Examine Your Heart
Notes
Transcript
14 About the middle of the feast Jesus went up into the temple and began teaching.
15 The Jews therefore marveled, saying, “How is it that this man has learning, when he has never studied?”
16 So Jesus answered them, “My teaching is not mine, but his who sent me.
17 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.
18 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.
19 Has not Moses given you the law? Yet none of you keeps the law. Why do you seek to kill me?”
20 The crowd answered, “You have a demon! Who is seeking to kill you?”
21 Jesus answered them, “I did one work, and you all marvel at it.
22 Moses gave you circumcision (not that it is from Moses, but from the fathers), and you circumcise a man on the Sabbath.
23 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?
24 Do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment.”
What does our passage say about God?
First and foremost, our passage teaches that God judges by our hearts not outward appearances. Look at verse 24 of our passage,
24 Do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment.”
2. God knows our hearts better than we do. Look at verses 19 & 20
19 Has not Moses given you the law? Yet none of you keeps the law. Why do you seek to kill me?”
20 The crowd answered, “You have a demon! Who is seeking to kill you?”
What do you think their response would have been to Jesus saying they don’t keep the law?
23 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness. These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others.
24 You blind guides, straining out a gnat and swallowing a camel!
25 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and the plate, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence.
26 You blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and the plate, that the outside also may be clean.
27 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people’s bones and all uncleanness.
28 So you also outwardly appear righteous to others, but within you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.
What does our passage tell us about humanity?
We are prone to seek our own glory.
18 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.
2. We tend to lean on our own understanding.
14 About the middle of the feast Jesus went up into the temple and began teaching.
15 The Jews therefore marveled, saying, “How is it that this man has learning, when he has never studied?”
What hope do we have from this passage? What stuck out to me is in verse 17
17 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.