It's always a pleasure to be
here. I've entitled the message that
I would like to bring this evening. What Jesus marveled at. What Jesus marveled at. Now, there are a lot of things
that I marvel at. I marvel at creation. I marvel
at the vastness of the universe, the stars, the planets, the galaxies. I marvel. I can look up at the
sky at night and I marvel. I marvel at the earth. I marvel
at the mineral kingdom and the plant kingdom and the animal
kingdom. I love to watch animal shows. I'm just amazed at the
Lord's creation. And I marvel at the works of
men. You know, every time I get on a cell phone, it almost freaks
me out. I mean, how is... I don't get it. I'm amazed. Every time I take off in a plane,
I think, how is this happening? I've had people explain aerodynamics
to me, but it just doesn't register very well. I'm amazed. I'm amazed at the architectural
and engineering achievements of men I'm amazed by many of
the arts, the literary works, the arts. And I think, how could
somebody figure out all this stuff? How did, how did man figure
out how to split the atom? That's amazing. You know, the
theory of relativity equals MC squared. Anybody know what that
means? I know what the words stand for, but I'm just amazed
by the things men do. I marvel at a whole lot of things.
Question. Does the Lord Jesus Christ marvel
at any of these things? He who made the universe understands
it all together. He who made the atom certainly
knows how to split the atom. And he gave man the knowledge
of that in order to accomplish his purpose. No, the Lord Jesus
is not impressed or doesn't marvel at the things that you and I
marvel at. In Mark chapter 13, verses one and two, we read,
and as he went out of the temple, Mark chapter 13, verses one and
two, and as he went out of the temple, and who can imagine how
beautiful this temple was? One of his disciples saith unto
him, Master, see what manner of stones and what buildings
are here. You know, I couldn't help but
think about being in New York City. I went to the New York
City for the first time last year, and I just walked around
in awe, looking at those buildings that men made. And I guess these
fellows felt the same way. Verse two, and Jesus answering
said unto him, seest thou these great buildings? There shall
not be left one stone upon another that shall not be thrown down. I guess they thought he would
be impressed. but he wasn't. What would it take for the Lord
Jesus Christ, the son of God, him who is all powerful, him
who is omniscient, he knows everything, he's never learned anything,
sovereign, all the attributes of Christ, when you think of
who he is, what would it take for him to marvel at something?
I can understand why I marvel at things because I am so finite
and I have such a limitation, such lack of ability to understand
certain things. But the son of God has all the
fullness of the Godhead dwelling in him. For him to marvel at
something, it almost seems like it'd be impossible, doesn't it?
What could he look at and be amazed by and marvel? Well, there are two things Christ
has said to marvel at in the scripture. You know what they
are? In Mark chapter six, verse six,
it says, he marveled at their unbelief. The Lord Jesus Christ was amazed
by their unbelief. And then in Luke chapter seven,
verse 10, we read where he marveled, he was amazed by a man's faith. He said he marveled when he saw
this faith. And he said, and he's the one,
the only one who can make this judgment. He said, I say to you,
I've not found so great a faith. No, not in Israel. When he saw
this man's faith. Now, what we're going to look
at, we're going to look at these two things that the Lord Jesus
Christ marveled at. And when you turn to Mark chapter
six, Verse two, and when the Sabbath
day was come, he began to teach in the synagogue. And many hearing
him were astonished, saying, from whence hath this man these
things? And what wisdom is this which
is given unto him, that even such mighty works are wrought
by his hands? Is not this the carpenter, the
son of Mary, the brother of James and Joseph and Judah and Simon,
and are not his sisters here with us? We know who he is. They were offended at him. But Jesus said unto them, the prophet is not without honor,
but in his own country and among his own kin and his own house.
He obviously was without honor there. And he could there do
no mighty work. say that he laid his hands upon
a few sick folk and healed them, and he marveled because of their
unbelief. He was amazed. He marveled. Now,
if I said to you, I'm going to confess my deepest,
darkest sin, The sin that I'm most humiliated by and embarrassed
by and ashamed of. I'm going to confess to you my
most deep and dark sin. For one thing, I wouldn't do
it. It's just an illustration. Here's the point. You said, well,
what is it? You'd be waiting for me to say
something really perverse and dark, something that's just horrible. That's what you'd be waiting
for me to say. And if I said my darkest sin is unbelief, you'd
feel kind of relieved. Well, at least it's not, you
know, something worse. I know that's the way I would
feel if somebody said that to me. If they came up to me and said,
I'm going to confess my darkest sin, and if they said it was
unbelief, I'd feel somewhat relieved. You know, okay, good. I'm glad
it's not something worse. And that gives us some idea of
our lack of understanding as to what unbelief is. The Lord Jesus Christ, he who
is omniscient, looked at these people and he marveled at their
unbelief. Now, what is unbelief? And the only way I can really
answer that question is by asking this question, what is faith?
