Dealing With Doubt

Psalm of the Day: Psalm 116

In this psalm we see two things That I think will be good for us to remember us this morning as we prepare our hearts for worship. First is that we should, as the psalmist remember all the things that God has done for us. He has, verse 1, heard our cries for mercy, verse 2 inclined his ear towards us; verse 5 been gracious and merciful; verse 6 he has preserved us, verse 7 given us rest, verse 8 delivered us, verse 13 he has given us salvation. and that is but a few of the things that the psalmist lists. Put shortly: He has been wonderful to us. Which leads to the second point, we should worship him. In verse 12 we ask: what shall I render to the Lord, Romans 12 tells us that we should offer ourselves as a living sacrifice! Verse 17 “I will offer you the sacrifice of thanksgiving and call upon the name of the Lord.

Lets bow in a time of silent prayer and reflection as we prepare our hearts for what the LOord will do this morning.

Scripture Reading: Psalm 27:1-4

Psalm 27:1–4 ESV

The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid? When evildoers assail me to eat up my flesh, my adversaries and foes, it is they who stumble and fall. Though an army encamp against me, my heart shall not fear; though war arise against me, yet I will be confident. One thing have I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple.

Sermon

Good Morning Church! I was glad when they said to me let us go and worship in the house of the Lord!

Well this morning we are starting Matthew 11. WE will be looking at Matthew 11:1-6 this morning. And this will be a very important, very, I pray, Useful portion of scripture for all of us this morning. Just before we dive in, I want is to remember the context, and really the flow of the entire book of Matthew. If we remember back, all the way back to the beginning of this book, we noted that Matthew is structured where he has large discourses, or portions where Jesus is talking, followed by narratives that supplement or give insight or teach in a practical way what Jesus has taught in the discourse. SO we had the introduction which was sort of the first 4 chapters of Matthew then our first (and the biggest) discourse: the Sermon on the mount. Then after the sermon on the mount we had the miracle narratives that showed us that Jesus had the authority to teach and say all that he did in that great sermon. Then, what we just finished last week was what is known as the missions discourse, and so no we start narrative, stories, things that happened, that Matthew wants to use to convince our hearts by seeing what Jesus taught play out in real life.

And so as we approach the subjects of missions, of persecution, trials, of difficulties of the mission Jesus sends his people on, and more to the point, how that message will be recieved by the world around us, It is of critical importance that we understand the heart and the issue that Matthew chooses to start with.

And so with that in mind, lets begin, before we even read, lets begin with a word of prayer.

PRAY

Before we even read I would like to start with a question:what is the opposite of Belief? So if someone says “I believe in something” what would be the opposite thing to say? Some of you may be thinking Doubt. “Well,” we might say, “the opposite of belief is obviously doubt.” But I I think that is wrong. The opposite of belief, we have a word for it, it is just a negation of the word belief. It is simply unbelief. The opposite of belief is to not believe. Doubt is a different sort of category of thing. Alister McGrath wrote a book about this very subject, the difference between unbelief and doubt and this is what he wrote:

Unbelief is the decision to live your life as if there is no God. It is a deliberate decision to reject Jesus Chrsit and all that he stands for. But doubt is something quite different. Doubt arises within a context of faith. It is a wistful longing to be sure of the things in which we trust.

In other words, somehow, in some way one property of faith is doubt. If you don’t live by faith then there is rally nothing that should case you to doubt. If you don’t believe then your heart could never be trouble over what you believe in. So For if you believe nothing you can doubt nothing. And so when we think of doubt we should not think of it as somtinhg that Christians (at least the good ones… what ever that means), but we should not think of this as something that no good cristian would ever struggle with. Instead we need to know how to deal with it, how to live in a world where we don;t always have all the answers to all of the things that our hearts want to know. But instead, we must trust.

Our passage today i mentioned is Matthew 11:1-6.

Matthew 11:1–6 ESV

When Jesus had finished instructing his twelve disciples, he went on from there to teach and preach in their cities. Now when John heard in prison about the deeds of the Christ, he sent word by his disciples and said to him, “Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?” And Jesus answered them, “Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them. And blessed is the one who is not offended by me.”

The first note that I want to make, is sort of a meta note, it is in some sense above, hovering above this text like a cloud, the first thing we have to do is realize that NO ONE IS IMMUNE

The Truth: No One is IMMUNE

No one, except for NO ONE Has ever NOT struggled with thoughts of doubt, with turmoil and pain that might occur in our hearts. We could go through really all of scripture and see this to be true.

-Abraham AND Sarah, the man and woman that all of the people of God in some way start with, the first patriarch and his wife, both doubted God could keep his promise to give him an heir. and so they tried to work out their own way (to disastrous results) to make that happen.

