The Book of John - 30

Introduction - We are transitioning in this passage from the impotent man’s healing to the conflict between the Lord and the Jews.

In the last lesson, we began to understand that the Lord displayed His authority by this third sign.

When we speak of authority, we are speaking about not only ability to act but also the right. Webster defines authority as “1. Legal power, or a right to command or to act; as the authority of a prince over subjects, and of parents over children. Power; rule; sway.”

We may think about Matthew 28:18–20 “And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.”

Jude 25 “to the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen.”

I cannot stress to you how important this matter is.

The Lord displays His authority over the physical as well as the spiritual.

We could say it even more pointedly, the Lord displays His authority over His Word.

Let’s read verses 9-19.

The Man’s Understanding of Authority

The Jew’s Misunderstanding of Authority

The Lord’s Words Concerning His Authority.

We stated in the last lesson that this man that was healed may not have had a theology degree, but He had a personal encounter with the Savior!

I want you to understand that there is no substitute for a relationship and fellowship with the Lord.

No amount of school can replace an intimate relationship and fellowship with the Lord.

No amount of knowledge can replace intimate relationship and fellowship with the Lord.

Remember in verse 11 the statement of the man, “He that made me whole, the same said unto me, Take up thy bed, and walk.”

It was obvious to Him, that the Lord possessed a higher authority than the religious crowd.

Remember their issue was not with this man being made whole, but rather that this man took up his bed an walked on the Sabbath. This matter of traditionalism and man’s laws subverting God’s law becomes a major bone of contention with the religious leaders.

Matthew 12, Mark 2, Luke 6, Luke 13, Luke 14, and John 7.

“The central idea of the Sabbath was rest from ordinary toil (Isa 58:13). Only the priests in their temple duties continued their work as on ordinary days, showing that the life of devotion and worship should be daily and unceasing.”

“The true corrective to traditionalism and formalism is still the same. We must ever get back from the tradition of men and the rudiments of the world to Christ and His inspired word.”

And in this, we see the Healed Impotent Man’s Understanding of Authority.

Now this man’s understanding would go further as the Lord finds Him and gives Him fuller direction as to who He is when He speaks with him in verse 14.

Verse 12 tells us that the religionists wanted to know who this higher authority was.

John 5:12 “12 Then asked they him, What man is that which said unto thee, Take up thy bed, and walk?”

And I just want to stop there and ask the question, Who has authority in our Christian lives?

In other words, the question could be framed this way, why do we do what we do? Or to whom are we accountable?

Where does our authority come from in the local church?

This is vitally important.

It clears up many issues in life to understand that the Lord has authority in every part of our lives. When we think about the three institutions that God has given: the family, the government and the church, God has given delegated authority in each, but the authority comes from Him. And to Him we are accountable. Colossians 3:17 “And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him.”

No only do we see this man’s understanding of authority, we also see his ignorance.

John 5:13 “13 And he that was healed wist not who it was: for Jesus had conveyed himself away, a multitude being in that place.”

In our passage, the Lord reveals Himself to this man again in the very next verse. (v14)

But at this moment, He was ignorant of who had healed him.

I think it is fitting for you and me to remind ourselves of who it was that saved you.

This man wist no who it was… you and me however, fully know who it is that bought us with a price.

The Bible tells us in 1 Corinthians 6:20 “20 For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.”

After this dispute with the man the Bible tells us in verse 14 “14 Afterward Jesus findeth him in the temple, and said unto him, Behold, thou art made whole: sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee.”

As we stated before, it seems that this man had gone to the Temple to give thanks for his healing.

“The Lord’s statement seems to indicate that there was some unrevealed connection between this man’s sickness and his sin.”

As I stated before, all the suffering that exists today is as a result of sin’s entrance into the world. Our bodies by reason of sin are corrupted and sickness has entered the world.

It is certainly a sober reminder of the terrible results of sin.

The devastating effects of sin surely cannot be fully measured by man. In other words, who could tell out all the effects of sin in the lives of men… and we would have to say only God. When I consider just what I can see in my lifetime, just what is known to me in a my limited perspective it is too much to account for.

Sin entered into the world and has wrought terrible devastating effects. No statistic could fully account for it.

We have only to look into the Scripture to understand the end result is death.

Romans 6:23 says, “23 For the wages of sin is death; …”

John Philips stated this, “The Lord had talked to the man about his sin as no one had ever talk to him about it before. The man was Jesus!”

We can rejoice that the Lord by His Word and His Spirit speaks to us about our sin. If it were up to us, we would deceive ourselves for the Bible tells us in Jeremiah 17:9–10 “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? I the Lord search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings.”

Following this encounter the healed man testifies to the same group that it was Jesus.

Notice in verse 15, “15 The man departed, and told the Jews that it was Jesus, which had made him whole.”

This man’s testimony was direct. He seems to emphasize his miraculous cure rather then there complaint of breaking the Sabbath.

Notice the words, the man uses in verse 15. He states it was Jesus who made him whole.

He did not say, “Jesus was the one who made me take up my bed and walk”, but rather Jesus was the one who made me whole.

What a tremendous testimony for the Lord.

Merril Tenney said this, “The man told the religionists who had healed him. He did not do this to bring harm to Jesus. He thought the religionists should know and would want to benefit from knowing Jesus personally.”

