Are You the Expected One?, Part 2

We might like them, they might not like us. And so we wanna pray that God would give them wisdom as well as us concerning their future and ours. Let's pray together. Father, we thank you for today. And we pray that Lord, all of our trust would be truly in Christ alone and dependent upon you for all things. We thank you Lord for the word of God that instructs us and teaches us in the way that we should go and the opportunity we have to learn. And what a lesson Lord to learn today about how it is we learn to trust in the living God.

Teach us Father, that we might truly trust only you and that we might be able to rest in Jesus Christ our Lord. We pray in your name, amen. I wanna invite you to turn to Luke chapter seven with me once again, as we continue our study in Luke chapter seven. Are you the expected one? Luke seven verses 18 and following. It's a passage about John the Baptist and some of the questions he had. And we begin to understand more about our Lord as we examine his answering the question, are you the expected one?

And what we find in Luke chapter seven is a passage that deals with something that every one of us at one time or another in our life has had to face. And that is the problem of doubt. And it comes in all different shapes and sizes and comes from different avenues. And so today and next week we'll discover why it is believers at times doubt and how it is God answers those doubts. Let me read for you the text and then we'll begin discussing once again, are you the expected one?

Verse number 18, and the disciples of John reported to him about all these things and summoning two of his disciples, John sent them to the Lord saying, are you the expected one? Or do we look for someone else? And when the men had come to him, they said, John the Baptist has sent us to you saying, are you the expected one? Or do we look for someone else? At that very time, he cured many people of diseases and afflictions and evil spirits. And he granted sight to many who are blind. And he answered and said to them, go and report to John what you have seen and heard.

The blind receive sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up. The poor have the gospel preached to them and blessed is he who keeps from stumbling over me. John the Baptist, the great prophet, the great forerunner to the Messiah, the great saint of God, the man raised by a very godly set of parents, both Zacharias and Elizabeth. John the Baptist who as he would grow up and meet together with his family at Passover would talk presumably about all the great things concerning the birth of the Messiah.

Remember Mary and Elizabeth were related. So there were times I'm sure they were able to get together and discuss about the great testimony of the angel Gabriel. And to get together and talk about the immaculate conception and how it is great things began to happen in the life of Mary. And of course, the incarnation of God. And so throughout his early childhood, he would hear the stories over and over and over again about the Messiah and how he had been predicted to come. John would be predicted to come to be that forerunner to the Messiah.

And now this man filled with the Holy Spirit from his mother's womb would be the great spokesman for the Lord God. And he would come on the scene and preach the gospel, repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. He would be the one that would literally point to the Messiah and say, behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. This man, John the Baptist came to a point in his life. We had some questions. So we summoned two men, two of his disciples to come from the Northern part of Galilee down to the prison where he was located there on the Northern end of the Dead Sea, Makarus.

And there he would say, you need to go and talk to this Jesus and ask him if he is the Ha-Erchamanos, the expected one, a title for the Messiah based on Psalm 40 and Psalm 118. You go and you ask him, are you the one that we've been expecting? Are you the consolation of Israel? Are you the long expected one? So that's what he did. But how is it John would have doubts? This great man of God, the greatest prophet of all time, the model man, no man greater than John the Baptist. That's what Jesus said.

How is it he comes to a place where he has doubts? Remember the story back in Mark chapter nine where a man went to the disciples of Jesus because he had a boy who was demon possessed and asked the disciples to cast out the demon from his boy and they were not able to do so. The Bible says in Mark nine, verse number 17, one of the crowd answered him, teacher, I brought you my son possessed with a spirit which makes him mute.

And whenever it seizes him, it dashes him to the ground and he foams at the mouth and grinds his teeth and stiffens out. And I told your disciples to cast it out and they could not do it. And he answered them and said, oh, unbelieving generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring him to me. And they brought the boy to him. When he saw him, immediately the spirit threw him into convulsion and falling to the ground, he began rolling about and foaming at the mouth.

