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John chapter five. Our focus 
this morning will be verses 24 to 30, but I want to read beginning 
in John chapter five at verse 16. For this reason the Jews 
persecuted Jesus and sought to kill him, because he had done 
these things on the Sabbath. But Jesus answered them, My Father 
has been working until now, and I have been working. Therefore 
the Jews sought all the more to kill him, because he not only 
broke the Sabbath, but also said that God was his Father, making 
himself equal with God. Then Jesus answered and said 
to them, most assuredly I say to you, the son can do nothing 
of himself, but what he sees the father do. For whatever he 
does, the son also does in like manner. For the father loves 
the son and shows him all things that he himself does. And he 
will show him greater works than these that you may marvel. For 
as the father raises the dead and gives life to them, even 
so the son gives life to whom he will. For the Father judges 
no one, but has committed all judgment to the Son, that all 
should honor the Son just as they honor the Father. He who 
does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him. 
Most assuredly I say to you, he who hears my word and believes 
in him who sent me has everlasting life, and shall not come into 
judgment, but is passed from death into life. Most assuredly, 
I say to you, the hour is coming, and now is, 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 to have life in Himself, 
and has given Him authority to execute judgment also, because 
He is the Son of Man. Do not marvel at this, for the 
hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear his 
voice and come forth, those who have done good to the resurrection 
of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of condemnation. I can of myself do nothing. As 
I hear, I judge, and my judgment is righteous, because I do not 
seek my own will, but the will of the Father who sent me. If 
I bear witness of myself, my witness is not true. There is 
another who bears witness of me, and I know that the witness 
which he witnesses of me is true. You have sent to John, and he 
has borne witness to the truth. Yet I do not receive testimony 
from man, but I say these things that you may be saved. He was 
the burning and shining lamp, and you were willing for a time 
to rejoice in his light. But I have a greater witness 
than John's, for the works which the Father has given me to finish, 
the very works that I do bear witness of me, that the Father 
has sent me. And the Father himself who sent 
me has testified of me. You have neither heard his voice 
at any time nor seen his form, but you do not have his word 
abiding in you, because whom he sent, him you do not believe. You search the Scriptures, for 
in them you think you have eternal life. And these are they which 
testify of me. But you are not willing to come 
to me, that you may have life. I do not receive honor from men, 
but I know you, that you do not have the love of God in you. 
I have come in my Father's name, and you do not receive me. If 
another comes in his own name, him you will receive. How can 
you believe who receive honor from one another and do not seek 
the honor that comes from the only God? Do not think that I 
shall accuse you to the Father. There is one who accuses you, 
Moses, in whom you trust. For if you believed Moses, you 
would believe me, for he wrote about me. But if you do not believe 
his writings, how will you believe my words? Amen. Well, let us 
pray. Father, thank you for your Word, 
thank you for the Incarnate Word, even our Lord Jesus Christ, and 
for the earthly ministry that we see here. We ask again for 
the presence and the power of the Holy Spirit. We pray again 
for the forgiveness of sins and all of its darkening influences, 
and help us to marvel at the Son of God who loved us and who 
gave himself for us. And we ask in his blessed name, 
Amen. Well, as we have been continuing 
through John's gospel, we have seen that one of John's emphases 
is to not only show us the economy of salvation, that means specifically 
what Jesus does in terms of saving his people from their sins, but 
John also wants to show us who Jesus is. If you go back for 
just a moment to John 1, in verse 1, he introduces his gospel with 
what we call the prologue, and he says, in the beginning was 
the Word, and the Word was with God, and the word was God. That 
is an amazing declaration concerning the person of our Lord Jesus 
Christ. Such that the early church took up pains to defend this. And when they defended it, they 
used certain terms outside of the Bible that were calculated 
to protect what we find in terms of doctrine in the Bible. So 
for instance, in John 1, 1, we see in the beginning was the 
word. That underscores Jesus co-eternality with his father. And then it says that the word 
was with God. That shows a distinction between 
the father and the son. And then when it says, and the 
word was God, it shows that Jesus is consubstantial with the father. That means he has the same nature. He is coessential with the father. Now turn over to John 5. We not 
only see it in John's prologue, but we see it in the life and 
the ministry of our Lord Jesus Christ. Specifically here in 
John 5, the occasion was that Jesus healed a paralyzed man, 
a man who had for 38 years been incapacitated by his sickness 
or disease. We see that it was connected 
to his own sinfulness. So Jesus not only deals with 
him physically, but he deals with him spiritually. Well, of 
course, he deals with him on the Sabbath day, and that causes 
the Jews to antagonize him. You're not supposed to be working 
on the Sabbath day. And then Jesus says, if you look 
at 517, my father has been working until now, and I have been working. So the father created the world 
and all things in it, and then he rested in terms of creation. The father is active in providence. 
