The Witnesses To Christ | John 5:31-47 | Pastor John Miller

verse 31 jesus speaking says if I bear witness of myself my witness is not true there is another that bears witness of me and I know that the witness which he witnesses of me is true Jesus has just made the claim that he is equal with God the Father if you missed last Wednesday night you should go back and listen to it online or get the CD or check it out Jesus actually is healed the man who was lame by the pool of visalia and it brought him into conflict with the Jewish authorities and in doing that he says they were upset because he healed on the Sabbath days as my father works and I work so that really freaked him out number one he had violated according to their petty man-made rules the the Sabbath day had violated God's standards for the Sabbath he violated their religious legalistic self-righteous standards of the Sabbath and then he claimed that God was his father in the Greek it's actually more clear it's my own father my own unique father so they knew that it was actually a claim to be equal with God the Father it's one of the most powerful and clear statements of outcry from Christ's own lips is that he is divine or that he is God and he was equal with the father in the six areas we won't go into him but just a little review in the essence verses 17 and 18 he was one with the Father that means that he was divine or God in works verse 19 and 20 he was equal to the Father in power verse 21 he is equal to the father in his judgment all judgment has been put put in his hands and he's co-equal with God the Father verse 22 and in honor I love that verse 23 that you honor the son just as you honor the father if you reject the son you have not the father if you're wrong about Jesus then you're wrong about God the Father and then number six it's in verse 24 to 30 he was equal with the father and resurrection life and power now those are six affirmations from the lips of Jesus Christ as to his equality with God the Father and I pointed out that if you ever have someone deny that Jesus Christ is God these six points from this chapter are powerful evidence that Jesus Christ is indeed God now here's the point we go into tonight anyone can make the claim that they're equal with God the Father but the questions is is there any witnesses that can support your claim I could make a claim you can make a claim anybody can claim to be God or they could claim to be equal with God the Father but here's the question is their claim backed up by witnesses now the Bible says in the mouth of two or three witnesses let every word be confirmed and so what we have tonight in this passage it's classic is Jesus is going to actually call in to the courtroom three witnesses three witnesses that testify to his divine nature or his essence that he is God now those three witnesses you want to write them down are John the Baptist and we'll break it down in the text second witness is his works or his miracles the signs pointing to his divine nature and the third witness is the scripture so John the Baptist the works that he did and the scriptures that were given by God the Father now verse 31 in verse 32 I believe kind of set the stage for these witnesses that are called into this courtroom to testify that Jesus really is divine notice with me verse 31 if I bear witness now the word wit this there is used a lot in John's Gospel it's used 47 times and he says that if I witness of myself my witness is not true now you need to understand what Jesus meant by that statement he's not saying if I say I'm one with the father it's not valid he's saying it's not valid according to your standards he's talking to the Jewish authorities and of course their laws our law would say in the Bible that you have to have two or three witnesses but basically saying according to your standards my witness of myself is not true it's not valid for me to just say I am one with the father and so you reject that so the idea is that it's not true according to their estimation to their evaluation he says there is another verse 32 that bears witness of me and I know that the witness which he witnesses of me is true knows where the text gets a little tricky because the very next verse verse 33 he calls a witness of John the Baptist but backing up into verse 32 I become convinced that those of this other witness that bears witness of him is actually a reference to God the Father now he's going to go into more detail about God the Father when we get to verse 37 and verse 38 but I believe that Jesus is basically saying before he calls these three witness groups in he's saying listen God the Father bears witness to me now he doesn't he doesn't identify him in verse 32 there is another that beareth witness of me he doesn't say it's God the Father he didn't say it's John the Baptist didn't say it's his miracles he doesn't say it's the scriptures he just says there's another witness he doesn't identify him but in the context of the whole passage it seems to fit and make sense that it's a reference to God the Father now here's what I found to be interesting then when it comes to the witness of John the Baptist he was a prophet sent by God the Father when it comes to the witness of the miracles that Jesus performed they were works that were given to him to do from God the Father and when the Scriptures are opened up that would be the Old Testament Scriptures and they point us to Jesus Christ those scriptures the Word of God was given to us by God the Father it's the Word of God so in all three of these witnesses behind the witnesses is the character of God the Father and you know in a courtroom when you call in a witness in a case that the witness's character is all important if you just found him somewhere and they were had a long history of crime and