Good morning. Let's open this
morning's service with hymn number 21 in your spiral gospel hymnal,
number 21, The Covenant, Ordered and Sure. It's been a little
while since we've sang this. ? God the Father and the Son ?
And the Spirit three in one ? In eternal ages past ? Made a covenant
sure and fast ? God my Father chose his own in the person of
His Son, and ordained that I should be one with Him eternally. God does not agree to come in
the flesh to bring me home. He would keep God's holy law
and retrieve me from the fall. Christ in love so willingly stood
as my great surety. For my price he offered blood
to appease the wrath of God. God the Spirit, heavenly dove,
promised to come down in love, bringing life and peace and grace
to the chosen, purchased race. ? He seeks the lost, heals the
lame ? And he brings us to the Lamb ? By his mighty sovereign
call ? God's elect are gathered all ? This poor sinner is secure
? For God's covenant will endure ? It is sealed by God's own word
? By his spirit and his blood ? Blessed holy covenant God ?
I am yours by ties of blood ? Ties of grace and ties of love ? ?
Hold me to my God above ? Please be seated. Good morning. That is the gospel. In eternity past, God the Father,
God the Son, God the Holy Spirit, before time ever was, made a
covenant, a promise. The Father elected a particular
people, the Son redeemed those whom the Father elected, and
the Holy Spirit is regenerating all that the Lord Jesus redeemed
and all that the Father chose. Salvation is of the Lord. It's all of God. What comfort. What hope. Good morning. We're going to
be in John chapter 5 this morning, the first hour. I want us to
pray together before we begin. Perhaps you've heard Marvin Stoniker
had a stroke about six months ago and has been recovering from
that. Wednesday morning he had a seizure
and spent a couple of days in ICU, but he went home yesterday
and I spoke to him yesterday and he was doing well and so
he's recovering from from the seizure, I assume that, and he
didn't know that it's somehow associated with the stroke that
he had a few months ago. So I want us to pray for him
and for the church there in Fairmont. Let's pray together. Our heavenly
father, thank you. for the hope of salvation that
we have completely accomplished in your ordained purpose and
the Lord Jesus accomplished work. And now in the power of your
Holy Spirit, who is making us willing Oh, how we hope and pray that
your Holy Spirit would work this morning in our hearts, that you
would cause us to find our rest, our comfort, and all our hope
in Christ, that you would enable us to worship in the power of
your spirit. And Lord, that you would reveal
your truth in Christ to our hearts. We thank you for our brother
Marvin. Thank you, Lord, for your hand of strength that's
been upon him and pray that you'd give him full recovery and pray
for the church in Fairmont that you would Bless them and strengthen
them through this time of trial. We ask it in Christ's name. Amen. You have your Bibles open to
John chapter five. We're going to begin in verse
30 and go down through verse 38. If someone asks you, what exactly
is the difference between what you believe and what is popularly
believed and promoted in what the world would call Christianity,
you can summarize your faith like this. I believe that Jesus
Christ is the Son of God. I believe that he is God. Of course, I realize that most
people who consider themselves to be Christians would readily
agree with that and say, well, I believe that too. Do you? Do you believe that he is the
almighty? That he possesses all power? That he's not dependent upon
man for anything? Do you believe? Because that's
the nature of God. Do you believe that he's sovereign? That he does what he wants, when
he wants, with whomever he wants, and however he wants, and he
always does it right? That he reigns sovereign over
the armies of heaven and all the inhabitants of the earth?
