The Son

August 30, 2026 | The Son | John 5:19-47

JD Cutler

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This morning we are continuing our journey through the fifth chapter of the gospel of John.

We are going to pick up at verse 19 in the story we began last week. For a quick reminder or for those who may not have been here, here’s what has happened so far.

Jesus has come back to Jerusalem after ministering around Galilee. He enters the city from the North and as he passes the pools of Bethesda, a place where multitudes of invalids gathered under five covered porticos because it was believed the waters had a healing property for the one who could get in the water first after it was stirred by an angelic being. As we said last week, the bible is not saying that is what was happening, only that is what the people believed was happening. Among this multitude Jesus chooses one man, a man who had been an invalid for 38 years and had been at the pool for a long time. Jesus engages this man and ultimately commands him to get up, take up his bed, and go about his life only to find him in the temple a short time later and warn him of living in ongoing sin. We looked at the story under the heading More Than A Miracle last week because the miracle only sets the stage for what John is trying to show us.

The great question that the miracle forces upon those who experienced it, and upon us as we read it now, is, ‘Who is this Jesus?’

The man doesn’t know.

The religious leaders think that he is someone worthy of putting to death because he is a Sabbath violator and a blasphemer.

It really brings us to the same question Jesus presented to his disciples in one of his early interactions with them.

Who do you say that I am?

When confronted about his claim to have equality with God, Jesus fully engages the charge.

He goes on to address their understanding of His relationship to the Father. He tells them what He has come to do, what the Father has entrusted to Him, what the Father is doing through Him, and the overwhelming testimony that has been given concerning who He is.

By the end of this conversation, the problem won't be that they don't have enough evidence.

The problem will be that, despite all the evidence, they refuse to come to Him that they may have life.

Let’s read it together now.

John 5:19–47 ESV

19 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. 20 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. 21 For as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whom he will. 22 For the Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son, 23 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. 24 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. 25 “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. 26For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself. 27 And he has given him authority to execute judgment, because he is the Son of Man. 28 Do not marvel at this, for an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice 29 and come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment. 30 “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. 31 If I alone bear witness about myself, my testimony is not true. 32 There is another who bears witness about me, and I know that the testimony that he bears about me is true. 33 You sent to John, and he has borne witness to the truth. 34 Not that the testimony that I receive is from man, but I say these things so that you may be saved. 35 He was a burning and shining lamp, and you were willing to rejoice for a while in his light. 36 But the testimony that I have is greater than that of John. For the works that the Father has given me to accomplish, the very works that I am doing, bear witness about me that the Father has sent me. 37 And the Father who sent me has himself borne witness about me. His voice you have never heard, his form you have never seen, 38 and you do not have his word abiding in you, for you do not believe the one whom he has sent. 39 You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me, 40 yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life. 41 I do not receive glory from people. 42 But I know that you do not have the love of God within you. 43 I have come in my Father’s name, and you do not receive me. If another comes in his own name, you will receive him. 44 How can you believe, when you receive glory from one another and do not seek the glory that comes from the only God? 45 Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father. There is one who accuses you: Moses, on whom you have set your hope. 46 For if you believed Moses, you would believe me; for he wrote of me. 47 But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe my words?”

I want to simply walk us through Jesus’ own words about himself, the Father, and the life he came to bring. We begin this morning by looking at…

I. THE SUBMITTED WILL OF THE SON

Jesus doesn’t say, no you don’t understand, I’m not equal with the Father. Rather, he is going to explain the relationship that exists between them in the triune Godhead. Does Jesus answer all the questions we might have about his relationship to the Father? No. Why? Because the unity of the trinity is something that will always be too large for us to understand. In our created, finite ability we cannot fully wrap our mind around this concept. But here is the good news. We don’t have to. We simply have to acknowledge that the Bible teaches it and that we believe what it says.

The traditional protestant confession, as stated in the Baptist Faith and Message is…The eternal triune God reveals Himself to us as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, with distinct personal attributes, but without division of nature, essence, or being. For most of historical Christianity, that has been the confession.

While he may not answer every question we have, Jesus does give us plenty of information about how his relationship to the Father in this passage. I would argue it is one of the clearest explanations that Christ gives.

The first thing he establishes is that the Son is not acting independently.

Jesus makes three truly, truly, I say to you statements.

In Hebrew thought repetition is emphasis. To say truly, truly, or verily, verily if your reading KJV, is a way of saying, what comes next is absolutely true and is therefore important to understand.

