Jesus Confronts False Religi..

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com. That's cornerstonerbc.com. The Gospel according to John, the fifth chapter, we'll be reading from verse 1 and we'll read all the way through to verse 47. After this, there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.

Now there in Jerusalem, by the Sheep Gate, a pool in Aramaic called Bethesda, which has five-roofed colonnades. In these lay a multitude of invalids, blind, lame, and paralyzed. One man was there who had been an invalid thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had already been there a long time, he said to him, do you want to be healed? The sick man answered, sir, I have no one to put me in the pool when the water is stirred up.

And while I am going another steps before me. And Jesus said to him, get up, take up your bed and walk. And at once the man was healed and he took up his bed and walked. Now that day was the Sabbath. So the Jew said to the man who had been healed, it is the Sabbath, and it is not lawful for you to take up your bed.

But he answered, the man who healed me, the man said to me, take up your bed and walk. They asked him, who is this man who said to you, take up your bed and walk? Now the man who had been healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had withdrawn as there was a crowd in the place. Afterwards, Jesus found him in the temple and said, See, you are well, sin no more, that nothing worse may happen to you. The man went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus who healed him.

And this was why the Jews were persecuting Jesus, because he was doing these things on the Sabbath. But Jesus answered them, My father is working until now, and I am working. This is why the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him, because not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God, his own father, making himself equal with God. 19. So Jesus said to them, Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing.

For whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise. For the Father loves the Son, and shows Him all that He Himself is doing. And greater works than these will He show Him, so that you may marvel. For as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whom He will. The Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son, 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. Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming and he's now here when the dead will hear the voice of the son of God and those who hear will live. But as the father has life in himself, so he has granted the son also to have life in himself.

and he has given him authority to execute judgment because he is the son of man. 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. 30, I can do nothing on my own as I hear I judge and my judgment is just because I seek not my own will, but the will of him who sent me. If I alone bear witness about myself, my testimony is not true.

There's another who bears witness about me, and I know that his testimony, that the testimony that he bears about me is true. 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. 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. And the Father who sent me has himself borne witness about me, his voice you have never heard, his form you have never seen, and you do not have his word abiding in you. For, for you do not believe the one whom he has sent. You search the scripture because you think that in them you have eternal life, and it is they that bear witness about me. Yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life.

I do not receive glory from people, but I know that you do not have the love of God within you. I have come in my father's name and you do not receive me. If another comes in his own name, you will receive him. How can you believe when you receive glory from one another and do not seek the glory that comes from the only God? It's from here that our meditation will be this evening.

Verse 45. 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 believe Moses, you would believe me. for he wrote of me.

And if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe my words? Amen. This is the word of the Lord. Brothers and sisters, I, as I said earlier, we will this evening will bring this glorious fifth chapter, the chapter in this gospel according to John to a close. And I really wanted us to read the whole chapter this evening to remind us once again of the glorious Christological truths that are contained in this one chapter in only 47 verses.

Because I realize sometimes that we can look at the final points and get lost in the details. Now, don't get me wrong, it is very important and very beneficial to narrow in into the details. and the finer points. That's very important, as we have done over the last few months. But I find it also very beneficial for us to take a step back and read the whole chapter and get a good context for where the author is taking us so that we can see the nuances and the study that we've done in the last few months and see how it all works together in this chapter and where the apostle is taking the reader by inspiration of the Holy Spirit, where he intends for us to go.

And this is very important, especially this evening that we're going to bring this chapter to a close. So once again, we've been reminded, as we've read the chapter together, we've been reminded of our Lord who is speaking here to these religious people. And it all started with the healing at the Pool of Bethesda. And the religious leaders, well, they have a bone to pick with Jesus because He healed the man on the Sabbath. And that makes Jesus a lawbreaker, a Sabbath breaker, according to their understanding of the law of Moses.

