THE BENEFIT OF DOUBT | Why do we Doubt? | Drew Sherman

Good morning conference, let's stand and let's worship together. Good morning conference, let's stand and let's worship together. Good morning conference, let's stand and let's worship together. Good morning conference, let's stand and let's worship together. Good morning conference, let's stand and let's worship together. Good morning conference, let's stand and let's worship together. Good morning conference, let's stand and let's worship together. Good morning conference, let's stand and let's worship together. Good morning conference, let's stand and let's worship together. Good morning conference, let's stand and let's worship together. Good morning conference, let's stand and let's worship together. Good morning conference, let's stand and let's worship together. Well, good morning and welcome to Compass. Our mission is navigating people to God and we are one church in multiple locations. We're so honored that you're here with us this morning, but before we continue to worship together, let's just take some time to turn around to the people beside you and say good morning. Good morning. You gave Your life for mine Nailed to the cross, You crucify All my sin and shame Is washed by Your mercy You are the treasure I find My reason for living So let my life become an offering To the One who is worthy All praise to the Lord Most High All praise to the One who saved my life All praise to Jesus Christ High King of Heaven, my King forever You stormed the gates of my heart The veil in between was torn apart Now You hold the keys to the grave Cause You bring things to life You roll stones away All praise to the Lord Most High All praise to the One who saved my life All praise to Jesus Christ High King of Heaven, my King forever I lift my hands up, lay my whole life My whole life before You

I lift my hands up, lay my whole life My whole life before You I lift my hands up, lay my whole life My whole life before You I lift my hands up, lay my whole life My whole life before You I lift my hands up, lay my whole life My whole life before You I lift my hands up, lay my whole life My whole life before You All praise to the Lord Most High All praise to the One who saved my life All praise to Jesus Christ High King of Heaven, my King forever And if you are new to this church, if you're new to church in general, maybe you haven't been back in a while, and you're looking around this room, you see hands raised, you look up here and you see us raise our hands, close our eyes and sing out, I just need you to know that that is coming from a well of gratitude. That this is not a performance. That everything that we believe is that Jesus was there in the beginning, that He is here with us now, that He deserves all of our adoration, all of our praise. So this is not a performance, but more of an expression of the gratitude that we have. And I just want us to take a moment, just close your eyes where you're at, and just think of something that you're grateful for today. And we're going to continue to worship. Sing this out, all praise. All praise to the Lord Most High All praise to the One who saved my life All praise to Jesus Christ, my King of heaven, my King forever [♪ music playing ♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪ ♪♪ You rose my cross, You poured, so I could live in the freedom You died for. And now my life is Yours, and I will sing of Your goodness forevermore. Worthy is Your name, Jesus, for You deserve the prize. Worthy is Your name, oh worthy is Your name, Jesus, for You deserve the prize. Worthy is Your name, oh worthy is Your name, Jesus, for You deserve the prize.

And now my shame is gone, I stand amazed in Your love undeniable. Your grace goes on and on, and I will sing of Your goodness forevermore. Worthy is Your name, Jesus, for You deserve the prize. Worthy is Your name, oh worthy is Your name, Jesus, for You deserve the prize. Worthy is Your name. ♪♪♪♪♪♪♪ ♪♪♪♪♪ ♪♪♪♪♪♪ ♪♪♪♪♪ ♪♪♪♪♪ ♪♪♪♪ ♪♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ do when I doubt God's goodness? Why doesn't God answer my prayers? Why doesn't God answer my prayers? Doesn't science disprove the Bible? Why would God provide only one way to heaven? Why believe in Jesus when his followers are such hypocrites? Such hypocrites. Why does God sometimes feel so far away? Why does God feel so distant? Why do I doubt?

Why do I doubt? Why do I doubt? Why do I doubt? Why would God love me? Why would God love me? Why would God love me? Why should I believe God? How can I trust in God when it hurts? When it hurts. We all have these questions, so. Let's talk about it. So let's talk about it. Yeah, let's talk about it. Hey, welcome to Compass. Our mission is navigating people to God. How are you doing? 10 o'clock, you're good? You're good? I wanted to tell you one of the things I inherited a lot of really cool traits from my dad. My dad was an amazing man. One of the worst traits I inherited from him is a bad back. And so I'm struggling a little bit today. So I could use your prayers and I'm gonna sit down. I think it would be a little, I'm a little crooked. So I think it'd be better if I sat down today, but I'm excited to be here. It's a great weekend here at Compass. We welcome you to Compass. Our mission is navigating people to God.

