Sermon - John 5:30-47 - Bob Wade

you open up your Bibles to John chapter 5 and while you're doing that I want to sort of pose a question for you just a little bit what do you think the primary purpose of the Old Testament is I'm gonna give you my thought I think it's to point men and women to Jesus ultimately all of it see it's interesting if you read through the Bible from the very beginning one of the things you've become really clear is is how really badly we need a Savior how really badly we need someone because we're not very good on her own and I mean it's it's really true I mean one look at the Scriptures you start going through like the Old Testament and it becomes really clear how really evil mankind is I mean from the very beginning I mean you've got murder with Cain and Abel and you've got you know theft and and and hatred and jealousy and all these other things that that pop up between like jasa Jacob and Esau and you know you've got all these you know fallen a moral since they're I mean not just a bad morality but no morality with Sodom and Gomorrah and all the things that happen with that and then it's not just humans I mean now there's the whole idea that religion also fails us if you go through the Old Testament you'll see that there are so many religious people I mean the Philistines they were certainly religious the Egyptians were the Babylonians but all of them had this faulty broken since that took people and left people nowhere even the Jews the religion of the Jews even became an issue of rules and not relationship and completely missed the point of what God was trying to do and nationalism you know so many people think well you know just you could have these great nations that would rise up and they would sort of you know create community and peace for the whole world and you had these massive empires that rose up I mean the Persian Empire the the Assyrian Empire the Babylonian Empire the the Egyptians the Greeks and every single one of them were faulted because they had people and they weren't god-centered and they either failed miserably they created huge wars they they they mass atrocities that all came out of them you have all of those things going on and in the middle of it you have a holy God sometimes people will read through the Old Testament and they'll go you know God certainly seems angry well it's not that he's angry it's that he's holy and he looks through and he sees all of the faults and all of the things that are out there that are just utter failures that His Holiness begins to take over but his holiness also goes with his great love for us and so in the middle of all that God actually provides a way that your sin and my sin can be covered without our own death having to pay for it and so in the middle of the Old Testament you get this model of sacrifice that comes along in Genesis and Exodus where God allows for a lamb without blemish to be killed and his blood shed would cover up for your sin that's all meant to take you to the place that in the New Testament you would stop and you would see Jesus as that provision so in John chapter 1 Jesus comes walking in and John the Baptist this prophet looks up and sees him and his first words are there's the Lamb of God it takes away the sin of the world the fact is all of the Old Testament the law the prophets history all of it all points back to our need for God's provision and God's answer with His Son Jesus if you can cure that truth you're gonna remember the most important things we're going to talk about this morning now the immediate context of the passage we're talking about this morning in John five begins in verse 18 that's where Thomas ended up two weeks ago as he talked about the the healing that happened there on the Sabbath that led up to the fact that they wanted to kill him because he clearly was making himself out to be God Jesus was making himself out to be God then let's picked up on that last week and took on that that that as the beginning and got to the place where he basically said look you ought to be honoring me as you on the front of the Father if you know who I am that's sort of where you pick up this this morning now and by the way that's exactly what Jesus wanted to he wanted them to to get to that place where they they saw that he was calling himself God now when you get two verses 30 and 31 jesus knows here that his claims of being the same as the father being one with a father being deity are not going to be believed by the people because he knows that it's going to take two or three witnesses to back up those claims and that's where we start this morning now you might say well why is it going to take two or three witnesses well because the Jews had this this vision of how things ought to be done a right way and a wrong way and in a right way what they thought was look for anything to be proven true or to be brick guilt brought against you you need two or three witnesses proving that backing it up he understands the Jewish legal system the judicial system and so he's going to provide that now let's stop and let's read here verses 30 and 31 and sort of set the stage as he jumps in to provide these witnesses verse 30 says I can do nothing on my own as I hear I judge and my judgment is just because I seek not my with my own will but the will who who sent me data you know if you don't realize it it's really a claim to deity and itself right there because he's basically saying I only do what I see the father do that's it and it's perfect but then he keeps going in verse 31 and he's going to tell them that I know you're not gonna believe me first 37 he says if I alone bear witness about myself my testimony is not true and that goes back to the two or three witnesses that they needed and so between verses 32 through verse 47 he's gonna provide three witnesses for them to see that he really is the Lord the first one is gonna provide his is the Prophet John the Baptist then he's gonna come along in verse 36 he's gonna talk about his own works his miracles and then the finally he's going to end up