Jesus Loves Doubters - Part B

The credentials of Jesus Christ are basically these. His impact upon history, fulfilled prophecy, the claims he made about himself and his resurrection.

Just go with those. Look at the evidence that is out there for those things, his credentials. Did you know there are more details available about the events just prior to the death, during the death and after the death of Jesus Christ than any other single human being in the ancient world? Look at the evidence. answers. I think every thinking person has doubts.

We struggle through issues. Theologians do it, apologists do it. And I think when we do it, it helps us reason truth out and come to the right conclusions. It solidifies our own faith. I've discovered unbelievers have great questions and they deserve great answers.

Thanks, Skip. Be sure to stay with us after today's message to hear the full discussion. Right now, we want to tell you about a resource that will help you reach others with the deep love of Jesus. The Bible makes it clear that Jesus loves the devout and the doubters, priests and prostitutes, the diseased and the depressed. Jesus just loves people, all people, no matter what's their past or their present. Sadly, sometimes it's the people who need love the most, who feel the most rejected, even by the church.

But if Jesus loves all people, shouldn't we? We want to help you grasp God's relentless love for people by sending you the complete four-booklet Jesus loves people collection by Skip Heitzig. These booklets look to scripture to demonstrate Jesus's love for people from every walk of life. Get all four Jesus loves people titles, including Jesus loves the broken and Jesus loves addicts. When you give a gift of $25 or more today to help expand this Bible teaching outreach to give call 800-922-1888 or give online securely at connectwithskip.com slash offer. Now, as we join Skip Heitzig for today's teaching, we're in Matthew 11 and John 20.

When Jesus said to his men, let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also in me. In my father's house, there are many mansions. If it were not so, I would have told you, I'm going to prepare a place for you. And if I go, I will come again and receive you to myself that where I am there, you may be also. And where I'm going, you know, and the way you know. Thomas immediately piped up and said, we don't know where you're going and how can we know the way?

Pretty honest, didn't it? I can sort of imagine the scene that all of the apostles were sort of nodding when Jesus was saying like, yeah, amen, good, profound. Thomas is going, I don't get a word you just said. And I'm so glad he piped up and said that.

You know why? Because immediately Jesus said what I consider gold in scripture. He said, I am the way, the truth and the life. And no one comes to the father but by me. But Thomas was never the guy to try to put on a spiritual mask and just say, glory to God, hallelujah, praise the Lord. If he didn't mean it, he just said, don't know where you're going, couldn't figure out the way.

Like the little boy that came home with a bad report card, his dad looked at it and said, one thing is good with grades like this, you couldn't possibly be cheating. And I would say, Thomas with statements like that, you couldn't possibly be faking. So Thomas was a doubter, but Thomas was loyal and he was real. So those are the doubters, J the B, John the Baptist, John the Baptizer and Thomas the apostles. John, he doubted the identity of Jesus. Thomas, he doubted the activity of Jesus that he had risen from the dead. So let's now look at the doubts that they had, the things they bring that they're struggling with to Jesus. First of all, John. Now, John's doubt was based upon, listen, unfulfilled expectations, unfulfilled expectations. John expected certain things out of Jesus that he was not seeing or getting and therefore he doubted. John had the misconception, like even the apostles had, that when the Messiah comes, and here he is, Jesus, so when the Messiah comes, he's going to set up his kingdom now. He's going to overthrow the Roman oppressors. He's going to stop all of that suffering.

He's going to judge them and he's going to set up his kingdom now. That's not happening to John. John's in jail and in jail now he's rethinking it. Now he's rethinking it. Thoughts probably like this. Didn't Jesus announce he was going to set the captives free?

Wasn't this the guy who said, I have come to set at liberty those who are bound? So you take those unfulfilled expectations and you add to them emotional and physical strain and you have a recipe for doubt. That's John's doubt. Unfulfilled expectations. Now let me tell you this. It is not unusual for strong believers, even Christian leaders, to from time to time struggle with uncertainty.

Did you know that? Moses second guessed his calling a few times. Jeremiah wanted to quit the ministry altogether. Elijah wanted to end his life. You see, when a believer has faithfully and sacrificially served the Lord for years and then experiences tragedy or a series of tragedies, it's hard to figure that out. The loss of a child. A child going astray.

Cancer entering into the family. The person starts asking questions. God, where are you when I really, really need you? How come you don't help?

