How to Conquer Unbelief

As we continue our study through this wonderful gospel, we now come to the section of the second sign. 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.

Well, if this is the second sign, there must have been a first sign. And as we remember, the first recorded miracle was when Jesus turned the water into wine in Canaan of Galilee. And here is the second recorded miracle that the apostle John has recorded for us.

John 4 and the Second Sign in the Gospel of Belief

And there's a wonderful lesson here, and this is a wonderful story of a miracle that takes place. So in saying that, please turn with me as we work our way through John chapter 4, the gospel of John chapter 4.

And this actually, we come to a conclusion in this section in chapter 4, and then, God willing, we will move on to John chapter 5, Lord willing, next week, as we look at the man healed at the Pool of Bethsaida.

But this is a wonderful story of a miracle that takes place. And let me read this text to you, beginning with verse 43 to verse 54. Verse 43 to verse 54, Hear the word of the living God. Now after two days, He departed from there and went to Galilee.

For Jesus Himself testified that a prophet has no honor in his own country. So when He came to Galilee, the Galileans received Him, having seen all the things He did in Jerusalem at the feast. For they also had gone to the feast.

So Jesus came again to Canaan of Galilee, where He had made the water wine. 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 Him to come down and heal his son, for he was at the point of death.

Then Jesus said to him, Unless you people see signs and wonders, you will by no means believe. The nobleman said to Him, Sir, come down before my child dies. 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. And as he was now going down, his servants met him and told him, saying, Your son lives. Then he inquired of them the hour when he got better.

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 Jesus said to him, Your son lives. And he himself believed, and his whole household.

This again is the second sign Jesus did when He had come out of Judea into Galilee. 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 Lord's blessing upon this hour as we hear the preached word.

Our Father in Heaven,.

We thank You for Your Word.

Now Lord, change us. You're the Lord that changes not. But Lord, we are the ones that need changing. Change our hearts, Lord. And if some here need a new heart, Lord, You can do that as well. By the power of Your Spirit to regenerate.

But Father, our goal and aim is to glorify You. And Lord, You have glorified Your name, and You have glorified Your Word. Speak, Lord, for Your servant hears. And we ask this in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ for Your honor and glory.

Amen. The gospel of John is no doubt preeminently the gospel of belief. The gospel of belief. The Apostle wrote his inspired record so that his readers, according to which I believe personally, is the key verse to this entire chapter.

Is John chapter 20 verse 31. That you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. And that believing they may have life in His name. That is no doubt the key verse to this entire chapter. And to this entire gospel.

The words believe literally appears nearly 100 times in this gospel. 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.

Believe, believe, believe. In believing. And the majority of the occurrences refer to believing savingly, by the way, in the Lord Jesus Christ. It is a saving faith. It is a faith, a belief, a trust in who God is.

I like what D .L. Moody said. What does it mean to trust in God? And he says, simply put, it is leaning with all your weight on God and who He is. Leaning with all your weight on God for who He is.

Well put.

And by the way, it is through believing in the Lord Jesus Christ that people become children of God. By believing, we obtain eternal life in His name. By believing, we avoid the judgment of eternal damnation.

It is by believing in the Lord Jesus Christ, we partake in the resurrection of life everlasting. By believing in the Lord Jesus Christ, we possess the indwelling of the Spirit of God to indwell our hearts.

By believing in the Lord Jesus Christ, we are delivered from spiritual darkness into His glorious light. 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.

All these glorious benefits are given to the people who believe and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, who have faith and trust and believe that Jesus Christ is Lord and Savior and for who He is. He is the Messiah, the Son of the living God.

Furthermore, God Himself commands people everywhere to repent. And He also commands people to believe in His Son. I'll give you an example. When asked by the crowd in John chapter 6 verse 28, the question was this, 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? Jesus replied, This is the work of God that you believe in Him whom He has sent. But sadly, tragically, as this is the case of most people, the majority of people refuse to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ.

In that great sermon on the mount, as Jesus preached in Matthew 5 and 6 and 7, chapters 5, 6 and 7, 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.

He says, The gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction. And there are many who enter through it. For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life. And there are few who find it.

