YP Sing Address—D. Nicoara
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Verse said be strong and very courageous, almost like someone knew exactly what I needed to see when I walked into this building tonight. But.
We can go ahead and open with a word of prayer. Our God and our Father, we thank you for the hymns that we've been able to sing and to lift up our hearts together and what beautiful lines we've been able to consider. And we thank you for this day and for this week that we've been able to be here and to be under the sound of the Word and to enjoy fellowship with.
Each other and we just thank you for this and.
Now we ask for your blessing as we open the scriptures and pray for help for the speaker as well. In your name we pray, Lord Jesus.
Amen.
Turn with me first to Psalm 133.
This doesn't really have anything to do with the topic I wanted to talk about tonight, but the verse came to me as I was thinking yesterday and today about this first verse. Behold how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to delve together.
In unity. I've been thinking about this verse a lot recently as we left an assembly and Grand Rapids.
Michigan that we've come to really love, and a lot of folks there, brothers and sisters in that assembly that we loved, gotten to know and move across the country. This verse came to me then as well. And I think if we can all agree, we've had a pleasant time this week. We've been among the Lord's people and under the sound of the word and away from this world and away from its cares.
It's been pleasant.
But as our brother mentioned last night, and I hate to be a downer, but we have to go back to our regular lives, don't we? Some of us have gone back already. Some of us are going back tomorrow, some on Monday. And if you're like me, nothing's probably changed about what your life was like a week ago.
Versus when you go home.
And one thing that.
Effects all of us. Maybe all of us, but something that affects many of us.
Is doubt.
And I was in much turmoil about whether I should even tell you this story. And if you've heard this story before, I apologize and bear with me.
Because I don't want the focus to be on myself here tonight.
But the last time I was at this camp, I wasn't called Camp Volcano. It was called Brooks Memorial. And it's hard to believe for me when I thought this out, but it's been 11 years. I don't really feel that old, but eleven years seems like it went by way too fast. And that was the summer that I I the same camp that I asked my wife.
To come with me to a sing and gave our parents a heart attack.
And a lot has happened since then, but I want to think back to the spring after that camp. And, you know, I came to this camp and I sat in these seats like so many of you did. And I'd grown up in a Christian home with parents that love me. Well, first of all, they love the Lord. And we had Bible readings in our home and the Word expounded to us. I had a lot of Christian friends.
In the assembly brothers that I still look up to today still have close friendships with.
And despite all of that.
That spring.
Of 2015, it would have been 2012. It's been a while. That spring I struggled with some serious doubt in my life.
And I got into.
Some forums on the Internet, some things that various professors said in class and what different ones it said and I started to question different aspects of my faith and I and it grew into a full blown crisis of faith.
To the point where I felt like I stood on a knife's edge and that all it would have taken would have been one push and I wouldn't have been here in front of you tonight.
So the subject matters that we take up tonight and we've taken up all week.
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Is things that have to do with life and death.
It was only by God's grace that any of us is kept.
Don't take it for granted. Don't take the treasure, the heritage that you've been given for granted.
I'm not going to go into the details of how God and his grace drew me back. And you wouldn't have been able to tell because I was still at the assembly meetings. I still went to Bible studies. I still hung out with my friends.
But no one could see the darkness that had grown in my own soul.
And the reason I tell you this story tonight?
Because I'm not standing here in front of you. Because I figured it out.
Because I have all the answers, because I've arrived. But I'm like a brand plucked out of the fire.
And so the subject I have on my night and my heart tonight is to talk about doubt because doubt and you know, if you don't struggle with doubt, this meeting is not for you. But if you've struggled with doubt before in your lives, if you've had questions, then I hope that I can maybe shed some light a little bit on the subject and most importantly, to talk about some things that.
We can do When those thoughts come, when those questions arise in our hearts, where can we turn for help?
You know, doubt is uncertainty about various aspects of our faith. And I want to be careful here because we'll talk about two aspects of doubt, and the first one is is questioning.
You know, we're frail humans. And in Psalm 104 and 1/03/14, he says.
He knoweth our frame, He remembers that we are made of dust, and we've taken up, as has been pointed out so many times this week, very lofty truths.
And our human minds are frail and they have a hard time grasping these things. In fact, they don't just have a hard time, they can't grasp some of these things. We talk about concepts like eternity, like God's omniscience and omnipotence.
