From back to John chapter 5,
we'll start at verse 17, we'll see what we look at as we go
along. I titled this message, The Father
and the Son are One. In these verses we will look
at this morning, we will clearly see the oneness, the unity of
the Father and the Son. We will see clearly, and our
Lord gives such clear testimony to His deity, to them when He
was speaking to them, and to us this morning. He's given it
to us this morning as we read His Word. And we see His deity. That man is God. As I wrote in the bulletin, if
He's not God, there is no God. Jesus Christ is God. manifest
in the flesh. Great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh,
in a body, in human nature. But we also see in these Scriptures
how spiritually blind men are. These are the men who studied
the Scriptures. But apart from the Lord giving
us a revelation of Himself, we are still missing. He said, You
search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal
life. In the Scriptures, in the keeping
of the Scriptures, they kept the commandments, they thought.
You think you have eternal life, but they are they which testify
of Me, who is eternal life. Eternal life is a person. It's
not the duration. Everyone's going to live forever.
Once a person is born into this world, that's forever. That soul
is forever. But eternal life is the life
of God. It's the life of God. And so
we see here how spiritually blind men are even though the Son of
Righteousness is shining right in their face. How many people you think got
up this morning and enjoyed that sunshine this morning, that beautiful
sunshine, and thought of God. They just thought, man, it's
a good day. We're going to go do this or
that. But even when the sun of righteousness
shines in their face, and even in our face, Unless God commands
the light of the gospel, of the glory of God, to shine in our
hearts, we will miss the Lord Jesus Christ. We will be religious, and we're
all religious by nature. People are religious by nature.
But that's not salvation. Salvation is to know God and
Jesus Christ whom He has sent. He said that's eternal life in
John 17. Now it says in verse 17, But
Jesus answered them. Evidently the Jews must have
asked Him a question about healing this man on the Sabbath. He healed this lame man sitting
by the pool of Bethesda. The Lord walked up to him, healed
him. and left, and he did it on the
Sabbath day. And it upset him. It upset him
so much they wanted to kill him. Isn't that amazing? You know,
the first thing I thought of, and I'm getting ahead of myself,
but the first thing I thought of is the law, because the Pharisees
represented the law. The law knows no mercy. You keep
this Sabbath, I don't care if you stay crippled the rest of
your life, you keep this Sabbath. It knows no mercy. But here stands
the God of mercy. Here stands the God of the Sabbath.
He's not under the law of the Sabbath. He is our Sabbath. He
is our rest. And He gave the Sabbath for the
purpose of rest. He gave the Sabbath as a picture
of Christ who is our rest, but also He gave the Sabbath for
rest. But He's not under that law because
He is the law. He is the law. So they evidently
asked him a question about this man because he says he answered
them. And he answered them with this, my father worketh hitherto
and I work. He didn't say my God worketh
hitherto. He said my father, you know,
they called God their father. They called God their father.
But when he said it, He gave them the understanding of what
He was talking about, because they understood what He said.
They understood that He was making Himself equal with God. They understood that He was claiming
the same nature as God the Father. They understood that. They understood
it. They hated it, but they understood
it. They understood it. And what our Lord is saying here,
My Father worketh hitherto. He's not sitting idly by. When it says He rested on the
seventh day of creation, He didn't create anymore. This is it. What we have is what God created
in six days. And that's it. But that doesn't
mean He stopped and has done nothing since. It is God the
Father through God the Son working all things out for our good providentially. Isn't that so? God the Father
works every day. He works every day. He's not
sitting idly by. He's involved in our salvation. Everything that's going on is
by the operation of the Father through the Son for our good
and our salvation. It's for us. Those whom God saves,
it's for us. The sun's shining this morning
for us because God still has a people on this earth. There's
no reason for that sun to shine when the church is gone. When the Lord's people's gone,
that's it. That sun's not going to shine
no more. It shines for me and you. And the rest of the world
gets to enjoy it. They get to enjoy it. I never
thought of this before until I was playing golf last year
with Paul Mahan, Johnny and Tommy. Me and Paul was riding together,
and Paul said, can you imagine that this is for us? He was talking
about the golf course and the game. And we were enjoying that
day. He said, this is for us. I never looked at it that way.
