Christ As The Judge In The Teachings Of John Part 1 Series

CHRIST AS THE JUDGE IN THE TEACHINGS OF JOHN. PART 1

INTRODUCTION.

How many of you have enjoyed watching T.V. serials or dramas in which there is a courtroom scene? Which ones have you enjoyed the most.

How many of you have been in a court lately? What were you? A spectator? A guilty defendant? An innocent defendant? A witness to an accident? A character witness? A lawyer? A judge?

Today I want to speak about the most important courtroom in all the world, a courtroom scene in which all of us will appear as guilty defendants.

I. THE FATHER HAS GIVEN ALL JUDGMENT TO CHRIST.

In fact, the Father has given everything to Him.

John 3:34-35; John 5:19-23,26-27

(John 3:34 NIV) For the one whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for God

gives the Spirit without limit.

(John 3:35 NIV) The Father loves the Son and has placed everything in his

hands.

(John 5:19 NIV) Jesus gave them this answer: "I tell you the truth, the Son can

do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because

whatever the Father does the Son also does.

(John 5:20 NIV) For the Father loves the Son and shows him all he does. Yes, to

your amazement he will show him even greater things than these.

(John 5:21 NIV) For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life,

even so the Son gives life to whom he is pleased to give it.

(John 5:22 NIV) Moreover, the Father judges no one, but has entrusted all

judgment to the Son,

(John 5:23 NIV) that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father. He

who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father, who sent him.

(John 5:26 NIV) For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the

Son to have life in himself.

(John 5:27 NIV) And he has given him authority to judge because he is the Son

of Man.

1. Therefore He is to be honored.

a. He is honored by God. John 5:23, 41

(John 5:23 NIV) that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father. He

who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father, who sent him.

(John 5:41 NIV) "I do not accept praise from men,

b. He is not necessarily honored by men. John 1: 10-11; 5:41

(John 1:10 NIV) He was in the world, and though the world was made through him,

the world did not recognize him.

(John 1:11 NIV) He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive

him.

(John 5:41 NIV) "I do not accept praise from men,

C. The defendants think that they can judge Him, but in reality He judges them.

i. Nathanael. John 1:46-47

(John 1:46 NIV) "Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?" Nathanael asked.

"Come and see," said Philip.

(John 1:47 NIV) When Jesus saw Nathanael approaching, he said of him, "Here is

a true Israelite, in whom there is nothing false."

ii. Nicodemus. John 3:1-3

(John 3:1 NIV) Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a member

of the Jewish ruling council.

(John 3:2 NIV) He came to Jesus at night and said, "Rabbi, we know you are a

teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the miraculous signs you

are doing if God were not with him."

(John 3:3 NIV) In reply Jesus declared, "I tell you the truth, no one can see

the kingdom of God unless he is born again."

iii. Jews in Jerusalem. John 5:10-18, 38-47; 8:12-26; 18:19-19:12

(John 5:10 NIV) and so the Jews said to the man who had been healed, "It is the

Sabbath; the law forbids you to carry your mat."

(John 5:11 NIV) But he replied, "The man who made me well said to me, ’Pick up

your mat and walk.’"

(John 5:12 NIV) So they asked him, "Who is this fellow who told you to pick it

up and walk?"

(John 5:13 NIV) The man who was healed had no idea who it was, for Jesus had

slipped away into the crowd that was there.

(John 5:14 NIV) Later Jesus found him at the temple and said to him, "See, you

are well again. Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you."

(John 5:15 NIV) The man went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had

made him well.

(John 5:16 NIV) So, because Jesus was doing these things on the Sabbath, the

Jews persecuted him.

(John 5:17 NIV) Jesus said to them, "My Father is always at his work to this

very day, and I, too, am working."

(John 5:18 NIV) For this reason the Jews tried all the harder to kill him; not