If you're a guest, I think Cole mentioned this. We'd love to connect with you at guest gathering. Our team will be there after the service across from the fireplace. We have a gift for you. We'd love to connect with you today. And I'm excited and nervous because I know no one cares about this but me, but my Indiana Hoosiers are playing tomorrow night for the national championship. And Osuna, we have a few fans there. Thank you for jumping on that bandwagon. We need you. And if you're rooting for Miami, I'm praying for you. But anyway, look, we're excited about what God is doing in this place. And one of the things before I begin, I wanna speak to you men. There's a movement that has been started called Gaining Ground. And this movement was kind of an inspiration that my son Landon received from the Lord. And he felt like that God was calling him to help men grow in their faith just 1% every day, just a little bit of progress every day. And so we're calling this Gaining Ground. We'd love for you men to go to gaininggroundmen.com. We'd love for you to look at our website.

I don't know if any of you have heard some of the podcasts that have been released. We've been doing those. We'd love for you to listen to the podcast, but we wanna do a gathering on all four of our campuses. And the one in Colleyville will start February the 4th. It's the first Wednesday. It's over at Compass Center, 6.30 a.m. Right across the street, 6.30 a.m. for one hour. And I just wanna encourage, you should have received a card when you came in today. If not, you'll probably get one when you leave today. And this card will be a reminder for you. And I just wanna encourage all of you men, please pray about being a part. Give us one hour a month in February, March, and April. Try it for three months. And let's see if we can grow spiritually just a little bit every day. So I wanna encourage you to be a part of that. And I wanna invite you personally. I'll be there on February 4th, 6.30 a.m. Bad back or not, I'll be there. And I want you to join me that morning. How many of you brought your study guide for the new series today? Raise it up nice and high. Okay, there's a lot of you. Awesome. You can grab one of these as you leave.

This is a big help. There's personal devotions, a time for personal reflection. If you're a part of a community group, you'll be using this. If not, you can join that community group, go to the next steps area in the lobby. You can be a part of a group, but also you can take notes. We think this is a real big help for some of the series that we're doing this year. And this is one of them. And this is my first chance to share with you in the new year. I've had a little break since Christmas Eve, since those 10 messages that I was able to bring on Christmas Eve. But I wanna thank the guys the last three weeks, Nathan Lewis and Caleb Miller and Landon. These last three weeks. And I'm so thankful for, we have such a deep preaching bench here at Compass. And so just love having those guys share with you. And it's been an amazing year. 2025 was truly an historic year on all five of our campuses here at Compass. History-making really, record in-person attendance. And we had a final total of 1,013 baptisms this last year, which is just incredible. And we praise God for that. So there's much to celebrate

and there are more people coming through the doors. of compass than ever before. And yet in our world today, many people are choosing to walk away from faith. And it's been my experience that people aren't walking away from faith because they want less of God or less of Jesus. They're walking away because they want honesty and they want authenticity and they want real life answers to their questions. And what I'm seeing is that many people around us are in a season of wrestling with their faith that they grew up with. And some are realizing that their faith needs to grow up. And some are asking hard questions, more difficult questions than they ever have before. And here's the good news. There's a difference between saying, I don't understand and saying, I'm done listening. And we refer to this whole process as deconstruction. And we treat deconstruction like it's a new idea, but honestly, deconstruction is not a new idea. It's actually found throughout the Bible. It has a different name. The Bible might refer to it as wrestling with your faith or testing of your faith or refining of your faith because sometimes what cracks isn't faith, it's the version of faith that we are handed that can't connect to real life. And what I've learned,

that if we strip everything back to the gospel, the gospel is the story of Jesus. We are being invited into a version of faith that can hold up against any doubt that we might bring to the table. For example, if you look at how Luke, a first century doctor in the Middle East starts his account of the life of Jesus, here's how he writes it. He says, many people have set out to write accounts about the events that have been fulfilled among us. They use the eyewitness reports circulating among us from the early disciples. And having carefully investigated everything from the beginning, I also have decided to write an accurate account for you, most honorable theophilist or friend, so you can be certain of the truth of everything that you were taught. And if you look for a moment at the underlying part, having carefully investigated everything, friend, does that sound like a faith that has no room for questions or doubt? Or does that sound like a faith that refuses to settle major issues without doing the hard work of investigating the scriptures? And so I just wanna say very sincerely, if you right now, if you are maybe in a season of doubt or maybe of spiritual hurt, or you have questions that don't seem to get answered,

