We're there in Matthew 14, look at verse number 31.
And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand
and caught him and said unto him,
O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?
Title for the sermon this morning is,
Why Do We Doubt?
Jesus Christ is saying, he's got little faith.
It's going to Peter there.
Ye of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?
Why do we doubt?
Now normally when I get up to preach a sermon,
I, you know, people sometimes ask me like,
you know, how do you decide how to preach a sermon?
There are so many ways to decide how to preach a sermon.
Most often I would just look at topics,
just throughout topics in the Bible.
And I'll ask myself a question, you know,
when's the last time I've preached on this topic
or that topic?
And I feel like if I'm not preaching on a certain topic
for a while,
I'll usually try to prepare a sermon for that.
Another way that I prepare sermons is simply going,
we're going chapter by chapter
through different books of the Bible.
And whatever that chapter contains
is what I'm going to preach on.
I don't really have much of a choice
at that point in time.
If the Lord has that information, that topic,
that information there in that chapter,
I'm going to preach on that chapter.
Other decisions I make to preach might be questions
that I might get from church members throughout the week.
And in my response to those questions,
I start to think about the doctrines or the answers.
And sometimes that develops into a sermon
throughout the week.
Sometimes I sort of just say, hey,
what does my church need to hear?
I just sort of say, Lord,
what does my church need to hear?
And I kind of just wait patiently for the Lord
to give me some topic to lay upon my heart.
There are different ways that I sort of come
to the decision on what I'm going to preach.
But when it comes to this topic, why do we doubt?
This is something a little bit different.
I think I've already preached a couple of sermons
on the topic of faith.
Christ is asking, Peter here,
O thou of little faith.
And really this is more of my own personal study
with the Lord, right?
We ought to have a walk with the Lord,
our own personal walk with the Lord.
We ought to have time where we pray to him
and we read the Bible
and we have our own just personal fellowship
with the Lord.
And for a while now, it's been maybe three, four months,
I've been just contemplating this topic of faith
with the Lord.
I'm not in any rush for the answers.
And I don't normally preach the things
that I personally study with the Lord.
I kind of view it as something between me and the Lord.
The church doesn't really need to know.
I mean, some of that information might come out
in sermons, in bits and pieces,
but I don't know, it's not really a series,
but as the Lord kind of reveals something further to me
on the topic of faith,
I wanna be able to share that with the church.
And the reason I bring this up
is because I kind of look at my own personal life
and I sort of wonder, am I a man of faith?
Like, I often think of myself
as someone with a little faith,
someone with very imperfect faith.
And the reason I say that,
the reason I, I mean, some people might say,
no pastor, you're very faithful.
I mean, the fact that you're pastoring two churches
and doing this and that,
maybe, maybe, but it's just that sometimes
when circumstances develop, situations develop,
whatever problems, trials, whatever it is, right?
I often hear people say,
pastor, don't worry, it's in the Lord's hands.
And, you know, pastor, just have faith.
Or, you know, people say, and it's sort of like,
yeah, I know that, it's like, wow,
like for you to have that confidence, wow,
like, you know, it's all just gonna work out
and it's all gonna be fine.
And, you know, I kind of, but for me,
I'm sort of like, I'm doubting sometimes, right?
That's why the Lord says,
thou little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?
And, you know, if I'm honest, I'll say to you,
you know, there are times I just have doubts
and, you know, I want to improve
in my faithfulness toward God.
I want to be someone of great faith.
I'm not satisfied.
Here's little faith passing heaven.
I'm not satisfied being there.
I want to grow.
You know, just cause I'm the pastor
doesn't mean I've reached some level of,
you know, perfection.
No, I still have much to grow.
I have strengths, I have weaknesses.
And so this is something that I'm just slowly,
you know, speaking to the Lord about
in my personal time with him is, you know,
the question of faith and how do I know
if I've got the right faith in the right place?
How do I now know if I ought to doubt this
or never to doubt, am I never to doubt
on issues and what have you?
And this is just something I'm going through with the Lord.
And so, you know, this sermon
and this topic of faith at the moment anyway,
is just something that's very close to my heart.
And maybe I hope it'll be a benefit to you as well.
Okay.
Now, one thing I definitely see in this verse,
and we're gonna come back to this story in a moment,
but this is of course the story when Peter walks on water.
One thing that becomes quite clear for me here,
when Jesus says, oh, thou of little faith, okay,
why is he saying that Peter has little faith?
Because wherefore didst thou doubt?
So I realized one thing that's gonna block me
and something that's gonna block you
to grow in faith and be a man of faith
or be a woman in faith is doubt.
Doubt is something that's going to be a hindrance
in our growth, okay?
Now, we're gonna come back to this story later on,
but come with me now to James chapter one.
Come with me to James chapter one, please.
Come with me to James chapter one.
James chapter one.
And while you're tuning in,
I'm going to read to you
from 1 Timothy chapter two, verse eight.
You go to James one,
I'll read to you from 1 Timothy chapter two,
verse number eight, which reads,
I will therefore that men pray everywhere,
lifting up holy hands, okay?
So we know that's the will of God
that we ought to pray everywhere.
Then it says this, without wrath and doubting.
Okay, again, without wrath and without doubting.
Okay, so again, we see in the Bible
where God is saying, look, we ought to pray.
We ought to pray, we ought to ask.
Of course, we're asking the Lord in faith,
but the hindrance, the problem that can creep in,
one thing is wrath, but the other thing is doubting.
As I said to you,
after the sermon this morning is why do we doubt?
Why do we doubt?
