The Love of Human Praise as the Root of Unbelief

let's pray father without you and without Christ and without the Holy Spirit we can do nothing nothing of any Eternal significance and nothing that I really want to see happen in this message and so I invite you to come in power and to Open the Eyes of the Blind and to Grant The Taste for Christ that presently is either dull or dead and to set us free from the bondage to the praise of men so draw near now I pray and do this saving work this strengthening work this purifying work this liberating work in Jesus

name amen last Sunday when I met with the small group Shepherd group leaders to speak to them briefly the ones who are represented here was the downtown campus small group leaders I gave them seven reasons for why preaching is not enough I wanted to persuade them how essent IAL they are in the life of this church and in the normal living out of the Christian Life Peter said that we are to serve one another as good stewards of God's varied Grace so the body of Christ is to serve each other as Steward in Grace Grace

comes from God and then we Steward it we manage it it is given and then we manage it that's the definition of spiritual gifts a spiritual gift is a way of stewarding Grace taking it from vertical and making it horizontal and we believe that happens significantly and importantly and normally in settings of small groups so I gave them seven reasons why preaching is not enough I believe in what I do I have given my life to it and I know that it is not enough and here are the seven reasons number one the impulse to

avoid painful growth by disappearing safely into a crowd in corporate worship is very strong number two the tendency toward passivity in listening to a sermon is part of our human weakness three listeners in a big group can more easily evade Redemptive crises If Tears well up in your eyes here you probably can get out without anybody asking why but if it happens in your small group probably not not if it's a good small group they will wonder can we help fourth listeners in a large group like this tend to neglect efforts of personal application the

sermon May strike a nerve of conviction but without someone to press in on where it should go in your life so easy to walk away from that moment of conviction and application number five opportunity for questions leading to growth is missing a sermon is not a dialogue nor should it be however asking questions is a key to understanding and if there is no place for it in your life to grow with clarification and application you cut yourself off from great growth number six accountability for follow-through on good resolves is is missing If someone knows what

you intend to do in response to a truth then you will be more likely to do it and number seven prayer support for a specific need conviction resolve goes wanting I mean a few people come up to pray after a service but we can't handle a thousand at the end of a service and yet small groups can handle a thousand in fact they can handle it way better than I can here at the end of a service how many blessings we forfeit not being surrounded by five or 10 brothers and sisters laying hold on God

With Us for the thing we so badly need those were my seven reasons I really believe it so that when this is done twice a year and we put out a book like this we are not playing games this is life this is life if you only know corporate Worship in your Christian Living and not any kind of smaller togetherness of give and take and query and accountability and love and support and being there and praying then you are cutting the Christian Life in half and the blessings will be apportioned probably in accord with that

choice so when we move now to John 5 veres 30-47 when we move to John 5 I believe that issues are going to be exposed in your life I know they have been in mind one in particular that we need help with outside this room sinful inclination are going to be exposed in every single person in this room I have zero doubt about that because everybody in this room is guilty of what this text is most concerned about and therefore if you have any ears to hear at all your conscience will be awakened and you

will feel bad about some of the ways you are deep down inside owing to your human corruption you shouldn't deal with that by yourself things will be dealt with in my life and call for Kempton and Karen Turner and David and Karen Livingston and Bud and Lisa Burke and Mike and Katherine Tong and my wife to watch for that's my small group they should watch for this thing that we're going to get to in a few minutes in me and if they see a whiff of it they should tell me and so I am living

in a in a community of mirrors and and they should reflect back to me what I really am when I look at a mirror ordinary it's like a carnival mirror it configures me way better than I am that doesn't make any sense does it Carnival mirrors that make you look not weird but better than you are are that's what all of us are like the only way to know ourselves is for other people to start giving us feedback that's the only way to know yourself truly so here we are in John 5 and I'm going

