How Can You Believe?

John 5:44 — Continuing his exposition of John 5 with this sermon on John 5:44 titled “How Can You Believe?” Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones now considers verse 44 and this question. This question was posed by Jesus as He again confronts the Jews and their rejection of Him. Belief in Him is the means of salvation and the path to truly knowing the Father. However, Jesus now presents a great theological difficulty. His question implies that belief in Him is impossible. In fact, belief exercised by the unbeliever is completely out of his or her control. As one famous preacher said, “You had nothing to do with your natural birth and you had nothing to do with your spiritual birth.” Belief in Jesus to receive salvation is impossible without the work of God in the life of the unbeliever. In John 5:44, Jesus confronts the Jews with this reality. Furthermore, His question points to the prior verses referring to their desire for honor among people. How does this desire relate to the inability to believe? In this sermon, Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones explains how believing in Jesus is impossible by virtue of the sinful human desire to be supreme above all things.