This transcript was generated by whisper.ai.

Welcome to Daily Drive Time Devotions. We're looking at John chapter 5 this
week. This is day 3 of our look at this chapter.

We're going to begin our look at what Jesus has to say about Himself in verse
16. You remember the first couple of days of this week we focused on Jesus'
healing, on His work and the life of the man that He healed. The rest of the
chapter is one long teaching from Jesus to the Pharisees.

It really grows out of what happened in His healing with this man. And He uses
their charges and their persecution against Him because of the healing as an
opportunity to teach them some things about who He is. Miracles show us how
Jesus worked, but they also show us who He is.

So listen to what the Bible says in John 5 verses 16 to 18. So because Jesus was
doing these things on the Sabbath, the Jews persecuted Him. Jesus said to them,
"My Father is always at work to this very day, and I too am working.

" For this reason, the Jews tried all the harder to kill Him. Not only was He
breaking the Sabbath, but He was calling, He was even calling God His own
Father, making Himself equal with God. In this discussion with the Pharisees
that results from this miracle, Jesus tells us some things about Himself.

And the focus really in these verses is all about what it means for Jesus to be
called the Son of God. You've heard that. We've all heard that.

Jesus is the Son of God. What does that mean? God the Father, God the Son, and
God the Holy Spirit.

They're one in being. They're three in person. Three persons, one in being.

Remember, Jesus walked this earth. He was born, so He was both man and God
walking this earth. And in these verses, Jesus, the God-man walking this earth,
describes for us what it means for Him to be the Son of God, to be God, one of
the persons of the Trinity.

This is pretty amazing stuff. Here is God, who became a man, telling us with a
human voice what it means for Him to be God. And we can read it.

We can see it. Jesus tells us exactly who He is in this long talk with the
Pharisees. When we say Jesus is the Son of God, one of the persons of the
Trinity, what does that mean?

Well, let's just walk through this. We're going to walk through it the next
couple of days. Number one, it means the Son is equal to the Father.

I know in our way of thinking we think that sons are always born of a Father,
but when Jesus used the term Son of God, He was meaning that He is equal to the
Father. That was a way of saying things in that day. He called God His Father,
and the Pharisees understood it.

They understood that when He said that, it meant He was making Himself equal
with God. Now, Jesus has since then taught all of us to call God Father. So when
I pray Father in a prayer, I'm not making myself equal with God.

But in that day, no one was calling God Father. So for Him to do this was to
say, "I am putting myself on the same level as God. " They saw what He was
doing, and Jesus did not deny that He was making Himself equal with God.

He didn't attempt to correct them. Instead, He set out to prove that He was
equal with God. Anyone who says Jesus didn't think that He was God, didn't know
that He was God, didn't teach that He was God, hasn't read these verses in John
chapter 5.

He very clearly teaches who He is. The Pharisees understood what He was
teaching. I am God.

The Son is equal to the Father. He called God His Father, and then He shares
this phrase with them. God is working still.

They were upset because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath. And Jesus says, "Well,
God's at work on the Sabbath. " Now, He rested on the first Sabbath day, there's
no doubt about that, the Bible tells us that.

But on Sabbath days now, He is at work. If God were not at work, the universe
would fly apart. It wouldn't be held together.

God's at work. God does His work, Jesus was saying, even on the Sabbath day. If
He didn't, all of creation would cease to exist.

And so Jesus says, "I'm at work as well, because I and the Father are equal. I
heal on the Sabbath. " That bothered the Pharisees.

They wanted to continue this challenge, but they weren't able to, because Jesus
isn't finished with His teaching. He has a lot to say to them on that day.
Second thing He talks about with them is He talks about what it means to be the
Son of God.

As He says, "The Son does what He sees the Father doing," verses 19 to 20. Jesus
gave them this answer, "I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by Himself.
He can do only what He sees the Father doing, because whatever the Father does,
the Son also does.

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. " This is important to
understand about the Son of God.

