Now let's open our Bibles please
to John chapter 5. John chapter 5. I want to speak to us this morning
from the last words in verse 46. For he wrote of me. He, of course, refers to Moses,
and these are the words of the Lord Jesus Christ. He wrote of
me. Before we come to the text, I've
got to give us a few words about the context. John chapter 5 contains
a whole day in the life of the Lord Jesus Christ. If you notice
in John chapter 5 verse 1 we read, after this there was a
feast of the Jews and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. And then the
first verse of chapter 6, after these things Jesus went over
the sea of Galilee. And so what we have in John chapter
5 is a history of the Lord Jesus Christ coming to the feast, one
of the feasts that the Jews were commanded to celebrate in Jerusalem. The Lord Jesus Christ came up
to Jerusalem, and we find that when he came, there was in Jerusalem
a place that, like we might refer to as a sanatorium, it was a
place that had five porches, And we're told that in these
porches there was a great multitude of people. And they were all
sick. They were all infirm. They were
all diseased. And the Lord Jesus Christ went
to one man. One man out of this great multitude. Get the picture in your mind. As he came there, the five porches
and all the people spread out. And he went to one man. That man had been there for 38
years. He was a cripple. He was lame. He could not walk. The Lord Jesus
Christ singled him out and said, rise, take up thy bed and walk. His bed, of course, was just
a mat of some kind that he lay there upon. Rise, take up thy
bed, and walk. And this man obeyed, he stood
up, and he walked. And what we see here is a picture
of God's distinguishing sovereign grace. You cannot help but think
of the five porches that were filled, multitudes of people,
as a picture of this world. And they are described, first
of all, as impotent, as those who had no power. Man likes to believe that he
has power. He likes to believe that he is
the master of his own destiny. But let me tell you something.
There's one thing man does not have power to do, and that is
to give himself a new heart. And that's exactly what every
person needs, a new heart to love God and to love his neighbor. Man cannot give himself that
new heart. The second way they were described,
they are blind. And man is spiritually blind
by nature. The Lord Jesus Christ said, except
a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. He cannot understand spiritual
things because he is carnal. And the third way they are described,
they are halt. In other words, they do not have
the power to walk in the way of God, to please God. Man by nature cannot please God,
for the scripture says without faith, faith in Christ, faith
in a savior, without faith it is impossible to please God. And the last way they are described
as being withered, withered. I thought about that word and
I thought about the fact a few weeks ago now, I planted some
plants in my garden, and they were about six or seven inches
tall, and they were healthy plants, and they looked good when I planted
them, and they got up to be about two feet, maybe. And they had
blooms, tomato plants had blooms, and actually had little tomatoes,
green tomatoes on them. And then I noticed one day they
were withered. Withered. And I see there a picture of
man. Those plants were beautiful,
healthy, strong. Just as man, when God created
him, came from the hand of his creator as perfect, upright,
But because of sin, disobedience to God, withered, man by nature
is withered. And so I just had to pull the
plant up. And I took it to a nursery to find out what might be wrong. I've never had that to happen
before. And it was at the beginning of
this virus outbreak and I drove up there, and I didn't know what
I was supposed to do, if I was supposed to walk up to the people
or not. And I was kind of hesitant, and
the lady said, oh, come on over here. And I showed her the plant,
and she said, it's got a virus. And I jokingly said, the coronavirus? And she said, yes. Now, I don't
know if that's true or not. But I do know this. The plant
was withered. And there was nothing I could
do. And that's what she said. There's nothing you can do but
pull them up and throw them away. Man by nature is in an awful
condition as he comes into this world because of sin. And those
words so aptly describe everyone by nature. Without power, blind,
halt, and withered. And we see God's sovereign grace,
His distinguishing grace. As our brother sang just a few
minutes ago, why was I made to enter and taste the food, the
gospel, when thousands make a wretched choice and rather starve than
come? The same grace that spread the
table gently forced us in. It's grace, for by grace are
you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is
the gift of God. Not of works, lest any man should
boast. The Lord, when he healed this
man, he told him to take up his bed. That was a Sabbath day.
