The Sin of Unbelief — Brian Brodersen

Well, let's open our Bibles together this evening to the sixth chapter of Mark's gospel Mark chapter 6 and as you're turning there, I'll just Remind you of one thing on Friday nights. We have the Christianity 101, which is Sort of a new believers class or a class for those who want to get a better understanding of the Christian faith and so Just want to keep that Before people's minds just remind you that that's going on in the fellowship hall on Friday nights.

And just a great time to get together and learn about the foundational things of the faith. So They've just started a new 10 week course, but you can actually pick up at any time and join in so encourage you to consider that if you're looking to get a better understanding of the Basics of the Christian faith and then just again want to thank these guys that were here with us tonight leading worship.

They don't have a name. They told me so we don't even know what to call them and just these people came and These young people but they did a great job and they came down from Modesto. It's just a great thing to me to see you know, God faithfully raising up the new generation and Here I'm sure they're none of them are probably much older than 20 and here.

They're gifted by the Lord and they've been going around and just sharing With some of the different fellowships in the area and they're heading back up when stay home. But it's good to have them with us.

Jesus' Rejection at Nazareth

So we pick up tonight in the sixth chapter of the gospel of Mark and So we read in verse 1 then he went out from there and Came to his own country and his disciples followed him so Jesus had in our last Consideration he had been called upon by The ruler of the synagogue to come to his home.

Jairus was his name and perhaps you remember how his little daughter 12 years old had died and and so Jairus came to Jesus hoping that there was something that could be done and there was Jesus came to his home and He brought her back to life.

He brought her back from the dead. And so now Mark continues with his rapid pace going more or less from one Event to another and now he takes us from the area there of Capernaum back into his own country, which would be a reference to the city of Nazareth.

Jesus was brought up in the city of Nazareth, which would have been a few miles west of the Sea of Galilee and So he's now back in his own country and he's there with his disciples. And when the Sabbath had come he began to teach in the synagogue and Many hearing him were astonished saying where did this man get these things and What wisdom is this which is given to him that such mighty works are performed?

By his hands. Is this not the carpenter the son of Mary the brother of James? Joseph's Judas and Simon and are not his sisters here with us. So they were offended at him so Jesus has been gone for some time and He had previously visited Nazareth just shortly after his public ministry had begun and We read about that in the gospel of Luke Where Jesus had gone back and he had gone into the synagogue and on that particular occasion he stood up and he read from the scroll of Isaiah and he read that prophecy recorded in the 61st chapter where The Spirit of the Lord is upon me and he is anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor and so forth.

He read it all the way through and then he spoke to the crowd and he said today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing and perhaps you remember how they were Astonished at what he said there. They couldn't believe what they were hearing and they marveled at the wonderful words that proceeded from his mouth but they just couldn't embrace it and so they became angry with Jesus and they Drove him out of the synagogue and tried to cast him down a cliff there that the city was built upon and so now some time has passed and he's Gone throughout the land.

He's gone throughout Galilee and throughout Jerusalem and now his fame has spread and So he comes back now to Nazareth having developed this tremendous reputation as being a wise man and being a man in dude with great power to perform miracles and as he comes back to Nazareth They're looking at him and Again They're stumbled by this.

They say how did this man get these things? Wait a second. We we know this person he was brought up right here in our town and How is it that he's Performing these mighty deeds and all of this we know his family We remember him when he was just a kid Here in the village and he's just the carpenter The person that we would call upon to help us when we needed Something done around the house, you know, he was a handyman in that community and It says they were offended at him and then Jesus said a Prophet is not without honor Except in his own country among his own relatives and in his own house.

You know, you've heard that the phrase perhaps familiarity breeds contempt and that is Really what we have in this story here. They were contemptuous toward Jesus because of their familiarity with him.

They just couldn't accept even though they acknowledged. This is the amazing thing to me. They acknowledged that he had great wisdom and that He demonstrated great power but they couldn't get over the fact that it was just it was Jesus the one that they knew so well, they thought the one that You know, they had seen grow up and they were offended To think that He could be somehow superior to them or that somehow they would have to come to him for Some sort of a connection with God.

