The Weight of Unbelief

Psalm of the Day: Psalm 117

Scripture Reading: Jeremiah 25:4-6

Jeremiah 25:4–6 ESV

You have neither listened nor inclined your ears to hear, although the Lord persistently sent to you all his servants the prophets, saying, ‘Turn now, every one of you, from his evil way and evil deeds, and dwell upon the land that the Lord has given to you and your fathers from of old and forever. Do not go after other gods to serve and worship them, or provoke me to anger with the work of your hands. Then I will do you no harm.’

Sermon

Good morning church! I was glad when they said to me let us go and worship in the house of the Lord!

Well today we continue through the book of Matthew, specifically this portion, which is a bit of an interaction between Jesus and John the baptist, or I guess more to the point, jesus and the disciples of John the Baptist. If you remember back to last week the central issue, if you can call it that, was John the baptist struggling with doubt. He was wondering and trying to understand if Jesus really was who he thought Jesus was. And so verse 1-6 of chapter 11 that we looked at last week were John the Baptist's estimation of Jesus. Well we are going to shift our focus this week in verse 7-all the way to 24 to get Jesus’ estimation of John the baptist and then also Jesus’ estimation of the cities around the area that they were.

And if last week was focused on the questions of doubt, and focused on struggling to believe. This week will focus on the consequences, or we could say the weight of unbelief. One of the challenges as I get ready to preach, as I get ready to sit down and prepare a message on any text is that, as my professor once said, is that the bible, because it is narrative, it is given to us in story form, pretty much all of the OT and most of the new is in history, or gospel form, Because the bible in narrative form, it often doesn’t come out and tell you point blank what the issues are. The example he gave is this: the bible is more likely to say: “it quacks and waddles and swims, than it is to say “it is a duck” specifically in regards to doctrines and our theology. And this is not a negative, that is just the nature of narrative, it describes. And so as we unpack our passage for today, as we try to get to the duck in the midst of all the quacking and waddling, it will be, I believe helpful for us to take this whole text sort of backwards. So we are not going to read through it like we normally do, and instead will work our way backwards. But before we begin lets start with a word of prayer.

PRAY

AS I mentioned, this passage is about unbelief. and as we think through and as we talk about unbelief, I would like to start with a question. WHATS AT STAKE

What’s at stake

when we talk about belief, when we talk about putting your faith in Christ, when we talk about the importance of what we belief, how we believe, when we talk about belief in genera, it is important that we ascertain why this is so critical. And If I were to try and say what is at stake, I don’t think I could over state it.

Since we are looking at this passage in reverse, lets see how Jesu ends this portion of Scripture. He ends this John the Baptist interaction with a bit of, and really this is our first, but not last introduction to Jesus and his major telling people what is up. His criticism, critiques, and really rebukes. So Matthew 11 we will start in verse 20

Matthew 11:20 ESV

Then he began to denounce the cities where most of his mighty works had been done, because they did not repent.

So we just stop there, before we continue, notice, he is going to denounce the cities - the cites where he has been doing works, healing, casting out demons, teaching ad preaching, these cities he will denounce BECAUSE: here is the denunciation:

Matthew 11:21–24 ESV

“Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. But I tell you, it will be more bearable on the day of judgment for Tyre and Sidon than for you. And you, Capernaum, will you be exalted to heaven? You will be brought down to Hades. For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. But I tell you that it will be more tolerable on the day of judgment for the land of Sodom than for you.”

Simply put, whats at stake when we talk about repenting, about putting your faith in Jesus, when we talk about belief, whats at stake? EVERYTHING!

EVERYTHING!

Jesus could not be more graphic in his description. First he calls out Chorazin and Bethsaida. He compares them to Tyre and Sidon. And if we remember back to Isaiah, those were just two of the nations in the sort of laundry list of Nations that were condemned in the book of Isaiah. They were condemned for many things, but centrally their lack of faith, their unbelief. and Jesus point is: “I have been doing these great works, I have been doing all these things and you refuse to repent. SO since you will not repent, since even these pagan heathen, evil, vile cities, even THEY would have repented had they seen these miracles, But since you WILL NOT REPENT, it will be more bearable for the sinners on the day of judgement then it will be for you.”

