R249 The Marks of the Unbeliever

We all could use some encouragement, and we'll find it together today in the Bible-based preaching of Dr. Don Wilton here on The Encouraging Word. Today, Dr. Wilton takes us to the book of John chapter 7 about the marks of the unbeliever.

And while we study, know that we're available for you connecting online right now at www.tewonline.org. Now, here's the teaching from Dr. Don Wilton. I want to invite you to turn with me in your Bibles this morning to John's Gospel in chapter 7. I know that I say this every Sunday, and I will probably continue to say this every Sunday, but I really want to invite you to take a copy of God's Word and to follow with me this morning, because it is absolutely critical that we understand the context of the message this morning and next Sunday.

This is going to be a two-part series, and yet I always reserve the right to make it a three or a four or an eight-part series. But I think this is going to be a two-part series as the Lord leads us. I'm going to do something a little different this morning than what we are used to doing in that I'm going to be reading the entire chapter of chapter 7. And some of you are going to say, well, pastor, why would you read an entire chapter with some 52 verses and rob yourself of preaching time? I'm going to say to you that as Christian men and women, that when we study God's Word, there is a real sense in which that the more we allow the Spirit of God to speak to us, and the more we look at the Word of God and allow the Word of God to infiltrate us, the more we enable God by the power of his Spirit to help us to see the very depths of the unbelievable joy that Jesus Christ shares with us in the context of his Word. And so it is with John chapter 7. Up until John chapter 7, we have an unequivocal account of the reception of Jesus' ministry.

The people to whom he ministered by and large received what Jesus did for them. And beginning in chapter 7, we're going to notice an unbelievable change because from chapter 7, we have the beginning not of Jesus' reception, but rather of Jesus' rejection. And where did Jesus' rejection end up?

It ended up at the cross. And notice here, beginning in chapter 7 and verse 1, that there were people who more and more militantly began to reject Jesus Christ and all of his teaching. I have entitled our message, The Marks of the Unbeliever. The Marks of the Unbeliever. There have been many times from God's Word, and I know already in my ministry here in our beloved church, that God has allowed us to understand the marks of the believer. How can you tell if someone's born again?

You might have heard me say from time to time. How can I know that I know that I know that I know? How can I know that I'm saved? The Bible is very clear. There are going to be many times in God's Word that we're going to study this. But here in chapter 7, the question rather is, how does a person know or how do I know that a person is not saved? What are the marks of the unbeliever?

What sets them apart? There is something rather interesting here, folks, and I'm going to be preaching this entire message on the introduction to this chapter. So I want you to know that right up front, because I do not believe that as a congregation, we can ever understand what God is trying to teach us.

If we don't see the big picture, if we don't understand the context, I have struggled over this passage. And I've said, but Lord, surely you're going to let me read five verses and preach. And yet the whole passage of chapter 7 keeps coming back to me.

So I'm going to begin by reading chapter 7 and I invite you to join together with me. John's Gospel, chapter 7. After this, Jesus went around in Galilee, purposely staying away from Judea. Because the Jews there were waiting to take his life. But when the Jewish feast of Tabernacles was near, Jesus' 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.

What a staggering statement. Therefore, Jesus told them, the right time for me has not yet come. For you, any time 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'm not yet going up to this feast because for me, the right time has not yet come. Having said this, Jesus stayed in Galilee. However, after his brothers had left for the feast, he went also, not publicly, but in secret. Now at the feast, the Jews were watching for him and asking, where is that man? 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. Not until halfway through the feast did Jesus go up to the temple courts and begin to teach. The Jews were amazed and they asked, how did this man get such learning without having studied? Jesus answered, 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? You are demon possessed, the crowd answered.

Who is trying to kill you? Verse 21, Jesus said to them, I did one miracle and you are all astonished. Yet because Moses gave you circumcision, though actually it did not come from Moses, but from the patriarchs, you circumcised a child on the Sabbath. Now, if a child can be circumcised on the Sabbath so that 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. At that point, some of the people of Jerusalem began to ask, isn't this the man they are trying to kill? Here he is speaking publicly and are they not saying a word to him? Have the authorities really concluded that he is the Christ? But we know where this man is from. And when the Christ comes, no one will know where he is from. Then Jesus, still teaching in the temple courts, cried out, yes, you know me and you know where I am from. I'm not here on my own, but he who sent me is true.

