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Reading John 5:37-47 where Jesus rebukes the Pharisees for misinterpreting the Scriptures, otherwise they'd know who Jesus is. Visit wwutt.com for all our videos!
Jesus said to the Pharisees, you search the scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life. You think that by obeying the laws that you will merit your salvation. But you've missed the point.
The scriptures point to Jesus when we understand the text.
You're listening to When We Understand the Text, committed to sound teaching of the Word of God. For questions and comments, email whenweunderstandthetext at gmail .com. And don't forget our website, www .tt .com.
Here's our host, Pastor Gabe.
Thank you, Becky. We continue with our study of John chapter 5, and we'll finish up the chapter today. I'll begin reading in verse 37 to verse 47. The apostle John wrote the words of Christ,. And the Father who sent me has himself borne witness about me,.
His voice you have never heard, His form you have never seen,. And you do not have His word abiding in you,. For you do not believe the one whom He has sent. You search the scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life,.
And it is they that bear witness about me. Yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life. I do not receive glory from people,. But I know that you do not have the love of God within you. I have come in my Father's name, and you do not receive me.
If another comes in his own name, you will receive him. How can you believe when you receive glory from one another, And do not seek the glory that comes from the only God? Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father.
There is one who accuses you, Moses, on whom you have set your hope. For if you believed in Moses, you would believe in me, for he wrote of me. But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe my words?
So in verse 37, Jesus says,. And the Father who sent me has himself borne witness about me. Now, the Father has borne witness about Jesus in two ways. One is by his word. In the Old Testament, all of the words and prophecies pertaining to Christ, Things that Jesus has fulfilled, and even other prophecies that he has yet to fulfill, All of these things bear witness to Jesus having been sent by the Father.
Now, Jesus is going to make that reference to the word a little bit later on in this discourse. In this particular context, he's especially referring to the works that he does. Back in verse 36, The very works that I am doing bear witness about me that the Father has sent me.
And the Father who sent me has himself borne witness about me. So the miracles that Jesus does affirm that he has been sent from heaven. Who else could do the kinds of miracles and signs and wonders that he does?
Even Nicodemus recognized this. For when Nicodemus was addressing Jesus, he said to him, Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God,. For no one can do the signs that you do, unless God is with him.
Now, Nicodemus probably only thought of him as a prophet, Not really as the son of God. But there was surely something happening with Jesus that was worth paying attention to. And based on what was said in the scriptures, in the Old Testament, About the prophets, it was enough for Nicodemus to go, God is with this guy.
Whatever he is saying is a word that's come from God. So he's coming to Jesus to hear what it is that he is preaching. What his message means. And the first thing that Jesus said was, it was flabbergasting to Nicodemus.
In order to see the kingdom of God, you must be born again. Nicodemus didn't understand that. And over and over, Jesus is giving him Old Testament passages That talk about who Jesus is and what he is accomplishing.
But Nicodemus didn't understand. Even though he knew the Old Testament and taught it to Israel. And Jesus rebuked him for that. Are you not the teacher of Israel and yet you don't understand? So even Nicodemus recognized, with Jesus able to do these miracles, He was someone who was sent from God.
Furthermore, when Jesus sends out the apostles, They perform miracles, which shows they have been sent by Jesus Christ. Who is therefore doing the will of the Father. In Matthew chapter 10, he sends out the 12 apostles.
And he says, go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. And proclaim as you go, saying, the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, cast out demons. These are the signs, these miraculous works, That these men have been sent by God.
And the apostles would continue to do these works Even after Jesus had ascended into heaven. In Hebrews chapter 2, we read that this great salvation Was declared at first by the Lord. And it was attested to us by those who heard.
While God also bore witness by signs and wonders and various miracles And by gifts of the Holy Spirit, distributed according to His will. Now the interesting thing there, in those two verses, You have a reference to the Lord, to God, and to Holy Spirit.
The Lord is a reference to Christ. God is a reference to the Father. So where it says in verse 4, God also bore witness By signs and wonders and various miracles, The ability to do these miracles, which was given to the apostles to do.
