Alright brethren, let's go to
John chapter 5. Our subject this morning is the
issue. The issue with fallen sinners is Christ is God. That's the issue. Christ is God. He's one with the Father. He's
equal with the Father and with the Spirit. And a carnally religious
man especially has an issue with this because of what it means. And we're going to see that in
this passage. Now, when the Lord healed the impotent man, the
Lord commanded him to take up his bed and walk. And it says
in verse 10, John 5, 10, it says, The Jews, therefore, said unto
him that was cured, it is the Sabbath day. It's not lawful
for thee to carry thy bed. And he answered them, he that
made me whole. The same said unto me, take up
thy bed and walk. Then asked they him, who made
you whole after 38 years? This must be the Christ. Tell
us about him. Tell us who he is. Nope. They said, What man is it which
said unto thee, Take up thy bed and walk? And he that was healed
wist not who it was. For Jesus had conveyed himself
away, a multitude being in that place. Now these Jews were the
religious leaders. They were the Pharisees, the
scribes, the leaders. And the problem here is they
did not have the love of God in their heart. They did not
have the love of God in their heart. Now, Christ said that
later. He said, that's why they sought
to kill him. They sought to kill him. They
didn't hear, they didn't listen to Christ speak, to hear Christ.
They listened for something he would say so they could accuse
him and entangle him in his word. They had enmity in their heart.
Now, where the love of God is not in the heart, enmity reigns. And there's two things that always
are prevalent where enmity reigns. Number one, the Pharisees set
themselves up in Christ's seat to examine others and find sin
in others and judge them. That's where they were. They
perceived sin in this man that wasn't sin. And that's what a
Pharisee sees sin where there is no sin. And they couldn't
see the sin of legalism in their own heart. And the problem with
legalism and a self-righteous spirit is it's not the nature
of self-righteousness to examine self, but to examine others. And so it's hard to detect in
ourselves because It's just not the nature of it to say, I'm
the self-righteous one. But you see, when we look at
a passage like this, don't think of your brethren as being Pharisees.
Don't condemn your brother. You're the Pharisee, and so am
I. We have this man in our flesh. It's all he is, is a Pharisee. When we're looking at others
and saying, that brother's a Pharisee, we're playing the Pharisee. The
Pharisee's us, it's in our hearts, in our nature. But there's also
a man that's been made whole that's in you who believe. That's
the new man. As far as our brethren are concerned,
when we see sin in a brother, we're to remember that man's
been, he died and he's been buried. My job is to try to help that
inner man, try to help restore him. And there's only one way
to do it, it's with the gospel. It's with Christ. Being critical
and putting law on Him and judging Him, that didn't bring you to
Christ at all. It revealed your sin, made you
see you couldn't do anything to save yourselves. It was the
goodness of God. It was beholding Christ, bearing
your sin, that brought you to Christ. And that's what's going
to strengthen the inner man. We see in ourselves, first of
all, this Pharisee that's always wanting to serve others and be
the judge. The second problem with this,
when enmity reigns, is they miss Christ. They miss the great mercy
and love that Christ has shown to this man. And that's what
we miss when the Pharisee in us is reigning. We're missing
Christ. And what he's done, they missed a miracle of grace. All
they saw in this was sin. And how many times do we miss
what God's working in our brethren in the trial because we're focusing
on their sin rather than understanding Christ has worked a miracle of
grace here. Remember, the wrath of man is
going to praise God. There's a whole lot more sin
in us that God restrains. If he took his hand off of us,
we'd be the one nailing the nails in Christ's hand. But he restrains
it. But whatever sin he permits to
come to pass, it's all our sin. But if he permitted it in his
child, he's bringing glory to his name, and he's bringing that
child to praise him, just like this impotent man. But if we're
focusing only on, if the Pharisee in us is reigning, we miss the
miracle of grace that he's worked. in our brother or in us. He'll make you see it, but you
know what I'm saying, if the Pharisees reign, those are the
two problems. Now, so they saw sin and they
missed the mercy and love of Christ. He made this man completely
whole after 38 years. And they weren't concerned about
that. They just scaled over that. When he said that, they didn't
even hear it. They were just worried about who usurped our
authority and said you could walk on the Sabbath day. That's
what made them upset. Now contrast their heart to the
perfect righteous love of Christ. Verse 14 says, afterward Jesus
findeth him. And where was the man? He was
in the temple. The man made whole went to the
temple. When the Lord makes you whole,
where are you going? You go into his house so you
can hear of Christ. You want to hear more about this
one who made you whole. And where did Christ come to
him? In the temple. The Lord's gonna come to his
child under the gospel and teach us through this gospel. He came
to him there. Now watch this mercy and love
of Christ contrasted with those Pharisee. Verse 14, and the master
said to him, behold thou art made whole. There's the constraint. There's constraint. That's like
going to somebody and a brother and speaking the gospel to him
of what Christ has done for him. You've been made whole. That's
the constraint. That's the constraining love
right there. You've been made whole. Christ did a great work
of mercy for you. And he says, and here's the admonition,
sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee. The Pharisees
thought they saw sin in the man and condemned him. Christ knew
his sin and had mercy on him. He knew everything he had done.
