The Four Great Witnesses

Open your Bibles to the book
of John, chapter 5. I want to begin this message
on the four great witnesses with verse 30. The two statements
that our Lord makes here in verse 30 and verse 31 that need to
be observed carefully and to be interpreted most carefully. In verse 30, the Master says,
I can of mine own self do nothing. I can of my own self do nothing. What's he talking about? What
the Lord is saying here is that the Godhead, Father, Son, and
Holy Spirit are together in works, word,
and purpose. What the Lord is talking about
is the unity of the Godhead. He is saying this, I can do nothing
independent of the Father and the Holy Spirit. I can do nothing
separated from the Father. What the Father does, the Son
does. What the Son does, the Holy Spirit does. I can do nothing
of myself apart from the Father and the Holy Spirit. He says,
I seek not mine own will, but the will of him that sent me. Now we say God cannot lie. God cannot sin. We're not implying
any weakness in God, any lack of power in God. And when Christ
said, I can of my own self do nothing, he's not saying that
he lacks the power. He's not saying that there's
any weakness in him. We're saying that his nature
will not enable him to do anything apart from the Father. He and
the Father are one. When we say that God cannot lie,
we're saying that God's nature will not produce a lie, that
God is true. I hear people often saying, God
is a God of love. That's not so. God is love. God is not a God of love. You're implying there that God
is over here and love's here and God shares in it. Love is
God. God is love. There's no love
apart from God. I was riding behind a car one
day and the sign said, God is alive. That's not so. God is
life. Apart from God, there is no life. God is life. When you're saying
God is alive, and evidently the person that put that on his bumper
thought he was bragging on God, thought he was witnessing a good
witness. That's not a good witness. You're
saying that God is alive, and I'm alive, and George is alive,
and the angels are alive, and somebody else is alive, and we
can be alive apart from God. There is no life apart from God.
God is life. That's not even a good witness.
And when you say God is a God of love, that's not a good witness.
It's not even so. God is love. And what Christ
is saying here, I can do nothing of myself. My nature will not
will not enable me to do anything of myself. I am the Father One. The nature and person of Christ,
being one with the Father, can do nothing independent of the
Father. God cannot lie. God's true. God cannot sin. God is holy. You see that? God is holy. God is life. God is love. God is true. John, look at verse 19, back
in the same chapter, John 5, 19, "...then answered Jesus,
and said to them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do
nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do. For whatsoever
things he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise, the Father
and the Son are one. I can of my own self do nothing."
And then John 16, 13. Turn over there just a moment. Listen to this scripture. John
16, 13. Christ is talking here of the Holy Spirit who is to
come. Howbeit when he, the Spirit of
truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth. John 16,
13. For he shall not speak of himself,
but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak, and he shall
show you things to come. The Son and the Father and the
Spirit, all one, all speaking the same words, all doing the
same deeds. I can of mine own self do nothing. And what the Lord is talking
about there is the unity of the Godhead. I can do nothing independent,
separated from the Father. What the Son does is the work
of the Father. Now the second statement that
bears some observation and careful interpretation is verse 31. If I bear witness of myself,
a witness is not truth. Now we must interpret these words
with great care. It would be foolishness and it
would be blasphemy to charge Christ with false witness. If
I bear witness of myself, my witness is not true." Now, whatever
he's saying here, he's not saying that if he's the only one that
says anything, it's not so. Now, here's what he's saying.
If I have no other witness, if I have no other testimony to
present in proof of my Messiahship, if all I have is my own word,
If that's all the proof that I can present that I am the Christ,
if that's all the proof that I can present that I am the Savior,
is my own word. If that's all the proof that
I can present that I am the Redeemer, my testimony would be open to
suspicion. But he goes on and says, I have
other witnesses, verse 32, there is another that beareth witness
of me. And I know that the witness which
he witnesses of me is true." That's the Father. But now, Christ
is saying here, I have impeccable witnesses. His and their witness
is true, and you do well to listen to them. And tonight, I'm going
to present to you the four great witnesses that Christ calls the
Father. He said, Now if all you have
is my word that I'm the Messiah, if all you have is my word that
I'm the Christ, if all you have is my word that I'm the Redeemer,
my testimony would be open to suspicion, but I have other witnesses. And he presents them one at a
time. There are four of them that he brings forth, and you'll
notice as he presents them, they grow in greatness. First of all,
he says, John the Baptist is my first witness, verse 33, you
sent unto John, and he bear witness unto the truth. You sent unto
John. If you go back to John chapter
1, you'll see the incident to which our Lord's referring. He's
talking here to the Jews, to the Pharisees, and they do it. They did send a group of people
to John the Baptist. And in John 1, 19, it says here,
and this is the record of John, when the Jews sent priests and
Levites from Jerusalem. John was down in the wilderness
preaching, and it seemed like the whole world was gone after
him. Even Herod the The ruler went down to hear him. And these
Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem down to see John,
and they came down there and they asked him, Who are you?
