In Jason Dohm's sermon titled 'An Audience of One', he explores the Christian calling to live solely for God's approval, modeled after Jesus Christ. Jesus' claims of having life within Himself and being the ultimate judge are either blasphemous or foundational truths, according to the sermon. To substantiate His claims, Jesus cites evidence from John the Baptist, His miraculous works, and scriptural fulfillment. Despite this evidence, many reject Jesus due to their pursuit of human praise over divine honor. Moreover, the sermon emphasizes that true obedience stems from the love of God within one's heart, and this love is essential for genuine faith. The rejection of Jesus is seen as a rejection of God, as Jesus is the ultimate revelation of the Father. The sermon calls for introspection on whether individuals are swayed by human admiration or committed to God's honor, urging believers to prioritize spiritual integrity and repentance.

The title of the sermon today is, An Audience of One. A phrase that was certainly not coined by me. I've been hearing this phrase really as long as I've been a Christian. But the thought behind the phrase is that the consideration of a Christian ought to be for the pleasure of one and only one. So the audience out there for the Christian is just one.

That one is God. We see that this is completely true of Jesus. Our call to live for an audience of one is really a call to Christlikeness. Jesus actually did what we struggle every day to do. We struggle with loving the praise of men and fearing men.

But Jesus loved only the honor of his father and only feared his father. Our calling as Christians is to learn to live like Jesus, to have an audience with just one member in the audience, God alone. This is our fourth week in one continuous discourse. In other words, we've taken a month to go through this, but this is just one time of Jesus speaking to one audience. In responding to these people who have challenged him over his Sabbath practices, he has made claims which are either blasphemy or they are central truths that you have to build your life around.

They are one or the other. They can't be anything other than one or the other of these things. They are either blasphemy, and you ought to be stoned for saying them, or they are central truths. They are so foundational that you and I have to build our lives on these truths. Well, what could you claim that would be that much of a lightning rod?

Well, they're twofold. One, Jesus has claimed that his Father has granted him to have life in himself. In other words, Jesus doesn't borrow life from anywhere. You're borrowing life today, and so am I. And When the lending of life is over to us, it's done.

But Jesus isn't like that at all. He has a life within Himself. He draws upon life within Himself, and He can give it or withhold it from us. The second great claim is that the Father has entrusted all judgment to Him. Anyone who has ever lived will stand before the Lord Jesus Christ and it will be Jesus' judgment that rules the day.

This is either blasphemy or something you have to build your life on. That's handed over to us to decide which it is. In our last text, Jesus gave different witnesses as evidence. Jesus acknowledged that when someone comes and makes claims that are either blasphemy or foundational truths that you have to build your life on, that you don't just take their word for it. They better have evidence if they're going to make claims like that.

So Jesus actually gives his evidence. John the Baptist, the forerunner that had been prophesied and was given the message of God to point to Jesus Christ was evidence. The works that he was doing were actually very specific marks of the Messiah that God, when he made the promise that he would send to Savior, he said, you'll know the Savior's here when you see him doing these things. And Jesus is doing them. One right after the other, after the other, after the other.

And then finally, the Father speaking through Scripture is evidence. It's fantastic evidence. John the Baptist, the works that Jesus did, the works that no one else did, certainly not in that volume. And the Father speaking through Scripture, and then all these things coming to fruition, coming true in the life of Jesus Christ is fantastic evidence that He is who He said He is, and that His work does what He says it does. Then He finished with this verse.

This was the last verse from last week's text. Jesus says to them, but you are not willing to come to me that you may have life. In spite of all this great evidence, you won't come to me that you may have life. As we come to this week's text, let's ask the Lord to help us. God, you know us inside and out.

There's nothing about us that you don't know. You know how often we are swayed by hoping to be praised by others and by the fear of man. Oh God, come by your spirit and use this text in our lives to free us. Make us more free than we ever have been from a craving to be honored by others and from a fear of what others can do, their opinions of us. Please, please God, use this text in a mighty way in our lives.

