Unbelievable Unbelief | John 7:1–13

Opening Remarks:

After seven sermons in John 6, we’re finally moving to John 7 this morning.

This is after Jesus has given a quite difficult truth in John 6 which saw the vast majority of His followers leave Him. Our text this morning will be the first 13 verses of John 7.

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The purpose of John’s Gospel was to convince people that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of God, and He came proving Himself. Miracles, teaching, signs, it all pointed to Him as the Messiah. Yet even with all the evidence pointing to His identity, most of Israel was filled with Unbelief.

I’d like to look at the problem with Unbelief this morning.

The TITLE is Unbelievable Unbelief.

INTRODUCTION

Today marks the first Sunday of the NFL season. For many people it’s a big day.

Football is the most popular sport in our country.

It’s billion dollar industry.

Personally, I think the most important thing about today is that it’s the Lord’s Day, not the start of football season.

It’s actually, in my opinion, a shame that more people will pay attention to football today than will be in church, but that’s a different sermon.

One thing that I find hilarious around football season is the idea of superstitions helping your team.

Whether it be wearing a certain shirt or only sitting in one specific spot, people really believe their superstitions will help their team.

One Vikings fan wrote this, “I drink Pepsi rom my frozen Minnesota Vikings mug when they play at home to provide spirit we might be lacking. On day games I watch from the downstairs couch, center-right cushion. Sunday or Monday night games, I watch from the upstairs couch, far right for winning team; lounge side for a team I want to lose.”

Danny Mauer would like this Packer fan’s superstition, “I have to keep my dirty Green Bay Packer laundry at the top of the laundry basket.”

Or this one, “Before the first Green Bay Packers game of the season, I switch my phones background to a pic of Vince Lombardi.”

As a Dallas Cowboy fan, this one piqued my interest, “If the Dallas Cowboys are losing at halftime, I go upstairs and watch from my other TV instead.” Which means he’s always the upstairs TV.

I did like this one, “I’m a Dallas Cowboy fan, therefore all season long I keep myself from consuming any Philadelphia Cream Cheese.”

It’s crazy what some people will believe. But it can be just as strange what some people won’t believe at times.

For example, let’s say the God of Heaven came down to earth.

He did mighty works and signs and miracles.

But then He taught things people didn’t like.

And rather than submit to the One the evidence clearly points to as the Son of God, you instead say, “I just won’t believe.” As if that changes anything.

As crazy as it is to believe in something like superstitions, it’s more unbelievable that a person would have all the evidence that Jesus is God and choose not to Believe.

That’s the condition of Israel in John 7.

Background:

John 6 Review

After feeding thousands of people with bread and fish, then walking on water, Jesus speaks to the multitude about eating His flesh and drinking His blood, which they completely misunderstood.

He was making a spiritual point about having eternal life.

He was saying, “In the same way that you eat and drink, you must believe in me. You’ve got to choose to believe just like you sit down to eat.”

And it offended many of His followers because they took it literally, even though He said, “My point is spiritual.”

They still walked away. They went back. They walked no more with Him.

The core twelve were left, but even then, one of those was Judas, the one who would betray Him a year later.

So there are three categories of people as we come into John 7.

The Ones Who Stayed - These were the 11 disciples who genuinely believed and stood with Christ even when everyone else left.

The One Who Pretended - This is Judas. This is the one who was hypocritical. He claimed to follow Christ, but his heart was far away.

The Ones Who Left - Hundreds, probably thousands were offended by His teaching in John 6 and walked away.

Consider those three categories - The Ones Who Stayed, The One Who Pretended, and The Ones Who Left.

We are all in one of those categories this morning.

There are those who legitimately believe and follow Christ.

There are those who pretend to believe.

But there are also those who do not believe.

I’d like to think those who believe are the majority, but these folks literally heard words from Christ’s own lips, and they did not believe.

So of the three categories - The Ones Who Stayed The One Who Pretended, and The Ones Who Left - most of them were not believers.

The majority of people left Jesus Christ.

Which means the majority weren’t genuine disciples.

Which sadly means they did not believe.

As we come into John 7, the trend of Unbelief in Christ has swept the nation.

To this point Jesus was extremely popular. Just one chapter before, multitudes followed Him. They chased Him across the Sea of Galilee then back over across to Capernaum.

But now, because of one message, most of them do not believe. They’ve rejected Jesus Christ.

And before you think that Unbelief is rare, it’s all through the Bible.

Bro. Sam Davison gives this thought flow in his commentary on the book of John.

Eve ate the fruit not because she was hungry but because she believed a lie of Satan. Which means she had Unbelief toward God.

Israel wandered in the wilderness for 40 years and most of them died there because of what? Unbelief.

The one sin that will cause a man to separated from God in hell forever is what? Unbelief.

Bro. Davison write, “In every case, there is overwhelming evidence to lead one to believe God, to believe His record. In every case, the unbelief is not an “honest mistake,” but willful unbelief.”

