In this sermon, Pastor Dave Capoccia examines Jesus’ words in John 5:30-40 regarding the ultimate testimony validating Jesus’ declaration of divine sonship: the testimony of God the Father. John the apostle presents the Father’s testimony of Jesus’ divine sonship so that you will not trust vainly in mere religion but believe in Jesus and be saved.
1. The Divine Son Must Have Appropriate Testimony (vv. 30-35)
2. The Father Testifies to Jesus’ Divine Sonship (vv. 36-40)
2a. Through the Son’s Works (v. 36)
2b. Through the Son’s Words (v. 37-38)
2c. Through the OT Scriptures (vv. 39-40)
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God in heaven we come this morning not to hear from man not to hear from Pastor Dave but from you you have told us and we have experienced again and again that this thing called preaching the preaching of your word is how you speak to us a properly preached sermon is actually God talking to his people through his word explained and applied God we ask that you would do as you say you would that you would enable me to fulfill my part in this and that you would enable us as an assembly here today to do our part and that is to receive rece the word of God I pray Lord that we would receive it I pray that we’d be changed by it I pray Lord that it would move us to Thanksgiving as is particularly appropriate this week and it would also move us to renewed boldness and declaring your testimony to the world in Jesus name amen so kind of interesting it turns out that this weekend is very much evangelism theme at Calvary we had an Evangelistic Outreach this past Friday and Saturday at the Bridgewater Commons mall and then our brother Mark led us in an evangelism Sunday school using our fof curriculum this morning and by God’s Providence the message we’re going to look at in our next passage of the Gospel of John also has an intensely relevant application for evangelism in fact I almost would ask that if you didn’t listen to the Sunday school this morning that you’d go back and listen to it via the recording because it just fits so well with what we’re going to hear in our sermon passage you all know that and Mark reminded us again from the scriptures this morning that if you’re a Christian you have been commissioned by your lord Jesus Christ to be an evangelist because you have been commanded invited and commanded as part of a wider Commission of making disciples baptizing them and teaching them everything that Jesus commanded that beginning part of that commission that making disciples part we often call evangelism we’ve all been commanded to do that we all must do that we must tell others the good news about Jesus and call them to repentance and belief one question though you might encounter when evangelizing is the following how do you know what you believe is true how do you know what you believe is true after all there are a lot of religions out there with very serious and committed people in them they believe that what they hold to is true they believe just as strongly in their religion or IR religion as you do Christian so how do you know you have the correct answer and that you’re not deluded like the others or at least what you said say is true about the others how would you answer that question I remember how one of my Seminary professors answered the question who was in my theology 3 class we’re studying soteriology the theology or the doctrine of salvation and he said if anyone ever asks you how do you know what you believe is true you should look that person Square in the eye and say to them slowly and in deep voice God told me how do you know what you believe is true God told me now he was being a little tongue and cheek when he said that but he was actually making an important Point Brethren God uses different witnesses as part of bringing us to believe in Jesus and be saved you can think back to your own salvation story there are the personal testimonies of others the lives that they live there are certain circumstances and experience that you have in your life and there’s even the apologetic efforts of different Christian teachers these sources of witness these sources of testimony they are all good praise the Lord for how he does use them but none of these will ultimately prove effective if there is not a greater testimony that goes along with them them what is that greater testimony it is the testimony of God himself even the father along with the Son and the Holy Spirit testifying to us about who God is who specifically Jesus is how a person must or I should say who we are and how we must respond to God and Jesus to be saved does God really present us with such a testimony he does how by his Spirit through the word the Bible you see Brethren the Bible is not merely the testimony of certain ancient men about God and about Jesus no the Bible is the testimony of God himself speaking through ancient men it is God’s Own voice God’s Own breath speaking and if God has given us new ears to hear how do we respond when we hear the voice of God well we listen we repent of sin and we believe in Jesus as Christ and as the Son of God to say this another way God’s word has a self-authenticating quality to it it confirms itself it confirms its own truthfulness for those who are called for those who are mercifully chosen of God they recognize this no other Witnesses are ultimately needed for them to believe because they hear God’s voice in the testimony that God has given and I don’t just mean somewhere in there there’s God’s voice no they recognize that these words all these words these exact words are the voice of God and they believe it the truth to them is self-evident the hearer cannot help but Rec recn that what the Bible says is right and not in a way that bypasses the mind as if he’s like I don’t know this seems like stupidity to me but I have to believe it it’s not that at all rather this happens in a way that illuminates the mind to finally see reality clearly he said why didn’t I see this before it it was so obvious why wouldn’t I recognize it but now I do logically there can be no greater testimony than the testimony of God himself he who