They just didn't like that it it really bothered them in the area of their pride and So they were offended they were scandalized by him but he declared a prophet is not without honor except in his own country and It's true to this very day, isn't it?

We all know I think probably by experience at least to some degree that the hardest people to really impact with the gospel message are the people that We know the best or the people that think they know us the best particularly our family members it seems like Those in the family are just always so hesitant.

They're so reluctant. I'll never forget many years ago Speaking to some of my relatives and Always getting a similar kind of a response and You know, it was more or less Now, aren't you that? Little running-nose kid that You know, I Look, what are you gonna teach me?

Whether that was my uncle's or my grandparents or even my my parents Cousins relatives, you know, they just they there's just this this stumbling block there and it's so true and it's frustrating isn't it because We love our family members.

We want to see Them come to know the Lord and and we would think that Man now that we've discovered the truth They're gonna listen to us. But so often they don't and that was the case with Jesus You know a lot of times we think that if somebody's not listening Or somebody's not responding or you know opening up and receiving a lot of times.

We think that it's probably To some degree our fault, you know, maybe it's a bad presentation or something or you know, maybe we're not Communicating as well as we Possibly could have or something like that.

And and so we walk away disappointed thinking Oh, I I blew that you ever have that feeling you get this great opportunity finally comes and here's the person you've been waiting for for so long to Finally tell about the Lord and the opportunity comes and goes and you just think you made an absolute idiot of yourself in the course of that I think of Paul the Apostle when he was there in Jerusalem, and he had he had longed and hoped and Wanted so desperately to preach the gospel to the Jews.

That was his great passion that if he could just speak to his own countrymen because he reasoned that they'll they'll Understand that I know Where they're at When they hear my testimony when they realize that look I used to be just like they are.

Paul thought that he could persuade him and so he gets finally gets this opportunity to speak to this large Audience of Jews and there he is and he's Giving them the message and he says to them actually he says, you know, I understand you guys.

I used to be just like you I Thought that I should stamp this thing out this Christian thing and I went about and he started telling this whole story about the high priest sending him to Damascus and all of this.

And he's got his audience Right there hanging on every word and as he's going along telling the story and I'm sure he's thinking All right. This is the moment. I've waited for this is it Lord. Thank you.

Thank you You're giving me this great opportunity and he's going along and they're Captivated by his message and suddenly he says to them and then when I was in Jerusalem The Lord spoke to me and said flee they're not going to listen to you.

I'm gonna send you to the Gentiles and It says that the crowd Paid close attention to the Apostle Paul until he said this one word Gentiles. And when he said this one word, it says they ripped their clothes.

They threw dust in the air. They began to scream and shout get rid of this fellow. He's not fit to live on the earth and They had to drag him inside because they were about to kill him. Can you imagine how he felt afterward?

Why did I say Gentile? What was I thinking? I had him right there My great opportunity and he blew it. He lost it But you know what? He didn't he great. He gave a great message. It wasn't the problem wasn't nearly his delivery.

The problem was their hearts and The point is this look Jesus himself. They stumbled over him. They were scandalized by him. You can't get a better witness in Jesus so what I'm saying is don't be totally discouraged if Those around you that you love so much just haven't Responded to the gospel at this stage.

Don't blame yourself for that so many times people do that. Oh if I were just a better witness They would have come to the Lord not necessarily. We have to remember that the problem is a heart problem it's a spiritual problem and again, you can't improve on the witness of Jesus he was there and Like I pointed out a moment ago.

They even acknowledged his wisdom. They acknowledged his mighty deeds. They acknowledged all of this, but somehow they were still able to draw the conclusion that He wasn't any different than we are therefore we don't really need to Give heed to him.

You see it was their own sinful bias and that is still true to this day and so We don't give up on family members and those that we are close to. We keep on praying but we must remember that Perhaps It'll be somebody else's task To bring them around to the Lord.

Maybe it won't be you and I pray that myself for people that I know and love and family members I pray the Lord will bring somebody into their lives that they will listen to. If they won't listen to me because of the familiarity because it's too close or you know, whatever the case might be That's fine, I just pray Lord get him some other way then send somebody else along that will be able to speak to them and So this was the case there in Nazareth they were offended at Jesus because They just figured he's one of us.

