I invite you this morning to turn in your Bibles in front of you to John chapter 5. John chapter 5. If you're a visitor this morning, we are working through this book of John. And this morning we have come to chapter 5. Last time we considered the first section here of Jesus healing this man at the pool of Bethesda on the Sabbath. And we're picking up now with what follows. You'll notice John does this. We have an event, we have something that Jesus does, and then we have the teachings that follow, or the conflict, and this is one of those that is a very important section to understand what the Lord is after from us, especially as we come to the table of the Lord this morning. So, John chapter 5, we'll read at verse 1 all the way to verse 24. had already been there a long time, he said to him, do you want to be healed? The sick man answered him, sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up. And while I'm going, another steps down before me. Jesus said to him, get up, take up your bed and walk. And at once the man was healed and he took up his bed and walked. Now that day was the Sabbath. So the Jews said to the man who had been healed, it is the Sabbath and it's not lawful for you to take up your bed. but he answered them the man who healed me that man said to me take up your bed and walk they asked him who is the man who said to you take up your bed and walk now the man who had been healed did not know who it was for jesus had withdrawn as there was a crowd in the place afterward jesus found him in the temple and said to him see you are well sin no more that nothing worse may happen to you. The man went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus who healed him. And this is why the Jews were persecuting Jesus, because he was doing these things on the Sabbath. But Jesus answered them, my father is working until now, and I'm working. This is why the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him, because not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own father, making himself equal with God. So Jesus said to them, truly, truly, I say to you, The son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the father doing. For whatever the father does, that the son does likewise. For the father loves the son and shows him all that he himself is doing. And greater works than these will be shown him, will he show him, so that you may marvel. For as the father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the son gives life to whom he will. For the father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the son. that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him. Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life, and he does not come into judgment, but is passed from death to life. And there ends this morning the reading of God's word. One of the things that I incessantly worry about in the ministry, you may not think that I worry about this, but I really do. One of the things that I incessantly worry about in the ministry is offending people. It's a weakness of mine. It's always a fight to want the approval of people. You want the approval. You want to be liked. You want people to come in here and like it. You want people to receive you. If you keep the peace and you never say anything that offends anyone and you never tell anyone that anything's wrong or you hollow out the warnings of the Bible and never press people with the most important truths of the Christian faith, you can really have a lot of people like you. Did you know that? Yeah, you know. You could probably get a lot more people in here too. The only problem is whom I represent, whom we represent as Christians, Jesus often doesn't sound anything like that. Let me prove my point. If I could heal someone today, just imagine that for a moment. Let's imagine somebody was sick here and I had the ability to heal someone and I knew that half the congregation would be mad I did it on the Sabbath. You know what I might say? We probably should do it on Monday, you know? We probably should do it on Monday because I don't want to stir the pot and we got to be sensitive to the weakness of people and you know, we need to be sensitive to them because they really struggle with that issue. And yet, in John 5, Jesus chooses the Sabbath to heal. Knowing it would create a massive controversy. Stuff the disciples would say, oh, please don't put us through that. that it would result in people wanting to kill him. Isn't that an astonishing section here to say that people wanted to kill him for making a man whole? And in doing it, Jesus had the great purpose of really pressing upon them his claims. That was his goal. He wanted people to understand who he is, and he was going to drive it home for them so that they have to accept it or reject it. He was always working to draw out from people where they are and bring things to a conclusion. He never just let people set neutral and play the game. He wouldn't do it. You were either going to bow in repentance and come to him for life, or you were going to get angry and be driven out. That's Jesus' ministry. So to get past the superficiality of what we do with religion and what we do with Christianity and what we do with him, he is pressing and getting to real issues. He is not playing dodgeball with people. I've said before, he doesn't lick his finger and put it up in the wind and see what people want. He is going to throw the ball hard. And so what Jesus does with this Sabbath issue is really remarkable and uses it as a way to make some very strong claims about himself. Things that are written and is the purpose of the Gospel of John. You remember the purpose of the Gospel of John is all of this is written so that you would believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and believing that you would have life in his name. And that's really what he's zeroing in on. Do you know who the Son of God is? And do you know what you're playing fast and loose with? And do you know what your rejection of me really is doing? That's all this is in this section of John chapter 5. And so today we're pressed with some of these