This is Larry Jones. You are listening to the Grace and Glory Hour of the Dyer Baptist Church with our co-pastors David M. Atkinson and Dr. Lee Atkinson. We are coming to you from Dyer, Indiana. Our prayer is that you will be strengthened by the Word today. Now, here is our pastor. Would you find a Bible and look at Matthew chapter 11, if you could please? Matthew chapter 11. Last week, we started a new study through the book of Matthew, and you're saying, wait a minute, we were like in Matthew chapter 3, and now we're all the way in Matthew chapter 11. You skipped a part. And that's right, I skipped a lot. We are skipping through Matthew, looking for times when Jesus answered. And that's the title of our series, Jesus Answered. And we observed, first of all, that it's remarkable, it's miraculous that Jesus would answer. Because God is so great and he is so small. What is man that thou art mindful of him or the son of man that thou visitest him? Why would God of creation care about people and us and me? Why would he answer my questions? And yet he does. Which I guess we can understand that he wants to because that's kind of what he's been doing all throughout human history. God has been answering man's needs, answering man's questions. Jesus is the word. He came to reveal the father to us. And so, yeah, of course, Jesus answered. The first question that we find specifically answered in Matthew's gospel is when John says to Jesus, John the Baptist says, I can't baptize you, I need you to baptize me. And there was this great mystery of life, this incongruity where things just didn't fit and make sense. And Jesus said to John, suffer it to be so now. It's okay. You need to let it be like this for now, for we must fulfill all righteousness. God has a plan that needs to be fulfilled rightly. There is an overarching theme. Aren't you glad that history has purpose? Wouldn't it be depressing to just think that all of human history was just people killing people and class struggle and all of that, and it's just more bad news? No, but history is going somewhere. Aren't you glad for that? History is under the control of God. And Jesus said to John, this doesn't seem like it fits. You might not enjoy this now. It might be uncomfortable for you now, but just wait. Trust me, there's a purpose behind it. Well then Jesus gave the Sermon on the Mount in chapter 5 through 7. Jesus healed some people and raised some dead and did a lot of wonderful things in the intervening chapters. But we come to Matthew chapter 11 and we find again Jesus and John the Baptist in this second question that Jesus answered. So I'd like us to read some verses from Matthew chapter 11 and take the account in and then we'll try to think about what is the thing that's Jesus answering and how can we learn from it. Matthew chapter 11. And it came to pass when Jesus had made an end of commanding his 12 disciples, he departed thence to teach and preach in their cities. Now when John had heard in the prison the works of Christ, he sent two of his disciples context here, historically, is that John, way back since the time that he baptized Jesus, had continued to preach, repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. And he told the soldiers what they ought to do. And he told the other people, the tax collectors, what they ought to do. He said, this is the way you ought to live. In fact, he told the king what he ought to do. And he said, king, it's not right for you to have your brother's wife. And you can tell a lot of people they're wrong, but when you tell the king you're wrong, it sometimes doesn't go so well. And so John was thrown into prison because he had confronted the king about his sin. And so it says here that John is in prison and he sent two of his disciples. There were those that were loyal to John and continued to kind of be his supporters, his followers, and they cared for him. And so John sent two of those disciples to Jesus, verse three, and said unto Jesus, art thou he that should come, or do we look for another? You see the question mark? John the Baptist, through messengers, is asking a question of Jesus. Jesus answered. Jesus answered. Aren't you glad? He could've shrugged it off, said, ah, John, you should know better than that. He could've dismissed it and said, it doesn't matter, John's stuck in prison anyways. But Jesus answered. And I think he answered not only for John, I think he answered for me. Because sometimes I'm kinda like John. Jesus answered and said unto them, go and show John again That's a key word, again. Those things which ye do hear and see. The blind receive their sight, and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear. The dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them. And blessed is he whosoever shall not be offended in me. And as they departed, Jesus began to say unto the multitudes concerning John, Okay, so lest you think that Jesus is disappointed and aggravated with John, he says as the messengers are leaving, and hey, people, crowd, I want you to know something about John. And he gives us his opinion. He says, what did you go out in the wilderness for to see? A reed shaking in the wind? Did you go out to see something weak, something unstable and that's just kind of flimsy? No. He said, what did you