#8 The Barrier To Belief (Ghana Version) | John 5:39-47

#8 The Barrier To Belief | John 5:39-47

Opening Remarks: So thankful for Pastor Augustine allowing me to preach this morning.

Exciting things are happening here in Shema.

I’m grateful to be able to see it, and I look forward to meeting in a building the next time I come!

READ John 5:39-47

The phrase we’re looking at today is found in vs. 40 - “And ye will not come to me, that ye might have life.”

Jesus gave them evidence proving He was God, but there was a barrier between the evidence and their hearts. Something prevented them from believing.

I’d like to speak today on the The Barrier To Belief. This isn’t just a Pharisee problem. It’s a problem for us well. There are some in here today that do not believe, and quite often it’s the same barrier the Pharisees had.

PRAY

Introduction: When I read the Gospels, I’m surprised at how many people saw the miracles of Jesus but still did not believe.

They watched Him heal people they knew and still said, “I’m not sure.”

That’s what Jesus tells them in vs. 40. “You have everything in front of you that you need to believe and have eternal life. But you will not come.”

They had an opportunity to have eternal life, but they refused to believe And place their faith in Jesus Christ.

There are many barriers that keep people from God.

Some come from a different religious background, so to accept Christ would mean rejecting everything they’ve ever been taught.

Some are skeptical of the Bible. They are not convinced it is true

Others are simply too busy. They say, “I will believe at a later time.”

There are many barriers that prevent people from coming to Jesus.

But in John 5, Jesus Christ is talking to the religious people.

They looked like Christians, but they would not believe.

They looked the part, but did not have the heart.

And if these religious people could struggle to believe, we can too:

Jesus then gives four reasons why religious some people have no relationship with Him:

I. We Treat God’s Word Like Schoolwork (vs. 39-42)

A. It’s possible to know God’s Word and not know the God of the Word.

The Pharisees memorized most of the Hebrew Bible. They copied it was great care. They knew it down to the letter.

But the end became their knowledge at the expense of a relationship.

Vs. 39-40 - Jesus says, “In THEM ye think ye have eternal life…but they testify of ME.”

B. The point of the Scriptures is God.

We search the Scriptures to seek God, not just to have knowledge.

The goal is not to impress others with our trivia knowledge.

C. If you’re raising your kids in church, be careful of this.

We can raise a generation of young people that know all about the Bible but miss the God of the Bible.

Illustration: Kings Kids memorization pages of verses in one night. Impressed everyone. But I was only memorizing to get prizes.

Like studying for a test the night before and forgetting it all after the test.

D. The point of this book is the God of the book.

Don’t miss Him in its pages.

When you start to have a relationship with the God of the Bible, it will change your life.

This book is for transformation, not information.

E. Applications:

First, do you read the Bible to have knowledge or to know God?

Second, do you study the Scriptures for yourself?

It’s not your Pastor’s job to feed you all the time. You must learn to eat on your own.

One reason religious people do not believe: We treat Gods Word like schoolwork

II. We View God Incorrectly. (vs. 43)

A. An idol is something you can make with your own hands.

You can make it look however you want to.

Sometimes we view God in our way rather than who He is really is.

B. The Pharisees did not like Jesus’ version of God.

They wanted an Army General that would fight Rome, but Jesus came and confronted their sins.

The Pharisees were idolaters. They had decided what God should look like. .

C. It reminds me of 2 Timothy 4:3–4

“For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.”

That describes what is happening right now.

People want their own version of God. They don’t want to hear preaching on sin.

They want to hear happy messages only. Be thankful that your Pastor confronts you about your sin, because that’s our biggest problem.

God does bless us, but all your problems will not disappear if you follow God. Thats a false view of God.

God does love you, but He won’t overlook your sins of drunkenness, lust, and dishonesty. That’s a false view of God.

D. Jesus came preaching against sin.

Any version of God that is different than that is an idol we create in our hearts.

If your idea of what God should be like does not match what the Bible says God is like, that will keep you from coming to God In belief.

Barriers to belief: Treat God’s Word like schoolwork Have a false view of God

III. We Try To Impress Others Instead Of Pleasing God

A. It’s easy for religion to become a performance for others.

Vs. 41-42 - Jesus is contrasting His motives with the Pharisees’ motives.

He says, “I’m not here for attention and glory. I’m just pointing to the Father. But your motive for religion is not to please God or because you love God.”

Vs. 43-44 - He tells them straight. They were motivated by getting attention. Jesus confronted them often about this.

B. Many of us we want to make other people happy.

It’s not wrong to be concerned about others, but when it becomes your motivation then you are no longer doing what you do for the Lord.

Pleasing people is impossible. One day they’re happy, the next day they’re not.

Their moods go up and down. And even when you do what they want, the next day things could change.

On the other hand, God never changes. What pleases Him today is what pleased Him in the book of Genesis. Faith. That’s what He asks.

