He Could Do No Mighty Works Because of Unbelief — Rolfe Barnard

I never shall forget the first time I heard that song. I got a call when I was a chaplain from the colonel to come over to his office. He wanted to see me. And the commanding officer, he said, I'm breaking regulation, but said the men been out on bivouac and said they've been on alert, six-hour alert.

That meant that whatever they did and wherever they were, they had to be ready in six hours. Sort of embarkation to go overseas. And he said these men have been alerted and now the order has come and said I want you to get a car and take it out to the country and give it to the captain and tell him, not say anything about it, but that I want you to preach to the boys before they leave out.

He's an old hard-drinking church member. He always sobered up on Sunday morning and came to chapel. And he was my friend. And I went out and I gave the orders to the captain and charged the men on bivouac.

And then on alert, he had somebody blow a bugle and got all the men together and he read the orders, told them they had time, everybody wanted to, was free to attend a religious service as he would have it, and I said I'll have that under those.

And we did. And the boys were scared. I'd been scared, too. And they sat on the grass and I had a colored boy saying, Precious Lord, remember that. Now tonight, if you will, turn to the 13th chapter of the Gospel of Matthew.

Jesus’ Rejection in Nazareth

13th chapter of the Gospel of Matthew, beginning at verse 53. God willing, in the morning at the 10 o 'clock hour, I'm going to try to speak on call to this vision. And tomorrow night I'm going to bring the message on watching men die.

Beginning at verse 53 of the 13th chapter of Matthew, And it came to pass that when Jesus had finished these parables, he departed thence. And when he was coming to his own country, he taught them in their synagogue, insomuch that they were astonished and said, Yes, this man, this wisdom, and these mighty works.

Is not this the carpenter's son? Is not his mother called Mary? And doesn't he have some brothers by the name of James and Joseph and Simon and Judah? And his sisters, are they not all with us? We know them.

Whence then hath this man all these things? And they were offended in him. But Jesus said unto them, A prophet is not without honor, save in his own country and in his own house. And he did not. Many mighty words.

There. Because unbelief. Not. Many mighty works there. At the beginning of the text he'd been telling about things that had been happening elsewhere, and about the mighty works that he'd done. And when he too recounted the mighty works he'd done elsewhere, why the people were astonished.

They said, This just can't be. We know him. We know his brothers by name. The sisters around here know who his mother is, know who his father is. We just can't. Fresh and I first heard down in this country, somebody didn't like what a priest couldn't go along with it.

They said, We just can't go along with this. The idea that this man done many mighty works and all of this wisdom. And so in this place they were offended at him. Jesus did not many mighty works there.

And the reason he didn't do many mighty works there, is because their unbelief. In Mark's gospel at chapter 6, if you'll indulge me while we read of this same instance, and we come against something of a problem, believing the Bible to be the word of God and you.

Matthew said that the Lord works there, causes their unbelief. When we come to Mark's account of it, it reads just almost alike except one word. Beginning at verse 1,. And he went out from thence, and came into his own country, and his disciples followed him.

And when the Sabbath day was come, he began to teach in the synagogue. And many hearing him were astonished, saying, From whence hath this man these things? And what wisdom is this which is given unto him, that even such mighty works are wrought by his hand?

Why, we know who he is. Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, the brother of James and Joseph and Judah and Simon? And are not his sisters here with us? And they were offended at him. But Jesus said unto them of prophets, not without honor, but in his own country and among his own kin and in his own house.

And Mark, as the Lord say, and Mark says,. And he could there do no mighty work, save that he laid his hands upon a few sick folk and healed them. And he marveled at their unbelief. That is one of the most astounding things I have ever found in the word of God.

My Lord Jesus Christ, in his manhood, he was astonished, he marveled at their unbelief. What a terrible thing unbelief must be. He marveled. People say, well, just unbelievable. But the Lord marveled at their unbelief.

The emphasis here in the book of Matthew is that he wouldn't do many mighty works there because of their unbelief. But Mark says that he could not there do many mighty works and the thing that stopped him, this is almost blasphemous, but it is the God's truth.

