Participants: Floyd Bresee
Series Code: FC
Program Code: FC000375
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00:31 Hi, I am Pastor Floyd Bresee.
00:35 And I've been thinking it seems to me there be 00:39 a lot more Christians, if Christians were 00:42 a lot more Christ like. Let's pray about it. 00:48 Loving Lord, I pray that you will teach us 00:54 something today that will help us become 00:58 more Christ like Christians. 01:00 This is our prayer in Jesus name. Amen. 01:06 Our focus today is on John the Baptist. 01:11 Especially the time that John the Baptist became 01:14 John the doubter, we don't very often think of 01:16 him that way. But we're talking today 01:18 about a particular instance when John 01:21 the Baptist became John the doubter. 01:24 Let's open our Bibles to Luke chapter 7, 01:28 and I'll be using the New International Version. 01:32 There are some words you know that 01:34 where reluctant to talk about in church 01:38 one of those is doubt. To some Christians 01:42 doubt is a dirty word and you should not use 01:45 dirty words in church. But it's our word today, 01:49 even John the Baptist on occasion 01:52 wrestled with doubt. John the Baptist, 01:55 a fearless outdoors men, a man's man. 01:58 One of the best men who ever lived doubted. 02:03 Our lesson today is from his life and it is this. 02:07 Genuine faith grows out of honest doubt, 02:12 genuine faith grows out of honest doubt. 02:18 If you maybe are just a little uncomfortable 02:22 with my daring you to doubt today, 02:26 maybe you will be a little bit offended. 02:29 But please, hear me out, hopefully 02:32 we'll end up agreeing. 02:36 John the Baptist, doubted, Luke the 7th chapter 02:41 and verses 18 and 19 John's disciples told 02:46 him about all these things. 02:49 Calling two of them, he sent them to the 02:52 Lord to ask, "Are you the one who was to 02:56 come, or should we expect someone else? 03:03 Now John the Baptist is a very rare Bible 03:05 character, one of the very few of whom no 03:08 sin is ever recorded. And yet he doubted. 03:12 Then doubt must not necessarily be a sin. 03:17 Once this great man of faith had said, 03:21 behold the lamb of God at Jesus baptism, 03:27 he heard the words "This is my beloved 03:29 Son, in whom I'm well pleased." 03:32 He preached and preached and preached the Messiah. 03:38 Now, he was doubting. 03:42 Christianity is not plastic surgery. 03:46 You can get plastic surgery and rearrange 03:48 your nose and rearrange your face, 03:50 you better like it because it's 03:52 permanently changed. And we like to think 03:55 that when we have expected, have expected 03:58 our Lord, that we'll always have 04:01 total faith and never doubt. 04:04 But that simply is not the way it works. 04:08 We like things that are free, we like fat free 04:13 milk and cholesterol free eggbeaters and 04:18 pesticide free vegetables and doubt free religion. 04:24 We should be, everybody who 04:27 thinks doubts, and if I have no doubts maybe 04:31 I'm not thinking, look at the Bible characters, 04:35 Abraham fell down laughing when God said 04:37 that 99-year-old Sarah was going have a baby, 04:40 the father of the faithful doubted. 04:46 Jacob's wrestling with the Angel brought a 04:49 blessing and a new name to Jacob, 04:51 now they call him Israel, and Israel means 04:54 one who strives with God. 04:56 He still calls his children Israel, 04:58 his children are those who are striving with God. 05:03 In the book of Psalms, 05:05 about 60 percent is doubting. 05:08 God, where are you says the Psalmist? 05:12 Even Jesus doubted. My God, my God, why 05:17 have you forsaken me? But you see there are 05:21 two kinds of doubt. There is negative doubt 05:25 and there's positive doubt, negative doubt is 05:28 refusing to know, if God were real and 05:33 God were good, I'd have to submit to him 05:36 and I want to do whatever I want to do, 05:39 no submitting for me. Doubt can actually be 05:42 self worship, nothing can be true 05:45 unless I can understand it. 05:48 Listen, a God small enough for 05:51 you to understand would be much too 05:54 small for you to worship. 05:57 And so there is negative doubt, 05:59 really not wanting to believe. 06:01 But this is also positive doubt, 06:04 longing to believe, longing to know. 06:08 Doubt, D O U B T has the same root as 06:11 D O U B L E, doubt and double are 06:15 from the same root. A doubt is when we are 06:20 reasoning between two different choices. 06:23 Which one will I make? 06:25 And we work our way through the choices. 06:29 Chinese say that doubt is standing in two boats 06:33 with one foot in each and the boats became to move. 06:39 You need to make a decision, your situation 06:42 is very insecure and only after you chose 06:45 your boat and plant both feet in it, 06:48 can you feel secure again. 