THE SCRIPTURES ALL POINT TO THE SON

 

John 5:30-46

The main purpose of the Scriptures is to testify of Christ, helping us to come unto Him and receive eternal life. The glory of Jesus Christ shines more clearly when we see Him in His proper relation to the Old Testament and in the fulfillment of the New Testament. How powerful is the Scriptures? A W Tozer said "I did not go through the Book. The Book went through me." The Scriptures has the power to convert the wickedest and vilest of sinner. You and I are living proof to that.

 

How powerful is the Word of God when it’s in

the hands of a hungry believer?

 

D L Moody wrote, "The Scriptures were not given to increase our knowledge but to change our lives". The Scriptures will create a person with a new heart that is passionate for God, and His church, for people to know Him. It will give you the ability to have a love for the lost, and supply the enduring strength to be an obedient follower of the Lord Jesus Christ, through the work and ministry of the Holy Spirit. That’s the power of God, through the power of the Written Word, its this same power that points to Christ woven throughout the Scriptures. Robert G Lee said, “The Bible is a book beyond all books as a river is above and beyond a creek. The Bible is a book beyond all books as the sun is above and beyond a candle in brightness. The Bible is a book beyond all books as the wings of an eagle is above and beyond the wings of a sparrow. It is supernatural in origin, eternal in duration, inexpressible in value, immeasurable in influence, infinite in scope, divine in authorship, human in penmanship, regenerative in power, infallible in authority, universal in interest, personal in application, and inspired in totality. This is the Book that has walked more paths, travelled more highways, knocked at more doors and spoken to more people in their mother tongue than in other book this world has ever known or will know."

We have just seen Jesus claim His Godhead status to the religious men who have accused Him of breaking tradition and blasphemy. Now we continue to see Jesus continue to answer His critics by confirming the truth with the testimony of others through the written word. You can either accept the truth claims by faith or deny the truth and the facts written in the Bible.

 

Sadly, the last view is the view many in Jesus' day and even more so today feel towards the scripture!

 

Some of the Great Attacks on the Bible is……

Atheists & Agnostics DESPISE the Bible, they don’t believe is true.

Cults DISTORT the Bible, they add to the Bible

Some DENY the Bible, they take away from the Bible

Some DISREGARD the Bible – They ignore it, and don’t read it.

Some DISRESPECT the Bible as the Catholics hold the Pope and Traditions higher than the Bible (see Council of Trent).

Charismatics hold their visions and dreams higher than the Bible.

Some DISOBEY the Bible, they read it, but don’t intend to live it.

 

It’s the idea of making a conscience choose to say “NO to the claims of the bible”; but what you’re really saying is “No to Jesus and His outlandish claims of divine origin” You can disagree and say “That can’t be right, there is no way He’s the only way or that He is God in flesh” You can say no to every claim the Bible speaks of; but again, in the end your soul will be required of you! It doesn’t matter what you really say about the Scriptures. As Dustin Benge wrote, “Disagree with the Bible all you want. It’s still right and you’re still wrong.” Jesus doesn’t EVEN use himself as a testimony, because in a court of law that was not legally valid unless its verified or corroborated by other sources. (v31) In this chapter alone we see that Jesus uses the testimony of 4 truths to verify or corroborate His authority, and position, to these men’s disbelief.

JESUS USES JOHN THE BAPTIST WHO WAS HIS FORERUNNER. (V31-35)

John paved the way for the Messiah as a man calling out into the wilderness to proclaim to lost people, “The Messiah is coming.” John was more famous than Jesus and John had created a national stir when he appeared. But probably at this time John has passed away, or imprisoned, when these words were spoken. Since Jesus uses a past tense verb. “was burning, was shining” John had been persecuted, imprisoned and put to death by Herod according to Matt 14:1-12. None interfered, none tried to prevent his murder, but never forgotten by our precious Jesus, as He mentions him here in John’s gospel. Jesus acknowledges his name to these men who think they know the truth, was a tribute to John’s faithfulness, and a rebuke to the Jewish leaders for rejecting his witness. (v35)

 

You were willing to rejoice for a time as a moth is drawn

to the street light at night.

