Jesus, The Father’s Sermon

John 5:37-47

We have been saying all along that Jesus here is preaching His first sermon in the book of John.

The unique relationship that He has with the Father.

Up to this point, the sermon has been all about Him.
Jesus has alluded to Himself at least 25 times.

He has spoken about how He is the Father’s Son and as such He:
Shares His Father’s Passions
Sees His Father’s Plan
Shows His Father’s Power
Shares His Father’s Praise.

Jesus has spoken about how He is the Father’s Standard and as such the:
Pathway of Salvation
Provider of Salvation
Plumb-line of Salvation

Jesus has spoken about how He is the Father’s Savior
He is the One the Father has given the works to testify about.

But here at the end of the sermon,
Jesus takes a shift in focus.

This last point shifts it’s focus from Jesus to them.
In these last 11 verses Jesus will use the word “You”
About twice every verse. Over twenty times.

JESUS SHIFTS TO APPLICATION.
And to simply put it, Jesus point tonight is:
If you have failed to see Me, you have missed the point.

Tonight we are going to see the conclusion of Jesus’ sermon, and that is that He is the Father’s Sermon.

Hebrews 1:1-2a “God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, in these last days has spoken to us in His Son.”

Jesus is the perfect word and final sermon of God.
Indeed Jesus has been the point of God’s sermon since the beginning.

If you aren’t following Jesus,
Then you have missed the entire message of God.

Here Jesus is confronting these who refuse to see that He is God’s Son,

He is showing them that because they do not honor Him,
They are not honoring the Father.

John 5:23b “He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him.”

Jesus is going to show them
What their refusal to honor Him says about them.

This is one of those passages of Scripture that can cut to your heart and cut their quick, for this is one of those passages that takes what you do and then tells you what you are.

We generally don’t like passages like this too much, because it shows us truths about ourselves that we really don’t want to see.

You are going to see five facts about a person who does not honor Jesus.

Despite what a person may claim, despite what they say, if they do not honor the Son by the full surrender of their lives to Him, then these five facts are true about them.

#1 EMPTINESS
John 5:37-38

Now notice that here again Jesus speaks very plainly as to the fact
That He is from the Father.

“And the Father who sent Me, He has testified of Me”

The Father has been telling people who Jesus is,
But the problem is that men didn’t hear it or see it.

“you have neither heard His voice at any time nor seen His form.”

If you haven’t heard God testify to Jesus,
then you haven’t heard from God.

People all over the world make claims about hearing from God, but if they have never heard God testify about Jesus, then they have never heard from God.

“nor seen His form.”
WELL NOW HOW IS THAT POSSIBLE. NO ONE HAS HAVE THEY?

John 14:9 “Jesus said to him, “Have I been so long with you, and yet you have not come to know Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?”

Colossians 1:15 “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.”
But Jesus isn’t finished.

Vs. 38, “You do not have His word abiding in you, for you do not believe Him whom He sent.”

Jesus has just taken a step further.

Earlier it was that you have not heard God’s word.
Now He says you don’t have it abiding in you.

DOES GOD’S WORD ABIDE IN PEOPLE?

I can tell you without a doubt it does.
It is probably the main thing I noticed
About myself when I got saved.

I got saved and found the word in my heart.
It came to my mind.
Reading the Bible was more confirmation than anything.

God’s word looks good in leather, but it fits best in the heart.

God commands that we allow His word to abide in us.
Deuteronomy 6:6 “These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart.”

Psalms 40:8 “I delight to do Your will, O my God; Your Law is within my heart.”

Not only that, but God promised to put His Law in our hearts.
Jeremiah 31:33 “But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days,” declares the LORD, “I will put My law within them and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.”

2 Corinthians 3:2-3 “You are our letter, written in our hearts, known and read by all men; being manifested that you are a letter of Christ, cared for by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.”

HOW CAN WE TELL IF GOD’S WORD IS IN A MAN’S HEART?
Psalms 37:31 “The law of his God is in his heart; His steps do not slip.”

Psalms 119:11 “Your word I have treasured in my heart, That I may not sin against You.”

Isaiah 51:7 “Listen to Me, you who know righteousness, A people in whose heart is My law; Do not fear the reproach of man, Nor be dismayed at their revilings.”

Jeremiah 15:16 “Your words were found and I ate them, And Your words became for me a joy and the delight of my heart; For I have been called by Your name, O LORD God of hosts.”

Jeremiah 20:9 “But if I say, “I will not remember Him Or speak anymore in His name,” Then in my heart it becomes like a burning fire Shut up in my bones; And I am weary of holding it in, And I cannot endure it.”

When people come to Jesus, God writes His word in their heart.
It is not an external thing. It is not just forcing yourself to obey.

When you come to Jesus, His word gets inside of you
And starts showing from the inside out.

It becomes like a fire in your bones.
But when you don’t come to Jesus, it proves that God’s word does not abide in you, for if it did, you would love Jesus.

“You do not have His word abiding in you, for you do not believe Him whom He sent.”

Now the wild thing about this is that these are the highly religious people.
These are the people who claim to be the closest to God,
But yet their heart is serious trouble.

Psalms 95:10 “For forty years I loathed that generation, And said they are a people who err in their heart, And they do not know My ways.”

Hebrews 3:7-12 “Therefore, just as the Holy Spirit says, “TODAY IF YOU HEAR HIS VOICE, DO NOT HARDEN YOUR HEARTS AS WHEN THEY PROVOKED ME, AS IN THE DAY OF TRIAL IN THE WILDERNESS, WHERE YOUR FATHERS TRIED Me BY TESTING Me, AND SAW MY WORKS FOR FORTY YEARS. “THEREFORE I WAS ANGRY WITH THIS GENERATION, AND SAID, ‘THEY ALWAYS GO ASTRAY IN THEIR HEART, AND THEY DID NOT KNOW MY WAYS’; AS I SWORE IN MY WRATH, ‘THEY SHALL NOT ENTER MY REST.'” Take care, brethren, that there not be in any one of you an evil, unbelieving heart that falls away from the living God.”

When you don’t come to Jesus, it is proof that your heart is empty,
You do not have the word of God abiding in you,
For if you did, you would be a follower of Jesus.

This is also why so many cannot grasp the word of God.
They can read it, but it isn’t in them.

1 Corinthians 2:14-16 “But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised. But he who is spiritual appraises all things, yet he himself is appraised by no one. For WHO HAS KNOWN THE MIND OF THE LORD, THAT HE WILL INSTRUCT HIM? But we have the mind of Christ.”

If you have never surrendered to Jesus, your heart is empty.
You know nothing of the passions of God.

Emptiness
#2 FUTILITY
John 5:39-40

Last week after the sermon Lee Kidd came up to me and pointed these two verses out as the saddest two verses in the Bible.

It is the picture of a person who knows they need life after death, and so they turn to the Bible hoping to find the solution, but they will not accept the solution and so a life of searching still lands them in hell.

We live in a world today with a whole
Group of people who have defined themselves as seekers.

I saw an ad in the Lubbock times for a church yesterday.
First Unitarian Universalist Church
Freedom, Tolerance, Reason
A group of non-dogmatic seekers

The problem is many have looked at seeking as finish line.

A non-dogmatic seeker is by definition
Seeking truth they don’t believe exists.

In other words they just want to seek and stop there.
They don’t really want to find.

I’ve told you many times before, I do not agree with the seeker sensitive movement. I do not agree with catering to seekers.

I agree with preaching the gospel to every man, woman, and child, on this earth, but I do not agree with targeting seekers.

That is because if they are really a seeker, they will find.
Matthew 7:8 “For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.”

People who spend a lifetime seeking are not really seekers,
They are suppressors.

Romans 1:18-19 “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them.”

How else could you read the Bible your entire life and not come to Jesus?
If you can read the Bible and not give your life to Jesus,
Then you are a suppressor of the truth, and your quest has been in vain.

DO YOU WANT TO KNOW WHY?

Because the Bible only has one subject: JESUS
It is all about Him.

W.A. Criswell preached a sermon known as “The Scarlet Thread”
He mentioned how throughout Scripture there is a scarlet thread of Jesus that runs from Genesis to Revelation. You can take any book of the Bible and preach Jesus.

Genesis Ark of God (Gen. 7:1 & 1 Pet. 3:18-22)
Exodus Passover Lamb (Exodus 12:1-13 & 1 Cor. 5:7)
Leviticus High Priest (Lev. 16:29-34 & Heb. 5:8-10)
Numbers Pillar of fire and the Cloud (Num. 14:14)
Deuteronomy Prophet greater than Moses (Deut. 18:15-18)
Joshua Leader in Battle (Joshua 24:8)
Judges Judge of Israel (John 5:22)
Ruth Kinsmen Redeemer (Ruth 4:14)
Samuel Anointed of God (1 Sam. 16:12)
Kings King of Kings (Rev. 19:16)
Chronicles Lord of Lords (Rev. 19:16)
Ezra The Restorer (Ezra 9:8-9)
Nehemiah Wall around His people (Neh. 6:15-16)
Esther One chosen for such a time as this (Esther 4:14)
Job Living Redeemer (Job 19:25)
Psalms Great Shepherd (Psalm 23)
Proverbs Wisdom of God (Prov. 8)
Ecclesiastes Abundant Life (Ecc. 12:13-14 & John 10:10)
Song of Sol. Beloved Groom (SOS 2:8)
Isaiah Won. Coun., Mty God, Ever. Father, P of Peace (Isaiah 9:6)
Jeremiah Potter of the Clay (Jer. 18)
Lamentations Weeping Prophet
Ezekiel Son of Man
Daniel Ancient of Days, 4th man in the fire (Daniel 7:9-10)
Hosea Harlot’s Husband (Hosea 1:2)
Joel Refuge for His people (Joel 3:16)
Amos Tabernacle of David (Amos 9:11-12)
Obadiah Protector of Jacob (Obad. 1:15-18)
Jonah One who spends 3 days and 3 nights in the earth (Matt. 16:4)
Micah Ruler from Bethlehem (Micah 5:2)
Nahum Jealous God (Nahum 1:2)
Habakkuk God of my salvation (Hab. 3:18-19)
Zephaniah The Lord in your midst (Zeph. 3:15-17)
Haggai Signet Ring of God (Haggai 2:22)
Zechariah The Righteous Branch (Zech. 3:8, 6:12)
Malachi Refiner’s Fire (Mal. 3:3)

The Bible is all about Jesus.

