We're going to begin our second
service by standing and singing number 446, Satisfied, 446. My life long I had panted for
a drink from some clear spring that I hoped would quench the
burning of the thirst I felt within. Alleluia, I have found
Him whom my soul so long has craved. Jesus satisfies my longings,
through His blood I now am saved. Leaning on the husk around me
till my strength was almost gone. Longed my soul for something
better, only still to hunger on. Hallelujah, I have found
Him whom my soul so long has craved. Jesus satisfies my longings,
through His blood I now am saved. ? For I was and sought for riches
? ? Something that would satisfy ? ? But the dust I gathered round
me ? ? Only mocked my soul-set cry ? ? Alleluia, I have found
Him ? ? Who my soul so long has craved ? Jesus satisfies my longings,
through His blood I now am safe. Well of water ever springing,
bread of life so rich and free, untold wealth that never faileth,
my Redeemer is to me. Alleluia, I have found Him, whom
my soul so long has prayed. Jesus satisfies my longings. Through His blood I now am saved. If you would, turn to 259. 259, the rock that is higher
than I. 259. Oh, sometimes the shadows are deep and rough
seems the path to the goal. ? And sorrows sometimes how they
swing ? ? Like tempest down over the soul ? ? Oh then to the rock
let me fly ? ? To the rock that is higher than I ? ? Oh then
to the rock let me fly ? to the rock that is higher than I. Oh, sometimes how long seems
the day, and sometimes how weary my feet, a toiling life's dusty
way. ? The rock's blessed shadow,
how sweet ? ? O then to the rock let me fly ? ? To the rock that
is higher than I ? ? O then to the rock let me fly ? ? To the
rock that is higher than I ? ? And near to the rock let me keep
? If blessings or sorrows prevail ? Or climbing the mountain way
steep ? Or walking the shadowy vale ? O then to the rock let
me fly to the rock that is higher than I. Oh, then to the rock
let me fly to the rock that is higher than I. Thank you. Turn with me to John 19. John 19, I'm going to read 1
through 22. Then Pilate therefore took Jesus
and scourged him, and the soldiers plaited a crown of thorns, and
put it on his head, and they put on him a purple robe, and
said, Hail, King of the Jews, and they smote him with their
hands. Pilate therefore went forth again, and saith unto them,
Behold, I bring him forth to you, that ye may know that I
find no fault in him. Then came Jesus forth, wearing
the crown of thorns and the purple robe, And Pilate said unto them,
behold the man. When the chief priests, therefore,
and officers saw him, they cried out, saying, crucify him, crucify
him. Pilate saith unto them, take
ye him, and crucify him, for I find no fault in him. The Jews
answered him, we have a law, and by our law he ought to die,
because he made himself the son of God. When Pilate, therefore,
heard that, saying he was more afraid, And went again into the
judgment hall, and saith unto Jesus, Whence art thou? But Jesus
gave him no answer. Then saith Pilate unto him, Speakest
thou not unto me? Knowest thou not that I have
the power to crucify thee, and the power to release thee? Jesus
answered, Thou couldst have no power at all against me, except
it were given thee from above. Therefore he that delivereth
me unto thee hath the greater sin. And from thenceforth Pilate
sought to release him. But the Jews cried out, saying,
If thou let this man go, thou art not Caesar's friend. Whosoever
maketh himself a king speaketh against Caesar. When Pilate therefore
heard that saying, he brought Jesus forth and sat down in the
judgment seat in a place that is called the pavement, but in
the Hebrew, Gabbatha. And it was the preparation of
the Passover and about the sixth hour. And he said unto the Jews,
behold your king. But they cried out, away with
him, away with him, crucify him. Pilate said unto them, shall
I crucify your king? The chief priests answered, we
have no king but Caesar. Then delivereth he him therefore
unto them to be crucified. And they took Jesus and led him
away. And he bearing his cross went forth into a place, a place of a skull,
which in the Hebrew is called Golgotha. where they crucified
him and the two with him, one on either side, and Jesus in
the midst. And Pilate wrote a title and
put it on the cross. And the writing was, Jesus of
Nazareth, the King of the Jews. And this title read, many of
the Jews, for the place where Jesus was crucified was night
of the city, and it was written in Hebrew and Greek and Latin.
