Like Father, Like Son (John 5:19-30)

All right, why don't you open your Bibles to the book of John

John 5 · chapter mention

chapter 5? John chapter 5, If you didn't

John 5 · chapter mention

bring a Bible, we have some underneath the seats in front of

you, and the page number is right up there on the screen,

page 890. My wife Sarah and I have 5 kids.

Our middle three are boys, so I have three sons.

They're all very different from one another, but also they are a

reflection of me in different ways.

So my oldest, Brooks, he is extremely particular and he's

extremely organized, just like me.

I laugh when I walk into his bedroom because he takes his

pyjamas and he folds them and he puts them on his pillow.

I'm like, that's something that I would do, right?

Very, very organized. And my son Max, is very

physical. He always has been since he was

very little. He was always my wrestling Bunny

buddy, and we would roll around and fight each other.

And he's still that way. He's a gym rat now, which is

exactly what I was when I was his age.

My son Jude looks like me. He has the same skin tone, the

same color hair, the same color eyes.

And it makes sense, right? They're my sons, so they share

half of my DNA, the inferior half.

I helped raise them. I helped train them.

They watched me growing up, and so they learned.

And so in a way, they're a reflection of me.

This is why when you observe them, you might say like father,

like son. You've heard that phrase before,

right? Like father, like son.

And that is the title for the teaching this morning, Like

father, like son. Last week we saw Jesus earlier

on in the book of John, chapter 5, healed a disabled man on the

John 5 · chapter mention

Sabbath. It was a day when you were not

supposed to do any kind of work according to the Jewish

tradition. And so the Jewish leaders find

out that he did this and they begin to question him.

They begin to persecute him because of what he's done.

And Jesus's response is quite shocking.

In verse 17 of chapter 5, if you look back there, it says Jesus

answered them, My father is working until now and he's

talking about how his Father is restoring broken creation.

And he says, and I am working, My father is working and I am

working. In essence, what he's saying to

these religious leaders is my father and I are one, right?

My father and I are one. The Jews understand this says in

verse 18, it says 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.

Listen, making himself equal with God.

And now you know how people get so upset about politics, Like

people can get raging mad about politics.

Imagine how these guys feel, these Jewish leaders, religious

leaders, and here is a man who just broke the law in their

opinion, and he is saying in essence, I am God.

That enrages them and this is what ultimately causes them to

persecute Jesus, Jesus and put him on the cross.

But rather than back down, what we see today in the text is

Jesus actually pushes back. They don't like what he said and

they resist him. But Jesus pushes back and he

says to them, in a sense, I look like God, I act like God, I

sound like God because we are one, like Father, like Son.

So today in the text, we're going to be confronted with the

deity of Jesus, right? Jesus is fully man.

We know that in the flesh he came in as a human, but he is

also fully God. So we're going to be looking at

verses 19 through 30 of chapter 5.

Before I read the text, I want to just give us a moment to

quiet our hearts, to surrender ourselves over to the Bible, to

the truth of Scripture, God's Word.

I encourage you to pray for the Holy Spirit to come and to teach

you and to affect you today according to what we read and

what we hear from God. And so I'll give you a few

moments and then I'll read the text, pray for us, and then

preach. Isn't it beautiful to have some

quiet? OK, let's read John chapter 5

John 5 · chapter mention

starting in verse 19 says so. Jesus said to them, He's

speaking to the religious leaders now 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 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. He does not come into judgment,

but is passed from death to life.

Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming, and is now here,

when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and

those who here will live. For as the Father has life in

himself, so He has granted the Son also to have life in

himself, and He has given Him authority to execute judgement,

because He is the Son of Man. Do not marvel at this for an

hour's coming, when all who are in the tombs will hear His voice

and come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of

life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of

judgement. Verse 30.

I can do nothing on my own. As I hear, I judge, and my

judgment is just because I seek not my own will, but the will of

Him who sent me. Let's pray.

Father, help us send your Holy Spirit open our eyes, open the

eyes of our hearts, help us to see clearly today this amazing

revelation that Jesus is God, and help us that we would

worship you and honor you and surrender to you as God.

Help me, Lord, as I preach, helping to be faithful to your

words and faithful to your people as I seek to encourage us

and to speak to us on your behalf.

