The Authority of Jesus
Notes
Transcript
Pastoral Prayer:
Our father in heaven This morning as we open your word and behold the glory and authority of Jesus, and as we think about the mystery of salvation, and think about the grace on display in your love for the world…
We ask that you Incline our hearts to you, not for prideful gain or any false motive but for your glory! Because we know oh God that is why you have made us… TO magnify and glorify your name.
I pray with the Psalmist, that you would open our eyes to behold the wonderful things in your word help us to behold the mystery of your word and help us to understand and know you better this morning. Give us a filling of your spirit so that we can know you more, oh lord give us joy in knowing you have communicated with us in this way!
Lord, unite our hearts to fear your name and help us to be satisfied with your steadfast love. As we look at this passage today, help us to listen and live your word, and may we recognize that true joy and happiness can be found only in you!
Lord, It is my prayer this morning that we would see Jesus today and would you challenge us to seek a deeper relationship with Jesus, recognizing His powerful presence in our lives. We pray this in the name of Jesus, the word made flesh. Amen
Bible Passage: John 5:1–30
Introduction: If you have your Bible, I hope you do! Please turn to John chapter 5.
We’ve taken a break from the book of John for a couple of weeks so it may be helpful to add some context for where we find ourselves today. I will not take too much time but wanted get us set in the narrative.
Jesus has been traveling and teaching in various places. He has been healing as well and revealing his identity to some. The events immediately preceding this passage today was the encounter with the “Woman at the Well” and the Healing of the Roman official’s son resulting in many believing that he is the Son of God, the promised Messiah!
It was the testimony of the woman that caused people in town to be curious about Jesus. It was the testimony of others who gave the Roman official reason to believe that Jesus had the power to heal is dying son.
The Idea of testimony is a theme that is important in the Gospel according to John. John focuses in on various signs in order to demonstrate and testify to Jesus’ identity as God incarnate. He could have told us of many more signs and marvelous works of Jesus, we see that Jn20:30 tells us
Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of his disciples that are not written in this book.
John chooses to focus on 7 of them. Here they are as a reminder.
The Signs:
Turning Water into Wine (John 2:1–11)
2. Healing the Officials Son (John 4:46–54)
3. Healing the Lame Man (John 5:1–15)
4. Feeding the Multitude (John 6:1–15)
5. Walking on Water (John 6:16-24)
6. Healing the Blind Man (John 9)
7. Raising Lazarus (John 11)
The reason for these signs is for those who read this Gospel according to John and to behold the Glory of Jesus and to bring about faith in him as one who has the authority and the power to save them from the effect of sin.
So, the purpose for signs and wonders is to highlight the fact that Jesus is divine and so that those who see them and hear about them through the testimony of others will believe and through believing have eternal life.
Main Proposition: In today’s passage we will see that because of his relationship to the Father, his divine nature, Jesus has the Authority to Save us from our Sin.
Often when Joe and I preach we preach with an eye to practical application and certainly that is something we need heavy doses of, there will be some of that today, but as we read this passage i want to challenge you to Look at Jesus. Not for what he can give you but for who he is…
As the incarnate word, Jesus is the ultimate expression to the will of God! So when we read this passage today, behold him.
So with that let’s look at this passage together.
READ John 5:1-30
Quick NOTE:
Before we get into the passage fully I want to make a very quick comment on verse 3 and 4. The New American Standard, The King James, New King James and some other translations have something present that is not in most recent translations. In fact, the ESV, the NIV, CSB etc. will have a missing number. It moves from verse 3 to 5.
The reason for this is that the earliest manuscripts do not contain the second part of verse three or verse 4. It reads this way:
Legacy Standard Bible CHAPTER 5
In these lay a multitude of those who were sick, blind, lame, and withered, [waiting for the moving of the waters; 4 for an angel of the Lord went down at certain seasons into the pool and stirred up the water; whoever then first, after the stirring up of the water, stepped in was made well from whatever sickness with which he was afflicted.]
Because these lines are in not in the earliest reliable manuscripts, It is widely believed that editors of manuscripts added verse 4 as a way to explain why these sick and lame were posted up at this pool. We see in verse 7 that the man believed that the pool could heal him and thought is that this addition was inserted in the text to help explain.