lying and they were just a criminal element their witness may not stand up in a courtroom because of their character and the defense attorney would pick that apart the problems that they have so behind all of these witnesses you have the character of God the father's holy righteous character as he sent his prophet John the Baptist and other prophets as he confirmed with miracles and as he spoke about Jesus Christ in the world in the word so the value of these witnesses depends upon the character of God the Father who sent each one I find that interesting now the first witness that's called into the courtroom is John the Baptist a lot about John the Baptist in the Gospel of John but notice that verse 33 to verse 35 yeast sent unto John now John the Apostle is writing the gospel but it's a reference to John the Baptist and he bear witness unto the truth but I received not testimony from man but these things I say that you might be saved so Jesus is saying I wouldn't necessarily point to man but I'm pointing to John because he was sent by God and he was alight and he was a shining light and you rejoiced to see his light and so he wants them to come to salvation notice verse 35 he was a burning and shining light and you were willing for a season to rejoice in his light now the fact that in verse 35 John's ministry is put in past tense would indicate that at a time of this writing John's no longer preaching Christ he's no longer actively in ministry he's passed off of the scene but there was a time when John was quite popular and even the Jews were going down to hear him and his preaching repentance and the kingdom of God as a hand and they were turning back to God as a result of John's ministry now John the Baptist was the last of the Old Testament prophets and he was the first of the New Testament preachers so he kind of stood in the gap between the Old Testament and the New Testament I love John the Baptist he was a Nazarene his dad was a priest he could have been a priest but he grew up out in the wilderness he had long hair because he was Nazarene he had a big beard probably he wore camel skin he was very rough he ate grasshoppers and honey and he came preaching repentance so he when he was a he was a wild man he was kind of the first of the Jesus Movement it was what it was when all the hippies got saved back in the 60s and the 70s they looked like John the Baptist I used to look like John the Baptist so John comes preaching but I love his position jesus said among all those that were born of women Jesus speaking about this guy not one greater than John the Baptist now not among those that are born of women that get that includes everybody okay because there's no other way to be born no one greater than John the Baptist bar none that's pretty radical from the lips of Jesus and so John was a prophet but he was also a and so he bridged the gap between the old and the New Testament write down Hebrews chapter 1 verse 1 it says their God at different times in different ways spoken to the father's by the prophets hath in these last days spoken unto us in by or through his own son by whom he made the world but I want you to note there in Hebrews 1:1 that God spoke how through prophets now the subject that we're covering tonight is the subject of how do we know that we can know God how can we really be sure that there is a God that we can know God that God is revealed and so the Bible tells us that God sends prophets and that prophets are God's representatives that they speak for God to men and then they would pray and they would speak to God for men to be saved so they speak in behalf of God they speak the Word of God they speak with the authority of God now what did John say about Jesus this is not exhaustive but write them down John 1:15 John bore witness of him and cried saying this is he of whom I spoke that he comes after me he is preferred before me because he was before me now John was older born before Jesus but he alludes to the idea of Christ as eternal that he was before me that's a reference to his eternality that he's the eternal God then write down John 1 verse 29 where John the Baptist says behold the lamb of God which does what carries away or takes away which is the concept of forgiveness by the way the word forgive literally means to carry away so Jesus carries away the sin of the world twice Jesus was referred to as the Lamb of God who carries away or takes away the sin of the world so Jesus died on the cross for sins then John 1 verse 34 where Jesus was baptized by John and you imagine doing a baptism and Jesus shows up to be baptized and John says I have need to be baptized of you and Jesus said no I want to be baptized I want to fulfill all righteousness so as Jesus went under the water in the Jordan River and he came out of the water what does the Bible say the heavens open and the Spirit of God descended in the shape of a dove or the form of a dove so the Dove becomes a symbol of the Holy Spirit and it lighted upon Christ and then there was an audible voice from heaven I don't know about you but that would be amazing to actually hear God's voice and what did the voice that came from heaven said this is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased or literally in whom my soul delights so Jesus was confirmed by John this is the son of God this is the Lamb of God and then God the Father audibly spoke from heaven John 1 verse 34 then write down Matthew 3 verse 11 John baptized with water but John said Jesus would baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire so I immerse you in water but there's somebody that's going to immerse you in the Holy Spirit and then he's going to come as well in judgment and then we see here in verse 35 and our text that John came as a light shining light and they were willing