06:53 Doubt by the way often follows discouragement 06:56 and next time you have a doubt, see if it's 06:58 because something in your life has discouraged you. 07:02 John had preached his heart out, 07:06 Herod had put him in prison because John 07:09 told him not to divorce his wife and marry his 07:12 sister-in-law Herodias. And this outdoors man 07:16 was cooped up, his disciples were leaving, 07:19 the crowds were forsaking and that 07:22 beautiful book Desire of Ages says 07:24 "despondency and doubt crept over him." 07:28 You notice that, despondency and doubt 07:32 tend to go together. And when you have 07:36 doubt it very possibly will be because you are 07:40 going through discouragement. 07:44 His doubt? Is Jesus really the promised Messiah? 07:50 Have I, have I put my faith in the wrong person, 07:55 we have doubts life comes crashing 07:59 down and we begin to doubt. 08:02 Is God really there? Is God really good? 08:05 Does God really love me? Can I really trust him? 08:08 Have I put my faith in the wrong person? 08:13 And we not only doubt God that we began to doubt 08:15 ourselves especially in times of discouragement. 08:20 Have I really confessed my sins? 08:23 Have I really been saved, do I really love the Lord? 08:26 Am I really a genuine Christian or I am faking 08:31 it and just going through the motions? 08:35 Now John the Baptist admitted his doubts. 08:39 Notice if you will verse 19, 08:43 Luke 7 and verse 19: 08:48 "Are you the one who was to come, 08:52 or should we expect someone else?" 08:57 This was his doubt woman came to Moody. 09:04 She said, I have been a Christian for 25 years 09:07 I have not had one single doubt. 09:11 And Moody replied, madam, 09:14 I doubt you've ever been a saved Christian. 09:18 We erroneously think that to be real 09:21 Christians, we must have absolute 09:23 certainty about everything. 09:27 Listen, none of us have God all figured out. 09:32 We're all of us like ducks on a pond, 09:36 they just go sailing, just so 09:40 beautifully gliding across the water. 09:42 But underneath they're peddling like crazy. 09:46 And sometimes that's the way with 09:47 us even as Christians. We show tranquility 09:51 on the outside. But underneath 09:54 we're trying to figure out how is God leading 09:57 me and how am I to relate to him? 09:59 How can I get closer to him? 10:00 What is his plan for my life? 10:05 Now, doubting doesn't mean that your faith stops. 10:10 It means, you're trying to understand your faith 10:14 at a higher level. I stand on a small 10:21 mountain and I enjoy the view and it's 10:26 comfortable here. But looking yonder, 10:31 I see a higher mountain, it must be even more 10:35 majestic up there. How am I going to get 10:38 from this mountain to a higher mountain. 10:40 I must go down into the valley and do 10:43 the hard work of climbing higher. 10:47 And I have faith in my Lord, but I want to have 10:51 a greater faith. I want to climb higher 10:53 in my relationship to my God. 10:55 How do I get there? It maybe we have to 10:57 go down through the valley of doubt and 10:59 climb up, but when we get 11:01 there we have a larger review. 11:04 For we know God better and if, 11:06 and when we know God better we can love Him 11:09 more and that's what we are really after. 11:12 Genuine faith grows out of honest doubt. 11:19 It's okay to doubt. 11:22 Just don't make a career of it. 11:27 If you are going to doubt it should be temporarily. 11:32 Doubt only if you have the 11:34 courage to doubt your doubts. 11:38 Now, what did John the Baptist 11:41 do about his doubts? Well, notice first of all 11:46 that he investigated his doubts. 11:50 He sent two disciples to Jesus. 11:52 Notice, if you will verse 20. 11:56 Verse 20 of Luke and the 7th chapter. 12:02 "When the men came to Jesus they said, 12:05 John the Baptist sent us to you to ask, 12:09 are you the one who was to come, 12:11 or shall we expect someone else?" 12:16 He investigated his doubts. 12:20 Now, how do you investigate your doubts? 12:23 How do you resolve your doubts? 12:27 I want to make four suggestions, 12:29 you want to resolve your doubts. 12:31 First of all, to resolve your doubts about your 12:35 relationship with your Lord, make it a point to 12:39 associate with believers more then with unbelievers. 12:44 This was a part of John's problem, 12:47 his temporary doubts must have been 12:49 partially from his disciples, 12:51 who were watching Jesus and they began to 12:53 sow doubts in John's mind. 12:57 To grow roses you don't go to the North Pole, 13:03 you go to where roses grow. 13:07 You want to grow faith, you want to go where 13:11 there are people whose faith is growing, 13:15 you can learn from them. Go to church and when 13:21 you get there you will find every member 13:25 still has a lot of growing to do. 13:28 But you will find also many who are growing 13:32 steady and it is easier to grow when you're 13:36 surrounded by others, who are growing too. 13:41 If you haven't been making it a practice or 13:45 you haven't in some way kind of lost 13:47 confidence in the people who make up 13:50 the body of a church. Oh! They have a lot of 13:54 growing to do, every single one of them does 13:56 including the preacher, but you will find some 14:00 there that are growing and can show you how to grow. 14:03 So, first of all spend more time with 14:06 believers then with unbelievers. 