In the sermon titled 'Whose Glory Do You Seek?' based on John 7:1-24, Scott Brown explores the themes of unbelief and the pursuit of glory. The sermon highlights how Jesus' brothers and the Jewish leaders did not believe in Him, seeking their own glory instead. Jesus' brothers wanted Him to seek fame for their own benefit, while the Pharisees wished to kill Him to maintain their own status. The sermon points out that unbelief takes on different forms, from wanting personal benefits from Jesus to outright hostility. Jesus' teachings are centered on glorifying God, not Himself. He challenges the audience to examine their motives, questioning whether they seek God's will or their own glory. Brown emphasizes that genuine belief begins with a desire to do God's will, and salvation comes from recognizing one's own inadequacy and seeking God's glory. The sermon also touches on various doctrinal themes, including the sovereignty of God, the nature of belief, and the importance of righteous judgment over appearances.

Good morning. Our sermon text for this morning is John, chapter 7, verses 1 through 24. After these things, Jesus walked in Galilee, for he did not want to walk in Judea, because the Jews sought to kill him. Now the Jews' feast of tabernacles was at hand. His brothers therefore said to him, depart from here and go into Judea, that your disciples also may see the works that you are doing.

For no one does anything in secret while he himself seeks to be known openly. If you do these things, show yourself to the world, for even his brothers did not believe in him. Then Jesus said to them, my time has not yet come, but your time is always ready. The world cannot hate you, but it hates me, because I testify of it that its works are evil. You go up to this feast.

I am not yet going up to this feast, for my time has not yet fully come." When he had said these things to them, he remained in Galilee. But when his brothers had gone up, then he also went up to the feast, not openly, but as it were in secret. Then the Jews sought him at the feast and said, Where is he? And there was much complaining among the people concerning him. Some said, he is good.

Others said, no. On the contrary, he deceives the people. However, no one spoke openly of him for fear of the Jews. Now, about the middle of the feast, Jesus went up into the temple and taught. And the Jews marveled, saying, How does this man know letters, having never studied them?

Jesus answered them and said, My doctrine is not mine, but his who sent me. If anyone wills to do his will, he shall know concerning the doctrine, whether it is from God, or whether I speak on my own authority. He who speaks from himself seeks his own glory, but he who seeks the glory of the one who sent him is true, and no unrighteousness is in him. Did not Moses give you the law, yet none of you keep the law? Why do you seek to kill me?

The people answered and said, You have a demon. Who is seeking to kill you? Jesus answered and said to them, I did one work, and you all marvel. Moses's therefore gave you circumcision, not that it is from Moses, but from the fathers. And you circumcise a man in the Sabbath.

If a man receives circumcision on the Sabbath so that the law of Moses should not be broken. Are you angry with me because I made a man completely well on the Sabbath? Do not judge according to the appearance, but judge with righteous judgment." Let's pray. Father, we thank you for this opportunity that we have to go through this holy word in the book of John. Father, we pray that we would have open hearts and open ears.

Father, we pray that your Holy Spirit would just prepare us right now. Father, we pray for mr. Brown as he brings the message father were grateful for the time of Seeking you on his face that he has had in this text father. We just Glorify in you in this time in your mighty name. We pray amen It really is such a pleasure to be in the gospel of John and to be refreshed by the words of Jesus Christ and to be helped by Him in so many different ways.

And so we find ourselves in John chapter 7, which records eight days in the life of Jesus Christ. And it actually documents the escalating hatred of Jesus and really most amazingly the reasons, the very specific reasons for the hatred toward the Lord Jesus Christ that's rising. And it's an amazing fact of John's message, especially in light of how so many of us look back on the Lord Jesus Christ, why there would be so much hatred toward him. You've probably read what that anonymous author said More than 1900 years ago. There was a man born contrary to the laws of life This man lived in poverty and was reared in obscurity He did not travel extensively Only once did he cross the boundary of the country in which he lived, and that was during his exile in childhood.