is Truth by nature for those who are called for those who are chosen they can’t help but admit that and believe in Jesus but that doesn’t mean that for those who are not called that they don’t also recognize in some fashion the testimony of God if a person hears the testimony of God the truth of his word and ultimately rejects it and refuses to believe in Jesus that person shows something about himself what does he show that he loves himself and not God and that no testimony will ever be enough to bring him to Faith these are the same truths that Jesus is going to tell us about in our next passage in the Gospel of John so if you haven’t already please turn your Bibles to John chapter 5 John 5: 30 to 40 title of the message today is the greatest testimony of Jesus divine sunship the greatest testimony of Jesus divine sunship we’re in John 5: 30 to 40 this is on PEB page 1064 we read the preceding context earlier in the service verses 1 to 29 and to give you a little bit more of the proceeding context what comes afterwards we’re going to read down to verse 47 but we’re focusing on verses 30 to 40 today so let us hear the testimony of God in these verses John 5: 30-47 I I can do nothing on my own initiative as I hear I judge and my judgment is just because I do not seek my own will but the will of him who sent me if I alone testify about myself my testimony is not true there is another who testifies of me and I know that the testimony which he gives about me is true you sent to John and he has testified to the truth but the testimony which I receive is not from man but I say these things so that you may be saved he was the lamp that was burning and was shining and you were willing to Rejoice for a while in his light but the testimony which I have is greater than the testimony of John for The Works which the father has given me to accomplish the very works that I do testify about me that the father has sent me and the father who sent me he has testified of me you have neither heard his voice voice at any time nor seen his form you do not have his word abiding in you for you do not believe him whom he sent you search the scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life it is these that testify about me and you are unwilling to come to me so that you may have life I do not receive Glory from men but I know you that you do not have the love of God in yourselves 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 how can you believe when you receive Glory from one another and you do not seek the glory that is from The One and Only God do not think that I will accuse you before the Father the one who accuses you is Moses in whom you have set your hope 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 as I’ve said to you before John 51-47 is one United section of narrative and teaching as part of our gospel writer’s purpose John the Apostle as part of his purpose of persuading us to believe via the works and words of Jesus that Jesus is the Christ and the son of God so we might have eternal life in his name our author tells us about a notable miracle that Jesus did at one religious feast in Jerusalem this is at the beginning of the chapter Jesus healed a sick man by the pool of Bethesda on the Sabbath verses 1 to 16 now more important than the fact that Jesus healed this man was the fact that he healed him on the Sabbath because in so doing Jesus broke the Jewish rabbis man-made law man-made rule about what was and what was not permitted on the Sabbath said you couldn’t heal you said you couldn’t carry a pallet carry anything really the Jews were thus faced with a dilemma about how to interpret this sabbath healing from Jesus either Jesus was wrong to heal in the Sabbath and he should be condemned it’s like then how did he heal I don’t really know or the Jewish tradition is wrong and Jesus is obviously someone extraordinary well the proud self-righteous religious lead leaders decided that Jesus was wrong and he should be executed but rather than backing off Jesus uses the occasion the controversy to declare an amazing Heavenly reality a mystery that is the true explanation for why Jesus can heal on the Sabbath and even do real work on the Sabbath what is the explanation that Jesus is the son of God he’s equal to the father and is always working with the father in our last two times together looking at this chapter we looked at Jesus Declaration of divine sunship in verses 17 to 29 if you remember after an introductory assertion in verses 17 to 18 in which Jesus Jesus shows that his Divine sunship justifies his Sabbath work Jesus then explains in verses 19 to 24 that God the father and God the son are intimately United because of their great love for one another the Father and Son never do anything independently from one another but they participate together in every Divine work moreover because the father is determined to see everyone honor the son with the same honor that is deserved by the Father the father has specifically given the role of lifegiver and judge to the son to Jesus and in verses 15 or 25 to 29 Jesus further explains how he fulfills this twin role lifegiver and judge Jesus does this now in the time in which he was on the earth and even today through the saving gospel message which as Mark mentioned is a a miracle of spiritual resurrection that God is constantly doing but Jesus also exercises these or he fulfills this twin role in the future soon through the coming physical Resurrection some to eternal life and others to Eternal destruction and judgment altogether verses 17 to 29 represents an incredible revelation of the glory of Christ Jesus is no ordinary man he is the son of God God he is the lifegiver and judge this Revelation is an implicit appeal to believe in Jesus and be saved saved from judgment yet Jesus amazing Declaration of divine sunship could provoke a certain question how do we know that what Jesus is saying is true that Jesus is from God and has done a miracle on the Sabbath by God’s power is undeniable but to claim equality and Oneness with God as well as the role of the universe’s lifegiver and judge well those are kinds of momentous