How to overcome doubt
Published by Stanley Pouw in 2013 · 3 February 2013
We are examining the first 6 verses of Matthew 11 this evening. But before we look specifically, let me explain why this text is here and what it wants to do. The book of Matthew starts with, "Who is Jesus Christ?" And for ten chapters, Matthew, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, has presented Him as the Son of God, the Savior of Israel and the Savior of the world.
In that effort Matthew tapped every witness to the claims of Christ. We begin with the testimony of history as we see the genealogy that points to Christ as Messiah. Then, we see the virgin birth, as He was conceived by the Holy Spirit without a human father. Then there is the fulfilled prophecy of the Old Testament in chapter 2.
In chapter 3 is the testimony of John the Baptist, a prophet of God proclaiming the Messiah. And the testimony of God the Father, who said, "This is My beloved Son." In chapter 4, we watch His power as Jesus Himself defeats Satan. Then in chapters 5-7, we have His words - the truthfulness, the power and the authority of what He said verifying His claim. Then, in chapters 8-9, we see His healing, casting out demons, raising the dead and forgiving sin. All of these testify to His deity.
Finally, in chapter 10, as we have been learning in the past few weeks, we see the testimony of His disciples. They were so convinced that He was the Christ that they were willing to pay the dearest price of loyalty to Him - death itself. Now in chapters 11-12, Matthew has a different purpose in mind. What is the reaction of those who have heard and seen? In fact, he lists for us the various kinds of reactions to the claims of Christ.
For example, in Matthew 11-12 we see all the negative responses: doubt, criticism, indifference, amazement, rejection, blasphemy, and fascination. But you'll notice nothing is said about the last section of chapter 11 and the last section of chapter 12, because both of those deal with positive responses; the response of faith, the right response.
So the first response in the first 6 verses is the response of doubt. You might even call it perplexity or confusion, but doubt says it better. When the New Testament talks about doubt it primarily focuses on believers. We have to believe something before we can doubt it. So doubt is the unique problem of the believer.
I want to encourage you, in that doubt is something that occurs in the life of a believer. In fact, the illustration in Matthew 11 happens to be John the Baptist. And John the Baptist was a strong believer. It says in Matthew 11:11, “among those born of women there has not risen one greater than John the Baptist." If the greatest man that ever lived up until his time had doubts, then we can feel comforted when we doubt as well, right?
He had to continually remind them not to doubt. Frequently in Matthew, Jesus said to His disciples, "Oh you of little faith," and in Matthew 14:31, "Why did you doubt?" In Matthew 28:17, at the end, after the Resurrection, Jesus appeared to them and it says, “When they saw Him, they worshiped Him; but some doubted.”
Let us begin by examining the passage tonight, and then we will discuss this problem of doubt. Verse 1, "Now it came to pass, when Jesus finished commanding His twelve disciples." That is what He did in chapter 10: He had taught them, trained them, prepared them to go out into the world and represent Him. He knew that they would be empowered by the Holy Spirit, and after His ascension that they would build the church.
As Christ was ministering alone, He is approached by two disciples of John the Baptist in verse 2. John had heard in his prison about the works of Christ, so he sends these disciples to ask in verse 3, "Are you the Coming One, or should we look for another?" The Coming One is a title for the Messiah.
John was in prison and he needed a report on how things were going, so some of his disciples would follow Jesus around. Some people might say, "Well, John didn't believe," but that's not true. The form of the question implies that he believed but was having some doubt He's saying, "I believe that You're the Messiah; am I wrong in believing that?”
Jesus answered them in verse 4, and said, "Go and tell John the things which you hear and see." He knew they had been around for a while, and had seen a lot, and reported a lot, so He says, "Go tell him that 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.”
Why did John doubt, and why was he perplexed? As we look at the text, we can find four reasons why he doubted, and I believe they are the same four reasons why we doubt, why we have times in our lives when we doubt God.
Reason number one: difficult circumstances. Humanly speaking, the career of John the Baptist ended in disaster. John was this fiery, dynamic, bold and courageous man who preached exactly what needed to be preached to people who needed it and never had any fear. When he saw sin he rebuked the person who committed it right away. That was the reason he was imprisoned.
Herod, the ruler of Galilee, went to see his brother and he took a liking to his brother's wife, so he seduced her. When he returned home, he divorced his own wife and then took his brother's wife as his new wife. John the Baptist heard about that, and he in public told Herod that he was an adulterer and a vile sinner.
Herod immediately threw him in prison, and would have killed him, except he was afraid of the people, because the people thought he was a prophet. At the bottom of one of Herod’s palaces in the middle of the desert was a dark hot dungeon. For over one year, he was held in the blackness of that pit without any fresh air. This place now is called Mukawir.
He was a true saint, a prophet of God, holy, faithful, selfless and loyal. He had done exactly what God told him to do; he had announced the glorious coming of the Messiah. He had been filled with the Spirit since the time he was in his mother's womb; he had taken the Nazarite vow - the highest spiritual commitment possible. Was this his reward?
Doubt comes from our inability to deal with negative circumstances; trials. John must have thought, "Didn't Isaiah 61:1-2 promised that when the Messiah came, He would free the prisoners and set loose the captives? What's going on here? This isn't the way it's supposed to be.
John doubted but he did the right thing - he went immediately to the Lord. That's the place to go if you have doubt over those kinds of things; pray to the Lord. Negative circumstances are tough, but all they need to do is drive us to the Lord, who will respond to those struggles by replacing our doubt with faith.