And he asked his father, how long has this been happening to him? And he said, from childhood. And it has often thrown him both into the fire and into the water to destroy him. But if you can do anything, take pity on us and help us. And Jesus said to him, if you can, all things are possible to him who believes. Immediately the boy's father cried out and began saying, oh, I do believe, help thou my unbelief. Oh, I believe. No doubt about it, I believe. But I need you to help my unbelief. I have faith, but my faith is incomplete.

And I need you Lord to help me with all those doubts that I might have. This man believed that Jesus could do something great. At the same time, he had doubts as to how great the Lord was and what he could do. John the Baptist is in that same category. Oh, I believe that you are the Messiah, but Lord, I need you to help my unbelief. I need you to complete my faith. I need you to help me understand that you are all that I thought you were. It's important to understand that John the Baptist was one among many who would doubt the Lord Jesus.

So many times we think that as believers, we don't have doubts. Oh, but we do, because in the Bible, those who doubt are believers. In fact, every time doubting is addressed in the New Testament, it's addressed only with believing people. That's remarkable, isn't it? And there are times in our own lives where we say, Lord, I believe, but I need you to help my unbelief. Lord, I need you to do something in my life. I need you to help me have the kind of faith that would enable me to understand. We think of the apostles.

What was the favorite phrase that Jesus would use with the apostles? Oh, ye of little faith. The apostles could have formed an association, the little faith association. And Peter would have been the president of that club because these men had very little faith. Remember when they were with the multitude and Christ said, let's get into the boat and go to the other side of the lake. And sure enough, they went to the other side of the lake, but in the meantime, there was a great storm that would arise in Matthew's account as the apostles were afraid of dying, cried out, Lord, save us.

We are perishing. And Christ said, why are you timid? It's a word that means coward. Why are you such cowards? And he says, you men of little faith. Then he arose and rebuked the winds and the sea and it became perfectly calm. Why is it you are the cowardly ones? Those who claim to follow me and to serve me, why is it you are the ones that have such little faith? Because I told you, let us go to the other side of the lake. I gave you my word. And yet when a little bit of pressure comes in the midst of the lake, the very first thing you do is doubt my word.

Oh, you of little faith. It happens again in the book of Matthew 14th chapter. There's another storm on the sea and this time Jesus isn't with his men. He's up on a mountain praying and he comes walking to them in the night. He comes walking to them on the sea. And when they recognize it's Jesus, Peter bids the Lord, let me come to you.

And of course the Lord says, come on out, Peter. And of course, Peter came out and lo and behold, the waves began to come upon him and he was a little bit afraid and began to sink. Cried out, Lord, save me. Of course, the Lord reached down and saved him. And then Jesus said to Peter, oh, you of little faith, why did you doubt? Peter was the leader of the 12. He was the courageous one of the 12. He was the only one to get out of the boat. He was the only disciple to walk on water. And yet when he began to sink, he cried out, Lord, save me.

And the Lord said, Peter, oh, you of little faith, why? Why did you doubt, Peter? And then again, over in Matthew 21, Christ says, surely I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, he says to his apostles.

You must live a life believing in all that I say and not doubt any word that I say. And even, listen, after the resurrection, having seen the glorified Christ, Matthew 28, verse number 16 says, but the 11 disciples proceeded to Galilee, to the mountain which Jesus had designated. And when they saw him, they worshiped him, but some were doubtful, the Bible says.

Some were doubtful. Even after the resurrection of the Messiah, they still lived a life of doubt. You see, there are times that things happen in your life and mine where we really doubt what God's doing. We doubt if God's even involved. We doubt if God's even listening to a prayer that I prayed. And doubts begin to creep in on a regular basis. Doubt is very common to those who believe. Moses was a man of great doubts. He doubted so much that in Exodus chapter four, God became extremely angry with Moses because he kept doubting the words of God.