1 Peter 1:10-12 “As to this salvation, the prophets who prophesied of the grace that would come to you made careful searches and inquiries, seeking to know what person or time the Spirit of Christ within them was indicating as He predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories to follow. It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves, but you, in these things which now have been announced to you through those who preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven — things into which angels long to look.”

If you are not willing to see Him,
Then all your Scripture reading is in vain.

That is what these people did.
Vs. 40, “And you are unwilling to come to Me so that you may have life.”

Jeremiah 6:16-21 “Thus says the LORD, “Stand by the ways and see and ask for the ancient paths, Where the good way is, and walk in it; And you will find rest for your souls. But they said, ‘We will not walk in it.’ “And I set watchmen over you, saying, ‘Listen to the sound of the trumpet!’ But they said, ‘We will not listen.’ “Therefore hear, O nations, And know, O congregation, what is among them. “Hear, O earth: behold, I am bringing disaster on this people, The fruit of their plans, Because they have not listened to My words, And as for My law, they have rejected it also. “For what purpose does frankincense come to Me from Sheba And the sweet cane from a distant land? Your burnt offerings are not acceptable And your sacrifices are not pleasing to Me.” Therefore, thus says the LORD, “Behold, I am laying stumbling blocks before this people. And they will stumble against them, Fathers and sons together; Neighbor and friend will perish.”

Emptiness, Futility
#3 DECEPTION
John 5:41-43

Now Jesus starts this section off with a premise.
“I do not receive glory from men;”

“I’m not saying this because I need you.
I’m saying this because I know you and you need Me.”

Then look at what He says.
“but I know you, that you do not have the love of God in yourselves.”

HOW DO YOU KNOW THAT?
“I have come in My Father’s name, and you do not receive Me; if another comes in his own name, you will receive him.”

Jesus says, you don’t love God.
I know this because I came from God and you don’t love Me.

If you don’t accept Jesus, then you do not love God.

If you cannot accept His Son, how can you accept the Father?
What this means is that your claims to love God are mere deception.
It is that high form of hypocrisy that we often talk about.

Titus 1:16 “They profess to know God, but by their deeds they deny Him, being detestable and disobedient and worthless for any good deed.”

In other words, your entire religion is a lie.

How many times have we talked about how the prophets don’t just want you being religious for the sake of religion?

How many times have we talked about how loving God is not to just go through the motions.

If you want to love God, then give your life to Jesus Christ.
John 8:42 “Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love Me, for I proceeded forth and have come from God, for I have not even come on My own initiative, but He sent Me.”

Emptiness, futility, deception
#4 SELFISHNESS
John 5:44

Here Jesus actually points out the inhibitor to their faith.

“How can you believe, when you receive glory from one another and do not seek the glory that is from the one and only God?”

In other words, if you only want glory from men,
Then how can you be a believer in God?

SELFISHNESS DOESN’T LEAD TO SALVATION
Matthew 16:21-24 “From that time Jesus began to show His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised up on the third day. Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, “God forbid it, Lord! This shall never happen to You.” But He turned and said to Peter, “Get behind Me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to Me; for you are not setting your mind on God’s interests, but man’s.” Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me.”

Matthew 5:3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”

James 4:6 “But He gives a greater grace. Therefore it says, “GOD IS OPPOSED TO THE PROUD, BUT GIVES GRACE TO THE HUMBLE.”

This is the reason many people will not come to Jesus.
It requires death to self, it requires hatred of self, it requires denial of self, Many love themselves to much.

Luke 14:26-27 “If anyone comes to Me, and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple. “Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple.”

Was it not because of this self love that the Rich Young Ruler went away sad?

Emptiness, Futility, Deception, Selfishness
#5 CONDEMNATION
John 5:45-47

Here is perhaps the hardest of all.

These people thought that they could reject Jesus,
But still be ok because they were disciples of Moses.

They say, “Moses won’t accuse me, I’m on Moses side”

John 9:28-29 “They reviled him and said, “You are His disciple, but we are disciples of Moses. “We know that God has spoken to Moses, but as for this man, we do not know where He is from.”

DO YOU KNOW WHAT JESUS SAYS TO THAT?
“if you believed Moses, you would believe Me, for he wrote about Me. But if you do not believe His writings, how will you believe My words?”

Jesus point is yet again clearly seen.

You cannot claim to love the Bible and not love Jesus.
You cannot claim to love God’s prophets and not love Jesus.
Jesus is the main point of all of them.

If you don’t come to Jesus,
Then you are under condemnation.

John 3:18 “He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.”

“Do not think that I will accuse you before the Father; the one who accuses you is Moses, in whom you have set your hope.”

It is a sad person who is looking to the Law for salvation.

Romans 7:9-11 “I was once alive apart from the Law; but when the commandment came, sin became alive and I died; and this commandment, which was to result in life, proved to result in death for me; for sin, taking an opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through it killed me.”

Romans 8:1-4 “Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, so that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.”

Some day it will be the knowledge of God’s word
That will be the harshest condemnation on people.

Luke 12:42-48 “And the Lord said, “Who then is the faithful and sensible steward, whom his master will put in charge of his servants, to give them their rations at the proper time? “Blessed is that slave whom his master finds so doing when he comes. “Truly I say to you that he will put him in charge of all his possessions. “But if that slave says in his heart, ‘My master will be a long time in coming,’ and begins to beat the slaves, both men and women, and to eat and drink and get drunk; the master of that slave will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he does not know, and will cut him in pieces, and assign him a place with the unbelievers. “And that slave who knew his master’s will and did not get ready or act in accord with his will, will receive many lashes, but the one who did not know it, and committed deeds worthy of a flogging, will receive but few. From everyone who has been given much, much will be required; and to whom they entrusted much, of him they will ask all the more.”

The Law can only condemn.
It has no power to save.

The point to this text is simple.
Jesus is the Father’s Sermon.

Jesus is what the Father has been trying to show people
Since the dawn of creation.

If you have missed Him, you have missed everything.

This is what God wants you to see more than anything else.
Matthew 17:1-5 “Six days later Jesus took with Him Peter and James and John his brother, and led them up on a high mountain by themselves. And He was transfigured before them; and His face shone like the sun, and His garments became as white as light. And behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to them, talking with Him. Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be here; if You wish, I will make three tabernacles here, one for You, and one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” While he was still speaking, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and behold, a voice out of the cloud said, “This is My beloved Son, with whom I am well-pleased; listen to Him!”

DON’T GET SO CAUGHT UP IN RELIGION THAT YOU MISS JESUS
The greatest tragedy of all is to have your name written on the church role, but not written in the Lamb’s book of life.

Jesus, The Father’s Savior

John 5:31-36

Last Sunday morning we began looking
At this first sermon of Jesus in the book of John.

He had healed a man who had been crippled for 38 years,
But He did it on the Sabbath, just as He had been doing.

This infuriated the Jews, but Jesus said that it was OK because this was what His Father God was doing too.

John 5:18 “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.”

They were infuriated with the fact
That Jesus would call Himself the Son of God.

Their anger prompted this first sermon of Jesus.
It is a four-part study, in which
Jesus outlines the unique relationship He has with the Father.
We see the third point this morning.

Jesus has already shown us that He is the Father’s Son

Sunday night, Jesus showed us that He is the Father’s Standard.

But this morning we look at the third point of Jesus sermon, and that is that
Jesus is the Father’s Savior.

I don’t mean that God needs to be saved,
But rather that Jesus is the anointed Savior of God.

We have already studied this point a little in the book of John.

John 1:29-34 “The next day he saw Jesus coming to him and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! “This is He on behalf of whom I said, ‘After me comes a Man who has a higher rank than I, for He existed before me.’ “I did not recognize Him, but so that He might be manifested to Israel, I came baptizing in water.” John testified saying, “I have seen the Spirit descending as a dove out of heaven, and He remained upon Him. “I did not recognize Him, but He who sent me to baptize in water said to me, ‘He upon whom you see the Spirit descending and remaining upon Him, this is the One who baptizes in the Holy Spirit.’ “I myself have seen, and have testified that this is the Son of God.”

We learned there that Jesus was the Sent One of God.
He is the Only One that God has ever endorsed.

This is the point that Jesus is making about Himself.

Jesus is going to show us that He is the only Savior
Whom God has ordained.
He is the only Savior whom God has anointed.

In a pluralistic world it will do us good to realize
That Jesus and Jesus alone is God’s anointed Savior.

The Jews had questioned Jesus claim to be from the Father,
Now Jesus is showing them that He is the One the Father sent.
He is the Messiah.

This is significant.
All throughout the Bible, it mattered who God anointed.

1 Samuel 16:1-13 “Now the LORD said to Samuel, “How long will you grieve over Saul, since I have rejected him from being king over Israel? Fill your horn with oil and go; I will send you to Jesse the Bethlehemite, for I have selected a king for Myself among his sons.” But Samuel said, “How can I go? When Saul hears of it, he will kill me.” And the LORD said, “Take a heifer with you and say, ‘I have come to sacrifice to the LORD.’ “You shall invite Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will show you what you shall do; and you shall anoint for Me the one whom I designate to you.” So Samuel did what the LORD said, and came to Bethlehem. And the elders of the city came trembling to meet him and said, “Do you come in peace?” He said, “In peace; I have come to sacrifice to the LORD. Consecrate yourselves and come with me to the sacrifice.” He also consecrated Jesse and his sons and invited them to the sacrifice. When they entered, he looked at Eliab and thought, “Surely the LORD’S anointed is before Him.” But the LORD said to Samuel, “Do not look at his appearance or at the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for God sees not as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.” Then Jesse called Abinadab and made him pass before Samuel. And he said, “The LORD has not chosen this one either.” Next Jesse made Shammah pass by. And he said, “The LORD has not chosen this one either.” Thus Jesse made seven of his sons pass before Samuel. But Samuel said to Jesse, “The LORD has not chosen these.” And Samuel said to Jesse, “Are these all the children?” And he said, ” There remains yet the youngest, and behold, he is tending the sheep.” Then Samuel said to Jesse, “Send and bring him; for we will not sit down until he comes here.” So he sent and brought him in. Now he was ruddy, with beautiful eyes and a handsome appearance. And the LORD said, ” Arise, anoint him; for this is he.” Then Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brothers; and the Spirit of the LORD came mightily upon David from that day forward. And Samuel arose and went to Ramah.”

