The Witness Of Jesus - [John 5:31-47]

The Healing of the Paralytic and the Setup for John 5

Going to be looking at John chapter 5 verses 31 to 47 it will complete the third lesson that we have had from the book of John chapter 5. We have seen John 5 1 to 15 where we saw the healing of the paralytic by Jesus the compassion that he had for him and then verses 16 through 30 we saw about who Jesus was and we found how this healing was an instrument in the teaching that follows in the rest of chapter 5.

In fact for us to follow up from 31 to 47 we need to have a rough idea of what actually happened and as I know some of you haven't been here in the past I would like to quickly read through 1 through 30 and then we will begin with verse 31.

Can I have a volunteer read verses 1 through 15? Brian. Thank you Brian. So here we see the incident the event that actually causes Jesus teaching in the rest of the chapter and we see primarily Jesus compassion on this man one among many that were there and Jesus heals him with his word instantaneously and the man receives healing and of course we read that this was on the Sabbath that starts the controversy that the Jewish authorities are going to question who Jesus is and how could he heal on the Sabbath and we find the response of the paralytic is not necessarily one that is glorifying to God.

It doesn't indicate clearly here that this man did come to faith in Jesus Christ. But what we learned from this first section was that Jesus is compassionate and he does a mighty work of healing here on the Sabbath and it gets the attention of the Jewish authorities and verses 16 through 30.

Can I have someone else read? Yes Daniel. Thank you. I know this reading was a little long but I wanted us to read this because it is in the context of what Jesus has just spoken that we have today's passage that we need to be able to expand and understand Jesus teaching.

In verses 16 through 30 what we see is Jesus proclaiming his deity his unique relationship with the father as the only son of God. He is the son of man, the son of God and as the son in an unqualified manner to himself and in fact this passage is central in our understanding of the relationship between the father and the son.

The love that the father has for him, the works that the son does because of his relationship with the father and in fact as we go from 31 to 47 what you will see again and again is that the son is there is witness to who the son is and that comes out of this unique relationship that the father and the son have and Jesus now talks about the witness that these people have to who Jesus is and that they are not without excuse.

In fact we will start by looking at who Jesus is then we will look at the witness of John, we will see the works that Jesus is doing which testify to him, we will see the scriptures and we will also see the glory and the judgment that come from the witnessing to Jesus Christ and the judgment that falls upon the people.

So let's begin with verse 31, we will read with 31 and 32 here. If I alone testify about myself, my testimony is not true. There is another who testifies of me and I know that the testimony which he gives about me is true.

Let's talk a minute about this word testify. What does this word testify mean or witness? Bruce? Very good. So someone who is it's a solemn occasion and here you are you know maybe on oath or under solemn declaration that what you are saying is indeed true and you are doing it in a legal setting.

Now who would be one who is qualified to testify? Someone who has seen, you can't just say I believe this thing and therefore I am just coming out and saying this. Here is someone who has directly seen and is now coming and proclaiming what he has heard.

Thank you. Now the first verse Jesus actually says you have to tie this up closely with the previous preceding verses and without that it is hard for us to interpret the rest of this passage. We have to recognize that when Jesus is talking about himself he is talking in relationship with the father.

There is a tight union that is there between the son and the father and it is out of that that everything Jesus does and says must be interpreted. In verse 31 it says if I alone or alone is added there, if I testify about myself my testimony is not true or valid and the normal context in which we think of is the testimony of witnesses.

If you look at the old mosaic law you need how many people to testify to some crime that somebody did? You need two or more and here you have that is not the primary sense in which this verse actually comes out.

In fact you will look at it and say you see that when Jesus testifies to something it is not just he alone but it is the father who is within him who is also affirming what is happening. There is a sense in which the validity of multiple witnesses is necessary and Jesus will actually refer to those.

But when Jesus says myself what he is actually talking about is not just he as a human being just by himself here he has a relationship with the father and everything he is saying everything he is doing is coming through the father and that is the sense in which you will look at the testimony that Jesus provides and Jesus will give more examples of what that is in a few verses down.

