Real Faith Faces Doubts

Introduction

You’re awake. No doubt about it. In fact, I was wondering, maybe we should just go ahead and have a song of invitation because some of you might have thought something really big was about to happen in that moment. Hopefully, we’ve got all those technical difficulties solved. Better have all those technical difficulties solved because we don’t want to have that happen again. It’s good to have you with us this morning as we come together to again praise our God, to worship him, to thank him for all that he’s done for us, to remember the wonderful sacrifice that he made on our behalf. And now as we have another opportunity to come to him and study his word that he has given to us. Before we get into this morning’s lesson, though, just a reminder for our congregation that our teen event, our teen weekend, is coming up very quickly, April the 12th through the 14th.

Brother Antoine Holloway from the Wildercroft congregation there in Maryland, just north of DC, I guess you might even say in the D.C. area, where our brother Rufus Barfield, his father, is one of the elders there. And we’re really looking forward to having Brother Holloway be with us for that weekend. So, parents, make your plans for that. Children, teens, make your plans for that. And the whole congregation. Last year we changed things up just a little bit. And on the Friday evening, we made that session available to the whole congregation. That we come together about 7 o’clock. We sing songs, and the Brother Holloway brings his first lesson. Several did come out for that. We want to encourage the whole congregation. Come out. Let’s sing songs of praise to our God, and let’s be together and really encourage each other.

And even especially our teenagers and other teenagers that may be coming from other congregations in the area, and also our uh friends that our teenagers may be bringing with them. But that’s not what we’re talking about today. We’ve been focusing on in the month of March. Real faith. Real faith does that. Brother Sewell Hall was with us a few weeks ago and brought all of his lessons on the idea of what real faith does. Now, real faith saves, and real faith worships, and real faith conquers a city. And faith-building lessons in us. And if you’re interested in seeing any of those, by all means, visit our website, Bumby.org, and you’ll be able to both listen and watch those if you would like to do that. We have all those on our website.

But we continue to study what real faith does. This morning I want to take it a little bit different direction. I want to talk about how real faith faces doubt. Real faith faces doubt. Hebrews 11 is a passage that we’ve been going to really throughout this month, because Hebrews 11 is a wonderful text. We’re emphasized over and over again, here is what men and women of faith did. And we sometimes call this passage faith’s Hall of Fame. And it would be a fitting description of that passage of what men and women of faith and their faith in God and what they did in the even as we’ve already sung. Faith is the victory, and they conquered by their faith. And we can look at that passage in really one of two ways.

We can be built up by it. We can look at that as an example to us and be encouraged by that. In fact, you read the 12th chapter in the first couple of verses, and that’s really the idea of the writer. He says, Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. I hope that when we look at a passage like Hebrews 11, that we are encouraged by it.

We see men and women of faith and what they did, and we want to do the same thing. But then sometimes we might look at Hebrews 11 and think, that’s not me. We look at them as real heroes, and oftentimes when we think of heroes, we fictionalize them. That they are something greater than what they actually were. We look at someone like Noah and we say, wow, how did Noah in his day, in that sin sick world, and yet by faith he built the ark. And we look at Abraham, the father of the faithful. And we see how Abraham, when he was called to leave this city and he left. And when Abraham, when he was called even to sacrifice his son Isaac, he was willing to do so.

1. People of Great Faith Face Doubts

And I look at my faith and I think, I’ve got some kind of different faith, because I struggle sometimes. And we look at the doubts in our life and we think, am I really the same kind of follower that Abraham was, or that Noah was, or that any of these other figures that are mentioned in Hebrews 11? Is that me? Now understand what I’m saying that faith faces doubt. I’m not saying that we’re questioning who God is or we’re questioning Jesus. And certainly there are those who have those kinds of questions, and we look at those kinds of things. We’re talking about those the people who believe in God. We believe in Jesus as our Savior, and yet we still face doubts in our lives. Well, first of all, we need to understand that people of great faith face doubts.

