WWUTT 871 The One Who Seeks The Glory of Him?

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Jesus said, 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.

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We can test teachers by this, when we understand the text. Many of the

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Bible stories and verses we think we know, we don't. When we understand the text is an online ministry committed to teaching sound doctrine and exposing the faulty.

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Visit our website at www .utt .com. Now here's our host, Pastor Gabe Hughes.

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Thank you, Becky. We are back to our regular schedule this week. Today, tomorrow, and Wednesday, we've got

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New Testament study in the book of John. I'll return to Job on Thursday for our Old Testament study, and then

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God willing, Becky will be joining me on Friday for our Q &A, which happens to be

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February the 1st, finishing up the month of January this week. Always seems like the longest month, doesn't it?

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Doesn't it feel like January has more than 31 days? John 7 is where we are today.

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I'll begin reading in verse 14. About the middle of the feast, Jesus went up into the temple and began teaching.

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The Jews therefore marveled, saying, How is it that this man has learning when he has never studied?

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So Jesus answered them, My teaching is not mine, but his who sent me. If anyone's will is to do

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God's will, he will know whether the teaching is from God or whether I am speaking on my own authority.

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The one who speaks on his own authority seeks his own glory, but the one who seeks the glory of him who sent me is true, and in him there is no falsehood.

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Has not Moses given you the law? Yet none of you keeps the law. Why do you seek to kill me?

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The crowd answered, You have a demon. Who is seeking to kill you? Jesus answered them,

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I did one work, and you all marvel at it. Moses gave you circumcision, not that it is from Moses, but from the fathers.

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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?

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Because on the Sabbath I made a man's whole body well? Do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment.

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So again, the feast in particular that Jesus is speaking at is the Feast of Booths.

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His brothers tried to encourage him to go, while they were egging him on, they were teasing him to go.

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Jesus said he wouldn't go, but after his brothers went up, he did decide to go, but went in secret instead of openly.

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And about midway through the feast, as we have it here, he goes into the temple and begins to teach.

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And the Jews marvel at this saying, how is it that this man has learning when he has never studied?

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And it's not that Jesus never studied, because we have, for example, the account in the book of Luke of Jesus going into the temple at the age of 12.

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But he has not received formal training as one would receive training following a rabbi around so that they might become a teacher.

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That would become their specialty. They would have the scriptures memorized. They would be those who would specialize in opening the scrolls and reading in front of the people there in the temple.

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That would have been Jesus' job had he been raised in the temple to learn these things and give that kind of formal discourse in the teaching and learning that would take place in the temple.

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But of course, that wasn't Jesus' occupation growing up. He was the carpenter's son, so he learned carpentry.

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There were certainly things that he learned, as all Jewish boys did learn, but he did not continue in that formal training.

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So that's what it is that the Jews are referring to when they say that, how is it that he's able to speak in the way that he does?

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How is it that he has such knowledge and speaks with such confidence? As we have it in Matthew 7, not just with confidence, but with authority.

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It was one of the things that separated Jesus' teaching from the other teachers of the law and the

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Pharisees, that Jesus spoke with authority. He didn't just tell them what the word of God said, but he exhorted them and gave them commands that they must follow.

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And so there was certainly a nature about Jesus' words that was much different than what the rest of the people heard coming from the teaching from the temple and from the synagogues.

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Jesus spoke with authority. And of course, he says here, my teaching is not mine, but his who sent me.

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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.

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It's interesting here that Jesus is open to having his own teaching tested, and he is not threatened by that because he knows that his teaching comes from the father.

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And if a person truly desires the will of God, the father, then they will know that Jesus' teaching comes from the father and they will know that Jesus is from the father.

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When I was talking about Jesus doing his father's will and that our desire should likewise be the will of the father, a passage that I referenced last week was from Matthew chapter seven, verses twenty one through twenty three, where Jesus says, not everyone who says to me,

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Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my father who is in heaven.

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In Matthew chapter twelve, another passage I'd referenced last week talking about Jesus' siblings, his half brothers, whom he was addressing at the start of chapter seven.

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While he was speaking to the people at the end of Matthew twelve, his mother and his brother stood outside asking to speak to him.

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But he replied to the man who told him, who is my mother and who are my brothers? And stretching out his hand toward his disciples, he said, here are my my mother and my brothers.

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For whoever does the will of my father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.

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And Jesus associates himself with his his own followers in Matthew chapter twenty five, where he talks about the one who has done so for the least of these has done also unto me.

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These are the least of these brothers of mine is specifically the reference. They did the will of the father.

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Whoever does the will of my father is my brother or my sister or my mother.

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We are part of the family of God adopted in Christ Jesus. In Matthew chapter twenty one,

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Jesus told the parable of the two sons. And in starting in verse twenty eight, he said, what do you think? A man had two sons and he went to the first and he said, son, go work in the vineyard today.

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And he answered, I will not. But afterward, he changed his mind and he went and he went to the other son and said the same.