And so, he left that place, that place of the sick people, and
he went to the temple, And lo and behold, who does he see in
the temple? Or who sees him in the temple?
Where does a person go when he's healed? This man went to worship
God. This man went to praise God.
You see, when God does the work of grace in a person's heart,
when a man has made a new creation in Christ Jesus, That person
wants to praise God, wants to honor Him, wants to worship Him. And so, they meet in the temple,
and this man realizes that it was the Lord Jesus. Well, he's
carrying his mat, and these Jewish rulers, they said, don't you
know it's the Sabbath? You've broken the Sabbath, you're
carrying That bed on the Sabbath, you've broken the Sabbath. Well,
the same person who told me to rise told me to take up my bed. Who told you to do that? Who
told you to do that? Who is it that would dare tell
someone to break the Sabbath law? And the man said it was
Jesus. Notice in verse 16 immediately, just as soon as they heard it,
who it was, therefore did the Jews persecute Jesus and sought
to slay him because he had done these things on the Sabbath day. He had committed, according to
them, a great offense. Because, you see, all of their
hope was in obedience to the law of Moses. And in their estimation,
he had broken that law. He had committed a great offense
and they began to persecute the Lord Jesus and He confessed to
them, these Jews now, these Jewish leaders actually, He confessed
to them that He was one with the Father. Notice in verse 17,
Jesus answered them, My Father worketh hitherto and I work. What He is declaring is His deity,
that He is one with the Father. The Father works, I work. because
they are one, one in essence, and one in will, and one in purpose,
God the Father and God the Son. Therefore the Jews sought the
Moor to kill him. Notice verse 18. They understood
exactly what he was saying. They understood. There was no
hesitation in their minds. When he said, my father worketh
hitherto and I work, he's saying that he is one with the father. He is confessing himself to be
God. Therefore, the Jews sought the
Moor to kill him because he not only had broken the Sabbath,
but said also that God was his father, making himself equal
with God. This they clearly understood
to be a confession that He was God manifest in the flesh. But
our Lord doesn't stop there. He continues in these next few
verses showing His oneness with the Father, showing His deity.
If you notice in verse 22, He tells them that He is going to
be the judge of all men. For the Father judgeth no man,
but hath committed all judgment unto the Son. God hath appointed
a day, the Apostle Paul said in Acts chapter 17, God hath
appointed a day in the which he shall judge the world by that
man, that man that he raised from the dead, the Lord Jesus
Christ. Now, to be a judge, we've got some fine judges in our country,
and they do the best they can, but judges are limited. Are they
not? They're limited. They're not
omniscient. They can't read a person's thoughts.