He goes on to write, “To choose to not believe God is certainly an act of insanity. God came here as a man and walked among men in absolute perfection, and man, exposed to His presence, said, “We don’t believe you.”

Bro. Davison calls it insanity. That’s not wrong. For today’s purposes, I’m calling it Unbelievable.

Unbelievable Unbelief has swept through Israel.

Before we get into the text, let’s try to understand what it means to have Unbelief. Then we’ll see it more clearly as look at the Scripture.

Unbelief typically begins when we have false expectations of God.

All through the Gospels, it’s clear that the people expected the Messiah to be a political or military leader that would free them from Roman oppression. So when Jesus came along, they were excited, until they realized He hadn’t come to set them free from Rome. He had come to set them free from sin.

He was a Savior, which they needed, but that’s not what they wanted.

They had a set of expectations about the Messiah, and when Jesus didn’t meet them, that led to Unbelief.

That’s often where unbelief starts. We have a different expectation of God than what is true about God.

The distance between what is true about God and what we choose to believe about God becomes filled with many negative emotions and thought processes. Anger, Anxiety, Discontentment, Disappointment, Disillusionment, Frustration, Impatience, Depression.

False expectations of God will lead us to those things.

We see it throughout the Bible:

When Moses got angry and smote the rock in Numbers 20:12, God didn’t say, “Because you got angry, you will not get to enter the Promised Land.” He said, “Because of your Unbelief, you will not get to enter the Promised Land.”

Moses had an expectation of God that wasn’t met and he got angry. But his problem wasn’t anger. It was Unbelief.

In Mark 4:40, the disciples were in a boat facing a huge storm and massive waves and their vessel was filling up with water.

Jesus was resting in the bottom of the boat and they came to Him saying, “Don’t you care about this situation?”

His answer was, “Why are ye so fearful? How is it that ye have no faith?”

He didn’t deal with their fear. He dealt with the root of their fear. No Faith. Unbelief.

They’re expectation was a smooth trip across the lake and He wasn’t meeting it. And that led to Unbelief.

When we have an expectation that God doesn’t meet, rather than submit to His way, we respond with Unbelief.

That’s what happens in this passage.

Look at John 7:6 “Jesus said unto them, My time is not yet come: but your time is alway ready.”

What He’s saying is, “You expect me to take charge right, but that’s not the Father’s plan.”

“You want me to conquer Rome right now, but I’m not here to meet your expectations.”

“Now’s not the Father’s time.’

Everyone in this account has an expectation of the Lord that was false. That wasn’t the plan. And rather than submit to His timing and His way, they responded with Unbelief.

I. The Pharisees were angry that the Lord was upsetting their traditions.

Vs. 1 - The Jews sought to kill Him.

Vs. 7 - “The world hateth me.”

All because they didn’t like His message in John 6.

They expected a King to conquer their enemies, But Jesus comes calling them out over their sin.

He turned their religious pride upside down when He refused to affirm their traditions.

It made them mad.

The Pharisees were religious and proud about it. The Scribes were the spiritual All-Stars.

So to have some average Joe from Nazareth call them out over sin infuriated them.

They wanted Jesus to affirm their self-righteousness. To pat them on the back. And he didn’t.

And the became so angry they wanted to kill Him.

But was their problem actually anger? Or attempted murder?

No, their problem was Unbelief.

Unbelief led to anger. Anger is a result of Unbelief.

When God’s message goes against our pride, we get angry.

But think about how ridiculous it is to have pride toward God.

We are nothing compared to Him. We are sinners and He is holy. We are limited and He is all-powerful.

That’s Unbelievable Unbelief.

This is the religious crowd. If anyone should have been able to recognize the Messiah, it was them.

They knew the OT, they heard John the Baptist declare that He was the Lamb of God, they couldn’t deny the miracles, His teaching was on a different level.

Yet even they didn’t believe. The ones you’d think would have faith, didn’t.

Unbelief can be present even in a Religious Crowd.

Why? Because of pride and false expectations.

But it wasn’t just the religious crowd.

II. Jesus’ brothers were frustrated by the way He was doing things. Vs 3-5

They tell Him in verse 3 “Go down to Jerusalem during the Feast of Tabernacles and prove yourself. You need to redeem yourself. All these followers that you’ve lost need to see you’ve still got it.”

Once again, Jesus wasn’t meeting their expectations, so they took charge and acted like they’re calling the shots.

Their response is to tell Jesus what to do. “Go public. Be a politician. Deliver us from Rome.”

That’s unbelievable. They were raised in His home, they saw Him in His sinlessness. He never spoke back to His parents. He never disobeyed. He never fought with His siblings. He always did right and sought to be about His Father’s business.

As He got older they watched Him continue do right. Then He started going miracles. First, it was water into wine. Then it was healing in the Temple. The blind, the sick, the lame. And His teaching, they heard that too. It was different than all the other teachers.

They knew He was different. Yet they got frustrated because He’s not meeting their expectations.

