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All right, I just realized it's 80 degrees in here, and I just turned the air conditioning on, so if I'm just sweating like a crazy person, that's why. All right, Matthew chapter 11. Here we are, 11th chapter of Matthew. So what we're going to do is we're going to preach through verse by verse, and then I'm going to use the biggest story, what I think is the biggest story here for application at the end. And it's the story that we see right away at the beginning with John the Baptist. We'll talk about that in detail at the end of the sermon. So I just want to make sure I get through the sermon, and then we'll apply it at the end, okay? Matthew chapter 11, look at verse number 1, it says, and it came to pass, when Jesus had made an end of commanding his 12 disciples, he departed thence to teach and to preach in their city. So you know, remember the last chapter, he's giving them all these instructions to go out and to go soul winning, basically, right, and spread the gospel. Now when John had heard in prison the works of Christ, he sent two of his disciples and said unto him, art thou he that should come, or do we look for another? So this is interesting. So now John at this point has been arrested, he's in prison, of course he was arrested by Herod for, you know, preaching against divorce and taking your brother's wife. So John was in prison, and then, you know, he knew who Jesus was, okay? But then he goes and he asks this question, and it's very interesting, there's a lot we can learn from it, we're going to look at that at the end, but basically John was down here. He was in prison, look, he never got out of that prison, right, I mean that's where he ended his life, he was in prison and he doubted, he doubted a little bit here. So Jesus, you know, go ahead and turn to 1 Corinthians chapter 10, by the way. So you know, John the Baptist doubted, alright, he doubted. So turn to 1 Corinthians chapter 10, and look at verse number 13. So he doubts, and then right after that, you know, Jesus sent the disciples back to him to reassure him, okay, so that's nice to know. But look down at 1 Corinthians chapter 10 and verse number 13, this is some more assurance that we can have, and the Bible says this, it says, there had no temptation taken you, but such is common to man. But God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that you're able, but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that you may be able to bear it. So John the Baptist, he doubted, but the Bible says that God will not test you, he will not try you with anything that you can't handle, okay, so that we can take comfort in that, right, we can take comfort in whenever we're going through, and we'll get into more detail at the end, but whatever we're going through, we're not going, it's not something you can't handle, okay, it's not something that God's not going to get you through, because God is faithful, okay. Now look at verse number 4, it says, Jesus answered and said unto them, go and show John again those things which ye do hear and see, the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them. And blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in me. So he has them go and reassure John, they shore him up, they reassure him of his doubt. And as they departed, Jesus began to say unto the multitudes concerning John, what went ye out into the wilderness to see, a reed shaken with the wind, but what went ye out for to see, a man clothed in soft raiment, behold, they that wear soft clothing are in king's houses, but what went ye out for to see, a prophet, yea, I say unto you, more than a prophet, for this is he of whom it is written, behold, I send my messenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before me. So here John is down and out, Jesus then sends the disciples to John to reassure him, and then turn to Malachi chapter 3, then he says, and then he just starts, you know, giving props to John, basically. Start building John up in front of the people that Jesus is talking to. And he actually explains that this is a fulfillment of prophecy. John is a fulfillment of prophecy. In Malachi chapter 3, look at verse number 1. And we see in verse 10 of Matthew 11, for this is he whom it is written, behold, remember that it is written, that means that there's an Old Testament verse, you know, correlating to what we're talking about, behold, I send my messenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before me. In Malachi chapter 3 verse 1, we see where it is written, behold, I will send my messenger and he shall prepare the way before me, and the Lord whom ye seek shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in, behold, he shall come, saith the Lord of hosts. So we see that Jesus says that, you know, this is the messenger that was sent before me. John is that man. So he builds John up, he sends people to, you know, reassure John, all right? But John was a person, he was a man, just like you and I, right? Look at Matthew 11, 11, verily I say unto you, among them that are born of women there have not