They go by evidence that is presented to them, and then they decide
a case. Yes, they do the best they can,
but he's going to be the judge of all men. And he's not only
going to judge a person's actions, but because he's God, he judges
the thoughts and the intents of the heart. That's the reason
the Lord Jesus Christ said, whosoever looketh upon a woman to lust
after her. Well, who knows that? God does. God does have committed adultery
with her already in his heart. He is committed, or the judgment
rather is committed to him that the Lord Jesus Christ, because
he is God, all men shall appear before him. And he is a judge
of all men and his judge is righteous judgment because he is God. And
then he says, even as they honor the Father, they must honor the
Son. That all men should honor the
Son, even as they honor the Father. Verse 23. He that honoreth not
the Son, honoreth not the Father, which hath sinned him. Men do
not honor Christ, and yet they say they're going to worship
God? Oh, no. You do not honor the son, you
do not honor the father who sent him, because they are one. And
then our Lord declares that he has power and is exercising that
power, even that day, that he calls dead men to life. Notice, if you will, in verse
25, Verily, verily, I say unto you,
the hour is coming, and now is. He's not talking about, in this
verse, something that is future. In this verse, he's talking about
present tense. The hour is coming, and now is. When the dead, not those physically
dead, not those buried in the cemetery, although We know he
did raise Lazarus after this, but he's talking about those
who are spiritually dead. And that's the condition of all
men by nature, spiritually dead. But the hours come and now is
when the dead shall hear his voice and the dead, they that
hear his voice shall live. They shall hear the voice of
the Son of God and they that hear shall live. When the Lord
speaks, men hear. Sometimes people tell me, I guess
God was trying to tell me something. God doesn't try to tell anybody
anything. When God wants to tell you something,
He tells you something because He's God. God never tries to do anything. God does. And when the Lord Jesus Christ,
who is the King of kings and Lord of lords, when he calls
a sinner from death to life, they come to life. They breathe,
they believe, they turn from their sin and turn unto God. But notice next he speaks about
a day that is yet future. Verily, verily, I say unto thee, verse 28, marvel not at this,
for the hour is coming in the which all that are in the graves
shall hear his voice. In the graves now, their bodies
have already turned back to the dust. Many of them, their bodies
were burned, their ashes were scattered to the four winds of
the earth. There's coming an hour when the
Lord Jesus Christ shall descend from heaven with a shout with
the voice of the archangel and the dead in Christ shall rise
first. Yes. They cannot mistake who he is telling them that he
is. He is God manifest in the flesh. And then I want you to notice
the Lord Jesus reminded them. Now these same people, these
were the religious leaders in Jerusalem. Notice in verse 33,
down to verse 33. You sin unto John, and he bear
witness unto the truth. Now, he of course has reference
to John the Baptist. These people, when they heard
John was out there around the Jordan, not in Jerusalem, in
the wilderness. He's out there baptizing. He's
out there preaching, repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
Who is that man? Who gave him that authority?
What is he talking about? We'd better send some people
out there to question him. Turn back to John chapter one. John chapter one, verse 19. This is what our Lord
has reference to. This is a record of John. When
the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, who
art thou? And he confessed and denied not,
but confessed, I'm not the Christ. And they asked him, what then?
Art thou Elias, Elijah? And he said, I'm not. Art thou
that prophet? And he answered, no. Then said
they unto him, who art thou that we may give an answer to them
that sent us? What sayest thou of thyself?
He said, I'm a voice. This is who I am. I'm a voice of one crying in
the wilderness. Make straight the way of the
Lord, as said the prophet Esaias. And they which were sent were
of the Pharisees. And they asked him and said unto
him, why baptizes thou then? If thou be not the Christ nor
Elijah, neither that prophet, why are you baptizing people?
John answered them saying, now watch this. You sent unto John
and he spoke the truth. I baptize with water, but there
standeth one among you whom you know not, he it is who coming
after me is preferred before me, whose shoes latch it I am
not worthy to unloose. You sent unto John, notice back
here in John chapter 5 now, verse 33. You sent unto John, and he bare
witness unto the truth. He said, I'm not the Christ,
I'm not Elijah, I'm not that prophet. Why are you baptizing
then? I'm the voice of one crying in
the wilderness, as the prophet Isaiah prophesied of me going
before Jehovah. I'm that voice. And he stands
among you. I baptize with water, that's
about all I can do. I can put you under the water,
I can bring you back up, water may wash off the dirt of your
flesh a little bit, but there's one among you who baptizes with
