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That's connectwithskip.com. Now let's get started with today's message from Pastor Skip Heitzig. They consider him. They consider his claims. They evaluate him. They test him. They probe him. They accept him. They reject him. They make documentaries about him. They write books about him.
Some favorable, many not so favorable. He is always on trial. Some of you know that because you work in the secular workplace. And you know about Jesus and how people think about him or want to discuss him. In fact, you're on trial. They look at you because they want to see not only this Jesus they're considering, but they want to know the people that follow him.
What are they like? What difference does it make in real life? And so on his behalf, we are on trial, but really he is the one on trial. And later on in the Gospel of John, Jesus will stand before Pontius Pilate. Jesus will be going through a trial by the Roman government. And Pilate will say to him, don't you know that I have the power to release you or to crucify you? But at the same time, Pilate was the one on trial. The decision that he was making concerning this Jesus would determine his eternal destiny. And so while Jesus is on trial, certainly in the court of public opinion, Jesus is really the judge.
And we discovered that last time when we were together. In verse 26 of chapter 5, Jesus said, For as the Father has life in himself, so he is granted the Son to have life in himself, and has given him authority to execute judgment also, because he is the Son of Man. As the judge, and also as the one on trial, the end of chapter 5 is a courtroom scene, a legal scene, so to speak. There's a word that is repeated eight times in this section that gives us the little clue. It's the word witness.
It shows up eight times in this section, witness. The same word, another three times, translated testify, is also mentioned. So we have witness and we have testify. Jesus, like a lawyer, brings in three witnesses because he has been telling the crowd they ought to believe in him.
They ought to believe in him. And here is the reason Jesus would say you ought to believe in me. And he brings these three witnesses.
Now, why is this important? Because he is speaking to a Jewish audience. And the Jewish audience, filled with Jewish truths, their own Old Testament scriptures, they know what Moses had said in Deuteronomy. That at the mouth of two or three witnesses, a person would be authenticated or every word would be established. And so like a rabbi, Jesus brings in one witness to testify of him, and then another witness to testify of him, and then another. It's not that Jesus didn't bear witness of himself. He did.
He plainly told people who he was. But he also knew that they weren't receiving his testimony. That for them, his witness of himself was not valid. They weren't honoring that witness. So Jesus brings in three more witnesses. Let's look at them beginning in verse 31 of John chapter 5 as we finish out the chapter.
Notice what he says. If I bear witness of myself, my witness is not true. There is another who bears witness of me, and I know that his witness or that the witness which he witnesses of me is true. You have sent to John, and he has borne witness to the truth.
Yet I do not receive testimony from man, but I say these things that you may be saved. He, John, was the burning and shining lamp, and you were willing for a time to rejoice in his light. The first witness is the worker, John the Baptist.
J the B we like to call him. We know him well now. John the Baptizer knew Jesus very well.
They were related as we have seen. John spent time with Jesus. He was a eyewitness of Jesus growing up and as an adult. It was John the Baptist who said about him, Behold, this is the lamb of God which takes away the sin of the world. That was his testimony of Jesus. Here's the lamb of God, the sacrificial lamb, the one who would come to pay for the sin of the world. The same worker, John the Baptist, the forerunner of Jesus, said of Jesus, He came after me, but he was preferred before me because he was before me. Speaking about Jesus' pre-existence. So this was John's testimony of Jesus. He was the one that pointed and said, He must increase, I must decrease. So Jesus brings into the courtroom the first witness, the worker, John the Baptist, John the Baptizer, and said his witness is a true witness.
Now he's not the only one. He's the one Jesus brings up. But there were many eyewitnesses of the life, ministry, miracles, words of Jesus. You remember that Peter, one of the 12 apostles, would write a letter and he said, For we did not follow cunningly devised fables when we made known unto you the power and the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. We were there, man. We heard it.
We saw it. And he talks about being transfigured with Moses and Elijah. They saw Jesus in that moment. Another eyewitness was the author of this book, John. John's writing his account.
He will write a letter, 1 John, and in 1 John chapter 1, you remember how he begins that book? He says, That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, and we have gazed upon intently, and our hands have handled concerning the word of life. And of him we testify to you, this is the one.
So first on the stand, the worker. And specifically here by Jesus, it is John the Baptist. Here's the second witness, and that is the works. The works of Jesus himself. Verse 36, But I have a greater witness than John's, for the works which the Father has given me to finish, the very works that I do bear witness of me that the Father has sent me. Now Jesus has performed many works.
In chapter 5, he performed a work at the pool of Bethesda. It was done on the Sabbath day, so the Jewish leaders were skeptical. They knew it was a miraculous work, but they were skeptical of it, and honestly, they were taught to be skeptical. Because even Moses said, If a miracle worker is in your midst, be skeptical. Deuteronomy chapter 13 makes sure that that miracle worker testifies the source of his power, the reason he is doing the miracles.
You test him on what he believes. You are to test those prophets to make sure that it's not just a miracle you're swayed by, but you understand the kind of teaching and doctrine. So they were skeptical of Jesus, so he brings in his miracles, but here's the deal. Jesus in the gospels, it is recorded, performed over 30 miracles.
Those are just the ones recorded. Over 30 miracles are recorded in the four gospels. John, the author of this book, records seven of them. Those are his purpose. He selects seven for his own literary purpose to prove who Jesus was.
But 30 are recorded. By themselves, miracles are powerful, but alongside of the other witnesses that Jesus brings in, they're unmistakable. They could be skeptical, but what Jesus did, along with what John the Baptist said, and the next witness that he will bring in, is a very, very powerful statement as to who he was. So Jesus did works.
He performed miracles. And this is what he said. He will say it, I think, I don't know, chapter 12, chapter 14. I don't keep it all up here, but I do know he said this. He said, believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me or else believe for the very works sake.
Believe me on the evidence of the miraculous work themselves, in other words. You're listening to Connect with Skip Heitzig. Before we get back to Skip's teaching, Nate Heitzig has written a children's book just in time for Christmas. And this month we're offering it to you as thanks for your support of Connect with Skip Heitzig. Christmas Under the Tree follows the timeless story of Jesus Christ from the cradle to the cross through the eyes of an unlikely character, a humble tree. This beautifully illustrated book, which includes a companion audio experience, is a wonderful way to tell the Christmas story and the story of Christ to the children in your life. This resource is our thanks for your gift of just $25 or more today to help share biblical teaching with more people around the world through Connect with Skip Heitzig.
Go to connectwithskip.com slash offer or call 800-922-1888 and request your copy when you give $25 or more today to reach people all around the world through Connect with Skip Heitzig. Let's continue with today's teaching with Pastor Skip. So there were plenty of times where Jesus suspended natural law and enacted supernatural force. And they were showstoppers.
They got everybody's attention. Those miracles, along with what John the Baptist said, those two witnesses are powerful. Now he brings in a third witness.
And that is the Word. So we have the worker, John the Baptist, the works of Jesus, his miraculous power, and then the word of the Father, the prophetic word. And the Father himself, verse 37, who sent me, has testified of me.
You have neither heard his voice at any time, nor seen his form. But you do not have his word abiding in you, because whom he sent you do not believe. You search the Scriptures, for in them you think that you have eternal life, and these are they which testify of me.
But you are not willing to come to me that you may have life. One of the most powerful witnesses, testimonies of the authenticity of Jesus Christ is the Word of God. The prophetic word, the Old Testament Scriptures that paint the picture of what the Messiah will be like, fulfilled in Jesus. The Bible is an amazing document. We're holding a Bible.
I just saw yours. You held it up a moment ago. You held up the book, but the book isn't a book, but 66 books.
Right? 66 books comprise your Bible. 39 in the Old Testament, 27 in the New Testament. 66 books written by over 40 authors in three languages, on three different continents, over a period of 1,500 years. It deals with the most controversial subject matter possible, the existence of God, the origin of man, the beginning of evil, the future of the world. And yet those 66 books by 40 authors written over 1,500 years, they coalesce.
They go together seamlessly. They agree with one another. Some people say, oh, but what about all of those contradictions in the Bible? And I always say, show me one. You see, they'll bring that up usually because they have heard that they're there. And so they've got to say that because it's just another layer of an excuse for them not to believe. So when they say, what about all those contradictions?
I say, show me one. Now, if they've studied enough to know an apparent contradiction, I'm glad because of it, because now we have ground to speak on. But, you know, if you were to apply the rigorous testing that has been applied to the Bible to other documents, I wonder what you'd have. Let's say you took not 66 books or 40 authors. Let's just say you took 10 people from your neighborhood. Not from three continents, just from your neighborhood, 10 people from your neighborhood with the same educational background, same language, and I gave you a few controversial subjects to discuss. I wonder how much agreement there would be in that room.
Not much. Or what if you were to take 25 medical books written over a 1500 year time period and treat a patient based on the information that you take from that? You would either have a dead patient or you'd have Frankenstein. 66 books, 40 authors, 1500 years, three languages, three continents, controversial subject matter. And the Old Testament, Jesus' point is, speaks of, predicts, paints a picture, and there are over 300 such descriptions, predictions of what the Messiah would be fulfilled in Jesus.
And I've told you before the odds of the fulfillment of just a few of those, how astronomical it is. So the very word of God testifies of who Jesus was. Now that is why, and I wish we had it recorded, unfortunately we don't, every time I read this text I go, oh, and that is Luke chapter 24. It's after the resurrection, the two are walking on the road to Emmaus from Jerusalem, and Jesus comes up, you know the story, incognito, and he goes, what are you guys talking about?
And they say, are you like a stranger in town? And don't you know the things that have happened? And Jesus goes, like what things? And so they tell about this guy named Jesus, and we had hoped in him, and he said at resurrection, it's been three days, and we're bummed out, and all that stuff, you know the story. And then it says this, and beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded to them all of the scriptures concerning himself. He gave them a prophetic Bible study of Old Testament passages that predicted him, beginning at Moses and all the prophets.
Wouldn't you love to have that on MP3? Jesus' own study of himself is portrayed in the Old Testament scriptures, but that's his point here. I've got three witnesses I call to the courtroom, the worker, J the B, my own miraculous works, and the word of my father. In your scriptures that you search, now look at verse 39, it says you search the scriptures for in them you think that you have eternal life, and these are they which testify of me.
I read this not as a command, but as a fact. He's not saying, hey you guys, go search the scriptures. He understood he's talking to people who have searched the scriptures. They knew the Old Testament well. They spent their life reading and studying and memorizing and singing and chanting the scriptures. And he was talking to a group of people who knew the word of God, but they didn't know the God of the word. You search the scriptures fact, because in them you think that you have eternal life. You think that just because you read the Bible a lot, you have eternal life. Don't you know that I am the subject matter of all of those scriptures?
They testify about me. I'm the one Moses wrote about. I'm the one the prophets identified. I'm the one tucked in those psalms. But you are not willing to come to me that you may have life.
I do not receive honor from men, but I know you, that you do not have the love of God in you. I have come in my Father's name, and you do not receive me. If another comes in his own name, him you will receive. I've always regarded that as a chilling prediction. I see that fulfilled in the future.
When? On the world scene will come somebody we know as the Antichrist. He'll come in his own name.
He'll be very proud, very boisterous, very powerful, and the world will swoon over him. Jesus came in his Father's name. He came with the three witnesses of the worker, his works, and the word.
The nation didn't receive him, but in the future one will come and the world will go after him. How can you believe who receive honor from one another and do not seek the honor that comes only from God? Do not think that I shall accuse you to the Father. There is one who accuses you, Moses, in whom you trust. Come Judgment Day, all we have to do is read what Moses said, and you'll be condemned just by that. For if you believed Moses, you would believe me, for Moses wrote about me.
Now there's your challenge. Go back to the first five books of the Bible, the writings of Moses, and go on a search for where Moses predicted Christ. Now there are some obvious ones. For instance, he said God will raise up another prophet like unto me, him you shall hear. He predicted that Jesus would come, the Messiah would come, one like Moses to the nation, one who would bring in a covenant like Moses did. But there are many places where Moses spoke about him, wrote about him. So that's your challenge. Go find those places. And when you do, you'll have an idea of what that Bible study Jesus gave in Luke 24 to those two on the road to Emmaus, what kind of content it had.
It's fascinating to do that. But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe my words? Studying the Bible will not bring you to heaven. Knowing Jesus will bring you to heaven. Jesus will save you. Bible study will not.
Now I do want to add to that, however, that statement. Studying the Bible won't bring you to heaven, but studying the Bible will bring heaven to you. It'll bring heaven to your soul. It'll get you in touch with truth.
It'll talk about the necessary daily regulation, regulating your life, getting you back on track, nourishing and feeding your soul, like it said in Psalm 19, reviving the soul, David said. But I love what Gypsy Smith, the old evangelist during the time of G. Campbell Morgan, used to say. He said, it's not how many times you've been through the Bible. It's how many times the Bible has been through you. And I love going through the Bible. I love studying it. I love reading it daily.
But when I do, I always pray that it would go through me and it would be just a part of who I am. My very speech, my attitudes would be changed because of it. Thanks for listening to Connect with Skip Heitzig. We hope you've been strengthened in your walk with Jesus by today's program. Before we let you go, we want to remind you about this month's resource that will help you and the children in your life see the timeless story of Christ with fresh eyes.
Nate Heitzig's book, Christmas Under the Tree with Forward by Levi Lusko is our thanks for your support of Connect with Skip Heitzig today. Request your copy when you give $25 or more. Call 800-922-1888.
That's 800-922-1888. Or visit connectwithskip.com slash donate. And did you know that you can find full message series and libraries of content from Skip Heitzig on YouTube? Simply visit the Connect with Skip Heitzig channel on YouTube and be sure to subscribe to the channel so you never miss any new content.
Come back next time for more verse by verse teaching of God's word here on Connect with Skip Heitzig. Make a connection. Make a connection at the foot of the crossing.
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