The Witnesses of Jesus: And the Truth Behind Unbelief

John 5:30-47 The Witnesses of Jesus (And the Truth Behind Unbelief) Introduction: The scene here is one like a courtroom. Jesus has just been speaking of his authority to Judge all. Now the scene moves to where Jesus is going to defend or give witness to his person, and his work. Jesus calls witnesses in testimony to who he is. They are: John; The works; The Father; The Scriptures and Moses. Jesus states to the religious leaders, “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.” Jesus brings forth testimony based upon the Jewish law stated in Deuteronomy 19:15 "A single witness shall not suffice against a person for any crime or for any wrong in connection with any offense that he has committed. Only on the evidence of two witnesses or of three witnesses shall a charge be established.” Jesus through these witnesses will affirm his claims and will draw a line in the sand for his accusers. Will they believe their own scriptures and testimony? Or will they turn a blind eye at the inconvenient truth? Unfortunately they resist the truth because it’s not what they really want. We are no different. We want truth when it supports what we want. When it doesn’t we make claims like, “all truth is relevant”…or “that’s good for you, but not for me”… The truth is too revealing, it is too damning for us to look into. Because it carries with it the understanding that we should obey it, we should follow it, whether we like it or not. But we don’t like it, therefore we turn a blind eye, or brush truth off as relevant. But the problem is that we cannot relegate truth to relevance without implications, without problems. Truth is true whether we like it or not, that is, in a sense, the definition of truth, and if we ignore it, it is we who will come up short, it is we who will be lost, it is we who suffer the consequence of ignoring truth. But people are biased. What we want has a massive effect on what we are able to believe. When we arrive at truth, we believe it or reject not based on what is right, good, and true, but by what we really want…and when we arrive at the truth about Jesus, more often than not, he is not what we want… Why? Because if Jesus is who he said he is and who the scriptures claim him to be then, as the Catechism states, “We are not are own but belong body and soul, both in life and death to God and to our Savior Jesus Christ”.. Therefore we should not live as though we belong to ourselves…Jesus is Lord and Master, and he alone deserves our allegiance, our full obedience to his truth, our praise, the whole of our focus and lives lived in a way which honors him, in a way which points to him.. 1. John 1. “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.” 2. First off Jesus makes it clear he is not saying these things for his own pride or human support, he is saying them so that the Jewish hearers might be saved... 3. John is the one who utters the first significant testimony concerning Jesus. He calls him the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world; the one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit; He is the Son of God. 4. Jesus reminds his opponents that they sought John out, and he testified to the truth…they listened to John, they willingly rejoiced in his (light) testimony until a point. 2. The Works 1. “For othe works that the Father has given me pto accomplish, the very works that I am doing, qbear witness about me that rthe Father has sent me.” 2. This term is used in the Gospel to describe the powerful acts that Jesus does on earth in cooperation with the Father. They are not ends in themselves but point to the fact that Jesus is sent on a mission from the Father. 3. One of the unique characteristics of God seen in the OT is Life Giver. John has already stated in John 1:4 that "in Him was life”. Raising the dead was therefore a sign of the presence of God. The sign of the Festival Cycle (the healing of the lame man, the feeding of the multitude, and the giving of sight to the blind man, only a few listed signs that Jesus performed) point toward the resurrection sign of Lazarus (The last sign in the festival Cycle). Moreover they all serve as an introduction to the ultimate sign of the resurrection of Jesus, which is the confirmation of his uniqueness. 1. (Romans 1:3-4" concerning his Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh 4 and was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord). 4. The works that Jesus does testify to the presence of God in their midst. But the Jews continually either rationalize or ignore the signs that support Jesus claims. 3. The Father 1. “And the Father who sent me shas himself borne witness about me. His voice you have never heard,this form you have never seen, 38 and uyou do not have his word abiding in you, for you do not believe the one whom he has sent.” 1. Jesus basically says that the Jews do not receive the testimony even of the Father because they are blind and deaf because of their prejudice. They have not heard his voice or seen his form, but also, his word was not abiding in them. Jesus testimony would not work with them because they would not let it work.. 2. John will later summarize their problem in the words of Isaiah the prophet - "Though he had done so many signs before them, they still did not believe in him, 38 so that the word spoken by the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled: “Lord, who has believed what he heard from us, and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?” 39 Therefore they could not believe. For again Isaiah said, 40 “He has blinded their eyes and hardened their heart, lest they see with their eyes, and understand with their heart, and turn, and I would heal them.” 1. As the saying goes, “There are none so blind as those who will not see. The most deluded people are those who choose to ignore what they already know.” -John Heywood? 4. The Scriptures and Moses. 1. You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and wit is they that bear witness about me, 40 yet xyou refuse to come to me that you may have life. 41 yI do not receive glory from people. 42 But zI know that you do not have athe love of God within you. 43 I have come bin my Father's name, and cyou do not receive me. dIf another comes in his own name, you will receive him. 44 How can you believe, when you receive glory from one another and edo not seek the glory that comes from fthe only God? 45 Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father. There is one who accuses you: Moses, gon whom you have set your hope. 46 For if you believed Moses, you would believe me; for hhe wrote of me. 47 But iif you do not believe his writings, how will you believe my words?” 