Well, we're coming back to John's
Gospel chapter 5 this morning. As I said last week, having a
break from Psalm 119, which I do intend to return to at some stage,
but then we broke off from John's Gospel earlier on this year.
And this morning I want to look at verses 17 to 29 in particular
with you. The title of the message is what
we read in Matthew 1, where the angel's speaking to Joseph and
repeating to him the prophecy of Isaiah, Isaiah 7, 14, God
with us, Emmanuel, a virgin, shall conceive and be with child.
Emmanuel, God with us. This is a mystery. This is so
deeply, deeply profound. When Jesus healed the man at
Bethesda, as we saw last week, Bethesda, the pool of Bethesda
by the sheep gate, the sheep market, whatever it was, that
pool there where there was washing that went on and people waited
for the stirring of the waters by an angel, some divine miraculous
thing to show that in those 400 years of silence from Malachi
until John the Baptist came along, that God still worked amongst
his people. It was there just as a testimony
that God still worked. And then comes Christ. Jesus,
the man in his ministry, he comes to this pool and sees there a
man, a certain man, and he says to him, will thou be made whole? Do you want to be made well?
Of course he wanted to be made well. Of course he did. And he
says, I haven't got anybody to help me into the pool. And so
Jesus says to him, verse eight, Jesus saith unto him, rise, take
up thy bed and walk. And of course he did. Immediately,
it says in the next verse, immediately the man took up his bed and walked,
and on the same day was the Sabbath. It was the Sabbath day, but he
took up his bed and walked. This is exactly what the Old
Testament had prophesied. We could go to so many places,
but look at Isaiah 35, for example, and verse 4. where it says, well
verse three, strengthen you the weak hands and confirm the feeble
knees. Say to them that are of a fearful heart, be strong, fear
not. Listen, behold, your God will
come with vengeance, even God with a recompense. He will come
and say, God is going to step into history to save his people. Then when he does, verse 5, the
eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall
be unstopped. Then shall the lame man leap
as an heart, like a deer, like a stag, and the tongue of the
dumb shall sing, for in the wilderness shall waters break out and streams
in the desert. When God comes among you, miracles
will be done. Here is a miracle being done
because here in the Lord Jesus Christ is God amongst His people,
exactly as the angel said to Joseph, Immanuel, God with us. But the legalistic Jews who'd
seen the man pick up his bed and walk, the legalistic Jews
could see only Sabbath-breaking. They couldn't see anything to
do with a gracious healing that was the sign of the Messiah.
When Messiah comes, some of them said who were given faith, when
Messiah comes, will he do greater works than these? Of course not.
He couldn't possibly do greater works than these when he comes.
No. But here's a man made whole physically
and spiritually, given a new heart. Look in verse 14. Afterward,
Jesus findeth him in the temple. So he goes to the temple and
says to him, Behold, thou art made whole. Sin no more, lest
a worse thing come upon thee. He's not saying that unless you
live an absolutely sinless, perfect life, you will go back into a
worse state than from which I've healed you. He's not saying that
at all. He's saying that with a new heart from Christ, with
a new nature, a nature not to sin, when you sin, you will be
grieved at that sinning. That's what he's saying there.
You can look for confirmation of that in 1 Peter chapter 4,
the first few verses there. The same idea. It's not that
people are sinless. If we say we have no sin, we
deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. But we have a heart
not to sin. The new man of the Spirit of
God, born again of the Spirit of God, is a new man that cannot
sin, says John in his epistle. So, There we are. He's got the love of Christ in
his heart. He knows he's redeemed. Thou
art made whole. What he meant was not just physically,
but spiritually. He's made spiritually whole.
He's given a new heart. He is now constrained by the
love of Christ to live for him and not for sin. And it's that
which causes true believers' grief at the offense of their
sin towards God. Because when you're a true believer,
the Holy Spirit gives you some idea in your heart as to what
it is to sin against God and how much grief that causes. That's
the worst thing he's talking about. So why did the Jews, these
Jewish leaders, persecute Jesus? Verse 16, Therefore did the Jews
persecute Jesus, and sought to slay him, to kill him, because
he had done these things on the sabbath day. He'd done these
things on the sabbath day. It says in John chapter 15 and
verse 25, This cometh to pass, that the
word might be fulfilled that is written in their law, they
hated me without a cause. That's quoting Psalm 35 verse
19. They hated, this is the words
of the Messiah, they hated me without a cause. The people,
the people to whom he came, they hated him without a cause. Because
of the sinful heart that's in each and every child of flesh.
