How to Conquer Unbelief

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As we continue our study through this wonderful gospel, we now come to the section of the second sign.
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It's the second sign, and this is the healing of the nobleman's son. We see saving faith comes to Herodian's household, and that's exactly what happens here.
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Well, if this is the second sign, there must have been a first sign. And as we remember, the first recorded miracle was when
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Jesus turned the water into wine in Canaan of Galilee. And here is the second recorded miracle that the apostle
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John has recorded for us. And there's a wonderful lesson here, and this is a wonderful story of a miracle that takes place.
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So in saying that, please turn with me as we work our way through John chapter 4, the gospel of John chapter 4.
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And this actually, we come to a conclusion in this section in chapter 4, and then,
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God willing, we will move on to John chapter 5, Lord willing, next week, as we look at the man healed at the
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Pool of Bethsaida. But this is a wonderful story of a miracle that takes place.
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And let me read this text to you, beginning with verse 43 to verse 54.
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Verse 43 to verse 54, Hear the word of the living
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God. Now after two days, He departed from there and went to Galilee.
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For Jesus Himself testified that a prophet has no honor in his own country.
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So when He came to Galilee, the Galileans received Him, having seen all the things
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He did in Jerusalem at the feast. For they also had gone to the feast.
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So Jesus came again to Canaan of Galilee, where He had made the water wine.
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And there was a certain nobleman whose son was sick at Capernaum. And when he had heard that Jesus had come out of Judea into Galilee, he went to Him and employed
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Him to come down and heal his son, for he was at the point of death.
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Then Jesus said to him, Unless you people see signs and wonders, you will by no means believe.
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The nobleman said to Him, Sir, come down before my child dies.
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Jesus said to him, Go your way, your son lives. So the man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him, and he went his way.
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And as he was now going down, his servants met him and told him, saying,
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Your son lives. Then he inquired of them the hour when he got better.
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And they said to him, Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him. And so the father knew that it was at the same hour in which
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Jesus said to him, Your son lives. And he himself believed, and his whole household.
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This again is the second sign Jesus did when He had come out of Judea into Galilee.
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May God bless the reading of His words from our ears to our hearts this morning. Let's please bow in prayer as we seek the
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Lord's blessing upon this hour as we hear the preached word. Our Father in Heaven, we thank
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You for Your word. Now Lord, change us. You're the
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Lord that changes not. But Lord, we are the ones that need changing. Change our hearts,
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Lord. And if some here need a new heart, Lord, You can do that as well.
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By the power of Your Spirit to regenerate. But Father, our goal and aim is to glorify
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You. And Lord, You have glorified Your name, and You have glorified
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Your word. Speak, Lord, for Your servant hears. And we ask this in the name of the
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Lord Jesus Christ for Your honor and glory. Amen. The gospel of John is no doubt preeminently the gospel of belief.
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The gospel of belief. The apostle wrote his inspired record so that his readers, according to which
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I believe personally is the key verse to this entire chapter, is
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John chapter 20 verse 31. That you may believe that Jesus is the
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Christ, the Son of God. And that believing they may have life in His name.
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That is no doubt the key verse to this entire chapter. And to this entire gospel.
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The words believe literally appears nearly 100 times in this gospel.
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Isn't that incredible? A hundred times in the gospel of John, whether it be in a verb or whatever it may be, the word is constantly brought up.
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Believe, believe, believe. In believing. And the majority of the occurrences refer to believing savingly, by the way, in the
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Lord Jesus Christ. It is a saving faith. It is a faith, a belief, a trust in who
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God is. I like what D .L. Moody said. What does it mean to trust in God?
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And he says, simply put, it is leaning with all your weight on God and who
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He is. Leaning with all your weight on God for who
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He is. Well put. And by the way, it is through believing in the
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Lord Jesus Christ that people become children of God. By believing, we obtain eternal life in His name.
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By believing, we avoid the judgment of eternal damnation. It is by believing in the
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Lord Jesus Christ we partake in the resurrection of life everlasting. By believing in the
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Lord Jesus Christ, we possess the indwelling of the Spirit of God to indwell our hearts.
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By believing in the Lord Jesus Christ, we are delivered from spiritual darkness into His glorious light.
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And also we find empowerment by the power of the Spirit of God to obey the gospel for spiritual life and to live godly in this present perverted age.
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All these glorious benefits are given to the people who believe and trust in the
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Lord Jesus Christ, who have faith and trust and believe that Jesus Christ is
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Lord and Savior and for who He is. He is the Messiah, the Son of the living God.
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Furthermore, God Himself commands people everywhere to repent. And He also commands people to believe in His Son.
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I'll give you an example. When asked by the crowd in John chapter 6 verse 28, the question was this,
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What shall we do so that we may work the works of God? What shall we do so that we may work the works of God?
