At the beginning of this chapter, Jesus healed a man by the pull of Bethesda, a man that had been lame and paralyzed for 38 long years. Then the Jews immediately began to trouble Jesus because the healing took place on the Sabbath day, which is something that the Jews with their man-made regulations about Sabbath keeping could not allow. And what began as a controversy about the Sabbath, is here in this passage that we are about to read, escalated to an infinitely greater controversy about the identity of Jesus. Because Jesus was calling God his own father, and thus making himself equal with God. Then Jesus goes on to make some of the most astonishing claims that we'll find to the deity of Jesus that are recorded in the entire gospel records. So we need by God's help this evening to allow the Word of God to speak to us and to learn something of the divine glory of our Savior afresh. And as we are brought into this passage, let's seek God's help so that we might see the profound depth of Jesus' relationship with God the Father. So let's now begin to read out of John's Gospel chapter 5, and I begin my reading in verse 16. Hear now the word of the living God. for this reason the Jews persecuted Jesus and sought to kill him because he had done these things on the Sabbath but Jesus answered them my father has been working until now and I have been working therefore the Jews sought all the more to kill him because he not only broke the Sabbath but also said that God was his Father, making himself equal with God. Then Jesus answered and said to them, Most assuredly I say to you, the Son can do nothing of himself, but what he sees the Father do. For whatever he does, the Son also does in like manner. For the Father loves the Son, and shows him all things that he himself does and he will show him greater works than these that you may marvel for as the father raises the dead and gives them life to them so even so the son gives life to whom he will for the father judges no one but has committed all judgment to the son that all should honor the son just as they honor the father he who does not honor the son does not honor the father who sent him most assuredly I say to you he who hears my word and believes in him who sent me has eternal life and shall not come into judgment but has passed from death into life most assuredly I say to you the 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 to have life in Himself, and has given Him authority to execute judgment also, because He is the Son of Man. do not marvel at this for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear his voice and come forth those who have done good to the resurrection of life and those who have done evil to the resurrection of condemnation I can of myself do nothing As I hear, I judge, and my judgment is righteous, because I do not seek my own will, but the will of the Father who sent me." Thus far ends the reading of God's word, and let's bow briefly before God in prayer and seek His help and blessing. Let's pray. Our gracious God, we come bowing ourselves before your word, asking, O Lord, that you would teach us out of your word this evening. We pray, O Lord, that you would speak out of your word, that you would cause indeed the voice of the Son of God to be heard in the pages of the Scriptures, we pray. O Holy Spirit of God, we pray that you would illumine our minds, that we may behold the glory of our Savior, and that having seen something of the greatness of our Savior that we would be changed into the likeness and image of your glory the Lord Jesus Christ so come help us O Lord for we pray these things in Christ's name and for His sake Amen well how shall we study this passage this evening well perhaps we can use something of the structure that our passage itself gives to us the three times you might have noticed we see this phrase repeated by Jesus truly truly I say to you or as our New King James version says most assuredly I say to you which literally in Greek is amen amen I say to you look again with me at verse 19 truly truly I say to you and then Jesus goes on from that verse on to describe the deep union the mutual bond that there is between the father and the son and again in verse 24 truly truly I say to you and Jesus explains the path from death to life through faith in him Then verse 25, truly, truly I say to you, and Jesus goes on to teach us something about his own authority, his authority to do the works of resurrection and judgment. Or perhaps we can try to anchor our study this evening around these two statements of redemptive historical significance. which you find in verse 25 and verse 28 verse 25 the hour is coming and is now here which distinguishes it from what follows in verse 28 which just says the hour is coming we can try to compare what Jesus is doing already now and what Jesus will do on that final day Jesus is already raising the dead and giving spiritual life to his people. And Jesus will on that final day judge all mankind by raising them up bodily. But this evening, I want us to concentrate our attention primarily on the identity of Jesus himself. I want to try to unpack these staggering claims of Jesus and his equality with the Father by highlighting three things about who Jesus is. Three things to note here about who Jesus is. So first of all, I want us to see Jesus as the Eternal Son. Jesus as the Eternal Son. And then secondly, I want us to consider Jesus as the Incarnate Son of God, the Incarnate Son of God. And then thirdly, I want to think about Jesus as the Majestic Son of Man. So Jesus as the Eternal Son, Jesus as the Incarnate Son of God, and Jesus as the Majestic Son of Man. And you'll see these things in our text as we work our way through this evening. So first then, Jesus, the Eternal Son. You see in verses 19-24 how Jesus constantly refers to himself as the Son. He does it no less than 7 times in these verses to stress the fact that in relationship to the Father, He is the Son. He is eternally begotten of the Father as the only, one and only Son, begotten and not made beloved by the Father. His Sonship is an eternal Sonship. It has no beginning