Pastor Babij continues his exposition of the Gospel of Mark by looking at the account of the rulers of Israel confronting Jesus over His credentials. From the passage, Pastor Babij explains three characteristics of damning unbelief to beware:
- Refusal to Submit to Jesus’ Authority
- Refusal to Be Honest with the Facts
- Uncertainty and Fear, Especially Fear of Man
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okay let’s take our Bibles this morning and turn to the gospel of Mark and we are looking at this morning Gospel of Mark chapter 11 and today we will be focusing in on verse 27 through verse let’s pray Lord this morning as we meet together as we gather around the bread of life Lord please feed our souls with truth so that we would be nourished so that we would be warned so that we would be discerning to know the difference between what it means to believe and what unbelief is help us to know those things Even in our own heart Even in our own life that we’ be able to examine ourselves on a regular basis so we’re always hedging against this very debilitating sin and I pray Lord from scripture this morning we may glean the truths that are found there for our our own edification and for the health of our own soul and I pray this in your name amen so this morning as we’re looking at this passage before I get there let me just give you where I came from and where I’m going the last time in the gospel of Mark we were introduced to two warnings the first warning is the great danger of unfruitfulness and the second warning was the great danger of religious formality and of course if we’re going to evaluate our present spiritual condition and the spiritual condition of really those around us even then we need to from time to time give serious considerations to those two particular warnings that spiritual barrenness can be noticed when there is no longer faithful adher adherence to scripture when there is no increase in faith uh in The God Who can do the impossible when there is no heartfelt worship when there’s no spreading of the Gospel to the Nations and of course no sincere prayer or fruit of forgiveness So to avoid withered roots and unfruitfulness and to prevent the trappings of formal religion and spiritual fruitlessness the Lord gives a challenge to his disciples and the Lord’s Challenge from last time was three-fold and verse number 22 of Mark chap 11 was telling his disciples listen be uh in the faith or have faith in God it says verse 22 and Jesus answered saying to them have faith in God truthly I say to you whoever says to this mountain be taken up and cast into the sea and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says is going to happen it will be granted him of course here it’s talking about real faith in God that is absent of doubt and absent of fear real Faith knows the disciple source of all power which is God himself so a disciple’s inner attitude on a regular basis is to trust God who does the impossible he does things that no one else can do and we’re to live there secondly he says to them as far as a challenge is listen make sure that prayer is a priority in your life it says in verse 24 therefore I say to you all things for which you pray and ask believe that you have received them and they will be granted you of course he’s speaking in these passages in a hyperbolic way but he’s saying to his disciples listen disciples action of faith is prayer the way we really demonstrate faith in God is how much we pray how much we are seeking God in our private prayers our public prayers our uh all the prayers that we offer to the Lord on a daily basis on a weekly basis on a monthly basis that we’re driven to bring our our life before God to roll our life before God and make sure that we’re praying but we’re praying in a specific way we’re praying according to God’s will we’re praying in harmony with God’s purposes we’re not just praying uh anything we’re praying specifically and as we grow in the word of God and then this the last challenge he gives them is to make sure that forgiveness is an attitude in your heart in verse 25 and 26 it says whenever you stand praying forgive if you have anything against anyone so that your father who is in heaven will also forgive your transgressions so in other words the disciples attitude in prayer which shows his faith and in the service to others is to have a forgiving attitude it’s very hard to pray if you don’t forgive people it’s very hard to pray and to trust God for the impossible if you’re locked into some kind of an animosity or hatred in your heart towards someone it really can’t happen you shut it right down and not only that if your heart is filled with doubt well then you’re not even coming to God believing he can do what we do ask him to do so forgiving power cannot flow into our lives if we refuse to forgive others it just can’t happen so we ought to forgive and the reason reason why we ought to forgive is because God has forgiven you that’s the main motivation for forgiving and so that brings us to where we’re at today remember that the gospel of Mark from chapter 11 to chapter uh 16 will be the very uh last seven days of jesus’ life we already looked at day one which was Sunday Jesus rides into Jerusalem on a cult late Sunday afternoon uh it’s set in the springtime probably March or April and then Monday comes and of course when when he does Rite into uh Jerusalem on a cult he rides as the king of Israel and