Standing Firm Through Doubt Series

Stand Firm in Doubt

May 26, 2019

For many people, a major stumbling block to faith in Jesus is that it means you have to believe Jesus rose from the dead. If you’ve been a believer for a long time, that may sound absurd, “of course He rose from the dead.” You may take it as a fact, but if you think about Jesus rising from the dead, it sounds like some type of science fiction movie, where the main character is somehow killed but really isn’t.

Last week we started a short series looking at using our faith to help us be immovable in the face of life’s struggles. I’m calling this series STAND FIRM! As we plant our feet and stand firm in the face of whatever comes our way.

So, as we start, let’s look at what faith means. In Hebrews 11:1 - we read –

11 Faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance in what we do not see. – Hebrews 11:1

Confidence and assurance. There is no doubting in faith. We are confident and have assurance in what we hope for and in what we do not see. That’s faith isn’t it. The dictionary defines faith as - - complete trust or confidence in someone or something.

You see, it’s not just trust or confidence, but it’s COMPLETE trust and confidence. It’s having 100% belief in something or someone. And isn’t that what makes life difficult as well. When we place our trust and confidence in another person and they let us down in some way. We experience that pain. We sometimes have difficulty trusting again because we’ve been hurt. But that’s what makes faith so important.

There was a court case in which a man was being tried for murder. The problem was they never found the body. During the final arguments, his lawyer looked at his watch and said, “In 1 minute the person you think is dead is going to walk through those doors in the back.” Then he didn’t say a word, he looked at his watch and looked at the door. Everyone in the jury looked at the door. One minute passed and nobody came in. The lawyer said, “Actually, I made that whole thing up. But you all looked with anticipation at the door. So there must be reasonable doubt, so you must find my client innocent.”

When the case ended the jury left to deliberate, and they came back about 5 minutes later and they declare the man - - guilty! The lawyer asked how could they find him guilty, they all had doubt since they were all looking at the door. The foreman explained, “we did, but your client never looked at the door.”

It’s easy for someone to put doubt into our hearts and minds. That’s really the job of satan. He loves to do that to us. If he can lead us away, if he can lead us to doubt a little, to have some unreasonable fear, then he’s winning the battle and we are slowly moving more towards doubt than faith.

Remember, this series is based on the fact that Jesus rose from the dead. The resurrection is a condition for believing in Jesus. You cannot say, ‘I believe in Jesus as my Lord and Savior,’ but not in the resurrection. That’s not true faith. Paul tells us in Romans 10:9-10 –

9 if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and BELIEVE in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.

10 For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. – Romans 10:9-10

That’s the backbone of our faith. The belief in the resurrection. You believe in your heart that God raised His Son, Jesus from the dead. Faith is believing even when it doesn’t all make sense. How did God do that? I don’t know, I can’t explain it away, but that’s what faith is about. Go back to Hebrews 11:1. Faith is the confidence and assurance in what we hope for and CANNOT SEE.

Not only did the Jewish and Roman leaders not believe in the resurrection, but there was one of His followers who didn’t believe as well. When Jesus first appeared to the disciples, he wasn’t there. He was at Starbucks, on a coffee run ... and he missed Jesus. Let’s look at the story from the gospel of John - -

24 Now Thomas, one of the twelve, called the Twin, was not with them when Jesus came.

25 So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord.”

But he said to them, “Unless I see in His hands the mark of the nails,

and place my finger into the mark of the nails, and place my hand into His side, I will never believe.”