Let us open our Bibles tonight
to John chapter 5. John chapter 5. After this there was a feast
of the Jews and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. Last time that
we studied from this passage of scripture We considered three
things that I said the Lord Jesus Christ found when he visited
Jerusalem this time. The first thing he found in verse
three, a great multitude of impotent folk. And we know that this is
a picture of all mankind, that all of us, when we come into
this world, we have no power, we have no strength to believe
or to come to God. The Lord Jesus Christ said, except
my father draw them, no man can come to me, impotent, without
strength. And then second, we saw that
he found an object of mercy, an object of sovereign mercy.
There was a man there, we read in verse five, who had been a
paralytic for 38 years, and the Lord Jesus Christ sought him
out and found him and healed him. Verse number 8, Jesus saith
unto him, Rise, take up thy bed, and walk. An object of sovereign
mercy, sovereign grace. Many times when people hear about
God's sovereign grace and sovereign mercy, And they do not appreciate
it. They do not care for the subject. But think about this. Here was
a man, the scripture here says this, there were five porches,
a giant hospital. Maybe we today would say five
stories. And on every floor, multitude,
multitude of impotent, blind, and halt people, sick people. And the Lord Jesus Christ went
to this one man and he made him whole. Now we do not read that
any of these others, they saw what happened, they saw what
took place, but we do not read that any one of them cried out
and said, Lord, have mercy on me. Have mercy on me. People complain about God's sovereign
grace and God's sovereign mercy, but God has mercy for everyone
who desires mercy, for everyone who desires grace. His mercy,
His grace is free to all who desire. But if He does not force
His grace and force His mercy upon someone, then how could
you blame Him? How could you blame Him for not
showing mercy and grace? Examples like this just cause
us to worship Him and praise Him and thank Him more for His
grace and mercy to us. I speak for myself tonight, but
I know I speak to many of us here this evening, speak for
many of us here. We were not seeking Him. He came
seeking us. He came seeking us. For the Son
of Man has come to seek and to save that which is lost. The
third thing he found, not only did he find a great multitude
of impotent folk, not only did he find an object of his sovereign
mercy and grace, but he also found the hatred and persecution
of religious men. Notice that in verse 16. And
therefore did the Jews persecute Jesus and sought to kill Him,
slay Him. Because He had done these things
on the Sabbath day. Now we're looking tonight at
verses 17 through 30. And I have three parts, three
divisions to the message, three subjects I want us to consider.
First, the Lord Jesus' response to the charge which the Jews
brought against Him. His response to the charge which
the Jews brought against him. Verse 17, But Jesus answered
them, My father worketh hitherto, and I work. Therefore the Jews
sought the Moor to kill him, because he not only had broken
the Sabbath, but said also that God was his father, making himself
equal with God. 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. For what things
soever He doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise. 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. For 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 hath sent him. The
charge which these religious Jews brought against the Lord
Jesus Christ was that he had broken the Sabbath. When he made
that man whole, that man was lying on a mat called his bed
and the Lord Jesus Christ told him, rise, take up thy bed and
walk. And as far as these religious
leaders were concerned, he had broken the Sabbath. The man,
first of all, he had broken the Sabbath because he was carrying. It wasn't his walking. They were
allowed to walk a certain distance on the Sabbath under the law. But the way they had interpreted
the law, you could not carry anything. That would be considered
working, breaking the rest of the Sabbath. That was the charge
that they brought against him. Now, our Lord was charged with
this several times. As we look at the various gospels
and narrative which we have, He was accused of this several
times, and He answered the charge in different ways. Most generally,
He answered the charge by showing that the law never prohibited
works of mercy. It never prohibited works of
mercy on the Sabbath, and He reminded them that if they had
an animal that fell into a pit, there wasn't a one of them that
would not exert strength, work, to extract that animal to save
his animal. And if an animal was in a stall
on a Sabbath day and needed water, they would lead that animal to
drink. There wasn't a one of them. Those
were acts of mercy. The law was never given. The
law of the Sabbath was never given. prohibiting works of mercy. Let me show you one of these
examples in Luke chapter 13. You know, some of the hardest people
you will ever meet are religious Pharisees. They have no mercy. They tithe mint, anise, and cumin. but they leave the weightier
matters of the law undone. Mercy, love, and judgment. Look at this case here in Luke
chapter 13, beginning with verse 11. Behold, there was a woman
which had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years, and was bowed
together, and could in no wise lift up herself. Picture that
in your mind. Here's a woman completely bent
over. She could not lift herself up,
looking toward the ground. Eighteen years had she suffered. When Jesus saw her, he called
her to him and said unto her, Woman, thou art loosed from thine
infirmity. You would think everyone in the
synagogue would have rejoiced. I mean, these are religious people. These are people who've come
to study the Word of God, hear the Word of God, to rejoice in
the Lord. You would have thought, and hallelujah,
would have gone up. But it didn't. It sure didn't. laid his hands on her, and immediately
she was made straight and glorified God. She glorified God, but not
the religious rulers. And the ruler of the synagogue
answered with indignation, because, now notice that Jesus had healed
on the Sabbath day, and said unto the people, there are six
days in which men ought to work. In other words, they accused
him of working, of breaking the Sabbath, of not resting on the
seventh day. In them, therefore, come and
be healed, and not on the Sabbath day. The Lord then answered him
and said, Thou hypocrite. Thou hypocrite. Doth not each one of you on the
Sabbath loose his ox or his ass from the stall and lead him away
to watering? Don't you know each one of them
was convicted in their own conscience? This is something all of you
do. And ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham,
whom Satan hath bound low these eighteen years, be loosed from
this bond on the Sabbath day? And when he had said these things,
all his adversaries were ashamed, and all the people rejoiced for
all the glorious things that were done by him. Now that's
the way our Lord usually answered this charge. You've violated
the Sabbath. You've worked on the Sabbath.
