All I Want Is Someone to Believe In

Who do you believe in? Truly believe in. so much so, that you are willing to follow him wherever he leads, that you are willing to die for him. We cannot believe in human leaders whether they are political leaders, business leaders, Christian leaders, or church leaders. They eventually disappoint, fail, fall, and die. Just look at what is happening around us. All human leaders or heroes are flawed and sinners just like us. They cannot help us, take care of us, and save us.

Who is your hero? We live in an age of hero-worship. People follow, believe in, even worship celebrities, movie stars, music stars, sports stars. But their lives leave much to be desired. The best of them cannot help us or save us. 

And then there are the superheroes — Superman, Superwoman, Ironman, Batman, Spiderman, Captain America, Thor, and so on. A superhero is someone with supernatural or superhuman powers. They fight the evil in the universe, fight crime, and protect humanity from the threats of supervillains. But even they are limited in their powers. Of course, these superheroes are fictional. They don’t exist. But I wonder if this obsession with superheroes is not an indication, a symptom, of people who are desperate, looking for, longing for someone to believe in. Deep in their hearts they know that the world and they need saving, but who to believe in?

All I want is someone to believe in. There is Someone! Jesus Christ the Lord! I hope to show you this morning that Jesus is the only true, living Superhero. His superpowers are real. He is alive, and working right now using his superpowers to save the world and people. Believe in Jesus!

Let’s step back into history, to the very beginning.

John 1:1-5 — In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

Jesus is God. He is the Alpha, the beginning. He created the whole universe by speaking it into existence. Show me the superhero who can do that. 

After the fall of humankind, God, through Abraham, called his people to live under God’s rule; a holy people who are to be different from the world so that they can show God to the nations, and so be a blessing to the nations. God saved from them from Egypt, and brought them to the promised land. However, their belief in God faltered. They wanted a king, a human leader to believe in. Hard to believe in someone you can’t see. So God gave them kings. But these kings and God’s people failed in their calling to be God’s people and to be a blessing to the nations. But God made a covenant with King David and promised that his kingdom will endure forever. 

2 Samuel 7:11–16— The Lord declares to you that the Lord himself will establish a house for you: When your days are over and you rest with your ancestors, I will raise up your offspring to succeed you, your own flesh and blood, and I will establish his kingdom. He is the one who will build a house for my Name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be his father, and he will be my son. When he does wrong, I will punish him with a rod wielded by men, with floggings inflicted by human hands. But my love will never be taken away from him, as I took it away from Saul, whom I removed from before you. Your house and your kingdom will endure forever before me; your throne will be established forever.’ ”

Everyone thought, expected and believed that this promised Messiah will be a human savior, a human leader. But God had a much more glorious plan in place. God will send his Son, Jesus the Messiah, to save the world, create a new people from all the nations, restore and establish God’s rule over God’s people forever. 

Isaiah 7:10-14 —“Again the Lord spoke to Ahaz, “Ask the Lord your God for a sign, whether in the deepest depths or in the highest heights.” But Ahaz said, “I will not ask; I will not put the Lord to the test.”  [God challenged his people to ask him for a sign, any sign. They did not really believe, and Ahaz made an excuse.]  “Then Isaiah said, “Hear now, you house of David! Is it not enough to try the patience of humans? Will you try the patience of my God also? Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.”   [This is an impossible sign by any human standards.]

But then this sign happened. God fulfilled his promise. Luke 1:30-35 — “But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God. You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.” “How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?” The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God.”

This is possible because nothing is impossible for God. God’s Word never fails. Matthew 1:20-23 confirms this — “But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” (which means “God with us”).”   Jesus, the Son of the Most High, the Son of God, Immanuel, God with us, was born. 

Isaiah 9:6-7 — “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the greatness of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom [God’s people], establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this.”

Here is Someone we can believe in, Jesus Christ the Lord, the Son of God. Let’s look deeper at who this Superhero is, and what he did, is doing, and will do. 

Isaiah 11:1-10 — “A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit. The Spirit of the Lord will rest on him— the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the Spirit of counsel and of might, the Spirit of the knowledge and fear of the Lord— and he will delight in the fear of the Lord. He will not judge by what he sees with his eyes, or decide by what he hears with his ears; but with righteousness he will judge the needy, with justice he will give decisions for the poor of the earth. He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth; with the breath of his lips he will slay the wicked. Righteousness will be his belt and faithfulness the sash around his waist. [Vv 6-8, the beautiful picture of peace] They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain, for the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. In that day the Root of Jesse will stand as a banner for the peoples; the nations will rally to him, and his resting place will be glorious.”

