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Sermon
The Gospel of Matthew

The Effects of Unbelief

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November 23, 2025
Matthew 13:53-58
Steven Lee
Pastor for Preaching & Vision

Faith

The Person of Christ

Pride & Humility

Transcript

0:18Would you join me as we pray, father, we want to see the beauty and the wonder and the awe that is found in Jesus this morning. So give us eyes to see unstop our ears so that we hear your voice this morning. Speak. Your servants are listening. Conform us to the image of your son. Lemme pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. Most of us have probably experienced the saying, the idiom familiarity breeds contempt, familiarity breeds contempt. The more familiar something becomes, the more likely we are to begin to take it for granted and then to ultimately even dislike it. I remember when I first moved away for college from Northern California down to San Diego, the weather was amazing.

1:33It is exactly as you imagine perfect weather every single day. Sunny and 70 degrees. Some of you that doesn't sound like really good, but to me it was amazing. Uh, but soon after I began to take it for granted, you can only say what a beautiful day. So many times before it begins to become routine. It's just another day. And I began to grow blind, uh, to the wonder of great weather. This can also be true of people. For those who are married, chances are, if you've been married for at least a year or so, you're now out of the honeymoon. Face, the googly eyes that you experienced no longer there.

2:18The butterflies, the fireworks when you first held hands, the heart palpitations when you got a letter or a text from them. You now pass gas before each other, which you never did while you were dating. That's what you dating couples have to look forward to. You pick up his socks again. You've seen her without the makeup and the hair done. And unfortunately, for some marriages, familiarity begins to breed contempt. You nitpick, you complain, and you grumble about all of your spouse's faults, warts and all this idea familiarity breeds contempt is present in our passage here this morning at the end of Matthew chapter 13.

3:07Jesus goes to his hometown, but he does not get a hero's welcome. There's no red carpet rolled out. There's no championship parade, no billboards that read Nazareth home of Jesus, savior of the world. Instead, Jesus encounters rejection and unbelief. The familiarity that the townspeople had with Jesus has bred contempt. They cannot fathom that the local boy, the one that grew up among us in this tiny, small town, is supposedly the Messiah. So Jesus concludes his seven parables in Matthew 13. And this passage is a little bit of a turning point from those parables into the rest of the gospel of Matthew.

4:00And just track with me a little bit. Matthew up to this point has been presenting Jesus as the king, Jesus as king. The genealogy all the way back in Matthew one revealed that Jesus is the Davidic king and the wise men came seeking out who the king of the Jews. His teaching has revealed his kingly authority at the end of their sermon on the Mount. Everyone marveled then said, no one has ever taught like this. Jesus miracles and his healings are his kingly credentials. They reveal his power. Jesus has been preaching and teaching all about what the kingdom of heaven and the sermon on the Mount are the principles of his kingdom.

4:49So everything up to this point has been pointing to the fact that Jesus is the king. But in the last two chapters, chapter 12 and chapter 13, we saw more and more rejection. The Pharisees conspired to destroy Jesus. The Pharisees accuse him of even being demon possessed. It's only by the power of ible that you're doing any of these mighty works. They demand signs having rejected everything that they've seen. And so Matthew reveals, not only is he the king, but he's the rejected king. And what will unfold from 13 all the way until the end, until we reach the cross, is the fact that many will reject Jesus.

5:35Some will respond in faith, but many will reject him. Jesus will receive this mixed reception all the way until the cross. And what we see here in Matthew 13 here at the end is Jesus is once again rejected, but this time by his hometown. So the main point of this passage is the willful unbelief. Willful unbelief keeps people from seeing Jesus. Willful unbelief keeps people from seeing Jesus. They've heard his teaching, they've seen his miracles. They've even seen him grow up from among them. They're well acquainted with Jesus. And yet it's in their unbelief, their pride that they steadfastly refuse to believe, to trust and to surrender to Christ to respond to his preaching and teaching.