 

The people at times flocked to hear what John had to say, excited to what he was about to share. John’s light brought not only illumination but intense heat as well. When John’s message became unpopular, conflicting and intolerant to them, they stop listening. (v35) To which this led, John to be put into prison, which ultimately led to his beheading. John was a lamp, but Jesus is the Light, and John was not the source of the Light, but a reflection of it Just as a lamp gives light for a person to see the way, John was a light for a person to see the way to Jesus, the Christ.  John 1:31. John’s testimony is for our encouragement today, as we face a world of hostile critics who hate the truth and Jesus, and despise the Holy Scriptures.

 

Our lives and service for the Kingdom of God will never go unnoticed by our Lord Jesus Christ as we walk this earth for the glory of His name, despite what the culture says about Him or us. “Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.” 1 Cor 15:58

  

JESUS USES THE MIRACULOUS WORKS THAT HAS ALREADY BEEN DONE. (V36)

 

The only thing that miracles testify and point to is that they prove His deity and Messiahship existed before a single miracle ever takes place. We know the skepticism of these men were paying attention! Why? By what Nicodemus said to Him that night. We read in John 3:2 “………"Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him." But the sad reality like these men who Jesus confronts with their spiritual ignorance; is that many try to minimize or do away with the miracles of Jesus. Especially His greatest one! His own resurrection from the dead! But as the scripture testifies to that truth, “…..that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time….” 1 Cor 15:3-6

 

These miracles were the purpose to what John wrote at the end of his letter. “Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; 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.” John 20:30-31

 

JESUS USES HIS FATHER TO AFFIRM WHOM JESUS WAS AND IS. (V37)

 

The Father testifies to who Jesus truly was and is and He is saying the same thing to you and me. And this testimony is infinitely greater than any human testimony. We read in Matt 3:17 the Father who testifies about His Son. “and behold, a voice from heaven said, "This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased." Later on in Matthew’s Gospel the father once again testifies. “While Peter was still speaking, a bright cloud enveloped them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Listen to Him!” Matt 17:5. Jesus did only the works which the Father had given Him to accomplish and Peter affirmed this truth in his second letter. “For we did not follow cleverly devised fables when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of His majesty. For He received honor and glory from God the Father when the voice came to Him from the Majestic Glory, saying, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” And we ourselves heard this voice from heaven when we were with Him on the holy mountain. We also have the word of the prophets as confirmed beyond doubt. And you will do well to pay attention to it, as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts.” 

2 Peter 1:16-19

 

There was a popular bumper stick that says, “God said it; I believe it; that settles it.” But if you look at that it shows how arrogant we can be. What that bumper sticker should really say is, “God says it; that settles it.” This means if God Almighty opens His mouth and declares something, we don’t need another witness. It’s over But the biggest truth claim was when Jesus rebuked

these men in (v39-46).

 

JESUS REBUKES THESE MEN BY USING THE SCRIPTURES THE JEWS PROFESS TO HONOR. (V39-V47)

 

Their ignorance and rebellion came from the reality that Jesus shares with them in (v39-v40) “search” in the context of this passage Jesus is challenging his listeners to search diligently, minute by minute. The language indicates not to be content with just mere reading as it pertained to the writings or books of the Old Testament, for those were all the books of revelation that they then possessed. The word translated “search” here means to “search diligently” or “search anxiously.” It was applied to miners, who search for precious metals - who look anxiously for the “bed” of the ore with an intensity or anxiety proportionate to “their sense” of the value of the metal.

 

As Prov 2:4-5 “if you seek it like silver and search for it as for hidden treasures, then you will understand the fear of the LORD and find the knowledge of God.”

 

The Scriptures contain richest of truths, for being incredible and dearly believed, coming from heaven places, and sealed by the blood of Christ. As Jesus said about the man who found the pearl of great price, who sold everything he had because it was his greatest treasure. 

