Why Jesus?

Intro

If you know me, You know that I love to read books.

One of my favorite genre of books is Biographies.

I love to hear about people’s life.

I enjoy reading about the struggles and victories of people.

But what if I read a biography of someone and then I met them in person.

But what I read about them didn’t fit my own understanding of who they were from the biography.

Or maybe I didn’t believe who they were because they didn’t meet my expectations.

Maybe, because I am hard headed, I would argue with them.

But regardless I wouldn’t believe them.

They may then have to bring forth evidence that they are who they say they are so that I would believe them.

After they proved to me who they were if I didn’t believe them then who’s wrong?

Are they wrong b/c they didn’t meet my expectations?

Or am I wrong b/c I was blinded to the truth?

That’s similar to what’s happening in our text this morning.

No the bible is not a biography, but it does reveal the character and nature of God.

And his plan to redeem people.

It does point to and reveal who the Savior would be.

But Jesus doesn’t meet the expectations of the Jewish leaders.

So Jesus is going to treat them like he is in the courtroom.

He is going to provide 4 witness to who he is.

Then he is going to turn the tables and point out how they are really the ones on trial.

Let’s Open with a word of prayer.

John 5:31–32 CSB

31 “If I testify about myself, my testimony is not true. 32 There is another who testifies about me, and I know that the testimony he gives about me is true.

Jesus’ Testimony

v. 31 is a pretty confusing verse if you don’t know what’s going on.

Jn 5:31 “31 “If I testify about myself, my testimony is not true.”

Is that a true statement?

No. Even if Jesus was the only one to testify about himself it would be a true testimony.

So what is going on here?

Jesus is appealing to Scripture and tradition of the Jewish Leaders.

In Deut. 19:15 Scripture tells us that in order for a claim to be verified it must be established by at least 2 witnesses.

So for the Jewish leaders it doesn’t matter what Jesus says if there are no witnesses to back it up.

So what is Jesus going to do?

Jesus is going to provide them with all the evidence they need to know that he speaks the truth.

But what we are going to learn throughout the rest of John’s Gospel is that it doesn’t matter how much evidence they have they still won’t believe.

They still don’t recognize Jesus as Lord.

They still don’t see him as God.

I was listening to this Apologist talk about how he talks to those who don’t believe.

Now if you’re unfamiliar an apologist is one who defends the claims of Christianity.

They are usually super smart and good at debate.

They know all the things to say in order to convince someone of the reality of Jesus and the claims that he made.

But this man was talking about how when he approaches a conversation with an unbeliever who is adamantly against Jesus he asks them this question.

If I could prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that Christianity is true would you believe?

And often times they say “no”

What this shows us is that it isn’t about the amount of evidence or proof we have that’s the problem.

This is an issue of the heart.

They don’t want to believe.

They don’t want to trust.

They have it set in their hearts that Jesus is wrong and nothing will convince them otherwise.

So when you run up against opposition trying to tell people who Jesus is don’t be discouraged.

Pray for them.

Be patient with them.

Be okay knowing that not even Jesus himself could convince some people who he is.

People ignore the truth all the time.

It’s as true today as it was in Jesus’ day.

But we know that Jesus’ testimony is true.

Jn 5:32 “32 There is another who testifies about me, and I know that the testimony he gives about me is true.”

There’s debate about who Jesus is talking about here, but it seems to be consistent with God the Father.

Seeing that that’s who we spent a majority of the Discourse earlier talking about.

But he doesn’t spend too much time talking about the Father yet, he will return focus there shortly.

So the first witness he brings up is John the Baptist to affirm him.

John 5:33–35 CSB

33 You sent messengers to John, and he testified to the truth. 34 I don’t receive human testimony, but I say these things so that you may be saved. 35 John was a burning and shining lamp, and you were willing to rejoice for a while in his light.

John The Baptist

The witness of John the baptist plays a big role in John’s Gospel.

In fact, John’s Gospel begins with the witness of John the Baptist.

Jn 1:6-8 “6 There was a man sent from God whose name was John. 7 He came as a witness to testify about the light, so that all might believe through him. 8 He was not the light, but he came to testify about the light.”

Jn 1:23 “23 He said, “I am a voice of one crying out in the wilderness: Make straight the way of the Lord—just as Isaiah the prophet said.””

Jn 1:29-30 “29 The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! 30 This is the one I told you about: ‘After me comes a man who ranks ahead of me, because he existed before me.’”

Jn 1:36 “36 When he saw Jesus passing by, he said, “Look, the Lamb of God!””

