The Son Gives Life and Judges

The Gospel of John, Chapter 5 and the Son’s Relation to the Father

Turn with me, please, in your Bibles to the Gospel of John, Chapter 5. Gospel of John, Chapter 5. Before we look to the Word of God together, let us pray for His blessing. Our Heavenly Father, once again, we confess our need for Your ministry amongst us by Your Spirit.

We ask that You would meet with us, that You would lift us up. Lord, if we come with distractions in our minds, in our bodies, Lord, that You would help us to lay these aside. We need this time in Your presence, in Your Word.

You have called us to ministry in difficult days. The world around us seeks to conform us to its image. Lord, we need this time in Your Word. Please be with us now, and may all things be to Your honor and glory.

We pray in Christ's name, Amen. We continue in our study of a rather unusual study, as most of you probably know. But if you're visiting, we began quite some time ago with a study of an ancient manuscript that is a part of the New Testament called Papyrus 45.

And P45 was written somewhere around 200 to 220 years after the birth of Christ. It contains portions of Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, and Acts. And we sort of made up a completely arbitrary rule that if that particular manuscript contains a chapter, we were going to preach through that particular chapter.

And so that rather arbitrary rule allowed me to throw in John 4 and 5. Now, when we did John 10 and 11, I would include a nice, pretty scan of the manuscript and the bulletin and all that stuff. 4 and 5 was a bit of a stretch because there are only about 25 words grand total from chapters 4 and 5 on a tiny little scrap I haven't even been able to find a scan of anywhere.

I certainly hope to do that someday. And when we move out of John, and I honestly haven't decided yet where we'll go from there, the temptation is, I wouldn't call it a temptation. We normally use that term negatively.

But the temptation is to go to the book of Acts for a while. Since we've been in a gospel, we could go to Acts for a few chapters, then go back to some Matthew, and then Acts again for a while, and then Mark, and Acts, and Luke.

It all depends. There's not that much of Matthew and Luke. There's a larger portion of Mark in the papyrus. So we're just using that as a guide. And so we've worked through John chapter 4, and now we're in John chapter 5, which has, of course, allowed us to enter in, really, when you think about it, we did chapters 10 and 11, and there is deep, deep material in regards to the relationship of the Father and the Son in John chapter 10.

But as we have entered into chapter 5, we have once again been challenged with the reality that here in the gospel of John, we have some of the deepest material in the New Testament relating to us what is a real weak area for most Christian believers, and that is the relationship of the divine persons.

As I have stated, but again, we have visitors. We have folks who were with us last time. It does seem to me that when it comes to our knowledge of the Bible's revelation concerning our God, that most of us recognize, well, there's only one true God.

Most of us, at least, are functionally monotheists. That's a good thing. We may not be able to quote too many verses because we don't run into too many folks that deny there's only one true God unless you live in Mesa and Chandler.

Go ahead and allow that to sort of roll across the congregation there. Not so much anymore, believe me. Some of you can remember when that was much more the case than it is now. When we first moved here in the 1970s, all you had to do was mention Mesa, and you just automatically assumed if you lived in Mesa, you must be a Mormon.

That's really not the case anymore, obviously, since those cities have grown so much. But we do have to know why we believe that there's only one true God when dealing with Mormons because they don't believe that there is only one true God.

They believe in many gods. And so we understand the biblical revelation. There's one God. It's a natural element of Christian theology and piety to react against the Jehovah's Witnesses when they come to the door, not because of how they're dressed.

I don't know about you, but when I see them walking through my neighborhood in July dressed in a suit and tie, you know, if you could earn your way to heaven, I guess that would be one way of doing it.

It certainly does make it somewhat ironic that they don't believe in hell, because they certainly have some great illustrations of it if they did. But, you know, automatically, when we hear them talking about, well, when we can get them to actually admit that what they believe is Jesus is Michael the archangel, the first and greatest of God's creations and stuff like that, we automatically, no, no, no, no, no, the scriptures, no, Jesus is identified as Yahweh in scripture and he's called God and he's Lord.

And so we believe in the deity of Christ and we find out they don't believe the Holy Spirit's a divine person, isn't even a person, it's an it. You get baptized in Holy Spirit, like getting baptized in water.

