John 5 Part 3

Good evening, everyone, and welcome back to Church of the Bible. It's a good day to be here, a good day to worship God, and I'm just happy I got one week over with and another week to begin. And we still are having problems with th with one of our videos here. So I don't know what's going on. And I apologize.

I'll have to look into it this week. But by way of announcements, we will have Bible study on Wednesday at 06:30 P.m. Mountain time. It's here in Zoom. We're going to continue our study through sorry, Sean has sent me a message saying my mic is staticy.

We'll be continuing our study through the Book of Daniel. Let's see if I can remember where I'm at. And then there will be no church in Cedar this Friday. We just did the fair this week and we're doing Millford City's 150th birthday over Labor Day weekend. But next Friday will continue as normal until I head out to La, which if everyone wants to be playing for that in September, I'll be heading out to La on the 27th and I'll be there the 27th, 20 Eigth, 29th, 30th, and October 1 is when I'll be arriving home.

We're going for a mission trip with Pastor Logan and Trevor from up in Salt Lake, and we'll be there for those few days. So if you would be praying for that, that would be beneficial. And then I know it's a whole month out, but I'm making announcements now, just so everyone's ready. There will be no Bible study on Wednesday the 27th in September as I will be on my way to La. So just to be mindful for everyone, I'll remind you guys a couple of weeks before, when we get to the 10th and the 17th, I'll be reminding everyone once again, but other than that, I don't think we have any other announcements, so let's pray and let's worship God.

And then I'll see you all here for John, chapter five. We'll be doing the last third of John five today while you're turning there, starting in verse 30, going through the end, let's pray and I'll see you all here in a minute. Father, we thank you for your many blessings that you have given us. Lord, I thank you for the moisture, the water you brought us yesterday. Lord, I thank you for the safety that you have provided to everyone at the fair, Lord, this year there was minimal injuries as compared to other years, so we thank you, Lord, for your providence there as well.

Father, I thank you for the spirit that you have given us, for Your Word that you have given us to come together and to know you, to know who you are. And so I pray now, Father, that as we dig into Your Word, we would know who the Son is today as we discuss Jesus, the Son of God, that our eyes would be open to his nature, his deity, his reality. And Father, I pray that your spirit would speak to us today and not only speak to us, but that our hearts would be receptive to what he has to say. And we say these things in Jesus name we pray. Amen.

Me and my house will serve you, Lord. Lifting holy hands and worship.

We will not bow down to the gods of man. We will worship the God of Israel.

You are holy, holy. There is no one else like you ask for me and my house will serve you, Lord. Lifting holy hands and worship.

We will not bow down to the God of man. We will worship the God of Israel. You are holy, holy, holy. There is no one else like you. There is no one else.

Like you.

There is no one else.

Choose to stay home. You will serve. Come on. Choose to stay home. You will serve.

Do that for me and my house. We will serve you. We will serve you we will not we will not forgot we will not stop we will not stop we will not stop.

It right.

You don't shout out incamoka I don't mind godo godo shadow.

I don't know. You are only me. There is no like you.

Holy.

There is no like you.

We will not bow down the god for man. We will worship the god of it.

Open the eyes of my heart. Lord open the eyes of my heart I want to see I want to see you high lift it up. Shining the light of the glory pour out your power as we sing holy, holy, holy open the eyes of my heart open the eyes of my heart I want to see, Lord I want to see you see you shine, Lord for power as we see shine in the light of your power as we say holy, holy, holy you are high shine Open the eyes of my heart, Lord Jesus. Open the eyes of my heart because I want to see you, lord, I want to see you. I want to see oh, I want to see you.

I want to see you close work.

We cannot win this fight.

Inside our rebel heart we lay down our weapons now we can presence of the love is what's here on this holy ground you made away for peace lay your body down you took our life for place with freedom is marching over we raise our we surrender all the light the live behind amen during worship, I made some adjustments to the audio. Some of the knobs on the soundboard got bumped, so hopefully the static has gone away and everything is a lot better for everybody. Now with that said, we're going to be in John chapter five today. We're going to finish it up with verses 30 through 47. Then we'll be in chapter six next week.