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Jesus replied, This is the work of God that you believe in Him whom
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He has sent. But sadly, tragically, as this is the case of most people, the majority of people refuse to believe in the
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Lord Jesus Christ. In that great sermon on the mount, which
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Jesus preached in Matthew 5 and 6 and 7, chapters 5, 6 and 7,
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He Himself warned, and this is a powerful verse, close to the conclusion of that sermon, that great sermon that He preached as He taught the disciples on that mountaintop.
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He says, The gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction.
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And there are many who enter through it. For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life.
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And there are few who find it. Beloved, that is the words of the Lord Jesus Christ.
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And that stands true today. Many will go into the broad way that leads to destruction because they love their sin, because of unbelief.
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They refuse to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, in who He is and what
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He has done. But very few will enter into that small gate that leads to life eternal.
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Well, expressing that same powerful truth from the perspective of the divine sovereignty,
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Jesus declared this in the Gospel, For many are called, but few are chosen.
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Look at how much Jesus says within just those few words. Many are called, but few are chosen.
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That's the Scriptures. According to the Bible, despite the good deeds of people by the millions, and actually if you look around today, in this entire world, as Brother Keith mentioned this morning in Sunday School, there's a vast difference between religion and Christianity.
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Which technically you could say is the one true religion if you want to put it in that word. Because there's only one time the word religion is used, and that's in the book of James.
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Pure religion, true religion is pure.
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And it basically obeys to visit the widows and the orphans and to tend to their needs.
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It's actually, if you look at James, it's actually saying there is obedience to the believing. But technically,
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Christianity is unique in comparison to the thousands and thousands of religions in this world.
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Man's religions, all religions stand on one way, and that is the broad way to destruction, folks.
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Many are deceived this hour as we meet together in a small assembly here at Redeeming Grace Church to worship our
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Lord. And by the vast numbers today, by the millions, people somehow think they can merit their salvation and earn their way to heaven.
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That is a damnable lie. A damnable lie.
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And Satan deceives people, the god of this age, of that somehow people feel like they got to do something good.
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It's the flesh that wants to somehow say, I've done something to earn heaven.
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Again, I'm going to quote Moody here. He says, I'm so thankful that salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone, because I don't want to hear, he says,
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I don't want to hear people in heaven boast how they got to heaven, that they earned their way somehow. We can only give credit to the merits of the
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Lord Jesus Christ alone that gets us into heaven. And I agree with Moody there, 100%.
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Many are called, few are chosen. Man's religion is damnable.
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And by the way, there's people that are very religiously zealous about their religion.
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They are very devout. Right? I'm talking about just not even a quarter of a mile, not even that far, maybe an eighth of a mile from where I pick up my milk every day, there's a
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Jehovah Witness building right next to us. And then right down the road, there's a
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Seventh -day Adventist on the hill. And then there's a little other gospel church, and I pray it's a gospel -centered church.
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I don't know anything about it, but I know the Jehovah Witnesses. And every day that I pass the Jehovah Witnesses, that building is occupied by people.
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They go to church there every single day thinking that they're doing something to earn their way to heaven. That's why there's so much, so to speak, on fire going door to door, because they really believe the more people that they can somehow convert to their damnable religion, that somehow they earn brownie points with God that they earned their way to heaven.
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We have the truth. We should be shaming them in evangelism. Well, what does the
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Scripture say? Well, Romans 8 says, So then those who are in the flesh cannot please
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God. Paul sums it up in one verse right there. Those that are in the flesh, and all religions of the world is flesh.
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The Holy Spirit has nothing to do with it. Period. Pastor, how can you say that?
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I stand on God's Word. So how do we know, how can we please
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God? Well, all those that are in the flesh cannot please God. Their religion that's fleshly, leans on the arm of flesh, somehow earning their way to heaven, thinking they weren't earning their way to heaven.
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They're deceived. The Scripture says, There is a way that which seems right unto man, but the end thereof is the way of death.
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Well, Scripture tells us, we know how to please God. Hebrews 11 verse 6 gives us the answer.
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So, think of this. Those that are in the flesh cannot please God, but we can by faith.
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The writer of Hebrews says, But without faith it is impossible to please Him. For he who comes to God must, listen to that, underscore that, must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek
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Him. They're seeking God too. They're seeking His will.
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They're seeking His face. That means we have a heart and a desire to love Him, and which is given to us by the
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Holy Spirit, and faith is given to us by God. It is an instrument.
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For by grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves. It is the gift of God.
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Scripture also says, That each and every one that is born again is given a measure of faith.
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There is a measure of faith, and that faith is basically the instrument in which we lay hold of Christ.
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Because Christ has already laid hold of us. We just don't stop there. Paul said,
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It goes two ways. Christ has laid hold of me, but I lay hold of Him.
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I lay hold of eternal life. So that is by faith. By faith.
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I mentioned that last Lord's Day. By faith. Hebrews 11. By faith. The just shall live by faith.