By the way, John's circumstances never got any better; they got worse - he got his head chopped off. Doubt comes from difficult circumstances, but that only gives us an opportunity to exercise faith. Faith, when it is exercised, gets stronger and being with the Lord is better than anything else, right?
The second thing that causes doubt is worldly influences. Notice that it says in verse 2 that John had heard about the works of Christ, and this confused him. The people all thought that when the Messiah came He would first defeat the Romans, wipe them out, and give Israel back her land.
John was influenced by the thinking of his day, saying, “Is this supposed to be this way?" The wrongs were still wrong, the injustices were still there, the sin was everywhere. It just wasn't the way it was supposed to be, and his thoughts became the same as the thinking of the people around him.
In fact we have the same doubts today, right? "If God is a God of love, why is the world so messed up? If Christ loves everyone so much, why do children die and people starve, or get diseases, and there is war and death? If your God is so loving, why doesn't He make things right in this world; why is there so much injustice? If your God is so loving, why is He punishing people to Hell?"
The world does not know God or His plan; they don't know Christ or understand who He is. The natural man does not understand the things of God, and if you begin to let the world force you to think that Christ must be who they say He must be, then you'll start doubting. Again, the solution is to pray to Him.
Jesus says to John, "See, I can do all that. I can stop disease and give resurrection life to the dead. I preach good news to hurting people. It is going to be right, just trust Me for the right timing." Then He adds in verse 6, “And blessed is he who is not offended because of Me.”
Thirdly, there is incomplete revelation. John had heard about Jesus and what was going on. His disciples had come back and said they had seen this and that, but he really doubted because he didn't have the opportunity for a firsthand look. He didn't have the opportunity, like Peter said, to be an eyewitness of His majesty.
So John needed some firsthand information and the Lord said, "OK. If you need some eyewitness information, I'll give you some." Remember Luke 7; right there, on the spot, Jesus did some great miracles and said, "These are for John! These are John's miracles, now take them to him and tell him." The Lord gave him a more complete revelation.
How does this relate to you? A lot of people doubt because they just don't understand God's revelation. You have to know the facts. I would promise you that your doubt is erased as you daily expose yourself to the revelation of God. Let God speak through His Word; and the closer your relationship is the less you will doubt.
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 the Bereans were more noble, because they searched the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so. God gave them the evidence.
Fourthly, people doubt because of unfulfilled expectations. When John preached about Christ in Matthew 3:11, he said, “but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire,” which is judgment.
In other words, "You'd better get your life right because the Messiah is coming." The implication was that if your life was not right, you would be judged. He was preaching that the Messiah was coming to judge. And here came Jesus, with a small group of twelve characters, wandering around Galilee, healing and doing miracles.
He sounds like David in Psalm 9, 10, 35, 52, 58, and all those psalms where David asked God to punish his enemies. He sounds like the people under the altar in Revelation 6:10, “How long, O Lord, until You judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?” He's thinking, "If You are the Messiah, why no punishment?" He has unfulfilled expectations.
You expect God to do something. If there is someone in your life who is a wretched, evil, and vile and they seem to prosper all the time, you might think, "How long will you let this happen, God? This doesn't seem fair." Or maybe you've been looking for the Second Coming for so long, you just sort of gave up.
John had all these expectations, and maybe you think like him, "I wonder if the Messiah ever will come. Is this whole thing true?" Many people say, "Everyone has always believed that, but He hasn't come yet." 2 Peter 3:3-4 says, “Scoffers will come in the last days 4 and saying, “Where is the promise of His coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation.”
Look how Jesus answers in Matthew 11:5, "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." Why? Those are all signs of the Kingdom, for in the Kingdom, all disease is eliminated, no more dying and the world will know the Gospel.
Jesus is saying, "John, if it is your Kingdom expectation that is causing you doubt, look again at these things. They are all the marks of the Kingdom; you are seeing them in a preview. It will all come, so don't stay too long in the trap of doubt, or you will lose your blessing."
Don’t forget, the words of our Lord answer the problems of doubt. If you doubt because of difficult circumstances, look at His works that prove that He cares for people in difficulties. If you doubt because of worldly influence, look at His works that prove that He is in control, and will show it fully one day.
If you doubt because of incomplete revelation, then look at His works, study them, read them, and see who He is. If you doubt because of unfulfilled expectation, look again, for these are the previews of what He will do in His Kingdom. If He could do them then, He proves Himself to be the one who can do them in the Kingdom.
The best part of this story is the part that Matthew doesn't put in, and it is this: John had his doubt removed by the Lord's answer. How do we know that? Look at Matthew 14:12. It talks about John being beheaded and his head is brought on a platter. "Then his disciples came and took away the body and buried it, and went and told Jesus."
Why did they tell Jesus? Because they believed Jesus. Why did they believe? Because John believed in Jesus and that made them believe in Jesus too. The fact that they went immediately to Jesus is indicative that John was satisfied with the answer from Jesus. Jesus was part of their lives and their plan because John first was satisfied.
We all doubt, but know this. 2 Timothy 2:13 says, "If we believe not, He remains faithful, for He cannot deny Himself." When you doubt, God will be faithful; you won't lose your relationship to the Lord. He will be faithful because God cannot deny Himself.
He has affirmed that you are His child and He will hold on. Knowing that, you can have the confidence to go to God with your doubt, and He'll give you the answer you need. As Luke 12:29 says, “And do not seek what you should eat or what you should drink, nor have an anxious mind.” Let us pray.