Good morning. If you would, Bible's out. Bible's open. You really should have the Word open up in front of you. My words are simply supposed to be an explanation, an exposition of God's Word, so follow along and make sure that's the case. Check my words against the Word, the Word this morning of John chapter 5. We're only going to be in verses 41 through 44 today. You can find that on page 890 in the Pew Bible. John 5, 41 through 44. I've mentioned a couple of times lately that I've been thinking a lot about the concept of of cool or coolness or what that is and what that means. We're actively talking about it and combating it with our girls as they get older and more self-aware and others aware and cool-concerned and probably also concerned that their dad is not that cool. So I've said that I've been on a crusade against cool, and I wanted to get some of those thoughts into a sermon somewhere, but it never seemed to fit. And then I read this text. and if it's wonderfully in this text. And so I'm excited. Today we're going to consider cool, or consider in the terms of our text, glory. And we're going to see how a concern for cool and a concern for Christ cannot coexist. But first, if you would humor me and forgive back-to-back weeks of Carolina opening illustrations, if you'll grant me this one, I'll commit to no more for a couple of weeks. So give me one, and then we'll take a break. Where do some of these thoughts that I've had on some of the cool and awareness and thinking about it, where do these Where do these find their origin? Well, a lot of it goes back to the fall of 2003. So we're now a year later from our illustration last week. Doug and I have moved across the street from Hinton James dorm to Erringhaus dorm. We're now 100 feet closer to campus. So we're moving up. It's actually the same dorm out front on the steps where 30 years earlier my parents met. So that was an important day for my future existence. But more importantly, 2003 was the year that Roy Williams returned to North Carolina to coach and save our struggling basketball program. Long story short, the previous coach was a great recruiter, but a terrible coach. He had put together one of the great recruiting classes of all time, but he could not turn them into a team. Enter Roy Williams to take over and clean things up. Things started off a little bit rocky. There were three just legit great star players, but they couldn't figure out how to play together. And for some reason, I remember very clearly, one post-game early on, I love post-game press conferences, Roy storms into the press conference, he's pretty an animated, angry guy, and he's got this super Appalachian Southern drawl, and he's complaining about the players and their headbands. They're all wearing headbands, and he's really concerned about the headbands. So end up actually banning headbands at the University of North Carolina on the basketball team. But then I'll never forget why and what he said next. He said, And then he would say that many more times in his 18 years as our coach. Another time he'd say, don't give me any cool stuff. I hate cool. Don't be careless. Don't be casual and don't be cool. He did end up, by the way, making those three separate superstars into a team and winning the national championship the next year, my junior year. And he would go on to win two more championships, the most of any coach in that span. So Roy knew what he was talking about. And Roy said, I hate cool. I am going to argue that Christ here says something similar, but far more profound and far more eternally important. Remember last week was witnesses. Christ has been making significant claims about himself and significant claims deserve substantial support. A friend makes a big audacious claim and we respond with, oh yeah, prove it. Well, Christ has been proving it. This is the prove it section. He's been laying out the evidence the testimony, the witnesses to substantiate the truth of his claims, of his person and his work. And so last week we looked at John the witness, we looked at Christ's works as witness, and then we closed by looking at the word of Christ as witness. But Jesus inserts something here. It's a bit of an aside, almost, before he comes back and concludes with the Word. So we're actually going to save the Word for next week because it deserves a whole week. Because as Christ drives home and applies this brilliant sermon here, I think that he touches on something really important that we shouldn't miss. I argued last week that convincing witness should compel confident belief, and that there was more than enough convincing witness to the truth of Christ. The question then is, why isn't everyone convinced? If the case is clear, if the Christ contained in the Scriptures is so compellingly great and glorious, why then, verse 40, do so many refuse to come to Him? That's the question. That's an eternally important question because coming to Christ is life. Thus, refusing to come to Christ is death. And this is the question that this passage actually answers. The great Bishop J.C. Ryle says that this passage contains the one principle cause of unbelief. That's big. Why do you not believe? Why does anyone not believe this Christ that is so compellingly and clearly good and glorious, compassionate, And how would you answer that question? Why don't people believe? Well, what we're going to see here is how Christ answers that question. And let's see if this text actually has something