John chapter five. Start reading
with me in verse thirty-one. John five, thirty-one. If I bear witness of myself,
my witness is my truth. There is another that beareth
witness of me, and I know that the witness which he witnesseth
of me is true. You sin unto John, and he beareth
witness unto the truth, but I receive not testimony from man. But these
things I say that you might be saved. He was a burning and a
shining light, and you were willing for a season to rejoice in his
light. 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, and the Father himself which
hath sent me hath borne witness of me. You have neither heard
his voice at any time nor seen his shape, and you have not his
word abiding in you. For whom he has sent him you
believe not. Search the scriptures, for in
them you think you have eternal life, and they are they which
testify of me. And you will not come to me that
you might have life. I receive not honor from men,
but I know you that you have not the love of God in you. I
am come in my Father's name, and you receive me not. If another
shall come in his own name, him you will receive. How can you
believe we should receive honor one of another, and seek not
the honor that comes from God only? Do not think that I will
accuse you to the Father. There is one that will accuse
you, even Moses, in whom you trust. For had you believed Moses,
you would have believed me. for he wrote of me. But if you
believe not his writings, how shall you believe my words?" One of these days we will. Turn
with me back to John, with me, John chapter five. Our Lord Jesus said here in verse
thirty-one, If I are by witness of myself, my witness is not
truth. I want to talk about the witnesses,
witnesses of our Lord Jesus Christ, those things that witness to
Him. And in these verses later, as I go through them, we'll see
that there's four witnesses that witness of our Lord Jesus Christ,
of His glory, of His deity, of Him being the Father, being the
only Savior, the only Redeemer, and whom the Scriptures testify
of. And John's gospel, that's what it does, it starts out telling
us right off the bat that Jesus Christ is God, manifest in the
flesh. In the beginning was the Word,
the Word was with God, the Word was God. And the Word was manifest
in the flesh and we beheld His glory as the glory of the only
begotten of the Father, full of grace and full of truth. So
John starts right off saying that Jesus Christ is God. that
if you ever see God, you're going to have to see Him through Jesus
Christ. Anybody ever seen God in the Old Testament, they only
saw Him in Christ. They only saw Him in Christ.
No man has seen the Father at any time save the Son. He hath
declared Him. So our Lord Jesus Christ starts
out saying, if I bear witness of myself, my witness is my truth. And so these Jews, We're finding
fault with our Lord Jesus Christ, as everybody does. Everybody
does. You know, I was noticing this
morning, you know, they're going about this new pope like he's
the greatest thing since electric light, and he goes out in the
crowd and kisses people and all that. And they think that's the
greatest thing ever was. You see the hundreds of thousands
of people, and you can't get nobody. When our Lord Jesus,
after three years on the earth preaching, had 120 disciples, He'll now tell you that's because
you know what? You're either going to believe
He's God, or you're going to miss Him. He don't have no vicars
on this earth. He don't have nobody taking His
place. He has no priest. He sits at the right hand of
God, as our great high priest, with all power and authority
vested in Him, with every breath of every living soul in His hands.
And He'll do with every person just exactly what He ought to
do with every single one of them. He'll make no mistakes. And He
said, if I bear witness of myself, my witness is not true. And our
Lord is telling them according to the law, their law. He says,
at the mouth of two or three witnesses, every word should
be established. And He said, if I come along
and bear witness of myself, my witness is not true according
to the law. according to your law. That as a man, he knew that
just witness of himself wouldn't be acceptable. It'd be not true. It wouldn't even be valid by
your standards. That's why if a person bears
witness of himself, that's why you don't accept at the mouth
of two or three witnesses. And he says what it is, he said
it wouldn't even be acceptable according to the law, and it
wouldn't be valid according to your standards. Then outwardly,
when you saw the Lord Jesus Christ, He was an ordinary man. Nothing,
nothing different about him than anybody you looked at. Judas
had to go kiss him to make sure that they got the right one when
they went out to get him in the garden. And he was a mere man,
an ordinary man by the outward eye, but yet he made extraordinary
claims. Look what he said up here in
verse 18 of John chapter 5. An ordinary man by the natural
eye, but he made extraordinary claims. And verse 18 said, Therefore
the Jews sought the more to kill him, because he not only had
broken the Sabbath, but said also that God was his
Father, making himself equal with God. You don't do that. But that's what he did. And I'll
tell you something, beloved, and this is the thing that they
were upset about. That's why he said, If I bear
witness of myself, my witness is not true. But to believers,
His word is true. He don't have to have nothing
else. Just what He says is enough. He can say it, and that's enough.