really important claims with the goal that we would believe and that we would believe and have life in his name, but that we would believe that he is the son of God and understand what we're saying when we say that. There's a really important section for that. So there are three claims before us today, his claim of equality with God, his claim of the Sabbath, he's owning that, he's claiming that as Lord of the Sabbath, and then he's claiming to be the Lord of judgment. So those three claims are all wrapped up here and very important is he lays them before the religious community, the Jews, to have to face these claims and own these claims. And the goal being that anyone who believes, this is the good news today, anyone who believes the gospel has already, right now, done, passed from death to life. So that's what we're looking at here. You remember the scene that he went to this pool, And he went to this pool of what was a pool of sick people. It was a pool where people, they didn't have convalescent homes that we looked at. And so he went to this pool where all around lying people of all kinds of infirmities and sicknesses and horrible diseases that Jesus steps into. Pharisees and the shepherds aren't there. They're not caring. Jesus goes there. And he zeroes in, and by the way, somebody said to me this week, you think he healed the whole pool? John says he did so many things that are not written in this book that the world couldn't even contain the things and miracles that Jesus did. It's possible he healed the pool, but the point is he wanted us to study this figure here. He wanted us to study this man here, this man who had a sickness of 38 years, and Jesus does something fascinating in the midst of this. As he's sitting there, the man, hoping to get in the pool, you know, to be healed. And we looked at last time some of the different views of that interpretations. We would all love it if an angel would come down and do that for us. And the theology of that is terrible. By the way, the early bird gets the worm theology, right? It just doesn't work. But you'll notice here, Jesus does something fascinating. Get up, take up your mat, and walk. Go. John says right after, he did it on the Sabbath. And we said, you didn't mean to do that on the Sabbath. You knew what this is going to create. He did. He knew just what would happen. What would we say to this today? How would we handle this today? I think most people here would rejoice, right? Rejoice that a man who had been sick for 38 years got up. Isn't it shocking in verse 16 then when we read, for this reason the Jews persecuted Jesus and sought to kill him? Because he had done these things on the Sabbath. Sought to kill him for making a man well on the Sabbath? I mean, let that set in for a minute. Look at what can happen. How could it ever get like that? How could the religion of God's people ever become that? A figure like this, so sick. Jesus, of course, has done nothing wrong. Jesus has broken their interpretation of the Sabbath. Jesus has broken their interpretation of the Sabbath, particularly a passage in Jeremiah, and I won't get into all that today. And this is why the Jews were persecuting Jesus, because he was doing these things on the Sabbath. And now Jesus, what he does here is so remarkable that he uses the Sabbath issue to get to the real issue that he wants to address with them. And that's where verse 17 comes in. but Jesus answered them he answered their persecution so it's interesting did they say anything to him or did he just answer the persecution their thoughts notice what he says my father is working until now and I'm working until now say what say what Now, you think it's bad that I healed on the Sabbath, says Jesus? I want to tell you, as you define it, here's how you have to hear this today. God the Father and I have been breaking it from the beginning. Isn't that a shocking statement? God the Father and I, according to your interpretations, have been breaking the Sabbath from the beginning. now we would say you know if this were us and you imagine this this confrontation in the community and how this would look and how everyone would think and i'm almost sure all of us would say listen that's let's just not talk sabbath probably not what we should talk about we're not going to talk about the sabbath they're well-meaning people no one likes controversies everyone's going to get riled up. No one's going to like this. Listen, just leave it alone, Jesus. Let's go on to another issue. You said what? Could we handle Jesus today? Let's imagine this scenario for a moment. Imagine I had said something this morning very confusing. I've done it a lot, and imagine I've said something very confusing, and I go home like I often do, and I think a million ways. I hope they didn't hear it that way, you know? And I worry about these things. I hope they didn't hear it that way. If I've said something and someone comes up and says, you know, did you really mean what you said when you said that? And I probably would say no. I hope I'd say, if it was true, I'd say yes, of course. But I'd probably say, I think you're kind of taking that out of context. I'm sorry, you know, let's, Let's clear this out. I need to clear this up. So-and-so was really offended over here, and you need to clear that up. I'm trying to imagine this situation. Hey, Chris, did you say that we can change tires for people on the Sabbath? What do you think I'd do? Well, it depends. That depends. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Listen, you misunderstood me. Forgive me for that horrible blasphemy that I said you could change a tire on the Sabbath, right? Do you think if I responded this way, it would cause a problem? My father and I had been doing it from the beginning of time. Would that cause you a problem? That's the effect of this. He just drove it home. Jesus knows there are two issues in the Old Testament that will get you killed. Break the Sabbath and blaspheme God. And he grabs both of them and drives the nail right in. Here's what I want you to notice today. They understood exactly what Jesus was saying. That's the important point here. It wasn't unclear about who Jesus is here to them. They knew exactly what Jesus was saying when he was talking about his father, when he said his father. They heard that and they said, you can't talk like that. He's always been working on the Sabbath, says Jesus. And so have I. Huh? What does that mean? Therefore, the Jews sought to kill him all the more, it says in the next verse. Because not only did he break the Sabbath, But it says, it also said that God was his father, drove them crazy, making himself equal with God. No one runs around saying today, I'm a son of God without qualification. You say, I'm an adopted son. Could we handle him today? For in the next section, he'll drive out 5,000 people. And many people were offended. because people were coming to hear him and he stepped it up on him so high with his teachings, they said, that's it. Who can understand him? We're out. This has been one of the great moments for me in studying the Gospel of John, I think, in really understanding who Jesus is. That's why it's so beautiful this morning. Understanding the claim here. Jesus won't let this go. In John 10, the same thing happens. I've shown you many good works from the Father, and for which of them are you going to stone me? The Jews answered, it's not for a good work that we want to stone you, but for blasphemy, because we know what you're claiming. We know what you're saying about yourself. Being a man, you make yourself God. We get that. And you can't say those things. Is the claim of the Trinity true? the Jews knew exactly what he was claiming that's why it's remarkable in our day that we have so many people question the divinity of the Son of God the Jews got it they knew it they knew he's divine they knew he's truly God what he was saying what he claimed what's so important here is Jesus didn't correct any of this when Thomas will come up later and say my Lord and my God Jesus didn't say stop saying that to be equal with God as they understood it, meant that he was claiming and saying that he has the true essence of God, that he is God. One in his being or essence. I believe what's so important here is that Jesus didn't stop and do all these clarifications that we do today. He keeps pushing it further. So in verse 19, Jesus says to them, Truly, truly, I say to you, Jesus just said, I don't act on my own. I do whatever with my own eyes I see God doing. Who says that? I've never said anything like that. If I did, pull me out of this pulpit and arrest me. Okay? He didn't say, I do things like God. Whatever He does, I do. It's a remarkable claim, isn't it? Could anyone say that here? Whatever I see the Father do, I do with my eyes. Proverbs 8. When He prepared the heavens, I was there. When he drew a circle on the face of the deep, when he established the clouds above, when he strengthened the fountains of the deep, when he assigned to the sea its limit, Jesus is saying, I was doing that. So that the waters would not transgress his command. When he marked out the foundations of the earth, that was me too. Whatever he does, I do. It's a teaching of the Trinity is right here. And we're going to be introduced to the work of the Holy Spirit very soon. God is one in his being or essence and exists eternally in three distinct persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. All that is so set in front of us in John 5 in some of the most profound statements that are made in the scriptures about the identity of Jesus. Jesus just took it to the biggest issue, I am God. And that's why the claim of the Sabbath is so important. What do you mean by that? He says in verse 20, for the father loves the son and shows him all things that he himself is doing and greater works than these will he show him so that you may marvel. They're present actives in the Greek here and what that's saying is here. Think about the truth. This gets back to verse 17. The Jews want to kill him for breaking the Sabbath. His response is, my father has been working until now and I have been working. What did the shepherds of Israel miss? What did they refuse to enter into? What are the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit doing? Remember creation? At creation there was the Spirit hovering over the face of the waters and then the Father speaks and God said, let there be through the sun. And then on the seventh day, they did what? Rested. They Sabbathed. And the Lord rested on the seventh day. He looked at his work and he delighted in his work and he looked at all that he had made and he said, this is good. I've created it beautiful and good. There's no sin. There's no sickness. There's no death. There's no suffering. There's no pain. There's no fighting. There's no misery. It's good. God was glorified in that work. Then what happened? Sin. Sin. And sin has wrecked everything. It's wrecked the theater that he made. It's wrecked the beauty of his creation. to wreck the image of God in man. And the sad story of humanity is death now. The sad story of us is misery and sorrow and death and sickness and cancer and pool of sick people everywhere. This is the sad story that's captured of our humanity. And this was the problem now. Sin had subjected not only the creation to bondage, but it had now wrecked us. Our purpose, boys and girls, was to know God and to enjoy God and to glorify God and delighting in all these wonderful works that he had made and what he had done. Sin wrecked it all. The fall had made that Sabbath and enjoyment in God now impossible. You see that? So Jesus says, what do you think we've been doing since then? What do you think, taking a nap? You think that's what the Sabbath is, is getting on your beds and taking a nap? Now wait, I know you love naps and you go take your naps today. I'm not criticizing your naps. But Jesus is saying here, do you think we're napping? Do you think we've been napping until once Adam and Eve started eating the fruit and plunged themselves into this misery? Do you think we rested? Do you know what we're doing since then? We're working. We're redeeming the creation. We're fixing this. Now think of the scene. Jesus