Assurance for doubts part 2

Pastor Mike will be speaking on assurance for doubts part 2. He will be in John 4 :43-54

What I want to say to you, church, the objective of true faith is that you would go beyond the miracle and get to the Savior. Go beyond the miracle and get to Jesus. And I don’t know what’s going on and I don’t know what struggles are in your life, but go beyond the miracle and put your full trust and confidence in Jesus this morning.

Hello, this is Pastor Mike Sanders and we welcome you to Hopeworth having radio program today. We’re excited to be able to study the Bible again. Today we’re going to continue our study of the assurance for doubts.

In John chapter 4, verse 43 through 54 is where we’re at. I know that sometimes we wonder, is it possible for a Christian to doubt? And I say to you, yes, but Jesus Christ offers all the assurance and answers we need so that we don’t have to live in our doubt and allow our doubts to pull us away from our walk with the Lord Jesus Christ.

So let’s grab our Bible and let’s continue to study as we learn about the assurance for our doubts. The second obstacle to true faith is what we call sign demanding faith. Now I’m taking you through a process here for your own examination, but also for you as a believer as you are trying to help others come to true faith in Christ.

Look at verse 48. Verse 48 says this, then he said, then said Jesus unto him, except you see signs and wonders you will not believe. Now think about this, we read through the scriptures and we don’t really grasp it.

You have to sometimes visualize the scriptures to really understand the depth and the scope of what is going on. Verse 47, remember I told you that he was, he besought him, he was pleading, he was begging, there was, it was continual, he would not stop and he was asking Jesus to do something for his son because his son was at the point of death and he was saying to Jesus, come to where I’m at, come to where my son is and do something for my son because he is at the point of death and if you’re a mom,

if you’re a dad, you know the intense passion, the emotions that he is feeling and look what Jesus says to him, except you see signs and wonders you will not believe. It almost is as if Jesus was not even concerned.

It’s almost as if Jesus was not even staying focused on the conversation or what was actually being requested of him, for he is asking Jesus to help him. and to help his dying son, and then Jesus says to him, almost like a rebuke, accept?

Accept, you see signs and wonders you will not believe. Jesus was not only talking to the nobleman, but all of his disciples, all those who were around Jesus at that moment, and he was really speaking to everyone.

Because Jesus understood that sign demanding faith will not lead to salvation. Now again, take your Bible back up to chapter two. Back up to chapter two, I’m just trying to bring it all home to you. Chapter two, verse 23, and verse 24.

Again, the Bible says now when he was in Jerusalem at the Passover in the feast day, many believed in his name when they saw the miracles which he did. Do you understand that? Many believed. They saw the miracle, they believed, but I’m not done, look at verse 24.

Jesus did not commit himself unto them because he knew all men, and it would go on to teach us that he knew all their hearts. You see, Jesus knew that the faith was simply a sign demanding faith. He knew it wasn’t real faith.

He knew that they would only follow Christ as long as he did something for them. And I have to tell you, there’s a lot of people like that. As long as Jesus does this for me, I’ll follow him. As long as Jesus changes this situation for me, I will follow him.

But as soon as I find out that… something hasn’t changed or resulted in the way I want it, then I am done with Jesus. I want to tell you, it’s not saving faith. They may even be excitable because many believe when they saw the miracles, they were moved by the miracles.

They were touched by the miracles. Their emotions were high as they realized what an amazing thing that Jesus had done. But you know what? Jesus never committed himself to these people. Why? Because that kind of belief doesn’t send you to heaven.

That kind of belief will send you to hell. Signed, demanding faith. Jesus is addressing their motives. Jesus is addressing the motives of this nobleman. Why did they want God to do a miracle? Were they just looking for a magic genie?

Were they just looking for something sensational and spectacular? and that when the sensational and spectacular is over, they’re done following Jesus. See, I want you to understand something about following Jesus.

There are good days and there are bad days. Did you know that? Did you know that when you follow Jesus, he tells us that we are called to deny self, take up the cross, and follow him? Did you know that when you follow Jesus, you’re not protected from the sorrows and sadness of this world?

Did you know that when you follow Jesus, that many trials will enter into your life? The Bible says through much tribulation, we enter into the kingdom of God. And so this idea that I’ll follow Jesus because he’ll make my life happy.

I’ll follow Jesus because everything will be wonderful. I’ll follow Jesus because I’ll never have another problem in my life. I’ll follow Jesus because he’ll fix my marriage. I’ll follow Jesus because he’ll make me healthy, wealthy.

All these wonderful things is a lie from the pit of hell. You say, Pastor, why are you hard on the health and wealth gospel teachers? Because they’re lying to you. Because in real life, there are dark days.

