Jesus claims equality with t..

Welcome to Cornerstone Reformed Baptist Church. Thank you for using and sharing our resources. What you're about to hear is God's Word from one of our teaching elders. We trust that God's Word will inspire, instruct, and bless you. For further teachings or information on our ministry, please visit us on our website at cornerstonerbc.

com. That's cornerstonerbc.com. We have your Bibles with you. I invite you to open them up to the Gospel according to John.

And we'll be reading from chapter 5 from verses 16 through 29. So the Gospel according to John from chapter 5 verse 16 through 29. However, our Our meditation this evening will only be on verses 16 through 18. But for the context, we'll read that larger portion. From verse 16.

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 am 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. Verse 20. 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.

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 words and believes Him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has 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 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 execute judgment, because He is the Son of Man. Do not marvel at this, for an hour is 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 judgment. Amen.

This is the word of our Lord. If you recall last week, we began this chapter, this glorious fifth chapter from the Gospel according to John. And back then I said, and I'll say again this week, that in my humble estimation, this chapter, this fifth chapter of the Gospel according to John, has the richest passages that expound and explain the person, the work, and the nature of our Lord Jesus Christ. It's a heavy chapter. We know this.

We've just read through it. He has some deep Christological truths, some deep Trinitarian truths that should not be rushed through. Brothers and sisters, the truths that we find in this chapter must be by us, Christians, those who profess the faith in Jesus Christ. We must commit time and effort to study these truths and try to understand them in a more meaningful way, because there's nothing more important in this life than one to come to know who this Jesus of Nazareth is. You see, there's no greater question, there's no more important question that should be answered than that.

Who is Jesus? You think of all the major philosophers of history and if you were going to compartmentalize what they would do or give a purpose to what they do, they're the ones who think up the big questions, those questions of humanity, the questions of our existence, the questions of life. They ask these big questions and then they attempt to answer those questions. They get into their deep philosophical understandings, and they try to delve in the metaphysical mysteries. And by doing that, and by giving the answers, they've etched their names into the history books.

How is it that thousands of years later, that many of these men have become household names? We think of Plato, Socrates, Zeno, and, of course, Aristotle. They've become household names after thousands of years. How come? because they asked the big questions.

Questions that people wanted answered. They asked questions of why, how, where, when. Questions that were relevant to the people and to their nature of wanting to know. They got it wrong on many occasions, but that's not the point. The point is, no matter what questions come to your mind, or what questions come to the mind of the people in this world, there is none, there is none more important than asking and answering this question.

Who is Jesus? Who is this Jesus Christ? And what will you do with Him? This question is a matter of the highest importance, and it cannot be avoided. And I submit to you that nothing takes precedence over it.

All mankind, no matter who you are, no matter if they're dead or alive, their eternity is dependent upon how they've answered that question. Who is this Jesus and what will you do with him? I'm thankful. I'm thankful that it pleased God to give us the answer of who this Jesus is in the sacred text of Scripture. We don't need to do what the philosophers have done and jump into the hypothetical, because God has given us, and it's pleased Him to do so, His revealed Word of who Jesus Christ is.

And so we will be studying that answer In the Gospel according to John, in this fifth chapter, we'll be taking our time to do so. Beloved, there is no better place than here to start. And there's honestly no better person to answer those questions, or that question, than the Lord Jesus Christ himself. However, and this is the warning, this self-revelation of Christ is not neutral. It demands accountability and requires a response.

One either accepts his claims or one rejects his claims. Either way, he cannot be avoided. Because a time will come when this Jesus, the Jesus of John chapter 5, the Jesus of the Bible, a time will come where he will judge both the living and the dead and beloved. May it be that we're found on the right side of the answer to that question. Make no mistakes.

As we'll soon see, the claims that he makes in this chapter are very high and they're very lofty, and they require faith to be believed, and they require faith to be apprehended. But don't for a moment think that we, in our finite human minds, are able to fully understand the intricacies of the infinite holy God, and think for a moment we're going to be able to understand everything, because we can't. However, we as Christians must pursue to study and meditate upon His Word. We press on, press on in our diligent study, and we ask His Spirit to illuminate the truths of His Word in our finite minds and to our regenerated hearts, so that we would be stretched in our understanding to come to know this Jesus more intimately, so that we would love our God more dearly. So this morning we'll begin our meditation and we'll be concentrating our time in verses 17 and 18 in particular.

