What was her name? Mary. I'm
going to fly. I hope you don't fly in my mouth
while I'm preaching. Well, it's good to see you all
out. It's good to see you remember
Malcolm's brother, Ronald. Malcolm called him today and
said his brother had to be operated on. I think he'll take a half
of his right foot off. He said it was because of neuropathy,
but I don't know whether that's what it is. I don't know if neuropathy
can be bad. I don't think it was because of it. But remember
him, he prayed his mouth with Brother Ronald, and the others
who requested prayer also. Again, I worship service tonight
with hymn number 242. Jesus, I come! Jesus, I come! Enter my freedom, gladness, and
light! Jesus, I come to Thee. Out of my sickness into Thy health. Out of my woe and into Thy will. Out of my sin and into Thy shell. Jesus, I come to Thee! Thou art my strength of faith
and hope. Jesus, I come! Jesus, I come! Jesus, I come to Thee! Have mercy on me! Have mercy on me! Jesus I come to Thee! How ungracious and arrogant pride! Jesus I come! Jesus I come! Jesus, I come to Thee, out of
myself to dwell in Thy love, out of despair into rapture's
abode. Jesus, I come to Thee Out of
fear and dread I come Jesus, I come Jesus, I come to Thee! Out of the depths of gloom and
horror, Into the peace of a sheltering home, Jesus, I come to Thee. Just as I am without complete,
but that my blood was shed for me. And that Thou bidst me come
to Thee, O Lamb of God, I come, I come. Just as I am, I'm waiting not
to rid my soul of one dark thought, to Thee whose blood can cleanse
each spot, O Lamb of God, I come, I come. Just as I am, tossed apart with
many a conflict, with many a doubt, I reach and pierce within, without
aware of God, I come, I come. Just as I am poor, rich, and
blind, I'm rich, it's meaning all of mine. With all I need in Thee, Divine
O Lamb of God, I come, I come. Because I promise I believe O
Lamb of God, I come, I come Don't sing that old song very
much because it's used in imitation. You have to ensure it's in the
word. There's some good words in that song. It's solid language. John chapter five. We'll read
verses 18 through 24. John chapter five. Begin where verse 17. But Jesus
answered them, my father worketh hitherto, and I work. Therefore the Jews sought the
Lord to kill him, because he not only had broken the Sabbath,
but also that God was his father, making himself equal with God. Then answered Jesus and said
unto them, veryly, veryly, I say unto you, the son of man can
do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the father do. For what
things soever he doeth, these also 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 ye may marvel. Whereas 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 is sent him. Verily,
verily, I say unto thee, he that heareth my word, and believeth
on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come to condemnation,
but is passed from death unto life. We're thankful for the clear
record that is set before us in this passage of scripture
as our Lord speaks to those who seek to kill him and yet pause
to listen to his words. We're thankful as he sets forth
exactly who he is. We praise you that we understand
by your grace Because you've given us faith to believe that
Jesus Christ is indeed the Son of the Living God, the very God
Himself. We are thankful that you have
given us a heart to worship Him and give Him all praise and all
glory and all honor. And have no confidence in our
flesh, you see. Not our flesh for anything. Father, we pray for those who
are sick and going through trials and troubles. We pray for those
who've lost loved ones. We pray for Malcolm's mother,
Ronald, that he's had this operation on his foot. We pray for his
recovery. We're thankful for the word of Red's sister that
she's, they can't find cancer. It's a glorious thing when that
happens. We thank you for it. I pray tonight
for ourselves and gather here to give us a clear understanding
and appreciation of what our Lord has to say. We ask it in
his precious name. Amen. When I read the scriptures, I haven't always done this, but
in the last 10 or so years, I've tried to do this as I read the
scripture. To put myself in the place of
those who are hearing our Lord speak. Put myself in the place
of his disciples when he speaks to his disciples. Put myself
in the place of sinners when he speaks to sinners. Put myself
in the place of the Pharisee or the legalist, the religionist
when he speaks to them. It gives me, I think, an understanding
that I didn't have before of the Word of God, and I appreciate
that. I never put myself in the place
of Christ speaking because His thoughts are above my thoughts
and His ways far above my ways. But for His hearers, that's me. I was graced by God to hear the
Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ many years ago. The Lord revealed
Himself to me through the preaching of the Word, and as I was Reading
these words, I tried to put myself in the place of these Jews who
had just heard a man from Galilee, a Nazarite, a Nazarene, who just
has told them that he is the Son of God. As a Jew, I was born as such. I was raised to believe that
I was the elect people, that only the Jews had anything to
do with God, and only the Jews were elect to God. And God only
dealt with the Jews, and everybody else was an infidel and without
hope in this world. That's the way I was raised,
if I was a Jew. I did not choose to be a Jew. I did not convert
to Judaism. If I was a Jew, I was born a
Jew. My mother was a Jew, and therefore
I was a Jew, and that's just how it was. And I was raised
under the Old Testament and Old Covenant laws, commonly known
as the Ten Commandments and all the ceremonies and the duties
that went with that. I would hear of the prophets
and from the prophets, and I would believe what I was told, and
I would believe that's the way it was and there was no other
way. I didn't look for the Son of God, because there are several
mentions of one who is called the Son of God in Scripture.
