Do You Believe?

Unbelief

When Jesus showed up the first time after his resurrection Thomas was not with them. When the other disciples told Thomas about the resurrection he told them that he would not believe unless he could put his finger in the nail scarred hands. He was basically telling them unless I see it i won’t believe it.

I believe Thomas gets a bad rap about this. As a matter of fact most people know him as “doubting Thomas”. I don’t think Thomas had unbelief, I think he had conditional belief. He needed more information before he could believe something so important.

My favorite story about the Holy Spirit is the story C.S. Lewis told about a college student who wrote to him. The young man was an atheist. And he was very concerned, because he had made friends with some Christian students. They were enthusiastically witnessing to him about Jesus, and it had shaken-up the young man's thinking. He was going through some great struggles about Christianity, and he wanted to know, "What did Dr. Lewis think?"

C. S. Lewis wrote back, "I think you are already in the meshes of the net. The Holy Spirit is after you. I doubt you will get away." (1)

God's Holy Spirit is in the world today -- seeking for us, trying to teach us about the eternal, abundant life that only Jesus can give. That young college student who was in the meshes of the Holy Spirit's net did get saved. His name was Sheldon Vanauken and here is what he wrote about that day:

"I couldn't reject Christ. There was only one thing to do. I turned and flung myself over the gap toward Christ. On a morning with spring in the air, March 29th, I wrote in my notebook: 'I choose to believe in the Father, Son & Holy Ghost. In Christ, my Lord and my God. Christianity has the ring, the feel of unique truth. Essential truth. By it, life is made full instead of empty, meaningful instead of meaningless. I confess my doubts and ask my Lord Christ to enter my life. I do not know God. I do but say: Be it unto me according to Thy will. I do not affirm that I am without doubt. I do but ask for help, having chosen, to overcome it. I do but say: Lord, I believe. Help Thou mine unbelief.'" (2)

And God did -- by His Holy Spirit. Yes there is an unforgivable sin, One and only one unforgivable sin: Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. I would be shocked if anyone here tonight was considering blaspheming the Holy Spirit. But if you were to ever seriously do that, there would be no hope of forgiveness for you. But there is hope for everyone who will allow God's Spirit to lead them to God's Son, Jesus Christ. Let the Holy Spirit of God have His way in your heart tonight.

(1) DON'T JUST STAND THERE, PRAY SOMETHING by Ron Dunn

(2) Encounter With Light - an honest account of how a scholar met Christ - http://www.surfoutsider.net/pdfs/encounter.pdf

When it comes to something as important as your eternal destiny, I think it is okay to seek and discover truth before making a decision so significant.

True unbelief

True unbelief is what the pharisees had. They witnessed Jesus miracles, they heard his teachings, they understood who he claimed to be. Though they had enough information to rationally conclude that Jesus was the Son of God, they refused to believe.

Their unbelief was rooted in their hearts. They desired their power, prestige, heritage, and wealth more than they did Jesus. They knew that if they confessed Jesus as Lord they would lose all they had. It is kind of like the rich young ruler. He wasn’t a bad guy. He just loved his money more than Jesus.

Luke 18:18–27 NASB95

A ruler questioned Him, saying, “Good Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good except God alone. “You know the commandments, ‘Do not commit adultery, Do not murder, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Honor your father and mother.’ ” And he said, “All these things I have kept from my youth.” When Jesus heard this, He said to him, “One thing you still lack; sell all that you possess and distribute it to the poor, and you shall have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.” But when he had heard these things, he became very sad, for he was extremely rich. And Jesus looked at him and said, “How hard it is for those who are wealthy to enter the kingdom of God! “For it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.” They who heard it said, “Then who can be saved?” But He said, “The things that are impossible with people are possible with God.”

The core of unbelief is not that you don’t have enough evidence to believe that Jesus is Lord. It is a matter of the heart that says even though I know I will not surrender to the Lordship of Jesus.

