514: Genuine Faith in a World of Skepticism | Dave Sloop

Thank you Barbara. And thank you to the choir. That was pretty great, wasn't it? Have you noticed that our choir is on the move? It's growing. They're running out of seats. Actually, we're running out of seats in here too. I don't know if you noticed, but maybe God might be calling you to join the choir, Daniel.

So this week we are finishing up the end of chapter 4 of John's gospel, and it's been a great time. This is our third consecutive week in the fourth chapter. And after today, we're actually going to be taking a four-week break from our study in John's gospel as we head into the season of Advent, where we anticipate and reflect on the incarnation of God in his Son, Jesus Christ. God broke into humanity. This really happened in time and place. God became a baby, and he walked among his people. God visited this earth. It's astonishing.

So we're going to take four weeks, and we're going to be looking at Jesus through Isaiah's eyes. We're going to look at four messianic promises in Isaiah 7, 9, 11, and 35. So if you want to do some advanced reading and come prepared, that's where we're headed. We hope that you'll join us. But today we're going to be finishing up chapter 4.

Before we jump into that passage, I want to remind you what has been happening the last couple of weeks. We have been looking at this incredible story of Jesus, who meets this woman at a well. He meets her in Samaria, which was a place that most Jews would have avoided. There was tremendous hostility between the Jews and the Samaritans. They didn't like each other. They had different theology. The Samaritans would have been seen as heretics. But even more so, this immoral woman in Samaria—Jesus had to go. He had to go and meet her.

We learned that she was so impacted and transformed by this encounter that she sprints back into town with this testimony on her lips: "Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did." That crowd of people in that community in Samaria—they were so compelled because they knew who this woman was. They normally looked at her with judging eyes, but today they were compelled. They went back with her to this well, and they heard for themselves. And it says many more believed. At the end of that passage, we hear them saying, "We don't just believe because of your testimony, but now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is the Savior of the world."

Understanding Belief in John's Gospel

Let me ask you a question. Other than the word "Jesus" and the word "Father," do you know the word that John uses most in his gospel? Tim told us this in our introduction. This is a test to see how many of you are paying attention. What is the word that he says most? It starts with a B. Believe. In fact, it's 98 times in this gospel. We see it three times in the story last week, and we're going to see it three times in the story that we're going to look at this week.

What does John mean when he says "believe"? I mean, he's unashamedly after your belief and my belief, but what does he mean by that word? Because belief can mean a lot of different things. I want to start by telling you what it does not mean.

Belief does not mean a mere mental ascent to a set of teachings or propositions. It's not less than that. It's more than that. There's a story in Mark's gospel where Jesus confronts a man who's possessed by a demon. This man comes and falls at Jesus's feet, and the demon says through this man, "Son of God, Jesus, son of the Most High God, what do you want with me?" This demon had better theology than all of Israel. He knew exactly who that man was, and yet he wanted nothing to do with him. There is a kind of belief that doesn't change you. It's when you give mental ascent to something, but it doesn't move you. You don't really want anything to do with him. That's not the kind of belief that John is after.

What does he mean? Perhaps the clearest statement of the kind of belief that John is after—we've quoted this almost every week in this series—is from John chapter 20, verse 31. Here's what it says:

But these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name. — John 20:31

Notice two things. First of all, genuine belief shows itself in a deep-seated conviction that Jesus Christ is all that he claims to be. He is precisely the one he claimed to be—the Christ, the Messiah, the Son of God. That's the first thing.

But secondly, genuine belief, for John, becomes a verb—believing. It is not just a one-time, static possession, meaning just intellectual. Rather, for John, belief is a perpetual posture. That's why John never uses the noun for belief, which is "pistis." Paul loves that word. John prefers "pisteuo"—to believe. It is a verb. It indicates this clinging to, a perpetual trust in. It's a posture.

a posture we're going to be looking at belief in today's passage where the same word shows up three times, but it is a very different picture of belief than we saw in Samaria.

