The Gospel of John 5:1-24

We are stepping into the Gospel of John, chapter 5 of the Gospel of John, the beginning part. And we have, in passing, we put this We're returning the scene here to Jerusalem. As a matter of fact, that's kind of one of the things you can see in the Gospels, is how long until he goes to Jerusalem, is kind of the picture. And it's in great part going between Jerusalem and Galilee, sometimes coming along the Jordan River between those two places, and as we saw in Chapter 4, going between Galilee and Jerusalem via So, this time you hit Jerusalem, and one of the things, and you'll find this on page four, I think, in your handout.

I put a couple of maps in there, and the reason is this. As I was looking at the various maps, I kind of had difficulty finding one that copies well and is clear. And then the other thing that I found that was really interesting, especially when you get to maps of Jerusalem during the time of Christ or during the time of the New Testament, seemed to be a fair amount of disagreement. So I did some investigation to try to find out what's behind all this differences in maps and them not agreeing and that sort of thing. And so I'll explain the differences between the two maps, and my reason for including both of them. In this time of Christ is the map here of page four.

And one of the things I wanted, the pools of Bethesda, which is, you'll see it as the pool of Bethesda. And I call it pools because there's actually two. two different pools and It's it's Bethesda is the way it's been carried over into English Because a lot of people get tongue-tied and start tripping over themselves when in Bethesda, you know but at any rate it is pools, two of them, of Bezatha is the way it's originally written. And I had to add that in because it wasn't shown here. There's actually another pool right nearby that sometimes mistakenly gets labeled as the pools. That's not it either.

So at any rate, that was one of the things I found with the various maps is that some of them had variations like that. Just to give you an orientation, this is the temple area. And this is the Mount of Olives off in this direction. And over about in here would be where the upper room was. This says Caiaphas residence. That may be, that's a question mark. If so, it's only a few hundred feet away. And so then here is Herod's palace over here.

And over at this corner over here is the fortress of Antonia, which is likely the place where Jesus was tried before Pilate and sentenced. It was certainly the place where he was scourged. It's also the place where Paul was brought into later on the book of Acts when they were near riot and they pulled him up out of the near riot into the fortress where only the soldiers were supposed to go. So this would be a map of the time of Christ and then here is this is traditional Golgotha and a possible Golgotha.

Based on what I've seen, this is the proper site and the reason it was made into a place for crucifixion is this. That area was a quarry. That's where they took stones out of to build things, including things around the temple. So this was the quarry. In the middle of that was a piece of stuff that was left because it was poor quality rock.

So that was the Mount Calvary or the Hill of Golgotha that you hear about. And so that would be the location there. The tomb of Joseph of Arimathea was nearby, likely about in here. So this would be a general orientation to Jerusalem in the time of Christ.

You also have this one as a supplemental handout and there are some differences and let me explain why. I'm going to go to the middle part of that and show it in a little more detail. One of the things that you'll see is different is it's got this wall around here. That was one of the things I noticed is some of the maps had a wall and some of them didn't.

Why? As it turns out, the grandson of Herod the Not-So-Great, Agrippa I, 41 to 44 BC, that was the time of his death, that wall was built under his time of rule, and it was of course about a decade after the time of Christ, so actually during the time of Christ, that wall was not there.

But about a decade later, about the time that Peter gave the gospel to the Gentiles, Cornelius in Caesarea, that was the time this wall was being built. My reason for bringing it up is as I looked at various maps of Jerusalem, this passage makes reference to a sheep gate. It's labeled here, and I think it's properly labeled here, as the Sheep Gate, because this would be the place where they would bring the sheep in from the outside into the temple area for the sacrifices. Now, the reason why I bring that to your attention is, there's the likely location of the Sheep Gate, and these areas are sometimes labeled as the Sheep Gate, but they weren't even there during the time of Christ, therefore they're not the ones that the Apostle John was referring to.

So it was under Herod Agrippa I that that wall was built. Here is a model of Jerusalem. And here you see the main temple area, this courtyard, about the size of six football fields, or soccer fields, if you want to call it that. And then this was the middle area where only the Jews were allowed to go.

And then this area in here was where the sacrifices were done and where the priests would carry out their duties, there was constantly a column of smoke. Why was there constantly a column of smoke coming out of that area? Pardon? They had to burn the sacrifices and that's true, but there's another reason why it was constantly burning. That's right. The law required that they keep the fire burning all the time. You could not let it go out.