No man can stay his hand or say unto him, what doest thou? You
believe that? Because that's what I believe. You believe that he's the fullness
of the Godhead bodily? That's what I believe. You believe that
he accomplished what he came to do? If he's God, he had to. If he's the fullness of God,
he had to be successful in what it is that he came to do. What
did he come to do? He came to save his people. He
came to redeem those whom the father elected. He's God. He's God. The gospel is a person. It's a person. When the Holy Spirit inspired
the Apostle John to write the Gospel of John, he gave to each
of the Gospel writers a different emphasis to present the Lord
Jesus. John's emphasis is clearly the
deity of Christ. That's his emphasis all the way
throughout. He begins in verse 1, The beginning, and that is
not a reference to time, that's a reference to that which was
before time. That which has no time. In the
beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word
was God. And then in the very end, John,
in chapter 21, I think it's next to the last verse of the Gospel
of John, says that this is the testimony. And we know that he
which testifieth of these things is true. It's true. All throughout the Gospel of
John, the word which was with God and the word which was God
was made flesh and he dwelt among us and we beheld his glory as
the glory of the only begotten of the father, the one who is
himself full of grace and full of truth. We believe that Jesus Christ,
Jesus of Nazareth, born of a virgin is God. He is the Christ. He's the one sent of God in the
full power of the Spirit of God to successfully establish the
kingdom of God. That's what we believe. And all of our hope is bound
up in who he is and what he did. That's the gospel. The gospel is a person. You remember in John chapter
one, when the Lord is calling his disciples, a disciple by
the name of Philip goes to his brother Nathanael and says to
Nathanael, we found the one who Moses and the prophets spoke
of, the Christ. Well, Nathanael had just met
the Lord and he didn't realize that the Lord had actually found
him. But when Philip told his brother Nathanael that, Nathanael
said, Philip told him Jesus of Nazareth and Philip said, what
good thing can come out of Nazareth? Come and see, come and see. And
when the Lord Jesus saw Nathanael, Oh, an Israelite indeed in whom
there is no guile. And Nathanael said, how do you
know me? I saw you when you run to the
fig tree. Now we can conclude from that,
that underneath that fig tree, Philip was praying. Philip was
asking God to reveal himself to Philip. Because when Philip
heard the Lord Jesus say, when thou was under the fig tree,
I saw thee, Philip bowed in worship and said,
rabbi, thou art the son of God. Thou art the son of God. Only
God can know what was in my heart. In John chapter two, we have
the story of the Lord Jesus going to that wedding feast of Cana
and taking water and turning it into wine and no one knew
what he had done except at the end of that miracle, the Lord
tells us in his word that Jesus manifested forth his glory and
his disciples believed on him. They believed. that he was the
Christ. In John chapter three, the Lord
Jesus now is conversing with Nicodemus, a leader of the Jews. And Nicodemus comes to the Lord
and says, we know that thou art son of God, for no man can do
the things that thou doest except God be with him. And the Lord
looked at Nicodemus, and the Lord said to Nicodemus, Nicodemus,
except you be born of God. You can't see the kingdom of
God. You think you see so much. You think that you're wise and
that you've made this conclusion that the only way that I could
do what I do is that if God sent me. But what you need to see
is that I am God. And you can't see that apart
from the new birth. You can't see me for who I am. You can't believe on me. You
can't worship me until the Spirit of God comes in the power of
God and reveals me to you. In John chapter four, we have
the story of the woman at the well. Oh, if you knew, the Lord Jesus
said to this woman, if you knew who it is that saith unto thee,
give me a drink, you would ask it of him and he would give you
living water. Lord, give me that water. And the Lord revealed himself
to that woman and she ran back down in the sidecar and what'd
she say? Come, come, meet a man who told me all that ever I did. Is not this the Christ? Is not this the one we've been
waiting for? Is not this God incarnate? And they all came. And then they
believed, not because of the testimony of the woman, but because
of his words, what they heard him say. The beginning of John
chapter five, the Lord goes into Jerusalem to the pool of Bethesda. And there were many there that
were lame and halt. And they were waiting, you remember,
for the stirring of the water. And the Lord goes, he picks one
man, a demonstration of his sovereignty. He could have stood on a pedestal
and healed them all. Did he? No, he went to one man. Wilt thou be made whole? Lord, I have no man to help me.