You do not know him, but I know him because I am from him and he sent me. At this, they tried to seize him, but no one laid a hand upon him because his time had not yet come. Still, many in the crowd put their faith in him. They said, when Christ comes, he will do more miraculous signs than this man. The Pharisees heard the crowd whispering such things about him.

Then the chief priests and the Pharisees sent temple gods to arrest him. Jesus said, I am with you only for a short time and then I go to the one who sent me. You will not look for me, but you will not, you will look for me, but you will not find me.

And where I am, you cannot come. The Jews said to one another, where does this man intend to go that we cannot find him? Will he go where our people live scattered among the Greeks and teach the Greeks?

What did he mean when he said, you will look for me, but you will not find me? And what did he mean when he said, where I am, you cannot come? On the last and greatest day of the feast, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, if anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him. By this, Jesus meant the spirit whom those who believed in him were later to receive.

Up to that time, the spirit had not been given since Jesus had not yet been glorified. On hearing his words, some of the people said, surely this man is the prophet. Others said, he is the Christ. Still others asked, how can Christ, the Christ come from Galilee?

Does not the scripture say that the Christ will come from David's family and from Bethlehem, the town where David lived? Thus the people were divided because of Jesus. Some wanted to seize him, but no one laid a hand on him. Finally, the temple gods went back to the chief priests and Pharisees who asked them, why didn't you bring him in? No one ever spoke the way this man does, the gods declared.

You mean he has deceived you also? The Pharisees retorted. Has any of the rulers or the Pharisees believed in him? No, but this mob knows nothing of the law.

There is a curse on them. Nicodemus who had gone to Jesus earlier and was one of their own number asked, does our law condemn anyone without first hearing him to find out what he is doing? They replied, are you from Galilee too? Look into it and you will find that a prophet does not come out of Galilee.

May the Lord write his word upon our hearts this morning. It seems to me, my friends, that when we come to the end of John chapter six, that Jesus leaves us with no doubt that there are two categories of people left behind. I want to remind you that in John chapter six, Jesus gave an extraordinary display of his public and his private manifestation of his power. He fed the 5,000 publicly.

He walked on the water privately. He demonstrated his power to these people. Jesus was everywhere. They saw what he was doing.

They were impressed by what he was doing. But the Bible says at the end of chapter six that there were two categories of people who were left behind at the conclusion of this phase of Jesus' ministry. Number one, there were those that believed in him. The Bible tells us that in John chapter six and verse 68 and 69.

Look at it. Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.

We believe and we know that you are the holy one of God. There was no doubt, was there, choir? There were many people. In fact, if you picked it up just a moment ago, as I was disciplining myself to read the whole passage without stopping, even in John chapter seven and right throughout the fabric of scripture, we are going to joyfully be reminded that there were those that believed on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.

But there was a second group of people that were left behind at this junction. There were those that did not believe. John chapter six told us that in verse 61, in verse 66, aware that his disciples were grumbling about this, Jesus spoke to them. In verse 66, the Bible says, from this time, many of those who followed around after him turned back and no longer followed him. There were people who did not believe, despite the fact that Jesus had manifested himself both publicly and privately, despite the fact that Jesus Christ had left no doubt about who he was.

He had preached about himself. He had demonstrated himself and yet there were people who did not believe him. But Jesus didn't leave their unbelief just like that. Jesus reminded us that there were two reasons why they didn't believe. Number one, the scriptures tell us that there were those who didn't believe because of the human side of their unbelief.

Look with me at chapter six and verse 64. Here's what the Bible says. Yet there are some of you who do not believe. Jesus was saying to them, you don't believe because you don't want to believe.

