Dealing With Doubt
Let's pray. Let's pray. Let's pray.
Good morning. We are glad to be able to worship this morning. One of the things that we're going to focus on as we read Scripture together, as we sing, as we gather together around the table, as we open the Word of God, we're going to focus on the hope that God brings us, especially in the midst of those times where it may seem that life is off track, or that life is difficult, or that we are facing struggles. And so that's our goal this morning, is to be encouraged with certainty in the goodness and greatness of God. So I'm going to pray, and then we will stand and read from the 40th Psalm together. Father in heaven, be with our hearts this morning as we worship, that we would be reminded that you are our hope. And no matter what it is we find ourselves in or doing or planning in these moments, I just ask that you would direct us to your goodness, that you would comfort our hearts that are filled with sorrow, that you would strengthen us and give us life and energy where we're tired and weary, that you would encourage the discouraged, that you would help.
Jesus, help us with your goodness. Be with us as we worship together this morning. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. If you would be standing with me, we're going to read from the 40th Psalm about how God changes and transforms. So if you would, read together with me.
He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God. Many will see and fear and put their trust in the Lord." This is the word of the Lord. We're going to start by singing "This is Amazing Grace." "Who breaks the power of sin and darkness, whose love is mighty and so much stronger, the King of glory, the King above all kings?" This is amazing grace. This is unfailing love. That you would take my place. That you would bear my cross. You would lay down your life. That I would be set free. Jesus, I sing for all that you've done for me. Who brings our chaos back into order? Who makes the orphan a son and daughter? Who brings the nations with truth and justice? Shines like the sun in all of its brilliance. The King of glory. The King above all kings. This is amazing grace. This is unfailing love.
That you would take my place. That you would bear my cross. Lay down your life. That I would be set free. Jesus, I sing for all that you've done for me. This is amazing grace. This is unfailing love. That you would take my place. That you would bear my cross. You would lay down your life. That I would be set free. That you would be done for me. You were with us, kneeling on this battleground, seeing just how much you've done, knowing every victory, it's your power in us. Scars and struggles all the way, but with joy our hearts can say, yes, our hearts can say. Never once did we ever walk alone. Never once did you leave us on our own. You are faithful, God, you are faithful. Every victory holds your power in us. Scars and struggles on the way, but with joy our hearts can save. Yes, our hearts can save.
Never once did we ever walk alone. Never once did you leave us on our own. You are faithful, God. You are faithful. You are faithful. You are faithful, God. You are faithful. Scars and struggles on the way, but with joy our hearts can save. Never once did we ever walk alone. Carried by your constant grace, held within your perfect peace. Never once, though we never walk alone. Never once did we ever walk alone. Never once did you leave this song. Never once did we ever walk alone. You are faithful, God. You are faithful. Every step we are breathing in your grace. Evermore we'll be breathing out your praise. You are faithful, God. You are faithful. You are faithful, God. You are faithful. You are faithful, God. You are faithful. You are faithful, God. You are faithful. you are faithful. You are faithful. You are faithful. You are faithful. You are faithful. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. For more information, visit www.fema.org. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. For more information, visit www.fema.org. For more information, visit www.fema.org. For more information, visit www.fema.org.
As we prepare to come and gather around the church, let's pray for us. Let's pray for us on the table, remembering our hope that is in Jesus. We're going to sing, "Christ our hope in life and death." Let's pray. Hallelujah. Our hope springs eternal. Oh, sing hallelujah. Now and ever we confess Christ our hope in life and death. God is good. God is good. Where is His grace and goodness known? In our grave, Redeemer's blood. Who holds our faith when fears arise? Who stands above the stormy trial? Who sends the waves that bring us nigh? Unto the shore, the rock of Christ. Oh, sing hallelujah. Our hope springs eternal. Oh, sing hallelujah. Now whenever we confess, Christ our hope in life and death. Unto the grave, what will we sing? Christ, He lives. Christ, He lives. And what reward will heaven bring? Everlasting life with Him. There we will rise to meet the Lord.
