Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Sermon Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/Sermons/zz20050814.htm

JOHN: TRUSTING IN JESUS AS MESSIAH AND GOD
Part XVI: Insuring Our Welfare With Scripture As Our Top Authority
(John 5:8-12, 15-18)

Introduction: (To show the need . . . )

A great spiritual blindness exists today BOTH among professing Christians as WELL as among those in the secular realm:

(1) A week ago, a telephone message was left on my answering machine from an area pastor's wife who wanted to contact my wife. Apparently, her husband once attended the same Bible college as my wife, and he as an active alumni of the school was being urged to get in touch with its non-active alumni around him. The goal, of course, was money -- more money to keep the school afloat; to obtain that income, the school's officials were farming out to active, "loyal" alumni the task of contacting non-active alumni so they might urge them to get more involved in giving of their income to help keep the school afloat.

I erased her message, for I know 2 Corinthians 9:7 NIV reveals "Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver." It was not for another party to pressure my wife to give, and yielding to that pressure would cause her to violate Colossians 2:20-22 and come under the bondage to the "commandments and doctrines of men."

Nevertheless, I was amazed at the BLINDNESS of the leaders of that BIBLE school to what these BIBLE verses teach!

(2) We all heard of the recent passing of Peter Jennings, nationally esteemed anchor for the ABC Evening News TV program. In an ABC a documentary that lauded his character and work last Wednesday night, my wife and I at one point saw Mr. Jennings walk by the Capernaum synagogue where Jesus had ministered and remark how "unbelievable" it was that a mere country preacher like Jesus had created a world religion!

However, Scripture supplies just the OPPOSITE view of Christ! Isaiah 9:1-2, 6 that was written hundreds of years before Jesus foretold He would STOOP down from heaven as God-in-the-flesh to minister in Galilee; the Father then would reward His condescending obedience to God by expanding Jesus' influence worldwide, Isaiah 49:5-6; Philippians 2:5-11! Thus, one of the most gifted reporters in history TOTALLY MISSED the IDENTITY of Jesus our Lord!

So, what causes such spiritual blindness, and how can WE protect OURSELVES from it that we might be blessed of God?!

(We turn to the sermon "Need" section . . . )

Need: "With the presence of deep spiritual darkness in both secular and Christian circles, how do we ourselves stay aware of the truth?"
  1. Jerusalem's devoutly religious leaders walked in deep spiritual darkness by failing to hold to Scripture as their FINAL authority:
    1. In their zeal to be loyal to God versus heeding Grecian secularization, these leaders ruled that "Carrying furniture on the Sabbath was a kind of work . . . the fourth commandment prohibited," Ryr. St. Bib., KJV, 1978 ed., ftn. to John 5:10; Zond. Pict. Enc. of Bib., vol. Four, p. 745.
    2. Actually, that law forbade only work for income as can be illustrated by the Biblical application of that law in Nehemiah 13:15-22.
    3. Yet, since violating the Sabbath was a capital offense (Exodus 35:2), these zealous leaders ruled that if one carried his bed on the Sabbath Day, he was to be killed (Bible Knowledge Com., N. T., p. 289)!
    4. Well, making this "rule" binding instead of making SCRIPTURE their FINAL authority caused Jerusalem's religious leaders not only to fail to DISCERN that Jesus was God, but led to their trying to kill Jesus opposite what SCRIPTURE taught!
      1. Isaiah 35:4-6 predicted when God arrived in Israel, one evidence of His coming would be the healing of the lame (esp. verses 4, 6a).
      2. Then, Deuteronomy 18:15-19 taught a Prophet like unto Moses would arise, and God would require His people to heed Him!
      3. Yet, their allegiance to their "rule" against carrying of one's bed on the Sabbath Day led Jerusalem's religious leaders to overlook the way Jesus fulfilled these passages, and to their wanting to kill Him in alarming contrast to what Moses wrote in Deuteronomy 18:15ff:
        1. To heal a man who had been lame for 38 years, Jesus told him to rise, take up his bed, and walk, John 5:5-8. Since this order did not violate Scripture, and as Jesus probably did not want the man to lose his bed in his great distraction of being healed of a 38-year malady, He had him pick up his bed while being healed!
        2. Yet, so devoted were they to their "rule" against carrying a bed on the Sabbath day, these religious leaders failed to observe that the healing event had fulfilled Isaiah 35:4-6, and rather focused on countering the man for carrying his bed, John 5:9b-10!
        3. Thus, they did not see Jesus signaled God had arrived, Isa. 35:4!
        4. When the leaders learned from the healed man that Jesus had told him to carry his bed, they tried to KILL Jesus, Jn. 5:11-16!
        5. Jesus answered the leaders, explaining His heavenly Father had been working until then, and that He [as His Son] was only continuing His Father's work in healing the lame man, Jn. 5:17.
        6. Since in their dedication to their "rule" against carrying a bed on the Sabbath these leaders had not recognized Jesus as GOD in their midst, they took additional offense at His words implying He was EQUAL with the FATHER, John 5:18b; they thus tried to KILL Jesus all the more, feeling He had ALSO violated the first command, another capital offense, in making Himself GOD, John 5:18a,b with Ex. 20:3-4; Deut. 6:4; 13:6-10!
        7. In this way, these leaders actually tried to kill the Prophet Moses had predicted would come and Whom God said through Moses in Deuteronomy 18:15, 19 that they themselves were to OBEY!
  2. However, HAD these same religious leaders used SCRIPTURE as their FINAL authority, they would have exhibited the OPPOSITE, CORRECT and BLESSED response in this healing situation:
    1. Since the lame man had been afflicted for 38 years (John 5:5-9a), his healing would have caused Scripture instructed believers to recognize God was SURELY visiting His people in fulfillment of Isaiah 35:4-6!
    2. When they learned the Healer, Jesus had told the lame man to pick up his bed on the Sabbath (John 5:15), those relying on Scripture would have known this command did not actually violate Scripture as it did not prohibit carrying furniture on the Sabbath; Jesus' command would not have caused them to think He functioned apart from God's will!
    3. Thus, when the lame man said Jesus had been the One Who healed him, and believers were to hear JESUS claim He was EQUAL with GOD the FATHER in His John 5:17 statement, they would have BELIEVED Jesus' claim and worshiped Him as God just like the healed man did in John 9:35-38 who responded to similar insight!
Application: (1) May we heed Scripture as our FINAL authority, and so trust in Christ as Savior from sin, John 3:16. (2) May we then subject ALL beliefs we face, be they from SECULAR or EVEN VERY RELIGIOUS source to what the BIBLE teaches: in so doing we can RIGHTLY DISCERN truth from error to AVOID errant and damaging directions in life and heed God for His blessing! (3) May we then minister SCRIPTURE to others!

