Good morning, church. Today we'll be reading from John chapter 5, verse 30 to 47. And if you're reading from the church Bible, it'll be on 837. Yeah. All right. So John chapter 5, verse 30. Witness to Jesus. Jesus said, I can do anything on my own. As I hear, I judge, and my judgment is just because I seek not on my own will, but the will of him who sent me.
If I alone bear witness about myself, my testimony is not true. There is another one who bears witness about me, and I know 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 men, 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 all 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 has sent me has himself borne witness about me. His voice you have never heard, his form you have never seen, and you do not believe the one whom he has sent.
You search the scriptures 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 come 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?
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 will believe me, for he wrote of me. But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe my words?
This is the word of God. Thanks.
Okay, great. Thank you. Let's pray together, and then we will consider these words.
Father God, we come to your word because we want to hear what you have to say.
Lord, as Oscar reminded us last week, there are 10,000 voices in our world.
The voice of our parents, the voice of our bosses, the voice of social media, the voice in our own heads and hearts that sometimes condemn us, sometimes accuse us.
God, we want to hear your voice. We want to hear and know what you have to say.
So God, come and speak to us, I pray. Let your word encourage and build up our faith, God.
And for those of us that are seeking and searching and wondering about faith, Lord, won't you speak to us as well?
We pray these things in your great name. Amen.
Amen. So in September 28, the year 2000, a man called David Cam returned home from work one day,
and he found his wife and his two children had been killed.
They were shot from gunshot wounds, and they were killed.
And David Cam believed that his seven-year-old son may still be alive.
He tried to do CPR on him, but to no avail. His son passed away.
And so he called 911 frantically, and three days later, he was arrested for the murder of his own family.
A state forensic analyst claimed that on his T-shirt that he was wearing was blood stains that was consistent with a perpetrator.
Sorry, the T-shirt he was wearing had been stained with his wife's blood, that it was consistent with that of a perpetrator.
And so during his trial, the prosecution stated that David Cam had two motives.
He had a life insurance policy on his wife, and he was apparently having an affair.
And so in March 17, 2002, 18 months later, he was found guilty and sentenced to 195 years in prison.
It was 200 years.
But a few years later, in a court of appeals, overturned the conviction and ordered another trial.
And so he had a second trial.
And at that trial, new evidence emerged, which showed that there was another career criminal that was in the area,
and his DNA was found at the crime scene.
Well, during a third trial, five years later, in 2009, it was shown that actually the blood expert,
the blood spatter expert, actually had falsified his own credentials.
He was not an expert at all, and he had zero history and experience in analyzing blood spatter data.
Additionally, another forensic expert found further evidence that that same career criminal,
whose DNA was found at the scene, was actually found on the bodies of the victims.
And these evidences together, pieced together, put the career criminal as actually the perpetrator.
And so in 2015, David Cam, after 13 years in prison, was released and exonerated and acquitted of all charges.
Now, why did I tell you that story?
These stories are very common, right?
That people are falsely accused and fairly put away.
But one of the points is that the evidence is very, very important.
What we make of evidence and the evidence we find and where we source that evidence is very important.
Overlooking evidence in a criminal case can be deadly serious and lead to grave injustice.
David Cam going to prison for 13 years for a crime he did not commit.
But friends, the Bible tells us that ignoring the evidence about who Jesus Christ is and what he says about himself
and the claims that he makes can be just as disastrous, just as serious.
And so in the passage that we're looking at today, it continues from the passage that Oscar helped us look at last week.
If you were here last week, there was a man, he's a cripple, an invalid.
He is waiting by a pool of water because there's a superstition in their day that at a certain time of the day or certain time of the year,
the waters will stir.
And what that means is that angels are stirring the waters.
And if you're the first person into the water at that time, God will miraculously heal you.
And so all the invalids, the paralytics of the day are waiting beside the pools of the water at Bethesda.
And here is a man, he's been an invalid for 38 years.
He's waiting by the pools.