And so we naturally, you know, understand the biblical testimony. But when you put all that together, what that all comes together at was, well, okay, if you have one God, but the father's not the son, the son's not the spirit.

And yet you're saying that the father's God and the son's God and the spirit's God, but you only got one God. And of course, the Muslims come along and say, see, that's what we don't get at all. And it's that relationship of the divine persons that is probably, in my opinion, in my experience in teaching, I've taught Trinitarian theology in foreign countries.

I taught an entire class on the Trinity a few years ago in Kiev, Ukraine, during a nuclear power problem there that we had to do most of the class by candlelight. That was, I don't know if that helped or what.

But my experience is that most people struggle with, well, how does the father relate to the son and to the spirit? And how do the persons relate as to the one being that is God? That seems to be the issue.

And as we have mentioned, it seems to be that John chapter five is a large and bright window that is provided to us in scripture as to the relationship that exists, especially between the father and the son.

And it's, of course, necessary to get that relationship down before we get to John 14, 15, and 16, when the son says, now I must ascend back to the father. I must return back to the father and we will send to you another comforter.

And so then you have the Holy Spirit. Well, once you understand the relationship of the father and the son, then you can have a better understanding as to the relationship that they bear to one another and that we bear to the Holy Spirit who then indwells us, so on and so forth.

And so we've been looking at this particular section of scripture, and hopefully it has been challenging to you, but also useful to you in coming to understand this. Now, just to remind us, there is a context to the section we're going to be looking at.

We're looking at verses 20 and following. But the context that has been provided to us was the healing that took place at the beginning of the chapter. And as was the case more than once in the New Testament narrative, Jesus chooses to heal on the Sabbath day so as to bring about interaction with the Jews in regards to his identity, in regards to the fact that he is Lord of the Sabbath, for example.

And in this context, he has used language that communicates to us a claim of equality with the father. Specifically, in verse 17, my father is working until now and I myself am working. For this reason, therefore, the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him because he not only was loosing or breaking the Sabbath, but also was calling God his own father, his father in a particular fashion, not in the standard God is our father as in our creator language, which is found throughout the Old Testament text, but was referring to God in an intimate fashion that would make him his own father with then the explanation making himself equal to God.

And the beginning of verse 19 then, we have Jesus' response. If that was a misunderstanding of what Jesus was saying, you would expect the first words of verse 19 to be something along the lines of, I want you to understand, I am merely a prophet, I want you to understand, I have merely been sent by God, I am not making any such claims, but this is not what you get.

Instead, at the same time, there is a danger. The danger that you can have a presentation of multiple competing deities. The idea that the son is somehow to eclipse the father or to replace the father or something along these lines is not in perfect harmony with the father.

So what you have beginning in verse 19 is a discussion of the relationship of the father and the son that must be understood as taking place with the son in the incarnate state. Must be understood that the son here is speaking as one who, earlier in the Gospel of John, it has been plainly stated, the son has eternally existed as the logos, he has become flesh.

At the end of the Gospel, he is going to be described by Thomas as my Lord and my God. This is the Gospel that has this as a context. And yet, it is very important numerous times in the Gospel of John to remember that Jesus is speaking in the incarnate state.

And so in that context, we have much spoken to us about the relationship of the father and the son, the fact that the son is doing the will of the father as the one who has been sent by the father, that he is not acting op healtu, by himself, of himself, as in separately from the father.

You see, if the son did things independently of the father's will as the one sent by him, it would be very difficult for us to come up with a coherent understanding of monotheistic worship. It would be very difficult for us to do what the early church had to do, and that was to say, look, we are not a new religion in the sense that we are worshiping the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

All the promises that we are speaking of were prophesied in the Old Testament scriptures. Those are our scriptures. They are God's speaking. This is the continuation of the work that God promised in days past.

And so this is a fulfillment of all the promises that were made to the fathers, to the patriarchs, through the prophets. It would be extremely difficult for the New Testament church to make that argument if, in fact, they were introducing some new secondary deity or competing deity that we were somehow supposed to be worshiping.

