Believe It or Not! - Part A

It's like you step up to the table and you say, I don't believe. And God says, I see that unbelief and I raised it a hundred dollars. I'm going to confirm the choice that you have made. That is why we're told in the Bible, in the words of Isaiah, the prophet, seek the Lord while he may be found, call on him while he is near.

Welcome to Connect with Skip weekend edition. Seeing is believing. You've probably heard that saying at one time or another. Perhaps you've even said it to someone yourself, but is it true? Skip Heitzig will introduce us to some people who saw incredible miracles, people being healed and the dead being raised.

And that scene did nothing for their belief in Jesus as the Messiah. Pastor Skip continues our current study in John chapter 12 in our series Believe 879 with an anecdote about the original Believe It or Not. You've all heard of Ripley's Believe It or Not, yes? Okay, so he started in 1918. Robert Ripley was a syndicated cartoonist. He would draw pictures and he was an explorer and a lover of all things odd and unusual. So he started Ripley's Believe It or Not. Well, he really surged forward when he hired a man by the name of Norbert Pearlroth who spent the next 52 years of his life, six days a week, 10 hours a day in the New York Public Library digging up facts, odd and unusual facts. And it went from a comic strip to something in newspapers, magazines, television, and now around the world, 37 Ripley Believe It or Not museums filled with unusual things.

And if you're into that, that's the place to go. So I have a little test to take, a little true or false, a little Believe It or Not test for you. In Tokyo, a bicycle is faster than a car, believe it or not? You believe it. Well, it's true.

Actually, in Tokyo, Japan, if your trip is under 50 minutes, five zero minutes, faster to take a bicycle than to get in a car. The Sahara Desert is the largest desert in the world. Do you believe it? You don't believe it? How many believe it? On a show of hands, believe it, raise your hand.

How many of you don't believe it? Okay, so what is the largest desert? It's Antarctica. Antarctica is considered the world's largest desert. It has no measurable rainfall precipitation, liquid precipitation, and no real life forms. And it's considered the world's largest desert.

The Sahara is the world's largest hot desert, they say. Here's another one. The Mona Lisa has no eyebrows. Do you believe it or not?

You believe it. Well, you're right. She has no eyebrows. They painted her that way because in the Renaissance, it was fashionable for women to shave their eyebrows completely off.

Weird, I know, but that was the Renaissance. Here's one. It's illegal to drink beer out of a bucket while sitting on a curb in St. Louis. You believe it? Yeah, you think that's the truth everywhere, right? There's actually a law on the books in St. Louis, an old law that has never been changed.

It states exactly that. Okay, here's another one. French fries originated in France. Do you believe it? No, they originated in Belgium. French dressing originated in France. Do you believe it? No. Did you know that the French actually hate French dressing?

Here's one. During your lifetime, you will eat the weight of about six elephants. Do you believe that?

You do? Some of you love to eat. It's actually true.

The average human being in a lifetime will eat 60,000 pounds of food or the equivalent weight of six elephants. I know some that would eat seven elephants, but a dog's sweat glands are in its paws. Do you believe it or not? I heard yes and no. It's true. They're in its paws, not on the skin, not on the armpits, on its paws.

52,000 Mazdas are being recalled because of spider webs. Do you believe it? You do? Okay, yeah, it's because you've seen the news this week. That's actually true.

I could have caught you on another week. Yeah, this week, 52,000 Mazdas were recalled because they said spider webs are clogging the fuel lines. One final question, true or false, God provided only one way for mankind to be saved, and that is through Jesus Christ alone. Do you believe it?

Yes. Amen. That is the truth. Well, we come to the last section of John, chapter 12. This last section of John 12, John shows us two groups of people, some who believe it and some who do not believe it when it comes to Jesus Christ. What we have here in this last paragraph is John's general survey of people who listened to and watched Jesus while he was on the earth, and they are simply divided into two camps, some who believed and some who didn't.

So this is his poll. He says, look, these people didn't believe in him. Look, these people did believe in him.

I think it's good for every generation to take a poll and to notice the poll of those people in their culture who believe and who don't believe in Christ. It might astound you to know that George Barna, one of the foremost researchers in what people believe, comes up with this. He says, I believe in Jesus Christ. I believe He comes up with this, and I quote, of those who say they are born-again Christians in our country, 46 percent believe in absolute moral truth. What that means is, the flip side of that is more than half of all people who claim to be born-again Christians do not believe in absolute moral truth.

I'll further go on. Less than half of those who say they are born-again Christians reject the notion that you can earn your salvation. The flip side of that, of course, is more than half of those who claim to be born-again Christians say that you can work your way or earn your way to heaven. All of that to simply say there's only a minority of Americans who believe in and follow the Jesus Christ of the New Testament.

Now, this section that we're dealing with is important. It's transitional. And when I say it's transitional, it's because the public ministry of Jesus Christ is ending. The private ministry of Jesus Christ is about to begin. Chapters 13, 14, 15, 16, and 17, the crowd is shut out. It is personal.