14:10 And then, you want to resolve your doubts, 14:13 take time to study, take time to think. 14:19 We get so busy that we spend all of our time 14:24 with the secular. No wonder we began 14:27 to doubt the sacred and take a look at how 14:30 you've been spending your time. 14:32 If you've been spending it all with the secular, 14:35 no wonder you are beginning to have 14:38 doubts about the sacred. Fill your mind with 14:43 faith building materials, sermons or music or 14:48 books and especially the Bible. 14:53 Spend time with your Bible. 14:57 Spurgeon threw out quite a challenge, 15:01 he said the greatest doubters are the people 15:05 who do not read the Bible. 15:09 Fill your mind with scripture, 15:12 fill your heart with Bible promises. 15:17 And memorize some of them. 15:20 For example, you will be seek me and find 15:24 me when you will search for me with all 15:28 your heart or ask and it will be given to you, 15:33 seek and you will find, knock and the door will 15:35 be open to you or again. Never will I leave you, 15:40 never will I forsake you. 15:44 Don't wait to believe until your have God 15:48 all figured out, it's just not going to happen, 15:53 God is simply too big for ours. 15:56 Get over it. If God sat down across 16:00 the table from you to explain himself to you. 16:03 You could no more comprehended it, 16:05 then you can comprehend advanced 16:07 calculus after flunking high school algebra. 16:11 But, we can reason enough to conclude that 16:16 it's more logical, more sensible to believe 16:20 then to disbelieve. You will never totally 16:24 understand God, but you can think yourself 16:28 through, your way through to where it 16:30 makes more sense to believe then to disbelieve. 16:37 And then you want to resolve your doubts, 16:40 remember his leading in the past. 16:45 And if you notice the good things he's done 16:48 for you before. As you look backward it's, 16:52 it's so much easier to trust 16:54 his leading in the future. 16:57 Doubt is often the result of short memory, 17:01 all we're thinking about is God isn't doing what 17:04 we want Him to do right now, and so we 17:06 wonder if He is real or if there is a problem with us. 17:11 You doubt miracles. Well, remember the 17:14 miracles he's worked in you, in your body, 17:17 every single day of your life. 17:21 These are miracles that nobody understands. 17:25 You doubt this thing of life after death, 17:28 is there really going to be a resurrection, 17:30 is there such a thing as eternal life? 17:34 Well, that's not so hard to remember. 17:37 If you remember how to believe, 17:38 if you remember how he's led you in the past. 17:40 He gave you your life once, 17:43 nobody understands how he did it. 17:47 And if God gave life to you ones before is that 17:50 really so difficult to have faith 17:53 to believe so he can do it again. 17:58 Science is proving that there is dying and new 18:01 life going on in your body everyday. 18:06 Continually, within your own body, 18:10 old cells are continually dying and new cells are 18:15 being continually born, created if you please. 18:21 As a matter of fact all the cells in our bodies 18:25 are replaced on a regular basis except 18:28 they say for those in the brain and a few stem 18:31 cells in each of the organs of our body. 18:35 Actually, did you know that the cells in your 18:38 taste buds last only a few days. 18:42 And that virtually all the cells in your body 18:45 are replaced every 90 days, every 90 days 18:49 you have seen death and life going 18:52 on within your body. Why doubt that there is 18:55 such a thing as life after death, it's been going on 18:58 right within you everyday of your existence. 19:05 And then, if you want to resolve your doubts 19:10 focus on Jesus. It's interesting to 19:14 notice Jesus reaction to John's doubting. 19:18 Actually, we learned from this story that 19:20 Jesus respects the honest doubter. 19:25 Notice, if you will verse 28. 19:29 Luke 7 and now verse 28. "I tell you, among those 19:36 born of women there is no one greater than 19:40 John, yet the one who is least in the kingdom of 19:43 God is greater then He." There is no one greater 19:49 Jesus said, then John, don't you see? 19:54 God is not frightened by your doubts. 19:58 He wasn't frightened by John's doubts. 20:02 He is not threatened when you come to him 20:04 wondering and not sure. And when you come doubting. 20:09 He is not frightened by your doubts. 