Escape from Doubting Castle

This morning we will be in Luke 7:18. I wanted to speak today on something that is very human. I want to address the topic of doubt. If you have ever read John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress, you may remember the moment where the main character Christian and his friend Hopeful are captured by someone known as Giant Dispair and they are thrown into a dungeon at a place known as Doubting Castle. As Christian spends more time in the dungeon, he grows deeper into despair but Hopeful stays true to his namesake. As Pilgrim’s doubts grow, Hopeful tells him to think back to what Christian has already gone through and accomplished. He had beaten Apollyon, he had made his way through the valley of the shadow of death, he had escaped out of Vanity Fair, and if he can get past those things, surely he would be able to get out of doubting castle. The two men pray until morning and suddenly Christian has this revelation! He says, “What a fool am I, thus to lie in a stinking dungeon, when I may as well walk at liberty! I have a key in my bosom, called Promise, that will, I am persuaded, open any lock in Doubting Castle.” Sure enough, they use that key and it unlocks every door in the castle and the two walk out. Why am I telling you this? I believe that there is not a single Christian in here who has not spent at least one night with total despair in their own Doubting Castle. Even the greatest saints in history have spent time in Doubting Castle and that is what we are going to read about this morning. Just as Christian held on to the promise and found his way out, we too can hold onto the promise of the Lord our God and find our way out of Doubting Castle. If you haven’t done so already, turn your Bible to Luke 7:18 and we are actually going to read verse 18, jump to Matthew 11:2-3, and then return to Luke 7:20-28 because the two chapters reveal new information about the same passage. By way of background, Christ in Luke 7 had just done an incredible miracle by raising to life the son of a widow and this causes a great fear amongst all those that are present and it causes them to glorify God and say, “A great prophet has arisen among us!” and “God has visited His people!” Now this report obviously doesn’t stay amongst that group of people, it goes far and wide. In fact, Luke reports that all of Judea and the surrounding country hears of it and word reaches the ears of the disciples of John the Baptist. Let’s pray and then we will go ahead and read these three sections of Scripture and we will go from there.

Luke 7:18 (ESV)

The disciples of John reported all these things to him.

Matthew 11:2–3 (ESV)

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?”

Luke 7:20–28 ESV

And when the men had come to him, they said, “John the Baptist has sent us to you, saying, ‘Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?’ ” In that hour he healed many people of diseases and plagues and evil spirits, and on many who were blind he bestowed sight. And he answered them, “Go and tell John what you have seen and heard: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, the poor have good news preached to them. And blessed is the one who is not offended by me.” When John’s messengers had gone, Jesus began to speak to the crowds concerning John: “What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind? What then did you go out to see? A man dressed in soft clothing? Behold, those who are dressed in splendid clothing and live in luxury are in kings’ courts. What then did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. This is he of whom it is written, “ ‘Behold, I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way before you.’ I tell you, among those born of women none is greater than John. Yet the one who is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he.”

Doubting John

What is happening to John?

What is happening in this passage? John’s disciples hear what Jesus has been doing, and there is a possibility that some even witness what He had been doing, and they go and report to John what is happening. The reason that I had us read Matthew 11:2-3 is because it is there where we read that John the Baptist is in prison and it is important for us to know that because it makes it easy to see how a man like John could have his doubts. John’s not living under house arrest at the Ritz, he’s not even in the Swedish prison system where it’s like he’s got a miniature hotel room, John is living in a musky, dark, depressing, cage. It’s easy to have no doubts when everything seems to be going well. It’s easy to doubt when all around you is despair and darkness. John has been imprisoned because he had spoken out on King Herod’s marriage to his brother’s wife and as John awaits his fate in this dungeon, he is not so far removed from the outside world that his followers have no way of communicating with him. John hears from his disciples what Jesus is doing and he sends two of his disciples to Jesus with a question: “Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?”

Was it John or his followers that doubted?

Now why does John send his followers to ask Jesus this question? Or maybe the bigger question is this: does John send his followers to talk to Jesus because he is doubting or does he send his followers so that Jesus can address their doubts? Now several of my ministry heroes, the great minds of John Calvin, Martin Luther, J.C. Ryle, and even further back to St. Augustine all said that a man like John the Baptist couldn’t possibly ask this question for his own benefit. He was certain that Jesus was the Christ, he declared Him to be the Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world, he saw the Spirit of God descend upon Christ as he baptized Him in the Jordan, he heard God speak and say that Christ was His Son, so how could someone like John doubt? In that case, John must be sending his followers for their benefit and not necessarily his own but I don’t think so. I believe that it is John himself that needs the reassurance and is doubting. How do we know this? Because it is John that asks the question and the question does not appear to form in the minds of his followers. Jesus Himself in Luke 7:22 tells John’s disciples to go back and tell John His answer. If it was for the benefit of the followers, there is really no reason to go back and tell John about it. Jesus doesn’t say to John’s disciples, “here is how I will address your doubts.” Instead He says, “Go and tell John what you have seen and heard.” Even if John’s followers are doubting who Jesus is, they are not the main recepients of Christ’s message. How is it then that John is doubting? Why is he doubting?

