Have You Not Read S2E25 - Doubt

Welcome to Have You Not Read, a podcast seeking to answer questions from the text of Scripture for the honor of Christ and the edification of the

Saints. Before we dig into our topic, we humbly ask you to rate, review, and share the podcast.

Thank you. I'm Andrew Hudson. Joining me today are David Kasson, Chris Giesler.

All right, we have another question. I'm struggling with that. They are emotional as well as intellectual.

I feel like the disciples saying, where else could we go? But yet, sometimes this intense doubt still persists.

And along those lines, I guess this is also a question about assurance of salvation.

Where would you go to answer this? Well, this is a deeply personal question.

And when we had first talked about addressing this one,

I related a story early on in my own Christian walk where one of my friends from high school, who is now a pastor in Nashville, he's a

Presbyterian pastor, he's great. He was also a walk -on to Catholic in Baylor. So he's, you know, just an amazing guy in every respect.

And I shared some struggles and doubts and things with him early on.

And his response to me was the very fact that you care, that you're struggling with this at all, shows that a change has been wrought.

This is good. I'm sorry that you're going through it, but this is good. And I was like, okay, that made me feel better.

And this is a guy that, you know, he was just trying to comfort, you know, a friend. And I hope that we could do the same thing for the person who's asked this question.

So Christianity is not just a blind faith suppress all concerns about what

I may be thinking about, which is often expressed as the word doubt. Sure. Right. And it's also not a just a feeling.

Well, you know, I'm, I feel assured, therefore I am. No. You don't think therefore you are, you don't feel therefore you are.

The Word of God is. And God is. And so we should go there first.

I think that where I would start when someone is struggling with doubt and conversely, or in the same vein, their own assurance, the words of Christ in John 6 are, and have been, very, very helpful to me.

In John 6, Jesus had just fed the 5 ,000. And they came to him the next day and they wanted breakfast.

They wanted more food. And his response to them was, I am the bread of life. He said, well, Moses, you know, fed us with bread in the wilderness.

They said, look, it was God, one, it was God who fed you. But look, I am the bread of life. And they're having difficulty understanding him.

The kind of, the kind of bread that he was offering is one they would, they would never go hungry. They're like, yes, we want this.

And verse 35 said to them, I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.

But I say to you that if you've seen me, and yet do not believe, all that the

Father gives me will come to me. And whoever comes to me, I will not cast out. For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me.

And this is the will who sent me, of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day.

This is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life.

And I will raise him up on the last day. No one, this is verse 44, no one can come to me unless the

Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day, as it is written in the

Prophets. They will all be taught by God. Everyone has heard and learned from the Father comes to me.

Not that anyone has seen the Father, except he who is from God. He has seen the

Father. Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life.

Verse 54, whoever feeds on my flesh, drinks my blood, has eternal life. And I will raise him up on the last day.

Whoever feeds on this bread will live forever. That's verse 58.

These are the words of Christ. And what this does is that reminds us that those who believe in Christ, those who place their trust in him, have been drawn to him by the

Father. No one snatches them out of the Father's hand, and he gives them to the Son. The Father chooses and draws them.

The power of the Holy Spirit draws them, and none can snatch them out of the Father's hands.

And what does Christ say will happen to those? One, they will not be lost. And two, they will be raised up on the last day.

So our assurance isn't just that we're in the Father's hands, because I've heard that before, that says, well, none can snatch them out of the

Father's hand. That includes you. You can't snatch yourself out of the Father's hand. It's like, okay, I see where you're going with that, but what is the phrase that's repeated over and over?

I will raise them up on the last day. Our assurance is in who Christ says that he is.

And if you want assurance that you will be raised up on the last day, look to Christ's resurrection.

So Christ was raised, therefore you will be raised. There are, and John 10 also talks about, there are sheep that belong to Christ.

He looks at some of the Pharisees and some of those who were his enemies, and he says, you don't hear me because you're not of my sheep.

