The Son Who Gives Life

Morning, Fall is coming and it is my favorite time of year. Story of Dr. Brown coming to speak at our Student Life Fall Retreat at Wilderness Adventure in Craig County. GPS is guiding him when all of sudden it takes him to a river and wants him to cross the river by driving through the river. He had fit over this, no cell phone service, eventually he got there.

Sometimes GPS’s are great, other times not so much. Sometimes we can trust them, other times we can’t.

As we look at today’s text, I want us to approach the Word with this question “Can we trust Jesus?”

“I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but i don’t accept his claim to be God. That is the thing we must not say… He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.” C.S. Lewis

1. The Son Perfectly Reflects the Father. vv. 19-20

Jesus opens his teaching up with this saying “Truly, Truly...” 3x in this pericope, 25x in all of John.

What does this mean?

It’s called a “double amen”

Rabbis would teach with single amen’s

A double amen is declaring is that the teaching to follow aren’t simply my words, rather they are divinely authoritative. They are God’s words.

Jesus is saying “I am saying these things as God in the flesh”

When we read this in light of John 5:18 “This was why the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him, because not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God.” it makes Jesus either crazy, or he is immensely bold.

John 5:19 “So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise.”

Rule Honda “Third Generation family business” sold

A son who apprentices under a father learns the father’s way, but usually they make changes and do things a little differently.

Here it is not so “the Son can do nothing on his own accord...for whatever the Father does, that the son does likewise.”

10x the word Son is used

8x the word Father is used

John 10:30 “I and the Father are one.””

As Jesus claims deity here, what then does this mean for us today?

John 17:11b “Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one.”

We are called to reflect Christ as He reflects the Father—obedient, dependent, and faithful.

2. The Son has Authority Over Life and Judgement. vv. 21-24

The words life or live occur 8x.

John is highlighting something by this repetition.

John 5:21 “For as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whom he will.”

This life isn’t just air in our lungs and keeping the systems in our bodies functioning, there’s another word for this bios. No this life of God given to us. It is purposeful, intentional, and meaningful life.

Ephesians 2:4–5a “But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ.”

Here’s the thing, I believe the reason why man proclaiming Christians in America are not experiencing this life of God that has been given to us, is because Salvation has been preached and taught as simply a hell escapism.

Our salvation has been rooted in more a fear and not wanting to go to Hell, rather than an AWE and Surrender to Jesus as KING!

“The trouble is that the whole ‘accept Christ’ attitude is likely to be wrong. It shows Christ applying to us rather than us to him. It makes him stand hat-in-hand awaiting our verdict on him, instead of our kneeling with troubled hearts awaiting his verdict on us. It may even permit us to accept Christ by an impulse of mind or emotions, painlessly, at no cost to our ego and no inconvenience to our usual way of life.” A.W. Tozer

Let’s look at v. 24 John 5:24 “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.”

“Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word (Present Active Indicative: continual hearing and responding, “He who has ears, let him hear...”)

and believes him (Present Active Participle: continual active belief) baptism’s tonight, first step in obedience, life long walking out the ways of Jesus.

who sent me has eternal life. (Present Active Indicative: present possession, not a merely a future hope)

He does not come into judgment, (Present Middle/Passive Indicative: indicates a current standing for not coming into judgment now and won’t later)

but has passed from death to life.” (Perfect Active Indicative: it is DONE, forever and ever AMEN!!

Ethan what does this mean?

Jesus teaches that eternal life isn’t just a future hope—it’s a present reality for those who believe. Our status before God changes the moment we trust in Christ, giving us confidence to live without fear of judgment.

3. The Son Will Call the Dead to Rise. vv. 25-29

Many times I believe we read sections of scripture like this and automatically our minds thinks about the resurrection of life after we die physically. However, as we just looked at from v. 24, that isn’t only what Jesus is referring too.

Al Mohler say once “Prayer is simply talking to God, but oh it is so much more.”

An aspect of salvation is our eternity with Christ, and the Word tells us our hearts should be drawn to this, but OH it is so much more.

You have more technology and more computing power of the device in your hand or pocket than NASA had in landing the first people on the moon. And yet many of us use it to text, purchase things off Amazon and squander our lives away doom scrolling through social media.

For the third and final time in this section Jesus teaches with the double amen.

John 5:25 ““Truly, truly, I say to 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.”

v. 25 speaks definitivly about the present spiritual resurrection.

V. 28-29 speak of a future resurrection, how do we know?

v. 27 refers to Jesus as “Son of Man” which connects us to Daniel 7:13–14 ““I saw in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man, and he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him. And to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed.”

v. 28 then states “Do not marvel at this, for an hour is coming...”

We are to live today with eternity in view. Everyone will rise, either the resurrection of life, or the resurrection of judgement.

Come back to “Can we trust Jesus?”

If you say YES, do you have ears to hear?

What have you heard that you need to obey?