The Divine Testimony - John..

Welcome to Cornerstone Reformed Baptist Church. Thank you for using and sharing our resources. What you're about to hear is God's Word from one of our teaching elders. We trust that God's Word will inspire, instruct, and bless you. For further teachings or information on our ministry, please visit us on our website at cornerstonerbc.

com. That's cornerstonerbc.com. John chapter five, gospel according to John chapter five, and our reading this evening will be from verses 31 through 47. This is Jesus speaking.

If I alone bear witness about myself, My testimony is not true. There is another who bears witness about me, and I know that the testimony that he bears about me is true. You sent to John, and he has borne witness to the truth. Now that the testimony that I, not that the testimony that I receive is from man, but I say these things so that you may be saved. He was a burning and shining lamp, and you were willing to rejoice for a while in his light.

But the testimony that I have is greater than that of John. The works that the Father has given me to accomplish, the very works that I am doing, bear witness about me that the Father has sent me. And the Father who sent me has himself borne witness about me. His voice you have never heard, His form you have never seen, and you do not have His word abiding in you. for you do not believe the one whom he has sent.

You search the scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life, and it is they that bear witness about me. Yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life. I do not receive glory from people, but I know that you do not have the love of God within you. I have come in my Father's name, and you do not receive me. If another comes in his own name, you will receive him.

How can you believe when you receive glory from one another and do not seek the glory that comes from the only God? Do not think I will accuse you to the Father. There is one who accuses you, Moses, on whom you have set your hope. But if you believe Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote of me. But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe my words?

Amen. This is the word of the Lord. So brothers and sisters, we're back in. The Gospel according to John and the passage that we have before us is, as I always say when we're in this Gospel or anywhere else in God's Word, it's glorious. There's some very wonderful truths.

The fifth chapter of the Gospel according to John has transcendent Christological truths that we can spend so much more time studying and meditating upon as a church. But this evening, by the grace of God, What I want to do is I want to revise some of the passage from 31 through 40, and that is, in particular, the witnesses to Christ, the three main witnesses to Christ, and then we'll look in a little bit deeper. Now, our topic of meditation as a congregation will be in verses 41 through 44. And by God's grace, we will together look into and meditate upon 45 through 47 next week, bringing this chapter to a close. Now, we have been in the gospel according to John in the chapter, the fifth chapter, for several weeks now.

And it's been a couple of weeks since we've been last in this gospel. But I'm assuming that because we've been in this fifth chapter for a while, the context should be still fairly clear in our minds. We know where it started. We know in the very beginning that Jesus, on the Sabbath, heals a man who is inviolate for 38 years. And this sparks a hostility, a tension, a friction between our Lord and the Jews.

John says they're the Jews, but in the Gospel, according to John, when he speaks of the Jews, he really is referring to the Jewish establishment, the religious leaders of the day. So they're angry with Jesus because he healed on the Sabbath, and when Jesus gets an opportunity to make justification for his actions, he doesn't make any excuses whatsoever. Instead, the words he speaks are so clear to them that he is placing himself equal in divinity with the Father, that he is indeed God. And the Jews, well, they're angry. They're furious at Christ.

Because the very attributes that these well-versed individuals know are attributed only to God, only to Yahweh. This man from Nazareth stands before them and says, they belong to me, these are properties of mine, these are the essential attributes that I have, that I share with the Father. And so they conspire, these Jews, they will conspire to kill Jesus. And at this point, when Jesus understands their motives, and although it's not explicit in the text before us, from 31 through to 40, Jesus gives three testimonies. People, three witnesses who testify to who he is.

And so he knows, as he's speaking to the Jews, he knows most likely what they're thinking. And the words that he speaks in those verses are most likely an answer to what's running through his audience's minds. And they're probably thinking, Jesus, do you honestly expect us to believe these mind-boggling claims that you make of yourself based on a single testimony? your own testimony. Did you really think we're going to believe that Jesus?

