WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:17.780 Turn your Bibles to John chapter 5. John chapter 5. We're looking at verses 30 to 47. Let me start with a confession. This is the third time I've preached this over 20 years. I preached it twice early on in my time here. 00:00:17.780 --> 00:00:33.219 So, the first time I preached it, I thought it was all about the proofs of Christ's divinity. And then the second time I preached it, I changed my mind a little bit. I said, no, the emphasis is on the fulfilment of Christ in the Old Testament. 00:00:33.219 --> 00:00:49.299 But on Friday afternoon, I had a bit of a brainwave and actually realised John 5 isn't, I don't think, about that. I think this passage is about God's divine identity and our human identity. 00:00:50.439 --> 00:01:02.039 And how our identity depends on God. And in Jesus Christ, he offers us a radically new and different identity. That's basically the heart of what I want to say. 00:01:03.219 --> 00:01:13.539 John 5 is one amazing day. In the morning, do you remember back to verses 1 to 18, Jesus approaches a man in Jerusalem who's been paralysed for 38 years. 00:01:14.700 --> 00:01:24.340 He says to him, do you want to be made whole? And the man gives him a completely off answer. He doesn't really understand what's going on. 00:01:24.340 --> 00:01:29.560 And despite that, Jesus, with a word, raises him to his feet in complete health. 00:01:31.000 --> 00:01:37.359 But since he's done that miracle on the Sabbath, the authorities, they demand an explanation. How dare you do it on the Sabbath? 00:01:37.359 --> 00:01:45.519 And Jesus so infuriates the Jewish authority that he spends the rest of the afternoon basically dealing with their death threats. 00:01:45.519 --> 00:01:52.060 And although their reaction is inexcusable, it is in one sense understandable. 00:01:53.579 --> 00:01:56.939 They think he is claiming divine identity. 00:01:58.560 --> 00:02:02.859 And despite the fact that he is speaking to people who've just said they have to kill him, 00:02:03.259 --> 00:02:08.019 Jesus makes some of the most astonishing claims in all the scriptures about himself. 00:02:08.020 --> 00:02:12.900 And all the time he is offering them life and salvation to his enemies. 00:02:14.420 --> 00:02:20.160 So remember in verse 19, if you just glance down there, he claims that his deeds are divine deeds. 00:02:21.219 --> 00:02:24.800 And in verse 20, he claims that his knowledge is divine knowledge. 00:02:24.800 --> 00:02:31.620 And in verse 21, he has the divine prerogative of life and death, judgment of heaven and hell. 00:02:32.060 --> 00:02:34.480 Eternal destiny, he says, rests in his hands. 00:02:35.460 --> 00:02:38.580 And in verse 23, he claims divine worship for himself. 00:02:39.120 --> 00:02:43.540 And the obvious question that you've got to ask is, how can you back up those kind of claims, Jesus? 00:02:45.160 --> 00:02:49.400 What proof can you give me if it is true? 00:02:49.400 --> 00:02:57.819 And then we also have to ask the question, why do so few people believe in Jesus despite his claims? 00:02:59.560 --> 00:03:04.860 Why don't these guys who actually saw him raise this paralyzed man before their very eyes, 00:03:05.040 --> 00:03:06.219 why don't they believe in him? 00:03:07.560 --> 00:03:13.400 And it has to do with the nature of God's identity and with the nature of our human identity. 00:03:13.520 --> 00:03:14.540 So let's take those two points. 00:03:14.599 --> 00:03:17.540 First of all, the nature of divine identity. 00:03:19.400 --> 00:03:20.879 Think about it. 00:03:21.000 --> 00:03:28.840 How can you authenticate such outrageous claims as the claim to be the divine son of God? 00:03:31.120 --> 00:03:33.200 How can you authenticate that? 00:03:34.580 --> 00:03:38.480 You can't do it with legal proof or mathematical proof or induction or deduction. 00:03:38.740 --> 00:03:40.259 You can't do it with empirical proof. 00:03:41.400 --> 00:03:43.420 What rules can you follow? 