The Unwilling Mind of Unbelieving, Self-Glory Seekers

It is good to be with you this morning. It's always good to be with you and be here at Christ Community Church. Teresa and I love this church very much. We pray for you regularly. That the Lord would work here in the ministries that you have here and bring sanctification among his people and salvation to those who do not yet know him. And so it's always good to come back. You know, I was baptized here. Teresa was baptized here. We were married here. We learned so many foundations of the faith that we have carried with us. That have shaped and molded us over our lifetime. And we are grateful for this church.

And there's no better place to be on a Sunday morning than a place where I know as a preacher of the Word of God I can come and open up the text. And people want to hear what it has to say. You're here to hear what God has to say to you. And so it is a great joy to be here and proclaim what He has said. Let us pray, and then we'll be in John chapter 7 this morning.

Heavenly Father, we pray that as we study the text of Holy Scripture that you have for us, that you would open up our eyes that we may behold our glorious Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. We ask this in His name. Amen.

Take your copy of God's Word and open to the Gospel of John, the seventh chapter. We will be working through the entire chapter this morning. It's one big unit, and it's helpful to take it all together in order to see what's happening. The title for my sermon this morning is The Unwilling Mind of Unbelieving Self-Glory Seekers. It's kind of a mouthful. So I'll say it one more time: The Unwilling Mind of unbelieving self-glory seekers. That's what you're going to see put on display through this text.

So I'll read the text. And I'll do a little, explain some background, do a little summary of the text, and then we'll exposit the text together, pull out a doctrine from the text, and apply that to our lives. So hear the Word of God from John chapter 7.

After this, Jesus went about in Galilee. He would not go about in Judea, because the Jews were seeking to kill him. Now, the Jews' feast of booths was at hand. So his brothers said to him, Leave here and go to Judea, that your disciples may also see the works that you are doing. For no one works in secret if he seeks to be known openly. If you do these things, show yourself to the world. For not even his brothers believed in him. Jesus said to them, My time has not yet come, but your time is always here. The world cannot hate you, but it hates me, because I testify about it that its works are evil. You go up to the feast. I am not going up to the feast, for my time is not yet fully come. After saying this, he remained in Galilee.

But after his brothers had gone up to the feast, then he also went up, not publicly, but in private. The Jews were looking for him at the feast, saying, Where is he? And there was much muttering about him among the people. While some said, He is a good man. Others said, No, he is leading the people astray. Yet, for fear of the Jews, no one spoke openly of him.

About the middle of the feast, Jesus went up to the temple and began teaching. The Jews, therefore, marveled, saying, How is it that this man has learning when he has never studied? So Jesus answered them. My teaching is not mine, but his who sent me. If anyone's will is to do God's will, he will know whether the teaching is from God, or whether I am speaking on my own authority. The one who speaks on his own authority seeks his own glory, but the one who seeks the glory of him who sent him is true, and in him there is no falsehood.

Has not Moses given you the law? Yet none of you keep the law. Why do you seek to kill me? The crowd answered, You have a demon who is seeking to kill you? Jesus answered them, I did one work, and you all marvel at it. Moses gave you circumcision, not that it is from Moses, but from the fathers. And you circumcise a man on the Sabbath. If on the Sabbath a man receives circumcision so that the law of Moses may not be broken, are you angry with me? Because on the Sabbath I made a man's whole body well? Do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment.

Some of the people of Jerusalem therefore said, Is not this the man whom they seek to kill? And here he is, speaking openly. They say nothing to him. Can it be that the authorities really know that this is the Christ? But we know where this man is from. And when Christ appears, no one will know where he is from. So Jesus proclaimed as he taught in the temple, You know me, and you know where I am from, but I have not come of my own accord. He who sent me is true, in him you do not know. But I know him, for I am from him, and he sent me. So they were seeking to arrest him, but no one laid a hand on him, because his hour had not yet come.