You know we know better than that Jesus. So brothers and sisters, we all know that the Jews prided themselves as disciples of Moses. They were very well versed and many of them had committed the Torah to memory, the first five books of the Bible. They could know, they did understand what is written in Deuteronomy, and they know that in Deuteronomy, in the law of God, it is written, apart from having two or three credible witnesses, a testimony cannot be established. Now the legalistic religious men were very careful and very particular to at least observe the letter of the law, especially when it is as important as what they're facing with Christ.

So they'd be thinking implicitly here, but it is explicit in the eighth chapter of John. Jesus, where are your witnesses? So what does Jesus do? He gives them witnesses. The absolute apex of human history.

The culmination of God's plan of redemption is centered upon the incarnation of the Son of God. The eternal Word became flesh. This is the most glorious event in human history. Of course, God has provided credible witnesses to this climactic event. So in verses 31 through 40, Jesus provides three credible witnesses to testify to who He is, and to affirm the veracity of His claims.

And beloved, credible is too light a word, because if you read the text, as I have said in previous weeks, every one of these three witnesses has its origin in the Father Himself, in God Himself. It is the Father who has given the witnesses to testify about Christ. The first is John the Baptist. We know this from verses 33 to 35. And you might say, but hold on, if the father is behind all these witnesses, John is a man.

And you are right in saying that, but the testimony of John the Baptist did not originate in John the Baptist. You remember what Jesus said in verse 34 in our text? He said, the testimony I receive is not from man. And then the point that the Apostle John makes so clear in the very first chapter of his book, back there in verse 6, is there was a man, he writes, sent from God, whose name is John. He came as a witness, the Apostle says.

God bore witness to Christ through John. through John the Baptist. The second is found in verse 35, Jesus speaking, he says, but the testimony that I have is greater than that of John. For the works that the Father has given me to accomplish, the very works that I am doing bear witness about me that the Father has sent me. The Father has borne witness to Christ through the works he's given Christ to accomplish.

The Father has borne witness through John and his testimony. The Father has borne witness through Christ, through the works of Christ. And the Father has borne witness, and this is the third one, we examined this two weeks ago, through the Word, or through His Word, verse 39. You search the Scriptures because you think, and this is Jesus speaking, that in them you have eternal life. It is they that bear witness about me.

We addressed this verse last time we were in the Gospel according to John, and I said then that this is a massive rebuke to these religious people that are standing before our Saviour. Because their approach to Scripture was perverted. You see, Christ doesn't rebuke them for thinking that Scripture does indeed speak of eternal life, because it does. But not in the mystical way they thought. They had it wrong because they failed to see.

They failed to see that that life was not hidden in the text, but in a person. And that person is the Son of God who stands before them. because whoever has the son has life, and whoever does not have the son does not have life. But they were blind to see this truth. You see, the first century Jewish or religious establishment was very well acquainted with scripture.

They recognized its divine origin. They didn't dispute that. They accepted its supreme authority Yet they could not identify its primary purpose. Which according to Jesus is to bear witness to Him. See, whatever else you derive from the Old Testament, the wonderful history, the rich culture, the captivating narratives, the practical wisdom literature, the beautiful poetry, and it is.

If it does not lead you to Messiah, Jesus, the Messiah, then you've missed the whole point. Because Jesus says it all testifies about me. I am the sum and the substance of scripture. If you don't recognize this, no matter how highly you admire and revere the Bible, like these Jews did, there remains no hope. Life is found in no one else apart from Christ.

And so tragically, for many of these, many, Jesus is willfully rejected. Verse 40 tells us this. You refuse to come to me that you may have life, Jesus says. You see, this is a terrifying thing. You can read the Bible 12 hours a day.

You can know all the stories, memorize all the verses, get 100% in Bible trivia. You can even do your very, very, very best to obey the law. just like these Jews did. But if you don't recognize that Jesus Christ is the Alpha and the Omega of everything that is written, if you don't recognize that Jesus is the center and the heart of God's plan of redemption, then I say, once again, you've missed the whole point of God's revelation to mankind. It becomes a book of do's and don'ts and no one, no one can attain life through obedience.

No one can attain life through do's and don'ts. Galatians 3.11. The chief and the primary purpose of scripture is to point to Jesus Christ, or in the words of our Savior in verse 39, it is they that bear witness about me. And so the witnesses sent by the Father to testify to Christ are ample and clear.

