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Sunday, February 6, 2010 am            Life of Jesus Index

THE LIFE OF Jesus (14)
Defending His Teachings

                In our last lesson of this ongoing study of the life of Jesus we examined some of the claims Jesus made.  While He made many claims, we focused the “I AM” claims of the gospel of John.  Such claims caused many to be astounded at His teachings.  Many were willing to follow Him because of His claims, but others outright rejected Him, many because of His claims. 

                We often strongly condemn the Jewish leaders for their corruption, arrogance and manipulation of the Law of Moses to their benefit.  Jesus exposed many of these traits (which we will examine later this year) and thus our condemnation is just.  HOWEVER, one thing they could NOT be accused of was a failure to respect the godhood of Jehovah (YHWH).  Considering the claims that Jesus did make, (including claims that He was the Son of God, claims of working with the Father, forgiving sins, occasions where He accepted worship, & setting aside Sabbath traditions, etc.) if they were made by an ordinary man and without proof, they would have been blasphemy and cause for complete rejection, even execution, under the Old Law.  It was this mindset of the enemies of Jesus that was a pivotal factor in their rejection of Him (though not the only reason). 

                BUT, Jesus defended His authority throughout His ministry.  He PROVED that He was who He claimed to be.  As a result of this, their rejection of Jesus was their downfall.  In our lesson today we want to notice some things Jesus said and did which verified that He was the Son of God and the promised Messiah. 

                PLEASE NOTE: This lesson is just as relevant to us today as it was back then.  As we strive to follow Jesus, we ought to do so with faith and hope.  As you study the life of Jesus, there are only three possibilities: 1) He was a liar and deceiver (i.e. he knew what he was doing), 2) He was a lunatic (crazy), or 3) He was who He claimed to be.  Let us keep this in mind as we examine this lesson.  Today we will notice some of HIS pleadings to accept Him.

I.                    By What Authority?

a.        Matthew 21:23-27, also in Mark 11:27-33, Luke 20:1-8. 
The context: Jesus is bringing His earthly service to its conclusion and He is questioned by the elders and chief priests.  They ask Him, “By what authority are you doing these things?”  The things He did included teaching as He did, cast out the money changers from the temple (Luke records this just before this account), etc.
Jesus answers them with a question of His own stating that He would answer them if they answered Him.  The question, “The baptism of John - Was it from heaven or from men?”  They refuse to answer and so does Jesus.

b.       Was it a legitimate question?  Was asking for authority for the works and claims of Jesus a legitimate question? Yes!  If one is to put his life and even his eternal destiny in the hands of one, it is only natural to VERIFY the claims that are made.

c.        So why did Jesus not answer it?  Because they did not ask it legitimately.  They were not truly interested in the answer.  He had corresponded with them on numerous occasions prior to this about why He did what He did and appealed to them to honestly consider Him and His claims.  They summarily dismissed His words every time. 
Furthermore, there is good indication that the intent of the leaders asking Jesus this question on that occasion was with ulterior motives.   They didn’t really want to know the answer, but they wanted something (else) to accuse Him of.

d.       We want to take a few moments and notice some of the defense he made.

 

II.                  The Fourfold Witness

a.        John 5:31-46.  In this passage Jesus appeals to His audience, both friend and foe to consider “witnesses” that verified His extraordinary claims.

b.       The importance of witnesses.  Under the Law of Moses, the mouth of 2 or 3 witnesses was needed to convict one. Deut. 19:18 says, “One witness shall not rise against a man concerning any iniquity or any sin that he commits; by the mouth of two or three witnesses the matter shall be established.”  Jesus even enacted this in dealing with a sinning brother (Matt. 18:16).  On this occasion, while Jesus had not been convicted of anything, He WAS appealing to “witnesses” that verified His teachings and claims.

c.        In particular Jesus pleads with them to consider 4 witnesses.

