In this sermon, Pastor Dave Capoccia examines Jesus’ concluding words in John 5:41-47 to religious people who will not believe in him despite supernatural testimony. Jesus exposes two fundamental realities of such religious unbelief to convict you of your own self-righteous way and to move you to believe in Jesus.
1. You Seek Men’s Approval over God’s Approval (vv. 41-44)
2. You Don’t Believe the Scriptures You Study (vv. 45-47)
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heavenly father thank you indeed for Jesus Christ he is our great treasure but Lord you know that is easy to say and not really mean but you see everything you see our hearts see the heart of every person in this room everybody streaming online today oh Lord give us the gift of hearing you speak today not just hearing your words explained but being given ears to hear it so Lord that we will listen we will heed we will be changed for sanctification for salvation For Your Glory God please do this enable me to speak this word as you would want in Jesus name amen if you’ve per chance looked at the bulletin today you may have noticed that the sermon title contains an oxymoron now what’s an oxymoron it’s not an insult it’s a language technique in which you combine two words of opposite meaning to make a new term think of phrases like freezer burn or Living Dead deafening silence old news do you hear how each of those phrases uses a pair of opposites you might at first think that oxymorons are self-contradictory but they are not in fact they are ways to memorably describe something by drawing upon what seems like two opposite meanings to make a new meaning now today the oxymoron I’d like you to think about is religious unbelief religious unbelief first glance that doesn’t seem to make sense maybe because for something to be religious that thing must relate to what people believe even what they believe about God or what is the proper way to relate to God yet there is no real contradiction in these words religious unbelief not as I use them religious unbelief is the use of religion even outwardly expressed love for God God and obedience to God as a way to hide the heart’s unbelief in God and even love for something else more than God to speak more simply outward religiosity and good works good behavior they often conceal a heart of unbelief and I can testify to this personally I grew up in a Christian household and I was by everyone’s estimation a good kid I got straight A in school I was rarely disobedient to my parents I memorized verses in aana I talked about Jesus to my friends I frequently went out of my way to serve and be polite for example if there was a door to be held open I was the one who held it as people passed by and said thank you I said you’re welcome and if they passed by and didn’t say thank you I still said you’re welcome I had made a profession of faith in Jesus by prayer when I was five I was baptized around 8 years old so if you asked me in sixth grade if I was a Christian who loved Jesus I would have told you yes but there was something off about my religion I didn’t want to read the Bible and I actually tried clever ways to get out of my family Bible study if at any time I failed to measure up outwardly like if I got a bad grade I would cry I would wail and yet strangely in other instances I didn’t feel bad at all I didn’t feel bad about laughing at dirty jokes or mocking my younger sister when my parents weren’t around only later did I realize that though I grew up thinking that I loved God and was a Christian what I really loved was myself and what being good could do for me I loved being admired by my peers at school I love being praised by my parents and teachers I loved getting rewards I loved being thought of as the good kid because that’s the way I thought of myself this belief in myself as good was why I would get so devastated by my public failures not because I had displeased God and I was so broken up over that but because in missing the mark before others I had tarnished the image of myself as the good kid and thus I risked losing their approval despite my outward appearance of True Religion then I was actually a proud selfish self-righteous boy who didn’t really believe in Jesus according to God’s saving gospel I didn’t realize this for a long time but around seventh grade was when God finally opened my eyes to my own sinfulness and then I wasn’t good I wasn’t righteous but that Jesus is good and righteous and lovely and I need him desperately it’s only then that I repented and believed in the gospel for real and it was amazing how the Lord changed my heart and behavior I started want to study the Bible for myself to know the Lord not to look good in front of others and I began to serve others to please the Lord more than to please them but what about you have you come out of a background of religious unbelief are you still there even as a true Christian has a love for respect or the approval of others corrupted your walk that we can hide our hearts from others and even deceive ourselves we cannot hide from the Lord so let’s hear what our Lord has to say about religious unbelief in John chapter 5 just take your Bibles and turn there now the sermon title for today is Jesus exposes religious unbelief Jesus exposes religious unbelief we’re going to see this from John 5: 41 to 47 if you’re using the Bibles that we provided it’s on page 1,64 but I’ll give you some additional context we’re going to read the same section that we read last time starting from verse 30 30 down to verse 47 so let’s hear John 5: 30- 47 and we’ll be focusing on verses 41 to 47 in the sermon today we begin in verse 30 Jesus is speaking I can do I can do nothing on my own initiative as I hear I judge and my judgment is just because I do not seek my own will but the will of him who sent me if I alone testify about myself my testimony is not true there is another