We're turning in our Bibles to Luke chapter seven this morning. Luke chapter seven. For several months, we've been considering together the miracles of our Lord as they're recorded in the gospel of Luke. The miracle that we come to today is not normally on the lists of miracles, though. You probably recall how I tend to open up these messages by reciting the miracles that we've gone through already and telling you there are about 20 miracles recorded in the Gospel of Luke and we're on miracle number seven or eight or nine or whatever number it is. But the miracle we look at today is not really one for the list because a cluster of miracles, an indefinite cluster, And we find that cluster of miracles in verse number 21 of Luke chapter seven. Verse 21 which says, in that same hour he cured many of their infirmities and plagues and of evil spirits and unto many that were blind he gave sight. This is similar to what we saw back in chapter four when after the healing of Peter's mother-in-law, the rebuking of her fever, there was this cluster of miracles that were performed there in Capernaum that night when people thronged about the Lord Jesus and brought to him all of their sick and infirm and people with evil spirits. If we were to follow the normal chronology of the miracles, that would go from the raising of the widow's son at the verses 11 through 17, and we were there about three weeks ago, and it would proceed right over to Luke 8 and verse 24, when you have the calming of the storm. That's usually the next miracle in the listing of miracles. But that's all I was thinking about this morning. and thinking about where the Lord would have us be, I became convinced that we need to hear the message of verses 18 through 23 of Luke chapter seven, and we need to hear it right now at this point in our series on the miracles of our Lord. There really is something specific here. that we need to turn our attention to, and it is calculated to give us great, great help. And so let's read together these verses that'll be our text for the morning, verses 18 through 23 of Luke chapter number seven. And the disciples of John showed him all these things. And John calling unto him, two of his disciples sent them to Jesus, saying, Art thou he that should come, or look we for another? When the men were come unto him, they said, John Baptist hath sent us unto thee, saying, Art thou he that should come, or look we for another? And in that same hour he cured many of their infirmities and plagues and of evil spirits, and unto many that were blind he gave sight. Then Jesus answering said unto them, go your way, and tell John what things ye have seen and heard, how the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, to the poor the gospel is preached. And blessed is he whosoever shall not be offended in me. Amen. You know, the Holy Spirit knew precisely what the Lord's people would be thinking as they read the gospel narrative. Nothing is placed here haphazardly. The order of things, what gets bypassed, what gets included, nothing is haphazard. He knew that the readers of Luke's gospel would need this lesson right here in the narrative that he's writing of the ministry of our Lord. In verse number 17, we read that after the widow's son was raised from the dead, that word got out. That word rumor there in verse 17 is just the word logos, it's the word for word. So word got out about Jesus and about his miracles. And verse 18 tells us the disciples of John the Baptist told John about all of Jesus's miraculous works. Now you would think that hearing of our Lord's miracles, hearing of our Lord's works of deliverance worked mightily and powerfully in Galilee, that this would bolster the confidence and increase the faith of John and his disciples. But surprisingly, Verse 19 tells us that the reports had the very opposite effect. The miraculous works of Jesus raised doubts in their minds. They raised misgivings. And you see the reported question in verses 19 and 20. Art thou he that should come, or look we for another? You're probably aware that students of scripture debate about whether the doubt expressed in this question is John the Baptist's personal doubt or the doubt of his disciples. Some would construe it as the disciples of John were doubting and so John led them to Jesus with the question, it's not really John's doubts. I don't really have a strong opinion in that debate because it seems to me that the lesson's the same, whether John's the one doubting or whether the disciples are the ones doubting. In either case, the report of Jesus's miraculous works shook believers and raised misgivings in their minds. And really, I don't feel any compulsion to save the reputation of John the Baptist on this. Because the fact is, all of the Lord's people have times like this, when they doubt, when they have misgivings, when they question the Lord's providence and don't understand the mystery of what's going on in their lives. There was only one man who never doubted. And even he sweat great drops of blood, didn't he? But there was only one who was not shaken and startled by the mystery of God's providence. Every one of us has had our falterings, and we've had our failings, and we don't like to admit it. We like to project that we are always confident and full of faith and not doubting. We don't like to admit it, but we all know what it is to be precisely in this position where our faith is shaken. And we harbor misgivings about the Lord and what he's doing in our lives. It may be that you find yourself this morning precisely where John the Baptist was. We've been examining our Lord's mighty deliverances for some time now. And we have a lot of troubles too, don't we? We feel very hard-pressed. And on many