The Cost of Doubt

Introduction

On a scale of 1 to 10 where would you rank your faith today?

Everyday, I marvel at the things and people we put our faith.

We drive our cars 60-70 miles per hour with an oncoming car.

We fly on airplanes that take us over oceans.

We ride on thrilling amusement rides.

We trust pharmacists, surgeons, teachers, robots, vehicles, and AI computers.

They are trained or programmed for a specific purpose.

How much do you trust God?

If God shows up with the answer to your deepest heart’s prayer, would you trust Him

I mean really trust Him with the answer and the timing of the answer.

Introduction

When we left Zechariah last week, he was serving as the priest tending to the Altar of Incense in the Temple.

His job is a job of high reverence.

The Altar of Incense is expressive of the prayers of God’s people reaching heaven.

As Zechariah tends to his priestly duties at this altar

the Angel Gabriel appears on the right side of the altar to deliver Zechariah a message.

This message was for both Zechariah and Israel.

The answer that was coming was an answer to the prayers of Israel and the prayers of Zechariah and his wife.

Zechariah and his wife, Elizabeth were up in years and childless.

Introduction

Israel was living in dark times and praying for the coming of Christ.

Gabriel comes to Zechariah to let him know John the Baptist’s birth will answer both of those prayers.

Yet, Zechariah doubts the very answer he’s been seeking.

We all have times we doubt.

What I want you to know today is that you can trust God - absolutely. And there is a cost for our unbelief.

Luke 1:18–25 ESV

18 And Zechariah said to the angel, “How shall I know this? For I am an old man, and my wife is advanced in years.” 19 And the angel answered him, “I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I was sent to speak to you and to bring you this good news. 20 And behold, you will be silent and unable to speak until the day that these things take place, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their time.” 21 And the people were waiting for Zechariah, and they were wondering at his delay in the temple. 22 And when he came out, he was unable to speak to them, and they realized that he had seen a vision in the temple. And he kept making signs to them and remained mute. 23 And when his time of service was ended, he went to his home. 24 After these days his wife Elizabeth conceived, and for five months she kept herself hidden, saying, 25 “Thus the Lord has done for me in the days when he looked on me, to take away my reproach among people.”

I. People of Faith Will Experience Doubt

Luke is clear that Zechariah and Elizabeth were people of great faith.

There were blameless and upright.

So why would Zechariah after praying for a son and Christ for decades

an elder priest who was upright and righteous, versed in Scripture,

visited by the Angel Gabriel,

RIGHT THERE the Temple of the Lord, doubt?

What Zechariah had been praying for ended up being the very thing he doubted God could do.

Before we cast judgement, can we humbly grab some hope in this?

Luke 1:18 ESV

18 And Zechariah said to the angel, “How shall I know this? For I am an old man, and my wife is advanced in years.”

I. People of Faith Will Experience Doubt

It’s easy to point our fingers as Zechariah’s doubt,

but if we admit it, it is easy to identify with him too.

If we are honest, there are times when you look into the heavens and wonder,

“What is God doing? Does he even hear my prayers?”

The best thing we can do while we are waiting on Jesus is to get ready.

Aligning our hearts toward his, repenting, restoring broken relationships.

It is hard to doubt when there is a spirit of expectancy that Jesus is about to show up.

Zechariah wasn’t ready. 

“The man without a child did not believe the angel with the gospel,

and because of his unbelief, he became a man without a voice.

Zechariah was focused on his own circumstances.

He was stuck with his own limitations.

He was building on his own possibilities.

I’m old. I lost my mojo.

I’m tired. Elizabeth is barren.

II. Doubt Focuses On Our Own Limitations, Rather God’s Power

For I am an old man, and my wife is advanced in years.”

If you are walking around saying, “We can’t do that...”

Well, you’re right.

Get your eyes on the One who CAN!

That’s faith.

Doubt hinders the mission.

Faith will move mountains.

Matthew 17:20 ESV

20 He said to them, “Because of your little faith. For truly, I say to you, if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you.”

Man’s strength is weak. God’s strength is perfect

“My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, (2 Cor 12:9)

Habakkuk 2:4 says that the “Just shall live by faith.”

Doubt hinders our mission.

Prayer is the fuel to the mission.

II. Doubt Focuses On Our Own Limitations, Rather God’s Power

Have you ever felt the urge to pray for someone and then just put it on a list and said,

'I'll pray for them later.'?

Or has anyone ever called you and said,

'I need you to pray for me, I have this need.'?

The following story may change the way you think about prayer.

II. Doubt Focuses On Our Own Limitations, Rather God’s Power

When Orville and Wilbur Wright began experimenting with flight,

almost everyone around them thought they were chasing a fantasy.

Newspapers mocked them.

Their own father warned them against “foolish pursuits.”

And truthfully, they had every reason to doubt themselves: they weren’t wealthy, they weren’t university-trained engineers,

and their first gliders crashed more times than they flew.

If they had focused only on their failures and limitations, history would have closed the book on the Wright brothers as two dreamers who couldn’t quite pull it off.

