#55 Lu. 7:18-23 A MAN WHO HAD DOUBTS ABOUT JESUS

Introduction:

    It does not come as a surprise to us that a man may believe in Jesus as
the Christ and then later have doubts about Jesus.  This has happened at one
time or another to most people who truly believe in Jesus.  Yet it does come
as a surprise that a man like John the Baptist would have his doubts.  Yet
that is just exactly what happened.  That is what our text is about.  It is
about the doubts that John had and how he dealt with those doubts.

I.  John's great faith in Jesus at an earlier time

    Before we look to our text I would like to point out to you the great
faith that John earlier had in Jesus Christ.  John had been called of God to
preach about the coming of the Christ.  John had preached and said, "After
me there cometh one greater than I.  I am not worthy to unloose his shoes."
He was talking about the coming of the Christ.
    John the Baptist had the privilege of baptizing Jesus in the Jordan
River.  In fact John baptized a lot of people in the River Jordan.  But
before he baptized Jesus, God the Father revealed to him that he was going
to baptize the Christ.  God had told John that one of these days he would
baptize a man upon whom the Holy Spirit of God would descend.  God said to
John, "The man on whom the Holy Spirit descends and abides on Him that man
is the Christ." So one day Jesus came to John to be baptized.  As John was
in the act of baptizing Jesus, the Holy Spirit of God did come down from
heaven in the form of a dove and lit upon Jesus.  The way that I picture it
is that just about the time John raised Jesus up out of the water, the Holy
Spirit, in the form of a dove lit upon Jesus.
    In John 1:32-34 we read, "And John bare record, saying, I saw the Spirit
descending from heaven like a dove, and it abode upon him.  And I knew him
not: but he that sent me to baptize with water, the same said unto me, Upon
whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending, and remaining on him, the same is
he which baptiseth with the Holy Ghost.  And I saw, and bare record that
this is the Son of God."
    God told John to bare record of Jesus and bare record John did. One day
as John was baptizing and a great crowd of people were gathered, John saw
Jesus approaching. John told that crowd, "Behold the Lamb of God that taketh
away the sin of the world."  John did not hesitate to identify Jesus to the
nation of Israel as the Christ.  He identified Jesus as the one who takes
away sin.  He thus identified Jesus as the Savior of men.  He identified
Jesus as being the very Son of God, Deity God dwelling in human flesh.
John's whole ministry was spent in warning people to repent of their sin and
telling them about Jesus Christ who could save from sin.

II.  John's doubts

    That is why it comes as a surprise to us to read in our text about John
the Baptist having doubts and wondering if Jesus really is the Christ after
all.  Let's look at our text and see what happened.  V. 18, "And the
disciples of John showed him of all these things."  That is, the disciples
of John told him about all of the great miracles that Jesus was doing.  They
told him about the servant of the Roman centurion being healed.  They told
him about the son of the widow being raised from the dead.  They told him
about all of the other things that Jesus had been doing that they knew
anything about.
    John, himself, was in prison at this time.  He had been arrested by
Herod and had no way of his own to keep up with what was happening.  He was
totally dependant on a few of his disciples who would visit him from time to
time to bring him news about Jesus.
    We would expect John to react with rejoicing to the news about the
miracles that Jesus was doing.  Such was not the case, however.  Instead of
rejoicing, John was disturbed.  Even after his disciples left the prison
were he was, he was still disturbed.  Instead of being reassured that Jesus
is that Christ, John began to question in his mind if Jesus really is the
Christ.  The more he thought on it the greater his doubts became.
    Apparently John was had become friends with some of the guards in the
prison and he prevailed on them to carry a message to two of his disciples
asking them to come on another visit.  V. 19, "And John calling unto him two
of his disciples sent them to Jesus, saying, Art thou he that should come?
or look we for another?"
    Before we proceed further with our text, let us raise the question,
"What caused John to doubt?  Why was it that a man who was so certain that
Jesus is the very Son of God, the Savior of men, would become so filled with
doubt that he would send messengers saying, "Are you really the Christ or do
we look for another?"
    There are at least two answers to this question.  First of all, Jesus
was not at all doing the things John had expected the Christ to do.  Like
almost all Jews, John had expected the Christ to raise an army and drive the
Romans out of their country.  He expected the Christ to thus take over the
reins of government.  He expected Him to sit upon the throne of David in
Jerusalem and to rule the nation.  Since John believed Jesus to be the
Christ, he expected Jesus to do these things.  Yet Jesus had done none of
those things that he had expected.  Jesus had not raised an army.  He had
not driven out the Romans to take over the government from them.  He had
made no effort to sit upon the throne of David to rule Israel.  Frankly,
John was let down in Jesus.  Jesus was not at all what John had expected Him
to be.
    The second reason that John must have come to doubt that Jesus is the
Christ is because of his imprisonment.  Things were not at all going well
with John.  John was hurting.  He was locked tightly within the prison
walls.  He had lost his freedom.  He could no longer go out into the
wilderness of Judaea and preach.  He could no longer go down to the Jordan
River to baptize.  He was shut off from his friends.  He was shut off even
from his disciples with the exception of an occasional visit from a few of
them.  John was hurting.  Thing were not going well and it looked as if they
just might get worse.  He just might even lose his life.  It made John
wonder, "If Jesus really is the Christ, why in the world does He leave me
here?  Why does He not use some of His power and influence to get me out of
here?  Does He not remember that I am the one who befriended Him and
introduced Him to Israel as the Christ?  If He really is the Christ, why
does He not come and get me out of this mess that I am in?"  So John sent
two of his disciples to Jesus to make an inquiry of Him.
    V. 20, "When the men were come unto him, they said, John Baptist hath
sent us unto thee, saying, Art thou he that should come? or look we for
another?"  Let me point out to you that John was taking the right course of
action.  He was taking the right course of action by not continuing to live
with his doubts.  He felt that he could not go on living in doubt.  His
doubts were driving him up the wall.  He was wise to try to get this matter
settled once and for all.
    He was taking the right course of action by sending to Jesus.  He was
wise by sending directly to Jesus and asking Jesus Himself if He were the
Christ.  If anyone really wants to know whether Jesus is the Christ, let him
make contact with Jesus and ask Him if He is the Christ.  There is no one
better qualified or better able to settle the matter for the doubter than
Jesus Christ, Himself.  If you have doubts about Jesus, then ask Jesus and
let Jesus Himself settle the question that is in your mind.  Jesus is able
to settle the matter for you so that all your doubts will be erased.

