in verse one of Genesis chapter three. Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, did God actually say you shall not eat of any tree in the garden? And the woman said to the serpent, we may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden, but God said, you shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it lest you die. But the serpent said to the woman, you will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it, your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and evil. So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. And she also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate. Now we know from chapter two, verse 17, that God was very specific to Adam. He said, you may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat. For in the day that you eat of it, you shall surely die. I don't know how God could be any more specific than that. And yet, they disobeyed God. So the problem here was, that Eve allowed her human senses to override God's word. And we do the same thing. Remember in 1 John 2, do not love the world or the things of the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the desires of the flesh, good for food, excuse me, the desires of the flesh, and the desires of the eyes, it look good to her, it look good to her, it is beautiful, and the pride of life, you will be like God. All three of those things. were incorporated in that temptation on Eve. But the desires of the flesh, the desires of the eyes, and the pride of life is not from the Father, but it's from the world, from the world. We have the same issues in our lives. We read the word of God, we say it is true, we say we're gonna trust it, then we look out into the world and it can overtake us before we even can blink because we're not trusting what God has said. How do we know what God has said? It's in scripture. But we are so prone to forget that and to be distracted and to see and look out and that becomes so tempting that then we doubt what God has said and we allow ourselves to succumb to that temptation. Any thoughts that you have on this particular incident of doubting? Anything that you wanted to bring up? There's a contrast that I think you're helping us see. Because you were talking about the pulpit and then testing those things against the word. The difference between when doubt is good or not is are we doubting God's word or are we doubting man's word and testing it against scripture? Yeah. Yeah. And we should be testing everything that's said. Everything said from the pulpit. Don't just take it. We're fallible. When we teach, we're fallible. We do the best we can as God leads us, but we are fallible. And we don't have it all together. There's not a single person on the face of the earth, not a single preacher, teacher, theologian, that isn't gonna be corrected before God Almighty. But we do the very best that we can because we're committed to scripture. And so we look at scripture and we try to define, declare, to examine the scriptures with you together so that we may be encouraged and not in the world of doubting at all. Let's look at another one. If you turn over to Numbers chapter 13, Numbers chapter 13. And you probably know what this one is. Numbers 13. I'm just gonna touch on a few verses for context. Verses one through three first. The Lord spoke to Moses saying, send men to spy out the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the people of Israel from each tribe of their fathers you shall send a man. everyone a chief among them. So Moses sent them from the wilderness of Paran according to the command of the Lord, all of them men who were heads of the people of Israel. And then if you go a little further to verse 17, Moses sent them to spy out the land of Canaan and said to them, go up to the Negev and go up into the hill country. And then he describes what they're supposed to look for. Then up to 21, verse 21, so they went up and spied out the land from the wilderness of Zin to Rehob, near Lebohemoth. And then verse 25 through 28, At the end of 40 days, they returned from spying out the land. And they came to Moses and Aaron and to all the congregation of the people of Israel in the wilderness of Paran at Kadesh. They brought back word to them and to all the congregation and showed them the fruit of the land. And they told him. We came to the land to which you sent us. It flows with milk and honey, and this is its fruit. However, the people who dwell in the land are strong. And the cities are fortified and very large. And besides, we saw the descendants of Enoch there. So what's happening? They see everything is as God has said as far as the condition of the land, but then they look at who is in the land. And in verse 32, if you go over there, so they brought to the people of Israel a bad report of the land that they had spied out, saying the land, through which we have gone to spout out is the land that devours its inhabitants and All the people that we saw in it are of great height now How did they know that they devour their inhabitants when they were just there to spy out the land? you see fear causes people to imagine even that which they do not see. And it causes doubt in our lives. So in the following chapter, just chapter, verse one, then all the congregation raised a loud cry and the people wept that night. And of course, you know what happened. God was exceedingly angry at the people. Probably from the age of 12 and up, not one of those individuals other than Caleb and Joshua were allowed to go in the land. 40 years was a penalty for that. All because they did not trust what God had said. And they used human reasoning instead of God's word. And how often we can do the same