Testimonies About Jesus
31 “If I testify about myself, my testimony is not valid. 32 There is another who testifies in my favor, and I know that his testimony about me is valid.33 “You have sent to John and he has testified to the truth. 34 Not that I accept human testimony; but I mention it that you may be saved. 35 John was a lamp that burned and gave light, and you chose for a time to enjoy his light.
36 “I have testimony weightier than that of John. For the very work that the Father has given me to finish, and which I am doing, testifies that the Father has sent me. 37 And the Father who sent me has himself testified concerning me. You have never heard his voice nor seen his form, 38 nor does his word dwell in you, for you do not believe the one he sent. 39 You diligently study[a] the Scriptures because you think that by them you possess eternal life. These are the Scriptures that testify about me, 40 yet you refuse to come to me to have life.
41 “I do not accept praise from men, 42 but I know you. I know that you do not have the love of God in your hearts. 43 I have come in my Father’s name, and you do not accept me; but if someone else comes in his own name, you will accept him. 44 How can you believe if you accept praise from one another, yet make no effort to obtain the praise that comes from the only God[b]?
45 “But do not think I will accuse you before the Father. Your accuser is Moses, on whom your hopes are set.46 If you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote about me. 47 But since you do not believe what he wrote, how are you going to believe what I say?”
I really enjoyed John Piper's commentary on these verses. You can read it in its entirety here but I've highlighted some things that stood out for me.- Verse 38: You don’t have God’s word in you. You don’t believe the one whom he has sent.
- 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 cannot believe.
- Verse 45: You don’t believe Moses, and you don’t believe me.
"...John is not mounting up his indictments here for nothing. He is going somewhere. He’s doing something for our faith. For your faith right now. He wants this analysis of unbelief to penetrate into our hearts and reveal one of the deepest causes of unbelief. May the Lord open your heart to see your own soul.
There is one bottom-line answer. Almost at the bottom is the answer of verse 40: “You refuse to come to me.” That is, literally, “You do not want to come to me.” What we want has a massive effect on what we are able to believe. The root issue for these people—and for us—is not intellectual evidence. That does matter, that’s real evidence, and Jesus talks about that—I have a witness in John the Baptist and in my works. But that is not the problem. “You wanted to rejoice for a while in his light” (verse 35). But now that is over, and you don’t want to come to me.
This is why Jesus began where he did with Nicodemus in chapter three—You must be born again. Your deep wants must be transformed. The Holy Spirit must come into your life and take away the deep rebellion against God and his word, and replace it with . . .
With what? Now we are at the bottom in this text. Why didn’t they want to come to Jesus? Why don’t you want to come? What did they want so much instead that made believing and coming impossible?" [emphasis mine]
3 comments:
"Do or do not... there is no try." Yoda
Yep, it's from Star Wars.
I found it really interesting what Mr. Piper said about what we want having a massive effect on what we are able to believe. That is SOOOOOO true.
lol! I had no idea that was from Star Wars--I've never watched it. Too funny and yet true.
I loved this part of that message too....
Because you love the glory of man, not the glory of God. You don’t want Jesus because you want human praise. You don’t want Jesus, because 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 love being somebody. Pick whichever of those fits best. They all fit me, apart from sovereign grace. This, Jesus says, is the root cause of unbelief....
Why would they receive a Messiah who comes in his own name? Because if the Messiah were like that, he would be like them; he would be an endorsement of the way they are. He would make them feel okay with their love of their own name and their own self-exaltation...
But Jesus comes in the name of his Father. In his humanity, he humbles himself and becomes obedient—to whom? To his Father. How humble? How obedient? Obedient unto death, even death on the cross. They could see it coming. And they didn’t like it. If the Messiah is like this, then we will have to be like this. If God is pleased with this kind of self-denial in the Messiah, then he will look for it in us. We don’t want that. Therefore, we will not come. “I have come in my Father’s name, and you do not receive me.”
This is not a uniquely Jewish problem. This is a human problem. This is John Piper’s problem. Perhaps his main problem. And this is your problem. Perhaps your main problem. It is a great bondage. And Jesus came into the world to set us free from our slavery to the approval and the praise of others.
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