So in verse 32 when he says there is another who testifies of me and I know that the testimony he gives about me is true who is the other that you think he is talking about here? He is in fact talking about God the father.

If you do read quickly you will see 32 and 33 and the natural tendency would be to connect that other with John the Baptist. John 8 18 can you read that please? Thank you very much excellent. And here we see in an overarching view of the testimony Jesus says there is another who testifies to me and that is God himself and if you look at the context in which Jesus is addressing this you have the Jewish authorities who were initially upset that he was doing something on the Sabbath then they got even more upset when they realized that he is saying he has a relationship with the father that is making himself equal with God and now Jesus comes and says here is the testimony that I have to everything that I have said before and it is not just me it is the father himself who is testifying to who I am and when he says I know that the testimony he bears about me is true here is Jesus talking about something that the people are not just getting he is saying here is an inner awareness of God here is Jesus who knows who the father is who has such a tight relationship with the father that the people really cannot comprehend and then he now comes down to verse 33 where he now says okay you have no excuse here is the person that you have had testify to yourself so let us read verses 33 to 35 talking about John the Baptist.

You have sent to John and he has testified to the truth but the testimony which I receive is not from man but I say these things so that you may be saved. He was the lamp that was burning and was shining and you were willing to rejoice for a while in his light.

John here John the Baptist and it says he has testified to the truth. It is a perfect tense something that has happened in the past which continues to have a signifying significance in the present. Now what events are coming to your mind when you think of he has testified to the truth.

What has John the Baptist witnessed to the baptism of Jesus at the time of in John 1 33 he said I did not recognize him but he who sent me to baptize in the water said to me you will see the spirit descending on him.

And in verse 34 he says I have seen and I have testified that this is the son of God. So that was one testimony. Any other words witnessing that John did to Jesus Christ. Yes specifically to Mary and his mother.

But yes that is true. Yes that is right and right. Following in chapter 1 when he sees Jesus for the first time was 36 outside of the baptism he says behold the Lamb of God. In fact following up on that the first two disciples of Jesus come from John the Baptist and start following Jesus.

We have John the Apostle and Andrew. And there is one more event and actually we will get to that in a minute. No actually this is the place we get to it. So if you remember in John chapter 1 verse 19 it begins with the testimony of Jesus.

It says this is the testimony of John when the Jews sent priests and Levites to him in Jerusalem to ask him who are you. In fact here was a time where John was so popular. The whole Israel had gone out to listen to him and they wanted to know if John was the Messiah.

And so there was an official delegation from the Jewish authorities going to John the Baptist to find out who he was. And that was a time where he had declared clearly to the Jewish people that he is not the one and there was going to be someone else after him.

And in fact the next two days is where we get the testimony the Lamb of God who has come to take away the sin of the world. And John proclaims Jesus as the Messiah. And John had publicly proclaimed this that you know Jesus was the Messiah.

He was the one who was very popular. The people all went to him. The Jewish authorities went to find out if he was John the Baptist and he declared in public testimony that it was Jesus who was the Christ.

So that is what Jesus is referring to here in chapter 5 verse 33 that you have sent John and he has borne witness to the truth. But then in verse 34 Jesus again reiterates the fact you know for whom whose purpose is this testimony.

You know John's witness was not something that Jesus needed to say oh John is now telling me that I'm the Messiah so I must be the Messiah. That's not the point at all. The point was what John did John the Baptist did was for the people to recognize that this was the man that the scriptures were pointing to.

But Jesus understanding of who he is is internal to himself. And it is with the father and the son that he has that knowledge of his of who he is. And one other thing about the perfect tenses. So what is what Jesus is now saying is you know here is something that has happened.

It's historical here is something all of Israel is aware of John the Baptist. Everybody knew he's from God. John the Baptist publicly proclaimed that I am the one who is to come. And in fact the language in which Jesus says this seems like John the Baptist was either dead or imprisoned doesn't look like he's continuing to do his ministry at this point.

So he's saying you know John the Baptist did that at that point in time. And all of you know that that was true. So that is a continuing implication of what he has said before. Now there's something that he says about John the Baptist and I think you know when we apply this to ourselves we look at it more closely.