6:34They see all of the evidence and they fold their arms and they say it can't be him. So what I wanna do this morning is to walk through our passage and highlight three effects of unbelief, three effects of unbelief. And you'll see that unbelief is in play here in our passage 'cause it's the last word of the last verse here in Matthew 13. So three effects of unbelief. And the first is that unbelief is blind to the obvious. Unbelief is blind to the obvious. Listen in verse 53 once again. And when Jesus had finished these parables, he went away from there and coming to his hometown, he taught them in their synagogue so that they were astonished and said, where did this man get this wisdom and these mighty works?

7:27So Jesus had just finished his parables back in chapter 13 verse one. We saw that Jesus was seated right by the sea. He actually got into a boat so that he could address all the crowds that were swarming him. So he was probably in the city of Capernaum, which was right beside the Sea of Galilee. And now he goes back to his hometown, Nazareth, this small town. And we know it's Nazareth because in Luke chapter four, verse 16 it says, and he came to Nazareth where he had been brought up. So Nazareth is this small, insignificant, overlooked town. It's like the town we would drive through that just has the single stoplight and we just drive on through with nothing to see.

8:10One disciple said back in John John's gospel, can anything good come out of Nazareth? In other words, everyone sort of had Nazareth as a bit of a by word. Now, verse 54, and coming to his hometown, he taught them in their synagogue. This was not the first time Jesus had taught in his hometown synagogue. Let me encourage you to turn to Luke chapter four. I want you to see this earlier account. Luke chapter four. So Jesus began his ministry in Nazareth and he went to the synagogue. And Luke four records this account for us. He gets there. Jesus stood up. He does the reading for that day as they gathered at the synagogue, he unrolls the scroll.

9:00Luke chapter four, verse 18. He stands up and he reads from Isaiah 61 and he reads, the spirit of the Lord is upon me because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives, the recovering of sight to the blind, and to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor. And then Jesus closes up this scroll and he sits down. And in those days, rabbis would stand in the preaching, in the reading of God's word. And then when they would discuss it, they would sit down to show their lesser authority. And what does Jesus say in verse 21?

9:45Today, this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing. This is a massive claim. I am the Messiah. God is fulfilling these prophecies from Isaiah right now in me. It's a stunning, stunning claim. And we don't have time to study this whole passage, but I wanna point you to two more verses here in this exchange. Look with me at verse 22. Uh, the people at first marveled, this is chapter four, Luke 4 22. They marveled at the gracious words that were coming from his mouth, from Jesus' mouth. So at first they're like, wow, this Jesus hometown, boy, there's such wisdom at work. But by the end of the episode, look at verse 28 and 29, all in the synagogue were filled with wrath and they rose up and drove him outta town, brought him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built so that they can throw him down the cliff.

10:55So the last time Jesus taught in his hometown synagogue, he suggested that he was the Messiah and everyone was ready to kill him. So Matthew 13 has this in its background. Jesus returns home after growing very famous, his kind of prominence, his reputation had grown kind of far and wide. If you just go back to Matthew, let, let me encourage you to turn back there. Look at chapter 14 verse one. What does it say? Herod the tetra arc heard about the fame of Jesus. So Jesus fame had spread far and wide. And now this time, how do the people respond to Jesus' teaching again, just like the first time they're astonished they marveled back in Luke four.

11:49Now they're astonished. That means they're amazement to the point of being overwhelmed. They're just blown away by what they're hearing from Jesus. Chances are Jesus is has ha ha has read an Old Testament passage and he's expounding it. He's showing them what it means. And no one has ever heard anything quite like it. The the wisdom, the truth, the power in his words. And so the response is in verse 54 of Matthew 13, where did this man get this wisdom and these mighty works? They can't believe that someone from their hometown with no rabbinic training, we, we don't think he went out and got a PhD, just a mere commoner.

12:32How did he get this wisdom? We don't remember him going to school. Where did he get these works? And perhaps there are some in the background who are quietly whispering. Well, the Pharisees say he does these works by the power of the devil. So what's going on? Unbelief blinds them from the obvious. Isn't it obvious where all the evidence points his birth was miraculous and unusual wise, men from the east came to worship him. Herod tried to kill him. At Jesus baptism, a voice from heaven cried out, this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. His teaching possessed unseen authority. He healed all who were brought to him. He cast out demons.

