This is the second Sunday of the Easter season and our reading today is from the gospel of John chapter 20 verse 19 to 31. You'll find it printed on page 4 of your program. John chapter 20 verse 19 through verse 31. Follow along please as I read God's word for us. On the evening of that first day of the week when the disciples were together with the doors locked for fear of the Jews. Jesus came and stood among them and said peace be with you. After he said this he showed them his hands inside. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord. Again Jesus said peace be with you as the Father has sent me I'm sending you and with that he breathed on them and said receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive anyone in sins they're forgiven. If you do not forgive them they're not forgiven. Now Thomas called didimus one of the twelve was not with the disciples when Jesus came so the other disciples told him we've seen the Lord but he said to them unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were and put my hand into his side. I will not believe it. A week later his disciples were in the house again and Thomas was with them though the doors were locked. Jesus came and stood among them and said peace be with you. Then he said to Thomas put your finger here see my hands reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe. Thomas said to him my Lord and my God then Jesus told him because you've seen me you believed blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed. Jesus did many other miraculous signs in the presence of his disciples which are not recorded in this book but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ the Son of God and that by believing you may have life in his name. Would you join me in prayer. We ask Father that by your spirit you would take the words of a sinful man and use them to speak eternal truth to sinful people who need to hear. Open our deaf ears and our blind eyes that we might hear and see the gospel today in Jesus name. Amen. I would think that there are probably a lot of people maybe people you know maybe some of us here today who would tell us that they can relate to the apostle Thomas in the passage we just looked at. What I mean is a lot of us a lot of us know what it feels like to have doubts. Doubts about God. Doubts about the Bible whether it's true or not. Doubts about the story of Christ and the resurrection just as Thomas did. In the passage here was Thomas. He's surrounded by all these very happy believers right who keep going on and on to him with great enthusiasm about how they've seen the risen Lord and Thomas just couldn't believe that it was true. He just couldn't believe. He didn't want to fake it but he couldn't believe and a lot of us know what that feels like. Maybe your parents believe. Maybe your friends believe. You come to church. You meet other people who believe and maybe like Thomas you know you're you're just not feeling it right you're just just struggling with doubts. How do I know this is true? How can I really believe this? Now what I'd like to do this morning looking at this passage with you I I want to point out some reasons why sometimes people have doubts all right some reasons why we have doubts and then the way Christ responds to our doubts so to kind of break it down for you. I want to talk about our reasons and his response okay so first let's look at some of our reasons for doubting one reason that people sometimes doubt this whole message about Jesus Christ is because of inconsistencies in others. In other words because of glaring inconsistencies in the lives of Christians you know it's it's sometimes just hard for people to believe that this whole message about Jesus could possibly be true when so many of his so-called followers really have pretty messed up lives you know they see Christians saying one thing and then living a completely different way Christians say God is love and then they treat you like dirt or Christians say God is a faithful provider and then they're always worried about money or God is holy but then they themselves don't live lives of holiness you know well it confuses people right when when King David in the Bible fell into sexual sin and committed adultery with another man's wife the prophet Nathan confronted him and among the things Nathan said to David in 2nd Samuel 12 he said by this deed you have given great occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme another thing or in other words he said David how in the world are the nations around this ever going to believe that Yahweh is God and that he is a good God when they see his anointed king behaving wickedly it's confusing for people some people struggle to believe the message of Christ because of the inconsistent lives of believers now it might be it could be that the Thomas was struggling with this very thing if you look at verse 19 it says on the evening of that first day of the week when the disciples were together it says the doors were locked for fear of the Jews by the way this is not an anti-semitic thing or anything like that when John uses the word Jews John himself was a Jew they were all Jews he's talking about a certain class a certain group of religious leaders in Jerusalem but but anyway on on verse 19 says when they gathered together the doors were locked for fear of those people now verse 19 took place on the evening of the first Easter Sunday they didn't call it Easter Sunday but the day of the resurrection right that's when verse 19 took place three days after Jesus died on the cross the the disciples in verse 19 the last time they've seen Jesus was when his dead body was being laid into a tomb okay they've heard some reports some kind of weird sounding reports from some of the women about him possibly being alive and the tomb being empty but they haven't seen him yet they themselves have not seen