Four Witnesses To Jesus
Sermon Audio
Sermon Notes
Today we’re continuing our teaching series called Visible God, which is about seeing God through the life of Jesus. We’re studying a book of the bible called the Gospel of John, which records the life and words of Jesus as it was written by an original source, an original follower of Jesus. I’ve been saying that same synopsis at the intro of every message in this series, to the point where some of you might even be tuning it out. But the reason I keep saying it is to remind us that the stuff we’re reading isn’t a fairytale. It’s stuff that’s been written and recorded by a real guy named John, who witnessed the life and words of Jesus.
Now it’s eyewitness testimonies, that confirms a lot of things we believe. That’s true for both Christians and non-Christians...It’s eyewitness testimonies, that confirms a lot of things we believe. For example you believe the Roman Empire existed, because of eyewitness testimonies of those who’ve seen it. You believe Antarctica’s cold, because of the eyewitness testimonies of those who’ve seen and felt its cold. You even make decisions in the grocery store every week to buy or not buy certain things, based on the eyewitness testimonies of the ingredients on the box. You believe the ingredients on the Cheez-its box are true, because of the eyewitness testimonies of those who quality checked the food. So despite the fact you’ve never seen the Roman Empire in real time, you’ve most likely never felt Antarctica’s cold, and you’ve never sat in the factory quality checking your food...you still trust those things are true. You trust they’re true, because of the eyewitness testimonies that’ve confirmed they’re true. In a similar way we’re about to study a text where Jesus tells some Jewish leaders to check the witnesses. He tells them to check the witnesses, to confirm that the claims he’s making are true, and that’s what we’re gonna talk about today. So let’s turn to John 5:31-47 and get into it. If you open your bible to the middle, turn a few books to the right you’ll find John. We’ll be in John 5:31-47. Title of today’s message is 4 Witnesses To Jesus, and here’s the big idea. The claims of Jesus, are backed by many witnesses...The claims of Jesus, are backed by many witnesses. You can trust him and his word.
Context:
Here’s your context. In vs. 1-30 John, the author of this book of the bible, tells us about a time when Jesus heals a guy who’s been crippled for 38 yrs. Well some Jewish religious leaders get upset over it, they start accusing him of breaking their Sabbath laws, and in vs. 18 it says they wanted to kill Jesus for claiming to have equality with God. Jesus claimed to have equality with God, he claimed to have the authority to grant us eternal life or eternal judgment, and now he’s about to give them 4 witnesses, to confirm the claims he’s making are true. Let’s check it out.
The Word:
John 5:31-47 states, “If I alone bear witness about myself, my testimony is not true.” Jesus is simply following Old Testament law here, which states you need more than one witness to determine if a testimony’s true or not. It’s a good principle to follow even for us today, because witnesses can always help confirm or deny a person’s testimony. I mean I could claim I sing like the best of the American Idol winners, but those around me would have a Simon moment saying, “Yeah that’s not true. I’ve heard him sing! The bible says make a joyful noise and it’s joyful, it’s just not pretty. He’s the guy that gets cut the 1st round.” It’s the witnesses who can confirm my claim as an American Idol isn’t true. Now as for Jesus, he isn’t worried about them checking the witnesses. He’s actually inviting them to check the witnesses to confirm his claims are true. In a sense he’s saying, “You want proof I have equality with God and the authority to grant eternal life or eternal judgement? Then check the witnesses...Check the witnesses...See if they confirm that my claims are true.” He then gives them 4 witnesses to check his claims, but it’s not just any 4 witnesses. It’s 4 witnesses the Jews in that culture knew, and would’ve highly respected.
Vs. 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.” Okay so this is our 1st witness, it’s John the Baptist. It’s John the Baptist, which is different than John the author of this book of the bible. John the Baptist was a big deal back then, he would’ve had a blue check mark on his social media page showing he’s a public figure. He was a public figure, a national figure, and many Jews respected him. So Jesus is name dropping a guy a lot of Jews respected and followed. He says John bore witness to the truth, he confirmed Jesus’ claims were true. You can read John’s testimony in ch’s 1 and 3, but here’s a few things he says about Jesus.
John 1:23, “Make straight the way of the Lord!”
John 1:27, “The strap of Jesus’ sandals I’m not worthy to untie.”
John 1:29 “Behold! Jesus is the lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!”
John 1:34, “And I have seen and borne witness, that this is the Son of God!”
That’s just a few of the many things John says about Jesus to confirm his claims are true.
John was highly respected by a lot of people, and in vs 34 Jesus says he wants those who respect John to remember his testimony so they’ll be saved. Jesus isn’t saying all this as if he needs to prove himself to anyone. He’s saying it for their sake, so they’ll believe in him and be saved.
