Sermon Tone Analysis

In the case of John the Baptist, and of countless believers since his time, doubt might better be described as perplexity or confusion.

The perplexity dealt with in these verses is the perplexity of a believer, a true child of God and citizen of His kingdom.

John was not questioning the truthfulness of God’s Word as revealed in the Old Testament or as revealed to him at the baptism of Jesus.

He was rather uncertain about his understanding of those truths.

Virtually all the gospel references to doubt pertain to believers rather than to unbelievers; and the kind of questioning John the Baptist experienced concerning Jesus’ identity can only occur in the life of a believer.

In that transitional time, before the written revelation of the New Testament, there were many things that seemed unclear and needed explanation and confirmation.

In the case of John the Baptist, and of countless believers since his time, doubt might better be described as perplexity or confusion.

The perplexity dealt with in these verses is the perplexity of a believer, a true child of God and citizen of His kingdom.

John was not questioning the truthfulness of God’s Word as revealed in the Old Testament or as revealed to him at the baptism of Jesus.

He was rather uncertain about his understanding of those truths.

Virtually all the gospel references to doubt pertain to believers rather than to unbelievers; and the kind of questioning John the Baptist experienced concerning Jesus’ identity can only occur in the life of a believer.

Jesus Himself testified of John that

He was the greatest man who had lived until his time, and, when they are confused, all believers can take comfort in his perplexity.

It is also encouraging to remember that it was to His true disciples, primarily the twelve, that Jesus repeatedly said such words as “O you of little faith” and “How long will you doubt?” (; ; ; cf.

28:17; ; ; ).

This leads us to our first observation from today’s text . . .

DOUBTS ARE NO RESPECTER OF PERSONS.

“I do not believe there ever existed a Christian yet, who did not now and then doubt his interest in Jesus.

I think, when a man says, “I never doubt,” it is quite time for us to doubt him.”

– Charles Spurgeon

"Some of us who have preached the Word for years, and have been the means of working faith in others and of establishing them in the knowledge of the fundamental doctrines of the Bible, have nevertheless been the subjects of the most fearful and violent doubts as to the truth of the very gospel we have preached."

- Charles Spurgeon

DOUBTS HAVE ROOTS

Though the Lord understands the doubts of His children, He is never pleased with their doubt, because it reflects against Him.

CIRCUMSTANCES

Though the Lord understands the doubts of His children, He is never pleased with their doubt, because it reflects against Him.

But the doubt of which John the Baptist was guilty was the result of weakness rather than sin.

MacArthur, J. F., Jr. (1985).

Matthew ().

Chicago: Moody Press.

What

What was weakening John faith?

CHALLENGING CIRCUMSTANCES

Humanly speaking the career of John the Baptist had ended in disaster.

He had been the fiery, independent, dramatic, confrontational, courageous man who preached exactly what needed to be preached, to whom it needed to be preached, and when it needed to be preached.

He was fearless, aggressive, and faithful to the Lord in every way.

He called sin sin and sinners sinners.

And now he was in prison because of his faithfulness.

On a trip to Rome, Herod Antipas, governor of Galilee, had taken a liking to Herodias, the wife of his brother Philip, and had seduced her.

After returning to Galilee, Herod divorced his own wife and married Herodias.

When John the Baptist heard of it, he publicly confronted Herod with his sin anti was promptly thrown into prison.

Only Herod’s fear of the multitudes kept John from being killed immediately (Matt.

14:5).

John was imprisoned at an old fort at Machaerus, located in a hot and desolate region five miles east and fifteen miles south of the northern end of the Dead Sea.

He was placed in a dark, stifling dungeon that was little more than a pit.

After some eighteen months in the limelight, this free spirit of the wilderness was confined and isolated.

He had been in prison for perhaps a year when he sent the two disciples to Jesus.

William Barclay captures much of the significance of John’s situation:

He was the child of the desert; all his life he had lived in the wide open spaces, with the clean wind on his face and the spacious vault of the sky for his roof.

And now he was confined within the four narrow waits of an underground dungeon.

