WHY SOME BELIEVE

Why is it that two people can look at exactly the same evidence and can come to completely different conclusions about it? Even more puzzling is how two equally qualified scientific experts can look at the same data and utterly disagree about what it means. This happens many times in court cases where the prosecution will call their “expert witness” to give his or her professional opinion to verify that the defendant is guilty only to have the defence to present their “expert witness” who gives his or her professional opinion as to why the prosecution’s expert witness was wrong and to prove that defendant is innocent! This at least illustrates why it is not always the quality of the evidence that leads a person to accept or reject a claim. This especially apply to the claims that Jesus Christ made. Of the four accounts in the New Testament written about His life, three of them were written by eye-witnesses and the other one (Luke’s) was written by someone who interviewed many eye-witnesses. It is with interest that we turn to the last one to be John’s Gospel, where he describes dramatic proofs that Jesus was who He claimed to be. Yet despite these otherwise inexplicable proofs that at times thousands of people witnessed, many still wouldn’t believe. But it seems among those who did believe they all had one thing in common.

So they said to Him, “Then what sign do you do, that we may see and believe You?
What work do You perform?”…
But I said to you that you have seen Me and yet do not believe.
John 6:30, 36

 

THE EVIDENCES FOR THE CHRISTIAN MESSAGE

What does it take for someone to believe the Christian message? Miracles? God visibly appearing to them? Hearing directly from God? When Jesus the Christ appeared and did many extraordinary things – including each of the things just mentioned – many people did indeed believe. But, even despite many of these evidences being demonstrated before their eyes, some still would not believe. What was it that people were either accepting or rejecting, or believing or refusing to believe? The Christian message is what Jesus taught. It might be summed up as: all people are alienated from God by their sin; Jesus Christ had come to be the sacrificial Lamb of God who would die to atone for the sins of all mankind; His death would be the means by which God forgive each person of their sins; but this forgiveness could only be enacted if each person turned to the Christ as their Saviour by putting their trust in Him and what He taught. Jesus supported His claims by performing many miracles, which the apostle John described as “signs”. In fact, when he eventually wrote his gospel account of the life and ministry of Jesus Christ, John chose seven of Christ’s signs to demonstrate that He was who He claimed to be: God in the flesh. 

¶ And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us,
and we have seen His glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father,
full of grace and truth.
John 1:14

JOHN’S SEVEN SIGN-PROOFS LEADING TO BELIEF IN JESUS

The apostle John carefully selected seven profound miracles performed by Jesus that revealed His claim to be the eternal God. Each of these miraculous signs revealed that Jesus was the eternal God who was Lord over creation, the weather, time, the laws of nature, and even death.

Sign:	Scripture:	Revealed:
1. The Changing of Water into Wine	John 2:1-11	Master of quality
2. Healing of the Official’s son	John 4:46-54	Master over distance and space
3. Healing of the 38years of being a lame invalid	John 5:1-9	Master over (the ravages of) time
4. The Feeding of The Five Thousand	John 6:1-14	Master over quantity
5. Walking on water	John 6:16-21	Mastery over natural law
6. Healing of the man born blind	John 9:1-12	Master of misfortune
7. Raising of the four-days-dead Lazarus	John 11:1-46	Master of death

Any one of these miraculous signs would have convinced any reasonable person that Jesus of Nazareth was no mere mortal. But despite these extraordinary evidences, some people still refused to believe in Jesus.

Though He had done so many signs before them,
they still did not believe in Him.
John 12:37

Quite possibly the most dramatic, and otherwise inexplicable, miracle that Jesus did before His own physical resurrection, was the raising of Lazarus from dead. Lazarus had been dead and entombed for four days. People had witnessed him die and more people had witnessed his dead body being placed in the tomb. The absolutely startling thing to me is the extent to which some people will choose to remain closed to the evidentially-based truth! Not only did some not believe in Jesus after witnessing this astounding miracle, they sought to oppress those who did become believers — and even made plans to kill Jesus so that people would stop believing in Him! 