He said, you must be born again, so we believe that. He said,
except you believe I'm here, you'll die in your sins. I believe
that. He don't need to say nothing else to me. I believe His witness. When He witnessed of Himself,
I believe what He said about Himself is true. When He made
Himself equal with God, He was making no claims it wasn't so.
That was true. He says, no man comes unto the
Father but by me. But then he said here in verse
32, look what he said. He says there, but there is another
that bears witness of me. There's somebody else that bears
witness of me. And I know that which he witnesses
of me is true. And what he's doing is he's talking
about John here. He says, you know, I know that
he witnesses of me and the witness that he witnesses of me is true.
What John says about me is true. Everything John said about me
is so. And John bears witness of me. And look what he said.
You sin, verse 33, you sin under John. And what did John do? He bear witness under the truth. You went to John and you asked
him some questions. You keep John 5 and look over
in John chapter 1, just a moment. You remember how that they sent
people down to John to ask him questions whether he was the
Christ or not? And oh, look what he says here
in John 1, 19. And this is the record of John. When the Jews
sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask, who are you?
They said, John, who are you? Who are you out here preaching? Who are you out here baptizing?
Who are you out here? You've got the voice of thunder.
And he confessed and denied not, but confessed, I'm not that Christ.
He bore in the truth, I'm not that Christ. Well, who are you?
Are you Elijah? No. Are you that prophet? The
Lord Jesus Christ, that one that should come? No. Who are you? Then we may give an answer to
them, the sinners. What do you got to say about
yourself? He said, I'm the voice of one crying in the wilderness.
Make straight the way of the Lord, as said the prophet Isaiah. That's all he done. Look over
here in John 3, 25. He bear witness to the truth. I'm not the Christ,
but He is. Look what he said here in John
3, in verse 25. And there arose a question between
some of John's disciples and the Jews about purifying. And
they came unto John and said, you know, you sent unto John,
you went to John, you asked him questions about me. You asked
him questions about himself, about his ministry. And anyway,
so it goes on to say here, and they came unto John and said
unto him, Rabbi, he that was with thee beyond Jordan, to whom
thou bearest witness, and behold, the same baptizes, and all men
come to him. Now what's John gonna say about
this? He's talking, they're talking about Christ. John answers, said,
a man can receive nothing except it be given him from heaven.
Whatever I say or whatever he says, if God don't give it to
you from heaven, you ain't gonna believe it. Oh, you yourself bear witness
that I said, I am not the Christ that I'm sent before him. He
that hath the bride is the bridegroom. which standeth and heareth him
rejoicing in him. Look what he said in verse 30.
He must increase, but I must decrease. He comes from above
and is above all. He that is on the earth is earthy.
And all of what he hath seen and heard, in verse 32, that
he testified, no man receives his testimony. And then he said
in verse 33, God hath said to his seal that he is true. In
verse 35, the Father loveth the Son, and hath given all things
into his hands. So you see what John said about
him? He said, you sent unto John, and do you know John spoke the
truth about me? He bore witness of me. He bore
witness to the truth about himself. He first bore witness to the
truth about himself. What are you, John? Just a voice.
Just a voice crying in the wilderness. He told the truth about Christ.
There's coming one who was before me, was preferred before me,
because he is before me. He said, Behold, that is the
Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world. He's the
bridegroom. He's the one that has the bride.
