place is because I know that there will be people because of the proclamation of the word who will come to life by the authority of Jesus Christ. The son gives life to whom he will. And of course, the father and his intimate arrangement with his son from all eternity, but also in these pages of scripture, it says the father judges no one. It doesn't mean that there's no judgment. but he's given all judgment to the son. He's given him responsibility. It's a joy to give a son responsibility. Sometimes you give it too soon and you realize it's not given properly. Sometimes you wait too long to give them that responsibility and you hinder their growth. But the heavenly father knew what was best with his son. And he gave all judgment to the son. Verse 23, for this reason, 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. You see, the father has given all judgment to Jesus. If you think that Jesus is just a good old teddy bear, who's gonna just make everybody feel better, we're gonna be reminded that yes, Jesus as part of the Godhead, given all this judgment will distinguish between those who believe in him and those who do not. And because of this status as judge, this alone makes the son worthy of honor. He's worthy of honor and respect. And a refusal to honor the son actually dishonors the father. Imagine that extension. The son represents the father as the divine son of God and then that special relationship he's had with him from all eternity and those who would dishonor Jesus Christ are actually dishonoring almighty God. The son deserves honor. This is what Jesus said in response to those who wanted to kill him for explaining this relationship between father and son. And of course, we know this isn't the only place he does this. This reminds me so much of the parable of the tenants in another gospel, doesn't it? You if you're familiar with that story, there's an owner who owns these vineyards, and he's allowed these tenants to come in and rent the vineyards for him. And of course, they work the fields and part of their way or part of their rent that is due is to provide some of the fruit of their labors. In fact, they get a little bit to survive, but the rest goes to the owner. And the tenants decide they don't really want to give the owner what he's due. And so the owner sends these messengers to come and gather the rent fees and also the fruit of the vineyards. And they don't give it to him. In fact, they beat the messengers up and they send them away. And this happens again and again, and finally the owner of the vineyards, he says, I'll send them my son. Surely that'll do the job, because after all, the son represents him. And of course, what does the parable say? The tenants look at the son and they say, if we get rid of the son, then we'll get the property. And they kill the son. Of course, this is exactly what is happening in this passage. The Jewish people in covenant with God, God, their father has formed them as a nation, has delivered them from Egypt, whose time and time again brought them back from exile or from their enemies and redeemed them and all these things. They get to this point where Jesus is sending his son to them to proclaim the kingdom to them, and they want to kill him. And Jesus continues to say, what goes on, what goes on here is between the father and the son. And if you dishonor me, you dishonor the father. Truly, truly, I say to you, says Jesus, the son deserves honor. Verse 24 is the next truly, truly, or amen, amen. It continues the theme, amen, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but he has passed from death. to life. Jesus is saying something about himself that these individuals that only think would apply to the father. He says, you can possess eternal life. How can you do that? First of all, you must hear Christ's word. And to hear does not just mean you hear it and you go on, you know, all kinds of people hear God's word audibly. The understanding of the word here, here is that they would respond to it with obedience. So it's you must hear Christ's word. And then as you hear Christ's word, you also believe in someone. He doesn't even say here to believe in Christ, although that's implied by listening to Christ's word. He says we must believe the father because it's the father who sent Jesus. They must believe him who sent me. And if you respond in faith, that's what it means to hear here. is that you have faith in Jesus. You hear his voice, you respond to him in faith and thus you understand through him you have life because you have repented and trusted in him and you have trusted that he really is from the father. A great theme in the book of John that Jesus was sent by the father. Then you understand this meaning of eternal life. This individual does not come into judgment. but has passed from death to life. He doesn't come into judgment. Now, of course, we understand on this side of the cross what that means. It's not that they didn't deserve judgment, because they did. Everyone is sinful and deserves death. The wages of sin is death. It doesn't mean that judgment does not come because God is not just. It means that they will not come into judgment because the Son took the judgment for them. And then the interesting phrase here is, it's not a future tense, it is a past tense. He has passed from death to life. In other words, it's not dependent upon the future actions of Jesus when these words are written. It happens the moment that faith comes, is that person has passed from death to life. Now, we were at a college graduation ceremony yesterday, and the president of the college, every time they had a new group, whether it's the Bachelor of Science people, or the Master's people, or whatever the people were getting all these degrees, the president of the college would get up and he would say, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, and then I would hear the words, by the rights and authority of the state of Tennessee, that's where the commencement exercises were, and then he would say, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, and then he would He would get to the point where he was actually going to give the degrees to them and he would say to them before they even got on the stage he would say you may move your tassels to the other side. Now if you remember what it's like in a graduation ceremony they wear these weird black hats and they have these little tassels hanging down and on one side of the hat is where they are undergraduates. That means that they have not yet attained their degree, so they don't have the right to show that they have earned their degree. But when he made that pronouncement, you may pass the tassel to the other side. When they did that, even though most people in the audience would have no idea which side it was supposed to be, and even though we forget that that's something that they're supposed to do, by that action, it symbolizes that they have actually attained their degree. Well, when Jesus says here, the person who believes has passed from death to life. Now, it may not be that they have died and gone to heaven. It may not be that Jesus has come back yet and they have attained heaven. But it means that at that moment, it's as if the tassel was moved at that moment and they already have eternal life. If you're a believer in Jesus Christ, your eternal life has already started. It doesn't mean that it's the best it's going to be. We still are living in a sinful world. We still struggle with temptation and sin, but the status change of the believer is already done. It's not yet realized in its fullness, but the event has taken place. You are now into life. The word of the sun brings life. But if that wasn't enough, the voice of the sun also