Yet many of the people believed in him. They said, When the Christ appears, will he do more signs than this man is doing? The Pharisees heard the crowd muttering these things about him, and the chief priests and Pharisees sent officers to arrest him. Jesus then said, I will be with you a little while longer, and then I am going to him who sent me. You will seek me, and you will not find me. Where I am, you cannot come. The Jews said to one another, Where does this man intend to go, that we will not find him? Does he intend to go to the dispersion among the Greeks and teach the Greeks? What does he mean by saying, You will seek me and you will not find me, and where I am you cannot come?

On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, If anyone thirst, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water. Now, this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive, for as yet the Spirit had not yet been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.

When they had heard these words, some of the people said, This really is the prophet. Others said, This is the Christ. But some said, Is the Christ to come from Galilee? Has not the scripture said that the Christ comes from the offspring of David and comes from Bethlehem, the village where David was? So there was a division among the people over him. Some of them wanted to arrest him, but no one laid hands on him.

The officers then came to the chief priests and Pharisees, who said to them, Why did you not bring him? The officers answered, No one ever spoke like this man. The Pharisees answered them, Have you also been deceived? Have any of the authorities or the Pharisees believed in him? But this crowd that does not know the law is accursed. Nicodemus, who had gone to him before, and who was one of them, said to them, Does our law judge a man without first giving him a hearing and learning what he does? They replied, Are you from Galilee too? Search and see that no prophet arises from Galilee.

In this text, we see that confusions and questions about Jesus' origin, his purpose, and his destination. Because people are unwilling to receive his testimony, the testimony that is of God and from God. As you give just a cursory reading of this text, as we have done, you can see there's a lot of questions in this text. If you just take your pen in your Bible, if you're an underliner, just underline the question marks that are in the text, you will see there's question after question after question. You get there are various opinions about who Christ is. Where is he coming from? Where is he going? Where does the Messiah come from? Where does he go? Of what lineage is he of? What place is he supposed to be born? All these questions and confusion exist around the person, purposes, and destination of Christ. And the reason why is because people have unwilling minds because they are seeking their own glory.

This is a theme that runs. Pardon me, runs throughout the Gospel of John. John tells us why he wrote this book. John chapter 20, verse 31. These things were written, the things right here that we read in John chapter 7. These things were written so that you would believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you would have life in his name. So, this text was written so that we would believe and others would believe in Christ. And what you see here is that there are a lot of people who do not believe in Christ as he has revealed himself to them. They have not seen or perceived the glory of God in Christ Jesus.

John, who told us why he wrote the book, says in John chapter 1, verse 14, And we beheld his glory, the glory of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. So we have these people in this text who are seeking their own glory. And we have John who says, We beheld glory, not the glory that comes from man. But we beheld the glory of God in Christ Jesus. You see this a little bit later in John chapter 11, verse 40, when Jesus raises Lazarus from the dead. And just before he does, he says to Martha, Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?

On the contrast, you have those in John's Gospel who cannot believe. It is impossible for them to do so. Why? Well, look at John chapter 5, just a few pages over in your Bible. And John chapter 5 is an interesting chapter. We don't have time to get into the background of this, but in John chapter 5. You have the backdrop and the setting for some of the debate and conversation that takes place in John chapter 7. This is where Jesus heals a man. People are upset with him. This leads into the conversation about the law, the Sabbath, circumcision that we just read about.

But at the end of John chapter 5, you have these people who do not want to believe in Jesus Christ. And Jesus says to them in chapter 5, verse 44, How can you believe? In other words, it's rhetorical, you can't. Why can't you believe? How can you believe when you receive the glory from one another, and do not seek the glory that comes from the only God? So here we have this issue. We have people who believe perceive the glory of God and the reason why some do not believe. Or some do not perceive the glory of God is because they do not believe. Why don't they believe? Because instead of pursuing the glory that comes from God, they pursue the glory that comes from man.

You can see this also a little later in John's Gospel, in John chapter 12, verse 39. Same thing we've been saying. John 12, 39, the Apostle writes, Therefore they could not believe. For again Isaiah said, He has blinded their eyes, and hardened their heart, lest they see with their eyes, and understand with their heart, and turn, and I would heal them. Isaiah said these things. Why does Isaiah say these things? Because he saw his glory and spoke of him. John, like Isaiah, beheld the glory of Jesus Christ.

