How To Deal with Doubts (Matthew 11:2-6)

 Introduction

Have you ever doubted your faith. Unbelievers throw all kinds of challenges at Christianity and Christians, they question it, they attack it but that’s not what I’m talking about. Have you ever doubted the Christian faith, as a believer have you ever questioned if Jesus Christ really the son of God is, or that he is the Messiah of the Old Testament as presented in the New Testament. Maybe you think that kind of thing that only happens to young Christians or those who haven’t been brought up in a Christian family. They might have a temptation to doubt that truthfulness of Christianity but could that happen to somebody who is a seasoned mature servant of Jesus Christ. Can an older Christian all of a sudden begin to doubt the truthfulness of Christianity. The startling answer to that question is yes. 

As a matter of fact, once in the life of Christ there is an incident where Jesus said one of the greatest prophets who ever lived doubted that Jesus was the Messiah. Let’s see how did Jesus handle that and how should we handle it in our own lives and in the life of someone else who may bring that question up. To answer those questions, I invite your attention to Matthew Chapter 11 verse 2.

2 And when John had heard in prison about the works of Christ, he sent two of his disciples 3 and said to Him, “Are You the Coming One, or do we look for another?” 4 Jesus answered and said to them, “Go and tell John the things which you hear and see: 5 The blind see 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. 6 And blessed is he who is not offended because of Me.”7 As they departed, Jesus began to say to the multitudes concerning John: “What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind? 8 But what did you go out to see? A man clothed in soft garments? Indeed, those who wear soft clothing are in kings’ houses. 9 But what did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I say to you, and more than a prophet. 10 For this is he of whom it is written: ‘Behold, I send My messenger before Your face, Who will prepare Your way before You.’11 “Assuredly, I say to you, among those born of women there has not risen one greater than John the Baptist; but he who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. 12 And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force. 13 For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John. 14 And if you are willing to receive it, he is Elijah who is to come. 15 He who has ears to hear, let him hear!

(Matthew 11: 2-15)

Before we look at this passage in detail would like to back off for just a second talk about the Gospel of Matthew as a whole. We started in chapter one verse one and we’ve been systematically working our way through the book for 78 days now. I would just for a moment remind you of what I said about the structure of the book when I did my introduction about 3 months ago. 

This is a critical point in the Gospel of Matthew and an appropriate time to point out that the first part of the Gospel of Matthew is described by many as the preparation of the king. You’ve heard me say several times the subject of this book is to show that Jesus Christ is the Messiah the King of the Jews. The first second of the book that covers the first seven chapters is preparation for the king that includes his basic principles which are summarized in the sermon on the mount.

Then in the next several chapters we are shown the power of the king. You might remember in chapters 8 and nine we looked at one miracle right after another that Jesus performed, nine or ten in a row. Then in chapter 10 he send out the apostles to evangelize and with the power to do similar signs and miracles as Jesus himself had done. So up to this point we can divide the Gospel of Matthew thus far into two parts. 

(i) The preparation for his ministry and including the principles that he has established his ministry upon.

(ii) The power of the king is then demonstrated and then modeled by the recently commissioned disciples.

Asking Questions

We now come to Matthew Chapter 11 verse 2, where the third section starts. So, today we’re going to begin a portion of the Gospel of Matthew that deals with the rising opposition to him. T section could be called the opposition to the king. That becomes evident even in this first paragraph and it becomes increasingly evident as we move through these verses down through chapter 13 verse 53. It’s important that we know that already before this point Jesus has preached the most significant message in his entire ministry, we call it the sermon on the mount, and he has performed miracles. That’s important as a backdrop to what we’re going to see over the next few days. So, with that in mind let’s look again at the paragraph I just read and pick it up again in verse 2.

2 And when John had heard in prison about the works of Christ, he sent two of his disciples. 3 and said to Him, “Are You the Coming One, or do we look for another?”

(Matthew 11: 2-3)

Now let’s just pause for one second, we’re now going to hear John the Baptist ask a question. That’s the first part of this paragraph but right at the start it says that he’s in prison, we were told that back in chapter 4 and now it’s mentioned again. Matthew doesn’t bother to explain how John got in prison until we get to chapter 14, but without going into a lot of detail let me just tell you the story very briefly.

Herod Antipas was the ruler in Galilee he whilst visiting Rome he seduced his brother’s wife and he came back home divorced his current wife and then married his sister-in-law (His brothers wife). This by Jewish standards was an adulterous marriage, and John the Baptist spoke out against it and when he did Herod had John put in prison. So, we’ve come to the end of the ministry of John the Baptist and instead of him being applauded as the forerunner of the Messiah is now in jail.

This verse says when he heard about the works of Christ, notice it doesn’t say the works of Jesus, it says the works of Christ, which is the Greek form of the word Messiah. When he heard of the works of the Messiah, he sent two of his disciples and the question they ask, simply put is this, are you the Messiah or should we look for somebody else. That’s the question John the Baptist asked and why did he ask that question.

Some come to this passage and question this they say well John was in prison and he was disappointed and probably discouraged so he’s just asking out of his disappointment that he has ended up this way.  I don’t doubt that John may have been disappointed, and I don’t doubt that John may have been discouraged but I think the only natural explanation for the way this passage is written is that John the Baptist is questioning whether Jesus Christ was the Messiah. What would make him do that? Well, I think for one thing that he had unrealized expectations, you see he had come preaching judgment to fall upon the Roman and Jesus didn’t judge, he had come expecting the Kingdom of God to be ushered in, as matter of fact the first words out of his mouth are the repent for the Kingdom of God is at hand. Yet Jesus didn’t establish the kingdom yet, so here he is sitting in prison expecting the Messiah to bring in the messianic era and Jesus didn’t do that. So, he’s saying at least I have some questions that are bothering me. 