00:03:43.500 --> 00:03:48.520 How can any human being make a call on whether somebody is divine or not? 00:03:49.400 --> 00:03:52.740 We don't even have, do we, a peephole into heaven. 00:03:53.360 --> 00:03:59.460 We cannot access God's identity horizontally by looking to each other. 00:03:59.680 --> 00:04:03.920 We could line up, couldn't we, the smartest people that have ever lived in history. 00:04:03.919 --> 00:04:08.059 And even if we could get a consensus among them, it wouldn't tell us anything. 00:04:09.739 --> 00:04:20.680 The identity of God is so far outside of our standards and our courts and our brightest minds and our experience and our experts and our explanation. 00:04:20.680 --> 00:04:25.939 The burden of proof is heavier than any human can bear. 00:04:25.939 --> 00:04:29.439 It's heavier than the universe itself. 00:04:31.199 --> 00:04:36.319 And of course there is only one who can bear this burden which is God himself. 00:04:36.319 --> 00:04:42.719 Because only God himself knows truth, capital T, and all the truth. 00:04:44.240 --> 00:04:50.180 And that is why I hope you noticed as Reuben read it to us, there's this term that keeps coming up again and again and again. 00:04:50.319 --> 00:04:51.360 It's the term witness. 00:04:52.240 --> 00:04:52.680 Witness. 00:04:52.959 --> 00:04:53.459 Testimony. 00:04:53.860 --> 00:04:54.120 Witness. 00:04:54.439 --> 00:04:54.699 Witness. 00:04:55.180 --> 00:04:56.159 Eleven times. 00:04:56.160 --> 00:04:56.320 Witness. 00:04:56.320 --> 00:04:56.400 Witness. 00:04:57.600 --> 00:05:09.140 And the reason is because Jesus' divine identity cannot be established in any other way than the personal and divine testimony of God himself. 00:05:12.100 --> 00:05:14.180 We're not in a lecture hall in John 5. 00:05:15.440 --> 00:05:18.200 This is not legal evidence in a law court. 00:05:18.200 --> 00:05:25.840 Jesus is revealing to you tonight something very, very intimate and personal about the identity of God. 00:05:26.840 --> 00:05:30.640 It is the language of intimacy and invitation, not of law. 00:05:32.320 --> 00:05:37.340 And the lovely thing Jesus is saying is that God doesn't speak way up there. 00:05:39.160 --> 00:05:43.379 Invisible, ineffable, inscrutable, inaccessible. 00:05:43.379 --> 00:05:50.820 But what God has done is he has entered into his creation, into the human world, and God uses human means. 00:05:51.620 --> 00:05:54.000 By which he gives testimony to his son. 00:05:54.000 --> 00:06:01.199 He has revealed who his son is, the divine identity of his son through human words. 00:06:01.199 --> 00:06:11.079 And the reason for that, of course, is that if God spoke to any of us directly, we would be incinerated. 00:06:13.360 --> 00:06:17.759 Do you remember in the Old Testament when God spoke to, on Mount Sinai? 00:06:17.759 --> 00:06:21.659 And the mountain shook with thunder and fire. 00:06:21.959 --> 00:06:25.279 And Moses said to the people, let's go up the mountain and talk to God. 00:06:25.319 --> 00:06:27.959 And they said to Moses, and I quote, you speak to him. 00:06:29.639 --> 00:06:32.159 You speak to us, Moses, we'll listen to you. 00:06:32.620 --> 00:06:35.560 But do not let God speak, lest we die. 00:06:35.560 --> 00:06:42.920 That's why Jesus says in verse 34, the testimony I receive is not from man. 00:06:43.280 --> 00:06:46.319 Human testimony is laughably inadequate. 00:06:47.759 --> 00:06:50.379 Verse 30, I can do nothing on my own. 00:06:50.600 --> 00:06:56.259 As I hear, I judge, and my judgment is just because I seek not my own will, but the will of him who sent me. 00:06:57.600 --> 00:07:00.360 This is what he's been saying about himself all along. 00:07:00.360 --> 00:07:05.660 If I alone bear witness about myself, my testimony is not true, verse 32. 00:07:06.800 --> 00:07:09.560 But there is another who bears witness about me. 00:07:10.439 --> 00:07:12.500 And he's speaking about God. 00:07:13.660 --> 00:07:17.720 And he says, I know that the testimony he bears witness about me is true. 00:07:17.939 --> 00:07:20.740 So Jesus gives three examples of the testimony of another. 