And so have your way, Lord, be glorified in Jesus name, Amen.

So really the big, big point today is that Jesus and the

Father are one. Jesus is the Father are one.

Jesus drives home this point over and over and over again in

this text that he and the Father are one.

Now, just as a little reminder, a little flashback to John

John 1 · chapter mention

chapter 1. John opens up his gospel in

verse 1. He says in the beginning was the

word. The word we know is Jesus,

right? And the word was with God and

the word was God. Now, have you ever gone on a

trip and you pack your suitcase and you you pack it so full that

you're like sitting on it and trying to like zip it clothes

and there's like sleeves and cords hanging out.

That's what that verse is like. It is like an overloaded

suitcase. There's so much truth packed

into that verse, and now in John 5, Jesus starts unpacking what

exactly it means that the Word is God.

Verse 19 Jesus said to them, truly, truly, I say to you, the

Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what He sees

the Father doing. For whatever the Father does

that the Son does likewise. So Jesus is telling these

religious leaders that he and the Father are one in activity

and they are one in purpose in activity and what they do and in

purpose. And he starts this off by using

this little phrase truly, truly. And he uses that phrase three

times in this passage, verse 19, verse 24 and verse 25.

It means something like really, indeed listen up facts, you

know, for show. This is listen to me.

This is this is for real. He's trying to grab their

attention. He's trying to arrest them so

that they would listen to him right now.

So he says, listen to me. He says the son can do nothing

of his own accord, but only what he sees the father doing.

Whatever the father does, that's what the son does.

So he says, I don't just come here doing whatever I want to

do, OK? That's not how this works.

I do what the Father is showing me that he is doing in the

world. And so I healed this invalid

man. You read about that last week as

Gordon Yoder was preaching. I healed him.

And remember the scene. He, he was, this is one man, 1

crippled man among many, many suffering people.

But Jesus zeroed in on him and he healed him.

He says, I healed that man because that's what the Father

showed me. That's what the Father was

doing. That was the work that God was

up to right then in that moment. He said, I want you to heal that

one and I want you to heal him right now.

And so Jesus is saying, I heard that.

I heard that that's what God was doing.

And then that's what I did. Now this is a, a quick aside.

It's not really kind of the main point of the teaching, but I

think it's, it's, it's helpful to talk about this.

We believe that God, by his Holy Spirit, can show us what he's

doing right. He can show us what he's doing

in the world through things like prophetic leading, through

different nudges, through dreams, through visions.

God discloses his will to his people.

So just as Jesus saw what the Father was doing, we can also

see what the Father is doing. We don't see or hear with the

clarity that Jesus did. Jesus had unbroken intimacy in

relationship with his heavenly Father.

He heard his Father perfectly. We have sin broken bodies and

minds and and souls. And so we we don't hear like

Jesus heard. But nevertheless we can learn,

we can grow in that ability. I'll never forget I was at a

small group. This is about 20 years ago.

I was sitting in small group with some friends and the guy

who was hosting the group, he was married, newly married, and

he was distraught because he had lost his wedding band.

And so he was telling us about this in small group.

And so we somebody said, well, hey, let's pray.

You know, let's pray. God knows where your wedding

band is. And so we all sat there and we

prayed. And while we're praying, one of

the girls in the group, Becky, she has this vision of a pair of

khakis hanging in his closet upstairs.

And she shares this with the group.

And so guess what? He goes upstairs, he gets out

his khakis and he looks in the pocket and there's his wedding

band. And it was one of those moments

where it's like, OK, the father was showing us what he's doing,

right? God loved him, God cared about

him. Even something that you would

say, come on, a wedding band, yes, God cares about you losing

your wedding band. He revealed what he was doing.

He showed us. I think this is how Jesus

ministered right? The Spirit would disclose to him

if the Father would disclose him through the Spirit and Jesus

would follow. They are one in activity, one in

purpose. If you want to learn more about

that, by the way, come to our training learning to pray for

others. It's in about a month.

We'll start announcing that soon and we'll, we'll teach you how

to how to listen to God like that in in prayer, because Jesus

and the father are one in activity, one in purpose.

Jesus only did what God the father was doing.