Then said the chief priests of the Jews to Pilate, write not,
the King of the Jews, but that he says, I am the King of the
Jews. And Pilate answered, what I have
written, I have written. Let's pray. Father, we come to you again,
thankful this morning to be able to come to a place to worship,
to hear the gospel and to hear of your son, what you sent him
to do and what he came and what he accomplished. Father, this
scripture is a perfect example of how you'll use evil men to
get your point across. And Father, Pilate wrote what
he wrote because you dictated that's exactly what he would
write, that he is the king. And Father, we ask that you just
please watch over and care for us and Open up our eyes and open
up our hearts as the message is brought to us this morning.
And Father, again, we just ask that you watch over and care
for us in Christ's name. Alright brethren, turn with me
to John chapter 5 and I want to look at verses 30 through
47 with you. This text here, our Lord is speaking
to the Pharisees and the Pharisees were men who had great confidence
in the scriptures as they understood them. They rested in the scriptures
and that was their confidence. But as we see, while they rejoiced
and made their boast in the scriptures, they despised the one of whom
the scriptures spoke. So that with all the scriptures
that the Lord God had given them, they didn't receive the witness
that they heard. They didn't hear the voice of
the witnesses which declared to the people that this Jesus
of Nazareth is the Christ. He is the Christ. They had Moses
and the law, and they studied those things so that they looked
into the ordinances that were prescribed and laid out. They
had the scriptures that were read every Sabbath day in the
synagogues. They heard John the Baptist,
who heralded the coming of the Messiah, and they had the witness
of the Father. who testified at Christ's baptism
that this is the Son of God and that he's pleased with this one. And they also had the witness
of Christ himself and the works that he did before them. You
know, in this passage here, it began, chapter five began with
an impotent man being healed. After 38 years Christ healed
this man of his sickness and he was delivered from it. The problem for them was that
it was done on the Sabbath day. Then Christ told the men plainly
that he is the Messiah, pointing out that he is the Son of Man. And that title, what he's declaring
there, is that he is the one sent to stand in the gap between
God and his people. He's the son of man. He is the
Messiah. He's the one sent to deliver
his people. And they saw and heard, then
this means that God is standing in our midst. God is standing
Here in the flesh before our very eyes and it says in John
5 verse 18 Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill him because
he not only had broken the Sabbath But also but said also that God
was his father making himself equal with God They saw they
had all these witnesses, but they refused they rejected this
one who is the Messiah, this one who stood before them. And
so, we see that this is the natural response of carnal man. This is what man, by nature,
does when the witnesses are brought to their attention. What's revealed in them, if they're
not a child of God, what's revealed in them is that they don't believe
these things. and they don't really care for
Christ. And what it's testifying to is that God is not in them,
right? The witness of God is not in
them because if the witness of God was in them, they would receive
the one whom God is testifying before their eyes. This is the
Christ. This is my salvation whom I've
sent and provided to save my people from their sins. So what about me? And what about you? Do I receive
and believe the witnesses that God has provided that this Jesus
of Nazareth is the Christ, that He is the Son of God? Our Lord
said in John chapter 5 verse 30 and 31, I can of mine own
self do nothing. As I hear, I judge, and my judgment
is just. because I seek not mine own will,
but the will of the Father which hath sent me." And then he says,
if I bear witness of myself, my witness is not true. Now,
a little bit later in John 8, verse 40, 14, He says, though
I bear record of myself, yet my record is true. So what does
our Lord mean here when he says, if I bear witness of myself,
my witness is not true? Well, remember that our Lord
is upholding the law. He's fulfilling all righteousness
for his people. And so before the law, which
says, at the mouth of two witnesses or at the mouth of three witnesses
shall the matter be established. So Christ is saying, I'm going
to give you five witnesses. Right here in our text this morning,
the Lord's giving us five witnesses that all testify that this is
the Christ, that we're to hear him, that we're to look to him
and believe him and trust him for our righteousness and our
salvation. Because if indeed he is the Christ,
then we desperately need him. The fact that the Son of God
came in the flesh declares, it testifies to us that we ourselves
are sinners, that we're not righteous, that we cannot save ourselves,
that we cannot deliver ourselves, but God has provided the salvation
for his people, and it's in his Son, Jesus Christ, whom he sent. Therefore, we must hear him.
