FBCWest 564 | Jesus Equal with the Father
Recorded On: 07/23/2023
Bulletin
Hymn #339 “It Is Well with My Soul”
SCRIPTURE READING – Hebrews 6:17 - 20
Giving of Selves and Our Offerings
OFFERTORY PRAYER
OFFERTORY MUSIC – Pru Hungate
Praise and Worship
“Only King Forever”
“Echo Holy”
“Raise a Hallelujah”
Proclamation of the Word
Message by Pastor Joe
“Jesus Equal with the Father”
PRAYER TIME / Time of Reflection
“The Stand”
Benediction “There Is Freedom”
Sermon Notes
John 5:18 Religious leaders wanted to kill Jesus for breaking the Sabbath and claiming to be equal with God
John 5:19 The Son’s activities are restricted to what the Father is doing
John 5:20 The Father loves the Son and is showing Him all things and even will show Him greater works so people will marvel
John 5:21 Just as the Father raises the dead so will the Son
John 5:22 The Father has assigned judgment to the Son
John 5:23 If you do not honor the Son, you do not honor the Father
Philippians 2:5 - 11 Confessing the Son glorifies the Father
Scritpures
Transcript of Service
After healing a man on the Sabbath, Jesus was confronted by the religious leaders, and he explained that he had the right to heal on the Sabbath because that's what the Father did. When he did so, they wanted to seek to kill him, not only because he worked on the Sabbath, but because he claimed equality with God. Rather than telling the people that they misunderstood him, he gives five reasons why he is equal with God.
Listen as we look at those five reasons that Jesus claims and substantiates, he is equal with God.
If you have your Bibles, and as I say, you should,
turn to the Gospel of John chapter 5, and we'll be starting with verse 18.
Before we actually start, I want to remind you what we're doing.
We are searching for faith so that we might, for those who haven't found it, find it, for those who have little faith that they might have more faith, and that those who have faith might be secure in that faith. And so we've been using the Gospel of John to do that because, as he said at the close of his
Gospel, the reason he wrote it is that we might have faith, and that he chose to write in his Gospel what he chose so that we might have faith. And so there are many things that he could have written about Jesus that he elected not to, but those things that he did so that we might have faith.
Now the context of this, and we're going to spend several messages in chapter 5 of John because there's so much information, I don't want to just gloss over it because it's extremely important. So we took a look the last time that Jesus, while he was in Jerusalem on the Sabbath, decided to heal a man who had been ill for over 38 years, and that the religious establishment were more concerned with the fact that the man carried his pallet than that he was healed.
And Jesus, when confronted by them, in essence said, "I'm just doing what my father does. I work when he works, and he works on the Sabbath, and so do I." And so in response to this in chapter 5 of John verse 18, it says this, "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." So we have this situation where the religious leaders aren't just opposed to Jesus, they just don't like what he said. They've decided they want to kill him, because for two reasons. One, that he dare work on the Sabbath, and that he declares himself equal with God, saying that God is his father. Now, Jesus, if Jesus wasn't equal with God, said, "No, no guys, you misunderstand me, but let me set you straight." Jesus doesn't do that.
Jesus makes it even more clear that he and the father are equal, and he's going to show five different reasons why he considers himself and is equal to the father.
So it says this, "Therefore Jesus answered and was saying to them, "Truly, truly I say to you, the Son can do nothing of himself unless it is something he sees the father doing, for whatever the father does, these things the Son also does in like manner." So what Jesus says is, "My work is God's work, and God's work is my work.
So I am equal with God because I am doing the work of God." So instead of saying, "No, no, you misunderstand," he goes, "I work on the Sabbath because God works on the Sabbath of the father, and I do what he does, we work." And so point number one, I'm equal with God because I do the works of God, period. "For the father loves the Son and shows him all things that he himself is doing, and the father will show him greater works than these, so that you will marvel." So I want you to notice the second thing that Jesus says is that his knowledge is like the Father. He knows everything because the Father shows him it all. Like I shared last week, there's this the song that says, "I know what God has done, but I don't know what he's doing." That's kind of most of us. I can see in my life when I would be praying for something and it seemed like nothing was ever happening. After God answered, I understood why it took the length of time that it did, that he wasn't ignoring me, that it wasn't, he didn't care. It was, he was setting things. So I was impatient not knowing what God is doing, but when I look back, I go, "Aha!" I see Jesus doesn't need to look back. He sees exactly what God is doing now, in the past and in the future. His knowledge is equal to God, but he also gives us a promise here. He goes, "The Father is going to show him me greater works than these, so that you will marvel."
Let me tell you one of the marvelous works that he did that convinces me that I don't need these arguments. He rose from the dead, like he said he was going to be. And so he has shown marvelous works. He has healed the blind, he has healed the lame, he has healed the deaf, he has raised the dead, he has cast out demons, he's done a number of marvelous works. In the second marvelous work, he saved a sinner like me. Marvelous works, he is showing us, marvel, this work. So he has shown his work, he has shown his knowledge, and next he's going to show something else. "For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son also gives life to whom he wishes." The Son has power
to raise the dead. The Son has power. God raised the dead, and there are times in the Old Testament that we saw that. Elijah prayed, and the widow's son was raised from that. God showed in the past that he had the power to raise the dead. Abraham, the reason he was willing to sacrifice Isaac, who was the son of the promise, was because Abraham believed that God was even to raise people from the dead. It wasn't that God would stop him, he knew God could raise people from the dead. And Jesus is saying, "So do I." So he shows us his power. But notice he says, "The Son gives it to who he wishes. He doesn't give it to everyone, he gives it to whom he desires to give it to."
