John 5:31-47 (Teaching)

[0:00] Morning. Morning. Back in John chapter 5 this morning. Seems like we've been in this chapter for quite a while, don't we?

[0:12] And before we get started, I just want to say what an encouragement it was to me to pull in this morning and see all the cars in the parking lot. Rain seems to be the second most effective deterrent of people going to church.

[0:30] The most effective deterrent, of course, being just a lack of desire. But it was, it was a great encouragement to me. But back in John chapter 5, last week, honestly, it was kind of a blur to me. In fact, I had to go back and listen to the recording to remember where I had left off.

[0:52] But we ended with verse 30 in John chapter 5 last week, which was a good stopping point. But when we continue this week, we're going to pick back up in verse 30. We're going to read it because it strongly correlates to verse 31 where we'll be beginning.

[1:12] Last week, starting at verse 19, we talked mostly and much about the deity of Jesus Christ.

[1:24] And that's mostly what comprised the lesson last week was the deity. The fact that, the fact, and it is a fact, a biblical fact that Jesus Christ was and is God Almighty.

[1:38] There is no refuting that as much as people want to. Some people that refute that are so-called Christians, so-called denominations refute that.

[1:50] Different people do to different extents in different ways, but you cannot argue from the scripture that Jesus Christ was not God because the scripture plainly tells us that he was and that he is God.

[2:06] And he forever will be God. But that's what we spent most of last week on. Now, if you remember those of you that were here last week in verse 19, we read, we'll just read it here. It says, then answered Jesus and said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, the Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeeth the Father do, for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise. And then we'll pick up in verse 30, I can't of my own self do nothing as I hear I judge and my judgment is just because I seek not my own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me.

[2:45] So we read here twice Jesus Christ saying he can do nothing of himself, but he's here to do the will of the Father. And we talked pretty much at length about that last week, about how it's not that Jesus Christ was incapable of performing anything or doing anything or thinking anything or saying anything on his own, but he could not do anything outside of what the Father would do because they are one.

[3:13] Jesus Christ, God the Father and God the Holy Ghost are all one and therefore he couldn't do anything outside of the will of God because the will of God is Christ's will.

[3:26] And the will of God the Father and the will of God the Son is also the will of the Holy Spirit. We cannot separate those things. And we've got to remember that as we go into this next verse in verse 31, so John chapter 5 and verse 31 says, if I bear witness of myself, my witness is not true.

[3:45] Well, is this Jesus Christ saying that if he talks about himself, if he references himself, if he bears witness of himself, his witness is not true.

[3:56] No, he's not saying that he's a liar if he bears witness of himself. That's not what Christ is saying at all, but some people will take this verse and twist it around into Jesus saying that, but that's not what he's getting at.

[4:12] He says, if I bear witness of myself, my witness is not true and people will automatically go to the Old Testament and they'll say, well, God in God's law, the words that God spoke in the Old Testament, in Numbers 35 and Deuteronomy chapter 17 and Deuteronomy 19 says by the words of two or three witnesses that people can be condemned, people can be judged.

[4:37] And they'll say that means that at the word of two or three witnesses that it's true, but at the word of one witness it's not true. That's not what the Scripture says. It doesn't say that at the word of one witness something is untrue.

[4:52] It just says that someone cannot be condemned to judgment to kill them or to stone them to death or word of the case is. It just says that the word of one, it intimates that at the word of one witness judgment cannot be passed, that there must be two or three, but it does not mean that the one witness was lying about it.

[5:12] It just means that there needs to be something more there to substantiate it. And people automatically jump to that when they read this verse where he says, if I bear witness to myself, my witness is not true.

[5:24] Saying, well, he needs someone else and then they'll jump to, well, he's got God the Father and he's got God the Holy Spirit. So that's three. And yes, that's true. But that's not what Jesus is getting at here.

[5:35] If we continue reading, if I bear witness to myself, my witness is not true. There is another that beareth witness of me and I know that the witness which he witnesses of me is true.

