Well come back with me to John
chapter 5, John chapter 5, and we're looking at the last few
verses of John chapter 5 this morning. Five witnesses we see
here. You might wonder, why do I preach? Some might wonder it more than
others. Why do I preach? Well, of course, preaching is
God's means of calling his elect to faith in Christ. That's what
preaching is for. It's by the foolishness of preaching,
it pleased God to save those who believe. It's the declaration
by chosen, equipped, called men, It's their declaration of the
truth of God. And what truth am I talking about?
That truth of God justifying a multitude of hell-deserving
sinners, justifying them so that He makes them qualified as citizens
of His heavenly kingdom. God will have His heavenly kingdom
populated with a multitude. I looked, said John, John 19
verse 1, I looked and I saw much people in heaven. And why do
I preach? Well, if nobody else is doing
it, as long as God gives me life and strength, I will endeavour
to continue. But what is it really? What is
the thing that is at the centre of preaching? It is presenting the case for
you, all who hear, to believe God's testimony concerning His
Kingdom and His Son. That's it, I'm presenting the
case. All preachers seek to present the case. to their hearers, to
believe God's testimony concerning His kingdom and His Son. Because
if you believe, listen to this, listen to this, this is the Word
of God, this is the voice of God from heaven, this is what
He says, believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God. That's why I want you to believe
it, because whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ, this
is the Word of God, is born of God. What is it to be born of
God? It's to have the life of God. It's to inherit the kingdom
of God. It's to be with God for eternity
in eternal bliss. God who is our enemy by nature
because of the sin in our flesh, yet in the gospel of his grace
that preachers seek to declare, whosoever believeth that Jesus
is the Christ is born of God. And there's the record of the
gospel accounts, and especially the record of John's gospel is
to show us that Jesus, this man, Jesus of Nazareth, Jesus, the
son of Mary, Jesus is the Christ. This is what Paul said to the
people at Thessalonica in Acts chapter 17, and the first couple
of verses. Now, when they had passed through
Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica. where was
a synagogue of the Jews and Paul as his manner was went in unto
them into the synagogue and three Sabbath days he reasoned with
them out of the scripture he presented his case out of the
scripture what doing what opening and alleging that Christ must
needs have suffered and risen again from the dead and listen
this is the key point that this Jesus this man whom I preach
unto you is Christ. Christ, the one that is God in
flesh, come to undo all of the destruction wrought by Satan
in the fall in the Garden of Eden. By restoring righteousness
to a multitude by his act of satisfying the demands of the
law. You know what it says, he made him who knew no sin to be
sin for us, his people. Why? That his people might be
made the righteousness of God in him. That's what we need.
that we might inherit the kingdom of God. There it is. The gospel
accounts show that Jesus is God in flesh, God incarnate, and
that he's on a mission of redemption, a mission to redeem, a mission
to purchase the freedom from condemnation of a people, a mission
to justify a people. And all of the events are preparation
for the hour in which he would accomplish that. The three hours,
in fact. On the cross of Calvary, when
there was darkness over all the earth, as the judgment of God
fell on the sins of his people, but not on those people, but
on his Son, who was their substitute and representative. The Gospel
accounts show all the preparation for that hour, and the fulfillment
of the divine purpose The purpose, what's the purpose of God? You
know, the people of God are called according to his purpose. What's
the purpose of God? To save his people from their
sins. Why was he called Jesus? You
shall call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from
their sins. And the success, you know, it
says in Isaiah, he shall not fail. Isaiah 42 verse 3, I think
it is. He shall not fail. He will not,
it's not kind of, well there it is, it's up to you whether
you accept it or not. No, he shall not fail. He shall
save his people from their sins. He doesn't give them a choice
in the matter. He makes them willing in the day of his power
to believe him. He shall save his people. He shall populate
heaven with redeemed sinners. In John chapter 5, we have seen
so far the miracle at Bethesda, at the pool of Bethesda, the
house of mercy, where that multitude of impotent folk, blind, lame,
dumb, with terrible diseases, all sat there waiting for the
moving of the water of the pool. And Jesus comes and says to a
certain man, who had had his infirmity 38 years, he said to
him, would you be made whole? Do you want to be made well?