or no end. He has always been and always will be the Son. And as the Son, He is equal with the Father. And it is his equality with the Father, both in power and glory, that makes him an equal person within the Godhead, but yet he is distinct from the Father. Now it is his eternal relationship with the Father as the Son that grounds all that he is speaking about here in this passage. So as the Son, he stresses two features two features about his relationship with a father that he emphasizes in this passage. So as the son, he shares, first of all, the unity of activity, the unity of activity with the father. The son is completely united with the father in action. And if I can speak reverently, without meaning any flippancy, the son and the father are always on the same page in their works. So as we read in verse 19, the son can do nothing on his own but only what he sees the father doing whatever the father does the son does likewise and it is this unity of activity that was declared after the healing of the man on the Sabbath day that so infuriated the Jews they well recognized in verse 18 that in claiming the unity of activity with the Father, Jesus was making himself equal with God. When Jesus healed a man, he pointed the Jews, verse 17, to the principle of the Father's working. And that principle of Father's working as the very same basis for his own working. So verse 17, My Father has been working until now, and I am working. now think about what Jesus is saying here he had just healed a man on the Sabbath day and when God rested on the seventh day from his work of creation he did not rest in order to be idle or inactive but God continues to sustain this universe he continues to uphold this universe and his people God engages in his work of providence in sustaining and upholding this universe and he directs and governs all creatures and their actions and things. And God also engages in his work of redemption in order to give life and rest to his people. So Jesus is saying here that this healing miracle on the Sabbath day or the sign was a demonstration that Jesus as the eternal son of God is engaged in the very same works very same works of providence and redemption that the father himself has been doing I have always upheld the universe by the word of my power and by healing this man I am showing you that just as my father has been working I am working in the very same manner to bring that eternal rest to bring that heavenly rest to which the Sabbath day ultimately points Incidentally, Jesus' statement here provides for us a parallel and principle to us as we think about how we ought to spend the Lord's Day. It is a day of rest, day of rest, but not a day of idleness or inactivity. We rest from our worldly employments and recreations, but our rest involves activities, activities of the public and private exercises of worship, activities of works of mercy. But Jews here had a different conception about the Sabbath day. Jews had a different conception of the meaning of the Sabbath, because they ultimately had a faulty understanding of God. They imposed a suspension of activity through man-made regulations. So both Jesus' healing of man and the healed man taking up the mat and walking. Both of these events amounted to a gross violation of the Sabbath principle in their own eyes. They are putting external principles and codes before hard knowledge and worship of God. Notice how blinding this religious zeal can be. in the name of Sabbath-keeping, they were trying to kill the Lord of the Sabbath. So look down again in verse 16, the Jews persecuted Jesus and sought to kill him. And again in verse 18, the Jews sought all the more to kill him now, because he not only broke the Sabbath, but called God his Father, making himself equal with God. Incidentally, Evangelical Christianity can do the very same thing. We could do all manner of things in the name of missions and ministry and church planting and Lord's Day observance and prayer meeting and so on. But unless what we do is focused on the sun itself, it is misdirected zeal. Indeed, zeal without knowledge is not good. So, here in the opening verses, the unity of activity that Jesus claims points to the son's relationship with the father as equal persons in the Godhead. But then secondly, there is also between the son and the father, the community of intimacy. there is an intimate communion of love and knowledge between the father and the son that underlies all of their activities so we see this in verse 20 the father loves the son and shows him all things that he does himself there is an eternal relationship of mutual love and affection and delight and confidence and knowledge that is quite unique The Eternal Son is the Beloved Son. The Father loved the Son before the foundation of the world. And the voice came down from heaven twice during Jesus' ministry. at his baptism, and at his transfiguration, saying, this is my beloved son, with whom I am well pleased. Listen to him, listen to him, because I have revealed myself to the son, and the son is the one who knows me, and will make myself known to you. The father and the son share knowledge and love in their deep enjoyment of this community of intimacy. Now it is this principle of unity and community that existed eternally between the Father and the Son that spilled over into Jesus' ministry. In all that he did in Jesus' earthly ministry, it is out of this context of unity and community that everything that he has done was accomplished. And the Father in this context, gave the son authority. Authority to do principally two things. First of all, authority to give life. Look carefully back in verse 21. As the father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the son gives life to whom he will. Verse 26. As the father has life in himself, so he has granted the son also. to have life in himself. As the father himself is the source and the giver of life, so the eternal son possesses life himself and sovereignly gives that life to the dead. So the son, out of the context of his unity and community with the father, receives authority from the father to give