Continuing on from part 1 with John 5 verse 15 and following.
15 The man went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had healed him. 16 And this was why the Jews were persecuting Jesus, because he was doing these things on the Sabbath.
What a rebel Jesus was. Again, how dare He heal on the Sabbath. Remember Jesus said in Mark 2:27 “The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath”. Who is the Sabbath? It’s Jesus. Mark 2:28 “Therefore the Son of man is Lord also of the sabbath”.
17 But Jesus answered them, “My Father is working until now, and I am working.”
God is still working. Phil 2:13.
18 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 he’s really got the legalists upset. Making himself equal with God. It’s no different today. Just tell a religious person that God loves you as much as He loves Jesus (John 17:23) and watch their reaction. Then tell them all authority has been given you in heaven and in earth (John 17:18; Matthew 28:18). Then tell them the fullness of the Godhead dwells bodily in you (Colossians 2:9,10). They’ll try to kill you with gossip, backbiting, tailbearing and lies about you. Call you a heretic and all other forms of derogatory titles.
Tell them they don’t have to perform or try to achieve to get acceptance from God. That He blesses them not based on what they do, but on what Jesus has done. All their works gain them nothing. That there’s nothing they can do to make God love them more, and there’s nothing they can do to make God love them less. Watch their reaction. For people stuck in bondage to religion and legalism, it is just much easier to follow a set of rules; than it is to care for the things of the heart.
From this point on to the rest of this chapter, Jesus teaches them truth and sets an example for us to follow. He says Truly, truly on three separate occasions (interesting it’s three). In verse 19 he says “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”. That’s perfect theology.
That’s why I've said that since we are seated in heavenly places in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 2:6) we place ourselves at the round table where the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost are conversing. We eavesdrop on what they are saying about a matter, so rather than trying to beg and pull down into earth out of heaven, we rightfully declare from heaven down to earth. Our prayers are then not guessing and wishing games, but rather declaring into a situation, based on truth. It's what's known as crafted prayer. Declaring from a place of authority.
Then in verse 24 He says “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life”. What a powerful statement. Did you notice it says whoever hears my word and believes him….It doesn’t say believes in him. It said believes him.
Abraham believed God. He didn’t believe in God or Jesus. He believed God. Whoever hears MY WORD. People read the bible and don’t hear the word of the Lord. They run around spouting that the bible is the Word of God, but they don’t believe the God in the Word. They read the parables where Jesus broke all the law of the land in that time. He healed on the sabbath, touched a casket and turned a funeral into a parade, and sat down with sinners and harlots, drinking and eating with them. They read those stories, but miss the point.
In His Kingdom, the law is obsolete. I think I said this just recently. We don’t have to try and keep the law to be set free or right with God. We already have kept the law because we are set free and right with God. Again, the law says must do and grace says already done.
Once again in verse 25 Jesus says “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”. Those who have ears to hear, let them hear what the Spirit is saying.
People are dead in their religion and good works. They read the truth and miss it, because they don’t “hear” what it’s saying. Hear meaning get a deeper revelation of it. They are so stuck in their performance mode that they can’t see the freedom right in front of them.
None of the disciples performed to be accepted by Jesus as disciples. All they did was follow Him. Paul the apostle did not perform to be accepted. He simply heard the voice of Jesus and followed it. Look at Romans 10:9,10. This is Paul relaying the way to be saved. There’s no performance, no works, no rules, no self righteousness, no constant penitence or repentance, it’s just confessing and believing.
9 because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.
Now that looks a lot like what Jesus said in verse 24 of John 5. Here it is again. “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life”.
Then in Romans 10, it jumps to verse 13 where he says it in a shortened version.
13 “For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
There are no additional clauses attached to this. No “have to’s” beyond confessing, which by the way means agreeing with what God says, and believing with the heart. That’s it. It is for freedom that Christ has set us free, not for works unto bondage.
You can continue to study the rest of John 5. What you’ll discover is Jesus once again pointing to the Father as His direction. Saying He can do nothing on His own and that He seeks only the will of Him who sent Him.
Here’s the verse that started this all. John 5:45.
45 Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father. There is one who accuses you: Moses, on whom you have set your hope.
When you set your hopes on living by the law, you will live in a state of constant failure and accusation. There’s no freedom in that. So again it’s “believe God”, “Behold the Lamb”, and “believe on Him whom He has sent”. Grace and Peace.
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