SERIES: The Gospel of John
He’s His Father’s Son
SPEAKER: Michael P. Andrus
Note to David: I have changed the title of this sermon but not the sermon itself.
Introduction: Have you ever heard anyone say of a boy, “My, he’s sure his father’s son, isn’t he?” When someone says that about one of my sons, Eddie or Andy, I always cringe a bit until I find out whether the trait which they are comparing in us is a good one or a bad one. Isn’t it curious how often one can see a father in his son? And I’m not talking just about looks, but also about attitudes and speech and mannerisms.
Now that might easily lead into a sermon on the responsibilities of training up our children, but that’s not my purpose this morning. Rather I wish to talk about the Son who was more like His Father than any other son and father ever. I’m talking, of course, about Jesus Christ, of whom it could be said without any hesitation, “He was His Father’s Son!”
Our Scripture for today is John 5:16-30, but it is very important for us to notice the verses immediately preceding this passage. In two messages in December, we saw that Jesus healed a man who had been sick for 38 years, and He did it on the Sabbath Day. That raised the dander of the hypocritical religious leaders of the Jews and they sought to kill Him, according to verse 18.
Two reasons are given for their murderous intent: (1) He was breaking the Sabbath, and (2) He was calling God His own father, making Himself equal with God. It is this last accusation that forms the backdrop for today’s passage. The Jews said Jesus was claiming to be equal with God. How does He respond? Verse 19 begins, “Jesus gave them this answer….” If you want to know who Jesus claimed to be, you cannot afford to ignore this passage, for this is His answer to the charge that He was claiming to be equal with God.
Let’s read John 5:16-30:
So, because Jesus was doing these things on the Sabbath, the Jewish leaders began to persecute him. 17 In his defense Jesus said to them, “My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I too am working.” 18 For this reason they tried all the more to kill him; not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God.
19 Jesus gave them this answer: “Very truly I tell you, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does. 20 For the Father loves the Son and shows him all he does. Yes, and he will show him even greater works than these, so that you will be amazed. 21 For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son gives life to whom he is pleased to give it. 22 Moreover, the Father judges no one, but has entrusted all judgment to the Son, 23 that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father, who sent him.
24 “Very truly I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life. 25 Very truly I tell you, a time is coming and has now come when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live. 26 For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself. 27 And he has given him authority to judge because he is the Son of Man.
28 “Do not be amazed at this, for a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice 29 and come out—those who have done what is good will rise to live, and those who have done what is evil will rise to be condemned. 30 By myself I can do nothing; I judge only as I hear, and my judgment is just, for I seek not to please myself but him who sent me.
The first thing I notice about the passage is that Jesus doesn’t say “yes,” and He doesn’t say “no,” at least not in so many words. But His affirmative answer will become perfectly clear as we proceed. I think the reason Jesus doesn’t simply say, “Yes, you’re right, I am claiming to be equal with God,” is that the issue is a complex one. The statement, “Jesus is equal to God,” is susceptible of several different interpretations and understandings. To some it means simply that Jesus is one in purpose with His father. To others it means that Jesus was the Father, only in disguise. To still others, myself included, it means that while Jesus was a separate person from the Father, He was equal to the Father in essence, attributes and purpose.
What we are facing here is the difficulty of understanding the doctrine of the Trinity, namely that there is one God in three persons. Each of those persons is equal to the others in essence and in attributes, but each is distinct from the others as well. This balance of distinctiveness and equality between Jesus and His Father is probably nowhere more clearly seen than right here. The emphasis is upon the equality, but first Jesus speaks of how He is distinct from the Father.
The Son is distinct from the Father.
Jesus is a person distinct from His Father in four ways, as shown beginning in verses 19 & 20.
The Son is dependent upon the Father. (19) As Jesus puts it, “I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his father doing.” This dependence of the Son upon the Father demonstrates that they are distinct persons. An illustration might be seen in a person’s shadow. A shadow is dependent upon the person casting it. If it is to move, then he must move (or at least the light source must move). But the shadow is not the person—it is distinct from the person. Even so, the Son’s very dependence upon the Father shows Him to be distinct from the Father, for in order for there to be a dependency relationship, there must be two separate persons.
