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John 5 | The Upward Way | Bible Study with A. Z. Adams — Transcript

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0:00John [music] 5:1
0:03after these things there was a feast of
0:05the Jews and Jesus [music] went up to
0:08Jerusalem.
0:09Now there is in Jerusalem by the sheep
0:12gate a pool which is called in Hebrew
0:16Bethesda
0:17having five porticos.
0:21In these lay a multitude [music]
0:24of those who were sick, blind, lame, and
0:28withered, waiting for [music] the moving
0:31of the waters.
0:33For an angel of the Lord went down at
0:35certain [music] seasons into the pool
0:38and stirred up the water. Whoever then
0:41first after the stirring up of the water
0:44stepped in was made well from whatever
0:47disease with which he was afflicted.
0:51A [music] man was there who had been ill
0:54for 38 years.
0:58When Jesus saw him lying there and knew
1:00[music] that he had already been a long
1:02time in that condition,
1:05he said to him, "Do you wish to get
1:08well?"
1:10The sick man answered. The sick man
1:13answered him, "Sir, I have no man to put
1:17me into the pool when the water is
1:19stirred up, but while I am coming,
1:22another steps down before me."
1:25Jesus said to him, "Get up, pick up your
1:30pallet, and walk."
1:33Immediately
1:35the man became well, picked up his
1:37pallet, and began to walk.
1:41Now it was [music] the Sabbath on that
1:43day. So the Jews were saying to the man
1:46who was cured, "It is the Sabbath, and
1:50it is not permissible for you to carry
1:53your pallet."
1:56But he answered them, "He who made me
1:59well was the one who said to me, pick up
2:02your pallet and walk."
2:06They asked him, "Who is the man who said
2:08to you, "Pick up your pallet and walk?"
2:12But the man who was healed did not know
2:14who it was, for Jesus had slipped away
2:18while there was a crowd in that place.
2:22Afterward, Jesus found him in the temple
2:24and said to him, "Behold, you have
2:27become well. Do not sin anymore so that
2:31nothing worse happens to you." The man
2:34went away and told the Jews that it was
2:36Jesus who had made him well. For this
2:39reason, the Jews were persecuting Jesus
2:42because he was doing these things on the
2:45Sabbath.
2:47But he answered them, "My father is
2:50working until now, and I myself am
2:54working."
2:57This is a powerful insight into the
3:02conflict between working and not
3:04working, which is ultimately a conflict
3:07between grace and works.
3:10Because the Sabbath was supposed to be
3:12reserved once a week for human beings to
3:16cease from their labors and to give
3:19honor and remembrance to God alone.
3:24We have this scene where the people are
3:27gathering who are sick and
3:32Jesus walks up and he asks the man, "Do
3:35you want to be healed?" And the man
3:37immediately presents the impossibility
3:40because he believes healing is going to
3:42come through a certain form, a certain
3:44mode. And he's been trying that for 38
3:47years or thereabouts. Jesus comes along
3:50and tells him to get up, pick up your
3:53pallet, and walk.
3:56The man does not have the power to obey
3:59that command until that command comes.
4:04He does not have the power to get up,
4:06take up his pallet, and walk until God
4:08says to do it. And this is an example of
4:12how grace and works work.
4:15We do not have the power to obey. We do
4:18not have the power to walk in
4:21righteousness. [snorts] But when God
4:23speaks to us, suddenly we have the
4:26power. And the problem then, the sin is
4:29not that we are working. The sin is when
4:33we are working apart from his grace,
4:35apart from his speaking. So the
4:37Pharisees believe that there should be
4:39no works on this day. They're like the
4:42radical cheap grace people of today. So
4:44they come and tell the man, "You're
4:47working on the Sabbath."
4:49And they don't see any absurdity in the
4:54fact that
4:56they are ignoring the miracle and
4:58focusing on the works. He tells them,
5:01"The man who healed me did so by telling
5:03me to pick up my pallet and walk,
5:06telling me to do the impossible, which I
5:08was suddenly energized and able to do
5:11when I received his word and began to
5:13act on it." And they say, "Well, who is
5:16this man?" And he doesn't know. And so
5:20only when Jesus comes to him in the
5:22temple does he go back to them and say
5:25this is the man who said to me pick up
5:28your pallet and walk.