Elijah, Gideon, Jeremiah, all great men of God, but men who at times were filled with doubt. Of course, along with the apostles and the great John the Baptist. John the Baptist was coming face to face with that which troubled him. His doubts about the identity of the Messiah. And doubt is a struggle that every believer at some time in his life has to deal with. And John the Baptist came to a point where he would have to deal with the doubts in his life. Doubt is something that prevents me from fully believing what Jesus has said.

That's a definition, a working definition of doubt. Doubt is something or someone that keeps me from believing fully what Jesus has already said. Now, John believed that Jesus was the Messiah. We've already covered this in Luke chapter three. Verse number 16, it says this. John answered and said to them all, as for me, I baptize you with water, but one is coming, or the same phrase used in Luke seven, Ah, Erechamanos, the coming one, who is mightier than I, and I am not fit to untie the thong of his sandals.

He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. So John knew that the one coming after him was the coming one, the Messiah, because that title from Psalm 40 and Psalm 118 was well-known among the Jews, that the Messiah would be called the coming one, the long-expected one. And so John, in Luke three, verse number 18, tells us he believes that Jesus is the coming one, the Messiah, who would come and build his kingdom and come and rule, because he was the great Messiah of Israel. And then you come to Luke chapter three, verse number 18, John says this, or this is what tells us, in fact, let me go back to verse 17.

And his winning fork is in his hand to thoroughly clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his barn, and he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire. So with many other exhortations, also he preached the gospel to the people. So John was a consummate preacher. He says, there's one coming after me. In John three, 30, he says, I must decrease, he must increase. So he recognized that he was the forerunner, that he came before the Messiah, and now it was the Messiah's turn to lead.

He began to decrease, he began to back away, but he kept preaching the gospel, because that's what he did. The kingdom of God is at hand. He was the one who would preach with fire, because he preached about the coming judgment of God upon those who would sin against God. And he knew that the one who would come would come with unquenchable fire. He knew that the one that would come would come to baptize with fire. He knew that this one that followed him was the Messiah. There was no question in his mind in Luke chapter three.

So committed was he that, verse number 19 says, but when Herod the Tetrarch was reproved by him on account of Herodias, his brother's wife, and on account of all the wicked things which Herod had done, he added this also to them all, that he locked John up in prison. Now, Herod the Tetrarch, Tetrarch means to a quarter, he was a ruler over a quarter of Israel, and he ruled over Galilee and Perea, and John confronted him on a sin. Herod, this is Herod Antipas, had a half-brother named Philip. Philip married his niece, her name was Herodias.

And Herod Antipas, or Herod the Tetrarch, would seduce her, he would steal her, he would commit adultery with her, and then he would marry her. Oh, by the way, Herodias was also Herod Antipas's niece. So there was incest, there was immorality, there was adultery, there was all kinds of cheating going on, and John the Baptist said, hey, wait a minute, you can't do that. And Herod Antipas was rebuked by John the Baptist. Think about that. Let's say you are one of the president's pastors, or one of the presidents, the president of our country, whether it be Bill Clinton or George Bush, and you are the spiritual advisor to the president, and the president commits some immoral sin, what do you do?

How do you rebuke him? How do you confront him on his sin? Well, if John the Baptist had been Bill Clinton's spiritual advisor, I'm sure things would have gone a lot differently than they did with the spiritual advisors that he had. Because John the Baptist would pull no punches. And to be rebuked openly by this preacher who would go around eating locusts and honey and wearing camel's hair, well, Herod wasn't going to stand for that, so he locked him up and threw him in prison. And that's where we find him in Luke chapter seven.

That's where John is. And John, having been there for quite a while, probably almost close to a year by this point, hadn't been around Jesus. He got things secondhand. He hadn't been around to receive them firsthand. Before, when he baptized Jesus, he heard the voice out of heaven, this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. He saw the spirit of God descended upon Jesus when he baptized him. So he had that firsthand experience of the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy and the voice that would come from heaven.