And the scripture up until this point was the Old Testament. But Jesus sees them as ample and clear to testify to who he is. And so it's been established with the words of our Lord that to reject him is to reject the one who testifies to him. So to reject Jesus is to reject the Father. You either receive both or you reject both.

It's a package deal. So your attitude for one is reflective of your attitude for the other. This applies to honor, this applies to worship, and this applies to love. Christ has made that so clear in his discourse so far, but in this few verses that we're going to meditate upon this evening, the last of these, love, becomes the central, the centrality of these verses. Because in essence, our Lord will reveal to these Jews that are before him, that their heart is in really a woeful state.

He revealed that they are corrupt, self-seeking, and have corrupt, self-seeking, unbelieving hearts, which contrary to their own opinion, their hearts are actually devoid of love for God. You know, this is a very scary indictment, and one that all people should heed. Now, although I'll be explaining the text here in its geographical and historical context, and it does speak to the Jewish leaders of the day, its application reaches to all people everywhere. It reaches to all humanity. Because what Jesus is about to describe in these few verses is not only the state of the heart of these Jews that are before him, but the state of the natural man without Christ.

That is, all sons and daughters of Adam. Follow with me now to verse 41. Let's read it together. I do not receive glory from people But I know that you do not have the love of God within you. I have come in my father's name, and you do not receive me.

If another comes in his own name, you will receive him. How can you believe when you receive glory from one another and do not seek the glory that comes from the only God? Upon reading this at a surface level, it may actually look like these are truth statements with no apparent connections, one with the other, verse 41 through 44. But in fact, it is an indictment by our Lord. It's an indictment by our Lord to these Jewish men that stand before him to a very serious sin.

And then he'll give an explanation to the root cause of why he's giving the guilty verdict to them. So in short, Jesus is charging these men with violating the first and greatest commandment. These men were familiar with that commandment, it's found in Deuteronomy chapter six, and it is, love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and all your might. And the violation that our Lord is accusing these men of, hear this, is replacing Yahweh in that commandment with themselves. Because rather than love for God being the preeminent and the overarching purpose for their lives, they had given him, that is God, only but lip service and placed themselves in that box seat.

So Jesus calls them out on what you might consider to be a contrast between his life and theirs. And we'll see that as we go on. He begins in verse 41, I do not receive glory from people. Now he'll go on to claim the opposite of his heroes, because in verse 44, he says that you do indeed seek the glory and the praise of others. But before he does that, he makes clear that he is nothing like them.

The glory of people does not interest our Lord, not even in the slightest. It may have passed through some of his hear his minds, as they listen to Jesus' discourse, as they heard him speak from verse 19 through 30, as he spoke of who he is, his self-exalting realities of the Son of God, that he is equal with God and Father, equal in work, equal in power, equal in authority. They may have seen this come across as though he's saying, I want you to see who I am so that I can receive glory and praise from your lips. Maybe that's what they were thinking. Maybe that it crossed their mind that Jesus was even further on when he speaks of the three witnesses that speak to him.

Maybe they're thinking you're bringing those witnesses to the table so that you can convince us somehow that we would become followers and give you lip service and give you praise. Jesus is not interested in the applaud of men. Jesus is not interested in the admiration of men as though he was pursuing praise from people. You see, it's natural for these men to think this way because that's how we all think. How wrong can they be?

It's not man that Jesus is concerned with. He's already said in verse 34 that he doesn't accept the testimony of man. Then why should he? What would he accept the testimony of man when the one who testifies to who he is is the father himself? What weight does man's testimony bear upon Christ when on the other hand you have the father who gives testimony to the son?

None. So here in verse 41, our Lord is reiterating something similar. It's a similar point he's making. I do not receive glory from people. You can all give me a pat on the back.

You can applaud my work. You can compliment my words all you want, but you won't move me in the slightest. That's what Jesus is saying. Beloved, he's not like us. We are needy.

He is not. He's complete and he's never needed. But we are needed and it's hard for us to understand this. He doesn't seek the approval of men. He doesn't seek the praise of men.