to do with cool, or have I just fallen prey to the pervasive practice of eisegesis. Am I reading something into the text that's not there, or am I revealing something out of the text that is? It's a legitimate question, so let's see. Does man not believe in the glorious and good Christ? I'm going to argue that it's man's concern with cool." Or again, in the language of the text, man's concern with glory. So I'll explain and I'll define my terms later. But first, we're going to establish point number one, that you were created for God's glory. We have to start there. But then here's the problem in verse 44. This is basically a whole sermon on verse 44. Point number two, that you seek glory for man and not from God. That's our tendency. Every single one of us. What's the solution? Point number three. Seek both the glory of and from God only in the Son of God. So we're going to take two weeks for the rest of this text. Verses 41 through 44 this week, then the Word next week. That glory that you will find in the Son of God is only found in the Word of God. So that's where we'll conclude this long chapter next week. But let's go ahead and read all seven verses, so it's all there in our head. John chapter 5, I'm going to pick up in verse 41. I'll read through the end of verse 47, but we'll only make it through verse 44. Pay attention, because this is what God wants to say to you today. John 5, 41, Jesus says, I do not receive glory from people, but I know that you do not have the love of God within you. 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 do not seek the glory that comes from the only God? Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father. There is one who accuses you, Moses, on whom you have set your hope. For if you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote of me. But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe my words? If you would bow with me, let's begin this time first with a word of prayer. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for your words. These are the words, as we have just sung, of eternal life, because these are the words in which you find the Christ who is life. So Father, as this Christ confronts us here in this text with a great challenge and a great barrier to our belief in Him, we ask that you by your Spirit would work through this word. Father, please help me. I'm setting me aside. Father, help me not to do the very thing that I am preaching against right now. my concern not to be the glory that comes from man, but only the glory that comes from God. And I pray that that would be the concern for every single one of us in this room. Father, we ask again, as we have just sung, that you would show us Christ, and that you would compel us and draw us to him. Father, work now through the preaching of your word, we ask and we pray in Jesus' name, amen. Point number one, you were created for God's glory. You're wondering where all this cool stuff is coming from. You don't see that word cool anywhere in the text. Good, I'm telling you to find the words in the text. We're gonna get there, I'll explain. That's point number two. But we're talking about glory, and you do see that in the text. Verse 41, Jesus says, Jesus does not receive glory from people. Verse 44, he says, you receive glory from man, and you do not seek the glory that comes from God. Let me draw your attention first to an important little word there at the end of verse 44. There is no verb in the second phrase there of verse 44. There is no comes in the Greek. You see the comes there in the English? It's not there in the Greek. The ESV following the King James adds that to try and help us. It's maybe not necessary. The NASB gets the closest to the original. He says, you do not seek the glory that is from the one and only God. And it's that preposition from that I want you to take note of. This verse does not say, why do you not seek the glory of God, but the glory from God. That's interesting. That's going to be an important distinction. We're coming to it in a second. But why is this important? Why this glory talk? Well, let's run quickly through a summary doctrine of the glory of God, not something easily done. And why is that? Well, it's because the glory of God is the main topic. of the scriptures. This has been all over John already. We saw back in chapter 2 verse 11 the purpose of these signs that Jesus does. Remember he did the first sign, the water to wine, and it manifested his glory. The climax of John's glorious introduction, chapter 1 verse 14, and the word became flesh and dwelt among us and we have seen his Glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. Yes, we're talking about glory. Why does God ultimately do all that He does? For what purpose does everything that happens ultimately happen? What's the center, the point, the goal? Glory, as Jonathan Edwards has famously said, all that is ever spoken of in the scriptures as an ultimate end of God's works is included in that one phrase, the glory of God. What is that? What is the glory of God? Oh, we've talked a number of times before how the Hebrew word for glory, kabod, means weightiness, right? Weightiness is significance. We've talked about gym glory, right? I go to the gym and I have very small glory because glory in the gym is determined by weightiness, by how much you can pick up and drop on the ground and it makes noise. I drop my weights, nobody looks. Big guys drop their weights, everybody's, Everybody's