The Sabbath is a day of rest, and you have violated the Sabbath. But on this occasion that we're
looking at tonight, He chose a different route. He said unto
them, My Father worketh hitherto, and I work. Now it's true that on the seventh
day in the first week, the week of creation, the Lord rested
from His creating work as far as creating new orders. But that
doesn't mean on that first Sabbath that the world stopped turning.
That doesn't mean that the sun did not come up. That does not
mean that the grass didn't grow on that Sabbath day. That doesn't
mean the rivers all stopped flowing because God rested on that Sabbath
day. That doesn't mean that the blood
stopped flowing in the vessels of all of His creatures. None
of that happened. Yes, He rested from His work
of creation, but not His work of preservation, not His work
that He works continually. because the Scriptures tell us
that He upholds all things by the word of His power. And Paul the Apostle told the
Athenians that in Him, this God that you don't know, this God
that I've come to declare unto you, this God that you worship,
this unknown God, I've come here to tell you today that this God
is the God that all of us We live, we move, we have our being
in Him. Every breath, every breath that
you breathe, God gives it to you. He doesn't stop working on the
Sabbath day. My Father worketh hitherto and
I work. In this statement, the Lord,
of course, declared His equality with the Father. And you see
in His answer two things. He and His Father do the same
works. The same work that the Father
does, I do. And the Father works continually,
and I work continually. And the Jews, they understood
exactly what He meant. There was no question in their
mind. Oh, they had a charge against Him of violating the Sabbath,
but now they've really got a charge against Him. This is much more
serious in their minds now because now He's guilty of blasphemy. Now He declares Himself to be
equal with the Father. The Father worketh hitherto,
and I work." His equality with the Father. They did not misunderstand
Him, and the Lord Jesus Christ did not say unto them, wait a
minute, you misunderstood what I meant. You misunderstood what
I meant when I said, My Father worketh hitherto, and I work.
No, He didn't say that. They knew exactly what He meant
and what they understood is exactly what He meant. He is equal with
the Father. He did not say they misunderstood
Him. And He goes on in these verses
to declare His deity. His deity. No one I don't understand
how anyone other than a blind man can read this passage of
scripture and deny the deity of the Lord Jesus Christ, that
He is God Almighty, equal with the Father and the Holy Spirit. Even though as He speaks these
words, we know that He is God manifest in the flesh. These
are the words of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now let's look at, I
believe, five things here that He said. First of all, there's
a unity of works between Him and the Father. What the Father
does, I do. Notice that in verse 19. Verily, verily, I say unto thee,
The son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the father
do. For what things soever he doeth, whatsoever things the
father doeth, these also doeth the son likewise. What is he
saying? He's saying I'm in union with
my father. When the father works, I work. When I work, the father works. The unity between God the Son
and God the Father. And second, there's a unity of
love and knowledge between Him and His Father, verse 22. Or verse 20, rather. 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. There's
a unity of love and knowledge between the Lord Jesus Christ
and His Father. There's a unity of will. There's
only one will in God. God doesn't have two wills. There's
one will. And the scripture here declares
unto us that there's a unity of will between God the Son and
God the Father, in verse 21. For as the Father raiseth up
the dead and quickeneth them, even so the Son quickeneth whom
He will. When the Father exercises His
will and quickens someone, so the Son is one with the Father. There's a unity between the Son
and the Father. Unity of love, unity of knowledge,
unity of will. And then notice, fourthly, There's
a unity of universal rule between Him and the Father. For the Father
judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son. Now when we read this verse of
Scripture, I know most of us think that it has reference to
the last judgment, that we must all appear before the judgment
seat of Christ. And that's included, there's
no doubt about it, but it's more than that. When he declares that
he has been given power for all judgment, or all judgment has
been committed unto him, He is declaring that He is Lord of
all things. Not just the last judgment, but
He has the universal rule over all things. All judgment, all
rule is committed to the Lord Jesus Christ as the God-man mediator. The Apostle Paul said this, that
God hath put all things Now, He's not talking about Him as
the Eternal Son, but as the God-man, as He became flesh and dwelt
among us. He hath put all things under
His feet. There's a man in glory, the Lord