If your Bible contains that verse, it’s likely in brackets. If your’s doesn’t there is most likely a note explaining what I just said.
I don’t want to dwell on this today but I wanted to point it out. This does not give us reason to mistrust the modern translations, in fact it should give you confidence that the teams working on translations are devoted to giving us the most accurate english version of the Bible according to the earliest and most reliable manuscripts available.
Now that I’ve touched on that…
Today I want us to see that there are three questions underlying the passage that when answered we will see what Jesus is doing here.
The first question is:
1. Who Told You To Do That?
1. Who Told You To Do That?
John 5:1-13
We are given the setting for this ordeal over the Sabbath here in the first 8-9 verses. We aren't given a specific festival that brought Jesus to Jerusalem here in this passage most likely because there is no thematic reason to mention a specific festival. It could be that it was the normal Sabbath festival held each week. John wants us to know that Jesus is in Jerusalem and is this specific place on the Sabbath and that is the most important thing.
What do we notice about the man who Jesus heals?
The man is disabled and has been for 38 years!
In contrast to the previous scene where the official sought Jesus’ help this man didn’t seek Jesus out.
When Jesus speaks to him and asked him if he wanted to be healed his response is not an immediate, yes.
His response almost seems sarcastic. John 5:7 ““Sir,” the disabled man answered, “I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, but while I’m coming, someone goes down ahead of me.””
He references the pool and his inability to get to the water before others get in. It’s almost as if he is saying.
“Of course I want to be healed. I’m here aren't I?”
This somewhat bitter/sarcastic response gives us insight into the hopelessness of the man’s situation. If after 38 years of being unable to walk and you were sitting in the place where it was widely believe that healing could come you and I may have had a similar response.
Yet when Jesus says “Get up, pick up your mat and walk.” the man does it without question or comment.
There are some things I want us to think about here in this man’s encounter with Jesus.
There was no indication that the man had any type of conversion experience.
He simply gets up and takes his mat and walks away.
He doesn't even take a minute to talk to Jesus after and to find out more about this man who had the power to heal him from his condition of being lame for 38 years…
He points the blame at “The man who made me well” as to why he is “doing work” on the Sabbath.
The overall point of John including this “Sign” isn’t that the man was healed and converted but the importance is when it took place. The healing is not new. Jesus had healed others and will continue to do so out of his deep compassion for those who are suffering and to show them who he is.
The day of the week that Jesus did this is what is important. John tells in verse 9 that this took place on the Sabbath. And the reason for this healing was to expose the hearts of the religious elite.
Notice the response of the Jews.
…Now that day was the Sabbath, and so the Jews said to the man who had been healed, “This is the Sabbath. The law prohibits you from picking up your mat.”
This picking up of the mat and falls into category 39 of 39 categories of work that the were in place. These laws were put in place as an interpretation of the Law of Moses.
The Old Testament forbade work on the Sabbath. But what is work?
Common sense tells you that work is what you do regularly as customary employment or something that you do that causes your body and your mind to fatigue and need rest. Thats a common sense approach.
But to those who love rules and love to enforce rules that’s too loose of a definition of work. A leagalist needs to know where the line is so that they can say that they didn't cross it. Maybe the intention of coming up with categories of work was to bring clarity in an effort to obey the law completely. Or at least be viewed as someone who did.
So what is clear to me is that the man is not breaking OT law, but he is breaking the law according to the tradition and interpretation of those who came up with this refined definition that included 39 categories…
What else can we notice about this scene?
Well the man had been lame for 38 years…
What kind of a person sees someone who has been lame, unable to walk for 38 years and says hey… Why are you carrying your mat on the Sabbath?
They totally overlooked the fact that a man who hadn't walked in 38 years is walking by them… They were so wrapped up in the law that they missed the fact that something incredible had happened to this man.
This is what Legalism does to you brothers and sisters. The desire to do the right things and to live the right way is good and noble but if we aren’t careful we will be blind to the power and goodness of God.
We must pray that God would keep us from this legalistic mindset that causes hardness of heart blinding us from seeing how God is working in the lives of others and how he is at work among us.