All that mattered was whom God chose.
Height didn’t matter, appearance didn’t matter.
If God chose Him, it was a done deal.

All others were destined to fail.

Saul tried to hold on to the kingdom.
1 Samuel 20:30-31 “Then Saul’s anger burned against Jonathan and he said to him, “You son of a perverse, rebellious woman! Do I not know that you are choosing the son of Jesse to your own shame and to the shame of your mother’s nakedness? “For as long as the son of Jesse lives on the earth, neither you nor your kingdom will be established. Therefore now, send and bring him to me, for he must surely die.”

But Saul was no longer God’s anointed.
The Philistines would attack Saul.
They would kill Jonathon and Saul would fall on his own spear.

Absalom tried to steal the kingdom from his father.
2 Samuel 15:10 “But Absalom sent spies throughout all the tribes of Israel, saying, “As soon as you hear the sound of the trumpet, then you shall say, ‘ Absalom is king in Hebron.'”

But Absalom was not God’s anointed.
And so Absalom’s mule proved to be too tall, he got his hair hung in a tree and Joab thrust three spears into him.

Sheba tried to share the kingdom and lead 10 tribes away.
2 Samuel 20:1-2 “Now a worthless fellow happened to be there whose name was Sheba, the son of Bichri, a Benjamite; and he blew the trumpet and said, “We have no portion in David, Nor do we have inheritance in the son of Jesse; Every man to his tents, O Israel!” So all the men of Israel withdrew from following David and followed Sheba the son of Bichri; but the men of Judah remained steadfast to their king, from the Jordan even to Jerusalem.”

But Sheba was not God’s anointed.
So at Joab’s request the people of Abel Beth-maacah
Threw Sheba’s head over the wall.

There was only one anointed King and all others failed.

This is a lesson we must remember as well.
There is only One whom God has anointed as Messiah.
There is only One whom God has anointed as Savior.

No matter His appearance
Isaiah 53:2 “For He grew up before Him like a tender shoot, And like a root out of parched ground; He has no stately form or majesty That we should look upon Him, Nor appearance that we should be attracted to Him.”

HE IS STILL GOD’S MESSIAH
Isaiah 53:10-12 “But the LORD was pleased To crush Him, putting Him to grief; If He would render Himself as a guilt offering, He will see His offspring, He will prolong His days, And the good pleasure of the LORD will prosper in His hand. As a result of the anguish of His soul, He will see it and be satisfied; By His knowledge the Righteous One, My Servant, will justify the many, As He will bear their iniquities. Therefore, I will allot Him a portion with the great, And He will divide the booty with the strong; Because He poured out Himself to death, And was numbered with the transgressors; Yet He Himself bore the sin of many, And interceded for the transgressors.”

Jesus point here is that He is God’s anointed Savior. He is God’s Messiah.

The problem is that just as Isaiah said, many didn’t see Him.
In this sermon, Jesus reveals why there is no doubt that He is the Messiah.

He will show us three testimonies about His Messiahship.
#1 THE UNBELIEVED TESTIMONY
John 5:31-32

“If I alone testify about Myself, My testimony is not true.”

His point is that if He testifies about Himself,
That won’t be acceptable to the people.

He was speaking in reference to the Law.
Deuteronomy 19:15 “A single witness shall not rise up against a man on account of any iniquity or any sin which he has committed; on the evidence of two or three witnesses a matter shall be confirmed.”

Jesus point was if He just shows up and claims to be the Messiah, No one will believe Him because He is testifying about Himself.

And sure enough they didn’t.
His testimony was unbelieved.

Jesus claimed to be God and they didn’t believe Him.
John 8:58-59 “Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was born, I am.” Therefore they picked up stones to throw at Him, but Jesus hid Himself and went out of the temple.”

John 10:33 “The Jews answered Him, “For a good work we do not stone You, but for blasphemy; and because You, being a man, make Yourself out to be God.”

Jesus claimed to be God’s Son and they didn’t believe Him.
John 5:17-18 “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.”

Jesus claimed to be the Savior of the World and they didn’t believe Him.
John 8:31-33 “So Jesus was saying to those Jews who had believed Him, “If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.”They answered Him, “We are Abraham’s descendants and have never yet been enslaved to anyone; how is it that You say, ‘You will become free’?”

Jesus claimed to be the Messiah and they didn’t believe Him.
Mark 14:60-64 “The high priest stood up and came forward and questioned Jesus, saying, “Do You not answer? What is it that these men are testifying against You?” But He kept silent and did not answer. Again the high priest was questioning Him, and saying to Him, “Are You the Christ, the Son of the Blessed One?” And Jesus said, “I am; and you shall see THE SON OF MAN SITTING AT THE RIGHT HAND OF POWER, and COMING WITH THE CLOUDS OF HEAVEN.” Tearing his clothes, the high priest said, “What further need do we have of witnesses? “You have heard the blasphemy; how does it seem to you?” And they all condemned Him to be deserving of death.”

Jesus claimed to be from Heaven and they didn’t believe Him.
John 6:41-42 “Therefore the Jews were grumbling about Him, because He said, “I am the bread that came down out of heaven.” They were saying, “Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How does He now say, ‘I have come down out of heaven’?”

Jesus claimed He’d go back to Heaven and they didn’t believe Him.
John 6:61-63 “But Jesus, conscious that His disciples grumbled at this, said to them, “Does this cause you to stumble? “What then if you see the Son of Man ascending to where He was before? “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing; the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life.”

Jesus testimony about Himself has been unbelieved by the Jews and even by most in the world today.

Dr. Phil claims to be a doctor and people believe him.
Tom Brady claims to be a quarterback and people believe him.
George Bush claims to be president and people believe him.

But Jesus comes and claims to be the Son of God,
And for the most part people don’t believe Him.

And there is a reason why they don’t.
John 8:42-47 “Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love Me, for I proceeded forth and have come from God, for I have not even come on My own initiative, but He sent Me. “Why do you not understand what I am saying? It is because you cannot hear My word. “You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies. “But because I speak the truth, you do not believe Me. “Which one of you convicts Me of sin? If I speak truth, why do you not believe Me? “He who is of God hears the words of God; for this reason you do not hear them, because you are not of God.”
The reason people don’t believe Jesus
Is because they are not of God, and Jesus is God.

But their excuse was
That He couldn’t be trusted because what He said He said about Himself.
John 8:13 “So the Pharisees said to Him, “You are testifying about Yourself; Your testimony is not true.”

What a pathetic reason not to believe,
Yet that is all the excuse it takes for some people.

Jesus said “Follow Me” and yet people won’t believe Him.
They need more proof.
They need a sign.
They want God to jump through hoops and write it on the wall.

It doesn’t matter that what He said is the truth,
They aren’t willing to believe what He said.

His is the unbelieved testimony.
That is why Jesus said.
“There is another who testifies of Me, and I know that the testimony which He gives about Me is true.”

But there is a second testimony about Jesus.
#2 THE UNRECEIVED TESTIMONY
John 5:33-35

Jesus testified about Himself, but they wouldn’t believe His testimony.
So Jesus points them to a second testimony about Himself.

It is the testimony of John.
And they knew what that testimony was, for they had already sent to him.
John 1:19-24 “This is the testimony of John, when the Jews sent to him priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, “Who are you?” And he confessed and did not deny, but confessed, “I am not the Christ.” They asked him, “What then? Are you Elijah?” And he said, “I am not.” “Are you the Prophet?” And he answered, “No.” Then they said to him, “Who are you, so that we may give an answer to those who sent us? What do you say about yourself?” He said, “I am A VOICE OF ONE CRYING IN THE WILDERNESS, ‘MAKE STRAIGHT THE WAY OF THE LORD,’ as Isaiah the prophet said.” Now they had been sent from the Pharisees.”

These Jews went to find out what John was teaching, and John testified to the truth.

Now Jesus wants you to know He didn’t need John’s testimony.
Vs. 34 “But the testimony which I have is not from man, but I say these things so that you may be saved.”

He didn’t need John to testify about Him, but you do.
Jesus doesn’t need men to testify about Himself, but you do.
Jesus does not need men to travel around the world, but the world does.

But the tragedy is, even that witness is often times not received.
See verse 35, “He was a lamp that was burning and was shining and you were willing to rejoice for a while in his light.”

Now notice John wasn’t the light, John was a lamp.
A lamp uses borrowed light and carries that light to the darkness.

Jesus is the Light of the World, John simply carried His light,
And for a while the people liked it.

“you were willing to rejoice for a while in his light.”

John was a sensational act to them. Much like Ezekiel.

Ezekiel 33:30-33 “But as for you, son of man, your fellow citizens who talk about you by the walls and in the doorways of the houses, speak to one another, each to his brother, saying, ‘ Come now and hear what the message is which comes forth from the LORD.’ “They come to you as people come, and sit before you as My people and hear your words, but they do not do them, for they do the lustful desires expressed by their mouth, and their heart goes after their gain. “Behold, you are to them like a sensual song by one who has a beautiful voice and plays well on an instrument; for they hear your words but they do not practice them. “So when it comes to pass — as surely it will — then they will know that a prophet has been in their midst.”

They enjoyed listening to John for a little while,
They thought he was a good show,
But they didn’t truly receive his testimony.

THEY EVENTUALLY REJECTED JOHN
Matthew 11:14-19 “And if you are willing to accept it, John himself is Elijah who was to come. “He who has ears to hear, let him hear. “But to what shall I compare this generation? It is like children sitting in the market places, who call out to the other children, and say, ‘We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we sang a dirge, and you did not mourn.’ “For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, ‘ He has a demon!’ “The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Behold, a gluttonous man and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ Yet wisdom is vindicated by her deeds.”