Unbelief as a Hindrance to Christ’s Mighty Works

The one thing that limits, the one thing that hinders, the mighty working of the Lord Jesus Christ is unbelief. I've seen God do mighty things in every other atmosphere, but he never does mighty works where there is unbelief.

There is a challenge there to God's people. There is a challenge there for God's people. My soul, God, never to sound a low note, never to doubt the power and the working of God. And brother, that's going to be a battle, if you can come to that.

There isn't but one message that's got any hope in it. And whether men will listen to it or not, that's the message of the gospel. This is the most pessimistic generation of people that God ever has put up with.

This world has so long heard from the pulpits of the world around of the helplessness of God. Men now do not have a great sovereign God, and that word sovereign just means he's God. And so having lost faith in a God who's got control and who hadn't turned this world over to Satan or man either, but he's still at the helm, there's nothing else.

If you don't believe that, then of course we'll be pessimistic. There isn't a statesman or one of the most preachers of the bluest people on God's earth. I hate to get around the average preacher. He sings the blues till I get blue.

Blues are catching. Worse than a common cold. Worse than a common cold. This is a challenge to God's people. It challenges me. It challenges me. The one thing in which and by which almighty God is hindered is unbelief.

The unbelief of his believing people. Somebody wrote a book and I read it some time ago. I forget his name. And he said this is the generation of unbelieving believers. You know, faith is catching too.

Faith is catching too. If I come up to you and I talk to you and you're feeling poorly and one foot in the grave and the other about there, pretty soon I feel bad. But if I talk with you and you feel good and gut the world with a tail and a downhill pull, pretty soon I forget my blues and I'm all right.

Faith, Nietzsche, and the Fall of Jericho

Two children can spell the word, but he is the philosopher. And Germany sat at his feet and imbibed his philosophy. And two world wars grew out of the teaching of that one man, the first and second world war.

He was a mighty man with a pen and with his voice. And somebody witnessed to him about our Redeemer when he was a young man. And Mr. Nietzsche, more or less, before I believe in your Redeemer, read in the Bible, talked about the city and the war, fortified.

Mighty God didn't come to the leader of man by the name of Joshua and give him the silliest instructions that I've ever read about. A gang of Israelites to march around the city. And the walls of Jericho.

And bless God today. Bless God, it just took faith for those folks. And when they might have said, well, my goodness, life ain't got sense enough coming out of the rain. No going around marching around the walls of Jericho and blowing some trumpet, blowing some horns.

That won't do any good. Using the weak things of this world to confound the wisdom of the mighty. And it just took faith. There isn't anything on God's earth that I have to fight hard for and I need more than F-A-I-T-H, faith in the mighty God we're supposed to believe in and preach.

For unbelief is the opposite of faith. And I'm amazed. And I don't know how to handle it theologically. If you do, you can advise me after the service and I'll be kind to you. If you don't either, no either.

But I'll tell you one thing. I believe in a sovereign God, a God who's very good. But the scriptures are very plain that he's hindered. He's hindered. He's straightened by the unbelief of his people. But I'm not certain that this is the meaning of our scripture tonight.

I do not think that the word unbelief here is the unbelief of God's people. I think it's just plain old unbelief of the people to whom he was speaking. Remember, he'd come back to his own country in Nazareth and Galilee and everybody knew him.

And they just said, Well, nice story you're telling, but it just can't be so. He said, We know who you are. And they said that you couldn't be as smart as what you're talking about and you couldn't have done these mighty works that you're talking about.

And they were stumbled by what he had to say. And he said that a prophet has no honor saving his own country. And the cryptic statement is that he did. And Mark said he couldn't do many mighty works there.

He did heal a few sick people. They couldn't stop him at all altogether, but they greatly hindered him. All of my life I've been preaching in that atmosphere. I've never seen God do many mighty works.

I've seen God do a little bit, but it's been my lot to live in a day when men and women have ruled God out of the world he created. You see, these people stumbled because they had no room for the supernatural.

They had no room for the supernatural. They reasoned everything out. And certainly that's the spirit of this hour in which we live now. Men are bound to have a reason for everything to see. If there come a flood, they'll say it's because something happened and if a storm comes and blows a town down, well, that's just nature.