We pray in Jesus' name. Amen. The first part of the text, I'm only dividing the text into two today, The first part will be verses 41 through 44. So hopefully you've still got a finger in John chapter 5. Follow along as I read verses 41 through 44.

Again, this is Right at the end of a long continuous discourse, so try to keep the other things that have been said in mind. Verse 41, Jesus says, 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?

You who receive honor from one another and do not seek the honor that comes from the only God? In these four verses we have the honor sought by Jesus and the honor sought by his hearers. So if you are filling in blanks on the handout there are two blanks. It's Jesus and hearers. The honor sought by Jesus and the honor sought by his hearers.

So if you're filling in blanks on the handout, there are two blanks. It's Jesus and hearers. The honor sought by Jesus and the honor sought by his hearers. And the idea in these verses is there's A tremendous contrast. The honor that Jesus seeks exclusively is completely opposite to the honor that the ones who were seeking to kill him.

Remember this is where the discourse started with these men who wanted to kill Jesus and they are seeking a completely different kind of honor than Jesus is seeking. So we have a contrast here in these verses. This section begins with the words, I do not receive honor from men. And it's almost exactly like what Jesus already said just a few verses up in verse 34. He said, I do not receive testimony from men.

So, further up, earlier in the one continuous discourse, he said, I do not receive testimony from man. And here he says, I do not receive honor from men. In that instance, when he said, I don't receive testimony from man, he was actually talking about John the Baptist. Well what could be defective about the testimony of John the Baptist? No, no, no.

It wasn't about defects in John's testimony. Here's what I said last week about that. When Jesus said that he didn't receive the testimony of man, not even the testimony of John the Baptist, whom God had raised up And given that testimony to, it meant that Jesus isn't relevant because of John the Baptist's testimony. But John the Baptist is relevant because of Jesus' identity. In other words, John the Baptist doesn't make Jesus by his testimony.

Jesus makes John the Baptist by being who he is. And I gave an analogy of a herald. The herald goes out before the King comes to say, the King is coming. The Herald saying that doesn't make the King the King. He's saying it because the King is the King.

So the Herald doesn't make the King the King, makes the testimony of the herald relevant. This is the same. Jesus isn't made anything. He hasn't been from all eternity by the honor of men. Are you with me?

We don't make Jesus anything that he hasn't been from all eternity when we honor him. It's not our honor that makes Jesus. We honor him because of what he has been from all eternity. And Jesus isn't diminished in any way by our dishonor. We didn't make Him, we can't break Him.

He isn't made anything, He hasn't already been, He's unchangeable. You can't change Jesus and make him greater through honoring him, nor can you diminish him through your dishonor. He's not helped by our honor, he's not harmed by our dishonor. He simply is. I am that I am.

He is the self-existent God to be reacted to. So while men must come to him to have life, that isn't Jesus seeking that for the sake of his own honor. Ironically, it results in his honor, But that's not the purpose of Jesus being the source of life for Christians. It's not Jesus on an honor seeking mission. And that is in direct contrast to his hearers who were seeking to kill him and have rejected his witnesses.

Jesus in this part of the discourse is saying, I know you've rejected my witnesses. He gave them fantastic witnesses that is fantastic evidence that he is who he says he is, that he is the subject of the Old Testament types and prophecies. He's fulfilling them. But he knows that those witnesses and that evidence has been rejected by men who are actually on an honor-seeking mission. The ones who reject his witnesses and the evidences that he offers are rejecting it in large part because they are on an honor-seeking mission.

Jesus displays his knowledge of their hearts in verse 42. Look at verse 42 again. But I know you, that you do not have the love of God in you. Now he does know their hearts as God. We see that over and over again in the Gospels that Jesus is actually able to penetrate behind the shield that we put up, the exterior facade that we have, and to see into the hearts of people.