My sheep hear my voice, and they will come. They're irresistibly drawn. The sheep come to Christ, they follow, they're held, and they will be raised up on the last day.

These are the words of Christ, and as we meditate on them, read them to ourselves, read them to each other, that the

Word, the Word of Christ, the King, should be the source of our assurance.

Even before Christ's death and resurrection, he demonstrated the power to raise the dead.

And talking about this last day, Lazarus died. His sister affirmed the belief that, oh, of course, you know, on the last day he'll be raised up.

Jesus told her, I am the last day. He has power to raise

Lazarus, to lay down his life and take it back up again.

He can surely do that for you. He's demonstrated that he is faithful to do that.

That was the miracles that Christ was doing.

He was showing mastery over the physical world. He was showing mastery over, you know, hunger.

He showed mastery over disease. He showed mastery over the demons.

And he showed mastery over death itself. You just see a progression in the Gospel of John with that.

Yeah. All right, so that's one area you can go to.

So look to Christ. Look to Christ. Look to what he said. Well, we were discussing this before we did the recording.

In John chapter 20, let's just start at verse 30. Now, Jesus performed many other miraculous signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not recorded in this book.

But these are recorded 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. To the person who sent in this question, read the book of John.

It was written for you, that you may believe and have life in his name.

Yeah, I think that's the key. You're supposed to spend time with the Lord. You're to learn more about who he is, his character, and what he has said, and what he has promised, what he has already done, what he's already accomplished, promise after promise, and prophecy after prophecy, and everything that Christ said was going to happen occurred so we can trust that what he has said regarding our future can also be trusted.

So how do you spend time with Jesus? How do you really commune with him?

Because there's a couple of traditions out there that I think give people false assurances.

So we can talk about some of those, but if somebody said, look, you need to look at Jesus. Okay, how do we do that?

Because is he in this room? Well, two or three are gathered, so is he here? That's an old joke.

So is Jesus among us? Well, I think that John chapter 6, you talked about, you went through all of his promises.

He comes to the end, and many that were called as disciples left. He turns to his disciples, his sheep, so the other ones weren't, he turns to his sheep, and they say, where else will we go?

You have the words of eternal life. Where else can we go? And I really feel for this question because I grew up in the

Christian home and read the Bible, taught all these different things, but I struggled with doubts.

And I'm kind of an intellectual type, so I would try to go down that route to justify myself, to say, does

God exist? And we can go to like the subatomic particles, or we can go to the size of the universe, and the order, and all those things.

But at the end of the day, I can affirm that God exists, that Jesus came into the world, that he died on a cross, he rose from the dead.

But do I believe it, that he died for my sins, rose from the dead, so that I would be raised?

It's a personal relationship with him. Sure, it's not just a hypothetical, is it true?

Right, because I could affirm all that stuff, but he has the words of life, and that's ultimately what

I came to. And so this idea of struggling with doubt, you don't want to make any assumptions.

Sometimes someone can be doubting because of sin in their life. Sometimes someone could be doubting because they don't feel like they're doing enough, maybe legalism or something like that.

Or sometimes maybe the doubt is just, it's intellectual, it's feeling based, maybe.

It could be, it could be even, I don't feel saved, or I just think, you know, try to rationalize different things.

But I think, they tell Jesus, you have the words of eternal life. And in John 1, it says, the word was with God in the beginning.

Jesus is often called the word. So rather than looking at reading our Bibles daily, or however often we need it, rather than looking at it as,

I've got to do this to be a Christian, which is what I would do. I haven't read my Bible in a week,

I must not be a Christian, or I would want to read the Bible. Why don't I want to? Right. When I'm hungry, I don't think that, oh man,

I haven't eaten in all day, I must not be hungry, or I must not be, no. Eat some food.

If you feel hungry, eat some food. If you're having doubts, if you're feeling distant from God, if you haven't heard from him, the word is the word.