Our fathers and mothers used to think that God was in the raindrops, that God Almighty was in the sunshine, that God Almighty was in the cheerful day, and that God Almighty was in the storm. They hadn't ruled God out of this universe like this generation has.

And there's no room, ladies and gentlemen, inside or outside of our churches now for the supernatural movement of a holy God. And I come back to say to you now there are just two great needs of this hour, and that's for our churches to come to the truth with men and intervene in this godless day that men might see the finger of God.

One more time. I'm not a pessimist because I believe God never left himself without a witness, and I'm not trying to run God's business, but if they intervene and come back down here and begin to manifest, this is the hour.

And I believe we believe that. We learn how to pray. We learn how to pray. We learn how to pray. That's the need of this hour for God to intervene, for God to intervene. Believing, as I do right or wrong, the heart of the ministry Believing, as I do right or wrong, I expect to get up some morning, maybe in the morning, and God will do that very thing.

Oh, my soul. But God manifests this power, and as we learned last night, he brings men of this servant, and he makes it possible, done things, and God gave him the credit, and God gives him the credit for it.

We need to do some thinking there, and it arouses from our lethargy an urgence of the sovereignty of God if we'll remember oppression again and again and again and never forget it, that God has given us this treasure in earth, and that will challenge us.

Unbelief is not ignorance. If I believe, is the will's rejection of truth to be influenced by it? I'm speaking to you tonight, and you've got a lot, brother. Powerful death and that powerful act is in rebellion.

Action and using in the face of truth. And there's one thing I know that from Genesis 1 -1 to the last, the way these folks make some sort of decision every time they're faced with whatever kind of truth it is.

You're riding along the highway, and it says speed limit 50 miles an hour, and you make a decision just like that. I'll obey it. You'll pick up a paper, and you'll decide to read it. You'll make up your mind that you'll do that every time any kind of truth.

You look at the television and they tell you about something, and you make up your mind, next time I want something like that, I'm going to buy that brand. Or if you pay no attention to it, you make a decision.

Let's don't get too afraid of that word decision. Under God in its place, it's a Bible word. And it demands decision. I don't care what realm. To make a decision is the revelation of truth as well as there can be no faith apart from the revelation of truth.

Let me repeat it. Unbelief is indignance. Unbelief is indignance. Unbelief is men and women with their eyes to be sold and with their hearts rejecting to be inside. That is on a chord of unbelief hindered the Lord, wounded the Lord, if you please.

And he could do no mighty works there. Only he healed a few sick and laid hands on them. We've seen a little of the work of God, but living in a generation where we can explain everything, absent God.

Unbelief hinders the mighty working of God. I want to call your attention tonight as quickly as I can four things that only a living God in Christ Jesus can do. Everything we do is doomed to failure unless the living God, can you take that, and is pleased to manifest the might of his right arm in our midst.

Christ’s Authority Over His Church

Ladies and gentlemen, a church has got no right to call itself an assembly of called out people of the mighty Lord unless that church is mightily concerned about whether or not he is being hindered in his own people.

Hindered in his own people. Authority, my Lord said, is given unto me. Every last bit of it. My ministry was ruined, I suppose it ruined me. If there would be a popular preacher making the money, he'd get anywhere.

Well, I was a student in the seminary at Fort Worth. I went down one day to a second-hand bookstore and browsing around and instead of reading, you'd find precious stuff down there, and the other reason I was broke, couldn't buy a new book, and I came upon a book of sermons by old Dr. B .H. Carroll, one of the old giants of the faith, the founder of the school in which I was going then.

And I bought that book, I'll never forget it, gave a dime for it, and I still got it. And I was reading a sermon by that dear man of God, and just like a key that unlocks a door, I was rebelling against what my professors were teaching me.

My professors in the seminary were, they believed in the great doctrines of the Word of God. And what little I've ever learned about them, I was taught by those men, but at first, I was rebelling against them.

My professor told me that election and redemption, and he actually taught me that God chose people, the ones who were to be saved. He taught me that. Why, everything in me hated that. I rebelled against it.

Arg, until I blew in the face. I'd been pastor of a big church, and I'd baptized many, many people. I had a big shot in those days. And my goodness, to hear such damnable teaching as that from a Baptist professor, and I couldn't take it.