And you Capernaum, though you think you are hot stuff. Though you think God will elevate you and lift you up, though you think you are the town that all other town should which they should be. You think you will be exalted, no. You will be brought down to hades. And they are compared to Sodom, which in the scriptural record, in all of scripture are really the poster child for sinful rejection of God. Sodom famously, Lot was living there and not one righteous person apart form Lot could be found in the whole city. and there is this interaction that would be comical if it was not such a visceral picture of the wickedness of Sodom. Lot pleads with God, like God, if you could at least find 10 good people in this city would you spare it, but then He realizes that will be too hard so he lowers his standard, what about 5, well what about just one righteous person, and no one righteous can be found so God destroys the city.

Utterly destroyed, they are destroyed, Lots wife looks back she too is destroyed, turned to a pillar of salt, because so utter and complete is their destruction that even those who would look back upon the city are worthy of judgement. Making a list of cities you do NOT want to be compared to Sodom is probably top, Babylon is possibly the only one worse, but it is close.

And Jesus says, because you will not repent, more to the point because you will not believe, specifically in Jesus. Because you will not get over, we will see this as we look back, because you cannot get over your Doubt. Even John the Baptist had to get over it, he did, but because you will not figure this out, well then it will be better for Sodom than it will be for you as you go down to hades.

It is important that we note, that we often think of Jesus, well let me be careful As I say this: there is a book that came out recently, gentle and lowly. It talks about our savior because he is truly gentle and lowly, humble, but he is not JUST that. he is also just righteous and filled with conquering wrath. and he speaks very plainly here. That to refuse him, to live in unbelief, to refuse to set your eyes upon him carries dire painful consequences. When we talk about faith in Chrsit what is at stake? Everything! Your soul, your eternal destiny. When we speak of belief in Chrsit there s NOTHING more important and more weighty. You must believe in this savior. there is no other name under heaven or on earth by which you can be saved. you must believe in him.

But so now, knowing the weight, knowing how important it is THAT we believe i would like to turn our attention to the MARKS OF UNBELIEF

Marks of Unbelief:

What does this unbelief look like. How can we see it in our lives, but also in the lives of those that we will go and proclaim the gospel to? A sort of hidden message in this text, if we remember this narrative comes right after the mission discourse, and so Jesus is sending His disciples on mission. And so part of the reason these narratives are here, and part of the reason that we have this interaction with Jesus and John the baptist, his disciples, and now this teaching of Jesus afterwards, Is because as the disciples go out, they, and by extension therefore us, as we do out, we should be aware that we will face those who will not believe. And it is good to see what that might look like

But also, these could be tests for our own heart. we all struggle from time to time with unbelief, the famous prayer in mark “I believe, lord help my unbelief.” And so as we grow in faith it is important that we not for our own faith and our own lives and our own sanctification that i know what unbelief looks like in my heart so that I can, in faith grow in holiness. So what are the MARKS OF UNBELIEF? we will start in verse 16 reading to verse 19

Matthew 11:16–19 ESV

“But to what shall I compare this generation? It is like children sitting in the marketplaces and calling to their playmates, “ ‘We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we sang a dirge, and you did not mourn.’ For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, ‘He has a demon.’ The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Look at him! A glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ Yet wisdom is justified by her deeds.”

This is a fascinating portion of scripture. Jesus compares himself and john the baptist, and notes the response that people have to both of them. and what we see is that unbelief is marked by A WILLFUL IGNORANCE

WILLFUL IGNORANCE

so ignorant is this generation that he compares them to children sitting in the marketplace. And here is the thought: we played the flute for you and you did not dance. we played joyous happy music that should cause us all to get up and dance. the electric slide was playing and no one went on the dance floor, no one wanted to join the line dancing. the dollar dance song was blasting from the speakers and no one wanted to join the bride and groom. And then, we thought maybe they re just not happy people, so we started playing funeral music, things god sad we played the lonely sorrowful ballads and you couldn't realize then that it was time to weep.