Of course he wants to be made well. And he says, I've got nobody
to help me. And Jesus says to him, rise,
take up your bed and walk. And it was the Sabbath day. And
that was a declaration of divinity, of his divinity. And he follows
it up with seven statements that he and the Father are one, that
everything that God in heaven, the unknowable God in heaven
is, He, the Lord Jesus Christ, Jesus this man, God, the fullness
of the Godhead dwelling bodily in Him, He is that divinity walking
amongst them. "'Say unto the cities of Judah,'
says Isaiah, "'Behold your God.'" Here He is, your God will come,
He's amongst you. When He comes, Isaiah 35, what
will happen when God comes amongst us in human flesh? The blind
shall see, the dumb shall speak, the lame shall walk, the miracles
will be done. Look, He's here, what more proof?
Many, many Jews saw and said, what more proof do we need? Has
anybody ever done miracles like this? And then we saw him assert
the final judgment in those verses of 28, 29, and 30, when he says that he is the judge. He is the one into whom God the
Father has committed all judgment. And this is the thing that is
so important for you and me and everybody listening. The day
is coming, as we know, As Hebrews chapter 9 verse 27 tells us,
it is appointed to man to die once and then the judgment. This
is the judgment that Christ is talking about. He exercises that
judgment. God must punish sin. And if it's
not punished in him, it will be punished in the one who bears
it. For the justice of God must have that. But the Jews hated
the message because it was a message of sovereign grace. They hated
it and they sought to kill him. He was preaching a message which
was contrary to their religion. Now their religion pictured everything
of the truth, yet their interpretation of that had made it into an idol
of their own making. And it went against what he said,
his message of sovereign grace went against their idea of what
the gospel truly was, and they sought to kill him. And do you
know something? Don't just go, well they would
do, wouldn't they? Look at them, dreadful people.
No, your natural heart, my natural heart, hates that message. Hates
the message that God is sovereign over who he saves. that it is
God who determines, it's not of him who wills, nor of him
who runs, but of God who shows mercy. Your natural heart and
mind naturally hates that message as the heart of all men in their
natural state does, but it is the truth of God. Do you believe
it? Do you believe it? I remember
years ago listening to some worldly wise guy on the television, I
can't remember who it was, it might have been Ludovic Kennedy
or somebody like that, somebody that you've never heard, you
know, I doubt whether many people can remember that name, but anyway,
that was somebody that was always being asked questions in the
media. And they said to him, when you
get to the gates of heaven, you know, when you've died, and if
they say to you, why did you not believe God? He said, well,
I will say, well, there's just not enough evidence. Why did
you not believe God? There's just not enough evidence.
What about you? What about us? Let's look at
some of the evidence. Let's sort of imagine that we're
in a court of law and we're examining the case. As I said, preaching
is about presenting the case for you to believe. Look at verse
31. Jesus has said he's God. He's
given seven statements, but he says, if I bear witness of myself,
my witness is not true. Is he saying that he's not telling
the truth? No, of course not. What he's saying is that as a
man, a mere man, no comeliness that we should desire him, nothing
special about his appearance before them, he, viewed by the
people listening to him as just an ordinary man, according to
the law of Moses, How many witnesses were required to establish the
truth? It says, in the mouth of two
or three witnesses. One on his own was not enough
for a case. You know, somebody says, A murdered
B. Well, who saw A murdered B? It needs two or three witnesses
to prove the case. And Jesus says, well, you looking
on me, I'm just one man that you're looking on, and therefore
your law will judge this as not true. If you look over in chapter
8, Jesus says his witness is true, and of course it is true.