Our Lord responds, well his response is not diplomatic. He doesn't respond in a way to curb their wrath in any way. In fact, what he says increases the wrath. He puts fuel to the fire because what he says makes them even more angry because verse 18 tells us, and now they were seeking all the more to kill him. Why?

Well, they understood Jesus as saying that he's equal with God. And, beloved, that's not a misunderstanding. For the next 10 verses or so, Jesus reiterates that point and goes deeper and deeper, systematically showing that the properties and the essential properties of God are actually contained in Him. But He's very, very careful. He's very careful to make sure that His listeners do not think that He's some sort of competing deity.

That He is not. In fact, He is God who stands before them, but He is one and He is united with the Father. He is not the Father. He's a different person. We believe in the Trinity, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and Jesus is showing He's a different person, but He doesn't compete with the Father.

He's in complete concert and unity with the Father in all things. Needless to say, the Jews flat-out reject the testimonial. They reject him. Of course, why would they accept? These are men who are familiar with the law of Moses, and according to the law of Moses, they can't accept a testimony based on one person.

There needs to be several, so Jesus does. He begins to give them witnesses. John the Baptist, and they deny and reject John. He says that the Father has bore witness to him through several witnesses, and John's the first he mentions, and they've rejected John. The second is his works, and they reject his works, even attributing at one point the works of Jesus to Beelzebub, or Satan himself.

And then he gives them the testimony of Scripture, but because of their twisted approach and superficial approach to Scripture, they were not able to receive the testimony of Scripture that bears witness to Christ. Although they had the Word of God, although they had the Scripture, they were blessed to have the Old Testament among them. They read it and they had it in their minds, but the Word of God never soaked down into their souls. It wasn't found within, and Jesus says to them, it does not abide in them. The Word does not abide within.

It didn't find root within the soul. All the study of sacred writ, and the result was simply a superficial head knowledge. Their heart remained unchanged, devoid of the Word. religion for these people, what pleased God as far as they thought was according to their own human understanding. So the verdict that they came up with when they're presented with this Messiah who's making these high and lofty claims is you're a fake Jesus because you don't stack up to what we think Messiah looks like.

You're fake. And so they reject even scripture's testimony of Christ. Then from verse 41 through 44, these are the verses we meditated upon last week. Our Lord expresses the real reason for them to reject his witness. You see, it's a heart condition.

These men that stand before them, before Christ, although religious, they're devoid of the love of God. There is no love of God within. That's the accusation that Jesus makes. And I said last week that he doesn't make an accusation that they're devoid of love or without love altogether, because in the natural state, like everyone without Christ, there is love and much of it, but it is love that's tapered towards oneself. It is not a biblical love, but it's a fleshly love that's tapered towards oneself.

And the very purpose and drive for their existence is to satisfy their own lustful desires. For these men, that looked like the applause and compliments of men. It was so valuable to them. They coveted the glory and the praise that came from the lips of others. And they coveted it far more than the glory of God.

And here's the thing. If anything has preeminence in a man or a woman's heart, anything that one seeks over the greatest good, which is to seek the glory of God, anything at all, then that is idolatry. That's bending the knee in worship to something other than God. And essentially, for these people, when that looked like the glory of men with a prideful heart, that idolatry is worship of self. And essentially it's a violation of the first and greatest commandment because God is dethroned and self is enthroned.

And so the charge of our Lord to these men in the final verses that we meditated from last week is this. How can you believe? How can you believe, Jesus says, when you receive glory from one another and do not seek the glory that comes from the only God? You see, it turns out for these people, it was an outward zeal for God, but he wasn't honest. They were more concerned to please men than to please God.

And so the eyes of the eternal Son of God who stands before them, who sees all, exposes their hypocrisy. You're not genuine in your religion. What you say with your mouth is not matched up with the contents of your heart. There's a disconnect. There's a dishonesty in your spiritual practices.

Your fellow peers blow wind under your sails and you'll do the same for them. But the day will come where you'll be found out for who you really are. The true intentions of the heart will be laid and exposed. And then our Lord says something interesting. Verse 45.