And whenever he sees movement in the water, he tries to get in first as a way of healing himself,
saving himself, solving his greatest problem.
But he can't.
It never works out.
The timing doesn't work out.
Someone gets in before him or whatever happens.
But he's tried everything possible and nothing goes his way.
And while he's there waiting for maybe a future day where maybe something will go right,
Jesus walks up to him and doesn't touch him or anything, just with a simple word, speaks to him, it says, be healed.
And in a moment, his whole life is turned around.
And the point is that Jesus has the authority and the power to give life and to take life away.
Jesus has the power and authority to talk to us about sin.
Jesus has the power and authority to give resurrection life.
Why?
Because he claims to be the son of God.
Jesus says, I and the father are one.
Look at what he says in verse 19.
If you've got a Bible, he said this.
Jesus said to him, truly I say to you, I, the son, can do nothing of my own accord,
but only what I see the father doing, whatever the father does, that the son, I myself do likewise.
Jesus claims to be the son of God.
And that has a profoundly important implication.
It means that Jesus shares the same divine nature with God the father.
It means that he is one with the father.
God the father and God the son are not two different gods.
They're not competing.
They're not in partnership.
They are two persons of the same triune God, father and son.
It means that what Jesus does is what God the father is doing.
What Jesus says is what God the father says.
It's kind of like when the crown prince of a country or state or an empire goes on business and visits another country
and meets with maybe the chief executive or the president and engages in trade negotiations or bilateral agreements.
The crown prince is not the king, but he represents the crown.
He has all the authority, all the power of the crown of the throne.
Jesus, the crown prince, the son of God comes and he speaks for God.
He acts for God.
He is God.
When Jesus speaks, he's not the words of a well-informed prophet.
These are the words of God himself.
When Jesus acts, these are not the actions of a mere mortal.
These are the actions of God himself.
And in John's gospel, the miracle is never the main thing.
The miracle leads to the explanation.
And Jesus does this amazing miracle.
And what's the explanation?
Because I am the son of God.
I am God.
Now, here's the question.
Jesus makes this remarkable claim.
But why should we believe that claim?
What evidence does he have to back that up?
What happens if any person came and said, I'm the son of God?
Should we believe him?
Where's the evidence?
Where's the testimony?
What is it that we should base our belief on?
Well, C.S. Lewis said this.
Christianity and the claims of Jesus Christ, if false, are of no importance.
But if true, are of infinite importance.
The only thing they cannot be is moderately important.
That's absolutely right.
Christianity and the claims of Jesus.
If they're true, they are infinitely important.
Because Jesus makes a radical claim.
If they're not true, they have zero importance whatsoever.
They cannot be moderately important.
So what do we do with the claims of Jesus?
And is there any evidence to back it up?
Well, in this passage, Jesus is concerned with that.
He wants us to believe and to see.
And so he gives us three pieces of evidence.
And in this passage, what we're going to see is that belief in Jesus is reasonable.
It's difficult, but it's near.
It's possible.
In other words, it's within reach.
It's within grasp.
It's close at hand.
Reasonable, difficult, and near.
So let's dive in and look at it.
Firstly, belief in Jesus as the Son of God is reasonable.
Now, this is in some ways the main point of this passage.
Many people hear Jesus' claims, and they find it outrageous.
They think Jesus is blaspheming.
And so in verse 18, it says here,
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 claiming God, his own Father, making himself equal with God.
And so everybody knows when Jesus says,
I am the Son and God is my Father, they know what he's saying.
He's claiming to be God.
And they don't like it.
They want to kill him.
But Jesus wants him to see that these are not the claims of a delusional man.
These are not the claims of someone who's suffering from excess pride or self-importance.
Jesus wants that for those who to,
he wants us to follow the evidence, to follow the science,
to see where does the evidence lead,
and to see that it leads to that which is rational, reasonable, and believable.
So verse 31, look at what Jesus says.
He says,
If I alone bear witness about myself,
my testimony is not true,
but there is another who bears witness about me,
God the Father.
