CALL YOUR NEXT WITNESS

Introduction

-With so many police and court shows on TV, we have all seen the drama unfold in the courtroom of an alleged criminal on trial, with the back and forth that happens between prosecutor and defense.

~And what we quite often see is that eyewitness testimony is some of the strongest evidence that can be presented before the jury.

~If the prosecutor can bring forth several people who can place the defendant at the scene of a crime, and maybe witnessing that person commit the crime itself, it goes a long way in producing a guilty verdict.

~But if the defense can bring forth several people who can place the defendant somewhere other than the crime scene at the time of the crime, or if they saw somebody else commit the crime, that then goes a long way in producing a not-guilty verdict.

-But witnesses go a long way in other areas of life as well, not just a courtroom. If there were witnesses to an historical event or to an historical person, then we take serious the claims that are made about such an event or person as being real and truthful as much as possible.

-The Bible itself says that it is on the testimony of two or three witnesses that a matter will be settled. So what if we have witnesses that testified to the person, nature, and character of Jesus Christ?

-In the passage I want to read today in the gospel of John, Jesus had just healed an invalid man in Jerusalem during one of the feasts, but it happened to be on a Sabbath day.

~The Jewish religious leaders, in their manmade rules they created to try to keep God’s commands, considered healing someone to be a type of work which they forbade to be done on the Sabbath day==the day of rest.

~So they confront Jesus about who exactly He thinks He that He can just ignore their rules—who gave Him this authority.

-In the passage I read last week, we see that Jesus claimed to be God Himself, and offered several different proofs or demonstrations for that claim:

~He has a unique relationship with God the Father that no one else has

~He alone perfectly executes the work of the Father

~He has the power to give life just like the Father

~He has authority from the Father to judge all of mankind

~He receives worship and honor identical to the Father

-But this wasn’t good enough for the Jewish religious leaders, so Jesus calls His next witnesses that give credence to His claim.

-So today I want to consider these witnesses that give testimony to the identity, person, power, and authority of Jesus Christ as God—may that serve as a demonstration to us that Jesus truly is the God-man through whom alone comes salvation and to whom alone we owe our complete allegiance.

John 5:30–47 ESV

30 “I can do nothing on my own. As I hear, I judge, and my judgment is just, because I seek not my own will but the will of him who sent me. 31 If I alone bear witness about myself, my testimony is not true. 32 There is another who bears witness about me, and I know that the testimony that he bears about me is true. 33 You sent to John, and he has borne witness to the truth. 34 Not that the testimony that I receive is from man, but I say these things so that you may be saved. 35 He was a burning and shining lamp, and you were willing to rejoice for a while in his light. 36 But the testimony that I have is greater than that of John. For the works that the Father has given me to accomplish, the very works that I am doing, bear witness about me that the Father has sent me. 37 And the Father who sent me has himself borne witness about me. His voice you have never heard, his form you have never seen, 38 and you do not have his word abiding in you, for you do not believe the one whom he has sent. 39 You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me, 40 yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life. 41 I do not receive glory from people. 42 But I know that you do not have the love of God within you. 43 I have come in my Father’s name, and you do not receive me. If another comes in his own name, you will receive him. 44 How can you believe, when you receive glory from one another and do not seek the glory that comes from the only God? 45 Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father. There is one who accuses you: Moses, on whom you have set your hope. 46 For if you believed Moses, you would believe me; for he wrote of me. 47 But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe my words?”

-In our passage we take notice that Jesus calls up four witnesses to give testimony to His identity----first, there is:

I) The witness of historical eyewitnesses

-Now, specifically in our passage, in vv. 33-35 Jesus points to John the Baptist—John was a contemporary of Jesus who saw Jesus and knew that Jesus was the one that his own ministry was preparing for.

-He then gave testimony, to those who would listen, that Jesus was greater than any mere man, sent to accomplish God’s saving work

-Earlier in the gospel of John, when John the Baptist was questioned by the religious leaders about his own identity, he made it clear that he was merely paving the way for the Messiah, and told them of him in John 1:26-27—

John answered them, "I baptize with water, but among you stands one you do not know,

27 even he who comes after me, the strap of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie."