He couldn't really be a prophet and So it says in verse 5 that he could do no mighty works there. Except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and Healed them and he marveled because of their unbelief.

Then he went about the villages in a circuit teaching. So notice he could do no mighty works there. We saw in our last study that Jesus was Responding to the faith of both that that woman that touched the hem of his garment that was healed of that Flow of blood she had for 12 years.

Remember how she said if I could just touch his garment I would I know that I'll be healed and she was and Then Jairus how he just said to Jesus I know my daughter lies at the point of death, but I know if you come she'll get better and We pointed out how those two people what they did was they exercise faith?

They believed and now here's the contrast. Jesus comes back to Nazareth back to his own village and They don't believe. They're scandalized. They're offended. They don't believe and because they don't believe it says he could not do any mighty works there.

You see it was their unbelief that hindered the Lord from What he wanted to do he evidently intended to do good things he intended to do great things There in Nazareth that was his desire and had they embraced him in the synagogue He probably would have done Extraordinary things there in their midst, but he couldn't do it now We have to understand it wasn't that he couldn't do it in the sense that He was incapable of doing it.

But he couldn't do it more in the sense that he would not do it because God works in response to faith and they had no faith and So it was their lack of faith that limited what God was able to do among them.

Israel's Unbelief and Limiting God

Back in the history of the people of Israel. As we go through that story in the Old Testament, you know all the way back to Exodus all the way back to God delivered them from their bondage in Egypt and carrying them through the wilderness and All the things that he did for him through the time of Joshua and the judges and on through the monarchy and all of the different periods you know you find that They had their ups and downs they had more downs than they did ups, unfortunately and What really becomes clear as you go through that history is that they never really Attained to what God had for me.

He had this wonderful thing in mind that he wanted to accomplish with them and through them, but they never Arrived at it. They fell far short of it and In the Psalms as a psalmist is recounting this history.

He declares concerning them that their chief problem was unbelief and That they limited the Holy One of Israel. They limited God through their unbelief they kept back the blessing that God intended to bestow upon them and You know, we have to be careful today Not to do the very same thing.

We can likewise Limit God because of our unbelief and as we pointed out last week Faith is such a key ingredient in our lives as Christians it is Indispensable we've got to have it. Because that's what the Lord is looking for.

He's looking for people who are believing him trusting him depending on him you know, sometimes You see somebody and you look at him and it just seems like man the Lord is working extraordinarily in that person's life and You might sit and observe and find that God is doing great things in the life of that person while you just sort of sit there as a spectator and Maybe you get frustrated.

Maybe you get angry. Maybe you get jealous. Well, why is the Lord doing that for them and what about me it probably is simply because they're believing the Lord to work. And maybe you're not. And you see we've got to have that faith.

We've got to have that trust Believing that God has a plan for us that he's got a work that he wants to do in our lives. Individual faith is a very vital factor to Attaining to What God intends for each and every one of us?

But yet we're all faced with various obstacles and temptations things that are trying to discourage us from trusting the Lord and believing expectantly that he's going to work and sometimes things go The other direction than we thought they were going to go things aren't Developing like, you know we thought they maybe should and then the temptation comes along to doubt that God's really working and to be bitter and angry and Resentful and all of those kinds of things and yet we've got to just hold firm and say no Lord.

I believe that even through this Present Distress you're you're still working you're accomplishing your plan. And even though I can't see how this particular thing is really factoring in By faith, I believe that it is Because I believe that you love me and I believe you have a good plan for my life and I believe you want to work.

You see that's the person that God does truly work Powerfully in and through. When you look at these Old Testament saints, for example, Abraham Isaac Jacob Moses all the way through You can analyze their lives and you can find all kinds of Shortcomings.

You know if you're looking for a perfect person in the scripture you won't find one except Jesus. Everybody had their shortcomings everybody at some point or another was you know missing the mark, but The thing that Commended them to God always was their faith.

In the end, they believed the Lord they trusted him. They depended on him and so he Would overlook all that other stuff and he would bring them forth as like Abraham for example He set forth as the father of faith.

