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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.
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 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.
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