I can do nothing by Myself; I judge only as I hear. And My judgment is just, because I do not seek My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me. Sermons
1. The effect of Christ's preceding discourse on his hearers was wonder. "They marvelled." 2. The teachings and deeds of Christ were well calculated to produce this emotion in all. 3. Each manifestation of his power and glory was only introductory to something greater still. "Marvel not at this," etc. The two resurrections - the resurrection of life and that of judgment. Notice - I. THEIR SIMILARITY. 1. In the physical condition supposed. The subjects of both are dead, and described as being in their graves. The good die as well as the bad. They lie down and sleep together; their graves are often in close proximity to each other, and their dust is mingled together. They are under the same physical condition, that of mortality and complete dissolution. 2. Both are similar in their wonderful effects. Both are resurrections. There wilt be a quickening into life, into full conscious existence. There will be a reunion of body and soul after a long separation; the physical effects will be similar in both. The good and the bad shall hear, and come forth. 3. Both are the result of the same Divine power. (1) The Agent is the same in both. "The Son of God." To raise the dead is the prerogative of Divinity, and by the power of the Son of God shall the good and the bad be raised. As the resurrection forms a most important part of the great scheme of redemption, it most befittingly falls to the Redeemer's lot to do it. He has the right and the power; and it will be exercised on this occasion on all, irrespective of character. (2) The process in both is the same. "Shall hear the voice of the Son," etc. There will be an outward manifestation - a voice - and there will be a response. The same voice can awake the good and the bad. They would sleep on forever unless called by him. The voice of angels would be ineffective. But all will hear and know his voice, and come forth. Even the Son of God never addressed such a vast congregation before at once, and never with such unexceptional success. How many of his sermons missed the mark! But this grand resurrection sermon will not fail in a single instance. All shall hear and come forth. 4. The subjects of both resurrections shall come forth in their own and true character. As good or evil. Neither the sleep of death nor the Divine process of the resurrection can produce any change in character. Whatever a man soweth that shall he reap. The resurrection will not change this law, but help to carry it out. Character will cling to us forever. 5. The subjects of both shall come forth in their true character - according to the character of their deeds. "They that have done good, and they that have done evil." Character in both cases is formed by actions; so that the resurrection will be the same in its process to both classes. It will be fair to both - a faithful reproduction, not merely of the physical and mental, but also of the moral and spiritual self. Identity will be preserved intact. No one will have any reason to complain. 6. Both are similar in their certainty. The resurrection of the good and bad is equally certain. "All that are in the graves shall hear," etc. There is an absolute necessity for both, and there is an adequate power. Divine physical power is irresistible; Divine moral power is not so. What is absolutely necessary must come to pass. The good must be raised for the purposes of grace, the bad for the purposes of justice. II. IS THEIR DISSIMILARITY. 1. Dissimilar in the character of their subjects. The subjects of one are those who have done good, the subjects of the other are those who have done evil. And between good and evil there is an essential and an eternal difference - a difference which neither eternity nor omnipotence can efface. Good will be good and evil will be evil at the last day, and the difference will be more strikingly seen. 2. Dissimilar in their results. (1) One is the resurrection of life, the other is that of judgment. Those who have done good will not be raised to judgment, for they have passed from death unto life. Therefore they must rise unto life; the highest, the truest life of the soul - a life like that of Christ himself. The other is the resurrection of judgment, of condemnation - the opposite of life. (2) The one is a reward, the other is punishment. Life is the natural consequence of goodness and faith in Christ; still it is a reward and a Divine favour. The resurrection and its consequences will be a reward to the good, but punishment to the wicked. It would be mercy to them to let them sleep on; but justice demands their resurrection to receive the wages of sin, which is death. (3) The one will be followed by a glorious ascension, the other by horrible descent. Those who have done good will come forth to rise forever in the ever-increasing enjoyment of a pure, happy, and endless life; while those who have done evil will rise to sink deeper in spiritual death. The reunion of body and soul to the good must intensify their happiness. To the wicked it must intensify their misery. What a difference there is between the good man being awaked to join his family at the breakfast table and at the mercy seat, and the culprit being awaked in the morning to undergo the terrible sentence of the law! This is but a faint illustration of the difference between the resurrection of life and that of judgment. LESSONS. 1. We have passed through many important crises, but the most important and marvellous one is yet in store. "The hour is coming," etc. A most important and wonderful hour! Time and eternity in an hour! We should live continually in that hour. 2. The inseparable connection between the present and the future. Our future is in our present, and our present will be reproduced in the future. 3. The importance of well doing in the present. Let us hear the voice of the Son of man, now that we may welcome the voice of the Son of God in that hour. The physical process of the resurrection is entirely future, with which we shall have nothing to do. The spiritual process is going on now, and by Divine help we can shape our own resurrection and determine whether it is to be one of life or of judgment. - B.T.