We're going to verse 20. He says, for the father loves

the Son and shows him all that he himself is doing and greater

works than these will he show him so that you may marvel.

So we see that Jesus and the Father's unity is rooted in

love. It's rooted in a relationship of

love. Jesus was not the Father's

puppet. He was not forcefully controlled

by the Father. The Father didn't bully him or

manipulate him to make him do the things that he wanted him to

do. The Father's work is a good

work. It's a good work.

And he lovingly included his Son in on that work.

The Father who is restoring creation through the Son

lovingly and fully includes Jesus in his work of restoration

and redemption. The kind of image that popped in

my mind about this is like a dad who loves working on antique

cars and, and he loves his son and he wants to share something

wonderful with his son. And so he invites his son to get

underneath that hood of that car with him, learn how to restore

that thing, to bring that thing back to life again.

It's, it's, it's not just I need a help or will you please help

me? But it's out of love of sharing

this wonderful experience and opportunity together, he says.

And greater works than these will he show him, right?

You're amazed that I turned water into wine.

You're amazed that I healed that guy's son from a distance.

You're amazed that I healed this invalid.

But that ain't nothing. Just wait.

God is going to do bless you. God is going to do greater

things than these. Greater works than these will he

show him so that you may marvel. I love it.

There's no competition here between the Father and the Son.

There's no division between them.

There's just unity and love, and Jesus is saying God wants you to

marvel at how marvelous I am, right?

He wants me to be glorified. He's lifting me up.

Jesus and the Father's unity are rooted in a relationship of

love, verse 21 says. For as the Father raises the

dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whom

he will. So interesting.

Jesus and the Father are one in giving life to the dead, right?

They do that work. The word Jesus uses here for

life is actually different than we see later on in the text.

In verses 24 and 26 here when he talks about the Father giving

them life. That word can refer to either

spiritual life or physical life. OK, spiritual life being what we

would call salvation, right? Where God makes somebody who has

has, you know, they're dead because of their sin.

They come alive through faith in Jesus, but also resurrection.

And this is this is they're both true.

Jesus and the Father give salvation and they give

resurrection, right? Jesus gives spiritual life to

the spiritually dead. And he unpacks this a little bit

more in the second-half of this text.

So if you jump forward with me to verse 25, he says truly,

truly. I say to you, an hour is coming

and is now here when the dead will hear the voice of the Son

of God and those who here will live, right?

So it's coming in the future. There is a future tense to our

salvation, but it's here now, right?

This salvation has dawned in Christ.

The dead are going to hear and they're going to be raised.

You understand the Bible teaches that apart from God's saving,

reviving work, we are dead in sin.

We are dead in sin. We are spiritually dead, not

we're struggling, not we're spiritually suffering, not just

we have some spiritual deficiencies and we need a

little remodel. It is we are dead in our sin and

in our trespasses. We are flatlined spiritually

unless God moves and acts. We cannot come to God.

We cannot believe in God. It's all of our spiritual

condition. Because of sin, we have been

separated from God who is life. We need Jesus to speak life, to

revive our dead souls, to make our spirit come alive, right?

Just like he does with Lazarus. We'll see in John Chapter 11,

John 11 · chapter mention

Lazarus come out. Jesus speaks that to your soul,

right? And if you're a Christian,

you've heard that call. Jesus spoke and you came alive.

Jesus says that's what I'm doing, that's what the Father is

doing, and that's what I'm doing is doing it through me.

We saw this in John chapter 4 with the woman at the well.

John 4 · chapter mention

She heard His words, He offered her this water that really

satisfies her spiritual thirst. She believed and she received

that water of life. She was born again, she was

saved. Verse 26 This is for as the

Father has life in himself, so He has granted the Son also to

have life in himself. Jesus says I can do this work of

salvation because my Father has granted to me to have the power

of life in myself. None of us inherently has the

power of life in our self. Scientists have been trying to

make life from scratch for a while now.

No progress, it's not working. We do not have that power

inherently in us, but God does. Jesus does and it's interesting

here in verse 26, the word that he uses for life is different

than back in verse 21. We're in 21.

It can mean spiritual life or resurrection life, physical

life. Here the the, the Greek word is

the word Zoe, which I've actually met a couple Zoe's here

in the last couple weeks. I almost named my daughter Zoe.

