Episode 562: I Believe; Help My Unbelief | Landon Dermott

Good morning. My name is Landon Dermott. If we haven't had the pleasure of meeting, I serve as the area director for Young Life here in the Roanoke Valley, and it is always a gift and an honor to get to be up here on a Sunday morning and teach from the Bible. I'm particularly excited for this morning. However, I do have to admit that when Tim called me a few weeks ago and was sharing with me the way that they had chunked out the gospel of John—we've been looking at John 6 for the last few weeks, and this week we'll turn the page and start in on John chapter 7. When Tim mentioned that they wanted me to preach John 7, verses 1 through 24, I said yes, no problem, of course.

As I looked at it at first glance, having read it before but this time thinking for the first time, "What are we gonna preach about on a Sunday morning as we look at John 7?" We just read 13 of the verses. I read it and thought to myself, "What on earth are we going to talk about as we look at John 7, verses 1 through 24?" So if you've got a Bible, we'd love for you to flip open to John chapter 7. We're gonna look at it, and it'll be helpful to follow along for yourself.

As we look at this passage, I hope that you, like me, become encouraged by two things. Number one is I feel incredibly grateful for our leadership at Church of the Holy Spirit—for Tim and for Sloop. As we study the book of John, we're not gonna do a highlight reel of the fun ones, the ones we know a lot about, or the ones that seem easy to preach on. We're gonna look at every single verse in the gospel of John, and I'm really grateful for that. I've talked to a few folks who, like me, have really enjoyed this study of the book of John as we dive deep on what the gospel writer John is saying. Because John didn't waste any words. He didn't say anything in here that wasn't important. Every piece of this gospel matters. We're gonna look at a passage that might not be as mainstream this morning.

I hope the second thing that you experience as we look at this passage is more evidence that what Paul says in 2 Timothy 3:16 is true.

All scripture is God breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness. — 2 Timothy 3:16

I believe as we look at this passage this morning that I hope we would lean in together, and as we do, I believe that the Lord will teach us. I believe that the Lord might rebuke us. I believe that He will correct us, and I believe He will train us in righteousness.

So if you would flip open to John chapter 7, we're gonna look at the first 24 verses together, and we're gonna walk verse by verse through what John is saying. Before we do, as we look at the first two verses, my hope is that we could find a little bit of context as we step into the story. I tell high schoolers who are in Bible studies with me all the time: we never walk into a library, pick up a book off the shelf, open to a middle page, and start to read it and hope to understand what was going on. We're gonna need a little bit of context as we step into the story.

Context and Timeline

So we look at the first verse, and John gives us a little bit of context:

After this, Jesus went around in Galilee purposefully staying away from Judea because the Jews were there waiting to take his life. But when the Jewish feast of tabernacles was near... — John 7:1-2

We see that he says "after this," which we know if you've been here for the last four or five weeks—we've taken an in-depth look at John 6. Jesus not only fed 5,000 people, but he spoke about the miracle that he did. He gave a tough teaching that Sloop taught on a few weeks ago, where we see some of his disciples walk away from him. He has this conversation with his true disciples who stay. So it says, "after this"—after the feeding of the 5,000—Jesus stayed around in Galilee. So we know that the time between the feeding of the 5,000 and where we pick up the story now is about six months.

The reason we know that this little bit of time is about six months is because the feeding of the 5,000 took place at the festival of Passover, and this is the feast of the tabernacles, or depending on your translation, you might see the feast of the booths. That normally took place around March for Passover and the feast of the tabernacles around September. So we know about six months of time has spanned between these two events.

Just as a fun fact, a lot of scholars would say that likely this six months when Jesus was moving around in Galilee teaching and performing miracles was likely when a lot of the synoptic gospels took place—that's Matthew, Mark, and Luke.

But John just kind of breezes by it in this one verse of "after this," and it's about the time of the Feast of the Tabernacles or Feast of the Booths. And I think it's helpful because if you're like me, you don't know a ton about the Feast of the Booths. It's not maybe the Jewish festival that you call to mind as much in your own life. So it's helpful for us to know a little bit about the feast of the booths as we step into this story.

What I'll say briefly about this—we'll talk probably more about it over the next few weeks—is the feast of the booths was a festival when all Jewish people would travel to Jerusalem. They would essentially go camping. They would build these tents or booths. The people that lived in Jerusalem would build a booth or a tent outside their house, and the people that traveled to Jerusalem would find a place and build this booth. They would live in that tent or booth for the duration of the festival. The reason they would do that is to remind themselves that Israel lived in those sorts of temporary shelters when they lived in the wilderness.