We need to hear him. We need an ear to hear him. We
need eyes that see and a heart that believes who he is and what
he says. And so I pray, my prayer for
you, brethren, and my prayer for myself is that I hear and
you hear and receive the witness of God, the witness that is here
given to us concerning this one, this Jesus of Nazareth, that
we too would know that this is the Christ. This is exactly whom
God promised to send. Here he is. Oh Lord, give me
a heart to delight in him, to rejoice and be glad, and to hear
what only his saints hear, and to see what only his saints see. I've titled this, Do I Believe
the Witness of Christ? Do I Believe the Witness of Christ? Our divisions are going to be
looking at these five witnesses. The first one that our Lord calls
to bear witness is John the Baptist. Look at verse 32. You know, after taking himself
out, he said, there is another that beareth witness of me. And
I know that the witness is that the witness which he witnesses
of me is true, is true. Now, what's special about John
the Baptist? Well, the special thing about
John the Baptist is that he is the harbinger, the harbinger
of Christ's coming. Malachi spoke of John the Baptist. Malachi was the last prophet,
the last voice of a prophet that Israel, the people of Israel
heard. It was Malachi and he says in
chapter 4 verse 5 of Malachi, Behold, I will send you Elijah
the prophet. before the coming of the great
and dreadful day of the Lord. And our Lord, when speaking to
his disciples, testified that this John the Baptist is that
Elijah of whom Malachi spoke. He said, if ye will receive it,
if you have the testimony of the Spirit in you, You'll hear
and receive what I'm saying. He says that this is Elijah,
which was for to come. He that hath ears to hear, let
him hear. Because the Father, the Spirit,
gives life to his people so that then they have ears to hear and
they have eyes that see. They may not understand. They may know very little and
have little to no comfort. But whom the Lord makes alive,
they begin to feel, and they begin to desire, they begin to
thirst, they begin to hunger. and to seek out, Lord, how is
a man made righteous with you? Now, our Lord is speaking to
the Pharisees, and he reminds them, you know, you were startled
when John the Baptist appeared, when that man came into the wilderness
and began declaring the things that he was declaring and baptizing
the people, it got your attention. All right, verse 33, you sent
unto John. All right, you obviously knew
something was stern because you sent unto John and what did he
do? He bear witness of me. All right, John the Baptist gave
witness that this Jesus of Nazareth is the Lamb of God whom God had
sent to take away the sin of his people. All right, if you
look there at John chapter one, right there. So go to John 1
and look at verses 26 and 27. Pharisees asked him, Who are
you? Why are you here? What's your
purpose? And John answered them, saying,
I baptize with water, but there standeth one among you whom ye
know not. They didn't know They didn't
recognize Christ. They wouldn't recognize Christ.
And so God sent him as a witness to testify. All right, here's
the marker. The one coming after him is the
Christ. Get ready. This is the harbinger
of whom I'm declaring to you that my son is coming. He it
is, verse 27, who coming after me is preferred before me, whose
shoes latched I am not worthy to unloose. All right, so they
didn't know who he was, but the very fact that the harbinger
was here would testify to them, well, let's be looking. Let's
pray and watch. Who is it, Lord? Reveal him to
us. Don't pass me by. But they were so cocky and confident
in self, they didn't have time for that. They figured, well,
of course I'll know. I'll know him because he's going
to come according to how I think that Christ is going to come.