looking at that guy. Wait, that's glory. It's weightiness. The sun is the weightiest thing in our solar system. Therefore, everything revolves A solar system is actually defined as a gravitationally bound system, which means that it consists of everything within reach of and bound by the weightiness of the sun, and then the force that that weightiness imposes, that gravity. And thus everything else is dependent on and revolves around that center, that sun. That's God's glory. God's glory is His majestic goodness and greatness. It is His weightiness. He is great. He is glorious. It refers to all that He is as God Himself. It's His infinite, intrinsic worth. His infinite, intrinsic beauty. His infinitely significant and weighty, and therefore everything else is dependent upon and revolves around Him. Glory. Sometimes we speak of this somewhat interchangeably with God's holiness. God's holiness is another sort of summary attribute of all that God is. God is separate. He is other. He is transcendent. As we've been seeing in Sunday school, He is not like us. He's perfectly good in all that He is and does. And so though sometimes the terms holiness and glory are used interchangeably, there is an important distinction. Consider the glorious scene of Isaiah chapter six. Isaiah is given this glorious vision of God, and he hears the creatures calling out to each other, holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. The whole earth is full of his glory. We'd expect him to say holiness, maybe. Holy, holy, holy, the whole verse is full of his holiness. But no, you know, they don't say that. Holy, holy, holy, the whole earth is full of his glory. So I think most simply, glory is holiness displayed. Glory is the showing and shining forth of the holiness of God. As it's often been put for hundreds of years, holiness is glory concealed, glory is holiness revealed. And this is the point of everything. Psalm 19, the heavens declare the glory. of God. Why did God create everything? To declare His glory. Why does God create His people? Isaiah 43, 6 and 7. God says, bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the end of the earth, everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory. Paul agrees. Romans 9, 23, he talks about what God is doing in the world in order to make known the riches of His glory for vessels of mercy, that's us, vessels of mercy, which He has prepared beforehand for glory. See, God has prepared us for glory. The God of all glory prepares His people for glory. He's working to make known to us the riches of His glory. In Romans 5, a few weeks ago, we just saw Paul say that we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. He'll say, we'll close this service with the glorious doxology of Romans 11, 36, for from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be glory forever. Amen. So God's glory, His greatness, is the source, the means, the end, of everything. His greatness, his beauty, his worth, the glory of that is showing and shining forth. And this is what we were created for, to revolve around that glory, to glorify him. And so what could that mean? Not that we add in any way to His glory. How could we? You cannot add to or increase perfection. And so when scripture talks about glorifying God, it means not that we make God glorious, but that we display him as glorious. We acknowledge and honor him as glorious. And we do this by rightly responding to him in the recognition of his overwhelming glory. We respond in love and worship. We see him for who he is. We love him. We value him. And then we show that in all that we think and feel and do. Consider the first and foundational question of the Westminster Shorter Catechism. What is man's chief end? What is your main goal, the main purpose for which you were created, the reason that you exist? To glorify God and enjoy Him forever. And we do this by seeing Him, being satisfied in Him, and then by showing We've got to start there because that's what you were created for, to know and show the glory of God. That is your very purpose. That's your design. Truth, last week, remember, is that which corresponds with reality. Your reality is that this is what you were made for, the glory of God. And this is why we are all glory obsessed. And this is why we like going to big, impressive movies and concerts and shows. This is why we gather with thousands. I saw the Texas A&M Alabama game was like 106,000 people. Socially distanced and masked, of course. I'm kidding. They weren't at all. They were outside. This is why we get caught up in big movements. This is why we're obsessed with stars and celebrities and any and all things that are bigger than us. Because we were made for something bigger than us. We were made for glory. True glory. God's glory. And so when we don't seek it in Him and from Him, we will inevitably start to seek it in and from somewhere else. And so you are created for glory. But all that was introductory. I sneak attack, it was two introductions. You absolutely were created for the glory of God. And that is first and foundational. That is where you will find life and joy and peace. But back to the text. Finally, notice again in verse 44, Jesus doesn't say, you do not seek the glory of God, but the glory para, preposition meaning from God. This is good. This is glorious. What does that mean, the glory from God? Well, it must mean that there is in some sense, and let's be careful here, hear me out, there is in some