It is intimate. It is with the disciples alone and God the Father. So, the public ministry of Jesus ends in chapter 12 of verse 36. Notice it says that He departed and was hidden from them.

That's over with. Jesus now turns toward His disciples, this private ministry. And in between these two big sections, John gives a summary statement about people who believe and people who don't. And there's three principles I want you to notice in this summary section this morning. Number one, unbelief is dangerous. That's the first principle.

You'll see it with me in a moment. Number two, belief can be dangerous also. And number three, Jesus shows that Jesus shows us the difference between faith and unbelief.

We want to look at those three things. Let's begin in verse 37 of John chapter 12. But although He had done so many signs before them, they did not believe in Him, that the word of Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled which He spoke. Lord, who has believed our report? To whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? Therefore, they could not believe because Isaiah said again He has blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts lest they should see with their eyes, lest they should understand with their hearts and turn so that I should heal them. These things Isaiah said when he saw His glory and spoke of Him. There is in those verses encapsulated the first principle.

Unbelief is dangerous. Isn't it amazing to read they did not believe in Him even though John says they had all of the evidence for faith right before their eyes. They saw all of the signs, all of the miracles, the preponderance of evidence weighed on the scales and said believe in Jesus Christ. But they did not. Many of them walked away from Him in midstream we're told back in John chapter 6.

They did not believe. What things did Jesus do? Well, He turned water into wine. He walked on the water, the Sea of Galilee.

On the other side He took a few loaves and fish and blessed it and broken and fed thousands of people with it. He healed a nobleman's son in a long distance miracle saying go back home your son lives. He heals a blind man in chapter 8 and chapter 9 of the book of John.

There's a paralyzed man in John chapter 5 at the pool of Bethesda and that's only in John alone. Then there's the crowning miracle of Jesus so far and that is the resurrection of Lazarus from the dead and yet we read they did not believe. Now if you were to count up Matthew, Mark, Luke and John you would discover 34 such miraculous signs occur in the gospels where Jesus demonstrated His power over nature.

He demonstrated His power over disease, over demons and over death itself. Now just so you know when we say miracle we mean a real miracle. We don't mean the kind of miracles that people say oh the sun rise this morning. Isn't that beautiful? That's a miracle.

No it's not. It happens every day according to natural law. God put it in order but it's natural. A miracle is where God intervenes in natural law by supernatural forces. It's the suspension of natural law by God enacting something supernatural and these people that we're reading about saw all of these signs. They were unmistakable that Jesus Christ was the son of God and people should put their faith in Him so to not believe in Him in the face of that evidence simply demonstrates the depth of human depravity. Oftentimes people will say I bet you've heard it oh well I'd like to believe what you believe but I just can't believe that stuff and the way they say it it almost sounds like well they're just a little too smart. They're just a little smarter than you are. They would love to believe it but you know they got that extra degree that you didn't get so they can't believe that and I often will ask people who say that I'll tell you what let's just say that I could prove to you that Jesus was the son of God and the Bible is to be believed if I could if I could prove it to you would you place your faith in Christ today no okay then you better rephrase your statement it's not I can't believe what you really mean quite honestly is I won't believe I refuse to believe as an act of my will.