We will be destroyed. And we will feast in endless joy. When Christ is ours forevermore. Oh, sing hallelujah. Our hope springs eternal. Oh, sing hallelujah. Now and ever we confess Christ our hope in life and death. Oh, sing hallelujah. Our hope springs eternal. Oh, sing hallelujah. Now and ever we confess Christ our hope in life and death. Now and ever we confess Christ our hope in life and death. Now and ever we confess Christ our hope in life and death. It has been described that is a picture of uncertainty, of change, of fear. And it says this, "Therefore we will not fear, though the earth gives way, though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam, and though the mountains tremble at its swelling." In verse two and three, pictures the earth falling apart, the waves crashing, the mountains shrinking into the ocean. It's a picture of chaos and uncertainty. It's a picture of fear and brokenness.
And he begins this picture with storms and mountains and the earth giving way with these words, "Therefore we will not fear." And the question that I have when I hear things like this and think about those storms of life is how is it that I cannot fear? And what I love is the psalmist answers that in verse one, simply like this. God is our refuge, and he is our strength, and he is a very present help in times of trouble. And so what do we do when it seems like everything is in chaos? What do we do when it feels like the mountains are falling into the sea and the waves foam and roar? We remember with the psalmist that God is our refuge and our strength. He is our very present help in times of trouble. And as we come to this bread and this cup, we are reminded of the reality of the cross, the power of the resurrection, that through Jesus,
He stepped into the storm of our brokenness and our sin, and He paid the price and He rose again for our victory, that in Him we have hope. And one of the ways in which we are able to take refuge is to come near to the cross of Christ, to eat this bread and to drink this cup and remind ourselves that our refuge and our strength comes not from ourselves or our abilities, but it comes from God who is a very present help in times of trouble. Father in heaven, remind us of these truths this morning, not just in our minds, but in the depths of our heart, that you would remind us that Jesus has come near to save us, that He has stepped into our storms so that we can be brought into peace, that He has stepped into our darkness, that we can be brought
into the light, that He has stepped into our hopelessness so that we could be brought to a new and living hope. Thank you for Jesus and for grace. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. If you would, take the bread with me as we're reminded of Jesus giving this to His disciples saying, "Do this in remembrance of me." And in the same way, let's take the cup that points us to the new covenant that is found in the blood of Jesus. Let's remember Jesus together. And as we remember Jesus, remember we are called to proclaim His goodness. And so, in just a minute, we're going to spend just a few short minutes in the Gospel of Luke. And before we do that, we want to work on learning a new song, trying to learn kind of in time for Easter and some things that follow that.
This song is just entitled "I Set My Hope." So we'll watch. It's about four minutes long. We'll listen to it. You're welcome to sing along if you want. It sort of fits with our theme this morning of fixing our eyes and our hope on Jesus. And as you hear these words, I want to just kind of give you a little bit of an outline. That in the first part of this, we're going to hear and sing about setting our hope on Jesus in the midst of trials. And in the second part, we'll hear about setting our hope on Jesus in the midst of the temptation to sin that we face. And then in the third part, we'll hear and sing about this setting our hope on Jesus as we persevere through this life. So we're just going to listen to it. You're welcome to sing along if you want.
We'll kind of introduce it before we dive into singing it as a congregational song next week. So, if you want to go ahead and... When this life of trials tests my faith, I set my hope on Jesus. When the questions come and doubts remain, I set my hope on Jesus. I set my hope on Jesus. For the deepest ones the time won't heal. There's a joy that runs still deeper. There's a truth that's more than all I feel. I set my hope on Jesus. I set my hope on Jesus. My rock, my only trust. Who set his heart upon me first? I set my hope on Jesus. Though I falter in this war with sin, I set my hope on Jesus. When I feel the fight and sink within, I set my hope on Jesus.
Though the shame will drown me in its sea, and I dread the wave of justice, I will cast my life on Calvary. I set my hope on Jesus. I set my hope on Jesus. My God, my only trust. You set His heart upon you first. I set my hope on Jesus.
Though the world call me to leave my Lord, I set my hope on Jesus. Though it offer all its vain rewards, I set my hope on Jesus. Though this heart of mine is prone to stray, give me grace enough to finish. Until I worship on my name, I set my hope on Jesus. I set my hope on Jesus. My rock, my only trust. Who set his heart upon me first. I set my hope on Jesus. I set my hope on Jesus. My rock, my only trust. Who set his heart upon me first. I set my hope on Jesus. I set my hope on Jesus.