Fourth, "For not even the Father judges anyone, but he has given all judgment to the Son." Judgment, ultimate judgment has always been reserved to God. That's why we're told not to judge.
Many reasons we're told not to judge. One of the reasons is we don't have all the facts.
We tend to make our judgment too soon. God not only knows all the facts, he knows the intentions, he knows the secret thoughts, he knows it all. Therefore, he can make true justice decisions. But it says that now the Father has basically delegated that function to the Son.
The Son is the one who gives judgment. He's equal with God because he judges. Now, this is not what most people will talk to you about Jesus. Jesus just loves us. He's saying it's okay, it's no big deal. Yes, go ahead. He just loves you. And if you just have enough faith, he's better than Santa Claus because he'll give you everything you ever want.
And Jesus is close to me, so he's my boyfriend. He's all these things that we want to inflict upon him. He's not the God of ultimate unlimited tolerance. He is judged.
That is why I always say I would rather have his mercy than his justice.
I don't want to be judged by him because I lose. So that all will honor the Son, even as they honor the Father.
The fifth reason that Jesus is equal with God is that he is entitled to honor like the Father.
Now, if you didn't believe that Jesus was the Son, this would really blow your mind.
I'm supposed to give him praise like I'm supposed to give the Father praise, and Jesus says, "Yes, because I am God." And notice it says this, "He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him." Jesus is making it very clear that all roads do not lead to heaven. You'll hear people talk about, "Well, all religions are the same. It's just that they all go to a different distance, but they all travel and ultimately enter." And you'll hear people say, "Well, religion is kind of like an elephant. The one faith holds the tail and another holds the trunk and another holds the leg." They're all wrong. If you're judging what an elephant is, based by what it says, what you feel. Jesus says, "This is exclusive.
You must honor and have faith in the Son, or you do not honor and have faith in the Father." There are a number of wonderful and not so wonderful faiths, religions, denominations, cults, whatever. If they don't recognize Jesus as the Son of God, then they're not honoring the Father. If Jesus isn't God, they don't honor the Father.
Well, that's pretty exclusive. I didn't set the rule. Heaven's not my place to determine who goes and who doesn't. Jesus says, "The Father sent me." And if you don't recognize that the Father sent me, then you don't honor the Father. So Jesus, rather than saying, "Hey guys, you don't understand,"
has said, "Yes, I am equal to God because I have the work of the Father. I have the knowledge of the Father. I have the power of the Father. I have the judgment of the Father, and I am entitled to receive honor like the Father." So rather than trying to back up and say, "Well, no, no, you misunderstand," he proclaims boldly who he is. And if Jesus is willing to proclaim boldly who he is to people who want to see him dead, then maybe we should consider his word.
The sad thing is,
a lot of us who have come to faith in Jesus, faith, really doesn't impact our lives. It doesn't change anything. It really doesn't. We just, "Yeah, I believe in Jesus." Wonderful. As Jesus himself will say, "Not until the demons believe, they fear and tremble." If Jesus is the Son of God, and he is, if he rose from the dead and he did, then maybe we should respond to him in faith the way he deserved. And to honor him, and the way we honor him is, yes, we raise our hands and sing in our voices, and we give him praises, and we sing, "What a friend I have in Jesus," and we do all these things that we praise him, and he's entitled to that and ought to get that. But if we walk out these doors, and don't live for him, then we're not really honored.
We've spoken with our mouth, but not with our deeds.
In Philippians chapter 2, verse 5 through 11, it says this, "Have this attitude in yourself, which was also in Christ Jesus, that we are told that we should be like him,
that we are to have the same attitude that Jesus did, for whatever to do Jesus have, who although he existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped."
He's equal with God, but he consented to be a human being.
"I can't come up with an appropriate
analogy. I could say that would be like a man becoming an ant.
I think the separation is even farther than that."
But Jesus said, "I have the right to stay in heaven and have all the angels," as we just sang, "fall on the floor and worship me. But instead I will obey the Father and go and become a human being and be mocked and ridiculed and sought my death and actually die a painful, agonizing, shameful death because of his obedience to the Father and the Father's love for us."
"But he emptied himself, taking the form of a bondservant, and being made in the likeness of men.
Being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself, becoming obedient to the point of death, even the death of him." This is the attitude of Jesus, that he so obeyed the Father that whatever the Father wanted him to do, he would do.
"We have such pride. I'll do this, but I won't do that. Whatever, but I have my standing."
He says, "What is it, God, you want me to do? God, do it. For this reason also, God highly exalted him. God the Father highly exalted God the Son, and bestowed on him the name which is above every name." God says at this name, this Immanuel, this God with us, this Yahshua, this Jesus, this person who has come and to be Messiah, he is exalted above everyone in every name.