It just never dawned on me like that before. I thought, you're
right. This is for our enjoyment. Let's learn how to enjoy it properly.
It's for us. It's for our recreation. All
things are for us. That's what Scripture says, all
things are yours in Christ. But He's saying here, My Father
worketh hitherto, and I work. If I broke your Sabbath, so did
the Father, because He's the one working too. I'm not doing
this by myself. I'm not doing this by myself.
And what He's saying here, "...My Father worketh hitherto, and
I work." He's showing here their oneness in the redemption of
sinners, of a multitude of sinners given to Him by the Father. They
are one in redemption. The whole realm of everything
that exists is working for our redemption. It's working for
our redemption. The Lord said over in John 10.32,
Jesus answered them because He says in John, let me read the
whole thing here. In John 10.30-33, I and my Father are one. He made it very clear. I'm the
Son of God. We're one in nature. Then the
Jews took up stones again to stone Him. Jesus answered them,
Many good works have I showed you from My Father." What I'm doing is what He has
purposed and given Me to do. This is what you're seeing. You're seeing the will and purpose
of the Father is what you're seeing. In Romans 8.28, And we
know that all things work together for good to them that love God,
to them who are called according to His purpose. They are working
for our good. It says in Ephesians 2.8.10,
For by grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves,
it is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast.
For we are His workmanship. He is the Father, the Son, the
Father, the Son, and Holy Spirit. The whole Trinity is for us.
The whole Trinity is involved in our salvation. We are His
workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which
God, the Father, hath ordained that we should walk in them.
In redemption they are won. And in verse 18, Therefore the
Jews sought the Lord to kill Him, Not only because he broke
the Sabbath, but said also God was his Father, making himself
equal with God. They understood. They understood
what he was saying. They didn't like it. They didn't
like it. Someone said the gospel will
either make you glad, sad, or mad. It won't leave you indifferent. And it made them mad. They hated
what He said because all they saw standing in front of them
was a poor carpenter. This can't be God. Their idea
of God would have been this... who knows what it would have
been, but it was not this man standing in front of them. It
was not this poor carpenter standing in front of them. They could
not see the fullness of the Godhead dwelling in him bodily. They
could not see His glory because it was veiled in that flesh.
You remember in the Old Testament that they had the tabernacle
and it was covered over with badger skin? And on the outside
it looked like every other tent out there? But on the inside
of that tabernacle was the Shekinah glory of God. Inside was His
Shekinah glory. Now Gloria, we can't even explain.
In that man is God manifest in the flesh. And they wanted to
kill Him. They are just representatives
of humanity. Because there's a natural enmity
in every human being until God saves them against God. If right
now, for every unbeliever, if they could, if they could, they'd
get rid of Him. It says in the Psalms, the fool
hath said in his heart, what? No God for me. I'll be my own
God. What is that? It's called Invictus. I'll be the master of my own
fate, my own life. No, you're not. No, God's on
the throne and He's never abdicated the throne and never will. And then in will they are one. In verse 19, Then answered Jesus,
and said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do
nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do. That
doesn't mean he sees the Father do something, then he imitates
it. This has to do with that eternal counsel and covenant
of grace that's between the Father and the Son. that was given to
the Son to do, to be our surety, our high priest, our sacrifice,
our atonement, our everything that we need to stand in God's
presence, our wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption.
And he says here, For what things whoever he doeth,
these also doeth the Son likewise. The Son never acts independently
of the Father. So for you to stand against me,
he's saying to them, for you to stand against me, you have
to stand against the one you call your father, who is my father. Because he said to them later
on, you're of your father, the devil, and the works of your
father you'll do. They are one in will and purpose. And here's the good news of the
gospel. Here's the good news of what he's saying. He's saying
here, the son can do nothing of himself, but what he sees
the father do, what thinks whoever he doeth, the son does also likewise. Our Lord said in Matthew 11,
Come unto me, all you that labor and heavy laden, I'll give you
rest. Does the son say that? You know why he says that? Because
the father says that. The Father says that. You remember
over in Luke 8, remember that woman with the issue of blood?
