WILL YOU BELIEVE?

INTRODUCTION

The Preacher’s Notebook: The Collected Quotes, Illustrations, and Prayers of John Stott (Doubt Is Suspension between Faith and Unbelief)

Os Guinness’s In Two Minds (American IVP, 1976) is subtitled “the dilemma of doubt and how to resolve it.” He writes, “To believe is to be ‘in one mind’ about accepting something as true; to disbelieve is to be ‘in one mind’ about rejecting it. To doubt is to waver between the two, to believe and to disbelieve at once, and so be ‘in two minds.’ ”

“The heart of doubt is a divided heart” (pp. 24–25). “Doubt is a state of mind in suspension between faith and unbelief, so that it is neither of them wholly and it is each only partly” (p. 27). Again, “to believe is to be in one mind, and to doubt is to be in two minds” (p. 28).

“Doubt as double mindedness” is his definition (p. 31). Moreover, “what is doubt but faith suffering from mistreatment and malnutrition?” (p. 24).

CONTEXT OF THE TEXT

I want suggest that John wanted us to see Nicodemus in this very light. He comes to Jesus by night in the middle of two minds. Without saying it, he is looking for proof of what he believes about Jesus. How many of you here today are like Nicodemus saying “we know you are a teacher come from

God” in one voice and asking “how can these things be in another one.”

Jesus does not provide him an opportunity for vassillation, but informs him that his original observation is correct: He is the “Son of Man” who came down from heaven for the purpose of saving those who would believe. He what he came to do is akin to insists that he believe or be lost.

That is the message that I am sent to deliver here today. You’ve got to make up your mind and answer the question: “Will You Believe?”

See John 3:14-21

SNAKE BITES CAN BE DEADLY

See Numbers 21:4-9

Numbers 21:4–9 NASB 2020

4 Then they set out from Mount Hor by the way of the Red Sea, to go around the land of Edom; and the people became impatient because of the journey. 5 So the people spoke against God and Moses: “Why have you brought us up from Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and we are disgusted with this miserable food.” 6 Then the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people and they bit the people, so that many people of Israel died. 7 So the people came to Moses and said, “We have sinned, because we have spoken against the Lord and against you; intercede with the Lord, that He will remove the serpents from us.” And Moses interceded for the people. 8 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Make a fiery serpent, and put it on a flag pole; and it shall come about, that everyone who is bitten, and looks at it, will live.” 9 So Moses made a bronze serpent and put it on the flag pole; and it came about, that if a serpent bit someone, and he looked at the bronze serpent, he lived.

THE PRAYER OF A SUFFERING PENITENT

Psalm 38:1, 21-22

Psalm 38:1 NASB 2020

1 Lord, do not rebuke me in Your wrath, And do not punish me in Your burning anger.

Psalm 38:21–22 NASB 2020

21 Do not abandon me, Lord; My God, do not be far from me! 22 Hurry to help me, Lord, my salvation!

GRACE APPLIED

See Ephesians 2:4-10

Ephesians 2:4–10 NASB 2020

4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our wrongdoings, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), 6 and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the ages to come He might show the boundless riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and this is not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.

THE BENEFITS OF BELIEVING

See John 3:14-21

John 3:14–21 NASB 2020

14 And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15 so that everyone who believes will have eternal life in Him. 16 “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish, but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but so that the world might be saved through Him. 18 The one who believes in Him is not judged; the one who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. 19 And this is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the Light; for their deeds were evil. 20 For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light, so that his deeds will not be exposed. 21 But the one who practices the truth comes to the Light, so that his deeds will be revealed as having been performed in God.”

A) Forgiveness (“will not perish,” v. 16)

B) Salvation (“might be saved,” v. 17)

C) Justification (“is not judged,” v. 18)

D) Revelation (“will be reveled,” v. 19-21)

Conclusion

A) The choice is Your’s

B)Make up your mind

C) Running out of time