assertions they could use some supporting testimony couldn’t they interestingly Jesus himself recognizes this and in verses 30 to 40 he presents the necessary testimony of his Divine sunship we can describe the main idea of the author in these vers versus these reported words from Jesus in this way in John 5: 30- 40 John our author presents the father’s testimony of Jesus divine sunship why so that you will not trust vainly in mere religion but believe in Jesus and be saved now the testimony proper appears in verses 36 to 40 but before getting there Jesus Takes Time in verses 30-35 to recognize his need for testimony and not just any testimony but testimony that is appropriate for the truly Divine son that’s our sermon outline as two main points transition point and then the presentation of testimony let’s take a closer look at each of these starting with the transition point in verses 30 to35 number one the Divine son must have appropriate testimony the Divine son must have appropriate testimony let’s reread verse 30 Jesus says I can do nothing on my own initiative as I hear I judge and my judgment is just because I do not seek my own will but the will of him who sent me in the context you may have noted that noticed that verse 30 functions like a summary of what Jesus has said thus far in his Declaration of divine sunship back in verse 19 Jesus said the son cannot do anything of himself but only whatever he sees the father doing well now in verse 30 Jesus repeats the same idea but uses the metaphor of hearing instead of sight but notice here specifically what the son hears from the father and then carries out it’s judgment he says as as I hear I judge why is Jesus talking about judgment because he’s just been talking about judgment in verses 25 to 29 and the two roles the two special works that the father has given him to do lifegiver and judge see in verse 30 Jesus is clarifying that even in the profound and fearful work of Eternal judgment the the son does not carry out this work arbitrarily selfishly or even independently know the faithful son practices in his judgment exactly what the son practices in every work complete Unity with and dependence on the father thus everyone can know with certainty that Jesus the son’s judgment is and will be just because Jesus does not seek his own will but the will of him who sent him that is the will of his father but notice something interesting about verse 30 from verses 19 to 29 Jesus has mostly been referring to himself in the third person calling himself the son the son of man the Son of God he him his but there’s a shift in verse 30 do you see it Jesus now speaks about himself using I my me in fact Jesus continues to speak of himself this way for the rest of the chapter why the shift perhaps in verses 19 to 29 Jesus uses the third person to draw attention to certain truths regarding his nature and identity he wants to use certain titles that will clarify who he really is whereas in verses 30 to 47 Jesus Jesus wants to contrast himself with his Jewish listeners you can’t see it so much in the English translation but a lot of the pronouns that come for the rest of the passage they are emphatic in the Greek so you could translate it as I myself or I even I and you yourselves you even you regardless if that is really the case and I think I think it probably is the clear pronoun shift in verse 30 indicates that we are transitioning to a new thought indeed the summary of what Jesus has just said with its renewed emphasis on the intimate Unity of Father and Son it leads Jesus to acknowledge a certain necessity which he describes in verse 31 so look there verse 31 if I alone testify about myself my testimony is not true wait what what do you saying Jesus are you saying that if you say anything about yourself by yourself that you shouldn’t be believed but I thought you were the light of the world the Eternal Word made flesh the Son of God aren’t you trustworthy by yourself why do you need outside testimony what’s going on here some Bible interpreters say that Jesus is bringing up a legal principle from the Torah that is the five books of Moses namely that at least two witnesses or testimonies are necessary to establish a fact in court for example Deuteronomy 19:15 Deuteronomy 1915 says a single witness shall not rise up against a man on account of any iniquity or any sin which he has committed on the evidence of two or three Witnesses a matter shall be confirmed we hear the same rule by the way in Deuteronomy 17:6 and numbers 35:30 thus some interpreters understand Jesus to mean here in verse 31 if I alone testify about myself my testimony is not legally valid that is my words even if true wouldn’t stand up in court now this interpretation is possible though there’s nothing in the context directly to say that Jesus is in a court situ a so why does he care about this legal rule moreover the rule from Torah this two witness rule it was originally given to establish someone’s guilt not a person’s truthfulness or innocence no one could be put to death on the basis of just one witness or nobody can be convicted of a crime based on just one witness there must be at least two and this is why we see the principle used even in church discipline in the New Testament but Jesus is not uh establishing his own guilt so why would he need a second witness perhaps one would say he’s trying to establish the guilt of the unbelieving Jews and that’s why he needs a second witness that’s possible but I think there’s a more basic reason why Jesus acknowledges the ne the necessity for an additional and a particular witness and that is based on the type of claim that Jesus has just made think about it Jesus has just asserted that as God’s son he is intimately United with the father and does everything with the father even judgment if that’s true then shouldn’t the father also be giving testimony to that fact after all if the father and son indeed love each other and do everything together if the son is testifying about himself that’s the work that he’s doing then if the father does the same work as the son at the same time then shouldn’t the father also