The psalmist says, our God is in heaven. He does whatever he 
pleases. So he providentially governs 
all his creatures and all their actions. So Jesus says, my father 
has been working until now, so I am working. In other words, 
they didn't break the Sabbath. He didn't engage in any violation 
or transgression. Now notice in verse 18, therefore 
the Jews sought all the more to kill him because he not only 
broke the Sabbath, but also said that God was his father making 
himself equal with God. He was affirming his consubstantiality 
with the father. He and the father are one. He'll 
say that later in John 10 at verse 30. Now, of course, Jesus 
has to respond to this. It's a capital offense, blasphemy. Sabbath breaking is a capital 
offense, but so is blasphemy. And if Jesus makes himself equal 
with God, and he's not equal with God, then he deserves to 
be stoned. So they have leveled this charge 
in verse 18. And so it's very important for 
us to understand how Jesus responds to the charge in verses 19 to 
47. How does he respond? He affirms it. How does he respond? He declares it. He responds by 
saying, yes, I am equal with the Father. And he points to 
two specific works. He points to his sovereignty 
or authority over life itself and over judgment. Imagine if 
your father was a brain surgeon and somebody came along and said 
to you, are you equal with your father? In order to demonstrate 
that, it wouldn't be, I'm gonna take out the trash. It would 
be, I'm gonna conduct brain surgery. In other words, if you're equal 
with the father, you need to have the equal power, functions, 
prerogatives, all of that sort of thing. Remember those magicians 
in the Old Testament, they could duplicate a couple of the plagues, 
but they couldn't do all that Yahweh of Israel is capable of. 
They don't have the divine nature. Christ has the divine nature, 
so Christ responds to them in verses 19 to 47. So in 19 to 
23, what we saw last week is his relation to the Father. And 
here, specifically in verses 24 to 30, it's divine functions. He mentions his authority over 
life in verse 21. He mentions his authority and 
judgment in verse 22, but he amplifies that in verses 24 to 
30. In other words, to demonstrate 
that he's equal with God, he has divine prerogative. He has the capability and the 
competency to engage in divine functions. Van Maastricht said, 
the one to whom all divine things belong, here life and judgment, 
undoubtedly is the true God from eternity and consubstantial with 
the Father. For not even impudence itself 
will say that the one to whom all divine things belong is not 
God. So he mentions it generally, 
verses 21 and 22, and then he amplifies in verses 24 to 30. 
So there's three things we're going to look at this morning 
in verses 24 to 30. First, the declaration of his 
authority in eternal life in verses 24 and 25. Secondly, and 
I'll explain this when we get there, the rationale for His 
authority in eternal generation, verses 26 to 27. And then finally, 
the promise of His authority on the Day of Judgment in verses 
28 to 30. So it is a question of authority. 
He, being a man, has made himself equal with God. Who is up to 
the task of asserting that kind of authority, unless he is, as 
the Nicene Creed says, very God of very God. And that's who we're 
dealing with in this particular passage. So notice in the first 
place, the declaration of his authority in eternal life in 
verses 24 and 25. The first thing he emphasizes 
is the promise of eternal life. In other words, he's made himself 
equal with God at this particular point. He's able to save his 
people from their sins. Notice in verse 24, most assuredly 
I say to you, he who hears my word and believes in him who 
sent me has everlasting life and shall not come into judgment 
but is passed from death into life. Jesus uses judgment in 
two ways in the passage, not completely disconnected, but 
here judgment in verse 24 means a condemnation, a judgment unto 
separation from God. Later in verses 28 to 29, when 
he mentions his task as the judge of all the earth, it is to preside 
over that last day. It is to render that final verdict 
in terms of the righteous and the unrighteous. But he asserts 
here, and this is in the context of John's gospel, that he comes 
to bring eternal life. If you're not a Christian here 
this morning, there's going to be some concepts and words that 
I mention about Jesus that you may not get. You may not, if 
you were tested afterward, understand, you know, consubstantiality, 
coessential, coeternal, all that sort of thing, but get verse 
24. Jesus says, most assuredly, I 
say to you, he who hears my word and believes in him, Now everywhere 
in the New Testament we see that Jesus is the object of justifying 
faith. But here he says, here's my word, 
and I think here means believe. It says, he who hears my word 
and believes in him who sent me has everlasting life. What's 
the emphasis there? It's similar to verse 23. Look 
at verse 23. He says, he who does not honor 
the son does not honor the father who sent him. So in verse 24, 
he says, if you don't hear my word, then you're not believing 
in him who sent me. And this is specifically calculated 
to produce conviction for these Jews. They said they love Yahweh 
of Israel. They said they love God the Father. 