Thomas was not this way. He wanted more evidence in order to believe!

Where are you this morning? Do you believe or do you need more evidence?

Jesus Removes Doubt

Eight days after Jesus first appeared, He showed up again when Thomas was with the disciples. Jesus spoke as He did the first time. He said, “ Peace be with you.” Then Jesus went to Thomas and granted him the evidence that he needed to believe. Jesus told Thomas to put his finger in his nail scarred hands and put his hand in his spear scarred side. I find it interesting that Jesus did this because shouldn’t it be enough that Jesus appeared and Thomas could see him. This should have been enough to believe, but Jesus loved Thomas so much that He gave Thomas what he requested in order to believe.

Jesus loved Thomas so much that he granted his request. Jesus does the same thing for us. He will grant unto us that which is necessary to believe. Understand that this does not mean that He will grant unto us that which we want, but that which is necessary to believe.

"BIGGER AND BETTER RATTLE SNAKES"

Mr. Jones called his pastor from the hospital one day and frantically said, "Oh, pastor come quickly, my son, John was just bitten by a rattle snake and is at the point of death." Of course the pastor hurried to the side of the worried father. "Pastor, pray for my son!", cried the father, " I have promised the Lord that if my son recovers, I will come back to church and bring my family and will again start living for the Lord."

Of course the pastor prayed. He said, "Dear Lord, we come to you now in behalf of Mr. Jones’ son. We pray that he might recover from this snake bite. We want to praise your name for sending this rattle snake to bite John! This one rattle snake has done what I or the church has been unable to do in the life of Mr. Jones now for over 5 years. During all this time, he has not been interested in his spiritual well-being or the spiritual well-being of his family and this one rattle snake has turned his mind back to you. Lord, could it be, what we may need in the lives of many of our other church members are bigger and better rattle snakes?"

True Belief

When Thomas put his finger in the nail scarred hands of Jesus he exclaimed, “My Lord and my God!” Notice the the little two letter word that He said “MY”. This was a personal decision that he appropriated to himself. Jesus was his Lord and his God. He did not say “Lord and God”, but “My lord and my God!” This is what true faith and belief in Jesus is about.

Many believe intellectually that Jesus is Lord. They know the gospel story and can even share it with others. True belief is when you make Jesus your Lord and your God. When you surrender your life to Him and follow Him.

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Commitment Vs. Surrender  PRO Contributed by Christian Cheong on Jun 30, 2012 (message contributor) based on 2 ratings (rate this sermon illustration)| 5,081 views Scripture:  None Tags:  Lordship Of Christ Denomination: Independent/Bible

COMMITMENT VS. SURRENDER In The Incredible Power of Kingdom Authority there is an account of a conversation between the late Adrian Rogers and Rev Josef Tson, the Romanian pastor, author, and president of the Romanian Missionary Society who survived years of persecution and exile under cruel Communist rule. Rogers asked Dr Tson for his perception of American Christianity. Josef said the key word in American Christianity is commitment. This is not good. "As a matter of fact, the word commitment did not come into great usage in the English language until about the 1960s. In Romania we do not even have a word to translate the English word commitment. If you were to use commitment in your message tonight, I would not have a proper word to translate it with. When a new word comes into usage, it generally pushes an old word out. I began to study and found the old word that commitment replaced - the word surrender." What is the difference between commitment and surrender? “When you make a commitment, you are still in control, no matter how noble the thing you commit to. One can commit to pray, to study the Bible, to give his money, or to commit to automobile payments, or to lose weight. Whatever he chooses to do, he commits to. But surrender is different. If someone holds a gun and asks you to lift your hands in the air as a token of surrender, you don’t tell that person what you are committed to. You simply surrender and do as you are told… Americans love commitment because they are still in control. But the key word is surrender. We are to be slaves to the Lord Jesus Christ.”

Are you willing to surrender your life to Jesus today?