In this sermon, Pastor Dave Capoccia begins examining John 5:17-29 in which Jesus declares his divine sonship. John presents Jesus’ declaration of divine sonship so that you will not remain condemned in mere religious tradition but might find resurrection life in Jesus. In part 1, Pastor Dave covers John 5:17-24 and the first two of three points in Jesus’ declaration:
1. Jesus’ Divine Sonship Justifies His Sabbath Work (vv. 17-18)
2. The Father and Son Are Intimately United (vv. 19-24)
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let’s pray together Heavenly Father it is beautiful and wonderful to be able to call you father and that is only because of your son Jesus as we come to this profound passage today I pray God that you would show us the glory of the son move us God to honor the son as he ought to be honored not merely with our lips but with our whole lives from the heart help me to be able to explain this passage God the spirit please do a mighty work now in Jesus name I pray amen what is the the most marvelous claim of biblical Christianity what is it that we Christians preach that seems most incredible even unbelievable to the world is it that God created the universe in six solar days and rested on the seventh is it that one man’s death on a Roman execution device save sinners from God’s holy wrath is it that a certain man died but then rose from the dead three days later and appeared to his disciples these are all marvelous claims to be sure and the World by and large has problems believing each of these but surely one of the most marvelous claims in true Christianity perhaps the most marvelous is this that a first century 33-year-old Galilean Jewish man named Jesus is the one true God at various times in human history people have claimed to be divine especially Kings and conquerors but an uneducated Builder Carpenter from middle of nowhere Nazareth a man whose public Ministry lasted only a little over three years and ended with his being killed by his own people this one is our creator there are no other gods besides him he is the one who determines every person’s Eternal Destiny either to everlasting life or Everlasting punishment who would believe something so incredible yet this is the unified testimony of Jesus earliest followers not just his original Apostles but even the 500 plus men and women who claim to have seen and spent time with the Risen Jesus many of these same first Witnesses suffered persecution and death both from the monotheistic Jews and from the polytheistic Romans they suffered these things specifically for insisting that Jesus is God even the only Savior and judge as incredible as it might seem that the lowborn Jewish man Jesus Is God how do we otherwise explain the multitude of confident Witnesses testifying of Jesus Divinity these Witnesses died proclaiming this truth and their Witness is preserved for us today in the writings of the New Testament how do we explain that well people of course do come up with different explanations all of them are inadequate but there are explanations as to why people say the historical person Jesus and it’s hard to deny that he’s historical there’s all sorts of evidence of that but there are plenty of explanations that people provide for why the historical person Jesus is not actually God despite what his disciples said and one of the explanations you sometimes hear is that Jesus never claimed to be God Jesus himself never claimed to be God it was all just a massive and tragic misunderstanding of his over cellous followers Jesus was a good teacher healer and religious reformer but he never claimed to be God I mean after all if Jesus really were God then why didn’t Jesus ever come come out and say it plainly hey everyone I’m God you need to believe in and worship me alone to be saved alas the Skeptics say we just don’t see that in the Christian Bible do we it’s all just a massive misund understanding but the truth is that Jesus did declare himself to be God in the Bible both implicitly and explicitly those who argue that Jesus never plainly claimed to be God simply haven’t paid close enough attention to what the Bible says because this actually happens repeatedly Jesus does this repeatedly nevertheless it is true that Jesus presents his divinity to his disciples to us in the Bible in a way that we might not expect and most likely this is because if Jesus declared his deed to us in the way that we think he should well we would end up believing heresy we might end up believing that Jesus is one of three Gods the Father the Son and the Holy Spirit or that there is just one God but he has three different masks or modes he is sometimes the father sometimes the son sometimes the Holy Spirit or we might believe that Jesus is God but he’s not really or fully man perhaps he just had the appearance of a man the appearance of flesh and blood but he was just Divine spirit and by the way all these did eventually develop as heresies in Christian history and they’re still around today in different forms therefore when Jesus does declare his deity in the Bible to those he determined should receive that Revelation Jesus is careful to protect and even fundamentally explain the