WWUTT 841 Jesus Can Do Nothing On His Own?

In John 5 .30, Jesus said, I can do nothing on my own. Well, if Jesus is God, who exactly does he need help from? No, this is just another way of Jesus saying, I and the Father are one, when we understand the text.

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Here's our host, Pastor Gabe.

Jesus and the Father Work in Perfect Unity

Thank you, Becky. We continue with our study of the Gospel of John, and finishing up chapter 5 this week, I'm going to begin reading in verse 30, and we'll go to the end of the chapter. The Lord Jesus said, I can do nothing on my own.

As I hear, I judge, and my judgment is just, because I seek not my own will, but the will of Him who sent me. If I alone bear witness about myself, my testimony is not true. There is another who bears witness about me, and I know that the testimony that he bears about me is true.

You sent to John, and he has borne witness to the truth. Not that the testimony that I receive is from man, but I say these things so that you may be saved. He was a burning and shining lamp, and you were willing to rejoice for a while in his light.

But the testimony that I have is greater than that of John, for the works that the Father has given to me to accomplish, the very works that I am doing, bear witness about me that the Father has sent me.

And the Father who sent me has himself borne witness about me. His voice you have never heard, his form you have never seen, and you do not have his word abiding in you, for you do not believe the one whom he has sent.

You search the Scriptures, because you think that in them you have eternal life, and it is they that bear witness about me. Yet you refuse to come to me, that you may have life. I do not receive glory from people, but I know that you do not have the love of God within you.

I have come in my Father's name, and you do not receive me. If another comes in his own name, you will receive him. How can you believe when you receive glory from one another and do not seek the glory that comes from the only God?

Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father. There is one who accuses you, Moses, on whom you have set your hope. For if you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote of me. But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe my words?

Christ Does Nothing Contrary to the Father's Will

So Jesus is continuing on with a discourse here that began with him saying in verse 19,. 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.

And here we have a very similar statement in verse 30 with him saying, I can do nothing on my own. Now you just take that statement in a vacuum, and it seems pretty odd. You're like, Jesus Christ is God.

He can do nothing on his own? Who does he need power from in order to do the things that he does? If he is God, if he is self-existing, uncaused, and eternal, then how does he need someone else in order to do the things that he does?

But remember, this is in the context of saying, I don't do anything on my own accord. I do what I see the Father doing. And what the Father does, that is what the Son does also. So what Jesus is saying here is he is saying that God cannot compromise or contradict his nature.

I'm not going to do anything that the Father does not agree with. So whatever the Son is doing is in complete submission and obedience to the will of God the Father. Everything that we can know about God the Father, we see in the person and work of Jesus Christ.

Jesus is going to do nothing contrary to what the Father says or does. And one of the things that this speaks loudly into when we read statements like this in John 530, or even that opening statement in John 519, there are people who will think that God in the Old Testament is some mean tyrant.

But Jesus is the nice, cuddly one in the New Testament. And boy, I sure like Jesus more than I like the Father. Well, to say such a thing would be blasphemous against Christ as well as it would be to the Father, because everything that the Father does, the Son does.

You say, well, God was just so angry in the Old Testament. He rained down fire and brimstone on Sodom and Gomorrah. Whenever the Israelites complained, he opened up the ground underneath them and swallowed them up.

Whenever a king would step into the Holy of Holies or into the temple where he didn't belong, he would get stricken with leprosy. What is it with God? Why does he just seem to want to afflict everybody in the Old Testament, but he comes with all this mercy and grace in the New Testament?

Well, don't think that Jesus was absent in any of those circumstances in the Old Testament. Jesus was not standing idly by at Sodom and Gomorrah while God the Father rained down fire and brimstone. And Jesus is shaking his head, going, you know what?

When it's my turn, I'm going to do things different. No, Christ was there. As a matter of fact, it even says when you read the story in Genesis chapter 19 that the Lord rained down sulfur and fire from the Lord on Sodom and Gomorrah.

This is Genesis 19 verses 23 and 24. The sun had risen on the earth when Lot came to Zoar. Then the Lord rained on Sodom and Gomorrah sulfur and fire from the Lord out of heaven. The Lord rained from the Lord.

So it is the triune Godhead working together to bring this judgment down on Sodom and Gomorrah. So Jesus was there and he was in full agreement. The God on the left side of the book is the same as the God on the right side of the book.

And lest anyone say, well, I like Jesus. He's a lot friendlier. Recognize here that Jesus has been saying that all judgment has been given to him by the Father. We read in Matthew 25 that Jesus is the one sitting on the great white throne of judgment and separates the sheep from the goats.

Those who did not follow him, he will send into eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. And those who did the will of his father in heaven will enter into the kingdom of God prepared by the father for them from the foundation of the world.