The Son is loved by the Father. (20) Verse 20 says, “The Father loves the Son.” This too shows that the Son is distinct from the Father, for true love requires for its expression the interaction of two personalities. The tense used for love here shows this to be a continuing habitual love—the Father never ceases to love the Son.
It is interesting to me that Jesus does not use the normal NT word for love here—the Greek term agape. Rather He employs the term phileo, which has the connotation of brotherly love, a love between equals.
The Son is informed by the Father. (20) The Father’s love is demonstrated in part by the fact that He keeps no secrets from the Son. Verse 20 says that the Father loves the Son “and shows him all he does. Yes, to your amazement he will show him even greater things than these.” If the Son were the Father, it would make no sense to say that information passed from the Father to the Son, but if the Son is distinct from the Father, it makes good sense to say that He is informed about all the Father is doing.
The “greater works” mentioned here, by the way, are probably a reference to the resurrections and judgment mentioned in the succeeding verses. If His listeners are startled by His healing of a man lame for 38 years, they should just until they wake up on Judgment Day and see what He’s going to do then!
The Son seeks to please the Father. (30) “I seek not to please myself but him who sent me.” Again, it is evident from this verse that we have two person with two wills interacting.
Now if Jesus had stopped right there in His answer to the charge of verse 18 that He was making Himself equal with God, one might think he was answering in the negative. But Jesus doesn’t stop there, for in addition to teaching that He is distinct from the Father, He also gives at least six areas in which He is equal to the Father. In fact, I don’t know whether you noticed it or not, but the term “son” is used ten times in verses 19-29, while the term “Father” is used eight times, and some term of comparison is used five times. This shows me that Jesus’ fundamental concern in this discourse is the establishment of the fact that He and His Father are alike, not different. It is true they are two persons, but it is also true they are equal in essence and attributes.
The Son is equal to the Father.
Let’s look, then, at six areas of equality between Jesus and His Father, and as we do so, I want you to ask this question: “Is there anyone else besides Jesus (and the Holy Spirit, of course) who is equal to God the Father in these areas?” If not, then we have established a very important fact, namely the uniqueness of Jesus Christ in regard to His deity and Lordship.
Equal in power (19). The last half of verse 19 reads, “whatever the Father does the Son also does.” There is no power that belongs to God that isn’t likewise possessed by Jesus Christ. One can go all the way back to creation for an illustration of this: in Gen. 1:1 it says, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth,” while Col. 1:16 says of Jesus Christ, “For by Him all things were created.” Other examples are seen in the power to raise the dead and the power to forgive sin.
The Son is equal in power to the Father, and whatever One does, the Other does also. In fact, when Jesus performed a miracle, one might just as well state that the Father performed the miracle, for their power is identical.
Equal in knowledge (20). I see this fact in verse 20. If the Father shows the Son everything He is doing, then the Son is totally informed, and His knowledge is equal to the Father’s. Do the Scriptures bear out this equality in knowledge? Did Jesus really possess omniscience as did His Father? Let’s look just at the Gospel of John for our answer to that question:
2:25: “He did not need man’s testimony about man, for he knew what was in a man.”
4:29: The woman at the well says, “Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Christ?”
6:64: “For Jesus had known from the beginning which of them did not believe and who would betray him.”
16:30: Jesus’ disciples say, “Now we can see that you know all things and that you do not even need to have anyone ask you questions. This makes us believe that you came from God.”
21:17: Peter says, “Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you.”
Yes, even in His incarnation Jesus was equal to His Father in knowledge. There is only one apparent exception to that fact, and that is found in Matt. 24:36, which says, “No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.” That’s certainly a difficult passage, but in light of the many passages which imply that Jesus was equal in knowledge to His Father, I can only suggest that Jesus voluntarily chose not to know that fact during His incarnation.
Equal in life-giving ability (21). Look at verse 21: “For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son gives life to whom He is pleased to give it.” The Jews never questioned the power of God to raise the dead. He had done it several times through the OT prophets. But now Jesus is claiming equal ability to raise the dead. Up to this point Jesus had not performed any resurrections (at least they are not recorded for us in the Gospels). A little later, however, in chapter 11, we read that He raised Lazarus from the grave.