And he's going to be revealed the way I think that Christ should
be revealed. And so, the Lord did come. In
fact, it was the very next day that Jesus came walking by John. And John seeth Jesus coming unto
him. This is verse 29 and 30. And
saith, Behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of
the world. This is he of whom I said, after me cometh the man
which is preferred before me, for he was before me." And so
John the Baptist is there testifying, this is the one who takes away
the stain of the sin of his people. He's the one that purges us of
our sins. He's the one that lifts it out
with his own blood. Because God is testifying to
us that he's the propitiation. He's the one in whom we go free. Because he took the place of
his people. bearing their burden, bearing
their iniquity, bearing their diseases and sicknesses, and
put them away by the death of himself and the shedding of his
own blood, which pleases the Father and delivers us from our
death. Now our Lord said in verse 34,
back in John 5 verse 34, He said, but I receive not testimony from
man. I don't need these things. This
isn't for my sake. This is for your sake. But these things I say that ye
might be saved. There to hear this witness of
Elijah, this John the Baptist testifies that this Jesus is
the Christ sent of God. And God sent him. He sent him
and he says, You heard him testify. You heard him speak the things
that he said. And he says in verse 35, he was
a burning and a shining light. And ye were willing for a season
to rejoice in his light. You thought, well, this is very
peculiar. This is odd that here's a man
who's unlike anything we've seen for generations. We haven't seen
him. And they were willing to entertain
it that maybe The Lord is stirring something up. The problem was
John testified of this Jesus of Nazareth, who was despised
in the eyes of the Pharisees. He didn't meet the standard that
they expected him to meet. They saw weakness. They saw one who did not meet
their expectations. A lot of people, even today,
that don't believe They look at the people of the Lord, and
they despise Christ because they see in us weakness. They see
in us failings. They see in us sin, and we don't
rise up to meet their expectation. But the Lord's people are sinners
saved. Not that I'm trying to give excuse
for it, but we are flesh, and we're sinners saved. We desperately
need the grace of God. We need his mercy and kindness
and look to him to deliver us from the bondage of sin and the
body of this death. Believing and hoping in his promise,
which tells us and declares us that we were crucified with him. that he put to death this body
of sin. We should live unto God, for
he that's dead is freed from sin, right? And so it's to cause
us to look to Christ, to cry out to him, Lord help me, help
us to walk in faith and in righteousness before you and let me not be
a stumbling block. But it's really never going to
be enough for those who have not the witness of God in them.
It's never gonna be enough because they're always gonna be able
to find some fault with us. They found fault with Christ
and he was faultless. He had no sin. He had no sin. So do you believe the witness
of John? That John testified this Jesus
of Nazareth is the lamb of God. Do you believe that he is your
savior? The only one that can save, the
only one whose blood you need to purge you of your sin. Do
you believe the witness of John? All right, next we see the works
of Christ. In John 5, 36, our Lord brings
forth his works to bear witness, to give us testimony of these
things to them, to the Pharisees that saw him, and to us who are
reading these things and hearing this word now. He said, 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. Now, these works
which Christ was given to do, all the works, right, all the
healings, all the way up through his death, burial, and resurrection,
and even what he's doing to this day, they're all, they're described
as a gift from God. God gave him these things to
testify, to bear witness of who he is, not for his sake, but
for our sake, that we would know this is Christ. He said over
in John 17 4, I have glorified thee on the earth, I have finished
the work which thou gavest me to do. When you give something
to someone, it's a gift. You're giving them something
for them to use, to make use of. And he says in our own text,
the Father hath given me these works to finish. This is the
gift of God as a witness, to bear witness and testimony that
we would know that this is the Christ, and he did it joyfully.
He was happy to do that which God set before him, to deliver
his people from their just due for their sins, but he delivered
them, bearing gladly their punishment and taking their place for them. And our Lord would faithfully
call our attention to these works throughout the scriptures. Since
we're there in John, look at chapter 10. John 10 and go to verse 25. Jesus answered them, I told you
and ye believed not. The works that I do in my Father's
name, they bear witness of me. These things that I'm doing are
to bear witness of me, right? Now look at verse 38, John 10,
38. Though ye believe not me, believe
the works, that ye may know and believe that the Father is in
me, and I in him. Look at John 14 verse 11. Believe me that I am in the Father,
and the Father in me, or else believe me for the very work's
sake." The things I'm doing, no man
can do. I mean, you think about everything
he did, and you might be able to try and excuse it, but he
raised Lazarus from the dead, and he wasn't dead for 15 minutes.
man had been in the grave for what three or four days probably
enough to to start really stinking all right stinking so that they
didn't even want him to open up the the crypt because of the
smell they didn't want to smell that and yet our Lord did that
who can do that right no doctors are resuscitating people that
have been dead for three four days but Christ did these works
testify that he is God in the flesh All right, John 15, 24. John 15, 24. If I had not done
among them the works which none other man did, they had not had
sin. But now have they both seen and
hated both me and my father. All right, because the one that
doesn't receive these works that are testifying to us that this
is the Son of God, They reject Him, they despise Him, and in
so doing, they're rejecting and despising the Father. By excluding
the Son, by saying, well, you know, I just don't think Jesus
is the Savior. I don't really think He's the
Son of God. He seems like a good guy, maybe a prophet, if He even
lived. But I don't think that's how
God receives his people. I think you can come other ways,
as long as you're being faithful and diligent and obedient in
that which you call your faith, then God will receive you. No.