[5:47] Let's keep on reading. He sent unto John and he bear witness unto the truth, but I receive not testimony from man, but these things I say that you might be saved.

[5:58] So here people will say, well, here's Christ witnessing of himself and then he's referencing John the Baptist to be his second witness. So that's going to the witness of two or three people as the Old Testament law said.

[6:15] But folks, Jesus said here himself, there's another that beareth witness of me and I know that the witness which he witnesses of me is true. He sent unto John and he bear witness unto the truth, but I receive not the testimony from man.

[6:30] So he couldn't be referencing John the Baptist or he couldn't be talking about John the Baptist being the witness of him. Now John the Baptist did witness of Jesus Christ, but what did he witness?

[6:41] What did John witness? We go on to read here. He was a burning and shining lot and ye were willing for a season to rejoice in his life, but I have greater witness than that of John for the works which the Father hath given me to finish, the same works that I do bear witness of me that the Father hath sent me.

[7:02] So he says John the Baptist was a burning lot and actually in the revised version this says a burning lamp, which is actually a better translation than what we have here in our King James version, not that I'm downing or dissing the King James version.

[7:18] But to say that someone is a lot is to say that they have something of their own, but to say they are a lamp they're burning from within, but they're shining outward.

[7:29] That's what a lamp does. It burns from inside, which only God could place something inside to burn to the outside. Even when Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount said, let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father which is in heaven.

[7:47] Even when he said that he was referencing the light of God. Yes, he referred to it as our light, but that light is a light of God and it's something that he starts within us.

[7:58] So when Jesus here says he was a burning and shining lot and he were willing for a season to rejoice in his lot, he was a burning and shining lot or lamp, however you'd rather phrase that.

[8:13] But he says, but I have greater works than that of John. He just said that John was a burning and shining lot and he said, I have greater works than that of John. I'm doing greater and mightier things because John is the very one that was testifying of Jesus Christ.

[8:29] He was testifying that Messiah had indeed come to the world. And we've read about this, those of you that were here when we were going through John chapter one, and John was referencing the Messiah.

[8:42] He was saying there's one that's coming who shooed at you. I'm unworthy to lose. So there's one coming after me who is preferred before me.

[8:54] These are the words of John the Baptist and Jesus here saying I have greater witness than that of John. But he said, and I remember these Jews he's speaking to here, this would have been the Jewish elite, the religious leaders of this day.

[9:08] He said he was you were willing to you were willing for a season to rejoice in his life. And every time I read this verse, every time I read this verse, I think of the parable of the parable that Jesus Christ spoke and the seeds that fell on the stony ground.

[9:28] Those that didn't take root, those that were quickly burned up, you know, even when they tried to sprout. That's what I think of every time I read this verse because that's exactly what happened with these religious leaders.

[9:42] They said, John the Baptist is talking about Messiah. He's saying that Messiah is coming and they rejoiced for a season over that. But when they saw Messiah, when they saw that one that John the Baptist said, behold the Lamb of God, which take away the sin of the world when they saw this peasant.

[10:00] And that's exactly how they saw Jesus Christ when they saw him coming down the river bank. They said, this doesn't look like a leader. This doesn't look like someone is going to take the Roman government and oust them and set on the throne of David.

[10:16] This doesn't look like the promised Messiah of the Scriptures. Folks, it was and is the Messiah of the Scriptures. And y'all probably heard me say it before, I really feel sorry for the Jews of Jesus' days to an extent.

[10:33] Because especially in the book of Isaiah, when you read about how there's one coming, his name will be wonderful. He'll be counselor. He'll be the Prince of Peace. He'll be this and he'll be that.

[10:44] When you read about these things, you read from Isaiah 7 and you read from Isaiah 9, you're actually reading of two separate comings of Jesus Christ. But I wouldn't have seen it that way either.

[10:57] I mean, in all honesty, if I'm honest with myself, I would have seen it as one coming as well. But these Jews here, they didn't recognize him as a Messiah.

