Four Witnesses of Jesus

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

Welcome!

Can you believe a month has passed by already? Here we are one month into 2025. I hope it has been a blessed year for you so far. We are excited about all that God is going to do in this place this year.

Bailey is at home sick today. This is the second time she has been sick in the last couple of weeks, but she really wanted to come today. So since she is out, You Tube will help us in worship today

~OPENING PRAYER~

INTRODUCTION:

There is great power in having a witness. Someone who comes with a claim of something great doesn’t hold much weight if all he has is his own claim. Just look at how the courts operate. There in the court room there is a witness stand for people to testify because when a claim is made, it’s doesn’t hold much weight without a witness. BUT when a claim is made and there is a witness of that claim it really adds weight and authority to that claim.

No one knew this more than Jesus. He knew when He came to this world, there would be people who would not believe Him. He also knew that there were false prophets before Him and there would be false prophets after Him. So when Jesus came, He did not come by His word alone testifying of Himself, but He came with authentic, authoritative witnesses testifying to who He is.

And that is what this sermon is about today. Jesus has not one, not two, but four witnesses 4 witnesses that testify that Jesus was more than a mere man, more than a prophet, BUT HE WASS TRULY GOD IN HUMAN FLESH PROMISED FROM LONG AGO WHO HAS COME TO SAVE THE WORLD.

~PASTORAL PRAYER~

John 5:31–32 NASB95

“If I alone testify about Myself, My testimony is not true. “There is another who testifies of Me, and I know that the testimony which He gives about Me is true.

When Jesus says His testimony is not true, He does not mean that he is not being truthful, but that His testimony alone is not sufficient. For such a claim to be the Son of God, there must be more than One witness.

The Jews would have clearly agreed because that is exactly what the OT and NT requires!

Deuteronomy 19:15 ““A single witness shall not rise up against a man on account of any iniquity or any sin which he has committed; on the evidence of two or three witnesses a matter shall be confirmed.”

2 Corinthians 13:1 “This is the third time I am coming to you. Every fact is to be confirmed by the testimony of two or three witnesses.”

So what Jesus is going to do here is make a biblical, courtroom case for Himself in the presence of these Jewish people by calling to the witness stand witness after witness to back up the claims that He is making. And by doing this He is placing the ball in their court, either reject Him despite the irrefutable evidence of these witnesses or come to Him for eternal life:

The first witness of Jesus’ deity was John the Baptist

John 5:33–35 NASB95

“You have sent to John, and he has testified to the truth. “But the testimony which I receive is not from man, but I say these things so that you may be saved. “He was the lamp that was burning and was shining and you were willing to rejoice for a while in his light.

Explanation:

The first person Jesu calls to the witness stand is John the Baptist.

We will see that John was the least credible because he was a mere man.

Nonetheless, His witness was not only very important, but it caused people to follow Jesus.

It’s a pretty amazing thing to think that God would raise up a man just for one specific reason in life.

If we were to sum up John’s life, that is what it would be. He was given life by God so that he could testify of the Son of God.

John did that well.

Jesus said, “you have sent to John, and he has testified”

When John started his preaching ministry and baptizing people, the Jews came to him wanting to know who he was and why he was baptizing.

John told them he was not the Christ, but he came testify about the light.

And Matthew even tells us that they wanted to be baptized, but John wouldn’t baptize them until they demonstrated proof that they had truly repented.

But John was not just a man who believed Jesus was the Christ. John was a man who was sent from God to testify of Jesus.

John 1:6–7 NASB95

There came a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness, to testify about the Light, so that all might believe through him.

So John’s testimony does not really begin with himself John, but it begins with God Himself.

John knew Jesus was the Christ, because God told John that the one on whom the Spirit descends upon and remains upon is the Christ. And when John baptized Jesus that is exactly what he saw.

He was an eye witness who experienced exactly what God said he would see.

Application:

Jesus said, “he (John) has testified to truth”

What Jesus is essentially saying is that God used the human witness of John the Baptist in great measure.

I cannot emphasize enough the importance of a human witness to Jesus

That is also our calling in this life. To be a witness to the truth of Jesus. It is not just to live truth, but to testify of that truth that we live and believe and hold near and dear to us.

