The Father & Son Have Life
Communion Fellowship Church Podcast
John 5:18-29 (November 17, 2024)
So, if you would please turn to your Bibles to John chapter 5, I will be reading for you and preaching for you out of John chapter 5 verse 17 through 29. Here now, the word of the Lord. But Jesus answered them, "My Father is working until now, and I am working." This is why the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him, because not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God. 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, the Son does likewise. For the Father loves the Son and shows him all that he himself is doing. In greater works, then these will he show him so that you may marvel. For as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whom he will. For the Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son, 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. Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him, who sent me, has eternal life. He does not come in judgment, but has passed from death to life. Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming, and now here, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who here will live. For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself. And he has given him authority to execute judgment because he is the Son of Man. Do not marvel at this, for an hour is coming 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. Amen. And thus ends the reading of God's holy, inspired, and an errant word. May he write his eternal truth upon all our hearts. You may be seated. I have a common question for you today that you can answer just with a yes or no. We will talk a little more about it. It's a philosophical question that you may have discussed before, but I'd like to begin the sermon today thinking about it. Can God create a rock that is too heavy to lift? Kids, have you all ever had that question posed before you? Can God create a rock that is too heavy to lift? Did I hear somebody say no? Anybody want a venture for a yes? Yes. You might want to say an amen. There's an amen there. This question is designed in such a way to create a bit of a conundrum because if you look at the question, can God create a rock that is too heavy to lift? When we think about God, we think about him as creator and we know that he creates all things. That's one of the things that our children are taught in the very beginning. Who made you? God made you. God made me. He created all things. The question is what else did he make? The answer is all things. We know that God is the one who created all things. We know he's a creator, but we also know that God is all powerful. That God is a powerful God. That's a wonderful comfort that we have a God that not only creates things, but he has also power to control things. There's a conundrum here. We're kind of between a rock and a hard place with this particular question. Can he create a rock that he could not lift? Could he be so unlimited in his creative power that he could make a rock that would actually surpass his strength of being able to lift? The problem here is that there is a contradiction conflict of things that are true. In philosophy, from Aristotle, there's a law called the law of non-contradiction that a statement cannot be true and false, that it can't work because God cannot do something that would go against himself. Here we cannot have a reasonable understanding of something surpassing the very thing that we are proclaiming in the question itself that God is God. Just to go a little further, the law of non-contradiction is really simple. If I say that we had a cat come in here, or maybe even easier, if you leave today as a possibility that there'll be a what kind of animal is outside kids usually waiting on us? Turkey. Remember to be praying for Turkey by the way. I didn't mention that during our prayer time. Remember to continue to be praying for the country of Turkey. We leave here and we see a turkey. We cannot say that is a turkey and it is not a turkey. The contradicts itself. Those things can't exist. If it's a turkey, it can only be one or the other. The rules of non-contradiction is that number one rule that Aristotle came up with. It is impossible for the same thing to belong and not belong at the same time to the same thing in the same respect. So it can't be not a turkey and a turkey at the same time. Number two, it is impossible to hold. Suppose the same thing to be, and not to be, which is really just a redundant way to saying the first thing. And then lastly, the most certain of all basic principles is that a contradictory propositions are not true simultaneously. You can't have contradictions of what is a fact. Now there are certain things that we have to understand in the light of context with logic. There is a perspective proposition or a context that we understand. Like if you have somebody in one part of the country and they're on the phone talking to another person, then they say it's raining. And the other person may say it's not raining. Well, those sound like contradictive type statements, but the context of where they're at still makes them both true. Do y'all