The Power of Unbelief
Matthew 13:53-58
October 30, 2011
Having now concluded Matthew’s section on the kingdom of heaven,
We now move into a section that seems to validate what we just learned.
Jesus taught us all sorts of things about the kingdom.
From its GLORY, to its GROWTH, to its VALUE.
And we were indeed blessed to learn those things.
But starting off that section, Jesus began with a parable about a sower.
A parable where a sower sowed seed and the seed fell on four types of soil.
Some hard, some rocky, some weedy, and some fertile.
The point of the parable is that
Converts are not a good measure of evangelical success.
We have no control over the human heart, or how they will respond.
People don’t reject the gospel because we are flawed.
They reject the gospel because their heart is bad.
Many people today spend a lot of time and energy
Trying to come up with the next gimmick or trick or tactic
To get hard-hearted people to respond to the gospel.
Maybe if I am more intellectual…
Maybe if I am more relevant…
Maybe if I am more fun…
Maybe if I serve pizza…
Maybe if I use a celebrity…
But friends, those are hopeless gimmicks.
Certainly we know there was never a better evangelist than Jesus.
Certainly no one understood the gospel better…
Certainly no one preached with more conviction…
Certainly no one had more compassion…
Certainly no one was more relevant…
And if it came down to it, no one could make better pizza…
(we all saw what He did with water when wine was needed,
And we are aware that five loaves and two fish make a major meal)
And yet, despite the unique ability of Jesus,
Still people did not respond to the gospel.
WHY? Because their hearts were bad.
And now Matthew devotes a section of his gospel
To validate that truth.
For we are about to embark on truth being presented
To 8 different groups or individuals.
1) His Hometown (13:53-58)
2) Herod (14:1-12)
3) The 5,000 (14:13-21)
4) The disciples (14:22-33)
5) The Jerusalem Scribes and Pharisees (15:1-20)
6) The Canaanite Woman (15:21-28)
7) The 4,000 (15:29-39)
8) The Pharisees and Sadducees (16:1-4)
And of all of those 8 opportunities only two will prove to be successful.
Only the disciples and the Canaanite woman exercise true faith in Christ.
The rest all reject.
Some are certainly hard soil, some rocky, and some weedy,
But all end up rejecting Christ.
And Matthew’s point is validated that it is not the fault of the seed
And it is not the fault of the sower, but is the fault of the soil.
And tonight we begin looking at these confrontations.
The confrontation this morning drastically illustrates for us
“The Power of Unbelief”
For (58) “And He did not do many miracles there because of their unbelief.”
So the point is obvious.
Now much has been said over the years
About the power of belief, or the power of faith.
Matthew 21:21-22 “And Jesus answered and said to them, “Truly I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what was done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and cast into the sea,’ it will happen. “And all things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive.”
Hebrews 11:32-34 “And what more shall I say? For time will fail me if I tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets, who by faith conquered kingdoms, performed acts of righteousness, obtained promises, shut the mouths of lions, quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, from weakness were made strong, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight.”
And indeed the examples are limitless as to the power of faith.
BUT REST ASSURED UNBELIEF ALSO HAS POWER
And it is the power to keep a person condemned in sin
And headed to hell.
Now we certainly know and believe in the Sovereignty of God.
We believe that God chooses those who are saved.
We believe that God calls those He chooses.
We believe that God justifies those He calls through the atonement.
We believe that God glorifies those He justifies making them secure.
Romans 8:29-30 “For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren; and these whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified.”
Furthermore we know that no one can come to God
Apart from His enabling it.
John 6:44 “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day.”
And so we believe in the sovereignty of God, even in regard to salvation.
BUT THAT DOES NOT NEGATE THE RESPONSIBILITY TO BELIEVE.
While it is accurate to say that no man is saved
Apart from being chosen of God,
It is equally accurate to say that no man is saved
Apart from believing in Christ.
The two mysteriously work together.
But belief is necessary.
John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.”
John 3:18 “He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.”
John 3:36 “He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.”
John 5:24 “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life.”
John 6:29 “Jesus answered and said to them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent.”
Over and over Scripture emphasizes the importance of belief.
In fact:
Hebrews 11:6 “And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.”
Belief is vitally important, for Christ atones for those who believe.