Not only did they not believe Jesus testimony about himself, They didn’t receive the testimony of the preacher that said the same thing.

This applies today.
People don’t believe Jesus because He testifies of Himself.
People don’t believe His prophets because they find some fault in them.

It is amazing today how many excuses people can give
For not wanting the truth.

“We can’t believe John he’s a psycho that lives in the wilderness”
People use all sorts of excuses why not to believe a preacher.
He is too long…
He is too serious…
He is too boring…
He is too ugly…

People will look for any reason whatsoever to disbelieve the truth.
Not because the truth is wrong, but because they don’t like the truth.

But come the judgment they won’t have a leg to stand on.
“Depart from Me, I never knew you.”
It’s not my fault God, I didn’t believe because my preacher…

But there will be many in hell with similar excuses.

Maybe you can not believe the testimony of Jesus
Maybe you can not receive the testimony of His preachers
They are the Unbelieved Testimony and the Unreceived testimOny
#3 THE UNDENIED TESTIMONY
John 5:36

You can live your life claiming Jesus claim about Himself can’t be trusted.
You can live your life shooting holes in the preachers He sends.
But there is one testimony you cannot deny.

The testimony which the Father has given Him.
HIS WORKS

That testimony is greater than any.
1 John 5:9 “If we receive the testimony of men, the testimony of God is greater; for the testimony of God is this, that He has testified concerning His Son.”

Jesus said you can doubt Me, you can doubt John,
But what are you going to do with the power God is revealing in Me?

“for the works which the Father has given Me to accomplish – the very works that I do – testify about Me, that the Father has sent Me.”

John 10:25 “Jesus answered them, “I told you, and you do not believe; the works that I do in My Father’s name, these testify of Me.”

John 10:38 “but if I do them, though you do not believe Me, believe the works, so that you may know and understand that the Father is in Me, and I in the Father.”

John 14:11 “Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me; otherwise believe because of the works themselves.”

TURN TO ISAIAH 35
This is a Messianic prophecy.

Verses 1-4 talk about THE PROMISE OF THE SAVIOR
But how will we know who He is?

Verses 5-7 talk about THE POWER OF THE SAVIOR
Look at what Isaiah said He would do.

“the eyes of the blind will be opened.”
John 9:32-33 “Since the beginning of time it has never been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a person born blind. “If this man were not from God, He could do nothing.”

“the ears of the deaf will be unstopped”
Mark 7:32-35 “They brought to Him one who was deaf and spoke with difficulty, and they implored Him to lay His hand on him. Jesus took him aside from the crowd, by himself, and put His fingers into his ears, and after spitting, He touched his tongue with the saliva; and looking up to heaven with a deep sigh, He said to him, “Ephphatha!” that is, “Be opened!” And his ears were opened, and the impediment of his tongue was removed, and he began speaking plainly.”

“the lame will leap like a deer.”
John 5:8-9 “Jesus said to him, “Get up, pick up your pallet and walk.” Immediately the man became well, and picked up his pallet and began to walk.”

“the tongue of the mute will shout for joy.”
Matthew 9:32-33 “As they were going out, a mute, demon-possessed man was brought to Him. After the demon was cast out, the mute man spoke; and the crowds were amazed, and were saying, “Nothing like this has ever been seen in Israel.”
AND ISAIAH SAID IT WILL HAPPEN A LOT
“for waters will break forth in the wilderness and streams in the Arabay. The scorched land will become a pool and the thirsty ground springs of water; in the haunt of jackals, it’s resting place, grass becomes reeds and rushes.”

Matthew 11:2-6 “Now when John, while imprisoned, heard of the works of Christ, he sent word by his disciples and said to Him, “Are You the Expected One, or shall we look for someone else?” Jesus answered and said to them, “Go and report to John what you hear and see: the BLIND RECEIVE SIGHT and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the POOR HAVE THE GOSPEL PREACHED TO THEM. “And blessed is he who does not take offense at Me.”

Isaiah said you will know the Messiah by His power.

Verses 8-10 talk about THE PURPOSE OF THE SAVIOR

The Messiah would be the way of salvation
For all those who would turn from their sin.
“A highway will be there, a roadway, and it will be called the Highway of Holiness. The unclean will not travel on it, but it will be for him who walks that way, AND FOOLS WILL NOT WANDER ON IT.”

God had promised a Messiah that would come
And save all those who would turn from their sin and follow Him, And you would know Him because of the power that He had.

THIS IS THE POINT THIS MORNING.

You might not believe the testimony of Jesus…
You might not receive the words of a preacher…
BUT YOU CANNOT DENY THE POWERFUL WORKS OF JESUS

Jesus is the Father’s Savior.
He is God’s anointed to save the world.
There is no one else.

John 14:6 “Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.”

Acts 4:12 “And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved.”

1 Timothy 2:5 “For there is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,”

This morning I’m going to ask you not to be foolish,
But to take the advice of Jesus.

John 14:11 “Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me; otherwise believe because of the works themselves.”

Do you know of anyone else who gave sight to the blind?
Do you know of anyone else who unstopped deaf ears?
Do you know of anyone else who made a paralytic walk?
Do you know of anyone else who gave the ability to speak?

He is God’s Savior and He will save you today.
Matthew 16:24-25 “Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. “For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.”

Romans 10:9 “that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved;”

Jesus is the Father’s Savior
IS HE YOURS?

 

Jesus, The Father’s Standard

John 5:24-30

This morning we began this sermon of Jesus.
It is the sermon in which Jesus outlines the special relationship
That He has with the Father.

This morning we learned that Jesus is the Father’s Son.
He shares His Father’s Passions
He sees His Father’s Plan
He shows His Father’s Power
He shares His Father’s Praise

But tonight Jesus hits the second point of His sermon.
There is another very unique thing
About Jesus relationship with the Father.

Not only is He the Father’s Son
He is the Father’s Standard

When asking people why they will go to heaven…
“Because I’m a good person”

Now of course you and I both know this is not true.
Romans 3:10-18 “as it is written, “THERE IS NONE RIGHTEOUS, NOT EVEN ONE; THERE IS NONE WHO UNDERSTANDS, THERE IS NONE WHO SEEKS FOR GOD; ALL HAVE TURNED ASIDE, TOGETHER THEY HAVE BECOME USELESS; THERE IS NONE WHO DOES GOOD, THERE IS NOT EVEN ONE.” “THEIR THROAT IS AN OPEN GRAVE, WITH THEIR TONGUES THEY KEEP DECEIVING,” “THE POISON OF ASPS IS UNDER THEIR LIPS”; “WHOSE MOUTH IS FULL OF CURSING AND BITTERNESS”; “THEIR FEET ARE SWIFT TO SHED BLOOD, DESTRUCTION AND MISERY ARE IN THEIR PATHS, AND THE PATH OF PEACE THEY HAVE NOT KNOWN.” “THERE IS NO FEAR OF GOD BEFORE THEIR EYES.”

Romans 3:23 “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,”

The Bible is clear that no one has ever been good enough, Save One.

Matthew 3:17 “and behold, a voice out of the heavens said, ” This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased.”

Biblical truth is that no one but Jesus has ever been good enough to go to heaven, yet people still believe this today.

While this is an erroneous belief, it is not a new belief.

700 years before Jesus Isaiah
Dealt with a people who had such a view.
Isaiah spends the first 8 verses of this chapter describing how the priest and the prophet are comparable to drunkards. They put on a good show, but all that comes from their mouth is worth no more than the vomit that comes from a drunk’s mouth.

They were justifying men who were not righteous. They told people “peace, peace, when there was no peace.” They had omitted the message of righteousness, they had omitted the message of holiness, and they were in the business of telling people what they wanted to hear.

Isaiah 28:7-8 “And these also reel with wine and stagger from strong drink: The priest and the prophet reel with strong drink, They are confused by wine, they stagger from strong drink; They reel while having visions, They totter when rendering judgment. For all the tables are full of filthy vomit, without a single clean place.”

Now apparently the prophets didn’t appreciate Isaiah’s sermon.
They took this opportunity to respond.

Isaiah 28:9-15 “To whom would He teach knowledge, And to whom would He interpret the message? Those just weaned from milk? Those just taken from the breast? “For He says, ‘Order on order, order on order, Line on line, line on line, A little here, a little there.'” Indeed, He will speak to this people Through stammering lips and a foreign tongue, He who said to them, “Here is rest, give rest to the weary,” And, “Here is repose,” but they would not listen. So the word of the LORD to them will be, “Order on order, order on order, Line on line, line on line, A little here, a little there,” That they may go and stumble backward, be broken, snared and taken captive. Therefore, hear the word of the LORD, O scoffers, Who rule this people who are in Jerusalem, Because you have said, “We have made a covenant with death, And with Sheol we have made a pact. The overwhelming scourge will not reach us when it passes by, For we have made falsehood our refuge and we have concealed ourselves with deception.”

You can hear in their message that they thought they were ok.

BROTHER JIM TOLD ME:
“You know Rory, one time I was preaching a pretty tough message to the people and I determined, I could either look at people like they were a bunch of condemned sinners, or I could see them as people who are pretty good just trying to do what’s right.”

That’s the same kind of heretical stuff
These prophets were railing Isaiah for.

The Bible says men are nothing but a bunch of condemned sinners And that they aren’t good enough.

The problem is far reaching.
Men all over America believe their own goodness will carry them to heaven, And why not, because preachers all over America tell them that is so.

But they are all forgetting one thing.
GOD GETS TO SET THE STANDARD.

Salvation is not attained through men being good.
Salvation is not attained through men justifying themselves.

Salvation is difficult.
Salvation is a small gate followed by a narrow path,
The Bible teaches that while many will want to enter the wedding banquet, many will be locked outside where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Since this is the case, we must come to grips
With what God’s standard for righteousness is.

THIS IS EXACTLY THE POINT WE LEARN TONIGHT

Tonight we are going to look at Jesus, The Father’s Standard, and there are three truths we see about Him tonight.
#1 JESUS IS THE PATHWAY OF SALVATION
John 5:24-25

Did you ever talk with a person about how to go to heaven?

