Danger of Doubt

Text: Luke 7:11-23

Jesus ruins another Funeral.

He resuscitates a young man on his way to burial. Wait you mean resurrected. NO what happens to Jesus was resurrection and what he offers to us after death that is resurrection. This is resuscitation because the young man would live long enough to die again. One preacher called it a “stay of execution”.

But this is not even our focus. Our focus is the reminder that no good deed goes un-punished. You had to know some fall out would come from healing the Man from Nain.

Scripture tells us that the people began to claim that there was an amazing prophet in the country. He was an incredible prophet and preached amazing messages and did incredible miracles. And all this is being sounded in every little city you go to.

In fact so popular is this Jesus of Nazareth that this information gets back to Johns disciples. And they run and tell their teacher John who is sitting in prison for preaching against the sins of the king. John takes this new information in.

“Art thou he that should come? or look we for another?”

(v20

Wait hold on a second John we heard you last night it was clear that you believed this to be the “Lamb of God”.

The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. This is he of whom I said, After me cometh a man which is preferred before me: for he was before me. And I knew him not: but that he should be made manifest to Israel, therefore am I come baptizing with water. And John bare record, saying, I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it abode upon him. And I knew him not: but he that sent me to baptize with water, the same said unto me, Upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending, and remaining on him, the same is he which baptizeth with the Holy Ghost. And I saw, and bare record that this is the Son of God. Again the next day after John stood, and two of his disciples; And looking upon Jesus as he walked, he saith, Behold the Lamb of God!

There was no doubt about it Jesus is the Lamb of God. Now that you have sat in prison for a time and thought about things you have changed your mind and Jesus might be?

Then why all of the sudden is there a doubt in the mind of John?

It doesn’t make any sense you were there we heard it from his mouth and he was all in… This is Jesus the Messiah, the Lamb of God. But now he sits in a prison cell doubting.

What would make John the BAPTIST doubt? Let me submit some causes.

Personal Confusion- what is the message that gets back to John? That there is a Prophet running around. Even Moses prophecies of a Prophet that would come and speak the word of God (Deuteronomy 18).

You can imagine John wondering if he may have missed the boat on his claim of Jesus of Nazareth. Maybe he second guessed the whole Nazareth thing. The Messiah was supposed to come from Bethlehem. Maybe he messed this one up.

By the way this is hardly an excuse for forgetting what you once claimed. And believed with your whole heart. For crying out loud. He would have to discount:

The message that he carried from God.

Prepare ye the way of the Lord.

The Word of God from Heaven

This is my beloved Son

The Spirits presence

Descending like a dove.

John was listening to people’s estimations of Jesus.

It is a bad idea to have a second hand knowledge of Jesus. In revival that is what we are seeking…a first hand knowledge of God. Something that no one tells us we know because we’ve experienced it ourselves.

Failed Expectations- what happened to the military might that was going to come down on Rome and bring it to its knees.

Even after three years Jesus disciples were expecting a war with Rome and Jesus would be their revolutionary Judge something akin to Samson. One even brought a sword to a prayer meeting. yeah I’m guessing in a church in TX there’s more than one of you concealed carrying as well.

John was listening to the Circumstances surrounding him.

I thought things would be better by now might be a great way to look at your schedule each Monday morning but it is a horrible way to approach your creator.

Missed Timing- By the way very close to the military issue is that Jesus never did anything about the Sin and darkness being perpetrated on the people. It’s one thing to promise to tear the Temple down and then rebuild it but then to just let the Pharisees continue to degrade God’s people.

Or that the tetrarch Herod and his brother’s wife continued in sin. That is why John sits in the Roman prison and why in just a few short months he will loose his head. Because sinners kept running free.

Sickness, disease, abuse, violation, rape, murder it all goes unabated like the wave of the sea beating against humanity slowly decimating the lives of all around it.

John was listening to the accusations of the Enemy.

You know that Satan wanted John to question his declarations. If he couldn’t make Jesus doubt maybe the forerunner could.

By the way we ought to give it to John - when he doubted he went to the Source. He went to Jesus with his question. That is something we often forget to do when we are doubting Christ. Let him speak for himself.

