The Gospel of John 5:25-47

Hopefully you've got a handout with you here, and we'll step our way through the last part of the Gospel of John, chapter 5. We've got verses 25 through 47 that we're working through here. What I'd like to do is, let's go through the slides here, just because I think it'll kind of bring us up to speed. This is continuing what Jesus had begun to say, in last week's passage. So anyway, we talked about Jesus was in Jerusalem, and we had this on page four of last week's handout.

This is the pools of Bethzatha. You'll see it, pools of Bethesda. And I think somebody thought Bethesda was less of a tongue-tripper than Bethzatha. So I don't know if that helps you, but at any rate, it's actually Bethzatha is more literally the term.

And then this was a map that we included. This is the sheet gate, and we show that in the model. Sometimes I see the maps mislabeled as this or this being the ones that they're talking about. That northern wall that we see there on the map wasn't built until about a decade later. So that actually was not present at the time.

Here's a model, and you notice the model has this northern wall in the model, and these are the pools of Bethesda. So here's another shot at it. Here is the pool of Bethesda, or Bethesda, and then there's the Fortress Antonia, and here is the North Temple Wall, and over here in the corner, let's have a little closer shot here, is the Sheep Gate. Where that square is? Yeah, where the square is. That's the sheet gate.

And what you see is it's covered because they didn't have people going in and out of it. They only had the livestock go through there. And so it was a place ordinarily, except when you're carrying livestock in and out, ordinarily it's closed. Which is why you can just barely see it. You can just see the opening above the level of the gate there. but that's the location of the actual sheet gate.

This is the way it looks now, and you say, what on earth? It's because it's got construction from several different time periods, and you'll see them actually, excuse me, differently labeled. Here's one here, another one here, another sign over here. So different time periods have different signs on them. Here's an artist's depiction of that event here, and another artist's depiction.

So now, looking at this, what happened is this large courtyard area is where Jesus very likely met up with the man. And then the man says to the leaders, because they had been asking, you know, who is it that told you you could pick up your pallet and walk? And so the Jewish leaders, having identified it was Jesus, then have double questions to ask him. Why are you telling this man to pick up his pallet and walk on the Sabbath? And why are you healing on the Sabbath? So they've got double questions for him.

This is a dramatic depiction of Jesus in the temple courtyards. And that's actually, while the picture here shows a nice open, clean area, during the feasts of the Jews, it wouldn't look like that. It would look more like this, where people are all over the place and carrying animals on their shoulders and all that. And more of a busy kind of a place. during times between the feasts might have something like 40-50,000 people and then swell up to something like a quarter of a million people during the feast. So it's like, boy, tourist season, right? But we're talking big time. A huge population swelled during those feasts.

Here's another dramatic depiction of Jesus in the temple courtyards talking with the leaders of the Jews who would come and confront him. They were sort of like the religious police and then you actually had temple guards in addition to these guys who would use words. You have on your handout, we've got way too much information in your handout, just so you know.

This is biblical judgments and resurrections printed in color because these ones in blue are the ones for Christian believers. So what that tells you is there are a great number of judgments in the Bible that are not for Christian believers. And by the way, this isn't all of them. There's one judgment I thought of that was for Christian believers, but only during the apostolic era.

Do any of you recall an instance or two when the Apostle Paul turned someone over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh? Actually, he did that twice. It doesn't appear to be something that we ought to be doing now, and it doesn't appear to be something that any other church members would ordinarily carry out. So it appeared to be a particularly apostolic privilege.

So, at any rate, that's not on the list. Nonetheless, here are the judgments, and the ones with the blue highlighting are for those in the church. You have also this diagram. I put this one together because I had another diagram, and Nancy says that looks too much like the wiring diagram for the space shuttle. And she could never figure it out. So I said, OK, is this simpler? Yeah, OK. So anyway, this passed Nancy's inspection. And what it does is there are three places. Here is the present heaven. Here is the present earth.

And the lake of fire as it is now. By the way, the lake of fire, is there anybody in it right now? No. The lake of fire is empty. However, it was prepared, Jesus used the perfect tense, completed past action, ongoing results, the perfect tense to say that the lake of fire was prepared for Satan and his angels. So it's like, you know, God made this place for Satan and his angels and prepared it, but right now it's empty.