fronts, we're not experiencing the kind of miraculous deliverance from the Lord that we're reading about in these miracles. And you know, I suppose that it is entirely possible that people could come to the point where they don't want to read another miracle. It's just too discouraging. Why? Is there so much miraculous deliverance then, but not now? That's why this incident's so helpful for us, so important for us to consider right now in the midst of this series on the miracles of our Lord. So this morning, I wanna preach to you about resolving doubt raised by Christ's miracles. That's exactly what this passage is about, isn't it? Jesus' miracles has raised doubt in someone's mind. It has had the opposite effect that you would think it would have. It's raised doubts. And what Jesus is going to do is he's going to resolve those doubts. And what we're going to find by the grace of God is that John's misgivings give rise to an answer from Jesus that is exactly fitted to a great many different kinds of doubts and misgivings that a great variety of Christians experience on a regular basis. And the answer, the resolution, is always the same. We're gonna see resolving doubt raised by Christ's miracles. But before we come to the resolution, which is going to be in verses 21, 22, and 23, before we come to that, it would be good for us to probe this a little bit more, to probe this question of why the works of God sometimes raise doubts. Why is it that the most powerful displays of omnipotence, those things that were done for the express purpose of confirming who this person is, that's what the miracles were for, to confirm that Jesus is who he says he is, Why is it that the works of Jesus Christ can sometimes raise doubts and have the opposite effect of what you would think? I mean, you would assume that a message about somebody just got raised from the dead, I mean, that's the context here. A young man was raised from the dead, John. And it raises misgivings in his mind. What causes the Lord's people to doubt when they hear stories like this? Well, it's really not that hard to answer if you put yourself in John's place and you remember his situation. Where is John when he hears of these mighty works of Jesus? He's in prison. He's been locked up by Herod. How did he get there? Well, to make a long story short, King Herod had enticed his brother's wife to divorce his brother so that they could get married. And John boldly spoke against this awful, unlawful, sinful marriage, and he was thrown in prison for it. So broadly speaking, how did John get into the situation he's in? How did John get into prison? He got there by following the Lord, didn't he? He got there by doing what is right. He had testified about Jesus. He had stood up for the teachings of Jesus. He had gone right to the front of the line. He had encouraged his best followers, Peter and Andrew and James and John, he had encouraged them to follow Jesus. He had given his whole life to the service of Christ. And the consequence of it all is that he is lying in prison. And then he hears of all these things that Jesus is doing for other people. Jesus can rebuke a fever. Jesus can cleanse a leper. He heals from a distance. He raises dead people to life. No doubt he had heard of how he had filled Peter and John's boats with fish to overflowing. And these were men that John had personally directed to Jesus. There was a day when John was standing with his disciples and he pointed to Jesus and he says, behold, the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sins of the world. And they followed Jesus from that point on, and they're experiencing such blessing. But John, he continues to lie bound in prison. And there's a lot here to confuse a man, isn't there? There's a lot here to confuse a man. If Jesus is so powerful that he can command demons, then how is it that his forerunner languishes in prison? Surely the one who has the authority to forgive sins, surely the heart of the king is in his hand and he can turn it whithersoever he wants it to go. Isn't that what the proverb says? You see, this passage tells me that it is possible that people could hear of the miraculous works of the Lord and be left confused and even discouraged. Maybe I'm describing you. And you've been here and you've been listening to the miracles of our Lord and how the mighty works of deliverance that he has wrought everywhere he goes. And you think about your own difficulties, your own troubles that seem to have no end in sight. I think about those who join us by live stream because they no longer have the physical strength to come and assemble in the sanctuary. And I imagine it could be that hearing about the miracles of Jesus could be like salt in the wound. Or more broadly speaking, it may be that the ministry of the word discourages you because what you're hearing from scripture does not seem to be operative in your present circumstances. You feel intuitively, like any spiritual-minded person would, that it ought to be operative, that I should not be so low in my experience of power, that there should be greater victory in my life. I should be seeing more answers to prayer. We feel like we should be on a higher plane than we are now. And we read in our Bible that it seems like some people were there. Why not for me? And it can be a great discouragement to us when we don't seem to be experiencing the things that we read and that we're struggling so hard to believe in the midst of the darkness. There's this seeming contradiction between what God says and who he is, the promises that he's made, and my own present insurmountable difficulties. And those apparent contradictions can make the best of God's people doubt, have misgivings. And this is all the more