May I add my welcome to Winston's.
It's good to see you all out this morning. The scripture we'll
be looking at today is in John chapter 5, so if you would turn
there, I'll give you a minute. The title of this message is,
The Scriptures Testify of Christ. And in the context we'll be looking
at, Christ is speaking about those things that testified of
Him while He walked in this earth and even before he came to the
earth, but the first part here he'll be talking about those
things that bore witness of him in the earth. John the Baptist
bore witness of him. Look at John chapter 5 and verses
31 through 33 with me if you will. Christ said, if I bear witness
of myself, my witness is not true, there is another that bears
witness of me, and I know that the witness which he witnesses
of me is true. You sent unto John, and he bore
witness unto the truth. You remember the scribes and
Pharisees sent unto John, and they said, are you the Christ?
And he said, I'm not the Christ. He's coming after me. He's one
coming who will baptize with fire the latchet of whose shoes
laces I'm not worthy to unlace. So John testified of it. Now
all the works of Christ, his miracles, as well as the works
that ended at the cross bore witness of him. Look at John
chapter 5 and verse 36. Christ said, but I have greater
witness than that of John for the works which the Father has
given me to finish, the same works that I do bear witness
of me that the Father has sent me. Now, we know that he's talking
about the work he finished on the cross because he said, the
works that the father gave me to finish. His miracles testified
of him, that he was sent from God. Nicodemus recognized that
much. He said, we know you come from
God. No man could do the things that you do except God be with
him. So his works testified of him. They bore witness of him.
And his father bore witness of him. Look at John chapter 5 and
verse 37. And the Father himself, which hath sent me, hath borne
witness of me." An audible voice, the Father spoke from heaven
at Christ's baptism. He said, this is my beloved Son
in whom I'm well pleased. And then on the Mount of Transfiguration,
he uttered those same words. He said, this is my beloved Son
in whom I'm well pleased, hear ye him. So the Father testified
of him. But long before his incarnation,
Christ had his witnesses. He was being testified of long
before he became incarnate. He had all the Old Testament
scriptures. In our context, he mentions the
writings of Moses here. Look at John chapter 5 and verse
45 through 47. He said, do not think that I
will accuse you to the Father. There's one that accuseth you,
even Moses, in whom you trust. See, they honored Moses, they
respected Moses, they thought. But he says in verse 46, 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 word? So, he had his witnesses even
before he came in the scriptures. Then after his resurrection,
his disciples were doubtful. They were wondering. They were
confused about what was going on. They didn't know what was
taking place at that time. And Christ used the Scriptures.
He used the Old Testament Scriptures. That's all they had at that time.
He used them to open their understanding. Listen to Luke, chapter 24, verses
44 through 45. And Christ said unto his disciples,
this is after his resurrection, he said, these are the words
which I spake unto you while I was yet with you that all things
must be fulfilled which were written in the law of Moses and
in the prophets and in the Psalms concerning me. Then opened he
their understanding that they might understand the scriptures.
He opened their understanding so they could see. Him testified
in Moses and in the Psalms and in the prophets. Now Christ didn't
point his disciples back to his virgin birth. He didn't point
them back to his miracles. He didn't even point them back
to the cross. He pointed them to the scriptures. The scriptures
testify of Christ. If any would learn of Christ,
You're going to learn of it in one place, the scriptures. Now,
look at John 5, verses 39 through 40. This is where we'll focus
our attention for the rest of this message. Christ said to
those he's speaking to, 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. Now, he's not giving them a command
here, that first phrase there, search the scriptures, that really
reads, you do search the scriptures. He's making an observation. You're
studious. You search the scriptures. And
you do it because you think in them you have eternal life. And
those scriptures that you're searching, they testify of me. And that and, I think, should
be a but, because this is a contrast here. Although the scriptures
you're searching testify of me, but you will not come to me that
you might have life. Today, we'll consider just one
thing from this context. We'll consider who it is, who
is this that sinners will not come to. He said, you won't come
to me. Now, who is that? The scriptures testify of Christ. They bear witness of him. This
is the language of a courtroom. You know, in a courtroom, you've
got a prosecuting attorney and a defense attorney. They call
witnesses. These witnesses testify either
for or against the one who's on trial. The scriptures testify
of Christ. The testimony they give identifies
him. The witness they bear of him
distinguishes him from the many antichrists that John said had
gone out in his day, and certainly that number is multiplied today. There are many antichrists. Antichrist
just means against Christ, not upholding Christ, not teaching
Christ as the scriptures reveal him. And what do the scriptures
testify of Christ? What witness do they bear of
Him? Well, they testify several things.