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It is quoted many times through the scriptures. Habakkuk. I believe.
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Hebrews. Romans. Paul mentions it. The just shall live by faith.
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By faith. And we seek God by faith. We seek God by faith.
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I love Isaiah 55 verse 6. Listen to the prophet
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Isaiah through the Holy Spirit. Seek the Lord while He may be found.
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Call upon Him while He is near. Verse 7. Let the wicked forsake
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His way and the unrighteous man his thoughts. Let him return to the
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Lord and He will have mercy on him. And to our God, for He will abundantly pardon.
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Isn't that a wonderful promise? That God is willing to abundantly pardon?
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But keep in mind is so many people erroneously teach that God loves everybody unconditionally is a lie.
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People say, what do you mean? I thought God loves us unconditionally. But there are conditions to repentance.
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It says it right here. The wicked man must forsake His way. The unrighteous man his thoughts.
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Let him return to the Lord. And He will have mercy on him.
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See God will have mercy and compassion if that person comes to God's conditions.
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People say, well right now pastor you're talking about Armenianism. This is something you do. No, God is helping you through this.
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Spurgeon even said this. He said, as you seek the Lord you will find by the
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Scriptures that it is God who first sought you. No man can come to God unless the
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Spirit of God draws him. So even that seeking because Scripture says no one can seek
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God. But yet the Bible commands us to seek God. And the way
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I like to look at it I've thought about this and meditated on this truth many times. I said as I'm seeking the
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Lord as I'm praying it is the Spirit of God that is doing the work. It's not me. Even though I make a deliberate choice to do that it is
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God that is doing the work within me to obey.
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God is willingly desirous to pardon us. This is a great glorious promise of those who diligently seek the
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Lord in faith. In faith. We pray because of our faith.
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We love God because of faith. And all of it is given all these benefits have been given to us through the blood of His cross.
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In which Jesus paid the full price. He has opened up the way to God.
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That's where God meets man is at the cross. Now, we're talking about faith but let's talk a little bit about the contrary.
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Unbelief. Unbelief is a damnable sin, beloved. It's a damnable sin.
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If I may say, it may be the most damnable sins of all sins. It is the sin for which people are ultimately sentenced to everlasting torment in hell.
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Because of unbelief. And since all other sins are forgiven for those who repent and believe in the
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Lord Jesus Christ. John 3 .18 Jesus said it like this.
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He who does not believe in the name of the only begotten Son of God. You notice that.
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He does not believe. John 16 .8 and 9 Jesus said of the
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Holy Spirit when He comes He will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment concerning sin.
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Because they do not believe in me. That's why unbelief is so damnable.
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There are millions right this moment that are in hell because of unbelief.
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Oh, we're not talking about a mental assent to God that they knew that God existed. There's many people in hell right now that believe that God exists.
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We're talking about, as I mentioned earlier what Moody said, you throw your weight upon the
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Lord Jesus Christ on God and believe Him for who He is and take Him for who
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He is and submit to His Lordship and believe.
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Much is said about unbelief. Much is said. Turn with me to Hebrews chapter 3.
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Let's look at a few verses here. This is a very strong chapter.
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And I say, I should say more than just a strong chapter if you turn to the book of Hebrews it's a strong, strong book.
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Very strong medicine in this wonderful epistle. Hebrews chapter 3 let me read verse 7 to verse 19.
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He's actually exhorting the believers to be faithful. So just don't look at the negative.
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Even though the warnings could be the negative side of it but there's an exhortation to be faithful.
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Because the opposite of unbelief would be to be faithful. He gives an ample warning about the horrific sin of unbelief.
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So listen closely. Therefore as the Holy Spirit says Today, today if you will hear
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His voice do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion and the day of trial in the wilderness where your fathers tested me and tried me and saw my works forty years.
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Therefore I was angry with that generation and said they always go astray in their hearts and they have not known my ways.
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So I swore in my wrath they shall not enter my rest. Listen to verse 12.
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Beware brethren lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living
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God. Now He tells us what to do. But exhort one another weekly daily daily while it is called today lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.
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For we have become partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end.
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While it is said again, He repeats this Today, if you will hear His voice do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.
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Verse 16 For who, having heard, rebelled? Question. Indeed. Again another question.
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Was it not all who came out of Egypt led by Moses? Another question.
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Now with whom was He angry forty years? Another question.
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Was it not with those who sinned whose corpse fell in the wilderness?
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Another question. Verse 18 And to whom He did
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He swear that they would not enter His rest but to those who did not obey?
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See how important it is to obey? Because obedience is always the fruit of true belief in who
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Jesus Christ is. And then He answers it in verse 19 So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.
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Very simply put the writer of Hebrews is actually quoting
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Psalm 95 he's referring to numbers in Joshua which we will look at later in the application.