risen a greater than John the Baptist, notwithstanding he that is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he, and from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force, for all the prophets and the law prophesied until John. And if ye will receive it, this is Elias, which is for to come. He that hath ears to hear, let him hear. Turn to Malachi chapter 4, one chapter over. So we see again that this is, Jesus is talking about another prophecy that is being fulfilled. It's really the same prophecy as in Malachi chapter 3, but we see some more detail on that in Malachi chapter 4, and look down at verse number 5, where the Bible says, Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord, and he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with the curse. So John fulfilled this prophecy, is what the Bible says, is what Jesus is saying here. Now look, turn to John chapter 1. Was John the Baptist the literal reincarnation of Elijah? Let's look at that, because some people teach that. Let's take a look at that. John the Baptist himself actually answered this question. So look at John chapter 1 and verse number 19, where the Bible says, and this is the record of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, Who art thou? So they basically come up to John the Baptist and they say, Who are you? And he confessed and denied not, but confessed, I am not the Christ. So he's like, I'm not the Messiah, number one, and they asked him, What then? Art thou Elias, Elijah? And he says, I am not. Art thou that prophet? And he answered, No. So he says twice that he's not Elijah, because the Jews knew about this prophecy in Malachi chapter 4, and John the Baptist says, I'm not Elijah. So what is Jesus talking about? So Jesus basically, looking through Malachi chapter 4, think about this, if all you knew was Malachi chapter 4, would you know if it was a literal or figurative Elijah that was to come? You wouldn't know that, right? You're kind of looking through a glass darkly. You might think that you're looking for a literal Elijah, but Jesus answers the question. Jesus answers the question right here. That's why he says in, the Bible says in verse number 14, he says, If ye will receive it, this is Elias, which was for to come. He that hath ears to hear, let him hear. Jesus said he fulfilled the spirit of Elijah, the prophecy of Elijah to come. So Jesus basically puts a pin in that one and says, this is that prophecy. So now we know. So it wasn't the literal Elijah, but it was the spirit of that prophecy being fulfilled. Look at verse number 16. But whereunto shall I liken this generation? It is like unto children sitting in the markets and calling unto their fellows, and saying, We have piped unto you, and ye have not danced. We have mourned unto you, and ye have not lamented. So he's calling like this generation is not, they're not getting it, right? They're not getting the message, right? I mean here, the Messiah is here, Jesus is here. John the Baptist was there to prepare the way. Jesus is now here, and they're just like, what? What's going on, right? They're not getting it. So he's saying, you know, this generation is not getting it. Then he goes into some detail. He's like, he's like, look, John, in verse 18, came either eating or drinking. They say he hath a devil. So this guy's out in the, he's eating locusts in the desert, his clothes are all, you know, torn up, he looks like, you know, looks like he was living out in the woods, right? And you know, they say he hath a devil. He's possessed by a devil, they said. But then the Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, Behold, a man gluttonous, and a winebibber, a friend of the publicans and sinners, but wisdom is justified of her children. So he gives, he's like, they're missing the whole thing. This is what he's saying. They've missed the whole thing. And they said, look, this guy's out in the, living in the woods, living in the wilderness. He's not in the world, as we would call it. And then we see Jesus, he's in the world. He's with the publicans and sinners. He's, you know, he's not getting drunk with them. That's not what this says. But I mean, it's saying that he's socializing with people, he's with people, he's being, he's witnessing to people. And he's, they say they never, neither accepted either one of them, right? Then he began to upgrade the cities, wherein most of his mighty works were done, because they repented not. So what he means there is like, look, just in general, these people didn't accept him. Well, people got saved everywhere he went. But in general, overall, you know, these cities did not accept him as the Messiah. In general, there's some Pharisees that got saved, right? Some Pharisees believed. But in general, the religious leadership of the Jews, the Pharisees, the Sadducees, the high priests, whatever, they did not believe, in general. The mainstream, right? And then he says in verse 21, woe unto thee, Chorazin, woe unto thee, Bethsaida. For if the mighty works which were done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. But I say unto you, it shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the day of judgment than for you. And thou Capernaum, which thou art exalted unto heaven, shall be brought down to hell. For if the mighty works which have been done in thee had been done in Sodom, it would have remained unto this day. So that's interesting because basically, was there really any miracles really done in Sodom? It was basically a rescue mission, right? To go into Sodom and rescue Lot and his family. They went in there, they pulled them out, and they destroyed the city. Jesus is saying, look, I've been in these cities, you know, raising people from the dead, healing the sick, doing all these miracles, and these people just, they just can't believe. And he said, if these types of miracles were done in, you know, these wicked cities like Sodom he uses, you know, it would have been, you know, they would have turned, you know, easier than these cities. So he's saying the judgment is going to be terrible for these cities, all right? Look at verse number 24. But I say unto you, that it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment than for thee. And at the time Jesus answered and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes. So we kind of see the main issue that these people were dealing with, and it was that they were, they were wise and prudent, right? They were, they were proud people, right? So he thanks God that God, you know, made it this way. The rich and powerful leaders, they did not believe in these cities. Now look, is it, is that any different than today? I mean, we see the exact same thing today, right? When we go soul winning in like a super nice neighborhood, we pull up to, you know, the pin on the map, and it's like, you know, $500,000 houses, we're all like, you all, we all feel the same way. Admit it. We're all like, oh, this is going to be horrible, right? Whereas like normally, a normally worldly person would be like, oh, this is a wonderful neighborhood. That's not how I feel at all. I walk, I drive, even now I drive through a nice neighborhood, and I'm just like, there's just terrible people here, because I've been soul winning too long, right? Whereas, you know, we pull up to just a poor neighborhood, and we're like, this is going to be great, right? But that's how God designed it, and Jesus is actually saying here, he's like, thank you, Father, for making it that way. So proving, once again, that there's the Father and the Son, right, that have different personalities, different wills, right, the Son is thanking the Father. Whose decision was it to make it this way? It was the Father's. Okay, it wasn't Jesus' decision. Jesus is saying, thank you, Father, for making, look, God could have designed salvation however he wanted. The Father could have designed it to where only the smartest people got saved, right? I mean, God could do whatever he wants. The Father could do whatever he wants. The Father could have made it to where, you know, like tall people have an advantage of being saved, right, where, you know, certain types of people that maybe certain people that grew up in different certain cultures had a better, you know, chance of being saved or, you know, whatever. I mean, the point is, God could have designed salvation however he wanted, but Jesus is here on earth at this time, and he sees the wise and prudent. He sees how they are. He sees that they're proud, that they're just rejecting him and all this, and then he sees that the poor in spirit. He sees the meek, and he sees the poor of the earth, and he's like, he sees how easy they are to get saved, how easy it is for them to believe, and he sees that all these people who are having such a hard time on earth and are humble, he sees that all these people are going to be in heaven. Not all these people, but it's much easier for that type of person to make it to heaven because of their humility, right? He's thanking God for that, right? He's thanking God for that perfect design of salvation, that it's simple, and it's designed for the humble, not the prideful, okay? Look at verse number 26. The Bible says, even so, Father, for it seemed good in thy sight, all the things are delivered unto me of the Father, and no man knoweth the Son but the Father, neither knoweth any man the Father save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him. Turn to John chapter 14. That's kind of complicated. Neither knoweth any man the Father save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him. So basically, Jesus is saying that there's, the only way that you can know the Father saved is because of, is through the Son, okay? Look at John 14 and verse number 6, and we see a little bit clearer passage saying the exact same thing, where Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father but by me. So the Father's different than Jesus. We know that, and the only way you can get to the Father is through Jesus. That's very clear, okay? So Jesus is the path for us to the Father. So Jesus isn't the Father, he's the path to the Father, okay? Look at verse number 28. I mean, the Trinity's complicated, but it's