What is faith? Unbelief is the opposite of faith.
Faith is not believing in God. Satan believes in God. The devils
believe in Tremble. Faith is not believing in the
existence of God. Faith is not giving assent to
certain propositions concerning God. Faith is believing God. Faith is believing what He says
in His Word. Abraham believed God. God said, Abraham, can you count
the sand? Can you count the stars? That's
how your seed's going to be. Now, Abraham was an old man,
and his wife had already gone through menopause, and it was
humanly impossible. But Abraham believed God. He staggered not at the promise
of God through unbelief, but was strong in faith, giving glory
to God, being fully persuaded that what God had promised he
was able also to perform. Unbelief is not believing God. And the reason behind unbelief
is a dislike for what he says. That's the only reason behind
unbelief. A dislike for what he says. For
instance, there's only one reason why someone cannot believe the
Bible's word of Somebody says, I just can't believe the Bible
is the word of God. Well, wait a minute. Did God create the universe?
Yeah, I believe that, but I still don't believe the Bible is the
inspired word of God. If God has the ability to create the
universe, doesn't he have the ability to preserve his word
so we have his word? You know, if we don't have his
word, what do we have? My opinion or your opinion? That's not going
to do anybody any good. The only reason someone does
not believe the Bible is the word of God is because they don't
like what it says. That's the only reason. I don't like what it says. I'm
not going in that direction. Turn with me to John chapter
three, John chapter three, verse 18. He that believeth on him, is
not condemned. But he that believeth not, there's
unbelief, is condemned already, because he hath not believed
in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation,
that light is come into the world. And men, what? Loved darkness. rather than light,
because their deeds were evil. For everyone that doeth evil
hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deed should
be reproved or exposed. Now that is why men have trouble
with the word of God. They do not like what it says. Lack of understanding is not
behind unbelief. No, people understand it's no
love for what's being said. Because they receive not the
love of the truth, Paul said. For this cause God shall send
them strong delusion. For what cause? Because they
receive not the love of the truth. Now, everybody who believes has
this in common. They find what they hear good
news. Now, it is good news to me that
God elected a people because I know that if he didn't choose
me, I'd never choose him. It's good news. It's good news
to this sinner that when Christ died on Calvary's tree, he actually
accomplished salvation. He didn't just make salvation
available, but he actually accomplished salvation. He saved everybody
he died for, and that is good news to be, because my only hope,
and you listen real carefully, my only hope is that Christ died
for me. And if you tell me that he can die for some money, they
wind up in hell anyway. That's not good news to me because
that's what's going to happen to me. I know it. It's good news
to me that God's grace is invincible and irresistible and effectual
and saving. That's good news. It's good news
to me that he causes his people to persevere in the faith. That's
good. I love that. Those who do not
believe find this same message that the believer delights in
offensive. I don't like that. I don't believe
that. That's not fair. That's not right.
How can it be right for God to choose some and pass by others?
How can it be fair for Christ to only die for a particular
people and didn't die for everybody? That's not right. That's not
fair. Men sit in judgment on God, which is amazing if you
think about it. Men sitting in judgment on God
declaring what they think is right, what they think shall
not the judge of the earth do right. But men do that because
they do not like what is being said because it's taking away
what they're hoping in. They're hoping in their works.
They're hoping in something they do. And therefore they do not
like what they're hearing. So they say, I do not believe
that. That's the only reason for unbelief.