Some years ago Julian Huxley now you'll you'll recognize that name he was an evolutionary biologist died in 1995 he was called nicknamed Darwin's Bulldog because he just went voraciously after any opponent to the evolutionary theory he said and I quote there is no longer need nor room for supernatural beings capable of affecting the course of events in the evolutionary pattern of thought. I'll paraphrase that I don't believe in miracles they're impossible they never happen they never will we know better now no room in my thinking for it okay it's one thing to say that 2000 years removed from the miracles themselves but it's quite another thing to be the very people that saw what Jesus did and still they did not believe. So John says that here's a group of people they didn't believe in them no matter what Jesus did they didn't believe in him. Now John quotes two passages from the old testament did you notice that he quotes Isaiah the prophet twice once in chapter six and the other in chapter 53 actually 53 is first they didn't but to whom is the arm of the Lord been revealed and then chapter 6 he quotes twice out of Isaiah why does he do this it's simple John wants to show us that man's unbelief didn't surprise God he knew about her all along in fact he predicted it way before they came on the scene that'd be fun to tell an unbeliever wouldn't it hey God knew all about you and your unbelief before you were ever born so the ardent unbeliever the shake the fist of God unbeliever the agnostic the atheist doesn't shake God God didn't go in fact it simply proves him right and ultimately accomplishes his purpose that's why John quotes what Isaiah the prophet said but there's a danger in unbelief and this is what I want you to see and they're easy to see it's easy to see as you compare two verses verse 37 although he had done so many signs before them they did not believe in him that's an act of their will look at verse 39 therefore they could not believe because Isaiah said again he has blinded their eyes and he has hardened their hearts lest they should see with their eyes etc in other words follow me closely their unwillingness to believe eventually became their incapacity to believe you know unbelief is a two-layered cake think of it this way the bottom layer is human choice human will my decision what I think about God what I think about Christ whatever you put on that layer God will come along and put another layer on top of that and strengthen and fortify the first layer so if you say I don't believe in God it's my choice great God will say I will come along and I will put my layer of strength and I will confirm that that's the idea of I will harden the heart we studied all about this on Wednesday nights with Pharaoh remember God said to Moses Moses I'm going to harden Pharaoh's heart but first we read that Pharaoh hardens his own heart and then again hardens his own heart and then again hardens his own heart until finally God says okay now I'm going to harden your heart if that's the perpetual decision you make then I will fortify the decision that you have made now I got to tell you something I believe that if you make a decision for God toward God and you confirm or harden your heart toward him that God will also come along and strengthen and confirm that but the opposite is also true those who persistently harden their hearts will have their hearts hardened I'll put it to you in poker terms if you don't mind it's like you step up to the table and you say I don't believe and God says I see that unbelief and I raise it a hundred dollars I'm going to confirm the choice that you have made that is why we're told in the Bible in the words of Isaiah the prophet seek the Lord while he may be found call on him while he is near if you have any feeling at all or spiritual sensibility move toward him because unbelief is dangerous and that's the first principle it's dangerous because it's progressive what starts out as your unwillingness will end up as you're being incapable of believing second principle I want you to notice and that is in verse 42 and 43 not only is unbelief dangerous faith can be dangerous as well look at it nevertheless even among the rulers many believed in him now stop so far that sounds great yeah finally a breath of fresh air somebody's believing I love it hold that thought but because of the Pharisees they did not confess him lest they should be put out of the synagogue for they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God have you ever thought of your faith as being dangerous probably not unless unless you lived in a country where you were persecuted for your faith quite a bit because you see if you live in such a place where to believe in Christ might mean Christ might mean death then you suddenly realize my believing in Jesus Christ can be hazardous to my health there's actually a danger involved the persecution that leads to a second danger and that is compromise that's what's going on here now I'm going to jog your memory a little bit you remember back in chapter nine it might have been four or five years ago when we were in chapter nine but if you remember the man who was blind that Jesus healed and then the Pharisees talked to him and his parents come in and they have this discussion it says in chapter 9 verse 22 therefore if anyone confessed that Jesus was Christ he was put out of the synagogue that's when the law went into action remember that so we also told you that those words put out of the synagogue five words it's one simple greek word which literally means to be un-synagogued so what the law was you believe in Jesus we're going to un-synagogue you de-synagogue you or excommunicate you formally so that you have no social status or standing in the community whatsoever that was the fear that was going on in their minds here that kind of persecution led to many of them who believed to compromise that's the danger that's why I say faith can be dangerous too okay let's reel this in a little bit did you know that last year last year alone in the world 160,000 Christians were killed for their faith in Christ 160,000 did you know that the 20th century from 1900 to the year 2000 there were more martyrdoms Christians killed for their faith not voluntarily blowing themselves up killed for their faith in the 20th century than in all previous centuries combined from the 1st century through the 19th all of them combined there were more on the 20th than all of them guess how many were martyred guess how many were killed a hundred thousand believers were killed for their faith in Christ during that time excuse me got the figure wrong way am I I'm way off 100 million Christians were killed during that century the same statisticians tell us that if you put all believers in the world together into one group it's estimated that one out of every 200 people can expect to be martyred in his or her lifetime okay now we're dealing with something that for us is just philosophical if we reign it in we don't see that kind of persecution that kind of martyrdom in our country I mean you you believe what you believe in and most people will leave you alone and say good put a bumper sticker on your car I don't care I'm not into that but I do believe that is going to change in this country I think we're already sensing that tomorrow we'll hear the conclusion of this message believe it or not it's part of our current series in the gospel of john believe 879 and before we go today let's find out more about this month's connect with Skip resource offer israel at war that's the title of a new book by Skip heitzig modern israel has been at war from its very first day of existence as Skip points out on the day after israel became a nation that was may 14 1948 on may 15 virtually every arab neighbor attacked israel to destroy it israel had been a nation one day they didn't have an organized army israel at war is up to date concerning current events in the mid east and includes skips comments during his december tour of the gaza border and a video link to skips interview in jerusalem the new book israel at war is our gift to you this month to anyone who encourages the growth of connect with Skip with a gift of 50 or more make your financial vote of support at connectwithskip.com or by calling 1-800-922-1888 israel at war will give you skips insight from over 40 trips to israel and decades of bible study i know the middle east seems like a very complex situation it's actually pretty basic one side wants the other side dead on one side you have a jewish nation a jewish state called modern day israel israel wishes to exist as a sovereign state living in peace most palestinians and other arab nations not all but many of them deny the right of israel to exist receive israel at war by Skip heintzig with your gift go to connectwithskip.com or call 1-800-922-1888 if you'd like a copy of today's message you can find it at connectwithskip.com or you can call us and order one at 1-800-922-1888 each copy is just four dollars plus shipping we'll continue through our series believe 879 with more from the gospel of john next time so i hope you can join us right here in connect with Skip weekend edition a presentation of connection communications connecting you to god's never changing truth in ever-changing times