Sermon Tone Analysis

John uses the word witness.

That is one of his favorite words in his Gospel.

He uses it many times.

The concept of one who bears a testimony, who sheds light on the truth about a situation or, in this case today, of another person.

John listens as Jesus told the Jews of those who bore witness of His ministry when He was challenged by the Jews as a blasphemer because He healed on the Sabbath.

A group that paid no attention, it seemed, to the healing, the miraculous, heaven-sent power Jesus was using but focused on the Scripture about the Sabbath to the point they could not even see they were blind.

And so, Jesus shares, and John records for us that Jesus was not just a miracle Worker, but these miracles testify of His very power and He was in fact the very Son of God.

As we come to our text today, I want us to look at Bearing Witness of the Truth that All Men Might Believe.

What we see in Scripture that Jesus is showing us really does bear witness to the light.

You remember in John's Gospel, light is a metaphor for truth.

When it says that Jesus is the light, that He is the Word become flesh, that He is the embodiment, in other words, of the truths of God.

And so, to bear witness of the light is to bear witness of the truth.

It is to show the truth of God to those who are willing to see.

And also, John tells us light overcomes darkness…that darkness is not stronger than light.

People may reject the light, they may reject the truth because they prefer the darkness of their own perceptions of truth, but light always exposes that evil.

And so, we see even in Jesus' story today of bearing witness of the light.

In John, chapter 5, we pick up in verse 31.

Jesus says, /"If I bear witness of Myself, My witness is not true."/

Later on, Jesus will say, "My bearing witness of Myself is good enough."

But here, His audience would certainly see just because Jesus said He was the Messiah, they would not accept that in the same way if I told you I were Superman, you would not just accept that.

You would want some outside proof.

Well, that is the skeptical audience Jesus is certainly speaking to here as well.

And so, He means in verse 31, "There is Another who witnesses of Me.

It's not just Me saying I am the Son of God.

You're claiming I'm a blasphemer because I claim to be equal with the Father, but you need to see there are other witnesses who are saying that as well."

In fact, in verse 32, He says, /"There is another who bears witness of Me, and I know that the witness which He witnesses of Me is true."/

Now, the He in this verse is going to turn out to be the Father.

It's going to be God Himself.

Jesus says, "I don't bear witness of Myself because God is bearing witness of Me.

The Father is showing you and has shown you who it is I am."

And so, Jesus begins to unfold how the Father has borne witness of who Jesus is in different encounters of the Jews with Christ that should have shown them Jesus is that Messiah.

And as we look at each of these three…beginning with the witness of John the Baptist and looking at the witness of His miracles and then the witness of Scripture itself…I hope you'll see in each of these is an example of how we need to be a witness.

Those of us who know Christ as Savior, how we need to emulate the work of John the Baptist, how we need to be able to share the awesome power of God, how we need to not just know the Scriptures, but be transformed by them.

In verse 33, we see the witness of John the Baptist as Jesus continues.

He says, /"You have sent to John…"/ and that's John the Baptist, /"…and he has borne witness to the truth."/

In other words, "You have John, and you were very interested in John.

You were very impressed with John.

And John spoke about Me.

He was a witness.

He was the forerunner, and he was talking about the fact that the kingdom of heaven is at hand."

Later in verse 34, Jesus says, /"Yet I do not receive testimony from man, but I say these things that you may be saved."/

What does Jesus mean?

Well, Jesus is saying He did not depend on the testimony of man, in this case John.

In other words, "It's not John's testimony that is really bearing witness of Me, that I'm really even talking about.

I'm talking about the Father bearing witness.

But I want to focus on this," He said, "because I know you were impressed with John.

And if you would listen to what John said, you might be saved…if you would listen to the witness of John, the one whom they were impressed with."

Now, the problem was they were impressed with John but not with what John was saying.

In verse 35, Jesus said, /"He was the burning and shining lamp, and you were willing for a time to rejoice in his light."/

Now, they were impressed not in the Light of the Messiah but in the smaller light of Messianic fervor.

They were excited for a time about the stir John was creating over a coming Messiah.

Their religion had become stale and dull, and now here comes an evangelist who is getting people revived and stirred up, who is creating this Messianic fever and fervor in the community.

And they were very impressed by that.

They rejoiced in that; not rejoiced in the truth of what John was saying.

They were just rejoicing John was doing anything, that he was creating a stir, that he was excited.

They were excited for a time about the stir he was creating with his preaching without ever listening to what he was preaching.

If they had listened, it would have helped them to be saved.

It's not unusual for people to respond to the excitement of a new revival evangelist or a new church or a new program.

Folks may find comfort in attending without ever giving attention.

They are those who listen but never hear; those who watch but never see.

They sit but never bow.

They come to worship but never worship.

They read but don't comprehend.

They come but they never move.

They pray for others but not to the Master.

They give up their Sunday mornings without ever giving enough on Sunday to mourn.

They are willing for a time to rejoice in the light but only for a time.

These are those whom Jesus spoke of in another Gospel as that seed which sprouts up quickly, but the cares of the world take it away…Those who seem to be excited but only for a time.

Oh, I pray that that is not you; that you're not one who responds to fervor in and of itself or to newness in and of itself without listening to the message the church is trying to preach, without listening to the message the Scriptures are trying to tell.

Jesus said in verse 35 that John was a lamp.

And that is so key.

It didn't say he was a light, did it?

He said he was a lamp, not the light.

You see, a lamp bears the light.

And the Bible has already told us Jesus is the Light.

John the Apostle tells us that.

Jesus is the Light of men.

John was a Light-bearer.

He was the torch that bore the truth about the Messiah.

The problem is they marveled at the lamp but not at the Light.

They marveled at the lamp but not the Light that made the lamp a thing of joy.

And so too, my friends, the Church is not an end to itself.

It is but a Light-bearer.

It is merely the Body.

It is to do the work of its Head, Jesus.

It is to be alive and functioning and growing and healthy.

Just to have a body is not sufficient for any of us.

An inactive body is an atrophied body.

An inactive body is a dead body.

And no head wants to be attached to an un-functioning body.

That crippling power, that lameness, is those who are excited about the Body but don't do anything with the Body; those who come…as I said…but they're never moved; those who want to be a part of the Body but not a functioning part of the Body.

Jesus says we are a lamp, and our job is to bear Light.

Our job is to sacrifice and to serve and to witness and to live our lives in such a way that they see not our greatness but the greatness of God.

They see not our successes but the beauty of Christ.

That we decrease, and He increases.

Jesus said, "I sent you John.

And for a time you rejoiced but only for a time.

He got you excited, but you never listened to what he was trying to tell you."

And then He says, "But I have a greater witness than that, and that is the witness of the works the Father gave Me to do; the witness of the very miracles you're upset about."

In verses 36 and 37, He said, /"But I have a greater witness than John’s; for the works which the Father has given Me to finish—the very works that I do—bear witness of Me, that the Father has sent Me.