And Jesus is saying,
Don't just take my word for it,
follow the evidence.
Look at what it says.
Look at what the evidence says.
And Jesus here gives us three strands of evidence.
First he says,
Listen to John the Baptist.
What is his message?
You might remember from earlier in John chapter 1,
crowds of people go to listen to John the Baptist.
There are thousands of flocking to him.
And the religious leaders,
the Pharisees,
they themselves are pretty impressed with John.
They send a delegation to him.
They say,
John, you must be the Christ.
Tell us.
I mean, you're doing these miracles.
You're so full of God.
You're full of the Spirit.
Your teaching is amazing.
You must be the Christ.
And John says,
No, no, no, no.
I'm not the Christ.
I'm nothing important.
I'm just a voice in the wilderness.
I'm just someone that's calling out.
But I'll tell you who is the Christ.
Jesus who comes after me,
he's the one that you're looking for.
Listen to him.
And so Jesus says,
You were impressed with John,
but listen to what John says.
John told you he's not the Christ.
I am.
Listen to John.
Or look what else what Jesus says.
Think about my miracles.
Jesus says,
Verse 36.
He says,
The testimony I have is greater than John.
John was just a mere mortal.
The works that the Father has given me to accomplish,
the very works I'm doing,
they bear witness about me that the Father has sent me.
In John's gospel,
miracles are always called signs.
There's seven signs.
Signs.
And what do signs do?
Think about you're hiking somewhere
and you see a signpost.
What does a signpost do?
It tells you where to go.
It points you in the right direction.
It says,
Keep on going.
You're on the right track.
Or wait,
you're off track.
This is the way to go.
This is where you need to go.
The miracles,
the works that Jesus does,
are like signs pointing in the right direction.
And what do they do?
They're telling us that this man is no mere mortal.
What kind of man touches a leper
and rather than being condemned or being made unclean,
heals him perfectly,
makes him absolutely clean?
What kind of man says to a paralytic,
Your sins are forgiven.
And just to prove to you that I can forgive your sins,
rise up,
pick up your mat and walk home.
What kind of man says to a paralytic
who's been waiting 38 years
for the right moment,
for the waters to be stirred,
says to him,
he heals him in an instant
without even touching him.
Jesus says,
Follow the signs.
Look at what the signs are saying.
What are the signs telling you?
And of course,
the greatest sign is still to come.
Jesus told us four times,
There's a day coming
when I'll be arrested,
I'll be put on trial,
I'll be killed and crucified on the cross
for the sins of the world.
But don't worry,
I will rise again.
And three years later,
that happens.
Jesus dies as a substitute for our sins
and he rises from the grave
for our justification,
our acquittal.
Jesus says,
Follow the signs.
What do the signs tell you?
I am who I said I am.
Friends,
if you're a spiritual seeker here today,
follow the signs.
What do the miracles tell you?
Well,
they tell you about Jesus.
Jesus is who he said he is.
Jesus says,
Examine the evidence.
Listen to the eyewitness testimony.
Cross-examine the data.
Who do you say that I am?
Jesus,
the Son of God.
That's who.
What kind of man loves people like this?
What kind of man dies for the sins of the world?
What kind of man forgives sin?
And then Jesus says,
there's another sign.
The scriptures.
Look what he says in verse 39.
He says here,
You search the scriptures
because you think that by them
you will have eternal life.
Yet it is they that bear witness about me.
If you had believed Moses,
you would believe me
for Moses wrote of me.
So Jesus says,
You guys,
I know you love the Bible.
You're Old Testament scholars.
You're Pharisees.
You study the Bible
night and day.
But you're so close to studying the Bible.
You analyze every word
and every grammar
and punctuation mark.
But you're so close to studying it.
You can't actually see what it's about.
Can't you see?
What are all the sacrifices
and the temple
and the worship
and the priests
and the offering?
What are they all about?
What is the ransom
and the forgiveness of sin
and the liberation from Egypt
and forming a new community?