And, you know, before we read James chapter one,
I want to just read to you
the dictionary definition of doubt, okay?
And we can kind of see how doubt
plays into a lack of faith as well
by the dictionary definition.
The first meaning is a feeling of uncertainty.
A feeling of, you're uncertain about the future.
You're uncertain about a situation
that is when you have doubts, right?
And so you would say, yeah, that's true.
Another way to give definition to that word doubts
is to distrust or regard with suspicion.
Regard with suspicion.
Sometimes we might say this individual
has presented a lot of red flags.
We've got some suspicions.
There's a lack of trust maybe
about this individual person or what have you
because of a situation that may have developed.
And so if doubt is to distrust,
well, that makes a lot of sense
because when we put our faith on Jesus,
we're trusting Jesus, aren't we not?
When we put our faith on his death-bearing resurrection,
we're trusting that Jesus paid for all of our sins.
And so when we distrust, a lack of trust,
yeah, of course that plays into a lack of faith
and uncertain, it makes sense that if we have doubts,
it's going to limit our faith.
But again, is every doubt wrong?
Like every time we have some uncertainty in our life,
you know, is that sinful?
Is that preventing our faithfulness?
And these are the kinds of questions
I'm kind of asking the Lord.
And as I'm slowly reading,
I'm not trying to look up sermons
or trying to look up articles.
I'm just slowly, as I read my Bible,
trying to uncover things with the Lord.
I like, you know, there are times, yes, I do.
If I have some thoughts about something,
I'll look up a sermon on that topic or what have you,
but I've always found the best way to learn
is just to wait for the Holy Spirit
to show you things in His Word.
Just in your own patient Bible reading,
in your own patient time with the Lord,
you know, He reveals great things to you, okay?
And I'm going to say to you now,
doubt is not sin in of itself, okay?
It's more about what we're doubting.
It's kind of like love and hate, you know?
We often say that, you know,
we ought to love the things that God loves
and we know that's righteous.
But is love always righteous?
No, because if you love what God hates, that's sin.
That's wrong, right?
And then, you know, people have this idea
that, well, hate is always wrong.
But if you hate what God hates, that's righteous.
But if you hate what God loves,
then, you know, that's unrighteous.
Sorry, I was going to give you a sec.
If you hate what God loves,
it's sort of the same thing with doubts.
It's like doubt in of itself isn't the problem,
but why we doubt or what we doubt might be the problem.
And that's what I want to kind of help you decipher
as we go through this time,
because that's the kind of thing I often ask myself.
It's like, there might be a situation.
I might have doubts about this situation.
And then some might say,
we'll pass it over and just trust in the Lord.
And I'm thinking, yeah, but I do trust in the Lord.
Like, I'm not doubting the Lord.
But why do I have doubts then?
If I'm not doubting the Lord,
that's kind of the question, right?
I don't know.
Do you guys ever think like,
I don't know if you guys think like this,
but these are common things
that I'm often just contemplating.
And I asked the Lord for wisdom and his help
and just help me clarify, you know,
when is it right to doubt?
I mean, like I said, you know,
if there's an individual,
let's say there's a predator in our church
and we see certain red flags
and we start to have doubts about that person.
Is that unrighteous?
No, we would say that would be the right thing to do
because we want to be protective of our church
and what have you.
And so trying to understand
how all this kind of connects and, you know,
when is it right to doubt
and when is it wrong to doubt?
These are the kinds of questions
that I've been asking the Lord.
And not only that, brethren, not only that,
we haven't read James 1 yet, but not only that,
but I do get phone calls and emails and messages
from, you know, every week, you know,
from different church members,
even not from church members, okay?
And you know, and it's all different type of questions.
Like it's all every, it's like,
it's about everything, right?
But if I had to boil everything down
just to its pure simplicity of every question, really,
at least for the vast majority,
it's pastor, I have a doubt.
I have some doubts right now, pastor.
Whatever the situation might be.
Like really, if I boil it down to the question,
because if you didn't have doubts,
you wouldn't call me, right?
If you had just full faith, that's what God says,
that's what I'm,
there wouldn't be those phone calls.
And when those phone calls come,
it's cause someone's got doubts.
Whatever area of life that is.
And so I realized, you know,
this is why I want to preach on this topic,
because I have doubts,
but then I realized when I boil it down
to every question that I receive throughout the week,
it really is someone's doubts in some elements, okay?
Doubts in how God may come through
and what have you in this situation like that.
So I want to continue that.
Why do we doubt?
Look at James chapter one,
look at James chapter one and verse number six.
And this is the same idea.
Well, let's read it.
It says, but let him ask in faith, okay?
So I want to increase in faith.
I want to be able to ask God in faith.
When I go to him in prayer,
I want to be asking faith.
Then nothing wavering.
In other words, no doubts, right?
And then it continues,
for he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea
driven with the wind and tossed.
That reminds me of Peter when he got walking on the sea
and he saw the winds and he's being tossed
by the waters.
He lacked faith, Jesus Christ says,
oh, you have little faith, you have doubts.
So the same idea there, you know,
of course taking what Peter literally did
as an illustration of our lives,
that we have doubts.
It feels like sometimes, you know,
we're walking on the water with Jesus
and all of a sudden the waves blow
and you know, the winds come and the storms come
and we're like, oh, so we're drowning, you know,
and we reach out and we have to say,
Lord, help us, save us.
So he said, well, okay,
so we go to prayer and everything we ask,
we just ask in faith, no doubts whatsoever.
You know, but then also in James,
look at James chapter four.