Actually. It's a beautiful word.

It means the absolute fullness of life which belongs to God.

Life, real life, genuine life, active and vigorous.

That's the kind of life that Jesus came to bring to those who

would trust in him. This is one of the reasons why

we named Vita Springs Church Vita Springs Church Vita, the

Spanish word for life. We believe that when people get

connected to Jesus, this rich, abundant, overflowing, vibrant,

genuine, active, vigorous life begins to flow into your life,

and it begins to transform you, first on the inside, and then it

flows outside into your body, into your relationships, into

the world around us. It's a life that only Jesus has,

that only Jesus can give. Everybody's looking for life.

Right, college students, you're here and you know, you're

thinking about your future and you come and there's all these

temptations, right? There's all these people and all

these temptations and opportunities.

And everyone's saying you can have life.

This is going to give you life. But let me tell you, you will

not find true life in the bars or in bed with someone else.

Jesus will give you true life. John chapter one verse 4 in him

was life. It's the same word.

Zoe in Jesus was life and the life was the light of men.

So Jesus gives spiritual life to the spiritually dead.

When you trust in him, you come alive.

You begin to experience the life of God flowing through your

veins. He also gives resurrection life

to the physically dead, right? He brings the dead, the

physically dead, back alive again.

Look at verses 28 and 29 where he unpacks this more.

He says do not marvel at this for an hour's coming, when all

who are in the tombs will hear his voice and come out, those

who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those

who have done evil to the resurrection of judgement.

So he says the hour's coming, right?

It's going to happen where those who are in the tombs, he's

talking about people who have physically died and they have

been buried in the tombs. He said they're going to hear

his voice, right? They're going to hear my voice,

the voice of the Son of Man. And they're going to come out,

right? They're going to be resurrected.

They're going to come back alive again.

And he says those who've done good to the resurrection of

life, those who've done evil to the resurrection of judgment.

So when those who've done good to the resurrection of life,

that doesn't mean that if you've been a good person, then you

will be resurrected. This is not works based

salvation, but you have been made righteous by faith in

Christ. You have been made good by faith

in Christ, His Holiness given to you, imputed to you.

And now that righteousness is evidenced by a good life, a life

of honoring God, a life of serving God, of serving other

people. He says to those who've done

good, they're going to go to the resurrection of life.

And to those who've done evil, right, those who are unrighteous

because of their unbelief, which by the way, do you know that

that is the mother of all sins, unbelief.

We usually think of things like murder or, you know, things like

that, that that's the worst sin you can possibly commit.

But not believing that Jesus is the Messiah is the utmost of

sin. Denying him that is the utmost

of sin says for them, they go to the resurrection of judgement.

Now this is this is one of those cold hard truths that we don't

like to face, but we have to face.

You will die. You will die, you and I, We'll

end up in a tomb. We're mortals.

We got to face it. That day is coming.

When you're young, you don't think about that very often,

right? You feel like you're invincible.

When you start to get older, you start to think about that more.

And I get an Amen from my older and wiser crowd, right?

It starts to, it's like it comes into focus.

You start to see it on the horizon.

You start to think about it. You start to contend with your

own mortality. And it can be unnerving.

It can be a scary thing, especially when you start having

friends who are passing away, who they're your age, you know,

you knew them, you went to high school with them.

You what they and now they're gone.

Like it's, it's a sobering thing.

We're all going to die. We're all going to end up in a

tomb. But you know what the Bible

teaches That we will all be resurrected again as well.

That this life and physical death is not the end.

And the Bible teaches, the Bible does not teach annihilationism.

Annihilationism is when you die, you just cease to exist.

And a lot of people just want to believe that because that can be

comforting. If you don't know what's out

there and you're not sure about heaven or hell, well, let's just

say that you just kind of you're gone.

You know, it's like you turn the screen off, it's just gone.

There's no image, there's nothing left.

The Bible does not teach that. The Bible teaches that you will

spend eternity somewhere. Jesus is offering to those who

trust in him resurrection that leads to life, not separation

from God in hell for eternity, but in the presence of God in

life forever and ever. The resurrection is actually

carried out through Jesus. First Thessalonians chapter 4.