She touched the hem of His garment and she was made whole. And the
Lord turned around and said, Who touched Me? And then she
confessed before all why she touched Him. You know what He
says to her? In capital letter, DAUGHTER. DAUGHTER. Who calls a girl their
daughter? The Father. "'Daughter, be of
good comfort,' he says, "'be of good comfort, thy faith hath
made thee whole.'" The object of her faith made her whole,
Christ. But this is the Father speaking, not just the Son speaking.
That's so powerful. He says, "'Daughter,' He didn't
say woman, He said daughter, capital D. That's the Father
speaking as well as the Son. Christ also shows by this His
full submission to His Father's will. He's shown His full submission
to His Father's will. You know, our Lord did not dread
or regret or wish He didn't have to go to the cross. He was willing
to do it. He was willing to lay down. I lay down my life of myself. No man takes my life from me.
Nobody takes my life from me. I lay it down of myself and I
take it up again. You can't kill me. I'm going to die because I'm
going to give up the ghost. It says He commended up His Spirit. He gave up life. He gave it up. We don't command our spirit to
leave. Father, into Thy hands I commend my spirit. Well, just
go ahead and say that and see what happens. Nothing happens.
He said it and He died. He gave up the ghost. As a man,
as a man on that cross, He died. He had the power to lay His life
down. He had the power to command His
life to leave. And He had the power to take
it up again and come out of that grave. He's God. He's God. Now, in knowledge they are one. They are one in redemption. They
are one in will. They are one in knowledge. What
the Father know, the Son knows equally. Equally. For the Father
loveth the Son. You want to talk about who God
loves? You know, Arminianism is ate up with God loves everybody,
God loves this, God loves that. Here He tells us who God loves.
His Son. And He loves everyone in His
Son. And everyone who loves His Son. He hates the workers of
iniquity. That's what it says. That's the
Bible. But here, the father loveth the
son, he shows the relationship between them. It's a relationship
of father and son. It's a relationship of love.
And showeth him all things that he himself doeth. This is the
will and purpose of God being made known. in the covenant of
grace. There's nothing hid from the
Son. What the Father knows, the Son knows. And the Son knows
all things because, listen, He's with Him from the beginning. He doesn't know it just because
it was revealed to Him. He knows it because He's there.
He's God. There's three distinct persons,
as you know, Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit, but there's
only one God. Don't try to figure it out. Henry said, one time,
if you can figure out God, He's not God. But listen to this in
Proverbs 8, 24-30. When there were no depths, this
is wisdom speaking, and Christ is called the wisdom of God.
And in Proverbs, this is wisdom speaking, in Proverbs 8, verses
24-30. When there were no depths, I
was brought forth. when there were no fountains
abounding with water, before the mountains were settled, before
the hills was I brought forth, while as yet He had not made
the earth, nor the fields, nor the highest part of the dust
of the world, when He prepared the heavens, I was there. When
He set a compass upon the face of the depth, when He established
the clouds above, when He strengthened the fountains of the deep, When
He gave to the sea His decree that the water should not pass
His commandment, when He appointed the foundation of the earth,
then I was by Him as one brought up with Him. I was daily His
delight, rejoicing always before Him. I was there before creation,
and I was there in creation. Because He's the One who created
all things. By Him and for Him, it says,
were all things created. All of this is created by and
for Jesus Christ, the Son of God. It's not created for me
and you. We are recipients of it. It was created by and for
Him, for His glory. And God's going to populate heaven
with a people just like His Son. He's going to glorify His Son
with this whole innumerable company of people redeemed by His Son.
God loved His Son. Let me say it this way. God loved
His Son so much, He purposed to have a whole heaven and earth
full of them just like Him. Now that's loving your Son. And He says here, And he says
here, and he'll show him all things that himself doeth that
you may marvel. No doubt they marveled at this
man, lame man, standing up. Oh, you know what he's saying
to them? You ain't seen nothing yet. He's gonna raise Lazarus
out of a grave after being dead for four days and stinketh. And
not only is He going to do that, He's going to heal the blind,
He's going to heal the lame, He's going to raise the dead,
and then one day He's going to rise from the grave and He's
going to ascend up on high. He says in John 6.62, What and
if you shall see the Son of Man ascend up where He was before?
Where do you see that? Oh, if this makes you mad, where
do you see this? If this offends you, and that's
what he's saying to those Pharisees, if this offends you, you just
wait and see. You wait and see when I'm seated on the throne.
