The Power of Jesus | John 5:18-29

• Sermon Transcript

  Good morning was a story that one day there were a group of scientists, they got together. And after discussing about all that they had come up with and how the world and progressed, that they realized that the world was no longer in need of God. That's what they came to the conclusion. And they decided that it would be the right thing to do for someone to tell God this. So one of the scientists drew the short straw, and was chosen to speak to God, tell him or their thoughts that he was no longer needed. So the scientist said, Well, I guess I'll pray so it closed his eyes. And he said, God, we appreciate all that you've done for us. In the history of the world in the past, you've taken care of things, that we are no longer in need of your services. We've made great advances in modern medicine. With quantum physics, we've penetrated the most the deepest secrets of the universe. We've cloned sheep, and we're close to cloning a human. So we feel God that we have everything under control. to their amazement, God answered back. And he said, Well, I understand where you're coming from, and I'll leave you alone. But I would like to challenge you to one final contest. And so the scientist said, Okay, that sounds good. What is it, and then he looked, and behold, there was God in human form, staying right in front of them. And God says, I am challenged you to make a person. And so God bent down and, and picked up a fistful of dust of dirt. And the scientists saw what God was doing. So he went down to, to go pick up a fistful of dirt. Before he grabbed the dirt. God said, no, no, get your own dirt. God even makes the dirt by which we can do anything with Amen. That is such as the power of God, who makes everything out of nothing. They were in John chapter five, starting in verse 19, as we continue reading through the Bible in a year. And I was reading through this in the earlier passage is about man being healed. In the pool, when I thought to myself, gosh, that's a passage that will really preach. I can really preach that when that would be fun to preach. But God did lead me away from that he led me to this passage. And I think that we are going to enjoy what God has to say to us today. That is my prayer, verse 19. 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. And greater works than these will 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 as eternal life, he does not come into judgment, but as passed from death to life. Verse 25, Truly, truly I say to you, an hour is coming. And it's now here, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live. For us. 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've done good the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of judgment. Heavenly Father, we thank you for being able to come in here today and sing your praises. Were able to be here voluntarily. Were able to come and and then use our freedom or our liberty that you give us to worship you today, father. Let's never take that for granted. We thank you for the God that you are today, Lord. And as we Listen to your word, Lord, I pray that that you take these words that I've written and prayed over, that you make my words, your words, you transform this message into a sermon, hearing from you, Lord, that your spirit would speak through me, and that the Holy Spirit would be in here and the hearts of those who are here and the brains of those who are here and receive your message today about your power. Lord, be with us. When we ask these things in Jesus name, amen. Today, I want to give you three realities that we see in this passage of the power of Jesus, three realities we see in this passage of the power of Jesus first, Jesus has the power to anger, people. And really, it should be anger that's underlined, but But anyway, Jesus has the power to anger, people, verse 18, it tells us that this and we'll talk about that in a second. This was why the Jews were seeking all the more to kill Him being Jesus, because not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was calling God his own Father, making Himself equal with God. Two reasons why Jesus's own people, his own community, his own friends, family members, even his own Jews were seeking to kill him. First, he was breaking the Sabbath, which we'll talk about in a second. And he claimed to be God. Now we know he really wasn't breaking the Sabbath, because they said, because you healed a man on Sunday. And because you've done certain things that you've worked, we know that is not what the Sabbath was about. But that created all these rules that you couldn't even if you couldn't even do anything on the Sabbath, if you want more than three quarters of a mile, it was considered work, and you broke the Sabbath. So they created this intense, illegal system that was extra biblical. And so they said that he was breaking the Sabbath, which he was not. Secondly, though, he claimed to be God, and he did, in fact, claim to be God. So we see the Jews angered for really two reasons. One, he broke the rules there man made rules to he broke their beliefs, their religion, he broke the rules. He broke their religion. Jesus angered people, because he did not fit the description of who they wanted him to be. And he angers people now, for