If you want to hear from God, go to his word, go to the son, go to Jesus. In John 17, what is truth?

Your word is truth. Sanctify them by your word. We're to look to Jesus. And I would find myself looking at my sin.

How great is my sin? And I don't measure up. Instead of how great a

Savior, like look how wonderful Jesus is. He says that he paid for all of my sin, and he says that he will raise me on the last day.

So looking to his promises. And I know that we can get consumed with being introspective, which is my tendency, but then how joyful it is, and the freedom we have in Christ, the forgiveness that's there.

And so that's one way that I would say, like looking to Jesus. If you want to know him more, if you want to know what he has done for you, he tells you.

He tells us in his word, and we can believe those. And then by knowing him more, it'll reduce a lot of that doubt.

What you're describing is something that you can do, well, solo. I mean, you can do that by yourself.

And I think Paul is quite wise when he says examine yourselves to see if you are in the faith.

That's 2 Corinthians 13. You know, he does say that you should examine yourselves, see if you were in the faith.

But you know, he doesn't repeat that over and over. You know, you don't have the introspective navel -gazing, you know, just over and over, going back over and over your own sins.

Is there a place for self -examination? Yes. That inventory, yes, you should. But other than, so in addition to you spending time yourself, reading the word, praying, spending time one -on -one with Jesus, how can joining with other

Christians and bearing one another's burdens, how can that help your doubt or assurance?

Well, I was going to ask that very question. I asked it first and now you have to answer it.

Are you walking with other believers? Have you told anyone about these feelings, these thoughts, these doubts?

See, I would be embarrassed, you know, to talk to, you know, the strong believers and says, you know,

I've been a Christian for a long time and now I'm having these doubts. I would be a little scared. I mean, I would still do it.

Well, maybe that's pridefulness, that you wouldn't be willing to go talk to a brother or sister about these issues.

Yeah, I would think that I would be, I would definitely, it's like, oh, what are people gonna think about me?

Well, yeah, well, sure. Hopefully you have a brother or sister that you can trust.

Hopefully you can trust all your brothers and sisters in Christ. Have you gone to talk to an elder, your pastor?

Have you, these are not things to be struggling with in isolation. It makes it worse.

It grows. I know we had talked about previously, Christianity is not a blind faith moment.

In as much as it's true, it's open for scrutiny. Let's look at it. If it's true, it's true.

It doesn't change the fact that if you have doubts about it, whether it's true or not, it exists outside of you.

This is God's revelation to mankind. His knowledge, our knowledge of Him is revelatory.

It's not subject to my scrutiny. It's subject to faith. We can faithfully examine the scriptures and be a lot of times pleasantly surprised that, you know, those doubts

I was having about this passage or that passage, they've disappeared because I've read passages over here that explain more difficult passages.

And there's a place for, the scriptures can stand up to your examination.

There's a great way of putting it. Truly, you need to dig into them, see if these things are true.

Yes. I mean, there is always the difference between somebody who has a hermeneutic of submission versus suspicion.

I mean, if you start with the end in mind that you're going to need to want to disprove, most of the time you're going to get exactly what you've, you know.

I already have my conclusion. Yeah. Now what am I going to do to support that? Sure. There are other, of course, there's always the, you know, the story of C .S.

Lewis and others who went to go disprove the scriptures and they were face -to -face with Christ himself when they submitted. You know, so that happens as well.

But, you know, we, this is a faith that has content. It has meat to it.

You are not blindly following a cult leader. You're not blindly following someone who is, you know, giving you, you know, from the words on high and they're sometimes contradictory.

No, we have an objective standard against which we can measure the words of these people, you know, these leaders or anything else.