13:20He healed the sick, he gave sight to the blind. He commands even the wind and the waves and the demons come before Jesus fall down and confess, what will you have to do with me? Son of God? He makes paralytics walk. He raises the dead and he even gives his own authority to his disciples to do those exact same miracles. And all of the evidence is pointing to one direction. He is indeed the Messiah. But they refuse to believe they're blinded to what is obvious. They cannot see what is plain and clear that Jesus is the messiah and the Christ. Let, let me see if I can illustrate this. Several years ago, uh, when we first moved into our house, I couldn't get our dishwasher to work.

14:13No matter what I tried, I could not. Some of you guys kind of know what I mean, right? Like no matter what I tried, pulled it out, unplugged it, flipped the circuit breaker, flipped all the breakers in case I had the wrong one, flipped the main switch, checked all the GFCI outlets in the house, testing and retesting. I even went as far to replace the breaker switch itself thinking that was what was broken. And it still didn't work. I had tried everything. I was gonna eventually replace the unit itself. And we, we just know like when the dishwasher goes out, who ends up having to do the dishes.

14:55Well, it wasn't me actually, it was my wife, but I helped a little bit, right? And so we really wanted it to work. Then one day I noticed right next to the kitchen sink, there was a switch that had been previously covered by like a cutting board. And I flipped that switch and lo and behold, the dishwasher turned on. I missed the very obvious. I couldn't see what was right in front of me that that was what was controlling the dishwasher this morning. Are we blind to what is obvious? Are we blind to the glory and the majesty and the wonder of Jesus as the Messiah and as the Christ we sang of how amazing he is?

15:44And some of us said the words, but did not experience or feel any of that reality as we sang those very words this morning we came to church thinking, I got other stuff to do. It's a busy time of year. I hope they get done quick so I can move on. Even for those who know Christ, have we grown groan doll to his glory? Do we go through the motions without a fresh sense of awe and wonder? Have we grown, cynical or calloused to the things of God and to the identity of Jesus? Did we just go through the motions? Did we read this passage earlier this week and think, nah, there's not much there for me to see.

16:27Uh, I've heard this before. Or were we coming expectant to hear from the words from the lips of God? If so, let me just encourage us to cry out like the man I believe help my unbelief. So the first effect of unbelief is that it blinds us to what is obvious. Now, let's see the second effect of unbelief. This second unbelief stumbles over the irrelevant unbelief, stumbles over the irrelevant look with me at verses 55 and 56 is not this, the carpenter's son isn't his mother called Mary. Are not his brothers, James and Joseph and Simon and Judas and are not all his sisters with us. Where then did this man get all these things?

17:22So we get five questions in a row. The first four expect the answer, yes, yes, he's the carpenter's son. Well, technically Jesus is not the biological son of Joseph, but rather he's the son of God. But for the town's townspeople, for all intensive purposes, Jesus is Joseph's son. And from his early teens until probably his early thirties, Jesus would've worked alongside his father and he was a carpenter, which means he probably worked with wood or stone, maybe a little bit of metal like a builder, a stone mason crafting plows and fixing yolks and fixing furniture and making beams that would go in a house.

18:03And then they ask is not his mother called Mary. In other words, we know his family. Nazareth was a small town. Everyone knows everyone. We know his mom, we know his dad. They're nothing special. Uh, they're not unique. We know his brothers James, Joseph, Simon and Judas. We even mentioned several weeks ago, and we were back in chapter 12, that this serves as evidence that Mary was not a perpetual virgin as the Catholic church beliefs, but rather rather she had other children after Jesus. So the point of their criticism of point of these questions is that Jesus comes from an ordinary family. He isn't special.