sense in which God glorifies us. Hold on, don't panic. Heresy alarms are going off. Maybe some Greek can help us. Greek always helps us. You agree, right? We've mentioned already the Hebrew word for glory, kabod. The corresponding Greek word is three times in our text, doxa, D-O-X-A. I did, by the way, realize while working on this that doxa would fit into our pattern of girl names, right? Two syllables ending in an A, right? Doxa. And we do need another name, because as most of you probably know by now, we did find out Tuesday that we are having a fifth little girl. Five for five, right? I go, go big or go home, right? Don't do anything partially. Susan helped us pick out a celebratory tie the other night, so if it's too much, blame Susan. This is Susan's fault. I'm excited about our fifth girl. Jerry, I win. Sorry, Jerry. I defeated you. Listen, I love being a girl dad. Don't tell me I need a boy or I will fight you. I do not need a boy. I now have six lovely ladies in my life that make everything better. Today, by the way, is the 12th anniversary of that first and foremost lovely lady. We've been married 12 years today, so here I am with you. You're welcome. I love you guys. She's put up with me for 12 years. I am very thankful that God is very good and gracious, and he has demonstrated that to us in large part through girls. So we're excited about number five. She said last week she'll probably be Vera, truth, but doxa would work. Doxa, shores. Aside, over. Doxa means glory. It means glory. It means honor. It means praise. We sing the doxology. It literally just means words of praise. Praise God from whom all blessings Flo, if you're reading the King James, you'll see that it translates, verse 44, saying, you receive honor, one from another, but don't seek the honor that comes from God. That's a fine translation. There is an honor or a glory or a praise that in some way comes to us from God. And we shouldn't be uncomfortable with this. Because it's biblical. Yes, words have a range of meaning. We know that we do not receive glory from God in the same way that we glorify God, but there's apparently some way in which God does glorify or honor us. Peek ahead to chapter 12, verse 43. John 12, 43. In 1241, we see the mention of the vision in Isaiah 6 that we just discussed. It says, Isaiah saw God's glory, verse 41 says. Then we find out that there were some Pharisees, some religious leaders, who are believing in some sort of way in Jesus, but they won't come out with that belief. They won't confess it out of fear. So look at verse 43. For they loved the glory that comes from man more than the glory that comes from God. And so there it is again, some sort of glory that comes from God. In Romans 2.29, Paul explains that a Jew is one inwardly, and circumcision is a matter of the heart, by the spirit, not by the letter. Catch this, his praise is not from man, but from God. Praise from God for us. In Matthew 25, in the parable of the talents, we hear the words that all God's children look forward to and long to hear. Well done, good and faithful servants. Enter into the joy of your master. That's glory. That's praise. That's honor. Or how about 1 Peter 1.7? All about trials. Some of you are facing some serious trials right now. Why is that? so that the tested genuineness of your faith, more precious than gold. Do you believe that your faith is the most precious thing that you possess? Your faith more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, that that faith may be found to result, listen to this, in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. I didn't check this, maybe go check this. I think that's the only spot in the New Testament where all three Greek words of praise are shoved together. There's three different words, praise, glory, honor. Peter shoves them all together. Face your trials in light of that, church, in the awareness that tried and tested faith results in praise and glory and honor for you in some way. That still sound a little backwards? Back to John chapter 5, back to verse 41. John 5, 41, here's how it opened again. Jesus had said this, I do not receive glory from people, or just from men in the Greek. What does he mean there? The verb translated, receive, is just the word for to take. He says, I do not take glory or I do not accept glory from man. The New Living Translation, which is not really a translation, but it's more of like a loose interpretation, it at least kind of gets the sense of this verse correct. The New Living Translation says, your approval means nothing to me. That should help us understand what it means that we receive glory from God. Notice in verse 44 how Jesus equates receiving glory from one another and not seeking glory that comes from God. And so in 41, Jesus is saying, I am not seeking human acclaim or affirmation. I am not seeking the praise of man. I am not dependent upon, nor do I need your approval or affirmation. And here's the point that I'm trying to make. Here's what it means to receive glory or praise from God. You do need His approval and affirmation. You were created for His approval and affirmation. You cannot thrive. You cannot even survive without God's approval and affirmation. It is what you were made for and made to run on, this glory from God. We've been talking a lot about righteousness in Romans. We've made the case that Romans is about righteousness. Henry did a good job Thursday rehearsing and reminding us of the big idea and outline of