be giving testimony if not if Jesus is proven to be testifying alone then his testimony is obviously not true because the father is not doing the same work with him so unless because of the particular claim that Jesus makes unless he has an additional testimony from the father he proves his testimony is false but does Jesus testify Alone look at verse 32 there is another who testifies of me and I know that the testimony which he gives about me is true nothing to worry about folks Jesus says he has the testimony that his claim requires he even assures his listeners that he knows that the one who gives the necessary testimony about him as the Divine son is true now you may notice here that Jesus has not specifically identified this another yet and some of the crowd who haven’t fully caught Jesus’s drift might be thinking oh he’s saying he needs another witness uh must be talking about John the Baptist I remember John the Baptist was testifying about Jesus look at what Jesus says next in verses 33 to 34 you have sent to John and he has testified to the truth but the testimony which I receive is not from man but I say these things so that you may be saved this is intriguing it’s like Jesus says I know what you’re thinking when I mention someone giving a necessary testimony about me you think of John the Baptist yes he has given true testimony about me as the Son of God we’ even seen this ourselves in the Book of John chapter 1 chapter 3 you yourselves the pronoun is emphatic in Greek have sent and heard John’s testimony but Jesus says the testimony the necessary testimony for divine sunship for establishing that claim that testimony which I myself receive is not from man no human testimony can fulfill the son’s need for the father’s testimony does that mean that human testimony is useless it’s bad it’s unhelpful by no means in fact Jesus says he brings up the testimony of John John the Baptist as a further help and so prod to his his Jewish listeners he says I say things to these things to you so that you may be saved don’t you Jews remember what John had to say about me hasn’t John given you all the more reason to consider the truthfulness of my words and whether the father backs them up also listen to John’s testimony so that you will listen to my testimony and to the father’s testimony ultimately so that you will let go of your dead religion and believe in me and be saved consider that this is a gracious salvation invitation to Jewish opponents who remember have already condemned Jesus and want him dead Jesus says I still offer you this appeal that you might be saved we had to take note of this invitation for our own Souls but alongside this kind appeal Jesus does also indicate how far away his listeners currently are from entering the kingdom of God for look at verse 35 he John was the lamp that was burning and was shining and you were willing to Rejoice for a while in his life see in this verse one of the main themes of John’s gospel brought back to us and that is the idea of light you remember from the prologue with the Eternal Word Jesus is called the True Light coming into the world Illuminating every man showing what every man really is specifically there in the prologue it said this witness John wasn’t the True Light but he came to be a witness about the light the son Jesus the Eternal Word he’s is the True Light notice even here that John the Baptist isn’t called the light but the lamp that is a vessel for light even a vessel that was lit it burned and shined for a time and John remember received a great response from the people of Israel including the Jews that Jesus is speaking to in this instance notice Jesus says you were willing to Rejoice for a while in his light the some degree the Jews even the ones that Jesus is talking to right now they accepted John they accepted him as a true Prophet they listened to his message they got on board with his ministry thousands of Jews they received John’s baptism of repentance that indicated that they wanted to make themselves ready for God’s Messiah and they were ready to believe in him people were excited about John and his ministry they loved this teacher of God they rejoiced over what he proclaimed but Jesus says you did this for a while literally for an hour what does that phrase indicate well for one the phrase probably indicates that John has been imprisoned or killed at this point in Jesus ministry but two the phrase suggests that rejoicing in John’s Ministry light was shortterm and superficial lots of Jews signed up for the baptism of repentance but which of them were really repentant truly seeking after God the Jews will prove their true colors what’s in their hearts based on how they respond not just to the lamp but to the True Light and to the true testimony given about this light by the father as we will see so then with this transition Point Jesus acknowledges that the Divine son must have appropriate testimony John the Baptist is good it should be heated but Jesus needs a greater testimony and he says that he has that and he presents that testimony in summary form in verses 36 to 40 so this is the second point of the sermon number two the father testifies to Jesus divine sunship it’s the father himself who testifies to Jesus divine sunship and he does this in three ways I’ll give each of those to you by way of subp points for the sermon outline the first way the father testifies to Jesus sunship we can put this as 2A is through the son’s works the father testifies to Jesus Divine sunship through the son’s Works look at verse 36 but the testimony which I have is greater than the testimony of John for The Works which the father has given me to accomplish the very works that I do testify about me that the father has sent me notice how Jesus begins verse 36 with an explicit statement of what he had previously implied that testimony that I myself have is greater than John’s good helpful but not enough testimony how so Jesus uses the transition word for for or because the works that I do testify about me even specifically that the father has sent me notice how Jesus describes these Works they are first The Works