Beloved, that is the words of the Lord Jesus Christ. And that stands true today. Many will go into the broad way that leads to destruction because they love their sin, because of unbelief. They refuse to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, in who He is and what He has done.

But very few will enter into that small gate that leads to life eternal. Well, expressing that same powerful truth from the perspective of the divine sovereignty, Jesus declared this in the Gospel, For many are called, but few are chosen.

Look at how much Jesus says within just those few words. Many are called, but few are chosen. 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.

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. Pure religion, true religion is pure.

And it basically obeys to visit the widows and the orphans and to tend to their needs. It's actually, if you look at James, it's actually saying there is obedience to the believing. But technically, Christianity is unique in comparison to the thousands and thousands of religions in this world.

Man's religions, all religions stand on one way, and that is the broad way to destruction, folks. Many are deceived, this hour, as we meet together in a small assembly here at Redeeming Grace Church to worship our Lord.

And there are many, and by the vast numbers today, by the millions, people are somehow think they can merit their salvation and earn their way to heaven. That is a damnable lie. A damnable lie. And Satan deceives people, the god of this age, of that somehow people feel like they got to do something good.

It's the flesh that wants to somehow say, I've done something to earn heaven. 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, 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 Lord Jesus Christ alone that gets us into heaven. And I agree with Moody there, 100%. Many are called, few are chosen. Man's religion is damnable. And by the way, there's people that are very religiously zealous about their religion.

They are very devout. 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 Jehovah Witness building right next to us.

And then right down the road, there's a Seventh-day Adventist on the hill. And then there's a little other gospel church, and I pray it's a gospel-centered church. 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. They go to church there every single day thinking that they're doing something to earn their way to heaven. That's why they're 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 earn their way to heaven.

We have the truth. We should be shaming them in evangelism. Well, what does the Scripture say? Well, Romans 8 says,. So then those who are in the flesh cannot please God. Paul sums it up in one verse right there.

Those that are in the flesh in all religions of the world is flesh. The Holy Spirit has nothing to do with it.

Period.

Pastor, how can you say that? I stand on God's Word. So how do we know? How can we please 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're earning their way to heaven.

They're deceived. The Scripture says, There's a way that which seems right unto man, but the end thereof is the way of death. Well, Scripture tells us we know how to please God. Hebrews 11 verse 6 gives us the answer.

So, think of this. Those that are in the flesh cannot please God, but we can by faith. 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 Him.

They're seeking God, too. They're seeking His will. 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 Holy Spirit, and faith is given to us by God.

It is an instrument. For by grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves. It is the gift of God. Scripture also says that each and everyone that is born again is given a measure of faith.

There is a measure of faith, and that faith is basically the instrument in which we lay hold of Christ. Because Christ has already laid hold of us. We just don't stop there. Paul said it goes two ways.

Christ has laid hold of me, but I lay hold of Him. I lay hold of eternal life. So that is by faith.

By faith.

I mentioned that last Lord's Day.

By faith.

Hebrews 11.

By faith.

The just shall live by faith. It's quoted many times through the Scriptures.

Habakkuk.

I believe.

Hebrews.

Romans. Paul mentions it. The just shall live by faith.

By faith.

And we seek God by faith. We seek God by faith. I love Isaiah 55 verse 6. Listen to the prophet Isaiah through the Holy Spirit. Seek the Lord while He may be found. Call upon Him while He is near. Verse 7.

Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts. Let him return to the Lord, and He will have mercy on him. And to our God, for He will abundantly pardon. Isn't that a wonderful promise?

That God is willing to abundantly pardon? But keep in mind is, so many people erroneously teach that God loves everybody unconditionally is a lie. People say, what do you mean? I thought God loves us unconditionally.

But there are conditions to repentance. It says it right here. The wicked man must forsake his way. The unrighteous man his thoughts. Let him return to the Lord. And He will have mercy on him. See, God will have mercy and compassion if that person comes to God's conditions.

People say, well right now pastor, you're talking about Arminianism. This is something you do. No, God is helping you through this. Spurgeon even said this. He said, as you seek the Lord, you will find by the Scriptures that it is God who first sought you.