But basically he then goes on to call some more witnesses. So let's look at some of the
evidence. Let's hear the testimony of five other witnesses in this
case. You know, do you like courtroom
dramas, you know, where you see the case come up, and it always
makes good movies, doesn't it? Good television. It always makes
exciting, thrilling stuff. As the case is presented, and
will the jury be convinced, and will they bring in a verdict
of guilty or not guilty? Well, look, here. Here, let's
hear the testimony of five witnesses that the Lord Jesus Christ brings
before this crowd and let's examine their evidence and let us see,
is Jesus the Christ? Is Jesus the Christ? The one
promised by God from the beginning to accomplish the redemption
of his people, to establish his kingdom, the king of his kingdom,
to populate that kingdom with justified sinners. Is he the
one? Well look at the first one. In verses 32 to 35. So we're
going to look at five witnesses this morning. Verse 32. There
is another, right? So I want you to listen, I want
you to pay attention, I want you to imagine that you're watching
one of these gripping courtroom dramas. Just look at the case,
just examine the evidence. What would you do if you were
a member of the jury? You know, if you're a member
of the jury and your mind's drifting off to other things, do you know
you'll be in serious trouble from that court? You're required
to listen, you're required to pay attention. Well, let's listen.
Here's the first witness. There is another that beareth
witness of me. You know, I as a man, according
to the law, am not enough, because it's two or three witnesses.
Well, let's have more than two or three, let's have five. Here's
the first one. There is another, says Jesus, that beareth witness
of me. And I know that the witness which he witnesseth of me is
true, this one. Who? He sent unto John. John
who? John the Baptist. John the Baptist
is the first witness. We call John the Baptist, and
he bear witness to the truth. John the Baptist bore witness
to the truth. But I receive not testimony from man, but these
things I say that ye might be saved. You see, what he's saying
is, my truthfulness does not rely on the testimony of a man,
but nevertheless, for your sakes, presenting the case before you,
I say these things that you might believe and be saved. He was
a burning and a shining light, John the Baptist, and ye were
willing for a season to rejoice in his light. Crowds of you went
out to hear him. crowds of you did, because he
bore witness of me." Now, you know, most cult leaders, political
leaders even, what do they do? We see it all the time. They
promote themselves. They promote themselves above
everything else, and gullible people hear them and follow them. But not so Christ. Not so Jesus
of Nazareth. Think about him, born in obscurity,
years of obscurity, growing into manhood in Nazareth, learning
the trade of Joseph the carpenter, living in humility, living in
poverty. But his appearing at 30 years
old when he appeared on the scene publicly That appearing was not
with a great fanfare from himself at all. We don't read of anything
that he blasted a trumpet before him, but it was independently
proclaimed by John the Baptist. John the Baptist who had gone
out. Look at the prophecies concerning him. In Malachi chapter 4, This
is right at the end, the last chapter of the Old Testament.
And verses 5 and 6, this is the last two verses that God spoke. in the Old Testament era by Malachi
the prophet, and then there was silence for 400 years until Zechariah,
the father of John the Baptist, prophesied. Here it is. Behold,
I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great
and dreadful day of the Lord, and he shall turn the heart of
the fathers to the children and the heart of the children to
their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.
John the Baptist is coming to proclaim the coming of the Messiah,
the promised one. Luke chapter 1 and verse 77. Here are the words of Zechariah,
who'd been struck dumb by the angel for not believing his testimony
concerning Elizabeth, his wife, and the son that they would have,
John the Baptist. And he should call his name John
and not Zechariah, as was the custom, that the first son was
always called after the father. No. He would come, and the prophecy,
Zechariah says, John the Baptist will come to give knowledge of
salvation unto his people by the remission of their sins,
through the tender mercy of our God, whereby, listen, the day
spring from on high hath visited us, to give light to them that
sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into
the way of peace. The message was the message of
Christ, of the Messiah coming. These are all allusions to the
prophecies of Isaiah and others, about the light that would come.