which the father has given me to accomplish and you can hear overtones of what Jesus has already said up to this point the father and I are intimately United I don’t do any Works unless the father shows them to me and give them to me to do he gave me the work of judgment just as he gave me the work of giving life any work that I do I only do because it is given me by the father so he’s saying the same thing in verse 36 however lest we think that the father gave Jesus Works to do but Jesus been loafing around procrastinating going rogue Jesus adds secondly these are the very works that I do father doesn’t just hasn’t just given works for Jesus to accomplish Jesus is actually accomplishing them and Jesus says that these Works testify about him now what does Jesus mean by works well certainly this term must refer to Jesus miraculous Works Jesus signed miracles for just as Nicodemus confessed Jesus Jesus could not do these Works unless God had sent him that’s so obvious normally humans can’t do what you do Jesus this must be a testimony from God about you being special God gave Jesus the miraculous signs to accomplish including the healing of the sick man on the Sabbath as a testimony that Jesus is the Christ and the Son of God that’s one of the things the author John says at the end of his gospel these things have been written so that you may believe I’ve written about these signs these miraculous works that Jesus did and the words that he spoke along with them so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ the son of God and believing have life in his name so that’s certainly true but the term Works may not only include miraculous signs works is a very general term basically anything that the father gave the son to accomplish falls under the category of works and did God the Father give Jesus Works to do that went beyond miracles of course Jesus calling his disciples his first disciples was a work from the father Jesus cleansing the temple in Jerusalem that first Passover his public Ministry was a work from the father Jesus traveling to and speaking with the Samaritan woman at the well was also a work from the father and if you remember in that instance John 4:34 Jesus himself had said John 4:34 my food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work what was he talking about in that instance preaching the gospel to the Samaritans and to the Samaritan women notice then the the significance of Jesus works all of them according to verse 36 Jesus says that all his Works come from the father and they are according to what he already said in verse 19 done in the exact manner of the father himself and accomplished along onside the father’s own work so we could say that even more concisely in this way the father himself is working in The Marvelous works of the son the father works in the son’s works and what is the result just as Jesus says at the end of verse 36 the father gives testimony that Jesus is his son and that Jesus claims of intimate unity and always working with the father are true so verse 36 represents another prod to religious persons slow to believe in Jesus Jesus says the father has given testimony of my Divine sunship through the works through my Works through the son’s works you say I need more testimony if I’m going to believe in you you’ve got it in my Works therefore turn from your dead religion and believe in me believe in Jesus but the father hasn’t only given testimony through the son’s Works how else does the father testify of Jesus divine sunship what we see in verses 37 to 38 to be our second subo through the son’s words not just through the son’s works but through the son’s words look again at verses 37- 38 and the father who sent me he has testified of me you have neither heard his voice at any time nor seen his form you do not have his word abiding in you for you do not believe him whom he sent at first glance these verses may seem like they’re saying something and nothing at the same time I’m going to argue that what they actually say is quite profound notice at the beginning of verse 37 that Jesus explicitly States directly states that the father who sent him is the one who has testified about Jesus being the Divine son he’s the witness the one that Jesus said I know he’s the one that I need and he is testifying but could Jesus still be talking about the testimony that the father gives through the son’s Works notice the rest of verse 37 and 38 speak of the father’s voice and the father’s word so Jesus would appear to be Shifting the category of testimony he’s not talking about the work specifically anymore he’s now talking about words even the father’s words but then we read the surprising fact that though the father has testified of Jesus as the Divine son the Jews Jesus listeners have never heard the father’s voice and they do not have his word remaining in them that is they have not remembered the father’s word or taken it to taken it to heart is this simply because most of the Jews weren’t there when the father audibly testified about his son from heaven like at Jesus baptism you may remember Matthew 317 Matthew 3:17 Jesus has just come up out of the water from his baptism the spirit descends in the form or looks like a dove and it says and behold a voice out of the heaven said this is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased is this what Jesus is talking about it says you didn’t hear that he gave testimony but sorry you missed it I would say not likely because our author John has not reported that event in this gospel you would think that if he wanted his listeners to be thinking about that he would have already told us about it instead I would argue the key to understanding these verses comes at the end of verse 38 when Jesus says something vital how does Jesus know that even though the father has given testimony on behalf of the son the Jews as a whole have not heard the father’s voice and they do not treasure the father’s word Jesus says four you do not believe him whom he sent you do not believe him whom he sent and notice that phrasing is key not you do not believe in him but you do not believe him that is