We have no revelation that says that even one being, one soul is in it. But this, and I'll step through it quickly, the rapture of, excuse me, the rapture of the church is shown here, the seven-year tribulation period, and we show no detail on that. We could show lots of detail, and we do in the Revelation series, but for this, the second coming of Christ with the church and the saints of all prior times and of angels. And that's at the end of the seven-year tribulation period.

The beast and the false prophet and those who receive the mark of the beast will at that time go to the lake of fire. And then we have the thousand-year millennial kingdom, and then at the end of that time we have Satan and all fallen angels, the great white throne judgment, the rest of the unsaved of all time. That is, except for these, all the rest of the unsaved will be judged here at the great white throne judgment, Revelation chapter 20, verses 11 through 15.

And then this is the new heavens and new earth, where earth and heaven are not separate. Not entirely separate. So that's why it's shown here in one picture, and you don't see the present heavens separated from the earth as a continuing thing. So anyway, this is fairly general, but it gets the big picture across.

Alright, and then you also have another document, the mostly New Testament doctrine of proportional punishment, that is, here's John chapter 8, Jesus is talking to the Jewish leaders and he tells them, unless you believe you will die in your sins, notice it's a positional statement, those who do not believe when they die, they are in the sins.

Now, are we going to die in our sins? No, because we believe we are in Christ already. But those who do not believe, even though their sins are paid for, they refuse the gracious payment that God has made through Christ, and therefore they still remain in their sins positionally. So anyway, that is in there, and the punishment will be proportional to their sins. that they're still in.

And then the last one, biblical crowns and rewards. And this is specifically for church-age believers. So anyway, that's in there. Like I say, way too much information in today's handout. So let's go ahead and step through this with that as a backdrop here.

So here is John 5, 25 through 47. It continues what Jesus has been telling these judgmental Jews. They were ready to condemn Jesus for healing on the Sabbath and telling the man who was healed to pick up his pallet and walk. So here we have John 5, 25 through 27.

Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming and now is when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live. For just as the Father has life in Himself, so He gave to the Son also to have life in Himself. And He gave Him authority to execute judgment, because He is the Son of Man."

We got actually Jesus using several terms that tell you this is most assuredly true. First of all, it's truly, truly. which is a Hebrew way of saying something with emphasis, to say it twice. If I said truly, that would be saying it was true. But if I said truly, truly, that means it's really, really true. It's most certainly true. And then I say to you is an additional way to emphasize it. So Jesus has a triple emphatic, if you will, on this statement.

An hour is coming and now is. Now, what does he mean by now is? What's now is? Yeah? Well, hold on a second. This is about judgment though, not the sacrifice. And something else, what's the now is? What's he saying that for? No, no, hold on. Why is he saying now is? Okay.

Certainly, right now is their opportunity to listen. By the way, the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. Has this happened yet? Well, look at it, will hear and live, just as the Father has life in Himself, so He gave to the Son to also have life in Himself. And then there will also be an execution of judgment.

So one of the things we find, this now is phrase, the hour is coming and now is, it was in the previous chapter. Jesus was talking to the woman at Samaria. And one of the things we find in the Bible is there is a speaking of the things that are certain to come in the present tense. So here is Jesus, He says now is, and in fact this hasn't happened yet to Old Testament saints, hasn't happened yet. So He's speaking at least a couple thousand years ahead of time in round numbers.

But He's saying now is, both to the woman at the well and here, because something that was in the future but was certain of fulfillment was stated in the present tense. That was one of the ways of stating its certainty. So anyway, that's what's going on here. Here it now is a word, in other cases it's a verb tense, but the idea is the same. To state something in the present tense is to state its certainty of fulfillment. So let's take a look at it.

Jesus, in expressing his relationship to the Father, and in carrying out the Father's will, refers to himself as the Son of God. See that earlier there in verse 25? The Son, that refers to his relationship to God the Father, and then the Son of Man refers to his humanity. So here in a few verses, he's spelled out, he's the Son of God, he's deity, the second person of the Trinity, if you will. He has spelled out his relationship to the Father, and as the Son of Man, he's fully human. Fully divine, full deity, full humanity. So these words convey that life-giving, as in resurrection and judgment, are given to the Son.

