Sermon Tone Analysis

*Doubt*

*Luke 7:18-28*

 

Intro: Are you skeptical about anything.

I’ll admit it.

At times I can be skeptical.

Whenever I      hear about someone who is suffering       from a disease discovering his or her illness is gone, I wonder if it can be true.

Is there another explanation?

I read reports about God         mysteriously working in people’s lives and I question whether their experiences are    genuine or not.

There are times when while I am praying, I begin to wonder whether             God hears me, or are my prayers just bouncing off the ceiling?

(I’m not alone.)

/ 13//  But I cry to you for help, O Lord; in the morning my prayer comes before you.

14 Why, O         Lord, do you reject me and hide your face from me? (Psalms 88:13)          /

Trans: 1) Writer Lee Strobel says that there are three kinds of people in this room   today.

The                              first group would be those who have doubted.

The second group would be those                                  who haven’t doubted yet, but who will.

And the third group who never doubts but

                        are brain dead.

In other words, if you’re a thinking person at all – if you seriously                         contemplate your faith and what it means to follow Jesus Christ --the chances are                          that every once in a while you’re going to come down with some questions, some                               issues, some uncertainties, some doubts.

\\ Target: My message is simply this…God understands your doubts and wants to help you grow     through your doubts.

In fact those who are the most mature in their faith will have         serious times of doubts and will face them until they find God’s resolution.

Luke 7:18-28 (p.730) 

*Background: *

            1.

Our story turns again to Jesus relationship with His cousin, John the Baptizer.

John                               has a meteoric rise in ministry that lasted no more than a year.

He is in prison.

He is put in there because he is stirring unrest among the common people.

And                              he is taking on the man—the corrupt leadership.

He called some of leaders a                          “brood of vipers.”

Whatever that means it was not a term of endearment.

It has                                  landed him in prison.

He has been used to the open desert and now he is confined                        to a prison.

2.

We confront him in a severe time of crisis and doubt regarding his faith in Christ.

*What should I know?

*

/18 //John’s disciples told him about all these things.

Calling two of them, 19 he sent them to the Lord to ask, “Are you the one who was to come, or should we expect someone else?” 20 When the men came to Jesus, they said, “John the Baptist sent us to you to ask, ‘Are you the one who was to come, or should we expect someone else?’ ” /

*Doubt is not the same as unbelief.

*

            1.

John is expressing doubts in who Jesus is claiming Himself to be.

He is expressing

                        doubt in who He claimed Jesus to be.

Is this wrong?

Is this sin?

(I don’t think

                        so.)

            2.

*Doubt is a matter of the mind*: we cannot understand what God is doing or why He is                        doing it.

Why isn’t God answering my prayer?

If God loves us and is all-

                        powerful why does he allow suffering?

How do I know Christianity is really true

                        in comparison to other faith systems?

(As we’ll see in a moment, this is the

                        nature of John the Baptist’s doubt and questioning.

It is a matter of the mind.)

3.

*Unbelief is altogether different.

It is a matter of the will*: we refuse to believe God                            because we don’t want to, not because we don’t understand.

(Illus.)

Books-a-Million!  (Free Thinker magazine…Maybe Christianity is not for knuckle dragging morons.)

Doubt says I have questions.

Unbelief says my mind is already made        up, don’t confuse me with truth.

Doubt as John expresses it is not a sin! 

*Doubt occurs even among the most mature of God’s people.*

*            1.

Jesus *addresses John’s doubts.

And as he addresses the doubts of John in front

*                        *of a crowd who could be wondering about John’s credibility.

Here is a guy who

                        so boldly and loudly and even defiantly claimed that Jesus was the messiah is now                        wavering in his faith.

What’s up?  Jesus answer is that great men are still merely

                        men.

/24 //After John’s messengers left, Jesus began to speak to the crowd about John: “What did you go out into the desert to see?

A reed swayed by the wind?

/

            2.

John wasn’t a mamby pamby wimp, believing one thing at this time and another the

                        next.

He doesn’t take a stand based on opinion polls or how his stand will impact                                     his likeability and electability.

So his doubt was not born out of double                                          mindedness or a lack of integrity.

/25 //If not, what did you go out to see?

A man dressed in fine clothes?

No, those who wear expensive clothes and indulge in luxury are in palaces./

/            /3.

His authority wasn’t from a place like the White House or Buckingham Palace.

He                               didn’t have on fancy clothes.

In fact the camel’s skin he wasn’t exactly the height                        of fashion even during Jesus’ day.

His authority was not from men. 

/ 26 But what did you go out to see?

A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet./

/ 27 This is the one about whom it is written: “‘I will send my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way before you./

            4.

John was prophesied in the Old Testament.

He would have looked at the writings of

                        Isaiah 600 years earlier and said these point o me.

He is the guy who had the                                Spirit in his mother’s womb and jumped for joy at the announcement of Christ.

He is the one who saw the Spirit descending like a dove and a voice coming out                               of heaven.

This is the guy who announced, “Look the Lamb of God who takes                                    away the sin of the world.”

He wasn’t a run of the mill prophet. 

            5.

Now look at the compliment he pays…

/’////28 //I tell you, among those born of women there is no one greater than John; /

            6.

From Abraham, Moses, David, Daniel, Jeremiah and all of the rest, this is the greatest

                        man of God to have existed.

THINK ABOUT THAT -- JESUS GAVE JOHN                             THE HIGHEST COMPLIMENT IN             THE WORLD AT THE SAME TIME                                  THAT JOHN WAS IN THE MIDST OF DOUBTING!

*Doubt can occur due to missed expectations about God.* 

            1.

When John said here comes Jesus to take away the sin of the world, he thought Jesus

                        would do it as a conqueror or a prize fighter, as he eventually will.

It is not

                        happening.