Are You the One? How the King Cares for Doubting Disciples

Hopson Boutot

Poquoson Baptist Church

Matthew: The King and His Kingdom • Sermon • Submitted 2 years ago

Matthew 11:2–15

0 ratings

· 9 views

Notes

Transcript

Sermon Tone Analysis

Emotion

Language

Social

View more →

Bound for Glory

WELCOME

Good morning family. Hear the Word of the Lord from Psalm 13

How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? How long must I take counsel in my soul and have sorrow in my heart all the day? How long shall my enemy be exalted over me? Consider and answer me, O Lord my God; light up my eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death, lest my enemy say, “I have prevailed over him,” lest my foes rejoice because I am shaken. But I have trusted in your steadfast love; my heart shall rejoice in your salvation. I will sing to the Lord, because he has dealt bountifully with me.”

Do David’s words make you uncomfortable? Does it concern you that he feels forgotten by God? Does it bother you that the Scriptures would talk so openly about doubting God’s love and power?

If we’re honest we sometimes think the same things.

So we must learn to do what the Psalmist does. We must bring our doubts to the Lord. And then we must remind ourselves of the truth.

My prayer is that the Lord will use our service today to help you do the same thing.

In just a moment we’ll hear a reading from the text for today’s sermon in Matthew 11.

You can find it on PAGE 969 in the black Bibles.

Turn there now.

While you’re turning, 4 quick announcements:

1) A word about PBC. We are servants.

You may have noticed when you came in here the back corner sectioned off. That’s because PBC is the main collection center on the Peninsula for a ministry called Operation Christmas Child.

If you don’t know much about OCC, check out their display to my right

While you’re there, ask about the many opportunities to serve alongside this ministry over the next month

While we’re talking about OCC, save the date for our...

2) Packing Party, November 13 at 5 PM

Great opportunity to serve together as a family

We are asking you to help us by bringing a soup or a dessert to share

3) Trunk or Treat, next Sunday from 5-7 PM

Our hope is to engage our community. Please pray we’re able to build relationships and even speak the gospel with our friends and neighbors

4) TableTalk tonight at 5:30 PM

Mike Lindell will be teaching us about the command to “instruct one another” from Romans 15:14

Now look in your Bibles at Matthew 11:2 as Judy Johnson comes to read for us.

Scripture Reading (Matthew 11:2-15)

Prayer of Praise (God is wrathful), Judy Johnson

10,000 Reasons (Bless the Lord)

Hymn of Heaven

Prayer of Confession (Anger), Nathan Rathbone

Dear Refuge of My Weary Soul

PBC Catechism #43

Remind people what the catechism is and why we do it

What will happen to believers when Jesus returns?

Believers in Christ will be resurrected to everlasting blessedness and joy in God’s presence.

Pastoral Prayer (Hopson)

Thanksgiving—Preservation of Scripture

Your Word says about itself… “The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever.” (Isaiah 40:8)

Jesus Himself said… “until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished.” (Matthew 5:18)

In a culture that tempts us to doubt the truthfulness of Scripture, thank you for telling us that we can trust it because You have preserved it.

Help us to trust you.

Prayer for PBC—Right understanding of Conversion

Be careful to admit members with a credible profession of faith

Be careful not to assume that morality/niceness = regeneration

Be faithful to speak the gospel to the children and young people among us

Be bold in our evangelism because we know that you are the one who saves, not us

Prayer for sister church—Christ Fellowship Church (Peter Hess)

Provision for a building, patient trust while they wait

Culture of evangelism

Peter as husband to Missy and dad to Kate, Owen, Ryle, and Bryn

Prayer for US—Against addiction

Whether it’s a problem with alcohol, opioids, or any other substance, addiction kills thousands of Americans every year and impacts millions of lives.

Drug overdose deaths have more than tripled since 1990.

Our culture tells us that addiction is first and foremost a mental health condition requiring therapeutic treatment

Your Word tells us that addiction is first and foremost a worship issue require heart change

Addiction is a “banquet in the grave”

Help us to be compassionate towards those in our own communities who are suffering with some form of addiction

Help us to be faithful to tell them the Good News

Prayer for the world—Haiti

The 2010 earthquake took up to 300,000 lives, and left 1.6 million people homeless.

The decade-long cholera outbreak that followed claimed thousands more and made over a million sick.

The President was assassinated in his own home in July 2021.

This was followed by another huge earthquake a month later.

Now, corruption, exploitation, grievous inequality, political wrangling, state capture, and powerful armed gangs add to Haiti’s suffering. The layers of brokenness seem impossible to fix.

Pray for God to break through and bring lasting change in this land desperate for salvation.