the case when we stand on convictions. When we stand on convictions that we have attained unto by the study of God's word and it doesn't seem like those convictions are being vindicated. That's where we really begin to doubt and have misgivings. That's what's going on with John, right? He had boldly stood on conviction. Remember his message in the years when he was baptizing at the Jordan. It's recorded for us in Luke chapter three. He looks at these religious leaders, and this is what he says to them. The ax is laid to the root of the tree. Every tree therefore which bringeth not fruit, good fruit, is hewn down and cast into the fire. I indeed baptize with water, but the one mightier than I cometh, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to unloose, he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire. His fan is in his hand, and he will thoroughly purge his floor, and will gather the wheat into his garner, but the chaff he will burn with fire unquenchable. And then he stood up on the basis of those convictions and he spoke out about Herod's immorality. And it landed him in prison. Where's the ax being laid to the tree? Where's the fan fanning the flame unquenchable? Did I miss something somewhere? Is he really who I thought he was? Maybe he's another forerunner like myself and we still await the divine messiah. And you don't have to be John the Baptist sitting in a dungeon to have those kind of thoughts. You can be a Christian businessman. trying very hard to run your business according to the principles of God's word and not just floating downstream with the culture of this world. And you can be facing financial hardship. You can be a minister, leading a church with definite convictions about things. and watch people leave. The grass seems to be greener elsewhere. You can be a parent. A parent who has done his or her very best to prayerfully raise their children and bring them up in the nurture and the admonition of the Lord. And it seems like they're walking away from it all or it just seems that they want nothing to do with the convictions that they were brought up with. And those kind of apparent contradictions can really shake a person, can't they? Really give misgivings. Was I right? Perhaps my whole approach was wrong. You see, this passage, This passage is about resolving those kind of doubts. When we talk about resolving doubts raised by Christ's miracles, we're not talking necessarily about the specifics of doubting your salvation or a struggle with assurance. We're not talking about that kind of doubt necessarily. We're talking more broadly about the way we each struggle with doubts regarding the rightness of our convictions. and whether God's promises are going to be operative in our circumstances. So what do you do with those kind of doubts? What do you do with those misgivings? Well, the passage tells us what to do with them. What did John do with them? He took them to the Lord, didn't he? He went to the right place. The right way to handle these things is not with a philosophical, analytical discussion that approaches them on a merely intellectual basis and tries to make all the pieces fit together in the puzzle. That's not the right approach. That is the approach that many of the Lord's people try to take. But you can't deal with these kind of things in the basis of some sort of formula. It's not chemistry. We're all individuals. And the Lord deals with us individually. And so you're not gonna be able to just apply some principles you learned at a seminar or read in a book to this situation and it all just makes sense and everything will become clear. That's really not how it works. You can't solve your deepest unresolved spiritual struggles with a fit all formula. The right approach is to do exactly what John did in verse number 19. He sent them to Jesus. That's what you need to do. You need to go right back to the Lord with your doubts and with your discouragements. Are you willing to do that? I don't think most people are. In our deepest discouragements, there is this reluctance that we have to get down on our knees and to cry out to the Lord. We want a therapist, we want a counselor, we want a book. but there's this inward unwillingness just to stretch ourselves out and to say, Lord, you show me. I don't understand this. The right thing, the right thing for all of us always to do, with any doubt or with any misgiving is to go right back to the one, the one person with whom we have to do. You have to go right back to the Lord Jesus Christ. You go, and you open your Bible, and you read again of his ministry. You make yourself look at these miracles again, and then you ask him about what he's doing in your life, and you face him, and let him face you. And if you need to confront yourself, you need to confront yourself if you find in yourself any unwillingness to do that. You can't let yourself get away with that. Confront yourself if you find any unwillingness to look honestly at the Lord with your misgivings. Can you, in the midst of a crisis, turn and look squarely at the Lord? and like Saul of Tarsus say, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? We have to come to an end of ourselves, of all of our efforts to wrestle with these things intellectually, and sometimes we have to come to the end of our scheming, we have to come to the end of our wits, and our innovations, and our creativity, And we have to get right down and say, Lord God, help me with this. I don't understand it. That's what you do with your doubts. Like John, you send them to Jesus. You send them to Jesus. And then what is his response then? Look at our Lord's answer to the disciples as it's recorded in verses 21 to 23. Let me say this at the outset. When you go