I believe God wants to speak to you at this moment, in this day. And so I want us to pray about that as we continue this series that comes from that book from our friend, Craig Rochelle, called The Benefit of Doubt. And I wanna pray over that right now. Would you pray with me? Now, Father, for anyone who has questions, for anyone who has a spiritual hurt, for anyone who has a doubt that they're fearful of, I pray God that you would bring healing today, that you bring understanding and that you bring clarity to this moment. And we pray it all in Jesus' name, amen. There's a moment in Matthew 14, kind of in the middle of the ministry of Jesus, where the disciples are out on a boat in the Sea of Galilee and Jesus begins to walk out to them on the water. He walks on water. That's pretty cool. And honestly, the disciples are kind of freaking out like they've seen a ghost because they've never seen him do this before. And Jesus basically says, it's not a ghost, it's me, your friend, Jesus. Like he was so kind. I would have said, who'd you think was gonna be walking on water? You dorks, right?

Right, like it's the guy who's been raising the dead and healing the sick and causing the blind to see. Anyway, Jesus was so much nicer. And in Matthew 14, Peter says, Lord, if it's you, tell me to come to you on the water. And Jesus says, all right, Peter, come. And then Peter got down out of the boat and walked on water and came toward Jesus. But when he saw the wind, that's an interesting phrase, he was afraid and beginning to sink, cried out, Lord, save me. And immediately Jesus reached out his hand, that's significant, and caught him. And then catch what Jesus says, you of little faith, why did you doubt? Look at the person next to you and say, why did you doubt? Look at the other person, your second choice, and ask them, why did you doubt? I like that question. To me, what's interesting is everything that Jesus could have said that he didn't say. For example, Jesus didn't roll his eyes and look at the other disciples and say, can you believe this guy? He should probably be a shepherd, right? He's not rabbi material, right? He asked him the honest question, Peter, why did you doubt? doubt, but what's most compelling is what Jesus did do when he encountered Peter's doubt.

If you notice Jesus reached out his hand and met Peter in his doubt. This is powerful. Jesus didn't let Peter drown in his doubt. He didn't reject him for his doubt. He rescued Peter from his doubt. In fact, when you look at scripture and you just look at every time Jesus would encounter somebody that had questions or didn't understand or doubted, you'll notice that Jesus always took time, had grace and had compassion on them every time. Let me share some examples. Last week, we talked about Thomas and Thomas was infamous for doubt, which is monumentally unfair, but he needed proof and Jesus gave it to him. And you might remember about the disciples last week. Remember they were up on the mountain and some were worshiping, but some were doubting. And then in the next breath, Jesus says to them, go into all the nations and baptize and make disciples. They doubted and Jesus still sent them out, doubts and all to tell the world about his love. Incredible. What about Martha's doubt? She's attending her brother Lazarus funeral. And she says to Jesus, cause he's late to the funeral. Oh Jesus, if you had been here,

Lazarus wouldn't have died. Martha is doubting and Jesus didn't scold her. He reminded her of his power and he raised her brother back to life. There just seems to be an emotional and personal connection that Jesus had with those who doubted. And so all that makes me wonder, like how many of you might have some faith questions or some spiritual doubts, right? Like it's reasonable to think that. And I wanna ask an honest question to those of you who might be in a season of doubt right now. Like why in the world, if Jesus had grace for those who doubted in the Bible, why would he not have grace for you? Why would there not be grace available for you? Why are we so afraid to be honest about our doubts in church? If Jesus had grace for doubters, shouldn't we? And so what I wanna do is I wanna remind you of what we talked about last week and build on that foundation that your doubts don't disqualify your faith. We learned that principle, that doubt is not the enemy of faith. Doubt is often a pathway to a deeper, more meaningful faith, a faith that we've worked through and pushed through in order to get to the other side.