Transition:
This legalistic mindset leads us to the second question that comes from this text:
2. Who do you think you are?
2. Who do you think you are?
John 5:14–18 “After this, Jesus found him in the temple and said to him, “See, you are well. Do not sin anymore, so that something worse doesn’t happen to you.” The man went and reported to the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well. Therefore, the Jews began persecuting Jesus because he was doing these things on the Sabbath. Jesus responded to them, “My Father is still working, and I am working also.” This is why the Jews began trying all the more to kill him: Not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal to God.”
Jesus finds the man in the temple, we aren't told the reason that he went there. Maybe it was to give thanks to God for his healing. We are simply told that this is where Jesus found the man.
The comment that Jesus makes may imply that the man’s predicament was because of some sin in his life.
We know that this was a widely held belief in this time and we know from 1 Cor 11 that there are some sins that can lead to sickness. John himself in 1 John 5:16 writes there there are sins that lead to death. We also know that not every physical ailment is rooted in a specific sin. We will see later in our study the story of a man born blind who was born that way not because of his sin or the sin of is family but so that some would believe.
Jesus’ comment to him though seems to be a warning of spiritual destruction. John 5:14
After this, Jesus found him in the temple and said to him, “See, you are well. Do not sin anymore, so that something worse doesn’t happen to you.”
What’s worse than 38 years as an invalid as a result of the sin in your life?
Eternity without Jesus…
SO…
Believe!
Im not sure the man believed because the next thing the man does is point Jesus out as the one who told him to get up and walk.
Which brings all of the attention on Jesus. Instead of being joyful at this man’s healing these people persecute Jesus.
Jesus responds to the Jews by talking about his relationship with His Father…
Why can Jesus “work” on the Sabbath? Because His Father is working on the Sabbath. And Jesus does as the father does.
Jesus has every right to do what he wants on the Sabbath because of who he is. which leads us too…
3. Who Does Jesus Say He is?
3. Who Does Jesus Say He is?
The 3rd question that we see answered here in this passage this morning is “Who does Jesus say he is?”
John 5:19-30
Recently I observed a conversation between a Christian and a Muslim. The topic of Jesus came up and the muslim man was continually questioning if in the Bible Jesus claims to be God. The idea of the Triune God is seen as polytheistic by Muslims. He kept asking over and over and the answer is yes the Bible testifies to the fact the Jesus is God incarnate and here we see that yes it is not only others who look at him as God but he himself made that claim. The reason I bring this interaction up is because this claim that Jesus is God is just as offensive today as it was back when this story took place.
Here in John 5:18 the jews understood Jesus to be claiming equality with God. This caused them to want to kill him.
In the other three gospels this Sabbath controversy is also on full display. Jesus’ constantly demonstrates his authority and does it in a way that points to the way the purpose of the Sabbath had been twisted.
What was meant to be a good thing,
a day of rest from labor…
had become burdensome.
Jesus doubles down and continues explaining the relationship between the Father and Him.
Three times here in this last section Jesus uses the phrase “Truly I tell you.” I’ve said before in other sermons that when you see this phrase you need to pay attention. Jesus is saying something important.
The main point is that Jesus has the same authority as the Father because and the Father are in perfect harmony.
The only way to be in perfect harmony with another is to be the same in nature as the person.
We believe that God is triune 3 persons in one God. Which can be hard to explain because our human minds can not comprehend it fully. There have been several who have tried to explain this using all sorts of different examples and illustrations but I am not going to do that this morning. I am going to share two things that we need to understand about the nature of our triune God.
Dr. Bruce Ware one of the professors at the seminary I attended describes the doctrine of the trinity as being held up by two pillars.
The first pillar is distinctiveness. All three members are distinct.
The second is that all three members of the trinity are unified and equal in nature. Meaning that they are all wholly God.
Here in our passage today we see this played out in Jesus description of he relationship with the Father:
Jesus replied, “Truly I tell you, the Son is not able to do anything on his own, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, the Son likewise does these things. For the Father loves the Son and shows him everything he is doing, and he will show him greater works than these so that you will be amazed.
Jesus does what the Father does… They are fully unified in their purpose and mission.
And just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so the Son also gives life to whom he wants.