follow me here? I think, man, this is supposed to be a sermon, not a logic class, right? And it's also the fallacy of equiviation, which means that, like for instance, if I said a feather is light, a light feather, but it was a black feather, like a turkey feather outside, and I said, "Well, the feather is dark." You can say, "Wait a minute, you just said the feather is light and the feather is dark." Well, you're making things equivalent to that are not equivital. Was that even a word? Equivital? Equivocal. There we go. I'm just not pronouncing it correctly. We know that the word that I'm using is light having to do with its weight and its mass versus its color. And so we have to have the right kind of distinctions of definitions. We can't equiviate things or make equal things that are not meant to be. There's a purpose in all this rambling about philosophy here because the very debate and question that we're coming into here that Jesus is giving an answer is playing with an understanding of right logic. In Job 42.2, we know that God can do all things and know that no purpose of his can be thwarted. So what we have here is we understand a particular character about God, but he can do all things, but there's a contextual definition of what all things is. We know that also that in Titus 1, 2, that God never lies. So we know that it's not that God can do all things, including lying and being sinful, because he can do all things according to his purposes. So it's going to be within the context of who he is in his character. We know in Romans 8, 28, it says, and we know that for those who love God, all things work together for good. For those who are called according to his purpose, that God's actions of what he is doing, the sovereignty of God, we can have a certain kind of perspective that is true and have a confidence and comfort that all things are for the good of those who are called according to his purposes. If someone is a non-believer, if someone who is a rubber bait, if we even see here in the very end of this particular segment, that there's going to be a resurrection of everyone, but that for some, a resurrection of judgment, well, it's not going to be for their good, because they're not called for the purposes of the resurrection of life. And so someone who may say, "Whoo, I'm so no matter what happens, I've heard the saying that all things are for the good, that no matter what happens, it's all good. What needs to be in the context of the purposes of God?" So this is just create a foundation for us, that when it comes to God, that yes, he is limitless in regards to truth and life, in regards to his character, and we can trust that about him. So in a way, I would like to play around with that first question, can God create a rock that's too heavy to lift? Well, in some respects, can he create anything outside of his power? No, he cannot create anything that would cause him to be powerless. He is all powerful. The answer would be no, but can God ordain a circumstance in which he is limited to act in such a way? And the answer would be yes. He could ordain a circumstance where he would not lie or cheat or sin, or be anything apart from the epitome of all truth and all life. So in some ways, there can be a way to ask that question that the answer would be yes, he could not ordain a circumstance in which he would not be limited by the own character of who he is. So how is this connected to the Sabbath? Well, continuing on with the whole philosophical way of thinking right now, there was a Greek-speaking Jew named Philo, and not to be confused with philosophy and Philo. I was kind of thinking, oh, I wonder if they gave him that name. Does anybody know what the word philosophy means? The love of wisdom in a way, it could be not just philosophy, it could be follow Sophia. And I love Sophia. So I love wisdom. I also love my daughter Sophia, because the word Sophia means wisdom. And so you can see there, Philo is love and Sophia is wisdom, so philosophy, the love for wisdom, not to be confused with Philo doe. Now, you want to think, oh, yes, immediately where I went this morning, as I was getting hungry, I was thinking about, well, Philo doe, I love doe. No, it's not the right word. It's not the same thing. It's not Philo and meaning love. It's Philo the Greek word for leaf, so it's leaf though, but I do love Philo doe. So he only ever want to do any Philo doe at covered dishes. That would be great. But anyway, Philo was having a conversation, and he denies that God has ever ceased working his creation. He has always been at work. He upholds all things. And so he is always at work, even in creation, when he created the Sabbath, and it said that he rested, he was able to rest on the seventh day while continuing to uphold and work. He never ceased. If he would have ceased working, all things would collapse, right? He upholds everything by his own power. And so God is able to not only create the Sabbath, to work during the Sabbath, but actually fulfill ultimately the Sabbath. And this kind of thinking was actually amongst the Pharisees. They were not just a bunch of hard-nosed legalists. We tend to think of the Pharisees as just