then second day Monday Jesus curses the Fig Tree and clears the temple because of its Corruptions and abuses and that’s where he gives those two warnings the warning against unfruitfulness and the warning against Rel religious formality and then day three is today today is Tuesday in our passion week and the day after Jesus cleansed the temple things are moving very quickly and it’s of course it’s leading to an intended Climax and so that’s where we find ourselves today in verse number 27 Jesus is back in Jerusalem he came again again to the temple to teach and to walk around in the temple and notice what it says in verse 27 at least the first part it says he they came that’s him and his disciples came to Jerusalem and as he was walking in the temple so that’s what Jesus does he always goes to the place that he already called his father’s house he cleared it out of all the garbage that got in there and now he is ministering within that place so Israel’s Rel religious leadership had all night sted over what Jesus had been doing the last several days they were not pleased with his actions in the temple they were cringing at his teaching and so Jesus exposes in the interchange with this very powerful High ruling political and religious body what he does is he he reveals the inevitable results of persons who remain in unbelief but as they remain in unbelief they’re very religious they’re very active in their beliefs but they are actually not believing the right things they are concluding in the wrong ways so there are people who are religious they are active in their religion they are active in their service but they remain in unbelief so I want you to take notice this morning in our text with three characteristics of unbelief because this unbelief can show up in your life you don’t want it to remain there you want to get rid of it as quickly as you can and so from our text this morning as we go through it the first characteristic of unbelief that means a person who remains in unbelief here’s the first characteristic they will not submit to jesus’ Authority they will not do it all right and if you notice uh it tells us right there in verse number 27 in Mark chap 11 it says they came again to Jerusalem and he was walking in the temple the chief priests and the scribes and the elders came to him and began saying to him by what Authority are you doing these things or who gave you the authority to do these things now so we see that this high ranking religious group comes to Jesus and they come with a certain intention and their intention of course was not one of submission it is actually was one of dismissing him the only group that could have adequately resisted Jesus is the Sanhedrin and that’s what we have right here this is the Supreme Court of the Jews this is the highest ruling body in the nation of Israel and of course who shows up at the temple the chief the chief priests the scribes and the elders they make up the Sanhedrin which would be the 70 that were the ruling body the actually very powerful rul ruling body in Israel now if you received an inquiry from the Supreme Court of our land that would be a pretty important inquiry uh one that would of course probably make you very frightened and it could of course quickly intimidate you also why are they contacting me what do they want from me so see this High ruling body came to Jesus to intimidate him to impose their power on him and to frighten him that’s what they wanted to do they wanted to challenge him so the level of intensity over the past several days have has risen to a fever pitch in the temple area and of course the potential for conflict was inevitable now the sanhedrin’s intention was really already found in verse number 18 look up at verse number 18 of chapter 11 what it says it says the chief priests and the scribes heard this and began seeking how to destroy him so you know in their motive already was a desire to destroy Jesus how can we dismantle him how can we expose him before the crowd they wanted to do that that’s why they met with him the way they did and so the sanhedrin’s intention was to destroy Jesus now we can assume very quickly that they did not come for information they did not come to be taught by Jesus in order to humbly receive truth no they were coming to entrap him to game something they could use against him some incriminating evidence they wanted before the people to dismiss Jesus as a religious Wacko and a trouble Troublemaker of Israel that’s what they wanted to do so what was their goal their goal in verse number 28 was not to bring themselves under the authority of Jesus but to discredit him that was their goal and that was their plan so their plan was to come to him in the temple before the people to challenge him with a question the Sanhedrin came to Jesus personally with a very very wellth thought out question all right and here it is in verse 28 uh it’s packaged this question is packaged as one question with two parts now notice what it says again in verse 28 it says and he began saying to him and of course they began saying to him by what Authority are you doing these things that’s the first part or who gave you this authority to do these things that was their question now you you think right right off after reading that well it doesn’t seem like a very difficult question they really want to try to find out at least some information about Jesus but remember they’re coming to Jesus also because