If you remember, at one point Israel was in captivity in Egypt. And the Lord rescued them and then they lived in the wilderness. It was there that they lived in tents and booths. So this festival was a chance for them to remind themselves that even there, even in the wilderness, the Lord was with them. And even in the wilderness, the Lord provided for them.

Though it's not the point of this sermon, I think we can probably take a note from the celebration of the feast of the booths because I think often we stand in today looking towards what we need tomorrow, asking the Lord for that. And we don't often stand in today looking backwards, reminding ourselves of the way the Lord provided for us and dwelt with us even in our wilderness.

A Case Study of Unbelief

And so that is the feast of the booths. We stepped into this story and we're gonna look at some conversations that Jesus has as we look at this passage. We're gonna bounce around. But what I would propose is over the next 24 verses, what our gospel writer John does is he lays before us a case study of unbelief. We're gonna see three different groups of people, all of which do not believe in Jesus.

You might recall we've talked about it all through this sermon series, but one of the main themes the gospel of John has is that of belief. John tells us that he writes this book so that we might believe in Jesus.

All who receive him, to all who believe in his name, he gives the right to become children of God. — John 1:12

But I believe what he does in John 7 is show us the faces of unbelief through three unique groups of people. Some that we would expect not to believe in him, but some that are shocking. And so as we walk through the rest of this passage verse by verse, I hope we'll see these three groups.

Jesus's Brothers

We'll start in verse three with our first group, which is Jesus's brothers.

Jesus's brothers said to him, "You ought to leave here and go to Judea so that your disciples may see the miracles you do. No one who wants to become a public figure acts in secret. Since you are doing these things, show yourself to the world." For even his own brothers did not believe in him. — John 7:3-5

You probably know this, but it's helpful to say: Jesus was born of a virgin, Mary. So Joseph was like his dad, but Joseph was not his dad. However, after Jesus was born, Mary and Joseph then got married and they had more children. So he has these half brothers and these are the ones that come up to him and have this conversation with him.

When John wrote this gospel, it would have been known by the people that would have read it that Jesus's brothers would have gone on to become believers in Jesus. Some of them wrote books of the Bible. Some of them went on to die for their belief in Jesus. So it was meant to shock us when we see here this almost like flashback in time of a moment when Jesus' own brothers don't believe in him.

They come up to Jesus, and maybe they're a little frustrated because he's become controversial and he's drawing these crowds. They assume he wants to become a public figure. That's all they can figure him to want to become. And they say, "Jesus, if you really want to become a public figure, if you want to be this big politician, you need to go to the big city. You need to go and start performing these miracles at the feast of the booths in Jerusalem. There's tons of people there. This is your time. Go make a grand entrance, make a scene, and then your following will grow."

And so they go up to Jesus and they tell him this. As we look at the nature of his brother's unbelief, I think I want us to notice two things about their unbelief. Number one is they were so close to Jesus. I mean, goodness, they grew up with Jesus.

They were around him. Some of you in this room have siblings and you struggle with comparison with your sibling. Imagine if your sibling was the son of God. I mean, can you imagine? It must have been so hard. Or like they get in trouble sometimes, and I heard someone say this—the parents storm in the room, and they're like, "What happened in here? We know it wasn't Jesus, so it must have been you guys." Right? I mean, it must be horrible being Jesus' brother, but awesome too. But they're so close to him, so familiar with him, but yet it's their proximity to him that disallows them from understanding who he really is.

The second thing I want you to notice about the nature of his brother's unbelief is they want to tell Jesus how they believe things should go. I'm sure none of us in this room ever really can relate to that, but they go up to Jesus and they say, "Hey man, we see you wanna grow in this following. Why don't you go to the big city? Why don't you do it this way? And then we'll believe in you. We see these miracles. They seem pretty sharp, why don't you go do it over here for these people and then it's gonna go well for you."

Jesus' Response to His Brothers' Unbelief

Now I want us to look at Jesus' response to his brother's unbelief. It picks up in verse six.

