Why We Don't Believe (John 5:31-47) 04.19.26

Last week we saw that we are all worshippers. We are always giving ourselves to something. Something we believe will give us life. But, that raises a question. If Jesus really is who He says He is, why don’t people come to Him? Why do we still resist Him? John 5 answers that question, but the answer is not what we might expect. 

We tend to think of belief as neutral. As if we are all just standing back, looking at the evidence, and deciding what’s objectively true. But that’s not how we actually live. When Florida State played Alabama last year, do you know my only criteria for who I did not want to watch the game with? An Alabama fan. They don’t watch the game neutrally. Every call is interpreted a certain way. Everything FSU does is wrong. Any call that goes against Alabama is wrong. Why? Because they’re not just observing, they’re invested. Once you’re invested, you don’t just see things, you interpret them in a way that confirms what you already want to believe. You notice what supports you and filter out what doesn’t. And this isn’t only true of Alabama fans.

The same is true when it comes to Jesus. No one comes to Him as a neutral observer. We all come already committed to something. It could be something we love, it could be something we want to be true, it could be something we are living for. And that shapes what we are willing to see. 

Napoleon once said, “Men will believe anything if it flatters their desires.” He’s not wrong. We don’t just believe with our minds. We believe with our desires. What we want to be true often determines what we’re willing to accept as true. And what Jesus shows us in this passage is that the problem isn’t that people don’t have enough evidence. The problem is that they are already living for something else. They already love something else.

When it comes to the question, “Why don’t we believe?” or “Why do we resist?” Jesus tells us what the problem is not and what the problem is. 

1. What the problem is not

Jesus takes two options off the table. First, the problem is not a lack of evidence (30-39). Jesus has made Himself abundantly clear. He is perfectly aligned with the Father (verse 30). He is affirmed by John the Baptist (verse 33). His works testify to Him (verse 36). The Father Himself bears witness (verse 37). And the Scriptures point to Him (verse 39). This is courtroom language. Jesus is saying that the evidence is overwhelming. And Jesus is bringing multiple witnesses to bear. 

Imagine someone standing in front of the ocean at sunrise saying, “Yeah, I just need more proof that this is beautiful.” At some point, the issue is not evidence, it’s the person. We tend to think, “If I just had more proof, I would believe.” But, Jesus says, “You already have more than enough.” Sometimes asking for more evidence isn’t really about needing more. It’s a way of keeping a safe distance. As long as there’s “one more question,” we don’t have to respond.

And this isn’t the only place the Bible makes this clear. In John 3, John says, “Light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light.” - Jn 3:19,20 The problem isn’t that the light is not there. It’s that we love something else more. Paul says in Romans one that we don’t lack truth, we suppress it. It’s not absent, it’s resisted. Isaiah says, “Seeing they do not see…” It’s not intellectual shortcoming, it’s spiritual resistance. After showing them that they have all the evidence they need, Jesus says, “...yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life.” - Jn 5:40.

But Jesus doesn’t stop at saying the evidence is enough. He goes further. He says the problem is also not a lack of exposure (45-47). You can be close to the truth and still miss Him. And who would have had closer proximity than the religious leaders of Jesus’ day? But, Jesus is telling them that they had the Scriptures and they had knowledge and tradition and still missed Him. But then Jesus really turns the knife. He says, There is one who accuses you: Moses, ^gon whom you have set your hope. ⁴⁶ For if you believed Moses, you would believe me; for ^hhe wrote of me. ⁴⁷ But ⁱif you do not believe his writings, how will you believe my words?” - Jn 5:45b-47 

That would not have landed well with the Pharisees in particular. Moses was the main person they would have said they trusted. Moses was the authority they appealed to. Moses was the foundation of their identity. And Jesus is saying that the very one they trusted is the one who condemns them. Why? Because Moses was writing about Jesus. 