But not a great deal in the Old Testament about the Son of God.
There's a great deal about the Messiah, who is the Son of God,
but he's never declared as Messiah, the Son of God in Scripture.
But for someone to come along who's doing miracles, and I'm
fascinated by that. And I figure he must have some
power from on high. He must have some power from
God, like Negevimus did. I want to find out more about
it. And then we who, Jews who go into the temple and worship
the true God, the one God, hero Israel, our God is one God. For a man to say I'm the son
of God, God's son, I am born. of God, how would I feel? How would I feel? I'd be angry. I'd be upset. And so would these
folks. For him to declare to be the
son of God, when I know, because I've been raised to believe there's
just one God. One God. Singular God. And here's a man says he's the
son of God and making himself equal with God. How would I feel? I'd probably feel just like these
folks did. So they react that way. It says in verse 18, they
sought to kill him. They sought to kill him. Not
only because he had done this healing on the Sabbath of this
man at the Pool of Siloam, or Pool of Bethesda, but that he
had said he was the Son of God and therefore he was equal with
God. In John chapter 10, the same
group of people said when he said he's the son of God, they
said he maketh himself to be God. John chapter 10 and verse
30. But rather than kill him, rather
than take him to the prowl of a hill and cast him off of a
cliff, rather than stone him to death, they listened to what
he asked to say. And I said last time, I wondered
why it was that these Jews, so filled with murderous intent,
because it says they sought to kill him, would forgo their immediate
disposal of Christ and listen to him speak. I wonder why they
did. I wonder why they did. They knew that his claim was
to be the son of God, and that made him equal with God, which
was to them blasphemy and worthy of death. The reluctance may
have been to the manner in which he spoke. Men and women, it says
in scripture, were astonished at his doctrine. Astonished at
his doctrine. And here he's teaching, so this
is his doctrine he's doing right here. When he says in verse 17,
my father worked hitherto and I worked, that's a doctrine,
that's a teaching of God. And they were astonished. I said,
well, we know they were astonished at his doctrine because it said
so. It also says that when he spoke, he spoke with authority,
and not as the scribes and the Pharisees. When the scribes and
the Pharisees spoke to people, it was as if this word was their
word, and not the word of God. It was as if they were telling
people how to live, and what to do, and how to regulate their
lives, and it wasn't the word of God, it was them who spoke. He spoke the word of God. He
was the prophet promised in Deuteronomy 18. There are many prophets before
him, but he was the prophet promised, that very one. But he spoke as
one that didn't speak like the scribes and the Pharisees. He,
after all, according to this very book, was the living word
of God. And what he said were his words.
And those words were said to be words of eternal life. His words were said to be spirit,
and they were life. And His words would be the judge
of men. Our Lord said in the 12th chapter
of this book, there's one that judge you. And then He said,
I won't judge you. He said, but there is one that
judge you, and that's the words that I speak. they will judge
you in the last day. Perhaps, though, since these
men were familiar with the scriptures, they had all, after all, were
Jews, and they were raised on this book from Genesis to Malachi. These men were familiar. His
claim may have reminded him of a couple things in the Old Testament
that talked about the Son of God. Because it is mentioned
in the Old Testament. Let's look back at one of David's
psalms, Psalm 2. 2nd Psalm, God says to this person in chapter 2 and verse 7, I will
declare the decree. Now we know Paul used this chapter
in Acts chapter 4 to speak of the
crucifixion of the Lord Jesus Christ. And here he's described,
God said, I will declare the decree. Now when God decrees
something, it's going to come to pass. The Lord said unto me,
thou art my son. This day have I begotten thee.