for a season to rejoice in that life so the first witness is the witness of John the Baptist even John who came as the forerunner to prepare the way of the Lord and John was the light and we should be a light for the Lord as well here's the second witness it's in 1 verse verse 36 that's his works but I have a greater witness so he moves from John to a greater witness than that of John for the works which the father there is again has given to me to finish the same works that I do they bear witness of me that the father hath sent me so witness number one John the Baptist witness number two are the works now when he uses the word works he's talking about miracles Jesus Christ performed miracles he did miracles that no one could do but God alone in John 20 verse 30 and 31 where you have the theme of the Gospel John says many other signs did Jesus in the presence of his disciples but these the ones he picks out for his gospel seven of them were written that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ and then believing you might have life through his name so John's Gospel is very strategic he actually picks out seven miracles and those seven miracles are called signs or tokens circumcision was a sign of the Jews in the Old Testament and carried on to the time of Christ and even to this day there were signs in the Old Testament that God used to say this is my people these are my beloved then Jesus came and he performed miracles that were called signs now the concept of signs used for the miracles is very significant signs have a message signs point to something when we were in Alabama near my daughter and son law's home we took a little hike up into the forest into the woods and all that stuff and we were trying to figure out what trails to take and we were looking at the signs and the signs were a little crazy and we had the map and we're trying to figure it out and we we got to where we wanted to go I wasn't much up because I'm not a hiker I just said I'll follow you but it's nice to have that marked the trail nice to have signs that point away nice to have signs that indicate where you go what you do so the signs point to something I I think that's the most significant aspect of these signs that the miracles point to something what did they point to different facets or aspects of his divine nature now I don't want to get sidetracked or bogged down but I'm gonna kind of survey the seven miracles in John's Gospel just quickly the first we've already seen is in Chapter two it was the sign of the water turned to wine now Jesus did that merely to show his glory and the Bible actually says that they saw his glory so the water was turned to wine and then there was the healing in chapter 4 of the nobleman's son and that was a lesson on how we are to trust him by faith Jesus gave the man his word and his son was healed and then in Chapter five we already saw this as well we're in the fifth chapter there was the healing of the paralytic there at the pools abbess area and that teaches us that Jesus saves us by His grace what did we see that sign pointing to the grace of God that out of the multitude that we're laying of impotent folk by the pools Jesus singled out this one man thirty-eight years and he showed mercy upon him and then we have in Chapter six and I can't wait to get there next week and next week we have communion as well we have the feeding of the five thousand five thousand men not counting women and children and it's time to eat dinner and there's no in-and-out nearby I was looking for an in and out in Alabama and Georgia but I couldn't find one lots of fried chicken and sweet tea I'll stop right there but they have all these people and they're in a desert place and the disciples actually told Jesus send the people away that they may get something to eat and I love it Jesus says no you feed them preachers are always trying to get rid of God's to send them away they're fast they're a nuisance they're you know they're bugging send them away Jesus and no I want you to feed them I want you to feed my sheep so they sat down and they said you know how we gonna feed these people and Philip so two hundred denarii isn't sufficient to feed this great multitude he actually said you know we had two hundred in there and we couldn't feed this big crowd and then Andrew says well I got a guy little boy here he's got half he has a lunch he's got got two little fish he's got two loaves and a few little fish and they then dismissed on seven yeah but what are they amongst so many so they basically had a lack of faith you know there's two in Denari not sufficient how many times we look at our resources and we look at our strengths and we look at our ability in light of the problems of the trial we're facing and we dismissed them insufficient but we're not to look at our resources were to look at God's amen we're to fix our eyes on him so Jesus and make him all sit down he took the loaves and the fish he prayed and he broke them and when he broke them and he handed him to the disciples and then disciples began to pass it out and distribute it and it kept going and it kept going on and every one ain't all those people ate until they were full and the greek word translated folder means they were glutted they would they they they ate too much have you ever ate too much yes you have you don't need to raise your hand I know you've eaten too much every Thanksgiving you eat too much and it funny how we eat it thinking we eat all the food oh no no no you know and then about an hour later we're sniffing around for another piece of pie some more Turkey or whatever it might be or we're saying no no I don't have any would you like to know yeah I I think I have enough room for dessert so they were actually glutted and then they had baskets leftover twelve baskets and