Resurrection, let's ask this question. Are all the people who believe and are therefore saved going to be resurrected? Pardon? Only the ones that are dead. Yeah, in other words, the ones that die will be resurrected. Now, how about those who don't believe and are going to spend eternity in the lake of fire? Will they be resurrected too? The truth is it's a resurrection of sorts. It's not one that you and I would want to volunteer for. It's not a glorious resurrection. It's not a painless one. It is a resurrection of sorts. It's not one you and I would prefer. And prefer is saying it gently.

So here's Jesus saying that he's going to bring people back to life, but there's also one other element to execute judgment. Now, let's turn to page two here. So John 5, 28 and 29. Do not marvel at this for an hour is coming Here's that present tense again, right? An hour is coming in which all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and will come forth of those who did the good deeds to a resurrection of life and those who committed the evil deeds to a resurrection of judgment. Do we have a problem here? Or do we think we might?

One of the things we showed, this diagram here, is a lot of these judgments and what not happen at different times. Resurrections, judgments happen at different times. Not all at the same time, so Tom's right on that score. And something else, and that is some of those judgments are for the righteous and some of them are for those who are unrighteous.

But we still have one more issue. Does it sound from reading this, does it sound like if you do good stuff you're going to get saved and if you do bad stuff you won't? Does it sound like that? Hmm. In truth is, if this is the only thing that was revealed about how you get saved and about what the judgment is about, you might come to that conclusion. In the larger context of Scripture though, we get a different picture. What we say here, right below the verse I just read, this is not something that they should marvel at, but rather expect as revealed in the Old Testament.

Jesus said to Nicodemus in John 3.7, do not be amazed. So he told Nicodemus, don't be amazed. Tell these people, don't marvel. You should know. You should have known this. The same set of teachings is in various Old Testament passages which were recognized by the Pharisees, but not the Sadducees.

And we quote them here in Job 19.25-27.

As for me, I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last He will take His stand on the earth, even after my skin is destroyed, yet in my flesh I shall see God, whom I myself shall behold, and whom my eyes will see, and not another. My heart fades within me." What do you think about that? Here's Job speaking probably about 4,000 years ago. 4,000 years, I know that my Redeemer lives.

Yeah. He's not a Sadducee? No, apparently not. And the Sadducees would not have accepted this as scripture. Even after my skin, my physical skin, is destroyed, yet from my flesh I shall see God. How can that be? He believes he's going to have a new body, right? This physical skin here, he says, isn't going to make it. But I will have new flesh and a new body, and that will make it. And with my eyes in my new body, I will see and not another. It will be really me. My heart faints within me. The thought of it is just overwhelming.

Here's Isaiah 2619, your dead will live, their corpses will rise, you who lie in the dust awake and shout for joy for your due as is the due of the dawn and the earth will give birth to departed spirits. Daniel 12, 1 and 2, Now at that time Michael, the great prince who stands guard over the sons of your people, will arise, and there will be a time of distress such as never occurred since there was a nation until that time. And at that time your people, everyone who is found written in the book, will be rescued. Many of those who sleep in the dust of the ground will awake, these to everlasting life, but others to disgrace and everlasting contempt.

So there are other Old Testament passages as well. We didn't include them all. At first here, looking at this verse, it would sound like good deeds send you to the resurrection of eternal life and bad deeds send you to the resurrection of judgment. But the big picture from Scripture looks like this. All have sinned and have gone astray.

This is Isaiah 53.6.

This is Romans 6.23. All have sinned. Salvation is entirely at God's expense by grace. What qualifies a person to be saved? It is entirely by grace through faith, right?

That's it. Here's the Apostle Paul. Here is a desperate Philippian jailer. Paul's got to give him the shorthand version, right? Here he's got the sword out, what must I do to be saved? Tell me something good, or the sword's going in me. So Paul gets right to the chase, believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you'll be saved. Oh, okay. Sword back in the sheath. Salvation is entirely at God's expense by grace. Salvation is entirely by faith and not of works. Paul makes that abundantly clear.

We give references there in Galatians and Ephesians. All are resurrected, but some for eternal life and others to judgment and misery. And the works of those who are saved by faith are judged for rewards that, for example, would be 1 Corinthians 3, 10-15, and the works of those not saved by faith are judged for punishment. So what Jesus is talking about in this verse that's up at the top there has to do with the basis for reward or punishment and not this is how you get saved. He again is giving him a shorthand version.