1 Thessalonians 4 · chapter mention

Let me just read this passage that talks to us a bit about the

resurrection. Paul is unpacking this for the

Thessalonians. He says, but we do not want you

to be uninformed. This is not on the screen, by

the way. We do not want you to be

uninformed. Brothers, about those who are

asleep, he's not just talking about they took a nap.

He's talking about those who have died that you may not

grieve as others do who have no hope for.

Since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, Even so, through

Jesus God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep.

For this we declare to you by word from the Lord, that we who

are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, when

Jesus returns again, will not proceed those who have fallen

asleep. For the Lord Himself will

descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an

Archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God.

And the dead in Christ will rise first.

Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together

with Him in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air.

And so we will always be with the Lord.

Those who've trusted Jesus will be resurrected, and we will

always be with the Lord, forever and ever alive in him and

through him and with him. Those who are not in Christ will

also be alive, but they will be alive apart from the Lord in

outer darkness and agony. That's what the Bible calls

hell. You best be right with Jesus

because it matters for eternity. Jesus resurrects God through

Jesus resurrects as the Father saves, I save.

That's what he's saying as the Father gives life to the dead,

so also I will give life to the dead.

The Father and I are one. He goes on in verse 22.

He says for the Father judges no one but has given all judgement

to the Son, right? So we see this unity and

judgement between the Father and the Son in the Old Testament.

It's very clear that God is the judge, right?

God is the judge. In Judges 1127, the Lord is

called simply the capital J Judge.

In Genesis 1825, Abraham is talking to God.

He says, shall not the judge of all the earth do what is just

right? God is the judge.

Jesus is saying God the judge has given that authority for

judgement to me, right? He's given me that authority.

You know what the power of attorney is?

God has given Jesus the power of attorney.

The power of attorney is the authority to act for another

person, right? So if somebody gives you the

power of authority of attorney when you sign the papers, it's

like they were signing the papers, right?

The authority has been given to you.

That's what Jesus has in judgement.

The Father has given all authority to him.

He is the Son of man. He refers to himself.

He's the the Son of man in verse 27.

He says and he has given him authority, verse 27, to execute

judgement because He is the Son of man.

This is Jesus's favorite title for himself, the Son of Man.

It comes from Daniel 7. The religious leaders would have

been very, very familiar with this prophecy.

So when Jesus calls himself the Son of Man, their mind goes to

Daniel Chapter 7, verses 13 and 14.

Daniel 7:13

Let me read it for you. It will also be on the screen.

He says, I saw in the night visions, and behold, with the

clouds of heaven there came one like a Son of man, and he came

to the Ancient of Days, That's the Lord, and was presented

before him, and to Him was given dominion and glory, and a

Kingdom that all peoples, nations, and languages should

serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting

dominion which shall not pass away in His Kingdom, one that

shall not be destroyed. The Ancient of Days gives

authority to the Son of Man. In Acts chapter 17 verse 31, the

Acts 17:31

apostle Paul says God has fixed a day on which He will judge the

world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed.

Second Corinthians chapter 5 verse 10, Paul says we must all

2 Corinthians 5:10

appear before the judgment seat of Christ.

This should have a very sobering effect on us, right?

A day is coming where you will stand before Jesus, who is the

great judge. He will make a judgement based

upon you. And you can either say to him

when he says, are you righteous enough for me to allow into my

heaven, right? You can say either no, I'm not,

I've tried to do it on my own, or you can say, no, I'm not, but

I've trusted you for your righteousness.

My sins have been forgiven because of your sacrifice on the

cross in my place. And he'll said, he'll say, come

on in, right. The judgement will be unto life

for you. So why has the Father done this?

Why has the Father done this, right?

Why has he? Why is he showing Jesus what

he's doing? Why is why is he empowering

Jesus to give life to the dead, right?

Why is he giving Jesus the authority to judge the givers?

23 He says that all may honor the Son, just as they honor the

Father, that all may honor the Son just as they honor the

Father. Just because I want my son to be

honored. Honor is recognition and

worship, right? If you honor someone, you are

recognizing them, and then you are in some way, in some sense

worshiping them. Urban Meyers is being put into

the College Football Hall of Fame.

I don't know if you knew that. And so in December, they're

going to, they're going to honor him, right?