brings life. Here's the next truly, truly I say to you, it begins at verse 25. Or if you're like me, I'd like to say amen, amen I say to you. An hour is coming is now here when the dead will hear the voice of the son of God and those who hear will live. Now, is he talking about the dead and their sins or is he talking about the dead in their graves? Yes, I think it's both. The dead who hear will live. It's interesting, he says this. But he also says this other. He says, all will hear his voice from the tombs. In other words, he's making a distinction here between those who will hear who are dead in their sins and those who will hear who are dead in the tombs. He says the dead who hear will live. That means all of those who hear and respond to the gospel with faith will live. And notice what he says about this. The father has life in himself, so he has granted the son also to have life in himself. The father has granted life in the son. It's only in Jesus that we have life. And the father has given judgment authority to the son. It says he has given him authority to execute judgment because he is the son of man. This is the identity again, this phrase that he uses particularly in some of the Old Testament, Daniel and other places. One of his favorite expressions throughout the gospels is as the son of man. And here in this passage, in just three verses, you have both the title, the son of God and the son of man. And here is a reminder here, he's been given this authority to give life through his name. So here he says, the dead who hear will live. If you're like me, you don't know why you heard the gospel. There's nothing in me. There's nothing in you that is worthy of life. We're all rebels. We've all broken God's commands. We all deserve those wages of death. There is nothing in our background to suggest that our parents were any better or our grandparents or our heritage or our nation or our culture or anything like that. in, of, or of us that seems to separate us from anybody else. But for some reason, the Holy Spirit worked in us to give us ears to hear the word of God and respond to it in faith. And if we have done so, we have lived. But then of course, there's also this reminder. All those who have died will rise again. All the dead will come out to resurrection. Every single one of them. whether they believed or didn't believe, whether they heard God's voice through Jesus or whether they did not. But here's this judgment. 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 life, those who did good things. Now, at first, when you first read this, you think this is a works-oriented thing. You know, if you just do good stuff. After all, you know, other people think, hey, if my good deeds outweigh my bad deeds, then God will save me. Is that not right? No, it's not right. What does he mean here? How can we do good things? Well, the only way we can do good is by having faith in Christ so that our sins are forgiven and taken care of in the cross. And we're given the righteousness of Christ and the Holy Spirit to enable us to glorify God with a new heart and the spirit within us. If then we have done these good things by faith, we have life. But those who practice evil, it says here, those who have done evil, the word is to practice. In fact, our Sunday school class on Sunday morning, one of the classes is called Praxis. It's a reminder, it's those who practice evil. It's their state. If they have not been rescued from their estate of sin and misery, they're gonna continue practicing evil for the rest of their lives. And if they have done that to the point of their death, when the resurrection comes, it will not be a time of joy and life, but a time of judgment and a time of eternal punishment. Christ's judgment. He's completely fair and just. He says, I can do nothing on my own 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. Christ's judgment is first of all of the father. It is both just because he is the just and the justifier. He is just in that he gives just judgments and there will never be a time where justice does not come in its pure form, in its biblical meaning of justice in the person of Jesus Christ. At the same time, Jesus is the justifier. He's the one who takes the sin of his people and gives them his righteousness. And he is then in the sense justifying them before the father. He is just and he also judges according to the father's will. There's no tension between the Father and the Son. They work together along with the Holy Spirit in the trinity. I remember years ago when Fox News came out with its mantra that said it was fair and balanced. I don't know that it's always fair and balanced. But the attempt was to be neutral or not siding with one or the other. The idea is they wanted fairness. Our sense of fairness is skewed because we have minds and lives that are tainted by sin. But we desire just and fair ways. There aren't multiple truths or different sides to look at for eternal life. It's not as if we can say, okay, here's one way to eternal life, it's found in the Bible, but there's another way over here. No, there's one way, it's through Jesus Christ. It's not equal and balanced, but according to the will of the Father. In other words, we can't say, well, it's with all the religions together. If we do a little of this and a little of that, and we get a scoop of that and a scoop of this, then we can somehow find a way to be saved. No. It's through the will of the Father that we would come to the Son, hear His words, listen to His voice, and have life. Son of God, son of man, giver of eternal life, the ultimate judge, doing what the father does and doing like the father does. The Jews at this time must have had a very difficult time believing in Christ when he said those things. They were so concerned that he was blaspheming the father that they wanted his death for their sake. And yet, what does he do? He reveals to them the intimate relationship he has with the father, the actions that he does that are just like his father, the things that the father has entrusted to him, the judgment that has come his way, the marvelous things that will take place, even the raising of the dead. After this passes, the disciples should have been jumping all over themselves to get his attention and to understand all that he had been saying. And yet here, what a difficult thing to understand that Jesus really is the divine son of God. And that by believing in him, you have life in his name. You know, of all the things Jesus did, walking on water, healing people, even being raised from the dead himself, one of the most marvelous things I've ever seen him do is save sinners. from their sins. He is doing marvelous things right now at Faith Presbyterian Church. He's doing marvelous things right now in Regal Latvia. He's doing marvelous things right now throughout the kingdom of heaven all over the face of the earth because he is now proclaiming through his servants the church who are seeking to make disciples of all the places of the earth, all nations and languages and peoples. He's giving them the word of God which can bring life in his name. And then when you have trusted in him, you have passed from death into life. Let's pray. Father, remind us of the gospel again and again. It is so wonderful. You are so gracious. It is so marvelous to think that you can make a valley of dry bones, living and breathing beings. to think that you can make us who are dead in our transgressions and sins alive in Christ. Thank you. Thank you that you, Jesus, are the son of God and the son of man, the giver of life, the ultimate judge. We thank you that you have shown us in your word who you are and what you have done. Help us to have faith. In Jesus' name, amen.