Doubting Christians

Welcome to No Compromise Radio Ministry. Mike Avendroth here. In real time it is Friday, January 32nd. Just kidding. January 17th. Supposed to snow five inches on Sunday. Supposed to get down to two degrees on Tuesday.

That's cold. It's so cold you can't really do a radio show, can you? Does the equipment even work? You can write me, Mike, at NoCompromiseRadio .com. New book is out. Law and Gospel, a primer. Some have ordered bulk copies.

Thank you for those orders. We even got a best-selling hot new release in systematic theology category. It was fleeting, but it was fun. And, I don't know, $10 .99 is the book. Law and Gospel, simple introductory.

Hand them out promiscuously. So, that's it. Today on the show, I want to talk a little bit more about doubt and reassurance. Doubt and reassurance. John the Baptist was doubting that Jesus was the expected one.

Can you imagine John the Baptist doubting? Now, if I ever say to someone, oh, when I got prostate cancer, I struggled with my assurance, they're so happy, not that I got prostate cancer, but that I struggled with assurance.

When I was struggling with assurance and I read that John Owen struggled with assurance, or Spurgeon had some doubts, I was happy. Not in a schadenfreude way, but, hey, I'm not the only one. It feels like I'm the only one.

I don't want to be the one, but I'm going through these thoughts. And John the Baptist was wondering what's going on in Luke 7. He's in Herod Antipas' dungeon for calling him out for his sexual sins, for Herod's sexual sins.

Herod the Great had built this prison that Josephus talks about that's near the Dead Sea, and he, John, was able to have a couple of his disciples there in prison, and he sends them to Jesus, and he says, are you the one?

Are you the expected one? I mean, you're thinking Daniel 7, you're thinking about coming in great and victorious justice and waging war with evil and taking care of the Roman oppression and everything else, and are you really the one?

And if John the Baptist doubted, I wonder about you doubting. So, we talked about doubting last time and how to overcome some doubts and how we're to be merciful to those that doubt. That is Jude 22. And I tried to remind you that doubt implies faith because you're doubting your faith.

That means you have to have faith to doubt it. You have to question your faith that you have because how do you question something you don't have? You can only doubt what you believe. Does that make sense?

You can only doubt your faith. I'm wondering what I believe. I'm wondering if it's true. And doubt can creep in, intellectual doubt, we would call it, and even circumstantial doubt, going through trials and difficulties and then asking, is God good?

Does He care? Intellectual questions like, is heaven real? Is Jesus' death atoned for my sins? Is my faith saving faith? Do I have enough knowledge, assent, and trust? I don't think you should ask that question, but those questions go through people's minds.

And it's not a quantity of faith, it's the quality of the object of faith, right? You know something, you agree to it, you assent it to be true, and you trust. And you're like, well, maybe my trust isn't enough.

So there is doubt, and that doubt presupposes some kind of faith, some kind of belief, some type of confidence. And unbelief is this hard-hearted, determined, resolute refusal to simply, well, I'm not going to believe.

And it's a resistance. And so doubt and unbelief are completely different. If you don't do the right things when you're doubting, maybe there are some doubters that go on to unbelief, prove that they never were believers.

But doubting and unbelief aren't the same thing. So that's what we talked about last time. If you didn't listen to it, maybe you should. We then talked a little bit about the solution to doubting. And of course, John the Baptist, while he doubted, he went to Jesus for the answers, not personally because he was in jail, but he sent his disciples to Jesus.

And so when you doubt, it's a good little principle in Luke chapter 7, when you doubt, go to Jesus. And for us, we can't go to him physically. So we go to his word. And so now the disciples of John go to Jesus and Luke 7, 21 says, in that hour, he healed many people of diseases and plagues and evil spirits.

And on many who were blind, he bestowed sight. And he answered them, go and tell John what you have seen and heard. The blind receive their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up.

The poor have good news, preach to them. Are you the coming one, or should we look for another? First, Jesus heals actions, and then Jesus preaches. He first does some things, healing people, then he answers them and tells them what John needs to know.