Yours and mine, naturally. That's why we naturally, in the
flesh, hate Him, because we can't bear to submit to the sovereignty
of God in salvation. You know, you go amongst religious
people, and there's plenty of religion around, even in this
materialistic world, but if there's one thing that will cause you
to be hated, and I mean that, I mean it, hated. Jesus said
it, they will hate you. If they've hated me, they will
hate you. If there's one thing that causes the people of God,
believers, to be hated, it's their belief in the absolute
supreme sovereignty of God in salvation. That it is not of
him that wills, that decides for himself, nor of him that
chooses, but of God who shows mercy. And here is Emmanuel,
the Lord Jesus Christ, the man 30 years old or so, a bit more
perhaps, God with us, here he is, this man, walking, God with
us, amongst us, demonstrating divine, sovereign power. in contradiction of the Jews'
prejudices. They sought to slay him because
it was the Sabbath day, and they have laws. The law says don't
do any work on the Sabbath day, and picking up your bed to walk
is doing work on the Sabbath day, and never mind that a man
who was lame was infirm, was impotent for 38 years, at the
word of this one, Emmanuel, God with us, had picked up his bed
exactly as he'd been commanded, with the power that came with
that command, and walked and carried his bed. Ah, to those
Jews, that wasn't an amazing thing. That really wasn't the
thing that needed to be talked about, that here surely was the
sign that God is with us. What Isaiah said in our prophecies,
they should have said, look, here he is, God is with us. Would
greater things than this be done? No, to them, the Sabbath law
had been broken. And Jesus answers them with seven
proofs, seven statements, that He is God and Lord of the Sabbath,
that He is even the fulfilment of that rest of which the Sabbath
was but a picture, because it's only in Him and His work of redeeming
grace in shedding His blood on the cross of Calvary, it's only
in Him that His people have that rest in Him from the curse of
the law, from the condemnation of the law. They have righteousness
in Him, made the righteousness of God in Him who was made the
sin of His people, that He might bear it and pay its penalty.
So why is this important to you and me? Do you remember, I reminded
you of John chapter 20, verse 31 last week, where John says,
I've written many things, but there's so many more that could
be written. But these are written that you might believe. You,
who? You, all of you listening. You
might believe that Jesus is the Christ. So what? Okay, I'll believe
that Jesus is the Son of God, that He's the Son of God. and
that believing you might have life through his name. This is
such a matter of eternal life and death, that believing, it's
not your believing that causes you to know the difference between
life and death, it's believing that is the confirmation of that
which Christ has accomplished in your place. if he gives you
faith to see it. If God exercises his sovereignty
in salvation towards you, then you will be given a heart to
believe the Son, and in believing, you will know, you will apprehend,
You will sense, you will believe, you will trust that you have
that eternal life from God. The words before us in verses
17 to 29 are probably the most profound words ever written.
No doubt there are others in the scripture that equate to
them and in various places confirm them, but as a set of seven statements
from the man Jesus as he walked this earth, Emmanuel God with
us, these are the most profound words ever written. This man
declared plainly. He who was flesh and blood, he
who stood among them, they looked on him, they saw nothing that
made him stand out from anybody else in terms of physical appearance.