00:07:20.939 --> 00:07:24.340 Three examples where God speaks and bears witness to his son. 00:07:25.120 --> 00:07:26.420 By using human means. 00:07:26.540 --> 00:07:28.620 The first is John the Baptist, verse 33 to 35. 00:07:30.360 --> 00:07:36.060 The only reason he's using John the Baptist is he wants to break through the icy coldness of their heart. 00:07:37.000 --> 00:07:38.600 The deafness of their hearts. 00:07:39.660 --> 00:07:41.000 These guys, they're like John the Baptist. 00:07:41.340 --> 00:07:42.680 They thought he was interesting. 00:07:42.840 --> 00:07:43.840 They thought he was funny. 00:07:44.300 --> 00:07:45.580 They thought he was entertaining. 00:07:46.920 --> 00:07:48.840 And they gave him a few moments of their time. 00:07:48.920 --> 00:07:52.699 Verse 34, I'm just telling you this, that you might be saved. 00:07:52.900 --> 00:07:53.879 Listen to John the Baptist. 00:07:55.740 --> 00:07:58.220 John the Baptist who said, I'm just a voice. 00:07:58.220 --> 00:08:01.740 After me will come one who is much greater than me. 00:08:01.960 --> 00:08:03.720 He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit. 00:08:03.820 --> 00:08:04.240 Do you remember? 00:08:04.560 --> 00:08:05.700 He points at Jesus. 00:08:06.080 --> 00:08:09.280 And John the Baptist says, behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. 00:08:10.860 --> 00:08:17.920 And in those words of John the Baptist, God the Father from heaven was identifying the divine identity of his son. 00:08:17.920 --> 00:08:22.379 Secondly, he says, my father bears witness by my works. 00:08:22.580 --> 00:08:23.379 Look at verse 36. 00:08:23.699 --> 00:08:25.199 The signs of John's gospel. 00:08:26.420 --> 00:08:29.199 They ought to settle the issue of who Jesus is. 00:08:30.560 --> 00:08:33.379 They are weightier than the testimony of John the Baptist. 00:08:33.720 --> 00:08:37.539 Not just because they are awesomely impossible of humans to do. 00:08:37.779 --> 00:08:40.279 But each sign shows what salvation is about. 00:08:40.279 --> 00:08:43.819 Remember water into wine. 00:08:44.879 --> 00:08:46.779 The healing of the noble man's son. 00:08:46.899 --> 00:08:49.299 Or the raising of this guy earlier in John 5. 00:08:49.500 --> 00:08:55.379 Each time when you go through John, it is God the Father bearing witness to Jesus through the signs. 00:08:56.919 --> 00:09:00.220 But there's a third example which is the most important of God's testimony. 00:09:00.539 --> 00:09:01.899 And that is the scriptures. 00:09:03.839 --> 00:09:04.600 The writings. 00:09:04.720 --> 00:09:05.939 And he means particularly the Old Testament. 00:09:06.039 --> 00:09:06.539 Verse 37. 00:09:06.679 --> 00:09:08.279 Look how Jesus speaks about the Old Testament. 00:09:08.279 --> 00:09:12.000 He says, and the Father who sent me has himself borne witness about me. 00:09:12.179 --> 00:09:13.279 Or verse 39 at the end. 00:09:13.720 --> 00:09:15.659 The scriptures bear witness about me. 00:09:15.839 --> 00:09:17.019 Or verse 46. 00:09:17.399 --> 00:09:19.959 For if you believed Moses, you would believe me. 00:09:20.259 --> 00:09:21.339 For he wrote of me. 00:09:24.299 --> 00:09:32.159 In other words, the Old Testament that you've got on your lap this evening is not just a human document reaching up to God. 00:09:32.199 --> 00:09:36.639 But it is a divine document of God reaching down to us. 00:09:38.279 --> 00:09:41.980 It is not a collection of the greatest hits of Israeli literature. 00:09:43.139 --> 00:09:46.899 The Old Testament is the testimony of God the Father to you. 00:09:47.360 --> 00:09:47.879 Of course. 00:09:49.899 --> 00:09:53.159 Of course, they are human writings. 