About this sermon
When the Jews sought to kill Jesus for calling God his own Father, he pressed the claim further: the Son does nothing of his own accord but only what he sees the Father doing, because the Father loves the Son and shows him all he does. The Father has given the Son greater works than healing a lame man. The Son gives life to whom he will and executes all judgment, so that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father. Whoever hears his word and believes has already passed from death to life, and at the last day all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and rise, some to life and some to judgment before the same Son.
Sermon transcript
Let’s turn now to the reading of God’s Word. This evening’s passage is from the book of John, chapter 5, and we will be reading from verses 18 through 29. John, chapter 5, verses 8 through 29. Hear now God’s Word. This was why the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him, because not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own father, making himself equal with God. So Jesus said to them, truly, truly, I say to you, the son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the father doing. For whatever the father does, that the son does likewise. For the father loves the son and shows him all that he himself is doing. In greater works than these will he show him so that you may marvel.
For as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whom He will. For the Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son, 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. Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life. Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming and is now here when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself.
And he has given him authority to execute judgment because he is the Son of Man. Do not marvel at this, for an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment. Let us pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you that you in eternity past have covenanted with your Son to save a people for yourself. We thank you, O Lord, that you have sent your Son, Jesus Christ, to this earth to reveal yourself to us and to accomplish this plan of redemption. We thank you, O Lord, that through your Son, Jesus Christ, we are granted access to eternal life that through your Son, Jesus Christ, we can come to know the eternal God who has made all things and who has saved a people for himself.
We thank you, O Lord, that through your Son, Jesus Christ, through his work, we have been granted access to the Father, that we can come before him even this evening and worship you. We pray, O Lord, that as we read your word, that your spirit would work mightily in us, that our eyes would be opened, that we would not only hear familiar gospel truths, that we would hear them anew, that you would hear them and be refreshed and encouraged, that we would see new truths and be encouraged by them. We pray, oh Lord, that you would use this time to shape us and to mold us into the likeness of your son. In Jesus’s name, amen. Please be seated. Well, there are many astounding and glorious words that Christ spoke and that have been graciously recorded for us throughout the four Gospels.
But the words in our passage this evening from our Savior are truly, even among the many examples that could be raised, some of the most awesome words that have been recorded for us in the Gospels. When we read these words as 21st century Christians who already believe in the divinity of Christ, who recite the Nicene Creed on a regular basis, we may be tempted to gloss over the truly earth-shattering significance that these words possess. So I want you to imagine that you are a first century Jew who has been worshiping the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. The God who created the universe and who sustains it. The God who declares the end from the beginning. The one who brought up Israel out of the land of Egypt and brought his people from exile.
Devout first century Jew, Jew’s whole life and his whole identity revolved around the worship of this God and the service to this one true God. His whole being, his whole identity was wrapped up in this knowledge, the knowledge of the one true God and the worship of this glorious, wondrous being who was outside and above his creation. And I want you to imagine hearing these words from Jesus. as one of these men or women. And the man standing before you utters these words that we just read. For them, it would have been revolutionary. If true, if these words that Jesus spoke were true, these words change everything. For the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob has taken on human flesh and He has drawn near to His people. in the person of Jesus Christ. Throughout the Gospel of John, we have already seen that John the Apostle has proclaimed the full deity and the wonder of the Son of Jesus.
This is the first time in the gospel that we read Jesus himself so clearly teaching this reality. We saw glimpses of it in chapter 2 when he declared that the temple was his father’s house, and in greater measure still in chapter 3 when Jesus revealed that the Son of Man had come down from heaven. And still even more in chapter 4 when Jesus revealed to the Samaritan woman that he was indeed the Messiah that was promised of old. But each of these instances were either in private or only veiled references to his deity. But here in chapter 5, Jesus’ profession about himself becomes much more explicit and is much more public. Christ proclaims the reality that he has been hinting at, and he has implied, and he does so openly and boldly. And through this proclamation, we learn that Christ’s work on earth is tied directly to his work in heaven.