Jesus alive and so when they meet together in verse 19 they keep the doors locked out of fear they're afraid that maybe the religious leaders who hunted down their master might right now be after them they keep the doors locked because they're afraid and you know what I wouldn't blame them I don't know about you but I think it's understandable to be afraid of what might happen to you if you're Lord if you're master is in a tomb right but then Jesus appears to them he shows them his hands he shows them his side he speaks peace to their troubled parts and he assures them of his victory assures them of his presence in other words Jesus basically says to them he says peace be with you he says guys there's no longer any reason to be afraid now this was essentially the message they share with Thomas they come to Thomas and say hey Thomas nothing more to fear no reason to be afraid Jesus is risen from the that he conquered the great he conquered that he's given us his Holy Spirit he's alive there's no more reason to fear that's what they're telling Thomas and yet a week later when they meet together again verse 26 says the doors were still locked they're still keeping the doors locked and in other words they're even though they are speaking words of faith they're still living lives of fear they're not you know you've seen it before they're not practicing what they're preaching to Thomas their mouths are saying Christ is risen but their actions are declaring that he's still dead that might be one of the reasons Thomas was struggling with that you know I hear this message but guys your lives just don't match it and some of you can relate to that maybe you grew up in the kind of Christian home where your parents you know acted very pious in church but there was a completely different story at home or maybe you know once you knew a pastor and you were very impressed and then when you got to know him he turned out to be a just a rat maybe maybe these things have happened for you and what do you do with this what are you supposed to do a couple of months ago I was shopping for groceries over here in trade fair on 30th Avenue 31st Street you know where that trade fair is and I'm standing in the line at the cash register and a couple of rows over right in front of the cash here there's this man paying for his groceries and he pulls out a $20 bill hands it to the lady she looks at his $20 bill you know how they do examines it and says in front of everyone there everyone get here this $20 bill is fake this is counterfeit how can you give me the poor guy I don't think you did it on purpose someone probably gave it to him he's just trying to buy groceries but right in front of everyone in the store you know what I did immediately I reached into my pocket pulled out my wallet took all my money all of my money out of my wallet and I just ripped it to shreds right there and threw it on the floor because I figure hey if he's got counterfeit money in his wallet the money in my wallet might be fake as well I don't want anything to do with money again right now you know I didn't do that
nobody would do that would be stupid right no one would do that with money right just because that we know there is some fake money out there and in the in in circulation it doesn't mean that real money doesn't exist no one would do that with money so why would you do it with God right if listen if the gospel is true if Christ really is risen if if God exists and if he's if listen if he is as good and as kind and as wonderful and as loving as the Bible says if there's even a possibility that don't you think you owe it to yourself to find out just because you bumped into some phonies listen it doesn't mean you have to shortchange your soul right there's something that Jesus said in the Bible Matthew chapter 11 the context is he's speaking to people who have just been surrounded their whole lives with religious hypocrisy the Pharisees over here the Sadducees over there just get hypocrisy everywhere they go and they're just weary of it and Jesus said to them in Matthew 11 he says come to me don't worry about him don't worry about her don't worry about the hypocrites he said come to me you who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest take my yoke upon you and learn from me for I am gentle and humble in heart and you will find rest for your souls guys there's so many promises in the Bible there's many but if there were only that one just that one guys those words are so wonderful rest for your soul if there's even a chance that might be true it's worth finding out regardless of what other people might be doing so I guess what do you do with the inconsistencies of others I would say don't throw away the chance for eternal riches just because someone else has counterfeit faith right but sometimes we doubt when because of the inconsistencies in others another reason that we sometimes doubt God is because of disappointments in life disappointments that you know things just aren't working out for you the way that you had hoped they would other people seem to be prospering other people are doing well everyone else is happy but you know it's just it's just not happening for you for example maybe all your life you've wanted to be married and you've been praying to God to send you a spouse and and you know all your friends are getting married you know every summer it's one wedding after another you're always invited but it's never yours and you begin to think you know I'm praying but maybe there's no one up there listening maybe there's no one there or maybe it's healing you know you hear marvelous stories of God healing sick people someone sick the church prays God works their healed then your child is stricken with a serious illness and you gather the saints to pray and nothing happens well maybe it's not real maybe that other story was just an aberration maybe there