Doubt

Doubt

I have stressed quite a bit this past week about the full conviction of faith in who we are in Christ, in being identified with Him in His death as well as His resurrection. I have been speaking of a level of faith that is more than mere assent to the fact, and is a deep and firm conviction. When the times come that we present ourselves as slaves to the sin nature and the members of our body to the sin nature as instruments of unrighteousness and we find ourselves hopelessly in the throes of personal sins, there can be inklings of doubt concerning what creature we really are. And I don't mean doubting our salvation or the truth of the scriptures but doubts concerning our ability to really live a life where righteousness rules. ROM 6:12-13 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body that you should obey its lusts, and do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God.

ROM 6:16 Do you not know that when you present yourselves to someone as slaves for obedience, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin resulting in death, or of obedience resulting in righteousness?

Doubt is the worst enemy of peace. With doubt comes fear and worry. There is perhaps nothing more refreshing than to have doubt destroyed and peace restored. When we only assent to being resurrected with Christ at salvation, the newness of life is seldom lived. It's kind of like a "Yeah, yeah, I know, I know, I'm alive with Christ," while I live like a mere man. It's like a doctor telling his patient that he must change his horrible diet, get some exercise, cut back on alcohol consumption, and to take certain medication, and if he doesn't he is on the road to having a stroke or a heart attack. The patient knows this is true, but he is not firmly convicted of it. So he says in his heart, "Yeah, yeah, I know, I know." and then, when he has a stroke, he wishes he had listened to the voice of his doctor.

PRO 5:11-12

And you groan at your latter end,

When your flesh and your body are consumed;

And you say, "How I have hated instruction!

And my heart spurned reproof!

The above passage is about the adulterer, but it would apply to any lifestyle that is not the resurrected, newness of life. The solution to doubt is Christ Himself. It is interesting to see that the solution to doubt concerning any aspect of the person of Christ or His work is Christ and not a third party. There are countless aspects about Him and His life that, when mixed with faith, would suffice in quelling any doubt. For this article I chose the Lord's entry into Jerusalem. When doubt springs into the mind, the believer must recall the realities of such acts of God in history and know that they are not allegorical stories but historical realities.

On arriving in Bethany, the Lord first instructs two of His disciples to go and get a colt of an ass. LUK 19:29-31 He sent two of the disciples, saying, "Go into the village opposite you, in which as you enter you will find a colt tied, on which no one yet has ever sat; untie it, and bring it here. "And if anyone asks you, 'Why are you untying it?' thus shall you speak, 'The Lord has need of it.'"

The first thing we notice is that the Lord knows that this colt is there. This is a supernatural act of deity. But we also see that He does not identify Himself as Jesus but as Lord [Greek: kurios]. Kurios, when used in reference to Jesus Christ always refers to deity. He never would have spoken this word concerning Himself if He was anything less than deity. That would be blasphemy, but He is Jehovah, the Almighty God, Creator of heaven and earth, and the Savior of all mankind. He knows who He is, and how He may call and entitle Himself, and He utters the words with firmness and dignity.

And what if the owner or anyone else asks them, "Why are you untying this colt which is not yours?" They are to say to them that the Lord has need of it. Jesus is the Lord of heaven and the Creator of all things. There is nothing which does not belong to Him. Whatever He has need of, will come to Him. Therefore, the question of whether the church will prosper in the world and will the kingdom of God be shown forth through her, need not be anxiously asked. The Lord has need of her and she will come to Him. So what about you? What about the individual believer?

It is certain that the Lord will not violate the ability of any man to choose. We can imagine that the owner of the colt had the right to say no, but the Lord of glory knew he would not. If the believer is willing, if he has entrusted his life to his faithful Creator, if he has believed in faith that he is in union with Christ, then the Lord will lead him forth in a plan that is exceeding abundantly beyond all that he could ask or think. The colt came to Him to be used by Him by the irresistible power of His will and so will the yielded believer be drawn as close to the Lord as Mary was when she wiped His anointed feet with her hair. JOH 7:17 "If any man is willing to do His will, he shall know of the teaching, whether it is of God, or whether I speak from Myself."

Such a scene should remove all doubt of what the Lord will do with your life. It may look to you that the resources are not available. You may be in a terrible situation, in danger, in hunger and sickness, or in tremendous poverty. You may see that there is no one around you to help. You may imagine that your weaknesses seem insurmountable. But if you are willing and yielded and desire the will of God then the Lord will call you close to Himself and use you. If anyone dare oppose this, you should imagine the Lord saying from the throne of heaven, "The Lord have need of him." It seems that for all believers, God allows them to be in a seemingly impossible situation in which they are powerless and helpless. It is from this whirlwind that Jesus says, "The Lord has need of delivering them from this situation." How the Lord loves us. He has planned the ways in which He is going to remove all doubt so that we can walk with Him in His own very peace and courage.