Do not think I will accuse you to the Father. There is one who accuses you, Moses, on whom you have set your hope. These are very interesting words. You see, these men, these men, and if we read this discourse, we will be 100% in agreement that those who are listening to Jesus are getting an absolute grilling by our Lord. Absolute grilling, no denying that fact.

Because His rebukes aren't cryptic. They're clear and direct to their face, and that's why their wrath is increased. They know exactly what Jesus is saying, and they would be far from happy with these accusations. At this point, they're likely thinking, what's your goal, Jesus? You said earlier on in the contents of verse 34 that your concern is, and the things you say and the reason you say them is because you're concerned with salvation, you're concerned with some being saved.

But Jesus, from our standpoint, where we stand, it seems more like your concern is to condemn Perhaps these people have begun to see Christ more as an accuser than a saviour. But we know that's not the case with our Lord. Jesus made that point crystal clear to Nicodemus. Remember in chapter 3, the reason for his advent? The reason why he has come into the world?

Because after he says, for God so loved the world, he gave his only begotten son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish, but have eternal life. Verse 17 says this, for God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world. but in order that the world might be saved through him. Jesus is not being disingenuous here. His advent in the world or into the world is indeed to bring salvation to lost sinners.

But there is a state of reality to those who refuse him. Those who refuse to believe that He is Messiah. Because as the verse continues, or the section continues, that was verse 17 in chapter 3, we move on to chapter 8, or verse 18 of chapter 3, it goes on to say, but, but whoever does not believe is condemned in the future, right? Or condemned in the final day. No, no, he goes on to say that whoever does not believe is condemned Already.

He's condemned already. And so after simply stating the facts to these Jewish men that are before him, Jesus is basically saying, I don't need to assume the role of accuser before my Father. And it's important that we realize this is a future tense. In other words, Jesus is saying, I don't need to accuse you, future tense, before the Father. Probably speaking of judgment.

Because the one whom you esteem the greatest prophet, the mediator of the Sinaitic covenant, the great lawgiver himself, Moses, even now accuses you. And the tense there is a present continuous tense. In other words, what Jesus is saying is, you don't have to wait for me. on the day of judgment to make my accusations, and to judge you rightly, because the Father has given all authority in judgment. I execute judgment, but you don't have to wait till then, because there is one now, even now, who perpetually continues to accuse you, and that is the one you revere above all men, Moses.

You know, there's so much in that statement. And it's important that we understand some details because it's not the physical Moses that he's referring to. It's not as though Moses now he stands in heaven and is accusing these men that are standing before the Lord. That's not what's going on. Although there is evidence that There is evidence that the Jews do believe, some do at least, some do at least, believe that Moses does indeed still act as a mediator in heaven on behalf of his people, just like we read this evening that Moses was a mediator of the law covenant at Sinai, where he stood between God and man and he mediated the covenant.

Some still believe, or did believe, that he still mediates from heaven, but that's not what Jesus is talking about, because Jesus knows who he the only, the only mediator between God and man. This is what Paul says in first Timothy. No, that's not what he's saying. It's not Moses who physically is accusing these men, but rather it's his sacred writings. It's the Torah, it's the first five books of the scripture, the foundations of the Old Testament scripture.

They cry out, declaring to these men, you are guilty before the good and holy God. That's what Jesus is saying. Now I hope you can see the hint of irony in our Lord's words. I hope that when we read the chapter from a distance and we had a chance to look at the flow of the narrative, that we've been able to see the beautiful irony that's going on here. That our Lord, these men, their accusation to Christ was based on violating the law of Moses.

They brought Moses to the table and said, Jesus, you're violating the law of Moses. You're violating the Sabbath that Moses gave us, and Jesus turns the table on these Jews and says, can you not see? Are you so blind? It's not Moses who's accusing me. Moses is accusing you.