Moses, the greatest prophet, the one to whom God gave the law who interceded for The people, who Led the people, who God used to set them free from Egypt, even moses doubted often. Even when he is before the burning bush, God has revealed to Moses his name, moses struggled and doubted that he would be the one that God would call and use

David, a man after God’s own heart, a man who loved and was devoted to God, who served him. David doubted all the time and would even put those doubts into song form. He wrote such psalms as Psalm 13 where he writes:

Psalm 13:1 ESV

How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me?

Elijah -the greatest prophet in the OT, one who did not see death because God took him from this earth struggled with doubt to the point of wanting to die

And these are just the OT highlights, we could go on and on, Gideon, Joshua, many of the minor prophets, they all experienced doubt at one time or another. Even in the NEW TESTAMENT. There is a disciple that we have give the nickname “Doubting Thomas”. Peter, the ROCK, doubted even while he was walking on water and then so much that he would deny Christ three times. Doubt is in some way the universal thing that all believers will struggle with, and even, as well, and here is our connection to this passage even John the baptist would experience some form of doubt.

John the baptist, the one who, and we will see this in later passage, he was the greatest man ever born of women. The one who saw Jesus, prophesied about Jesus, BAPTIZED jesus , even he, himself, would struggle with thoughts of doubt.

Matthew Henry writes: Where there is true faith, yet there may be a mixture of unbelief. The remaining unbelief of good men may sometimes, in an hour of temptation; call in question the most important truths. And so before we even dive in and see what it looks like in this text, and how we can find tools and find things that we ourselves can use to help stand up in the face of doubt, we have to start here. It is not OK to go around thinking that we must be perfectly impregnable in our faith, in our ability to trust in God, because that is the start of our first problem

It is not to me in my own strength and might. It is not up to me to sort of muster more faith, it is a gift from God. And so sometimes, as my faith is grown, and stretched, and worked out, I may struggle.

“Doubting”, JC Ryle once said, “does not prove that a man has no faith, but only that his faith is small.” But praise be to the God who uses small faith. Faith like he grain of a mustard seed can move great mountains and cast them into the sea, and We all struggle to even have that much.

John Owen wrote beautifully and wonderfully, in what is my favorite book of all time and this favorite does stay consistent for those of you keeping score, “the death of death in the death of Christ”. He is discussing the work of Christ, and in particular the POWER of the work of Christ. And he is getting to the point that he is saying that there is not one thing in your life, not one sin or brokenness in your life that Christ did not die for. So even, he writes, your lack of belief, even your frail faith, he died for that too. And so while there is no one but no one who has’st struggled with doubt, there is nothing but NOTHING that the blood of christ can not atone for in your life. Even, it turns out, your doubt. even your moments of struggle, even THIS God can heal you.

So we start there. Doubt, does not prove that you have NO faith, only that it is small. But when talking about faith you must always remember what matters is not the size, strength or force of our faith, what matters is the OBJECT of our faith: Jesus Chrsit our Lord. SO what might this doubt look like and how can we steel our hearts against it? How can we be prepared for when the doubt that is inevitable, that no one is immune to comes? well now we can turn our attention to our text. Lets start and just look at THE QUESTION

The QUESTION

John in verse 2 is languishing in Prison, Roman prison. He has made the “mistake” of dong what God called him to do. He called out sin. In particular the sin of the Herod the tetrarch. “Hey, this marriage you are in, its not right. You don;t get to do whatever you want. I know you think you are all powerful roman ruler, but God is the one who gets to say what is right and wrong, and you, my friend, are wrong.” and so he is thrown in jail. and wasting away in roman prison. Probably I would guess, John had an inkling, he at least was aware of the possibility, that he might never make it out. Hope would come at a high premium. and he probably felt stuck.

And so, he begins to hear about the deeds of Christ. He is teaching, he’s healing people, he is doing things! This one that you baptized he is doing things even you could not imagine doing. and John looks around and looks at the prison he is in, thinks about what he thinks Jesus should be doing, and it doest seem right.

So he sends and asks a question. note the question. It is not accusatory. Not angry. Just a broken heart seeking understanding. “Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?” He doesn’t doubt, and this is the key point we cannot miss. He does not doubt God’s promise to send the messiah. he does not doubt that God can or Will do it. what he, ultimately is doubting, is his ability and understanding to know what God is doing. “I thought you were the one, but maybe, maybe not.” Notice it is a maybe not.

“Are you the one who is to come?” It could still be the case I just need understanding. John’s doubt is in some sense, and this is where it can get confusing for us but this is critical, it is a faithful doubt. He does not seek to tear down everything and every one. He is not in some sense putting God on trial, instead just asking a question. “It is possible you are the one, I just do not understand, so can you teach me? I know god Will do this, so I think it should be you Jesus, but maybe not. If not can you just tell me so I can look for that one.”