(Jn. 1:26-27 ESV)

-Then a few verses later, John the Baptist pointed his own disciples to Jesus and gave this testimony of Jesus—he said:

"Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!

30 This is he of whom I said, 'After me comes a man who ranks before me, because he was before me.'

31 I myself did not know him, but for this purpose I came baptizing with water, that he might be revealed to Israel."

32 And John bore witness: "I saw the Spirit descend from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him.

33 I myself did not know him, but he who sent me to baptize with water said to me, 'He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, this is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.'

34 And I have seen and have borne witness that this is the Son of God."

(Jn. 1:29-34 ESV)

-John the Baptist was an eyewitness to Jesus, was an eyewitness to the Holy Spirit descending upon Him, and was an eyewitness to the Father from heaven proclaiming that this Jesus was God’s Son in whom He is well-pleased.

-And John the Baptist is merely one of many eyewitnesses to the fact that Jesus actually existed and from what they saw and heard they can give testimony that Jesus is the Son of God, meaning that He has the very nature and character of God the Father Himself.

-Even the apostle John makes reference that he and the other apostles are merely testifying to their eyewitness experience. In 1 John 1:1-3—

1 That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life—

2 the life was made manifest, and we have seen it, and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was made manifest to us—

3 that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. (1 Jn. 1:1-3 ESV)

-The eyewitnesses merely testify to what they saw and heard, and what they saw and heard convinced them that Jesus is God the Son—He is completely deity as much as He is man.

II) The witness of Jesus’ works

-In v. 36 Jesus talks about the works that He performs demonstrate that He has come from the Father, and is thus deity. The works refer to His teachings, His ministry, and (most importantly) the miracles that He performed.

-As Nicodemus himself testified earlier in the gospel of John:

"Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him." (Jn. 3:2 ESV)

-Yes, there were probably a number of shysters that could fake some sort of magic, but Jesus was able to heal people who were known to be blind and lame and sick, and their cure was confirmed. The signs that Jesus performed were not fakes, but real, and were for the good of the people: therefore Nicodemus came to the conclusion that He did.

-The powerful works that Jesus did as the Messiah in cooperation with the Father were not merely an end to themselves, nor were they just there for show, but acted as a testimony that Jesus was on mission for the Father.

-So when people inquired about Jesus, He would point to the works that He did as evidence of His identity—people would merely need to take an honest look at His works and they could come to the conclusion of who He really is.

-This is what Jesus did when John the Baptist, while in prison, sent some of his disciples to Jesus to make sure He was the coming Messiah. This is the witness that Jesus gave:

4 And Jesus answered them, "Go and tell John what you hear and see:

5 the blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them. (Matt. 11:4-5 ESV)

-Jesus pointed to a combination of his good works, his preaching, and his miracles as a witness that pointed to Him as the coming Messiah who is not some mere man, but is God Himself in the flesh.

-Imagine all the great miracles Jesus performed that no one less than God could do:

~I mentioned last week and I’ll mention again the miracle of raising Lazarus from the dead. By merely a word He brought life to the dead.

-Elsewhere in John 10:25 Jesus noted that THE WORKS THAT I DO IN MY FATHER’S NAME, THEY BEAR WITNESS OF ME.

-Anyone with a heart open to God could see by Jesus’ ministry who He really is.

III) The witness of God the Father

-In v. 37 Jesus says God the Father Himself has born witness to Jesus’ identity—although, in their unbelief, the Jewish religious leaders had never heard the voice of God, there were others who had, and the voice of God gave testimony of who Jesus is.

-At Jesus’ baptism, after the Holy Spirit descended upon Jesus, God spoke from the heavens and declared:

"This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased." (Matt. 3:17 ESV)

-Then, later in His ministry, Jesus walked up a mountain a was transfigured before some of His apostles (that is, the inner glory of Christ’s deity shown through without hindrance), and after taking counsel with Moses and Elijah, a cloud covered the mountain, and God the Father spoke a testimony for the apostles to hear and eventually share. He said:

"This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him." (Matt. 17:5 ESV)

-The Jewish religious leaders who thought they spoke for God the Father had never truly heard the voice of God. And in the hardness of their hearts they could not recognize God’s hand at work in the miracles Jesus was performing.