Jesus Christ. He is man, God-man, yes, but
in His hand is the scepter of universal rule. He reigns, He
rules over all things, over all powers, over all beings. He hath put all things under
His feet and gave Him to be the head of all things to the church. And the Apostle Peter said it
like this, Who is gone into heaven. Now who went into heaven? Who
ascended into heaven? The Lord Jesus Christ, that glorified
man. He ascended into heaven. He's
gone into heaven, Peter says, and he's on the right hand of
God. Angels and authorities and powers
made subject to him. The universal rule of the Lord
Jesus Christ. The Father said unto him, Set
here at my right hand. until thine enemies be made thy
footstool." You read about it in Psalm 2, don't you? The Lord
has set His Son upon His holy hill of Zion. And yes, the heathen
imagine vain things and will not have this man to rule over
them, but God Almighty has given all judgment, committed all judgment
unto His Son, Jesus Christ. And notice the next thing. There's
a unity of honor between him and his father. Verse 23. That all men should honor the
Son even as they honor the Father. He that honoreth not the Son
honoreth not the Father which hath sent him. Now the word honor,
we could include worship. Worship. When we honor God, we
worship God. And when men refuse to honor
the Son, refuse to worship the Son, they think and they believe
that there's another way that they may worship God apart from
the one mediator between God and men. They do not honor the
Father. It's impossible to worship the
Father and not worship the Son. That's the only way that we may
approach unto God, through the God-man mediator. There's a unity
between the Father and Him, and it is such that to withhold honor,
to withhold worship from the Son, is to withhold worship and
honor from the Father. My Father worketh hitherto, and
I worship. He is declaring His deity and
He is declaring the fact that He is the supreme, potentate
ruler over all of God's creation. The man, Christ Jesus. Now the
second thing I want to point out to us, the Lord Jesus gives
everlasting life to all, to all who hear His word and believe
in Him. Verse 24. Verily, verily, I say
unto you, 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. To hear in Scripture, to
hear often means to obey or to believe. As when the Father spoke
from heaven and said, This is my beloved Son, hear ye Him. Believe Him. Worship Him. Obey Him. So to hear His Word
and believe on Him is essentially the same thing. To hear, to obey
Him, to believe on Him is essentially the same thing. Verily, verily,
I say unto you, He that heareth my Word, Believeth on Him that
sent me, hath everlasting life. To hear His Word and believe
on Him is the same. He said, My doctrine is not mine,
but Him that sent me. When you believe on Christ, you
believe on the Father. Because their doctrine, their
teaching is one. It's the same. And He said this
also, He that receives Me, receives Him that sent Me. When you receive
Christ, when a person receives Christ, he receives the Father. Because there's a unity between
the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. And notice our Lord
said this. 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 will never come into condemnation. Romans chapter eight and verse
one, there's therefore now no condemnation to them which are
in Christ Jesus with which walk not according to the flesh, but
according to the spirit. Remember one of those questions
that the apostle Paul asked later in Romans chapter eight is this,
who is he that condemneth? Who is he that condemneth? And he answers. He didn't ask
for anyone else to answer it. He asked that question, rhetorical
question, so that he could answer it. Who is he that condemneth? It is God that justifies. Can you imagine, can you imagine
the throne room of heaven and God declaring a person to be
just, who would dare, who would dare bring a charge against one
that God has declared to be just? Who is he that condemneth? It
is Christ that died, yea, rather, that is risen again, who is even
at the right hand of God, who maketh intercession for us. And that person who hears His
word, believes on Him, has passed from death unto life, has everlasting
life. Has passed from death unto life.
A person passes from death to life, that is spiritual death
to everlasting life, eternal life, upon believing in Christ. When that jailer asked the Apostle
Paul and Silas that all-important question, what must I do to be
saved? The answer was clear and sharp. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and thou shalt be saved. What does it mean to you to be
saved? What does it mean to you to be saved? It means a number
of things, doesn't it? But first of all, it means that
our sins are forgiven. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and thou shalt be saved. Thy sins will be forgiven. It
means to be justified, declared righteous, doesn't it? Believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be by God Almighty
declared to be just, and no one will ever be able to bring a
charge against you. What does it mean to be saved?
