Title: Jesus Who Gives Faith
Contents
Jesus gave faith
(2009.11.08. Week) (John 20:27-29) (Hymns-135:4, 544:4)
(Hebrews 11:6) - "Without faith it is impossible to please God, for he who comes to God must believe that He exists, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him."
Dear brothers and sisters, may you please God.
What can you do to please God?
*Can you please me with a pretty face? - God doesn't look at the outward appearance.
*Can you please me with money? - God wants something more precious than a thousand rams or ten thousand thousands of oil.
* Without faith it is impossible to please God - God is pleased when he sees our faith.
You have to believe to receive grace. You have to believe to get eternal life. You have to believe in order to please God.- Do you believe?
*Then do you really believe it??? *Are you confident?
*Are you not confident in your faith? Worried? - Don't worry, I pray that you will listen to today's sermon and gain strength.
1. He also gave faith to Thomas, who had doubts.
The opposite of faith is doubt. Therefore, those who doubt without faith cannot please God.
But Thomas, a disciple of Jesus, was skeptical.
*I doubted Jesus' words that he would die and be resurrected on the third day.
*They did not believe and doubted the other disciples' words that they had seen the resurrected Jesus.
*Even when the resurrected Jesus was in front of him, he could not believe and doubted. - What did Jesus do to such an ugly Thomas?
(20:27) - "He said to Thomas, "Put your finger here and see my hands, and reach out your hand and put it in my side; so that you may not be unbelievers, but believers."
How kind are you?
①Thomas doubted even the words of Jesus. ② Thomas was suspicious of the testimony of fellow believers. ③Thomas who doubted while looking at the face of Jesus - It is Jesus who did not give up on Thomas, a suspected disease that seemed to be incapable of salvation.
① Even if you touch the nail marks on the palm of your hand, he shows you the palm of your hand telling you to believe it.
② He takes off his jacket and shows the scar, telling you to believe it even if you put your hand into the cut in his side.
*If it had been so sad for the disciple without faith, how would he have done so?
* Hear the voice of Jesus today who urges us to have faith without abandoning even the suspicious disciples - I pray that you will cast away your doubts and believe well.
2. He also gave faith to Peter, who would betray him.
Betrayal is really bad. Even the thugs and thugs won't forgive traitors.
But how can we forgive the betrayal of forsaking our faith in God?
How can we forgive Peter for betraying Jesus? - But even though Jesus knew that Peter would betray, he had great hope for Peter as well as forgiveness.
(13:38) - "Jesus answered, "Will you lay down your life for me? Truly, truly, I say to you, before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times."
He did not forsake Peter, who would betray him three times in one night. You met Peter like that.
He told Peter the hope of Jesus.
(13:36) - "Simon Peter said to him, "Lord, where are you going?" Jesus answered, "Where I am going, you cannot follow me now, but you will follow me later."
*You can't follow me now. - Tonight you will betray me three times.
*Still, I will wait for you without abandoning you.
*You will repent later and become an apostle who follows me well - He said.
*Actually, Peter betrayed Jesus three times that night - but later, he thought of those words, repented, and became a good missionary of great faith.
Thinking of Jesus, who loved even the traitors and increased his faith - we must not give up our faith and believe well.
3. He also gave faith to the disappointed disciples.
Have you ever been disappointed in believing? Have you ever been disappointed in your prayers? Have you ever been disappointed in your loyalty? - How can you always be hopeful without ever being disappointed? - But our Lord does not turn away from even those who are disappointed and gives us new courage.
1) He gave faith to the two disciples on their way to Emmaus.
(Luke 24:13) - “On that day two of them went to a village called Emmaus, twenty five miles from Jerusalem” - They were disciples who believed and followed Jesus, but after Jesus died on the cross, they were disappointed. The disappointment was so great that I did not believe even when I heard that Jesus was resurrected. Now, he was abandoning his identity as a disciple of Jesus and was going away.
I couldn't disappoint those disciples as they were, so Jesus came to me and gave me new faith. - After finding the new faith, they went back to Jerusalem with hope.
2) He gave faith to Peter, who returned to fishing.
(21:3) - “Simon Peter said, ‘I am going fishing,’ and they said that we would go together. They went out and got into the boat, but they caught nothing that night.” It was Peter who had been groomed and returned to fishing, and the other disciples followed Peter in gloom.
I failed to catch a fish due to the overlapping case, so I only used empty nets.
But Jesus went to them and told them to cast their nets on the right side - and the nets they cast in obedience caught many fish - so their faith grew again.
*Abandon as doubting, *Abandon as betrayal, *Abandonment as disappointment - there is no one left.
*Jesus tells us to be good workers by giving faith to those who doubt, trust to betrayers, and faith to those who are disappointed.
4. What kind of faith does Jesus want?
*I may doubt it, *I may have betrayed you, *I may have been disappointed. - Can I keep it that way? - No, you have to wash away the past and trust yourself. - How much should I believe?
(20:29) Read aloud - "Jesus said to him, "Do you believe because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and believe." - He wants the kind of faith that you believe as if you have seen it without seeing it.
(Hebrews 11:1) - “Faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen.”
Our Lord does not rebuke you for long rehearsing your past - not so petty
No matter what the past was - Now without doubt, without betrayal, without disappointment - Please believe well - Not only believe what you have seen and experienced - Even if you have not seen or experienced it - Be good believers who believe in the word and please God. is the saints. I pray that you will become blessed saints who satisfy the expectations of Jesus.