Pastoral Letter 14 Oct 2018

The sin of unbelief is the sin of all sins. This sin alone gives birth to all the sins that you can think of. Sins that keep God and Christ out of your life. Sins that refuse to acknowledge God and Christ for who they are. Sins that reject and keep rejecting the salvation offered by God through Jesus Christ. Do you have the sin of unbelief? Do not be too quick to claim that you definitely believe God with all your heart, soul and mind. Oftentimes what we say is far from what we actually believe. Will our belief be able to stand the test of faith in Christ? No doubt we must confess our faith in Christ. But it must be more than just confessing Him outwardly with our mouth. It must involve the inward part, i.e. our heart. Our heart must be surrendered to Him whom we claim to believe. If you do not believe truly by faith, you will not surrender to Him. You will not be living for Him. You will not be serving Him. The sin of unbelief keeps us away from Him.

Let us hear Jesus’ response to the supposed people of God about the sin of unbelief. Note that these people were the chief priests, the religious leaders, the Pharisees who knew God’s law at their fingertips. They even taught God's promise of the Messiah to the people. But deep down in their heart was the sin of unbelief. Unbelief will always question. We see in Matthew 21:23-24, “And when he was come into the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came unto him as he was teaching, and said, By what authority doest thou these things? and who gave thee this authority? And Jesus answered and said unto them, I also will ask you one thing, which if ye tell me, I in like wise will tell you by what authority I do these things." Some people question not because they are genuine seekers who want to know the truth. They question because they have their ulterior motive. Because of unbelief, the Jewish leaders questioned the Lord: "By what authority doest thou these things? And who gave thee this authority?" (Matt 21:23). The Lord could easily have given one of these three possible answers: (a) by His own authority, (b) by God's authority, or (c) by the temple's authority. Those who questioned Him knew that He had no temple authority at all to teach in the temple. Thus by their questioning,

they hoped to discredit Him. If He said His authority came from God, they could demand a sign from heaven and could probably accuse Him of blasphemy. And if He replied that His authority came from Himself, the people would probably turn away from Him, because anyone could claim to do anything by his own authority. Was Christ therefore trapped by them finally? Unbelief keeps questioning not because of the genuine need to seek the truth but because of unbelief. The harden heart will keep rejecting the truth that is right in front of it. Who can trap the all-knowing and all-wise God?

Christ answered their questions with a question in verse 24: “And Jesus answered and said unto them, I also will ask you one thing, which if ye tell me, I in like wise will tell you by what authority I do these things." Instead of giving a direct answer (which He could very well do), He answered them with a question that threw the questions back to them, thus revealing their sin of unbelief. Instead of the Lord being trapped, they were now trapped by His question. All questionings with unbelief will lead one nowhere. If you are objective and are a true seeker of the truth, the only right response from this is to receive the Lord by faith. Their questioning would now be put to silence by the Lord's one question in verse 25: "The baptism of John, whence was it? from heaven, or of men?"

Unbelief will not only question, it will also deny, even when the truth is glaringly displayed. Matthew 21:25 to 27: "The baptism of John, whence was it? from heaven, or of men? And they reasoned with themselves, saying, If we shall say, From heaven; he will say unto us, Why did ye not then believe him? But if we shall say, Of men; we fear the people; for all hold John as a prophet. And they answered Jesus, and said, We cannot tell. And he said unto them, Neither tell I you by what authority I do these things." Christ being the Son of God is wiser than all them who questioned His authority. He replied them with a question: Is John's ministry from heaven or of men? If John's ministry was from heaven, then Christ was God's Son. Why? Because many have heard how John the Baptist bore testimony of Jesus when He came to be baptized at River Jordan saying, "Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world … and John testified saying, … and I saw and bore record that this is the Son of God, referring to Jesus as Christ, the promised Messiah of God" (John 1:29, 34). If John's ministry was of men, why then did he promote God, and not men? The direct question is easy to answer. But if your heart is filled with the sin of unbelief, you will deny even the right and obvious answer. Verses 25 and 26 reveal how the Jewish leaders reasoned among themselves: “And they reasoned with themselves, saying, If we shall say, From heaven; he will say unto us, Why did ye not then believe him? But if we shall say, Of men; we fear the people; for all hold John as a prophet." Whichever answer they gave, they knew they were trapped. But instead of acknowledging that Jesus had brilliantly answered their evil questions proving even more that He is indeed the Son of God, they continued in their sin of unbelief by denying Him. Denial is the only response from a heart that is completely hardened. In the end they answered the Lord in verse 27: "And they answered Jesus, and said, We cannot tell." What kind of answer is this? If they gave this kind of answer to any test or exam question, they would have failed badly. What a laughingstock! Any child found

in the temple ground will know the answer to this question. It is a total denial of who Jesus is. With this kind of answer, there is no point in giving them the right answer. The Lord answered them, "Neither tell I you by what authority I do these things." Jesus' answer reveals to us the serious judgment concerning unbelief. And that is: Unbelief always remain blind to the truth. They will not come to understand the word and works of God, they will never be able to embrace the truth that can save them from outer darkness into God's marvelous light. Their sin of unbelief causes them to be blind and they will always remain blind to the truth.

As we live in these last days, we need to fear God. We need to have God at His rightful place in our life. He is God, not us. Let us not come to Him with the sin of unbelief. Let us come to Him as a child of God, fully trusting in our heavenly Father to guide us by His hands, protecting us, comforting us, and leading us all the way to the end. Whatever distraction that comes and tries to seduce us to let go of our Father's hand, let us remember His word of truth and be strong in Him. God will never let us go because we belong to Him. But will we let Him go because of our unbelief? May God help us to keep on believing in Him. Amen.