[11:08] They didn't want to recognize him as a Messiah. It wasn't what they pictured in their head, even though John and even though they were rejoicing in the light that John was shining and they rejoiced for a season over it, when they saw this light, they didn't recognize it as light.

[11:25] They didn't see it as light. It was not the light that they were wanting. It was not what they were expecting. So he says, but Jesus says, but I have greater works than that of John for the works which the Father hath given me to finish, the same works that I do bear witness of me that the Father hath sent me.

[11:46] So here Jesus is saying, the Father is his witness. Yes. He says, but the same works that I do bear witness that the Father hath sent me, that the Father, the Father that you all recognize, the Father that you all claim to worship, the Father that you take the sacrifices to the temple for, the Father that you offer the sin offerings and you offer the grain offerings and you offer the peace offerings and all these other things.

[12:16] That same Father, he is bear witness of me through the works that I'm doing. But read that again, but I have greater works than that of John.

[12:27] I have greater works than that of the present tense. He says, for the works which the Father hath given me to finish, present tense again, the same works that I do, that's all present tense. Bear witness of me that the Father hath sent me.

[12:40] All that that we just referred to is present tense. Then we continue reading. And the Father himself, which hath sent me, hath borne witness of me, that's past tense, hath borne witness of me.

[12:56] Ye have neither heard his voice, that's past tense, at any time, nor seen his shape. That's past tense. So we go from the present works of Jesus Christ. What was his present works?

[13:10] It wasn't just present right here at this very time. We're talking about the works that he performed up to this point and all throughout his ministry.

[13:21] What are the works that Jesus Christ performed? I mean, folks, we've just got a minuscule amount as far as the scripture goes of the works that Jesus Christ performed, of the miracles that he done.

[13:34] We know that he unstopped the deaf ears. We know that he opened blind eyes. We know at the beginning of this very chapter that we're in right now, John chapter 5, he healed that lame man that was laying there at the pool of Bethesda, a man that had had that infirmity for 38 years.

[13:50] We know that he'd done these things and it goes on. He calms the storms. He walks on the water, prays God. He does all of these things. These are the works that he's talking about.

[14:01] These are the works that the Father hath sent him to do. He says, And the Father himself which hath sent me, that's past tense, hath borne witness of me. That's past tense.

[14:12] Ye have neither heard his voice past tense at any time, nor seen his shape. He says, you've never heard the voice of God. You've never seen God.

[14:24] You don't know God in other words. It's what Jesus Christ is telling these people that put so much stock and put so much emphasis on the Scriptures.

[14:35] And we're not talking about the Gospel of John when I say Scriptures. We're talking about the Old Testament Scriptures. He's saying, you all are banking everything on these Scriptures. And that's what we're going to get into through the end of the chapter here.

[14:49] He says, you all are banking everything on that. He says, but you've never heard the voice of God. You've never seen his shape. And ye have not his word abiding in you for whom he hath sent him, you believe not.

[15:05] He says, you've never heard God. You've never seen God. And he tells them why. And you have not his word abiding in you. That's why they haven't heard him.

[15:16] And that's why they haven't seen him. Because the Word of God, the only Word they had was the Old Testament. We got to keep that in mind. They didn't have the Gospels. They didn't have the Book of Acts.

[15:27] They didn't have Romans and the letters to Timothy and the letters to the Corinthians and all these other things that we had. All they had was the Old Testament. He says, you have not his word abiding in you.

[15:39] Folks, that's the only way that we can hear God. That's the only way that we can know God is to have his word within us. It's impossible to do it any other way.

[15:51] And that, as far as here in 2023, that includes the New Testament. But it also shows the importance of the Old Testament as well as the rest of this chapter does.

[16:04] These people, there's churches out there. There's complete denominations. There's preachers and there's lay members of churches that want to completely separate the Old Testament and just concentrate upon the New Testament.

[16:16] And we cannot do that. The Old Testament testifies just as much of Jesus Christ as the New Testament does. We cannot separate the two of them.