James chapter four and verse number three.
The Bible says ye ask.
All right, yeah, I ask.
The Bible says to ask with faith, right?
I ask in faith, don't waver.
Okay, but then it says ye ask and receive not.
Why?
Because ye ask amiss,
that ye may consume it upon your lusts.
Oh, hold on, there are two truths here.
It's not like if I just go in prayer and I ask,
I just gotta have faith, it's all gonna happen.
No, I have to understand that sometimes we ask amiss
and this is not a sermon on prayer,
but we kind of see the same elements here
of the doubting and the faithfulness.
How do we sort of balance these things?
What does it mean to ask amiss?
It's the same kind, it's the same word.
Miss there is like the word mistake.
Mistake, amiss.
You're asking by mistake.
You're asking for the wrong things there
because it's something you're gonna consume
upon your lusts.
Now, that sounds pretty horrible.
And like the idea of the lust is that
that is kind of your desire,
but it's not God's desire, right?
That's the sort of the mentality there that,
you know, if we're going to go in prayer in Lord,
we want to be able to ask of him,
but we wanna seek his desire, right?
His desire.
And we'll touch upon that in a moment,
but I just wanna show you that
we have this sort of seemingly,
this sort of seemingly, this paradox.
Paradox is like two truths seemingly contradictive, okay?
Two truths.
We should ask and don't waver at the same time,
but what if I'm asking amiss though?
What if I'm asking for the wrong thing?
You know, there's doubts there.
Well, I mean,
how do we combine these two truths together?
Can you come with me to another passage?
Come with me to Galatians chapter four.
Galatians chapter four, please.
Galatians chapter four.
Now Galatians four helps me come to the realization
that doubt is not always wrong.
Cause as I'm reading these things about having great faith
and you know, why did you doubt?
And like, there's a lot of references in the Bible,
faith and doubt, like just that,
it's sort of like two competing thoughts there.
So I'm sort of starting to ask myself a question then,
am I just this big doubter then?
Like, why is it that I have little faith?
Well, why seemingly in comparison to other people,
I feel sometimes I might have little faith
in asking these questions.
And is it that I have these big doubts?
Is that my issue?
And should I be doubting?
And you know, when is it right to doubt?
Like all of these things kind of just, you know,
I'm like, God, so Lord, Lord,
can you just give me wisdom?
Help me to understand like what, you know,
you know, what's the right thing here?
But in Galatians four, we have this,
of course, the apostle Paul writing to a church.
And well, look at verse number nine, Galatians four, nine.
He says, but now after that ye have known God,
or rather unknown of God.
So he's saying to the church, you're saved.
Not only do you know God, God knows you.
Like you're saved, right?
You're a child of God.
But then he says this,
I'll turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements
where unto ye desire again to be in bondage.
Ye observe days and months and times and years.
He says, I'm afraid of you,
lest I have bestowed upon you labor in vain.
The apostle Paul is the one that established this church.
He won these souls to the Lord,
but now he's away, he's away.
And he gets reports, he hears,
but hey, these people are going back to the law.
They're going back to the days and months
and times and years, like the new moon,
festivals and celebrations,
all these things that you find in the Old Testament,
which were meant to be a picture of Jesus Christ
or a picture of the gospel.
But it's like you're going back to the works of the law.
Why are you doing this?
Because I'm afraid.
I'm fearful about what's happening in the church.
Drop down to verse number 19, same topic.
He says, my little children,
of whom I travail in birth again
until Christ be formed in you.
He goes, I got you guys saved.
You're my little children.
But then he says this, verse number 20,
I desire to be present with you now
and to change my voice for I stand in doubt of you.
He goes, I've got doubts if you're even saved.
I've got doubts about you guys now.
Why?
Because they started to look at the works of the law,
once again.
Now look, these individuals, these people,
they're at church, they're at church.
These people, they're reading their scriptures.
That's how they know about the observation of times
and seasons and all that kind of stuff, right?
They know.
And you know, other aspects of Galatians,
they're trying to, there are certain individuals
trying to bring circumcision
as part of the salvation message.
Again, the works of the law, right?
The observing of all these Old Testament practices.
And you know, again,
those practices aren't wrong in of themselves,
in the right time for that period, you know?
But if you were to mix that with salvation,
which is faithful on Christ alone,
then your trust is going back on works.
And he's asking me this question,
how can you be doing this?
There's not saying you're not saved, all right?
He says, but I've got doubts.
Now again, you know, some people doubt,
like if you're not going to church
and you're not reading the Bible,
I've got doubts whether you're saved.
Oh, these guys are reading the Bible
and they're going to church, okay?
He's doubting their salvation, why?
Because they're messed up on salvation.
They're messing up salvation,
they're messing up the gospel.
You know, it shows us that churches need time
to grow and develop.
You've got young babes who get saved,
they get into church and all of a sudden,
some false prophet will try to take advantage of them.
Try to confuse them, you know, on salvation.
But I want you to notice here that Paul has doubts.
Oh, it's wrong to doubt.
Well, hold on, Paul has doubts.
And rightfully so because they're messing up on the gospel.
It's not like he's got doubts
because they're living a wicked life.
Oh, you're living a wicked life,
I have doubts if you're even saved.
No, it's like, man,
how can you go back to the works of the law?
How can you mix that with salvation?
Man, I saw you saved.
I'm the one that got you saved.
And now you're doing this, now I've got doubts.
Which is right.
You know, if I was to win one of my children
to the Lord, right?
And I baptize them and you know,
they're growing up in my family.