Moses wrote about the Passover lamb that saves, the Prophet who is coming, the sacrifices that atone…all of this was about Jesus. Moses wasn’t the destination, he was pointing forward. And they totally missed it. 

Some years ago, I was going out on a Saturday afternoon to officiate a wedding and James was very young and as I was walking toward the door I saw him and he looked really sad. So I asked him, “Buddy, what’s wrong?” He looked up at me with the saddest eyes and said, “Dad, I’m really going to miss you when you’re remarried?” I was like, “What?” Mom told me that she is not happy that you’re doing a wedding.” To be fair, this wedding fell on one of the worst Saturdays ever for us and it was over two hours away. James was in the house with us, with all the right information, but came to the absolute most wrong conclusion. It also didn’t sit well with me that he had concluded that he was staying with mom and not me, but I wasn’t going to press into that. 

That’s what we all do. We don’t just receive information, we interpret it. And we interpret it in ways that make sense of our fears and protect what we care about. But the difference between James and the religious leaders is that it wasn’t just an innocent mistake. The issue was not that they lacked the Scripture or even that they innocently misunderstood it. They didn’t want where it led. They had redefined Moses in a way that kept them in control. Because if Scripture leads you to Jesus, you lose control, and we resist anything that threatens the center of our lives. 

And here is where this gets uncomfortably close to home. It is possible to be very close to the truth…and still completely miss Jesus. They had the right book, the right traditions, and the right language…but the wrong heart. Because coming to Jesus doesn’t just change what you believe, it changes who you are. And we instinctively protect our identity, even when it’s not giving us life. It is possible to miss the fact that we just don’t want to go where Scripture leads. 

Jesus is saying that if you really believed what you say you believe, you would come to me. And then He presses it even deeper. If you do not believe his writings, how will you believe my words? - Jn 5:47 They are using Scripture to keep Jesus at a distance. Their problem is not exposure to the truth, it’s resistance to where the truth is pointing. You can know the Bible and still not know Jesus. You can even use the Bible to avoid Him. You can be in the car going to church, but still be moving away from Jesus. 

We are in an interesting cultural moment people have described as the ‘vibe shift.’ It’s called this because the perception is that our culture that once resisted Christian values is now showing more openness to it. And there are definitely positive aspects of this for us all. But, I’m super weary to call it any more than that. There are so many people using the Bible not to get Jesus, but to get money, power, and status. And there are many people in this vibe shift that have plenty of exposure to Christianity, but aren’t any closer to Jesus. 

Hebrews warns us about people who are incredibly close to the truth. They’ve heard it. They’ve seen it. They’ve even experienced parts of it. And yet they still don’t believe. Jesus in Matthew 12 warns that it’s possible to move closer to the truth, but not believe and that that person's last state is worse than where they started. 

Hebrews says the same thing in a different way. The more exposure you have to the truth, the more serious it is to reject it. This means that being close to the truth is not neutral, but actually raises the stakes. And that is exactly what Jesus is saying in this passage. They have Moses, they have the Scriptures, they have all the evidence they need, but they still refuse to come to Him. 

So, if the problem is not evidence or exposure, what is it? It’s something much deeper. 

2. What the problem is (40-44)

The problem is our resistant hearts. We don’t come to Christ because we don’t want the kind of God He is. It’s not confusion or mere inability to discern. It’s outright, intentional refusal. Have you ever had someone confront you about something in your life and you knew they were right, but you didn’t want to accept it? I have. When I was 30 someone called me out on pride they saw in me. This person was gentle, he had clear examples, and he was genuinely for me. But I didn’t want to hear it. I wanted to defend myself. I wanted to minimize it. I wanted to justify it. Not because he wasn’t right, but because I didn’t want what they were saying to be true. That’s what we do when something threatens us. We don’t just reject it, we build a case against it. I could accept what he was saying and be better for it or I could reject it because I wanted to avoid the pain that comes with getting better. What he was saying was true, but I didn’t want it to be true. 