He must increase. I ain't got nothing to say about
myself. He's the one that the Father's
seal set His approval on. And He said, All things that
the Father hath given into the hands of His Son. I mean, and
when He says all things, that means all things. That excludes
everything else that's not in His hands. Is that not right? Does that mean if everything's
in His hands, what's not in His hands? Huh? If all things are in His
hands, what's not in His hands? I'm in His hands. You're in His
hands. You may say, no, that's wrong. You've got the whole world
in His hands. That's the truth. He's got creation in His hands.
He's got the creature in His hands. He's got what they call
Mother Nature in His hands. He's got every living soul in
His hands. He's got the Father's will and
purpose in His hands. He's got the salvation and damnation
of souls in His hands. You tell me something that He
don't have in His hands. And I'll tell you what, that's
exactly where I want to be. He said, I give unto them the
eternal life. And they're in my Father's hands,
and they're in my hands, and no man's able to plug them out.
I tell you, that's exactly where I want to be. In the Father's
hands and the Son's hands. And I say, I'm glad to be there.
Folks may not like to be in His hands, but that's exactly where
I want to be, don't you, Rick? Close me up in them! Hold me
tight in them! Oh, listen, but he goes on down
here now in verse 34, back over in John 5. Look what he goes
on to say in verse 34. But I receive not testimony from
man for these things, but these things I say that you might be
saved. But I receive not testimony from men. And what he means here
is I receive not, what he's saying is I don't seek after it, I don't
grasp after somebody to say something about me. I'm out here begging
folks to say something good about me. John just told the truth. When
they asked him, he just told the truth. He was one of God's
prophets and he told the truth. John didn't make it up. John
didn't have to. He said, I don't have to have
the testimony of men. I don't seek after it. I don't
grasp after it. And I didn't seek to prove my
words by John, by just any mere man. My word is sufficient. But look what he says, but it's
for your sakes. But these things I say that you
might be saved. Listen, my word's sufficient.
It's further. You're saved. I give you these
witnesses. I don't need them. And I give
you these witnesses that you might be saved. I've got all
kinds of witnesses that you might be saved. Our Savior didn't need
God's witness. These people needed John's witness.
And there's other people that need John's witness, because
they all bear witness to Christ. And that's what he says. He said
he came to prepare the way for the Lord Jesus. And then look
what he said in verse 35. Said he was a burning and a shining
light, and you were willing for a season to rejoice in his light. So John, he said, he was a burning
and a shining light. That means he burned in his heart.
He burned in his soul for the glory of Christ, for the testimony
of Christ, for the bearing witness to the truth. And then because
he burned, he shone like a light. He was a light to light the way
of Christ. He was a light to light the way
of the scripture. He was a light to tell men the
truth about Christ. John 1 said this, that he was
that light. He came to bear witness. He was
not that light, but he came to bear witness to that light, that
true light, which would come into this world. That's what
John said about himself. He said in the shining light.
And I'll tell you something about this right here. You know, our
Lord said, if you confess me before me and I'll confess you
before my father. Right here is a perfect illustration
of that. John confessed Christ, took nothing to himself, took
no glory to himself. trusted not in himself, was true
to the Scriptures, true to Christ, true to himself. And I tell you
what, he said, now if you confess me before me and I'll confess
you before the Father. And here John confessed Christ
before everybody who had listened. And now our Lord Jesus Christ
confesses John before the Father and before the whole world. Huh? And that's what he'll do for
us. We confess Christ before me, and he'll confess us before
the Father. Oh, that's what he's doing to John here. He said,
I'm confessing to God. He said, John's witnessing to
me. I'm going to witness about John. John talked about me. I'm
going to tell my father one of the good things he said about
me. And I came up and wondered. You know, the scripture says
that we're the light of the world. We're supposed to be a shining
light. You keep, John, look with me in Romans 13. I came out but
wonder if we're lights. Well, I should say me, if I'm
a light. I shouldn't say you. In this instance, me. We're to
be lights of the world. I wonder how well we shine. You know, the virgins had their
lamps. had their lamps trimmed and burning. And look here in John, Romans
13, in verse 11. And that, knowing the time, we
know the time. Right now, we know the time.
