was taken from the 5th chapter of the gospel of John. That's John chapter 5 verse 44 and it reads as follows. How can you believe when you receive glory from one another and do not seek the glory that comes from the only God? May God richly bless both the reading and the hearing of his holy word. This 5th chapter of John's gospel opens with Jesus healing a man. We are told that he heals a man who was an invalid, had been paralyzed, not able to move for over 38 years. And we are told also that in verse 9 of this chapter that this miracle of healing took place on the Sabbath. In the very fact that it took place on the Sabbath becomes a point of contention for the religious leaders. This is alluded to in a few places most notably chapter 10 verse 16 and also in verse 18. In verse 10 John records that it says in beginning in verse 9 it says that at once the man was healed and he took up his bed and walked. Now that day was the Sabbath and so in verse 10 it says so the Jews said to the man who had been healed it is the Sabbath and it is not lawful for you to take up your bed. So they had a problem not just with the fact that the man was healed but they had a problem with the fact that it took place on the Sabbath. We see a similar expression also in verse 18 or verse 18 where it sort of puts it all together it says this was why the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him because he not only not only was he breaking the Sabbath but he was even calling God his own father therefore making himself equal with God. So Jesus heals a man that had been an invalid for a number of years. This healing happens to have taken place on the Sabbath and the religious leaders in their in their pretense of a love for God are so outraged at the violation what they perceive to be a violation of God's law that they overlook God's Son. In any event we see that Jesus responds to these critics he responds to the criticism of these religious leaders and in doing so he does two things in the first place he affirms or he more clearly reaffirms that he is indeed the unique Son of God. So in the verses that follow what Jesus does especially in verses 19 through 29 he doubles down. They are upset we see in verse 18 that he has done this thing on the Sabbath and they are also upset because Jesus has the God to call himself the Son of God and in doing so that would make him equal with God and since he did all of this on the Sabbath we forget what he says we hate him we want to kill him and so what does Jesus do does he back away does he start trying to qualify what he means no no I didn't really mean that I was the Son of God as in the Son of God no Jesus doubles down he says yeah I said it I am the Son of God that's that that would be me and he affirms it and he affirms it in so many ways he says the Father has given him authority he says the Father the Father doesn't judge anybody he gave that authority to the Son. He says that the Father has given has life in himself and so does the Son and if you were wondering who the Son is I would be he so Jesus in verses 19 through 29 reaffirms in in in unmistakable terms that he is indeed the unique and only Son of God but the second thing that Jesus does in his in his response to their criticism is that he charges them with being non-believers he charges them with with not believing not believing that he is the Son of God who has been sent by God for the purpose of giving life so he charges them he gets to the bottom of it he basically says that the reason you have these issues is because you do not believe so first he doubles down and says yes I am the Son of God but then he also charges them with unbelief but in charging them with unbelief he gives three reasons for their unbelief in the first place he says in verse 38 the reason they do not believe that he is the unique Son of God is because they do not have the Word of God abiding in them he says the reason you don't believe you you don't believe I I'm telling you who I am but you don't believe it and the reason you don't believe is because you don't have the Word of God abiding in you but then he also tells them in verse two and verse 42 I should say that they do not believe because they do not have the love of God in them you don't believe because you don't have the Word of God and and and by the way you have to understand what this does to those religious leaders telling the religious leaders they don't have the Word of God in them it's like telling the library you don't have any books in you and so Jesus even says he says I know you think you know the scriptures you think you know them but but that doesn't mean just because you've memorized a verse or two doesn't mean you know the scriptures because the scripture speak of me and if you reject me then that that's proof that even though you know the Bible you don't know the Bible and so so therefore you the Word of God is not in you and the reason the Word of God is not in you is because the love of God is not in you where the love of God is the Word of God is and where the Word and the love of God is knowledge that Jesus is the Son of God also exists and so Jesus makes the point that the reason they do not believe in spite of the miracle that they saw the reason they do not believe is because they don't have the Word in them and they don't have the love of God within them so therefore they do not believe but it's the third reason that I want to focus on the third reason that he gives for their unbelief which is found in our text that's the one that I want to in large on and largely because what Jesus says here about the religious leaders is true of all of humanity