Nevertheless, many of the authorities believed in him, but for fear of the Pharisees, they did not confess it so that they would not be put out of the synagogue. This is a bad sign in John's Gospel. This is a sign of false belief. How do we know? Well, verse 43, they loved the glory that comes from man more than the glory that comes from God. There is glory to be perceived in Jesus Christ, all the fullness of divine beauty and perfections are his because he is the eternal, only begotten Son of God.

This text helps us understand. Why is it that some people can be in the same place at the same time, see the same things? Hear the same words and come to radically different conclusions about who Christ is. And the answer is, because in our fallen state, we are self-glory seekers. And as long as we seek the glory that comes from man, we will never be able to behold the glory of God that is in Christ Jesus. And it is only by an act of God regenerating us, granting us faith and repentance, that we are able to behold the glory of God in Christ Jesus.

So, to the text that's immediately before us, we're going to break this text up into two sections: the heart of unbelieving self-glory seekers. The second, the results of unbelieving self-glory seekers. The heart of unbelieving self-glory seekers and the results of unbelieving self-glory seekers. Now, I think because we're taking big chunks, I think we can look at this and kind of parse it out finer than I have. I'm going to give you some, I'm going to tell you what the heart of unbelieving self-glory seekers is first, and you'll see it kind of unfold. There's a little bit of overlapping, but all the concepts are present.

So, what is the heart of unbelieving self-glory seekers? First, the heart of unbelieving self-glory seekers is vain. Second, it is fearful. Third, it is unrighteous. So let's look at this text.

Jesus is not going to go about in Judea. Why? Because his life is being sought for, but his time is not yet come. So this goes back to John chapter 5. This is when they're beginning to want to kill Jesus. And so, this reason, Jesus, he would not go about in Judea because his life was sought. And now, John tells us the feast of the booths was at hand. The feast of booths is also known as the Feast of Tabernacles. This is one of the three major feasts that every Jew was required to come to Israel and participate in. And what they would do was they would pitch tents outside in order to remind them of the time in which they were sojourning from the land of Egypt into the land of Canaan, which the Lord had promised to give them. And in that intermediate time, they would live in tents. And not only would they live in tents, but there was also the tabernacle that was prior to the temple that would be built during their time of sojourning from Egypt to the land that the Lord had promised to give to their forefathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And so this is the Feast of Booths. This is the Feast of Tabernacles. Jesus Christ is the one who came and tabernacled among God's people on earth. So this is the feast that is pointing forward to Christ, and Christ is showing up to this feast that is really about Him.

His brothers are getting ready to go up to the feast. They don't believe in him. And so when you read this in verse 3 and 4. You need to read this as a mocking tone, like every good brother mocks their brother, except they're mocking the Son of God, which is never a good thing. Hey, Jesus, just go up to Judea. If you really want people to know who you are, go do what you do openly. Jesus says, I can't go when you go. If I go, it will be early with you and in public because people would caravan in mass. Large crowds would go together. Jesus saying, Look, if I get involved in this. They're going to kill me. My time has not yet come.

Why are they going to kill him? Well, there's a big difference between Jesus and his brothers. There's lots of difference between Jesus and his brothers. But one of the differences is that Jesus Christ testifies about the world that its deeds are evil. His brothers do not. And because Jesus testifies about the world and its evil deeds, they want to kill him. Because his brothers do not, they can go up at any time. But here they are telling Jesus what he should do. Hey, if you really are who you say you are, if you really do the things that you say you do, if you really have the type of crowd that you say you should have, then just go up now. Why? Here's why. Because if you were God, and if I were God, and if these men were God, this is what they would do. But you are not God. I am not God. They are not God. God, in Jesus Christ, is doing what He is doing at His time. But we would pursue vanity. And that's what they're calling him to do. Go out, do it publicly, do it openly, Jesus, mocking him, hoping that they are basically what you see here is they're saying, look. If God, in Christ, submits His will to what I think He should do, then I'll grant him my belief. This is the vanity of unbelieving self-glory seekers.