talking about the father's testimony which is the Old Testament now let me be really clear here the New Testament is the sons testimony the Old Testament is the father's testimony about the son the need for the son okay now let's look at the first one okay the first witness John the Baptist go to verse 32 will go through verse 35 here verse 32 says there is another who bears witness about me and I know that the testimony that he bears about me is true you sent John and he has borne witness to the truth now if you write in your Bible let me just tell you this underline right there borne witness because this is how we lie to put our outline together for this okay he's borne witness to the truth not for the testimony that I received us from man but I say these things so that you may be saved he was a burning and a shining lamp and you were willing to rejoice for a while in his light so he starts off you're talking about John that John this prophet John John was not the prophet of Israel John even mentions that back in chapter 1 he says look I'm not the guy you're talking about and in Deuteronomy 18 I'm not Moses but that doesn't mean he's not a prophet lots of prophets you know came along in the Old Testament ones that you probably never even heard of that didn't have the credentials even that he but he certainly was one that was used by God he's a priest he was a guy that had been born under a Nazarite vow that meant from the very beginning God was already setting him apart to use him for different things one of them was he would never cut his hair that would be a sign to everybody that he was completely different and and so he was gonna be used by God in this powerful way and in fact we know that's true because in John chapter 1 verse 6 it says he was sent by God and they were ready for it when he came God had not spoken to Israel for 400 years they're ready they were totally ready for God to speak and he was very effective go back to verse 35 it says and he was a burning and a shining lamp I love that picture I know we know from John chapter 1 that Jesus is the light but we find out here is his servants we've take the function of a lamp you know we reflect what's burning inside of us okay well what was his testimony well if you can remember back you know for from weeks ago when we started really in John chapter 1 you remember that John is standing there and I mentioned this earlier in verse 29 he looks up he sees Jesus from the water he says behold the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world so he's already declaring this is God's provision and then he stops in verse 32 and he sees the holy spirit come down in the form of a dove and land on Jesus right there is testimony this is the Messiah this is God's provision this is the one whose blood will be shed so that you don't have to shed yours now he was pretty good at this too because it tells us here that everybody went out to hear him now the witness number two the second witness here is his witness of works and miracles look at verse 36 but the testimony that I have is greater than that of John for the works that the father has given me to accomplish the very works that I am doing bear witness about me that the father has sent me the second one you should underline there they bear witness the works that the father had given him to do that he is now doing they bear witness of him well what works has he done what miracles has he done well if you go back again in the first couple of chapters of John you'll see here that you know in one sense he stops and he goes long and he he he takes water and he turns it into wine so he has this creative wonderful ability to do amazing miracles and then he comes along and and there's a Herodian a Rodian basically was a an official that wasn't Jewish but was was sort of placed in that role by the Romans to rule over the Jews he was probably part Jewish you know in this case and basically the people you know in Galilee hated them but this Herodian comes to Jesus says look my son he's gonna die can you come and Jesus stops and says go back he's healed and he was powerful sign to many it's a very public kind of thing that happened and then another time he goes you know for for Passover and he goes to it to Jerusalem and he's there and he walks into the Pool of Bethesda which Thomas talked about last week and he goes in he sees this guy in this room was packed with people that are basically invalid it talks about in this case this guy paralyzed for thirty-eight years Jesus looks at him and heals him right there right in front of everybody incredibly clear I mean this would be this this witness would go out to everybody they would clearly see that he has the power to create and change it to heal what's broken and then he comes to the third witness which I think is the most important witness that is the father's witness of the son the Old Testament Scriptures look at verse 37 assisting the father who sent me he himself as born witness there's another one you can underline right there he is born witness about me his voice you have never heard and his form you have not seen he stopped look up for a second how was he born witness you've never seen him and you've never heard his voice he never stopped someplace and open up the do the roof at Highlands it goes hey I'm God I just want you to know this is how it is well how was he born witness look at verse 38 and 39 he says and you do not have his word abiding in you for you do not believe the one whom he sent you search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life and it is they that bear witness about me and that gives you the clarity there the third witness it is related to the father here is the fact of the Scriptures the Old Testament Scriptures are the father's testimony they bear witness about Jesus now I don't want you to get lost here so I want to be really clear what he's saying here is the Old Testament should lead you to Jesus that's a that's a big thing now he keeps going here in verse 39 and he tells them you've already made a mistake go