Though he had done so many signs before them, they still did not believe in him, so that the word spoken by the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled:

“Lord, who has believed what he heard from us,

and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?”

Therefore they could not believe. For again Isaiah said,

 “He has blinded their eyes

and shardened their heart,

lest they see with their eyes,

and understand with their heart, and turn,

and I would heal them.”

Isaiah said these things because the saw his glory and uspoke of him. Nevertheless, many even of the authorities believed in him, but for fear of the Pharisees they did not confess it, so that they would not be put out of the synagogue; for they loved the glory that comes from man more than the glory that comes from God.

I wish I could say that church planting was easy. I wish I could tell you that with no effort whatsoever we now have hundreds of new converts, all now passionate followers of Jesus. But church planting is not that easy because evangelism is not that easy. There will always be opposition. And there will always be unbelievers.

Jesus Experienced Unbelief

It may be hard for us who believe to understand why anyone would not. But don't forget that Jesus encountered unbelief on numerous occasions. He was rejected by his own family (Mark 3:21). He was abandoned by crowds of people all at once (John 6:66). Finally, he was crucified on a tree because his own people did not believe him. What are the causes of unbelief? In this message I want us to consider two of the causes of unbelief explained in this passage with hopes that we will understand some of the underlying forces at work behind unbelief in all people.

Unbelief Is Caused by Our Own Deadness of Heart

In this text we find Jesus facing off against an unbelieving crowd. Verse 37 says plainly that “they did not believe in him.” Verse 40 goes further: “they could not believe.” Who was this crowd, and what prevented them from believing in Jesus? Verse 17 tells us that “the crowd that had been with him when he called Lazarus out of the tomb and raised him from the dead continued” to give testimony about this miracle. Apparently their testimony had drawn interest. Verse 18 tells us that this crowd had gathered because “they heard he had done this sign.” So apparently we are talking about a crowd made up of both eye-witnesses of the raising of Lazarus as well as those who had come to see Jesus after hearing about that miracle. There was great interest in who this Jesus was. They seemed to have assumed that he was the promised Messiah, for they had welcomed him into Jerusalem as “the King of Israel” (v 13).

But when Jesus began to foretell of his coming death (vv. 30-32), the crowd balked. “We have heard from the Law that the Christ remains forever. How can you say that the Son of Man must be lifted up? Who is this Son of Man?” (v. 34). They had assumed from OT verses like Psalm 89:4 and Isaiah 9:7 that when Messiah came he would establish his kingdom on the earth. They were beginning to think that Jesus was the Messiah. But if he were going to die, then they could not believe it. You can almost hear the melancholy in John's words: “although he had done so many signs before them, they still did not believe in him.” (v. 37).

But what is amazing is that John tells us that this unbelief was merely a fulfillment of prophecy. He quotes from Isaiah 53:1—Lord who has believed our message? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed—and says that the unbelief of the crowd was a fulfillment of those words. John is pointing out that unbelief is part of God's plan. In these cases, no amount of evidence will be convincing. Lazarus had just been raised from the dead and still they did not believe.

Paul also quotes from Isaiah 53:1 in Romans 10:16 as he considers the problem of unbelief. There he is describing the process of evangelism: salvation stems from belief which comes from hearing the gospel from one who proclaims it having been sent out. But why is it that so many miss God's salvation? Is it because they have not heard? Is it because they do not understand? Is the fault with God and his messenger? No. There is no excuse for the unbelief. We must be careful not to think that the problem lies with us or in the message we proclaim. Unbelief is not the fault of the preacher. Jesus did many signs and they did not believe. We simply preach. Some will believe. Many will not. This is all part of God's eternal plan to bring him the most glory.

Verses 39-40 continue this theme. This time John quotes from Isaiah 6:10 and contends that for this crowd of unbelievers they could not believe because of blindness of eyes and hardness of heart. The language reminds us of the fate of the Pharaoh of the Exodus of whom it is said that he hardened his heart against God's commands and also that God hardened his heart. It is a dangerous place to be when you choose not to accept the truth.

"It is clear that Isaiah did not understand his commission as one to blind people by obscurity of expression or complexity of message. He, in fact, faced the preacher's dilemma: if hearers are resistant to the truth, the only recourse is to tell them the truth yet again, more clearly than before. But to do this is to expose them to the risk of rejecting the truth yet again and, therefore, of increased hardness of heart. It could even be that the next rejection will prove to be the point at which the heart is hardened beyond recovery. The human eye cannot see this point in advance; it comes and goes unnoticed. But the all-sovereign God both knows it and appoints it as he presides in perfect justice over the psychological processes he created." (Motyer, 79).

Having seen the glory of Jesus that would come through his atoning death (verse 41), Isaiah seemed compelled to speak about him. It did not matter that his speaking would serve only to harden the hearts of many.

The doctrine of the hardness of heart (reprobation) can be difficult for us to accept, but chances are you have seen it played out in someone's life. Truth is a dangerous thing. It either breaks you or hardens you. Consequently, one either submits to it or rejects it.

But the point I want to make again here is that the salvation of humanity depends wholly on God. He closes and opens the eyes. He hardens and softens the heart. And he is the one who brings healing from our sin-sickness. And unless he opens the eyes to see and softens the heart to understand and repent, people are unable to believe.

Unbelief Is Caused by Our Own Depravity of Heart

These who believed in Jesus could not bring themselves to the point of acknowledging him to be Messiah because they feared the Pharisees would get them excommunicated from the synagogue. This was a serious threat for anyone (John 9:22; 16:2), even more so for one who was already a member of the Jewish high council. It meant public ridicule and scorn. There was a growing tension between Jesus and the Jews that could endanger one's reputation and even his life.

It is truly amazing that there were many of the Sanhedrin who believed in Jesus, without the knowledge of others of their colleagues (John 7:48). Among these were probably Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea. They were convinced of the truth of who Jesus was, but something kept them from saving faith. What was it? They loved the glory that comes from man more than the glory that comes from God (verse 43). Here we find another cause of unbelief. Some do not believe because they cannot be convinced of the truth about Jesus. Their heart is dead. Others do not believe because they would rather content themselves with something less satisfying. Their heart is depraved.

It is a sad commentary on our selves that we are bent on choosing things that are of less value. The problem is not that we seek our satisfaction; it is that we are too easily satisfied. The world offers us the honor of men. God offers us the honor of God. And it is a sign of our depravity that we so often choose the former over the latter. These Jewish authorities took the honor of men over the honor of God. In how many ways do I do the same, trading eternal joy for temporal satisfaction? It is a foolish trade-off.

Unbelief is a real problem. But it is only overcome when God breathes life into our dead hearts and when he by his grace breaks into our lives to show us the surpassing worth of Jesus over anything that this world can offer us. The choice is not whether or not to sacrifice. The choice is over what we will sacrifice. We can give up the honor that comes from God for the temporal tapestries of this life, or we can give up our lives (sometimes literally) for the glory that comes from God. May God help us all make the right choice.