thing. Human reasoning over God's word. In the scriptures over and over and over again, we see how important it is for us to live by faith. In 1 John 5, 4, And this is the victory that has overcome the world, our faith. That's it. Very simple. It's the victory that overcomes the world. It is our faith. That is why, that is why when David faced a man whose head barely cleared the goal of a basketball deal, his face would be in the net. That's how big this guy was, huge. And this is what David said. He said in 1 Samuel 17, the Lord who delivered me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine. Now, what in human reasonings, that is impossible. David was not considered, it never said he was a real tall man. Saul was a head above the rest of the Israel. But David wasn't particularly tall. This guy was like a giant compared to him. And David had no fear. Why? Because he had faith. Very simple. He had faith that God would take care of him in that he did not doubt God's ability to work in and through him because of his faith. Now, I'd like to take just two examples from the New Testament, and they're familiar ones to you. Yes, Bernie. The other thing that must be new is that the light's not going into the land. they had just a year or so earlier had escaped from Egypt with the strongest army in the world. That's right. God proved to them that he could open the Red Sea. And yeah, look at the miracles that God did. Isn't that true of us? We see God do something just wonderful in our life. Oh, thank you, Lord, for this. And we turn right around and we doubt on the next issue of whether God's going to take us through that. That's foolish. We must live by faith and by God's word. It pleases God that we trust him in all things. Yes. was speaking to me so hugely. And what I struggle with is my lack of faith in myself and lack of trusting myself and trusting my decision-making. And it isn't that I don't trust the Lord. That's my struggle. Yeah. Did you hear that? She said that the difficulty is, am I making the right decision? Should I trust myself? And of course, when we come to an issue in our life, there are difficult things to work through. But how are we going to deal with that? I mean, we don't have it written out. When you come to this fork in the road, not like Yogi Berra, he said, when you come to a fork in the road, take it. Yeah. No, we have to go one way or another. So what do we do when we are in a quandary and not knowing what to do? Yes. And it isn't that I don't take it to the Lord. It's just sometimes it is a quick decision that needs to be made or whatever. And so that's the kind of thing that is a struggle. He doesn't just speak to us. That's right. Yeah. If we have taken it to the Lord, the Lord will guide us. You have the Holy Spirit. And even if you don't know for sure when you make that decision, did I make the right decision? If we have taken it to the Lord, honestly and purely in our hearts, he will guide us. And even if it takes us into difficulty, it may be his purpose to take us through that, to teach us and to help us to help others in the same thing. But he promises to take care of us, to guide us and direct us. Even if it's not written right in front of us, he will take care of us in that. Any other thoughts before we move to the New Testament? Okay, let's go to Mark chapter 16. Mark chapter 16. Mark 16, beginning in verse 9. Now when he arose early on the first day of the week, He appeared, and I know that this is not found in some of the earlier manuscripts, but we have confirmation from the other gospels that this is a verifiable account, because I'll show you from another gospel. Now, when he arose early on the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene. from whom he had cast out seven demons. She went and told those who had been with him as they mourned and wept. Who were those? The disciples. And when they heard that he was alive and had been seen by her, they would not believe it. They would not believe it. They would not believe it. You've heard of doubting Thomas, right? These are the doubting disciples. They also, Thomas wasn't unique to this, they also doubted that Jesus was alive. even though he had shown them so many times, or told them so many times, that he would be crucified and rise again. Three times in the book of Matthew, we find an account where Jesus specifically says to the disciples that I will be arrested, He either says, I will be crucified or I will be killed. And three times again, he says, on the third day, I will rise again, on the third day. This is Sunday morning. They can count Friday, Saturday, Sunday. And yet, even though they said, the women said, we've seen the Lord, they would not believe. They thought it was impossible. Impossible. They refuse to believe what Jesus has said. And that's a problem that we have as well. Are we refusing sometimes to take God's word at his word? It is so important for us in dealing with doubt in our lives. What Jesus said, he fulfilled. what scripture says, will, or has, is, and will come to pass. And then of course, as you well know, on the fourth illustration relating to this, just turn over to the book of John chapter 20. John chapter 20. And we'll deal with Thomas since Thomas is a famous, that's a famous incident that basically everyone knows and we can all identify with. But as you all know, Jesus appears to the others, the other 10. And Thomas was not there. So in chapter 20, verse 19, on the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors being locked where the disciples were for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, peace be with you. When he had said this, he showed him his hands and his