And if there is one thing this world is opposed to, it is the truth. The world has believed the “lie” and does not like the truth, but we are called to bear witness to that!

And the Pharisees and the Sadduccees and the sinners did not like what John said, because he spoke truth, and the world may not like you for speaking truth, but we are to go on speaking anyway.

Principle: It is better to die or be hated for testifying of what is true than to live silently in the presence of lies

You will never do more for another person than speaking truth to them

You will be hated for it, you will be slandered because of it, you may even be killed because of it, but nothing will make more of a difference in another person’s life

This church is to be a standing witness of Jesus each and every day of our lives.

When people ask

And when people do not ask (and most of them do not)

We are to stand firm on our personal testimonies and the testimony of Scripture

The Second Witness is the miracles Jesus did

John 5:36 NASB95

“But the testimony which I have is greater than the testimony of John; for the works which the Father has given Me to accomplish—the very works that I do—testify about Me, that the Father has sent Me.

Explanation:

“the testimony I have is greater than the testimony of John”

Now Jesus says that even though John testified of Him, there is something greater than John that authenticates His divine origin

“the very works that I do, testify about Me”

The works He is talking about are the miracles He performed in the presence of men.

Jesus did things that go directly against nature, things that no man could ever do:

Turning water into wine

Healing people

walking on water

cast out demon

multiplied five loaves and two fish enough to feed thousands of people

And even raised the dead!

And its worth noting that much of what Jesus did, he did in the presence of these men

They saw Him heal people

They saw this lame man walk

They even saw Lazarus live after he had been dead three days

So the evidence was not hidden, but before their own eyes

The point Jesus is making, is that He did what only God could do. No other man could do the miracles that they were seeing before their eyes. Even when they tried to attribute these miracles to Satan, Jesus explained that that made no sense whatsoever. These were things that only God could do.

SILVA MAGIC

The kids and I get a kick out of a guy on Facebook who makes videos of little magic tricks

And he is pretty crafty in what he does, but they are tricks. Things appear to disappear or go against the laws of nature, but if you read the comments people are always explaining how he is doing them and then when you go back and watch the video, you can see it.

What Jesus did could not be explained. It could not be replicated. It was nothing short of miraculous and things only God could do Himself. The impossible

Its one thing that followers of someone would testify to His miracles.

But its a whole other thing for an unbeliever to testify of His miracles.

And there is a man names Flavius Josephus, who was a Jewish historian, and who did not follow Jesus.

And we have His works, and listen to what He said about Jesus:

“About this time there lived Jesus, a wise man, [if indeed one ought to call him a man].  For he was one who wrought surprising feats and was a teacher of such people as accept the truth gladly.  He won over many Jews and many of the Greeks.  [He was the Messiah.]  When Pilate, upon hearing him accused by men of the highest standing amongst us, had condemned him to be crucified, those who had in the first place come to love him did not give up their affection for him.  [On the third day he appeared to them restored to life,] for the prophets of God had prophesied these and countless other marvelous things about him”

The Third witness is the Father Himself

John 5:37–38 NASB95

“And the Father who sent Me, He has testified of Me. You have neither heard His voice at any time nor seen His form. “You do not have His word abiding in you, for you do not believe Him whom He sent.

Explanation:

Now I can imagine that this really shocked the Jewish leaders

Because the major complaint that they had against Him in this section was that He was calling God His own Father.

And now Jesus says, not only am I God’s Son, but God is one of My witnesses that I am His Son!

How did God testify of Jesus?

He testified of Him from heaven audibly

When Jesus was baptized, God said this, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased.”

When Jesus transfigured, God said this, “This is My beloved Son, with whom I am well-pleased; listen to Him!”

Not once but twice an audible voice from heaven spoke in the presence of men testifying that Jesus is the Son of God.

He also testifies of Jesus internally

1 John 5:10–11 NASB95

The one who believes in the Son of God has the testimony in himself; the one who does not believe God has made Him a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony that God has given concerning His Son. And the testimony is this, that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son.

And the testimony is this, that God has given us eternal life

The real living present experience that one has passed from death to life (v 24), that one has been born again (John 3), that one has become a tree that produces good fruit (John 15) that physical evidence of transformation, that is God the Father’s testimony of Jesus.