He's the the example of faith. Yet when you look at Abraham's life, you see that he failed on several occasions. But the overall tenor of his life was he was trusting God. He was believing God and Because he was trusting and believing the Lord was able to accomplish those things that he had promised Abraham and so God's gonna accomplish those things in our lives.

But we have got to believe. We have got to believe you know one thing for me personally I find I fall into a trap myself quite often and I've I can see it clearly what happens is I take my eyes off the Lord and I start looking at everything else and when I start looking at all of these other things and not really concentrating on the Lord and His word his promises and seeking him and trusting him.

I find that I like Peter Walking on the water. I can begin to sink. But as long as I keep my eyes on the Lord It doesn't matter. What else is going on out here? Because I see that the Lord is at work and I I find for myself this peculiar temptation to Really doubt the fact that God is wanting to work in a great way in a powerful way in an extraordinary way and I find that that temptation it comes to me frequently.

But it always comes When I've taken my eyes off of the Lord, and I've got my eyes on everything else. I Look at a situation. I think oh, that's so bad. Things are so desperate. What could be done under these circumstances?

Rather than looking at the Lord and saying Lord Doesn't matter what the circumstances are. I believe you're working you you said that you're at work. But you see it's the man who believes that or the woman who believes that it's the person who trusts that God is indeed at work.

That's the person who Experiences that work of God and others might have to sit along the sidelines and sort of spectate. But who wants to do that? I don't want to do that so what we all want to do is make sure we keep our eyes on the Lord and Remember that this Jesus who came to Nazareth with the intention of doing great things.

This Jesus is here right now. He's in Costa Mesa. He's in Santa Ana. He's in Newport Beach. He's in Huntington Beach. He's in the Houghton Valley. He's in Irvine he's all around us here and Here's the question.

Do we believe that he wants to work? If we do he will if we don't He could not do many mighty works there because of their unbelief. He did heal a few sick folk. There are those You know, that'll they'll receive the blessing and the benefit because of their own faith, but yet How much more God really wanted to do and so?

It's important that we keep that understanding. That the Lord is looking for people to believe him. I've said this before but I'm going to say it again as we look at the scriptures. You know, one of the main reasons why God gave us the scriptures was to show us how he works.

The reason he gave us the stories of these different people that That's lives are recorded here Was that we might read these stories and see how God worked in previous generations and Realized that God is the same yesterday today and forever and he wants to work in this present generation.

Just like he worked in previous generations. But we could possibly fall into that same State that Israel fell into where they never really attained. Not because God didn't have something that he wanted to do for them, but because they didn't believe and So they limited the Holy One of Israel.

I don't want to do that as a person. I don't want to do that as a pastor. I don't want to do that. We as a congregation God help us not to do that but to believe the Lord and to believe that God is wanting to work even in these days as Bleak as they are and as dark as things seem to be getting.

We can still trust that God is working that he has a plan and we want to believe him for that and So in verse 7 it says. And he called the twelve to himself and began to send them out two by two and gave them power over unclean spirits.

He commanded them to take nothing for the journey except a staff. No bag. No bread. No copper in their money belts. But to wear sandals and not to put on two tunics. Also, he said to them in whatever place you enter a house stay there till you depart From that place and whoever will not receive you nor hear you when you depart from there Shake off the dust under your feet as a testimony against them.

Assuredly, I say to you it will be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment Than for that city, so Jesus sends them out Gives them some basic instruction. But notice. For those who don't receive shake off the dust and Then he gives this Warning, it will be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah in that day.

Then for that city, there's a principle that's stated Throughout the scriptures and the principle is to whom much is given much is required or the greater Revelation one is subject to the greater responsibility they have before God and so Jesus is Sending them out to these cities around the Galilee and They're coming in his name with his authority and Basically, they are Becoming accountable so much so that in the future judgment There will be more tolerance for Sodom and Gomorrah than for these particular cities.

Why? Because the revelation Was so much greater. The judgment would in turn be that much greater. You see this is a kind of a frightening thing really. The more, you know The more you're accountable for some people who sit in church week after week With a hard heart ought to stop coming And not listen anymore.