Romans 13, 11. And that, knowing the time, we
know the time. Time is short. What time are
we living in right now? Well, it's high time. Get out
of sleep. Wake up. Wake up. Wake up from
your slumber. For now is our salvation nearer
than when we believed. The closer it gets, the more
we ought to watch. The closer we get, the more we
ought to desire. The closer it gets, the more
we need it. And the night is far spent. We
know what time it is. The night's just about over.
The day's at hand. This darkness that's in this
world is just about over. The days of Amos cast off the
works of darkness, put on the armor of what? Light. The Scriptures,
the truth of Christ. And let us walk honestly as in
the day. Walk right out in the daylight.
Let everybody see where we are. We're manifest in spirit. Not
in rioting, that means in partying. Not in drunkenness, not in chambering,
in wantonness and strife and envy. But put you home, the Lord
Jesus Christ. Make not provision for the flesh
to fulfill the lusts thereof. Oh, to be alive. Get up, get
up. Daylight, daylight, strife, walk in the light. Oh, walk in
Christ. And then look back over in John
5 with me, just a moment. And it says here, you know, it
said, he was a burning, verse 35, he was a burning and a shining
light. And you were willing for a season
to rejoice in his light. Now, there was a time, boy, everybody
followed old John. They thought John was really
something. He was very popular. Very popular. Before they put
him in prison. In fact, Herod said this, the
scripture tells us, Herod heard him gladly. Herod heard him gladly. And Todd told me this morning
what he's going to preach on this morning, the things that
Herod did not do. He heard him gladly, but some
things Herod did not do. I know this, when they heard
him and were willing to rejoice in him for a season, in his life
for a season, that's like the story around here. They hear
the word and at once rejoice with joy, but there's no root
in them. And they wither away. And, O beloved, they is willing
to rejoice in John. And our Lord said, If ye continue
in my word, are ye my disciples indeed. As long as he was popular,
folks liked him and they followed him. Then he was put in prison.
They said, Boy, wonder what he done to deserve that. Must not
have been much after all. But look what he said here in
verse 36. But I have greater witness than of John. I have
greater witness than of John. You think John was a witness,
and my word's a witness. I got some witness greater than
that. What is it, Lord? He says, the works which your
Father hath given me to finish, the same works that I do, bear
witness of me. That what? That the Father sent
me. The very works that I do bear witness that the Father
sent me. Now, our Lord Jesus, He done great many wonderful
works. Look with John 10.25 just a minute. Let me show you something about
these things called works. He said in John 10.25, talking
about I have greater witness to the works that I do. They
bear witness that the Father sent me. John 10.25, Jesus answered
them, I told you, I told you, and you believe not. The works
that I do in my Father's name, they bear witness of me. They
bear witness of me. Look down at verse 37. John 10. If I do not the works of my Father,
don't believe me. But if I do the works of my Father,
though you believe not, believe me for the works that I'm doing,
that you may know and believe that the Father is in me. Believe
me, the works testify. Why don't you believe? Let me
give you seven things about our Lord's works. He says, the works
that I do, bear witness of me. Prove that the Father has sent
me. First of all, His works show His miracles. We call them miracles,
works. First of all, the number of them.
Could you have any idea how many works our Lord did in his earthly
ministry? The scripture says that they
wrote all the books that the world couldn't contain them,
of all the things that he'd done. But what he did, just think about
all the miracles he performed, and all the words that he said.
And then not only were they very, very many, but their greatness.
How great were some of his works. They were so great and mighty
in their nature. Over here in John 5, in verse
5, it says this, A certain man had an infirmity for thirty-eight
years, and he was laying at the pool of Bethesda. He'd been laying
there, and you know what, an angel would come at a certain
time and stir the water up, and whoever got in there was healed
like that. And our Lord saw him lying there for a long time and
says, Thirty-eight years he had this infirmity. Will you be made
whole? Luke 1, it says here, the impotent
man. That's everybody. Without me, you can do nothing.