the book. Romans is about the gospel. The gospel is about righteousness by grace through faith. The second section of the book is about our need for righteousness. God is righteous. You are not. I am not. God's wrath is rightly revealed against all of our unrighteousness. And then the next part of the book is all about God's gracious provision of that righteousness. It's all about justification by grace through faith in Christ. God declares us righteous because he counts Christ's work and Christ's record as ours. Christ's righteousness is credited to our account. That's the gospel. That's God's glory revealed in the salvation of sinners. He provides for us the very righteousness that he requires from us. And so Romans is all about righteousness. You have to be righteous to be with the righteous God. Remember, God doesn't lower the standard. He's like, OK, you know, if you're better than 50%, I'll accept. No, you have to be 100%. It's 100%. He doesn't grade on a curve. So if it's you, you're doomed because you're like me and you're terrible. You need Christ's righteousness, 100% counted to our account. And you have to be righteous to be with the righteous God, which brings out something very important that we often miss in regards to righteousness. It's not just about right-ness. It's not a purely legal concept in Scripture. It is that, but it is also a relational concept. Righteousness is not just right-ness, but it is also right-with-ness. Righteousness is actually all about approval, and acceptance. I stole this illustration years ago, but I've explained righteousness as our sort of spiritual resume. You want a job? There's a certain set of skills and qualifications and experiences required for the job. And so you submit your resume, which lists all your skills and qualifications and experiences that you believe qualify you for the job. But you don't get to make that decision. Someone else has to decide and make that decision. So the boss looks over your resume. He holds you up to the standard of the job description, and then he decides if you pass muster, if you pass inspection, if you receive his acceptance and approval. His giving you the job is also a granting of that acceptance and approval. You are good enough. You qualify for this job. And listen, spiritually, that's the thing that we are all looking for. We are all of us looking for approval and acceptance and affirmation. We're hungry for it, we're desperate for it, always searching for it, and it's because of how we were created. You were created for the glory of God. God created us in his image and likeness, meaning righteous. like him, the righteous one, and thus with him, the righteous one. And that is what we lost in the fall. That is what our sin cost us. We lost our rightness, which also then resulted in our loss of right-with-ness. I read in Sunday school this morning, in question 19 of the shorter catechism, what is the misery of man's fallen condition? By their fall, all mankind lost fellowship or relationship with God and brought his anger and curse on themselves. They are therefore subject to all the miseries of this life, to death itself and to the pains of hell forever. The thing that we lost is fellowship or communion with God, the God who is life, the God who with Him there is fullness of joy and pleasure forevermore. And in losing Him, we lost our center, we lost our son, our security, the one that defined us and delighted us, the one that affirmed us and secured us. We fell short of the glory of God. And thus we also lost the glory that comes from God, his praise, his affirmation, his acceptance, his approval. And we have all of us been looking for it ever since. Listen, that's our problem. And that's point number two. We could go on and on and on about glory, but we've got to move on back to the text. Point number two, you seek glory from man, not God. Here's what you are made for in one. Here's what we all in our sin do in point two. Verse 44. Again, this is an entire sermon about verse 44. It's so important. Let me read it again. Why doesn't everyone see and respond to the clear and compelling glory of Christ? Jesus says, how can you believe when you receive glory from one another and do not seek the glory that comes from the only God? In other words, you can't seek and receive the glory that comes from God if you are seeking and receiving the glory that comes from man. Let's go back to our opening illustration. Let's go back to cool. What in the world does cool have to do with this text? I think verse 44 is where this concept is coming from. What does it mean to be cool? What is coolness? That's notoriously difficult to define, though many have tried. Cool is an aesthetic. Aesthetics are concerned with appearance. Cool is an aesthetic of admiration. Cool is attractive self-expression. Cool is some sort of attribute that is found admirable or desirable. One supposed expert on the subject, I don't know how you become this, but one supposed expert on the subject says that cool is the most popular slang term of approval. That's excellent. Don't forget that word. We just saw that righteousness is about approval and acceptance. Cool is the term of approval. Another expert argues that coolness is about control. Another book defines cool as an attitude of permanent private rebellion. And so many have pointed out that the desire to be cool arises out of a desire to be free. This is why cool is a very Western American phenomenon in the last