He says, “Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing. First, as a part of the divine Godhead, Jesus is not saying that he does not possess the power to do things of his own accord. His second line helps us understand the first. The Son only does what he sees the Father doing. Jesus is emphasizing the harmony of his work and the Father’s work. He is in perfect alignment with the will of the Father because he is intimately connected to him.

The Father loves the Son and their relationship is in complete harmony. He shows the son all that he is doing.

In verse 30 Jesus says the same thing another way. He says, plainly “I can do nothing on my own.” Then he explains. As I hear, I judge. Who does he hear? The Father. Why does that matter? Because he says, “I seek not my own will but the will of him who sent me.”

Jesus, as the Son of God is not incapable of acting independently, but rather he has voluntarily submitted himself to the will of the Father as part of the eternal purpose of redemption. This submission is not forced and it does not communicate anything about value or status.

We have this idea that the one who submits is somehow lesser than the one they are submitting to. That’s a very human understanding and does not apply to the relationship of the son and the father. The Son's submission to the Father in His mission does not communicate lesser deity or lesser value. Jesus is fully God, equal in divine nature with the Father, yet He willingly submits Himself to the Father's will as the One the Father has sent.

In essence, in response to the religious leaders' accusation that He was making Himself equal to God, Jesus doesn't deny it, He articulates it. He doesn't say, ‘You misunderstood me. I am not equal with God.’ He explains what His equality with the Father means.

He is equal to God. When he said “My Father is working until now, and I am working.” he was claiming a unique equality with the Father as the Son of God.

But the reason he said it is much more important. Remember what they are accusing him of. They are accusing him of violating the Sabbath by healing a man and telling him to take up his bed, and he is saying, you don’t understand. I am simply doing what my Father is doing. I am acting on his will, not my own. In other words, your problem is not with me, it is with God the Father, whose will and work I am doing.

Talk about a gauntlet throwing moment. Jesus essentially says, everything you are upset about me doing is not only the will of God, it is the work of God. He is perfectly submitted to the Father as the only begotten Son.

Starting next week Pastor Will is going to walk us through John chapter 6. in the middle of that chapter, in a conversation with the crowd who had been fed, Jesus repeats this idea almost verbatim, changing that he seeks not his own will to I have come down from heaven not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me.

So much so, that when Jesus was facing his most difficult human moment, he prays, Luke 22:42 “42 saying, “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.””

The question becomes what has the Father sent the Son into the world to do? A question Jesus is going to answer in two parts. For the first, let’s look at what the Father has entrusted to the Son.

II. THE ENTRUSTED AUTHORITY OF THE SON

God sent the son with a purpose. In Luke 19:10 Jesus states it succinctly “10 For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.””

You might say, Pastor how does that relate to entrusted authority? And I would say, I’m glad you asked.

Let’s walk through what Jesus says in this conversation in John 5. The Father loves the son and shows him all that he himself is doing. As we have already mentioned Jesus is in perfect harmony with the Father. Not only is he perfectly submitted to the Father’s will, he perfectly knows the Father’s will. God has also given to the Son the authority to give life to whom he will. Don’t miss this. What does the Son will? What the Father wills.

Jesus is saying that the Son has authority to give life according to His will, which is the same as the Father’s will. That’s an important distinction. Jesus is the appointed life-giver, sent by the Father and acting in perfect unity with the Father.

In John 5:26 Jesus makes his equality with the Father even more explicit. As the Father has life in himself, so the Son has life in himself. In case the religious leaders were on the fence about his claims, he makes it abundantly clear, as the Father has life in Himself, so the Son has life in Himself.

What is the purpose of all of this?

Jesus is building to his claim. All judgment has been given to the Son.

There’s a parallel here that I want us to see. In the Old Testament we know that there are types and shadows of Christ. People and positions that reflect or point towards either the person or work of the Christ. Things like the high priest, the sacrificial system, the passover lamb. One of the figures that functions this way is Moses.

When God called his people out of Egypt and formed them into a nation, he entrusted Moses with judgment over his covenant people in earthly matters. Jesus has been entrusted with something infinitely greater: final judgment over all humanity.

What has he given authority to the son for? To execute judgment.

On who? Everyone.

Jesus says there is coming an hour 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.

Jesus doesn't use the phrase ‘living and dead’ here, but Scripture tells us elsewhere that He will judge both the living and the dead. When he returns, he is returning as judge.

Jesus’ point seems to be that everyone will pass under his judgment, either to resurrection of life or the resurrection of judgment. This authority has been entrusted to him by the Father as the Son. Furthermore, His judgment is perfect because He says He judges based on what He hears. From who? The Father. Because I seek not my own will but the will of him who sent me.