John is a herald for Jesus, so naturally Jesus is going to appeal to him to help satisfy the Jewish leaders.

John the baptist had made a splash amongst the Jewish people so the Leaders knew him and his message.

They didn’t know what to do with him, but they knew that he talked about one coming after him who was greater than him.

They even sent some people to inquire of John about his message.

They were trying to figure out what John was all about.

And John “Testified to the truth.”

And here Jesus’ reminds them and us that he doesn’t need a human testimony to confirm the truthfulness of his statement.

He doesn’t need humans to tell him who he is.

He doesn’t need us to prove that he is God.

But he used the Testimony of John why?

So that you may be saved.

Again Jesus wants people to be saved.

He wants people to believe and he chooses to use us to help accomplish that mission.

He used John as a witness to his claims.

He wanted to provide some evidence for his claim to be from God so that they may be saved.

I don’t know if you have ever thought about the fact that God desires to save people.

He desires to know people.

Remember Jesus came to save.

He came to take the condemned and make them not condemned.

He came to take the dead and make them alive.

He came to restore people into right relationship with God.

And here he is appealing to the Jewish leaders and saying, I am telling you these things so that you may believe.

He didn’t need human testimony, but he used it to spur them to belief.

He condescends to us.

He helps to make us understand his gospel and his mission.

It’s a beautiful thing that the infinite God of this universe would come and communicate with us in ways that we could understand for the purpose of saving those who would believe.

And for these Jewish leaders they liked John the baptist.

They listened to John and John was not the message of the good news.

He was the witness to the good news.

He was a burning and shining lamp preparing the way of the Lord.

And they were happy to listen to John’s message.

They liked the message that the messiah was coming.

They liked hearing about God’s promise being fulfilled.

They enjoyed the light of John b/c they longed for the day the Lord would come.

But the Lord came just as John the Baptist promised and they rejected him.

And so if John’s witness isn’t enough, Jesus is going to make an appeal to the works he does as proof of who he is.

John 5:36 CSB

36 “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.

Works

Jesus had done some mighty things.

Not least of which was just performed a few short verses earlier.

Prior to this discourse with the Jews Jesus had healed a man that had been lame for 38 years.

This is a work only God could do.

And this is enough to prove that Jesus was sent by God to do mighty things.

Jesus was reversing the problems of the fall.

He was healing the brokenness of the world.

And this small picture is more evidence that Jesus was sent by The Father to do the will of the Father.

Jesus’ healing of the lame man even partially fulfilled their scriptures.

Isa 35:5-6 “5 Then the eyes of the blind will be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped. 6 Then the lame will leap like a deer, and the tongue of the mute will sing for joy, for water will gush in the wilderness, and streams in the desert;”

Now here’s the thing the works that Jesus does are not an end to themselves.

Jesus didn’t just come to do miraculous things.

The Signs are just that Signs.

They point to something greater than themselves.

Every single one of the miracles Jesus did pointed to the reality of who he is and the restoration that is to come.

We can’t stop at the sign and get to Jesus.

We can appreciate the miracle.

We can thank God for the miracle, but we can’t stop there.

We have to acknowledge the God behind the miracle.

Jesus did wondrous works insomuch as they testified about who he was.

And as if John the Baptist and Jesus’ works weren’t enough he continues with his third witness, God the Father.

John 5:37 CSB

37 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.

The Father

This evidence and the next one have a lot of cross over.

But here’s what Jesus is getting at.

They have missed the point.

They wanted to hear from God but never did.

They wanted to see God but never did.

Now that Same God is standing in front of them and they want nothing to do with him.

God has revealed himself in the Person and Work of Jesus but just like they rejected Moses and the prophets, they are rejecting him.

The Father had told them that the messiah was coming.

He had prepared them with John the Baptist, but they were still hard hearted.

They still did not believe.

As we will see time and time again this isn’t an evidence issue it’s a heart issue.

Now Jesus isn’t done providing evidence of who he is, but in addition to evidence he is going to start reversing the accusation.

He is going to put the Jewish Leaders on trial.

He is going to point out their blindness.

He is going to challenge what they think.

John 5:38–39 CSB

38 You don’t have his word residing in you, because you don’t believe the one he sent. 39 You pore over the Scriptures because you think you have eternal life in them, and yet they testify about me.

The Scriptures

Jesus is getting down to the nitty gritty when it comes to their issue.

These men don’t have the word of God dwelling in them.

He is accusing them of reading and knowing the Scriptures but not knowing the one who gave them the scriptures.