They testify, first of all, who He is. They bear witness that
He is God and man in one person. Now, how important is the constitution
of Christ's person? How important is it for us to
know who He is? Well, it's vital. It's a vital
piece of information. Jesus is a unique person. There's no other like him. He's
the only person with two distinct natures. He's both God and man
in one person. He's not part man and part God. He's fully God and fully man. Now, like Bill said in the back,
I'm not going to try to explain that any further than what the
scriptures do. But his two natures are not commingled,
they're not mixed together, they're separate. In him, infinite deity
and true sinless humanity exist in perfect harmony. Now let's
look at some scriptures that tell us that. Turn in your Bibles,
if you will, to Romans chapter 1. Romans 1 and verse 4, Paul, a
servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated unto
the gospel of God, which he had promised afore by his prophets
in the Holy Scriptures, concerning his son, Jesus Christ, which
was made of the seed of David according to the flesh. Christ
was made of the seed of David. That speaks of his humanity.
But look at verse 4. He was declared to be the Son
of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness by the
resurrection from the dead. He was declared to be the Son
of God. He wasn't made to be the Son
of God. He was always the Son of God. He was eternally the
Son of God. That speaks of His deity. Look
at another scripture. Just listen to this one. This
is pretty familiar to all of us. Isaiah chapter 9 and verse
6 says, For unto us a child is born, and unto us a son is given,
and the government shall be upon his shoulder. And his name shall
be called Wonderful Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting
Father, the Prince of Peace. A child is born. A virgin did
conceive and bear a child. But a son was not conceived.
The son was given. He was formed in the womb of
Mary by the Holy Spirit without the aid of man. Now Christ was
prophesied in Genesis 3.15 to be the woman seed. He's not connected
to Adam. He didn't come from Adam. Adam
wasn't his father. He's not physically connected
to Adam in any way. In that, I'll read you this one
as well, John 1, verses 1 through 2. We're talking about scriptures
that identify Christ to be both God and man in one person. John
1, verse 1 says, In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was
with God, and the Word was God. Now, he was in the beginning
with God, and he was God. Now, he's talking about a distinction
there. He's talking about the triune Godhead here. There's
God the Father, God the Son, who is the Word and God the Holy
Spirit. He's talking about a distinction
of persons in the Godhead. He said He was in the beginning
and the Word was with God. That's a distinction of persons.
And the Word was God. That's Christ's deity. The same
was in the beginning with God. And then John 1.14 says the Word
was made flesh and dwelt among us. That same Word who was in
the beginning the one whose deity was made flesh, that speaks of
his humanity. Christ is the eternal word co-equal
with God the Father and God the Holy Spirit. He was in the beginning,
he's eternal, and he was made flesh. One more scripture, Galatians
4.4, but when the fullness of time was come, God sent forth
his son, made of a woman, made under the law. Now God sent forth
his son, that's his deity, but he was made of a woman, that's
his humanity. The Christ of the scriptures
is like no other. He's like no other person. He's
a unique person. He is truly God, infinite deity,
and he is true, sinless humanity, body and soul. He is the God-man.
That's how the scriptures identify him. Now it's vital that Christ
be both God and man. Not only did the scriptures identify
him to be God and man, it's vital that he be that. There had to
be a sacrifice, a death, an offering. There had to be the shedding
of blood. Without the shedding of blood is no remission of sins.
God absolutely considered his spirit. He has no blood to shed. He has no body to offer. He couldn't
die. He's infinite. The shedding of
blood and his death are to be attributed to Christ's humanity,
although they're true of his entire person. They have to be
attributed to his humanity. On the other hand, the sin Christ
bore by imputation, that sin was against an infinite, holy
God, and it required infinite, eternal punishment. I couldn't
have asked Bill to preach a better sermon to lead into this because
he was talking about how Christ was forsaken for the sake of
his people, in the place of his people, so that God wouldn't
have to forsake those people. Christ bore that forsaking. He
bore the equivalent of eternal death. He bore that punishment
in his body on the tree. And it was Christ's deity that
gives eternal value to the sacrifice he bore and the death he was
under, he endured. Deity gave infinite value to
that. One who is merely God or merely
man could not have put away sin or brought in everlasting righteousness. That work required one who was
God and man. So that's the necessity of him
being the God-man. And then there's one more thing
I want you to consider before we leave this subject. It's necessary
for those who come to Christ and rest their eternal salvation
in Him. It's necessary that we understand
that the person we're coming to, the person we're resting
in, is God and man. No other person could have satisfied
the law and justice of God. No other person could have put
away sin. No other person could have established an everlasting
righteousness of infinite value. No other person could have glorified
God, His Father, in the full, free, eternal salvation of ungodly
sinners. To worship and trust a Savior
that you don't understand and know to be God and man is to
worship another Jesus, which is not another. It's the worship,
like Christ told the woman at the well, you know not what.