kind of being bumbling. And for what it's worth, you should know that this is given to us often in this word. When we look at the Pharisees, we need to be doing some self-reflection. It's not meant to be like automatic comparison. Man, whose guys aren't good yet. Oh, I mean, we're supposed to actually see how we are often like Pharisees ourselves. They were smart men, and they would have been thinking this kind of way, too. And so they had the wall in their mind, and there was a debate that John is not necessarily dealing with in a broader way in this passage, but there was this sentiment that we can see throughout all of the gospels. That was a big hang-up for the Pharisees was this whole thing of doing things on the Sabbath. The Sabbath was a very focal point of God's law for them. And also blasphemy was, too. And Jesus is not questioning them or confronting them about their thinking about the Sabbath or being serious about the Sabbath or being serious about blasphemy. What he's actually going to come and focus on is that they don't understand the nature of what they're serious about, both the nature of the Sabbath and both about the nature of who God is and who He is. They did not understand the Sabbath, even though they were serious about it. There's nothing wrong with being serious, but they did not understand it. There's nothing wrong with them being serious about blasphemy, but they did not understand the character of God. And so, therefore, they did not understand Jesus. And so they had a circumstance where there was a conundrum of a question. Can this one both claim that He can do healing on the Sabbath and claim to be God? What is going on here? He's breaking all of the laws that we hold so tightly, too. And in verse 17, Jesus gives the answer. He says, "My Father is working until now, and I am working." He could have said, and it could be read in another way, "My Father is working to this very day, and I am working." It's not a matter of chronological explanation. He's not telling them. It was like, "Okay, my Father was doing everything, and now I'm going to do everything." What He was making, He was making an equivocation of Himself with God by saying, "My Father has always been working. It's impossible for the Creator and the sustainer of an all-powerful God not to be doing some kind of a holding work at all times." And that's what I'm doing, too. I'm doing the very purposes of the work of what created not only in maintaining creation, but also actually fulfilling the very purposes of Sabbath. And so in verse 18, they saw all the more to kill Him because He was saying what He thought they were saying. And what He meant when He said it was that He is God. Jesus made this sermon easy for me today in which He created again for me three points. And those three points are the three truly, truelies. And you can actually look at it this way. Three truly, truelies, and the first truly, truly has four fours. And you'll follow me here. I mean, this guy is really throwing me for a loop today. So three truly, truelies in the first one having four fours. The first truly, truly highlights in verse 19, that the Son can do nothing but what the Father does. All right? So we automatically see here that there's a limitation being proclaimed that Jesus is saying, I can only do. I'm not even going to do things with my own accord. I'm not buying myself. I'm not disconnected away from God. The Father, I'm actually only capable of doing the very things that my Father does. So He's making that equality that equation or making it equivocal, that He is one in the same with the Father. And so the first four, they're in verse 19, and it says that truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of His own accord, but only what He sees His Father doing for whatever the Father does, the Son does likewise. So His first statement in saying that my Father is working until now, and I am working, He is saying that I'm going to do the very thing that my Father is doing. And so I am limited to doing that. My character is going to also exude from the very character of who my Father is. And that's the first four, is that the Son does what the Father does. The second four there in verse 20, it says, "For the Father loves the Son and shows Him all that Him Himself is doing." We see here that by the love and the purpose of the Father, He is showing His Son. He shows Him His purposes. He has revealed to Him the purposes, and therefore the revelation of His purposes that is exuding from His love is going to be happening also in His Son. It says, "In greater works than these will He show Him so that you may marvel." The second four, verse 20, we see that because of the love and the purpose of the Father, He will show His Son the purposes, and He will do this work in His Son, but then what He brings us into this particular activity by saying, "So that we may marvel." Kids, have you ever heard of the word marvel? No, you never heard of the word. Where would you have heard in the secular world the word marvel? Anybody have a guess? I know that you are just wanting to say it. Superheroes, right? Well, the reason why they named that comic run, it marvel is