But if I was going to give an overall summary of what this fifth chapter is all about, I would have to say at least from verse 16 onwards, it would be Jesus is making himself or claiming that he is equal with God. that Jesus is equal with the Father. And if I was going to narrow that down further to the verses that we will be contemplating here this evening, it would be this. Jesus is making himself equal or claiming for himself to be equal with the Father in his nature and in his work. Those two things.

Let's keep those in the back of our mind and let's get back to our text. We know the context. Last week we started in chapter 5 and for the first 15 verses, at the very least, we know it's a narrative of the healing of the lame after 38 years being in an invalid or impotent position, the healing of this man at the pool of Bethesda. This man needed assistance to come and go for all his activities of daily living. He was brought to the pool of Bethesda daily because he's bought into the Bethesda superstition that he thought and he believed that if he was there when the waters were stirred, when they were moved, when the bubbling up took place, and he was the first to go into the pool, he honestly believed that he would be made well.

This was his all-consuming hope. For this man, Bethesda was the keys to his happiness. Nothing else, he thought. Nothing else could make him whole. So for 38 years, he returned over and over.

But of course, one day, our Lord Jesus Christ walks through the multitude of invalids under the porticos and walks straight to the man. And after asking him, do you want to be healed? He says, he commands with his voice. He says, get up, pick up your bed and walk. And with the authority and the power that is found within Jesus himself.

And at the sound of His voice, this invalid man is immediately and completely healed. Beloved, we said last week only God has the power to do such healings. You see, the actions of Jesus in the first 15 verses claim or point towards Him being divine. And now the words and the testimony of our Lord in from verses 16 through the end of this chapter, those words and his testimony will also claim that he is divine. But despite this man's healing, despite experiencing the supernatural healing that took place in his body, as far as we can tell in the text, he never believed in Christ.

He accepted the temporary gift of wholeness to his physical body, but he rejected the true treasure, and that was the giver, Jesus Christ. It's sad to read, really, but this is a demonstration of the power of sin. Even the greatest of miracles cannot convince a man to believe in Jesus and to turn his back from sin. Beloved, as our brother was saying earlier, without a supernatural work of God's Holy Spirit who quickens the soul from death to life, a person remains willfully enslaved to sin. And he cannot let go.

Now this healing took place by our Lord's design on the Sabbath. And of course, when the Jewish religious leaders heard of the healing, they began to persecute Jesus as a lawbreaker. That's what verse 16 is about. No hint of joy, no hint of gratitude to God because he'd healed one of their brothers after 38 years of affliction, 38 years of suffering. Finally, he's made well.

There is no joy. There is no celebration listed for us in this passage, only bitterness towards the one who made him whole because he made him whole on a day called the Sabbath. Now, these men, I said this last week, had a true zeal. to uphold God's law. If they had a true zeal for the law of God, then that passion should have shown in their observing and upholding the spirit of the law.

What is that? What is the summary of the law? To love God and to love neighbor. And they dismally failed at both of these things. They did not exemplify any love for God.

Nor did they show any love for their neighbor. All they were concerned with was upholding their interpretations of what the Sabbath is and what can and cannot be done. This is legalism. So in verse 17, in response to Jesus being persecuted, our Lord answers them with these profound words. He says, My Father is working until now, and I am working.

What a loaded response. Have you ever sat back and thought about what Jesus is saying in these words? You see, Jesus doesn't get into the nitty-gritty of their errors. He doesn't get into the finer points of where they've gone wrong and where they've erred in response to their interpretation and their understanding of what one can do and what one cannot do on the Sabbath. He doesn't bring up their faulty fabrications and their bad instructions that have imposed burdens upon the people in that day.

He brings none of that up. He doesn't get into that. Now, I must emphasize at this point, Jesus is not a lawbreaker. Jesus is the perfect Son of God, and he lived a perfect life in righteousness, in perfect obedience to the Father, but he had no time for human fabrications. He wasn't interested in what the legal or the religious establishment of the day had imposed and the attachments that they placed upon the law.

He had no time for that. However, the nitty-gritty was not where Christ has gone. This was not his fight. He could have gone toe-to-toe with the Jewish religious authorities, as he has done in the Gospels, but that's not his purpose here. Engaging in an earthly level discussion about what we can or what one can and cannot do on the Sabbath is not it.