the Holy Spirit, the Holy Ghost. And when he baptizes a person,
a person is made clean all the way through, not just the outside. You sent unto John, He bear witness
unto the truth. But notice, but I receive not
testimony from man. Don't think that I need to be
testified to by a man. And our Lord gives them three
witnesses. Three witnesses now that he's
going to mention in the law, a matter must be established
in the mouth of two or three witnesses. Our Lord gives three
witnesses. First, if you notice in verse
36, but I have greater witness than that of John for the works
which the Father have given me to finish the same
works that I do, bear witness of me that the Father has sent
me. The first witness he brings forth
is the works. Now what does he mean by the
works? We know that when the Lord Jesus Christ died upon the
cross, he said it is finished. And before that, he had said
in his prayer, Father, I have finished the works which thou
gavest me to do. But these works here refer, that
was his entire life, was honoring the Father, obeying the Father,
pleasing the Father, doing what the first Adam failed to do. He disobeyed God. The Lord Jesus
Christ obeyed God in every thought, every word, and every deed. But
the works here, especially refer to the miracles, the miracles
which he did. Even one of their own, a man
by the name of Nicodemus. You know, when he came to the
Lord, he told the Lord this. He said, no man, no man can do
these miracles that thou doest except God be with him. Now the
Lord Jesus Christ, after his calling of his disciples, he
gave them power to work miracles and after The day of Pentecost,
the apostles had power to work miracles, but listen, they worked
miracles in His name. In the name of Jesus, I say unto
thee, rise up and walk. Isn't that what Peter told that
man at the gate, beautiful? In the name of Jesus, the Lord
Jesus Christ, when He wrought a work, a miracle, He didn't
pray, now Father please do this. He didn't pray, Father if it
be your will. No, the Lord did. He worked the miracle. The works, notice in chapter
6, John chapter 6 and verse 11. In this case, he takes five loaves
of bread and a few fish. And yes, he thanks the Father. He bows his head and thanks the
Father for the food. We do that, don't we? We should. We should acknowledge that every
blessing, every good gift comes from the Lord. The Lord, yes,
he thanked the Lord, but notice, Jesus took the loaves and when
he had given thanks, he distributed to the disciples. He took the
loaves and he started breaking them, giving them out and multiplying,
creating, if you please, the bread and the fish to feed 5,000
men, not counting the women and the children. The works. that the Father gave me to do.
They testify of me. They testify that I am God. Number two, the second testimony
he brings forward is the Father's voice. Notice that, if you will. Verse 37. And the Father himself
which hath sent me hath borne witness of me. You've neither
heard his voice at any time nor seen his shape. When God appeared
unto man through the Old Testament, he appeared many times in the
form of a man. But we know that was the Son
of God. The father never, we never read
the father ever appeared in the likeness of a man. No, the angel
of the Lord appeared as a man. He appeared to Abraham that day
along with those two angels as a man, but it was the son of
God, not the father. You've never seen his shape. You've never heard his voice.
But on the day the Lord Jesus Christ was baptized, God spoke
from heaven. God the Father spoke from heaven.
This is my beloved Son. What a picture we have there
at His baptism of the blessed Trinity. The incarnate Son of
God is the one who was baptized. God the Father spoke from heaven,
this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased and God the
Holy Spirit descended upon him in the form of a dove. This is his second witness, the
voice of the Father. And then the third witness is
the scriptures. Notice that in verse 39, 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. These Jews to whom he was speaking,
now they had the scriptures. They had the Old Testament. Every
book that we have in our Old Testament, they had. and they
acknowledged that they were inspired books of God. They had them. They searched the scriptures.
They searched the scriptures. But what they thought was just
by merely searching the scriptures, reading the scriptures, studying
the scriptures, hearing the scriptures, expounded, that because of that
and in that way, they had life. They had eternal life. because
they read the scriptures, because they heard the scriptures, because
they studied the scriptures. They believed by that, they had
life. But our Lord says, life is in
me. You will not come to me that
you might have life. You can know this book backwards
and forwards, my friends, and God bless you if you do, but
you must know the author of the book. You must know him of whom
the book speaks. Years ago, I heard that preacher
say, this is a hymn book. And then he explained, it's all
about him. And it is. It's a hymn book. It's all about
the Lord Jesus Christ. Then our Lord told them, if you
had believed Moses, now they claim Moses, we know Moses. We've
got his word. The law that came through Moses. Yes, absolutely. We believe that.