In fact, Jesus is even making some pretty harsh condemnations here in this particular section of John 5, which I'll go on to explain here in just a moment. But also don't think of the father as being meaner than the son, because what did we read in John 3, 16, for God so loved the world that he sent his only son that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

This is the mercy and grace of the father that we're talking about here. The salvation that has been granted to us by faith in the person and work of Jesus Christ, his son who laid down his life for us and and God raised him from the dead, showing that this sacrifice was perfect and it was perfectly received in heaven.

God, the father who has demonstrated his love for us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. So we see the love of the father demonstrated in the person and work of Christ. Jesus is pointing to the father.

The father is only a scary tyrant to those who have sinned unrepentantly and they refuse to submit to the will of God. They blaspheme him with every word they say and every and every action that they do.

So, yeah, God is going to look like a mean judge to them because they think they're right. I'm not doing anything wrong. I'm doing what makes me happy. Why would God be against somebody just wanting to do something for their own happiness?

As it says in Proverbs, every man believes that he is right in his own eyes. So because that that's the eyes that they look at the world through, they think they do everything just fine. And that's why they think God is just a big meanie.

He won't let me do what it is that I want. But it's never about us. And anytime we think that it has to be about us and God has to be for me, then we're placing ourselves in a position that's higher than God.

And that is the worst blasphemy in the universe to think that you can do things better than the creator of all things who set all of this in motion. And you think you can do a better job than him? How will he not remind you who you are as the created, not the creator?

So in those particular circumstances, when we think too highly of ourselves and we think we've done nothing wrong against the perfect righteousness of a holy God, that's when we tend to think of God as being mean toward us.

And we don't understand his affection and his compassion and the mercy and grace that he has shown us through Jesus Christ. These things have been revealed to us through Christ, as it was said in John 1 of 14, and the word became flesh and dwelt among us.

And we have seen his glory, glory as of the only son from the father, full of grace and.

Truth.

We have in verse 17, the law was given through Moses, grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God, the only God who is at the father's side. He has made him known. And Jesus even kind of comes back to that concept here in this particular section that we're reading in John 5.

The Scriptures Bear Witness to Christ

So we come back again to verse 30 with the statement, I can do nothing on my own. I am not going to contradict the father and the father's will is what I do. So I do nothing on my own. The father, the son and the Holy Spirit, all in full agreement with one another.

You've got the Pharisees who will say that they are following the scriptures and Jesus will condemn them for that later on. You think that you find in the scriptures eternal life, but it is those very scriptures that you're searching that bear witness about me.

So if you understood the scriptures truly, you would understand the will of the father and you would see that I am doing his will for these things testify about me. And he goes on to say, as I hear, I judge and my judgment is just because I seek not my own will, but the will of him who sent me.

Remember in the previous section, Jesus said that all judgment has been given to him by the father. Now, the word that is used here for judgment in John 5 30 is the same word that we have in John 3 17, where we read for God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him, the Greek word that's translated there, condemn.

And in some translations, it's translated as judge. So the Greek word there for condemn is the same Greek word that's here in verse 30, where Jesus says, as I hear, I judge and my judgment is just because I seek not my own will, but the will of him who sent me.

So if John 3 17 says that Jesus did not come to the world to condemn the world, and yet he's saying in John 5 30 that as I hear, I judge and my judgment is just how can these two statements be in agreement with one another?

Jesus didn't come to judge, and yet he's saying here that he came to judge. Well, the context of the statement in John 3 17 is that Jesus did not come as a final judgment. His first coming, the first advent, what we're celebrating right now during the Christmas holiday season, the first coming of Jesus Christ.

This was not a coming as a final judgment. It's the second coming that will be the final judgment. So that's the context of the statement. In verse 17, Jesus came so that whoever believes in him would not perish in the final judgment, but they would have everlasting life.

And then verse 17, for God did not send his son into the world to issue that final judgment, but he came to be a savior in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned.

You're not condemned now. You won't be condemned on the final day of judgment, but whoever does not believe is condemned already. Your name is already written for judgment on that last day, or rather, I should say your name is excluded from the book of life, and for that reason, you will receive judgment if you do not believe in Christ, because he is not believed in the name of the only son of God.

So those statements there in John 3, 16 through 18 pertain to last things, the eschaton, the final judgment. What Jesus is saying here is immediate judgment, and he does make judgments. He made judgments while he was here on this earth, and he is even making judgments now from his throne in heaven.

So he says, as I hear, I judge. As he hears from the father, he issues these judgments. Whatever judgments Jesus makes is according to the will of the father, because remember, again, he does nothing on his own, nothing that is in contradiction with the will of the father.