So we know that that's true of Jesus, because he's God, but also from many examples in the Gospels. And yet, they are also giving him external evidence. I'm not even sure he needs to be God to see that they don't have the love of God in their hearts. The things that they're saying and the things that they are doing are displaying that they have no love of God in their hearts. In verse 43, Jesus says this, 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. Here again, he is pounding away at a theme from this one continuous discourse. Let's just review where we are in the discourse as it relates to what Jesus is saying here in verse 43. Look back to verse 19. Then Jesus answered and said to them, Most assuredly I say to you, the son can do nothing of himself, but what he sees the Father do, for whatever he does the Son also does in like manner.

Or look at verse 30. Jesus says, I can 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." Or look at verse 36. Jesus says, 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." He says repeatedly, this is actually the fourth time he's said it in this discourse, the things that I'm saying are things that the Father has given me to say.

The things that I'm doing are the works that the Father has given me to do. I can't do anything without the Father willing me to do these things. I am doing only the will of my Father. Jesus has not come in His own name to do His own will, He's come in His Father's name to do His Father's will. I think back to chapter 1 verses 17 and 18.

Flip back to chapter 1. Chapter 1, verses 17 through 18. This is John the Gospel writer's testimony about Jesus. Again, this is long after Jesus' life. He's reflecting back on all of his eyewitness experience and all of the teaching that he received from Jesus.

This is what John the Gospel writer says of Jesus in chapter 1 verses 17 and 18. For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him. No one has seen God the Father with their eyes, but Jesus was sent to be the ultimate self-revelation of God.

In other words, if you've seen Jesus, you have seen God. In fact, that's exactly what Jesus says to Philip in John 14 verse 9. We're not there yet, but I'm fast forwarding. That's what Jesus says to Philip. He who has seen me has seen the Father.

If you want to know what God is like, you study Jesus. Because he is the express image of God. He is the ultimate self-revelation of God. Now, what does that have to mean for people who reject Jesus? If Jesus is the ultimate self-revelation of the Father.

What does that mean for people who reject Jesus? It means they do not have the love of God in them. That's just what Jesus just said in our text. Listen to 1 John chapter 2 verses 22 and 23. It can't be said in more explicit terms than in 1 John 2 verses 22 and 23.

Who is a liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? He is anti-Christ who denies the Father and the Son. Alright, so we're only one verse in but just let me sort of summarize and repeat what that verse says. It says that if you deny Jesus is the Christ, Christ means the anointed one, the sent one, if you deny that Jesus is the anointed one of God, then you deny the Father and the Son. To deny Jesus is to deny the Father.

Verse 23, whoever denies the Son does not have the Father either. He who acknowledges the Son has the Father also. You either have both or you have neither. You either have Father and Son or you have neither Father nor Son. There is not a class of people on planet earth who are faithfully following and believing in and trusting God the Father but have rejected Jesus.

That's not a thing. Those people don't exist. By denying Jesus, they have denied the Father. Because Jesus is the ultimate self-revelation of the Father. By definition, those who don't like Jesus don't like the Father no matter what they say.

Then Jesus says something interesting, If another comes in his own name, him you will receive. I come in my Father's name, you reject me. But if somebody else comes in his own name, him you will receive. Jesus explicitly speaks of this in Matthew chapter 24. He is actually speaking about the signs that God is going to come in judgment.

All these things fulfilled in 70 AD and the Romans destroying Jerusalem in the temple. Listen to what Jesus says in Matthew 24 verse 24, for false Christ and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive if possible even the elect. So what Jesus says here in John chapter 5 is actually historically extremely verifiable. Though they rejected Christ, if someone else were to come in their own name, they actually would receive Him. J.C.

Ryle quotes a scholar who lists 64 false messiahs that came in the century following Jesus' death. More than one every two years someone was Raising himself up to say, I'm the Messiah. And gathering enough of a following that a scholar could point back and say, Yep, you saw when that guy did it, you saw when that guy did it, you saw when that guy did it, times sixty-four. More than once every two years someone was gathering a following, coming in his own name, making messianic claims, claims to being the Messiah, and people bought it. Why these sixty-four and not Jesus?

In other words, if someone could make claims to being the Messiah and gathering a following, Why did they reject Jesus? We can tell from the Gospels what the unbelieving people desired in a Messiah. If you read Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, what were they looking for? What were they hoping for? They were hoping for a liberator.