And that is our goal for the next several weeks. Well, it should be our goal. It is our goal all the time, but as we move closer to Easter, it is what we will be reinforcing over the next several weeks that setting our hope on Jesus, not just for us, but as we seek as a church to reach out to those who are in desperate need of that hope as well. So let's pray, and then we'll dive into it this morning. Father in heaven, be with us as we look at John and Jesus and the struggles of those unexpected turns in life. We just ask that you would help us to fix our hope on your son, that he would be our rock and our stability for our church and for those that we share the gospel
with, that you would help us to seek not just to hold on to this good news for ourselves, but to share it with those we encounter. So be with us this morning. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. I love the Gospel of Luke. It was back in 2012 that I think I spent two and a half years preaching through the Gospel of Luke, and I love how he begins because I'm a person who loves little sort of random tidbits of knowledge. And so if we spend very much time together, I will probably share with you at some point an unrelated fact about life that I should have no business knowing just because I love random bits of information. And I love how Luke, as he writes, organizes the information about Jesus. He organizes it in a way that he has thought it out and he has studied it. But more than that, and
more importantly, Luke's purpose is not just that we would have a bunch of facts about Jesus. Luke's purpose is that we would have certainty. And he's writing to a man by the name of Theophilus, and he says, "I'm writing so that you may have certainty about Jesus." And so as we move into the Easter season, I want us to see how Luke calls us to certainty. And so this week, we're going to take a look at John and Jesus, Jesus' cousin, as he's in jail and struggling with the darkness of that moment, how Jesus brings certainty in those dark, doubting, difficult moments of life. And next week, we're going to talk about how Jesus brings us certainty through hearing our prayers. We're going to talk about how Jesus on Palm Sunday, as he comes into Jericho,
gives to us, without any way of mistaking it, that he wants us. That the blind beggar that nobody cares about, Jesus wants. The tax collector hiding in a tree, Jesus wants. And as we come to Easter Sunday, we have this certainty about the good news of the gospel. And so we're going to pick up in just a moment with the story of John, the baptizer, and a little bit of his life and ministry. And probably most of us, at some point or another, have taken a detour. And probably the worst detour, I think, that I have ever taken. I was driving across the northern part of Missouri, and it was the middle of the night. I don't remember where I was going or why I was going there. I just remember driving, and it's just this road that is as straight as can be.
And if you've been in the Midwest, especially the rural parts at night where there is no moon, there's also no street lights and no town. So it is very, very dark. You feel very dark, very alone, and very uncertain. And I was driving along, and all of a sudden, in front of me on this road, there's the big orange sign with an arrow that just says, "Detour." There's no police car with flashy lights. There's no guy with a sign pointing me in the right direction. It's just pointing down this tiny road off into the middle of nowhere. And I'm going, "Well, should I just go straight? There's no cars. I see no lights. I see no obstruction." And there, I decided, "Well, I don't know. I guess I'll take the detour." This was before cell phones that were prevalent, at least in that part of Missouri, so I had no phone.
It was before GPS, and the roads were all too small to be on my atlas that I had in the back of the car. And so there, on faith, I just pulled to the right and just followed this detour sign. And then here's the thing. There was no more detour signs for like the next five or six miles. And if you want to feel uncertain, go to the darkest place on the smallest road you can think of with no way to find or navigate yourself and just find yourself driving into the dark. It's not a very good feeling to find ourselves detoured into a place where we're uncertain about what lies ahead. And I think all of us have in moments experienced this, and if you have not experienced this in your life, you will experience this.
Where our life seems to be on track, things seem to be going well, and all of a sudden there is that orange detour sign taking us off into the unknown darkness. This is where we find John the baptizer this morning. And just a little bit about John's background. John has a remarkable story. His family testifies to the goodness and faithfulness of God. His dad is a priest. His mom is from the daughters of Aaron. These are people who can trace their lineage all the way back to Moses' brother Aaron. And they have served God faithfully, not just in their lifetime, but their family can trace their roots and their service to God all the way back to Moses and Aaron and coming out of Egypt. And so John the baptizer has this remarkable, godly family.