Jesus targets the the the the religious leaders those who do not have the Word and they those who are not loved who do not have the love of God in them and he says for those reasons you do not believe but then he gives really somewhat of an overarching reason for all of this and in what he says here this is really the problem of all of humanity and in this reason he also shows us why we needed a the divine intervention of the incarnation that's what the incarnation is about the incarnation is a divine intervention it is God entering into time and space in the person of Jesus Christ because of the emergency that they are in and so look at the reason that he gives an essence Jesus says to these religious leaders that you cannot believe because you receive glory from one another and you do not seek the glory that only comes from God you do not believe because in essence because of the source of your glory therefore you do not believe so there is nothing that you will see that will impress you enough to recognize that I am the son of God because of the source of your glory let's look at this for a moment first off I know that in some translations of your scriptures it will say that it uses the word honor instead of glory this is a reason for that so the reason is because the Greek word that's translated or used here for glory or honor is doxa from which we get doxology doxology is an expression of praise and honor but the word that's translated there as glory or honor it has three basic meanings it could mean dignity that which gives dignity that which gives honor and that which gives glory and either one of them is intended here and I think this is when we when what what's the point that Jesus is making is that is is that what what men perceive to be the source of their glory and their honor and their dignity interferes with their ability to receive Jesus that's the point that he's making and it's a profound point in in in other words what Jesus is saying is that that which they perceive to give them glory is really vain and it hinders them from seeing what real glory is in fact when we to get this idea and to capture it fully I think this is what what Paul is when he quotes from Jeremiah 9 verses 23 and 24 he quotes it in 1 Corinthians 1 but here's the passage that that Paul quotes to to I understand this idea of glory and honor and dignity that defines the man and that's what that's how we the source of glory what is it that gives us our meaning in life and so in Jeremiah 9 the Lord says this it says thus says the Lord let not the wise man boast in his wisdom let not the let not the wise man boast in his wisdom let not the mighty man boast in his might let not the rich man boast in his riches in other words here's the idea is that the mighty man might think that his might is what makes him that's what gives him his dignity it's I had friend you know that was big weightlifter and and he was so proud of his weights that and his what his weightlifting did he for whatever reason 2001 stores in California he couldn't find one with the shirt that fit because his boats was with his his muscles his his both and and so little shirts make big muscles look stand out you know and and so he he was because he gloryed he gloryed in that that that was his defining feature and and if he had to have if he couldn't go where you could wear tank top it was a shirt that just was too little and wasn't that his muscles were too big it was that his his his his brain was too tied to the muscles because he gloryed in that there's some people that that that have have so much money they want you to know and it isn't funny that you some people you can't compliment on stuff that they have without them giving you the price tag you know that's that's a nice it ought to be it cost me right because we glory in those things we glory in those things that's what gives us honor they that and and and so so much so that that people will talk about well you know she likes nice stuff how do we know because she keeps telling us she keeps telling us man glories the mighty man glories in his mind there's a tendency for the rich man to glory and and think that that his and because where his boast is is where his glory is so therefore he if he boasts in his riches it's because he's defining himself by his riches then he he goes on you know listen and and and the person who has wisdom boy he he he boasts in it boasts in it because that's where he identifies himself I he wants to be smart he wants to be seen as smart I like what they said about Socrates when Socrates was determined to be the wisest man in the world he said he went on on on on a on a tour he said no that can't be you know me the wisest man well he says no that can't be so he went to everyone who had a reputation for being wise and when he'd go to a person and they thought that that had a reputation for being wise he talked to him for a few moments and and then after a while he says they started that you could see the wisdom and then they started going on often to stuff they didn't know anything about he came away that no he's not that wise because he thinks he knows what he doesn't know and so at the end of the day Socrates said dog gone it that's just true I am the wisest man in the world because I at least have since enough to know what I don't know you see brothers and sisters here's the problem with fallen man the problem with fallen man is that we take glory in those things that are fleeting not that there's anything wrong with might not that there's anything wrong with wisdom and not that there's anything wrong with riches but the problem is man has been created for a greater