The impotent man. And it says, Sir, I have no man
when the water's troubled to put me into the water. To put
me in. But I'm coming another step before
me. Our Lord said, Rise up, take up your bed and walk. And immediately
the man was made whole and took up his bed and walked. Huh? Oh, listen. In John 9, 32, it
says that it's never been seen in the history of the world that
the eyes of a man that was born blind was open. A man that was,
that's why they ask him, who said, Lord, this man or his parents,
that this child was born blind? And here's a grown man, not Lord
Jesus Christ, opened his eyes just like that. And I tell you,
that went all over the place. Never in the history of the world
has it ever been heard that a man that was born blind, somebody
opened his eyes, that he could see. And Lazarus, who in the
world ever heard of somebody being dead for days, and the
Lord Jesus Christ just spoke his name and said, Lazarus, come
forth. And Lazarus, he that was dead,
came forth. Oh, many, many works. He walked
on water. Still the storm, two times he
fed 5,000, another time he fed 4,000, plus all the children
and all that, oh my. Oh, with just two fishes and
five loaves of bread, and another time he had five, three, four,
five fishes and a couple loaves of bread, and fed thousands,
thousands with it, and took up more than he fed them with. Not only were they great, and
oh, they bear witness of our Lord, but they were done publicly. They were done publicly. Everybody
could see. When he stood at Lazarus' tomb,
when our Lord Jesus stood there weeping, they said, oh, how He
loved him. Oh, how He loved him. And they
said, oh, my, He opened that man's eyes. This has to be the
Christ opened that man's eyes. He done it publicly for all to
see by many, many witnesses. Those 5,000 that He fed, you
don't think that they didn't witness of our Lord's miracles
and works? Huh? Many witnesses. And then the character of His
works. They were works of love. He saw
that multitude and was moved with compassion because they
were sheep without shepherd. Mercy? Oh, I said, Lord, have
that woman a psyrophoenician. Lord, have mercy on me. My daughter
ignored him, showed her mercy, compassion, helpful. He didn't do these things just
to exhibit his power, just to show how powerful he was. And I'll tell you another reason
why we, about our Lord's works was that they, their direct appeal
to man's senses. I mean, when you watched him
do these things, they were visible. You could see them. You could
examine them. That's why he tells his members,
go to the priest and let him look you over. Let the law examine
you and see if the law finds you pure. And when Christ does
something for a man, the law will be of their examination
or not, whether Christ did that work or not. It'll bear examination. They
took that blind man. The Pharisees worried themselves
to death over that blind man, his eyes being open. Who did
this to you? Who did that? We're Moses' disciples. Is this man Jesus? We don't know
where he comes from. Tell us again. And his parents
said, you know, he's of age as Kim's because they were afraid
they'd be excommunicated from the church. Oh, they just couldn't
bear it. And, oh, beloved, I tell you
what, when you stood there and watched Lazarus come from the
tomb, don't you think that your senses would have stood there
in awe and wonder? When you've seen him touch that
woman, he's coming into town, and the widow's son from Maine,
they're going out of town, he stops and touches that casket
and tells that young man to get out of it. They lay the casket
down, that little fella gets up out of there and walks away.
You think they couldn't understand that? And when those folks were
hungry, sitting down there, and hallelujah, Jesus Christ, two
fishes and five loaves of bread, they put them in a basket and
said, now pass them out. And they went through all five
thousand, come back, and they had twelve basketfuls of food
left over out of one basket. You don't think that would have
been... Huh? And I'll tell you something,
it appeals to my senses what he done for me right now. I know
He lives. I know He's the Savior. I know
He's the Redeemer. I know He saves sinners. I know
He gives new hearts. I know He gives a new spirit.
I know He gives a new mind. I know these things. I know He
does. And I know it because He did it for me. Oh, it's not like these miracle
workers today, you know, they'll say, come and see the deliverance
of the Lord. Come see a miracle. There ain't
been a miracle work since Christ done one. And that, that every
day He saves a soul, it's a miracle. Huh? Let me tell you another
thing about them. They weren't staged. They weren't
staged. They didn't wait till everybody
was around all that, and He says, well, now let's do this. I'm
going to go over here, you get somebody over there, and we're
going to tell them. No, no. They happened in the natural
course of our Lord's ministry. Remember he was sitting in the
house, them fellas couldn't get to him, they took tiles off the
roof and let a fella down in front of him. Our Lord went about
his life, and just going about his life. People would bring
people to him. They brought those that had need
of him. He'd come up on the gyrus' daughter and say, Oh, please
come. Everywhere he went, somebody said, I need this. I need that.