They don’t believe Jesus is who he says he is b/c they are not be transformed and informed by the Word of God.

I love what he says in v. 39

John 5:39 “39 You pore over the Scriptures because you think you have eternal life in them, and yet they testify about me.”

They thought that eternal life is found in the Scriptures.

But eternal life isn’t found in the Scriptures it’s found in a person.

and that Person is revealed in the Scriptures.

The entirety of the Biblical Story points to Jesus.

They testify about him.

He is the reason and the point of all Scripture.

Does that mean that we go look under every rock in Scripture and expect to see Jesus there?

No. Rather we take into account all that God has done and how he has revealed himself in his word and know that the purpose and structure of all of history was to get us to Jesus.

Meaning that even the OT is important for us as Christian Believers.

I have said it lots of times, but it bears repeating.

As followers of Jesus we cannot divorce ourselves from the OT.

We cannot unhitch ourselves from the OT.

The OT is as important to us as it is to Jewish People.

In it we see the goodness and glory of God working out his mission and telling us his message.

Listen to what Jesus says in Luke 24:44 “44 He told them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you—that everything written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets, and the Psalms must be fulfilled.””

And in the Gospel of John Philip tells Nathanael in Jn 1:45 “... “We have found the one Moses wrote about in the law (and so did the prophets): Jesus the son of Joseph, from Nazareth.””

We need the OT to understand Jesus.

Think about it this way.

If all we had was the OT we could still get to Jesus.

We could still understand his message.

We could still worship Him.

Every person recorded in the NT, with the exception of Luke, was Jewish.

Meaning that every time they wrote a letter, preached a sermon, or discipled a new christian they were using the OT as a backdrop for teaching.

And too often we leave 77% of our bible on the table and focus solely on the 23% of the NT.

Now what I don’t want you to hear me say is that we need to abandon the NT and focus solely on the OT.

No we need to balanced in our approach to all of God’s Word.

Here we had people who knew the bible and still rejected Jesus.

Jesus is very blunt they study and study God’s word but they miss the point, Jesus.

Studying God’s Word won’t save you.

There are atheist scholars who’s lives are devoted to studying God’s Word but they won’t be saved.

The Study of Scripture should make us love Jesus More and if it doesn’t something is wrong.

These Jewish leaders were reading God’s Word but they were reading it with blinders on.

They were reading it with their own interpretation.

They were reading it and studying it to affirm their own understanding and not truly see what God was doing.

We have to be careful not to fall into the same trap.

Why do you read or study the bible?

Did you know that there are more wrong ways to study scripture than there are right ways.

I want to take a moment and go over some ways that people tend to read the bible that runs contrary to God’s design.

a. Moral Guidebook

The Bible is viewed as a list of do’s or don’ts.

That these are the rules to follow to make up a moral life.

How to be a better person.

We look at characters in the bible and figure that we should emulate them as pinnacles of morality.

Which I find to be honestly a disillusioned way to read the bible.

You don’t have to go very far in any of the “heroes of the faith” to know that there are glaring faults in all of them. With the exception of Jesus.

One of the problems with reading the bible this way is that we start to think that if I do this and I don’t do that or I don’t do this and I do do that then I am right with God.

It miss the reality that the only way we are right with God is b/c of Jesus.

That there is nothing I can do to earn God’s love and grace. But that it was accomplished on the Cross of Jesus and in his resurrection.

b. How to live a better life.

You’ve probably heard this before.

The Bible is…Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth.

And it sounds nice. It rings nice in the ears.

But the Bible is not an instruction book.

The Bible is the revelation of a holy and righteous God.

Does it provide wisdom on how to live a godly life. Absolutely.

Look at the Proverbs, the teaching of Jesus, and the apostle’s writings.

But to boil it down to simply a way to life your best life now is not taking seriously God’s Word.

What’s the danger in that?

What if life doesn’t get better following Jesus?

Jesus never promised us an easy life.

He never said that in this world if you follow me all things will be smooth.

We get a better life from following Jesus because now we have hope.

We have a blessed assurance.

We have a relationship with God that saves us, sustains us, and comforts us.

Do all our worries, troubles, and trials go away.

No. But we don’t have to carry the burden alone.

We have God on our side.

We have his church on our side.

c. Inserting yourself into the Scriptures

This is a big thing for the prosperity preachers.

Many of the preachers you will see on the TV or that have big platforms.

One of my favorite examples of this is with the story of David and Goliath.

The story is portrayed as we are David in the story and we can conquer Goliath.

Goliath represents our bills, failing health, or annoying coworker.