[16:27] I like the words of Ray Comfort. I don't know how many of you are familiar with him. Ray Comfort has said in many of his videos, in the Old Testament, God promises to abolish death.

[16:39] And in the New Testament, he tells us how he does it. And I think that's a very, very good summation of what God does between the two Testaments or with those two Testaments.

[16:53] He promises to abolish death. He promises to get rid of it in the Old Testament, but he doesn't do it in the Old Testament. In the New Testament, he shows us how he does it and he does it through Jesus Christ.

[17:06] Praise God for that. But he says, You have not His Word abiding in you for whom He has sent, you believe not. This brings back to mind for me the words of Jesus Christ when he tells his own disciples, You believe God, believe also in me.

[17:24] If you believe the Father, believe also in me. Me, who the Father has sent, you cannot believe in one and not the other and expect to have salvation. You cannot...

[17:35] You can't even believe in God the Father and God the Son and leave out the Spirit and expect to have salvation. You can't believe in God the Father and God the Spirit and leave out the Son. And you certainly can't just believe in the Son and not believe in the Father or the Spirit and have salvation.

[17:52] You must believe in all of these. believe in the triune God. You have not his word about in you for whom he has sent him, you believe not. Search the scriptures. For in them you think you have eternal life. And they are they which testify of me. Search the scriptures. He doesn't say read the scriptures. He says search the scriptures. Seek in the scriptures. Look in the scriptures. Dig into the scriptures. And folks if we're just skimming through the scripture like I've been guilty of doing it, like everybody in here if you spend any time reading the Bible, you might start out in an intense study on something. And before you know it, you're just skimming the words and you're not really digging. I've been guilty of it and everybody in here if you're honest with yourself has been guilty that Jesus has searched the scriptures. For in them you think you have eternal life. Now when he says you think you have eternal life, he's not leaving room for doubt when he says that. He's not saying in them you think you have eternal life. He's saying eternal life is indeed in the scriptures, the Old Testament scriptures, but he goes on to say and they are they which testify of me. Jesus Christ is eternal life. He says in these scriptures you're absolutely correct. In them you have eternal life but they are testifying of Jesus Christ who is and who imparts and who gives eternal life. So he's not leaving room for doubt there when he says in them you think you have eternal life. He's pretty much corroborating what they're thinking but he says the scriptures are testifying of me and it's not just the famous verses that that most of us may know which testify of Jesus the prophecy in Micah chapter 5 that we read at Christmas time every year and the prophecies of Isaiah 7 and Isaiah 9 that we've already brought up in Psalm 22 and so many other places in the scripture that we could think of that are more popular as far as the Messianic prophecy goes. He is all over the

[20:10] Old Testament but we must search the scriptures to find him, not just skim through them. We must search the scriptures to find them and verse 40, and ye will not come to me that ye might have life. He says search the scriptures, search the scriptures. They are they which testify of me says and ye will not come to me. Now remember this word ye is plural.

[20:38] Anytime you see the word ye it's plural. He's talking to a group of people. Ye will not come to me that ye might have life. He says you're putting all this faith in the scriptures and you're testifying your faith in the scriptures. Testifying your faith in Moses we'll get to that at the end of the chapter and the writings of Moses and saying all these things and yet you won't come to me that ye might have eternal life. And the verse right before this he says, for in them you think ye have eternal life and they are they which testify of me and you will not come to me whom the scriptures is testifying of that ye might have life. You won't come to me. He doesn't say, he doesn't say you you can't come to me. He says you will not come to me. Folks we can't come to Jesus completely on our own. It's an impossibility. It's not in our will. It's not in our nature to do so. It's not in our nature to seek God. That's why the