They were hoping for a conquering king. In fact, next week we start into John chapter 6. In John chapter 6, Jesus is going to miraculously feed the multitude, and they're going to say, We want you as king! Right on! We're with that kind of Messiah.

Free food? You're our king. So these sixty-four men in the century After Jesus lived, died, and was resurrected, these sixty-four men made claims that were consistent with what the people wanted. They were offering prosperity, or they were offering liberation from oppression. They wanted that kind of Messiah.

Jesus though, is demanding to be trusted as God and wanting to deal with their sin. We didn't want that kind of Messiah. It was incompatible with human nature. So if someone makes claims that are consistent with human nature, you want stuff? Yes, I want stuff.

You want to be rid of the Romans? Yes, I want to be rid of the Romans. Then, Him you will receive. But Jesus comes and says, you have to receive me as King of Kings. And We have to deal with your sin.

That was a Messiah that was incompatible with the natural man with human nature. Finally in this section we have verse 44 look at verse 44 the last verse in this subsection Jesus says How can you believe to receive honor from one another, and do not seek the honor that comes from the only God. Jesus describes this, it's really sort of a sermon on his own teaching in Matthew chapter 6. So turn to Matthew chapter 6 where Jesus describes in great detail this craving for the honor of men. Probably the same group.

Matthew chapter 6. I'm going to read verses 1-6 and then I'm going to skip to 16. So I'll be reading Matthew chapter 6, 1-6, and then 16-18. Jesus says, take heed that you do not do your charitable deeds before men to be seen by them. Otherwise you have no reward from your Father in heaven.

Therefore, when you do a charitable deed, do not sound a trumpet before you as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory from men. Assuredly I say to you, they have their reward. But when you do a charitable deed, Do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing. That your charitable deed may be done in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will himself reward you openly.

And when you pray, you shall not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. But you, when you pray, go into your room. When you have shut your door, pray to your father who is in the secret place and your father who sees in secret will reward you openly. Skipping to verse 16.

Moreover, when you fast, do not be like the hypocrites with a sad countenance, for they disfigure their faces that they may appear to men to be fasting. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. But you, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, so that you do not appear to men to be fasting. But to your Father who is in the secret place, and your Father who sees in secret, will reward you openly." So Jesus just creates a pattern here. He starts with charitable deeds and then he talks about prayer and then he talks about fasting and he begins each one by saying what the hypocrites do.

They do it to be seen. They are craving the honor of men. And so they make their charitable deeds, their prayers, their fasting as visible as possible so that no one can miss that they're doing good deeds or praying or fasting. And in each case, as Jesus builds a pattern, he talks about the Christian version of good deeds and prayer and fasting. The Christian version is no one else even knows you're doing it.

Your left hand doesn't even know your right hand is doing the good deed. You're praying behind closed doors. You're making yourself well-kept for your fast days so that no one even guesses that you're fasting. And the idea is that the people who are seeking glory get it and that's all they get. They receive their reward.

You crave honor from men, okay, you get honor from men. And there it ends. You crave honor from God, well, you have to hide these things from men. You do these things in secret. Then you receive the honor of God.

He will reward you openly. You will see it in secret and reward you openly. This is exactly what Jesus is speaking about in our text. This is exactly what it means to live for an audience of one. Your good deeds are not for the rest of us.

Your good deeds are for Him. So it doesn't matter at all if no one else knows. In fact, it's preferable if no one else knows. Sometimes other people have to know. But it's preferable if you can work it out so they don't know, so that you can know in your heart it was just for the audience of one.

It was just for God. It's a danger sign if most of your prayer is public prayer. This should cut us to hear. It cuts me to hear. It's a dangerous sign about your heart and what you're really seeking after when most of your prayer are prayers that are heard by other people.

They are not in the secret place behind a closed door. Jesus was living for an audience of one. This is what was so infuriating to the Jewish leaders. He never sought their approval. They wanted to be the approvers of anyone who would receive honor.

