On May 1, 2011, President Obama, his staff, and military brass watched the raid on Osama bin Laden’s Pakistan compound in the Situation Room. The famous Situation Room is not one room but is actually several conference rooms and offices.1 Its abbreviated name is the Sit Room, and it has just received a $50 million upgrade in recent days.2 Have you ever wondered what it would be like to be in the famous Sit Room during a crisis? What would it have been like to be in that room with Vice President George H. W. Bush when President Reagan was shot in 1981?
Jesus does something unusual in taking us behind the scenes of the ultimate heads of power conversation. Jesus takes us inside conversations He has with none other than God the Father. If you think it would be interesting to know the inside conversations before Apple launched the first iPhone, wait to you get a load of this! If you could imagine, if we had a video of the planning of D-Day available to us, wait to get a load of this! No place on earth has more power, authority, and splendor than God’s throne room. It’s like Jesus is allowing us to be a “fly on the wall” in very the throne room of God to eavesdrop on the conversations between God the Father and the Son. Nothing could be more fascinating or riveting.
Find John 5:19 with me, if you will, and look here when you find it.
Invitation
At the conclusion of today’s message, you will be invited to respond to Jesus’ offer of a clean, fresh start. You can respond by going to the Encourager’s Room, a virtual room, or the altar. We would love to meet with you personally.
We continue our series of walking through the Gospel of John together. John stops the narrative of miracles and conversations between Jesus and those outside the faith. He gives us the inner workings of the Godhead. Jesus takes us behind the curtain.
Today’s Scripture
So Jesus said to them, “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. For the Father loves the Son and shows him all that he himself is doing. And greater works than these will he show him, so that you may marvel. For as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whom he will. For the Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son, that all may honor the Son, just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him. 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.
“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. For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself. And he has given him authority to execute judgment, because he is the Son of Man. Do not marvel at this, for an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment.
“I can do nothing on my own. As I hear, I judge, and my judgment is just, because I seek not my own will but the will of him who sent me (John 5:19-30).
Again, Jesus gives us the inner workings of the Godhead. Jesus takes us behind the curtain.
1. Why Should I Care?
“For the Father loves the Son and shows him all that he himself is doing. And greater works than these will he show him, so that you may marvel” (John 5:20).
Here you are, with inflation at a record high in the past thirty years or so. Your rent is sky-high. You are worried about your teenage children with so many temptations. You are trying to get your toddlers potty trained. And the pastor is talking about something that seems remote and detached as the Trinity! Why should you care about what Jesus says to God, the Father? Why does this matter to you?
1.1 #1 This Matters Because God Cares that You Know Him
Is it important to know the identity of the person you marry? For example, should you know their height? Shouldn’t you know their hometown? Anyone who intends to spend a lifetime with another person, wants to know their true nature. God cares that you know Him. He penned the Bible for you to love Him. This Matters Because God Cares that You Know Him.
1.2 #2 This Matters Because of Your Salvation
If you have trusted Jesus Christ to do all the work of saving you from your sins, then you already know the Trinity. Your salvation depends on the truth that God is One and Three. If you were to remove the Trinity, then the whole Christian faith would disintegrate. Each One has His role to play, and each role is essential in accomplishing and securing our salvation.
Here is a quick Bible summary of God’s actions in each person of the Triune God:
The Father chooses…
The Son redeems…
The Spirit seals.
Salvation is coherent only when we realize how each Person of the Trinity operates to save us.
1.3 The Trinity
For some of you, the only trinity you know is sports, partying, and chasing girls. When I speak of the Trinity in the Bible, we may define the Trinity as follows: God Eternally Exists as three Persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and Each Person is Fully God, and There is One God.3 I know that it is challenging to understand, but it is essential to believe. I won’t go into great detail on the Trinity here as I have done that in previous sermons. This is a mystery, but it is not a contradiction. There are not three gods to worship. The Bible doesn’t say, “There is one God, and there is not one God.” It doesn’t say, “God is three persons and one person.” It says, “God is three persons and one God.