Yes? So where in Scripture do you think that this birth appeared that there is resurrection of life? Because Joseph saved his bones because he knew that he'd come back to life. Abraham sacrificed his son knowing that if he killed him God could bring him back to life. Or he was willing to, yes. So where did this belief actually begin, that we see it in the Old Testament, do you know? How far back?

I think you can find evidences of it in Genesis, and there's a couple of reasons why I would say so, and that is, remember, here's Jesus talking to the Sadducees, and what did he do to prove that there was resurrection? God is the God, present tense, of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, right out of Genesis, right? Right out of Genesis. And there's one other, the expression you'll find in Genesis, that this or that patriarch was gathered to his people.

Well, he's not just gathered to nothing, he was gathered to his people. And it didn't mean that they're all buried in the same place either. So there was, by the implication, he is the God, present tense, as Jesus argued with the Sadducees, and it shut them down. They didn't have an answer for that one.

He is, present tense, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and that the Old Testament patriarchs were gathered to his people is a frequent phrase that shows up. And again, that's Genesis, both of those. So anyway, that implication was already there.

Yeah? In the Old Testament, those believers don't have the Holy Spirit to enlighten them, but they must have had some kind of divine something that would get them to understand and to be so focused. Yeah, if you think about it, Genesis itself, right? Who wrote that?

Moses. Moses was the one that probably compiled it. from times before his, but the reality is in earlier times, God spoke more directly with those who would listen, like even with Adam, even with Noah, right? And so God spoke more directly, and as time went on, God spoke increasingly through written revelation, the Old Testament, to Old Testament saints, and then to us in the New Testament. So increasingly the pattern is God spoke directly earlier and then as time went on more and more written revelation that we can rely on objectively.

So this is kind of immediate post-blood and prior to the blood Noah was supposedly the only righteous person so obviously God was somehow communicating with with Noah prior to the flood, but somebody else would listen, I guess. Yeah, here's Noah, and he gets enough instruction to know, here are the dimensions and the kind of wood and the kind of sealant that I need to use on the ark. I mean, he's getting some pretty direct information from God himself. There wasn't somebody handing him a scroll and saying, hey, God sent this. There wasn't that, God spoke directly to people and that was the means before there was specific written revelation. Now there was some record, I think there is even some evidence that Noah carried documents on the ark. And we went through that in the Bible backgrounds class.

The tablet markings, the Toledov markings that were on the tablets would indicate that. So, yeah, Tom? A little quick one. You would say that Moses was given the insight to tell what was the wheat, what was the chaff, on what to compile. Yes, that would be inspired by God. He was telling the people of Israel at war, God himself, that Moses is different from the rest of them, not different from Aaron, because I can speak to Moses directly, not in shadows. So, there you go.

Okay, so we won't go into it in detail, but we have the two supplements, one on crowns and rewards. I think that's probably your last page or close to it. The crowns and rewards and the others on the proportional punishment for those who are unbelievers. So you can feel free to look over the details. Those are kind of one-page summaries on those.

We won't go into that now. Other than to say, what judgment are we looking for? We're looking for a judgment of reward. And guess what? Christ is motivated to reward us to the max. Last chapter of Revelation, behold I am coming quickly and my reward is with me. He is motivated to reward us as much as possible. That's what He wants. So we will be rewarded as believers. Unbelievers will not have rewards. They will have proportional punishment. God's the one who makes those judgments and decisions.

Here's John 5.30, I can do nothing on my own initiative as I hear I judge and my judgment is just because I do not seek my own will but the will of Him who sent me.

So then we have page 3 here, repetition of John 5.30. Jesus is saying that he does not decide or act independent from the Father who sent him. Christ's judgment will be just because it will be based on all of the facts and will be based on God's infinite justice. There will be no favoritism, ignorance, unfair advantages, loopholes, or miscalculations.

See, we have in our legal system, you can have something that is valid evidence, but if it's not collected properly, it is inadmissible, right? So it can be someone is truly guilty, but if the officers did not collect the evidence properly, got something that required a warrant and they didn't get one, if they somehow didn't handle the chain of custody on the evidence properly. That can be enough to call it into question.