go out in the wilderness for to see? A man clothed in soft raiment? No. Guys that have fancy clothes are in palaces, not in the wilderness. You went out to see not somebody who was soft and not somebody who was weak. You went out to see somebody who was strong and had the truth. And just the fact that he has a question for me now doesn't change that fact. That's what Jesus points out about him. And he talks about the greatness of John and how important he was to his own ministry. And he talks about the bad reception that the culture at large had for both John and Jesus. Oh, that even though they were different. So as we come to learn from this answer that Jesus had, we see that John the Baptist, the very forerunner of the Messiah, was questioning whether or not Jesus was the Messiah. Think about that. John's purpose was to say the Messiah is coming. He went to go before the Lord's anointed to make straight the crooked ways and to make level the plain and the valley. John's whole purpose, he was one of preparing and making it easy for the Messiah to come. And now the one who was to announce the Messiah is questioning the Messiah. I mean, it's bad if you mess up on a small part of your life, but if there's one main job that you have, and that's what you're kind of vacillating on, that's tough. Okay, so Brother Crosby was nodding at me. All right, Brother Crosby drives truck for ABF, right? Okay, so it'd be like saying, hi, I'm a truck driver, except I don't know how to drive. Right, how's that gonna work? If he shows up at work tomorrow saying, hey guys, I love working for you, but I just, this whole driving thing, I'm not sure about that. Right? John the Baptist was the one that says, behold, the Lamb of God, the Messiah is coming, he's here. And now he's like, I don't know if that's the Messiah. Do you see how foundational this is? John had a question about the identity of the Messiah. This is a doubt. It's a very big doubt. This question meant everything. Is Jesus the one? Now, our questions and doubts today might not be quite the same as John's. John's question was, is Jesus, in fact, the Messiah? For most of us Gentiles living 2,000 years later, that's not really where doubt hits us. I think a lot of people deal with doubt in three basic categories. People doubt, first of all, the supernatural. They doubt the supernatural, that is, that there is a God and that he has done miracles, he has created the universe, he has inspired a word, he has done miracles. People doubt the supernatural and they ask, are all those things for real? People also doubt their salvation. Okay, I believe in God, I believe in the Bible, I believe that, I understand there's an offer of salvation, but I don't know if I've received it, I don't know if I'm genuinely saved. That's another doubt that people today often have. And then a third category that's very common, doubting among people today, is doubting the sovereignty of God. Is God really in control? Is God really good? Is he really wise? Is he really working all things together for good? Can I trust him for the circumstances in my life and in my loved one's lives? These are very common. And if you think I'm talking about you, I am and I'm not at the same time. It's so interesting to me that our song service this morning often talked about faith, even in the special music before the sermon, I think about the third verse, Brother Chris sang, talked about committing those things to the Lord and resting in Him. And it's not uncommon for, in church leadership, for people to come and say, hey, I'm struggling with a doubt. In fact, two times this week, we've had people come to us saying, I'm struggling with a doubt. And that's not strange, it's not weird, it's not abnormal. Doubt is not, shouldn't be a surprise to us. And it's not as if having a question or an uncertainty makes you some kind of leper or pariah. Like everybody else has this stainless steel faith and you're the only one that, you know, the Teflon's coming off your skillet kind of thing. It's very normal because Christianity is a faith thing, isn't it? And you cannot have faith where certainty is a possibility. There has to be a possibility that we're wrong or it's not faith. We have to admit that Christianity could be wrong or we don't have faith. If I can prove the supernatural, if I can prove salvation, if I can prove God's wisdom in His working, then faith is excluded. And God doesn't want that. He wants us to trust Him, and so there has to be some room for doubt. And so if you doubt, it's okay. Now, we've been studying in the Hebrews that we need to go on in our faith and we shouldn't wallow in doubt and we shouldn't, you know, feed the fires of doubt. But I think sometimes Satan beats us by getting us with temptation and then making us feel guilty for, he tempts us with doubt and then he makes us feel guilty for doubting. Right? He's not very nice. And so I want you to see that Jesus, did you read Jesus' rebuke for John in these verses? Did you see how Jesus got really mad at John? He didn't, did he? He says, there is not anyone greater born among women than John. Pretty high praise for the guy who just said, are you really the Messiah? So Jesus answered the doubts of John's heart, and he will answer the doubts of our hearts. I can't in this