And Jesus says unequivocally, If you don't hear my word, we're 
flipping it on its head, it's a legitimate implication. If 
you don't hear my word and you don't believe in Him who sent 
me, then you're going to die in your sin. But conversely, 
when you hear my word, it is to believe in Him who sent me. Because of the same nature, because 
of the one will, because of the one power, Christ is consubstantial 
with the Father. There is one true and living 
God. And notice the emphasis again 
on faith. He who hears my word and believes 
in it. Keep that in mind for when we 
get down to verse 29. And come forth those who have 
done good. Jesus doesn't imagine for a moment 
there's a class of do-gooders out there that can pass the muster 
of the final judgment. The way of salvation is to believe 
on Jesus. The way of salvation is to receive 
the Word. The way of salvation is to look 
unto Him and live. He's already addressed this in 
John chapter 3. He says, just as the wilderness 
was lifted up in the serpent, so must the Son of Man be lifted 
up. that whoever believes in Him 
should not perish but have everlasting life. It's by grace through faith, 
and when we get to that day of final judgment, the good works 
simply function as evidences or fruits of those who have believed 
the gospel. If you're not a Christian here 
today, please don't take this message and say, oh, I'm gonna 
go out and try harder and I'm gonna do more. Yeah, try harder 
and do more. You'll be a better citizen and 
probably a better husband and a father and all that sort of 
thing. But don't think for a moment that's gonna commend you to God. 
You've got a sin problem. You've got a huge sin problem. Just like everyone in this world, 
in this room in this world has a sin problem. The only way to 
deal with the sin problem is through the blood of our Lord 
Jesus Christ. The only way to deal with that 
is by belief in Him. Because when by God's grace we 
believe in Him, we're forgiven of our sins. We're washed in 
His precious blood. But we're then clothed in His 
precious garments. The righteousness of Christ is 
given to us. So whatever else you may or may 
not hear this morning, if you're not a believer, please focus 
on verse 24. Take it home this afternoon. 
Think about it. Consider it. Contemplate it. 
Ask yourself the question, where am I before a just and holy God? If the Lord was to kill me today, 
if the Lord Jesus was to come again in glory today, what side 
would I be on? Would I be on that side who hasn't 
passed into judgment, but rather passed into life? Or would I 
be on the side that hears those cursed words from Jesus, depart 
from me into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his 
angels? Because it's Jesus that you will meet in terms of the 
judgment day. But Jesus now calls you to come 
to Him. to believe on him, and as he 
says here in verse 24, I say to you, he who hears my word 
and believes in him who sent me has everlasting life. He shall not come into judgment, 
but is passed from death into life. What does Jesus assume 
in verse 24? He assumes what Calvinists or 
reformed people call the doctrine of total depravity. He affirms 
the sinfulness of man. He says to you right now, if 
you're not a believer in Jesus Christ, that you're dead. Now, 
I know experientially that's hard to wrap your mind around 
because you're breathing. You probably had Wheaties or 
some sort of breakfast this morning. You've seen the beauty of the 
day displayed. You've no doubt been following the news that 
is going through Canada. you're alive. Yeah, you're alive 
physically, but if you're not in Christ, you're dead. And Christ 
assumes that. The dead will hear the voice 
of the Son of God. So Christ not only assumes the 
doctrine of total depravity, but Christ endorses the doctrine 
of effectual calling. Those who are dead are now able 
to hear the voice of the Son of God. And by God's grace, they 
pass from death into life. Yeah, we call that the effectual 
call. We call that God making men willing 
in the day of his power. We call that God dealing with 
sinners in a way of grace and mercy and loving kindness. See, 
we have sinned sufficiently against God to deserve an infinite amount 
of infinite hell. We have transgressed His law. 
Not you if you're an unbeliever here. All of us. We all have 
that dessert of going off to hell forever. But again, by God's 
grace and through this power of God, He's able to make men 
willing in the day of His power. So that when the gospel goes 
forth, sinners hear the voice of God Most High and He awakens 
them. He rises them or raises them 
rather from the dead and grants them the graces of faith and 
repentance such that they may come to him. Peter uses that 
same convention. He says that God calls sinners 
out of darkness into marvelous light. The apostle in Ephesians 
2, 1 to 3 tells us that man apart from Jesus is hopeless, he's 
lifeless, and he's helpless. But in 2, 4, he says, but God 
who is rich in mercy, He made us alive and he seated us with 
Christ in the heavenly places. And when sinners hear this, they 
say, well, you mean it's not up to me? Praise God, it's not 
because you would never choose for him. I saw a little clip 
from Spurgeon the other day. He said, he must have chosen 
me before the foundation of the world. He must have chosen me 
before I was born. Because he certainly wouldn't 
have after the fact. When he saw what I would become, 
He wouldn't say, oh yeah, I'm gonna bet. Well, actually God's 
so good he would. God obviously knew what he's going to do. But 
Spurgeon's making that observation. It isn't the good that we do. It isn't the works that we accomplish 
because we don't have any. They're marred by our own sinfulness. 
the righteousness of the people of Israel at the time of the 
prophet were like dirty, filthy rags in the sight of a holy God. 