What was their reaction to this light, this testimony?

John 5:16 “16 And therefore did the Jews persecute Jesus, and sought to slay him, because he had done these things on the sabbath day.”

Why did they want to persecute and slay Him? Because according to them He had broken the Sabbath Day.

And this we see the Jews misunderstanding of authority. “In the days following the miracle recorded in John 5, Jesus would defend His disciples for picking grain on the Sabbath (Matt. 12:1–8), and would heal a man’s withered hand on the Sabbath (Matt. 12:9–14). He deliberately challenged the legalistic traditions of the scribes and Pharisees.”

Jesus Christ the incarnate Word, spoke according to His word, which they claimed He broke.

The Lord is the lawgiver. The very law that they believed they were defending, the Lord had given. Here and in other encounters He corrected their false interpretation.

The Lord of glory, Jesus Christ is without sin. Hebrews 4:15 “For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.”

And just to show the difference, He could challenge them in John 7 when they brought Him a woman taken in adultery by stating to these same religious leaders, “He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.”

“To the religious leaders Jesus was the man who broke the Sabbath. To the healed man Jesus was He who made me well.”

It reminds me of the New Testament passage I Corinthians which states, “To the one we are the savour of death unto death; and to the other the savour of life unto life.” II Corinthians 2:16

There is no middle ground with the Lord. These refused the light they were given by the sign and the testimony of this man.

Some might think I can have Christ and be friends with the world, but it will not work.

Some might think, I may have Jesus and keep my form of religion, but that will not work either.

So then the conversation seems to shift to the Lord Himself. The response is recorded for us in verse 17.

John 5:17 “But Jesus answered them, My Father worketh hitherto, and I work.”

Here begins the Lord’s Words On His Authority.

In this first place He claims His unity with His Father.

“It is significant that in the Fourth Gospel Jesus said either “my Father,” or “your Father,” but never “our Father.” (Tenney)

I was speaking to someone the other day that asked me, How do I witness to a Jehovahs Witness. By dealing with the two areas in which they err concerning Salvation. The one is that salvation is by grace through faith. You cannot be saved by works. This is dealt with in Romans 11:6 “And if by grace, then is it no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then is it no more grace: otherwise work is no more work.” and Ephesians 2:8–9 “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.” The second is dealing with their belief concerning Jesus.

Jesus Christ is God. He is the second person of the Tri-unity of God. Some cults wrongfully assert that we are Tri-theists, that is that we believe in three Gods. That is not correct we believe in a Triune God. God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit. Three persons-One God. This is why the Shema in Deuteronomy 6:4 states, “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord:”

All over the Scriptures, and especially in the book of John you will find that Jesus claimed to be God.

John 10:30 like this verse is a claim to unity and equality with God the Father, where the Lord states, “I and my Father are one.”

Here Jesus claims unity and equality with God the Father.

There are several words I want you to notice in this verse. The first is that Jesus says, “My Father…” He did not state ‘our father’, or the father, but rather My Father.

Then secondly the Lord says, “My Father worketh hitherto…”—which means works continually or unceasingly. The idea is that the Lord is asserting that God has been working and continues to work, irrespective of the Sabbath which was given for the Jews.

Thirdly He states, “…and I work.”

In other words, I will not cease from this work because I and my Father are one… what My Father does I do.

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.”

Maybe we should take up this motto as well. Although we cannot state it in the same peculiar sense in which the Lord does, being part of the family of God perhaps we should declare that My Father works and therefore I work.

This is made clear in verse 19.

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.”

And in case we are scratching our heads to understand what the Lord is claiming, notice the response in verse 18.

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.”

The Lord describes His oneness with the Father in the subsequent verses. He describes His unfettered fellowship and communion with God the Father. 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 remaining dialogue of the Lord recorded here for us there are really three claims that the Lord made:

Vs. 19-23 He claims to be equal with God the Father.

Vs. 24-29 He claimed to have authority to raise the dead.

3. Vs. 30-47 He claimed His witnesses to His deity were valid.

Let’s read these verses beginning in verse 19.

John 5:19–47 KJV 1900

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. 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. For the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son: 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. Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life. Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live. For as the Father hath life in himself; so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself; And hath given him authority to execute judgment also, because he is the Son of man. Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation. I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me. If I bear witness of myself, my witness is not true. There is another that beareth witness of me; and I know that the witness which he witnesseth of me is true. Ye sent unto John, and he bare witness unto the truth. But I receive not testimony from man: but these things I say, that ye might be saved. He was a burning and a shining light: and ye were willing for a season to rejoice in his light. But I have greater witness than that of John: for the works which the Father hath given me to finish, the same works that I do, bear witness of me, that the Father hath sent me. And the Father himself, which hath sent me, hath borne witness of me. Ye have neither heard his voice at any time, nor seen his shape. And ye have not his word abiding in you: for whom he hath sent, him ye believe not. Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me. And ye will not come to me, that ye might have life. I receive not honour from men. But I know you, that ye have not the love of God in you. I am come in my Father’s name, and ye receive me not: if another shall come in his own name, him ye will receive. How can ye believe, which receive honour one of another, and seek not the honour that cometh from God only? Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father: there is one that accuseth you, even Moses, in whom ye trust. For had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me: for he wrote of me. But if ye believe not his writings, how shall ye believe my words?