Why You Do Not Believe

0:00 I want you to think for a minute here at the beginning about someone in your life who has rejected Jesus. a particular person who is someone in your life who has rejected Jesus. why did he or she reject Jesus?

0:31 What was it about him that has driven them away? maybe the Christians that they know have disappointed or even hurt them. Maybe they have some bad church experience and they're not going back there. or they're sinning in a relationship and they're not willing to stop. Maybe they had a child who came out as a homosexual. and they couldn't tolerate what the Bible says about homosexuality. maybe they look at all the suffering in the world, wars and poverty and cancer, and they just can't make themselves believe that a good God might be over all of that.

1:38 Maybe they can't stomach hell, eternal conscious torment. I think that question is what our passage is all about this morning. Why would anyone hate and reject Jesus? and why would anyone love and follow him? Let me pray. Father, with those faces and names fresh on our minds, fresh on our hearts, people we love who don't love you, not yet. We pray that you would save them.

2:35 call them home to you. Even today, would you do it? Let today be the day of salvation. I don't care how many months or years or decades they have run from you. Overcome all the obstacles. We're gonna watch you do that in the next few minutes. Overcome all the obstacles and make them your sheep. bring them into the abundant life that we have found in you, King Jesus.

3:09 And for those of us who do hear your voice this morning, who have tasted and seen that you are good, for those of us who have found the good shepherd, help us to wonder again at how that happened. How would we, who were deader than dead in our sins, how would our ears hear? How would our eyes see? How would our hearts love if not for your grace? So show us your grace again this morning in your word. We pray in Jesus' name, amen. What do you hear when you meet Jesus in the Bible? As we've been walking through this gospel over the last two years, there are really kind of only three responses to Jesus, if you read through.

4:09 And I read through all of the gospel of John, again, preparing for this sermon. There's really three kinds of responses. Some think that he's crazy. and it seemed to kind of pity him. We saw this two weeks ago in the first half of chapter 10, verse 19. There was again a division among the Jews because of these words, the things that he was saying. Many of them said, he has a demon and is insane. Why listen to him? In other words, this guy's clearly nuts. Did you hear who he thinks he is?

4:50 Why would you give him the time of the day? Why listen to him? They think he's crazy. Others hate Jesus and they do everything they can to stop him. They're not content to just stop listening, to dismiss him and ignore him. No, they want to kill him. they actually try to beat him to death with rocks. That's how much they hate him.

5:19 That's how angry and afraid they are. We'll see this kind of hatred in our passage this morning, but this isn't the first time you hear it. It's said in our passage this morning, they picked up stones again to stone him. Again and again, they tried to arrest him, to silence him and to kill him. Some think he's crazy. Others hate and attack him. A few risk everything to have him. a few risk everything to heaven. They weren't just saying, yeah, you know what? I think he's right about that.

6:03 No, they were saying he's worth losing everything. I think about the man that was born blind that we saw in chapter nine. Jesus spits on the ground. He makes some mud. He puts it on the man's eyes and the man can see. And the Pharisees get angry. How dare you do that to him on the Sabbath? Could this not wait until Monday or Tuesday? They get angry and they go confront his parents about it. And what do his parents do? They say, he's grown. He can answer for himself. You can go talk to him. Think about that. This man and this woman bore the son, raised the son, guided the son around because he couldn't see anything. and then he can see, and they can see that he can see, and they don't want to talk about it.

6:57 That's how dangerous this was to be associated with Jesus. So they go and ask the man, the son, and he tells them, and they say, you were born in utter sin, and they cast him out. And that doesn't mean, oh, you need to leave the room right now. That's not what it means, cast him out. No, that means you're cut off from everything now. You're not welcome anymore. Your identity, your relationships, your livelihood, you're finished.

7:30 That's what we saw happen in chapter nine. Some think he's crazy. Others hate and attack him. A few leave everything, risk everything to have him. I really might lose everything to follow this man. But if I have him, if I know him, if I'm with him, it'll be worth it. I'm gonna add a fourth response here that I don't see anywhere in the gospel of John, but I see it everywhere today. Many in our day, they hear Jesus and they just scroll right by. no hatred, no confusion, no love, just cool indifference. They don't care enough to be confused or mad.

8:34 They treat them like a guy might treat an ad for skincare. or like one of these women, how you might treat a YouTube video that teaches you how to exchange the belt on your driver, the drive belt on your dryer. I may have watched one of those in the last month. I know some of y'all are gonna find me, the woman that loves dryer belts and the guy that likes skincare. I know you're gonna find me, but you're the exception.

9:04 What do these people hear when they meet Jesus? They hear cottage cheese. They hear real estate tax. They hear math homework. That's how they feel about Jesus, the Son of God. as I think about them, I almost wish that they hated him because at least they'd be paying attention. At least they'd be taking him seriously.