back to verse 39 he says you search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life and it is they that bear witness about me and yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life this is the problem here is you think that simply by being in the scriptures that's enough like you and I might think that just being in church that's enough or just being from America well that's enough or just being born into a Christian family or that's enough or getting up every day and maybe opening up the Bible and reading you know one chapter a day to keep the devil away that's enough no it's not enough what Jesus says those words he's saying those words to a bunch of Pharisees who had the entire scripture memorized if anybody was in the word it was them the problem is is that just being in the word should have led them to Jesus he should have led them to Messiah and it didn't that's the problem to the point that Jesus is going to completely chastise them in verses 37 through 43 he will pound on them and use the pronoun you 12 times you know what the problem here he says is you look in the scriptures but you don't get it you miss me you miss the very reason the scriptures are here now is eternal life mentioned in the scriptures course obviously I mean Jesus even in Mintz is here but the problem is it's only there because the book ought to lead you to Jesus the Pharisees thought we'll just know in the scriptures just obeying the scripts if I just do what the scriptures say if I just follow the rules that will be enough and Jesus saying no it's not enough the main point is that these scriptures would all lead you to me I keep going here verse 41 he says I do not receive glory from people but I know that you do not have the love of God within you I love what he's saying there because it's cut biblically sarcastic hey you may not recognize Who I am but I can look inside of you and know that you don't know me verse 42 verse 43 he says I have come in my father's name and you did not receive me if another comes in his own name you'll receive him but how can you believe when you receive glory from one another and do not seek the glory that comes from the only God do not think that I will accuse you to the Father there is one who accuses you Moses on whom you have set your hope for if you believed Moses you would believe me for he wrote of me but if you do not believe his writings how you will you believe my words did you catch what he said there in verse 46 if you believed Moses you'd believe me now it's pretty obvious here that the most important witness here to Jesus deity is the father's testimony what is it though about the scriptures the Jesus think is so very important why is this such a big deal why is it such a big deal that scriptures should be the primary witness to us about Jesus well one reason I would say is because Jesus believed all the Scriptures mattered all the scriptures mattered remember back in verse 37 to 39 he called him the father's witness that's what he believed and that's they believe that all the Scriptures ultimately came from God in fact the Gospels record him teaching that over and over again in John chapter 10 which we'll get to and you know a couple of months here probably you know in John chapter 10 he stops and he says look I want to be really clear about this the Scriptures are not going to be destroyed they're not going to be disregarded none of them in Matthew chapter 5 when he's teaching through you know the Sermon on the Mount he stops and he says look I just want to be really clear about something there won't be a jot or tittle and we're talking about just taking a pin and touching on on the paper or one single line or even one no simple stroke of a pin then none of those things will ever be done away where they will be fulfilled that's because all scripture has God's authority on an example that Matthew chapter 19 Jesus is teaching and he's teaching on marriage and it comes along and he quotes from Genesis chapter 2 verse 24 and in Jesus 2:24 says a man will leave his father and mother and cleave to his wife and they shall become one flesh now when Jesus teaches that he teaches that is coming directly from God directly from the father but if you go back into Genesis chapter 2 it's not God the Father speaking it's Moses the narrator of the first five books writing you know what that tells you every single word whether it comes out of the father's mouth or it comes out one of the prophets mouth it doesn't make any difference it all carries that authority as God's Word all of it every bit of it matters now there's a second reason that Jesus thought though highly of the Scriptures is Jesus also believed the scriptures are vital to living life there's a wonderful example that you can really see this sort of work in Matthew chapter 4 Jesus has something really interesting before he goes off and teaches the Sermon on the Mount it says in Matthew 4 that the Holy Spirit led Jesus out into the middle of the desert and attempted him there for this period of time and over and over again he would sort of attack him and challenge him and all these different things and it's great because what you get is you get Jesus's example there of how do you deal with it and in every single case it says that jesus answered every interaction with it is written in fact it was probably written in Aramaic and it would have been one single word groffo every time Satan would challenge him well if you think you're so good why don't you do this grovel it's written and then he would begin to quote scripture and Satan would go away think back let me give you another one Jesus goes to the garden he's been in the Upper Room he takes the disciples they all go out they all go to the Garden Gethsemane to stop and pray and all of a sudden you know the accuser comes leading this band of people probably hundreds of soldiers and and temple officials and everything they're coming there to arrest Jesus the disciples are startled by all of this you know they come up and Peter jumps up out of his Crouch pulls out his