Yet, how is it that the Lord of all glory is so interested in tiny, insignificant beings as ourselves? ISA 40:22 It is He who sits above the vault of the earth, And its inhabitants are like grasshoppers, Such a line of poetry might make us want to hide from God forever, but when the Lord of glory comes He reveals another aspect of God. Only God could possess the majesty of Sovereignty and the compassion of Love. The Lord, Sovereign of the universe, did not enter Jerusalem, His city of David, on a brightly armored warhorse, clothed in purple, beneath a gilded canopy, accompanied by adorned magnates and dignitaries. He comes through the gate in the simplest attire, on the foal of an ass, surrounded by poor fishermen and tradesmen. How Zechariah would have loved to have lived to see it, as he saw it in a vision, in enough detail that he knew that the Lord came to His own as One who was lowly.

ZEC 9:9 Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion!

Shout in triumph, O daughter of Jerusalem!

Behold, your king is coming to you;

He is just and endowed with salvation,

Humble, and mounted on a donkey,

Even on a colt, the foal of a donkey.

Why not the pomp and circumstance of a Roman emperor or a conquering king? Poor, common people don't approach a gilded emperor sitting high on a powerful stallion, but they do come near to a humble Shepherd mounted on a young donkey. He became lowly in order to call us to Himself. And what's more is that the Lord knows what's in store for Him in Jerusalem the next few days. He knows that Satan and his entire organization of evil demons have already begun to press heavy upon Him, but He bears no armor or anything of worldly power, nor does He hide Himself. The Lord has need of this: the salvation of mankind and to abolish death and sin, and it will come to Him, of this He has no doubt.

Zechariah prophesied this 500 years before it happened. We could imagine that Satan might have thought to kill or get rid of every donkey in Palestine so that the prophecy could not be fulfilled. Yet, maybe he didn't understand the prophecy at all. What is wonderful to see in that light is the fact that there is no small thing in the plan of God. Is this small donkey significant? The whole character of God depends on the little guy. If that donkey isn't right where it's supposed to be at the right time or if the owner tells them, no, they can't have it, or if it had ever been ridden just once, then God doesn't exist and Jesus is a fraud. But even this little burro, foretold 500 years prior, is right where he's supposed to be, and he is brought to the Lord's feet just as he is supposed to be. Satan, nor any man, can prevent the smallest thing in the plan of God from happening.

There is no small thing in the plan of God, not even you. Much more than 500 years ago, God knew that you would say yes to the gospel, and He has need of you. Not that God needs any of us, but all of us have been elected to His highest and best, and so now, His character depends upon you just like it did on the foal. If any one of us were lost or snatched out of His hand, then Christ is dead. If any one of us who desires the plan of God does not see the fulfillment of it, then Christ is dead. Be willing, believer. Yield and present yourself to Him and He will do the rest. The only thing that can prevent it is if you don't have faith in Him to do so. Php 1:6 For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.

Lastly, as all the people and the disciples are shouting:

MAT 21:9 "Hosanna to the Son of David;

Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord;

Hosanna in the highest!"

LUK 19:38 "Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord; Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!"

The Pharisees ask the Lord to tell His disciples to stop crying out these words. Why don't they tell the crowd to stop? Why ask Jesus? The crowd cannot deny the resuscitation of Lazarus. I imagine that Lazarus is even among them as a walking, breathing testimony to the command that the Lord has over life and death. They are overwhelmed with the power of the Lord and they can't stop shouting His praises. And so the Pharisees go to the Lord Himself and beg Him to tell them to stop praising Him as Lord, what hypocrites. But the Lord responds:

LUK 19:39-40 "Teacher, rebuke Your disciples." And He answered and said, "I tell you, if these become silent, the stones will cry out!"

If they stop, God will animate the very rocks!

Nothing is going to stop the plans and purposes of God. Satan couldn't prevent the smallest donkey from being available to Him when He was in need of it. If the whole world were to stop praising His glory, stones and trees would grow mouths to cry it from the four corners of the earth. If He says you are a new creature in Christ, identified with Him in His death, burial, resurrection, ascension, and session, then you are! Nothing can stop it or undo it. And if you are, by faith, willing to be His disciple and walk in newness of life, then you will be satisfied. There is no reason to doubt. This is but one of hundreds of historical facts that prove it.

Pastor Joe Sugrue

Grace and Truth Ministries.