Notice that son is capitalized. Ask of me, and I shall give thee
the heathen for thy inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the
earth for thy possession. Thou shalt break them with a
rod of iron. Thou shalt bash them in pieces
like a potter's vessel. Be wise now, therefore, O ye
kings. Be instructed, ye judges of the
earth. Serve the Lord with fear and
rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, lest he be angry. And ye perish from the way when
his wrath is come upon the Lord. Blessed are all they that put
their trust in him. This day have I begun. Thou art
my Son. So they knew if they read the
Psalms, when Jesus Christ said, I'm the Son of God, they'd heard
that phrase before and that phraseology before. And then if we turn over
to the prophet Isaiah, in Isaiah chapter 7 and verse
14, It says, therefore the Lord himself
shall give you a sign. Behold, a virgin shall conceive
and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. So this son that's born of a
virgin, born of a woman, born under the law to redeem them
that are under the law, his name is Immanuel, which is interpreted
according to Matthew, God. God with us. This virgin shall
conceive and bear a son, and he shall be God. Not the God
out there, but a God we can see, a God we can touch, a God who's
touched with the feeling of our infirmities, a God who walks
among us and tabernacles among us, the Word made flesh. Then
over in chapter 9 of Isaiah, in verse 6, it says, For unto
us a child is born, but unto us a son is given. And the government shall be upon
his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful, or Secret,
Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince
of Peace. And of his government and peace
there shall be no end, upon the throne of David and upon his
kingdom, to order and to establish it with judgment and justice
from henceforth for evermore. The zeal of the Lord of Hosts
shall perform this." might have listened to him because he said,
I'm the son of God. And they might have thought about
those verses that refer to a son being given, a son being set
on Zion's holy hill as king, and a son who would rule over
him. For whatever reason, they listened. They received an earful
of truth concerning the fact that Jesus Christ and God were
co-equal and in concert together for whatever he was to do on
this earth. He was indeed the Son of God.
Remember, this is what the stone that the builders refused, the
stone that the Lord said he would build his church. And what was
that stone? It was the words of Simon Peter. And the Lord
said, whom do men say that I am? Some say, well, you're Jeremiah
the prophet. Why? Because probably he wept
a lot. He wept with those who wept and mourned with those who
mourned. Some say you're the return of John the Baptist. Some
say you're Elisha. And he said, well, who do you
say that I am? Simon Peter said, thou art the
son of the living God. Thou art the son of the living
God. And he said, blessed art thou, Simon Bar-Jonah. Blessed,
but it's not revealed to something, but the Father which is in heaven.
And upon this rock I'll build my church, and the gates of hell
shall not prevail against it. In Psalm 2, the Lord referred
to his king, his son, the ruler of all, executing judgment with
a rod of iron. And those under his rule were
told to kiss the son, kiss the son, lest he be angry. And they
were destroyed when his wrath was kindled but a little. They
were told to be wise and trusted the Lord. And I think that passage
might hit a home with them. with the Jews because of what
Christ said in verse 24. I'll tell you. When he said, verily, verily,
I say unto you, he that believeth, he that heareth my words. Now,
what's he saying? His words, he's speaking to me.
His words. 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 to life.
Our Lord has some things to say to these men. The first thing
the Lord does is to tell these people that He is in their midst
doing what God the Father does. Doing what God the Father does.
If they were seeing Him, they were seeing the Father. Remember
one of the disciples said to the Lord in John 14, show us
the Father, who He sat next to. Just show us the Father. He came
to reveal the Father, he said in John 17. He came to reveal
God as the Father. How did He reveal Him? that he
was the son. You see, the father has a son.