couple hundred years. Cool is about the freedom of the self from all external constraints. I'm in control. No one can control me. No one can tell me what to do and what is good and what is right and what is wrong. And then it's also then about the superiority of the self in comparison to others. Hey, look at this thing that is unique and different about me, that sets me apart, that shows me to be better than others. See it. Be amazed. Approve me. Praise me. So cool is part of the desire to be self-directed, superior sovereigns. And then it's to be seen and recognized and accepted and approved as such. Or, let's get biblical, verse 44, cool is simply seeking glory from one another. It is seeking praise and honor, affirmation and acceptance from man. A concern for cool is really a concern for glory. And Christ is clear. You cannot seek and receive praise and honor and affirmation and acceptance from man and seek and receive those things from God. It is one or the other. It's cool or Christ. And now let's be clear, I'm not just picking on like super cool hipsters here. Jesus is not talking to 21st century Williamsburgers with like trendy little mustaches and jean jackets and craft beer. No, he's talking, context, he's talking to the Jewish religious leaders of his day. So this is not a 21st century western hipster problem, this is not a Jewish problem, this is a human This is a Matthew Shores problem and I am desperate to drive home the seriousness of the problem because I am so painfully aware of the pervasiveness of this problem in my own wretched heart. I am so painfully aware of how prone I am to still seek glory from man. We all do it. We just all do it in different ways. I make fun of you for doing it with social media. And let's be honest, that's why you use social media. That's why we craft the pictures and the kissy faces and the big creepy eyes. And it's why we insist on announcing to the world all the things that we are doing. Nobody cares. There's nothing truly social about social media. It's selfish media. It's me-dia. Or it's look at me-dia. as killing us, as accomplishing nothing good. And if you've been reading the news the last week or two, even the secular world is increasingly recognizing this. Facebook has been in all kinds of trouble because it knows how bad it is for us. But it doesn't care because it's making money off of you. It's not helping you. It's using you to make money. It's not helping you, but harming you. Just go read what they've done to young women and knowing the information that they had about young women and not caring and doing it anyways. And yet we try and act like, oh, you know, it's neutral and helpful and it's fun. It's just not. Always ask why. Why are you doing what you are doing? Why are you posting what you're posting? Are you seeking the glory that comes from God? Or are you seeking the glory that comes from man? Or again, let me reemphasize, I am the chief of sinners. I am no better. I do the exact same thing, just in different ways. And I'm uncomfortably aware of this right now. I am uncomfortably aware of how concerned I am with what people think of me. Why do pastors get so upset and just bothered and down on Sunday nights and Mondays? Why is that? It's fear of man. That's all that it is. That's all that it is. Oh, I didn't do this or this person's upset. It's entirely about the fear of man and a concern for our own glory and not for the glory of God. How much can I even preach sermons about the grace and glory of God for my own selfish gain and glory? Not to honor him, but to seek and establish and honor myself. wretched man that I am. So again, we all do it in different ways. Are you aware of how you are prone to do it? Are you aware of where you are prone and how you are prone to seek the glory that comes from man in place of the glory that comes from God? Because you must be. Because this is serious. Step back for a second and look over the text. Look at this big picture. Don't miss this. Don't miss how confrontational Christ here is in this text. This is no small matter. Consider the repeated rebukes that he just throws out just in rapid fire. Look at verse 37. In verse 37, he says, you've never heard God's voice or seen his form. Verse 38, you do not have his word abiding in you. You do not believe the one he has sent. Verse 40, you refuse to come to me. Verse 42, you do not have the love of God in you. Verse 43, You do not receive me. You'll receive someone else, but not me. Verse 44, you cannot believe because you do not seek the glory that comes from God. Verse 45, Moses accuses you. Verse 46, you do not believe Moses. You do not believe me. This is not Jesus meek and mild here, but this is Jesus kind and compassionate. because he knows that knowing God is eternal life and he knows that you cannot both love self and love God. And he knows how prone we are to love self and serve self by seeking the glory of self through the praise and approval and glory of others. Let's be honest, we love to be honored. We adore acceptance and affirmation. And as we've seen, that's an impulse and desire that comes from our design. The problem is not with the desire. The problem is where and how we seek to satisfy the desire. But we've got to get this basic idea correct. Self-love prevents God-love. And an inordinate love and concern for self makes a proper love and concern for God impossible. Matthew Henry puts it perfectly on this verse. He says, they slighted and undervalued