I wouldn't be surprised today if there are people worshiping with us in this great sanctuary or worshiping with us by way of television. If it were really to come down to where the water hits the wheel, it's not a matter of whether you believe that the Bible is true. It is not a matter of whether you believe that Jesus is the son of God. It is not a matter of whether you've seen the public and private demonstration of the power of God. You don't believe because you do not want to believe. That is the human side of unbelief. But then there's the divine side of unbelief. There were those who not only did not believe because of the human side, but there were those who did not believe because of the divine side of unbelief.

Look at verse 64 again, verse 65. He went on to say, that is why I told you that no one can come to me unless the Father has enabled them to come unto me. You see, friend, that is the divine side of who God is.

That is the sovereign work of God. That is the completeness of God in the act and the work of salvation. Salvation begins in the heart of God and it ends in the heart of God. Salvation is initiated in the heart of God and it is perfected in the heart of God. Salvation, my beloved friend, is God.

It is the beginning and the end. He is the Alpha and the Omega. He's in all and through all and outside of God. My friend, you and I cannot be born again.

We cannot be. There is the human side of unbelief and there is the divine side of unbelief. And so we get down to this issue, the marks of the unbeliever. You see, in verse 70, something of staggering proportion takes place in Jesus' ministry. Here the 12 disciples are. And can you imagine, Jesus walks up to them and he must have said several things to them, I have no doubt. But in verse 70, it is recorded, Jesus replied, have I not chosen you, the 12, yet one of you is a devil. He meant Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, who even though he was one of the 12, he would later betray Jesus because of his unbelief.

And the issue, my beloved friends, as we begin to get into chapter 7, something remarkable begins to take place. We are going to discover in chapter 7 that what Jesus was trying to say to his disciples was simply that counterfeit Christians will eventually separate themselves from believers. Jesus was looking at his disciples, those who were so close to him, those who ate with him and drank with him, those who did all kinds of things, they rubbed shoulders with the king of kings and the lord of lords, and yet Jesus looks at the 12 and without singling any of them out, he makes a generic statement that must have put fear into the hearts of those who loved him so much, and he said, one of you is a devil and one of you is going to betray me.

Oh, I've agonized over that passage. I've asked myself the question, why would Jesus have said that? As he moved from Galilee into Jerusalem, what was the purpose with which Jesus moved into Jerusalem to mingle among the malls of the people in that society? What was Jesus working toward? Why did Jesus say, my time has not yet come? The marks of the unbeliever. Perhaps may I submit to you today, ladies and gentlemen and boys and girls, that what Jesus was trying to say to his disciples, which no doubt left them as baffled as most of us are left many times as we try to understand the mind of God is that those who are counterfeits, those who look like Christians and yet have no relationship with Jesus Christ will ultimately separate themselves from among the company of the committed.

That's what Matthew chapter 13 verses 18 through 22 is all about. You're listening to Dr. Don Wilton, our teacher here on The Encouraging Word, and we'll be back with the rest of today's message. But if the Lord is convicting and challenging you and you'd like to have someone pray with you, know that we're available right now at 866-899-WORD.

That's 866-899-9673. We'd love to talk with you, pray with you, maybe connect with resources that'll help you grow in your faith. Now back to today's teaching with Dr. Don Wilton. You see there Jesus leaves an unequivocal statement when he says that the time will come and that time is called the harvest time. Do you know that according to God's word it is possible for the wheat and the tares to grow together? It is possible, my friend, for human observance not to be able to tell the difference between the good and the bad?

It is possible for the tare to become hidden among the weeds? And Jesus said at the time of harvest those who are weeds, those who are counterfeits, those who are unbelievers will be separated from the real thing. And I want you to know, friends, that the Bible says that counterfeits like Judas, even though the others may not necessarily see it clearly as God does, will ultimately separate themselves from among the company of the committed. Oh yeah, in Matthew chapter 13 verses 18 through 22 you can read in John chapter 8 verse 31 and 59.

We'll get there probably in the next three to four years. In 2 Timothy chapter 2 verse 18 and 19, in 1 John chapter 2 and verse 19 the Bible is filled with it from wall to wall, from Genesis to Revelation. That those who are not what they say they are, even though they are among the crowds, are going to separate themselves maybe even as late as the harvest time. What was Jesus trying to say? Well, I'm going to point out to you today, my friends, that as we move into this period of rejection that there were eight groups of people in John chapter 7 who rejected Jesus.