As you're turning to your Bibles, there if you're not already there, just want to remind you what we saw last week. We saw Jesus and his authority. We saw that he did nothing on his own, but he relied upon God the Father for guidance, for advice, for strength. But we also saw that he had the authority to raise the dead, to perform miracles. He has the authority to judge.

Remember God the Father while he sits in the judgment seat. He is not the judge, but the Son is. For it is whom the Son confesses before the Father or denies before the Father that'll determine how judgment is passed. Then we ended last week with a reminder that you cannot honor God the Father without honoring God the Son. It's not possible.

In order to truly worship the Father, you have to give the same honor, respect, and worship to the Son. Otherwise you do not honor the One who sent Jesus.

Lastly, we saw a promise last week from Jesus to us. Jesus says truly. Truly I say to you that the One who hears My word and who believes, the One who sent me, he has eternal life and does not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life. So today, as we pick up, we're going to now see Jesus as the Son of God. Beginning with verse 30.

We're going to just read 30 for now. He says, I am able to do nothing from myself, just as I hear I judge. And my judgment is just because I do not seek my own will, but the will of the One who sent Me.

I love how Jesus starts this. Again today. We begin today in the Word of God says, I can't do anything of my own.

This reminds us, like we saw last week, that Jesus relies upon the Father and the Spirit for strength, for guidance, to know what to do and how to do it. Even though he is God, he relies upon his co members of the Triune God, and they do things in perfect union. He says, I judge. I'm the one who judges. But I pass no judgment without consulting the Father.

And he says and I judge as I am told says just as I hear I judge A few other verses, just that talk about the judgment of Jesus, we're not going to put them up because I didn't give them to Shawnee already. But we do see that Jesus acts as the judge in two Timothy four one. He says, I solemnly charge you before God and Christ Jesus, who is going to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom.

Let me adjust my audio again real quick. Seems we're still having a few issues with the audio if Robbie, Mary, if that's better for you, just let me know. Perfect. Okay.

Second Timothy four one is where I was. I had to get back into this. Jesus will judge the living and the dead. We see this as well in Romans 216 says that on the day when God judges the secret things to people, according to my Gospel, through Christ Jesus, so the Father again sits in that judgment seat, but judges through Christ. Christ is the one who will ultimately pass judgment, but he does so as he hears from the Father.

Something unique that I want to point out here in Romans 216 says that God will judge the secret things of people. The secret things, the things that we've thought in our minds or felt in our hearts or that we've done behind closed doors that you thought you got away with because no one knew about it, no one prosecuted you, no one called you out. It's been 40 years and you still think you're okay.

I want you to know that Jesus will judge the secret things of his people because he knows all, he sees all. And the whole point that Jesus made on the Sermon on the Mount was that it's not the letter of the Law that he is concerned with. He's concerned with the heart.

He's concerned with those secret things. Jesus says it's not what goes in that corrupts you, but it's what comes out.

Because sin is conceived in the heart, in the mind, and it's when that sin comes out that is what corrupts us. He will judge the secret things of his people.

Next, he says, I do nothing on my own, but as I hear, I judge. And then he says my judgment is just. The judgment of Christ is absolutely fair. There is no one who will be unfairly judged, despite what the atheists say. I read a post.

I read it today when I woke up. I saw a post on Quora from somebody. She says her tag, her profile name she used the fake name is Atheist Girl.

And her post said that if you worship a God who rewards you for serving Him but condemns those who don't, you worship a death cult. That is what she said.

Because somehow in her mind, if she doesn't follow our God but still breaks his law and gets judged for it, that's unfair.

So what makes this judgment fair and not fair? Well, first, what makes it fair is the fact that it's God who is passing judgment. That the only person. If you want to call God unfair, let me point you back to the woman caught in adultery. Remember when the Pharisees brought her to him and said the law of Moses says that she should be stoned?

Jesus said that is what the law says though, that he who is without sin cast the first stone, that there was fairness there. Jesus pointed out that none of them could fairly condemn her because all of them were sinners. So what is more fair than a sinless person who is passing judgment, who has no secret agenda, who has no corrupt agenda, passing judgment. But further, who is the Gospel available to? It's available to you.

It's available to me. It's available to my neighbor. It's available to the Muslims in the Middle East. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is freely available to anyone who wants to take it. Remember, we close last week in verse.

How did I lose my verse last week? Jesus says that those who hear my voice and trust in Him who has sent me will pass from death into life.

Verse 24 he has eternal life. Those who hear and who believe, who trust.

John 316 says the same thing that whosoever believeth. Romans ten nine says, if you would believe and confess, Romans ten also tells us that whoever calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. So if the Gospel is freely available to everyone, no strings are attached to it. There's no works attached, no strings, just your acceptance of the Gospel and who Jesus is and your willingness to follow Him. And it's available to everyone.

So if there's no special strings or special rituals or anything else to receive this and the only reason you are being judged is because you refused it, what is unfair?

I'll tell you what's unfair. What's unfair is that you and I get to go through this life and sin and break the law of God and bring shame to his name, and that he is the One who died on our behalf.

He is the One who took the penalty, the punishment, the wages of our sin, the one if no sin was made to be sin so that we could become the righteousness of God on his behalf, that is unfair.

So let me tell you that when you stand before the throne of God and he says, this one is mine, let him into the gates and this one is not, there will be nothing unfair or unjust in the judgment of Christ on that day.

Jesus then says in verse 30, he says, here is why his judgment is just, why it is fair. He says, I do not seek my own will, but the will of the One who sent me.

Let's be honest. If I have my own will, my own agenda at heart, can I fairly judge a circumstance or a situation or a person? No, because I will judge it to manipulate the outcome of my will. But Jesus says, I do not seek my own will. Jesus is not here for his own mission, but he is here for the will, for the desire of the One who sent Him, which is the Father.

The Christian and the sinner's judgment will both be judged, but will be judged with entirely different outcomes. The Christian will be judged and rewarded according to their deeds, and the sinners judged and sent to hell, or to be more appropriate, sent to the lake of fire.

Look at verses 31 to 37 with me says If I testify about myself, my testimony is not true. There is another who testifies about me. And I know that the testimony which he testifies about me is true. He has sent to John and he has testified to the truth. And I do not receive testimony from My people, but I say these things in order that you may be saved.

That one was the lamp which was burning and shining and you wanted to rejoice for an hour in his light. But I have a testimony greater than John's for the works which the Father has given to me that I should complete them. The very works which I am doing. These testify about me.

You have neither heard his voice at any time nor seen his form.

So Jesus begins. He has multiple witnesses here.

I want to look at verse 31 and really examine what he says. Says, if I testify about myself, my testimony is not true. In the Bible, there is a requirement to establish truth. What is that requirement? The Bible says, by the mouth of two to three witnesses shall truth be established.

By the mouth of two or three. So Jesus says, If I testify of myself, it's not true.

But then he goes on to say there's more testimony about me than what I say. And he begins with human testimony. In verses 32 to 35, he talks about John the Baptist. Remember John the Baptist? He went before Jesus and he was baptizing and he was calling people to repentance, for the kingdom of God was at hand.

And he was telling them that the Messiah is coming. And then, if you remember, one day the heavens opened up and John saw the Spirit of God rest upon the Lamb of God. And when John saw that, John pointed to Jesus in the cloud and he told people, behold the Lamb of God which takes away the sins of the world.

John was so loved that even the Pharisees sought him out as the Messiah.

They thought he was the one to come. They even thought he was Elijah.

And he has given testimony. He is born witness to Jesus Christ that he is the Lamb. He's the messiah. He's the one who God has sent.

And then, verse 36, Jesus says, there's yet another testimony of me.

He says, the works which the Father has given to me that I should complete them. The very works which I am doing, these testify about me that the Father has sent me. What does he mean by the works? Well, he has explained this in many various forms. He says, you'll know my disciples by what?

By their fruit. He says, the world will know you're, my disciple, because you love one another. He says, A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, nor can a bad tree produce good fruit. So Jesus is now explaining that the same concept applies to Him. The works that I am doing, the deeds that I'm doing?

They testify that I was sent by God. At this point in time, we've seen Jesus do many things. Jesus has risen the dead. He has healed the sick. He has given sight to the blind.

He has given the ability to walk and jump and run to the lame. He has cast demons out of people.

Is that not testimony that he is the Lamb of God? I mean, let's be real here. The Pharisees, when they saw him casting out devils, what did they say about Jesus?

They said, he is casting demons out by the power and authority of Satan.

And Jesus said to them, a kingdom divided cannot stand right. Satan cannot attack his own kingdom and have it remain. Jesus then goes on to say he says, if I come and don't eat and I'm sad, you will say, look at him. Why is he so gloomy? Says, but if I come happy and rejoicing, you will complain that I'm a drunkard.

Jesus says, I can't win to lose. Says, If I do what you want me to do, you'll find something to complain about. But the works that I do, no one can raise the dead but me.

They testify of who sent me. And then in verses 37 and 38, he says that the Father testifies about Him. The Father who sent me, that one has testified about me. You have neither heard his voice at any time nor seen his form, and you do not have his word residing in yourselves because the one whom that one sent, in this one you do not believe. Ouch.

I don't know how to comment on that.

That is painful to hear.

Did the Father not testify of Jesus when he was baptized? Were not the heavens opened up and the voice of God audibly heard, not just to Jesus or John, but it says the audience audibly heard the voice from heaven which said, this is my beloved Son in who I am well pleased.

How many witnesses do we have for Jesus? It says, we have in the mouth of two or three witnesses, so truth be established. And we have the witness of John the Baptist. We have the witness of the many miracles and works of Jesus, and the witness of the very voice of God booming from the heavens, declaring that this is his beloved Son and whom he is well pleased. But they neither hear nor believe.

And Jesus says, this is why you do not believe. You don't hear because you don't believe in the Father. You don't believe in God.

How many of you think that the Pharisees are now really thinking, this is blasphemous? What do you mean I don't believe in God? I'm a teacher of the law. I'm a scribe. I'm a pharisee.

Of course I believe in God. No, they don't. They believed in their works.

They trusted in the law of Moses, but they did not trust in God. They were not looking for God. They weren't even looking for saving from their sins spiritual salvation. The only thing they were concerned about was a political savior, someone to come and crush Rome out from under them.

They didn't believe in the Father.

As we have read, though, that Jesus has unequivocally proven that he is the Son of God.

Now, those who reject this will find it impossibly difficult to prove that he is not the Son of God, but they'll condemn him anyways.

Let's continue with verses 39 through 47. He says, you search the Scriptures because you think that you have eternal life in them, and it is these that testify about me, and you are not willing to come to me, so you may have life. I do not accept glory from people, but I know you that you do not have the love of God in yourselves. I have come in my Father's name and you do not accept me. If another should come in his own name, you would accept that one.

How are you able to believe if you accept glory from one another and do not seek the glory which is from the only God, do not think that I will accuse you before the Father. The one who accuses you is Moses, in whom you have put your hope for. If you had believed Moses, you would believe me, for that one wrote about me. But if you do not believe that one's writings, how will you believe my words? That's a great question.

If you won't believe in the words of God that he sent through his prophets, how will you believe in the word of Christ? Who is God?

There's a certain people group around here that lives around me who are very religious in nature, and they have a saying. And that saying is, we believe the Bible to be the word of God. So as long as it's translated correctly, it's in their articles of faith, and that is their capsule. Anytime you show them something from the Bible that they don't agree with, they automatically revert, well, we don't believe that, so that must be translated incorrectly.

How about it's translated correctly and you just don't want to believe it or honor it or follow it?

Who determines if it's translated correctly or not? How do you even know? Are you a Greek scholar or a Hebrew scholar?

But anytime it doesn't matter what it is, if you point out something in the Bible they disagree with, their immediate reaction is that was not translated correctly.

I really need to point this verse out to them. Next time I talk with one of them and ask them, if you do not believe in the words of Moses, how will you believe in the words of Christ?

The same can be true for each of us. Do you know there are many, many Christians who do not believe in the first eleven chapters of Genesis?

Thousands, millions, of people who call themselves Christians, but they do not believe Genesis one through eleven is real. They believe it's a poem.

Do you know how many prophecies regarding Christ are in genesis one through eleven?

That genesis one to eleven. It's foundational to our faith.

Where did the world come from? Where do we come from? Or the animals?

Why do we have the mountains and the valleys?

All these other things, those are found in those chapters.

And so I have to say, if you do not believe in the words of Moses, how will you ever believe in the words of Jesus?

Moving backwards though to verses 39 and 40 says you search the scriptures and you'd think that you have eternal life in them. But it is these that testify me, right? The scriptures testify of Jesus. They point to him.

So I have to tell you today, if you are searching the scriptures for hope, for peace, for rest, or for eternal life, but you are not finding Jesus, then you are not getting what you need out of the scriptures. Or if you are finding anything else other than Jesus, you are not getting what you need out of the scriptures. The scriptures don't get me wrong and don't twist what Jesus is saying. Jesus is not saying that the scriptures don't lead us or give us eternal life, but they're saying they do it by pointing us to him.

And so we have eternal life through Jesus. He says, but you're not willing to come to me so that you may have life. They want to do it on their own and that's not unique to them. That's a problem that exists today as well. We want to do it on our own.

Our pride, the number one sin, our pride gets in the way. I don't need a savior, I don't need someone to pay the penalty for me. When I was talking with someone local about salvation, about Jesus doing it all I was able to get them to admit the reason they don't want the gospel that we have and that we offer is because they don't want to be unable to do it.

They want to be able to do it and they don't want to admit that they can't. And so they are unwilling to come to Jesus.

Verses 41 and 42, he says, I don't accept glory from people, but I know you that you do not have the love of God in yourselves. Jesus says, I don't care what people think.

I don't care if you hate me or love me. I don't care if you applaud me. I'm not here for your applause and for your praise.

So many of us, that is what we are here for. So many Christians, they want to be a Christian outwardly. Not so much today, unless they're in populations that heavily praise it in the US. Not so much anymore. But they want to be a Christian outwardly.

So that they'll get the praise of men or they want to give big donations to their church publicly so that the church will know about it. I was in a church in Cedar a number of years ago where there were plaques on, things donated by and you can insert or you couldn't get rid of stuff that was old and no longer working because it had been donated 35 years ago and that person was still in the church and would be offended if it got updated and replaced.

I know people who they go and they donate food and they help at the shelters and everything else, not because it's good, but because it's the one place they can go and get a lot of people to thank them. And they like being told thank you. And right people, we like praise. And specifically we like praise one from another. And Jesus is telling us, he says, that the praise of people, that's not what he is here for.

He is here for the glory of God. And Jesus says about us, he says, if you pray on the street corner to be seen and praised by men, you have your reward. But there will be no reward for you in heaven.

If you give your benevolence to be seen of men, then you have your reward. But there will be no reward for you in heaven. But he says, do it in secret, pray in secret, give in secret. Giving is in secret for no one to see you, for no one to know about it, but God, who sees it in secret will reward you openly.

And then Jesus says something very interesting here. He says if someone came in his own name, though, you would accept him. If someone comes for the glory of God, to serve God, to aid his kingdom, you reject Him. But if someone comes in their own name, for their own fame, for their own glory, you praise them. You lift them up, says, but if you only seek and only accept glory from one another, how are you going to accept me?

How would you accept anyone if you do not seek the glory which is from the only God, if you are not seeking the glory from God, you will never accept the Savior. You'll never accept Jesus, you'll never accept a pastor's message back in the Old Testament time. You never accept the prophet's message.

And then Jesus condemns them in this. He says, don't think that I will accuse you before the Father. Jesus says, I don't even have to accuse you. Moses will not that Moses will be standing there before the throne condemning. But in what way will Moses accuse?

They put their hope and their trust in what Moses had said. And Moses had done two things that will condemn them. First, he gave the law. He said, Thou shalt not steal, thou shalt not covet, thou shalt not worship idols. Thou.

Shalt not use the Lord's name in vain. Thou shalt not break the Sabbath. Thou shalt not commit adultery. That it goes on and on and on. 600 and some OD statutes that Moses gave to them, and they violate all of them.

Each of those Pharisees, even Paul, we saw in our Friday service in Cedar, even Paul had acknowledged adultery and lust. He was a pharisee. He says, I won't have to accuse you. The law of Moses, the very law that you proclaim, will save you, will condemn you. But the second thing that Moses did that will condemn them is Moses wrote about Jesus.

So he is telling them, if you believed in Moses, whom you say you trust, then you would believe in me. He wrote about me. And so when you get there and I'm standing before the Father, I won't need to condemn you or accuse you, because the law of Moses, the word of Moses that told you I was coming and to be ready for me and to follow me, that you're rejected, that will accuse you.

In the same way we will similarly be accused. There's a lot of people who don't have the word of Moses right. The law of God could be accused by that. But there are a lot of people, despite never having had it, have had people like us come to them and proclaim the gospel of Christ.

There are many of our family members who have seen us radically changed by the love of God and still want nothing to do with Him. There are many who grew up in church and who had it. There are many who are in church right now, and they have the same words of Moses and words of Christ as we have, and they reject it while still claiming to follow his teachings. The same way that they were accused back then that they would accept man's ideas and the parts of it that they loved and reject the rest. The same principle will apply back then to all the uber religious today who have the words of God, but trust only in the law, only in the works, and not in that free grace.

The same Scriptures will condemn you as well. As we come to an end of John, chapter five. We've spent three weeks here in this chapter, and we've seen through these three weeks the miracles of Christ, and he asked us if we wanted to be healed. We have seen the power and authority of Christ, and today we have seen unequivocally, without a doubt, that he is the Son of God and that he will be the judge and that he will not need to accuse you. There is enough to accuse you already.

I want to give another opportunity tonight if you're ready to say, hey, you know what, God? You're right. I can't do this. I can't save myself. And I'm tired of trying.

I don't want to anymore. But I am ready to accept you.

It is as easy as our ABCs to admit that you are a sinner and cannot save yourself, that your ways are corrupt, you're morally corrupt. To believe that while we can't provide for our own way out, that God has provided a way. And that way was through the Lamb of God, who came into creation and died for you and rose again, and to confess Him as your Lord and Savior, as your God and your King. Jesus says that if you would confess me before your fellow men, I will confess you before the Father. As we go into our closing prayer, I will give you the opportunity, if you truly have that in your heart, to verbalize it to God, knowing that the prayer won't save you.

It's in your heart that saves you. But if you would like to verbalize that to God now, I invite you to follow along with me after we will partake of the Lord's Communion. So I encourage everyone to please stick around for that. And then I'll see each of you on Wednesday night at 06:30 P.m., right here in Zoom. Let's go to pray.

Father, I admit that I'm a sinner, that I am morally corrupt and depraved, and that there is no way out in my own power. And that the very words I've had in front of me, they proclaim you to me as my salvation, as my way out. And I no longer want to live the life that I've lived. I no longer want to be corrupt. I no longer want to be trying hopelessly in my own power, but I want to be a changed person.

I want to no longer bring dishonor to you, but glory to Your name.

And I believe in the depths of my heart that You, Lord Jesus, stepped down into creation, that you lived and that you died for me. And I believe and fully trust that you said if I will just hold on to that and trust in what you did and follow you, that you will save me. And so, Lord, I'm grabbing on to that right now. I'm standing firm in it, and I'll never let go. And I confess you.

Lord Jesus is my God. My Lord. My King. I will take off my crown now. I throw it to Your feet to follow you.

And I ask you for this free and precious gift. And Father, I pray Lord, as we started talking about last week and now into this week, that you will radically turn Utah upside down, lord, in southern Utah, southern Utah alone, there's, 97.8% of our population would perish. And so I pray, Lord, that you would radically change those numbers here as people en masse come to you and flock to Your name and receive Your salvation and bring glory to you. Whether you use me or someone else or another means, Father, I pray that we can see you do that mighty work that it would glorify you. And we love you and praise you.

In Jesus name we pray. Amen.