Believing Jesus

Good morning

If you are a guest, my name is Stefan and I am the pastor of preaching here at Harvest…

We had a great Easter Sunday last week, celebrating the resurrection together

But this week we are back in our series in Matthew

And we’ve titled this section of Matthew in chapters 11-13 “Kingdoms Collide” because throughout these chapters Jesus is showing how the truth of the kingdom of God will collide with the false ideas and values of the kingdom of man

And if we are going to be a faithful church, it will mean that we align ourselves with the truth of the kingdom of God and we allow the words of Jesus to confront those false ideas that we so easily believe

And this morning Jesus words are going to collide with our thoughts about “Believing Jesus”

And we are going to be in Matt. 12:38-45

So would you take out your Bibles and turn there

[Transition]

As you turn there, there is a struggle that many people have [both Christians and non-Christians alike]

And that struggle is that they feel like it is difficult to believe in Jesus Christ as the son of God and the savior of the world because there isn’t enough evidence to support the claims of the Bible

Perhaps you have even felt that way

“I know I’m supposed to believe this, I even want to believe this, but I struggled to know if there is good reason to believe this”

In fact, the vast majority of atheists claim that the reason they reject belief in God in general is because there is not sufficient evidence

But what we’re gonna find in our passage this morning is that struggling to believe seldom has anything to do with the evidence

Struggling to believe is more often about struggling with the implications of the evidence

And if we are going to be a church that lives for the mission of Christ, we must be a church that sees the evidence for the truthfulness of Christianity and responds with what that evidence requires of us

So we need to give these words our full attention

Matthew 12:38–45 “Then some of the scribes and Pharisees answered him, saying, “Teacher, we wish to see a sign from you.” But he answered them, “An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. The men of Nineveh will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and behold, something greater than Jonah is here. The queen of the South will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and behold, something greater than Solomon is here. “When the unclean spirit has gone out of a person, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, but finds none. Then it says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ And when it comes, it finds the house empty, swept, and put in order. Then it goes and brings with it seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they enter and dwell there, and the last state of that person is worse than the first. So also will it be with this evil generation.”

These are God’s words for us as his people - May we have ears to hear them and hearts to obey them

Big Idea: There is more than enough evidence to believe in Jesus. [6:00]

Belief doesn’t require more evidence… there is already enough

We have good evidence, rational evidence, observable evidence, and experiential evidence that all point to the truth of Christianity

The problem of unbelief is not that we don’t have enough evidence

The problem of unbelief is that we don’t want what the evidence demands.

Because there is more than enough evidence to belief in Jesus Christ, but that evidence demands a response from us that goes beyond our intellect

It demands a response with our lives

THAT is why many don’t believe

And Jesus confronts this fact in Matt. 12:38-45

[Bridge ] So the question we need to ask of this text is: What does it look like to respond to the evidence with belief?

What is the response of my life that reveals if I have actually believed or not?

And in these verses, we are going to see three things that are involved in true belief

So, we will say, “True belief involves”

And then we will see three realities that confirm that you and I have truly believed in Jesus

So, first…

True belief involves…

Submitting to the truth (38-40) [8:00]

The scene opens with the religious leaders, the scribes and the Pharisees, coming to Jesus and demanding to see a sign

Just to help you understand these two groups…

The scribes are the experts in knowing the Old Testament law

And the Pharisees are experts in following the Old Testament law

So the experts come to Jesus and ask for a sign from him

They are essentially asking, “Prove that you are someone special that we should listen to.”

Now this should cause us to pause for a moment: Hasn’t he already shown enough signs?

He has healed people of various illnesses

He has cast out demons

He has taught with an authority that no one has ever taught with before

Everyone heard at his baptism the voice of God calling him “my beloved son in whom I am well pleased”

There is plenty of evidence that has already been given to them

Yet they want more?

Right, because it wasn’t about the evidence

It was that they didn’t want Jesus and the evidence is simply the reason they are giving

And look at how Jesus responds

Matthew 12:39 “An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign…”

Translation: “Are you kidding me?”

To be evil is to have a heart that is bent against God

And to be adulterous is to run after other things for the satisfaction that you should only find in one person

So he is saying “You are actually bent against God and are going other places to be affirmed, when in fact you should simply submit to the truth that God is standing right before you.”