The Dayspring from on high is the Lord Jesus Christ, the promised
Messiah. And then there's John's testimony
himself. John the Baptist, when he comes
and in his ministry, he speaks of Christ. Remember, Christ didn't
blow the trumpet before himself, John the Baptist did. He is the
independent witness. Verse 20, verse 20 of John chapter
1. John confessed and denied not,
but confessed, I am not the Christ. And they asked him, what then?
Are you Elijah? And he said, I am not. Are you that prophet?
And he said, no. Meaning the Messiah. Meaning
the one that Moses. Remember we read Deuteronomy
18 to start with. Moses said, God will send you
a prophet. Are you that prophet? And he
answered, no. And they said unto him, who art
thou? that we may give an answer to them that sent us. What sayest
thou? You see, the Pharisees, the leaders, had sent them to
go and find out. What answer are they going to
give? What do you say? And he said, I am the voice of
one crying in the wilderness. Isaiah chapter 40, verse 3. I
am the voice of one crying in the wilderness. Make straight
the way of the Lord. The Messiah's coming. Get ready
for it. As said the prophet Isaiah, And
they which were sent were of the Pharisees. And they asked
him and said to him, Why are you baptizing if you be not the
Christ, nor Elijah, neither that prophet? And John answered them,
saying, I baptized with water, I merely baptized with water,
but there standeth one among you. Whom ye know not, because
he hasn't blown a trumpet before his ministry. I am testifying
of it. He it is, who coming after me,
is preferred before me. After him in time, but preferred
before him. Whose shoes latch it, I am not
worthy to unloose. That was the lowest menial job,
to unloose the shoes of the weary traveller and wash their feet.
He says, I'm not worthy to do it, I'm not fit to do it, because
he is so exalted. This was the testimony of John
the Baptist concerning him, verse 29 of the same chapter. The same
day, John seeth Jesus coming unto him, in quietness and humility. And he says to his disciples
and those hearing him all around, this is the witness of the first
witness, he says, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away
the sin of the world. And then verse 36, And looking
upon Jesus as he walked, he saith to two of his disciples, Behold
the Lamb of God, and they heard and they followed Jesus. He says
exactly what Paul said in Thessalonica in Acts 17, that this Jesus,
this man with no comeliness that we should desire him, is exactly
who the scripture said would come, that he is the Christ of
God, that shall redeem his people from the curse of the law. And
then there's Jesus' confirmation of what John the Baptist was
in Matthew chapter 11 and verse 14. In verse 14, he says, if you
will receive it, if you will receive what I'm about to say
you, this, meaning John the Baptist, is Elijah. It is the spirit of
the prophet Elijah, which was for to come, as Malachi had said. Are you literally Elijah? No.
But is this the spirit of Elijah, which will come to prepare the
way of the Lord? Yes. Jesus says, he, John the
Baptist, his. He that hath ears to hear, he
whose soul has been enlightened to the things of the Spirit of
God. Open your ears and hear. Open your ears and hear the message.
Members of the jury, you have heard the testimony of the first
witness in the case. Right, we call the second witness.
The second witness, verse 36. Verse 36 of John chapter 5. But
I have greater witness than that of John. I have greater witness. Oh, right, well, that was a pretty
good witness. But here, here's a greater witness
than that of John. You know, we need two or three.
Well, here's the second one. 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. That the unknowable God has
sent this man, has come in the flesh of this man to accomplish
his eternal purpose His eternal purpose of salvation, of redemption. The works which the Father has
given me to finish. Those works testify that this
truly is the Messiah of God, that this truly is God incarnate,
to accomplish redemption. But all of the other miraculous
works were authentication of the divine credentials, of the
ability to accomplish the objective of salvation, which is just justification. The justice of God that demands
that the soul that sins it shall die, is not in any way violated
in the Gospel, for the Redeemer, the substitute, the surety of
His people, has answered every requirement of the justice of
God. And so therefore, God is just, He remains perfectly just,
and yet He justifies sinners. How is it that sinners are able
to get into heaven? When the accuser of the brethren
even says that this is not right, they're sinners, how could they
get into heaven? Because Christ has died in their place and the
justice of God is satisfied. Here is God in flesh. Here is
God of infinite power. It must be God who comes to redeem. Here is God of infinite power
to redeem a multitude. Here He is in the flesh. in human
flesh, with human blood. He's the son of Mary, human blood
coursing through his veins. His ancestry can be traced back
to David and beyond. The price of justification, the
price of justice for the sin of the multitude for whom he
died. There it is, he has the capacity to do that because he
is infinite God. Look at John chapter 10, John
chapter 10 and verse 25. John chapter 10 and verse 25. Jesus answered them, I told you
and you believed not the works that I do in my Father's name.