So here was the main Templar. This is the court of the Gentiles and this is where we studied previously. This is where Jesus cleared the temple, which he did at least twice. Recorded early in the Gospel of John and then in just days before he was crucified was another time. This was where they would sell the animals, bring them in from here.

Here are the pools of Beth Zappa. And five porticoes are what is mentioned in the Gospel of John. And it's one on one side, and then a colonnade on each side, and then on the other end. And the fifth one is between the two pools. So five porticoes, that's what In other words, there was originally, there was originally, this was the wall that was there during the time of Christ, right?

And it continued, that was the wall, and then up to here, this side of the temple was the wall. Then under Agrippa I, ten years after the time of Christ, roughly, 41 to 44 BC, this wall was built that continues on around here. So that was added, sometimes called the third wall. sometimes called the third wall. But you're right, there was an additional wall built there. It is a gate up here, just off view, and this one here that is sometimes mistakenly called the Sheep Gate. But that's not the one John's referring to.

And so let's take another look here. Here's looking at, here's the pools of Bethesda, or pool of Bethesda as it's called in English. Here is the Fortress Antonia where the soldiers would hang out and where Jesus was likely sentenced and certainly scourged. And then here's the North Temple wall, which at the time of Christ, that was also the northern wall of Jerusalem. This other wall had not been built yet. OK, now one more shot. We're going to look in here.

Here is the Fortress Antonia in the model, and right over here is the sheep gate. And you say, well, is there a sheep gate there? Well, it's because they've got a gate over it, right? A gate in front of it. If we zoom in here, that right in there is where you have the sheep gate. They've got it covering over it. Why? Because it's not for people to go in and out generally. It's only to control the sheep. OK. Here is what it looks like right now.

And what happens is the whole thing got built up over different periods of time, and now you go there and you can find the place where the original construction was, along with all the other subsequent construction. So that's one of the reasons you'll find different labels on different parts. Here's another label, a little sign here that's describing different parts. So that's where it was.

Here's an artist's representation of that period of time. You can kind of see the portico structure here. I'm not so sure that the round representation is historically correct. It doesn't seem to be. And then here's another artist's representation, just kind of taking the background out and focusing on Christ and the lame man. Okay, so with that, let's take a I'll look at our handout here.

So here's John 5.1. After these things, there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. So unlike other places in the Gospel of John, we aren't told which feast this is, and probably can't figure it out. There's been a few guesses. It doesn't make any difference in the understanding of the account. Therefore, it's not recorded. It is one of the feasts. The Jews had like about nine of them.

So going up to Jerusalem may refer to having gone by means of the Jordan River in Jericho, where you would climb up to Jerusalem at the last part of the journey. So John 5.2, now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool. So that's what we're looking at with the Sheep Gate and the pool here, which is called in Hebrew Bethesda and actually Bethesda. having five porticoes.

One of the things you can do, you notice there are a number of different names that have Beth, Bethlehem, for example. When you run across that Bethany, Bethphage, all those different names, Beth means house. So this is a house of something. Probably, and you're not sure, a house of outpouring or a house of mercy seems to be what that means.

So John 5, 3, and 4, in these lay a multitude of those who are sick, lame, and withered. So they're waiting for the moving of the waters. For an angel of the Lord went down at certain seasons into the pool and stirred up the water. Whoever then first, after stirring up the water, stepped in was made well from whatever disease with which he was afflicted. Now, you'll notice that you have in there brackets.

In this instance, it's doubtful that that was actually a part of the original scripture. However, it's still useful. The earliest copy that we have of the Gospel of John that includes that from around the year 400 AD, so the earlier copies don't include that. Likely what happened is people, as they get farther away from the original historical context, some scribe probably added in a note, and then people just started copying his note. So that's where that came from. Chapter numbers weren't put in until about the year 1200, and in the middle 1500s, about 1550, was when the verse numbers were put in. So anyway, that's why you see that included. even though it's likely not original. It is, however, helpful because it explains what? An historical and cultural background.

So even though I don't think it's part of originally what John wrote, it's still good to know because he explains why was this guy waiting around the pool. Why bother? It's because the common belief was that if you saw the water stir It may have been a spring or a bubble or something. But if you saw the water stir and got in first, you got healed. That was the story. So John 5, 5-9, and I have it broken up part way through, 5-9a.