And they always have. Just using a couple examples there from Hebrews chapter 11, where both Abraham and Sarah are commended for their faith. And in fact, in Hebrews chapter 11, it says of Sarah in Hebrews 11 and verses 11 and 12, by faith even Sarah herself received the ability to conceive, even beyond the proper time of life, since she considered him faithful who had promised. The same thing, by the way, is said of Abraham back in Romans 4 and verses 18 through 21. How Abraham, by his faith, and he counted God faithful, and he was able to have Isaac. And yet, what do we know from a Genesis record? Both of Abraham and Sarah. At different times, they laughed. Abraham in Genesis chapter 17. When he pleads with God that, oh, Ishmael may stand before you, and God says, No, but by Sarah you shall have a son.

You will name him Isaac, and Abraham laughs. Sarah, in the very next chapter, as the three visitors have come to Abraham, and they’re questioning about Sarah, and they’re saying about Sarah that she will have a child the next year, and she is in her tent, and she is laughing. How can someone so old have this child? And yet the Hebrew writer still says, by faith, they were able to do it. I would say that even when you look at Hebrews chapter 12, and when it says endurance, that implies the idea that faith is going to have some obstacles in the way. No one who’s engaged in any kind of endurance activity would say that it was easy, that there were no obstacles in the way. No, there are.

2. John the Baptist Has a Doubt

But he says, you run with endurance. The idea being that those in Hebrews 11 also had to have the same kind of endurance. They had to persevere as well. They face whatever doubts they had in their lives. I’m going to go back now, though, to Luke the seventh chapter. And Luke chapter 7 will really be our main text for the rest of the lesson this morning. In Luke chapter 7, we read about John the Baptist. In Luke chapter 7 and verse 18 beginning, it says that the disciples of John reported to him about all these things. We’ll come back to that, all these things in just a moment. And so it says in verse 19, summoning two of his disciples, John sent them to the Lord, saying, Are you the expected one?

Or do we look for someone else? Let’s talk about John the Baptist for just a moment. Go back in your Bible and Luke the first chapter. And you see, first of all, who was prophesied John would be. Zacharias is John’s father, being a priest serving in the temple. The angel has appeared to him and says to him, Here is who the son is going to be. In Luke the first chapter. And begin reading with me in verse, um, we’ll take up in verse 15. Uh speaking, he’ll be great in the sight of the Lord, he will drink no wine or liquor, he will be filled with the Holy Spirit while yet in his mother’s womb, and he will turn back many of the sons to the Lord their God.

And it’s he who will go as a forerunner before him in the spirit and power of Elijah to turn the hearts of the fathers back to the children, and the disobedient to the attitude of the righteous so as to make ready a people prepared for the Lord. Quoting Malachi 4 in verse 6, the angel says to Zachariah, You are about to have the one who is supposed to come and prepare the way for the Lord. As John begins his ministry, we read about John’s ministry in the third chapter of the book of Luke. And it makes reference to how John is in the wilderness. And it says in verse 3 that he was preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. And it goes on to say how he fulfilled what Isaiah had prophesied in Isaiah the 40th chapter in verses 3 through 5.

And he was the voice of one crying in the wilderness, make ready the way of the Lord. Make his path straight. Every ravine will be filled, and every mountain will be and hill will be brought woe. The crooked will become straight, and the rough road smooth, and all flesh will see the salvation of God. And he is out there teaching people and preaching to them that you need to repent, you need to come back to God, and he is preparing the way who will come after him. And in fact, in verse 15, as the people are filled with expectation, and they’re wondering whether John himself was the Christ, he says, As for me, I baptize you with water. The one is coming, who is mightier than I, and I am not fit to untie the thong of his sandals.