5:31And it says they were persecuting Jesus.
5:35They're harassing him because he's not
5:38working within their system. He's not
5:40working within their predetermined boxes
5:44of what is acceptable and what is not
5:46acceptable. and they're completely blind
5:48to the miracle. But remember, when Jesus
5:52moves by the power of the spirit, that
5:54is Sabbath.
5:56When he ceases from human thinking and
5:59human conclusions and human works and
6:02human limitations and he begins to move
6:04in the power of the spirit, that is
6:07Sabbath. So when they persecute him, he
6:10tells them, "My father is always
6:12working."
6:14If you think that God is supposed to
6:16stop working, you're missing the point
6:17of the Sabbath. God is allowed to work.
6:21But he says, "My father is always
6:22working and I myself am working." So
6:25he's trying to say God doesn't want us
6:27to cease from his works. He want us he
6:30wants us to cease from our works, from
6:33our feeble, useless, filthy rags
6:36righteousness that comes from our own
6:39conclusions, from our own
6:40determinations, from our own will
6:42worship. And he wants us instead to wait
6:46until he speaks something and imparts
6:49grace through his word. Grace that we
6:51can obey. And by the energizing of that
6:54grace, we can work. Like Paul would say,
6:57"By the grace of God, I am what I am.
7:00And his grace toward me did not prove
7:01vain. For I worked harder than them all.
7:04But it was not I. It was the grace of
7:05God that was in me." Jesus is basically
7:08saying the same thing. It's the Father
7:10that's working through me. Don't try to
7:12stop him. Don't put him on arrest. It's
7:15only your works, your carnal, fleshly
7:18works that are supposed to cease. And
7:21they're not supposed to just cease on
7:22the Sabbath. They're supposed to cease
7:24altogether once the spirit has come. It
7:27says the Jews were persecuting him
7:29because he was doing these things on the
7:30Sabbath. And he said, "My father is
7:34working until now and I myself am
7:37working." And
7:41they interpreted that to mean that he
7:44was saying that what he was doing was
7:46not his own works but that it was the
7:49father in him.
7:51And so the next verses are very telling.
7:54says, "Now for this reason, therefore,
7:57the Jews were seeking all the more to
8:00kill him because he was not only
8:04breaking the Sabbath, but was calling
8:06God his own father, making himself equal
8:11with God."
8:14Why did they think that calling God his
8:18father made him equal with God?
8:22They did not have a multiplicity of
8:25persons concept in their heads at all.
8:28They knew that God the Father was
8:31spirit. So for Jesus to say that God is
8:35with me or in me or working through me,
8:40they knew he was saying that in his
8:43flesh he was the son, but in that flesh
8:48was God. And if that was the case, he
8:51wasn't just an offspring of God like we
8:55all are. He he was saying that he was
8:58God because God was in him in this way.
9:02Therefore, Jesus answered and was saying
9:04to them, "Truly I say to you, the Son
9:07can do nothing of himself unless it is
9:11something he sees the Father doing.
9:15For whatever the Father does, these
9:17things the Son also does in like manner.
9:21For the Father loves the Son and shows
9:24him all things that he himself is doing,
9:27and the Father will show him greater
9:29works than these, so that you will
9:32marvel.
9:34For just as the Father raises the dead
9:38and gives them life, even so the Son
9:41also gives life to whom he wishes.
9:45For not even the Father judges anyone,
9:47but he has given all judgment to the
9:50Son,
9:53so that all will honor the Son even as
9:57they honor the Father. He who does not
10:00honor the Son does not honor the Father
10:02who sent him. Truly, truly, I say to
10:05you, he who hears my word and believes
10:11him who sent me has eternal life and
10:15does not come into judgment, but has
10:17passed out of death into life.
10:20There's a profound insight here. Let's
10:23try to look at this carefully. There's a
10:25mystery here.
10:27Jesus is saying several critical things.
10:32First, Jesus never makes the son of God
10:36equal with the father in the sense that
10:39they are two divine persons. Jesus
10:43always makes the son subordinate because
10:46it refers to his humanity.
