In his sermon, Scott Brown emphasizes the ultimate tragedy of seeking one's own honor instead of honoring Jesus Christ. He explores John 5:24-47, where Jesus speaks of everlasting life and the authority granted to him by the Father. The sermon underscores three major points: Jesus gives everlasting life, the five witnesses to Jesus' divinity, and the real reason for unbelief. Brown explains that honoring Jesus is crucial, as it is tied to the love of God within us. He discusses the Pharisees' refusal to honor Jesus due to their love of human praise, illustrating how this desire for self-honor leads to unbelief. The sermon challenges listeners to evaluate who they honor, emphasizing the need to honor Jesus to gain eternal life. It encourages believers to recognize the pride and idolatry that can hinder their relationship with God and to seek true humility and happiness through Christ.

John 5 24, most assuredly I say to you, he who hears my word and believes in him who sent me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment but is passed from death unto life. Most assuredly, I say to you, the hour is coming, and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son to have life in himself, and has given him authority to execute judgment also, because he is the Son of men. Do not marvel at this for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear his voice. And come forth, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, those who have done evil to the resurrection of condemnation.

I can't of myself do nothing. As I hear, I judge, and my judgment is righteous because I do not seek my own will but the will of the Father who sent me. If I bear witness of myself, my witness is not true. There is another who bears witness of me. And I know that the witness which he witnesses of me is true.

You have sent to John, and he has borne witness to the truth. Yet I do not receive testimony from man, but I say these things that you may be saved. He was the burning and shining lamp, and you were willing for a time to rejoice in his light. But I have a greater witness than John's. For the works which the Father has given me to finish, the very works that I do, bear witness of me that the Father has sent me.

And the Father Himself who sent me has testified of me. You have neither heard His voice at any time nor seen His form, but you do not have His word abiding in you, because whom he sent, him you do not believe. You search the scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life. And these are they which testify of me. But you are not willing to come to me, that you may have life.

I do not receive honor from men, but I know you, that you do not have the love of God in you. I have come in my Father's name, and you do not receive Me. If another comes in his own name, him you will receive. How can you believe who receive honor from one another and do not seek the honor that comes from the only God? Do you think that I shall accuse you to the Father?

There is one who accuses you, Moses, in whom you trust. 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? Let us pray. Spirit of God, enlighten, enliven the words of text Spirit of God, enlighten and liven the words of text today that you may bring life to us.

A like in work and prayer to Jesus we repair. May Jesus Christ be praised. Amen. It's always a great privilege and a joy to hold up the Word of God, to open up this book, and to be guided by it. And when we raise up this book, we're really raising up the shepherd's staff in this church.

It's the way of shepherding this Church of Jesus Christ here at Hope Baptist Church. And so it really is a joy to be able to do it. And also, too, I just want to acknowledge that it's Father's Day today, and I pray that the chief tool, the chief shepherd staff that fathers are using to guide their families would be the Word of God and the Word of God alone, saturating the homes with the Word of God, with this shepherd's staff of the great shepherd of the sheep. So here we are. We're in John chapter 5, verses 24 through 47, which is really a continuation of a dispute that started when Jesus healed a lame man on the Sabbath day.

And Jesus has compassion on the lame yesterday and today, and upon the lame that we are, and He desires to use the Sabbath for our delight in this world and in the world to come. And this is what salvation brings. It brings a healing from your lameness, and it brings you into delight, and particularly one day out of every week dedicated to the delight of Jesus Christ. And Jesus took his actions in healing this man on the Sabbath day, and he used it to explain that this miracle meant something, and it meant not only that Jesus loves to heal lame people, but also that he was equal with God. And he gives a very long speech, theologians call it a discourse, verses 17 through 43, and these are the unbroken words of a speech of Jesus Christ in those verses.

If you ever read Letter Bible you can see it very clearly. But the healing of this lame man didn't go over well with everyone. It launched a season of persecution against Jesus Christ that we read about in verse 16 in chapter 5. For this reason, the healing of the lame man on the Sabbath, the Jews persecuted Jesus and sought to kill him because he had done these things on the Sabbath. So we saw in the last session that we were in in chapter 5, that Jesus is stating that He is equal with God in nature, that's verses 17 through 18.

He's equal with God in His works, verses 19 and 20, that he's equal with God in authority, that's verse 21, that he's equal with God in judgment, in verse 22, and that he's equal with God in honor, verses 23 and 24. And he says, all these things so that all should honor the Son just as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him. And so the whole question of this passage is, do you honor the Son? The Pharisees didn't honor the Son.

And so Jesus healed a lame man on the Sabbath in order to expose the fact that while they had such a cranking religion, They didn't honor Jesus Christ, the Son. By the way, it's easy to have a crank in religion, in your heart, in your home, and in your church, and not really have it true honor of the Son. And this whole passage has really helped us because it brings to us the greatest question, and that is, who do you think Jesus is? Is he equal with God? Is he just a great teacher?

