51

John 8:13-20 THE MINISTRY OF JESUS VALIDATED

Introduction:

In our text last Sunday Jesus proclaimed Himself to be

the Light of the world. The Jewish leaders knew that this

was a claim that He is the Christ. By claiming that He is

the Light of the world, Jesus was claiming that He is the

Christ. In our text today the Jewish leaders object to His

claim. They say that for Him to make this claim about

Himself was not a valid claim. They say that someone other

than Himself testify that He is the Christ in order for His

claim to be valid. In our Jesus answers their objection.

I. A quick review regarding the setting of this text

Let me refresh your memory regarding the situation.

Jesus and His apostles had come to Jerusalem to observe the

annual Feast of Tabernacles. The feast itself is now over.

Jesus had returned to the temple and was teaching the people

when a group of scribes and Pharisees brought to Him a woman

taken in the act of adultery. They said that Moses law said

she should be stoned, but they wanted His opinion about what

should be done. Jesus told them to let the man who was

without sin throw the first stone to put her to death.

Nobody threw that first stone. Instead , all of her

accusers left.

Then the woman left and Jesus got back to the task of

teaching the people. He told them that He is the Light of

the world. This was, of course, a claim that He is the

Christ whom the prophets of old had said would come.

II. The objection which the Pharisees raised

V. 13, "The Pharisees therefore said unto him, Thou

bearest record of thyself; thy record is not true." You

will remember that all of the Pharisees who were in the

group which accused the woman had left. But that does not

mean that all of the Pharisees left. There were still other

Pharisees were present in the crowd. It was some of those

Pharisees who were in the crowd who had heard Him claim to

be the Light of the world who now speak up and voice their

opposition to His claim. They bitterly oppose the idea that

Jesus is the Christ.

They state what they think is a valid objection or at

least it will sound like a valid objection to the crowd.

Actually, it was old hat. Back in John chapter five at an

earlier feast at Jerusalem, Jesus had made the claim then

that God the Father had sent Him into the world. The Jewish

leaders even then understood this to be a claim that He is

the Christ. And even then they had said that His claim was

invalid because He made the claim Himself. They were

referring to a principle set forth in the Mosaic Law that

required two witnesses to establish a fact in a court of

law. Even back then at this previous feast Jesus had

answered their objection. But now they bring up that same

old objection which had already been proven to be false. It

was not His claim to Messiahship was invalid. It was their

objection to His claim which was invalid. However, they

now bring that same old invalid argument back up again and

Jesus must answer it all over again. They must have figured

that the present crowd of people will not remember that

Jesus has already answered this objection and it will sound

valid to them.

III. The qualifications of Jesus to testify for Himself

V. 14, "Jesus answered and said unto them, Though I bear

record of myself, yet my record is true..." Even if Jesus

had no had witness to His claim that would still not affect

the truthfulness of His claim. Let me put it another way.

Even if Jesus never produced the kind of witnesses required

in a court of law, that would still not mean that His claim

was untrue. Something could well be true without having

sufficient proof to hold up in a court of law. Jesus was

not in a court of law. He was just teaching a group of

people who were gathered together. The lack of witnesses

such as would be required in a court of law were not

required in a teaching session.

The law which required two witnesses in a court of law

was a good law. It was designed to help prevent an innocent

person from being convicted on some trumped up charges which

were untrue. Not only was one witness required who could

testify that the person charged was guilty, but two witness

were required. In addition to that, the two witnesses must

agree in their testimony. They must not contradict one

another in their testimony. If they did, it would be

indication that one, or both was lying. But this law did

not require one of God's prophets to have two or three

witnesses before he could utter his prophecy. The very fact

that a prophet of God said it was all the validation needed.

The validity of the words of Jesus could be established

somewhat like the words of a prophet of God. This procedure

was followed with all of the Old and New Testament prophets.

Usually a prophet would come on the scene and make certain

short ranged prophecies. If those prophecies very shortly

came to pass, then the people would know that they could

believe the long range prophecies which he would make. If

the short ranged prophecies did not come to pass, they would

know that this man was a false prophet.

In certain instances God would enable His prophet to

work certain miracles which only the power of God could

perform. Thus, God sometimes used the miracles to validate

the ministry and the message of His prophet.