Why is John doubting?

Looking at John’s circumstances, it’s easy to see why someone would be going through a season of doubt so maybe the better question would be, “how is it that someone like John, someone who was so certain about who Jesus was, how could he have these doubts?” It largely comes down to the type of ministry that Jesus was doing. What was the common thought around Israel of who the Messiah was supposed to be? The idea was that He was to be a political Savior. He was to be the one that would restore the nation of Israel and would hopefully defeat the Romans. The thought of a suffering, dying, and merciful Messiah was unheard of to the Jews. When you look at John’s baptism, it was a baptism of repentance and he says in Matthew 3:11 “I baptize you with water for repentance, but he who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.” You see John believed that the Christ’s ministry, the Christ’s baptism, would be one of judgement. John believed that his message was going to prepare hearts for repentance and Christ’s message would be a message of judgement but from John’s perspective the total opposite is happening! Jesus is healing and raising the dead, He is being merciful and compassionate towards those that are coming to Him, instead of condemning the world; He has come to save the world. So, John is thinking, “Wait, did I baptize the right guy?“ This is why his question to Jesus is, “are you the one who is to come or shall we look for another?” John knew what he saw. He knew who Jesus was. He heard and saw amazing things but even he doubted. What is absolutely amazing is how Christ addresses John’s doubts. Turn again to Luke 7:21-23

Luke 7:21–23 ESV

In that hour he healed many people of diseases and plagues and evil spirits, and on many who were blind he bestowed sight. And he answered them, “Go and tell John what you have seen and heard: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, the poor have good news preached to them. And blessed is the one who is not offended by me.”

How does Jesus address the doubts?

Notice first what Jesus does not do. He doesn’t say to John’s followers, “How could John be doubting? He saw what happened at my baptism! March yourself back there and tell him to get it together!” Christ’s response to John is perfectly in line with the report of His ministry that has reached the ears of John. What Jesus does do is show the followers of John His power and by extension His glory. He is saying, “here is a small portion of what I am capable of doing” but He doesn’t stop there. The answer that He sends back to John is Scripture. Isaiah 35:5-6 “Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped; 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;” and then He references Isaiah 61:1 “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;” Do you see what Jesus is saying now? He’s saying, “John, you know the Word of God so you should recognize what I mean when I tell you this. Who am I? I’m exactly who Scripture testifies to me to be. What kind of Messiah am I? The very one that all of Scripture points to.” Philip Graham Ryken said, “How did Jesus answer? Not by trying to meet John’s expectations, or giving in to the demand to change his ministry by suddenly performing mighty acts of judgment, but simply by continuing to do the work God had called him to do: showing mercy and preaching the gospel. Yes, Jesus will come to judge the world, but he came first to save it.” How then does John respond to that? Scripture is silent on it but I have a feeling that he was satisfied with the answer that he was given because what John needed in that moment of doubt and weakness was not a new and greater revelation of who God is but what He truly needed was a reminder of who he already knew God to be. John didn’t need a new revelation; He just needed a clearer one or a refreshing of the revelation that he already had. John is not the first saint to doubt. I want to quickly go through some saints throughout the Bible that went through similar periods of doubt and really to encourage our own souls, focus in on how God addressed them and there doubts.

Doubting Saints Throughout Scripture

Abraham

Let’s look at Abraham. In Genesis 15, one of my favorite chapters in Scripture, we see God making a covenant with Abraham. In verse 16, we see that Abraham already believes and that belief is counted to him as righteousness but look at what we read in Genesis 15:7-8 “And he said to him, “I am the Lord who brought you out from Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to possess.” But he [Abraham] said, “O Lord God, how am I to know that I shall possess it?”” Abraham says, “God you have given me a great promise but how can I be sure about it?” Notice what God doesn’t say. He doesn’t say, “What you don’t believe me or trust me? That’s it you’re getting nothing.” No, what does God do? He says to Abraham, grab some animals and cut them into pieces and arrange half of the pieces on one side and the other half of the pieces on the other side. In verse 12 we read that a deep sleep falls upon Abraham and then in verse 17 we read this: “When the sun had gone down and it was dark, behold, a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch passed between these pieces.” What I love about this verse is that it’s a reminder to us that God Himself will see to it that every promise of God is fulfilled. We are powerless to bring forth any aspect of God’s covenant, God has to do the work beginning, middle, and end. What was God saying in this verse in response to Abraham’s doubt? He is saying bring your doubt to me because I am the One that will see to it that my Word is fulfilled and if I fail to uphold any aspect of my promise, may I become like these pieces.”