And that makes unbelief extremely dangerous.
More than Cancer
More than Alcohol
More than Cholesterol
If you fail to believe in Christ, you will not be saved.
You can argue God’s sovereign election until you are blue in the face,
But if you don’t believe in Christ you will not go to heaven.
And by the way that tragedy is seen early in this text.
(53) “When Jesus had finished these parables, He departed from there.”
That is no insignificant statement.
Where did He depart from? Capernaum
They just lost their chance.
He had worked numerous miracles there, and they had not believed.
Matthew 11:23 “And you, Capernaum, will not be exalted to heaven, will you? You will descend to Hades; for if the miracles had occurred in Sodom which occurred in you, it would have remained to this day.”
They did not believe and Jesus left.
And now we move on to a new challenge; Jesus’ hometown of Nazareth.
And there are four things I want to show you in this text.
#1 THEY SAW
Matthew 13:54a
“He came to His hometown and began teaching them in their synagogue, so that they were astonished”
So it is homecoming.
Jesus came home and Matthew wants to point out how He was received.
Surely if anyone would receive Him greatly it would be His hometown.
He knew them the best.
He had a foot in the door with them.
Surely this is the upper hand in reaching Nazareth.
Let’s see how it goes.
Now Matthew doesn’t give us the most information about this event.
Luke gives us way more insight into what occurred here,
And we will look at his gospel some.
But I really want you to recognize that even though Matthew doesn’t give all the detailed information his point is crystal clear.
He is going to point out that nothing substitutes for genuine belief.
These people were amazed, interested, and knowledgeable.
BUT THEY DIDN’T HAVE BELIEF AND THEY WEREN’T SAVED.
And that is the clear point.
But let’s work on it a little and bring a better understanding.
“He came to His hometown and began teaching them in their synagogue,”
Now Matthew doesn’t tell us what He taught, but Luke does.
Luke 4:16-21 “And He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up; and as was His custom, He entered the synagogue on the Sabbath, and stood up to read. And the book of the prophet Isaiah was handed to Him. And He opened the book and found the place where it was written, “THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD IS UPON ME, BECAUSE HE ANOINTED ME TO PREACH THE GOSPEL TO THE POOR. HE HAS SENT ME TO PROCLAIM RELEASE TO THE CAPTIVES, AND RECOVERY OF SIGHT TO THE BLIND, TO SET FREE THOSE WHO ARE OPPRESSED, TO PROCLAIM THE FAVORABLE YEAR OF THE LORD.” And He closed the book, gave it back to the attendant and sat down; and the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on Him. And He began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”
Jesus came and read the Scripture that pertained to Him.
And in order to explain the sermon, He simply pointed to Himself.
He had just spoken in parables about the kingdom,
But this sermon was no parable.
It doesn’t get much clearer than the sermon Jesus preached.
To read from Isaiah and then say, “That’s Me”;
There is nothing cryptic about it.
And so this crowd saw.
This crowd heard.
And this crowd was even mesmerized by what they saw.
This crowd was even “astonished”.
But being amazed at what Jesus can do does not equal saving faith.
(Many a lost man was amazed at Jesus)
Israel was astonished, not believing.
They could see, but you will soon see they did not perceive.
They could hear, but you will soon see they did not understand.
Don’t assume that amazement equals salvation, it does not.
But this crowd saw.
#2 THEY SPECULATED
Matthew 13:54b-56
And here the problem starts to emerge.
“Where did this man get this wisdom and these miraculous powers?”
They didn’t deny that He had them,
They just wanted to know where He got them.
“Is not this the carpenter’s son? Is not His mother called Mary, and His brothers, James and Joseph and Simon and Judas? And His sisters, are they not all with Us? Where then did this man get all these things?’’
There is no denying Jesus can do miraculous things.
But it seems strange to them
That the simple son of a carpenter can do them.
Mary was a good lady, but apparently she wasn’t special enough
To produce a miracle working son.
Beyond that, none of Jesus’ brothers or sisters
Had demonstrated such ability.
“Where then did this man get all these things?”
Now, many have assumed that these were negative statements.
They were not.
The crowd isn’t deriding him here.
These were not mocking.