A man was there who had been ill for 38 years. When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had already been a long time in that condition, he said to him, do you wish to get well? So the sick man answered him, yes. No. The sick man answered him, Sir, I have no man to put me in the pool when the water is stirred up, but while I am coming another steps down before me.

Jesus said to him, Get up, pick up your pallet and walk. And immediately the man became well and picked up his pallet and began to walk. One of the things that struck me about this is, did the man answer Jesus' question? No. Directly no. Directly no. But why did the man give the answer that he gave? Yeah, as he saw it, the path to healing was what?

Getting in the water first. And so it's like, yeah, I want to get well, but I have this problem. I can never get into the water fast enough because I'm crippled badly. I've been crippled a long time this way. And I can never get there. So he was not directly saying, yes, I wish to be healed, because of course he had no idea that Jesus was offering a miraculous healing. He was thinking, well, I just don't have anybody to help me get in the water. And so his answer was to explain why, yes, I do, but I never can get healed, and here's why.

So he was answering it from his perspective as he saw it. Yeah, I do want to be healed, but I can just never get there fast enough. That's right. His thinking was that's the only way. So he gave Jesus an answer that explained why, yes, he did want to be healed, but why there was little chance of it. Nobody's here to help me and I can't get there myself fast enough. I just can't move, I'm too crippled. So, Jesus' response is to talk to him about somebody helping him. Jesus comes back to him and says, you know, I've got a bunch of disciples, and I'm sure one of them would be at least, while we're here, willing to hang out with you. I could even have rotations to help him get you into the pool. Is that what he does? I mean, would that be a Christian thing to do? Well, maybe. Except, so what does Jesus do?

Now, here you have indirect answers. Did Jesus tell the man, you're healed? No. So what Jesus told him, the man gave him an answer that wasn't a direct response to what Jesus asked. And so Jesus gave the man back a statement that assumed his healing but didn't explain it or tell him what was going on. You can't get into the pool because you're so crippled and there's nobody to help you. And so I'm going to take care of your problem, not by having somebody help you. Just get up and walk. Now, what are some possible responses that the man could have had? How could he have responded to this get up and walk thing? Could have said thanks. Did he? No, okay. What other possible responses might he have had?

Who are you? Yeah, who are you, right? He didn't seem to know who Jesus was. Who are you? In fact, even later when he was asked, you know, who is this guy? I don't know. He was the one that told me to get up and take my pallet and walk. What are some other responses? Yeah, are you kidding? I told you, I've been here for 38 years and I can't even get to the pool fast enough. You know, you tell me to get up and walk, I mean, forget it. Are you out of your gore? Are you deaf? You know? So you think about it, I mean, he could have just dismissed the whole thing and, you know, pick up my pallet, you know, hey, you know, no way.

Yeah. It almost makes you think that something physically must have happened. So in other words, if he was crippled and his legs were 38 years unable to walk, that when he was healed, there was something that happened that allowed him to get up because he didn't question it. Yeah.

Let's think about something else. You've been crippled for 38 years and walking has not even been anything you've been doing. I mean, we're talking almost four decades, right? So when you get up, are you going to be real stable on your feet, would you think? Probably not. Years ago, Nancy and I had a friend, his name was Gary Prebble.

At age 12, he was playing out in the lake, swimming, and he came out from underneath an overturned canoe, just as a skier was going by with a boat in front of him. Cut his right arm off instantly. And you would think, oh my heavens, a ghastly thing to happen to a 12 year old. Well, interesting thing, both the skier and the people in the boat were all believers and the skier saw it and the skier happened to be a medical doctor.

He let go of the rope and came right there and was able to stop the bleeding and know what to do to get this guy you know, off to safety as soon as possible. And they continued to pray for Gary, and by 19 years of age, Gary became a believer. At any rate, long story short, Gary said that when he first got up, after the arm was missing, he just fell right over. It's just, yeah, he had been walking, but just even the imbalance of having the one arm missing was enough to throw him off, so he just had to learn how to walk again. You can imagine this guy, the healing was not just in you're no longer paralyzed, you're no longer lame. But the healing went so far as this guy having the skills and ability to just get up and walk. Wow. Yeah, no rehab. And guess what? When people haven't used muscles for years, what happens? Atrophy. And he had probably almost total atrophy. where the muscles are just practically non-existent.

So Jesus went from healing this guy to having muscles that were significant and substantial enough that he could actually get up and walk and pick something up, and could walk without going, woo! So it's like a triple miracle here that Jesus had performed. Triple miracle for this guy that wasn't even expecting it. and didn't know who Jesus was. Yeah.