18:47He doesn't have the genetics, the heritage, the training or the education to be anyone unique. He's definitely not the Messiah. Uh, that's the sort of thrust of these questions. So unbelief, stumbles over the irrelevant. So what if you know Jesus, mom and dad? So what if you grew up alongside his brothers and sisters? So what if you saw him since birth? Does any of that disprove Jesus teaching? Does any of that undermine his preaching? Does his family history somehow undo any of his miracles or his mighty works? Does his family heritage undermine his ability to be the Messiah? No. Instead this unbelief stumbles over what is irrelevant.

19:41Jesus does not fit their expectations. They wanted this powerful military leader that would liberate them, not the humble hometown boy. And so they stumble over his family of origin, failing to see his identity, that here is the king. They cannot fathom that Jesus who grew up among them could be the Messiah. And so they ask the question verse 56, where then did this man get all these things? Because they recognize his teaching, his mighty works. Everything that he's been doing is different. Thi this is not just a normal guy. His teaching is unlike anyone else. His works exceed all others. His healings are extraordinary.

20:29Where did he get this power and wisdom? And yet they're hardheartedness unbelief. Their pride prevents them from seeing what is right before them. And unfortunately this is true today as well. Many will stumble over Jesus. Not because they've read the Bible, they've seen his claims and they found them wanting, ah, there's just not enough evidence there. Rather, they'll bring up things that are irrelevant only to remain in unbelief. They, they throw out red herrings as a diversion from the critical issue. Well, you, you Christians say the Bible's true. What about Noah's arc? Do you really think there was a global flood?

21:19Or what about the crusades? You know, Christians behaving badly in history or what, what about things like Christian nationalism or I I once knew a guy that claimed to be a Christian and he was a terrible person. Really quite a hypocrite. You guys believe that God should dictate what people do with their bodies. And very often all of those objections distract from the critical issue. What do you do with Jesus? How will you respond to Jesus? And this passage serves as a warning to us all, and especially for those who are not trusting Jesus, to not allow his lows and his unexpected nature, his unexpected ministry to keep you from seeing and believing the son of God who gives life.

22:13The invitation that Jesus has been extending is come and see and discover this hidden treasure, this pearl of great price that in your joy will cause you to sell everything else, to obtain this treasure that is of immeasurable and infinite value and worth. And so Jesus invites all this morning to come and to look at the evidence for his character, for his identity, and to surrender by faith. And this can be even true of us in this season now where we stumble over irrelevant things. We're distracted, our hearts have grown dull, our hearts have grown calloused, we're thinking about a million other things and we've lost sight of the beauty and the majesty and the wonder of Christ.

23:11So unbelief blinds people from the obvious and causes them to stumble over the irrelevant. And now this leads to our third effect of unbelief. Unbelief is offended by Jesus. Look with me at verse 57 and 58. And they took offense at him. But Jesus said to them, a prophet is not without honor except in his hometown and in his own household. And he did not do many mighty works there because of their unbelief. So the people take offense at Jesus. The word offense here is scandal, like to scandalize or to be repelled by. This is a total rejection of Jesus. They, they've determined this. These are the people that have seen his mighty works that can't explain where they've come from.

24:05Saw him grow up and they've said he's a false prophet. He's a false teacher. It's the same attitude I think of Luke chapter four. Let's throw him off the cliff because he's blasphemy. They took offense at Jesus' claims to be the Messiah. You can imagine what they're thinking in this moment. Can't you? Can you believe the audacity of Jesus? How arrogant is that? Uh, here he is Walton back into town thinking he's better than the rest of us. Look at him strutting into town like he's some hotshot. I'm tempted to give him peace of my mind, the audacity of someone like that to claim to be the Messiah.

24:52And this fulfills what Jesus quoted back in chapter 13, verse 14 and 15 where he says, you will indeed hear but never understand. You will indeed see, but never perceive for this. People's heart has grown dull and with their ears they can barely hear and their eyes, they have closed. Jesus had predicted and anticipated that people would see and not see, hear, and not hear. They would be willfully blind to his glory. They're looking right at him, him sitting in their midst, not being able to refute his mighty works or his wisdom and they say it can't be him. Whereas the kids would say, he's mid, he's mid right?