Would you do this? Would you do that? My wife and
daughter's sick. Oh, my, my. Just on my service
dine. And I, Lord Jesus Christ, every
time that asked him, he'd go and do whatever they asked him
to do. Huh? Oh, my. And then their efficacy. Let me tell you something. Their
efficacy. When our Lord did a work, it
lasted. And not only when He healed somebody,
they were healed just like that. And it was complete, and it was
perfect. When He healed the leper, they
never got leprosy again. When He opened the blind man's
eyes, he never had trouble with his sight ever again. I don't
believe he ever had cataracts, or his eyes got weak. I believe
he seen perfectly until the very night. And I'll tell you what, beloved,
whenever he raised Lazarus, Lazarus had to die later, but I'll tell
you what, when he rose from the dead, he'd come out of there
just like that. Oh, and our Lord, in fact, that impotent man, took
up his bed and walked, and immediately he took up his bed and walked. I mean, what our Lord done, it
happened. Go to your house there. They
come down, they said, when did my service start getting well?
About such and such time, and he said, that's when our Lord
sent His Word. That's just exactly when He told
me to go back home. Sent His Word and healed him. And I'll tell you what, his work
lasts. Look at some of you all. After
all these years, you're still keeping on, keeping on. Oh, the Lord don't lose any of
this. And then look what he said. Back over here in John 5 again.
Let me hurry up. And oh, we'll talk about his
works now. He says there, I have greater witness than John, verse
36, the works which my father sent me to teach. I've done them.
They bear witness to me that the Father sent me. Now listen
to this. So we have two witnesses. First of all, we have John. Then
we have his words. Now look what he says. The Father
himself with has sent me, hath borne witness of me, and you've
neither heard his voice at any time, nor seen his shame. The
Father himself hath borne witness of me. How did he bear witness of him?
Well, I'm going to tell you how. First of all, he bore witness
to him in the scriptures, in the Old Testament. Every type
in the Old Testament spoke of our Lord Jesus Christ. The ark,
Noah, the lambs, the tabernacle, the priesthood, the sacrifices,
the rock, the brazen serpent, the Passover, everything spoke
of our Lord Jesus Christ. And he says, you know, you've
never seen God's shape at any time or heard His Word. You don't
abide in it. And our Father not only bore
witness to Him through the prophets, He bore witness to Him in the
law. All the prophets talked about Christ. That's why they
said, have He seen you, that prophet? Because God said, I'll
raise up a prophet from among you, and I'll put my words in
his mouth, and he'll say everything that I tell him to say. And our
beloved, I tell you, not only that, but he bore witness to
him at his baptism. When our Lord was baptized by
John, he says, this is my beloved son, in whom I'm well pleased. And then down the Mount of Transfiguration,
when old Simon Peter said, oh, there's Moses and Elijah and
you, there's still three tabernacles. And then a voice come from heaven,
spoke, this is my son, hear ye him. He bore witness to him there. And then at Lazarus too, our
Lord Jesus Christ said, Father, I know that you always hear me,
but I'm praying not for my sake, but for these that hear me. And
then a voice, boom, from heaven said, Oh, I hear you. And then
he called Lazarus from the tomb. Oh, my. And let me show you,
you know, in verse 38, he said here, And the Father himself has borne
witness. You've never seen his shape or heard his voice. And
then he says this, and he said, verse 38, And ye have not his
word abiding in you. You don't have his word abiding
in you, for if you did, you'd believe me. You'd believe me.
You'd believe him whom he sent. You have not his word abiding
in you. Now, I'll tell you what, when you don't know the word,
and now listen to me now. This is so important. That's
why the Scripture. You've got to have the Scripture.