Because Jesus has a weightier subject on mind. And the Sabbath healing is simply a springboard for Him to reveal something magnificent. something transcendent. Christ uses this occasion by his design to reveal the truths of who he is. Now he is in Jerusalem, and before the religious leaders who are persecuting him, he reveals his true identity.

You see, this is something we need to keep in the back of our minds. This book, the book of the fourth gospel, Gospel According to John, I've said this on occasion, it has seven signs or seven miracles listed in this gospel for us, and we know why they're there. The Apostle John has already told us, later on in chapter 20, that he has them there. This is a flurry of miracles that Jesus has performed. But these ones are there because he intends to write, and his readers, to read of this Jesus Christ, and to know that Jesus is the Christ.

and to know that He is the Son of God, and to believe, and to believe in Him, and by believing in this Jesus, the Jesus of the Bible, one can have everlasting life. That's His purpose. And every time we read about a miracle, there's two things that we normally see, especially in the seven that John puts here and places and records for us, that either faith is given, saving faith is given, or faith is strengthened. Faith is either given, or faith is strengthened. This is a third of seven miracles.

The first was Jesus turning the water into wine in chapter 2. And if you remember, at the end of that passage, we read, "...and the disciples believed in him." The second miracle in chapter 4 was one that we looked at only a few weeks ago, and that was the royal official from Capernaum, who had come to Galilee, where Jesus was, and his son was healed, he believed in the words of Jesus, turned his back and started back on that journey to find that his son was indeed healed at the very moment that Jesus said he would be healed. And then we read, he and his household believed.

Now the rest of these miracles or signs will also show that the result is either belief given or faith given, or faith strengthened, one way or another. But here, we went through this miracle, the third. We read the miracle, but no saving faith, as far as we can tell. The invalid man is still in unbelief. Then why would John record this?

I believe the reason that Jesus does this miracle, and John records it for us, is for our Lord to expound and explain, not so much in the immediate of Him giving faith or strengthening faith, but rather that He would explain in whom exactly saving faith must be healed. It's a revelation of the object of our faith. In other words, what comes next in this chapter, in chapter 5, is an unveiling of the intrinsic divine qualities of Jesus Christ that must be believed, hear this, for faith to be genuine. And he begins by saying, my father is working until now, and I am working. You see, the Jews knew exactly what Jesus meant.

Up until now, their accusations against Jesus was he's a Sabbath-breaker. For the Jews, a man who incites others to break the law, as they thought Christ did by telling the invalid who now is made well to carry his mat and walk, well, a person who incites others to break the law is more dangerous than one breaking the law himself. So they were angry at Christ, and there's no doubt there. But Jesus goes beyond all that. He's not justifying his actions based on what is permissible or prohibited on the Sabbath for a man.

You see, in his statement when he says, my Father is working until now and I am working, he's elevating above that which is allowed for man. And he goes to that which is allowed for God. He's comparing himself with the Father And this, as far as the Jews were concerned, is scandalous. You see, they'd approach Jesus by saying, you are breaking the Sabbath. Men should not do this and that.

And Jesus is saying, God the Father is, and therefore I can. What's Jesus declaring? Now the first of the statement, my father is working, was of no surprise to the Jews. Even the rabbis acknowledged that God continued to work, maintaining and governing and preserving the universe even after the six literal days of creation. They'd already figured that one out.

See, they wouldn't want to place on Yahweh Him being a lawbreaker. So they'd figured that one out. What they had come up with is that the whole universe is God's domain. The whole universe is God's home and all His work is in His home. So He carries nothing out of His home.

He can't be a lawbreaker. That was their thoughts. That's how they reasoned. They made it work. But that's not the point.

The point is they did acknowledge that God indeed does work on the Sabbath. That without God's preservation, without His providence, without His work holding all things together, then the world, as we know, will collapse in a pile. And they knew it. So the first part of Jesus' statement, my Father is working, wasn't really a surprise to them. But here's where the shock comes.

Shock comes in the second part. My father is working until now, and I am working. Do you see what Jesus is doing? Can you see why this is so scandalous to the Jews? He's telling them, you know the Sabbath category that you place Yahweh in?

You know the Sabbath category that you know and you've acknowledged that whatever God does, and you've acknowledged He works every single day, every moment of every day, and He can do these things, and you've absolved Him from any wrongdoing. That's the category you put Yahweh in. Well, let me tell you, I belong in that category. That's what Jesus is saying. Consider my work equal with God's work.