marvelous nature of the Trinity that Jesus is God but that the father and the Holy Spirit are also God each of them is all of God they’re not part of God they are all of God each one of them is all of God they are distinct from one another yet for they are distinct from one another though and yet they are in each other it’s a mysterious Unity of three in one in our next section of the Gospel of John Jesus Will unmistakably declare his divinity to the Jewish people and so doing our writer John will not only show us once again our need to believe in Jesus but also just how holy and awesome is this son of God in whom we have come to believe that’s what we want to see together this morning so if you would please take your Bibles and turn to John chapter 5 John chapter 5 my sermon title is Jesus declares his Divine sunship part one Jesus declares his Divine sunship part one using the few Bibles We Were In this passage earlier that’s on page 1063 just going to focus on verses 17 to 24 today so a little bit of an adjustment of what’s written in the bulletin but for context let’s read from verses 14 to 29 so John 5 verses 14 to 29 follow along with me as I read afterward Jesus found him in the temple and said to him behold you have become well do not sin anymore so that nothing worse happens to you the man went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus who who made him well for this reason the Jews were persecuting Jesus because he was doing these things on the Sabbath but he answered them my father is working until now and I myself am working for this reason therefore the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him because he Not only was breaking the Sabbath but also was calling God his own father making himself equal with God therefore Jesus answered and was saying to them truly truly I say to you the son can do nothing of himself unless it is something he sees the father doing for whatever the father does these things the son also does in like manner for the father loves the son and shows him all things that he himself is doing and the father will show him Greater Works than these so that you will Marvel for just as the father raises the dead and gives them life even so the son also gives life to whom he wishes for not even The Father judges or for not even The Father judges anyone but he has given all judgment to the son so that all will honor the son even as they honor the father he who does not honor the son does not honor the father who sent him truly truly I say to you he who hears my word and believes him who sent to me has eternal life and does not come into judgment but is passed out of death into life truly truly I say to you an hour is coming and now is when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live for just as the father has life in himself even so he gave to the son also to have life in himself and he gave him authority to execute judgment because he is the son of man do not Marvel at this for an hour is coming in which all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and will come forth those who did the Good Deeds to a resurrection of life those who committed the evil Deeds to a resurrection of judgment you may have noticed from our longer scripture reading earlier in the service that John 51-47 is a complete section of interconnected narrative and teaching the section begins with Jesus third miraculous sign the healing of a sick man by the pool of Bethesda in Jerusalem on the Sabbath but the miracle itself is not the section’s main point rather the main point is how the miracle serves as an opportunity to reveal something about Jesus and to reveal something about the Jews now we discussed this idea of Revelation last time when we examine verses 1 to 16 instead of celebrating God’s merciful healing of this man who was sick and immobile for 38 years what did the Jews do well the Jews in particular the Jewish religious leaders they get angry with Jesus for violating the man-made religious tradition as to what was proper and what was not proper on the Sabbath this is based on something God commanded but it had gone Far and Beyond what God had required the religious leaders do not pay attention to the fact that Jesus could have only healed the sick man by the power and approval of God since Jesus is God’s Christ the Jews simply hold fast to their self-righteous tradition and persecute Jesus as a Sabbath breaker but even exposing the ridiculous hard-heartedness of the Jews and their vain trust in their own religious tradition is not Jesus ultimate goal in this episode as we can see even from the passage that we reread Jesus incredibly heals on the Sabbath so that he can dramatically clarify that he is God God’s son and thus totally justified to work on the Sabbath really verses 17 to 47 is Jesus profound revelation of his Divine sunship verses 17 to 29 or in verses 17 to 29 Jesus declares and fundamentally explains his sunship his Divine sunship and then in verses 30 to 47 Jesus presents the evidence that proves his divine sunship now we’re going to start looking at verses 17 to 29 today and here’s the main idea for those verses John presents Jesus Declaration of divine sunship so that