Move to fear. His brothers go up. Jesus goes up, not in public, but in private. He doesn't go with the caravan and mass, but he goes up on his own time. And everyone's talking about him. Where is he? Where's Jesus? Where is the one that some are calling the Christ? And they're muttering to each other. They're asking questions. They're debating. No, no, no, he's a good man, which is absolutely true. I don't want to say Jesus is not a good man. We have to say Jesus is a good man. But if you stop at saying Jesus is a good man, you haven't gone far enough. For he's not merely a good man, but he is very God of very God.

Others saying, no, he's leading the people astray. So you see that they're trying to have this conversation in private because they don't want the religious leaders to know. You see that in verse 13, for fear of the Jews, no one spoke openly about him. So they're having these conversations in private. Some saying he's a good man, some saying no, he's bad, he's leading people astray. But what's the problem here? For fear, no one spoke openly about him.

You can kind of take this verse and you can just look at our current cultural dynamic, which is very consumed with power plays. Oppressor, oppressed, you know, the drill. And typically what we do is we take those who are not in the positions of power, and we look at them and we kind of remove their agency from them and we blame the issues with the power structure that's been put in place. God's word does not allow for that. These individuals are fearful cowards. And because they are cowards who will not or who refuse to speak against the authorities, they are unable to perceive the glory of God that is in Christ Jesus, and they are culpable for their blindness. Power structures are in play, absolutely. Power structures can be abused. Absolutely, but none of that removes the agency that we have, which is why these individuals are culpable for their lack of courage and demonstration of cowardice.

You see, the heart of unbelieving self-glory seekers is vain, it's fearful. They subject their will to others. They subject their will to creatures. And because they subject their will to creatures, they cannot behold the glory of God in Christ Jesus.

The heart of unbelieving self-glory seekers is also unrighteous. Jesus does go up in the middle of the feast. He goes up to the temple. Again, the temple is a shadow of which Christ is the substance. And so here you have the temple, which is all to point to Christ. And there is Christ standing in the temple. And he begins to teach. And people are marveling at what he is saying. How does this man know what he's doing if he's not learned? What they're essentially saying is, he has not been trained in schools of which so many of the religious leaders had been brought up. And the answer to that question is: my teaching is not mine, but it is him who sent me.

And here, I think, is the key verse of this whole text that helps us explain what the problem is, why people cannot receive the glory of God. And if anyone's will is to do God's will, he will know whether the teaching is from God, or whether I am speaking on my own authority. The reason there's confusion, the reason there's questions, is because people are unwilling to do the will of God, and as such, they are unable to perceive the glory of God in Christ Jesus. It is not for a lack of evidence of the glory of God, it is present, it is evident. It is something that ought to be clearly seen, which is why Jesus told Martha, as I've already referenced, did I tell you that if you believe, you would see the glory because it's there. It's there, but we have a bunch of people who are unwilling to follow the teachings of Jesus Christ. Why? Because they're pursuing their own glory.

Jesus speaks as one with authority, not on his own authority. He is not a self-speaker. He speaks the words which are from his Father, for he can do none else, for he is the very word of the Father. He then flips the tables on them. Has not Moses given you the law? This is verse 19. This is going back now to John chapter 5, which I referred to earlier. Yet none of you keeps the law. Why do you seek to kill me? The crowd answered, You have a demon who is seeking to kill you. How dare the crowd question Jesus Christ? It is not, you have a demon. That is blasphemy. Bow your knee and say, Speak, Lord. Your servant is listening.

But how often do we encounter things in the Word of God? And our first thought is, ew, no, there's no way that could be what God is calling me to do. There's no way God would actually want me to do that because that would not make me happy. And although we may not say that the word of God is demonic, we reject the teaching of God's Word in the same way that the crowd rejected the teaching of Jesus Christ.