I like the question Mark Cahill asks. “I need directions. How do you get to heaven?”
That is what Jesus is telling us here.
We don’t go to heaven because we are good enough to do so.
We don’t go to heaven because our parents did.

Jesus gets extremely clear as to how a person goes to heaven.
There are two pre-requisites He mentions.

1) “He who hears My word”

NOW THAT SEEMS STRANGE.
That is a simple step, just hear what Jesus says.

You would think that was easy,
Yet this step weeds many out right off the bat.

Let me talk to you theologically about hearing for a second.
Take into consideration what Paul said in Ephesians 2.

Ephesians 2:1 “And you were dead in your trespasses and sins,”

A dead soul cannot hear.
John 8:42-43 “Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love Me, for I proceeded forth and have come from God, for I have not even come on My own initiative, but He sent Me. “Why do you not understand what I am saying? It is because you cannot hear My word.”

SO HOW DOES ANYONE EVER HEAR?
Jesus makes them able to hear.

Look at verse 25, “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.”

Here He is talking about the spiritually dead.
There is only One who can speak to the soul.

That is why the Bible makes this point.
John 6:44 “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day.”

People must hear, and only Jesus can speak to the dead soul.

The next problem however comes with people who have been given the opportunity to hear, but who refuse to hear.

And this goes right along with the second pre-requisite
2) “and believes Him who sent Me”

Remember this lesson?
Matthew 13:10-13 “And the disciples came and said to Him, “Why do You speak to them in parables?” Jesus answered them, “To you it has been granted to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been granted. “For whoever has, to him more shall be given, and he will have an abundance; but whoever does not have, even what he has shall be taken away from him. “Therefore I speak to them in parables; because while seeing they do not see, and while hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand.”
Some people don’t hear because they won’t hear.

It is a person who refuses the prompting of the Holy Spirit.
It is a person who refuses to believe the conviction.

That person can’t be saved, because hearing is a pre-requisite.
Hebrews 6:4-8 “For in the case of those who have once been enlightened and have tasted of the heavenly gift and have been made partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away, it is impossible to renew them again to repentance, since they again crucify to themselves the Son of God and put Him to open shame. For ground that drinks the rain which often falls on it and brings forth vegetation useful to those for whose sake it is also tilled, receives a blessing from God; but if it yields thorns and thistles, it is worthless and close to being cursed, and it ends up being burned.”

However, the person who hears and believes “has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life.”

A person who hears and believes will never stand God’s judgment.
That means they will never have the standard lifted beside them.
They don’t come into judgment.
“but has passed out of death into life.”

They literally have left death and been made alive.

Ephesians 2:4-6 “But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ ( by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,”

Jesus is the pathway of salvation.

If you won’t hear His word…
If you won’t believe what God says about Him…
You cannot be saved.
Salvation must go through Jesus.

So many in the world today want to go to heaven without dealing with Jesus. It cannot be done.

If you won’t believe Him, you cannot be saved.
#2 JESUS IS THE PROVIDER OF SALVATION
John 5:26-27

This text teaches that the power for salvation is also His.

These verses are some amazing truths that we ought not miss.

Man is very technologically advanced today.
We can build almost anything.
We can build almost anything that can do almost anything.

But you know what a man can’t do.
MAKE LIFE

Life is exclusive to God.
Only He has life in Himself.

And His Son because “He gave to the Son also to have life in Himself”

But as you have figured out by now, we aren’t just talking about physical life, a thing which Jesus made.

We are talking about spiritual life.

Jesus is the only One who can speak to a dead soul,
He is the only One who can resurrect a dead soul.
I’ve told you the story about the hand that popped up out of the grave yard.

You see only Jesus can give life.

John 11:25-26 “Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?”

And then look at what Jesus says next.
Vs. 27, “and He gave Him authority to execute judgment because He is the Son of Man.”

“execute judgment” means to rule as a King. To set as a ruler.

“Son of Man” is a Messianic title that Jesus took upon Himself. It literally means human.

The idea here is this.
That because God gave life to Jesus,
And because Jesus became human,
He has the right to rule and give life to whomever He wishes.

Remember vs. 21 from this morning?

John 5:21 “For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son also gives life to whom He wishes.”

This is what makes Jesus the provider of salvation.

YOU CAN GET SALVATION FROM NO OTHER SOURCE

Our world is full of false prophets and false religions
They can tell you what to do with your life….
They can tell you how they think to sustain your life…
They can tell you how they think to gain eternal life…

But their mouth is writing checks they can’t cash.
No one else can give life.

John 14:6 “Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.”

John 10:10 “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.”

Jesus is both the pathway of salvation and the provider of salvation,
But here on a Sunday night I’m going to assume we all knew that.

So let’s look at this third point of Jesus about Himself.
#3 JESUS IS THE PLUMB-LINE OF SALVATION
John 5:28-30

Jesus says, “Do not marvel at this”

You get the feeling Jesus was talking to a people
Who were wondering why He was speaking of such things.

You get the feeling that He was talking to people
Who didn’t even realize they needed to be made alive.

And here He is telling them that life is only found in Him.

You see this is the other upsetting attribute of the lost.
Their soul is dead and they don’t even know it.

The Pharisees didn’t. The Jews didn’t.
Many in our world don’t.

We speak of the need of salvation
And they marvel or wonder why we say such things.

WELL THIS IS WHY WE SAY SUCH THINGS
THIS IS WHY JESUS MADE THOSE TWO POINTS.

“for an hour is coming in which all who are in the tombs will hear His voice.”

Here He is talking about physical death.

DON’T MARVEL THAT I SPEAK OF NEEDING ME FOR SALVATIION, YOU NEED ME BECAUSE JUDGMENT IS COMING.

All will “come forth”

And come forth for a purpose.
“those who did the good deeds to a resurrection of life, those who committed the evil deeds to a resurrection of judgment.”

You see up until this point Jesus has been talking about the possibility of salvation, here He talks about the need of it.

There is coming a day when all the dead will be raised
And all will be judged, and the judgment will be carried out.

This is something that our world needs to understand.
We started off by talking about how people don’t really see their need for Jesus because they all think they will go to heaven.

This is the point they have missed.
WE DON’T JUDGE OURSELVES – GOD DOES.

We must fall under God’s standard.
SO WHAT IS GOD’S STANDARD?

Well, let’s look back at the passage we first read in Isaiah.
Isaiah 28:15-19 “Because you have said, “We have made a covenant with death, And with Sheol we have made a pact. The overwhelming scourge will not reach us when it passes by, For we have made falsehood our refuge and we have concealed ourselves with deception.” Therefore thus says the Lord GOD, “Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a tested stone, A costly cornerstone for the foundation, firmly placed. He who believes in it will not be disturbed. “I will make justice the measuring line And righteousness the level; Then hail will sweep away the refuge of lies And the waters will overflow the secret place. “Your covenant with death will be canceled, And your pact with Sheol will not stand; When the overwhelming scourge passes through, Then you become its trampling place. “As often as it passes through, it will seize you; For morning after morning it will pass through, anytime during the day or night, And it will be sheer terror to understand what it means.”

You see God has a standard by which all men will be judged.
God has a standard by which all deeds will be measured.

“Therefore thus says the Lord GOD, “Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a tested stone, A costly cornerstone for the foundation, firmly placed. He who believes in it will not be disturbed. “I will make justice the measuring line And righteousness the level”

Good deeds and evil deeds are determined by Jesus.

John 6:29 “Jesus answered and said to them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent.”

1 John 3:23 “This is His commandment, that we believe in the name of His Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, just as He commanded us.”

Jesus is God’s standard. Jesus is the plumb-line of salvation
He is God’s standard because He is perfectly righteous.

Vs. 30, “I can do nothing on My own initiative. As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is just, because I do not seek My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.”

He is the Only One to walk perfectly according to the will of the Father.
He is the Only One who ever performed good deeds.

He is the Father’s Standard.

That leaves this world with two options.

You either run to Jesus for salvation,
Or you are measured by Him.

Matthew 21:42-44 “Jesus said to them, “Did you never read in the Scriptures, ‘THE STONE WHICH THE BUILDERS REJECTED, THIS BECAME THE CHIEF CORNER stone; THIS CAME ABOUT FROM THE LORD, AND IT IS MARVELOUS IN OUR EYES’? “Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people, producing the fruit of it. “And he who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; but on whomever it falls, it will scatter him like dust.”

You either fall on this stone resulting in brokenness and repentance,
Or this stone will fall on you resulting in destruction.

Consider the people in Isaiah’s day.
They didn’t like what Isaiah was telling them.

Isaiah 30:8-17 “Now go, write it on a tablet before them And inscribe it on a scroll, That it may serve in the time to come As a witness forever. For this is a rebellious people, false sons, Sons who refuse to listen To the instruction of the LORD; Who say to the seers, “You must not see visions”; And to the prophets, “You must not prophesy to us what is right, Speak to us pleasant words, Prophesy illusions. “Get out of the way, turn aside from the path, Let us hear no more about the Holy One of Israel.” Therefore thus says the Holy One of Israel, “Since you have rejected this word And have put your trust in oppression and guile, and have relied on them, Therefore this iniquity will be to you Like a breach about to fall, A bulge in a high wall, Whose collapse comes suddenly in an instant, Whose collapse is like the smashing of a potter’s jar, So ruthlessly shattered That a sherd will not be found among its pieces To take fire from a hearth Or to scoop water from a cistern.” For thus the Lord GOD, the Holy One of Israel, has said, “In repentance and rest you will be saved, In quietness and trust is your strength.” But you were not willing, And you said, “No, for we will flee on horses,” Therefore you shall flee! “And we will ride on swift horses,” Therefore those who pursue you shall be swift. One thousand will flee at the threat of one man; You will flee at the threat of five, Until you are left as a flag on a mountain top And as a signal on a hill.”

Our world is one which desperately needs to know
That there is a Standard and there is a Savior.

Jesus will be one or the other in your life.
When God judges, it will all be according to Jesus.

He is the only source of salvation.

John 5:24 “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.”