John the Baptist has unrealized expectations of what he thought the Messiah ought to be. So, I think he doubted. I also think there’s a second possible explanation for his doubting. He’s in prison and he is about to lose his head, as a matter of fact later in the gospels that’s exactly what happens to him. 

Here he is, the forerunner of Jesus supposedly the Messiah and he’s about to lose his head and he’s thinking wait a minute this isn’t exactly what I anticipated.  It is his circumstances that have caused him to doubt that Jesus was in fact the Messiah. Someone I read suggested that he was probably asking himself the question why is Jesus letting the Herod’s of this world get away with murder while at the same time he letting an innocent man like me sit here in prison.

Now let me pause here for just a sec and ask all of you listening here to this today, have you ever doubted the truthfulness of Christianity. I would say if you haven’t, you haven’t been thinking, or asking yourself any of the hard questions of life. I think that’s very natural, and I think it comes about in a similar way that it came about with John the Baptist. He had doubts because of unrealistic expectations. Sometimes we expect the Lord to do something, and he doesn’t do it. I suspect that that’s the number one cause of doubt among believers today.

The number one reason people drop out of Bible College or lose their faith at university is because they have grown up in a Christian home and they get to college or university and some professor starts to challenge the scriptures and it plants little seeds of doubt in their minds as to just exactly whether or not Christianity is true. Others meet a friend at work who’s read a book and they cast doubt on the whole thing and the questions posed plants just a little seed of doubt. For other it is the circumstances in their life that have caused them to doubt or because they have prayed for God to answer their prayers and they feel he remained silent. In fact I think the most common thing that that causes a crisis of faith for people is when they or their loved ones face a very difficult situation and they pray hard and there is no answer. They then back off and say God is not there. Maybe if they had asked themselves some of the difficult question, this side of the crisis they might have been better prepared to deal with it.

How to Deal With Doubt

My plan today and tomorrow is to ask what is the proper way to respond to doubt that pop into you head, not to ignore them, but to press into them and to seek answers. So if you have ever doubted the truthfulness of Christianity, what to do with your doubts and how to answer you doubts about the truthfulness of the whole thing and we shall do that by looking at how Jesus handles this situation in the life of one of his most important and mature followers. Look at the next verses

4 Jesus answered and said to them, “Go and tell John the things which you hear and see: 5 The blind sees 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. 6 And blessed is he who is not offended because of Me.

What in the world does that have to do with John the Baptist doubts? Well, this is very significant, the first thing he says is go tell John what you’ve heard. That’s a reference to all that Jesus has been teaching up until now and no doubt includes what he taught in the Sermon on the Mount. But then he says not only tell him what you’ve heard, but also what you have seen, and then he says this the blind see the lame walk, the deaf ear and so forth. Is it just the evidence of the miracles, is that is meant to prove that he’s the Messiah. Well on one level yes, but its more than that, you see what they knew and Jesus was well aware of is that he was not just claiming to work miracles, he was claiming to fulfill prophecy.

You see Matthew Chapter 11 verse five is a quotation from the book of Isaiah. As a matter of fact, there are several passages linked together in these verses that Jesus offers as proof he is the Messiah. I’ve just read you one from Isaiah chapter 28: Furthermore, Isaiah 29 Isaiah verse 18 says, “in that day the deaf shall hear the words of the book and the eyes of the blind shall see out of obscurity and darkness the humble will increase their joy in the Lord” 

That is another reference to the coming of the Messiah, Isaiah is full of them, “the poor among men shall rejoice in the holy one of Israel”, that’s another. So, Isaiah is predicting that when the Messiah comes the blind will see and the deaf will hear. There are many, Isaiah 35: 4 he says, “say to those who are faint hearted be strong do not fear behold your God will come with vengeance with the recompense of God he will come and save you then the eyes of the blind shall be opened and the ears of the deaf unstopped the lame will leap as a deer”.

In this passage in Matthew Jesus is offering as proof that he is the Messiah, what Jesus is saying is go back and tell John the Baptist that what you are hearing and what you are seeing is the fulfilment of the prophecies concerning the Messiah of the Old Testament. Concluding by saying, “blessed is he who is not offended because of me”. Thereby Jesus is saying, go tell John and if he doesn’t stumble over this he will be blessed. To be not offended could also be translated blessed is the one who does not stumble over these things. Look at the scriptures and see that what I am doing is the fulfilment of Old Testament prophecies concerning the Messiah, and don’t stumble over this.

To sum up what I’ve said thus far, this passage begins with John asking a question, and the question is, are you the Messiah or are we to look for somebody else. Jesus responds by saying look at what I taught and consider what I have been doing and see that is is the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecies. That’s what I offer you as proof that I am the Messiah and that’s what I’m offering you as the solution to your doubt. Before I close for today, I’d like to pause for a second and ask you to consider, who is expressing doubt here. Is it some weak fickle person, somebody that isn’t very strong. Next time we will consider what Matthew has already said about John the Baptist. Because that gives us some insight into who may have these kinds of doubts, what type of person has these types of doubts to begin with.