I want you to write these down if you have a pen because it's very important. I'm going to show you something very interesting about them. There were eight groups, eight categories, some of them general categories, eight groups of people who in chapter 7 either began or already did reject Jesus Christ through their unbelief. Number one, and this may shock some of you, his own brothers. Look with me in chapter 7 and verse 5. First of all at verse 3 Jesus' brothers said to him, you ought to leave here and go to Judea so that your disciples may see the miracles you do. Verse 5, for even his own brothers did not believe in him.

I'm going to come back to them in a minute. Number two, the religious rulers. Verse 10, in fact the religious rulers are right through this passage, but verse 10 and 11, however, after his brothers had left for the feast, at the feast the Jews were watching for him. There were the rulers, the rulers, the religious rulers, they were everywhere making the dictates of the day.

The third category were the Jews themselves. Look with me at verse 15 through verse 19. I'm not going to read this whole passage, but the Bible says, now the Jews were amazed and they were the ones that asked the question, how in the world did this man get such learning without having studied?

They had a problem, didn't they? Here was the Lord Jesus Christ standing in the church teaching unbelievable truth from God's word and would you believe? He hadn't even been to the Jerusalem Baptist Theological Seminary. But I want you to note in the fourth place there were people.

That's right, just the crowds. Look with me at verse 20 through 24. Again, I'm not going to read all of these verses every time, but just look in verse 25.

I beg your pardon, go back to verse 20. The Bible says, you are demon possessed, the crowd answered. Who is trying to kill you?

What a question. You see, Steve, these people couldn't understand what everybody else was talking about. They were part of the crowd. They were the bystanders.

They were out there observing. Are you going to say, you're going to say, now pastor, you're getting out of line here, but there are some people here today who are bystanders. But there was a fifth category of people who didn't believe. The Bible calls them some of the citizens of Jerusalem. And then there was the Sanhedrin, verse 32. The Bible tells us and consistently that the chief priests and the Pharisees who were in the temple, the Sanhedrin, and then in the eighth place, there were the Pharisees. The Pharisees are in verse 32. The Pharisees pop up again in verse 45. The Pharisees are again in verse 47. The Pharisees are in verse 48. The Pharisees are in verse 50 and 52. The Pharisees are there with these people.

They didn't believe in what Jesus was doing and they didn't believe who Jesus was. You would say to me today, pastor, then why does he come together at the Feast of the Tabernacles? Simply, my friends, because the Feast of the Tabernacles was the happiest of all the Jewish celebrations. Indeed the happiest of celebrations, but the thing that makes us the most happy is when we understand what it's like to say yes to Jesus Christ. You've heard Dr. Don as he's preached.

Now he comes into the studio with a final thought that's just for you. Are you ready to give your heart and life to the Lord Jesus Christ? Why don't you pray this prayer with me right now? Dear God, I know that I'm a sinner and I know that Jesus died for me on the cross. Today I repent of my sin and by faith I receive you into my heart. In Jesus' name. My friend, I welcome you today into the family of God. This is exciting news. Welcome to the family of God.

Some of you I know have prayed to receive Christ or rededicate your life. You need to let us know so we can put great resources in your hands. Dr. Don wants you to have for free. You can call us at 866-899-WORD. That's 866-899-9673.

Or meet us online at www.tewonline.org where you'll discover great resources like this. God's intended purpose for us never changed. We are not defeated. We are overcomers through Jesus Christ. The Word of God is alive and is relevant to all times in which we live. There are countless testimonies of people who walked with God in the Bible. They are our cloud of witnesses to encourage us on the Christian journey.

Learn from them. You can walk with God's giants. With your gift of $20 or more in support of the encouraging word, you will receive Dr. Wilton's new dynamic two-part series, Walking with God's Giants. Series 2, Walking with God's Giants is available on CD or DVD. It includes four messages on the lives of Nehemiah, Naaman, Solomon, and David. Call us today at 866-899-WORD to request Series 2, Walking with God's Giants.

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