In fact, Luke will say that they have walked blamelessly in all the commandments and statutes of the Lord. And so John's life as he grew up would have been centered around knowing and serving God. And his very existence in this life is a miracle. His mom and dad had prayed for a child their entire lives, and by the time that this prayer is answered by the angel, his dad is so far past the time that this would be possible that his dad doubts that this can even happen. So not only does John have this amazing story of ministry faithfulness throughout generations, he has the power of God that brought him into this world. And he is commissioned for ministry before he is even conceived as the angel explains to Zechariah what he would do. He will go before him, that's the Messiah and the spirit and power of Elijah,
to turn the hearts of their fathers to the children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just and to make ready for the people, for the Lord, a people prepared. John goes before the Messiah to proclaim and to prepare. So not only does John have this sort of remarkable biography of a family dedicated to ministry, learned the Word of God, knows the Word of God, this wonderful example of his mom and dad, this miraculous birth, this commission by God. John, as he begins his ministry, sees his cousin coming down to be baptized in the Jordan River, his cousin Jesus. And as Jesus is baptized, the heavens were opened, and the Holy Spirit descended on him in a bodily form like a dove, and a voice from heaven said, "You are my beloved son, with you I am well pleased."
So, quick summary. John's from a family that knows and serves God. He's from a family that knows and loves the Word of God. He's commissioned by God to proclaim the way for the Messiah, and he has seen who Jesus is, revealed by both God the Father, declaring in God the Holy Spirit, descending on God the Son. And so you have this man who is remarkably rooted in the faith, given a mission by God to proclaim and prepare for the Messiah. And where we find John this morning, John's situation is not good. He's in jail, and in Luke 3, Luke recounts a little bit of the story of the ministry of John the baptizer. And at the end of the story, he kind of gives a little bit of foreshadowing of what's going to happen, and summarizes John like this:
"But Herod the Tetrarch, who had been reproved by him for Herodias, his brother's wife, and for all the evil things that Herod had done, added this to them all, and he locked John in prison." So here's John's story: a young man from a righteous family with a history of serving God, commissioned by God for the work, sees and hears this miraculous testimony about Jesus, then proclaims the truth to the government of his day, and is thrown in jail for it. It's probably not where he saw his life going. In fact, John's ministry is incredibly short. I don't think we realize that John's ministry may have been even less than a year long. From the time he begins proclaiming to the time he is thrown in jail, depending. It can be eight months to twelve months, maybe as long as a year and a half.
But John has not had much time to proclaim and prepare for the Messiah. And now he is locked in jail. John, however, is following the ministry of Jesus, and in Luke 7:18, John's disciples are going to hear and see Jesus, and it will say in John 7:18, the disciples of John reported all of these things to him, and then John will talk to the disciples, but the things they reported to him are, first of all, that Jesus teaches in an amazing way. That Jesus heals in an amazing way. That Jesus can raise people from the dead. And so John, who is commissioned to expect and prepare for the Messiah, hears about Jesus, who has been testified to by the voice of God the Father, by the presence of the Holy Spirit. He now hears him teaching, healing, and raising people from the dead.
What's John's expectation? His expectation is, is that this is what the Messiah does. In Isaiah 61, Jesus uses this in his first sermon. Jesus will say that the Messiah comes to bring good news to the poor, sight to the blind, liberty to those who are oppressed, but also, and probably most importantly for John the baptizer, liberty for the captives. And so if I'm John, and I hear about Jesus teaching, and I hear about him healing, and I hear about him raising people for the dead, I would be thinking, maybe there could be a little bit more liberty for the captives. Yes, you're teaching really well. Yes, you've healed this young daughter of a Roman official. Yes, you've raised this young man from the dead, but your cousin is in jail, and I could do with a little bit more liberty for the captives.
And in fact, that's what John does next. In the darkness and difficulty of his imprisonment, John has some questions. And I think we understand that because oftentimes in the darkness and difficulty of life, we too begin to have some questions. And I think John's questions are, if Jesus, you're really the Messiah, I see that you're healing, I see that you're lifting burdens, I see that you can raise the dead, I see that you teach. But here I am sitting in jail. What about the captives in jail? What about me, Jesus? And so in Luke 7:19, John will call his disciples to him. Two of them specifically, that's important. He's going to send them to the Lord, saying, "Are you the one to come, or should we look for another?" John has come to this moment that I think many of us experience, this moment of uncertainty. Am I in the right spot?