Music, what is interesting with this picture is that music speaks very deeply to our hearts. We know instinctively and in our soul almost when we hear certain songs or music certain emotions spring up. and this generation is so ignorant they can’t even respond to music in the right way! Then they look to John the baptist and Jesus and this is Jesus’ point

John the baptist came and he lived in the desert, he mostly fasted, but when he did eat he ate weird things like locust and honey. he lived out there, out in the wilderness, in some sense a very strange character in a real sense a rough character. he gives his impassioned call to repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. John the baptist was surely a bit unusual, he was a bit extreme (in a good way) but they looked and him and thought: this man is a demon. this who fasting, locus, honey, Camel skins, rough exterior, he is a bit to much, he must be a demon.

But if this man is a demon Jesus came doing, in some ways the exact opposite. Whereas John and his disciples would fast, and they say hes a demon, Jesus and his disciples came not fasting (remember that was an issue earlier, how come john and his people do and you don't?) eating drinking hanging out with tax collectors and sinners, and so if John is too extreme, Jesus is not extreme enough! Look at him he is glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners. The point Jesus is making is in some sense what could i do then.

Nothing would be good enough for them. They have already decided, that's where the willful idea comes in, they have already decided that they will not believe. they have already decided they will not see through to try and understand the difference between John the baptist and his “extreme” life and Jesus and his “extreme” life. they have already decided, they have willfully chosen that when they hear the dancing music they will not dance when they hear the weeping music they will not weep, they have already decided that they will close their eyes to everything.

So we note that one of the first marks of unbelief is that there is often a willful choice to NOT believe. When all the cards are laid out in front of you when it is literally clear as day. Scripture teaches this very plainly. that as we look out upon creation we see God’s invisible attributes, namely his eternal power and provision over this earth. That just looking upon creation we are now left with NO EXCUSE. but instead we willfully Romans 1 states “exchange the truth of God for a lie.” And that becomes the heart of unbelief.

We willfully decide when I hear the music I will not respond. When I see Jesus or John the Baptist, when I hear this preaching from one man, or the other, either one I will not care. And so unbelief, in our heart we should evaluate, could have at its root that we just do not ant to believe. Reasons, there are many. It is because jesus calls us to give up our lives, to give up everything for the sake of following him. Because the words he speaks are sometime hard and difficult so I will just choose to ignore. I am going to choose to not comprehend in some sense, choose to not allow the music of God’s creation to speak to my heart, choose to look upon both John the baptist and Jesus with disfavor and disrespect and be ignorant of the person and message of both of them.

The first mark of unbelief ins willful ignorance but this is built upon a REFUSAL TO HEAR

REFUSAL TO HEAR

Starting in verse 11

Matthew 11:11–15 ESV

Truly, I say to you, among those born of women there has arisen no one greater than John the Baptist. Yet the one who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven has suffered violence, and the violent take it by force. For all the Prophets and the Law prophesied until John, and if you are willing to accept it, he is Elijah who is to come. He who has ears to hear, let him hear.

Jesus starts by praising John the Baptist. No one born of women has ever been greater than John the Baptist and yet, and this is something we often refuse to hear, more on that later, but even with the greatness of John the least in the kingdom is greater than he. This is not because we are morally superior or have more intrinsic goodness by any stretch of the imagination. It is because we have been given a privileged position to witness and see the person and work of Jesus Christ. Lets start there. But because of that we are given a position in the kingdom whereas opposed to being “just” prophets crying out in the wilderness we are made a kingdom and nations of priests unto God the father through the work of Jesus Christ.

Then there is this interesting verse, verse 12, about the kingdom of heaven suffering violence. Let me just side note and say that is a very technical very difficult verse and if you are interested in that come on Thursday to grace group because someone has written a very long paper on just that one verse and so that is what we will talk about on Thursday.

But then we get to verse 13. Matthew 11:13

Matthew 11:13 ESV

For all the Prophets and the Law prophesied until John,

they spoke about something all the way up to and through John. What did they speak bout? Jesus. We know that by looking here at the context, but we also know that because Jesus made that explicit. If we were to turn to Luke 24 and the walk to Emmaus. Jesus is walking, resurrected Jesus is walking down the road and sees two disciples. Ad they are distraught because they do not know jesus has resurrected, and being an emotional wreck they do not recognize Jesu when they see him. And there are some great interactions, like when they ask jesus if he is the only person in the world who does not know about Jesus, but the point here, Luke 24:27

SO beginning with moses, moses here being short hand and representative of the law, and all the prophets, note ALL the prophets, he interpreted to them in ALL the scriptures the things concerning himself.