knife which probably wasn't really very big but Jesus actually calls it a sword he pulls out his knife and he takes us you know a whack like this and actually cuts off a part of mouse's ear one of the servants to the temple and Jesus stops him and he tells him he says you know Peter look if I wanted to I could call 12 legions of angels right now I could call a hundred and forty four thousand angels and by the way I don't even need one I could do this all on my own but there's this great reason he follows it up with and he says he says this but if I did that how then would the Scriptures be fulfilled do you get what I'm saying here Jesus's reaction and every situation is to do what the scriptures say on his way to the cross walking along carrying his cross for a period of time and then ultimately then having someone else carry it on this time people are weeping you know they're they're insulting him all along the way does he cry out and go what are you guys doing no he quotes from the book of Hosea prophet they put him up on the cross he gets up on the cross he begins to quote from Psalm 22 here's the point in every single temptation in every difficulty in every dark moment Jesus turns to the father's testimony the Scriptures the Old Testament Scriptures you know the truth is the Bible is intended to be that vital for our lives as well I love that the picture that you get in in psalm 119:105 is this great thing it says thy word is a lamp to my feet do you know what the picture is on that the picture is you're in your home and it's dark and it's it's dark outside there's no flipping a switch and turn anything and you're probably not gonna get up and wake everybody up and and you know and light up the whole house but you got to get up and you've got to go to the bathroom so you go outside because nobody had plumbing in the house and you grab a lamp and you light that up and you're holding this lamp along here and that lamp allows you to walk along and not fall off a clip or follow into a hole or anything like that but your walk along and you're safe and you have a direction and you know exactly where you're going and what he's saying is that is exactly what the father's testimony should be for your life Direction safety security I loved Jesus's devotion to the word here it's a model for us in in dark in difficult moments of our own life in fact I would encourage you that you know Psalm 19 verses nine eleven tells us this is how can a young man keep his way pure by keeping Corti thy word word I've hid in my heart that I may not sit against thee I'd encourage you start putting it to memory like that so we can begin to use that lamp to our feet when we needed but there's a third reason the Jesus also turns to the scriptures it's not just that he believed that it all you know was all mattered it's not just that he believed that it was vital for our lives every single day but the third reason why is because Jesus believed that all scripture pointed back to him do you catch that all scripture points back to him go back to verse 46 here he says for if you believed Moses you would believe me for he wrote of me if you believe Moses Moses wrote about me now think about what he's saying there Moses wrote the first five books of the Bible Genesis Exodus Leviticus numbers Deuteronomy if you've read through those books how many of you have seen Jesus too many times you should because you could be sitting there going really I mean those books are about Jesus well let me give you a couple examples in fact I'll want to make this easy not even gonna make this really complicated let's just use that the chapters so far that we've been in the Gospel of John let's just use the first couple of chapters not even take it even further but let's just use that part and look how often they all go back to the works of Moses the writings of Moses a father's testimony okay for example John chapter 1 John chapter 1 I mentioned this earlier already John the Baptist looks up sees Jesus behold the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world where does that talk come from where does lamb and blood and sin of the world where is that kind of talk come from well it comes from the book of Exodus in the Book of Leviticus because he in both of those situations blood was shed as a result of a sacrifice it was lambs blood that was shed and the lambs blood represented God not making people pay for their own sins that he himself would provide away so instead of having someone die themselves they would take someone else in this case this animal and they would shed its blood and it would die in their place so someone else's blood would pay for their mistakes does that sound like anything you know about I mean cuz second Corinthians chapter 5 tells us that is exactly what Jesus does that he the father made him the son who knew no sin who never made a mistake never was faulted never did wrong never sinned God the Father made him who knew no sin to be sin on our half to die on our behalf to put his blood out so that you and I might become the righteousness of God give you another one John chapter one Jesus is in Jerusalem he he sees this godly old you know a Jewish man named Nathaniel and he looks at him and and he says to him you're gonna see angels ascending and descending on the Son of man what does that mean where does that come from I mean well it comes from Genesis chapter 28 and verse 12 there or Jacob who is one of the patriarchs of Israel has this vision where he sees the stairway to heaven and angels are going up it and coming down at they are ascending and descending all the time and it was supposed to to reveal to them that they'll come a time when God will be so close to us he'll literally come down to where we are with his power that would be Jesus how about this one John chapter two in John chapter two of course Jesus comes on and he cleanses the temple and the Pharisees come along and they ask him why what why do you do this and he says look if you tear down the temple talking about his body here and he says in three days all it