glory and so therefore where Jesus says therefore let the or excuse me what God says he says thus says the Lord let the man let not the wise man boast in his wisdom let not the mighty man boast in his might let not the rich man boast in his riches but let him boast in this that he understands me he understands and knows me and that I am and that I am the Lord who practices and and the term that's used in the Old Testament is steadfast love but that means covenant love let him boast in the fact that he knows that I am the Lord who practices covenant love who is just and who is and practices righteousness in the earth for in these he says I delight the vanity that Solomon soberingly and profoundly speaks of in the book of Ecclesiastes which we looked at last week the vanity that Solomon is dealing with there is the human effort to find dignity at glory and honor on a horizontal plane while he's disconnected from God vertically see that's like putting in a new light bulb when your lamp goes out not realizing it's because the electricity is out you put all the light bulbs and you want even candles but you're not going to get any power because the problem is not with the lamp and it's not with the bulb you cut off from a power source and so Solomon's point here as we see it especially in Ecclesiastes in chapter 2 verses 1 through 11 he goes on to say that I for one he says I sought glory in all of these things he says I built garden I'm not only planted gardens and I love Solomon he's such a creature of extremes because when people say well I have a hobby what's your hobby well I like planting stuff so so Solomon says he not only planted garden he said I made parks I love that I he says yeah I I put up parks he went all the way so he says I had parks and he says and and if any I listen I had servants I had I had money at people working for me and at the end of it was vanity was empty and the reason it was empty is because having one statue in a park and one's name over that park doesn't equate to what it means to have real dignity and worth in the presence of God Solomon's conclusion is that all such pursuits for dignity honor and glory on a horizontal plane is nothing but vanity because it too will pass away he says your name you think folk know you and and boy we love people to to know our names and and now with social media everybody can sort of be famous so people take pride in the fact well I've got a thousand followers on Twitter I've got I've got X amount of friends on Facebook but one day your name is going to be missing and so your followers will be gone yeah you people might know you beyond your your usual geographic region but but don't think that's glory I was with the friend last year and and he took it to a whole new level he's whatever I don't even know what the maximum amount of followers were on Facebook but whatever it was he maxed out I said wow dude you know they they know you you know yeah they they they he maxed out that they had he had too many followers and sometimes we get puffed up and we think that the number of followers of the number of likes and dislikes in our Instagrams that that somehow gives us gives us status look at the way John captures the same idea and first John his the book of first John chapter three verses 16 and 17 I think he captures the same thought there he says for all that is in the world the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride in possessions is not from the Father but is from the world and the world is passing away along with his desires but notice what he says but whoever does the will of God abides forever now brothers and sisters here's the problem I I think that Jesus is pointing to with his with these his critics here in John chapter five he's selling these religious leaders because of what gives you worth you can't there's no way you will see or recognize that I am the son of God and I think what Jesus is saying to these religious leaders is true of all of us and that's why Jesus or God has to invade our hearts that's why he has to give us a new heart because there's nothing in salvation the salvation of grace that gives glory to us and it's for that reason that that's some people in fact tonight we're going to be looking at Jacob's ladder and have some interesting things to say about Jacob's ladder but but one of the reasons people always seem to resonate towards Jacob's ladder kind of theology is because it gives us something to do and so Jesus says no you you can't believe because in essence you want to receive glory from one another in other words you want to receive glory on a horizontal plane and as it relates to the gift of Jesus anyone who thinks now I've got to do something you can never really appreciate or understand the need and the gift of Jesus it's hard it's hard you know why it's hard because we want to do something don't we we just want to contribute something and and so here's what Jesus here's the reason for the divine intervention because see anything and that's why I like what Paul says in Ephesians he says by grace you have saved have been saved not by works less any man should boast now why does he add that parenthetical statement because men will boast and will boast we will find a way to boast and glory in that and so testimony services there always we hear somebody say that the Lord took me off of drugs and took me off of whatever and so we hear then we rejoice and then somebody said well you know well the Lord took me off of this and and we have to one up one another because we have to boast we have to boast so if you fail then I have to fall farther because he picked me up he picked me up from a