 Is it a sin to doubt or to worry? Well, if it is, we're all in sin. A lot of you may have been told that it is wrong to worry. It is a sin to worry. As a matter of fact, it's a sin to have doubt. The problem with that is that that's something that every last one of us go through. Say, Jesus, but every person on the planet that has ever lived, that has ever walked, has gone through doubt. Even those who have the Holy Spirit, even those who are apostles and prophets in the Bible, everybody has doubted. Now, the question is, what is meant by doubt? What is meant by worry? So, number one, is doubt disbelief? Because, certainly, disbelief is a sin if we're talking about disbelief or a lack of faith as it pertains to salvation, having faith in Christ, what He's done. If you believe what He's done, you are saved. If you don't believe what He's done, that sort of disbelief, that is a sin. That's just a sin that means that you have not placed your faith in Christ and you have no reward in Him. The longer any of Mark tells us in verse 16 says that, he who has believed and has been baptized, shall be saved. But, he who has disbelief in this word here is, doesn't have faith and so there is a difference between having faith and doubt. Doubt does not necessarily mean disbelief. Doubt in regards to what Christ did, well, that's a sin. But doubt in terms of the circumstances and situations, that is a whole other thing. It is possible to have faith in God, but not have faith in what God is going to do about the circumstances. Notice this conversation that this man is having with Jesus, whose son is possessed and the demon has him tossed about and thrown in the fire and so forth. Notice the conversation. Now the man does have faith that Christ can heal him, but he doesn't have faith that Christ will or that He will be done. That's what he says. It is often, Jesus asked, often thrown him into the fire and into the water to destroy him. But if you can do anything, take Pideonah so he's noticing or he seems to be possibly saying that if you can do anything, if you can, notice what Jesus' response is. Jesus' response in 23 was, if you can, to kind of parrot what he just says, if you can, all things are possible to him who believes. And he says, now, is this in terms of salvation? Well, I don't think so. I think this is in terms of the person being healed. But notice what he says. Immediately the boy's father cried out and said to him, I do believe, help my unbelief. And that's something that many of us can kind of identify with. I do believe, I believe that God can. The question is, do I believe that He will? Kind of reminds you of the Hebrew boys in the fire. We know that God can. Even if He don't, we know He can. Even if He doesn't, we know He can. And that's the point. Do you have faith in Him? The question is, Lord, these are the things that are bothering me. I'm struggling with this. I've got a problem. I've got a deadline. I've got this. It might be something financial. It might be something health-wise. It might be something emotional. So many different things. Lord, are you going to deliver us out of those things? And what we're going to find out is faith is not what delivers you out of something. Faith and trusting is what delivers you through something. I'm not talking about salvific faith. I'm talking about believing, trusting, not doubting, having faith in Him, confidence in Him that He will get you through. And that whatever it is you go through, you will be okay. This is why Peter Paul makes a statement in Philippians 4. He's not saying that I can do every single thing that I want to do through Christ. He says, whatever it is I'm going through, all those things that I'm going through in Philippians 4.13, I can do through Christ. That's the sort of faith. That's the kind of trusting that we want. However, the Bible does say, Jesus does say, do not worry. Matthew 6.25 says, therefore I tell you, do not be anxious or some birds say, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body. What you will put on it is not life more than food and the body more than clothing. And he says, look at the birds of the air and the lilies of the field. His point is, and he's not really speaking so much about salvation. He's speaking about the things that are happening in your life. We worry about those things. Am I going to have enough money to pay the bills? Am I going to have enough time to do this? Is this going to happen? Boy, I sure hope that I get that raise. I would sure like, is my car going to work today? Am I going to get in trouble over here? Different things that we are concerned about. Having concern is not a sin. Jesus tells us how to put this in proper perspective and what you should do first. He says, seek first, first thing that you do, seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and then these things will be added to you. So those things that you have concern about and worry about, let your attention to Christ be first and foremost. Let your connection, let your closeness to Him be first and foremost. Why? Because we're going to find out the closer we get to Him, the less those other things seem to worry. As a matter of fact, they won't worry nearly as much because your focus is in Him and you are being comforted in Him. Now, is it also true that other men in the Bible, godly, faithful men have also had concerns and doubts about not God, not about Christ, but about the situation? You think about Abraham. Abraham actually had a little bit of fear. He was concerned of what was going to happen to him when they approached