00:09:53.339 --> 00:09:54.980 But ultimately, the source is God. 00:09:54.980 --> 00:10:02.500 And not just a general sense that as you flick through the Old Testament, you get a general sense of God. 00:10:03.600 --> 00:10:07.680 In Jesus' view, the writings of the Old Testament are the Word of God. 00:10:09.159 --> 00:10:12.340 These writings are the testimony of God the Father to God the Son. 00:10:12.340 --> 00:10:14.120 So the obvious application is this. 00:10:14.460 --> 00:10:15.519 It's read the Old Testament. 00:10:17.360 --> 00:10:25.500 And when you read it, it is a profoundly relational experience as you encounter the Son of God in the Old Testament. 00:10:25.500 --> 00:10:29.940 And so we don't read the Bible, do we? 00:10:29.980 --> 00:10:36.039 We do not read the Bible so much for information, but more for transformation and formation. 00:10:37.659 --> 00:10:43.279 As we try and listen and God bears witness, we pray as we read the Bible. 00:10:43.279 --> 00:10:45.820 Not Lord, help me to get a head full of facts. 00:10:46.639 --> 00:10:48.360 But help me to know Jesus. 00:10:48.360 --> 00:10:52.360 It is extraordinary. 00:10:54.440 --> 00:10:58.399 The care and the effort that God has gone to to make himself known to you. 00:11:00.879 --> 00:11:06.519 But we have to go deeper because Jesus here is laying bare what is a particular temptation and threat to us. 00:11:06.620 --> 00:11:09.220 So the end of John 5 is often preached evangelistically. 00:11:09.419 --> 00:11:13.139 I think you can do that and preach on the proofs of who Jesus Christ is. 00:11:13.220 --> 00:11:14.139 I think you can do that. 00:11:14.139 --> 00:11:18.759 But the end of John 5 isn't speaking to the agnostics, somebody who doesn't know. 00:11:20.519 --> 00:11:23.879 And John 5 isn't speaking actually to atheists who don't believe. 00:11:24.419 --> 00:11:27.220 The end of John 5 is actually speaking to Presbyterians. 00:11:28.500 --> 00:11:29.480 To Bible believers. 00:11:32.419 --> 00:11:33.699 He's speaking to the Orthodox. 00:11:34.000 --> 00:11:35.480 He's speaking to the Sunday night crowd. 00:11:37.659 --> 00:11:40.700 Because the guys at the end of John 5 have studied the Bible more than any of us. 00:11:41.399 --> 00:11:43.000 And they have completely missed the point. 00:11:44.139 --> 00:11:46.879 They've studied the written testimony of God. 00:11:47.919 --> 00:11:52.019 And they have refused and they have not received God's testimony to his son. 00:11:53.799 --> 00:11:55.100 And that means they are lost. 00:11:58.779 --> 00:12:05.360 There are all sorts of ways, aren't there, of avoiding and evading the clear testimony of God about his son. 00:12:05.360 --> 00:12:09.800 There's the pick and choose approach. 00:12:09.899 --> 00:12:10.300 Do you know that? 00:12:11.820 --> 00:12:16.100 When what we basically do is we put ourselves over the Bible and we say, 00:12:16.180 --> 00:12:18.700 Well I love the scriptures but there are parts of it. 00:12:19.399 --> 00:12:21.899 I can't take it. 00:12:21.899 --> 00:12:29.579 And it offends me to think that Jesus is the only way to the Father or there might be judgment. 00:12:30.159 --> 00:12:35.120 Or Jesus has something to say of my sex life and I don't like that. 00:12:35.259 --> 00:12:38.500 So we cherry pick and we jettison what we don't like. 00:12:38.500 --> 00:12:43.080 But there are other ways that are even closer to home. 00:12:43.279 --> 00:12:48.019 We take all kind of things and we put them alongside the Bible. 00:12:49.860 --> 00:12:51.080 Like my experience. 00:12:51.580 --> 00:12:54.580 Or we judge scripture by our church tradition. 00:12:54.580 --> 00:12:56.440 Or my intellect. 00:12:56.639 --> 00:12:58.860 Or my demand for immediate application. 00:12:58.980 --> 00:13:02.400 If I can't see the immediate application of this passage, I'm not going to believe it. 00:13:05.200 --> 00:13:10.259 And I think the most dangerous and insidious temptation is especially for Christians like us. 00:13:10.400 --> 00:13:12.379 For reformed evangelicals if I can call us that. 00:13:14.060 --> 00:13:17.080 Because we take, don't we, I hope, an orthodox view of the Bible. 