And all of the attendant things that go along to foundation the gospel of Jesus Christ. I fought them, and I was miserable. And I read this one sentence from the pen of dear old Dr. Carroll in a sermon he preached in his church in Waco, and it unlocked everything and ruined my ministry.

He was preaching from the 5th chapter of the gospel of John, and his subject was the voice of authority. And he quoted that verse of Scripture. Verily, verily, I say unto you, He, and now is, when the death of the Son of God, and they, one sentence the dear man said, said, Mr. Campbell, nothing in the prophet you shall live.

That's the heart of what you folks call Calvinism. I don't ever use that word anymore. It takes three hours, and I have to explain I ain't like that Calvinism. But it's the heart of the gospel. It's the heart of who surrendered to the Lordship of Christ and is under commission and has a mission to preach the Christians, find the faith.

We keep on in the hope that once again that we're not around trying to drum up votes for an absent God, but we're just messengers of a present God who does all the preaching that's ever done. He does the preaching.

And that's how men are awakened to faith. If some humble child of God is handling God, He opens the spirit. He opens a man's heart. It's the voice of the living Son of God who carries with Him all of the power of His shed blood in His person.

And if a fellow ever hears that voice, decisions right here, decisions will be made right there. And I don't know whether you believe it or not, but it's a solemn thing that when the powers of hell are backed up to Him as He speaks, men and women who do that ought to go to hell.

And God help us, men and women who do that will go to hell. And that's the reason the Lord marvels at their unbelief. Marvels at their unbelief. There are four things that this living Christ has in the authority.

Christ Alone Gives Life to Dead Sinners

If you've got a bit of authority on earth, it's delegated to you. If you've got a bit of power, it's delegated to you. You have none in yourself. And there are four things this living Christ alone can do.

He alone can give life to dead sinners. As thou hast given Him authority over all flesh, John Gospel 17, chapter 2, verse, As thou hast given Him authority over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many as the Father has given Him.

And this is life eternal, that ye may know Thee, the only true God, and His Son, Jesus Christ. Eternal life is to know by experiencing His power, Almighty God. And ladies and gentlemen, the most solemn thing I've faced for 30 years going up and down this country is that life is absolutely in the hands of the Lord Jesus Christ.

There isn't in life anywhere else. I've had men touch me. I've had them storm up on the pulpit with their Bibles, prayer meetings, praying that I'd get to life, because I've tried to press upon men and women this truth.

Ladies and gentlemen, the only way on God's earth this old preacher knows is any hope for an eternal turn to bound sinner is stand upon his hind legs and recognize and openly confess to this godless world that the Lord Jesus Christ is my Lord!

Whether I ever get saved or not, God's appointed Him to make my Lord, that I'm in His coming. Life is in the hands of the Lord Jesus Christ. Life is not yours if you'll accept the proposition. Is that pessimistic?

To get his heir and pray, oh, and bless God that's a good safe place for a sinner to be pleading at the feet of the sovereign Redeemer in whom is life. In John chapter 5, for as the Father raises up the dead and quickens them, even so the Son quickens whom He will.

Verse 26, as the Father Himself has life, has life in Himself, so has He given to the Son to have life in Himself. Where is life? What's the gift that the Lord Jesus gives? Eternal life? What's that? That's to know God in His Son.

That's to know Him. I'm telling you, my friends, this isn't silliness. This is no place in just second-hand religion. If nobody else ever makes profession of faith, it's still true that a man isn't saved unless he has received from the living Christ L-I-F-E, life.

There are just two men God deals with. In Adam, Adam was the living soul and as long as you're out of Christ, there was very much a life. And that's the reason we go up and down the country and wherever who believe the fact of the death that there isn't any life in the death of this life in the Christ who died.

He's been made a life-giving spirit, a life-giving spirit. Nobody can give you life, my lost friend, except Him. That's the reason. And leave you with just one way to look and that's up, up for this life and look.

The Lord Jesus Christ, but He won't do it in the face of willful refusal to bow to truth. The surest way for you to be dead certain, you'll go on to hell as a second thing that the living Christ alone can do.

