Why are You Troubled and Doubt?
Notes
Transcript
This morning’s Scripture Lesson is taken from Luke 24:36-49:
As they were talking about these things, Jesus himself stood among them, and said to them, “Peace to you!” But they were startled and frightened and thought they saw a spirit. And he said to them, “Why are you troubled, and why do doubts arise in your hearts? See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Touch me, and see. For a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.” And when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. And while they still disbelieved for joy and were marveling, he said to them, “Have you anything here to eat?” They gave him a piece of broiled fish, and he took it and ate before them.
Then he said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.” Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, and said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. And behold, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you. But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.”
Throughout this summer, we have been looking at some of Life’s Most Important Questions; questions we find in the pages of Scripture. Today’s question is found in Luke 24:38:
And he said to them, “Why are you troubled, and why do doubts arise in your hearts?
This is a question we can all relate to. Some of you today may have come to church or tuned in to this live-stream with troubled hearts. Others of you may have doubts arising in your hearts and minds about God and His Word. Still others may find themselves gripped with fear. We only have to open our eyes and see people around us gripped with troubled, fearful and doubting hearts. Therefore, the question before us today is clearly one of Life’s Most Important Questions.
I find it interesting that Jesus asks this question on the evening of the very first Easter Sunday. In fact, as you read the context of Luke 24, you discover it was a day characterized by fear, sadness and doubt. We normally associate Easter with joy, but on this first Easter day, joy was not the emotion people felt first.
A careful reading of Luke 24 clearly shows that God inspired Luke to follow a very carefully crafted literary pattern—a pattern that begins with a troubled, doubtful hearts and ends with joy and peace.
It is a day that begins in fear. Look at the opening verses of this chapter. We find a group of women going to the tomb to finish the preparation of Jesus body. They must have left that morning with a great sadness in their hearts. When they got there, they found the stone rolled away and two angels. Rather than joy, we are told their hearts were gripped with perplexity and fear.
Later on in chapter 24, we find two men on the way to Emmaus and we are told they looked sad and that their hopes concerning Jesus were dashed.
Finally, in our reading we are told that all the gathered disciples upon seeing Jesus were frightened, troubled and filled with doubts.
What was it that was causing them to have such troubled hearts and what was it that changed their sadness to joy? As we examine each of these episodes, we find the answer. They were troubled because Scripture was closed to them, but then they found joy because Jesus opened Scripture for them.
When Scripture is Closed to us, Troubles and Doubts Arise in Our Hearts
When Scripture is Closed to us, Troubles and Doubts Arise in Our Hearts
So that you can see this pattern, I want to highlight each time either Jesus or His Words open Scripture for them. First, verses 6-8:
He is not here, but has risen. Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and on the third day rise.” And they remembered his words,
Now, verses 25-27:
And he said to them, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?” And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.
Finally, verses 44-46:
Then he said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.” Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, and said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead,
I find it interesting that seeing evidence, even seeing Jesus Himself did not free their hearts from fear, trouble and doubts. It was only when Jesus opened Scripture for them that they could properly understand the evidence they were seeing. Let this sink in…We think we have doubts because we lack the evidence, but the reality is we have doubts because we do not have the light of God’s Word in our hearts.
Now we turn to the second half of this pattern:
When Scripture is Opened for Us, Peace and Faith Arise in our Hearts
When Scripture is Opened for Us, Peace and Faith Arise in our Hearts
In each episode, the Word of God is opened and when it is peace and faith replace trouble and doubt.
I want to suggest to you that this is not only true for the first Easter Sunday, but it is true for every day of our life. As our eyes are opened to the reality of God’s “precious and very great promises” (2 Peter 1:3-4), our doubts and fears melt away.
So how can we apply this truth to our lives? This is the topic I want to move on to now.
How to Experience the Opening of Scripture
How to Experience the Opening of Scripture
As we turn to the application of the truth, we find in Luke 24, there is something you need to understand: Your default setting is ignorance to God’s Word. The Apostle Paul writes:
The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.
At the end of our passage, we find Jesus commanding the disciples to “stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.” (Luke 24:49) Why did He do this?
We find the answer in John 14:
“These things I have spoken to you while I am still with you. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.
While Jesus was on earth, He could teach His disciples, opening Scripture for them. Now that He has ascended, He has sent to the Holy Spirit to be His “Helper,” in order that the Holy Spirit can teach us and open Scripture for us.
This is way we must pray and seek the help of the Holy Spirit as we read, study and heart the Word of God. The prayer of illumination is perhaps the most important prayer of our worship service. Without the Holy Spirit, there is no power. Charles Spurgeon, who is known as the “Prince of Preachers,” credited the success of his preaching to his congregations’ prayers! As we saw earlier in 1 Corinthians, we need supernatural power to understand Scripture.
This leads to the second thing we must do: We must humbly submit to the Holy Spirit’s teaching. That teaching is found in black and white in your own Bibles. We read in 2 Timothy:
All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,
The Bible is a supernatural book and we must submit to its message in order that our minds might be transformed by it. Sadly, most people will not do this. They come to Scripture with preconceived ideas and attempt to transform Scripture to their viewpoint. In so doing, the Bible becomes a closed book to them. We need to listen carefully to Jesus’ rebuke of the religious leaders of His day:
You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me, yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life.
Adding a few verses later:
Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father. There is one who accuses you: Moses, on whom you have set your hope. For if you believed Moses, you would believe me; for he wrote of me. But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe my words?”
Are you allowing Jesus to open Scripture for you by seeking and submitting to the Holy Spirit? Until you do, you heart will be filled with trouble and doubts. Let Christ open your minds, in order that you might understand Scripture and you will discover that the trouble and doubt that fill your heart is replaced by peace and faith.
The other day I was speaking to someone about their experience in the hospital. They told me heart was filled with so much trouble and doubt, their hands were shaking! Then they remembered the promises of Scripture and Christ filled their hearts with peace.
Brothers and sisters, our closing song this morning is Standing on the Promises. As this song is played, pay attention to the words in light of what we have learned today from Luke 24. If you do, I am certain you too will experience the peace and power of God’s Word.
Let us pray.