No, not at all. He's testifying that this is
the name which he's given to men under heaven whereby we must
be saved. Because there's not many roads
that lead to the Father. There's one way. And Christ is
the way, the truth, and the life. And no man cometh to the Father
but by Him. He is the only way that God has
provided. And so he that hates Christ is
testifying, bearing witness that they hate God as well. They don't
care for what God has to say. They're going to do things their
way. All right? Now, what are some of the things
that Christ did? What are some of these works?
We spoke of Lazarus, but I'm going to read from Luke 7.22. And these are literal healings
and deliverances of these people's sicknesses that testify that
we're sinners, that we are corrupt, that we are dying physically,
and we are already dead spiritually. And we'll see that these also
testify spiritually of what our Lord has done for us in delivering
us from our sin, right? So Christ, some of his works
are, he's speaking to John the Baptist's disciples whom John
sent, that they would know that this is the Messiah, because
they were ministering to John, and John's now about to give
his life, and John sends them to Christ that they may hear
him themselves and know this is the Christ. And our Lord said,
the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the
deaf hear, the dead are raised, to the poor the gospel is preached. And isn't that what our Lord
does for each and every one of you, his saints, that believe
him? I'm blind by nature, but our
Lord in mercy gave us sight so that now we see the things of
God. We're the ones who are lame by
nature so that we can't walk in righteousness. We can't fulfill
those things which please the Lord. We have lame feet. And so the Lord is the one who
heals us and gives us strength in our walk. The lepers are cleansed,
right? That's what we are by nature,
filthy, unclean lepers, full of sin. The deaf hear. We have no ear to hear what the
Spirit says, unless the Spirit gives us an ear to hear, and
then we hear, and we rightly receive and understand. And what
we don't understand, we seek Him for grace and mercy. And even when we don't know that
we don't understand, we're still resting and depending on Him
to be merciful to us, to give us an understanding, to help
us hear what we're just tone deaf to. The Lord has to give
that to us, The dead are raised. I'm naturally, spiritually dead
in Adam and must be given spiritual life. The Lord alone is the one
who raises us from that spiritual grave, that spiritual death.
And being made alive, we are become poor before the Lord.
I have nothing to boast of. I have no works in righteousness
of my own to stand before holy God, boasting, saying, Lord,
look at me, what I've brought to you. No, my hands are emptied. I am become poor because Christ
strips his people down, bringing them to nothing in themselves
to find their all in the Lord. And to them, the gospel is preached. The Lord is merciful and gracious
to feed you, to nourish you, to strengthen you, in his gospel
because we know how wicked this flesh is and how easy it is to
just go right back and glorying in self and looking to self and
having confidence in self and our eyes just go right to the
fancy glittering of this world and it's only by the mercy of
God that he turns us back again. He says, don't go that way and
don't go that way. You go right on straight and
my son, you look to him alone. Right? And you have confidence
in Him and He gives us that confidence. And so the testimony of our Lord's
works are witness to us today. They declare to us that this
is the Christ. Lord, it must be, it can be no
other way. All other faiths, all other religions
speak of and stir up your flesh and talk about what you are able
to do and what you must do. to save yourselves. And what
the Lord reveals in His word is, yeah, these are the things
I ought to do, but I have no strength in my flesh. And even
in those things which I think I'm doing well, the Lord from
time to time strips me and brings me right back down to ground
level zero and seeing what I am in self and that I ever need
Him, ever need His mercy and grace to keep me. All right? They picture what our Lord has
done for us, all his works. They picture what he's done for
us. In Isaiah 53, verses four through six, we read, surely
he hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows, yet we did
esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. In nature,
we despise this one whom the Father has sent. But the Lord
says he was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace
was upon him, and with his stripes we are healed. That very one
whom we in the flesh despise and say, I don't know what he
was doing or what he was thinking, and he was crucified justly,
right? What the flesh says when man despises him, they say he
was crucified justly, yet there's a people for whom he was wounded
for. He was bearing their sins and
their iniquities and thereby bearing their chastisement, their
punishment. That wrath of God that was their
due, Christ bore it in their stead that they should go free
and have life in him. and knowledge of the Father,
and have fellowship with Him. Because all we, like sheep, have
gone astray. We have turned everyone to his
own way, and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all."