So Jesus uses sound moral reasoning to respond to them. I did one work, y'all marvel. Moses gave you circumcision. He gave you a religious rite. It's not really from him, but it's from the fathers. And this is to be done on the eighth day. If the eighth day so happens to fall on the Sabbath. Then you circumcise the young man. And if you can circumcise a young man with a religious rite that I gave you, that is not embedded into the foundation of creation, but something that was given as a religious ceremony. And I, on the Sabbath, make a whole man's body well, which is embedded into the fabric of creation, which is love of life, and that's embedded into creation because God is life and a lover of life, and all life comes from God. Why are you angry with me? I made a whole man's body well. Not that Jesus was lawless, he was actually the most lawful and the best interpreter of the law of God. Do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment. Because the hearts are unrighteous, the judgments that spring forth from the heart too will be unrighteous.

Next, pardon me, the results of unbelieving self-glory seekers. And there are four. I apologize. I can't count. Again, you can see these kind of walking through the text, but you can also see that there's overlap. Blindness, confusion, division, and irrationality.

Blindness. Some of the people of Jerusalem are saying, Hey, is this maybe he is the Christ, and maybe they know he's the Christ because this is the one they're supposed to kill, and here he is speaking openly, and no one's doing anything about it. But he really can't be the Christ. Why? Because we know where this man is from. I'm going out on a hunch here and saying that where they think Jesus is from is not actually where Jesus is from. We know where this man comes from, and when Christ appears, no one will know where he comes from. My guess is they're thinking something like Bethlehem. My guess is they're thinking something like Galilee. That seems to be the context of this conversation.

But Jesus Christ says, You know me, and you know where I am from. I have not come of my own accord, but he who sent me is true, and him you do not know. I am from him, and he sent me. The first phrase, I am from him, refers to the fact that he is the eternally begotten Son of God, begotten without space, begotten without time, true God of true God, light from light. Who he is apart from creation. Jesus Christ is from the Father. Because he is from the Father eternally as to his identity. He is the one who is sent forth in time for us and for our salvation. They don't see this. They cannot see it. They are thinking merely in earthly terms and are not understanding that God who had made them stands among them.

And the Pharisees They see the crowd muttering and the fact that no one's seeking to kill Jesus. And so, what do they do? They send people to arrest him. And then Jesus tells them, Hey, I'm not going to be with you much longer. I'm going to go a place, and you will seek me, and you will not find me. And they have no idea what he is talking about. Their mind is set on earthly things and not able to understand the heavenly realities because they have unwilling minds and because they seek the glory of man, therefore they are unable to receive the glory of God.

So when Jesus says, I'm going somewhere you do not know, the question is. Where is he going? To the dispersion among the Greeks? What's he saying? What is he saying is that he is going to die, be buried, and rise again on the third day. And he will ascend into heaven to sit at the right hand of God the Father Almighty. You get the flow of that in the last day of the feast because Jesus talks about how if anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink.

And I just want to briefly interrupt myself to extend an offer. If your soul is thirsty and it is parched because you do not know God as your Savior in Christ Jesus, come to him for salvation. Do not wait. Do not leave today without speaking to an elder, without speaking to someone here in the church about how you can drink. Drink the water that you can get without price, that you can get without money. Isaiah 55.

Jesus said this about the Spirit. Jesus Christ, the one who has the Spirit without measure and is the bestower of the Spirit. Those who believe in Jesus Christ receive the Spirit. But it has not happened yet. It's happened now. No, it's not happened yet as in John chapter 7. It has happened now because we are post-Pentecost. But this is pre-Pentecost. He had not given the Spirit because He was not yet glorified. So you see the sweep. This is where He's going. To glory.

Then you see the irrationality. If you read verses 40 to 44, what you'll see is a lot of people quoting the Bible. They knew their Bible and did not see the glory of God. Do not leave here today as a person who knows the Bible but is unable to see the glory of God. They quote it. They got all the pieces of the puzzle. Not putting the puzzle together correctly, but they got the pieces of the puzzle. This is really the prophet. It's true. Jesus is the prophet that God promised he would raise up in Deuteronomy chapter 18. Others said this is the Christ. It is true. He is the Messiah. More than merely the Messiah. He is very God of very God. I don't believe that's acknowledged here in John chapter 7. For reasons I won't get into.