answers his pool. And there's all these sick people everywhere. And a man 38 years in bondage. They think Sabbath is about lying on a mat. not getting up to help this guy? Really? What do we think the Sabbath is? Doing the works of the Lord to love and help one another. Jesus is fulfilling a great prophecy here. I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep. I myself will make them lie down. I'm going to give them rest again. I will seek the loss and I'll bring back the strayed and I'll bind up the injured and I'll strengthen the weak. He's repairing Jerusalem. He's giving rest so that people can truly Sabbath again. He's not throwing out the Sabbath. He's giving it back. That's why when I read the fourth commandment to this day, Still, I think even here, sometimes people roll their eyes and say, come on, that can't be. He gave it back to you so that you could enjoy God and rest from your works and enjoy one another and serve Him and worship Him in the beauty of His holiness with a clear mind now that He has given you by His Spirit to see Him and enjoy Him. This is what He says in verse 21. For as the Father raises the dead and gives life to them, so also the Son gives life to whom He will. You see this man I healed? That's one of our works. That's one of our works. But you're going to see something much greater than that. I'm going to die. And I will be raised to repair all this. I'm going to give you true rest again. You're going to enter your rest through me because I am your Sabbath. what in the world, this is my question, what in the world were they doing every Sunday, every Saturday, Sunday? What were they doing if they had yet to come to know him and be saved by him? That's dead religion. That's dead religion. You could be the greatest guy in the community. you could be an upstanding individual, could do everything right, and not know him. And Jesus makes this startling claim here again. Look, the Son, verse 21, gives life to whom he will. Remember, this is the book of life. For the Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son. This is his last claim. that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him. You want to honor the Son? Rest in him. He's not saying the Father doesn't judge. What he's saying is the Father's judgment is based on the work of the Son and what you do with the Son that determines your destiny and your end. I put my son in the place of judgment that whatever you do with my son is the outcome. That is the judgment that I will enter into says the father. It boils down to what we do with Jesus in this life. That's where Jesus is taking them. What do you do with Jesus? What an amazing section of scripture is Jesus coming to bind people up and make life hard or to set them free. And who doesn't want that? The Father's not up in heaven, by the way, saying that one and that one and that one and that one gets it. No. He's saying that judgment is based on your response to my son. hear him, believe in him. See how horrible verse 18 is. The Jews sought to kill him. They're angry people. They're unhappy people. They're people not set free. They're people who complain all the time. He's just an offender. Get him out of here. And Jesus says, your relationship to Jesus Christ on that day, everyone is going to hear the Son's voice. And here's what's going to happen. All the dead are going to get out of the graves. And those who believed and done good will come up to the resurrection of life. And those who have not believed and have rejected the Son will be raised to the resurrection of condemnation. And so notice how beautiful to close today verse 24 is. I think it's what, when I say it, I have a favorite section now, I have a favorite verse. Most assured that I say to you, he who hears my word and believes in him who sent me has everlasting life and shall not come into judgment but has already passed from death to life. He just said, right there, the most beautiful truth, that if you have the Son, you have access to the Father, and believing, guess what? You've already been judged. You've already passed from death right now to life. You're forgiven. You are happy, and now you're free. You can live this life resting in what the Lord has done for you. You can live this life resting in His promises. You can live this life resting and knowing that he's done everything to save you. See how ugly legalism is. Blind you to everything. And the Son sets you free, and you are free indeed. Knowing there's no judgment, but care and love for you. As you come to the table today, I want you to think as this man who was healed. You don't deserve it. You are the one 38 years who've done your own thing. Your preparation didn't merit it. The only basis on such a restful blessing as you're about to receive is that the Father and the Son have worked on your behalf to give you life. What more could be said? The Father and the Son have worked on your behalf to give you life. and so the Lord says today, come, believe my promises, trust me, I am your God, and I went to the cross, and I was raised the greatest work, so that today you may have life, and you may have it abundantly. That's Sabbath. That's rest. That's enjoyment of God, and that's what he wants from us. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, thank you for so great a salvation, and thank you for your love. And thank you that as we study the words of Jesus, he didn't back down at all the pressures to pander to people, but pushed through to the most important of issues so that when it offended, it drove people to a response. That's what we need more than ever in our day. That the games would go away and that people would be driven to receive and accept these wonderful, life-changing claims of Jesus, which are true. So thank you for instructing us in them today. And thank you for showing us our salvation through the person and the work of Jesus. And Father, thank you for loving us the way that you have. we rejoice and receive now this blessing of the supper, food and drink for our souls to assure us of your precious promises. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.