message deal extensively with the supernatural and your personal salvation and God's sovereignty in working good together in our lives. But we can see from Jesus' answer to John's doubt some basic things that will help us with doubt in general. And I hope they will be an encouragement and a help to you. Maybe you're in a season of doubt right now. I didn't plan this message to be on March the, what is it, 12th, 13th? It was just the next one in Matthew. But maybe you're doubting today. Maybe this is for you. Or maybe you can say at this moment, my stainless steel is just fine. My Teflon is doing great. Okay, well maybe God wants to give you some tools to counsel somebody else who is struggling. Maybe it's your teenager and you don't even know they have questions because they're scared to tell you. Maybe it's your spouse. My spouse isn't having doubts, you might be surprised. Like they probably have doubts about you, so. Just kidding. So whether you need these lessons on doubt or whether you can use these lessons on doubt to help somebody else, I hope that we'll learn a lot from Jesus' answer to John. Before we get to like points one and two, I know the note taker's like, when do we get a point? When do we get a point? It's all introduction. So make this a bulleted point, okay? The outline has not yet started. This is just a bulleted point, because that makes you feel better. John did the right thing in going directly and boldly to Jesus with his doubt. When you have doubts, you can tell Jesus that you're doubting. He already knows. No, no, no. I'm not doubting. No, no, no. I'm fine. My faith is, you know, strong. Jesus knows your faith isn't strong. So go ahead and talk to him about it. And John did that. He didn't mess around and just sit in prison and say, I'm doubting, I'm doubting, I'm doubting. He said, listen guys, please go talk to Jesus and ask him this question for me. I've got to have an answer. He didn't go to the Pharisees, by the way, and say, is Jesus the Messiah? Okay, so if you have doubts, don't go to atheist.com. That's just my recommendation. Go to your Bible, right? Go to Jesus. And there's times when you go to another. Jesus, or John had his disciples help him with this. And there's times when it's good to go to another believer. Don't try to hide your doubt indefinitely. A doubt is like, Doubt is like mold. It's rotten and it grows in the dark. You get it out there in the bright sunlight and suddenly it doesn't look quite so intimidating and it doesn't grow as fast. Take your doubt and expose it to the light of God's word. Expose it to the light and the fresh air of a Christian brother or sister who cares about you and who knows the word of God. Doubt often shrivels or at least shrinks when it's exposed to the light of the Bible and the fresh air of Christian dialogue. So in our short text this morning, we're gonna have a look at the anatomy of doubt and a look at answers for doubt. So let's look at the anatomy of John's doubt. What can we learn about doubt itself as a condition that steals upon us? Number one, doubt attacks godly people. Doubt attacks godly people. John was not just kind of one of God's people. He was a fringe believer. He was kind of a passive Christian. He was pretty materialistic and caught up with the benefits that society could offer. But he just kind of named Jehovah so that he could kind of be under the covenant and whatnot. I mean, do you get more fiery and committed than John? Not much. John was not just one of God's people, he was a committed one of God's people. In fact, it's true to say that John spent every moment of his existence experiencing what he experienced at this time in his life because of his commitment to God. John woke up every morning in prison. Why was he in prison? Because he was committed to God and His truth. Whatever they fed him or didn't feed him, whatever conditions he was in, he was living his life for God. He didn't hold back. He didn't shrink from the truth. He didn't hide. He did what God commanded him to do and he landed in prison for it. John wasn't just kind of some, you know, halfway person of God. He was hardcore. Godly people are attacked by doubt. And don't think that, well, I'm a godly person, I shouldn't have doubt. It's exactly godly people that will have doubts. Think about it from our enemy's point of view. What motivation would Satan have to cast doubt on passive Christians? They're already passive. He doesn't need to sideline them. They're already, they benched themselves. They're like, coach, put in a sub, please. I wanna sit over here. If the team gets to heaven, that's great. I don't wanna do any work to participate. Why is Satan gonna waste his time attacking that person? He wants to attack the people that are out there in the field, doing the work, living for the Lord. He wants to put them on the sidelines, don't you see? And so it's godly people that are often attacked by doubt. John was enduring hard things for the Lord, and yet he was attacked by doubt. I think this is significant because obviously John still had influence on other people. This is key, isn't it? John still had disciples. We know that it was his disciples that he sent to answer, ask his question to Jesus. And who was it that buried him when he got beheaded? It says his