He didn't have a halo round his head. His clothes were not shining
white here. Oh, on the Mount of Transfiguration,
yes, but not here. He had no comeliness, says Isaiah,
that we should desire him. This man, ordinary-looking man,
declared plainly. that he is indeed God, as much
as the Father is God, as much as the Holy Spirit is God. Here
are the seven things. Let's look at them together in
the time that we have available. In verse 17, Jesus answered them. Here they are, telling him that
he's committed a violation of the Sabbath law in telling a
man to take up his bed and walk without seeing anything of the
power of God in the healing that he's accomplished. But Jesus
answered them, My father worketh hitherto up to this point, and
I work. Therefore the Jews sought the
more to kill him, because he not only had broken the Sabbath,
but said also that God was his father, making himself equal
with God. The work of God in this creation,
in this world, is the salvation of His people from their just
condemnation. You see, the sin of everybody
calls down the judgment of God, the condemnation of God, for
God who is holy cannot remain God. He cannot retain His integrity
if sin does not incur the just penalty that it deserves. The
justice of God demands the punishment of sin. His strict justice demands
it. God would cease to be God if
he did not punish sin. Salvation of his people from
that punishment, salvation of sinners who are his from that
punishment, is the work of the Father in this creation. And
this is also the work of the Son, he says here. He says, this
is my work. As it is the Father's work, I
am God. It is my work also, is effectively
what he's saying. This is his work. Do you want
to see proof of that? Look at Ephesians chapter 2 and
verse 8, where Paul is writing to the Ephesians, and he says
this. Remember, Paul was taken for
three years into isolation with God and taught the intricate
details of the gospel. He tells us that in Galatians,
where he'd been and what he'd done. And in verse 8 of Ephesians,
chapter 2, he writes, for by grace are ye saved through faith. It's the grace of God. that does
the same, the grace of God. It's by faith that you apprehend
it, but it's grace that saves you. And that faith is not of
yourselves, it's not you have exercised faith, God has given
you faith, it is the gift of God. Not of works, not the things
you do that other people don't do, lest any man should boast
about what they've done in getting right with God. No, it's not
your works, it's God's. Look, 10, verse 10, are His workmanship, God's workmanship,
created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before
ordained that we should walk in them. But the people of God,
saved people, are the workmanship of God. This is God's work. In
sovereign providence, it is God who orders all things for the
salvation of His people. Romans 8 verse 28, we know that
all things work together for good to them that love God, to
them who are the called according to His purpose, for whom He did
foreknow in everlasting electing love. He also did predestinate
to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be
the firstborn among many brethren. You see, God is working. God
works the salvation of His people. Moreover, whom he did predestinate,
them he also called, and whom he called, them he also justified,
and whom he justified, them he also glorified. He works his
work of salvation. See also John chapter 9 if you
would turn there, but don't just now, he says, I must work the
works of him that sent me. And then in John chapter 10,
listen to this, we'll start at verse 24, this is quite a long
passage. Then came the Jews round about
him, this is John 10 verse 24, and said unto him, how long dost
thou make us doubt? If thou be the Christ, tell us
plainly. Jesus answered them, I told you.
When did he tell them? In John chapter 5, the account
that we're reading. He told them there, I told you
and you believed not. The works that I do in my Father's
name, the same works that the Father does, they bear witness
that I am telling you the truth, that I am the Christ, that I
am God come in the flesh. But you do not believe me. Why
do they not believe him? Because he says, you are not
of my sheep. It is the sheep of the Lord Jesus
Christ that believe Him. As I said unto you, My sheep
hear My voice, and I know them, and 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. Whose hand? Christ's or the Father's
hand? The same. It's the hand of God.
It's the care of God, the sovereign care of God. And he underlines
it in verse 30, I and my Father are one. That's not the only
time he makes that amazing declaration. In John chapter 14, when he's
told Philip, you know, just to look at him and he's seen the
Father. In John chapter 14 and verse 10, he says, Believest
thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? Here's
God before you. Emmanuel, God with us. The words
that I speak unto you, I speak not of myself. The words that
I'm speaking are God's words, he's saying. But the Father that
dwelleth in me, he doeth the works. Believe me that I am in
the Father and the Father in me. Or else believe me, for the
very work's sake, they testify. This man healed on the Sabbath
day, immediately picking up his bed and walking. Who's amongst
you? God is amongst you. Say unto the cities of Judah,
says Isaiah chapter 40, say unto the cities of Judah, behold your
God, here he is amongst you. The Jews knew exactly what he
was claiming. At verse 18, making himself equal
with God, and to them, that was blasphemous, and that was deserving
of death. But to those who are given eyes
to see it, here in Christ, In the Lord Jesus Christ is almighty
God, clothed in human flesh for the purpose. Why did He clothe?
Why was God clothed in human flesh? Because only as a man
could He pay the price of the sin of people, of human beings. Only with blood, the life is
in the blood. He shed His precious blood as
a man, because that's the only thing that could satisfy justice.