00:13:17.080 --> 00:13:23.500 And the danger is that we use the Bible to accumulate knowledge. 00:13:24.980 --> 00:13:27.520 To build a sense of our own rightness. 00:13:29.960 --> 00:13:31.700 Without receiving the person. 00:13:33.000 --> 00:13:34.480 The identity of Jesus Christ. 00:13:36.860 --> 00:13:43.160 And we use the Bible as a tool to establish our identity in the eyes of each other. 00:13:43.159 --> 00:13:48.339 Instead of receiving the identity that Jesus is willing and able to give. 00:13:51.079 --> 00:13:53.899 Why did they not receive the Father's witness? 00:13:55.639 --> 00:13:59.360 And the answer the passage gives us is they did not want to. 00:14:01.939 --> 00:14:07.059 And they didn't want to because they were forming their identity horizontally. 00:14:07.059 --> 00:14:11.739 The audience for their identity. 00:14:12.019 --> 00:14:14.939 They were looking for their identity from one another. 00:14:16.919 --> 00:14:20.699 So the idea was the more knowledge that they had, the more spiritual they would be regarded. 00:14:23.579 --> 00:14:26.759 So at the beginning of the day, at the start of John 5. 00:14:27.079 --> 00:14:29.579 Jesus confronts a man who's 38 years paralyzed. 00:14:29.799 --> 00:14:31.179 And he says, do you want to be made whole? 00:14:31.179 --> 00:14:38.739 And here at the end of the day, he's facing Bible experts who do not want to receive his testimony. 00:14:39.059 --> 00:14:42.939 Because they are seeking their human identity in the wrong place. 00:14:44.139 --> 00:14:45.799 And that moves me to my second point. 00:14:47.500 --> 00:14:51.279 And the second point is the nature of human identity, of our identity. 00:14:51.279 --> 00:15:00.559 I want us to see how Jesus exposes the way that we go about constructing our identity. 00:15:00.740 --> 00:15:02.480 I know it's a little bit hard work tonight, right? 00:15:02.519 --> 00:15:03.240 We're all a bit sleepy. 00:15:03.379 --> 00:15:04.039 But stick with me. 00:15:04.139 --> 00:15:06.240 It's really, if we can get hold of this, it'll really help us. 00:15:08.480 --> 00:15:09.459 He takes three steps. 00:15:09.559 --> 00:15:12.740 Verse 38, he says, you do not have his word abiding in you. 00:15:12.799 --> 00:15:15.679 For you do not believe the one whom he has sent. 00:15:15.679 --> 00:15:22.679 Their hearts are so busy forming their identity horizontally. 00:15:23.559 --> 00:15:25.599 They're getting their sense of who they are from each other. 00:15:26.519 --> 00:15:28.120 They've closed their ears to God. 00:15:28.199 --> 00:15:28.779 That's step one. 00:15:31.159 --> 00:15:32.079 Why step two? 00:15:32.139 --> 00:15:35.659 Because verse 42, they have no love for God in their hearts, really. 00:15:37.539 --> 00:15:38.719 Why step three? 00:15:39.299 --> 00:15:41.339 And I want to read to you verse 44 for that. 00:15:42.419 --> 00:15:43.740 Because it's so searching. 00:15:43.859 --> 00:15:45.099 Look what it says, verse 44. 00:15:45.100 --> 00:15:46.180 Just cast your eyes down. 00:15:46.300 --> 00:15:50.320 How can you believe when you receive glory from one another? 00:15:52.080 --> 00:15:56.220 And do not seek the glory that comes from the only God. 00:16:03.139 --> 00:16:04.759 It's an incredible verse, isn't it? 00:16:06.480 --> 00:16:08.899 How can you believe when you receive glory from one another? 00:16:08.960 --> 00:16:10.580 You look to each other for your identity. 00:16:11.300 --> 00:16:13.899 And yet you do not seek the glory that comes from God. 00:16:15.100 --> 00:16:21.120 I've been really helped in thinking about this. 00:16:21.120 --> 00:16:22.120 You and I were made for approval. 00:16:22.120 --> 00:16:35.740 You and I were made for love and for acceptance and for praise and for applause from each other. 00:16:35.740 --> 00:16:39.720 That's why when we get it, it feels so good. 00:16:39.720 --> 00:16:45.340 And we want to know that we are appreciated and worthwhile. 