John Pt. 25 | John 5:31-40

Covenant Reformed Baptist Church

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All right, if you would take your copy of the Scriptures and please turn with me to the Gospel of John, chapter 5, we will consider verses 31 through 40.

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The Gospel of John, chapter 5, 31 through 40, that's page 1 ,077 in your

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Pew Bibles, and this is our 25th message in this glorious Gospel.

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I will open us up in prayer. Oh God, Lord, you who hold all things in your hands, we ask in your sovereignty,

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Lord, that you are holding me right now as I am about to speak forth your word and to explain to your people the goodness of what took place 2 ,000 years ago when you sent forth your

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Son. Thank you for what you have done and help us to understand more clearly than we have ever understood before.

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And we pray this in Jesus' name, Amen. All right, so let's go ahead and read our text,

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John, chapter 5, beginning in verse 31, and we'll carry out to verse 40.

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Jesus speaking, if I alone bear witness about myself, my witness is not true.

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There is another who bears witness about me, and I know that the witness which he gives about me is true.

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You have sent to John, and he has bore witness to the truth, but the witness

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I receive is not from man, but I say these things so that you may be saved.

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He was the lamp that was burning and shining, and you were willing to rejoice for a while in his light, but the witness

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I have is greater than the witness of John. For the works which the

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Father has given me to finish, the very works that I do bear witness about me that the

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Father has sent me. And the Father who sent me, who has bore witness about me, you have neither heard his voice at any time nor seen his form, and you do not have his word abiding in you, for you do not believe him whom he sent.

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You search the Scriptures because you think in them you have eternal life. It is these that bear witness about me, and you are unwilling to come to me so that you may have life.

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And that concludes our text for today. Our theme for this

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Lord's Day is the witness of who Jesus is. The witness of who

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Jesus is, and my proposition is this, God the Father bears witness of his

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Son through the means of three witnesses. So God the

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Father is going to tell us who Jesus is in this text. And he does so by means, and he gives us three witnesses.

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So by way of reminder, Jesus in the context here is speaking with the

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Jews. And by the Jews, I mean it's believed that it's speaking about the religious

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Jewish leaders. He is speaking to them because they began to persecute him for healing a lame man on the

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Sabbath and making himself equal with God, and he did so by calling

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God his own father. And we can read in Luke, and we've looked at it a few weeks ago, that in Luke Jesus basically says that he can do whatever he wants on the

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Sabbath because he is the Lord of the Sabbath. And by that he is saying that men were not made for the

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Sabbath. But that the Sabbath was made for men. It is as if, excuse me, the

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Sabbath was a shadow. The Sabbath was given to men, not men for the

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Sabbath, meaning the Sabbath was given to give mankind a day of rest.

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So the substance is Jesus is our rest. Right, you and I, we don't have to work in order to try and please

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God. But Jesus Christ pleases God, and now we can rest from our labor by looking to Jesus Christ in faith.

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The Sabbath altercation, what happened here is it led to a bigger altercation, and that altercation was

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Jesus making himself equal with God. You see, they accused Jesus of making himself equal with God by calling

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God his own father. We looked at this, let's kind of go back in verse 16 and 17.

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Excuse me. So verse 16 and 17. For this reason, the

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Jews were persecuting Jesus because he was doing these things on the

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Sabbath. So what were the things that Jesus was doing? According to the text, he healed a lame man, verse 17.

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But he answered them, speaking about Jesus, my father is working until now.

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I myself am working. So because Jesus said my father and not our father, the

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Jews said that he was making himself equal with God. So that's their argument, because he says my father and not our father.

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And we can see that when Jesus, when he teaches his disciples how to pray, he says pray our father.

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He wants us to include one another in our prayer as we petition

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God. When Jesus said my father, he was not including the

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Jews. And when we get into chapter 7, chapter 8, we'll kind of, we'll dig more into that.