No sinner has worshiped the Savior testified of in the scriptures
until he knows him to be both God and man. The first way the
scriptures identify and distinguish Christ, the first way they bear
witness of him is of his person, who he is. They declare him to
be both God and man. The Scriptures testify of Christ,
His person. They testify who He is. And the
second thing they testify of Him is what He's done. What He
has done. What He's already done. He has
done a work. He has finished a work His Father
gave Him to do. What is that work? Well, in the
Old Testament, we see that work prophesied. Listen to it. Bill
quoted this, and I'll just read this to you. It's pretty familiar
to all of us. Daniel chapter 9 and verse 24 said, 70 weeks
are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city. to finish
the transgression, to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation
for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and
to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most holy."
Now that's Daniel prophesying the things that Christ would
do when he came to this earth. Now the New Testament declares
that work to be finished. Look with me over at Hebrews
chapter 9 and verse 26. I'll give you just a second to
turn here. Hebrews 9.26. The scripture is talking about
Christ. It said, For then must Christ
often have suffered since the foundation of the world, but
now, once in the end of the world, hath he appeared to put away
sin by the sacrifice of himself. He's talking about the work Christ
finished here. Christ bore the sins of his people
in his body on the tree. His death put away every sin
he bore. He suffered the full punishment
God's justice demanded for that sin. Those sins are put away
so completely that they will never be brought up again in
the court of God's justice. The scriptures say they're separated
from those who committed them as far as the east is from the
west. They're put away. These sins cannot be charged
to the sinners who committed them. And God's wrath can never
fall on those sinners because their sins were charged to Christ. And he drank the cup of God's
wrath in full. These sinners cannot perish.
Their sins were put away. To think that any sinner Christ
died for could perish like a lot of professing Christians do?
Well, that's a contradiction of the testimony this word gives
of Christ and His work. How could a sinner perish whose
sins were put away by the death of Christ? Christ's death put
away the sin of every sinner he died for. And then you need
to turn to this one too, Romans chapter 4 and verse 23. Romans
4.23. Now Romans 4 is all about the
justification of Abraham. Not asking whether he was justified,
it's telling how he was justified. Not by works, but by the imputed
righteousness of Christ alone. Righteousness, it says, clearly,
that was imputed to him while he was yet uncircumcised. Now,
let's pick up here in Romans 4.23. Now it was not written
for Abraham's sake alone that righteousness was imputed to
him, but for us also to whom it is imputed if we believe on
him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead, who was delivered
for our offenses and was raised again for our justification.
That word for there in the last, in verse 25, he was delivered
because of our offenses and he was raised again because of our
justification. Christ was delivered up to the
cross because of the sins, the offenses of those he represented,
because they were charged to him, they were imputed to him.
He was raised from the dead because by his obedience unto death,
he had put away those sins and he had established the one righteousness
by which God justifies every sinner in Him, an everlasting
righteousness of infinite value, so an everlasting justification. He was raised again because He
had established in time the righteousness by which God had justified His
people from all eternity. Now this work is done. This is
the work Christ has already done. It's not being done, it's finished.
In John 17, in anticipation of the cross, Christ said, I have
finished the work which thou gavest me to do, anticipating
what he was going to do when he went to the cross. And in
John 19, 30, one of the, one of his sayings from the cross
was, it is finished. So he declared his work to be
finished and the father declared his work to be finished when
he raised him from the dead. He was raised again because he
had done all that was required of a just God to justify every
sinner he was given. The scriptures testify of Christ.
They testify that he is God and man. They testify that he has
put away the sin of an established righteousness for every sinner
he was given. Those sinners are justified by
Christ's righteousness imputed. That work is already done. Now,
thirdly, the scriptures testify who Christ did this work for.
Who is he doing all this for? For the whole world? For all
without exception? No, he was doing it for a particular
people. Christ was not acting as a private
person. In other words, he was not acting
on his own behalf. What he did, he didn't do for
himself. He came as a representative.
