Sermon Notes, February 17, 2019 AM
Do You Doubt?
Steve W. Reeves
INTRODUCTION:
A. Did
you ever doubt your parents? 1. Did you doubt their love when they did not give you what you wanted?
2. Did you doubt them when they did not allow you to go where you wanted to go?
3. Did you doubt them when they punished you for something you had done or said?
4. As you look back and realize how your parents had your best interest in mind have
you ever thought of how foolish your doubts were?
B. Some of you are doubting God today.
1. You have asked God for something but have not received it.
2. Perhaps you have pleaded relentlessly for God to remove a burden from your
heart and He has not done so.
3. When we face difficult situations and circumstances it is easy to doubt God.
C. We live in a world of doubt.
1. People doubt authority.
2. People doubt morality.
3. People doubt truth.
4. Is it possible to trust anyone or anything including God?
a. This was a question asked by people in Jesus’ day. They had been exploited by
political leaders and religious leaders alike.
b. Luke recorded some of this religious doubt in Acts 5:36ff when Peter and the
apostles had been arrested in Jerusalem. Some of the Jewish Sanhedrin
wanted to put them to death but a wise and respected Pharisee named Gamaliel
spoke up and reminded them of several religious leaders like Theudus and
Judas the Galilean had appeared claiming to be someone. Both had followers
and both groups had disbanded. Jewish history records dozens of individuals
who had boasted they were the Messiah.
D. Jesus never hesitated to address the doubts people had. In Luke 12:1-7, He told his
disciples they did not need to doubt God when confronted with three common
situations.
1. Jesus had left Galilee and was now in Jerusalem.
2. He had been speaking to the Pharisees and teachers of the Law, pronouncing a
series of woes on them because of their hypocrisy. He had not minced any words
as He called them “white washed tombs,” and accused them of being blind
leading the blind.”
2. At the beginning of Luke 12 a crowd of thousands had gathered around to see
Jesus. The crowd was so great people were trampling one another trying to find a
Spot to see and hear Jesus.
3. Notice the three areas of life where Jesus urged them to move beyond doubt.
I. DO NOT DOUBT IN TIMES OF DISMAY
A. Many of the people to whom Jesus spoke were discouraged because of the
hypocrisy they had seen in their religious leaders
1. In Luke 11 Jesus had pronounced a series of woes on the Pharisees because of
their hypocritical actions.
a. In Luke 11:39 he said, “you Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and dish,
but inside you are full of greed and wickedness”
b. In Luke 11:40 Jesus said, ““Woe to you Pharisees, because you give God a
tenth of your mint, rue and all other kinds of garden herbs, but you neglect
justice and the love of God.”
c. Jesus went on to pronounce woe upon the Pharisees in other verses.
1.) In verse 43 – “Woe to you Pharisees, because you love the most important
seats in the synagogues and respectful greetings in the marketplaces”
2.) In verse 44 – “Woe to you, because you are like unmarked graves, which
people walk over without knowing it.”
3.) In verse 46 Jesus said, “Woe to you, because you load people down with
burdens they can hardly carry, and you yourselves will not lift one finger to
help them.”
4.) Verse 47 says – “Woe to you, because you build tombs for the prophets,
and it was your ancestors who killed them.”
5.) In verse 52 He concluded, “Woe to you experts in the law, because you
have taken away the key to knowledge. You yourselves have not entered,
and you have hindered those who were entering.”
2. In Luke 12:1 Jesus spoke to His disciples in the midst of the large crowd and
told them, “Be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees, which is
hypocrisy.”
B. Do you know anyone who has doubted God because of the hypocrisy they have
seen in people’s lives? Do you know anyone who has turned away from God
because of the hypocrisy they have seen in others?
1. The word “hypocrite” comes from the Greek word hypokrites, which means “an
actor” or “a stage player.”
2. There are hypocrites in every area of life. If you are going to use hypocrisy as a
reason for not worshipping God then you can’t go to any more ball games
because there are some people there who are only fair-weather fans. You can’t
go shopping any longer because retailers do not always have pure motives. You
certainly can’t vote anymore because politicians are not what they claim to be.