And then a few years down the track, they're going,
dad, I think I need to get circumcised to be saved.
I'm like, what are you talking about?
What's going on?
Now I have doubts.
Now that doesn't mean they're not saved.
Just, you know, it's like, man,
but you're not sure.
You're not sure, right?
So it's kind of like this passage got me kind of thinking,
okay, you know, we've got Paul doubting here.
And it's under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost.
He's writing this to the church, okay?
Now this is when I started to realize,
okay, what is doubt exactly?
Like, and not what is that?
We know what doubt is.
It's uncertainty.
But the question and the title of the sermon this morning
is why do we doubt?
Why do we doubt?
Why is Paul doubting the salvation
of this escalation church here?
Why?
And this is my own definition.
Oh, this is my own explanation why we doubt, okay?
So I wrote this down.
I think it's, I believe it's this.
I believe it's when our expectation
does not meet reality.
When our expectation does not meet reality.
So Paul is expecting these guys
aren't gonna get confused on the gospel.
Like that, it's a good expectation.
They're saved.
They know how they got saved, right?
And then, but reality, it's like,
the gospel's messed up there at the church, okay?
His expectation and reality don't meet.
And this is, it's created doubt for him.
It's like, man, what's going on here guys?
When our expectation does not meet with reality.
Talk about that in a moment.
But I wanted to take you to just
real life situations that may develop,
you know, I know believers that have passed away.
Of course, if you're gonna be in church long enough
and a believer's passed away
and sometimes people are given a terminal sentence,
like they've got a terminal sickness.
And they might be told a believer,
we're talking about believers here, right?
A believer might be told you've got two weeks to live.
Whatever that terminal issue might be.
You've got two weeks to live.
And the advice of the doctors will be,
you know, get your loved ones together,
get your family together, say goodbye to them.
This is your opportunity to say goodbye to them.
And what the believer might say, well,
we're talking about reality.
Reality, your body's breaking down.
Doctors comparing you compared to others,
patients that have gone through something similar,
you're not gonna last two weeks.
Like that's kind of the limit, right?
Now, sometimes people live past, you know,
doctor's suggestions and all that kind of stuff.
I know that that happens, okay?
But what if someone from church turns up and goes,
yeah, doctor's giving you two weeks,
but have faith, brother.
Have faith, the Lord will heal you.
Let's ask the Lord right now, let's go in faith.
Nothing wavering, no doubts.
As I say that, I feel like I'm starting
to sound like charismatic, Pentecostal.
Cause that's how they think a lot of them.
A lot of them think that if your life is not going well,
you know, if you've got sicknesses and problems,
it's your problem, it's your lack of faith.
If you had the right faith,
God would just take care of it.
But in that situation, what do you think?
Like, if it was you, you've been given two weeks
to live, you know, so the cancer has just gone
all over your body, you know.
You know, your body's breaking down.
You've lost half your body weight, whatever it is, right?
And it's, okay, so do I turn my expectation
that God will heal me?
Lord, can you please heal me?
Pray, Lord, you can do it, you will do it.
I'm asking in faith, Lord, I'm not gonna waver.
Or is that person consuming it upon their lusts?
That request, I mean, it sounds horrible
because you know, generally people want to live longer
for the sake of family and feeling like
they've got unfinished business on the earth.
And sometimes people say things like that, you know,
I don't believe the Lord will take me
because I've got so much more to do.
I've sometimes thought like that.
It's kind of like, you know,
I don't think the Lord will take me away just yet
because I'm pastoring two churches and I've got 12 kids.
Like, maybe afterwards, maybe after a time
when you know, I don't need to be pastoring two churches.
You know, my kids have grown up
and they're having their own life
and my wife's taking care of them.
Maybe that's when the Lord can say,
all right, I'm done with you.
Whatever it is, right, I don't know.
Those thoughts can creep into the mind.
So there might be an expectation,
well, Lord, you will heal me.
But, and then that person passes away.
The person passes away, then what?
What do we do?
Do we turn around and say, oh, ye of little faith.
The person that passed away, doctor gave him two weeks.
They died in two weeks.
Man, they could have lasted longer if they had the faith,
but they doubted.
It's like a horrible view on that individual, isn't it?
So when I start to think about this,
like, what, you know, what is it that,
and again, I'm just using that as an example
for you to think a little bit.
But it feels me, if I was given two weeks to live,
I'm not, okay, have faith, pass, all right.
But I'm not doubting Jesus.
Like, I'm not doubting him.
If I die in two weeks, I know I'm going to heaven.
Like, I have no doubt, that's my savior.
I'm not doubting that God exists
or that Jesus is true or the Bible's,
you know, I believe all those things.
I know Jesus, he's faithful, I'm not faithful.
If anyone's faithful, it's Jesus.
So I'm not doubting Jesus, right?
And I'm not doubting his ability to heal, am I?
Like, I know he's the great physician.
I read the stories in the Bible
when Christ walked the earth
and he made the lame to walk and the blind to see.
He's even raised the dead.
I guess if Jesus wants to raise me after I pass away,
he will actually,
because the Bible promises me a,
I'd rather that resurrection by the way,
a resurrection with new glorified bodies
made like unto Jesus Christ
rather than just this old body coming back though.
But you know, if Jesus wanted to, yeah,
there's no problem with him.
He's done it before.
Rise people from the dead, he can heal the sick.
And I believe I've also seen miracles
where someone was genuinely sick
and God's come through and healed it.
And doctors are like, we don't know how,
but I believe those things happen even today.
