Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction:

In the opening chapter of his prophecy, Ezekiel describes an approaching cloud.

Fire flashes in it, and a bright light surrounds it.

In the center of the cloud there appears to be molten metal.

As the cloud rushes toward him, Ezekiel sees that the molten metal is really four human images, each having four faces and four wings.

Each image faces north, east, south, and west, so that as those living images move, they never need to turn because they are already facing in all directions.

Next to these fantastic images, Ezekiel sees great amber-colored wheels rising into the heavens.

The wheels have wheels within wheels, the inner wheel set sideways, and thus they have the same freedom of movement as the human images have visually.

Even stranger, the rims of the wheels are full of eyes.

So wherever the living images move, the wheels move.

Above this astonishing sight, Ezekiel sees a crystal expanse, and above that is a sapphire throne, and on the throne sits a figure in human form surrounded by a radiant rainbow.

Ezekiel 1:1 says this intense vision was a revelation of God, expressed in symbolic form.

The living beings that move wherever they want are pictures of God’s accomplishing his will.

The eyes in the wheels and the rotating eyes represent his omniscience, his complete knowledge.

The gleaming expanse represents his indescribable glory.

That passage in Ezekiel is one of the great foundational passages of Scripture concerning the doctrine of God and his character.

With this background it is no wonder that when a Hebrew came to the name of God in Scripture he did not read it, but instead used a name that combined God’s other names—the name Jehovah.

Reverence for the divine name was so great among the Israelites that when the scribes came to it, they would wash their hands before writing it.

And nothing was allowed to interrupt the writing of that name.

If a king addressed them while they were writing the sacred name, they would not respond!

Knowing this background, we understand why Jesus’ claims were considered blasphemous.

The “blasphemous” claims recorded in this text were made in response to the furor that raged because Jesus performed miracles on the Sabbath.

Jesus’ reply had been, in part, “My Father worketh hitherto, and I work” (v.

17).

This answer was intolerable to the Jews, so intolerable that they decided to try even harder to kill him (v.

18).

No doubt some Jews could hardly believe what they were hearing.

Readers might wonder, was Jesus really claiming to be equal with God? Yes, He was, and the audacious claims of Christ that we find in John 5:16–30 had enormous implications.

I want to talk to you today about trusting Jesus with your eternal destiny so that you can avoid eternal damnation.

I hope and pray that you will accept God’s invitation to get right with Judge Jesus before it’s eternally too late.

How do you get right with Judge Jesus?

Easy…just look at verse 24, simply by responding to His Word in faith, BEFORE you hit the GRAVE.

CPS: Escaping eternal execution is as easy as A, B, C. (Acknowledge Jesus' Word; Believe on the Son; Come out of death into life).

Sub-intro:

If any person wants to know what it means to confess Jesus Christ as the Son of God, he couldn’t go to a better passage than ours today.

It may help us if we can set some cultural insights down.

We live in a postmodern day, which means that the age of industry has already come, but the people in our passage are living in a pre-industrial culture.

What that means is that the majority of sons do what their father does.

Whether that’s farming, baking, or like Jesus for instance, carpentry.

This position of like father like son gives Jesus just the opportunity He needs to talk about be the Son, and doing what the Father does when He is challenged about “working” on the Sabbath.

I would point out to you that Jesus doesn’t spend His time here trying to argue with them about WHAT the Sabbath is, or what should be considered “work.”

Instead, He goes right to the point of justifying His “works” by saying that He was only doing what His Father does.

His Father works (even on the Sabbath, or providence itself would cease!), and so does he.

They take it seriously, and realize that He is claiming to be equal with God, and that really torques them.

They mistakenly come to the conclusion that He’s blaspheming, in that He’s trying to say that He’s another god, but what they missed was that He was actually claiming to be THE ONE TRUE GOD, the Self-existent I AM THAT I AM.

I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.

Allow me to draw a Courtroom scene in your mind as we approach this chapter.

The Jews (religious leaders) are the Prosecution, and Jesus is going to offer a marvelous a three-fold defense that demonstrates His absolute deity, and then He will call a four-fold witness to validate His claims.

Notice…

I.

The Prosecution Levies the Charges (John 5:16-18).

A. The Scorning Charge - Jesus Broke Tradition (John 5:16).

• The term translated as ‘persecuting’ can also have the force of ‘prosecuting’ hence the forensic overtones are very obvious here.

B. The Staggering Comment - Jesus Baffled the Complainers (John 5:17).

• That’s it—not another word.