They bear witness of me. Verse 38. But if I do, though
ye believe not me, believe the works. You know, I might speak
to you when you don't believe, but you can't deny the works.
What opportunity the deniers would have had to say, but we
know it's a sham, it's not true. They couldn't. That you may know
and believe that the Father is in me and I in him. What powerful
claims these are. John chapter 14, just over a
few pages. John chapter 14 and verse 11,
believe me that I am in the Father and the Father in me, or else
believe me for the very works sake, for the miracles that they
saw, because of them. John chapter 15 and verse 24,
if I had not done among them the works, the miracles, Which
none other man did. Nobody has ever rivaled what
he did. They had not sinned. They would
have had an excuse. But now they have both seen and
hated, both me and my father. They've seen the works and they
can't deny them. And those works testify of him.
In Luke chapter 7 and verse 19. And John calling unto him, two
of his disciples sent them to Jesus, saying, Art thou he that
should come, or look we for another? What John is saying to his disciples
is, You're doubting? You go and see for yourself.
And the men were come to him, to Jesus, they said, John the
Baptist hath sent us unto thee, saying, Art thou he that should
come? Are you that prophet that Moses
spoke of? Are you the Christ that should come? Or look we
for another? And in the same hour, before
their very eyes, it's saying, Jesus cured many of their infirmities
and plagues, and of evil spirits, and unto many that were blind
he gave sight. Many, many. Verse 22, Then Jesus
answering said unto them, Go your way, and tell John what
things ye have seen and heard, how that the blind see, and the
lame walk, and the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear,
and the dead are raised, and to the poor the gospel is preached. And blessed is he whosoever shall
not be offended in me. Don't forget that. Blessed is
he who shall not be offended in me. The miracles performed
by Jesus were many. They were many. You know, you
hear claims of charismatic miracles, or you hear claims, you know,
when the Catholics want to make somebody into a saint. They scratch
around for the most feeble evidence that some mere man, some mere
idolater, actually performed a miracle, some performance of
something that is genuinely a turning over of natural law. But Jesus
did many, many miracles, seen by many, many people. There were
many, and they were great miracles. That man, 38 years in firm, rise
up, take up your bed and walk, and in an instant, In an instant,
all of the strength and vitality returned to his limbs and his
muscles, and he stood on his feet and picked up his bed and
walked. They were public. Thousands saw the miracles during
his ministry. They were always compassionate
They were always for the good of those on whom they were performed.
They were always with love and pity and compassion, and they
were visible to everyone's senses. They were irrefutable. There's
no record ever of any of the miracles of Jesus being disputed
as, well, that was a con trick, or that was some conjuring trick,
or something like that. No, the works testify. Okay, that witness can stand
down. Let's call the third witness. Let's call the next witness.
Verses 37 and 38. So John 5 verse 37 and 38. Right, here's the third witness.
And the Father himself which hath sent me hath borne witness
of me. Ye have neither heard his voice
at any time nor seen his shape because he's the unknowable God.
We with our physical senses cannot sense the unknowable God. We
can see what he's done in creation but we cannot sense him. And
ye have not his word abiding in you. For whom he hath sent,
him ye believe not. How does Jesus know they have
not his word abiding in them? Because they don't believe him.