No, there is only one God, and there is only one true way of worship of God, and so we have to have an understanding of how the father and the son relate. And so last time we saw the son can do nothing from himself independently.

He has come voluntarily to, he has submitted himself to the will of the father. This is necessary to take that and say, well, that makes him somehow lesser when what it means is he is willing to condescend and to serve so as to be the Messiah who can give his life in place of his people is to miss the point.

You can't stop somebody from doing that, and people are going to do that all the time. But we are seeking to be balanced in our analysis of the text and hearing what the text says. So the son can do nothing of himself unless it is something he sees the father doing.

And last time we pointed out, notice the balance here. You have the unity of the father and the son, but at the same time, the son can do nothing of himself unless it is something he sees the father doing.

Well, what does the father do? The father does divine things. And so the idea that this somehow is saying, see, Jesus is just a mere man. So he's a mere man who does divine things. That doesn't flow from verse 18, making himself equal to God.

For whatever the father does, these things, the son also does in like manner. These are words, as we noted last time, that cannot be spoken of any mere creature. It's just simply not possible. And yet the balance, it's almost as if the Holy Spirit of God knew the future and knew what kind of errors would be the tendency of mankind to make.

Because as I think about the balance of this text, and I think of the history of the church, so many times people have missed one phrase or another phrase of this beautifully balanced presentation. So you have the distinction of the father and the son.

They're not being confused together. You would think that the easiest way to handle this, if the oneness Pentecostals are right, who don't believe in the Trinity, but believe that there's just one person who, the father who dwelt in the son, who's not deity at all, is just a human creature, and now acts like the spirit, that it'd be easy for Jesus to say, well, I'm both the father and the son.

Well, that's not what he says. Never does he say anything even remotely like that. And so you have the distinction of the father and the son. You have the submission of the son to the father in doing what only divine persons can do.

And the son doesn't just do it in a imitation style, but these things the son also does in like manner to the father. These are words that would never be spoken of prophets or apostles or anyone else.

They sound right because they're about Jesus and you and I know who Jesus is. But you, as I've said many times before, you have to remember what these words must have sounded like in the ears of Jesus's contemporaries at that time.

They were scandalous, absolutely scandalous. For the father loves the son and shows him all things that he himself is doing, and the father will show him greatest works in these that you will marvel. This is actually, we're just now getting to where we finished last time, but it's important to have the background.

We emphasized the love of the father for the son when we were together last time. Again, the all things would include all the divine acts. And when we talked about the father will show him greater works than these that you will marvel, we noted that the context will give us a real answer as to what that refers to.

This is not in reference to some kind of, well, what you see this text being misused for very often in modern Christian television and things like that, because verse 21 sort of gives us an understanding of exactly where that is going.

Four, and the conjunction that is used there to introduce verse 21 really does emphasize this is these greater works. This is where it is. For just as the father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the son also gives life to whom he wishes.

So here is the greater works. For just as the father raises the dead and gives them life. Now, resurrection in the Old Testament scriptures was a fairly rare occurrence. It happened a few times, but it is not a common thing.

The Jews understood that the giver of life was God. The Jews understood that in the final day, the one who would raise the dead, at least the Pharisees, understood that the one who would raise the dead and bring about judgment would be God, and that God is the source of life and the source of resurrection.

And so the first portion of verse 21 is just a statement of what was already believed by everyone there in this particular context. For just as the father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the son also gives life to those whom he wills.

Now, hopefully you see the echo here of what came before. My father is working until now, and I am working. In the healing of the man, there was a slight temporal showing of the giving of life. This was a healing, an infusion of life into a physical body.

So it wasn't a raising from the dead like we're going to get in John chapter 11, but it is a picture. And so it's continuing that theme. And what causes us to marvel then is, first of all, that the source of life, the father, he raises the dead, gives them life.

And no one would question, well, the father has the right to do that as he pleases. He chooses the time. He chooses the mechanism. He chooses the means. None of his creatures can in any way force his hand on that.

All right, then, then in the same way. Also, the son makes alive those whom he wills. Now, does that mean he wills in opposition to the father? No, but it does emphasize that you would, you know, you would think that in this context where you're, you're, you're, you're defining a pathway, you're, you're defining boundaries.

And in this context, you already have, no one's going to question God has the right to make alive and he's sovereign over these issues. And so is the son. So is the son, those whom he wills, he gives life to, he makes alive.

That term to will, we recognize that this is something that is definitional of our understanding of what a person is. Rocks do not have wills. Um, they do not choose to accomplish things. They are impersonal things.

You can pick up a rock and you can throw it through a window, or you can pick up a rock and use it to build a wall. You can, you can be destructive with it or constructive with it. But the rock has no choice in this matter.

The son wills to make alive. Later on, the spirit will give gifts, uh, in first Corinthians as he wills very same term. These are actions of persons. They indicate personhood. But in this context, the son gives life to whom he wills.

Now, unless we're going to posit the idea that, uh, there is a competition or conflict between the father and the son in this matter, once again, the unity in the father and son simply have to be assumed.

They have to be seen as, as being one together. And so in the eschatological, the Jews believed God would raise everyone from the dead. We immediately at this point have started asking a question. Well, this, this giving of life, is it only at the end time or will, is it appropriate for us to see in John that John intends us to see both the eschatological resurrection at the last day, as well as the breaking in of that in the ministry of Christ, in the spiritual resurrection that comes with regeneration.

Because we're going to see in the next few verses that you could make application either direction. And many theologians and interpreters down through the ages have made that application and have made a dual application that yes, there is the future, uh, resurrection of the physical body, but there is as well, uh, the current reality of resurrection to eternal life.

Uh, and I think both of them are going to be in view in, in this text. So you have giving of life to whom he wishes. And then you have the next amazing statement for not even the father judges anyone, but he has given all judgment to the son.

Now, once again, from the Jewish perspective, the only one who can judge and judge righteously is God. Um, when you read intertestamental literature, when you even read, uh, uh, post new Testament Jewish literature, uh, what's called Midrash, uh, commentaries, people like that, especially in the middle, middle ages, things like that, you have a, a consistent emphasis in Jewish thought in light of the suffering of the people of Israel and emphasis upon the fact that justice someday will be done by God.

We may not see it in this life. In fact, we don't expect to see it in this life, but justice will be done. There will be judgment. Um, and, and God will make things right. And so to say that he has given all judgment to the son, first of all, once again, just in passing, clear differentiation of father and son.

There's no confusion of the two, but it does raise some serious, serious problems for those who do present the idea that Jesus is two persons. You say, I've never run into someone like that. Well, you probably have, you probably have.

I'm not just talking about the United Pentecostal church international. There's, they're, they're all over the place these days. Some of you know, in a couple of weeks, I'm going up to Utah and I'm going to do a, um, a debate with, with a modalist, a person who believes that Jesus was basically two persons.

It doesn't make any sense. How can the divine side of Jesus give all judgment to the human side of Jesus? Uh, that doesn't, that doesn't make any sense. You have a distinction and yet clearly it is the father's right to judge because it says he has given all judgment to the son.

So the father has the right to do it, but he has chosen to give judgment to the son. Now, why would that be? Well, we're, we, we see the, one of the reasons there, the verse 23 begins. It's a, uh, with a, with a particle says for the reason that for the purpose that, so one of the, one of the purposes in the divine economy for the son to be the one who renders judgment is so that all might honor the son just as they honor the father.

Wow.

We don't see that today, do we? But someday we will. When you think of how often our Lord's name is taken in vain. When you think of how often Jesus is trampled upon in our society today, who will be the one who will have final judgment?

Uh, we, we, we cannot help but think of that, that phrase once again, it's hard to escape.

It.

But in the book of revelation, when men and women call for the mountains and the rocks to fall upon them and to hide them from the wrath of him who sits upon the throne and the wrath of the lamb, the wrath of the lamb, he will have judgment.

And I think we live in such a foul mouth society today that we almost, you know, I, I, I mean, we all have different callings. I don't have to be out in as much as some of you do, obviously, but we lived in such a foul mouth society today that when you hear someone just scream out Jesus's name as a, as a cuss word, it, it, I never want it to become something that I just shrug off.

I remember, I think I've told the story before, but I remember back when I first got into bike racing years ago, there was a race down in Cochise County somewhere. Oh, it was in Winslow. Yeah, that's right.