Jesus never sought it. Jesus shunned it. He shunned their honor. And it infuriated them. He was only living for an audience of one.

So if we are to grow in Christ-likeness, we have to grow in this. We have to stop loving the approval and honor of the rest of us. We're really talking about us in this room. We may seek it from those outside of this room, but if we're going to have that kind of craving, most likely it's going to be from people within the Christian faith who we respect. Growing in Christlikeness means growing in only caring about the approval of one.

Seeking after the honor of one. And Jesus indicates that this craving of honor from men will actually hold me back from believing. Look what he says, how can you believe when your hearts are like this? How can you even believe when your hearts crave honor from men? At many points having honor from God costs you the honor of men.

And so you have to decide. You must choose. Here's a note from the Expositors Bible commentary that I thought was very helpful. A mutual admiration society is not interested in believing what does not conform to its own limited and self-centered interests, love of self has effectively precluded love of God." Isn't that true? Love of self wages war against love of God.

Have you ever heard that term before? I'm sure you have. A mutual admiration society. What is that? It's a group where we have an unspoken deal.

Nobody had to say it, but we all acknowledged that it was true. I'm going to praise you and you're going to praise me. I'm going to overlook your faults and sins and you're going to overlook mine. That will be good for you and your ego and it will be good for me and my ego. A mutual admiration society where The rules of the club are never spoken, but they're always the same.

We praise each other, and we ignore the sins of each other. And it's really just self-love. Everyone operating in their own self-love. We agree to conspire in each other's self-love and it keeps us from believing because self-love chokes out what should be the object of our love, which is God. Alright, back to our text.

The last section, verses 45 through 47. Jesus says, 45 through 47. Jesus says, 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 me, for he wrote about me.

But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe my words?" In these verses we have the ultimate undoing of unbelievers. So if you're taking notes on the handout and you're filling in blanks, it's undoing, the ultimate undoing of unbelievers. What is it at the end of the day that dooms unbelievers? I think we have it In this section. In chapter 9, I know we're not there yet, but in chapter 9, the Pharisees will be asked, do you want to become Jesus' disciples?

Here's John 9 verses 28 and 29. This is their response. Then they reviled him and said, You are his disciple, but we are Moses' disciples. We know that God spoke to Moses. As for this fellow, we do not know where he is from.

That's what they said when this man who had been healed said, Do you want to become Jesus' disciples? And they rebuked him for even asking and said, you're Jesus' disciple, we're Moses' disciples. In other words, their story is, Moses is our guy. Not this Jesus, we don't even know where he's from. Not Jesus, Moses.

Moses is our guy. And So they pit Jesus against Moses. Not you Jesus, but him. He's our guy. You're not our guy.

Moses is our guy. But Jesus separates them from this false notion. It's such a false notion. By the way, there's a lot out there today that pits Moses against Jesus. Don't ever accept a word of it.

Moses can't be pitted against Jesus. Jesus spoke through Moses. Jesus is just continuing to develop what he already said in verse 39. Just look up a couple of verses. Jesus said, you search the scriptures for in them you think you have eternal life and these are they which testify of me.

He's continuing on that theme. Where did Moses write about Jesus? Moses is the author of the Pentateuch. Pentah 5. First five books of the Bible.

Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy. Genesis 3.15. I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed. This is the curse on the serpent. There will be a continual war between the seed of the serpent and the seed of the woman.

He shall bruise your head and you shall bruise his heel. Jesus is the fulfillment of that. Jesus in Genesis chapter 3, Or Genesis 22, 18. In Genesis 22, 18, we have the third repetition of the promise to Abraham. But it's the one I think goes most clearly to our point.

So I'm quoting the third one. Jesus repeats this promise to Abraham Genesis 22 18 in your seed Abraham all the nations of the earth shall be blessed Because you have obeyed my voice In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed." Jesus Christ is the fulfillment of that. In what way are all nations blessed through Abraham? Because he is the fountainhead of the line of the Messiah. Genesis 49 verse 10.