He came as the surety of those that his father had given him.
Listen to John 17 verses 1 through 2. These words spake Jesus and
lifted up his eyes to heaven and said, Father, the hour has
come. Glorify thy son, that thy son
also may glorify thee. As thou has given him power over
all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou
has given him. In a covenant made before time
called the everlasting covenant of grace, the father chose a
people and he gave those people to his son. Now what does it
mean he gave them to the son? It means he entrusted them to
the son. We know something about entrusting
things. You know, we entrust our money
to the bank to keep it safe or to invest it and make us a little
money. We know something about entrusting
because we entrust our children to daycare. You young mothers,
you take your children to daycare and they keep them safe for you
and teach them while you're at work or doing whatever you need
to do. And then we trust our We entrust
our children to educators to teach them what they need to
know and to give them skills so that they can function in
this world that they're about to enter into. So we know something
about entrusting. And that word gave is entrusting. It has the same meaning here
in this context, John 17, verses 1 through 2. The Father chose
a multitude of sinners unto salvation. He entrusted the complete salvation
of those sinners. Those sinners that He chose,
He entrusted their complete salvation to the Son. He appointed the
Son the surety of those sinners. He made the Son responsible to
do everything necessary to meet every condition and fulfill every
requirement to bring those sinners to final glory. What Christ did
in His obedience unto death, He did for those sinners He was
given. The work He finished was exclusively for them. The salvation
He accomplished by His obedience unto death was their salvation. He put their sin away, and the
righteousness He established by His obedience unto death is
the righteousness by which the Father declares them forever
righteous in His sight. These sinners are holy, unblameable,
and unreprovable in God's sight because of Christ's righteousness
imputed alone. These are those who were chosen
in Christ before the foundation of the world. We're all familiar
with this passage in Ephesians. I'll read you Ephesians 1, verses
3 through 4. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly
places in Christ, according as he hath chosen us in him before
the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without
blame before him. These are those sinners who will
not be left among those in our text that Christ said will not
come to him. He said, you will not come to
me though the scriptures testify of me. Well, these sinners, these
sinners Christ represented, they're among them. We're among them
by nature. We're among them in our religious
practices before God brings us to the gospel, but we won't be
left there. We start out there, but we'll
be delivered from that way. Christ will deliver us. And that
brings us to the last thing we'll look at today concerning what
the Scriptures testify of Christ. Now let me say this before I
go on. I know you understand this, but I'll say it anyway.
I'm by no means exhausting what the Scriptures testify of Christ
here. I'm giving you four things and elaborating on them in a
small way, really, according to all that the Scriptures say.
But the Scriptures testify of Christ. They testify that He's
God-man. They testify that He's accomplished the salvation of
every sinner He was given. They testify of the work that
He's already done, putting away sin and bringing in everlasting
righteousness. And they testify who He did this
work for. And last of all, the Scriptures
testify what Christ is doing now. What's He doing now in this
age, this age of grace? This age that began with his
coming the first time and won't end until he comes back for his
bride, the church. Thankfully, all will not end
up among those who will not come to Christ. By God's mercy and
grace, those chosen in Christ, those redeemed by his blood,
will be delivered. And their deliverance will be
the fruit and result of what Christ has already done for them.
by his work on the cross. Christ is a good shepherd and
he's laid down his life for the sheep. He has redeemed them by
his blood. But these sheep are scattered
all over the world. They're of every kindred, tribe,
and nation. They're scattered all over the world in every generation.
They're wandering in the wilderness of false religion. They're scattered
among those who will not come to Christ, who will never come
to Christ. They don't know who their shepherd is, but they will
know who their shepherd is. They must know who their shepherd
is. As their shepherd, Christ is seeking them out, and he's
bringing them into the fold. The scripture says, he ever liveth
to make intercession for them. Hebrews 7 and verse 25. And then
listen to John 10 and verse 16. He says, and other sheep I have
which are not of this fold. He's talking about the Jewish
fold that he's addressing there. They're not of this Jewish fold.
He's talking about the Gentiles. Them also I must bring, and they
shall hear my voice, and there shall be one foal and one shepherd. Christ must bring his sheep.
He must and he will bring them into the foal. Every sheep will
know their shepherd. Every redeemed sinner will know
their redeemer. Listen to John 10, 14. He said,
I am the good shepherd and know my sheep and am known of mine."