The Son is equal. The Son does what He sees the Father doing. He is equal to the
Father, but while He was on earth, Jesus was submissive to the will of the
Father.

He did what He saw the Father doing. It's an amazing statement of the humility
of Jesus Christ. Some people think that because Jesus was submissive, because He
did what He saw the Father doing, that meant that somehow He was less than God.

No. He limited Himself, but He didn't lessen Himself. By the way, as we read
about Jesus' choice here, it's really the secret to a powerful life in our
lives, to being a channel of the power of God.

One of the reasons He submitted Himself to the will of the Father is to give us
an example. Jesus says here, "I can do nothing by myself. I can do only what I
see the Father doing.

" He's teaching us to live a life where we don't trust in our strength, but we
allow our lives to be modeled after the work of God, the work of our Creator,
the work of our Savior. The Son, what does it mean to be called? The Son of God?

The Son is equal to the Father, Jesus said. That's His definition. The Son does
what He sees the Father doing.

He's submissive to the Father while He was on this earth, and then He talks
about a third truth concerning what it means for Him to be the Son of God. He
says the Son has the power to give life. Verse 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.

" The Son of God is the one who gives life. He is the Creator, the Bible tells
us in the book of Colossians and other places. He gave life in the first place,
but He is also the one who will resurrect the dead.

Resurrection power, the power of life, that power is God's alone, and Jesus has
it. He is the one who gives us life. Again and again and again in the book of
John, we are told that Jesus is life.

So the question I have to ask, and the question I have to ask you for today is,
is He your life today? Are you looking to something else, someone else, to truly
give you life? We all want an abundant and exciting and enjoyable life, and
there's a lot of things that promise that.

Well, the Son has the power to give life. In the end, He's the one who's going
to give us life eternal. In the beginning, He was the one who created us and
gave us life.

And day by day, throughout the day, it's in Him that we find life. He's the
resurrection. He is the life.

What does it mean to be called the Son of God? The Son is equal to the Father.
He does what He sees the Father doing.

He has the power to give life. And then verses 22 to 23, a long section begins
where He talks about the Son is the one who has all judgment entrusted to Him.
To be Son, the Son of God, is to be the judge.

Let me read those verses to you. "Moreover, the Father judges no one, but has
entrusted all judgment to the Son, 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.

" The Father and the Son, we learn in these verses, are equal in character.
They're equal in works. And so Jesus says they must be equal in honor.

We remember from chapter 3 that Jesus taught us clearly He did not come to
condemn the world but to save the world. Here we are reminded that in the end,
Jesus will judge. He came the first time as Savior.

He will return the second time as judge. Because God the Father has put all
judgment into the hands of the Son. That's what it means to be the Son of God.

Jesus Christ is the focal point for human judgment. Because it's in a person's
attitude towards the Son that you see their real attitude towards the Father. We
see Jesus.

He walked on this earth. It's in our attitude towards Jesus that we see our true
heart attitude towards the Father. A person's heart towards Jesus is the litmus
test of their heart towards the Father.

And so in the end, Jesus will be the only just, the only trusted judge. Now
tomorrow as we continue our look at this, we're going to look at verses 24 to 30
and some extended statements that Jesus has to say about judgment. Some things
we can learn about the future.

But as we end this first part of our look at who Jesus is as the Son of God
today, I'd like to take a moment to focus on Him in worship. And as you worship
Him, one of the ways to worship Him is to confess, is to say before Him who He
is, "Jesus, we recognize your greatness. I recognize your greatness.

You are equal to the Father, God in human flesh. I recognize your humility. You
chose to do what you saw the Father doing.

Help me to learn to be humble from you. I recognize your life, that life is in
your hands. It's not in my hands.

It's not in someone else's hands. It is in your hands. Help me today not to be
fooled, to try to find life somewhere else.

And I recognize you as the only just judge. If I were the judge, I would get it
wrong, but I can trust you. The Father's entrusted judgment into your hands.

I can trust you as the judge. Jesus, I worship you today. In your name, amen.