The Witness of the Father, Part 2

Court is still in session, but now the accusers are silent. They accused Him breaking the Sabbath day, and then accused Him of blasphemy. He was not guilty of either because, He is the Creator of the Sabbath and He is equal with the Father.

Last week we began looking at the first witness Jesus called to His defense, the witness of the Father and how initially He focused on His equality with God the Father. John is very clear in his thesis: promote and defend the deity of Jesus.

Today we will look at the second part of the Father’ s witness which deals not with only the equality, but of the authority given to Jesus. Read with me beginning in verse 25...

Court is in session but His accusers are silent! When Jesus speaks, you need to listen!

Why should you listen when Jesus speaks to you?

You must listen to Him because of the power given Him by God. He has...

Power Over Death and Life Verses 25-26

As the Son of God Jesus is revealing great truth in these verses that you need to listen to today! He is saying that as the Son of God He has power (Authority) over life and death! You need to hear what these Jews needed to hear:

Men are dead and don’t know it

The dead Jesus is speaking of in this verse are not those who are physically dead, but spiritually dead

There was not a man in hearing distance these words did not apply to!

There is not a one living today who these same words do not apply to!

We are born in sin, forever cut off from the holiness of God, without any hope in the world.

What we needed, what this world needs today, is hope

That hope is Jesus!

Jesus is the life-giver

He would prove this over the course of His ministry

That He had power of life and death is evident in the following ways:

He raised no less than 3 people from the grave

He Himself was raised from the grave

That He could give spiritual life is evident by the same examples

If He could conquer physical death, the spiritual death would be no problem for Him

If He could raise Lazarus from the grave after four days, He can give you eternal life right now!

From where would Jesus receive such power? From God the Father Himself!

You can imagine the looks on the faces of His accusers as He began to explain His person and relationship to the Father to them and no doubt in my mind they opened their mouths to refute His claims only to shut them again because they could not answer Him! Never had anyone ever attempted to be so bold against the religious elite, but keep in mind, the religious elite had never encountered the Son of God before!

They had no answer to His word on his power over life and death, and they would soon see they had no answer for His word on His...

Power to Judge Righteously Verses 27-29

Not only had the Father given to the Son power (authority) over life and death, but over judgment. As the Son of God He could save from sin and bring the spiritually dead to new life in Him. As the Son of Man He was able to righteously condemn man to eternity apart from Him.

Jesus makes this clear in verse 28 when He tells those around Him there is a judgment day coming.

If you are here today and you do not know Jesus as your Savior, what are you waiting on? There is a judgment day coming!

There are two truths revealed here:

The Judgment Day has not happened yet.

The day of judgment is a future time which no man will escape

Just because it has not happened yet, that does not mean it will not happen!

Atheists like to deny the authority and reliability of Scripture based on the fact that the judgment has not happened yet, but don’t you find it funny as they also claim that the world is heating up and the ice caps are going to melt. They believed 20 years ago that this would happen…here we are 20 years later and they have now pushed it back another 20 or so years, and If we are still here in the next 20 years you can bet they will have pushed it back even further. Of course, the difference is, they are basing their predictions on man’s wisdom, and we are putting our faith in the Word of God. I’ll stand with God over man any day.

There are in fact two types of resurrections

The Just

Jesus was the firstfruit of this resurrection and we know that we will be resurrected because He was resurrected.

His resurrection will be followed by the resurrection of the Church saints at the Rapture of the church. When will this be? No one knows, but it is closer today than it was yesterday!

At this time we will stand before the judgment seat of Christ and give an answer to our faithfulness in this life

This judgment is not to determine heaven or hell, that will be determined in this life by whether or not you will trust Jesus or outright reject Him.

The Church saints will be followed by the OT/Tribulation saints after the tribulation period at the beginning of the Millennial reign of Christ

What do these all have in common?

It is not their good deeds and works which grant them access to this resurrection

It is their faith in the promises of God.

The Unjust

There is also a future day of judgment for the unsaved

Everyone, every person who has ever lived who has rejected God’s offer of salvation will stand before Jesus Christ at the GWT

Hitler

Bin Laden

Pharaoh

Agrippa

Herod

They will know that day, what the Jews experienced in John 5. They will know what it is to stand before Jesus and be silent.

Listen to me: There is coming a day when you will stand before Jesus Christ, and you get to choose what day that will be! You, right now can choose if you will bow before Him and confess Him as Lord, and one day stand before His judgment seat where you will receive reward and loss, or you can choose to reject Him and one day bow before Him and confess Him as your judge, receive the full penalty for your sin and be cast away from Him for eternity with no hope.

You don’t have to take my word for it, because the last point I want to make is that there is a...

Powerful Witness to Confirm His Word Verses 30-32

We see:

Jesus confessing again His equality with the Father v. 30

He had a will, He was no robot

However, His will was so submitted to the Father, that the Father’s will WAS His will.

Jesus conforming to the law vv. 31-32

How could He not conform to the law where the law was unbreakable?

He was the Law giver and the Law Keeper.

The Law required two witnesses to convict or acquit someone accused of a crime (such as Sabbath breaking/blasphemy)

Jesus understood this, that is why He said in verse 31 “If I bear witness of myself, my witness is not true”

He was not saying He was a liar

He was saying that according to the law, He needed at least 2 witnesses to prove His innocence

In verse 32 Jesus drops His final bombshell on His relationship to the Father:

“There is another that beareth witness of me”

“Another” = of the same exact substance of me

“Beareth” = continues to bear

Some have suggested He meant John the Baptist

As we know John’s time was up, he would be executed, and therefore his witness would end

Who then was this witness?

None other than God the Father!

Now, would these Jews call God a liar?

You do not have to take my word for it that Jesus is God, but you cannot refuse the Word of the Father!

Conclusion: As Terri comes to the piano this morning to play, I want to ask you a simple question this morning…Are you listening to Jesus this morning?

I believe today that the Holy Spirit has spoken to hearts in this message, not because of me, but because it is His ministry to take the Word of God and to use it to bring conviction to the hearts of men. So I ask, has God spoken to your heart this morning. Will you stand to your feet as Terri begins play.

Today as we stand here with our eyes closed while the music plays, Christian, has the Spirit of God spoken to you about sin in your life? Maybe its your faithfulness to God - are you different when your at church versus when your at home or at work? Maybe there is some specific sin in your life that God has pointed out in your life and right now He is calling you to repent. Will you listen? Will you obey? Will you repent and ask God’s forgiveness?

Maybe today you’re here and the Spirit of God has put on your heart that you are not in a relationship with Him. Maybe today you realize that you are not saved, maybe today you have realized that an eternity in hell awaits you if you do not put your trust in Jesus for forgiveness. If that is you this morning, no one is looking around, its just you, me, and God. Today if you need to be saved, will you raise your hand and admit “Its me, I need Jesus”. There is no shame in admitting it, because at one point it is true of all of us. Today if you are not sure, you can be sure.

Right now, if God has spoken to you won’t you come to the altar and let Him put your broken pieces together? Pray… Is there one that needs to come this morning? What is it that you need to tell God today? Do not let today pass without making sure you are saved and on your way to heaven!