And in that instance, it was righteous acts. It was good things. 
They were actually obeying the Old Testament at certain points 
in terms of worship. But even those things are like 
filthy rags in the sight of God if they're not done out of a 
love for God and out of a love for man. So verse 24, whatever 
else Jesus says in this particular passage, he underscores his equality 
with the Father at this point. As Athanasius said, if sinners 
are to be saved, then only God Himself can save them. And Jesus 
shows that it's the voice of the Son of God that is able to 
awaken the dead, that is able to bring them life, and is able 
to keep them from a judgment of condemnation. So my emphasis, 
my encouragement, my pleading with you is to believe on him, 
to look unto him, to understand the emphasis in the prophet or 
in the book of Numbers. That serpent was lifted up. You 
didn't have to drag yourself over to the serpent and kiss 
the pole. You didn't have to suck the venom out, spit it out, 
and then go over to the serpent. When that serpent was lifted 
up, the way of access, the way of health, the way of healing 
and restoration was to look and live. What a glorious analogy 
with reference to faith. It's not do more, it's not try 
harder, it is rather with the hand of faith, receive the benefit 
that Christ has accomplished for needy and guilty sinners. 
Believe on Him and you will be saved. That's his emphasis in 
verse 24. He confirms this in verse 25. 
by highlighting effectual calling, or regeneration, or what it is 
to be born again. Turn back to John 1. John 1. We've already seen these emphases. 
Jesus brings them out in his earthly ministry. John 1 verse 
10, he was in the world and the world was made through him. And 
the world did not know him. He came to his own and his own 
did not receive him. But as many as received him, 
to them he gave the right to become children of God. Notice, 
to those who believe in his name. Why did they believe in his name? 
Verse 13, who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the 
flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. So there are sinners 
that stand in condemnation. There are sinners that deserve 
hell. There are sinners that deserve damnation. But in the 
grace and mercy and goodness and power and glory of God, he 
causes some of those sinners to be born of God. And those 
ones born of God believe in him. Again, this isn't the only place. 
Turn to John chapter 3. John chapter 3, you see his dealings 
with Nicodemus. Verses 1 and 2, there was a man 
of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This man 
came to Jesus by night and said to him, Rabbi, we know that you 
are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs 
that you do unless God is with him. He comes as an appointee. He comes as a designatee. He comes on behalf of the Sanhedrin 
to try and figure out what's happening with this Jesus of 
Nazareth. There is that idea that he comes by night because 
he's afraid of the Jews. No, he comes by night as an agent 
of the Jews to try to disrupt our Lord Jesus, to try to show 
him to be a fake, to try to show him to be someone that is not 
to be trusted. Thankfully, along the way, Nicodemus 
gets saved, and Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea are the ones 
responsible for burying the body of our Lord. But in this instance, 
he comes to Jesus. Notice what Jesus says in verse 
three. Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, 
he cannot see the kingdom of God. Why is that? Because of 
sin, because of depravity, because total depravity is not only us 
sinning against God, but it also implies total inability. We don't 
have a will to come to God. We don't want God. We do what 
we do because we want to rebel. We want to transgress. We want 
to engage in the lawlessness that is part and parcel of our 
being. The apostle says that the carnal mind is at enmity 
with God. It's not subject to the law of God. Neither can it 
be. Jesus says in John 6, 44, no 
man can come to me unless the father who sent me draws him. 
And so that's the emphasis in verse 25. The Lord Jesus is illustrating 
his power over life. The Lord Jesus is showing his 
consubstantiality with the Father in that authority over life. 
So in verse 24, he highlights in chapter five what it is to 
believe on him, to pass from death into life. Verse 25, most 
assuredly I say to you, the hour is coming and now is when the 
dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear 
will live. Now brethren, both father and 
son have authority and power over the physical life and over 
the spiritual life. And I think it's the spiritual 
life that is emphasized in verse 25. Jesus heals or Jesus raises 
Jairus' daughter from the dead. Jesus raises the widow at Nain's 
son from the dead. Later in John 11, Jesus will 
raise Lazarus from the dead. Nobody's questioning his power 
in terms of physical resurrection. It's his power in terms of the 
physical resurrection that will call all men out of the graves. 