Why did you let it happen? You know, it could be that some of you are struggling with similar doubts like John as to the identity of Jesus. You've wondered, is Jesus really the same guy that all these Christians tell me that he is? Can I just suggest that you do what John did? John didn't just stew in his prison cell, you know, just bouncing those questions around. He went to find the answer by sending his men to go examine Jesus. Why don't you personally examine Christ?

Now, if you are a skeptic, even an atheist, let me give you just a little challenge. I'm not going to have you go read reams of material, but simply this, a 21-day challenge. It'll take you 10 to 15 minutes a day.

Erwin Lutzer came up with a this, and I've always loved it. He said, every day for the next 21 days, read one chapter of the Gospel of John. It'll take you about 10, 15 minutes to do so. Just read through it, and in the 21 days, answer one question. Who is Jesus? Who did John present Jesus Christ to be?

Begin there. Go to the source and find out about him. So that's John the Baptist. Now, let's consider Thomas's doubt. Thomas's doubt was different than John's in that Thomas's doubt was based upon personal presupposition.

Now, I need to explain that. Thomas had a pre-disposition, a presupposition, and here it is. Dead people don't get up again.

When people die, that's it. Okay, he had seen Jesus raise people from the dead, but that guy himself is now dead, and he was not expecting Jesus to ever die. If he's the Messiah, he's going to set up the kingdom now. Now he's dead, and because he wasn't expecting his death, he certainly was not expecting his resurrection. He wasn't even open to the idea at all, which places his doubt in a different category altogether. I would even label it unbelief. Now, doubt and unbelief are different.

Doubt looks for answers. Unbelief doesn't really care that much about the answers. Doubt says I can't believe. Unbelief says I won't believe. Doubt is honesty. Unbelief is obstinacy. You see, doubt will work through the difficulties and find a faith that is reasonable and satisfying. Unbelief is different.

It decides against faith and pushes it away at all costs. So Thomas, get this, he was one of the apostles that did not go to the tomb to see if it was empty. No record of him ever going. In fact, the first time Jesus shows up with the apostles, Thomas wasn't even with them. Look at verse 24. Thomas, called the twin, one of the 12, was not with them when Jesus came.

He showed up, showed himself to them. They told Thomas, because he wasn't there, he isolated himself from other believers. Very different from John. John was put in prison.

He's suffering. Thomas is in solitude. He isolated himself from the other apostles.

He was not with them. Matthew Henry once said, there are none so blind as those who will not see. There are none so deaf as those who will not hear. Ever talk to a person who goes, I don't want to talk about that. I will not talk about faith.

I don't want to talk about Jesus. That's blindness. That's unbelief.

Don't confuse me with the facts. Now, we've considered the doubters and the doubts. Let's look at how Jesus handles these guys.

The two displays of love. Now, in Matthew 11, John the Baptist, the question is, are you the coming one? Or do we look for another? Notice that Jesus does not answer it with a yes or no. Are you the coming one? All he had to say is, yep, I'm the coming one. All he had to say is, yep, I am.

I'm the guy. Go tell that to John. He doesn't do that. He says, verse four, Matthew 11, go and tell John the things which you hear and you see. These disciples of John have been around Jesus long enough to hear his sermons and to watch his miracles. You've seen it.

You've heard it. Go tell John that. And here's the message that the dead are raised up and the poor have the gospel preached to them. You've got to know that was a very meaningful answer to John because those were all the signs that the Old Testament prophets predicted that the Messiah would fulfill. Here's one such prophecy, Isaiah 35, verse five, the eyes of the blind shall be opened.

The ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. Go tell John that you have seen with your own eyes what the prophets have said I would do. Here's another one, Isaiah 61, verse one, the spirit of the Lord God is upon me because the Lord has anointed me to preach good tidings to the poor.

You go tell John what you have heard. You have heard what the prophet said I would preach and I have. So Jesus in effect appeals to fulfilled prophecy when it came to John's doubts.

By the way, that's a great place to start. I've had wonderful conversations over the years showing what is one of the major differences between the Bible and the other 25 or so purported authentic scriptures that exist in the world. One thing that is striking is the amount of predictions, fulfilled prophecy that we find in scripture. Now when we come to Thomas, Jesus appeals to something else and that is to personal discovery. Look at verse 26.