Local churches

Laborers

Pray for the sermon

SERMON

I’m not a huge fan of doctors.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m grateful for what they do.

I’m just not sure I can trust them enough to tell them my problems.

I come by it honestly...

Voice issues at 18. Couldn’t talk. Doctors told me I was “trying too hard to sound masculine.”

Blood clots at 30. Couldn’t walk. Doctors told me, “you really shouldn’t be in any pain at all.”

ER visit earlier this year. Thought I had kidney stones. Turns out it was cysts popping in my kidneys (explain PKD). Doctor asked me, “so how long have you had polycystic ovaries?”

I guess I shouldn’t complain. For the most part, doctors have taken care of my physical issues. I just can’t get past their bedside manner.

I wonder how many of us feel that way about Jesus...

He’s the Great Physician

Maybe we can trust Him with the end results, but can we trust His “bedside manner”?

We’ve seen Him care for the physically hurting. But how will He respond to someone who’s hurting from something . . . deeper?

Can we trust Jesus to care for our spiritual pains?

Turn to Matthew 11:2

Jesus sent out His disciples on a short-term mission trip

Meanwhile John is in prison, wrestling with doubt

So he sends word to Jesus

And in His response we learn that Jesus gently cares for doubting disciples.

Doubting Christian: Jesus has the same tender care for you!

Christian dealing with doubting Christians: Show Jesus’ tender care to others!

Doubting non-Christian: Your problem is not doubt. Not really. It’s unbelief, which is different. We pray today you will come to Jesus!

Four Ways Jesus Gently Cares for Doubting Disciples:

1) Jesus LISTENS to Doubting Disciples

11:2-3—Now when John heard in prison about the deeds of the Christ, he sent word by his disciples and said to Him, “Are You the One who is to come, or shall we look for another?”

Jesus isn’t shocked. Jesus isn’t ashamed.

We shouldn’t be either! We should listen to doubting disciples.

How would you respond if someone in your Fellowship Group/Sunday School class/discipleship group openly shared some of their doubts about following Jesus?

Often we respond poorly because we’ve confused unbelief and doubt...

Alister McGrath—“Unbelief is the decision to live your life as if there is no God. It is a deliberate decision to reject Jesus Christ and all that he stands for. But doubt is something quite different. Doubt arises within the context of faith. It is a wistful longing to be sure of the things in which we trust.” [1]

In his sermon on this text, John MacArthur said, “When the New Testament talks about doubt… it primarily focuses in on believers.... It’s as if you have to believe something before you can doubt it; you have to be committed to it before you would begin to question it, so that doubt is ... the unique problem of the believer.” [2]

J.C. Ryle— “Doubting des not prove that a man has no faith, but only that his faith is small. And even when our faith is small, the Lord is ready to help us.” [3]

So let’s labor to listen to doubting disciples like our Jesus did.

Jude 22—And have mercy on those who doubt

Doubters: you need to open up about your doubts

John brings his doubts to Jesus, and so should we!

You should talk to Jesus about your doubts!

But I think doubters should take it a step further... since John is in prison and Jesus is out doing ministry, he doesn’t have physical access to Jesus. So he brings his doubts to Jesus by first bringing them to another person.

If you believe Jesus is “gentle and lowly,” telling Him your doubts will be relatively easy. But praying about it and not telling anybody else may not help you work through those doubts. Without the gift of Christian fellowship, you may find yourself telling Jesus about your doubts, then thinking about your doubts, then worrying about your doubts, and then spiraling further and further out of control.

Mcgrath—“We need to learn to be relaxed about doubt. Doubt is like an attention-seeking child. The more attention you pay to it, the more attention it demands. By worrying about your doubts, you get locked into a vicious cycle of uncertainty.” [4]

One of the best ways to break that cycle is by shedding light on it: honesty heals, secrecy kills.

So tell Jesus your doubts, and tell Jesus’ people!

It would help us, before we move on to pause for a moment to consider why John is doubting. In doing so we may learn reasons why some of us continue to doubt today, and we may be better equipped to help one another.

In his commentary on Matthew, David Platt suggests three reasons: [5]

A) Difficult Situations

We are more prone to doubt when life is hard!

The great prophet Elijah in 1 Kings 19, running from Jezebel and ready to give up. He asked God to take his life because he was the only real follower of God left!

John the Baptist is in prison! He’s probably hungry, tired, sick, and sore!

You are an embodied soul. When you’re physically or emotionally hurting, it’s going to affect you spiritually!