00:16:45.500 --> 00:16:46.420 That is who we are. 00:16:49.120 --> 00:16:52.240 And this is how we form our identity. 00:16:52.240 --> 00:16:55.299 No matter where you find human beings. 00:16:55.299 --> 00:16:59.220 It doesn't matter what culture they're from. 00:17:00.379 --> 00:17:02.259 This is the way that we form our identity. 00:17:02.419 --> 00:17:04.180 So you think of the more traditional cultures. 00:17:04.180 --> 00:17:07.860 Your identity comes primarily from your family. 00:17:09.140 --> 00:17:12.519 From fathers, grandfathers, from grandparents, what your elders say. 00:17:13.140 --> 00:17:16.940 And you slot into your family and an identity tends to be given. 00:17:16.940 --> 00:17:20.820 Today though, isn't it? 00:17:21.019 --> 00:17:24.220 It's all about constructing your own individual identity. 00:17:26.840 --> 00:17:28.640 So we are told, aren't we? 00:17:28.660 --> 00:17:29.299 It's difficult to explain. 00:17:29.680 --> 00:17:34.360 You must not let anyone quash your individuality. 00:17:36.000 --> 00:17:38.059 You have to find yourself. 00:17:38.059 --> 00:17:42.500 You have to believe in yourself. 00:17:44.139 --> 00:17:46.740 You actually have to express yourself. 00:17:47.559 --> 00:17:51.359 You have to dream a dream and believe in yourself. 00:17:51.519 --> 00:17:53.039 And you have to express yourself. 00:17:53.039 --> 00:17:56.779 And you have to have a dream and believe the dream so that you can reach the dream. 00:17:57.599 --> 00:17:58.839 And achieve the dream. 00:17:59.119 --> 00:18:03.899 And the way that you actually achieve the dream is by everyone else saying you've achieved the dream. 00:18:03.900 --> 00:18:14.080 so ultimately my identity will depend on me achieving the dream and then you all approving it 00:18:14.080 --> 00:18:22.360 there's advantages and there's disadvantages to both approaches but in that older approach of 00:18:22.360 --> 00:18:27.720 the family and the kind of wider community in that approach and in our kind of modern 00:18:27.720 --> 00:18:34.079 cultures approach of forming identity it it all depends doesn't it on the praise of horizontal 00:18:34.079 --> 00:18:45.160 praise of others can you see that this is a fundamental flaw of human beings living outside 00:18:45.160 --> 00:18:55.960 the garden of eden because our hearts are no longer tuned to god's approval but different voices 00:18:55.960 --> 00:19:05.079 to other voices and apart from the lord jesus christ we do not seek the praise that comes 00:19:05.079 --> 00:19:06.680 only from god we look to others 00:19:06.680 --> 00:19:16.220 that's why people can't believe in the lord jesus because we replace the approval of god with the 00:19:16.220 --> 00:19:23.180 approval of each other we're fixated on the horizontal it's a crazy thing is that we give the power of 00:19:23.180 --> 00:19:32.460 approval and and condemnation and judgment to people around us people some people we don't even like 00:19:32.460 --> 00:19:39.980 or people we love because our hearts are constantly seeking for this verdict of approval 00:19:39.980 --> 00:19:49.819 why do you do what you do 00:19:49.819 --> 00:19:52.700 why do you do what you do 00:19:52.700 --> 00:19:56.700 why do you do what you do 00:19:56.700 --> 00:20:07.420 you do something you plan something you share something with someone and and they say to you that 00:20:07.420 --> 00:20:10.700 devastating question why are you doing that 00:20:12.779 --> 00:20:14.460 it's very very painful isn't it 00:20:16.779 --> 00:20:20.860 do you ever ask yourself the question ask yourself the question why are you doing that 00:20:24.700 --> 00:20:26.700 very often it's for the approval of others isn't it 00:20:26.700 --> 00:20:33.660 tragedy is it's possible to practice our christianity in exactly that way 00:20:36.220 --> 00:20:41.580 studying the bible not to encounter the living god but to accrue praise and applause from each other 00:20:44.059 --> 00:20:48.059 there have been times in my