25:40Jesus is just a legend in his own mind. Just be glad I'm not using those two numbers. The the intentional. I looked for this next several chapters. There's no verse. I won't say it, but so we don't have to mention those numbers. The, the intentional blindness calls to mind. Paul, in Romans one, Romans one, it says, for although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him. But they became futile in their thinking. And their foolish hearts were darkened. They knew God, but they refused to honor him. So notice the connection with verse 57. A prophet is not without honor except in his hometown and in his own household.

26:29So again, they refuse to honor Jesus as Lord and as king refusing to give thanks to God for giving them the Messiah. And this leads to futility of heart and a darkened mind. And so the quote, a prophet is not without honor, except in his hometown, is a proverb that Jesus used on several occasions. And it basically says, Jesus is saying that this situation, this whole account is fulfilling. This proverb familiarity breeds contempt. Dave Ramsey, some of you know the financial personality. He calls this the powdered butt syndrome, that older folks generally cannot take financial advice or marriage advice from someone whose bottom they powdered when they were an infant, when they used to change their diaper.

27:21In other words, parents have a tough time taking any parenting or marriage or financial advice from their kids or from their grandkids. It's kind of like I raised you. How dare you give me advice. And in the same way, there's no honor for the local boy. Everyone still remembers you when you were this tall, little cute and awkward kind of waddling around and and, and they just cannot give Jesus the rightful honor that he deserves. Verse 58 says, and he did not do many mighty works there because of their unbelief. The the word because suggests that Jesus is powerless to do miracles unless the people have faith.

28:08Jesus is powerless to do miracles unless the people have faith. Mark's version goes even further. Mark chapter six, verse five says, and he could do no mighty work there except he laid his hands on a few people. Now first, this is not saying that Jesus is powerless unless other people, some external individual expresses faith. We'll see that in just a moment. And secondly, this is not teaching that you just need more faith in order to get your healing or prayer answered. This is what prosperity preachers will often teach. You only need more faith. Just believe it, just name it, claim it, just keep going back.

28:50And anytime your prayer doesn't get answered, it's your fault that somehow you haven't shown enough faith. And that is just a damning lie. Jesus answers prayer according to his will and for our good and for his glory. And only he knows how. All of those things work together perfectly. But to go back to the first one, it's not saying that Jesus is powerless without some external faith, because we've seen this throughout Matthew, Jesus would sometimes do miracles in response to faith. So Matthew nine, verse two, when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, take heart, my son, your son, excuse me, take heart, my son.

29:33Your sins are forgiven. Or when he healed the two blind men, he says, according to your faith, be it done for you. And their eyes were opened. So that's chapter 9, 29 and 30. But at other times there's no faith present at all. Matthew called D doesn't call out faith at work. He heals the two men with demons in the country of the gatherings. In chapter eight, he raises the young girl from the dead. There was no faith to speak of 'cause she was dead. He heals a demon oppressed man who couldn't speak at all. So Jesus sovereignly determines who he will heal. So the question for us then here in this passage is, so what does it mean that Jesus did not, or according to Mark's version, could not do many mighty works because of their unbelief?

30:25Why couldn't Jesus do many mighty works? Well, I think unbelief prevents healing or miracles or the supernatural in two different ways. The first is that unbelief makes faithless demands unbelief makes faithless demands. This is what we saw back in chapter 12, verse 38. The scribes and the Pharisees come to Jesus. And what do they say? Teacher, we wish to see a sign like we want a miracle. And what does Jesus say? No sign will be given to this evil and adulterous generation. What's going on there? They've come to mock Jesus, to make him their dancing monkey, do another trick. And Jesus says, I will not play that game with you.

31:10If you're gonna ask Facelessly, you will not see my power at work. Unbelief refuses to ask by faith with a heart of trust and with a genuine desire to see and to receive. The second reason that unbelief prevents the supernatural is unbelief refuses to come to Jesus for healing. Unbelief refuses to come to Jesus for healing. Listen to how Matthew describes Jesus healing everybody in Matthew 4 24, Matthew 4 24, they brought to him all the sick, those afflicted with various diseases and pains, those oppressed by demons, epileptics and paralytics. And he healed them. And then now listen to Matthew nine 16.