who testifies of me and I know that the testimony which he gives about me is true you have sent to John and he has testified to the truth but the testimony which I receive is not from men but I say these things so that you may be saved he was the lamp that was burning and was shining and you were willing to Rejoice for a while in his light but the testimony which I have is greater than the testimony of John for The Works which the father has given me to accomplish the very works that I do testify about me that the father has sent me and the father who sent me he has testified of me you have neither heard his voice at any time nor seen his form you do not have his word abiding in you for you do not believe him whom he sent you search the scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life it is these that testify about me and you are unwilling to come to me so that you may have life I do not receive re Glory from men but I know you that you do not have the love of God in yourselves 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 you do not seek the glory that is from The One and Only God do not think I will accuse you before the Father the one who accuses you is Moses in whom you have set your hope for if you believed Moses you would believe me for he wrote about me but if you do not believe his writings how will you believe my words we are coming now to the end of John 5 and to the culmination of what began in the first verse of this chapter according to John 51-16 Jesus went up to Jerusalem for one of the religious feasts and happened to heal a sick man by the pool of Bethesda Bethesda on the Sabbath this action brought on Jesus the condemnation of the Jewish religious leaders they saw Jesus actions as blatantly violating God’s Sabbath which was really just a violation according to the teaching and rules of the rabbis but nevertheless they concluded that Jesus is a law breaker who deserves the death penalty for violating the Sabbath but Jesus responds by giving the true interpretation and application of his Sabbath healing namely that Jesus is the son of God in whom all must believe to escape Eternal condemnation verses 17 to 29 Jesus unmistakably declares his Divine sunship even that he and the father are intimately United and that the father has given him the great works of lifegiving and judgment which the son executes even now and will execute in a greater way in the future then in verses 30 to 40 which is where we were last time Jesus presents the greatest testimony of his Divine sunship the testimony of God the Father verses 30 to35 Jesus acknowledges his need to supply appropriate supporting testimony to the claims that Jesus is making having John the Baptist testify on jesus’ behalf is good and noteworthy but Jesus must have a G testimony if he really is the Divine son who does everything alongside his father this testimony Jesus indeed does have and in verses 36- 40 Jesus summarizes how the father himself testifies of the son the father testifies you might remember this from last time through the son’s Works verse 36 through the son’s words verses 37- 38 and through the Old Testament scriptures verses 39 to now as we work through verses 30 to 40 last week we did note how even as Jesus acknowledges that he speaks as he does that his listeners might believe and be saved verse 34 Jesus also begins to reprove his Jewish listeners these who say they love God he reproves them for not heeding God’s Own testimony about the Divine son so that they might come to the son and saving Faith see that in verse 38 and vers verse 40 so the question question naturally arises why won’t these supposedly religious God-fearing god-loving Jews believe why won’t they believe in God’s son this is an important question for Jesus to answer not only for Jesus original audience so that they might be convicted of their own sin and repent but also for John’s original audience remember our author John writes this gospel primarily with greeking Jews Jews in mind helenistic Jews who don’t live in Palestine John is reporting to them select words and works of Jesus so that those Jews might believe in Jesus as the Christ and the Son of God and thereby obtain eternal life that’s John’s purpose expressed in John 20: 30-31 John thus doesn’t choose any details of the book to include arbitrarily even verses 41 to 47 from Jesus are included with that purpose in mind John also wants the supposedly religious Jews to whom he writes to have their own proud unbelief exposed so that they might be W made willing to turn and believe in Jesus it’s like John is saying to his audience these Greek speaking Jews if you’re having a hard time believing in and following Jesus whatever you say the reason for that is the real reasons are right here or at least part of the real reasons what Jesus and through him John asserts is provocative to be sure but it’s meant to Shake The Listener readers out of the self-righteous complacency in which they found themselves so that they might find out whether the things that John and Jesus says are true and of course our Triune God has a similar purpose for us this morning as we examine this passage together in John 5: 41-47 Jesus exposes two fundamental realities of religious unbelief to convict you of your own self-righteous way and to move you to believe in Jesus is anyone here today religious but having a hard time believing or following Jesus Christ in a particular area if so let the spirit of Jesus tell you what’s really going on in your hearts even to expose these two fundamental realities of religious unbelief the First Fundamental reality of religious unbelief that Jesus exposes is in verses 41 to 44 this is the first point of this sermon out outline number one you seek men’s approval over God’s approval if you are hesitant to believe and Obey Jesus even after hearing his word declared to you it is because Jesus says you seek men’s