Jesus has the authority over life and death just as the Father does. Jesus the Son has the ability to give life… This language makes me think of the beginning when the Breath of God gave life to mankind:
Then the Lord God formed the man out of the dust from the ground and breathed the breath of life into his nostrils, and the man became a living being.
John has already told us that the Word, Jesus, was there in the beginning. Here in chapter 5 Jesus is making it clear that he acts as the Father acts.
In verses 24-30 we see the distinctions of Father and son and the unity of Father and son more clearly.
in Verse 24, We see that Jesus was sent by the Father.
“Truly I tell you, anyone who hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not come under judgment but has passed from death to life. “Truly I tell 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.
If you want eternal life, then believe the Father, who sent the son. Listen and hear the voice of the Son of God and live!
in verse 26 we see the unity in the two:
For just as the Father has life in himself, so also he has granted to the Son to have life in himself.
Another distinction here is that Jesus is given the right to pass judgement because he is the Son of Man. John 5:27
And he has granted him the right to pass judgment, because he is the Son of Man.
The significance of the title Son of Man comes from Daniel 7:13-14
I continued watching in the night visions, and suddenly one like a son of man was coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was escorted before him.
He was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, so that those of every people, nation, and language should serve him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will not be destroyed.
It’s not a stretch to imagine that there must have been a lot of shocked looks there and open mouths as what Jesus was saying in these verses because he follows this revelation about him being the Son of Man described in Daniel with
‘Don’t be amazed at this…’
This is nothing compared to what is going to happen later.
God the Father and God the Son are distinct, yet work in perfect harmony because they are both wholly God.
We see that played out here in verse 30. John 5:30
“I can do nothing on my own. I judge only as I hear, and my judgment is just, because I do not seek my own will, but the will of him who sent me.
Even though we saw in verse 22 that the Father does not judge, Jesus tells us here that he can do nothing outside the will of the Father. They are distinct yet unified in will working in perfect harmony.
Final Thoughts
Final Thoughts
So, when Jesus picked the man he would heal at the pool of Bethesda that day, he had this conversation about who he is in mind, where he gets the authority and the right to do whatever he deems necessary to bring spiritually dead people to life.
He knew that healing the man on the Sabbath would cause a stir in the hearts of the Jews there that day.
He knew how the man would respond by pointing Jesus out after being healed.
And did you notice the power of Jesus’ voice in this passage?
In Verses 8-9 He told the man to “Get up!” and Instantly the man got up…
In Verse 24 - He says that those who hear his word and believe are the ones who have eternal life
In verse 25 - A time is coming and is now here when the Dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live.
In verse 28 those in the grave will hear his voice and come out…
There is such power in the voice of Jesus folks.
That phrase in verse 25 “A time is coming and is now here…” Means that he was and is still calling spiritually dead men and women to live… Only God can do that…
The question that you and I are faced with this morning is:
Who do you believe Jesus to be?
Here in this passage Jesus makes several claims about himself and his relationship to the Father. When this is taken as a whole there can be no other conclusion….
Jesus is claiming to be God.
Bill Cook writes that “If Jesus isn’t God then all the things he has said about himself must be rejected as the ramblings of an egomaniac…” That’s certainly what the Jews thought of him.
BUT…
If Jesus is God and (I believe he is…:
he is worthy of all our trust
he is worthy of all our praise and worship
he is worthy of our obedience to his commands.
Joel Beeke writes “We exist for one purpose: to give him glory. We have only duties, no rights… We are called to serve Him with body and soul, in worship and daily work, every second of every day.”
We must understand that we live our lives before God almighty, and when we come to Christ in salvation we need to recognize that “God owns all our energies” and there is true joy in living our lives in a Godward direction.
Friends, God’s word teaches us that our eternal destiny is determined by our attitude toward Jesus Christ
who has been given all authority over the universe.
and…
This morning I ask you to reflect on your attitude toward Jesus Christ.
Do you believe that he is who he says he is here?
That he is the Son of Man… Who has dominion over a kingdom without end??
Or… Are you trying to do what the Jews in this passage were doing? Trying to earn your salvation by following rules and tradition?
If that’s you this morning, ask God to help you,
seek Jesus Look to him in his word and ask him to free you from the bondage and blindness that a legalistic mindset can cause.
Would you pray with me.
