The Healing at the Pool on the Sabbath Pt 3

Open your Bibles to John chapter 5, please. John chapter 5. John chapter 5. We'll begin reading for context at verse 18. this was why the Jews were seeking all the more to kill Jesus because not only was he breaking the Sabbath but he was even calling God his own father making himself equal with God chapter 5 verse 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 for 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 in 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 is now here, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. For 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. 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 is another 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 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 born 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 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 comes in his own name, you will receive him.

How can you believe when you receive glory for 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 you believed Moses, you would believe me. For he wrote of me. But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe my words?

Let us pray. Oh God, we thank you for this blessed day to come together and to be edified by you, to receive your salvation from your hand, by the Spirit, the work of Jesus Christ our Lord. And we're thankful, God, that you administer this grace in different means that we can grab hold of today through the prayers, through the reading, through the preaching, through the singing.

Lord, you have done all things well, and it's all for our good. for our salvation, for the glory of Christ Jesus our Lord. Oh God, let there be not any hard hearts before me now. Lord, anything that they brought with them that would cause them to be distracted and to be hardened to the truth of Christ, could you pulverize that even now and soften them?

Lord, could you help me? Could you help me to preach the word in a way that would edify them, in a way that would uplift Jesus Christ the Lord, in a way that would make him available for all to look upon and believe and receive salvation. God, we're in need of your help, and we're thankful that you've promised us the Holy Spirit to help us in our weakness.

And so to him we rely upon as he completes the work of Jesus upon our soul. Thank you, Lord, for him. Thank you for Christ. Thank you for salvation. In Jesus' name, amen. If I told you that snow was coming in a week or two today, you wouldn't really need much more witness than that.

You would probably believe that it is true. After all, we live in Ohio where snow in this time of year, although not expected, could very well happen. In fact, I've heard often here in Ohio, only in Ohio, would it snow and act weird around this time of year. 70 degree weather one day and snowy the next. I lived in three states now Michigan North Carolina and now this great state of Ohio And I want you to know that everyone says that by the way Everyone says only in North Carolina only in Michigan So you're not saying anything unique, but that's fair.

You can continue to say it's okay. But if I told you now that it's going to snow next week, it wouldn't require much more witness. You might be like, oh, really? But if I told you it was going to snow next week in the middle of July, it would be something hard to believe. you would require a lot more witness because snow in July is quite the incredible claim.

And in fact, that's the way all of life is. An incredible claim requires credible witness. And to be honest with you, my witness wouldn't be enough for you to believe that it's going to snow in July. You would seek for more credible witness. And here we are in John chapter 5. Jesus has just made the most incredible claim about the Son of God. the most incredible claim about the Son of God.

After he has healed the man at the pool, he claims divinity, and he claims that the Son of God is in full union with the Father and can judge and will judge all people and bring salvation to whom he pleases. You cannot think of a much greater claim than that, a much more incredible claim than this man Jesus just said about the Son of God, that he is the judge of all and that he gives salvation to whom he pleases. You cannot think of a more incredible claim than that.

In fact, even now as we consider that, he is saying that he holds all of our souls in his hands. That is quite the incredible statement from Jesus of Nazareth 2,000 years ago. And now, as we see this teaching in light of this healing at the pool, we see him talk about the incredible testimony of who the Son of God is, And now the text shifts to him saying, son of God, son of God, son of God, to saying, I, me, I am him.

And so what Jesus is saying, and although it was implicitly there last week as we went through that, it is explicitly there for Jesus. He's saying, not only is the son of God an incredible person, an incredible figure, but I am him. I am he. And if you notice in verses 30 through 47, we're not going to get through all of it this morning, but notice the language shift there of talking about Son of God, Son of God, Son of God to I in me.

As he claims, as he says, I am that incredible figure. But again, incredible claims require credible witness. And we see now the thrust of these verses is Jesus is going to locate those witnesses about him that he indeed is the most incredible figure of all of time, the Son of God. But the way Jesus begins this section of his teaching is the same way he began the section of his teaching last time when he talked about the authority and the works of the Son of God to be judge and savior.