As we study Jesus’ words in John 5, I want to make sure everyone is on the same page. The word “Trinity” never appears in the pages of your Bible. Nevertheless, your Bibles are, from first to last, thoroughly full of the Trinity. The word means “tri-unity” or “three-in-oneness.”
“For the Father loves the Son and shows him all that he himself is doing. And greater works than these will he show him, so that you may marvel” (John 5:20).
1.4 #3 This Matters Because You Pray
Remember how Jesus told us to pray in His Model Prayer? “Our Father in heaven…” (Matthew 6:7) Our prayer and worship are deeply affected by the Trinity. Jesus instructed us to pray to God the Father through Jesus, the Son. The Bible is crystal clear that Jesus Christ is the mediator between humanity and God, the Father. Our prayer is empowered and prompted by the Spirit.
Why Should You Care about God’s Triunity?
Because God Cares that You Know Him.
Because of Your Salvation
And Because You Pray
1. Why Should I Care?
2. I Can Do Nothing On My Own
“So Jesus said to them, “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. “I can do nothing on my own. As I hear, I judge, and my judgment is just, because I seek not my own will but the will of him who sent me” (John 5:19, 30).
Can you imagine some of the most accomplished people on earth saying, “I can do nothing on my own”?
2.1 Nothing on My Own
Yet, Jesus begins and ends His little sermon the same way: “I can do nothing on my own.” It’s a mind-blowing claim for the powerful, composed, accomplished person history has even known to say, “I can do nothing on my own.”
Can you imagine the great boxer Muhammed Ali, who constantly told us about his greatness when he said, “I float like a butterfly and sting like a bee”? What if Ali said, “I can do nothing on my own.”
Or how about this one? President Lyndon Johnson met with Pope Paul VI on Dec 23, 1967.4 The two spoke for over an hour and then exchanged gifts. The Pope gave Johnson a 16th-century painting of the Nativity. President Johnson, in return, gave the Pope a small bust of himself, Lyndon Johnson. Evidently, LBJ gave out many of these busts. You would have thought Lady Bird might have said to him, “This isn’t a good look.” Can you imagine if LBJ said, “I can do nothing on my own.”
“So Jesus said to them, “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. “I can do nothing on my own. As I hear, I judge, and my judgment is just, because I seek not my own will but the will of him who sent me” (John 5:19, 30).
In a world where everyone is boasting of their accomplishments, Jesus says, “I rely on the Father. I am in sync with my Father.”
Jesus further tells us that the only thing He can do is what He sees His Father doing in verse 19. The Father and the Son are totally in sync. As smart as Jesus is, Jesus says I still don’t do anything but what I first see the Father doing. As capable as Jesus is, Jesus says I still don’t do anything but what I first see the Father doing. And as powerful as Jesus is, Jesus says I still don’t do anything but what I first see the Father doing. The Son of God is limited only if God the Father is limited.5 And the Father isn’t limited in any way whatsoever.
2.2 Claiming to be Equal to God
Now, the gospel of John introduces this topic because of the backlash Jesus is facing. The gospel of John just told us that Jesus is receiving opposition, and here’s why: “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” (John 5:18). As people sat and listened to Jesus teach, they were left with the impression that Jesus felt He was on God’s level.
2.2.1 Where the Gospel of John Begins Jesus’ Story
When the Gospel writers began to tell Jesus’ story, they had to decide where to begin. Should we start the story of Jesus by telling His story at His birth in Bethlehem as Luke does? Or might they begin His story long before Bethlehem? It’s fascinating that the gospel of John tells us most clearly that Jesus had no beginning: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1). All these years later, millions if not billions of people have come to the conclusion that Jesus IS on the level with God the Father.
2.2.2 I Believe Jesus IS God
I believe Jesus is God, equal to the Father in every single way. Jesus is not partly God or just one-third God. Instead, Jesus is wholly, fully 100% God. You can see evidence of Jesus’ deity all over the pages of the New Testament. I Believe Jesus IS God!