He knew what he had done. He knew the sin he had committed.
And how did he deal with him? I've made you whole. Now go and
sin no more. The sinner made whole by Christ
does not have a heart to sin. No believer born of God has a
heart to sin. He does not want to sin. But
we do. We certainly do. But whether
we sin in thought or in deed, It's Christ renewing us in the
knowledge of Him and His grace toward us that is the worst thing
that comes upon us. He renews you in knowledge of
Him and what He's done for you and beholding your sin as being
offensive to Him, that's the worst thing that can come upon
a believer. That's why we use the Gospel.
The law is not going to make him feel that way. The law is
going to puff him up in his pharisaical nature. The gospel is going to
make him, the Lord will renew his heart to remember, I've offended
my Lord. That's the worst thing that can
come upon a believer. And so it makes you see your
sinful thoughts are as bad as your sinful deeds. And it makes
you see your sinful deeds are horrible. And it makes you see
the worst sinful deeds you have are those proud times when you're
spread out like a peacock thinking that you're better than somebody
else by your works. It's being renewed in the love
of God in Christ, whose blood has made us everywhere whole.
It's being renewed in the knowledge and grace of our Lord, who chose
us by His grace in Christ, not based on anything in us, so that
nothing in us will ever change it. It's being renewed in the
knowledge and grace of our Lord, who laid down His life for God-hating
sinners like us, when we didn't want anything to do with Him. And it's that continual unceasing
mercy and love that keeps coming to you even when you sin against
Him. And reminding you, I've loved
you. I'm not letting you go. So after Christ found the man
in the temple, verse 15 says, he departed and he told the Jews
it was Jesus which had made him whole. There's a lot of commentaries
that say this man did this maliciously. I don't think that's what it
was at all. This man had experienced Christ's power and authority
as God. He wasn't ashamed to confess
who it was that made him whole. Even these men had power now
to do some hard things to this man. He went straight back to
them and said, I'll tell you who made me whole, Jesus did. He wasn't afraid to confess Him
to these men. He wanted them to know Him. But hearing that
it was this same Jesus who had been up to their temple and turned
over the money tables and interrupted their profit making scheme, and
this same one who was gathering a following through John's preaching,
and this same one now who come up here and usurp their authority, It says, verse 16, Therefore
did the Jews persecute Jesus and sought to slay Him, because
He had done these things on the Sabbath day. Now listen to this. Listen to what Christ says. Verse
4, 17. Jesus answered them, My Father worketh hitherto, and
I work. Christ is declaring He's God. That's what He's declaring. And
He's declaring to them that God He and his father gave a Sabbath
day where a man was not to do any labor, but trust God to provide
everything he needed for life, so that all he had to do was
rest and enjoy the day. And the Lord gave that to show
that it's God the Father and His Son Jesus Christ who works
out all the righteousness for His people to make us live, to
put away our sin, to give us complete, perfect rest in Christ
so that we can now live and enjoy rest in Christ through faith.
That's why He gave it. But he's telling them he is the
one. You know, the whole point of
Hebrews, men will take Hebrews 4 and they try to say, see there,
there's still a day we got to keep. The whole point of Hebrews,
the entire point of Hebrews is to turn Jewish believers from
the law and their works to rest in Christ. That's the whole point
of the whole book. And Hebrews 4 is saying the reason
the Israelites didn't enter Canaan and died in the wilderness is
they didn't believe God. They couldn't enter into rest
because they didn't believe God. And so He said, now there is
a rest today. It's Christ. So enter into Him
by faith and cease from your works because He that's entered
into Christ's rest, He ceases from His works just like God
did from His. in the creation. When he said,
you know why he rested on that day? It was finished. There wasn't
anything else to do. So we enter into Christ and rest.