you do not believe what he says you do not believe what I say Jesus says that’s how I know that the father’s word you have not heard are you seeing the connection you seeing the kind of testimony from the father that Jesus is actually talking about here in the previous category of testimony Jesus says that the father provides testimony of Jesus divine sunship through the works of Jesus which are the works of the father now in this category the same principle is in operation the father provides testimony of Jesus divine sunship through the words of Jesus because they are the words of the Father God the father doesn’t have to say a separate word from what the son says because the son’s word is the Father’s word and hasn’t John our author already shown us this in this gospel he presented to us the testimony of John the Baptist in John 3: 33-34 to remind you John 3 33-34 John the Baptist said he who has received his that is Jesus’s testimony has set his seal to this that God is true for he whom God has sent speaks the words of God if you believe Jesus you are saying that God the father is true because Jesus speaks the words of God the father and we’re going to see this concept again and again in this gospel I’ll just give you one to kind of wet your appetite for what we’re going to see later Jesus says in joh John 12:49 John 12:49 explaining to his disciples for I did not speak on my own initiative but the father wh himself who sent me has given me a commandment as to what to say and what to speak Jesus doesn’t do any Works unless it’s given him from the Father and Jesus doesn’t say any words unless it’s given him from the father so does the father testify about the son yes through the works and through the words the very works and words that Jesus has the son when he gives testimony about himself therefore is not alone in that testimony the father is also giving testimony in the words and works of the son thus Jesus can affirm in these two verses that the father has given testimony through the words of Jesus even though the Jews have not listened to that testimony as is evident of their unbelief evident in their unbelief actually if you’re detecting a rebuke from Jesus in these two verses you are detecting correctly and this rebuke is only going to build as we get closer to the end of Jesus’s speech in verse 47 for even though God the Father whom the Jews they Jews say they love and worship even though God the father is testifying to the words of the son the Jews do not pay attention they do not believe God’s testimony oh I love God I am so devoted to his word but when they hear God actually speak to them through his son they say oh I don’t want that I don’t believe that something wrong with that Jesus is drawing their attention to that by the way one of the ways he does this is with something that may have seemed a little odd to you Jesus specifically uses this phrase you have neither heard his voice at any time nor seen his form speaking about God the Father they say what’s that all about heard his voice seen his form form it’s going to seem oddd if you don’t realize that this is an illusion to the Old Testament even to the Torah which the Jewish religious leaders the Jews as a whole would say oh we know this and we rever it many times in the Torah and whenever I say Torah just think the Books of Moses Moses reminds the Israelites of the fact that they at Mount Si heard the voice of God but did not see his form for example Deuteronomy 4:12 Deuteronomy 4:12 then the Lord that is Yahweh spoke to you from the midst of the fire you heard the sounds of the words but you saw no form only a voice this was Israel’s experience in the Torah yet Moses also records in the to the Torah his own experience which was a little different from israels during the rebellion of Aaron and Moses I’m sorry Aaron and Miriam against Moses in numbers 128 God steps in and he says something about Moses that is significant numbers 128 God Says with him that is Moses I speak mouth to mouth even openly not in dark sayings and he beholds the form of the Lord that is Yahweh why then are we not afraid to speak against my servant against Moses so interestingly the Torah says both Moses and Israel heard the voice of the Lord but Moses saw the form of the Lord you say how did Moses see the form of the Lord I thought God said that nobody can see me and live nobody can see my face and live well remember moses’ experience he didn’t see everything that could be seen about God but God had granted him a limited Vision which was still absolutely Splendid God granted Moses a vision of God’s visible Glory first in passing by Moses when Moses was in the Clift of the rock but also every time Moses went into the tent of meeting to speak with God God showed Moses his form a limited view of his visible glory and you remember the effect on Moses it comes out face is shining this is not what Israel experienced but it’s what Moses experienced what is the significance then of Jesus bringing back to the attention of his listeners these experiences in the Torah even telling the Jews you’ve neither heard the voice of the father nor seen his form I would say that Jesus is telling the Jews that they have been given a great opportunity both to hear the voice of the father and to see his form that is his glory a visible manifestation of his glory but amazing unlike ancient Israel and unlike Moses they have refused to take that opportunity they aren’t like Moses their hero they aren’t like ancient Israel who at least heard God’s voice how could they do this being Jews because they refused to listen to or believe the son if they would only be willing if they’d only humble themselves to listen to Jesus they would hear the voice of the Lord the voice of the father they would see his form didn’t the beginning of John tell us that when the word became flesh and dwelt among us we saw his glory the Jews say we’ll pass Brethren let us appreciate the lesson here do you want to hear hear the voice of God do you want to see the glory of God then you must listen to you must behold and You Must Believe God’s son the very one for whom God has provided