All his sheep needed this. All his sheep needed this. this
salvation and this deliverance, every one of them. And that's
what our Lord did. Do you believe the witness of
Christ's works? Did they declare to you that
this one, this Jesus of Nazareth is the son of God and that he
is one with the father and that the works he's done and is doing
are the works which the father gave him to do, to testify to
you and to me that he is the Christ, the son of God. Do you
believe that witness? All right, the third witness
is God the Father. The Father bears witness of the
Son. It says in verse 37, the first part of it, the Father
himself which hath sent me hath borne witness of me. When did the Father bear witness
of Christ? Well, when he came to John the
Baptist to be baptized of him to fulfill all righteousness,
we're told in Matthew 3.17, lo a voice from heaven saying, this
is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. All right, so he
testified and those that had the spirit in them, those that
had the witness of the father in them heard what the father
said. And they heard him say, this
is my beloved son in whom I'm well pleased." And then the Lord,
when he went up on the Mount, we call the Mount of Transfiguration,
where the Lord again testified to those that were there that
this is the Christ. And it wasn't just one of the
disciples, it was three. In the mouth of two or three
witnesses shall a thing be established. And so there were three, Peter,
James, and John, that were with him on the Mount, and seeing
him with Moses and Elijah. They understood in the spirit
that this is Moses and Elijah. And they're thinking, Lord, should
we build three tabernacles, one for you, one for Moses, and one
for Elijah? In other words, is this now the
witness and the testimony of God for us here in the earth?
And then a voice came, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and
behold, a voice out of the cloud which said, this is my beloved
son. hear ye him and whom I'm well
pleased hear ye him and Moses and Elijah were gone because
Moses the law and Elijah the prophets testify to us in these
scriptures that this is the Christ and he's everything we need hear
him he's got everything you need to hear do you believe the witness
of the father Is the witness of the Father something that
you hear and believe? Is this the Mediator? Is Christ,
is this Jesus of Nazareth the Christ, the Mediator that stands
in the gap between us and Holy God so that in Him and in Him
alone we are accepted and received by God? Because no man can come
to the Father except he come through the Son. That's what
God is witnessing to us. That's what the Father is telling
us. That's what we need to hear. I'm not going to come some other
way or avenue. All right, then the fourth witness
is the scriptures, right? The Old Testament scriptures
would be what Christ was speaking of when he spoke to the people.
And then the apostles, they would also refer back to the Old Testament
and the things that Christ said. And then today we refer back
to the Old Testament and the things Christ said, and the epistles
which the apostles wrote to us for our learning and our edification. These are the words that our
God has purposed to give us to bear witness to us that this
is the Christ. And he said to these Pharisees
in verse 39, the first phrase, he said, search the scriptures. And that's what the Lord has
given us. He's given us the scriptures.
We now have the Old and the New Testament. The Jews had the Old
Testament, which they read in the synagogue every Sabbath day.
They read these things, right? And so they heard, they read
the witness that God had given to them. And he says, for in
them, ye think ye have eternal life. In religion, what do we do? We
read the scriptures, right? And we see these things that
God has laid out, right? We see these ordinances. Like
today, we're going to take of the Lord's supper, right? And,
and, you know, we that believe are baptized. We, we follow that
ordinance. We gather together as a body,
as, as sheep gathered together to hear what the Lord is saying
to us. We read the scriptures, you know,
many of us at night, you know, we'll read the scriptures or
in the morning or throughout the week and we pray and we do those
things that the Lord, that we see the Lord having his people
do in these scriptures. And what religion does is they
glory in those things. They practice those things, believing,
oh, if I do these works, if I do what the scriptures tell me to
do, that's my life. That's my salvation. And that's
not just in the Catholic church, that's in so-called Christian
churches. We put great confidence in our
studies and hearing what the pastor says and reading the catechisms
and attending worship and doing all these ordinances. And we
think this is our life. But what we see in religion is
that men who adore the scriptures very capable of despising the
one whom the scriptures speak. We can read the scriptures, we
could do the things described in the scriptures, and still
despise the Christ of whom these scriptures speak. Man reverences
the written Word. There's people that get upset
if you tear a page in your Bible accidentally, if you don't carry
it the right way, you stick it under your arm and shake someone's
hand, they might get annoyed. People really They reverence
the word. They don't want it to fall on
the ground and get kicked around and be mistreated, because they
reverence the word. And yet, at the same time, they
despise the living word. They abhor the living word. They abhor the one of whom this