to God with your discouragements and you tell him that you do not understand what he is doing or why he is doing it, why he appears to be withholding the manifestation of his delivering grace, More often than not, this is the kind of answer you're going to get. You're not going to get a direct answer. I mean, there is a direct answer to this question, isn't there? Art thou he that should come or look we for another? There's a, seriously, there's a very direct answer. The direct answer is yes. But that's not what Jesus did. I'm confident that there is a Bible answer to every doubt. To every discouragement, to every problem, there is a Bible answer. Are you confident about that? That whatever it is that perplexes you, I'm certain that there is a text of scripture that if you saw it and the Spirit of God applied it to your heart, you would be astounded and think that that verse was put there 2,000 plus years ago right for you right now. And haven't you experienced that? You have, haven't you? But the answers don't always come immediately, do they? Most of the time we're left in the dark. We very often don't find a direct answer to our doubts right when we're having the doubts. You know what we need more than having a direct answer to the question? You know what we need more? The assurance that we've trusted the right person. And that he has got it all taken care of. and our trust in him is not misplaced. That's what we need. And that's exactly what Jesus gives them. So you look in verse number 21. Jesus performs a cluster of miracles right there on the spot. In that same hour, he cured many of their infirmities. The word infirmities refers to sicknesses or diseases. And plagues, the word plagues refers to conditions of torment, painful, fearful afflictions. That's the same word translated scourging when you're in Passion Week. He healed them of their scourgings, of their tormenting conditions. And then in verse number 22, he sends the disciples back to John to bear eyewitness testimony to the miracles they just saw. but he sends them to John with a definite message for John. He tells them exactly what to say. And what he says there in verse number 22 is a quotation from Isaiah chapter 35. Now turn back to Isaiah 35 for a minute. Isaiah 35, while you're turning, I'll read verse 22 so you have it in your minds. Go your way and tell John what things you have seen and heard, how that the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised to the poor the gospel is preached. Now look at Isaiah chapter 35 and look at verses five and six. Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. Then shall the lame man leap as a heart and the tongue of the dumb sing. You see here we have an allusion to this passage in Jesus's message for John. He's referring to Isaiah 35, five and six. Now keep looking at Isaiah 35. I want you to look at verse three. Strengthen ye the weak hands and confirm the feeble knees. And then in the context, because this is coming, the ministry of our Lord and all his miraculous deliverance. Does verse three sound familiar to anyone? Strengthen ye the weak hands and confirm the feeble knees. That verse is quoted in Hebrews chapter 12. In the passage that we were in in the fall, regarding God's child training of us, and remember how after he talks to us and explains to us what God is doing in our lives, he counsels us about how to respond to God's training, and he quotes this verse, strengthen ye the weak hands and confirm the feeble knees. Friends, there are circumstances in each of our lives which we cannot explain. Judging by sight, it just doesn't seem right. The children of God, trying their best to run their race, should have so many obstacles and hurdles in their path. And we can feel in our spirits the way we would feel if we were running a marathon of hurdles. Weak, feeble, limp, powerless, paralyzed, unable to get up and get moving in our spirits. And what we need in that situation is not the removal of the hurdles. We don't need someone to philosophize with us on the mystery of God's providence. What we need is the renewed conviction that I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day. What we need to do is look away unto Jesus, the author and the finisher of our faith. That's the only way to strengthen the weak hands and confirm the feeble knees. So returning to Luke chapter seven, Jesus's response is first of all the performing of a cluster of miracles. And then he sends back John's disciples with the message that the working of these miracles is the divine accreditation of Jesus' true identity, that it proves who he says he is. But then there's verse 23, where he pronounces a beatitude, a blessing. Blessed is he whosoever shall not be offended in me. And that beatitude has just a little hint of a warning in it, doesn't it? Just a little hint of a warning. The concept of being offended, you know when it's New Testament usage has to do with stumbling at something, being ensnared or being trapped by something, sometimes translated stumbling block in our King James. So blessed is he whosoever shall not stumble at me, shall not be tripped up at me. You know what's implied by that? What's implied by that is if you follow him, he's gonna do things. that might make you trip and fall down if you are not careful and spiritually alert and absolutely subjected to his lordship. If you follow Jesus Christ, he is going to do things that don't seem to have an explanation in your life. You're gonna be presented with things that seem like contradictions. I mean, that's John, that's where John is. He's the forerunner of the Messiah. He's prepared the way for the Lord. And he hears of the Lord working miraculous deliverances for other people. Apparently not for