Elijah

You also have a man like Elijah who went through his own battle with doubt. In 1 Kings 18, he’s on top of the world but we see a totally different Elijah one chapter later. Elijah had just witnessed God move powerfully against the prophets of Baal, he had seen fire fall down upon the altar but in 1 Kings 19 we see a very human side of Elijah. 1 Kings 19:3-4 says, “Then he was afraid, and he arose and ran for his life and came to Beersheba, which belongs to Judah, and left his servant there. But he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness and came and sat down under a broom tree. And he asked that he might die, saying, “It is enough; now, O Lord, take away my life, for I am no better than my fathers.”” Does God leave him there to suffer? No, He doesn’t. He feeds him, tells him to rest, and tells him to go to Horeb, the mountain of God and it is while Elijah is there that God speaks to him in the still, small voice. And as Elijah is caught up within the glory of God, the Lord says to him, “Go back the way you came because there is still work that I have for you to do and I myself will see to it that the doubts that you have will be addressed.”

Peter

One last person worth mentioning is Peter. You all likely know about Christ and Peter walking on the water and know how that narrative ends. Matthew 14:28-31 “And Peter answered him, “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.” He said, “Come.” So Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water and came to Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid, and beginning to sink he cried out, “Lord, save me.” Jesus immediately reached out his hand and took hold of him, saying to him, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?”” Peter had the faith to walk on the water and he did not start to sink until he began to doubt. Peter had faith when he walked on the water but he was not truly desperate for Christ until doubt began to creep in. Does that make sense? Charles Spurgeon said, “Peter was nearer his Lord when he was sinking than when he was walking.” When does Peter cry out to the Lord? At the moment of total desperation and surrender. How does Jesus respond to Peter’s doubt? By reaching out and taking hold of Him and He says, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?” He doesn’t say, “Peter you faithless, unbelieving hypocrit!” No, Christ invites him in, takes hold of him, saves him at his moment of absolute desperation.

God’s Response is Largely the Same to all these men

Have you been able to see the similarities in how God responds to these men and there doubts? This doesn’t even touch the surface of all those in Scripture that believed in the Lord but still had moments of doubt. We haven’t talked about Jacob, Moses, David, Jeremiah, the other apostles, Thomas especially. These men all believed but they also had doubts but God’s response is largely the same to all these men. He never responds with condemnation. He never responds by removing His presence. He always responds by inviting them in for a closer look of who He is. He takes the view away from man and puts it right back where it is supposed to be: on Him. The answer to doubt is never less Bible. It’s never less Christ. The answer to doubt is always stopping and looking at the God who is there, the God who has already proven Himself, the God who will see to it that each and every promise of God finds its yes and amen in His all-powerful, sovereign hand.

Confronting our Doubts

What I want to do with the remaining time that I have left, and I see my old enemy the clock telling me that I don’t have very much time left, is confront our doubts. I want us to address how we should handle doubt as believers and then finally address the doubts of unbelievers.

Believers Doubts

Believers, let’s quickly address 3 areas of doubt:

In who or what are you doubting?

The first area I want address is this: in who or what are you doubting? Where does the root of your doubt lie? Are you doubting God or are you doubting something within yourself? Are you questioning God’s ability to provide or are you questioning your own ability to obtain that which you need? Understand, we would be very foolish to place limitations on a limitless and sovereign God. Anything that we need to glorify God and enjoy Him forever, He readily provides to us. Ask Him. Say like the father in Mark 9:24, “Lord I believe, but help my unbelief.” There is nothing wrong with asking for a greater faith. Little faith in Christ saves but big faith in Christ leads to great works for the Kingdom. Let me just say this, if your doubts lie within yourself and your own abilities, I think you are on the right track. The more you rely on yourself, the less you’ll rely on Christ and search for Him to provide. We need to be content with being small in the hands of our awesome God.

Bring your soul to trial

The next thing I would say we need to do to address our doubts is to bring our soul to trial. Our hearts need to go under the knife. We need to ask ourselves some tough questions. If you look at Psalm 42:5 and 11, this is exactly what the Psalmist does. He asks the question, “Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me?” If you are doubting, you need to ask yourself, “Why am I?” In 1954, Martyn Lloyd-Jones preached a series of sermons that would become his best-selling book: Spiritual Depression and during that first sermon he said, “You have to take yourself in hand, you have to address yourself, preach to yourself, question yourself. You must say to your soul, ‘Why are you cast down’- what business have you to be disquieted? You must turn to yourself, upbraid yourself, condemn yourself, exhort yourself, and say to yourself: ‘hope thou in God’- instead of muttering in this depressed, unhappy way.” We need to preach to ourselves. We need to say, “Self, what is the cause of this? Why am I responding in this way?” Because until you address the problem, you are only going to spiral further into doubt. If all you do is say woe is me, you’re always going to look for solutions inwards instead of looking outwards. What is causing this doubt? Is there sin in your life that is leading you to doubt? You must address that sin and put it to death! I wish we had more time to develop this point.

