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OPPOSING OMNIPOTENCE Introduction:
The only limitation to omnipotence is unbelief. Faith is the one
requirement to release the power of God in salvation. In Isaiah 53 God
asks, “Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the Lord
revealed?” Who will
believe it? My friend, unbelief opposes omnipotence. Unbelief insulates
and isolates the power of God. How can I be sure not to miss out on God's
best for my life? How can I avoid missing that door of opportunity which
has been placed before me for me to walk through? How can I avoid limiting
what God can do in my life, and thereby limiting what I can do through
Christ? None of us want to settle for second best. All of us as believers
want to be all we can be in Jesus Christ. But there are attitudes which
can either help or hinder us in that endeavor. We see a contrast being
drawn here. It is like a key, which turned one way, can unlock the power
of God; but turned the other, can lock it up. Turned one way, it is faith.
Turned the other, it is unbelief. This is the story of Jesus going back to
his home town. And unfortunately, it reveals the power of unbelief and
wrong attitudes to limit the movement of God in our midst. The question
for us to answer is, "Do we possess those same attitudes? And if so,
what can we do about them in order to assure that we do not limit the
power of God to do His mighty works in our midst?" The message
here is simple: unbelief limits the power of God v.5). In other
words, because of their unbelief, Jesus was limited. The power of God
working in their midst was turned back and they were the losers. I.
THE CAUSE A.
Limited Views.
·
They were limited by what they could see, by what they could
touch, by what they could understand. What they had before them was the
Messiah, the Son of God. What they saw was the carpenter, the son of Mary.
Their limited views kept them from seeing who Jesus really was. ·
In much the way, we limit what God can do because of our
limited viewpoint. We do not have to understand how a thing works in order
to receive it by faith and to receive the benefit it brings to us. I may
not understand electricity, but I'm not going to live in the dark. Thank
God that a lot of things are possible for me beyond my ability to
understand them. There are times in which we must step beyond where we can
see in order to see God really work. ·
The Bible teaches us that we walk by faith and not by sight.
Walking by sight limits what God can do. We like Abraham, must leave where
we are and journey to a place of which God has not yet told us. Sometimes
we must respond to Jesus' command "Only believe." B.
Limited Hearts.
·
These people did not want to believe. They had a familiarity
of Him and of His family. They had watched Him grow up. ·
The Bible says that they were offended at Him. Their pride
would not allow them to accept Him. Jesus understood this (v. 4). Had they
received Jesus as the Son of God, they would have been the recipients of
His ministry. But because they didn’t they lost their opportunity to be
touched by the power of God. ·
Limited views and limited hearts mean limited lives.
Unbelief locks up what could be for us. II.
THE CONSEQUENCES A.
The Power Of God Is
Locked Up
(v.5) ·
It dose not say that Jesus would not, it said He could not.
Unbelief locks up the power of God. It limits what God can do in our
midst. ·
God is no less powerful because of our unbelief. It is
simply that He has designed that power to be used in response to faith. ·
Just like there are natural laws in the universe, so there
are spiritual laws. Things are designed to work in certain ways. Try as we
might to make them work otherwise, we will not succeed. The power of God
is designed to be released as we trust God by faith. B.
The Provision Of God Is Limited. ·
Jesus came to this town with a desire to minister to them.
Because of their unbelief, the provision that God had desired to give to
them was limited. ·
Only a few believing folk were healed. The vast majority of
them did not receive anything from God. Unbelief not only locks up the
power of God, it limits the provision of God. C.
The Promises Of God Are Lost. ·
As believers, we are recipients of the promises of God.
Through faith, we receive the promises of God. But through unbelief, they
are lost to us. ·
Hebrews 4:1-2 gives us a principle for receiving the
promises of God. "Therefore, let us fear lest, while a promise
remains of entering His rest, any one of you should seem to have come
short of it. For indeed we have had good news preached to us, just as they
also; but the word they heard did not profit them, because it was not
united by faith in those who heard." ·
In order to be the recipient of the promise of God, we must
respond in faith. These Nazarenes did not respond in faith, but in
unbelief, and they lost the opportunity to receive the blessing. III.
THE CURE ·
It should be obvious that the cure for unbelief is faith.
But what is faith, and how do we receive it? (Heb.11:1) Romans 10:17, "So
faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God." Faith
grows as we give attention to what God is saying in His word. As we open
the Bible and study it, as we seek God in prayer, for Him to reveal, by
His Holy Spirit, the lessons this Book contains, then we will begin to
have the eyes of our understanding enlightened. As we hide the word in our
hearts, faith will grow. A believing heart does not simply happen, it is
developed. As we come to understand and know Christ better through His
word, we will also come to understand the faithfulness of God to keep His
promises to us. ·
But we must approach the Lord with openness and expectancy.
And it all begins with a willingness to do what God says. You see, unless
we are open to the possibilities of God, we will never see what can be, we
will always be limited to what has been and what is. The challenge for us
is to always maintain the attitude that God can do anything. We must let
God be God and constantly cultivate that attitude of expectancy that will
enable Him to do great and mighty things for us. Conclusion:
The summary response, they were offended, is incredible. He
had come to “seek and to save that which was lost” (Lk
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