That in real life, there’s doubts in our hearts. In real life, it’s a struggle. And we’re agonizing and we’re straining just to be faithful to God. Just to live out our faith. And my friends, what I want you to know is this, is that you have a sign demanding faith, it will result in no faith, it will lead you to hell.

Jesus said this in Matthew 12, verse 39, an evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign. And there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas. Miracles themselves cannot change.

hardened heart. Jesus, get this, He is more interested in the salvation of this nobleman than He is in the healing of His Son. You say, why would Jesus respond like that? Why would He be so abrupt and abrasive?

I’ll tell you why. Because He wants to know the motive of the nobleman. Because He knows that He can do a miracle. And a miracle doesn’t mean that you believe to the point of salvation. You see, when Jesus hung on the cross, they made fun of Him.

And they made an interesting statement that Matthew records in Matthew 27 verse 42. This is what they said to Jesus while He was on the cross. Listen, He saved others Himself. He cannot save. If He be the King of Israel, let Him come.

hit let him now come down from the cross and we will what believe in him do you believe that I don’t either they mocked him they said if you’re really the king of kings and you’re the Lord of lords come down right now come down and we’ll believe in you the truth is that they just wanted another miracle and that miracle would not have changed their hardened hearts towards God and you know what Jesus wants to make sure that this nobleman is coming and fully believing that’s why he’s taking him through this process that’s why you and I have to ask people to examine themselves and see if they are in the faith that’s why mom and dads have to have conversations and grandpas and grandmas have to have conversations with their children and grandchildren and say to them what evidence is there that your faith is real what evidence because are you just doing this because you you you like the fluffy you like the baby in the manger because you like the Christmas tree because you like the tingle and all the beautiful stuff that’s on the Christmas tree do you is that the reason you’re doing it or are you doing it because you really believe in Jesus number three a self -centered faith is an obstacle to true faith verse 49 the Bible says the nobleman saith unto him sir come down air my child die you see he’s only interested in the health of his son which I don’t blame him please don’t misunderstand me but he has no interest in Jesus he has no interest in Jesus and so I want you to know that is what Jesus meant when he said that if you be my disciple you must put your relationship with God above your relationship with your family and your relationship with your friends.

That Jesus must be number one in your life and as someone once said to me, pastor that seems so out of order and I said to them, listen when you love Jesus as you ought you will love everybody else as you should.

You see that’s the point is that we cannot love others properly until we love Jesus supremely and Jesus must be number one. It is not a self -centered faith what have you done for me lately Jesus but it is a faith that we are so in love and so captured our heart is so captured by Christ that he is number one in our life and he is more important than any person and he is more important than anything and he is important than any career.

responsibility that we have in this life it’s not that we don’t love our children and love our spouses and that we don’t love our family and we don’t enjoy whatever responsibilities that we have in this world but they are not important more important than walking and loving and living for Jesus Christ and if you get that backwards if you get that backwards you’ll fail you’ll flounder you’ll struggle I know it doesn’t make common sense to you but in the economy of God when you put him number one in your life and you show that through your giving you show that through your calendar you show that in every aspect of your relationships that Christ is number one everything else will fall into beautiful order and you will be amazed what God will do in your relationships in your responsibilities and you’ll be amazed how God works mightily in you and through you now the fourth thing I want you to note is a strong willed faith in verse 50 Jesus saith unto him go thy way thy son liveth as a nobleman he was accustomed to giving orders and so he would often say to people you need to go take care of this you need to go do that he originally wanted Jesus he was pleading Jesus you got to come to my home you got to come where my son is who is struggling and he is dying and he was telling Jesus what to do but Jesus told him what to do and Jesus said go thy way thy son liveth what I want you to know is that we have to be careful that we don’t have a strong will faith that is demanding and it is argumentative and we are telling Jesus what to do no we pray as Jesus taught us,

thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Can I bring my request to God? Absolutely. Bring your request to God. The Bible invites us to bring our request and the Bible says, call upon me and I will show you great and mighty things.

And God can do great and mighty things in our life, but in the context of His perfect and awesome will that He has for us. And may His will be done on earth as it is in heaven. May God accomplish in your life His perfect will for you that you may live out your life to His glory.

I love what the late Dr. Adrian Rogers said. He said, faith is not so much receiving from God. The things that you want, but accepting from God the things He gives. You see, think about that. You want this, you want that.

God do this, God do that. As if somehow God was a genie, and He was Santa Claus up there, and He gives you whatever you want, and you tell Him what to do. No, no, no, no, no, no. God, here’s my heart.