What is pure holiness? What was divine suffering?
What is the Trinity?
What is Incarnation?
What are miracles? What is heaven like?
Does the Rapture? What is that going to be like?
What about someone mentioned eternal security in the meeting And some of these topics like eternity, they're beyond us, the hymn writer says. The higher mysteries of thy fame, the creatures grasp, transcend, and so it's natural.
That if we lay hold of these things by faith as humans, as frail humans, questions will arise in our hearts. That's inevitable. Questions will arise in our hearts. But I want to differentiate that from doubt of another kind. There's two portions I want to turn to. First, turn with me to Hebrews chapter 3 and verse 7.
Again, He limiteth a certain day, saying in David to day, after so long a time as it is said today, if you will hear his voice, harden not your hearts. For if Jesus had given them rest, then would he not afterward have spoken of another day there? If may not therefore rest to the people of God. For he that is entered into His rest, He also hath ceased from His own works, as God did from his.
Let us labor, therefore, brethren, 1/3 for to enter into that rest.
Lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief.
For the Word of God is quick and powerful and sharper than any two edged sword. So here we have the ones in the in the wilderness that harden their heart and set us an example of unbelief. You know, if you're not saved, you've heard the scriptures, you've heard the gospel, you've been born and raised up surrounded by light. I know you've heard the gospel. I know you've heard the scriptures because we've had them before us, at least this week.
In doubt if we doubt the goodness of God.
If we doubt his free offer of salvation and we harden our hearts in unbelief, then we'll be like these ones that are hardened in unbelief and there's no hope for that sort of person. That sort of person is an apostate. But what if we're a believer and we have doubts and questions that creep into our mind?
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And these questions come in instead of going to the source where we can find peace and find answers.
We let them fester and we cultivate them. What can happen to that person? Let's turn to James, chapter one.
In verse five, if any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not, and it shall be given him, but let him ask in faith. Nothing. It says wavering, but the new translation says nothing doubting. For he that doubteth is like a wave of the sea, driven with the wind and tossed. For let not that man think that he shall receive anything of the Lord. And so if we let these things build up and fester in our lives, these doubts can start to grow.
Into something more and more and more and tell that it can rob us about the joy of our salvation. It can rob us of our joy in Christ. It can rob us of our testimony. It can cause us to be tossed to and fro and drift off into the nothingness that is this world. And so it can rob us of our testimony in that way. And so very critical that we know where to turn and how we can prevent that from happening.
I'd also want to turn to one of the most famous examples of doubting in our scriptures.
In John chapter 20.
And just very briefly, I don't want to dwell on here too long.
John, Chapter 20.
And verse 24.
But Thomas, one of the 12 called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came. The other disciples therefore say unto him, We have seen the Lord. But he said unto them, Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe. And after eight days again his disciples were with him, and Thomas with them. Then came Jesus, the doors being shut.
And still in the midst, and said, Peace be unto you.
Then saith he to Thomas, reach, hit her thy finger, and behold my hands, and reach, hit her thy hand, and thrust it into my hand, and be not faithless, but believing. And Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lord and my God. And so Thomas here, you know he wasn't with the assembly of disciples when the Lord appeared to them the first time. And then when he hears that the Lord had been resurrected, he doubts that.
And we can understand that from a natural perspective, can't we? It's something that's something that's difficult to get your mind around.
Thomas wanted to believe that, but he was having a block here. He couldn't. He couldn't believe that something that amazing had happened. And we see that our Lord Jesus rebukes him and he says in verse 29, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed. Blessed are they that have not seen and yet have believed, because he that cometh to God must believe that he is.
We have to take God at His Word.
We don't need to put our hands into those nail prints. We don't need to see where the spear pierced his side to believe that's not what he says in his scripture. So he rebukes Thomas on that point.
But at the same time we see the Lord's gentleness with him. He knew Thomas's frame. He knew that Thomas was made of dust, and so in his love.
He still let him put his fingers in those nail prints and let him thrust his hand into his side so that he would not be not faithless, but believing. So how are we to prevent?
Falling into doubts. And so these are just some person. There's so many things that we could say on this subject, but these are just some of my own personal meditations, things that we can do when doubts arise. And it's going to sound a little bit cliche, but the first thing.