Great coach. And so they're going to

recognize him. And there's going to be a bunch

of fanfare. And I'm sure there's going to be

a speech. And there's going to be some

kind of something that they put. And they're going to put a

little shrine in Athens so that when people come, they can

essentially worship Urban Meyer's, right?

Isn't the amazing? Isn't the amazing coach right?

He's going to be honored. It's recognition and worship.

Why has the Father done this? Because he wants to be.

He wants Jesus to be honored. He wants Jesus to be worshipped,

to be recognized and worshipped as God.

They do the same work, they have the same power, they have the

same authority. Why?

Because Jesus is God. We see the building blocks of

the doctrine of the Trinity happening here.

We haven't gotten to the Holy Spirit yet.

We just have the Father and the Son.

But the doctrine of the Trinity says that God exists in three

persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, each fully God.

Yet he is 1. And here we are seeing Jesus and

the Father are one. This is something we cannot

fully understand. You can try to come up with any

analogy. You know, the Trinity is kind of

like an egg, and there's a shell and there's a white and there's

a yolk and, you know, but it's one egg.

It's kind of water and steam. And there's all these things we

try to do to understand the Trinity, but ultimately it's

beyond our comprehension that Jesus and the Father are 1/3

persons, one God. So you know what you do when you

come to stuff like that in the Bible that you can't understand,

You marvel and you worship, right?

There's a lot of stuff like that in the Bible where it's like the

mystery belongs to the Lord and I'm my, I can't comprehend that.

And so I'm just going to accept that and I'm going to marvel and

I'm going to worship him. He goes on in verse 23,

second-half of verse 23. And remember, he's talking to a

bunch of religious leaders now who are trying to honor God.

He says whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the

Father who sent him. Whoever does not honor the Son

does not honor the Father who sent him in that day.

To those people, that comment right there would go off like a

bomb. They were trying to honor God

the Father, but they are rejecting the Son.

And Jesus says you can't do that.

You can't do that. If you don't honor me, you can't

honor God. If you don't recognize me and

worship me, then you are not recognizing and worshipping the

one true God. You are blind.

This is hard teaching. It was hard teaching for them.

It's hard teaching for us because you know what we say as

a Christian, you believe that, right?

You believe that that Jesus is God.

But what we are saying when we say that is that Christianity is

exclusive. It's exclusive.

It is the way to God through Jesus.

And when you say that, what you're also saying is all other

religions are false. They won't get you to God.

The Hari Krishnas can't get you to God.

The Buddhists can't get you to God.

Allah is not God. The God of the Jehovah's

Witnesses is not the true God. The God of the Mormons is not

the true God. All of the other folk religions

were saying those are not gods, those are demons.

The Bible says those are demons. There's an exclusivity to

Christianity. Other religions claim to worship

God, but if that God is not the Jesus of the Bible, then it's a

false God. That's hard for us to accept,

isn't it? We live in a culture of

tolerance and acceptance and inclusivity, and everybody wants

to just, you know, you do you, you just whatever makes you feel

better, just believe it and just believe it sincerely, right?

Maybe you've heard something like that, but sincerity won't

help you. Sincerity does not lead to

truth. Many are sincere about their

belief, but they are sincerely wrong.

I remember when I was in kindergarten, I had a meeting

with my teacher out in the hallway, and I was 4 when I

started kindergarten. I was like, early for my age and

I didn't know nothing. You don't know nothing when

you're 4. I didn't even know what my name

was. I thought my name was Anthony

Renvestal Walter. OK, My legal name is Anthony

Walter Renvestal. I'm named after both my

grandpas. And so I remember sitting out in

the hallway talking to my teacher and she, she asked me to

write my name. And so I'm trying to write my

name and I write Anthony Renvestal Walter.

She says that's not your name. I said that's my name, said no,

your name is Anthony Walter. I said no, like it's my name.

You don't know who me. Like my name is Anthony

Renvestal Walter. And she was just kind of like,

OK, I was very sincere in my belief, and I was sincerely

wrong. You know, sincerity does not

equal truth. It doesn't make your worship

right just because you feel very deeply about it.

We're called to worship God in truth, right?

We learned about that. We're in John four.