This passage teaches us that the Father sent the Son, that the Son conformed to the Father’s will, and in turn, because of the obedience of the Son in carrying out the plan of redemption, has given Christ His Son all honor. We will examine our passage this evening, three points that Jesus emphasizes. First, the Son’s obedience to the Father. Secondly, the greater works of Jesus. And lastly, the fruit of the work of Jesus. the Son’s obedience to the Father, second, the greater works of Jesus, and lastly, the fruit of the works of Jesus. Let’s turn now to the Son’s obedience to the Father. Remember how our passage last week ended. It ended with Jesus healing the crippled man on the Sabbath and the Jewish leaders finding out that Jesus was the one who had healed him.
And the passage records for us that from that time on, the Jewish leaders sought to persecute him. Because the Jewish leaders had lost sight of the purpose of the Sabbath. And thus they attacked Jesus for healing a man who had been sick for almost 40 years. But Jesus responded to these Jewish leaders by appealing to the fact that Jesus was not doing this on his own authority, but in fact was following the lead of his father. who continues to work all day, every day, including on the Sabbath, to which in verse 18 we read that this is why the Jews were seeking 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 to God. Now at this point, with the Jews wanting to kill him, pull back, and disappear behind the crowds, as he often did in other settings.
But instead, John records for us that Jesus pushes forward and makes his profession even more explicit. Jesus begins with these words, truly, truly, I say to you, literally, amen, amen. Jesus uses these words throughout the Gospel of John when he is introducing a particularly important message that he has to say, a particularly important matter. Jesus’ way of calling our attention, calling the attention of the hearer and now the reader to listen closely to what he is about to say. And he is also promising the truthfulness, the guarantee of what he is about to say. And Jesus goes on. The Son of Man can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise. For the Father loves the Son and shows him all that he himself is doing.
So the Jews had wanted to kill Jesus for calling God his father. And Jesus, instead of pulling back and retreating, continues to explain the relationship in greater detail. Prior to verse 19, Jesus’ words may have been interpreted as calling God in heaven his father. The saints of old in the Old Testament called God their father, in the sense that God was the father of all God’s people, in a more general sense. The Jews certainly didn’t understand his words that way. They understood him to be making a more exclusive claim. It could be argued that he was using it in a more general sense, but in verses 19 and doubt that may have existed about the exclusivity of the relationship that he was claiming that he had with the Father is now gone. Jesus is revealing the complete uniqueness, the complete otherness of his relationship with his Father.
And the authority which Jesus has to work on the Sabbath then, to heal this man on the Sabbath, to make this man whole, is not because he claims authority based on himself, but because he is acting, he says, in accordance with the will and work of his Father. And the son, Jesus says, watches his father and then follows suit. And whatever the father does, the son does likewise. This is to say that the father in heaven who sent the son sent him to accomplish the plan of redemption which the son and the father agreed to in eternity. The father has been acting to redeem his people, to carry out the plan of redemption to save his people. And the Son, likewise, in full submission to the plan of salvation, works in complete harmony with the Father’s will and work.
But why is Jesus able to know and to see the will of the Father? He says in verse 20, An earthly father, who loves his son, teaches both by his words, how his son is ought to live as a godly man on this earth. It’s not only because of the duty that he has as a father, but because he truly loves his son, that he sets an example and teaches his son how he ought to live. It is love primarily that should drive a father to bestow this knowledge upon his son. So in a similar way, not in the exact same way, but in a similar way, the father in heaven, out of his love and pleasure for his son, whom he sent to this earth, shows him his divine providence that he is carrying out, even in that moment.
And the son then in turn carries out that same work is called to follow and honor His Father, the Divine Son in His incarnation, willingly submits to the will of the Father and carries out His plan of redemption. In these words, Jesus wants the Jews, and in turn us, modern readers, to see that His actions, Jesus’ actions and His words are not divorced not just speaking and acting on his own authority, but in harmony, in submission to the Father. The Son then heals on the Sabbath. It is not, then, a rebellious act for the Son to heal on the Sabbath, but an act that should lead us to raise our eyes to the Father, who also is working, even on that day. It is the Father’s will that the sick would be made well, that the cripple would walk again, that forgiveness of sins would be granted.