But he says he was burning. He was. I have two translations here. I'll come back to the ASV. He was a lamp that was burning and was shining. A lamp that was burning and was shining. And you were willing to rejoice for a while in his light.

In one interesting thing I found out studying this was in Psalm 131 verses 16 and 17. You have a very similar language especially in the Septuagint the Greek translation of the Old Testament. You have very very similar words.

The lamp that is used here is a word called a lichnos. It's not the word force or the light that it talks about Jesus Christ. If you look at John 1 1 to 18 it talks about the light that has come into the world.

That light is Jesus Christ. That is not John the Baptist that is force. The light that has light within itself. The lichnos or the lamp is something that receives the fire from someone else and it burns while it has that light in it.

And that's the kind of light that John the Baptist has. Yes it most likely would be. I didn't check but you're right the foolish and the wise virgins because they had the oil and if they ran out of oil.

And here again you know John was very explicit about him not being the light that has come. And here Jesus again clearly points out that he's a lamp that burned for us for a while. And both the words the lichnos and in fact in Psalm 131 verse 17 it talks about the Christos.

In the Septuagint here is the lamp that was going to come and shine before the Messiah. You know proclaim who this Messiah was. And even the word enjoy for a season is used in verse 16. So it seems like a very prophetic passage there that is now Jesus again verbalizes here when he says for a while you know the first time I read this it seemed almost like well John the Baptist was ministering for a while.

Now he is no more. So maybe that was the time when they enjoyed it. But actually this is more of an indictment of the people when they heard what John was preaching. You know there was a time when people were all excited about John the Baptist.

You know is this the Messiah. Is this the one that we need to go to. People were crowding out of Jerusalem and the countryside to go and listen to who John the Baptist was. But Jesus here is pretty much saying that was short-lived.

You know you you had the euphoria of visiting a prophet and then the prophet became a fixture. You know you you you heard him and he was that was all to it. You know you you went back to your sin. And you've forgotten what John the Baptist has told you about the Messiah who is to come.

He kept saying over and over again I'm not the one. I'm the one who is a forerunner to the king. And when the king comes you have forgotten the message. Okay. So that's the first testimony that we have for the people is John the Baptist.

The Works of the Father Through the Son

And in verse 36 Jesus points to a second testimony. And here he says. But the testimony which I have is greater than the testimony of John for the works which the father has given me to accomplish the very works that I do testify about me that the father has sent me.

And here again for us to understand this passage we need to look at what works the father what works the son is doing. He makes it very very clear that the works he's doing are flowing out of the works that the father has given him to do.

So he is doing what the father has told him to do. And that is what testifies to who Jesus is as the son of God and as the Messiah who was to come. And it is these works that he is doing that testify to the authority that God has given him to do the things as well as to proclaim the truth that he has come to do.

Now when you think of the works what works are you thinking that Jesus is referring to here it was more specifically the miracle that has just happened which is the healing of the paralytic. Any other works that Jesus did that the people could look back on.

If you look at what has happened until this until this point in time there's many signs that Jesus has done. In fact the very first in John chapter 2 when he was at the temple he did many signs and the people were all amazed and started to put their faith in him although Jesus knew that the kind of faith that they had was not genuine.

And he said you know I know the hearts of men and he did not trust himself to any of these men. And he was doing many signs. And ultimately the work that he will point out in the end is the cross where he is to be exalted and lifted up and complete the work that the father has brought him here to do.

But at this point in time he has done many signs. End of chapter 2. And even in fact in this verse if you look at verse 16 it says the Jews are persecuting Jesus because he was doing these things on the Sabbath.

It was a pattern it wasn't just an isolated incident here or there. Here was Jesus doing things that nobody else could do. You know blind man. Later nobody has heard of healing someone who has been born blind.

And and here there is evidence upon evidence of the works that Jesus has done. And the people have no excuse in the light of what Jesus is doing. And these works are an outflow of what the father has sent him to do.