We have something that we can go in directly to the source. Or my own feelings. I can measure my own feelings by what

I see in the scriptures. And that is, that goes to our false assurances. Sometimes those feelings, it says, well, if I have the right feelings and if I'm in the right circles and I'm doing the right, right things and I'm feeling the right way, these ecstatic experiences or these moves of the

Spirit and some of our charismatic brothers, they put a lot of stock into this. If you have the right feelings, you must be a

Christian because the Spirit wouldn't have moved, you know, in you that way. But what happens when that feeling goes away? What you have left is

Christ in the Word. That's really what you have. You can go the opposite direction.

And some of the, you know, the Puritans and then the Amish and others did things like that where they had false assurance based upon their, is that they were members of this covenant.

They did these things and they had these boxes checked. This is, yes, you know, the same experience.

Not nearly as much fun. And I don't know if you've been to a charismatic service. They have a lot of fun, you know.

I've had some charismatic brothers and they were actually a lot of fun. But then you have others who are the frozen chosen and they have the boxes checked and their assurance is in the boxes.

It's the same error. It's not Christ in His Word. That's where your assurance should come from.

The person and work of Christ as He said, His promises are sure because He is sure.

He is who He says He is or He's not. Yeah, and I think about rather than our salvation being something that's dependent on us because we affirm salvation is grace alone and that can be an intellectual thing.

I know that to be true. I've read that and I affirm that. But then we slip back in. But even apart from our experience,

I think of John 17 where Jesus is having a conversation with God the Father and talking about salvation and He doesn't make any reference to the person's involvement in becoming saved.

It's a discussion between God the Son and God the Father. In John 17, I'll start in verse 6,

I have manifested your name to the people whom you gave me out of the world. Well, who did that?

Well, God gave Jesus people out of the world. His sheep, you might call them.

Yours they were and you gave them to me and they have kept your word. Now they know that everything that you have given me is from you.

For I have given them the words that you gave me and they received them and have come to know in truth that I came from you.

And they have believed that you sent me. I am praying for them. And that should also be an assurance that Christ prays for us.

Continuing verse 9, I am not praying for the world but for those whom you have given me for they are yours.

Again, this is a conversation between the Son and the Father. He's not making reference to what these people are doing.

He's saying God you gave them to me and I'll keep them. All mine are yours and yours are mine and I am glorified in them.

So again, the giving of us to Jesus is to glorify

Jesus. The fact that he loses none of them glorifies him. It's not that we can do something that can un -glorify

Christ. The number that God gave to the Son is for the purpose of glorifying him.

God the Father is not lax in that at all. He meant to give them to the

Son as a bride and he receives all of those. And he specifically says all that you've given me,

I've lost none of them. I mean that's Jesus and the Father saying that.

That's the the high priestly prayer. Some people would call that. This is Christ the

Son talking to the Father and all the disciples heard it and now we're hearing it.

It's beautiful. This is who our advocate is. In Colossians 3, 1, it says if you then have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.

Set your mind on things that are above, not on things on the earth, for you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God.

When Christ who is your life appears, then you will also appear with him in glory. The high priestly prayer was prior to his crucifixion and prior to his ascension.

It's still true but that takes on an even greater significance when we see that that same

Christ who died, buried, rose again, and ascended and is at the right hand of God the

Father. That is who intercedes for us now because of who he is and where he is.

We are to seek things that are above where Christ is. Where is he? At the right hand of God.

And I'm down here on earth with my sin. Yeah. And I'm not to focus on that. Right.

I'm to focus on Christ and the things above. Absolutely. That's where you set your mind.

Yeah. And that goes back to what we had said when we first started this conversation. Where's your focus supposed to be?

Well it's on Jesus. And where do we get that? It's in the word. What does the word tell us? It gives us promises.

What kind of promises? Well you just read off a bunch of them. Right out of the upper room discourse.

Right out of that high priestly prayer. And what does Paul tell us? The same Paul that says examine yourselves to see if you'd be in the faith.

The same one says set your mind on things above. And who is above? Which who is

Christ? Right. Yeah. And even in in Colossians there it talked about having died. Colossians 2 20 through 23.