maybe there is no what if it's your career other people get all the breaks why doesn't God ever come through for me you know maybe there's no God up there sometimes people doubt because of disappointments in life now it could be also that this is another thing that Thomas was dealing with I mean think about it all the other disciples get to see Jesus alive right they all get to see Christ they receive the Spirit they're filled with joy the Lord speaks to them and assures them of his purpose for their life Thomas he doesn't get any of it verse verse 24 says now Thomas one of the 12 wasn't with the disciples when Jesus came now this is a great verse for pastors to scold you you see what happens when you miss church right but but the Bible doesn't say he was doing anything wrong by not being there maybe you know he might have been out serving the others he might have been the one who was serving and he gets nothing they all received this wonderful blessing from God Thomas gets silt so he he's experienced what must have been a tremendous disappointment in his life and so Thomas starts to do the very thing I've seen people do you've seen people do whenever they they they start to doubt because of disappointments in their life Thomas starts to dictate to the Lord certain conditions that he feels have to be met in his life before he will decide to believe he says unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my fingers where the nails were and put my hand into a side I will not I will not believe now come on people do that sometimes right unless God answers this prayer for me and let's God answers that prayer for me I you know I just can't believe there's a God up there or as long as they're suffering and injustice and poverty in this world I will not believe that God exists or how can I believe in a God who would let earthquakes happen in other words in less and until this world is the way that I want this world to believe a bee I will not believe in God now I know that there's a lot of heartache between behind statements like that and you've got to you've got to be compassionate for that and and those statements can because of that sound very very compelling but if you examine what we are saying when we speak that way if you really follow our line of reasoning guys it it just doesn't make sense you see what you're saying is unless God does everything I tell him to do there is no God unless God does everything I tell him to do there is no God but think about that if God does everything you tell him to do he's not God you are right heavy lift let's illustrate it this way let's see if we can make sense let's say you get hired by a company in Manhattan and you go to your first week at the job and you know you don't know everybody there so you're you're walking down the hall you kind of introducing yourself and you see this woman come out of a conference room she's wearing this nice you know gray business suit and and you introduce yourself and you say to her who are you and she says who am I you should know who I am I'm the boss I am the CEO of this whole corporation and you say I don't believe you I don't believe you're the CEO but she says but I am I said I don't think you are you say well if you're the CEO you would have some power around here right you have power yes I have power well if you have the power of a CEO then prove it to me you see the boxes over there in the corner take them right now down to the storage room do that for me and I'll believe listen if she carries the boxes for you is she proving she's a CEO no but if she is the CEO she will prove it to you in some other ways right to to dictate to God to lay down to him certain conditions certain demands that you insist be met before you will believe in him it is arrogant and it's absurd Isaiah 29 verse 16 the prophet says you turn things upside down as if the potter were thought to be like the clay shall what is formed say to him who formed it he didn't make me can the pot say to the potter he knows nothing listen I hope this isn't coming across as harsh because I know disappointments they listen sometimes they don't just hurt they really hurt and we all face them but if things aren't working out in your life the way you want them to that doesn't prove that there's not a God all it proves is that you're not God because if you were God you'd make it the way you want if there is really a God who was big enough to create this universe you would think there would be things about the way he structures life that will be a mystery to us his ways ought to be higher than ours and and there will be things that we won't understand but we'll sit back and wonder and say I wouldn't have thought of that but God you're at work so anyway we doubt and listen we all deal with this sometimes we doubt because of the inconsistencies in other people sometimes we doubt because of disappointments in in our life one other reason and you know hang with me on this if this rubs you the wrong way sometimes in fact could you say all the time a reason we doubt is because of the rebelliousness of our own hearts our own hearts not just others it's not just life there's something in here something in us right I'm convinced of this that whenever we find ourselves doubting the God of the Bible somewhere deep in somewhere at the root of our doubting there lies a rebellious heart I mean we don't like to I don't like to think of myself that way we we like to view ourselves as you know I'm just an honest seeker of truth I you know with utmost integrity I'm sincerely searching for answers to the questions of life you know we like to say hey I would love I would love to believe the Bible if I had some proof I would I would love to believe in God if I just had some evidence but come on guys let's be honest with ourself the truth of the matter is there's for all of us there's something inside us if