Jesus Is The Father's Judge And Your's As Well

November 9, 2003 John 5:19-24

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. 20 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. 21 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. 22 Moreover, the Father judges no one, but has entrusted all judgment to the Son, 23 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. 24 “I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life. (Jn 5:19-24)

Who would you say are the most powerful people in America? There are a couple different ways you could go with that. Some might go with politicians, military generals, sports or Hollywood icons, or others might go to the drug lords. It’s debatable. But when push comes to shove, in my mind the most powerful people - or most influencial people in America at least - would be the judges. The judges in the Supreme Court are the ones who in an indirect way made the decision for who would be president of the United States. So who really has the most power? Just ask Kobe Bryant about now - and even he - a powerful sports star - would have to admit that his future all comes down to the way the judge handles his case.

Even more important than America’s judges, is the judge of the world - the One who will decide your eternal fate. What a comfort it is on this Last Judgment Sunday then, to know that -

Jesus is the Father’s Judge and Your’s as Well

I. He does what the Father does

Since judges are so important, politicians realize that those who are appointed as judges are some of the most important nominations there are. Some of the greatest wranglings in recent months has been over the nomination of judges - in whether they will support what their ideals are - abortion or right to life, gay rights, and other hot topics of the day. Each special interest group has a reason for promoting their judges - because they want ones that have the same IDEALS as them.

Jesus had the same ideals as His Father. Jesus said in today’s text, “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. 20 For the Father loves the Son and shows him all he does. Jesus said, “I can only do what I SEE my Father doing.” When Adam and Eve fell into sin, the Bible says that their eyes were “opened” - opened to see that they were naked - open to see their sin - to experience what it’s like to live apart from God - but with their “open” eyes they also had closed them to what God wanted and so they couldn’t see what God’s will was for them. When an army with horses and chariots had surrounded the city where Elisha was, his servant became scared. But what did Elisha say? “O LORD, open his eyes so he may see.” Then the LORD opened the servant’s eyes, and he looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha. (2 Ki 6:17) Elisha had the ability to see things his servant couldn’t see. JESUS also said he could “see” what his Father was doing. Being a perfect human, he could “see” exactly what his Father wanted Him to do and could go where His Father wanted Him to go. Even in His humility, Jesus knew that God wanted Him to go to one place. It wasn’t to a plush throne. It wasn’t to a popular golden palace. It was to a despised and painful wooden cross. He wanted Jesus to go into the depths of hell - to suffer the wrath and anger of the same Father who was so pleased with Him.

The Father loved the Son for the way in which Jesus obeyed His Father. That word for love is different from the word He uses for love with us. It’s called phileo - not agape. He loved His Son like a brother - and He had every reason to - because He and his Son were on the same page. He never had to say, “HEY, where are you going - I told you to go over there!” Jesus was an obedient Son. He acts like God. That’s a good thing.