Series: Questions
Title: How Can Ye Believe?
Text: John 5: 44
Date: June 15, 2014
Place: SGBC, New Jersey
We return
this morning to our “Questions” series—questions God asked of sinners. We will
be jumping way ahead in the scriptures for this question. God our Savior, the Lord Jesus asks the
question to a group of religious men.
John 5:44: How can ye believe, which receive
honour one of another, and seek not the honour that cometh from God
only?—or from the only God or from the only begotten
Son of God.
The
Lord Jesus healed a man on the Sabbath day. Then he commanded the man to take
up his bedroll and walk. When the Jews
saw the man they accused the man of breaking the law of God. After hearing that
it was Christ who healed this man on the Sabbath and commanded the man to carry
his bed on the Sabbath, the Pharisees did not honor, glorify, the Lord Jesus
for working this miracle. Instead, they persecuted Christ with their tongues,
reproaching and reviling the Lawgiver as a lawless, sinful man. Not only that, these men who spoke so highly
of their zeal for God’s law, sought to slay the Lawgiver. The Lord Jesus
declares plainly what their problem was. This is the problem of all who will
not believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
John 5: 44: How can ye believe, which receive
honour one of another, and seek not the honour that cometh from God only?
The
Pharisees gave honor and glorified one another and sought glory and honor from
one another—rather than seeking the honor that the God alone gives to his true sons
and daughters, who honor and glorify him.
Proposition: A sinner cannot believe on the Lord Jesus while seeking
honor and glory for self.
Sinners who covet the honor and praise of
men, who covet for themselves that honor which belongs to God, will not and
cannot believe on the Lord Jesus. All
who covet honor for self are idolaters. They want men to glorify them rather
than giving God all the glory by resting in Christ.
Men will be religious, just so long as their
religion allows them room to glory in themselves. But Christ says men cannot
believe on him who seek honor one from another rather than that honor that
comes from the only true God. The desire for the praise of men prohibits faith
in Christ. The idolizing of self is the death of faith in Christ. Wherever you
find a man attributing one aspect of salvation to self you will not find him
resting in Christ alone. If we would
seek the honor which comes only from God, then we must worship God in Spirit,
glory only in Christ Jesus, and place no confidence in our flesh. (Php 3: 3)
Let’s go back to the beginning and hear what
the Lord taught and see the honor that comes from God. And we will see how men seek honor from one
another, rather than seeking the honor that comes from God.
I. FIRST AND FOREMOST, THE HONOR THAT COMES FROM GOD TO
HIS CHILDREN IS JESUS CHRIST THE SON OF GOD AND HIS FREE SALVATION—John 5: 17: But
Jesus answered them, My Father worketh hitherto, and I work.
Note: This was Christ’s
answer for why he healed a man on the Sabbath day.
Christ Works the Works of God
By this statement, Christ declared that he is
God. It means he is God the Son, equal with the Father. It means he is sent of
God his Father. Secondly, Christ declared that his Father had not ceased to
work from the beginning, even on the Sabbath day. Therefore, being one with the
Father, so had he. It means the works of his Father and his works are one.
John 4: 19: Then answered Jesus and said unto them,
Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he
seeth the Father do: for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son
likewise. 20: For the Father loveth the Son, and sheweth him all things that
himself doeth: and he will shew him greater works than these, that ye may
marvel.
From eternity, God the Father and God the Son
were one in the everlasting covenant of redemption; from eternity, the Father
loveth the Son; from eternity, the Father showed him all things that the Father
himself doeth in saving a people for his own honor and glory. Therefore, from
the beginning, the works Christ worked in this earth and the works he continues
to work from his resurrected throne in glory, are the works of God his Father
which the Father sent him to do.
God the Father sent his Son to work his works: to fulfill
the law, to redeem his people from the curse of the law, to bring all glory and
honor to God alone. Now from his throne in glory: Christ is still doing the
works of his Father: quickening and calling his redeemed and making us the
righteousness of God in him through faith.
John 9:4: I must work the works of him that sent me,
while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work.
Christ Quickens Dead Sinners with the Father
Christ declared that is what was pictured in
healing the lame man and making him to walk on the Sabbath day. It showed his
power and work, together with his Fathers, in raising dead sinners to life.