That's what Jesus is saying. Brothers and sisters, there's a certain confidence in these Jews that are standing before the Lord. They have an assurance that they are the people of God. They possess the Old Testament scripture. And in particular, they had a massive confidence because they had the first five books of Moses.

They were disciples of Moses and they boasted of this. because they had studied his laws. They had memorized his words. They esteemed Moses like no other prophet. In their eyes, he was the great prophet.

They scrutinized his writings and prided themselves to understand them. And they made sure that they were obedient to his writings as well as others. Surely, they're thinking, surely if Moses were here, he would say, I'm proud of you. well. That's probably what they're thinking.

But Jesus says, we're deluded. You missed the thrust of Moses' writings. So your hope is misplaced. Moses wouldn't stand before you if he were here and say, I am proud. Rather, he would look at you with disgust and outrage.

Because Moses is charging you as guilty before Yahweh. And we must say, beloved, that this is not an attack at the Jews, but at the natural man without Jesus Christ. Because when we come, as we progress this evening, we'll see this is the heart of a person who doesn't belong to Christ. This is the heart of an unbeliever. This would have been, though, for the Jews, scandalous.

We're not told of their reaction. John doesn't give us that information. But we can only imagine their indignation towards Christ at this point. Self-righteous, proud, religious men would not take well to this sort of language that Jesus is using, especially if there's an audience. Remember, if anything hinders the praise of men, the glory they receive from men, they will fight tooth and nail to get it back.

But Jesus doesn't leave them guessing to how and why Moses accuses them, because that's probably running through their mind. Jesus, how? How does Moses accuse us? Because then he goes on to say in verse 46, for if you believe Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote of me. I love the fact that Jesus makes it so simple.

So simple. It has a simple equation. You claim to believe Moses' works, yet you don't believe me, therefore you don't believe Moses. It's as simple as that. Because if you truly believe Moses, if you're truly disciples of Moses, then you would believe me because he wrote of me.

I'm the substance of his writing, Jesus is saying. And if you can't see that, then you don't believe, nor are you his disciples. You see, Jesus argues in the same way here as he has done throughout this chapter. I hope you've been able to see this and we'll have a look at it in a moment. Because he is saying, basically, that the Jews did actually believe in the writings of Moses.

If their testimony of their lips was matched with the content of their heart, then when they look at Christ, they would identify that this is the one Moses wrote of. Because he is the sum and the substance. He is the thrust of all Moses' writing, and he is the thrust and the center of all of scripture. We saw that only a few weeks ago. He says that in verse 39.

You see, what Jesus is saying is faith in him is what matters. That they're reading Moses or the prophets or the Psalms, reading these things. If he doesn't produce faith in Christ, then you don't believe what you're reading. It's counterfeit religion, even if you use scripture to justify it. This is how Jesus argues in this whole chapter.

I want you to see how he does this. He's saying that basically he is the center and the foundation of the authentic faith. Let me give you a few examples. First, verse 37, our Lord rebukes the Jews like this. He says, His voice, that's speaking of the Father, His voice you have never heard, His form you have never seen, and you do not have His word abiding in you.

Jesus, what do you mean? We looked at this passage a few weeks ago, or maybe a month ago, or thereabouts. We looked at this passage, and we realized that hold on, the Jews would probably, maybe it would have gone over their head, then maybe they recognize that they've never seen a God, and they might say, yeah, we haven't, or heard the voice. They're probably thinking Moses and, for example, the elders or their first wilderness generation. But when you say you do not have his word abiding in you, at that point, they're saying, Christ, just wait a second.

We are the Jews. We are the privileged ones. We have the Torah. We have the Scripture. We meditate upon it day and night.

I can just recite it to you, Jesus. What do you mean? Where's your proof, Jesus, that we don't have the Word of God abiding in us? And what does Jesus say? Simple.

It's a simple equation for Christ. For you do not believe the one who hears it. In other words, Jesus is able to say authoritatively that you do not know the Father and the Father's word does not abide in you because you don't believe in me. Let me give you another example, verse 42. The rebuke, Jesus speaking again.

