Court Witnesses That Testify To Jesus' Deity (The Weightiest Witness)

5) Moses was the weightiest witness of all, to the scribes and teachers of the law

"Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father. There is one who accuses you: Moses, on whom you have set your hope. For if you believed Moses, you would believe me; for he wrote of me." [John 5:45b-46]

The Pharisees considered themselves the disciples of Moses and were extremely proud of their connection with him. The Pharisees claimed that they were the direct descendants of the elders to whom they said Moses gave the Oral Law. They said that when God gave the written law to Moses, He also gave a secret oral law that no one could know except for Jews, to protect Jewishness. And it was this oral law that had ended up in the Mishnah.

Every book in the Pentateuch, the first five books of the Bible, written by Moses, has images of Messiah in them. But Moses also prophesied specifically about Messiah:

“[God] will raise up for [His people] a prophet like [Moses] from among their brothers.’And I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him. And whoever will not listen to my words that he shall speak in my name, I myself will require it of him.’” [Deuteronomy 18:17-19]

Now look at Jesus’ final remarks to the Jewish religious rulers.

"But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe my words?" [John 5:47]

They thought they honored God, but God said that whoever did not listen to the Messiah, God Himself would deal with.

People often think that if someone does not believe something, what they need is more proof, more information. But Jesus said this was not the problem. Jesus said that if these scribes and Pharisees didn’t believe the truth they already had in their hands, God’s word in scripture, then they would not believe the greater truths Jesus had to give them.

The primary purpose of scripture is to point people to the Lord Jesus Christ

Studying the Bible will not save you, but the Bible points you to the One Who can save you. It’s not enough to memorize loads of verses, read the Bible every day, study it and carry it around. What is the Bible to you? The benefit of the Bible is believing what it says and applying these words of God to your life.

Living it.

Have these words become real in your every day real life.

It is Jesus Who has the power to bring us from death to life. His power profoundly changes life from earthly to eternal. The equation is so simple, hear His words and believe, and you will have life.

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Court Witnesses That Testify To Jesus' Deity (Next Three Witnesses)

2) The works Jesus had a much greater witness than John the Baptist

"But the testimony that I have is greater than that of John. For the works that the Father has given me to accomplish, the very works that I am doing, bear witness about me that the Father has sent me." [John 5:36]

The works the Father gave to Jesus would include not only the healings He had done so far, but feeding thousands of people, raising the dead, then Himself rising from the dead. These amazing displays of God’s power authenticated Jesus.

Nevertheless, other prophets had performed miracles, Moses, Elijah, Daniel, which though it proved they were sent from God, none of them were God; Jesus pressed on.

3) The Father Next Jesus brought in the mystery witness He had referred to earlier,

"And the Father who sent me has himself borne witness about me. His voice you have never heard, his form you have never seen," [John 5:37]

This goes back to John chapter 1,

No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known. [John 1:18]

AND

And John bore witness: "I saw the Spirit descend from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him. I myself did not know him, but(BF) he who sent me to baptize with water said to me, 'He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, this is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.'" [John 1:32-33]

4) Scripture You would think that would have been enough, but everything that is must be aligned with God’s word. Jesus brought in the most powerful witness yet, God’s written word

"...and you do not have his word abiding in you, for you do not believe the one whom he has sent. You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me," [John 5:38-39]

This is a problem. The Lord was saying that in spite of all the scripture memorizing these men had done, all the commentaries they had written, all the rules that they had scrupulously followed, all the lectures they had delivered, and on and on...after all that, God’s word was not in them. They searched the scriptures, but they did not find the meaning of life.

What went wrong?
* What would protect you and me from missing great truths in scripture?
* What would keep Bible study from being just an interesting intellectual exercise?

Jesus gives the answer:

"...yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life." [John 5:40]

Their wills. They were set against accepting Jesus.

"I know that you do not have the love of God within you." [John 5:42]

Their hearts were cold towards God, and therefore would not warm to Jesus and

"How can you believe, when you receive glory from one another and do not seek the glory that comes from the only God?" [John 5:44]

Their pride in themselves, and their love of each other’s admiration, and the honor given to them by all the people, filled them so full they had no appetite to seek God’s glory.

They were more ready to accept the words of an impressive big name person, than the simple truths of God.

The Jewish religious authorities had a lot of power and a lot of glory. They considered themselves to be second only to God Himself. They actually had stories in the Mishnah about certain rabbis being consulted by God for big decisions. They taught that they would live right next to God in heaven.

They had no need for Jesus, they already had it all.

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Court Witnesses That Testify To Jesus' Deity (First Witness)

In our day and age of science, we ask: where’s the proof? Why take someone’s word for it? Jesus put forward five proofs, five witnesses to His claims.

Of course Jesus was His own witness, but He knew the religious leaders would not accept His word. They were sitting in judgment over the Lord, and would require at least two witnesses. So He mentioned a mystery witness

There is another who bears witness about me, and I know that the testimony that he bears about me is true." John 5:32]

which He would return to in a little bit, then moved on to

1) John the Baptist

"You sent to John, and he has borne witness to the truth. Not that the testimony that I receive is from man, but I say these things so that you may be saved. He was a burning and shining lamp, and you were willing to rejoice for a while in his light." [John 5:33-35]

John the Baptist testified to four things about Jesus:
• He announced Jesus as the predicted Messiah, the one the prophets had written about

• He announced Jesus as the Lamb of God, the sacrifice for all humankind’s sin

• He announced Jesus as the One Who would baptize with the Holy Spirit, and with fire

• He announced Jesus as the Son of God

At first the Pharisees and scribes were interested in John. They regarded him as a local celebrity. But they did not want to accept John’s message of repentance --> remember he called them a brood of vipers. They didn’t try to help him when he was arrested.

Jesus would not have brought John up, since the witnesses He was going to bring in had far greater weight than a human being, but He was giving the Jews as many chances as possible to be saved.

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Jesus Plans To Raise Many To Life

God the Father’s plan was to have many more sons and daughters, to be like His Son

"Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life." [John 5:24]

The Father makes Himself to be the Father of all who believe in the Lord Jesus. Belief gives evidence to the presence of the Father's word in that person, and the Father's love in that person, just as the Father's word and love are in Jesus.

If you have put your faith in the Lord Jesus then you have this life now God’s purpose is to change you and me, to enable us to learn to live by His living power, to mold us into people who will bring His love and healing to all those around us.

You and I who have put our faith in Jesus don’t have to be afraid of death. Everybody dies. We don’t like to think about it. Most of us secretly hope there’ll be an exception in our case! But death is not the end of existence for us. For every believer: we do not see death, we see the Lord, standing ready to welcome us with open arms, to bring us into our full inheritance of life.

In the following verses, the Lord described two resurrections. Here’s the first:

"Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming, and is now here, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live." [John 5:25]

Jesus had already begun to give life to people,
* to His disciples,
* offering it to Nicodemus in new birth,
* offering living water to the woman at the well.

The time was coming when Jesus would pour out His Spirit on the 120 believers gathered in Jerusalem during the feast of Pentecost. You and I live in this time right now. This is a spiritual resurrection

Jesus can do this because He is God. But the real kicker was His next claim:

"And [the Son, Jesus Himself] has given him authority to execute judgment, because he is the Son of Man." [John 5:27]

He has the authority to execute judgement. He is the Judge of all the world, and will preside over the Day of Judgement. He is the prophesied Son of Man, a technical term that connects with judgment and dominion, and which the prophet Daniel had spoken of. If the Judge is Jehovah God, then Who does that make Jesus?

This stunning jaw dropper must have taken the breath away of every scribe, every teacher of the law, every Pharisee standing there, and Jesus responded to their expressions of shock

"Do not marvel at this, for an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment." [John 5:28-29]

This will be a physical resurrection. Hang onto this vision of the dead coming out of their tombs, because something kind of amazing happened when Jesus was crucified (You'll have to stay tuned for that one).

“Doing good” and “doing evil” in these verses relate back to what the Lord had just said

"That all may honor the Son, just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him. Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life." [John 5:23-24]

Doing good is to honor the Son and to believe in Him.
To do evil is to not honor the Son, and to not believe in Him.

Jesus is equal to God the Father, the Judge of all the world

One day you and I will stand before the Lord Jesus Christ, that day of resurrection, and He will be the judge of all people.

When the Apostle Paul was writing about this day he said what a wonderful thing it is that for those who have put their faith in Jesus there will be no condemnation of any kind. The only person Who can judge us is Jesus, and He loves us! He’s our Savior, He’s on our side! For every believer there will only be welcome and treasure.

But for those who rejected Jesus in this earthly life, who refused to accept His gift of eternal life, this will be a dark day.

Who is Jesus to you? Is He your Savior, or your Judge?

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But What About Those Who Have Never Heard The Gospel?

Paul lays out six principles of God's judgment in Romans 2:2-16
A) Romans 2:2-3 "We know that the judgment of God rightly falls on those who practice such things. Do you suppose, O man—you who judge those who practice such things and yet do them yourself—that you will escape the judgment of God?"

God's judgment is according to truth, according to things as they really are. God is an utter realist. God sees us exactly as we are. He knows all our secrets. He knows all the carefully concealed, hidden areas of our life that we keep away from every other eye.

God’s judgment is based on truth, but our own judgement is not always based on truth. Often it’s based on how the issue affects us. A matter is right or wrong depending on how costly it is to us, or makes us look, or affects our own wants and desires.

Romans 2:4 "Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?"

Yet God patiently waits to help us see through these delusions. God is patient with us; He is forbearing. God doesn't beat us over the head, and demand that we face the truth. He patiently waits and gently leads, and put us in circumstances where we will be able to see these things if we are willing to face the facts.

B) Romans 2:5 "But because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed."

People bring God’s judgment on themselves In verse 5, having a hard and impenitent heart does not necessarily translate into leading the lifestyle of a criminal. Most of us are very much blessed. We have access to everything we need, clothes, food, shelter, transportation, comforts, education, and so much more.

People who live the good life often don’t sense the need to be saved from God’s wrath. Their life is fine, they’re happy, they’re doing good things, they don’t “need” salvation, they’re doing great. It’s easy to get lulled into the idea that God isn’t concerned about this little secret thought, or that little secret sin. That attitude is showing contempt for God’s forbearance and patience. God’s kindness is designed to lead one into repentance, not indulgence.

C) Romans 2:6-8 "He will render to each one according to his works: to those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life; but for those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury."

Is Paul really saying that God judges according to works? Almost everyone has the idea, even if they have never actually read the Bible, that God has a giant scale in heaven. He puts all one's good deeds on one side and all one's bad deeds on the other side -- and if the good deeds outweigh the bad, one gets into heaven; if the bad outweigh the good, one goes the other direction.

But this isn’t what Paul is saying. All the rest of Romans makes it clear that salvation is by faith, not by works. Works don’t save a person, but they do come out of being saved. If there is no fruit, then it’s probably not a fruit tree, because a saved person always produces fruit. Paul is pointing out that the deed reveals the heart. God will judge according to the result of obedience to the truth, or lack of obedience.

Putting it another way, what makes a person do good? That person is following some principle of truth! What makes a person do evil? It's right here in verse 8: They are self-seeking; the do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness. This is why they do evil. This is going back behind the deed, into the heart, into the belief. The truth is, people are what they believe.

So how does one explain the good things people do who are not Christians? They are obeying some principle of truth, even though they don’t yet know God. That’s called God’s common grace, when He fills the world of humankind with the knowledge of how to love, how to be kind, how to be patient, how to forgive and so on.

Will God save someone who lives a good life but never hears of Christ? In light of everything Paul writes in this letter to the Romans, the answer would be: "It is impossible to live a truly good life and never hear of Jesus Christ!" If God gives anyone eternal life, it is only by knowing the Lord Jesus Christ, His Son. Truth obeyed leads to the knowledge of greater truth, until it leads at last to knowing Messiah Jesus.

God says if someone is really looking for Him, He’ll make sure that person finds Him. Read about Cornelius in Acts chapter 10, a Roman centurion who was a good man and devout, even though he was also a pagan. But he wanted to know God, so God sent an angel to tell him to go find Peter, who would tell him the gospel. Read about the Ethiopian eunuch, Acts chapter 8, where God miraculously presented Philip at exactly the right moment to help him.

These people were eagerly obeying the truth that they had. The test of whether a person is really obeying the truth and doing good is to offer that person the Lord Jesus in the gospel -- they will eagerly receive Him if they are obeying truth. If that person is simply a respectable sinner, trying to look good, then he or she will reject the offer of grace.

D) Romans 2:9-11 "There will be tribulation and distress for every human being who does evil, the Jew first and also the Greek, but glory and honor and peace for everyone who does good, the Jew first and also the Greek. For God shows no partiality."

God judges without partiality, whether a Jew or a Greek, a religious person, a moral person, an educated person, or a total pagan who knows nothing of God, it makes no difference whether one's sins are notorious sins or respectable sins, obvious sins or hidden, secret sins, one still falls under God’s judgment, there is no protected class of people who are exempt from God’s judgement

There will come a time when Jesus returns, when all secret thoughts and acts, good or bad, will come out. For Christians this means that all those sinful acts, all the bad thoughts and deeds are already covered in Christ’s righteousness, and all the good thoughts and deeds will be rewarded, at Christ’s judgement seat. You are not judged for the bad, but you are judged and rewarded for the good.

On the other hand, for unbelievers, all disobedience will be revealed, and they will be judged for it.

E) Romans 2:12-15 "For all who have sinned without the law will also perish without the law, and all who have sinned under the law will be judged by the law. For it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law who will be justified. For when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do what the law requires, they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law. They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness, and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them."

God judges according to opportunity. This is for those who are wondering how God could judge people who haven’t been taught about Him, who don’t even know about Him. It is a common charge against God that He is being unjust by condemning people to hell who have never heard of Jesus Christ. It's pretty commonplace to hear the idea that "people are basically good."

People accept that nobody's perfect, but the idea of human wickedness, the depravity of sin, is minimized. But if people were born basically good, we could expect at least a small segment of people to remain good and sinless. Instead everybody deals with sin.

What person has lived up to their own ideals? -- because God won't judge a person on the basis of something that one has never heard, but on the basis of what one already knows. Which person has never deliberately done wrong? What person can say that he or she always measures up to his or her own standard of what they ought to be?

God judges according to the light given. And some light is given to all persons in the form of a conscience. God's judgement is based on what you do with what you know. Even those who have never heard of Jehovah or the law have a conscience. If a person hasn’t heard of God, if that person would live even according to her own conscience, she would be justified. But the fact is, no one lives even according to their own conscience. No one of any religion lives up to their own religion or philosophy, or their own principles. God judges us not by some artificial standard, but by our own standard. God is justified in judging all, because all are guilty even according to their own conscience.

F) Romans 2:16 "...on that day when, according to my gospel, God judges the secrets of men by Christ Jesus. God judges according to the secrets of men."

This is not talking about every thought that comes to one's mind, because often those thoughts are temptations you and I are powerless to stop. But it’s the reception you and I give to unworthy thoughts. We sometimes open the door and welcome them. Instead of driving these thoughts away when they come, we usher them into our living room, and set them down, and ask them to be comfortable and stay with us, and we invite them back again and again; we allow them to take their coats off, get comfortable and live there. These are the secret things that we don't want to tell anybody about -- even our dearest friend.

God searches the heart and knows exactly what one's true motivations were, even when one is suppressing one's motivations to oneself.

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What Is Right Doctrine

What is "right" doctrine? Would it be possible that the list of "right" doctrines would be very, very short? After all, Paul did not stay for very long in some towns, but he left believers behind him (pagans, untaught in Jewish scriptures) who were expected to carry on with not much to go on.

I came across a really neat phrase which is probably well known to all of you, but was actually brand new to me until not that long ago: "generous orthodoxy." The concept is to have "in the essentials, unity; in the non-essentials, liberty; in all things charity."

But still, what would be the essentials? My friend gave me a short list that her church, thirty years ago and more, felt was necessary to understand the gospel in its wholeness:

1) The inspiration of the Scriptures.
2) The virgin birth of Jesus.
3) The substitutionary death of Jesus.
4) The bodily resurrection of Jesus.
5) The second coming of Jesus.

It came to mind recently that on That Day Jesus will ask only one question: Do I know you?
That has really given me pause the last couple of weeks. Not "Do you know Me?" But "Do I know you?" He told the goats, "I never knew you." He told the foolish virgins "I don't know you."

That seems to put weight on the idea of "generous orthodxy." If it becomes clear that a person is known by Christ, has His indwelling Spirit, is, in fact, born again, then that person has been accepted by God into the community of believers. We will do well if we welcome that person too.

What's more, since every part of the body has something of worth to contribute to the body, there must be something this person will have too, even in spite of grave differences in doctrinal convictions. We would do well to receive what that person has for us, as well as share what we have for that person.