Vs. 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.” There’s the 2nd witness Jesus gives. The 1st is John the Baptist, and the 2nd witness is the Miracles. Jesus says it’s the very miracles, the very works he’s doing. He’s doing things nobody else can do! I mean we’re only 5 chapters in and he’s already turned water into wine, healed a Roman official’s dying son, and healed a man who was crippled for 38 yrs. He does it all without even breaking a sweat. In the chapter we’re studying now he simply tells the crippled guy to get up and walk, and the guy walks. Jesus is saying “Look at that miracle! Look all the other miracles I’m doing! They bear witness to my claims that God the Father has sent me, and that I have equality with God. I’m doing some miraculous things nobody else can do!” But some people will reject what Jesus is saying here, they’ll reject miracles as a credible witness, because they’re skeptical of miracles like the people in the text. They’re like “Well there’s a very low probability somebody can turn water into wine, heal a dying boy, heal a guy who’s been crippled for 38 yrs, simply by speaking a word. Nobody’s ever done that before, it has very low probability, therefore it’s not true.” But people who think like this, who think based on probabilities alone, have to discredit most of what we believe in history, including things like Olympic records. For example, there’s over 7 billion people in the world, yet only one person’s ever ran the 100-meter dash in 9.58 seconds. It’s Usain Bolt...Now since he’s the only one who’s ever done that, should people 100 yrs later doubt it happened since it’s not very probable? Of course not, because we’ve witnessed it. We’ve witnessed it and written it in the record books, just like Jesus’ miracles were witnessed and written in books like the gospel of John.
But for some people it’s not about probability, it’s about their experience. They’ll reject miracles as a credible witness because they’ve never experienced one before. But just because you haven’t experienced a certain miracle, doesn’t mean the miracle isn’t true. For example let’s say there’s a guy stranded on an island, long before modern technology existed. Well one day some sailors come from the North and start telling the guy about ice. But the guy is on an island without modern technology, without a Snoopy Snow Cone machine...He has no idea, no concept of ice, which makes it hard for him to believe water can be turn into a hard rock. So he doesn’t believe them, he doesn’t believe ice exists, because he’s never experienced it before. Yet it still exists...The ice still exists even despite his disbelief and lack of experience, just like miracles can still exist despite others disbelief and lack of experience. People can think having miracles as a witness is foolish, but those who’ve experienced miracles can say it’s true like the sailors. Jesus says the miracles are a witness, they’re a witness that his claims are true. John the Author says in John 20:30-31, “Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; 31 but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.” The purpose of Jesus’ miracles were so we’d believe in Jesus, believe his claims, and be saved. The miracles are a witness.
Vs. 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.” There’s the 3rd witness Jesus talks about. The 1st is John the Baptist, the 2nd is the Miracles, and the 3rd witness is the Father. Jesus says God the Father has borne witness about him too. Several times he says the Father’s sent him, and he even says the miracles prove the Father’s sent him. But he’s also saying the prophets the Father’s spoken through have borne witness about him. The Old Testament part of the bible records the testimony of many prophetic witnesses the Father’s spoken through, and they’re all pointing to Jesus. But Jesus is saying the people rejecting him haven’t heard the Father’s voice because they’re not listening to the prophets the Father’s spoken through. If they were listening to the prophets they’d hear the Father’s voice speaking through them bearing witness to Jesus, and they’d believe. It’s a point he’ll drive home even further in vs. 39-47.
Vs. 39, “You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me...” There’s the 4th witness. The 4th witness is the Scriptures. Jesus says the scriptures “bear witness about him.” He’s talking in particular about the Old Testament part of our bible, because much of the New Testament wasn’t written yet. But regardless both the Old and New Testament parts of the bible “bear witness about Jesus.” The bible consists of 40 different authors, written over a time span of 1500 yrs. Some of the authors were kings, historians, a doctor, a fisherman, even Jesus’ own little brothers wrote about him. Yet all of them point to Jesus and his redeeming work. All of them “bear witness about him.”
Jesus said in Luke 24:25-27, “‘O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! 26 Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?’ 27 And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.”
Paul says in 2 Corinthians 1:20, “For all the promises of God find their Yes in him.”
So our list of witnesses just went from 4 to 40. It’s 40 authors, 40 witnesses who wrote
their testimonies down over a span of 1500 yrs, yet all of them “bear witness about Jesus.” It’s why the Bible reading plan we’re getting you for our 2020 Year of Transformation includes different scriptures from EVERY book of the bible. It’s because every book points to Jesus and his redeeming work...This is such an important text when it comes to learning how to read the bible, because it’s teaching us to not read the bible like it’s a fairytale, or to read it like it’s a science book giving us answers about dinosaurs. This might be a shocker for some of you, but we don’t even read the bible with the primary purpose of trying to learn good morals and good principles on life. Does it teach us good moral and good principles? Yes it does, but that’s not the primary purpose of the bible. The primary purpose is to teach us about the God who made us, how our sin messed things up, and how Jesus came to make things right. The primary purpose is to teach us about Jesus and his redeeming work on the cross. If you’re studying the Bible and miss seeing Jesus, then you miss the point! You miss the point, just like these Jewish religious leaders are missing the point. They new a lot about the scriptures, but they missed the main point of the scriptures. They missed Jesus! In the words of Sally Lloyd-Jones, author of the Jesus Story Book Bible, “Every Story in the Bible whispers his name. He’s like the missing piece in a puzzle, the piece that makes all other pieces fit together, and suddenly you can see a beautiful picture.” Jesus is the point, all the stories in the bible point to him. They’re witnesses to him.
