“After this Jesus went about in Galilee. He would not go about in Judea, because the Jews were seeking to kill Him. Now the Jews’ Feast of Booths was at hand. So His brothers said to Him, ‘Leave here and go to Judea, that your disciples also may see the works you are doing. For no one works in secret if He seeks to be known openly. If you do these things, show yourself to the world. For not even His brother believed in Him.”
John 7:1-5
How often we love to tell God what to do. And, when He does something, how often do we not believe what He does.
“A number of years ago there appeared in the New Yorker magazine an account of a Long Island resident who ordered an extremely sensitive barometer from a respected company, Abercrombie and Fitch. When the instrument arrived at his home he was disappointed to discover that the indicating needle appeared to be stuck pointing to the sector marked “Hurricane.” After shaking the barometer vigorously several times—never a good idea with a sensitive mechanism—and never getting the point to move, the new owner wrote a scathing letter to the store, and, on the following morning, on the way to his office in New York City, mailed it. That evening he returned to Long Island to find not only the barometer missing but his house as well! The needle of the instrument had been pointed correctly. The month was September, the year was 1938, the day of the terrible hurricane that almost leveled Long Island.”1
Like the man in this story, we treat Jesus like He is this barometer — failing to do what we expect and not believing Him when He does something.
Why Do We Not Believe? Is It Because Of Lack Of Evidence?
Like us, Jesus’ half-brothers forgot who He really was. They forgot He was the Lord of Glory (Is. 6), the King of Kings (Dan. 4), the Great Prophet to come (Deut. 18). They forgot He was the One who revealed through Daniel the mysteries of God (Daniel 2:47). They forgot that He was the One who spoke all things into existence by the Word of His Power (Gen. 1-2; John 1:1-18).
Then again, they might not have forgotten. They might not have known these facts. But, most likely, it is not that they didn’t know this but that they didn’t believe it (see v5).
They had seen and heard of Him doing miracles. That is why they asked Him to come to the Feast of Booths (v3-4). In a way, they knew He was some kind of a miracle worker. Isn’t it interesting that even though they witnessed miracles they still didn’t believe?
The problem of our unbelief is not a lack of evidence. The problem is a lack of a spiritual heart (Ek. 36-37; John 3). Just earlier in the Book of John, Jesus had said, “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life. But there are some of you who do not believe.”
It is tempting to think that if God did a miracle before our eyes that we would actually believe. The problem with this is that in both the Old and New Testaments that whenever God did miracles there was always a group of people who refused to believe. Even the Pharisee leaders knew Jesus rose again from the dead but instead of believing in the significance of the resurrection they decided to spread a rumor so that others wouldn’t believe (Matt. 28).
What is our problem? The heart of the problem is the problem of our hearts. In order to be saved, we must have spiritual eyes to see, spiritual ears to hear, and spiritual minds to think. We must have our hearts of stone replaced with a heart of flesh.
This is exactly what happens in the work of regeneration. “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit” (John 3:5-6). Ephesians 2 says, “And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked…But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ” (Eph. 2:1, 4-5).
What Happens When We Are Granted Faith?
What happens when God causes us to be born again is that He sovereignly grants us the faith to believe (Acts 11:18; Eph. 2:8-9; Phil. 1:29; 2 Tim. 2:25; Heb. 12:2). When we are born again, we receive a new “man” (Rom. 6). We become new creations (2 Cor. 5:17). But, this does not mean that the old “man” completely goes away. Though the old self (also known as old nature) is de-throned there are still remnants within.
This is why believers still struggle with unbelief. This is what saints still sin. To be sure, unbelief and sin are not the greatest powers in our lives. Christ is! Nevertheless, as long as we are on this side of glorification we will battle against unbelief, the remnants of the sinful nature, and particular sins. Even while we genuinely grow in godliness, pursue holiness, and see fruit of repentance, we will still have sin in our hearts and permeating all our actions.
This is why Christians still fail to have perfect trust in all that God says. Though real faith is present, that faith still needs to grow (2 Thess. 1:3). That does not mean that our standing with Christ grows. Rather, our understanding of our standing with Christ grows. The key word is “grow”. Where there is the need to grow there is also the presence of unbelief. This is why believers still struggle with unbelief.
What Do We Fail To Believe?
In our sin, we fail to believe just about everything about God. When we are born again, we have faith to believe what God says yet we don’t always have the strongest faith. There are some prominent aspects of the faith that Christians still struggle to believe.
We fail to fully believe that when Christ says He is coming back that He is really coming back.
We fail to fully believe that when Christ says that all our sins (past, present, and future) are forgiven that they are really forgiven.
We fail to fully believe that Christ can and does empower us to walk more and more in holiness.
We fail to fully believe that Christ still keeps us, loves us, and forgives us when we still sin.
We fail to fully believe that Christ will build His Church no matter how vicious the attacks of hell are.
We fail to fully believe that God will provide for us all that we need in every season of life.
We fail to fully believe that the Father is totally satisfied with the atonement of Christ alone for our justification and adoption.
We fail to fully believe that the Holy Spirit really is changing us, making us new, and bearing fruit in our lives.
We fail to fully believe that Jesus is at the right hand of the Father where He intercedes and advocates for us.
We fail to fully believe that heaven will really be as glorious as it really is when we enter through the doors of death into the arms of Christ.
We fail to fully believe that Satan prowls around like a roaring lion seeking to devour our experience of the Christ.
We fail to fully believe that justification is a definitive act that is never undone while sanctification is an ongoing work this side of heaven.
We fail to fully believe that “small” acts of Christlike love attached to the simple speaking of the gospel can really disarm the powers of sin and hell.
We fail to fully believe that our justification is not dependent on our sanctification and that our sanctification is not a instantaneous process.2
We fail to fully believe that our sins and suffering can never separate us from the love of God.
Our unbelief never makes these truths become untrue. The problem is with our faith, not the promises. This is why the central need of the Christian is to constantly attend to the public and private ministry of the Word.
What is it that you fail to believe? What do you need more faith in? And what is the answer to our unbelief? The answer is to look more on Christ and these exact promises that are found Him. The answer is not to pummel your conscience and punish yourself for not having enough faith. The proper response is to positively dive deeper into those particular topics, promises, and doctrines so that you might be strengthened in them.
Charles R. Swindoll, The Tale of the Tardy Oxcart and 1501 Other Stories (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2016), 593.
The same Christ who justifies us is the same Christ who sanctifies us. But, justification is not dependent on sanctification. See Westminster Shorter Catechism questions 31-35.