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But Psalm 95 verse 7 For He is our
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God and we are the people of His pasture and the sheep of His hand. Notice what he says.
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The psalmist says Today if you will hear His voice do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion and in the day of trial in the wilderness when your fathers tested me they tried me though they saw my work.
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They saw miracles. For forty years I was grieved with that generation and said it is the people who go astray in their hearts.
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You notice that time and time again he talks about they go astray in their hearts and they do not know my ways.
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So I swore in my wrath they shall not enter my rest. Beloved may that not be true of us.
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May we come with humility and I don't know if you noticed it pride has a lot to do with unbelief as well because pride basically rebels and says
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I know better than God. I do not have to give my submission and allegiance to God.
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And you can know all the scriptures and so forth but if we do not submit in our obedience to God we are simply disobeying
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Him and we have fallen into the sin of unbelief because we go astray in our hearts.
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That's where the backslide really begins is in our hearts.
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Strong verses there beloved. Well, that's the warnings.
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An evil unbelieving heart an unbelieving heart characterizes an unregenerate people.
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An unbelieving evil heart that loves sins, darkness and detests the light of the gospel of God.
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Now it's different, unbelief is different than doubt. Brother Keith and I were talking about this here recently.
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Doubt basically says I cannot believe but unbelief says in a willful rebellious way
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I will not believe. I refuse to believe. That's a bad place to be folks.
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So if you read through the whole epistle, the book of Hebrews there's warnings after warnings after warnings to charge the people that are hearing the truth to not rebel and not to harden their hearts and not to fall into the sin of unbelief.
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There's serious consequences to it. It is an obstinate choice by the way.
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It's a choice that people make. An obstinate choice of rebellion against God's holy command and God's authority.
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It is against God's authority as king, as God, as who
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He is. Can you imagine? People that God has created from the dust rebel against the holy
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God that made them? It searches my own heart.
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It says, Lord not because I know these seeds are still there even though I have a regenerate heart we are incarcerated in this unredeemed flesh and that's why we have sanctification.
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This is why we must mortify the flesh and the deeds of the flesh and that's why the cross is so hard against the deeds of the flesh and our hardness of heart because these things are so indwelt within us
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I mean to the core it must be crucified. It must be dealt with.
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And I'm so thankful. How about you? That God deals with that sin. There's great love behind it because this is the way of true happiness and joy and peace in God.
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And a lot of people turn away from that they think it's so hard it's almost like the discipline process of parents giving to children.
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There's pain. Hebrews actually speaks about that in a couple chapters next.
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Let me read that to you. Verse 5 of chapter 12
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Have you forgotten the exhortation which speaks to you as to sons? My son, do not despise the chastening of the
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Lord nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by him for whom the
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Lord loves he chastens and scourges every son whom he receives. Folks, as I read this this is why
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David in Psalm 23 says Thy rod comforts me.
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The rod is a rod of comfort not just punishment but discipline because there's security in that there is love in that because God cares and he does not desire us to go astray and harm ourselves and harm others.
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He says no with love strong cords of love I draw you in and I love you and I discipline you.
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One period it says the worst thing God can do for us or should I say the best is to whip us into heaven.
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Verse 7 If you endure chastening God deals with you as with sons.
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For what son is there whom a father does not chasten? Listen to that question.
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But if you are without chastening of which all have become partakers then you are illegitimate and not sons.
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In other words you are not partakers of God's holiness and you are not adopted into the kingdom of God and furthermore we have had our human fathers who corrected us and we paid them respect.
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Shall we not much more readily in subjection to the father of spirits and live?
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For they indeed for a few days chastened us as seemed best to them but he for our profit that we may be partakers of his holiness.
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And then he says now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present but painful.
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Very straightforward. Painful, it is painful. But nevertheless afterward it yields the peaceable fruit.
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There's fruit that comes after that. The fruit of righteousness. The fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.
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And beloved that's where we are as children of the living God. When we go astray when we desire to do something that's not of the
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Lord's will I assure you because of the love of God and if you are truly a child of God God's going to come with you with a rod.
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But it's a loving rod. Chastens us, disciplines us to train us so that we will yield the peaceable fruit of righteousness.
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Isn't that wonderful? So we must beware of the hardness of hearts and the sin of unbelief.
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Well you think of it if there's rebellion and pride involved in unbelief you can assure it's demonic.
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Because that's exactly what the archangel Lucifer did when he rebelled against God.
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It was because of his pride. And if you read that I believe it's in chapter 19
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I believe of Isaiah it speaks about when he was Lucifer there's the story that the prophet gives to the spirit of course he's dealing with the king in that time period but there's a prophecy that usually has a double meaning to it but he speaks about Lucifer I will exalt myself against the most high.
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I will exalt, I will be like the most high I will, notice the I wills the I wills but Jesus came to serve and Jesus came to give his life for a ransom for many and in the garden of Gethsemane he says thy will be done.