Jesus had no credentials he had no degrees from any kind of Jewish University he was not recognized by the Sanhedrin the ruling body of Israel as being a reputable teacher matter of fact they wanted to get rid of him and that was their motive now kind of authority do you do these things part of the question is really where where you get your power from and he says to do these things now you say what things well he he the Royal entry into Jerusalem he presents himself as a king the cleansing of the temple he presents himself as a judge the his authoritative teaching that’s been going on since the beginning he’s presenting himself as a Chief Rabbi with no education no degrees his miracles are performed as a Divinity and his authority maybe the the most controversial one is authority to forgive sin as God himself so his charges against him are quite significant as far as this body’s concerned what Jesus does he does with a bold otherworldly Authority he teaches with authority he casts out demons with authority he heals with authority He commands nature with authority where who can make the Raging wind and the heaving sea obey a word who could do that see by any consensus no one can control the wind wind and the Sea Only God Can and of course the most controversial he forgave sin with Divine Authority now back in chapter one of Mark where it all started off in verse number uh 22 we see this and you don’t have to turn there but it says there they were amazed at his teaching for he was teaching them as one having Authority and then it says not as the scribes and the religious teachers he was a dynamic teacher he was a teacher that spoke with authority his knowledge was from God himself Jesus was was far removed from contemporary retical qualifications having studied no influential or famous rabbis and Jesus needs no Authority Beyond himself in fact he cites No Authority when he teaches and he Quotes no experts today if you did that in a paper you would flunk matter of fact the reason why people get phds and doctorates because they have to get to that level to be able to have anything to say that people would listen to before that doesn’t mean anything right because you don’t have any authorities behind you you don’t have enough education behind you you you don’t have anything behind you to back up what you say as being true or verifiable and his teaching there it says in verse uh 22 chapter 1 was amazing actually it’s the a a word that means to be struck by a to be struck by a blow that when Jesus taught he taught with power he taught with depth and he taught with authority from outside this world people would would listen to him and say this where did he come from cuz I never heard anything like this and then when he started doing mirales to people say I never saw anything like this so then Jesus displayed personal Authority par Excellence over life’s highest authorities in the temporal realm and over the authorities in in the spiritual realm too so see the second part part of this question was in verse number 28 in other words who who’s the author of this Authority who gives you the right to do what you do that’s what they’re asking him in verse 28 see so the author of Hebrews actually highlights the authority of Christ Jesus is first and foremost the one who was sent where it tells us in scripture I speak nothing of my own author Authority I speak only with the authority of the one who sent me so Jesus is speaking with the authority that comes from his father who is in heaven in other word in other words God God the Father sent Jesus to provide for man Salvation And if Jesus the prophet brings a message from God the father and that message is rejected well then there is no other message so this ruling body of Israel just did not recognize that God was at work in Jesus in a new way and God’s Sovereign Reign was being displayed in the life of those who responded to jesus’ message in Repentance and Faith see they assumed that they had figured out Jesus at this point they figured out that if we ask them this question question we really got him we really have him cornered but see the problem was that they assumed wrongly about Jesus because their information came from the flesh the world and the Demonic realm they got Jesus wrong and just get this if you get Jesus wrong you get it all wrong all right if you ignore Jesus you are Damned if you do not believe in Jesus the only other place a person can end up is an eternal punishment in the Lake of Fire see now why is that why did they act this way well the greatest wickedness that exists am among mankind was right there in their heart and what is that the sin of unbelief the sin of unbelief if you remember back in Mark chapter 6 verse six what did Jesus what did the people say about what did Jesus say about the people he said this about them he wondered at their unbelief he wondered at their unbelief that the level of their unbelief was at a fever pitch now let me mention that three years prior to this time this group this ruling body had inferred that Jesus had done these things in the power of bbub right the power of demons so in other words what is worth noting here is that they have not moved in their position being in unbelief for three years so they saw everything they had all the Revelation given to them that came through Jesus to them and they did not move in their unbelief in other words they haven’t moved at all now in my reading I came