Is he just somebody who's giving you great principles, you know, to kind of go through life, or is He God? And you must decide who He is. You cannot leave Him alone because He won't leave you alone because you're going to hear His voice again at some point when you're raised from the grave. You will face Him. So answering this question of whose son is he is the most pivotal question for our lives and this question also hinges on whether one honors the Son from the heart.

So Jesus, in this in the section that we're in as we're continuing the narrative in Jesus' words, he continues to build his case that he is God and And he is also exposing the Jews and telling them why they don't believe. And they don't believe because they're unwilling to believe, And they are unwilling to believe because they love the honor of man. That's why they don't believe. And so this chapter is one of the pivotal places where Jesus declares that he is equal with God, and he also explains why it is that some of your friends out there are unwilling to believe. He pierces through all the sham, and he tells us why it is that people won't believe.

And that should help us to understand how we engage unbelievers, how we speak to them. We know something about them that they might not even be aware of, that they're unwilling because they love the praise of man and they want to praise themselves. And they don't want the harm that comes to them if they turn to Jesus. That's the reason they don't believe. And so in this passage, there are three major headings that you'll see here in the outline that I provided for you.

And there are these three major headings help us to understand what Jesus is trying to communicate. And the first thing is that he gives everlasting life, and that is from verses 24 to 30. And then from verse 31 to verse 40, he reveals five witnesses to the everlasting life that is in him. And then thirdly, he reveals the real reason for their unbelief. That's verses 40 through 44.

As you can see in the outline, I'm taking one of these out of sequence and making it the last one. I'd like to walk through these proofs of his divinity and then finally end with dissecting exactly what Jesus says about what the problem is with unbelief, and he states it very clearly. Now, I want you to notice two verses before we engage in this text, just to understand what I believe is a helpful interpretive grid for understanding what Jesus is saying here. You know, when you're trying to interpret scripture, you're always trying to find what the heart of the message is. And the heart of the message is sometimes revealed in words that are repeated over and over again, sometimes it's revealed in theological principles that are presented in different ways.

Sometimes the heart of a passage comes down to maybe just one phrase. But in this passage, I wanna argue that the heart of this passage is about the heart of honor toward Jesus Christ. Do we honor the Lord Jesus Christ? So the verses I want to point you to are, first of all, verse 23. We went over this last time we were in John, that all should honor the Son just as they honor the Father.

He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him. So we encountered this word honor. Now you already know this about this chapter and the rest of the gospel of John. You also read the words life and believe and witness in this passage, but I think that honors brings all of these things together to help us to understand the message. Now go to verses 40 through 44, and you'll see what I mean when you see this connection in this narrative and the centrality of honor.

Because in the heart of this narrative, The hinge point is honor. Now, honor is two things. It's a secret matter. It's something that is hidden inside of you. Honor toward the sun is either a secret virtue, a saving virtue, or it's a secret sin, a damning sin.

That's what honor is in the heart. And so when we get to these verses we see the second place where honor is emphasized and in verses beginning in verse 41 through verse 44 we understand that honoring yourself which really encompasses all forms of idolatry, is placed against honoring Jesus Christ. So, verse 40, But you are not willing to come to me, that you may have life. In other words, they're not willing. It's not that they don't have enough information.

They're not willing. He says, I do not receive honor from men, but I know you that you do not have the love of God in you. And I think Jesus is saying you either have the love of God in you. And I think Jesus is saying, you either have the love of God in you or you have the love of yourself in you. Verse 43, I have come in my Father's name, and you do not receive me.

If another comes in his own name, him you will receive." In other words, you'll honor everyone else. And then he says, how can you believe who receive honor from one another and do not seek the honor that comes from the only God. The interpretive key to this passage I want to suggest is the word honor and the idolatry, the damning idolatry, the secret sin, the damning secret sin of honoring yourself and honoring others so much that you would not follow Jesus Christ. That's the reason people don't believe. That's what makes people unwilling.

They don't want to be dishonored by men and they don't want to dishonor themselves. So let's go into the text. First of all, he enters into this discussion of everlasting life and John can't get over talking about everlasting life And so let's begin here in verse 24. He gives everlasting life. And we encounter these remarkable words that Jesus uses over and over again.

Truly, truly I say to you, amen, amen. Like, pay attention to this. This is truer than true. Let this grab you by the heart. So he says, truly I truly truly truly truly I say to you or most assuredly I say to you, he who hears my word and believes in him who sent me has everlasting life and shall not come into judgment but has passed from death into life." I remember reading this when I was 17 years old and I realized that I had already passed from death into life.

It was an amazing realization. I had already passed from death into life. It was an amazing realization. I had already passed from death into life. And in this simple verse are some of the most beautiful and powerful words in the gospel, hearing.