And so I wanna look at this question that Jesus asked Peter, why do you doubt? And just based on my pastoral experience, there's a lot of reasons that, any number of reasons that people doubt. There's a few, like maybe you're saying, I have a question about the Bible that I can't find an answer for. Or you go off to college and you meet a girl and she's really nice. And you find out she's from another country and she's a devout Buddhist. And you say, well, Jesus is the way to God. And she's like, well, that's not my experience. That wasn't my upbringing. Wait a minute, that's not fair. And she's so sweet and she's so nice. And you're like, surely she wouldn't be wrong. Like surely Jesus can't be the only way to God. Or you prayed and you had faith and believe that God would heal somebody you loved and he didn't. Or you were a little kid begging to save your parents' marriage. They had a troubled marriage and you prayed, God, just please do anything. I'll just keep them together. Don't let them divorce. And they get divorced. And so you doubt.

And so there's any number of reasons why someone might doubt. But Jesus asked Peter, why do you doubt? And here's what's interesting to me. For years, I always thought that moment, oh, you of little faith, why do you doubt? I always saw it as like a finger pointing moment of judgment from Jesus. Like, why do you doubt? Like, I mean, didn't you see me do the loaves and fishes thing? Like, didn't you see me raise Lazarus from the dead? So like, I've always thought that was kind of like a finger pointing Jesus. But then you look at the character of Jesus all through the New Testament and the way he treated people and the fact that he reached out his hand and pulled Peter up in the midst of his doubt. It causes me to wonder, this might be something good to write down in the book. Like, what if this question isn't an accusation, but an invitation? Like, what if this question, what if it's an invite to think a little deeper about some of the reasons we might doubt? What if the narrative read more like this? Why are you doubting brother? I love you. I'm here for you. I'm walking on water out here to get to you.

And so I just wanna say, if you have a faith question or if you stumble somewhere along the way and you start to doubt and you start to ask questions, I wanna give you some advice. The next time you find yourself doubting, don't panic, process. Don't panic, process. Last week, we learned about deconstruction and how if it's done in a healthy way, it can be life-giving, honestly. Landon gave us the definition of healthy deconstruction. He said, healthy deconstruction is the process of examining the faith you inherited in order to hold on to what is true and let go of what is unhealthy. So it's examining the faith you inherited and you're like, well, I didn't grow up in church. I don't have a faith. Okay, shorten the definition. It's the process of holding on to what is true about scripture and letting go of what is untrue or unhealthy. It's a sincere examination. And deconstruction done well can actually be a form of discipleship. If done well, it can lead someone closer to Jesus. I'll give you an example. I'll give you an example and this is so important, okay? There's a principle in Latin.

It's a Latin term called Lex Talionis. Lex Talionis. You can see it. Latin is kind of one of those languages, like I definitely can't speak it, but sometimes I can look at it and figure it out. It's the law of retaliation, okay? Or the principle of retribution. In other words, if someone hurts you or commits a crime against you, then the punishment, it's okay if it's proportional to the severity of the crime done to you. And so it goes like this. Someone pokes out your eye, what should the punishment be? Well, plunk, you can poke out their eye, okay? Or someone knocks out your tooth, then the punishment should be equal and you go all Mike Tyson on them and knock out their tooth. So don't put that scripture up there yet, guys. Hold on just a second. So in Matthew 5, Jesus is gonna preach his first like full-blown message, okay? He'd done some TED Talks, he told some stories, but now he's gonna preach a full-blown message. And he is preaching largely to a Jewish audience. Many of them had come from Hebrew school and they'd been to rabbinical school and they knew the Hebrew law and they knew their Old Testament

and they knew about Lex Talionis. And so here's what Jesus says in Matthew 5. He says to them, you have heard that it was said, seven words, you have heard that it was said. Here's how you grew up. Here's the tradition that you were taught. Here's what you learned, okay? Here's, that was a little quick, sorry. Here's where you're coming from. This is the tradition that you brought up, you were brought up in. You've heard that it was said, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, and then four words. What are they? But I, say it with me, but I tell you, you've heard that it was said, but I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also. If anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, we'll hand over your coat. If anyone forces you to go one mile, go with them two miles. I promise you, when Jesus taught this in Matthew 5, they looked at him like he had three heads. What are you talking about? What about eye for eye and tooth for tooth? But Jesus says, you've heard that it was said, this is what you've been taught growing up, but I tell you now the truth.