And I think this is very important for us to understand because we will when we come back and apply this to ourselves we will ask the question what works are we to do. And we will look at that closely in the sense of the father sending the son and the son sending us later on.

But again in this particular instance they had John the Baptist. They had seen all the works that Jesus did. And then finally verses 37 to 40 Jesus talks about something extremely important that the Jewish people could not have ignored.

The Father's Voice, the Scriptures, and Eternal Life

So in 37 to 40 we read. And the father who sent me he has testified of me. You have neither heard his voice at any time not seen his form. You do not have his word abiding in you. For you do not believe him whom he sent.

You said the scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life. It is these that testify about me. And you are unwilling to come to me so that you may have life. So he says he begins by saying that the father who sent me has testified to me.

So what what is he. What specific reference does Jesus have here when he says the father has testified to me. What is Jesus talking about when he says the father has testified to me. That's right. At the baptism we have the voice of the father saying this is my son.

And although that particular event is not recorded in the gospel of John that was something that the other gospels record. And everybody is well aware of what happened when Jesus was baptized and he rose from the water.

So that was one. And here again we are we hear about the scriptures which the father has given which proclaim the coming of the Messiah. And in fact for us as believers now when you look back at all the scriptures there's tons of scripture that talk about who this Christ is.

What is it that he would do and how we would be able to recognize him as the Messiah to come. Yes Bruce. Yes we will actually talk about those three things. You haven't seen his voice you haven't heard his voice you haven't seen his form.

And you do not have his word abiding in him. That's a strong indictment of the people at that time. We will we will look at that in a minute. But you're right in terms of the connection between those two verses I think he's just contrasting.

Actually when you say the view there he's he's trying to distinguish himself from the people. That is a very strong adverse serial. You which is you know as far as the father he has sent me. But you have not seen him.

You have not heard him. You have not. You do not have his word within you. And so Jesus is talking about where they stood in relation to God as opposed to himself who was sent by God and who's been who has the testimony of God.

That's a good point. Actually I never. Okay. That's an excellent point. Because you're right there if the general public did hear the voice of the father although I think in mark it talks about the thing the voice sounding like thunder.

But but you're right the we will we'll talk about that in a minute. Sorry you just stumped me. Let me just finish this and we'll look at that passage and what that means in particular. There's also the other aspect of the witness that the that God gives to each person who comes to faith in Christ.

But we will we will not spend too much time on that. Now let's come to those three aspects that Bruce just pointed out which is in verse 37 and 38. The first thing is the voice. You have not heard his.

You have neither heard his voice at any time nor seen his form. Can you think of some of the Old Testament saints that heard the voice of God Job Moses. Moses is the more famous friend of God who communed with God in an intimate manner.

And so the people knew what it was to have a close and intimate relationship with God. It was a scary thing a terrifying thing. In fact at the time of Moses everybody else said you know you talk with God and you just tell us we don't we don't need that kind of intimacy because it was it's hard for a sinful man to face a holy God.

But they knew what it was to have communion with God. They would. They knew the Saints in the past who had spoken to God and this likewise we also have those who had seen the form of God because when you think of it you can think of again Moses in the when the glory of the Lord passed over him and the Lord covered his eyes.

And also we have the pre-incarnate Christ. You know the various events where the angel of the Lord met with the different Saints in the Old Old Testament. Can you think of some Shadrach Meshach Abednego in the fiery furnace.

Yes Jacob in when he wrestled with him at Peniel. Yes. And he said you know this is yes. Ah yes before Samson was born that he would have a judge that would rescue Israel. So we had many cases where the people had encountered God and these were very personal encounters that the people of Israel had had before.

And when Jesus is talking to them the people now where he is facing they know what he is referring to. And here and then there was one more thing he says and that probably would have stung the most. He said you know you do not have his word abiding in you.

And here were people especially Jewish authorities they you know held a very high regard for the Word of God. And here he says you do not have God's Word abiding in you. And that that would be a stinger because you know here they it was on the basis of what they thought were their oral traditions that they said Jesus is not keeping the Sabbath.