Savior. If you notice, let's just see how he kind of, it's the same cadence, and it's going to reveal something good for us. He's going to have the same cadence of, he's going to talk about the unity of the Son of God with the Father, right? Because they're hearing him say the Son of God is God, and he's in opposition to the Father. And Jesus says, nope, the Son of God is in complete unity with the Father.

And then from that unity, he's going to, he made that claim that the Son of God judges and gives salvation. And now he's going to follow the same cadence and say, then say from that unity with the father that I have, I have these witnesses before me. Look at this cadence in verse 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.

There is that again, he's unified with the Father. And now notice the topic shift now, discussion, in verse 31. If I alone bear witness about myself, my testimony is not true. And then notice the unity with the Father. There's another who bears witness about me, and I know that the testimony that he bears about me is true. So notice that same cadence of the unity he has with the Father with the new topic of, and I have a witness that these things are true about me.

You see, he says, if I alone bear witness about these incredible claims, they would not be true. And what he's saying is, if I was the only one ever to say this, it would be clearly false. Right? It's the same thing if I told you it's going to snow in July and you ask, well, how do you know this? And I say, I just have a feeling. No, that's not true.

And so Jesus is kind of laying out a hypothetical. and he's saying if I was the only one who said this that I am that great figure son of God it would not be true but he says I have unity with the father and the father is the one who bears witness that I am that incredible figure Jesus says his lofty claim for the son and him being and that son comes forth from his unity with the father. There is no greater reality than when God attests to something. There's no greater reality when the father gives a stamp of approval on something.

When God says it is true, it is true that it's truth itself. And so Jesus is saying, I am the son, and the marveling happens, and he says the Father attests or is a witness to that. It is true. You know, the abandonment of God in our society is the reason why no one knows what truth is anymore. In fact, we deny that truth even exists. It's because God is truth.

And so when Jesus says he is the witness that I am the Son that enough That is truth itself There is no greater reality than when God attests to something and Jesus says the father is the witness that I truly am, that son who is the judge, who is savior. But you see, Jesus is going to go into lesser witnesses. He's going to go into lesser witnesses and we'll see for what reasons.

But in the next following verses, we're going to see the witness of John the Baptist. that he is the Son of God. We're going to see the witness of his works, that he is this incredible Son of God. And we're going to see the witness culminating to the Father in his word that he is truly the Son of God. So let's see that first witness, John the Baptist, in verse 33 of your Bibles.

In verse 33 to 35, he says, 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 you see Jesus says you sent for John you sent to John and he is born witness to the truth that I am the son of God and what he's referring to is you remember in John 1 you remember that delegation that the religious leaders who he's talking to right now the Pharisees you remember the religious leaders sent a delegation to John the Baptist when he came onto the scene and they're like, who are you? Because there is a great anticipation of Messiah to come. And so they send this delegation because he is such an influential voice in the wilderness.

And John the Baptist was faithful to that witness that Jesus is this great figure, the son of God. You remember in John chapter 1, verses 32 through 34. John bore witness. I saw the Spirit descend from heaven like a dove and it remained on Jesus. And I myself did not know him, but he who sent me to baptize with water said to me, He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, that is Jesus, this is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.

And so I've seen, not borne witness, that this is the Son of God. So there Jesus is calling on the lesser witness of John the Baptist, who bore witness that Jesus truly is the Son of God. But notice what Jesus says about these lesser witnesses, though. It's a very needed truth for us to grab hold of. Notice how he says in verse 34, not that the testimony that I receive is from man.

Very fascinating. Jesus isn't saying I receive no testimony from man. He just literally said he receives it from John the Baptist, a witness that he is the Son of God. Jesus doesn't mean that he receives no testimony from man, but what he means is his ultimate witness is not John the Baptist or man at all. He's already said it is him that is the Father, it is God.

That's his ultimate witness. That's his ultimate testimony. He doesn't need human testimony because the truth gives testimony to him. And so when Jesus says he does not receive testimony from man, he means that his baseline testimony doesn't come from man. He's not in need of their witness in order for his claim to be true. Think about like a king who just took over a land, who just took over the land.

He pronounced himself king and he sends delegations and messengers everywhere throughout the land proclaiming this lofty truth that the king is so-and-so and you must bow the need to this king. That king would rely upon the reception of that testimony from the people in order for that claim to be true. You get what I'm saying? If all the people said, nah, not going to happen, he's not king of anything.