You see, you have to choose to believe error. You believe the
truth because it's the truth. You believe the truth because
it's so. I mean, you don't choose to believe the truth, you just
believe it because that's the truth. But you have to choose
to believe error. Unbelief is a choice. You don't
like what you're hearing and therefore you choose not to believe
it. Now when the Lord defines sin, how does he define sin? You remember in John chapter
16, turn with me there. You're already in the book of
John, John chapter 16. Now he's speaking of the coming
of the Holy Spirit and he says in verse eight, and when he is
come, God the Holy Spirit, he will reprove the world of sin
and of righteousness and of judgment. Of sin, why? Because they believe not on me. Now that is true Holy Spirit
conviction. When you find out You're an unbeliever
and you don't even know what faith is and you can't come up
with the goods of sin because they believe not on me. Now, those who do not believe
have been blinded by Satan. The problem is not with the gospel,
but with them. He speaks of the God of this world who blinded
the minds of them that believe not, lest the light of the glorious
gospel should shine on them. And unbelief is the damning sin.
Mark 16, 16. He that believeth that is baptized
shall be saved. He that believeth not shall be
damned. Now those are the words of our
Lord. Look in John chapter three, verse 36. He that believeth on the Son
hath everlasting life. And he that believeth not the
Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God. vies on him. It's there to stay. Unbelief restrains God's blessing. The scripture says he could dare
do no mighty works because of their unbelief. Now it's not
a lack of ability on his part. The reason he couldn't do no
mighty works because of their unbelief is because he would
do no mighty works because of their unbelief. He will not work
through unbelief and how disabling unbelief is to us. Why couldn't
we cast those demons out, the disciples said? And what had
the Lord answer? He said, because of your unbelief.
Because of your unbelief. Unbelief prevents from entering
the promised land. They could not enter in because
of unbelief. Unbelief is what those who are
not God's sheep practice. If you're the Christ, John 10,
24 and 25, if you're the Christ, tell us plainly, don't make us
doubt. He said, I told you plainly, but you believe not. As I said
unto you, and the reason you don't believe is because you're
not my sheep. He didn't say you're not my sheep
because you don't believe. He said, you believe not because
you're not my sheep. Sheep believe, goats don't. Now, the believer still Even
right now, while I'm preaching to you, I deal with this thing
of unbelief. You know, there in Mark chapter nine, remember
when that fellow said, Lord, I believe, help thou mine unbelief. Is there ever a time when you
don't have to say that? And you see, if you're a believer, you
have two natures. You've got a holy nature and you know what
it does? It believes. And you've got a sinful nature.
And you know what it does? It never believes. Faith can't
come from the fallen nature. So we're continually, as long
as we're here, we're crying out, Lord, I believe, help thou mine
unbelief. Now, the reason a man does not
believe is not because the gospel is unbelievable, unrational,
unreasonable or irrational because they don't like what's being
said. That's the bottom line. Now,
the Lord looked at these people who did not believe and he marveled. That's amazing that someone could
hear the truth and say, I don't believe that. That somebody can
hear the glorious gospel of the blessed God, how he saved sinners
by his grace. They hear of being saved by the
righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ, being saved by his precious
blood. They say, I don't believe that. They hear of the absolute
sovereignty of God and the record he's given in his word. They
say, I don't believe that. The only reason is they don't like
what's being said. Believers love what's being said. Now,
let me say this to anyone who is an unbeliever. That's your greatest sin. That's your greatest sin and
all other sins come from this sin. Unbelief. And believer, this is your greatest
sin. Unbelief. Turn over to Luke chapter
seven. Luke chapter seven. I love this passage of scripture. Beginning in verse one. Now, when he had ended all his
sayings in the audience of the people, he entered into Capernaum. And a certain centurion's servant,
who was dear unto him, was sick and ready to die. And when he
heard of Jesus, he sent unto him the elders of the Jews, beseeching
him that he would come and heal his servant. And when they came
to Jesus, they besought him, instantly saying that he was
worthy for whom he should do this, for he loveth our nation
and he built us a synagogue. They thought he was worthy. And
Jesus went with him. And when he was now not far from
the house, the centurion sent friends to him, saying unto him,
Lord, trouble not thyself, for I am not worthy that thou shouldst
enter my roof. Wherefore, neither thought I
myself worthy to come unto thee. But say in a word, and my servant
shall be healed. For I also am a man set under
authority. I understand authority. Having
under me soldiers, I say unto one, go. And he goes to another,
come. And he comes. And to my servant, do this. And
he does it. When Jesus heard these things, he marveled at
him. He was astonished at these words. And he turned him about and said
unto the people that followed him, I say unto you, I have not
found so great faith. No, not in Israel. And they that
were sent, returning to the house, found the servant whole that
had been sick. Now, I appreciate this man's
faith. I appreciate any faith, God-given
faith, but this is not what I would have called the greatest faith
in Israel. I wouldn't have called it that. I think of Noah, spending
120 years building an ark, having people making fun of him, and
no rain in sight, build a big boat on dry ground. What faith? He believed God. He did what
God told him to do. I'm impressed with his faith.