But now that he's been in prison, he no longer has that. He just gets secondhand information from some of his disciples. And John had lots of followers. I mean, when we studied John the Baptist earlier in Luke, we realized that all those from Judea and Galilee were coming down to the Jordan River to be baptized by John. This fiery preacher who came like a locomotive out of the wilderness, came preaching repentance, came preaching about the coming of the Messiah. And people were coming down, readying themselves for the arrival of the Messiah.

And then the Messiah arrives and John says, there he is, there's the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. He had spent his whole life in this ministry. He had spent his whole life preparing for this one opportunity. He spent his whole life praying about how it is he'd be used by God to be the forerunner. And then it happened. He came to speak the truth, point people to the Messiah. And John had many disciples, many followers. And a lot of those followers had questions. I mean, they too were seeking answers, that they wanted to know the truth.

Remember back in Luke chapter five, five verse number 33, after the conversion of Matthew, Luke chapter five, and they said to him, verse 33, the disciples of John often fast and offer prayers. The disciples of the Pharisees also do the same, but yours eat and drink. It was a question asked by the Pharisees. If you read Matthew's account and Mark's account, John's disciples asked that question as well. So it was a question of the Pharisees and a question of John's disciples. Now the Pharisees did it with animosity, anger, hatred, because their whole method was to find a way to convict Jesus of blasphemy, that they might kill him.

But John's disciples were curious. They were looking for clarity. They were looking for understanding because they were caught in the old system of Judaism. They were caught back in their rituals and the ceremonies, and they were trying to figure out exactly what it is Messiah was going to do when he arrived. And so when they asked questions, they asked because they truly wanted to know. They wanted to understand the nature of the Messiah. They wanted to know. And so here it is, another opportunity for them to find out.

And John summons two of them. Why two? Because the book of Deuteronomy says that in the mouth of two or three witnesses, everything should be confirmed, right? So he summons two of them, but not just one, but two. And they make their way down from Galilee. They come to John. And John says, listen, I need you to go to Jesus. And you ask him this question. Are you the expected one, or do we look for someone else? Are you the one that we have longed for? Because John wants to make sure he got it right.

He wants to make sure that he handles it properly. Now listen to this. John's faith is proven by the way he reacts to his doubt. The nature of John's faith is proven by the way he reacts to his doubt. If he had no trust in Jesus, he wouldn't send his men to Jesus to ask Jesus about Jesus. But because he truly believed and wanted to have an answer, he sent them to the only source that could give the right answer. That's important for us to understand. He's struggling, so what does he do? He goes directly to the Lord.

A lot of times when we struggle, what do we do? We don't go directly to the Lord. We go to our neighbor. We go to our friend. But we don't go directly to the Lord. That's why you gotta read the Psalms, because the psalmist was always going directly to God, because that was the source of all things. And so the psalmist would cry out to God about mercy and faith and grace and loving kindness, because he knew that only God could dispense those things, and he knew that God was the owner of those things, and so he went directly to God, nobody else.

And so John knew he needed to go directly to Jesus so that he might have his doubts dispelled. He was weakened in the flesh. He'd been in prison. It's deep, dark, damp, debilitating. Anything but delightful to be in a dungeon for over a year. And that's where he was. And so he goes and says, listen, you ask Jesus if he is the expected one. You see, listen, remember, we have the Old Testament and the New Testament. We know what the Old Testament says about the coming of the Messiah, right? And we know that the New Testament completes that for us so we have even a clearer understanding.

We talked to you about it last week, about all the prophecies, not all of them, but a lot of them concerning the coming of the expected one and what he looked like and what he would do. And the Old Testament is filled with those prophecies, but John didn't have the New Testament. He just had the Old Testament. And so he didn't understand the gap between the first coming of Christ and the second coming of Christ.