But verse 25 isn't that. Verse 25, the emphasis is upon 
spiritual life. It's what's referred to in John's 
other writing, Revelation 20, as the first resurrection. I 
mentioned Paul in Ephesians chapter two, we were dead, lifeless, 
helpless, hopeless, but God made us alive together in Christ Jesus. So in order to underscore that, 
yes, I'm equal with my father, He asserts his authority in the 
salvation of sinners, not just in the nuts and bolts, believe 
on the Lord Jesus Christ, verse 24, and you will be saved, but 
in the power behind the scene. So verse 25, most assuredly, 
I say to you, the hour is coming. Now notice the next three words, 
and now is. There's a contrast between the 
hour of verse 25 and the hour of verses 28 and 29. The hour 
of verses 28 and 29 is the general judgment of the resurrection 
of all men out of the grave, and I mean man and woman inclusively. But in verse 25, he's talking 
about regeneration. He's talking about salvation. 
He's talking about passing from death unto life, not physically, 
but spiritually. Notice, most assuredly I say 
to you, the hour is coming, and now is, when the dead will hear 
the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. 
He's not only declaring his equality with the father in response to 
their charge in verse 18, but again, I think he's preaching 
himself to these people. What caused this confrontation? He raised a paralytic from the 
dead. Not paralytic from the dead, 
but he raised the paralytic from a state of paralysis. He has 
power to do that, but he has this power to raise dead sinners 
such that they pass from death unto life. In other words, these 
Jews who are confronting Him, these Jews who are at odds with 
Him, these Jews who are demonstrating their enmity with Him, ought 
to bow to Him, ought to confess Him as the Messiah, ought to 
believe on Him and know the joy of being found in Him. Christ 
has authority over life. That includes the physical, it 
includes the spiritual. And with reference to his argument 
here, he is showing them that, yes, I'm equal with the Father. It is a most blessed testimony 
in the context to stress what they charge him with as a crime. So he doesn't back down from 
this. Verses 19 to 23, remember he 
doesn't back down. When he says in verse 19, he's 
not confessing his impotence, he's confessing his omnipotence. 
Whatever the son sees the father do, the son does. Who among us 
could say that? Who among us could actually say, 
whatever I see God do, I do that. None of us. We know immediately 
that we were full of garbage and that what we were saying 
was absolutely positively not true. The only one who could 
say such a thing is the one who has the same nature as the father. The one who was in the beginning, 
the one who was with God, and the one who was God. That's who's 
speaking this truth to these men. Now, let's look secondly 
at the rationale for his authority in eternal generation. You're 
going to have to bear with me here. If these are new concepts, 
if you don't get it, ask me, ask Cam afterwards, or ask me, 
I'll send you notes, or I'll point you to some of the fathers 
in the church that are very helpful on this subject. And as I said 
in the last hour with reference to our study of the Confession, 
we're in Chapter 8 of Christ the Mediator. And one of the 
things that we have seen in recent history is some departure, not 
just from chapter 8 in our confession, but from the Bible. There's some 
bad theology out there, not the Catholics, not the Eastern Orthodox, 
not the Jehovah's Witnesses, not the Mormons, though they 
all got problems. but within Protestant churches, 
Evangelical Protestant churches, Reformed churches, at the point 
of theology proper. In other words, who is God? Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. 
There's also problems with reference to Christology. Who's Jesus? 
How does He relate to the Father? How does He relate to the Son? 
