Witness to Jesus
Notes
Transcript
Intro
Intro
Last time I talked about the authority that Jesus has as the Son, and the relationship that Jesus has with the Father. Today we are going to look at the next part of Jesus’ discourse. I love lawyer shows. there is something about watching two people argue and debate and having people ideologies be challenge. in the case of Lawyers its a matter of who is innocent and who is guilty Jesus now must defend himself and His claim as God to the religious leaders. Jesus needs to provide evidence for the religious leaders. So Jesus continues this discourse and instead of continuing to give a testimony why he is God he now presents His evidence. Jesus presents four witnesses to give to the Pharisees to show them that He His God.. and with each claim his case becomes that much stronger.when I ended my last sermon with verse 30. this verse is also the beginning of the next section. Jesus was telling the religious leaders that he could not do anything unless the father directs him. that’s why his judgment is just. He does not do what he wants he does what God wants. which brings us to the topic at hand. Jesus says in verse 31 that if he alone were to bear witness about himself then his testimony would not be true. So is Jesus saying that we can not believe in him and that he is unreliable? of course not. What jesus is saying is that the religious leaders would not believe him if he gave a testimony about himself. The fathers testomony is the only one that matters but in the trial setting envisaged, Jesus acknowledges the principle if Deuteronomy 19:15 (which states "A single witness shall not suffice against a person for any crime or for any wrong in connection with any offense that he has committed. Only on the evidence of two witnesses or of three witnesses shall a charge be established.) Since the Jews do not know the voice and form of the “other” Witness, he adduces three ways in which the father bears a witness that the Jews can understand So Jesus needed to provide evidence about his claims which is exactly what He does.
Last time I talked about the authority that Jesus has as the Son, and the relationship that Jesus has with the Father. Today we are going to look at the next part of Jesus’ discourse. I love lawyer shows. there is something about watching two people argue and debate and having people ideologies be challenge. in the case of Lawyers its a matter of who is innocent and who is guilty Jesus now must defend himself and His claim as God to the religious leaders. Jesus needs to provide evidence for the religious leaders. So Jesus continues this discourse and instead of continuing to give a testimony why he is God he now presents His evidence. Jesus presents four witnesses to give to the Pharisees to show them that He His God.. and with each claim his case becomes that much stronger.when I ended my last sermon with verse 30. this verse is also the beginning of the next section. Jesus was telling the religious leaders that he could not do anything unless the father directs him. that’s why his judgment is just. He does not do what he wants he does what God wants. which brings us to the topic at hand. Jesus says in verse 31 that if he alone were to bear witness about himself then his testimony would not be true. So is Jesus saying that we can not believe in him and that he is unreliable? of course not. What jesus is saying is that the religious leaders would not believe him if he gave a testimony about himself. The fathers testomony is the only one that matters but in the trial setting envisaged, Jesus acknowledges the principle if Deuteronomy 19:15 (which states "A single witness shall not suffice against a person for any crime or for any wrong in connection with any offense that he has committed. Only on the evidence of two witnesses or of three witnesses shall a charge be established.) Since the Jews do not know the voice and form of the “other” Witness, he adduces three ways in which the father bears a witness that the Jews can understand So Jesus needed to provide evidence about his claims which is exactly what He does.
The Witness of John the Baptist
The Witness of John the Baptist
Jesus goes and presents four different witnesses about himself. each one is stronger than the last. the first one is John the Baptist. John was sent to prepare the way for Jesus. John also helped people see that jesus was the Promised Messiah. The Jewish leaders have already rejected this witness but Jesus still uses for the ultimate purpose that they might be saved which was Jesus Ultimate purpose for coming the first time. John was the first prophet in 400 years and he was supporting the claims that Jesus was messiah. Jesus did not need John’s testimony or any humans testimony for that matter to claim to be God. We will see that the other testimony that Jesus presents are greater than John’s. So why use John’s testimony? it was because John the Baptist’s message was presented so that the people can be saved. John’s witness may of been down played but Jesus is dealing with people who have already rejected it; he adduces it though, it be but witness of a man, in the hope that the Jews might think about it again and be saved. that was the purpose of John’s testimony to Jesus was to save people and the fact Jesus has greater witnesses than that is powerful because even though a human testimony about Jesus is the weakest of the testimony but Jesus uses them in order for people to be saved. That is why John's witness remains as evidence.
Jesus goes and presents four different witnesses about himself. each one is stronger than the last. the first one is John the Baptist. John was sent to prepare the way for Jesus. John also helped people see that jesus was the Promised Messiah. The Jewish leaders have already rejected this witness but Jesus still uses for the ultimate purpose that they might be saved which was Jesus Ultimate purpose for coming the first time. John was the first prophet in 400 years and he was supporting the claims that Jesus was messiah. Jesus did not need John’s testimony or any humans testimony for that matter to claim to be God. We will see that the other testimony that Jesus presents are greater than John’s. So why use John’s testimony? it was because John the Baptist’s message was presented so that the people can be saved. John’s witness may of been down played but Jesus is dealing with people who have already rejected it; he adduces it though, it be but witness of a man, in the hope that the Jews might think about it again and be saved. that was the purpose of John’s testimony to Jesus was to save people and the fact Jesus has greater witnesses than that is powerful because even though a human testimony about Jesus is the weakest of the testimony but Jesus uses them in order for people to be saved. That is why John's witness remains as evidence.
