A Reason To Believe

Matthew 11: 1-3

And it came to pass, when Jesus had made an end of commanding his twelve disciples, he departed thence to teach and to preach in their cities. 2- Now when John had heard in the prison the works of Christ, he sent two of his disciples, 3- And said unto him; art thou he that should come, or do we look for another?

We are living in a time when our prisons are becoming more and more crowed. It’s a time when many of the officers in our courts are looking to further their careers by getting convictions any way necessary; even if it means convicting the wrong person. There are people in prison today that are there because of mistaken identity! Mistaken identity can be caused by one not doing their due diligence to make sure that what or who they are identifying is actually what or who it is. There was a black man in Virginia that spent 26 years in prison that was charged for killing his wife and children only to find out after 26 years; the real killer turned herself in and admitted to the murders. That stands to show that due diligence was not taken before taking away 26 years of a man’s life that no amount of money can buy back. Sometimes, life situations can have us in a place that we can begin to doubt the actions or decisions we’ve made.

We find John the Baptist in prison for telling the King of Galilee Herod that it was unlawful and ungodly for him to have his brother’s wife. He had unlawfully divorced his wife and married Herodias, the wife of Herod Philip. It’s one thing when we have been cast into prison for a wrong that we have committed; but it’s a whole different thing when we’ve not only; not done anything wrong; but actually done what was right. I’m sure that there may be someone here today that felt you were doing what God wanted you to do and faced difficulty of a hardship for it. John was faithful to God and his purpose! John was a forerunner for Christ. He was one that was preparing the people for the coming Messiah. This is the same John that cried out in the Gospel of John Chapter 1:29; …Behold the Lamb of God!

And again in verse 36, when John was with two of his disciples, he saw Jesus walking and said; Behold the Lamb of God! John wasn’t quite about proclaiming who Jesus was! But now John finds himself in prison, waiting, not knowing that he would soon be executed. When things are going well in our lives, we too can cry out; Jesus is Lord: blessed by the best; he’ll never leave me nor forsake me; but what about when we find ourselves in a predicament such as John? A predicament is to be found in a difficult, embarrassing, and or unpleasant situation. How many cries would go up about how the Lord had let us down? John had come to a point in his situation that he no doubt sat and wondered if he should have ever opened his mouth! John was no doubt thinking as some of us would have; if this Jesus is the Messiah, why is he allowing me to be sitting here in prison when I could be out fulfilling my purpose?

We know that John was struggling with what he had believed because verse 3 of Matthew 11 says: And said unto him; art thou he that should come, or do we look for another? Its amazing, difficult situations in our lives will mess with the things that we have strong beliefs in! We know that John wasn’t some weak, wishy washy type of man because Jesus says in verse 11: 11- Verily I say unto you, among them that are born of woman, there has not risen a greater than John the Baptist; … But yet this great man “John the Baptist” was found in a situation that he NEEDED A REASON TO BELIEVE! Listen to what he sent them to ask Jesus! Are you the one, or should I look for another? John needed some reinforcements in his belief system! John needed “A Reason to Believe”. John was in trouble! And Psalm 46: 1 says: 1 God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Here come John’s reason to believe… Jesus told John’s messengers in verse 4; Go and show John again those things which ye do hear and see. verse 5; The blind receive their sight, and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them. Sometimes, just a word from the Lord will renew and strengthen our belief in what we believe and know to be true! For some of us, a word from the Lord isn’t enough! We need the Lord himself to give us “A Reason to Believe”! ....We should let nothing cause us to lose confidence in our faith ...be continued