So in response to the religious leaders accusation that he made himself equal to God, Jesus has explained that what He is doing is in perfect harmony with the Father because He is the Son of God, whom the Father has entrusted with all authority to give life and execute judgment.

That day of judgment is coming and on that day some will be raised to everlasting life and some to everlasting judgment.

And remember what Jesus said about His purpose: He came to seek and save the lost. The One who has been entrusted with judgment is the same Son who came to save.

The Judge is coming, but before that day, the Savior has come.

The question becomes, how does a person stand before this Judge and receive everlasting life?

This is an important question, don’t you think?

These religious leaders thought they would stand before God on the basis of their outward righteousness and adherence to the law of Moses. Is that how we receive the life Christ gives? Is eternal life the reward for how well we have kept God's commandments?

Jesus says that there will be a resurrection of life for those who have done good and a resurrection of judgment for those who have done evil. And we need to be careful here: Jesus isn't teaching that we earn eternal life by accumulating enough good works. The very next thing He tells us is that the one who hears His word and believes the Father has eternal life. Rather, the works revealed at the judgment expose the reality of what a person has done with the Son. Those who have received Him will bear the fruit of that life. Those who have rejected Him will bear the fruit of that rejection.

So how do we receive this life Jesus is talking about?

Let’s see what Jesus says by looking at…

III. THE LIFE GIVEN BY THE SON

Jesus has already stated that the son has the authority to give life to whom he wills, and that his will is in perfect alignment with the Father. Everything he is doing is rooted in both what the Father is doing and what the Father has entrusted him with.

How should we respond to the Son then? Jesus says, if we honor the Father, we will honor the Son. If we do not honor the son, we do not honor the Father who sent him.

Here’s the real tension of what Jesus is revealing to these Jews. To reject and dishonor the Son is to reject and dishonor the very God they are claiming to be zealous for. They want to kill Jesus because he is violating their law and dishonoring their customs, and in doing so they are dishonoring the very God they claim to worship.

Let’s look at Jesus’ statement in verse 24 after he has established that the son is acting according to the will of the Father, that he knows the will of the Father, that he is loved by the Father, and that he has been entrusted with all judgment. This brings us to our second truly, truly statement.

24 Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life.

Hears, believes, has…

That’s the movement Jesus presents.

Whoever hears Jesus’ word and believes that the Father sent him, that one has eternal life.

Before we dig into that, let’s briefly look at what Jesus says the result of this belief is. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.

Jesus is without a doubt stating that the only way to experience eternal life is through the son. Something he makes clear over and over again.

John 14:6 “6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

John 3:16–18 “16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.” Jesus calls himself the door of the sheep, thelight of the world, the bread of life

He repeats his claim in John 3:16 in John 8:24 when he says “24 I told you that you would die in your sins, for unless you believe that I am he you will die in your sins.””

Believe He is who?

The only Son of God, whom the Father sent as the only way to reconciliation with the Father and everlasting life.

Remember the question before us is the same question before the crowd in our text. Who is this Jesus? People try to say that Jesus never claimed to be God, that he was just a great moral teacher, that he was a religious leader who stood up to the oppressive religion of his day, and all the other ways people try to reduce Jesus to something less than who He claimed to be. People have come up with all kinds of ways to reduce Jesus to something less than who He claimed to be.

But that is foolishness in light of Jesus' own words. Jesus doesn’t give us that freedom, because he repeatedly states that he and the Father are one, that he possesses things only attributable to God, and that he is the only way to experience salvation.

No, you may not like it, but you can’t deny it.

Jesus doesn't give us the option of reducing Him to merely a good teacher. His own claims won't allow it.

He claims authority to give life. He claims authority to judge all humanity. He claims equality with the Father. He claims that the Scriptures testify about Him. And He claims that eternal life is found in coming to Him.

The question isn't whether Jesus claimed something extraordinary. John 5 makes that unmistakable. The question is whether His claim is true.

If it is then believing in him is the only way to experience the life he gives.

Who can experience this life from the son?

Whosoever comes.

Listen to what Jesus tells these religious leaders in verse 40, You refuse to come to me that you may have life.

They aren't lacking Scripture. They aren't lacking testimony. They aren't lacking miracles. They aren't lacking revelation.

They refuse to come.

They, and all who follow their way, will die in their sins and ultimately be called from the grave to experience everlasting punishment because they rejected the Son of God.

But just for a moment, I know that this idea is familiar to us, but ultimately it would have been foreign to the Jews.

They rightly believed that God is one, but they had no category within their existing understanding for Jesus' claim to be the Son who is equal with the Father.