He didn't understand that. In fact, none of the prophets understood that. How do we know that? Back in 1 Peter 1, it says these words, verses 10 and 11. It says, as to this salvation, the prophets who prophesied of the grace that would come to you made careful search and inquiry, seeking to know what person or time the spirit of Christ within them was indicating as he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories to follow. They didn't understand. They just wrote what they were told to write, but it didn't all come together for them.

And so like the prophets of old, John couldn't understand the gap between the first coming of the Messiah and the second coming of the Messiah.

Remember I told you that we're having a great time in our home going through the doctrinal statement with our children. It's a great study. If you haven't done this, you ought to do this with your kids. So last night we talked about the Holy Scriptures and talked about the fulfillment of prophecy and how you know God's word is inspired and how you know God's word is the holy word of God and began talking about the prophecies of Christ and the 333 prophecies in the Old Testament about the coming of the Messiah and how 109 of them were fulfilled in his first coming, leaving 224 to be fulfilled in his second coming.

And AJ said, well, how do you know there are that many prophecies about the coming of Jesus and the coming of Messiah? How do you know? I said, well, you gotta count them. That's how you know, but they're there. And when there's 109 of them fulfilled in the first coming, there's a whole slew of them yet to be fulfilled.

And so here comes Jesus, and they had this expectation of the Messiah and what the Messiah would do when he arrived. And a lot of what Jesus does is the fulfillment of that, but there are some things left undone. Like how is it this one baptizes with fire? That's what John preached. Oh, he's gonna baptize you with fire. I baptize you with the Holy Spirit, but when he comes, he's gonna do it with fire. Well, what does that mean? And why is it that's not happening? And if he comes to set the prisoner free, John says, I'm in prison, I'm not free, I'm locked up.

How is it I reconcile that with everything I said about his coming? Are you the expected one? Are you the one that we long for? Are you the Messiah of Israel? He didn't understand that his first coming was about his compassion, and the second coming was about his coronation.

He didn't understand that. He didn't understand that the first coming he'd come in humiliation, and the second coming he'd come in great exaltation.

He didn't get that. None of the prophets did. They didn't understand the church age. That's why the Bible calls it a mystery. Something concealed in the Old Testament, but revealed in the New Testament. All they knew is that Messiah was going to come. And Jesus was that Messiah. And while he fulfilled a lot of what the Old Testament says, he didn't fulfill it all at this time, but the second time he comes.

So John had some questions. And so he sends these men to ask, are you the expected one? Which leads me to this. Why is it, and how is it, we come to a place in our lives where we begin to doubt God? And this becomes a passage for all of us, because there are times where we have some questions about our Lord. And from our text, we understand four areas, four areas that Christians have doubts. Four areas that cause us to have grave questions about our God. We're going to answer and look at those four with you this week and next week, and then conclude by giving you the answers that Jesus gave to these two men to show you how his answers dispel all those doubts that arise in your heart and mind, okay?

First one is this. And we're probably gonna get through one this morning. Yeah, only one. First one is this, personal tragedy.

Personal tragedy causes us to doubt. John the Baptist is in a dungeon. John the Baptist is in prison. Humanly speaking, the question comes, okay, I'm the prophesied one, I'm the forerunner to the Messiah. I've come to preach the gospel, and this is the reward that I get? This is the blessing of obedience to God? I get stuck away in a dark dungeon, no visitors? And by the way, Jesus never visited John in prison. You'd think that Jesus would have at least gone and visited him in prison. I mean, if he was caring and compassionate and concerned about this forerunner, that he would go and visit him, encourage him, pray with him, give him great words of wisdom and advice, but Jesus never did, never visited John in prison.