That's the only thing that purchases redemption. liberation, freedom
from the law's curse, from sin's just penalty. His disciples saw
it. the ones that were with him three
and a half years and witnessed it. John says in John 1 18, we
beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,
full of grace and truth. Paul says in Colossians 2 verse
9, in him, in this man that stood before them saying these things,
dwelt the fullness of the Godhead bodily. Can you believe that?
You know, as Wesley wrote in his hymn, God contracted to a
span, incomprehensibly made man for the purpose of redemption.
So in work of redeeming sinners from their sins, the work of
this man is exactly the work of God. Here is God before us,
Emmanuel, God with us. And then verse 19, in shared
will and purpose between the son and the father, Jesus answered
and said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, 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. In other words, what he's saying
is, the things that he did as he walked this earth in flesh
were the things of God. Here is God, the unknowable,
unseeable Spirit, the essence which is God, that no man can
see or has seen, is here manifesting the fullness of the Godhead before
their very eyes. Everything the man Jesus did,
was the physical outworking of the purpose of the unknowable
God, that which we cannot see or know because of sin. We see
it in the Lord Jesus Christ and what He did. There is one God
and only one God, but that one God is manifested in three persons,
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, each fully God and unified in
purpose. Not separated, not a third of
God each, but fully God each, but manifested in three persons. Do you understand it? Do I understand
it? Of course not. It's a mystery too high for us,
but it's revealed in the Word of God. It's a different thing
to understand than it is to believe. Do we believe it? If God has
given you faith to see it, you'll say, Lord, I believe, help my
unbelief, but I still believe it, even if I can't understand
it. God's purpose was to justify and save a multitude for eternal
glory. He will have his glorious kingdom
inhabited by redeemed sinners whom he loved from before the
foundation of the world with an everlasting love, as Jeremiah
says. For a while, God in flesh. God became flesh. The Son of God, who was equal
with God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God. He was
made for a little while lower than the angels. When an angel appeared, the people
were terrified because he was shining with heavenly glory.
But when the man Jesus walked in front of them, they didn't
shrink back. Not always, once or twice they did, the transfiguration. And then in the garden, when
he said, who are you seeking? And they said, Jesus of Nazareth.
And he said, I am. And I don't know what it was
in those words, but it was something of the Godhead. You know, God
who said to Moses at the burning bush, I am that I am. and they
fell backwards because they saw something of his divine glory.
But for a while he was made lower than the angels. He didn't have
any appearance that was more outstanding than any other man. He was humbled. He became obedient,
the servant of God, the obedient servant of God. Behold my servant,
whom I delight in. Behold my servant, he will act
prudently. This is God speaking. of God
in flesh, of Christ, of Emmanuel, God with us, humbled for a season,
obedient servant, obedient unto death, even the death of the
cross. That humbled? Yes, even that
humbled. The most shameful death, the
death of the Roman cross, the most shameful death, to pay redemption's
price, to the justice of God, that all of his people, the multitude
whom he loved, might be made the righteousness of God in him. But his will and purpose, as
Jesus the man, was exactly the same as the will and purpose
of his Father in heaven. Exactly the same. Because they
are one and the same. I and my Father are one, he said.
He who has seen me has seen the Father, he said. In shared will
and purpose, here is Emmanuel, God with us. In verse 20, we
see the third one. Here is a man claiming the same
knowledge of divine mysteries as God the Father in heaven has.
Here is a man with his feet on this earth, claiming exactly
the same thing. Here is a man subjected to his
own laws, which he spoke into being, for without him was not
anything made that was made. Here is a man looking like an
ordinary man, claiming intimate knowledge of everything that
is in the infinite, mysterious Godhead. Look at Proverbs with
me, Proverbs chapter 8. This is the wisdom chapter above
all others. But it's Christ. It's the Messiah
of God. It's the Christ of God who is
speaking in verse 22 of chapter 8 of Proverbs. The Lord possessed
me in the beginning of his way, before his works of old. I was
set up from everlasting. He wasn't a created being. He
was always there. From the beginning, or ever the
earth was. 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. He's not a created being.
