John 5:30-47

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There's many of you I'm sure who have for years spent time opening up opening the

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Bible and studying the Bible And you found this to be true that when you study the same passage you or if you come back to it later.

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There are Different things that the Holy Spirit teaches you about the same

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Passage different things that you learn from year to year even within the same passage Um Expository preaching is what

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I try to do and if you'll if you hear the word expository You'll hear the word inside that word expose

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So what I try to do is is take out from the scripture and expose

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What it says Simple as that so what what comes out or what

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I expose is What I found or what the Holy Spirit has taught me as I study this portion of scripture

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And we can come back a year from now and study it again and the Holy Spirit could teach us something new so What I found what

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I want to share today is Expose what The Holy Spirit has taught me in these scriptures

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We're in John chapter 5 and We're going to read the last part of the chapter and what we're going to do is start in verse 30.

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So John chapter 5 verse 30 and to the end Jesus says

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I Can of mine own self do nothing as I hear I judge and my judgment is just Because I seek not my own will but the will of the

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Father Which hath sent me if I bear witness of myself my witness is not true

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There is another that bears witness of me and I know that the witness which he witnessed of me is true he sent

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John and He bare witness unto the truth, but I received not testimony from man for the things

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I say that you might be saved He was a burning and a shining light and you were willing for a season to rejoice in his life

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But I have a greater witness Than that of John for the works which the

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Father hath given me to finish the same words that I do Bear witness of me that the

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Father hath sent me and the Father himself Which has sent me hath borne witness of me

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You have neither heard his voice at any time nor seen his shape and you have not his word

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Abiding in you for whom he hath sent him you believe not

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Search the scriptures for in them. You think you have eternal life And they are they which testify of me and you will not come to me that you might have life

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I receive not honor from men, but I know you that you have not the love of God in you.

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I Am come in my father's name and you receive me not if another shall come in his own name him you will receive how can you believe which receive honor one of another and Seek not the honor that cometh from God alone

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Do not think that I will accuse you to the father

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There is one that accuseth you even Moses whom you trust For had you believed

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Moses you would have believed me for he wrote of me But if you believe not his writings, how shall you believe my words?

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There's going to be a lot of twos in this message and we'll start out with twos. There's two

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Conclusions to this message, but I want to give you the first one so that it can be the introduction

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So you can think of this conclusion and Play it over in your mind as we go through the text

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So the first conclusion is and you may have seen this as we read through the scripture.

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The question is Do you see Jesus? And I want you to think about that as we go through the text.

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Do you see Jesus the

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Old Testament as Jesus reiterated here in this in this text

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Was all about Jesus the New Testament It was all about Jesus Jesus the one who was

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Jesus the one who is and Jesus the one who is to come So our whole

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Bible is about Jesus as I say many times when we study the book of John John chapter 20 verse 31

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We're reminded that John says I write these things so that you may know that Jesus is the

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Christ the Son of God And that knowing you may believe and believing you will have life So John wrote the whole book of John Because of Jesus So everywhere we turn it's all about Jesus the

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Old Testament the New Testament the book of John Everything is about Jesus. Some of us can say to ourselves.

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I've said that prayer Some of us can say I go to church regular, but there's many who can say that and Still miss

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Jesus And still not see him So my question is as we look through this text

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Do you see Jesus? So let's go through the text Starting at verse 30.

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He says I can do nothing on my own. This is a reiteration of the beginning of this discourse

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Just a reminder in chapter 5 at the beginning. We talked about the man at the pool of Bethesda Jesus caused this or planned this interaction with this man so that he could have a further interaction with the

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Pharisees and He wanted to have an interaction with the Pharisees so that he could have this discourse

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Because this discourse is Jesus saying I am here and I am God This is who

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I am he planned all this out and What he says at the beginning is what he reiterates here in verses 17 but Jesus answered my father worketh hitherto and I work to my father works and I work

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And he says and this is in verse 18. This is why they wanted to kill him Because he was making himself equal to God and then in verse 30 says

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I can do nothing of my own initiative But I do the will of the father There's a reason he did it the way he did it if Jesus was just to come out and say

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I am God They would have picked up on that He's claiming that he's a second

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God or that he is another God you have the father that we've worshipped these many years

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But then you're claiming to be God so are you another God or are you a second

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God either way you're blaspheming and Here they accused him of blaspheming as well.