him about his wife. He knew that there might be some problems. Same thing with Elijah. Here Elijah is, who is a powerful prophet of God, who was concerned about some woman making death threats. And then even John the Baptist. What is, how highly does God speak about this? Christ speak about John the Baptist. But even John the Baptist, at his death, sent word to ask, just want to make sure, are you the Christ? Well, was John the Baptist guilty of sin? No. There are times where you just, you know, I want to make sure. There are a lot of things happening and you identify your true faith by doing really what John the Baptist did. John the Baptist did not worry out loud and go to other people. What did he do? He went to the source. That's what builds our faith. And we're going to find out again that some of these doubts, these concerns, these worries, actually can be used and should be used and will be used to build our faith. And so it's possible that you can have faith in God, but not be sure if God is going to remedy the situation the way you like to. Now, let me just put a disclosure on it. Can doubt or can worry lead to sin? It absolutely can. One, it can cause you to do things that you should not do. Two, you might end up finding out that you might not actually be saved. You might actually have faith in Christ because your concern, your worry is more about the things of the world than about Christ. And if that's the case, it might identify that you have no faith in Christ to begin with, even for salvation. So while the Bible does say not to worry, it doesn't ever come out right and say that worrying is a sin. As a matter of fact, again, we're going to see people who also, who love the Lord, are full of the Spirit, who have some concerns and it's not called sin. But what does it end up doing? It ends up bringing them closer to Christ. Notice in 1 Peter 5, 60 says, Therefore, humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God that he may exalt you at the proper time. In other words, just this statement right here identifies that there's something going on that requires some exalting. Notice what he says, casting your anxiety or your fears or your worries. And this is in a, excuse me, this is in a participle. So this is, as a matter of fact, this is a present active participle while casting your fear, while putting your concerns on him. Meaning you do have concerns about your life. And he says, in that way, put those concerns on him. Let your focus be on him. Give it to him. Realize he's going to do one, two things with it. He's going to either accomplish what you want or not. But the most important thing is, he will be the one that you'll be in. And so wherever he's taking you, you'll still be with him. Now notice something about Paul, what Paul says. They're going, we know about all the stories, all the things that Paul had to deal with and so forth. But listen to what Paul says about him and his companions. He says in 2 Corinthians 1-8, For we do not want you to be unaware, brethren, of our affliction, things that were happening to them, which came to us in Asia that we were, look what he says, burdened excessively beyond our strength. Notice the terminology that's used here. So that we despaired even of life. This word of despair is we were troubled. We were concerned, greatly concerned, despaired of life. It was so bad that the Bible says that even Paul and his companions despaired even of life. Look what he says. Indeed, and here's a good part. Indeed, we had the sentence of death within ourselves so that we would not trust in ourselves. Here's the key. We would not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead. And so what they were going through caused them to put more of a focus on Christ, which happens a lot. Oftentimes we go through things, things that cause concern and worry, and what do we do if we are believers, just like Paul, just like John the Baptist. We move towards Christ. So he uses those things to build up our faith, to strengthen us. Why is that the case? Where did we hear that before? In James 1, he says, Consider all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials. Knowing, look what he says, the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. When you are going through something, you've got some concerns. You're not sure about something. That's what all doubt is. You're just not sure about something. Should you be sure? Should you have a life where there is no doubt? That's the goal, to not doubt anything. Have perfect and complete confidence in what God is doing. Not confidence that God is going to do what you want, but just confident that God is going to fulfill His purpose in you, that God is going to accomplish His purpose in you. That's where the faith and the confidence ought to be. And so when you are going through something where there's concern, doubt, worry, and then you in turn focus on Him, or as Jesus says, seek first the kingdom of God, seek Christ, draw close to Him. What ends up happening is, you'll be amazed at how much your faith is strengthened. As a matter of fact, those things you sit down and worry about, have concern about. You're not as concerned about those any longer. Why? Because your focus has changed. Now you are focused on Him. Everything else becomes secondary. So to answer the question, is doubt or worry your sin? Notice as a matter of fact, it's one of the things that God uses to bring us closer to Him. Make sure do your best to move closer to Him and you'll find that you'll have less and less doubt, worries, and concerns. Amen.