across this interesting thought in regard to unbelief and the thought is this unbelief is nonprogressive it’s it is this is very sad commentary and repeated it so often today that people hear the message of how God provides deliverance and they miss it and set it aside as if it does not apply to to them that it applies to someone else and not them like when people say well I have my own religion you give me the gospel I have my own religion oh you do all right well you know what they’re saying is that I’m in Stark unbelief according to scripture I don’t believe that Jesus is the way the truth and the life I have my own beliefs see your own beliefs is unbelief that’s the bottom line so the people hear the message and they do not apply the message to themselves says as long as they remain in unbelief they remain stuck in the mud they can’t go anywhere spiritually at all they can get no other information if they remain in unbelief so by their question the ruling body wanted more proof not so that they can believe but so that they could deny Jesus the validity of any proof and to deny him his authority that’s what they wanted to do so in other words here’s the first point is that listen a person who remains in unbelief will not submit to jesus’ Authority and it will be very evident in how they speak and how they live their life they will just not submit to him that’s very clear a second characteristic of unbelief found in verse number 29 through 32 is this a person who remains in unbelief is just not honest with the facts atheists are not honest with the facts agnostics are not honest with the facts being presented to them because they just want more and more evidence or facts they have more and more questions but they never really really want the questions answer they just want the dialogue to continue forever so here a person who remains in unbelief is just not honest with facts now what do I mean by that from our text well one question Jesus says okay if I’m going to answer you guys your question I have a question just one just one question my question has one part in verse number 29 it says this and 30 Jesus said to them I I will ask you one question and you answer me that’s an imperative answer me that’s a command it says then I will tell you by what Authority I do these things verse 30 was the baptism of John from heaven or from men simple question was the baptism of John from heaven or from men so Jesus question is not invading their question actually his question is a question of substitution he’s removing the focus off of him and putting it on another person and that person is John the Baptist now you have to say so in other words he is substituting John the baptizer for himself and Jesus is asking something that is really well known to the whole crowd Jesus is asking was the origin of John’s baptism from heaven or from Earth was it merely human or was it from God so the question is really ingenious because the Lord puts them in a catch 22 situation now by way of definition a catch 22 is a dilemma or difficult circumstances from which There Is No Escape it actually comes out of the film called catch22 by Joseph heler 1970s where the main character fiends Madness in order to avoid dangerous combat missions but his desire to avoid the missions take and prove that he’s insane so either way he’s in a catch22 situation now what’s the catch22 situation well because the authority and because of the authority and origin of John the baptizer in other words the authority and the order origin of John the Baptist and Jesus are one and the same they originate from the same place in jesus’ baptism he was anointed for his Earthly Ministry receiving the outpouring of the spirit a seal of approval that came from heaven and directly from God the Father this is my son in whom I am well pleased what listen to him right that’s what he says there so the authority came right from the father all right but that’s not how the ruling body is seeing it see it’s also a question to substantiate the longevity and the consistency of their unbelief they want to Corner Jesus but Jesus Corners them see they quickly and privately talk it over when Jesus posed that question to them and they are talking like this if we say that John’s baptism was from heaven then we must conclude John’s Authority Came From Heaven came from God was divine look at it says in verse number 31 they began reasoning among themselves saying if we say from Heaven he will say then why did you not believe him see what is he what he’s actually doing is he he is substantiate substantiating their unbelief he’s putting it right in their face and then of course if they say from man then they must conclude that John’s Authority amounted really to nothing it was not Divine or at all but it was human and that’s what it says in Mark 11:32 but shall we say from Men of course they tested both sides of the coin and concluded this you know when you flip a coin heads I win tails you lose well they flipped the coin heads I lose Tails I lose so how do you answer a question like that well look at how they answer in verse number 33 and answering Jesus they said we do not know liar liar pants on fire see they’re not entirely telling the truth here the facts all point to Jesus being the Messiah spoken by the Old Testament prophets they had concluded who Jesus was and they were not willing to know anything more about him that Jesus and John’s baptism was from Heaven All