He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire, his winnowing fork in his hand to thoroughly clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his barn, but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire. John understood that he was not the one to come. He was the one preparing the way for the Lord. But there was one coming after him. And so significantly, even in this context, is that it’s time that Jesus comes to John. And he comes to John to be baptized. We know from Matthew’s account in Matthew the third, I’m sorry, the first chapter. I’m sorry, going to Mark’s account. One of the accounts. Here’s where the preacher ought to be a little more prepared. Where Jesus comes to John, and John’s the one saying, No, I need to be baptized of you.

John understood that Jesus was the coming one. And John, the first chapter, he even points to his disciples and says, Here is the Lamb of God who comes to save the world. By his baptism and by the Spirit coming upon Jesus, and the voice of the Lord from heaven, saying, This is my son in whom I am well pleased. John knew who Jesus was. But then John is put into prison. Luke simply says in Luke 3 and verses 18 through 20. That Herod the Tetrarch was reprimanded by him because of Herodias, his brother’s wife. And because of all the wicked things which Herod had done, and Herod also added this to them all. He locked John up in prison. Mark’s account lets us know exactly what was going on, that Herod had taken his brothers Philip’s wife.

And Mark would say to him, You have no right to her. And so here is John, a man of great faith. A man who knew the work that he was called to do. And knew who Jesus was. But now he’s in prison. This is Herod’s fortress, Maciris. And it’s thought that it was at this fortress that John would have been locked away. I tell you, I’ve never spent a night in jail, even one of our jails. I don’t think you would want to spend the night in Herod’s prison either. But it’s from here. That now John has heard all these things that Jesus is doing. That two of his disciples have come to him, and he sends them to Jesus with this question Are you the expected one?

Or do we look for someone else? Why does John send them with this question? Now, there are some who think that he’s only doing this for the benefit of his disciples. That he wants them to go to Jesus and that they will see who Jesus is and their faith will be strengthened. I don’t think that’s what happens here. John has testified over and over again himself about who Jesus is. And I don’t think he has to do that now to send them to Jesus so that they will know. No, this question is from John. Are you the expected one? So why would John ask this question? He believes in Jesus. He knows who Jesus is. He knows that this is the one whom God sent. Well, go back again in Luke chapter 7.

And in the context, it says that it is when the disciples of John have come to him to report all these things. Well, what are all these things? Well, in verses 1 through 7, 1 through 17, you have two miracles that Jesus performed. You have the centurion, whose servant was at the point of death, who the Lord healed. You have the widow of Nain, whose son died. And Jesus goes up, even touches the casket and raises him, brings him back to life. You have two examples of mercy. Two illustrations of the grace of Jesus. The healing of the centurion servant and the raising of the widow of Nain’s son. And John continues to hear all these things. Now, why would that trigger anything with John? Well, again, just look at what John had said about the one who is coming after him.

Again in Luke, the third chapter, a passage we’ve we’ve already read, but just read it one more time. When he says of Jesus, that I baptize you with water, but one is coming who is mightier than I, and I’m not fit to untie the thong of his sandals, he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. And if you’re wondering, what does it mean to say that Jesus was going to baptize them with the Holy Spirit and fire? That is actually explained in the next verse. His winnowing fork is in his hand to thoroughly clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his barn. But he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire. You have an illustration of Jesus’ mercy and grace and the bringing in of the harvest into his barn.

But then you have the fire, the chaff which will be burned. So there’s the idea of grace in Jesus’ life in his ministry, but there’s also the idea of judgment, the judgment that he would bring about. Which one of those two is John wanting as he’s in prison? He’s probably thinking, okay, you’ve been gracious long enough. What about some judgment? And maybe you could start with Herod. Are you the coming one? Are you the expected one? Maybe John’s thinking, maybe I’ve got it all wrong, and Jesus only came for grace, and there’s another one who’s going to come after him to bring about judgment. But whatever it is, John has a doubt here. Because Jesus is not meeting what John had expected at that time. I see grace.