I can of My own self do nothing; as I hear I judge. This verse is a conclusion of this part of Christ's apology for His curing of the man, and commanding him to carry his bed on the Sabbath day, and for His asserting His unity and equality with the Fathel; wherein, from the former purpose, be sums up these conclusions:1. That He is inseparable from the Father in operation (ver. 19), having no private power of His own (as they conceived of Him as a mere man); but the same in essence, power, and operation with Him. 2. That He is in all the Father's counsels, and hath the power of administration of all things communicate to Him from the Father, which is pointed out under the name of hearing, as it is verse 19, by seeing, to hold forth the spirituality of the way of communicating, and His infinite comprehension of all that is communicate, as hearing and seeing all. 3. That His government and administration is most just, as seeking no satisfaction to any will of His own, contrary to, or diverse from the Father's, as He is God; and that He doth this not only as God simply, but as God now incarnate also, being the same still With the Father, and acting in all things according to the will of God. And though as man, He have a will distinct from His will as God, and so diverse from the Father's will, yet that did act in subordination to the will of God (Matthew 26:39).Whence learn: 1. The divinity of Christ is a truth that may no ways be quarrelled with, and doth call for our second and serious thoughts; therefore doth He recapitulate His apology, that this truth may be inculcate. 2. Such is the strict conjunction and perfect unity of the Father and the Son, that the Son neither doth, nor can do anything without the fellowship of the Father; so that in all His working the Father is to be seen and taken up; for "I can of Mine own self do nothing," saith He. 3. Christ, in the administration of all things, and executing of His purposes in this life, and at the day of judgment, is upon the Father's counsel, acting from Him, and all Christ's administrations are upon counsel and conclusion taken betwixt the Father and the Son, for, saith he, "As I hear, I judge." 4. Christ's administrations and sentences are all just and right, doing injury and violence to no man, nor ought they to be stumbled at by any, for, "My judgment is just," saith He. 5. The reason of the justice of Christ's judgment is because it is agreeable to the will of the Father, with whom He is one, and whose will is the rule of justice, as being supreme and absolute Lord; which will Christ, being incarnate and God-man, did conform Himself unto in all things, for, "My judgment is just, because I seek not Mine own will" (nor have any will, contrary to, or diverse from His, as hath been explained), "but the will of the Father, which hath sent Me." (G. Hutcheson.) Note —1. There is a moral difference in the judgment of men concerning Divine truth. 2. Diversity of judgment is dependent on moral condition. 3. Moral condition is resolvable into one of two great principles of action — self-seeking or God-seeking. 4. Adoption of the Divine will is the essential condition of just judgments.Their principles — 1. Explain the perversion of the Bible by its avowed disciples. 2. Indicate the method in which the gospel should be preached. 3. Supply a test of fitness for the work of the gospel ministry. 4. Show the necessity of Divine influence. (W. H. Van Doren, D. D.) 1. For the training of goodness, the ancient reliance was on the right discipline of habit and affection: the modern is rather on the illumination of the understanding. Vice is made a blunder of intellect, and, like optical delusions, to be cured by the most approved instruments for seeing.2. This prescription is attractive from its apparent simplicity. It seems to take away all mystery from the moral emotions. But its value disappears the moment we use is, as, say, the miser, the cheat, the insane candidate for glory. When has it ever made such generous, just, and meek. It is true that you have only to give the slave of passion a different view of the objects of his desire and he is set free. It is equally true that you have only to make the paralytic run and he will be well. 3. Christ, reversing the order of the explanation, placed the truth in a juster point of view. He knew that if sometimes because the reason is darkened the passions are awake, it more often happens that because the passions are awake the reason is darkened. Pure sympathies make a clear intellect. When auditors, feeling that, "never man spake like this man," asked, "how knowest this man letters?" etc., He said, "My judgment is just because I seek not Mine own will," etc.; and He instructed others how to gain a like discernment: "If any man do His will," etc. "Whatever be the word on which the judgment may be engaged, it will be invariably ordered by the sympathies of a just, disinterested, and holy mind. 4. Even in His abstruser toils, these are the wise man's mightiest power. The most turbid clouds which darken reason are those which interest, fear, and ambition spread, and these the pure affections sweep away. How often will a child penetrate the centre of some great truth. A pure-hearted man will be a right-minded man. 5. All the great hindrances to impartiality in the quest of truth have their seat in some class of selfish feelings. The excessive eagerness about reputation produces a thousand pitiable distortions of understanding. In one it takes the shape of a determination to be original and so extinguishes his perception of all ancient excellence, in another it passes into the pride of being moderate and sound, and so he dreads eccentricities far more than falsehoods. And what is partizanship but a collection of selfish feelings, fatal to all the equities of reason. 