9:38 Jews in the first century, like the ones that we see here in chapter 10, they didn't have this fourth option that I've just described. They couldn't just scroll by this man. No, his works were too great to ignore. This man had turned water to wine. He had healed an invalid. He healed the man blind from birth. He healed the official's son from afar. A day's journey away, he healed him. He fed 5,000 people with one man's leftovers. He walked on the sea. We're about to see him in the next chapter raise the dead. No, Jews at that time knew that this man was either the Messiah or he was an imposter.

10:27 He was either everything they had ever wanted for hundreds and thousands of years, or he threatened everything about them and about their way of life. they didn't have a fourth option. And I want you to hear this morning, we don't either. we might think that we do, but really we don't. His life and his teaching laid out for us in this book, they demand a response. Either pity, he's crazy, or hostility, or worship.

11:12 Those are the options. Either he was a mentally ill babbler, or he was a lying egomaniac who's ruined millions and millions of lives, or he was the very son of God. Those are our options this morning. and some of us might say, well, of course he's the son of God here in our pews on Sunday morning, but then we treat him like a skin care product the rest of the week. what do you see when you meet this Jesus? and why do you see what you see while so many hate what they see?

12:04 That's the main question this text is addressing. Why do so many hate Jesus when he finally comes? We begin in verse 22. At that time, the feast of dedication took place at Jerusalem. It was winter, and Jesus was walking in the temple in the colonnade of Solomon. So the Jews gathered around him and said to him, how long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.

12:34 Jesus answered them, I told you, and you do not believe. the question here, it might sound sincere. Oh, Jesus, are you the Christ we've been waiting for? Wonderful counselor, mighty God, everlasting father, prince of peace, is that you?

12:57 Just tell us so that we can follow you. But this question is not sincere. It's sinister. They're trying to trap him. They want him to say something clear so that they can kill him.

13:17 Say it plainly, Jesus. why don't the Jews believe him? Why do his own people try everything possible to stop and kill him when he comes? Problems that's raised, right? The very first verses of the gospel, John 1, verse 11 says, he came to his own and his own people did not receive him. why did so many not believe?

13:53 Why do you not believe if you don't believe this morning? that's the question at the heart of this text. Before I get to Jesus' answer in our passage, we've already gotten two major answers in the book of John so far. Why does anyone reject and hate Jesus? First, they don't believe because they love their sin. They don't believe because they love their sin. This is John chapter three, verses 19 and 20. And this is the judgment. The light has come into the world and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light lest his works should be exposed.

14:47 Why do people hate and reject Jesus? Because they secretly love darkness. They love their sin. And so they hide their sin. And they stay in bed with their sin. And Jesus went around exposing people's sin and telling them that they must repent. And so they tried to kill him. their secret sin kept them from seeing the Messiah who would save them from their sin. But they didn't want to be saved from their sin.

15:33 They didn't want to face the wrath of God. No. And they didn't want to have their sin exposed to others. That's why they're hiding in darkness. But they also didn't want to leave their sin behind either. No, they didn't love Jesus because they loved their sin and no one, no one can serve two masters. You cannot serve two masters. Second, they don't believe because they lived to please man. They lived for the praise and approval of other people. This is John chapter 5, verses 43 to 44. I have come in my Father's name, and you do not receive me. If another comes in his own name, you will receive him. How can you believe when you receive glory from one another and do not seek the glory that comes from the only God. Why do people hate and reject Jesus? Because they live for the glory and praise of man.

16:45 they care too much what other people thought of them. and they knew that it would cost them dearly. It would cost them socially to get into the boat with Jesus. They knew that. The reputation and the approval that they'd worked so hard to earn and build, it would be gone. And that vanity, that me-worship, that blinded them to Jesus. They loved what they saw in the mirror so much that they could not see the Messiah. How could you believe, he says, when you're so consumed with yourself? Jesus gives us a third reason now, though, and it's the most blunt of the three. Again, they ask, verse 24, how long will you keep us in suspense?

17:42 If you're the Christ, tell us plainly. Jesus answered them, verse 25, I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father's name, they bear witness about me, but you do not believe because.

18:02 Because what? here's the third reason why so many hated and rejected Jesus why do the people you love not believe in Jesus he says you do not believe because you are not among my sheep you do not believe because you are not among my sheep you do not believe in me because you are not mine. Whoa. What does that mean? he goes on, verse 27, my sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me. I give them eternal life and they will never perish and no one will snatch them out of my hand.

19:01 My father who has given them to me is greater than all and no one is able to snatch them out of the father's hand. I and the Father are one. You do not believe in me because the Father has not given you to me. That's what he's saying. It must be given to you. at the earliest, deepest, most decisive root, our belief in God is not a work that we achieve, but it's a gift that we receive. at the earliest, deepest, most decisive root, our belief in God is not a work we achieve.