Hearing that this man was the Son of God, perfectly united with God, speaking for God, acting on behalf of God, and the only way to God, would have been a difficult thing for them to understand.

We don’t dismiss any of that. Honestly, it’s still a hard thing to understand.

But what we are about to see is that God has provided plenty of witnesses as we look at…

IV. THE WITNESSES TO THE SON

Why should these religious leaders and Jews believe that Jesus is who he said he was?

Jesus says that if he alone bore witness about who he was, my testimony is not true.

This is an interesting statement because later, in John 8, the Pharisees challenge Jesus for bearing witness about Himself and saying therefore his testimony is not true, Jesus responds “Even if I do bear witness about myself, my testimony is true, for I know where I came from and where I am going…

What is Jesus saying here then?

That he knows that they will not accept his testimony alone, because the scriptures say that two or three witnesses are needed to establish a testimony. This is not a statement about his inability to testify of himself, but rather his understanding of what they think. Which is why when the Pharisees later try to dismiss his testimony, he explains that His testimony is true because He knows where He came from and where He is going.

Here Jesus is about to walk these Jews through a series of witnesses to the son, so he begins by framing the conversation according to their terms.

He says, there is another who bears witness about me, and I know that the testimony that he bears about me is true.

Who is this other witness? John the Baptist.

What did John the Baptist say of Jesus? “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! 30 This is he of whom I said, ‘After me comes a man who ranks before me, because he was before me.’ 31 I myself did not know him, but for this purpose I came baptizing with water, that he might be revealed to Israel.” 32 And John bore witness: “I saw the Spirit descend from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him. 33 I myself did not know him, but he who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, this is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’ 34 And I have seen and have borne witness that this is the Son of God.”

If we had to boil it down to one statement, it could be this, I have seen and have borne witness that this is the Son of God. John had borne witness to the truth about Jesus, and Jesus says He is reminding them of that testimony so that they may be saved. You were willing to rejoice for a while in his light but ultimately you didn’t accept his testimony.

But, Jesus says, there is an even greater witness than John. The very works that Jesus is doing, that the Father gave him. Think about the way Nicodemus started his conversation with Jesus, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.”

Jesus opened the eyes of the blind, healed the lame, and set people free from demonic oppression over and over again. He would go on to raise the dead, walk on water, and multiply loaves of bread a fish.

Jesus says, you have the testimony of John, you have the testimony of the works I am doing, but even more than that, you have the testimony of the Father who sent me.

Verse 37- And the Father who sent me has himself borne witness about me.

Jesus could be talking about the voice from heaven that declared at his baptism, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.” But I actually think that he is talking about God the Father’s testimony in the Old Testament because he seems to specifically tie their inability to hear God’s voice even though they search the Scriptures.

The very scriptures they search to find eternal life, bear witness about Christ.

So John, the mighty works, the Father, and the scriptures. Even with all of that, Jesus says, yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life.

There wasn’t a lack of testimony and evidence that Jesus was who he said he was, that wasn’t the problem.

It was their willful refusal to believe.

Then Jesus brings perhaps the most damning witness of all to bear on these religious leaders. Moses, on whom you set your hope will be an accuser against you in that day, because if you truly believed Moses, you would believe Christ, for he wrote of me.

The religious leaders’ whole system was built around the law of Moses and their authority as teachers who sat in Moses' seat.

They saw themselves as upholding and protecting the Mosaic law. They had placed their confidence in their relationship to Moses and the law, as though their knowledge of Scripture and their religious obedience could secure their standing before God.

Jesus says, the very thing you put your trust in will one day testify against you. Moses, on whom you have set your hope, will be the very one who accuses you.

John pointed to who I am, my works point to who I am, scriptures point to who I am, Moses points to who I am.

We began this morning with the question: Who is this Jesus?

We have seen that he says that he is…

…the Son who does the Father's works.

…the Son who possesses life in Himself.

…the Son to whom the Father has entrusted all judgment.

…the Son to whom the Scriptures point.

…the Son who says to sinners, “Come to Me that you may have life.”

The question isn't whether we have enough evidence to know who Jesus is.

The question is what we will do with the testimony God has given us.

Will we come to Him and have life, or will we refuse to come?

Who do you say that he is?

If you have heard the testimony concerning Jesus and still refuse to come to Him, your problem is not that God has failed to give you sufficient testimony. Your problem is unbelief.

I pray that as we have heard from Jesus’ own words this morning concerning who he is and what he has come to do, that those who have faith in him would be strengthened, and those who have never placed their faith in him would come to him in faith.

Let us pray.