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. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Now, the title of the sermon this morning is Even the Greatest Have Doubts, okay? Because Jesus said that John the Baptist was the greatest born among women. And, you know, a lot of people have doubts. A lot of people will, you know, often call for, you know, help or encouragement and things like that. And they have questions. And, you know, when we have doubts in the Christian faith, a lot of times, you know, if you're surrounded with the wrong people especially, it can almost seem like there's just something wrong with you. Like, why do I have these doubts and everybody else seems to have everything put together, okay? One thing that you got to remember here is that John the Baptist, I mean, think about his life as we go through this. Think about all his accomplishments, what he's done, his humility. I mean, everything that he's done for the Lord, you know, everything in the Old Testament that was written about him coming. And yet we find in this chapter that he has doubts. He does experience doubt. Why? Because it's a natural human emotion, okay? And so we're going to go through this, break this down. Why did the greatest have doubts? Why do we have doubts? And what do we do about that? Because the answer is clearly in this chapter. So hopefully this will be a blessing and a help to you. So again, verse number one, And it came to pass when Jesus had made an end of commanding his 12 disciples, he departed thence to teach and to preach in their cities. Okay, verse number two says, Now when John had heard in the prison the works of Christ, he sent two of his disciples. Okay, so here's the situation. The mission trip has begun. The 12 are out. They're doing miracles. They're preaching the kingdom of God. They're doing these great things. They've got power from Christ. They've been taught. And also don't forget, keep in mind that Samaria has already received the word of God. Okay, we talked about that a few weeks ago or a couple weeks ago, rather. So don't let that bog down your thinking. Well, why did he tell the disciples to only go to the lost house of the sheep of Israel if the doctrine of Zionism is wrong? It doesn't make sense. Well, it does make sense when you understand the chronology of the gospels. Okay, Samaria by and large had already had people receive the gospel. That's already been taken care of. Now it's time to preach the gospel of the kingdom to the lost house of the sheep of Israel with signs confirming. Okay, and inserted in this story here, now we find the greatest man born among women, the prophet John, having doubts. He is in prison. Can you say, well, why is he in prison? Why did his life end this way? Well, he's in prison because he was preaching righteousness, because he was preaching the truth, because he looked at the political system of his day. He looked at Herod and what he was doing, the wickedness that he was doing, having his brother Philip's wife, and he called him out for it. And of course, people don't like being called out. None of us do. And when you have power and authority and you're not saved, anything goes. And so they had bound John into prison and John is experiencing doubts. Okay, you got to remember, just because these things were written down doesn't mean that everybody fully completely understood everything that was going to happen. Okay. The Jew primarily during this time were thinking, okay, well, when Messiah comes, he's going to teach us all things, but he's going to restore all things like soon. Like we're going to be out of Roman authority. We're going to ditch the Romans. We're going to be a nation again. We're going to be a powerhouse again, like we once were. That attitude permeated a lot of people. And here you find John, who had scripture written about him in prison, and he's like, what's going on here? If all things are going to be restored, if the kingdom's now, why am I locked up? I don't get it. He doesn't understand. Look at verse number three and said unto him, art thou he that should come or do we look for another? So keep your place there. We're going to come right back to it, but go to Acts chapter number 13. Acts chapter number 13. So again, you have John the Baptist. Obviously, he's saved. Obviously, I mean, look at the things that he's done, the baptisms he's done, the works that he's done, the humility that he's had. You know, he didn't have an easy, soft life. This is a tough individual eating locusts, you know, and honey and things like that. You know, obviously not having soft ramen. We will see that here in a moment, right? So this guy is tough mentally. He's tough physically. He is a little great person, like a great individual. You know, he's got a large background of works that he's done. But yet he sends two of his disciples to Jesus to say, art thou he that should come or do we look for another? Now, here's why that is so interesting here. Look at Acts chapter 13 and verse number 25. The Bible says this. It says, and as John fulfilled his course, and as John fulfilled his course. Okay, so you say, well, what does that mean? Well, look at the rest of the verse here. He said, whom think ye that I am? I am not he, but behold, there cometh one after me whose shoes of his feet I am not worthy to lose. Okay, so obviously John has met the Lord. He introduced the Lord. He baptized the Lord. Okay, but yet he's in prison and he's having doubts about who Jesus is. He's like, are you him? Are you he that should come or do we look for another? Why does he have that attitude? Well, because he has a misunderstanding of the mission, of the situation here. But the Bible tells us later on, many years after he has passed away, after he was killed, it says, and as John fulfilled his course, what was his course? Well, his course that he was born for. He was born. He was raised. He was brought up. He was taught to prepare the way for the Lord, to make the Lord's paths straight again, to restore the basic message of salvation, which is salvation free of charge, no works. That was his job. Okay, that is what he did. And the Bible tells you, and as John fulfilled his course, he said, whom think ye that I am? I am not he, but behold, there cometh one after me whose shoes of his feet I am not worthy to lose. So when you're reading through the Gospels, and you see Jesus come to John, and he makes that statement in the Gospels, that is literally when John fulfilled his mission. That is when he fulfilled his course. Okay, so go back. Actually, no, you can leave your place there, but go to Psalm, chapter 116, Psalm, chapter 116. And so I bring this up because I think it's important to understand when John, his mission literally was complete. And the Bible tells us that it was complete when Jesus entered in, when he came to him and said, I have need to be baptized of thee. And obviously, Jesus didn't need to be baptized of John because of sin. Jesus had no sin. And the crazy thing about that is there are people out in this community that will say, well, you know, Jesus had to get baptized or else. Or else what? You know, they won't sometimes go forward and say what you think they're thinking, but my question and what you often think when you hear that is, or what? He's going to go to hell? He wouldn't be saved? He's God. You're crazy to even say something like that. He got baptized to identify with the message that John the Baptist preached. Not because he needed to be saved. That is absolutely absurd. But at that time frame, John had fulfilled his course. He had completed his mission that God set him up to do. And so from that time forward, you kind of have this overlap where John the Baptist still has his disciples. He's still going on doing his thing because they both preach the same gospel. It's not like John the Baptist preached one gospel and Jesus preached another. Peter preached one over here and then Paul preached. No, it's the same way. It's a straight and narrow way, meaning one way. Free of charge. No works involved. So again, going back to Acts 13, John fulfilled