Listen to what Luke says:
Luke 4:22 “And all were speaking well of Him, and wondering at the gracious words which were falling from His lips; and they were saying, “Is this not Joseph’s son?”
These people were speaking well of Him.
They have no clue where He got His ability, but they like it none the less.
This text only indicates that they were interested in Him.
In short, they took an interest in Jesus.
They wanted to hear more.
They wanted to see more.
Seems Good
And Scripture still reveals that they did not believe.
And so being astonished and even interested is still not enough.
Nazareth was both of those things, and they weren’t saved.
They Saw They Speculated
#3 THEY STUMBLED
Matthew 13:57
Now that just sort of comes out of nowhere.
“And they took offense at Him”
Now one could suppose just from reading Matthew’s gospel
That their offense was due to his humble family life.
You know, they didn’t like Him because He was just from a carpenter’s family
And a carpenter’s son shouldn’t be able to do such things.
But that is not why.
Matthew doesn’t tell you why they “took offense”,
He is only concerned in showing you that they did.
Luke does tell us why.
Luke 4:22-23 “And all were speaking well of Him, and wondering at the gracious words which were falling from His lips; and they were saying, ” Is this not Joseph’s son?” And He said to them, “No doubt you will quote this proverb to Me, ‘Physician, heal yourself! Whatever we heard was done at Capernaum, do here in your hometown as well.'”
They took offense because He offended them.
He told them that their fascination with Him was only skin deep.
You are only interested in Me performing miracles for you.
You are enamored, you are listening,
Only because You want me to do here
What you have heard I did in Capernaum.
He exposed their hearts.
• They weren’t here for the truth, they were here for the show.
• They weren’t interested in repentance and being right before God, they
were interested in being mesmerized and entertained.
And when He called them on it, they quickly turned against Him.
You could say, “It’s not their fault, He should have been more gentle.”
(many would say that today)
BUT TRUE SAVING FAITH
REQUIRES THE REMOVAL OF JUST SUCH A SELFISH HEART.
Jesus could have ignored the issue, but then they couldn’t be saved.
Furthermore, if they had truly believed who He was,
This would not have caused them to be offended.
Let me prove it
Matthew 15:21-28 “Jesus went away from there, and withdrew into the district of Tyre and Sidon. And a Canaanite woman from that region came out and began to cry out, saying, “Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David; my daughter is cruelly demon-possessed.” But He did not answer her a word. And His disciples came and implored Him, saying, “Send her away, because she keeps shouting at us.” But He answered and said, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” But she came and began to bow down before Him, saying, “Lord, help me!” And He answered and said, “It is not good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.” But she said, “Yes, Lord; but even the dogs feed on the crumbs which fall from their masters’ table.” Then Jesus said to her, “O woman, your faith is great; it shall be done for you as you wish.” And her daughter was healed at once.”
This woman could have been offended as well, but she believed.
Jesus wasn’t to blame here in Nazareth, He was dealing with hard soil.
And this crowd in Nazareth scoffed at Jesus
And “took offense” over His confrontation.
“But Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his hometown and in his own household.”
WHY IS A PROPHET NOT WELCOME IN HIS HOMETOWN?
Because someone that familiar has a lot of logic to overcome.
Have you ever heard the statement, “Familiarity breeds contempt”?
That is what is going on here.
Jesus is saying: “I’m not surprised you don’t believe, you have too much logic to overcome.”
That means the reason they don’t believe
Is not because Jesus offended them.
The reason they don’t believe is because they are too hard-hearted
To believe on raised among them could be their savior.
Luke adds more that Christ said.
Luke 4:24-27 “And He said, “Truly I say to you, no prophet is welcome in his hometown. “But I say to you in truth, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the sky was shut up for three years and six months, when a great famine came over all the land; and yet Elijah was sent to none of them, but only to Zarephath, in the land of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow. “And there were many lepers in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet; and none of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian.”
According to Luke Jesus pointed out to them that
Being Jewish or being from Jesus’ hometown
Does not automatically qualify a person for miraculous aid.
God only went to people who had faith.
A believing Gentile is far more pleasing to God than a disbelieving Jew.
And Nazareth had that same kind of unbelief.
And when Jesus called their unbelief, “They took offense at Him.”
And so we see that all their interest meant absolutely nothing.