because people would marvel at the great works that these superheroes do. Did you even think about that? That the West by the word marvel is there. It's because they were marvelous. They were amazing. They did these great works. Well, God is much more marvelous, and He actually likes it when His people marvel at Him even more than Sam Lee wants us to marvel at His cartoons. And it says here that because of the love and the purposes of the Father, the works, the greater works that He will do in His Son, the purposes of that lead to His people marveling at Him. Being amazed, being revealed at His power, in His greatness, believing, trusting, being comforted by that power that exudes from the character of love of the Father. So the third four, in verse 21 there, we see that another attribute of God is that He gives life. He raises from the dead, and He says that He will give this to the Son. And we know that He does so in the resurrection. And then we see here that only does He, God the Father, give life and give even resurrected life, not only is He the creator of life, and the one that can bring forth the dead into life. He is given that to His Son specifically, but also given the power and authority for His Son to do the same for His people. So what we see here is this flow that as Jesus is explaining to the Pharisees that I and the Father have won, that what the Father is doing, I am doing, this is who the Father is, and this is who I am, now He is giving it to the church. And He said the purposes of the Father's love and the works in which He does is to draw people to attention to marvel and believe who He is. He wants to bring us into this. And He is going to also bring life, not just the life that He's given you to have to breathe with your lungs, but to bring you out of death and despair. This power has been given to the Son. We then catch this verse, the fourth four in verse 22 through 23. We see here that, and this is a very interesting thing, it says that the Father does not judge. He's given that authority to His Son, that His Son is going to be the judge. And what's the purpose of giving Jesus this authority of judgment? So that we may honor Jesus as God. Now let's stop and take a moment here and try to understand this. So Jesus' first point of this sermon is that I can do nothing but what the Father is doing. So He is connecting Himself to the character and the activity of God the Father. And that's going to be exuding with love and purpose so that we may believe. And so that we may believe and that we may have resurrected life. And then in the fourth point of this first of this first point is that He has given him this power and authority of judgment so that we may honor the Son as we would honor the Father. Now one of the things that is usually accepted amongst all human beings, unless you're just kind of in a fog of atheism or agnosticism, is that people understand by their created nature that there is a right and wrong. We don't always live according to that and typically we do not because of our corrupted nature, but we know that there's a difference between right and wrong. And we know that there should be judgment for doing what is wrong. It's not a hard thing to have a conversation with most people and it's not a hard thing to have a conversation with people who are struggling. They get judgment. But the amazing thing that we're seeing developed here as Jesus is explaining is that for us to understand the judgment of the Father, and we would often think about the Father being the God of the judgment of people who break the law. We read the Old Testament and go yes, God judges those who sin against Him. It's very clear. But what He's actually saying here is that for us to understand judgment, not only is it connecting us to the character of God, we have to understand judgment in light of Jesus because He's the one who has been given the role in the responsibility of exuding judgment so people may see Him. So what you ultimately understand is you get to know Jesus throughout all of the gospel and the proclamation of His Word. You cannot, now this is something you got to get today. This is the highlight and point of my sermon. You cannot understand judgment apart from grace if you understand judgment in its fullness. Because if you understand judgment just to be punishment for sin, you don't know who Jesus is. You don't see the full picture. You don't understand who is the one who is going to actually exude judgment. You only have a shadow or a portion of understanding of judgment. To fully understand judgment, it's impossible to understand judgment apart from understanding Jesus. And if you understand who Jesus is, you will begin to automatically see in what He's already saying that the love of God, that the purpose of God, the drawing of marveling and causing people to believe in Him is so that He may give grace to those who believe. I want you to hold on to this question in your head. Do you understand God's judgment in light of grace? Because I need a lot of people, particularly Christians who are struggling, a lot of times they've got it down. God doesn't want me to do this. I'm being punished for this. This