Seeking the Right Glory - John 5:41-44

1:59And it was the cure, you can visualize, was right there in the stirring of the waters. He saw it, it was right there. His eyes could see it, but he couldn't access it. The distance was too great for a man in his paralyzed condition to get there. Tragic, right? To see the cure right there, but your inability to access it. Well, likewise, John shows us another kind of paralysis in our text this morning. It's a spiritual paralysis. Look at Jesus' words in verse 40, where we left off last time.

2:46You are unwilling to come to me so that you may have eternal life. This is the paralysis, the spiritual paralysis, an unwillingness to come. To Christ. Now keep in mind, Israel had waited a very long, long time for their Messiah to come. And he was there, right there in the midst. Everything that they needed for personal and national healing was right there before their eyes. Yet, like the paralyzed man, they couldn't access it. They couldn't access it. The distance was too great for men in their condition to access.

3:35They were spiritually paralyzed by an unwillingness to honestly come to Jesus. I'm afraid this morning there may be some here today who are paralyzed, who will not come to Jesus because you have an unwillingness. Why? Why would these men not come to Jesus, especially in light of everything that he had just done in their presence? Why do so many today continue to sit under the teaching, hear the words, attend church, and yet not really come to Christ? Why do people in our society not come to Christ? Oh, our Texas morning Answers this question. I'm going to look at verse 41, and I'll read to verse 44. I do not receive glory from men, but I know you, that you do not have the love of God in yourselves. I have come in my Father's name, and you do not receive me. If another comes in his own name, you will receive him. How can you believe when you receive glory from one another and you do not seek the glory that is from the only, one and only God?

5:09So this morning I want you to see two kinds of glory, two kinds of messiahs, and one unsavable person, so that you will intensely seek the right glory. Two kinds of glory, two kinds of messiahs, and one unsavable person. So two kinds of glory. Look back at verse 41. First, there is the glory from man. I do not receive glory from men. Glory from the side of, coming out from man. Jesus says, I am not receiving such. Word for glory here is the word doxa. You've probably heard it. We sing it, the doxology. The idea of doxa, glory, is fame, honor, Prestige, praise.

6:04There is this kind of fame and honor and prestige and praise that comes from man. And that is the glory of man. Do you remember Herod Agrippa, chapter 12 and verse 21 of Acts? Remember, Herod put on his royal apparel, a very shiny outfit, took his seat on the rostrum, and began delivering an address to the people. And the people kept crying out, the voice of a God and not a man. And Herod really kind of liked this glory. Of course, immediately an angel of the Lord struck him, and he did not give glory to God and got eaten by worms. That's the end of that story, right?

6:51But that's the idea. He loved to bask in the praise and glory of man. You know, a sunbather loves to bask in the sunshine, soak it in, right? Well, the glory of man-seeker loves to bask in the admiration of people. Loves it. It's a glory that comes out of man, but it's not the right kind of glory to seek. Number one, man is fallen. So the glory that he's going to give is going to be of a fallen nature. Another problem with man's glory is that man is limited.

7:30He's temporal. He's here today. He's gone tomorrow. This isn't the kind of glory to seek. And yet, many of us are absolutely paralyzed in our relationship with God because we love the glory of men. Too concerned about what other people think, what other people would say about us. And even in Christian circles, there is a false glory, a glory from man that can drive us more than the glory of God. But if you look back, this kind of glory, it's not based upon a love of God. Look at verse 42. But I know you that you do not have the love of God in yourselves.

8:23What's worse than a bank account with no money? A soul with no commitment to God. And that's what Jesus is saying. I know you guys. I know you accusers. You want to kill me. And the reason you want to kill me is because you do not have a love of God in you at all. And by the way, this morning's message, I'm really calling you to get honest with yourself. Really use these next 40 minutes we have to really look at your heart. Get honest with yourself. Do some soul surgery, self-seeking, introspect. Be honest, because Jesus sees right through you. He knows the way you really are is the way He sees you. He sees you, and you are the way you are. And I would encourage you this morning and exhort you to be honest. Put aside any vestige of spiritual insincerity or insincerity of heart. They did not agape God. That's the word there. They did not love God. Their allegiance to God was completely artificial.