He was there from the very beginning. 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. By
Him, He made all things. By the Word, God made all things. When He spoke creation into being,
it was Christ who spoke. 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 foundations of the earth. Then I was by Him as one brought
up with Him, and I was daily His delight, rejoicing always
before Him. You see, it's mysteries that
language struggles with, but there, there is God, Emmanuel,
God with us, there as the wisdom of God, as the Word of God, eternally
with God, with Him from before the beginning of time. In Romans
11, Paul puts into words that which we feel if we come close
to this. You see, these are deep, deep
mysterious things. Religion sees at best In the Lord Jesus Christ, a good
moral example. True faith, which is the gift
of God, sees the fullness of the Godhead bodily. One who is,
as Hebrews 7.25 tells us, one and the only one, for there is
none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must
be saved. He is able to save to the uttermost
those who come to God by Him. For He is God. He is Emmanuel,
God with us. In verse 21, in sovereign saving
power. He, this man, is the equivalent
of the unknowable hidden Godhead. As the Father raiseth up the
dead and quickeneth them, quickeneth gives life to them, even so the
Son quickeneth will give life to whom He will. For the Father
judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son, that
all men should honor the Son, even as they honour the Father.
You see, God is the source of life. The Jews knew that. The
Jews knew that. The Jews knew that God was the
source of life. They knew He was the Creator.
There were, no doubt, there were theories of a primitive kind
of evolution. I'm sure there have always been.
But the Jews, as a society, believed in God as Creator, as the source
of life, that God is the source of life, that without Him we
just have inanimate matter. He is the one that called the
inanimate matter into being, never mind anything else. The
Jews knew that, and they also knew from their Old Testament
accounts with the prophets of people being raised from the
dead in Israel's past, you know, in the days of Elijah and Elisha,
people being raised from the dead, they knew that God was
the source of life. But that power to give life,
the power to give spiritual life, is exercised equally by the Son. by God manifest in the flesh,
by the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, Emmanuel, God with
us. As he prays in John 17 verse
2, As thou, God the Father, hast given him, Christ the Son, power
over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many
as thou hast given Him. The Father chose, the Son redeemed.
He is the one who gives life. As God gives life, Christ gives
life. God and Christ, they're equal. It's not of Him that wills,
nor of Him that runs, but of God, even of Christ the Son of
God, that shows mercy. He is claiming the same sovereign
power over salvation, over eternal life. as the unknowable God,
for He is God, manifested. In the next place, the fifth
one, in deserving of honor, deserving of honor, in verse 22 and 23,
the Father judgeth no man but hath committed all judgment unto
the Son, that all men should honor the Son, even as they honor
the Father. He that honoreth not the Son
honoreth not the Father which has sent him. The Son is God
manifest in flesh. He is the Word by whom the unknowable
God speaks. We hear His voice. He is the
Word of God. He is the One by whom God judges. He is the King of Kings. We know
this from Revelation. We read it in Revelation. He
is King of Kings and Lord of Lords. God reigns in the person
of His Son, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. He possesses
by eternal right all the infinite worth of God. He is not in any
way inferior, though for a little while For his sojourn in this
earth he was made for a little while lower than the angels for
the purpose of death, that he might redeem his people from
the curse of the law, that he might buy their acquittal at
the bar of God's justice. So he is worthy of all worship. This one, Jesus, the man, Remember,
appearing no different to anybody else, this one making these statements
is saying that He is worthy of exactly the same honour and praise
as God the Father, the unknowable God in heaven. And if you would
worship the unknowable God in heaven, you must come to Him
by Jesus Christ, for He is the way, the truth and the life,
and no man comes to the Father but by Him. You must honour Him
exactly the same. There are those like the Jehovah's
Witnesses who put Christ, they revere Christ, but they put Him
on a lower level than God. And thereby, they dishonor God. They dishonor God blasphemously. Because they cannot honour the
true, hidden being of God unless they honour the Son. Is that
not exactly what it says here? Look at Colossians 1, verse 14. In whom? In Christ. He's speaking
of the Son. In Christ we have redemption
through His blood. In God, in Christ, we have redemption,
the price paid in his blood. And what does that accomplish
for us? Even the forgiveness of sins. He, Christ, who is,
verse 15, the image of the invisible God. the firstborn of every creature. He's the image of the invisible
God. He's the one by whom we know
the invisible God. In Hebrews 1 verse 3, he's the
outshining of the glorious being of God. For it says, look, concerning
this man who stood before them making these statements, by him
by Jesus, by the Lord Jesus Christ, by the Messiah of God. By Him
were all things created that are in heaven and that are in
earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones or dominions
or principalities or powers. All things were created by Him
and for Him. And He is before all things,
and by Him all things consist. They all hold together. And He
is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning,
the firstborn from the dead, that in, listen, all things He,
Christ, might have the preeminence. There is no greater name given. No greater name, no higher name,
no more powerful name, no name worthy of more honor than that
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Look at his description in Revelation,
we won't now for the sake of time, but there are so many instances
where we see this glorious being, the being that Daniel saw by
the river, is this glorious being of the Lord Jesus Christ who
just for a little while in this flesh was made lower than the
angels for the suffering of death that he might accomplish redemption.