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Not my will but thy will be done. Jesus taught his disciples to pray thy will be done in heaven as on earth as it is in heaven.
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So it's satanic, the god of this world who has blinded the minds, 2nd Corinthians 4 -4, the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel, the glory of Christ and at it's very core unbelief is a rejection of the saving truth from Jesus Christ.
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Jesus said this but though they had performed so many signs before them yet the gospel of John yet they were not believing in him.
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And that was to fulfill the word of Isaiah the prophet in Isaiah 53 which he spoke
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Lord who has believed I report and to whom of the arm of the
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Lord has been revealed. Powerful. Well let's look at the story in John 4 all the way from verse 43 -54
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I'm going to do my utmost to get through this and I cannot take credit of the outline I love MacArthur's outline on this so I'm giving him credit,
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I borrowed his outline I'm preaching the sermon myself but the outline
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I give him credit we have number 1 in verses 43 -45 an unbelief contemplated unbelief is contemplated second we see in verse 46 -49 we observe that unbelief is confronted, unbelief is confronted and then last we will see unbelief is conquered in verse 50 -54 unbelief is conquered then we'll look at some application unbelief contemplated unbelief contemplated let's look at the text
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John 4 we see in verse 43 -45 unbelief is contemplated here now after the two days he departed from there and went to Galilee and for Jesus himself testified that a prophet has no honor in his own country so when he came to Galilee the
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Galileans received him having seen all things he did in Jerusalem at the feast for they also had gone to the feast now we know that Nicodemus went to that feast because as Nicodemus came to Jesus in John chapter 3 what did
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Nicodemus say I know you're from God if you turn back in the very first there was a man in the
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Pharisees name Nicodemus a ruler of the Jews this man came to Jesus by night and said to him Rabbi we know that you are a teacher come from God and no one can do these signs, the miracles that you do unless God is with him so he was at the feast and many the scripture says were there at the feast in Jerusalem they'd gone to the feast so after staying two days in Saqar at the request of the newly converted
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Samaritans in verse 40 the Lord turned his footsteps northward to Galilee here and the proverbial statement which
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Jesus basically says a prophet has no honor in his own country he says that in Luke 4 24 as well and it contrasts
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Jesus acceptance by the Samaritans with his general rejection by the
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Jewish people he came unto his own and his own did not receive him now there seems to be what some people would say a problem in this text about the two days he departed there and went to Galilee Jesus said that a prophet has no honor to his own country then he came to Galilee and the
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Galileans received him what does it mean by the Galileans received him let me give you
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MacArthur's notes because I don't know if I can put it in my own words but he says it perfectly here and this is from his commentary he says this concerning that statement at first glance it seems somewhat perplexing that Jesus went to Galilee because as he himself testified he would receive no honor there the point however is that Jesus was not taken by surprise when many of his home region rejected him he went there knowing that he would be given a cold reception especially at Nazareth where he had been raised but some in Galilee would believe and therefore honor him end quote and we know that to be true because in John 2
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Jesus is the discerner of hearts nothing takes Jesus by surprise I like what
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MacArthur says he would receive a cold reception but some would believe in him and in chapter 2 verse 24 but Jesus did not commit himself to them because he knew all men and he had no need that anyone should testify man for he knew what was in man so now we need to keep that in mind as he goes there he's going to be rejected he's a man of sorrows he's rejected he's the son of the living
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God the son of man but he came unto his own his own did not receive him but some did believe in him so John's statement so when he came to Galilee the
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Galileans received him let's understand what that means first of all it does not mean they believed in him savingly with saving faith as the
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Messiah the son of the living God it doesn't mean that it basically means the word soul if you look at it and the original language refers back to the statement
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Jesus makes preceding the preceding verse and that confirms that the
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Galileans did not honor him for who he really was who he really was the
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Messiah the son of the living God the son of David on the contrary having seen all the things that he did in Jerusalem at the feast all the miracles that he was a miracle worker they welcomed him merely as just that a miracle worker they saw him for nothing else just as the many people that followed him just for the bread the miracle of the bread that he would provide for them and meet their physical needs and even though he knew in their hearts that they were following him for the wrong reason he still did that miracle because of his great love because he was moved with compassion and he looked upon them as sheep not going astray without a shepherd so here they welcomed him just as a miracle worker keep that in mind they were curiosity seekers they were their motive for following Jesus was just for the miracles they wanted to see
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Jesus perform sensational miracles you know why, do you get what is being said here in the text they wanted to see something they just wanted to see
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Jesus even said to the Pharisees and the religious people you wicked and adulterous generation you seek after signs basically what he was telling them is that you don't believe me for what the things
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I say he said if you don't believe me for what I say believe me for just the works sake and they didn't believe him for who he really was for the works sake they just wanted to see miracles isn't that like it is today look at how large the prosperity gospel continues to flourish and grow because it appeals to the flesh they want to see what they want to see they want to see outward manifestations and miracles