However, it is my opinion that resurrection from physical death is not the primary thrust of verse 21b. I believe He is speaking primarily of the equally great miracle of resurrection from spiritual death. In other words, the sense is this: “Just as the Father takes dead bodies and raises them into new life, so the Son takes men who, though their bodies are alive, are yet in a state of death, and raises them into spiritual life.” The Son is equal to the Father in life-giving ability.
Equal in judging (22, 27). Verse 22 says, “Moreover the Father judges no one, but has entrusted all judgment to the Son.” And verse 27 adds, “And he has given him authority to judge because he is the Son of Man.” God the Father is called the Judge many times in Scripture. In fact, in James 4:12 we are told that “there is only One Lawgiver and Judge, namely God the Father.” That’s an important reference, for if there’s only one Judge, and if the Father and the Son both possess that privilege, that indicates a unity and equality between them.
Equal in honor (23). The reason why God has delegated all judgment to the Son is so that Jesus might receive equal honor as Himself. Look at verse 23: “that all many honor the Son just as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father, who sent Him.” My question is, “How can people honor Jesus Christ as they honor the Father when they do not ascribe deity and Lordship to Him?” A study of the cults will show that nearly all of them fail at this crucial point in that they refuse to ascribe to Jesus the deity that is rightfully His. Oh, they honor Him as a great teacher or as a moral example or as the highest creation of God. But that is not the honor He demands or deserves. He Himself said that the Father intended for Him to be honored just as the Father is honored—as Lord and as God.
Friend, if you do not honor Jesus as Lord, then you are not honoring God, for that’s exactly what the latter part of verse 23 says. There are so many people who claim to believe in God and pay their respects to Him in various ways, but if they have refused to come to grips with the claims of Jesus Christ, they are fooling themselves, for no man can approach the Father except through Jesus Christ (John 14:6). They are equals in honor.
Equal in self-existence (26). Self-existence is one of the lesser-known attributes of God. Essentially it means that He exists in His own right and is not dependent upon anyone else or anything else for His existence. Acts 17:24-25 is the key passage that teaches the self-existence of God: “The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands. And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything, because he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else.”
Self-existence is certainly not true of any of us. Our entrance into this world is dependent upon our parents and at nearly every point in our lives our sustenance depends upon other people—farmers, truck drivers, clothing manufacturers, etc. Behind the scenes, of course, our existence depends completely upon God’s sustaining grace. But Jesus is equal to God in self-existence. Verse 26 says, “For just as the Father has life in himself, even so he gave to the Son also to have life in himself.” He exists in His own right. If the whole universe were suddenly to go out of existence it would not affect the existence of Christ. He and His Father are equal in self-existence.
We have seen six areas in which Jesus claimed to be qual with God: in power, knowledge, life-giving ability, judging, honor, and self-existence. Now let’s return to the charge of the Pharisees in verse 18: “We’re going to kill you, Jesus, because you have made yourself equal with God!” How has Jesus answered the charge? He has clearly answered it in the affirmative. “Yes, I am equal with God. I am a separate, distinct person, but I am the Lord God.” Not a single creature on the face of the earth could make any of these claims that Jesus has made and substantiate it. But Jesus claimed them all and demonstrated those claims.
But so what? Is this just good theology? Are these just propositions that Christians are supposed to believe in order to be good Christians? Or do these claims that Jesus made have some major practical import for our lives? I want you to look with me thirdly and finally at the fact that …
The Son calls for a response in light of His unique relationship to the Father.
Look at verse 24 & 25? “I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life. I tell you the truth, a time is coming and has now come when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live.” The message here is this:
We can exchange death for life now. (24-25). The Bible teaches that all of us are stillborn into this world. That’s a revolting notion to the secular humanists of our day, who believe that man is basically good. But Ephesians 2:1 says, “As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world.” We are born physically alive but spiritually dead; that is, we are separated from God and are unable to enjoy fellowship with Him. And the only way to become spiritually alive is to hear the voice of the Son of God. The verb “to hear” in the NT often has the connotation of “to listen” or “accept.” Hearing and accepting the claims of Jesus Christ allows us to receive eternal life and escape from the condemnation that is the destiny of all who do not believe.