What Jesus is saying here in Matthew is the same thought. John is a great prophet, he is in fact Elijah, if you willing to accept this, he was Elijah. Not Elijah reincarnated or something like that, but the spirit of, the same power at work in, the greatest prophet of the OT He is Elijah who is to come. But yet you would not listen to him, the greatest born among women. And you would not listen to the other prophets, all the prophets of Old, Isaiah Jeremiah, Ezekiel Daniel, Hosea Amos Obadiah Jonah, none of them would you listen to. You would not listen to the law, you would not listen to moses. you will not listen to anything.

Matthew 11:15 ESV

He who has ears to hear, let him hear.

That phrase illustrates that the issue is not an inability to hear, because if you have ears, you should hear. the issue here is a refusal. How many more sources, in some sense Jesus is saying, how many more sources do you need? You have J the B who is Elijah, you have all the prophets, you have the law. You have Jesus working miracles, that was the point in the rebuke and denouncement of the cites. So you have Jesus JtheB the prophets, the law, the Scriptures, your own heart, all of creation, and yet you refuse to hear.

Again we should note this first for our own life. Sometimes the reason we are ignorant is that we refuse to listen, we will not hear. I get accused, when I lived at home it was by my parents, now that I live with Desiree it is by her, but I get accused of having a condition, you may have heard of it, a condition called: selective hearing. It is tied to, it is a side affect, a comorbidity if you will of having ADHD. But I know I am not the only one, and i have seen in my life and countless lives of others that we all have selective hearing when it comes to the words of God.

We like to hear God is love, his kindness leads us to repentance we like to hear about salvation and eternal life, but yet there are also calls. 1 Peter 1:16

1 Peter 1:16 ESV

since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”

There are exhortations like Paul in Romans 12:1

Romans 12:1 ESV

I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.

Sometimes we refuse to hear the difficult, which is manifest as unbelief in our life, but in the would around us we should remember that they too will refuse to hear. As A philosophy major, so someone who would debate all the time, and also as someone who wold from time to time try and share the gospel around corbet center, what I found was that all of the best philosophical arguments, all the right answers to there questions and complaints. will often fall upon deaf ears. Ecclesiastes teaches and I have found this to be true: there is nothing new under the son” and so any argument or claim against Christian belief, someone has said it and someone else has refuted it. given a valid, sound and worthy response to it. the problem is NOT a lack of answers, the problem is a lack of hearing.

At a certain point as we are sharing the gospel we need to get to a point where we understand that the reason that people are coming back with arguments and ultimately with unbelief is not necessarily because we don’t have answers, but because hey will not listen to them.

The issue is a heart issue, a ear issue that they will not open tier ears, so we should pray that the Holy Spirit open their ears because they are refusing to listen. because ultimately, and here is the main point, the reason that they refuse to listen is because they have an INABILITY TO SEE

INABILITY TO SEE

They cannot see! All the way back to verse 7 through verse 10

Matthew 11:7–10 ESV

As they went away, Jesus began to speak to the crowds concerning John: “What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind? What then did you go out to see? A man dressed in soft clothing? Behold, those who wear soft clothing are in kings’ houses. What then did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. This is he of whom it is written, “ ‘Behold, I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way before you.’

So he starts asking: What did you go out in the wilderness to see? this whole section will centers on the thought of seeing. so he first asks: what did you go into the wilderness to see? when you went out into the wilderness, were you just going to see a reed shaken by the wind? That would be the thing you see in the wilderness all the time. To contextualize the same question to our time and place: why sis you walk out in the desert? was it to see a mesquite bush shaking in the spring breeze? was it so see a tumbleweed blowing down the highway? Because that is what you see all the time. why did you go out into the wilderness? was it to see a few rocks on the side of the trail? Probably not. So verse 8

What then did you go out to see? Did you go to see a man dressed in soft clothing? did you go out into the WILDERNESS just to see some guy? some guy here in a suit? did you walk out again, lets contextualize this question. Did you go to white sands to see some dude dressed in a suit? probably not. Behold, those who wear soft clothing are in kings’ houses. those who wear a suit are are work. people dressed in silk pajamas are not at white sands, they are at home relaxing on your couch!