Well, the Lord Jesus say, take up your bed and walk. Oh. The Lord Jesus Christ is God. He's God. We bow to him, we worship
him, we love him, we look to him, we follow after him, we
keep our eyes fixed on him as he enables us by his Spirit. Who is Christ? And what exactly
has he done? I've titled this, The Witness
of Christ. The Witness of Christ. The Lord
tells us to judge not by outward appearances, but judge righteous
judgments. The outward appearances of Christ,
nothing about his life, nothing about his birth, His humble birth,
his obscure life in a carpenter shop in a little village called
Nazareth. Nothing about his shameful death
on a Roman cross would suggest in any way that this was even
the king of a nation much less, much less the sovereign of the
universe. And yet men were judging him
by outward appearances. If you were who you would say
you were, you'd be a lot more splendor. You would show forth
much more glory than what you do. Nothing about his outward circumstances
would lead one to believe. that this is the immutable, never-changing,
omnipotent, all-powerful, creator and sustainer of all of life. Nothing about his outward appearances
would suggest in any way that this man, who was made of a woman
in the likeness of sinful flesh, they looked at him and they couldn't
tell he was any different from anyone else. That this is the
fullness of the Godhead bodily? Can't see that. That God Almighty would make
of himself of no reputation, that he would take on him the
form of a servant, that he would be made in the likeness of sinful
flesh, that he would humble himself to become obedient unto death,
yea, even the death of the cross, that God would do that? Judge not by outward appearances,
but judge righteous judgments. How do we make righteous judgments? We judge that to be true, which
God has witnessed to, which God has testified of. And that's where we pick up in
our text in John chapter 5. One of the things that John is
refuting was the denial of the Lord Jesus
as being God by what is Gnostic doctrine. Now the word Gnostic
comes from the word knowledge, gnosis. And the Gnostics believed
that God could not be made flesh. that anything worldly was corrupted,
and so there was no possible way that this Jesus of Nazareth
could be the fullness of God, that God could only be known
outside of this man. And so they proudly promoted
themselves of having some knowledge of God, that was higher than
what could be achieved in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's a denial of the gospel because
the truth is that all that we're ever going to know about God
will be known in the person and work of Christ. Look at verse 30 of John chapter
5. I can of mine own self do nothing. As I hear, I judge. And my judgment is just because
I seek not my own will, but the will of the Father which has
sent me. If I bear witness of myself,
my witness is not true. The Lord Jesus is declaring himself
to be completely dependent and completely obedient to his heavenly
father. Now that is what God requires.
God requires a man to be completely dependent upon him for everything. How independent we are. How proud we are. and how thankful
we are that our God knows how to abase our pride, to cause
us to believe that all that we have comes from Him. From the
physical air that we breathe to the spiritual breath of life,
the Lord has to give it to us. We believe that. We believe it,
we don't live it. The Lord Jesus lived it. Now
there's the difference between him and me, him and you. He lived
it. We know it's true because God
has revealed it to our hearts and we rejoice that there is
a man that we can look to who actually lived it. And that his life satisfies what
God requires for me. So that in looking to Christ,
I'm able to rest in knowing that I have an advocate with the Father.
I have a substitute. I have one who stands before
God and presents his life as my life. His death as my death. The perfect one. That's what
our Lord's saying here. I can do nothing. And we know
that if we draw another breath of air that God gave it to us,
but how presumptuous is it that we live? How often we take things
into our own hands, how much we try to accomplish in the power
of our own flesh. He never did. He never did. He was consciously aware of his
dependence upon his heavenly father in every breath that he
drew, in every word that he spoke, in every deed that he performed,
in every step that he took. His life is our life. We can say, through faith, Not
my will, but thy will be done. Lord, I know your will is perfect. I know that you work all things
together for good for them that love you and those that are called
according to your purpose. Lord, I know that every time
I take my hand and put it to something and try to perform
my will, all I do is mess it up. I know that. And yet I keep
doing it. I keep doing it. I keep trying to to make things
happen. I know that when I look at the
world and I watch the news or however I get my news or read
the newspaper, all I'm doing is observing what God is doing. That's all I'm doing. Everything that's happening is
happening according to the sovereign will and purpose of God and nothing
is out of place, nothing. And yet, oh, if we had the power of God,
there's a whole lot of stuff we'd try to change, isn't there?
A whole lot of stuff we would change. We're trying to change
it now, why? Because the temptation that Satan
gave Eve in the garden is still part of our flesh. What is it? We want to be God. We want to be God. Every single
one of us has a God complex. Every single one of us takes
things into our own hands and tries to make things happen the
way we think they should happen because we think we know what's
best. There is one who every step he
took and every breath he drew, every word he spoke, everything
he did was in perfect obedience to the will of God. We have one. There's our hope. We can never find hope in our
bowing to God's will or our obedience to his will. We can never do
that. But we have one. We have one
who was perfectly obedient to his heavenly father. That's what
he's saying here. Look at verse 32. There is another
that beareth witness of me and I know that the witness which
he witnesses of me is true. I'm not witnessing, I'm not bearing
witness to myself. There is one who bears witness
of me. And I know that his witness is true. Now, where do we find
this witness? We find it in God's Word. Find it in God's Word. Don't
find it in our experience, we don't find it in our feelings,
we don't find it, we find it in God's Word. These are they
which testify of me. In the volume of the book it
is written of me. Now here's another answer that
you can give someone who asks you, what's different about what
you believe and what we believe? You can say this, I believe that
the Bible is the inspired, inerrant word of God. And the fundamentalist
will say, well, I believe the Bible's a word of God, do you?
