Witnesses to Christ's Deity part 2 The Greater Witness

Well, take your Bible this morning, turn with me to the Gospel of John, John chapter 5. We're still in our study together through the Gospel of John, and we are seeing this, the title of the series really come to the surface each week, and that is Christ the Son of God, Believe and Live. We're seeing the deity of Christ, the person of Christ come to the surface in each verse, it seems. And I was telling Brother Keith this, I don't know if I have ever seen so much doctrine in one place dealing with proper conversion, proper Christianity.

We see that more and more as we are going through these verses, and I think that really shows us that the series title is accurate because we're learning about who Christ was, who Christ is, and we're learning what it means to be converted, a true Christian, what that looks like and what that sounds like, and we're going to continue to learn that through this journey. Now this morning we will be in verses 36 through 38, and we are continuing in this escalating confrontation between the Jewish leadership and Jesus. We started this back in verse 17, and we are continuing in this situation.

We know why this has been an escalating confrontation by now. Jesus went from healing on the Sabbath to claiming equality with God, and it was subtle, but we saw that he even called God his Father. That would have been very blasphemous to those Jewish leaders. Now last week we saw Jesus in transition in this teaching, this one block of teaching, verse 30 and verse 31. Jesus spoke of himself in the first person eight times in verse 30. If you look at verse 30 in your translation, you will see, "Ah, ah, my, my, me." What is he doing? He's speaking in the first person, and this is emphasizing his equality with God.

Jesus is just really raising the bar. In verse 31, Jesus begins to speak of witnesses to support his claim to deity. Now I want to give you an interesting point that I want you to remember. Jesus did not need witnesses. We saw that in verse 31. Jesus did not need witnesses, but Jesus was being true to the principle given in the Old Testament. Deuteronomy 19.15, the principle of two or three witnesses was established to corroborate a testimony or a situation. We see this in other places in the Old Testament. In Numbers 35 verse 30, it's an example of where this principle is used in the case of murder. We see this.

We must understand that this was part of the Jewish leaders' understanding of situations like this. These Jewish leaders operated under this principle. We see this also carried over into the New Testament. Paul abided by this principle in 2 Corinthians 13.1. He was dealing with charges in the life of the church. Also in 1 Timothy 5.19, the case of church discipline with elders. What do we see? We must understand that the principle of two or more witnesses had been in the life and the mind and the heart of Judaism. Jesus, needing no witnesses, still leaned on witnesses for their sake. We do remember that our first witness was John the Baptist.

We studied John last week. Of course, we've studied John quite extensively starting in chapter 1 of the Gospel of John. It was wonderful to see that John, remember he was that ordinary lamp. That would have been a tool that they would have been familiar with. An ordinary clay lamp in their lives, in their homes. John was a picture. He was that ordinary lamp which was a powerful reflection of the light of the world. In verse 35 sums up John's role as that lamp which was to reflect the light. Like how John MacArthur describes John's witness. He says, "John the Baptist's testimony carried considerable weight.

After all, he was the greatest man who had ever lived up until this time." Now where did John get such a bold statement? Jesus says that in Luke chapter 7 verse 28. Now in application, now get this. In application we see John's witness validated Jesus. We see a lot today in our culture, now listen, that invalidates Jesus and invalidates the work of the church. I was meeting with a fellow minister last week. We were talking about different things, the life of the church here. He was explaining to me how a so-called minister had gone into the life of the church and he had propagated division and disharmony.

And he had really destroyed the church and he explained how because of bad doctrine and bad methods and bad leadership, he divided the church and he split the church and he took a whole host of people with him. And with sadness in his voice, he looked at me and he said, "You know that church still hasn't recovered today." What is that? He invalidated his witness. He invalidated the witness of the church. And I have to question many of these church splits because of what they do in the life of the church.

And I could give you other stories, but I want you to hold onto that as you apply that into your life and into our life and into our understanding that John validated the witness of Christ and that must be our life's task to validate the witness of Christ individually and corporately. Now this morning we continue in our witnesses. We studied John the Baptist last week and this week we are going to combine two of the witnesses. We're going to combine the witness of Christ's work and we're going to combine the witness of the Father. The witness of the Father.

Now you will see the title of the message, "Witnesses to Christ's deity." This is a part two. John the Baptist was part one, but part two is the greater witness. The greater witness. We will start in verse 36. Verse 36 is the witness of Christ's works and then we will be in verse 37 and 38 which are the witness of his Father. You will see that there are two main truths that we'll cover. The witness of his works and the witness of his Father. Like I say repeatedly, I trust that you're taking notes. I encourage you to take notes. I encourage you to study your notes. I encourage you to go back and study these truths.

