Jesus Proves He is God
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STudies show that 30% of pet owners let their pets sleep in their beds… I tried it with my goldfish and it died
if the early bird catches the worm, I’ll sleep until there is bacon
So this morning, we are going to find Jesus in a place that Controversy got him into tand he is going to need to defend himself… and he is going to pull together four witnesses to defend himself. Like a good lawyer may do
Jesus says so you want to challenge me, I am going to give you some guys that will prove who I am.
John The Baptist
His own works
The Father
The Bible
31 If I alone bear witness about myself, my testimony is not true.
IF you want more witnessess I got you
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.
Here is the first one, in chapter 1 talked about John the baptist…
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.
John the Baptist is the first witness… and he says you liked what John had to say… he was the first prophet in four hundred years… and you guys bought into what he had to say and John was this sold out guy… took the nazarite vow no wine, no hair cut, no dead body… 6 corn rows, wrapped around his waist in a sack… non conformist… he was a rugged mountain man… and he was sold out for the kingdom and I wonder if we have a life like that, where we are sold out for the kingdom… when I was helping wit ha youth group I took the nazarite vow… no soda… no xbox… no cut hair....
Jesus would later say that John was the greatest who ever lived… and John lived in a state of war… he knew eternity was always in the balance… We tend to compartmentalize our lives.... we have to get out of that...
And thats why discipleship is so important… we have to train people so that they are ready for war… there needs to be an urgency and intentionality involved.
We have to teach our kids that we have to be willing to risk it all for Christianity
I love what Raphael McMannus says about Chrstianity, he says “Christianity over the last 2000 years has moved from a tribe of renegades to a religion of conformists.”
35 He was a burning and shining lamp, and you were willing to rejoice for a while in his light.
THe concept of the lamp here is the lamp is not a light unto itself.... the oil burns and then goes out… the moon is not shinning, it does not have a light… there is no light in it… the relection of the sun is bouncing off the moon...
And John the baptist was saying I’m the moon… and Jesus is saying.... he WAS a burning and shining lamp… he is already dead at this point… and much like John our lives will burn out at some point and will go away… 76 to 77 If I life the average life I have 36 years left… and I look and say waht have I done… and I dont want to go out and buy a car… but I think have I had an impact… have I made a difference in this world...
And we know life is so fragile and we have to think of what we do wit it. And I love what Corrie Ten Boom said, “The measure of a life is not its duration but its donation.” We gauge and think people left too early, but its not about the duration… in the eye of eternity 26 and 76 make little difference… so what did we do with that life… did we shape it
You were willing to rejoice for a while in his light.... is that your life.. are there people that want to be around you and be around your life… that is what people did with John they wanted to be involved in what he was doing and saying… and thats the problem with the church today… we are talking amongst ourselves and we are stuck on these theological questions and arguing with one another… and theology is important… but people on the outside look in and theyre thinking these guys cant even agree why do I want to be a part of that… thats why our light should be Jesus and his work.,,
How are we represented in teh world right now… people know us for what we hate… and I have read books that talk about people should know us for what we are for… and so now churches have started these caompaigns where they put it on shirts and they say “For Lawton” and to me that is just as stupid… are we doing so bad that we have to TELL people what we are for… just be for it and make sure people know by your actions and not your words.
And people loved what they heard from John… his message was so good and encouraging that people wanted to get around him and be near him… and the question is is that what you have when its associated with Jesus… do people want to be around you and the life you are lviing andbecause they see what Jesus has done in you and hear what he can do in them, and they want more of it...
And not only are people rejoicing in what God is doing through you and the light that Jesus is putting on you… I picture this little light of mine… Im not hte light… but are YOU REJOICING IN JESUS? Seriously.. in the middle of every bad situation… in the middle of every good one, are you rejoicing in Jesus… I look around some of you aren’t rejoicing in much of anything, you have this lookf of dread on your face all the time...
So, the first person Jesus calls to the stand is John the baptist, and here is what he is putting on the stand next
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.
He did all these miracles and he is saying look that is why you should believe in me… and we talked about this a few weeks ago that he didnt more because there were more important things… but part of this miracle thing is so that people will believe..
5 For which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Rise and walk’?
6 But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—he then said to the paralytic—“Rise, pick up your bed and go home.”