No man can come to God unless the Spirit of God draws him. So even that seeking, because Scripture says no one can seek God, but yet the Bible commands us to seek God. And the way 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 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 God that is doing the work within me.

To obey.

God is willingly desirous to pardon us. This is a great glorious promise of those who diligently seek the Lord in faith, in faith. We pray because of our faith. 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, in which Jesus paid the full price.

He has opened up the way to God. 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. Unbelief. Unbelief is a damnable sin, beloved.

It's a damnable sin. 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 because of unbelief. And since all other sins are forgiven for those who repent and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, John 3, 18, Jesus said it like this.

He who does not believe in the name of the only begotten Son of God. You notice that. He does not believe. John 16, 8, 9, Jesus said of the Holy Spirit, when He comes, He will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment concerning sin because they do not believe in Me.

That's why unbelief is so damnable. There are millions right this moment that are in hell because of unbelief. 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.

We're talking about, as I mentioned earlier, what Moody said, you throw your weight upon the Lord Jesus Christ, on God, and believe Him for who He is and take Him for who He is and submit to His Lordship and believe.

Much is said about unbelief. Much is said. Turn with me to Hebrews chapter 3. Let's look at a few verses here. This is a very strong chapter. And I say, and I should say, more than just a strong chapter, if you turn to the book of Hebrews, it's a strong, strong book.

Very strong medicine in this wonderful epistle. Hebrews chapter 3, let me read verse 7 to verse 19. He's actually exhorting the believers to be faithful. So just don't look at the negative. Even though the warnings could be the negative side of it, but there's an exhortation to be faithful.

Because the opposite of unbelief would be to be faithful. He gives an ample warning about the horrific sin of unbelief. So listen closely. Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says, today, today, if you will hear His voice, do not harden your hearts, as in the rebellion, in the day of trial in the wilderness, where your fathers tested me, and tried me, and saw my works forty years.

Therefore I was angry with that generation, and said, they always go astray in their hearts, and they have not known my ways. So I swore in my wrath, they shall not enter my rest. Listen to verse 12. Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living 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. For we have become partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end. While it is said, again, He repeats this, today, if you will hear His voice, do not harden your hearts, as in the rebellion.

Verse 16. For who, having heard, rebelled?

Question. Indeed.

Again, another question. Was it not all who came out of Egypt led by Moses? Another question. Now with whom was He angry forty years? Another question. Was it not with those who sinned, whose corpse fell in the wilderness?

Another question. Verse 18. And to whom He did He swear that they would not enter His rest, but to those who did not obey? See how important it is to obey? Because obedience is always the fruit of true belief in who Jesus Christ is.

And then He answers it in verse 19. So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief. Very simply put, the writer of Hebrews is actually quoting Psalm 95. He's referring to numbers in Joshua which we will look at later in the application.

But Psalm 95, verse 7. For He is our God, and we are the people of His pasture, and the sheep of His hand. Notice what he says. 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. They saw miracles. For forty years I was grieved with that generation and said it is a people who go astray in their hearts.

You notice that? Time and time again he talks about they go astray in their hearts. And they do not know my ways. So I swore in my wrath, they shall not enter my rest. Beloved, may that not be true of us.

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 I know better than God. I do not have to give my submission and allegiance to God.

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 Him. And we have fallen into the sin of unbelief because we go astray in our hearts.

That's where the backslide really begins. Is in our hearts. Strong verses there, beloved. Well, that's the warnings. An evil, unbelieving heart. An unbelieving heart characterizes an unregenerate people.

An unbelieving, evil heart that loves sins, darkness, and detests the light of the gospel of God. Now it's different, unbelief is different than doubt. Brother Keith and I were talking about this here recently.

Doubt basically says I cannot believe. But unbelief says in a willful, rebellious way, I will not believe. I refuse to believe. That's a bad place to be, folks. 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, not to harden their hearts, and not to fall into the sin of unbelief.

There's serious consequences to it. It is an obstinate choice, by the way. It's a choice that people make. An obstinate choice of rebellion against God's holy command and God's authority. It is against God's authority as king, as God, as who He is.

