The 1^st Midweek Advent

SERMON

Text: John 5:39

"You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me."

In Christ Jesus, our coming Savior, dear fellow redeemed:

He’s coming! Yes, Jesus our Savior is coming. That message, which we have heard so many times, can begin to sound a bit unreal, can’t it? After all, when someone else is coming—relatives or friends—a time is set and special preparations are made. The house gets an extra cleaning, long ignored fix-it projects are completed, special meals or deserts are prepared so that when the company finally comes the time together will be enjoyable. Yes, preparations are made and the appointed time comes together with those we are expecting. Jesus’ coming is just as real, but there is no known appointed time for that coming. That is why Jesus’ coming is so different. It is a matter of faith. Even though we do not know when Jesus will come, however, does not mean we need make no preparations. We are to be busy making preparations for His coming, just as we would for the coming of anyone else.

What are those preparations? We are to be busy working with Jesus’ Word. This is the intended meaning of our Gospel lesson. When the nobleman left the country, He gave each of his servants one mina to use until he returned. That mina represented our Savior’s Word. When Jesus returns, there will be an accounting of how each of us has used that Word. During our midweek Advent services this year, we will consider our use of Jesus’ Word in preparation for His expected coming. This evening we will consider the fact that HE’S COMING together with the question: WHAT HAVE WE DONE WITH HIS WORD—IN OUR HEARTS? Today I would urge you to consider your personal use of Jesus’ Word. Probe your hearts and examine your lives, for how you use Jesus’ Word will be a fairly accurate indication of the health of your spiritual life.

In our text, Jesus is speaking to the unbelieving Jews in Jerusalem who were seeking to kill Him. He had just performed a miracle healing a crippled man by the Pool of Bethesda. He had done so on the Sabbath and had told the man who could now walk, “take up your bed and walk” (John 5:8). Jesus’ enemies could not accept this, for they considered it direct disobedience to the Sabbath laws established by the Pharisees. In response Jesus directed them to the Old Testament Scriptures, to which they looked for salvation through an external keeping of Mosaic Law. He told them to search those same Scriptures diligently, for in them they would find reference after reference to Him—the promised Savior and Christ!

Today, dear friends, I would encourage you to do the same on a personal and individual basis. Search the Scriptures—not just the Old Testament, which foretells God’s plan of salvation, but also the New Testament, which reveals its fulfillment and meaning for us. Only then will you learn to know and become convinced of the marvelous grace of your God and the wondrous blessing, which is yours in Christ! In order to help guide your study, permit me to point out the mistakes made by those Jewish leaders who opposed Jesus, as Jesus Himself identifies them. In this way perhaps we can avoid those same mistakes in our lives.

We do not make proper use of Jesus’ Word in our hearts, if we seek our life from anyone or in anything else! Jesus told the Jews, “You are not willing to come to Me that you may have life” (John 5:40). As we consider this matter, let’s not limit Jesus’ meaning here to eternal life. Eternal life is simply the unending extension of life—our present life, only without sin. To whom or in what do you seek life? The Bible speaks of unbelievers as “dead in trespasses and sins” (Ephesians 2:1). The Jews sought to remedy this spiritual death by an outward observance of the law, which led them to believe they were right with their God and could look forward to blessings in this life and well as to life everlasting as a well-merited reward. We can so easily make this same mistake, if we begin to think that the chief purpose of religion is to make us better people, who will lead a good enough life for God. If we think that our character will determine our destiny—if we rely upon our own goodness for our comfort, hope, and direction in life then we are doomed to eternal despair! Beyond this we ought not fall into another very common trap, that of claiming to believe in Jesus, but finding our heart’s true desire in someone else whom we love or admire, or through something which we find attractive—material possessions, alcohol, or drugs. For if we seek life in such ways, we will have failed to use God’s Word properly in our hearts!

Secondly, we do not use Jesus’ Word properly in our hearts if we fail to honor the Lord Jesus in our hearts and in our lives. Jesus told the unbelieving Jews, “All should honor the Son just as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him” (John 5:23). The most basic truth of God’s Word is the revelation of His divine nature. He is the Triune God—the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Three persons, yet one God—equal in honor, glory, power, and might! Without this truth, a man is not a Christian, nor can he be a child of God. Yet, hundreds of thousands of confessing Christians are being led to believe that every god in this world, and certainly those of the major religions of this world are one and the same God under varying names. This is the teaching, which make the religious principles of the lodges and scouts objectionable, and which should lead God’s children to avoid involvement in such organizations.

Thirdly, Jesus says, “I have come in My Father’s name, and you do not receive Me; if another comes in his own name, him you will receive” (John 5:43). We fail to use Christ’s Word properly when we make anything other than that Word as the basis of our faith and for our lives. The unbelieving Jews refused to listen to Jesus or to His Word, for they based their faith and life upon the words of their religious leaders. Let us not make the same mistake by entrusting our faith or life to the thoughts of mere men, whether those men claim great spiritual insight, or whether their thoughts are simply a reflection of the common opinions of men.

Rather, let us use Jesus’ Word properly, first, by coming to recognize our own sinfulness and utter unworthiness before God; and, second, by discovering the true nature of God’s grace in Christ Jesus! Jesus’ Word contains the strong message of God’s law, which shows us our sins and failures and the punishment we deserve. Until that law convicts our hearts and moves us to despair of our own efforts at salvation, we will feel no need for our Savior. We will remain confident in spite of our own inabilities. Jesus’ Word also contains the gracious message of the gospel. It shares with us the inexplicable love of God—a love for those unworthy of that love and unwilling to accept that love were it not for the work of the Spirit of God Himself. It is alone through the power of God Himself that we are now spiritually alive, trusting in our Savior, and desirous to grow in His grace and love. It is only through the continuous study of that Word that we will both grow in our faith and our knowledge of God’s will for our lives.

It would be wonderful if older Christians, who are tried and tested in the faith, could instill their knowledge and learning instantly into the hearts of younger believers. Yet God in His wisdom has seen fit to cause each of us to do our own personal and individual study of Jesus’ Word. If we are to use that Word properly in preparation for Jesus’ coming, then we must each take the time to grow closer to Him through regular study of that Word. Jesus is coming! May we with joy make proper use of His Word in our individual hearts! Amen.