word testifies to. We bow before the idols of ordinances. We bow before those things that
are described and laid out for us in the scriptures, and yet
we kill. We would kill, we despise and
would kill the very one of whom these ordinances and laws point
to, declaring to us who the Christ is, who the Savior is. We despise
that one. And finally, our Lord said, they
are they which testify of me. That one of whom the scriptures
speak is the very one that these men were hating in their hearts
and despising, saying, this cannot be the Christ. He does not match
up and align with what I think he should be. Therefore, I don't
receive this witness. It's like having a portrait hanging
in your house. Say, I love this portrait. I
love it. I love the flex of light and
the way they're positioned and the look that, you know, the
way they're facing and everything, but I can't stand the portrait,
the person in the portrait. I just want to punch him in the
face. All right. That's all right. What kind of,
how do you love that portrait? You, if you just love everything
about it, but you despise the very one of whom the portrait
is and you can't stand, right. It doesn't make any sense. And
yet that's what, we do with the scriptures and what we do in
serving our Lord. We show that in nature, man despises
that one of whom the Lord is upholding before eyes. And yet
he accomplished everything that these scriptures testified that
he would accomplish. In his birth, in his hatred,
in the abuse that he bore and took for his people, in his crucifixion,
in his death, burial, resurrection and everything he continues to
do for his people it's all foretold in the scriptures to bear witness
to us that this is the Christ so do you believe the witness
of the scriptures do you believe that that this is the Christ
just as they said he would come and that he's fulfilled everything
laid out for us that God spoke concerning him And then finally,
the Lord calls Moses to witness. Look at John 5.45-47. He said,
Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father. There is one
that accuseth you, even Moses, in whom ye trust. For had ye
believed Moses, ye would have believed me, for he wrote of
me. But if ye believe not his writings,
how shall ye believe my words? Now this really gets to the heart
of these Pharisees because that was their boast, that everything
in the law, everything Moses said, that is their righteousness. That's what they were trusting
in. And yet they couldn't see that everything Moses wrote of
was pictures and types and shadows of the one who fulfilled the
law for his people and is their righteousness. Every account
that Moses recorded, even when he was writing the patterns of
the tabernacle in the wilderness, all the patterns that he gave
them, those were all picturing Christ, all types, every law
written. You can, I don't see them all,
but I know Christ is in there. I know he's there, and we do
see many evidences of our Lord. And Moses said, the Lord thy
God, in Deuteronomy 18, 15, he will raise up unto thee a prophet
from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me, unto
him ye shall hearken. Moses bore witness. Don't look
to me. I'm not your salvation. This Son of God, this Christ
whom God is sending, he's your righteousness. You keep looking
to him and hear him. these Jews they had no lack of
evidence it wasn't for a lack of a witness that they had that
they didn't believe in fact it says in verse 40 ye will not
come unto me that ye might have life right you won't you don't
want to you don't want to believe even though you have all these
witnesses and I'm checking them all off I'm showing you in every
way that I am the Christ, witnessed and testified in these five witnesses,
yet you will not come unto me that you might have life. And that's because in the natural
man, in the carnal man, there's no love for God. There's no love
for his Christ. There's no love for his life.
There's no love for the people of God. There's just no desire
there. Romans 8, 7, and 8 says, because
the carnal mind is enmity against God, for it is not subject to
the law of God, neither indeed can be, so then they that are
in the flesh cannot please God. And the Lord's revealing to us
that our heart, by nature, it's depraved. We're going to do the
things that we want to do, except God have mercy and turn us from
those things. and show us the emptiness and
the vanity of our ways and our thoughts and what we think recommends
us to God, to behold that there is one in whom He has provided,
the one in whom I must be found, covered with His blood. He's
my salvation and my hope. God, have mercy on me and cover
me and wash me with His blood." That's what the Lord does for
His people. And he said in verse 44, how
can ye believe which receive honor of one of another and seek
not the honor that cometh from God only? And so we see what
we are and we see our need of him. So do you believe these
five witnesses? Do you hear them and believe
that this is the Christ, the son of God? This is the one whom
he sent to save his people and all who in whom the father resides
all in whom the father abides he gives them his spirit whereby
we hear and know and receive these things and He continues
to affirm that this is the Christ the Son of God Sent to take away
the sin of his people. He's the mediator. So I pray
the Lord Bless you and and bless us to hear these witnesses to
receive them and to continue in them because we know what? The alternative is we know that
all who have not the love of the Father in them, they shall
perish in their sins, and they have no covering for their iniquity.