[21:45] Bible says there's none that seeketh after God. There's none that seeketh after righteousness. No not one. None of us. None of us are born with a will or even a want to seek after God. It takes God pursuing us and it takes God doing something with us. It takes God prodding us. It takes God to convict our hearts to show us our need for him. Again he doesn't say you can't. He says you will not come to me that ye might have life. That's a sad, sad statement. He says I receive verse 41 I receive not honor from men. Now if you ain't real careful you'll read this. This goes into skimming. Well we were just talking about skimming the scripture. He says I receive not honor from men. It sounds like Jesus is whining. No one's honoring me. No one's paying homage to me. No one's respecting me. That's not what he's saying here when he says I receive not honor from men. He's saying I didn't come to receive honor from men. He says I receive not honor from men. He's saying this isn't what I came for. I didn't come that men would praise me. I didn't come that men would applaud me. I didn't come to feed the four and the five thousand that men that men could you know could gather around me and hoist me up on their shoulders and parade me down the street and sing praises to me. He's saying he didn't come for these things.

[23:24] That's what he's saying when he says I receive not honor from men. So don't don't read it as Jesus whining that no one's respecting him. That's not what he was getting. He says but I know you that ye have not the love of God in you.

[23:37] These are sad, sad words that Jesus is saying here. I mean beginning at verse 36 all the way through the end of the chapter. Jesus speaks some really sad words to these people. He says I receive not honor from men but I know but I know you that ye have not the love of God in you. And I've told you all since the end of John chapter 2 that that's the context we have to read the next few chapters in including what we're reading right here is that Jesus knew what was in the heart of men. Y'all remember that from the end of John chapter 2 he says he said he needed nobody to testify of men to him because he knew what was in man and here he says but I know you that ye have not the love of God in you. Why don't they have the love of God in them? He give it to them just a couple of verses before this because they don't have the word of God in them. They've never they've never heard God and they've never seen God and they don't have the word of God in them therefore they cannot have the love of God in them either and there's a whole slew of people out there right now that think that you can have the love of God in you and not have an ounce of the word of God in you folks. It is an impossibility to do that not only because Jesus spoke of here but because there's numerous other scriptures that will back that up as well. He says I know you and you have not the love of God in you. There's so many people out there now that say God knows me. God knows my intent. God knows my heart that's one of the most famous ones. God knows my heart that's a lot of the problem. God knows our heart. God also knows his own word that the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Be careful when you say God knows my heart because that's a lot of the problem is that God knows our heart. He's telling these folks here these lost folks. He's already made the statement that they don't have the word of God in them that they've never heard God never seen God and he's telling them here they don't have the love of God in them. He's saying rough words here but he also says I know you. I know you. I know what's in the heart of man. I know what's in your heart. I know what's in your mind. Folks he can say that to any any one of us sitting here within these walls. I understand that in the Sermon on the Mount one of the most famous passages out of that is where Jesus says those words, depart from me either working iniquity for I never knew you. Never knows them in a saving way.

[26:20] Never knows them intimately like he wants to know people but that doesn't mean that he doesn't know what's in the heart of man. He was talking to a bunch of lost folks here and he says I know you. I know you and you have not the love of God in you. Verse 43, I am coming my Father's name and you receive me not if another shall come in his own name him you will receive. How can you believe which receive honor one of another and seek not the honor that coming from God only? So back to verse 43 again I am coming my father's name and you receive me not. Again he's saying I come in my father's name he's expressing his deity when he says that but he's also saying I come in the Father which you claim to worship which you claim to know that again that you take these sacrifices to that you praise that you worship I come in his name and he says and you receive me not if another shall come in his own name him you will receive. In other words if someone comes doing great miracles doing great works and wanting the back pat of man, wanting the handshake of man, wanting to praise the applause of man if someone comes doing that you'll receive him. Folks this makes me think of the times of Antichrist that we live in right now and the times of Antichrist that are to come in the future when people will be deceived people be deceived by world leader and they'll think that he is