Yeah, the atrophy has multiple medical and structural issues with it. So this was a multiple miracle. You look at it, to go from 38 years of I can't move, certainly not fast enough to get in the pool first, to all of a sudden, not only get up and walk, but pick up a pallet and balance that and the whole thing. And deal with the atrophy and all the consequent structural problems that go with it.

And all taken care of in an instant. This is an extraordinary event. And this guy wasn't expecting it. He didn't even know Jesus' name! Right? What an amazing event this is. So, at this passage here, we have on page 2, it was predicted by the prophets of old that the Messiah would heal the lame, this is Isaiah 35.6, but amazingly the Jews were not impressed that a miracle had occurred that day, but rather that that day was Sabbath. It was the Sabbath. So John 5, 9b through 13. Now it was the Sabbath that day, so the Jews were saying to the man who was cured, it is the Sabbath, it is not permissible for you to carry your pallet.

Okay. Excuse me, a miracle just happened. As we said, really multiple miracles. You guys been around the block? So I'm sure he was stunned. But he was probably afraid for his life. But he answered them, he who made me well was the one who said to me, pick up your pallet and walk. They asked him, who is the man who said to you, pick up your pallet and walk? We want to nail him too.

But the man who was healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had slipped away while there was a crowd in that place. The night of the Sabbath had already passed, and this was the next day, what we would call Saturday day. Jesus often healed deliberately on the Sabbath. We have several different instances there. And Jesus knowingly healed this man the Sabbath and told the man to take up his pallet and walk. What you have here are Sabbath controversies tabled below here in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.

And several of them are about healing, but not all of them. The first one has to do with plucking ears of grain. Is that work? Is that defined as work, right? And there's also, referring to Jews, circumcising on the Sabbath. You guys do a circumcision, you know, if it's the eighth day of the Sabbath, that's when you do it. Don't you do work? If you're going to define my work as work, you certainly do that. So anyway, each of the Gospels has recorded multiple instances of healing or other miracles on the Sabbath, or some Sabbath issue. every single one of them. John, interesting enough, has unique ones not recorded in the other Gospels.

So the Jews were not rejoicing that the man had been healed after all these years. They did not rejoice that this man had been, in a moment, turned from a dependent person to one on whom others could depend. They were rather immediately telling the man who had been cured that he could not break their traditions, which defined picking up one's palate as work and therefore prohibited on the Sabbath. It is interesting over various periods of time to discover what the Jews decided about the Sabbath and what you could and couldn't do. It was not permitted, for example, for a Jewish woman to look in a mirror on the Sabbath. because she might see a gray hair and might pluck it.

And that's work. Right? So, yep. Sorry, can't do that. Even in our own era, breaking off the pieces of toilet paper from the roll, that's work. Can't do it. Hope you don't have loose bowels, right? Because what you have to do is to break off the pieces and stack them up before the Sabbath so that they're prepared for the Sabbath, right? And you don't want to run out.

So that's one of the definitions. Another one is pushing the buttons on an elevator. So in a Jewish-owned building where there are observant Jews, they have the elevators stop and open and close the doors at every floor. in order to avoid pressing the buttons, which is work.

So they had all sorts of different rules, and their rules would not allow Jesus to heal, and certainly not allow this man to pick up his pallet and walk. He could walk, but what would he have to do? Yeah, you have to leave it there, because picking it up is work.

And they had a Sabbath day's journey, about five-eighths of a mile, which is the maximum you could walk, with special exceptions. So the definition of work meant, yes, you could walk. And by the way, he went over to the temple after this, right? And the temple was within the five-eighths of a mile. So it was okay to go over to the temple. It was the picking up the pallet that was the problem. He had to leave it and then come back for it after the Sabbath. He wasn't allowed to pick it up. Okay, so John 5, 14 through 17.

Afterward, Jesus found him in the temple. So he would have gone over into, let's get the picture here, he would have gone over into this temple area. and found the man somewhere over in this area. So it would have been right nearby and they could have come out here and then come in through the Solomon's portico there. And that would have been less than five-eighths of a mile, so it would have been allowable. You wouldn't have anybody coming after you for that distance. That's within a Sabbath day's journey.

Jesus found him in the temple, said to him, Behold, you have become well. Do not sin any more, so that nothing worse happens to you. Now let's think about this a minute. So that nothing worse happens to you. What's Jesus warning him about? Don't sin any more, so that nothing worse happens.