What's the relations between the persons? All those things 
are crucial for us as Christians to understand. And as I've often 
said at the Saturday morning thing, not in terms of an evangelistic 
appeal. If you happen to walk home from 
church today and you meet a sinner, you don't have to get into the 
Council of Nicaea and what happened in 325 and then 381 and how the 
church formulated these creeds and these confessions in order 
to protect the truth as it is in scripture. You don't have 
to do all that. You tell them, you're a sinner, God is holy, 
he will bring you into judgment, but there's a way of salvation 
and it's in his son. That's what you tell sinners. But for us as saints, for us 
as Christians, for us who fall under 2 Peter 3, 18, grow in 
the grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus 
Christ, or for us in light of John 17, 3, when Jesus says, 
this is eternal life, that they may know thee, the only true 
God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent, It is unacceptable 
to be lazy when it comes to the Trinity. It is unacceptable to 
be lazy when it comes to who Jesus is. And so as we work our 
way through some of these concepts, realize, though they may sound 
strange and foreign to us, That's only been within the last hundred 
years. It's been the common vocabulary 
in the church throughout our history. Consubstantiality. Co-eternity or co-eternality. Distinctiveness between the Father 
and the Son. These are concepts the church has confessed and 
that the church today needs to recover. So look at verses 26 
and 27. I'm going to argue that the rationale 
for his authority lies in the eternal generation of the son 
from the father. Notice in verse 26, for as the 
father has life in himself, so he has granted the son to have 
life in himself. The two views of this text are 
simple. One, persons see it as Christ 
the mediator, Christ according to his humanity. Christ giving 
or given all of this power and authority by the Father for the 
work of redemption. That's certainly a biblical truth, 
but I don't think that's what verse 26 is about. Remember, 
we've already been shown behind the scenes, in the beginning 
was the Word. The Word was with God and the Word was God. Verse 
18 in John 1, no one has seen the Father or God at any time, 
but the only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, 
has declared Him. John 1.14, He's referred to as 
the only begotten Son of the Father. John 3.16, He's referred 
to as the only begotten Son of the Father. So it's this strategy 
that he deploys in underscoring the fact that he has authority 
over life and judgment. Notice the language in verse 
26. For as the father has life in himself, so he has granted 
the son to have life in himself. Under the bigger charge or context, 
he's making himself equal with God. He's a son, not by creation. He's a son, not by adoption, 
but he's the son by nature. And so verse 26 is the rationale 
behind the fact that he has authority over life and judgment. It's 
because he's eternally begotten from the Father. Eternal generation 
simply means that from all eternity, the Father communicated the one, 
simple undivided essence to the son. As I said, it's already 
been spoken of in John's gospel. It's the rationale here. It's 
another proof positive that he is the son by nature, that he 
is consubstantial with the father, that he is in fact equal with 
the father. It's a most blessed statement 
for as the father has life in himself, so he has granted the 
son to have life in himself. The Lord speaks of His eternal 
generation from the Father in response to verse 18. How do 
we know He's equal with God? Because He's the only begotten 
Son of God. He comes from the Father. The 
Father communicates the divine essence to Him from all eternity. 
Now, as we've seen, generation has an analogy in the created 
world. When I had babies, I didn't have 
them, thankfully. I've always thought if it were 
up to men to propagate the race, the race would be very small. 
My wife had babies. They were my babies. They have 
my DNA. And like begets like. We understand 
generation. We understand what it is to be 
born of another. We have the same nature. We have 
the same sort of features. We have the same sort of DNA 
running into our veins. Well, when we go from the creature, 
we need to remember we're dealing with creator. And God's not finite 
like we are. God's not made like we are. God 
didn't begin to be and he doesn't have an end date. God is from 
everlasting to everlasting. So the generation of the son 
from the father is eternal. Now, as creatures, we want to 
say, well, I don't understand that. Well, the Bible teaches 
it. And while you may never get to the logistics behind it, while 
you may never ever see the mystery involved, the Bible teaches it. 
From everlasting, the Son is from the Father. From everlasting, 
the Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son. That's Trinitarian 
theology. So Jesus appeals to that to underscore 
His authority as they have charged Him with. Now notice, He then 
pivots to judgment, verse 27. So verse 26 is the rationale. Here's why I have authority over 
life and judgment. to God befitting deeds, as Cyril 
of Alexandria says. So he pivots from the life to 
now the judgment in verse 27, and has given him authority to 
execute judgment also because he is the son of man. Again, 
Christ as mediator, it is true that the father has given him 
that prerogative in terms of judgment at the last day. That's 
a true thing, but it's not what the text is teaching. It's by 
virtue of the fact that he's eternally begotten of the Father 
that he has the same will, same power, same nature as the Father 
that he has authority over the judgment to come. So he introduces 
life and judgment in 21 and 22. He amplifies life and judgment 
in 24 to 30. to answer the charge that he's 
making himself equal with God. And his answer, his defense is, 
yes I am. He affirms it over and over and 
over again. You've probably heard consubstantiality 
more this week and last week than you've heard in your whole 
life. That's because that's the emphasis. He's making himself 
equal with God. If they were Nicene, they'd say, 
he's making himself consubstantial with God. He's making himself 
coessential with God. Yes, that's precisely what he's 
doing. And he wants you to understand 
that it's because he's from the Father. He's eternally begotten 
by the Father. The divine essence has been communicated 
to him. He has the same will, the same 
power, the same nature as the Father. So the good things that 
you see him do, the God-befitting works of life and judgment, are 
because he's divine. It is because he has the divine 
essence. It is because he has what is 
true of God. Now notice, with reference to 
this statement concerning judgment, verse 27, he has given him authority 
to execute judgment also, because he is the son of man. Beautiful 
thing. Son of man goes back to Daniel. Interestingly, Ezekiel is referred 
to often as a son of man in terms of his prophetic ministry. But 
when Jesus uses son of man, it's one of his favorite sort of identifiers 
for himself in the gospel records. He refers to himself as the son 
of man on several occasions. It goes back to Daniel 7, 13 
and 14. Daniel 7, 13 and 14, again, true 
of Christ as mediator, but in the context, Christ is stressing 
that He is God's Son, excuse me, by nature. So Daniel 7, 13. 