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And so we see their accusement in verse 18. For this reason, him healing, him calling

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God his own father. For this reason, the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him because he was not only breaking the

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Sabbath, but also was calling God his own father, making himself equal with God.

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Then in verses 19 through 32, Jesus shows how he's equal with the father, his father.

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And it's in the way of the works that Jesus is able to perform. And these works that Jesus is able to perform, he's performing them because these are the works that God is performing.

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He says that my father is working until now, right? Isn't that what it says? And then you look at verse 19.

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It says, therefore, he answered them, truly, truly, I say to you, the son can do nothing from himself unless it is something that he sees the father doing.

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And so the very things that Jesus is about to pronounce that he is able to do, he says, this is what the father does.

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I'm doing what he does. And we spoke about this being in his omniscience.

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Jesus, his omniscience, him knowing everything, and in his omnipresence, he is able to be with us on earth.

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But in his deity, he's holding all things together by the word of his power. He's able to still have fellowship with the father.

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He's able to see the father working. And him on earth is able to perform the works that the father is doing.

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So in our outline today, the witness, in our outline today, we'll see the witness that God the father bears about God the son in three different means.

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We have the means of a human being, the means of works, the means of scripture.

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So point number one, the means of a human being. Point number two, the means of works.

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And point number three, the means of scripture. Now, as we transition, ask the question, just in case anyone needs enlightened.

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What are means? Right. What do I mean by means? Means are an action or a system by which a result is brought about.

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And I've made this connection before.

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Because Trinity, she doesn't keep a clean room. And so if God has predetermined her to clean her room tomorrow,

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God will cause me to open her door and see her messy room.

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And when I see that her room is messy, I say, Trinity, clean your room. So God's will can be done by means.

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And I would be the means by which carries out God's will by telling her to clean this nasty room.

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Right. So that's just a way of means. The scriptures gives us a good one, too.

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We see this one in Second Thessalonians. Second Thessalonians chapter three, verse 10 says this.

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Paul speaking for even when we were with you, we used to commend this to you.

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If anyone is not willing to work, neither let him eat.

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So the means by which a person would eat is if they worked.

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And if you bring this to our context today, the means by which we eat is money.

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And the means by which we make money is working. If you don't work, you don't have money to buy food.

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And so you have to perform an action in order to get this.

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In order to eat, you have to earn money. So the means by which someone eats today, if they're not a child, right, like for me, in order to feed my family,

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I have to work. Pastor Cal, in order for you to feed your family, you have to work.

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So on, so forth. We have to work. So that's the means by which we eat. This is what God has put into place.

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So let's look at the first means. The first means is the means of a human being.

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And part of this is taken from chapter five, verses 31 through 35. But verses 31 through 32 informs us that God the

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Father, excuse me, that it is God the Father who bears witness in the actions that brings about the means.

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We have heard it stated in the negative or by way of punishment that it is on the evidence of two or three witnesses that a charge may be established.

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We see this in Deuteronomy chapter 19, verse 15.

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A single witness shall not rise up against the man on an account of any iniquity or sin which he has committed.

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At the mouth of two or three witnesses, a matter shall be established.

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We also see this in Matthew. Oh, give me a second.

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My tablet was messing up. Excuse me. We also see this in Matthew chapter 18, in verses 15 and 16.

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This concerning church discipline. Jesus speaking, he says, now, if your brother sins, go and show him his fault between you and him alone.

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If he listens to you, you have won your brother. But if he does not listen to you, take one or two more with you, so that by the mouth of two or three witnesses, every fact may be confirmed.

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So in verses 31 through 32, we see that God is the one who is bearing witness about Jesus.

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Now, this is not concerning church discipline, and it is not concerning a charge, but it's concerning the witness of who he is.

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So let's read verses 31 through 32 real quick. Jesus speaking, listen to what he says.

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If I alone bear witness about myself, my witness is not true.

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Jesus affirms the evidence of two or three witnesses. If I alone bear witness about myself, my witness is not true.