It won't be anything procedural, and Christ will miss nothing. There's no loopholes. You can't hire some fancy lawyer to stand up before Jesus and fix it, and get this thing knocked out of court. What are you going to do with a judge that knows everything, including the thoughts of your heart, including the things that everybody else missed? There will be no sweeping anything under the carpet. That's when you really look at God's grace. Yeah, it is. But it will be too late for many.

See, for us who believe, the Lord isn't saying, you know, boy, I've got God burned by the throat and I'm going to do Him, you know. That's not God's motivation with us who believe. Why? Because we have taken advantage, as we should have, of God's grace. And so that won't be the case with us. But for the unbeliever who has said, nah, I don't need that stuff. I don't believe that. Bubbish. And they've turned away the payment. And so now, what are they doing? They're volunteering to say, I'm going to pay for it myself. Good luck with that. Good luck with that. That's foolish. That's foolish.

So here's John 5.31.

If I alone testify about myself, my testimony is not true. In other words, if I just say, yeah, I'm going to testify for myself and that's it. And that doesn't count. There is another who testifies of me, and I know that the testimony which he gives about me is true. Okay.

So John is real big on testimony and witness. That's true here in the Gospel of John. First John carries that out, and so does the book of Revelation. So that testimony and witness pattern is something that is typical of the Apostle John as he writes. John writes the purpose of each of those three books, and in each book he has an overriding theme in all three major works, testimony and testifying and witness. He brings forth Jesus' testimony about himself, the Father's testimony on his behalf, and four other witnesses. So here are the witnesses that he appeals to next.

Here in John 5.33-35, John the Baptist. Of course, they know who this guy is. Works, and that's what Nicodemus had noticed, right? The Father and Scripture. So those four things. How many witnesses did it take in the Jewish system? Two or three, right? So he says, I've got four. You need two or three? I've got four. If two is good enough, I've got double that. So that's what he appeals to in sequence here.

So John 5.33-35, you have sent, and that's in the perfect tense, you've done your sending, you're done with it, to John. He has testified, also in the perfect tense, to the truth. But the testimony which I receive is not from man, but I say these things so that you may be saved."

Let me ask a question. Are these people going to believe, the guys he's talking to, are they going to become believers? We have no evidence that they believe. Why? Right, except for Nicodemus, but this guy is probably not Nicodemus, as we'll see in a couple chapters. Nicodemus is probably not among them. We have no evidence that the people that he's talking to ever were saved. Why is he bothering to tell them something about how they could be saved?

Why is he doing that? Isn't that something? Isn't that amazing? Here is a God who knows hearts, knows the future, knows who is going to believe and who isn't. I mean, it would seem to be more efficient for Jesus to only talk to people that He knows are going to be saved, and to only die for those who are going to be saved.

But that doesn't seem to be the way He works. Why would God do that? It's his character, you're correct, but what about his character would do this even though it doesn't seem like these guys ever responded and like he's going to have to send them to the lake of fire? Why would he do this? His character, correct, but what about his character? He's omniscient, so doesn't his omniscience and his holiness say, I'm not going to mess with these guys, because they're not going to believe. Matter of fact, I'm not even going to die for them, because I know it's not going to do any good. For God so loved the world. And he didn't say, for God so loved those who would believe in Him. He said, for God so loved the world, that's everybody.

All those who are dead in their trespasses and sins. Ephesians chapter 2 verse 1. All those who are dead in their trespasses and sins, He died for those. For God so loved even those. So because of His love, Isn't that amazing? You hear these guys, they want to rip Jesus up one side and down the other, and they just soon get the rocks out. And He comes and loves them. And it won't be that long before He dies for them.

It seems like he should have said, God so loved the world for this period of time that he gave his only begotten son. Because if you look at pre-flood, God so loved that part of the world. But when they had reached the state, the evilness that they thought only of evil all the time, only Noah was left over and he was sent through the flood.

We in the church are having, well, Israel had a period of time when God was patient with them and waited and asked them to turn, sent all these prophets and all, but it's always a period of time. And something new starts, I guess, a new dispensation. So, we go through these dispensations and, you know, giving a particular period of time for them to recognize who God is.