Here are the three areas that I want us to focus on. The first thing that we're going to see is the obstacle of genuine belief—what is it that prevents or tries to steal our genuine belief? That's the first thing. The second thing we're going to see is the outcome of genuine belief. And the third thing that we're going to see is the object of genuine belief.

So if you will turn with me in your Bible to John chapter 4, beginning in verse 43, and here is what we read:

After the two days he departed for Galilee. For Jesus himself had testified that a prophet has no honor in his hometown. So when he came to Galilee, the Galileans welcomed him, having seen all that he had done in Jerusalem at the feast, for they too had gone to the feast. — John 4:43-45

I don't know if this little section here of John chapter 4 sounded confusing to you, but it did to me. And here's the first reason: notice that word "for." It says that Jesus was with the Samaritans, he was there for two days, and then it says he departed for Galilee—that's where he was going. By the way, Galilee was his hometown. It's where Nazareth was. That's where he was going. But the next verse tells you why he was going. See that word "for"? This was his reason. For Jesus himself had testified that a prophet has no honor in his hometown.

Jesus, I wonder, having just experienced this display of genuine belief in a people that should have wanted nothing to do with him, and yet at his word, at his message, they just so effortlessly respond—they say, "We now know for sure because we've heard from you"—I wonder if that ignited in Jesus a desire for his own people. You know, John chapter 1, we read that he came to his very own, and yet his own did not receive him. That is referring to the Jewish people. The Messiah was to come from the Jews, and he came to them. He belonged to them. And they wanted nothing to do with him.

Jesus, in last week's passage, he moves towards a sinful woman, and in this week's passage he moves towards skeptics who are also sinners, by the way, but we're going to see a contrasting picture of their belief and his belief in this passage.

The Obstacle of Genuine Belief

This is the obstacle of belief, and here is more specifically what we read about it:

So when he came to Galilee, the Galileans welcomed him, having seen all that he had done in Jerusalem at the feast, for they too had gone to the feast. — John 4:45

Now, this is the second confusing thing in this passage. It says he went back to Galilee because he knew he wasn't honored there, so they welcomed him. Doesn't that sound strange? They welcomed him. What Jesus is telling us here is a couple of things: honor and welcome, apparently according to John, are not the same thing.

On what basis did they welcome him? They welcomed him having seen all that he had done in Jerusalem at the feast. And to understand what that means, we need to turn back to chapter 2, verses 23 to 25. Let me remind you what happened in verse 23:

Now when he was in Jerusalem at the Passover feast, many believed in his name when they saw the signs that he was doing. But Jesus on his part did not entrust himself to them because he knew all people and needed no one to bear witness about man, for he himself knew what was in a man. — John 2:23-25

What's going on here? Do you remember what we said about it? They believed in his name, and that sounds like exactly the purpose of John's gospel—that you might believe in his name. But Jesus, in a sense, sees their belief and he says, "I don't believe in your belief." Why? Because Jesus knows what's in the heart of a man. He knows what's in every heart. Their faith was not genuine. It was insincere. They were fascinated by his works, but they didn't care much about his words. They were into the miracles. They just didn't really want to hear the message.

More specifically, they were interested in his power. And what I mean by that is they were interested in how his power might benefit them personally. And John would tell us that that kind of welcome isn't honor at all.

Put another way: welcome isn't worship. How come? Why not? Because this kind of welcome sees Jesus as a means to an end. He is not who they want. Instead, they see him as the means by which they get what they want most. And friends, what's true for every single person here is this: whatever we want most has become the very thing that we are worshiping. And they were looking to Jesus to provide for them their idols. And that is not worship.

See, the obstacle of genuine belief is that it brings us to the end of ourselves—that we no longer are following him because of what he's going to give us, some expected benefit. But rather, we bend the knee and we worship because of who he is, regardless of what he does. If Jesus is who he claims to be, then he's God. He's the one that created everything. In him we live and we move and we have our being. And if that's true, then you bend your knee and you worship. That is the obstacle of belief. And Jesus knows it as he walks.

into this town and therefore when he confronts this man he says something that sounds on the surface pretty harsh but we'll unpack that.