When I come out of that grave and I ascend on high, and I'm
seated at God's right hand, and I'm going to end up, and we'll
see here in a second, I'm going to be the judge of all, I'm going
to be your judge. You know one of the things that
gives me great comfort in the gospel? My judge died for me. What judge
ever stepped off the bench and took the place of the criminal
and died for him and satisfied the law on behalf of that criminal?
Jesus Christ. And He'll show him greater works
than these that you may marvel. In other words, everything we're
also going to learn, we're going to learn through the Son. We're
going to learn through Christ. Now, in sovereignty they are
one. In verse 21, "...for as the Father
raiseth up the dead, and quickeneth them, gives them life, even so
the Son quickeneth whom He will." There's two things he points
out here. First of all, he points out the sovereignty of the Son.
Even so the Son quickeneth whom He will." Not that His will is
any different than the Father, but He's showing here His deity.
He's God. He's sovereign. He quickeneth
whom He will. But also here He's showing that
He has life. He has life. He's the giver of
life. You know, life comes from life.
Life comes from life. He's the Giver of life. And then
He shows us here in verse 22, "...in judicial power they are
one. For the Father judges no man..." It's not saying that
He doesn't judge at all, but not apart from the Son. "...For
the Father judges no man, but hath committed all judgment unto
the Son." They were talking to the Judge of heaven and earth. They were talking to the Judge. The Father has committed all
judgment of Satan, men, this whole world, the fallen angels,
He's committed it, He's turned it all over to His Son. Everything that God the Father
does, He does through the mediatorial work of His own Son, Jesus Christ. In Acts 17.31, It says, "...he
hath appointed a day, God the Father, hath appointed a day in the which
he will judge the world in righteousness by that man..." God made that man the judge.
"...whom he hath ordained, whereof he hath given assurance unto
all men, that he raised him from the dead. But that man that was
despised and rejected of men is the judge." He's the judge. In judicial powers they are one.
And here's the reason why. That all should honor the Son
even as they honor the Father. He's telling those Jews He's
speaking there with, if you don't honor Me, you're not honoring
the Father either. You're dishonoring Him. because everything has been placed
into His hands that He might have the preeminence over all
things. And then, in honor and worship
they are one. He says in verse 23, that all
men should honor the Son even as they honor the Father. Now
if He's not God, that would not be right. It would not be right. It would not be right for you
to honor Me on the same level you honor God Almighty. But He
said in Hebrews chapter 1, let all the angels of God worship
Him, because He's God. He's God. If Christ were not
God, it would be wrong. It would be idolatry. And he that honoureth not the
Son honoureth not the Father which hath sent him." This is
how serious the matter is to reject Jesus Christ. This is
how serious it is to turn your back on Jesus Christ. It's to
turn your back on God Almighty. That's what He's saying. You
turn your back on Me, you turn your back on the One you call
your Father. And then in giving life there,
verse 24 and 25, "...verily, verily, I say unto you, He that
heareth my word, the gospel." That's what you're hearing this
morning. You know, just reading the Word of God is the most important
part of the service. If God just blessed His Word,
what light you're given, But verily, verily, I say, truly,
truly, I say to you, listen to me, listen to me, listen to me. He that heareth my word, and
believeth on Him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall
not come into condemnation, but is passed from death unto life.
He that heareth my word, you're hearing more than just me talk
this morning. But you really hear the Word of God. You're
hearing Him. You're hearing the Father. You're
hearing the Father speak. And you have passed from death
to life. You don't even realize it. You
don't even realize it. If He didn't tell you, you wouldn't
believe it. You've passed from death unto
life. In verse 25, "...Verily, verily,
I say unto you, the hour is coming," and now He is, it's right here,
"...when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God,
and they that hear shall live, when the spiritually..." He's
speaking here of the spiritually dead. Some of you have heard
Him. Some of you've heard Him. You've
heard Him in the power of the Gospel. You've heard Him speak
in the Gospel. And you have life. You were dead
in trespasses and sins, but now you have life. And you hear Him
and you rejoice in the Gospel. You rejoice in the Lord. And
He said, The hour is coming, and now when the dead shall hear
the voice of the Son of God, and they that hear it shall live.
They shall live. There's two or three things He's
doing here. He reveals Himself in perfect union with the Father.