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There is another who bears witness about me, and I know that the witness which he gives about me is true.

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And these witnesses that God the Father gives is the witnesses, the very witnesses that I have in my outline.

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We know that the witness of Jesus is true because it was in fact given by the evidence of two or three witnesses.

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We have God the Father, who is a witness, gives three witnesses about Jesus.

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So in verses 33 through 35, it tells us who the human agent is by which he brought about the means.

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This human agent is our first witness. Now we'll start back at verse 31 and read to 35.

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Jesus speaking, if I alone bear witness about myself, my witness is not true.

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There is another who bears witness about me. I know that the witness which he gives about me is true.

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Verse 33, you have sent to John, so this is John the Baptist, and he bore witness to the truth.

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But the witness I receive is not for men, but I say these things so that you may be saved.

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He was a lamp that was burning and shining, and you were willing to rejoice for a while in his light.

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So this human agent, this first witness is John the

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Baptist. When Jesus says in verse 34, but the witness that I receive is not for man, what he's not doing here is that he's not discrediting

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John the Baptist. There was a time when the religious leaders, the

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Jews, and actually all the Jews, held John to be a prophet. We see this in Matthew chapter 21,

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Matthew chapter 21, beginning in verse 23. Jesus speaking, and we need, well, about Jesus, he's going to be telling his parable.

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And when he entered the temple, the chief priest and the elders of the people came to him.

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And while he was teaching and said, by what authority are you doing these things?

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And who gave you this authority? And Jesus answered them. So the Pharisees were speaking to the chief priests and elders.

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And Jesus answered them and said to them, I will ask you one thing, which if you tell me,

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I will also tell you by what authority I do these things. The baptism of John was from what source?

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From heaven or from man? And they began reasoning among themselves saying, if we say from heaven, and he will say to us, then why did you not believe him?

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But if we say from man, we fear the crowd. For they all, speaking of the

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Jews, regarded John, regarded John as a prophet.

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And they answered Jesus, we do not know. And he said to them, neither will I tell you by what authority

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I do these things. Jesus is acknowledging that they held

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John to be a prophet. They were basking in his light for a while. So by saying what he said,

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Jesus is actually, excuse me, identifying John as a prophet. That God was not using,

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I mean, that God was using John the Baptist to be a witness of his son.

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Now, with that information, you go back and you listen to verse 33 and 34. You have sent to John, remember when they sent to John, asking him, are you the prophet?

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Are you the one that was, are you Elijah? Who are you? They were traveling to John. That's what this is pointing to.

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You have sent to John and he bore witness about the truth that one was coming, right?

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But the witness that I receive is not from man. So right here, not from man. He's not actually saying he's not receiving

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John's witness. Watch this. He says, but I say these things that you may be saved. He was a lamp that was burning and shining and you were willing to rejoice in it.

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He was a lamp that was burning and shining and you were willing to rejoice in his light for a while. We're about to notice something about John momentarily.

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I don't want to, part of me wants to skip ahead, but I'm not going to. The witness of John the

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Baptist post Jesus being revealed was that one was coming.

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John said one was coming and he was going to baptize with Holy Spirit and fire.

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This is before, right? This is, excuse me, this is pre his coming.

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I said post, I meant to say pre. This is pre his coming. One was coming and he was going to baptize with the

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Holy Spirit and fire. We read this from Matthew chapter three verses 10 through 12.

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He says that the ax is laid to the root of the tree. Speaking of this, the, the, the old covenant system, the

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Jewish old covenant system. He says that there's an ax and it's laid to the root of the tree and any tree that does not bear good fruit is going to be chopped down and thrown into the fire.

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He spoke of himself. He says that I am John the Baptist and I baptize you with water.

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That's literal water into repentance. But one was coming.

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So here's his witness. One is coming who is going to baptize two baptisms,

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Holy Spirit, figurative. Thank new birth, eternal life being resurrected from spiritual death and fire.