Yeah. Isn't this amazing the way God works? God sends a prophet to people He knows will not, you know, get a response. But He loves them. Here's Jesus talking to people. He knows their future. He knows their hearts. He knows what they're thinking. He knows what's going to happen. And yet, what does he do? He talks to them so that they might be saved. And it's not because he's ignorant. It's because he loves them that much.

This is the way grace is. Grace doesn't say, well, you know, look, I know you guys, and I know you guys, and so I'm not going to waste any time on you. I'm not going to die for your sins. I'm not going to talk to you. No, love and grace does something amazing. It spends time and delivers the gospel. And Jesus dies for people who are going to reject Him outright. That's amazing grace, isn't it? That's really amazing grace. Okay, so here's John.

Then the next one we see here, John 5.36, but the testimony which I have is greater than the testimony of John, for the works which the Father has given me to accomplish, the very works that I do, and by the way guys, I just did one.

I just healed this man who was lame for 38 years and you didn't do anything to help him, right? So, the works that I do, and what did Nicodemus say? He says, we know. because of the work you do. So, the very works I do testify about me and the Father has sent me. So now he's got the second testimony. So then the next thing we see, John 5, 37 and 38, and the Father who sent me, he has testified of me. You have neither heard his voice at any time nor seen his form, You do not have His word abiding in you, for you do not believe Him whom He has sent."

Are these guys believers? Nope, they're not. He's given them the gospel that they might be saved. He's telling them the truth. These guys, at least at present, they don't believe. They're not saved. They're going to the lake of fire. And we have no indication that they ever changed. But he's spending time telling the truth. All right. Top of page four. Both before and after this passage, John had declared similar truths.

John 1.18, which we saw early in our study. For no one has seen God at any time, the only begotten God, that is, Jesus, who is in the bosom of the Father, He, Jesus, has explained Him. Let's ask this question.

Did the people who saw Jesus, including these unbelievers, did they see God? Let's think about that a minute. With their physical eyes, did they see God? No. What did they see of Jesus? They saw His humanity. They saw His humanity with their physical eyes. They didn't see God. Jesus is fully God and fully man, but all they saw was the humanity. As a matter of fact, that's all they believed. It was, here is a human being standing in front of me. That's as far as it goes. Here is a difficult Jew standing in front of me. That's what their thoughts were.

So 1st John 2.14, I have written to you fathers because you know him who has been from the beginning.

This from the beginning phrase is one we saw in John 1.1. I have written to you young men because you are strong and the word of God abides in you and you have overcome the evil one. 1st John 4, just a couple chapters later, verses 12-14, no one has seen God at any time.

If we love one another, God abides in us and His love is perfected in us. By this we know that we abide in Him and He in us because He has given us of His Spirit. We have seen and testified that the Father has sent the Son to be the Savior of the world. Jesus represents, and not just by a physical body, but Jesus represents God the Father to fallen humanity. And by the way, why did God not send His Son as a turtle or a palm tree or something?

One is they didn't need to be saved. If Christ was going to die for our sins, what did we need in order for that death to be effective? It needed to be a human being so that it was an equivalent death. If we said, okay, he's going to come as a palm tree and then we're going to take a chainsaw and cut the palm tree down. Does that qualify? That doesn't do it for us, does it?

He came as a man, a human being, and yet still fully God. Yes? understanding of how this works, but because of the fact that he came to as man and the huge amount of suffering that he did. So the suffering is somehow connected to this whole entire process and the huge suffering that he went through. It's, I guess, testimony, it's his works that he's doing to save the world. But it's a suffering, right? As a man. That's why the Gnostics said that he couldn't have been, he was divided, he was flesh and God, but never of one. But he was of one, or it wouldn't have worked. That's right. It had to be. It had to be. And John's emphatic about that.

Let's look at John 5.39-47, which is in the middle of page 4 there. You search the scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life. It is these that testify about me.

And you are unwilling to come to me so that you may have life. Are they willing to come to him? No. They don't believe and they're unwilling to come. That tells you where they stand. so that you may have life." And if you come to Him in order to get life, what is He saying about their present spiritual condition? They're dead, right? And what does death mean? Death is separation. They are separated from God. That's their problem. I do not receive glory from men but I know you and that you do not have the love of God in yourselves." How well does he know them? How well does he know them? Perfect. He's not missing a thing. He says, I know you and I can see in your hearts. I know that you do not believe.