For a man like John, who had probably never lived in a house, this must have been an agony.

In Carlisle Castle there is a little cell.

Once long ago they had put a border chieftain in that cell and had left him for years.

In that cell there is one little window, which is placed too high for a man to look out of it when he is standing on the floor.

On the ledge of the window, in the stone, there are two depressions worn away.

They are the marks of the hands of the border chieftain, the places where, day after day, he had lifted himself up by placing his hands on the ledge that he might look out on the green dales across which he would never ride again.

John must have been like that; and there is nothing to wonder at, and still less to criticize, in the fact that questions began to form themselves in John’s mind.

(The Gospel of Matthew, vol. 2 [Philadelphia: Westminster, 1958], p. 2)

Humanly speaking the career of John the Baptist had ended in disaster.

He had been the fiery, independent, dramatic, confrontational, courageous man who preached exactly what needed to be preached, to whom it needed to be preached, and when it needed to be preached.

He was fearless, aggressive, and faithful to the Lord in every way.

He called sin sin and sinners sinners.

And now he was in prison because of his faithfulness.

On a trip to Rome, Herod Antipas, governor of Galilee, had taken a liking to Herodias, the wife of his brother Philip, and had seduced her.

After returning to Galilee, Herod divorced his own wife and married Herodias.

When John the Baptist heard of it, he publicly confronted Herod with his sin anti was promptly thrown into prison.

Only Herod’s fear of the multitudes kept John from being killed immediately ().

John was imprisoned at an old fort at Machaerus, located in a hot and desolate region five miles east and fifteen miles south of the northern end of the Dead Sea.

He was placed in a dark, stifling dungeon that was little more than a pit.

After some eighteen months in the limelight, this free spirit of the wilderness was confined and isolated.

He had been in prison for perhaps a year when he sent the two disciples to Jesus.

William Barclay captures much of the significance of John’s situation:

He was the child of the desert; all his life he had lived in the wide open spaces, with the clean wind on his face and the spacious vault of the sky for his roof.

And now he was confined within the four narrow waits of an underground dungeon.

For a man like John, who had probably never lived in a house, this must have been an agony.

In Carlisle Castle there is a little cell.

Once long ago they had put a border chieftain in that cell and had left him for years.

In that cell there is one little window, which is placed too high for a man to look out of it when he is standing on the floor.

On the ledge of the window, in the stone, there are two depressions worn away.

They are the marks of the hands of the border chieftain, the places where, day after day, he had lifted himself up by placing his hands on the ledge that he might look out on the green dales across which he would never ride again.

John must have been like that; and there is nothing to wonder at, and still less to criticize, in the fact that questions began to form themselves in John’s mind.

(The Gospel of Matthew, vol. 2 [Philadelphia: Westminster, 1958], p. 2)

INCOMPLETE REVELATION

A second major cause of doubt is incomplete revelation.

Although John had heard of the works of Christ, his information was secondhand and not complete.

He had been in prison for a year; but even while he was preaching, He had no direct contact with Jesus after the baptism.

If Jesus’ own disciples failed to understand Him fully and demonstrated “little faith” after being with Him intimately for three years, it is easy to understand why John had doubts.

He was not an “eyewitness of His majesty,” as were Peter, James, and John (; cf. ), nor did he have the opportunity to see with his own eyes or handle with his own hands the Son of God as He taught, preached, and healed, as had the twelve and many others besides (see ).

MacArthur, J. F., Jr. (1985).

Matthew ().

Chicago: Moody Press.

MacArthur, J. F., Jr. (1985).

Matthew ().

Chicago: Moody Press.

The information that John’s disciples brought back to him was still not firsthand, but their report was based on confirming demonstrations of divine power that Jesus performed specifically for John’s benefit.

MacArthur, J. F., Jr. (1985).

Matthew ().

Chicago: Moody Press.

According to verse 2 John was receiving front line reports on Jesus ministry.

In previous chapters Matthew records the following . . .

This was confusing to John disciples as revealed 4 verses later

is a mixed bag of confirmation and contradiction.