1. Many years ago, I heard a preacher preach about the time our Lord restored eyesight to a blind man by spitting on the ground, and making clay of the spittle, and then anointing the eyes of the blind man with the clay (John 9:1-7).
2. The preacher commented about our Lord spitting on the ground, and then he said that oftentimes fundamentalists (the preacher himself was a fundamental Baptist) emphasized our Lord's deity, but minimized His humanity.
3. I understood his point. The doctrine of the deity of Christ is constantly under attack by unbelievers, and oftentimes in our zeal to defend the deity of Christ, we may be guilty of minimizing our Lord's humanity. "He is the Son of man" (John 5:27).
4. And He is the Son of God (John 5:25).
5. By the way, the term "Son of Man" is a Messianic title, going back to Daniel 7:13; and that is how Christ used the term.
6. The Gospel of John emphasizes the deity of Christ. It begins, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God" (John 1:1).
7. Our Lord said in John 14:9, "He that hath seen me hath seen the Father."
8. John 5:18 says, "Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill him, because he not only had broken the sabbath, but said also that God was his Father, making himself equal with God."
9. Our Lord said in John 10:30, "I and my Father are one." The Jews understood exactly what He meant by that statement, and they took up stones to stone Him (John 10:30-33).
10. In John 20:28, Thomas said to Jesus, "My Lord and my God."
11. So it is clear that the Gospel of John teaches our Lord's deity. And, the Gospel of John also emphasizes our Lord's perfect manhood.
12. W.H. Griffith Thomas said, "Every fact in the life of Christ is to be a factor in ours -- such as His purity, His power, His peacefulness, His pattern, His prospect. It is interesting and helpful to read the Gospels with the thought of discovering their teaching concerning the character of Jesus. We find Him taking the position of a man, living moment by moment through the Holy Spirit sent down by the Father. We are apt to forget His perfect manhood in our effort to keep always in view His Pre-eminent Godhood and to defend it. Yet each is essential, and though it is difficult, perhaps impossible, to reconcile the two, or even always to distinguish between them, we must accept both" (Sermon Outlines).

I. HIS ENTIRE DEPENDENCE ON THE FATHER

1. In John 5:19, our Lord said, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of himself." Our Lord was totally dependent upon God the Father. That is an important lesson for us.
2. Luke 4:1 says, "And Jesus being full of the Holy Ghost returned from Jordan, and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness."
3. Luke 4:14 says, "And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee."
4. In the synagogue at Nazareth, our Lord stood up and said, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me" (Luke 4:18).
5. John 3:34 says, "For God giveth not the Spirit by measure unto Him."
6. Consider this: if the Lord Jesus, who is God manifest in the flesh, walked in the power of the Holy Spirit, and needed to be filled with the Spirit, and led by the Spirit, how much more do you and I need to walk in the Spirit, and need to be filled with the Spirit, and be led by the Spirit?
7. Jesus said in John 15:5, "I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing."
8. This means total dependence upon Christ.
9. You had better make sure you are connected to the vine!
10. Our churches are full of dead wood. There is no life because there is no vital union with Christ.

II. HIS CONSTANT OBEDIENCE TO THE FATHER

1. Our Lord said in John 5:19, "The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do: for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise."
2. This speaks of constant obedience to God the Father.
3. Hebrews 5:8 and 9 says, "Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered; And being made perfect, He became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey Him."
4. Romans 8:29 says Christians have been predestinated to be conformed to the image of Christ. One way we are conformed to the image of Christ is by obedience.
5. First Peter 2:21 says Christ left us an example, that we should follow his steps. These are steps of obedience. Are we following our Lord's perfect example?
6. Acts 5:32 says God has given the Holy Ghost "to them that obey Him."
7. Second Thessalonians 1:8 says the Lord is coming back, "in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ."
8. Our Lord often stated that He came, not to do His own will, but the Father's will (John 4:34; 5:30; 6:38).
9. Psalm 40:8 is a Messianic prophecy -- "I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is within my heart" (cf. Hebrews 10:7).
10. Can you sincerely pray, "I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is within my heart"?
11. Right before He went to the cross, our Lord prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane, "O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt" (Matthew 26:39).
12. In like manner, God has placed us here, not to do our own will, but the Father's will. He taught us to pray, "Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven" (Matthew 6:10).
13. David prayed, "Teach me to do thy will; for thou art my God: thy spirit is good; lead me into the land of uprightness" (Psalm 143:10).
14. Man left to himself wants his will, not God's will. All men are born with a selfish, sinful nature. Even after we are saved that bent towards selfishness does not disappear. W.H. Griffith Thomas taught there were three views of the believer’s relation to sin.

