Honoring The Son Series

Journeying With John (JWJ-21)

Honoring the Son

John 5:18-24

This morning I want to start off asking you a question - and that question is this:

“How does one honor Jesus?” How would you answer that? I suspect I may not

have taught you the correct answer to that question - but I have come to see it

as a very significant question. The title of my message comes directly out of our

passage in John 5 - and it is this. “Honoring the Son.” Now while you are turning

there my mandate from God this morning is to talk with you from the Word of

God about one of the most intellectually challenging, perspective shaping,

theology forming and life transforming truths you will ever hear me or anybody

else talk about.

Jesus has just healed the man at the pool of Bethesda - and then He went on to

deal with the religious spirit. He is now going to deal a second blow to the

religious spirit is such a powerful way that it will shake each and every one of us

up - and challenge us to the core of our beliefs.

John 5:18-24 - Read - Pray

Let me set the backdrop for a moment if you will. 1 Thessalonians 4:1 commands

every Christian to live so as to please God. No problems there - we can all

understand that and agree with it. Right? But there is a rider that I think is not as

easy, even though on the surface it appears to be. One of the most profound

yet ignored statements in all of Scripture is this, and it comes from the book of

Hebrews 11:6:- “Apart from faith you cannot please God.” So we know we are to

live to please God - but we also know that apart from faith we cannot do that.

Now it seems to me, based on the weight of that single statement - that that

message ought to be central to all of Christianity. We should have it stuck up on

our walls, on the dash boards of our cars, in our cupboards and on our mirrors.

Apart from faith you cannot please God. That statement is so significant that It

ought to arrest the heart of every believer. It consolidates the entire intention of

the Christian life - what it is and how we do it. This one statement captures the

heart and plan and purpose of God for each and every one of His children.

This is what God has for you, and this is what God asks of you. Do we desire to

please God? Are we seeking to honor God? Then what we need is to

understand this statement that apart from faith we cannot please God, we

cannot honor God, we cannot honor Jesus. If you and I are not living a life of

supernatural faith, we are not living the life that pleases God. May I say that

JWJ-21 - John 5:18-24 - Pg 2

again please - don’t want that to surf on over your head. If you and I are not

living a life of supernatural faith we are not living the life that please God.

Let’s talk about faith a little if we can!

Faith lives in the unseen, the ‘what we cannot see’ - and it transforms it into the

‘what is seen.’ As a matter of fact - it creates the seen. It takes the ‘is not’ - and

out of it creates the ‘is.’

That means that if we are to live so as to please God, we need to live in a faith

that moves from the ‘unseen’ to the ‘seen,’ from the ‘is not’ to the ‘is.’ In other

words, faith is anchored in the unseen. And it releases the supernatural.

So Abraham of O.T. and Hebrews fame, we are told, believed God - even

though he was 90 years old - when his body was incapable of producing

offspring - and his wife’s was no better off.

The Bible says that his faith was unwavering - unwavering faith because he did

not consider the obstacles he was facing but believed that God who promised

was faithful and he gave glory to God despite circumstances. In other words,

watch this - faith thrives on the impossibilities.

You see, faith brings the divine presence, perspective and reality into any

situation. Your faith connect God and His supernatural remedy with any

situation.

Love is great and passion is incredible - but if you and I encounter God we will

encounter Him in the supernatural - and that supernatural will manifest in what

we do.

Faith does not grow because I decide to grow it.

Galatians 5:6 - Faith comes about, it works by, is energized, as the Greek literally