Like Father, Like Son - John 5

Intro

Father, Son Comparison

Tom Brady Interview

Setup

First Public Miracle Recorded in the Book of John

Main Text

The Cure - John 5:1-15

John 5:1–7 NLT

Afterward Jesus returned to Jerusalem for one of the Jewish holy days. Inside the city, near the Sheep Gate, was the pool of Bethesda, with five covered porches. Crowds of sick people—blind, lame, or paralyzed—lay on the porches. One of the men lying there had been sick for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him and knew he had been ill for a long time, he asked him, “Would you like to get well?” “I can’t, sir,” the sick man said, “for I have no one to put me into the pool when the water bubbles up. Someone else always gets there ahead of me.”

The lost sinner does not need help, he needs healing and grace.

Bethesda means house of grace. The pool of Bethesda is a pool with five sides which symbolizes God’s grace, undeserved favor, and goodness toward humanity.

The existence of a mikveh is considered so important that a Jewish community is required to construct a mikveh even before building a synagogue, and must to to the extreme of selling Torah scrolls.

Some impurities would require living water to achieve purity.

John 4:10 NLT

Jesus replied, “If you only knew the gift God has for you and who you are speaking to, you would ask me, and I would give you living water.”

John 4:13–14 NLT

Jesus replied, “Anyone who drinks this water will soon become thirsty again. But those who drink the water I give will never be thirsty again. It becomes a fresh, bubbling spring within them, giving them eternal life.”

John 5:8–9 NLT

Jesus told him, “Stand up, pick up your mat, and walk!” Instantly, the man was healed! He rolled up his sleeping mat and began walking! But this miracle happened on the Sabbath,

Jesus displayed that the Law had nothing to do with the cure.

John 5:10 NLT

so the Jewish leaders objected. They said to the man who was cured, “You can’t work on the Sabbath! The law doesn’t allow you to carry that sleeping mat!”

The first of the 39 tasks prohibited on the Sabbath was carrying.

Jeremiah 17:22 “Do not do your work on the Sabbath, but make it a holy day. I gave this command to your ancestors,”

English Standard Version Chapter 17

22 And do not carry a burden out of your houses on the Sabbath dor do any work, but ekeep the Sabbath day holy, as I commanded your fathers.

The Pharisees saw the healing of a man, but Jesus was also speaking to the healing of a nation!

John 5:11–15 NLT

But he replied, “The man who healed me told me, ‘Pick up your mat and walk.’ ” “Who said such a thing as that?” they demanded. The man didn’t know, for Jesus had disappeared into the crowd. But afterward Jesus found him in the Temple and told him, “Now you are well; so stop sinning, or something even worse may happen to you.” Then the man went and told the Jewish leaders that it was Jesus who had healed him.

Jesus was responsible for the healing, not the response of the healing.

The Controversy - John 5:16-18

John 5:16 NLT

So the Jewish leaders began harassing Jesus for breaking the Sabbath rules.

The Sabbath was God’s gift to man, but man transformed that gift into a prison of restrictions.

The controversy deepens when Jesus says, “My Father” instead of “our Father.”

John 5:17 NLT

But Jesus replied, “My Father is always working, and so am I.”

John 5:18 NLT

So the Jewish leaders tried all the harder to find a way to kill him. For he not only broke the Sabbath, he called God his Father, thereby making himself equal with God.

This is the beginning of the official persecution of Jesus.

The Claim - John 5:19-24

Jesus makes the claim to the Pharisees that He is equal in power, equal in judgment, and equal in honor.

A central theme of John is that Jesus made Himself equal to God because He was God.

Equal In Power

John 5:19–20 NLT

So Jesus explained, “I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself. He does only what he sees the Father doing. Whatever the Father does, the Son also does. For the Father loves the Son and shows him everything he is doing. In fact, the Father will show him how to do even greater works than healing this man. Then you will truly be astonished.

Three Great Keys of the Power of God

The key to open the heavens and give rain Deuteronomy 28:12

Deuteronomy 28:12 NLT

The Lord will send rain at the proper time from his rich treasury in the heavens and will bless all the work you do. You will lend to many nations, but you will never need to borrow from them.

The key to give conception Genesis 30:22

Genesis 30:22 NLT

Then God remembered Rachel’s plight and answered her prayers by enabling her to have children.

The key to open the grave and raise the dead Ezekiel 37:13

Ezekiel 37:13 NLT

When this happens, O my people, you will know that I am the Lord.

John 5:21 NLT

For just as the Father gives life to those he raises from the dead, so the Son gives life to anyone he wants.

Equal in Judgment

John 5:22 NLT

In addition, the Father judges no one. Instead, he has given the Son absolute authority to judge,

Genesis 18:25 NLT

Surely you wouldn’t do such a thing, destroying the righteous along with the wicked. Why, you would be treating the righteous and the wicked exactly the same! Surely you wouldn’t do that! Should not the Judge of all the earth do what is right?”

Equal in honor

John 5:23 NLT

so that everyone will honor the Son, just as they honor the Father. Anyone who does not honor the Son is certainly not honoring the Father who sent him.

John 10:30 NLT

The Father and I are one.”

Revelation is from the Father, through the Son, by the Spirit. Redemption is to the Father, by the Son, through the Spirit.

Archibald Alexander Hodge

John 5:24 NLT

“I tell you the truth, those who listen to my message and believe in God who sent me have eternal life. They will never be condemned for their sins, but they have already passed from death into life.

Romans 3:22 NLT

We are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ. And this is true for everyone who believes, no matter who we are.

Closing

Someone asked David Hume, a famous atheist, why he was going to watch George Whitfield preach. “You don’t believe anything he says,” the person said. “Yeah, but he does,” Hume responded. Something about belief is addicting.

English Standard Version (Chapter 3)

15 but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect,

The way we honor Christ with our life is we preach the Gospel with our life.