Who are you? Verse 20, And he confessed and
denied not, but he confessed, I am not the Christ, I am not
the Messiah, I am not that prophet. And they asked, Well, what then?
Are you a liar? And he said, I am not a liar.
Well, are you that prophet? Are you that prophet? Over in
Deuteronomy 18, 15, the Lord said to Moses, I'll raise up
among the people a prophet like unto you. Him they shall hear. Are you that prophet, the one
we look for? Listen. And he answered, No.
And they said then, Who are you that we may give an answer to
them that sent us? You sent unto John. These Jews
sent this group of men down to ask John, who are you? And they
said, now tell us who you are that we might go back and give
an answer to those who sent us. What sayest thou of thyself?
And he said, I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness. make straight the way of the
Lord, as saith the prophet Isaiah." Now the next day, turn over a
page, the next day in John 1.29, John was standing there. Whether
these Jews were still there or not, I don't know. But the next
day, John seeing Jesus coming, unto him, saying, There is the Lamb of God. There
is the true sacrifice for sin. Look, there is the true Passover. Look, there is the great atonement. There is God's Lamb. Behold the
Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin, beareth away our sin,
by taking them on himself. Our guilt was laid upon him,
and he beareth it away, as the scapegoat was turned loose in
the wilderness. Jesus Christ, our Lord, took
our sins in his body, and on the tree he bore them away. Behold the Lamb of God, which
beareth away the sin of the world, both the sin of the Jews and
the Gentiles." Now read on, "...and I knew him not, but that he should
be made manifest to Israel. Therefore am I come baptizing
with water, and John bear record, saying, I saw the Spirit descending
from heaven like a dove, and it abode upon him. And I knew
him not, but he that sent me to baptize with water, the same
said unto me, Upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending,
and remaining on him, the same as he which baptizeth with the
Holy Ghost." And John said, I saw and bear record, this is the
Son of God. That's my witness. They said, who are you? He said,
I'm not the Christ. They said, are you alive? I'm
not alive. Well, who are you? I'm just a
boy. The Father sent me to bear witness of him whom God would
send. And then when he saw Christ coming,
he said, there he is. the Lamb of God that beareth
away the sin of the world. I saw and bear witness that he
is the Son of God." That's the first witness. Now turn back
to John 5. You sent unto John, and he bore
witness of the truth. Now look at verse 34. But I receive
not testimony from man. What Christ is saying is this.
I don't have to rest my claim on a man's testimony. I don't
have to. John the Baptist or any other
man. John the Baptist, Christ said, was the greatest man born
of woman. Of all born of woman, none greater
than John the Baptist. But I do not receive testimony
from man, John the Baptist or any other man. But I'm saying
these things to you that you might be saved. Because he was
a burning and a shining light. You, you recognized it. You acknowledged it. And you
were willing for a season to rejoice in his light, and he
bore witness of me." His whole testimony was Christ.
But my, I have a greater, verse 36, I have a greater witness
than John. Now that's the first witness. Who is he? Who is he? John the Baptist said he's the
Christ. He's the Lamb of God. He's the one who has come to
redeem his people from their sins. Here's the second witness.
Christ said, But I have greater witness than that of John, for
the works which the Father hath given me to finish, the same
works that I do They are my witnesses that the Father has sent me."
Now, Nicodemus knew this. In John 3, verse 2, Nicodemus
said, listen to him, he said, No man can do the miracles you
do, except God be with him. We know you come from God. We
know that. These miracles are undeniable. We know that you come from God.
Nobody could do what you do except God be with him. Nicodemus saw
that. The Pharisees knew that. Turn to John 11, and listen to
these religious leaders. In John 11, verse 47, John 11,
47, "...then gathered the chief priests, and the Pharisees a
council, and they said, what are we going to do? This man
did many miracles. If we let him alone, all men
will believe on him. Why? Because of the miracles
which he does. They couldn't deny that these
miracles were a witness, a certain witness, that God was with him.