his course when Jesus began his ministry, when he came to him. Now does that mean that God's like, okay, I'm done with you, I'm just going to chuck you, just throw you to the wolves? No. The way that John the Baptist died is very, very, very precious. Look at this here in Psalm, chapter 116. Look at verse 15. The Bible says this, it says, precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints. I mean, what does that mean then? Well, that means that that's a precious thing. It's a precious thing. So God looks down and says, you know, this individual stood up for me. This individual died protecting and standing on the word of God. And the Bible says that that is a precious thing in the sight of the Lord. So we should never look at John and say, well, he could have gone out a better way. You know, he could have, you know, maybe he shouldn't have just spoke out against the government. Maybe he should have just kind of toned it down a little bit. Maybe it would have been better if he died actually preaching the gospel or the way. Well, the problem with that is we have to preach the whole counsel of God, okay? And sometimes when doing that, it's going to put us in a situation where we have doubts. Now, sometimes we may have people come after us and, you know, they might get the upper hand on us or whatever, and they might put us in a bind. They might put us in a situation that causes us to start to have doubts, okay? And so that's what we're going to talk about this morning. And when I say doubts, I mean, there's all kinds of reasons why we can have doubts. Go back to Matthew chapter 11 and we will move this through. So again, we see that John the Baptist fulfilled his mission. So it wasn't like it was cut short is what I'm trying to say, okay? It wasn't cut short. He fulfilled his course. He did everything that he was supposed to do. But the fact of the matter is this is a very wicked time in this nation's history. I mean, there are not too many years from being completely wiped out from the Romans coming in and conquering them. They're just about done as a physical nation, the small remnant that's left, right? I mean, when you go back to the Old Testament and you think about the physical nation of Israel, all 12 tribes, and then the split, and then you get to the time of Christ where Judea is nothing more than a province of the Roman Empire, you know? It's sad, but it's the way things had to go, okay? And so with that being said, John went out on the Word of God. He died preaching the Word of God because what he told Herod, where did that come from? It came from the Bible. It came from God's law. He's like, you have broken the law of God. You're openly living in mockery of our history. Of what God did for us, okay? So he was right to do that, but the problem is it caused him to go to prison. And in prison, this great man, this tough man mentally, physically, spiritually has doubts, and he's questioning Jesus Christ, okay? So let's back up for a second here one more time. Verse number two, now when John had heard in the prison the works of Christ, he sent two of his disciples and said unto him, Art thou he that should come, or do we look for another? Now we all understand what believing is. It's to be in one mind about something, an idea, a doctrine, a teaching, or just something that's true, okay? Well, what is unbelieving? Well, it's the opposite of that, right? It's to be in one mind that something is not true. Well, what's doubting? It's to be uncertain. It's to be in between these two minds, okay? And you say, well, this is where people get mixed up, and they'll say, okay, well, that proves then that you can lose your salvation because you have to believe on the Lord to be saved. And if you're in this doubt period, well, then that means you're not believing. You're not quite rejecting, so you're in limbo. If you were to die in that moment, you would go to hell. Okay, a lot of people have that view. A lot of people do. A lot of people think that. But once you are saved, born again, it's too late, okay? You're automatically placed into the body of Christ. You're sealed into the day of redemption, okay? And guess what? You're going to have doubts because you're human, because you have the physical flesh. And so thank God that being uncertain about things in certain times doesn't affect our salvation, okay? But what we need to understand is the fact that we will get into periods of doubt. Now, here we can talk about this all day long. Why does John doubt? Well, partly because he's misunderstood what was going to happen. It wasn't quite clear to him. And this happens to us all the time. We can get doubt. We can be offended because Jesus does mention that here in this chapter. You know, bless his who's not offended in me. You know, we get offended sometimes when we don't exactly get the picture right of what maybe God is doing in our lives, okay? Because he doesn't audibly speak to us today. We have the written word and we have to do the best we can to rightly divide the word, look at our culture, look at the world, look at the things that are going on, and try to make sense out of those things. But it's in that process of not making sense sometimes that we wind up in a mental prison like John the Baptist and we start to experience doubt, okay? So we need to recognize that and understand that doubt or offenses often come from misunderstandings, okay? So with that being said here, look at verse number four. And let's take a look at the solution here. So real quick, Matthew 11 verses two and three express the doubt that John the Baptist has. Now we're going to focus on the solution here, okay? What does Jesus say about this? Look at verse number four. It says this, Jesus answered and said unto them, go and show John again those things which ye do here and see. Okay? So again, John sends the disciples out to find the Lord and to ask, are you here or do we look for somebody else? What in the world is going on? And Jesus responds immediately, go and show John again those things which ye do here and see, okay? So these guys were to come to Christ and see him preaching the kingdom of God, doing the miracles, partaking in this mission trip to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Look at verse number five. Look at what Jesus does here. This is very, very powerful. He says, number one, the blind receive their sight and the lame walk and the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up and the poor have the gospel preached to them. Verse six, and blessed is he whosoever shall not be offended in me. Keep your place there and go to Isaiah chapter number 35. Isaiah chapter number 35. So when John the Baptist makes it clear that he is having doubts, he is now uncertain about who Christ is, who Jesus is, he is not quite sure anymore because he's in prison, because things didn't go the way that he thought they would go. What does Jesus do? What does he point to? Well, he starts to mention things. Hey, the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, the poor have the gospel preached to them. And then he says, and blessed is he whosoever shall not be offended in me. We know, of course, the Bible says, great peace have they which love thy law, nothing shall offend them, okay? That is very important for this first point here. Look at Isaiah 35 in verse number five. So what is Jesus doing here? He's quoting Isaiah chapter 35, chapter 29, chapter 42, but let's look at verse five here. So you're in Isaiah 35, look at verse five, it says this. Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. Verse six, then shall the lame man leap as an heart, and the tongue of the dumb sing. For in the wilderness shall waters break out and streams in the desert, okay? You don't have to turn there, but in fact, I want you to go to Mark chapter nine. I'm just going to read for you Isaiah 42 seven, which says to open the blind eyes, to bring out the prisoners from the prison, and them that sit in darkness out of the prison house, okay? So do you see what Jesus is doing here in Matthew 11? What is his response to John immediately when he hears a doubt? He immediately starts quoting the Bible. He starts quoting scripture. He starts quoting places from the prophet Isaiah, which just so happens to have things written about John the Baptist as well, okay? So what do you do here? What's the solution for us when we are in doubt? And I know you might get tired of hearing this, but it's in the chapter. We have to talk about it. This is so important. When in doubt, you go to the word of God. The Bible says great peace have they which love thy law, and nothing shall offend them. Now I'm not bringing that up to say that John the Baptist didn't love the law. Of course he did. But hey, when we're in a mental prison, when we're in a, I don't know, a social prison or a literal physical prison, guess what? Right? That is a lot of noise. And that it seems to be all that we can focus on. And it's so easy for the human mind to just put the word of God on the back burner and to try to figure out a solution for the here and the immediate and the now. How can I get out of this now? What can I do? Okay? That is how human nature works. And so that's what we need to understand. When you find yourself in a hard situation like John the Baptist, your flesh is going to immediately try to take over your decision making and control you. Okay? That's exactly what has happened to John the Baptist. Now, with that being said, Jesus, what does he do? He points to the Bible. He points to the word of God. That is so powerful for us because once we sit down, we slow down and say, hold on here. Okay? What am I not understanding? What is not making sense here? And we go to the word of God. Maybe we go and talk to a few other people with the word of God and we come up with some solutions. Guess what? That offense and that doubt is going to go away. Okay? So here's a statement that I want you to remember. Very simple. The blood of Christ makes us safe but the word of Christ makes us sure. Okay? That, I believe, is what Jesus is trying to tell John the Baptist. I believe that is what he wants us to realize. Okay? The blood of Christ makes us safe. Okay? So a person hears the word of God. They receive the word of God. They put their faith and trust. They become born again. They are saved. They are sealed until the day of redemption. There is nothing that can harm them. But what happens when those people, us, in certain times of our lives, walk away from the Bible? We start to put distance between us and the word of God. That is when doubt will immediately creep in and, you know, it's up to us how long that doubt is going to actually stay there. Okay? So what's the solution? The word of God makes us sure. So when we look at the world and we see that the world is making war against the saints. And there's going to, you know, there's going to come a day where, guess what? They're going to win. And right now the world is kind of winning. Okay? They're winning the cultural war. I mean there's so many distractions out there in the world today that are literally taking Bible believing Christians captive at will. Okay? There are a lot of people just in this area that are saved. I mean I would say a lot of people. I don't know how many. I'm not God. But there's a lot more people that are saved out in this community that are in church. Okay? So think about that the next time you start having doubts. I mean that is important. How does that happen? Okay? Well they take the grace and run. That's how it happens. They take the grace and they run. Hey, they're grateful. I'm, you know, I'm secure. The blood of Christ, you know, has washed me. I'm saved forever. But then through their own choices they have decided to put the word of God on the back burner and put the things of the world in its place and what happens? Oftentimes when you run into those people they will start to have doubts. I'm not really sure. Is he really the Christ or do we look for another? I had someone come to my house and say all this stuff to me and now I'm confused. That happens all the time. So it's our job to understand it's the word of God that makes us sure. Right? A lot of you have had this before. Where you knock on someone's door and they kind of give you a little uncertain answer about salvation. You know? And then maybe you give them some verses and they're like, oh, that's what I, no, no, no. That's what I believe. Right? And they're like super sure about that. Now, okay. Yeah. Right? I get it. I already believe that. And then they tell you, yeah, I went to this vacation Bible camp, you know, at this Baptist church when I was 13, you know, and they gave me the Romans road and they remembered and they're like, and I got saved. You know? And you're like, yeah, yeah. See, how did they get from the Romans road, being saved, trusting in Christ, all that to all of a sudden having a little bit of doubt. Like, oh, I'm not quite sure. Well, because they removed themselves, they put distance between themselves and the word of God. And that's what, unfortunately, John the Baptist allowed to happen to him. He got into that prison. Things didn't make sense. And instead of focusing on what was written, he allowed the flesh to take over and there's not a dig on John the Baptist. We all do it. All of us do it. And you say, well, I'm super tough. I got this. I got that. I've listened to all these times. I've memorized all this stuff. It doesn't matter. You will experience doubt. The devil is coming after you. If you're that smart, praise God for that. But you better understand you've got a big target on your back. And the enemy is coming after you. Okay? So let go of the pride, if it's there, and understand, yes, the blood of Christ makes us safe and the word of God makes us sure. This is how we prevent ourselves from getting offended. This is how we prevent ourselves and solve for ourselves and each other the situation of doubt. Okay? It's the word of God. Here's an example of that. Mark chapter number nine. Okay? So you know the story very well. Here, the disciples had tried. You know, they're on the mission trip. They had tried to cast out a devil. Didn't work. Like, hmm. All right. Well, hopefully this one will just kind of blow over here. So, but it doesn't as most of our problems don't. Look at verse 21. So it says this. It says, and he asked his father, how long is it ago since this came in or came on to him? And he said, of a child. Okay? So Jesus is inquiring to this father who has a son who's possessed, obviously. And Jesus is just trying to get some background. How long has this been going on? And he says, since he was a child. Look at verse 22. Mark nine, verse 22. In oft times, it hath cast him into the fire and into the waters to destroy him. But if thou can't do anything, have compassion on us and help us. Verse 23. Jesus said unto him, if thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth. Okay? We'll stop right there. Anytime I read that verse, I like to just throw out a quick disclaimer, right? This whole Kenneth Copeland, Paula White, you know, these TV preachers, they love to take this here and say, you don't have that mansion. You're not a millionaire because you don't believe. Okay? Again, what do we always go back to? We go back to the word of God. Because when those preachers say those things to people, it gets the cash flowing in for a while. And then those people wind up getting offended and they start, you know, struggling with doubts and they're out of church, right? And then another group comes in and that's how they stay rich. You say, well, what are you talking about here? What's going on? It's because they don't understand faith. It was never written down in the Bible that we would be guaranteed to be millionaires and to have our best life now. Okay? So what is Jesus saying? Jesus is like, I'm right here, right now. I can take care of this problem. If you believe, it's going to be done. Case closed. That's what he says. Look at verse 24. And straightway, the father of the child cried out and said with tears, Lord, I believe. Help thou mine unbelief. So here, this individual, obviously you could tell why