Christ Gives True Freedom Through a Change of Masters

And if you look at this outline, you'll find it takes care of everything men need. First men need life. You know, you used to talk about what a dead man needs. He needs first of all life. He's got life, bless God.

He needs liberty. And there's nobody on earth that can give a man freedom, liberty. Except the Lord Jesus Christ. In the 8th chapter of John's Gospel, you're very familiar with it. But you'll turn if you wish to read it.

At verse 32 of the 8th chapter of John's Gospel. And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. And they answered him, We be Abraham's seed, and we're never in bondage to any man. What you talking about?

You shall be made free. We're already free. And Jesus said, No, you're not free. He said, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is a long ways from being free. He's the servant of sin. He's the slave of sin.

And the servant abideth not in the house forever, but the Son abideth forever. If the Son, therefore, shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed. Ladies and gentlemen, there's just one way on God's earth a man can ever have liberty and true freedom, and that is to have a change of masters.

The way God's Son freedom to bound slaves of sin is by putting his yoke on men, and they find rest in his service. Any doctor will tell you that if you're bone tired, the best way on God's earth to rest is not to sit down, but to do some other kind of activity.

And whether that's so or not, the way the Lord God sets men loose is not by just breaking the old bands, but, now you get that, there's never been but one side of God's earth, and that's Jesus Christ.

He was free in all of his choices is by being joined to Him, being united to Him. Otherwise, there's no freedom. No man's any better off if a bad happens, unless a new vocation takes its place. That's not salvation.

This world's full of people that they quit something and called it salvation, and they ran one demon out of the house, and seven of his kinfolks came back, and where he had one devil to put up with before he got convergent, now he's got eight.

And old man T .T. Martin used to say that a man is eight to one sure for hell, for where he had trouble with one demon, now he's got with eight, and his last stand is worse than the first. Liberty, my friends, isn't freedom to do your will.

Liberty is freedom to do God's will. No man is free unless he's free to do the will of God. That's true freedom. And nobody on earth can set you free except Him. But if the Son shall set you free, you'll be free indeed.

Christ Gives Peace to Troubled Sinners

There's a third thing that no one can do but Jesus Christ. Men need life, He alone can give it. Men need to be free, He alone can give it, give them freedom. And men need peace instead of misery, and He alone can give peace.

He alone can give peace. In the 14th chapter of John, My peace I give unto you, My peace I leave you. Peace. Peace instead of misery. The peace of God. The peace that the Savior gives. These troubled days, and nobody can give peace except the Son of God.

We can speak peace where there is no peace, but God's Son can give peace. Old Mother Merritt, 70-some-odd years old, Queen Mother of a little Baptist church. After the meetings had been going on some time, she began to lift her hand when we'd ask if there were troubled souls needing help, she'd lift her hand.

Night after night, and then finally, instead of lifting her hand, when we'd stand to sing an invitation, Mother Merritt came the first time, got down on her knees right here where Danny sits. Everybody looked up.

There was a Christian in that section of the city. Mother Merritt was a Christian. Somebody knelt down and tried to deal with her. She'd shake them off. After a while, long after most people had gone, she got up off her knees and went home.

Next night she did the same thing. And the next night she did the same thing. But that time, it caused no small commotion and brought a crowd to see what was going on. And they were saying that I had disturbed her and I had done this and I had done that.

I had done things. I can't disturb anybody. I can't get that close to you. Only the spirit can get inside where the turmoil is. And the pastor knelt down and said, Mother Merritt, what's the matter with you?

She said, Leave me be. Leave me be. And the next night she got up off her knees. I think nearly everybody's gone. She came to me and said, Brother Bernard, I've been trying to serve the Lord these 46 years and I've never had a moment of peace.

Something wrong with that kind of salvation. And I said, Can I be of help? She said, No. No one can help me. And then she said, She was right there. Sunday morning came and I went out. They wanted me to do something in the Sunday school and I went out early.

The crowd was already gathering. And as I got out of my car and started toward the little church building, there came pink-cheeked, white-haired Mother Merritt and she met me and she said, Dear Brother Bernard,.

