Hardened Unbelief

Rope Trust Exercise

John 12:37-50.

John points out the two different types of people who don’t believe in Him.

The Unconcerned

vs. 37-41

Some of us maybe don’t believe in Jesus because we can’t be bothered.

Christianity asks for a lot, and it’s so much easier to avoid it.

I don’t need to think about it because I’m not going to die soon!

I don’t want to think about that kind of stuff!

A hardened heart

The Bible would call this a hardened heart.

The two quotes in vs. 38 and 40 show that.

These are both from Isaiah, and one deals with a hymn about Jesus, and the other is a prophecy that God gave to the prophet Isaiah.

Those of us who are unconcerned just aren’t wanting to hear the message of God, so our hearts are hard.

We can be completely indifferent to God.

We’ll zone out when the sermon starts, we’ll avoid things at small groups, we’ll stay away from camp, all to avoid this God talk stuff.

People who say that they are Christians do this too!

Maybe you were born into a Christian home and go to church, but

Are you in a real relationship with God?

Do we read our Bibles that we might grow with Him? Are we really talking with Him?

Or, are we just faking the Christian thing because it’s easier than being honest with others and ourselves?

“Apathy is passionless living. It is sitting in front of the television night after night and living your life from one moment of entertainment to the next. It is the inability to be shocked into action by the steady-state lostness and suffering of the world. It is the emptiness that comes from thinking of godliness as the avoidance of doing bad things instead of the aggressive pursuit of doing good things.” - John Piper

The Fearful

Jesus then talks about the other kind of unbelief, the fearful.

The fearful are those of us who understand some of Jesus, but aren’t willing to follow Him for fear of others.

Maybe we’re afraid that if we follow Jesus, our family or friends will be made or upset or give up on us.

If I become a Christian, I’ll lose out on who I am.

Or, maybe, we call ourselves Christians but are too fearful to live as aChristian.

We go to church, but we won’t tell anyone because they can judge us.

We could never tell someone about Jesus, what would happen if they didn’t agree?

We live two different lives: the life at church stuff and the life at school or around our friends.

Fear of man

This is commonly called the fear of men, and it’s summarized in v. 43

We love the praise of others, so we’ll sacrifice the approval of God for their approval.

This fear is incredibly common, I don’t know of many who don’t have this at least sometimes, myself included!

But, think for a second how crazy that is!

We’re so obsessed with people liking us (or maybe just not hating us) that we’re willing to compromise our soul so that we can be liked. THAT’S CRAZY!

And yet, we do it all the time!

“I will not believe that you have tasted of the honey of the gospel if you can eat it all to yourself.” - Spurgeon

If we really believe in what we’re smoking, we need to tell people about it!

If you’re holding out on coming to faith because you’re afraid of others, don’t be!

Jesus is so much sweeter than any consequence of believing in Him!

The Call to Belief

Then, Jesus cries out and begs for us to believe! He calls us to belief!

Believe in Jesus!

Fully commit! Don’t be unconcerned, don’t be afraid, believe Him!

H’s the light by which we can know God!

You can find your true self and your true purpose in Him!

You can be saved from sin and death and yourself when you believe.

If we don’t believe, we receive the consequences of unbelief.

Jesus isn’t really a big judge guy, vs. 47-48 show that He’s not here to judge, but if we ignore the message of Jesus, we receive the consequences of that.

It’s like taking a medicine that you hate for a disease that’s killing you.

If you don’t take the medicine, it’s no one’s fault but yours if you die, but someone has already given you the medicine

Jesus both gave you that medicine and He is that medicine.

If you’re tired of living in sin, come to Him.

If you’re tired of living for yourself, give yourself to Him

If you’re broken and in need of a Savior, let Him save you.

Jesus died on the cross so that you don’t need to be stuck in your own brokenness.

Questions.

What would you rather get rid of: TV or music?

Read vs. 37. Why do you think the crowds didn’t believe Jesus even though they saw all the things he did?

Which of the two options (unconcerned or fearful) do you deal with the most? Why?

How can Jesus not be a judge but also say that the world will be judged through what He’s said?