Remember John 3:18: “Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.” So radical is this decision to believe in Jesus that He describes it in John 5:24 as “crossing over from death to life.” The bottomless gulf between sinful man and a holy God is crossed only when one uses the bridge that Jesus Himself provided—His cross.
Now I believe the “dead” of verse 25 are the spiritually dead, not the physically dead, primarily because of the phrase “and has now come.” Look at it again: “I tell you the truth, a time is coming and has now come when the dead (spiritually stillborn sinners) will hear the voice of the Son of God(either hear His voice literally or hear it through the Scriptures) and those who hear will live.” That is, they will be saved from their sins and will be given the gift of spiritual life. But that is not the whole story, for in verse 28 Jesus goes on to tell us …
We can exchange death for life for all eternity. “Do not be amazed at this, for a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice and come out.” Previously He has spoken of spiritual resurrection; now He speaks of physical resurrection, which is yet future, awaiting the Second Coming of Christ. These two resurrections—a spiritual one from deadness in sins and a physical resurrection of the body when Christ returns, are intimately related, for it is only those who have been spiritually raised in this life who will experience a resurrection of life at the last great day. All others will experience a resurrection of judgment. Two truths are clearly taught here:
1. Death is not the end of existence. “A time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice and come out.” Before 1492 Spanish coins often showed the Straits of Gibraltar with a Latin inscription, ne plus ultra. It meant “no more beyond.” So far as people were aware, the western end of the Mediterranean Sea, marked by the Straits of Gibraltar, was the end of land. In that year, however, Columbus sailed to the New World across the great sea. When he returned from his voyages, the coins that had been in circulation were reissued, but now they bore the inscription plus ultra, meaning “more beyond.” In fact, this became the motto of the Spanish crown.
Jesus tells us here that there is “more beyond the grave.” But at least as important as the fact of a future existence is the fact that it comes in two forms:
2. There are two forms of existence beyond the grave. “All who are in their graves will hear his voice and come out—those who have done good will rise to live, and those who have done evil will rise to be condemned.” You may refuse to listen to the voice of the Son of God today and continue in spiritual death, but there will come a day when you will hear His voice, whether you want to or not. And a great division will then be made.
What is the good or the evil that these defendants have committed? At first it may appear that Jesus will be judging on the curve, but there are many passages that clearly deny that. Instead, it seems obvious from the context, particularly verse 24, that the good or the evil is intimately related to the acceptance or rejection of the claims of Jesus Christ. In other words, it is genuine faith that leads to the doing of good, and it is the lack of such faith that leads to the doing of evil.
Friends, what is abundantly clear in this passage today is that there are two eternal destinies open to mankind: life or death. The one we experience is up to us and depends upon what we do with the claims of Jesus.
I trust you have also noticed that eternal life is not something you earn by doing good deeds or by being baptized or by joining a church or by obeying the Ten Commandments. Rather eternal life is a gift which is given to those who believe. That eternal life is a present possession. One doesn’t have to die to find out whether he has eternal life—he can know that he has it now.
But there are also future implications. The one who has eternal life will not come into judgment on the last great day. In the original language of Scripture there is a double negative here, which is a very emphatic expression. “He will never ever incur a sentence of judgment.” In other words, to have eternal life now is to be secure throughout eternity.
Conclusion: Who is Jesus Christ? He claimed to be a person distinct from God the Father but equal to Him in essence and attributes. He came to this earth to reveal the Father to us. In Jesus Christ, God cast His shadow on earth. He lived a perfect life but was executed as a common criminal. But because He is both God and man, His sacrificial death was accepted by the Father as full payment for the sins of mankind. God only requires that we put our faith in Him as our only hope for salvation.
I fear there are those listening to me this morning who may be religious, who may believe in God, who may think highly of Jesus Christ, but if you have not received Jesus as your Lord and your God, you are still in your sins. Won’t you right now bow your heart before Him, acknowledge your sin and receive Jesus as your personal Savior. If you do, you, too, will have eternal life.
DATE: January 3, 1993
Tags:
Deity of Christ
Death
Resurrection