But their problem was not frustration. Their problem was Unbelief.

Vs. 5 literally says the did not believe.

In their Unbelief, they started telling Jesus what to do.

We don’t like to admit it, but we do it too.

“God, you’re not working fast enough. Here’s what you need to do.”

“Lord, that’s not what I asked for. Why would you do it that way?”

Illustration: Saw a clip of a 16 year old girl getting angry at her parents when they bought her a brand new car for birthday, but it was the wrong color.

Can you imagine that? Not really, except we do it all the time.

We don’t like God’s timetable, so we tell Him what to do.

We don’t like His methods, so we get impatient.

That’s unbelievable Unbelief.

There is serious pride in our hearts if we think we know better than God.

His brothers could have just seen the evidence and believed.

Rather than fight against His plans, just Believe Him.

Rather than question His methods, Believe Him.

Stop pushing back against His timing, Believe Him.

He has a perfect time and a perfect method. Believe Him.

But it wasn’t just the Religious and His brothers that had Unbelief. The multitudes did too.

III. The Multitudes believed a lie about Jesus. Vs. 11-13

There were some that sought Him and called Him a good man.

Others murmured and called Him a liar.

They were all wrong.

He wasn’t just a good man. And He certainly wasn’t a liar.

But they believed something about Him that was not true.

And when the Religious Crowd came along talking about killing Him, they were so afraid they stopped talking about Jesus.

All because they believed something about Him that wasn’t true.

He wasn’t just a good man. And He wasn’t a liar.

He was and is the Son of God. He is deity. He is not good, He is sinless.

He’s not a liar. He is the truth.

How sad that they bought the lie, because the multitude were the ones who had benefitted the most from the miracles of Jesus Christ.

It was their loved ones were healed in the Temple. Some of them were healed.

They had tasted the fish and bread on that hillside.

No one should have been more convinced about Jesus, but even they rejected Him.

That’s unbelievable Unbelief. They had every opportunity to place their faith in Jesus Christ.

But Unbelief wasn’t only a problem for them. it’s a problem for us.

If we learn anything from this text, it’s this:

If I’ve ever had an expectation that God didn’t meet, then I’m at risk for Unbelief.

We have all kinds of false expectations of God:

He’ll keep us from all suffering. Well, He doesn’t promise that. So when it happens, we get disillusioned. Unbelief.

Or we expect Him to answer a prayer a certain way. When He doesn’t, we get frustrated. Unbelief.

We assume He’s going to heal our loved one. When it doesn’t happen, we get bitter. But it’s Unbelief.

We wonder, “Bad things should not happen to good people.” When they do, we start to doubt His love.

We think God will fix something like our finances or a relationship. When He doesn’t we lose faith.

And it’s not because God isn’t a good God. It’s not because He isn’t capable. It’s not because He doesn’t love us. It’s because He has his plans and His way is best, even when we don’t see it.

But rather than submit to His plans we just choose Unbelief.

Here’s the thought we start to think,

“God is not doing enough for me.”

Which becomes, “God is not enough for me.”

Which results in, “I need something more than God.”

That is Unbelief.

And you can live that way. Obviously, the choice is yours.

But the better option is to say, “Father, I don’t understand. But I don’t have to, because I trust your ways, your timing, and your motives. Right now I have a choice, and I choose to trust instead of Unbelief.”

And when you do that, what you’ll find is: God truly IS all I need.”

What God does for us is enough for us.

God’s time frames are perfect.

His love never fails us.

The cross, sinner is enough. You don’t need anything else. Jesus Christ said “It is finished.”

That doesn’t mean baptism or more good works. The work required is enough.

But you might be saying, “He needs my help. I’ve got to work to do my part.”

That’s a false expectation that He never set.

Romans 10:13 “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”

Ephesians 2:8–9 “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.”

You could live your whole life trying to earn salvation and fail, or you could just submit to what He says is required.

Stop demanding that God meets your expectations and submit to His ways.

Then, and only then, will you find that God is enough for you.

That’s what this comes down to: Demand that He meet your expects and live a frustrated life.

Or submit to His ways and learn that He is enough.

How do I submit to His ways?

First, you have to learn His ways. We need to get away from living according to feelings or our own truth and get back to the Bible.

The reason many struggle with expectations of God is they don’t truly know what He’s like.

You can’t know what He’s like unless you go to the source in which He reveals Himself.

Second, once you learn His ways, submit to them. If His Word says it, accept it, believe it, submit to it.

If the Word says He loves you unconditionally, stop doubting.

If it says you are saved by grace through faith and not with works, believe it.

If it says you’re saved once and always, stop doubting it.

Conclusion:

People believe a lot of crazy things. Unbelievable things. But the craziest thing people believe is that the Creator God has to submit to our expectations.

If He loves us unconditionally.

And His motives are always right.

And He has all power and all knowledge.

Then the only logical thing to do is let go of our expectations and believe.

And once we do, we find that He is enough.