But this brief word is like a shot into the center of the target, such as Jesus alone is able to deliver.

It absolutely and completely refutes the Jewish authorities.

• Describing the Father and Son together in Glory, John tells us…

C. Their Self-righteous Assumption - Jesus Blasphemed Jehovah (John 5:18).

Transition: Jesus Christ claimed to be Jehovah.

He claimed to be equal with God.

He claimed to be Messiah God.

Unlike His own disciples, and the angels of Heaven, He accepted worship from men many times.

He claimed to have equal authority with God.

He taught us to pray in His name, because the Son Is God.

Consider…

II.

The Defense's First Claim: Jesus Is Equal with God (John 5:19-23).

• The double seal of verity, “Amen, amen,” is combined with the voice of authority, “I say to you.”

• Himself here is very emphatic, by himself, on his own authority, independently.

• Gar number ONE- explanation: it is impossible for the Son to do what He does independently from the Father, thereby essentially pitting Himself against God as another god.

Because EVERYTHING that the Son does is both concurrent and correspondent to EVERYTHING that the Father does.

A. The Father's Prerogative to Love the Son (John 5:19-20).

• Gar number TWO- explanation: this is HOW the Son is able to do whatever the Father does, because of how the Father passionately and affectionately loves (phileo not agapao as) the Son, and deliberately chooses to show Him all that He does (like an apprentice in trade).

• The purpose is so that His opponents would bow the knee now, so that they don’t have to wait until the end when Paul says that EVERY KNEE shall bow, and EVERY TONGUE shall confess that Jesus is LORD.

Also, when Jesus says, ye, He puts them emphasis on them.

B. The Father's Power to Give Life, so the Son (John 5:21).

• Gar number THREE- explanation: Jesus will now illustrate what He set forth in vv19-20 with the picture of raising the dead and giving life to them.

This is important, because if these Jews knew anything of OT writing, then they would have believed that raising the dead was something that ONLY God could claim the right of doing (see 2 Kings 5:7).

Jesus wasn't simply saying that He was acting as an extension of God like Elijah, but that His authority is even greater than that of Elijah's.

In other words, even though He cannot do anything by Himself, what He does choose to do is so completely one with what the Father would choose.

Just like He chose that man out of the crowd at Bethesda, He can choose whomever He wants to give eternal life to, and that choice is made clear in the statement, "Whosoever will, let him come, and drink of the waters of life freely…” He chooses to give eternal life unto those that accept His invitation.

He also chooses to withhold eternal life from all those that refuse to accept His free gift through faith.

• “He quickens οὓς θέλει, i.e., no matter how dead the person is; even though he has lain as long useless as the impotent man.”

[Marcus Dods, The Gospel of St. John, 739 (New York: George H. Doran Company).]

C. The Father's Passing of Judgment to the Son (John 5:22-23).

• The frequency of the occurrence of key forensic terms suggests that it can be seen as a defence in an interrogation or trial.

‘To judge’ (κρίνω) occurs twice (vv.

22, 30), ‘judgement’ (κρίσις) is found five times (vv.

22, 24, 27, 29, 30), ‘to witness’ (μαρτυρέω) is employed seven times (vv.

31, 32, 33, 36, 37, 39) and ‘testimony’ (μαρτυρία) is used four times (vv.

31, 32, 34, 36).

[Andrew T. Lincoln, The Gospel According to Saint John, Black's New Testament Commentary, 202 (London: Continuum, 2005).]

• Gar number FOUR- explanation: further illustration laying out the different ROLES that the Father has as opposed to the Son.

That is, the Father doesn't JUDGE anyone, simply because He has placed the Son in the ROLE of JUDGING all.

He has entrusted this judgment to the Son completely.

So, it may be summarized this way: The Father and Son both enjoy the right to give life (v21) because the Father has decided that His direct task will not be to judge anyone, but rather that He gives the task of ALL judgment to the Son.

They both are equal in essence, quality, and character in being able to give life, but they are different in their ROLES in that the Father delegates to the Son the job of Judging everything, as He is the One who has taken upon Himself the form of a servant, and as God, has also been fully man, and thereby qualified to render this judgment.

Hence, Jesus, as the I AM, is the entity of the Godhead bodily that even Abraham rightly called Jehovah, The Judge of all the earth (Gen.

18:25).

Transition: Defense One: Jesus is equal with God.

Now…

III.

The Defense's Second Claim: Jesus Is Equipped to Give Eternal Life (John 5:24).