Jesus, The Father’s Son

John 5:19-23

When last we looked at the book of John,
Jesus once again poked His finger directly into the eye of the devil.

Jesus approached a crippled man on the Sabbath and healed Him.
Perhaps a one-time offense wouldn’t have been that bad,
But this wasn’t a one-time offense.

John 5:16 “For this reason the Jews were persecuting Jesus, because He was doing these things on the Sabbath.”

Of course that didn’t stop Jesus.
He had a perfect explanation
For why He continually healed on the Sabbath.

John 5:17 “But He answered them, “My Father is working until now, and I Myself am working.”

This statement really set the Jews off.
John 5:18 “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.”

They wanted to kill Jesus
Because He was claiming to have an inside track on God.

They wanted to kill Jesus because He claimed to be the Son of God, and thus made Himself equal with God.

But the story doesn’t end there.
Jesus takes the opportunity to teach a theological lesson.

This lesson brings about the first sermon of Jesus
In the book of John.

We will study this sermon over the next four services.
The main point behind His sermon
Is to show His unique relationship with the Father.

In verses 37-47, we learn that Jesus is the Father’s Sermon.
John 5:39 “You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; it is these that testify about Me;”

In verses 31-36, we learn that Jesus is the Father’s Savior.
John 5:36 “But the testimony which I have is greater than the testimony of John; for the works which the Father has given Me to accomplish — the very works that I do — testify about Me, that the Father has sent Me.”
In verses 24-30, we learn that Jesus is the Father’s Standard.
John 5:26-27 “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.”

But this morning we learn a different truth about Jesus relationship.
This morning we learn that Jesus is the Father’s Son.

That being the case we must think for a moment this morning about the unique relationship that exists between a father and his son.

All throughout the Old Testament a Son had privileges.
Every son received a blessing.

You can read in Genesis about Jacob blessing his twelve sons.
You can read about Jacob blessing Joseph’s sons.
You can read about the blessing that Isaac gave to Jacob and Esau.

In Jesus parable of the prodigal son
We see this benefit from an even higher plain.

You know the story. One son determines to collect his inheritance and try his hand at the world. After he completely squanders his wealth, he comes to his senses.

Luke 15:14-19 “Now when he had spent everything, a severe famine occurred in that country, and he began to be impoverished. “So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, and he sent him into his fields to feed swine. “And he would have gladly filled his stomach with the pods that the swine were eating, and no one was giving anything to him. “But when he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired men have more than enough bread, but I am dying here with hunger! ‘I will get up and go to my father, and will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in your sight; I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me as one of your hired men.”‘

The son returns to the father hoping to simply become a servant,
But the story takes an unexpected turn of events.

Luke 15:20-24 “So he got up and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion for him, and ran and embraced him and kissed him. “And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight; I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ “But the father said to his slaves, ‘Quickly bring out the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet; and bring the fattened calf, kill it, and let us eat and celebrate; for this son of mine was dead and has come to life again; he was lost and has been found.’ And they began to celebrate.”

This son that was hoping to be a servant learned a valuable truth.
It doesn’t matter the mistakes made. It doesn’t matter the roads traveled.
There is nothing that can change a son’s status.

Not only that, but a son has privileges.
Look at what the father told the older son,
Who was upset about the whole thing.

Luke 15:31 “And he said to him, ‘Son, you have always been with me, and all that is mine is yours.”

One of the points to that story is the unique status of a son.
A SON OUTRANKS A SERVANT

That is why Jesus claim to be the Son of God
Made the Jews so hostile.
They didn’t like the thought
That Jesus might have special privileges over them.

But look at what the Bible teaches about Jesus status as a Son.

TURN TO HEBREWS 1:1-13

Jesus holds a special place before the Father
Because Jesus is the Father’s Son.

Today we see 4 privileges that Jesus has as The Father’s Son

As the Father’s Son
#1 JESUS SHARES HIS FATHER’S PASSIONS
John 5:19

We all understand this principle.

How many times have we heard the statements?
“He’s a chip off the old block”
“Like father, Like son”
“The apple didn’t fall far from the tree”
“He comes by that honest”

All those statements make the same point.
SONS ARE LIKE THEIR FATHERS.
Ever watch a boy and how he will mimic his father?

They will dress the same, and walk the same, and talk the same.
Sons spend a life time learning to share their father’s passions.

You can see it in simple things like style of dress
You can see it in religious things like choice of denomination.

It’s amazing how many passions a son learns from his father.
This is one truth that sets Jesus apart from any other person.

While we too are sons of God, we are sons of God through adoption.
But not Jesus.

John 1:14 “And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.”

John 1:18 “No one has seen God at any time; the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him.”

John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.”

Jesus is the Only Begotten. He holds a special place,
And as such He shares His Father’s passions.

Look at what this verse says.
“Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son CAN DO nothing of Himself, unless it is something He sees the Father doing:”

Shouldn’t that say, “the Son will do nothing of Himself”?
NO.

Because it is not as though they have different passions
And the Son must choose to follow the Father.

They had the same passions and so Jesus could rightly say
It was impossible for Him to do anything different.

“for whatever the Father does, these things the Son also does in like manner.”

DO YOU WANT TO KNOW THE PASSIONS OF GOD?
Look at Jesus.

DO YOU WANT TO KNOW WHAT ANGERS GOD?
Look at Jesus.

John 1:18 “No one has seen God at any time; the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him.”

When you look at Jesus, you are looking at the Father.
This is what Jesus said.

John 14:9 “Jesus said to him, “Have I been so long with you, and yet you have not come to know Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?”

This truth is echoed in the New Testament.
Colossians 1:15 “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.”

Hebrews 1:3 “And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power. When He had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,”

“the exact representation of His nature”
(NOT – the exact representation of His appearance)

Jesus is not like a statue that looks like God.
Jesus is not just out of the same mold that God is out of.
JESUS IS THE SAME SUBSTANCE

A son doesn’t just look like his father.
A son doesn’t just act like his father.
A son is made of the same substance as his father.

A person can look at a Christian and see the work of the Father.
But if you want to see the Father, you have to look at Jesus.
He is the Father’s Son and they share the same passions.

As the Father’s Son
#2 JESUS SEES HIS FATHER’S PLAN
John 5:20

This is another truth we understand about the father / son relationship.
Son’s have an inside track on what their father’s are doing.

DO YOU KNOW WHY THIS IS?
Love.
A father wants his son to have a leg up,
So the Father discloses His entire plan to the Son.

“The Father loves the Son, and shows Him all things that He is doing; and the Father will show Him greater works than these, so that you will marvel.”

Jesus point to the Jews that as the Son of God
He has an inside track to the will of the Father.

The Father shows Him what He is doing.

Jesus always knew more about God’s will than anyone else.

Matthew 16:21 “From that time Jesus began to show His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised up on the third day.”
John 8:28 “So Jesus said, “When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am He, and I do nothing on My own initiative, but I speak these things as the Father taught Me.”

John 12:49-50 “For I did not speak on My own initiative, but the Father Himself who sent Me has given Me a commandment as to what to say and what to speak. “I know that His commandment is eternal life; therefore the things I speak, I speak just as the Father has told Me.”

As God’s Son, Jesus had an inside track to the will of God.
That is why He could have confidence to do these things on the Sabbath. He knew this is what God was doing.

But there is another reason God does this.
HE WANTED THE SON TO EXCEL.

“and the Father will show Him greater works than these, so that you will marvel.”

DID YOU CATCH THAT?
“Show HIM…so that YOU will marvel”

That verse didn’t say God would show you so that you will marvel.
God was going to show Jesus so that you would marvel at Jesus.

All throughout the Bible, God has revealed Himself to men.
One of the verses God gave Tommy for Mission China.

Amos 3:7-8 “Surely the Lord GOD does nothing Unless He reveals His secret counsel To His servants the prophets. A lion has roared! Who will not fear? The Lord GOD has spoken! Who can but prophesy?”

God revealed to the prophets on a need to know basis,
But the Son has greater privilege than that.

“shows Him ALL THINGS that He Himself is doing”

This again makes Jesus exclusive.
He is the Son and He Sees His Father’s Plan.

As the Father’s Son
#3 JESUS SHOWS HIS FATHER’S POWER
John 5:21

Here is another unique truth about the father / son relationship.

Sons not only desire to follow in their father’s steps,
But they generally have the ability to follow in their father’s steps.

I like to watch football.
Watch how many football players
Can get recruited on their father’s name.

That is because scouts have learned that since the son
Is made up of the same substance as the father,
There is a good chance that the son will excel
In the same things the father excelled in.

BUT THERE IS ANOTHER REASON
That is because scouts know
A son benefits from his father’s instruction.

Take the Manning family.
Archy Manning played pro-football for the New Orleans Saints.

Now his two sons play, one for the Indianapolis Colts, the other for the New York Giants. Those boys were hot commodities to Pro scouts. Not only because they should have the same ability as the father but also because the odds were good that the Father had been training them to excel with their abilities.

A son is very capable of showing his father’s power.
Jesus is no different.

“For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son also gives life to whom He wishes.”

Jesus shows His Father’s power,
And it is not incidental that Jesus mentions this specific ability.

ONLY GOD COULD RAISE THE DEAD
If Jesus did it, then He MUST be God’s Son.

Take for example the miracle of Lazarus.
John 11:41-44 “So they removed the stone. Then Jesus raised His eyes, and said, “Father, I thank You that You have heard Me. “I knew that You always hear Me; but because of the people standing around I said it, so that they may believe that You sent Me.” When He had said these things, He cried out with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come forth.” The man who had died came forth, bound hand and foot with wrappings, and his face was wrapped around with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.”

WHY DO YOU THINK JESUS RAISED HIS EYES AND SPOKE TO THE FATHER?

He was reminding people that this work was the work of God and not man.
Jesus gives life to whom He wishes.
He shows His Father’s Power

As the Father’s Son
#4 JESUS SHARES HIS FATHER’S PRAISE
John 5:22-23

This is perhaps the most important aspect of Jesus Sonship,
And most certainly the fact that Jesus is driving home to the Jews.