So I'm not doubting his ability to heal.
And I'm not doubting if it is his will
that I will be healed.
If it's his will, I have no doubt.
If it's Christ's will, I will be healed.
But the doubt really comes into play here.
It's whether it's his will to heal.
I don't know that part.
I don't know if it's his will to heal me.
The fact that I've been given two weeks,
again, kind of reality telling me here
that it's not his will, but it might be.
And if it is his will, I'm not gonna doubt that.
I'm not gonna doubt him.
And I'm not going to doubt his ability to heal.
But the doubts rise.
Well, is it his will?
Is it his will to heal?
And that kind of answers the question
with James chapter one.
If you, no, we'll come back to James chapter one later.
Come back with me to Matthew 14.
Come with me to Matthew 14.
What happens when there are two realities?
When our expectation does not meet realities
when we doubt.
Reality is I'm gonna pass away in two weeks,
if that's the, you know, what the doctors say.
But then there's also reality that God can heal.
Like, it's sort of like, well, which one?
And I'm using an extreme case.
Of course, we have our daily lives
and sometimes there are situations like that, right?
Where you're like, man,
this is what I'm trying to accomplish.
It just doesn't seem to be working out.
Why is that?
You know, and what the Lord has been showing me
over these past weeks is that, is it my will though?
Is it his will or is it my will?
Am I trying to consume something upon my lusts?
Is it my desire or is it the Lord's desire?
And that is where it gets kind of hard sometimes to know.
Because you know what?
You can desire to certain righteous acts,
but it might not be the Lord's desire.
You know, there's nothing wrong
with desiring to be a pastor,
but it might not be the Lord's desire for you.
Might not be his will.
I mean, there are different elements here at play
and it's not always like this black and white,
you know, Christian life.
And there are doubts, but we need to make sure
what is it that we're doubting exactly, you know?
Let's go back to the story in Matthew 14,
with Jesus, sorry, Jesus walking on the water.
Matthew 14, verse number 22, Matthew 14, 22.
Matthew 14, 22.
Bible reads, and straightway,
Jesus constrained his disciples
to get into a ship and to go before him
unto the other side, while he sent the multitudes away.
And when he had sent the multitudes away,
he went up into a mountain, apart to pray.
And when the evening was come, he was there alone.
But the ship was now in the midst of the sea,
tossed with waves, for the wind was contrary.
And in the fourth watch of the night,
Jesus went unto them, walking on the sea.
Amazing, right?
There, on the ship, being tossed around,
the winds are contrary, meaning the way you wanna go
in your ship, the winds are blowing you the other way.
Nothing's going for that, you know,
working out for these guys.
And there comes Jesus walking,
like Jesus is at peace.
He spent time praying to his father.
He's now in that peace, he's walking on the water.
And then verse number 26,
and when the disciples saw him walking on the sea,
they were troubled, saying, it is a spirit,
and they cried out for fear.
But straightway, Jesus spake unto them,
saying, be of good cheer, it is I, being not afraid.
And I love the faith of Peter right now,
verse number 28.
And Peter answered him and said, Lord,
if it be thou, bid me come unto thee on the water.
And he said, come.
And when Peter was come down out of the ship,
he walked on the water to go to Jesus.
Wow, have you ever walked on water?
Who's walked on water?
Peter has.
Peter has, that's amazing, right?
But I want you to notice, Peter asks,
can I walk on the water?
Can I come to you?
Can you bid me to come?
Jesus says, come.
When you think about that,
why was Peter able to walk on water?
I mean, later on,
we know Jesus Christ says little faith later on.
But at that point in time, at least,
that's a lot of faith.
I mean, would you do that?
If we're out there, you know,
at King's beach on a ship and you know,
let's say we lived on Jesus days
and we see him walking on water.
Like, I don't know.
I mean, maybe some of you guys would be like,
oh, I can do that too.
I don't know.
I don't think I could do that.
I don't think I could say those words.
But maybe, maybe one of you guys would be like,
Jesus, I want to walk on the water with you.
Tell me to come out there.
And then you're walking on water.
Like, hold on, what?
Again, remember expectation.
When expectation does not meet reality.
Reality tells you, you sink.
That's what reality tells you, right?
Like right now, if we go to the beach, you'll sink.
Right? You'll try to walk.
You're not going to walk on the water.
Say pass, but if I have enough faith, I'll walk on water.
You know, maybe we need to get to that point of Peter
and that point in time and just have that great faith.
We'll be able to walk on water.
You'll be able to walk on water
if Jesus Christ says, come.
If it's his will.
If it's just your will, it's not going to happen.
Okay.
I don't think we're ever going to walk on water
to be honest with you.
I don't know if there'll be a time,
but obviously Jesus is teaching us a lesson
for these stories.
Jesus has come.
You know what?
Jesus has come and you'll be able to walk on water.
You don't have to have doubts at that point in time
because it's his will.
Isn't it?
And that's what the Lord's been showing me.
Just like, is it my will though?
And I don't know, Lord.
Cause there are righteous things that I want to do,
but sometimes I don't.
Is it your will though?
And again, that's kind of the,
I wish I could just see Jesus and say,
Jesus, can I walk on water?
Yes, come.
All right, that'll make my life a lot easier.
I mean, I've got his word, don't get me wrong.
I'm not dismissing the Bible.
You know, every promise in the Bible is true.
Every promise.
Whatever God says in his word will come to pass.
Whatever instructions and commands he gives you,
it is his will.
I might do a sermon separately on the will of God.