Why would that be a thing to say? Yeah? It has something to do with the fact that he's carrying his bed, and something worse could happen to him from the people around him. Okay, well, alright, let's keep that on the shelf, but any other ideas? I think he's telling him that he has to be totally obedient to the law, or he could end up even worse than being crippled.

Right, if you look at Deuteronomy 28, about 14 verses there, it says if you obey the law, here's all the blessings you're going to get. From verse 15 to verse 68, it lists all the curses. lots more. And among those curses is health problems that will come about for a sinner, for one who breaks the law. So the Jews were blessed if they obeyed, which they rarely did, and cursed if they disobeyed. So there was a risk to this man, because he was a Jew under the law, there was a risk to this man that he could have the curses of Deuteronomy 28 afflict him and therefore have something worse happen to him health-wise. You were crippled and you've been crippled for 38 years, you don't want to go back to that state or worse.

And he really puts him in a difficult situation because if he doesn't do what the Jews tell him to do, then in a sense, he's not obeying the Jews and they could kick him out of the temple and if they do that, then he can no longer worship. And what does the law require of you to do? Go to the temple, right? And so he's in this catch-22. He says, I haven't been able to move for 38 years.

Now that I can, I've got a real problem. I've got this guy who healed me and I don't know who he is. He comes up to me and says, don't do anything wrong, it could get worse. And I've got these other people who are ticked off that this guy healed on the Sabbath and he told me to pick up my pallet and walk. And here I am over at the temple area. I'm not sure if they'll let me stay here now that I can actually walk around here and be here healthy.

He's, I'm sure, in a quandary. And it's also, he didn't give Jesus that direct answer, but it's like he was blaming someone else. He didn't take responsibility for, he had come to the place in his life because of this long illness that he was no longer taking responsibility for things that he was supposed to do. And here Jesus is requiring him to become responsible.

Think about it. This guy had been in a position where he had never had to process anything like this. Think about it. You ever have something where you think, well, if this ever happens, I'm going to do this? Had he ever thought, well, if I ever have somebody come and heal me, I'm going to do this, this, and thus and so? No, he hadn't thought about that.

Matter of fact, it was almost, hey, look, I come here because it's the only hope of getting healed, but really, because I can't move fast enough, I don't have much hope. So he had kind of given up processing this thing and thinking this thing through, and thinking, boy, if this happens, I'll do this. So now all of a sudden, this guy, he doesn't know, suddenly heals him on the Sabbath, tells him to pick up his pallet and walk, and I immediately get jumped on by the Jews for picking that pallet up and walking. And by the way, you guys don't even recognize a miracle was performed here?

And so, I mean, his, you imagine, his mind's reeling. And he's got this partway process thing. The idea of being responsible is something he hadn't even thought was possible for almost four decades. Yeah, he didn't have to be responsible because there wasn't any way to be responsible. And now all of a sudden it's like, whoa, I got issues.

You know, isn't it great that I'm healed, but oh no. I'm healed and that's wonderful, and now I'm in trouble. And now Jesus says, be careful you don't do anything, because it could get worse. Oh no! This is terrible! So this is a real threatening situation.

So the man went away, verse 15, and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well. Now they talk to this guy and he knows who it is. Verse 16, for this reason the Jews were persecuting him because he was doing these things on the Sabbath. But he answered them, My father is working until now, and I myself am working." Now, when Jesus and the man who had been healed were both in the temple courtyard, Jesus warned the man not to sin so that nothing bad would happen to him.

This is consistent with Jews living under the law. Because think of it, Jews figured because of Deuteronomy 28 and similar verses, if things are going good for me, it's because I must be Blessed by God and obedient to the law. If things are going bad, it's because I did something bad. As we'll see next week, that's exactly the issue and the mindset that they're going to come with. This is consistent with the Jews living under the law in which they would be blessed if they obeyed and cursed if they didn't obey.

Deuteronomy 28. And that curse could include a return to illness, possibly even worse illness. Once the man went back to answer the Jews that it was Jesus who had healed him, then the Jews came after Jesus, both because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath and because Jesus had told the man to pick up his pallet and walk on the Sabbath. So in view of the Jews, Jesus had caused the Sabbath to be broken twice. Did Jesus break the Sabbath law? No. Why do you say no? Because it was a rabbinical rule that they've added. Okay. Rules that they've added and not... It was how things were interpreted.

