Jesus Christ is God
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Now, I know I say this a lot, but we are about to discuss an incredibly important passage in God’s Word.
I believe that this passage is one of the most theologicall important passages in all the Bible, and I will have to give you a condensed version, but I am telling you these verses are important.
1. Introduction.
1. Introduction.
As we have said continually, John had two purposes for writing his gospel, and those two purposes are found in verses 30 and 31 of chapter 20.
A. Purpose #1.
A. Purpose #1.
To prove that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God.
Do you remember how John opened his gospel?
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
He was in the beginning with God.
All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.
In the opening verses, John identifies Jesus as God. Jesus is God, Jesus has always been God, and Jesus will always be God, and that is why John is writing-to prove that fact without a shadow of a doubt.
B. Purpose #2.
B. Purpose #2.
By believing in Jesus as the Christ, the Son of God, anyone can have eternal life.
that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.
For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
For “whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”
To prove these two purposes, John records 7 signs that prove these two purposes, and other events are included that prove Jesus is the Christ and through believing in Him, you can have eternal life.
In the process of proving his thesis, John includes several discussions between Jesus and the Pharisees, as these discussions help John prove his two purposes.
This is important.
Jesus really wanted the Pharisees to see Him for who He was. The Pharisees were devout men. The Pharisees knew the Scripture. The Pharisees literally discussed the Scriptures daily in the Sanhedrin, yet somehow they denied Jesus in spite of what they knew.
Tonight, we are going to look at one of the discussions between Jesus and the Pharisees.
2. The Claims of Jesus. (John 5:19-24).
2. The Claims of Jesus. (John 5:19-24).
In verses 19-24, Jesus makes three claims about Himself.
A. Jesus is God.
A. Jesus is God.
The first claim Jesus makes about Himself is that He is God, and He could do what God does.
Then Jesus answered and said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner.
What did John say in the first chapter?
Dear friend, it is an absolute fact that Jesus Christ is God. You cannot be saved if you deny Jesus as God. Jesus cannot save you because He is a miracle-worker. Jesus cannot save you because He is a great teacher. Jesus can save you because He is God.
This entire response of Jesus beginning in verse 19 is in answer to what the Pharisees accused.
Therefore the Jews sought all the more to kill Him, because He not only broke the Sabbath, but also said that God was His Father, making Himself equal with God.
The Pharisees just did not get it, and Jesus stirs the pot even more.
For the Father loves the Son, and shows Him all things that He Himself does; and He will show Him greater works than these, that you may marvel.
Jesus not only claimed He was God, He explains the personal and intimate relationship between the Father and the Son. On earth, Jesus Christ did what only God could do. He did what He did in the name of the Father. He could do that because He and the Father were, are, and forever will be one.
The ultimate proof of Jesus being God would be the raising of Lazarus, something that would be undeniable.
Jesus’s first claim was that He was God.
B. Jesus gives life.
B. Jesus gives life.
The second claim Jesus made was that He was the giver of life.
For as the Father raises the dead and gives life to them, even so the Son gives life to whom He will.
All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.
He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.
For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him.
And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist.
Jesus Christ, like the Father, gives life. Jesus gives life to all whom He chooses.
We know the Father gives life because it is the Father who raised the Son from the grave.
Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.
This Jesus God has raised up, of which we are all witnesses.
If the Father raises the dead, then Jesus, since He is God, can raise the dead.
Now, I believe that this means that Jesus raises the dead who are literally dead and the dead who are spiritually dead. Let me explain.
Jesus literally raised Lazarus who had been dead for four days. Jesus commanded, “Lazarus, come forth” and he had no choice but to come forth.
Jesus will literally raise the dead, in the future. He will do this at the Rapture, the 2nd Coming, and at the end of time.
Jesus raises the physical dead, but He also raises us spiritually.
Anyone who believes in Jesus Christ is raised from the death brought about by sin. Anyone who believes in Jesus Christ is raised from spiritual death to a new life. When talking to Nicodemus, Jesus stated the new life was made possible by being born-again. When you believe in Jesus, you are no longer dead to sin but born-again to a new life.
Jesus gives life to the dead is the second claim.
C. Jesus is the Judge.
C. Jesus is the Judge.
For the Father judges no one, but has committed all judgment to the Son,
that all should honor the Son just as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him.
The third claim is that because He is God, Jesus is the Judge.
It is Jesus Christ who is going to judge all people one of these days.
We dismiss this today because we pigeonhole Jesus into being the babe in the manger, into being the mini-Jesus that we giveaway at the fair, into being the miracle worker, but, dear friend, Jesus Christ is the Judge. It is is right to judge because He was judged by God for your sins, and He is going to judge everyone.