It is the Father’s will that is driving the Son to these good works. And so we see from Christ’s words that we are to see his actions of redemption and salvation as being inextricably linked to the will and work of the Father in heaven. But Jesus says that the Father has shown greater works than these, i.e. greater works than healing the cripple. And this brings us to the greater works of Christ. The greater works of Christ. Let’s read once again verses 20 through 29. Verses 20 through 29. For the Father loves the Son, and shows Him all that He Himself is doing. And greater works than these will He show Him, so that you may marvel. For as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whom He will.
For the father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the son, 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. Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life. Truly, truly, I say to you, in hours dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself. And he has given him authority to execute judgment, because he is the Son of Man. Do not marvel at this, for an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment.
While Jesus was on this earth, he did many miracles. He healed the sick. He restored sight to the blind and did many other signs and wonders that are recorded for us. And all of these signs pointed to who Christ is. They showed the power that he had over his creatures and their physical bodies, as well as the power that he had over all of nature. But Christ in his first coming did not primarily come to heal the sick or to restore eyesight. But as Paul says in 1 Timothy 1, verse 15, Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. And so while the miracle of healing the cripple was indeed an amazing feat, much greater works awaited the Son. The greatest miracle that occurred in the Old Testament that we can read of, that could only be carried out by the power of God, was the raising of the dead.
Sin fell on man and death entered the world. Death came for every man and for every woman. And the only thing that reversed the finality of that death was when God did a mighty work through his prophets and raised several people in the Old Testament to life. Only God has the authority and the power to dead and thereby gave the Israelites, through these actions, hope for the resurrection to come. And Jesus says in this passage that just as the Father in heaven gave life to the dead in the Old Testament, the Son will now give life to the dead in the here and now. And that life that the Son gives is both spiritual and physical, both spiritual and physical. In this passage, he does not say, he does not speak merely of physical life, but of spiritual life.
Whenever someone hears Jesus’ words and believes them, he says that he will be saved and be granted eternal life. But what is eternal life? John 17.3 says that eternal life is that they may know you, the only true God and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. Once the Spirit has regenerated us and granted us a heart of flesh, and we have believed in the words of Christ, we are then united to Christ in eternity. We are brought into sweet communion with the Son and the Father, and this salvation is secure in eternity. And precisely because we are brought into union with Christ, We are united to him. We are then given all the benefits of union with him. We then, he says, pass out from under judgment of God and we are brought in to union with him.
The Apostle Paul explains this in Colossians chapter 2. Please turn there with me. Colossians chapter 2 verses 11 through 15. Colossians chapter 2, verses 11 through 15. Paul writes, in him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, having been buried with him in baptism, in which you are also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead. and you who were dead in your trespasses and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame by triumphing over them in him.
We were dead in our sins and in our trespasses. We were dead in our trespasses. We were slaves to our sin. When we say that we were dead in our trespasses, we mean two things. We mean that we were slaves, but also that we were condemned by an Almighty God. All that we have to bring to God when we are dead in our trespasses and sins is our sin. And all that is awaiting us is eternal death. However, because of the gracious work of Christ, living a perfect life for us, and taking on our punishment for our sins on that cross, we are no longer slaves to sin. We are no longer under the condemnation of God, but we are brought under life. We are brought from death to life. And we are guaranteed this by our union with Christ.
And we will be granted eternal life in communion with the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. But Jesus here is not just speaking of spiritual life that the son gives. The son also gives physical life in verses 25 through 26. He says, do not marvel at this for an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and come out and those who have done good to the resurrection of life and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment. Here Jesus is speaking. from the dead at his second coming. Jesus would give the Jews a foreshadowing and a taste of this in John 11, when he raised Lazarus from the dead by the word of his mouth. But ultimately, the fulfillment of these words will be at his second coming, when both believer and unbeliever alike is raised from the dead, and Christ will come back in preparation for the final judgment. and he will judge both the unbeliever and the believer.
Paul writes something similar in 1 Thessalonians 4. Paul writes this, But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve those who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so through Jesus God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of a trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Just as the Father granted life in the Old Testament, to several individuals who had died, the sun will one day call all who have died out of their tombs, and he will give life to all who have perished.