He came again into Cana in Galilee where he had made the water wine and at Capernaum there was an official whose son was ill. When this man heard that Jesus had come from Judea to Galilee he went to him and he asked him to come down and heal his son for he was at the point of death. So Jesus said to him, "Unless you see signs and wonders you will not believe." — John 4:46-48

Does that strike you as a bit harsh? I mean here is a dad who is desperate. He heard Jesus came into town and he sprints to him and he falls on his knees and he begged him, "Come to my house, my son is dying." And Jesus responds to him and notice this too—you don't see it in the English but in the Greek it changes to the plural. You all. He says to him, unless you—speaking to all of Galilee—unless you see signs and wonders you will never believe.

How can Jesus speak like that to someone who's hurting? I want to give you two reasons here. The first one: we have to remember that every single time Jesus has an encounter with someone he's having an encounter with someone whose heart he knows. He knows what is in every man and every woman's heart and he says what they need to hear in order to draw out genuine belief. Remember we said sometimes Jesus needs to hurt us before he can heal us.

But here's the second point: Jesus looks at this man who is in the worst circumstances and even still Jesus wants him to know that there's something greater that he needs beyond his earthly physical circumstances. Jesus is constantly pointing to a greater spiritual reality and he knows that this man lacks a belief that will cause a much greater death than the death of his son. He puts his finger on it. He exposes it. That is the obstacle of belief: will we come to the end of ourselves and stop treating him as a means to an end but rather the object—the true object of our worship?

The Evidence of Genuine Belief

In this passage we're going to see the evidence or the outcome of genuine belief. Listen to how this man responds.

Jesus says, "Unless you see signs and wonders you will not believe." In verse 49, completely ignoring and not being offended by the rebuke he says, "Sir, come down before my child dies." Jesus said to him, "Go your son will live." — John 4:48-50

What is Jesus doing here? He asks for his presence. He says come into my house. But Jesus doesn't give him his presence—he gives him instead a promise. He gives him not a miracle that he can see but a message to trust him. And it says that the man believed his words.

Here's the first thing that I want to say about the outcome of genuine faith: we begin to believe what he says more than what we see.

The outcome of genuine belief first of all is that we begin to believe more in what he says than in what I can see. And in this sense this man's faith is starting to look a lot like the faith of those in Samaria. I want to show you the three times that word "believe" comes up in that previous passage.

Many Samaritans came from that town and believed. And many more believed. "It is no longer because of what you said that we believed but we have heard for ourselves." — John 4:39, 41-42

They believed, but I want you to know more importantly what is the basis for that belief. Because of the woman's testimony. Because of his word. "For we have heard for ourselves." The Samaritans' belief was not based on his works but his words. They trusted what he said. Faith comes by hearing and hearing from the word of Christ. That's where genuine belief is born.

The question is: how will this man respond? I believe that Jesus is testing this man's faith. He is giving him an opportunity to believe a word before he could see the work. Here's what he says:

The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him and went on his way. — John 4:50

He believed the message before seeing the miracle. That's the first thing. But then secondly, listen to this:

As he was going down his servants met him and told him that his son was recovering. So they asked him the hour when he began to get better and they said to him, "Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him." — John 4:51-52

I've read this account so many different times but there's a word in this passage that I never noticed before until this week and it's this: yesterday. These men come out and they meet him and when he asked them when did he get better they said to him, "Yesterday." What does that tell you?

Jesus spoke to this man at one p.m. and he trusts in his word. This man would have been about 15 miles from his house. He could have been home by dinner but he doesn't go. He stays. What does that indicate?

Here's what I think: when we start believing what he says more than what we can see we start to rest in his promises. And that's what we see in this man.

waited. He didn't go back the next day, which was evidence that he really did believe.