Matt 13:45-46

 

These men knew the words of God in their heads, but not in their hearts. Jesus desires that we diligently seek the Scriptures, that’s why Paul told Timothy before he died. “But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.” 2 Tim 3:14-17

Again, these men were so focused on tradition and legalism they forgot who the Scriptures were talking about for them to worship. That’s why Jesus gently but firmly rebuked these men for their ignorance to the sacred scrolls. (v40-v47) Moses is the one who rebukes you for your ignorance. What Jesus is saying is “Moses is the one who accuses you of your disbelief” Now Jesus doesn’t say any particular passage that accuses them, but maybe they remembered the strongest and probably the clearest reference to the coming Messiah. “The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers—it is to him you shall listen—just as you desired of the LORD your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly, when you said, ‘Let me not hear again the voice of the LORD my God or see this great fire any more, lest I die.’ And the LORD said to me, ‘They are right in what they have spoken. I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers. And I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him. And whoever will not listen to my words that he shall speak in my name, I myself will require it of him. But the prophet who presumes to speak a word in my name that I have not commanded him to speak, or who speaks in the name of other gods, that same prophet shall die.’ And if you say in your heart, ‘How may we know the word that the LORD has not spoken?’— when a prophet speaks in the name of the LORD, if the word does not come to pass or come true, that is a word that the LORD has not spoken; the prophet has spoken it presumptuously. You need not be afraid of him.” Deut 18:15-22

 

We will see later on that Jesus uses Abraham also to accuse their unbelief. “Jesus answered, “If I glorify myself, my glory is nothing. It is my Father who glorifies me, of whom you say, ‘He is our God.’ But you have not known him. I know him. If I were to say that I do not know him, I would be a liar like you, but I do know him and I keep his word. Your father Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day. He saw it and was glad.” So the Jews said to him, “You are not yet fifty years old, and have you seen Abraham?” Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.” So they picked up stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple.” John 8:54-59

 

It’s the scriptures that accuse you! The letters that Moses wrote about me We see the future hope of Christ in the first gospel proclamation. “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.” Gen 3:15. In the story and life of Joseph……Is where we see that Jesus is the fulfillment of the life of Joseph, which foreshadows Him being the beloved Son, being envied by His own, begin rejected by His own, cast down into the pit, resurrected, sent to a distant country where He became lord of all, and who then provided salvation for His own. Jesus is the substitute sacrifice that saved Isaac from the blade of his father Abraham. Jesus is the Passover Lamb as those who put their faith in His death and the blood, He shed are rescued from the judgment that is to come. Jesus is the manna that fell from the sky as the Bread of Life. Jesus was lifted up so that we who have been bitten by Satan in our sin can look upon Jesus and be saved from spiritual death. Jesus is the One whom the Father said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.” Matt 3:17

These men shouldn’t have been surprised with this as Christ has been the story of God’s grace since the beginning of time. As Bryan Chapell wrote, “Grace doesn’t spring up like a surprise jack-in-the-box in the New Testament. God’s people were prepared for millennia to understand and receive the grace of Christ.” But sadly, as we read in the text, “Yet you refuse” this means your not willing to come to me! Which is a clear demonstration of the unregenerate heart apart from Christ illuminating His truth and grace into it.

 

Ligonier’s study on “The State of Theology” asked a question to claiming evangelicals. “Jesus was a great teacher, but he was not God” in 2020 30% agreed with that statement and in 2022 43% agree with that statement. When asked “The Bible, like all scared writings, contains helpful accounts of ancient myths but is not literally true.” In 2020 15% agree and in 2022 26% agree with that statement. When asked “Religious belief is a matter of personal opinion; it is not about objective truth.” In 2020 23% agree and in 2022 38% agree with that statement.