I was watching in the night visions, and behold, one like the Son 
of Man, coming with the clouds of heaven. He came to the Ancient 
of Days, and they brought him near before him. Now, in that 
figure, in that sort of analogy, or in this vision, the Ancient 
of Days is God the Father, okay? He comes to the Ancient of Days. 
Now, brethren, there's a sense we're gonna come to the Ancient 
of Days because we're saved, and we're gonna enter into heaven. 
But that is fundamentally different than how the Son of Man comes 
to the Ancient of Days. I picked up reading in Revelation 
5 probably at the wrong place. I should have started at the 
beginning. Because in Revelation chapter 5, there's this scroll 
in the hand of God Most High. And John the Apostle weeps because 
there was no one worthy to open that scroll except the Son of 
Man. He doesn't use that language 
there. He calls him a lamb that was slaughtered before the foundation 
of the world. But the Son of Man walks to the 
Father and takes the scroll out of his hand. That's not us, brethren. That's not our prerogative. That's 
not what we have as adopted sons and daughters. We have every 
benefit. We've been blessed by being co-heirs with our wonderful 
Savior. But when the Son of Man comes 
to the Ancient of Days, we see that He comes with the clouds 
of heaven. He comes to the Ancient of Days, and they brought Him 
near before Him. Then 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, and His kingdom the one which shall not be destroyed. So the Lord Jesus, in verse 27, 
says, and has given him authority to execute judgment also. Again, 
because he's the Son by nature, consubstantial with the Father. 
And then he says, because he is the Son of Man. The Jews would 
know what that reference was. The Jews in the Sanhedrin knew 
what that reference was. In Matthew 26, When the high 
priest puts Jesus under oath and says, are you the son of 
the living God? Jesus affirms it. He says, it 
is as you say, and hereafter you will see the son of man coming 
on the clouds of heaven. What does the high priest do? 
The high priest rips his garments. The high priest says, we have 
no further need of witnesses. He has condemned himself. He 
has arrogantly asserted that he is that Danielic Son of Man 
that can come to the Father and exercise absolute authority and 
judgment. That he says it in the context 
of judgment is most appropriate, most fitting, because that's 
what the Son of Man is doing, according to 7.14. Notice. Then 
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, and his 
kingdom the one which shall not be destroyed. So back to our 
passage. We're going to stop there. We'll 
look at verses 28 to 30 next week. But just to foreshadow, just to give 
you something to think about, the context again. He's making 
himself equal with God. Yes, positively, absolutely, 
affirmatively. Verses 19 to 23, his relation 
to the Father. Verses 24 to 30, his divine functions. He does two God-befitting tasks 
or deeds. He is sovereign. He has authority 
over life. He is sovereign. He has authority 
over death. He has sovereignty and authority 
over judgment. He is the God of heaven and earth. He is most high, not three gods, 
one God in this divine and infinite being. There are three persons, 
the Father, the Word or Son, and the Holy Spirit. They each 
have the whole divine essence. The essence is shared. It's not 
33 and a third percent, but this is what Christ does claim before 
those ones who treat him as an enemy. So in conclusion, I know 
that might have been a lot of stuff. It was kind of in my gut, 
had to get it out. But let's just kind of ponder 
before we close, verse 24. Most assuredly, I say to you, 
he who hears my word and believes in him who sent me has everlasting 
life and shall not come into judgment." It's belief in our 
Lord Jesus. Turn back to John 1. Look at 
the prologue. Look at how John introduces. 