side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw him. So now their doubting was over. Their doubting was over. But in verse 24, now Thomas, one of the 12, called the twin, was not with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, we have seen the Lord. But he said to them, unless I see his hands, the mark of the nails in his hands, the mark of the nails, and place my finger into the mark of the nails and place my hand into his side, I will not believe, never believe. I will never believe. You can't tell me, I don't care how many times you tell me you saw him, I will not believe. And so eight days later, as we see in the next verse, Jesus came and stood among them and said, peace be with you. Then he said to Thomas, put your finger here and see my hands. Put your hand, place it into my side. Do not believe, but believe. And of course, Thomas made that promise. Tremendous, wonderful statement, my Lord and my God, my Lord and my God. So Thomas, instead of investigating and trying to find out whether what they had said is true, basically said, I reject that, impossible, because it's humanly impossible for a person to come back to life, even though Jesus had brought Lazarus back. from the grave, and yet he did not believe. Why? Because he trusted in what he thought was a logical explanation that we had a good teacher, he was a wonderful person, he did miracles, but that's all over. That's all over. When we have trials in our lives, when we have devastating trials in our lives, It is not over. We can handle that through the Lord. We do not have to doubt his tender care for us, even when we go through difficult times, because he loves us with an eternal love. He couldn't do more for us than he's already done. He will take care of us. In Hebrews 11, 1, as you know, now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. I have to tell you just a little brief incident that took place 40 years ago in our family. Our oldest son was going to school at that time. We didn't even know about homeschool until later on. But this was in Texas. And he came back with this little interesting tidbit. He said he was talking to one of the young guys there, and he was, I don't even remember what the incident was, but he told him this story about something that happened. And the response from this young man said this, what? I seize it when I believes it. He had flipped it, but you know what? I seize it when I believes it. I will never forget that. It was a mistake on his part, but it's really true. God tells us over and over and over again, have faith in him and he will show us the way. I seize it when I believe it. And it is true. We must live by faith and not by sight. If we claim Christ and we live by sight, we are going to cause so much disappointment and doubt and discouragement in our lives. It will be devastating to us. Because the Lord disciplines those whom he loves. He does love. He cares enough to discipline us. You care enough to discipline your own children because you want them to walk in the right way. How much more so will our Heavenly Father discipline us because he wants us to walk in the right way? Any thoughts now on these four examples before we get into some solutions? Yes. I love that in verse 31 of that same chapter, chapter 20 of John, it says that, but these things have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in his name. Excuse me. It does. And what's really interesting that you're bringing up this point is John, he had such a desire for people to believe in what he knew was true. And in fact, If you really want some encouragement in not doubting, read the book of 1 John. That book, over and over and over again, he gives examples of how we can know that we are in the faith. John had this deep desire that was just brought up, even in the gospel, that that we know where we are positionally, and that God will guide us and direct us regardless of what we're seeing in the world today. And we know that our country, our nation, the world, it's in great difficulty today. And we pray for the young people that are coming up behind us, because we know there's going to be, should the Lord tarry, We know that the Lord will take care of his own, but it's going to be a challenge. Things have changed so much just in our lifetime and we feel for you, but we know this, that God will supply all you need to honor him in Christ Jesus. Solutions to doubt, assurance. John uses assurance a number of times as well. But let me say this, if we doubt the complete veracity of the Bible, the truth of the Bible, then every aspect of scripture is subject to doubt. And like I said, I wanna give you one quick example. Go back to the book of Exodus, please. Now, you know that in Genesis chapter one, we have the creation account and it specifically says, and there was evening and there was morning and there was one day. Well, if you'd done any studying at all, and let's go to Exodus chapter 20, If you've done any studying at all in some of the recent things that are being said from podcasts and things, certain individuals, and this is not new, it's been challenged. Oh, God didn't really mean that. He couldn't have created this thing in one day. He meant epochs and times. So the Earth is millions of years old. It couldn't be a young earth. Well, if that's true, then I challenge you to look at Exodus 20, verse 11. Let's look at what it says. For in six days the Lord made the heaven and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore, the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy. This was in the context of God telling the children of Israel, I allow you to work for six days, and you will rest on the seventh day if you want to honor me. He's not saying epics or periods of time. And again, in chapter 31, he repeats the exact same thing. In Exodus chapter 31, verse 17. 