right so they were not honest about their own spiritual condition they didn’t see their own unbelief Nei neither were they honest about the facts surrounding John the baptizer and Jesus Christ they did not commit themselves to Jesus in fact their unbelief was calculated they knew exactly what they were doing of course when you refuse Jesus he refuses you look what it says in verse 33 hence Jesus refused to commit himself to them it says answering Jesus they said we do not know and Jesus say says to them nor will I tell you by what Authority I do these things so Not only was their unbelief exposed but they got no answers they got no more things to find on Jesus to incriminate him and so they’re just left there but that brings us to a third characteristic of unbelief and it’s this that a person who remains in unbelief exists in the realm of uncertainty and fear especially fear of people all right now look what it says in verse number 32 but shall we say from Men and then it says they were afraid of the people for everyone considered John to have been a real Prophet that’s interesting how that scripture is laid out there uh they were afraid of the people see their fear was well founded especially if Jesus was allowed to continue if he continues then they will lose all their power and authority they want that their fear should have been for God instead it was misplaced fear of man the implications May mean that this High ruling body of Israel did not regard John the baptizer as a real Prophet even though everybody else did so everything they’re doing is backfiring on them the opposite of a real Prophet is what a fake prophet in other words a false prophet and and of course what is the penalty of a false prophet if you’re caught death that’s exactly what they wanted to do they want to present Jesus as a wacko false prophet but let me just step back for a minute because this is this is very interesting the crowd though believed that John the Baptist was a real Prophet what is the problem with this ruling body now don’t forget John’s mission was to be a forerunner for Jesus Christ for the Messiah and the term Forerunner may be used when considering John’s message that he spoke something previously spoken beforehand when John the Baptist came on the scene he didn’t have a new message his message was what we’re Malachi left off the old the last Old Testament Prophet 400 years went by and now here John shows up right and what does he show up the same exact message that Malachi preached he starts preaching the same thing repent from your unbelief because the kingdom of God is at hand so John was called by God to lay out the groundwork see John the Baptist appeared the Bible says in the wilderness preaching a baptism of repentance for the Forgiveness of sins now I want you to take your Bible and turn to Luke because Luke make this makes this a little more clearer Luke chapter 7 verse number 30 see the question would be did Israel submit to John’s baptism see that would be the question but before we look at the passage I want to say something the most radical thing John the baptizer did in the wilderness was this he called Israel Into the Wilderness to be baptized that was a slap in the face already why because in the Old Testament times there was a proelite baptism for the Gentiles if you wanted to be converted to Judaism if you wanted to worship the true and living God you had to be baptized they did this because they considered the Gentiles as unclean and unfit for the presence of God there was no baptism for the Jews there was no baptism for the sons of Abraham so in other words John baptism was a clearing ritual in order to become members in the Covenant Community of Israel but Israel was thinking we’re already in the Covenant and in the nation so see John Comes Who instead of calling the Gentiles to be baptized he does the most radical thing you can do and it’s an unheard of thing you do he calls the Jews to participate in in the proelite ritual of cleansing because his baptism was a repentance for the Forgiveness of sins this was something that Israel just would not have we are already in the Kingdom we don’t have to enter the kingdom by any kind of baptism and repentance we don’t have to be prepared for anything well look at Luke 7:30 notice what it says but the Pharisees and the Lord lawyers rejected God’s purpose for themselves not having been baptized by who John they outright refused to be baptized so if it comes down from the top what do you think the rest of the nation had done right but remember when John came people were getting baptized even leaders were getting baptized Jewish leaders and that was the point so John comes and he he his Mage is repent to have your sins forgiven for behold the kingdom of God is at hand so the baptism was a baptism characterized by repentance however his baptism was not intended to induce repentance but rather to administer to those who were repentant in other words they were coming realizing as Israel they have sinned against God they were a nation in hypocrisy y they were a nation that had they were going through all the Motions but their heart was far from God that’s what they were repenting of so that meant that repentance alone fitted this person or that person for baptism in fact the gospel of Mark anal an analogy is given by John the baptizer concerning the critical nature of the this urgent Moment In Time time and this is what it says in Matthew