The Difficulty of Faith: At the end of his public ministry, people were still divided over who Jesus was. Some believed in him, while others did not. Even some of the people who saw Jesus do things that only God could do struggled to believe. How could this be? Because faith is a battle. But Jesus didn't punish or shame people who struggled with their faith. He continued to invite them into the life, light, and love of a relationship with him. Recorded on Jan 21, 2024, on John 12:37-50 by Pastor David Parks.

Finding Life in Jesus’ Name is a sermon series on the gospel according to John in the Bible. Have you ever felt unsatisfied with your life? Or, even when things were going well, something was still missing? Many people sense there must be something more. But what?? John, one of the closest friends of Jesus, believed that Jesus came into the world so that we may have life and have it to the full. Jesus turned John’s life upside down, and John claims this new life — marked by God’s power, presence, and purpose — is available for all who believe.

Sermon Transcript

Well, today, we’re continuing to work through The Gospel According to John in a series called Finding Life in Jesus’ Name. We’ll be finishing John chapter 12, considering the end of the public ministry of Jesus and the difficulty of faith. If you’re new to the Christian faith, you might assume that having faith in God is easy because you (what?) just believe. That doesn’t sound hard, right? It’s not what you do that saves you; salvation is a gift of God’s grace we receive by faith in Jesus Christ. But if you’ve been a Christian for a little longer, if you’ve really tried to follow the way of Jesus, then you probably quickly saw how difficult faith can be — faith is a battle. I’ve been a pastor for almost 13 years now, but I’ve been a Christian pretty much my whole life. But for years now, do you know what has had to stay at the top of my daily to-do list? It just says, “Pray.” Do you know why? Because otherwise, I forget to pray! I’ve had some incredibly powerful times in prayer. I’ve had God dramatically answer my prayers. I’m definitely the best version of myself when I consistently spend time with God in prayer. So why on earth would I forget to do something that is so helpful and powerful for me? Because of the difficulty of faith. It doesn’t come easy. Even after all these years, even with everything I know about who God is, I still get distracted, tempted, confused, anxious, or afraid. What’s going on? Have you ever wondered why faith is a battle? In our passage for today, we see the difficulty of faith, but we also see the beautiful and gracious response of Jesus. If you have a Bible/app, please take it and open it to John 12:37. Let’s work through this together.

John 12:37–41 (NIV), “37 Even after Jesus had performed so many signs in their presence, they still would not believe in him. 38 This was to fulfill the word of Isaiah the prophet: “Lord, who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?” 39 For this reason they could not believe, because, as Isaiah says elsewhere: 40 “He has blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts, so they can neither see with their eyes, nor understand with their hearts, nor turn—and I would heal them.” 41 Isaiah said this because he saw Jesus’ glory and spoke about him.” Ok, let’s pause here. If you’ve been with us for the past few weeks, you’ll know that we are in the week leading up to the cross. Jesus was anointed in Bethany by his friend and follower, Mary. Then, we had the triumphal entry of Jesus when he was welcomed as a king coming into the city of Jerusalem. Then last week, Justun preached on Jesus’ favorite title for himself, Son of Man. And we saw that the Son of Man title pointed to both the kingship of Jesus as the promised king of the kingdom of God and also his identity as the suffering servant of Isaiah. Next week, with the start of John chapter 13,