Following The Word 10

The Word Of Equality

Jesus claims to be God

Text: John 5:17-23

Introduction

Up until this point, Jesus has been explaining how He is the fulfillment of all former things of the Jewish religion. Jesus did this in ways that unsettled and infuriated the religious leaders of that day. However, nothing will compare to what he is does in our passage today.

The text before us today is one of the most deep and magnificent passage in all of the four Gospels. What we have just read is Jesus asserting his own divine nature, His unity with the Father, and being equally powerful as the Father.

Psalm 139:6 “6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; It is high, I cannot attain unto it.”

There is no amount of time given to us on planet earth that would be adequate enough for us to fully understand all that Jesus is claiming about Himself. The fullness of who Jesus is is too majestic for our little minds. However, I am glad that I am able to comprehend what is necessary for my soul, and how blessed I am that this eternally majestic God dwells with me and is coming to bring me into an eternity with Him!

In the most necessary sense though of answering this question is the most important thing you will ever decide on.

Those who read the life of Christ are faced with one unavoidable question—was Jesus God? Part of any reasonable conclusion has to include the fact that he did claim to be God. We have no other choice but to agree or disagree with his claim. Eternal life is at stake in the choice. Life Application Bible Notes (Tyndale, 2007), 1761.

Remember, the One we are talking about here has already risen from the dead and seen by hundreds of eye witnesses. His words carry all the weight they need.

1) Jesus Is Equal To The Father

A. God the Father never stops working

Genesis 2:2 “2 And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made.”

You might ask, “Didn’t God rest upon the Sabbath?” Yes. However, that doesn’t mean that God stopped working completely.

Jesus is saying, “Even though my Father rested on the Sabbath, He has never ceased from his providential government of the world, any type of merciful work, and the daily needs/wants of all his creation.

This is why it is so dangerous to craft religion into a self promotional tool.

Q — What if God actually stopped his work completely? What sort of state would the universe be in?

The Father never stopped doing good even on the sabbath.

We must understand that the sabbath is God’s gift to man. The sabbath was made for man, not the other way around.

a) Man’s sin broke God’s sabbath.

As far as God’s sabbath rest was concerned, that rest was not the rest of inaction but the rest of divine satisfaction in a work well done. God’s sabbath was soon broken by the introduction of sin into this world. God’s creative rest having been thus disturbed, he began a new work, a redemptive work. John Phillips, Exploring the Gospel of John: An Expository Commentary, The John Phillips Commentary Series (Kregel Publications; WORDsearch Corp., 2009), Jn 5:17–18.

Ever since the fall of humanity, God has been seeking lost sinners and saving them.

The broken man by the pool of Bethesda was a prime example of the kind of ruin sin has caused.

B. Jesus follows the pattern of His Father

a) Jesus claimed to be equal with God the Father

Notice how Jesus submits His equality with God

Instead of saying, “Our Father,” Jesus said, “My Father.”

This was blasphemy and worthy of death.

According to the Jews, there couldn’t have been a more damning claim made than that.

There were three attempts that ultimately lead to the last attempt being the cross.

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

John 8:58–59 “58 Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am. 59 Then took they up stones to cast at him: but Jesus hid himself, and went out of the temple, going through the midst of them, and so passed by.”

John 10:30–31 “30 I and my Father are one. 31 Then the Jews took up stones again to stone him.”

Bringing Jesus to death was solely on the grounds of His claim to be God. This was something John was making sure to demonstrate.

Jesus was saying, “I don’t break the Sabbath no more than my Father does.”

(v19) You see, what God the Father took longer to do, Jesus would do in an instant:

Example: Water into wine; multiplying bread, etc.

2) Jesus’ Is Loyal To The Father

A. There was no independence from the Father (v19)

a) “the Son can do nothing of himself”

There was absolutely not friction between the godhead.

LISTEN...that is really hard for us to know what that is like.

Q — What happens when a relationship experiences friction or one of the two becomes to live independently from the other?