John 4: 21: For as the Father raiseth up the dead, and
quickeneth them; even so the Son quickeneth whom he will…25: Verily, verily, I
say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the
voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live. 26: For as the Father
hath life in himself; so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself;
This is what we see typified in raising the
lame man to walk. The man was lame all
his life—this is our case, dead in trespasses and in sins. But the lame man was
healed when Christ spoke—Christ alone speaks life into dead sinners.
Christ is teaching his accusers and us, that
he is God, the Christ, the Sabbath rest, the end of the Law for Righteousness, the
Life, the Salvation sent of God for his people. That is what he declared by
healing the lame man on the Sabbath day.
Seeking to Honor God
Then Christ declares that the only way to
honor the Father is by honoring the Son.
John 5:22: For the Father judgeth no man, but hath
committed all judgment unto the Son: 23: That all men should honour the Son,
even as they honour the Father. He that honoureth not the Son honoureth not the
Father which hath sent him.
These Jews were seeking the honor that comes
from one another rather than seeking the honor that comes from God alone. How
do I seek the honor that comes from God alone? Christ declares it here.
John 4: 23: That all men should honour the Son, even as they
honour the Father. 24: Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word,
and believeth on him that sent me, …
That is how you honor God—you honor God by honoring the
Son, by hearing Christ’s word, by believing on Christ you believe on God who
sent Christ.
Honor that Comes from God
And those who honor God, God honors.
1 Samuel 2:30: Wherefore the LORD God of Israel saith,…them
that honour me I will honour, and they that despise me shall be lightly
esteemed.
Here is the honor which comes from God, which
only God can give, which he only gives to those who believe in his Son.
John 4: 24:…hath everlasting life, and shall not come
into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.
Those who honor God by believing on his Son, God honors by
giving us everlasting life. By assuring
our hearts we shall not come into condemnation, by assuring us we have passed
from death unto life.
Believer, do that which Christ has commanded:
believe on Christ, rest in Christ, honor Christ in your daily lives, no matter
how men object. Doing so is to honor God. And those who honor God the Father by
believing on God the Son, God honors with everlasting life.
II. SECONDLY, SEE IN THESE RELIGIOUS MEN WHAT IT IS TO
SEEK HONOR FROM MEN, RATHER THAN GOD—John 4: 18: Therefore the Jews sought the
more to kill him, because he not only had broken the sabbath, but said also
that God was his Father, making himself equal with God.
Honoring the Sabbath
First, they sought to kill Christ because to
them he had broken the law of the Sabbath. These men only knew the law in the
letter. But they missed the shadow set forth in the law of the Sabbath.
Colossians 3: 16: the Sabbath [is] a shadow of things to
come; but the body is of Christ.
In the fourth commandment of the ten
commandments, the Jews were commanded to rest on the Sabbath day because after
creating the world in six days, God rested on the seventh day from all his
works. That was a shadow, a type, glorifying and honoring God in Christ. When
God rested in the beginning, in the Sabbath, it shadowed God resting from all
his works of salvation from eternity in his Son.
IN eternity when Christ agreed to finish the works, in
the decree and purpose of God, the works of salvation were finished from the
foundation of the world. Likewise, believers rest from all our works when we
are brought to believe on Christ.
Hebrews 4: 10: For he that is entered into his rest, he
also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his.
Christ is the Sabbath
The second reason these men wanted to kill Christ, goes
hand-in-hand with the first, it was because he declared he is the Son of God,
making himself equal with God. Again, they were so angry they missed the whole
reason Christ said that, they missed gospel Christ declared. Christ declared to
them that though the works were finished in the decree and purpose of God from
eternity, he had come to work those works which the Father sent him to do. “My
Father works hitherto, and I work.”
Gal 4: 4: When the fullness of time was come, God sent forth his Son made of a woman,
made under the law, 5: to redeem them that were under the law that we might
receive the adoption of sons.
Christ accomplished the work. He fulfilled
the law. Christ redeemed his people from the curse and bondage of the law.
Christ is the Sabbath rest of his people because he is the end of the law for
righteousness to everyone who believes.