to walk through the text with you and it will become increasingly pointed because that's the way Jesus develops it this is verses 30- 47 we're going to finish the chapter Lord willing maybe maybe take up a few things at a later message in this same unit but walk through the whole thing and I show you how it flows let's start at uh verse 30 I can do nothing on my own Jesus says so here he's he said this before he's stressing his perfect harmony with the father one step he takes one step I take we're

always in perfect SN with each other that's what it means both to be God as I hear I judge and my judgment is just because I seek not my own will but the will of him who sent me now instead of picking up on the just part of that when I read that verse I thought oh this is now going to be a text about the Justice of the Judgment of Jesus and there's not a word said about it after this that's not what he picks up on this verse what he picks up on in

verse 30 is that he's not seeking his own will but the will of him who sent him we can talk at another time perhaps about why that would guarantee the justice of his judgment which is what he says look at that my judgment is just because I seek not my own will but the will of him who sent me and that theme not me but God not me but God not my will but God's will not my exaltation but God's exaltation not my witness but God's witness to me that's what carries through the rest of

this entire chapter that's what he's picked up on so let's follow in verse 31-36 even though he says here now that his own witness is not the decisive Witness to himself he has Witnesses John the Baptist and his God wrought Miracles let's read if I bear witness about myself my testimony is not true I'm leaving out two words there just to make it literal there is another who Bears witness about me and I know that the testimony that he Bears about me is true now that could be God the father or it could be John

the Baptist both of them are referred to in the following verses as witnesses to Jesus maybe he intends it to be ambiguous for both of them verse 33 you sent to John and he has borne witness to the truth not that the testimony that I receive is from man but I say these things so that you may be saved in other words human testimony John's in particular human testimony is not decisive in who I am it can be true and I think he's saying here when he says that you may be saved it can be

helpful if it helps you over the hump to hear this human testimony if it helps you move toward me feel more confident that what I'm saying is true bless it and may you be saved by it but it isn't decisive I don't re receive human testimony meaning I don't receive it as the decisive crediting of my truthfulness verse 35 he John the Baptist was a burning and Shining lamp and you were willing or you wanted to Res to Rejoice for a while in his light but the testimony that I have is greater than that of

John that's what he meant when he said I don't receive human testimony I don't need human testimony the testimony that I have is greater than that of John for the works that the father has given me to accomplish the very works that I am doing bear witness about me that the father has sent me so in the end the final decisive witness to my truthfulness is God's Witness God has given me these Works to do and I keep in step with the father perfectly so that when I do these works you are seeing the action

of God and when I speak you're hearing the words of God and God is witnessing to my truthfulness and now comes the real painful meat of this text verses 37 to 47 if this is true I have a witness yes there's a man yes you wanted to hear him but I have something greater than John my works are from my father God is testifying of himself through me here now if that's true why are the people who supposedly know God best not believing that's what the rest of this text is about this text from here

37 to 47 is one unremitting indictment of his hearers unbelief six of them one after the other and then comes near the end a profound explanation for why this is why are these people not believing here I am John bore a witness they wanted to hear John and God is at work in me I I speak in a way I act in a way that no human has ever acted or could ever act why aren't they believing indictment number one I'm just going to walk you through and show them to you indictment number one verses

37 and 38 and the father who sent me has himself born witness about me his voice you've never heard his form you've never seen you do not have his word abiding in you for you do not believe on the one whom he has sent they've never heard God they've never seen God his word is not in them and they do not not believe in the one whom he has sent indictment number one number two verses 39 and 40 you search the scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life it is they that

bear witness about me yet you refuse to come to me now that's literally you don't want to come to me that's so important I just wrote down in my list that I keep to send off to the editors of the ESV how to make this translation better this should be translated you don't want to come to me because I can't make my point without that literal translation the question is why do they refuse and it tells us they don't want to come they don't want to come that you may have life so you read your

old testament which points to me everywhere maybe we'll preach a sermon on that a couple weeks preach it everywhere this Old Testament is is pointing to me and you reason you don't come you don't want to come that's that's indictment number two indictment number three verses 41 and 42 I don't receive Glory from people but I know that you don't have the love of God in you I don't need human glory to complete me I don't steal the Cravings of My Heart by needing your praise but you you are so full of other things so

many Cravings you don't love God you don't love him that's indictment number three number four verse 43 I have come in my father's name and you don't receive me if another came in his own name you will receive him indictment number four you don't receive me you reject me you want another kind of Messiah if one came in his own name You' go after him but you won't come after me my oh my we're getting close to the bottom here here now the bottom of our souls not quite yet but almost why would they go

after another Messiah who came in his own name what's with it with these people why would that make a man so attractive to them it came in his own name we'll come back to that that's indictment number four number five verse 44 how can you believe when you receive Glory from one another and do not seek the glory that comes from the only God this has no answer in the text because it's a statement right how can you believe he's not asking for information here how can you believe who receive Glory from one another answer

you can't that's what he's saying I can how do you expect to be able to believe when you're in love with the praise of man how can you possibly believe if you have a love affair with Applause you can't now we're at the bottom you can't if that's the way you are you can't believe that's indictment number five number six verses 45- 47 do not think that I will accuse you to the father there is one who accuses you Moses on whom you have set your hope because if you believed Moses you'd believe me that's

an amazing statement for he wrote of me there it is again verse 47 but if you do not believe his writings how will you believe my words you won't because you don't can you imagine how offensive this was you just cannot imagine this gets a man crucified to talk like that you don't believe Moses and so you don't believe me you don't believe his writings so you can't believe my words Moses writings all point to me second half of verse 46 for he wrote of me but you don't see it you don't see it why

don't you see it you won't need me to judge you Moses is going to judge you he he's going to rise on the Mount of transfiguration he knows me he wrote about me he saw me he loves me he praise me he's flabbergasted in heaven that you're not believing on me and he will be a witness against you at the last day so here's the psalm verse 38 you don't have God's word in you you don't believe the one whom he sent verse verse 40 you don't want to come to me verse 42 you don't

have the love of God In You Verse 43 you don't believe me verse 44 you can't believe me verse 46 you don't believe Moses and you don't believe me Relentless indictment here's the question why was this gospel written somebody want to tell me the verse chapter 20 verse 31 by the time we're done by the time we're done with this series everybody's going to know that okay I'm going there again and again and again John 20:31 these things were written that you may believe on Jesus as the Son of God Messiah Son of God and

believe has life in his name so the point of the book is that you may believe so what's he up to here you think he's just throwing words out like he doesn't like these people these are his Kinsmen he weeps over these people Jerusalem Jerusalem how of would I've gathered you like a hen gathers her chicks and you would not he doesn't not like these people he Longs for them he's going to die for them what's he up to here's what he's up to he's up to exposing the fact of unbelief and the ground of

unbelief so that everybody in this room will know why you don't believe or have a very hard time believing this is not a Jewish Problem here's an interesting thing I you might still think oh why didn't those Jews understand that their Messiah had come there's not a whiff in this text that the problem with these hearers is uniquely ethnic or religious of any group on the planet there's only one thing that's clear here it is human to the core so don't go the wrong direction here like oh those people it's oh Us blind hard proud

prais loving humans this gospel is one of the most Jewish in the Bible and it's always going beneath jewishness to humanity always it is a very profound book if you stay on the surface he's always talking to Jews of course what else is there to talk to he's a Jew he's a rabbi but when he gets down to the issues it's me he's dealing with and you there is one bottom line answer in these verses 37 to 47 only one for why they didn't we didn't and have a hard time believing the bottom is almost

reached in verse uh 40 where it says literally not you refuse to come to me but you don't want to come to me what we want fellow humans has a massive control on what we can believe if you want something badly enough and believing the truth will take it away from you you will see see the truth as error and remain enslaved to your want the blinding power of human wants is absolutely staggering I have walked through so many divorces so much adultery so much stuff with people and to hear them talk you think you

