We'll praise Jesus today everyone. Sometimes we feel like Jesus is not close. We feel like that He should be more obvious in giving us direction in life, that He should heal us more quickly, that He should show up to a doubter. And we have many ideas of how God could improve His kingdom and make it better. One question that many of us have is, why doesn't Jesus show up more often? Why does He let things happen in this world seemingly going the way that people allow them instead of intervening? Why doesn't He show up to a doubter? Why does He leave us feeling alone when we are sick? Why doesn't He prove Himself? Why doesn't He just show up and help us more? We see this concept throughout the scripture in the Old Testament and the New where God seems to be elusive. For example, in the New Testament He speaks through parables. And people even ask Jesus to be more specific and not so vague. And Jesus talks about how He speaks in parables so that hearing people will not understand, seeing they will not see, least they repent. And so throughout history, God hasn't just shown up to doubters. He hasn't just opened the ears of the deaf. He does do miracles. He does work signs. He does show up to some people. But the proof that God offers to people is done in a way where it's for that specific individual and it's not per se transferable. For example, the Lord has shown up to me. I have proof that God exists for myself. But in no way is that proof that God has revealed Himself to me is true, transferable to you as a doubter.
And
there have been many times in my life where I have had some kind of trouble and
I have wished that God would show up in a more dramatic way where Jesus could
just walk in, and I could physically see Him, He could hold my hand and show me
what to do. And that did not happen.
I want
to answer for you the reason why this is. The reason why simply is because God
has designed this life for humans to overcome with faith. If God just shows up
physically for everyone, fixes everyone's situation, and there is no element of
faith, no element of having to push through, no element to overcome, there is
no reason for this test on earth. We might as well have been made angels with
no choice, because angels in heaven don't have to overcome physical things, not
like how we do on this earth. But this earth was created for us as a test that
first we would start in the physical realm. You and I are physical, we're also spiritual.
But in this physical realm we have to go through trials, tribulations, tests. And
if God takes away the whole element of faith by just completely showing up in
the physical realm, taking away every physical problem, then no longer is there
the element of faith.
For us
to understand this concept a little bit deeper, I want you to try to read or
follow along in Hebrews, in Understand Hebrews chapter 11. I'm just going to
read the first few verses of it, but it's definitely a good idea to read all of
Hebrews 11 and 12 to understand more of the context. “Now faith is the
substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. For it by the
elders obtained a good testimony. By faith we understand that the worlds were
framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of
things which are visible. By faith Abel offered to God a more excellent
sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained witness that he was righteous,
God testifying of his gifts, and through it he being dead still speaks. By
faith Enoch was taken away so that he did not see death and was not found
because God had taken him. For before he was taken he had this testimony that
he pleased God. But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who
comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who
diligently seek him.”
See without faith it's impossible for us to be
pleasing to God. God desires that we have faith without sight of physical
things, without actually seeing Jesus walking in the flesh. Jesus had to wean
even his own disciples off of His physicality. Jesus walked the earth for
around 40 days I believe after He resurrected from the dead, and during that
time He had to wean the disciples off of His physicality. The disciples wanted
to physically be with Jesus, physically see His miracles, physically have Him
as their leader, but that was not the plan of God. And Jesus resurrected and
went back to heaven, and they saw Him no more. But the angels came and said, “Why
do you look to Him in the sky?” And we know that Jesus gave the gift of the
Holy Spirit to lead us.
Now to
many Christians, especially the doubter, this seems too elusive. We don't see
the Holy Spirit, we don't hear Him physically, we don't see or hear Jesus or
hear His kingdom, so how can we believe in something that is not tangible? Well
that is exactly what Jesus wants us to overcome as Christians and his
disciples. We have to have faith without sight. So believing even though we are
not seeing as doubting Thomas believed only because he saw. So we have to have
faith, otherwise we are not pleasing to God.
Now
sometimes I come across videos on YouTube. The other day there was the really
popular channel by Joe Rogan, the Rogan Experience. And it's a very wicked
channel guys, I don't recommend it to anyone. But Joe Rogan was talking about
faith. And he was saying in it that he wants to believe in Bigfoot, he wants to
believe in aliens, he wants to believe in Jesus. But because he hasn't seen
these things physically, he just can't believe in them. He has logic. So he
can't believe in it. And he would wonder why Jesus doesn't just show up to him,
prove himself to a doubter. Well again, it's because of faith. If we don't walk
the journey of faith, if we don't show God that we want to overcome sin,
overcome temptation, things that are evil, if we don't want to get off of
drugs, if we don't want to stop looking at pornography and experimenting with
the occult, with witchcraft, then why would God prove Himself to a sinner? This
whole world is to be overcome by a child of God. And if we're not willing to
overcome, then we're not going to grow in our faith, and we're not going to
please God. Without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to
God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently
seek Him.
We have
to seek Jesus Christ. My testimony is this, when I have diligently sought out
Jesus Christ in prayer, He has proved Himself to me. But again, that proof is
not transferable to you, or to Joe Rogan, or any other doubter in all of the
world. All of you could say it's in my head, it's just a dream that I had, it's
just a vision, it's just something that coincidentally happened after I prayed.
You would have to see from my perspective to have that proof, and you can't see
from my perspective, you can't see from Jesus' perspective, and you can't see
from God's. It's impossible for you to please God without faith, and it's
impossible for you to have faith unless you start believing that Jesus exists,
and that He rewards those who love Him and who will obey Him. That's the way
God designed this whole world, this whole earth, this whole thing that we are
experiencing on this planet.
One day
you will know 100% that God is real, that demons are real, but don't let it be too
late, because for many people, because they are skeptical and they doubt, even
though they know there is proof, and that all of these things didn't just happen
by chance, they are doubters, because they haven't seen Jesus Christ
physically. They want proof without having faith. They want faith to be
eliminated from the equation. But they are going to completely miss out on the
Kingdom of God and all that Jesus has to offer. And one day we are either going
up into eternity with Jesus because we did have faith, or down into the bowels
of hell because we didn't have faith and we didn't repent. And in that day we
will know that God is King of Kings and Lord of Lords. We will know that Jesus
is real. We will know the torments of hell. We will know everything, but it
will already be too late.
So the
key guys is faith. Do we have faith to believe that Jesus is King of Kings,
that He is Lord of Lords, that He is good? Do we have faith to believe in Him? Or
do we just doubt God and does this hinder us from actually growing in
experience with Jesus to overcome sin, to overcome this world and growing and
having spiritual eyes and ears? Are we doubters that keep us from growing in
our faith and overcoming these things? Without faith it truly is impossible to
please God. Are you a doubter? Or are you able to throw sin and doubting aside
so that you can grow as a child of God? So I hope this helps you to understand
why you don't just experience Jesus the way that you want to as the disciples
did 2000 years ago. Jesus wants you to overcome by faith, to have faith that He
exists, to have faith that those nails were in His hands and the spear piercing
was in His side and the nails in His feet, even though you don't see Him the
way Thomas saw Him. So do we have faith? Do we believe in Jesus? And will we
obey Him and overcome even though we don't see? Or are we like doubting Thomas
and the others who just doubt that, want God to show up for us with no faith,
with no actions, with no repentance? Are we living ungodly? May the grace of
Jesus be with you.
