25th March 2026

25th March 2026


Pray (ACts)


Read (John 5:16-30 focus v19-24)


Message (Alan Burke)


There are two big things we are being taught here in this section, firstly the work of the Trinity and second how Jesus came to give life to all who the Father is pleased to give life. Let’s think first of the Trinity, for we learn that the relationship between the Father and the Son is not one of independence, rather dependence. There is an inseparable operation between all three persons of the Trinity; they act as one in all that they do. What the Father does, the Son does; what the Son does, the Spirit does; and our salvation comes from the Father through the Son in the power of the Holy Spirit. There are three persons of the God head at work for our salvation, and the Father reveals Himself through the Son to us. 


All the things that Jesus had done and would do were so that those who accuse Him of being a Sabbath breaker and blasphemer would see, they would marvel; yet these Jews would reject all that they saw. For they thought that He was dishonouring the Father, that He was breaking the law of God; He was sinning, for He broke the Sabbath, instructed someone to break the Sabbath. Not only that, He equated Himself with God Himself. In their minds, He was a sinful blasphemer who had brought dishonour on the one truth, God. But Jesus here in His words confronted them with how their attitude, their desire to kill Him, to see Him put to death, meant that they, not He, were guilty, for they would not honour Him as the one sent by the Father; they would not honour Him as the Son of God who does His Father’s bidding.


But also look to the purpose that Jesus reveals that he has come for, and that is to raise the dead. He came to give life to those whom it pleased Him to give it. Now we can think, oh, what he was talking about is the resurrection of the dead, but it’s not; it is speaking of salvation as we cross over from death to life. The thing is that every person who has ever lived is by their nature dead. Paul reminds us in the book of Ephesians, we are dead in our transgressions and sins (Eph 2:1). We are by our nature dead in our transgressions and sin. We are dead. We might be physically alive, hearts beating, but none of us think that if we die, none of us think that if we died right now, we have the ability to bring ourselves back to life. Scripture teaches us that because of our transgressions and sin, by our nature, we are dead, spiritually dead. This is the doctrine of ‘Total Depravity’, there is nothing we can do to save ourselves. But Jesus came that we might have life, life comes from Him, He gives it to those whom it pleases Him. 


Notice the words of Jesus in v22, because there is something that doesn’t sit easily with many people. The reason why is that they have this idea of Jesus that is more of a figment of their own imagination; they believe certain things that the scripture teaches, maybe some of the things that they have heard, but the teaching of scripture is something that they have either rejected or at the very least have not even tried to understand for themselves. There are many who have this idea of the God of the Old Testament and the God of the New Testament. The God of the Old Testament, they equate to the Father and see that he’s a monster, full of wrath, judges all people, whereas Jesus, well, he comes and he is all loving, forgiving everyone. Jesus though has come to judge and he will accomplish all that he has come to do, all that he is pleased to give life will have life. In salvation we are reliant first on God to act; dead people can’t bring themselves back from the dead, they are reliant on another to act. We are reliant on Christ to act so that we might have life. In a culture it is all about the choices we make, we are ever more individualistic, it’s all about how we feel, what works for us. But when it comes to salvation we learn that it is all about the choice of God, and either it will provoke in you a response of adoration, or it will cause you to recoil because it goes against everything our individualistic natures want, for we want to be king or queen of our own destiny.


Pray (acTS)


Sing


WSC
Q24 How doth Christ execute the office of a prophet?
A. Christ executeth the office of a prophet, in revealing to us, by his Word and Spirit, the will of God for our salvation.
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