10:49But indwelling that humanity is God the
10:53father. It is the almighty God
10:57taking up residence in Jesus Christ. And
11:01so he says that the son in his human
11:05submission, he only does what he sees
11:08the father doing. He's in complete
11:10submission. He does not work on his own,
11:13but that he's working the works of the
11:14father. And he says he's going to do
11:16greater works. And he specifically
11:19mentions that as the father raises the
11:21dead and gives them life, even so the
11:23son also will give life to whom he
11:26wishes.
11:27For not even the father judges anyone,
11:30but he has given all judgment to the
11:32son.
11:33He's essentially saying you can't reject
11:37God's
11:39incarnated manifestation
11:42on earth as Jesus Christ and say, "Well,
11:47I'm going to be judged by the father
11:49because the father has released all such
11:53authority and power for judgment into
11:56the hands of the son." He's saying this
11:59is the father's expression of authority
12:03so that all will honor the son even as
12:06they honor the father. He who does not
12:09honor the son does not honor the father
12:11who sent him. Let's look at verse 24
12:14very carefully. Jesus says truly truly I
12:17say to you. So whenever he does that
12:19he's putting a highlighter on the verse.
12:22He wants to give us a revelation.
12:25He says, "Whoever hears my word and
12:29believes him who sent me has eternal
12:32life and does not come into judgment,
12:35separation from God, but has passed out
12:39of death into life."
12:42So I want you to picture being one of
12:46the Pharisees and seeing this carpenter
12:49from Galilee. You don't see him as we
12:52see Jesus. You don't see him as God in
12:57the flesh as he was. You just see him as
13:00a man. And he's telling them, you are
13:05stuck in the realm of death
13:08because you you're using your
13:10religiosity
13:12to reject the anointing and the grace of
13:15God that I am bringing. But you're going
13:18to get escape from that domain of death
13:22and unbelief when you can hear my words
13:26and not believe me but believe him who
13:29sent me. Basically, when you can start
13:32to perceive me not in my physical form,
13:36but as a conduit of the father in
13:38heaven, you are escaping the fleshly
13:42bonds and bounds of your human thinking,
13:46of your unbelief, and you are moving
13:49into the realm of the kingdom where you
13:52can know that God is manifesting in
13:56human form. So if a young kid comes out
13:59and says, "Kids, come help me."
14:05You know that she's just talking on her
14:07own authority. But if she comes out and
14:10say, "Kids, it's dinner time." You
14:13wonder, "Did dad tell her to come say
14:15that? Did mom send her out to say that?"
14:18You hear her words and believe the one
14:21who sent her. Does that make sense? So
14:24you get past the barrier of the physical
14:28representation and you perceive the
14:31supernatural
14:32and the spiritual that is behind Jesus
14:35in to to stretch that metaphor backward.
14:38He's saying you need to be able to hear
14:40my words and believe him who sent me and
14:43that's going to get you out of the realm
14:46of death and into life. Then he says
14:48this which is very tied to it. Truly,
14:51truly, again, he wants us to listen.
14:54Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is
14:57coming, and now is
15:00when the dead will hear the voice of the
15:03Son of God, and those who hear will
15:07live.
15:09He's certainly talking about
15:10resurrection here.
15:13Lazarus is going to be raised up. We're
15:14going to be raised up on the last day.
15:16But he's not just talking about
15:18resurrection because he said in the
15:20previous chapter that if the Pharisees
15:22could hear his word and believe in him
15:24who sent him, they would pass out of
15:26death. So they're in death. They're in
15:30this dead life. They're in this dead
15:34existence
15:36that can only come alive and be animated
15:40once they start hearing and believing
15:42that God is speaking to them through
15:44Jesus in human form.
15:47So he says, "Truly, truly I say to you,
15:49an hour is coming and now is when the
15:51dead will hear the voice of the son of
15:53God and those who hear will live. If you
15:56don't hear the voice of the Son of God,
15:59you're going to stay dead. For just as
16:02the father has life in himself, even so
16:04he gave to the son also to have life in
16:07himself, and he gave him authority to
16:10execute judgment because he is the son
16:12of man.
16:15Jesus has authority because of his
16:18humanity. You say, "How is that so?"
16:22Well, when God created the world, he
16:25placed it under the dominion of men.
16:28The heavens, the heavens, these are the
16:30lords, but the earth he has given to the
16:32sons of men. Psalms 115 says, "You made
16:36him ruler over all the works of your
16:38hands and crowned him with glory."
16:40Psalms 108 says,
16:43"Amen. He put him in dominion over
16:46everything that he made." Genesis 3
16:48tells us, right? God deed the earth to
16:54humankind. So he had to come in the mode
16:58and form of a human being
17:02but filled with the almighty God in
17:05order as a human and as God to do what
17:09had to be done in working redemption.
17:13He gave him authority to execute
17:14judgment because he is the son of man.
17:17Do not marvel at this, for an hour is
17:20coming in which all who are in the tombs
17:22will hear his voice and will come forth.
17:26Those who did the good deeds to a
17:28resurrection of life, those who
17:29committed the evil deeds to a
17:30resurrection of judgment. And you say
17:33deeds? Where does this come from? But
17:36where did we start? We started with a
17:39conflict over the Sabbath healing where
17:41they thought he was committing works
17:43when he should have been ceasing from
17:45works. And he told them, "No, I'm only
17:47working as my father is working." So the
17:50good deeds that Jesus is talking about
17:52here is not dog goodism. It's not the
17:55self-righteous deeds of filthy rags.
17:58He's saying that we like him in our
18:02small measure have got to cease from our
18:05works. We've got to be able to say, "I
18:07do nothing of my own initiative, but the
18:10works I do, I do by the power of God."
18:12when he speaks to me at the pool and
18:14says get up and walk or do this or do
18:17that, he says those who did the good
18:19deeds to a resurrection of life and
18:21those who did the evil deeds to a
18:23resurrection of judgment. And then he
18:25says exactly what he said earlier after
18:27the healing. I can do nothing on my own
18:31initiative.
18:32So the good deeds are not in our
18:35initiative. They're not deeds we choose
18:37for ourselves. They're the works
18:38prepared before the foundation of the
18:40world that we should walk in. I can do
18:43nothing on my own initiative. As I hear
18:46I judge and my judgment is just because
18:48I do not seek my own will but the will
18:52of him who sent me. So the evil deeds
18:55are seeking our own will whether
18:57religious or unreligious.
19:00Whether pious looking or secular looking
19:04whatever is of our own choosing our own
19:07will that's the evilness. Whatever
19:09deprivives God of his ownership over our
19:12existence, that's the evil deeds. But
19:15when we walk in the grace of good works,
19:19then it's a grace of imitation. As we
19:22see, we act. As we hear, we judge. And
19:26we're not seeking our own will, but the
19:28will of him who sent us. [snorts]
19:31If I alone testify about myself, my
19:34testimony is not true. There is another
19:37who testifies of me and I know that the
19:39testimony which he gives about me is
19:42true.
19:44You have sent to John and he has
19:46testified the truth. But the testimony
19:49which I receive is not from man, but I
19:52say these things so that you may be
19:54saved. He was the lamp. John was the
19:58lamp. He was the lamp that was burning
20:01and was shining. and you were willing to
20:04rejoice for a while in his light. So
20:07he's saying, I appreciate that John has
20:09spoken well of me and John was a lamp
20:12and you were willing to rejoice for a
20:14short while in his light, but then it it
20:17became too exposing of your sin. So you
20:20put that light out, too. But he says,
20:22the real testimony that I have is more
20:24than that. The testimony that I that
20:27Jesus had was the witness of the
20:30almighty spirit of God that was with him
20:33as he worked.
20:36But the testimony which I have is
20:37greater than the testimony of John. For
20:40the works which the father has given me
20:41to accomplish, the very works that I do,
20:45they testify about me that the father
20:47has sent me.
20:50So these are the deeds we've got to walk
20:52in where Jesus says, "Let your light,
20:57not the light of John that shone for a
20:59little while and then vanished, but let
21:01your light so shine before men that they
21:04may see your good works and glorify your
21:07father in heaven." Those are the the
21:10deeds that testify about Jesus. There is
21:14a way to enter in to the grace of God.
21:17To love with his anointing, to speak as
21:21his grace provides, as Peter tells us,
21:25to serve with his energy, to move in his
21:29inspiration, where God gets the credit
21:32for what we do, where we can say with
21:34Jesus, it will not be you speaking, but
21:36my father that is in you giving you what
21:39to say and how to say it. And the father
21:41who sent me, he has testified of me. You
21:45have neither heard his voice at any time
21:47nor seen his form. What is the father's
21:50form?
21:51God, the father is spirit. The father's
21:54form is Jesus. But they don't see it.
21:58And this dialogue in chapter 5 is going
22:01to continue for the next 10 chapters as
22:04Jesus wrestles with them over his
22:08incarnation, the father's incarnation in
22:11and through him. You do not have his
22:14word abiding in you for you do not
22:16believe him whom he sent.
22:21Why do they not believe in him who whom
22:23they sent? He says you do not have his
22:26word living in you.
22:28The word of God is living and powerful.
22:31The word of God is not an idea. The word
22:33of God is not a thought only. The word
22:36of God is not a principle or a truism.
22:40The word of God is spirit. The sword of
22:44the spirit is the word of God. Right? So
22:47his word is not living in them. Listen
22:49to the very next thing he tells them.
22:51Verse 39. You search the scriptures. He
22:55says you don't have the word of God in
22:56you. Next verse. You search the
22:59scriptures because you think that in
23:02them you have eternal life. It is these
23:06that testify about me and you are
23:10unwilling to come to me so that you may
23:13have life. So they they were actually
23:16clinging to their Bibles but refusing to
23:19accept the anointing that was coming to
23:21them through Jesus.
23:24They were using their Bibles as a shield
23:26and defense to avoid accountability to
23:30the God whose presence had incarnated
23:34itself in this man called Jesus.
23:40I do not receive glory from men, but I
23:42know you that you do not have the love
23:45of God in yourselves.
23:48I have come in my father's name, and you
23:50do not receive me. If another comes in
23:53his own name, you will receive him. You
23:56like people who come in the flesh with
23:58good ideas, with brilliance. You like
24:01people who come in their own authority
24:02and name. But if somebody comes and
24:05says, "This is God." Oh, you don't like
24:07that. You don't want anybody to come in
24:10and say, "Today, this scripture is
24:12fulfilled in your hearing." You want to
24:14keep God objectified and distant, locked
24:17in the pages [music] of your study. You
24:20don't want him to break into your world
24:22with an anointing and a discernment that
24:26brings his authority into the here and
24:27now.
24:30How can you believe [music] when you
24:32receive glory from one another and you
24:36do not seek the glory that is from the
24:38one and only God?
24:41Do not think that I will accuse you
24:44before the father. The one who accuses
24:47you is Moses in whom you have set your
24:50hope.
24:51For if you believed Moses, you would
24:53believe me, for he wrote about me.
24:57But if you do not believe his writings,
24:59how will you believe my words? So he's
25:02saying, even the scriptures that you
25:04think [music] are your protection from
25:06me,
25:07they testify about me, but you don't
25:10believe them. You just believe anything
25:12that secures your authority, your own
25:16independence and self-sufficiency apart
25:18[music] from God. He was trying to break
25:22them out of a death trap
25:26of human religiosity devoid of the
25:29spirit of God.
25:31And if they could have started to let
25:33their hearts be burned and bear witness
25:36and acknowledgement to God's presence,
25:39God's voice in human form, they would
25:42have escaped death and moved into life.
25:45their tomb of religiosity would have
25:48been opened and they would have come
25:50forth. He said they were they were tombs
25:53full of dead men's bones. They had the
25:56bones [music] of religion. They had the
25:58the fragments and the the old corpse
26:02detreatus of truth, but they didn't have
26:05the breath of God. They didn't have the
26:08love of God inside of them. And so they
26:10were in constant [music] conflict with
26:13the authority of Jesus that was moving
26:15through the Holy Spirit.
26:24[music]

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