Last we week we started looking at the four witnesses to Jesus’ claim of being the Messiah…almost the entire fifth chapter of John revolves around His claim to be equal with God… [v. 19-47] are Jesus’ defense and proof that His claim is true.
We looked at the importance of providing evidence because Jewish law demanded that for something to be declared a fact it required the testimony of at least two or three witnesses.
“A single witness shall not rise up against a man on account of any sin which he has committed…(but) on the evidence of two or three witnesses a matter shall be confirmed”. [Num. 35:30; Deut. 17:6]
Even Jesus realized that His testimony did not, of itself, satisfy the requirements of the Jewish Law.
“If I alone bear witness about myself, my testimony is not deemed true.” [John 5:31]
Jesus’ testimony concerning Himself would not stand up in a court of law…there would have to be collaborating witnesses…Jesus understood the “Law,” and assured them He did have the witnesses to testify to the truth of His claim.
So, Jesus gives them four witnesses to His claim:
The Witness of God
The Witness of John the Baptist
The Witness of Works
The Witness of Scripture
Last week we looked at the first evidence…The Witness of God
The witness of God was in Jesus in the form of the Holy Spirit…same Spirit that is on every person today if you’re a Christian…here’s the importance of that.
The witness of the Holy Spirit has a direct tie into the favor of God…it’s how God demonstrates Himself to us…favor is a witness of God in the world.
At the expense of re-preaching last weeks’ sermon, it’s important as Christians that we know that we have the favor of God working in our lives…it doesn’t mean having wealth…prestige…position…power…or real estate…God’s priorities for us do not consist in an abundance of material things for your benefit.
It’s through the working of the Holy Spirit in our lives that gives us the favor of God and verifies the witness of God to lost sinners.
I like to draw a similarity between Jesus and us…a distant similarity, but it shows how the favor of God works in our lives…Jesus did nothing on His own initiative, but according to the Father’s will by the leading and power of the Holy Spirit [John 5:30/ 8:42 / 14:10].
Jesus didn’t need the favor of God in His life…He was God…and although He was obedient in everything He did…the human side of Him did need guidance of the Holy Spirit.
For us the favor of God in our lives centers around the same concept…living a lifestyle of faithfulness and obedience to God under the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
When we do that, two things become evident…this leads to a life full of favor from 1) God and 2) the right people around us…having the favor of God in our lives causes the favor of people to be on us sometimes for no apparent reason… this is seen throughout Scripture.
As difficult as it is to admit this…I have to agree with Joel Olsten in this respect… Christians … ‘have the favor of God. He has lined up people and circumstances for your future. Every blessing in your life is His gracious hand at work.’
Favor is a divine force that God releases on behalf of his people that brings blessing into our lives…God wants to give favor to His people…however the part that is often omitted has a direct bearing on God’s favor…and without this ingredient you will not have the favor of God in your life…you must accept Jesus as your Savior.
God’s favor will not happen if we are not the kind of people that deserve it.
God treats everyone alike but He puts His special favor on those who respond wholeheartedly to his calling and yield their lives entirely to Him…people who are sincere in growing in the knowledge of God…seeking to discover God’s will and purpose in their lives.
A lifestyle of faithfulness to God leads to a life of favor…favor from God and favor in the eyes of people around us…it’s the tangible evidence that a person has the approval of the Lord…it’s having the witness of God in our lives.
Here’s the mistake…instead of giving God the credit for the many things that happen in our lives…we refer to it as luck…or being in the right place at the right time…when in reality it’s the favor of God on our lives…referred to as the Providence of God.
BUT…instead of giving God the credit we go about our merry way never thanking God for what He has allowed to happen in our lives…ingratitude…how disrespectful we are.
AGAIN…the favor of God in your life is not so you can get rich…Joel Olsten and I split here…in a couple areas:
FIRST…nowhere in the New Testament is there any indication for you to give so you can get back in return for your own personal gain.
SECONDLY…favor of God in your life is not something that occurs automatically …the favor of God is the result of faithfulness and obedience…to just believe that it’s going to happen or God is going to come through with your big expectation because you’re believing for it…is un-Scriptural.
The favor of God means that God is guiding and directing our lives by the people we meet and the occurrences that happen in our life…that all falls under the favor of God…for one purpose…that what occurs will be the witness of God in our lives.