christian life when i've not prayed like i should have been praying 00:20:48.059 --> 00:20:55.500 and i'd always feel that before i could pray i needed to do a really good hard bible study 00:20:56.539 --> 00:20:57.500 to show i was genuine 00:21:00.379 --> 00:21:03.099 it was like i was using the bible to ease my conscience 00:21:04.940 --> 00:21:09.980 i was trying to make myself more acceptable to god which is stupid 00:21:09.980 --> 00:21:14.700 all that does is make me deaf to his approval 00:21:18.779 --> 00:21:24.380 i mean if i would just listen to his word i would hear the testimony of jesus divine identity 00:21:25.579 --> 00:21:27.500 identity offering to me a new identity 00:21:30.220 --> 00:21:33.900 a new identity that is not based on my performance or lack of it 00:21:33.900 --> 00:21:42.460 identity that's not based on my achievements or my genuineness but an identity based on the lord jesus 00:21:44.380 --> 00:21:45.740 and that is why jesus has come 00:21:47.980 --> 00:21:52.060 he has come to give us a radically new identity 00:21:53.740 --> 00:22:01.420 that's not based on what we've achieved that's not based on horizontal applause but based on what he has achieved 00:22:04.460 --> 00:22:09.019 when i was back at my parents home in swansea last week i'd forgotten my antiperspirant 00:22:10.380 --> 00:22:14.300 and so i i opened my um parents bathroom cupboard 00:22:16.380 --> 00:22:19.820 80 year olds have some very funny things in their bathroom 00:22:19.820 --> 00:22:25.820 cupboards i don't know if you've done that but there was a 10 year old bottle of old spice deodorant 00:22:25.819 --> 00:22:32.539 old spice deodorant it was all the rage in the 60s but this was my i think this was kind of 10 years old 00:22:32.539 --> 00:22:38.859 it got out of date i used it anyway and the slogan on old spice deodorant said 00:22:40.539 --> 00:22:41.659 believe in your smell 00:22:43.339 --> 00:22:47.019 it's terrific isn't it as my dad believing in his smell 00:22:47.019 --> 00:22:50.299 it's ridiculous isn't it 00:22:54.619 --> 00:22:58.539 if jesus christ gives us our identity it's a great relief 00:23:01.740 --> 00:23:05.900 it's a great relief isn't it true christianity says that you don't have to believe in yourself 00:23:08.859 --> 00:23:12.779 you young people you know you're taught lots of great things in school but the believing in 00:23:12.779 --> 00:23:19.819 yourself is absolute rubbish you don't have to believe in yourself tonight you have to believe in 00:23:19.819 --> 00:23:20.460 the lord jesus 00:23:23.019 --> 00:23:26.299 you don't have to find yourself or become someone 00:23:28.940 --> 00:23:33.660 christ alone offers you a radically new identity 00:23:33.660 --> 00:23:40.140 and the message of christianity is it is received isn't it it's not achieved 00:23:42.620 --> 00:23:45.900 how well we'll cast your mind back to this wonderful day in john 5 00:23:46.779 --> 00:23:52.380 because jesus models for us what it truly means and truly is to live for the praise of the only god look 00:23:52.380 --> 00:24:01.820 at verse 19 so jesus said to them truly truly i say to you the son can do nothing of his own accord but 00:24:01.819 --> 00:24:08.139 only what he sees the father doing for whatever the father does the son does likewise for the father loves the son 00:24:09.019 --> 00:24:11.500 and shows him all that he himself is doing 00:24:13.500 --> 00:24:17.019 this whole idea of testimony and witness 00:24:18.379 --> 00:24:21.179 shows us that jesus is living for the praise of god 00:24:23.259 --> 00:24:26.700 he's not depending on human praise or human witness 00:24:26.700 --> 00:24:31.259 he's living for god and god the father delights in him 00:24:32.460 --> 00:24:38.539 because jesus is the only human isn't he who has fully and perfectly lived that life of seeking the praise 00:24:39.500 --> 00:24:40.380 of the only god 00:24:43.100 --> 00:24:44.620 but do you know why he did that 00:24:47.100 --> 