                                                   i.      John the Baptist testified of Him (5:32-25).  
John the Baptist was viewed by many as a great prophet (and he was).  Jesus described him as the Elijah promised in Malachi 4:5-6, 3:1 (see Matt. 17:10-13).
The Jewish leaders wouldn’t touch John because the people viewed him as a great prophet.  He taught with integrity and prepared the people for the coming Messiah (Matt. 3:2, 9-12)
John 1:29-34.  Notice vs. 29 finds John describing Jesus as, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.”  THEN in vs. 34 we read, “And I have seen and testified that this is the Son of God.”
Following this John began declaring to his disciples that they should follow after Jesus.  From these disciples would come some of the apostles of Jesus.   Notice John 3:27-36 where some of John’s disciples express concerns because many were leaving him to follow Jesus.  That is what John wanted.
The scribes and Pharisees had NOTHING on John of which to convict him or accuse him.  He testified of Jesus.

                                                  ii.      The works He did bore witness of Him (5:36)
The book of John, as the other gospels, records a number of “works” that Jesus did.  These works, I believe to be reference to the miracles Jesus performed. 
The first recorded miracle of Jesus was turning water to wine in Cana, as recorded in John 2:1-11.  Vs. 11 says, “This beginning of signs Jesus did in Cana of Galilee, and manifested His glory; and His disciples believed in Him.  Notice how John uses the word “signs”, a reference to these works being PROOF of something.  Thayer in describing these signs says they can refer to “miracles and wonders which God authenticates the men sent to him, or by which men prove that the cause they are pleading is God’s”
John records at least 7 miracles that demonstrate the all-encompassing power of Jesus.  Many of them are referred to as signs.  In our next lesson, we are going to examine some of the miracles Jesus performed and show how they demonstrated Jesus to be whom He claimed to be.

Some other interesting passages in John in reference to these signs:

1.        John 3:2 where Nicodemus, a Pharisee, comes to Jesus at night and says, “Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher from God; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with Him.”

2.       John 6:30 after feeding 5000 miraculously, some in the crowd, among whom would have been religious leaders and critics, asked Him, “What sign will You perform then, that we may see it and believe You?  What work will You do?...”  NOTICE the value these leaders placed upon signs (miracles).  Whether they wanted to admit it or not, the signs proved Jesus to be one they should listen to.

3.       John 10:24-25, “Then the Jews surrounded Him and said to Him, "How long do You keep us in doubt? If You are the Christ, tell us plainly."  Jesus answered them, "I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in My Father's name, they bear witness of Me.”
Following this, Jesus challenges them by saying, “For which of those works do you stone Me?” (Jn. 10:32)  They answer that it was because He made Himself God.  Jesus responds, “Jesus answered them, "Is it not written in your law, 'I said, "You are gods"'?  If He called them gods, to whom the word of God came (and the Scripture cannot be broken),  do you say of Him whom the Father sanctified and sent into the world, 'You are blaspheming,' because I said, 'I am the Son of God'?  If I do not do the works of My Father, do not believe Me; but if I do, though you do not believe Me, believe the works, that you may know and believe that the Father is in Me, and I in Him." Therefore they sought again to seize Him, but He escaped out of their hand.”  John 10:34-39

4.       John 11:45-47 – after the resurrection of Lazarus, their conclusion about Jesus was, “Then the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered a council and said, "What shall we do? For this Man works many signs. 48 If we let Him alone like this, everyone will believe in Him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and nation."

5.       John 20:30-31, “And truly Jesus did many other signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book; 31 but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name.”