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Thank figurative. Thank the eternal judgment, both body and soul thrown in to hail that one is coming and he's going to be able to baptize you with the

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Holy Spirit and with judgment with fire.

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The witness of John, when Jesus is revealed. So this is the post is found in chapter one.

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So chapter one, verse 29, this is when John the Baptist lays eyes on Jesus.

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This is on the next day. He saw Jesus coming to him and he said, here's his witness.

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Behold the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

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This will be referencing back, referencing, referencing, I can't even say it.

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Referencing back, it's referent, it's referent back, referencing back, excuse me, to the

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Passover, the Paschal lamb in which we had preached to us beautifully two weeks ago.

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No longer were the Jews to be required to purchase a spotless lamb and have it sacrificed for the forgiveness of their sins.

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But that God himself was going to send a perfect lamb and sacrifice it in their stead.

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The witness of John the Baptist was a burning and shining light.

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That's what we see here in verse 35. He was, speaking of John, the lamp that was a burning and shining and you were willing to rejoice for a while in his light.

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This pointing to the true light that has come into the world. You look at chapter one of John and in verses six through nine, but six through nine don't make sense without verses four and five.

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Four and five, speaking about Jesus, in him was life.

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So in Jesus was life and the life was the light of man.

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The life of Jesus is the light of man. We understand that God has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel of Jesus Christ.

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Verse five says, and the light has shined in the darkness and the darkness does not overtake it.

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Now, verse six, speaking of John, and there was a man having been sent. So you see here, having been sent by God, whose name was

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John, he came as a witness. His first witness is

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John. He came as a witness to bear witness.

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Remember, he says that his witness was true. You have sent to John and he has borne witness of the truth to bear witness about the light so that all men who believe through, so that all might believe through him.

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He was not the light, speaking of verse five, verses four and five, which was coming into the world to enlighten everyone.

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And whenever I was walking through this text, I spoke about, it was the idea,

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I gave the analogy of the sun and the moon, right? The sun is, in order for the moon to possess light, it borrows light from the sun, right?

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There's an old song that says, that made me remember, if anyone's familiar with Lincoln Park, I'm kind of dating myself in the year 2000, it says that the sun doesn't give the light to the moon, assuming that the moon's going to owe it one, right?

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And it's that idea that the light that we see here in John, it's like that reflection, that the only way that John has any kind of light is that he's pulling, it's reflecting from the greater, the true light that's coming into the world.

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And that John was this road worker, he was here on earth preparing the way for Jesus Christ.

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So point number two, the means of works. We see this in verse 36.

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You don't know how bad I wanted to sing those words instead of just speak. I wanted to wrap them out, sorry.

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All right, in verse 30, sorry y 'all, forgive me. In verse 36, we're going to see that each witness, listen, each witness is greater than the previous witness.

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That's what we're going to be looking at. Each witness is greater than the previous witness.

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In verse 36, the witness of works is greater than the human witness.

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The works done by Jesus is greater than the witness of John spoken about by Jesus here.

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So look at verse 36, like I'm not making it up, it's in the text. Verse 36, but the witness

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I have is greater than the witness of John. But that's exegesis right there.

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The witness I have is greater than the witness of John. As great as John's witness was, the works that he is performing is greater than what

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John is speaking about. For the works which the Father gives me to finish, the very works that I do bear witness about me that the

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Father has sent me. The works done by Jesus should tell us who sent

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Jesus. And Jesus is telling us that it's the Father. He's only able to do these things because he sees the

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Father doing them. And that the very works that he does is what the

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Father is doing. The witness of John was of prophetic significance.

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The Jews had had no prophet appear to them for 400 years, and then out of nowhere, all of a sudden,

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John the Baptist appears in the wilderness with a prophetic ministry. John prophesied about the one who was coming.

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Jesus is the fulfillment of his prophecy. The prophecy was the shadow.

