How To Deal With Doubt

A Sermon By Jim Hammond from Matthew 11:1-12

How do YOU deal with doubt? Here is how one jury did:

A defendant was on trial for murder in Oklahoma. There was strong evidence indicating guilt, but there was no corpse.
     In the defense’s closing statement the lawyer, knowing that his client would probably be convicted, resorted to a trick.
     "Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, I have a surprise for you all," the lawyer said as he looked at his watch. "Within one minute, the person presumed dead in this case will walk into this courtroom."
     He looked toward the courtroom door. The jurors, somewhat stunned, all looked on eagerly. A minute passed. Nothing happened.
     Finally the lawyer said, "Actually, I made up the previous statement. But you all looked on with anticipation. I, therefore, put it to you that there is reasonable doubt in this case as to whether anyone was killed and insist that you return a verdict of not guilty."
     The jury, clearly confused, retired to deliberate. A few minutes later, the jury returned and pronounced a verdict of guilty.
     "But how?" inquired the lawyer. "You must have had some doubt; I saw all of you stare at the door."
     Answered the jury foreman: "Oh, we did look. But your client didn’t."

You Know You Have Doubts when your prayer goes something like this: "O God, if there is a God, save my soul, if I have a soul, so I can go to heaven, if there is a heaven.” We laugh, but doubt is usually not a laughing matter. Dealing with doubt is difficult.

A missionary is forced to come home to treat his wife for cancer just when he was beginning to see people coming to know the Lord. He had to leave the work undone without any replacements. He says honestly, "God, that's stupid. That’s dumb. That doesn't make sense. Why have you allowed this now?" Ever asked questions of God like this?

A Christian businessman is laid off only six months before retirement and the company he worked for somehow managed to finagle it so that he lost all his retirement benefits. He honestly expresses his anger to God, "God, that's not fair! I don't know if Christianity is worth it! How can you say you love me when you allow something bad like this to happen." Have you ever been there? Have you ever wondered if God really did care about you?

You watch a news documentary about the devastating drought in a third world country. There’s a mother cradling her dead baby crying out in anguish. You can’t understand her words, but you imagine she is saying something like, “God, why did you let my baby die. All we needed was a little rain? Why did you let my baby die!” You begin to wonder how a good God could do such a thing? Or fail to be moved to prevent it. Have you ever had these kind of thoughts?

A man says, “I can’t imagine a God who would put anyone in hell for eternity. I would never willingly torture anyone no matter how evil he was.” You feel the weight of his words and begin to wonder about the doctrine of hell yourself.

Doubts. They can be nagging. They can be overwhelming. They can even devastate your faith. Today we are going to go to God’s school to learn how to deal with doubts.

Focus: Even a believer of the caliber of John the Baptist found himself struggling in the dungeon of doubt, but he also learned what happens when a doubter seeks answers from Jesus.

I. Do Doubts Disqualify?

For many Christians, having doubts creates a crisis for them. They begin to wonder if they themselves can truly be Christians with the doubts they are experiencing. Do these doubts disqualify them from being a follower of Christ? Great insecurity comes from these doubts. As a result, some Christians are afraid to express their doubts. Some are afraid to ask the questions. The questions don’t go away, however, just because you ignore them. Usually they fester. The questions begin to choke out the faith. Sometimes, the doubts themselves may not be the main problem, but the shame associated with having the doubts.

Can a person be a Christian and have doubts? Yes. Are there any doubts that actually block the way? Yes. Do you have to have your doubts resolved and your questions answered before you can follow Christ? Some doubts yes, but not all doubts.

A. Don’t confuse faith with feelings.

Some people equate faith with a perpetual religious high. When that religious high wears off, and it will, these people begin to doubt whether what they experienced was real. “Maybe I don’t have faith, maybe that’s the problem.” As we deal with doubts, don’t confuse faith with feelings.

B. It’s okay to ask honest questions.

Some people say that we should never question our faith but that is wrong. Jesus did not rebuke John as he expressed his doubts and questioned his own faith.

Matthew 11:1-11 (NIV) ¹After Jesus had finished instructing his twelve disciples, he went on from there to teach and preach in the towns of Galilee.

²When John heard in prison what Christ was doing, he sent his disciples ³to ask him, “Are you the one who was to come, or should we expect someone else?”

⁴Jesus replied, “Go back and report to John what you hear and see: ⁵The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor. ⁶Blessed is the man who does not fall away on account of me.”

⁷As John’s disciples were leaving, 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? ⁸If not, what did you go out to see? A man dressed in fine clothes? No, those who wear fine clothes are in kings’ palaces. ⁹Then what did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. ¹⁰This is the one about whom it is written:

“‘I will send my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way before you.’

¹¹I tell you the truth: Among those born of women there has not risen anyone greater than John the Baptist; yet he who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.

John emerged on the scenes of Palestine as a powerful prophet, the voice crying in the wilderness. He was the one who called the nation to get ready through repentance because the Messiah was coming. He was the one who confirmed that Jesus was the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. He was the one who pointed all of his followers to Jesus. He was the one who was willing to take the back seat as all of the national attention began to focus on Jesus. He was the one who was not afraid to take on the powers that be. Herod arrested John, and John finds himself in Herod’s dungeon. That is enough to discourage any man. He is facing death. In the darkness of this dungeon, John’s heart began to be darkened by doubts. Why did this happen? Why did it seem that the powers of darkness still reigned when the King of Light was already here? These were honest questions John had. Was God’s kingdom not here? Was his King not here? Why was darkness still reigning? John didn’t understand. Let’s learn along with John something about what happens when a believer who is struggling in the dungeon of doubt, honestly seeks answers from Jesus.

How could the same guy who said, “Behold the Lamb that takes away the sin of the world,” and “I am not worthy to untie his sandals, . . .He must become more and more and I must become less and less,” now say to this Jesus, “Are you the one? Or shall we look for another?” How can this be? Doubts hit people when in the dark regions of what I call the dungeon of doubt. Have you ever been there? What put you there?

Sometimes doubt is intellectual. Sometimes doubt is emotional.

Sometimes doubt is intellectual. John may have needed simple reassurance over the puzzling questions he had. It is quite possible that the description of Jesus ministry that John’s visitors gave him, didn’t fit with what John pictured the ministry of the Messiah to be like. Jesus was full of grace and mercy. Yet John had proclaimed him as the one who was more powerful than he and would baptize them with the Holy Spirit and with Fire! (Matt 3:11). In fact when confronting the Pharisees, John said, “You brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the coming wrath” (Matt 3:7). Perhaps Jesus gracious ministry didn’t fit with what John was expecting from the Messiah. So he had some intellectual doubts. Though what John said was true, intellectually, he had not understood the nature of the coming of Christ. He had no idea his first coming would be with grace and for salvation, and that his second coming would be for judgment. This had not been revealed to anyone yet. The confusion caused intellectual doubts even for John. Jesus gave answer to the intellectual doubt, when he described his own ministry with familiar words of prophesy (Isaiah 35:5-6 and 61:1). John was expecting one kind of messiah from one kind of prophetic passages. He was reminded about these other passages and was reassured. He had forgotten about these other passages.

Jesus was well aware of how his coming was different than the expectations of the people. That is why he said in verse 6, “Blessed is the man who does not fall away on account of me.” By saying this, Jesus gently alerts John to the complexity of the Messiah’s role even in the prophesies.

Sometimes doubt is emotional. Maybe John’s doubt was not all intellectual doubt. Perhaps John wanted to know the answer to a few “Why” questions of his own? Why, if Jesus was the messiah, did it seem like evil was still prevailing. John may have been thinking, “I was the forerunner. I have deferred to you, and this is how I get treated.” We do know what John was thinking. But we do know that it was while he was imprisoned that John’s doubt comes to the surface. When John was in prison awaiting his possible execution, that was when the darkness of doubt crept over him.

Intellectual doubts ask questions like: If the miracles of God contradict science, then how can any rational person believe that they are true? If God is morally pure, how can he sanction the slaughter of innocent children as the Old Testament says he did? If God cares about the people he created, how could he consign so many of them to an eternity of torture in hell just because they didn’t believe the right things about him?

Emotional Doubts ask questions like: If there’s a loving God, why does this pain-wracked world groan under so much suffering and evil? But the questions that get emotional and cause people to doubt on the emotional level usually are asked out of personal pain. “If there is a loving God, why didn’t he save my child? If I were in his position, I certainly would have.”

If you’ve had plaguing doubts, I recommend two books to you: The Case For Christ by Lee Strobel, and The Case For Faith, also by Lee Strobel.

C. It is not doubt that disqualifies but unbelief.

There is a difference between doubt and unbelief. “Christ never failed to distinguish between doubt and unbelief. Doubt is can't believe; unbelief is won't believe. Doubt is honesty; unbelief is obstinacy. Doubt is looking for light; unbelief is content with darkness.”[i]

While some people have legitimate doubts, others hide behind their doubts while trying to poke holes in Christianity because they don’t want it to be true. Their “doubts” are not honest. The reason that they doubt is that if they discover Christianity is true, their immoral, and self-obsessed lifestyle would have to change. Many doubters are of this variety, they doubt because they don’t want to believe.

Jesus is not the least bit afraid of honest doubters. I see Jesus coming to honest doubters like Thomas, and John, and the man who said, “I believe, help my unbelief.” Christianity is not so fragile that it can’t stand up to a few questions. Questions CANNOT poke real holes in something that is true.

Open the Door Don’t Poke Holes In It

As a missionary kid growing up in Japan, I used to love to do something that was aggravating to our Japanese neighbors. Some of our neighbors still had the old style farm houses with the sliding Japanese style doors. These doors were made of a light wooden frame with rice paper stretched across these frames. I used to love to poke my finger through the tightly stretched rice paper. I loved the pop sound my finger made. Don’t laugh, you probably still love popping bubble wrap. It’s the same thing. Except that popping bubble wrap usually doesn’t get you into trouble. I guess I didn’t get in trouble enough for poking holes through these doors, because it soon became nearly irresistible. Something finally stopped this destructive pattern. One day, I popped my fingers through the wings of my brothers model airplane! Now there was evidence traceable to me alone. That ended my rice paper, tissue paper hole poking days.

Don’t be afraid to ask hard questions of Christianity, it is made of firmer material than rice paper, or stretched tissue paper. You are not going to poke holes in something of solid substance. Questions of doubt will not affect what is solidly true! Here’s the caution, however, aim for the answers, not just the questions. Don’t just try to poke holes, try to find answers, try to open the door to go through it, not just poke holes in it!

Notice John does not say, “Are you the one, or do we give up?” He says, “Are you the one, or shall we expect someone else?” His question comes from faith not unbelief. He is trying to open the door, not poke holes in it.

Jesus described John as the greatest man ever born of woman, immediately after it was obvious John was having some doubts. That’s quite a compliment from Jesus about John’s faith. John’s doubts did not negate his faith.

There’s a Difference Between Honest Doubts and Smokescreens

So if you are a seeker and are experiencing doubts, I want you to be honest with God. Are your doubts honest or are you throwing up smokescreens to hide the fact that you really don’t want to have to change? Ask yourself if the doubts you have are subtle defense mechanisms. Are you legitimately doubting or are you fishing for the excuses not to take Jesus more seriously?

II. Seeking Doubters Or Smokescreen Doubters

A. A Seeking Doubter

1. Is not Afraid to Ask the right questions

John is not asking about trivial things. He has gone to the heart of the matter.

If we are going to take time out to question our faith, let us make sure that the issues before us are monumental, not trivial. Major on the majors first, when you have the majors down and understand them fairly, then begin to ask the questions about minor considerations.

The question of the identity of Jesus is indeed crucial to the Christian faith. I think you should deal with this question first before you tackle a lot of the other periphery issues.

2. Investigates the right Sources for evidence

If you have a question, go to an expert. I don’t go to the grocery clerk to ask my computer questions. Neither do I go to the guy who can’t stand computers. Some doubters only ask their questions to fellow doubters. Go ask someone who might be able to give you an expert answer. Go to the source. If you have questions about the Bible, make sure you go to the Bible itself and not just take the word of some college professor at some secular university who says “the Bible is full of contradictions.” Show me one from the Bible itself.

Whatever doubts John had about Jesus, he still believed Jesus would give him the right and honest answer. Go to Jesus with your doubts. John did and found a satisfying answer.

Jesus’ teaching and insights have been repeatedly proven to be dependable.

Why do so many people believe everything Jesus taught, except what he taught about himself? Jesus claimed to be God’s Son. Be consistent, don’t be picking and choosing which parts of what Jesus had to say sounds good to you. If he was God’s Son, you need to follow everything he said. If he was not God’s Son, you don’t need to listen to him at all, because he was a liar, or a lunatic who claimed to be God’s Son. So when I say, investigate the right sources for evidence, let this question be your starting point. Could Jesus really have been who he claimed to be?

3. Wants Answers

When you scratch below the surface there is either a will to believe or a will not to believe. As a result at the core of it there are two kinds of doubters. Seeking doubters or smokescreen doubters. If you are a seeking doubter you might not get your answers in a mathematical formula or under a microscope, but there are answers for the person who wants to believe. There is enough evidence for a credible choice to believe.

Jesus does not debate the seeking doubter. He gives the seeking doubter a simple response, “Tell John what you have seen and heard.”

4. Does Not Need Absolute Proof

The seeking doubter only needs enough evidence to make an informed decision to believe the evidence. Ultimately he understands that his choice is still a matter of faith.

The Coin Illustration

In an interview with Lee Stroble for his book The Case For Faith, Lyn Anderson describes how faith is a choice we must make without having all the complete information we’d like to have. If it were otherwise, it would no longer be faith but knowledge.

He [Lyn Anderson] reached into his pocket and withdrew his hand. “Okay,” he said, “I’m holding something. Do you know what it its?”
     I [Lee Strobel] ventured a guess: “A coin.”
     “But you don’t know for sure,” he said. “That’s your opinion. Our faith is not our opinion. Let me tell you I’ve got a quarter in my hand. Do you believe that?”
     “Sure,” I said.
     “I’m telling you it’s true, but you haven’t seen it. That’s faith. Hebrews says faith is the evidence of things not seen.”
     Anderson smiled. “Watch as I completely destroy your faith.” With that, he opened his hand to reveal a quarter. “Now it’s no longer faith; it’s knowledge.”
     He tossed the quarter on the table. “Sometimes people think that faith is knowing something is true beyond any doubt whatsoever, and so they try to prove faith through empirical evidence,” he said. “But that’s the wrong approach.”
     He gestured toward the coin. “You can see and touch that quarter, so you don’t need faith. God, for his own reasons, has not subjected himself to that kind of proof.
     “Instead, people should do what you did in The Case for Christ—you relied on corroborative evidence. You showed how various strands of evidence point convincingly toward God. And that does something very important—it leaves room for us to make a choice by taking a step of faith in the same direction that the evidence is pointing.”[ii]

5. Is Not Casual about his doubts

Matthew 11:12 (NIV) ¹²From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven has been forcefully advancing, and forceful men lay hold of it.

Jesus commends Johns’ bold and forceful inquiry. Jesus then tells us that a casual approach to critical questions will leave you standing out in the cold and missing the kingdom. It is the forceful men who lay hold of the Kingdom, not people casually considering such matters.

III. Jesus Encourages The Seeking Doubter

Jesus heard the expression of John’s seeking doubt. But Jesus did not hear unbelief in his expression; he heard instead a seeking faith.

What did Jesus immediately do? Jesus did not shame, he did not condemn, in fact he gave the most incredible encouragement John could ever have hoped to receive. Can you imagine how the words of the Jesus helped John? Picture the scene in the prison. The disciples visit John and give him a report on what Jesus said. They come to John who is still in the dungeon of doubt. He still has all these questions. He still wonders if his life was a total waste. Had he wasted his efforts when he pointed to Jesus as the Savior of the world? Then he hears the surprising assessment that Jesus said about his own life.

[How is John “more than a prophet”? He is more than a prophet because he not only prophesied, but he was the object of prophecy.]

¹⁰This is the one about whom it is written: “‘I will send my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way before you.’ ¹¹I tell you the truth: Among those born of women there has not risen anyone greater than John the Baptist; yet he who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.

Can’t you just imagine John begin to weep as he hears this validation? What an encouragement that must have been to John. I believe John died a contented man, perhaps only hours after his soul was settled on this issue. He knew His life counted for eternity! He didn’t waste his life. He hadn’t wasted his words. He hadn’t wasted his faith. I believe there wasn’t a doubt in his mind who Jesus was, and that his life counted, when that executioner came into his dungeon to execute. John was at peace as the sword came down.

Is our God so puny that he trembles at our questions? No. Is our faith so feeble that it falters before the tough questions? No. Will our Christianity crumble into pieces because we have a few questions ourselves? No. Jesus told us “Seek and you will find.” John did just that and found exactly what he was looking for.

Today, we have learned that our doubts do not disqualify us as long as we seek Jesus. Just like John was reminded about the complexities as it relates to prophecies and the fulfillment in Jesus, we are reminded that our world is complex, but God’s Word. His revelation is also complex. We need not be afraid of the tough questions. Nor should we shrink from going to the source for answers.

Today, we need to feel encouraged. God is for us. He does not condemn us for our earnest questions.

Today, we are challenged to be honest seekers. We have been challenged not to be casual about our questions. We need to be forceful about pursuing answers and pursuing God. What will you do to seek to know more or to grow more?

Dear Lord,

Thank you for giving us the freedom to ask the hard questions.

Help us with our doubts. Help us to be honest with ourselves so that we might know the source of our doubts. Lord, we are here because we believe. Even in our doubting we want to believe. Give us the courage to ask the right questions, even the courage to do some research that requires a great investment of time.

Lord, confront those smokescreens we put up because we don’t really want to change.

Lord, give us each the courage to seek you in the sources you have already given us, your Word, the Bible.

Lord, help us also to lean on helpful experts who can lead us to some answers.

Lord, I ask you to dispel any casualness toward you. Give us a passion, and a yearning and drive within us to seek you and find you and to draw nearer to you. We want to be “forceful men and women” who lay hold of your kingdom in all its fullness. Thank you for making your kingdom available to us through Jesus Christ.

It is in his Name, I pray. Amen.

[i] Edythe Draper, Draper's Book of Quotations for the Christian World, quoting John Drummond sometime before 1900 (Wheaton: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., 1992). Entries 2929-2932.

[ii] Lee Strobel, A Case For Faith (Zondervan Pub. 2000) pp. 237-238