And so Jesus is saying, I don't need your testimony or the man's testimony in order for my claim that I am the son of God to be true. Don't need it. It is true because the Father has attested to it, and that's enough. So then the question is, why have it then? Why have the human testimony? Why does God seem to be so concerned that his people would be a witness to his truth?

And the answer is in what he says just next. He says in verse 34, Not that the testimony that I receive is from man, but I say these things so that you may be saved. The main purpose of human testimony to Jesus being the Son of God, the judge and savior of all men, is for the benefit of those receiving the testimony that they would be saved. It's not so that that truth claim would be verified, but it's so that the people receiving that truth claim would receive it and be saved. remember Jesus as the son of God has the power to judge and to save to bring someone from dead and sin to life and him and he uses human testimony to the truth to do that glorious and awesome work this is an important truth for us to hang out on for a second Jesus uses human testimony to save others You know how incredible that is?

He uses our testimony to fulfill this lofty title of Son of God or to do the work of the Son of God. And the main point of your witness is not to validate his claim as if you need to prove it so that it would be true, but to save the person you are witnessing to. And that's so important for you to hunker down on because it can be so easy for us to get into intellectual debates constantly, and that's what you think that your witness is supposed to be.

Intellectual debate after intellectual debate after intellectual debate. And what happens is it hardens the person who receives it. What you need to do, the heart of what we need to do as a witness to Jesus, is what John the Baptist did and that is appeal to people conscience appeal to the fact that they are broken sinners and they know it And tell them to repent and believe upon the one who the Father has attested to be the Son of God And it is not up to debate.

But rather, it is for repentance and to be believed upon. And I think it's so easy for us to think, in order for me to be a proper witness, I have to have the intellectual strength of a giant. but notice what he says there he does not need your witness for it to be true and so we are to be like john the baptist in which we appeal to the conscience i hope you know what i mean by that when you are talking with someone look to appeal to their conscience they are guilty they feel the every day of their life you know how i know because the bible tells me so appeal to that and said, you're in sin, you're miserable, Jesus, the Son of God, can save you if you believe upon him. But instead, so often, we want to think that, we need to argue that that's a true statement first to an nth degree, and we lose the plot.

Jesus tells us here, his witness, his final witness, his only needed witness is the Father himself. He doesn't need man's witness, but instead he uses it to save people. So your witness is to be used by the Son of God to save people, to tell them of their sin, to tell them of the Judge and the Savior. What's the result of the witness of John the Baptist to Jesus being the Son of God?

Well, look at verse 35. He was a burning and shining lamp, and you were willing to rejoice for a while in his light. Again, he's talking to the religious leaders. He's talking to the Jews around him. And he's calling John a shining lamp, probably purposefully not calling him of essence the light because Jesus is that light. And yet he still emits a certain kind of light that comes forth from a lamp.

He says, you were willing to rejoice for a while in his light. And the question we need to ask ourself now, we're not going to answer it this morning because I just don't have enough time to get to the end of this whole paragraph here. But how is it, if it is true that Jesus is the Son of God, and it's stamped by the Father of Truth himself, and he has a witness of John the Baptist, who is a true witness, how is it possible that they would rejoice for a second, but then it would flare out?

How is that even possible? And Jesus gets to that at the end of this passage. We're not going to get there yet, but I want that to be kind of in the back of your mind as we're going through these witnesses. How is it possible, then, that people would not believe? How is that even a reality? I want that kind of rolling around in your mind as we're going through this.

What's the next witness to Jesus being the Son of God, this great figure? Well, the next witness is his works itself. Look at John 5, verse 36. But the testimony that I have is greater than that of John, the man. Now he's going from the lesser to the greater, right? There's greater works, or there's greater witness that I have, that I am the Son of God figure.

And he's going to go even greater to the word of the Father. But he goes from the testimony or the witness of John the Baptist to now his works. The greater testimony or witness are the works or the miracles Jesus did while walking on this earth. Really, it cannot be denied that Jesus did mighty works while walking this earth. You know that. It cannot be denied that Jesus truly existed.