disciples, disciples took up his body and buried him. So John still had an influence on people, even though the majority of the spotlight had moved over to Jesus, there were still people that were very close to John. And when John doubted, they were gonna be influenced by that. Because he said, go ask Jesus if he is the Messiah. I'm like, oh, John, I thought you said he was. Now you're not sure? Oh, maybe we're wrong. John, maybe you're the Messiah after all. He could have an influence on others and so being in doubt was a great strategy of Satan because John had this influence on others. And John was trying to do what's right. So if you're trying to live for the Lord, don't be surprised if doubt attacks. And if somebody else comes to you and says, I'm struggling with doubt, don't think less of them. It may be that they are attacked precisely because they're being used of the Lord. But I think more significantly, number two, under the anatomy of doubt, is that doubt launches a dual attack. I hesitate to say always, because I haven't finished thinking through this, but I really think that most of the time, doubt launches a dual attack. And so you can picture it maybe as a double-edged sword, where as it's cutting, it's cutting in two directions. For whatever reason, the picture I thought of was a turnbuckle. Do you know what a turnbuckle is? It's a piece of hardware, and you use it when you want to tighten up a cable. Like our volleyball net down in the gym, when we want to stretch it taut between the wall and the banister, you hook it up on this cable and then you turn this turnbuckle. And the really cool thing about turnbuckles is that there's a bolt on this end and a bolt on this end, and then like a bracket in the middle that you're spinning. And I don't know exactly all the details, but I think basically one of them is reverse threaded. So that as you're turning the middle piece, both are getting tight at the same time. If they were normal bolts and that, as you tighten one, you'd be loosening the other, because they're facing opposite directions. But that turnbuckle is designed in such a way that when you tighten it, it pulls both of them in. And doubt is kind of like that, in that doubt works in both directions at the same time. When we're attacked by doubt, it's attacking us, but it's also attacking God. I want us to look again at the text. Verse 2, John had heard in prison the works of Christ. He sent out his disciples. Art thou he that should come, or do we look for another? Now in this case, the question seems to be primarily about the identity of Jesus, doesn't it? Jesus, are you actually the Messiah? So it's kind of an attack on God, isn't it? It's a question about God. But it's not only an attack on Jesus and his identity, it's kind of an attack on John too. John also. Because John had said, that is the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world. He said it more than once. He said it, then he said it again the next day, and people start following. John is not only doubting Jesus, he's doubting himself. He's doubting his own profession. He's doubting his whole mission. I've told people that you're the Messiah, and now I'm questioning, was I wrong? John is also doubting not only his profession, he's doubting his experience. John was there when Jesus was baptized, wasn't he? In fact, turn to John chapter one. John chapter one, we're going to see that John's Gospel, written by John the Apostle, records that John the Baptist made this declaration about Jesus, and he had these experiences with Jesus that meant he shouldn't have doubted at all. John 1, 29. John 1, 29. The next day, John the Baptist, seeing Jesus cometh unto him in Seth, 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. So when John said, ask Jesus if he really is the Messiah, he's questioning Jesus, but he's also questioning himself, his own testimony. Now, come to verse 32. And John, bear record, saying, I saw the Spirit, the Holy Spirit, descending from heaven like a dove, and it abode on him. And I knew him not, but he that sent me to baptize with water, that's God, 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 bear record, that this is the Son of God. Remember, when John baptized Jesus, we have this beautiful moment of observing the Trinity at the same place at the same time. There's Jesus standing in the water, there's the Holy Spirit descending and staying on him like a dove, and there's the voice of the Father from heaven, this is my beloved Son, you might well please. All three verses of Trinity appear at the baptism of Christ. And it's declared in scripture that John saw the dove. And John had been told to watch for that. I personally believe John also heard the Father's voice from heaven when he said, this is my beloved son. So John had something that very few other people in human history have had. He had the direct experience, the eyes and the ears perceived affirmation from God that Jesus was in his eye. Now, if you've ever doubted, Perhaps you found yourself wishing and thinking something like this, oh, I wish I could have seen Jesus for myself. I wish I could have seen him raise someone from the dead. I wish I could have heard Jesus preach himself. If only I could have experienced him for myself, then I would believe. Don't