So that at the name of Jesus, every knee will bow, and those who are in heaven and on earth and under earth, everyone is going to bow. I don't care whether you're a person of faith or a person of ridicule. We will all have one thing in common one day. We will all bow our knee.
Whether we're in heaven or on earth or in death.
So that every tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord, to the glory of God.
We who have come to faith are confessing with our tongue Jesus is Lord, because we have come to faith and we acknowledge who he is and that one he teaches is true because he is true.
It's not true because it's true, it's true because he is true.
And I can depend on what he says because he knows the Father. So when he tells us of the Father, I know I can believe it because he knows what he's talking about. He has the power to deliver me from my sin because he said so and he demonstrated it. I can trust. And so I will voluntarily hear now and I pray for the rest of my life, both this mortal body and in immortality, that Jesus is Lord. But if you don't believe, you're still going to confess Jesus is Lord.
And it's not just to the glory of Jesus, it's to the glory of God.
Because God the Father sent us because he loved us, he sent the Son. And so when Jesus does what God had directed him to do, he finds glory in the fact that Jesus did what he was told to do,
that he was obedient and he received glory. And we should have that attitude on.
That when we do what God has called us to do, when we respond in faith, when we respond and see what he's doing and do those things, that we bring glory to God.
Oh yes, it's easy and yes we ought to come on Sundays and whenever else and in driving in our cars while we're playing the Christian radio and sing to our heart content and give God the glory, we ought to do those things. Praise God that we do. That's not where it ends.
Our confession of his Lord should bring glory to God. God be the glory. Great things he has.
God be the glory. Because he saved a sinner like you and me. God be the glory because this faith that I have is not a faith that I incorporated and earned on my own but that it was a gift from him. Because he has given me grace. How is it that I know that I have it? Because the scripture says for grace you have been saved. So how do I know that I receive this grace? Because of faith. And that not of myself, it is a gift of God that anyone should go. So even in our salvation we say thank you God because I don't deserve it, I couldn't accomplish it but you did, you get the glory and I don't care how wonderful I am and how great I'm going to be. And how great I'm going to be. It's all because of me. You get the glory.
Oh that we were like an angel. All on the floor. Holy, holy, holy. All power,
all position, all dominion, all that belongs to you.
Why I love to sing it as well with my soul. It doesn't matter what's going on in the world. Be going great, be going terrible. Now I'm proud to be an American but I'm much more thankful than I'm a child of God and I'm in his kingdom because it's going to last forever.
And our God doesn't do silly stupid things. Our God is wise and powerful and just and merciful and does these things for our benefit. Therefore,
let us have the attitude that Jesus is acknowledging who he is even when it's difficult.
I've shared this before and I'll use this in closing in the sense of when I went to law school, I went to a Christian law school, but most of the people who were in that law school weren't Christians and kind of just didn't like that it was a Christian law school. And I go to read the brochure, did you read the handbook? Makes no secret that it's a Christian that it's a Christian and then makes no secret what denomination it comes from. He didn't like it, he should have done another one. And I would share my faith with them. I remember this one fellow student of mine, we were sitting in the cafeteria and I was talking about Jesus and he said, Joe, you're so reasonable and yet you're unreasonable when it comes to how
you enter heaven. And my only response to him is that, well,
if we come to a conclusion that the color here is white and you and I agree that the color is white,
that it's not unreasonable to say that it's white,
because it's true and we've come to that agreement that that's the color.
If Jesus said that he is the only way to heaven and he is, then it's not unreasonable to say that he's the only way to heaven
because it's true. I didn't set the parameters he did. He's God, I'm not. And while there are times I like to act like God, I'm thankful that I'm not because I would already made a mess of it because I would already made a mess of it already.
Although there are times I would say, Hey God, can I have the, I get to get them portion? Can I zap them or at least use zap them and use that both people. He doesn't give me that power either. Probably because I wouldn't know what I'm doing.
Coming to faith.
Maybe exclusion. It's open to everything. It's open to me, open to you, open to Chinese, Spanish, the Vietnamese, the French, the Laotian, the German, the Ukrainian, the Russian, Mongolian,
people from Argentina and Peru, the entire world over. God is saying, come, you are weary and heavy laden and I will give you that.
He's not exclusionary when it comes to the author. He's only exclusionary if you don't accept.
God so loved you that he sent Jesus. And Jesus so loved the father and you that he came.
Now I'm a human being and I probably would never offer my children or my grandchildren for your benefit. I'm not God. To me, you're not worth it. They are.
But if I did,
and you treated that as if it was a no account, oh, I want to get you.
How do you think God responds? If you reject and trample under the foot of his blood,
there was sacrifice to you.
Jesus is the son of God and his people. And I don't care what the philosopher say. I don't care what the theologian say.
What the scriptures say in response to what Jesus said and did
makes it more than obvious that he is God. And I pray that you and those listening who take a stand and say, I believe I will worship and I will give him glory and honor
to his name because he and he alone is worthy.