he would be doubting, why he would be struggling because the disciples couldn't solve the problem. They couldn't take care of the issue. So he's thinking like, okay, I believe because I've seen and heard what Jesus has done. He knows about all that, but he's like, okay, I believe, but I have some doubts. Okay? Leave your place there. Go to Proverbs chapter number three. And of course, you know the rest of the story here. Jesus takes care of the problem, casts out the devil and they go on about their lives. But the point from that story is, okay, this guy says, Lord, I believe, help thou mine unbelief. And Jesus is very honest. He understands, okay, I can believe right now. I understand. I believe it. But he knows, man, I've still got some uncertainty and he's admitting that. And that's a lot of us. A lot of us find ourselves in that situation. You know, the Bible says that God will never leave thee nor forsake thee. Then you have these bozo apologetic, hermeneutical type preachers out there. Well, that was to the Jew. That's really not for you. So you got to kind of pull back and understand that because you're pretty much the dog under the table catching the crumbs, that you might not have your best life now. You see how they do that, okay? What does that do? Well, that sows a lot of unbelief in people, okay? The point is, it's easy for people to just believe unto salvation if they want to receive the word of God, if they understand it, obviously, okay? But after that, we need to make sure that these guys understand there's coming a period right away of unbelief. See it all the time where people get saved and, you know, sometimes you guys get people saved inside here and they'll come back and they're like, oh, man, now I'm struggling with this. It's like, yeah, you're under attack, you know? It's like sometimes we miss the boat here. Nobody in here does this anymore. But we did have a couple individuals who used to go soloing with us and they would get people saved and they'd be so happy and they'd be like, guess what? Your life is going to be so much better now. Now you're going to have this and now you can do this. It's like, don't tell them that. Be honest and just let them know you got a target on your back. If you're the child of God, if you're born again, the devil wants you. Say why? Because he doesn't want the message being spread, okay? It's contagious. And so what he does, yea hath God said, he starts to sow doubt. The devil has a great relationship and understanding with our flesh and how it works in ways we can't even understand. So when you understand that basic concept there and the solution, which is to go to the word of God because that erases all doubt, then we can get our help. Then we can overcome doubt. Proverbs three, look at verse five. Very popular verses on the subject. Says this, trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not into thine own understanding. Says in all thy ways acknowledge him and he shall direct thy paths. This is the idea here. This is how we want to live our lives. These are verses here that I believe every child in this church should have memorized. Look at verse seven. It goes on to say this. This is where people often will just leave off, but it says be not wise in thine own eyes. You see that? Be not wise in thine own eyes. And all of us get in this situation here. John the Baptist, the moment he sent his disciples to Jesus, he was literally using his own eyes. You have the flesh, you have two sets of eyes. You got the physical eyes, the eyes of the flesh, and then you got the spiritual one from the new man. And look, it takes work for you to put on the new man so that you can look through life, look through your circumstances with the lens of the new man, which harmonizes with the Bible. The eyes of the old man harmonize with the world and the guy who runs the world, which is obviously a Satan. So he says, be not wise in thine own eyes. Fear the Lord and depart from evil. So how do we fear the Lord? By reading the word of God, by coming to church, by hearing things, by serving him. But it all again boils down to the word of God. Because when you read these things, you're like, ouch, I'm not doing that, ouch, that hurts. All of us get into that, right? I'll be reading this Bible like, man, I'm definitely not doing that. Well there's another mark against me, and you know what, you begin to fear the Lord. Because you understand the heart of the Lord, because this book communicates that so well. And that brings knowledge, which brings wisdom, which helps you to put on the new man and put him forward so then you can look at life. You can look at your circumstances. You can look at your families. You can look at everything going on around you through the eyes of the new man, which are not your own. They were bought with a price. So he says, be not wise in thine own eyes. So you have, again, your eyes, your flesh. And then you have that man who was bought and purchased through the blood of Christ, which makes you safe. And the way that you keep yourself healthy spiritually is by becoming sure, by studying the word of God. Verse eight, it shall be health to thy navel and marrow to thy bones. Don't you see the interesting fact here? When we as God's people put the new man first and we say, you know what, yeah, I'm struggling with some stress. I've got some doubts, man. I am hurting. And you go to the word of God. Guess what? When you put the new man first, it's interesting how that all of a sudden gives you some physical health benefits. Interesting how that works, isn't it? I wonder, and this is just me just wondering, I wonder how many of our ailments could be solved by simply making that simple change. And it is a simple change. It takes us understanding, I'm jacked up. Hey, I am messed up. I'm not doing things right. I'm not thinking about this right. Go to the word of God and start saying, I'm going to start looking at these situations through the lens, through the eyes of the new man, which was bought and paid for by the blood of Jesus Christ. And you start to do that and realize, okay, that's how I'm going to go. You make that choice. You make that decision. You turn that not into some motivation, but into some discipline and you start living your life that way. Guess what? This is true. This is the word of God. That will be health to thy navel, to thy core, to thy flesh and marrow, to thy bones. And again, I'm not trying to knock diets. I understand we've got some whack issues with our food supply. That's all good. That's all important too. I get it. I understand it as long as it doesn't take priority over the word of God. So don't come in here promoting that vegan stuff because we're not having it here. We've already dealt with that. We're not going back, okay? So you can promote all the other diets, but not that one. That one takes the cake. Go back to Matthew chapter number 11. So hopefully that makes sense, okay? Trust in the Lord with all thine heart. It's not just do this because I said. You know, God is so wonderful, so amazing. He gives us this application over and over and over again in the Bible and then says, hey, furthermore, here's what it's going to do for you, right? Close that motivation and turn that motivation into discipline because it's rewarding for your flesh. Okay? And we need to be healthy as God's people because we live in a dying and decaying world that's being polluted purposely by these evil perverts that are running the world. And the solution to that is to put that new man first. Look at life. Look at your doubts. Look at your situations with the intention of comparing it to the word of God. And I'm telling you, that is going to make all the difference. That's the solution. That is what Jesus, his whole response to John the Baptist was, okay? He doesn't say, you know, mail a check here, right? He doesn't say anything like that. Oh, maybe you didn't see enough miracles. I'll come there and do some more miracles so you can see them with your eyes and then you won't have any more doubts, John. No. What is the solution? What does Jesus say