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The fulfillment was the substance. It was Jesus appearing. Behold, the

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Lamb of God. John was sent to prepare the way.

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Jesus Christ is the way. So of course the works of Jesus is greater than the witness of John because the works of Jesus is given to him by the

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Father to finish. That's the key word, to finish.

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Once he's done, no other work is needed. So what are the works?

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We're just going to take from our text, right? We're going to take from what it's given to us. Healing the sick.

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Jesus healed a lame man miraculously and gave him the ability to walk.

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Also, he is able to do this on the Sabbath. And we quoted it earlier.

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How is it he is able to do this on the Sabbath? Because he is the Lord of the Sabbath. The very one who wrote the law with his finger had come into time and fulfilled that which he ascribed.

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Imagine that. The one who wrote, you shall keep the Sabbath, came into time and fulfilled it.

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He can do whatever he wants. He can do whatever he wants. I have rules in my house for my kids to follow.

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That doesn't mean I have to follow them, right? I do whatever I want. They're my rules, right?

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You might say, Jeff, that's selfish. My house, my rules. I can do whatever

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I want. It's my house. I pay the bills, right? Can I get a hallelujah? Come on, man.

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If you don't have kids, please have kids and do whatever you want. He is able to raise the dead.

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Ladies and gentlemen, this is literal and figurative, right? In our text, literally, he is able to raise the dead.

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And we'll see this clearly when it comes to John chapter 3 concerning Lazarus. I mean,

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John chapter 11 concerning Lazarus. But also speaking of his second advent, when he comes again, he's going to raise the dead.

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The dead will be raised and he will judge the living and the dead. We see this in verses 25 through 29.

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Figuratively, this points us back to the baptism of Jesus, right? Him, he's able to raise the dead figuratively through the spiritual resurrection.

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This is where I was talking about being able to hear the voice of Jesus Christ through the preaching of the gospel.

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That when someone's preaching the gospel, if Jesus speaks in the gospel, they're given spiritual life.

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They're baptized in the Holy Spirit. If they only hear my crackly voice, nothing happens.

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Right? They might even be given something, a heart, a harder heart, hearting to hate

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God all the more if all they hear is my voice. But if they hear the voice of Jesus, they're given spiritual life.

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The spiritually dead person can be given spiritual life. And we see that in verse 21.

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But also through this, all judgment is given to him. And all judgment is given to him.

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If you remember, we spoke about it for no other reason than honor. God the father wants us to honor the son.

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God wants all men everywhere to honor the son, even as they honor him.

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Kind of pointing to they honor him because they know that he is their judge.

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God the father wants everyone to know my son is your judge and you better honor him.

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So because that's the case and all judgment has been given to him, has been given to the son, his witness of himself in his works that he's performing, that's given to him by the father because he sees what the father is doing and he is able to do that which the father is doing.

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That's greater than something spoken about him in a prophecy.

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As we transition, these works are a witness.

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They testify, right? You ever been in a Pentecostal church and they say, testify! His works testify who he is.

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They are the means by which God the father is testifying to his son that he is his son and we've seen this time after time that people believe in him because of the miracles, only because of the miracles.

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But their belief was shallow. It was not tangible. It was not real.

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It was a head knowledge. It wasn't a belief in the heart. We see this in John chapter 2.

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John chapter 2 beginning in verse 23 says this, now when he, speaking of Jesus, was in Jerusalem at the

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Passover during the feast, many believed in his name.

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There's the key. When they saw the signs which he was doing. But Jesus on his part was not entrusting himself to them for he knew all man.

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And because he had no need, listen, that anyone bear witness concerning man for he knew what was in man.

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God sent the witnesses. He didn't need a man not sent from God to be his witness.

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Chapter 3 verses 1 and 2. There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the

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Jews. This man came to Jesus by night and said,

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Rabbi, listen, we know that you have come from God as a teacher for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.