What's it about?
It's about me.
It's about the fact
that the Son of God
has come into the world
to save us from our sins.
And Jesus says,
all of this,
it points to something.
Verse 31,
If I bear witness about myself,
my testimony is not valid,
but don't rely on me.
Rely on the evidence.
Look at the evidence.
Examine the evidence.
Jesus,
I am the Son of God.
And C.S. Lewis was still right.
The claims of Jesus,
if they're true,
are infinitely important.
If they're not true,
of zero importance,
they cannot be moderately true.
Friends,
do you know why
you believe what you believe?
If you're a follower of Jesus,
why do you believe what you believe?
Why are you a Christian?
If you're a spiritual seeker,
why have you not
crossed the line of faith?
What does the evidence say?
What do you believe?
Francis Collins
was a leading scientist
in the Human Genome Project.
I'm sure many of you know
Francis Collins.
He was the longest serving
member of, I think,
the National Institute of Health
in America.
And he writes this.
He tells his story
and he says this.
In the home where I grew up,
faith was not something
that was talked about very much.
And I assumed
that every religious feeling
that anyone had
must be on the basis
of some emotional experience.
And I wasn't willing
to trust those.
Or on the basis
of some childhood indoctrination,
which I felt
I was very fortunate
to have missed.
Okay, so he grows up.
He becomes a medical student
and he says,
religious faith,
no evidence,
it's either emotion
or indoctrination,
but I dodged both of those.
Okay, I'm okay.
But one day
he's in the hospital
and he's at the bedside
of an elderly lady
and she's just gone
through a painful procedure.
And she looks at him
and she says,
you know doctor,
all you doctors
don't really do much
to help me.
I'll tell you what really
helps me in difficult times
is actually my faith
in Jesus Christ.
And she shares her
testimony with him
and then she asks him
this question.
She says,
what do you believe,
doc?
And he says,
those five words,
what do you believe,
doctor,
startled him.
And he goes home
and this is what he says.
He says,
ultimately,
I had to admit to myself
that I had arrived
at an answer
to the most important issues
that we humans
ever deal with.
Is there a God?
And I'd arrived there
without ever really
looking at the evidence.
And I was supposed
to be a scientist.
If there's one thing
scientists claim to do,
it's to arrive at conclusions
based on evidence.
And I had not taken
the trouble to do that.
And so as a 25 year old,
a researcher,
scientist,
medical doctor,
he starts to look
at the evidence.
And he says he believes
Jesus was a myth of history,
but he looks at it
and he finds
his veracity,
her historical documents
for the life of Jesus
and then the death of Jesus
and then the resurrection
of Jesus.
And he comes to a place
of belief
and follows him.
Richard Dawkins said,
faith is belief
without evidence
or without reason.
No friends,
not at all.
If you're a person of faith,
faith is grounding
your beliefs
on evidence
and on reason
and taking a standard.
It's putting your weight
on the evidence
of who Jesus is
and what he says
about himself.
Friends,
look at the evidence.
Look at the
our testimonies.
Why do you believe
what you believe?
Jesus wants us
to have a firm certainty
in our convictions
and our belief
and to bank our life
upon it.
So belief in Jesus
is reasonable.
But secondly,
that's the longest one.
Belief in Jesus
is difficult.
Now,
if everything I've said
is true,
if there's so much evidence,
it should be a no-brainer.
We should all just say,
okay,
it's obvious.
Jesus is who he said he is.
What's the problem?
But Jesus concedes
that data alone
is not enough
to convince you
of the veracity
of Christ
and his claims
because belief in him
is also difficult.
For all the eyewitnesses
that Jesus gives here,
notice that all of them,
the Pharisees,
the religious leaders,
the people of his day
stumble over all of them.
All of them
trip him up in some ways
or trip them up.
Listen,
John the Baptist,
right,
they liked him for a while.
The crowds went out to him.
They were all amazed at him.
But how did John the Baptist's life end?
He was beheaded, right?