raise your hand, but don't we sometimes feel like we have a disadvantage living 2,000 years later? It's hard for us because we don't have our senses to testify to the authenticity of the message of scripture. Interestingly, John had his senses to testify that Jesus was the Messiah. John, more than anybody else, he heard the voice of the Father. He saw the Spirit like a dove. And still he doubted. John doubted his own senses. And before you get too hard on him, have you ever doubted your own senses? Like, wait, did that just really happen? Did you hear what I heard? Is there somebody out in the garage? No, dear, go back to sleep. No, no, I think I heard something. Right? Is that a mouse scurrying across the kitchen floor? I didn't hear anything. Or you see somebody do something amazing, like, no, there's no way he could do that. And you doubt your senses. And yet, when we're struggling with spiritual doubt, we say, man, my senses are so reliable. If only my taste, touch, hear, smell, felt, if only all those things could have perceived Jesus, then I wouldn't have these doubts. John experienced testimony that Jesus was the Messiah, and yet he doubted, because doubt cuts both ways. Doubt accuses Jesus, are you the Messiah, really? Doubt accuses John, I don't know if I really saw what I thought I saw. I don't know if I really heard what I thought I heard. I don't know if I really believed what I said way back then. Our doubts do the same thing. We doubt God in these areas of life, and we say, I don't know if God's real. Maybe I'm just one of those weak people who can't handle life without the fairy tale of God, and so I'm really a pathetic person. And so we doubt God and doubt ourselves. Maybe we're doubting our salvation. And you think, oh, well, I know God would save me, but I don't know if I did it right. I don't know if I prayed it right. I don't know if I was sincere enough. I don't know if I understood enough. And we have all these questions for ourselves. And we think we're just doubting ourselves. But hold on a second. When you're doubting yourself regarding salvation, you are also doubting God. Do you remember the story in, I think it's Kings, where Elijah has a contest on top of Mount Carmel with the prophets of Baal? Everybody loves that story, because the bad guys look so dumb, right? You always like it when that happens. So these false prophets are trying to get their god to send down fire from heaven to consume the sacrifice. And they are praying to their god. And of course, he doesn't answer, because he's not real. And Elijah makes fun of them and says, oh. And essentially what Elijah does is he says, you guys, you're doing it wrong. You didn't pray loud enough. You didn't pray long enough. You need to do something that will really get his attention. And if you pray better, you'll get an answer. And what Elijah was doing, essentially, was pointing out that God, Baal, false god, wasn't real. He had no power. Because it's dependent on how well you pray, whether he answers or not, because he might have gone hunting. Yeah. Yeah. And so when I am thinking and doubting my own salvation, boy, I wonder if I prayed right. I wonder if I knew enough. I wonder if I understood enough. I didn't hit the SOS right. I didn't dial 911. I misdialed and I dialed 912. And God couldn't answer because I dialed wrong. And God is somehow limited by my poor performance in prayer. Do you see how putting God in that box that says if I messed up, if I didn't pray right, if I didn't understand right, if I didn't signal Him right, He can't help me? That's just what Elijah said was true about Baal. If you don't pray right, He can't answer you. And so when I'm doubting my salvation thinking I didn't pray right, I didn't use the right words. I didn't use, you know what? Nobody opened their Bible. I wasn't kneeling at the front of a church. It can't be real because I didn't do it the right way. You're limiting God's ability to save you because you're making Him dependent on your performance in coming to Him. Do you see what I'm saying? And so doubt attacks both ways. If you're doubting God's existence, you're certainly doubting Him and you're doubting your own your own heart which knows that there's a God because it's wired into our conscience. And if you're doubting salvation, you're doubting that God loves you enough and God is able to save you even if you're not that good at asking him to save you. The book of Isaiah says he is mighty to save. It's not as if God can just barely save you and you have to ask him just right and then he might be able to pull it off. He is mighty to save. It is not about you. It is not about your sincerity. It is not about your skill and eloquence. It's not about your theological prowess. It is about God saving you. And if you're doubting his sovereignty, doubting his goodness and his plan, you might say, wow, I don't know if I can trust God for these situations. And then you say, wow, was I wrong to trust God all these years? I should have been taking matters into my own hand. I should have been living for my own pleasure. Doubt cuts both ways. And when John questioned whether the Messiah was Jesus and Jesus was the Messiah, He was doubting Christ and he was also doubting himself. So that's the anatomy of doubt. Two very simple