He possessed neither wealth nor influence. His relatives were inconspicuous and had neither training nor formal education. In infancy he startled a king. In childhood he puzzled doctors. In manhood he ruled the course of nature, walked on the waves as pavement, and hushed the sea to sleep.

He healed the multitudes without medicine and made no charge for his service. He never wrote a book, and yet perhaps all the libraries of the world could not hold the books that have been written about him. He never wrote a song, and yet he has furnished the theme for more songs than all the songwriters combined. He never attended a college, but all the schools put together cannot boast of having as many students. He never marshaled an army, nor drafted a soldier, nor fired a gun.

And yet no leader has ever had more volunteers who have, under his orders, made more rebels stack arms and surrender without a shot fired. He never practiced psychiatry and yet he's healed more broken hearts than all the doctors far and near. Once each week multitudes congregate at worshiping assemblies to pay homage and respect to him. The names of the past proud statesmen of Greece and Rome have come and gone. The names of the past scientists, philosophers, and theologians have come and gone.

But the name of this man multiplies more and more though time has spread 1900 years between the people of this generation and the mockers at his crucifixion He still lives His enemies could not destroy him and the grave could not hold him. He stands forth upon the highest pinnacle of heavenly glory, proclaimed of God, acknowledged by angels, adored by saints, and feared by devils, as the risen personal Christ our Lord and Savior." You know the most amazing thing that we find in John chapter 7 is that it reveals that the Jews did not believe in him, but even more astonishingly, his brothers didn't believe him either at this moment in the life of Jesus. And it's a shocking fact that they that they couldn't believe they didn't believe now in the previous chapter in John and John chapter 6 which was a unit we we've it was very clear that John wants us to understand what unbelief looks like and that you know unbelief looks like people who are looking for success they want bread they want health care and they they want personal peace and affluence and they like the excitement of the crowd.

That's a picture of unbelief in chapter 6, but here in chapter 7, John actually I think goes deeper and gives us the fundamental reasons for that unbelief. How people could, you know, how it is, what reasons are there that people could actually see and hear Jesus and then not believe so here in chapter seven There are very specific reasons why people do not believe. And so that's what we find here. And this chapter reveals this truth. And so we learn in chapter 7 the hidden secrets of unbelief.

And what we find here, and of course, this is a long chapter We're gonna spend three Sundays in chapter seven, but people people don't believe because they're seeking their own glory I'm gonna give you the bottom line right here They They want to be their own masters. They feel that God will somehow, you know, steal their joy or their pleasure from them. And because Jesus actually reveals their wickedness to them. And as a result, he's hated. And I think verse 18 is critical if you could look at that with me he who speaks from himself seeks his own glory but he who seeks the glory of the one who sent him is true and no unrighteousness is in him." And so this is the chief reason that people do not follow Jesus Christ.

They're content to seek their own glory and they might do that by yawning their way through church every Sunday they might do that by being really good people good businessmen you know really nice super nice people you know people think that you there's salvation by niceness and but there it's nothing it's nothing more than pride It's nothing more than seeking your own glory. Now I want to give you just some further background on this passage before we dive into the actual sequence of the words. But as I said before, this chapter covers eight days in the life of Jesus and it begins just before the Feast of Tabernacles and it proceeds during the Feast of Tabernacles and it records, you know, even if you look at verse 14 what happened in the middle of the feast of tabernacles and There are there three phases to this chapter that reveals the reasons for unbelief and the first is the unbelief of the brothers the second is the unbelief of the Jews and the Jewish leaders. And then finally, this scene in the last day of the feast, which is so remarkable. And in verse 37, you see this beautiful situation that unfolds.

On the last day of the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, "'If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. "'He who believes in me, as the scripture has said, "'will flow rivers of living water.'" What an amazing statement. Now, further in terms of the timeframe and the context of what we find here in in chapter 6 we found ourselves at the time of the Passover and now seven months later after the events of the feeding of the 5,000 and all the conflict that broke out as a result of the feeding the 5,000 Now we're at the Feast of Tabernacles. Now we're in October. Seven months have passed from chapter 6 to chapter 7.