Because as you do that, you're just adding more and more judgment to yourself. Now I'm not really suggesting that you don't come or stop listening what I'm really telling you is that you better start listening right now and Get things right and get the judgment that's accumulating against you Wiped away.

Greater Revelation, Greater Accountability

You see Paul told us a similar thing in writing to the Romans in the fourth chapter. He's addressing People who had heard the word Frequently and he said to him. He said don't you understand that the goodness of God is Intended to lead you to repentance.

That's what God's goal is to get you to repent and he's talking to people who had heard the message and Experienced the goodness and he said but you according to your hardness and your impenitent heart.

Impenitent means a heart that refuses to repent You according to your hardness and your impenitent heart. He said you are treasuring up wrath. For the day of wrath and the righteous judgment of God Who will judge the secrets of men in that day by Jesus Christ according to my gospel.

So Paul gives them a severe warning. He says listen as You fail to respond to the goodness of God as you fail to repent you're just adding up more judgment for yourself on that day and People are still doing the same thing today.

They're listening and they walk away sometimes saying oh man, you know, I know the Lord loves me and That's just a means of excusing their Sinful behavior or their intentions to go out and keep on sinning.

Well, it is true. God loves you, but It's not true that God loves you so much. You can just go keep on sinning without any consequences God loves you, but that love is Meant by God to bring you to repentance and if it doesn't bring you to repentance, then the fact that God loved you will be The very fact that you're judged by in the future.

Yes. God loved you. Yes. God blessed you. Yes, God did all of these things to try to get you to turn from your sin. But you didn't you wouldn't and so you see the judgment becomes more severe. I Think we are living in a time When there's just a tendency by a lot of people to Take this whole thing of salvation very lightly very casually a Lot of times you hear people Talking like salvation is something you can just take or leave you can come and go with it anytime you want.

It's always gonna be there when you get ready on your terms. Hey, you know, I'm not ready to really follow the Lord right now I'm just going through a little time of rebellion. You know, hey God understands.

No, he doesn't. You see that's self-deception. But there are a lot of people living in self-deception this very hour With that kind of rationale. Oh Though I know the Lord loves me. But you see although that's a truth You have to be careful not to draw the wrong conclusion from that truth yes, God loves us, but God commands us all to repent and If we don't repent even the love of God can't save us.

That's heavy. You see God Loved the whole world but the whole world isn't saved is it and The great tragedy is that there will be Multitudes of people in hell for eternity who loved who God loved. God did indeed love them.

But they would never respond to his love in the way that they were supposed to by turning away from the sin that God hates and Receiving the mercy that he's offered. Now the area there that Jesus is referring to those cities around the Galilee He says It's going to be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah than for those cities and I would venture to say That it will be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah than some of our modern cities.

Because as one man stated one time actually the title of his book Sodom had no Bibles. You see Sodom we think of Sodom as and rightfully. So we think of it as as a demonstration of God's judgment or we talk about a You know a licentious community or something we say oh man that place is like Sodom and Gomorrah and Sodom and Gomorrah was judged in fire and brimstone.

But Sodom had no Bibles. They did not have one probably one percent of the revelation that has come to Us today. You know, we live in a in a great country in so many ways. It's great but in so many ways it is also very perverse and wicked and the frightening thing about this nation is that it's a nation that sins against the light and That's why the judgment Could be more severe Than other places that we might look at and think well.

Surely God's gonna judge them before he judges us not necessarily so because they don't have the light that we have. We have churches. We have Bibles. We have freedom we have Christian radio we have TV.

We have all of those things. But with all of that we still have the other. We still have all the sin and that's the whole point that because we have this we have become more accountable back in the days of the declining days of the kingdom of Judah God began to speak to the prophets and to tell them that he was going to bring the Babylonians to judge them and Habakkuk the Prophet he was really troubled by that message.

As a matter of fact, he just couldn't understand it and his question to the Lord was Lord how How would you Bring the Babylonians against us. I mean come on. They're worse than we are and That was true, but it wasn't true.

They were worse in one sense, but they didn't have the understanding that Israel had they didn't have the revelation. So Israel sins were actually greater because they had the knowledge of the true God and they were sinning against it and the Lord spoke to The people I think it's in Amos and he said to them He said because you alone I have known out of all the families of the earth.