By God’s perfect providence, we often find ourselves exactly where we need to be.

Finally, believers let me just say this: you do not need perfect circumstances in order to follow Christ. If circumstances had to be perfect in order to be faithful, no one would be this side of Heaven. By God’s perfect providence, you are exactly where you need to be in order to see His goodness and His glory. If you are waiting for your life and circumstances to be perfect in order to take that next step of faith, you’re always gonna be exactly where you are. You just need to go and walk in faith and trust God to move. Stop treating faith like a filibuster. You just have to go and trust God with the results. Well I don’t know what to ask of God or what to pray for? Look, you can be about as coherent as a Joe Biden speech and God is able to use that more than He is able to use the nothing that we often give Him. How do we know this? The Word of God says the Spirit intercedes on our behalf when we don’t know what to say or ask for. Take a minute and think of the life of Joseph and what he went through. He was hated and sold by his brothers, he was wrongfully imprisoned, years would go by before he would become the second most powerful man in all of Egypt. Do you think doubt ever crept into his mind? He had heard of the great God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, he had seen firsthand the faithfulness of God, but to think that doubt never crept into his mind is absurd. Yet it was by God’s perfect providence that Joseph was sold by his brothers, It was by God’s perfect providence that the Ishmaelites took him to Egypt, it was by His perfect providence that he was imprisoned, by a million different tiny but perfect acts of providence, God brought Joseph exactly to where he was supposed to be. God very well could be doing that in your life right now and He very well may be using your moment of doubt to bring you closer to Him and His will for your life. It was the will of God for Joseph to reach that position of power. It was also the will of God for John the Baptist to die in that prison cell. From a worldly viewpoint, our circumstances will never be perfect so with that in mind, may our hearts and eyes be ever set to the things of Heaven and when doubts begin to creep in, (not if, when), may we always preach to our hearts that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever and where He is we too shall be. May God’s sovereignty be the pillow on which we rest our heads.

Unbelievers Doubts

If there’s an unbeliever here today, let me quickly say 2 things:

Circumstances do not dictate the need for faith.

The first almost echos what I have already said to believers: if you are waiting for your circumstances to be perfect in order to come to Christ, you are going to be waiting forever. Could it be that the storms of your life are being used by God, not to push you away but bring you closer to Him? Do you have any reason to doubt that God is there? Do you have really any reason to doubt that the Word of God is not true? Do you have any reason to doubt that Christ’s atoning death for you is sufficient to save you from a life removed from God forever in Hell? If you took the time to think about it and you allowed your heart to open, I think you would find that there is no reason for you to doubt, there is no logical reason for unbelief. James Montgomery Boice once said, “Let trouble come, and suddenly we are confronted with our own ability and weakness, and we are driven to Jesus simply because we have nowhere else to turn. It is in times such as these that faith in Jesus grows strong.” Unbeliever are you being driven about by the storms of life? Turn to Jesus Christ and find rest for your soul and find the answer to your doubt and unbelief.

Unbelievers, you do not need a greater revelation than what God has already provided

The second thing is this: unbeliever, you do not need a greater revelation of God in order to put your faith in Christ. You don’t need anything more than He has already provided. You do not need a neon sign lit up in the sky or someone raised from the dead in order to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. Simply come to Him. Take your doubts to trial and tell your heart that God has already made Himself known to you and all you have to do is repent of your sins and turn to Christ in faith. If you are an unbeliever, you are having the seed of the Gospel planted in your heart this day so let it grow. Let the Holy Spirit bring you into a newness of life. God is faithful and true and He has called each and every person in here to turn from their sins and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. We are not asked to come to Christ, we are commanded to come to Christ. Do you believe? If not, pray this moment that God would help your unbelief and that He would address the doubts that you have. As we worship the Lord in just a moment, take this time to talk to me or meet me after the service. I’ll be in the back if you need to someone to talk to or pray with and of course, the altar is open for anyone to bring themselves before the presence of God. Friends, while we may often find ourselves spending the night within doubting castle, remember that we possess the key of God’s promise. I would hate to see any one of you go another night on the dungeon floor of doubting castle but I cannot unlock the cell for you. Your family cannot unlock the cell for you, your spouse cannot unlock the cell for you, your friends cannot unlock the cell for you, even the Church itself cannot unlock the cell for you. You personally have to take hold of the key of promise yourself and trust in the promises of God. Let’s go to the Lord in prayer and ask that He would remove anything that is hindering us from knowing, loving, and serving our Precious Savior.