And again, it was interpreted with the same kind of rules where, you know, a woman can't go look at a mirror because she might pluck a gray hair from her head and that's work. The same rules where, you know, you don't break the toilet paper pieces off the roll on Sabbath. And you know that because he never sinned. Yeah, we know that because he never sinned, and he in fact held people in the Sermon on the Mount, he held people, chapter 5, to the Law of Moses. But not all the things added to it. Not all the things added to it. So when Jesus says, don't sin anymore, He's basically saying, in the eyes of the Jews, don't sin anymore. So that nothing bad would happen to you.

No, but is there such a thing as genuinely breaking the law? Is there such a thing for these Jews as genuinely breaking the law? Yes, there is. But that isn't all the multiple things that the Jews came up that added to the law. That's what Jesus acted against and spoke against, even deliberately healing on the Sabbath and deliberately telling the man to pick up the pallet and walk. Does it necessarily have to refer to the picking up of the pallet or can it be the fact that in his life, prior to the crippling or whatever, we don't know if it was from birth or not. Well, we'll see that soon.

So it could have been past action or his inability to follow the law way a long time ago, right? Yeah, but think about that. Here's a man who couldn't do anything. Was he breaking the law while he couldn't do anything? He could have been. Could he covet?

Yeah, he could covet. So it is not necessarily an external, physical action. The law also judges the thoughts and intentions of the heart. So here he is on a pallet coveting someone else's circumstance or someone else's possession. Yeah, he could. Are the other people that get in the pool first? Yeah. Covening what someone else has.

So once the man went back to answer Jesus, that it was Jesus that healed him, then the Jews came after Jesus. So it was permissible, as the Jews saw it, for a Jew to refer to God as our Father. Why was it okay for the Jews to refer to God as our Father? Because he was the father of the Jews. Yeah, he was the father of the Jews.

It was also a group reference. You're Jewish, and I'm Jewish, and therefore he is our father. Nothing personal. Yeah, it's not personal. So what does Jesus do? How does he refer to the Father? My Father. Buzzers, flashing red lights, warning signs. It was not permissible to do that as Jesus did. That implied a special and unique relationship with the Father that went beyond you were born Jewish. It put oneself on the same level as God, my Father, instead of saying our Father, we're all Jewish.

So John 5.18, for this reason therefore the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him.

Now what does that tell you, all the more? Were they seeking to kill him before? Yes. This intensified it. We just cranked up this knob and this thing went a couple more notches higher. So, he was not only breaking the Sabbath, he was also calling God his own Father, personal Father, making himself equal with God. So what does that say he was claiming? Deity. He was claiming deity, and they knew it. The claim to unique relationship with God and the claim to deity was intensifying the motivation of the Jews to kill Jesus.

And Christ knew what they were thinking, which caused Jesus to respond accordingly. So Jesus, knowing what they're thinking, this is John 5, 19-21, Therefore Jesus answered and was saying to them, Truly, truly, and that's John's mark, by the way, truly, truly, I say to you, the son can do nothing of himself unless it is something he sees the father doing, for whatever the father does, these things the son also does in like manner. For the father loves the son and shows him all things that he himself is doing, and the father will show him greater works than these, so that you will marvel. For just as the father raises the dead and gives them life, so the son also gives life to whom he wishes.

Let's ask a question. Would the Jews go along with the idea of God as Father? Yes, they would. Our Father was fine. Did the Jews believe in God the Son and God the Holy Spirit? No. You can find it quite easily in the Old Testament even. But they did not believe in the Trinity. So the idea that anyone would start talking about, you know, my father and the son, that did not fit in with Jewish thinking.

So was he making them more calm at heart by what he said? Was he calming them? Or was he agitating them all the more? They really now really wanted to kill him, and so he says calming words, right? No. He starts talking about the father and the son. They are getting more and more agitated the more he speaks.

Why did he do that? I mean, he could have just cooled it, you know? And just said, hey, I understand guys, yeah, okay, I hear you. Something like that. I think he was trying to say that he was more than just a prophet, that he was the Messiah. And that was his work that God gave him to do. Yeah. Yeah. We talked about, you know, with Nicodemus before, remember we talked about the word we and the plural? Yeah. Okay, so they knew that he was from God. So do you think they just felt that he was a prophet? Or do you think they knew he was the Messiah? You say, who's they? Well, remember when Nicodemus, he said, we know that you are from God?