Can you imagine? People that God has created from the dust rebel against the holy God that made them? It searches my own heart. I said, Lord, not because I know these seeds are still there even though I have a regenerate heart.

We're incarcerated in this unredeemed flesh and that's why we have sanctification. 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 to the core, it must be crucified.

It must be dealt with. 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. And a lot of people turn away from that because they think it's so hard.

It's almost like the discipline process of parents giving to children. There's pain. Hebrews actually speaks about that in a couple of chapters next. Let me read that to you. Verse 5 of chapter 12. Have you forgotten the exhortation which speaks to you as to sons?

My son, do not despise the chastening of the Lord. Do not nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by him for whom the Lord loves, he chastens and scourges every son whom he receives. Folks, as I read this, this is why David in Psalm 23 says, Thy rod comforts me.

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.

He says, no, with love, strong cords of love, I draw you in and I love you and I discipline you. One period it says, the worst thing God can do for us, or should I say the best, is to whip us into heaven.

Verse 7, If you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons. For what son is there whom a father does not chasten? Listen to that question. But if you are without chastening, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate and not sons.

In other words, you're not partakers of God's holiness and you're not adopted into the kingdom of God. Furthermore, we have had our human fathers who corrected us and we paid them respect. Shall we not much more readily in subjection to the Father of Spirits and live?

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. And then he says, now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful.

Very straightforward. Painful, it is painful. But nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit. There's fruit that comes after that. The fruit of righteousness. The fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.

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 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.

But it's a loving rod. Chastens us, disciplines us, to train us so that we will yield the peaceable fruit of righteousness. Isn't that wonderful? So we must beware of the hardness of hearts and the sin of unbelief.

Well, you think of it, if there's rebellion and pride involved in unbelief, you can assure it's demonic because that's exactly what the archangel Lucifer did when he rebelled against God. It was because of his pride.

And if you read that, I believe it's in chapter 19, 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. I will exalt, I will be like the Most High. 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. 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. So it's satanic, the God of this world, who has blinded the minds, 2 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 its very core, unbelief is a rejection of the saving truth from Jesus Christ. 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.

And that was to fulfill the word of Isaiah the prophet in Isaiah 53, which he spoke, Lord, who has believed? I report. And to whom of the arm of the Lord has been revealed?

Powerful.

Well, let's look at the story in John 4. All the way from verse 43 to 54. 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.

I borrowed his outline. I'm preaching the sermon myself, but the outline, I give him credit. We have, number one, in verses 43 to 45, an unbelief contemplated. Unbelief is contemplated. Second, we see in verse 46 to 49, we observe that unbelief is confronted.

Unbelief is confronted, and then at last, we will see unbelief is conquered. In verse 50 through 54, unbelief is conquered. Then we'll look at some application. Unbelief contemplated. Unbelief contemplated.

Let's look at the text.

John 4, we see.

In verse 43 to 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 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 Nicodemus say? I know you're from God. If you turn back in the very first, there was a man in the Pharisees named 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 Saqqara at the request of the newly converted Samaritans in verse.

40, the Lord turned.

His footsteps northward to Galilee here. And the proverbial statement which Jesus basically says, a prophet has no honor in his own country. He says that in Luke 4, 24 as well. And it contrasts Jesus' acceptance by the Samaritans with his general rejection by the 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 he was a prophet, has no honor to his own country. Then he came to Galilee, and the Galileans received him.

We need to look to see what does it mean by the Galileans received him. Let me give you 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 Jesus is the discerner of hearts. Nothing takes Jesus by surprise. He knew he would, I like what 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 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 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 Messiah, the son of the living God.

It doesn't mean that. It basically means the word so, if you look at it in the original language refers back to the statement Jesus makes preceding the preceding verse.

And that.

Confirms that the Galileans did not honor him for who he really was. Who he really was, the 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.

Their motive for following Jesus was just for the miracles. They wanted to see 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, 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 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. God sees things otherwise.

The apostle John writes with a sense of irony here. The Galileans reception of Jesus was not genuine. It was superficial and it was very shallow. So unbelief is contemplated. Unbelief is contemplated.