2022-04-03

ST. PAUL’S PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH

A congregation of the Uniting Presbyterian Church in Southern Africa

SUNDAY 3rd of April 2022

THIS MORNING’S PRAISE AND WORSHIP

Call to Worship (from Psalm 126)

When the Lord restored the fortunes of Zion,

we were like those who dreamed.

Then our mouths were filled with laughter,

and our tongue with shouts of joy.

Then it was said among the nations,

“The Lord has done great things for them.”

The Lord has done great things for us.

Let us rejoice and give thanks!

Chorus - BEHOLD WHAT MANNER OF LOVE

Chorus - JESUS, WE ENTHRONE YOU

Call to Confession

Jesus calls us to enter the joy of discipleship, the joy of following in his way. But sin clings closely, and we struggle to respond fully to Christ’s invitation. Let us seek God’s forgiveness so that we may know more deeply the joy God intends.

Prayer of Confession

God of perfect love, you continually bring forth life, transforming sadness to joy, and despair to hope We are weak, but you are strong. Our ways are flawed, but your ways are true. We are seldom right, but you are never wrong. Forgive us, redeem us, transform us. Take away the sin that burdens us, and restore us to the people you would have us be, for the sake of Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.

Declaration of Forgiveness

Relentlessly, God seeks us out. With abundant grace and boundless mercy, God seeks us out. This is good news! In Jesus Christ, we are forgiven!

HYMN - TO GOD BE THE GLORY

Affirmation of Faith (from a Brief Statement of Faith)

We trust in Jesus Christ, Fully human, fully God. Jesus proclaimed the reign of God: preaching good news to the poor and release to the captives, teaching by word and deed and blessing the children, healing the sick and binding up the brokenhearted, eating with outcasts, forgiving sinners, and calling all to repent and believe the gospel. Unjustly condemned for blasphemy and sedition, Jesus was crucified, suffering the depths of human pain and giving his life for the sins of the world. God raised this Jesus from the dead, vindicating his sinless life, breaking the power of sin and evil, delivering us from death to life eternal. With believers in every time and place, we rejoice that nothing in life or in death can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.

CHORUS THE BATTLE BELONGS TO THE LORD

Prayer for Illumination

Gracious God, illumine these words by your Spirit that we might hear what you would have us hear and be who you would us be for the sake of Jesus Christ, the Word made flesh. Amen. I also pray that God would bless his church with faithful servants who shall preach his word with power; That he would open the ears and hearts of those who hear, that they may be enriched with the gifts of his grace; That he would send forth his Spirit upon preachers and hearers, that his word may bring forth abundant fruit in accordance with his will; Lord, in your mercy, Hear our prayer.

Sermon - Jesus equality with God

John 5:18–24 NASB95

18 For this reason therefore the Jews were seeking all the more to kill Him, because He not only was breaking the Sabbath, but also was calling God His own Father, making Himself equal with God. 19 Therefore Jesus answered and was saying to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, unless it is something He sees the Father doing; for whatever the Father does, these things the Son also does in like manner. 20 “For the Father loves the Son, and shows Him all things that He Himself is doing; and the Father will show Him greater works than these, so that you will marvel. 21 “For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son also gives life to whom He wishes. 22 “For not even the Father judges anyone, but He has given all judgment to the Son, 23 so that all will honor the Son even as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him. 24 “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life.

Our Lord’s vindication of his conduct.

It is summarised in a single significant sentence: "Jesus sees the Father doing; for whatever the Father does, these things the Son also does in like manner.."

I. THE TRUE MEANING OF OUR LORD’S DECLARATION.

1. His Father’s life is characterised by unceasing activity. He may have ceased to put forth power in the way of creative energy, we do not know, but he is very active in the spheres of providence and redemption.

2. Christ’s work is coordinate or done simultaneously with that of the Father, and not merely dependent upon it. The assertion implies equality of operation.

3. The sabbath miracle just performed was part of his Divine activity, but not on that account inconsistent with the sabbath law.

(1) As One "born under the Law" (Gal_4:4); Joh_4:12) as a "Minister of the circumcision" (Rom_15:8), he could not repudiate the Law, which was only to cease with his death; but

(3) the work of mercy done on the sabbath was really included in the spirit of the Law.