He doesn't seek the applaud of men. He doesn't crave what men can give him. That's not why the eternal word became flesh in the incarnation. And that's not why he's giving this discourse in chapter 5. Brothers and sisters, if our Lord was even remotely concerned with the praise and the glory and the accolade and the applaud of men, would he act in the way that he acts or say the words that he says in the very next chapter?

Let me read to you what he says. In the very next chapter, chapter six, in verse 14, or from verse 14, Jesus, after feeding the 5,000 miraculously with bread and fish, that's 5,000 men, and it could have been over 20,000 in total men, women, and children, listen to what's read. He says, when the people, verse 14, when the people saw the sign that he had done, that's the miracle, they said, this is indeed the prophet who is to come into the world. 15, perceiving, that's Christ is perceiving, that when they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, here we go, make him king, they're gonna come and bring him and put him on a throne and give him all the lip service, give him all the service, give him anything he wants, the accolades, the praise, everything he wants. When he hears that, what does Jesus do?

He says, he withdrew again to the mountain by himself. I don't need it. I don't want it. That's not why I have come. I do not receive glory from people.

But there is a glory he does receive. And the inference in this passage is it's not a glory or a splendor or a magnificence or a beauty that has its origin in man, but one from all eternity. It's the glory of the Father. Only a couple of chapters forward from here, in chapter eight, Jesus will say, if I glorify myself, like he had the opportunity to, if he accepted the kingship that they would offer him in the very next chapter. If I am to glorify myself, Jesus says, then my glory is what?

Nothing. My glory is nothing. It is my father who glorifies me. This is to say that Jesus is not concerned in seeking glory for himself. And this is glorious.

Jesus is not concerned in seeking glory for himself. You see the same father who testifies to the son, the father will also glorify him. And chapter 17 tells us that it's a glory that they enjoy together before a single atom was ever created. Why, I ask you, would Jesus desire to receive glory from men when he has always enjoyed the incomprehensible glory with God the Father from everlasting to everlasting? Man's glory would not equate to a single speck of dust on a scale where on the other side you have all the planets of the universe.

And that's an over-exaggeration. That's the nature. That's the nature of the glory that he speaks of. It's rooted in an eternal, reciprocating, two-way love relationship between father and son. This perfect love, as we read earlier, causes the father to glorify the son.

so too the Son to glorify the Father." And this is Jesus' objective, right? He has come to seek the glory of his Father, to do the will of his Father. This is seen in John 17 again in the high priestly prayer, and if we look at verse 1 through to verse 5, this is what he reads. When Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven and said, Father, the hour has come.

Glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you. since you have given him authority over all flesh to give eternal life to whom you have given him, and this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do. And now father glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed. Let me read verse four again.

I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do. How does Jesus glorify the father? By accomplishing the work the father has given him. Perfectly. That's how he accomplishes, that's how he glorifies the Father.

And why? Why does Jesus glorify the Father? John 14 31 says these tremendous words. Jesus is speaking to his disciples in the upper room discourse. Listen to what he says.

He says, I do as the father has commanded me. I do his will. I do the things that he has told me to do. I accomplished that which he has given me. And then he goes to say, so that the world may know that I love the father.

I want that to sink in a little. Why did Jesus do what Jesus did? Why does Jesus continue to do what Jesus continues to do? It tells us here because of his love for the Father. Brothers and sisters, we need to put things into a proper biblical perspective.

Because we are sinful human beings and we tend to put ourselves in the centre of everything, in the centre of the universe. As though God's purposes in eternity past are centred on us. But that's not so, that's not what Jesus is saying. We are chosen in Christ before the world began. Amen.

Yes, absolutely. But let's not forget it is the eternal love of the Son to the Father which is the primary reason for our Lord's perfect obedience to Him. It's that perfect love for the Father and the zeal for His glory that was demonstrated through the suffering of Christ. through the substitutionary death of Christ on the cross of Calvary. The triune God and his glory predicated on perfect love is the absolute focal point of God's eternal decrees.