Therefore, Jesus told them, "The right time for me has not yet come. For you, anytime is right. The world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I testify that what it does is evil. You go to the feast. I am not yet going up to this feast because for me the right time has not yet come." Having said this, he stayed in Galilee. — John 7:6-9

Now, each time we look at Jesus's response to someone's unbelief, I'm just gonna warn you now that he says some lofty things that we won't have all the full time to unpack as we look at these this morning. But here's what I want you to know. Jesus looks at his brothers who are telling him to go to Jerusalem and do this. And he says, "Hey, you don't understand yet. You don't know my father in heaven yet, but he has a plan and a way this is gonna go. And my time hasn't come yet, and we're not gonna go now." And he doesn't go.

Oh, what's interesting about this is he says the world cannot hate you, but it hates me. Eventually, the world will hate his brothers because they follow him and believe in him. And some of them even get put to death for their belief in Jesus. But he said, "Hey, you don't see the plan yet. And it's not my time to go. It's my way, not your way."

And we move on into verse 10 and we're gonna move into seeing our next group of people who do not believe in him. But I just wanna pause here because I think this is pretty funny. If you look in verse 10, it's like the most brother-like thing you could see someone do. Right? His brothers come up to Jesus and they're like, "Hey man, you should go to Jerusalem and do these things there." And he says, "I'm not going to Jerusalem. It's not my time to go to Jerusalem." And then they're like, "Okay, fine. We're going to Jerusalem." And then they go, and then he waits a second. He's like, "Okay, I'm going to Jerusalem." Okay. It feels like a real life brother argument, but I think it's worth noting that Jesus is not dishonest here. Jesus is not lying. His brothers want him to go and make this big public spectacle in Jerusalem at the feast, but Jesus says he's gonna go privately, not publicly. And so we see that happen in verse 10.

The Teachers of the Law

And then in verse 11, we're introduced to our second group of unbelievers. And it says,

Now at the feast, the Jews were watching for him and asking, "Where is that man?" — John 7:11

Now it's important to note, most of the people that would have been at the feast of the booths would have been of Jewish descent. However, when we see that the Jews, capital J, this is actually referencing the teachers of the law. And so when we see that phrase, "the Jews," we're talking about the religious leaders. And this is our second group of unbelievers.

If the brothers were so close in proximity to Jesus that their familiarity with him blinded them from seeing who he was, the teachers of the law are so far from Jesus, so angry at Jesus, and so set against Jesus that it seems obvious that they wouldn't believe in him. But I wanna look at the three places in this passage that we see a little bit of the nature of the unbelief of the teachers of the law.

The first is in verse one where we see that Jesus stayed around in Galilee. Why? Because the Jews, the Jewish leaders were there waiting to take his life. The reason they were frustrated with him actually beckons back to John five, which you might remember if you were here, when he heals a man who was paralyzed by the pool, and he tells him to get up, take his mat. And doing so on the Sabbath infuriated the religious leaders. And so they're already set against Jesus, and now he stayed away in Galilee, and they're waiting for him.

And we see that again in verse 11 that the Jews weren't even focused on the festival because they're waiting for Jesus. They think surely he's gonna show up and make a scene. And the religious leaders are watching, waiting, and say, okay, once we get him here, we're gonna catch him and we're gonna put him to death.

And then eventually, about halfway through the festival, Jesus stands up to teach. And as he's teaching, we see in verse 15 that the Jews, the religious leaders were amazed and asked, how did this man get this learning without having studied? They're asking, how did he learn all these things? He didn't study under the most prestigious rabbi, but he speaks about the word of God like he knows it. They're amazed at his teaching and it breaks my heart because they're so far from him and they're so set against him that their anger blinds them from seeing who he is.

And this is how Jesus responds to the unbelief of the religious leaders in verse 16.

My teaching is not my own. It comes from him who sent me. If anyone chooses to do God's will, he will find out whether my teaching comes from God or whether I speak on my own. He who speaks on his own does so to gain honor for himself, but he who works for the honor of the one who sent him is a man of truth. There is nothing false about him. Has not Moses given you the law yet not one of you keeps the law. Why are you trying to kill me? — John 7:16-19

And again, there's so much to unpack in Jesus' response to the unbelief of the religious leaders. But what I think is interesting here is the religious leaders are angry at him because they think he is claiming to be God. And what I love about Jesus is he does not back down from the fight. We see Jesus say, I'm not—it's not my own teaching. It comes from the one who sent me. I was sent from the father. Jesus is not afraid to tell the truth about who he is knowing that in a short matter of time, he'll be put to death for claiming to be God. But he doesn't back down from a fight.