It means to be on your way to heaven, doesn't it? That God
has prepared a place for you in the Father's house, one of
those mansions, one of those dwelling places. is yours. And no one else can inhabit that
place. It's yours. It has your name
on it. RSVP. Right? Amen. RSVP. Nobody else can live in
that dwelling place that has your name on it. Whosoever believeth
in him that sent me hath everlasting life. Is passed from death unto
life. Now there's many other things
we could include in what it means to be saved, but aren't those
three wonderful things? Our sins are forgiven, we're
declared just before God, and we have a home in heaven. When does a person hear His Word
and believe on Him? Many people think that eternal
life is something that we will possess when this physical life
ends. Now, eternal life no doubt will
be enjoyed more when this physical life is ended. But eternal life
is now. Now. When does a person hear
and believe? Now! A person who hears and believes
has everlasting life. Every believer in this building
tonight, we have everlasting life. The Lord said, this is
life eternal, that you might know Him, the true God, and Jesus
Christ, whom He has sent. You know God, you have everlasting
life. You have eternal life. Yes, when
our life in this world is ended, we'll enjoy this eternal life
more, no doubt about that. But those who trust in Christ
have passed from death unto life. Now here's the third thing in
verses 25 through 30. 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, 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 hath 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 grave 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 I can of mine own self do nothing,
as I hear I judge, and my judgment is just, because I seek not mine
own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me. In
those verses I just read, I want you to notice the Lord speaks
of two hours. Of two hours. In verse 25, He
says, The hour is coming, and now is. And then if you look
down to verse 28, he speaks of a second hour. Marvel not at
this, for the hour is coming, but he doesn't say, and now is.
The hour is coming in which all that are in the grave shall hear
his voice. The hour is yet future in which
those who are in the graves, those who are dead, shall hear
his voice. Now we know that this will happen
when the Lord Jesus Christ comes again. When He comes again with
all His holy angels. He spoke of this in Matthew 25.
Let me turn over here and read this for us. Matthew chapter
25 and beginning with verse 31. When the Son of Man shall come
in His glory, and all the holy angels with him. Then shall he
sit upon the throne of his glory, and before him shall be gathered
all nations. And he shall separate them one
from another, as a shepherd divided his sheep from the goats. And
he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on
the left. Then shall the king say unto them on his right hand,
Come, you blessed of my father. inherit the kingdom prepared
for you from the foundation of the world. And then he goes on
to speak about the good that they have done. I was unhungered. You gave me meat. I was thirsty.
You gave me drink. I was a stranger and you took
me in. Naked and you clothed me. I was sick and you visited
me. I was in prison and you came
unto me. But then to those on the left
hand, the goats, they began to ask about what they had done. They say unto him, or then shall
he say unto them on the left hand, apart from me, verse 41,
you cursed into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his
angels, for I was in hunger and you gave me no meat. And he goes
through that list again. Now these, in that hour, all
shall be raised. All shall be raised, all shall
be assembled before God. The nations, nations are made
up of individuals. And all peoples who've ever walked
on the face of God's earth, all shall be called here to this,
in this resurrection, in this judgment. And the righteous,
those who have heard His voice and believed on Him and have
received eternal life, they shall be the sheep placed on His right
hand. And they have done good, good
works. The goats, those who have not
trusted in Christ, are on his left hand. They have done evil,
even as our Lord says here in our text tonight. They that have done good unto
the resurrection of life, and they that have done evil unto
the resurrection of damnation. There's only one resurrection,
only one hour when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of
God and shall come forth. But now, that first hour that
he mentions here, the hour is coming and now is when the dead
shall hear the voice of the Son of God. and they that hear shall
live. There's two thoughts here. Our Lord, while he was here upon
the earth, he did speak to at least three we know of who were
dead. The daughter of Jairus, the son
of the widow of Nain, and Lazarus. He did speak, and they heard
His voice, and they came forth. But notice the text doesn't say,
from the graves. It says, 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, and they that hear shall
live. I believe this is speaking about what we would call a spiritual
resurrection. That in this time, As the gospel
is being proclaimed and preached, his sheep hear his voice, and
they that hear live. Turn with me, we'll close with
John chapter 10. John chapter 10 and beginning
with verse 24. 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. Jesus answered them, I told you,
and you believe not. The works that I do in my Father's
name, they bear witness of me. Now notice, but you believe not,
because you are not of my sheep. As I said unto you, my sheep
hear my voice. The hour is coming, and now is
when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of Man, and
shall come forth, shall live. 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." Well, I pray that the Lord would bless this
word to all of us here this evening.