This week's sermon: "Jesus: Equal with God"

John 5:1-24 has at least 3 extraordinary things to teach us about Jesus.

First, when he heals a lame man and later exhorts him away from sin, we see that Jesus' purpose in healing is to lead the man—and us—to holiness.

Second, we see how Jesus relates to the Father. The Father and the Son are equal so that when one is acting, the other is acting. Two implications of this are that 1) if we don¹t honor the Son, we don¹t honor the Father, and 2) if we believe on the Father through the word of Jesus, we have already passed from death to life and are on the other side of condemnation.

Third, we see Jesus' relation to the Sabbath. Jesus and his Father perfectly created the heavens and the earth and rested after six days. And since sin's entry into the world, Jesus and his Father have been working again to conquer sin and death and one day again bring perfect rest in the new heavens and new earth.

When Jesus heals a man, and intentionally does it on the Sabbath, he is showing us something about himself. What was happening in the healing was that Jesus and his Father were revealing the world that is coming. It is a world in which there will be no sickness and a world in which there will be no sin. "My Father is working until now, and I am working."