You go back to Jesus cleansing the temple in John 2. That was a judgment. He looked in the temple, and he saw that the things that were being done were a blasphemy against God. It was a stain against the temple that was meant to be holy.

It was meant to be a house of prayer for all nations. And so he cleansed the temple. That was a judgment. He executed a judgment there. It wasn't a final judgment, but it was certainly a judgment. And when the Pharisees asked him, by what authority do you do these things?

This is basically the answer to the question several chapters later, but the authority that he has to do these judgments that he does, to say this person is guilty, and these will be innocent, he receives this from his father.

As I hear, I judge, and my judgment is just, because I seek not my own will, but the will of him who sent me. Now, when Jesus says, my judgment is just, there are two applications of this judgment. There is judicial, and there is legislative.

What is a legislative judgment? A legislative judgment would be Jesus issuing a commandment. And of course, he does that multiple times. Love one another. That's a commandment. That's a commandment that has been issued by Christ.

And so it must be obeyed. And he issues that commandment legislatively, and it is according to the will of the father. An example of a judicial judgment would be to say to somebody that they are guilty because of a certain sin that they have committed.

You go back to the story of the man being healed at the pool on the Sabbath at the start of John 5, which has really initiated this whole discourse that we're still studying. The man was healed on the Sabbath, and he picked up his mat and walked.

Jesus said to the man, go and sin no more so that nothing worse may happen to you. Well, that would be an example of a judicial judgment, because Jesus recognized in this man's heart a sinner and told him to go and sin no more.

When he tells the Pharisees coming up here that you search the scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life, and it is they that bear witness about me. Yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life.

That's a judicial judgment. So Jesus makes these legislative judgments and these judicial judgments. They're not final judgments, but they're certainly judgments. And we've actually been instructed to do the same.

When we read in a place like Colossians 3, 16 to encourage and admonish one another. Well, specifically, there it says teaching and admonishing one another with all wisdom. That would be to judge one another judicially.

But as Jesus said to his disciples, do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment to admonish somebody means to correct them with goodwill. And you're making certain judgments there when you do such a thing.

When Jesus spoke in John 7, 1, judge not, lest you be judged. He wasn't saying don't judge at all. In the context of that, he was saying don't judge hypocritically because he says, why do you try to take the speck out of your brother's eye when there's a log in your own eye?

First, you hypocrite, take the log out of your eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye. So there is an instruction there to admonish, but don't do it hypocritically.

You must be sure that you are walking in righteousness before you tell somebody else that they must be walking in righteousness also. What we see Jesus do, we should likewise do, but we must do it the way that Jesus did it.

In Psalm 98, it says that God judges the people with equity. In James 2, 1, we are told, my brothers show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory. So as Jesus judges with equity, with equality, showing no partiality, no favoritism to one group or prejudice against another group.

So we must be the same in all of our judgments, whether it's in the way that we show love or the way that we correct with goodwill. We must be impartial, impartial. I'm making up my own words. We must be impartial.

We must exercise with equity, just as the Lord so graciously does with us, because this is the perfection of his nature that he would judge the peoples with equity. Jesus says, my judgment is just because I seek not my own will, but the will of him who sent me.

We know that every word that comes from Christ is good and it is true. Proverbs 8, 8, all the words of my mouth are righteous. There is nothing twisted or crooked in them. They are all straight to him who understands and right to those who find knowledge.

Take my instruction instead of silver and knowledge rather than choice gold for wisdom is better than jewels and all that you may desire cannot compare with the word that we have been given from God, the scriptures, the Bible, as Jesus is going to go on to talk to these Pharisees about that very thing.

They're going to say, yeah, you read the scriptures, but you read them wrong. And we'll pick that up again. We'll pick up this particular section that we're reading through again tomorrow. Let's conclude with prayer.

Our wonderful heavenly father, what a loving God you are. You have considered our need and you have sent a savior, Jesus Christ, the Lord. If we had been left to where we were, we would just go right on sending to our own condemnation and destruction.

But you have been gracious in dealing with us in that while we were sinners, Christ died for us. You have demonstrated your love for us over and over again. Every single day we see the mercies of the Lord new every morning.

And so I pray that we would rejoice in you this day. We would know that you are good and you are God and you mean all things for our good and for your glory. So let us worship Christ. Teach us how to apply ourselves in everything that we do in a way that gives glory unto you and where we have those opportunities throughout the day, maybe to even share the good news of your gospel.

Give us courage and wisdom in knowing how to do just that, that our speech may be seasoned with salt as Paul talks about in Colossians chapter four. So we may know how to answer each person. Thank you for your grace and help us to exercise that grace with one another with equity as you have demonstrated for your people.

We pray this in Jesus name.

Amen.

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