Consider Christ’s Answer:

Scripture records His actions before His words. Jesus being Jesus and doing Jesus things is the best answer to doubt. Actually the actions were the answer. (21-22)

Healing the Blind

Healing the Lame

Healing the Deaf

Bringing back the Dead

Giving the Poor Hope

Might seem like general Jesus stuff but this is the perfect answer. Because each of these actions tied back to the prophecy of Isaiah. Jesus did the works that John would need to restore his trust in Jesus.

Healing the Blind

Is 61:1; 35:5

Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened…

Healing the Lame

Is 35:5

…he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound;

Healing the Deaf

Is 35:5

…the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped.

Bringing back the Dead

Is 26:19

Thy dead men shall live, together with my dead body shall they arise…

Catch this…

Jesus focused doubting John on the Veracity of God’s Word.

What is often over looked is what Jesus is instructing them through these actions. Jesus didn’t come to change politics or policy rather he came to change the person.

Guzik states…

We might phrase John’s question like this: “Jesus, why don’t You do more?” Morgan answered this: “To all such restless impatience, He utters the same warning…For the most part, the way of the Lord’s service is the way of plodding perseverance in the doing of apparently small things. The history of the Church shows that this is one of the lessons most difficult to learn.” - David Guzik Enduring Word Commentary

John was asking Jesus “Why aren’t you doing more?” Or “Why aren’t you doing it when I want it” “Why aren’t you doing your plan my way.”

Jesus gives us what has been called the 10 th beatitude (23)…

blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in me.

Wait a second… I didn’t think John was offended I thought he doubted. That’s right the word offended here means to stumble or to swerve. You were traveling down this road and now you have stalled out or fallen down.

“Not to find a stumbling block in the manner in which Christ had actually come, there was this condition of enter fully into the blessedness of his kingdom” - Pulpit Commentary

Preacher I’m not offended of Christ…

Good I’m glad -

Lets find out…

Have you started praying safe prayers so that youre not disappointed?

Do you give less because your afraid you won’t have when you need?

Have you limited how far you’ll go to obey the Lord?

I assume there was sometime that you trusted what God’s word said about provision, prayer, and Soul winning. So it must be that somewhere along the line you started doubting. You got offended.

Sometimes: We work God into impatient plans with the ultimate of going on with our plans if he doest’ meet our expectations:

Do you submit to your husband?

- He understands my husband is a bit much…

Do you love your wife like you love your self like Christ loves the Church?

- I do until she gets lippy. (just kidding) It’s a lot easier to moody and sullen so that I can manipulate her into doing what I want…

Do you lead your wife?

- preacher she isn’t submissive

How about your children? Do you nurture, train, and discipline in love?

- Hey he is a strong-willed child

How about your thought life

- There are lot of temptations out there

This text is saying:

Blessed is he that won’t swerve from God’s plan for he shall see God’s plan unfold.

Sadly, to many of God’s people get offended at having to wait for God’s results.

Beauticians don’t exist:

Sheryl went to a salon to have her nails manicured. As the beautician began to work, they began to have a good conversation about many subjects. When they eventually touched on God, the beautician said, “I don‟t believe God exists.”

“Why do you say that?” asked Sheryl, who has MS.“Well, you just have to go out on the street to realize God doesn’t exist. Tell me, if God exists, would there be so many sick people? Would there be abandoned children? If God existed, there would be neither suffering nor pain. I can’t imagine loving a God who could allow all these things.”

Sheryl thought for a moment. She didn’t respond because she didn’t want to start an argument. The beautician finished her job, and Sheryl left the shop.

Just after she left the beauty shop, she saw a woman in the street with long, stringy, dirty hair. She looked filthy and unkempt. Sheryl turned, entered the beauty shop again, and said to the beautician, “You know what? Beauticians do not exist.”

“How can you say that?” asked the surprised beautician. “I am here. I just worked on you. I exist.”

“No,” Sheryl exclaimed, “beauticians do not exist, because if they did, there would be no people with dirty, long hair and appearing very unkempt like that woman outside!”

“Ah, but beauticians do exist,” she answered. “The problem is, people do not come to me.” Exactly.

The main problem with doubt is not what it does to us. It is what it keeps us from doing.

The danger of our doubt is that it stops us from being useful to the kingdom of God. The Blessedness that we need is locked up because we are not willing to continue to give our all. We loose our zeal and dial back our fervor for the Lord, the result is we swerve.