The Works of Jesus gave the EXTERNAL witness of Jesus

God gives the INTERNAL witness of Jesus

And this internal witness testifies that Jesus is the Christ to all who believe and follow Jesus.

Look what Jesus says next: (v 37-38) “You have neither heard His voice at any time nor seen His form, you do not have His word abiding in you, for you do not believe Him whom He sent”

Jesus is essentially saying to them, they do not hear or see God’s witness, because they have never believed in Jesus.

The internal witness only exists for those who believe

Application:

This same is truth for us today. There is an internal witness, confirmation, that Jesus is the Son of God.

That those who are now living with eternal life have been transformed and know this testimony to be true!

The Witness of Scripture

John 5:39–40 (NASB95)

“You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; it is these that testify about Me; and you are unwilling to come to Me so that you may have life…(v 45) Do not think that I will accuse you before the Father; the one who accuses you is Moses, in whom you have set your hope. “For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me, for he wrote about Me. “But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe My words?”

Explanation:

Jesus says, “it is these (Scriptures) that testify of me.”

The Scriptures Jesus is talking about is not the pages of the NT….they had not been written yet. It is the OT Scriptures that Jesus is referring to that speak about Him.

Now when you read the OT there is one thing you will not find, and that is the name Jesus of Nazareth. But, you will find Scripture after Scripture that speaks of an individual who is coming into the world and will deliver Israel.

And we have studied several of these over Christmas, His incarnation from Isaiah, His timing from Daniel, where He would be born from Micah.

But Jesus goes even further back than that and says, “Moses wrote about Me”.

That is the writings referring to Jesus go all the way back to the first five books of the Bible.

The Scriptures are the OT Scriptures that He says testify of Him.

I know I bring this up often, but I feel it is such an important thing for us to know and remember: that the OT does not is not a new doctrine. Nor is the coming of a Messiah King who would die for the sins of the world a new doctrine.

The OT is the foundation, it is the “anchor” to our Christian faith. The NT is not opposed to it, but perfectly in line with it.

And that validates what we believe.

Truth:

Let me say this about Scripture: It is possible to know the Bible back and forth inside and out and still not have eternal life.

That certainly was the case here. These Pharisees knew the Word of God, they wore it on their bodies, they studied it daily, and by being so knowledgable they thought they had eternal life.

But knowledge does not save us, trusting Jesus saves us. Knowing what God said doesn’t mean a thing unless we’re willing to live our lives by it.

Many people die and go to hell that have read the Bible over and over, studies, it, and could quote much of from memory

Knowing the Bible does not mean we have eternal life, knowing the Author of the Bible does

How does one know the Bible yet never come to that point of saving faith and come into possession of eternal life?

Because the Word of God demands submission to what it says. When we read the Bible, we must put ourselves under the authority of it. We are to fear it, not manipulate it to what we want it to say.

That’s what the Jews did. They took God, and put Him into their form of religion, the way they wanted to follow God, rather than taking themselves and conforming to Word of God.

Application:

Naturally then we should ask ourselves: how do we read the Bible? And how do we apply the Bible?

Do we approach the Word of God with preconceived notions. In other words do we allow the Bible to speak for itself?

The temptation always exists for us to take the Word of God and conform it to our lives. To form our own religious system by it, what we practice, what we feel comfortable with, what works for us!

But we must church approach the Word of God in fear and trembling. It ALWAYS has the authority in everything and n there is never a time when we can override it to fit our narrative or circumstances, however unique they may seem to be.

CONCLUSION:

And there is the evidence also presented to us today in God’s courtroom held out to us and asks us what will we do with Jesus?

It’s not just His Word, His claims, or even His apostles and disciples, but FOUR witnesses have been called to the witness stand who validate who He is and what he claims:

Jesus said He is the One who forgives sin

Jesus said He is the One who has been promised from the beginning

Jesus said He is the One who gives life and gives it abundantly

And Jesus said here, that we must come to Him for eternal life

How can a person be saved? How can a person have eternal life? The same way Jesus said to these Jews: come to Me

Come to Jesus.

Get up, bring your sin, bring your shame, bring your questions, bring your entire life and lay it down at the foot of the cross.

Give your entire life to Him today by faith and He will save you!

~PRAYER~