approval over God’s approval this point starts in verse 41 where Jesus says I do not receive Glory from Men now you may notice that verse 41 seems like an untrue statement what are you talking about Jesus weren’t we just singing in this service about giving glory to Jesus are are you saying you don’t accept praise honor worship from men isn’t that what you should accept if you are the Son of God the Divine son as you really claim of course Jesus does receive praise honor and worship from Men In fact this is one of the the father’s own goals for the son as we heard Even In this passage verse 23 so why does Jesus seem to flatly contradict that truth well we can see what Jesus is really getting at here if we peek ahead and compare verses 44 and 41 in contrast to the Jews whose ultimate goal was to receive Glory from one another and not Glory from God and we should understand the term Glory here to mean something like praise honor honor or approval in contrast to these Jews Jesus ultimately seeks Glory from the father and not from men you see Jesus doesn’t fundamentally need man’s praise or approval if he has that fine but if he doesn’t that’s also fine because whose Commendation is the only one he really needs and in fact receives it’s the Commendation of his father of God this is why Jesus has been saying or doing surprising things so far in this gospel often generating tepid belief confusion or outright hostility from his people the Jews really if Jesus were seeking the Jews acceptance praise and approval he would be failing miserably but Jesus has said and will say again in this gospel he did not come to seek his own will but the will of his father therefore Jesus says truly in verse 41 I do not receive Glory from men that is not what I’m after ultimately but what about the Jews what about the Jewish religious leaders beginning at verse 42 Jesus says but I know you at this point in John’s gospel we the readers have come to understand something unnerving about Jesus knowledge and what’s that well Jesus knows everything he has Supernatural knowledge it doesn’t need to ask questions it doesn’t need to do detective work to know all about you and all about what’s in your heart John’s gospel has demonstrated repeatedly and has also recorded for us explicitly the reality of John 224 and2 John 22 24-2 it says that Jesus knows all men and he doesn’t need anyone to testify to him about men because he himself knows what is in man Jesus is exercising again that Supernatural knowledge here he asserts that he fundamentally knows his Jewish opponents and even knows something specific about them and what is this specific knowledge of Jesus about these Jews well we get a clue with the transition word notice Jesus says but that’s a contrasting transition word right which means that Jesus is about to reveal something about the Jews and the Jewish leaders in particular that contrasts with what Jesus just said about himself I do not receive I do not seek the glory of men but as for you can you guess what Jesus is about to say what he’s implying now let’s look at the rest of the verse rest of verse 42 verse 42 but I know you that you do not have the love of God in yourselves huh that’s maybe a little unexpected we were perhaps thinking Jesus would say but I know you that you do receive you do seek the glory of men that’s not what he says Jesus says instead you do not have the love of God in yourselves why this switch why this confusing switch well this isn’t so much a switch as it is a parallel description to not have the love of God in yourselves is to seek the glory of men it is to receive the glory of men while to have the love of God in yourselves is not to seek not to receive the glory of men you see to love God means you seek his will and approval above Above All Else whereas not to love God means you don’t care so much for God’s approval you seek men’s approval over God’s approval so Jesus here is not simply revealing that the Jews in contrast to Jesus fundamentally seek and receive men’s approval but that the reason they do so is because they fundamentally don’t love God they do not have the love of God that is the love for God in themselves and this is no Idol accusation this is the all- knowing son looking into their hearts and saying what’s there I know you Jesus says this is who you really are you talk a great game about loving God seeking his will above all but I know you that you do not have the love of God in yourselves you love men’s approval you crave men’s affirmation and AD admiration to the point that you don’t care so much about God’s approval now think again about to whom Jesus speaks he’s speaking to the Jews this is the a sensibly Pious chosen people of God he’s speaking to the rabbis of the Jews the religious teachers the scribes the Pharisees These Are Holy people to Jesus says this even the holiest among the holy people this would be like going into a church or a pastor’s conference today and saying to everyone I know you all that you do not have the love of God in yourselves that’s very bold that’s very provocative how can Jesus say this Jesus they say they love God but you say you know they don’t how can that be well Jesus does have that penetrating Soul gaze he is the Divine son with Supernatural knowledge so that should be enough support right there nevertheless Jesus does point to a basic but critical piece of evidence to establish this alarming assertion look at verse 43 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 to appreciate this statement from Jesus we need to understand what it means to come in someone’s name if you’ve been following the news you know that currently the US is responding to various International crises like the wars in Ukraine and in Israel our country even our ruling presidential Administration are often sending representatives to these areas and to the powers involved to bring Aid or to