Therefore if you die from Christ from the basic principles of the world why as though if living in the world do you subject yourselves to regulations?

Do not touch. Do not taste. Do not handle. Which all concern things that perish with the using according to the commandments and doctrine of men.

These things indeed have the appearance of wisdom and self -imposed religion of false humility and neglect of the body but of no value against the indulgence of the flesh.

That goes by that false assurance. Right. You know those checkboxes. Who checked a bigger box than than those guys who were flagellating themselves.

Those guys who had neglected the body. They were the really really holy ones. These are the ones are living out in the desert with nothing.

Who gave all their possessions away. They're the poor. They're the ones. Aren't they the holy ones? What about the ones who are sitting in the great cathedrals with all the robes and the regalia and they have the well they have the keys.

You know aren't they the holy ones? What about the ones who are you know the Puritans? They're the ones who came.

They're checking the right boxes. No. What about the charismatic? What about the ones who have all of the correct experiences?

I don't care what boxes you want to check unless those boxes say Christ in his word.

They're just boxes. Even good things can become those boxes.

Sure. Like spiritual disciplines. I think of you know like reading the Bible. Praying.

You can definitely make those. Oh I'm not doing that enough. I didn't check that box so man

I missed it. It's not it's not me.

It's Christ. It's what he did on the cross. He's the only one who was good. Yeah there's only one.

I'm not the one checking boxes here. See Christ actually. He checked all those boxes baby. He checked them all.

Oh praise the Lord. Yeah praise the Lord. Absolutely. I mean that's that's um I think then that's the the right response.

I mean you we look to Christ who checked all those and when God looks at us he sees

Christ. So that this is the person who's struggling with doubt. That could be doubt in that God is good.

Sure. He could be in doubt that that that Christ you know is who he says he is. Or doubt their own salvation.

Maybe they do know that that God is is good and just and that Christ is who he says he is. But they know they know for certain that they have gone too far.

That this is I am too far gone. I don't doubt that God is good or just. I also don't doubt that I am not.

And how do you how do you counsel that person? How would your how would your words change to that person?

I don't know if they would. Are you talking about a like an unbeliever who's coming with those questions or a believer who has sinned right?

It's still the good news either way. It's still the gospel that Christ died for our sins.

1st John 2 1 through 2. Can you unadopt yourself?

Like if God has adopted you, are you going to say, oh man I'm not adopted. No, he adopted you.

So my little children, these things I write to you so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an advocate with the

Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. And he himself is the propitiation for our sins.

And not for ours only, but also for the whole world. That's spirit of adoption.

That is that's what Paul talks about in Romans 8. That we cry out Abba Father.

The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God. And if children then heirs. Heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ.

Provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him. So your assurance it comes from the

Spirit. Your place is safe because it's with Christ.

And he acknowledges that in this life you'll have the, you'll have suffering.

You'll have trial. There will be doubt. There will be failures. There will be weaknesses on your part.

But thanks be to God that it doesn't depend upon you. Who's going to save me from this body of death.

Yeah. There's a part of me with this question that just wants to engage. Don't you want to be fully convinced one way or the other.

Maybe I'm I'm more of a binary type person where I believe it's either right or wrong. Sure. Well if it's either right or wrong

I'm coming to that knowing how I think. I can't do something. This is important.

Without being fully convinced one way or the other. I mean if I were to ask through prayer doubtingly what should

I expect to receive. Sure. Nothing. You don't strike me as a

Laodicean. One of the things we like about you. You know

I get emotional at times and I want to be fully convinced that this is either so or not.

If it's not then do something else with your time. Don't shove away your doubts.

Hmm. Engage them. Yeah that's um that's powerful.

It is and these are human. These are human feelings and I can

I can empathize. But Andrew what you said is still true. Yeah.

It's still it's still true. And Christ is. Search these matters out. If they're so they're so.