But the Pharisees missed all this, but they heard him say
he's God. And they understood that. Look
at verse 18. Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill him because
he not only had broken the Sabbath, but he said also that God was
his father making himself equal with God. Why did they get mad
about that? The carnal mind's enmity against
God and it cannot subject itself to God. It can't submit to God. Christ to be the judge, the master,
the lawgiver, the law fulfiller, the righteousness, the salvation,
the one who's able to teach his people, turn his people, correct
his people, keep his people, and not lose one of them. The
natural man can't bow to that. He's got to put his hand to it.
In some capacity, he's got to be in the judgment seat. That's
why they were offended. They would not have this man
reign over them as God. That's the heart. That's in your
flesh and mine, brethren. He's still there. And the only
one that can deal with Him is Christ who is God, who is our
Master. The only way. Let me show you
that. Turn over to John 10. I'll show
you that that's exactly what they meant. Look over here in
John 10 and look at verse 22. It was at Jerusalem, John 10.22,
they understood what Arians in our day don't get. Arians in
our day deny that Christ is God. Christ is God. He's God. Look at this, John 10.22, it
was at Jerusalem, the feast of the dedication, and it was winter.
And Jesus walked in the temple in Solomon's porch. And then
came the Jews round about him and said unto him, How long dost
thou make us to doubt? If thou be the Christ, tell us
plainly. And Jesus answered them, And he's referring back to our
text, to this very beginning. And look what he says, I told
you. That's what he told them in our text. I am God. I am the
Christ. He said, I told you. And you
believe not. The works that I do in my Father's
name, they bear witness of me. You saw me heal an impotent man
who'd been impotent for 38 years. That shows you I'm God. Verse
26, but you believe not. because you're not my sheep.
As I said unto you, my sheep, now here he's declaring what
he does as God and what he's capable of doing and what he
does in his people. My sheep hear my voice and I
know them. That's how come they hear, I
know them. And the result is they follow me. And I give unto
them eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any
man pluck them out of My hand. My Father which gave them Me
is greater than all, and no man is able to pluck them out of
My Father's hand. I and My Father are one." Christ is God. That means He's Lord over His
people. He's able to speak life into
His people. Just like He raised His impotent
man, He can speak and give spiritual life in the heart. I can't do
that. You can't do that. You know what else we can't do?
We can't do that in our brother when he sins. We have to look to Christ to
do it. And we have to point our brethren to Christ who does it.
We can't do it. That's what was offensive to
them. If Christ is who He said He is,
they're going to have to come down out of the judgment seat
and stop insisting they're right. And say, I'm a vile sinner. I put my hand on my mouth. I
abhor myself. I repent in dust and ashes. What
did Job stop doing when he repented? Nothing. He stopped thinking
he was God, and he took his place in the dirt. That's repentance. So verse 31, then the Jews took
up stones again to stone him. Jesus answered them, many good
works have I showed you from my father. For which of those
works do you stone me? The Jews answered him saying,
for a good work we stone thee not. We're not opposed to good
works. As long as we're the enforcers,
and we're the ones that produce them, we're not opposed to them. but for blasphemy, because that
thou being a man, makest thou self God. And so in our text,
they said they sought the Moor to kill him. Go to Romans 14,
I'm gonna show you this. Now be sure to get this, and
this was the issue. This was the issue, this is the
issue with a man why a man, carnal man, will not bow to God. And this is the issue why the
Pharisee would not submit to Christ, to his authority, as
the only one who could teach his people and lead his people
and save his people. This is the issue. It's not good
works. A man, he'll become religious.
He'll argue doctrine. He'll do good works. That's not
the issue. The issue is enmity against God. The issue is he won't submit
to Christ as God, as Lord, as master, as one with the Father.
The carnal man won't step down from his throne of judgment and
submit that Christ is the only one who can save, the only one
who can teach, who can guide, who can lead. They'd had to stop
examining others. They'd had to stop yoking others.