Sometimes it's just one verse, one word. Sometimes it's just a small portion of what we study that really drives home what the Lord wants us to learn and to see. If you are faithful to study, if you are faithful to pray over and listen attentively, then you will learn a great deal and Christ will form you by this knowledge of his word. Let's look at main truth number one. We're going to look at the witness of his works. Look at the text with me. Look at verse 36. But the witness which I have is greater than that of John.

For the works which the Father has given me to accomplish, the very works that I do bear witness of me that the Father has sent me. One verse here where Jesus is giving the witness of his own works. Now we do know that John was a great witness. He was the last of the Old Testament prophets. I'm not sure if you understand that. All of the Old Testament prophets came, but John was the last of the Old Testament prophets. And he was the greatest man who had lived up to this point. Can you imagine the magnitude of that statement?

Jesus said in Luke 7.28, he says, "For I say unto you, among those that are born of women, there is not a greater prophet than John the Baptist." Jesus is the one that makes such an audacious statement. The New American Standard reads, "There is no one." Literally in that verse, the original means no one exists. But what we see, even as great as John is, even as wonderful as John is, John was greater. He was greater than Enoch and Noah from the Old Testament. He was greater than Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He was greater than Moses and Joshua, even King David. But there was one who was even greater than John, and that is who? Jesus.

And we see that in verse 36. So I want us to recognize some things out of this one verse, verse 36. I want us to notice first, Jesus' witness was greater. Go back to the verse, but the witness which I have is greater than that of John, right there at the beginning of the verse. Jesus' witness was greater than John. Literally, the original text reads, "But I have the witness that is greater than John's." So what do we see? Jesus says, "There's been no one greater than John." He's above all of the Old Testament prophets, and then Jesus eclipses that by saying, "I am greater than John." Now notice how this is fleshed out.

Jesus' witness was so great it made ordinary men follow Him and become disciples. Jesus' witness was so great it made such a religious leader like Nicodemus come to Him and confess that He knew He was from God. Jesus' witness was so great that it made a Samaritan woman confess to all of her own people that He knew all the things that she had done. Jesus' witness was so great that it made a nobleman, a royal nobleman come and ask Him to come heal His own son. All of that just out of the verses that we've already studied. What am I showing you?

Jesus' witness was greater, greater than John, who was greater than all of the other Old Testament prophets. Second, I want you to notice that Jesus' works were the Father's works. Go back to the verse, "But the witness which I have is greater than that of John. For the works which the Father has given me to accomplish, the very works that I do bear witness of me." Now notice the text says that the works were given to Him by the Father. We've already seen this earlier in verse 20. Look back over at verse 20.

Jesus says, "For the Father loves the Son and shows Him all things that He Himself is doing and greater works than these will He show Him." Jesus is alluding to this fact that the works that He is doing are the works of the Father. The works were appointed to Jesus to do and these works were to attest to Him, were to proclaim Him as the promise Messiah. And third, notice, Jesus' works were proof. Go back to the verse, "But the witness which I have is greater than that of John.

For the works which the Father has given me to accomplish, the very works that I have," this "bear me witness that the Father has sent me." These are works that are proof. We must see that the works, the miracles, the signs, John likes to use that word "signs," that the Father gave Him to perform were proof to His identity. Now I want you to notice a key word. Go back to the text. Notice the word "works." "But the witness which I have is greater than that of John. For the works which the Father has given me to accomplish, the very works." That is a key word.

All the translations that we look at use this word "works." Now the word "works" here is a word used in the Gospels to describe Jesus' miraculous and powerful works which He performed while here on earth. Of course, the miraculous works were performed as the Father commanded that we've already learned and they were proof that He was sent from God. You see? The signs, the miracles, the wonders pointed to the fact that Jesus was sent from God and these were works of the Father and they made Jesus a greater witness. And we must see this. Now it is important to clarify a possible misconception here. We must understand the role of the Godhead.

Jesus was not inferior to God. He was equal with God in His very nature and essence, but He was under God the Father in His role and in His function. Let me give you a couple of verses. Philippians 2, verse 6 through 7. "Though He was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but He emptied Himself by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men." We've already learned about the fact in John chapter 1 how He put on flesh and He dwelt among men. The very Creator God subjected Himself to the creation, but still He was in the--He was still God in His essence, in His nature.

Colossians 2, 9 reads, "For in Him the whole fullness of deity dwells in bodily form." What am I trying to show you? Jesus is not inferior to God. Jesus is equal to God. He is equal in nature and essence, but yet we see His role in His function. And that is delineated for us right there in this verse, verse 36. And so we must remember that the miracles, the works, John uses the word "signs," were used to direct people to Christ. Christ being greater than John, John being greater than all of the prophets. Now God has done this all throughout the ages. Did not Moses perform great signs and miracles as evidence to His call from God?

Didn't He do that? He did that before God did that through Moses, before the nation of Israel? God did that through Moses, before Pharaoh and all of the Egyptians? Why? To attest to the fact that Moses was a God-called man. What about Paul? Did not Paul perform signs and miracles? Why? They were evidence to His apostleship, to His office, that He was a God-called man. But yet Jesus is greater than John, and John was greater than Moses, and greater than all of the Old Testament prophets. And what do we see? The witness of the works of Christ. Now an application, I want to ask you a loaded question.

Do we need miracles as a witness to validate the church and the witness of Christ today? Now I'm not talking about these things we see on television. These quacky false prophets that do all these quacky things in the name of Jesus. They hijack the name of Jesus. They hijack the office and the person of the Holy Spirit, and they do heretical things. That's not what I'm talking about. But I want to talk to you about greater miracles. I want to talk to you about the miracle of the new birth. I want to talk to you about the miracle of the holy life.

I want to talk to you about the miracle of God tearing down strongholds in the lives of families, generational sin, husbands and men who are lost and without Christ, children who are orphaned spiritually. Do we not need to see miracles? God doing what only God can do? Now I understand the role of John, and I understand the role of Christ. But what I'm showing you is this witness of the works of Christ. What did they do? They pointed to who Christ was.

And I want to tell you that we in the life of the church, if we will pray and wait, and if we will believe the written word of God and believe that God, by the power of the gospel, can do miracles, and we will wait on those miracles and trust in those miracles, I do believe he will give us the miracle of the new birth. I do believe he'll give us the miracle of taking lost, wicked sinners and turning them into holy men and women of God and young people of God. I do believe that God will tear down strongholds and right the wrong that are around us. And you know what they'll be? A witness to his mighty and wonderful works.

I do believe that God wants to do things such as this. And I believe God has given Brother Keith and I, listen, an eye to see the harvest that maybe others might not see. And that's what we're praying for and waiting for and trusting in. Listen, works that will be a witness to who Christ truly is. And I believe he will get glory through those things. Let's continue. Let's look at main truth number two, which is out of verse 37 and 38. Again, this is the witness of the father, go to the text with us. We've not read this as these verses yet. Notice what Jesus says, "And the father who sent me, he has borne witness of me.

You have neither heard his voice at any time nor seen his form. And you do not have his word abiding in you, for you do not believe him whom he has sent." Now, this is the witness of the father. Now here in these two verses, we have the obvious rejection of Jesus by the Jewish leaders. Jesus does not say here in the verse that they rejected him, but by his approach, this is obvious that they have rejected him. Now it is an interesting observation that in providing the third witness, Jesus really indicts those who were listening. In this indictment, we will see that Jesus makes several observations concerning the ones who were listening.

I want you to notice four observations concerning the Jewish leaders. First notice, they never heard his voice. Go back to verse 37. "And after the father who sent me, he has borne witness of me. You have neither heard his voice at any time." This was an observation. They had never heard his voice. Now you should know that I preach from the New American Standard and it reads, "You have never heard his voice at any time." The King James says very much the same thing, but the English Standard Version does not say at any time. Now there's a key word here, and that key word here is the word "heard." Go back to the verse.

"You have neither heard his voice." That word "heard" is a key word. This word means more than to hear, but to hear, listen, and to obey what has been heard. The general problem with the Jews was that they would not listen. They would not obey. They would not hear the words of Jesus. They were rejecting Jesus' words, his witness, and the signs all along, so they were refusing to hear. You get that? They were rejecting everything about Christ and everything they did. They refused to obey. They refused to listen, so therefore they refused to hear. I've referred to an old Presbyterian commentator I like to read. He's easy to read.

His name's Albert Barnes. He describes their hearing here, and I want you to notice how he describes them, talking about the Jewish leaders. He says they were indisposed to listen to the testimony of God. He, that is Jesus, affirmed that God had given sufficient evidence of his divine mission, but they disregarded that. You see, it wasn't just that they refused to hear with their ears. They refused to hear, to listen, to obey, and put their trust in him. So they never heard his voice. Second notice, they never saw him. Go back to verse 37. They never saw God. The father who sent me, he is born witness of me.

You have neither heard his voice at any time nor seen his form. The New American, the English standard used the word form. The King James uses the word shape. Now that's another key word. This word, this does not mean God himself. See, no man can see God. Listen to John chapter 8 verse 18, no man can see God. So what is John talking about here? Go back to the verse. "And the father who sent me, he is born witness of me. You have neither heard his voice at any time nor seen his form." Now, what is he talking about here? This word means a visible manifestation of God.

This Jews, these religious leaders had a visible manifestation of God in Jesus, but yet they never saw him. Not only did they have a dismanifestation of God in Jesus, they had a manifestation in the Old Testament scriptures which were a picture of Jesus in every way, yet they never saw him. Now notice the order. First, they did not understand the Old Testament scriptures and second, they rejected Jesus who was a visible manifestation of the Old Testament prophecies and God himself. You see?

If they would have seen Jesus, they would have seen the Old Testament because they would have seen the Old Testament pointing to Jesus and they would have had a wonderful aha moment because they would have realized all that the Old Testament was doing was pointing to Christ. They never saw him. The third observation is his word was not in them. His word was not in them. "And the Father who sent me, he is born witness of me. You have neither heard his voice at any time nor seen his form and you do not have his word abiding in you." This is simple, but it is part of this building, now listen, this building indictment.

They never understood the Old Testament scriptures to begin with. They never understood the prophecies. They never understood the Old Testament that they loved and they revered. They refused to see God in the flesh, Jesus, and they were rejecting everything about Jesus, his teaching and even who he was. Therefore, that tells us that they did not have the word of God in them. And then fourth, notice, they did not believe in Jesus. "And you do not have his word abiding in you for you do not believe him who he has sent." Jesus was God's final in full revelation to mankind, yet they refused to believe in him.

Now listen, grasp the reality for these religious leaders. God had foretold for centuries that the Messiah would come, yet they did not believe those prophecies that they said they loved. Jesus had given sufficient evidence that he was the Messiah, yet they refused to believe both his words and his deeds. Therefore, saying they didn't believe even the Old Testament scriptures. You see, the observations, they never heard his voice. They never saw him, that manifestation of God. They did not have the word in them and they did not believe in Jesus. And it is important for us to see that Jesus really changes in these verses.

Besides that, he moves from making a defense in bringing witnesses to their attention to bringing an indictment upon them. You see the observations? One of the commentators that I like to use is called the New American Commentary and he really summarizes this verse. He says, "Jesus turned the defense into a charge." You see? His testimony, he argued, would not work with them because they would not let it work. "Accordingly, they were unable to experience the kind of encounters, hearing and seeing God that marked the lives of the patriarchs, Moses and the prophets.

They relied on tradition and could not accept the testimony of the in-breaking of God into their lives." That is so accurate. "They held onto traditions, they held onto their religion and they refused to let Christ break into their lives." They were unable to experience hearing him and seeing Christ manifest himself before them. And that is the witness of the Father, which was really an indictment against them. Now an application, how can we see this taking place today? Sadly, I want you to see there are people just like these leaders in the church today.

There are men, there are women, there are even entire families who never hear the voice of God, they never see his work and they do not embrace his word, therefore they do not believe in him. Now remember what hearing means here. It's not just hearing with the ear. It's hearing with the heart. It's hearing which produces obedience. It's listening and understanding what God is saying, hearing his voice and attesting to that by living a life of obedience and participating in his work and seeing him work. And there are many people who refuse to engage in that type of work.

They do not hear his voice, they do not see his work, they do not embrace his word and they do not believe. Listen, they will always, always, always reject the word taught and a true work of the church. You do realize what these religious leaders did, don't you? They hounded Jesus every step of the way. They hounded Jesus every day. We learn in verse 18 that they persecuted him and ultimately they put him on the cross. Why? Because they refused to believe. And there are people today in the life of the church, they reject his word and they reject the true work of the church and they reject him.

Now I've not been around the block in ministry but I'm on my way. I've seen my fair share of people come into the life of the church and for various reasons exemplify what this verse teaches. I've seen men and women come into the life of the church and they smile and they talk a religious talk and they carry their Bibles, they might go to Sunday school. But yet when you start preaching about sin and you start preaching about their lifestyle and you start dealing with conversion, what do they do? They just ease out the back door. Why? Because they do not hear his voice. They do not want to be a part of his work.

They do not embrace his word and they do not believe. Oh, they have religious talk. They have religious jargon. But they will not identify with the true work of the church. I've watched entire families do this. I'm sad to say I've seen women hijack the whole family. I've seen men hijack the whole family. Why? Because what? They refuse to hear his voice, they refuse to see his work, they refuse to embrace his word and they do not believe and their actions prove that they're just like the religious leaders. I've watched people reject a true biblical expression of the church to embrace false doctrine.

I've watched people reject a true work of the church because the preaching and the teaching of the word would run contrary to their lifestyle and yet they would go find the church that would be easy for them and it would make them feel good and they would embrace unsound doctrine and unsound biblical leaders in the life of the church. Why? And what do they do? Why do they do this? They do this because they do not have God's word in them. They do not hear his voice. And in time we see that they do not believe. You see? There are people like that all around us.

See what happens in the life of the church when the word of God is preached and we start having a true manifestation of the church. There are always some that come in the go. They come and they go. And you know it bothers some people. It bothers me. But yet when people do not want to hear the word, obey the word, adjust their lives and their families to the word and adjust their lives and families to the true work of the church, that tells me that they're exactly like these religious leaders. You see? This is witnesses to Christ's deity. We see the greater witness. Now why is it a greater witness? Jesus' witness was greater than John's.

And then right behind that we have the witness of the Father which really does explain these leaders who rejected Christ. See? What did we see with John? Oh, they followed him temporarily. They followed him for a season. Verse 35, "He was the lamp that was burning and was shining and you were willing to rejoice for a little while in his life." See? They came in. They said they followed. But then they went out. We see the greater witness. And see? What we see is far more applicable than we know. Now remember, I want you to remember what the church is.

The church today is supposed to be a manifestation of God, Christ and kingdom work here on earth. You see that? The church is supposed to be a manifestation of Christ and God in His kingdom work. If you want to see where God is working today, go find a Bible-believing, Bible-living church that is governed by men who love the Lord and they do it God's way. Go find a lampstand church. That's where God is. But in that, you will always see those who reject that work and reject that work and they reject that witness and they reject that witness. That's nothing new. It's been going on in Jesus' day and it's going on in our day.

I'll tell you a quick story and then we'll close. I don't know if you are familiar with Jonathan Edwards, one of the greatest evangelicals America has ever produced, although truthfully he was not an American. He lived prior to the revolution and he lived in the colonies, Boston, Massachusetts to be specific. So Jonathan Edwards was instrumental being used of God during what is called the first great awakening. It started in the middle 1730s and lasted on into the 1740s. But what you had was a tremendous outpouring of the spirit, not just in one church and it spread throughout the colonies.

But there was one characteristic of that first great awakening and that was there were many people who were in the life of the church, church members, people on the pews who were converted and many churches were turned inside out by the tremendous outpouring of the spirit. It was a wonderful time in church history and I would encourage you to study it. I've got books about the great awakening, the books about Jonathan Edwards and it is wonderful because we can see God do a wonderful thing, pour out his spirit in multiple churches, really impact the whole nation. But there's something about the great awakening. You had two groups.

You had those who were called the new lights. Those were those who were in favor of the great awakening and then you had those who were the old lights. And if you study the old lights, what they really were saying was this, we don't want this. We don't want an outpouring of the spirit. We don't want to see people converted. We don't want to see the church revived. We don't want to see repentance in the life of the church. We want religion and the church and Christianity the way it was before. And you know what they're doing? They're rejecting the work of God. They're rejecting his voice.

They're rejecting him manifesting himself in the life of the church in the form of revival. They are rejecting Christ, his saving work, and they are rejecting a revived church. And listen, I'm no expert, but it seems to me that those old lights were doing nothing more than being exactly like these religious leaders. We don't want it. We want our religion. We want our traditions, and we refuse to hear or see or adhere to anything to do with Christ. A witness to Christ's deity, the greater witness. Let's pray. Lord, I thank you for the truths which have really been coming together with these witnesses.

I thank you that we see John as that simple, common, ordinary lamp. Lord, he was just a man. He was just flesh. But he was a tremendous and wonderful reflection of the light.