That’s what’s happening here. Jesus is exposing their hearts. You do not have the love of God within you. - Jn 5:42 You receive glory from one another. - Jn 5:44 Generally speaking, we like the idea of God, but we want a God who fits into our lives. A God who affirms us. A God who helps us. And a God who doesn’t confront us. We want a God we can manage, not a God who redefines us. But, Jesus comes in with authority, exclusivity, and a call to surrender our lives to Him. And that threatens what we already love. 

Jesus’ call to ‘come to me’ is an invitation, but it’s also a disruption. Imagine you’re at home after a long day. You’ve finally settled in. The house is quiet, you’ve got your routine, your show, your comfort. And then your phone rings. It’s someone you love. They say, “Come join us for dinner. It’s all ready.” That’s an invitation, but it’s also a disruption. To accept it means you have to get up, you have to leave your comfort, you have to interrupt your routine, and go somewhere else. You have to choose because you can’t stay where you are and come at the same time. Because coming always costs something. It means leaving something behind.

That’s what Jesus is doing. “Come to me” sounds gentle…and it is…but it also means leaving whatever you’ve been living for. We don’t reject Jesus because He’s unclear, we reject Him because He competes with what we already love. You don’t come to Jesus just because you’re convinced. You come when you’re willing to let go of what you’ve been living for. And for most of us, it’s not that we don’t see Jesus. It’s that we see what it will cost more clearly.

So, what do you do with this? If you’re not a Christian, Jesus is not asking you to pretend you’re neutral or to clean yourself up before you come. He’s actually inviting you to do the opposite. He’s inviting you to be honest about what you’re already living for. To name it. To admit it. What do you look to for life? What do you feel like you can’t lose? That’s where your resistance will be. The first step toward coming to Jesus is not having everything figured out. It’s recognizing that what you’ve been trusting in isn’t giving you the life you thought it would. We don’t just reject Jesus. We protect what we already love.

And here’s what is so important to hear. Jesus is not saying, “Fix your heart and then come to me.” He’s saying, “Come to me and I will change your heart.” You don’t overcome your resistance and then come. You come with your resistance. You come with your doubts, your questions, your attachments, your competing loves…and you bring them to Him. Christianity is not for people who have it figured out. It’s for people who are willing to admit that they haven’t. 

But you do have to come. You can keep analyzing Jesus. You can continue to keep Him at a distance. You can stay close to the truth, around the truth, even benefiting from the truth, but at some point, Jesus says, “Come.” Not admire. Not study. Not consider. Come. Which means entrusting yourself to Him. Letting go of what you’ve been building your life on and receiving the life He offers instead. 

If the problem was a lack of evidence, God could give more. If the problem was distance, God could bring you closer. But the problem is deeper. It’s our hearts. We think the solution is, “If I could just get my life together, then I’d come to Jesus.” But Jesus doesn’t come for those who have their lives together. He comes for those who resist Him, ignore Him, and don’t want Him. 

But here’s the question still hanging out there. If the problem is our hearts, if we don’t want Jesus, if we resist Him even regardless of the evidence, then how could we ever come? And the answer is…on our own, we wouldn’t. But the same passage that exposes our refusal also points us to His grace. Jesus knows they won’t come. He knows they don’t want Him. And yet He still comes to them. 

And ultimately, He goes to the cross for people exactly like this. Not for the spiritually open. Not for the morally ready. But for those who resist Him, ignore Him, and don’t want Him. On the cross, Jesus is treated as if He had rejected the Father so that those who have rejected Him can be received. He was shut out so we could be brought in. He was condemned so we could be welcomed. 

And this means that the invitation to ‘come to me’ is not based on your ability to fix your heart. It’s based on what He has already done for you. You come because He’s enough. So, the question is not, “Have you figured everything out?” or “Have you cleaned your life up?” The question is just, “Will you come?” Come with your resistance. Come with your doubts. Come with your competing loves. Because the only people Jesus receives are the ones who know they need Him. 

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