6.       IS IT NOT AMAZING that Jesus did many signs, the very thing they demanded, and yet they still rejected Him?

                                                iii.      The Father Himself – testified of Him (5:37-40), through His word

1.       First, there was recorded an occasion with witnesses when the Father directly testified of Jesus.  At His baptism, as Jesus came up out of the water, He heard a voice saying, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” (Matt. 3:17, see also John 1:32-34).  At least twice more, the Father would speak of Jesus – at the transfiguration (Matt. 17:5, John 12:27-30)

2.       Second, Jesus fit the prophecies of the Messiah that the Old Testament foretold –
EVERY prophecy!  Jesus was challenging His critics to open their Bibles (books, scrolls) and search them.  They would VERIFY He was who He claimed to be.  Prophecies of the detail we find in scripture can only come from the omniscient creator of the Universe, God (cf. Isa. 46:9-10, 48:3-5)

3.       Consider just a few –
Born of a virgin – Isa. 7:14, Matt. 1:18, 23-25
Tribe of Judah – Jer. 23:5, Luke 3:23, 31, 33-34 – Jesus was from Judah
Born in Bethlehem – Micah 5:2, Matt. 2:1, Luke 2:4-7
The Spirit of the Lord would rest on Him – Isaiah 11:1-2, Matt. 3:16-17
Preceded by a messenger – Isaiah 40:3, Mal. 3:1, John the Baptist came – Jn. 1:22-23, Matt. 3:1-2
Dwelt in Galilee – Isaiah 9:1, Matt. 4:12-16
Miracles would be performed  - Isaiah 35:5-6, Matt. 9:35, etc.
MANY more prophecies were to come that would solidify even more, but these were available to the Jews at the time Jesus spoke the words of our text and could have been researched.
THE POINT: There was NOTHING to prove Jesus was NOT the promised Messiah, and plenty that pointed TOWARD HIM!  They just chose to reject it because He did not fit the mold they WANTED for the Messiah.

4.       After His resurrection, as Jesus spoke to His apostles He said, “Then He said to them, "These are the words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms concerning Me." And He opened their understanding, that they might comprehend the Scriptures.”  (Luke 24:44)

                                                iv.      Moses spoke of Him as well (5:45-47)

1.       In the 5 books attributed to Moses, those which the Jews described as their Law (the Torah), we find some more striking things said of one they were looking for.

2.       Included in the prophecies made in these books were:

The Seed promise through Abraham, Isaac & Jacob – Gen. 12:3,  26:4, 28:14
The tribe of Judah – Gen. 49:8-10
Deut 18:15, “The Lord your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your midst, from your brethren. Him you shall hear
Deut 18:18-19, “I will raise up for them a Prophet like you from among their brethren, and will put My words in His mouth, and He shall speak to them all that I command Him. And it shall be that whoever will not hear My words, which He speaks in My name, I will require it of him.

3.       There is another consideration here: Moses gave them the Law from God at Sinai.  Jesus HAD kept that Law perfectly, though the Jewish leaders had corrupted its application.
Furthermore, in Deut. 18:20 we read this warning about prophets, “But the prophet who presumes to speak a word in My name, which I have not commanded him to speak, or who speaks in the name of other gods, that prophet shall die.'  And if you say in your heart, 'How shall we know the word which the Lord has not spoken?' —  when a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord, if the thing does not happen or come to pass, that is the thing which the Lord has not spoken; the prophet has spoken it presumptuously; you shall not be afraid of him.” MOSES was clear that you would identify a prophet by whether or not his words came to pass.  All the leaders had to do was VERIFY what Jesus demonstrated and claimed before reaching a conclusion.  Their presumptuous condemnation of Jesus without “due course” was a rejection of the Law of Moses itself.  Jesus is challenging them to be consistent.

 

                In this text we find the crux of the defense of Jesus.  As you study the gospels, you find throughout a consistent defense of His works and message.  The people He interacted with heard Him answer questions, the way He handled His critics, the compassionate message and actions He demonstrated to the crowds, and the works He did all verified that He was one worthy of consideration and acceptance. 

                As Jesus taught, His disciples did not have the completed word, but they had enough to KNOW they could trust Him.  We have everything we need summarized in the gospels.  We can do the research and verify the consistency of His claims.  An honest heart will reach only one conclusion – Jesus WAS the Messiah we need to save us from our sins.  Will you accept Him in obedience to His will?