19:54 It's not something that we do. It's a gift that we receive. The father gifts us to the son and in handing us to the son, he gifts life and faith to us by the spirit. Why does anyone believe who believes in Jesus because the father has given us to the son, we've been born again. We saw this in John chapter three, right? That which is born of the flesh is flesh and that which is born of the spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, you must be born again. The wind blows where it wishes and you hear it sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit. You believe if you believe because you were born again.

20:54 And you had as much control over your second birth as you did over your first. God chose you and he gave you new birth. From beginning to end, you are a child of sovereign grace. but Jesus says to the angry mob in front of him, my father hasn't given you to me. And so you are not among my sheep. And that's why you don't believe. you hate me because the father you claim to know and worship hasn't chosen you. He hasn't given you sheep ears yet to hear my voice. And so while others hear what I am saying, and it sounds like the hallelujah chorus to them, you just hear nails on a chalkboard.

21:59 the father has sent his own son into the world so that anyone who believes in him might not perish, but have eternal life. And yet in your ears, that word of heaven, it sounds like hell. That's what it sounds like to you. and what do they do? It says the Jews picked up stones again to stone him. They prove who they are. They prove again that they're not his sheep. A brief aside here on the next few verses, this is the most confusing part of this passage, at least for me.

22:51 When they pick up stones, Jesus says, I have shown you many good works from the father. For which of them are you going to stone me? The Jews answer back, verse 33. It's not for a good work that we're gonna stone you, but for blasphemy, because you being a man, make yourself God. and then Jesus does this strange thing. He quotes Psalm 82. he says, is it not written in your law, I said you are gods. Jesus says, if he called them gods to whom the word of God came to people, mere mortals, do you say of whom the father consecrated and sent into the world, you are blaspheming because I said, I am the son of God. What's he doing?

23:49 it's honestly difficult to really say. And I won't get into all the possible interpretations, but good scholars that I trust, you would know their names if I mentioned them. Good scholars that I trust, they get to the end of their sophisticated, theological, exegetical explanations for how Psalm 82 relates to John 10 and how Jesus is seeing those verses. They get to the end of all that sophisticated argumentation and they basically say, he was buying some time.

24:26 He was buying some time. The argument, the scriptures sometimes call humans gods. So why would you stone me for saying I'm the son of God? That argument, it certainly doesn't prove that he's the son of God. And it doesn't really deal with the problem of blasphemy either because Jesus is over and over in the gospel of John. He's saying, I am more than all the people that you might've used that word God for in Psalm 82, whoever those people were. He's saying I'm something more than another man.

25:05 No, I think he's buying a little more time in an incredibly heated, volatile woman. The rocks are about to fly. The arms are raised. And so he buys a little more time. he does it by saying in a roundabout way, you don't even understand your own scriptures and you're proving that by how you're treating me. Now, why would he buy time? He's already said, verse 18 of this chapter, no one takes my life from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. He just said that. So why stall with a Psalm 82 riddle for them? It's not for his safety.

26:01 he doesn't need tricks or riddles to escape from them. No, I believe he buys a little more time for them. Why do I say that? Look at what he says next, verse 37. If I'm not doing the works of my father, then do not believe me. But if I do them, even though you do not believe me, believe the works that you may know and understand that the father is in me and I am in the father.

26:42 Even if you can't bring yourself to believe my words, what I'm saying to you right now, believe my works. I mean, do you hear his patience with them right now? They're holding rocks to kill him. And he's saying, hear my voice, hear my voice. And if you can't hear my voice, then look at the works. If you're deaf here, then watch. Because if you watch long enough, maybe God will give you the ears to hear and believe what I'm saying to you. maybe if you believe the works for now, you'll believe in me soon. What did they do in the face of all his patience? Verse 39, again, they sought to arrest him, but he escaped their hands.

27:45 They hated, rejected, and attacked him. They treated the son of God like a wolf. Why? Because they loved their sin. because they lived for the glory of other people. They only cared what others thought about them.

28:08 And ultimately, decisively, it's because they were not one of his chosen sheep. the father has not made them sheep. Not yet, anyway. Now, why did Jesus take this approach with them? You do not believe because my father hasn't chosen you and given you to me. You're not gonna find this in evangelism for beginners books. you're picking up stones because my father isn't your father and you're not my sheep. Now, generally we talk about election. When we talk about election, we talk about it with Christians to help us understand, how did we get saved? How did that happen? If we're really that sinful, that blind, that dead, how did that happen?

29:01 We'd say, we'll tell you, unconditional election. God chose you and made you a sheep. He brought you from the dead to life. We typically talk about it with Christians. Why would he go there with a really hostile group of lost people? Why would he do that? it's because he wanted to make it clear to a group of violently proud men that the son of God came to save the humble and oppose the proud. this kind of talking, it draws the humble and it infuriates the proud.