B) Unmet Expectations

We are more prone to doubt when our expectations are unmet

Elijah had a literal mountaintop experience in 1 Kings 18 when he defeated the prophets of Baal. Perhaps he expected that victory would lead to the end of the Lord’s enemies, and was shocked when many evil people remained in power

John the Baptist expected that Jesus was going to bring God’s fiery judgment on His enemies

Matthew 3:11-12—“I baptize you with water for repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in His hand, and He will clear His threshing floor and gather His wheat into the barn, but the chaff He will burn with unquenchable fire.”

But now John finds himself imprisoned by God’s enemies. And Jesus doesn’t seem to be doing anything about it.

So too we are prone to doubt when we have expectations about following Jesus that don’t turn out the way we hoped.

C) Limited Perception

We are more prone to doubt when we can’t see clearly

Elijah doubted God’s power because he believed he was the true follower of God left. But Elijah’s perception was limited. So God told him there were 7000 who had not yet bowed the knee to Baal (1 Kings 19:18)

John the Baptist couldn’t see everything that was happening either, which is why he needed Jesus’ help to overcome his doubt

So too when you’re doubting it’s likely because there’s something you can’t see

My doubts in 2016: “When you can’t see very far, go as far as you can see.”

Whatever the reason for your doubt, you can bring your doubts to Jesus because He gently cares for doubting disciples by listening to them.

As good as listening is, we need something more. We need more than a cosmic therapist who listens while we vent our doubts. We need someone to speak to us...

2) Jesus SPEAKS to Doubting Disciples.

11:4-5—And Jesus answered them, “Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them.”

At first glance, Jesus’ words may not seem like much. But there’s much more going on than meets the eye.

Remember, John is doubting if Jesus is really the promised Messiah. He once was quite sure, but now rotting in Herod’s prison he’s doubting.

But rather than directly answering John’s question, Jesus takes him to the Scriptures. His answer alludes to several prophecies about the Messiah that John would’ve known very well...

Isaiah 35:4-6—“Say to those who have an anxious heart, “Be strong; fear not! Behold, your God will come with vengeance, with the recompense of God. He will come and save you.” Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped; then shall the lame man leap like a deer, and the tongue of the mute sing for joy. For waters break forth in the wilderness, and streams in the desert.”

Isaiah 61:1-2—“The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favor, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn.

Jesus is clearly fulfilling part of these promises.

There’s lots of miracles in Scripture, but never before have the blind been restored their sight. Jesus is doing that!

He’s causing the deaf to hear, the lame to walk, He’s preaching good news to the poor.

Jesus hasn’t fulfilled everything in these passages

Both passages talk about God’s vengeance.

John is likely confused and doubting because Jesus hasn’t poured out God’s vengeance on His enemies.

By referring to these passages, Jesus is telling John that God’s justice hasn’t been denied, it’s just being delayed.

When Jesus speaks to comfort His doubting disciples, He takes them to the Scriptures.

So too should we. When someone comes to you with doubts, take them to the Scriptures.

Not in a trite way!

Holly’s early struggles with doubting her salvation

Doubters: go to people who will speak to you the Scriptures!

If you don’t have relationships with people like that, you need to lean into the church!

Mark Waite: when you can’t see very far, go as far as you can see!

Doubters: stay in God’s Word yourself!

How Lamentations 3 ministered to me in 2011, when I found myself unemployed and unable to get even an entry-level job to provide for my family.

Whatever the reason for your doubt, you can bring your doubts to Jesus because He gently cares for doubting disciples by speaking to them.

3) Jesus CHALLENGES Doubting Disciples

There is a movement among some professing Christians to celebrate doubt. To see doubt as a virtue. To paint doubt as humility. To say, “well I couldn’t possibly know for sure.” Besides, what matters isn’t what I believe but how I behave.”

Christianity is first and foremost not about our behavior.

Every other religion in the world begins with behavior. Only Christianity begins with belief.

Jesus came preaching “good news” not “good advice

Explain the Good News

If you’re a doubting disciple, Jesus will treat you tenderly. But He won’t celebrate your doubt. He’ll challenge you to forsake it...

11:6—“And blessed is the one who is not offended by Me.”

This isn’t the only place that Jesus challenges those who doubt...

Matthew 14:31—Jesus immediately reached out His hand and took hold of him, saying to him, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?”

Mark 11:22-23—And Jesus answered them, “Have faith in God. Truly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will come to pass, it will be done for him.”

Luke 24:38—And He said to them, “Why are you troubled, and why do doubts arise in your hearts?”

Jesus won’t cast off doubters, but He will encourage you to cast off your doubt.

The word “offended” in Matthew 11:6 literally means to be scandalized by something.