Therefore. I will judge you more severely. You see it's that whole principle. It's being talked about here. The more you know The more accountable you are. So the more you know Means you better get right and you better get right quick.

Because you're just adding to your accountability and The more you resist the longer you resist the more you're storing up judgment for yourself on that day. Someone says oh, but you know, hey, I'm gonna get it, right?

I'm just I'm just not ready yet. But how foolish a thought because how do you know you have enough time to get it, right? How do you know that opportunity is going to come your way? Say oh, well, you know, of course it will.

I'm young and I'll be fine. We just don't really know that though do we but we can deceive ourselves into thinking that that's the case, but we don't know young old in the middle. No man knows The moment that He's going to be called to account.

Brought before the judgment seat of God. That's why when we hear the message, it's so vitally important to Respond to it and not to not to delay not to wait and so They went out and preached. Having received the instruction from Jesus they went out and preached that people should repent.

The Call to Repentance

Now one of the thing I want to touch on back in verse 11 for a second Notice he says and whoever will not receive you nor hear you when you depart from their shake off the dust under your feet. You know, that's a severe thing really but what it teaches us is that Like the Lord said actually to Noah He said my spirit will not always strive with man.

God set a limit back in the days of Noah. He said my spirit will not always strive. I'll give man 120 years. And he did there were 120 years Between the time God called Noah to build the ark and the time the flood came on the earth.

But the Lord said my spirit will not always strive with man. You see there comes a place. And we've touched on this before because we've come across a similar uh passage. But there comes a place where God ceases to strive with a man that is the most frightening possibility that there is.

When there when a person comes to that point where God is no longer striving with them. Where as Jesus said they shake the dust off of their feet as a testimony against them man, that is a frightening place to come to that's a an unbelievably horrible concept even.

But it can happen. And it can happen with places as well as with people and of course places are inhabited by people. But there are those places Where the Lord ceases to strive With man and he gives opportunity after opportunity after opportunity, but then the opportunities are then Closed.

And I think there are places Where God has done that? For periods of time even for generations. Places where God has poured out his spirit in blessing. And yet people as time goes on they take it for granted and they begin to become contemptuous toward it because of the familiarity with it and then Eventually, they come to a place where they're so hardened and then finally God ceases to strive.

I'll tell you I think that happened in europe. And I think europe is a great example Of this sort of thing where the lord Has poured For a period of time In one sense almost sort of shook the dust From his feet and said I'm finished with this place.

I do believe that God is Returning Mercifully to europe at the present time. But There's been a considerable amount of time pretty much the 20th century. Much was given to that place and so many extraordinary things occurred there concerning the the gospel and the great privileges but yet it was abused and it was taken for granted and it was You know held in contempt after some time and the hearts became hardened and You know you think of the first and the second world war and the things that have gone on there and and the secular Emphasis in those societies today and the communism that dominated parts of europe and all of those things are almost I I think it's kind of risky to say it, but I think those are examples of God ceasing to strive with nations.

And one day it'll happen on a universal scale Where god will no longer strive. And he will allow man and his sinful heart to attain all that it desires and Satan will come on the scene in the person of the antichrist and the whole world will worship him but again The lord is merciful and people places God I just marvel at his his grace that he does Come and show mercy even after a time of maybe leaving off his dealings with the people.

So they went out and preached that people should repent. Repent means to change your direction. There's been some confusion over two words repentance and another word penance. Penance means to Be sorry Or remorseful over your Actions.

Repentance means to change Your thinking and subsequently change your direction. See a lot of times people think well I'm, sorry for what I did. And that's good if it's Truly that you're sorry for what you did versus i'm just sorry because I got caught what I did, you know doing what I did.

And a lot of times it's hard to to really distinguish, you know, just what is the case? I know in my experience in having to deal disciplinarily with people at times. When I know that a person is on the right track to repentance is when They come themselves unsolicited not caught uh, no pressure.

And just confess and say you know what I can't live with this anymore. I've been this is what i've been doing. I take full responsibility for it. When I see a person like that, I think okay, there's a real repentance that's working there.