31 verse 17, it is a sign forever between me and the people of Israel that in six days the Lord made heaven and earth and on the seventh day he rested and was refreshed. If God only created the world during epic times of millions of years, then this is a lie to us. It's a lie. Who are you going to believe? The experts who live 70 or 80 years? Are you going to believe God Almighty, who has lived forever and ever and ever? God does not lie. And this is an example. You start listening to podcasts by experts and all that, You better test it with scripture because it may sound very intellectual, very smart and everything, but it is going to create doubt in your life. I promise you that. And then once you create doubt on certain things, then you go to other things. Well, maybe this wasn't true. Maybe that wasn't true. And that's why doubt just can completely consume the life that we live. What God has said in scripture is either completely trustworthy or it is not trustworthy at all. Can we be assured of our salvation? And the Bible says we certainly can. But let me say this. If you doubt that you are good enough to be saved, you're right. You can doubt that. If you doubt you're good enough to be saved, you're right. Oh, thank you. I appreciate that. If you doubt that you're good enough to be used by the Lord, you're also right. Because the Bible says there's not any good in us. There's not any good in us. We have to come to grips with that and trust it. because it will help us to see where we get our strength from. Not inside here of ourselves, but only inside here because of the Holy Spirit, who has been put in us when we come to faith in Jesus Christ. And he's the one that will correct us from any issues that we might have. If you doubt that you can be assured of your salvation, you're mistaken. And if you doubt that God is pleased to use you for his glory and your good, you're also mistaken. So be careful in what you doubt. If you doubt that you're just such a good individual You're right, because none of us are good enough to be saved. Scripture, Ephesians chapter two, verse one, we are dead in our trespasses and sins. You can't be any worse off than that. If you're dead, there's nothing you can do. You're corrupt. There's no hope. There's no way out. but it's through faith in Jesus Christ, not of ourselves, not of good works, that God brings us to him. Let's look at a few passages now from scripture, and I've kind of done this so we can just scroll from one to another, to give us assurance of our salvation and also our usefulness to God. He desires not only to save us, to bring us to save us grace, but he doesn't want us to sit, soak and sour. He wants us to be active in his service. Paul compares us to soldiers, to athletes. That's active individuals. We're to be active in serving the Lord. If you'll turn over to Romans chapter 10, that's our first verse, Romans chapter 10, beginning in verse eight. But what does it say? The word is near you in your mouth and in your heart. That is the word of faith which we proclaim. Because if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. So what is it saying here? What is scripture telling us? Does it mean that all we have to do is just say, I believe, and that's it, and now we just go on with the rest of our lives? Is that okay? Is it? Of course you know it's not, don't you? Paul is laying down the basic way we come to faith and salvation in Jesus Christ. But notice, if you confess, there's an activity there. It's not what you just believe in your heart, which is essential. but it's also what comes out of you that is also essential to give us assurance. In verse 11, for the scripture says, everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame, will not be put to shame. That's a guarantee. And speaking of guarantees, let's go over to 2 Corinthians 1. 2 Corinthians chapter 1. And let us not forget, let us not forget that every one of us has time in which we're going to question ourselves. Am I really saved? And that's not a bad thing, actually, because as you probably know, Paul tells us, even in 1 Corinthians 11, he said, examine yourselves before you take communion. We are to examine ourselves. We're not just to say, yep, I accepted Christ, I'm done with that, and now I've got my life to live. No, that's not accepting Jesus Christ. because Jesus Christ expects a total allegiance to him. But in 2 Corinthians 1, verses 21 and 22, And it is God who establishes us with you in Christ and has anointed us and who has also put his seal on us and given us his spirit in our hearts as a guarantee. A guarantee. Now we like guarantees in our regular lives, we get warranties on our homes, we get warranties on our vehicles, we get warranties on this and that, we get life insurance, what have you. And these are all well and good, but guess what? They're gonna go away. Someday they will mean nothing. In fact, even in our lifetime, we don't know what might happen We can have everything that we have wiped out. Have you ever thought of that? All that you have been comfortable with could be taken away. What are you gonna do then? Are you gonna doubt God's care for you because he hasn't given you the things that you are happy with that make you comfortable and convenient? Are we gonna doubt him if those things are taken away? I would trust that we wouldn't, knowing that he has a greater purpose. We are expendable, but God still wants us in his service to continue to bring the gospel message to whomever he brings in our lives. And that Holy Spirit is the guarantee. that our warranty, or whatever