the word four baskets means a huge basket doesn't mean just a little basket it's a large basket same Greek word used for the basket that Saul got into when he was let down the wall from Damascus and escaped the hostility and hatred of the Jewish enemies so these were large baskets full of leftovers which by the way to ladies if your husband ever complains about leftover tell them Jesus did it it's biblical so they took of all these leftovers and what have we learned we saw his glory that Jesus Christ feeds the hungry soul that he takes care of the deep needs of our life when we're thirsty or when we're hungry then you had the sermon to that Jesus is the bread of life then in Chapter six again we have another sign where Jesus stills the storm he walks on water can you imagine that walks on water now there's a lot of New Agers would like to walk on fire but not very many of them walk on water imagine being out on the Sea of Galilee and there's a storm and you look up and Jesus is like walking to you on the water that's amazing then he gets in the boat and then he says peace be still and the wind stopped and the waves stopped and there was a calm and it blew their minds they said what manner of man is this that even the wind and the waves obey Him they saw his power over nature they saw his glory and His Majesty that he can calm the raging season he can calm the SAR meeseeks of our lives and then we come to chapter 9 when jesus heals the blind man from birth man who is born blind when I'm one of my truly favorite miracles of Jesus the disciples said who did send this manner his parents that he was born blind jesus said neither did he or his parents sent but I must work the works of him while it is day the night comes and no man can work and Heels this blind man and Jesus opens our eyes and he brings light Jesus is the healer and one who restores our sight and opens blinded eyes they saw his glory and then we come seventhly to the healing or the raising of Lazarus from the dead that's the seventh sign John chapter 11 some add the sign of Christ's own resurrection but the seven miracles are the water de Wynd the nobleman's son the paralytic feeding the 5000 stilling the storm and walking on the water healing the man blind raising Lazarus from the dead don't you love that when Jesus showed up all hope is gone Lord if you had been here my brother hadn't had died and they were despairing and Jesus said didn't I tell you that if you believe you'll see the glory of God roll away the stone they roll away the stone and Jesus says Lazarus come for what happened Lazarus came forth when a marvelous miracle that was he had been dead for three days Jesus is the resurrection and the life Jesus is the Son of God so much so that when Nicodemus in John 3 verse two came to Jesus by night he said no one can do these miracles that you do except what God be with him so Jesus performed these and many other miracles because he was God in the flesh he had power over nature power over demons power over disease power over sickness he's the creator of all heaven and earth now there's a third and more important witness than either either these he actually grow in intensity John the Prophet the works that Jesus performed there can be counterfeit works but Jesus did miracles that no one has ever done but the third is the most important it's the scriptures and this probably ought to be a separate in itself but let me try to get through it well maybe go back and go into a little bit more next week but I really encourage you to meditate on your own this coming week from verse 36 down to verse 47 it's the father who bears witness of the son in his own word the scriptures verse 37 and the father himself which hath sent me hath borne witness of me ye have neither heard his voice nor anytime seen his shape and you have not his word abiding in you for you for he for whom he hath sent him you believe not notice of reference to his word in verse 38 so he introduces the father again and you haven't heard from him you haven't received his word now search the Scriptures verse 39 for in them you think you have eternal life and they are they which testify of me and yet you will not come to me he's talking to the Jews you will not come to me that you might have life I receive not honour from men but I know you that you have not the love of God in you I am coming my father's name and you receive me not if another shall come in his own name him you shall receive how can you believe which receive honor one of another and are not seeking the honor that comes from God only good question do not think that I will accuse you to the father there's one that accuses you even Moses whom you trust he's talking about the writings of Moses and what we call the Pentateuch Genesis through Deuteronomy the first five books of the Bible you trust in Moses for had you believed Moses verse 46 you would have believed me why for he wrote of me now here you have Jesus saying that Moses not only wrote Scripture but the description I've got the father behind them there are some amazing inferences here that the scriptures are given by in expiration of God that the product God breeds of the father and that his Moses Road he was riding under the inspiration of the scripture and he was actually pointing us to Jesus Christ in verse 47 but if you believe not his writings how shall you believe my words now here from the lips of Jesus we have these amazing statements about the witness of the scriptures to Jesus Christ now it's marvelous that in verse 37 he says the father himself has sent me and bore witness of me one of my favorite subjects is the subject of Revelation and the concept that God cannot be known apart from revelation by searching you can't find God God must reveal himself to you and God has chosen to reveal