We worship God in spirit and in truth.

You have to worship the right God, and you have to do that in

the right way. And the Bible teaches

unequivocally that Jesus is the way.

Jesus is the truth. Jesus is the life.

He's God. He and the Father are one.

If you don't honor him, you're not honoring God.

Now, if we keep going with this, if Jesus is God, and as

Christians were saying we believe that Jesus is God, then

you understand we must worship and obey him as Lord and God, as

supreme authority in all of the universe, right?

We bow down to Him, we put ourselves low, we go underneath

him and his rule, His reign, his authority.

There are a lot of people that love the idea of Jesus Savior

but will not follow him as Lord, Right?

I want Jesus's forgiveness. That sounds pretty good.

He's saying I don't have to feel guilt.

OK, I'll take that. His comfort.

He gives you the Holy Spirit. I can be comforted in my sorrow.

I'll take that. He gives peace, He gives

freedom, He gives hope. He gives the hope of heaven.

He turns. I want all that.

That sounds great to me. He says come to me, all who are

weary and I will give you rest. Yeah, that sounds great.

I would love that Jesus, but I don't want to follow him as

Lord. Right.

All this stuff about deny yourself, take up your cross and

follow me. That's for the fanatics.

That's too intense. Like pluck out your eye if it

causes you to sin, cut off your hand if it causes you to sin.

That's radical. That's extreme.

Present your bodies as a living sacrifice.

Whoa, you know, this is like, you know, the have you seen the

Burger King commercials? I really don't like Burger King

commercials, but they they stick in my mind.

Many people want Burger King Christianity.

It's have it your way. You know why you rule?

That's what it is. It's having your way because you

rule. What do you want your

Christianity to be? You pick.

You choose. Like I want a Whopper with extra

Pickles and no ketchup and some fries and a Coke 0 on the side.

You rule. You get to pick what you want.

Pick and choose. I want forgiveness.

I want joy. I want hope, and I want to do

whatever I want to do with my body.

I want to do whatever I want to do with my time.

I want to do whatever I want to do with my money.

I want to be my own God. I want to come to church.

I want to experience God's love and his kindness, and I want to

yell at my kids and have sex with my boyfriend and do

whatever I want to do with my money.

You can't do that. You can't have it your way

because you're not God. If you just get it your way, you

know who's God? You're God.

You want to know a secret? You're not God.

I'm not God. You see why these guys are so

incensed at Jesus? Do you see why they put him on a

cross? Jesus says in John 14.

He says if anyone loves me, he will keep my word and my Father

will love him and we will come to him and make our home with

him. If you love me, you'll follow my

word. Jesus is saying you can't pick

and choose. If you worship Jesus as God,

then you must obey him as Lord. We say I'm all in, I'm all

yours. You call the shots, you are

authority. I want you to take a moment to

think about yourself and your own life, your thoughts, your

attitudes, your behaviors. Where have you let yourself off

the hook in regards to obeying Jesus's commands?

Where have you let yourself off the hook?

You're so good at justifying why that doesn't really apply to me,

and my hope is that you can feel a bit of fire in your bones to

resist that, because that is dishonouring to Jesus.

We don't get to choose what we want.

He calls the shots. Whoever does not honor the Son

does not honor the Father who sent him.

So what do we do? What do we do with all this

knowledge and understanding that Jesus and the Father are one?

Jesus is God. Jesus drives it all home.

In verse 24 he says, truly, truly, there that is again,

listen up. I say to you, whoever hears my

word and believes Him who sent me has eternal life, Zoe.

He does not come into judgment, but he has passed from death to

life. So listen up.

He says truly, truly, anyone who hears right, He hears my word.

You have to listen to His word. And now you realize you can hear

something without really hearing something.

You can hear someone without hearing someone.

My wife reminds me of this often because she'll say something to

me and I will have heard and comprehended in my brain what

she said. I can even repeat it back to

her. And sometimes I do because

she'll say, did you hear me? And I'll say, yes, you said, da,

da, da, da, da. And then she will say rightly.

But you did not hear me right. You heard me with your ears.

You did not hear me with your heart.

So the Bible calls us not just to hear with our ears, but to

hear with our hearts, right? Have you heard the words of

Jesus? Has his word penetrated into

your heart? Has it affected you?