Death is unnatural. Our bodies are not supposed to be separate. In the Old Testament, God graciously foreshadowed this coming resurrection by raising some. But on the final day, on that Judgment Day, the Son will raise up all who are asleep, and their souls will be restored to their bodies, and all will stand before their Creator. And on that day, the fullness of the fruit of the work of Christ will be revealed. And this brings us then to our last point, the fruit of the work of Christ. Jesus says this in verses 28 and 29, do not marvel at this for an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and come out. And then those who have done good to resurrection of life, but those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment.
Jesus here in verses 28 through 29 says that all who are dead, both believer and unbeliever, will be raised from the tomb. And there will be two groups. They will be separated. And those who have done good to eternal life, but those who have done evil will perish. But this passage is not speaking of works righteousness. Maybe attempting to read this as Jesus saying that if you do good in your life, you will attain eternal life. But if you have done evil, you will perish. But we can be confident that that’s not what he means, because Christ, as we just saw, just revealed to us the basis for our salvation. And it’s not doing good works, but rather, as he says in verse 24, it is hearing the word of God proclaimed and believing in Jesus and the one who sent him that grants eternal life.
It’s not doing good that brings us out of death into life. We don’t drag ourselves out of a state of death and sin and misery into life. But rather, Jesus says, we are granted life by the Son. So for those who are found in Christ, for those who have been given a new life, who are saved by the work of Christ for good works, will be resurrected to an everlasting life. But for those who do not believe in the gospel, who do not repent of their sin, Jesus gives a word of warning. The Father did not just grant the Son the right to give eternal life to sinners. He also appointed the Son of God to be the judge of all the earth, as Jesus says in verse 22, for the Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son.
Despite the misconception of many believers and unbelievers alike in our modern society, Jesus is not a soft, all-forgiving Savior who will let sin go. He is the one on that judgment day who will judge all of the wicked. He will be the one that pronounces the guilty sentence for the glory of the Son and the Father. He is the one that will send them to eternal punishment on that day. just as the resurrection to life is sure for the believer, because it is secured in Jesus Christ, so the resurrection to damnation, to judgment, is sure. So heed this warning, turn away from your sin, and turn to Christ who is calling you this day to receive eternal life in Him. The gospel call is given to all. Christ calls all to repent and believe. Come this day, taste and see that the Lord is good.
Turn away from the fleeting things of this world. Turn away from your sins that only lead to destruction. And turn to Jesus, the only one that has the ability to give us life. Let’s join the saints as we give all glory and honor to the Son for what he has done for us. In our passage this evening, we have seen a God who loves sinners. He has loved them so much that he has sent his Son to redeem a people for himself. That Son, Jesus, working in complete union with the Father, has come to save you and I. He has come to give us life in a dying world, to restore our relationship with the Father, and to give us life eternal with Him. What a glorious God that we serve. What a glorious God that we worship, who in perfect harmony, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, worked to save a people for Himself.
If you do not yet know this gracious God, turn from your sin and pursue Christ. Place your trust in Him. And let us who know Christ, let us who know this gracious gift, give all the glory and all the honor due to Christ to him. For he has truly brought us from death to life. Let us pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you. that through your word we are given a glimpse into the inner working of the Father and the Son. Lord, in our day and age it’s so easy for us to be fooled into believing that Jesus is the only one who loves us. Oh Lord, in your word, through the words of that very Jesus, we see that he is accomplishing the good pleasure and the plan of redemption of the father. We see, oh Lord, that the beauty of the gospel, the beauty of God’s love, the mystery, The depth of the love that you have for us comes from the Father.
We thank you, O Lord, that we are given a glimpse of the glorious plan of salvation being worked out in time and in history. O Lord, what a wondrous thing it is to not only be saved by you, but to learn and to see more and more of the glorious love that you have for us. We pray, O Lord, that as we go from this place this day, as we go forth from worship this day, that you would cause us to remember these truths, that you would cause us to remember the love that the Father had for us in sending his Son, Jesus Christ, to die for us, Help us to remember the mercy and the grace that you have shown us. Help us, O Lord, to proclaim these glorious truths, to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ, both in our word and our deed, to all of those who have ears to hear.
We pray, oh Lord, that you would draw us closer to yourself and make us more and more into the likeness of your son, Jesus Christ, this day. We pray all of this in your son’s name. Amen. Let’s continue our worship by standing together and singing hymn 154, hymn 154.
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