And it is very interesting that you see Christ and his kindness here. He doesn't delay, it says in that hour. He doesn't hedge, he doesn't say, let's play a game of 20 questions, some guessing game, keeping the men in suspense.

He doesn't say, I can't believe John is doubting. He, Jesus, wants to give assurance. God loves to give assurance. By the way, did you hear my point there? God loves to give assurance. These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God.

That's 1 John 5, 13. God loves to give assurance. God wants you to know, dear Christian, that you are his child. Joel Beakey says, what would you think of an earthly father who kept his son and daughter in doubt for many years as to whether he was their real father?

Do you think the heavenly father feels differently about his children? That's in that good little book on assurance, Knowing and Growing in Assurance of Faith, published by Christian Focus, 2017. God wants you to know, not that you're, you know, did God have to give us assurance?

All of a sudden, you just make it there, but he wants us to know on earth that we have a settled persuasion and a confidence that we're going to go to heaven. I like Bruce Demarest's definition of assurance.

The confidence of believers in Christ, that notwithstanding their mortal sinful condition, they are irrevocably children of God and heirs of heaven. Jesus doesn't rebuke John the Baptist. He doesn't rebuke John the Baptist's disciples.

He, Jesus, of course, fulfilling Isaiah, the prophet, he will not quarrel or cry aloud, nor will anyone hear his voice in the streets. A bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not quench.

And so Jesus gives assurance that he's the one. He's the one who heals. He's been healing back in chapter four. He's been healing in chapter five. He's been healing in chapter six. He does more healing.

You want to know if I'm the Messiah or not? The expected one, the one who is to come, he heals. And he does things that only the Messiah could do. He gives sight to the blind. And literally in the Greek is he's graced many blind people.

Blind people need to be graced. It is a wonderful favor of God to be graced of God. And now you could see. And these miracles are to validate and to authenticate. Those are the words I put validate and authenticate together, that he in fact is the Messiah.

And they could just watch and look at the evidences and see how miraculously he cures people. In other words, cure where we get the word a therapy, therapeutic. And he heals people of diseases. And that disease or sickness or sometimes even disorder, they might translate it really was bad because of physically, but also if you were that way socially, you would be frowned upon as well.

And for afflictions, he healed. And even in the demonic realm, the evil spirit realm, taking care of those people. Now he, after his actions, he goes on to have some words and he answered them and said, my soldiers are lined up in military array.

They've got their weapons. They've got their swords. They've got their bows and arrows. We have our chariots and they're coming for Rome. Judgment is on the move, but he didn't say that. He didn't say that at all.

He's summarizing verses in Isaiah chapter 35, chapter 61. And of course, John the Baptist knows the words of Isaiah. And here's what I want you to do. I want you to say something to John. Are you the coming one?

Jesus didn't say, yes, I am. But he answered and said, tell him what you've seen and now heard. Blind receive their sight, lame walk, lepers cleanse, deaf hear, dead are raised up, and the poor have good news.

Preach to them. That's what the old Testament said the Messiah would be doing. That's exactly what Jesus is doing. And maybe part of the reason why John the Baptist is wondering what's going on. Well, there's a lot of talk here about Isaiah 35 and Isaiah 61.

Remember what Isaiah 61 does say, spirit of the Lord is upon me because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and the opening of the prison to those who are bound to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor and the day of vengeance of our God to comfort all who mourn.

And while blind people see and while lame walk, in Isaiah 35, it's predicted that will happen. Jesus has preached good news to the poor and he's the anointed one, Isaiah 61, but liberty to the captives, opening the prison to the bound.

John the Baptist is in prison and there doesn't seem to be any day of vengeance. It seems like it's the days of mercy, kindness, and goodness of God. John's in jail. Why am I in jail? If the Messiah has come, so you can kind of see where John's coming from.

But where's the vengeance? Where's the powerful Messiah who will overthrow the oppressors? Here we get kindness. Yes, there's kindness of the Messiah, but what about everything else? Jesus is giving assurance.

Assurance is given. I think it's not much different than Thomas. Unless I see the hands and marks of the nails and place my finger into the mark of the nails and place my hand into his side, I will never believe.