to this greatest man here? Hey, remember the word of God. Remember Isaiah. I am he that was to come. I'm fulfilling prophecy. I am fulfilling what was written in the word of God. That is the solution to John the Baptist's doubt. That is the solution for us when we have doubt. Again, the blood of Christ makes us safe. The word of Christ makes us sure about everything. So again, we're going to move on here. Change gears just very slightly. So verses two and three show us the fact that John the Baptist has doubts. And then up until verse seven, we see the solution. We see the antidote to our doubt. How to get rid of it. Okay. You don't need to read a 300 page book on overcoming doubt. You just need to simply understand. I doubt. Okay. I go to the Bible. I doubt I go to the Bible. Things aren't making sense. I go to somebody else who is on the Bible, who's all about the Bible, who understands the Bible. And we talk it out. We hash these things out. That's the solution. That is what we do. But what does Jesus say now? Is he like, oh, you know, he was great, but now since he's had doubts, you know, we're going to have to downgrade him a little bit. You know, he's a problem. Maybe he was a reprobate. Maybe he never believed. Is that what Jesus does? No. He starts to compliment him. Look at verse seven. And as they departed. So they understand the advice. They understand the solution. Verse seven. And as they departed, Jesus began to say unto the multitudes, concerning John, what went ye out into the wilderness to see, a reed shaken in the wind. Interesting. So you know, obviously those disciples coming to Jesus in the presence of other people would probably maybe even cause doubt to those people. Okay. So now Jesus, what is he doing? He's having to address that situation. So another thing that I forgot to mention is doubt is contagious if it's not dealt with immediately. Okay. So doubt is contagious if they're not dealt with immediately. Verse seven. And as they departed, Jesus began to say unto the multitudes concerning John, what went ye out into the wilderness to see, a reed shaken in the wind. Okay. Well, what is a reed or something shaken in the wind? Just going back and forth. Okay. Oh yeah. It's, salvation's a free gift. I'm saved by grace through faith. Yeah. Salvation's a free gift, but you know, God gives you the power to do all the works. Okay. That's a reed shaken in the wind. Okay. A double minded person, somebody who hasn't made up their mind on salvation. Okay. And in that situation, obviously we know they're not saved because they're promoting the other side. Okay. And Jesus is simply saying, hey, John wasn't like that. He came to prepare the way. He had the right gospel and he never deviated one time. So just because he had some doubts, because he's in prison and he's having a really, really hard time and any of us could relate, you find yourself in prison, you're going to have some doubts. You're going to have an internal battle. You're going to have a struggle. Okay. So understand that's okay. We all go through that. But the fact of the matter is, even up until this point, he never deviated from the gospel. He preached the truth. He was not a reed shaken in the wind. He was, the law of God says this, and this is what it is. Black and white. And that's how we need to be. Hey, the Bible says this. This is what it is. Oh, my boss don't like it. Oh, my neighbors don't like it. Oh, my cousin, my aunt, whatever don't like it. Too bad. Doesn't matter. Cry in your closet. Get away from me. That's the solution. Because you're doubting. Your mockery is contagious and we don't want that here. We don't want that around us. Okay. We don't want to be like that. We don't want to be a reed shaken in the wind. We see it every single day when we knock on people's doors. All the time. Every single week. Well, yeah. I'm saved. I gave my life to Christ. I'm 100% sure I'm saved. What do you mean you gave your life to Christ? Well, I committed myself to him that I would stop drinking, stop counseling and stop doing all these things and watch church online, you know, ever so often. It's like, can't you see you're a reed shaken in the wind? That is not at all what the Bible says. That is not what we are taught. Look at verse eight. He says, but what went ye out for to see? A man clothed in soft raiment? You know, Jesus is speaking obviously to his times, but obviously he's speaking to our times because who sought out more? The person and soft or fancy raiment, and this ain't fancy, right? This is just cheap stuff I'm wearing here. Or the person who's just kind of rough, like, Hey, this is what it says, man. You can either take it or cry me a river. More people are drawn to that soft stuff. Okay. And Jesus is telling you, he doesn't like that. That is not the program that he's endorsed or he is established. But what went ye out for to see a man clothed in soft raiment? Behold, they that wear soft clothing are in King's houses, right? And I've heard all kinds of things here. I heard recently someone called me and said that he had a battle with that pastor up north. And well, I forgot what his name is, a Baptist guy that was, that was mocking us in a Sunday school. And he was like, well, he actually tried to say that Jesus was talking about transvestites here. It's like, no, he's simply saying he's comparing people that are double minded, people that are soft, wearing soft raiment saying, Hey, John the Baptist wasn't it. You got the wrong idea. Just because he had doubts doesn't mean he was weak. It doesn't mean he was wavering on every issue. It just means he was human. He wasn't reincarnated either. Okay. And we're going to talk about that here in a minute. That's what he's saying. And yeah, it's true, right? Go to, you know, I don't know, some CEO's house today. You think you're going to find people wearing Carharts and, you know, Dickies and stuff like that? No. They're wearing the super soft stuff. They're not even wearing shirt like this. Like, Oh, what'd you pay like 20 bucks for that shirt? I've got the softest, smoothest kind of cotton silk blend you could ever imagine. My shirts $300 and I'm comfortable all day long. I don't know about you, but at my work, I'm not comfortable all day long. I'm in all kinds of uncomfortable positions. Hey, you know what? Preaching the word of God, being clothed with humility, being clothed with the new man, being clothed with these things is going to make you not soft. Okay. So that's what he's saying. And that's the application here. So verse nine, but what went ye out for to see? So here is the third one, a prophet, yea, I say unto you, and more than a prophet. Look at this here in verse 10, for this is he of whom it is written, behold, I send my messenger before thy face, which shall what prepare the way before thee. So John the Baptist wasn't just a regular prophet, and this is not a knock on prophets, but not every prophet in the Bible was foretold that he would be a prophet. But John the Baptist is unique in that fact that he was written about. He was prophesied many, many years before he came on the scene, and Jesus makes mention of that here. He says, this is more than just a prophet. Okay. He didn't just spring up. Okay. Oh no. He was written. He was talked about. He's been preached about for a very long time. And what was his role? To prepare the way before thee. So again, what is Jesus doing here? He is taking John the Baptist and pointing to scripture, pointing to the Bible, pointing to the written word of God, and confirming those two. Look at verse 11, verily I say unto you, among them that are born of women, there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist, notwithstanding he that is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. So again, even the greatest have doubts. Remember, the blood of Christ makes us safe, and the word of God makes us sure. So he says, among them that are born of women, there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist, until you get to our day. There are plenty of people on Facebook that will tell you how great they are. Okay. And