you will not remain condemned in mere religious tradition but might find Resurrection Life In Jesus say that again John presents jesus’ declaration Divine sunship so that you will not remain condemned in mere religious tradition but might find Resurrection Life in Jesus now Jesus Declaration of divine sunship in these verses consists of three points we have an introductory one in verses 17 to 18 and then two more main points in verses 19 to 24 and then verses 25 to 29 we can only look at the first two points today but that’s what we will do starting with the introductory point and verses 17 to 18 what’s Jesus first point in declaring his Divine sunship well number one Jesus divine sunship justifies his Sabbath work Jesus divine sunship justifies his Sabbath work look at verse 17 again but he answered them my father is working until now and I myself am working now this is definitely one of those oh no he didn’t moments in the Bible with Jesus facing a new determined hostility from the Jewish leaders for his healing on the Sabbath we might have expected Jesus to back off and to lay low for a while letting his enemies cool down but instead what do we read that Jesus answers their persistent persecution with a declaration very likely to upset them further notice the first phrase my father first phrase from Jesus my father it’s the second time we’ve seen Jesus use this phrase in this gospel the first time was back in John 21:16 when Jesus was cleansing the temple and he said stop making my father’s house a Marketplace well obviously Jesus is referring to God with this phrase but this would have been a shocking set of words to use with the Jews we saw this previously but you remember no Pious Jew ever referred to God as my father Jews might speak of God as Israel’s father and maybe they might address him in prayer as our father but that’s pushing it no Jew would ever call God my father that was way too familiar and probably Blasphemous why Blasphemous because the phrase suggests you using the phrase my father that suggests that you and God are fundamentally the same on the inside and therefore equal we have phrases in our language that emphasize the sameness of parent and child when a child looks like his father talks like his father acts like his father what do we say like father like Sun or the Apple doesn’t fall far from the tree the reason we have phrases like this is because there is an expectation frequently validated by experience of fundamental sameness that is passed down from father to son a son is going to be just like his father because they are the same in essence there the same on the inside the Jews believed in this idea even more than we do due to the fact that Sons usually took up the same profession as their fathers and they received whatever belonged to their fathers as an inheritance as a fundamental sameness between Father and Son so then by using the phrase my father was this man Jesus really claiming fundamental sameness with the only true God now notice the rest of the sentence starting with my father that Jesus uses he says my father is working until now now this statement this part of the statement is less shocking all Jews at that time acknowledged that God in one way or another was always working though Genesis says that God rested from his Works after the six days of creation and he rested on the seventh day the Jews understood that the continued existence and maintenance of the the world requires God to keep working even on the Sabbath if God stopped working or took a Sabbath day off the world would have fallen apart ages ago so to the Jews they knew God evidently cared deeply about the Sabbath but they reason there must be something exceptionable exceptional about God that allows him to always work even on the Sabbath for the universe’s benefit God is special he can work even on the Sabbath Jews get that but then here comes the really shocking part the second part of Jesus statement at the end of verse 17 and I myself am working are you putting two and two together in what Jesus is asserting because God is Jesus father meaning there’s a fundamental internal sameness to them and because God works even on the Sabbath as a special exception for the universe’s sake then it follows that Jesus as God’s son is allowed to and indeed must do what his father does he must work on the Sabbath as a special exception for the universe’s sake now certainly the Jews can see Jesus working on the Sabbath right that part is plain to them that’s upsetting to them but how can Jesus do that how can Jesus even do Miracles by the power of God on the Sabbath well the only explanation is as Jesus says Jesus yes even Jesus himself he’s emphatic about that is the Son of God and must always work right alongside his Heavenly Father even on the Sabbath note that Jesus Jesus did not have to go here as a defense for his actions on the Sabbath Jesus could have pointed out how the Jews definition of work went Way Beyond what God actually said in the Bible and therefore wasn’t valid that’s just a religious tradition they added on Jesus could also pointed out how doing good or meeting basic physical needs on the Sabbath is always right even when