negotiate different diplomatic deals these ambassadors are not going in their own names that is on their own behalf or under their own authority or seeking their own will or they go in the name of the United States in the name of the government of the United States to accomplish our ruler will our country’s will so it is in verse 43 Jesus says that he himself has come in the name of his father on his father’s behalf with the father’s Authority seeking the father’s will so if the Jews truly love God the Father what should they do receive and believe in Jesus but what do the Jews do in fact in response to Jesus what do they do as a people generally on the whole Jesus says you all do not receive me it’s evident you all do not receive me the father is with me he testifies of me I only seek his will but you don’t receive me if you do not receive the one who comes in the name of the father it can only be because you do not have the love for the Father the love of God in yourselves someone might say well maybe the Jews are just stubborn and they they won’t accept anyone any messenger Any teacher any any leader they’re just a stubborn people well no that cannot be it because Jesus goes on to point out that if another comes in his own name that is he comes on his own behalf on his own authority seeking his own will what do the Jews do characteristically they all receive that one it says you will receive them this is what you’re going going to keep on doing so the issue is not receiving Messengers or leaders the issue is receiving is with receiving God’s special messenger and leader even the son Jesus Christ why do the Jews only accept those who come on their own names Jesus explains in verse 44 even while pointing out that this kind of hard-heartedness makes it impossible to believe in Jesus and be saved verse 44 how can you believe when you receive Glory from one another and do not seek the glory that is from The One and Only God note the key phrase in the middle of this verse when you receive Glory from one another what does this phrase tell us tells us why the Jews only accept leaders who come on their own name instead of God’s name it is because these leaders in one way or another give glory to the Jews while the Jews respond by giving glory to that leader you see there were many leaders even many pretend Messiahs who had presented themselves to the Jews in the Years up to Jesus coming and then there were many who came after Jesus and claimed to be the Messiah or acted like Israel’s Messiah and many of these were accepted and supported to some extent by the Jews what kind of message do you think the sudo Messiah is brought to the people do you think it was a message like Jesus’s you do not really love God you need to repent from the heart in order to enter God’s kingdom no way no what kind of message did these leaders bring you guys are doing a great job we you just need to keep doing more of what we’re doing we need to keep on keeping the law of Moses so that we can get into that Kingdom and meanwhile let’s work to get rid of these evil Romans ruling over us I’ve got a plan guys I got a plan I’m going to lead a rebellion I’m going to free our nation from the ungodly influence of these evil Gentiles in other words those who came in their own names told the Jews what the Jews wanted to hear they gave the Jews Glory approval praise and so the Jews responded accordingly giving Glory approval and praise support to these sudo Messiah then the Apostle Paul warn about the same thing and the church 2 Timothy 4 Paul charges is Timothy I’m about to die make sure you preach the word in season and out of season when it’s popular when it’s not popular because the time is coming when people won’t want to listen to the word of God anymore but they will find for themselves teachers leaders who will tickle their ears who will say to them what they want to hear and thereby they will turn aside from the truth to myths this is common to The Human Condition we like the leaders who tell us what we want to hear they’re the ones who get our approval may feel good to hear that you have the approval of your leader your teacher but what good is that if you do not have the approval of the one and only God and that’s a description by the way is intriguing One and Only God this is a rare description for God in the New Testament certainly it’s factually true the Bible is quite clear that there are no other gods beside the true God but why use this phrase here surely the answer must be to emphasize the contrast your human leaders they’re all the same they come they ask for your approval they give you their approval and then those leaders do their thing and they pass away leader after leader is doing this they’re coming seeking your approval you give them their approval what about the approval of the one and only God the unchanging God your leaders are a dime a dozen but what about God The One and Only God shouldn’t his approval be more important notice now that verse 44 is a rhetorical question in light of this exposed reality this stated reality Jesus asks how can you believe and you know what the implied answer is you can’t not as long as the approval of men is more important to you than the approval of God it’ll be impossible for you to believe therefore impossible for you to be saved and this would have been a tough issue for John’s original audience even those helenistic Jews because they faced severe persecution and so social aeration aeration for believing in Jesus as many Jews do today if you confess Jesus it’s like you’re turning your back on us Jews we don’t want anything to do with you anymore we might even try to kill you it was a big question of whether they were going to seek God’s approval or man’s approval but what about us what about all of you listening today as the desire for people’s praise approval attention become more important to you than God’s praise