I smile when I read it. It says after eight days his disciples were again inside so they're all together a second time but this time Thomas is with them. And Jesus came, the door's being shut, so he didn't come through the door and he stood in the midst. He just sort of appeared and he said peace to you. Now if I'm Thomas I'm thinking oh no, oh no, I'm in for it. And sure enough Jesus turns to Thomas and says reach your finger here and look at my hands and reach your hand here and put it into my sight. Do not be unbelieving but be believing.

You know people are funny, are they not? You can tell someone that there's 735 billion, 688 million stars up there and they'll go I believe that. Show him a sign however that says wet paint and he has to touch it to find out if it's true. But notice how gracious Jesus is with Thomas. He condescends to his request, putting his hands out saying basically examine the evidence. You want evidence, now check out the evidence.

I challenge you to do the same. If you want evidence for the historic Christian faith it abounds. There's plenty of it. The credentials of Jesus Christ are basically these. His impact upon history, fulfilled prophecy, the claims he made about himself and his resurrection.

Just go with those. Look at the evidence that is out there for those things, his credentials. Did you know there are more details available about the events just prior to the death, during the death and after the death of Jesus Christ than any other single human being in the ancient world? Look at the evidence. And then look at what he says to Thomas. After showing him the evidence he says do not be unbelieving but believing or literally stop becoming faithless but become a believer. Thomas, now's the time for you to rise up and become a believer.

And so quickly he ascends from the lowest depths to the highest height and he says my Lord and my God. And Jesus affirms that statement of faith. Now let me close this morning since we're dealing with doubters and give you just a few tips on handling them. I bet you have a doubter or two in your life. I bet you have children or parents or friends or co-workers. You might be married to a doubter.

Tips on handling doubters. There's four quick ones you should walk away with. Number one be available to them.

Be available. Don't say no I don't want to talk about that. I don't know.

I can't give you answers to that. Jesus met the doubts of John the baptizer and Thomas the apostles head on. Be available to dialogue with people about their doubts. You see people want rational faith. There's something within us that says my heart cannot delight in what my mind rejects as false.

That's where evidence is so beneficial. So be available. Number two be patient. It's not going to happen in one conversation usually and in fact let me let me let me modify that.

Be unshockingly patient. A couple weeks ago I picked up a lady walking across the street. She was having trouble and so I was escorting her to put her into my car and to help her out and I discovered she was homeless. So I said listen I'm going to take you to our church and we'll give you a meal and we'll figure out a place for you to stay and she recognized me. She was homeless but she goes you're that preacher. I said yes ma'am I'm that preacher. I put her in my car and we were driving and she turned to me and she goes I don't believe in God.

I said okay and we talked a little more and she felt that that was a message she had to underline. So a couple blocks later she goes I don't believe in God and I said ma'am I understood that and I do believe in God and I just want you to know that the guy who does believe in God is helping out the gal who doesn't believe in God and she said you got a good point there. When I worked in Israel on a farm years ago there was a guy named Tony and he loved to shock people and he was a Cambridge University student. He was from England working with me on a farm.

I was a Christian. He knew that and he would try to make opportunity with that. We were working out in the fields one day and Tony wanted to give me a message but he wanted to announce it to everyone working. So he said you know the reason I will not become a Christian is because it would mean that I couldn't have sex with anybody that I wanted to and everybody just sort of got real silent. He was just trying to shock us. So that began an interesting relationship with Tony where for days and weeks and even months I was with him or corresponded with him and sent him material and I'll never forget the day that I got a phone call from him very different tone of voice not a shocking arrogant tone of voice but he said Skip I've given my life to Jesus Christ.

He was from he was from England did I mention that. So be unshockingly patient. Number three be prepared. Be prepared. If you're going to talk to doubters and you will why not read up a little bit on the evidences for the Christian faith. It's not hard to do there's plenty of resources that you could become adept even minimally at apologetics instead of going I hate when people ask me those questions.

How about I'm ready. I used to look for people who had questions because I had read these books and I wanted to be prepared and let me just tell you even if you don't know all the answers know where to find the answers. How about have a booklet or a book at home or in your car or at the office that you can give to someone that are dealing with questions about the faith. Show them that God is never asking you to take a blind leap into the dark but a balanced leap into the light.

That's what they need to find. One skeptic admitted this I took all the evidence that I could gather and I put it on two scales. The scales tipped the way of Jesus Christ being the son of God and resurrected from the dead.