Here’s what I need. Here’s what I believe. Here’s what I understand, God. Here’s what I’m struggling with, but your will be done, God, not mine. You remember when Jesus was in the Garden of Gethsemane?

You remember when Jesus prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane? He asked the Lord to remove the cup. Why? Because it was a cup of suffering. It was a cup of bitterness. It was a cup of great sacrifice. And Jesus said to Him, Lord, would you remove the cup, but not my will, your will.

That’s the way we pray. And you may not like the cup of suffering, and it may be bitter to your heart and your mind, but I want you to know not my will, His will. Strong willed faith is an obstacle to true faith in your life.

And God is not calling you to tell Him what to do, but what He is calling us to do is humbly bring our request to Him and then be submissive to whatever His will is. Now, the second thing I want you to note is not only the obstacles to true faith, but the operation of true faith.

How does God ignite true faith in us? Because you remember the nobleman, he started out with a faith that simply was, I need help. I need you to do this now, Jesus. That kind of a faith that we just talked about to the end where the Bible says he believed, and his whole family believed.

How did he get there? Write this down, because it’s how you get there. It’s how your family gets there. It’s how everyone gets there. Nothing changes. Number one, hearing the Word of God. How does God ignite faith in my heart?

John 4 verse 50 says, Jesus saith unto him go thy way thy son liveth when Jesus gave him those words that’s all that he had it was God’s word God’s promise God’s truth in his life that’s all he had and God said go thy way your son is living your son is alive that’s all he had and he got up and he went and he went and by the time he got there the next day they said when they said your son’s healed and he said when did it happen and he figured it all out in his mind that it all happened at the moment that Jesus says Jesus said thy son liveth Wow you see the Bible tells us this that faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the Word of God what I want you to understand is that when I need faith in my life even as a believer I want to dive into the Word.

I want to saturate my life in the Word. I want to keep digging into the Word. I don’t shut the Word, and I don’t neglect the Word, and I don’t begin to walk away from the Word, but I walk more into the Word.

When I am doubting, when I am struggling, when I am really wrestling with what is true, what is right, what is wrong, and where am I at in my life and I walk with you, God, I get more into His Word, because the truth will set you what?

It’ll set you free. And listen, faith will be ignited in your heart when you get into God’s Word. Now, when I’m witnessing to people, all the salesmanship, all the persuasiveness, all the kind words that Pastor Mike could say, all the politically correct words will never bring a soul to Jesus Christ.

There’s only one thing that ignites faith in the heart of an unbelieving person. It is God’s Word. That’s why I memorize Scripture. That’s why I give out tracts. That’s why I invite people to church.

Because as I told you last week, we’re a Bible -believing church. This is who we are, and we preach the Word, and we are not ashamed of the Bible. We believe exactly what the God’s Word says, that it please God through the preaching and the teaching of God’s Word to save them that what?

To save them that believe. How did God ignite belief in the heart of a person? It is through the Word of God. There isn’t enough good entertainment that Mike could give you that would bring you to true salvation.

I could woo you. I could wow you, not personally, but maybe I could bring somebody in to do it. But here’s the thing. I can move you emotionally. I can feel the altars up with people weeping and crying.

I could tell you some of the most amazing stories that tears will not stop. But friends, it will not believe you, bring you to true salvation. Only God’s Word. when you hear it ignites faith in you. And you say, Mike, I disagree with you.

Well, good. I’d like to have lunch with you. Cracker bell, right? Let’s go. And I want you to show me in the Bible where I’m wrong. Show me. That’s why I’m not interested in a fog machine, not interested in a light show, not interested in any entertainment at the open -door church.

I’m just interested in opening God’s Word, sharing it with you. And I’m just trying to be honest with you. Church, you get better entertainment elsewhere because Mike would fail miserably and you would be embarrassed if I even tried to entertain you.

How about we be good at what we’re good at? How about we stay focused on what God’s called us to do and let the Word of God do its great work in our hearts? This is why when our children were small…

We gathered and read God’s word. We prayed with them. This is why when our children were small, we brought them to Sunday school. You say, Mike, it’s too hard. We had three kids. And I admired my wife because I’ve been a pastor for over 20 years, and I got up and left the house by seven a .m.

every Sunday morning. My wife got the three children ready, but we wanted them in Sunday school. We wanted them in on Sunday night. We wanted them in Awana. Our kids grew up in Awana, and it never hurt one of them.

None of my kids, as far as I know, is dysfunctional. Okay? None of them that I know of, they may not ever tell me, is in counseling. None of them is having any kind of anxiety because Pastor Mike drug them to church too much.