2. The final witness is the scripture and Moses through which they were trusting for their salvation. The study of the scripture was for the Jew the dearest part of his life and their means to assurance of life in the world to come (eternal life). Jesus claim or indictment of them is that they search the scriptures for in them they thought they had assurance of eternal life, but that the scriptures all pointed to him, as the source or fulfillment of life and yet they refuse to come to him..But which scriptures in particular is Jesus referring to? 1. There are over three hundred prophetic references that Jesus fulfilled in his life and of those 300, there are 60 major prophecies. O.T. Prophetic types, people, places, and things all point to Christ. He is the fulfillment of all the Law and the Prophets… 1. “Jesus is the true and better Adam who passed the test in the garden and whose obedience is imputed to us. 2. Jesus is the true and better Abel who, though innocently slain, has blood now that cries out, not for our condemnation, but for acquittal. 3. Jesus is the true and better Abraham who answered the call of God to leave all the comfortable and familiar and go out into the void not knowing wither he went to create a new people of God. 4. Jesus is the true and better Isaac who was not just offered up by his father on the mount but was truly sacrificed for us. And when God said to Abraham, “Now I know you love me because you did not withhold your son, your only son whom you love from me,” now we can look at God taking his son up the mountain and sacrificing him and say, “Now we know that you love us because you did not withhold your son, your only son, whom you love from us.” 5. Jesus is the true and better Jacob who wrestled and took the blow of justice we deserved, so we, like Jacob, only receive the wounds of grace to wake us up and discipline us. 6. Jesus is the true and better Joseph who, at the right hand of the king, forgives those who betrayed and sold him and uses his new power to save them. 7. Jesus is the true and better Moses who stands in the gap between the people and the Lord and who mediates a new covenant. 8. Jesus is the true and better Rock of Moses who, struck with the rod of God’s justice, now gives us water in the desert. 9. Jesus is the true and better Job, the truly innocent sufferer, who then intercedes for and saves his stupid friends. 10. Jesus is the true and better David whose victory becomes his people’s victory, though they never lifted a stone to accomplish it themselves. 11. Jesus is the true and better Esther who didn’t just risk leaving an earthly palace but lost the ultimate and heavenly one, who didn’t just risk his life, but gave his life to save his people. 12. Jesus is the true and better Jonah who was cast out into the storm so that we could be brought in. 13. Jesus is the real Rock of Moses, the real Passover Lamb, innocent, perfect, helpless, slain so the angel of death will pass over us. He’s the true temple, the true prophet, the true priest, the true king, the true sacrifice, the true lamb, the true light, the true bread.” -Tim Keller 14. In these few ways and a hundred others, all of Scripture points to Jesus Christ; all Scripture finds its ultimate meaning and fulfillment in him. 1. “The law of Moses is not religion of salvation, it is the categorical imperative of God by which men are accused and exposed as sinners. It is this exposure of sin that makes of Moses the prophet of the Son of God. If, therefore, the Jews were properly to believe in Moses, if, that is to say, they were properly to long for the forgiveness of sins and eternal life, they would now be believing in Jesus” -Hoskyns 2. Again the Catechism summarizes it this way, “If no one can keep God’s law what is it’s purpose?” “That we would know the holy nature and will of God, and the sinful nature and disobedience of our hearts and our need of a savior…” 15. If these Jews do not truly believe in the scriptures, by which they are condemned, how can, or why would they believe in the works of Jesus by which they are restored to life? 5. Conclusion/ The Implications 1. If all this is true - that John, Jesus’ own works, the Father and the Scripture (law, psalms and prophets) testify of him- why are the Jews resisting him? 1. We see it in vs. 43. Jesus now accuses his accusers for seeking glory from one another, and this is the evidence that they do not know God….it was evident that they had not internalized the Love of God. The basis for this assessment was their positive reaction to self-seeking persons claiming a messianic role (the different messianic types of the time, lording it over others, self-proclaiming, self glorifying, kingdoms of violence and tyranny)… 2. Jesus was aware of the Jewish longing for and search for messiah and he recognized his opponents personal hopes for gain. So he sums up their problem in believing as a problem of their self-centeredness - you accept, seek, receive praise from one another and not from God. 3. They’re rejecting Jesus because he is nothing like them, He is rather the opposite of them and instead of affirming them, Jesus resists, exposes and rebukes them. But to resist Jesus is to resist the Truth and to reject God’s offer of Eternal Life both now and in the life to come. 2. How about us? 1. If all this is true if Jesus is who he says he is are we truly giving him the obedience, reverence, and praise he deserves? 2. Why wouldn’t we? 3. Because Jesus is not who we want him to be….. Jesus is meek we want to be affirmed in our pride. Jesus is dependent on the Father, we want to be affirmed in our independence. We want to believe that we are the the captain of our own fate the master of our own souls…Let’s be honest Jesus way is so foreign to our human nature that loves praise and recognition, that loves to be first that loves to serve self… that loves what it loves to it’s own demise… 4. Jesus might not be the Savior we want, but Jesus is the Savior we need… a gracious, sacrificial, forgiving, loving, just, all powerful, all knowing, ever present, redeeming Savior and God.. 1. Let us beware that we do not affirm Christ authority, His Lordship, and then pick and choose what parts of his Word we will obey. Let us beware if we call him Lord, but let alcohol, drugs or some other substance rule our lives, let us beware if we call him Lord and allow covetousness and lust to control our obedience..Let us beware of any way in which we would offer him empty words of praise or worth and offer our bodies in obedience to the course of this world…