Have I put my hope in the right thing? This detour into the darkness, John is not certain what is happening, and so he sends two messengers to Jesus. Just for a moment, let's leave John in prison and spend a few moments talking about our doubts and our difficulties. I think in general, and historically, the church has not done very well in dealing with doubts or with doubters. So a quick example of this is Thomas, the disciple of Jesus, who doesn't always understand, but he seeks to obey. In John chapter 11, he will say, "Jesus is getting ready to go to Bethany near Jerusalem." And Thomas will say, "Well, he's going to go die. We might as well go die with him." He doesn't understand, but he's going to follow Jesus to the end. And after Jesus is raised, and after the resurrection, Thomas wants to see Jesus, wants to confirm it's him.
And so how for the last 2,000 years has the church referred to Thomas, right? We've got Doubting Thomas. Here's a guy who was willing to follow Jesus to his death with a lot of uncertainty. But we know him as Doubting Thomas. The church has not often dealt well or dealt rightly with those who struggle with their faith. And in fact, if you read the commentaries on this passage in Luke chapter 7, they're a prime example. You'll have writers who are seeking to sort of do some sort of mental gymnastics to say, "John is not doubting Jesus." John, he's not having a difficulty. He's not discouraged, despite every evidence to the contrary. Right? We've struggled with doubt. And maybe you've seen this happen to yourself or someone you know in church. Maybe you've heard somebody say about doubts or questions, just get over it.
Don't let people know that you feel that way. Maybe you've seen the church judge the hearts of those who doubt or treat doubt as sin or a disease. Don't question, don't share it, because others might catch it. And I think the reason that we struggle to even talk about doubt, let alone deal with it, is because we haven't defined doubt well. We use this term to mean a whole lot of different things, and we've experienced this in life. There are terms that can be different depending upon the context. And one of my favorites is there was a little ice cream place growing up. It was out by the lake, and you would go, and just like every other ice cream place, they have like the child size. They have the small, the medium, the large, the extra large.
The difference was, even though they used the same terms, their child size was literally like the size of a child. So you would go there with people, and they would say, "Hey, I'm going to get a large ice cream." You're like, "No, no. Get a small." And they're like, "Oh, I don't need a small. I can eat a large." And then they have to bring the large out the side door of the place because they can't fit it through the ice cream window. There's large, and then there is large. And when it comes to doubt, what we do is we take this word that can be used in a lot of different ways, and we just make it mean everything, and then we struggle with all of it. And what you find is, biblically, there's a bunch of different kinds of doubts.
And there are different reactions to different kinds of doubts, and God deals with different doubts in a different manner. And what we tend to do is just put everything into the same bucket and treat it the same way. And so what I want to do is just share with you, just for a moment, these pictures we have in Scripture of different kinds of doubts. And we'll talk about how Jesus and John both deal with this doubt. So sometimes we come to the doubt of uncertainty, right, where maybe we don't know, or we don't understand, or we don't feel like we have a very firm grip on the situation. Maybe it's like, "I'm not sure. I have some questions about what's going on." And then there's times where our doubts can be more of a struggle, a lack of strength.
Right? I'm not sure that I'm able to believe this, or I'm able to hold on to it, or I don't know that I can do that. And so doubts in Scripture can be just simply uncertainty, "I'm not sure," or it can be, "I'm not sure that I am able to do this." You think about the man who brings his son to Jesus, and he cries out to Jesus as Jesus tells him to believe. He says, "I believe. Help my unbelief." He says, "I'm strong enough, Jesus." And then there is the faith that I think is small. And this might be faith that hasn't grown up or hasn't matured yet. And just like little plants, when we put them out in the springtime and the frost comes, we bring them inside or we cover them to protect them.
There is a faith that is small but growing, that in times needs to be covered and to protect them. See the disciples in Mark chapter 8. Jesus is talking about bread, and they think that Jesus is upset because they didn't bring lunch. And so what Jesus will do is sit down with the disciples and say, "Remember when I fed 5,000? How many baskets did you pick up afterwards?" And they would say, "12." He said, "Remember when I fed the 4,000? How many baskets did we pick up afterwards?" And they'll say, "7." And Jesus is like, "It's not about bread. I can give you all the bread that you want." And so Jesus takes people who are struggling because their faith is small. And what he does is he seeks to grow that and to cover it and to protect it.