3. Doubts About Unmet Expectations of Who Jesus Is

But where’s the judgment? Where’s the rest of it? When’s the fire going to come about? Maybe what John is thinking? I would submit to you that for most of us, the doubts that we have are about unmet expectations that we have of who Jesus is. We had a wonderful class in our 20s and 30s this past Sunday, and so much of what I’ll say now is just kind of a recapping of what some of us talked about in a smaller discussion group. But we look at even in our lives, and some of us we think, why am I not further along? And why am I not experiencing some of the things that I think God wants for me? If I’m not married, then why wouldn’t I be married by now?

Because doesn’t God want that for me? And maybe I’m in a place in my life where I just don’t seem to have a whole lot of happiness or fulfillment, and yet doesn’t God want that for me too? Doesn’t he want me to be fulfilled? Doesn’t he want me to be happy? Or maybe there’s been a great tragedy in our lives. And the temptation for any of us would be why would God allow this to happen? Especially if one that I love so much suffered so horrifically. Why did that happen? How could that happen? Or maybe it’s a spiritual issue. You know, I at 35 years of age, and I’m not old by any means, but I would think by now, you know, temptation ought to be a little easier to handle.

4. Go to the Right Place for Answers

But you know what? Satan’s still acting me every day. Doesn’t God want me to be strong? Doesn’t God want the way to be a little bit easier for me? Those are some of the things that we may face along the way. People of faith that believe in God and they love God and they love the Lord, and yet we wonder these things. Why are these things happening? We’re not trying to say we ought to look for doubt. We’re just being realist and saying sometimes doubts occur. So how are we going to face those doubts? Well, first I would submit we need to go to the right place for answers. It’s significant, I think, when John hears this report, and he gathers his two disciples to him, and he sends them to the Lord.

Go and ask him if he’s the expected one or if we are to look for another. Now think of the other people that John could have asked. You know, if John’s facing some doubt right now, well, you know what? I know the Pharisees and the leaders of the people, they’ve been against Jesus. Maybe they’re on to something here. Maybe I ought to ask them why they reject Jesus. And maybe I ought to think about them. Or maybe I ought to send back to Jesus’ hometown. Maybe I ought to send some messengers back to Nazareth. And, you know, Jesus lived there for the first 30 years of his life, pretty much. Maybe they could fill me in on some things about Jesus. You go back to Luke, the fourth chapter, you’d see the impression of Jesus in Nazareth was not a very good one.

He had come back and saying that he was the one to come and fulfill the prophecies of Isaiah, and they rejected him for it. And even wanted to cast him from a cliff and to kill him. And so I’m just saying, John could have asked anybody. You could just ask, you know, what do you guys think? Speaking to his disciples. And is this what’s supposed to be going on? He didn’t do that. Let’s find out from Jesus. Let’s ask him. Let’s allow him to explain what’s going on. Be careful who you ask to explain Jesus to you. Because oftentimes they’re not going to help you with those doubts. They’re just going to fuel those doubts. Joel Osteen’s the most popular television preacher there is. God wants you to be happy.

God wants you to be joyous. God wants you to have promotions and blessings. And if that’s what you’re going to to find out about who God is and what God wants for your life, then guess what? When that’s not happening in your life, it’s not going to help you face those doubts. If you’re still having struggles at work, and yet you’re hearing from people who claim to be all about God and Jesus, and they’re saying, well, you just have a little more faith in God, and things are going to get better at work. And you’re going to give up a promotion, you’re going to have more money and a better car and a better house, and yet you look at your life, and your life isn’t shaping up like that.

What happened? Even we, we can be good intentioned. And we believe in prayer. I believe in prayer, you believe in prayer, and we believe that we pray, and sometimes people get better, and we give praise and thanks to God for that. And yet, prayer is not just some kind of magical words. And if we just pray hard enough, and if we just pray often enough, and if we just have a little more faith, then those sick people who we really care about, then they’re gonna get better. Or maybe we listen to ourselves too often when it comes to our spiritual doubts, and we begin playing that comparison game, and we look around and say, you know what? No one else seems to be struggling like I am.