9:44They were interested in the things of God, for sure. They looked like they were, but they really were only interested in the things of God as long as they promoted themselves among the people. They loved to appear religious. In fact, they wanted to appear very religious. That was the means in which they could gain the praise of people. But they loved appearing religious only because they loved the glory from men. They dressed in such a way so that people would recognize them. They prayed in such a way that everyone would take notice. They loved to sit. In the best seats at the gathering places. They loved the respectful and admiring greetings of people on the street.

10:40This is their religious setting they were in. You can transpose this to an academic setting, a business setting, a relationship among peers, a societal setting, a political setting. You put it all in there. But the chief aim of these religious elite was to be admired. Admired not only by the masses, but admired by one another. They were in the club and they lived for the good opinion of one another. And the result of this condition was that they were completely indifferent to the approval of God. They did not agape God, but the glory of man. That's what they were after.

11:33And ultimately, they didn't agape God, they agape themselves. And that's why they loved the praise of man. Listen, if you are driven by, taken by the praise of man, and that's what drives you, you are in love with yourself. That's your problem, right? A problem. Right? But the glory of men are those who love themselves, those who pursue the glory of men. But look at the evidence that Jesus presents for them. Who is the one who seeks the glory of man? Who is this person? Do you or I? How do you know in society? How do you know right there? How did Jesus know that these people were seeking the glory of man? Well, two things are very evident. First of all, they were not receiving what God gives. And what was God giving them? He was giving them Jesus. Look at verse 43. I have come in my Father's name, and you do not receive me. Jesus said, the one who is seeking the glory of the man will not come to Jesus, will not receive Jesus.

12:54There's a barrier there. In fact, he goes on that these individuals are not only not even receiving what God gives, they're not even seeking it. They're not even looking for it. Verse 44, you do not seek the glory that is from the one and only. You're not even seeking it. You don't truly want what God wants. And you're not even truly seeking what God wants. Well, makes it very clear, or Jesus makes it very clear that he's not receiving man's testimony to validate himself.

13:30Well, he's already said that in verse 34. He's not receiving man's testimony, but he's also not receiving the glory of man. Emphatic statement. I do not receive glory from man. Glory, in a literal translation, glory from man, I am not receiving. I am not grasping after. I am not seizing. I am not interested in the glory of man. In fact, in Luke chapter 4, you remember the temptation of Jesus, verses 5 and verses 6. What happens there?

14:10Satan takes Jesus and he says, Look, I'll give you all these kingdoms and all their glory. If you'll worship me, and Jesus is like, I am not even interested in that at all. I do not receive the glory of man. It's a statement of Christ. He isn't interested in it. It's a very clear statement. You see, the works and signs that Jesus did and the scriptures themselves testified to who he was and who he is. He didn't need man's testimony to validate himself, as he said in verse 34. I do not receive man's testimony. I have a testimony greater than anything that anybody can say. I don't need a testimony from your club. The works, the scriptures, all those testify of me.

15:08He also does not need man's, he does not need man's glory. The massive weight that God has placed upon Jesus through the testimony of scripture, through the testimony of the miracles, all that testifies he is highly esteemed by the one and only God. And that's the glory that he's interested in. But what he's doing here is he's wanting it to make it clear to his opponents. He's like, look, I'm not just saying these things because I need your praise. Look, I healed a guy over here at Bethesda, and you are not coming to me. You are not believing in me, and you are not coming to me. And it's not that I am desirous of you to come over here and worship me. I want you to be saved. I want you to listen to the words of John the Baptist. I want you to listen to the words of the scripture. I want you to listen to the very works and what they are testifying in your midst so that you will come to me and be saved.

16:17You see, Jesus lived for God's acclaim. He lived for God's glory. Which brings us to the second kind of glory. First kind of glory is the glory from man. The second kind of glory. Glory is the glory that comes from God. Well, it's, again, the same word, doxa. It's the admiration, honor, and prestige, and praise that comes from the one and only God. And it's based upon a love of God. It comes out of a soul that has a love for God, that has an agape commitment kind of love for God that holds the approval of God above every other principle in life. That's living for the glory of God, wanting God to say well done, wanting God to smile, wanting God to be pleased, and letting whatever God, however, God honors the individual, leave that up to him. That's what Jesus is like. I want what comes from him. I do not want the praise that comes from fallen, limited man.