abundant testimony how tragic that So Many religious people today search high and low for some encounter with the divine when it’s been available to them all along in the words and works of Jesus there’s one final way the father testifies to Jesus divine sunship which is what we see in verses 39 40 to see through the Old Testament scriptures father also testifies the Divine sunship through the Old Testament scriptures look at how Jesus continues speaking to the use in these two verses you search the scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life it is these that testify about me and you are I’ll just stop there oh no I’ll read it and you are willing you are unwilling to come to me so that you may have life now you may notice here in this last little section that Jesus does not make any specific reference to the father’s testimony so you might ask well is this no longer the father’s testimony that Jesus is now talking talking about a separate testimony independent from the father well to that I would say no since Jesus prefaced this whole presentation of testimony by saying there is one testifying concerning me there’s only one supreme witness that I need in order to confirm my Divine sunship this this one supreme witness testifies in different ways different Avenues and the scriptures the Old Testament is one of them after all do the scriptures not originate with the father is it not his word isn’t that why we call it the word of God you say what about the sun and the spirit well yes it’s the Triune word but in the the order of God’s work in an external sense it’s the father who originates it and the son in spirit bring it to pass it is the Father’s word so this is still the father- giving testimony about the son but this time it’s through the Old Testament scriptures and now the reason I specify Old Testament is because at the time that Jesus is speaking the New Testament hasn’t been written yet the only scriptures that they would know that he was talking about would be the Old Testament and Jesus says this is how the father testifies that Jesus is the Divine son and notice how provocatively Jesus brings up the father’s testimony through the scriptures he says you Jews all search the scriptures because you yourselves think in them to have life eternal that you might be like wait a second I thought life eternal is made available through the revelation of scripture well yes but not in the way that the Jews of Jesus Day thought not in the way that Many religious people still think many see God’s scriptures as giving the rules that you must keep to gain acceptance with God to inherit eternal life you might remember that when he was here our Jews for Jesus Kingdom worker Dan serid he mentioned among the ultra Orthodox Jews today I think the name for them is the harim the men study the scripture every day in fact that is all they do their wives work and support the home the men they just go and study Torah they just study the Books of Moses why because as Jesus says they think that in learning and obeying the Torah or merely learning and obeying the Torah will give them life but how misguided they are it’s not going to give them life not without a very important element that they are missing and by the way there’s a Christian version of this too Christians who study the Bible to learn Doctrine and to obey the rules thinking that those things by themselves will lead to eternal life many unfortunately think that way studying the Bible is a good thing don’t get me wrong we are as Christians commanded to be devoted to it but it only proves profitable for Christians for us when we hear the father’s testimony in the Bible and we recognize what the Bible is really all about what is the Bible about notice what Jesus says it is these that are testifying about me well what do you mean by that Jesus he doesn’t fully explain here but other New Testament scriptures help explain and Mark even mentioned one at the uh in his Sunday school this this morning the end of Luke 24 see not only is the Old Testament full of prophetic passages directly foretelling and then when they are fulfilled in Jesus proving that Jesus is the Messiah and God’s son but the scriptures as a whole point us to Jesus as the end and goal and main subject of everything we could even justly say that the Bible is all about Jesus and about the salvation that is available in him and this is no accident because the father as Jesus is telling us here has chosen to testify concerning his son in the scriptures even in the Old Testament therefore if you apply yourself to study the scriptures and find Jesus then you will have eternal life because it’s not the scriptures themselves that give life it is rather the one to whom about whom the scriptures testify that gives life Jesus the Divine son but if you study the scriptures with the goal of finding life in some other Avenue not Jesus I’m going to get life some other way in studying the scriptures well not only will you ultimately fail to achieve your goal but you are likely to trap yourself in a fleshly fortress of religious tradition that will make it even harder for you to see and turn to Jesus and be saved that’s unfortunately the case of the ultra Orthodox or those Bible scholars who know so much about the Bible but refuse to heed the testimony in the Bible that Jesus is God’s son they just hardened their hearts further against the gospel many experts in the Bible today are actually unbelievers on the way to hell for look at what Jesus says in verse 40 and you are unwilling to come to me so that you may have life something very sobering about Jesus words here when Jesus talks about the father’s testimony about the son in the scriptures Jesus does not say that the Jews miss out on life because they’re simply ignorant is if better education or better Bible study techniques would bring the Jews to believe in him no lack of information is not the problem problem God’s testimony about the sun is plain enough what is the problem then Jesus says it’s unwillingness people can’t hear the father’s testimony about Jesus the son in the scriptures because they don’t want to