clear how it works. You know what I'm saying? It's complicated to think about, but it's clear how it works in the Bible in several different places, okay? Matthew chapter 11 and verse number 28, the Bible says, Come unto me, all you that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light. Turn to Matthew chapter 23. What is he talking about here? So he's saying that these people, you know, they labor and they're heavy laden. They have this heavy weight on them, and he says, I want to give you rest, okay? And he says, I want to give you rest, and he says, Take my yoke upon you, and I am meek and lowly in heart, and he said, My yoke is easy and my burden is light. So he's saying, here you have this heavy weight put on you right now. He's looking at all these people, these poor people, and these meek people, and he's saying, You have this heavy weight that's pressing on you right now, and he's like, Let me take that off of you, and let me give you my yoke, my weight. It's light. It's easy, he says, okay? Look at Matthew chapter 23, and we see what this is. Where did that heavy yoke come from? In verse number 1 of Matthew 23. Then spake Jesus to the multitude and to his disciples, saying, The scribes and Pharisees sit in Moses' seat, and therefore whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do. But do not ye after their works, for they say and do not. For they bind heavy burdens and grievous to be borne and lay them on men's shoulders, but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers. So here he's saying that, you know, they're hypocrites, right? He's calling them hypocrites again in a different way, right? That's all, you know, he just re-words the hypocrites, right? But he's calling them hypocrites, number 1, but number 2, he's saying, They've put all these heavy burdens on you. What are these burdens? All these things that you have to do to get to heaven. They're teaching works-based salvation. They're teaching that you have to do all these different things to get to heaven. Well, we talked about control a week ago, right? That's another reason for works-based salvation. It's the best reason that people who, you know, the Catholic church is a perfect example. Why do you have to come to, why do you have to get your baby baptized in a Catholic church? It's control, because if you want your child to go to heaven, you've got to come to me. You've got to come through the doors of the church, right? I mean, I'll say that out soul-winning all the time. I'll tell people, you know, I shouldn't tell you this, but going to heaven has nothing to do with coming to the church of the, you know, of coming to my church. It has nothing to do with it, nothing. You know, if I wanted to be some crazed cult leader, you know, that's what you would tell people. Hey, to get to heaven, you've got to come to my church at, you know, 1703 Fulton Street, or you're going to hell. I mean, that's what you have to, I mean, but that's exactly what these works-based religions, especially the Catholic church, do. You've got to come here. Hey, go out and live a wicked life. They probably want people to go out and sin all week long, so they can come and they have to come to confession to get to heaven. You've got to come here and you've got to take, you know, the, go to mass and do the sacraments and all these made-up things and, just to get to heaven. But it's total control. And you put money in the offering plate, that's another one. Give us money if you want to get to heaven. You want your grandma out of hell, give me money. You want your grandma burned into hell, better give me more money. I mean, that's, it's sick. But that's what they do, that's what they've done for centuries, that's what they've done for thousands of years. It's all the same thing. That's the heavy yoke. That's the heavy yoke that was on these people. All these people. And it's terrible. You get somebody, look, this is the, this is the, uh, this is the sincere Pentecostal right here. You ever met a sincere Pentecostal? Somebody who's sincerely just wants to follow what they think the Bible says. And some, you know, wicked Pentecostal preacher has taught them that in order to get to heaven, you have to wear a dress, and you have to do this, and you have to, and it's always a different bar for every Pentecostal that you talk to. You know, you can't sin more than 12 times a day. Right? I've heard it. And you know, you put this heavy yoke on these, and these people are, they're walking through life terrified. And it's sad. And you know, a lot of them are just, many of them are too brainwashed to open their mind to the truth when you open the Bible to them. Alright? And look, these people are terrified. They've got this heavy burden, this heavy yoke on them, and if you could just get through to them and tell them, look, take that heavy yoke off you. Take that heavy yoke off you. The burden, the yoke is easy. It's light. It's just belief. It's just belief on Jesus Christ. That's it. It's already done. That's what Jesus is talking about here. He's talking about works-based religion of the Pharisees versus