17:29This is what Jesus sought. It's the kind of love that gives God the highest commitment. It always manifests itself by seeking the glory of God. That's what verse 44 is saying. Well, this is what Jesus was all about. This is what Jesus sought. This is what Jesus lived for while he was on earth. This is what Jesus continues to live for at the right hand of God. He lives for the glory. Of God, for the praise, for the adoration, for the honor that comes from the one and only God. That's what drives him.

18:09And this is the only kind of glory that's worth living for: that which comes from the Father, not that which comes from fallen man. So take a moment. Let me ask you, what do you seek? Ask your soul, say, soul, what are you seeking as your highest principle? What do you seek? Is it the glory from man, the approval of a relationship, of somebody, of some people? What is it? Who is it? Or is it, do you live for the glory that comes from God? You see, the glory from man is born out of a love for self. The glory seeking the glory of God is born out of a love for God.

19:00So seek the right glory. That's what Jesus is saying right in the midst of this interrogation and his response to them. Before he brings Moses to the witness stand, he says, stop it. Stop for a second. I want you to seek the right glory. That's your problem. You're dishonest in heart and you're not seeking the right glory. And there is a real danger in not seeking the right glory. Because what will happen is if you're not going to be able to do it You prefer the glory of man over the glory that comes from God, is you're going to end up following the wrong Messiah. You're going to end up following a different kind of Messiah than the Father has given. So we've looked at two kinds of glory. Next, I want you to see two kinds of Messiahs, two kinds of Messiahs. Look at verse 43: I have come in my Father's name, and you do not receive me. If another comes in his name, you will receive him.

20:10The one, the first kind, these words actually really scare me. I remember being at the Temple Mount and being taken on a tour by a Jew, an Orthodox Jew, that was showing me all the sites of the temple there in Jerusalem. And he says, Well, of course, we know one day things will be set right when the Messiah comes. And yet the Messiah has already come. And the one that they will embrace will be not the Messiah that God intends for them. Well, let's look at the first kind of Messiah. First kind of Messiah is the one who comes in the Father's name. The one who comes in the Father's name desires to be honored. Or desires to honor the name of the Father.

21:04His goal is to be that which pleases the Father. His goal is to speak of those things which please the Father and to do those things which please the Father. And the one thing that Jesus makes it very clear is that he doesn't want to do anything less than please the Father. In fact, he doesn't want to do anything unless it's something that the Father is doing. Look at verse 19. When he starts this whole thing, he says, Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of himself unless it is something he sees the Father doing. Verse 30, I can do nothing on my own initiative. As I hear, I judge. And my judgment is just because I do not seek my own will, but the will of him who sent me. In other words, he says, I have no end, no will, no aim at all, except to do the will of the Father.

21:56Such is the one who comes in his Father's name. He doesn't come to please himself. Remember in Luke 4:3, when the devil comes up to Jesus and says, Okay, if you're the Son of God, turn this stone into bread. Use your power to serve yourself. Jesus is like, I have no interest in that. I'm not going to use my power to serve myself. I use my power to glorify my Father because I seek His glory, His approval, the praise. And adoration that comes from him. That's what drives me.

22:35Listen, the one who comes in the Father's name will be authenticated by the Father. The Father authenticated Jesus, and he did so very strongly through Scripture, through the ministry of John the Baptist, through the miracle and works. All of that testified. The whole sacrificial system was a picture of Christ. All of this was loud, blaring testimony from the Father. This is Him. This is my Son. So the one who comes in the Father's name will be authenticated by the Father and was authenticated by the Father. And he will use His power to serve the Father.

23:21Jesus loves the praise of the Father. Understand this about Christ. Understand this about the one you follow or you profess to follow. He loves the praise of the Father. That's what drives him. This is true freedom, by the way. Oh, listen, it's such a paralysis, chains and shackles. If you go through life driven to please the fickle, fallen fads of people, right? Don't live to please man. Don't live for the Praise of man. Live for the praise of the Father. It's so liberating. Well, Jesus lived to please someone else. He lived to please the one who sent him. And that's why he came in his Father's name. Well, there's another kind of Messiah. The second kind of Messiah is the one who comes in his own name.