Beloved, if our God was not sovereign, if our God was not sovereign in protecting and preserving the life of Jesus Christ until the time and the hour had come where he was going to willingly give up his life to die on that cross for the ransom of many, the moment Jesus uttered these words, he would have been torn to pieces. Because the Jews knew exactly, exactly what he was saying. Because he's saying, me, I, and the Father, we're engaged in the same work. He's put himself with equality with the Father. He says, our work is one.

It's of the same value. The Father never rests, and therefore I never rest either. Beloved, God's Sabbath. after creation, after he created the world in six days and rested on the seventh, that's a symbol of something so much more profound. It's a symbol of the eternal rest that those who are redeemed will enjoy in the beloved for all eternity.

But there is a physical aspect of the Sabbath that was observed in the law. And that physical aspect was an aspect for those who tire, because the Sabbath was created for man, not man for the Sabbath. And God never slumbers nor sleeps. He never tires. He's always working.

And so Jesus is saying, I'm always working. What does he mean by that? He's saying that my work is in unity with the Father's work. What the Father does, I do. Our work is equal.

That divine work is mine. The work you attribute to God, even now as we speak, is work that I am engaged in. Can you hear the consequences of those words? To do the Father's work, would mean that you need the Father's power. It means that you need the Father's knowledge.

What is Jesus saying here? Nothing less than I am equal with the Father. And this is why the Jews were outraged. And this is why the Jews wanted no more of this Jesus. They must have thought he was out of his mind.

How can a man that stands before them, a man who they possibly have known, was born in Bethlehem, a man who has a father by the name of Joseph, and a mother, at least the father not in the biological sense, but a mother by the name of Mary, and a man who stands before them no more than 40 years of age, yet he's claiming to be equal with the infinite God who has no beginning and has no end. This man before us, they're thinking, he gets tired, we've seen him eat, we know he sleeps, How can he claim to be equal with God? If he's claiming to be, is he claiming to be another God? See, Jews are monotheists. They believe in one God.

The Shema is something they practice daily, and that is, hear, O Israel, the Lord your God, the Lord is one. If Jesus was claiming polytheism, they would have no part of it at all, and of course, Jesus wasn't claiming polytheism. That's not what he is saying. In fact, verses 19 through 20, Jesus alleviates any possible misconceptions that they may have in that area, and we will examine those, meditate upon those in subsequent weeks. We'll unpack them in due time.

But beloved, the truths of the words of our Lord Jesus Christ in this passage cannot, hear this, cannot be humanly comprehended. Because we speak of the Jews and say, how could they react in this way? Beloved, how else can they react when someone, a mere man as far as they're concerned, makes himself equal with Yahweh? Beloved, here we have the nature of the Trinity. That God is one but in three persons and unless we believe this, will end up in serious error, and the rest of what we read in this chapter will make no sense.

But the Jews didn't understand this. Now, to be sure, the depth of what Jesus is saying is truly impossible to understand. No amount of reasoning, no amount of rational dialogue can bring a person to believe such mind-boggling claims. A supernatural, God-given faith is required. or else these claims will be put in the category of fantasy.

And beloved, if someone doesn't receive that supernatural faith from God to bring them from a state of spiritual deadness to spiritual light to be able to see the truth, then you have to say what the Jews end up doing to our Savior would be the rational thing to do. Because someone who claims what he claims is either true or is a dangerous man. But we know, we know by faith, that these claims that are listed for us here are indeed true. And although we cannot fully understand the intricacies of this truth, we believe the Bible's teaching. And it tells us, it tells us that Christ, although for a time restricted the use of His divine qualities in the incarnation as the eternal Son of God, even while He was on the earth, He was preserving, maintaining, and governing the universe, even while he was on the earth.

Now, brothers and sisters, don't tell me that's not a difficult thing for even us to grasp. The author of Hebrews gets it, and listen to what he says. In chapter 1, from verse 1, Long ago, at many times, in many ways, God spoke to the fathers by the prophets, but in these last days He's spoken to us by His Son, whom He appointed the heir of all things." And listen to this point, "...through whom He also created the world through Christ."

The Apostle John has already told us, hasn't he, in the prologue. "...He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of His nature, and He upholds the universe by the word of His power." Hear that? He upholds the universe by the word of his power.

