The Claims of Jesus—That You May Believe

In his book, Loving God, Charles Coulson wrote about a Russian Jewish doctor,

by the name of Boris Nikolaevich Kornfeld, who was sentenced to the most.

Inhumane Russian prison for a minor political crime in the 1950s.

Because he was a physician, he did receive some privileges in the prison in

return for treating other prisoners.

Still, he suffered a lot of abuse. His treatment would have,

in fact, been unbearable, except that he developed a friendship with another prisoner who,

through the quality of his witness, led Kornfeld to make a commitment to follow Christ.

Kornfeld felt a greater inner freedom because of his newfound faith in Christ.

One of the patients he was caring for was a cancer patient who was awaiting surgery.

Kornfeld shared with him what Christ had done in his own life.

Kornfeld was so enthusiastic about this change in his own life that he caught

the patient's attention in spite of his brief lapses brought on by the medicine.

Late into the night, the physician stayed with his patient, sharing with him

the unsearchable riches of Christ's love.

Later that night, someone slipped into the doctor's quarters and beat Kornfeld to death.

From a human standpoint, that should be the end of the story, but it isn't.

The patient recovered from this surgery, but he was a changed man.

Because of Kornfeld's testimony, he became a very devout Christian.

That patient's name is Alexander Sojenetson.

If you've heard that name, he not only won the Nobel Prize for Literature in

1970, but most importantly became one of the world's most influential voices for Christ.

Kornfeld and Sojournitsyn both learned that the claims of Christ were never

meant to merely become another piece of jewelry or something else to put on

the bumper stickers on our cars.

The claims of Jesus were always meant to make radical changes in the lives of those around us.

Changes as radicals as the claims themselves that Jesus made in John chapter

John 5 · chapter mention

5, which we're going to be looking at.

Follow with me as I read from John chapter 5, verses 16 through 30,

John 5:16–30

and look at the claims that Jesus made.

So because Jesus was doing these things on the Sabbath, by the way,

this is another one of those face-to-face encounters with Jesus,

only this was with Jewish leaders.

Because Jesus was doing these things on the Sabbath, the Jewish leaders began to persecute him.

In his defense, Jesus said to them, My father is always at work to this very

day, and I too am working.

For this reason, they tried all the more to kill him. Not only was he breaking

the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own father, making himself equal

with God. Jesus gave them this answer.

Very truly, I tell you, the son can do nothing by himself.

He can do only what he sees his father doing, because whatever the father does, the son also does.

For the father loves the son and shows him all he does.

Yes, and he will show him even greater works than these, so that you will be amazed.

For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life—by the way,

he had raised Lazarus, and even right before this.

He had healed the man at the pool of Bethesda, if you remember that—for just

as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son gives life

to whom he is pleased to give it.

Moreover, the Father judges no one, but has entrusted 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.

Very truly, I tell you, whoever hears my words and believes him who sent me

has eternal life and will not be judged, but has crossed over from death to life.

Very truly, I tell you, a time is coming and has now come when the dead will

hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear 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 judge because he is the Son of Man.

Do not be amazed at this, for a time is coming when all who are in their graves

will hear his voice and come out.

Those who have done what is good will rise to live, and those who have done

what is evil will rise to be condemned.

But by myself I can do nothing.

I judge only as I hear, and my judgment is just. For I seek not to please myself, but him who sent me.

Earlier in chapter 5, as I alluded to, Jesus had healed the lame man on the

Sabbath at the Pool of Bethesda, and the religious leaders were furious because,

the Sabbath had been violated.

You know, the Sabbath was more important to them than their life.

The religious leaders were not concerned about the lame man.

They didn't even acknowledge that he had been healed, let alone rejoice over his healing.

They were more concerned and more upset that Jesus had done this on the Sabbath

and not the fact that he had raised somebody, had lifted somebody up and been healed.

A good was done, but they were not happy with that.

Their only concern was that the rules concerning the Sabbath had been broken.

After determining that Jesus was the one who healed the man,

the religious leaders confronted him about violating the Sabbath.

He replied in verse 17 that he was only doing what the father,

what his father was doing.

He defended his actions by pointing out that he was merely imitating his father.

Jesus stated that God's creative and sustaining work upon which the world depends

had never ceased, nor would it ever be stopped. He said, my father is working, and I am working too.

The Jews immediately grasped what he was saying, that he was declaring himself equal with God.

The religious leaders didn't reject Jesus because they didn't understand who

he claimed to be. They understood perfectly, and they rejected him because of his claims.

The religious leaders changed their charge against Jesus from breaking the Sabbath.