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They believe because of the signs. We see this again in chapter 4 verses 46 through 48.

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Speaking of the royal official, then he came again to Cana of Galilee where he had made the water into wine and there was a royal official whose son was sick at Capernaum or you can say

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Caperim. But Capernaum is the best way English wise,

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I guess. And when he had heard that Jesus had come out of Judah into Galilee, he went to him and was asking him to come down and heal his son for he was about to die.

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And Jesus said to him, unless, listen people, unless you people see signs and wonders, you will never believe.

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In chapter 6, we will see that many believe in him because he feeds thousands with a sack lunch.

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But once he starts preaching, once he starts saying hard things, they leave him.

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They show that they were unbelievers and not true believers.

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Point number three, the means of scripture. This is taken from verses 37 through 40.

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Ladies and gentlemen, this is the greatest testimony given to us of who

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Jesus is. It's in the scriptures. This is the greatest testimony we could ever ask for.

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We couldn't ask for anything better. You couldn't ask to be in the presence of Jesus seeing the works because you could see the works and think you believe and not.

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Scriptures is the greatest testimony given to us. Jesus in the context is speaking of the old covenant scriptures, the

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Old Testament. While we, in hindsight, right now, we have a better witness of scripture being that we have the writings of the apostles that tell us about the

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Christ in the Old Testament, right? Without the writings of the apostles, it would be hard to make clear headway of shadows to the substance.

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How would we know that Jesus was the fulfillment of the Paschal Lamb if John the Baptist had not said,

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Behold, that's him. He's the one. Year after year, that's him.

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How would we know? The witness of scripture is better because we were not living in the first century and the scriptures tell us about these great miracles done by Jesus Christ.

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Look at verses 37 through 40. Jesus speaking,

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And you do not have his word.

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Imagine hearing that if you were a Jew and you had the whole Old Testament memorized.

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And you do not have his word abiding in you.

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For you do not believe him whom he sent. You can memorize the whole

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Bible. If you don't believe in Jesus, you do not know his word. You search the scriptures because you think that in them, you have eternal life and it is these, speaking of the scriptures, that bear witness about me.

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And you are unwilling to come to me that you may have life. So how has the

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Father bore witness about Jesus? Through John the Baptist, through the works of Jesus Christ, and through scripture.

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Concerning scripture, Jesus points out he has come to fulfill what was spoken about him.

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I mean, that's what it says right here, verse 37. And you do not have his word.

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I'm going to, excuse me, verse 37. And the Father who sent me has bore witness about me.

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You have neither heard his voice at any time or seen his form. And remember,

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Jesus says, if you've seen me, you've seen the Father. There's a lot going on here. And you do not have his word abiding in you.

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For you do not believe him whom he sent. You search the scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life.

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Right here's the key. It is these, the scriptures, that bear witness about me.

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So we're going to look at a couple things here. Luke chapter 24, beginning in verse 44, and we'll read to verse 47.

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Verse 44. So this will be after Jesus was crucified.

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He was buried and rose again. And he is walking with some of his followers on the road to Emmaus.

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And right here, Jesus reveals himself to them. So verse 44.

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Now he said to them, these are my words, which I have spoken to you while I was still with you.

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That all things written about me, listen, in the law of Moses and the prophets and the

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Psalms must, you hear that, must be fulfilled.

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So everything that was written about him must be fulfilled.

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Fulfilled. Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures.

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And then this beautiful truth, verse 46. And he said to him, thus it is written that the

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Christ would suffer and rise again on the third day and that repentance for the forgiveness of sins will be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.

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You are witnesses of these things. So these things that they are witnesses of, that's, we read that in the

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New Testament. We read that in the

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New Testament. Matthew chapter five, verse 17.

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Jesus speaking, do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets.

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I did not come to abolish them, but to fulfill them. And I could preach a sermon on how this passage of scripture is misinterpreted.