I’m just not as faithful as I should be. I’m just not as strong as I should be because I look around and clearly Jim’s got his act together, and Ned’s got his act together, and I don’t know why I can’t get my neck together. Go to Jesus and ask for some answers. And let me tell you, when you actually look to the right person for the answers, you’re gonna find assurance. You’re gonna be able to actually face those doubts because he’s gonna be able to reset your thinking and reset our ideas about what this idea of Christianity is in the first place. What did Jesus do when John’s messengers came to him? Well, first it says in verse 21, they’ve come to him, they’ve asked the exact question that John gave.

It says, at that very time, he cured many people of diseases and afflictions and evil spirits, and he gave sight to many who were blind. And it goes on to say that this is exactly what the prophet Isaiah in a few different passages had said that he would do. He answered and said to them, Go and report to John what you have seen and heard. The blind receive sight. 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. What are all those prophecies in Isaiah about? The grace of God that would be manifest in his coming one. Now it may be significant that in one of those passages, Isaiah 61, if Jesus had just referred to that passage a little bit more, he talked about the judgment that was going to come upon him, too.

But Jesus stops there.

Don’t worry. I’m doing exactly what I’m supposed to be doing right now. I’m doing exactly what God sent me to do. Judgment will come. It’ll be later, but I’m doing right now exactly what God has sent me to do. I am manifesting his mercy. I am manifesting his grace. I am letting people know they can have faith in me, because here’s what I came to do. Point for us.

Luke, the 14th chapter, Jesus says this to all of his followers. Here is what it means to follow me. Luke 14, and verses 26 and 27. If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. Here is what discipleship is leaving everything. If your mother and your father stand opposed to me, you leave them and you follow me. You crucify yourself, you bear your cross, you leave your life behind.

That’s not what discipleship was about anyway. It’s about being a part of him. And we can all, regardless of what our station in life, have that. We know this, but it’s certainly worthy just to say again. Being a disciple of Christ does not mean the absence of tragedy, but having the hope to face any tragedy. You’re familiar, of course, with John chapter 11, when Lazarus dies. Lazarus, one who was dear to the Lord. His sisters, Mary and Martha, also being dear to the Lord. But our Lord purposefully did not come at first whenever they called for him. He tarries, he comes, and Lazarus has now dead and in the tomb. And so he comes, and Martha says in Luke, I’m sorry, John chapter 11, and in verse 21.

Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. Perhaps it’s significant the things that Jesus didn’t say on this occasion. He didn’t just come out and say, you know what, you’re right. Yep, if I’d been here, wouldn’t have died. Nor did he say, you know what, Martha, I was just really testing you. I just wanted to know what kind of faith you had in me. Nor did he say, Martha, you know what, I’m going to raise Lazarus now, and just don’t you worry about any tragedy because these you just won’t have any more tragedies in your life. Didn’t say any of those things. What did he say? Verse 23. Your brother will rise again. I know that he will rise again, the resurrection on the last day.

Jesus said to her, I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this? Here’s your answer for any tragedy that comes in your life, Martha. Did you love your brother? Surely you did. He’s going to rise again. Of course, Jesus was going to do that on that day. But Jesus’ further point is those who really believe in me, they never die. Their soul will never die. And even if they do die, guess what? They will ultimately be raised again. And that’s how we cope. Because just to paraphrase, life stinks. It often does. None of us wants to lose one that we love so much.

Why does Jesus say in those times? You just have faith. Hope. Assurance that all will be okay. Being his disciple does not mean that we never face spiritual struggles. What it means is we get to face those with him at our side. That was a wonderful exhortation of Paul in Ephesians 6 and verse 10. Finally be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. He goes on to say about this great spiritual conflict that we’re in with the devil. We’re to take on the armor of Christ. But the point begins with, you be strong in him. Would we like to be further along than we are? Absolutely. Is this any excuse not to grow? Absolutely not. The point is, you will be tempted, you will be tried.