To blasphemy because he was declaring to himself to be equal with God and to be God.

Liberal theologians who claim that Jesus never claimed to be God have to skip

right over these passages like this one.

Notice that John does not tell us that from this point on the Jewish authorities

were trying to kill him, it says that they were trying even harder to kill him.

The authorities had already determined that he must be put to death.

The incident only provided them with added incentive for doing it as soon as possible.

In response to the challenge by the religious leaders, Jesus made three claims about who he is.

First, Jesus claimed equality with the Father.

He said, gave them this answer, Very truly I tell you, the Son can do nothing by himself.

He can do only what he sees his Father doing.

Because whatever the father does, the son also does.

For the father loves the son and shows him all he does. Yes.

And he will show him even greater works than these.

The first statement that Jesus made was the assertion that everything that the

father, God, the father does, Jesus does.

And everything he does is also done by the father. If you move forward into

John, you will read, you will read John 16, 17, 18, and basically John 17 is

what's called the high priestly prayer.

And it's the one where Jesus said, I am in the Father and the Father is in me.

It goes on, the only possible conclusion was not lost on the religious leaders,

and that is that Jesus was claiming to be God. For not only is God the Father, but God is his Father.

Today, we take for granted that God is to be spoken of as Father,

but this was not the way it was in the first century church.

Jews would sometimes refer to God as the Father, but they usually added something

like Father in heaven to make clear that they were not being too familiar.

You couldn't be too familiar with this God, this creator.

But when Jesus used the term, my Father, was a claim to special intimacy.

He's my father. We say that now.

We don't have any problem with that, but back then, they did.

They had a problem with equating God as their personal father.

Jesus turned their accusations on their head. Their accusation was,

how dare you presume to act and speak as if you're God?

He turned their accusation around and said, if I am God, how is it possible

for me to act and speak in any other way?

So first, he claimed equality with the Father. Secondly, Jesus claimed the power to give life.

Beyond his claim that he is equal to Father, he claimed that as the Son of God,

he is the giver of life. We saw that in the first chapter of John, right?

Jesus, the spoken word, created everything. In him is life.

For as the Father raises the dead and gives life to them, even so the Son gives

life to whomever he will.

The Old Testament clearly teaches that only God can give life or raise dead to new life.

In Deuteronomy chapter 32 verse 39, we read, Now see that I,

Deuteronomy 32:39

even I, am he, and there is no God beside me.

Beginning video, we had, I am the way.

I am the truth. I am the life.

I am. That was what God said. That's how he declared from the beginning,

created or spoke about who he was when they wanted to know who he was. Let people know I am.

First Samuel chapter two, verse six states, the Lord kills and makes alive.

He brings down to the grave and brings up the ability to give life as the prerogative

of God. So when Jesus claims to be able to give life, also he is clearly claiming to be God.

In Romans chapter 10, verse 17, it says, so then faith comes by hearing and

Romans 10:17

hearing by the word of God.

In chapter 10, verse 9 and 11 of Romans, the apostle Paul wrote this,

if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus Christ and believe in your heart

that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

For with a heart, one believes into righteousness, and with a mouth,

confession is made unto salvation.

Jesus says the person who believes has eternal life.

John wrote in 1 John, These things I have written to you who believe in the

name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life.

We can have assurance of our salvation, not by anything we do,

but by the witness of the Holy Spirit in our lives, of the transformation in

our lives that has been brought into us by salvation and sanctification in Christ.

When Christ enters us, when we receive the salvation that comes from Christ,

it is a beginning of an ongoing work. We are sanctified.

We are presented with the Holy Spirit of God, who is the presence of Christ

in us, and that continues transforming us throughout our lives.

Some believe that to be saved means to be able to pinpoint the moment of salvation.

For some, this may be impossible.

But that's not the case for everyone. I've referred it to people.

I said, if you're walking down a hallway, you see a picture of Jesus at the end of the hallway.

You're walking toward him on that hallway.

If your eyes are focused in him, you may not know when you cross that threshold where you believe.

Some will walk toward him and see that threshold. Oh, I don't dare go past that

until I make that confession.

And so they make a statement. Others will just walk toward Jesus to become like him.

And they will, later on, look back and say, I became a follower of Jesus because

I was just going toward him, walking toward him. I like what the great preacher G.

Campbell Morgan said on the subject. One time he was preaching in Tennessee,

and during the sermon he stated, by no means can every Christian remember the

time when he was born again.