work is involved Jesus does make defenses like these in other places in the Gospels but that’s not what he chooses to do here rather Jesus says to the Jews essentially he takes what just took place there’s healing on the Sabbath and he uses it as an opportunity to declare to the Jews I work on the Sabbath because I am the Son of God how are the Jewish re leaders going to react to that with humble Contrition with repentance and faith Verse 18 for this reason therefore the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him because he Not only was breaking the Sabbath but also was calling God his own father making himself equal with god well what do you know Jesus defense for his actions on the Sabbath only further infuriates the Jews notice here going to verse 18 they all already have been seeking to kill him for breaking their Sabbath tradition but now they are seeking continually to kill him even more for blasphemy for claiming for himself equality with God the Jews get jesus’ message they correctly understand the implications of what Jesus is asserting my father plus I work on the Sabbath like God equals I am equal to God but the Jewish leaders are not willing to consider whether such an assertion could be true not even in the context of multiple Sabbath day healings from Jesus no the Jews are already ass that their tradition is correct it cannot be contradicted they are righteous Jesus is not because he violated the tradition and therefore Jesus is certainly not God actually he must be executed before his poisonous teaching leeches out further to Israel so in light of this reaction did Jesus make his declaration in verse 17 naively did he not know that the religious leaders would hate him and now try to kill him for defending his Sabbath actions by claiming equality with God no Jesus wasn’t naive as we’ve seen multiple times now in this gospel Jesus knows all things and he knows the Jews will ultimately reject and kill him their wicked intent is already evident here but Jesus came to fulfill totally his father’s will so he will say what needs to be said he will do what needs to be done and he will suffer what needs to be suffered Jesus knows that his father will vindicate him in the end so he speaks here obediently boldly and truthfully yeah Jesus is not done speaking verse 17 is just an introductory declaration Jesus gives an expanded reply to the Jews in verses 19 to 24 clarifying that Jesus is not making himself equal with God but instead revealing the wondrous nature of the equality he has always enjoyed with God here’s Jesus second point in his Declaration of divine sunship number two the father and son are intimately United a father and son are intimately United look at verse 19 therefore Jesus answered and was saying to them truly truly I say to you the son can do nothing of himself unless it is something he sees the father doing for whatever the father does these things the son also does in like manner notice the verb phrase was saying this is the response that Jesus gave multiple times to the Jews it was a regular thing now notice the opening words of Jesus dialogue truly truly I say to you we’ve seen this before this is Jesus this is one of jesus’ favorite ways of opening when he’s about to declare something amazing something that people will not be inclined to believe but which is nevertheless absolutely positively true he’s emphasizing you can believe what I’m about to tell you even if it sounds amazing what does Jesus tell what does Jesus declare that as God’s son Jesus cannot do anything by himself unless he sees the father doing it why notice the word for near the second half of the verse it has the sense of because for Jesus the son only does whatever the father does in the same way the father does it now what exactly does this mean well let’s add the beginning of verse 20 because that piece will help clarify verse 20a for the father loves the son and shows him all things that he himself is doing notice we get another four another reason supplied this time for what Jesus just said why is the son always and only doing whatever the father does in the same way as the father because the father loves the son and shows the son everything that the father himself is doing notice the word translated love it’s not the Greek word we might expect it’s not agap agape love it’s the Greek word fetto another word for love we see it in our city named Philadelphia a City of Brotherly Love by not using agap and using fetto instead does this indicate that the Father’s Love has some kind of shortcoming that this is some less than Divine Pure Love by no means agapao and fileo can be used to refer to the same idea of true love and affection and John actually uses the two words more or less synonymously in this gospel we can even just compare a verse we’ve already seen John 3:35 which does use the word agapa the Greek the other Greek word for love John 3:35 The Father loves the son and has given all things into his hand same idea here the father loves the son so what then are verses 19 and 20 saying what’s with all this language of the son seeing what the father does and the father showing to his son all that the father does out of love