He wouldn't be a son if he didn't have a father. He would be a
creating creature, which he was not. They were seeing him. They were
seeing the father. When that one said, show us the
father, we'll be satisfied. He said, if you've seen me, you've
seen the father. You've seen the father. He says, if they interfere with
his work, they are interfering with God's work. Verse 19 of
our text. It says that, then answered Jesus,
it said, and verily, verily, truly, truly, I say unto you,
the Son can do nothing of himself but what he seeth the Father
do. For whatsoever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise. So it said, I and the Father
are doing the same thing. Secondly, he gives the reason
why he and his father are in this work together. He says in
verse 24, the father loveth the son and showeth him all things
that himself doeth, and he will show him greater works than these
that ye may indeed marvel. The Father loveth the Son. John
the Baptist said practically the same thing. In John 3.35,
he said, The Father loveth the Son, and hath given all things
into his hands. Remember, all things work together
for good to him that loveth God and live with a cause according
to his purpose. Why? Because all things are in the
hand of our Savior. All things. All things are of
God, it says in 2 Corinthians 5.19. And to the people who know well
what God did in Egypt, the Jews knew some things about God, some
marvels. They knew about God dividing
the Red Sea and the people of Israel walking across. They knew
God raising up Pharaoh to put him down. They knew the ten plagues. They knew the night that God
came through and killed the firstborn of every house, except of every
house, and the only ones that survived were the ones that had
the blood of the sun on their toe. When I see the blood out
past them, they knew that. They knew the works of Moses
when he said, cast a tree into the bitter waters, and the bitter
waters were made sweet. He said, make that iron swim,
and he made it swim. They saw the works of Moses.
Elijah, when the woman's son was dead,
he laid down on him and what we would think probably gave
him resuscitation and raised him from the dead. They knew
these miracles. Our Lord said, greater things
are going to happen, greater things And if they even had been
present, perhaps, or in the area when this man had been raised,
who had been sick 38 years and unable to move, picked up his
bed and walked, they even knew that miracle. Why does he speak
greater things? He says that to his disciples.
He said to his disciples, later on in this very book, you're
going to do greater things than I did. And we know Jesus Christ
did some wondrous things. Did some wondrous things. He raised the bed. He fed 5,000 and the next chapter
he's gonna feed 5,000 people with a few loaves of fishies
and a few loaves of bread and a couple of fishies. And have
leftover 12 baskets full. Gonna do some wondrous things.
He turned water into wine, thank you. Killed that fly. He done wondrous things. And he says, greater things than
these so that you'll marvel. Well, I marvel at those things,
don't you? I would marvel if Jesus Christ came along to a
man who'd been sick for 30 years. I'd marvel at that. He said,
there's greater things. You do. And I do. Greater things. Greater things. But our Lord
speaks of spiritual things. Things that can't be undone. This man healed with his baby. Sick 38 years for a while. He's
gonna be healthy, but then he's gonna get old and he's gonna
die. Everybody that Jesus Christ healed
their bodies died then. All would be greater then if
a person could be healed and never die. If a person could
be raised from the dead then never to die again. These are
spiritual things such as redemption. To be bought by God, by the blood
of God, paid for and owned and purchased and possessed by God
Almighty, that's a greater thing. To be justified before God, to
stand before God as if I never sinned when I know what I am.
To be saved from sin, from the power of sin, and one day from
the very presence of sin. To be sanctified, to be declared
holy by God himself. To have a righteousness imputed
to me so I stand before God as if I was His righteousness itself. That's greater than anything
that can be done to the physical body. Greater than any miracle
that the Lord ever did. The greatest miracle He did was
saving His people by His perfect sacrificial sacrifice on Calvary
Street. Greater things than this, for
the Father loveth Father loveth the Son, and showeth him all
things that himself doeth. And he will show him greater
works than these, that ye may marvel. And those who know Christ
marvel. They marvel at the fact that
Christ is able to do miracles, wondrous things. But they marvel
more, because having experience with themselves, they marvel
at what it is to be a sinner saved by grace. What a miracle. What a miracle. Thirdly, God
has power to raise men from the dead. They have examples of that
in the Old Testament. I just said about Elijah. And
also in Ezekiel 16, you remember the young baby girl that was
born on her trek. The tribe was moving and a baby
girl was born. But a girl, you know, they were
like second class citizens. They didn't matter much to most
of them because they couldn't do no work. They couldn't do
the work that a man could do. They were a burden to the family
until they got married and could produce people themselves, hopefully
sons. So what do you do with someone
that's useless when you're traveling and you don't have a bunch of
food and you're kind of, you throw them aside. And the indication is in Ezekiel
16 that the umbilical cord and the placenta was still attached
to her. She was born, they didn't cut the umbilical cord, they
pulled out the placenta and they cast her and her placenta, which
was her unity with her father Adam, that was her unity with
her integrity, aside to die. And according to scripture, she
died. They left her to be. But she's
a picture of the church. The one whom Jesus Christ came
to save, the one who's dead and trespasses sin no different from
anybody else, as if God had chosen from the beginning of the world. God walks by. He said, when I
saw thee in thy blood, I said, live. I said, live. And she lived. Not only did she live, he said,
I saw it was time to go up. I cast my skirt over the gate.