It is a question that at the heart of it is not asking if Jesus IS the messiah, but of what kind of Messiah is he. And John wants the conquering, vindicating kind. Does Jesus fit that bill? He is asking if he has spent his life climbing a ladder leaning against the wrong building. If that is the case he needs to climb down and get to the right place. Not a hostile question, not an angry question, but one looking for confirmation. It’s OK, in our lives to ask similar questions, but we should do it with the same sort of heart. It is not a question of DARE YOU GOD? but a question f how can this be. It is not a question of will I trust that you are there. It is a question of Why do I not fell you there. It is not a doubting if God is able, but a wondering if he will, or more to the pint, why can’t I see. It is a question in the heart of turmoil and question that cries out “I believe, help my unbelief.” But it is one that we should not run from.

Are you really the one? can I really trust Chrsit with all my problems, with my future, with all my hopes, all my life? that is the question. And faithfully and beautifully Jesus gives an answer.

The ANSWER

Jesus, in his answer, says everything and he says nothing. The things that Jesus lists, these are in fact the signs of the Messiah. Everything Jesus says that he has done, they are what the messiah should do. Together they paint a perfect picture of the Messiah. But yet John had already heard all this before. Verse 2 - John heard in prison about the deeds of Chrsit. So John hears about all that Jesus is doing, and he still has doubt. so he asks his question and jesus says: WAIT, have you not heard about all that I have done? In effect the answer is a question back to John: will you trust?

We can, And I think it is good to, take apart what jesus says. to show WHY jesus would choose these things, and WHY Matthew would give us these particular miracles that Jesus as done. In fact, this is just a catalog for us of what Matthew has already shown us in this book.

Go tell John what you have heard and seen: (1) the blind receive sight. We saw the healing of the blind men, Matthew 9:27-31 but lets flip back, Isaiah 29. we are going to spend a little time back in the book of our good friend Isaiah. This is what Isaiah prophesied about the messiah: Isaiah 29:18

Isaiah 29:18 ESV

In that day the deaf shall hear the words of a book, and out of their gloom and darkness the eyes of the blind shall see.

Go tell him that (2) the lame walk. Jesus healed the paralytic in Matthew 9:1-8, more importantly in that passage, he FORGAVE THE MANS SINS! Isaiah 35:6 help us here

Isaiah 35:6 ESV

then shall the lame man leap like a deer, and the tongue of the mute sing for joy. For waters break forth in the wilderness, and streams in the desert;

Jesus continues. The blind receive sight, the lame walk, (3) lepers are cleansed. This one is interesting, this is the only one that we struggle to find an exact prophecy for, but Jesus is careful with his words, lepers are CLEANSED notes that the messianic role will be one of cleansing. So in some sense this particular manifestation is “extra”, it is a bonus that says, not only the things you expect, but greater and more beautiful things than even that. then number (4) the deaf hearing. Matthew 9:32-34 the deaf mute is healed but Back to Isaiah 29:18

Isaiah 29:18 ESV

In that day the deaf shall hear the words of a book, and out of their gloom and darkness the eyes of the blind shall see.

Next (5) the dead raised. Jesus brought the centurions girl back to life in Matthew 9:19-26 But we need to turn to Isaiah 26:19

Isaiah 26:19 ESV

Your dead shall live; their bodies shall rise. You who dwell in the dust, awake and sing for joy! For your dew is a dew of light, and the earth will give birth to the dead.

When Jesus, when the messiah brings peace even the dead shall rise, and finally, number 6 - jesus says that the poor have had the good news preached to them. This one takes us to the end Of Isaiah, Isaiah 61. The servant songs have bee sung and the people fin themselves in the year of the Lord’s favor. and it is here that Isaiah says this: Isaiah 61:1

Isaiah 61:1 ESV

The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound;

By adding this Jesus is not saying that he has come for a sort of social justice gospel. He is saying something much more important, that THE YEAR OF THE LORDS FAVOR HAS COME BECAUSE HE IS HERE!

So he is saying: I have done everything the messiah should do. Everything scripture has laid out for the messiah to do I have done. I have done all the messianic things. What more do YOU want me to do john, what more do YOU require of me? Because the difference is, and where doubt begins to creep in is when I decide and I become the guidepost and measuring stick by which I will judge what God can and cannot do. Doubt begins to creep in when I decide that I am the one who can declare what is right and wrong for God to do. Doubt will creep in when I, the creature, place myself in a position to judge the creator and say you can’t do it that way, that's not good enough.