Some said, Is the Christ to come from Galilee? Has not the Scripture said that Christ comes from the offspring of David? Yes. And yes, he'd be a light that comes from Galilee, but he would be born in the city of David in Bethlehem, Micah chapter 5. All these things are biblical. All these things are true. They know their Bibles. But don't put the pieces together properly and do not behold the glory of God in Christ Jesus because they'd rather have the glory that comes from man than the glory that comes from God.

John Calvin, commenting on this text, says, Men frequently make obstacles for themselves that they may not come to Christ. And these individuals are making obstacles for themselves from Holy Scripture. You see the irrationality that ensues. The officers come to the chief priests who said to them, Why did you not bring him? The officers answered, No one ever spoke like this man. Look at the response here. You say, man, every response you're going to see here does not follow from what is said just before it. Okay? No one spoke like this, man. Have you been deceived? Have any of the authorities or Pharisees believed in him? That's not a real argument, number one. And number two, I think it's false. That's not a real argument, regardless of whether or not it's true or false. But the crowd that does not know the law is accursed. So now we're just going to throw everybody under the bus.

Nicodemus, who had gone to him before, and who was one of them. Remember, this is why I think, part of the reason why I think it's false, I'm optimistic about Nicodemus' eternal state in the Gospel of John. At least at this point I am. None of the Pharisees have believed in them. One of them, Nicodemus. Does our law judge a man without first giving him a hearing? This is going to show you, this isn't a Western idea. This is embedded into creation. Yes, you ought to hear both sides. You are innocent until proven guilty. And don't we have to hear from this man before we make our judgment? You're saying the crowd doesn't know the law, but doesn't our law require that we have to hear him out before we make a judgment?

Look at the nice rational response from the Pharisees. Are you from Galilee too? What? What does that have to do with what just came before? Absolutely nothing. Because when you're an unwilling self-glory seeker, you are an irrational person. And the closer you get to the light, the more irrational you become. Are you from Galilee too? Search and see that no prophet arises from Galilee. Not only are they irrational, they are wrong. Jonah is a prophet from Galilee. In their haste and in their irrationality, they were wrong.

So, that's the text. The doctrine that we're going to pull out is this: The will that obeys God from faith will be blessed with the knowledge of heavenly things. The will that obeys God from faith will be blessed with the knowledge of heavenly things. This is a theme that runs throughout John's gospel. Religious knowledge is a mystery of the faith that is to be received by faith. And by faith, I don't mean going contrary to evidence. That's not what faith means. Faith also does not mean allowing you to overcome massive gaps of evidence. That's not what faith means. Faith enables you to perceive what is already there, which is the glory of God in Christ Jesus. It is an opening of eyes to see those things which every man ought to see but cannot see, because the man loves the darkness rather than the light, because his deeds are evil. John tells us. John chapter 3.

In Adam, we are nothing but cockroaches. And when the light comes on, we scatter. We run from the light. We flee from the light. We flee from the truth. But John shows us over and over and over again that those who receive the testimony of Jesus Christ are blessed by God with the knowledge of heavenly things.

Think about Peter. Blessed are you, Simon Barjonah, for flesh and blood did not reveal this to you. That includes, Simon Barjonah, your own flesh and blood, but my Father who is in heaven. You know the story of Nathaniel? Can anything good come out of Nazareth? Come and see. Philip comes and sees. Ah, Israelite, in whom there is no guile, in whom there is no deceit, you are the king of Israel. Jesus' response is, because I said I saw you under the fig tree, do you believe? Truly. You will see greater things than these.

Contrast that with another end name in the Gospel of John. Nicodemus, you must be born again. Is a man supposed to go into his mother's womb a second time and be born? Jesus' response to Nicodemus: If I tell you earthly things, and you cannot understand how do you expect to believe heavenly things, to reject the testimony of Jesus Christ. It is to reject the knowledge that comes from God and is received by faith.

So let's apply this text by three different applications. First, this one's brief, very simple because I think it kind of self-explanatory. Beware of the root of an unwilling heart. Beware of the root of an unwilling heart. An unwilling heart is fearful. An unwilling heart is about self-love and self-preservation. An unwilling heart is a proud and arrogant heart. And that is all on display for us here in this text. That's the root.