Before he gets into the actual nuts and bolts of Jesus saving 
us from our sins, he wants to identify Jesus. He wants to show 
him as the second person of the Trinity. But he emphasizes this 
life that is in him. He emphasizes this blessing that 
is in him. Notice in verse four, in him 
was life and the life was the light of men. How do dead men, 
how do dead women, how do dead boys and girls find that life? The emphasis is upon faith in 
Him. Again, verse 10, He was in the 
world. The world was made through Him 
and the world did not know Him. He came to His own and His own 
did not receive Him. But as many as received Him, 
to them He gave the right to become children of God. What 
does it mean to receive Jesus? You've probably heard that if 
you're not a Christian. You visited churches and they 
say, pray to receive Jesus into your heart. Pray to receive the 
blessings of God into your heart. What does it mean to receive 
him? The next statement tells us, verse 11, as many as received 
him, to them he gave the right to become children of God. To 
those who believe in his name, What is most essential for you 
as a sinner today? Yeah, you have to eat or you're 
gonna die. You're gonna have to ingest water or you're going 
to die. You're gonna have to wear a seatbelt 
when you drive home or you could die. Actually, bad illustration. There's a whole host of things 
as a sinner today that you'll no doubt have to do. But as a 
sinner before God, what is most crucial? Belief. Look to Him in faith. And people 
at times say, it's so simple. It is so simple. Faith is the 
empty hand that receives the finished work of our Lord Jesus 
Christ. See, everything in us wants to do. Everything in us 
wants to perform. Everything in us wants to make 
ourselves right. But if we could make ourselves 
right, then Christ died in vain. The whole point of the gospel, 
the whole point of the life and the death and the resurrection 
of Jesus is that we're not right and that we can't make ourselves 
right. And the only rightness to be 
had is by grace through faith in our Lord Jesus. The most famous 
verse in all of the Bible emphasizes justification by faith. Turn 
over to 3.16. We all know the text. We all 
understand the text. But do we ponder the text if 
we're not believers? For God so loved the world that 
He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him 
should not perish but have everlasting life. Listen to the implication 
of that passage. Yes, God so loved the world. Yes, God demonstrates that love 
by the sending of his son into the world. And he says that whoever 
believes in him should what? Should not perish. What's the 
implication? If I don't believe in Him, I'm 
gonna perish. If I don't look to Him, I'm gonna 
be judged. If I don't look to Him, I'm gonna 
pass into a condemnation or a judgment of condemnation. Verses 28 and 
29, as we'll see next week, are hardcore. Christ is the just 
judge of all the earth, and it's Christ who holds the destinies 
of every man, woman, boy, and girl in his hand. It is Christ 
who says, depart from me into hell, which was prepared for 
the devil and his angels, or it's Christ who says, welcome, 
well done, good and faithful servant. So if you don't believe 
in Him, you will perish. And by perish, it doesn't just 
simply mean you're going to die, be buried, and become worm food. 
No, there is an afterlife. There is an age to come. There 
is a heaven to be gained by grace or a hell to be received because 
we're wicked and perverse and vile. So I encourage you today 
to think through what Jesus says in John 5, 24, and then to think 
through what John the Apostle says in John 20, 30 and 31. He says, and truly Jesus did 
many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not 
written in this book, but these are written that you may believe 
that Jesus is the Christ, the son of God, and that believing 
you may have life in his name. You don't believe, you don't 
have life in his name. You don't honor the son, you 
don't honor the father who sent him. You don't receive the son's 
word, you don't receive or believe in the one who sent him. Again, 
the one divine essence that the three persons have in common. 
If you reject Jesus, you reject the father. That was a powerful 
statement to these Jews. It's a powerful statement today 
in our polytheistic pluralistic age, where we think that all 
roads lead to heaven. No, it's by faith in Jesus Christ 
alone. Look to Him and you will be saved. 
Well, let us pray. Our Father in heaven, we thank 
you for your word and we thank you for the clarity of our Lord's 
teaching and the defense that he makes to affirm that he is 
in fact equal with God. We praise you for that reality. 
We praise you that you've opened our eyes and our hearts to the 
truth as it is in Jesus, that we have seen him as altogether 
lovely and chief among 10,000. And we desire that all over the 
earth today, from tribe, tongue, people, and nation, and even 
in our own meeting place this morning, that sinners would look 
to him in faith and would pass from death to life by your grace. 
And we ask this in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. 
Well, you can turn in your hymn books to 568. 568 will stand 
as we sing the doxology in praise to our triune God. ♪ Praise Him, all creatures here 
below ♪ ♪ Praise Him, all of the heavenly host ♪ ♪ Praise the Father, the Son, and Holy Ghost ♪ The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ 
and the love of God and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you 
all. Amen. Father, we thank you for your 
blessed provision of the son of your love. As Paul said, in 
the fullness of the time, God sent forth his son, born of a 
woman, born under the law to redeem those under the law. We 
give praise to you for so great a salvation. We give praise to 
you for that great grace that keeps and preserves us. And we 
ask God that you would go with us now, help us to call the Sabbath 
a delight, to find rest in our hearts, in the presence of our 
blessed God, and one with another. And we pray through Jesus Christ, 
our Lord. Amen. Well, please be seated for a 
brief time of meditation.