But I know that you do not have the love of God that is in you. Can you imagine how absurd that would have been for the Jews? Jesus, we are the privileged people. He loves us. We're the ones that He, the covenant God has made a covenant with us.

He's given us scripture. He's given us a land. Of course He loves us, and of course we love Him. Everything we do, Jesus, is stemming and rooted from a love for God. Our reading of the Torah, our explanation in the temple, our fasting, everything we do is rooted in love for God.

Jesus, how dare you say that? What's your evidence, Jesus, that we do not have the love of the father in us and his evidence is the same because he goes on to say I have come in my father's name and you do not receive me. You see in the gospel according to John receive is to believe so Jesus is saying that I have come and I stand before you and this fact that you do not believe me tells me that you don't have the love of God in you. or white for Christ. And so the verse that is before us, it's the same argument that Jesus is making.

Because verse 46, he says, for if you believed Moses, you would believe me. In other words, you say you believe Moses, but you don't. How do you know Jesus? You lack the proof. What is that proof?

You don't believe in me. See, Jesus is speaking to a people who may believe Moses is a prophet of God, and they do. They believe his writings carry the very authority of God. They do. They believe that the timelines that are written in the Torah, and they believe in the narratives, they happen exactly as they happen.

They believe a historical Moses, which is better than a lot of the liberals these days. They believe all things. The problem is they did not believe the intent and the purpose for his writings, and all of that was pointing to Jesus Christ, who stands before them. Messiah is before them, and they cannot see it. And that, the fact they cannot recognize the Messiah whom Moses spoke of, that, to Christ, equates to unbelief.

because you missed the thrust of Moses' writings. So because of this, they committed a fatal flaw. They placed their hope in Moses and not in the one of whom Moses wrote. Our Lord is basically saying, how can or how could you not see me in the Torah? How could you not see me?

You don't see that I am the one Moses spoke of even this evening. How can you read Exodus 24 and not see that there's a substitute to come? He's there. Philip found him. You remember when Philip met with Christ?

He went and found Nathanael, and this is in John 1. And what was his words to Nathanael? He said, we have found him whom Moses, in the law, and also the prophets wrote, Jesus Christ of Nazareth, the son of Joseph. But the heartbreaking thing is that these Jews that are standing before Christ are blind to see this truth. As the Apostle Paul speaks of them in 2 Corinthians 3, listen to what he says.

He says, Yes, to this day, whenever Moses is read, a veil lies over their hearts. But when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed. They had Moses, and they had the prophets and the Psalms, yet they have a veil, so they cannot see the true thrust and meaning of all the Scripture. Paul experienced this. He was committed to scrupulously studying the Scripture.

He was incredibly zealous for the themes of Judaism. He was a legalistic Pharisee of the highest order. He elevated and venerated the law, saying that he obeyed it to the T. He too once thought that through obedience to the law, one earns favor with God and therefore salvation. But he was so wrong.

Because when Christ redeemed him, the Scripture didn't change. The words remained where they are. The chapters were still where they are, although actually in the first century there was no chapter, so I'll take that back. But there was no changes to the scripture of the Old Testament. When Paul read it with fresh eyes after he received faith and believed upon Christ, then he could see Jesus Christ all over the Old Testament.

And then he looked back at what he observed as true religion. And you remember what he said? That's done. Rubbish compared to knowing Christ. You see, the problem isn't that Jesus is not in the Old Testament.

The problem is that hearts are veiled from seeing him there. And if we dig a little bit deeper in our passage, we'll find that the Jews, or the context would suggest that the Jews in our passage are in the same category as the Apostle Paul before faith. Because we find that Jesus is not rebuking these people because they had violated any specific written law or conditions of the covenant, although they were guilty of those. But that's not the point here. Rather, the damning mistake in these religious men was, hear this, was a failure to stand back and view the books of Moses as a whole in order to understand the law covenant and why the law was given.

