7. Your hope is misplaced.
“Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father. There is one who accuses you: Moses, on whom you have set your hope” (John 5:45).
Here are people who have set their own hope on their own virtue. Their hope is that they can live a life that will be good enough for God. But that hope is misplaced.
A successful man came to Jesus on one occasion and asked him, “What must I do to have eternal life?” (Mark 10:17). After Jesus recounted the commandments, the man said, “All these I have kept since I was a boy.” This man thought he’d kept all the commands, but the truth is he hadn’t kept any. He hadn’t even kept the first command: “You shall have no other gods before me” (Ex. 20:3). His life was about himself. He was his own god. His hope was misplaced.
Let’s put together what Jesus is saying to hard-hearted people:
You once had light and joy. But you’ve lost them and here’s where you are now: You don’t know God. The truth is not in you. You don’t believe. You have no desire to come to me. You don’t love God. You seek the wrong kind of glory. Your hope is completely and utterly misplaced.
I’m saying all this so that you will be saved! I want you to know God. I want the truth to abide in you. I want you to come to me. I want you to have the love of God in your heart. I want you to share the glory that comes from God alone. And I want you to have an unshakable hope!
Jesus could simply walk away from our hard hearts. That would be devastating! Only a Savior who loves you would speak like this to you. Can you see that?