I'll tell you a story. This is probably a month or two ago. I was traveling—I don't remember exactly why I was traveling or where I was—but what I do remember is that my youngest, Claire, had learned a new trick with her jump rope and she wanted her daddy to see it. So Melissa texts me and she said, "Dave, if there's any way that we could FaceTime, Claire really needs to show you this trick." So of course I stopped whatever it was that I was doing to get on a FaceTime call. Melissa called me and I answered and I instantly could see them, but for whatever reason—I don't know if you've had this happen before—they couldn't see me on their side. We kept trying to fiddle with it and I could see Claire holding her jump rope, just patiently waiting. Melissa and I are trying to get this thing to work and all of a sudden Claire, looking in at me—I could see her holding her jump rope—she says, "Daddy, it's okay. I don't need to see you. I just need to know that you can see me."

I didn't catch the significance of that, but Melissa instantly did. She said instantly her eyes welled up with tears and she said, "That was for me. God wanted me to hear that. Melissa, I see you. Even though you can't see me, I see you. I know exactly where you are."

See, the moment we begin to trust what he says more than what we see, we begin to rest knowing that even though we can't see him, he sees us.

Belief Grows and Spreads

But here's the third thing—here is the third outcome of genuine faith. It says this:

The Father knew that that was the hour when Jesus had said to him, "Your son will live," and he himself believed in all his household.

What's that all about? We already read earlier that he believed in his word and he's showing evidence of that. But when he hears from the servants the precise hour that his son was healed, and he realized it was right when I was talking to Jesus—it won a clock, the day before—it says he believed again.

Do you know why? Because belief always becomes believing. Belief grows. That's the third point: it's not a static possession. It is a perpetual posture.

When we start to trust not what we can see but what he says, and then it happens and he comes through, our belief deepens. Our personal belief deepens and grows.

But notice secondly, it's not just his own personal belief that grows and deepens—it spreads to others. This is exactly what happened in Samaria. The woman's authentic and genuine belief spreads to her whole village. And right here, this man's genuine belief spreads to his whole household.

Belief—your belief, my belief—in what we hear him say, not in what we can see. And when we rest in it and we have what Paul would call a peace that transcends understanding—when you look at the circumstances of your life and you think, "It doesn't make sense," but I have peace anyway—why? Because I'm trusting that he's God and he sees me regardless of my circumstances. It's contagious. People say, "There is something different about that person."

The Object of Genuine Belief

Finally, let's look at the object of genuine belief. The last verse of our passage says this:

This was now the second sign that Jesus did when he had come from Judea to Galilee.

Do you remember the first sign? This is the second one. What was the first one? Water to wine.

What were we meant to see from that sign? Let me tell you first what we weren't meant to see. We weren't meant to look at that miracle and go, "He turned water to wine. That means anytime I need alcohol, life is an open bar from here on out." Right? That's silly. That's not what it means.

Jesus's signs, which do happen here on the earth, are always pointing to something greater beyond this earth—a greater spiritual reality. He's not telling you, "You can trust me for more alcohol." He's saying, "You can trust me to"—and that points to something. And here's what it pointed to: that the Messiah would one day usher in a season of kingdom joy that would never end.

There is a banquet coming—a messianic banquet that will never end—where we will be in perpetual joy in his presence forever and forever. He's telling them, "You can taste a hint of it now, but it will not fully be realized until I come back a second time. And I will make every sad thing untrue. I will wipe away every tear. There will be no more deaths. No more dying." That's what he promises to bring: kingdom joy.

What about the second sign? What is he pointing to? Let me share the obvious correlation. Let me tell you what it doesn't mean.

Before I say this, I want you to know that when I opened up my Bible to begin preparing for this message this week, I winced as I read, because I know for a fact that there are some of you in this room who have been precisely in the place that this father was: "Come down. Save my son. Save my daughter. Save my spouse."

And it is true that his signs are teaching us something about his power. He can do it. He is sovereign over life and death. He can. He has the power to. And we should always ask him. We should be bold to ask because we believe that he can. But we should...