• The first view is Eradication.
• The second view is Suppression.
• The third view is Counteraction.

15. Thomas correctly dismissed "eradication" as unscriptural. First John 1:8 says, "If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us." Sinless eradication will only take place in heaven.
16. The second view, "suppression," means the believer suppresses the desires and the constant struggle against sin. While the Bible does teach self-control and discipline, suppression is dangerous because it could lead to despair and failure.
17. This failure has been compared to steam that builds up with no place to go. When the steam is suppressed, an explosion is inevitable.
18. The correct view is "counteraction." This means that the presence and power of evil within are counteracted by the presence and greater power of the indwelling Holy Spirit.
19. Therefore, evil is subjugated by the mightier force of the Holy Spirit.
20. Romans 8:2 says, “The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.”
21. "The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus" is a higher law than "the law of sin and death."
22. The higher law sets us free from the lesser law. An airplane should fall from the sky by the law of gravitation, but it is upheld by the law of aerodynamics. This is the law of counteraction.
23. The law of life counteracts the law of death. W.H. Griffith Thomas said the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus overcomes the latter by the principle of counteraction. "The one overcomes the other by the great principle of counteraction; just as at the Red Sea the law of the wind counteracted the law of the tide" (Romans).

III. HIS BLESSED INTIMACY WITH THE FATHER

1. Twice in the Gospel of John, we read these wonderful words, "For the Father loveth the Son" (John 3:35; 5:20).
2. Blessed intimacy is only possible when there is total dependence and obedience.
3. With this intimacy there are privileges. John 5:20 says, "For the Father loveth the Son, and sheweth him all things that himself doeth: and he will shew him greater works than these, that ye may marvel."
4. Those of us who are children of God enjoy similar privileges. Our Lord said in John 15:15, "All things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you."
5. Psalm 25:14 says, "The secret of the LORD is with them that fear him; and he will shew them his covenant."
6. Do you fear God? "The secret of the LORD is with them that fear him" (Psalm 25:14).
7. Do you fear God? The problem today is men do not fear God.
8. A judge up in Vermont just sentenced a pastor to one year in federal prison because the pastor refuses to marry homosexuals.
9. The judge said to the pastor, "It is not your place to deny individuals the same rights that everyone else has, rights that were passed down and agreed upon in a court of law, the ultimate court, the Supreme Court."
10. No, the "ultimate court" is in heaven, and God is the supreme judge -- not the five judges in Washington DC who mandated so-called "homosexual marriage."
11. Abraham said, "Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?" (Genesis 18:25). Abraham said that right before God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.
12. The Lord is coming back. James 5:9 says, "The judge standeth before the door." But most people do not care because they do not fear God.
13. Quoting Psalm 36:1, the apostle Paul says in Romans 3:18, "There is no fear of God before their eyes."
14. Proverbs 29:25 says, "The fear of man bringeth a snare: but whoso putteth his trust in the LORD shall be safe."
15. Our Lord said, "And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell" (Matthew 10:28).
16. There is a future judgment, though most men refuse to admit it (John 5:22-29).

CONCLUSION:

1. Our Lord does not elaborate on "the resurrection of damnation" here in John 5:29.
2. To understand what this means, we need to go to Revelation 20:11-15.
3. This is "the resurrection of damnation."