But you know, we're talking about just our daily life
though, daily situations that pop up, you know, in life
and the doubts that it creates.
And we ask is the Lord, which way, Lord?
Which direction do you want me to go?
And sometimes there is one way to go.
And sometimes God says, look, there's a hundred ways
to go, you decide.
Just acknowledge me and I'll direct your paths.
You know?
But let's continue there.
He walks on water.
We would say, boy, this guy has great faith
at this point in time.
Verse number 30.
And then he saw the wind boisterous.
He was afraid.
And beginning to sink, he cried saying, Lord, save me.
So what happens?
He loses his focus from Jesus.
He sees the reality of the winds
and the reality of I'm on water.
What the, all of a sudden like, you know what?
It dawns on him.
What am I doing?
And oh man, I'm gonna drown here.
And now he begins to sink.
But even then, he's not completely faithless
because he says the words saying, Lord, save me.
Like he's got enough faith to know
that even as I'm sinking, that the Lord will save me.
I'm not just going to drown and perish and die.
There's still elements of faith at that point in his life.
He's still understanding that Jesus is the one,
like he's not calling out to his mates on the boats.
Right?
Save me, throw the rope
or throw whatever floating device that's on the boats.
He turns to Jesus and says, save me.
Still got his sights in the right place.
But you know, and then I look at this story
and oh, let's just finish it.
Says there in verse number 31.
And immediately, immediately Jesus stretched forth
his hand, that's beautiful, and caught him
and said unto him, oh, thou of little faith,
wherefore didst thou doubt?
Hold on Peter, what did you doubt?
And when they were coming to the ship, the wind ceased.
Then they that were in the ship came
and worshiped him saying, of a truth,
thou art the son of God.
All right, so why, wherefore?
Why did he doubt?
What was he doubting exactly there?
Cause I see a man of great faith,
a man of great experience.
Wow, what a story to tell.
I walked on water.
Who's gonna believe you?
Besides the witnesses that saw that, right?
Like what a great experience.
And maybe it's just a personal experience for Peter.
Something that only he'll have, you know.
That's why I encourage you guys
to have your own walk with the Lord as well.
You know, certain things that God will show you,
reveal to you, you know, comfort you,
that others don't, will never experience.
It's something we view in the Lord, personal, you know.
But this is something that is amazing of Peter's like,
wow, you're able to accomplish something great.
And yet the Lord says, wherefore didst thou doubt?
So expectation meets in reality.
Well, there's an expectation that if I walk on water,
I'm gonna sink.
That's reality.
That should happen, I suppose.
But that's not where his expectation was
at that point in time.
You know, Jesus says, come.
And at that point in time, he said,
I believe that more than the forces of nature,
than the laws of nature.
I believe that more.
Jesus said, come.
This is his will.
And I'm gonna place my faith on that.
And he walks on water.
Wow.
There's two realities there.
The reality of the forces of nature,
you should sink.
And the reality of Jesus said, come.
So when he had great faith,
he listened to the will of the Lord
and walked according to that path.
But then he got distracted.
You know, he set his eyes on the winds
and the waves and the sea.
He lost his focus on Jesus and he began to sink.
Thank God he'd had enough faith to say, save me.
And Lord, immediately the Bible says,
you know, took his hand, saved him.
And I'm just thinking, wow.
You know, and yet then Jesus Christ says, you've doubted.
So that point, his reality went from Jesus' will
to the problems, the turmoils.
And I understand where he's coming from.
Who would not be afraid in that situation?
And so because he went from trusting God's will
to not trusting God's will,
that's why Jesus Christ says,
oh ye of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?
Now I started to understand
what the wrong type of doubt is.
If God's will is so, if God's word promises me
and I doubt that, I'm in sin.
I've got little faith.
But there are other situations that develop.
You know, and you need to sort of figure these things out.
There are times that it's right to doubt, okay?
But what I want to show you guys today, guys, is simply,
if you know it's God's will, because his word said so.
Sometimes it's not even just God's word.
Sometimes it's life, situations, scenarios.
They maneuver themselves.
You ask the Lord to lead you and to guide you
and somehow you just see things change
in your surroundings and becomes kind of clear.
This is the path that you need to walk.
Because we're to walk in the spirit of the Lord as well.
And when that path opens up and you know,
I've been praying about this,
I've been seeking the Lord about this
and things develop in a way that, well, this is the answer
then step out in faith and just do it.
Don't doubt when that happens in your life.
Because I want to grow in faith.
I want you to grow in faith.
I want us to be not just new life,
soul winning and that's, I love that.
I want it to be new life,
great in faith Baptist church or something like that.
Cause I know the greater our faith,
the greater we can accomplish as a church.
Come with me to another passage in Matthew, Matthew 21.
Matthew 21 verse number 18.
When I went to high school, I went to a Christian school,
but it was Baptist on the label,
but it was charismatic on the inside.
It was charismatic Pentecostal on the inside,
but Baptist on the label.
And we often would have preachers come in on Thursdays,
we would have chapel and different grades of that
and different classes would come together and sing songs
and hear a preacher speak.
And I've, one of the main passages that would turn to
the preachers would be this passage.
Matthew 21, 18.
Well, actually let me just read what they would read.
Matthew 21, 21, let's start there.
Jesus answered and said unto them,
verily I say unto you, if ye have faith and doubt not.
So there's that comparison again, right?
If ye have faith and doubt not,
ye shall not only do this which is done to the fig tree,
but also if ye shall say unto this mountain,
be thou removed and be thou cast into the sea,
it shall be done.
And all things whatsoever ye ask in prayer,
believe in, ye shall receive.
And so these Pentecostal guest preachers will come up
and they'll read that and say,
see, if you just ask for a mountain to move in the sea,
if you just got the faith, it'll happen.
And I remember being a kid at that,
well, a teenager at that point going, hmm.
I've never seen anyone do that in my life.
And I've never read in the Bible
anyone that's ever done that.
And I've never even heard recorded in any Christian history
that anyone's ever done that.
But this Pentecostal is telling me to do it.
I mean, that's what we did read it.
At face value, that's what it says, right?
And then they'll go on to their stories,
which I've heard, and they're always the same story.
Some kid gets hit by a car
and the legs literally ripped off,
the ligaments are all apart,
and then he's come along or someone else has come along
and they've prayed together for that kid
and they've called the ambulance
and before the ambulance arrives,
the kids knit back all together all over again.
All the tendons have gone back together,
the muscles, the bones have fixed themselves.
And that's the miracle I heard like four or five times
from different guest preachers.
They all got the same story, right?
And I was like, wow,
these guys are just making things up as they go on.
They're hearing some great story
and they were just repeating the same story.
I'm not expecting that some of the preachers
said the same thing in some other preaching time.
But they will often quote that.
And I've often wondered like,
what purpose could there be
to move a mountain into the sea?
You know, what purpose could there be to that?
But there's context around that, okay?
But you know what Jesus Christ says,
you know, if we do ask and doubt not
that it is possible to accomplish such a thing.
Let's back a track a little bit in that passage there,
in Matthew 21, 18,
because there's more to it.
There's something that leads up to that,
those words, right?
In Matthew 21, 18,
Now in the morning,
as he returned into the city, he hungered.
All right, so Jesus wants to eat something.
Verse number 19,
And when he saw a fig tree in the way,
he came to it and found nothing thereon,
but leaves only and said unto it,
let no fruit grow on thee henceforth forever.
And presently the fig tree withered away.
And when the disciples saw it,
they marveled saying,
how soon is the fig tree withered away?
And then Christ says those words,
well, if you have faith and doubt not,
you better say to this mountain
and cast it into the sea, all right?
So there's the context of all that.
And so, yeah, Jesus Christ did perform a miracle.
There's a fig tree,
he was hungry, finds no fruits,
curses the fig tree,
it withers away,
and then suffers a surprise at the great faith of Jesus.
You can have the great faith as well.
Well, what's the explanation of that?
Well, in the same chapter,
drop down to verse number 43,
in the same chapter.
Now, you can read it in your own time,
but Jesus Christ is speaking to,
at this point, unbelieving Jews,
Christ rejecting Jews, all right?
And he says in Matthew 21, 43,
therefore say I unto you,
the kingdom of God shall be taken from you
and given to a nation,
bringing forth the fruits thereof.
So it says to the unbelieving Jews,
the kingdom God's been taken from this nation,
it will be given to a new nation
that is bringing forth fruits,
meaning that the nation of Israel at this point in time
was not bringing forth fruits.
And so as he curses the fig tree,
he's cursing Israel for being unfruitful,
and so we understand the fig tree
being an illustration of Old Testament Israel.
The Old Testament Israel should be
something producing fruits for the Lord,
but they had become so Christ rejecting
that God curses the fig tree.
So we know the symbolism, right?
You just read the rest of the chapter,
you can sort of see what Christ is teaching there.
No fruit, fig tree, Israel,
you're withered away, right?
Not only that, it says there in verse number 19,
let no fruit grow on thee, henceforth forever.
Okay, forever.
That Old Testament country or nation
as that idea will no longer ever bring forth fruits.
When I talk about Israel in the millennium,
that is a different Israel, okay?
But this Old Testament Israel that rejected Jesus
from this point forward would never bring forth fruits.
He says it's giving it to a nation
that will bring forth fruits, okay?
So if we understand that the fig tree is symbolic
and bringing forth fruits is getting people saved,
bringing them to Jesus, right?
Knowing Christ as their savior.
Then as we keep going,
we can understand the same concept
that what Christ is teaching us here
is an illustration of a deeper spiritual meaning.
And so this is what I believe.
I'll read verse number 21 again.
Jesus answered and said unto them,
I say unto you, if you have faith and doubt not,
you shall not only do this
which was done to the fig tree,
but also if you shall say unto this mountain,
be thou removed and be thou cast into the sea,
it shall be done.
You may recall when,
I'm not sure we're going to a different topic here,
but in the book of Daniel,
when Nebuchadnezzar has a dream
and you have all these kingdoms,
that a rock is taken from the mountain,
it's cut off from a mountain
and it breaks the feet of the kingdoms of the earth.
That's what the statue represents
and that it becomes a great mountain, okay?
So this mountain I believe represents the kingdom of God,
bringing people into the kingdom
and the seas many times in the Bible
represents the nations, the Gentiles, all people.
So we take a symbolism here, right?
Again, the idea, like the charismatics,
well, if you just believe it, it's going to happen,
well, I've never seen them cast a mountain into the sea,
but I know what we've been left to do
and that's to win souls,
to further the kingdom of God,
to further his kingdom, to preach Jesus Christ.
And so the willed fig tree
is not going to bring forth fruits, but we can
and we're bringing the kingdom of Christ
represented by the mountain to the Gentiles,
to all people, to all nations.
But we can only accomplish that
with faith and not doubting.
You know, the reason we had success in Fiji
is because we had faith.
We went out there faithfully expecting souls to get saved
and they did.
They trusted Christ as their savior.
And so I'm thinking about this, hold on.
I've passed, I say, you know, Lord,
I've never moved the mountain.
I've never even moved the rock.
All right, rock, move into the river.
But I've seen souls saved.
There's faith right there.
So why, why do we doubt, brethren?
Why do we doubt?
I wanted to cover that because, you know,
it's a question that I get asked quite often, actually.
Okay.
Now come back with me to James chapter one.
Come back with me to James chapter one.
James chapter one.
And, you know, this sermon may not leave you
with a full answer.
I hope I get to a full answer eventually.
It might take a few months before I get there.
I'm very patient with the Lord to give me answers,
you know, as time goes on.
But I want you to understand this concept of doubt
and give you some answers at least.
Because as I said, every phone call that I receive,
I really boil it down.
It's, I have doubts about whatever issue it is.
Okay.
James chapter one, verse number five.
Well, let's read verse number six again.
But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering,
for he that wavering is like a wave of the sea
driven with the wind and tossed.
But again, verse number five comes before that.
James chapter one, verse number five.
If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God
that giveth to all men liberally and upbraideth not
and it shall be given him.
So if any of you lack wisdom,
you know, when you start doubting
about whatever issue it is,
it means that you're lacking wisdom at that point.
You've got uncertainties, right?
Uncertainties.
What should my expectation be?
What is the reality?
Which is, which reality do I put my expectations on?
And you're a bit uncertain.
You need wisdom.
So if any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God.
And notice this, that giveth to all men liberally.
Really.
You know, God is just wanting to give us wisdom.
He's just, why don't you ask?
Ask for wisdom.
And he says, he'll give it to you liberally
and upbraideth not, upbraideth means
he's not going to tell you off.
He's not going to get angry at you
for asking for wisdom, okay?
Maybe that's our concern sometimes.
Oh, I don't want to ask God
because he's going to, man, you know,
I'm so stupid and I don't want God to get angry at me.
No, if you need wisdom,
God's like, ask me and I'll give it to you, okay?
And it shall be given him.
And then it says, and let him ask in faith,
nothing wavering.
Hold on, what am I asking in faith?
In context, wisdom.
Isn't that the context?
Let him ask in faith, nothing wavering.
Oh, now I get it.
It's not that every time I just pray for this and that,
that I should just have an expectation it's going to happen.
All right, if I'm given two weeks to live
and I say, Lord, heal me,
I can't have the expectation that that will happen.
But one thing that I can be guaranteed
and have no doubts about,
that if I need wisdom, he will give it to me.
Lord, I need wisdom.
Lord, I don't know what to do.
Situation A, situation B, pros and cons here,
pros and cons there.
It doesn't seem to be the right answer.
Lord, I don't know.
Lord, can you please give me wisdom?
And the Bible tells me,
promises me if I ask for your wisdom,
you'll give it to me liberally.
And Lord, you're not going to upgrade me.
You're not going to be mad at me for asking.
You're not going to think I'm a stupid person
for asking these questions.
Lord, you're ready and freely ready
to give me your great wisdom.
And that is what I'm not going to doubt in,
that the wisdom of the Lord will come.
It may take a bit of time.
Might be answered straight away.
There are times that I'm doing the chapter
by chapter studies with you guys.
And I'm reading the chapter.
I'm like, Lord, I don't know what this is about.
And like, Lord, I need to know by Wednesday.
I need to know what this verse is about by Wednesday.
Like, give me some ideas here, Lord,
as I go through the day and think about it
and meditate on your word and all this.
And the Lord comes through.
He actually comes through.
Like the Lord knows the time is better than me.
And sometimes, believe it or not,
he'll leave it even to the last minute.
I might even be driving to church
and all of a sudden that verse,
oh yeah, that makes sense.
You know, but brethren, you know, why do we doubt?
I just want you to understand why you doubt.
It's because your expectation doesn't meet reality.
And when that happens, we get uncertain.
And then we get unsure.
But let me tell you,
you cannot doubt or you should not doubt God's will.
But then that creates another question.
What is God's will?
As I said to you, first of all, very easy.
Whatever God says in his word, whatever he promises,
whatever he commands, that is his will.
That's easy, okay?
But then the harder part is our daily life,
our situations that pop up here and there.
You know, which way do I go?
What decisions do I take?
All of that.
And that's where I get the phone calls,
pastor, what do you reckon?
I says, I don't know, because I'm not God.
I can't give you the wisdom liberally,
but I know the one that can give you the answer
is the Lord God.
I just want you to understand why you doubt.
And doubt is not always wrong.
But doubting his will is wrong.
Okay, doubting his will is wrong.
But it's not always wrong.
And it makes you human.
So when you have doubts, don't beat yourselves up.
Like don't think, man, I'm just this...
Because that's how I was feeling.
I'm just this person without faith.
You know, how is it, Lord,
that you put me to pass the two churches
and I look at myself as little faith
and what kind of example will I be to my brethren
and to my church members, you know?
And then I'm like, hold on, no, no, no.
I don't doubt you, Lord.
I don't doubt you.
I don't doubt your ability.
I don't doubt your will.
It's as if sometimes I don't know exactly
what your will is.
And when I don't know exactly what your will is,
I'm gonna ask of you.
I'm gonna ask for wisdom.
And Lord, in due time, whatever your time is,
I know, I'm not gonna waver, I don't doubt.
I know in due time, you're gonna answer my prayers.
Title for the sermon this morning was,
why do we doubt, why do we doubt?
Okay, brethren, let's pray.