the same reasons, today. And as a Christian, your faith in Jesus Christ will anger people in these two areas as well. Because you will break their rules, and you will break their beliefs as well. If your life does not line up with another person, and I'm talking about unbelievers are people who do not have a biblical worldview. If your life does not line up with another person's goals, and traditions, they will likely get angry. And if their values and their traditions are actually their religion, or serve as their religion, whether they know it or not, they'll get angry as well. And they're angry, because you as a believer in Christ, refuse to order your life around what they believe. Have you experienced that before. So your life threatens their life. Your freedom in Christ, your faith in Christ threatens the way that they have ordered and orchestrated their lives. So they will be angry at you. But really, they're angry at their own situation, because deep down, they do not have freedom in Christ. And so they want you to be as miserable as they are. This is what Jesus encountered. As a Christian, you will be constantly fighting, manmade legalisms manmade traditions and people's expectations of how you should be living by the same code by which they live. But there is no freedom in whoring your life around people's on biblical expectations of you. There's freedom and living in Christ. We see this all throughout the New Testament authors considers freedom and living in Jesus, but that freedom even angers people. So Jesus has the power to anger people by simply giving those people freedom to live under him and it makes people mad. Secondly, Jesus has the power to judge people. He has the power to judge people. Verse 19. So Jesus said To them, Truly, truly I say to you, the son talking about himself can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing. Or whatever the Father does, that the Son does. Likewise, Jesus, being fully man, fully God does not act outside of the authority of God, the Father, Jesus was not doing whatever he wanted. It was all in the will of God the Father. Now this is confusing, because we know that even though Jesus is fully God, even though he is a person of the Trinity, three persons in one being, he still was submissive, to the will of the heavenly Father. He says this himself. And it's a mystery that we'll never fully comprehend. Because the Father sent the Son, the Son sent the Spirit. So we see this, this authority, this line of authority, even though God is one being and three persons. So John here is going in Great Lengths. And this section does show that Jesus is God. Yet the Son has a different role than the Father. And even in that different role, the son still carries out the will of the Father. And so where are we going with this? Look at verse 20, he says, 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 Morrible, For as the Father raises the dead, and gives them life, so also the sun gives life to whom He will, just as the Father can raise the dead, and give people life, Jesus will give new spiritual life to whoever believes in Him. And even in that authority, we see something that we may not intuitively know about Jesus, verse 22, he says this For the Father, judges, no one, but has given all judgment to the Son. The Father judges, no one. But he's given all judgment to the sun. If you were to go out into the community, and say, Does God is God the Father going to judge you? They might say, yes, it might misunderstand what you're asking, but that'd be wrong. The Son Jesus is the one that does the judging. When a person stands before the throne of God to be judged, God is not the one doing the judging. Jesus is the one doing the judging. And there are two types of judgments by which Jesus will preside first, you have what's called the Bema Seat judgment. Bhima means Judgment Seat. It's what it means. It's why they call it that and look a second Corinthians 510. Four, we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil. A Bema was a race platform, on which judges sat to view the sporting events, like the Olympics, and things like this, that we would think of. And their job was to make sure that the contestants follow the rules not to make a negative judgment, but to make sure they follow the rules. And then they presented the awards to the victors like metals and garlands on the head and things like that. The Bema was never a place where they reprimanded the athletes or punish them in any way. It was a place of reward, and the Bema Seat judgment, all Christians will stand before and is the place of rewards. This is why believers only stand in front of the Bema Seat, because this is where we have passed our test. And this is where we receive our rewards. So James 212. He hints at this when he says, so speak, and so act as those who are to be judged under the law of liberty. The law of condemnation is the law of freedom. It says we live under this law of freedom. We're judged for the good things we do so we speak and act so that when we're judged we will have the victors rewards Amen. We will have the victors crowns. Matthew 1236 says this, I tell you on the Day of Judgment, people will give a count for every careless word they speak. Now, if you read this out of context, you may think that you're