Is to continue in the Christian disciplines. We often hear about reading and prayer and meditation and reading is important because as I've already said in Hebrews 11 and verse six, he said He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him. The Christian pathway requires diligence.
Our human flesh and our frailty we're stuck with as long as we're in this scene. But the way to overcome that is to be in the Scriptures.
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To be on our knees, to be in meditation, and we have to be careful what we're feeding on. In Psalm 119, we see, we read through Thy precepts. I get understanding. We're not going to get understanding by hopping on Internet forums or reading books that people hand to us at school or listening to our professors.
That's not going to give us understanding in spiritual matters, is it? And so we need to be careful what we feed on if we feed on those things.
If we expose ourselves to those things, it will lead to doubts entering in because we are made of dust.
And then there's prayer we read in James one if any man lack wisdom, let a mask of God. And I love that part of that verse where he says he upbraideth not. Again, just as with Thomas, he's not going to. He knows he understands who we are and he upbraideth not let him ask of God. So pray, be on your knees, be diligent on your knees and pray if you have questions, because that's the ultimate source of where you will get answers when you.
Have those questions and then meditation and there's so many things that we can meditate on. We'll never exhaust the scriptures for meditation. But when it comes, particularly to doubts, particularly if it's something existential like I mentioned earlier.
I've enjoyed meditating on the sayings of three of the apostles.
Where Paul says, I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I've committed unto him against that day.
And Peter says we have not followed cunningly devised fables.
For eyewitnesses of His Majesty and John said that which we have seen and heard declare unto you. And when I read those words written many 2000 years ago, those men signed those words with their own blood.
Because they didn't follow cunningly devised fables, and those words that they wrote then are as true today as they were when they wrote them.
So we can be persuaded.
The other thing is to seek help. I think I really appreciated the comment our brother made in one of the reading meetings.
Don't be afraid to ask questions, to ask for prayer and guidance. You know, when I had questions about my faith, I was ashamed to ask them because in my pride I was unwilling to be looked at by my brother and be seen as weak. And that's ridiculous. That's ridiculous because I am weak. And we need our brethren and we should not be afraid to ask for guidance, to ask for prayer.
We know in Hebrews chapter 13 it says whose faith follow knowing the end of their conversation.
And so there's those that are further along in the faith, many that have probably had the same questions that you have. They've had the same concerns and difficulties that you've had. Reach out to them, reach out to them. And I'd appreciated the comment that someone made also that if we don't have the answers and someone comes and asks us, we can say, well, I don't have the answer, but let's go look together. Let's find out together. Let's pray about it together.
And that's the role of a father, as we had earlier.
And the other thing I want to talk about is that we should be prepared and underestimate the enemy of our souls. You know, there's a lot of things that go on in, I don't know how to call it, popular Christendom. You know, I've heard of movies and documentaries of, you know, where, where certain somebody is arguing with a professor and puts them in their place, etcetera. It's not that simple.
It's not that simple.
You know, in my line of work we have a variation of a saying overconfidence kills people.
And I think if you'd ask Uncle Tim in his line of work, they probably say a very similar line to their trainees.
And so you wouldn't go and fight fires without being prepared and you wouldn't walk into an operating room without knowing what you're doing because that would kill somebody. And so you should not go.
Out into this world and try to face the subtlety of the devil, that he's going to attack you through your classmates, through your professors, through your own flesh, and think that you can face that in your own strength, that it's some kind of easy thing.
We wouldn't do that with those natural things. Don't do it with your spiritual things. We read that verse often.
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To be ready to give an answer of everyone that asks of us. And oftentimes our focus is on the last part of that verse where it says give an answer to every man that asks of you. But I'm telling you tonight that your focus should be on the first part of that verse that says be ready. There's a lot of preparation. We don't want to be unlearned men because unlearned and unstable men rest the Scriptures as we read elsewhere. And so we have to be.
Be prepared. And this is where inevitably, I feel like the aside is well, what about apologetics? What about apologetics when I faced out?
And I'm going to try to draw a line through the middle here, and I'm open to correction from my brethren, but they can be, they can be useful in providing answers to certain difficulties. But it's important to use well vetted resources. And it's important that we realize this, that ultimately apologetics as a branch of philosophy.
Is man's wisdom and we're going to fight the attacks of the devil.