2.3 Four “For” Clauses
In verse 19, you see the first of four “For” clauses to describe their relationship.
Let me make sure you see each one: “For whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise. For the Father loves the Son and shows him all that he himself is doing. And greater works than these will he show him, so that you may marvel. For as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whom he will. For the Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son…” (John 5:19-21).
Think of these four as linked together like a daisy chain. You might even circle the words “For” so you can go back and see the chain later on.
1. Jesus says the Son does whatever the Father does in verse 19.
2. The Father loves the Son and keeps nothing hidden from the Son.
3. Just as the Father has the power to raise people from the dead, so does the Son have resurrection power as well. Jesus says the Son is entirely free to choose to raise anyone who chooses at the end of verse 21.
4. Unlike the Father, is it the Son of God that will judge the world in verse 22.
2.3.1 The Love of God
Take note in verse 20 that Jesus uses the present tense of the verb loves. Jesus says, “The Father loves the Son.” This is a continual, habitual love. There, before anything else, is God the Father, God the Spirit, and God the Son in perfect happiness. God Himself, Three in One, sharing a perfect love between each of them.7 God isn’t lonely at all! The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit envelope one another in a mind-blowing love. Heaven isn’t brighter even by scintilla when I arrive there by His grace one day. How could heaven improve when God is there? Still, He invites people to enjoy this love through the death of His Son on the cross.
2.3.2 Perfect Full Disclosure
Jesus has 100% access to everything the Father is doing, for Jesus says, “and shows him all that he himself is doing.” in the middle of verse 20. Everything the Father does, He discloses to the Son. Again, Jesus’ comments here are vital because they take us behind the curtain. We have access to the Situation Room.
2.4 Modalism
One thing to note is that Jesus, the Son, God, and the Father are distinct. They are two distinct beings. Down through history, people have taught that God is not really three distinct persons but only one person who appears in different “modes” at different times. This is called Modalism. Modalism says not only that God revealed himself in different “modes” but also there is only God.7
Question: is Jesus speaking to Himself when he prays to the Father? Is Jesus mistaken when He says, “For whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise”? Modalism makes God similar to someone who plays different roles at different times. Take a woman who may be a doctor but also serves on the city council of her own town, and she is also a mother. The same person is a doctor, a city council member, and a mother. The problem with this teaching is that it violates Jesus’ teaching here in John 5.
2.4.1 Insane Asylum
Did you hear the story about a couple of physicians in training who were touring a local insane asylum? As they walked down the halls, they heard a man shouting at the top of his lungs I am the George Washington. He continued to shout several times, “I am George Washington,” at the top of his lungs. Finally, when they came to his room, the lead physician said, "Who told you that you are George Washington?” The man replied, “God told me I’m George Washington.” His roommate in the next bed sat up and said, “I didn’t tell you any such thing!” Jesus doesn’t belong in a sanitarium. He isn’t praying to Himself.
2.4.2 Distinct Yet One
“So Jesus said to them, “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. “I can do nothing on my own. As I hear, I judge, and my judgment is just, because I seek not my own will but the will of him who sent me” (John 5:19, 30).
But friends, note this carefully. While the Father and the Son are distinct beings, equal in power and in authority in every way, they are united as one like no one else. Recall that Jesus said, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work” (John 4:34). Throughout his life, Jesus made it crystal clear that He did nothing but the will of the Father. Even near the end of His life, Jesus said at the Garden of Gethsemane: “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done” (Luke 22:42). Jesus consistently did the will of the Father in every breath, every step, and every waking moment of His life. From Bethlehem to Calvary to Jesus’ ascension on the Mount of Olives, Jesus completed the will of God for His life. He was like no other human being who ever lived. Nobody else can say that. Nobody else can say, “My entire life was devoted to doing exactly what the Father wanted me to do.”
Yes, Jesus is a separate being. So Jesus is equal to God, the Father, but He is also dependent on God, the Father.