himself in many different ways but the grandest and most glorious and most wonderful way that God has chosen to reveal himself to us is in the book we call the Bible the scripture we learn about God's other methods of Revelation in the Bible he's revealed himself in nature he reveals himself in our conscience he reveals himself through angels and prophets he spoke to people and dreams but yet all of that is recorded for us in the scriptures and the scriptures have one author God the Holy Spirit many different human instruments but yet one theme over the many years the Bible was compiled over some 40 different authors one theme and they all speak in unity about that one theme the redemptive plan of Jesus Christ God sending his son to redeem us from sin now God the Father did bear witness audibly at his baptism I already mentioned that on the Mount Transfiguration remember Peter James and John were with Jesus on the Mount Transfiguration and God the Father spoke and said this is my son hear ye him and then also just before Jesus went to the cross Jesus prayed and said father glorify your name and an audible voice came from evidence that I both glorified it and I will yet glorify it and then he says but you have not his word abiding in you verse 38 for whom he has sent you believe not so you reject Jesus Christ you have not God the Father and you don't have his word now write down a couple of verses you can check them out it is the great and classic passage on the inspiration of Scripture it says all Scripture is given by what inspiration of God that phrase inspiration of God literally means it is breathed by God not only breathed by God breathed out by God so scripture is given by the breath of God human authors yes but they wrote under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit and this a mean that God violated their human will or that God changed their personality they weren't just you know passive instruments they wrote with their own style they wrote about historical events but God was breathing on them as they wrote nothing is more important for you as a Christian than to have right doctrine when it comes to the Bible and the Bible about itself says that it's given by inspiration of God so we believe in the inspiration of the scriptures and the view that I think we should hold is what's called the verbal plenary inspiration of Scripture verbal means the words and plenary means all of them so we're not saying just the concepts are inspired by God we're saying that the very words the human authors wrote were the words of God why do I look at words when I teach the Bible because they're important all Scripture is given by inspiration of God there is a massive movement today it's not new it's been around a long time to deny inerrancy and infallibility but the Bible is an all the Word of God and that the Bible has errors and mistakes and we become the authority to pick and choose and decide what in the Bible is given by God and what is by men and what we should take out on what we should believe so I believe that all scriptures all scriptures you say well that's Old Testament Scriptures it was written to Timothy by Paul but we also know that the New Testament is classified by the Apostles as Scripture and Jesus said that when I send the Holy Spirit he will bring all things to your remembrance everything I taught you so they wrote under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit all Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine for reproof for correction for instruction in righteousness that the man or woman of God may be thoroughly equipped for all good words so God superintended the human authors so the very words that they wrote were the very words of God and I said before I'll say it again there's nothing more important than your doctrine of the scriptures that you have a high view of the Word of God second verse to write down is 2nd Peter chapter 1 verse 16 to 21 and that's interesting because it was when they were on Mount Transfiguration Peter says that God the Father spoke audibly from heaven but he goes on in that passage to say we have a more sure word of prophet scriptures and then he says for a holy men of God spoke as they were carried now he uses a different term for the inspiration of scriptures that they were born or carried along now that word that's used there was use of the wind filling a sale of a ship and carrying it along and the book of Acts when Paul was on the ship being taken prisoner to Rome and the wind carried the ship along same Greek word concept that it's carried along so these verses these scriptures aren't given by they're not man's own concepts or man's own ideas the English Bible actually renders that it's not of any private interpretation and sometimes people think that that's referring to the fact that you can't personally or individually interpret the Bible at and that's not what it means it means individual private writers didn't write the Bible either their own minds or own concepts their own thoughts that they were actually carried they are actually borne along by the Holy Spirit so it's another classic passage that mentions the inspiration of the Bible now notice in verse 39 Jesus says search the scriptures now that word search the verb search can either be an imperative or it can be indicative in other words it can either be Jesus telling them to search the scriptures or it can be Jesus telling them you do search the Scriptures now which of the two is it I believe that it's indicative and that what Jesus is actually saying in verse 39 he's saying you do search the Scriptures if any one searched the Scriptures the Jews did right they were Bible students they dug into the Word of God Jesus isn't telling him you guys need to read your Bibles he isn't saying you need to study