the Gospel. Okay? That's what he's talking about. Now, go back to Matthew chapter 11. Let's look at some, let's look at this. Turn to Isaiah 41. I'll just reread that beginning part. Go to Isaiah 41 and look at verse number 10. But the Bible says, let's look at this application. Let's look at this application in your life about doubt and doubting. Okay? What does the Bible say about doubting? Is it going to happen to us? How bad can it get? What does it mean for us? Okay? But first of all, you know, when John, now when John had heard in the prison that the works of Christ, he sent two of his disciples and said unto him, art thou he that should come or do we look for another? So here we see John the Baptist who Jesus said there was none greater than John the Baptist, of them born of women. He's like, out of all the men that had ever been born on earth, there's never been a greater man in the eyes of Jesus. Does that mean he wasn't a sinner? No. That doesn't mean he wasn't a sinner. He's like, there's never been any greater than John the Baptist. And John the Baptist doubted. He doubted. So look at Isaiah 41. The Bible says this. It says, Fear to thou not, for I am with thee. Be not dismayed, for I am thy God. I will strengthen thee, yea I will help thee, yea I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness. So God here tells us, look, John the Baptist was dismayed. He was depressed, he was down. And the Bible tells us that God will uphold us in those times. That he will be with us with his righteousness. He will uphold us. Alright, so the first point I want to make on doubt is this, is look, doubt can and probably will come to you if it comes to you in times of distress. It's not going to come to you when things are just going really, you know, great in your Christian life. When things are, you know, think of John's situation. He's out there, he fulfilled the, I mean, he fulfilled the prophecy. I mean he was done. His work was done. He was in prison. He would never get out of prison. He was going to be beheaded soon. His work that he did in the wilderness, preparing the way, that plowing the way for Jesus was done already. And he did it. He succeeded. Right? Jesus gave him the finished. You did it. He claimed that he, you know, he fulfilled that prophecy. He would never get out. And he said, are you the one? Are you really the one? Because you know, this isn't going, this isn't going well. Is this how it was supposed to go? John the Baptist doubted. So that's my second point is this, doubt can happen to anybody. Alright? Now, I do want to point this out. John, did John stop believing? Nope. No, he didn't. He doubted. Right? Now, this is the question, now this is, this is Jared's opinion land. But a lot of people share this opinion. Alright? The, the ever, you know, the question, you know, what if you stop believing, right? And people will ask, because all you have to do is believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life. It's about believing on the Son and you hath everlasting life. Right? So, the, what if you stop believing? Well, first of all, you're sealed by the Holy Spirit of promise. I don't believe that you ever will stop believing. Alright? And I mean, that you ever will just reject that Jesus is, you know, the Son of, John the Baptist did not say, you're not the one, you're a liar, you're not the one that was coming. He's just like, are you really? He was just, he's faltering. Okay? He didn't stop believing. I don't believe that you ever, you know, that the saved Christian ever will stop believing. But even if you could stop believing, the Bible is still clear that if you believed on, you hath it and it will never be taken away from you. Okay? It just, it makes more sense, biblically, that you would just never stop believing. That you will, I mean, you're sealed by the Holy Spirit. You can't get rid of the Holy Spirit. Jesus holds you in his hand, it says, and he will not let you go. No man can pluck you out of that hand. Right? And, you know, it just doesn't make sense that you would ever, you know, completely stop believing. You could turn away from it. You could get into a wicked life. But at the end of the day, there's still going to be, deep down inside you, that truth that you know. Alright? Now, so that's that. It can happen to anyone, and John didn't stop believing. Doubt and unbelief are directly proportional. Think of it that way. Okay? So the more you doubt, the more doubt you will have of the promises of God, the more doubt you might have of your faith, things like that, but I don't believe you will ever stop believing. Okay? Turn to Mark chapter 11. Mark chapter 11. The third point I want to make tonight about doubt is this. Look at Mark chapter 11, and look at verse number 23. Verse number 23. The Bible says in Mark 11, 23, it says, For verily I say unto you, that whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be cast into the sea, and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass, he shall have whatsoever he saith. So the third point I want to make is that doubt will hinder your works. Okay? Doubt