Do you know that five times in the Sermon on the Mount, he says, you've heard that it was said, but I tell you. Jesus says, you've heard that it was said, but let me bring a little deeper explanation to what you think that you believe is the whole story. By the way, you heard what it was said to you and me is the equivalent of, hey, I know they told you this in the church you grew up in, but I, Jesus, tells you this. And if there's any part of what you believe that's not gonna be consistent with who my father is, we're gonna deconstruct what you don't believe and we're gonna build on what is true. We're gonna take the things that are true and we're gonna live that and we're gonna take the things that are untrue and we're gonna unbelieve them. Jesus was constantly helping people deconstruct their faith. If you don't believe me, look over at Matthew 16, he does it to Peter, okay? This is fascinating. It says this, from that time on, Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, the chief priests, the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day raised to life. So stop it right there. So Jesus is telling his disciples, look, and he does it numerous times, okay?

He tells them, look. Look, the next few months are gonna be rough, okay? They're gonna treat us bad. They're gonna kill me. They're gonna put me on a cross. I'm gonna die. I'm gonna be dead for three days and I'm gonna come back to life. And of course, they're not knowing what to think about that. This has never happened in history before. So the disciples are going, okay, okay, okay, okay, okay. So they're listening. So Jesus says this. And then Peter says, Peter took Jesus aside and began to rebuke him. How many of you think this was a good idea on Peter's part? Raise your hand. Okay, this was a terrible idea. I wish he'd had some coaching. Hey, Peter, I'm new at this. I'm guessing taking Jesus aside and rebuking him, probably not a good idea. Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. Never, Lord, never. This shall never happen to you. Jesus turns and says the strongest rebuke to any of his disciples in all the Bible. He says, get behind me, what? You get behind me, Satan. You get behind me, Satan.

You're a stumbling block to me. You do not, look at this last sentence. You do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns. When you and I get off track spiritually and we're not connected to God anymore, this is why what happens is we have in mind human concerns and we don't have in mind the things of God. What is Jesus saying? Let me break this down. He's saying, Peter, what you believe is not true to what my father wants. Peter, what you believe is not true to what my father wants. Jesus is deconstructing Peter's wrong beliefs about Jesus as Messiah, because Peter thought the Messiah would be a conquering king, but Jesus came as a suffering servant. Peter thought the Savior would rule with power. And Jesus said, no, no, watch me lead with love. I mean, in the last week, in the triumphal entry, Jesus rides in on a donkey. That's where we're at. And so he says, watch me lead with humility and gentleness. So over and over again, you're gonna see as Jesus looks at what Peter thought was supposed to happen and say, hey, Peter, let go of whatever isn't true, get rid of that unhealthy stuff. So how do we do that? How do we build what is true? How do we build a biblical belief system,

a biblical worldview? I grew up in a small town in Indiana, and I gave my life to Jesus when I was 11 and was baptized. But I was a Christian. I went to church since I was very little. When I was four, five, six years old, I went to We Worship and Sunday school. As I grew older, I just kept going to children's church, Sunday school every week. I went to VBS every summer. I went to our church's VBS. I went to the Methodist VBS. I went to the Baptist VBS. I went to the Pentecostal VBS. That was a trip. And my parents were just churchaholics. I think they were just trying to get rid of me now that I think about it. And I went to church camp. I met my wife at church camp, like the greatest week of my life, right? And so growing up in church, I knew all the songs. Some of you aren't gonna know this, right? Because you didn't grow up in church, maybe. The A30 service, they all knew it. Trust me, they all knew it. But do you guys remember? Deep and wide, deep and wide, there's a fountain flowing deep and wide. Sing it with me.

