Hebrews 11:1
1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
What can God do with a heart that would believe? There are some that believe for the winning lottery ticket, others believe liars time and time again, some believe the meteorologist all the time but very few believe the Word of God, I want to declare to you this evening that doubt is one of the enemy’s tools to strip you and steal the promise of God from your life. Not every time seeing is believing; when it comes to God trusting is believing for the things you cannot see. None of us have ever seen God yet we have seen the move of God.
Hebrews 11:6
6 But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.
We cannot please God without faith. Doubt beloved can steal your promise from you; doubt will mock you and cause you to look upon the Word of God with ridiculed eyes and a heart that fades at the truth of the gospel. Beloved our bible is all truth, none of it is false, none of it contradicts itself, none of it lacks of any need of any human being. Tonight my question is what are you trying to believe God for but can’t seem to trust him for it?
Our bible is full of miracles seen by man to encourage the believer in Christ that if God through Christ was able to do it then, He will be able to do it now. Miracles, full blown miracles.
Just yesterday after the rally we were taken to eat and as we were with a fellow Pastor and His family others around we saw a miracle in a wheelchair, a gentleman that we prayed for fasted for that was on the verge of death, family had prepared his funeral yet he was being strolled around in the wonderful summer day. Can you believe God for miracles, now. Not tomorrow, not in a couple months, but now!
John 20:24-29
24 Now Thomas, called the Twin, one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. 25 The other disciples therefore said to him, "We have seen the Lord." So he said to them, "Unless I see in His hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe." 26 And after eight days His disciples were again inside, and Thomas with them. Jesus came, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, "Peace to you!" 27 Then He said to Thomas, "Reach your finger here, and look at My hands; and reach your hand here, and put it into My side. Do not be unbelieving, but believing." 28 And Thomas answered and said to Him, "My Lord and my God!" 29 Jesus said to him, "Thomas, because you have seen Me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed."
Here in our scripture beloved we see a man by the name of Thomas, a man that has walked with Jesus, a man who has seen the miracles performed by His hand, Lazarus raised from the dead, Talitha the little girl raised from her deathbed, blind man receiving their sight, lame men walking and yet Jesus telling them during the last supper I will be betrayed and given to the hands of sinners put to death but be raised again on the third day, He has never lied, has never said anything that He wasn’t able to do and yet Thomas still doubted.
Doubt has made a mockery out of Christians, listen to me, it plays out in our prayer life, when we doubt we pray less, we pray lower and we pray weak. Thomas will always be remembered as doubting Thomas, we have an opportunity to be remembered as believing saints of God.
1st Point “What happened to the faith”
Thomas missed the opportunity to meet with the risen Savior; he refused to believe the report from his fellow men who were men of testimony and integrity. He resolved to not believe. Could it be that maybe even though he knew them to be honest men; all ten of them concurred in the testimony with great assurance; and yet he could not persuade himself to say that their record was true. Christ had chosen them to be his witnesses of this very thing to all nations; and yet Thomas, one of their own company; would not allow them to be witnesses, nor trust them further than he could see them. It was not, however, their veracity that he questioned, but their prudence; he feared they were too excited or imaginable.
Beloved there are Christians that can be as such, not only that they have a hard time believing God but that they have hard time believing the man of God. Beloved in this; Thomas tempted Christ, and limited the Holy One of Israel, when he would be convinced by his own method I won’t believe until I see. He could not be sure that the print of the nails, which the apostles told him they had seen, would be of the Christ until the putting of his finger into it, or the wound in his side the thrusting in of his hand. How many know He seized his own blessing.
What happened to the faith that was in Thomas, what happened to having a trust in the words of Christ Jesus? Why was there doubt springing from the heart of this man that once walked with Christ? Fear! Fear makes cowards out of Christians, fear places a stronghold upon every Christian as a defeated and incompetent people. Thomas was accused in his own heart having missed the arrival of Christ as promised and probably feared He would not get the privilege of seeing the promised Words of Christ before his face.