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And he answered, I go, sir. But he did not go. Which of the two did the will of his father?

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And they said the first. And Jesus said to them, truly, I say to you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes go into the kingdom of God before you.

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For John came to you in the way of righteousness and you did not believe him. But the tax collectors and the prostitutes believed him.

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And even when you saw it, you did not afterward change your minds and believe him.

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And through this parable, Jesus is showing how the Pharisees do not have walk to match their talk.

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They can talk a big game, but then they have nothing to show for it. Meanwhile, you have the prostitutes and the tax collectors, those who are considered the lowest of the low, at least his term in terms of the legalism that the

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Pharisees were trying to impose on everybody else. Don't be like the prostitutes and the tax collectors. Yet these who had lived such sinful lives and on the part of the tax collectors lives who were who were liars just couldn't be trusted by anybody.

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Yet they heard the words of John the Baptist and repented. You know, understand whenever we have these references to the prostitutes and the tax collectors, if they believed in Jesus, if they believed his words and he said of them that they were entering the kingdom of heaven ahead of the

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Pharisees, then we're talking about prostitutes and tax collectors only in the sense that the

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Pharisees referred to them that way. They did not continue to be prostitutes and dishonest tax collectors.

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They repented of these things and came to believe in Jesus. And because of their repentance and faith, that is why they inherit the kingdom of God, because this work of Christ was done in them.

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But in an early stage of their lives, they did not believe. And yet when they heard the word that was proclaimed by John the

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Baptist and later the teaching of Jesus, they did repent and believe, whereas the Pharisees claim to be followers of God.

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But yet their actions did not match the words that they said. And so it is only those who do the will of the father that understand the words that the father has given, whether that be through any of the prophets, any of the prophets of the

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Old Testament or a prophet like John the Baptist, or that the words came from Christ himself, which is why

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Jesus has no problem saying here in John chapter seven, my teaching is not mine, but his who sent me.

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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.

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This was Jesus inviting testing, test my words, because you will know through testing if your will is the father's will.

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You will know that what I say comes from the father. In Matthew chapter twenty six, when

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Jesus was praying in the garden of Gethsemane before he was arrested to be taken away to be tried and crucified, ultimately receiving the wrath of God for us, for our sins, satisfying his wrath.

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We read in Matthew chapter twenty six that Jesus prayed, my father, if it be possible, let this cup pass for me.

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Nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will. Jesus perfectly did the will of the father in heaven.

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And if our will is conformed to the father's will, then we likewise will understand the words of Christ have come from God.

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And we will not only claim with our words that we love Jesus, but we will show with our actions that we love

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Jesus when we do what he said. So the next thing that Jesus says here is he's teaching in the temple.

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Verse 18, he says, the one who speaks on his own authority seeks his own glory.

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But the one who seeks the glory of him who sent him is true. And in him, there is no falsehood.

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Now, Jesus is speaking of himself in the third person here. You could you could certainly interpret the passage that way.

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The one who speaks on his own authority seeks his own glory. That's not in reference to Christ, but that's in reference to the person who speaks or claims to be speaking from God only to be able to gain something for himself.

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But then Jesus says, the one who seeks the glory of him who sent him is true.

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And that's in reference to himself. And in him, there is no falsehood.

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But you could also take this and apply it to any minister or teacher today. Who exactly are they working for?

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Are they trying to acquire glory for themselves? Or do they truly desire and seek the glory of God as Jesus did?

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In Philippians chapter two, verse 11, it says that Jesus did all of these things ultimately to the glory of God, the father, his giving up his throne in heaven, taking on the form of a servant, becoming obedient even to the point of death on a cross.

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Therefore, God is highly exalted him and given him the name that is above every name so that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth.

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And every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God, the father.

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So Jesus did all things to the glory of God, the father, and we proclaim his glory.

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We proclaim the glory of Christ to the glory of God, the father. This is the father's will that you should know

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Jesus Christ. You should know his son and you should worship him. And in so submitting yourself unto

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Christ, do we have salvation? And this is good and pleasing before the father.

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So any teacher that claims to speak in the name of Christ should therefore demonstrate with their lives that what they desire is the glory of God.

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They do not desire the glory for themselves, but they want to glorify and honor

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God. In first Timothy chapter six, the apostle Paul told

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Timothy that if anyone teaches a different doctrine and does not agree with the sound words of our

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Lord Jesus Christ. So here Christ has said that anyone who comes seeking his own glory is not from God, but the one who seeks the glory of him who sent him is true.

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And in him, there is no falsehood. So if anyone comes teaching something contrary to what Jesus says here, even about testing a teacher to know that he is desiring to give glory to the father, his will has been conformed to the father's will through Jesus Christ.

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If someone does not come with the sound words of our Lord Jesus and the teaching that accords with godliness, in other words, this teaching produces godliness in the lives of believers.