-God the Father has born witness that Jesus is His Only, Unique Son, sent as redeemer, so that all who believe in Him should not perish, but have eternal life.

IV) The witness of Holy Scripture

-The Jewish religious leaders claimed to be people of the Book—they claimed that they were conservative, Bible-believing folks. And yet, because they did not believe in Jesus, they actually proved that they knew nothing about the Bible that they claimed to so dearly love.

-Jesus told them in v. 39 that they search the Scriptures, they study the Scriptures, they meditate on the Scriptures, they memorize the Scriptures, because they (rightfully) believe that in them they could find life----and yet they completely missed what the Scriptures were teaching, and thus have missed where all of the Old Testament Scriptures were leading to==the person of Jesus Christ.

-Sure, they say they trusted the Scriptures, but if they truly understood them they would have found that all of the Scriptures spoke about Jesus.

-The Old Testament Scriptures was the story of God’s redemption of the world pointing to the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, and the New Testament Scriptures are the testimony of the Risen Lord. If you understand the Bible, then you see that from front to back, from cover to cover, from Genesis to Revelation, it is all gives witness to who Christ is.

-What’s so ironic is that the Jewish religious leaders were putting all their hope in Moses, but they missed Moses’ message, because Moses himself testified of the Messiah:

The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers-- it is to him you shall listen-- (Deut. 18:15 ESV)

-But not only that, innumerable prophecies given throughout the Old Testament, proven to be written hundreds of years before Jesus was even born, and yet perfectly predict His life, ministry, and redeeming work:

~Micah 5:2 prophesied that the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem

~Isaiah 7:14 said He would be born of a virgin

~Genesis 12:3 said He would come from the line of Abraham

~2 Samuel 7:12-13 said He would be descended from David

~Psalm 2:7 said He would be declared the Son of God

~Psalm 22 described in detail the way that He would die

~Psalm 16:10 said He would be raised from the dead

-And that is just a small portion of hundreds of verses that pointed to Jesus and give testimony that Jesus is NOT SOME MERE MAN, HE IS NOT SOME MERE PROPHET, HE IS NOT SOME MERE KING----NO IT SAYS HE IS KING OF KINGS, LORD OF LORDS, AND VERY GOD OF GOD

-Jesus is God—so He alone can save you.

Conclusion

-So Jesus rests His case before this ungodly tribunal—He gave testimony of Himself in the previous passage, but now in this passage He called upon 4 DIFFERENT WITNESSES, all showing who He is

-And Jesus ends by rebuking the Jewish religious leaders because even after evidence after evidence, and testimony after testimony they still do not believe

-And there may be some here today like that—you have been given eyewitness testimony, Jesus’ works testify, the Father testifies, Scripture testifies, along with innumerable philosophical arguments, archaeological finds, historical testimony all pointing to Jesus Christ as Messiah and God----AND YET YOU DO NOT BELIEVE

-Bertrand Russel, an atheist philosopher, was asked that when he died if he should find there is a God, what would you say to Him. And Russel replied: NOT ENOUGH EVIDENCE GOD!

-What a bunch of garbage. There is more than enough evidence, and Jesus has just called witness testimony, to the truth. The real reason that you or others do not believe is that you don’t want to believe because you would rather live in your sin. AND IF THAT IS THE CASE, I CALL YOU TO REPENT—TURN FROM YOUR SIN AND TURN TO JESUS.

-But the problem is that there are some Christians who, even in the face of these witnesses, may claim belief and yet they live as if there is no God. If your life does not match your proclaimed belief, my only cry to you today is REPENT—TURN FROM YOUR SIN AND HYPOCRISY AND TURN TO JESUS, or else just stop pretending.

-Jesus didn’t need to prove who He was, and yet He was gracious enough to give all these proofs and witnesses that show He is Sovereign God—and if He is Sovereign God, that means you need to act like it.

-During the invitation, in light of what you have just heard in this courtroom, you need to make a decision—Jesus is who He claimed to be, now what are you going to do about it…