Christ because they admired and overvalued themselves. That's what we all do. Calvin puts it like this on this verse. He says, this is a remarkable passage which teaches that the gate of faith is shut. against all whose hearts are preoccupied by a vain desire of self and earthly glory. For he who wishes to be somebody in the world must become wandering and unsteady so that he will have no inclination towards God. Never is a man prepared to obey the heavenly doctrine until he is convinced that his principal object throughout his whole life ought to be that he may be approved by God. Is your principal object or desire that you be approved by God? Or is it actually to be approved by man and prove your answer? Because it's one or the other. You can and will only and ultimately love one or the other, self or God. Cool is concerned with self. Sin is concerned with self. how much we remain, and I remain, concerned and consumed with self. Listen, this is the problem. John Newton, of course, diagnoses the problem perfectly. We are fallen into a state of gross idolatry. And self is the idol that we worship. I think that's so good. This idol is so dangerous and deadly because you cannot serve two masters. You cannot worship both self and God. Your worship and pursuit of self blocks your worship and pursuit of God. And this is so hard for us to get, not just because of our sin, but also because it's exactly the opposite of the message that the whole world is proclaiming. The world says, assert yourself and affirm yourself. The word says, deny yourself. and die to yourself. Those can't be reconciled. It's one or the other. Matthew 16, Jesus is painfully clear. Self-denial is not some small optional part of the Christian life. Self-denial is the Christian life. Self-denial, not self-fulfillment or self-affirmation, is the path to life. Matthew 16, 24, if anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it." That's a message that's just fundamentally opposed to the desire of our sinful hearts and the message of our sinful world. There's no way to have those two things together. There's no way to be doing both. Where are you seeking glory? From whom do you seek approval and acceptance? Who do you fear? Who do you love? Note that in verse 42, Jesus says he knows that they don't have the love of God in them. And he knows that because they seek not the glory that comes from God, but from man. And the love of God is life. And so brief application and exhortation, what do we do now? Point number three, seek both the glory of and from God only in the Son of God. That's the point of this whole conversation. Jesus confronts us with himself because he's kind and compassionate. He cares and he knows the only place that we will find life. And so he kindly puts his finger painfully on our problem. He kindly exposes our sinful selfishness and self-obsession and self-glory seeking because he knows that if that is not stopped, if that is not fixed, then we will die eternally. Because that sin puts us in opposition to the God who is life. You cannot seek self and seek God, and to not seek God who is life is to die. And that's why Jesus has come. This is why he speaks and he shows and he reveals. John has said, we have seen his glory. He showed it to us because he's kind. Oh, let us show it to you because he's good and he's glorious. Look at verse 43. He says, he has come in the name of his father. That's so amazing. That's John 3, 16. Never get over it. God loved the world in this way that He gave His only Son. He has come from the Father in the name of the Father, out of the love of the Father for His people. He, as we saw last week, who is true, comes to rescue us from what is false. Second half of verse 43. He has come, but they have not received Him. If another comes in His own name, you will receive He's talking about, historically it seems that he's talking about many of the false messiahs who were to come. The Jewish historian Josephus tells us about a number of these guys after Jesus that people followed after. But more broadly even than that, what Jesus is saying is that if you don't follow me, you will end up following somebody else. And if you're not following me, you will end up following somebody false. And if truth is life, false is death. So again, he's kindly warning us, don't listen to anyone else. Don't follow anyone else. Don't follow your heart, the heart which is deceitful above all things and desperately sick, and don't follow others whose hearts are deceitful above all things and desperately sick, which means don't follow anyone else. Don't follow anyone false. Follow me. I am the way and the truth and the life. He says that he is the revelation of the glory of God because he himself is God. And so seek the glory that comes from the only God by seeking the son that comes from the only God. The whole point of the whole of scriptures is the revelation of the glory of God. And the ultimate revelation of that glory is the son of God become a man to live and to suffer and to die and to rise again to save his sinful people from their selves. That's glory. That's what you need. That's why this God is so indescribably grand and glorious. Look at who He is. Look at what He does. This is how we closed last week. I know confidently that the scriptures are true because the Christ that is contained in those scriptures is so compellingly glorious and good that it is impossible that He was nothing more than the creation of the imagination