you guys know about that. I don't want to get too much into that, but a lot of people read this and are like, well that was up until the time of John the Baptist, but me, boy, I'm pretty good. I've got it put together, man. You know, I've got the sermon index down, I've read the Bible probably 55 times this week. That's a little exaggeration, but there are people that want to say that. Look, I'm just telling you, we've got some very, very, very, very prideful individuals out there. Saying, yeah, you're not going to get a lot of people listening if you say something like that. I don't care. I don't care at all. My job is to study this and to come here and preach it, and that's it. Among them that are born of women, there has not risen a greater than John the Baptist, but obviously encouragement for the rest of us. Look at this. Notwithstanding he that is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. Remember all flesh, all of us, we have all sinned before God. We are all guilty of hell. Jesus had to die for the human race. He had to die for mankind. Okay. So there's no man that can stand before God and say, John the Baptist was great up until me. I came on the scene. I repented of all my sins. I got threatened from them all. You know, that's probably the conversation that Ray Comfort's going to have with Jesus at the Great White Throne Judgment. Lord, Lord, right? He's going to be saying things like that. Look at all the stuff that I did. My YouTube channel never got taken down. I never got threatened. That means I had the perfect balance between love and disagreement. You know, that's probably what he's going to say. And there's a lot of people that are going to fall into that category, obviously. Okay. So what is Jesus saying there? He's basically saying all of us were redeemed by the Redeemer. We are the recipients of eternal life. We are not the achievers of eternal life. We did not achieve that. He achieved that through his sacrifice. Verse 12, and from the days of John the Baptist, until now, the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence and the violent taketh it by force. Now this is obviously here. When I read this, a reference to John the Baptist, because he saved, he is in the kingdom of heaven, and Herod had taken him by force and has done violence to him. Okay. Herod has violated John the Baptist because John the Baptist was preaching truth, preaching the word of God. And of course, all believers during this time were being persecuted by the Judaizers, by the Pharisees, the Sadducees, the scribes. They were persecuting. And Jesus is making mention of this, that the kingdom of heaven is suffering violence. And guess what? It's the same exact thing today. Okay. Joe Maples sent me this article about, I think it was about soccer and how like they're like the worldwide like soccer league, whatever it's called, like they won't allow any of the players to have anything about Jesus on their uniforms or in regards to, you know, their speeches after games or anything like that, but they'll still allow the Muslims. They'll still allow the Buddhist, the Hindus, the atheists. They'll allow everything else, but not the name of Christ. That is the world that we are living in right now. There is an attack being made public. See, before we kind of would call this stuff out and we would be bringing these things up and people, ah, I think you're a little too conspiracy theory minded. I think you're going a little too overboard. Now politicians are coming right out and saying that they're coming after us, that they don't want us around. Okay. They're trying to link us to nightclub shootings, you know what I mean? Things like that. But I ain't got time for that. Look at verse 13. Look what he says next. He says, for all the prophets and the law prophesied until John. So here you have the law and you have the prophets, you have the Old Testament, and then you have that gap and then you have John. So here's another verse for you to remember, maybe write down to disprove this theory that Jesus endorsed the Apocrypha because he certainly did not. And we'll talk about that more in a couple of chapters down the road. But look at verse 14. He says this, and this is where we're going to spend some time breaking this down. And if you will receive it, this is Elias or Elijah, okay? This is Elias, which was for to come. You get guys like Joe Rogan or Alex Jones, people who don't understand the Bible saying, well, even the Bible hints about reincarnation. They'll say things like that and they'll point to this verse. And you have to know what this means. You have to understand what these things mean. Go to Luke chapter 1 and we'll talk about it here. Does this mean that John the Baptist is the reincarnated Elijah the prophet? Well, I knocked on the door of a Hindu guy who was all about this stuff in Sacramento. And I remember asking him, you know, I knew the guy wasn't going to listen. I said, hey, explain, do you believe in reincarnation? Oh, yes. You know, he started going off. I was like, so what has to happen for reincarnation? Like, what's the deal here? Like how does it all unfold? How does that work? You know, and he basically told me that, okay, well, you know, depending on how much love you've had in your life, how much tolerance you've had in your life will dictate who or what you come back as. He's like, so, you know, people that maybe are bad to kids and things like that, they might come back as like a cockroach or a moth or something like that. And I was like, okay. And he says, but it has to be somebody or something who's died. Okay, so that's their doctrine. Now they have to die. You need to understand this. Did Elijah the prophet die? No, he was taken up to heaven by a whirlwind. So how in the world is this a reincarnated Elijah the prophet? Okay. But we still have to understand what is Jesus talking about here? Look at verse 17, Luke chapter one, and he, it's John the Baptist, and he shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elias. Now does that say he shall go because he is the resurrected, the born again again Elijah the prophet? No, that's not what it says. And he shall go before him in the what? Spirit and power of Elias to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just to make ready a people prepared for the Lord. John the Baptist was carrying on the mission of Elijah the prophet. Okay. So that's what we're going to spend some time talking about. Go to Matthew chapter number 17. So this is all pointing back to verse 14, and if you will receive it, this is Elias, which was for to come. He's saying that John the Baptist was going to come in the spirit and power of Elijah. There's a lot of similarities between the two. Okay. That doesn't mean that he is Elijah the prophet. Okay. Let's take a look here. Matthew 17. Most of you are very familiar with this passage. It starts off with the Mount of Transfiguration story. Jesus takes his three closest disciples, the sons of Zebedee and Peter up to the Mount. What do they see? They see Moses and Elijah talking with Jesus. Okay. And obviously they're all discombobulated about this. They're coming down. Verse 10 says this, and his disciples asked him saying, why then say the scribes that Elias must first come? So obviously Elijah, he's on the mind because they just saw him. They just saw this, this, this, this wonderful event. Look at verse 11, and Jesus answered and said unto them, Elias truly shall first come and restore all things. Okay. Well that's a reference to John the Baptist coming in the spirit and power of Elijah to basically take the message of the scribes and the Sadducees and the Pharisees and the people and say, no, no, that's all wrong. That's the religion of human achievement. God preaches salvation. He's the one who we are to believe on. He is the one with the ultimate sacrifice. Okay. So he is restoring that way. Look at verse 12, but I say unto you that Elias has come already. So that's what he means. Okay. And they knew him not, but have done unto him whatsoever they listed. Likewise shall the son of man suffer of