When He had said these things, He cried out with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out.”
The man who had died came out, his hands and feet bound with linen strips, and his face wrapped with a cloth.
Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.”
¶ Many of the Jews therefore, who had come with Mary and had seen what He did,
believed in Him, but some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done.
So the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered the council and said, “What are we to do?
For this man performs many signs. If we let Him go on like this, everyone will believe in Him,
and the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation.”
John 11:43-48

 

WHY SOME REFUSE TO BELIEVE IN JESUS

Every time I read this story I am deeply struck by the hardness of heart among the Jewish Council comprised of chief priests and the Pharisees. John gives us an insight into why these religious leaders were not prepared to accept the evidence that Jesus was Immanuel (“God with us”, Matt. 1:23). They feared their loss of power if they turned to Jesus and accepted that what He was saying was true – “the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation” they said.

LOSS OF POWER: Power comes in many forms. It comes from an appointed position. It comes from a popular vote. It comes from prosperity. It comes from their place in a family. It’s true that turning to Jesus could lead to a person losing their position, their popularity, their prosperity, or their place in their family. Jesus acknowledged that this could be the cost of following Him.

How can you believe, when you receive glory from one another and
do not seek the glory that comes from the only God?
John 5:44

Some people refuse to believe in Jesus because they fear a loss of power or prestige – but in the process they may put their immortal souls in risk of eternal peril!

Do not marvel at this, for an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear His voice and come out,
those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment.
John 5:28-29

For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul?
Mark 8:36

LOVE OF SIN: Sin is what alienates all mankind from God for eternity unless it is judiciously removed. Mankind is completely unable to remove our own sin. Its power over us utterly enticing. The Bible describes sin as being able to deliver “fleeting pleasures” (Heb. 11:25). This is especially the case with sexual sin. The ancient sage described sexual sin being sweet to the taste that then becomes bitterness once swallowed which causes pangs of pain similar to being stabbed by a two-edged sword (Prov. 5:3-4). It is true that turning to Jesus necessarily involves repentance (turning from sin) which would mean renouncing sexual sin (sex without, or beyond the bounds of, marriage). By the way, all sin is in some way a distortion of something that God made and designed to be good in some way. This is true of sex which God had designed as something very good which was meant to unite a husband and a wife, have the potential to pro-create children, bring comfort and acceptance to a spouse, provide a pleasurable means to tame otherwise wild sexual passions/desires — and most importantly as a shadow of the type of love that God has for the Church (Eph. 5:22-30).

For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander.
These are what defile a person. But to eat with unwashed hands does not defile anyone.”
Matthew 15:19-20

He answered, “Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female,
and said, ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife,
and the two shall become one flesh’? So they are no longer two but one flesh.
What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.”
Matthew 19:4-6

God had designed for us to flourish without ever having to sin. Yet the Evil one has deceived mankind into thinking that their Creator is against them and wants to keep them from pleasures. This is lie. Our Creator is for us. He created us to share His love and good pleasures with us. He has created all things for us to enjoy (1Tim. 6:17). The Enemy of our souls whispers into our minds that there is no good evidence for believing in Jesus – when he, above all people, knows that there is actually ample evidence for believing in Jesus.

The first 11 chapters of John’s Gospel describes the seven signs that Jesus gave. The last ten chapters of his Gospel culminates Christ’s signs with the Ultimate sign: His resurrection from the dead. John concludes his Gospel by writing – 

¶ Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples,
which are not written in this book; but these are written so that
you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God,
and that by believing you may have life in His name.
John 20:30-31

 

WHY SOME PEOPLE BELIEVE

Confronted with the same evidence, why is it that some people believe and others do not? There seems to be one consistent similarity among everyone who becomes a believer. They are open to accepting the evidence. This openness nearly always (if not always) results in them prayerfully affirming their openness to God with a prayer that sounds like a desire to know the truth about God.

“God, if You’re real, reveal Yourself to me.”

Jesus actually promised that if someone would just be open to the evidence, and seek the truth, they would find it (Luke 11:9-10). I recently heard the story of a French atheist, Guillaume Bignon, who thought that Christianity was equivalent to fairy-tales and that anyone who believed it was “below par”. But then he met a reasonable Christian. He set out to prove to them that they were wrong, but in the process he encountered evidence that he was not aware of, and eventually prayed an openness prayer. It was from that point, that his life dramatically changed. You can view his testimony here.