 

All truth and the gospel are veiled until the Spirit grants it into the heart of the sinner. “And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing.” 2 Cor 4:3. Unregenerate minds are blind to the truth, and their hearts are opposed to God. Unregenerate are unable and unwilling to believe the truth about God. The result that we are spiritually dead and incapable of turning to God or doing good. (Eph 2:1-3) The unregenerate are in a state of spiritual death. To be made alive, they need a powerful, effective work of the Holy Spirit done in their souls. They are ignorant to the beauty and reality of Jesus, The Christ, to which we already know according to John 1:11 “He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him.”

 

What do we see and learn from this confrontation? The power of the God’s word versus’ the ignorance of sinful man. Jesus is rebuking these men because they search for eternal life, but were not willing to trust the only source for eternal life. See if Jesus was the Messiah the Jews wanted, providing miracles and food along with Political and military power; Jesus would have received honor from them. But Jesus only sought one’s approval! His Father in Heaven? “Is to do the will of Him who sent Me.” 

These men and many other others would be confronted with this accusation by Moses when Peter stood before them and spoke. “Men of Israel, why do you wonder at this, or why do you stare at us, as though by our own power or piety we have made him walk? The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, the God of our fathers, glorified his servant Jesus, whom you delivered over and denied in the presence of Pilate, when he had decided to release him. But you denied the Holy and Righteous One, and asked for a murderer to be granted to you, and you killed the Author of life, whom God raised from the dead. To this we are witnesses. And his name—by faith in his name—has made this man strong whom you see and know, and the faith that is through Jesus has given the man this perfect health in the presence of you all. “And now, brothers, I know that you acted in ignorance, as did also your rulers. But what God foretold by the mouth of all the prophets, that his Christ would suffer, he thus fulfilled. Repent therefore, and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out, that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that he may send the Christ appointed for you, Jesus, whom heaven must receive until the time for restoring all the things about which God spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets long ago. Moses said, ‘The Lord God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brothers. You shall listen to him in whatever he tells you. And it shall be that every soul who does not listen to that prophet shall be destroyed from the people.’ And all the prophets who have spoken, from Samuel and those who came after him, also proclaimed these days. You are the sons of the prophets and of the covenant that God made with your fathers, saying to Abraham, ‘And in your offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed.’ God, having raised up his servant, sent him to you first, to bless you by turning every one of you from your wickedness.” Acts 3:12-26

 

PLEASE! Don't be like the Pharisee's and say No! to the hard things and yes to the easy things to fit your doctrine or your lifestyle. “Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” 2 Tim 2:15. If you do these things the scriptures will come to life for you, making you wise unto salvation. If you search the scriptures with a willing heart, you will find eternal life, and you will find grace, victory, and truth for life that is well pleasing to God.

 

Always remember that Christ is the main theme of the Scriptures and He is

the fulfillment of the Old Testament.

When Philip found Nathanael, he said to him, "We have found Him of whom Moses in the law, and also the prophets, wrote—Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph." John 1:45. This truth will mean nothing to you unless you are willing to receive His story [the whole story] Sadly, many are still on that road of destruction because they refuse to believe [Jew and Gentile alike] in who Christ and the Scriptures revealed Him to be. As Jesus said "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing! See! Your house is left to you desolate (bleak, lonely, very unhappy); for I say to you, you shall see Me no more till you say, 'BLESSED is HE WHO COMES IN THE NAME OF THE LORD!' “

Matt 23:37-39

 

I pray and hope that this is not you this morning?

Embrace Him through the saving gospel.

Love Him through the Scriptures.

Trust Him in every part of your life.

Obey Him for this is good for you.

Believe in Him and live for Him.

 

Remember

A flash light cannot work without the batteries.

A toaster cannot work without being plugged in.

A car will never move without gas.

A marriage will never last unless you abide.

A sheep cannot survive or attain eternal life without the Shepherd.

 

As the late great preacher A W Tozer said “Nothing less than a whole Bible can make a whole Christian” Why would A W Tozer say that? Because the Scripture testify and affirm who Christ is; God in the flesh. The greatest treasures are before you and me, they are found in the Scriptures. Why? As Jesus said “they testify of Me”