And so it would be that Jesus would cease to be God if that had occurred between Him and the Father.

John 14:10 “10 Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works.”

Matthew 26:39 “39 And he went a little further, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt.”

Jesus possessed all attributes and properties of deity, but He would reserve them to be used only at the Father’s request or permission.

Acting independently from God is exactly what Satan tempted Adam and Eve with. That was the design of Satan’s first direct attack on Jesus in the wilderness.

Quote: ““While I, as God, am never anything less than God, so I, as man, am never anything more than man.” He was here to make all that he was as man available to all that the Father was as God, so that all that the Father was as God might be available to all that he was as man.” — John Phillips

Jesus’ mind is coextensive with the mind of God. His mind was omniscient.

B. Jesus is our best example of how we should operate as children of God

Colossians 4:12 “12 Epaphras, who is one of you, a servant of Christ, saluteth you, always labouring fervently for you in prayers, that ye may stand perfect and complete in all the will of God.”

1 Thessalonians 5:23 “23 And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Hebrews 13:21 “21 Make you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you that which is wellpleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ; to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.”

3) Jesus Is Loved By The Father

A. This love revealed the Father’s will to the Son

This is a unique love shared between the Father and Son.

The Father showed Jesus things that could not be showed to anyone else.

Example: When Jesus approached the pool of Bethesda, Jesus looked at the man, looked at the Father, and then looked back at the man.

Jesus is the greatest revelation for us to see the heart of God for humanity.

Jesus showed grace, mercy, healing, compassion, longsuffering, forgiveness, etc.

B. This love granted him authority over death

Jesus demonstrated his absolute power over death by raising three people from the dead.

Jairus's daughter, the son of the widow of Nain, and Lazarus

Jesus was NOT an instrument (Elijah, Elisha) for raising the dead.

Jesus’ claim was Lordship of the dead.

Not just of the physical, but also of the spiritual.

John 11:25–26 “25 Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: 26 And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?”

Romans 8:11 “11 But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.”

1 Corinthians 15:45 “45 And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit.”

4) Jesus Has Been Granted Judge By The Father

A. Jesus is a universal judge (v22-23)

Illustration: In the courtroom, the judge and jury are those of which all the details of a case are brought. Jesus however is judge and jury and needs no external informant to bring the facts of every thought, deed, or circumstance. Jesus knows every motive, passion, ability, thought, desire, etc.

Jesus has every right to pass eternal sentence without any court of appeal.

What is so important for John to make this clear?

The Jews thought they were honoring the Father, but in reality, they were not.

All people needed to honor Jesus as they have been honoring the Father. (v23)

B. Jesus is a universal savior (v24)

a) Only Jesus can remove your guilt.

(show Corinth bema seat pic)

Jesus is the only judge in history to take the well deserving punish of the guilty upon Himself!

Illustration: (D.A. Carson’s book  “Scandalous: The Cross and Resurrection of Jesus”) Suppose, God forbid, that you were attacked, beaten up horribly by a gang of thugs, raped, and left in the hospital half dead, defiled, violated, and with bones broken.  Then I come and visit you in the hospital a few days later and say, ‘Be of good cheer.  I have found your attackers, and I have forgiven them.’  What would you say to me?  You would probably have a relapse right on the spot!  ‘What right do you have to forgive them?  You’re not the one who was violated!  You’re not the one lying in a hospital bed!’ Isn’t that what you would say?  And you would have every right to say it.  Only the offended party can grant forgiveness to the perpetrator..............but with God it is different.  He is the judge, yet he is always the most offended party.  And he never ever recuses himself.  That is all right because he is never corrupted, either.  His justice remains absolutely perfect.  He never makes a mistake.  God is not simply administering a system of morality that is bigger than he is.  When we sin against God, we are not simply sinning against the law with God as a neutral observer......God is the most offended party and he is our judge!  He stands over us in wrath righteously because he is holy, and he stands over against us in love because his is that kind of God.  And he sends forth his Son to be the propitiation—the one who sets aside God’s wrath—for our sins.”