1. Why Should I Care?
2. I Can Do Nothing On My Own
3. Raised to Life
“For as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whom he will. 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” (John 5:21, 25).
3.1 Jesus Raises All the Dead
Let those words marinate in you for a few moments.
Jesus raises categorically, every single person who has ever lived.
Who will be raised by Jesus? Verse 28 says, “All who are in the tombs…”
And who does that include? Verse 29 says, “Those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment.”
Believers and unbelievers. Jesus raises all the dead. Let that sink in.
All the dead who have ever lived will be raised from the dead by Jesus. Millions of Chinese and Nigerians, and Germans and Americans.
He will raise Julius Caesar from the dead,
and Judas Iscariot from the dead…
Vladimir Putin from the dead…
Actor Donald Sutherland from the dead…
Martin Luther King, JR from the dead…
Adolf Hitler from the dead…
OJ Simpson from the dead…
and Princess Diana, Toby Keith, and Willy Mays.
He will raise them, and they will all stand before Him. And you will be raised from the dead, too. Jesus will give existence to your decomposed bodies. If your body is burned or you are buried at sea. No matter. He allows no one to go out of existence.
3.2 Jesus Raises the Dead by His Voice
The second part of verse 25: “The dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live.” Jesus insists that it is HIS voice that will call every person from the grave on the last day. John 5:25 says that Jesus will, in fact, raise the dead by His voice. Everybody who has ever lived will obey the voice of Jesus in their decomposed bodies. No matter how many of those bodies have shared the same molecules. He is God, and He can do this. Stand in awe of Jesus.
For when He speaks as the Creator, even nothing obeys Him. And when He speaks as the Resurrected King, decomposed matter obeys.
3.3 A Preview of the End
Every time Jesus did a miracle…
Every time Jesus healed someone…
Every time Jesus cast out a demon…
And each of the times where He raises someone from the dead, Jesus brings a little bit of the future into the present. Jesus is showing us now what it will be like then. As if Thomas Edison brought the incandescent light bulb into the Middle Ages. Christ’s resurrection is a preview of the end now. Each of His miracles was a sample. Each one of them effectively says, “That’s the way it will be.” Let this fill you with tremendous hope this day! There will be no sickness in the age to come. There will be no demons in the age to come. There will be no death in the age to come.
1. Why Should I Care?
2. I Can Do Nothing On My Own
3. Raised to Life
4. Raised for Judgement
“And he has given him authority to execute judgment, because he is the Son of Man” (John 5:27).
The words “the Son of Man” are Jesus’ favorite way to refer to Himself. God doesn’t save you by works. But works are the evidence and the confirmation of your faith. Anything alive will grow. And on the Day of Judgment, when you and I stand before “the Son of Man,” He will examine our lives by looking for signs of life. And you will rise from the dead and face Him — the same One who was humanly tempted like you are. And he will look at your life—not for perfection but simply for the evidence. You are going to be raised from the dead someday. Your decomposed body will obey the voice of the Son of God. Where will you spend your eternity?
EndNotes
1 https://nypost.com/2024/05/12/us-news/insider-reveals-the-secrets-of-white-house-situation-room/; accessed June 20, 2024.
2 https://nypost.com/2023/09/08/white-house-unveils-new-situation-room-after-cocaine-find/; accessed June 20, 2024.
3 Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine, Second Edition. (Grand Rapids: Zondervan 2000), 226.
4 https://anthonybergen.medium.com/lbj-s-unique-gift-to-pope-paul-vi-ef5a89e43201/; accessed June 20, 2024.
5 Edward W. Klink III, John, ed. Clinton E. Arnold, Zondervan Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2016), 285.
6 For biblical evidence of the great and perfect love between the Three Persons of the Trinity, see John 17:24, 26. Susanna Wesley said, “[God] is being itself, and as such must necessarily be infinitely happy in the glorious perfections of his nature from everlasting to everlasting; and as he did not create, so neither did he redeem because he needed us; but he loved us because he loved us.” Sanders, 61.
7 Grudem, 285.