Never take this promise to this man as a promise to you and me. He doesn't promise—he doesn't ever promise to always heal. In fact, he promises the opposite. In this life you will have trouble, but take heart, I have overcome the world. What he promises is that we will experience and have pain in this life.

See, we should ask and sometimes he'll do it, but more often than not—as many of you could give testimony to in this room right now—the answer you got is no.

What hope might this passage offer you? It's a fair question and it deserves a good answer, and I'd like to take a stab at it.

When this man comes to Jesus, he says, "Come down so that my son will live." This man could not have possibly known that what he asks Jesus to do was a perfect summary of Jesus' greater mission: come down, give life. This is exactly what Jesus came to do.

In fact, if you look back at John chapter 3—I think we just put it up on the screen—in John chapter 3, verse 13:

No one has ascended into heaven except he who has come down from heaven, the Son of Man. — John 3:13

Jesus could have looked at him and said, "Oh, I have come down to give life." But in a sense, he looks at this man and he says no. I'm not coming down. But he gives life anyway.

See, Jesus does come down to give life, but not in the way that this man thinks and not in the way that you and I think. Jesus came down to be lifted up. This is an unmistakable reference to the cross that Jesus would one day be fastened to. He would remain attached to that cross to absorb God's wrath for your sin and my sin.

Here's another thing you might not know—I didn't until this week. There would be another time that Jesus would be asked to come down. Did you know that? You know where it was? On the cross.

This man says, "Come down and heal," and Jesus says no, but he gives life anyway. Look at what they say to him on the cross:

Let the Christ, the King of Israel, come down now from the cross that we may see and believe.

Come down, they say. Prove yourself. What did Jesus say? No. Why? Because Jesus knows if he comes down, I might live, but you will die.

Look, the sign that Jesus is talking about—it's not physical life and death. He is talking about eternal life and eternal death. The stakes are higher. Jesus says no. I will not come down.

But this brings me back to the question: What hope might there be for you if you are someone who has experienced him as harsh and cold? Remember, he is the one who, when he had the chance to save himself and he could have, he didn't—so that you could have life.

In fact, a little bit earlier in the narrative, Jesus from the Garden of Gethsemane says:

Father, if there's any other way, let this cup pass.

He might as well have said to him, "Father, come down and save." But the Father said no. The Father sent his Son to die in order that he might make you a son or a daughter.

I'm going to share with you a quote from Charles Haddon Spurgeon dealing with the pain of life. He says this:

God is too good to be unkind—we just know that he's too good to be unkind. And he is too wise to be mistaken. He doesn't lie. He doesn't make mistakes. He doesn't turn his head when something down here happens. And when we cannot trace his hand, we must trust his heart.

There will be times we can't see him, but in those moments, what we can remember is that God looked down at his Son begging to be saved from the cross that awaited him, and he said to his Son, "I'm sending you to die."

See, this father said to Jesus, "Come down that my son might live," and God the Father looks at his Son Jesus and said, "You will go down because my son must die so that many might believe."

I don't know what you carry as you walk in here today, but here's what I do know: Jesus continually pursues. He moves towards the center. He moves towards the skeptic, towards the hard. He goes to the hard ground of Galilee to draw out genuine belief.

Have you ever known, tasted his comfort? There's a verse in Hebrews that says:

He endured the cross, scorning its shame. — Hebrews 12:2

Do you know why? For the joy set before him. Who was that joy? It was you.

Perhaps today is the day of salvation for you—that you would reach out and cling and begin to trust the one who made you, to know him. It's yours for the taking.

Let's pray. What I pray for all who are here is that you might draw out a better belief, and that you would give us spiritual eyes to understand the greater life that you offer—to save us from a much greater death. What we thank you for is that you don't waste our pain. You redeem it. And not only that, you identified with it. You came and you bore our pain and suffering. You understand what it's like to feel abandoned and alone, and you did it for us, that you might win us.

I pray that would happen today, in Jesus' name. Amen.