This picture of calling them to maturity. And so our doubts can be uncertainty. They can be a struggle because we lack the strength. They can be because we're small and growing or delicate and fragile. But then there's the kind of doubt that is selfish and self-centered. The kind of doubt that says that may be true, but I know what I want and I know how I feel, and I will ignore all empirical evidence to chase my own desires. Small picture of that. Was it two weeks ago or last week? I guess two weeks ago. Woke up Wednesday feeling sick. Spent most of the day in denial that I was sick. Finally, Rachel says, "Go to the doctor." I get to the doctor. They said, "What are you here for?" I said, "I'm not sick, but my wife made me come."
And then guess who was sick, right? It didn't matter what I thought or what I wanted or what reality said. I had my mind set on the fact that I wasn't going to be sick. And some people bring this attitude to the spiritual reality that surrounds them. That all the evidence, all the goodness of God can be pointing to one thing, and I'm just going to ignore it because I want something else. And so Jesus, what you find, is he deals with the doubt of uncertainty or the smallness of strength or the littleness of faith very gently. But he deals with the doubts of pride and selfishness very harshly. So I want to talk to you just a little bit about how Jesus and John deal with doubt. As Jesus comes to John or John comes to Jesus, the real question I want to try to answer is not, is it wrong to have doubts?
Because all of us are going to have struggles and doubts. It's what do we do with them when we have them? In Luke chapter 7 and verse 20, these men had come to him and they said, "John the Baptist has sent us to you saying, are you the one to come or should we look for another?" And Jesus doesn't answer them. He takes an hour, it says, "In that hour he healed many people of diseases and plagues and evil spirits. And on many who were blind he bestowed sight and he answered them." And he said, "Go tell John what you have seen and heard. The blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, the poor have the good news preached to them, and blessed is the one who is not offended by me." Jesus answers the questions
questions of uncertainty and doubt. When you bring your honest struggles, your honest uncertainties, when you come to Jesus with your smallness and your littleness and inhumility, Jesus answers your questions. That's what Jesus does. Do you know why John sends two messengers? According to the Old Testament law, in order for a witness to be reliable, you had to have two of them. John sends two men, not just so that his friend will have a buddy when he asks Jesus a question, so that this would be a legally binding witness. It's like sending a notary public with his disciple to ask Jesus these questions. And notice Jesus, to these two messengers, he doesn't say, "I've done these things." He actually does them. And what Jesus does here is deal gently with the uncertainty and the doubting. Think about how he could have responded. He could have said, "Tell John he's born through a miracle.
Remind him that my dad, God the Father, has testified to the reality of me by saying, "This is my son at my baptism." Jesus doesn't berate John. He doesn't belittle him. He simply calls him to courageous faithfulness by saying, "Blessed is the one who is not offended by me." Jesus isn't belittling John. He's telling him to stay strong, to take what you have heard from these reliable witnesses, and to put your hope in me. Jesus answers, and Jesus encourages. We see it throughout Scripture with Gideon as he struggles with his smallness. The man with the son in Mark 9. Thomas. Jude, as he writes to the church in Jude verse 22, "Have mercy on those who doubt." The way that Jesus deals with us is the way in which we need. If we're proud, he humbles us. If we're falling down, he lifts us up.
If we're uncertain, he calls us to follow him and to trust in his certainty. So the question is, Jesus deals gently with our doubts. How do we deal with our doubts? Three quick things. First of all, I would encourage you with this: Doubt boldly. Look at how John expresses his uncertainties. He doesn't hide them. He doesn't pretend that he's okay. He asks Jesus by sending witnesses. That's bold. John doesn't push this feeling down. He pours it out to Jesus. He doesn't avoid it. He doesn't hide it. He doesn't pretend. And the best thing that you and I can do with our struggles and our hurts and our uncertainties and our doubts is to do it boldly. To say simply that I'm struggling, and Jesus, I need help. John doubts boldly. The second thing I would say is doubt honestly.