Genesis 49 verse 10. Israel is blessing his sons and he says to Judah, The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh comes, and to him shall be the obedience of the people." That's Jesus. In fact, The Jews did and still view Genesis 49.10 that I just read to you, that the scepter would not depart from Judah, but there will always be one of the line of Judah on the throne. Until Shiloh comes, that word Shiloh has been and is still embraced as a messianic title. In Exodus chapter 12, we have the Passover Lamb.

In 1st Corinthians chapter 5, Paul says Jesus is our Passover. In Leviticus, we have the ceremonial law. All of that pointed to a future reality. In other words, the importance of all of the ceremonial law that we see in Leviticus. It's in Exodus too, but it dominates Leviticus.

I just finished Leviticus in my Bible reading plan this morning. Believe me, the ceremonial law dominates Leviticus. The significance of it is not that we know how many planks were to make the tent. The significance of it is that it's pointing to a future reality. The sacrificial system, the tabernacle, Jesus is Emmanuel, God with us, He tabernacles with us.

The priesthood, the scapegoat, who the people were to lay their hands on to transfer their sins and send out the guilty laying their hands on the innocent. In Matthew 5 verse 17 Jesus says, Do not think that I came to destroy the law of the prophets, I did not come to destroy, but to fulfill." One of the things that Jesus is doing when he says, I came to fulfill the law and the prophets, is he's saying, I am the future reality that all these things were pointing to. The future is here. The future is now. I'm fulfilling all of these truths that were pointed to by the pictures in the ceremonial law.

Numbers 21, you have the bronze serpent. Jesus has already said in his conversation with Nicodemus, as the serpent was lifted up in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up. Jesus identifies himself in the book of Numbers. Deuteronomy 18, a prophet like Moses will arise. This is what Moses prophesied.

God spoke that through Moses. And so when people are asking who Jesus is, often one of the answers given by the people is the prophet. That's what they mean. The fulfillment of Deuteronomy 18, verse 18. So there he is.

You can go a lot further than that, but There he is. Jesus is in Genesis. Jesus is in Exodus. Jesus is in Leviticus. Jesus is in Numbers.

Jesus is in Deuteronomy. So the promised Messiah isn't just something you can pick out here and there in the Old Testament with the benefit of the New Testament. Now, track with me here. I'm going to say that again. It is easy to think this, but it's not true.

The promised Messiah isn't just something you can pick out here and there in the Old Testament with the benefit of the New Testament. It's easy to say now that all that is Jesus, but no one could have known then, actually that's not true. Have you ever thought about this? I've never thought about what I'm getting ready to say. I saw a commentator say it.

I said, that's brilliant. Why didn't I ever think of that? Why didn't anyone ever say that to me before? The Old Testament doesn't have an ending. Now the Bible has an ending.

It has a New Jerusalem coming out of heaven. What's the ending of the Old Testament? Malachi. That's no ending to a book. The Old Testament is overwhelmingly unfulfilled promises.

And then Malachi, and then 400 years of silence. That book never ended. And then Christ came and punctuated all of those promises. Yes and amen. Yes and amen.

Yes and amen. Yes and amen. Now there's an end to the book. If you were to just have the Old Testament and just read the Old Testament, you would have to say, this is the most unresolved thing I've ever read in my life. Nothing is resolved here.

It is resolved in Christ. Listen to Luke 16. I'm going to be there for a while. You can turn to Luke 16 if you want. Luke 16.

This is about the testimony of Christ, the saving testimony that came through the lips of Moses. Luke 16, starting in verse 19. I'm going to read to the end of the chapter. Luke 16, starting in 19. Jesus says, There was a certain rich man, who was clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day.

There was a certain beggar named Lazarus, full of sores, who laid at his gate, desiring to be fed from the crumbs which fell from the rich man's table. Moreover, the dogs came and licked his sores. So it was that the beggar died and was carried by the angels to Abraham's bosom. The rich man also died and was buried. And being in torments and Hades, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham afar off and Lazarus in his bosom.