He will either judge you as a Christian at the JSOC after the Rapture to determine whether or not you are to be rewarded, or He will judge you at the GWT where He will judge your sins and pronounce eternal judgment.
If you are appearing at the GWT, you will want to run and hide, but you will not be able to do so, because you cannot hide from the eyes of Christ. The first time He came He came to be judged for your sins. The next time He comes He is coming with judgment and in judgment.
He is Jesus the Christ, the Son of God. He wants to be your master, as we said Sunday, but you must acknowledge Him as who He is.
Now, Jesus goes back and ties all of His claims together.
“Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life.
Jesus, unashamedly, tells the Pharisees that if they wanted eternal life that they had to acknowledge Him as God. If they did not, what they knew would be used against them in judgment.
Do you know who will be punished most severely in judgment? The lost person who attends church every week will be judged most severely in judgment because week after week they will have heard the gospel yet deny what he or she knows to be true. The Pharisees knew the truth. They knew who Jesus was, but they denied the truth, and Jesus told them that they were going to be judged if they did not believe in Him.
Now, this is where Jesus ties the Bible together with a nice red bow.
Jesus knows the Pharisees know the Scriptures, and He knows that the Pharisees know the following verse inside-out.
“One witness shall not rise against a man concerning any iniquity or any sin that he commits; by the mouth of two or three witnesses the matter shall be established.
Jesus knew the Pharisees knew that, and if you read the gospels, you will see that the Pharisees used Scripture to justify every charge they levied against Jesus, but, in this case, Jesus employed three witnesses to prove He was God.
He used His Word to prove who He was.
Here is how I say it.
God cannot act contrary to His Word. Jesus knew the Law required two or three witnesses to establish a fact, so what does Jesus do? He names three witnesses that verifies He is God.
3. The Witnesses of Jesus.
3. The Witnesses of Jesus.
A. John the Baptist.
A. John the Baptist.
“If I bear witness of Myself, My witness is not true.
There is another who bears witness of Me, and I know that the witness which He witnesses of Me is true.
You have sent to John, and he has borne witness to the truth.
Jesus is pretty amusing here. He tells the Pharisees that since I am claiming to be God, I know you require the testimony of two or three witnesses. I know that my claiming to be God is useless if only I claim it.
Let me introduce my first witness-John the Baptist.
Do you remember what John proclaimed at Jesus’s baptism?
And John bore witness, saying, “I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and He remained upon Him.
I did not know Him, but He who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘Upon whom you see the Spirit descending, and remaining on Him, this is He who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’
And I have seen and testified that this is the Son of God.”
Witness #1: John the Baptist
B. The Works of Jesus.
B. The Works of Jesus.
But I have a greater witness than John’s; for the works which the Father has given Me to finish—the very works that I do—bear witness of Me, that the Father has sent Me.
Jesus says to the Pharisees. John is a good witness, but I even have a better witness, and that witness is the works that I do. What Jesus was doing was proving to the world that He was God, and the Bible just contains a small sample of what He did.
And there are also many other things that Jesus did, which if they were written one by one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that would be written. Amen.
Jesus is saying. I know you might dismiss John, but what about this healing of the crippled man at the Pool of Bethesda? How can you deny that?
C. The Law.
C. The Law.
Do not think that I shall accuse you to the Father; there is one who accuses you—Moses, in whom you trust.
For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me; for he wrote about Me.
But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe My words?”
This really had to get at the Pharisees. Jesus said what they cherished the most proved that Jesus was God.
The 3rd witness is the Law, the writings of Moses.
The entire Bible reveals Jesus Christ as God. I could give you reference after reference. Jesus tells the Pharisees that if they truly believed Moses that they would believe Him because Moses reveals Jesus.
“The Lord your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your midst, from your brethren. Him you shall hear,
Moses knew Jesus was coming to Israel because the Lord God told Him, yet the Pharisees claimed they believed Moses. If they truly believed, they would have fallen at Jesus’s feet as proof of the fulfillment of what God told Moses, but instead of worshipping Jesus, they wanted to kill Him.
J. Vernon McGee was a great Bible teacher from yesteryear, and the revealing of Jesus Christ overwhelmed McGee. This is what McGee said about the Pentateuch, the writings of Moses.
“Although I don’t find Him on every page, I believe Jesus is on every page of the Pentateuch. I think He is on every page of the Bible.” (McGee)
AMEN, and I agree!!!!!!
Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. If you believe in Him, you will have eternal life.