This should humble us. should bring us to recognize how truly unworthy we are to receive praise, how unworthy we are to receive glory or applause, and how infinitely worthy he is. Beloved, how majestic is grace that he has received us in to share with his glory. We don't add to his glory. We can reflect his glory, but we cannot add to the perfect glory of the infinite God.

So as the Son of God, the One who is from everlasting to everlasting, He's the One who is experienced from all eternity, the reciprocating, the two-way love between Father and Son, that eternal love in the face-to-face fellowship that they had. Is there anyone more fitting to test the authenticity of true love towards the Father than the Son? So when Jesus says in verse 42, I know that you do not have the love of God within you, you can be sure this is an absolute truth statement. Realize, realize once again that his deity is on display, even in the first two words, I know. you religious leaders that Jesus is speaking to, you religious leaders can deceive your naive followers with your outward religious activities, but I can see straight through them.

I see you just as you are, all exposed. The secrets of your heart, the secrets that you've managed to place in those, the crevices of your heart in the secret place that no one else knows, I can see them all. They're all exposed before me. And so the Lord is essentially saying, I know, I know what true love for the Father looks like, and you do not have it. That's very scary.

In fact, he could also say to his listeners, you too know what love for the Father looks like, because you've seen me, and I've manifested that perfect love for the Father. But the question here is this, Does the life of those who are before him resemble the life of Christ, even in the slightest? For the listener or the listeners, the answer is a definite no, because according to Christ, they did not have God's love abiding within them. What an accusation. Beloved, if you think about the implications of the words of our Lord, these men should be terrified.

They should be shaking. That Christ has said to them, I can peer into your soul and I can tell you, you do not love the Father. Their hearts were hardened and they weren't concerned. They shrugged off what Jesus said, as they would do for most his earthly ministry. But Jesus doesn't leave it at that.

You see, he's given them a guilty verdict. And as I said earlier, the guilty verdict is in essence, if they don't have love for God, if the love of God is not within them, then how can they obey God's command? to love him with all their heart, soul, strength, and might. Then it's a guilty verdict. Jesus is saying, you're guilty of breaking the greatest command.

But he doesn't leave him at that, because he gives two evidences in the next two verses to support his case. And the first is in verse 43. I have come in my Father's name, and you do not receive me. Had you truly loved God, you would have not failed to love God's Son, the one whom he has sent. You claim, you claim to study scripture.

You say you're a privileged people who know Yahweh, who are known by Yahweh. You pray to him daily, you fast to him weekly, you recite his words, you teach his precepts, and yet you reject his son. Think about it. The full expression of God, who comes in the name of God, the very God that they spent many countless hours studying. He stands before them, staring them in the face, and they do not recognize Him.

Instead, they conspire to murder Him. But I love the way it's so black and white in the mind of Christ. If you hate me, you hate the Father. If you cannot love, if you cannot have love for the Father, oh my apologies, you cannot have love for the Father if you reject the Son. By rejecting Me, it's made known that you don't love the Father.

In other words, what Jesus is saying is all your words as religious leaders, everything you've spoken to, your people who blow wind under your sails, every time you said, Yahweh, we love you, Yahweh, we serve you, Yahweh, we adore you, you have our affection, Jesus is saying that is a lie because there's not even a hint of the love of Yahweh in your hearts. It's a lie. I have come in my father's name, Jesus says, and you do not receive me. If another comes in his own name, you will receive him. The first century was a time where we know this, the messianic expectation was at an all-time high.

Everyone was eagerly awaiting the arrival of Messiah. And so the cons and the charlatans, they knew this and they took much advantage of it. Now we don't have much in the text of scripture to speak of these things, but in historical writings, extra biblical writings, we know that there are many or there were many false messiahs that raised up in the ranks and they deceived many people. Many even of the religious leaders were also deceived by them. Jesus is saying, how is it?

How is it fakes can come in their own name? I've come in the Father's name. He sent me. I've come with a delegation of witnesses, credible, trustworthy witnesses that stand up on their own merit. I've come and you've denied me and you don't love me and you want to kill me.