The second witness Jesus mentions is the testimony and evidence of John the Baptist.
“33 You have sent to John (the Baptist) and he has testified to the truth.”
In other words, …Jesus is saying…I am not without human testimony…in fact I have the testimony from a pretty respectable source.
There were large crowds that went out to see and hear John. Matthew 3:5 …John was the first prophet in Israel in over 400 years…between the last page of Malachi and Matthew 1:1 is 400 years. John who was Jesus’ cousin became quite a novelty.
The Apostle John writes about John the Baptist…that the priest and Levites came from Jerusalem to inquire as to who he was and left convinced regarding his claims as a prophet.
Many of the Pharisees believed on John the Baptist…he was candid…and sincere… considered to be an extraordinary man whose evidence was impartial…at least twice John used the phrase … ‘behold the Lamb of God’ [John 1:29/John 1:36] in their presence to validate Jesus’ mission in the world.
That statement… ‘behold the Lamb of God’ for a Jew would have required no explanation…that statement could be applied to only one person.
John making this testimony about Jesus ought to have satisfied them…someone whom they considered to be from God.
BUT…in reality John’s peaching was actually directed at the Pharisees as well …his preaching of repentance also was targeted at them…not something they wanted to hear…as a result they became disgruntled toward him.
Jesus might have rested on John’s testimony alone that He was the Messiah…but realizing that the religious leaders would later reject John’s testimony because he was preaching to them as well…Jesus says…I have a greater testimony than John’s:
The Witness of Works.
“36 But the testimony which I have is greater than the testimony of John; for the works the Father has given Me to accomplish…testify about Me…”
The witness of Jesus’ works is greater than John’s testimony because they were of such a nature that they could only have been done by God.
Even Nicodemus testified that ‘no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with Him.’ [John 3:2]. The works alone should have been more than evident that Jesus was the Messiah.
Jesus is saying…you won’t give me credit based on my own assertion…or my authority…you won’t take me at my word…you won’t take John’s word…at least believe on the works that I do for they prove that I came from God.
Jesus is saying…here’s another testimony…direct observation…believe the works that I do that you may know that the Father is in me, and I in the Father [John 10:38].
John wrote his gospel from a completely different perspective…the goal of the other three gospels had been to present basically a chronological account of Christ’s life and ministry…recording as many details as they felt would be helpful for God’s people to know.
John’s intent was not to provide a chronological record of everything that had occurred during Christ’s ministry…but to provide an understanding of things that had previously not been clearly written about or understood.
As a result, John focuses on seven of Jesus’ miracles calling them “signs” [John 2:11] …the purpose of choosing only these few incidents is to prove that Jesus is, in fact, God [John 20:30–31].
Miracles are used by God as a way to prove His message [Heb. 2:3–4]. The fact that Jesus is wielding the power of God is meant to inspire faith in those who see His works [John 3:2].
The claims Jesus made were evident in the miraculous signs He performed… healing the sick…feeding the hungry…calming storms…and raising the dead…He also performed many other supernatural signs that authenticated the fact that He was who He claimed to be.
The acts of healing and performing miracles should have been recognized as coming from God…and although the testimony of John the Baptist was compelling …it should not have overshadowed real-world miracles that are far more powerful evidence than any human testimony.
Jesus offers a fourth form of evidence…He refers to The Witness of Scripture:
30 You search the Scriptures…46 For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me, for he wrote about Me. But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe My words?
The Jews had put their confidence in the writings of Moses…two of the greatest figures in Jewish history are Moses and Abraham…but it was those very writings that condemned them because Moses wrote about the Messiah.
If they were unwilling to believe Moses’ writings that foretold about Jesus…then they’re obviously not going to believe what Jesus was telling them about Himself.
The reality was that they only believed what fit into their religious system that they themselves created…they only believed what they wanted to believe…as tragic as this is, there are still people that respond the same way to Jesus today.
Often times people will profess to be Christian but really all they have done is to create their own belief system and reject what doesn’t fit that belief system.
They have the Bible, and some are even diligent students of it, but they don’t respond to its message…they distort the meaning for their own purposes.
Jesus claimed to be equal with God the Father because He is God the Son…He backs up that claim with the testimony of four witnesses: John the Baptist, His works, God the Father, and the Scriptures.
