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Series: Women's Conference SMBC 1989
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Duration: 18:05
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Additional file: Transcript of sermon 365b
Women's Conference SMBC Part 2 By J. Young
For the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself, He can only do what He sees His Father doing,
because whatever the Father does, the Son also does, because He's God.
For the Father loves the Son and shows Him all things.
The two words that are used there are in the present tense, which means
God is continually showing the Son what He does.
And the Son is continually seeing what the Father does,
so that there has been, in eternity, the Father showing the Son,
and the Son seeing what the Father shows.
And then in history, the Father continues to show, and the Son continues to see.
And that which the Son sees, He shows.
So the Father shows Him everything, and the Son shows us everything.
But He tells us that this Son, who shows us what He sees the Father doing,
because the Father shows Him what He is to see,
so that His seeing shows us what we are to see in order to know God,
that there is between the Father and Son an eternal relationship of love.
So He uses the expression, the Father loves the Son.
There is a loving relationship.
So you see, when we live in here, and today we start relating to one another,
and we demonstrate love to one another,
we are but reflecting what has been in existence before Australia was ever put on the map,
before your family tree was ever thought of.
There was, in eternity, relationship, the Father and the Son.
The Father loves the Son, and the Father shows the Son all things.
So the Father loves the Son, the Father shows the Son all things,
the Son sees all things that the Father shows Him.
And now, the Father who has been working through, in eternity, in creation,
and providentially controlling all things, is the Father who, together with the Son,
has lived face to face in that harmonious, loving, intimate, deep, rich relationship,
of which you and I, because of the greatness of God, have been privileged to enter into,
because the Creator, who is love, Father and Son, seeing and showing, doing and speaking,
they, the Father, has sent the Son to show us what happens in the Godhead between Father and Son.
God, the Father and the Son, have stepped into time, and the Son demonstrates for us,
and it's recorded in John's Gospel, He shows us and He tells us who God is.
A man, a woman, a babe, anyone can know God, because Jesus has made Him known.
The Father sent Him, the Father loves Him, the Father shows Him all things,
and the Son does everything that the Father shows and tells Him to do.
So that Jesus could say at the end of His life, I do always those things that please the Father.
Not only can you know God through Jesus, but you can look at Jesus, the Son, relating to God, the Father,
and there you have the model, the perfect relationship, from eternity to eternity.
And you and I have been created in the image of God, hence we relate to one another,
hence we love it when we love one another, because we were created to love,
we were created to relate, we were created to work, we were created to live face to face.
How do you know that? Because we are created in the image of God.
In His likeness, He made the male and female.
So we take a step back into eternity and we catch a glorious glimpse of the Father who loves the Son,
who shows the Son all things, and the Son sees what the Father shows Him,
and the Father sent the Son so that we could see what the Father has shown Him.
And Jesus therefore lives and works, He talks and He speaks,
and He tells us what God has told Him, and He shows us what God has shown Him.
But that which He speaks and that which He does are the words and the works of God, because He is God.
So the Father and the Son, having planned our relationship with Him, created us for relationship with Him,
and because of our rebellion against Him, we find ourselves in hardness, in dullness, in hatred, in enmity,
confused, bewildered, perplexed, dumb, hopeless at living.
But the Father and Son who relate perfectly have stepped into time,
God the Father stepping in to show us how to relate as God Man.
Living perfectly, dying sufficiently to pay for your sins,
dying and making a sufficient payment to cover your rebellion at all your ignorance and all your waywardness,
all of it, for all of us, sufficient to pay the price for you.
And then He is raised from the dead, God showing approval that what He has done in life and death
is adequate to pay the penalty for people such as you and I in our rebellion.
And when the Father raises Him, then He bears testimony by drawing Him unto Himself,
so He ascends unto the Father, He returns to the Father, and there the Father and the Son,
as promised by Jesus, send forth the third person of the Godhead, the Holy Spirit,
so that He, the Comforter, comes and this day opens your eyes to see that this Jesus about whom John wrote
is none other than God.
This Jesus is the one through whom you can know God.
This Jesus is the one we are told who takes dead people who are totally bound up in their existence in this life.
He takes people who are bound by kitchen sinks and they can't think beyond their garden fence.
He takes women who are so anxiety-prone and so worry-oriented
that they scarcely sleep through a night without waking once or twice.
And if they can manage to sleep through a night, you can be sure that they'll think about something
first thing when they rise in the morning.
And it is for such people as these who are earth-bound and selfishly bound
so that life, they think life is wrapped up in themselves and who they are and their own resources.
And they discover as days go by that they are exhausting their resources
and more than that, they discover that what they thought were their resources are no resources.
And they grow faint and they grow weary and become depressed.
And it is for these people that Jesus has stepped into time.
For he takes dead people and he gives them life.
And this is what he says.
Come with me in verse 20.
The Father loves the Son and he shows him all that he does.
Yes, to your amazement, he will show him even greater things than these.
Just as the Father, listen to it, the Father raises the dead.
And he raises the dead to life.
Hear the words, just as the Father raises the dead to life, what does the Son do?
He raises the dead to life.
But to the Jews who were there listening, and we saw them dramatically portrayed in the drama,
the Jews who were there listening are deeply offended.
They reject this truth because in their understanding of the Old Testament Scriptures
there is only one who gives life, who raises the dead.
Who? God.
Jesus is here claiming that he is God.
He raises the dead and gives them life.
More than that, yes, to your amazement, in verse 20,
yes, to your amazement, he, the Father, will show him even greater things than these.
Just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son gives life to whom he is pleased to give it.
There are two concepts that I want you to walk out of here from this moment taking hold of.