And John is thinking, this is what I get for spending my whole life preparing for this one moment, and now I'm in prison. For doing what I was prophesied to do. For doing what I had been called to do, for doing what I had been set aside to do, for doing what was all planned by my God. I get thrown in prison. He did exactly what he was told to do. There is no record anywhere of John ever living a rebellious life. He was filled with the Holy Spirit from his mother's womb. He had taken a Nazarite vow, a vow of total consecration to God.

Only three men in the Bible took a Nazarite vow for life, and J.B. is one of them. And that would mean his whole life was consecrated to God, that he would solely be used by God, and this is his reward. This is where it gets him. He had never, that we know, dishonored the name of God. He never preached the wrong message. He always preached the right message, and now he finds himself in prison. It's a lot like people today. We serve the Lord, we honor the Lord, we give our life to Christ, we are committed to following Christ, and all of a sudden, tragedy takes place, and we ask this question, how is it that this happens in my life when I have been so faithful in serving my God?

Happens all the time. Now, if you live a life of sin, and bad things happen to you, you kind of expect that, don't you? If you live a life in sin, and personal tragedy happens, it's almost like, well, yeah, I got what I deserve. The great illustration of that is that thief that hung with Christ, one of the thieves who hung with Christ on Calvary. Remember him? Both of the thieves were involved in the ridicule and the mocking of the Messiah as he hung there on the cross, but one saw something different.

One understood that this was the Lord. One came to grips with who Jesus was, and it says in verse number 39, and one of the criminals who were hanged there was hurling abuse at him, saying, are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us. But the other answered and rebuking him said, do you not even fear God since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed justly, for we are receiving what we deserve for our deeds, but this man has done nothing wrong. In other words, he says, you know what?

We get what we deserve. We are thieves. We are criminals. This man's done nothing wrong, but we're getting what we deserve. And then he said, remember me when you come into your kingdom. And Jesus said, today you shall be with me in paradise. He didn't say, wow, this is great. Okay, can you free me from this cross thing? Can you get me out of here? After all, I'm a believer in you. Can things go a little smoother for me now? Didn't say that, but he knew that what he was receiving, he received because he had sinned.

So when we experience bad things because of our sin, we understand that, we're not dumb. We get that. If I do something that's sinful and I experienced a tragedy because of that, then I realized I got what I deserved. But when I'm faithful in my service and committed to my God and serving him with my whole heart and loving him with all that I have, and all of a sudden personal tragedy happens, I begin to question, don't I? How? Why me? Why not them? They don't follow the Lord. Why doesn't God deal with them that way?

Why do I have to experience the tragedy? John was asking, what's wrong? Did I do something wrong? Did I say something wrong? Did I not do it right? What happened? And you're the Messiah. Doesn't the Messiah take special care of his people? Doesn't the Messiah deal with his people in a gentle way as a shepherd would deal with his sheep? Why am I experiencing prison for my faithfulness in doing what I've been called to do? And all of us find ourselves in circumstances that sometimes we don't like, but they are all part of God's plan for our lives.

Doubt comes from our inability to deal with negative circumstances when we perceive ourselves as faithful to the Lord. That was John. His whole perception was, I am faithful to the Lord. I am serving him day and night. And yet I find myself amidst all kinds of negative circumstances. You love the Lord. You raise your children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. You're in church on Wednesdays. You're in church on Sundays. You have a service ministry in the church, and all of a sudden there's a car accident and your child dies.

That doesn't compute. How can that possibly be? You just got married. Your wife and you have experienced a great honeymoon. You are excited about the ministry before you, and all of a sudden your wife or your husband contacts cancer, and in six months they're dead. How can that be? When I sought the Lord, knew that this is the person I was to marry, it was confirmed in a multitude of counselors, and we knew that this was God had for us, and all of a sudden this spouse of mine now is dead. Or I'm committed to Christ.