20:12 And then notice that Jesus will provide the 20:16 necessary evidence at the right time when you 20:20 doubt and you come and you ask for help, 20:23 He has help available. Notice in verse 22, 20:27 here came John's disciples and they 20:32 were representing to Jesus John's doubts. 20:35 And what are we suppose to believe? 20:38 What really does the future hold and now 20:42 notice how Jesus reacted in verse 22. 20:48 So he replied to the messengers, 20:51 "Go back and report to John what 20:54 you have seen and heard: 20:56 The blind receive their sight, 20:58 the lame walk, those who have leprosy are 21:02 cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, 21:06 and the good news is preached to the poor." 21:11 You see apparently, John the Baptist being 21:19 Jewish had, had at least some misunderstanding 21:25 regarding the mission of the messiah. 21:29 The Jewish thought that the mission of the 21:31 messiah was to rule, he was going to come 21:34 to throw off the oppressor, but as the disciples 21:40 came back and they reported what they had seen, 21:46 ah! A light came on and John the Baptist realize 21:51 more fully now what the messiah's true 21:55 mission was it was not to rule the Romans. 22:00 His true mission was the help the hurting his 22:05 true mission wash to bring to 22:08 good news of salvation from sin. 22:12 And so, our story has a happy ending. 22:17 John the Baptist overcame his doubts, 22:22 the book Desire of Ages says "the disciples bore 22:25 the message, and it was enough." 22:31 And having investigated, having seen the proof 22:33 the evidence his doubts began to vanish and 22:38 honest doubt grew into a martyr's faith. 22:48 Genuine faith grows out of honest doubt. 22:54 And if you want to resolve your doubts, 22:57 do like John the Baptist, first of all admit them, 23:00 don't be frightened of them, don't be afraid to 23:03 bring them to the Lord in prayer. 23:07 Confront your doubts and then do some 23:10 investigating, instead of just kind of stewing in 23:15 your own juices. Investigate, examine, 23:19 seek evidence, spend time associating 23:23 with those you are believers, spend some 23:25 time studying, spend some time remembering 23:28 all of the things in your past that God has 23:30 already done for you and makes you so much 23:33 easier to believe that he will lead you on into 23:35 future and that helps to remove 23:37 doubts and above all else. Focus on Jesus. 23:48 Do you believe that I have a $20 bill 23:54 in my hand or do you doubt? 24:02 Well, how do you go about deciding whether 24:05 or not I have a $20 bill in my hand? 24:11 What if I were to look you in the eye and tell 24:14 you I swear there is a $20 bill in my hand, 24:20 would that remove you doubt? 24:23 I may not be a man of my word, 24:26 I may be a prankster. I may be just pulling 24:32 some kind of a nasty joke on you. 24:35 I maybe trying to fool you. 24:39 How do you know whether it's true when 24:41 I say I have a $20 bill in my hand? 24:47 Well, it would help if we would spend time together. 24:53 And the more time that you spend with me the 24:55 more you get to know me the better you 24:58 understand me. They should begin 25:00 to increase your trust. And while it increases 25:04 your trust it will decrease your doubt. 25:13 God holds out his hand to you today, 25:18 and he says I have in my hand love. 25:24 And I have in my hand eternal life. 25:30 Do you sometimes doubt it? 25:33 Well, how you going to decide? 25:36 The way you decide is to spend time together. 25:41 And as you spend time together with God, 25:45 it will increase your trust. 25:48 And it will decrease your doubt. 25:52 Now, listen folks God's hand is going to remain 25:59 closed all the way from here to heaven, 26:03 you will never ever be able to prove everything 26:07 you may want to prove about God. 26:11 But when you spend time with Him. 26:15 You will be able to thank Him for all good 26:18 things He has done for you. 26:21 You will be able to see how He has led you and 26:24 you will learn how to trust Him. 26:28 Spend time with Him, one day when 26:31 we get over there, His hand will be open. 26:35 And you will understand it all, 26:37 meanwhile through spending time together 26:41 learn to trust Him here. Let's pray. 26:46 Father, we thank you for all the good 26:50 things your holding in your hand. 26:54 Sum of what you offer, we can't see and we 26:59 can't always understand. But may we today 27:04 commit ourselves to spending more time 27:07 together, so that we might learn to trust you more. 27:13 And doubt you less, in Jesus name. Amen. 27:22 Are you spending time? 27:26 It takes time to learn to trust God. 27:31 Find someway on an everyday basis to spend 27:36 time with your Lord. And as you spend time, 27:41 you will learn to trust Him more and more and more. 27:45 And faith will grow and doubt will decrease. 27:49 Thanks for tuning into Faith Chapel. 27:52 God bless you and yours. |
Revised 2014-12-17