is wrong and it's going to be bad. It's going to go really bad for me. Well, if you have a biblical, you know, a lot of times I'll throw passages at me and say, well, look, God tells us to do this, to cut us off, to do this, to do that. And He's going to punish people. There's going to be hell. There's all of these things that the Word of God says. It's like, do you see inside of all of this that this is do all of us. Everyone deserves this judgment. And if you're going to go to God's Word, if you're going to go to the Old Testament and the New Testament and you're going to highlight and say, well, okay, God is the God. He is a judge. He is creator. He is all powerful. And one of his characters is that he judges against sin. The argument that's being made here is that you can't get to a full understanding of judgment unless you understand that it is embodied in my son. And if we understand who the son is, we will understand that he was sent solely for the purpose so that people might believe and be given resurrected life. So if somebody starts throwing out scripture about how much God is going to judge, you say, keep going, brother. Keep going, sister. Keep going, friend. Keep going, stranger. The Word of God also proclaims that the judge came to die for sinners. So the very one that you're talking about, that the Father has given the role of judging, he came to die. You're giving an incomplete understanding of judgment if you don't talk about Jesus. And so here in this context of this problem is you can't understand the Sabbath without understanding the life of the Father and the Son. You can't truly understand why God created the law of the Sabbath. If you don't understand the very character and nature and the purpose of who God is, that he created the Sabbath out of the love that he has for the Son and for the people, John 3 16, for God so loved the world, that he gave this Son. The whole purpose of Sabbath exudes from his love and purpose of drawing people to understand his resurrected life and rest. You can't understand Sabbath without understanding the mercy and the resurrection of God. What Jesus is getting at here is that you don't understand the Sabbath, you don't understand who God is, because you're so called up and people who break the Sabbath and so call up on people who are blasphemous, you don't understand that the Sabbath's purpose is resurrected life and rest in him. And you're so called up in the blasphemy of somebody claiming to be God and you don't realize that the very essence of God, the very person of God, the very second part, a person of the Trinity of God, which they couldn't have understood that I don't think in the fullness that we can even understand it to this day, is right there before them and he's doing the very thing that his work is giving Sabbath rest, that he's fulfilling, that his work is rest for his people. They're not getting that and they can't get that without the grace of God. Jesus' second point of this sermon, the second truly, truly is in verse 24, which highlights for us that whoever hears and believes the word of Christ has eternal life. All of these things that have been exuding from the Father that is landing in the Son, that if we believe these things, if we hear these things, that that allows us to enter into the very blessing in character and rest that Christ is accomplishing. We know by the point we get here that we all face that judgment, we all do that judgment. There is no hope in ourselves, but if we believe the word of Christ, if we believe what he is saying about himself and what he is teaching us about Sabbath, we have eternal life, that we do not come into judgment in death like verse 24 says, that Jesus is not going to bestow upon us his judgment, he's going to bestow upon us the life that the Father gave him, resurrected life. And then the third truly, truly, there in verse 25, we see that by the power of the word, and I'm going to say in the spirit, the dead is raised. Verse 24, we have eternal life. Verse 25, we have resurrected life. That those who are dead will live when they hear the words of Jesus. They will receive rest from death. They will receive the victory of the battle one. How can I know that I can impute upon this particular verse the spirit? Well, John 6, 3, which we haven't got to yet, but we did have John chapter 3 that we know that the spirit gives life. We know that in John chapter 3 that we must be born of the spirit to be able to have life. And so here we see word and spirit working in dead people that resurrect their lives. What we see here is the proclamation of Jesus that by the word and spirit, all of us who are due judgment for our sin can have life by the power of the word and spirit. And so Jesus goes to reiterate that. Actually, there is a fifth four that I didn't highlight here. It's actually the finale of this sermon is there in verse 26 through 29. We see this this other four. It says for that as the Father has life in himself, so he's granted the Son also to have life in himself. And he has given him authority to execute judgment because he is the Son of Man. Now by that time the Pharisees have just got to be born because they know