And as we are here this evening beloved I want to tell you that Christ has left for us the Words of life to give us hope that we may in all essence believe without doubt but trust that we have life in the name of Jesus.
What do you believe God for this evening? What are you trusting God for this evening?
2nd Point “The enemy can sometimes use our doubt to destroy others”
Our bible tells us to love the brotherhood.
1 Peter 2:17
17 Honor all men. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the king.
God is love and love does not lie. But the enemy could take the word of God pervert it and make you believe that truth is a lie. Just as he did in the garden. The enemy who is Satan can readily have you believe that your own brother/sister in Christ would mislead you and speak false hope into your life. If this festers if it germinates and grows it can cause a death amongst those that are weaker than you but are yet trying to encourage you to believe.
The open avowal of this in the presence of the disciples was an offence and discouragement to them. It was not only a sin, but a scandal. As one coward makes many, so does one believer, one skeptic, making his brethren's heart to faint like his own heart. Had he only thought this evil speech, and then probably lay his hand upon his mouth, to suppress it, his error would’ve remained with himself; but his proclaiming his infidelity, had the potential of weakening the rest who were fighting while yet wavering in their faith. Trusting, believing and seeing what is truth yet one demanding to see it or until he would in his own heart it would remain a fantasy.
Think of this beloved, the enemy was banking on this moment, Jesus was crucified, the King of the Jews, the promise the hope of all creation, dead, buried. Yet the words of Christ were not dead yet they are still alive this evening, but doubt filling the hearts of His people caused the enemy full reign on their minds and their hearts to reneged on the oath made by His disciples to trust and believe. If one of you can allow doubt to play out in your life being a strong Christian than you can be a tool for the enemy to destroy those that were hoping you’d stay strong for them.
Jesus in His majesty won’t leave His people like that, Amen! Look at this for a moment beloved the scripture tells us that the doors were shut. When the enemy causes that doubt to play out in our lives the doors of our hearts begin to close on the gospel. Our hearts will shut tightly that not even a breath of life from words of truth can encourage unless Jesus Himself gets involved. I pray thee tonight do not shut your hearts to the gospel Jesus is the author of it and it works.
3rd Point “Bringing peace to the unbelieving and makes them believing”
26 And after eight days His disciples were again inside, and Thomas with them. Jesus came, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, "Peace to you!" 27 Then He said to Thomas, "Reach your finger here, and look at My hands; and reach your hand here, and put it into My side. Do not be unbelieving, but believing." 28 And Thomas answered and said to Him, "My Lord and my God!" 29 Jesus said to him, "Thomas, because you have seen Me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed."
So now beloved Jesus speaks to us as He did to His disciples before the crucifixion, He told His disciples that He was going to die and then raise again and now He speaks to us and says blessed are those who do not see and yet still believe. Before that He first blesses us with “peace to you”.
When we have lost one opportunity, we should give the more earnest heed to lay hold on the next, that we may recover our losses. There might be some unbelieving Christians at this point in time, maybe some doubtful ones nonetheless, Christ would like to supernaturally impute once again the burning desire for faith in His word that your joy may be full. We have no peace when we have no God. We have no peace when we have not the Savior to give it to us through His Holy Spirit.
When Christ gets involved peace fall upon His people, faith is stirred and doubt is radically removed from the presence of His people, as Christians we were from unbelieving to believing and now we want to be from glory to glory in the hands of Christ being blessed for our scripture tells us that those that believe and have not seen are blessed more so.
John 20:30-31
30 And truly Jesus did many other signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book; 31 but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name.
Beloved tonight we have a promise in Jesus and as we begin to serve Christ we are to practice faith with faith that it may grow to the blossom of wonders through our lives, tonight let us cast out the doubt that the enemy has tried to place in our hearts, robbing us of our inheritance, believe on Jesus and have life, Amen!