Perhaps you are reading this and have either thought that there was no supporting evidences for Christianity; or, possibly, you think it is all irrelevant. But if what Jesus Christ said was true, then as the apostle John wrote, the Christian message is actually the most relevant message any person anywhere on the planet could ever give their open consideration to. Therefore, if I may, I would like to invite you to begin a journey of openness to the claims of Christ by praying the openness prayer and see what happens. And maybe, just maybe, you too will discover that all people who transition from unbelief or non-belief to belief have all commenced their journey to believing in Jesus by praying a variation of the openness prayer.

Let me know what happens if you do.

Your Pastor,

Andrew

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THE APOSTLE PAUL'S GROWING PENTECOSTAL DEPTH

¶ Now the Spirit expressly says…
First Timothy 4:1

The apostle Paul’s journey with Christ commenced on the road to Damascus. It was a dramatic, miraculous moment that led to him being knocked off his horse, being blinded for days by a supernatural light emanating from Christ with whom he had an amazing conversation about his destiny. Paul’s conversion to Christianity was profoundly supernatural, but so was the rest of his journey with Christ. While many believers can also claim to have had a dramatic and supernatural conversion to Christ resulting in much Holy Spirit activity in the early days of their conversion, sadly, not many could also claim that decades later these supernatural activities by the Holy Spirit have increased both in their frequency and intensity, as they did with the apostle Paul. Paul’s deepening charismatic experience throughout his life becomes a challenge to those of us who think that “being ‘on-fire’ for God” is only a new-Christian experience. Here’s why Paul’s spiritual journey should be a challenge for each of us. Let me explain.

And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit!
Ephesians 5:18

 

PAUL’S PENTECOSTAL ORIGINS

Paul grew up as a devout Jew. He was schooled by Israel’s leading teacher, Rabbi Gamaliel (Acts 22:3). He belonged to the ultra-strict sect of the Pharisees. Soon after Christianity was birthed, he personally felt responsible to violently wipe it out (Acts 8:3). His view of the world was shaped by what the Torah (the first five books of the Old Testament, the Law) and the Tanakh (the Law, the Psalms, and the Prophets – note, Luke 22:44) taught.  But then came his journey to Damascus. It was on that road that he met the Christ, the Jewish Messiah, the Hope of Israel. Three days after this dramatic appearing of Christ to Paul, a courageous disciple of Jesus, Ananias, was sent by the Lord to this infamous persecutor of the Church...

And for three days he was without sight, and neither ate nor drank. ¶ Now there was a disciple at Damascus named Ananias. The Lord said to him in a vision, “Ananias.” And he said, “Here I am, Lord.” And the Lord said to him, “Rise and go to the street called Straight, and at the house of Judas look for a man of Tarsus named Saul, for behold, he is praying, and he has seen in a vision a man named Ananias come in and lay his hands on him so that he might regain his sight.” But Ananias answered, “Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much evil he has done to your saints at Jerusalem. And here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who call on your name.” But the Lord said to him, “Go, for he is a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel. For I will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name.” So Ananias departed and entered the house. And laying his hands on him he said, “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus who appeared to you on the road by which you came has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” And immediately something like scales fell from his eyes, and he regained his sight. Then he rose and was baptized;
Acts 9:9-18

The Lord Jesus sent Ananias to Saul (whose Romans name was Paul) to (i) pray for his healing from blindness; (ii) pray for him to be filled with the Holy Spirit; and (iii) baptise him in water. Interestingly, we have immediate evidence of Paul being healed (i) and Paul being water baptised (iii). But was Paul “filled with the Holy Spirit” after Ananias prayed for him? And, what did being filled with the Holy Spirit mean to the first generations of Christians? We don’t have to wonder for very long. We read in Acts 2 that when the Holy Spirit was poured out on the first believers there was an immediate and dramatic effect upon them.

And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.
Acts 2:4

But was this Paul’s experience if he was filled with the Spirit after Ananias prayed for him? The evidence is clear that it was.