will hinder your works. We see that it comes in hard times. We see that it happens to the best of them, and we see that it will hinder your works. So if you start doubting, if you start doubting, you know, the promises of God, or you start doubting your faith, you know, you don't have to panic, but look, it'll hinder your works. So you need to try to get out of that doubt. You need to try to fix that doubt. So how do we do that? Okay, how do we get out of that doubt? How do we avoid it? How do we recognize it? That's what we're going to look at next. I'm just going to give you a bunch of problems. I'm going to show you how you can recognize and fix those problems, all right? So look, the first solution is this, especially, you know, man, this is easier for, but the first solution is this, don't be led by your emotions, okay? And look, emotion has its place, and we're going to talk about that on Sunday night. Emotion has its place for men and women. You know, typically women are going to be more led by their emotions than men. This is a little bit easier for men to do, but look, just don't be led. Men, sometimes you might have to remind yourself that maybe I shouldn't be ruled by my emotions so much, all right? So you know, people are panicking over a situation. You know, look, here's what I always do, the fundamentals are still the same, right? When it comes to your faith and doubting, if you ever have doubts on your Christian faith or your Christian life, or you know, should we be doing this, or should we, you know, this separation, I don't know how much is too much, and all this, look, if you ever have doubts like that, just look, the fundamentals are the same. The Word of God is still there. It's never going to change, okay? The hope, you know, your salvation is still there. The Holy Spirit in you is still there. That's never going to change, all right? Nothing has changed as far as the fundamentals go. They all remain the same. Think about work situations, life situations, and you can think, you know what, everything is falling apart. What I do is I just break it down and I just say, okay, what's the first thing that needs to be fixed? And I just start going through. And what's the second thing that needs to be fixed? What's the third thing that, look, panicking and, you know, flipping out is not going to help anybody. As a matter of fact, it might drag others, especially you men, it might drag others down with you. If you doubt and you're the leader of your family and you start showing that doubt, you know, that's going to affect not just you. That's going to affect the people around you, all right? Which brings me to my second thing that I want you to recognize here is this. Turn to Matthew chapter 14. Matthew chapter 14. And it's this. It's that fear and doubt go hand in hand. They go together. When one rises, the other rises. We see that in Matthew chapter 14. Look down at verse number 31 where the Bible says, and when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, It is a spirit. And they cried out for fear. But straightway Jesus spake unto them, saying, Be of good cheer, it is I, be not afraid. And Peter answered him and said, Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee on the water. And he said, Come. And when Peter was come down out of the ship, he walked on the water to go to Jesus. Peter's walking on the water here. And when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid and he began to sink. He cried, saying, Lord, save me. And then Jesus identifies the problem here. Immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand and caught him and said unto him, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt? So what did Peter doubt here? Did he doubt that, you know, Jesus was the Messiah? No, he doubted just that Jesus could save him, or that Jesus could keep him safe out on the water. He doubted and his faith dropped and we know that, you know, the people that were healed by Jesus, it was their faith. It was their belief, right? So Peter's doubt caused his fear. You see? So it says he was afraid and Jesus identifies the root cause. So when you see something break, we always, you know, we have a machine break, we do a root cause analysis. What was the first thing that caused that machine to break? And Jesus did a root cause analysis on Peter here. And he said, you know what, you were afraid because you doubted. All right, so doubt causes fear. All right, now look, look at this whole situation that we're in in this country. You know that, I mean, you've never seen people so fearful. You ever seen people so fearful in your whole life? Look, one of the worst things that I see coming out of this whole thing, no matter how it plays out, no matter how, when things open up, whatever, one of the worst possible things that I see coming out of this is people becoming afraid of people. That's one of the worst things that I see happening. It's happening now. Now look, I'm going to take something back because I used to say, you know, look, do you understand where I come from? You guys don't even understand the type of middle of