And Colossians 117 is in complete agreement to that. It's written, and he is before all things, speaking of Christ, and in him all things hold together. There was never a point where Jesus Christ, the Son of God, was not upholding the universe. by the word of His power, even Beloved, even when He was in the incarnation walking this very earth, He was still preserving and governing the universe as only God can, even then. Now these are difficult concepts for us to hold.

However, the Bible is clear. And the veracity of these truths are not proved to be true by our understanding of them or how well we articulate them. But rather, truth is objective. Why? Because God spoke.

And when God speaks, that is the epitome of truth. And on this day, in this passage, he said, Jesus said, I am equal. with the Father in my work. But I want you to realize something. We're still in verse 17.

How does our Lord refer to the Father? My Father. If the Jews weren't offended enough, now they're enraged. We as New Testament Christians may not feel the weight of those words because we're taught to pray our Father who art in heaven. We call God our Father, and rightfully so, because he is our Father.

We are adopted children of the living God through Jesus Christ, and that is true. But the Jews in this day, well, they understood exactly what Jesus was saying. Not only was Jesus saying that he's equal with God in his work, But he's saying that he is also equal with God, with the Father, in his nature. Yet, distinct in personhood. Again, the triunity of God is on display here.

You see, the Jews would occasionally call God, our Father. After all, if you remember in Exodus chapter 4, God called the people of Israel, my firstborn son. So collectively, when the Jews were corporately worshipping or corporately praying on occasion, they would pray and refer to God as our father, but they would never dare. They would never dare on an individual level say, my father, because they know what that means. That's an association with the nature of God.

And they would never do that. That would make them equal with God in nature, as a son is the same nature as his father. And so the Jews knew exactly what Jesus was saying. And Jesus knew exactly how that would take it. And at this point, beloved, if the Jesus that we have in our mind is a Jesus that is solely meek and mild, a Jesus who doesn't ruffle anyone's feathers, it's at this point will be proven fairly mistaken.

Because this is a fight that Jesus is picking. He knows exactly the reaction of these Jews according to his omniscience. He knows that when he utters these words, the rage that they will express. He knows that when he says, my father, he knows exactly how they will take his words. And indeed, they don't take it well, because in verse 18 tells us that they were now plotting to kill him.

Listen to what it reads. It says, this was 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. Now a far more serious offense than breaking the Sabbath. Beloved, this is, as far as the Jews are concerned, blasphemy.

Punishable by stoning. And so from this point on, the religious leaders will pursue Christ. They will have nothing on their primary agenda insofar as Christ is concerned is to completely eliminate this man who makes himself equal to God on lawful means or unlawful means. It's important that we realize also that this is not a misinterpretation of Jesus's words. Equality with the Father in nature Yet being distinct in person is precisely what Jesus is saying.

You see, this is what he's communicating. He's communicating that he has a unique intimate relationship with his father, my father. And he's the same nature. And the only way we can describe that relationship is sonship. Sonship.

And as the son of God, he is the same nature as the father. See, Jesus is not ambiguous. He's referring to being the same in essence, the same in being an eternal in existence as the Father. And this would have made his hearers go wild. Some have tried to suggest that John has placed verse 18 in here, in this narrative, to show us how the Jews misinterpreted the words of Christ, to show us how way off they were, in that Jesus wasn't saying he was equal with God, he didn't say that at all, but this is how they understood it.

This is how some have explained this, and I have two things to say to that. The first is, have these people read beyond verse 18? Beloved, almost every single verse from verse 18 to the end of the chapter is a reiteration of what Jesus is saying, and it supports him saying that I am divine. And the second thing I want to say to that is this. If, hypothetically speaking, this was a misinterpretation on the Jews' behalf, and it was now made known to Christ that they're now claiming and accusing Him of making Himself equal with the Father, if that's not what Jesus was intending to say, then let me ask you this, would He not go to great lengths to correct that massive blasphemy, if that wasn't His intention?

Think about it. This has happened in the past. Think about some of the prophets of the Old Testament, or maybe the angels, or even in the New Testament there's some examples of Jesus' disciples, or the apostles, where they knew and recognized that they are ministers of the living God. They were mouthpieces of the living God. They went and proclaimed the words, they said, thus says the Lord on behalf of God, and they knew very well that they were not divine.

They knew very well they were bending their knee to the divine in worship and they were ministering on his behalf. And beloved, there are occasions where their hearers did not see the same thing because they came across thinking that maybe this person in front of us, this man of God is divine. How was their response? It was one of complete devastation. How can I accept the accolades that belong only to God?