are blind as a bat can't you see what you're doing feels good feels good I don't think God wants me to be unhappy as a pastor I I stand before the power of human wants in a kind of reverence it is so demonically powerful what we want exerts over our ability to believe things and see things a staggering influence so that's almost at the bottom it's not the bottom yet but it's powerful and you need to know that Jesus is loving you right now he's helping you understand why you struggle to believe that's what he's

doing right this second Jesus is talking to you why do I have such a hard time believing those Christians that you know they seem so excited and I don't see it this is one of the reasons you don't see it you're enslaved to desires that you feel if you went there if you T totally surrendered if you totally dove into the pool of Grace and life you'd lose too much which is of course a lie out of hell it's all gain in the end but the devil doesn't want you to see that so let's go

to the bottom and it is in verse uh 40 I one more thing I noticed in my notes here before I go to the bottom um the the reason Jesus said to Nicodemus right off the bat Nicodemus is one of these people right he's he's one of those humans who said what got to enter into your mother's tummy a second time and be born this is total blindness and Jesus says the the wind blows where it Wills you don't know where it comes from or where it's going so are everyone who are born of the

spirit we must be born again that's what I'm praying we pray downstairs God breathe on this room because I can't save anybody you can't save anybody including yourself but the Holy Spirit [Music] can sever the root of this controlling desire so that suddenly you're free to be rational and free to see and follow now verse 44 is the the bottom and verse 43 shows how it works what I mean by the bottom is the the bottom explanation if you were to take these seven these 10 verses and say what's the bottom explanation of unbelief it

would be verse 40 4 and if you were to say now how does that work it would be verse 43 so let's spend the rest of our time on these two verses verse 44 how can you believe meaning you can't when you receive Glory from one another and do not seek the glory that comes from the only God you can't believe why because you love the glory of man not the glory of God you love it it feels so good to be praised complimented approved applauded feels so good you don't want Jesus because you want

praise from man you want to be the center you want to be in control you want to be exalted you want to be made much of you want to be somebody pick whichever of those seems to fit you best for me they all fit perfectly that's who I am by Nature I I reverence the fall of Man in its power over me I was born this way I was spitting out parent controlling commands from the day I was 3 days old and I've never changed in my root Humanity until God moved and killed the old

man and brought a new creature to life who who hates this and Wars on it day after day which is the only reason I have any perseverance in faith at all is because God keeps showing up to help me keep putting that old man to death every day I don't need to remember 50 years ago what this was like I just need to remember an hour ago or maybe 5 seconds ago hoping you're going to like this sermon and who cares right except that you be saved it is so subtle so verse 43 seems to

me pretty clear you cannot believe if you have a love affair unchecked by the holy spirit with the praise of man with human glory and no love affair with the glory of God now how does it work verse 43 I have come in my father's name and you do not receive me if another comes in his own name you'll receive him why you won't receive me because I'm coming in my father's name but if if I came another way in my own name without drawing all attention to the father I judge as he judges I

walk as he walks I talk as he talks I'm all his everything is for His glory I'm here to serve him in my Humanity I have emptied myself of all Divine prerogatives I'm going to be obedient unto death even death on a cross you don't want that do you of course they don't nobody wants a messiah like that nobody unless God moves why do we want one who comes in his own name I'm coming in my own name I'm the greatest because he's just like us and so he doesn't make us feel guilty and he's

no threat to our ego CU we can just get in line and strut like he's Straten and we'll just strut our way to the kingship it's no threat to have a king who struts but a humble King makes me feel stupid cuz I love power I love praise I love commen and Jesus came and everywhere he went broken people were drawn and proud people got up got the back up and real real easy to see why he didn't come in his own name meaning he's just constantly saying I'm Yours father nevertheless not my will but