I know that you're unwilling to come to me and you do not have the love of God in you. Do not have the love of God in you. I have come in my Father's name, you do not receive me. If another comes in his own name, you'll receive him." Some rabbi says, OK, I come in my own name and you're fine with that. I come in the name of the Father and you don't get it. How can you believe when you receive glory from another I'll pat your back, you pat mine. And you do not seek the glory that is from the one and only God.

Wow. Of course, they're loving to hear this, right? Oh, they're just delighted. No doubt. Do not think that I will accuse you before the Father, the one who accuses you is Moses, in whom you have set your hope. Guess what? Moses revealed what kind of a ministry 2 Corinthians chapter 3.

It's a ministry of death and a ministry of condemnation. You're not going to get life out of that law. All 613 laws, you're not going to get life out of it. Not happening. You can't squeeze life out of those laws. That's a ministry of death. You want to live? You've got to come to me. Only way.

And you guys aren't getting it. He's telling them again and again, you guys don't believe, you don't receive, you guys don't have the love of God in you, you guys are just completely out to lunch and dinner and everything else, right? Verse 46, For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me, for he wrote about Me. But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe My words? You don't believe him and you don't believe Me. You pour over the Scriptures, they have ample testimony, and you're just not seeing it. You're blind as a bat.

What did Paul also say in 2 Corinthians chapter 3? They have a veil over their hearts. They have a veil over their hearts. These make it clear that it is possible for people to have the truth of God's inspired word right in front of them and even appear to be preoccupied with it and examining it faithfully, but not see in it what really matters, the truth. Of the scriptures of the Old Testament, even the five books of Moses, Jesus said that these testify about me and that Moses wrote about me. Did they see that in the Old Testament scriptures?

Not at all. Not one bit. So John comes back to his theme, doesn't he? Belief. These are written that you might believe. By believing you might have life. There is no alternate path to spiritual life. Does God have a plan B? Nope. Why not? Why doesn't God say, you know, there are several different ways you can pull this off. You can pick this one, and this one, and this one. Why doesn't God do it that way? Nothing else will work, good. Any other ideas? It's not multiple choice, okay, yeah. It's not, you pick one, or E, all of the above, right?

I think it also has to do with the identification process. Okay. Tell us more about that. Well, that's why he came into man. Okay. And why also, you know, we're given an opportunity to be like him. Okay. And I think that goes back also to previously where you talked about the works and the needs. I mean, it's all together the same process. I mean, if you believe, and if you have God in your heart, then the deeds and the truth are going to follow. So, once you become one, it's like you talked about in that other class, you have the conforming and the transforming. One we don't see, but it's there, and it's growing, and it's processing. So, it's all how we connect. Let's ask this question... I'm sorry, Gale? I couldn't hear what Stan was saying, and I may be redundant.

But if God had a plan B, then when things come in our lives, we would doubt His character. We would doubt His generosity and His faithfulness and His love to us. The reason that there isn't any plan B and it's absolute, is because God is one of infinite character. His grace and His holiness and His justice are absolute. We're mixed human beings where one person is different from another and we do things by percentages and we fall into some kind of statistical curve. God doesn't work that way. God is absolute and infinite in the way He does things.

His one way, from Adam until the last person who was born on this planet, what will be the means of salvation by faith. By faith, from Adam all the way to the last person born on this planet, it is always by faith. The law is never going to save anybody.

As a matter of fact, it is possible that a person is eternally saved by faith and yet dies under the law because they picked up some firewood just after the sun went down. They might die under the law and yet still spend eternity with God. Be eternally saved by faith. And yet the law would kill them.

The law is not going to save anybody. That's not what the law is designed to do. And it wasn't going to save these people either. But they weren't seeing Christ in the scripture. And that was a serious mistake. That was God's plan A. and they didn't see God's plan A. They were blind to it.

Let's pray. Lord, thank you for your plan A. And thank you that it's as simple as putting trust in you for salvation and even for the walk from day to day in life until the day we see you face to face. And Lord, it's so simple and yet It could be something that is possible for each one to do, even these ones who didn't appear to believe and didn't want to come to Him. How amazing is Your grace. We thank You for it. In Jesus' name, Amen.