what is this all about I think the answer is less complicated than it appears at first glance what Jesus is saying by the metaphor of sight is that God the father and God the son because they have a such tight Bond of Love they do everything together Father and Son do everything together like the ideal son helping his perfect father in a carpentry shop so are Jesus and God the father says to his son this is what I’m doing this is what we’re going to make and the son says yes father and he accomplishes whatever work the father gives him as part of that same project the son does the same work the father does in the same manner that the father does it they are involved in the same thing and the son knows the ways of his father intimately and is determined to please his father in everything the son is always looking to his father’s lead he will never just start cutting or building something as May strike the son’s own fancy the son is completely obedient completely dependent on his father unless he sees the father doing something something the son cannot and will not do anything but the father never leaves the son abandoned never leaves the son alone while the father goes and works elsewhere no their relationship is so deep that the father Delights to show his son everything and to bring his son into every work that’s what Jesus is saying but what does this have to do with Jesus heing on the Sabbath to the anger of the Jews well Jesus is explaining that as God’s son Jesus is not somehow abusing his position or indulging in a selfish desire for miraculous works on the Sabbath no God’s son would never do that the only reason that the son works on the Sabbath is because the work the son is doing is the very work that the father is doing because Father and Son know and love each other so much they must always be working together even on the Sabbath yet these Sabbath healings are not the only works in which the father and son will jointly participate look at the rest of verse 20 now and the father will show him Greater Works than these so that you will Marvel what is Jesus saying here well that God has works much mightier much more momentous for their father and son to do together than these little healings therefore the son will do these Greater Works alongside his father in the future and notice the purpose statement attached to this declaration of Greater coming Works Jesus says so that you will Marvel you Jews Jesus says you are a even Disturbed at my healing on the Sabbath is that so well wait till you see what else the father has in store for me to do to do alongside him what Greater Works could Jesus possibly mean well he clarifies he clarifies with another four statement in verse 21 look there for just as the father raises the dead and gives them life even so the son also gives life to whom he wishes is there any power greater than the power to give life and raise the dead plenty of people throughout history have reveled in the power of taking life whether they are dictators soldiers or murderers indeed we all naturally fear what has the power to kill us for that is a great power but what man what creature what force of Nature has the power to give life to what is already dead mankind has long sought this greater power but in vain this is a power that belongs to God Alone only God can give life again in verse 21 Jesus declares that he also as God’s son makes people alive from the dead whomever Jesus wishes wait whomever Jesus wishes is Jesus going to apply this life raising power selfishly arbitrarily independently never for Father and Son are so United that the father’s wishes are the son’s Wishes the son’s desire is to bring to life whomever the father also desires to bring to life they are intimately United even in their desires now we’ve got another four statement coming up in verse 22 a statement which not only gives us the flip side of what Jesus just said but a statement that also clarifies that the joint work of father and son doesn’t mean that the father and son have the exact same roles in whatever work they do because look at verse 22 for not even The Father judges anyone but he has given all judgment to the son this verse gives us the logical coraly to what Jesus just declared about having lifegiving power if Jesus has the same power to give life as God the Father does then Jesus also has the ability to judge and thereby withhold life surprisingly According To Jesus in this verse the fundamental role of Judge is a role that the father has given wholly to the son though the fathers of course showing his son this work too they are still doing it together the specific execution of judgment is a great work that belongs to Jesus and not the father now this declaration would have been another incredible shock to Jesus Jewish listeners for one clear truth in the Old Testament is that God is Judge God is a righteous judge who will call all people to account plethora verses that we could use to illustrate this I’ll just give you three genesis 18:25 Abraham asks God shall not the judge of all the Earth deal justly Ecclesiastes 3:17 Solomon says God will judge both the righteous man and the Wicked Man Jeremiah 11:20 refers to God as