Again vs. 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.” So despite the evidence, despite all the witnesses, these Jewish leaders still refuse to come to him. It can also translate as they didn’t want to come to him. They straight up reject him, reject the witnesses of John, the miracles, the Father, and all of scripture. Jesus tells us why in vs. 41.
Vs. 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?” There’s the reason they’re rejecting Jesus. It’s the same reason everybody starts out rejecting Jesus. It’s because we’re glory thieves. We start out as glory thieves seeking our own glory, instead of seeking God’s glory. We want to be our own Lords, instead of wanting Jesus as Lord. We want to live a Tupac life all eyes on me, instead of a Jesus centered life all eyes on him! But once our hearts are opened to Jesus all that gets reversed, and we want nothing more than to see Jesus glorified. It’s a struggle sometimes, because we still battle with desires of the flesh. But we know those desires won’t ever satisfy us like Jesus will. We know only Jesus can eternally satisfy our thirsty souls, and only Jesus deserves to be glorified. The Jews in the text refuse to come to him, they don’t want to come to him, because they want to be their own Lords, instead of wanting Jesus as Lord.
Vs. 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?” Moses is one of the authors who wrote about Jesus in the Old Testament, and was even more respected than John the Baptist. He was considered the great lawgiver who God gave the 10 Commandments to. Jesus is like “You set your hope on Moses and believed in his words. Well guess what? He wrote about me too!” Moses talked about how Jesus will crush Satan’s head, how he’ll be the seed of Abraham that’ll bless every nation, and one of the main reasons God gave Moses the 10 Commandments was to show our need for a Savior, our need for Jesus. We can’t perfectly live out the laws of God, meaning we need a Savior, we need Jesus. He came to live the perfect life we haven’t lived, to perfectly fulfill the law, then died the death we deserved to die for our sins, and rose from the dead to prove it’s all true. He proved he really is our Lord, our Savior who came to make things right, and to give us eternal life through his death on the cross. Moses wrote about it, and there’s been many witnesses to confirm it. Hebrews 12:1-2 states, “Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2 looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.”
The Big Idea:
So here’s the big idea...The claims of Jesus, are backed by many witnesses. You can trust him and his word...You can trust Jesus and his word...Will those of you who aren’t Christians believe the witnesses, and will those of you who are Christians be a witness?...Will those of you who aren’t Christians believe the witnesses, believe their testimonies, believe Jesus is your Lord and Savior who came to live, die, and rise again for your sins?...Will those of you who are Christians be a witness, be a living testimony to the claims of Jesus?...Will you be a witness during this Christmas season by inviting your friends to come to our Christmas Eve service, showing you trust the incarnational birth of Jesus is true, and so is his power to transform their lives?...Will you be a witness by even taking the invite cards on your seats and inviting your friends to come to our Christmas Eve service, so they can experience the eternal life giving joys of Jesus too?
City Awakening be confident in the faith we have...Be confident in the faith we have, in the promises we have, in the great hope we have in Jesus because it’s all true. We can trust it’s all true...just like we can trust the Roman Empire existed, Antarctica’s cold, the ingredients on the Cheez-it’s box are true, and Usain Bolt ran the 100 in 9.58 seconds...We can trust it’s all true, because of the many credible witnesses, the many credible testimonies, that’ve seen and experienced its truth...Let’s pray...(Make sure I pray for our Christmas Eve service too.)
John 1:23, “Make straight the way of the Lord!”
John 1:27, “The strap of Jesus’ sandals I’m not worthy to untie.”
John 1:29, “Behold! Jesus is the lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!”
John 1:34, “And I have seen and borne witness, that this is the Son of God!”
John 20:30-31, “Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; 31 but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.”
Jesus said in Luke 24:25-27, “‘O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! 26 Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?’ 27 And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.”
Paul says in 2 Corinthians 1:20, “For all the promises of God find their Yes in him.”
Sally Lloyd-Jones, author of the Jesus Story Book Bible, “Every Story in the Bible whispers his name. He’s like the missing piece in a puzzle, the piece that makes all other pieces fit together, and suddenly you can see a beautiful picture.”
Hebrews 12:1-2 states, “Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2 looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.”