them. Then the disciples understood that he spake unto them of John the Baptist. Okay. Now obviously John didn't get every single person he ever talked to saved. Some people received the message. Some people rejected the message. Okay. They didn't get it when, but this statement here in verse 11, Elias truly shall first come and restore all things. That is a quote from Malachi as well. Go if you would, last book of the Old Testament, go to Malachi chapter number four. We're getting close to being done here. Okay. Malachi chapter number four. Okay. Remember this verse here, verse 14 causes doubt for a lot of people because it's not preached about a lot out in the Christian world, but we're different. We have to study these things. We need to learn what these things mean. Okay. So we've seen so far that John the Baptist is not Elijah the prophet. They are two different people. John came in the spirit and power of Elijah. John the Baptist in the spirit and power of Elijah was put to death by Herod. Okay. They did whatsoever they listed with John the Baptist. Okay. But Jesus makes a statement here and this is one of those things that has to, a lot of these prophecies and things that are talked about in the Bible, they have double, triple, infinite meaning. Okay. But Jesus says, the last truly first shall come and restore all things. Here's what this means. Malachi four. Look at verse five. Behold, I will send you, Hey, behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before. Look at this. The coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord. Look at this in verse six and he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children and the heart of the children to their fathers lest I come and smite the earth with a curse. Okay. Now you take a look at that there and it almost seems like, okay, Elijah is going to come and then the great and dreadful day of the Lord is going to like immediately follow and then everything will be restored. Okay. But that hasn't quite happened like that, has it? It's been a long gap between today, November 20, what is today the 20th, November 20, 2022 and whenever John the Baptist had fulfilled his course or was on this earth, there's been a long gap there, right? We haven't had the great and dreadful day of the Lord yet. Okay. And this is also why a lot of people say, okay, Elijah is going to be one of the prophets that come back. I don't disagree with that at all. But what does this mean then? Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great dreadful day of the Lord. Well, look what he's going to do. He's going to turn the heart of the fathers to the children. We've seen John the Baptist do that by simply preaching the message of truth, preparing the way of the Lord in the heart of the children to their fathers, lest they come and smite the earth with a curse. Hmm. That's interesting here. Go to Romans chapter number 11. We'll make some more sense out of this. Again, we're almost done here. We're going to go after Romans 11, we're going to go to John one, back to Matthew 11 and we're done. Okay. So we're simply getting a picture here of who John the Baptist was and who Elijah was and how their ministries overlap and resolving the confusion here between the two. Okay. It's going to make a little bit more sense here. Romans 11, look at verse number one. So Paul says this, Romans chapter 11 verse one, I say then, have God cast away his people? God forbid. For I also am an Israelite of the seed of Abraham of the tribe of Benjamin. Verse two, God has not cast away his people. Look at this, which he foreknew. And this is where the Zionists start to go crazy, oh, you know, yeah, they're all coming back. They're all going to get saved. It all happened over there. They're all going to believe on him. That's not true. God has not cast away his people, which he foreknew. So obviously God knows everybody who's going to be born and who's going to put their faith and trust on him. He hasn't cast them away. It says, what ye not with the scripture saith of Elias? So who are we talking about? We're talking about Elijah, how he maketh intercession to God, now don't miss this, against Israel. Okay, that's what we're going to be studying tonight, how Elijah, you know, the intercession, the rain, how he stopped the rain during Ahab's kingship, if you will, stopped the rain because of their disobedience, because of their acceptance of Baal worship, Elijah, the prophet, he made intercession to God against Israel saying this, verse three, Lord, they have killed thy prophets and dig down thy altars and I am left alone and they seek my life. But look at verse four, but what saith the answer of God unto him? I have reserved myself or to myself, 7,000 men who have not bowed the knee to the image of Baal. Okay. Say, well, what's the significance here? Okay. Well, let's talk about this. So here we have Elijah being brought up. First thing I want you to understand is that just because people were born in the nation of Israel, the Northern Kingdom of Israel during Ahab's reign, that did not mean they were the people of God. Okay. Paul is making it very clear. Those 7,000 men who had not bowed the knee to the image of Baal, those were the people of God, even during the time where you had the Northern Kingdom of Israel and the Southern Kingdom of Judah. Okay. So you have to understand context when you see that because yeah, it's still God's physical nation. They're split in two. We understand that, but that doesn't mean they're the people of God, meaning the real people who've believed on him and been saved. Okay. So we have that. So what is Elijah the prophet's mission that we're studying on Sunday nights? It's the fact that he's made intercession against Israel. Tonight what we're going to see is that he's going to basically smoke the prophets of Baal. He's going to get them out of the land. He is going to destroy those people. Well, Malachi tells us, behold, I send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord. Okay. And he's going to restore all things. And people will pick these verses apart and say, well, John the Baptist didn't restore all things. I don't understand. So, you know, what's the big deal here? Well, guess what? I believe that Elijah the prophet will come back during the tribulation period right before God unleashes absolute hell on this planet. And what happens after that? After we're taken out of here in the midpoint of that? Well, the new heaven and the new earth, I mean, well, not the new heaven and the new earth, but the millennial period, the millennial reign of Christ is what's going to happen. Well, Elijah the prophet is going to facilitate that. That's part of his mission. Okay. Is this complicated? I understand that. Go to John chapter number one. Okay. But the point is here. Okay. John the Baptist is like a picture of Elijah almost because you not only did he prepare the way of the Lord, not only did he get, I mean, people saved, his works went on even until the time that Paul's preaching the gospel. Okay. But he preached against the wickedness and called out the wickedness of his day and he lost his life for it. Okay. So the Bible says, yeah, but Elijah is going to come back before the great and dreadful day of the Lord. Well, he will come back before the great and dreadful day of the Lord and preach and basically turn this world upside down to the point to where people will rejoice and celebrate and throw feasts and parties when the two witnesses are killed. Okay. So think about that. But what happens after that? Not maybe like the next day, but what happens after that? Well, all things will be restored in the millennial reign of Christ. Okay. So again, that pertains to Elijah, the prophet. It doesn't say John the Baptist, but we'll talk about this again because this is kind of a big chunk here. This is kind of deep, but we'll talk about it again as we go through Matthew. But let's look at some further proof here that John the Baptist is not a reincarnated Elijah. Okay. So look at verse 19. John chapter one, look at verse 19. It says this. It says, and this is the