II. THE JEWISH INTERPRETATION PUT UPON OUR LORD’S DECLARATION. "Therefore sought they the more to kill him, because he not only had broken the sabbath, but said also that God was his Father, making himself equal with God." The interpretation was perfectly just, and, accordingly, Jesus, instead of repudiating it, uses four arguments to confirm its truth.

1. First argument. His perfect Sonship involves identity of will and operation with the Father. "The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do: for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise."

(1) Some infer from the words, "The Son can do nothing of himself," that Christ is not equal to the Father.

(2) But the Lord asserts that separate action is impossible on account of the unity of the Father and the Son; and

(3) that the action of Father and Son is coextensive in virtue of the sameness of nature.

(4) Thus you cannot do anything and call it the will of God unless it is biblical. The will of God wrt booze, we had a drink at the after church party last week, Not sin - the bible tells us so. But if we had a bunch of drinks, became inebriated, Dronk, well that is sin.

2. Second argument. The love of the Father to the Son leads to his communicating to the Son "John 5:20 For the Father loves the Son, and shows Him all things that He Himself is doing; and the Father will show Him greater works than these, so that you will marvel."

(1) The Father’s love to the Son is based on their, the Godhead’s, essential nature.

(2) Love is the perfect revelation of the Father, and is therefore communicative in its very nature.

(3) It is through the Son this love of the Father streams downward to believers (Joh_16:27).

(4) The greater works yet to be done might excite the wonder of the Jews, and leave them without excuse in their unbelief. Wonder ought to excite to faith.

3. Third argument. The Son is joined with the Father in quickening the dead. “For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son also gives life to whom He wishes."

(1) This work is an act of omnipotence possible to God only. If Christ can do it, he must be God.

(2) The work is impossible to man, whether it be regarded as referring to the resurrection of the dead at the judgement day, or to the spiritual resurrection of sinners in the present life.

(3) Christ’s power was manifest

(a) in raising Lazarus, the son of the widow of Nain, and the daughter of Jairus;

(b) in the conversion of many souls during his ministry;

(c) and will be still more gloriously manifest in the final resurrection of the dead.

(d) He is sovereign in the exercise of his power: "The Son quickeneth whom he will."

(α) Yet his will is not independent of the Father’s will, for he quickeneth all whom the Father hath given to him.

(β) But the salvation that springs out of this quickening is not of works, nor of him that runneth, but of him that showeth mercy.

4. Fourth argument. Judgment belongs to the Son. “For not even the Father judges anyone, but He has given all judgment to the Son,”

(1) The Father is, in a true sense, Judge of all the earth, but he does not judge without the Son; for he will yet judge the world in righteousness by his Son (Act 17:31). “For not even the Father judges anyone, but He has given all judgment to the Son,”

(2) Yet he has committed the judgment to the Son of man. This prerogative of judgment implies equality of Father and Son.

(3) The design of this arrangement. "That all men should honour the Son, even as they honour the Father." This text condemns those Socinians who refuse to worship Christ as they worship the Father.

(4) The Jews of our Lord’s day, like the some in our day, dishonour the Father in the very act of refusing due homage to the Son. “23 so that all will honour the Son even as they honour the Father. He who does not honour the Son does not honour the Father who sent Him.." Divine honour can only be given to a Divine person. "My glory will I not give to another," saith God.

Conclusion

Honour God, Obey God, Read the bible and do what it say’s, do not exceed what the Bible allows, All things in moderation

Notices By Mr. John Oberholzer

Collection

Praise God from whom all blessings flow

CHORUS

Charge and Blessing

Almighty God, in the fullness of time you sent forth your Son, who by his death and resurrection has won salvation for all who believe in him. By the preaching of your word and administration of your sacraments, your Holy Spirit continues to call, gather, and enlighten people in every generation to live in faith and love as beacons of light in this dark world. Grant your pastors faithfulness and endow your people with your grace, that they may serve you and their neighbors with a good conscience, through Jesus Christ, your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

The Lord almighty direct our days and our deeds in his peace. Amen.

Congregation: Now Unto Him – Pg 1 Chorus Book