Yahweh of hosts who judges righteously but Jesus is now saying that the way God the Father will accomplish his judgment is by the son Jesus is God’s appointed judge of all people and all beings in the universe being judge of all is an exalted role such a judgment is indeed a mighty work why does the father give such a great role to the Sun the answer is in the first part of verse so that all will honor the son even as they honor the Father the Declaration from Jesus just gets more and more amazing God made quite clear in the Old Testament that he is a jealous God he is zealous for his own Glory he will not share the honor do him with anyone else not a man not an angel not a so-called God yeah Jesus says here that the father gave Jesus the son the role of Judge so that all will honor the son in the same way that the father is and ought to be honored and don’t misund understand this God is Not Looking for Jesus’s son to be honored like some Ambassador who only deserves honor because of the greatness of the ruler who sends that Ambassador no note the specific language the father’s intent is that Jesus be honored even as the father is honored the kind of Honor given to one must be the same kind of Honor given to the other how can this be why is this because the father loves the son and because they are so intimately United the father has such deep affection for the son and vice versa they are so intimately United that the father could not stand for any other arrangement all judgment will be given to the son so that all will honor the son just as they honor the father in fact the bond between father and son is so intense that Jesus gives a warning at the end of verse 23 look at the second part now he who does not honor the son does not honor the father who sent him here’s a sobering declaration to every Jew and to every religious person he who says he loves God seeks God but does not love or seek Jesus Christ you do not honor God at all if you do not honor his son with the very same honor cannot make a mistake about this because the father has sent his beloved Son into the world and revealed the intimate relationship ship that father and son have with one another there is now no way there is no way to honor God or find Salvation in God apart from Jesus Christ God the Father loves his son and he demands that you honor the son with the same honor that you would otherwise give to God God the Father how could this be How could a zealously monotheistic God the one who revealed himself again and again as jealous in the Old Testament tolerate such an arrangement it is because God is Trinity this is the only explanation God is one God in three persons each of whom is the fullness of deity but each of whom is distinct from one another Jesus is the one God the father is the one God that is why the father loves the son so much and that is why he is determined that the father be honored just as he is they are one now is this a Divine mystery beyond our full comprehension of course it is but that does not mean we cannot comprehend this mystery adequately we can’t have sufficient understanding by no means exhaustive understanding but we can have sufficient understanding based on what Jesus has just declared here we learn then along with Jesus opponents that to miss Jesus is to miss God and it is to fall under judgment if you do not honor the son you do not honor the father but there is a positive application a positive application of the truth that the father and son are so intimately United and this is what we see in verse 24 truly truly I say to you he who hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and does not come into judgment but has passed out of death into life notice Jesus special beginning phrase here again he’s again emphasizing that what he’s about to say is incredible but it’s true and it’s necessary for us to believe what’s the incredible truth well Jesus promises something to a person who fulfills the two-part condition what’s the two-part condition what Jesus first says he who hears my word that is the one who listens to my word with the intent to heed it this is not just people who have the sound waves go into their ears and doesn’t really matter what they do with it no this is the one who listens to heed or we could simply say one who truly believes Jesus word and acts upon it he who hears my word and then second he who believes him who sent me now who sent Jesus God the father Jesus has testified of that repeatedly but here’s something odd up to this point in John’s gospel we’ve heard a lot about believing in Jesus but hardly anything about believing in the father why now this switch why does Jesus say You must believe him who sent me the answer is that here again we see the intimate Unity of the father and son on display to believe in Jesus word as Jesus has already told us in this gospel is to believe the father’s word because it is one Jesus only speaks the father’s word similarly to believe in the father means also to believe believe in Jesus for you cannot do one without the other not truly since the son was sent by the father and is the perfect revelation of the father thus we could paraphrase the beginning of verse 24 in