A Superior Satisfaction

Desiring God blog post: The Love of Human Praise as the Root of Unbelief

This week's sermon: "The Love of Human Praise as the Root of Unbelief"

Jesus' refrain in John 5:30-47 is "not me, but God." He baffles the expectations and confronts the comforts of fallen humanity by being a Messiah who comes not in his own name, seeking his own praise, but by coming in his Father's name and pursuing his Father's praise.

In verses 37-47, Jesus issues a seemingly relentless string of indictments against self-seeking humans:

• Verse 38: You don't have God's word in you. You don't believe the one whom he has sent.
• Verse 40: You don't want to come to me.
• Verse 42: You don't have the love of God in you.
• Verse 43: You don't believe me.
• Verse 44: You cannot believe.
• Verse 45: You don't believe Moses, and you don't believe me.

How did Jesus' kinsmen, who knew their Scriptures so well, not believe in their Messiah? Almost at bottom is that they did not want to. They had other desires. But the bottom-line answer is that they were seeking human approval. Their craving for human praise was so strong that it closed their hearts to pursuing divine praise and closed their eyes to such a Messiah.

Love of human approval is at odds with faith because…

1. …true faith in Jesus gives all glory to God and none to ourselves (Romans 4:20), and…
2. …true faith is a drinking of living water for the satisfaction of our souls—and the well of that water is the glory of Christ.

When we are satisfied in Jesus, the enslaving power of the craving for human glory is broken. Broken by the power of a superior satisfaction.