But they refused to let doubt have the last word.

They kept building, kept believing, and on December 17, 1903, at Kitty Hawk, they lifted off the ground for 12 seconds

that changed the course of human history.

What had been thought impossible was now undeniable.

II. Doubt Focuses On Our Own Limitations, Rather God’s Power

Doubt will always chain you to your weaknesses,

but faith looks beyond your limitations and sees the God who can make the impossible fly.

Will you lay claim to the limitless power of God in your life?

Yes, there are some of us here, so hardened by life that if the Angel of God showed up with us, we too will doubt

because it is much easier to doubt and be right than having faith and be wrong.

It takes no faith to say, “let us plan a church budget that’s the same or less than what we received in the offerings last year.

It takes faith to say, God has a great plan for us as a church and we’re going to be planning with him.

It takes no faith at all to give an offering that we think we can afford.

It takes faith to give a tithe, knowing that God will make the 90% go much farther than your 100%.

Yes, there will be days of doubt. Don’t use it as an excuse. Get back to God

III. Doubt Robs Us of Blessings

Luke 1:18–20 ESV

18 And Zechariah said to the angel, “How shall I know this? For I am an old man, and my wife is advanced in years.” 19 And the angel answered him, “I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I was sent to speak to you and to bring you this good news. 20 And behold, you will be silent and unable to speak until the day that these things take place, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their time.”

III. Doubt Robs Us of Blessings

Gabriel’s rebuke to Zechariah is a message that should all heed when we find ourselves doubting God’s promises.

When we doubt God’s promises and what he can do in our lives we mute the blessings he has planned for us.

Gabriel starts by declaring his name, “I am Gabriel.”

Which is your voice, “I am Old” or “I am Gabriel”?

One talks about our limitation, the other declares our place with God.

Gabriel means, “God is my Warrior.”

And Gabriel is one of God’s warriors.

III. Doubt Robs Us of Blessings

Gabriel’s career is tied biblically to eschatological events (Dan. 8:15–16; 9:21).

Jewish tradition regards him as one of the more significant angels who served next to God.

The number of angels who stand in God’s presence varies from four to seven

Gabriel represented God and God has a plan.

He wasn’t there on his own authority, he was there an ambassador for God’s authority.

When we receive that Word and authority, we move our lives under the blessing of God.

Doubt robs us of God’s blessings.

Peter sank in the water.

The disciples feared in the storm.

Israel was forbidden to enter into the promised land.

III. Doubt Robs Us of Blessings

I’m going to preach the full counsel of God.

The enemy will give you plenty of reasons to doubt.

When we buy into the enemy’s doubt, we miss the blessings God has for us.

Zechariah’s doubt rendered him mute.

“I was sent to speak to you and to bring you this good news.

Luke 1:20–23 ESV

20 And behold, you will be silent and unable to speak until the day that these things take place, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their time.” 21 And the people were waiting for Zechariah, and they were wondering at his delay in the temple. 22 And when he came out, he was unable to speak to them, and they realized that he had seen a vision in the temple. And he kept making signs to them and remained mute. 23 And when his time of service was ended, he went to his home.

III. Doubt Robs Us of Blessings

You see, Zechariah was supposed to emerge from the Holy Place and proclaim God’s blessings over Israel.

Gabriel was sent to share with Zechariah good new

the good news that was still going to happen

Zechariah could not tell Israel the Good News:

His son was being born to prepare the way for Christ.

A church without faith is doomed to the same condition.

Unbelief keeps us from sharing God’s best with others.

Unbelief keeps us from living fully into the blessings God has for us.

What blessings is disbelief causing you to forfeit?

IV. God’s Promises Are God’s Promises

Luke 1:24 ESV

24 After these days his wife Elizabeth conceived, and for five months she kept herself hidden, saying,

And so it happened just as Gabriel told Zechariah it would.

There was good news for Zechariah and Elizabeth.

There was good news for Israel.

There was good news for the world.

Elizabeth went home and she and Zechariah conceived.

Her prayers are answered.

Her reproach was ended and she was able to lift her voice and praise God for what He had done.

IV. God’s Promises Are God’s Promises

Zechariah was powerless.

Unable to exclaim the joy of his son.

Unable to bring hope in the dark days of Herod and the apostasy of Israel.

These are dark days for us.

Will God find His church - this church - faithful or doubting?

When God speaks our responsibility is to trust his Word.

God’s delays are not necessarily his denials.

Wait does not mean no.

His timing and His methods are infinitely better than ours.

What have you been praying for with God? Are you ready for the answer?

IV. God’s Promises Are God’s Promises

Jesus is coming and the thing to do when Jesus is coming is getting yourself ready.

Clean your spiritual house.

There is a sifting happening in churches today.

The faithful are finding strength, the faithless are having to make a choice between the world and the church.

Spiritual warfare is on the rise.

What we need in the midst of this puffed-up pandemic is a Holy Spirit pandemic in the church

A church willing to abandon of preferences for passion.

A church that is unified and not bickering.

For Christ will find his Bride beautifully adorned.