Had they understood that, they would be able to see the Christ throughout the Torah. But they, They took the books of Moses and they made them moral books. They edged right in with a microscope and they made do's and don'ts out of the writings of Moses. You see, the mistake they made was to make his writings, that's Moses' writings, the ends in itself. as though the final say of how one can be made right with God is through obedience to the law of Moses, as though salvation is earned by human effort, by trying really hard to do the things that are written.

It's as though we can earn favor with God, as if that would ever please Yahweh. That's false hope, a serious misunderstanding of Moses. Beloved, no one is justified by the law. No one striving for perfect obedience in hope of salvation is not why the law covenant was given in Sinai. The Apostle Paul tells us in Galatians chapter 3, the law was given because of the transgression until the promised offspring, that's Christ, would come.

The Lord is meant to show us our sin, our inability to achieve or attain the perfect righteous standards of the commands of God. It's meant to drive a terrifying fear into the heart that cries out, this is impossible. Lord, I can't do this. I surrender my efforts, my exertions. I am unable to meet your righteous standards.

And if the holy of holies in the tabernacle, in the wilderness, shows us anything, it shows us that nothing short of perfection can enter into His holy presence, then in that case, I must stand back, convinced, saying, oh Lord, I desire mercy. Give me mercy. Give me grace. I cannot do this on my own. On my own I am doomed.

There must be another. There must be another who can do this on my behalf. I can't do it on my own. I cannot do it on my own. The tabernacle in the wilderness and the sacrificial system was supposed to drive that point home, not only with the manifest presence of God in the Holy of Holies, which was unapproachable by the people of Israel apart from the high priest and only once a year, but the thousands upon thousands of sacrifices, the animals that were slaughtered.

Priests were literally butchers. slaying animals as substitutes daily on the altars. The law, the priests, the blood, the dead animals, the smell of blood, the smell of burnt animals were a constant reminder of the sinfulness and the depravity of man. And that, that man, every man deserves death. Those animals were substitutes.

For what? When they looked at the sacrifice, they were meant to see, that should be me before God. And a sincere Jew would be able to look at the animal and say, there is no way, as our brother said, there is no way that the blood of a goat or a bull can actually appease God for my sin. God is being merciful. God is being good to us.

But something greater than this is coming. Something greater than this is coming. God is providing a once and for all, once and for all sacrifice that will deal with our sin problem. Moses' writings were not an end of themselves. The story is not completed in the Torah.

The story is not completed in the Old Testament. Brothers and sisters, the Old Testament, we need to think of it as a to-be-continued sign over it, because it's pointing to something greater than the type and the shadow that it represents. And that something greater comes in the Redeemer, in the Messiah, Jesus Christ, who stands before these men, and they flat-out reject Him, and every witness that the Father sends to testify of Him. But that's not how the Jews saw Christ. They didn't see Him as that Redeemer.

They didn't see Him as the Messiah that they'd been waiting for. They didn't read Moses in a way to anticipate a Messiah that looked like Jesus Christ. They didn't see and understand the thrust of Scripture. They didn't see that the climax would be in Christ. The veil of deception was over their eyes and they placed the law, or they placed on the law, a purpose that it was not designed for.

It became the means they pursued to receive acceptance with God. And that, beloved, is the epitome of arrogance of the human heart. No matter where you're from, no matter what ethnicity, what group you're in, if you think that you can attain perfection or favor before God by the works of your hands, that's pure arrogance. Because for these people, rather than the law bringing terror to their bones, their proud deception became so great that when they looked upon the law, they didn't declare, this is impossible. I can't do it.

Rather, they declared and they looked upon the law and they thought to themselves, I think we can do this. We may have to build some hedges around the laws so that we have warnings before we break them, like they did in the 39 Sabbath prohibitions. But I think we can do this. So the law of God became an outward effort. Boxes that needed to be ticked, rites and rituals performed cold without affection or inward affection for the Lord, because there is no changed heart.