And when John the Baptist turned to Matthew 11, when John the
Baptist sent two disciples, or some of his disciples, to inquire
of the Lord Jesus if he really is the Christ. And this is what
our Lord sent back to John. He quoted Isaiah 35, 4 through
6. Listen to Matthew 11, verse 2. Now when John had heard in
the prison the works of Christ, He sent two of his disciples
and said to him, Art thou he that should come? Are you really
the Christ, the Messiah, are you really the Redeemer, or do
we look for another? And Jesus answered and said unto them,
You go and show John again those things which you hear and see.
The blind receive their sight, and the lame walk the lepers
are cleansed, and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and
the poor have the gospel preached to them, and blessed is he whosoever
shall not be offended in me." The evidence of our Lord's miracles
must not be lightly esteemed. They are proofs of his Messiahship. Now there are five things that
must be noted about our Lord's miracles. I read in the paper
every once in a while how that some unusual miracle has taken
place over in some foreign country. A statue of Mary has some real
tears flowing out of its eyes, and people go there from everywhere,
you know, to see. And then some little girl sees
some miracle, and then I read about the divine healers that
are going all over the country, and somebody's cured of cancer,
and somebody's cured of poor hearing, and different things
of this nature. You read about these things.
I was listening to the radio the other day, and a preacher
on the radio claims the power to raise the dead. He told how
that a baby was in his service, and the parents, the baby had
been dead three or four days, and the parents brought the baby
to the service, and he prayed, and suddenly the baby came back
alive again. But now there are five things
that need to be noted about our Lord's miracles. Now watch this
carefully. This will help. First of all,
the number of his miracles. The miracles which our Lord performed
were not a few isolated miracles. They were not a miracle that
happened one day and four years later another one, or a hundred
years later another. They were very, very many. Everywhere he went, People were
healed. There were miracles going on
all about him. Everywhere he went there were
many, many, many, many of them. Now the second thing about them,
their greatness. The blind actually saw. The deaf actually heard. The lame actually walked. And the dead actually came out
of their tombs. after they had been dead several
days and their bodies rotting. They came out of their tombs.
These were undeniable miracles because of their greatness. Now
the third thing about his miracles is their publicity. These miracles
were not done way off somewhere in a corner. It was not something
that people read about. It was not something that one
person saw. But there were thousands of witnesses
to every miracle that our Lord performed, even his enemies. Even these religious leaders,
sitting up there in their ecclesiastical towers, had to admit, as they
said, what are we going to do? This man worketh many miracles. Even his enemies had to admit
that he did what he claimed. Now the fourth thing about our
Lord's miracles, their number, there were very many, their greatness. The blind could see and the lame
could walk. A man who had been on a bed of
affliction for thirty, forty years got up and picked up the
bed and walked out of there. And thousands of people saw them. They didn't hear about them,
they saw them. They didn't read about them,
they saw them. And then the character of his miracles. And this is the, this is the,
this drops the bottom out of these so-called miracles today.
The miracles that our Lord performed were never just proofs of power. Never were. His miracles were
always miracles of mercy. Always works of love. Always
miracles of compassion. Not a stone statue crying, who
benefits by tears coming from a stone statue? But a son raised
and given back to a mother. A lame man made to walk true
service to people. That's what our Lord's miracles
were. They were not just proofs of power. God doesn't have to
prove His power. The heavens declare the glory
of God. The firmament showeth His handiwork. Why should I stand up here and
lay hands upon some person with a backache to prove there's a
God? He couldn't have walked down here without God. He couldn't
be living without God. Every miracle which our Lord
performed was King's service to people. Miracles of mercy. And I'll tell you something else
about them, too. I read where these fellows heal
people, and they say, they say, now you're healed. And the man
said, well, I can't see any better. Well, the symptoms are still
there, but you're healed. You just go on and you count
it done. I'll tell you this, if it's done,
it's done. When Christ healed somebody, they were healed. It
was certain. It bare examination from the
best eye doctor in town. He could see. He could see. These Pharisees, after our Lord
healed that blind man, they said, Is this your son? Is this the
fellow trapped by the gate all the time, begging the blind man
that sold pencils down here? Is this your son? They said,
That's our son. Well, they said, He can see, can't he? He said,
I was blind and now I see. And Christ called these miracles,
the works that my Father gave me to do. Turn back to John 5
and look at it. And these are witnesses. I have a greater witness even
than John the Baptist. The works my Father gave me to
finish, the same work I do, and they bear witness of me that
the Father has sent me. that the Father hath sent me."
