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John 5 - Devotion · The Five Minute Bible Podcast

• 0:00
  Welcome to five minute Bible in our journey through the New
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  Testament in each. Episode We.
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  Take just a few minutes to focus on one chapter of the New
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  Testament, exploring the truths God is teaching us through His
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  Word and expanding our view of who.
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  He is. Before you listen, make sure
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  you've gone straight to the source, either by reading
• 0:19
  today's chapter of the Bible yourself or listening to today's
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  read along episode in this podcast feed.
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  If you haven't done that yet, feel free to pause and do that
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  now. When you're ready, let's dive
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  into God's Word together. In John chapter 5, Jesus
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  explains that there are many witnesses to the reality of who
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  he is and why he has come. He speaks of the witness of John
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  the Baptist who testified about him.
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  Jesus speaks of the witness of his own works, the witness of
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  the Father, and the witness of the Scriptures.
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  Listen to the last few verses of this chapter as Jesus explains
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  to his Jewish audience that the whole Old Testament testifies
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  about him. He says you do not have His word
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  abiding in you, for you do not believe him whom He sent.
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  You search the Scriptures because you think that in them
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  you have eternal life. It is these that testify about
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  me, and you are unwilling to come to me so that you may have
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  life. I do not receive glory from men,
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  but I know you that you do not have the love of God in
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  yourselves. I have come in my Father's name,
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  and you do not receive me. If another comes in His own
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  name, you will receive Him. How Can you believe when you
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  receive glory from one another, and you do not seek the glory
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  that is from the one and only God?
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  Do not think that I will accuse you before the Father.
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  The one who accuses you is Moses, in whom you have set your
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  hope. For if you believed Moses, you
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  would believe me, for he wrote about me.
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  But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe
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  my words? What we have here is an alarming
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  truth. Here's the short of it.
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  It is very possible to dig into God's Word, to hold the
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  Scriptures in high regard, to be known as a student of the Word,
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  and to totally miss the main character, to totally miss the
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  whole point of the Bible. That's what Jesus is saying
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  here. These listeners have searched
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  the Scriptures thinking that in them they had eternal life, but
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  in searching them they did not submit to the very one who was
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  offering eternal life. They based their understanding
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  of their position with God not on what God said, not on what He
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  revealed in Scripture about how they might be saved, but on
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  their own status as students of the Word.
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  They studied the Bible, but never submitted to it.
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  They poured over the Scriptures but missed the Savior that all
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  the Scriptures testify about. And friends, this is not a
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  problem limited to 1st century Jews.
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  We have the Scriptures in full. We have God's Word readily
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  available to us, and we can study it, dig into it, claim to
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  value it, And yet it is very possible for you and for me to
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  still miss the entire point, for us to miss Jesus.
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  And this problem really comes down to the one short verse in
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  the passage we just read. Listen again to verse 44.
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  How Can you believe when you receive glory from one another
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  and you do not seek the glory that is from the one and only
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  God? From where are we seeking glory?
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  What is our end goal? If we really love God's Word and
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  we really love the God who wrote it, we will be seeking Him.
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  We will be desiring to meet Him in the pages of Scripture and in
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  every aspect of our lives. We will submit to Him and to
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  what He says is best. We won't just read and study and
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  memorize His Word. We will live it out.
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  We'll obey it, but if we seek only the glory that comes from
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  men, if we are content to be seen as a biblical scholar
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  rather than to truly be a disciple of Jesus, we may gain
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  that earthly status, but we will miss out on eternal joy.
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  So dig into God's Word. Read it, study it, meditate on
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  it, memorize it, but don't miss the main point.
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  The Bible is about a real God who really created you and
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  really loved you enough to send a real Savior to rescue you from
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  your sin. Worship him, follow Him, obey
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  Him. Meet the real God in the pages
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  of His Word today.