But there are some of you who do not believe. For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were that believed not, and who should betray him. John 6:64
If it were up to you to evaluate yourself, how would you classify yourself? Believer or unbeliever?
Believing is perhaps the greatest difficulty we all have in terms of what we receive daily, and not because the content of what we receive is so complicated, but rather, because unbelief is part of the genetic constitution of many.
Not that God formed us this way, but rather because in the development of the peoples it was inculcated as an aspect of cultural and social formation.
To believe is a divine attribute; God gives to the person the capacity to believe. In the instruction given by God himself to the prophet Isaiah, the reader reads that it is God who gives man, or takes away, the capacity to believe, to understand and to accept.
9And he said, Go and tell this people, Hear ye well, and understand not; see ye indeed, but understand not. 10He maketh the heart of this people heavy, and heavy their ears, and blindeth their eyes: lest they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and should be converted, and be healed. Isaiah 6:9-10 (references of this text in Matthew 13:15; Acts 28:27)
This spiritual disability is transmitted genetically, from generation to generation; constituting some cultures more unbelieving than others, depending on the cultural-religious elements with which each one has nourished himself. The apostle Paul introduces it as a subject of study in his epistle to the community of faith in Rome,
Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts, so that they defiled their bodies among themselves: … 26Therefore God gave them up to shameful affections: for even their wives changed their natural use into the use that is against nature: … 28And because they did not seem to have God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do that which was not meet for them. Romans 1:24-28
Believing, however, is a virtue subject to learning. One is not born believing, but one learns to believe; and that is the purpose of our teaching today. How to believe?
Believing is the essence of life in Christ, it is the way established by the Father to reconcile human perversity with divine holiness; so that it is man himself who confronts himself, and discovers that the ambiguity of his conduct is the result of the egolatry of his Adamic inheritance.
Man believed the serpent and accepted the lie as his lifestyle; the only way to renounce it is to believe the Word of the Father.
Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He is a murderer from the beginning, and abideth not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of lies. John 8:44
In order to believe, it is necessary to recognize that He, Jesus, is God come in the flesh, manifested for the salvation of all.
For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth. … 10For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; but with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. … 14How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without one who preaches to them? … 16But not all obey the gospel; for Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed our report? Romans 10:4-16
Believing begins with recognizing Jesus as God
Believing begins with recognizing Jesus as God, not as a rational assent, but in readiness to submit and submit to his lordship; that is, to lose personal identity to find it through Him; as the Holy Spirit teaches in the epistle of the apostle Paul to the community of faith of Galatia,
I have been crucified with Christ and live, no longer I, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. Galatians 2:20
No one who cannot accept Him as such can learn to believe,
But as many as received him, to them gave the power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: John 1:12
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. … 18He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. … 36He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: but he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him. John 3:16-36
And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst. … 40And this is the will of him that sent me, That whosoever seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day. … 47Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in me has eternal life. … 64But there are some of you who do not believe. For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were that believed not, and who should betray him. … 69And we believe and know that thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. John 6:35-69
It is not to recognize and accept Him on the level of human reasoning; it is to be willing to lose everything for love of Him, to renounce all that seems like gain, to die to self, to carry the cross, even to suffer persecution for His sake.
If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his life, he cannot be my disciple. 27And whoever does not carry his cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. … 33So therefore, whoever of you does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple. Luke 14:26-33
Believing is doing.
To believe is to do. Contrary to what the sciences of human wisdom teach, believing is not seeing, it is doing.
Jesus saith unto him, Because thou hast seen me, Thomas, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed. John 20:29
To believe it is necessary to do. One cannot believe if one is not willing to do; and this is the stumbling block for many, because they do not see it necessary to do; and it has been because the proclamation of the Gospel they have received overemphasizes the spiritual principle that Grace is not of works. Those who thus proclaimed it forgot that the apostle was speaking of the works of the Law.
It is necessary to be willing to do, because it is by faith; for how can we say that we believe if we are not willing to move according to what we believe?
But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead? 21Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he offered his son Isaac upon the altar? 22Do ye not see that faith wrought with his works, and that faith was made perfect by works? 23And the scripture was fulfilled, which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness, and he was called the friend of God. 24 Ye see then that a man is justified by works, and not by faith only. 25Was not Rahab also the harlot justified by works, when she received the messengers, and cast them out another way? 26For as the body without the spirit is dead, even so faith without works is dead. James 2:20-26
They are works of faith, according to the levels of revelation in which each one walks. It is not doing for the sake of doing; it is doing according to what is demanded of each one of us by the Spirit.
If the reader reviews in detail the passages of the Bible, he will see that many of the teachings and revelations that the men and women of God received, they received them when they decided to do them before understanding them.
And Simon answered and said unto him, Master, when we had toiled all night, we took nothing: but at thy word I will let down the net. 6 And when they had done so, they enclosed a great multitude of fish, so that their net brake. … 8When Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord. … And Jesus said unto Simon, Fear not: from henceforth thou shalt catch men. Luke 5:5-10
Many of the conflicts of faith confronting godly men and women today are due to lack of action. They have turned faith into knowledge, and have erected a cult of human reason. That is ungodly conduct. They have much knowledge, they even counsel others, but they say and do not do…they cannot believe…that is why many whom they counseled are ahead of them.
Don’t keep talking anymore, do… the reason why people don’t convert to Jesus is because they don’t see the forcefulness of the actions. People are tired of hearing; they want to see… do you want to believe? Start doing…
Pastor Pedro Montoya