God has given this authority over to the Son,
But He has done it for a purpose.
“so that all will honor the Son even as they honor the Father.”

It is the intention of every father that some day his son receive honor.

And because this is the case, Jesus then makes the next statement.
“He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him.”

There is a statement the Jews had to let sink in.
There is a statement everyone must allow to sink in.

We can go through life pretending to love God…
We can go through life pretending to worship God…
We can go through life pretending to serve God…
But if we aren’t living our lives in honor of Jesus, we aren’t.

If you don’t honor the Son, you are not honoring the Father.

Remember this parable?
The Jews rightly understood it.
TURN TO MATTHEW 21:33-41

The Jews rightly understood that if you don’t honor the Son,
You are not honoring the Father.

Then look at what Jesus says next.
Matthew 21:42-46 “Jesus said to them, “Did you never read in the Scriptures, ‘THE STONE WHICH THE BUILDERS REJECTED, THIS BECAME THE CHIEF CORNER stone; THIS CAME ABOUT FROM THE LORD, AND IT IS MARVELOUS IN OUR EYES’? “Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people, producing the fruit of it. “And he who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; but on whomever it falls, it will scatter him like dust.” When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard His parables, they understood that He was speaking about them. When they sought to seize Him, they feared the people, because they considered Him to be a prophet.”
This is the vital point.
If you don’t honor the Son, you are not honoring the Father.
Jesus is the Son
Jesus is the Franchise
It all hinges upon Him.

This is yet another reason why false religion doesn’t cut it.
This is another reason why it must be done in Jesus name.
This is another reason why you can’t just be religious, but you must deal with Jesus.

The Father will not accept those who do not honor His Son.
Because the Son shares in the Father’s praise.

Matthew 17:1-5 “Six days later Jesus took with Him Peter and James and John his brother, and led them up on a high mountain by themselves. And He was transfigured before them; and His face shone like the sun, and His garments became as white as light. And behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to them, talking with Him. Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be here; if You wish, I will make three tabernacles here, one for You, and one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” While he was still speaking, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and behold, a voice out of the cloud said, “This is My beloved Son, with whom I am well-pleased; listen to Him!”

God is not interested in you being more religious.
God is not interested in you becoming more knowledgeable.
GOD IS INTERESTED IN YOU HONORING HIS SON

THEN HOW DOES ONE HONOR JESUS?

Psalms 50:23 “He who offers a sacrifice of thanksgiving honors Me; And to him who orders his way aright I shall show the salvation of God.”

Psalms 2:10-12 “Now therefore, O kings, show discernment; Take warning, O judges of the earth. Worship the LORD with reverence And rejoice with trembling. Do homage to the Son, that He not become angry, and you perish in the way, For His wrath may soon be kindled. How blessed are all who take refuge in Him!”

We call it submission.
We call it bowing your heart before Him.

He doesn’t want token honor.
Matthew 15:8 “THIS PEOPLE HONORS ME WITH THEIR LIPS, BUT THEIR HEART IS FAR AWAY FROM ME.”

If you want to honor God.
If you want to be a worshiper of God,
Then you must honor the Son.
You must surrender your whole life to Him.

If you aren’t living in submission to Jesus,
Then you are not living in submission to God.

He is the Father’s Son and He shares His Father’s Praise.

SO HOW ABOUT IT?

ARE YOU HONORING GOD?
ARE YOU LIVING IN SUBMISSION TO JESUS?

Matthew 10:37-39 “He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; and he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. “And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. “He who has found his life will lose it, and he who has lost his life for My sake will find it.”

 

Jesus, The Persecuted One

John 5:10-18

When last we looked at the book of John,
We took a look at Jesus the deliverer.

There was a pool called Bethesda, many in Jesus day thought it was a place of healing, but what it really was, was a place of extreme bondage.

Jesus however is the true deliverer.
He approached this man and uttered a very powerful term.
“Do you want to get well?”

The text went on to show us that Jesus did indeed heal this man,
And then verse 9 provides the bridge to our text this morning.

Verse 9, “Immediately the man became well, and picked up his pallet and began to walk. Now it was the Sabbath on that day.”

Now, I don’t know if you caught it last Sunday night or not,
But that last phrase is far more than incidental.

“Now it was the Sabbath on that day.”

When you read through the gospels, and you are familiar with the works of Jesus, you read that last phrase and everyone says to themselves,
“Uh-oh, here we go again.”
He did it on the Sabbath – AGAIN.

It is far from incidental. As we talked about when Jesus cleared out the temple, sometimes Jesus sought out confrontation.

And so you and I both know what is coming next.

Vs. 10, “So the Jews were saying to the man who was cured, “It is the Sabbath, and it is not permissible for you to carry your pallet.”

They were here in Jerusalem, when Jesus healed this man and told him to carry his pallet and walk, it was literally only a matter of minutes before someone ridiculed him for it.

The Jews had taken an extreme legalistic approach to the Law
Especially those who were Pharisees.

And according to their legalities, this man was busted.
He was carrying a pallet, and immediately someone calls him on it.

So he responds in his own defense.
Vs. 11, “But he answered them, “He who made me well was the one who said to me, ‘Pick up your pallet and walk.'”

This man’s point was that he was not intentionally breaking God’s law,
But surely anyone with the authority to heal his sickness
Had the authority to tell him to pick up his pallet and walk.

This man was simply trying to do what he was told.

Vs. 12, “They asked him, “Who is the man who said to you, ‘Pick up your pallet and walk’?”

What manner of blindness can’t even see the workings of God simply because they can’t see past their legalism?

These people couldn’t even see
That God had worked a major miracle in this man’s life
Because they were concerned
That their man-made laws were being violated.

They wanted to know who this man was.

Vs. 13, “But the man who was healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had slipped away while there was a crowd in that place.”

And so at this point Jesus is off the hook.
He went out and healed on the Sabbath, but no one knows who did this.

If He just lets everything alone, He can bypass the trouble.
But you and I know better.

We know what happens and here we see,
“Jesus: The Persecuted One”

Vs 16 says, “For this reason the Jews were persecuting Jesus…”
Vs. 18 says, “For this reason therefore the Jews were seeking all the more to kill Him…”

Jesus was about to find Himself in the middle of persecution.
WHY?

WHY WHERE THEY PERSECUTING JESUS?
WHY DID THEY WANT TO KILL HIM?

As we examine why Jesus was persecuted,
We will see three truths about Jesus
That further help us understand exactly who He is.
In seeing why Jesus was persecuted,
We are going to learn what things are truly important to Him.

If a man will suffer for something,
We know he cares about it.

There are three reasons in this text why Jesus was persecuted, and through this we see three things that Jesus is passionate about.
#1 HIS CONCERN FOR THE SINNER
John 5:14-15
Alright, consider the scene.

Certainly Jesus knew that they were angry about what happened.
He had to know that coming forward would mean trouble for Him.

SO WHY DID HE?

Because Jesus’ concern was not for safety,
Or for popularity, or even just for curing social ills.
Jesus’ concern was that men be set free from sin
And it’s consequences.

He had more to tell this man.
Jesus wanted to make sure that this man understood
That his biggest problem wasn’t a disease.

His biggest problem was sin,
And Jesus was willing to risk it all to make sure this man knew that.

Jesus was willing to expose Himself to this ridicule
Because He was still concerned about this man.

Look at what Jesus came and told him.
Vs. 14, “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.”
Jesus wanted to make sure that this man understood
That sin was his enemy, not just sickness.

I am not implying that this man was sick because he sinned.
That could have been the case, but it is not necessarily the case.

John 9:1-3 “As He passed by, He saw a man blind from birth. And His disciples asked Him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he would be born blind?” Jesus answered, “It was neither that this man sinned, nor his parents; but it was so that the works of God might be displayed in him.”
Just because a person is sick does not necessarily mean they sinned, but it also does not mean they haven’t.

The simple truth is that sin brings consequences,

Jesus understands that
So He continually warns people
That sickness is not their enemy, sin is their enemy.

Matthew 1:21 “She will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.”

This is something we should all remember.
It was important enough to Jesus
That He was willing to be persecuted to tell you.

Satan would have you believe that God is trying to ruin your life.
He would have you believe that God’s laws
Are just to kill all your fun and make you miserable.

This is the first lie he ever told, and he still tells it today.
Remember Eve?
Genesis 3:1 “Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said to the woman, “Indeed, has God said, ‘You shall not eat from any tree of the garden’?”

Satan still does this today.
God says, “Thou shalt have no other gods before Me”
Is it because He just doesn’t want any other god to get any credit, and doesn’t want you to have other religious experiences? No.

Isaiah 43:11 “I, even I, am the LORD, And there is no savior besides Me.”

He knows that to worship any other god will leave you in hell.
He is the only one who can save.

God says, “Thou shalt not make any graven image.”
Is it because God doesn’t want you worshiping a god that is exactly like you want him to be, and He is trying to steal your fun? No.

Isaiah 46:5-7 “To whom would you liken Me And make Me equal and compare Me, That we would be alike? “Those who lavish gold from the purse And weigh silver on the scale Hire a goldsmith, and he makes it into a god; They bow down, indeed they worship it. “They lift it upon the shoulder and carry it; They set it in its place and it stands there. It does not move from its place. Though one may cry to it, it cannot answer; It cannot deliver him from his distress.”
He doesn’t want you to worship a god that you have to carry,
He wants you to worship the God that can carry you.
God says, “Thou shalt not commit adultery”
Is it because He doesn’t want you having sex, or enjoying a relationship? No.
God created sex.

He’s trying to save you from the heartache of adultery.
(teenage pregnancy, AIDS, or just the shame on your wedding night)

Proverbs 6:26 “For on account of a harlot one is reduced to a loaf of bread, And an adulteress hunts for the precious life.”

God says, “Thou shalt not bear false witness”
Is it because He doesn’t want you to have the fun when you talk with your friends? No.

He just knows that deception leads to a tangled web in life.

Proverbs 17:4 “An evildoer listens to wicked lips; A liar pays attention to a destructive tongue.”

God says, “Thou shalt not covet”
Is it because He doesn’t want you to want nice things and enjoy getting stuff that makes you happy? No.