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But the way that he relates himself to the father Positions himself so that he doesn't contradict the rest of Scripture You're familiar with the other scripture that says the

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Lord your God the Lord is one But yet we also believe the scripture teaches in the Trinity the

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Father the Son and the Holy Spirit Well the way Jesus addresses himself here is so that he doesn't contradict

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Himself with the rest of Scripture. He says I am the father are one

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Whatever he does I do We're two separate individuals, but yet we're equal and I do

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I do nothing on my own initiative Only what I see the father do we're equal so he's expressing that idea that we know of as the

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Trinity and That's the God that we must believe in that's the God that John in 20 verse 31 said you must believe that Jesus is the

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Son of God This idea this is the God that we worship this is the Jesus that we worship and you must believe in him rightly to be saved to know the father and He expresses it in just the right way.

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He says my judgment is just Why is it just? Because it's not a judgment of his own

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But it's the judgment that's the same as the father's It's nothing of his own initiative.

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And what does it mean to be just? To be fair to be right So his judgment is right and what in this discourse from verse 17 through verse 47

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What is this discourse about this discourse? Directed to the Pharisees, which they don't get

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Is to say that I'm Jesus the Son of God the Messiah and I am

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God myself I am proclaiming to you my deity through this message and so that judgment

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Is Right. It's just and why is it right? Why can you believe it because it doesn't come from me

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He says it comes from the father. I Don't do this on my own initiative.

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I'm making this judgment because it comes from the father. That's why it's right So when I say

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I am God you can believe it because it's a judgment from the father and it's just and it's right

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So if you have any interaction with any other folks who have

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Believe in any other religion at your work at school or wherever you go Jesus is saying you have the testimony of the father and it's just and it's right

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That I am God the only way to the father verse 31

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Jesus says If I just give testimony of myself and it's not true, is he contradicting

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Contradicting himself there. No, I don't think so. What Jesus is saying is I'm going to follow your judicial system

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Though the Jewish judicial system was that if you your testimony of yourself didn't count

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You had to have the testimony of others For it to count you couldn't testify for yourself and he would

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Jesus said I'm not going to rely on the testimony that I Say so just because I say it

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That's the way it is He's not relying on that testimony He's going to rely on the testimony of the other to follow their judicial system

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And who was that testimony that he was going to rely on? Verse 32 he tells us he says

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I have a testimony of Another one who testifies of me and his witness is true.

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Who is he referring to? He's referring to his father His father's testimony of himself is true.

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And that's the testimony that he is going to rely on Now that's only one person

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Yes, it's only one person but God testifies and Jesus is going to explain that he testifies in three different ways and Jesus shows them the three different ways that God testifies to them and has testified to them that Jesus is who he says he is and he continues following their judicial system and He takes them from the great but from the least of the witnesses to the greatest of the witnesses so God the

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Father is the witness and It's just and true and you can believe it and here are the three witnesses

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Let's look at the first one verse 34 Verse verse 33, excuse me.

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The first witness is who John the Baptist Jesus says the first witness is

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John the Baptist and he was a prophet sent by God and spoke for God as we learned what the difference was between prophets and priests in the

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Old Testament a prophet was somebody who was sent from God to Speak for God. So what's the evidence for that?