Then he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me and send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue for I am tormented in this flame. But Abraham said, Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, and likewise Lazarus' evil things. But now he is comforted and you are tormented. And besides all this, between us and you there is a great goal fixed, so that those who want to pass from here to you cannot, nor can those from there pass to us. Then he said, I beg you Therefore, Father, that you would send them to my father's house, for I have five brothers, that he may testify to them, lest they also come to this place of torment.' Abraham said to him, They have Moses and the prophets.

Let them hear them. And he said, No, Father Abraham, but if one goes to them from the dead, they will repent. But he said to him, If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, Neither will they be persuaded, though one rise from the dead. People fancy that if they just had a little bit more than they could believe. That's called self deceit.

That's not true. That's you tricking yourself. If I had this, but if I also had this, I could believe. Not true. Abraham says, if you won't believe Moses, even if someone came back from the dead, you wouldn't believe.

Such is the nature of our hearts. There's nothing defective about the testimony of this book. Nothing defective. It's not the reason we don't believe. The reason we don't believe is we love darkness.

His five brothers loved their darkness and if Lazarus had come out of the tomb and gone to them, they wouldn't have believed. They rejected Moses, they would have rejected a man from the tomb. It's not our problem that the evidence isn't quite good enough. We need something to carry it over the top. Our problem is that we're dead in our sins and transgressions.

We love our darkness. Jesus did not come to condemn. He came to save sinners. But many cling to their sins and their self-love. They will not be parted from their sins.

They will not be parted from their self-love. They will not be parted from their pride. They just can't give them up. So there is no need for Jesus to accuse them. Moses will do it.

In the laws that he wrote, they will be effectively accused. In the promises that he made about a Savior, they will be effectively accused. In the types that he gave that pointed forward to future things, that Christ fulfilled them all, they will be effectively accused. But others had and have eyes to see. I didn't even remember this until I saw this cross reference.

John 1.45, Philip found Nathaniel and said to him, We have found him of whom Moses in the law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth. Philip proves that those things weren't so deeply buried in the Old Testament after all. Philip experienced Jesus and he was able to see the connection. Moses wrote about him. It's happening.

The prophets wrote about this Jesus of Nazareth. It's happening. And that was before Jesus got going good. That was before Jesus had hardly done anything. Let's let Paul have the final word in Acts chapter 26.

This is Paul before King Agrippa. He is testifying before King Agrippa. This is Acts 26. I will read Acts 19-23. Acts 26, starting at verse 19.

Paul says, Therefore, King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision, but declared first to those in Damascus and in Jerusalem and throughout all the region of Judea, and then to the Gentiles that they should repent, turn to God, and do works befitting repentance. For these reasons the Jews seized me in the temple and tried to kill me. Therefore, having obtained help from God, to this day I stand witnessing both to small and great, saying no other things than those which the prophets and Moses said would come. That the Christ would suffer, that he would be the first to rise from the dead, and would proclaim light to the Jewish people and to the Gentiles. Paul on trial before this king, King Agrippa, when he's testifying, he's saying, I have nothing new to say other than what Moses and the prophets already said, saying no other things than those which the prophets and Moses said would come that the Christ would suffer.

That He would be the first to rise from the dead and would proclaim light to the Jewish people and to the Gentiles. The Gospel is wonderful. The New Testament is clear as a bell. I love it. But it really fundamentally says no other things than that which the prophets and Moses said.

At least that's Paul's testimony about it. That's what Jesus is saying to his accusers. Applications. I have three. One, is the love of God in you?

Is the love of God in you? Jesus says to these eminently religious people, I know you, I know you that the love of God is not in you. Now think about that for a minute. Particularly as it relates to what Jesus says in Matthew 22. In Matthew 22 Jesus has asked, Teacher, which is the great commandment?

He says, love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. And love your neighbors yourself. That's the second great commandment. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. In other words, you haven't obeyed at all without the love of God in your heart.

You never obeyed unless you have the love of God in your heart, because it wasn't heart obedience. Think about that. Think about how religious and accepted and approved, and respectable, Jesus' hearers are. But he says to these law keepers, I know you, the love of God isn't in you. It means they've never kept the law one time.