But those that are the Lord's, those that are chosen of Him
and put in His Son, they're covered with the blood of Christ, and
they are a sweet savor unto God in the Lord Jesus Christ, and
they shall never be ashamed. So I pray the Lord bless that
word to you. Your faith in Christ is a testimony
that the Father is in you, because he bears that in his people.
All right, brethren, let's close in prayer, and then we'll take
the Lord's Supper together. Our gracious Lord, we thank you,
Father, for your grace, your mercy, and bearing witness of
your Son. And Lord, we see that apart from
your grace, we would be just like these Pharisees who would
not, Lord, not only can we not, worship you in perfect righteousness
and serve you, but we will not. And that's your testimony to
us that this flesh is corrupt and dead, but that you've provided
everything for your people and that you make your people alive
by your spirit. Father, we thank you for the
testimony you've given for this witness and pray that you would
ever keep us believing you and resting in your son, Jesus Christ.
Lord bless this people. Have mercy upon us. Lord, answer the questions that
we have. Address the concerns that we
have in mercy and in tenderness. Open your word to us. Help us
to hear your voice and to be comforted by you. Lord, we pray
for your churches, your brethren everywhere throughout this country
and throughout the world that you bless them and continue to
feed your sheep. Let us never go hungry. of your
gospel. It's in Christ's name that we
pray and give thanks. Amen. All right. Levi and Scott, would
you guys be able to hand out the bread and the wine? And Levi, would you say a prayer
first? Father, we want to thank you
once again for assembling us here today, Lord. We pray that
you give us your spirit, Lord, bear witness in everyone here
today and all over where people are assembled together, Lord,
in your son's name. Lord, comfort us that it is finished,
it is complete in him, Lord. Give us that rest in us, Lord. In your name we pray, amen. I'm going to read from 1 Corinthians
11. 1 Corinthians 11, and we'll begin
in verse 23. Note that our part, the part
we had in this, is that we betrayed the Lord. We turned from Him.
We despised Him, and we didn't understand, and we had nothing
in ourselves. Even so, our Lord, while we were
yet enmity against Him, this is what our Lord did for you,
His saints, to make you His people, to reveal in us what He has done
for us, everything for us, from eternity and shall continue to
do for us ever. It's in Christ. And so 1 Corinthians
11.23 I'm just going to read the whole passage and then I'll
sit down and then we'll just take the bread and the wine and
then be dismissed. He said, for I received of the
Lord that which also I delivered unto you, that the Lord Jesus,
the same night in which he was betrayed, he took bread. And
when he had given thanks, he break it and said, take, eat.
This is my body, which is broken for you. This do in remembrance
of me. After the same manner also he
took the cup, when he had supped, saying, This cup is the new testament
in my blood. This do ye as oft as ye drink
it in remembrance of me. For as often as ye eat this bread,
and drink this cup, ye do show the Lord's death till he come. Let's stand and sing a closing
hymn. 224, I know whom I've had believed.
224. I know not why God's wondrous
grace to me he hath made known, nor why unworthy Christ in love
redeemed before his own. But I know I have believed it
and have persuaded that He is able to keep that which I've
committed unto Him against that day. I know not how this saving
faith to me he did impart, nor how believing in his word brought
peace within my heart. But I know whom I have believed
in and persuaded that He is able to keep that which I've committed
unto Him against that day. I know not how the Spirit moves
convincing men of sin, Revealing Jesus through the Word, creating
faith in Him. But I know whom I have believed
in and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I've
committed unto Him against that day. I know not what of good
or ill may be reserved for me. On weary ways or golden days
before his face I see. But I know whom I have believed
and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I permitted
unto him against that day. I know not when my Lord may come
at night or noonday fair, Nor if I'll walk the vale with Him
or meet Him in the air. But I know I have believed and
am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I've committed
unto Him against that day. Thank you.