What about Abraham? God said, go out to a place I'll
tell you of. You start packing and walking.
I was actually thinking about this. What if I said to Lynn,
Lynn, pack up, we're leaving. Where are we going? I don't know.
We're just going. We're moving. Where to? I don't know. We're
just going. I might have a hard time getting her to go with me.
Sarah was a good woman. Lynn is too. She'd go with me,
I think. I think of Abraham staggering
not at the promise of God through unbelief. When God said, so shall
your seed be, he listened to what God said. He believed it. What about when Abraham was willing,
by the grace of God, to offer up his son on an altar and kill
him, believing that God would raise him from the dead? God
had promised the Messiah was going to come through this boy.
So he said, you go kill him. He said, all right, I'll do it.
He put him down. He was ready to kill him, believing that in
killing him, God would raise him from the dead. That's great
faith, isn't it? That's what I call great faith. David running at Goliath. I mean,
he comes at him with a sling and a stone that big. Totally
confident that the Lord was going to defeat him for him. It was
the Lord's battle. That's what I call great faith. What about Shadrach,
Meshach, and Abednego? Bow down. No. Well, you're going to be cast
into a fiery furnace if you don't. Is your God able to deliver you?
He can if he wants to, but if he doesn't, be it known unto
you, we're not going to bow. They throw him in the fire. That's
great faith. Daniel, before the lions did,
we can go on and on and on. But what is so extraordinary
about this man's faith, where the one who knows what great
faith is, says, I say to you, I've not found so great a faith,
no, not in all of Israel. What was so special about this
man's faith? Well, any faith is special. It's the gift of God. If you
have faith, that's very special. God gave it to you. It didn't,
you didn't come up with it. You know, one day you, you didn't
even know what faith was. You'd hear the preacher talk
about believing. You didn't know what he's talking about. And you thought,
what does it mean to believe? And one time you found yourself believing.
That's the grace of God. That's the gift of his grace. So any kind of faith, is extraordinary. It's beyond the ability of the
natural man. But there are two things that
stand out about this man's faith. First, I see a complete absence
of a sense of entitlement. What do I mean by that? Look
what he said in verse six. Jesus went with them, and when he was
now not far from the house, the centurion sent friends to him,
saying unto him, Lord, trouble not thyself. Don't come to me,
for I am not worthy that thou shouldst enter under my roof. If the Lord was coming here tonight
physically, I think I'd probably want him to come into my house.
I mean, I'd be glad if he went to your house, but I think I'd
want him to come to my house first. That's the way I'd think. Not this fella. Not this fellow. I'm not worthy for you to even
enter into my roof. Wherefore, neither thought I
myself worthy to come unto thee, but say in a word, that's all
it takes. And my servant shall be healed. Now it's a sense of entitlement
that makes a man unbelieving and reject the truth of sovereign
grace. It's a sense of entitlement.