7 And he rose and went home.
8 When the crowds saw it, they were afraid, and they glorified God, who had given such authority to men.
And he is saying yes it is important, I want you to know the power that I have… its an amazing thing… I did this so you can see how powerful I really am. I need you to know that I am god. He is saying look none of these miracles happen naturally.... and thats not what Christianity claims that miracles are this natural thing that happen all the time… Christianity says that God makes these things happen in teh world. so in order to deny miracles you have to disprove God. So what happens is we push back against the miracles of Jesus becasue we have these human limitations and we don know what to do with it.
So we have to understand that there are limitations to our life, and there are thigns we don’t know and God can inttrupt because he built the system. And Jesus is known and we get to know him with far more than just intellect. So we look at these claims and see how true they are...
And Jesus says I still do all of these things, there is this experiantial part that you can experience of God himself… and Jesus still does stuff… he still is in the working....
Present miracles
And you and I are supposed to FEEL christianity but we don’t its part of being a part of it and we believe all of these thigns that Jesus did was real, and we have to look at it… and Jesus is saying that all of these things that I did should actually point to me… have you ever used signs and wonders to point to Jesus… and you know you talked about it and said hey I want to pray for you and we will sit together and lay hands on you and pray that this will work out and JEsus says this is actually something that will point to me and its not just in thought, but its experiantial its things you can feel… and we need to look for it in our lives… the beauty of the Earth… do you see him everywher you look because it is all preaching a sermon… the rocks will cry out....
The third thing he calls to the stand is the father..
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,
His voice you have never heard… to a group of people that their claim to fame is they know God, and lvoe God and follow God… And he just kind of lets them have it… and he is saying the Father backs ME… so if you are of another religion and you look… Jesus is saying the Father backs me up on the claim that I am God… in my baptism in the transfiguration… this is my beloved son in whom I well pleased… he is giving me the power to do the thigns I have seen....
Youve never heard his vocie properly… its almost like he has Moses in his mind… Moses never got to SEE God, but he got to hear him speak.... and he says you guys think yo uare Holy, but youve never heard… you’re not actually close to God the first sign that there is problems in marriage is when the voice stops… and its like you dont know him
Never seen his form… maybe like Jacob who actually wrestled with God and gave him a limp....
and then
38 and you do not have his word abiding in you, for you do not believe the one whom he has sent.
Like Joshua who had the word written on his heart… you guys arent like that… its like you love the religious life but you don’t love god… and the main thing in saving faith is a love for God… thats what its all about thats what changes things… and we can argue and you can tell me you have to do x..y..z.. and all that stuff is good, but you know what starts all that is a true love for him.... and we all have our thigns that we push the hardest from a christian viewpoint… and all of those things are beautiful… but its a love of God that gives us that and should move us forward...
And Jesus is saying you ahve done all this stuff but there is still a spiritual sickness in you… and there are two approaches when we read the bible or hear a sermon… we can listen for Jesus to affirm who we are or realize he is holding up a mirror to advance us and move us forward and want us to get better… and realize there is something that we need to get us better that we haven’t fully arrived… that we have to keep chasing holyness
The Bible should test our lives and make us want to live a much better life… We are never “there”
Why dont people surrender to Jesus… he says later....
40 yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life.
We are proud and we are unwilling to believe that we need Jesus… Moses didn’t even get to go into the promised land… abraham didnt even believe God would give him children so he slept with a slave… so these guys aren’t the heros that is what he is telling them…
The final thing
39 You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me,
You built your life on memorizing the bible… Genesis to 1 King… the problem is you don’t actually know it… becasue it is actually about me and if you missed it you’ve missed the whole point...
Nobody values the text more than this culture and you have missed it… this is a warning to us as well...
Everything comes to fulfillment in me and youre missing it
We are not the hero of our own lives, Jesus is… and if you miss that the Bible is about me youre going to miss it… Look at the book of Jude
5 Now I want to remind you, although you once fully knew it, that Jesus, who saved a people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe.
IT never says the word JEsus in Exodus.. and they are saying look its all about HIm… they are realizing this… everything that has happened is about me… are you willing to say I get it. I give my life to this… and he says the wreason we dont do that is because we are afraid...
47 But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe my words?”
Remember how all this got started… they healed a guy on the sabbath… and they quote moses.... and he turns it on its head and takes it back to him and says you think its all about moses… its about MEEEEEE
I could preach the best sermon on teh demoniac… and say look he cast then out and that is how you will find rest… but that doesnt go far enough… and we say how did he do that… and he will be isolated and evil will do its worst to him and he would go to a place of torment to help us all… he was the prince who came down from his palace to save the one he loves… and we are his wife… and that is the best story… the question is do you ahve the courage to believe it.