Deep and wide, deep and wide, there's a fountain flowing deep and wide. There's a guy leaving right now. He's like, you know, it's usually good, but today it just feels like a cult. I don't know, I'm leaving. I'm out of here. And then for some reason, they would like, okay, now leave the deep out and go, mm, and wide, mm, and wide. And you're like, what is happening right now? What does that even mean? There was another song. The B-I-B-L-E, yes, that's the book for me. I stand alone on the word of God, the B-I-B-L-E. Hey, Bible, yeah. I forgot about that. You gotta punctuate it with Bible. It's a great song, teaching us at a very young age to build our belief system on the Bible. And of course, I believe that. The problem is you can go to the Bible with good intentions, but you have to remember, do you know this? Some of us won't want to admit this. Everyone reads the Bible with a certain bias. We read the Bible through our own filters, through our own family background, through how you were raised, from the church that you grew up in, right? And so that's why you could hear a passage

in the book of John from one pastor, and then you hear another guy at another church, it might sound completely different, right? So you filter your reading through what your friends say and what your parents think. And you have a friend that has a certain lifestyle and you love your friend deeply. So you begin to read your Bible through your own filters. And what happens is over time, you pick up beliefs about God. And many of them are certainly true, but some of them are not true at all. Because you're around people who have different beliefs that may rub off on you. And you go off to college and professor tells you, well, all religions lead to the same God. And you're like, well, I mean, he's so smart. She's so intelligent. I mean, that sounds reasonable. Or you've got a friend that says to you, if you just have enough faith and whatever you pray for, it'll happen. And they'll teach you that if something goes wrong or it doesn't happen, then they'll say, well, it's your fault because you didn't have enough, what? You didn't have enough faith or there's a secret sin in your life. That's why this isn't happening. And something bad's happening to you

because God is punishing you because you didn't do something right. So everyone reads the Bible with a bias. Therefore, everything you believe about God may not be completely truth. Let that sink in just for a minute. I mean, have you ever considered the fact that the reason we get upset and we get mad, it's not because God isn't good. It's because maybe what we believe about God isn't like maybe we don't have an accurate assessment of who God really is. So what do we do? Well, first and foremost, when you discover that part of what you believe isn't true, you don't have to leave the faith. When a Christian hurts you, it doesn't mean God hurt you. If a church hurts you, it doesn't mean the entire church is bad. Like the global C church. Like if you go to, if you leave here right now and go to Laha, and God bless you if you do, I wish I could, but I got another service. If you go to Laha Siinda to get Tex-Mex, and let's say you just, for whatever reason, you have one bad experience there, you probably are not gonna say, well, forget Laha Siinda for the rest of my life. I mean, no, those are some really good fajitas, right? These are some really good chips and salsa.

Like we had a bad experience, but we're not leaving it completely. A few years ago, when we lived in Grapevine, just down the road here off Hall Johnson, it was discovered that we had mold in our master bathroom. So we had to do a renovation. It was very expensive. We took out everything that was bad, and we replaced everything that was unhealthy, of course. But let me tell you what we didn't do. We didn't tear down the whole house. We didn't. We just tore down the master bathroom because that's what was unhealthy. We replaced what was bad and what was unhealthy. And so that's what we need to be thinking in terms of our faith. And what we need to do is when we discover something that we believe isn't true, we unbelieve what isn't true, and we pursue what is true. You unbelieve it, and you say, I'm gonna put that aside, and I'm gonna focus on what's true. And so if you don't know where to start, you know what I would do is I would read the story of Jesus. I would read Matthew or Mark or Luke or John. I would read Jesus and pursue Jesus. Look at who he was because he represents the father. Look at how he treated people. Look at how he loved. This doesn't get talked about enough.

Read about Jesus, then interpret everything else through the lens of how he told you to interpret him. And when did that happen? Well, in Matthew 22, there were some young people, some leaders, and they said, teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the law? And Jesus replied, love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. He didn't hesitate. Love your God, love with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind. And then this is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it, love your neighbor as yourself. And then he says this, all of the law and prophets, everything you've ever read, everything you've ever consumed about Hebrew law, all of it hangs on these two commandments. Everything hinges on love. That's what Jesus is saying. So if you wanna understand, he says, who I am, you do it through the lens of love. And so everything you read in God's word, you have to read it through love. And then if you're doing that and you look at Peter, when Jesus says, why'd you doubt? He's not looking like, why'd you doubt? Let me help you up, you idiot. When you read it through his love, he's more likely saying, Peter, why did you, come here,

come here, why did you doubt? And so if you've been heard and maybe you're considering leaving the faith or you know somebody that is, I want you to think about Peter and recognize that in many ways, it appears that when Jesus needed him the most, Peter was never really there. After the arrest of Jesus, before he goes to the cross, it's late and it's dark. He is brought into the courtyard of Caiaphas, the high priest. It's a pretty large courtyard of actually, you can go there even today, if you go to Israel. The Bible says that Peter is actually in that same courtyard, but he's following, this is interesting, at a distance. I find that fascinating. The one who left boats and nets and family and everything to follow Jesus is now following at a safe distance. And gradually Peter enters the courtyard of Caiaphas and there's a crowd that's gathered because they're waiting to see what's going to happen with this Jesus who's been arrested and has been sentenced to crucifixion. And so Peter sits down with the guards to see what the outcome is going to be. And ultimately he is now warming himself around the fire of the enemy of Jesus.