saved by grace but then you're going to stand in front of the jury Justin's gonna stay away. Now you still messed up over here and he still didn't get this right and, and why did you cut that person off and traveling? And why did you say that word about your mother and all these kinds of things, right? No, that's not what's going to happen. The Bema Seat is a place of reward only. And so he says, We act. And we speak, because we have the freedom, the liberty to live a life worthy of our calling, not because we'll be punished. But the problem we get as even as Christians as we live our life, we find ourselves making decisions for fear of eternal punishment in some way, and not for the joy of the freedom of living Amen. We will not be judged by our sin, when we stand before the throne of Jesus, you know why? Because that was the point of the cross. Jesus took every sin if you are believer on the cross, so it's been dealt with it is gone, you will never hear about it again. And that is the amazing thing about grace that we never can quite keep her our mind on. Because if we were in God's place, we would not do that. Even if we had forgiven someone who had hurt us, we would still want to say, well, I forgive you. But you know that one time you did that thing I wished you hadn't done that hurt my feelings. God's never going to say to us that it has been forgiven, it has been dealt with Jesus took it on the cross, what a shame it would be for Jesus to take your sin, the judgment for your sin, the wrath of God for your sin on the cross and still bring it up to you. It'd be like he went through all that for nothing. That would not be forgiveness would be some type of martyrdom, that it wouldn't be forgiveness. This is why we sing about Amazing Grace. Because God's grace is beyond wonder. And not only does he not bring it up anymore, is there no more judgment to believers anymore. He gives us crowns and rewards. The Bible talks about receiving the crown of righteousness, the crown of life, the crown of glory. God's grace is truly amazing. And it's something that we never quite grasp, because we know we don't deserve it. We know we deserve discipline and punishment. And God does discipline us in this life. Yes, he does. And we send to bring us back to us. But before His throne, there is no negative judgment, there is no condemnation. There's only rewards. And we know it's not fair. Amen. That's why we struggle with it. But God's grace is not fair. And that's the great thing about it. So we see the Bemis see, but there's a second type of judgment. And it's called the Great White Throne Judgment, the Great White Throne Judgment. So also referred to as the judgment of the nations. This is the judgment of all people who died as unbelievers in Christ and Jesus to presides over this. Why? Why does he preside at verse 23 tells us that all all means y'all right all, all may honor the Son, just as they honor the Father. Whoever it is not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him. There's no God. Without Jesus, there's no believing in God without believing in Jesus, the rightful God of the universe. The judgments are a place where Jesus gives receives the glory and the honor that are due Him. We see this in Revelation chapter 20. John writes about his vision. Verse 11, says that I saw a great white throne This is where we probably call it the great white throne judgment. And him who was seated on it, being Jesus from his presence, earth and sky fled away and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life and the dead were judged by what was written in the books according to what they had done. Now for the believer our books gonna be open there's gonna be nothing on it but the name of Jesus, amen. Our our works are gone. The great white throne judgment, but everyone who doesn't have Jesus will have everything they did. That was sinful and bad, that missed the mark of God written down hours, praise the Lord have been deleted, trashed, gone, but not those who don't have Jesus. There's 13 in the sea. He gave up the dead who ended Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them. And they were judged each one of them according what they had done. Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire, if anyone's name was not found written the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire. See, Jesus is who all people ultimately answer. Jesus, not the universe, not spirits, not artificial intelligence, not some alien life form is Jesus. Now, if the story ended there, it would be sad, but it doesn't, because there is a way to avoid it. And we see here in verse 24, liquidy, says, Truly, truly, Jesus says, I say to you, whoever hears my word, and believes in him, has eternal life. That's it. You don't have to write a dissertation. You don't have to pass a driver's test. You don't have to call your grandmother every week. There's nothing you have to do but hear and believe. Amen. Again, it seems too easy for us, doesn't it? That's it. Yes, that's it. It says that he does not come into judgment. But as passed from death to life. Jesus not only has the power to judge, he has the power to save. For those who choose not to be saved, Jesus is their judge. And number three, finally, Jesus has the power to raise people, to raise people. First 