We need to have faith to slay that Giant.

But that’s not the point of the story.

The Point of that story is to show us Jesus.

We shouldn’t read the scriptures and place ourselves into the story.

The point of Scripture is Jesus.

They testify about him and anything short of that devalues the Word of God.

That’s the problem these Jewish leaders were facing they didn’t understand God’s plan and purpose in the Scriptures.

So when he stands in front of them they can’t see him.

They don’t believe. Which is the final accusation Jesus has for them.

John 5:40–47 CSB

40 But you are not willing to come to me so that you may have life. 41 “I do not accept glory from people, 42 but I know you—that you have no love for God within you. 43 I have come in my Father’s name, and yet you don’t accept me. If someone else comes in his own name, you will accept him. 44 How can you believe, since you accept glory from one another but don’t seek the glory that comes from the only God? 45 Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father. Your accuser is Moses, on whom you have set your hope. 46 For if you believed Moses, you would believe me, because he wrote about me. 47 But if you don’t believe what he wrote, how will you believe my words?”

Unbelief

This is Jesus’ chief charge against them. They don’t believe.

And they don’t believe b/c they don’t actually love God.

They are so consumed with their religious observances that they miss the intention and message of God toward them.

They wanted a messiah, a savior that looked different from Jesus.

They had their own Ideas how they would be saved.

What they wanted God to do.

And so when God did what he wanted to do, how he wanted to do it they were filled with unbelief.

When Jesus talks about not receiving glory from people what does he mean? v.41

He means that we as humans cannot add or take away from who he is.

He doesn’t need us to glorify him.

He doesn’t need our worship.

He doesn’t need our praise.

He doesn’t need our approval.

He doesn’t need anything from us.

He doesn’t lack anything.

All the approval he needs comes from the fact that he is the creator of the universe.

He holds life and death in his hands.

He sustains the world.

With one word he can change everything.

There is nothing we can add to his essence.

But he graciously chooses to invite us into relationship with him.

Where we can glorify him.

We can worship hip.

We can praise him.

And here he wants the Jewish leaders to know that the only way to have life is to come to him.

They can’t find life in the scriptures they can only find it in the Son.

And he has come to accomplish his task in the Father’s name and he is rejected b/c they don’t have the love of God in them.

But the crazy thing is they would gladly accept someone that isn’t Jesus.

If a man came and claimed to be the messiah and led a revolt they would have followed him.

They would trust a simple man.

They would accept another.

But they deny the savior.

Their sin, arrogance, and hatred of Jesus blind them to the glory that is revealed to them.

this is an example of what John said in his opening chapter of this gospel.

John 1:10-11 “10 He was in the world, and the world was created through him, and yet the world did not recognize him. 11 He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him.”

And Jesus is about to deal the “death blow” to their state.

Listen again to what he says.

Jn 5:45-47 “45 Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father. Your accuser is Moses, on whom you have set your hope. 46 For if you believed Moses, you would believe me, because he wrote about me. 47 But if you don’t believe what he wrote, how will you believe my words?””

Moses is believed to be the author of the first 5 books of the OT

The Jewish Leadership would have held Moses in High Esteem as the one God chose to reveal his law to.

Moses was responsible for helping the Israelites flee Egypt.

Moses interceded on behalf of the Israelites when they sinned against God.

And they believed that Moses continued to pray for them.

That he made intercession or spoke on their behalf daily.

And Jesus says that it isn’t that Moses is going to speak and plead to God on your behalf any more, but he is going to be the one to accuse you of not believing in Jesus.

Of not trusting the evidence God has given.

Because if they truly believed Moses.

If they truly trusted Moses.

If they truly understood what Moses wrote.

They would recognized that Moses was excited to see the day that Jesus would come.

That the Torah speaks about Jesus and his coming.

But unfortunately they are blinded by their own hatred and prejudice against Jesus.

That they can’t see that he is the one that Moses longed for.

That Moses wrote about.

That Moses believed would redeem God’s people.

These leaders are guilty of not believing in Jesus.

They stand condemned b/c they don’t believe the evidence that Jesus laid out before them.

My question for you is what do you say about Jesus?

What do you believe about Jesus?

Does it line up with what Jesus believed about himself?

Do you see him as Lord of all?

Because that’s who he is.

The evidence is before you.

John the Baptist believes

The Works of Jesus Prove who he is

The Father promises his coming

And Scripture Testifies to his coming.

This is what we need to hold on to.

If you don’t believe Jesus is calling out to you today to trust him.

To believe in him.

To worship him.

Let’s Pray.