Not just hearing words but hearing with a hunger and then believing, not just believing facts but embracing it. And then the word having, possessing everlasting life and then passing from death into life in a moment of time when you finally realize that you want to follow Jesus and you are so sick and tired of the abuse of the devil that you really want a good shepherd. And that's what happened to me. And then there are these various facts that are here. You know, first, whoever hears and believes has everlasting life.

That's a fact. The second fact, whoever believes will not be condemned and shall not come into judgment. And then the third fact, eternal life is given immediately upon hearing and believing and you pass from death into life. These these are these verbs are present tenses and they they speak to the fact that you possess eternal life right now. And And also the use of the perfect tense having passed from death to life Ongoing belief ongoing life is what's implied here Now one of the things that's really clear in this section is that every person will die, their body will go into the grave, and then their body will be resurrected.

Those who do not believe in Jesus, their bodies will go into the grave, and then their bodies will be resurrected and they'll be rejoined with their Spirit. Same thing with believers. Their bodies will go into the grave and then their spirits will be rejoined with their bodies before the throne of God in judgment. And this is the reality that is spoken of here. You know, it's interesting, if you go to 2 Timothy, at the very last, it's the very last chapter that Paul writes.

2 Timothy is the last thing that Paul wrote before he died. And often the last Words of a dying man are the most insightful. And so in this letter, Paul says, the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought the good fight. I finished the race.

I've kept the faith. The time of my departure. In saying that, Paul is using the time of my departure is actually a nautical word. Paul uses this word picture and it literally means loosenings and it means loosening the ropes of the ship so that it can drift out to sea and make its voyage. Paul was saying the ropes tied to my ship have been loosed and now I'm by the time of my departure is at hand.

So this passage speaks of this time that this earthly tent, by the way, this word, these ropes, this departure is used in St. Corinthians 5.1, for we know that if the earthly tent, which is our house, is torn down. We have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. The ropes are loosened and the tent comes down. The rope is disconnected and the ship drifts off into eternity.

That's what he's talking about here. Here's the question. Are you ready? Are you ready for that? Are you ready for the golden bowl to be broken?

Are you ready for the silver cord to be severed? Are you ready for the ropes to be loosed? Are you ready right now? Could you go?" You know, the other night we had this wild storm just bashing down on our roof. I live under a metal roof.

And it was so loud. And in my house, I often wonder, is a tornado going to come and just sweep this place away in a second and we all die? Is that going to happen? And it was probably 2.30 in the morning, And I remember just raising up my heart and even my hands in the bed and saying, Lord, receive me if this is the time, take me. Are you ready?

Are you ready for the rope to be loosed and you to drift off into eternity? And he's speaking of this resurrection, verse 25, Most assuredly I say to you, the hour is coming and now is when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live. So there's a voice that you'll hear. It's the voice of the Son of God and your bones, your rotting bones in the grave are going to come out and they are going to rattle and they're going to shake and God's going to put, He's going to put sin on you and you're going to stand before Him with your soul. And this hour is coming and those who are dead in their trespasses and sin will be delivered into everlasting perdition.

And those who have been raised to eternal life through Jesus Christ will go to be with Him in the heavenly places. And of course we've talked about this before, that there are two kinds of hearing. There's just the hearing of words and making intellectual ascent. And then there's hearing from the heart, the hearing that loves the sound of the words, that desires the life that's implied, that's drawn into the life of Jesus Christ. Those are the two different kinds of hearing.

In verse 26, we read that the Father has life in Himself, and so He has granted the Son to have life in Himself. And the Father has life, and He's created all that is living and He has given the authority to create that life in the souls of sinners to the Son. And that's why earlier in John in the prologue, in John 1 verse 4, we read this, in him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it. So eternal life hinges upon belief and in the heart.

And John speaks of life over and over again. In chapter 3, verses 15 and 16, he says, whoever believes in the Son should not perish, but have eternal life. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever would believe in him might not perish, but have everlasting life. And in John 3.36, we learn that the life is eternal. It's not simply here and now.

It is here and now. And so he says, he who believes in the Son has everlasting life. He who does not believe the Son shall not see life in an experiential way, but the wrath of God abides on him. John tells us that this life is like water. It's like water to your soul.

And so Jesus is speaking to the woman at the well, and he says to her, but this water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life. But the problem is the unbeliever is too obsessed with this world. They can only think of how they might put themselves forward and they labor for the food that perishes, says Jesus in John 6. The unbeliever's appetite is all messed up. He wants things that don't deliver.

And so Jesus says, do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to everlasting life, which the Son of Man will give you, because God the Father has set His seal on Him. And then later on in John 6, 33, He speaks of the bread of heaven that comes in, that gives life into the world, and Jesus is the bread from heaven. We're going to take the Lord's Supper soon. Think of the bread from heaven, the bread that God sent down to give everlasting life. When you partake of that bread, remember it was his body that was given to you to nourish you.

His body was broken so that you would have life. It's such a moment of rejoicing when you take that bread. And so he gives life. And how does it happen? He who believes in the Son.

And that believing is a hearing of delighting and embracing and drawing near and desiring it. And It's the result of a supernatural change of heart because you can't have any of that unless the Lord changes your heart. If He hasn't changed your heart, acknowledge that before Him and cry out to Him that He would give you the delighting and the desiring and the love for Him. Because that's what true Christianity is. So many people live their whole life in church and they never have the delight.

And the reason they never have the delight is they never had Jesus. And it happens all the time. We've seen it here in our own church how that's happened. Where somebody's been in church for a long time and all of a sudden God gives them delight like they never had before. And then they walk around, you know, the big smile on their face, like they're different.

It's just so wonderful. And so there's this enlivening that takes place. And what's critical for us, I think, in this section is that we must come face to face with our mortality and our graves. There is a grave in your future. You're going to be placed in a grave of some kind.

And you must have a real picture of this life in this world. You need to think rightly about your life. And there's a grave in your future. And there's a voice that you're going to hear after you're laid in that grave, and it's the voice of the Lord Jesus Christ. And what will He say to you?

Will He say, depart from me into everlasting darkness, or will He say to you, enter into the joy of your Master." Everyone will hear one of those two voices of Jesus. And that's what he's speaking of here. How do you prepare For this meeting where you will hear the voice of Jesus Christ check your heart check your life Do you honor the son do you delight in him? Are you or are you still just trying to seek your own honor and seek your own? Reputation to preserve it before men so that you can become some kind of a respected big shot in the eyes of your friends or your family or your co-workers or your political leaders, whoever it might be.

These are disastrous errors to make to honor men and to honor your own hearts so that you lose everything that matters and everything that is beautiful and so Jesus says the hour is coming do not marvel at this the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear his voice, and they'll come forth, those who've done good to the resurrection of life, and those who've done evil to the resurrection of condemnation. So after Jesus makes it very clear that He is the resurrection and the life. He turns and He gives evidences for it. And He says in verse 31, if I bear witness of myself, my witness is not true. Because he knows that the Jews have read the Law of Moses, where the Law of Moses said there need to be two witnesses.

And so Jesus is appealing to them to their theological understanding of how things are verified to be true or false. And so he reveals five witnesses, or some say four witnesses, to the everlasting life which is in Jesus Christ. And this stretches from verses 31 to 40, and then finally in verses 46 through 47. And so in his manhood Jesus could not witness of himself. He was a man and the Jews would say that it was required that there be two witnesses.

And so that's why in verse 32 he says, there is another who bears witness of me. And I know that the witness which he witnesses of me is true. So then he itemizes these witnesses. And the first witness is the witness of John the Baptist in verses 33 through 35. And how is it that John was a witness that Jesus Christ is equal with God?

And the reason that John the Baptist is a witness is that John was actually the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy. He was prophesied to be the forerunner of Jesus Christ in Isaiah chapter 40 and in Malachi 4 and in other places as well. And so John was a shining light and you know people gathered to John, they were so attracted to him like bugs to a light in the summertime in the south, and they flock to him. And so Jesus is asking this question about John. In John 1 verses 7 and 8 we read, John came for a witness, to bear witness of the light, that through him all might believe he was not that light, but he came to bear witness of that light.

So John was a witness that Jesus Christ was equal with God. And what was John's message? Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. What was John's testimony? Jesus Christ, behold your God.

Behold your God. His name is the Lord Jesus Christ. And John was the last Old Testament prophet who would bear witness to Jesus Christ. And then the second witness is the witness of his works. This is verse 36.

But I have a greater witness than John's for the works which the Father has given me to finish. The very works that I do bear witness of me that the Father has sent me. So the second proof of his being equal with God is his miracles, his works, and don't ignore the works. Look hard at the works. In John chapter 10 verse 38, Jesus said if you don't believe me believe my works and Jesus performed many miracles there were there were at least 37 very clearly performed miracles And every miracle is a double meaning.

All of them point to the beauty of Jesus Christ in his kingdom. Look at all the miracles, go count them up, 37 of them, and ask, what does this mean for me? Because they all mean something for you and I. In fact, just in the School of Ministry yesterday, we were discussing Christology and the matter of the unforgivable sin and Jesus casting out demons. And Sam Waldron, the one who was teaching, was quoting Matthew chapter 12, and he was saying that the casting out of demons was connected to the unpardonable sin, because what I think what Jesus is saying here is that if you look at the works and don't believe, you've committed the unpardonable sin and that is not to believe in Him.

And he quoted Matthew chapter 12 verse 28, but if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. And so Jesus says that, He casts out demons by the Spirit of God, and it's a sign that the kingdom of God has come. And then, later on in verse 32, he says, Any sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven people, but blasphemy against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven. So the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit is actually connected with rejecting the testimony of Jesus when he was casting out demons. He would cast out demons and people wouldn't believe they rejected the testimony of the Spirit.

They were hardened at the word of the Spirit that was manifested in the casting out of demons. So what Sam Rauldin was saying is that the casting out of demons, that miracle was connected with the hardening of the heart to such a degree that one would reject the voice of the Spirit of God, reject the testimony of Jesus that he can deliver you from your demons. And so this casting out of demons, this miracle, is connected with the unpardonable sin. And this is why Jesus says, but I have a greater witness than John's, and that is the witness of my works and you know Jesus he turns water into wine he heals an official son he heals Peter's mother-in-law he heals a paralytic he heals blind men he feeds 5, 000 and then 4, 000 He heals demoniacs and he heals women who've been bleeding for over a decade. He's just remarkable.

So believe because of the works. There has never been anyone like Jesus in the history of the world. Never. Not before Him and not after. These faith healers that are on television, they're nothing like Jesus.

Jesus always healed the way and the timing in which he desired. And he's very different. The third witness is the witness of his father, verses 37 and 38. And the father himself who sent me has testified of me. So this is the third witness.

You have neither heard his voice at any time nor seen his form, but you do not have his word abiding in you, because whom he sent, him you do not believe." So what Jesus is saying is that his Father is witnessing on his behalf. His Father is a witness that he is equal with him and that the Father is testifying. And you know, could this be God's public endorsements of Jesus Christ at his baptism, where he said, this is my beloved son, or at the Mount of Transfiguration, where he said, this is my beloved son, hear him. Is it that? Possibly.

Maybe it's that and maybe primarily the inner witness of the heart, that the Father witnesses within the heart that you are a child of God, that Jesus is the Son of God. It's God the Father through His Spirit that witnesses in your heart that Jesus is the Son of God. And I believe it's most likely that inner witness in the heart, where you acknowledge that you believe and that you desire to do His will and that you don't want to do your will anymore. I think it's that witness where you realize that the Father has sent the Son and you believe in Him. And you're like the disciples who when everyone is fleeing from Jesus and Jesus said are you going to go too remember what they said they said Lord where would we go we want you we don't want anything else We can't conceive of anyone or anything else.

And so the third witness is the Father Himself. The fourth witness is the witness of the scriptures. And some have made this to be four witnesses, others to be five. I'm going to break it into five. I don't know if there's any change in the meaning necessarily, but the fourth witness is the witness of the scriptures.

And then I'm going to say later the fifth witness is the witness of Moses some Conflate these two and bring them together which I think is a legitimate argument that that the scriptures and Moses are the same thing in The testimony of Jesus here, but I'll separate them into two and you can decide for yourself which one you think makes most sense. He says, you search the scriptures. In other words, he's saying this is what you do, you search the scriptures. The Pharisees were the most conservative of the conservative. They were not the liberals.

They sought the Word of God. You search the scriptures for in them you think you have eternal life and these are they which testify of me but you are not willing to come to me that you may have life." So what Jesus is saying is that the scriptures testify to Jesus. And he's saying, you Pharisees, you Jews are not willing to come to me. And because you're not willing to come to me, it means that you really are rejecting the scriptures because I am not only the author but the subject of all the Old Testament scriptures. And so he says, and you're not willing to come to me.

In other words, they don't come to him out of refusal, not ignorance, not innocence. It is a matter of their hearts. It's not a matter of not having enough information. It's not a matter of science. It's not a matter of external evidence.

It's a matter of the heart. They don't come because they're not willing. And they're not willing because they're not willing to see Jesus in the Old Testament Scriptures. They searched the Scriptures and they're not willing to believe. Now, you know, the point, This is just sort of maybe a theological backdrop of this statement of Jesus.

And that is this. The point of the whole Old Testament is to reveal the coming of the Son of God. Everything in the Old Testament points to Christ. All the pictures and images and types of the Old Testament, all of them point to Jesus. This is why it's tragic when you have an evangelicalism who doesn't care about the Old Testament anymore.

You know we had we had a very famous quote-unquote evangelical just a couple of weeks ago say that the Old Testament isn't for the church anymore. Well, that's just ridiculous. That's completely contrary to what Jesus is saying here. The problem with the Jews is that they weren't willing to behold Jesus in the Old Testament because the implications were too harmful for them to consider. Because they realized that they would lose much if they turned to Jesus Christ.

They would lose their religion, they would lose their cash flow, they would lose their friendships, they would lose their structure, they would lose it if they turned to Jesus Christ. There is a lot at stake. There is always a lot at stake at following Jesus because you'll lose your reputation and you'll lose some of your friends and you might lose a lot more than that. But Jesus, what did Jesus say? If you lose your life, you'll gain it But if you want to preserve your life, you'll lose it So the whole point of the Old Testament is to point to Jesus Christ, you know the laws in the Old Testament they're not actually primarily for your self-improvement.

They will improve you, but they're not primarily for your self-improvement. They're primarily to point to Jesus Christ and the perfection of His obedience in all the ways that we have such a hard time to obey. All of our flaws, all of our sins are before us when we read the word of God, but they are designed to point us to Jesus Christ. But they were unwilling. This is the unwillingness of sinners.

And what this means is that only God can change the heart. And John chapter 3 verse 19, Jesus explains the real reason they were unwilling. And this is the condemnation that light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For every one practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen that they have been done in God.

Now what Jesus is saying is that the responsibility for unbelief rests on the sinner, for the unwilling heart. The person who is unwilling bears the guilt. It's not because of your parents, it's not because of your environment, it's not because of your personality, it's not because of your gender, it's not because of lack of information. It's because you are personally guilty for rejecting the testimony of Jesus Christ. In John 8.43, Jesus says, why do you not understand my speech?

Because you're not able to listen to my word. So people don't come to Jesus for one simple reason. They do not come to him because they do not want Jesus Christ's leadership. They do not want to honor the Son because it'll make so many changes that they can't bear, and as a result, they have marked themselves as unbelievers. The heart of the problem is with fallen man.

We don't want the light of God to shine upon us. And then the fifth witness is the witness of Moses. Do not think that I shall accuse you to the Father. There is one who accuses you, Moses, in whom you trust. For if you believed Moses, you would believe in me.

For he wrote about me. But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe my words?" Here Jesus is saying, Moses was writing about me. Everything you read in the Old Testament, and you should read the Old Testament, is a reading about Jesus. Read Jesus into the entire Old Testament, into every page of the Old Testament. This is Jesus's view of the Old Testament.

And again, modern evangelicals have rejected Jesus's view of the Old Testament, and they've said that it's for a different time. Jesus said, no, Moses wrote of me. There's this refusal to believe the moral code of the Old Testament. You know, the Jews were gonna be very surprised because it is gonna be Moses who is going to condemn them. And because Moses was speaking of Jesus.

You Remember Stephen's sermon when he was being martyred? It's full of the Old Testament. He was preaching the gospel from the Old Testament. If you take out the Old Testament references to Stephen's preaching the gospel in Acts chapter 6, The sermon makes no sense at all. It's full of the Old Testament.

There are 312 Old Testament texts quoted in the New Testament. If you read the Book of Romans, in 16 chapters of Romans, there are around 50 direct references to the Old Testament because the Old Testament speaks of Jesus, and that's why we should read it. So Moses wrote of Jesus, and this just presents a unified picture of the Bible. The continuity between the Old Covenant and the New Covenant is something that Jesus Christ himself has established in this section here. And so he's speaking of this matter of witnesses.

Now, in terms of one of the most common pastoral issues, is this matter of the witness, the witness of the heart, whether a person really knows if they believe, the matter of assurance. How do I know if I really believe? How do I have assurance of my salvation? This is the most common conversation that pastors have with people. And here's what we learn from this.

Jesus makes your heart willing. Willing to believe. Willing to follow. The unbeliever is not willing. And the believer is willing to obey.

He knows that he doesn't obey like he should, but he's willing and he is wanting more obedience than he had yesterday. And the believer falls into bed and says, Lord, why did I say that? Why did I do that? Lord, I'm willing, I want, help me. And he knows that every day, there's a blank slate, there's a fresh start every day.

His mercies are new every morning. And he takes that willingness and he goes into the day and he continues to see his flaws and he continues to see so many ways that he needs to be sanctified in his words and his thoughts and he falls into bed again at night and he says Lord I want to be willing because he has a willing heart. I think that's one of the greatest assurances of salvation, is the willing heart, because the unbeliever is not willing. And that's what Jesus is communicating. And then in the in the last in this last section, which as I declared earlier, I've taken it out of order, but in verses 41 through 44, Jesus reveals the true diagnosis of the unbelief and their unwillingness.

And he gets right to the heart of the matter. Now, he's spoken about this before. He has already said that people are unwilling to come to the light, lest their deeds be exposed. And they don't love the light. We know that.

So place that as one of the great reasons. But there's another reason that is the heart of this text here. And it is revealed to us in verses 41 through 44. Jesus says, I do not receive honor from men, but I know you that you do not have the love of God in you. You see how the love of God and honor are tied together.

When your heart desires to honor Jesus Christ, you have the love of God in you honoring him is the same as loving him do you see that there but I know you that you do not have the love of God in you I have come in my father's name and you do not receive me If another comes in his own name, him you will receive. How can you believe who receive honor from one another and do not seek the honor that comes from the only God." So here is a picture of unbelief. People who, They honor people rather than Jesus. At the same time, they honor other people because they want honor for themselves. That, brothers and sisters, is what keeps people from Jesus more than anything else.

And they willingly accept corrupt men instead of Jesus. And they reject Jesus because they want honor from men. Now I realize we're drilling down into the heart of our pride which has not disappeared yet in all of us. But honoring the Son more than you honor men is the key to salvation. Verse 23, that all should honor the Son, just as they honor the Father, he who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him.

Now, there are reasons that people reject Jesus Christ and I've already spoke of one of them about the light. First is that there's this refusal to glorify God. Men want to glorify themselves and not God. Now honor can only be placed in one of two places in your life and my life. You're either honoring yourself, which encompasses all forms of idolatry or you're honoring Jesus Christ.

You know, the way that Christianity works is that there's light and darkness, sheep and goats, and there is honoring yourself or there's honoring Jesus Christ. It's very simple in that sense. Paul the Apostle was speaking to the Romans and he said, because although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their hearts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible men and birds and four-footed animals and creeping things. In other words, what man does is he wants to worship the creature rather than the creator.

He exalts the things of this world rather than the things of Jesus Christ. And there is this refusal to love God. I know you that you do not have the love of God in you. Now these were people who were very serious about the law. The scribes and the Pharisees had boxes on their hands and on their bodies with verses of scripture.

They were carrying around verses of scripture, you know, like some people have in their houses, but it didn't really mean that they honored him. They honored the religion. They could defend the theology. They could debate it. And they loved the praise of man.

Verse 44, how can you believe who receive honor from one another and do not seek the honor which comes from the only God." What Jesus is saying is that the heart of unbelief is to desire honor from one another. This is the heart of rejecting God, the love of the praise of man. And that means that the love of God is not in you when you desire more than anything else the praise of man. Now I realize all of us still desire the praise of man to some measure. But God is doing many things in Christians lives in order to attack their pride, to help them to love the praise of man less.

And you'll find that as you grow older and older, that there'll be more things coming to your life in order to deal with your pride, because God loves you. But the pride of man is at the heart of unbelief and this sinful condition. We want to advertise ourselves as being so wonderful. I remember when we first started a church in Wake Forest in the year 2001, we were meeting in a middle school and in the auditorium and in the auditorium right above the platform were all these philosophical messages that the administration wanted to communicate and one time for about for several months I was preaching under this gigantic sign that said magical me because that's what they wanted to teach the students I felt very uncomfortable you know preaching into that sign magical me no you know and but this is the philosophy of this world. The world wants to teach you just how magical and wonderful and gifted and how good and how valuable you are.

And That's the heart of idolatry. And it's the way that people end up in hell, by loving themselves and wanting honor for themselves. Because when you embrace Jesus Christ, you will lose significant honor in the eyes of this world. You'll lose it. If you want to obey God, you will lose friends.

You will. You know, people don't reject Christ because of their intellect. They don't reject Christ because of their intellectual scientific knowledge. They don't believe because they want honor for men. They want institutional favor.

And they're unwilling to believe because they'd rather have the honor of the scholars than they would have the honor of Jesus Christ, the creator of the world. And so for the unbeliever it's not really a question of intellect, it's not a question of proof at all, it's not a question of scientific data that keeps people from Jesus Christ. It's far simpler than that. It's that they want the honor and the praise and the favor of man. That's what Jesus is communicating here.

They want to be promoted. They want to be thought well of. They want to have the respectful meetings in the marketplaces like Jesus said the scribes and the Pharisees wanted. Here's what I want us to remember. Whom you honor either creates a fatal flaw or an eternal joy.

Who do you honor? Do you honor the Son? We want honor from others. It's the greatest obstacle against believing in the gospel of Jesus Christ. You know, man is animated by honor, and the trouble with man is that he's motivated by the praise and the honor of man.

And you know, to honor someone really is to praise them. To honor Jesus Christ is to praise him. To honor man, or to honor yourself, is to praise yourself. And we must never forget that it was ambition, it was ambition for honor and for self that led to the fall. Adam and Eve wanted to be like God.

They did not want to be servants in the garden. They wanted to be sultans in the garden. They wanted to be the idea generators in the garden. They wanted their ideas to rule and reign. They weren't satisfied with God's ideas.

They didn't honor God. They wanted to honor themselves and their own thoughts. This is the heart of all idolatry and it's the heart of all entry into perdition. At the Tower of Babel they wanted to make a name for themselves. When Israel wanted a king they wanted to be like the other nations And so Jeremiah stands up and says, don't learn the ways of the Gentiles.

Why would you want to learn the ways of the Gentiles? There's really only one reason, to be like them, to have their favor, to have their praise, to fit in with them, to do the things that they do. And God calls you out of all of that. And that's really one of the aspects of the scandal of the gospel. When you turn to Him, there's much to lose.

But He who would lose His life would gain it. Honor is the driving force of humanity. It creates industries, it motivates politicians, it gives aspiration to pastors and teachers and administrators and executives and every kind of worker that is alive today. Honored, the desire for honor drives this world. What do you think is the driving force of the women's empowerment movement today or the LGBT movement today that is just sweeping these massive corporations, it's a desire for honor.

That's all it is. It's a desire for social respectability in a decaying, dying culture. It's what drives the platforms of candidates, and it's what drives people even to try to have perfect church attendance. Sometimes it's just the desire for the praise of man. The desire to be honored for what you write.

Do you write for the glory of God alone? Do you preach like just for the glory of God alone? I found that impossible to do. It's impossible to do anything exclusively for the glory of God. Your heart wants it, but you know that you don't want to be a buffoon and an idiot.

And so you... Your flaws come out in everything that you do. The pride of man runs so deep. We seek honor in our name dropping. We drop hints.

We make sure people know that we've given money or something of value so that we'll be well thought of. You know, often you'll find honor and disappointment tied. You can often find honor of self when you're encountering disappointed people, and you can track the people who are disappointed and disaffected toward their fellow believers in a straight line that leads to one thing. They're not receiving the honor that they desire and so they kill and they destroy and they justify themselves. And sometimes you can trace people who leave churches or cause church splits with a straight line with the desire to be honored.

Often it's true. I'm not saying that that it's always that way and it's not that way with every person that's ever left our church. I'm not saying that. I'm just saying that often the desire for honor is a driving force for separations of every kind. Honor is tied to our willingness or unwillingness to receive criticism.

We face a fear of criticism. We loathe the fact that we might offend someone. And it's a terrible quality to have, especially for preachers of the gospel, if they're afraid of offending. Like if you have a preacher who's afraid of offending people, that's so dangerous. I mean it's dangerous to have someone preaching who just wants to offend people and it's dangerous to have a preacher who's afraid to offend people.

Because the Bible says that elders are supposed to reprove and rebuke and exhort with great patience and humility. That's what they have to do. There's the matter of honor and losing respect in the community, the psychological community, the religious community, whatever community you might be in. There's honor in the institutions of the world, you know, which exalts self-exaltation. There's the receiving of honor for education.

We face this especially with the education of our children. We fear that they won't be able to fit in. Fearful they won't know what everyone else knows. Fearful that they won't have the accolades and the distinctions and the educational credentials and prowess that everyone else has and it's often fear that drives us in our education. Fear and fear of dishonor is one of the most Critical driving forces of our sinful hearts.

Even prioritizing honor of father and mother can cause trouble in your life. Jesus said in Luke chapter 14 verse 26, He said, if anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, even his own life also, he cannot be my disciple. And whoever does not bear his cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. Jesus is saying that if you love your father and mother more than him, you can't be his disciple. And if you prioritize the love of your father or your mother or your sister and you're so afraid of offending them that you won't be obedient to God.

God is either revealing pride that needs to be repented of or he's revealing that you're not even a believer. And I say that just to recognize that remaining pride is our greatest problem in the church, of people who are saved by grace. I'm not saying that if you have some measures of pride, you're not saved. I'm not saying that at all. I'm saying if you're discovering measures of pride and you're turning away from it, you're probably saved.

Being ruled by the honor of men, fearful of following Christ, for how it will ruin your relationships, is such a critical thing. Because whom you honor is not just a human flaw it's a fatal flaw and so Jesus says how can you believe when you receive honor from men So Jesus is obviously concerned about the things that get in the way of this life, which is our happiness. And he makes it very clear that honor can only be placed in one of two places. Honoring yourself is the honor of yourself keeping you from Jesus. If it is, cry out to Him and help Him break that pride and come to Him.

And give up your life and let him have your life and guess what? He will take you and you'll hear his voice and the first thing you'll hear is enter into the joy of your Master. Would you pray with me? Oh Lord, we are amazed at your Son Jesus' penetrating of our hearts, of exposing us for who we really are, for helping us to be saved by showing us what's happening in our hearts so that we can be relieved and freed from our sin. And so that you also, Lord, would continue to root out remaining pride in your church, in my heart, in all of our hearts, Lord.

Oh Lord, that you would make a humble church here, that we would honor the Son, that our honor would go toward Him in everything, and oh Lord, that you would save any, even today, who honor themselves Or they honor father and mother or they honor their education or their psychology or their University or their friends or their religion or anything that is standing in the way. Oh Lord, that you would come and bless this church with such a humility and the happiness that comes from it through Jesus Christ. Amen.