the Scriptures he's saying you you search the Scriptures you dig into the Word of God you do search the scriptures but he says the scriptures but in them excuse me you think that in them you have eternal life he says the problem is they that is the scriptures verse 39 they testified there's our they witness they speak of me yet you will not come to me verse 40 that you might have life in other words they read the Bible they studied the Bible they analyzed the Bible but they didn't find Jesus in the Bible therefore they were lost they dug into God's Word but they missed the central theme and the purpose of the Bible that's so sad now this happens today with a lot of people they read the Bible they study the Bible they analyze the Bible and they think because they read the Bible everything's fine but if you read the Bible and the Bible doesn't bring you to Jesus Christ you're not reading the Bible properly it doesn't do you any good the Jews analyzed the Scriptures it was amazing their superstitious reverence for the Word of God led to all kinds of eccentric behavior they would each letter have in the Hebrew alphabet given a numerical equivalent for each word at its number equivalent each line formed a mathematical equation the scribes even numbered the center letter of each line in the scriptures and the center letter in each book and the center letter in the Old Testament that's not too far fetched from the Bible kind of code that was going on a few years ago where people were reading all kinds of codes and hidden meanings and numbers and finding things in the Bible that no one had ever seen before you know generally speaking when people find things in the Bible no one's ever seen for two thousand years it's usually because it isn't there okay I have people sometimes complain about me and there's you know he doesn't say anything all that great and it's anything new he doesn't say anything I haven't heard before and I think praise the Lord I'm glad and you come in and that's strange I never heard that before that's weird I never saw that before could because it's not in the Bible uh-uh if it's new it's not true if it's true it's not new I hope and pray to God I'm not teaching anything that the church hasn't taught for 2,000 years it's what Christians have even held two but it's sad that so many people get so wrapped up in the study of God's Word and even Christians who are saved sometimes miss the real purpose of Bible study they want to analyze and theorize and get into diet people come up to me with all these doctrinal questions and all these things and you know sometimes the more I begin to talk to them and find out that they have crazy views of Scripture or they're living in morality immoral lives and they they're studying the Bible but they're not obeying the Bible they're not putting it into practice what good does it do to have the Bible in your head if it hasn't transformed your heart years ago I heard a statement I've never forgotten that this the purpose of Bible study is not an enlightened intellect at the transformed character it's not a big brain it's a transformed life it's a big heart if your Bible study isn't bringing you to humility and brokenness and repentance at sin and faith in Jesus Christ then your Bible study is a Miss same today the Jehovah's Witness study the Bible but they missed Jesus the Mormon studied the Bible but they missed Jesus there's a lot of the cultists and know the Bible better than we do but they miss Jesus Christ there's kids that grow up in church they've been taught to memorize the Bible and memorize description that's good but unless they come to Christ they're not saved it doesn't matter how much Bible knowledge they have so what's the problem here well let me kind of wrap this up the problem number one is that they have a wrong approach to the Scriptures verse 39 they saw the Bible as the end in itself they believed that the knowledge of the Bible was the end in itself and that's a misguided approach the Bible is to bring you into a knowledge of God through Jesus Christ bring you in a deeper relationship to God through Jesus Christ so they saw Bible study as an end in itself that was not the purpose of Scripture notice verse 39 he says you search the scriptures and you think that just doing that you're gonna go to heaven you have eternal life but the Scriptures testify of me now this is an amazing statement at the end of verse 39 where Jesus actually says the Scriptures testify of me and when he says that he's talking about the whole Bible but the Old Testament primarily so all through the Old Testament Jesus is everywhere every book every chapter almost every page you can find Jesus every verse has a path that leads ultimately to Jesus Christ but they would not come to him verse 40 that they might have life so the purpose of the Scriptures is to testify of Jesus Christ Jesus makes that perfectly clear they point us to Jesus so here's my question when you read your Bible do you find Jesus when you study your Bible do you see Jesus is it bringing you to Jesus and you could go through all of the Old Testament he's the seed that would bruise the head of the serpent he's the Lamb that was slain for the sins of mankind he's seen in the tabernacle in the tent and the bread and the light and the oil and the incense all of it the high priests and His garment all of it speak of Jesus Christ Psalm 22 Psalm 23 Isaiah 53 all through there Jesus told Nicodemus as the serpent lifted up in the wilderness so much the Son of Man be lifted up Jesus is all through the Old Testament but here's the second problem they have is their motive was wrong when they read the Bible and this happens to people today they have the wrong motive verse 42 verse 44 they didn't want to come to him they had the wrong approach verse 39 