Doubting Daddy Series

a. The text is clear in verses 5-7 that Zachariah was a man of true faith

i. He was not some “ardent atheist” or “hard hearted unbeliever”

ii. He was a man who genuinely believed in God and His ordinances

iii. Yet he still experienced a time of real doubt when faced with the test of having to truly trust a promise from God

b. Doubt is possible for even the strongest believer

i. QUOTE: In his book, Spiritual Depression, Martyn Lloyd-Jones writes: “Doubts are not incompatible with faith.…Some people seem to think that once you become a Christian you should never be assailed by doubts. But that is not so, Peter still had faith (as he panicked in the storm in Matthew 14).… His faith was not gone, but because it was weak, doubt mastered him and overwhelmed him and he was shaken…Doubts will attack us, but that does not mean that we are to allow them to master us.”

ii. Sometimes we get the wrong picture when we think of Peter falling into the water and we see only his doubt

iii. We forget to see that he was the only one of the 12 who got out of the boat, which was an act of genuine faith

c. If you are a Christian, there are times when you will be faced with doubt

i. There will be times when you will be tempted to look into the heavens and wonder “what is God doing?”

ii. Or times when you come across Scripture that you don’t fully understand and it causes you to think “what is God talking about?”

iii. QUOTE: Keep in mind Zachariah was a true believer in God who was going through the experience of true doubt – and that is possible for any believer, so we must be on our guard

d. QUESTION: How can we be “On guard”?

i. Ephesians 6 tells us about something called “the armor of God”

ii. v.17 says that there is a piece called “the helmet of salvation”

1. And what this refers to is when doubt comes to the forefront of your mind, replace that with the reminder that God has given you the great and wonderful gift of salvation

2. Then when you are facing life’s inevitable trials you can say, along with the apostle Paul, “I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us” (Romans 8:18)

I. It is Possible for People of Faith to Experience Times of Doubt

II. Doubt causes us to Focus on what we can’t do, Rather than what God can do

a. Zachariah and his wife were well advanced in years

i. They were way past their childbearing years

ii. Besides that Elizabeth was apparently barren

b. Zachariah couldn’t get past these limitations in his own mind

i. NOTE: You would think that Zachariah, being a priest, would know that this was not the first time in history God had chosen to use a barren or older couple to bring forth a special child:

• Abraham and Sarah in God’s time and in His way brought forth Isaac

• Isaac and Rebekah in God’s time and in His way brought forth Jacob and Esau

• Elkanah and Hannah in God’s time and in His way brought forth Samuel

ii. This was not the first time, by any means, that God had chosen a couple who had no children to bring forth a special child that He would call to service