approval or attention unlike Jesus who came in his father’s name have you come in your own name willing to give praise and approval to those who give you praise and approval because that serves your purposes you only give God’s praise and approval second thought oh if I can get that that’d be nice but that’s not essential now perhaps you say to yourself I don’t think I love men’s approval more than God’s but how will I know for sure that’s a good question certainly Jesus gives one very basic way to check do you receive him as the Christ and the Son of God is he your Savior and Lord and are you living your life accordingly have you committed your life to following Jesus do you actually obey him because if the answer is no then Jesus has exposed your heart you love the approval of men more than the approval of God but here’s another way to check consider how you respond to men’s approval or the lack thereof when someone or a group of people doesn’t give you glory or looks like they might not does that make you anxious angry depressed that is hopeless if so these are signs that you love the approval of men more the than the approval of God and by the way should someone say I don’t care what people think I’m a straight shooter I tell it like it is whatever the consequences people don’t like it that’s their problem and let me just tell you that that very likely is just a different kind of pride a different kind of selfishness that ironically glories in not seeking man’s glory and uses truthfulness as an excuse to bludgeon people rather than build them up did you know Brethren that for the sake of the Gospel you should care to a certain extent about what other people think what other people think about you you should give them no just reason to blame or reproach you after all this is one of the qualifications for elders in the Bible Titus 1 1 Timothy 3 they say this is a supposed to be a man above reproach even one who has a good reputation with those outside the church so to a certain extent you should care what other people’s think but pleasing others must always come secondary to pleasing God if you are a true Christian consider Paul’s own example Paul says on the one hand in 1 Corinthians 10:33 1 Corinthians 10:33 that he seeks to quote please all men in all things not seeking my own profit but the profit of the many so that they may be saved if there’s anything I can do to remove hindrances to people in terms of their listening to me liking me I’ll do it so that they can be saved however Paul says on the other hand in Galatians 1:10 Galatians 1:0 for am I now seeking the favor of men or of God or am I striving to please men if I were still try striving to please men I’m sorry if I were still trying to please men I would not be a bond servant of Christ that’s the same attitude as Jesus right I do not receive the glory of men that is not what I’m ultimately after Paul said the same we read earlier in Matthew 6 and you may notice that section about doing Your Righteous Deeds before others it ends somewhat curiously with the statement no man can serve two masters mentions God and wealth but really these things are tied together the approval of others it often brings you worldly wealth and it is the kind of wealth in itself but Jesus says you cannot serve two masters you’re either going to devote yourself to one or to the other will it be the approval of men on Earth which is a passing treasure or will it be the approval of God in heaven who provides treasure that never Fades this is the First Fundamental reality that Jesus exposes in religious unbelief those caught up in religious unbelief seek the approval of men over the approval of God the second fundamental reality appears in verses 45 to 47 and it’s the final verses of our chapter look at our second Point number two you don’t believe the scriptures you study if you are a religious person but you hold back from believing in Jesus or from giving your full obedience to him from the heart then this is proof that you do not believe the scriptures that you otherwise steud and say that you value your actions prove you don’t believe the scriptures look at verse do not think that I will accuse you before the Father the one who accuses you is Moses in whom you have set your hope verse 45 is a little surprising why does Jesus suddenly bring up Moses well remember to whom Jesus is speaking he’s speaking to religious Jews who not only claim to Value God’s Old Testament scriptures generally but to have a particular reverence for Moses and for the law of Moses that is the five books which we sometimes call the pentat but which the Jews call the Torah every good Jew both back then and today is really a disciple of Moses and therefore a student a dedicated student of the Torah Jews are taught to believe that there is life in steadying and keeping Torah you have to know the law of God is expressed in these foundational books and you need to put the law into practice if you do you will have life and does not God himself say this by the hand of Moses in the Torah Leviticus 18:5 this is just one version of it it’s expressed in different places but Leviticus 18:5 God says so you shall keep my statutes and my judgments by which a man may live if he does them I am the Lord I am Yahweh God says the Jews knew about this verse they knew about this concept so the Jews of Jesus day loved Moses and they were devoted to the Torah therefore as a final prod to these religious unbelievers Jesus asserts something shocking to them he says essentially I’ve declared my role as lifegiver and judge in accordance with the will of the father but I tell you I won’t be the one accusing you to the father regarding your unbelief and Disobedience there’s another who will do it for me I tell you it is Moses it is Moses instead the very Prophet you so love and to whom you devote yourself in your life he is the one accusing you and providing the evidence of your own damning unbelief now that would have set off alarm bells for the Jew that an extremely alarming claim that’d be like telling the lutherans Martin Luther is condemning you all right now we’re telling Roman Catholics St Peter is condemning you all right now and do not the verb tense of Jesus assertion Jesus doesn’t say the one who will accuse you but instead the one who accuses you this is a present participle in the original Greek literally the one accusing you all is Moses it’s present it’s continual it’s a characteristic action ACC accusation doesn’t have to wait until the future it’s happening right now over and over again but how can Jesus say this do not the Jews steady Moses and the law diligently are the Jews not zealous for Moses law as shown by their condemnation even of Jesus Sabbath healing how could Moses condemn them verse 46 for if you believed Moses you would believe me for he wrote about me Jesus explains here why Moses can rightly be said to accusing all religious Jews of unbelief Moses wrote about Jesus so if the Jews had believed Moses they would have believed Jesus but as is evident the Jews in fact do not believe in Jesus this proves that the Jews really never believed Moses despite all the nice words the Jews might say about Moses and his writings despite the stud they devote to his books if they don’t believe Jesus it means they didn’t believe Moses thus Moses justly accuses them of unbelief but wait a second did Moses really write about Jesus in a significant way absolutely actually after the resurrection it was the joy of Jesus the apostles and many other Christians to prove to the Jews from the Torah from the prophets from the other Old Testament writings the truth about Jesus it was showing using all the scriptures that Jesus is the Christ the son of God and that believing in him in only him there is life many books of the New Testament explain how passages from Moses Concepts from Moses connect to Jesus connect to the gospel here in verse 46 we don’t see Jesus cite or explain any specific passages from Moses’s five books but certainly they’re there and just to give you a brief overview a snapshot let me just mention first some Messianic prophecies from Moses Genesis 3:15 in which God promises Victory from the seed of the woman over the seed of the Serpent and the serpent himself he will bruise the seed of the woman’s heel but that seed will crush the Serpent’s head Genesis 12:3 promises blessing to all the families of the earth through Abraham’s seed yes even the Gentiles will be blessed through Abraham’s seed Genesis 49:10 promises widespread Dominion to the seed of Judah numbers 24:17 and 19 promises widespread Dominion to a future ruler of Israel Future King Deuteronomy 18: 18-19 promises the coming of a final authoritative Prophet like Moses and we can add to this the repeated presentation of New Testament gospel realities throughout the law of Moses such as salvation blessing comes according to God’s gracious promise through faith not physical lineage or good works and the greatest example of this quoted many times in the New Testament is Genesis 15:6 the description of Abraham in which it says then he Abram believed in the Lord that is Yahweh and he reckoned it to him as righteousness you cannot say that the law of Moses teaches salvation by works when that verse is standing right in the middle of it but then you can just compare the experience of the Patriarchs and of the Israelites many of whom many within their physical lineage were passed over in receiving the promise inher inance While others received it who by human rights human means shouldn’t have like when Jacob received the inheritance instead of Esau or Joseph was given the greatest portion among his brothers or how the first generation after The Exodus of Israel none of them except for Caleb and Joshua went into the promised land though they were all descendants of Abraham God’s salvation blessing comes according to God’s gracious promise through faith not physical lineage or good works that’s just one of the realities we also see from Moses Moses writes he makes clear the need for man to receive forgiveness for sin via a blameless substitutionary sacrifice because man inevitably falls short of a holy God’s perfect standard think even in the first chapters of the Bible how the Lord had had to provide the animal skins to cover Adam and Eve Genesis 3:21 think of how a ram substitute was necessary so that Isaac the son of Promise would not be sacrificed by Abraham it was this Ram instead Genesis 22:13 God provided the Ram or just think of the entire sacrificial system as it was delivered to Israel the Passover Lamb the sin offering the burnt offering the day of atonement all these showing you are a sinful people people and unclean people who need atonement before God you need forgiveness from God you need cleansing from God even the sacrificial system though by the fact that it was ongoing and repeated and it never provided a once and for all cleansing it showed and the writers of the New Testament bring this out that something better needed to come something to fulfill what only these things could picture Moses was writing that Moses was communicating that another gospel reality we see from Moses is the need for God to regenerate the hearts of people to believe and be saved you might say well yeah Moses talks about when he talks about Abraham talks about faith and talks about the need for obedience and this is all something that we can do on our owns No Moses actually says that this too must come from God listen to two verses Deuteronomy 29:4 Deuteronomy 29:4 Moses tells the Israelites yet to this day Yahweh has not given you a heart to know nor eyes to see nor ears to hear going into the promised land but I tell you you don’t have hearts that have been made new by God to love him but then just one chapter later Deuteronomy 30:6 Deuteronomy 30:6 moreover Yahweh your God will serve circumcise your heart and the heart of your descendants to love Yahweh your God with all your heart and with all your soul so that you may live you only may live if you love God but you don’t have a heart right now that will do that but one day God will give you that heart as a nation and your descendants will have it too God must do it and are these not the very same gospel realities that Jesus preached even in the Gospel of John was that not what we saw in the conversation of Jesus and Nicodemus Nicodemus is like I don’t know what you’re talking about but Jesus says you should know how can you be the teacher of Israel and you don’t know these things these the basics didn’t Moses teach you that of course there’s more than this in the Torah Jesus says the same things but in a Fuller and even more glorious way see Moses not only foretold Jesus coming but ultimately preached the same gospel that Jesus did his whole book is clamoring for the Messiah who is Jesus I mean how can you read the law of Moses all those rules all the requirements and say we can do this we’re going to work our way in no it is as the apostles say in line with Jesus this was a tutor to lead you to Christ to point you to Christ you can’t keep this law you can’t be good enough for God you not only need temporary covering you need permanent covering and even God to change your hearts Moses was preaching this he was writing this thus to believe Moses to believe what he wrote should logically lead to believing in Jesus to reject Jes Jesus in spite of what Moses wrote or even worse to reject Jesus because of what Moses wrote which is what the Jews were saying they were doing hey he violates the Sabbath Moses said don’t do that you got to get rid of Jesus to reject Jesus in such a way is to fundamentally misunderstand and not believe Moses at all and this is the great stumbling block this is one of the great stumbling blocks of the Jews in jesus’ time and in the Pres day you see the Jews unfortunately do not steud Moses those who are committed to the study of Torah today they don’t study Torah itself usually they studi the commentaries on Torah they studyed the words of the rabbis who are commenting on Moses meaning they only look at Moses through a layer of religious tradition the rabinal tradition thus the Moses they follow is not the Moses of scripture not who Moses really was it’s the Moses of talwood the Moses of the collection of rabinal writings in other words for the Jews Moses has been made a teacher to confirm what they already want to believe of course the Jews aren’t alone in that doesn’t the same thing appear in the Christian sector various forms of Christianity so hampered by religious tradition that you can only study the Bible through that tradition or else you’re going to go go off wrong we can’t let you do that you got to listen to us we have the tradition that it’s the only way you can understand the Bible same thing I tell you religious tradition can be such a prison for the soul trapping religious people into thinking they love God and Faithfully follow his word when they really only follow man thus Jesus by this startling declaration about Moses being the very one who was accusing you is attempting to break through that prison to initiate a jailbreak to get the Jews to ask themselves if they’ really understood Moses and they’ve really believed what he said they think they have he says they haven’t Jesus says they haven’t and he has the testimony of the father to back him up so if a Jew really loves God what should he do at such an assertion from Jesus he should do what the noble bans did in Acts 1711 they daily examine the scriptures themselves to see if these things were so if you’re a religious person but you have problems with the the claims of Jesus with the commands of Jesus go back to the scriptures and see if these things are so not through the layer of religious tradition just go to the scriptures look at it yourself see if this is true an unwillingness to investigate or to see anything in the scriptures beyond what your man-made tradition is already communicating to you that’s a fundamental barrier to believing in Jesus Jesus and as Jesus himself acknowledges in our final verse verse 47 but if you do not believe his writings how will you believe my words another rhetorical question with an implied answer if the Jews refus to believe what Moses wrote for the sake of their own self-righteousness their own tradition they will never believe in Jesus how could they he contradicts their tradition even more so than Mo Moses did so if they won’t believe Moses they’ll never believe Jesus altoe verses 45 to 47 res represent a sharp challenge to the Jews of Jesus and John’s days as to why they refused to believe in and follow Jesus do God’s scriptures really lead away from Jesus claims or do they in fact lead to Jesus and hardly confirm Jesus as the Christ and Son of God Jesus tells us the answer but do you believe him I expect that all of you here today would consider yourself to some degree or another to be a religious person you’re here in church listening to the word of God being preached but what kind of religious person are you could you also have fallen into the Trap of religious unbelief do you claim to love the scriptures do you claim to be Disciples of Paul Peter John even Jesus do you claim all this but you don’t believe their words and you don’t do them you don’t put them into practice if that’s true then I got to tell you you are at risk of the very writers of scriptures even Jesus himself standing up and accusing you right now regarding your wicked unbelief presenting that before the father and say I’m here to give testimony that person doesn’t love you remember what James says James says in the beginning of his book James 1:22 but prove yourselves doers of the word and not merely hearers who delude themselves he adds a few verses later James 1 126 if anyone thinks himself to be religious and yet does not Bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart this man’s religion is worthless my brethren do your lives show that you believe the scriptures you study it’s not good enough to know and talk about scripture do your lives show that you believe it now again someone might ask Pastor Dave I think my life shows that I believe the scriptures but how can I know for sure again great question and again we can point to a basic check from Jesus himself first do you believe in and follow Jesus as the Christ and Son of God because if you haven’t done that you haven’t believed the old or the New Testaments but second are you a meaningful member of a faithful community of Bible interpreters who are hold you accountable to an accurate understanding of the Bible and of a faithful living out of the Bible know that was a bunch of different words let me say that again are you a meaningful part of a faithful community of Bible interpreters who are holding you accountable to an accumate understanding of the Bible Faithfully lived out I’ve said this to you before but I need to say it again something I’ve tragically observed as a Christian more than once is when a man man or a woman become so convinced of his own interpretation of the Bible or application of the Bible that he becomes unteachable will not listen cannot be corrected everyone around him or her can see the error and the destructive effect the error is having on their person’s life but he or she will not listen functionally and sometimes physically that person withdraws from the fellowship and if such a person their Proverbs prove true Proverbs 18:1 Proverbs 181 he who separates himself seeks his own desire he quarrels against all sound wisdom in Proverbs 2612 Proverbs 26:12 do you see a man wise in his own eyes there is more hope for a fool than for him the Jews thought they were wiser than the Son of God what about you has a certain beloved teacher has your own experiences or feelings has a certain religious tradition colored change the way you view the Bible so that you no longer actually see or believe what God himself says say I know the Bible says that but they can’t be right not based on what I’ve experienced if you find yourself being in that kind of situation you got to do what the bans did got to go back to the scriptures with that faithful Community people who actually love the Bible and know how to study it go back to the scriptures with that faithful community and discover together what the bible really says and hold each other accountable to it that’s what we do that’s what we should be doing here as a body as a church that’s what it means to be a church examine these Scriptures Daily as a faithful community and with that we come to the end of this whole section of John 5: 1-47 I think we did four messages on this or maybe it was a little bit more this large section has contained various challenges regarding whether we hold to dead religious tradition and self-righteousness or whether we hold to life and God’s son Jesus of Nazareth which is it for you I tell you as an encouragement Jesus is so eager that you find life in him he’s not apathetic towards you he’s not indifferent to whether you believe he is a loving saving God he wants you to believe he wants you to turn and believe what does he say to the Jews even Jerusalem Jerusalem Jerusalem who Stones the prophets kills those Center how I longed I have desired I have been so much wanting to gather you as a hen gathers your chicks but you weren’t willing oh Brethren be willing Jesus today wants to gather you into his brood stop claiming to be righteous before him when you’re not and you can receive his righteousness stop claiming to love God when you don’t and your life shows that and you can love God for real and you can experience God’s love for you as brothers and sisters here this is the reality that we confess is true of us may it be true of us and maybe true even Fuller way as we do live as a faithful community of Bible interpreters encouraging one another spraying each other on admonishing one another so we can know Jesus more make him known more and enjoy him until we see him in the fullness of his coming let’s pray together oh lord your wisdom is so right how often you say in different ways in the Bible the proud man will be humbled but the humbled man will be exalted the one who holds to his own righteousness will be proved the utmost sinner but the one who confesses his sin and comes to you he’s the one who’s clothed with your own righteousness and made acceptable to you oh Lord I pray that Pride religious tradition fleshly beliefs about our own goodness that these would not become the traps that keep people away from you today that keep Souls away from being saved and that leave them in death and darkness and I pray for anyone who does not yet truly know and love Jesus that they would today that they they would give their hearts over to you and for Lord those who do love love Jesus but need greater sanctification and that’s all of us I pray that you’d provide it that you’d show us the sin that is entangling us even the self-righteousness and the love of others approval Lord that is hampering us and we’ cast these off we tear these off and say I want Jesus’s approval yes I’d love it if other people approved me but if I don’t have that I’m okay because all I want is Jesus if I have his Commendation by Grace certainly not in my own Merit if I have this Commendation Nothing Else Matters and I pray that we would have that kind of contentment that kind of sufficiency in Christ so that whatever trials you bring us through whatever provocations other people’s bring to us and we would stand firm Del Deliver Us from the evil one and bring us safely into your heavenly Kingdom in Jesus name amen