All who put him in any respect below the Father actually dishonor
the Father. They don't know God, they do
not have the life of God. Do not listen to their lies and
their claims, for they are not of God. They will tell you a
lie that will damn your soul. Sixth one, in giving life, verses
24 to 26. in giving life. By virtue of
the Son's co-equality with the Father, he has the life-granting
power of God. Look at verse 24, I say unto
you, he that hears my word and believes on him that sent me
has everlasting life and shall not come into condemnation, but
is passed from death to life. You know it says in John chapter
1, he who hasn't believed is condemned already because he
doesn't believe in the Son of God. It's by belief, which is
the evidence of your salvation, that you know you have life,
you have the life of God. Verily, verily, I say unto you,
the hour is coming, and now is, when the dead, and we're talking
spiritually dead here, shall hear the voice of the Son of
God, And they that hear shall live. It's his voice that you
must hear. In John chapter 10 that we read
earlier, he says, my people, my sheep, hear my voice. He said,
you don't believe, you Pharisees, because you are not of my sheep,
but my sheep hear my voice. And what do they do? They follow
me. They won't follow another. They won't follow a hireling.
They hear the voice of the true God in the Lord Jesus Christ,
in the Son of God. And they that hear, he says here,
shall live. For, this is it, as the Father
hath life in himself, nobody gave the Father life. He is the
source of life. So hath he given to the Son to
have life in himself. He's co-equal with God. He's
co-equal with the Father. It is his voice that you must
hear if you will possess eternal life from God. You, dead in sins
and alienated from the Holy God as you are naturally from birth,
if you hear his voice as the voice of God, as the Good Shepherd's
voice, it is because he has given you spiritual life to hear it. And then finally, in righteous
judgment, he is equal with God. Verse 27, he has given him authority
to execute judgment also, because he is the son of man. Marvel
not at this, for the hour is coming in the which all that
are in the graves shall hear his voice, and shall come forth,
they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life, and
they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation.
It's appointed to man It says Hebrews 9, 27, it's appointed
to man to die once and then what? The judgment. All of you, everybody
listening, it's appointed to die once and then the judgment.
When you leave this body of flesh, when your soul departs this body
of flesh, you go immediately into the judgment of God, then
the judgment. It's the judgment seat of Christ
before which we all must stand. The judgment seat of Christ for
all judgment is given into the hands of the Son. It is by the
Son of God, the second person of the glorious Trinity, that
God exercises all judgment. All judgment is committed to
the Son by the Father. It is in that office of that
person that the one Godhead exercises judgment over sin. And as you
must fear and honour the Judge who rules with all the authority
of divine justice, acknowledge that it is God in Christ the
Son by whom that authority is wielded, by whom God exercises
judgment, by whom He carries out judgment. And what is the
good and the evil against which judgment is exercised? You know,
what is that good and what is that evil? Those that have done
good to the resurrection of life, those that have done evil to
the resurrection of damnation. Oh, you think I can think of
lots and lots of things, murders and and swindling and cheating
and fraud and all of those terrible things that people do. No, no,
no. John chapter 6 verse 28, they said to Jesus, what shall
we do that we might work the works of God? What's the good
thing that we need to do? Answer, said Jesus, this is the
work of God, that you believe on him whom he sent. What is
the evil that you do? It's to call God a liar by disbelieving
him. When you disbelieve God, when
you say, I'll exercise my right to freedom of thought, and I'll
be agnostic, or I'll come to a conclusion later. You're calling
God a liar. It's as simple as that. That
is the good and evil that Jesus is talking about here. And the
difference is the resurrection of life. or of damnation. What a colossal contrast, isn't
it? Think about it. It applies to
every single one of us hearing this today. Where will you be
on that day? Amen.