I will not have it. And I want to give you a specific example. In the book of Acts, in Acts chapter 14, we might remember the passage. This is Paul and Barnabas, the apostle Paul and Barnabas, on their first missionary journey. And they're making their way through Asia Minor, heading east, and they come to a city by the name of Lystra.

And this is a superstitious people in this city. Upon hearing the charisma and the authority that Paul speaks with and demonstrates and communicates the good news of the gospel, this people now perceive both Paul and Barnabas both to be divine. And so they proceed to try to worship these men. And when Paul and Barnabas realize what they're doing, do you know what they did? They experienced the horror.

They tore their garments in disgust. And this is what they say. They cry out to the people. They say, men, why are you doing these things? And why do you hear these words?

We are also men. We are, sorry, we also are men of like nature with you. We are men like you. Why do you worship us? We have the same nature.

We're men also. Do not do this. God deserves all the worship, not us. that there's no sign of clearing the air in our passage here in John chapter five. In fact, Jesus drives the nail of his divinity and equality with God deeper and deeper with every word, he says.

He accepts the accusation against him that he's claiming to be equal with God because that was his intention. Make no mistake, that's what Jesus is saying. And it cannot get any clearer than this. Many in our day have denied this truth. Many Unitarians, that is those who believe in one God, but not the Trinity, and therefore they don't believe that Jesus is the Son of God.

Many, many. And we think of the Muslims, and we think of the Jehovah's Witnesses, which are the modern day Aryans. And they would say, and come to us on occasion, and they would say, show me, show me in your Bible, open me up a passage where Jesus says these words, I am God. Just show me that they say in your Bible. Beloved, this is unbelief speaking and no more.

Because to actually read through the Gospels, acknowledging all that Jesus says and does, and to come away even thinking for a moment that he does not claim of himself to be divine, to be equal with God, in my estimation, would be one of two things. Either one is manipulating what is written, or there's an active suppression of the truth in unrighteousness. Because it is as clear as day, Jesus is saying, I am equal with the Father. The way I see it, based on the text that is before us, one would have to succumb to one of two possible realities, neither of which pertain to the question of whether Jesus' claims or whether Jesus does in fact claim that he is God. That's clear that he's doing that.

That's obvious for us today. And it's obvious to the well-versed, well-educated in the scriptures Jews that were before him that day. It wasn't because he was a nice guy that they crucified Jesus. It was because he was claiming to be God. And they crucified him because he was deemed to be a blasphemer.

But beloved, if you think for a moment that verse 18 is a commentary, and it is, it's a commentary of John, of what the Jews were thinking, if you think that, well, I'd prefer to hear it from the Jews' own mouth, then John chapter 10 says something which is identical to what we have here. Let me read that to you, John chapter 10 verses 31 through 33. There he says, And this is the context there, Jesus has just finished his discourse, speaking about himself as the chief shepherd, the good shepherd, and his sheep hear his voice. And then he goes on to say, I and the Father are one, and listen to these words from verse 31. The Jews picked up stones again, to stone him, again.

Jesus answered them, I have shown you many good works from the Father, for which of them are you going to stone me? The Jews answered him, it is not for a good work that we are going to stone you, but for blasphemy. Hear this, because you, being a man, make yourself God. Beloved, the words of our Lord were not a slip of the tongue. They weren't mistakes, and they weren't misinterpreted by the Jews.

They got it right, and it's exactly what Jesus was saying. One doesn't have to believe it, but you cannot deny what Jesus is claiming. So as I was saying earlier, one would have to succumb to one of two possibilities, two realities, after honestly reading the claims of our Lord in the Bible. both of which pertain not to the words, but to the person who speaks them. Either Jesus is mentally unstable or dishonest.

And in both cases, he would be guilty of blasphemy, worthy of the harshest of punishments. Or, he is what he claims to be, the Son of God. Same in essence, same in being, same in nature, God in flesh. The way I see it, there's only those two options. Because one cannot claim that Jesus did not claim for himself to be divine.

It's a question of how you are deeming the person who said those things. There's no third option. And even to suggest, as some have suggested in our day, that he was a good man and lived a good life merely as an example to be followed, an example of servitude and love that we should show to one another. If that's merely what one says, as many do in our day, then, beloved, there's nothing more absurd than that. because the claims that he makes, the promises that he gives, if he's not God he would be a rank liar, mentally unstable, and let's face it, he'd need to be locked away because he would be a danger to that society if he's not speaking the truth.

