When Faith Asks Questions

Speaker A: Had a great three day weekend here. Most of us probably had a three day weekend. I know it used to be years ago when I, when I worked for Chick Fil a as a restaurant manager, you know, we always worked on, on holidays like that. So I sure hope you had a, a three day weekend there. I'm trying to pull up my holidays here. That's what I'm attempting to do. Anyway, and here we go today, Tuesday, September 8th. Ants on a log day. How many of us have ever eaten those ants on a log? You know what that, remember what that was from when we were, we were younger? Of course, it was celery with peanut butter raisins on top of it. So kind of healthy for a kid snack, you know. Anyway, anyway, it's national Ants on the Log day. So get yourself some ants on the log today and celebrate today. If you're reading through the, the history books of the Old Testament along with us today, we're starting a second book. We just completed Joshua yesterday and today, today we are going to the Book of Judges, chapters number one, two and three. Judges, chapter one, two and three. And today we're going to be, we're going to do some walking today in scripture. We're going to start in Matthew, chapter number 11. And as you're going there, I want you to think about this. What do you do when the person you are absolutely certain about suddenly becomes the person you are questioning? John the Baptist knew who Jesus was. He had baptized him. He had seen the spirit descend like a dove. He had heard the voice from heaven. John had even pointed others toward Jesus and declared, behold the Lamb of God. And yet later, John asked Jesus a question that might surprise us. Art thou he that should come, or do we look for another? Why would John ask that? And perhaps more importantly, what can John's question teach us about what happens when our faith collides with circumstances we don't understand? Matthew chapter number 11. I want to look just at one verse. We're going to come back and look at this here in a minute. The rest of the story here. But Matthew chapter number 11 and verse number three says and said unto him, art thou he that should come, or do we look for another? John the Baptist is in prison at this point in time. He's, he's basically waiting to die. Is, is what he was doing and he had, he had heard about the works of Christ while he was in prison. And he sent two of his disciples and asked Jesus, art thou he that should come, or do we look for another? It Made me think. When I, when I read that, it made me think, what would cause John to make a statement like that? What would cause him to. To want to do that? You know, he. One thing we had to remember is he was in prison. He was sitting there in a dark, probably by himself. And. And you know how it is. If you're anything like me, when you're on your own, that's when, when Satan seems to do the most work in your life, the most work in your mind. And, and maybe he was, he was challenging John, saying, are you really sure that Jesus is the Messiah? Maybe he's not the one you think he's gonna be. And John started questioning. We're gonna look here at the end of a few things that I thought of as to what would make John make this statement. But maybe we can go back and look at John's life, at John, at what he did, and come up with an answer. If we go back here to chapter number three of the Gospel of Matthew and look at verses one and two, we can see some things here as we study down through these verses about his ministry. Scripture says in those days came John the Baptist preaching in the wilderness of Judea and saying, repent ye, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. We can see here that, that John's ministry, he was a preacher. He was a person that was going out and trying to, to get everything ready for the coming of Jesus. And he was ministering, he was preaching. We see if we jump down here to verse number. Let's see verses 5 and 6. Scripture says then went out to him Jerusalem and all Judea and all the region round about Jordan, and were baptized of him in the, in Jordan, confessing their sins. So John was not only a preacher, but John was, was someone that baptized as well. He. He preached a word to him. He, He. He challenged them, he says, to repent. And then the people would confess their sins and he would baptize them. It was a water baptism. And we see here by studying here, continuing to study here in Matthew, chapter number three, not only was John a preacher, he was a baptizer. And we can see that he didn't mince words in his messages either. If we look here, starting at verse number seven, Scripture says, but when he saw many of the Pharisees and the Sadducees come to his baptism, he said unto them, o generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come. Bring forth therefore fruits meant for repentance, and think not to say within yourselves we have Abraham to our father. For I say unto you that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham. I'm going to stop right there. He didn't mince words. He. We saw in verse number two, his message was repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. He was, he was telling people plainly, repent, repent, repent. We don't say that anymore. We don't preach that anymore because we want to get the seeker sensitive version out there and we don't want to step on anybody's feelings. We don't want to make anybody upset. I mean, do you think, do you think when the religious leaders here in verse number seven, that's who the Pharisees and the Sadducees were, they were the religious leaders of his time. And do you think when they had to his baptism and he said, oh, generation of vipers. Do you think he said it in a, in a, in a calm, rational manner? I think he shouted it. I think he got in their faces. I think he made them uncomfortable and maybe it's time we make people uncomfortable today. He challenged them. And then if we go down here to starting in verse number 13 and going down through verse number 17, we're going to see that, that he preached, he confronted the Pharisees, he baptized people, and he even baptized Jesus Himself. Verse 13, going down through verse number 17. Then cometh Jesus from Galilee to Jordan unto John to be baptized of him. But John forbade him, saying, I have need to be baptized of thee and. And thou comest to me. And Jesus answering, said unto him, suffer it to be so now, for thus it is becometh us to fulfill all righteousness. Then he suffered him. And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water. And lo, the heavens were opened unto him. And he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, lightning upon him. And lo, a voice from heaven saying, this is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. So Jesus, John was out there, he was baptizing people, they were confessing their sins. Jesus came, he was baptized by John to fulfill prophecy, to fulfill Scripture. And, and even though John didn't want to do it because he, he thought he should be baptized by Jesus, he did it anyway. And he saw the Spirit of God coming down on Jesus and he heard the voice of God that day. And if we go over to the Gospel of John, the Gospel of John, chapter number. Let's see, let's go. Chapter number, chapter number one. We're going to look here at several verses in here as well. And that passage we just looked at here of John baptizing Jesus and how he saw the Spirit come down and he heard the voice of. Of God. That's important because he goes back and references that here again and. And he knew John knew that Jesus was the Messiah. Look with me, John, chapter one, starting in verse number 32. And John bear record saying, I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it abode on 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 baptizeth with the Holy Ghost. And I saw and bear record that this is the Son of God. John made these claims. He. He knew the sign that that would be the Messiah. He knew when he saw the Spirit descending and remaining on the person, he knew that that would be the Messiah. And he saw that happen to Jesus. And he knew, he bear record, verse 34, that this is the Son of God. If we back up here, John, chapter one. Let's back up here, starting in verse number 19 and going down through verse 21. And this is the record of John. When the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, who art thou? And he confessed and denied not, but confessed, I am not the Christ. And they asked him, what then are thou, Elias, Elijah? And he saith, I am not. Art thou the prophet? Art thou that prophet? And he answered, no. So John, he knew his place. He knew that he wasn't the Messiah. And he, he never claimed to be the Messiah. And he flat out denied that he was the Messiah. But he always pointed the way to Jesus. If we go down, let's see, let's go down to verse number 29. He always pointed the way to Jesus. Verses 29 and 30. The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him and saith behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sins of the world. This is he of whom I said, after me cometh the man which is preferred before me, for he was before me. And then if we jump down again, verses 35 through 37, again the next day after John stood two of his disciples. And looking upon Jesus as he walked, he saith, behold the Lamb of God. And the two disciples heard him speak and they followed Jesus. So it seems. So it seemed like John knew that Jesus was the Messiah. He saw the sign that was given to him. He declared and bear record that Jesus was the Son of God. Back here Again to Matthew, chapter 11. John's two disciples asked him, art thou he that should come, or do we look for another? In verse number four and five said, gives Jesus his answer. Jesus answered and said unto them, go and show John again those things which he do hear and see. The blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them. Why did John ask that question? He seemed so sure. I don't know how much time had passed between. Between him, him talking about Jesus as the Messiah and him sitting in prison and questioning if Jesus was the Messiah. I would assume, you know, maybe a year, maybe two years, tops. I wouldn't think it'd be much longer than that. What would make him do that? What would make him question like that? Well, before I give any answers, I got to think. I got to say, you know, you know what. What makes us question? We've seen things, and many of us have had things happen in our lives that we could only say was it was a result of God. But yet when things are. Aren't. Aren't going the way we want to go, want them to go, all of a sudden we're saying, is there really a God? Essentially, that's what John was doing. Remember, like I had mentioned before, when John asked that question, he was in prison. And sometimes the devil will come and he'll attack us when we're on our own, when we're in a spot we didn't expect to be in, when we've lost everything. The devil comes in there and whispers in our ear, just like he did to Adam and Eve there. And in Genesis chapter number three, he tried to make them believe that. That God was keeping something from them. And the devil does the same thing to us today. He tries to get in our mind and say, well, you know what? If God was real, maybe this stuff wouldn't happen to. Another idea that I came up with as to why John had asked that question was maybe it was because he wanted to make sure his disciples knew Jesus and was confident that Jesus was the Messiah, just like he was. So he sent them to Jesus to hear from him, to hear the message. And Jesus says, hey. He said, the blind are receiving their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, the poor have the gospel preached unto them. What other sign do you want? What other sign do you need? And maybe John was wanting to make sure his disciples realized that Jesus was the Messiah. Then there was A third idea I came up with, none of this is taken from Scripture. This is just ideas that I tried to come up with as to why John would, would question. And it's the one I think maybe had the most traction. Maybe John had a false expectation of Jesus. Maybe John had a false expectation of Jesus. You know, if you spend time studying in the, in the Gospels, many people had believed that when the Messiah would come, that he would restore Jerusalem or would restore Israel to its country. And that's not what he did. That's why so many people, including the religious leaders, couldn't put their faith in him, because they had a false expectation of what the Messiah should be doing. And, and today, in the year 2026, we get false expectations as well. You know, when we start going through times of trouble, times of trial, you know, we're, we're right ready to abandon our faith because we say we didn't sign up for that. We had the false expectation that we'd have nice paved roads throughout the rest of our lives, when in reality we're going to have roads like you find in the state of Pennsylvania that is riddled with, with potholes. And some of them potholes could swallow a car. Maybe John had a false expectation of Jesus. Maybe Jesus didn't do what he thought Jesus would be doing. Jesus made it plain in his answer to John's. Go and show John again those things which ye do hear and see. The blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them. I think a key just popped out at me here in verse number four. Go and show John again those things which you do hear and see. Friends, we have, we have the works of Jesus in our world today, all around us. There's healings out there today. There's, there's. The gospel is being preached today, and maybe we need to go and we need to tell people what God has done in our lives, Help them get a proper expectation. Jesus, help them know that Jesus is the Messiah. Maybe you're going through a time and you're going through a circumstance and you don't understand why you're there. Maybe that was John. He was in prison. Maybe he didn't understand why he was there. He lived for God, he did all these things for God and now he finds himself in prison. And we get times where we get into circumstances and sometimes we say to ourselves, is it worth it? I'm just trying to be real with you tonight or this morning. We get to points in our life sometimes and we say, is it worth it? And I'm sure John the Baptist and his disciples and the disciples of Jesus would say, yes, it's worth it. Instead of questioning Jesus and the existence of Jesus and whether Jesus is who he claimed to be, why don't you question the person that's making you question those things? What's the devil trying to keep you from? What's he trying to hide? Think about that as you go through this day. And remember, get into God's word and allow God's word to get into you. Then share that word with someone today. Have a blessed day.