He is the one sent by the Father. If they believed the one sent
by the Father, that would be believing the Father. Now, though
Christ is the Word of God, Christ, the second person of the Trinity,
is the Word. He's the one by whom the unknowable
thoughts of God are communicated, that we might hear them and understand
them. He is the Word of God. In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was
in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him,
and without Him was not anything made that was made. This is God.
This is God in flesh. The Word of God. Though Christ
is the Word, the One by whom the unknown God speaks, yet mysteriously,
as a witness, audible words were heard from heaven, testifying
to the truth. that this man, Jesus, is the
Christ of God, the saviour of sinners. When he was baptised,
right at the very start, as I said, no trumpet before him, he had
made no fuss, he just came to John, who was the one who was
preparing the way of the Lord. He came to be baptised that all
righteousness might be fulfilled. And at that baptism in Matthew
3 verse 17, and lo, a voice from heaven. not the voice of Jesus
the man, a voice from heaven out of the clouds saying, this
is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. The Father testified
that this is the Son of God, that this is the Messiah who
will accomplish salvation. And then, some time later in
the ministry of Jesus, on the Mount of Transfiguration, in
Matthew chapter 17 and verse 5, when Peter, James and John
were there with him, and he was transformed into his heavenly
glowing appearance, his raiment shone white, transformed into
that vision of Him, that this is God in your midst. And behold,
a voice came out of the cloud, which said, This is my beloved
Son, in whom I am well pleased. Hear ye Him. This is the voice
of the unknowable God, testifying to the truth that here is God
in flesh. I am well pleased with Him. Hear
ye Him. And then in 1 John chapter 5,
these verses that many of the more modern so-called translations
leave out of the scripture, but I'm telling you, they're here
and they shouldn't be messed with. This is why the King James
Version is the right version to have and retain. It's not
because of its ancient language, which is old and a bit clumsy
to us in certain ways, but it is precise and it is truthful. And until somebody comes up with
a better translation, from a motive that is as pure as the motive
of these translators, then this is the best translation to use.
And in verse 6, John writes this, This is He, the Son of God, that
came by water and blood, even Jesus Christ, not by water only,
but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit that beareth
witness, because the Spirit is truth. There are three that bear
record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost.
They're bearing witness to the fact that Jesus is the Christ
of God. And there are three that bear
witness in the earth, the Spirit, and the water, and the blood.
And these three agree in one. If we receive the witness of
men, the witness of God is greater. For this is the witness of God
which he hath testified. concerning his Son. He that believeth
on the Son of God hath the witness in himself. He that believeth
not God hath made him a liar, hath made God a liar, because
he believeth not the record that God gave concerning his Son.
And this is the record that God hath given to us, his people,
you who believe, eternal life. And this life is in his Son. there's the clear, independent
witness of the Godhead that Jesus the man is God incarnate, the
anointed servant of God, come to accomplish the work of redeeming
grace in justifying sinners. And as if that weren't enough,
and we'll have to be quick, there are two more witnesses. Firstly,
the Scriptures, verse 39. Here's the fourth witness. Search
the Scriptures, for in them ye think ye have eternal life. And
they are they which testify. The Scriptures testify of me,
said Jesus. They are my fourth witness. These
Scriptures testify of me. The Old Testament Scriptures
when he spoke these words, but the New Testament now testifies
explicitly to the truth of God incarnate. The New Testament
confirms explicitly that which is implicit in the Old Testament.
The Jews revered the Scriptures. They made their sons learn the
Scriptures. They meticulously followed the
pattern of specified worship in the books of Moses. Yet they
completely missed, many, most, they completely missed the need
for heart belief. And they made idols out of the
worship patterns and hated the One when He came, of whom the
Scriptures spoke, and to whom those worship patterns pointed.