[28:06] God they'll worship him as a God. This is exactly what this makes me think of. The one has come in the name of the Father and he has given his life a ransom for many and people don't believe it but one that comes in his own name to boast of his own works and his own doings him they'll receive and there was no different Jesus's day. There's no different whatsoever in Christ's day if another shall come in his own name him you will receive. How can you believe which receive honor one of another and seek not the honor that cometh from God only? How can you believe which receive honor one of another and seek not the honor that cometh from God only? This is the honor that Christ saw the honor that cometh from God only and he's asking the question how can you believe you people you Pharisees you religious leaders you scribes these people that he was talking to how can you believe that receive honor one from another y'all are all going around patting each other on the back commending each other on your knowledge of the scriptures commending each other and even arguing with one another sometimes over who's teaching you sad under how can you believe and seek not the honor that cometh from God only? How could they not seek the honor that cometh from God only? It's because of their hearts because the condition of their hearts because they had not the love of God and then it's because they had never heard God they had never seen his image it's because they did not have the word of God within them that's how they cannot believe and that's how they can't seek that honor that cometh from God only. Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father there is one that accuses you even Moses in whom you trust. My goodness what a kick to the shins this was for these people he says don't think that I'm going to be the one that accuses you don't think that I'm going to be the one that stands before the Father and accuses you folks we have an accuser here in 2023 that in the New

[30:19] Testament age we have an accuser and his name is Satan he is the devil himself that's the accuser of the brethren according to the scriptures Jesus says do not think that I will accuse you to the Father there is one that accuses you even Moses in whom you trust you're trusting in the writings of Moses you're trusting in what he had to say and he is the very one that's going to accuse you not Moses himself but the writings of Moses that testified of Jesus Christ just a few verses before we read where Jesus said to search the scriptures you thinking them that you have eternal life and they are they which testify of me that's what's going to condemn people is the scriptures that's why I'm I'm fully persuaded in the Bible where it says the books were open I believe one of those books is going to be the Word of God because the entire word of God testifies of Jesus Christ the entire word of God testifies of Jesus Christ there's one that accuses you even Moses in whom you trust for had you believed Moses you would have believed me for he wrote of me he's telling them you're telling me that you believe Genesis you believe Exodus and

[31:37] Leviticus and Numbers and Deuteronomy and that you're putting all your stock and all your faith in these things he says but he says for had you believed Moses in other words you don't believe the words that wrote Moses wrote even though you're putting everything that you've got in that you're telling me that you do you're telling the people that you believe these writings but he says you don't believe the words that wrote Moses wrote for had you believed Moses you would have believed me for he wrote of me but if you believe not his writings how so you believe my words my goodness this is he's raking these people over the coals and again if you're just skimming the scripture reading this you don't really get that feeling but when you really look into this and you concentrate on the words that Jesus Christ is saying he's accusing them of lying he's telling them your life you say you believe Moses but I know that you don't because you don't have the word of God in your heart you've never heard him you've never seen his image you don't have the love of God in you this is what confirms to Jesus Christ not that he needs any confirmation but this is what confirms to Jesus that these people didn't believe the writings of Moses had you believed Moses you would have believed me do we believe the writings of Moses do we believe the writings of Paul do we believe the writings of Peter

[33:02] John what we're going through now do we believe all he says because every one of them testify of Jesus Christ the Psalms testify of Jesus Christ many testimonies of Jesus Christ in Proverbs the prophets all the prophets all the prophetic prophetic books whether they be major whether they be minor all of them testify of Jesus Christ and they testify of different aspects of Jesus Christ different attributes of Jesus Christ they testify yes of the goodness and yes of the mercy and yes of grace even grace in the Old Testament but they also testify of judgment they testify of wrath and they testify of fury and of anger and all these things are attributes of Jesus Christ do we believe those things for had you believed Moses you would have believed me for he wrote of me but if you believe not his writings how shall you believe my words telling them you don't even believe what Moses wrote so if that's the case if you don't believe this person whom you reference who you reverence so much and you who you claim to have so much trust in his writings if you're not believing that how can you believe what I'm saying because we're both talking about the same thing that's what Jesus was getting at I'm I'm testifying of myself that I am

[34:31] God and Moses testified of me so if you're not believing Moses how can you believe in me that brings us to the end of John chapter 5 anybody got any questions or any comments on any of that all right it's not God bless you all I appreciate your attention