thine be done tonight that's scary you follow a messiah like that you can get yourself killed going to always be orienting on him not yourself can always be seeking the glory of the father not your own Glory you're always going to be serving instead of being served this is this is death and life and life real life everlasting life but the death is real isn't it if you know if you know your corruption like I am learning mine you know following him is deadly how I wish I were a better servant I'm 63 and I

hope I can grow I hope I can grow down I don't want to give up I've been a Christian for all these years I don't want to say well this is it I've arrived at Piper sanctification top level that's lousy I want to go on I hope you do too last question why is my love affair with the praise of man so contradictory to the nature of faith that I can't believe if I have it why what is it about faith what is it about faith he says how can you believe how can you have

faith in me how can you have faith if you have this love affair with Glory from man and he says you can't why not why can't I have both I think I can have both I think I can love the praise of man and Trust Jesus why not I think loving Jesus is a good way to get some praise from me like in this church it would be why this is the last question I as low as I can take it I'm I'm working on me mainly here you can watch reason number one Faith by

its nature in the Bible gives all glory to God and expects none in itself for itself here's here's a key t text Romans 4:20 Abraham grew strong in his faith giving glory to God Abraham grew strong in his faith and what was the nature of that strength it gave all glory to God when faith comes to Christ it comes destitute of any claim to be glorious or to be praised faith comes to Christ destitute of any claim to be glorious or to be praised Saint you will be glorified Romans 8:30 Those whom he justified he

glorified and guess what it won't be yours it will be his he will wrap you in it and you will never struck with it it will humble you to the ground that you have been made to shine like the sun in the Kingdom of your father oh you will shine lowly Saint yes you will there will be a Divine glory on you because you have come to Christ expecting no glory to come from yourself and no desert for Glory in yourself that's the first reason why the love of Praise kills and makes Faith hard at

the beginning like for some of you right now whether you're going to put your faith in Jesus and be saved the first time and the rest of us every day of Our Lives it's hard to trust a promise to do a hard thing if the hard thing just might get a little egg on my dignified face same issue whether it's at the beginning or 50 years later last reason the other reason for why the love of human glory is is contradictory to Faith is that that faith is drinking Living Water for the satisfaction of our

souls this is this is John 4 this is John 6:35 come to me I'm I'm water I'm living water you drink from me that's what faith is Faith is a coming to Jesus to drink living water into our desperately thirsty Souls so that our souls are rested satisfied comforted deeply happy in all that God is for us in Jesus now when that happens it drives out the enslaving craving for the praise of man you don't need it once you have tasted this water The Well of Jesus The Well of all that God is in his

approval in Christ who needs the approval of man anymore this is a this is a a barometer of your faith how desperately do you crave people liking you it's okay to want to be liked I mean nobody likes to be disliked I'm talking about a craving a needing a control on your life I got to be liked I got to be approved I got to be praised I need I need I need and it's it's an addiction it's a controlling bondage on our lives to need more PL praise more statistics in our favor more kind

words less criticism more more more more and it never satisfies it's got a buzz to it like drugs it's got a buzz to it and then it's got a hangover to it it's the way it works so I close when you have tasted the beauty of God and the approval of God in Christ the addiction of human approval is broken and you are free so God come and Grant right now in this room that our eyes would be open to see your glory and that that taste buds on the tongue of our soul would be

awakened so that we can taste How Sweet the living water is sweeter than honey sweeter than human praise and grant us therefore faith and set us free may God do that for us for you amen let's pray father we're all in this together there's no no finger pointing here we're not pointing fingers at Jews we're not pointing fingers at unbelievers we're not pointing fingers anywhere but in the mirror where we tend to see ourselves so much better than we are thank you Jesus thank you for putting up this word in front of us for showing

us some of the reasons why we have a hard time believing you trusting you resting in you and kill it we invite you collectively this I do I don't know if I can speak for everybody but all of us who who are thus minded we invite you do a crucifying work aresh in our lives take the acts of grace and the spirit and sever the root of our love affair with the praise of man that we may believe and glorify you I ask this in Jesus name amen [Music]