24:24I have come in my Father's name, and you do not receive me. If another comes in his own name, you will, future, receive him. You know, at this time of the hundred years after Christ came, there was just a lot of messianic activity, even before he came. But one historian recorded over 60 false messiahs in the first hundred years of Christ being here. First, over 60, and many of them were more or less accepted. I mean, I'd say all of them, in some degree, were more or less accepted. Some of them more so than others. It got the nation in a bunch of trouble. But so, this verse, I believe, speaks of just a spirit of an antichrist. But I also believe that Jesus is speaking here of an individual that Israel. will one day accept as Messiah. Not just a little group here and a little group there, but en masse, the nation will accept as Messiah. And I'm speaking about the Antichrist, and I believe Jesus is speaking about that one one day that will be the perfect embodiment of Antichrist that this one they will receive. Well, I'll talk to you a little bit about the characteristics of false messiahs. There were many of them. False messiahs come without proper credentials. They're not authenticated by the Father. They don't come like Jesus at all, authenticated on every side. No, they come without the proper credentials. They desire reputation. They desire the praise of people. The doxa that a false messiah wants is from man and not from God.

26:33False Messiah loves himself, is completely self-absorbed with himself. He will use his powers to advance his own name. Those powers he uses and he uses them on himself to exalt himself. Very different from the true Messiah. And he is going to be a flatterer, a flatterer. You see, those who seek the praise of men must seek to please men. They have to win popularity contests. So they're going to be a reflection of the people. And they're going to flatter people, make them think they're really brilliant in following him. Right?

27:14They're going to say the things that people like to hear and promise the things that people want. And the principle underlying those who have the spirit of the Antichrist is self-service. He will deny God and His Christ their rightful place, even though there may be some lip service. He certainly will not receive Christ for who he is. In short, false Messiah comes in his own name, seeking his own pleasure for his own glory. That's a false Messiah. Now, let me talk to you a little bit about the characteristics of those who follow false messiahs. Obviously, these false messiahs get pretty popular, and certainly the ultimate false messiah, the antichrist, is going to be very popular. Why? Because let me tell you about the characteristics of those who follow false messiahs. There's a readiness to receive Antichrist because there's a reluctancy to follow the true Christ. Give me something else, anything else.

28:29But just like Like the false Messiah, those who follow false messiahs love themselves. They're self-absorbed. They love the praise of one another. They desire reputation and the praise of people. They too want the doxa that comes from man instead of the doxa or the glory that comes from God. Those who follow false messiahs have no ability to perceive God's work in their world, even if it's in their own midst, such as these men right here who witnessed an incredible miracle, who knew the incredible miracles that were happening. They had no ability to perceive God's work, even though it was happening right in their midst. And that's because at their heart, at the heart level, they were dishonest. They were dishonest in heart.

29:26And so I pray that you will not tolerate any hint of dishonesty in your heart, that you will examine your heart carefully and make it come under the truth. But those who follow false messiahs, they're going to find themselves in him. Those who follow the Antichrist will find themselves in him. They will honor him as the true God. Satan will manifest himself. In such a one, just as the Father revealed himself in Christ. And just as the Christian finds himself or herself in Christ, so those who follow the Antichrist will find himself or herself in him.

30:18Those who follow false messiahs have no room for revelation. Any reading of scripture that they do do is with a shut mind. They do not read it with an intent to find God, but they read it with an intent to find arguments to support their own positions. They do not really love God at all, but they love their own ideas about God, and they will use scripture to prove them, not to test them. They do not want a theology that comes from scripture. They use the Bible to produce their own ideas or to champion their own ideas. Last week, I had a great time in El Salvador. Thank you for praying. Look forward to sharing more about that trip. One of the first things I told my students where we came to this week of intense study on how to study the Bible. And I told them right off the bat, I'm not here to shape your theology. I am here to shape your approach to Scripture so that Scripture will speak to you in such a way. That it will inform you, that you will come to Scripture, let it speak to you, and let that shape your theology.

31:41I'm not here to impress, even here, for you to believe something because I believe it. I'm not here to shape your theology per se. I'm here to shape your approach to Scripture, so Scripture will shape your theology. And if you will be taught by Scripture, and if you will be teachable, it will shape you, and you will end up with biblical theology. But those who love false messiahs, those who are under the spirit of the Antichrist, they cannot receive revelation. They are not teachable. Listen, being unteachable is a capital offense in eternity.