What do I mean by that? Well, let me quote a scripture
to you. Romans 9, 11. You're familiar
with it. Talking about God's election
of grace. For the children, being not yet
born, talking about Jacob and Esau, neither having done any
good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election
might stand. Not of works, but of him that
calleth. It was said unto her, the elder
shall serve the younger. As it's written, Jacob have I
loved, but Esau have I hated. What does Paul say? What should
we say then? Is there unrighteousness with
God? Is God unfair? Is it wrong for him to choose
some and not choose others, to save some and pass by others,
to love some and to hate others? Is it not fair? If you believe it's not fair,
that means you have a sense of entitlement. That means you believe
somehow God owes you something and that he would be wrong for
him to withhold that from you. Now this fellow believed, he
really believed that if God saved everybody in his room but me,
he'd be right. He'd be right. If he passed me
by and let me drop into hell, just and holy is his name. Whatever he does is right. Now that's the only attitude
you can have in hearing the gospel. And if I have a sense of entitlement,
gospel is not going to mean anything to me. Any objection to the gospel is
based upon a high view of yourself. And I tell you what, this is
the key to faith. This man had a very low opinion of himself,
didn't he? He really did. I mean, I'm sure
he could have been criticized for this. He had a low opinion
of himself. But the next thing that I would
notice about this man is he had a high and an exalted view of
the Lord Jesus Christ. He said, I understand something
about authority. I have men under me. I say, one
go, he goes. No questions asked. To another
come, he comes. To my servant, do this. He does
it. I understand authority and I
understand you have all authority and all you have to do is speak
the word. All you have to do is will it
and my servant shall be healed. Remember that leper? He came
into the presence of the Lord. And he bowed, he worshiped, he
was full of leprosy. He said, he said, Lord, if you
will, you can make me clean. I'm not sure if you're willing,
but I sure enough know you have the ability to do it. All you
got to do is will it and I'll be clean. If you will, you can
make me clean. This man knew that the Lord Jesus
Christ possessed sovereign authority and that his will must be done. And he knew if the Lord willed
his salvation saved, he would be if the Lord willed the healing
of his servant healed, he would be. Now, everything in faith
hinges on who you believe he is. Now, I'm not asking you if you
know you're a Christian. I'm not asking you if you know
Christ died for your sins. I'm not asking you. If you believe
you've been born again, I'm asking you, what do you think of Christ
Jesus, the Lord? Whose son is he? Do you believe
he is God, the son, the absolute eternal sovereign creator of
the universe? The one who, if he wills your
salvation, you must be saved. The one, if he died for you,
you must be saved. What do you think of Jesus Christ? Do you believe that if he wills
your salvation, you'll be saved? Do you believe he dies for your
sins? Your salvation is a necessity that the very justice of God
would demand it because of who died? Who is he to condemn it? It's Christ that died. You believe
that? You believe that? You believe
that he is all you need. Now, here is the element of great
faith. A low view of yourself and a
high view of the Lord Jesus Christ. You see, what you believe is
determined by who you believe. What you believe is determined
by who you believe. Great faith is a high and exalted
view of the Lord Jesus Christ and no sense of entitlement in
yourself. You know if he leaves you to
yourself and lets you alone and go to hell, just and righteous
is his name. You don't even feel worthy to
come to him. You don't feel worthy for him to come to you. You just
say, speak the word only and I will be saved. Now in Matthew's
account of this same story, The Lord said, go thy way as thou
has believed. So be it unto thee. Well, what
did he believe? Now you think of what the Lord
said, he said, as thou has believed, so be it unto thee. What did
the fellow believe? He believed he was not worthy. And he believed all Christ had
to do is will it and his servant would be Great faith, great faith has
no sense of entitlement. In and of myself, I'm nothing
but sin, but it has a high view of the Lord Jesus Christ. Speak
the word only and my servant shall be healed. Now I'd like
you to turn to John chapter six for a moment. Verse 25 of John chapter six. And when they had found him on
the other side of the sea, they said unto him, rabbi, when came
this out hither? Jesus answered them and said,
verily, verily, I say unto you, you seek me not because you saw
the miracles, but because you did eat of the loaves and were
filled. The only reason you're coming after me is because you've
got your bellies filled. You're not coming to me because
of some conviction of who I am. Labor not for the meat which
perishes, but for the meat which endureth unto everlasting life,
which the Son of Man shall give unto you for Him hath God the
Father sealed. They said unto him, all they
could hear was labor and labor not. So they said unto him, what
shall we do that we might work the works of God? You talk about
works. What is it we need to do? Jesus answered and said unto
them, this is the work of God that you believe on him. whom he hath sent. What comes after that? A period. A period. This is the work of
God that you believe on him whom he hath sent. Now, let me remind
you. Faith is not believing you're
a Christian. Faith is not believing you're
saved. Faith is not believing you're one of the elect. Faith
is not believing that Christ died for you. Faith is not believing
that you're regenerated. Faith is believing on Him. You really believe that you're
only entrance in heaven is Him. I was talking to a dear lady
today in our congregation. She was talking to me about her confusion. Couldn't understand the gospel.
And she said she heard one phrase when someone was praying. They
said, Forgive us of our sins for Christ's sake. And she said,
all of salvation opened up to me at that time. All God has
for me, he gives me for Christ's sake. Be kind, tenderhearted,
forgiving one another, even as God, for Christ's sake, hath
forgiven you. Let's pray.