They're gonna stand up to scrutiny and if they're not they won't. As I work out your salvation with fear and trembling.

Because this is a very important topic. It's very important. Yeah. But thanks to be to God that you work out your own salvation with fear and trembling because it is

God who's at work in you. Yes. You know so. He who began a good work in you will finish it.

Amen. Will complete it. Where are you in that? I mean you're experiencing it. You know.

You're the beneficiary of it. Yeah you're the beneficiary. You contribute the sin that made it necessary.

Made it necessary. But I mean that's that's what he's about. What is it John 3 16 for God so loved the world that he sent his only begotten son and who believes in him shall have eternal life.

If you believe in him you have eternal life. No matter what doubt you know you may struggle with.

That's a promise from God. And if you are listening and struggling you know that is that is a good thing.

I've been there. The struggle is good but you don't focus on the struggle and you don't focus on the doubt and you don't focus on the feeling you focus on Christ and you spend time in the word learning more about who he is what he does what he has done what he will do and knowing that the spirit of God bears witness that with our spirit that we are children of his.

Someone had made a comment once it's not holy or spiritually mature to doubt. Doubting is not the unpardonable sin but invites the lie that I am unpardonable to entertain those doubts instead of doing something about it.

Going to someone in the church. Yeah we shall. Right. Going to the word. If you think your sin is bigger than Christ and his sacrifice then you think way too much of yourself.

I'm not saying your sin is okay or it's a small thing. I'm just saying Christ is so much greater.

This verse has also been on my mind. Mark 9 23 and 24. Jesus said to him if you can believe all things are possible to him who believes.

Immediately the father of the child cried out and said with tears Lord I believe help my unbelief.

And so there we see it is possible to believe and have doubts. Yes. Ask Christ for help.

Yes. Our advocate who prays. Who are you going to? Exactly. Yeah. Anything else to add brothers?

No I hope that to the one that asked this question I hope that was helpful and we will be praying for you.

Well thank you for addressing that with the word of God. What are you thankful for?

I am thankful. I have some flexibility in my job that I didn't have in a previous one that has allowed me to mix and match a couple of work trips and things to be home a little bit more.

Unfortunately I can't be home on the weekends yet but I am able to spend like a night at home because you know the company just says well you're gonna have an overnight

Oklahoma City. Like oh okay well I'll take that one. All right. Thank you. So it's just nice and it's just something

I didn't have previously. So I am thankful for that and that it does provide for my family in a way that keeps them comfortable and healthy.

So just incredibly thankful for the flexibility that I have in my new job. Praise the

Lord. I am thankful for the opportunity to dig into God's word on some like specific details.

So I love the clarity of the message of salvation and all that talks about but also looking at the instruction that it gives.

I've got a situation where I'm having to answer some people on some questions and I enjoy that type of thing.

I enjoy searching and digging into God's word and so I'm grateful for the opportunity to do that and that there's always answers there.

It just becomes clear and then we have the Holy Spirit who illuminates that for us.

I'm grateful for that. Recently my children got ill with some type of um throw up inducing lots of uh over the night very sick type situation.

I'm thankful to God that he caused them to recover. That we so often just expect you know hey this it seems like it's just a minor thing.

I'm thankful to God that he healed them. One day what's interesting is that we get a accustomed to we get accustomed to our loved ones are recovering.

There will be a day when they do not. If you if you if you love someone tell them the good news of Christ.

You don't know which one of yours will not recover and it may not happen to you.

You may be the one to go to the grave. I'm going to paraphrase in Ecclesiastes while you're still young remember your creator.

So I'm thankful to God for him healing my children. I'm also thankful that um the hope we have in Christ doesn't depend on recovering from every illness and that he is faithful to raise us up on the last day.

And that wraps it up for today. We are very thankful for our listeners and hope you will join us again as we meet to answer common questions and objections with Have You Not Read?