This gets at the heart of disbelief

It is not a matter of evidence

But a matter of submission

I don’t believe because I don’t want to submit to the truth

I want the truth to submit to me

This is helpful to see when you find yourself discouraged when your neighbors and friends don’t believe, the evidence of the truth of Christianity

It isn’t your fault that they don’t believe

It isn’t because you did a bad job of sharing the Gospel

It is because of the war in that person’s will

But there is also a reality for us who have believed in Jesus

His words to these religious leaders should cause us to stop and ask:

“Am I submitting to the truth in my life?”

“Or am I resisting the truth of God’s word all the while claiming to believe what God’s word says?”

Since true belief involves submitting to the truth, when there are things in my life that are not in line with the truth, we need to continually turn from those things and embrace God’s way as right and good.

So often we live as practical atheists,

Believing in Jesus, but fighting against God in our daily lives and refusing to submit to God’s way

Listen to me: The mark of a Christian is not that your life perfectly aligns with the truth…

The mark of a Christian is that we see where our lives don’t align with the truth and we pursue the truth because we desire to submit to it.

This is why Scottish pastor William of Arnot once wrote, “The difference between an unconverted and a converted man is not that one has sins and the other has none; but that the one takes part with his cherished sins against a dreaded God, and the other takes part with a reconciled God against his hated sins.

When we are confronted with the truth, true belief submits to it, and fights to submit to it daily.

And the sign that he says he will provide is all the proof that we need of the truth of Jesus Christ:

Matt 12:39-40 “but no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.”

You remember Jonah - The prophet who ran from God and was swallowed by a giant fish and then spit up three days later

Jesus is saying, “The only sign you will receive is when I die and rise from the grave three days later.”

In a world that demands more evidence, there is no better evidence that Jesus is Lord than the fact that he died on a cross, was buried, and three days later rose from the grave

And for those who are following Jesus by faith, who believe in Jesus, that belief will involve submitting to the truth of the resurrection and submitting to the truth of Jesus as Lord of your life.

And if you are here today and you are not following Jesus by faith, can I just appeal to you that the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ happened, and it is all the proof you need for the truth of who he is

And the call to you is that you embrace and submit to that truth

By confessing with your mouth and believing in your heart that Jesus is Lord of your life

Because true belief will mean that I submit to the truth

But that is not all.

Second, true belief involves…

Responding with repentance (41-42) [18:00]

Jesus now turns and gives two examples to show that their demand for a sign is unnecessary for them to truly believe

Remember from verse 40 that Jesus being dead for three days and rising from the dead on the third day he called the “sign of Jonah”

Jonah was a prophet to the people of Nineveh in the Old Testament, and the fish incident was because he was disobeying God’s command to preach to Nineveh and to call them to repent

But when Jonah obeyed the command of the Lord and went and preached repentance to the people of Nineveh, though they were a violent and sinful people, they repented

Then, in verse 42 he talks about the queen of the south, who came from the end of the Earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon

That is pointing back to the Queen of Sheba in 1 Kings 10

She did not know the God of Israel but in hearing the wisdom of Solomon she came to embrace the God of Israel

Now why does Jesus bring up these two specific instances?

Because in both instances, the people who repented had less evidence than these religious leaders do

And he says here: Something greater than Jonah and Solomon is here

Jesus is the one to whom everything in the Old Testament pointed

His life and words are the evidence that demands belief

His point…

“You are demanding more evidence, as if the evidence you already have is insufficient

Yet, less evidence than you have was sufficient to compel godless people to turn and believe

So they will be your judges.”

On the day of judgment, the people of Nineveh and the Queen of the South will say “How on earth did you not believe when God was standing right in front of you performing sign after sign after sign and declaring the truth of God, because he was the very embodiment of God?”