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If we flip over really quickly, it's a chapter 1 verse 33 and 34 listen to this

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It says and I knew him not John was talking about Jesus the he that sent me which was

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God to baptize with water the same said to me upon whom thou

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Shalt see the Spirit descending and remaining on him The same is he which baptizes with the

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Holy Ghost and I saw and bear record that this is the Son of God So John the

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Baptist says here that God has sent me and God has spoke to me and he says

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I Didn't know Jesus was that's why God had to tell me what to look for. Look for the one

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Whom the dove the sins and the Holy Spirit resides on and remains So John was a prophet and he's the first testimony and then in verse 34

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Jesus says something interesting. He says that I say these things

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It's not a testimony of men But of God and I say that so that you may be saved

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What does that mean? How is it not a testimony of men when you said it's the testimony of John the

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Baptist? Jesus is telling them that John the Baptist was a prophet

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What is a prophet one whom is sent from God and speaks for God? So John's message

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John the Baptist his message is not From or of himself, but it is from God of Jesus So what you heard from John the

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Baptist is not his message, but it's God's message So it's not a testimony of men.

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It's the testimony of God so you can believe it And so I'm saying these things so you your eyes may be open so that you may be saved don't believe man believe that it's a message from God and Believing God so that you may be saved

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That's what Jesus is telling me something else interesting in this section

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Talking about the testimony of John If you look in verse 33 first Jesus is telling the

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Pharisees you have to catch it. It's real quick. He says You sent unto

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John What is he saying to them? you the Pharisees and If you remember reading the stories about the

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John the Baptist in the wilderness baptizing There were folks who come representing the Pharisees and he called them some pretty ugly names you brood of vipers

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Who sent you you remember that story Jesus said you sent unto

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John So he's referring back to that time period where the Pharisees Sent folks to John the

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Baptist and then in verse 35. What does he say about those who sent and relayed the message?

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He says you were willing for a little while to rejoice

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Therefore while they accepted they received that John the

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Baptist was a prophet from God He was a lamp. He was a light who shone the light of Jesus and therefore a little while They received

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John as a prophet. What does that mean? That means something really really radical

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If you could put yourselves in the shoes of these Jews Especially the

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Pharisees or any of the Jews at this time just for a moment I ask that you put yourself in their shoes just for a moment

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Who were they? They were the chosen people of God Better than any other race

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They were chosen of God and God blessed them But what did it mean?

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to accept and receive John as a prophet. Well, what was his message?

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Come and be baptized What kind of baptism? Did John perform what was his method?

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It was a baptism of repentance, but the method was Immersion What was the immersion used for that time?

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well, if you were a Gentile and you wanted to become a proselyte which means a

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Gentile convert to the Jewish religion if you wanted to become a proselyte then you had to be baptized by immersion into the

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Jewish religion to it so to accept the baptism of John the

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Baptist and Receive baptism by immersion was to say

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I'm just like the Gentiles if your message is correct John then

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I'm just as alienated from God as the Gentiles and that is a lot to say for the proud and arrogant

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Jewish nation who knows that they are the chosen people of God So therefore a short time they received

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John the Baptist and his message and said To be baptized in this way means

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I agree. I'm just as alienated from God as the

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Gentiles sometimes the Gentiles especially the

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Samaritans were referred to as dogs and to receive his baptism

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Was to acknowledge their alienation from God they did that for a while Now back putting yourselves in your own shoes

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How radical have you been? Have you been radical enough to see sin for what it is that your own sin?

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Has alienated you from God Just as much as it did the

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Jews and the Gentiles Our sin alienates us from God It's not that we don't have a relationship with God we have a

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Bad relationship with God that because of our sins We are enemies with God in our minds through wicked works

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God's wrath abides upon us because of our sin We don't just not have a relationship with him.

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We have a bad relationship with him to where our eternity is set If something doesn't happen

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So, can we be radical today and see sin for what it is and what it has done to our lives

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We've already talked about the 50 ,000 possible plus that are lost in this county alone

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That their eternity is set that they're alienated from God. They just don't not have a relationship with God.

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They have a bad one One that they must face one day Have we died to ourselves and live for Jesus every day do we see him and everything every day

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Let's go to verse 36 The second that was the least of the testimonies.

