What a sermon he had for them!

In Galilee Jesus had not yet told of Himself.
He rathered that it came about gradually to
those who would hear him.

But in Jerusalem (where the nations decisions
were made) His crowds would be smaller and
less often. Yet He would revealed his identity
and mission completely. He was still rejected.

At that time the Jews couldn't do anything.
They would only rage and wait for an opport-
ity to pass the death sentence on Him.

Jesus found it useless to stay and returned to
Galilee knowing well what the end would be.
He would continue His work but would be
aware that at any time they would come to
take Him and condemn Him to death.

Not all would share the resurrection of Life.
Their would also be a resurrection of judgment.
Those who did evil would have their part in the
resurrection of damnation.

"Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth
my word, and believeth on him that sent me,
hath everlasting life, and shall not come into
condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.
Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming,
and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of
the Son of God: and they that hear shall live."
John 5:24-25

" Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the
which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice,
And shall come forth; they that have done good,
unto the resurrection of life; and they that have
done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation."
John 5:28-29

Jesus also gave them (Jewish leaders) a revelation
of the truth of the resurrection of the dead.

The Old Testament only hinted of it, but Jesus
was the one to bring the truth to light. The truth
of immortality and life beyond death and the
grave.

He didn't speak of the Christian's future as ones
of disembodied spirits; but that their bodies
should be raised from the graves and glorified.

They rejected Him, the one who came in His
Father's Name.

They became victims of every false Messiah that
came on the scene. A century later they accepted
a fanatic who destroyed the Jewish nation.

Some sixty false messiahs have appeared, each
in his own name. The most wicked and deceptive
of all will appear just before the days of the Great
Tribulation.

Jesus referred to him when he said, "I am come
in my Fathers name, and ye receive me not; if
another shall come in his own name, him ye will
receive" John 5:43

These men were intelligent about earthy things,
so why were they blinded about spiritual things?

Jesus asked them, "How can ye believe, which
receive honor one of another, and seek not the
honor that cometh from God only?"
John 5:44

Apparently their pride made them see a differ-
ent kind of Messiah. One that would relieve
them from the Romans and make them the
world power which would also make them great.
They wanted a Messiah who would defeat their
enemies.

This pride made it impossible for them to accept
such a Messiah as Jesus.

Through the witnesses just mentioned, God had
provided a way that these leaders could know
their true Messiah, the Son of God in whom they
would have eternal life.

Jesus accused them of not believing the witness
of God's Word. The Jews had been giving the
scriptures a superstitious reverance. They
counted the letters so why couldn't they believe
them.

The prophets had told all things about Him:
His birth in Bethlehem
His humanity
His divinity
His mission
His ministry

Man's duty to God: "That man should honor
the Son, even as they honor the Father. He
that honoreth not the Son honoreth not the
Father which sent him" (verse 23)

Jesus went further than just revealingHis
Messiahship because the Jews didn't expect
a 'divine' Messiah. He also revealed His
divinity. John 5:33-35
By John baring witness of Him
By His miracles verse 36
By the Father verses 37-38
By the Scriptures verses 39-47

The Godhead has personal distinctions.

"The Son can do nothing of himself, but what
he seeth the Father do. . . .For the Father
judgeth no man, but hath committed all
judgment unto the Son"
John 5:19,22

One does not act on their own, doing their own
thing. There is a unity in their actions as well as
in their natures; even though they are distinctly
three persons. The Father is not the Holy Spirit,
the Holy Spirit is not the Son and the Son is not
the Father. Three persons, One God, with one
purpose and actions. Three in One. Trinity.

So Jesus claimed to the Jewish leaders that He
does what the Father does, not His own will but
the will of the Father.

The Jewish

leaders were

set to instruct

Jesus

on the Sabbath Day, but He ended up instruct-
ing them. When they mentioned the Sabbath,
He said that He was copying His Father, this
"making himself equal with God."

This comment from Jesus struck them with
horror. As far as they were concerned He now
was not only quilty of sabbath-breaking, but
of blasphemy also. This crime was worthy of
death.

But Jesus, instead of backing off, only claimed
it all the louder. As the Son of God, He stood
in an unusual relationship with the Father.

They appear to have lost interest in the man
that had been healed.

The consequences of the man's testimony
was disasterous. The Jewish leaders were
not moved by Jesus' compassion or His
miraculous power. They were up in the
air to defend their legalism.

They began to persecute Jesus because He
did such things on the Sabbath Day.

Answering them, Jesus said, "My Father
worketh hitherto, and I work" (verse 17).

Here we see a strange circumstance. The man
told the Jewish authorities that Jesus had
healed him. This resulted in the Jews seeking
to kill Jesus. Did the man know this?

Maybe this was what Jesus had warned him
about. Maybe Jesus knew the man was afraid
of being charged with breaking the Sabbath so
he [the man] would want to put the attention
on Him [Jesus].

We do not hear of the man glorifying God or
any words of greatfulness for his healing.

There are people who think that if someone is
really healed, that that same thing can not ever
come back or they were not really healed in the
first place.

This scripture in John 5:14 disagrees with that
thinking. Not only can the original affliction
return but something worse can come to them.

We are in need of biblical teaching in order to
understand God's way of healing.