Eventually,
his message got a little bit
too close for home
and Herod says,
that's enough
and beheads him,
chops off his head
at one of his lavish parties.
Or think about the miracles,
the works that Jesus do.
Jesus is doing these miracles.
The crowds love it.
They're amazed.
But what do the Pharisees,
the leaders say?
They accuse him of witchcraft,
of demon possession.
They say,
by the prince of demons,
he casts out demons.
They write it off,
say,
you can't trust this guy.
He's filled with demons
and witches.
That's why he does
these miracles.
And what about the scriptures?
Jesus says,
all the scriptures
are about me.
But what do they say?
Jesus says,
you search the scriptures
because you think that
in them you have life,
but they bear witness
about me.
But you refuse
to come to me.
You've decided
whatever happens,
you will not come to me
and believe.
Now we're going to get into
this a lot more
over the next couple of weeks.
But Jesus is making
a profound point here.
Jesus is saying
that though there is
more than enough
evidence,
testimony,
veracity,
data,
the back of the claims
that he really is
who he said he is,
what Jesus is saying
here is that
rational thinking
is not sufficient
to learn.
And the reason is this.
Samuel Butler
was an English poet
and he wrote this.
He says,
a man convinced
against his will
is of the same
opinion still.
You heard that saying?
A man convinced
against his will
is of the same
opinion still.
So this is another quote.
Don't worry about that.
In other words,
you can bring someone,
present all the evidence
that you want to someone,
but if they don't want
to believe it,
they'll find a reason
not to believe it.
I don't know if you've
ever had a conversation
with a conspiracy theorist,
right?
I struggle with these.
And they say something
outrageous and you say,
but here's the data.
Look at the data.
And they'll say,
that's what they want
you to believe,
right?
It's like,
it doesn't matter
what you say,
they're going to find
a reason not to believe
what the evidence is.
Jesus says that
actually as humans,
we have the tendency
to do the same.
That you can look
at the evidence,
you can physically see
Jesus risen from the dead.
You can put your hand
in his marks.
And if you don't want
to believe,
you'll find a reason
not to believe.
The man convinced
against his will
is of the same opinion
still.
In other words,
if you don't want to
accept what's being
shown to you,
no matter how persuasive
or substantial,
you'll find a way
of dismissing it.
Because belief in the
God of the Bible
requires more than just
intellectual understanding
and acceptance.
It does require that,
but it requires
more than that.
It requires acceptance
at a heart level.
It requires our hearts
to say,
not just I believe
you are who you say
you are historically,
I believe you are
who you say you are now.
And that makes a demand
of us.
Because it demands
that we don't just
believe in him,
but we worship him.
And that's hard.
Belief in Jesus
requires a willingness
to receive him.
That's the word
he keeps on using here.
Will you receive me?
Receiving not just
the facts and the data,
but receiving Jesus himself.
And so actually,
if you look at all
these evidences
that Jesus calls upon,
the fact that
they don't just say
that Jesus is
the divine Messiah,
they all say something else.
They say that we are
sinners and need a savior.
And that's hard to accept.
Think about John the Baptist
tests me, right?
The people come to John
and say,
John, are you the Messiah?
And he says,
no, no, no,
I'm not the Messiah.
But Jesus,
the Lamb of God,
behold,
the Lamb of God
who takes away
the sin of the world.
John says,
you don't just need
a teacher,
or a preacher
or a prophet.
You need a savior,
someone who can deal
with your sin.
And we don't like
to hear about that.
Or think about
the miracles, right?
What were the miracles
all about?
Think about this miracle
in John chapter 5 here.
Here's a man,
he's an invalid,
he's lying behind the pool.
Why does Jesus
do this miracle?
Jesus is not just
being compassionate
or social justice
or trying to heal
those that are down and out.
Jesus comes to man,
he says,
you have been trying
all your life
to save yourself,
to help yourself.
You've got some
superstitious notion
that if you can get
in the waters,
you can save yourself.