Christ already knows his sheep. He went to the cross for his
sheep. He laid down his life for the sheep. And by the end
of this age, each of his sheep will know him. They will know
that he is their shepherd. Each of his sheep will, in each
generation, come to him. I know these are familiar verses
to you. We quote them quite a lot from
this pulpit. John 6 and verses 37 through 40, he says, all that
the Father giveth me shall come to me. And him that cometh to
me I will in no wise cast out. For I came down from heaven not
to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me. And
this is the Father's will which hath sent me, that of all which
he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it
up again at the last day. You hear the language there?
They're all coming. They're all coming to Christ.
He's going to raise all of them up on the last day. This is the will of Him that
sent me, that everyone which seeth the Son and believeth on
Him may have everlasting life, and I will raise Him up at the
last day. The glory of the Father and the
glory of the Son depend upon all the sheep coming to their
shepherd, knowing who their shepherd is, trusting their shepherd,
looking to his righteousness alone. They must come, and they
will come. Christ will raise them all up
at the last day. They will follow him. Listen
to John 10, 27 through 30. My sheep hear my voice, and I
know them, and they follow me. And I give unto them eternal
life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them
out of my hand. My Father which gave them me
is greater than all, and no man is able to pluck them out of
my Father's hand. I and my Father are one." The sheep will rest
their complete salvation in Christ. They will each know that God
declares them righteous because of Christ's righteousness imputed
to them. This age that we live in is all
about Christ bringing his sheep to their shepherd. He must bring
them, and He will bring them. And how does He bring them? He
teaches them. John 6, 45 says it is written
in the prophets, and they shall be all taught of God. Every man,
therefore, that hath heard and hath learned of the Father cometh
to me. Christ brings each of His sheep
the same way He brought His disciples after His resurrection. He teaches
them the Scriptures that testify of Him. He brings each of His
sheep to their shepherd by opening their understanding to the Scriptures
that bear witness of Him. He sends a gospel preacher to
them, and He sends the Spirit of God to them to convince them
of their need of the Savior that that gospel declares unto them.
The Savior I've identified from the Scriptures here. Now coming
to Christ is without a doubt the single most important step
any sinner will take in this life. It is without a doubt the
most important decision any sinner will make. Failing to come to
Christ then must be the worst decision a sinner will make.
Today we've been considering the first prerequisite to taking
that step and making that decision of coming to Christ. You cannot
call on one you've not believed in. You cannot believe in one
you've never heard of. You cannot hear without God sending
you a gospel preacher. We've looked at the Christ testified
in the scriptures, who He is, God and man in one person. We've
seen what He's already done. He's already put away the sin
of every sinner He died for and brought in the everlasting righteousness
by which God justifies those sinners. We've seen who He did
this work for, for those chosen in Him before the world began,
those whose complete salvation the Father entrusted to Him.
And we've seen what He's doing now. he's calling his sheep to
the shepherd. The testimony of the scriptures
concerning the person of Christ, who he is, and what he's done,
that testimony is so precise, so particular, that anyone believing
the scriptures cannot fail to see that this Christ, the Christ
the scriptures testify of, He's not the Savior we have in our
minds by nature. I'm not looking to the same Savior
I looked at when I was in my former religion. This is a different
Savior. This is one altogether different. He's the one testified of in
the scriptures. So the question is not, will
you come to Christ? Every Christian religion urges
sinners to come to their Christ, their idea of Christ. The question
is, will you come to the Christ testified of in the scriptures? Will you come to the Christ the
gospel has declared unto you? Will you turn from, will you
repent of the Christ you thought you had before you heard the
gospel that bears witness of him? The scriptures testify of
Christ. Who will sinners not come to?
They will not come to the Christ testified of in the scriptures. I'm almost done. At the final
judgment, there will be present two categories of sinners. These
categories have different names in the Bible. You'll have the
sheep and the goats. You'll have the saved and lost.
You'll have those who've done good and those that have done
evil. And in today's lesson, you'll
have those who come to Christ, the Christ the scriptures testify
of, and those who will not, those who in their lifetimes refuse
to come to him. I'll close by encouraging you
as Moses did those of his day. Listen to Deuteronomy 30 in verse
19. Moses said, I call heaven and
earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you
life and death, blessing and cursing. Therefore, choose life
that both thou and thy seed may live. Choose life. Choose Christ. come to the Christ testified
of in the scriptures. That's where you find life. That's
where you find all the hope there is in this world.