“Therefore you are without excuse”

And this must confront us because church family we have even more evidence than these religious leaders have

We have the full council of God in his word

We have 2000 years worth of history that has proven the truthfulness of Christianity time and time again

We have the testimony and example of other believers whose lives have been changed by the gospel

And if there are any among us today who are resisting the truth of Jesus Christ, You will not be able to say that you didn’t have enough proof

And if you say, “There isn’t enough evidence to believe in Jesus…”

The people of Nineveh and the queen of the South will say the same thing to you that they will say to these religious leaders

So instead of being guilty of the unbelief of these leaders, the right response of belief is the repentance that the others demonstrated

To look at my life and look at the things that are out of step with the will of God and say:

The truth of Jesus Christ and the gospel is plain and so these things in my life that are out of step with that truth must change…

Because I want my life to be aligned with Christ

And so where it is not aligned with him I will ask him to work in me the change that will conform me more and more to his image

This is why, when Martin Luther nailed his 95 thesis to the Wittenburg door in German, effectively starting the Protestant reformation

The opening line of that document was “All of a Christian’s life is one of repentance”

Because true belief involves responding with repentance

And if you are like me, you probably have days when you think, “I shouldn’t have to repent this much!”

I shouldn’t be struggling with sin like this

I should be better than this

And we then start to think that the volume of repentance is an indicator that we must not be believing in Christ

But that is the opposite of the truth

The truth is that the one who doesn’t believe in Jesus does not feel the need to repent!

Rather than saying, “I should not have to repent this much”, the truth is that you and I need to repent far more than we realize

And the fact that we are repenting, that we are turning from sin toward Jesus, is evidence that we are truly believing in Jesus

And he is faithful and just to forgive

His death is sufficient to pay for every one of those sins

We often feel like Jesus is saying, “You’re coming to me again?!”

No, no, he is saying, “Come to me again.”

And the fact that you do is evidence that you truly believe as you depend on him to forgive your sin and to change your life.

[Transition] And when I have submitted to the truth and I respond with repentance the third reality of true belief will naturally follow

True belief involves…

Living with Christ (43-45) [24:00]

Now, we are going to slow down in these last few verses because if we move too fast it will be all too easy to misunderstand them

Jesus starts out by talking about when an unclean spirit, that is a demon, has gone out out of a person

This feels random, but I promise you it is not

If you remember back a few weeks ago when we were in Matthew 12, Jesus casts a demon out of a man in v. 22

So now Jesus is using that event as a parable, a teaching moment that will serve to help these religious leaders understand their own hearts

He says that when that demon is gone, “it passes through waterless places seeking rest, but finds none.”

Now, I want to caution us from using this one verse to create an entire theology of the spiritual realm

I don’t think that’s what Jesus is doing here

Instead, I think he is making a point about the unsustainable nature of demonic powers that don’t have people to influence

A demon without people to influence is a demon without a place to go

Just like you and I could not stay somewhere without water, so also a demon doesn’t want to be without a host

And when that demon can’t find a new host, he thinks, “I’ll just go back to the person I came from.”

Now here is how parables work… The twist contains the meaning

The thing that catches you by surprise is the crucial detail.

And the twist is in verse 44, when he comes back “it finds the house empty, swept, and put in order.”

It’s not that it is swept and orderly that is the twist…

It is that it is empty.

Now let’s stop for a moment and think about this: If you are evicted from your home and you are searching for a new place to live and then you pass by your house and no one has moved in, the door is unlocked, and it’s actually in better condition than when you left…

What’s to stop you from just going back into your old house?

[I mean possibly your morals would stop you, but this is an illustration about a demon, so morals go out the window]

The answer is “nothing.”

It would be enticing…

In fact, you might even be tempted to invite some friends over

Because clearly the one who’s supposed to be caring for this house is missing so now this house is opened up to anything happening to it because no one is protecting it.

You see that?

Jesus is making a point about the exposed nature of the house

It was set free from bondage, but nothing took the demon’s place…

And he is applying that point this generation in Israel.

The people of Israel were supposed to be a dwelling place for God

But for centuries they were a rebellious people against their God and rejected his presence

And now, with God dwelling in their midst in the person of Jesus Christ, rather than allowing God to take up residence in their lives, they left their hearts vacant and open for anything to take over.

And the result is not that they simply go back to their old condition

It is that their new condition is worse than before

They left themselves exposed because they didn’t let God come and live with them.

And his point helps us to see the alternative

The alternative is that I believe in Jesus and let him in so that I am living with him in my daily life.