of sinful man. And we see that here as well. He is audaciously claiming that their problem and our problem is that we refuse to come to Him and not receive Him. He's saying that they don't have life because they refused Him. He's saying that he knows that they do not love God because they do not love Him. That is a colossal claim. That is a claim to be life itself, God himself. That is a claim, as we've seen in verses 21 and 2 and 24 and 5 and 6, that he's the one who gives life. He is the one who's sovereign over life and death, justification and condemnation. And yet here he is, this transcendent God of all glory, speaking to them, reasoning with them. Verse 34, so that you may be saved. even though verses 16 and 18. they were persecuting him and seeking to kill him. There's the majesty combined with the meekness, the power combined with the compassion. There's no one like this. And this is what God is like, the God of all glory. And so Jesus is inviting us to come to him and see the glory of God and receive the glory that comes from God. You are desperate for acceptance and approval, and so am I. What if we really lived as if we already had that perfectly in Christ? Again, the significance of the individual determines how important their approval is. I don't care what random person about me says on the street. I care what you guys say some. I care what my dad says more. I care what Pastor Mike says. I care what my brothers say. It's the significance and the intimacy of the figure that we look to for the approval, God himself. What if we lived as if we had His perfect approval already in Christ? If God loves us in Him, accepts us in Him, adopts us in Him, treats us as His sons and daughters, and says to us, well done. That's what our hungry souls need. He's the God of all glory, and the most amazing thing is that same God of all glory also promises to work all things for our good. That means glory for us. This is what God is doing, Church. He is making us Romans 8 29 for those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his son verse 30 and those whom he predestined he also called and those whom he called he also justified and those whom he justified he also glorified Come on, church, that should thrill us. This Jesus, that is the image of God, this Jesus, that is the glory of God, is making us like him, conforming us into his image. We are glorified. How does that happen? It's through this last point. Paul makes clear in 2 Corinthians 3, 18, and we all We all with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. face your difficulties and sufferings in light of that. Paul's saying that it's through seeing God's glory, come back next week, we see that through the text, we see God's glory through the word of Christ, and then as we see that by the Spirit, it says we are transformed into the same image, into that glory, and it happens from one degree of glory to another. That's what God is doing in and through and for you, Christian. He is making you glorious. He is making you what you were originally created to be, which is like Him and with Him, like God Himself, who is perfect in everything, perfect joy, perfect peace, perfect life, pure glory and good. He says, I'm doing that for you through Christ. And so, come on, who cares about cool? I hate cool, but I want to hate it more. Who cares about the glory that comes from man? Who cares? This is what God says about me in Christ. The glory of man is futile and fleeting. Look at what the glory that comes from God is, and look at what it does. He makes us like Him. And as we, by the grace of God, become more and more like Him, we like Him more, we love Him more, and we live for Him more and more, and then those around us see and perceive that, and God is further glorified and magnified and displayed as glorious as people see us finding our satisfaction and our joy and our life in Him. Church, He is glory, and you were created to glorify Him, and in so doing, enjoy Him. So forget the so-called glory that comes from man. Seek the eternal glory and life and joy that comes from God and seek it all and only in the Son of God. If you would, bow with me and let's close this time with a word of prayer. Father, help us please. Forgive us for how concerned and consumed we are with the glory that comes from man. Forgive us for how oriented we remain around ourselves and how concerned we are for our appearance and our reputation and our status and all these things. Father, help us to not care about things that don't matter. Help us to care about the things that you care about and the things that matter eternally. I pray that you would help all of us to increasingly seek the glory that comes from you and set aside any concern for the glory that comes from man. We thank you for Jesus Christ who has come for us to make that reality a possibility. We thank you for the life that we have found in him only by your grace. Father, we desperately need your help to live in light of the wonderful truths that we have here before us. Father, our practice so often falls so short of our profession. And so we need your help. We ask that you would work now by your spirit, through your word. Do that by unveiling our faces and showing us his glory. And we ask and we believe and trust that you will transform us from one degree of glory to another. Father, show us Christ. Help us to love him. Make us like him. And we ask this all only in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.