Can I Get A Witness Series

John 8: 13 –30

Can I Get A Witness

13 The Pharisees therefore said to Him, “You bear witness of Yourself; Your witness is not true.” 14 Jesus answered and said to them, “Even if I bear witness of Myself, My witness is true, for I know where I came from and where I am going; but you do not know where I come from and where I am going. 15 You judge according to the flesh; I judge no one. 16 And yet if I do judge, My judgment is true; for I am not alone, but I am with the Father who sent Me. 17 It is also written in your law that the testimony of two men is true. 18 I am One who bears witness of Myself, and the Father who sent Me bears witness of Me.” 19 Then they said to Him, “Where is Your Father?” Jesus answered, “You know neither Me nor My Father. If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also.” 20 These words Jesus spoke in the treasury, as He taught in the temple; and no one laid hands on Him, for His hour had not yet come. 21 Then Jesus said to them again, “I am going away, and you will seek Me, and will die in your sin. Where I go you cannot come.” 22 So the Jews said, “Will He kill Himself, because He says, ‘Where I go you cannot come’?” 23 And He said to them, “You are from beneath; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world. 24 Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins; for if you do not believe that I am He, you will die in your sins.” 25 Then they said to Him, “Who are You?” And Jesus said to them, “Just what I have been saying to you from the beginning. 26 I have many things to say and to judge concerning you, but He who sent Me is true; and I speak to the world those things which I heard from Him.” 27 They did not understand that He spoke to them of the Father. 28 Then Jesus said to them, “When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am He, and that I do nothing of Myself; but as My Father taught Me, I speak these things. 29 And He who sent Me is with Me. The Father has not left Me alone, for I always do those things that please Him.” 30 As He spoke these words, many believed in Him.

Just last week I was talking to a few of my police officer friends and we were talking about giving directions. On many occasions I have witnessed people driving up to the police car and ask for directions. On many occasions the people get the same answer, go down about four traffic lights and turn right. It should be right around there’ Of course that is the wrong information. Having accompanied city officers on their jobs I can be the first to admit it takes time knowing where the streets are located in your district. If I hear the call to go to a certain street location, thank God for the satellite driving maps.

I like the story I once heard of a couple who were lost and drove by an old guy sitting on his porch. ‘Hey, can you tell me how I can get to I 95 south? The old guy answered, ‘I don’t know how to get there?’ They the guy driving asks if there is any place close by where he could ask for directions. The old guy answered, ‘I don’t know where I could tell you to go to for that.’ Frustrated the driver responded to the old guy, ‘You don’t know very much do you old man?’. The old guy replied, ‘Well one thing I do know is that I’m not lost.’

Our Holy Master will remind the religious leaders that He Is not lost either. He knows where He came from and He knows where He Is going. Like the driver who got angry being lost we will see how the religious leaders who were also lost respond in like manner.

13 The Pharisees therefore said to Him, “You bear witness of Yourself; Your witness is not true.”

The Pharisees did not receive the testimony of The Son of God, our Lord Jesus Christ Who claimed that He Is The Light of The World sent from Father God, Adoni Yahweh. They did however recognize the enormity of His claim, and they replied, ‘You testify about yourself. What you say is not true’. They were no doubt appalled that a man should claim to be the light of the world, and that in the context of the festal light which pointed to the presence of God with His people as revealed by that light. Their prejudice prevented them from giving fair consideration to His life and teaching and they therefore fell back on claiming that what a man says about himself carries no weight. Indeed their rabbinic law of evidence stated that a man’s own testimony to himself was invalid.