it says the ax is already laid at the root of the trees now who who who is the tree the tree is Israel right and where are they where are they corrupt they’re corrupt in The Roots right if you’re corrupt in The Roots it can’t produce fruit matter of fact the tree is going to ultimately die this is a judgment against Israel therefore every tree John says that does not bear fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire so the tree cutter has observed that the tree is fruitless and needs to be eliminated the tree is Israel and they need to be cleansed and cut down and John uses another analogy to stress the need of the moment where he says and his winnowing Fork is in his hand and he will thoroughly clear his threshing floor and will gathered in his wheat into the barns and he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire so the crisis moment of separation between the wheat and the chaff is about to break through and what was he talking about there he was talking about Messiah appearing on the human scene and when he comes Israel wasn’t ready that’s the whole point of John’s message you’re not ready I’ve come to make you ready that’s what I’ve come to do that’s my job given by God from Heaven I’ve come you Israel are as unclean as the Gentiles I know you don’t want to hear that but that is God’s evaluation of where you’re at spiritually and Israel you need to be cleansed and prepared for the coming Messiah right so when we come to Christ what do we need in Christ we need to be cleansed right we come we come repenting of our sin that made us dirty and unclean to come into God’s presence and we come and believe in Jesus who becomes our sacrifice and what does his blood do washes away our sins so what we become clean so we can enter into God’s presence that’s what he does for us his of course cleansing is an eternal cleansing John’s cleansing is that of water baptism in which he prepares a nation to receive the Messiah because what does it say about John John makes ready the way of the Lord and makes his path straight so the picture is that this for the winding roads to be made straight and rough the obstacle ridden roads of all the garbage that has accumulated because of all the wrong teaching is leveled and made straight for the coach of the Lord to arrive so spiritually John called for moral and spiritual r repentance in the hearts and lives of the people of Israel the very heart of John the Baptist message was to prepare Israel for the Messiah and that’s what he does Jesus did I mean John did not fail in his mission all right so Jesus baptism in his baptism Jesus was anointed for his Earthly Ministry receiving the outpouring of the spirit again and and a seal of approval that came from heaven directly from God the father and of course it is clear then that the origin of John’s and Jesus ministry from beginning to the end was from heaven and divinely ordained that’s where they should have that that’s what they should have concluded as as a ruling body and then teach teach the whole nation that truth but they didn’t they didn’t they had it all wrong they had Jesus all wrong they couldn’t even see their own unbelief they were blind they were dead to anything spiritual so if a person continues in unbelief there will be an end result you know what the end result is in of unbelief you want to get rid of God why do we have so much unbelief in our country is because we have been getting R rid of God at all levels right we have have been throwing him out of everything we’ve thrown him out of the classroom we’ve thrown him out of the government we thrown them out of the church all right and so unbelief is prevalent in our society in a huge way and the the deceiving part is this they don’t know they don’t believe they are in unbelief but they don’t see it so in other words the end result unbelief leads to its own solution let’s get rid of God and if we can kill him let’s kill him now that’s all very logical isn’t it because their motive has already been to destroy Jesus and then notice in Mark 12:12 what it says now Jesus gave a parable I’ll look at that next time but in verse 12 of chapter 12 he says and they were seeking to seize him and yet they feared the people for they understood that he spoke a parable against them and so they left him and went away in other words that listen the they wanted to seize him right there and then and drag him out but remember it’s only Tuesday that will happen at the end of the week they will finally kill him and by killing him they would think they will think they have won and that they have accomplished their mission but again that backfires because they haven’t been reading the scripture their their religious books have been they’ve built so many fences around protecting the truth that they never can even get to the truth anymore you realize that and so they are in a place that unbelief will bring everyone let’s get rid of God as long as God’s not there I I don’t have a guilty conf ience as long as God’s not there I can live the way I want I can do anything I want I make the rules as long as God is out of the picture I’m pretty much free I can go and come and do what I want right and and see that’s how people are living today that’s why the marriage institution is under attack I can I don’t have to get married I can live with the person all right I I don’t have to you know I don’t have to keep my baby I can just abort it because the government