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All that's really being said here is what was written in the law and the prophets have to be fulfilled.

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He did not come to not fulfill, to abolish what was spoken about him.

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He came to fulfill everything that the law and prophets said about him.

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He came to fulfill meaning he came to fulfill. If you don't get anything else, get this, what was spoken about him.

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An easy way to understand in English, the separation of the additions of the Hebrew Bible is the law, the prophets, and the writings.

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The law, the prophets, and the writings. The law, the first five books of Moses, the

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Torah, everything written in them, spoken about Jesus, he came to fulfill. The prophets, all the prophets that spoke about the coming

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Messiah, he came to fulfill. Everything else in the Psalms and the letters and everything that concerning the writings that spoke about him, he came to fulfill.

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He did not come to abolish, meaning if he does not live that life and die that death, he would have abolished them.

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They wouldn't have been fulfilled. By fulfilling, it's him living that life we could not live and taking our punishment in his death, that's all it's speaking of.

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Again, I can do a message on the misinterpretation. Two weeks ago at the conference, you saw a fragment, a fragment.

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We sat down and thought about some of the shadows and the substance. Within minutes, we had 20 something and we could have kept going.

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So a fragment of the shadows that point to Jesus from the Old Testament. Now for the sake of time, we will look at one given to us that we've already spoke about.

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And next week, we're gonna focus in more on this last point, the scriptures.

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It's gonna carry us out to the end of the paragraph. John sees

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Jesus. He sees the substance of something that the

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Israelites had celebrated year after year. The lamb, the

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Paschal lamb, the Passover, wherever you wanna call it. At the very first Passover, we heard it preached beautifully, right?

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The very first Passover, lambs were slaughtered. Blood was applied to the doors.

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And the lamb was consumed until nothing was left.

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And when John saw the substance, he recognized the shadow.

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When he saw the substance, he recognized the shadow. He knew that this thing that they celebrated year after year, this thing that brought bloodshed, this thing that caused them to gather together and to take innocent blood, he knew that it was coming to an end.

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Jesus looks at the Jewish leadership and he says to them in verse 39 and 40, you search the scriptures because you think that in them, that in the scriptures, you think that in them, you have eternal life.

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You think that in your knowledge of them, you have eternal life. It is these, these scriptures that you have memorized that bear witness about me.

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The word of God bears witness about Jesus. Listen to verse 40. And you were unwilling to come to me so that you may have life.

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Look at verse 34b, but I say these things so that you may be saved.

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Jesus is speaking forth the witness of his father so that they, the

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Jewish leadership, may be saved, but they were unwilling to come to him, unwilling to come to him.

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The gospel was laid out for them. The Christ should suffer and that repentance for the forgiveness of sins be proclaimed.

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The father has spoken through John the Baptist, through the works of Jesus Christ and through the scriptures.

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This is the word of God, right? If I remove the New Testament, it's still the word of God, right?

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It's the word of God. God has spoken and it's a witness of who his son is.

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He gave three witnesses. Question is this, have you come to Jesus?

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Do you have life in his name? He has spoken through the

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Baptist. He has spoken through the works of Jesus. He has spoken through scripture.

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And I would just say, if you have not, why not? If you have not, why not?

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What more do you need to believe? You ever thought of that?

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What more evidence do I need to believe? He has spoken by human agents.

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He has spoken by the works done by Jesus that no one can deny. The Jewish leadership could not deny the works.

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And he has spoken by scripture which transcends. It's time. What other proof do you need?

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Let's pray. Father, Lord, in Jesus' name,

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I thank you. And Lord, I just ask that you be merciful to us, a church who have not gathered together for any other purpose than to worship you.

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And Lord, I ask in the name of Jesus Christ, that if there be any here that don't know you, that today they did not hear my voice, but that they heard the voice of Jesus.

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And now, God, as we prepare ourselves to partake in your supper, please use this bread and wine to grow us, to conform us to the image of your beloved son.