I stand for God in the workplace. I live for the Lord Jesus Christ. I witness for him day in and day out. I am a man or woman of integrity in my workplace. I stand for Christ, and my boss comes to me and says, you know what, you're fired, because I don't like the things you're saying about your religion. You're out of here. You're fired. You're gone. So wait a minute. Doesn't the Lord want me to be salt and light in a world of darkness and decay? Aren't I supposed to speak the truth? And so I speak the truth, I live the truth, and I lose my job because I speak and live the truth.

So doubt begins to creep in. There's a divorce. You've committed your life to the Lord God, and you serve him with all your heart. You love your husband or your wife unconditionally, and one day they say, it's over. I'm out of here. You say, well, Lord, what happened? How can that be? What took place, Lord? With all of my heart, I tried to faithfully and honestly and truthfully serve my God and my King. And all of a sudden, doubts begin to creep in, and those doubts are like a wedge that's driven between me and my God.

You ever experienced that? I'm sure you have. There was a whole nation that experienced that, a whole nation that began to doubt the plans and purposes of God, the nation of Israel. And way back in the book of Isaiah, the 40th chapter, these words are spoken. Why do you say, O Jacob, and assert O Israel, verse 27 of Isaiah 40, my way is hidden from the Lord, and the just as do me escapes the notice of my God.

So God, through the prophet Isaiah, asks a question to Israel. Why is it you doubt me? Why is it you will come to a place in your life where you say, my way is hidden from the Lord? In other words, somehow God has escaped, has escaped the notice of my God that there are problems in my life.

God doesn't see them. How does that happen? And so God asks Israel that question through the pen of the prophet Isaiah. It was A.W. Tozer who said that no man's religion ever rises higher than his concept of God. That's true. What you believe and who you believe God is determines how it is you behave, how you live. One person said this, look at others, be distressed.

Look at myself and be depressed. Look at God and be blessed. That's pretty basic, isn't it? We look at others, we get distressed.

We look at ourselves, we're depressed. But if we look at God, we'll be blessed. And so God answers the question of Israel by helping them understand three specific attributes of God. Three attributes, once understood, begin to dispel the doubts that happen during times of personal tragedy. And so this is what the Bible says.

Do you not know? Have you not heard, verse 28? In other words, where have you been? Did you miss it in Sunday school? Did you miss it in church? Did you miss it in your Bible reading? Have you not heard? Do you not know? What? The everlasting God, the Lord, the creator of the ends of the earth does not become weary or tired. His understanding is inscrutable. He gives strength to the weary and to him who lacks might, he increases power. Though youths grow weary and tired and vigorous men or young men stumble badly, yet those who wait for the Lord will again new their strength or gain new strength.

They will mount up with wings like eagles. They will run and not get tired. They will walk and not become weary. Do you not know that your God is everlasting? Do you not know that your God is the Lord? And do you not know that your God and only your God is the creator of the world? So God says, listen, you need to understand three aspects of my nature.

You need to understand, one, that I am everlasting, that I am eternal. You need to understand that my presence is perpetual. You need to understand, number two, that I am Lord, that my power is perennial.

And number three, you need to understand that I am the creator, that my plan is perfect in order to understand how it is I function.

I am the everlasting God. How can you say my way is hidden from the Lord? Because of my perpetual presence, I'm eternal. I always was, and I always will be, because I always is. That's the Lord. He's always present. And so he speaks of his perpetual presence to the children of Israel. He wants them to understand that he goes beyond time and eternity. He is the eternal one. He is always there, has always been there. Don't you not know, have you not heard that I am everlasting? I have not hidden my way from you.

My presence is perpetual. It's always there. And not only am I everlasting, I am the Lord. It speaks of his power. It speaks of his omnipotence, that I am all powerful, that I can do anything I want to do. The Bible says in Jeremiah 32, 27, behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh.

Is there anything too hard for me? The very fact that he is Lord implies that he is in complete control of every circumstance. He is the God who is so powerful that it can do anything. And so the question asks, well, if God is so powerful, why the tragedy? John the Baptist would ask, well, if you are the Messiah and you can heal all diseases, if you can raise people from the dead, if you can do all those things, then why am I rotting in a prison? Why is it you can't come, speak the word, open the doors of the prison so I can be released?