Jesus says, put your finger here, see my hands, put out your hand, place it at my side. Do not disbelieve, but believe. Thomas answered him and said, my Lord and my God. Jesus said to him, have you believed because you've seen me?

Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believed. Then the next verse, now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book, but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.

God loves to give assurance and he gives assurance through his word, right? We see the actions of Jesus and we see his word. And when you're struggling with assurance, I don't want you to say, I'll find it someplace outside the word of God.

I'll find it outside of the person and work of Jesus. I mentioned before that John Owen struggled with his assurance. He said, I preached Christ some years when I had, but very little, if any, experimental acquaintance with access to God through Christ.

He said, his soul was oppressed with horror and darkness. And the tie-in here for assurance given through the word is Owen said, things all began to change when quote, God graciously revealed, excuse me, relieved my spirit by a powerful application of Psalm 130, tied to the word.

Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord, O Lord, hear my voice. Let your ears be attentive to the voice of my pleas for mercy. If you, O Lord, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand, but with you, there's forgiveness that you may be feared.

I wait for the Lord. My soul waits. And in his word, I hope my soul waits for the Lord more than the watchman for the morning, more than the watchman for the morning. Oh, Israel hope in the Lord for with the Lord, there is steadfast love and with him is plentiful redemption.

And he will redeem Israel from all his iniquities. God forgives, God cares, God knows. Our knowledge of God, of Christ, of ourselves and of the blessed scripture is imperfect in this life. And how then can our assurance be perfect?

Thomas Brooks. Brooks goes on to say, now, when any fears or darkness or doubts or disputes arise in your souls about your spiritual state, oh, then run to Christ in the promise and plead the promise and let your souls cleave close to the promise.

For this is the way of ways to have your evidences cleared, your comforts restored, your peace maintained, your grace is strengthened and your assurance raised and confirmed so that you could have confidence that you're forgiven and that glory awaits you.

Tied to scriptures, tied to scriptures. You want to know if you've been justified? You want to know if you're accepted by God? You want to know if God loves you and gave himself for you? You have to be hearing the word preached.

It's tied to the word. The security that you have as a Christian, no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus needs to be heard. Of course, after you look to the Lord and his promises and his love, can you look at the inward evidence of the Holy Spirit, the testimony of the Holy Spirit, that when you're hurting, you cry, Abba Father, the testimony of the Holy Spirit, that he is making you new and giving you fruits and evidences that you walk in.

God loves to give assurance and he gives assurance through his word. Anyone that comes along and says, God doesn't want you to have assurance, is not acting like Jesus. They're acting like the anti-Christ, anti-Jesus.

Roman Catholic Cardinal Bellarmine, the principal heresy of Protestants is that saints may obtain to a certain assurance of their gracious and pardoned state before God. Pope Clement VIII had a personal theologian, Cardinal Bellarmine, that I just quoted.

He said assurance was the greatest of all heresies. Can you imagine? The Catholic Encyclopedia calls assurance the sin of presumption. Doesn't sound like Jesus giving assurance, does it? Catholic Encyclopedia defines sin of presumption as, quote, it may be defined as the condition of a soul that because of a badly regulated reliance on God's mercy and power, hopes for salvation without doing anything to deserve it, or for pardon of his sins without repenting of them, end quote.

Now, tell me again, a badly regulated reliance on God's mercy and power, you're too reliant on God's mercy and power. Could that ever happen? Does that ever happen? Would that ever happen without doing anything to deserve salvation?

I mean, at least we know what they believed and they were fair in their representation of the other side when it comes to sola fide. They just didn't believe it. They said it was damning. Of course, they allow Paul, because he went to heaven, to have assurance.

Virgin Mary, why? Because she's just, she's Mary. And if you'd like to have a little bit of assurance, you can just do a bunch of law. You can keep the Beatitudes, have communion a lot, devotion to the blessed Virgin Mary.

I mean, it's just all law. Versus gospel truths that Jesus is kind. Jesus loves to give assurance. Jesus is the one who we need to look to. Gregory the Great, in the 600s, the greater our sins, the more we must do to make up for them.