Unlike other religions…or religious people…Jesus is the clearest and most specific picture of God revealing Himself to us.
Look throughout the major world religions and you’ll find that Buddha…Confucius, Muhammad…and even Moses all identified themselves as teachers or prophets… BUT…none ever claimed to be equal to God…Jesus did…that is what sets Jesus apart from all the others. Jesus said God exists and you’re looking at him.
In the book of Hebrews the author repeatedly demonstrates Jesus as being superior to everything…and every person:
— to the angels “let all the angels of God worship Him” [1:6]
— to Moses “He has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses” [3:3]
— over the Old Testament priests “being designated by God as a high priest according to the order of Melchizedek” [5:10]
— that faith is superior to the works of the Law because Jesus is “the author and perfecter of faith” [12:2] …He is our source of salvation.
As Christians, everything I’ve shared with you this morning is rather ‘ho um’. It’s what is literally referred to ‘preaching to the choir’ because as Christians we believe Jesus is the divine Son of God…if you didn’t believe that there’s a slim chance you wouldn’t even be here today…we believe the evidence of Scripture that Jesus is the fulfillment of biblical prophecies…who is the promised Savior of the world.
And if you’re a skeptic you’re probably never going to hear this message because of your belief that Jesus was neither divine nor that any of His claims are true.
Most people will reserve a place of honor for Jesus even though they may not believe in Him…they hold Him in high esteem…that He was a great teacher… BUT…He’s just one of many who claimed to possess the truth…and regarding this resurrection thing…it’s a lie or it’s the result of people experiencing grief-induced visions…familiar with that concept.
Psychiatrists note that after the death of a loved one visual hallucinations of the deceased are common and may be part of the grieving process.
This is one of the explanations proposed by Bart Ehrman…in his book How Jesus Became God …Ehrman, questioning Jesus’ resurrection, argues that Jesus’s resurrection may have actually been visual hallucinations among Jesus’s bereaved and grief-stricken disciples.
Ehrman speculated that, “…the disciples had some kind of visionary experiences and these led them to conclude that Jesus was still alive.”
Bart Ehrman…grew up in Lawrence, Kansas, graduated from Moody Bible institute, received his M Div. and Ph D from Princeton Theological Seminary…an extremely intelligent person.
He later became convinced that there are contradictions and discrepancies in the Bible and is now an agnostic atheist who focus on discrediting the Bible and Jesus.
If you have a red-letter edition Bible, you’ll notice that all the verses in John 5:33-47 are in red…they are the testimony of Jesus Himself as recorded by the Apostle John…they are accurate and they are trustworthy.
Jesus is using human logic to prove His claims as God…something that every court –in at least America– would demand if it were to make a legal determination regarding the legality of Jesus’s claims.
It’s amazing that Christianity continues to exhibit artifacts to authenticate Jesus’ existence…the Shroud of Turin…nails from the Cross…pieces of Christ’s crown or wood chips from the Cross…not sure who they’re trying to persuade…to help confirm their own belief…or to persuade a non-believing world that Jesus existed.
Jesus gives four witnesses to confirm His truths…2000 years later we’re still struggling to convince people that Jesus was real…no need…all you have to do is see what Christianity has done for the world.
The impact of Christ on mankind is a confirmation of His existence:
…more schools/colleges have been built in the name of Christ than any other man;
…more hospitals/orphanages are built in the name of Christ than any other person.
…More laws and ethical codes are built on His teachings than any other man.
…His impact on every area of culture is unparalleled by no one else.
It was Christians who drafted the Bill of Rights…fought for the rights of women, children and limited working hours…ended slavery and slave trade…lead the civil-rights movement…fought for prison reform…and shaped politics which gave us laws that protected the common man.
The legacy of Christianity is all around us…Christianity has shaped every area of our lives…and yet we’re still trying to convince the world…and sometimes ourselves…Jesus existed.
The proof of Jesus’ existence…His death…and resurrection is more than obvious.
You can believe the witness’ and Jesus’ claim and receive eternal life, or you can reject them and receive His condemnation…the most important question anyone will ever face is, “Who is Jesus Christ?”
The answer to that question WILL have a direct bearing on where you WILL spend eternity.