All their enthusiasm was pointless.
In the end, they still refused to believe.
And let me show the consequence of their unbelief.
The Saw, They Speculated, They Stumbled
#4 THEY SUFFERED
Matthew 13:58
“He did not do many miracles there because of their unbelief.”
Luke again gets more specific as to their unbelief.
Luke 4:28-30 “And all the people in the synagogue were filled with rage as they heard these things; and they got up and drove Him out of the city, and led Him to the brow of the hill on which their city had been built, in order to throw Him down the cliff. But passing through their midst, He went His way.”
And He did not do many miracles
Because they in essence ran Him out of town.
How could a people who were one minute fascinated by Him,
In the very next minute turn against Him?
The answer: THE POWER OF UNBELIEF
WHAT SHOULD THEY HAVE DONE?
They should have responded to Christ in humility of faith
Based upon the facts they already knew.
John 5:36 “But the testimony which I have is greater than the testimony of John; for the works which the Father has given Me to accomplish — the very works that I do — testify about Me, that the Father has sent Me.”
The blind man knew this
John 9:30-33 “The man answered and said to them, “Well, here is an amazing thing, that you do not know where He is from, and yet He opened my eyes. “We know that God does not hear sinners; but if anyone is God-fearing and does His will, He hears him. “Since the beginning of time it has never been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a person born blind. “If this man were not from God, He could do nothing.”
John 10:25 “Jesus answered them, “I told you, and you do not believe; the works that I do in My Father’s name, these testify of Me.”
John 14:11 “Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me; otherwise believe because of the works themselves.”
In fact that is why John wrote his gospel.
John 20:30-31 “Therefore many other signs Jesus also performed in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name.”
Obviously they should have believed in Christ
But they were selfish and hard-hearted, and missed out on salvation.
And there we learn it again.
People aren’t lost because we aren’t cool enough
Or trendy enough or engaged enough, or whatever.
The gospel doesn’t require fancy packaging.
PEOPLE ARE LOST BECAUSE THEIR HEARTS ARE BAD
John MacArthur wrote:
“Those who heard and saw Jesus did not reject Him for lack of evidence but in spite of overwhelming evidence. They did not reject Him because they lacked the truth but because they rejected the truth. They refused forgiveness because they wanted to keep their sins. They denied the light because they preferred darkness. The reason for rejecting the Lord has always been that men prefer their own way to His…The people of Nazareth were like people throughout the history of the church who can find every foolish reason to justify their rejection of the gospel. They don’t like the attitude of the one who witnesses to them; they think most church people are hypocrites; they think the preacher is too loud or too soft, too stuffy or too overbearing; and the services are too formal or too informal. They are offended at the slightest things Christians do and construe the insignificant as being all important. They put up one smoke screen after another to excuse their unwillingness to believe the clear and demanding claims and promises of Christ.”
(MacArthur Matthew Commentary 8-15, pg. 409 & 411)
THAT IS WHY PEOPLE ARE LOST
THEY CHOOSE NOT TO BELIEVE
AND THEIR UNBELIEF WAS SO POWERFUL,
THEY DIDN’T EVEN LISTEN TO CHRIST.
Let me remind you:
If you present the gospel and people don’t respond,
It is not your fault.
That is simply the power of unbelief.
And the tragedy is that their unbelief
Will only bring about eternal destruction in hell.
BE ENCOURAGED TO GO THROW THE SEED
On the flip side, if this morning you have never placed your faith in Jesus Christ let me appeal to you one more time.
Jesus Christ came to this earth and lived a sinless life
By which He is the only offering that is acceptable to God.
And He died upon a cross to pay the debt
Of all who would place their faith in Him.
He is the only means of salvation that this world will ever know.
And you must deny yourself and trust in Him.
• Being enamored with Him is not enough.
• Knowing the truth about Him is not enough.
• Being interested in Him is not enough.
(Nazareth had that)
You must confess Him as Lord and believe in His saving power,
Otherwise there is no escape.
But do not remain in unbelief, for the consequences are eternal.
Matthew 13:23 “And the one on whom seed was sown on the good soil, this is the man who hears the word and understands it; who indeed bears fruit and brings forth, some a hundredfold, some sixty, and some thirty.”