He that hears Me, hears the Father. He that hears the Father, hears
Me. And those who believe on Me,
believe on Him that sent Me. Not just Me, you believe Him.
Believe on Him. All those whom God has chosen,
who were dead in trespasses and sins, will hear His voice." He
said, there's coming a time when they will hear His voice. It's not an offer. It's not when
you hear an offer. It's not when you hear an invitation.
It's when He commands you to live like He did that baby that
was cast out in the field in Ezekiel. It was cast out in its
blood. It was so grotesque. They cast
it out. It was so gross looking. They
cast that baby out in the field. It says, "...in its own blood."
In other words, they cut the cord from the mother and tossed
it in the field. It was so grotesque. And the
Lord came by and He put His skirt over it and He said, Thy time
was a time of love, and I said, Live. And the child lived. He said,
I said, Live. Now when He says, Live, you live.
When He commands life, you're going to have it. In Genesis, every time He says,
And God said, we never hear, But, you don't hear that. When God said it happened, let
there be light. What happened? There was light.
Let the earth bring forth. What happened? Earth brought
forth. When He gives that same powerful command in the Gospel,
you live and you believe. You know not how, as the song
goes. I know not how, but I believe. I believe. I believe the Gospel.
And you can never unbelieve it when God gives you faith to believe.
You can never unbelieve it. Even when Peter denied the Lord,
he still believed. He did. He denied out of fear, but in
his heart he still believed. Because the Lord, when He met
him by the shore there, He didn't say, Peter, believest thou me? He knew he did. He knew he believed.
He said, Lovest thou me? Lovest thou me? It says in Ephesians 2 verse
1, "...and you hath he quickened who were dead in trespasses and
sins." He gave you life. He gave you life. "...and they have passed from
death to life. The hearing ear and the seeing eye..." Listen,
someone wrote this, "...the hearing ear and the seeing eye are not
qualifications for obtaining life, they are evidence and consequence
of God giving life." And I'm going to wind this up.
For as the father hath life in himself, so hath he given to
the son to have life in himself. Underrived life. You and I have derived life.
We were given life, but the son was not given life. He hath life.
As the Father hath life in Himself, so hath He given to the Son to
have life in Himself. And given Him authority to execute
judgment also, because He is the Son of Man. One in our nature
is our judge. One in our nature is our judge. Because He is the Son of Man.
He is all the Lord Jesus Christ right now. Right now. has all
judicial power given to Him. All authority. He says in Acts 2.36, Therefore
let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made
that same Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ. And every knee is going to bow,
as it says in Philippians 5-11, every knee is going to bow and
every tongue is going to confess that He is Lord to the glory
of God the Father, whether they like it or not, they're going
to bow. Lord, make me, make me bow now. What was it David said
Thursday night? Make me to go in the way of thy
commandments. Make me bow now. Make me. I do, I beg. Lord, make
me bow now. Make me do it. I know how stubborn
I am. I know my stubborn will. But
marvel not at this, verse 28, marvel not at this, for the hour
is coming in the which that all are in the grave are going to
hear His voice. Now this is a whole general resurrection. Everybody
in the cemetery out here is coming out of that grave. You say, boy,
that's why the Greeks called it foolishness. They said, that's
just foolish. No, it's not. It's true. It's true. They're
coming out of that grave. And they're going to come out
of that grave and they're going to stand before Jesus Christ
until the resurrection of life, where He says here, "...and shall
come forth, they that have done good, those who are clothed in
the righteousness of Christ," that's what that's saying, "...until
the resurrection of life, and they that have done evil, until
the resurrection of damnation." Those who despise Him, who do
not believe Him. This is the final end. He's telling
the final end right here. And he draws a conclusion here
in verse 30. I can of mine own self do nothing.
I'm not doing this by myself. I'm not off on a tangent. The
whole Godhead is involved right here. As I hear, I speak. What I'm doing is in accordance
with the will of God. And my judgment is just, because
I seek not my own will, but the will of the Father which sent
me. That's very clear, isn't it? You can't be any more clear to
the deity of Christ, the oneness of Christ, the union of Christ
to the Father. And it's very clear here that every sinner in need of
mercy, go to Him. Go to Him. It's all in His hands.