Sometimes God used one prophet, whose ministry was

already validated, to recommend another prophet whose

ministry was not yet validated. Thus, the endorsement of

the validated prophet was sufficient to validate another

prophet. For instance, Elijah was already established in

the minds of the people as a prophet of God. So God used an

endorsement from Elijah to validate the ministry of Elisha.

So even if Jesus had never produced two witnesses, as

would be required in a court case, that still would not

invalidate His claim. God used all of three methods of

validating the ministry of a prophet to validate the

ministry of Jesus. God used the short range prophecies to

validate His ministry. For instance, Jesus told the Apostle

Peter to go and catch a fish and that he would find a coin

in the mouth of the fish and that He should use that coin to

pay taxes to the Roman Government. Peter went fishing and

sure enough, there was a coin in the mouth of the fish. On

another occasion some of the disciples had been fishing all

night and had caught nothing. But Jesus told them to go out

a little deeper and let down their net and they would catch

fish. They did and they caught so many fish that the boat

almost sank.

God also used the working of miracles to validate the

ministry of Jesus. The miracles are too numerous for me to

mention but a few of them, but I will mention a few. He

calmed the winds and waves of a storm to be calm just by

speaking to them. He healed the sick including lepers, He

caused the lame to walk and the blind to see. He even

raised the dead to life again.

God even used other prophets to validate the ministry of

Jesus. Two of them identified Him as the Christ when He was

but a babe. John the Baptist identified Him as the Christ

when Jesus came to Him to be baptized.

Furthermore, Jesus had a knowledge of where He came from

and where He would go. He could make that knowledge known

to the people and His witness would be true. (V. 14),

"...for I know whence I came, and whither I go..." You see,

Jesus still had a very vivid memory of where He had come

from. He had come to earth from heaven. He had been on the

very throne of God in heaven. He had been there on the

throne with God the Heavenly Father. These were certain

facts in His memory. He knew whereof He spoke.

Furthermore, He knew where He would go when the time came

for Him to leave this earth. He knew that He would return

back to heaven. Therefore, He was absolutely certain that

what He spoke was the truth whether the Pharisees believed

it of not.

IV. The Pharisees unqualified to judge Jesus

On the other hand, those Pharisees were not qualified to

pass judgment on what He had said. (V. 14), "...but ye

cannot tell whence I come, and whither I go." The Pharisees

knew about the birth of Jesus that He had been born in

Bethlehem, but they did not have the foggiest idea of where

His Spirit, which indwelt His fleshly body had come from.

They had not been able to look into heaven and could not at

all say that He had not come down from heaven. Neither were

they able to say that He would not return to heaven when He

would leave this earth. If two witnesses were required to

establish any kind of fact then they most certainly could

not establish as a fact that He had not come from heaven nor

that He would not return to heaven.

V. 15, "Ye judge after the flesh..." As men, the

Pharisees could carry on court cases. But they must do that

according to the rules that God had set down in the law.

But they were not able to judge Him and say of a certainty

that He is not the Christ of God, the Light of the world.

God, Himself, must determine who the Christ is --- not these

earthly men. They were not at all qualified to judge Him

and condemn Him.

(V. 15), "...I judge no man." Note that Jesus did not

say that could not judge any man. Nor did He say that would

not in the future judge any man. Later He would declare

that in the hereafter all judgment would be done by Him.

But what Jesus said here is that it was not His purpose in

coming to this world to judge men. He said, "I judge no

man." He had come to save men -- not to judge men!

V. 16, "And yet if I judge, my judgment is true: for I

am not alone, but I and the Father that sent me." Jesus

could and would judge men some day and when He does judge He

will judge with an accurate judgment. He will judge in

absolute accuracy. He will judge in absolute harmony with

the thinking of God the Father. God the Father will approve

of every judgment that He will make because He will judge in

absolute truth and righteousness. So what Jesus is saying

is: "You are unqualified to judge me, but I am qualified to

judge and the judgment that I make about Myself is true."

V. Two witnesses for Jesus

But now let us get back to the objection made by the

Pharisees to His claim that He is the Christ. Even under

the Law of Moses which the Pharisees claimed to hold fast

to, the claim of Jesus that He is the Light of the world,

the Christ of God, is validated.