It was so overwhelmingly leaning to Christ that when I became a Christian it was a leap into the light rather than a leap into the darkness. It's fun to dialogue with people who have doubts. No they'll say well you know I'm just not this is how it goes. I'm not a person of faith. I'm a little more clear thinking. You know it's hard for me to just have faith and I go you know what you're wrong you have faith every day. I ask him do you understand the workings of an automobile fuel injection combustion.

The chances are they go no. I said you have faith that when you put the key in and do this it's going to go vroom. You don't know it you can't explain it but you believe it. When you go to a restaurant you have faith that they're going to give you a meal that won't kill you.

That you're going to actually enjoy it and walk out better for it nourished right. You have to have faith to go into a restaurant. By the way some restaurants require more faith than others. You have to have faith to go to a bank. You come with a check.

It's just a piece of paper. It's just a promise but you are having faith that that promise is good. Everybody lives with faith. Even the atheist lives with faith.

Even the doubter lives with faith. So be available. Be patient. Be prepared.

Fourth and final tip. Be nice. There is no room for an arrogant believer.

Getting down on somebody for their doubts. Do you notice how Jesus here is so compassionate. He didn't rebuke Thomas nor John for their failure. You know it would be very easy when the disciples from John came and say hey John really wants to know if you're really the guy. For Jesus to say go tell John he is such a disappointment to me. He just said I was the savior of the world and I was God in human flesh. Now he even doubts who I am.

I can't believe it. In fact you know what he does. A couple verses later in verse 11 of Matthew 11 he says of all those born of women there's no one greater than John the Baptist. How's that for being nice to a doubter. He extolled him. He honored him. And then when it came to Thomas. You know Thomas wasn't there the first time. Jesus comes the second time. Thomas is there.

What if Jesus would have turned to the other disciples and said you know we got to pray for Thomas. He's really a doubter. He doesn't do that.

In both cases he offers proof of his identity and his activity. Jesus loves people. He loves all people. He loves doubting people. And Ben Franklin was right.

You'll catch more flies with honey than you will with vinegar. Ask John the Baptist. Ask Thomas.

Ask my friend Dennis. That wraps up Skip Heitzig's message from the series Jesus Loves People. Now here's Skip and Lenya as they share how you can guide your loved ones on their search for answers. It's okay for us to have questions about our faith because it can make us stronger. But we have to be willing to look for the answers.

Skip some of our listeners might know someone who is on a search for answers. Do you have any advice for them as they come alongside doubters in their lives? Yeah, my early Christian walk was I was surrounded by atheists, agnostics, professors.

I have a science background in radiology my earlier years. So, most everyone that I was with didn't believe. And so, it was great for me in the fact that it challenged me. So, and even personally, I mean, I'd go home and I'd have all these doubts. Well, maybe they're right. And I think every thinking person has doubts. We struggle through issues. Theologians do it.

Apologists do it. And I think when we do it, it helps us reason truth out and come to the right conclusions. It solidifies our own faith. I've discovered unbelievers have great questions, and they deserve great answers. And so, I've read books by former skeptics, and I've ingested them.

I've memorized sections of them. I've learned how to communicate them. And so, I would say to one of our listeners, if maybe that's not your wheelhouse, you're not really great at it, you know, you can buy a book in the bookstore like by Lee Strobel or Josh McDowell or now Sean McDowell and sit down with an unbeliever and read the book together and discuss those principles together because you're going to learn how to share and they're going to learn truth.

Also, just that you attend church. You know, don't forsake the assembly of gathering together because I have found, you know, I've suffered with depression, as you know, honey. And when somebody else who has depression finds out that I have, because they have so many doubts, you know, I'm a failure. Have I sinned?

Is it my fault? When they talk to somebody else, they're like, oh, you know, it normalizes it a bit. Also, they're like, you're Skip's wife and you get depressed? How's that possible? I'm Skip's wife, therefore I get depressed.

No. So it helps us to know there's other people that are like us and we don't feel so alienated in our doubts. That's good. Thank you, Skip and Lenya. We hope this conversation with Skip and Lenya encouraged you in your faith. Now, we'd like to tell you how you can help keep these biblical messages coming to you and others so you can keep going in your walk with Jesus.

Please consider giving a gift today to help even more people experience that same blessing. Just call 800-922-1888. That's 800-922-1888 or visit connectwithskip.com slash donate. That's connectwithskip.com slash donate. Thank you. Tune in tomorrow as Skip Hytik helps you see that God can heal even the deepest wounds. Connect with Skip Hytik is a presentation of Connection Communications, connecting you to God's never-changing truth in ever-changing times.