Daniel and they know what is said in Daniel. They're like, oh my goodness, he has lost his mind. He just caught himself, the Son of Man. And we know that he's saying that he's the Messiah, that he's going to be bringing all things to an end, that he's the the victor of God's people. He just claimed to be the Son of Man. Yeah, he did. But then in verse 28, he says, do not marvel at this. This is interesting. It's like, wait a minute, he wants us to marvel. And we should marvel at the Son of Man coming and bringing a complete judgment upon all of God's enemies and bring him renewal and promises to his people. But what he's saying is like, don't marvel at this, but marvel at this hour is coming when all who are in tombs will hear his voice. He is going to bring everybody back to life. There is going to be, through his power, he is going to bring everyone to a resurrected state. But in verse 29, for those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and to those who have done evil, to the resurrection of judgment. Now that particular verse taken out of the context of everything else that we see in this particular passage may say, all right, well, there we go. That's, that's what I thought. I have not done good. I have done evil. We're all done. Well, the sermons over, guys, we're all toast, right? What is he saying here? Have we been listening? That the Father has given all of these things to his son, and he has given the authority to his son to give life to whomever he chooses. And if you believe that, if you believe in this Jesus, who is claiming to be the son of man, the son of God, the Messiah, the one who has come, who is equal with God, who we now know from the end of John, the book of John, he is the resurrection and the life. John chapter 11 says in verse 25 through 26, "I am the resurrection and the life whoever believes in me, though he dies, he shall live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?" It's all right there. He does it right there as he brings, he's getting ready to bring Lazarus from the dead, and he's proclaiming, he's like, "I'm just showing you this sign for you to marvel so that you may believe." And in a sense, he could have added on, because I'm going to raise Lazarus from the dead right now, so you can see my power, so you can be amazed, so you can be in awe and say that you can believe who I am. But you know what? Don't marvel at me raising Lazarus from the dead, all of you, every one of you, that even if you die, if you believe in me, you shall never die. An eternal life of being with the Father. Verse 27 tells us that Jesus has the authority of judgment because he's the son of man, but verse 28 tells us that he has the power of resurrection that by his voice, by his words, by the Spirit, we can marvel into eternal life and believe. You can receive forgiveness of all of our sins, because we can't have life and still have sins bestowed upon us, and judgment bestowed upon us. It says that Jesus' authority allows us to go from death into life, and always he's going to raise our bodies, he's going to raise our soul into eternal perfection in him. When we see that, we understand that. Verse 29, it says, "Those who have done good to the resurrection of life, we understand that it is Jesus who has done good, and Jesus is giving that goodness to us, and that if we believe in him, we're holding on to his goodness in righteousness, and not our own." In John chapter 6, as Jesus was telling them about being the bread, and that they must feed on him, and the disciples were like, "Jesus, what are you talking about? You're telling us that we need to eat you? This is all very confusing to us. You're telling us that we can have eternal life if we eat you, and he's responding to them, and he's talking about who he is, and he calls himself the Son of Man again, and he says, "What if you saw the Son of Man ascending back where he came from?" He's basically saying the same thing. "I've always been with the Father. What if you see one? I am the Son of Man. What if you see me raise up and ascend to where I came from? Do you understand that it is the Spirit who gives life? The flesh is no help at all. The words I have spoken to you are Spirit and life. "Life resides with the Father. Life resides with the Son. Life resides with the Holy Spirit. He is the giver of life." And just as a side note, that's where the Council of Nicaea gets their explanation of the Holy Spirit that's being the giver of life there is in John chapter 6, 63. "That the very purposes and love of God the Father, that is bestowed upon the Son, who has also been given the power and the authority of judgment, the very purposes of everything that we are seeing here, everything that we are to be marveling at, that everything that our mind should be blown by is so that we may have life in him." I know that was certain because John tells us that's this whole point in writing this whole book. And so let's back up. Do you understand what Sabbath is? Do you understand that what Jesus is accomplishing by giving healing on the Sabbath is only a shadow, only an example, only a taste of the work that he does when he gives this eternal rest. He