this way he who believes in the Father and Son by believing and obeying Jesus word what is promised to such a one if that’s the condition what’s the result Jesus says that person has eternal life notice present tense has eternal life not will have eternal life he has and he gets to enjoy now the very everlasting life of God that’s coming in his kingdom age and if you have eternal life what necessarily also is true the flip side you have forever escaped from God’s judgment notice the next phrase from Jesus this one does not come come into judgment he never has his sins counted against him and thus never enters the blast zone of God’s righteous Fury against sin he’s already free escaped so what fundamental reality is true for this believer instead he has passed out of death into life already he has passed out of death into life you know there’s much the news these days about people trying to cross the southern border into America now I have no desire here to comment on proper border policy but I do want to ask you this why do so many people seek to cross legally or illegally into this country is it not for the sake of life people are coming from places of poverty misery and sometimes literal death and they believe that in America they can find life well in a much greater way every believer in Jesus was formerly residing in a country of death all of us before we come to Jesus were formerly residing in a country of death death was not merely the final verdict waiting for us in the end death was already hanging over us and terrorizing our persons death by the poison of sin was our continual experience death was the environment in which we lived but by believing in Jesus word by believing in the father who sent Jesus what happens to us what happens to any person who does so a person leaves the country of death he passes over an otherwise unpassable border from the country of death to the country of life and there’s no being apprehended and deported from the country of life in Jesus once you cross that border you are forever safe and you are an inheritor of the eternal life that belongs to that country King Brethren these words spoken by Jesus in verse 24 they’re not just interesting observations about God’s salvation they are an implicit invitation to Passover from Death To Life by believing in Jesus amazingly Jesus first spoke these words to the Jews who were plotting to kill him giving them even in their stubborn wickedness an opportunity to repent and believe and find life some of them did later many of them did not they remained in the country of death and now they are under God’s terrible judgment our author John recorded these words for his original audience of helenistic Jews Gentile god-fearers so that they might not miss Jesus just be content with their little religion their religious traditions and Miss Jesus and thereby miss the god they say they love and serve he didn’t want that for them don’t miss the implication of verse 24 for religious people without Christ which realm are religious people without Christ currently in are they in the realm of death or are they in the realm of life they’re in the realm of death judgment hangs over even the religious they already stand condemned for not believing in God’s son for not honoring the son as they should honor the father these religious people may be doing well according to their self-righteous rules but such do not impress God in the slightest nor do they impress Christ to whom all judgment has been given John’s intent for his original audience is surely that they would not remain condemned in mere religious tradition but might find Resurrection life eternal life in Jesus and God’s spirit has the same merciful intent for all of you listening today what do you think about the man Jesus was he just a good example a holy religious teacher is he something more than a man but not quite equal to God just an exalted angel or something do you believe in fact that Jesus is the son of God and the only savior from sin you do well but what does that mean for your life is Jesus just an afterthought for you convenient ticket out of Eternal death but that’s all is Jesus the one you go to for comfort and help during times of Crisis but otherwise you don’t really pay attention to him what do you see Jesus the way the father sees Jesus as the supremely beloved Son as the explainer of God as the Fountain of Living Water for all of God’s people not not to just be drunk from once and then you forget about him but you drink from him continually as we’ve seen Jesus declares that those who do not honor the son do not honor the father and thus stand condemned do you honor God’s son do you honor God’s son with more than Church attendance singing songs on Sunday you actually repented of your sins for jesus’ sake out of a desire to honor the son have you turned from everything that dishonors Jesus dishonors God given that up have you given up all your efforts to earn your own righteousness because if you don’t you haven’t honored the son he says I’m the one who does everything for you if you try to add to that or if you say that’s nice Jesus I can do it on my own you have not honored the son no you must trust