And if you look, if you have any kind of, oh, what's that word, objective view of things, you would see that Jesus truly existed. And it is no reason to deny that the truth claims about him that he did a lot of miracles. was actually true. Because no one in the record in that time denies it. No one denies it. This is a man who did great works. Even his enemies would agree with that.

Jesus was a miracle worker while he walked this earth. And there is no reason to deny that as you look at the evidence for it. In fact, so prevalent or so obvious was the work of Jesus on the earth. when he walked this earth and even right after with this church, that the Apostle Paul in Acts 26, a couple decades after Jesus, he can say when he's talking to King Agrippa, he can say, I am not out of my mind, most excellent Festus, but I am speaking true and rational words, for the king knows about these things, about Jesus and his kingdom, and to him I speak boldly, for I am persuaded that none of these things has escaped his notice, for this has not been done in a corner somewhere.

So the work of Jesus and his miracles was exposed for the whole world to know and see, and they attested to it. And then you couple this reality that Jesus performed miracles and these great fantastical works with his great authority of who he was and is. We get a taste of that with this teaching. You remember Mark 1, 27 through 28? This isn't the only time that we see it, But you remember they're amazed by Jesus when he begins his ministry.

And they're amazed, it says, they were all amazed so that they questioned among themselves saying, what is this, a new teaching with authority? He commands even the unclean spirits and they obey him. And at once his fame spread everywhere throughout all the surrounding region of Galilee. And that never stopped. The point that I'm trying to get you to see in here is that his works attest to him. and his works are abundant and irrefutable, and he did it as if he has total and full authority to do it.

The prophets of old did works. They did miracles. did it with authority on high. Jesus did his as an authority that came forth from himself as the Son of God. And that was something that was tangible as you were around him. This man teaches and does wonderful and amazing things, and he does it with authority, or as the Son of God. yet the enemies of Jesus could look at the works could hear the authority the teaching and complain because it broke their understanding of the Sabbath and they can respond not only with unbelief but they can respond with wanting to kill this man again let it rattle in your brain how is that possible?

I want it to rattle in your brain how is it possible that you could stand or sit before me and hear the words of truth and not respond with holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty and bow the knee to Christ the King. Let it keep on rattling in your brain that they would not believe how is that possible? And there's, of course, application to us as we read the stories of Jesus' healing.

Meditate on those. meditate on his works that he displayed because they weren't just works isolated from everything else. They were works that proclaimed that he is the Son of God, your judge and your savior. So as you read those works, those miracles, in fact, in the other gospels, they go on and on and on, it seems like. Meditate on them. What is this teaching me about Jesus, the Son of God?

What is this teaching me about him being my savior? who has done all things well for me. You see that man, lame by the pool, last couple times ago? What a pathetic man that was. But yet, what a wonderful Savior Jesus is. That he would heal a lame man and cause him to walk. And then as you're sitting in your armchair and you're depressed over your sin, you're depressed over your lethargy, your laziness, your brokenness, look to Jesus Christ, who can fix the lame, who can fix your lame spirit and cause you to rejoice in him that morning as you're struggling with your sin.

This is the Son of God whose works reveal his power. Rejoice in that, beloved, because it reveals he's a savior to you as you look to him in faith. But now let's look at the culminating witness that Jesus is this lofty Son of God. The culminating witness is the Father himself found in his word. So as we're reading through this witness here, have that. This is the Father's witness found in his word or in the scriptures.

But I also want you to notice one more thing. Two things you've got to notice as we read through this. One is, I'm going to repeat it. I know I repeat myself sometimes. But one is that the Father's witness is found in his word to Jesus. And the other one that I want you to notice is that Jesus goes from defending himself with witnesses, he still does that, but then he goes to attacking the Pharisees and attacking them saying, shame on you for your unbelief.

It makes no sense. And so this is like the mark where all of a sudden the person on the witness or the person in the defense all of a sudden becomes the judge himself and calls upon these attacks upon the Pharisees. Notice the change in verse 37. And the Father who sent me has himself bore 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 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. You see that playing out there? You see the Father's witness and his word, and then the accusations and you do not receive it That the problem here See this attack now from Jesus and when you read this, feel the heat coming forth from Jesus here.