accomplishes Sabbath for us. That's why he loves it so much. That's why he cherishes it so much. That's why in the Old Testament it was such a big deal is that without Sabbath, without rest, without that life, without Jesus Christ, you have nothing but condemnation. And so for those who do not believe in Sabbath, those who do not hold on to Sabbath, there is nothing but judgment in eternal work and condemnation. There is no rest. All the things that God tells us not to do and all the things he tells us to do is because he wants us to marvel at his love and his rest that is residing in his Son. So do you understand what Sabbath is? Do you understand who Jesus is? Again, in the Gospel of John chapter 14 verses 12 through 14, another truly, truly I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do in greater works than these will he do. Catch what he's saying here. We just learned in chapter 5 that Jesus is going to do greater works than his Father. And here we learn in chapter 14, get what he's saying here. It says, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do in greater works than these will he do. What is he saying here? Because I'm going to the Father, the Son of Man is going to ascend. Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son, if you ask me anything in my name, I will do it. So let's go back to the beginning of the sermon. Is God saying that anything that we ask of God that he's going to do? You just said it, anything you ask, he will do. Is that what God is actually saying? Trick question, right? It's a conundrum. But what did he say? If you ask anything in my name, what does that mean in my name? Well, in his person, in his character, in his power, in his authority, whenever it says, when we pray, when we say in Jesus' name, we're saying it will be authority in the power of Jesus Christ, in the work of Jesus Christ. And everything who Jesus Christ is, if we ask Jesus anything in his power and authority, I will do it. It's basically saying that if you believe in his power and authority, and you understand the purposes of his love and his revelation to us, that when we say, "God, please forgive me," that great and amazing work that people cannot do in of themselves will be accomplished. He's not saying that you have the ability to give yourself forgiveness. He's saying that whatever you're praying that is inside of my purposes, that has to do with the resurrection of life or his people, it will be done. So when we pray, "God, bring your people unto yourself, God, forgive your people." Heavenly Father, revealed to them the assurance of their salvation, Heavenly Father, write your law upon their hearts. When we get to pray that in his name, trusting in his word, it is actually doing the work of Jesus to accomplish the furthering of his kingdom. You're doing the greatest work you can ever do when you pray his purposes in his name. Jesus is saying there in chapter 14 that you're doing something even greater than what I did. He is limited to the gospel for this season, but he is going to bestow that work just as the Father, bestow that power, bestow that character, bestow that life. He is bestowing that upon his church, and when we are praying for the salvation of his people, it will be done. That's what we need to understand, that we're not to be dormant and active. We would want to be dormant and active. We want to be active in his name. We want to be worshiping him, proclaiming him, pleading out to God that he would draw his people unto himself, and he will do it. He will do it. He's doing it, but he's doing it through us. We get to cause a marvelous act in this world by the power and the name of Jesus Christ. That's what Jesus was telling the disciples when they were saying, "When you eat of me," and they're trying to understand the Passover, and then he bestows upon them the Lord's Supper, and they're like, "So what's going on?" So here I'll come down here, and I'll say, "Okay, we're going to have a celebration feast here. Will you eat of Jesus's body? Will you drink of his cup?" This doesn't turn into his physical body. This doesn't turn into his physical blood. It's not magical, but that proclamation that we do when we come here and we eat of this, it does. He promises us that he is doing resurrected life in his people, and he is proclaiming his name unto the world and drawing people through himself, to himself, through our obedience to what he has called us to do. So when we worship him, and at a cast pray this morning, we're just trying to do what you've told us to do. We're just trying to be obedient. We're just doing what the Father told us to do. So Jesus said, "I can't do anything but. You're plenty of things we could have done today on Sunday." We have plenty of other activities, other greater speakers you could have gone and listened to. You could have slept longer. That would have been good, wouldn't it? But we can't do anything other than what the Father calls us to do. In the work that we do in proclaiming his name of the power of life and resurrection and forgiveness of sin is the greatest thing in the world that we could ever be a part of. Let us pray. Our Heavenly father we thank you