bigger thing than that he cured he cured me from a head cold well he cured me from well see I had I had pneumonia oh you think that's something well I had doubled pneumonia oh no well y'all still in kindergarten that ain't nothing he listen I I had a short limb and he made it straight now top that to the points where people became boastful of the fact so many testimonies in the last 20 years well I was actually I wasn't just on my sick bed I was declared dead because somehow somehow men find a way to boast we boast and Jesus says no wonder you don't believe me because brothers and sisters to believe in Jesus we have nothing to boast in we're all equally dead and we're all equally unable and there is no room to boast and the man who's looking to boast and the man who's glory is tied to these things it's not able to receive with open arms the free gift of grace in Jesus five things that I want to look at real quick the first is an overarching statement that says this man was created in the image of God to reflect and represent him in the created order and therefore human glory consists in man perfectly carrying out that purpose which is both his duty and his delight let me repeat it man was created in the image of God to reflect and represent God in the created order human glory that which gave humans honor dignity and glory was in them it consisted in in them perfectly carrying out the responsibility of reflecting God and representing God which was their duty but their duty was their delight and so therefore man that's why John Piper says that that God is most that man is God is most glorified in man when man is most satisfied in him and so here's what gives us glory here's what gives us honor here's what gives us dignity that above everything else that God has created he's created things that are bigger he's created things that are stronger he's created things that are just more beautiful existential to look at but he has created man for the express purpose of representing him so that when man speaks it is as if it is the voice of God God has created man so that when everything else in the created order sees man it's like seeing that which can't be seen which is God so that we are warned with him that we reflect his beauty of his holiness and we represent him in thought word indeed and man saw no so no greater honor than to be called the image bearer of God but here's the second thing fallen man now we that was man in creation but fallen man continues to seek his own glory and he continues to seek it in the created order so God created us to have glory in the created order but sin disconnected us so fallen man continues to seek his own glory in the created order but here's the problem all of those pursuits are vain because eventually as one brother put it he says everything that you have here either will leave you or you're going to leave it one or the other and so that's why I just think maybe part of my twisted thoughts as a fallen individual one of the phrases that I love coming from the lips of fallen human beings are lifetime guarantees I mean it's so much that you can pack in that I love when when a company will offer you will offer your lifetime guarantee and then you know maybe I'm just mental that way I just think well who's lifetime mine yours or the product you know but but it's a lifetime guarantee brothers and sisters here's our problem because we have no permanence on this plane we cannot have any glory in it and so here's the third thing this pursuit of horizontal glory blinds man from true human glory this pursuit for horizontal glory this pursuit of trying to find glory on our own terms within the created order blinds man to the real source of glory and this is where it's seen even in terms of our religion because man will seek to bring glory even to his own religion so that it's something that you must do that's why we are content with ideas you make one step he'll make two god only helps those blesses those who or helps those who help themselves you know and this is where Santa Claus theology by the way the most satanic part of Santa Claus or whatever is not that you know we ascribed to him divine attributes no here's the worst part of the whole Santa thing if we're not grounded in the scriptures is our view of Santa Claus is really a manifestation of bad religion and so it's another way of us being held in bondage by the law so how many of us get off on telling our children have you been good because Santa he ain't going to bring anything if you haven't been good you know have you been good you know he you know he's checking he's he's making a list he's checking it twice and if you're good then he'll give you what you want if you're bad you'll get a lump of coal brothers and sisters if that's not law what is it you see what is it what is it that what is it if it's not law and so it becomes another expression if we want our children to act right then promise them you'll get something that's the hellish part of of the whole Santa Claus and Christmas thing it's not the commercialization it's the legalization of grace you see brothers and sisters that's why I was reading a post a few weeks ago it says that that that that how one of the reasons the person loved Halloween was because Halloween at least is it's clear and honest he says it's it's like we we dress up as as dead people and as think this that and the other and you open you knock on a door and no matter what you look like you get candy brothers and sisters that's grace that's grace and what we've done is we have sought glory and we've sought identity and we've sought honor and things on a horizontal plane we've carried