C. Friend, you won’t stand before your friends or family in Heaven. You’ll stand before God.

So live for Him now so that moment is good.

A person who lives to impress others instead of pleasing God won’t come to God.

And the fourth reason people do not come to God:

IV. We View Religion As An Act Of Duty Rather Than Love (vs. 42)

A. This was certainly true of the Pharisees.

They carried the burden of religion on their own shoulders.

They worked, worked, worked, to please God and earn His favor.

They believed whether or not you love God, just perform and work and labor.

But they had the wrong view of the Law. The Law was not given for us to try to keep it. The Law was given as a revealer of our sin.

Vs. 45-47 - These people knew the law better than anyone, but they completely missed the purpose of the law.

B. The Law is a teacher. It teaches us how sinful we really are.

Galatians 3:24 “Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.”

With the law, God says, “You are guilty. This is my standard and you’ve fallen short.”

Jesus “Do not be motivated by the Law of God. Be motivated by love for God.”

He says, “Recognize your guilt and sin, place your faith in me alone, and then follow out of Love.”

Illustration: Man steals from a rich man and gets caught.

But rather than being upset, the rich man pays his fine to be released from jail.

So the thief becomes honest and tells the rich man, “I want to change. Let me work for you so I can pay the jail.”

The rich man says, “I already paid the jail. Thats unnecessary.”

So the thief says, “Then I will pay you back for what you paid the jail.”

The rich man says, “It would take you 3 lifetimes. You cannot do it.”

When the thief realizes this, he falls on his face and says, “Then I will serve you out of love. I’ve never met someone as good as you.”

C. And that is the picture of how we should approach God.

We were guilty and He paid the penalty for our sin.

We can’t pay Him back.

We should not serve Him because we are forced to.

We should follow Him because we love Him and He has done everything for us.

D. Too many Christians are religious out of duty instead of love.

That’s so empty and unfulfilling.

But doing it out of love is what God wants, and it’s satisfying to us.

Don’t exchange Love for the Law. That will keep you from coming to God.

As we consider these Barriers to Belief, they all have something in common:

Treating God’s work like schoolwork highlights my intelligence

Viewing God my way makes religion about me

Impressing others draws attention to me

Making religion a duty means the burden to perform rests on me

A. What’s at the middle of each of these mindsets?

Me. And when self occupies our hearts, it leaves no room for God.

In reality, Christ is talking about self-love instead of Christ love.

At the root of unbelief is a heart of pride.

Vs. 42 - Our lives should be motivated by our love for God. But we often replace Him with love of Self. Pride.

And that mindset will prevent us from coming to God. Which means it prevents us from having life.

According to Christ here, the greatest barrier to knowing God is a heart of pride.

B. Pride will keep the most religious people from coming to God.

When we get to Heaven, we might be surprised by the number of religious people who never truly believed.

Understand, Jesus is not speaking to the wicked. He’s not talking to thieves and immoral people. He’s looking at the religious and saying, “You have not believed.”

Jesus’ warning here is not to the openly sinful but to the overly proud.

C. So what’s the key to making sure I believe?

Do the opposite of pride. Humble yourself before God.

Unbeliever

The message of the Gospel is this: humble yourself and come to Jesus.

Humility begins with admitting that God is holy and we are sinners.

We have broken His law.

We are guilty and condemned already.

We deserve to be eternally separated from Him.

Which means we don’t have eternal life.

Humility acknowledges that without help, we have no hope.

And that’s where Jesus steps in. He died in our place to save us from our sins.

But humility is required to come to the end of ourselves and believe. To trust Him to do what we cannot.

A proud heart doesn’t like to admit we can’t.

The religious don’t like to acknowledge that they’re not good enough.

And that’s why pride will likely be what keeps a person from coming to Jesus.

Let go of your pride, humble yourself before God, and place your trust in Jesus

Christian

Even if you know the Lord, pride is often what keeps us from living a life of faith.

Pride keeps us from seeking Him every day.

Pride causes us to leave Him out of our plans and live without Him.

So we may have eternal life in Heaven, but we miss out on the abundant life on earth.

Jesus says in John 10:10 “I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.”

God doesn’t want you to settle for an inferior life. He wants us to experience the life He offers.

Pride keeps us from it. Every time.

Has Pride in your heart become a barrier to your relationship with God?

Has God’s Word become like schoolwork instead of seeking God?

Have you made God into an idol that you prefer, rather than Who He is?

Have you been trying to impress others with performance instead of simply loving your Savior?

The reason we will not come to Christ is because we have not come to the end of ourselves.

James 4:6 “God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.”

Humility is the first step if you want to believe.

Whether in salvation or in surrender as a child of God.

Is it time to humble yourself and remove the barrier of pride between you and God?

Do you want God’s grace in your life? Then humble yourself.