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This is the second in the middle of the second greatest of the testimonies And what is the testimony of verse 36

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The testimony of the works of Jesus in chapter 5 verse 30 he says

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I only do the will of the Father John 5 19 he does nothing himself only what the

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Father does John 3 verse 2

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Nicodemus and the Pharisees recognized You remember we went over the story of Nicodemus and he comes to Jesus and he and he says we know

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You have come from God because no one can do these signs unless God is with him

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They acknowledged that there was something unique about his works John 11 47 the

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Pharisees are counseling together and they say he is performing many signs

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If we let him go on They say all men will believe

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That's what they're talking about when they counsel together. All men will believe if we let him go on And I want you to notice something when the

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Pharisees talk Mostly in the scriptures. We don't see them talking about Jesus miracles.

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We don't see them talking about his works They recognize them for what they are

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They're not just magic tricks. They're not just miracles. They're not just works They call them out for what they are

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They acknowledge just like Nicodemus said we Know you come from God because you no one can perform these signs and Signs are used to confirm the message and the messenger

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So they use the word signs to acknowledge that they know They're not just works.

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They're not just miracles They're signs from God and we've got to do something about it because he's getting ready to destroy our religion and Everybody's going to believe in him.

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So the second of his testimonies was signs First was the

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Prophet John the Baptist and then the third Verses 37 through 40 the greatest of the testimonies is the scripture

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Jesus says they all testify of him. He told the

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Pharisees here that you search the scriptures and you try to find life These were the most religious people that had ever lived on the face of the earth these

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Pharisees If we could just barely wrap our minds around that concept these

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Pharisees were the most Religious that had ever lived they knew their scriptures like the back of their hand

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Better than anyone else knew the scriptures and they searched and they searched and they searched to try to find life

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But did they find life? Did they see Jesus? No, as Religious as religious as they were and as much as they search the scriptures

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Did they find life? No Because they didn't see Jesus.

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So the question again, I bring back to the table Do you see Jesus? We could be and we'll never compare to the

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Pharisees but we could be the most religious people that there are in Cleveland County We could give all the toys we could give all the bottles of change

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We could give all the the cans of food. We could work in the soup kitchen. We could do all these good deeds but if we miss

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Jesus We've not found life. What is the evidence?

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That you've seen Jesus And that he has changed your heart He's giving you a new heart and you've seen him and trusted in him for your salvation

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What is the evidence that you at one time have seen Jesus? the evidence

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That that one time in your life you saw Jesus and you surrendered to him and he caused you to be born again as this

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Is that you continuously from that moment on? You continue to see

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Jesus and You obey him Jesus says we die to ourselves and we take up our cross daily and follow him

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What does that mean? We see him and we obey him We don't seek our own self and our own desires

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We see Jesus and we obey him and that's got to be true in your family

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That you don't see your children and you don't see your spouse. You don't see your grandchildren You see

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Jesus and you treat them in obedience to Jesus Christ that means you see

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Jesus in your workplace and you obey Jesus and glorify him in your workplace in School and at play and here at church.

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We don't come to church for ourselves We don't come to church for our own entertainment We come to church for Jesus Christ to worship him to edify the

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Saints and then to go out and share the gospel It's for Jesus Christ and the evidence that we've seen him is that we continue to see him today and we obey him in all aspects of our life

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Jesus said to them When that day comes and you meet the Father I'm not going to accuse you

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He said the one whom you put your hope in. He's the one that's going to accuse you

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They put their hope in Moses They read the law.

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They search the scriptures and they tried to get into heaven on their good works by obeying the law and Jesus says

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I'm not going to accuse you the one you put your hope in the law Moses he's going to accuse you

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So what does that tell us the second conclusion to this message is that we cannot trust ourselves or any other way

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For salvation, it's only through Jesus Christ Only through Jesus Christ Not through our good deeds not through some magical prayer not through some religious activity

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It's only putting our trust and faith in Jesus Christ Only through him we've seen already through John as we've studied

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That the Pharisees and the Jews to some degree they put their trust in the prophets

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But it didn't save them We saw that they followed Jesus because of his good works and his good deeds

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He fed them and he healed them and they believe remember in chapter 2 at the end. It says they believed on him because of what he did

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But he didn't entrust himself to them Whom did he trust himself to you?

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Remember the man who came to Jesus because of his child and Jesus says Go your child is made.

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Well, and he trusted in his word It's when we trust and believe in the testimony of Jesus Christ Which we find in the scriptures now the testimony of Jesus Christ We trust and believe that he is

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God that he is the Savior and he can forgive sins And we put our trust in him and his work

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Is when we're saying there are a couple messages

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That we need to understand and then we're finished there's two messages of Moses and there's two messages of the cross the first message of Moses is the law and That's where they study and that's where they put their trust

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But it is a message that we need to understand because it has a purpose Jesus said

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I didn't come to abolish the law So what is the message of the law The message of the law is law is

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Paul said I did not know sin but by the law the law revealed sin to Paul and it reveals sin to us and that was what its purpose was supposed to be to the

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Jews and the Pharisees But I want to explain something and Maybe help us understand something a little bit better when it comes to this

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We've all heard that sin means to what miss The mark, right?

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We've heard that But there's more to it than missing the mark

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Here's the law and we don't do it. We miss the mark There's more to sin than that And let me explain what it is

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You remember what Paul says for all have sinned and fallen short of God's glory.

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What does that mean? Well when we were created we were created as image bearers to reflect

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God and so when we sin It's not just missing the mark.

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Oops. I messed up when we sin We're supposed to reflect

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God's glory we're supposed to reflect who he is to the world and So when

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I sin, I don't just miss the mark I'm portraying I'm reflecting to the world who

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I say my God is So translate that into your life for just a moment

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When you tell a lie What are you saying to the world? You're not just missing the mark

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You're saying to the world because I'm an image bearer and what I the image that I'm bearing is a liar

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Then I'm saying God is a liar When I steal something and take something that doesn't belong to me,

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I'm Reflecting the image of God and saying My God is a thief when

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I dishonor my parents When I lust when I commit murder in my heart when

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I covet When I have another God before him Anytime that I break one of the

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Ten Commandments I'm not just missing the mark. I Bearing the image of God and saying he's a liar.

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He's a thief and I've fallen short of his glory the first message of the cross is

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If you look at Jesus on the cross, the first thing that we should notice is God's wrath on sin

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God hates sin and he is just and he will punish it and he did that on he laid it on Jesus Christ So Moses gives us the law and helps us to understand sin and the first message of the cross is

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God hates sin And he's willing to punish it. The second message of Moses is Jesus told us in Luke 24 27

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Jesus explained to them that Through from Moses through all the prophets it testifies of him

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So the second message of Moses is Jesus Moses tells us about the law and sin and then he tells us about the

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Redeemer Jesus Christ. The second message of the cross is God loves sinners

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The first message is God hates sin and put his wrath and the punishment on his son

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Because of sin, but the second message is God loves sinners There's two things we must do to respond to that message

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Have you been a bad image bearer? Have you sinned and said that this is what my

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God looks like we've all done that We need to acknowledge our sin There's two things that we must do to be saved

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God says in his Word he commands all men everywhere to repent to turn from their sins and The second thing is

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Jesus says if you believe in God believe also in me so that where I go you may be also

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The two things that we must do to be saved is repent of our sins and put our trust in Jesus Christ and See him for the first time

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And look at your life examine your life. Are you seeing him today? Are you obeying him in all areas of your life?

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Because that's the new person that he makes us to be he enables us and gives us that power to do that Have you repented and put your trust in Jesus Christ?

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and if you have See Jesus in your family see

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Jesus at home at work At school at play and obey him and reflect if you'll stand with me.