Well, I think one of the things, Nicodemus' statement was to call Jesus a teacher, which only says you are among the rabbis. And the basis was not the things that you said, like Gamaliel, it was the things he said. that qualified him as a rabbi, because Jesus was actually young for a rabbi, and he didn't come through the regular channels. The reason that Nicodemus, and he was among a few, that Nicodemus could say of Jesus, you know, you are a teacher, was because of the things that he did. And Nicodemus even said so.

No one can do the things that you do, unless it's from God. But these are messianic miracles, I mean, that they have predicted that Messiah would do. So they must have known. Well, but did they recognize it here? So if you think about it, here's Nicodemus and a few that secretly and quietly will talk about, okay, we realize you're doing something here, and you're at least a teacher. something and you know you must be from God to do these things but a lot of the Jews would see a miracle and just no sorry we want to apply our you know rules about is this the Sabbath and you did it on the Sabbath and then you told this guy to pick up his pallet and walk on the Sabbath you're not only breaking the Sabbath yourself but you're ordering other people to break the Sabbath and completely blind.

It's like it's invisible. Completely blind to the idea, this guy is amazing in what he's doing. I wonder if he's somebody special. They didn't see that at all. There's no evidence that they saw that. All they want to do is apply their interpretation of the law, which Jesus didn't agree with. And then when Jesus started claiming deity, That was just all the more horrific violation to them.

Yes? Excuse me, were the Jews' perception of the Messiah someone who would be deity or just a great prophet? That's a very important question, and that's that the Jews' perception, and I talked to a local rabbi here some years back to ask that very question. He said, our perception of the Messiah is one who comes, as we would say, on the second coming, in that kind of a mode, but would simply be a descendant of David, not deity. So what Jesus is talking about here, he does not fit their idea of the Messiah multiple times over. No rabbi claimed deity. Even the best of rabbis would not say my father. And the best of rabbis wouldn't talk about the son, S-O-N, capital S-O-N, in this way.

Just every word out of his mouth, every sentence, got him more inflamed and more incensed. They were livid. They were shocked in a very negative way by the words Jesus said. And instead of calming them down and making them more assured and settled that everything was okay, every sentence he let out of his mouth got him more and more agitated and irritated and angry.

So you're saying that they saw the Messiah as coming as a teacher, not as the Son of God and the Son of Man? No. Nicodemus recognized Jesus as a teacher, but that's all initially. One of the things we pointed out was the Samaritans, chapter 4 of John, the Samaritans saw the Messiah as a teacher. The Jews saw the Messiah as this one who comes, a descendant of David, to rule and reign.

Yes, but another human being, a descendant of David, yes. Deity, no. And so what does Jesus come with? Here he is in the temple courtyards, right? On the north side of the temple, pointed out, this side of the temple right here is where they have the records of the genealogy. He said, hey, come with me, I'll show you, I'm descended from David.

He didn't focus on that. He said, the relationship you need to pay attention to is not my descendancy from David. The relationship you need to pay attention to is my relationship to the Father. My Father. That's the relationship you need to pay attention to. Not the one I can demonstrate here in the genealogical records.

The book of Hebrews will be starting next Sunday. says it is evident that Jesus is from the tribe of Judah. Why was it evident? Because the temple was operating. You could have gone right in here and looked up the records and seen that Jesus was descended from Judah and from David.

That's not where Jesus put the emphasis. He said, my father and here's my relationship with the father. That's what ticked them off to no end. They were burned up. Chapter Hyde. Look in the bullets at the bottom of page 3, verses 19 through 21, we see Jesus claiming that the Son does what the Father does.

Notice the aspects of the relationship between the Father and the Son. The Father initiates for the Son, the Father loves the Son, the Father shows the Son greater works, and the Father gives life and so does the Son. So not only is he my father, but our actions and interactions and our relationship, even to the point of love, is the main thing you guys need to learn about. Which of course they were just very eager to learn about, right? Yeah, eager to no end. Let's take a look at the top of page four here.

John 5.22-24, for not even the Father judges anyone, but He has given all judgment to the Son, so that all will honor the Son even as they honor the Father. Okay. Is He calming them down? No. Not so much. Okay, not so much. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him. Who is He referring to? You know, you guys who don't honor the Son are not honoring to the Father. Okay? Oh, He's really calming them down now. Yeah.

Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears my word and believes Him who sent me. Okay, now He's not talking the Son and they're wondering who that is. who hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and does not come into judgment but is passed out of death into life. Does that include them? No. He who hears my word and believes him who sent me, are they doing this?