But it breaks my heart as we watch the enemies of Jesus so angry with him, so set against him, wondering where did he get this authority from? And it's easy for us to see in hindsight as we read the story. Don't you see Jesus is the word and in the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God. He's the one who wrote the story with God. He was there when these religious leaders were spoken into being. He was and is and is to come. But their anger as they set themselves against him blinds them from seeing who he really is.

The Crowds: Afraid to Believe

And then we move into our third group of people that we see in this case study of unbelief. And so we'll rewind back and look at verse 12.

Among the crowds there was widespread whispering about him. Some said he is a good man. Others replied, no, he deceives the people. But no one would say anything publicly about him for fear of the Jews. — John 7:12

So our third group of unbelievers is the crowds. And so we have Jesus' brother so close and familiar with him that it causes them to miss who he really is. We have the religious leaders who are so far from him and so angry that they're blind to who he is. And then right in the middle are the crowds who are afraid of saying anything of substance, who don't want to ruffle any feathers with the religious leaders.

And so they say, maybe he's a good teacher. He seems to say some pretty impressive things. Maybe we see later in John 7:20, maybe he's demon possessed. They say, maybe he's deceiving people but they're afraid to say anything because they don't wanna ruffle any feathers and as a result, they believe nothing. And the crowd's cozy up on a fence post waiting for the verdict of the public opinion to come out before they'll say anything of substance. And the crowds refuse to believe anything about Jesus out of fear of the authorities.

And then in verse 21, we'll see Jesus's response to their unbelief. And just a warning, this is perhaps the loftiest of all the things Jesus says in this passage, but I'll read it in verse 21.

Jesus said to them, I did one miracle and you were all astonished. Yet because Moses gave you circumcision, though it actually did not come from Moses, but from the patriarchs, you circumcise a child on the Sabbath. Now if a child can be circumcised on the Sabbath, so the law of Moses may not be broken, why are you angry with me for healing the whole man on the Sabbath? Stop judging by mere appearances and make a right judgment. — John 7:21-24

Now there's so much in this passage that we could unpack over the course of like two hours, and really Tim should be the person to do that. But essentially, what Jesus is doing is he's drawing back to John 5, when Jesus healed someone on the Sabbath. And so they're upset because he heals this person, tells them to pick up his mat and walk. And what Jesus is doing is he's leaning into that controversy around that miracle that he performed.

He's talking about this sort of idea of precedence of the law, where if a baby is born on a certain day and the day that they're supposed to be circumcised comes a few days later, you'll even do that on the Sabbath. It's a lot. It's kind of confusing, but here's what I want you to know. One, Jesus is sharp. Jesus knows this like the back of His hand, and He can keep up with the best of them. But I want you to see what he says at the end after all of this conversation about circumcision and the Sabbath and the miracle he did in John five.

Stop judging by mere appearances, but instead judge correctly. — John 7:24

He looks at the crowds, afraid of saying anything and as a result believing nothing, cozied up on a fence post, afraid of ruffling any feathers. And he says to them, stop judging by mere appearances, but instead judge correctly.

Tim Keller talks about this idea that Jesus teaches in a way that it's impossible to sit on the fence. He says, either you crown me as the Lord of all, the Lord of your life, or you put me to death. And he's speaking and he says, hey, stop judging by mere appearances. Stop being swayed left and right.

It says at one place in scripture that Jesus did not entrust himself to man because he knew what was in man's heart. He looks at this crowd and he knows that soon after this, he's gonna march into Jerusalem and a triumphal entry that we'll talk about in a few weeks on Palm Sunday. And those crowds, you know what they'll say? Hosanna. Hosanna. The king has come. And then a short time after that, the religious leaders will stir up the crowds and you know what the crowds say about Jesus? Crucify him. Crucify him.

You see Jesus sees the crowds and he says, because you won't say anything, in reality you believe nothing. And the crowds do not believe in him. And so there you have it. We have our three groups of people that do not believe in Jesus. This case study of unbelief that we see in John chapter seven.

Unbelief in Our Own Lives

But what's the point? You might sit there and say, okay, well I believe in Jesus. So what's the point for me in looking at other people who do not believe in Jesus? Well, here's my hope. Here's my proposal for you: that this morning, as we look at John chapter seven, we would hold the word of God in front of our face as if it were a mirror. And as we look at the unbelief of these folks in this passage, we might be able to identify where unbelief has taken shape in our own lives.

You see, it's possible to believe in God and yet at the same time live out your life as if you did not. And my hope would be that we would look and we would see the unbelief of these people and identify the places as it has taken shape in our own heart and life.