And Jesus comes to him
and says,
I've got another solution.
With simply a word,
simply the power
of my voice,
I will do for you
what you've been trying
to do your whole life
but are unable to do.
What's Jesus saying?
The miracles are saying,
you need a savior
and I am he.
I can do it.
Well, think about
the scriptures.
What are all the scriptures
saying in the Old Testament?
They're not just rules
and regulations
for how Israel should run.
These are telling us
that all of us are sinners
as Neil said.
We've all got things
in our lives
that we're embarrassed about
but there is one
who can deal with it
and he's come to us.
Jesus says,
verse 34 here,
not the testimony
that I receive
from man is important
but I say these things
that you may be saved.
That's why Jesus came
but we struggle
to believe that.
Elders Huxley,
I think the quote
is up there,
Elders Huxley
was a British philosopher
in the mid-20th century.
Very, very brilliant writer
but he was an atheist
and he espoused
the philosophy
of meaninglessness
and listen to what he writes.
He writes this amazing confession
in his book
called Ends and Means.
He says this,
I had a motive
for not wanting the world
to have any meaning
and consequently assumed
that it had none
for myself
as doubt for most
of my contemporaries.
The philosophy
of meaninglessness
was essentially
an instrument of liberation
from a certain system
of morality.
We objected to the morality
because it interfered
with our sexual
and political freedoms.
He goes on.
The supporters
of this moral system
claimed that it embodied
the meaning,
the Christian meaning
of the world.
There was one simple method
for justifying ourselves
in our erotic revolt.
We would deny
that the world
had any meaning whatsoever.
It's a remarkable confession.
He says,
listen,
the Christians of our day
were telling us
there's meaning in the world,
there's purpose,
and if there's a meaning,
we've got to behave accordingly.
But we didn't want
to behave accordingly.
We wanted to do
whatever we did.
So,
we just rejected the premise
that there is any meaning
in this world.
And by rejecting the premise,
we reject the morality
that told us how to live.
Jesus comes to the religious leaders
and says,
here's the evidence,
here's the witness,
here's the testimony,
but I know you don't
want to believe.
And so you're going to find
a way to reject it,
right?
Belief in Jesus
is rational,
it's reasonable,
but it's hard.
Friends,
do you find belief hard?
Can I confess something?
I sometimes find it hard.
Not because intellectually
it's hard,
but because I find it hard
to surrender.
Sometimes I want to be
my own God.
I want to be my own king.
Sometimes there are things
that I want to do
and I know that it's wrong
and I don't want Jesus
telling me that it's wrong.
I sometimes find it hard.
But the good news of Jesus
is that he is so for us,
he so wants us to succeed,
he wants us to live in freedom,
to trust him
and to find life in his name,
that he comes to us
that we may experience him
and freedom.
And that leads to the third point,
which is that belief in Jesus
is near.
What I mean by near
is it's not hard,
it's not impossibly
to reach or grasp,
it's within grasp.
In this passage,
there are a number of times
that Jesus says
the Father has sent me,
the Father has sent me.
Or he says,
I have come,
I have come.
Why did Jesus come?
Why did the Father send him?
Well, Jesus tells us
not to accuse us,
not to point the finger at us,
but that we may find life
in his name.
To many of the Jews
in the first century,
belief in God
or God was kind of distant,
he was far away,
he was shrouded in mystery
behind a veil,
he was behind a temple court,
he was behind teaching
that the religious leaders
espoused,
but it was hard to understand.
And God was hard to grasp
and if you could somehow
find your way to God,
he was scary
and beyond reach.
And Jesus comes and says,
I have come to you
that you may know me.
Look what he says
in verse 37,
the Father has sent me
and he has borne witness
about me.
His voice you have never heard,
his form you have never seen.
Here was a problem.
God wanted a relationship
with his people,
but they couldn't find him,
they couldn't see him,
they couldn't touch him.
Well, how do we know
where this God is
or what he's like?