we're honest there's something in us that really doesn't want to believe there's something in us that says I don't want it to be true that something is what Hebrews three calls a sinful unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God we're all born with that there's something here says I don't you know on some level I don't want it to be true why because here's the reality we face if we believe in God if he really does exist if we acknowledge the truth of the Bible and the reality that if we if we just own up and say yeah it's true we have to obey him don't we it's going to it's going to change our life that's why you see believing the Bible it's not the same as just believing a news report you see on TV because Peter Jennings is not demanding of you your very life but God is if the Bible is true if Jesus really did rise from the grave you know the only rational response would be to drop to your knees before him and just acknowledge him as your Lord and the truth is we can't face a decision like that with with unbiased objectivity we can't just be scientists here and say well let me examine the facts you know with with complete detachment our life is on the line I mean if if this is true your life has to change if this is true you can't sleep with your girlfriend anymore if if if this is true you're going to have to honor God with your money if this is true you can't be in control of your life anymore if there's a God and you acknowledge him as God he's going to want to be in charge and there's something in every one of us that yeah we look for answers but there's something in there that says I hope I don't find him I'm going to look but I hope I don't I hope this isn't true now you kind of see this with Thomas if you look at verse 25 he says unless I see the nail marks in his hands
and put my fingers where the nails were and put my hand into his side I will not believe it Thomas he's not merely asking for evidence here is he's not just asking for proof he is demanding to gouge his fingers deep into the wounds of Jesus Christ it's like it's as if he's saying I want to make him bleed again there's there's there's the tone there's a raw edge to his word there's there's the heart of a rebel there and we like to flatter ourselves about our daddy you know I'm just a free thinker I'm a seeker after truth I'm investigating the claims of the gospel but at some level the words listen the words of a doubter are not merely the words of an inquisitive mind on some level the words of a doubter are the words of a rebellious heart for me for you for any of us whether you're doubting the existence of Christ or whether hey whether you're already Christian was that there's that one verse in the Bible that I just like to erase I'm just questioning that one verse maybe that isn't supposed to be we have rebels hearts we say you know we're just trying to find the light but John 3 verse 20 says everyone who does evil hates the light and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed you notice this with Thomas also when he finally does come to faith right when he when he comes to a moment of belief his words reveal that it's his there was more than just intellectual inquiry going on here this is more than just the conceptual insight that he has Thomas doesn't say when he sees Christ oh Jesus hey I see that you're alive I guess the other guys was were right I was wrong hey I'm convinced that's not what he says he looks at Christ and he says this verse 28 my Lord and my God when he comes to faith you see it's it's not just a matter of convincing his mind it was a matter of conquering his heart he doesn't just say well now I see that it's true he says now you're my Lord it's true and so you own me it's true and so I follow you it's true and so I acknowledge you're in charge why do we struggle with that why do I why do you why does it happen to people sometimes it's because of the inconsistencies and others right hey you know let's face it there are hypocrites in church where else would you expect to find them right inconsistencies and others sometimes it's because of disappointments deep disappointments in our life but always at the root of our unbelief there's at least a little bit of this there is our own rebellious hearts there's something saying oh I hope it's not true I hope it's not true on the outside we say you know I would love to believe in God if I just had evidence I would love to believe in God if he'd just give me some miraculous sign Jesus said in Matthew 12 a wicked and adulterous generation seeks after miraculous sign so those are our reasons for doubting at the root of our doubting is our sin how does Jesus respond to our sin of unbelief look at the passage what does Jesus do for Thomas here now if if if if this story were written by sort of a you know a hard line conservative fundamentalist Bible flumping type preacher you would you would write the story a little bit differently if Jesus were were that kind of person you know he would have stormed into the room and pulled out his Bible and just sort of nailed Thomas to the wall with his words how dare you not believe how no one's allowed to ask questions around here out there you not believe me but Jesus doesn't do that does he he does not come to destroy Thomas in spite of the sin of Thomas heart it says he comes and stands among them just very gently very quietly he just comes and stands there and the very first word out of his mouth to that room including sinful unbelieving Thomas the very first word out of his mouth to that rebel is peace and don't come to wage war peace to you Thomas so he doesn't respond like a hard line conservative neither does Jesus respond like a bleeding heart liberal right he doesn't just come in and put his arm around Thomas the Thomas it's okay that you're doubting I mean you know we all ask questions and hey you know it's okay because