you want to call it, is never going to wear out. It's never going to be taken. It cannot be taken from us because Almighty God has provided it for us. Any thoughts as we move through a few of these scriptures to show that it is God's intention for us to truly trust Him and not doubt that He is working in our lives? Now if we're not, if honestly, if basically we come to church and we say that we have put in our time and we have no interest in God's word, we have no interest in God's people, we have no interest in seeking opportunities to share the truth of God, then yeah, we better examine where we are spiritually. But the more we are involved in the Lord, the greater our confidence, not from a self-importance viewpoint, but our confidence that God has us in his grip and he will not let us go. And he will give us encouragement rather than our tendency to be discouraged Look over at Ephesians chapter 1. Ephesians chapter 1. This instruction to be assured of salvation is found over and over again. Ephesians chapter 1 verse 13. In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with a promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it to the praise of his glory. Over and over again, There is an encouragement to trust, to have faith, to believe that God is taking care of those whom he has brought into his kingdom. And we, as Jesus said, not one will be taken out of his hand. Because he's the God of the universe. He's the second person of the Trinity. Who can thwart his will? No one. And then if you just turn over now to Hebrews chapter 10, Hebrews chapter 10. You see, over and over again, Hebrews chapter 10 in verse 19, Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is through his flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith. There it is again. faith and assurance. With our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water, let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering. That's doubt. Without wavering. Don't doubt. Trust. For, why? For he who promised is faithful. He is faithful. And let us consider, and here's the beauty of it, what he is now suggesting helps us to give us confidence in where we are positionally with Christ Jesus. Let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works. not neglecting to meet together as the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the day drawing near. Now what is the writer of Hebrews saying here? Trust him. In chapter 11, verse 1, now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the convictions of things not seen. Jesus said to Thomas, blessed are those who have not seen yet believe. It is a blessing. not to see and to believe and trust. Have you ever thought of it? It isn't a deprivation. Look at what happened to the disciples, and they had been three and a half years with the Lord, and they all ran like scared rabbits. When Jesus was just arrested, and we see no threats toward them, but they ran away, and they hid in a room, and they wept, and they felt sorry for themselves, for three days. And then when they're finally told, Jesus, he actually did what he said he would do. I don't believe it. I don't believe it at all. I just don't believe it. And then finally, go back to Hebrews 6. Interestingly, Hebrews has a number of things to say about the insurance that we need to have in our lives. Hebrews chapter six, verse 11. And we desire each one of you to show the same earnestness to have the full assurance of hope until the end, so that you may not be sluggish but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises. God desires for us to trust in him. If you want more assurance of this, read the book of 1 John. It is over and over and over again. God has done everything we need through Jesus Christ his son. God does not demand from us a perfect life, but a committed life. God has given to us everything we need to live a devoted life to him. There's nothing you're lacking. It's all there through the power of the Holy Spirit. Do not doubt. The better we know him, the greater our assurance is in him. In him. He has given us three things to accomplish this. He has given us faith. It does not come from ourselves. He has showered us with faith. He has given us his spirit. And he has given us the scriptures. That is all we need. That is all we need. And in closing this morning, I love this quote from a man that I never heard of before. His name was Theodore Legyard Coulier. And he said this, every step toward Christ kills a doubt. Every step toward Christ kills a doubt. Every thought, word, and deed for him carries you away from discouragement. Carries you away from discouragement. And that is so true. Love the Lord with all your soul, with all your might, with all your heart. Trust in him. Immerse yourself in his love letter to each one of us. Because that will give us all the confidence that we need to dispel doubt and discouragement in our life. Let the trials come. They are good for us. They are essential. If it wasn't essential for us, God wouldn't give us trials. Let them come. Accept them. They're a part of our communion with the Lord and a part of our service to the Lord and a part of our giving to one another. We learn from one another and especially through trials and overcoming doubt and discouragement in trials. So I would encourage each one of us to to devote ourselves to the things of the Lord. Be careful who you associate with, because I heard a little quip just the other day, which I thought was very interesting. Have you ever thought about this? 10 healthy people cannot bring a sick person to health. One sick person can bring 10 healthy person to sickness. Be careful who you associate with because it can really hurt.