record of John. And the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, who art thou? Okay. Well, this is a great place to start. Okay. If somebody tries to come at you with, you know what, the Bible talks about reincarnation. It says that John the Baptist is actually Elijah because Elijah didn't die. So he was born and then just named him John. And then, you know, it's like, okay, well, what does the Bible say? Okay. If you have doubts, what do we do? We go to the word of God. This makes us sure. Okay. Verse 20, and he confessed and denied not, but confessed, I am not the Christ. Verse 21, and they asked him, what then? Art thou Elias? Okay. They're asking him, are you Elijah the prophet? Are you John? Are you Elijah the prophet? Well, if he is Elijah the prophet, I'm guessing he would tell us that. And he saith, I am not. So who was John the Baptist? He was the prophet written about in the Old Testament to prepare the way of the Lord. He came in the spirit and power of Elias. Look what he says. And he saith, I am not. Verse 21, art thou that prophet? And he's answered, no. There you go. What? I mean, what, Joe Rogan? I mean, seriously. You can't get more clear than that. No. Verse 22, then said they unto him, who art thou? Well, who are you then? Tell us. You don't have a Facebook profile up. You don't have a Twitter. Who are you? You know what I mean? I can't dig up any information on you. And they said unto him, who art thou, that we may give an answer to them that sent us. What sayest thou of thyself? Well, my answer would be, go tell them, go to hell. I don't know. But I'm way more carnal than John the Baptist. Look at verse 23. He said, I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness. Make straight the way of the Lord, as said the prophet Isaiah. So as Isaiah said, okay? Isaiah 40, verse 3, to be specific. So what does John the Baptist do when these people have doubt and come to him? Points to the word of God. He points to the Bible. That's the solution. Again, the blood of Christ comes to him. That's the Bible. That's the solution. Again, the blood of Christ makes us secure, the word of God makes us sure. So go back to Matthew chapter number 11. And we'll finish up here. So John the Baptist clearly says, I'm not Elijah. I'm not Christ. I'm me. I'm the one that Isaiah wrote about. That's who I am. Now, he just so happened to fulfill a lot of scripture that was written about him that falls under the umbrella of Elijah the prophet. So he came in the spirit and power of Elijah. Okay? And that's why Jesus says here in verse 14, Matthew 11. And if you will receive it, this is Elias, which was for to come. That is what he means. He was the one that was written about to continue basically that mission. And he does make intercession just like Elijah did. He just did it in regards to Herod and what he was doing because that's a bad testimony of that nation. And John was more than right to call that out. And his death, the Bible says, is precious in the sight of the Lord. Okay? Again, when you understand that verse, that helps us to understand why do bad things happen to supposedly good people. Well, first of all, none of us are good. We are the recipients of eternal life. We are sinners. Okay? Look, we're not better than anybody. I mean, we're just saved. Okay? We have no right to brag. Like, you know, I know John the Baptist was the greatest born among women, but that was during his time. But me, I'm somebody special. Nope. Doesn't matter. Okay? Jesus is very clear about this. Okay? We're saved just like he was man. John the Baptist was a man. Elijah was a man. Just like all of us. They're human. Okay? Not super, you know, they're not like a quarter God. They're not like some, you know, quarter angel and other human. They got special powers and, you know, they're kind of like comic book characters. No, none of that. They were men. They were people just like you and I. And guess what? Elijah had doubts. We talked about that last week. John the Baptist has doubts. We talked about that today. The solution? Very simple. The blood of Christ makes us safe and the word of God makes us sure. That is the solution to all of this. So Jesus says in verse 14, he says this. He says, and if you will receive it, this is Elias, which was for to come. Hopefully you put all that stuff together. You understand that he came in the spirit and power of Elijah. He came to fulfill scripture. He came to prepare the way of the Lord in the same manner that Elijah did. But Elijah, I believe, still has prophecy to fulfill. Okay? He will restore all things because we know that the word all means all. Okay? And it makes sense when you study what the witnesses do to the world, how they preach the gospel, how they're out there calling out sin and the world hates them. And they're devouring people with fire and they're just literally tearing it up. And the whole world hates them and puts them down and three days later what happens to them? Come back to life. God unleashes absolute hell. People are hiding from the Lord. And then finally the second coming of Christ happens. The millennial reign happens and all things will be restored. Okay? So hopefully that makes sense. And then in verse 15 he says, he that hath ears to hear, let him hear. Now obviously we all have ears. Most of us have ears unless you've been around Mike Tyson or somebody like that. You might have an issue, but he that hath ears to hear, let him hear. Let him hear. Okay? What does that mean? Well, you know what that means. Okay? Hearing is not just receiving sound or words. Okay? It's obviously paying attention. And actually if you will receive it, receive these things. Look at these things. What does the Bible say? That is the solution. That is how we overcome doubt. That is how we build ourselves up. Very basic, but it's in the Bible over and over and over again because there is such a strong tendency of our flesh to want to do the opposite. Okay? And when you understand that, hey, I ought not to look at life through the eyes of the old man. You know, our eyes, I ought to do it the other way around, through the eyes of the new man, through the new man which God bought and purchased for us, that he gave us. What does that do? That reverses the situation and that actually helps us out physically. Okay? Which is a blessing, which is a bonus. It's not a guarantee you're going to get cured of all your ailments, but it's a blessing. And the bigger blessing is you'll be able to understand which will eliminate doubt and offenses. So with that being said, we're going to stop right here and we'll pick it up again next week. Let's bow our heads and have a look at prayer. Thank you so much, Lord, for allowing us to be able to again meet here and to hear these things and to study these things. I just pray you would help us to remember these things, Lord, to erase doubt when it comes because none of us are above having doubt enter into our hearts and minds. And I pray you bless the soul ending today. In Jesus' name I pray, Amen. Amen. Amen. All right, so for our final hymn this morning, let's turn to number 191 in my Heart There Rings a Melody. Sing it out. 191 in my heart, there rings a melody I have a song that Jesus gave me on the first I have a song that Jesus gave me It was sent from heaven above. There never was a sweeter melody. Tis a melody of love. In my heart there rings a melody. There rings a melody with heaven's harmony. In my heart there rings a melody. There rings a melody of love. I love the Christ who died on Calvary. For he washed my sins away. He put within my heart a melody. And I know it's fair to say. In my heart there rings a melody. There rings a melody with heaven's harmony. In my heart there rings a melody. There rings a melody of love. It will be my endless name in glory. With the angels I will sing. It will be a song with glorious harmony. When the courts of heaven ring. In my heart there rings a melody. There rings a melody with heaven's harmony. In my heart there rings a melody. There rings a melody of love. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .