turn with me this morning to Matthew 11. We are going to be studying the first six verses of this chapter, but before we look specifically at the text, let me see if I can explain a little bit about Matthew's approach to how he has written his gospel and how this passage fits together with the rest of the book. I have been teaching through this book in my Sunday school class for over three years, Since most of you are not in that class, let me explain the structure of the book a little bit. Matthew has been presenting the kingship and messiahship of Jesus Christ and proving by means of a variety of testimonies that Jesus is, in fact, the King and Messiah. In chapter 1, he began with the testimony of history, presenting the genealogy and ancestry that points to Jesus as the Messiah. Then in chapter two, there is the testimony of fulfilled prophecy as Christ fulfills the Old Testament predictions in detail. Then in chapter three, there's the testimony of the forerunner, John the Baptist, the prophet of God, a man filled with the Holy Spirit from his mother's womb who says, this is the Messiah. Also in chapter three is the testimony of God the Father at the baptism of Jesus who said, this is my beloved son. And then in chapter four, We have the testimony of divine power as Jesus himself defeats Satan, the archenemy of God. And then in chapters 5, 6, and 7, Matthew gives us the testimony of Jesus' own words in a passage known as the Sermon on the Mount, in which Jesus speaks with truthfulness and power and authority, verifying his claims. And then in chapters 8 and 9, there is the testimony of His works as He heals and casts out demons and raises the dead and forgives sin, all of which testify to His deity. And finally, in chapter 10, there's the testimony of Jesus about what it means to be one of His disciples. To be one of those who are so convinced that He is the Messiah King, that they are willing to pay the dearest price of loyalty to Him, even death itself. So Matthew has laid out all of this tremendous evidence that Jesus is the Christ, the King to whom his followers owe all allegiance. And now as he approaches chapters 11 and 12, he has a new purpose in mind. Based upon all of this testimony by history and prophecy and teaching and disciples, Matthew is going to deal with what the reaction was among those who heard and saw Jesus. In fact, he lists for us the various kinds of reactions or various categories of response to Jesus Christ. These chapters are filled with very common reactions to the claims of Christ, which were just as true back then when he was walking among men as they are today. and included are various responses such as doubt, criticism, indifference, rejection, amazement, blasphemy, curiosity, and each of them in a sense is a kind of unique response all its own, although there is some overlap as well. And in the first six verses of chapter 11, we see the response of doubt. That's what we're going to look at in the first six verses, the response of doubt. You might even call it perplexity or confusion, but I think the word doubt says it better than those other two terms. Now let me give you a footnote as we begin so that you understand something. When the New Testament talks about doubt, whether it's in the Gospels or the Epistles. It primarily focuses on believers. It's as if you must believe something before you can doubt it. You must be committed to it before you can begin to question it. So doubt is pointed to as the unique problem of the believer. Now I tell you that to encourage you that it's normal for believers to experience doubt. In fact, the illustration in Matthew 11 happens to be John the Baptist. And unless you think, well, what does that prove? Verse 11 will help you. Jesus is speaking and he says, truly I say to you, among those born of women, there has not arisen anyone greater than John the Baptist. Now, if the greatest man who ever lived up until his time had doubts, then we can be a little comforted when we doubt, can't we? So doubt is basically a problem encountered by believers. For example, over and over in Matthew, Jesus says to his disciples, oh you of little faith. And in some occasions he asked them, why did you doubt? They had committed themselves to him. They had believed, but their belief from time to time hit some snags that made them doubt. Jesus said to them in Mark 11, 23, truly I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, be taken up and cast into the sea and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says is going to happen, it will be granted him. So he had to continually remind them not to doubt. Remember, these guys were with Jesus sometimes 24 seven. They saw His miracles, they heard His teaching, and then He appeared to them after His resurrection. So you would think that their days of doubting would be over. But look what we find in Matthew 28. This is after the resurrection. This is after he has already appeared to them when they're locked together in a room behind a locked door in Jerusalem. Jesus had told them to go up to Galilee and he would meet them there. So listen to verse 16. But the 11 disciples proceeded to Galilee to the mountain which Jesus had designated. So they go all the way up to Galilee and up on the specific mountain Jesus told them where he would meet them. And now listen to verse 17. And when they saw him, they worshiped him, but some doubted. That's absolutely astounding to me. I hope and believe that this is talking about some of the other 500 plus disciples to whom Jesus appeared after his resurrection. Remember, the 11 apostles had seen him multiple times by this point. So that's why I think that these were some of the other disciples who had not yet seen Jesus. It would be really awful if this was referring to some of the 11, but it's possible. Now think about this. People say all the time, I won't believe in such and such unless I can see it with my own two eyes. But now here Jesus is in person, and they're looking at him with their own two eyes, and yet it says some doubted. If you don't think doubt is a problem for believers, that verse ought to remove all of your doubts. James 1, 6 to 8 says that the one who doubts is like the surf of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind. For that man ought not to expect that he will receive anything from the Lord, being a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways. So while doubt is a matter which arises in the life of a believer, it shouldn't be there. But it is. So we're not so shocked when we see the one who is the illustration of doubt being none other than John the Baptist. Now let's look at the opening of the passage and then we will examine the problem of doubt. Let me just mention that I am using the Legacy Standard Bible, which is a new reversion of the New American Standard. So there are a few word changes, but nothing that will confuse you. Verse one says, now it happened that when Jesus had finished giving instructions to his 12 disciples, he departed from there to teach and preach in their cities. Now in chapter 10, Jesus had selected his disciples, taught them, trained them, and prepared them to go out into the world and represent him. And while the text doesn't state it, Precisely, the implication is that they went out on their first short-term mission trip while he went to the various cities in Galilee to teach and preach. That's what it means when it says he went to preach in their cities. 11 of the 12 of them, with the exception of Judas Iscariot, were from Galilee. So he continued his Galilean ministry. Notice that he didn't just sit around and wait while they went out and came back. He got busy himself. He engaged in ministry also. That reveals his leadership and his great heart for work. And it says he went out to teach and preach. That was the twofold ministry of Christ. Teaching and preaching. And they are different. The synagogue was a place where the scriptures were read and exposited. The Jewish historian Philo says the main feature of a synagogue service was the reading and the detailed exposition of scripture. That's the teaching of the word. So the Lord would go into the synagogues, and since visiting rabbis and scholars were welcome to teach, Jesus took advantage of that privilege and would take the Old Testament and give them its meaning as pointing to himself. He was an expository teacher. He was also a preacher. The word means to proclaim, and he would go from the synagogue out to the highways and byways and to the hillsides and anywhere he could, and he would preach and proclaim his kingdom. And we can also assume, based on verse 5, that he continued to perform miracles of healing and casting out demons and raising the dead and forgiving sin. So the Lord goes on about his work, but he is alone now. because the 12 have gone out on their first mission. And as Christ is ministering, we're told in verses two and three that he was approached by some disciples of John the Baptist. It says, now when John in prison heard of the works of Christ, he sent word by his disciples and said to him, are you the one who is to come or shall we look for someone else? Now remember, John was the forerunner of Christ, the one who announced his coming, the one who said, behold, the Lamb of God. And he's the one who said, he must increase and I must decrease. John was a relative of Jesus. So he had already known Christ. He had already pointed to Christ. He had already baptized Christ. He had affirmed that he believed in Jesus as the Christ. But there were certain things that caused him to doubt. So he sends these guys to ask, are you the Messiah or should we be looking for someone else? It reflects his perplexity. And it reflects his doubt, even though he had affirmed his belief, even though he had known about Christ. For example, back in chapter 9 verse 14, Jesus was in Galilee and he had called Matthew to follow him. And Matthew had gathered together a lot of sinners for a feast. And it's in that setting that verse 14 says, then the disciples of John came to him asking, why do we and the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast? Now, the point that I want you to see is this, the disciples of John were sort of tracking Jesus. You see, John was in prison and he needed a report on how things were going. And so some of his disciples would follow Jesus around, keeping track of how he was ministering. After all, John had undoubtedly told them that Jesus was the Messiah. Look over at Luke 7 for a moment. We see another example of this. In verses 11 to 17, Jesus raises the son of a widow in Nain from the dead. He touched the casket and said, arise, and the dead son sat up, began to speak, and Jesus turned him over to his mother. Verse 16, and fear gripped them all, and they began glorifying God and so forth. So he raised the dead, and then verse 17 says, this report concerning him went all over Judea and in all the surrounding district. And then this little note in verse 18, And the disciples of John reported to him about all these things. So back over in our text in Matthew, the disciples of John are hanging out in the crowds and poking around at the edges and watching how Jesus was doing because it was very important to John that he had fulfilled his task as the one who announced the Messiah. And he wanted to be sure that the one he had announced was indeed the Messiah. And so his disciples stayed close to Jesus as well as to John. It also indicates that although he was a prisoner, John was able to have visitors, that they could visit him in prison. As another footnote, it's also true he had some disciples who apparently did not stay very close to him because in Acts 19, we meet some of his disciples in Ephesus who had never even heard about Jesus. So he had a lot of followers. He sent some of the ones who stayed very close to him and worked very closely with him to follow Jesus around to make sure that he was right. But now there were some reasons for him to doubt. So he asked this question, are you the one who is to come? Now that sounds like such a vague question. Who's he talking about? The Greek text uses the present tense participle, so it says, are you the coming one? That term, the coming one, was a title for the Messiah, just like the branch, the seed of David, the lion of the tribe of Judah, the king of kings, or the prince of peace. In fact, it is one of the most common titles for the Messiah. It is first introduced in Psalm 40 verse 7 where it says, behold, I come in the scroll of the book it is written of me. Isaiah 59 20 says a redeemer will come to Zion and to those who turn from transgression and Jacob declares Yahweh. And in one form or another, it's used in all four of the Gospels. Quoting Psalm 118.26, the crowds that welcomed Jesus during his triumphal entry said, Hosanna, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. In Mark 1.7, it says that John the Baptist proclaimed, after me one is coming who is mightier than I and I am not fit to stoop down and untie the strap of his sandals. The same thing's recorded in Luke 3.16. In Matthew 23, 39, as Jesus lamented over the city of Jerusalem for its rejection of him, he says, for I say to you from now on, you will not see me until you say, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Again, quoting Psalm 118, 26. And in Hebrews 10, 37, speaking of his second coming, the writer says, for yet in a very little while, he who is coming will come and will not delay. The Messiah is called the coming one. So then the Jews clearly understood this as a messianic title. So what Jesus is asking is very simple. He's saying, are you the Messiah? That's the first question. The second question is this, or shall we look for someone else? That certainly indicates that John was expecting the Messiah, but it also indicates that he was perplexed. Are you the Messiah, or are we looking for someone else? So it's clear that John was doubting, and there were reasons why he was doubting, and we'll look at those in a minute. But the thing that was good about John is that when he had doubts, he went to the right source to have his doubt dealt with. Where did he go? To the Lord. Now, some people might want to come along and say, well, John didn't believe. No, that's not true. The form of the question implies that he believed but that he was having some perplexity. He's saying in effect, shall I continue to believe what I believe or should I believe something else? It's as if he's saying, I believe you're the Messiah, am I wrong in believing that? The great Bible scholar Leon Morris explains John's thinking this way. He writes, John was simply puzzled. He had prophesied such great things about Jesus and specifically he had spoken of judgment. But there was no sign of the judgment he expected. Jesus was simply moving among ordinary men and women, teaching them about the things of God and healing their sick. Was this really what the Great One would do? What sort of Messiah was it who refrained from religious practices like fasting, which John's disciples followed, consorted with irreligious characters, and left his forerunner to languish in prison? John is asking whether it is this sort of thing that God's Messiah would do, or do we wait for another? Was Jesus, like John, a kind of forerunner? would a greater come and bring judgment on sinners? In a sense, the very fact that he would ask Jesus to answer this indicates that he hadn't lost his faith in Jesus or he never would have gone to Him for assurance. If he's saying, would you assure me that you are the Messiah, then he must have believed that to start with. He didn't just deal with the doubt in himself, and he didn't just discuss it with a bunch of other people. Instead, he went to the Lord. His faith had found a difficulty, a perplexity. And all of us have experienced some kind of that in some kind of way, haven't we? We've all encountered something that causes us to doubt. Whether we doubt like John did, that Jesus was the official Messiah, or whether we look around at how the world is going and doubt his promise to return and set all things right, or whether we doubt our own salvation because of the ongoing war we have with ever-present sin in our lives, we have all experienced doubt. John believed, he preached, he expected the Messiah to fulfill the promises. He had baptized him, he had pointed to him, he had pronounced that he was the Messiah, and yet he was confused. And we shouldn't be too surprised because he didn't really know everything. Even though some of the things he predicted from his own mouth were from God, there were so many things that he didn't know that sometimes he had difficulty interpreting what he did know. What do I mean by that? Well, that's what Peter tells us in 1 Peter 1, 10 and 11. He says, concerning this salvation, the prophets who prophesied of the grace that would come to you made careful searches and inquiries, inquiring to know what time or what kind of time the spirit of Christ within them was indicating as he was predicting the sufferings of Christ and the glories to follow. In other words, the prophets studied their own writings to figure out what they were saying because they couldn't figure out the exact time. And that was John's problem. He wanted to be sure Jesus was the right person at the right time. And so he sent some disciples to ask Jesus. That's comforting, isn't it? To know that a man as great as John the Baptist can doubt. And even when he doubts, his greatness is instantly affirmed. And the praise for him by Jesus that follows in this chapter shows that his doubt did not lessen Jesus' esteem for him. So then why did John doubt? Why was he perplexed? Well, as we look at the text, I think we can see four reasons why he doubted. And they are the same four reasons why we doubt, why we have times in our lives when we doubt God. The first one is difficult circumstances. Difficult circumstances, they tend to make us doubt. Humanly speaking, the career of John the Baptist ended in disaster. He had been the fiery, dramatic, dynamic, confrontive, bold, courageous man who preached exactly what needed to be preached, to whom it needed to be said, when it needed to be said, and never with any fear. He was bold, powerful, aggressive. When he saw sin, he rebuked it, and he rebuked it to the person in whom he saw that sin. And the result was that he got thrown in prison. You see, the ruler of Galilee, Herod Antipas, made a trip to Rome to visit his brother. And when Herod went to see his brother, he took a liking to his brother's wife, Herodias. So when he seduced her and when he returned home, he proceeded to divorce his own wife and then took his brother's wife as his new wife. And John the Baptist heard about that. So you know what he did? I'll tell you what he didn't do. He didn't write an anonymous letter to Herod. He didn't write an anonymous op-ed in the Jerusalem Times. No, he apparently confronted Herod Antipas to his face in public and told him what a rotten, vile, adulterous sinner he was. And that didn't go over too well with Herod and even less so with Herodias. If you read Mark's account, you get the impression that while Herod didn't really like it, he didn't really want to pick a fight with John because he knew all the people loved him. And because Herod was afraid of a possible revolt by the people, he tried to ignore the problem. But Herodias was very upset and she kept nagging Herod about it until finally Herod sent people to arrest John and throw him in prison. However, Herod didn't immediately kill John because of his fear of the people who believed John to be a prophet. Now this was not just any prison. If you went five miles east of the northern tip of the Dead Sea and then turned south and went 15 miles, you came to a fortress that also served as a prison. The name of it was Machaerus, after the Greek word meaning a sword. In the bottom of the fortress was a dungeon, which was a dark stifling stuffy hot pit there in the middle of that bleak desert. That's where Herod Antipas put John. For 18 months, John had been in the limelight, a bold prophet out in the wilderness, preaching, teaching, and proclaiming. People came from all over the country to hear him, and he was in the middle of the action. And now for over a year, he has been in the blackness of a stifling pit in the middle of a hot desert. John was a true saint, a true prophet of God, holy, loyal, selfless, faithful, unreserved in his service to the Lord. He had done exactly what God had told him to do and he had done it well. He had announced the glorious coming of the Messiah who would make all things right and set up his kingdom. He was even a relative of Jesus, perhaps a cousin. His mother Mary and John's mother Elizabeth were relatives of some kind. Scripture doesn't tell us the exact relationship. He'd been filled with the Spirit since the time he was in his mother's womb. He had taken the Nazarite vow, the highest level of spiritual commitment possible. So he began to wonder, is this my reward? You see, sometimes doubt comes from our inability to deal with negative circumstances and trials. You think, Lord, If you're the God of all comfort and you're the Christ that cares, why am I going through this? It doesn't seem to square up. And so John must have thought, I've been faithful. Didn't Isaiah promise in Isaiah 61, one and two, that when the Messiah came, he would bring release to the captives and freedom to the prisoners? If that's true, then what's going on here? This isn't the way it's supposed to be. Isn't there a place of blessedness for a faithful man such as I have been? You see, our doubts come like John's doubts. We convince ourselves that because we belong to the Lord, the Lord is going to take care of us. And when something goes wrong, we really begin to doubt. We lose child to death. or to rebellion or unbelief, or our husband or wife dies or leaves us for someone else, or we get a diagnosis of cancer, or we or a loved one is injured and left crippled for life, we begin to think, God, is this what it's supposed to be like when you love and care for us? If everything doesn't go the way we think it should go, we wonder if God truly loves us and we easily fall into doubt. And once we start thinking that way, Satan gets behind us and just starts shoving us deeper and deeper into doubt. Except for when we willfully continue in sin, we are never so vulnerable to doubting God's goodness and truth and believing Satan's lies as when we are suffering. And John doubted because of difficult circumstances, and I understand that. But what did he do? He did the right thing with his doubt. He went to the Lord. That's the place to go if you have doubts about those kinds of things. You go to the Lord. Yes, he had begun to stumble. Verse six makes that clear. But he asked the Lord to help him deal with his doubt. And he sent these disciples and in effect asked, Master, will you help me understand? And Jesus was glad to respond. And in verse six, he even promised John spiritual blessings if he didn't waver in trust, even in the midst of mystifying circumstances. Remember, Paul was in prison. He was in prison in Philippians 4 when he wrote these words. Rejoice in the Lord always. Again, I will say, rejoice. Let your considerate spirit be known to all men. The Lord is near. Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and petition with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. And he went on to say in verses 11 to 13, I've learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am. I know how to get along with humble means, and I also know how to live in abundance. In any and all things, I've learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me. And in verse 19, and my God will fulfill all your needs according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus. Those are words from prison. When we're in difficult circumstances, we need to do what John did, go to the source of all answers. Negative circumstances are tough, but they should drive us to the Lord who will respond to those struggles by replacing our doubt with faith. We aren't there yet, but what did Jesus say in verses four and five? You tell John that the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the leopards are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them. What kind of people are those? They're the hurting, the broken, the crippled, the destitute people. He's saying, John, if you think I don't care about those who are hurting, take a look at the kind of people I touch. I do care. By the way, John's circumstances never got any better. In fact, they got worse. He got his head chopped off. So doubt comes from difficult circumstances, but that only gives us an opportunity to exercise faith. And faith, when it is exercised, gets stronger. Don't let anything lure you into the trap of doubt, not even difficult circumstances. Someday you will be delivered. Like John, it may not be in this world. but in the next. The second thing that can cause doubt is incomplete revelation. It says in verse two that John had heard about the works Jesus was doing, but he doubted because he didn't have the opportunity for a firsthand look. Everything he heard was second-hand and incomplete. He couldn't see it with his own two eyes. He didn't have the opportunity, like Peter said in 2 Peter 1.16, to be an eyewitness of His Majesty. He didn't have the opportunity, as John said in 1 John 1.1, to not only see Him, but to touch Him with his hands. He didn't have the more sure word of Scripture, as 2 Peter 1.19 says we have. He didn't have complete revelation. There was a lot missing and he was getting secondhand information. So he says, I need to hear it directly from Jesus himself. And the Lord says, okay, you need some firsthand information, I'll give you some. And we see this more clearly in Luke's gospel. Look with me for a minute at Luke 7 again, Luke 7. Luke is recording this same incident. We already saw how Jesus raised the dead son of the widow back to life. And then in verse 20, Luke says, John's disciples came and they asked Jesus the question, are you the one who is to come or do we look for someone else? Now watch this in verse 21. At that very time, literally in that hour, in other words, right then, He cured many people of diseases and afflictions and evil spirits and he granted sight to many who were blind. And then after giving that demonstration, verse 22 says, and he answered and said to them, go and report to John what you have seen and heard. So he did a whole bunch of miracles. And then he says here, these are for John's benefit. Now go tell him. Jesus performed those miracles specifically to answer John's question, to provide John with his credentials as the Messiah. You say, how does this relate to me? Well, you know why a lot of people doubt? Not only because of negative circumstances, but a lot of people doubt because they just don't understand God's revelation. They don't know the scriptures. They have an inadequate knowledge or understanding of His Word. Show me a professing Christian who doubts the sufficiency of Scripture, or who doubts their salvation, or who doubts whether or not Jesus is coming back, and I will show you a person who is not regularly and diligently studying the Word. I will promise you that if you immerse yourself in Scripture and daily expose yourself to the revelation of God, your doubt will be erased. John MacArthur says, when God is allowed to speak through His Word, doubt vanishes like mist in the sunlight. You remember the two disciples on the road to Emmaus? They're walking along, confused, perplexed, doubting. And the Lord comes along and what did he do? Luke 24, 27, then beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them the things concerning himself and all the scriptures. Then he went home with them and when he broke bread and blessed it, their eyes were opened and they recognized him. And then verse 32 says, and they said to one another, were not our hearts burning within us while he was speaking to us on the road, while he was opening the scriptures to us? You see, what dispelled their doubt was the revelation of himself in the scriptures. We all need a firsthand manifestation of the living Christ to dispel doubt, and it comes through the pages of Holy Scripture. That's why Acts 17, 11 says, the believers in Berea were more noble-minded than those in Thessalonica, for they received the word with great eagerness, examining the scriptures daily to see whether these things were so. Scripture is where we go for assurance and to dispel our doubt. All of us need it continually and constantly. The third thing that causes doubt is worldly influences. You'll notice it says in verse two that John had heard about the works of Christ and this confused him. You know why? Because the works Jesus was doing did not parallel what people thought the Messiah should do. You say, Bruce, are you saying John was thinking incorrectly? Yes. You see, everyone thought that when the Messiah came, he would first overthrow the Romans, give Israel back their land, eliminate all suffering, and would establish a kingdom of righteousness. And if you read the Old Testament prophets, they predicted a kingdom in which everything and everyone would be at peace and righteousness would rule, a kingdom in which there would be an abundance of food and no illness. But what the Old Testament prophets themselves didn't know, and the Jews of Jesus' day didn't know, was that they were prophesying about his second coming, not his first coming. So John had become a victim of the thinking of his day. He looked at the Old Testament scriptures and thought, if Jesus is the Messiah, why don't things look like what the scriptures foretell? Jesus is just walking around, meek and lowly, teaching and healing, but overall nothing is changing. Wrongs were still going on. The injustices were still there. Sin was everywhere. No visible kingdom was in sight. And so, like everyone else, John thought, this isn't the way the kingdom is supposed to be. He'd become victimized by the thinking of the people around him. This is clearly a problem with the disciples. The disciples were always fighting doubts about Jesus because they had certain expectations of the Messiah. And Jesus didn't live up to them. That's why even in Acts 1.6, just before his ascension, they're asking him, Lord, is it at this time you're restoring the kingdom to Israel? And so he had to tell them for the umpteenth time, you're still asking the same dumb question. It is not for you to know times or epochs which the Father has fixed by His own authority. That's the reason, even after being with them for three years, in John 14, nine, he answers Philip, but he was really speaking to all of them. And he says, have I been with you so long? And have you not come to know me? He who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, show us the Father? They had these confused concepts that came from the world around them. So when Jesus did not do what John thought he should be doing, John began to think, maybe he's another forerunner of the Messiah. Maybe we should be looking for someone else. Even he was affected by that misinformation. It didn't make any sense to him at all. It didn't make any sense to Thomas. It didn't make any sense to Cleopas on the road to Emmaus. They all had become victimized by what the people around them thought the Messiah should be. In fact, in John 10, 24, the Jews said to Jesus, how long will you keep us in suspense? If you're the Christ, tell us openly. And what did he tell them? Verse 25, Jesus answered them, I told you and you do not believe the works that I do in my Father's name. These bear witness of me. They weren't even on his same frequency. He was saying it over and over, but their expectations were so different that they just couldn't hear what he was saying. We face the same causes for doubt today, don't we? We doubt because we're perplexed by the plan of God. And I think the world imposes that on us. I'm sure you've heard the questions, if God is a God of love, why is there so much evil in the world? If God loves everyone so much, how come children die and people starve and people get disease and there's war and death? If your God is such a God of love, why doesn't he make things right in this world? Why is there so much injustice? If your God is so loving and Jesus is so loving, how come he's gonna send all these people to hell? What they're really saying is let me tell you what kind of God I want. Let me tell you how God should be and how he should act. And if your God fits into my mold, I'll believe. And you cannot let yourself become victimized by that kind of thinking or you'll begin to doubt. And so you say, I don't know. And in your own mind, you begin wondering, why doesn't God do something? Why doesn't he do something about all these false religions? Why doesn't he just wipe them all out and then everyone will believe? And when you start letting the world dictate to you what God's got to be like and what God's got to do, you're going to be perplexed and begin to doubt. The world does not know God. The world does not know God's plan. The world does not know Christ. They do not understand who He is. 1 Corinthians 2.14, But a natural man does not accept the depths of the Spirit of God for their foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them because they are spiritually examined. If you begin to let the world force you to think that Christ must be whom they say He must be, then you're going to start doubting. In Luke 17, 20 and 21, it says, now having been questioned by the Pharisees as to when the kingdom of God was coming, He answered them and said, the kingdom of God is not coming with signs to be observed, nor will they say, look here or there, for behold, the kingdom of God is in your midst. And the unspoken implication was, and you just can't see it. That's the world situation. It can't see Jesus Christ and His coming kingdom. He doesn't fit their mold. Negative circumstances make us doubt, but we don't have to. Incomplete revelation might make us doubt, but we don't have to. And we don't have to doubt because of worldly influences either. There's a fourth reason we might doubt and it's unfulfilled expectations. Unfulfilled expectations. John tells his disciples in verse three to ask Jesus, are you the one who is to come or shall we look for someone else? Now, why would he ask that? Because, only because Jesus hadn't fulfilled his expectations. Back in Matthew 3, 11 and 12, John had been boldly proclaiming, he who is coming after me is mightier than I, and I'm not fit to remove his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand. He will thoroughly clear his threshing floor, and he will gather his wheat into the barn, but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire. That's judgment. In other words, he says the Messiah is coming in holy judgment. That was his message. He was always preaching repent, repent, repent. In other words, you better get your life right because the Messiah is coming. And the implication was if your life isn't right, you're going to regret it. And he expected that the Messiah would come on the scene with blazing fire and divine thunderbolts. You remember how Jesus is described in Revelation 19, 11 to 15, when he returns at his second coming to establish his millennial kingdom? Look at it for a moment. Revelation 19, verses 11 to 15. It says, Then I saw heaven opened. Behold, a white horse, and he who sits on it is called Faithful and True. and in righteousness he judges and wages war. His eyes are a flame of fire, and on his head are many diadems, having a name written on them which no one knows except himself, and being clothed with a garment dipped in blood. His name is called the Word of God. And the armies which are in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, are following him on white horses. And from his mouth comes a sharp sword, so that with it he may strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron. And he treads the winepress of the wrath of the rage of God the Almighty." That's the Messiah coming in judgment. And that's what John the Baptist was expecting. But here comes Jesus. And he collects a little group of 12 totally inept characters and meekly wanders around Galilee, healing a lot of people and preaching about the kingdom. And John just can't figure it out. Jesus was on a mission of mercy. John had a message of judgment. So he was waiting for the fury and the fire and the flames and the wrath. He had probably read and re-read David's words in Psalm 9 where he says, when my enemies turn back, they stumble and perish before you. For you have maintained my justice and my cause. You have sat on the throne judging righteously. Again in Psalm 58, surely there is a reward for the righteous. Surely there is a God who judges on earth. His mind was probably thinking the same thing that the souls of the saints under the altar in Revelation 6-11, who'd been martyred for the name of Christ, who cry out, how long, O Master, holy and true, will you not judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth? But John saw no divine intervention, no judgment, no execution of justice. Jesus did not avenge the righteous. In fact, he didn't even defend himself against his accusers. Unfulfilled expectations. It's always been hard for believers to understand why God allows so many of His children to suffer and allows so many wicked, ungodly people to prosper. You expect God to do something. Nothing happens and you say, how long are you going to let this go on, Lord? It just doesn't seem right. Well, that was John. And it was doubly hard for him. After all, he had a deep devotion to righteousness and was called by God to preach repentance and judgment. More than that, he was called to proclaim the arrival of the one who was to come, who would execute that judgment, which he thought would begin shortly, if not immediately after the Messiah appeared on the scene. Believers today can do the same thing. Christians often get excited about the Lord's imminent return, but as the years go by and He doesn't return, their hope along with their commitment begins to fade and waver. It's not that they stop expecting Him to return someday, but they stop thinking about it and hoping for it as much as they once did. And so they say to themselves, I wonder if He ever will really come. Is this whole thing really true? I mean, my pastor tells me that, and I've always believed that, but he hasn't come yet, even though this world is just ripe for his return. So maybe it isn't true. Maybe we're all just misunderstanding what the Bible means. And so we become very similar to the scoffers we read about in 2 Peter 3, 3 and 4, who mock us and say, where's the promise of his coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all continues just as it was from the beginning of creation. In other words, where is this Jesus you keep saying is coming back? Nothing has changed since the beginning of time. You're nuts to believe that he's coming back. And so unfulfilled expectations can cause you to doubt and even fall back into sinful patterns in your life. You see, the imminent return of Christ is a great motivator to godly living. But if you begin to doubt that he really is coming back, it's easy to go astray back into sinful behavior. So how did Jesus address the issue of doubt with John the Baptist? How did he reassure him? Look at verses four to six. And Jesus answered and said to them, go and report to John what you hear and see. The blind receive sight and the lame walk. The lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear. The dead are raised up and the poor have the gospel preached to them. And blessed is he who does not take offense at me. What did Jesus mean by that answer? Well, he knew John's disciples had been hanging around for a while watching him, and they'd seen a lot, reported a lot. So he says, go back and tell him some more. Go back again and tell him, look, John, can't you see that I'm the one who will make all things right? I'm reaching out to the poor. I'm reversing disease. I'm reversing death. It's limited right now because of the unbelief and sin of this world. Can't you see I'm the one who's going to make it right? I have the power to reverse the curse, and someday I will. These things I'm doing are previews of coming attractions, just a taste of what I'll do in the future. Just trust me for the right timing. In other words, you go back and give him my credentials. You see, all those things that Jesus mentioned are all signs of the kingdom. In the kingdom, all disease is eliminated. In the kingdom, death will lose its power. In the kingdom, the world will hear the gospel. In Isaiah 35, 4-6, God has this encouraging news for those who are fearful and doubting. Listen to it. We read it earlier. Say to those with an anxious heart, be strong, fear not. Behold, your God will come with vengeance. The recompense of God will come, but he will save you. Then the eyes of the blind will be open and the ears of the deaf will be unstopped. Then the lame will leap like a deer and the tongue of the mute will shout for joy, for waters will break forth in the wilderness and streams in the Arabah. And in Psalm 61 verses one and two, the passage Jesus quoted when he announced his Messiahship in the synagogue in his hometown in Nazareth, it says, the spirit of Lord Yahweh is upon me because Yahweh has anointed me to bring good news to the afflicted. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim release to captives and freedom to prisoners, to proclaim the favorable year of Yahweh. So Jesus is saying, John, if it's your kingdom expectation that's causing you doubt, look again at these things. These are all the marks of the kingdom. You're seeing them in a preview. So then the works of our Lord answer the problem of doubt. If you doubt because of difficult circumstances, look at his works. They prove he cares for a people in difficulty. If you doubt because of worldly influence, look at his works and see that he is in control and someday will show it fully. If you doubt because of incomplete revelation, then look at his works and study them and read them and see who he truly is. If you doubt because of unfulfilled expectations, look again for his works or previews of what he will do in the kingdom. If he could do them back then, then he proves himself to be the one who will do them again one day in the kingdom. You want to know the best part of the story? It's a part that Matthew doesn't put in. And it's this. John had his doubt removed by Jesus' answer. How do we know that? Because over in Matthew 14, we're told that John was beheaded His head was put on a platter, presented to Herodias, Herod's wife, who hated John. And then verse 12 says, his disciples came and took away the body and buried it. And they went and reported to Jesus. Why did they go and tell Jesus? Because they believed in Jesus. Why did they believe in Jesus? Because John believed in Jesus and he had taught them to believe in Jesus. The fact that they went to Jesus tells us John was satisfied with the answer he got from Jesus. We all doubt at times, don't we? But listen to 2 Timothy 2.13. If we are faithless, in other words, if we're doubting and disbelieving, he remains faithful for he cannot deny himself. When you doubt, God will be faithful. If you doubt, you're not going to lose your relationship with the Lord. He will be faithful. He cannot deny himself and he has affirmed that you are his child and he will hold on to you. Knowing that, you can have confidence that you can go to God with your doubts and he'll give you the answer that you need. And then he has a closing beatitude, a blessing in verse six of our text. Matthew 11, six, and blessed is he who does not take offense at me. What does he mean by that? Well, it's a general rebuke, a general warning. He's saying, if you wanna be blessed, then don't stumble over me, don't doubt. The verb translated take offense is a word from which we get our English word scandalize. Originally, the word referred to a trap used to capture an animal, and over time, it came to mean any kind of object that caused someone to stumble and fall with a derived meaning of causing offense. Jesus was saying, if you wanna be blessed, don't allow anything I do or say to lure you into the trap of doubt and make you stumble. So don't doubt, because if you doubt, you won't be blessed. And by the way, let me add that John's doubt didn't overshadow Jesus' love for this prophet, because in verses seven to 15, he gives the greatest testimony he ever gave in his whole life. He tells us that John the Baptist was the greatest man who'd ever lived up until that time. What an amazing tribute. As we close, let me just say that if you're a believer in Christ, please apply these truths to your life today. Hold on to Jesus, because as we sang earlier, He will hold you fast. He will never let go of you. Read and study the word and take all of your doubts to Him in prayer. He will answer them. But if you're here and you don't know Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, come to Him today, repent of your sin, trust Him to save your soul and give you eternal life. If you wanna know more, come and see me after the service and either I or one of our other pastors will be happy to speak with you. Let's bow together in prayer. Our Heavenly Father, we thank you that despite the doubts which can creep into our minds, You've promised to hold us fast. Jesus said that he gives eternal life to his sheep and they will never ever perish. And no one will snatch them out of his hand. And then he says that no one's able to snatch them out of your hand either. We praise you for that truth. Because if it was up to us to keep our salvation, we would fail in mere moments. Lord, when we're going through difficult circumstances, and when we're barraged by worldly influence and unfulfilled expectations, and we can't seem to understand what you want us to do, keep our minds from doubting and failing to trust in your sovereign, intentional, purposeful prayer and provision for us, your care. Help us to trust your word, even when we don't see how. knowing that Jesus will never leave us or forsake us. And it is in that name above all other names that we pray, amen.