observations that doubt attacks godly people and doubt launches dual attacks. But I'm glad we can get to the answer for doubt. And I'm glad this sermon came up honestly on this Sunday because normally church gets out here at 1230 and you can see clearly both clocks say it is about 1115. My favorite Sunday of the year. I mean, we are going to study the word. Amen. The visitors are like, he is joking, right? Sorry. Picked a bad Sunday to come. All right. Back to Matthew chapter 11. I want us to see especially how Jesus answers John's doubt. It's so simple and so powerful. Matthew chapter 11, verse four. Jesus answered and said unto them, these messengers for John, go and show John again those things which ye do hear and see. The blind receive their sight, and the lame walk, and the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear. The dead are raised up. The poor have the gospel preached unto them. The really amazing thing about this answer is that it wasn't really anything new. Because cross-reference this back to verse number two. When did John send the messengers to Jesus? When what? When he heard the works of Jesus. He didn't send the messengers when he had a really bad day in prison. He sent the messengers when he heard all the great things that Jesus was doing. And so Jesus gave an answer and said, I'm doing a lot of great things. John already knew that. That wasn't my question. My question is, who are you? When people are doubting, we need to be told what we already know. We need to be told what we already know. John already knew that Jesus was doing many wonderful works. but he needed to be told that again. And so if you're doubting, tell yourself again the things that are true in the Bible. And if you're encouraging somebody who's doubting, tell them things even if they already say, I know that, I know that, tell them anyways. John already knew about the works of Christ, but Jesus reassured him of the reality and the fact that that reality was a fulfillment of scripture. This is referenced in Isaiah chapter 35, verse four through six, where God says that he's gonna come and save and all these wonderful things are gonna happen and they'll break forth streams in the desert and all this stuff and he says that the Eyes of the blind will be open the ears of the deaf will be unstopped the lame shall leap All that is prophesied about our coming Messiah in Isaiah chapter 35 and Jesus knew that and John knew that and Jesus says hey John You know that I'm fulfilling these things I'm telling you what you already know Don't doubt. This is the truth. I F.B. Meyer said, the demonstration of Christianity is to be found in its acceptance and practice. In other words, if you want to prove Christianity, just live Christianity. I think understanding these truths is related also to a fun quotation from Charles Spurgeon. He said, the word of God is like a lion. You don't have to defend the lion. All you have to do is let it loose and it will defend itself. If you are doubting, don't say, well, I can't read the Bible because I'm doubting the Bible, and therefore that's an invalid source of input. No, no, no. If you're doubting, you need the Word. That's what Jesus gave to John. You need the Word, and it will, like a lion, prove itself to you and your doubts. So start there. John needed to be told what he already knew. If you're doubting, read the Bible. Repeat basic Christian teaching. Jesus loves me. God is all-powerful. Jesus wins in the end. Basic, simple Christian teaching. And I would say, note the impact of the Bible on the world and other individuals. Jesus pointed out to John, hey, blind people are seeing and cripples are walking. That doesn't just happen every day. When you're doubting, it's a good thing to stop and look around and say, what has Jesus done for these other people? Maybe it's somebody that you know, maybe it's a person famous in history, and you look at how God changed his or her life. See that? There's no other explanation for that. Why are they that way? If the gospel's not true, the gospel must be true. And when you see what God has done for others, it can bolster and reinforce your own faith. John needed to be told what he already knew. But there's one other thing that Jesus did in his answer to John. Notice verse five. It's much shorter, but it's very powerful. Jesus said, blessed is he whosoever shall not be offended in me, who's not upset with me, who's not disappointed or frustrated in me. Jesus told those messengers, go back and tell John everything he already knows about the blind and the deaf and the lame and the poor receiving the gospel. And then remind him that it's a happy person. It's a person in a really good condition that isn't offended or put out with me. In other words, John, trust me. You may not like the way I'm going about this right now, You may be thinking, hey, I stood up for you, Jesus. I pointed you out, Jesus, and now I'm in prison. Why don't you go ahead and call the armies of heaven and usher in the kingdom and release me from jail while you're at it? We don't know everything that John understood about the Messiah, but he wanted some assurance now. And Jesus said, John, don't be offended. Don't be discouraged. Don't be frustrated. Wait on me. Let me do my work in my way and in my time. Let