We obey that law. Our Lord said, listen, if you
had believed Moses, you would have believed me. If you had
believed what Moses wrote, you would have believed me. Why? Here's our text, because he wrote
of me. He wrote of me. Now you know
Moses lived about 1,500 years before the Lord Jesus Christ
came into this world. You mean a person could write
of Christ 1,500 years before he was born? Absolutely. Why? Because Moses was inspired of
God the Holy Spirit. And with God, there is no past
and there is no future. There is his eternal now. And yes, Moses wrote of me. Moses wrote the first five books
of the Bible. Many times that part of the Bible
is just all under the heading of the law. Moses gave the law. Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers,
and Deuteronomy. He wrote of me. Now this morning,
and I'm just going to take a few more minutes, but I want us to
look at one place where Moses wrote of Christ. The first verse in the first
book, Genesis chapter one and verse one. In the beginning, God created
the heaven and the earth. Moses wrote of me. In the Gospel of John, in the
beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word
was God. And without him was not anything
made that was made. God, that is, the triune God,
the Father, the Son, And God the Holy Spirit created the heaven
and the earth. He wrote of me. Have you ever thought about the
fact that when God created, his work of creation was done in
darkness? There was no light. He created the heaven, God created
the heaven and the earth. And he's going to create light.
We talk about his works of creation, his works of providence, and
his works of salvation. His work of creation was in the
dark when he created the heavens and the earth. And my friends,
there's things about God's creation that man will never understand. And they can study and they can
argue over It being a young earth or an old earth or all the various
things that people like to talk about. But I'm telling you, what
he created was in darkness. Showing us that man, by all of
his learning, by all of his exploration in space and all of that, nothing
wrong with that, I'm not preaching against it. But I am saying this,
that the wisdom and the power of Almighty God that was displayed
when He spoke the world and the heaven into existence, there's
a mystery that man will never, ever be able to comprehend. And
His works of providence, isn't there a mystery about His
providence? How many times have we wondered
I wonder why God did that. Seems to us it could have been
so much better another way. We will never understand his
works of providence. We study them, but as long as
we are in this world, we walk by faith and not by sight. And his work of salvation, The
eternal son of God became incarnate, formed in the womb of the virgin
in darkness. A mystery there. We'll never
completely comprehend that, how that God was made flesh and dwelt
among us. Great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh. When the Lord Jesus Christ was
hanging upon that tree that day on Calvary's Mountain, there
was a thick darkness. There was something going on
there between the Lord Jesus Christ as He represented His
covenant people, His chosen people, those who had been given unto
Him by the Father. There was something going on
there between Him and the Father. When God hath made him who knew
no sin to be sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness
of God in him. There's something about that
that we will never be able to completely comprehend. When he
cried, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Men have argued
and talked and discussed. How is that possible? God forsaken
God. There's a darkness there, isn't
there? And when he walked out of that tomb, I know it was on
that third day, but the scripture says it was before dawn. And
no one saw him walk out of that tomb. But he did. He did. Moses wrote of me. And our Lord
said to those religious people, you will not come to me. How
do you come to Christ? He said, no man can come to me
except the father which has sent me, draw him. How do you come
to Christ? Well, you certainly do not come
to Christ by walking, by moving the body from one location to
another location. You come to Christ, my friends,
in your heart, and you come as a needy, Helpless sinner, looking
unto him as the only Savior. And not only the only Savior,
but the able Savior. And not only the only, the able,
but thank God, the willing Savior. No man can come to be except
the Father which has sent me draw him. But all who do come
to me, I will in no wise cast out. Those are his words. Well, I pray that the Lord would
bless these words to all of us here this morning. And in the
weeks ahead, I want to come back and look at some other verses
in those five books where Moses wrote of Christ. Now we're going
to sing hymn number 126.