And then they thought that their understanding of the scriptures would lead them to reject this man who claims to be God. And here Jesus now comes and tells them you know you do not even have his word abiding in you.

And he's going to explain that in in in pretty extensive detail. And the in the indictment that he's going to bring here is for the people and their relationship with God because they think that their relationship with God should cost them to reject this Messiah who is to come.

And here Jesus is coming and saying you guys have no relationship with God at all. You do not hear his voice. You do not understand what God is saying. You do not have intimate relationship with the God as you think you do you have not seen his form.

And in fact when you think of how Jesus is talking here he's saying you know I am here I'm sent by God and I'm saying the words of God and you here have no relationship with him at all. And and then with that as the basis he's now going to explain how the scriptures have talked about Jesus Christ.

In fact for a minute we we want to talk about the scriptures because that is the basis for the rest of the passage. Here he says in verse 39 you search the scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life.

It is these that testify about me. Let's look at the first half of the verse here you think that in them you have eternal life. What do you think Jesus is saying here by following the law you you're nailing the main center problem with the way they view the law.

Yes that's a good point. Yes. Yes. Exactly. And that's the whole point of the scriptures. When you look at the scriptures all of the scriptures are pointing to the one who was to come and here was the one that has come as a fulfillment of everything that the scriptures are talked about.

And here they have they were so blind that they could not see the one that Christ that was to come that the scriptures were pointing to. In fact when you think of the life-giving nature of the scriptures in actually we didn't look at some of the references I had.

But if you look at Psalm 119 he talks about the precepts of God and how it is good to follow the precepts of God. You know going back to what Lewis was saying when you hear the voice of God it is by and again through the book of John you see it is you show your love for God by obeying his commandments.

So when you have a genuine relationship with God the Father your life shows that by obeying what he what pleases him. And how do you know what pleases him. The scripture tells you that you know here are the things that please God.

And when you have a relationship with God and that flows out and works that are pleasing to him that is great and that is life. And here the people what they had done was they had it all upside down. They had all the minutest details of what they thought please God and did those things thinking that doing those things would somehow please give them a relationship with God.

Yes. Yes. And that's that's an excellent point. Because if you think of the first century Jerusalem here were people who were oppressed who were looking at all these you know the Maccabees a couple of a century ago had cost their freedom.

They're thinking of a son of David and so they are. They're thinking of political Messiah. Whereas when you when they looked at the scriptures they could have seen very clearly. You know you cannot look at Isaiah 53 and think of anything else than salvation from sin as a central aspect of what the Messiah was to do.

Very good point. Because it was their will that they were carrying out rather than the will of the father in recognizing the Messiah that the scriptures pointed to. Okay so moving on verses 41 to 44 it talks about the glory that Jesus receives.

Glory from God, Not from Men

He says in verse 41 I do not receive glory from men. But I know you that you do not have the love of God in yourselves. I have come in my father's names and you do not receive me. If anyone if another comes in his own name you will receive him.

How can you believe when you receive glory from one another. And you do not seek the glory that is from the one and only God. Yeah you know Jesus here is very clear saying you know I'm not trying to please you.

If I wanted to I you know I could have done miracle. I mean in John chapter 6 you will see that he multiplies the bread and the loaves and the people just want to make him king. And it was no difficulty at all for Jesus to do that but his sole purpose was to please the father who sent him and his glory comes from him alone.

And he was not doing this to get the glory of men. And when he says you do not have the love of God within you he's saying that you do not love God. It is the love that people have for God and that is absent within you.

And when Jesus contrast you know I come in my father's name. And another way to come in his own name he is actually talking about events that have happened in that time period. There were many who came as false Christ who call themselves a Messiah thinking that they could liberate the people and the people just went after them thinking that you know here is Savior that would rescue them from all the oppression that Rome had.

And we'll go after him. In fact that would continue even up until 780 70 and beyond where people will just come up and say you know follow me and I will be your Savior. And the people would go after people who came in their own name rather than those.

And then the one who came in the name of the father so the glory that Jesus received is from the father alone. And then in conclusion here verses 45 to 47 we look at serious judgment that this rejection of the Messiah brings.

