Sermon Tone Analysis

/How can you be so sure about Jesus? /

/            That’s probably not a question you expect to hear your preacher ask is it?

I mean, the preacher’s job is to feed your faith, not raise your doubts.

The preacher’s job is not to ask questions as to dish out answers.

The preacher is supposed to comfort you, not challenge you, right?

Especially when it comes to Jesus.

Preacher, if we aren’t sure about Jesus, then what can we be sure about?

/

/            Let me quickly tell you that I know we can and should be certain about Jesus.

My question is not meant to drudge up doubts about Christ.

It is meant to help us confront our doubts openly and honestly.

It’s easy to try to construct a faith that is like a fine porcelain figurine---really nice to look at, but at the same time very fragile.

We believe what we believe about Jesus because that’s what our parents believe, or that’s what the church teaches, or because what we believe about Jesus makes us feel better.

/

/            But a porcelain faith isn’t very safe when an earthquake hits.

When life gets turned upside down, suddenly pious Sunday morning clichés begin to sound like nonsense.

It is in those times you may be tempted to question what you were once so sure about Jesus.

/

/            I think about the young person who grows up in church, attends Sunday School, learns the Bible verses, but lives most of his life in a culture constantly telling him everything he thinks he knows about Jesus is just a fairy tale.

When is he going to outgrow all that kids’ stuff?

/

/            I think about the wife who is struggling to hold her marriage together, who prays earnestly for her husband and her kids, but it doesn’t seem to help.

Every day she sinks a little deeper into her loneliness, and she wonders what she’s doing wrong, why doesn’t the Lord help her? /

/            I think about the person with chronic health problems, praying constantly for healing, but every night taking medicine to ease the pain just enough to nod off for a few hours.

Why do I have to suffer, Lord?

Do you really care about me as much as the Bible says You do?/

/            I think about someone maybe here this morning who is not a Christian, who sees people who seem so sure about Christ, but they just can’t seem to get that same assurance.

/

/            How can you be so sure about Jesus? /

/            I want to look at someone who struggled with this question, and who, I believe, found the answer.

I believe his story can help you and I develop a rock solid assurance about the Savior.

The story of his struggle is found in *Matt.

11:1-6*.

Let’s begin with *vs.

1-3*.

/

*PRAYER*/ /

All 4 Gospels begin not with the ministry of Christ, but with the ministry of John the Baptist.

John was a real man’s preacher.

He didn’t tiptoe around, meekly whispering nice religious phrases—His voice boomed out like thunder, His message not an invitation but an ultimatum.

He was the original fire and brimstone preacher.

John is not a minister who minces words.

He is even bold enough to take on the powerful tyrant King Herod for his sin.

But the most important focus of John’s message is not on sin or on Herod, but on the One Who will come.

John preaches about Jesus before anybody else knows Who Jesus is.

It is John who announces /Behold the Lamb of God Who takes away the sins of the world.

/It is John who baptizes Jesus and John who later puts himself in his place by declaring in

*Jn 3:30* /He must increase, but I must decrease./

/            /It is also this same John who sends some friends to ask Jesus the question in *vs.

3*: /are you the Coming One, or do we look for another?

/

John, how can you ask this question?

You’ve seen Jesus in Person, you saw the dove and the sky ripped open, heard the voice of God Himself declare */This /*/is My Beloved Son in Whom I am well pleased!

/Surely if anybody should be sure about Jesus, John it ought to be you!

But John’s faith is shaken when he is arrested by Herod.

The Bible doesn’t tell us how long he sits there in prison, but we do know in the dark, damp dungeon, nobody hears John’s preaching, nobody gets baptized.

Now the only faces he ever sees are the guards and a few friends who are care enough and are brave enough to chance a visit.

He asks them about what’s happening in the outside world, especially what Jesus is up to.

Perhaps He expects Jesus to soon lower the boom on the Herods of the world, tear down the walls of this cell, and lead His faithful prophet out in triumph.

What he hears is a different story.

His friends tell him Jesus doesn’t seem interested in wreaking vengeance on Herod or anybody else.

Rome is still in charge, Herod is still king, and John is still in jail, waiting for his inevitable execution.

How would you feel if you were John?

Is it any wonder he has questions?

/Is this God’s plan for me?

Call me to preach then allow this evil king to shut me up?

When is Jesus going to make His play?

Lord, surely You won’t forget me, surely you won’t leave me to rot in this cell.

/

He was once so sure about Jesus, but now he is struggles with doubts.

Not stubborn unbelief, but honest doubts.

Where does he take his doubts?

/To the Lord.

/

/Have you ever been where John is? /

/Ever found yourself wasting away in the prison of worry or fear?

You sing “Trust and Obey, for there’s no other way, to be happy in Jesus” but then things start looking pretty scary for you.

The Lord doesn’t seem to be coming through, and you don’t know how much longer you can wait for Him to do something.

Are You the One, or do we look for another?

/

/Or perhaps you are imprisoned by in a cell of loneliness.

How can I feel so lonely when You promised You’d never leave me nor forsake me?

Your prayers seem pointless, and God feels a million miles away.

Are you the One, or should we look for another?/

/Your jail may be guilt.

Lord, You told me You’d always provide a way of escape, but I can’t seem to find it.

I pray for forgiveness, but I still feel condemned.

Lord, I don’t understand how this can keep happening!

Are You the One, or should we look for another?

/

*Psalm 88:14* /Lord//, why do You cast off my soul?

Why do You hide Your face from me?/

*                **Ps 13:1* /How long, O Lord? Will You forget me forever?

How long will You hide Your face from me?/

/We’re not talking about stubborn unbelief here—the attitude that refuses to trust Christ.

We’re talking about an honest struggle of a person who just can’t seem to get a foothold on their faith.

This was John’s struggle; this is our struggle.

/

What do you do with your doubts?

You do what John did: you take them to Jesus.

You don’t deny them, or ignore them, you pray about them.

Honestly lay out your feelings and struggles with the Lord, and He won’t condemn you—He will answer you, the same way He answers John in *vs.

4-5*.

/Go and tell John the things which you hear and see…/

I’ve never been there, but I imagine a dungeon is a pretty depressing place.

It’d be easy to host a pity party in prison, easy to focus on your own troubles, hard to set your sights higher.

But Jesus calls John to do just that, because if you want to be sure about Jesus, you cannot focus on either your feelings or your circumstances.

Somehow you’ve got to see the bigger picture, which Jesus paints for John in *vs.

5*.

These words focus on 2 very important ways Jesus helps us be sure about Him.

The first way is through /God’s Word/.

John hears these words and immediately remember the OT prophecies concerning the Messiah, such as

*Is 35:4-5 */4//Say to those who are fearful-hearted, “Be strong, do not fear!

Behold, your God…will come and save you.”

5Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, And the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped./

Jesus is giving John the assurance that He is fulfilling the Scriptures according to schedule.