Never, ever. You say, how did you do it, parents? How did you do it, Mike? We were motivated because we believed the hearing of the word would ignite a faith in their hearts, and we just made it a priority.

When they said, we’d like your kid to travel and play ball, we said no. Why? Because Sunday is our day to come with the God’s people. Sunday’s our day, and we’re not gonna go to a hotel. I don’t have that kind of money.

I don’t know how these people do it, but they have all this money and this food and all this stuff, and they travel. And yes, I know their kids, they don’t want their kids to miss that wonderful experience, and I guess it’s all right, but here’s what I care about more, is my kid gonna be in heaven.

And so I want them under the word because this is how God works in our life. How does the operation of true faith get ignited in our heart? Not only through hearing the word, but believing the word. Yes, you have to believe the word.

I’ve gotta hurry through, but I want you to know, you have to believe the word. The Bible says in verse 50 that the man believed the word. that Jesus had spoken unto him. Faith is a response to God’s Word.

That’s what faith is. You are responding to what God says. And I know what some of you are saying, but it doesn’t make sense to me sometimes. And I got all these questions. Listen friends, faith is not living by explanations.

But even when I don’t understand, I trust Him. Even when I don’t have the answers, I believe in Him. And I’m sure that this man, he wanted Jesus to come to the house, but Jesus said go your way, your son lives.

But God, you’re not doing it my way. But God, I got a better plan. But God, this is not part of what I dreamed would be my life. And God says your son lives, go your way. And so faith is believing His Word.

The third aspect of the operation of true faith is not only hearing it and believing it but obeying it. And verse 50 says, he went his way. Visualize in your mind that as he went his way, he had doubts.

As he went his way, he had questions. As he went his way, he wondered if he had made a mistake. As he went his way, he thought, how am I going to tell my wife? How am I going to tell my colleagues? How am I going to explain this?

I stepped out and I came to Jesus and he said to me, go thy way, your son lives. With all that, he just obeyed. The royal official did not argue with Jesus, he just obeyed. Because that’s faith in action.

Romans 6, 26 says, Paul refers to our faith as the obedience of faith. Isn’t that true? That’s what faith is. It’s obeying God. James 2, 26 says, for as the bodies without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.

That’s what I’m telling you. That true faith works because true faith obeys. And their only real faith is the faith that leads to obedience in your life. Everything else is fake. Everything else is made up.

But the final way that faith operates is we’re to rest in His Word. We’re to rest in His Word. We have a mighty God who hears our requests. He is able to work out His purposes in our life. And He is able to accomplish what He needs and desires for our lives at any time.

place and in any way I must rest in His Word. Friends, that’s what I tell you. That’s why I tell you, you every day you read a promise, you believe a promise, you stand on that promise, you claim that promise, you pray that promise, and you believe that God will fulfill somehow, some way, that promise in your life.

Maybe not like you want it to be, maybe not how you would do it, but exactly as it should be. Now the objective of true faith, don’t be anxious church, because I have no, I don’t have five sub points under this one like I did the others.

Thank you. There’s one objective of true faith, and that is salvation and sanctification in Christ. Now get this church. I already took you through the three times he said faith or believe. Do you remember that?

First time, he said, the only way you’ll believe is if you see signs. The second time, he said the man believed, he got up and he left. But look at verse 53. Let’s go back there. Verse 53. So the father knew, the father knew that it was at the same hour in which Jesus said unto him, thy son liveth and himself believed and his whole house.

What I want to say to you, church, the objective of true faith is that you would go beyond the miracle and get to the Savior. Go beyond the miracle and get to Jesus. And I don’t know what’s going on and I don’t know what struggles are in your life, but go beyond the miracle and put your full trust and confidence in Jesus this morning.

Well I hope this message has been a blessing to you and it’s been encouraging you and helping you as you are walking in your faith. God bless you, God bless you, God bless you, God bless you, God bless you, God bless you.

Now, as we come to this end of this program, I want to remind you that you can receive a copy of today’s message and the entire series on the Assurance of Doubts by simply contacting us at 600 Miller Street, Chambersburg, Pennsylvania 17201 or you can call us at 717 -264 -3266.

Or don’t be afraid to go to our website and for a gift of any amount at hopeworthhaving .com, you can receive a full copy of this message, the Assurance for our doubts. And I know that God will use this to encourage you and to strengthen you and that sometimes we do have doubts that can make it difficult, but God has a plan and a purpose and He wants our faith to continue to be strong and strengthened in Him.

This is Pastor Mike Sanders reminding you that in Christ there is hope worth having.