And as he sits, he's kind of camoed up now. He doesn't wanna be recognized. And a serving girl is serving water or drinks or something. We don't know exactly, but she says to him, aren't you one of Jesus' disciples? Aren't you one of, keep in mind, Jesus is in the same courtyard. Yeah, I think you're one of his disciples. He says, I don't know what you're talking about. I don't know the man. He denies him once. He thinks he's solved it. She goes away and keeps serving drinks or whatever. And then she comes back. She goes, no, no, I know. I recognize your accent. You're from Galilee. You're one of his followers. No, I don't know the man. He denies him a second time. She goes away and then she comes back around. No, no, I've seen you with him. You're definitely one of his guys. And the Bible is clear. He just goes off. I never knew the man. He begins cursing her. You ever been to a Cowboys game when the referee makes a bad call? Kind of like that.

Not pretty. He said, I never knew this man. I don't know this man. I want nothing to do with this man. At that moment in the distance, you can hear a rooster crowing. You can just kind of close your eyes and hear it. And the Bible says in Luke 22, that that moment the Lord turned and looked at Peter. And suddenly the Lord's words flashed through Peter's mind. Before the rooster crows tomorrow morning, you will deny three times that you even know me. And it happened. And Peter looked at Jesus and Jesus looked at Peter and Peter's heart was broken. And he runs out of the courtyard and he deserts Jesus yet again. You could say he kind of left the faith. You can absolutely say he left the faith. Fast forward a few days. As promised, Jesus dies on a cross. He is buried. He's raised to life on the third day. And he comes back and he makes an appearance to the disciples. You can read about it in John 21. It's amazing. Peter has fished all night because they didn't know what else to do. These guys were fishermen.

After Jesus died, they didn't know what to do. They went back to the only thing they knew. They went back to their nets. And so they've been fishing all night, hadn't caught much of anything. And then the one that he had betrayed, the one he denied, Jesus himself shows up on the shore. But they were far enough out. They didn't recognize this stranger on the beach. They weren't expecting him. They should have been, but they weren't. And Jesus begins the conversation. Y'all caught any fish yet? I like to visualize him saying y'all. Y'all caught any fish yet? And that simple little question becomes a catalyst for one of the most moving encounters in Jesus, in scripture. Because they say, no, not biting right now. Throw your net on the other side of the boat. And when they did, the Bible says they caught so many fish, they were unable to haul them in. And then John 21, John, John is writing this. Then the disciple whom Jesus loved, that's what John writes about himself. I think that's funny. Then the disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, it's the Lord, it's the Lord. And as soon as Simon Peter heard him say, it's the Lord, he wrapped his outer garment around him

for he had taken it off and he dives into the water. We learn in verse eight that they were about a hundred yards look at that verse. They were about a hundred yards from the shore. So Peter swims the length of a football field to get to Jesus. And I think by diving out of that boat headfirst, Peter was saying, I thought about it long enough. Ready to let go of my failures. I'm ready to move beyond my doubt. I'm ready to leave it behind me. Peter realized there was a benefit to his doubt. And a moment later, he found himself probably wet and shivering, gathered around a crackling fire. And let me remember whose face Peter, let me remind you whose face Peter is staring back into now. Peter now looks into the face of the man that still bore the marks of the crown of thorns upon his head. He stared into the face of the man who had pierced hands and pierced feet from the nails. He looks into the face of the man who had been dead and buried for three days, but now was very much alive, the Messiah. And Jesus looks Peter in the eye and he asked him the question that would change his life forever. Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these? More than what?