He just knows that happiness is fleeting
And if you sell yourself to it, it will destroy you.

1 Timothy 6:9-10 “But those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a snare and many foolish and harmful desires which plunge men into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all sorts of evil, and some by longing for it have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.”

Jesus doesn’t enforce righteousness
Because He is some egotistical domineering control freak.
Jesus enforces righteousness
Because He knows sin will kill you.

And Jesus is so concerned that you know this, that He was even willing to face persecution in order to make sure you understand.

And sure enough, persecution is what He would earn.
Vs. 15, “The man went away, and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well.”

I don’t know why this man did it.
I don’t know if it was to save his own skin…
I don’t know if it was to glorify Jesus…
I don’t know if he resented Jesus implication…
But for whatever reason, the word is out.
This was the risk Jesus took
Because He was so concerned that sinners be set free from sin.

He was persecuted because of His concern for the sinner
#2 HIS CONTEMPT FOR RITUAL
John 5:16
Now to catch why they are upset at Jesus,
You have to read this verse very carefully.

It does not say, “For this reason the Jews were persecuting Jesus because He did this thing on the Sabbath.”

It says, “because He was doing these things on the Sabbath.”

If this were just a one time deal…
If this were just a one time occurrence…

But this was getting all too common.
Jesus constantly healed on the Sabbath.

This man didn’t approach Jesus wanting healing.
Jesus approached Him and asked, “Do you want to get well?”

Jesus didn’t have to do this on the Sabbath, but just like so many other times, He did it on the Sabbath on purpose.

Matthew 12:1-14 “At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath, and His disciples became hungry and began to pick the heads of grain and eat. But when the Pharisees saw this, they said to Him, “Look, Your disciples do what is not lawful to do on a Sabbath.” But He said to them, “Have you not read what David did when he became hungry, he and his companions, how he entered the house of God, and they ate the consecrated bread, which was not lawful for him to eat nor for those with him, but for the priests alone? “Or have you not read in the Law, that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple break the Sabbath and are innocent? “But I say to you that something greater than the temple is here. “But if you had known what this means, ‘ I DESIRE COMPASSION, AND NOT A SACRIFICE,’ you would not have condemned the innocent. “For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.” Departing from there, He went into their synagogue. And a man was there whose hand was withered. And they questioned Jesus, asking, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?” — so that they might accuse Him. And He said to them, “What man is there among you who has a sheep, and if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will he not take hold of it and lift it out? “How much more valuable then is a man than a sheep! So then, it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.” Then He said to the man, “Stretch out your hand!” He stretched it out, and it was restored to normal, like the other. But the Pharisees went out and conspired against Him, as to how they might destroy Him.”

And of course that story is just one of many.
The point is Jesus purposely healed on the Sabbath
WHY?
Because He hated their ritual.
He hated these stupid ordinances that would actually prefer
That men be bound than to forsake their traditions.

Jesus had so much contempt
For this ritualistic, man-made, tradition led, religion
That He was willing to be persecuted in order to expose it.

Jesus didn’t have to do this on the Sabbath again,
But He wanted them to know, He doesn’t approve of ritual.

Matthew 6:1-6 “Beware of practicing your righteousness before men to be noticed by them; otherwise you have no reward with your Father who is in heaven. “So when you give to the poor, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, so that they may be honored by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full. “But when you give to the poor, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving will be in secret; and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you. “When you pray, you are not to be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on the street corners so that they may be seen by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full. “But you, when you pray, go into your inner room, close your door and pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you.”

Matthew 6:16-18 “Whenever you fast, do not put on a gloomy face as the hypocrites do, for they neglect their appearance so that they will be noticed by men when they are fasting. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full. “But you, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face so that your fasting will not be noticed by men, but by your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you.”

In fact, not only did Jesus teach against ritualistic religion,
He scorned it.

Matthew 9:14-17 “Then the disciples of John came to Him, asking, “Why do we and the Pharisees fast, but Your disciples do not fast?” And Jesus said to them, “The attendants of the bridegroom cannot mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them, can they? But the days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast. “But no one puts a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; for the patch pulls away from the garment, and a worse tear results. “Nor do people put new wine into old wineskins; otherwise the wineskins burst, and the wine pours out and the wineskins are ruined; but they put new wine into fresh wineskins, and both are preserved.”

Matthew 23:23-24 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cummin, and have neglected the weightier provisions of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness; but these are the things you should have done without neglecting the others. “You blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel!”
Matthew 15:1-9 “Then some Pharisees and scribes came to Jesus from Jerusalem and said, “Why do Your disciples break the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands when they eat bread.” And He answered and said to them, “Why do you yourselves transgress the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition? “For God said, ‘HONOR YOUR FATHER AND MOTHER,’ and, ‘HE WHO SPEAKS EVIL OF FATHER OR MOTHER IS TO BE PUT TO DEATH.’ “But you say, ‘Whoever says to his father or mother, “Whatever I have that would help you has been given to God,” he is not to honor his father or his mother.’ And by this you invalidated the word of God for the sake of your tradition. “You hypocrites, rightly did Isaiah prophesy of you: ‘THIS PEOPLE HONORS ME WITH THEIR LIPS, BUT THEIR HEART IS FAR AWAY FROM ME. ‘BUT IN VAIN DO THEY WORSHIP ME, TEACHING AS DOCTRINES THE PRECEPTS OF MEN.'”

All the Jews had was a man made standard by which they could justify themselves, and that made Jesus sick.

That is all that religion does.
It eliminates God’s standard of heart righteousness
And enforces a man made standard that allows self-justification.

Remember the Sermon on the Mount?
“You have heard…but I say…”
Jesus condemned them because their hearts were filthy.

Remember Jesus confrontation of the Pharisees?
Matthew 23:25-28 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside they are full of robbery and self-indulgence. “You blind Pharisee, first clean the inside of the cup and of the dish, so that the outside of it may become clean also. “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which on the outside appear beautiful, but inside they are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness. “So you, too, outwardly appear righteous to men, but inwardly you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.”

Jesus wanted you to understand it so bad
That He was willing to be persecuted to expose it.

He was persecuted be of His concern for the sinner, because of His contempt for ritual…
#3 HIS CLAIM TO BE LIKE GOD
John 5:17-18

OK Jesus, you were already in enough trouble.
You had healed on the Sabbath – AGAIN,
And the people were getting pretty riled about it.

If you don’t want to be persecuted, then I suggest you start trying to keep the peace a little bit. I suggest you do Your healing on another day of the week, and that start playing by the rules that everyone else is playing by.

But Jesus wasn’t finished.

There was one more thing that Jesus wanted you to know,

He was doing was what God wanted,
And everyone else had missed the boat.

Vs. 17, “But He answered them, “My Father is working until now, and I Myself am working.”

Jesus response to their anger was that, “I am just doing the same things My Father is doing.”

CAN YOU HEAR THE REBUKE IN THAT STATEMENT?
He is point out that He is the One who is right,
And everyone else has missed the point.

OK that does it!
Vs. 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.”

Now they didn’t just want to malign Him or punish Him,
They wanted to kill Him, and they wanted to kill Him bad.

But Jesus wanted you to know that religion doesn’t please God so bad that He was willing to be persecuted to tell you.
1 Samuel 16:7 “But the LORD said to Samuel, “Do not look at his appearance or at the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for God sees not as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.”

Isaiah 1:16-17 “Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean; Remove the evil of your deeds from My sight. Cease to do evil, Learn to do good; Seek justice, Reprove the ruthless, Defend the orphan, Plead for the widow.”

Isaiah 58:5-7 “Is it a fast like this which I choose, a day for a man to humble himself? Is it for bowing one’s head like a reed And for spreading out sackcloth and ashes as a bed? Will you call this a fast, even an acceptable day to the LORD? “Is this not the fast which I choose, To loosen the bonds of wickedness, To undo the bands of the yoke, And to let the oppressed go free And break every yoke? “Is it not to divide your bread with the hungry And bring the homeless poor into the house; When you see the naked, to cover him; And not to hide yourself from your own flesh?”

Isaiah 29:13 “Then the Lord said, “Because this people draw near with their words And honor Me with their lip service, But they remove their hearts far from Me, And their reverence for Me consists of tradition learned by rote,”

1 Samuel 15:22-23 “Samuel said, “Has the LORD as much delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices As in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, And to heed than the fat of rams. “For rebellion is as the sin of divination, And insubordination is as iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the LORD, He has also rejected you from being king.”

Amos 5:21-24 “I hate, I reject your festivals, Nor do I delight in your solemn assemblies. “Even though you offer up to Me burnt offerings and your grain offerings, I will not accept them; And I will not even look at the peace offerings of your fatlings. “Take away from Me the noise of your songs; I will not even listen to the sound of your harps. “But let justice roll down like waters And righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.”

God hated their religious displays, and so did Jesus,
Because it had nothing to do with pleasing God.

Psalms 51:16-17 “For You do not delight in sacrifice, otherwise I would give it; You are not pleased with burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; A broken and a contrite heart, O God, You will not despise.”

Hosea 6:6 “For I delight in loyalty rather than sacrifice, And in the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.”

Micah 6:6-8 “With what shall I come to the LORD And bow myself before the God on high? Shall I come to Him with burnt offerings, With yearling calves? Does the LORD take delight in thousands of rams, In ten thousand rivers of oil? Shall I present my firstborn for my rebellious acts, The fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? He has told you, O man, what is good; And what does the LORD require of you But to do justice, to love kindness, And to walk humbly with your God?”

Jesus was passionate that you know
That righteousness is what is important,
That religion is not what works,
That this is exactly how God feels.

He was persecuted to give you this truth, so what have you done with it?

Are you living in the sin Jesus is desperately trying to get you out of?
Are you trying to appease Jesus through religion?

He doesn’t want your attendance, He wants your heart.
CAN HE HAVE IT?

Joel 2:12-13 “Yet even now,” declares the LORD, “Return to Me with all your heart, And with fasting, weeping and mourning; And rend your heart and not your garments.” Now return to the LORD your God, For He is gracious and compassionate, Slow to anger, abounding in lovingkindness And relenting of evil.”