Now the prolific author C.S. Lewis He's an incredible author with an incredible imagination, but he's not a theologian, so I wouldn't be getting my theology from him. However, on this point, he hits the mark with precise accuracy. Because speaking about this exact point, he writes in his book, Mere Christianity.

Listen to what he writes. I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about him speaking about Christ. This is what people say. I'm ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don't accept his claim to be God. That is one thing we must not say.

A man who was merely a man and said that sort of thing, or the sort of thing Jesus said, would not be a great moral teacher. He would be either a lunatic on the level of a man who says that he's a poached egg, or else he would be the devil of hell. You must make your choice, he says. Either this man was and is the Son of God, or else a madman, or else something worse. You can shut him up for a fool.

You can spit at him and kill him as a demon, or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God. Doesn't that remind us of Thomas' testimony? My Lord and my God. Continue, but let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us.

He did not intend to. Now, it seems to me obvious that he was neither a lunatic nor a fiend, that's a demon spirit, and consequently, however strange or terrifying or unlikely it may seem, I have to accept the view that he was and is God. Beloved, there has been people in history, and I'll end with this, that have resolved to call Christ every one of those three things. Some have called Him a lunatic, others a liar, but there are some who have called Him Lord. You see, the first two, if one claims that he's either a lunatic or a or a liar or anything else other than law, then one would be going against the testimony of all the persons in the Godhead, all of them.

You see, in this passage, we've just examined that Jesus indeed is saying that he is equal with the Father in his work, is equal with the Father in his nature, therefore he is claiming deity. but also the father claims deity for his son. That's his testimony. Because if you remember in Matthew chapter three, verse 17, from the father's lips, this is my beloved son, with whom I am well pleased. My son, with whom I am well pleased.

That is him claiming that, that's the father saying that this Jesus is of the nature, the same nature as myself. He is my son. And the Holy Spirit also attests to the deity of Christ. Speaking of Christ, in Romans 1, verse 4, the Apostle writes, He, speaking of Christ, was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by His resurrection from the dead. Beloved, the resurrection of our Lord was the Holy Spirit vindicating Him as the Son of God.

Remember this, if He had committed one sin, if He committed one lie, if the claims He made that is before us are untrue, Jesus would have remained in the grave. The Spirit resurrected our Lord and our Saviour to testify that He is the Son of God indeed and all that He has claimed for us written in the Scripture are true and reliable and we can trust Him for it. The testimony of the Godhead is unanimous. The testimony of Scripture is unmistakable. The deity of Christ is objectively true.

Whether you or I believe it or not, truth is truth. It's objective. And therefore the claims, the promises, the warnings, the judgments He spoke are all true. And not only are they all true, but he has the power to affect them. He has the omniscience to know that nothing will thwart his promises as we've been going through the book of Genesis and Exodus.

The promise that God makes, he will fulfill because there's nothing that surprises God. He's all-knowing, and therefore, if Jesus is placed in that realm, if he is deity, if he is God, that which he is, then he also has the power and the omniscience. to fulfill every promise he has given the saints in this book. Every last one. And as God, he is worthy of all our praise, of all our honor, and all our worship.

And beloved, nothing less. As it is written in the book of Philippians, so at the name of Jesus, Every knee will bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God, the Father, Philippians 2, 10 and 11. So I want to end where I started, with the same question. You see, that passage I just read in Philippians speaks to the confession that every human being who has ever existed will make. Every single human being will confess that Jesus is Lord over all.

Everyone with no exceptions. But the answer or our answer to the question that we began with will determine from where that confession is made. So either we answer in this life and we answer, yes. I believe that Jesus is the Son of God. I believe in the promises.

I believe in His testimony. I believe in His words. I believe that He said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father but through me. Unless I believe these things and believe His testimony, and if I do, then I will enjoy His presence, from now into all eternity with the Triune God.

However, if one denies, if one rejects, as many of the Jews did, and as we, to the best of our knowledge, could see that the invalid man in this chapter rejected also, then that confession will still be made, but begrudgingly in the lake of fire. the eternal punishment under the wrath of God for their unrighteousness. So I ask the question again, who is this Jesus and what will you do with him?