Jesus did these miracles, He sent His apostles out Performing these signs. They point back to the Father. That what they are doing is the will of the Father. And then also the Holy Spirit mentioned there.
Gifts of the Holy Spirit, distributed according to His will. So this preaching of the Gospel and the affirmation of this message By signs and wonders. This is a Trinitarian work. God the Father bringing about the salvation of His elect Whom He had predestined before the foundation of the world.
And He has effected their salvation through the sacrifice of His Son Jesus Christ Poured into the hearts of believers by the Holy Spirit who dwells within them. So Jesus here saying that the works that He does Bears witness that the Father has given me these things to accomplish.
These very works that I am doing bear witness about me that the Father has sent me. Verse 37, and the Father who sent me has Himself borne witness about me. His voice you have never heard. Now if the Pharisees had been at Jesus' baptism with John the Baptist They would have heard the voice of God.
There were some disciples among Jesus that did hear The voice of God from heaven say, This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. And saw the Holy Spirit come and rest on Him in the form of a dove.
The Pharisees weren't there. They sent other messengers. They did not come out and see for themselves. So they did not hear the voice of God from heaven. Or else they would know who Jesus is. They would hear the testimony from heaven above That this is my beloved Son.
Jesus goes on to say that His form you have never seen. Now this applies to absolutely everyone. We have never seen God. No one has. Exodus 33 20 says that no one can see my face and live. That's what God says to Moses.
So then you go to the testimony that we heard last week. The one that I played from Kim Walker-Smith Who is one of the praise and worship leaders at Bethel Church in Redding, California. And she claimed in a vision to have seen God the Father.
Well then she saw something that even Moses did not see. Even the apostles did not see. Not until they died and went to heaven. And were there in the presence of the Father Because of the righteousness of the Son that had been given to them.
So there are people out there who claim to have seen what no one else in history has seen. Joseph Smith, the founder of Mormonism, Claims that God the Father appeared to him With Jesus Christ. And the Father said of Christ, This is my son, listen to him.
And then the Father disappeared and Jesus spoke to Joseph Smith. But Smith totally missed that in the scriptures no one can see the face of God and live. How prideful and arrogant of him to insist that he had.
That he had seen something not even the prophets or the apostles had seen. So when Jesus says to the Pharisees, His form you have never seen. That's everybody. No one has seen the form of God. And going back again to John 1 .18 No one has ever seen God.
The only God who is at the Father's side. He has made him known. So Jesus is the one who points us to the Father. Jesus goes on to say to the Pharisees, Verse 38. And you do not have his word abiding in you.
For you do not believe in the one whom he has sent. So again, when Jesus says That the Father who sent me has himself borne witness about me. He's done this through the works that Jesus does. And also through the words that have been said about him.
And now Jesus is going to make reference back to the scriptures. These prophecies that were made about Christ. Some of which he's already fulfilled and many others he is going to fulfill. If you had the word of God abiding in you.
Then you would know who Jesus is. There are plenty of people that know the word of God. But it doesn't abide in them. It's not deep down. Right down to the core. Transforming the person from the inside out.
But rather it's just knowledge that they've stored up for themselves. It's possible to read the Bible as just a book. And it make no impact on you whatsoever. Because you read it as a naturally minded man.
Instead of someone who has been given the spirit of God. Paul makes that clear in 1 Corinthians 2. So there are people out there who will claim to have read the entire Bible. And they're unimpressed with it.
Who will say, well yeah I've read it and it's a bunch of nonsense. You know what a malicious God in the Old Testament. And what a fool Jesus was in the New Testament. The reason why they think so is because they are reading this as a naturally minded person.
The wisdom of God is foolishness to the person who reads the Bible in such a way. They need the spirit of God to understand spiritual truths. And if the Father was truly with the Pharisees. They would understand the word of God and it would abide in them.
It wouldn't just be a set of rules and laws and regulations. That they believed was making them righteous. And they were imposing upon other people saying you have to do these things. In order to have eternal life.
They did not regard the Bible as truly the word of the Father. But had reduced it down to some kind of moralistic guidebook. In order to exalt themselves. In order to say that they were righteous. To grandize their self-righteousness.