Do you see how foolish this reasoning can be?
3. If you are allowing a hypocrite to stand between you and God, you are
acknowledging that they are closer to God than you are.
C. Let God deal with the hypocrites. Notice the words of Jesus in Luke 12:2-3, “There
is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, or hidden that will not be made
known. 3 What you have said in the dark will be heard in the daylight, and what
you have whispered in the ear in the inner rooms will be proclaimed from the
roofs.”
II. DO NOT DOUBT IN TIMES OF DANGER
A. When Jesus criticized the Pharisees they were offended. In Luke 11:45 one of the
experts of the law said, ““Teacher, when you say these things, you insult us also.”
According to verse 53 they began to oppose Him fiercely and were looking for a
way to trap Him in something He said.
1. What do you do when you are in danger? When someone is threatening you or
taunting you because of your faith in God?
2. What do you do if someone is “bullying” you because of your Christian faith?
B, Jesus said, “I tell you, my friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body and
after that can do no more. 5 But I will show you whom you should fear: Fear him
who, after your body has been killed, has authority to throw you into hell. Yes, I tell
you, fear him” (Luke 12:4-5).
1. What can a person really do to you? One Christian, being threatened with death
said, “Don’t threaten me with heaven.”
2. The world does not understand, we have died anyway. When we were baptized
into Christ we died to ourselves and were buried with Him (Romans 6:3-5). We
are like the apostle Paul, “I am crucified with Christ nevertheless I live, yet not I,
but Christ, lives in me; and the life that I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the
Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me” (Galatians 2:20).
III. DO NOT DOUBT IN TIMES OF DIFFICULTY
A. In the midst of difficulty we sometimes wonder, “Where is God?” or “Does God
really care about me?”
1. Notice the assurance Jesus provides in Luke 12:6-7, “Are not five sparrows sold
for two pennies? Yet not one of them is forgotten by God. 7 Indeed, the very
hairs of your head are all numbered. Don’t be afraid; you are worth more than
many sparrows.”
2. Do not look at your circumstances as proof of God’s love. Do not assume, if
things are going well, that it is indicative of God’s love and if things are not going
well it is indicative of God’s disdain.
B. God’s care, concern and love for you is constant. It is not dependent on the
circumstances. God loves us enough to allow us to experience difficulties as a
means of chastening and disciplining (Hebrews 12:7).
1. In stagecoach days a stage was traveling across the plains. The temperatures
had dropped suddenly and it was dangerously cold. Inside the stage was a
mother with an infant. She wrapped the baby with as much clothing as she
could, even taking some of her own clothing for the child. The driver began to
notice the woman was showing the effects of freezing. She nodded off to sleep.
He stopped the stage and tried to wake her. She wouldn’t wake up. Suddenly,
he jerked the baby from her arms pulled the woman out of the stage on the
ground, left the baby on the seat and began to drive away. The woman was
startled awake and began running as she screamed for her baby. The driver
knew exactly what he was doing. It took that startling occurrence to bring the
woman to her senses.
2. Do not doubt God in difficult times. He may be using those difficulties to draw
you closer to Himself.
CONCLUSION:
A. What is the antidote for doubt? It’s faith.
1. An elderly woman told about her experience of getting married. She said when she
decided to marry she simply took a pair of man’s trousers, placed them across the
end of her bed and prayed, “Father, Father, hear my prayer, and grant it if you can.
I’ve placed these trousers on my bed, now fill them with a man.”
2. The “book and verse” for such a story would be James 1:5-6, “But if any of you
lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without
reproach, and it will be given to him. 6 But he must ask in faith without any
doubting, for the one who doubts is like the surf of the sea, driven and tossed by
the wind.”
B. Will you put your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and surrender to His command to
repent (Luke 13:3) and be baptized (Mark 16:15-16) today? We invite you to come to
Him now.