verse 42 verse 44 they had the wrong motive their motive is wrong they were proud and stubborn verse 40 you will not come to me that you might have life otice you and will you will not come to me so they had freedom of will they could choose to believe or not to believe her to come or not to come and then they didn't have the love of God in their hearts when they read the Bible verse 41 and 42 I receive not honour for men but I know that you have not the love of God in you when you read and study your Bible you do it motivated out of a love for God and desire to grow in your love for God you don't just open your mind while the preacher always tells that we need to read their Bibles let's read the Bible my wife will get mad at me if I don't read the Bible so I read my Bible my parents will get mad at me if I don't read my Bible so you read your Bible you do have a duty rather than motivated for love for God why do you pick up your Bible and read to find Jesus because you love Jesus right you're supposed to say yes okay god bless you if a young fellow went away to war and his sweetheart was back home and soldier was writing love letters to his future bride you don't think she'd read them when she got them she'd read them that's well she'd read them ten times that she'd be all excited she'd lock herself in her room and read those letters he imagined if he got home from war and they were not never open they were just sitting in there fighting I was too busy I didn't have time God has given us a love letter in his word and he's telling us how much he loves us and his heart for us and his promises for us and yet we don't have the time to be motivated by love to read his word here's another motive that was wrong in verse 43 to 44 they sought the honor that comes from men how can you believe which receive honor one of another you seek not the honour that cometh from God only so when you read your Bible you want to honor God you want to glorify God their motive was wrong they didn't find Jesus in the scriptures and thirdly and lastly they didn't have faith they didn't mix their reading of scriptures with belief and faith look at verse 45 says do not think that I will accuse you to the Father there's one that will accuse you even Moses whom you trust so they boasted about their commitment to the Word of God Moses had written but they didn't really come to believe in Jesus for he had for if you have believed in Moses you would have believed me why for he wrote of me so verse 39 they testify of me now in verse 46 he wrote of me but if you believe not the writings how shall ye believe my own words you know you don't believe what Moses said about me and even those first five books of the Bible written by Moses he spoke so much about Jesus but they wouldn't believe and turned to Jesus so he says you have not my words remember one the two on the road doing Mass after Christ's resurrection encountered Jesus and he gave him a Bible study and he went through the law and the prophets at length you Moses and when he finally got to be mass they constrained him to come in and stay with him and then Jesus prayed and broke the bread and their eyes were open and Jesus disappeared and what they say did not our hearts burn within us as he opened the scriptures to us as we walked along the way you know there are three openings in that story of the road doing a mass there's the first the opening of the scriptures and then there's the opening of their eyes and then the Bible says there in the story that he opened their understanding what an awesome thing when God opens the scriptures and God opens our eyes and then God opens our understanding and then we say did not our hearts burn within us I tell you the most glorious wonderful experience with God you can ever have is in the Bible is in the pages of Scripture when God speaks to your heart through his word it's marvelous it's wonderful and they said did not our hearts burn within his would to God that we would have the same heart burn now let me give you three quick bullet points of application and closing on how to approach the Scriptures and as I said again this could go on for a long time and I've went longer than I wanted to tonight but I want to give you three quick bullet points or not anything new but they're important number one read the Bible humbly read the Bible humbly God is in heaven and you are on earth and we need to write read the Bible on our knees yes God use human instruments yes it's said in historical context but we need to read it with great humility and utmost dependency upon God the Holy Spirit so before you read your Bible pray and ask God to show you cry to ask the Holy Spirit to be your teacher and to show you the things that cried secondly read it purposefully you say what do you mean purposely umeed read it with the purpose of coming to know Jesus better and finding Jesus and every page look for promises look for sins that you are supposed to avoid look for promises that you should claim look for verses that tell you more about God's nature and character and love what do I learn about God what do I learn about Jesus what promises are there for me what sin is there for me to avoid in my own life and then thirdly read it obediently so you read it humbly you read it purposely and you read it obediently what does the Bible tell us in the book of James be doers of the word not what not hearers only deceiving your own selves God's given us his word Christ is revealed in this book and we must be doers of word so we read it hum li we read it purposely and we read it obediently god changed my life and helped me to put it into practice

Channel: Revival Christian Fellowship

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Id: 1SwZaSLsZxo

Length: 51min 6sec (3066 seconds)

Published: Thu Oct 31 2019