says I could do it see and all that leads to uh it all this all comes out of unbelief so you know that means there’s several things from scripture we can glean from unbelief and if you take your Bible for a minute look at Hebrews chapter 3 verse number 12 just a few observations Hebrews chapter 3 and verse number it says this and let me just say this before reading the passage the sin of unbelief makes your heart or a person’s heart evil look what it says Hebrews 12 excuse me 3:12 chapter 3:12 take care Brethren that there not be in any one of you an evil unbelieving heart that falls away from the Living God see this passage is telling us to watch out for each other so that there will exist no unbelief amongst us it would be truly sad for someone to have such a heart or continue in unbelief see the trouble with unbelief is that it it all it is always in the heart it’s in the mind the seed of the will the emotions unbelief is a special kind of evil because unbelief tends to make the heart even more evil as long as God is not present in a person’s life they will become more wicked more evil more sinful that’s what will happen to them so an evil heart has a tendency notice what it says in the passage to bring a person to Fall Away From the Living God so the more a person is in unbelief the further they will get away from truth till they don’t even know what it is they they couldn’t even recognize it if they heard it and they go it’s a downward spiral but the the thing about unbelief too is that it is an eternal sin it is the unpardonable sin it’s the sin that sends people to hell if you don’t believe in Jesus there’s no way to be rescued realize that right the second observation is found in Matthew no need to turn there but it says in Matthew 13:35 the sin of unbelief also restricts or shuts out truth and mercy and God’s grace it shuts it out this is what it says in Matthew 13:58 and he did not do many miracles because of their unbelief so God stops working when unbelief is prevalent especially I’m talking about resistant I’m not talking about unbelief that exists before you hear the gospel I’m talking about unbelief where you hear things and you get settled in your own way of thinking and say I have my own way of thinking I have my own philosophy of life I don’t need those those things and in fact I think religions all religions are just a crutch you have to lean upon them somehow you have you’re not a strong person if you need this religion to lean upon but you know what Christianity is not a religion it’s about a person it’s about Jesus Christ he’s the central person from Old Testament to the New Testament he’s always been the central person but one of the most damning things about unbelief is unbelief ultimately proves that a person has no love for God at all and why is that because they’re afraid of everything they’re afraid of people more than they’re afraid of God they’re afraid of what people are going to think about them or how they’re going to conclude about them more than they are concerned about how God looks at their lives so a person who is settling in on unbelief is a very fearful fear-ridden person and there’s plenty of things in the world to be afraid about but what is interesting is in 1 John CH 4 verse number 18 18 this is what the word of God says it says there is no fear in love but perfect love cast out fear because fear involves punishment and the one who fears is not perfected in love so what is so revealing about unbelief is that it shows that a person does not love God because when a person is in love in the love of God a person is sanctify and they’re Sanctified by the truth fear eventually dissipates parental peace comes over us I’m in God’s family the heavenly father is my father if he cares for The Sparrows and feeds them every day he’s going to care more for me than them see that’s in my thoughts because the scripture changes my mind about what happened to me in Christ Jesus so see in other words that I am at peace with the father through Jesus Christ the son and I have love for God when I don’t I have no love for God because I have no salvation and then ultimately I have no peace and the person who is in unbelief is a Restless person a fearful person a tormented person and a person who has deep distress in their soul but where the love of God is because of Salvation flows a stream of Wrath rest and satisfaction of soul and delight and boldness before God see God’s love in the human heart removes by God’s perfect love in in that heart of his children it removes all sins and all fear if God removed my sins and and his wrath and condemnation what do I have to be afraid about I have nothing to be afraid about see we don’t have to be afraid because our sins were judged in Christ when he died on the cross the father cannot judge our sins against again without judging his son again and of course we know Jesus can’t go to the cross again we don’t need to be afraid because the Bible says he first loved us from the very first our relationship to God has been one of love and we don’t have to fear because the Bible says right here in first John perfect love casts out fear it can’t even coexist It cast it out it removes it so as we grow in love our love for God we cease to be fearful of what he will do in other words I know God will not judge me and send me to hell because of Christ I know that my sins have been washed away never again to come up against me in any