Moses Will Accuse Those Who Reject Christ

So if you read verse 45 it says do not think that I will accuse you before the father. The one who accuses you is Moses in whom you have set your hope for if you believed Moses you would believe me for he wrote about me.

But if you do not believe his writings how will you believe my words. Moses. When when the Israelites thought of Moses what do you think would have come to mind. Who was Moses in the people of. In the in the minds of the people of Israel he was a liberator.

He'd brought them out of Egypt and into the problem to the promised land. He was the lawgiver. Yes and he was the mediator. If you remember the people were sending time and again in the journey in the Exodus.

And Moses would come and stand for the people before God and pray for them intercede for them. And that is the thought that these people have before the Messiah came which is Moses is interceding for us.

And here Jesus is saying Moses is the one who is going to accuse you. And why. And the reason he gives here is that he wrote off me you know Moses. And that's the point going back to the scriptures pointing to Christ everything that was written whether it was the law the prophets or the writings everything was pointing to the Messiah who was to come.

And Moses actually can you think of a verse where Moses talks about Jesus you told me 1815 where it talks about the other prophet another prophet whom the Lord will send like me. And that's right. So you had a direct prophecy to Christ in in Moses.

But all of the scriptures were indeed pointing to Jesus. And here Jesus makes it very clear that it is Moses who is going to be your accuser. And in fact the law as we read in the rest of the New Testament is going to be a standard which is not going to bring life but death because by the law you have a knowledge of sin.

And we know that no one is able to keep the law in its full standard. And there is one who has done that and who will give life through his complete perfect work on the cross on our behalf. Again when he talks about belief here he is talking not just about in the in a sense of hearing the audible voice here he is talking about a right understanding of what the law talks about which is pointing to Christ.

It is a hearty obedience works that comes out of a genuine desire to please God out of a relationship with him. And all of this is motivated by faith. Now when Jesus says if you do not believe his writings how will you believe my words.

In fact he does that even in verse 44 where he talks about the glory from one another and not the glory from God. Here he's saying you know if you can't even understand Moses there's really no way you can understand me because that's laying the foundation on which you the Jewish people were to wait for your Messiah and believe what I am now saying to you.

So in summary what were all the witness or the testimony that the Jewish people had and just recount them. They first had John the Baptist pointing to this they had the works of Jesus Christ referring to the works of the father through Jesus.

We also had the father himself in the sense of the works the words that Jesus spoke and who Jesus Christ was as a fulfillment of all scripture. So in a few minutes that we have left here I want to look at what this means to us.

Living as Witnesses Through Word, Works, and Love

You know in all of John chapter 5 should give us a sense of the glory of who Jesus Christ is the one who was one with the father the very son of God himself. And in what ways are we to be witnesses in the world that we are called to.

And what I want to do here is you know are the people that we witness to may not be first century Jewish people you know steeped in the Jewish traditions and in the false Jewish traditions and even in the scriptures.

But the people that we witness to today have the same problem the problem of sin and separation from God. And we have the same message which is a message of reconciliation through Jesus Christ. So let me throw a few statements out as we start to think of how we can live as witnesses here.

Let's think of John the Baptist. It says he was a lamp that burned and gave light for a season. Are Christians to be like that in some way today. If so how. Set apart. John the Baptist made it very clear he was not here for the comforts of the world but he was here for one purpose.

Excellent point. Yes. Excellent. Yes our we are as lights. Oh you had the same. Yes and one other words I can think of as Philippians 2 15 where it talks about we are in a dark world and we are to shine as lights.

If someone can get it you can just read that. Yeah thank you. And it Philippians 2 earlier it talks about the mind of Christ that we as believers must have in our walk here and that it is that life that lives in obedience to Christ the working out of your salvation.

That is a testimony to the people among whom you live. In fact when you think of the works there is one verse I would want to read that's in John 13 34 to 35. And actually I have a few to read or maybe I'll just read this one at 34 to 35 a new commandment I give to you that you love one another even as I have loved you that you also love one another.