him. And we know what John doesn't know. He's never getting out of that prison. he's gonna be beheaded. So what John needs to hear in his bewilderment and in his discouragement is this blessing, this blessing which contains a gentle warning, a gentle caution. Blessed is he whosoever does not stumble at me, John. If you are not very careful to keep yourself in subjection to all my ways, not just my ways that you can see and understand, but all my ways. If you are not careful to keep yourself in subjection to my ways, you are going to fall. But if you will trust me, If you'll submit to me, if you'll trust that I know what I am doing, there's a blessing reserved for you. This child training is actually a proof of my parental love for you, whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth. And it is making you a partaker of my holiness. and you are going to have yielded in you the peaceable fruit of righteousness. Blessed is he whosoever does not stumble at him in these kind of situations. Friends, your safety and my safety is to maintain an unswerving yieldedness to Jesus Christ. It is always the safe place to be. And not just that we believe him when he does the expected thing. Is that really what we've made our Lord out to be? That he must operate in certain ways or else I won't believe him. that if he does the miraculous in my behalf, then I most certainly am assured that he is the Lord God and that he is worthy of my submission. Okay, well what if he doesn't? What if he doesn't deliver? What then? What if he doesn't intervene? Have you factored in the reality that he is the infinite God? That even the heaven of heavens cannot contain him? So judge not the Lord by feeble sense. Blind unbelief is sure to err and scan his work in vain. God is his own interpreter, and he will make it plain. You know, when you're wrestling to try to put everything together in your life? How is it that he could have prevented this but he didn't? How is it that I was doing right and this befell me? Why is it that there seems to be no hope in sight? When you're wrestling with these puzzle pieces and you're trying to fit them together, you've got to remember that his thoughts are higher than our thoughts. He knows a whole lot more than we do. And here we are trying to put all the puzzle pieces together, and there are a bunch of pieces he hasn't given us. We don't even have all the pieces, let alone the front of the box to look at while we're putting it together. But you do have hold of the right person, don't you? The right person. And he may not always intervene and deliver on your timetable. but shall not the judge of all the earth do right. He is the Lord. Let him do what seemeth him good. And what you're gonna have to do is do what one Puritan once said. Where reason cannot wade, faith can swim. Where reason cannot wade, faith can swim. We've been thinking this morning about how focusing on Jesus's miracles could actually produce discouragement. For his power does not always seem to be operative in my life the way I think it ought to be. But friends, to focus there, to focus on the way that our circumstances have not improved, but rather they've deteriorated, is to forget something. is to neglect the fact that God's power is displayed in more ways than changing our circumstances for the better. In most cases, his power is displayed in the fact that his tried people endured. They endured in their confidence. That's an even more miraculous display of power than healing somebody, isn't it? To give enduring faith to a tried believer, what's the greater exercise of power? The healing of your body. or making you submissive to the mystery of his providence and secure in a God that you've learned to trust no matter what. You realize, do you not, that the Lord is not only glorified by working mighty deliverances outwardly. He's also and most supremely glorified when his people continue to resort to him as their refuge in spite of the appearance that he's not working at all. That's what glorifies God, isn't it? when his people continue to resort to him as their refuge and take their refuge in God in spite of the fact that it seems that he's not working at all. As the circumstances tighten up, and as the weight grows heavier, and there's less and less hope from a human standpoint. And the light at the end of the tunnel has come right down to the point of a pencil out there in the distance. And yet God's people hold on and they hold out because they believe these things to be true about God. That's what glorifies God. that kind of submission and that kind of trust. At the end of the day, how do we resolve doubts raised by miracles? The answer is summed up in the text that we looked at together on Wednesday evening. Psalm 62 and verse number eight. Trust in him at all times. Ye people, pour out your hearts before him. God is a refuge for us. Whate'er my God ordains is right. Holy his will abideth. I will be still, whate'er he doth, and follow where he guideth. He is my God, though dark my road. He holds me that I shall not fall. Therefore, to him I leave it all. Blessed is he whosoever does not stumble at me. Let's pray. Lord, our gracious God and heavenly Father, we thank you for meeting us where we are today and for giving us this counsel that we so often need. And we pray that you would work in us a deep and abiding confidence in all that you say and do. Confidence in you as a person. Keep us from judging things by appearance. Keep us from blind unbelief which is sure to err. Help us rather to trust you even when our way is dark and even when our circumstances don't seem to be improving. Work in us a deep and abiding and enduring faith. Help us to look away unto Jesus. We pray in Christ's name, amen.