kind of divine court of law so God what he does he wants his children to live in an atmosphere of love and confidence without fear and torment so growing in God’s love will give us boldness in the day of judgment because we understand what great love has accomplished in our behalf and it will give us boldness in the face of also every day so so as we mature in God’s love gradually the fear vanishes and our hearts are fully controlled by his love and we learn to rest in God God’s love all of our days and of course this means too we are hedging against the sin of unbelief we’re keeping it at Bay so a person who remains in unbelief will will not submit to the authority of Jesus nor listen to his Messengers a person who remains in unbelief will not be honest with the facts they will twist and distort them so that they feel comfortable in what they believe and then a person who remains in unbelief will not be free from Fear because of their rejection and dishonesty fear fear controls them because they eliminate God from what they think and what they do in other words don’t get caught in this sin this sin has Eternal consequences and you know what the Bible says that the spirit of God moves and works we don’t know where this the spirit blows or where the spirit the wind blows this way or that way that’s the way the spirit is sometimes the spirit will come in and convict of sin of righteousness and of Judgment of Jesus Christ and gives you the opportunity or a person the opportunity to believe and what they do is they blow it off and maybe the spirit never blows back that way again and they never hear the gospel again and so they become more and more settled in their unbelief they think they have plenty of time right they think that hey I’m going to live forever I take my vitamins I got my green drink right take my probiotics I am set man I have just increased my life 10 years isn’t that what they sell today now of course there’s some truth and health right but healthy people die all the time see be ready to meet the Lord Jesus Christ John the Baptist had the N had had to make the nation ready the spirit of God makes us ready to receive Christ he’s the necessary condition for us to believe and when we do then we’re going to be growing in our knowledge and wisdom of Christ to the point where we understand he loved us first we didn’t love him before but now we’re loving him and because we’re loving him he’s casting out all the fears that we have right and we’re hedging against the sin of unbelief and we’re starting to recognize it in the world and in our family and in those around us so see this is a message that kind of preventive medicine let’s be very very aware what’s happening especially in our own heart where do we stand before God you know for sure if you died today where you would go are you certain of that the only answer is Jesus Christ he’s the way the truth the life no one can go to the father who’s in heaven except they come through Christ the son so let’s just take these words and think about them and meditate upon them and examine ourselves by them and then continue to grow in Christ so we’re not caught in this downward spiral of unbelief let’s pray Lord thank you this morning again for the word word of God it is awesome it is uh the word that comes from heaven and when it does Lord It’s So exposes our heart it so changes our mind it so causes us to see things in a way that we have never understood them before and Lord for this we have to be overwhelmingly thankful to you this morning Lord we want to submit Our Lives to you we don’t want to be like a person in unbelief who doesn’t submit we also Lord want to be honest with the facts not only the facts about what you’ve done in Salvation believing that the only way you can be saved is through repentance and faith in Christ Jesus but also Lord the facts about us where do we how have we grown spiritually are we bearing fruit or are we just heartless and just going through the motions Lord when we’re at that point please convict us of those things so we quickly get back into a prayerful relationship with you and a relationship where our minds being washed and transformed by the word of God so we know what the prescriptive will of God is every day of our life I pray for that and I pray also Lord that when it comes to the end that we would not be fearful about judgment because you have taken that fear and we understand you demonstrated Your Love toward us in that while we’re yet sinners you died for us so Lord love cast out fear Your Love does and I pray Lord as we live our life that we become less and less fearful about things especially the most important fears as where we go if we pass from this world and I pray Lord that we would also live in a way where we realize life is short and we don’t don’t have much time so I pray Lord we would live it to the fullest for you and that we would give all our heart mind soul to serving you and serving your church and preaching the gospel to people and living a holy life that pleases you and I pray Lord as we do that that you would be your name would be glorified and lifted up in this world in the midst of all the unbelief Christ would be shining in the middle and that some who have not yet heard would come to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ as their Savior and that they too can come into your family and into your church I pray that for us today and I ask it in Christ’s name amen