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God sees things otherwise the apostle John writes with a sense of irony here the
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Galileans reception of Jesus was not genuine it was superficial and it was very shallow so unbelief is contemplated unbelief is contemplated let's go to the second point the second point
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Jesus observed here is unbelief is confronted unbelief is confronted we see this in verse 46 through 49 so Jesus came again to Canaan and Galilee where he had made the water to wine and there was a certain nobleman whose son was sick at Capernaum and when
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Jesus, I'm sorry, when he heard that Jesus come out of Judea and Galilee he went to him and employed him to come down and heal his son for he was at the point of death now stop right there again the village of Canaan was honored by a visit from the
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Lord himself on the first visit as we saw in chapter 2 some of the people had seen him turn water into wine at the marriage feast now they were to witness another mighty miracle by him and the effect of which would extend to Capernaum and reach to all the people there the son of a certain nobleman sick at Capernaum, this particular man was undoubtedly
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Jewish and some say that he was employed by Herod the king commentators say that that could be very well possible very well possible he was a member of Herod's court but no doubt we know according to the scriptures that he was at his wits end and desperately needed help from the
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Savior because his son was lying on his deathbed dying with a with a fever verse 47 when he heard that Jesus had come out of Judea and Galilee he went to him, employed him
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I love that, he implored him to come down and heal his son for he was at the point of death he was at wits end he goes to Jesus he keeps beseeching the
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Lord to travel to Capernaum to heal his son there he basically wanted the
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Lord to come to his own house personally verse 48 and then
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Jesus said to him unless you people see signs and wonders you will by no means believe you see here that, you see that unbelief is confronted this is still unbelief here
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Jesus speaking not only to the noblemen but he's also I believe speaking to the
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Jewish people the Jewish nation in general here the Lord reminds them of their natural characteristic that they desire to see nothing but the miracles before they would even believe in him
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Jesus confronted their unbelief in general we find that the Lord Jesus was not as pleased with the faith that was based on miracles as he was with that which is based on his word that's key that's key keep that in mind and can
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I say right here it is far far more honoring to the
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Lord to believe in a thing simply because God said it because it gives not just visible proof but God says it do you remember what
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Hebrews 11 .1 says the definition of faith now faith amen is the substance you know what the substance means it means the realization the realization of things hold for the evidence or you could say the confidence of things not seen we believe
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God's word because he said it not because it's seen and that's why you see through the book of Hebrews chapter 11 that it constantly goes through a trail there seeing him who's visible by the eyes of faith we don't see literally into heaven say you got these stories today that people die and go to the afterlife and go to heaven and they say they come back and don't believe that folks they say they have these great visions of when they die whether they see heaven or hell don't believe it folks yeah but they really experience it and it's real look folks put your faith in the naked word of God that's what pleases
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God that's what pleases God his word's sufficient it's enough it's inspired it's
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God breathed but his word is sufficient that's what we need to get back to is the sufficiency of God's word that it is all we need and it is enough and it's more than enough
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I should say well the Lord Jesus always taught that we should first believe and then we will see right verse 49 the noble man said to him sir come down before my child dies he got very desperate here and persistence of genuine true faith here he believed that the
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Lord Jesus could do his son good and again he wanted a personal visit from the
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Lord more than anything else in this world Lord just come to my house he's dying well can
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I tell you right here before he came to this point in one sense his faith was defective he thought that Jesus would have to be at his son's bedside before he can heal him get that he wanted
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Jesus there by the bedside to come personally well however the
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Savior did not rebuke him for this I think that's interesting he did not rebuke him for this but he did reward him for the measure of faith which he did exhibit what measure of light what light he did have of who
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Jesus is as a miracle worker this man was exercising that faith the best he could to the light he had but he wanted him there
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Jesus let's see how unbelief is conquered look at verse 50 through 54 unbelief is conquered
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Jesus in verse 50 said to him go your way your son lives Jesus didn't go by the bedside he didn't go he didn't do what the nobleman wanted
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Jesus is the Lord so the man believed there's the key the man believed what the word that Jesus spoke to him and he went his way he went his way and as he was going down his servants met him and told him saying your son lives your son lives so instead of agreeing to go back to Capernaum with him as the official had begged him to do
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Jesus just merely gave him the word go your way your son lives and at that very instant his son was healed even though he had no confirmation of it the man nevertheless believed in the word of Jesus Christ he believed his word and that was saving faith folks and it went to the household of this nobleman it's wonderful the
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Lord's words to him had moved him from the third level of unbelief which needs miracles to see miracles to see it to the second level which needs a belief solely on God's word and Christ's word alone he took