31:59That evening they brought to him many who were oppressed by demons and he cast out the spirits with the word and healed all who were sick. What's the essential principle that's repeated in both times the people brought to Jesus the sick. In other words, if you don't bring the sick to Jesus, then the sick don't get healed. And sadly, unbelief refuses to come to Jesus. Do you see the heartbreaking reality of this? Jesus, the Messiah, the Christ, the great physician goes back into his hometown and everyone is excited. But because of cynicism and unbelief and pride, there are all these people in this town who are sick, who are paralyzed, who are blind, who are suffering.

32:48And they refuse to come to Jesus because they say, he certainly couldn't heal me. It's unbelief that refuses to come. And this is the one who says, come to me all who labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest. He's the one who says, ask and it will be given to you. Seek and you shall find. Knock and the door will be open to you. Jesus beckons all to come to him. And yet unbelief says, no. I don't want anything to do with Jesus. I don't believe that he could possibly heal me. Cynicism and unbelief have infected Nazareth so that they refuse to come. Don't let that be true of us this morning.

33:37So the people not only take offense at Jesus, but they reject him. They hate him. They refuse to believe in him. And their willful unbelief keeps them from seeing and receiving healing and new life. So our main point is willful unbelief keeps people from seeing Jesus, from seeing the glory of Christ. And so the question that confronts us this morning is, do you see and believe and trust in this Jesus? Do you see and believe and honor Jesus as Lord? How one answers this question is the most important thing, or has unbelief somehow made us blind to the obvious so that we stumble over what's irrelevant and we ultimately take offense at Jesus himself?

34:37So we began our time by considering how familiarity breeds contempt. Familiarity breeds contempt. Someone can grow up in a Christian home and say, I know it all. I've heard all the preaching. I've heard hundreds of sermons. I've read my Bible. I'm just bored to the things of God and to the church. I've been overexposed. They're quick to find fault with the church, quick to point out deficiencies in their parents, the hypocrisy of churchgoers and the hurt they experience. It's like you can't eat sausage after you've been in a sausage making factory. And the issue though is not over familiarity with God or with Jesus or with the church.

35:22The solution is not less familiarity. The great danger is familiarity. Without faith and humility, the great danger is familiarity. Without faith, without love and without a humble disposition. When we come to God, we can be like this Exodus generation where we're just bored out of our minds. Manna again, food from heaven. We're bored with food from heaven miraculously given to us, uh, another day of manna. The solution is that we see Jesus with the eyes of faith and behold Jesus with transformed hearts, with renewed eyes, with ears that are no longer stopped up. And so if you're bored with the things of God this morning, it's not because you've seen too much, it's because you haven't seen enough with the eyes of faith.

36:21You've not seen with a heart that says, Lord, show me your glory. Show me more of who you are. Help me to love you and to see you and all of your splendor and wonder. You've just seen enough to think I know it all and it's uncompelling. And so don't stand far off. Jesus invites all this morning a believer and unbeliever alike to come, come and see. And behold the wonder and the majesty of Jesus. No one ever spoke like him. No one ever preached and taught like him. No one ever did the wor, the works that he did. No one ever made the claims that he made. No one ever died like him, only to rise again and then do ascend to heaven.

37:17No one has shaped all of human history quite like Jesus. And if you would only look with an eye that is longing to see with a heart that is longing to believe he will answer. Revelation 2217 says, let the one who is thirsty come let the one who desires to take the water of life without price. And the sad reality is that some of us don't know that we're dying of spiritual dehydration this morning. Oh, come to Jesus and drink of the living water. He will give you life. Let's pray. Father, we don't wanna be blind to what's obvious. We don't wanna stumble over what's irrelevant. We don't wanna be offended by Jesus this morning.

38:11So would you plow the soil of our hearts by your spirit to make it soft and tender, and then give us a eagerness to be the good soil that produces a great harvest, sowing seeds and delighting in Christ? I pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen.

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Sermon Text

Matthew 13:53-58

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