So Jesus says you don't have his word abiding in you. For you do not believe in the one whom he has sent. If you love the word of God. If you combed over it. If you searched the scriptures. If you yearned for God to reveal himself to man.
Then you would be looking for this Messiah who had been prophesied and promised in the Old Testament. And the Pharisees weren't doing that. Because otherwise they would know that it was Jesus. Now we have record of some of those who were looking for that Messiah.
Namely in Luke 2 you've got the man Simeon. And the prophetess Anna. Who are in the temple. And they are anxiously awaiting the revelation of the coming Messiah that had been prophesied. And Simeon even says my eyes have seen your salvation.
And now I can die in peace. Because he has seen the promise that was given to Israel. As God promised Simeon that he would see before he died. Jesus said in verse 39 to the Pharisees. You search the scriptures.
Because you think that in them you have eternal life. Now it's true that the Pharisees believed that there was eternal life. Life after death. The Sadducees did not believe that. They actually saw the opposite in the Old Testament than what the Pharisees saw.
When they read in the Old Testament. They did not see any promise of eternal life at all. This life was it. And then we just died and went into the ground. But the Pharisees understood the resurrection of the dead.
And this was one of those doctrines that put the Pharisees and the Sadducees at odds with one another. But the Sadducees were the aristocracy. They were just important people. So after the temple was destroyed in 70 AD.
Which happened before the writing of the gospel of John. The Sadducees ceased to be. They were no more. So they're never mentioned in John's gospel. Because they're not an existing sect of the Sanhedrin anymore.
And their doctrine was just so shaky. What was the point of being a Sadducee anymore? So the Pharisees. This is it. And yet they still believe in eternal life. But they think that their keeping of the law is what's going to merit their salvation.
Their eternal life with God. So Jesus says you're searching the scriptures thinking that by keeping what it is that you're reading. That you're going to have eternal life. And you've missed the point.
You've missed the point of the Old Testament scriptures. They point to the way of eternal life. And it's me. Jesus Christ. It's me. Right here. You should be believing in me. If you were truly looking for eternal life.
You think in the scriptures you find eternal life. But it is they that bear witness about me. The word of God. Testifying to who I am. Yet, verse 40, you refuse to come to me. That you may have life. Jesus' disciples are surely with him here.
As he is saying these things to the Pharisees. And he will say to his disciples later in John 14, 6. I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one gets to the Father. But through me. If they believed in Jesus Christ, they would have eternal life.
Their keeping of the law is not going to merit their salvation. For you can't merit salvation. You cannot be righteous enough to earn a place in the presence of our Holy God. And if the Pharisees knew the scriptures, they would understand this.
They would understand that their works are not enough to get to God. Isaiah said this in Isaiah 64. Behold, you were angry and we sinned. In our sins we have been a long time. And shall we be saved? We have all become like one who is unclean.
And all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment. We all fade like a leaf. And our iniquities, like the wind, take us away. There is no one who calls upon your name. Who rouses himself to take hold of you.
For you have hidden your face from us. And have made us melt in the hands of our iniquities. But now, O Lord, you are our Father. We are the clay. And you are our potter. We are all the work of your hand.
Be not so terribly angry, O Lord. And remember not iniquity forever. Behold, please look. We are your people. Your holy cities have become a wilderness. Zion has become a wilderness. Jerusalem a desolation.
Our holy and beautiful house where our fathers praised you has been burned by fire. And all our pleasant places have become ruins. Will you restrain yourself at these things, O Lord? Will you keep silent and afflict us so terribly?
So notice there that it is God who must rouse himself and act on behalf of his people in order to bring them from this place of iniquity into righteousness. It is the work that God does. Not the work that any man does.
Again, in the words of Isaiah, Behold you are angry and we sinned. In our sins we have been a long time. And shall we be saved? There is no one who calls upon your name. Even our best righteous deeds are like a polluted garment.
Our best deeds are not enough. And then notice what he says in verse 8. But now, O Lord, you are our Father. We are the clay and you are our potter. We are all the work of your hand. Now where else do we hear that?
But when you get to Romans chapter 9, where Paul says, Who are you, O man, to answer back to God? Will what is molded say to its molder, Why have you made me like this? Has the potter no right over the clay to make out of the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use?
What if God, desiring to show His wrath and to make known His power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction in order to make known the riches of His glory for vessels of mercy which He has prepared beforehand for glory?
Isaiah spoke about this and the Apostle Paul repeated it in Romans chapter 9. Isaiah understood that if they were going to come back into the righteousness of God it would have to be because the potter decides these vessels I'm going to use for my honor.
These are going to be for destruction. So Isaiah 64 .8 says We are all the work of your hand. That's every person, everyone is the work of God's hand but some will be made for mercy and others will be made for wrath.
And so essentially what Isaiah is praying for here in Isaiah 64 is that God, the potter, would indeed make them for righteousness objects of mercy and grace rather than being destroyed by His wrath. That's what Isaiah is asking for.
And had the Pharisees understood the words of the prophet they would know that eternal life does not come by their own works for even our righteous deeds are as a polluted garment. Going on in John 5 verses 41 and 42 Jesus said I do not receive glory from people but I know that you do not have the love of God within you.
Essentially what Jesus is saying here is that He did not come for His own glory. That doesn't mean we shouldn't worship the Son but the reason why Jesus came was to do the will of the Father. It was all to the glory of the Father and in so doing the Father glorifies the Son.
But Jesus didn't come to heap praise upon Himself from people. He's not looking for fame and acclaim and approval from others. He has come to do the will of His Father but He knows that the love of the Father is not in you.
For again love has to come from way deep down, right down from our core and if they loved the word of God to that degree then they would have the love of God in them. They thought that they loved God or at least they said they did.
They honored Him with their lips but their hearts were far from Him as the prophet Isaiah said and Jesus will say that as well. They thought that by their keeping of the law and by what they could show on the outside they would display some sort of zeal for God.
But Jesus says of them, I know that the love of God is not in you. I have come in my Father's name and you don't receive me. If another comes in His own name you will receive Him. How can you believe when you receive glory from one another and do not seek the glory that comes from the only God?
This is Jesus drawing an argument from general revelation. If somebody proclaims His own glory you'll applaud that guy. You'll go, hey good job man. We like you come and let us hear more from you. But they don't receive Jesus even though He comes proclaiming the glory of the one who they should be looking for and that is the Father.
Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father. There is one who accuses you, Moses, on whom you have set your hope. For if you believed Moses, you would believe me. For he wrote of me. But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe my words?
The very things that, or the very word that the Pharisees appealed to thinking that in that word they had salvation is instead going to be the very thing that is going to lead to their condemnation. Jesus said the following in Luke 16 .31.
If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead. So they should be able to see in the word of Moses who Jesus is. And if they don't believe Moses' words about Christ, then once Jesus rises from the grave, they're not going to believe that either because their heart is too hard toward God.
Let us give praise and thanks to him for his word that he has given to us that we may know who Jesus is and we may glorify his father who is in heaven. It is indeed the scriptures that testify about Jesus Christ.
So we must love his word. And as we study his word, we will come to know him as well. Grow in deeper relationship with our father who is in heaven. Let us pray. Our great God, we thank you for this salvation in Christ.
And I pray that we would love your word and we would cherish your word and it not just be a thing on the surface. Not just be a thing that we're doing and thinking that by doing this that we somehow look like a good Christian to other people and so therefore we must be.
But I pray that word gets deep down inside into our hearts, convicting us of sin and desiring the righteousness of God. May we not close up our lips toward you but may we open our lips and praise you and pray to you and exalt your glorious name for you are worthy of our worship.
Let our faith be genuine. We understand the words of the dad who said to Jesus, Lord, I believe. Now help my unbelief. And may that be our cry as well. We've come to believe in you. Now help us in those areas where we still don't have the faith that we should.
Grow us in holiness and in the knowledge of you in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
You've been listening to When We Understand the Text with Pastor Gabe Hughes. Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday Gabe will be going through a New Testament study. Then on Thursday we look at an Old Testament book.
On Friday we take questions from the listeners and viewers. Tomorrow we'll pick up on an Old Testament study, When We Understand the Text.