Has it been planted inside of you?

You know, sometimes when I'm encouraging people, I'll give a

word of encouragement and I will.

I can tell they deflected it. You know, I said something kind,

something true, and they just deflected it.

It's like that didn't go in. I can tell by your expression

that didn't go in, but likewise there are times when I'll

encourage someone and I'll that hit the mark that sank in, that

went in. That's how God's word must

affect us. It's got to go into US, affect

us, be planted in US. Jesus is calling us to hear.

So I would just ask you, have you heard?

Have you heard his words? Have you really heard Jesus's

gospel that he came for the lost, for the weary, for the sin

sick, that he died on a cross for your sins, that he says, if

you believe in me, if you put your trust in me, I'll make you

whole, I'll make you alive. If you heard him right, we're

called to hear and then he says and believes him who sent me,

right. So when you hear, you have to

believe. This is more than just

intellectually accepting information, right?

Believing in the Bible is that leads to salvation is closer to

our word. Trust.

OK, It's closer to trust than just believing in formation.

You believe it to the degree that you act upon it.

Any skydivers out there? Have you been skydiving?

Just a small handful of crazies among us.

Would you jump out of that plane if you did not believe that that

parachute was going to open anyone?

Absolutely not. That is saving faith.

That's what saving faith is like right there.

It's like, I believe this to the degree that I'm willing to jump

out of an airplane trusting that I will be caught in the merciful

hands of Jesus. He says you got to hear, you got

to believe, and you have to receive this eternal life, this

Zoe life, this gift of grace, full, abundant, genuine, real,

vigorous, overflowing, never ending life that is yours in

Christ. The death, the judgment that you

and I deserve because of our sin, absorbed in Jesus on that

cross, the life of Jesus gifted to you, the Vita of God gifted

to you and me through faith. Have you believed, have you

heard, have you received that life?

Have you taken hold of that life which is truly life?

And I'm just going to add another one for fun.

This isn't in the Bible here, but it is biblical.

And I would add, have you shared this truth with someone else?

Man, if you believe this to be true, and I hope you do as a

Christian that you believe this, who do you know?

Who doesn't know, right? Think about it for a second.

You know God, You know the way to eternal life with God.

Who have you shared it with? I think we need more people in

the seats next to us who have not yet heard, who are just

hearing, maybe for the first or second time.

We have this wonderful gift that we get to share with people

around us. We're called to hear, to

believe, to receive, and then also to share with others.

Just like Jesus came to seek and save the lost, He sends us out

to seek the lost, to bring the lost in that they might be saved

through faith in Jesus, who is God.

Verse 30, I can do nothing on my own.

As I hear, I judge, and my judgement is just because I seek

not my own will, but the will of him who sent me.

He said I healed that man because that's what my father

was doing. I heard him.

I did it, and I was just in doing it.

I was right in doing it. I'm not some rogue prophet doing

whatever I want to do. I'm doing the will of God who

sent me because the Father and I are one.

I'm God in the flesh. We're going to worship that God

now together through song. So if you would please stand

with me, I encourage you to honor Him today with your

voices. That means saying that means

sing loud, means sing with your heart, sing with energy, sing

with faith, sing with joy. Because He's good, because he's

with us, because Jesus went to the cross for our sins, and so

we are forgiven and free in Him. We're going to worship together

with a few songs and then we'll have a time of prayer at the end

of our service for any who would like to come forward and receive

prayer from a member of our prayer team.

But first let me pray for all of us and for our time of worship,

and then we'll sing together. Jesus, we worship you.

You are so, so clear that you and the Father are one.

You are God. And so we worship you, we honor

you as God. We submit to you.

We, we, we obey you Jesus, help us when we fail to obey you,

when our pride takes over, when our just the old sinful man

that's still alive in US, the old sinful woman that rises up

and we disobey you. Forgive us for that.

We want to honor you with our whole life.

And so Jesus, I pray that this morning, these songs that we

sing to you would be a blessing to you.

They're to you, they're for you. They're about you.

And so we offer them to you as as a gift, just a sign of our

love and our gratitude. Be glorified.

We love you, Lord Jesus, and we pray all these things in your

good and powerful mighty name. Amen.