Isaiah 42:1-9 — “Here is my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen one in whom I delight; I will put my Spirit on him, and he will bring justice to the nations. He will not shout or cry out, or raise his voice in the streets. A bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out. In faithfulness he will bring forth justice; he will not falter or be discouraged till he establishes justice on earth. In his teaching the islands will put their hope.” This is what God the Lord says— the Creator of the heavens, who stretches them out, who spreads out the earth with all that springs from it, who gives breath to its people, and life to those who walk on it:  “I, the Lord, have called you in righteousness; I will take hold of your hand. I will keep you and will make you to be a covenant for the people and a light for the Gentiles, “to open eyes that are blind, to free captives from prison and to release from the dungeon those who sit in darkness. “I am the Lord; that is my name! I will not yield my glory to another or my praise to idols. See, the former things have taken place, and new things I declare; before they spring into being I announce them to you.” [This truth, happened, will happen]

I don’t know about you but this is the leader, the hero, I want to believe in and follow. Jesus is the Savior and Lord, the only true, real Superhero. He did and is doing and will do these things. Jesus, God the Son, is doing the will of God the Father. How is he saving the world?

Isaiah 52:13-53:12 — “See, my servant will act wisely; he will be raised and lifted up and highly exalted. Just as there were many who were appalled at him— his appearance was so disfigured beyond that of any human being and his form marred beyond human likeness — so he will sprinkle many nations, and kings will shut their mouths because of him.”

During his suffering Jesus was beaten into a shockingly inhuman mass of wounded flesh, barely recognizable. Is this our superhero, our Savior? Weakness? But through his suffering He sprinkled humankind with his blood to make them clean, to save them. We are sprinkled with the blood of Jesus to clean our hearts. By the blood of Jesus we can now enter into God’s presence.

“For what they were not told, they will see, and what they have not heard, they will understand. Who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? He grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain. Like one from whom people hide their faces he was despised, and we held him in low esteem.”

Jesus is not the superhero the world wants or expects. That’s why the world rejects him. He doesn’t meet the world’s standards of a superhero. He is radically different. The world wants a strong man, a show of power and might. But what is strong in the world, is weak in God’s kingdom, and what is weak in the world is strong in the Kingdom. Whoever is first in the world, will be last in the kingdom. And who is last will be first. God’s wisdom is foolishness to the world. Jesus turns everything upside down. He shows us the only true way, the kingdom way of love, grace, forgiveness, humility, service, loving God above all else and loving others as we love ourselves, self-giving, self-sacrificing love.

“Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth. By oppression and judgment he was taken away. Yet who of his generation protested? For he was cut off from the land of the living; for the transgression of my people he was punished. He was assigned a grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death, though he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth. Yet it was the Lord’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer, and though the Lord makes his life an offering for sin, he will see his offspring and prolong his days, and the will of the Lord will prosper in his hand. After he has suffered, he will see the light of life and be satisfied; by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many, and he will bear their iniquities. Therefore I will give him a portion among the great, and he will divide the spoils with the strong, because he poured out his life unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors. For he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.”

Jesus died for us, but God resurrected him so that we can have a new life. The Father glorified Jesus, and now he rules as Lord of the universe. Jesus sent, and poured out his Holy Spirit, the super-superpower of God, God himself, on his people. Jesus the Superhero with his superpower is now living in us and is with us all the time. And He will return in with power and glory. 

Matthew 24:30-31 — “Then will appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven. And then all the peoples of the earth will mourn when they see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory. And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other.”

Creation, salvation, and resurrection to eternal life. Jesus did all this for us and for the glory of God. And He, the Omega, will come back to bring to an end the current age, to make all things new, to establish God’s rule over God’s people in the new creation forever. 

Are you afraid? Lost? In darkness, depressed, enslaved by sin? Are you looking for someone to believe in? Whatever your situation, fears, or sin, do not believe in human leaders. Jesus Christ is the only true, real Superhero. The story of Jesus is not fiction, not a fairytale. It is history. Jesus is alive. Jesus is Lord. Jesus is our Savior, our Sanctifier, our Healer, and our coming King. Believe in Jesus. 

Let me close with … 

Psalm 146 — Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord, my soul. I will praise the Lord all my life; I will sing praise to my God as long as I live. Do not put your trust in princes, in human beings, who cannot save. When their spirit departs, they return to the ground; on that very day their plans come to nothing. Blessed are those whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord their God. He is the Maker of heaven and earth, the sea, and everything in them— he remains faithful forever. He upholds the cause of the oppressed and gives food to the hungry. The Lord sets prisoners free, the Lord gives sight to the blind, the Lord lifts up those who are bowed down, the Lord loves the righteous. The Lord watches over the foreigner and sustains the fatherless and the widow, but he frustrates the ways of the wicked. The Lord reigns forever, your God, O Zion, for all generations. Praise the Lord.