When I have believed in Jesus, my life is not left vacant and empty, but the Spirit of God comes and dwells within me

So the house of my life is occupied by God himself.

When you follow Jesus by faith, God Himself takes up residence in you.

Which means you are not living this life alone

You’re not expected to figure it out on you own

You are indwelt by the holy Spirit, able to live with Christ, by the grace and power of God working in you.

And those things from your past, whether it be your choices or even demonic influence, have no place to live in your life anymore.

But when we don’t hold Jesus at arms length, we leave our heart unoccupied for all of those things to come rushing back in.

We know this all too well…

You have a drinking problem and rather than letting Jesus come in, you just turn to a different addiction

You have a broken view of relationships, and rather than letting Jesus come in, you just move on to the next relationship

Those things that harmed you come back in full force when we don’t allow Jesus to take up residence in our lives.

Jesus actually uses illustrates this very idea in Rev. 3, so I think it is helpful to turn there because it is going to help us make sense out of these verses in Matthew 12.

[Give them time to turn]

This is a very well-known passage for many, but I think it’s helpful for us to see the well-known statements of Jesus in this passage within their context because it has direct implications for what Jesus says in Matthew 12

In Revelation 3:14-22, Jesus is talking to the church in Laodicea

Now, some helpful historical context, Laodicea was a city that was very wealthy and was proud of how wealthy they were.

For example, when their city was destroyed by an earthquake, They rebuilt it with their own money rather than taking money from the Roman government to rebuild it.

Translation: They had money and lived very comfortable lives.

And the location of the church was between the ancient cities of Colosse and Heiropolis

Colosse was on the river and was known for its cold water

Heiropolis was known for its hot springs

Laodicea had no water source of its own, but because of their wealth, they were able to pipe in the hot water from Heiropolis and the cold water from Colosse.

But there was a problem… By the time the hot water got to them, it was lukewarm and by the time the cold water got to them, it was lukewarm.

Now, hot water has a use and cold water has a use

But lukewarm water is useless.

Now, with the background, we read Jesus’ words

Revelation 3:15–22 “I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot! So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth.

He is not saying, I wish you were for me or against me, one or the other

That is how we use those terms

In the historical setting, He is saying, “I wish you had a use… But because you are lukewarm, you are useless to me.”

Now, why were they useless to him?

“For you say, ‘I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing,’ not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked. I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire, so that you may be rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself and the shame of your nakedness may not be seen, and salve to anoint your eyes, so that you may see. Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent.

He is saying, “You will be useful to me when you come to me and let me in.

But because you are comfortable, you don’t come to me for what you need and you hold me at arms length.”

Look at v. 20

“Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.”

What is he saying?

He is saying that too often our material comforts cause us to think that we can live this life apart from him

And when we do that, we think we can do just fine without him.

And we don’t let him into our lives

And we are of no use to him

Now, how does this relate to what Jesus says to the religious leaders back in Matthew 12?

The religious leaders thought they were just fine on their own, they saw no need of him, and so they rejected him, and in doing so they were not living with him in a way that would make them useful for his kingdom

And so the end result is going to be worse than the first.

But for you and I, when we believe in Jesus, his spirit comes and dwells in us

Just like he said in Rev. 3:20

And there is an ongoing communion with Christ through his spirit that changes us and causes us to grow and be transformed so that we are more and more useful for his kingdom

as we live with him

You and I were made to dwell with God, but because of our sin and our rebellion we dwell apart from him

But when we believe in Jesus, we open the door to our hearts and he dwells with us.

And he is the one who puts our house in order, because now he lives there.

And rather than the last state being worse than the first, our last state is exceedingly better.

All of the ways that life was empty and broken apart from Jesus, he redeems them and we never have to go back

Because the house of your life is not vacant and empty, but filled with the presence of Christ through his Spirit.

So we can live with him, walk with him, be changed by him, and one day be with him.

[Conclusion] [38:00]

There is sufficient evidence to believe in Jesus and you and I can be confident that we have truly belied when we:

Embrace the truth

Respond with repentance

And live with Christ

Knowing that a day is coming when we will dwell with him forever.

But that isn’t just a future reality - It is a present reality that anticipates that future reality

So let’s live as those who have truly believed.

Amen.