It's first application, second application, discern the fruit of an unwilling heart. Discern the fruit of an unwilling heart. I'm going give you some diagnostic questions you can ask yourself to see if you have an unwilling heart. They're all from this text. First, Do I expect God to act on my terms? Do I expect God to act on my terms. Leave now. Go up now. This is what I would do if I was you, Jesus. We do that when we are disgruntled with the providence of God. If God would only just do this, then I would believe. Maybe you're here today and you're one of those people. Maybe you have been one of those people. I remember listening to Christopher Hitchens, an atheist who's been dead for several years now, in debates with Christians, say these types of things. Well, if God really existed, why wouldn't He just show up here and do a miracle now? I have news for you. If you're in that boat, He did. He did. And people still did not believe. Because the problem is an unwilling heart that arises from seeking self-glory.

Number two, do I fail to testify against the evil deeds of the world? That's the fruit of an unwilling heart. Jesus says, The world can't hate you. You don't testify about it that its deeds are evil. Can you discern the evil deeds of the world? If you can't, you may have an unwilling heart. Can you speak against the evil deeds of the world and articulate what is wrong with them based upon God's revelation? Or is it just a coincidence that sometimes you end up on the right side and something's wrong, and you just happen to be there the whole time to point it out, having no idea why? Are you able to actually testify against the world that its deeds are evil?

Number three, do I fear speaking of the person and work of Christ? Do I fear speaking of the person and work of Christ? Remember, yet for fear of the Jews. No one spoke openly about him. Do you speak openly about who he is and what he has done?

Number four, do I get swept away by groupthink? I don't care how big or how small the group is, but are you easily swept away by whatever crowd you perceive to be the crowd that you want to be with at the time? The crowd answered, You have a demon. People got swept right up into saying the maker of heaven and earth, the savior of mankind, the one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus, of having a demon. And people just join right along in the group.

5. Do I speak from creatures, or do I say, Thus saith the Lord? Jesus says, The one who speaks on his own authority seeks his own glory. Do you speak from yourself? Do you speak from the created realm? Or do you say, no, this is what God hath said? Matthew Henry, commenter on scripture, said, Self-seekers are self-speakers. They speak from their self because they are self-seekers.

Number six, do I judge by appearances? People who judge by appearances are people who judge based on partiality. And that's what Jesus' criticism of them do not judge by appearances.

Number seven, do I discern spiritual truth? Jesus says, where I'm going, you cannot come. What does he mean? If you're here today and you don't know what Jesus meant by that, You need to find someone that you can talk to about this. When Jesus says, Where I am going, you cannot come, do you know what he means? Are you going where he has gone? Has he risen for your justification because you have received him in all of the things he has done for you by faith? And if you don't know what he means by that, it's either a sign of the fact that you need to grow as a Christian, or you may be like those who are here in this text who actually do not know Jesus Christ.

Number eight, do I have a superficial understanding of Scripture? Remember that debate that was taking place? All these people, I told you, they all knew Scripture. They all quoted scripture. They all had it memorized. They had all the pieces of the puzzle. But they were not putting the puzzle together in a way that God would put it together. And because of that, and that stems from their superficial understanding, they could not see the glory of Christ.

Number nine, do I demonstrate signs of spiritual sluggishness? No one will know where he's from. This can't be him. The Christ used to come from Bethlehem. Just go ask him where he is from. He will tell you. Move your feet. Go to Jesus. Come to him, and he will tell you everything you need to know. Don't walk out of here today not knowing who this one is because you have some superficial understanding of Holy Scripture and because you're spiritually sluggish.

Number ten, do I act irrationally when confronted with common sense? Do you act irrationally when confronted with common sense? Plain teachings of Scripture. Does not our law state that before we judge a man, we first must give him a hearing? If you act irrationally to common sense, it's a fruit of an unwilling heart.

Number 11. Do you even care? Do you even care? There's at least a spiritual conversation that's taking place here in John chapter 7. It's wrong, but at least people are talking about spiritual things. If you're bored with the spiritual things, if you're bored with the deep things of God, if you're unwilling to have conversations about the things of God. It's a sign of an unwilling heart.