Do you believe that? Do you believe when God says,
Jacob, I have loved, but Esau, I have hated. Do you believe
that? You believe what God said when the Lord Jesus bowed his
head on Calvary's cross and said, it is finished. You believe that? I do. Now here's
the truth, brethren. If you believe that the Bible
is a word of God, you believe every word of it. People say,
how much of the Bible do you have to believe to be a believer?
If you're a believer, you believe every word of it. That's the
nature of a believer. You believe it all. And you believe that Jesus Christ
is the Son of God. You're a believer. All that that
implies. You're not just saying it with
words. Your words, are an expression
of your hope, your faith. Look at verse 33. You sent unto John and he bear
witness unto the truth. He's talking about John the Baptist. Son of God to ultimately reveal
the Lord Jesus as the Son of God. Behold the Lamb of God.
He's the one. He's the one who takes away the
sins of the world. I must decrease, he must increase.
Hear ye him. There's the Christ. There's the
one we've been waiting for. Until John made that confession,
Oh, everybody was going out to hear John. John was a prophet.
John was bold. John was used of God to confront
the Herod and the Roman leaders and the Pharisees loved it. They
loved his boldness until, you sent unto John and he bare
witness unto the truth, but I received not testimony from man, But these
things I say that you might be saved. Here's why I'm declaring these
things. This is the ultimate, this is
the... These things, John says in chapter
20, these things have been written unto you in order that you might
believe that Jesus is the Christ, the son of the living God, and
that believing you might have life on his name. I'm looking
to the complete dependence and complete obedience of the Lord
Jesus for my righteousness before God. John, verse 35, was a burning
and shining light. And you were willing for a season
to rejoice in his light. Oh, you went out, you thought,
well, here's a prophet of God. Until he spoke of me. But I have greater witness than
that of John. for the works which the Father
hath given me to finish. The same works that I do bear
witness of me that the Father hath sent me." What is the work that the Lord
Jesus came to do? The very first words that our
Lord recorded in the Bible. from the lips of the Lord Jesus
when he was 12 years old was spoken to his mother, Mary. Did
you not know that I must be about my father's business? It's what I've come to do. And then he told the disciples
when they went down into Sychar in John chapter four and they
came back, oh, I have meat to eat that you know not of. I must
do my father's will. What was the father's will? For
him to save his people. We have the testimony of what
he accomplished. The salvation of God's people. And the father gave proof of
that. in the resurrection. The father could not allow his
holy one to see corruption. Why? Because the Lord Jesus accomplished
what the father sent him to do. And he raised him from the dead. And you know, the Lord Jesus, when
he The scripture says that he appeared unto the apostles and
he appeared unto 500 after his resurrection. 500 witnesses that saw him and
heard him and touched him and ate with him during those days
between his resurrection and his ascension. Strong testimony. You take 500 witnesses in any
court of law that tell you all the same thing and you've got
a pretty sure testimony. Never in those days between the
resurrection and the ascension did the Lord Jesus go to any
of his enemies and prove to them that they were wrong. Never. Could have. He could have gone right to the
face of Pilate who was still trying to wash the blood off
of his hands and put Pilate in his place.
He could have gone to Annas the high priest and he could have
stood in Jerusalem and publicly declared to all men, no. The
Lord Jesus revealed himself to his disciples, those followers
of him. And he's never revealed himself
to anyone else since. Anyone other than his people. And he's still doing it. He's
still doing it by the power of his Holy Spirit He gives his
people faith in him. He uses his word to bring that
about. Faith comes by hearing, doesn't
it? And hearing comes by the word of God. Lord, I believe,
I believe. Help thou mine unbelief. Lord,
I've got an old man who still thinks that he can get it done,
who still... A man who can't live in dependence
upon you and can't live according to your will, Lord, help him. Restrain him. That's what that
means. Lord, restrain the old man. You
can't make him any better. He's never gonna be any better,
but you can restrain him. We're gonna look at that more
in the next hour. Restraining grace. Lord, that's
what I need. I need you to keep that old man
from taking over. Look at verse 37. And the father
himself which hath sent me hath borne witness of me. You have neither heard his voice
at any time or seen his shape. And you have not his word abiding
in you, for whom he hath sent him you believed not. This is my beloved son whom I
have sent. Hear ye him, believe on him. The Lord saying, you won't hear
me. You're making judgments based
on outward appearances and you cannot see that I am the fullness of the Godhead in
the body of a man. We look to the Lord Jesus as
the God-man, the one and only mediator between God and man, the one who reveals God to man
and presents himself as man to God. The perfect man. All right. I'll just take a break.