Whether we have done enough to atone for them, we cannot know until after death. We can never be sure of success. Assurance of salvation and the feeling of safety engendered by it is dangerous for anybody and would not be desirable, even if possible.

Council of Trent, if anyone saith that he will for certain of an absolute and infallible certainty, have the greatest gift of perseverance unto the end, unless he has learned this by special revelation, let him be anathema or accursed.

Why would anyone teach against assurance? Maybe you don't need a priest anymore. Maybe you think people are not going to work and do good works. Maybe you think they're going to become prideful. Maybe you think they're going to become presumptuous.

Maybe you think they're going to be licentious. But what does the Bible teach? Jesus loves to give assurance. And the Reformation was recovery of marriage. It was recovery of the bondage of the will. It was recovery of sola fide, sola gratia, and more.

And it was a recovery of assurance. Sinclair Ferguson said, indeed, in some senses, the Reformation was the great rediscovery of assurance. If the gospel was the power of God for salvation, if in Christ we are accounted righteous before the Father, so the Reformers understood, since earthly fathers lavish on their children assurances of their love, protection, and provision, how much more does our heavenly Father lavish on us his love, protection, and provision?

If you think that assurance leads to carnal security, you're not thinking rightly. Use the illustration again. I'm going to make sure my children know that they're mine, that I love them, I do anything for them, I provide for them physical things, medical things, spiritual things at my own cost, and now they're going to take advantage of that?

I guess they could, but they shouldn't. You ought to have confidence that you're forgiven and that glory awaits. God wants to give you that, and it's tied to the Word. John the Baptist knew, when you struggle, go to Jesus.

And Jesus says, this is who I am, this is what I do, this is what the Word says. Seems like a pretty good template for us. And then Jesus says in Luke 7, 23, blessed is the one who is not offended by me.

Blessed, supremely blessed, well off, doubt and offense, and blessed is the one who does not doubt me. People that doubt, they're not offended by Jesus, they're just wondering, do they believe everything about him?

This is a blessing before it's a warning. You don't want to be offended by Jesus, take offense at Jesus, the offense of the cross, the offense that we're somehow, you know, sinners needing a Savior. Here's a blessing.

Jesus gives a blessing. It's a blessing of John and anyone else who believes, even though they doubt sometimes, blessed is the one who's not offended by me. So, I ask the question, as Jesus is treating John kindly and gently, tenderly, John's not going to fall away.

Blessed is the man who does not fall away on account of me. He's blessed. Here's a beatitude. There's a scandal, there's an offense, but John doesn't have that. A stone of stumbling and a rock of offense, they stumble because they disobey the word as they were destined to do.

That's 1 Peter 2 .8. That surely is not John. We preach Christ crucified, 1 Corinthians 1, a stumbling block to Jews and a folly to Gentiles. I mean, John's in jail. He might have some doubts, but he is not offended.

My name's Mike Ebendroth. This is No Compromise Radio Ministry. I'm watching some people pull up to the church and I don't know who they are. How about this blessing? Blessed is one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.

Blessed is the man against whom the Lord counts no iniquity and in whose spirit there is no deceit. Here's the blessing, the blessing of Jesus on John and all those who are not offended by Jesus. Well, that's going to wrap up the show now.

My name's Mike Ebendroth. Don't forget, if you want to order on Amazon, just a book here or there, just directly order. And would you do me a favor? Here's my request. My request is that you, if you buy a book on Amazon written by me, would you write a review?

Pat Ebendroth is so much better at this. I mean, his Act of Obedience book and his Covenant Theology book have so many reviews. And some of my books have two reviews or eight reviews or nine reviews. Would you give it a review?

Speaking of books, the first two books I wrote on day one, The Supremacy and Sovereignty of King Jesus, that's the second one. And the first one, Jesus Christ, the Prince of Preachers. Those are no longer being sold by day one.

I've been given the rights to them, and I probably will update them and upload them on Amazon. So we'll see what happens with those. I might have to change a little of my theology from back in the day.

Mike Ebendroth, this is No Compromise Radio Ministry.