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If anyone is teaching a different doctrine, he is puffed up with conceit and understands nothing.

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In other words, he's only out for himself. He has an unhealthy craving for controversy and for quarrels about words, which produce envy, dissension, slander, evil suspicions, and constant friction among people who are depraved in mind and deprived of the truth.

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Imagining that godliness is a means of gain that they are able to gain for themselves through this quote unquote ministry that they are doing, not giving glory to God, but rather heaping up glory for themselves.

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This is the social justice movement in the church right now. The woke church, as it's described, and as they call themselves, the

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G3 pre conference about a week and a half ago now was it was focusing on that that concept, the whole social justice movement and how it is infiltrated the church.

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One of the things that Votie Bauckham pointed out is when the term social justice is used in the church, it is not at all the same as the way that social justice gets used in the secular culture.

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Christians are trying to adopt the term and claim that it is a gospel issue, but they change it into something that's completely different than the way the term social justice has been has been used in the culture.

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It's really the culture's term. It isn't the church's term. The culture came up with this and started this movement.

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Then the woke church kind of genuflected on that and became a generic knockoff, but still just as merciless and unforgiving as the social justice movement as it exists in our culture.

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There is no end game in the social justice movement, as Dr. James White had pointed out, but it's just going to be this constant system of believing that you have to pay penance or you have to give reparations or you have to give payment or constantly apologize for your whiteness or your privilege.

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Somehow there is not a conclusion to the social justice movement, even within the woke church, though a guy will will write a book.

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I almost threw a guy's name out there, but I don't I don't think it would be necessary anyway, though a guy might write a book and talk about reconciliation happening in the church among racial disparity.

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They don't actually have any plan or desire for that racial reconciliation. They are using these words and banking on these words and continuing to gain attraction in a crowd through these words.

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But there is not actually a plan or a desire to resolve any of the things that they are talking about regarding reconciliation or anything else.

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So this whole social justice movement that exists in the church is one such example in which persons are puffed up with conceit, and yet they don't really understand anything that they are talking about.

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They have an unhealthy craving for controversy and quarreling over words. It's the fact that they've taken secular words and tried to Christianize them and make them into gospel issues, producing envy, dissension, slander, evil suspicions, thinking evil of other people simply because of the color of their skin and constant friction among people who are depraved in mind and deprived of the truth, imagining that godliness or what they claim is godliness is a means of gain.

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The health and wealth gospel and is another example of a bunch of ministers who are glorifying themselves and have no desire to glorify

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God. Many of these guys absolutely know that they're con artists. They know this.

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The vast majority of them do. There's probably the the small guys in your average like assemblies of God church that believes he's actually miraculously healing people.

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He may not be the charlatan who knows that he's not really healing anybody but is yet continuing to milk people.

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But these famous guys out there, the health and wealth, name it and claim it. Guys, they know they're liars.

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They know they're not actually doing the things that they say that they're doing. But yet they continue to con people out of their money while they drive their rich automobiles and stay in the most luxurious hotels and live in rich mansions and fly private planes.

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They do not desire the will of God. But yet they are those who have come seeking their own glory.

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The one who seeks the glory of him who sent him is true. And in him, there is no falsehood.

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And that is Christ. And when it comes to the role and the responsibility of a preacher, he must preach

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Christ first and foremost. And that is the utmost test of any man who claims to be a teacher of the things of God.

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Does this teacher and the message that he shares, is he speaking grace? Is he talking about the forgiveness of sins?

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Is he extending that forgiveness to others himself? You see, you not only hear him saying the words, but you see a demonstration in his own life that he desires the grace of God upon people and he is forgiving others their sins, those who have sinned against him.

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It exactly is the parable that Jesus gave. They not only talk the talk, but they can walk the walk.

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Do they show in their lives a desire to exalt the father in what they do?

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Not earn attraction for themselves, but glorify God in their message and have people find

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Christ in the forgiveness that only Christ can give. Are they preaching a gospel of salvation by grace through faith?

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I would say that would be like the test to know whether or not a teacher is truly from God.

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If he is preaching Christ and salvation by grace through faith in him alone, that's where we're going to stop for now and come back to this again tomorrow as we finish up this particular section of John seven, our wonderful heavenly father, we thank you for the mercy that you have shown us in Christ Jesus.

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And may we likewise show mercy to others. May we forgive before a person even comes to us asking forgiveness, but in our hearts, we hold no grudges.

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We, uh, we speak grace to those who hear as Paul instructed to the

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Ephesians that, that it would be gracious speech that we share, that we call people to repentance and they would come to know the forgiveness that only

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Christ can give by faith in him. You have shown us this in your word and we have come to believe by faith in Jesus Christ and know that we have the forgiveness of sins before you.

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So may we also walk in righteousness, demonstrating that we have the grace of God that covers over all unrighteousness.

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We thank you for your grace in the name of Jesus. We pray. Amen. For more about our ministry, visit us online at www .utt