And that is that this Jesus, through whom it is possible for us to know God,
this Jesus who speaks the words of God and does the works of God,
this one is God for he gives life and he judges men.
Those two truths are introduced for us here in verse 21 and 22.
This Jesus who is the Creator, whom the Father loves, whom the Father shows all things,
this Jesus who does what the Father does.
What does the Father do?
The Father creates. The Son creates. The Father controls. Jesus controls.
The Father and the Son are here disclosed as giving life and judging men.
Two concepts that we need to hold together. In verse 21, the Father raises the dead and gives life to them.
Even so, the Son gives life to whom he is pleased.
And as I reminded you, the kind of people to whom the Son gives life are people such as you and I
who become so, what should I say, so myopic in our vision, so short-sighted
and we cannot see beyond the next pint of milk, the next bank statement, the next checkbook,
the next set of clothes, the next baby.
We cannot see beyond for we fail to take a glimpse at Jesus and see that this Jesus is the giver of life
from eternity to eternity, that this Jesus who, like the Father, raises the dead,
this one is able to give to us that full, rich, meaningful existence that we so earnestly desire
and we so eagerly pursue going in directions hither and yonder
and never coming to the one person through whom we can know life in its richness and its abundance.
This Jesus gives life. More than that, he not only gives life, he gives life here and now.
And it's a beautiful word that is used for us there in verse 21.
Just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so, the Son gives life to whom he is pleased to give it.
You see, the Son gives life, but it's not pie in the sky when you die, it's steak on your plate right now.
It is, it is here and now. You don't wait until you're in your grave clothes, you don't wait until you're 60, you enjoy it today.
He gives, it is present tense. He gives life to those of us who are bound by the affairs of Channel 9 News last night
or the weather forecast today, Elizabeth was wise, she at least listened to it, that's great.
To such people who are dead and bound by the values, the speaking, the habits, the behaviour and the tenor of the world in which we live,
to such people he gives life. There's no pursuing after it, he gives. You don't even have to work for it.
It's given. And once it's given, it's given and given and given. You enjoy now that which is yet to be.
He gives life in the here and now. But not only does he give life in the here and now, we are told that this same Jesus, verse 22, judges men.
Verse 22, the Father judges no one but has entrusted all judgment to the Son, so that all may honour the Son just as they honour the Father.
He gives life and he will be the judge of all men. The judge of all.
The Father has committed him to the hands of Jesus Christ, the Son, whom we had represented for us dramatically this morning,
working the works of God and speaking the works of God. And the Father has committed into his hands the judgment of all men.
God has committed judgment to Jesus so that he says in verse 23, so that all men may honour the Son. Notice that?
Verse 22, the Father has entrusted all judgment to the Son, so that all may honour the Son just as they honour the Father.
He who does not honour the Son does not honour the Father who sent him.
God has committed judgment into Jesus' hands. Jesus will have the last word of say in the life of all men.
You read every history book in the past and that which is yet to come and you will discover that every person created by God, moulded by God,
brought into this world by God, all shall stand before the judgment seat and they shall stand before the God, Man, Jesus Christ.
He is described as the Son of Man. That is, he is the great majestic coming one who is made like us in all points and yet without sin.
This one who knows what it is to be under pressure, to be stretched, exhausted, tired, knows what it is to sorrow and grieve over a lost one.
This one who has lived perfectly and died perfectly to pay the price for your rebellion, this one shall stand as our judge.
He will have the last say concerning your life and mine. He will. The Father's committed him to that.
He has entrusted judgment to him. He will have the last say.
Why has God appointed him judge over all men? That we might honour him, that we might revere him,
that we might lean upon him and walk humbly with him and adore him as the everlasting God who stepped out of eternity into time,
that we might come to know closely the one who made us, who cares for us, who nourishes us, protecting, preserving, guiding,
until at last we are received into the immediate presence of God Almighty and discover the reality of living in Eden forever.
The Father has committed judgment into the hands of the Son so that you and I might honour him. How do you honour Jesus?
How do you honour Jesus? Firstly, by acknowledging who he says he is. That's the first thing.
You honour the Son by acknowledging who he says he is. You also honour the Son by submitting to his teaching,
bowing your knee to him. So when he says have done with evil, malice, jealousy, discontentment,
when he says godliness with contentment is great gain, when he says do not be anxious about tomorrow,
what you're going to wear, what you're going to eat, what you're going to drink, the pagans do this, do not worry.
You see, you honour the Son when you take him at his word, when you bow your knee,
when he says my God will supply your every need, you say but I've got a thousand and one needs and he says yes
and I've even got provision for a thousand and one plus one, plus twenty one, a million and one.
So you acknowledge the Son, you honour the Son by submitting to him, accepting his authority, bowing your knee to him
and when he says, as he will to children, honour your parents, when he says to a wife you shall submit to your husband,
then you take God at his word. When he says to a parent train up the children in the way that they should go.
When he says to you put away slander and malice, when he says speak the truth in love, you'll take him at his word,
you'll obey him, cost what it may to you personally, thereby you honour the Son who has made God known to us.
I ask the question, do you honour the Son of God? How have you honoured God this day?
Have you come again to Jesus? Who is he? Well he's spoken the words of God and he's done the works of God because he is God.
Do you realise you can know God? How you say? Through Jesus who shows us who God is.
Who is this Jesus who shows us God? He's the one who gives life to the dead and is the judge of all men.
This one who gives life and will have the last say in your life is one who's been appointed judge so that we might honour him.
Have you then acknowledged him in your heart this day? Let me say at the kitchen sink just in the bedroom,
maybe with the kids as you walked out the door, the phone rang, someone talked to you.
How did you honour the Son at that point in time? Let's pray together.