TEXT: John 5:19-25
READING: Psalm 9:1-20
SUBJ: The sovereignty of Christ exercised in the securing of title to eternal life to whom He wills with true belief being the title to it.
Aim: That we might truly lay claim, by faith, to that which He has given us in the Gospel and that our claim be in evidence in our lives.
INTR: Jesus Christ is God manifest in the flesh. He is coequal with God in every way. Regeneration and thus salvation is given as He wills.
1. The reason of this discourse is the healing of the lame man at Bethesda on the Sabbath.
2. His reply to the Jews constitutes a powerful assertion of His sovereignty in justification and regeneration.
3. The issues as set forth here continue to this day to be a controversial issue since men either directly or by implication question the authority of Christ to regenerate as He wills.
THESIS: This issue is set before us along with other things as ample reason to honor the Son in that His is the power to over death, life, and judgment. We would consider then His equality with the Father, The Father the Son and Judgment, The registering of the believer’s claim, and The time that now is.
I. His equality with the Father (vv. 19-21)
1. He was both subservient and equal in that the Son does what the Father does.
2. The love of the Father for the Son and the Fatherly commitment to Him.
1) Having been shown (knowing) the works of the Father
2) That greater works were to be seen that “ye may marvel.”
3. As the Father raises – see the examples with Elijah and Elisha which they would have known and compare with the widow’s son, Jairus’ daughter and Lazarus.
1) The obvious is His sovereignty over physical life.
2) But, especially His authority over spiritual life and regeneration.
II. The Father, the Son, and judgment (vv. 22-23)
1. This is not that the Father does not participate in ruling and or judgment but that He does not do it apart from the Son. (Remember that Christ is declaring His equality with the Father not superiority and that both are acting freely)
2. So it is that we see all rule given into the hands of the Son from whom we see all government.
3. In verse 23, we are shown the purpose of God in that all (“men” is added here) should honor the Son. That is, all they who receive these truths to themselves honor the Son is their salvation.
1) Salvation is His to give as He wills
2) It is impossible to honor the Father apart from honoring the Son.
III. The registering of the believer’s claim (vv. 24)
1. He that heareth and believeth hath eternal life as a possession. (Note that life is implied in the ability to hear)—see vv. 25 and 28-29.
1) A valid claim to eternal life is to be found in believing in Him in the Gospel context.
2) There is a presumption of life (the dead are made to hear is more than figurative language – see Ephesians 2:5 Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)
3) The belief encompasses the fact that God sent Him for that express purpose.
2. Shall not come into condemnation – Justification.
1) Since the offenses of believers were laid on Christ, there is nothing with which to charge God’s elect.
2) Such are declared innocent by virtue of the blood of Christ.
3) We see a compounding of the entitlement here – eternal life and “no condemnation.”
3. From death unto life—regeneration (v. 21 and quickening) and thus sanctification
1) Eternal life is lived. Consider such expressions as “man, that is living,” or “living the good life.”
2) A transition is in evidence as eternal life is both revelation and experience.
IV. The time that now is (vv.25ff)
1. It had already started. Men were being quickened (the dead were hearing)
2. Compare: 2 Corinthians 6:2 (For he saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succoured thee: behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.)
3. A parting note on a yet future time when all in the graves are summoned forth as distinct from vv. 24 and 25.