29:51 Even in this room, some of you are bristling inside. I say are because there's just too many Americans in this room for someone not to be reacting against this way of talking about God. I don't like that. I make my own choices. I make the decisions around here. I come to my own conclusions. That's how Americans think. That's how people think. this God, he won't save proud people, people who want credit for their saving. That's not who he saves. He won't save someone who comes to him holding up their intelligence, their decision, their good works. Look, God. No, from beginning to end, he does the saving and he gets the glory. This savior, the savior we meet in Jesus, this savior is calling sheep.

30:57 That's who he's calling. And this crowd doesn't want to be sheep. This savior is calling children. And this crowd here doesn't want to become like children. They don't want to be thought of like children. The good news that Jesus brings is that this Savior, he comes, he chooses the sheep. He predestines the sheep. He justifies the sheep. He calls the sheep. He gives new birth to the sheep. And one day he will glorify. Can you believe it? Sheep! and no one can take them out of his hand.

31:43 Verse 29, my father who has given them to me is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the father's hands. That makes Jesus, that gospel, it makes Jesus a refuge for the humble and a terror to the proud. he's calling sheep who are happy to be chosen sheep, born again and saved by grace. and they don't want to be sheep. So are you okay being a sheep? can you love a God who calls and saves like that? you might think, well, if no one believes unless the father chooses, then what can I do?

32:45 I guess I'll just go home and wait for a call. No, friends, he's calling right now, right now. And if there's anything in you at all who says, I wanna come, then you can hear him. Not everyone can hear him. That's what we've just seen, but you can hear him. If you want to come this morning, he has given you a gift. If there's any impulse in you to come, come. This is John chapter six. This is the invitation. Jesus says, I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me shall not hunger. Whoever believes in me shall never thirst. But I said to you that you have seen me and yet you do not believe, all that the Father gives me will come to me and whoever comes to me, I will never cast out.

33:50 do you hear him this morning? Are you drawn to this Jesus? Are you ready to come out of the darkness and to finally leave your sin behind? Are you ready to stop living for what everyone else thinks about you? Do you want to come somewhere deep inside of you, longing to come to this Jesus? I promise you, he will not cast you out. if you come in humble faith, I'm a sheep and I'm so happy to be your sheep. If you come in humble faith, he will never ever turn you away and no one will snatch you from his hand. I want you to be like the sheep that Jesus found in verses 40 to 42.

34:45 I love where this chapter ends. The Jews sought to arrest him and kill him and yet he escapes. And now verse 40, he went away again across the Jordan to the place where John had been baptizing. At first, John the Baptist had done ministry here. It's the place of Bethany. And there he remained. And many came to him and they said, John did no sign. But everything that John said about this man was true. And many believed in him there. He went across the Jordan, Jesus, and he lifted up his voice and the stone stopped flying and the sheep came running to him. The sheep heard his voice. They heard him then and they still hear him now. Oh, that God would do this in these cities today, in New Brighton, in Burnsville, in Woodbury.

35:48 He was calling along the Jordan in verses 40 to 42. And now he's calling here along the Mississippi. He's calling and the sheep are still coming. They're still running. They're still believing. Many came to him and believed in him there. and we pray that many, many would hear his voice and come to him here. I'm so jealous that our legacy as a church, our legacy in these cities would be John's legacy in that town of Bethany. I pray that they would say of us in the decades to come, everything that people said about this man was true. He was everything that he said he was and he's everything now to me. As we come to the table, I want to end back in verse 33. When they pick up the stones, Jesus said to them, what work are you stoning me for?

36:42 The Jews answered, it's not for a good work. But listen to this. It's not for a good work that we're going to stone you, but it's for blasphemy. Because you, being a man, make yourself God. And in all their blindness and hatred, they're almost right. You see that? They're almost right. It's beautiful, isn't it? When Jesus' enemies preach the gospel for him.

37:15 We hate you and we're going to kill you because you, being a man, make yourself God. Almost. No, this is not a man who made himself God, but this is a God who made himself man for us, for his sheep. And what they don't know is that he's going to love and save his sheep by means of their hatred. they're going to kill him. And that's exactly how he's going to save his sheep. Remember the very first verses of the gospel, in the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God. He was in the beginning with God.

38:08 That's why he could say, I and the father are one. And that word became flesh and dwelt among the sheep. And we have seen his glory. Glory as of the only son from the father, full of grace and truth. Have you seen his glory? have you heard his voice? Have you tasted and seen that he is good? Have you believed in his great name? Then we'd invite you to come and eat this meal with us as we remember him this morning. If you're not yet a believer in Jesus, we'd ask that you let the bread and the cup pass, but let today be the day that you put down your stones, that you put down your pride, that you come on in with the sheep and that you experience full and abundant and eternal life in this Jesus.