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Sermon #5439

A Right Approach

A Sermon on John 5:41

Originally preached June 8, 1958

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Scripture

John 5:41 ESV KJV
I do not receive glory from people. (ESV)

Sermon Description

Jesus does not want the praise of people. He makes this very statement in John 5:41 where he states, “I do not receive glory from people.” What are we to make of this statement of Jesus? In this sermon on John 5:41 titled “A Right Approach,” Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones carefully answers this question. This statement, set in the context of John 5 where Jesus had performed a powerful miracle, made powerful claims about His identity and proclaimed a powerful truth to confront the Jews’ unbelief. Now, in verse 41, Dr. Lloyd-Jones unpacks this statement of Jesus’s teaching: the Jews took the wrong approach to Jesus. The Jews only offered honor to a well-known teacher or political leader in an earthly sense. Jesus does not want this type honor from people as this is the wrong approach. Jesus desires the honor, worship, and praise that is compelled by His true identity as the Son of God, sent from the Father, fully God and fully divine. How can anyone give Him this praise? How can anyone take the right approach to worshiping Jesus? In this sermon on John 5:41, Dr. Lloyd-Jones answers these questions, teaching the right approach to honor the Lord Jesus Christ.

Sermon Breakdown

  1. The sermon focuses on John 5:41 where Jesus says "I receive not honour from men."
  2. Jesus was confronting the Jews who refused to believe in Him despite seeing His miracles.
  3. Jesus was reading their minds and knew they saw Him as just another man seeking followers and honor.
  4. Jesus rejects this view and says He does not seek honor from men. This is a stupendous claim that only He can make.
  5. Men generally crave honor and praise from others. But Jesus does not need it because of who He is - the Son of God.
  6. Jesus had glory with the Father before the world began. He gave that up to come into the world.
  7. Jesus humbled himself by taking on human form and dying on the cross. He does not need honor from men.
  8. The Jews were blind to who Jesus really was. They saw him as just a man. This is tragic and damning.
  9. We must recognize who Jesus really is - the Son of God and savior. Just praising him as a good man or teacher is not enough.
  10. Jesus came to do the work the Father gave him - to die for our sins and reconcile us to God. He wants us to see this.
  11. Jesus does not want our praise but our worship, adoration and surrender. He wants us to say "my Lord and my God."
  12. We must not praise Jesus wrongly or we will be rejected like those who reject Him outright.

The Book of John

Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones

Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones (1899-1981) was a Welsh evangelical minister who preached and taught in the Reformed tradition. His principal ministry was at Westminster Chapel, in central London, from 1939-1968, where he delivered multi-year expositions on books of the bible such as Romans, Ephesians and the Gospel of John. In addition to the MLJ Trust’s collection of 1,600 of these sermons in audio format, most of these great sermon series are available in book form (including a 14 volume collection of the Romans sermons), as are other series such as "Spiritual Depression", "Studies in the Sermon on the Mount" and "Great Biblical Doctrines". He is considered by many evangelical leaders today to be an authority on biblical truth and the sufficiency of Scripture.