All right, the third witness now gets greater as we go along.
He said, John the Baptist told you who I am, and the works that
I do, they bear witness to who I am. Now the third witness,
John 5.37, "...and the Father himself which hath sent me hath
borne witness of me." There are many ways that the Father had
borne witness to the Son. Now there are a lot of disagreements
about this particular verse, but I say there are many ways
in which the Father had borne witness to the Son. First of
all, the Father sent the angels to announce his coming. The angels
are God's messengers. They're ministers to the heirs
of salvation, but they're God's ministers and they're God's messengers.
And he sent his angels to Mary, and he said, That holy thing
which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God. He
sent his angels to Joseph and told Joseph, Fear not to take
unto thee Mary to be thy wife, because the Holy Spirit hath
begotten in her a son, and that son shall be called Jesus, for
he shall save his people from their sin. To the shepherds the
angels came with this message, Glory to God in the highest,
and on earth peace, goodwill unto men. We bring you glad tidings
of great joy unto you as born this day in the city of David
a Savior, Christ the Lord. Then when our Savior was baptized,
the Father spake at his baptism and said, This is my beloved
Son, in whom I am well pleased. And then at the transfiguration
of Christ, the three disciples with him heard the Father say,
This is my Son, hear ye him. And then in John 12, turn to
John 12, 28. Are you familiar with this scripture?
The Father spake again. In John chapter 12, verse 27,
Christ said, Now is my soul troubled, and what shall I say, Father,
save me from this hour? But for this cause came unto
this hour, Father, glorify thy name. Then came there a voice
from heaven, saying, I have both glorified it, and will glorify
it again." The Father bore witness at his crucifixion. The veil
was rent in two from top to bottom. That's the Father working. Darkness
was over all the land. The sun did not shine as our
Lord suffered on that tree. When He died, the rocks quaked
and broke as an earthquake came upon the earth, and the dead
arose. And then when our Lord ascended to heaven, the Father
sent the angels back down here and said to the disciples, This
same Jesus which is taken up from you shall so come in like
manner as you've seen Him go." Now back to our text. Christ said, let me go back just
a little bit, I can of my own self do nothing.
I am the Father One. What he sent me to do, I've come
to fulfill. Now if I'm the only witness to
that, if I'm the only one that tells you that, It's open to
question. But I've got other witnesses,
impeccable, infallible witnesses. John the Baptist. You know him,
Christ said. He bore witness of me. But I
don't need a man's witness. I have a greater witness than
John the Father. The works God gave me to do,
I've done right in front of you. The miracle. You've seen the
lame walk and the dead raised and the blind see. You've seen
those things. But I have greater witness And
the works that I do, the Father himself has borne witness of
me. But now wait a minute. Verse
39, I have another witness. Search the scriptures. For in them you think you have
eternal life, but they are they which testify of me. You say,
Brother Man, do you think that the scriptures are the greater
witness Yes, I do. You'd think that a
voice from heaven would be the greater witness. But Peter says that the Scriptures
are a better witness and a greater witness than a voice from heaven.
Turn to 2 Peter 1. Now watch this. 2 Peter 1. In fact, while you're turning
to that, When that voice came from heaven and said, I have
glorified it, I will glorify it again, the people that stood
by and heard it, some of them said it thundered. Some of them said an angel spake.
So you see, a voice from heaven, even though it is the voice of
the Father himself, when folks get through with it and they
tell it down the road, it wasn't the voice of the Father, it was
the voice of an angel. It wasn't the voice of the Father, it was
Sunday. But now look at 2 Peter 1. And you and I don't know how
to be thankful for this book, as we ought to be. Now listen
to 2 Peter 1, verse 17. He's talking about Christ. We
were eyewitnesses of his majesty. Verse 17, 2 Peter 1. For he received
from God the Father honor and glory, when there came such a
voice to from the excellent glory, this is my beloved Son, in whom
I am well pleased." Now Peter heard that voice. He was on the
Mount of Transfiguration when Christ's glory was revealed. And this voice which came from
heaven I heard, Peter said, when I was with him in the Holy But we have also a more pure
word of prophecy, where unto you do well that you take heed,
as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day
dawn and the day star rise in your heart, knowing this first,
that no prophecy of this Scripture is of any private interpretation
He just said, I came and I told you about what I heard, the voice,
you have my word for it. But the scripture, the prophecy,
didn't come in old time by the will of man, but holy men of
God spake as they were moved by the Holy Spirit. And you don't
take just Peter's word, because Peter says the same thing Isaiah
said. You don't take just John's word,
John says the same thing Paul said. You don't take just James's
word, James says the same thing that Moses said. The Scripture
is not of any private interpretation. The Scripture is given by the
Holy Spirit, and it's absolutely infallible, inherent, undivided. Now look back at our text, John
5. Christ said, Go and search the
Scripture. Underscore the word search. This
is something I looked at for a while the other day. Go and
search the scriptures. Christ is saying here, examine
them. Become really acquainted with
their contents. The word search means more than
read. Someone says, well, I read the Bible. Christ said, search
the scriptures. Search means more than read.