up now why would he call himself the temple well it all goes back to exodus chapter 40 episode is chapter 40 god gives the PIA the children of israel's are wandering in the desert out of their disobedience he gives him he says looking you construct a tabernacle right in the middle and I'll be right there right in the middle of you and I'm right there with you I'll be there to lead you I'll feed you I'll do all that you need and more eventually that Tabernacle would become the temple in Jerusalem now why does Jesus say then he is the temple because what he's saying is I'm the way to the Father what he's saying is look I'm the place where God and humanity are going to meet in the middle to take care of sin that's me let me give you another one John chapter 3 Jesus is speaking to Nicodemus in the middle of the night Nicodemus is his Pharisee doesn't want to be seen with Jesus during the day and Nicodemus you know saying a couple of things and Jesus stops him and he says you and Nicodemus just as Moses lifted up the servant and the serpent in the wilderness so will I be lifted up that comes from Numbers chapter 21 you know what's going on there it was a picture of what Jesus would do he see the people were at this time we're living in sin and they were they were becoming ridiculously blaming God and arguing back and forth and there was nothing good and gracious about their lives at all and so literally snakes came in among them began to bite them and would kill them and so they they cried out to God God please save us which is what we always do his people right God please save us and he said okay here's what you do you put this bronze rod up and wrap this this bronze snake around it and if the people will simply after they're bitten if they'll certainly turn and look to that I'll save them so what does Jesus saying he says look Nicodemus just as Moses was lifted up in the serpent up in the wilderness so will I be lifted up that Jesus will go to the cross even though we're the ones that actually deserve it Jesus will go to across and all that you and I need to do is turn to the cross and recognize him god save me and he will see the problem here is how you would I look at the scriptures go back to verse 39 here and 40 he says you search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life and it is they that bear witness about me and yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life in other words the Scriptures testify about me you ought to be looking for me see let me go back to something I said at the very beginning you know the Bible reveals man's evilness the Old Testament is very clear it shows how really wrong we are it shows Satan's deceptions it shows religions failures it shows nationalisms failures its weaknesses but it also shows a holy God who does something that's wholly unexpected and that's provide a way that you and I can know him and not have to die let me ask you a question how many times have you ever done this how many of you ever times have you ever said you know what I think this year I'm gonna read the Bible from beginning to end from Genesis to Revelation and you got frustrated and quit how many of you would sit be honest okay can I tell you why that happened because you didn't read it looking for the right thing I'm gonna challenge you to look at this a different way in fact I'm gonna challenge you to read the first five books of the Bible over the next couple of weeks okay the books of Moses the Pentateuch the first five books okay but I'm gonna challenge you to read it this way read it and with this in mind I want to see the failures of man I want to see the failures of religion but I want to see the provision of God God show me your provision so that I can fall more and more in love with Jesus every single day you see why was Jesus so frustrated with the Pharisees they were in the word and they didn't get him so here's the question are you getting him are you would you pray with me appreciate it just for a second you would um just close your eyes for a minute so you could focus in on you you know perhaps you've been coming for a while to this church or even to another church and you're thinking that maybe that's the answer I just need to go to church oh it's a great thing but it's not enough you think well maybe I just need to be involved in a Bible study or I just need to get up and read that Bible you know in the morning even though I'm not really not even getting it that's a great thing but it's not enough well maybe I just need to sing when when the music comes on I'll look at the words on screen and I'll sing them and I'll I'll do my best to be the best person you know I can possibly be and I'll try my hardest to be all those things to be a good citizen and a good friend and all those things like that and that's all good but it's not good enough because see everything that God has been trying to to tell us here is to push us back to see I need your provision God I need Jesus do you have him as we in the service this morning after we sing there'll be a group of people up here that will be up here to pray with people if you would like to begin that relationship with him I would encourage you come forward and just talk with no one's going to embarrass you anything like that but just share with them and allow them to pray for you so that you might not miss what the Pharisees missed that you might not miss the Messiah father thank you thank you for the truth of your word that everything is drawing us to know your son to honor him to lift him up Lord we want that Lord we ask that you'd move in our hearts to seek you Lord in Jesus name Amen you

Channel: Highlands Church

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Keywords: sermon, church, highlands church, bible, scottsdale, arizona, jesus, god, religion, christian, non-denominational, evangelical, christianity, theology, christ, pastor, book, series, john, gospel of john, gospel, jesus is, the point, jesus is the point, bob wade

Id: ttGUWnptP3Q

Length: 35min 40sec (2140 seconds)

Published: Wed Oct 05 2016