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Jesus at his word and his son was healed praise God unbelief was conquered by the word of Christ by believing in the word of Christ by believing in the word of Christ not just seeing a miracle in this instance the stunning verification of the very power of Jesus' words lifted this man this royal official all the way from sign seeking unbelief to genuine saving faith praise his name what about us what about us how are we going to apply this how can unbelief how can we conquer unbelief how can we overcome unbelief well again as we looked at the book of Hebrews makes it very clear that the promised land is a type of spiritual inheritance believers have in faith today it's sad to say this but there's many gospel songs and gospel poets and singers that sing about heaven as Canaan land but really in the scriptures it's not heaven
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Canaan land is not the symbol and type of heaven Canaan land is basically the type of spiritual inheritance that believers have in faith today as we walk with the lord and obey his word and his will do you see that this is so important because we have it today this is why
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Jesus says John 10 10 I have come that they may have life and have it more abundantly it's the inheritance is in him that abundant living is not talking about big cars and houses it's talking about all the riches we have in Jesus Christ and if we have all these riches in Jesus Christ the peace the love the joy the fruit of the spirit adoption his sons the spirit of God that gives us the power the wisdom to live this wonderful life in the
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Christian life that is all because of Christ and for who he is and because he loved us so much and he died on the cross and it's accessible to him through him all because of the cross all because of his sacrifice
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God's children have a spiritual inheritance today from which they may draw as they live the
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Christian life by faith and do the father's will except for Moses Joshua and Caleb the
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Jews that were delivered who delivered from Egypt all died during the 40 years in the wilderness as they were going in circles going in circles
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I'm going to borrow Brother Keith's analogy here you see that was the first NASCAR track that's the truth they were going in circles think of that for 40 years in circles constantly why because they were murmuring they were complaining why were they murmuring and complaining because they did not believe in God they were complaining to God because oh you brought us out in this desert for us to die at least we had leeks and cucumbers and those good things back there in Egypt they were wanting to go back into the world to Egypt under bondage sad well going in there into the
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Canaan land is really our application I want you to see this go with me very quickly to Numbers 13 this is so critical
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I must I'm not going to read all of it but there's a good bit here and we we've read through this as we've been going through the scripture reading
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I'm going to jump around a little bit here okay but the point is very important then
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Moses verse 17 sent them to spy out the land of Canaan he's talking about Caleb and Joshua they were the spies go up this way into the south and go up to the mountain verse 18 and see what the land is like and whether the people who dwell in it are strong or weak few or many go spy it out whether the land they dwell is in good or bad whether the cities it inhabits are like camps or strongholds then he says this whether the land is rich or poor whether there are forests there are not be of good courage there's the encouraging word be of good courage and bring some fruit of the land and now the time was the season of the first ripe grapes jump down the verse 26 they departed and came back to Moses and Aaron and all the congregation of the children of Israel and the wilderness of Paran and Kedash they brought back word to them that all the congregation showed them the fruit of the land and they told him and said we went to the land where you sent us it truly flows with milk and honey and there this is its fruits nevertheless the people who dwell in the land are strong the cities are fortified and very large more over they saw the descendants of Anak there and Amlekites dwell in the land of the south and the
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Hittites the Jebusites the Amorites dwell in the mountains and the Canaanites dwell by the sea along the banks of the
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Jordan then Caleb quieted the people before Moses and said let us go up before up at once and take possession for we will be able to overcome it folks that is faith in God speaking not unbelief that is faith and you know why that Caleb and Joshua was speaking this way because their eyes were not on the giants of the land their eyes were on God and when our eyes are on God we don't see giants everybody else may see giants but God is far far bigger than giants this is where we need to be folks as redeeming grace church we need to have our eyes on God everybody else may be around us whoever it may be oh there's giants but well that does not to deny that there are giants but we know our eyes are upon God and these giants as they were seeing giants and the people look like grasshoppers actually the giants should look like grasshoppers next to God you see think of this listen to what he says here verse 31 but the men who had gone up with him said we're not able to go up against the people they're stronger than we are that's unbelief and they gave the children of Israel a bad report of the land which they had spied out saying the land through which they have gone as spies is a land of devours its inhabitants and all the people whom we saw in their land and men of great stature they're talking about the giants there we saw the giants the descendants and it came from the giants and we are like grasshoppers in our own sight so we were in their sight you see that's unbelief folks that's unbelief speaking they really didn't see
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God for who he is that he is God and there's none like him where Joshua speaks and I won't go there because my time's gone but if you read
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Joshua chapter 1 there's constant encouragement there I have I not commanded you be strong and be of good courage do not be afraid do not be dismayed for the
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Lord your God is with you wherever you go you can take that land because of God and his might and his strength and his wisdom because he's the creator he made those little giants in his eyes but just look at the story of David and Goliath David defeated that giant
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Goliath because what David's eyes were on God and that mouthing pagan
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Philistine was blaspheming the name of God and David said why won't somebody stand up against this pagan he defies the armies of the living
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God he blasphemes God little shepherd boy went out there first King Saul tried to put armor on him it was cumbersome and he couldn't do it because it slowed him down but David went in the name of the
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Lord and with five stones and he killed the giant with one stone in the name of the Lord in the name of God he did that because he stood boldly and says he defies the name of God's name then