And I raised me up. Yeah, I became beautiful. Became
my bride. I dressed thee in a wedding gown
to put jewels on my hands and a necklace on my neck. You were
beautiful, for you were renowned for your beauty, which came from
me, he said. But first, it all starts this
way, just as the Lord said to Nicodemus, you first must live. He quickeneth the dead. The Father raises up the dead
and quickeneth them, even so the Son of Man quickeneth whom
he wills. The Son possesses the same power
as he will prove with Jerias, his daughter, the widow of Mane's
son, and Lazarus. But the greatest thing is, that
He raises man from spiritual death. You who are dead in trespasses
and sins have been quickened together with Christ. While you
were dead, He has quickened you together with Christ by grace.
You are saved. He has the power to quicken the
dead and even greater, the power to give life to some who are
dead in trespasses and sins. That's a wonderful thing. That's
a wondrous thing. The Father also is known as the
final judge. If you would talk to the Jewish
person, to any of these Jews, say, who's going to judge the
world? They say, God's going to judge the world. God's going
to judge the world. Well, who's he talking about?
Verse 22, for the Father judgeth no man. Wait a minute. But he
committed all judgment to the Son. All judgment to the Son. Remember what he said, kiss the
son lest he behead you. And you're destroyed when his
wrath is given but just a little. You see, Christ's very presence
in this world is the judgment of this world. It's the judgment
of this world. And he will judge all men. He
will judge some in substitutionary grace, for he will judge whom
he will and quicken whom he will. He will judge the rest in absolute
wrath. And I wonder if those that were
listening thought of the words of Abraham
to Lot when God was about to destroy Sodom. Abraham said,
Lord, and if you'll look, that's capital L, Lord, if there's 50
men there that are righteous, Would you save that city? Because
I know the judge of all the earth shall do right. Who's the judge
of all the earth? The Lord Jesus Christ. He's the judge of all the earth. Verse 23 is addressed
to those who kill Christ. that all men should honor. Old
Barnard used to say, if the man that the gospel is preached right,
everybody who hears it comes to a verdict about themselves.
Can't help it. He's just going to do it. He
said, well, I reject it. You've reached a verdict. I received it. You've reached
a verdict to those who are going to kill him now. He's just about
finished speaking to them on this particular subject. He's
got more to say to them along the way. That all men should
honor the Son, even as they honor the Father. He that honoreth
not the Son, honoreth not the Father. You see, they've listened
to his claims now. He said that he and the Father
are one. The Father loves him. They're
going to do marvelous things, more than they've ever seen.
They're going to raise people from the dead. They're going to judge the world. That's
his claim. And he said, you don't honor
me. You don't believe what I've said. You don't honor me. You don't
honor the father. He has brought them to a verdict.
Will they believe him or carry on, carry out with their murder?
If they do not honor Him, they will be dishonoring God. To believe
the gospel is to honor and glorify God. To glorify His Son. They have heard His words. It's
been plain and clear. If they believe Him, that His
claims are true, they have everlasting life. It doesn't say they'll
get everlasting life. It says they have it now. They
have everlasting life, and they will not come into condemnation,
and will have passed from death to life. They will be quickened
by the Son, or have been quickened by the Son. That's how he ends
this particular passage, or this part of the passage. Verily,
verily, I say unto you, that he that heareth my word. That's
absolutely essential. This is the way faith comes.
No other way. It starts by hearing the Word
of God. Faith comes by hearing and hearing the word of God.
Paul said in Romans chapter 10, whosoever shall call upon the
name of the Lord shall be saved. But how shall they call on him
in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe on
him in whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without
a preacher? And how shall they preach except it be said, he
that heareth my word, my word, And believeth on him that sent
me, believe that the Father sent me, hath everlasting life, and
shall not come into condemnation, and will have passed from death
to life, spiritual death to true life. This is the word of the
Lord. He that believeth on him is not
condemned. But he that believeth not is
condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name
of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation,
that light has come into this world, and men love darkness
rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For every one
that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh the light, lest
his deeds should be approved. But he that doeth truth cometh
to the light. that his deeds may be made manifest,
that they are wrought of God. I come to the light. It's because
God did it. God made it to happen. Our Lord
made some serious claims before these men, and then he brought
them to the place. Well, you've heard now. Do you
believe me? Do you believe me? God bless
us to understand the great Christ. Amen.