me be the Messiah here and you just be the forerunner. Isn't that what happens sometimes? I'm a Christian and so I think I can be God. Oh, I'm a Christian and I've read the Bible so I know how everything should go. I know how my kids should turn out. I know how my church should decide something. I know how my boss should treat me. I know what should happen in my business dealings. I know how everything should go because I'm a Christian. No? God does. Trust him. You don't have the answers. God does. Jesus encouraged John and he said, hey, just remember, don't get offended with me. Don't get frustrated. Don't get impatient. You must wait on me. Even of his loyal forerunner, Jesus required faith. Maybe we would have liked Jesus to have pulled those messages aside and said, all right, listen guys, I can't tell everybody else this, but I've got a secret message for John. Here's what you have to tell him. John, listen, you weren't expecting this, but I'm actually gonna go to Jerusalem and I'm gonna be crucified. Don't worry, I'll come back to life. You're actually gonna die too. Because all those Old Testament prophecies about reigning and ruling, those are still thousands of years in the future. They're gonna happen. But first we're going to suffer, but it's okay. God's still in charge. Everything's still going to be great. I want you to know it's going to get worse though before it gets better. And you just need to trust me and we will still rule and reign. He didn't tell him all the details, did he? He just said, don't be offended in me. Don't get frustrated with me. Don't get upset. Trust me. Friend, maybe you're struggling with your doubts because you're not trusting Jesus. You're offended in the way that he's doing things. He's like, how can God's plan be good when I'm experiencing this? If you're doubting God's reality or the reliability of scripture or the goodness of God's plan, listen to the testimony of God's word. Listen to the testimony of his spirit and of other individuals around you. And ultimately, there's a one-step process. You have to throw yourself on the mercy of God. That no matter what he says, you're gonna live for him. In First Peter, it's put this way. We need to commit the keeping of our souls to him in well-doing as unto a faithful creator. Are you willing to commit your soul unto the faithful creator and say, like Job, though he slay me, yet will I trust him? Lord, I'm gonna trust you, and if I'm mixed up and I did something wrong and you have to punish me for it, that's okay. I still love you, you're still God, and I'll let you make those decisions. Do you have conditional trust or you just throw it all on Jesus? Say, I don't understand, it doesn't make sense, it hurts, I wish that hadn't happened, God's plan doesn't seem right, I don't know if I'm saved, I don't know if the Bible's real, I don't know if there's death after life, I'm not sure, but I'm throwing it all on Jesus anyways. And if he loses, I'm going down. I depend on him. That, friend, is what faith is. Faith is lacking a guarantee, I obey him anyways. And that's what pleases God. That's what makes him happy, that you trust him. I will follow and depend on God no matter what. He is worth serving even if I suffer. So whether you're doubting or a loved one is doubting, Go to Jesus' answer to John to find encouragement there. I want to read to you words from a hymn. Gene Pickett wrote, Jesus, I am resting, resting in the joy of what thou art. I am finding out the greatness of thy loving heart. Thou hast bid me gaze upon thee, and thy beauty fills my soul. For by thy transforming power, thou hast made me whole. Oh, how great thy loving kindness, vaster, broader than the sea. Oh, how marvelous thy goodness lavished all on me. Yes, I rest in thee, beloved. Know that wealth of grace is thine. Know the certainty of promise and have made it mine. Simply trusting thee, Lord Jesus, I behold thee as thou art. Do you notice how the author over and over again says, I'm looking to you? I'm focused on you, I'm worshiping you. Get your eyes off of yourself. Thy love, so pure, so changeless, satisfies my heart, satisfies its deepest longings, meets, supplies its every need, compasseth me round with blessings. Thine is love indeed. Ever lift Thy face upon me as I work and wait for Thee. Don't stay paralyzed with your doubts. Get working. Get actively waiting for Him. Resting neath Thy smile, Lord Jesus, earth-dark shadows flee. Brightness of my Father's glory, sunshine of my Father's face, keep me ever trusting, resting. Fill me with Thy grace. God has not given us the spirit of fear. He does not want you to be plagued with doubt. We all face it. It's a temptation common to man. But go straight to Jesus with your doubts. Look to his word. Look to him. Talk to a brother or sister in Christ. And then move on, focused on him, not yourself, not your questions. Let me encourage you not to feel bad if you're doubting. Your brothers and sisters are here for you and want to encourage you. Thank you for joining us today. We'd love to hear from you. Our email address is GraceGlory7 at Juno.com GraceGlory7 at Juno.com Pastor David M. Atkinson also has a ministry on Facebook and invites you to connect with him there. Now, until the next time, remember to walk softly with the Lord.