The pastor by the name of Tim Keller, who has written a lot on this subject, will say that we need to doubt our doubts. And what that means is to look at how we are feeling and say, "Why am I feeling this way? What is underneath all of this?" Like John, am I doubting because my circumstances took me somewhere that I wasn't expecting? Am I doubting because I just don't understand? Right, there's times where we are young in our faith and we don't understand something completely, and we find ourselves struggling simply because we don't understand, not because it's not true. I remember one of the most embarrassing moments for me as a young driver. I was driving my siblings to school. And we were running late, which was probably my siblings fault, definitely not mine, jump in the car, drive as fast as we can, the 40 or so minutes to school, like slide into the parking lot, shut the car off, dive out the doors, try to get to class in time.
Didn't think much about it other than I was in a hurry. Went back out at the end of the school day, everybody's in the car, and I go to start the car, and it doesn't start. In fact, I can't take my keys out. They won't turn all the way back, and I'm sitting there, and I remember in the morning that I couldn't take the keys out, but I was in such a hurry, I just left them. And so I go to start, you know, foot on the brake, and I start there, and nothing. And I tried, and a buddy tried, and one of our farm buddies who knew how engines worked at the time tried, and nothing. And I said, "Oh, I'm going to have to call my dad, who's going to be real thrilled about this, because he has to drive 45 minutes one way, because I just broke the car."
So I called him. He says, "Well, try this." And so Dad drives, and we're sitting out there. It's like 4 o'clock in the afternoon, 45 minutes from home. Dad shows up, walks to the car, sits down on it, puts his foot on the brake, shifts it into park, takes my keys out, and hands it to me, right? Because I was in such a hurry to leave, I just shut it off in drive, and then I went, "Why can't I start it?" Right? So many times, I think, our doubts are like that. We rush immediately to the problem, without digging into what lies under my... Why am I doubting? Is it because of my circumstances? Is it because I don't understand fully, because I haven't looked at what is actually helping? John believes that Jesus is an earthly king.
And so Jesus, as he seeks to help him, seeks to gently correct his understanding. Or am I doubting because of my own ideas and my own expectations? This is pretty closely related to the one above, right? To doubt because of my own ideas, rather than who God really is. To assume what I think is right, rather than looking at the truth. I want to tell you this morning that when we struggle in doubt, first of all, we've got to doubt boldly. And what I mean by that is that Jesus is big enough and strong enough that when we pour out our hearts and our hurts and our questions to him, he is the one who can help us, but also, as we do so, dive into our own hearts. Why am I feeling this? Why am I thinking like this? Am I mistaken? Do I need to learn more?
But here's the most important out of all of them. Take your doubts to Jesus. This is what John does. He doesn't sit and talk in a group. He doesn't gossip back and forth. He goes through these messengers to Jesus. It's the same as the Father in Mark 9:24, where Jesus says, "If you believe," and he says, "I believe, help my unbelief." That Father doesn't stop doubting, doesn't try to exert his own will. He runs to Jesus. Right? This is the call of this text for us, is in those moments where life takes that detour, like John, from where we thought we were going to go to where we are right now. Take our hurts to Jesus. Take our questions and our struggles to Jesus, because he is the one who has our answer. This is what Jesus is calling us to, but it's also the call that God has put on our lives for those who surround us.
To seek to take those who are near us, maybe the struggling brother or sister in Christ, maybe the friend or neighbor who doesn't believe, to seek to bring them to Jesus. Let's pray. Father in heaven, help us in our moments of weakness. Help us to have certainty through your Son. Help us to run to you with all of our difficulties and all of our hurts and all of our sorrows. Be with us. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. We're going to stand and sing by the grace of God. I rest my soul on Jesus. When the mountains shake, I put my trust in Jesus. The moment I awake. And when my soul is lost at sea, He will be my rock. My vision be in Christ. My vision be in Christ alone. This grace is all we've got. His love is like the mighty ocean. His love for me will never stop.
Oh, His arms are strong enough to carry me through it all by the grace of God. So I, upon His shoulders, safely brought this far. Helper of my helpless soul, the King of broken hearts. His love is like the mighty ocean. His love for me will never stop. Oh, His arms are strong enough to carry me through it all by the grace of God. When breath grows still and night draws near, I will not be afraid. I know the plans He has for me don't finish at my grave. His love is like the mighty ocean. His love for me will never stop. Oh, His arms are strong enough to carry me through it all by the grace of God.