after all it truth is relative it doesn't really matter what you believe because it's just I know that you're sincere he doesn't do that either in fact he rebukes Thomas for his unbelief he says in verse 27 stop doubting and believe you see Jesus comes you see the gospel here really the gospel doesn't come and just destroy us and nail us to the wall with condemnation nor does it come and make excuses for our sin he doesn't destroy Thomas and he doesn't excuse Thomas what does Jesus do how does he respond to our rebellious doubting hearts what does he do he offers Thomas his wounds right he says in verse 27 he says then he said to Thomas put your finger here you you you want to dig your finger into my wound okay put your finger here see my hands you reach out your hand put it into my say go ahead put it in jab it into me again stop doubting and believe he offers his wounds to Thomas why because the solution to Thomas doubting the solution to your doubting was not just more information not just more evidence not just more proof the reason Thomas was struggling is the reason you and I struggle was because of his sin receiving more information wouldn't help him when he had a rebellious heart the only solution to the problem of your sin of my sin of Thomas and the only solution is the wounds the bleeding wounds of Jesus Christ he died on the cross to set us free even though we didn't even want to believe in him he died on the cross he was pierced for our transgressions for all the sins of all his people all the sins even our sin of unbelief and so Jesus said to Thomas reach out your hand go ahead go ahead you probably hurt don't you think Thomas but go ahead stick it into my side feel my wounds I these wounds were made for you Thomas feel them feel them they were made for you I suffered for you to set you free the great preacher from the 1800s Charles Virgin talking about this passage said in response to Christ gracious offer to Thomas stick your hand in my side he said if we are really so weak that nothing will do but thrusting a hand into his side he'll let us do it he said I'm not surprised by this after all if for our sakes he allowed a spear to be thrust there he may well permit a hand to follow he let himself be pierced for us now you might be thinking wow I wish Jesus would do that I wish I wish what he did for Thomas he'd do for me I wish he would come for me to me and rather than just you know blasting me for my my unbelief or excusing me so I continue in this folly I wish he would I wish I wish he would show his wounds to me
hey maybe he did did you ever think of that Jesus points out to Thomas that this wasn't merely for him and for the other 11 there he said you believe because you've seen me but blessed are those more blessed who've not seen in yet believe he's saying that there are others who will believe there are others who be part of my family they will come to faith they will see my wounds as clearly as you do but they won't see me with their eyes but I will come and reveal to them that my wounds are for them for their salvation he'll lie he'll do that for you if you ask him he'll let you know in in a way that I could never create through the words that I could you know spin away up here or or through any kind of evidence I could give to you he will let you know that his wounds were for you that when he went to the cross he had you in mind if you're one of his people he'll do this for you and so John closes this chapter by saying Jesus did many other miraculous signs in the presence of his disciples which are not recorded in this book but these are written that you that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ the Son of God and that by believing you may have life in his name you I don't know if this relates to anyone here maybe nobody else here struggles with doubts but maybe some of you have been maybe some of you that doubts have been so intense you've never ever come to Christ asking for salvation today could be the day when when he's just saying to you look at my hands look at my side stop doubting believe died for you I want to give you a life the others of us maybe our doubt hasn't been that severe and you've trusted in Christ for salvation but there's some area of life that you're not you're just not trusting him some doctrine or some commandment that you're just arm wrestling with God over or maybe it's some promise that you just I don't it can't trust God in this area if that's the case for you Christian when you come to the table this morning I want you to realize that Christ is saying look at my hands look at my side I died for you remember don't you think you can trust me with the rest of your life let's pray together we struggle with doubts Lord because it is hard to believe and you know that but we also know that we struggle with doubts because sometimes we don't want to believe to believe would mean to fall before you and bend our knees and acclaim my Lord my God I belong to you and so we ask you today that you would do what only you could do not merely that you would convince our searching minds but that you would conquer our rebellious hearts that you would remove from our hearts anything at all that's standing between us and faith in Jesus Christ you would allow us to trust him believe in him and believe in have life for any who need to come to him for the very first time I pray you would grant special grace so that they might with with with genuine parts say Lord Jesus I want you to be my savior I'm tired of rebelling in my sin I believe forgive me for others of us who know him I just pray you'd conquer our unbelief that we would honor you by living lives of faith that we would say anyone who would love me enough to die for me I can trust him I can trust his word in every area that it touches my life we pray this for your glory and we pray this with with praise in Jesus name amen