No, it wasn't in Winslow. Some little place out there, I forget where it was. Wilcox, that's right, Wilcox. It's a little, it's a broad section of the road on the way to nowhere. And there used to be a race out there.

It was the first, first race I ever participated in. It's over a hundred miles. And so, but I heard the story about this one guy just kept winning it year after year after year and I happened to know that he worked at a Baptist church down in Tucson and he was just an incredibly strong rider.

And I heard the story once and I really appreciated it. It was that they were the, the lead group in that race was climbing this one hill. It's called Dos Cabezos. And it is about 25, 30 miles into the ride and you're already starting to get a little tired and, and it's a, it's a long slog up that hill and, and it can get really hot because it was normally right at the end of August, beginning of September, so it would still.

Be really warm.

And they're, they're riding in a group and one of the, the people just screamed out Jesus' name as a, he was, he was hot and he was getting tired and, well, this guy, he's well known as a Christian. And he just turned around and looked at the guy and met his eyes and stood up.

Took off.

Now this was way before the end of the race. If this is way early, if you want to win, nobody ever saw him again, just left them all in the dust. And I was like, there is a testimony like that. There you go.

Cause they all knew what it was too. They knew exactly why it was. This guy had, had used the Lord's name in vain. And anybody in that group that had wanted to win knew who to blame that they didn't even have a chance because the Christian guy just stood up and took off and they never saw him again.

I don't know how many minutes he won by, but it was, it was big. And I always, I always laugh about that mainly because I could never do it. First of all, I wish I could, but I appreciated it. I wish I could do that.

And how many times I've heard the same type of thing, all judgment's been given to the son, man. I'll tell you when you think of what's happening in our world today, when I think of, of a judge up in Iowa who this, uh, two weeks ago, I just listened to him passing judgment on a friend of mine, uh, who was arrested outside an abortion clinic for reading his Bible too.

Loud.

And in sentencing, finding him guilty and sentencing him, the judge actually had the audacity to make the statement that he doesn't see much of a difference between calling people sinners and dropping certain profanities upon them.

That's the same thing from his perspective. And I'm like, first of all, I hope and pray this man will someday come to know Christ because someday he will stand to be judged before that Christ. And he will discover that it is not the same thing to call people to repentance and faith in Jesus as to custom out.

It is not the same thing. Um, all, all judgment has been given to the son, but isn't that fitting? Isn't that fitting? Remember when we went through Job and remember that section where, where Job talks about mediator who, but the son would be better to give judgment than one who lived the perfect life, who was tempted in all manner as we have been tempted and yet without sin, and then voluntarily gives himself who here is one who has demonstrated such tremendous love and compassion toward his enemies.

Once that one pronounces sentence, can there be any question as to the justice of that.

Sentence?

There cannot. So giving life and judging, giving life and judging the son in harmony and unity with the father engages in both of these divine activities. The healing could only give you a, a little flashlight illustration.

Jesus isn't backing away from what he said. He's expanding what he said, but in a way that allows us to understand how vitally important it is to see the proper relationship of father and son. He has given all judgment to the son so that, so that all may honor the son even as they honor the father.

The one not honoring the son is not honoring the father who sent him. Now, if you had the opportunity of being with us Wednesday evening, I think I spoke Wednesday.

Evening.

It's not been a really good week as far as that goes, but if I recall correctly, I spoke briefly while I was here Wednesday evening from first John chapter two and in first John chapter two, uh, there John says, uh, the one denying the son does not have the father.

The one confessing the son has the father. Also, it's the same concept here in Jesus's words, the one honoring the son, that one is honoring the father. The one not honoring the son is not honoring the father.

You might say, well, that seems rather simplistic, not in the light of the early church, because what would be one of the greatest, uh, conflicts that the early Christians would.

Be facing?

Well, there would be many who would say, look, okay, you, uh, you have decided to follow after Jesus. I disagree. I don't, I don't agree with your understanding of certain old Testament prophecies or whatever else it might be, but I'm fine where I am.