25. He says, Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming. And he's now here, where the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. Now, in this section, Jesus declares that we're living in what is called the New Testament age into the church age. And we're both living in the kingdom of God, you know, we're living in the kingdom of God now, right? But it's not his complete kingdom. So it's here, but it's not quite there. And so his words how they kind of a double intended meaning. And so Metaphorically speaking, he's saying, We're living in a time where the spiritual dead will hear the voice of Jesus, and those who hear it will spiritually live. We know this, because we're alive. And this is what he's saying. These two says this, For God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which He loved us. Even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ, by grace, you've been saved. We were spiritually dead. But he saved us. That's not always talking about here. Secondly, he's speaking also here in this verse, about the time where he will return physically, not metaphorically, physically, and you will judge the living and the dead. And those believers who have died and faith will literally be raised at First Thessalonians four. But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve, as others do, 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 fallen asleep, for this would declare to you by word from the Lord, that though that we who are alive, who are left, and to the coming of the Lord will not proceed those who have fallen asleep, For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, with the sound of the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive who are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will always be with the Lord. Therefore, encourage one another with these words. Jesus has the power to raise both now and in the future and that's what he's saying to be a time where we will we will come out will be physical bodies will be raised. If we're if we're dead before the rapture, which is when those who are living raise that will come out of our tombs raised the funeral homes will go out of business be no need for them anymore. They serve their purpose. He raises us from the dead. Verse 26 says this in our text, For as the Father has life in himself, so he is granted the Son also to have life in himself. He has given him authority to execute judgment, because he's a son of man, Do not marvel this for an hour's coming. When all who are in the tombs we hear His voice, and come out, those who have done good, the resurrection of life, and those that enabled the resurrection of judgment. Jesus, the God man, who defeated death, raised himself from the dead will one day raise his people from the dead. Why? Because they believed in him for salvation and forgiveness of sins. When his little boy and his father were driving down a country road, on a beautiful afternoon, and suddenly out of nowhere, a bumblebee flew in the car window as they were driving. And a little boy was deathly allergic to bee stings. So he was petrified by it. So as his father was driving, the bee flooded around, and he he grabbed the bee with one hand and the steering wheel with the other and held it tight and released it. And Bumblebee flew around some more, and the son became frantic again. And the father said, Oh, no, it's okay. Let me show you something. He reached out his hand and open it up, and in his hand, was stuck in the skin, the stinger of the B said, you see this, you don't have to be afraid anymore. I've taken the sting for you. In the same way, the Christian has no need to be to be afraid of death, because Christ has taken the sting out of death and sin, amen. No need to be afraid, because Jesus has the power to raise us from the dead. And one day he will do that. Heavenly Father we thank you so much. For taking that sting out of death we have nothing to fear when we feel death close to us or if we feel in a situation where we're we're in danger. That Stinger can't affect us. It's just ignore death is just a just a annoying buzzing in our ear. You've taken this thing. Well, we thank you that that You sent Your Son Jesus and Jesus, we thank you that you are a judge. We thank you that you are someone who can resurrect. So Lord, as we close our time together today, my prayer is if there is one in here that's never heard your gospel and believed it. Today they will today they will pass from death to life. Today will be the day that you save them. Then when you died on the cross, they will know that all those sins that committed and will commit that they that they to those those sins as well. Were also on the cross as you bore the wrath of God for that they would receive what you've done. And a thankfulness Father, we love you. During our time of responsive, there's one down here that needs to he's just do some business with you. The steps are open. They can pray to you. There's so many new to prayer Lord, I'm more than thankful more than willing to pray for them. Whatever whatever. Someone in here needs, Lord that you would direct that need. The so they would be encouraged today. For whatever they need to do, but we love you. We ask you things in Jesus name. Amen. Man, would you stay in the singleness?