You've got to understand the Scripture. You've got to believe
the Word of God. You cannot believe something
you've never heard or never read. You have not His Word. If the
Word were still a, you know, I've hid that Word in my heart,
then I might not sin against you. And His Word living in you,
staying in you, abiding in you. He said, and if you'd had the
Word, if you'd have believed Moses and the prophet, if you'd
have had His Word, He said, you'd believe me. If you had that word,
you'd believe me! Huh? And oh, I preached a couple weeks
ago here on that you had no place for the word, no place and no
room for the word. Look what he said here. Look
at all the nots. All the nots, all the negatives down here.
Look in verse 40. He says, you know, since you haven't even
seen His Word, you have not His Word abiding in you. That's the
first line. You have not His Word abiding in you. Look in
verse 40. You will not come to me that
you might have life. Look in verse 43. I am come in my Father's name,
and you receive me not. But another come in His own name,
oh boy. Then look what he says down in
verse 44. How can you believe but receive
honor of one another and seek not the honor that comes from
God only? Down in verse 47. But if you
believe not his writings, how shall you believe what I have
said? If you don't believe Moses, why would you believe me? Look
at all the knots, all the knots. You don't know me. You don't
know me. So we got the Word, we got John,
we got the Father, and then look what he says in verse thirty-nine.
You know how Lord Jesus, He says, search the Scriptures, for in
them ye think ye have eternal life, and there are they which
testify of me. Now here He says, search the Scriptures. That's
an appeal. That's an appeal. Search the
scriptures. Just search them. Yelp. Search the scriptures.
Just search them. Start looking through them. Be
like them Bereans to see whether these things be so or not. It's
an appeal to them. Search the scriptures. Oh, go
ahead and search the scriptures. And then it's also on the command.
Search the scriptures. Search them. And look what he
goes on to say here. You think, in them you think
you have eternal life. You think. This is one of the
articles of think. You think. That's men's problem. They think. They don't believe. There's a difference in believing
and thinking. These fellas didn't believe the scriptures. They
said we think. You think in them you have eternal life. That the
scriptures are given for your life. Search them. Look what
he says. Search them. for they are they
which testify of me." You want to know something about
Christ? Search the Scriptures. Do they
testify of me? Now, let me tell you something
here, right here, right now. Now, God uses the Scriptures.
We're begotten again by the Word of The Scriptures said, being
born again, not of corruptible seed, but incorruptible by the
word of God, which liveth and abideth forever. The Scriptures
is the seed. The word of God is the seed.
Our Lord Jesus Christ said that Himself. The word of God is the
seed, and you sow it. And it falls on all this different
ground. But I'll tell you something. The Scriptures themselves don't
give you the life. That's the seed. Christ Himself
is the one who gives you the life. Life is in Christ. That's
why I said, search the scriptures, because they tell you about me.
They tell you about me. They tell you about what I have
to say. You search them scriptures. You find out what you're going
to find out about me. If you want to know me, search
it. You want to know anything about me, search it. You want
to know what God has to say about me, search it. You want to know
what the prophets have said about me? Search them. You want to
know about what Aaron said about me, what Moses said about me,
what Ezekiel said about me, what Isaiah said about me, what Zechariah
said about me? Search the scriptures. Look at
them. See what they're saying. And
go on down through here. Look at these verses in Aquinas.
And he says, There they which testify of me. And when you think
you've got eternal life in them, you will not come to me. that
you might have life. The Scriptures testify of me,
and you think you know them, but you will not come to me."
He didn't say, go to the Scriptures to testify of me, and if you
ever learn a bit what the Scripture says about me, you'll come to
me. But he says, you will not come to me. You won't do it. And then he says, and I'll tell
you something, I receive not honor from men. I don't care
whether it's John. I don't care who it is. I don't
receive honor from men. God the Father is the only one
I'm interested in honoring me. And He said, and I know you.
You'll go around here bragging about how good you are, how holy
you are, what good life you live, and how dedicated you are in
the works you're doing for Jesus, and how much you love Him and
all that. But I know you! I know you that you have not
the love of God in you. I'm coming in my Father's name.
I come in the name of the Father, the one true and living God.
Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one. And you won't receive
me. And a mother shall come in His own
name. Put the posters up. Crusade for
Jesus. Great evangelist so-and-so is
coming. Put it in the newspaper. Print out your posters. Put the
picture on it. Let them know they're coming
and we'll get a big crowd out. And I'll tell you what, a man
will come in his own name and you'll just, oh, that's the greatest
picture I've ever seen. Oh, that guy can do such. Oh,
he's wonderful. And then look what he goes on.
But he said, but how in the world can you believe? How can you
believe we receive honor one of another? You're not interested
in God's honor? You're not interested in what
the scripture says. You're not interested in me.
You're not interested in the truth. You're not interested
in John. He said, how can you believe
which receive honor? Brag on one another. And don't
seek that honor that God will give you. And then he says, now listen,
this is the kicker. He was talking about that's where
the rubber hits the road. Do not think that I will accuse
you to the Father. I don't have, I'm not going to
go to the Father and say, you know, that's the sorriest bloodshed
I ever knew. These fellas hated me, they rejected me, they despised
me. They thought, they searched the
scriptures and thought, boy, we got it made. We understand
the scriptures. I said, I won't accuse you to the Father. I won't
do it. But I'll tell you that somebody's
going to accuse you. Somebody's going to accuse you.
Somebody's going to stand before God and accuse you of your sin,
your unbelief, your hatred, your rebellion, your hypocrisy, your
lying, your self-righteousness, your works. He said, I've got
somebody that's going to accuse you. And you know who's going
to do it? Moses, he'll stand there right before the Father,
because you trust him, and Moses will turn around and accuse you
of everything you profess to believe is a lie. You're nothing. Why? Because
he says here, for had you believed Moses, he says, you know, we
trusted Moses. For had you believed Moses, you
would have believed me. How many times our Lord said,
seven times he was there, I am. Moses stood before that burning
bush in the Christ house, that burning bush that wasn't consumed,
says, go down and tell Pharaoh to let my people go. He turned
around to go, and he turned around and said, well, who am I going
to say sent me? He said, I am, and I am sent you. Self-existent,
self-sufficient, almighty God. And our Lord says seven times,
I am. I am. Oh, beloved. He said, for had you believed
Moses, you would have believed me. Moses wrote about me. But all listen here. But if you
believe not his writings, if you don't believe what Moses
had to say, how in the world would you believe my words? I
believe him. I believe him. I believe his
word, don't you? Because you know, I've searched
the Scriptures. Really, I've searched them. And
guess what? I found out they do testify him. I read in Genesis
chapter 1 and verse 1, in the beginning God. John 1, 1, in the beginning was
God. The Word was with God, the Word
was God. The same was to be in the beginning with God, and all
things that was made was made by Him. It wasn't not anything
made, it was made without Him. Then I heard the next verse says
this, and as darkness was upon the face of the deep, the earth
was without form and void. That's the way man is. Darkness
on our souls. We're without form and voice.
We've got no life. And God said the Spirit of God
blew it over the water. And He says, let there be light.
And light came over that darkness. And then He said, separate the
light from the darkness. And God said, here, you're in
the light, leave the rest of that in darkness. I mean that in the first five
verses of Genesis. Testify of Christ. Go on and on and on and on and
on. I could spend the rest of afternoon going through the Old
Testament, and showing you place after place where it testifies
of Christ. That's why I believe his word.
Moses talked about it. I heard Moses say, there's one
coming after me. Amen. Our Father, in the blessed, holy,
glorious name of the Lord Jesus Christ, thank you for meeting
with us today. Thank you for your presence and
your power and your grace. Thank you for the gospel. Thank
you for our Lord Jesus Christ. The blessed works, the blessed
witness, the blessed power, the blessed word, the works that
he did. Oh Lord, we're walking testimonies
of what our Lord Jesus Christ does for sinners. For helpless,
weak, impotent men and women who have nothing, know nothing,
can do nothing. Babes, Christ came to us. Gave us life. Gave us light. Gave us hope. Gave us sight. Gave us hearing. Gave us light. Oh, gave us this blessed hope
we have. God, we thank you in Christ our Lord's name. Amen. Amen.