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Intro
We all have our doubts—doubts about the future, about our abilities, about our relationships, about our health, about the meaning of life, and even about God.
There are times when we wonder if God is really there, when our prayers seem to bounce back off the ceiling and we feel alone in the universe.
Suddenly and often quite unexpectedly, everything we have ever believed about God and salvation seems extremely implausible.
We are tempted to doubt whether the Bible really is the Word of God, whether Jesus really did rise from the dead, or whether we ourselves will ever experience the glories of eternal life.
Where do these doubts come from?
Sometimes they come from Satan, who tempts us not to believe what God has said in his Word.
Sometimes they come when we are bored, or tired, or suffering from physical weakness.
Sometimes they come when we are grieving the death of someone we love.
Sometimes they come when we are under spiritual attack, or have given in to destructive patterns of sin and are no longer able to think clearly and righteously about spiritual things.
Often the doubts come when we are disappointed with God.
We thought we knew what God would do for us;
we had expectations of what salvation would be like.
But when God fails to grant us the physical healing, the financial prosperity,
or the family situation we prayed for, we are tempted to doubt whether he really is the God he claims to be.
Whatever the reason, we all have our doubts.
Sometimes they almost seem to threaten the foundations of our faith.
But even in the midst of our doubts, Jesus is faithful and true.
John’s Question to Jesus 18-23.
As we begin looking at this section, we must remember what is happening with John for starters.
Luke has already told us back in chapter 3 that John is not in the best of situations.
John is locked up, but many of his followers remained loyal to him.
We don’t know what John’s conditions were in prison exactly.
As we see in the text, apparently they were able to have some contact with John.
John calls two of his disciples to him to send them to Jesus with a question.
Luke 7:19 (ESV)
“Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?”
When we first approach this statement from John, it should cause us a little confusion.
Remember what John had said back in chapter 3.
John had also witnessed the Holy Spirit coming down upon Jesus.
When we look to Matthew’s telling of this account
John appeared to have a clear picture and a clear understanding of the Messiah.
But did he?
Think about it with me for a moment.
When you go to order something on the internet, one of the hardest things to do, unless you are ordering another of something you already have, is know exactly what you will receive.
You can read reviews, you can look at the specifications, you can study the pictures, but until it arrives, you don’t really know.
John, while being the forerunner of the Messiah, is still a man.
He had to learn the signs for the Messiah from studying the OT.
In doing so, he had a picture in his mind of who the Messiah would be, but he also had an idea of what the Messiah would do.
If we look back to chapter 3 once again when the people were questioning John.
Back a little further in verse 9
John had some misconceptions about Jesus.
He knew that the Messiah would bring spiritual salvation, and that part of that ment he would come in judgment to destroy the enemies of God.
But John did not fully understand the timing.
From the statements we have recorded, it appears he thought that God’s judgment would come right away.
According to the reports John was getting, Jesus was preaching sermons and performing miracles.
But when would he get around to the really important stuff, like overthrowing the religious establishment, or inaugurating his kingdom?
John was looking for a more militant Messiah, with a more aggressive timetable.
David Gooding explains John’s attitude like this:
“It was all right his going about healing an odd slave here and raising a widow’s son from the dead there—John had nothing against that.
But what about the big issues?
When was Jesus going to start putting oppressive governments right?
Abolishing evil rulers like Herod?
Putting down the Roman tyranny and giving Israel her political independence?”
Perhaps John was even thinking, Hey Jesus, when are you going to get me out of this prison cell?
So in sending his disciples to Jesus, John is in essence asking, are you actually who I thought you were?
Modern misconceptions about Jesus.
If we think about it, how often do we ask the same question.
What are our own misconceptions about Jesus, God, the church?
It is not wrong to doubt, it is wrong to remain in doubt.
Even in John’s doubt, Jesus commended him as we see later in these verses.
As I have been thinking and praying over this message, I have been considering what are some common misconceptions we have today about Jesus.
One misconception is interpreting Jesus through our own lens or mindset.
We may read our Bibles, in doing so we seek to know Jesus better.
But we still read scripture through our own lens.
That lens is influenced by our family, by our culture, by the church we are in, by the church as a whole.
That affects how we view Jesus, His work, His mission.
This really isn’t anything new.
In the second century after the birth of Christ, a heretic named Marcion decided that the God of the New Testament was the loving, forgiving God of Jesus Christ.
By contrast, the God of the Old Testament was a malicious and judging tyrant who was bent on making His people miserable.
As a result of this belief, Marcion discarded the Old Testament as rubbish and ultimately did the same with much of the New Testament,
all in an attempt to sever any connection of Jesus with that malevolent God of Israel.
That idea continues today.
The idea that Jesus is all love.
There are groups within the church that push a view of Jesus as this sophisticated, cultured, well-groomed for the twenty-first century sort of man.
This Jesus is tailor-made for our chic, well-pressed society.
He embraces all the right causes, from women’s rights, sensitivity training for men, even homosexual and transgender ideology.
In reality, we have the exact opposite problem with our misconceptions as John had.
Our culture, if it looks to Jesus at all, is so determined to depict Jesus as weak and vulnerable precisely because he defines goodness itself in terms of those things.
Goodness is defined by that which is nice and weak and non-judgmental.
Strength and power and the willingness to judge, on the other hand, are the very picture of what is unacceptable.
The idea that, “Power, no matter how well-intentioned, tends to cause suffering,”.
Therefore, a loving Jesus must be a powerless and vulnerable Jesus.
Only an intolerant and judgmental Jesus would be strong.
We have already seen though through our time in the book of Luke, Jesus power on display.
He has power over death, he just raised the widows son prior to this.
Jesus in Luke 5 showed his power and authority in calling disciples.
We have seen power over demons, over sickness.
In chapter 8, we will see Jesus power over nature.
Even in going to the cross, Jesus power is displayed in voluntarily laying down His life, only to revive in power.
He has power greater than men, power that rises with a dominion as exalted as the majesty of God.
He has power greater than cyclones, greater than earthquakes, greater than any of the natural catastrophic events.
He has power over sin.
There is no sin any person has committed which is beyond the scope of the forgiveness of “this same Jesus.”
But he also loves greater than any.
Love is His nature.
The love and power of God are not at odds.
Another common misconception I believe we can be blinded by, and I believe this is part of what John the Baptist was experiencing
Jesus is only with us when things are going well.
Even when it feels like we are in the dungeon of despair, depression, relational troubles, financial insecurity, work issues, health, the craziness of the world around us.
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