You know all the Old Testament worship, and the priests, and
the altar, and the candles, and the sacrifices, and the blood,
and everything, all of that thing, it all spoke of redemption by
Christ. And yet they made idols out of
those patterns of worship, and despised the One despised and
rejected of men, the one of whom the scriptures spoke. Those scriptures
that were written by multiple authors over more than 2,000
years of history and committed to writing The different ones,
different authors, you can see the different styles, the different
characteristics, yet one utterly consistent testimony concerning
the promised seed of the woman, Genesis 3.15, the Christ who
would come to redeem his people from the curse of the law. As
has been said, Every scripture, if you will see this, they are
they which speak of me. What? Which ones? Some of them?
No, all of them said Christ. They all speak of me. Every scripture
points to Christ and God's mission of gracious salvation. It has
been said, I think it was Spurgeon said it, every village in Britain
has a road that leads to London and the preachers Task is wherever
you are in the scriptures, you find that road that leads to
Christ, and you get on it, and you preach Christ. And then there's
one specific final witness within the whole spectrum of scriptural
witnesses. And that is the one whom the
Jews revered most. That is Moses. Here's the fifth
witness. Let's call the fifth witness. Moses, in whom the Jews
trusted. Many time the leaders said to
Jesus, we don't know who you are. We know about Moses. We
believe Moses. We trust him. But you, we don't know where
you're from. We don't know anything about you. You've not come from
Bethlehem. You've come from Nazareth. How
can you be the prophet? That's the sort of thing that
they said. But look at verse 45 of John chapter five. Do not
think, this is Jesus speaking, do not think that I will accuse
you to the Father. There is one that accuseth you,
even Moses, in whom ye trust. They trusted in Moses, even he. For had ye believed Moses, what
Moses was writing about, what Moses was saying, you would have
believed me for he wrote of me. Leviticus, it's about me. Exodus,
it's about me. Deuteronomy, it's about me. He's
either the most arrogant, inflated man that ever walked the earth,
or he's true God, in flesh, testifying to who he is. But if you believe
not his writings, Moses' writings, how shall you believe my words?
The very one that they revered as a witness more than any other
was the one that they didn't believe. Above all in Scripture,
the Jews revered Moses. They trusted in him. The Pentateuch,
the five books, the law that was given there, the pattern
of culture and worship, it was their symbol of idolatry is what
they made it, even though it contained the truth of Christ.
But they didn't believe Moses because they didn't believe what
he said concerning Jesus. and they didn't believe the words
of Jesus, for Moses wrote of Christ. These books of Moses
all speak of Christ. What more can he say? You know,
the hymn that we often sing, how firm a foundation ye saints
of the Lord, he's laid for your faith in his excellent word.
What more can he say than to you, he has said, you who unto
Jesus for refuge have fled. In Luke chapter 16, And verses
29 to 31, Jesus has been telling the parable of Divers and Lazarus,
you know, the poor beggar that had a terrible lot in life, but
God had saved him. And the rich man, who lived sumptuously,
and they both die, and there's, I'm not saying that this is doctrinal
truth, but he's using it as an illustration of the gulf that
there is. And there's the rich man, in
pain and agony in hell. crying out to Abraham in heaven. And there's Lazarus in the bosom
of Abraham in heaven. And he says, the torment for
me here is dreadful. Send to my brothers and tell
them how bad it is. Send someone from the dead to
witness to them. And Abraham answers back to him. He says, they have Moses and
the prophets. Let them hear them. They wouldn't
believe Moses and the prophets. He says, they have Moses and
the prophets, they have the scriptures, let them hear them. And he said,
Abraham said, sorry, Diver said, and he said, nay, father Abraham,
but if one went unto them from the dead, they will repent. And
Abraham replies, if they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither
will they be persuaded that one rose from the dead. What more
testimony is needed for you to believe God concerning Christ? We've had five witnesses, five
witnesses, John the Baptist, the Father, John the Baptist,
the works, the Father himself, the scriptures, and now Moses.
We've got five witnesses for the case to believe that Christ,
that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. What more testimony
is needed for you to believe God concerning Christ and his
kingdom and salvation from sin and coming judgment and heaven
and hell? As the lawyers might say, in
finishing their case, we rest our case. Amen. Well, let's sing.