Mark Murdock Media

Jesus indicated that there are some people who are incapable of believing in Him. He said this was because a condition existed in them that prevented them from believing. It bothered Jesus that those who should have believed in Him and embraced Him as the Messiah refused to do so. Even people in His home town of Nazareth refused to believe in Him. In the gospel of John chapter 5 we find that the Jewish leaders were opposing Jesus because he was healing and doing what they considered to be “work” on the Sabbath. Jesus pointed to several things that “bear witness” to Him and to the fact that He is the Son of God and the Messiah. He pointed to John the Baptist in verses 32 and 33, to the witness of the works He was doing in verse 36, to the testimony of the Father in verse 37 and then to the witness of the Scriptures in verse 39. Despite all of this evidence, the Jewish leaders still were “unwilling to come” to Him to receive life (verse 40). Why were they unwilling? Why were they unable to believe? Jesus points to the answer in 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?” The reason was that they received glory from one another and did not seek the glory that comes from the only God. Jesus said that under these conditions it was impossible for them to believe; that they were unable to believe in Him and to accept Him as the Messiah. He had just said (verses 41 and 42), “I do not receive glory from men; but I know you, that you do not have the love of God in yourselves.” The diagnosis of Jesus as to why these men did not accept Him as the Son of God and Messiah was that they did not love God and did not seek glory from Him, and instead were concerned only with the approval of their peers. John repeats this explanation for the unbelief of the Jews in John 12:37-43:

37 But though He had performed so many signs before them, yet they were not believing in Him. 38 this was to fulfill the word of Isaiah the prophet which he spoke: "Lord, who has believed our report? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?" 39 For this reason they could not believe, for Isaiah said again, 40 "He has blinded their eyes and He hardened their heart, so that they would not see with their eyes and perceive with their heart, and be converted and I heal them." 41 These things Isaiah said because he saw his glory, and he spoke of him. 42 Nevertheless many even of the rulers believed in Him, but because of the Pharisees they were not confessing Him, for fear that they would be put out of the synagogue; 43 for they loved the approval of men rather than the approval of God.

Again John says that Jesus had performed many signs before them demonstrating that He was the Messiah, the Son of God, but they did not commit themselves to Him. They recognized He was the Messiah, but they would not confess Him. (By the way, John tells us in John 20:30-31 that his book is a book of “signs” that Jesus performed, that he recorded so that we may believe in Jesus Christ and have life in His name.) They did not publicly proclaim their faith because the approval of men was what they craved rather than the approval of God. The word translated “approval” here is the same word translated “glory” in John 5:44, the Greek word doxa. The word means “opinion, hence praise, honor, glory” (New American Standard Exhaustive Concordance). It comes from a root word that has to do with thinking or having an opinion. John is saying that these people did not confess Jesus Christ as Messiah because the opinions and views of other people mattered more to them than the opinion of God. Being OK with the Pharisees was more important to them than being OK with God!

This is exactly the problem with many people today. It is not “politically correct” to be a narrow-minded, “Jesus is the only way to God” believer. What friends, relatives, actors, columnists, pundits, comedians, cartoonists, podcasters and intellectuals think is more important to many people than what God thinks! They are afraid to confess faith in Jesus because they might be labeled “bigots” and “narrow-minded” and “haters” and “intolerant” by the so-called “progressive” people in the culture. But Jesus said, “Therefore everyone who confesses Me before men, I will also confess him before My Father who is in heaven. But whoever denies Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 10:32-33).

Maybe this is something that hinders your faith in Christ. Maybe you are so concerned with the approval of family, friends, co-workers and acquaintances that you won’t fully commit yourself to Christ. It is time to seek God's approval rather than that of other people. It is time, as Jesus said, to “enter through the narrow gate” and take the narrow road that leads to life rather than the popular “broad road” that leads to destruction (see Matthew 7:13-14). If you come to Him in faith, He will give you life. As Jesus said in John 5:24, “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life.”

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