32:26Listen, you don't have all of God figured out. None of us do. So come to Scripture, be informed, be taught, and don't be afraid to go where it takes you. You don't have to defend a lion, right? It's going to take you where it needs to take you. But any religion, any philosophy that these men had that were taking on Jesus was simply a means of self-advancement. Friends, we need to be careful of that in our own walk and world.

33:00Well, Antichrist is going to be nothing more than a mere reflection of the heart of the people that follow him. Will you choose the right Messiah? Let me ask you a more fundamental question. Do you seek the praise of man or do you seek the praise of God? Because what you seek will be the driving factor in what Messiah you go after, the true one or the false one. And it's a big question. Why did the Jews prefer an imposter over Jesus? Well, the answer was the values of the Antichrist were far more in line with their desires than the true one.

33:53And I know that these words are offensive. They didn't want to honor the Father. They were self-absorbed, and that's why they loved the praise of one another. And I'm sure if Jesus had flattered the Jewish leadership, yeah, he would have had all kinds of followers with him, right? After all the things that he were doing, he just had to flatter them. But he couldn't flatter them and honor the Father at the same time. And that was the thing that irritated them the most. He seemed to be far more interested in sinners than themselves.

34:28But a more fundamental and more Important question to us today is: why do people follow impostors today? Why do many of us just get latched on to some bad theology or bad teaching? Why, and then dogmatically stay with it, even in the face of very clear teaching to the contrary. Why? Why do men follow impostors? I think Barclay has a good answer here: because they are men whose claims correspond with men's own desires. The impostors came promising empires and victory and material prosperity. Jesus came offering a cross. The characteristic of the imposter is the offer of the easy way. Jesus offered men the way of God, the hard way.

35:23I remember this Malawi pastor, just this last time I heard his words. He said, You know what? If I spoke about the cross, I would empty my church. He pastors a prosperity-type church. Just by God's grace, he's under our teaching. But his honesty, you have to love. He said, If I started preaching the cross, I would empty my church. Because the heart of the people do not want truth. You see, Jesus's entire commitment was to please the Father. He wanted To receive the honor that only came from the Father. And that's the way to live. What a way to live, right?

36:08That's the way we should live. Learn to live. Love what He loved. So, who are you more inclined to follow? And let's be honest with yourself. Go in, ask yourself, what is your highest love in you? Do you seek the praise of men? Then you love yourself. Do you seek the praise of God? Then you love God. Two kinds of glory, two kinds of Messiahs. Now I want to talk to you about one unsavable person. Yes, one unsavable person. Look back at verse 44. How can you believe when you receive glory from one another and you do not seek the glory that is from the one and only God?

37:02It's like what Jesus is saying: you're taking up all the bandwidth and receiving the praise of man. So there's nothing left to have praise of God in your life. James tried to help me out and said, you know, it's like clicking, or it's like putting posts and desiring so many likes, right? And if you, then all of a sudden, your next post will be driven by. How many likes you got on the last post, right? And then all of a sudden, what you're living for is the likes that you get from others. It's a good illustration of what Jesus is saying here.

37:46How can you believe when you receive the glory from one another? How can you? He says, You can't. You can't. It's a rhetorical question. It's clear that these people needed to be saved. And their unsavable condition is described in verse 38 as their not believing in the sent one. It's further described in verse 40 as an unwillingness to come to the sent one. And this condition, this unwillingness, this unbelief is the spiritual paralysis. The relationship between the two is very easy to see, right? If you don't believe, you're not going to come. Spiritual paralysis. And this is why they wouldn't come.

38:38Even in the midst. They had this paralysis, even though, paralysis, even though Jesus was right there in their midst, because of their internal spiritual paralysis, they couldn't come to him. Why wouldn't they come? Let me just, I think, let me read to you a quote of Pink. I think it's summed up. Why wouldn't they believe, and why do many people not believe today? Let's get down to the why. Why do people not believe? Is it for a lack of evidence? No, I think Pink's statement is right on the mark. While these Jews were making it their chief aim to win the good opinion of each other and remained more or less indifferent to the approval of God, they would not come to Christ for life. To come to Christ, they must humble themselves in the dust by taking the place of lost sinners before him. And to receive him as their Lord and Savior, to live henceforth for the glory of that one who is despised and rejected of men, would at once separate them from the world and would bring down upon them contempt and persecution. You see, but there is no middle ground. The friendship of the world is enmity with God. If we are determined to be honored and smiled upon by our fellow men, we shall remain alienated from God. You see, there's a condition, a condition that seeks the glory of man, that makes one unwilling to come to Jesus.