Maybe John isn’t scandalized by Jesus yet, but if his doubt persists, he will be. And Jesus challenges John to deal with his doubt before he allows it to turn into unbelief.

Remember, doubt isn’t unbelief, but it can easily turn into unbelief.

Remember the quote from Alister McGrath I read earlier…

“Unbelief is the decision to live your life as if there is no God. It is a deliberate decision to reject Jesus Christ and all that he stands for. But doubt is something quite different. Doubt arises within the context of faith. It is a wistful longing to be sure of the things in which we trust.” [5]

Why I said earlier that non-Christian’s issue isn’t really doubt but unbelief.

In that article, “When Doubt Becomes Unbelief,” McGrath suggests there are three main ways doubt turns into unbelief. I’m going to take those categories and turn them into three challenges for doubting disciples:

A) Don’t be unrealistic about faith

If you believe that you can, or need to, know everything with absolute certainty your doubts are going to eventually overwhelm you.

Hebrews 11:1—Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.

Even John still had to have faith

Perhaps the hardest part was a little line in Isaiah 61:1, where it says the Messiah would be “opening the prison to those who are bound.”

John might’ve been like, “Really Jesus? What about that part?”

B) Don’t be preoccupied with doubt

Doubt often turns to unbelief when we obsess with our own mental state to that point that we stop looking to Jesus.

This is another reason why we should open up about our doubts with other believers!

Christian in Doubting castle had the key “Promise” all along

We don’t know how long John was locked in doubting castle while also being locked in Herod’s dungeon. He may have, for a season, been preoccupied with his doubts. But eventually he reached out to Jesus.

C) Don’t be content with immature faith

You’re supposed to grow in your faith!

G.K. Chesterton—“A man was meant to be doubtful about himself but undoubting about the truth. This has been exactly reversed.” [6]

Whatever the reason for your doubt, you can bring your doubts to Jesus because He gently cares for doubting disciples by challenging them.

4) Jesus AFFIRMS Doubting Disciples

Jesus does not affirm doubt. He does not celebrate doubt. He confronts it, He challenges it.

But Jesus does affirm His doubting disciples. Even when they doubt.

11:7–8— As they went away, Jesus began to speak to the crowds concerning John: “What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind? What then did you go out to see? A man dressed in soft clothing? Behold, those who wear soft clothing are in kings’ houses.

John isn’t doubting because he’s a shaky, fickle, unreliable person. He’s not doubting because he’s a soft pushover who’s unable to handle the pressure.

Jesus continues...

11:9-10— What then did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. This is he of whom it is written, “ ‘Behold, I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way before you.’

Here Jesus quotes Malachi, the last Old Testament prophet who said...

Malachi 3:1, 4:5—Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before Me. And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple; and the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts.... Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes.

Before John the Baptist was born, an angel appeared to his father Zechariah and said...

Luke 1:17—“and he will go before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready for the Lord a people prepared.”

That’s why Jesus says in...

11:14-15— all the Prophets and the Law prophesied until John, and if you are willing to accept it, he is Elijah who is to come. He who has ears to hear, let him hear.

Even though John is in prison. Even though he’s doubting. Even though he’s struggling, Jesus still affirms him. John the Baptist is a great man!

Jesus makes this abundantly clear in...

11:11a—Truly, I say to you, among those born of women there has arisen no one greater than John the Baptist.

Why is there nobody greater? Because as great as all the prophets were, none of them were given the privilege John had. Only John was an immediate forerunner of Jesus.

That’s all well and good, but what about me? I’m no John the Baptist. I’m just me. And I’m doubting. Is there any hope for nobodies like me?

11:11b—Yet the one who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.

How can the least in the kingdom of heaven be greater than John?

Even the least among you understands more about Jesus than John did. John was doubting because he was waiting for God’s judgment to be poured out on His enemies. He didn’t understand how Jesus could be the Messiah of God’s wrath wasn’t going to be poured out.

But even the least in the kingdom understands that God did pour His judgment out. Just not on His enemies. God poured His judgment out on His only begotten Son.

There’s the reason why Jesus affirms His doubting disciples. Not because we’re great, but because He’s great. Your hope is not you, it’s Christ!

Affirm the evidences of grace you see in one another!

Whatever the reason for your doubt, you can bring your doubts to Jesus because He gently cares for doubting disciples by affirming them.

Jesus is a good physician. We can trust Him with our doubts.

But He’s not just the doctor. He’s the medicine.

All our doubts are either doubting God’s love or doubting God’s power.

Measure God’s love by the cross.

Measure God’s power by the empty tomb.

Christ the Sure & Steady Anchor

Benediction (Romans 15:13)

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.

Related Media

Related Sermons