V. 17, "It is also written in your law, that the

testimony of two men is true." That is, it may be accepted

as true in a court of law. So even if Jesus had been on

trial here, He still had the weight of evidence on His side.

He had the two witnesses which are required by the Law of

Moses.

V. 18, "I am one that bear witness of myself..." The

law did not forbid that a man testify on his own behalf. It

was the Pharisees who forbid a man to testify for himself.

Indeed, a man was allowed in a court of law to testify on

his own behalf. He still is, even in our courts today.

Jesus said, "You say that the law requires two witnesses,

well I am One of the witnesses." For the second witness

there were a several other witnesses that Jesus could have

cited to them. He could have cited the prophet, Simeon, who

saw Jesus as a baby and prophesied even then that Jesus is

the Savior of the men. Simeon said further that this baby

is a Light to the Gentiles. Likewise, Anna, a prophetess in

the temple saw Jesus when He was a baby and prophesied that

He is the Redeemer of whom the prophets of old had spoken.

He could cite John the Baptist who had publicly proclaimed

Jesus to be the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the

world.

But these were all mere men and Jesus chose to call upon

a much higher witness that any human could be. He pointed

out that God the Father in Heaven was His witness. (V. 18),

"...and the Father that sent me beareth witness of me."

God the Father had spoken from Heaven and called Jesus His

beloved Son and recommended that men hear Him and believe in

Him.

Now we must acknowledge that these men who were now His

critics probably did not hear the voice of God the Father

when He spoke from heaven, but they probably did hear about

it. Yet even if they never heard about the voice of God

from heaven proclaiming Jesus as His Son, they most

certainly knew about the great miracles that He had

performed. On several occasions He worked miracles in their

very presence. Some of them were present when Jesus healed

the impotent man at the Pool of Bethesda. Some of them were

present when He healed the lame man who was let down through

the roof. They knew for a fact about Him healing lepers,

giving sight to the blind, causing the dumb to speak and the

lame to walk. They knew that He had cast demons out of the

demon possessed and raising the dead. They knew all these

things and they most surely should have known that this was

God's way of testifying that Jesus is the Christ of God.

Actually, it was God the Father who had used all three

of these methods of verifying the ministry of Jesus. He had

used short ranged prophecies. He had used the testimony of

prophets who were already verified. He used miracles. That

is, HE used the miracles which Jesus performed.

The point is that since both Jesus and God the Father

have given witness that Jesus is the Christ, the Light of

the world, then the Pharisees should accept Him as such.

And since He is the Christ they should believe everything

else which He says.

VI. The Pharisees' stubborn resistance

The Pharisees persist in rejection Jesus as the Christ.

V. 19, "Then said they unto him, Where is thy Father?..."

They said this in mockery. They still refused to accept Him

as the Christ.

(V. 19), "...Jesus answered, Ye neither know me, nor my

Father: if ye had known me, ye should have known my Father

also." They rejected Jesus because they had also rejected

the Father. It was not that they were atheists, but they

had rejected the teachings which God the Father had sent.

If they had accepted the Father, they would have also

accepted His Son Jesus, the Christ.

V. 20, "These words spake Jesus in the treasury, as he

taught in the temple: and no man laid hands on him; for his

hour was not yet come." It was not yet time for them to

crucify the Son of God. God the Father had already set the

time and they could not crucify Him before it was time.

We will also note that there are still those in the

world who challenge the word of the Lord. Every book of the

Bible has been challenged. Every truth in the Bible is

still challenged by many today. But the words of Jesus were

true in that day, they are true now and they will remain

true forever. Likewise, all of God's holy and inspired Book

is true. It will stand the test of time forever. On one

occasion Jesus said, "Heaven and earth shall pass away, but

my words shall not pass away."

Conclusion:

If you happen to be one of those who has in the past

challenged the Bible and its teachings, I call upon you to

open your mind to the Bible and to the eternal truths which

are written therein.

If you happen to be one of those who already believe

that the Bible is the inspired word of God then I commend

you. If you believe that the Bible is true, then you should

surely be willing to believe that Jesus is the Light of the

world. He is the Savior of men. If you believe that Jesus

is the Christ, the Savior of men, then you should surely be

willing to put your trust in Him to be your Savior. If you

are already saved, then you should be willing to serve the

Christ who has saved you. I am going to call upon you to do

so.