Seeking Honor from One Another Rather Than God
But these men would not and could not hear
Christ and believe on Christ because their hearts and minds were set on doing
the law themselves. They sought for themselves the glory that belongs to God
the Father and his Son Jesus Christ in fulfilling the law. They wanted the
honor that comes from men for all their law-keeping and they expected God to
honor them as well. But they were so focused on being honored by one another,
they failed to honor the Father by believing on his Son.
Joh 5:44: How can ye believe, which receive honour one of
another, and seek not the honour that cometh from God only?
Many are
zealous in religion. But it is not according to knowledge. They are ignorant
that God’s righteousness is Christ. So they go about to establish their own righteousness
and do not submit to Christ. So they never cease from their works. (Romans 10: 3-4)
Romans 10: 1: Brethren, my heart’s desire and prayer to
God for Israel is, that they might be saved. 2 For I bear them record that they have a zeal
of God, but not according to knowledge. 3 For they being ignorant of God’s
righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not
submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God. 4 For Christ is the end of the law for
righteousness to every one that believeth.
Christ
even told them that righteousness comes by believing on him, in almost the same
words as Paul in Romans 10, but they were too busy seeking their own glory to
hear and believe. (Rom 10: 9-10)
John 5: 24: Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that
heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and
shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.
Romans 10: 9: If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the
Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the
dead, thou shalt be saved. 10: For with the heart man believeth unto
righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
Righteousness
is not by your doing—righteousness is given us freely through faith in Christ
our Righteousness. Christ is our Sabbath rest—in Christ we rest from our works
of the law.
Christ’s Honor to Work Obedience
The other
thing these men missed came in the healing of the lame man on the Sabbath day.
In the lame man we see that Christ alone heals his people, bringing us to rest
in Christ our Sabbath and obey him. The
lame man had been lame 38 years. Those
Christ came to save are lame. Dead in sins.
The lame man had tried by his own strength to
enter a pool of water, hoping to be saved thereby. He was like these men, like
all men lost in their sins: lame, working to save themselves by the law. But when
Christ came and healed him, he ceased from his works. Then the man had rest
from those works because Christ had done the work of healing him.
We who believe, cease from our works, from our seeking to
justify ourselves by the deeds of the law and we rest in Christ our Sabbath
because Christ has finished the work of healing us and making us righteous in
him.
Then the lame man obeyed Christ—he arose and
walked in the Sabbath, carrying his bedroll, as Christ commanded, showing forth
what great things Christ had done for him.
Christ makes the believer willing to truly obey him, to rest in Christ
our Sabbath, to walk in him by faith, declaring Christ and the wonderful works
by which he healed us.
Seeking Honor from One Another Rather Than God
But again these men missed Christ because
they sought the honor that belongs to Christ alone. They sought to discipline the lame man into
obedience, even as they did Christ himself. By that they sought the honor that
belongs to Christ alone, they sought to be honored by men for what they
constrained others to do. They would not bow to Christ lest they
themselves should have to suffer losing that honor, lest they should suffer
persecution from their self-righteous companions.
Galatians 6: 12: As many as desire to make a fair shew in
the flesh, they constrain you to be circumcised; only lest they should suffer
persecution for the cross of Christ. 13: For neither they themselves who are
circumcised keep the law; but desire to have you circumcised, that they may
glory in your flesh.
John 5: 44: How can ye believe, which receive honour one
of another, and seek not the honour that cometh from God only?
Brethren, we carry around a legal Pharisee on
our old man of flesh. If we begin to
attempt to force others into obedience, we seek the glory which is not ours but
belongs to Christ. Doing so, we will not be able to believe Christ and trust
him to do the work only he can do in the heart.
And when he has made a man desire to honor
Christ lets not be too critical of them.
If a fellow believer desires to help you with a work do not reject them
because they do not do the work up to your standards. When is the last time you did anything up to
God’s standard? But God receives it
because it is from a heart he has made, a heart which desires to serve Christ
in love and honor him. So likewise
receive your brothers help though it does not measure up to your standards.
Galatians 6: 1: Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a
fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness;
considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted. 2: Bear ye one another’s
burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ. 3: For if a man think himself to be
something, when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself. 4: But let every man prove
his own work, and then shall he have rejoicing in himself alone, and not in
another.
Believe on Christ, rest in Christ from trying
to justify yourself, and trust Christ to work obedience in his people. God
honors those who honor his Son. Amen!