it over into our religion because that's what gives us honor so you get big toys because you did good brothers and sisters that's why we need to divine intervention you see Jesus reminds us that that glory that you seek blind you from what real glory is that's one of the reasons people don't they don't trust grace based religion every time you talk about grace and here's the default setting yeah then you're giving people a license I'm not giving people a license to sin you seem to be doing pretty good without it no grace grace it's all about God's grace in Jesus and and so when you are blinded by your own glory the more we are blinded by human effort and human pursuits and human dignity we will not recognize that the king of glory would be born in a manger because we would expect according to our standard of glory that if the king of glory were to come to planet earth of course it would be on e television of course it would have he would have his own reality show of course he would be everyone would flock to him Jesus comes up out of the wilderness he comes from a place called Nazareth and he comes saying behold the kingdom of God is at hand and he comes saying that I am the son of God and the father has given me the ability to judge the father judges no one he's given that responsibility to the son he's given the father has life in himself and he has given me life within myself and the word that I speak brings death folk to life and the Jewish religious leader said but you're not dressed right and you did it on the Sabbath and Jesus says your problem is you seek glory from the wrong place and because you seek glory from the wrong place you wouldn't recognize it when it shows up brothers and sisters this is for this reason that we see number 4 that in the incarnation of Jesus we have a restoration of human glory because John tells us in John chapter 1 the word was made flesh and dwelt among us we beheld his glory as of the only begotten of the father that's human glory at its finest the father affirms during the course of Jesus earthly ministry at his baptism this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased prior to his arrest Jesus prays to the father again and and he says father I pray that I would glorify you and the father answers him back you have already glorified me and you will continue to do so brothers and sisters we need to divine incarnation because or the divine intervention in the incarnation because in the incarnation we have the restoration of human glory it is because the word was made flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld his glory as of the glory of the only begotten son of God that Paul could say whether you eat or whether you drink whatever you do do it to the glory of God we can glorify him in all things because Jesus came in the flesh but here's the fifth and final this glory this glory that is manifest in Christ which is the restoration to human dignity and and human worth and human honor this glory is not obtained by our efforts it's not about us pulling ourselves up it's not about us proving ourselves in any in in any capacity this glory this renewed restored glory in the incarnation of Jesus Christ is not obtained by human efforts but rather it is received by belief and brothers and sisters it is not until we have received this glory of the father in the son that we are able to make sense of all of the issues that we deal with in life I think of believers and unbelievers alike who are seeking to make a name for themselves in their possessions in the positions they hold in the amounts of money that they have in the beauty of their bodies and how many people follow them and know them those are the things that we glory in we glory in the buildings that we worship in we glory in the fact that I go to the big church we glory in the fact that people know my pastor's name we glory in the fact that I have a car that nobody else has we glory in where we went to school we we take an ordinate pride in the teams that we follow so much so that these things define us at levels that are unhealthy to the soul let me paraphrase the contemporary writer who says this he says to believe in Christ resituates the self in a universe where you don't need to be special you don't need to be rich and you don't need to be famous in order to be alive
Jesus says to these Pharisees I know you don't believe and the reason you don't believe is because it's not famous in your circles but brothers and sisters the only glory that gives man lasting dignity does not come from anything that we've done but it's in what God has given us in the gift of his son here's the issue for us not whether you've done enough here I know what you may ask your children for Christmas time have you been good have you been good but let God ask us that have you been good this year and the answer is no because if you if there are gifts under the tree because of human merit then it's not grace but here's what the Bible says we were enemies sinners ungodly unrighteous depraved wicked deceitful above all things dead interest passes and sins and while we were that God sent his son our glory is found in that child and brothers and sisters is not for those who are good is for those who are not so that the glory would not be with those who praise the Lord the glory is with the Lord who has praised Jesus says I know you don't believe you can't believe because you're too worried about horizontal glory it is not until we receive the vertical glory of the Lord of creation entering into his created space that we will be restored to human dignity so that God is pleased to call us his children Amen. Let's cry