There's no real burden to seek God, to know God, to love God, to seek to know how you can please Him. And understand that none of that It's called religiosity. And brothers and sisters, if religion becomes a product of outward observances disconnected from faith and the love of God, then it's only a matter of time before God's law is maligned and trampled underfoot. hear this, because although they may have been well-intended to some degree, because they had the wrong view of the law covenant, because they could not see why the law was given, pointing to Messiah who would fulfill the law and their hope ought to be in God's provision in Messiah. They thought they could do it on their own.

It wasn't long before they trampled God's law underfoot and this had become the state of religion in the first century. Even to the point where Jesus says in Matthew 15, he says, for the sake of their traditions, he's speaking to the Pharisees and the scribes. These are the religious leaders. For the sake of their tradition, they make void the words or the commandments of God. And then he goes on to say these chilling words.

you hypocrites. Well did Isaiah prophesy of you when he said, This people honor me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. In vain do they worship me. teaching as doctrines the commandments of men. They substituted man-made fabrications for the commandments of God.

This is the result of missing Christ in the Old Testament. Religion becomes man-made And that's an outrage to which Moses and all of scripture will continually accuse the guilty. But beloved, once your eyes have been opened, Once you see Christ in the pages of the Old Testament, you can never unsee him because he's so clearly there. You can almost hear Christ when he's speaking to these people. You can almost hear him say, how could you not have seen me from the very beginning?

Who do you think Moses wrote about in Genesis chapter 3 verse 15 in the words of Yahweh to the serpent when he wrote, I, this is God speaking, I will put enmity between you and the woman and between your offspring and her offspring. He shall bruise your head and you shall bruise his heel. That's me. Jesus would say. How could you not see in Genesis chapter 22 when Abraham takes his son Isaac to Mount Moriah to sacrifice his son to the Lord?

and he takes him up there and he binds him on the altar, and then he lifts his sword, his knife, about to plunge the knife into his son's chest. And what does it say? Listen to what the text says at that point. It says, The angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, Abraham, Abraham. And he said, here I am.

He said, do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him. For now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son from me. And here it is. And Abraham lifted his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him was a ram. a male lamb and caught in the thickets by his horns.

And Abraham went to and went and took the ram and offered it as a burnt offering. It is what is really important instead of his son. How could you not see that this is a substitute in the place How could you not see that this is a picture, a type of something to come? Maybe you didn't see it in the writings of Moses, but the Father sent a witness. His name was John.

What was John's witness? He pointed to Christ and he said, Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. What did he do with John? You were interested for a while, but then you rejected it. Habit Numbers 21.

That's me, Jesus would say, when a plague of fiery serpents was sent by God to rebellious and disobedient people in Israel in the wilderness. These serpents had a deadly bite, no remedy, no cure, and they were dying, and they were flocking like flies in the wilderness, in the desert. But God had mercy on His people, and He provided, through His mercy, He provided a bronze serpent in the wilderness. so that those who are bit by this serpent could look, beloved, not that they would have to do any rites or rituals, but simply where they lay to look in faith at the provision that God has provided and be healed and be given life Jesus is thinking, that was a shadow of me. That's a type of me.

Moses wrote of me. How many times has Jesus said that I have been sent by God? Even in the passage we read this morning, how many times can we read, I was sent by God. I was sent by the Father. I was sent by the Father.

The Father sent me to give salvation, to offer salvation. And if you look to me in faith, Jesus would say, you too would receive life. Beloved, the list goes on. The manna in the wilderness points to Jesus being the true bread. The rock that was opened up where the water flowed for the Israelites to drink water is life.

Jesus says, I am the fountain of life. Jesus says, I am the living water that wells up in you eternal life. The sacrificial system all pointed to Jesus Christ and on and on and on goes the list. How could you think Moses was an ends of himself? When the thrust of Moses' writings all point to me.

See putting hope ultimately in Moses. His hope misplaced because even Moses taught you to anticipate one greater than him. Deuteronomy chapter 18 from verse 18. Listen to what Moses writes. the Lord speaking, I will raise up for them, speaking of Israel, a prophet like you, that you is Moses, from among their brothers.

And I will put my words in his mouth and he shall speak them to, he shall speak 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. Jesus is saying, I am that prophet. I am the one like Moses and I have come and you don't listen to my words and you don't believe in me proving that you search the scriptures, that you scrutinize and examine the writings of Moses. You claim with your lips we are his disciples.

However, you don't believe what he says. Because Moses wrote of me. Beloved, don't for a moment think that these words are only for the first century Jews. We ought never think that the accusations that Jesus speaks, that which Moses accuses these Jews, is only for first century Jews, because Jesus made it clear multiple times in Scripture that all Scripture bears witness to him. And as the New Testament people, we have an extra 27 books that are saturated with the truths concerning Jesus Christ.

But if these Jewish men were rendered without excuse before our Lord for denying or not believing in the words or the writings of Moses, then there is no excuse for those in the 21st century who read the word. reject this Savior. No excuse. Beloved, we must see that Jesus is the heart of the whole revelation of God. He is the essence of true religion.

Apart from faith in Him, no matter what you do with the Bible, apart from faith in Christ, no matter what you do with the Bible, Moses the prophets and the Psalms and the apostles will accuse one perpetually before the Lord if they reject Jesus Christ as Messiah. No matter how meticulous one's observance is, no matter how methodical one's practice is, If Bible reading does not bring one to a place where they place their hope and faith in Jesus Christ alone, as the one sent by God to be the substitution on behalf of sinners, if one doesn't come to that belief, then whatever path they take, no matter what that path looks like, no matter how much study and meditation on the word you've done, if that's not the conclusion, then that is a path of destruction. Jesus said it. For him, it's black or white. The equation is simple, yet incredibly profound.

Of course, all Scripture, both Old and New Testament, finds its sum and its substance in Jesus. There is no such thing as being religious or spiritual without our Lord. Every religious practice devoid of Jesus Christ at the very heart and center is rebellion to God. And so the final words of our Lord are these, and I'll end with this. But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe my words?

You know, it's an abrupt ending to the chapter if you think about it. It is a bit chilling as well. Because we don't know how these men reacted straight away. We're not sure. John, he doesn't tell us, but it is a massive indictment, the Jews.

But systematically, we know through this chapter that one by one, we've seen them reject every witness the Father has sent to Christ. But in his final words, our Lord narrows in on the very essence of what they call religion. above everything else. Jesus knows they placed the written law above all, and certainly above any words any man could speak. And Moses, well, Moses was their hero.

They were disciples of Moses. They're proud to be associated with this great prophet. No one in their eyes could even remotely compare with Moses. So here comes the indictment. If this is your venerated view of Moses, if this is your confession, at least with your mouth, that you honor him, honor his words, that you are indeed disciples of Moses, and we've just established that you don't really believe in what he has written because the thrust of what Moses wrote You couldn't see.

You couldn't see that he wrote of me, Jesus would say. Then if you do not believe in Moses, then how would you believe in anything I utter? How would you believe in the words that this man who stands before you speaks? If you don't believe in Moses, would you believe the words of one you despise? No.

Beloved, it's simple. Again, it's the equation that Jesus gives. If you believe Moses, you believe in Christ. If you believe the scripture, then you believe Christ. It's the same concept he's been giving throughout this chapter.

He said, if you honor the father, you honor the son. If you dishonor the son, you dishonor the father. How do you honor the father? By honoring the son. The equation is a one-to-one correlation.

If you believe in Moses, you would believe in Jesus Christ. Beloved, that means if you deny the sacred writings, all is lost. Because it is they that testify to Christ. And it is. The shepherd ends on that note.

And so will we. That's right.