Can't you feel that? It's not like he was never willing to call out truth, even in the face of adversity. This attack is against the Pharisees, who are supposed to be the successors of Moses. In order to understand these set of verses here, we've got to then have our mind kind of set on Moses and his successor, which were supposed to be the Pharisees, the religious leaders.

We're going to see this play out in a couple ways today and also next week or two weeks from today when we continue that Jesus really has Moses in mind as he's talking and accusing the religious leaders because they were supposed to be Moses' successors. And whenever he says, therefore, whenever he says his voice in verse 37, you have never heard his form, you have never seen. We read it earlier today with the Old Testament reading.

He's referring to Moses who heard the voice of God. And in some measure saw the form of God, his back glory as he walked by. And he says, you, his successors who sit on his chair, you have not experienced that at all. remember the voice exodus 33 11 thus the lord used to speak to moses face to face as a man speaks to his friend when moses turned again into the camp his assistant joshua the son of non a young man would not depart from the tent and so we see that he would speak face to face to moses at like a friend he would hear his voice moses would hear the voice of god and jesus says you are no successor of Moses.

You do not know the voice of God. In fact, the form, right, the form, you've never seen his form, Exodus 33, 18, Moses said, please show me your glory. In verses 21 through 23, the Lord said, behold, there is a place by me where you shall stand on the rock, and while my glory passes by, I will put you in a cleft of the rock, and I'll cover you with my hand until I pass by.

Then I will take away my hand, and you shall see my back, but my face shall not be seen. In some measure, Moses saw the backside of God. And Jesus says, you have never seen God. He's bringing a major attack against those who sit on Moses' chair yet does not know God at all. You know, it's interesting. We see in these set of verses, sure, they have God's word.

And they even search God's word. You notice that? They have it. They have the word of God. In fact, they search the word of God. They know the word of God.

They memorize the word of God. They have it. They search it. But they do not have God's word, what does he say, abiding in them. They have it on the outside. They can read it and memorize it.

But it is not anywhere abiding, keeping, staying inside of them. You know, that's like almost at the verge of dying of thirst. Imagine you are about to die of thirst, and you see, finally, fresh water, a lake before you, and you jump in and you swim around, and you say, oh, thankful. I'm so thankful I have water. And then you get out, and then you think, that will do it.

I will survive now. No, it won't. You need the water inside of you. You need to drink that water. That water needs to be within you. It must abide within.

And the problem with these religious leaders is they had the word of God. They memorized the word of God, but it was not within them. How does Jesus know that they have God's word and search God's word, yet have not actually received God's word? Because the word was made flesh and was manifested in front of them, and they had no taste for it or him. They hated him.

They wanted to murder him. So that's why he says in verse 38, You do not believe the one whom he has sent? In verse 39 It is they that bear witness about me That is the scripture In verse 40 yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life Jesus knew that this word found no resting place in their soul because when they saw the word made flesh, they hated the word.

They hated Christ. They wanted to murder him. The witness of God to Jesus being the Son of God culminates in his word. and the proof that you have received that witness is not in how many facts you know about the Bible or how many verses you've memorized, although those things, as we'll get in a moment, is important, but what kind of relationship you have with God in Christ.

It is found in your affection for Jesus. Do not think for a moment you can have the word at your fingertips yet have no love for Christ within your heart that then arms you for battle against sin. Do not think for a moment you can love sin, have no desire for Christ, yet have the words at your fingertip and be fine. This is especially relevant for the children around me that have the word of God everywhere around them, for the teenagers around me, and think that I can play the part on the outside and be fine.

The word of God is found, truly, abiding in you, and that is revealed in your affection for Jesus and hatred of sin. And if that's not happening in you, you're no better than the Pharisees. A terrifying reality is that you can spend all sorts of time doing the religious thing and knowing the word well, yet not consuming your soul. And the test is the love, affection, or faith you have in the one that the word is pointing to.

That word faith, put your faith and trust in Jesus, that has been so killed and murdered by modern evangelicalism it makes me want to puke to have faith in jesus is to have an affectionate love for him to where you say i give all to him he is my lord and savior i have abandoned sin i've turned away from it and i'm going to the one that i have an affection for this is the word that abides in the soul and this is what jesus is calling on the religious leaders to do. So as we conclude, because I just don't have time to continue on, we're going to see why they don't believe this witness. And we're going to see their end or their judgment.

But to conclude here for us, there is no greater claim that could be made than that Jesus is the Son of God. There is no greater claim than that, that you'll ever hear. I could say it's going to snow in the middle of July, then that's not nearly as big of a claim than that Jesus is the Son of God. For everyone in this room, that means he is to be the center of your life every day.

He is your judge. He is your savior as you put your faith in him. There is no greater figure than the Son of God for you individually. It is a lofty claim. And this reality is not up for debate for it's established in the heavenlies by our Father. But the witness he has provided is for you and I to receive and enjoy salvation.

These witnesses that we have at our disposal, whether it's man, whether it's the works before us, the word of God, it is for us to receive salvation and to enjoy salvation. Hear the witness of his disciples proclaiming Jesus. Behold his works in the scriptures and see how they point to the salvation that he has brought and see the heart of the biblical message that point to the need of a savior and Jesus and Jesus alone that meets that need.

And reveal your belief in this by your relationship with this Son of God today. Have you believed upon Jesus in a way that you have consumed him? Or have you just been around his witness and you think that will suffice? Are you abiding? Or is the word abiding in you? Are you abiding in the word of Christ? is the word of Christ abiding in you.

It means to settle. It means to sink in. Jesus is not only the breath of all scripture but he is the content of every verse of scripture Therefore as he is the breath of scripture read the scriptures Read it all. If you have the mind that is more elevated than a cucumber, then read the entire scriptures. There's no excuse not to. If you've been in the faith for 10 years and you've never read through all the scriptures, shame on you.

The entire breath of the scripture is Jesus. Read it. Make a plan. Read it. But he's also the content of every verse of Scripture. And we must let it abide and settle deep within our souls.

Meditate on every verse of the Scripture. May there be in your study a time in which you read the whole breadth of Scripture and be amazed by the Son of God as revealed. And may you then meditate on the different particular verses and carry that with you in the day as you are amazed at the Son of God of that passage. Let it abide in you. Let it settle in your soul.

So read through the entire Bible on a regular basis, but meditate on particular passages daily so that it would abide in you and the witness would be sure in you. Take a few verses and camp on them, even throughout your day. For example, Psalm 23, 1, The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. Take that with you for the day and just meditate on it throughout the day.

Think about all the different things that you want in that day. You know how much we moan and complain? Just think about that for a second. You know what you're saying? I don't want the shepherd. And think about that, just that one verse.

The Lord is my shepherd. I'm not going to want anything else than the shepherd. Meditate on that. What are the things that I'm wanting that's beyond him? And then go on to the next verse for the next day. Psalm 23, verse 2, he makes me lie down in green pastures.

He leads me beside still waters. You know, it's referring to a shepherd that brings the sheep in a place that's not going to terrify them, right? He brings us to green pastures and still waters, not terrifying waters. And the shepherd brings us to places in which we are confident in him and we are not scared of the future. Instead, we laugh at the days to come.

And then consider all the anxiety you have throughout the day and the next day and the next day and say, oh Lord, be my shepherd in which you bring me upon calm waters. The witness to Jesus is not because he needs it, but because you need it. Grab hold of the witness and delight yourself in the Son of God who holds your very soul in his hands as judge and savior.

Let's pray. Oh Father, thank you for Christ Jesus our Lord. we are unworthy of him yet he has revealed his love and that he abides with us Lord may none of us be like the religious leaders of the day who denied Christ and denied the witnesses Lord we know that it is sure and a true thing that Jesus is truly the son of God Lord, we have all these witnesses at our disposal, not to validate his claim, for it's already been validated, but rather for our salvation. So I pray, God, for those who have never truly bowed the knee to Christ Jesus, those who make endless excuses that will only, if they do not repent, result in their damnation.

I pray that you would even cause them to repent now and to see Jesus Christ truly as he truly is, Savior and Judge. And for those saints before me, may they, Lord, again see these witnesses of Christ and rejoice for it is their salvation. I pray that you would strengthen us, encourage us, strengthen us this week to grab hold of these different things and to see Jesus for all his glory and to see him change our lives even each day.

Thank you for Christ. Thank you for his glory. and I thank you for his love for his saints. May he be praised now and into eternity forever. In Jesus' name, amen.