No, has eternal life and does not come into judgment but is passed out of death into life. Why is he giving these guys, who obviously don't believe, as a matter of fact, from any evidence we have, won't believe, why is he giving them the gospel? Why doesn't he just say, you guys are clueless, you guys are hopeless, I'm going elsewhere.

Well, that's what he was supposed to do. Pardon me? That's what he was supposed to do, is tell them. Yeah, he was supposed to tell them, that's a very good point. Yeah? Well, it seems... illogical that he would give them the gospel because they were from Abraham, right? Yeah, think about this. Think about this.

Why, and here we have a great instance, why does God bother giving truth and giving the gospel to people he knows won't believe it? Why did God send prophets to people that he knew would reject the message? Why does God do that? so that they can't someday say, well, you never told me this.

Okay. Alright. Think about, why doesn't God figure, you know, I know, because I know the future, right? And I know hearts. Why doesn't God just say, you know, these people who aren't going to receive it, I'm just not going to give it to them. Why does Jesus present, you know, you guys have an opportunity to be saved eternally, and I'm giving it to you right now. And there's no evidence that they ever accepted it.

Why would Jesus do that, knowing all these things? Why didn't he just say, forget you guys, I'm not even going to talk to you, I'm not going to tell you any truth, because you don't do things that are good with the truth, you reject it. You end up getting more and more inflamed. Why would he do that?

Isn't that amazing? It is a demonstration of God's grace and mercy that he provides the gospel even to those he knows won't receive it and believe it. Do you think God was ignorant that the prophets would give their message and then get rejected, even killed? forgiving their message? No, God was not at all ignorant. What's that?

He even told them, yeah. So here's Christ, knowing full well these guys would not receive it, knowing full well, and yet he tells them the path to salvation right to their face, he tells them right where they're at, and at first he talks about the father and the son, they're probably scratching their heads, and then he says me. I mean, he's getting very direct and very personal, he gives the gospel even though he knows they're going to reject it.

Could there have been other people listening as well? Ah, yeah. And have other people read these words? Yeah, yeah. Nancy and I have sat down with people where we've gone through the Gospel of John, and before we've gone to about this point, they're believers. We've seen that happen. And so here Jesus presents something to these guys who aren't going to believe. Others read about it later and do believe and do become saved. We have, even at the time that was there, there were others there in the courtyard, right?

It's an open courtyard, everybody can hear. And at one point, Jesus even calls out in the middle of this very same courtyard, this temple courtyard, He says, anybody who is thirsty, come to me for the waters of life. Come to me. And He yells it out across the courtyard.

Same thing here. Is everybody going to believe? Nope. Even this morning I was answering an email to my cousin. She was asking a question about thieves on the cross next to Jesus. Here's two thieves. One of them hears just the same message as the other one. One believes and the other one doesn't. Today you'll be with me in paradise to one of them, but not both.

It is amazing that the Lord gives opportunity to those he knows won't believe because he's a God of grace and mercy. The Jews felt that because they were from Abraham, that if they were saved, they didn't need faith. And so Jesus is basically tearing down the wall between the Jews and the Gentiles at this point in time. Their worldview is, I am a Jew!

I am not going through the gates of hell. I am going into the kingdom. And Jesus says, not so fast. Not unless. And so yeah, he is definitely bucking the system for what they've got cooked up as, you know, here's the gospel. Here's the gospel, I'm Jewish. Thank goodness for us. Yeah. And so, you know, to them that's how they saw it. And he says, wait a minute, unless you, well, John chapter 8, we're going to get there. Unless you believe you will die in your sins. And by the way, that's not a good thing. That's not a good thing. And here's going beyond that.

Jesus died for the sins of the whole world. The sins of the whole world. He died for the sins of the people who were right there nailing Him to the cross and would still not believe. He died for the sins of both the thief that was saved and the one that wasn't. That's amazing. He gives the gospel even to those who won't believe it. Knowing full well they won't. He dies for the sins of the whole world. Knowing full well that many will reject it.

That's astounding. Lord, thank you. As we look at this passage, boy this is full of amazing things. And your grace is amazing too. As we look at this and just see how stunning it is, you give the gospel even to those who almost certainly will not believe, don't have any apparent response. And all it does is make them madder. But thank you for your amazing grace, for your mercy, and for your great love with which you loved us. We pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen.