20260730-sean-mcdowell-thur-pm

Well, thanks for coming out. I see a lot of faces who've been here each night. We're going to John chapter five. That's our hope.

And so your assignment this year will be to read John every day for year and then come back next year, we'll pick up in John six. Kidding aside, but two things before we start in one, we'll do a quick summary in a moment. But today, anybody have a chance to read John and just make any observation to jump out to you? Because I got through 19 chapters this morning.

I got up early. I was like, I really can't read two more. Time was up. And I made two observations that to me, I thought were really interesting.

But I don't hear, did you make any observations? Anything from reading one chapter or you got through all 21? You have a question? All right?

Can you hold that one until the end if you don't mind? I don't know. I'd have to pull it up and look in the context. So I can circle back to that.

We're going to try to have Q&A at the time. But I would just say, I love that you're asking that question. Made it all the way to 21, trying to make connections. Good job.

Way to go. An observation, go. Great, that's awesome. The chapter we're at today.

It picks up. They want to rest. They want to kill. They resist them.

So John 5 through about 18, when you're really getting close to the crucifixion scene, that is of drumbeat that runs through it. So good for you. I love that. Anybody else?

Any other one more? Go. Right? Which is not in John, by the way, but it's in the synoptics that James and John fight over that.

That's good. Great observation. And by the way, that tells me that the disciples are probably not making this up because maybe they feel the obligation to say it once, but to keep saying it like a drumbeat through this book, when are you going to get it? When are you going to get it?

When are you going to get it? It doesn't reflect well on them. So, I'm not going to include it if it's actually something Jesus likely said and emphasized. So from a historical standpoint, to me, that gives credibility to the text itself.

Excellent. Okay. So quick review. John chapter one starts with high Christology.

Jesus was God. He is God. He's the light. He's the life.

John immediately starts to testify about Jesus. And then Jesus gets his disciples. We only hear about four of them, of course. Andrew, Peter, Philip, and Nathaniel.

Then it shifts towards X. I'm sorry, X. My church is going through X. John chapter two.

What happens? Jon chapter two turns water in the wine. Jogs 30 jars each because of Amos 913 talks about in the messianic era, the wine will flow and it's flowing in this first miracle. He's revealing himself.

Clears the temple. And then John chapter three is done enough miracles that even Nicodemus, a religious leader, comes to him. And he says, you must be born again. Now my observation, I don't know how I missed this.

It's so obvious, but in John chapter one, here's what it says. Really early on, John says this. He says, but 12 who received him, he gave them the right to be children of God to those who believe in his name, who were born not of natural to sent or the will of flesh or the will of man, but of God. So even before he says to Nicodemus, you must be born again.

He says there's eternal life for those who are born not of flesh, but of the spirit. I don't know why I never made that connection before. So gives a message to Nicodemus. John chapter four, now we go from a religious leader to a Samaritan woman who asked for water.

He says, I'll give you this living water reveals that he knows truths about her, which shows that he's divine. He says, he's a prophet and she becomes like a model person who testifies. So Nicodemus comes at night, isn't quite the model witness yet, but at the end he's burying Jesus, so he clearly believes. And then you shift towards this Samaritan woman who's like the perfect witness.

Come stay in my town. She tells everybody in her enthusiasm and many and that era come to believe. Shift now to John chapter five and what happens? Now Jesus does another miracle, but we see example somebody who's not a good witness.

So what's John about the identity of Jesus? He does miracles so that will believe. And who's a good witness to Jesus and who is not? Now I'll take really quickly my two observations is in John chapter one, it talks about the angels who were ascending and then descending.

So they started on earth. The question was why doesn't it say that they descend and ascend because presumably they would start in heaven and hit me that it's only God who starts in heaven and descends and ascends. So the father doesn't because he's in heaven, eternally Jesus descends and ascends. Yes, who else in the gospel of John descends and then ascends.

The Holy Spirit does. So the back of my house, why isn't there a more robust theology of the deity of the Holy Spirit? I think the Old Testament, the focus is on the father, even though the spirit and the son are present in the gospel of the focus is on Jesus, even though the father and son are present, yet to act and the focus is on the Holy Spirit because Jesus is now gone, he ascends and the Holy Spirit comes down. But there's one line in there I never noticed that said the Holy Spirit descends, I was like ah, that's because the Holy Spirit is God.

That was one observation. The other one, I heard this debate on the resurrection between one leading atheists in the and Catholic Christian, who's a friend of mine. And this atheist raised the issue. He said, if you start with Mark and you go through Matthew and Luke, Mark written first, John at the end, we learn more and more about Joseph, Aaron, and thea, because he's this figure who's growing as a legend.

So you finally get to John written last and now he's a secret disciple of Jesus. See how it's evolved. I read this one, I was like, oh my goodness, only somebody who hasn't read and understand John would give such a claim. Why do I say that?

Because why does John mention that Joseph is a secret disciple? Because the whole point of John is who is a good witness and who is not. There's some who witness publicly and pay a price for it. And there's some who just kind of follow, but they're afraid to speak up because it will cost them something in their life.

The entire theme of John begins at the end and it's like, well here's Joseph Aaron with thea, given him an honor of burial, he believes in him, but he's a secret disciple. He hasn't yet taken the step to go public and proclaim Jesus. That's the whole point that he mentions he's a secret disciple. Not because there's legendary development from Mark to Matthew to Luke and to John.

That hit me this morning reading it and I thought that was pretty cool. So, all right, with that said, John chapter five, the opposition begins. By the way, we're going to stop no matter what going through five, at least by eight. And I want to know a couple things at the end.

Just questions you have that we're not addressed in John. There's other questions for me, other issues on apologetics. I don't know, some of you asked me questions about different YouTube videos you watched, about books, about our program, about whatever. I want to make sure you have time for that at the end as well.

So we'll get through as much as we can in John five. Are you ready to roll? All right, here we go. After this, a Jewish festival took place and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.

By the way, we don't know which festival this is. And again, what does it say? He went up to Jerusalem. Jesus was up the hill.

So, author gets it right. By the sheet getting Jerusalem, there's a pool called Bethesda in Aramaic, which has five colonnades. Now, what's really interesting about this is for years in the area of Bethesda, critics would say things like, John must have gotten his details wrong because you wouldn't have pools surrounded by five colonnades. Well, I'd been to Bethesda in 2019.

I would happen is they'll build a structure and then a structure on a structure on a structure on a structure. Now, why would they do that? It's like a cake that has multiple layers. Well, one, once you have a foundation that's set in the ancient world, it makes sense to use it again.

Second, there's protection. Maybe there's water that comes through. So that's how they would build. Well, they dig down to Bethesda to the time of Jesus to take a wild guess what they found.

Five colonnades, which are like porches or portico type structures. When I taught high school, I had the student do a presentation on this and she said, yes, they were digging in Bethesda and they dug down there and they found five porpoises. You've been told there's no such thing as a stupid question. That's false.

I taught freshman for years. I didn't laugh. Actually, I think I did laugh now that day back. I wasn't supposed to, but I didn't find dolphins.

But I actually have a picture overlooking this structure and they found the pool in Bethesda and there's five type colonnades surrounding where this took place. Another archaeological confirmation says, within these lay a large number of disabled, blind, lame and paralyzed. One man was there who had been there for 38 years. Now, we don't know if Jesus just knew this supernaturally or he asked him to report it to John.

I'm not sure. Now, I think what we're supposed to do in John is keep this story in the back of our mind and compare it to the blind man in John chapter 9. Now, we won't get there, but there's a fascinating contrast between the two of them. How long have the blind man been blind?

He was born that way. This man had been lame 38 years or paralyzed. It says, when Jesus saw him lying there and realized he'd already been there a long time, he said to him, do you want to get well? Now, do you think there's anybody who's ever lived who would say, no, I don't want to get well?

Now, actually, ironically today, there's somewhat of a movement of people with disabilities saying, it's not a disability. This is a part of my identity. And if you say it should be fixed, you're saying something is wrong with me. That is a minority, modern, Western idea in the history of the world.

99.9% of people who cannot walk would say, yes, they would. So why does Jesus ask him? It's kind of an interesting question, isn't it? Is he saying, do you want to like inform me or is he saying how deeply do you want to get better?

I think he's asking him that deeper question. And then what happens? He says, sir, the man answered. I've known to put me in the pool, and the water's stirred up.

But while I'm coming, someone goes down ahead of me. Now there was a belief at that time that an angel would come and stir the water, and the first person who was in the water after this would be healed. Now, John is not saying that this narrative or story is true. He's simply reporting that this man believed that.

But compared to the paralytic in Mark II, what does this man lack? Well, not only faith, although that's important, friends. When I read the stories Mark II, I'm always thinking, who are the friends who cared enough to go get their friend who needed Jesus, lower them down in a roof to get them to Jesus. They're not even named.

I kind of want to meet these guys in heaven and figure out, who are you? Why did you do this? Why did you go to such a length? And why were you such a good friend?

This person's alone. Apparently he doesn't have friends. He doesn't need to lower them through a roof. He just needs to get them into a pool.

It's not that hard. So obviously, we don't believe that myth about the angels. But this guy's sitting there for years believing that with nobody to get them there. And then what does Jesus say to him?

He says, get up, Jesus told him. Pick up your mat and walk. Now back to the story of the paralytic in Mark II. What did Jesus say there?

He said, stand up, pick up your mat and walk. Same commandment. Now what Jesus didn't do was touch him. Who does Jesus touch when he heals him?

The leper. Now why would he touch the leper but not the man who's paralyzed? Because you weren't supposed to what? So it's not only that, well, it's not like you weren't supposed to when Jesus is breaking the rules because he's doing what they're not supposed to do.

If you're a leper and people came close to you, you'd have to cover your face and say, unclean, unclean, you had not felt human touch for years. You had never Jesus to reach out and touch him. Knew he needed healing. But he was communicating as much with his appropriate touch.

In fact, more than you could communicate with words. You don't touch a paralytic because it's not like, hey, let me give you a hand up. It's like you want to see the power of my word, heals him. By the way, how was Jesus introduced?

In the beginning was the word. He can speak it. Stand up, pick up your mat and walk. Now there's something really interesting lacking here that challenges a certain modern theology that I think is heretical.

What's lacking here from the paralyzed man? Who said it? Faith. Of course you said it, Dave.

You should know this by now. You've been teaching it for years. Is there any sense where this man exercises faith in Jesus? No.

Jesus just heals him without any expression of faith. So some of the name and claim it, faith is what is necessary and if you don't get healed, you lack faith. Well, here's Jesus healing somebody who didn't have any faith. He didn't express any faith.

At least there's no evidence expressed in the text because it was his sovereign will to do so. So he just commands the man. Stand up, get up and walk and he does so. Zero exercise of faith here at all.

And then how quickly did it take? Verse 9, instantly the man got well, picked up his mat and started to walk. Now how did he heal the blind man when we get to John 9? Because it was an instant.

What did he do the blind man? Anybody remember? He spit and put it in his eyes. Now that is such a weird thing to do.

Right? Why did Jesus do that? My best guess is that was actually the sixth sign and what did Jesus create on the sixth day? The man kind.

So with mud, with dirt. So on the sixth day, he takes dirt, this is a new creation and restores creation. I can't prove that but I think there's enough there to make me think that's a part of it of what's actually going on. But this tells us it's not like Jesus had to do that.

He had a motivation and a reason and somehow wanted the blind man to wipe it away and then be able to see for the first time. The paralytic healed instantly. Instantly healed him. And then what happened?

The man got well, picked up his mat and started to walk. Now that day was what? The Sabbath. Game on.

If you look in the scriptures, this is what tips it for people. The Sabbath is what offends the religious leaders most and turns them against Jesus. Why? It says, and so the Jews said to the man who had been healed, this is the Sabbath.

The law prohibits you from picking up your mat. Can you imagine just being this guy? I mean, like you haven't been able to walk in 38 years. You've got to be ecstatic as you have this experience.

I kind of think of, I'm not a fan of this movie, but Avatar. You've seen the movie Avatar. How many of you have seen the original Avatar? So Jake Solley is paralyzed.

And as he takes on this avatar, he has legs and he's able to run. And he's running through the fields with his joy and this pleasure they can run. And I thought that's what it's going to be like for people when they get to heaven who have been paralyzed. It kind of captures this moment of what you would have been feeling.

And the Pharisees are like instant criticism just squashing this joy and pleasure that he has. And I don't think the writer wants to make sure that we don't miss that. You replied, the man who made me well told me pick up your mat and walk. No one's interested in saying the man who made me well.

He doesn't even know his name. No, why does he not know his name? I mean, I got to think for myself. Maybe this way my parents raised me.

But if I'm paralyzed and somebody walks by and says, pick up your mat and walk, I would say at least, by the way, can you give me your name? Who are you? How did you do this? Where did this power come from?

I mean, minimally you would ask that. All he knows is that some guy said to him, pick up your mat and walk. That's all that he knows. So already we see a different response here from this man and the Samaritan woman who's also not named.

But we see a very different response between the two of them. All he knows is the man who made me well told me pick up your mat and walk. Who is this man who told you pick up your mat and walk? By the way, what do we just see for the third time?

Jesus said pick up your man and walk. The Pharisees said, who did this tune? He said, well, it's a man who said pick up your man and walk. And then the third time they say, who is this man who told you pick up your mat and walk?

John repeats stuff over and over again so we don't miss it. That's the significant thing that Jesus did. He command the healing and it took place. They asked, but the man who was healed did not know who it was because Jesus had slipped away into the crowd that was there.

After this, Jesus found him in the temple and said to him, now what do you think he was doing in the temple? What's that? Well, I'm not Jesus. That's a fair question.

The man went to the temple. It's not like he found him in the marketplace, found on the street. Did he go back to thank the Lord? Did he go back to figure out what happened?

I don't actually know the answer to that. But after being healed, he did go to the temple. I'm not sure why. Do you have a thought?

That could be it. Did everybody hear that? That's a great point. So, he wouldn't have been allowed to be in the temple as a cripple.

Now, it depends. When we say the temple, there's different layers, courtyards leading into it. So given that he's simply allowed to. Now, does this tell us much about his level of devotion?

Was it like I just want to go somewhere I couldn't go before? I don't know the answer. But that's a really fascinating point. Jeff, I know that's true for skin diseases.

We see that with the lepers. I don't know if that's true for paralysis or not. I mean, it's kind of like I'm going to walk to the temple. I've been able to walk three years to get the blessing of the priest.

It's a little different than a skin disease. I'm not sure if you find that, show me I'd be curious. I thought that was more narrowly confined. Okay.

So, Jesus found him in the temple and said to him, see, you are well. Do not sin anymore so that something worse doesn't happen to you. Now, what seems to be implied when he says don't sin anymore? Oh, so maybe his heart didn't change.

I'm not sure that that phrase alone implies that his heart didn't change. I think we need the rest of the story to know his heart didn't change. How does that help? Explain.

Okay, maybe, possibly. What do you think? I think that's the pre-reasonable explanation. So here's a man who's been laying 38 years, finds him in the temple and says, what?

Make sure you don't sin anymore. Jesus didn't say this to everybody who he went and found who was healed. He doesn't say this to the blind man. That's for very different reasons.

I think the assumption is here that he sinned and was crippled because he sinned. Now, does this mean that everybody who is crippled or has some physical issue they're dealing with, that's a result of sin? The answer is definitively unmistakably no. So some sin can lead to physical suffering.

And in fact, death, think about Acts chapter 5, right? And an Ison Sophia, they weren't just crippled, they were killed. I think of the stories in 1 Corinthians about those who are taking the Lord's Supper and it warns them about the punishment that would come doing it wrong. So that could be a physical punishment for sinning.

So I think we err on one of two ways. We err on one of two ways of assuming that all sin is, or I'm sorry, all physical suffering is because we sinned. We also err by assuming that our sins cannot have and do not at least sometimes have physical suffering that follows from it. So the whole debate in John chapter 9 is people ask the question, who sinned this man or what?

Or his parents. The assumption was what? He's born blind because somebody sinned. And Jesus is like, nope, your whole assumptions are mistaken.

So it's really important that we don't assume that people are suffering. See somebody in a wheelchair, your assumption should not be, well, you sinned so you're in a wheelchair. What a dehumanizing thing to somebody to assume that, right? And I think Jesus makes it clear, I say, stop sinning or something worse might happen to you.

Now in this context, what's the worst thing? What kind of death? I think he's not just saying physical death. I think it's a kind of warning to spiritual death.

So here's God's grace to you. You've been healed of this? Guess what? Your immorality leads towards suffering.

And this life leads towards condemnation for eternity. I think that's in part what Jesus is saying here. Now the question is, how will this formerly paralyzed man who had been there 38 years didn't have a friend to take him down to the pool to get him healed become a witness for Jesus? Well, actually, unfortunately, that's exactly what does not happen.

The man went and reported to the Jews that it was Jesus who made him well. Now, by the way, what name does he use? I don't know who healed me. It's the first case.

But now after you see, he knows the name and he delivers it specifically to the Jews at that time who we will see very quickly had determined that they wanted to kill him. Now flip over to the canon of 1145. John 1145. So this is a story after the raising of Lazarus.

Notice what it says. It says, therefore, many of the Jews who came to marry and saw what he did believed in him. So some of the Jews were there that night, saw the raising of Lazarus and believed in him. And then it says, but some of them went to the Pharisees and told them or reported what Jesus had done.

Do you notice the contrast here? There are some people who see the signs and miracles of Jesus and what do they do? They believe. What do others do?

They go and tell the religious authorities and report on him. Where does this paralyzed man fall? He doesn't believe. He goes and reports and tells on Jesus to the religious authorities.

That's who this layman was and that's all we hear about him. And then it says, verse 16, therefore, the Jews began persecuting Jesus because he was doing these things on the Sabbath. Now, by the way, for Jesus, he could have healed him on any other day, right? So he's clearly making a choice here to poke the bear, you might say.

He knows what he's doing. But by healing on the Sabbath, what is Jesus communicating? He has authority, what? Over the Sabbath.

Now, why does he have authority over the Sabbath? Because he's the creator of the universe we learn in John chapter 1. The creator made everything, remember, not anything that was created was not made by him. He goes, what?

The Sabbath. Jesus is Lord of the Sabbath. Now, you don't have the words, Lord of the Sabbath here, like you see in Mark chapter 2, but his defense is essentially the same. So let's see what defense Jesus launched into.

So it says verse 17, Jesus responded to them, my father is still working and I am working also. This is why the Jews began trying all the more to kill him. Not only the ways he breaks in the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own father, making himself equal to God. Now typically, rabbis at this time would say our father, not my father.

Jesus spoke as my father. Now why does he say my father? Because while we're all invited to be children of God through faith, Jesus is what? The one and only son in a unique fashion.

So he calls him his father. And what did they say? They say he's not only breaking the Sabbath, that's bad enough. But he was calling God his own father, making himself equal to God.

At this point, they try to kill him. Now he's gone too far. Now I don't want to get too lost in debates about this. But I was reading this.

I was thinking, wait a minute, my father's still working and I'm working also. What does it mean still working? Aren't we in the seventh day where there's rest? Well, there's debates, although I can't settle this one, but my best sense would be, yeah, he's resting from creating new like he did on the first six days.

But God always has and always will be still acting in history. In the Old Testament, there's a God who sent angels. In the Old Testament, there's a God who sometimes spoke directly. In the Old Testament, there's a God who'd show up in dreams and in visions and work miracles and give new covenants.

So clearly this God is still working different than the original six days of creation, but continuing to work in a certain fashion. And what does Jesus say? He says, my father's still working and I am working also. This is heresy, friends, if you don't believe in who Jesus is.

Put himself on par with the father. The father and I are one. Of course, he says that in John 10, but you see the point. All right, make himself equal to God.

Verse 19, Jesus replied, truly, I tell you, the son is not able to do anything on his own. But only one sees the father doing. Whatever the father does, the son likewise does these things. For the father loves the son and shows him everything he's doing.

He knew to show him greater works than these, so you will be amazed. Now, there's a lot of commentary we could have in here. But here's the thing that John captures. The father and the son are equally divine.

The father and the son are both still working. And yet the son, the father is greater than the son. Why? Because the son willingly lays down his life, willingly humbles himself and takes on flesh to model for us what it means to fully be human in relationship to God.

So in part, you have this tension all throughout John that Jesus is the great I am. I and the father are one. He's preexistent. He shares the glory with the father.

And yet he's submitting himself to the father. He has life because the father gives it to him. Yet if you keep reading, what's so interesting is there's a few passages that I found. For example, I want to find one quick thing here.

It says in John's section, I have to write this down, the spirit gives life. But in John 4, it says the son gives life. So who gives life? The spirit of the son.

And the answer is they both do. The father gives the son, the father gives life in the name of the son to the power of the Holy Spirit. There's another passage that I saw. I see if I can find this.

I wrote it down this morning when I was thinking about it. I might be able to find this. Okay. Jesus sends the Holy Spirit in John 14.

But then the father sends the Holy Spirit in John 15. So who sends the Holy Spirit? The father does in the name of the son. So everything they do is in unison and together and perfectly aligned.

This is what we see John developing. Now just verse 21, just as the father raised the dead and gives him life. So the son also gives life to whom he wants. The father in fact judges no one but gives all judgment to the son.

So all people may honor the son just as they honor the father. Again, you realize how high of a Christology this is? We're supposed to honor God alone and John's like, yep, through the words of Jesus, honor the son the same. That's crazy if it's not true.

And one who does not honor the son does not honor the father who sent him. Now let me ask you a question. We've gone out of our way to emphasize that John is not an anti-Semitic book. That John actually shows the love that Jesus has for the Jewish people.

Jesus is Jewish. John the Baptist is Jewish. He's the king of Israel. You have sympathetic Jewish people like Nicodemus and Joseph of Eremathea.

You have some of the Jews coming to console Jesus. I'm sorry, console Mary and Martha at the death of Lazarus. Some Jews believe and some don't. Here's the question.

Do Jews have to believe in Jesus to be saved? Not easy to say up here in a cabin in Hume, but I had a debate with a young Jewish brilliant thinker from Harvard who works for Prager U. He basically asked me this question. He said, we don't think you have to be Jewish to be saved.

All the Ten Commandments live a good life. You're basically saved. You're fine. He goes, what about me?

I think Jesus is a messiah. That you have to believe in him to be saved. Why would I say that? What does this passage say?

Anyone who does not honor the son does not what? Honor the father who sent him. I don't know how somebody can say. We worship the same God.

I believe in the Bible and I'm saved, but I reject the Jesus as a messiah. I reject the Jesus divine. I reject that he's the prophet of John 18, and I reject all the things that John the Baptist prophesied and we worship the same God and I'm saved. I don't think you can get there from scripture.

And I say that with like a heavy heart with some Jews, I respect and love and care about. People like Dennis Prager, like top five who's had an impact on my life. Nothing but love. I've done like four, four, five Prager you videos.

And yet had to be very frank with my friends, Jesus is in the science said, if you don't honor me, you don't honor the father. I think Jesus is really clear in John about that. Let's go a little bit more than we'll stop in what plenty of time for questions. Verse 24, true lie tell you, anyone hears my words and believes in him who sent me his eternal life.

I'm not a committed judgment, but it's passed from death to life. Notice when you believe in Jesus, when you pass from death to life, when you pass from death to life and you believe in Jesus, immediately, eternal life begins today. That's why he says you'll never die spiritually. You'll never die eternally.

Spiritual life begins today. Now again, someone who doesn't believe in Jesus is experiencing spiritual death. And then when you die, you enter into what? Eternal death.

There's no second choice, second chance. Do I tell you an hour's coming? It's now here when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God. By the way, Jesus only calls himself the Son of God in John three times.

He calls himself the Son of man more. And those who hear will live. Where just as the Father has life in himself, so he's granted to the Son to have life in himself. Is granted to him the right to pass judgment because he is the Son of man.

Do not be amazed at this, because at times coming when all the graves will hear his voice and come out. Those who've done good things to the resurrection of life, but those who've done wicked things to the resurrection of condemnation. Ah, got you, Protestants. That is salvation by works.

Those who do good things go to resurrection of life, those who do bad things go to resurrection of death. By the way, what is Jesus quoting here? What passage? What Old Testament passage?

Good job. Daniel 12 to where he says they will be resurrected, some to eternal life and some to eternal death. So is Jesus saying, let me read again. Is this a salvation by works?

Because what does he say? One more time. Do not be amazed at this time, it's coming all the way in the graves. That means everyone who's dead, well here's voice and come out.

Those who have done good things to the resurrection of life, those who've done wicked things to the resurrection of condemnation. So if you do good things, resurrection of life, do bad things, condemnation. Now, why is this not a salvation by works? Well the question is, what does it mean to do good things?

That's a natural question, right? Well we won't get there until June, 2027, but this is in John, giving the side, John chapter six, flip over, look at verse 28, 628. What can we do to perform the works of God they asked? Jesus replied, this is the work of God that you believe in the one whom he has sent.

So good works is not paying your neighbor's rent, helping old lady across the street, tithing, whatever it is, that's not good works. The good work is to believe. So we can be condemned for our evil actions. Does not mean we're saved by good deeds.

We can be condemned for evil actions, but we're not saved by good deeds. Why? Think about it, before the law, if I go out and I murder somebody and I go, look, I haven't done this, I'm 50. My whole life's like how much I've tied.

I taught high school, look at all the good things that I did. Is any judge to be like, you know what? You're right, you're a pretty good guy. You're good outweighs murdering somebody.

Of course not, no judge judge should do that. So I pay the price for what I did. My Christian story, what does Jesus do? He's the sinless one.

And he takes the burden that we owe upon himself and pays that debt for us. That's the beauty of the gospel. We can be condemned by works, and all of us have sinned and we all know it. We can't be saved by good works.

Let me rephrase that, we can't be saved by good works, but the good works are believing in the one whom he has sinned. That's why, don't read a Bible verse. Always look at the context and the wider story and it comes back to belief. Belief is the root of it.

Acts 1631, believe in Lord Jesus Christ and you'll be saved. Hebrews 4, 3, those who enter his rest are those who believed. It's all over the scriptures. All right, I can do nothing on my own.

I only judge as I hear verse 30 and my judgment is just because I don't seek my own will, but the will of him who sent me. So this last section, we'll look at this and then we will have time. We are killing it on time. It took us five nights to get there.

Now we get to Jesus talking about testifying about himself. And I love this section, especially as an apologist, because people frequently say, you just need to love people, you just need to invite people to church, you just need to show people what it means to live Christianly. We're not supposed to argue with people. And I think we are supposed to argue with people.

Have you not read John Chapter 8? Jesus argued with the Pharisees. You're supposed to make arguments, but not be argumentative. Those are not the same things.

We're supposed to reason and make arguments for our faith in the right time and in the right way. In this chapter, Jesus is in the midst of a bunch of religious skeptics who don't accept his identity. And he points to five lines of reasoning to support his identity. He doesn't say pray about it.

And if you have a burning of wisdom, you'll know that I'm the Christ. Jesus doesn't say that. He doesn't base it in an experience. He points towards evidence and witnesses who testify for him.

This section, so look at, there's really six, but most people point out five. It says verse 31, if I testify about myself, my testimony is not true. Now, if Jesus is God and he testifies about himself, what is testimony be true? So what's he referring to?

Okay, good. He's referring to the law and the accepted standard that his opposition took. So this actually really gets strategy when you're reasoning with somebody. What do you have in common?

Use what you have in common and then reason from there. That's what Jesus is doing. Okay, so he says, there's another who testifies about me. And I know that the testimony he gives about me is true.

You sent messengers to John and he testified to the truth. I don't receive human testimony, but I say these things so that you may be saved. By the way, it was John's testimony, human testimony. Well, yes and no, who sent him?

The father sent him. So yes, it's human testimony, but it's clearly God speaking through him. So Jesus is saying, you don't believe my word? Okay, look at John.

He testified and made a case for me. He says, I don't receive human testimony, but I say these things you may be saved. Save from what, by the way? Save from what, by the way.

Say it out loud. Save from your sins. Is what did John say twice in John one? He's what?

Say it out loud. What does John say twice in John one? About he is the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. So when Jesus' time at John says you may be saved, he's time at being saved from our sins.

He was a burning and shining lamp, and you were willing to rejoice for a while in his light. Now notice what's the difference between John and between Jesus? Jesus is the light. John gets his life light derivative from Jesus.

And it's temporary. And it burns out and it fades. But Jesus is the eternal source. I should have thought of this today, but we went way up looking at one of this huge sequoia groves.

In my exaggerating standards, probably at one point you can see 30. Like in that area, 30 sequoia trees. Unbelievable, there's a road to get up there. It's like I took an hour or something to get up there.

Pastor Todd Rachael, you can tell you how to get up there at no sense of action if you want. If you have at least a Bronco or a Jeep or a big truck, you have an hour to get up there. We saw like 30 sequoias. But there was one, where was I going with this?

I got stuck on the awesomeness of seeing sequoias. Oh, there's once a quay that had probably fallen within the past week or two. So as you walked over, you could smell like the pine scent. And then the inside was almost like it was almost a little moist and you could see the dark red, like somewhat dark red, contrast with the lighter wood.

I've never seen the inside of what was a just living tree. And it hit me and I did this quick social media video. I was like, anybody, this tree's probably 1,000 years old. That's how old it is.

The general novelty is probably 3,000 years old before they chopped it down. Generation after generation saw this and thought that is imperishable. That is massive. That tree will go on forever.

And it ended and it crashed and it's gone. That's life and light went out. Even the biggest, most seemingly imperishable and destructible things around us are not. They're not.

Instructible. And they'll end. John Baptist's power was a testimony it was. He's a light burned for a while and it went out.

Jesus is the life. Jesus is the light. He is the source. And this is why John said everything we have is from above.

So John testified about him, but his light went out. He says, but I have a greater testimony than John. You don't accept that one because of the works that the father has given me to accomplish. Now what's he talking about?

Now how much miracles? Now is that a bunch of miracles we don't know. But so far we know he at least healed the lame man and at least turned water and wine explicitly stated. In John chapter 6 we see a whole bunch more.

But he's saying now my miracles. These very works I'm doing testify about me that the father has sent me. Now Isaiah 35 and Joel 2 both make references to works and miracles that the Messiah would do, including one miracle in Isaiah 35. And in chapter 6 that the lame will walk, the blind will see, and the deaf will hear again.

Jesus does at least two of those recorded in John. So John testifies about me. My works testify about me. The father who sent me has himself testified about me.

You've not heard his voice at any time. You haven't seen his form. You don't have words residing because you don't believe the one he sent. You pour over the soul of the father.

Now what's he out? He has John the Baptist, testifies about him. His miracles testify about him. And the father testifies about him.

Now where does the father testify about him? If you skip forward to John chapter 12 when he comes to Jerusalem, there's a voice from heaven testifying about who he is. But he also testifies about him as baptism. This is my son in whom I'm well pleased.

So the father testifies about him. And then it says, you pour out the scriptures because you think you have eternal life in them. And yet what? They testify about me.

But you're not willing to come to me so that you may have a life. So what do we have? We have John the Baptist. We have miracles.

Now we have the scriptures that testify about him. We can talk about all the prophecy pointing towards Jesus so that you may have life. I'm not a simple word from people, but I know you. You have no love for God within you.

I've put on my father's name yet. You don't accept me. If so no, no, if comes his own name, you will accept him. And by the way, there were a ton of messianic pretenders that you'll see this list, the century or two, coming up to the time of Christ.

There were a whole bunch of messianic pretenders that some were accepted. How do you believe, since you accept glory from one another, but don't seek the glory that comes from the only God? Do not think I'll accuse you to father. Your accuser is Moses on whom you have said your hope.

That's the fifth. For if you believe Moses, you would believe me because he wrote about me. If you don't believe what he wrote, how you believe my words. I love this section of John, one of my favorites in the book.

Because people say, again, just believe. Just love people. Just have faith doesn't require evidence. I'm like, have you read the Gospel of John?

Here's Jesus when people want to accept his authority. He's like, my miracles testify about me. Moses testifies about me. The Father testifies about me.

Scripture testifies about me. And I'm missing one. The obvious one. John the Baptist testifies about me.

Jesus made a case for people. You say, wait a minute, Sean, you're missing the book. What about when you get all the way to the end? And John the Baptist, I'm not sorry, not John the Baptist.

Thomas, who's not a doubter, by the way. We need to stop calling him a doubter. I'll circle back to that if you want to know why. Thomas says, I will not believe unless I can see and touch the wounds in his side.

Jesus shows up, by the way, never reports in touching Jesus. So the art of people reaching and touching his side is reading into the scriptures in a way. He might have it doesn't report in doing that. What does Jesus say?

Blessed are those who believe and yet have not seen. I can't tell you how many skeptics will say to me. Sean, even Jesus says, you're supposed to believe that evidence. No matter what John, the more I'm losing patience with this, is Jesus saying, because you don't see with your physical eyes, therefore you have no evidence.

No, that's not his point. The whole point of John is that Jesus is the Son of God. And all these people testify with their life and with their words, that Jesus has changed them. In fact, the next verses say, all these things are written down so you might believe and might believe you and have life in his name.

He's not saying to Thomas, hey, you got to have evidence, blessed are those who have no evidence. No, Thomas was in a unique position that he could see and touch Jesus physically. We can't, but we still have evidence that it's true and we're supposed to believe on that evidence, even if it's not physically seen Jesus the way that Thomas did. What evidence do we have?

The testimony of all these people who have seen him and it's recorded in the Gospel of John. Jesus, in some the Gospel of John, is doing what? He's revealing himself. He's the eternal, self-existent, pre-existent, Yahweh, Son of Man who heals the blind, heals the blind, walks on water in John chapter six.

And he frees out the disciples and three times in John six, he says, I am, I am, I am. He's alone who says, before Abraham was born, which by the way was 2000 years ago, I am the God who showed up in the burning bush. I'm the God who turns water into wine and introduces the messianic era, because it was predicted by Amos hundreds of years ago that when I show up, the wine is going to flow and it's going to flow everywhere. Jesus is the one who even speaks to a Samaritan woman, their enemies.

Why? Because when Jesus ends and the Holy Spirit comes down, what's our mission? To proclaim this to Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the ends of the earth. We skipped about 15, 16, if I can do the math, amazing chapters in John.

But the reader is supposed to walk away and say, you know what? I only got a glimpse of who this Jesus is. In fact, if all of the things Jesus did are recorded, then what? The books of the world couldn't even contain it.