They'd had to stop binding others as if they were the judge. And
that's in us, brethren. Christ is the only one that can
subdue that. All in one. So here's what Christ is saying
right here. And it's what Paul said through
Christ. Verse four, Romans 14, four. Who are thou that judges
another man's servant? He's another man's servant. To
his own master he standeth or falleth. Yea, he shall be holding
up. Now look who's able to make him
stand. God is able to make him stand. Who's he talking about?
Who's this God that's able to make him stand? Look at verse
eight. Whether we live, we live unto the Lord. Whether we die,
we die unto the Lord. Whether we live, therefore die,
we are the Lord's. For to this end, who's he talking
about? Christ. For this end, for this
purpose, he died and rose and revived that he might be Lord. both of the dead and the living.
But why dost thou judge thy brother? Why dost thou set it not thy
brother? That's what the Pharisees were doing, is it not? They were
judging this impotent man because he was carrying a thin little
bedroll on the Sabbath. When Christ told him, I've given
you this liberty, you can do it. And when he said Christ, Jesus
did it, they were going to exercise that same dominion over Christ.
They were determined to do that. They're going to bring Him into
subjection now. We shall all stand before the
judgment seat of who? Of Christ. Why? Because He's
God. For it is written, As I live,
saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall
confess to God." Christ. He's God. So then every one of
us shall give account of himself to God. Look back now at John
5, and I'll show you that's exactly what the Lord was telling to
them. Look at this. John 5, 19. Then answered Jesus, and said
to them, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Now first He's going
to tell them that what He does, the Father does, and what the
Father does, He does, because they're one. He says, 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.
He's saying, we're so one, when I do something, the Father's
doing it, when the Father does something, I'm doing it. Now
look, for the father loveth the son, and showeth him all things
that himself doeth, and he will show him greater works than these
that you may marvel. For as the father raiseth up
the dead, and quickeneth them, even so the son quickeneth whom
he will. He's saying, when I regenerate
somebody, the father did it. And when the father does it,
I'm doing it. We're one. Now watch this. For the father
judgeth no man. He's not saying he don't judge,
but he's saying, He's committed all judgment to the Son. He's
God. The judgment's His. That all
should honor the Son, even as they honor the Father. And he
that honoreth not the Son, honoreth not the Father which hath sent
him. Verily I say unto you, he that heareth my word, look at
that, he that heareth my word, Christ said, and believes on
the Father that sent me. Because when you believe on Christ,
you're believing on the Father that sent him. Why? Because they're
one. And he says, he has everlasting life. Now get this. He shall not come into condemnation. Never. Never. Don't treat him
like he's going to. The judge says, if you see any
glimpse of grace, remember he's another man's servant. He's not
yours. He's not coming into condemnation. And don't bring yourself into
condemnation by trying to treat yourself. Because Christ is dealing
with it. Now, be a helpmate. Point Him to Christ. He's passed from death to life.
How? By faith. He's resting in the
Sabbath. Verily, verily, I say unto you,
the hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the
voice of the Son of God." Isn't that what he just said in Romans
14? They're going to hear the voice of the Son of God, and
they that hear shall live. For as the Father hath life in
Himself, so hath He given to the Son to have life in Himself,
and has given Him authority to execute judgment also, because
He's the Son of Man. Marvel not at this. That's why
He died, that's why He was buried, that's why He revived. That's
the whole purpose for which, that's the end for which He came.
He said, don't marvel at this, for the hour is coming in which
all, that means believers and unbelievers, all that are in
the graves shall hear His voice and they'll come forth, they
that have done good by His grace, resting in Christ and looking
nowhere else but Him. they're going to come unto the
resurrection of life. And those that have done evil,
rejecting Christ to try to be the judge and work out their
own works and work out the works for everybody else too, they're
going to come unto the resurrection of damnation. See, the issue
is not convincing a man that Christ is the Sabbath. He is. There's no doubt about it. I'm
not saying don't tell somebody that. He is. But that's not the
issue. The issue is the Spirit of God has to convince sinners
that Christ is God. He's God. He along with His Father have
worked all the works whereby He settled His own judgment.