It means to dig. It means to digest. It means
to examine. Search the scriptures, for they
testify of me. They reveal me in prophecies. They reveal me in promises. They
reveal me in typical persons. They reveal me in sacrifices. They reveal me in sin offerings.
They reveal me in ceremonies. And all error in regard to redemption,
eternal life, salvation, and Jesus Christ is because of ignorance
of the scriptures. Turn to 1 John 5. 1 John chapter
5, verse 13. John says, These things have
I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God,
that you may know you have eternal life. These things have I written
unto you, that you may believe on the name of the Son of God."
That's why they're written, to bear witness of Christ. So our Lord said, I have four
great witnesses. John the Baptist, the works that
I do, the Father himself, And this divinely inspired word bears
witness of me." Now in conclusion, I close. Verse 40, "...and you will not come to me, that
you might have life." Christ said, in the face of all these
witnesses, None greater than John the Baptist. You were willing
for a season to rejoice in his light. He bore witness of me.
He told you who I am. The works that I do. Nicodemus,
you said yourself, no man could do the miracles I do except God
be with him. You Pharisees, you had a meeting
up there one day in one of your studies, and you acknowledged
that I worked these miracles. people saw them. They were complete
miracles. They were great miracles. There
were many miracles. They had many witnesses. You
know that. You saw. You heard the voice
from heaven. Some of you went off and said
it thundered. You know it didn't thunder. You know God the Father
spoke. You know that wasn't an angel.
You know God bore witness of me. And you can look in the Holy
Scriptures and you'll see me in every page, in every chapter,
in every paragraph. But even in the face of all these
witnesses, You will not come to me. You remain unmoved, unbroken,
untouched. But let me part something out
to you, and I want you to go away with this thought tonight. Unbelief does not arise so much
from want of evidence as want of will. I think it over. Christ didn't say here that you
didn't hear the witnesses. He didn't say here that you didn't
believe the witnesses. He didn't say here that you wouldn't
listen to them, you didn't see them. He said you saw them, you
heard them, and you will not. And you will not. We're all by nature separated
from God by sin. spiritual life by God's grace
is laid up for us in Christ. He's the fountain of life, he's
the bread of life, he's the water of life. In order to receive
benefit from Christ, we must come to him by faith. But the
real reason why men do not come to Christ is the lack of will. You will not come to me. You will not come. Look at verse
43. I've come in my Father's name,
and you receive me not. Let another come in his own name,
for his own glory, and him you will receive." Well, fantastic
thing. If I didn't have the Bible to
show it to me, I'd never believe it. But a preacher can come with
all kind of gimmicks. He can come with all kind of
confusing claims, he can come with no proof whatsoever of what
he's saying, he can ignore the Word of God, and he can get the
disciples to follow him with a thousand. But just the plain gospel of
Jesus Christ, the gospel of redemption, the gospel of substitution, that
calls a man to do business, not with a preacher, not with a priest,
but with God himself. and people won't come. Our Father in Heaven used the
message to accomplish our divine purpose. We believe and assure
that thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. We know that the Lord Jesus Christ
is our only Redeemer, that he loved us and gave himself And our hearts cry to thee, for
our brethren is, that they might be saved, that thou would work
in them the will to receive Christ, the will to follow him, the will
to believe on him, and him alone. I use thy word, because faith
cometh by hearing, and hearing by thy divine word. For Christ's
sake and in his name we pray, amen. Let's sing number 222. There
is a fountain filled with blood drawn from Emmanuel's
veins. And seven blood, they need that
blood, prove all their guilty stains. And seven blood, they
need that blood, As did my faith, I saw the stream,
I saw a glimpse of light. Redeeming love has filled my
being, and love is near. And proud be till I die. Redeeming love has been my fate.

The Four Great Witnesses

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