I thank God that I speak in tongues more than all of you.
First Corinthians 14:18

If we had the time we would also survey Paul’s epistles where he describes his experiences with the Holy Spirit including several visions (2Cor. 12:1), direct revelations from the Lord (Gal. 1:12; 2:2) a trip to heaven (2Cor. 12:2), many healings and miracles (Acts 19:6). For me, the increasing depth of the apostle Paul’s Pentecostal experiences is borne out in his epistles, especially in Romans 8 which is saturated with evidence of his intimacy with the Holy Spirit. But as I consider his last two epistles to Timothy, it is his statement in First Timothy 4:1 which reveals his increasing closeness with the Holy Spirit. He states the Spirit expressly says – as if he is reciting a conversation he has recently had with a very familiar friend. This is all the more remarkable because of the adverse circumstances that Paul was enduring at the time he wrote this. Within a matter of months after his Roman imprisonment he would be executed. This is why I find Paul one of the highest examples of a Spirit-filled servant of God. His intimacy with the Holy Spirit did not exempt him from doubts, trials, or even infirmities. But throughout his life he continued to seek God and the fullness of the fellowship with Holy Spirit. And so should we.

Your pastor,

Andrew

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SUPER NATURAL CHRISTIANITY

¶ But Jesus answered them, “You are wrong, because you know
neither the Scriptures nor the power of God.
Matthew 22:29

The Sadducees, to whom Jesus was addressing in this verse (Matt. 22:29), were very religious. They were priests. They participated religiously in Temple customs. They observed all of the traditions of their forefathers. They practiced sacred rituals. They publicly recited well-known prayers. Yet…they did not know God, God’s Word, or the power of God. They were irrelevantly religious and completely disengaged with the power of God because did not ‘know’ the Scriptures —  and perhaps sadly — they denied that there even was a supernatural which means that these highly religious people denied that there was a God! And the amazing thing about this exchange between the Christ and the Sadducees was that the One they were denying existed was the One who was talking to them! 

The Sadducees denied the existence of angels, demons, miracles, and the resurrection of the dead (Matt. 22:23). Christ’s scolding of these Sadducees was not hate. It was said with deep and divine care (you are only truly loved by someone when they speak the truth to you). Jesus also showed the same care when He scolded another group, the very religious, scribes- 

¶ And in His teaching He said, “Beware of the scribes, who like to walk around in long robes
and like greetings in the marketplaces and have the best seats in the synagogues and
the places of honor at feasts, who devour widows’ houses and for a pretense
make long prayers. They will receive the greater condemnation.”
Mark 12:38-40

And He said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see heaven opened,
and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.”
John 1:51

The disciples of Jesus were told by Him that from now on they would see extraordinary (super natural) things. And they did. Some of them saw Jesus transfigured on Mount Hermon (Mark 9:2). Some of them saw the angels who removed the grave-stone from Christ’s empty tomb. All of them heard Jesus say things that no ordinary man could have known. All of them saw Jesus raise people from the dead, cast out demons, and give sight to the formerly blind (Acts 10:38). 

Do you think that I cannot appeal to My Father,
and He will at once send Me more than twelve legions of angels?
Matthew 26:53

Sometimes the divinely supernatural is hidden from us in plain sight! It was only after Jesus displayed the greatest example of super natural miraculous power that the disciples could reflect back on their time of Christ and realise who He really was and how He could do what He did. Sometimes the divinely supernatural is hidden from us in plain sight! Jesus even told His disciples –

For truly, I say to you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see,
and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.
Matthew 13:17

Someone once said that the best way to open our spiritual eyes is to shut our physical ones! Perhaps this is why so many people in the Bible saw what God wanted them to see when they were sleeping (Matt. 1:20; 2:12-13, 22). 