So the third application is to pursue the remedy of an unwilling heart. In order to do that, believer, you must put sins to death that prevent you from hearing God's Word. In 1 Peter, as well as other places in Scripture, 1 Peter chapter 2, the Apostle Peter talks about the things that we must put off. And then we are to receive the word of God. Spiritual dullness can be something that we can often struggle with. We have dulled our minds and they've been lulled to sleep. That leads to participation in sin, which functions as a partial blinder to the believer. Prohibiting the believer from seeing those things which God has intended him to see. So put sins to death that prevents you from hearing God's word. If you're here today and you know you have sin in your life, confess it to God, confess it to the man that you have sinned against and allow God to illuminate your mind to the glorious truths that are contained in Holy Scripture.

So put sins to death that prevent you from hearing God's word and receive the truth of Scripture on God's authority. When Jesus says, You're seeking to kill me, they say, You have a demon. They need to stop and say, I'm going to sit down. I'm going to be quick to hear and slow to speak, Jesus. And receive the word with humility that is able to save my soul, because I must be formed. I must be shaped. I am coming to you as one who needs to be formed. I am coming to you as someone who needs to be shaped, because I have been broken by the darkness of my mind that is sin, and I have come to you because of your free grace, but I need you to be my prophet and teach me that I may be molded and conformed into your image.

And when you receive the truths of Holy Scripture on the authority of God and stop questioning it, but saying, How can I understand what you have for me better, Lord? When you understand it, obey it. The precepts of God grant understanding. The Word of God is a lamp to our feet and a light to our path. The deeper we walk down the path, the further we're on the path, the greater light we see. As we start to depart from the path, we walk away from the lampstand that God has so graciously given to us in Holy Scripture, and we end up in walking in places that we ought not to have been.

And last, pray fervently. Your will has never been and never will be good enough to know those things which God has given us in Holy Scripture. We must come before God and plead the mercy of God that is available to us in Christ Jesus and not plead the merits of what we have done. God, look what I've done. Would you show me something? No. God, your Son Christ Jesus did everything that I was supposed to do, but I'm completely incompetent and incapable of doing because I was dead in sin. I need his perfect righteousness. And based upon what he has done, I ask that you would open my mind and reveal to me heavenly things. Pray fervently. If you don't know what to pray, pray, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven, especially in me.

Here's another model of a prayer. And we'll close with this. This is from a medieval theologian who says these words. In the form of a prayer, teach me to see you and reveal yourself to me as I seek, because I can neither seek you if you do not teach me how? Nor find you unless you reveal yourself. Let me seek you in desiring you. Let me desire you in seeking you. Let me find you in loving you. Let me love you in finding you. I acknowledge, Lord, and I give thanks. That you have created your image in me so that I may remember you, think of you, love you. But this image is so effaced and worn away by vice, so darkened by the smoke of sin, that it cannot do what it was made to do unless you renew it and reform it. I do not try, Lord, to attain your lofty heights, because my understanding is in no way equal to it. But I do desire to understand your truth a little, that truth that my heart believes and loves. For I do not seek to understand so that I may believe, but I believe so that I may understand. For I believe this also, that unless I believe, I shall not understand.

Let us pray. Heavenly Father, we are in desperate need of our wills being renewed and reformed. For those who may be here today who do not know you as their Lord and Savior, Father, we ask that by your Spirit you would convict them of their sin, that they would come to Jesus Christ, the one who has the Spirit without measure. and that Jesus would pour out His Spirit upon their soul, granting them life from death, causing dead bones to live, giving second birth to those who are dead in their trespasses and sin. Sin, because their will cannot on its own turn itself to obey that it may know the things of God.

Father, for those of us who are your children here, we want to humble ourselves as children. We acknowledge we are children. We are young. We are little. We are to receive what you have given us as a child. And we find what you have given us in your word. Grant us a love for your word. Grant us a willingness to obey hurriedly and fully. Shape our will, mold our will. And in doing so, we ask that as we walk along the path of Scripture. You would grant us a knowledge of heavenly things, and we would grow deeper and deeper into a love for God. We ask this in the name of Jesus Christ our King. Amen.