It's someone who comes on his own name. Someone who comes without the witnesses supporting his genuineness, the authenticity of who he is. and yet you believe. How is that? How is it that you are duped into believing them yet the true genuine Messiah stands before you and you don't believe me?

How can that be? How can it be that a people that that pride themselves on studying and knowing and understanding scripture would receive phonies and reject the true Messiah? Well, Jesus has already given us the answer. It wasn't actually in the verses we read or were studying this morning, but we did read them earlier and it's in verse 38. And the answer is simple.

The word of God may be known to their minds, but it does not abide in their hearts. You see, they have head knowledge, but not a heart knowledge. And therefore they know the scripture, they know what he says, they can recite the words, but they don't know God. His word does not abide in them. And therefore that can easily be deceived.

Beloved, as I said earlier, I'm speaking of the Jews, but these are realities for anyone who's not in Christ. Because if the Word of God does not abide in them, then they're relying and basing all their judgments on what is in their head, on their own understanding, on their own ability to be able to discern what's in Scripture. And we know it's a spiritual book. How can they discern the truth of God's Word if God's Word does not abide in them, if it resides only in their mind, in their head? can easily be deceived.

Because God's people have God's word abiding in them. So when the Messiah comes in the name of the Father, backed by these credible witnesses to testify of his genuineness, God's people who have his word abiding in them will recognize him. But these people, these Jews, they don't recognize Christ. Why? Because according to their minds.

according to their understanding, Jesus doesn't stack up. He doesn't stack up to what they perceive to be Messiah. He doesn't stack up to what they, well, to their understanding of who Messiah is. After all, they're thinking, well, we're going to reject you, Jesus, because we are the Jewish religious leaders. We're the one who know the Torah.

We're the knowledgeable ones. Everyone knows it. Everyone sings our praises. So when the Messiah comes, Jesus, don't you worry. We will know.

We will know. We'll recognize him. Don't you worry about it. But you're not him. Beloved, can you see the confidence in the flesh?

because they're relying again on their human understanding. And this is exactly what Jesus calls them out on. Pride. This is a sin that's captured and enslaved their unbelieving hearts. And this is the second evidence that Jesus gives that testifies that they are devoid of the love of God.

Let's read verse 44 together. How can you believe, Jesus says, How can you believe, staying like an inability to believe, when you receive glory from one another and do not seek the glory that comes from the only God? Can you see the parallels? Can you see the contrast, 41, where Jesus says, I do not receive glory from people, and these men who are religious, who stand before him, who think they know it all, what do they do? They receive glory from one another.

You see, Jesus has already rebuked their sinful approach to Scripture. Somehow they think mystically that by reading Scripture, memorizing that they can attain eternal life, they were more concerned in searching the benefit that appealed to their carnality than meditating upon the true treasure in Scripture, which is God. And in Him are all the spiritual benefits, including eternal life. And so too, their approach to religion is simply perverted. Because they used religion as a platform to satisfy their pride or the prideful desires of their flesh.

Because they used religion, their religiosity, that as a platform to receive praises of men. Brothers and sisters, it's very important that we understand and that we're very careful to read this text properly. Because I want you to realize that our Lord does not rebuke or accuse these men of not having love. That's not what he's saying. He says that they lack love or they don't have the love of Father, love of God.

It's not as though they don't have love, because they do have love, and they have much of it, but it's diverted to themselves. For the natural man, the natural man desires himself. Self becomes the center of his universe. It's a form of idolatry, self-worship, and we know what that looks like. It's natural, it's natural for every sinful person to be this way in the flesh, and beloved, if we are honest, we know that we live in the, we have the flesh that is binding within us, and we know how this looks experientially.

There's a deep ingrained desire to receive praise. There's a great desire to receive adoration, the applause of men, compliments. When someone pats us on the back, it gives us, it does something to us. Now, most of us wouldn't be wanting that to be overly obvious. So, you know, when someone has unchecked pride, they tend to mask or cover that pride with false humility so that they can continue to have their way and feed their ego, feed their lustful pride, to continue to do that without much opposition.

But every single one of us, to some degree or another, we know what pride is. For these Jews in the first century, and as I said before, religion was the vehicle for them to receive what they so desperately longed for. Praise of men. They received praise, one from the other. That's what Jesus is rebuking here.

They received the accolades and the applause of new people. They wanted the pats on the back and they wanted to be known as knowledgeable. They wanted to be seen as moral, as religious. They loved the encouragements. They loved the accolades.

They loved the compliments and all the applauses that came their way. And in time, beloved, and this is the real danger. And in time, they would begin to believe that they're actually worthy of them all. And that's scary. And for these men, their pride was manifested in that way, but there are multiple ways that pride can be manifested.

This totally messed up, this totally messed up their understanding of scripture. And we'll find it, we'll look into that as we study the verses next week from 45 through 47. But the things, as our brother said this evening, the law was given that it would lead them to Christ. It would show the inability of man to be able to observe the very high righteous standards of God. But when you look at that law, When you look at that righteous standards that God has placed before His people, standards that are worthy to be in His presence, and you say, I can do that.

They're serious issues. And pride will get you there. Pride will get you to a point where you think, I can do that. And I'm worthy. But the applaud of man, it consumed them.

It became the driving force and motivation for their lives. If they fasted, they didn't do it in secret. What's the use of fasting in secret? No one will know. No, no, we'll fast and we'll let people know.

We won't put oil on our faces. We'll put a downcast face and we'll walk out and let people know, I'm fasting, I'm tired, I lack energy. If they prayed, they would stand and raise their hands. With loud voices, they would grammar in their sentences, so everyone can hear, wow, this person knows the scripture. If they dress, they dress the part, long robes with tassels.

If they spoke, they spoke to be heard. Everything they did oozed, look at me. Look how religious I am. I'm worthy of respect. And beloved, it sounds like we're poking at the Jews, but this, as I said on many occasions already, this is the state of the natural man.

It may not manifest in the same way that it did for these religious Jews in the first century, but it doesn't matter where you're from, or what culture you're from, or what language you speak, or where you live. And if you live in a village out nowhere, it doesn't matter. If you don't know Christ, if the love of God is not in you, if you don't believe upon Christ and Christ alone, and recognize your fallenness, then you become the center of your universe, and pride will have its way. Pride will have its way. These men appeared okay, they appeared okay, and they appeared to be righteous on the outside.

They looked holy, people thought they were. People thought they were right with God. But it's of such people as this that the prophet Isaiah prophesied of long when he said, you honor me with your mouth but your heart, and you know all of it, you know this verse, and your heart is far from me. Jesus uses that verse in Matthew 15 and Mark 7, speaking of the Pharisees. How can we forget the words also of our Lord to the religious leaders of the day in Matthew 23 when he says, for you are like whitewashed tombs which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people's bones and all uncleanliness.

Beloved, I honestly think that we have recorded for us all the miracles of Christ. I think this is one of them. That when Jesus spoke in this way and he wasn't stoned on the spot, that's a miracle in itself. Because he rebuked these Jews like you would not believe. But God protected him, of course, because his time had not yet come.

But these are heavy rebukes. And they pressed on them because the praise of men was the overarching motivation for their lives. And they kept going down that path. They weren't looking beyond themselves. And this is the thing, people like this are not about to allow anyone to stand in their way.

They won't allow anyone to rob them of their praise. If a Messiah came and he was sharing the same theology as they, then they would probably accept him. because they would be flattered. They would be flattered that they were able to identify someone who is the Messiah and others around them would give them applause and see them as knowledgeable. They would get along with the Messiah like that.

He would increase their praise. They would pat each other on the back. They would give glory to one another, praise and accolades to one another. That would be a sweet relationship. But our Lord, our Lord, this Messiah, He's nothing like that.

He tells it as it is. And he wasn't the slightest concerned with receiving glory from any man, but only that which came from the Father. So with a zeal for the Father's glory, he confronts them on every turn and he rebukes them He rebukes their coldness. He rebukes their lack of spiritual discernment and understanding. This Messiah doesn't applaud their efforts on a job well done.

Rather, he reproves them for a lack of love. He reproves them for placing heavy, unnecessary burdens on the people in that day. People they were supposed to cherish with all their hearts. So Jesus essentially says in verse 44, how can you believe? How can you believe in me?

How can you believe in the one who sent me when your primary and overarching purpose to your life and the objective of all that you do is to receive praise from men? So he exposed their hearts and it was evident that they do indeed bend their knee, but it's not to Yahweh. They then they needed themselves. These men were violating the first commandment. They were lovers of self, not lovers of God.

And that is because God's word did not abide in them. So now with hearts that are completely satisfied and fulfilled with the glory that comes and the applaud that comes from man, they had no concern to seek after God's glory. They weren't concerned for it. They received their reward on earth and they enjoyed it. They didn't want God's glory.

That was just a platform to get what they really wanted, the applaud of man. So Jesus says, how in that state, how can you believe? How can you believe in that state? And the answer is, you cannot. You cannot believe.

A divine intervention is required. The very hand, the very finger of God needs to penetrate the heart. It needs to remove that corrupted heart that seeks self above all. It needs to take the stony heart that has only love for self, the stony heart that doesn't seek after God, and it needs to be replaced with a heart that does love God, a heart that believes in the Son of God, a heart that has been forgiven. Because no matter in that state, no matter how compelling the evidence is that stacks up for Christ being Messiah, The love for self drives their every action to the point where they hear the words from the, to the point where if you hear the words from the Apostle John in chapter 12, they're actually disturbing, and they disturb me.

Listen to what he says, and this is speaking of the culminating of the ministry of Christ is coming to an end. He's coming into his last week, just before he goes into the upper room for the last week of his life, the Passion Week, and speaks to the disciples. This is what he says, he says, nevertheless, many even of the authorities believed in him that's believed in Christ but for fear of the Pharisees I'm reading from verse 42 but for fear of the Pharisees they did not confess it so that they would not be put out of the synagogue Listen to what else he says, verse 43. This is the reason. For they love the glory that comes from man more than the glory that comes from God.

For fear of being kicked out of the synagogue, these people reject the overwhelming evidence to the Messiahship of Jesus Christ. Such is the power of the flesh. Such is the power of pride. This is why the Bible says it enslaves a person. It enslaves a person.

But Jesus has come to free his people. He came to save his people from not only the consequences of their sin, but the bondage of their sin. These people that I've spoken of here in John chapter 12, they thought that being kicked out of the synagogue was too high a price to pay to be a follower or a disciple of Christ. What is Jesus saying in Luke 14? isn't what he says, he says, so therefore, anyone in this is the section that is labeled and you would remember this, the cost of being a disciple.

So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple. Not just membership in a synagogue. Actually, a few verses earlier, that renouncing includes your own life. It includes one being willing to lay down his life for Christ to be his disciple. Beloved, as I said earlier, this cannot be a reality in anyone's life unless the divine work of God has been at work in their hearts.

Because in the natural man, it is impossible for someone to follow after Christ. And this, and this is grace. This is grace that sinners who don't seek after God, who are concerned for themselves only, their lives are their lives are invaded by the grace of God and he captures his own and brings them in to his kingdom. He gives them faith and he gives them a heart to respond to his gospel. And then only then, and then and only then can these Jews or anyone else for that matter have the love of God within them that will then joyfully desire to seek after God's glory and follow him at all costs.

Only then, only once the divine work of God has been accomplished. And so aren't you and I glad that Christ is the perfect, in his perfect love, is the perfect example of seeking the Father's glory at all costs? It is for the glory of the Father, the sinless eternal Son of God would be rejected by His creation, reviled by His people, mistreated as a criminal, and then suffer the excruciating death of being hung on a tree. Nothing, beloved, nothing was too great a price for our Lord in seeking to bring glory to His Father. And this is a glorious truth that every believer needs to apprehend.

I pray, may the Lord give us hearts not to be concerned with the glory that comes from men, the praises that come from men, the accolades, the compliments. but rather in love, as the example our Savior has given before, to do all things, whether it is in thought or deed, with the new nature that He has given us, by faith, to follow Him and to seek the glory of the triune God above all things. Amen.