You know, I'm reminded of the dad who runs up to Jesus in the gospel of Mark, and his son is sick. And he runs to Jesus and he says, Lord, can you heal my son? And Jesus says, anything is possible for him who believes. And the dad cries out one of the most powerful, vulnerable, and relatable lines to me in the gospel as he says:

Lord, I believe, but would you help my unbelief? — Mark 9:24

And I hope that that would be our cry this morning. That as we see the unbelief of others and see where it takes shape in our own heart, that this morning we would respond and we would cry out to the Lord and say, Lord, I believe, but would you help my unbelief?

You know, perhaps for you, it could be that you are almost like an enemy of God. That there are times in our lives when it feels hard to believe that we have set our face against God. That we know what he plans to do or desires to do in our life and we push back against it. And that's the way unbelief takes shape in our own lives. And to you, I would say, the Lord is gonna work. Do you want it to be in spite of you or with you?

Perhaps that's how unbelief has taken shape in your life. Or perhaps you are like Jesus' brothers and you've gotten so close to him that you've almost lost the power of who he is. Or perhaps for you, you're so close to him that you've told him how you expect things to go. That your unbelief has taken shape as you say, Lord, here's what you need to do. You need to go do this. Tell people this. Show them yourself this way, and then it will be good. Then the world will understand. And we wanna tell Jesus how he ought to operate. But the reality is, it's not our way, it's his way. Perhaps your unbelief has taken this place of telling Jesus the way he ought to move and operate.

Or perhaps, most commonly, our unbelief happens as we act like the crowds. And we cozy up on a fence post, afraid of saying anything about Jesus because of the repercussions of the culture and authority in our world. When's the last time you got a black eye for what you believe in Jesus? Not because you're stirring up a fight, but because you're standing for the truth. You see, I think we're afraid of ruffling feathers.

We're afraid of living out our faith, but we see of the crowds that because they're afraid of saying anything, the reality is they believe nothing. And it's hard, but Jesus says to the crowds, you either crown me as the Lord of all, or you put me to death. There's no in between in belief in Jesus.

And perhaps those are the ways that we don't believe, but perhaps there are folks in this room this morning that have never believed. Perhaps you are here today and for the first time, you would believe in Jesus. Perhaps there are some who are here today who truly are enemies of God. That you have been blinded by anger towards him. Maybe with the circumstances of your life or frustration about ways things have gone. And perhaps today for the first time, you'll believe in him. And I hope you know this, no one is too far gone for belief in Jesus.

Nicodemus, one of the religious leaders that's set against him, guess what? He visited Jesus at night in John three. He comes back in John seven and we see him again at the end of John's gospel, burying Jesus. Even he comes to follow Jesus. Paul famously killing Christians is one of the ones who becomes a believer and does incredible transformative work. Perhaps the reason you and I know the gospel is because of Paul. No one is too far gone for Jesus.

Or perhaps you are like the crowds and you've been afraid of saying anything and as a result, you've said nothing. But maybe today for the first time, you'll hear his voice and believe in him and step out and step into a relationship with him.

Or perhaps there are some who are here today like Jesus' brothers, who have known him for a long time. I mean, for goodness sakes, you grew up with him. You know the stories, you know all about him, you know everything he said. But perhaps your proximity and familiarity to Jesus has prevented you from ever seeing who he really is. The Lord of all. God was skin on, who died on a cross for me and for you. Who lived the life we should have lived and died the death we deserved to die and rose from the dead so that we could believe in him.

Response and Prayer

See this morning, I hope that for those of us that do believe, we could look and recognize the faces of unbelief in others and see where it has taken shape in our own heart. And today we would respond and cry out, Lord, I believe, would you help my unbelief?

I pray that there might be some folks here today who hear his voice for the first time. And perhaps today is the day that you believe for the first time. I'm gonna pray and there'll be some time to respond. These curve rails will be open. There'll be prayer ministers in the back that would love to pray with you, or perhaps you'll just respond in your pew. But I hope that you'll cry out, Lord, I believe. Would you help my unbelief? Or perhaps today for the first time, might hear his voice calling you.

Yet to all who received him, to those who believe in his name, he gave the right to become children of God. — John 1:12

Let me pray. Lord, thank you that you love us. Thank you that you died for us. And I pray that we'd recognize the ways that we live as unbelievers. We cry out to you. It's in your name we pray. Amen.