this is why even though the Jews in jesus’ day had encountered the father’s clear testimony outside of the scriptures in the works and words of Jesus they still amazingly did not believe they were looking at each of these clear presentations of divine testimony with an extreme bias against Jesus from where did this bias come well Jesus is going to tell us more about it next time but we can just say now it came from a proud idolatrous self-righteous heart this is the great Calamity of the Jews in Jesus day but it’s not just them that’s exactly the way that we all were before God Drew us before we believed and if you have not yet believed in Jesus today it’s still the way that you are you may say oh I don’t have enough information I need more evidence I I need something else to change in my life before I’ll believe Jesus says that’s not true God’s given you his testimony it’s clear enough if you don’t believe it’s because you’re unwilling to believe you are unwilling to come and have life in Jesus because you insist that you’re going to have life somewhere else but why was it different for us we are those who profess to be Believers in Jesus to have come to believe in him why did it turn out to be different for us when for so many God gives his testimony in his word and they don’t believe why was it different for us the amazing grace of God because God didn’t just present the testimony to us he opened our ears to it so that we recognize the voice of God and we couldn’t help but believe we really need both of those things to happen because if God just presents the testimony to us which is a gracious thing for him to do because aart from the revelation of God there’s no way to know God there’s no way to know how to be made right with him even if creation indicates enough about him for us to be held accountable without the specific Revelation the special revelation of God’s word we can’t be saved and yet our natural response to it even as Mark was teaching us this morning in the Sunday school is to reject it I don’t want that because we can’t see it clearly our proud Hearts won’t let us but God says let me break that heart let me give you a new heart let me open your eyes let me unplug your ears now look at the testimony and what do we do when God does that we say of course of course Jesus deserves everything he’s the son he’s the way the truth and the life I must go to him amen it’s not just my duty it’s my delight I want him God doesn’t have to drag me Kicking and Screaming because he’s opened my eyes I can’t do anything else but go to him and I never want to leave he’s shown me the sun he shown me the Sun and opened my eyes to actually be able to see it that’s what God did if you were in Christ today that is what God did for you and you know what that is caused for Thanksgiving is that not caus for great praise and thanks to God God spoke to you God told you the truth in such a way you could not help but repent and believe isn’t that wonderful he didn’t have to do that he doesn’t do that for everybody but he did that that for you that is if you are in Christ if you are not in Christ today if you’ve not believed in him as Savior and Lord if your life is not really about him it’s about you then consider whether God is drawing you to turn today to Jesus because he does not give his testimony idly as I was praying at the beginning of the service what I’ve shared with you today isn’t my testimony ultimately it is the testimony of God and just as it was for Jesus original listeners when he spoke these words and just as it was for John’s original listeners when he reported these words these are given so that you will repent and believe so you will not be like the Jews who had the opportunity to see the voice in the form of God and refused that doesn’t have to be the case for you anymore so don’t hide behind shallow excuses for why you cannot repent and believe Jesus says the real reason that you haven’t yet is just because you simply want to live your own way but that way is going to end in death coming to Jesus you will have life so how long will you persist and risk the Judgment of the son if you will instead confess that God is true repent of your sin you can come and enjoy along with the rest of God’s people the eternal life that is in Jesus well at this point we’ve almost finished the fifth chapter of John as I said before next time when we come back we’ll explain or we’ll hear Jesus explain more fully what’s really going on in the hearts of supposedly religious people who love God but refuse to believe in Jesus spoiler alert he going to say they don’t really love God they love something else talk more about that next time let’s close in prayer Lord as you say in your word Your Divine testimony the word of the Cross is foolishness to the Natural man but to those of us who believe those of us Lord that you have caused to believe by changing our hearts it is the power of God unto salvation it is the wisdom of God the consumate wisdom of God himself Lord that is what we confess this morning your word is truth everything you say is right and what you tell us about Jesus we can’t help but recognize it to be true thank you for showing us Jesus help us more Lord to understand about Jesus and to be more like him and Lord when it comes to our evangelism let us not neglect to give the greatest testimony that you’ve given us to give which is your word the words and works of Jesus they are recorded here perfectly along with the scriptures already written of the old Old Testament this is what you have chosen God to speak to people with your own voice so God how could we not use this how could this not be the primary thing that we bring to people when we seek to make disciples in worldly wisdom it doesn’t make sense but in Divine system wisdom it absolutely does so let us not be ashamed of the Gospel let us not be ashamed of your testimony let us not be ashamed of Jesus but exalt in him as the True Light that really illuminates the world and every person as to what’s really going on thank you for the light of Jesus thank you for showing Mercy to us help us to walk worthy in Jesus name amen