SO if you did not go out there to see a reed shaking in the wind, if you didn;t go to SEE some guy in silk pajamas, what then DID you go out to see? verse 9

Matthew 11:9–10 ESV

What then did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. This is he of whom it is written, “ ‘Behold, I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way before you.’

What is fascinating about this portion is that the people are voluntarily going out into the wilderness. Why are they going out there? It is because JtheB is out there proclaiming his message of: repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. It is because JtheB is out there saying: “behold, the one that comes after me will come in fire and judgment. the ax is already laid to the root of the tree. It is because JtheB was proclaiming and performing a baptism of repentance. And Jesus is saying: think about it, why did you go there? it was not just to see what you could always see in the wilderness. It is not because you went looking for some softly dressed person, in fact you were not just looking for anyone, but in particular this man, this man JtheB. you were looking for a prophet, and yet when he was right before you you could not see him.

Though he was as plain as the reed you could see every day, though you should have been able to see him, instead, you could not. The very one who, as Jesus quotes the book of Malachi, the one who would prepare the way for the messiah, the very one who made the way straight you could not see him. Yo were blind to see the one right in from of your face.

and here is the tragic heart of unbelief. Is it tragic that we sometimes are willfully ignorant? that though the truth is in front of us we choose to be ignorant, yeah it is not great, that's for sure. is it tragic that we would, voluntarily refuse to hear the words of life? that we would close our ears and not hear. Not because we don’t have the ability to hear, but simply because we will not, yeah that's sad. but the tragedy is that we are blind.

The worst, from where I am standing the most tragic part is that we just can’t see. Because we are so clouded by sin. because Romans teaches: no one is righteous, no not one, no one seeks God. We just can’t see because we do not love the light. Here’s the final thought. John 1:1-12

John 1:1–12 ESV

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through him. He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light. The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God,

Johns point here is that Jesus is the Light. Light that enables us TO see. Let me share a great truth of science. Where there is no light you cannot see. SO for john, one of his main themes is that he illuminates for us, he helps us to see. So this becomes one of the main themes of all of John:

Jesus is the light that illuminates. We were wandering, lost, hopeless in darkness. We could not see because we were in darkness, and then jesus came. But then the tragedy, this is what makes this inability to see the most tragic part. John 3.

Specifically 3:19. but lets start with context, lets go to john 3:16 a verse we have all heard

John 3:16 ESV

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

So have heard that, but the good news continues. John 3:17

John 3:17 ESV

For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.

The reason was that he did not come to condemn is that we are condemned already. Verse 18 - we are condemned because we have not believed in the name of Jesus

John 3:18 ESV

Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.

But then the point I want to get to. John 3:19

John 3:19 ESV

And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil.

We are blind, we cannot see, and yet we prefer our state of blindness to the illuminating glory of Jesus. It is because Jesus shines with the glory of God and to our sinful darkened eyes that is a light to wonderful and great to behold. it hurts our eyes. and so instead of trying to look upon the glory of God, seeing him believing in him we choose to close our eyes and remain in darkness. Instead of fighting through that time where our pupils need to adjust we instead choose to remain blind. We are thus blind and happy in our blindness.

So for ourselves we must remember: As the holy spirit opens our eyes sometimes that will be a painful experience, but as the pupils of our soul dilate and we learn HOW to see the light we will walk in blessed illumination. This light is then how we live and move, it becomes what guide our steps. As our inability to see is cured we must walk in believing faith

But remember the world that we take this message to live in darkness. and a great many of them again John 3:19

John 3:19 ESV

And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil.

hey will not see this prophet, JtheB. They will not see the works of Jesus, they will not hear, they will not understand. So if they will not see hear or understand JtheB, what makes us think they will see hear or understand when we are the ones bringing this same message? The joy is that ultimately it is not up to me to make them see, or break through that. That is gratefully the power of the Holy Spirit.

And he will open blind eyes, he will cause deaf ears to here. He will bring understanding and illumination to darkened hearts! the solution to all of this is the Holy spirit at work in us and at work in the ones that we bring the message to. SO may we be faithful to proclaim the message: in the wilderness, in the cities, in season and out of season, shouting from the Rooftops: the kingdom of Heaven is at hand.

Lets PRAY.