00:24:52.860 why did jesus live solely for the praise of god he did it not for himself but for us 00:24:52.859 --> 00:24:58.859 he came from heaven full of grace and full of truth 00:25:01.099 --> 00:25:08.459 he gave up his reputation and on the cross he gives up the rightful praise of god 00:25:10.619 --> 00:25:21.419 and he dies alone and he dies rejected and he dies cursed and he gives away the glory that we might receive it 00:25:21.420 --> 00:25:30.140 he goes to the end of condemnation so that instead we would receive the praise of god 00:25:33.019 --> 00:25:42.539 he takes to himself my sinful identity so that i can receive his praiseworthy and glorious identity 00:25:42.539 --> 00:25:51.500 and so faith in jesus christ is simply hearing the father's voice 00:25:53.500 --> 00:25:56.059 saying the praise that belongs to christ 00:25:57.740 --> 00:25:58.619 i'm giving to you 00:26:02.059 --> 00:26:04.059 the praise that jesus deserved 00:26:06.139 --> 00:26:06.940 i'm giving to you 00:26:06.940 --> 00:26:13.660 i'm looking at you as though you are clothed in jesus christ 00:26:15.180 --> 00:26:16.779 but there is no possible 00:26:18.059 --> 00:26:19.420 condemnation for us 00:26:20.700 --> 00:26:25.580 and it's not just a negative thing is it it's not just a negative thing at all you have all the righteousness 00:26:26.220 --> 00:26:30.460 that my son has and and that is the basis for our new identity 00:26:30.460 --> 00:26:45.740 that tonight we gather around the table of the lord as the family of god as the children of god as the sons and daughters of the father as the brothers and sisters of jesus alive with the spirit 00:26:45.740 --> 00:26:53.259 not earning god's approval but living life based on his approval 00:26:57.420 --> 00:27:03.500 living life based on his acceptance that is in jesus christ and that is the way that our new identity works 00:27:03.500 --> 00:27:07.660 and i think that's what this passage is about 00:27:09.500 --> 00:27:15.500 and as we draw nearer to christ by faith we draw a greater sense of our identity 00:27:17.500 --> 00:27:18.539 here is the great thing 00:27:19.819 --> 00:27:26.059 here is my prayer that this week we would be weaned off the crushing dependence of the judgment of others 00:27:27.980 --> 00:27:29.900 and even of our own judgment 00:27:29.900 --> 00:27:39.420 and as we begin to seek the praise of the only god because we are we know that we are secure in the praise that we receive from him 00:27:41.900 --> 00:27:45.259 there's a wonderful passage you can look at tonight before you go to bed it's one corinthians 4 00:27:46.220 --> 00:27:47.259 the apostle paul is 00:27:49.019 --> 00:27:52.060 writing to to a church that's really pretty critical of him 00:27:53.580 --> 00:27:57.259 and it's very interesting paul doesn't say that he justifies himself 00:27:57.259 --> 00:28:02.859 he says this he says any human judgment on me doesn't really matter 00:28:04.859 --> 00:28:07.500 and then he says my own judgment of me doesn't really matter 00:28:09.019 --> 00:28:13.740 i think i'm innocent but actually what really matters is the lord's opinion 00:28:15.740 --> 00:28:20.220 it is the lord's conduct commendation that is what matters and praise 00:28:20.220 --> 00:28:26.460 so verse 24 of john 5 truly truly i say to you 00:28:28.140 --> 00:28:32.460 whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life 00:28:34.299 --> 00:28:35.819 he does not come into judgment 00:28:37.259 --> 00:28:38.940 but has passed from death to life 00:28:38.940 --> 00:28:49.259 and as we go daily this week to his word and as we come to the lord's table tonight and we hear the father's testimony about him 00:28:49.259 --> 00:28:51.259 this is my son with whom i'm well pleased 00:28:53.740 --> 00:28:56.460 we we recognize that our father is pleased with us 00:28:56.460 --> 00:29:05.340 we grow daily on the basis of that identity that we have in the lord jesus christ 00:29:07.500 --> 00:29:17.420 let's pray