The Witness of Jesus’ miracles
The Witness of Jesus’ miracles
The second witness Jesus mentions is the ones of His miracles in verse 36 Jesus says ““But I have a greater testimony than John’s because of the works that the Father has given Me to accomplish. These very works I am doing testify about Me that the Father has sent Me.” John’s testimony carried considerable weigh; after all he was the greatest man who ever lived up to his time. but the testimony of John’s miracles are far greater than the testimony of John. More convincing than the greatest prophets’s testimony to Christ were the very works that He did. The miracles and works that Jesus has done are greater than that of John because every time we see a Jesus preformed a Miracle someone believed. When Jesus turned water into wine His disciples believed in him. When Jesus preformed many miracles in John 2 Nicodemus started his path toward Jesus. When Jesus healed the officials son from afar the official’s entire family was saved. These miracles are the very works that God had given Jesus to do. Christ only did these works which the father had given him to accomplish. This in no way implies that Jesus is inferior to the Father as I talked about last time Jesus voluntarily gave up his independence and was completely dependent on God. these works not only testify about Jesus but they also testify that the Father who sent the Son. Because of these works were in perfect Harmony with the will of His Father hey testified that the father sent Him.Jesus uses this as a Segway to his third witness
The Witness of The Father
The Witness of The Father
John 5:37–38 says “The Father who sent Me has Himself testified about Me. You have not heard His voice at any time, and you haven’t seen His form. You don’t have His word living in you, because you don’t believe the One He sent.” The Father who sent Jesus has testified of Him is infinitely greater importance than any human testimony. in two instances the gospel records two times where the father gave a verbal testimony to the son. That’s the baptism of Jesus and the transfiguration where he say “this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased” Jesus continues and he rebukes the religious leaders by saying that because of their unbelief they can not see or hear God because they did not have the word of God in them. The Jewish nation prided themselves in being the nation of the One True God, however Jesus makes it very clear to them that they don't know God. God’s testimony of the Son is that God sent Him. They refused to listen to Jesus, God’s final revelation to Mankind. In doing so they completely rejected Jesus and lived in ignorance of God’s plan.
The Witness of the Word of God
The Witness of the Word of God
The final witness that Jesus shows the religious leaders is the witness of the Scripture. These last seven verses deal with the heart of the problem with the religious leaders. they search the scriptures but they do not understand. As Christians this is something we need to be careful with as well. Knowledge about Jesus is not enough to get you saved. The religious leaders believed that eternal life came through the scripture alone and the knowledge about the Scripture, but Jesus tells them that the very scripture that they are seeking eternal life from is testify about Him. Yet they do not come to Jesus. How often do we only use the bible to one up someone with our head knowledge and yet we do not use the bible to testify about Jesus and spread the gospel? I am guilty of that. I let my degree go to my head sometimes and try and be a know it all and that is not only dangerous for my ministry but that is dangerous for my evangelizing we need to be careful to be I can further my education all the way until I have all the Phd’s i could possibly get on the topic of the Bible but all that knowledge will get me no where if I don't have a relationship with Jesus.
These Jewish leaders do not have the word of God in them (v. 38), or the life of God (v. 40) and as we see in verse 42 they do not have the Love of God in them. Because of this they reject Jesus as one who is sent from God. The Jews reject Jesus because of their lack of awareness of not having God in their hearts but they will accept one who comes and testify his own name. And this is true. Jews have had many false messiah from the time before Jesus and the Time after Jesus. The Text in general and does not mention a specific person or being like the enemy or the antichrist however it is important to note that there have been and will continue to be a number of false messiahs that the Jews have accepted as Christ. Jesus asks an important question “How can you believe? While accepting glory from one another, you don’t seek the glory that comes from the only God.” This offers a crucial reason for their rejection of Jesus those who engaged in seeking glory from one another do not humble themselves in order to believe in Jesus which is the only way to seek the glory that is from the one and only God.
Jesus ends his discourse with the religious leaders by giving the Jewish leaders a glimpse into the future Jesus tells them that they will not be accused by Jesus but instead by Moses. Because Moses is their Hope. There is evidence that Jews looked to Moses to act as their intercessor in the Final Judgment but instead Moses will accuse them not defend them for because Moses wrote about Jesus and the Jews did not believe Moses or Jesus about the coming of Christ. Jesus probably did not have a specific passage in mind such as Deuteronomy 18:15-18 which talks about the Prophet like Moses who will come. instead I think that Jesus was referring to the entirety of Torah the first five books of the Bible and in verse 39 Jesus talks about all of the scripture which at this time was just the Old Testament. Jesus can be seen throughout the entire old testament. From the first word of Genesis Jesus can be seen, to the Promise of a seed that would come in Genies 3 from the sign of Jonah that Jesus was referring to it can all be seen in the Old testament. I love being able to teaching and showing how jesus can be seen in the Old Testament. That is why the Scripture is a witness because they talk about Christ.
Closing
Closing
We are witnesses of Jesus things that happened in our lives and the people we have become is a testament to who Jesus is and we need to be sure that we are spreading the good news of Jesus and showing his love to those who come into contact with our lives.
close in prayer