I'm going to continue to follow after the ways of the fathers. If it was good enough, look, remember those godly people like Simeon and Anna in the, in the, in the temple. I'm just gonna, I'm just going to continue to follow after the things that they followed.

After.

I don't have to follow this Jesus. This was a real issue for the early church. What happens in light of the resurrection? What happens with the people of Israel? What do you call them to? Can the old ways of worship continue to be pleasing to God after God has testified of his son in raising him from the dead?

And if you go back to Jesus's own teachings, if you're not honoring the son, you're not honoring the father who did what? Who sent him, who sent him over and over through the gospel of John, the one who sent him, the one who sent him, the one who sent him.

If you don't believe that this was the sent one, then you're calling the one who sent him a liar because he has testified of his son. And that testimony is going to be brought up here later in chapter five, that this father has testified of the son.

And so it is not possible to continue on in blissful ignorance of what has taken place. The cross changes everything. It is the center point of history to try to close your eyes to it and say, well, we can just, we can just continue on.

No, you can't. You can't do so. And so the one not honoring the son, what an interesting expression. Obviously, again, the parallel in first John, the one denying the son. So in English, when we talk about honoring someone, the only reason you would do that is if you have some knowledge of their character that would place some encumbrance upon you to give honor to them, to recognize something positive in them.

In first John, the one denying again assumes that there is a knowledge of what God has said about the son, and I'm going to deny that I'm going, I'm going to suppress that to not honor is a similar concept.

I see that there would be reason to honor him. He just healed someone. Judgment has been given him. He can give life to whom he wills, but I refuse to honor. But I will give my honor to the father, but not to the son.

The son says that's not possible. The son says that's not possible. Because if you see the character of the son and recognize the unity of the father and the son, how can you give honor to that character when it's in the father, but not in the son?

Their unity requires that you honor both, that you honor both. And so when we think about what this means in our day, and we'll pick up this evening, Lord willing, with verse 24, a verse that many of us have memorized, beautiful verse, tremendous promise for Christian believers that we have passed out of death into life, that we possess eternal life as our present possession today.

But as we think about these words of the Lord Jesus, one immediate application I want to make in closing is we cannot help but recognize that we live in a day where we don't think much about it, you and I.

But as you're driving home today, look around a little bit and see the older churches. You know, if you, like me, go across Indian School Road, you have the old church next.

To P .C.

I think P .C.'s purchased it or something.

I don't know what.

It's boarded up, but it's there somewhere. Anyways, that was an old mainline, but I still don't know why we call a mainline denominational church, died. There's a lot of those churches around.

Why?

Well, I've said many times, you look historically, the first crack in the foundation is always degradation on their view of scripture. And then everything else starts crumbling. But when you listen to what the mainline liberal denominations believe today, they don't believe.

In the deity of Christ.

Moral teacher. But even then, you know, as I as I think about this one professor used to teach at Fuller Seminary, even they got rid of him. But and that's saying something. But I heard him speaking a few years ago and and he was defending the Christianization of gay marriage.

And he said, we need to we need to get past being first century Christians and thinking like Paul or even like Jesus. Time has changed. And I listen to people like that and I and I see these denominations just dying on the.

Vine.

There's a reason why they're dying on the vine. And it's appropriate and proper that they're they be dying on the vine. They've refused to honor.

The son.

And pretended that they were honoring the father and so doing. You can't do it. You can't do it. Christian truth is a beautiful, consistent, unified whole.

And.

We are the recipients of that beautiful testimony in Scripture. It's given to us in his word. We should be thankful that we possess it, that we can understand it. And we should glory in the recognition that it's that very harmony between the father.

And the son.

That is the foundation and bedrock of our assurance of peace with God, as we'll see. Beginning of verse 24 this evening. Let's close the word of prayer. Our heavenly father, we thank you for your word and we thank you for the preservation of it over the centuries that we might know and worship you in the way that you would have us to worship you.

We thank you. That we have learned. That we need to honor the son, even as we honor the father who sent him. Father, we thank you for sending the son. Son, we thank you for coming spirit. We thank you for being with us this day.

And lifting up our hearts and minds to understand these things. May the name of Jesus Christ be glorified amongst us this day. We pray in Christ's name.

Amen.