¶ “‘And in the last days it shall be, God declares,
that I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh,
and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
and your young men shall see visions,
and your old men shall dream dreams;
Acts 2:17

After Christ greatly commissioned His disciples and ascended back to His father by being translated from this material realm into the supra-real realm, the first Christians saw many divinely super natural acts on their behalf. This included: a long-term lame man being immediately healed and able to walk (Acts 3:2-7); buildings being shaken as God the Holy Spirit entered it (Acts 4:31); the sick and the demonised being healed and set free (Acts 5:16); visions of heaven revealing the divine Son of Man standing at the right hand of God the Father (Acts 7:56); people who were physically afflicted by demons being delivered and healed (Acts 8:7); miraculous conversions of opponents of Christ who encountered the risen Christ  (Acts 9:1-18); spiritual trances revealing new revelations of God’s power and grace (Acts 10:9-20); Holy Spirit inspired dreams giving supernatural directives (Acts 16:9); encouraging appearances of God the Son in times of hostile opposition (Acts 18:9); many formerly pagan idolaters turning to Christ and being healed from an apostle’s handkerchief or apron (Acts 19:12); large portions of a city’s witchcraft community collectively turning to Christ and publicly declaring their repentance (Acts 19:19); raising the dead back to life (Acts 20:9-10); and, a martyred apostle coming back to life after the local believers prayed for him (Acts 14:19; 2Cor. 12:2).

For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.
Romans 8:14

The early Christians were sensitive to the voice of God. Ananias, who prayed for the newly converted Saul of Tarsus, was told by the Spirit where to find Saul, what to say to him, and why it was important for him to do so (Acts 9:10-18). Sometimes followers of Christ are misled to believe that they need to “learn” how to hear the voice of God. There is no example of this need anywhere in Scripture. But there are, however, injunctions to seek the Lord (Deut. 4:29; 1Chron. 16:11; Ps. 34:10; 105:3-4; Isa. 51:1; 55:6; Matt. 6:33; 7:7). 

It was John Calvin who wrote in his commentary on Ephesians that the reasons believers in his day do not experience the divinely supernatural, as it seems the early Christians did, was their lack of desire. This is what I now want to both remind you of and encourage you to do: seek God. Seek Him. Be open to Him. Pray that you might pray effectively. Ask God to confirm His Word in the hearts of those who need a supernatural encounter with God that might lead to their conversion. Perhaps even pray that God will speak to them in their dreams (since they might hear Him more clearly then without all of the distractions of being awake). Begin to take John Calvin’s advice and desire the super natural activity of God in your life. Pray then that you and I might eagerly desire spiritual gifts to accompany our witness and service (1Cor. 14:1).

And then, be still (Ps. 46:10). And use your spiritual ears. But there’s one more important aspect of super natural Christianity that we each need to give our attention to. 

What am I to do? I will pray with my spirit, but I will pray with my mind also;
I will sing praise with my spirit, but I will sing with my mind also.
I thank God that I speak in tongues more than all of you.
First Corinthians 14:15, 18

On the first Day of Pentecost, after the Ascension of King Jesus (Acts 2:1-4), access to God the Father was thrown open to every by the filling of the Holy Spirit (Eph. 2:18). The Spirit-filled believer can approach God the Father confidently with their requests because the God the Holy Spirit has now transformed their soul into being a child of God (Heb. 4:16; Gal. 4:6). It was on that Day of Pentecost when Christ sent the Holy Spirit to regenerate, fill, baptise, and empower His believers — and the Holy Spirit continues to do this (Acts 2:39). The Apostle Paul was compelled to re-explain all this to the Corinthian believers (which we will examine this in our June-July Corinthians sermon series). Paul explained to the Corinthians that the Holy Spirit could lead the believer to pray in their mother-tongue (“with their mind”) and in a language that the Holy Spirit might give them (“praying in tongues” 1Cor. 14:15).   

¶ Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness.
For we do not know what to pray for as we ought,
but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.
Romans 8:26

Super natural praying is always praying to God. Therefore, prayer is not adjuring angels, binding Satan, or decreeing or declaring a desired outcome to who – or whatsoever. Only God commands angels. Only God binds Satan. Only God decrees or declares a desired outcome (because this is an exclusively divine prerogative). But the record of Scripture and history is that something uniquely super natural happens when God’s people pray in the Spirit — quite literally: prison doors have burst open (Acts 5:19; 12:5-12); signs and wonders happen; and persecutors of Christians become Christian!

May Christ’s words in Matthew 22:29 never be said of us, and may our children, grandchildren, and great-great grandchildren never have it said of them — that we or they do not know the Scriptures or the (super natural) power of God!

Your pastor,

Andrew

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