Jesus is saying, everything the messiah SHOULD do i have done. What more do you want. So sorry john, no where in the OT does it say John the baptist will be released from prison as a sign of the messiah, it just does not say it. So if that is what you are counting on, that is what you are relying on you will struggle with doubt. But if instead you look to what God has already said, you can trust him. We too, often make the same mistake.

God has promised may precious wonderful gifts. He has shown us what it will look like when we find new life, and he has give us ETERNAL life. and yet when our life does not look like how WE think it should we have the unmitigated gall to come before a holy God and declare that it is not good enough! The solution is to trust what God has already done and said more that what we think should happen in the now or in the future. SO look to his word, look to who the messiah is. Jesus Chrsit, the once come, soon returning, risen savior! The one who purchased for us salvation. the one in whom we find life healing and restoration, salvation and new life, every blessing that flows from heaven. The one in whom God, who no one can see, but the only God, who is at the fathers side, he has made him known. SO we trust him, and we trust his words, we trust what he has said. the answer to our doubt is to realize that we are not the measuring stick, that is God’s job. Which explains the last thought. Jesus says: Blessed is the one that is not offended by me. Blessed is the one that realizes that God is God, god will be god, he has the right to be god and we have NO RIGHT to try and usurp that authority.

Jesus ends, we just mentioned it, with a blessing

The BLESSING

Blessed is the pone that is not offended by me.

To john, this is sort of very personal. I know that you may want me to charge on over there and overthrow Herod and break you out of there, but it ain’t gonna happen. Not this trip down to earth at least. In fact, Jesus knew, because of who jesus was, Jesus knew John wasn;t gonna make it out. He knew that an innocent man, John the Baptist, would loose his head at some party because the kings wife got mad and she hated him. I tis heartbreaking and yet jesus know. Sorry John. Don’t be offended. Blessed is the one not offended by me. Who does not lift themselves up to so high a point that they cannot deal with it. Blessed is the one, to sort of rephrase this a little bit, Blessed is the one who is humble enough to realize that jesus can say and do whatever JESUS wants to say and do. My job is not even necessarily to like it but rather to trust it.

This blessing, w could use the word, beatitude, It encourages us to accept the reality of God’s working, what he is dong, and who he is, without demanding he prove himself to us AT ALL TIMES. John is being told to trust in Jesus. Don’t trust in your ideas of who the messiah is, what he should do. DO not trust in the things you think, the things you demand. Don't trust in these things. The ultimate ate solution to doubt is not always more answers. I know shocking the philosophy major would say that. The answer to doubt is not ALWAYS hearing the best most well formulated arguments. It is to look upon and trust in God.

Scripture tells us that we can just look upon creation and see his attributes, namely his eternal power and authority are seen in creation. We look out upon what he has created and we see him speaking to us. who he is — his beauty his power his authority his kindness, all of it communicated in creation. AND THEN! we open our bibles, open his word give to us that we might know him. He tells us who he is. is he God almighty the sovereign Lord. He is YHWH I am that I am. and there is no other. He tells us his very name. He shows us how he will give us grace and mercy in the person of Jesus Chrsit. he reveals the fullness of the glory of God in this one who came so we can trust him. The things that he has shown us are far greater than the things he has not and so we trust.

How can we deal with doubt? I think the first hing is to be honest that we face it from time to time, yes even I. I am sorry if you want a pastor that never struggles with doubt or uncertainty, because that is not what you have. Doubting: is this what god has called me to do, is this what God wants from me, is this what my life is supposed to be like. Doubting: Am i good enough, strong enough, wise enough, smart enough? (because the answer to all of those is NO). Doubting am I able to do what God has called me to do - and again the answer is NO. SO what do I do. I trust.

His strength is made perfect in my weakness. his power working through me is magnified in my brokenness. So I just trust. The solution to doubt, ULTIMATELY, is stop. but we all know it is not that easy, so instead we should pray to the God who is stronger than our doubt. Pray that he would open our eyes to see.

I want to look back at Jess answer again. Jesus tells John to look back at the miraculous works of Jesus: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor hear the good news. For us I would say the solution is the same. When we struggle with doubt, look at your heart, look at your life and see the works of Jesus. see his faithfulness. See the times he has brought you through whatever he has brought you through. When we struggle with doubt and pain look to the works of Jesus he saved us, cleansed us, gave me a new heart. changed my mid, blessed m beyond measure and has given me eternal life. When I am doubting and struggling and the weight of my doubt is upon my shoulders and feels like it is crushing me Look tot he work of Jesus! Yes we can look to the external works, but more importantly look to your heart. Look to what he has done to heal you, make you new, and TRUST IN HIM. Lets pray!