And the attacks of men with man's wisdom. And I'm trying to be careful here because I've been very much helped by certain resources. But again, if you have questions, don't just go to your library. Don't just go on Amazon and pull off the first apologetic book that comes up to you. Ask someone who's older, someone who's more wise than you in in the assembly, your parents, somebody they may have a resource they can guide you to and it can be helpful to answer.
You know, sometimes I've had questions about about things like, well, you know, we read about there being 3 days and three nights that the Lord Jesus was in the tomb, but that doesn't line up with our American understanding of time. And it fits perfectly well with the understanding of time in ancient Israel. And, and having someone to be able to point that out to you can be helpful to resolve difficulties, but it's not man's arguments and man's reasonings that are ultimately going to give you rest.
And I never found rest in my soul reading apologetics. I found rest in my soul praying and reading the scriptures, because in them you think you have eternal life. And so let us read in Colossians chapter 2.
Colossians chapter 2 and verse 2.
That their hearts might be might be comforted being knit together in love unto all riches, of the full assurance of understanding, to the acknowledgement of the mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ, and whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. And this I say, lest any man should beguile you with enticing words. And then over in verse 8.
Be aware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit.
After the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. For in Him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and ye are complete in Him which is the head of all principality and power. There we'll find our rest. There we'll find the answers to our questions.
There will find the fullness is in the Godhead and in holding Christ as our head, not in the philosophies and the vain deceit, the traditions of men.
And then just a couple more points. Bear with me here and First Timothy chapter one.
First Timothy chapter one and verse 18. Holding faith and a good conscience.
Which some, having put away concerning faith, have made shipwreck.
I can't emphasize this enough, that we cannot have peace in our souls and be free of doubts and rest in the salvation that God has provided us if we don't have a clean conscience. A clean conscience, an unclean conscience, will cause us to make shipwreck because when sin enters, it breaks off our communion with Christ.
And if we don't have that free line of communication and of communion with the Lord Jesus because of sin in our lives, that is unjudged.
And we have an unclean conscience. We will never have peace. And you can search for answers all day. You can read all the books of apologetics. You can even read the scriptures.
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But if you have an unclean conscience, you will not have peace.
And then finally, one last thing, and it was brought out already, and that's kind of one of the benefits of speaking at the end of camp time is I feel like half of the things that I was going to bring up tonight, I've already come up. But let us be content with not understanding everything. I especially enjoyed what was brought out last night about the Ark and trying to understand.
And explain what is beyond us. Some things.
Are put beyond our grasp for a reason because God and His sovereignty has chosen to do so. And so let us be content. I was trying to think of a word for this, and I came up with to be reverentially perplexed.
And to be content with not having all the answers. And it's hard because humans are curious. We are curious, we want answers, and some of us especially love to have answers. But to be able to just bask in not knowing and knowing that it's beyond me because God is so much bigger than I am. And as the brother mentioned the other night, you know, I've done the same thing while I'm here at camp. It's just just walk out on the bridge and look up at the stars and wonder how.
The one who created such vastness, we could say that all things were created by him, and then in that same portion dropped down a few verses and says the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us. I am never going to grasp that while I'm here on this earth. And I'm OK with that. And I'm OK with that. And I'm asking you to be OK with that too. Not every question has to have an answer.
Let's turn to 1St Corinthians in closing.
Chapter 13.
These are some of my favorite verses. I've been such a help to me.
In this regard, for we know in part in verse 9, for we know in part.
And we prophesied in part. And then that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part.
Shall we be done away?
And verse 12 for now we see through a glass darkly, but then.
Face to face. Now I know in part, but then shall I know?
Even as I am known and now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three. But the greatest of these is love.
And so there's coming a day.
When as the mists of this world fall away and we're called up to be in heaven. And I look on that face for the first time, and I see those nail prints in his hands and in his feet, and I see that same wound in his side that Thomas saw. And I look at his face then.
Then I will know, even as I am known. Let's close in prayer.
For God and our Father.
We thank you for the many promises that we have in the Scriptures, the many words of encouragement that we read in these pages. I pray that these words might be made true to our souls.
Pray that we would go away from this place with renewed strength and renewed zeal and a renewed testimony to those around us and with more peace in our souls. And so we just thank you.
For this opportunity tonight to have opened the scriptures and we just ask for a blessing on the remainder of our time together. We thank you too for the refreshments to follow the hands that prepared them, and we thank you for these things in your name, Lord Jesus, Amen.