At the end of the sermon, someone challenged his statement, and Morgan turned

to that person and said, "'Are you alive?' The man replied, "'Well,

of course I am.' Morgan then asked, "'Do you remember when you were born?'.

Well, no, but I know that I was born by the evidence that I am now alive.

Morgan replied, exactly. Some Christians may not remember the exact moment of

their new birth, but they are spiritually alive and know it, and that's what counts.

So Jesus claimed to have equality with God.

He claimed to have the power to give life, and he also claimed to have the authority to judge.

Verses 22 and 23 say, Moreover, the Father judges no one, but has entrusted

all judgment to the Son, that all may honor the Son, but just as they honor the Father.

Whoever does not honor a Son does not honor the Father. Jesus was claiming that

he would exercise a function that Jews universally believed belonged to God.

In verses 27 to 30, Jesus said that God had given him the authority to judge.

For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have

life in himself, and he has given the Son authority to judge because he is the Son of Man.

It says, goes on to say, do not be amazed at this first time is coming when

all who are in their graves will hear his voice and come out,

some to the resurrection of life, some to the resurrection of dead.

So here are three crystal clear facts that these verses tell us regarding eternity.

One, there is definite life after death.

Jesus was teaching that physical life was not the end of existence.

Life here on earth is not the complete span for man. Beyond this life,

there's another different existence that no person can avoid.

Second, everyone will be affected by it.

Everyone is going to die and be separated from physical life in here.

Verse 28 says, all who are in the graves.

This means all without exception.

And then the third one of these, all mankind will fall into two categories,

one of two categories. Death is not the end. All will stand before God.

Those who have a personal relationship, Christ, will be judged worthy of eternal

life, and those who do not will be judged of eternal damnation.

There are some who hear of this judgment. Instead of placing their trust in

Christ, some say things like, I don't believe a God of love would condemn anyone.

Well, we know what John 3.18 says.

We're not condemned. God doesn't condemn us. We've already been condemned by

who we are, and we're redeemed by loving Christ.

Others state that all they ask of a god is justice and a fair shake.

At least I'm better than so-and-so. Hmm.

As if God is grading our salvation and eternity on the curve.

Boy, I don't want to be graded on the curve for that. I want to have mercy and grace.

Christian author C.S. Lewis wrote the great series of books entitled The Chronicles of Narnia. them.

If you've ever read those, they're captivating.

And in the last book of the series called The Last Battle, Lewis creatively

describes to us what our hope is and what eternity will be like.

At the end of Lewis's book, The Last Battle, Aslan, the lion,

who is the character of Jesus, tells Peter, Edmund, and Lucy that there's been

a tree railroad accident and they are all dead. Here's how the text goes.

And as he, Aslan, spoke, he no longer looked to them like a lion,

but the things that began to happen after that were so great and beautiful that I cannot write them.

And for us, this is the end of all the stories, and we can most truly say that

we all lived happily ever after.

For to them, it was only the beginning of the true story.

All their life in this world and all their adventures in Narnia had only been

the cover and title page, just the beginning, chapter one,

of the great story, which goes on forever, in which every chapter is better than the one before.

Everything is going to be better and going to get better and better and better,

especially as we look to Jesus for eternity.

It's clear from the text who Jesus claimed to be. Jesus claimed equality with

the Father. He claimed the power to give life.

And Jesus claimed the authority to judge mankind. If Jesus is right about what he claims.

Let me back up. I remember something my dad said.

I remember a few things my dad said. I'll have to admit, I wasn't always listening.

I didn't say that out loud.

But he says, you know, he says, if we are trusting that there's a God and believe

in him and believe that there's going to be an eternal life and we are living toward that,

if we get to the end of the days and we find out we're wrong and we simply just

die, have we lost anything?

But if we live as if there is no God,

and we believe that there is no heaven and there is no hell and we will simply

die and rot in the ground, and we get to eternity and find out we were wrong

then, we've lost everything.

And so if we believe that Jesus claimed equality with the Father,

we believe that Jesus claimed the power to give life, we believe that Jesus

claimed the authority to judge, we must believe that Jesus is God.

And so Jesus is right about what he claims.

And if he is, what are you going to do about it?

Will you believe? Will you trust in him? Heavenly Father, as we close in this

service, we give you thanks that you are our God.

You are our Father.

And Lord Jesus, we thank you for the privilege of worshiping you.

We thank you for the sacrifice that you gave to each one of us.

And Holy Spirit, we thank you for the presence that you are in each one of us,

transforming us into new life.

Heavenly Father, we thank you for all of these things and the empowerment to

go and serve a world that desperately needs Jesus. Amen.