He honored and magnified His own law. He put away the sin
of all the people He chose to save. He's able to bring the
Gospel to them and give them life. And from that day forward,
Whatever wrath that comes from their sinful flesh, it's all
of them. But He permitted it. Why? Because
by chastening His child and teaching us and using our brethren to
point us to Christ and be merciful and forgiving and gracious to
us, He's teaching us what grace and mercy and love and forgiveness
Christ has shown us. That's the purpose. Is he able to do that? He spoke
everything that exists into existence. He spoke and that infinite man
stood up after 38 years. He's able. He's able. I abhor myself. I just want to show mercy because I've
seen what mercy has been shown to me. I want to love because I see
what love has been shown to me, and I hate when I haven't. I hate when I haven't. But isn't it wonderful that the
Lord says, And this is where we've got to
be brought here. Forgiveness is not saying, well,
I forgive you, but now I'm bringing up sin. Forgiveness is saying,
today's new. Today's new. The Lord has washed
the slate clean by His blood. And His mercies are new every
morning. Every morning. Do you want Him to bring up your
past sins? I don't. I don't have any past goodness
that I want Him bringing up. Do you? Because you know what
they are? What the old preachers used to
call glorified sins. Just pretty sins is all they
are. I want to be found in Christ
right now, today. When your brother stumbles and
falls and sins, if you see any goodness, any virtue, any semblance of a work of grace
and repentance and love and anything that God's done in him, Don't treat him like he's a condemned
criminal. You know who to treat like a
condemned criminal? The Pharisees wanted to kill
him. And they were going to try their
best to separate him and his people. And they weren't going
to stop until they had nailed him to a cross. That's who Paul
said in Galatians. I would never cut off that spirit,
that spirit. But the brother who's wanting
to hear the gospel, and I say to anybody, look, you
may have ought against somebody, you may be troubled about this
or that, I had somebody just write to me about this very thing. that's not gathering with their
brethren. Listen to me. Don't make whatever the offense
was to be greater than the need for Christ. It's not. Whatever it is, it's not greater.
You need Christ. You may think the vessel is dirty
and ugly and just a horrible vessel. But I
guarantee you this, if you're out in the middle of a desert
and you're starving and dying of thirst, you ain't much gonna
care what the vessel looks like if it's got cold water in it.
If the gospel is being preached, get under it and hear Christ. That's what's needful. And when
that stops happening, Go somewhere else where the gospel is preached
and true. But you get what I'm saying? Brethren, this thing,
this, this, why he put us in a body together is to teach us
he's the Lord. He, he's the judge and he's the.
Healer and he's the master and he's the righteousness and he
knows everything his people need. And he cements his people together
and works in every member to provide just what we need. And
he never fails. Our job is to remember that old
man that I'm looking at and my brother that's sinning, he died
on the cross. My brother is that he's hidden
in there somewhere. I know he's in there. I've seen
him before. My job is to feed him and strengthen him with what? The bread from heaven, the water
of life. That'll strengthen the feeble
knees. That'll lift up the hands that hang down. That'll get the
stumbling blocks out of the path. That'll get him back in the way,
running the race, looking to Christ. Why? Because that's what
the Lord, that's who the Lord's going to use. The one sinner
he's brought low enough to use the bread of life. And that's
the word he's going to bless. And that's how he's going to
bring his erring child back in the way. But he's not going to
use the spirit of who told you you could take up your bed and
walk on a Sabbath day. That didn't do anything for that
man. That frightened that man. That terrified that man. That
made that man think, I've done something wrong. The Master said
I can carry this, and these men are telling me I can't. Go to Christ. Use the bread. Use the gospel. That's what He's
going to bless. He's able. All right, let's stand together. Father, we thank You for Your
Word. Lord, we thank you that your God, our Savior, never for
a moment had anything out of your control. Thank you for restraining the
wrath that would come out of us if We're not for your restraining
hand. Thank you, Lord, for overruling
our sin to bring us to praise your name for your mercy. Thank
you, Lord, for being our Lord, for being our Christ and our
Savior and our God. Help us see You as God. Help
us understand that You are indeed in full control of everything,
and You are the Gospel. And help us, Lord, to be You. Subdue the Pharisee in us, and
Lord, continue to heal. the inward man, and keep us in
the temple, hearing of you, walking after your honor, being used
of you to help one another. Forgive us, Lord. Forgive us
for the Pharisee that's in us. Forgive us for the sinner and
the rebel. Thank you for unceasing mercy. In Christ's name we pray. Amen.