6. But the mere absence of selfishness is not the only condition for a just judgment. Inpartiality will accomplish nothing without impulse. Clearness of intellectual view will be found not-in one who follows the light without the deep love of it, but in Him who seeks the will of One who sent Him, and who trusts it with a "love that casteth out fear!" I. ON QUESTIONS OF PRACTICAL MORALS this principle holds good. The moral habits and tastes of men form their opinions much more frequently than their opinions form their habits, so that their theoretical sentiments are little more than a systematic defence after the act. Any moral practice may be recommended; yet how many things we palliate would be condemned by the very act of expounding them to others — duelling, e.g. It is fearful to reflect how the moral sentiments are modified by the atmosphere of social influence; how the indications of the unperverted conscience may become obscured or lost, and the possibility of remorse killed out. II. IN ITS JUDGMENT OF HUMAN CHARACTER the same principle rules. The pure affections still the confusion of the senses and remove all motive for not seeing men and life exactly as they are. One who looks on the world as his appointed post of strenuous duty and feels on him the Divine charge to leave it better than he found it must close neither eye nor heart against its ills; and as for its charities and virtues, delighting in them all, he discerns them all; bringing as they do the refreshment of a generous veneration what temptation has he to doubt or decry them. To the selfish, on the other hand, men are tools and have to be flattered into service, and accustomed to speak of good qualities which they do not possess, the mind dwells to such an extent on the negation of excellence that it ceases to believe in it, and thus the nobler half of human nature undergoes permanent eclipse. III. Those who "seek their own will," are liable to error respecting those CHANGES IN SOCIETY which are brought about by the nobler forces of the human will. It is happy for the world that over the vision of its greatest enemies, their own selfishness spreads a film concealing the powers which will effect their over-throw. In spite of all the pampered despot's vigilance, conspiracy, conducted by lean and praying patriots, has gone on unnoticed before his very eyes, and suddenly the tempest bursts. It is of the very nature of guilty power to be surprised by the apparition of high-minded virtue in a people. Conclusion: 1. Selfishness under the form of jealousy draws another cloud over the judgment and hides from it all that is fairest in kindred minds. 2. But our judgments will not be right unless our sympathies be not only disinterested but pure. In addition to not seeking our own will, we must seek God's. The partialities of the affections are nobler every way than those of self-love; but they are partialities still; and while they make our judgments merciful, may prevent their being just. (J. Martineau, D. D.) People Jesus, JohnPlaces Bethesda, Jerusalem, Sheep GateTopics Able, Anything, Authority, Bidden, Decision, Desire, Guides, Initiative, Judge, Judgement, Judgment, Myself, Nothing, Please, Pleasing, Righteous, Seek, Self, Unable, VoiceOutline 1. Jesus on the Sabbath day cures him who was diseased thirty-eight years.10. The Jews therefore object, and persecute him for it. 17. He answers for himself, and reproves them, showing by the testimony of his Father, 31. of John, 36. of his works, 39. and of the Scriptures, who he is. Dictionary of Bible Themes John 5:30 1115 God, purpose of Library ConversionTEXT: "And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven."--Matt. 18:3. Jesus Christ was the world's greatest teacher and preacher. Multitudes followed him because he taught them, not as the scribes, but as one having authority. He came to them with the deepest truth of God, but couched in such familiar expressions, and told in such a fascinating way, that all men heard him and went their way rejoicing that so … J. Wilbur Chapman—And Judas Iscariot May 12 Morning July 2 Evening September 29 Evening June 22 Morning February 27 Morning July 25 Morning May 18 Morning February 25 Morning February 24 Morning July 8 Evening December 23 Evening Sunday after Easter The Third Miracle in John's Gospel The Life-Giver and Judge July the Twenty-Seventh the Work of Faith September the Twenty-Ninth the Fountain Attendance on Holy Communion. Victory Over the World through Faith On the Words of the Gospel, John v. 19, "The Son Can do Nothing of Himself, but what He Seeth the Father Doing. " On the Words of the Gospel, John v. 2, "Now There is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a Pool," Etc. Again in John v. 2, Etc. , on the Five Porches, Where Lay a Great Multitude of Impotent Folk, and of the Pool of Siloa. On the Words of the Gospel, John v. 25,"Verily, Verily, I Say unto You, the Hour Cometh, and Now Is, when the Dead Shall Hear The On the Words of the Gospel, John v. 31,"If I Bear Witness of Myself," Etc. ; and on the Words of the Apostle, Galatians v. 16, "Walk Links John 5:30 NIVJohn 5:30 NLT John 5:30 ESV John 5:30 NASB John 5:30 KJV John 5:30 Bible Apps John 5:30 Parallel John 5:30 Biblia Paralela John 5:30 Chinese Bible John 5:30 French Bible John 5:30 German Bible John 5:30 Commentaries Bible Hub |
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