nowhere that I came from. I mean, my nearest neighbor was two miles away. The entire state of North Dakota has 600,000 people in it. It's like the size of Fresno in a whole state. There's nobody there, okay? I came to California and I got a chance with work to go drive up into the mountains and see some of these, you know, these hydro stations in the mountains and work in some crazy places. I remember calling my dad and just saying, I've never, look, I've been around. I've not been, you know, sheltered, but I told my dad one time, I've never seen places on earth like this. I mean, California has some of the most beautiful places that I've ever seen and I've said many times over the last few years, the only problem with California is all the people, but you know what? I take it back. I take it back because look, I miss those people now. I mean, we went to Monterey last week and we're walking around, you know, the docks and all this place and I told my wife, I was like, I miss the crowds. I miss all the people everywhere. I miss it. I'm at AutoZone yesterday and there's a guy in there and he's all masked up. The guy's like 20, but you can't tell, his face is all wrapped up. It's like a storm trooper and he's literally afraid of everybody. Somebody he's getting irritated, the card machine that they had like 10 feet away from the cash register on the cord became unplugged so the guy had to come across and like work on it and he's just like, and then he gets next to me and he's all like this, he's all doing this, he's knocking stuff off shelves. I mean, he's terrified of people. Now look, this is, this is getting, this is not good, all right, this is not good for people. Look, we're supposed to be around people, we're supposed to, you know, build relationships with people. It's part of being human. It's part of, you know, being in this country together, right? Look let me, let me read you something. You don't have to, you don't have to search long to find studies on this stuff, but let me just show you a, read you a study on social relationships and your health, all right? Now this is interesting. This is just a quick study. Many types of scientific evidence show that involvement in social relationships benefits health. The most striking evidence comes from perspective studies of mortality across industrialized nations. We're an industrialized nation, so far anyway, maybe not in a month. These studies consistently show that individual, individuals with the lowest level of involvement in social relationships are more likely to die than those with greater involvement, all right? For example, a study in 1979, the name of the study, showed that the risk of death among men and women with the fewest social ties was more than twice as high as the risk for adults with the most social ties. Moreover, this finding held even with socioeconomic status, socioeconomic status means how much money you have, okay? Economic status, health behaviors, and other variables that might influence mortality, when they were taken into account, social ties still, you know, were the biggest factor. Social ties also reduced mortality risk among adults with documented medical conditions. For instance, a study in 2001 found that amongst adults with coronary artery disease, the socially isolated had a risk of cardiac death that was 2.4 times greater than their more socially connected peers. So the, I mean, they're saying that like social interaction, like literally keeps you healthy. Isolation from people can literally kill you, turn to Luke chapter 10. So we're exploring this idea that doubt equals fear, all right, and that fear is not good for you, and people becoming afraid of other people is really not good for you, even secular science agrees with us there. Look at Luke chapter 10 and verse number 30. Here we see the story of, you know, the good Samaritan, right? And Jesus answered, answering, said, a certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho and fell among thieves which stripped him of his raiment and wounded him and departed, leaving him half dead. And by chance there came down a certain priest that way, and when he saw him, he passed on the other side. And likewise a Levite, when he was at the place, came and looked on him and passed by the other side. But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was, and when he saw him, he had compassion on him. Of course the Samaritans and the Jews, so I mean, the contrast here is that, you know, this was a Jewish guy that got beat up and thrown in the ditch, right? And here the Levite, which was, and the priest, you know, they walk by and they do nothing, right? And here this Samaritan who's an enemy of the Jews, they didn't even, the Samaritans were looked down on by the Jews, they were the, they were bred out, you know, they were the mixed people of the Assyrian invasion, they weren't even considered Jews anymore. But this Samaritan had compassion on him and went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, set him on his own beast, brought him to the inn and took care of him. On the morrow when he departed, he took out