Doesn't it? They're so religious. They have a reputation for being the strict law keepers. That's who the Pharisees were. They were the ones who were good at keeping the law.

Nope. Not true. True obedience is heart obedience. Listen to what Jesus says in Luke 11, 42, But woe to you Pharisees, you tie the mint and rue and all manner of herbs and pass by justice and the love of God. You tithe down to the garden spices.

You're so precise and careful. Only you don't care about justice and you don't care about the love of God. What a trap. What a tragedy. To spend your life being precise down to the garden spices, but to never have any spiritual life and no affection for God in your heart.

We say things like this most Sundays, and I don't want you to think it's tricky. You know what it is to love. Is that in there? Is there real affection for God in your heart? Does your heart ever burn for God?

Your heart burns from time to time for the object of your affections. Your mind is occupied with it. You love it! Is the love of God in you. Number two.

To what extent is love of the praise of others present in your heart? Easy to come away from this text and think of it as all or nothing. Either I have an audience of one or I love the praise of men. The truth of it is, after you become a Christian, the real question is to what extent? I'm not sure the most eminent saint, the most Christian who has made the most progress across the most decades, dies without some of this still left in the heart.

Still liking just a little to be praised by men. So really the question for us isn't, is there any of that left in my heart? It's how much of that is left in my heart. This is very sneaky. This is one of the things that was said at Men's Study on Monday morning.

How sneaky love of the praise of man is. We never call it love of the praise of man. This knows how to hide out in our hearts. Oh yes. It knows the dark corners.

It knows the nook and crannies where it's safe. The love of the praise of man is hard to get out of there because we thought it was something else. The stories we tell tells us a lot. And who we are in those stories. And how our role in the story somehow always gets overplayed a little.

And our defects in the stories get underplayed a little or more. Often a lot more than a little. If you hear yourself as the hero, As you're telling stories as the hero in every story, this tells us something. When we hear ourselves skipping past our own defects in the story, this tells us something about ourselves. To what extent are we part of mutual admiration societies?

Hey, guess what? Elder teams can be mutual admiration societies. Don't ask me how I know that. So hey, let me just say this. This isn't for them out there.

This text isn't for them out there. This text is for us in here. This text is for our elder team. That it not drifts by degrees and it's imperceptible to us, but over time it becomes a mutual admiration society where we agree not to touch each other's sins. To what extent is the love of the praise of others present in your heart.

Number three. Do you believe Moses? Not believe in Moses, not that you're trusting in Moses for salvation, but do you believe what he said? He made a whole lot of promises on behalf of God who put the words in his mouth. They had been fulfilled in Jesus Christ.

Do you believe him? We saw Jesus in Genesis. We saw Jesus in Exodus. We saw Jesus in Leviticus. We saw Jesus in Numbers.

We saw Jesus in Deuteronomy. He's there. Do you believe Moses? Jesus has died for sinners. He's the only way you can be free from sin, his blood.

Here's another comment. J.C. Ryle made much of this. Every New Testament writer, when they deal with Old Testament texts, take it at face value. Every New Testament writer dealing with Old Testament texts, They always take it at face value.

In other words, there really was a Moses. He's not a mythical creature. He lived and he wrote those books. Modern day Bible scholarship is rife with skepticism about whether Moses really wrote the Pentateuch. Well, let's stop here.

Jesus thought he did. Jesus thought he did. Believe Jesus thought he did. Believe Moses. Let's pray.

Thank you for your truth. Thank you for giving us truth, giving us your word. God, We get confronted every week with our own sins and shortcomings, our own wrong thinking. God, we don't want to run away from those confrontations. We want to say, Bring on next week's text.

Bring on another confrontation. Correct another wrong thought of ours. Confront another sin that is hiding in a nook and cranny in our heart. Let us have your truth. Make us a repenting people, a changing people, a growing people.

Pray for the work of your Spirit in us in Jesus name, Amen. Thank you. Good night.