in his perfect life his perfect death his perfect Resurrection as the only thing as the only one to make you right with God have you done this have you indeed repented and believed in Jesus if you have do you now can you now testify that Jesus own heart beats with yours and you could say my food is to do the will of him who sent me that’s what we previously saw in John 4 right that’s Jesus heart and it becomes the heart of all his true disciples is that your heart do you get such satisfaction out of knowing Jesus knowing him more becoming more like him doing what he called you to do he has sent you if you belong to him he sent you to make him known in the world to serve his people to obey his word do you Delight to do that you’re not perfect of course no Christian is but you are continually pursuing him because you love him remember it is not those who merely hear Christ’s word with their ears who have eternal life nor is it those who merely affirm with their mouths Christ’s word who are saved it is those who heed Christ’s word who prove themselves doers of his will those may have confidence of eternal life not just in the end but now so where are you today with the Lord Jesus Christ if you’ve fallen short at all of what we’ve seen here in God’s word then repent and believe if you will do that then immediately you can C you can come to enjoy by faith This Magnificent savior there is no one like him in all the universe he is the Lord he is the Christ he is the Son of God and if you believe in him he is yours now and forever consider how incredible this is Jesus has allowed us to peer into the trinitarian relationship with his declaration so far in these verses it is a love relationship that is deeper than anyone that we can know and yet by faith Jesus says and now you can be part of it you become attached to me by faith I am in you and you are in me but I am in God and this is the intimate love relationship we have so guess what now you are in God and you get to experience this love and intimacy the very love and intimacy of God With God we Dusty Sinners can be part of that that is the Magnificent grace of God that is the astounding Revelation that Jesus has brought recorded for us in this word that life of knowing and walking with and enjoying intimate relationship with God it belongs to all believers so was that yours by faith it can be well Jesus has much more to declare about his own Divine sunship next time we’ll look more at the amazing Honors that the father has stored up for his son in the future and then after that we’ll look at the clear testimonies the clear evidence that Jesus really is God’s son there is no excuse this is no ambiguous reality no it is quite clear and the only reason we would not see it is because we do not want to talk about that more in the coming weeks let’s close in prayer Lord God there is so much about you that is beyond our comprehension your greatness is indeed like an ocean and we just grab buckets full from the Revelation that you’ve given us and yet even this bucketful is so wondrous how magnificent is the Sun how magnificent is Jesus Christ in one sense just an ordinary man nothing special about him and and yet in another sense the most extraordinary man the most extraordinary being that we could come to meet the God man the beloved Son of the Father the one in trinitarian Union and infinite love relationship you have revealed the son to us how could we neglect such a great salvation then how could we look at the son and all that you declare about him in the word and say that’s nice but I’ve got something else L forgive us forgive us for where we have not honored the son certainly in our fundamental C sinful living and unbelief in our previous way but even Lord after coming to believe in you believe in you and believe in your son how we have drifted away from honoring the son we become more concerned about our own honor we become judges ourselves and we say you’ve not treated me well therefore I will judge and punish you instead of remembering and believing that all judgment belongs to the son and that he’s the one worthy of honor not us Lord forgive us we are turning from that we are turning from being so mesmerized by that which is ultimately not great the little toys and things of this world instead of the Eternal God lord we come back to what is eternal life that is knowing you we want to know you we want to make you known we want to be obedient to you we want to heed your word and we trust by the power of your spirit you will cause us to do this you will Empower us to follow after your son that is what we pray for Lord but we pray for it by faith with the expectation that you will fulfill your word Lord we know that we are forgiven in Jesus we claim that but Lord we also know that we are empowered in Jesus to know and follow after him so we claim that as well let the people of this church let everyone who’s heard this message today truly believe and then walk a life that demonstrates that belief that knows and experiences the eternal life and wants to make it known Lord do this for your own Glory do this for the glory of the son in Jesus name amen let’s Stand Together As we sing Our Last Song