But Jesus says,
this God has sent me,
God the Father has sent me
that you can see me,
that you can know me,
that you can touch me,
that you can believe in me.
Verse 36,
the works the Father
has given me to accomplish,
the very works I'm doing,
bear witness,
that the Father has sent me.
Verse 37,
the Father has sent me
to himself to bear witness.
Verse 43,
I have come in my Father's name.
Friends,
Jesus Christ,
the Son of God,
was sent by the Father
and has come to us,
not with a pointed finger,
he tells us,
not to accuse you,
not to tell us how bad we are,
how immoral we are,
not to tell us
to sort our lives out
or pick ourselves up.
Jesus has come
not to give us
a new religious standard
or religious KPIs to meet.
Jesus has come
in order that we might know him
and believe in him
and find life
and healing
and freedom
and joy.
Verse 34,
the testimony,
not that the testimony
I receive is from man,
but I say these things
that you may be saved.
Friends,
Jesus wants us
to be saved
and to be liberated
and to be set free.
Jesus says
in verse 39,
you search the scriptures
because you think
that in them
you'll find life,
but they bear witness
about me.
Jesus wants us
to find life
and so he has come
to us.
Jesus comes to people
like the invalid
at Bethesda.
He comes to outsiders
like the woman
at the well.
He comes to seekers
and skeptics
like Nicodemus.
He comes to those
who carry great guilt.
He comes to those
who are paralyzed
with fear.
He comes to those
who are weighed down
by shame.
Jesus comes
and he asks
and he says,
I have come to you.
Will you come to me
and trust me?
In the New Testament,
there's a,
the Apostle Paul writes this.
He says,
do not say in your heart
who will go up
to the heavens
to find God.
Do not say
who will go down
to hell
to try and atone
for your own guilt.
Why?
Because that is
to bring Christ down.
He says,
in other words,
you don't need to go
search for God up there
or search for God there.
Rather,
verse 8,
what does he say?
The word is near you.
Friends,
you don't need to go
searching for God.
God has come to you.
God has come to us.
Do not say in your hearts
who will ascend
to the heavens
or who will go
into the grave.
What does it say?
The word is near you.
It's in your mouth.
It's in your heart.
Because if you confess
with your mouth
that Jesus is Lord
and believe in your heart
that God raised him
from the dead,
you too will be saved.
Friends,
in this passage,
Jesus wants us
to believe in him
because he wants us
to find life
in his name.
He wants us
to have certainty
and conviction
around the things
we believe.
He wants us to know
why we believe
what we believe
so that we can be confident
and bank our lives
in it.
Jesus says that
faith is not unreasonable.
It's not a blind
leap of faith
into the dark.
Jesus says all the signs,
the evidence is there,
the testimony is there
for those who are
willing to receive it.
But belief is not automatic.
It requires a heart posture,
a posture of surrender.
The posture says,
okay Jesus,
I will take you
at your word.
Come and have your way.
God our King
and God our Savior.
For this reason
he came to make known to us
that we can come to him.
So why don't we do that now?
Why don't we come to him
in prayer
and ask him to reveal himself
to us
and make himself known
and then we will
close in reflection.
Let me pray for us.
Father God,
as we come to you,
Lord,
we,
many of us in this room
have discovered
the reality
that Jesus is not just
a man of history,
not just a great prophet.
You are God,
the Son of God.
You are the wonderful
Savior of the Lord.
And Jesus,
we know this
and many of us
know this and believe it.
But God,
we admit that faith
is still sometimes difficult.
God,
maybe at a high level
we believe that you are
who you say you are,
but at a granular level
and in the day-to-day
trenches of life
when you've got to make decisions
around parenting,
around money,
around career,
around who to date
and marriage
and these big things.
God,
belief in you is hard.
Faith in you is hard.
Surrender is hard.
God,
we believe
but help our unbelief.
Help us to grow
in faith,
God,
and trust
and to know
that you really are
who you say you are
and that you really do
offer life in your name.
May God help us
in your name I pray.
Amen.