Lesson: For holding to their RULE instead of SCRIPTURE as their FINAL AUTHORITY, Jerusalem's leaders were spiritually BLINDED from recognizing their Messiah and even tried to KILL Him in violation of Moses' own words to them about Him in Deuteronomy 18:15-19!

Conclusion: (To illustrate the sermon lesson . . . )

 Before watching last Wednesday's ABC special TV program on the life and achievements of the late ABC news anchor man, Peter Jennings, I was bothered to hear that this gifted, intelligent and popular newsman had died of cancer for having smoked cigarettes for decades.

So, before the program had been aired, I had told my wife, "You know, if I were a reporter, I'd like to ask Mr. Jennings how such an intelligent, skillful newsman like himself could have smoked so long to have left himself open to an early death by lung cancer! Hadn't he read the warnings on the cartons by the Surgeon General that cigarettes could be harmful to his health?"

The answer to these questions came in the program itself. Peter Jennings was shown at one point stating that when he began smoking in the early 1950s, he had no idea that the habit could possibly have harmed him! He thought it was cool to smoke like all his friends did!

So, in ignorance, he had not quit until it was too late to avoid the past effects of tobacco use that would lead to his early death.

On the OTHER hand, back in the 1950s when Mr. Jennings FIRST BEGAN to smoke, MANY pastors I THEN heard CONDEMNED SMOKING from the PULPIT! No, their REASON was NOT because tobacco use could lead to lung cancer -- nobody knew that at the time! THEIR reason came from Scripture -- from 1 Corinthians 6:12b: that verse taught CHRISTIANS were NOT to "be brought under the power of any" entity, and since everyone knew from all sorts of witnesses that smoking tobacco was ADDICTIVE, we were to abstain from smoking or any OTHER habit that thus CONTROLLED us! Had Mr. Jennings come to heed those BIBLE-PREACHING pastors in the early 1950s, he would have avoided the tragedy of an early death by lung cancer!



This illustration shows a PHYSICAL benefit from making Scripture our FINAL authority, but our SPIRITUAL welfare which is a much more IMPORTANT realm is ALSO DEEPLY affected by whether we make GOD'S WORD our FINAL authority! May we heed SCRIPTURE as our FINAL authority that we might believe its message of salvation by faith in Christ to escape eternal hell as well as many tragedies in THIS life. Then we will find blessing in living for our Lord!