John 5:37-43” “I have come in the name of My Father, and you do not receive Me. If another comes in his own name, that one you will receive.”

John 5:37-43:

And the One sending Me, Father Himself, has witnessed concerning Me. Neither His voice (sound) have you ever heard nor (a) glimpse of Him have you seen. And His word you have not abiding in you, that Whom He commissioned, This (one) you believe not. You search the Scriptures, that you suppose in them to have eternal life, and those are the testifiers (testifying ones) concerning Me! And you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life. Glory from people I receive not. However, I have known you, that you have not the love of God in yourselves. I have come in the name of My Father, and you do not receive Me. If another comes in his own name, that one you shall receive.”

“I have come in My Father’s name, and you do not receive Me. If another comes in his own name, that one you will receive.” “You are not willing…” What a disgraceful statement Jesus was able to make concerning His reception by the Jews into whose community He was born and in which community He conducted His ministry before His crucifixion. Despite hundreds of years of witness in the writings of the prophets whom God directed expressly so that all of humanity, and Israel in particular, would know what and Whom to expect to arrive in this wicked world to work out the forgiveness of sins and open the prison doors to free men from death to everlasting life. What more could God have done to reveal Himself, to demonstrate Who God is, God’s character, power, intentions, and desires for God’s creation, and God’s tremendous love for a weak and beggarly creature such as man, who continues through every generation to disbelieve God and fail in the conduct of a God-honouring life? God spoke to the people of Israel in an audible voice; God gave them a glimpse of Himself in a form they could encounter and endure; God sent angels (messengers), protected them from enemies, worked incredible miracles before their eyes – and yet their response was to continue to whine, disbelieve, and disobey, to be unthankful for both provision and protection, and to despise the honour they had received through God’s kindness.

Despite the first-hand experience throughout many generations, despite the recorded witness of God’s hand on their nation, despite God’s provision of foreknowledge of things that no man could know apart from divine revelation, despite God’s offer of family-love, they were unwilling to receive Him. Before Christ they were wilful and unbelieving. To Christ, they were rebellious, self-willed, and stubborn. While they came to be healed of their many physical afflictions, they refused to come to Him for everlasting life. They wanted physical comfort now, but were unwilling to receive Christ as Who He is: the almighty God, coming to earth in human flesh, in order to reveal God more fully and accurately, and to die for the sins of the people so that the people would not have to die for their own.

But what about today? What about Israel; but what about the rest of the world? Friend, what about you? Jesus Christ was sent by God the Father; He came from and on the authority of the living God. Yet who has believed Him? Who has received Him?

He offers a free gift of salvation – forgiveness of sins and everlasting life – to any and all who will believe and receive Him, yet somehow that is odious to more people than not. His word is despised, His person mocked, His truth reviled, His message rejected, while men flock to men who proclaim themselves to be something, who have neither power nor authority over eternity, who make grandiose claims about having been sent by God and speaking on behalf of God, while enslaving those who follow them with rules and regulations, rituals and requirements, that serve nothing but bondage to the men who make them.

And why? These men don’t love you. Their purpose is to gain power over other people’s lives, to impose their own values, standards, and lifestyles on other people, or to grow rich on other men’s labours. They cannot free you from guilt, they cannot free you from death. You will serve them at their pleasure until you die – and you will gain nothing: a life of enslavement; an eternity in judgment.

There is no other Saviour besides Jesus, and no other salvation than believing Him. You cannot “do” your way out of your guilt, you cannot earn your way into God’s favour, you cannot do enough good deeds to overcome your own sin, much less anyone else’s, and you cannot fix the world through your own efforts. No method, no idea, no process, purpose, principle, or practice, has any power to save either men or the world. Only Jesus.

Don’t be deceived; anyone who comes saying God gave him a special message – run away. God gave His only message through His written word of Scripture and the person of Jesus Christ. If you read the first, you will meet the Second, and know the Truth. Then you have only to receive Him and be free.

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