We aren't sure. Boats, nets, the other disciples. But Peter says, yes, Lord, I love you. You know I love you. You know my heart. You know I love you. No bragging, no false bravado, just a humble response. Three times Jesus would ask Peter the same question. Peter, do you love me? Yes, Lord, you know I love you. Peter, do you love me? Yes, Lord, you know, you know I love you. And then Jesus says something that I think Peter didn't envision ever happening again. He said, well, if you love me, then feed my sheep. Feed my sheep. It was the moment that Jesus was able to restore Peter back into ministry. If you love me, then you're forgiven. Now go do what you're supposed to do. And this is so amazing because who did God choose to preach the day that the Holy Spirit fell and 3,000 people were saved? You know who he chose, Peter. The guy whose faith was built on doubt and denial. It gives me so much hope as a preacher of the gospel, as imperfect and human as I am, that Jesus would still allow me to come up here every other week and bring the story of his life.

And about 30 years later, I think this gets sometimes lost in the scripture. About 30 years later, after Peter was forgiven, this is what he wrote. He wrote a letter. First Peter, for you were like sheep going astray, but now you have returned to the shepherd and overseer of your souls. How did Peter know what it was like to go astray? Because he went astray. How did he know what it was like to return to the shepherd? Because he was a lost sheep, racked with doubt and denial. But he worked through his doubts. You see, Peter's doubt didn't cancel his calling, it clarified it. And the same can be true for you because doubt, friend, is not the enemy of faith, but doubt is often the pathway to a deeper and more meaningful faith. So if you find yourself with real faith questions and you're sinking deep in doubt, reach out to Jesus because I guarantee you he's reaching out to you. Believe me, friends, doubt doesn't make you a bad Christian, it just makes you human. And God is a good and loving God. That's the question we'll answer next week. Is God good?

Because he can handle your doubts and love you through them. And you can be closer to him on the other side. I'm gonna ask you now if you just close your eyes and I wanna enter into a time of prayer with you just for a moment. And it's important today, if you're not a close your eyes kind of person, would you do it? Would you do it just one time here? Because I want this to just between you and me and God. I wonder how many of you would say you do have maybe a spiritual hurt or a doubt or some questions. In fact, just with our eyes closed and our head bowed, nobody's gonna look up. Would you raise your hand right now? If you have some doubts, just raise your hand. Have the courage to do that if you have doubts. So many hands. I wonder how many of you know someone that you love, maybe a family member, a spouse, a child or a close friend, someone in your life here that has doubts or hurts or questions. Would you raise your hands if you have someone that you know that, yeah, even more. We're gonna pray. God, I pray for the first group, for those who are hurting, for those who have doubts,

for those who have questions, maybe for those who were even, they were fearful of even. raising their hand because it made them feel a little less than. They don't want others to know. Father, I pray that they would know that Jesus is holding his hand out in the midst of their doubt, just like Peter, what he did for Peter. And I wanna just encourage you today, one action step today, right now with your eyes closed and your head bowed, would you just name your doubt, not out loud, just in your heart to God, or your hurt, or ask that question that you need to ask. Sometimes it's hard to frame the words, isn't it? Just name your doubt, or at least just tell God, look, I have some doubts. Help me with my unbelief. God, we come to you honestly. You see our questions, our confusion, the things we don't understand right now, some of us, we feel unsure, and sometimes even afraid, but thank you that you never reject us for doubting. Thank you that like Peter, when we start sinking, you reach out your hand instead of letting us go. Please give us clarity where we're confused, peace where we are anxious,

and courage to keep seeking you. Help us to separate what is truly from you from what is unhealthy or untrue, and lead us back to what is real, and what is good, and what is loving. Jesus, meet us in our doubt, hold onto us even when we don't feel like we're holding onto you, guide us step-by-step, and strengthen our faith in a way that is deeper, truer, and more honest than ever before. We wanna know you, we wanna see what's true. We're here today. That's the thing I would say about all of us, Lord. We showed up today, questions and all. God, we lift up the people we love who are wrestling with doubt. You see their questions, you see our hearts, and we worry for them, but give us wisdom to love them well, grace to trust you in the journey, meet them in their doubts, speak to them gently and draw them closer to you, and give us peace as we place them in your faithful hands. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. Hey, I love you guys. Thanks for being here today. Thanks for praying for me, and we will see you next week for week three of The Benefit of Doubt.

God bless y'all.