Why would I be bound here if you are the Lord, the all powerful one, the creator of the ends of the earth? Why is it I am still here? Why the tragedy? Job asked that question, by the way. Job experienced all kinds of personal tragedy. Did he not? He was a righteous man. In fact, the Lord said he was the most righteous man on the face of the earth. And the Lord said to Satan, have you considered my servant, Job? So God would even offer Job to Satan. And so Job would understand personal tragedy when he said these words.

Behold, I go forward, but he is not, and backward, but I cannot perceive him. When he acts on the left, I cannot behold him. He turns on the right, I cannot see him, but he knows the way that I take. See, I don't see him, but I don't have to see him because he knows every way that I take. And when he has tried me, I shall come forth as gold. Why the tragedy? Because in the trial, there is a purification process that causes you to reflect his image better than without the tragedy. God knows that. My foot has held fast to his path.

I have kept his way and not turned aside. I have not departed from the command of his lips. I have treasured the words of his mouth more than my necessary food. Job says, when all was taken from me, there was one thing I could cling to, and that was the words of his mouth. See, sometimes personal tragedy happens, so I learn to cling to God's word as my soul sustains. It sustains for existence. And then Job says this, but he is unique. Who can turn him? In what his soul desires, that he does. For he performs what is appointed for me, and many such decrees are with him.

Why does God do what he does? Because that is his desire. You mean to tell me that your tragedy, my tragedy, is God's desire? That's what Job said. Under the inspiration of God, Job says that God does whatever he does because that's his desire. Even the loss of my children, my home, my livelihood, Job is saying, everything I lost is because this is God's desire for my life. And I treasure his words more than my necessary food. He knows the way that I take, and he knows that when it's all done, I'm gonna come forth like gold.

He knows that. So God says to the Hebrew people, I am everlasting. I am the Lord. I am the creator of the ends of the earth. The creator? Yeah. That speaks of his perfect plan. In other words, he is the master designer of your life. He is the master architect of all that takes place in your life. He designed those things because he has a plan. And what's he wants to do? He wants us to wait upon him. Isn't that what Isaiah says? He says that those who wait for the Lord will gain new strength. Those who wrap themselves around the Lord, it's a Hebrew word that describes the intertangling of ropes as they begin to knot into one.

It's wrapping yourself around God. It's a trusting in God. That's what it means to wait upon him, to wait upon him. Remember the Bible says in Psalm 20, verse number seven, some trust in chariots, some trust in horses.

But we trust in the name of the Lord our God. They shall be brought down and fall, but we shall rise up and stand firm. You see, God wants you to trust him. He wants you to trust everything about him. He wants you to trust every word that he says. And we're gonna see that in this story about John the Baptist, that's exactly what Christ does. He sends these two disciples of John back and says, blessed is he who does not stumble over me. If you trust me, if you believe me, if you believe in everything I've said, you will be the blessed man, but you gotta trust me.

Because doubts creep up all the time in our lives and you will see. Remember we told you last week, when Christ said to those two men on the road to Emmaus, oh foolish men and slow of heart, why? Because you refuse to believe all that was said about me. Oh, you believe some that was said, but you didn't believe it all. To dispel doubt, you must learn to believe it all, that he is everlasting. He's always there. He is the Lord. He is all powerful to do whatever he desires because he is the creator of the ends of the earth.

So personal tragedy is the first area that causes us to doubt. The next three we'll cover next week, let's pray. Father, we thank you for today, the opportunity you've given to us to study your word. Our prayer is that Lord, we would learn to trust you more and more every single day. And that our hearts and lives would be wrapped around only Christ. And as we leave this place today, we would leave looking to honor you with our life as well as our lips, because you are our king and we serve only Jesus.

We pray in your name, amen.