And you know, what was Jesus doing during these months? John doesn't say anything about them. Well, we know that he had retired to be with his disciples. The crowds actually abandoned him and his ministry was shrunk dramatically and he was spending time with his disciples. He was focusing, he was investing in his disciples, the ones who would who really change the world.

And so in this new section, Jesus has come, he's in Galilee, and then he will go to Judea. Now, this section actually runs all the way to chapter 10. Chapter 7 through 10 record a sort of a unit, a time block, And it's right around the Feast of Tabernacles and perhaps a little bit beyond the Feast of Tabernacles But I would like you to jump forward to chapter 10 I want to show you something because as we move through this section I want us to understand what John is trying to communicate in this actually long section of almost three chapters. So in chapter 10 verse 22, the scene shifts to the feast of dedication. Now that's around December 12th through 20th.

And Notice that this section ends in a very similar way That chapter 7 begins you see this continuity The very same things are happening at the end of chapter 10 that are happening right here at the beginning of chapter 7 and John is documenting Carefully the events that that really are leading up to his death So at the end of this section look at verse 17 and you see the very same division that continues from chapter 7. You know, Jesus continues to make these outrageous claims. In chapter 10, the most famous, of course, is, I am the Good Shepherd. I can't wait to get to that passage. Jesus makes that claim, and verse 17 we read, therefore my Father loves me because I lay down my life that I may take it up again another Remarkable claim no one takes it from me, but I lay it down of myself I have power to lay it down and I have power to take it again This command I've received from my father and then verse 19 Therefore there arose a division again among the Jews because of these sayings And many of them said he has a demon and is mad Why do you listen to him and others said?

These are not the words of one who has a demon. Can a demon open the eyes of the blind? So you see this escalating hatred that is occurring here. Now, I also want to point out a number of doctrinal themes that are in this section as well, and I want you to look for them as we go through it. First of all, the sovereignty of God in the redemptive timeline.

That's verse 8. You know, Jesus is telling his brothers, your timeline is not my timeline. Then there's man's desire for glory, verses 3 through 5, verse 18, verse 24. Then there's the hatred of the world toward Jesus Christ and this is perhaps the prominent theme verse 1 verse 7 verse 12 verse 19 verse 20 verse 23 Then there's the doctrine of the Sabbath and how how the legalists were destroying the joy and the delight of the Sabbath and That is in verses 21 to 24 There's the nature of belief which is John's prominent theme in verse 5 and 7 and 12 and 17 Then there is the theory of knowledge. How do you know that something is true verse 17?

Who is Jesus verses 12 and 13 and then finally the submission and the obedience of Jesus Christ to his father? Verses 6 through 8 and verse 16 And there are many other manifestations of this throughout this whole section all the way to chapter 10. So those are just some introductory thoughts. I wanna try to help us frame this situation that we find ourselves in. Let's go into the situation.

In verses one through nine, if you have an outline in front of you, you'll see how I have this broken up You first of all see the unbelief of Jesus brothers. This is to me. This is astounding in verse 1 we learned that Jesus Jesus has been in Galilee because the Jews want to kill him. You know, Galilee is backwater and he's not in the middle of the hotbed of the opposition in in in Judah in Jerusalem and the Jews were seeking to kill him but that goes back to chapter 5 verse 16. He healed a lame man on the Sabbath.

By the way, that was their excuse for wanting to kill him. I think it was just their excuse. He healed a lame man on the Sabbath. We are not supposed to work on the Sabbath. They had completely misunderstood this day of delight called the Lord's Day that that God had given.

And so I think Jesus is really applying what he said in in Matthew chapter 10, when they when they persecute you in one city flee to another. That's what Jesus did and he was in Galilee and then we find That the feast of tabernacles was at hand in verses 2 through 4 the tabernacle tabernacles was one of the the three major feasts where all the males were to go up to Jerusalem and Here what we find is that Jesus brothers want Jesus to capitalize on the feast and to and to increase his popularity and so his brothers are saying depart from here go up to Judea that your disciples may see the works that you're doing, for no one does anything in secret while he himself seeks to be known openly. If you do these things, show yourself to the world. That's what the disciples want. And the brothers want to capitalize on his fame.

You know, if they were alive today, they would be your social media managers. And by the way, Jesus has brothers. This is just a side note. Jesus has brothers. Now, the Bible also says that he has sisters in in Matthew chapter 13 these these brothers are actually named James Jude, Josus and and Simon and it really it explodes the whole Roman Catholic idea of the perpetual virginity of Mary because she had other kids and they're actually named here in in Matthew chapter 13 now in terms of what what were these brothers doing I'm just going to quote some people that I think say it better than I could possibly say it.

It seems that if, this is RC Sproul, it seems that if Jesus' brothers were his self-appointed campaign managers, Their advice was all about gaining attention. You're never going to get anywhere up here in Galilee if you want to be king. If you want to be the Messiah, you're gonna have to go down to Jerusalem. You want public acclamation? You can't operate in the obscurity of Galilee.

You must go to the capital city. That just sounds very familiar, doesn't it, in terms of what people often think they ought to do to build their platform. Ray Stedman says, they're saying this, we've got to go about this in a systematic, business-like way, and we need to approach this crowd so that we can get the publicity that we want Matthew Henry says they wanted to make a fair show in the flesh self was at the bottom of it all. They hoped if he would make himself as great as he might, they, being his brothers, would be able to share in his honor and have the respect paid them for his sake. And then he goes on and he says many carnal people go to public ordinances to worship to show themselves and all their care is to make a good appearance to present themselves handsomely to the world so I I think you know my understanding of this is they were seeking their own honor and glory and they thought their brother could, brother's glory would rub off on them when he made himself more popular.

And, but what's shocking is verse 5, for even his brothers did not believe in him they want to promote him but they don't even believe in him and and I you know this is just an astonishing revelation, and I think it should cause all of us to ask ourselves whether we're like that or not, whether we are part of the people of God because it shines us up a little bit, because it makes us look good. We want to look good with these other moral people who have the right values and things like that. And that's why the Bible says examine yourselves to see if you are in the faith test yourselves says the Apostle Paul in 2nd Corinthians 13 do you not know yourselves that Jesus Christ is in you is he in you unless indeed you are disqualified well the disciples were part of the shine but they didn't have light shining in their hearts and then Jesus answers his brothers in in verses 6 through 9 in first six he tells them his time is not yet come, but yours is always ready. Well, Jesus is saying that man doesn't want God's timeline.

You know, these brothers are rejecting God's timeline. Man doesn't want God's methods. They want more something more amazing for themselves. And then he says your time has has come. Now what does that mean?

Now there are various theories about that. I'll cut to what I think it is. I think it's really very simple. He's saying it's time for you to go to the feast. It's not time for me to go to the feast.

Could mean other things, but I think that's what he's saying. And then Jesus reminds his brothers Really of the hatred that awaits him in Jerusalem in verse 7 the world cannot hate you but it hates me because I testify of it that its works are evil. You go up to the feast. I'm not yet going up to this feast, for my time has not yet come. When he said these things to them, he remained in Galilee.

So, Jesus, Jesus was walking according to the timeline of his father. His father had set a timetable, and it wasn't at the Feast of Tabernacles that he would be revealed. It's at the Feast of Passover, six months later when he's crucified. By the way, this is six months before Jesus Christ's crucifixion. So he's saying, my time has not yet come.

His time is going to happen at Passover, six months later, when he will be charged and then he will be hung on a cross. But this unbelief of the brothers is so striking and you know what is this mark of unbelief? It's desiring your own glory. The brothers wanted Jesus to be famous so that they could be famous. That's what unbelief looks like in the brothers.

Now, I think there are two or three kinds of belief that are revealed here in John 7. And one kind of unbelief appreciates the miracles, wants more of the miracles, likes them. That's one kind of unbelief. It's the kind of unbelief that appreciates Jesus and wants to get the benefit from Him. But there's another kind of, and that's the unbelief of the brothers.

It's kind of a gentler unbelief. And we'll see another manifestation of that in just in a few verses But the other kind of unbelief is that is the unbelief of the Pharisees? They hated him and wanted to kill him the brothers unbelief wanted self exaltation through the shine that he would give them the Pharisees wanted to continue exalt themselves by killing him and getting rid of him. Unbelief has different faces and I think what we should all do here this morning is examine our hearts to see if there's any kind of unbelief in us because unbelief shows itself in different ways and And then now we turn to the unbelief of the Jews in verse 10. Do you see that?

Jesus said he goes up to the feast This is verses 10 through 24 all the way to the end and he goes up to the feast not openly but in secret and so now we find ourselves in this section of the rejection of the Jews now scholars say that this this going up to the feast was on October 15th, 29 AD, and Jesus enters Jerusalem in the middle of the week, and Jerusalem is filled with people, thousands are there, and there's controversy and there's fear over Jesus. Look at verse 11, you can see this rising controversy. Then the Jews sought him at the feast and said where is he and There was much complaining note that word. There's much complaining Among the people concerning him some said he is good Others said no on the contrary. He deceives the people so people are conflicted They have different they got to have a different angle on him.

You know, where, People are parked differently about, you know, concerning Jesus. And the most important thing that you and I must determine is where are you parked on Jesus? Where are you parked? What do you say about him? And some say he's good and some say he deceives the people.

Now, I'd like to examine these two opinions in a little bit more detail. First of all, the Pharisees called him a deceiver, that he deceives the people. In Matthew 27, they call him that deceiver. And they said, he has deceived others, has he deceived you also? And so this first kind regard him as a deceiver, then the second say, no, he's good.

He's good. Now I want to suggest that just saying that he's good, it falls vastly short of the truth. And the reason is, is what do good men do? Well, I mean, C.S. Lewis said that good men don't say they are God.

Good men, good men don't claim to be everything to you. C.S. Lewis said liars and crazy people claim to be God. So reducing Jesus to a good man or you know a heroic Moral person or compare, you know the most compassionate person Who ever lived it's just as wrong as saying that he's a deceiver because he is so far more than good. He wasn't just a good person.

And you know if he's good then you can just kind of ignore him. I mean You might even be able to you know stand in awe what I read at the beginning of this most astonishing life of Jesus and say wow, he's really amazing But amazing doesn't even get close because Jesus doesn't leave us that option to think that he's just simply amazing because he claims to be God and If somebody claims to be God he either is or he's insane and demonized just like the crowd is saying here. But if he's just good, you can ignore him, and if he's a deceiver, you should just run away from him as fast as you can. You have to decide who you believe he is. And it's really remarkable when you look at the claims that Jesus makes we've already covered many many of these these claims and You know, he's Yeah He's already done astonishing things.

I mean he's turned water into wine. He's He's told a man that he could be born again He has said that he's the source of living water to the woman at the well. He he heals a lame man He he feeds, you know 5,000 people maybe as many as 20,000 people You know, he he makes outrageous claims He says he came down from heaven. He claims to be eternally existent He claims to be sent into the world by God the Father. He claims to be Savior.

He claims to be the only source of everlasting life. He claims to raise himself from the dead. He claims that he's the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy. He claims to forgive sins. He says he's the Lord of the Sabbath.

He says he's greater than the temple, greater than Abraham, greater than Jonah and Solomon, and greater than Moses. He claims to have been alive before Abraham was born, 2,000 years before. He claims to be the light of the world and the resurrection and the life. And he claims that he's going to be resurrected and seated at the right hand of God and he claims that nobody can take his life, but he gives his life up. These claims are astonishing.

He's either insane and a demonically possessed Person or he is who he said he was and this was the issue. It wasn't the miracle so much That caused the great divide everybody was amazed at those it was what he said about himself That is the fundamental dividing line that we find here in this passage. They were shocking claims and And this is why there was such a high cost of association with Jesus look at verse 13 However, No one spoke openly of him for fear of the Jews. I mean, the fear of rejection is shutting people's mouth. They don't, he's there, he shows up halfway through the Feasts of Tabernacles, and people don't want to give their opinion, you know, because they're afraid of what might happen to them if they give their opinion.

And you know, everybody understands this tension. You know, how many times have you kept your mouth shut because you feared the repercussions of what people would think or say or what might happen to you in your job or what your social life might look like if you really identified with Jesus and said you wanted to follow him, and your obedience actually was a vivid demonstration of it, and you could lose your standing in the community. It's nothing different than that. And so people were fearing they would lose their standing in the religious community if they if they embrace Jesus. I was reading about John Knox it says he feared not the face of man.

Well there were some like that. But the Jews were saying he's a blasphemer and that he has a demon and some people said he was even insane But the people were astonished at his teaching Lou verses 14 and 15. It's really interesting He don't believe someone to kill him, but they're amazed. They can't they cannot believe what's coming out of his mouth and verse 14 now in the middle of the feast he went over the temple and taught so now he's teaching in the temple this huge temple and the Jews marveled saying how does this man know letters having never studied so they're marveling at what he's saying he there you know in another place in one of the Gospels it says that they they were amazed at the gracious words that were falling from his lips that's in Luke chapter 4 and but they they are still attack him It's kind of an ad hominem attack. You know, he doesn't have respectable credentials.

You know, this man is nothing. He didn't get a good education. They call him this man, by the way. Did you notice that? This man.

They're diminishing him. And later on they attacked the, the, his disciples the same way. But they realized that they were uneducated, but they'd been with Jesus, they could see that. But they, you know, earlier they attacked his hometown. You know, can anything good come out of Nazareth well now they're attacking his education and they're there they're just saying he just he didn't go to the right college He he didn't study under Gamaliel and Hillel.

He you know, he doesn't have the me He doesn't how come he doesn't quote the Mishneh. How come he doesn't quote the Talmud? Well, that's all those that's all the rabbis did they quoted men, but Jesus was speaking the words of God That was the difference and it was astonishing to them and they marveled at it. And then Jesus explains this teaching in verse 16 and he's saying that he doesn't speak for himself. He speaks the words of his father.

Look at verse 16. Jesus answered them and said, My doctrine is not mine, but his who sent me. So he's not quoting the rabbis and all the outside sources for their authority. He's saying, my doctrine is mine. It's not mine, it's my Father's.

And you know, we learn a lot about this from other places in Scripture like in Isaiah chapter 50 verse 4 There's that great messianic prophecy where actually the prophet is speaking in the voice of Jesus and He says he awakens me he God the Father awakens me Jesus Christ the Son of God he awakens me morning by morning he awakens my ear to hear as the learned. The Lord God has opened my ear and I was not rebellious nor did I turn away." So in that prophecy Jesus is being taught by his father. Morning by morning, he's taught by his father, why? And this is one of the most beautiful parts of this prophecy, in order to speak a word in season to him who is weary. Jesus learns from his father, he speaks his father's words, so that he would bring a word of comfort at the right moment to the person who's weary because he's a compassionate high priest.

But he's learning from his father to speak a word of comfort to the weary. And I think this just makes it very clear what one of our greatest needs is and That is we need to hear from someone who's been taught by God What we need to hear from Jesus? And then Jesus tells them the secret of knowing if his teaching is true. He's telling them how they can know that he's speaking the truth. Look at verse 17.

Because here you find how it is that you'll know in your heart that you want to follow Jesus and that Jesus' words are true. This is really an amazing insight that we gain about our lives. If anyone wills to do his will, he shall know concerning the doctrine, whether it is from God or whether I speak on my own authority. So if you desire to do the will of God, then you'll know if Jesus' teaching is true. That's the hinge point right there.

If you will to obey God, God will keep you safe from falsehood and he'll show you that Jesus Christ is the way, the truth, and the life. And he'll make sure that you know that Jesus is the one to follow. I like the way G. Campbell Morgan speaks of this. He said, he explains it like this, when men are wholly completely concentrated to the will of God and want to do that above everything else, then they find out that Christ's teaching is divine, that it is the teaching of God.

And what that means is that God shows particular kinds of people who he is, willing, humble, tender-hearted people who don't want to be filled up with themselves anymore, and he will show them. And I think salvation begins here. It begins with desiring to do the will of God When a person is genuinely converted they come to the end of themselves and they say my will actually stinks and I want to do the will of God. My will has gotten me in so much trouble. Emotional, psychological, financial, relational trouble.

And I'm sick and tired of following my own heart. And I want to follow God. And when you come to that place where you want to do the will of God, then God will reveal Jesus Christ to you. And you'll know that he's true and you'll want to follow him And so if you want more understanding It comes from a willing heart to obey. If you want to know God, you have to come to that place where you want to do His will.

You're willing to do His will and then He'll show you. And then he speaks of this mark of an authentic Christian to be a servant and to believe. Look at verse 18. He who speaks from himself seeks his own glory. That has to do with your will.

Your whole life is all about seeking your own glory, not the will of God, which is for the glory of God. But he who seeks the glory of the one who sent him is true and no unrighteousness is in him You know in in John chapter 5 verse 44 Jesus said How can you believe when you seek glory from one another and do not seek the glory that comes from God? So he's he's putting his finger on the reason for the unbelief It's the desire for our own glory so much so that we want our own will and we don't want the will of God. And then Jesus confronts their understanding of obedience. He in verse 19, did not Moses give you the law yet none of you keeps the law.

Why do you seek to kill me? So they've got all these law-keeping ceremonies going on at the time of the feast, but Jesus says you don't keep the law. And I think that there are probably two parts to this. They didn't keep the law in their hearts. You know, Moses said, these things shall be in your heart.

And you shall teach them diligently to your children. Well, it's the heart that comes first You know Jesus said if you love me, you'll keep my commandments It's the love that comes first. I think they were lawbreakers on one level. They did all the outward stuff But they they were like what Jesus said this people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. They weren't keeping the law, they were just keeping the outward shard of the law, just the outward crust of it.

But it wasn't real. I think that's perhaps one element of why Jesus says, you don't keep the law, but I think it's because they didn't love the law. And so he's confronting their understanding of what it means to keep the law. And the people answered in verse 20, You have a demon. You know, nobody likes to be told that, you know, they're just a bunch of hypocrites.

They're just going through motions. Nobody likes to hear that. And if you say that, they might want to kill you, and that's exactly what happened here. It's interesting. They say you have a demon We don't have time to get into this here and walk through at this but I I think that this is possibly related to the what Jesus said was the unforgivable sin the and unpardonable sin to attribute to the devil a work of God and to reject the witness of the Holy Spirit you can read about it in Mark chapter 3 verses 28 29 and Luke 12 10 but they by saying that this work of the Holy Spirit is a work of a demon is precisely what the unforgivable sin is And then Jesus he speaks of this terrible tragedy of their unbelief and That is that they don't have any love or compassion or delight in their hearts on the Sabbath and So Jesus in verse 21 he speaks of the tragedy of their wrong view of law-keeping in the Sabbath Jesus answered and said to them I did one work and you all marvel that one work was healing a lame man on the Sabbath Moses gave you circumcision not that it was for Moses but from the fathers, and you circumcise a man on the Sabbath.

If a man receives circumcision on the Sabbath so that the law of Moses should not be broken. Are you angry with me because I made a man completely well on the Sabbath? Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment. You know, seeking your own glory is all about appearances. It's all about what you look like on the outside.

You know, the Jews were commanded by God to circumcise on the eighth day? Not on the Sabbath, but sometimes it fell on the Sabbath. So was it lawful to circumcise somebody on the Sabbath? Of course the Jews said, yeah, yeah, of course you can. And I mean, Jesus is just affirming that works of mercy and works of necessity are allowed on the Lord's day.

Like you can circumcise a man on the Sabbath, but what he's saying is if you can circumcise a man on the Sabbath, Don't you think you could heal a man on the Sabbath? Don't you think you could cast out a demon on the Sabbath? So he was exposing really their lack of love for the law and as a result the lack of love for God. And so here you have the unbelief of the brothers and you have the unbelief of the Jews. And what's the connection?

I think there's a connection. They look really different on the surface the brothers want popularity they want the shine But the unbelief in the Jews looks totally different. They want to kill him. They don't want him messing up their program. But Jesus' teaching is from God.

He desired to do the will of God, and he desired to glorify God because he's the Son of God. Now the key to both sections I think has to do with appearances and you know just let's just take a step back and talk about maybe how to think about this and how to apply it. Here's a question. Do you want his will or are you managing your appearances I can't say that without being convicted to my heart my soul you know people are so concerned about appearances you know we just had this this hurricane that blew through last week. Did you see what some of the newscasters were doing?

Faking, faking what was really going on to try to get a story better? Well, we all, you know, the videos of those just went so viral. But what if, what if our own appearances seeking for appearances went viral like that? It's easy to laugh at them. But what about me?

What about you? Posing posturing Seeking my own glory Wanting something for myself out of even out of Christianity out of a relationship coming to church and just wanting something from someone Rather than to glorify God the mark of a true church is that it's a people that want to glorify God not themselves They're not coming to get something They're coming like Jesus The Son of Man came not to be served but to serve. They're not seeking their own glory, but the mark of a true Christian is a person who's seeking the glory of God, And the mark of a true church is the seeking of the glory of God. And so Jesus says, he who speaks from himself seeks his own glory, but he who seeks the glory of the one who sent him is true, and no unrighteousness is in him. Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment." And so here we find in these 24 verses a disclosure of the reasons for unbelief.

And they're really all connected to glory. And so the Lord's laid this before us. I think He's laid it before us for two reasons. One is that all Christians struggle with seeking their own glory, and God wants to change us. He wants to sanctify us.

He wants to wean us from the desire for our own glory. And there may be ten different ways that you're seeking your own glory today. You know, I dare say it's difficult to say anything or do anything without somehow being affected by the desire for your own glory. And so we're a people in process, you know, being delivered from that. And then there's another kind of person, and that's the person who isn't a believer, who doesn't want to do the will of God because they're afraid that somehow God is going to take some joy from them and they don't want to do the will of God because they are afraid you know this this happens to people you know it especially happens to children who grow up in a church they grow up in this nice church environment and they really they actually like it but they're kind of yawning through it but the problem what scares them is that they think That if they really do the will of God, they're going to lose something It's another manifestation of unbelief But why why do they feel that way?

Because they want their own glory But when you come to the place where you want the glory of God, then it's a sign that Jesus Christ has converted your heart. And you want to do His will. And you think There's nothing better in the world than his will that you really believe Like Solomon said his ways are pleasant ways and all his paths are peace when you get to that place You've probably Become a Christian And I pray that if there's anybody in that category Run to Jesus Christ his ways are pleasant ways and doing your own will will destroy you actually for all eternity Come to Jesus Christ Jesus said come to me all you who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest and I think that applies to both the unbeliever and the believer. He takes both. Would you pray with me?

Lord, we thank you for the astonishing wisdom of these words, the shocking unexpected turns of the way that you describe reality, the way you've described our hearts, the way you show us what's really happening with inside us. You've come, Lord, and you've put the sword of the Spirit in the wound and you've shown us who we really are. We seek our own glory. But you Lord, we are so thankful for you that you rescue the proud and you cause them to come. Amen.