III. The Lord's answer for John's doubts

    V. 21, "And in that same hour he cured many of their infirmities and
plagues, and of evil spirits; and unto many that were blind he gave sight."
In the same hour that the two disciples of John came to Jesus with John's
question, there were many other who came to Jesus to be healed.  He healed
them of whatever infirmity or illness they had.  He cast demon spirits out
of those who were demon possessed.  He caused the blind to see.  The point
that Luke is making here is that those two disciples of John were present
when all these miracles took place.  They were eyewitness.  It was one thing
to hear about the miracles of Jesus like the healing of the servant of the
centurion and like the raising of the son of the widow to life again.  But
it was something altogether different to be present first hand to see for
yourself.  Earlier the disciples had reported to John what they had heard.
This time they saw with their own eyes.
    V. 22, "Then Jesus answering said unto them, Go your way, and tell John
what things ye have seen and heard; how that the blind see, the lame walk,
the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, to the poor the
gospel is preached."  The very miracle of these events should have been
convincing to these disciples and the fact that they could report to John
that they were eye witnesses should reassure John that Jesus really is the
Christ.
    But even if the miraculous powers demonstrated by Jesus should not alone
be enough to convince John, the fulfillment of prophecy concerning the
Christ should convince him.  Jesus said, "Tell John that the blind are made
to see."  This is a fulfillment of a prophecy about the Christ found in
Isaiah 35:5.  Jesus said, "Tell John that the lame are made to walk." This
is a fulfillment of prophecy about the Christ found in Isaiah 35:6.  Jesus
said, "Tell John that the lepers are cleansed."  This is a fulfillment of
prophecy about the Christ in Ezek.  36:29.  Jesus said, "Tell John that the
deaf hear." This is a fulfillment of prophecy about the Christ as found in
Isa. 35:5.  Jesus said, "Tell John that the dead are raised to life again."
This is a fulfillment of prophecy about the Christ as found in Dan.  12:2.
At least it a partial fulfillment of that prophecy.  Jesus said, "Tell John
that the gospel is preached to the poor."  This is a fulfillment of prophecy
about the Christ as found in Isa.  61:1.  In other words these miracles are
the direct fulfillment of prophecy about the work of the Christ and they
show clearly that Jesus is indeed the very Christ of God.  John was familiar
with these prophecies and he would recognize the work of Jesus as the
fulfillment of prophecy about the Christ.
    V. 23, "And blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in me."
After giving John the evidence that he needed to be reassured that He is the
Christ, Jesus then gives John a mild rebuke for his doubts.  So far as I can
recall right at the moment the only thing that Jesus ever rebuked His
disciples for was for the weakness of their faith in Him.  So Jesus here
rebukes the great man, John the Baptist, because even his faith had
faltered.  Yet it is worthy of note that Jesus did not rebuke John severely.
I suspect that John rebuked himself a lot more severely than Jesus did.
What Jesus did was to pronounce a blessing on those whose faith did not
falter.  The man whose faith in Jesus never wavers but is always firmly
anchored in Jesus Christ will receive special blessings from God.  He may
never attain to the greatness of John the Baptist in other ways, but he will
receive special blessings from God because his faith in Jesus never wavers.