She was a German. This morning, whilst I did wash the breakfast dishes, the Lord Jesus Christ did give me peace. I can't think of fellas foolish to reckon himself to be a child of God, to whom the living Christ hadn't made real to you that your sins were gone and put peace in you.

Instead of peace, I had great bitterness, said Isaiah. Here's the car, wasn't it? But thou hast in love for my soul. None but Jesus can give you peace. Faith about Him will not bring peace. But bless God, He gives peace.

To be joined to Him, He gives peace. Men need life. Nobody can give you life, my brother, except Him. Men need liberty. Men need to be set free. Nobody sets you free, except Him. Miserable men need peace.

Nobody can give peace but Him. Men estranged from God need to find their way home to the Father's house. And I'm so glad that the Lord Jesus Christ can take an old sinner by his hand and lead him to God.

Christ Reconciles Sinners to God

In Hebrews 2, and verse 10,. For it became him all things, and by whom are all things, in brains, his job, to bring. And the Lord made him perfect, a perfect Savior, a suitable Savior, a Savior old. He is made perfect as my Savior through suffering.

And praise God, He's the one who can get men acquainted with God. I believe when a man is united to Christ, he's latched on to God, brother. He's home, if you'll pardon the slang expression, and that's the only way.

I can't lead you to God. He can. Nobody else can, but thank God he can. Three weeks ago, it is now near two weeks, I was in Richmond, Virginia, meetings, and the dear pastor took me out on two different days, and we went over the bloodiest battlefields in the Civil War.

The trenches are still there, the breastworks are there, and they preserve some of those battlefields, and I've always loved to read history, especially about the Civil War. And I read all the epitaphs and walked over it.

I had a great time. During the Civil War, some went to sleep on picket duty in the Northern lines. He was caught asleep on picket duty, court-martialed, sentenced to be shot, and later they kept on investigating the case and they found out that somebody had missed some orders, and he'd been on picket duty three days and nights without any relief, and his body just couldn't take it, and he'd fallen asleep.

And so they began to put the machinery and the circulation to recall his court-martial, but his death sentence had been signed by the officer in charge, and in the meantime, this officer had been killed in action.

I know it's so now, but it fixed it so there was just one man living who could counterman the orders of that court-martial since the man who'd signed this death sentence was dead. Nobody on earth had authority to revoke his sentence of death except the President of the United States.

And they fixed up the papers, and this man armed with the necessary papers journeyed to Washington. But on his way, he was seized upon by some marauders, and they stole everything on his personal papers and all, and left him half dead.

And finally, he got able to travel again, and he got to the city of Washington, but he had no identification. He had no way of entrée into the President's office, and there he was. He went from place to place and told his story, but nobody had any proof.

He was telling the truth, and you just don't walk into the President of the United States' office in times of war. And he had no way of proving that he had a right to see President Lincoln. And his time was about up, and he'd lost all hope.

He was walking off of the White House grounds, and he was crying. He was blue. He hadn't got to see the only man living that could save him from death. And he ran into a little old 10-year-old boy walking along crying, wasn't watching, and he stumbled into a little old 10-year-old boy.

And the little boy said, Mr., you're crying. He said, yes. He said, what's the matter, Mr.? The man said, well, son, you wouldn't be interested. He said, well, what you crying for? Tell me about it, Mr.

And he told everybody else. Nobody believed him. And he told that little 10-year-old boy his story. And the little boy said, Mr., you want to see the President? He said, yes. He's the only man that can save me.

And the little old boy said, well, come on. I'll take you to see the President. And he did. That old Tad Lincoln, the playboy, the mischief maker of the White House, he took that soldier by the hand. And they walked through door after door, and they all opened when Tad Lincoln said, and pretty soon a door opened, and sitting over there was that ugly Abraham Lincoln, surrounded by men.

And the little 10-year-old boy marched right through him, right up to the desk of the oppressed United States, holding on to the soldier. And he said, Dad, here's a man wants to see you. My Lord Jesus Christ earned the right when he died on the cross to present him to anybody on God's earth in the very presence of Almighty God who can be joined to him and who will just come under to him, turn yourself over to him.

Bless God, he'll take you by the hand. He'll lead you home. Let's do everything we can not to offend the only Lord and Savior who alone can do mighty works. Let's bow our heads.