5. Real Faith Faces Its Doubts, or Real Faith Dies

But if you’re his disciple, then you’re going to face those battles with him. And because he’s with you, then ultimately you can overcome. Real faith faces doubt. Because real faith goes to the right place for answers. And when we go to the right place for answers, we’re always going to get the answers that we need. Not always the answers that we want, but the answers that we need. Let him explain what it means to be a follower of his. And let’s not worry so much about what everybody else says it means to be a follower of his. Finally, though, either real faith faces its doubts, or real faith dies. Jesus concluded his conversation with John’s disciples by saying in Luke 7 and verse 23 Blessed is he who does not take offense at me.

You see, there were a lot of people in Jesus’ life who had some belief in him. But they also had misguided expectations. We’re familiar with John chapter 6 and how in verse 15 that Jesus understood that there were many who were ready to make him king, that he departed from them. And what does he do? He begins to give them a spiritual feast of what it means to be in him. And he begins to tell them they must consume him. They must eat his body and drink his blood. And to me, this is just horrific. What are you talking about? They won’t get close enough, though, to really understand the spiritual message that Jesus was trying to impart to them of what he really came to do.

And it was not to be their earthly king. So how does that passage end? Then he depart. Never to follow him again. They’re offended. You’re not what we were expecting. And you’re not giving us the answers that we want, so we just won’t follow you anymore. To John’s credit, John had a doubt here. This is not what I was expecting. It’s time for the judgment to come. So what does he do? Send word to Jesus. Find out what Jesus said about this. And I tell you what we know about John, I think, is that he continued faithfully to the end. He never renounces God, he never renounces Christ. He never says to Herod, hey, you know what? What I said about you having your brother’s wife, I changed my mind on that.

I think it’s okay. Can I get out of here now? Now ultimately he’s going to lose his head. Literally lose his head. Because he’s faithful to God. He’s not offended. He let Jesus explain who he is to him. Real faith isn’t devoid of doubt. Real faith faces those doubts. And either we’re going to let Jesus explain himself to us and allow our faith to be strengthened again, or we’re going to be, as Jesus says, offended. And when faith becomes offended, well, then it ceases to be faith. It ceases to follow. And then we die.

Conclusion

There are heroes in the Bible. Wonderful men and women of faith. There are heroes in our lives. Wonderful men and women of faith that we’ve looked to as examples. They’re not mythical people, though. They had doubts. They had struggles too. But they endured. They kept their eyes focused on him. They let him explain here’s who I am. Here’s what it means to be a follower of me. And they persevered. And that’s the challenge that the Bible issues to us. Have faith in him. Let him explain who he is, what it means to follow him. You’re going to have doubts, you’re going to have struggles, but you can face them if you’ll follow him. We end this morning with extending an invitation. That you can begin to follow him.

He’s the one that came to do exactly what the prophets have said. He came, the blind received their sight. The lame walked again. The dead rose. And the gospel was preached. And because of that, we can now have faith in him. We can trust that, yes, he is, in fact, the Son of God. He is the expected one, and we do not look for any other. John was convinced. And you and I can be convinced too. We need to have faith in him. Trust them. Say, we believe in you, and we’ll follow you. Would you have that kind of faith? And would you repent of your wrongs? Because all of us have committed sins and transgressions, and they’re not pleasing and right with God. But we can repent.

And believe in him who baptized and have our sins forgiven. Would you like to do that? You can trust Jesus. He’ll save you, just as he promised. Or maybe you’ve been facing doubts. And then look to him again. Be trusted in him to begin with because he has promised and he is able. Then look to him again. Let him explain himself. And you’re going to still have some doubts along the way. But he’s still there.