You Are Not Willing To Come To Me

John 5:31-47

When the Lord Jesus said, “If I bear witness of myself, my witness is not true,” He was not suggesting that He was an untruthful or an unreliable witness. He is the truth and He is sinless.

What He means by this statement is that if He bore witness of Himself, His testimony would not be true in their estimation.

This was shown later in the attitude of the Pharisees on the occasion when He said, “I am the light of the world.” They responded, “You bear witness of yourself; your witness is not true”.

The Lord Jesus went on to speak of the threefold witness to His claim to be the Son of God, the Messiah :-

• The witness of John the Baptist. The religious authorities had sent a delegation to John who had testified to the truth concerning the Lord Jesus.
• The witness of His own mighty works which the Father had given Him to do. Among these miracles was the healing of the man at the pool.
• The witness of God the Father. God spoke from heaven at the Baptism of Jesus saying, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased”. The Father had testified of Him through the Old Testament Scriptures.

Jesus said to these religious Jews who searched the Scriptures, “But you are not willing to come to me that you may have life”.

They stubbornly rebelled against Christ because they did not have the love of God in them.

They claimed to be disciples of Moses who wrote about Christ in the first 5 books of the Old Testament.

If they did not believe the writings of Moses, how would they believe the words of Christ?

Those who refuse to come to Christ will have no excuse to plead on the Day of Judgment!

They have refused the eternal life that is only to be found in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Eternal Life

Many of us are wondering whether there is life after death; many of us seek for eternal life.

A man came to the Lord Jesus and asked Him what good thing he must do to have eternal life.

The Lord Jesus reminded Him of the Ten Commandments: "you shall not murder; you shall not commit adultery; you shall not steal; you shall not bear false witness; honor your father and your mother." In short, the Lord Jesus was reminding the man to love his neighbor as himself.

The young man claimed that he had kept all these things from his youth. Then he asked Him again about the other things he had to do.

The Lord Jesus asked him to go, sell what he had and give to the poor, and come, follow Him.

The young man went away sorrowful.

It was too much for Him, for he had great possessions.

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Many wants eternal life.

But not many keep the Ten Commandments to the fullest.

And not many can give all they have to the poor.

It is indeed difficult to have eternal life if we want this life so much.

It is easier for the camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.

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The disciples of the Lord Jesus had left everything and followed Him.

The Lord Jesus promised them that in the regeneration, when He sits on the throne of His glory, they will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.

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The Lord Jesus also promised that everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands, for His name's sake, shall received a hundredfold, and inherit eternal life.

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Many of us want eternal life.

Many of us are willing to forsake everything and follow the Lord Jesus.

We will not be poorer; we will be blessed with hundred fold blessings...

And eternal life.