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I'm going to go in the name of the Lord and put him down boy don't we need boldness like that today it's all that matters well the important thing is that Israel maintained faith in the
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Lord and obedience to the Lord and it's one thing again if we say we are believers and we believe in God obedience always follows obedience is always there
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Jesus Christ is our captain of our salvation and we should not draw back the devil used idolatry and morality intermarriage with the pagans to defy the nation but the faithful band of the believing remnant always remain dedicated devoted and committed to the
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Lord God always has a remnant and we must learn from the past if we are to be obedient to the present and prepare for the future folks this is so critical this is so critical and how do we do this by faith and our faith is exercised by showing it in obedience the way we live it out everyday in the home in our job it's lived out and when the word says it we believe it the
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Scottish preacher Alexander White said this he defined a victorious Christian life as a series of new beginnings and I want to say this to everyone we all have weaknesses yes we do we all have failures yes we do but we can always make a new beginning by faith as we grow in the grace and the knowledge of the
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Lord Jesus Christ feed on His word trust in His word pray, give our time to meditation and loving
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Him seek the Lord serve the Lord, serve the church and love
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God with all of our hearts and give our all to Him until He calls us away or until Jesus comes let me say this
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Satan always reminds us of our defeats, he always brings condemnation because he wants us to be discouraged, he wants to discourage us folks think of David, David encouraged himself in the
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Lord he encouraged himself in the Lord by the way that was at the context there when he acted crazy at the cave he acted insane but he encouraged himself in the
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Lord it's kind of humorous our
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Father in Heaven wants us to encourage us and by the way He encourages us to repent He encourages us to return to Him and seek the
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Lord while He may be found well let me end with this, go with me to Lamentations chapter 3 this is the way unbelief is conquered folks
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Lamentations chapter 3 and I close with these words look at look at verse 19 remember my affliction and roaming the wormwood and the gall my soul still remembers and sinks within me this
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I recall to my mind therefore I have hope there's hope through the
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Lord's mercies we are not consumed aren't you glad because of God's compassions right this very minute that all of us are not consumed by His fierce anger and by the way
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God could destroy every one of us and be just in doing it if we don't see it that way we don't understand who
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God is and we don't understand who we are think of this through the Lord's mercies we are not consumed because His compassions they fail not they never fail they are new every morning great is your faithfulness do you ever think of that every day when the sun comes up there's another new day and I have a new day before me the sun shines again and God's mercies are new it should remind us of God's mercies the
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Lord is my portion says my soul therefore I hope in Him the
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Lord is good to those who wait for Him the soul who seeks Him it is good that one should hope and wait quietly for salvation is of the
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Lord skip down a few verses verse 37 who is
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He who speaks and it comes to pass and when the Lord has not commanded it is it not from the mouth of the most high that woe and well being proceed see both proceed from God calamity and prosperity woe and well being why should a living man complain a man for the punishment of his sins that's a good question what's the answer look at verse 40 let us search out and examine our ways who's at the judgment bar here it's not
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God it's us let us search out our ways let us search out and examine our ways and turn back to the
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Lord let us lift our hearts and hands to the God of heaven isn't that wonderful we turn to God he is our hope he is our fortress he's our help in the present time of the present health and trouble if you have it come clean before the
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Lord you can do this today today if you do not harden your heart today is the day of salvation today you have another day and J .C.
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Rowell is so right there's no repentance in the grave folks today is the day do not procrastinate do not harden your heart one
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Puritan said this the devil's biggest lie is tomorrow today is
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God's day today is the word for you and me today is the day to repent today believe the gospel today put your faith in the
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Lord Jesus Christ no matter how much we have failed yesterday yesterday is gone right today is a new day today
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God gives us mercy to change our ways and trust in him and we can confess our sins today and be forgiven because he's faithful and just to forgive us of our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness if we but come to him confess and forsake your sins may
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God grant it to be so for us and may we not be those who draw back, shrink back in perdition but persevere in the name of the
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Lord Jesus Christ let's pray. Our father in heaven we thank you
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Lord for this awesome story that's been preserved for us in your written record, the gospel of John Lord there's so much we can learn here and it searches our own hearts of unbelief
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Lord may we be believing and not unbelieving. This noble man
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Lord he had little light much light we have but little light he had and yet Lord the unbelief was conquered because he believed in the word of the
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Lord Jesus Christ and look at how much word we have in these 66 books.
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Father we thank you that you preserved them for us Lord may we seek you and believe you not because of miracles but because of your word and rest in that may we obey obey this gospel because we believed it help us not to be just hearers of the word but to be doers in Jesus name.