two pence, gave them to the host, said, take care of him, whatsoever thou spendth, more I'll come again and repay thee. Now look, could this have happened in the society that we're creating right now? Could this have happened where people are just like afraid to death of people? No, this could not have happened. So it literally, social interaction literally keeps you healthy, all right? So being around people is either going to kill us or make us healthier, which is it. You know, look, but just think about what this is going to do for people's compassion towards one another, is what I'm trying to get at here. When we're all so afraid of each other, when we just look at each other as potential disease carriers, I mean, it's not going to be good. Look, even the lack of a handshake is almost a little bit insulting. I mean, it's almost a little bit insulting. It's kind of like, hi, nice to meet you, but I think you might give me a disease, so it's not that nice to meet you, right? I mean, I was out on the railroad today, and this big guy comes up to me, and I had just introduced myself, and he offered his hand, and I shook it, and I was like, I was so happy. It just made me so happy, you know, and everyone around us is looking around going like, oh, shoot, those guys. But I was just so happy, because it's like, man, that guy was, he really wanted to meet me. You know, he wasn't worried that I might give him some disease, that we're, you know, look, I'm not saying we shouldn't be careful. I'm just saying where this is going is not good, all right? And look, the more this goes on, the gospel will suffer for it. The more this goes on, because Hebrews 13, too, I'll just read it for you. The Bible says, be not forgetful to entertain strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares. Look, you don't know who you're talking to. You don't know who you're going to meet. The more people, the more people that get paranoid like this, the harder it will be to get the gospel out. And we're, I mean, we're already seeing that. I mean, yes, it's receptive, but we're already seeing that there's some people that are just like, nope, we're already seeing that. So look, I mean, this is Satan's ulterior motives in this whole thing, by the way. This is for sure one of them. And while, you know, we can't control how others, you know, take things and how the unsaved take things, we just need to make sure that we don't let this happen to us. That's the whole point of what I'm trying to get across here, right? We can't help it if we knock on somebody's door and they're afraid. We can't help it. I don't like seeing it. I don't want it to go further in that direction. There's nothing I can do there, but I cannot be afraid, right? I mean, if it was on both sides, if we were both afraid of people, the gospel would have no chance. I mean, think of it if we were just afraid. So just take notice if you become fearful in your life. You know, get in your Bible, come to church, you know, come to church, call somebody, call me, you know, we can hang out. If you get doubtful or, you know, whatever, you know, come over. I mean, I heard the next shortage is going to be beef, so then we're going to Trevor's House. It happens. It's going to be barbeque every Saturday morning at Trevor's House. But look, God will reassure us just as he reassured John, okay? And we can reassure each other, right? Turn to Revelation chapter 21, we'll end here. Revelation chapter 21 and verse number 8, you all know it well. The Bible says, but the fearful and unbelieving, look, those two things go together. Fear and unbelief, they go together. That's why, look, fear goes, doubt goes hand in hand with fear and fear goes hand in hand with unbelief. That's why the more godless somebody is today, the more afraid they are today. That's why. And we can still doubt, too, as saved people, and we will never fall into this total unbelief. You know, but the Bible says, like, the more, you know, unbelief and fear, they go together. They're exactly the same. That's why you see, you know, these hardcore liberal atheists, whatever, they're terrified to death of this whole thing. They're terrified to death. It goes hand in hand with fear. So check your fear. It's an increasing sign of doubt, and then in that case, you know, we're not given a spirit of fear. Just remember, as 2 Timothy chapter 1 says. All right, let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Dear Heavenly Father, we thank you for Matthew chapter 11. We thank you for this church and everyone in it. Lord, we ask that you just continue to strengthen us and get us through hard times, Lord, that you just give us your strength and your righteousness, Lord, is what we know that we have, and just help us to always know that we can lean on your word. We can always come back to the fundamentals, Lord, that you don't change, your word doesn't change, and no matter what situations there are, us, for us down here, that the fundamentals are always going to be the same, Lord. We love you. We thank you for our salvation. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen.