God Manifest in the Flesh
A Sermon on John 5:17-23
Originally preached Feb. 2, 1958
Scripture
17¶ But Jesus answered them, My Father worketh hitherto, and I work. 18Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill him, because he not only had broken the sabbath, but said also that God was his Father, making himself equal with God. 19Then answered Jesus and said …
Sermon Description
Why is it absolutely essential to believe in Jesus? In this message on John 5:37–39 titled “God Manifest in the Flesh,” Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones considers the essential question of why one must believe in Jesus for salvation. This seems like an odd question, even one with an obvious answer. Yet the Pharisees, along with many today, zealously believe in God but never mention or acknowledge Jesus Christ. The Pharisees had just witnessed a powerful miracle but they completely overlook it because they did not believe in Jesus. According to them, in performing this miracle, Jesus had broken the Sabbath. He had broken God’s law which the Pharisees were dedicated to protect and confront Jesus about working on the Sabbath. Jesus responds, “My Father is working until now, and I am working.” Jesus responds by making himself equal with God, fully divine, fully a part of the triune God. Believing in Jesus and His identity as God in the flesh is essential to salvation and knowing God. The Pharisees ardently profess belief in God, but respond to Jesus with a further desire to kill Him. It is in the midst of this profound rejection of Jesus that Dr. Lloyd-Jones offers reasons why it is essential to believe in Jesus.
Sermon Breakdown
- Jesus is claiming to be one with God in essence and being. He says "My Father and I". No one before him ever dared to say that.
- Jesus says that everything God does, he does also. "My Father worketh hitherto, and I work". They are one in work and operation.
- Jesus says that he can do nothing of himself but what he seeth the Father do. They are one in will.
- Jesus says the Father shows him all things that he himself doeth. They are one in knowledge and purpose.
- Jesus came to reveal the Father, to glorify the Father and to enable us to honor the Father.
- Jesus came to give us life so that we can know and honor God. We need life to know God.
- The Father has committed all judgment unto the Son. Jesus is the judge and ruler of the world. Our relationship to him determines our judgment.
- There is a final judgment of the whole world to come. We will be judged based on whether we believed in Jesus.
- We must believe in Jesus because of who he is, what he came to do and what he will yet do.
Sermon Q&A
Questions and Answers from Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones' Sermon on John 5:17-23
What is the main message of John 5:23 according to Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones?
According to Dr. Lloyd-Jones, the main message of John 5:23 is that the Lord Jesus Christ is absolutely essential, and it is impossible to truly honor God the Father without honoring the Son. As he quotes from verse 23: "That all men should honor the Son even as they honor the Father. He that honoreth not the Son honoreth not the Father which hath sent him." Lloyd-Jones emphasizes that "there is nothing that is more useless and vain and futile than to think that you can believe in God and please him without the Lord Jesus Christ."
How does Dr. Lloyd-Jones describe people who claim to believe in God but reject Christ?
Dr. Lloyd-Jones describes them as people who "claim to be believers in God, God fearing, that they're religious people," yet "never mention the name of the Lord Jesus Christ at all." He explains they often say things like: "I've always tried to live a good life. I've tried to do my best. I've tried to give a helping hand." When asked about their sins, they typically respond: "We believe God is a God of love, and we believe that in his love he'll be ready to forgive us if we repent." Lloyd-Jones compares them to the Jews in the passage who claimed to honor God while rejecting Jesus.
What claims does Jesus make about His relationship with the Father in this passage?
Dr. Lloyd-Jones identifies several claims Jesus makes about His relationship with the Father: 1. They are one in essence or being - "My Father and I" 2. They are one in work - "My father worketh hitherto and I work" 3. They are one in will - "The Son can do nothing of himself but what he seeth the Father do" 4. They are one in knowledge and purpose - "The Father loveth the Son and showeth him all things that himself doeth" All these claims demonstrate that Jesus is "co-equal, co-eternal with the Father of the same substance, sharing the life of God in all its fullness, glory and majesty."
Why did Jesus come into the world according to the sermon?
According to Dr. Lloyd-Jones' exposition, Jesus came to: 1. Reveal the Father - "I have come to reveal God" 2. Glorify the Father 3. Enable us to honor the Father 4. Give life to those who are spiritually dead - "He has come into this world to give life to people who are spiritually dead" 5. Carry out the Father's plan of redemption 6. Save what was lost - "The Son of man is come to seek and to save that which is lost"
What does Dr. Lloyd-Jones say about trying to understand the doctrine of the Trinity?
Dr. Lloyd-Jones states emphatically that we are not meant to fully understand the doctrine of the Trinity. He says: "I am not asking you to understand what I'm going to say. I don't understand it myself, and I'll go further. I'm not meant to understand it. Neither are you. If I could understand this doctrine, I'd be equal to God." He cautions against trying to understand what cannot be understood, calling it "the madness of the human race." Instead, he advocates that "we believe it. We receive it... We bow before the mystery and the marvel and the glory of it all."
What does Dr. Lloyd-Jones mean by Jesus "quickening" people?
Dr. Lloyd-Jones explains that "to quicken means to give life." He notes that Jesus was referring partly to physical life (raising people from the dead like Lazarus), but more importantly to spiritual life. He explains: "Before we can know God and honor God, we must have something of God in us... We are spiritually dead. Dead in trespasses and sins. Before we can know God and honor God, we must have something of God in us." This quickening is giving eternal life to those who are spiritually dead, enabling them to know God.
How is judgment related to Christ according to the sermon?
Dr. Lloyd-Jones identifies three aspects of judgment related to Christ: 1. Christ has authority over governance and rule - "The government is upon his shoulders" 2. Christ's coming into the world is itself a judgment - "He's already dividing men" between those who believe and those who don't 3. Christ will execute the final judgment - "God hath committed all judgment unto the Son" The sermon emphasizes that our relationship to Christ - whether we believe in Him or not - is itself the basis of judgment.
Why should people believe in Jesus Christ according to Dr. Lloyd-Jones?
Dr. Lloyd-Jones gives three main reasons to believe in Jesus Christ: 1. Because of who He is - the eternal Son of God, the second person of the Trinity 2. Because of what He came to do and has done - giving life, revealing the Father, saving the lost 3. Because of what He will yet do - judge the world and govern it Lloyd-Jones concludes that Jesus "is the only way to God. But thank God, he is the way."
The Book of John
Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones
Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones (1899-1981) was a Welsh evangelical minister who preached and taught in the Reformed tradition. His principal ministry was at Westminster Chapel, in central London, from 1939-1968, where he delivered multi-year expositions on books of the bible such as Romans, Ephesians and the Gospel of John. In addition to the MLJ Trust’s collection of 1,600 of these sermons in audio format, most of these great sermon series are available in book form (including a 14 volume collection of the Romans sermons), as are other series such as "Spiritual Depression", "Studies in the Sermon on the Mount" and "Great Biblical Doctrines". He is considered by many evangelical leaders today to be an authority on biblical truth and the sufficiency of Scripture.