life. But then secondly, the father also granted the son authority to execute judgment. Look with me at verse 22. The father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the son. Verse 27, the father has given him authority to execute judgment. And in verse 30, Jesus says, I can do nothing on my own, but as I hear from the Father, I judge. So Jesus is united in action with the Father, because he acts only out of communion of love and knowledge that is shared with the Father. Again, we read in verse 30, the Son does not seek his own will, but the will of the Father who sent Him. And in turn, it is the Father's purpose that all should honor the Son as they have honored the Father. Look with me in verse 23. They should honor the Son just as they honor the Father who sent Him. So we see Jesus first in this passage as the Eternal Son sent by the Father in the community of intimacy of love and knowledge and honor and in their unity of activity and as Jesus says later in the Gospel I and the Father are one and whoever has seen me has seen the Father who has sent me But then secondly, I want us to see Jesus now as the incarnate Son of God. He is not just the Eternal Son who shared glory with the Father in Heaven, but He came to earth as Jesus Christ, the Son of God. He is the Son of God who took on human flesh. He is the Anointed One, the Christ, the Messiah, the One who came to accomplish the work of salvation as the Prophet, the Priest, and as the King. In fact, the Gospel is about this person of the Son of God. So for example, Mark's gospel opens with this statement in Mark chapter 1 verse 1, the beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. The Son of God came into this world as a man to be a savior. But he was born into a lowly state. He was born into a state of humiliation and weakness. His eternal power and divine nature were veiled as it were under the cloak of human flesh. So when the devil tempted him in the wilderness, He opened the question like this, if you are the son of God, if you are the son of God, turn this stone into bread, throw yourself down from the pinnacle of the temple, so that the angels might attend you. Well, what is the devil getting at? Well, he is saying, Jesus, you don't really look like the son of God. Come on, the cross is not the way to go. If you are the son of God, demonstrate your power as the son of God. And the same thing happened at the cross. The crowds ridiculed Jesus, saying, well you said you are the Son of God, you saved others, but can't you save yourself? If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross. But the Son of God did not remain in the state of humiliation, but as our Savior, He was exalted as a man. So as the beginning of Romans chapter 1 says, the gospel of God concerning the Son who was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of Holiness by His resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord. At His resurrection, Jesus became the Son of God in power His resurrection ushered in a new phase of His exaltation as the Son of God in power as the risen Christ. There was at His resurrection an investor of the Son of God with power and glory. God raised Him up from the dead as a man and His body since the resurrection is no longer like our body made of dust. but his is a glorified humanity he put on the imperishable made of glory and he ascended into heaven as the last Adam who continues to be God and man in one person now it is this son of God the risen Christ it is this son of God who would be crucified in weakness but gloriously raised and exalted It is this Son of God who now lives by the very power of God as the Man Christ. It is this Christ, the Son of God, that we see in verse 25. So if you look back at verse 25, the hour is coming and is now here when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and live. The risen Christ, the Son of God, is giving spiritual life to dead sinners. So that what we read in Ephesians chapter 2 is taking place through the ministry of the risen Christ. When you are dead in your trespasses and sins, God made you alive together with Christ. So how does God make you alive? How do spiritually dead people come to life? Well, it is by hearing the life-giving voice of the Son of God. The risen Christ lives in heaven. He speaks from heaven. He pours out his Holy Spirit and gives life to the dead. And this is the ministry of the risen Christ. You remember what happened to Lazarus. In the Gospel of John, John chapter 11, that great chapter where Jesus says, I am the life, I am the resurrection and the life. Christ called into the darkness of that grave and shouted out, Lazarus, come out! And Lazarus indeed came back to life, with all the trappings of his grave closed. and so it is with any spiritual resurrection when any spiritually dead sinner comes to life when they hear the voice of the Son of God and spiritual resurrection takes place they come out with all the grey clothes of their sins that need to be taken off but that's how the beginning of spiritual life comes about in any sinner so as we read in verse 24 whoever hears my word and believes Him who sent me has eternal life and has passed from death into life. To hear the word of the Son of God is to believe in the Father who sent Him. And to believe the Father is to believe the Christ, the Son of God, whose word and voice we hear in the testimony of the Scriptures. And actually, that's the whole burden of the Gospel of John. John says toward the end of the Gospel of John, these things are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Son of God and that by believing you may have life in his name. And since we are studying this evening John's Gospel, I need to pause to ask you, do you know this Son of God? Can you say with Paul, the life I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. So Jesus as the Eternal Son, and Jesus as the Incarnate Son of God, the Exalted and Risen Christ, and then certainly we need to see Jesus as the Majestic Son of Man. Look with me again in verse 27. the father has given him authority to execute judgment because he is the son of man now the title the son of man does not describe Jesus' humanity in the first place that he is the son of man, he is the son of Adam but it's a specific title that comes from Daniel chapter 7 Daniel chapter 7 where we read from in our call to worship earlier And in that chapter, Daniel sees a vision, a vision that speaks of the majestic role of one like a son of man who comes to the throne room with the clouds of heaven. And to that son of man was given dominion and glory and a kingdom that all peoples and nations and languages should serve him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion. His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom. It is this title, the son of man, who will reign in the kingdom of God, that is applied to Jesus. It occurs on some 50 separate occasions in the gospel records. It is Jesus' favorite self-designation. The only person who ever refers to Jesus as the son of man is Jesus himself. Jesus was self-aware of his identity as the son of man, the one who will usher in the kingdom, the one who will be given all authority and dominion in heaven and on earth. But it is a kingdom that is not brought about by force. but by the work of the Son of Man on the cross. So throughout the Gospel records, Jesus says over and over again to the disciples about the necessity of his death on the cross. So just listen to these statements made by Jesus about the Son of Man. The Son of Man must be lifted up and hoisted up on the cross. The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, by the chief priests and the scribes, and be killed and after three days he must rise again the son of man did not come to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many and the hour has come for the son of man to be glorified Jesus in his statements was implying the fact that the son of man, the one who will usher in the kingdom of God needed to go to the cross to die, to usher and consummate the Kingdom of God. But Jesus was not just a ransom price paid for the consummation of the Kingdom of God. He is a majestic Son of Man, seated at the right hand of God the Father. He's not just the king of the Jews who was crucified on the cross, but he's the reigning and returning king of the universe seated on his throne. So when the high priest indeed asked Jesus during his trial, before his crucifixion, the high priest asked Jesus this question, Tell us if you are the Christ, the Son of God. Tell us if you are the Son of God. But then Jesus' answer to him was, Well, from now on, you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of the power. The Son of Man will sit on his glorious throne in heaven, and there will be the coming of the Son of Man on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. He is the majestic Son of Man, Jesus is saying, who will put all his enemies under his feet, and deliver the kingdom to God the Father. The Father promised the Son, ask of me, and I will give the nations as your inheritance. And because the Son showed His love and obedience to the Father, the Father has given Him all authority and dominion over the nations. So again we read in verse 27, The Father has entrusted to the Son authority to judge because He is the Son of Man. So I ask you, are you rightly related to this Son of Man? Do you have this vision clear in your mind of the powerful reign of the Son of Man? Because one day, you will reign with Him in His Kingdom. Indeed, blessed are the poor, for there is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. So we see Jesus in this passage as the Eternal Son in relationship to the Father, and as the Incarnate Son of God, the Christ, in relationship to the plan of salvation, and as the Majestic Son of Man in relationship to the coming of the kingdom. Well, where does that leave us? That leaves us with two works that Jesus was given authority to do. And that is his works of resurrection and judgment. And these are the greater works that verse 20 speaks about. Verse 20, He will show him greater works than these, so that you may marvel resurrection and judgment are the greater works than the healing of the man well so that indeed we may marvel at these greater works of Jesus I want us to briefly explore the three resurrections that are related to Jesus three resurrections that are related to Jesus and these things are related together so we need to keep these things together but first there is the resurrection on the third day of Jesus himself from the grave. The Son of Man rose from the dead after three days as the first fruit of all those who belong to him. But then secondly, there is now in the present day, the spiritual resurrection of sinners out of spiritual death. So that's what we read earlier in verse 25. The hour is coming and is now here. It is a present day event. When the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live. And those who hear the voice of the Son of God will live because as we read in verse 21, it is the Son who gives life to whom He will. Jesus is the resurrection and the life and it is His prerogative to give life to the dead. But then thirdly, there will be on the last day, the bodily resurrection of all mankind. And that's what we find in verse 28. For the hour is coming, it is a future event, when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and come out. the trumpet will sound on the last day the son of man will return with great power and glory and all will be raised bodily on that final day and verse 29 those who have done good to the resurrection of life and those who have done evil to the resurrection of condemnation to be cast into hell so the resurrection on the third day of Jesus Christ the resurrection in the present day and the resurrection on the final day the three resurrections and final judgment and these are the greater works greater works of Jesus that we need to marvel at well three points of applications as we conclude and perhaps you may be inwardly chastising me for secretly introducing a nine point sermon this evening but here it is first of all the voice of the Son of God, the voice of the Son of God. It is the voice of the risen Christ that causes spiritual resurrection in the present day. So I simply want to ask you, have you heard the voice of the Son of God? And whenever you read the scriptures, do you long to hear his voice? And when you do hear the word of Jesus, Do you combine it with faith and not on belief? Because as the writer to the Hebrews warns us, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts. Because only those who hear His voice and believe, it's only those who hear His voice and believe who will enter that eternal Sabbath day rest. It's interesting, in Revelation chapter 14, you find two groups of people. Those who have rest, and those who do not have rest. And you can trace this on your own later. but in Revelation chapter 14 verse 10 you see those who will be tormented with fire and sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb and the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever and they have no rest we read day or night but just a couple of verses later in 14 13 we see this a second group of people, blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on, that they may rest from their labors, for their deeds will follow them. Well, my friends, the issue of eternal rest to which the healing of the man points, and of which the Sabbath day is a sign and a foretaste, the issue of your eternal day rest hinges upon whether you have heard the voice of the Son or not. So can you sing this evening with a hymn writer, I heard the voice of Jesus say, come unto me and rest. So first of all, the voice of the Son of God. Secondly, the honor given to the Son. Again, we read earlier in verses 22 and 23, It is God's purpose that all should honor the Son. The honor of the Son is God's purpose, the Father's purpose in His works of creation and salvation. The reason why God created this world is so that Christ might be honored. all things were created through him and for him without him was not anything made that was made and in him all things hold together that he might be preeminent and the reason also why God saved the people and God will judge the world at the end of the ages is for the honor of the Son. God has set a king on his holy hill, Zion. God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow. And every knee shall bow indeed. Some knees, like our knees, will bow out of gratitude and gladness. but others will bow having their kneecaps broken by the one who rules the nations with a rod of iron and on that day every creature both in heaven and on earth and under the earth will cry out to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever so I ask you Is that the same pulse beat and longing that is found in your own heart this evening? The honor given to the Son? The Son is the goal of creation, the center of history, the purpose of salvation, the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last. So do you honor the Son? Is the honor given to the Lord Jesus Christ the greatest longing of your souls. And where is the center of gravity of your life this evening? Is it found in the sun and his glory and honor? Those who honor me, says God, I will honor. And it is my purpose that all should honor the son just as they honor the father so the voice of the son of God the honor given to the son and then thirdly and finally and briefly the mind of the son the mind of the son well you may be asking where do you see mind in this text well we don't but we do see the son who is equal with the Father, yet who did not count his equality with the Father something to be grasped or held on to. But he emptied himself, he took on the form of a human servant, by taking the likeness of human sinful flesh, yet without sin. The Eternal Son became the incarnate Son of God. And He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on the cross. His body was mangled on the cross. He was marred beyond any human semblance. The question they were asking of Him wasn't, is this the Son of God? The question they were asking of Him was, is this even a human? Is this even a man? So marred beyond human semblance. and that's the depth of humiliation that this son has to endure for your salvation and this son being equal with God humbled himself to the point of death and so Paul says to us then in Philippians chapter 2 let this mind be in you which is yours in Christ, who did not count equality with God something to be grasped. Have this mind in you, this mind of the Son that looks to the interests of others, this mind of the Son that emptied himself, this mind of humility and lowliness, not of selfish ambition or conceit. It is a command, it is an imperative. Have this mind. Because you don't naturally have the mind But it is a reality, an indicative, which is already yours in Christ. The mind of Christ, the mind of the Son, which you are to have, is yours in Christ. And you have the mind of the Son to the degree that your mind is filled with the Son. All that you are commanded to do in this Christian life are to be found in the sun. Apart from me, says Jesus, you can do nothing. And that's why it takes the highest Christology, the highest doctrine of Christ to produce a complete and mature Christian. And why is that? Because eternal life at the end of the day is knowing Christ. that they may know you the only true God and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. He is the Son whom the Father has sent. So may God indeed cause us this evening and all the days of our lives to hear the voice of the Son, to give honor to the Son And to have this mind of the Son, as we bow ourselves afresh before Him, lost in wonder and amazement and worship of the One who is the Eternal Son, the Incarnate Son of God, and the Majestic Son of Man. Now let's pray. O great God, we magnify you for the gift of your only beloved Son to us. We thank you that you have chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world, that you are conforming us to the image of your Son. So we pray, O Lord, that you would drive these truths into our hearts, that our eyes would be fixed on the glory of your Son, and indeed, may Christ be formed in us. for we pray these things for His sake. Amen.