IV. The doubts of Christians today

    We must acknowledge that there are Christians in our day who, like John,
have had their faith in Jesus to waver.  Perhaps at times they doubt that
Jesus is really the Son of God.  They may doubt that He is the Savior of
men.  They have begun to doubt that they are really saved.  They may doubt
the whole plan of salvation.  They Bible teaches that if the lost sinner
will repent of his sin and trust in Jesus Christ for salvation.  They may
possibly even doubt that there is a God.
    I say that a Christian may doubt.  He may doubt that Jesus saves, but he
is never convinced that Jesus does not save.  He may doubt that there is a
God, but he is never convinced that there is no God.  He may doubt that he,
himself, is saved, but he is never really convinced that he is not saved.
    There are a number of things that can cause a real genuinely saved
person to doubt.  For one thing, he may simply never grow in his
understanding of the Bible.  The more one knows about what the Bible
teaches, the less likely he is to doubt.  The less one knows about what the
Bible teaches the more he is apt to doubt.
    For another thing, one may get under the wrong kind of Bible teaching.
What the Bible teaches is true, but what some people teach about the Bible
is not true.  A person can be genuinely saved and fail to understand Bible
teachings because he was under the wrong kind of Bible teaching.  His
teacher teaches him wrong about the Bible.
    For another thing, a Christian can doubt because he gets out of the will
of God for his life.  This may be due to getting with the wrong crowd and
thus under the wrong influence.  It may be because he drops out of church
and begins to do a lot of things that he knows he ought not to be doing.  It
is a natural thing then for him to develop doubts and to wonder if he has
even been saved.
    Yet even a very active Christian can develop doubts.  This is especially
true when hardships begin to pile up in his life.  It is easy to have faith
when the sky is sunshiny and bright.  But when the sky falls in on top of
you and the bottom falls out from under you, it is very possible for your
faith to waver.
    But for whatever the reason that the Christian's faith wavers, there is
help for him to confess his faith and to make him strong in faith once
again.  For one thing, his faith, however weak, is still there.  He may
doubt the Lord, but he can never reach the place that he totally disbelieves
in the Lord.  When all is said and done, when he really searches his heart,
he must acknowledge that down underneath he does believe that Jesus is the
Christ and that at one point in his life Jesus did save his soul.
    Another thing that confirms and strengthens the doubting Christian is
the power of God through the Holy Spirit.  We do not have miracles available
to us today to confirm our faith like John the Baptist did.  But we do have
the same mighty power of God available to us.  God is with us to hear our
plea and to help us in our time of trouble and to strengthen us in our
weakness.  The same mighty power of God convinces us anew that Jesus in not
only real, but that He really did save us when we called upon Him and asked
Him to save us.
    But the most convincing evidence of all that is available to us is the
Bible, the holy word of God.  It is impossible for a Christian to regularly
study the word of God under the right kind of Bible instructors without
having his faith strengthened.  In fact if he will just keep up his study of
the Bible under good Bible teachers he will find that all his doubts will
soon be gone and they will stay gone.  In those first few days and weeks
right after I was saved, I, too, had doubts.  But I can truthfully say that
I have not had one single doubt since those very earliest days.
    One other thing that will help.  It will help if you clean up your life.
Living out of the will of God will not cause a child of God to lose his
salvation, but it can cause him to doubt that he is saved.  Those doubts are
not likely to totally disappear until you straighten up your life and get
right with God.  So straighten up.

V.  Those who have never believed

    Unlike John the Baptist, there are some today who have doubts, not
because their faith has wavered, but because they have never placed their
faith in Jesus in the first place.  They are aware of their sin, and they
have heard the gospel message.  They may even believe the message to the
point of believing that Jesus can save, but they have never trusted Jesus to
save them from their sins and to keep them out of the fires of hell.  What
these people need to do is to look into the word of God and to fully accept
the truth of the gospel.  Then they need to look directly to Jesus Christ
and trust in Him to save their soul.

Conclusion:

    What about you?  Have you ever trusted in Jesus Christ to save your
soul?  If not, then I hate to say it, but you, my friend are still unsaved
and headed for the fires of hell.  If you do believe that Jesus Christ can
save you soul, then it is foolish not to call on Him and ask Him to save
you?  Do it before it is too late.  Do it today.  Call on Jesus Christ right
now and ask Him to save you.
    What about you who are saved?  It is alright for you to have doubts, but
you should not live with your doubts.  You should get them settled.  Do you
stand in need of a church home?  Then we invite you to come and unite with
us here at Pleasant Hill.  We invite you to move your membership here from
another church of like faith and order.  Or we invite you to come on the
profession of your faith as a candidate for baptism if that is your need.
Come now.
    If you are saved and you know that your life is out of the will of God
then get straightened up.  Do it now.