40:18Same condition is true for many false conversions. You can pretend to come to Christ in settings like this. Because you love the acclaim of those around you. The person who is unwilling, who will not believe, who is dishonest in heart, will not believe and will not come. So I wanted you to see two kinds of glory, two kinds of Messiahs, and one unsavable person. But I have a question that's left hanging out there: Can the unsavable person become savable? And my answer is yes, yes, but only if he or she is willing to become honest with themselves.

41:17You have to become honest with yourself. You have to leave this condition of wanting the praise of man, listening to the praise of man, becoming honest with yourself, believing and coming. Ryle has some good words here. Believing or not believing to have faith, or not to have faith, is not a thing that depends only on a man's head or on a man's head being satisfied and his intellect convinced. It depends far more on the state of a man's heart. If a man is not thoroughly honest in his professed desire, To find the truth, if he secretly cherishes any idol which he is resolved not to give up, if he privately cares for anything more than God's praise, then he will go to the end of his days doubting, perplexed, dissatisfied, and restless, and will never find the way to peace. His insincerity of heart is an inseparable barrier to the way of his believing. So before you're honestly going to believe, you're going to have to be honest with yourself. Why do you think God has put you here? The evidence is all around you. You do know that God is. You do know he's placed you in this world for a reason that you would seek, find. You know enough about God that you should turn to him. So do. And those of us who have walked with God, let us put a barrier between us and the praise of men. Let us be driven by the praise of God.

43:04Well, Jesus came to give life to all who are willing to receive the truth. So how do you receive what he wants to give you? Well, the answer, you're going to have to realize that you are as helpless as the paralytic that we met at Bethesda. Look back. Let me read how this. Ends. Go back to verse 6. When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had been there a long time in that condition, he said to him, Do you wish to get well? The sick man answered, Sir, I have no man to put me in the pool when the water is stirred. But while I am coming, another steps down before me. Jesus said to him, You notice how the man just confesses his bankruptcy, I can't go. Yes, I want to be healed. I cannot go there. Jesus said to him, Get up, pick up your palate, and walk. And immediately the man became well and picked up his palate and began to walk.

44:10So how do we honor Christ? How do we honor the Father who sent Christ? What does he want from us? Does he want our choicest sacrifices? No, that's kind of the nature of somebody who wants honor from man, right? God is completely different. What does he want from us? He wants us to receive what he wants to give us. You see, we honor Christ and we honor the Father who sent him by being saved by him.

44:51What he wants is he wants our emptiness. That's what he wants. So he can put his fullness in that emptiness. That's how you honor him. He wants our bankruptcy so he can put in his riches. That's what he wants. But if you're not bankrupt, you do not honor him, but you are bankrupt. Be honest. He wants our sinfulness for his holiness. That's what he wants. An honest heart. He wants sinners for his salvation. That's what he wants. He wants our weakness for his strength.

45:37He wants our death for his life. Listen, this is the gospel. The one who brings his or her lostness, helplessness, bankruptcy, death, and sin, and emptiness walks away with everything. That's the gospel. And that's how you honor him by receiving what he wants to give you. But if you're a dishonest in heart, I'm not that bad of a sinner. I'm fairly. In fact, I love the praise of men. If you're dishonest in heart, you will never come to him.

46:27So, this whole message is an exhortation. For you and I to seek the right glory, the glory that comes from above. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, thank you. Thank you for Christ's example, to just how he is so clearly devoted to the praise that comes from you. Heavenly Father, thank you. By your Spirit, may you make us like Christ. Father, we are empty and broke without you. Father, and even our best treasures and their greatest sacrifices, it's not what you're after.

47:15You're after empty vessels so that you can fill and use to your glory, who will lovingly then give all and everything to you. Seek your honor. So, Father, we thank you for the beauty of your gospel and the riches we bring to you nothing and leave with everything. Thank you for the precious name of Jesus. Amen.