Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] It's a beautiful day. Amen. That God has made. And as you're opening your Bibles, hopefully you grabbed a bulletin on your way in. Inside your bulletin you can see all sorts of things that are happening in the life of the church and things that you can read about there. I won't say a whole lot about some of the things here, but a couple things. Next week is the next weekend. Saturday morning, Sunday afternoon, there's a parenting class.
[00:00:27] If you are a parent or to be a parent, encourage you to jump in and attend that. Going to be a great opportunity there. And then on the bottom of the inside of your bulletin it says building project.
[00:00:40] And then the other side says offering report. And on the screen you can see something that kind of mirrors that. I just want to say thank you again for the ways that you're continuing to give to the life and ministry at Living Hope. Many give online and there's a box in the back and through the mail and all sorts of different ways. But I want to spend just a minute and remind you about the building fund that we have been talking about for a little while. We have a couple modulars out that direction that have classrooms in it and one of them is the youth building. And what we're aiming to do is think about two things. There's two key words as we really come around as we think about this building fund that we're aiming to raise funds for. One of them is stewardship and the other one is wisdom. Can you say stewardship?
[00:01:23] And the other ones say wisdom.
[00:01:25] So we're thinking about the future. We're thinking about the life and the future of our church. Even maybe after you are gone, after I am gone. But generations to come, the community members that are not yet here, we're thinking about longevity of what we have, what God has blessed us with on our property. And so as we raise funds here, our main goal, our, if you will, top tier goal, is to build a new building to replace both of those buildings so that we have something for years to come, even decades to come, to be able to serve the church property, the church members here. But even as we come closer, we have about a three year time frame that we're aiming to raise funds and after that we'll reevaluate. But the goal is thinking long term. Remember those two words you said earlier? What was the first one? Stewardship and wisdom. So we're thinking ahead. We're thinking how can we make sure that what we have, those buildings have been here about 35, 40 years we don't keep putting band aids on it. We want to say, okay, how can we make sure we're investing well? We're stewarding well what God has already blessed us with, and so that's what we're raising funds for. So know that every dollar that you give there is going towards the longevity of and stewarding the property that God has blessed us with. So thank you for your generosity and thank you for your ways. You're continuing to give in that way both to the building fund and the general fund that keeps the lights on.
[00:02:47] Lights on here. So thank you for that. On the back of your bulletin, if you fold that closed, you'll see the outline that we're going to walk through today in God's word.
[00:02:57] John's Gospel is where we are, chapter 20.
[00:03:00] And then today we're particularly looking at verses 24 through 31. Now, before we get into it, I just want to review briefly where we were, and then we'll pray and really dive right into this text. So as you see on the outline, the title is Jesus what Sightings, Part what two? So last week must have been amazing.
[00:03:27] Part one was last week. So last week we saw Jesus had risen from the dead. We see that at the beginning of chapter 20. But what we saw last week was no one had seen him yet. And so last week we walked through the first sightings of Jesus.
[00:03:40] They had heard from witness of the angels that Jesus had risen.
[00:03:45] The angel said to the women when they came to check on the tomb, they said, he is not here. He has risen. And then the disciples and the women, they had yet to see Jesus. But last week what we did is we saw those first sightings of Jesus, the women and the disciples who saw Jesus for the very first time, at least in John's Gospel. And so last week, the theme, the underlying kind of premise in all of that message last week was encountering the risen Jesus will transform you. And we saw how Mary, who was weeping, was transformed to having great joy. We saw the disciples who had great fear. They were transformed to have great courage as they were witnesses for Christ. Now, today, if you want to write things down, kind of the underlying thesis here, if you will, is this. Write this down somewhere. Believing in the. Believing in. In the risen Jesus will transform you. Not encountering, but today was gonna be the. Believing in the risen Jesus will transform you. And as we walk through this text, what you're gonna see over and over again is believing is the key word. Can you say believing?
[00:04:53] Now I'm gonna say that A lot. As we go through this, let's pray together. And then what we're gonna do is just read right through this text. And then you can fill in. If you have a pen or pencil or something to write in, you can fill in the outline as we go. As we go through God's word. So let's pray together.
[00:05:11] Lord Jesus, as we even just sang a moment ago, we are your people here today, believing in you, trusting in you as our Lord and as our Savior.
[00:05:24] We recognize this morning that without you, we are lost, we are orphans, we are people in darkness.
[00:05:32] And yet, because of what you have done and our trust and our faith in you, we are called redeemed. We're called your children. And we are now people in the light.
[00:05:42] And so as we spend time in your word, Lord, I ask that you would speak through me. The things that I say would be from you. Thank you for the power of your spirit working inside of us as we look at your Word, Lord, that it would transform us, that your spirit would transform us into your likeness. Change the way we think, what we believe, how we feel. That would come alongside what you desire for us in all things. In Jesus name, Amen.
[00:06:07] All right, so the word that we said, the underlying, the main word here today is believing. Say that with me. Believing. So as we look through God's Word, as we look through particularly our text here today, and even believing in Jesus as our Lord and Savior, that word believing is something I want to spend just a moment on, because it's not just I believe something like cognitively in my mind, I believe that something can happen. But I believe so much so that I'm willing to put action to whatever that belief is. So, for example, you all demonstrated belief a moment ago, and we can use this word belief and faith interchangeably here as we see in scripture, that word is used interchangeably in our text. You all demonstrated faith a moment ago. Do you know how you all demonstrated faith a moment ago?
[00:06:55] Missy was standing over here and she said, you can all be seated. And what did you all do now? How many of you were like.
[00:07:04] And you looked around to make sure everyone else's chair stayed up?
[00:07:08] Did anyone do that?
[00:07:10] So you all demonstrated what?
[00:07:12] Faith? Belief. Right? You thought to yourself, I believe this chair. Just a moment ago, it was holding me up. And you believe that nobody.
[00:07:22] Don't do this. You all believe that nobody came along and, like, broke your chair, right? While you weren't looking and singing a song, Right? You all believed that that didn't happen, clearly, because none of you checked the chair legs to make sure they were all still held together. None of you checked the welds on the back of the chair to make sure that they were still there. Right. Did any of you check that? No. You all had faith that your chairs would, what, hold you up. And because you believed that, because you had that kind of faith, you, without thinking about it at all, sat down. That's the kind of faith or belief that we're talking about that Jesus talks about, not just believing, looking maybe back at your chair and saying, yes, I can believe that could hold me up. But because you believe that, then you actually sit down. The same thing would be true if you're hanging on the side of a cliff and somebody throws you a rope and you go, I don't want to fall off this cliff. They threw you a rope and they said, do you believe the rope is going to hold you? And you said, you. Yes, I believe. Then they said, well, hold onto the rope. You're like, I don't want to.
[00:08:19] Well, if you really want to not fall down to your death, you are gonna do what?
[00:08:24] Hold onto the rope. If you truly believe the rope is strong enough to hold you, you will hold on. So this type of belief that we're talking about here is not just belief. In my mind, I believe that something is true, but belief that leads to action, say, action.
[00:08:38] So that's the type of belief that we are talking about here that Jesus is calling us to do not just once, but regularly. So let's read this account. We see that Jesus has appeared to the women. He has appeared to the disciples. But we saw this last week. Jesus appeared to how many disciples last week?
[00:09:00] 10 of them. There was somebody missing. Who was that?
[00:09:04] Thomas. So now I will never believe is what you could write in point one on your outline. Verses 24 and 25. I will never believe in quotes.
[00:09:12] This is what Thomas said. So this will be kind of the crux of the first point here. I will never believe is what Thomas says, verses 24 and 25. Let's read that together. Now, Thomas, one of the 12 disciples, called the twin, or some of your Bibles might say Didymus, which just means that he was a what twin? Who was his twin? Anybody?
[00:09:35] I don't know either, but he was a twin. Scripture doesn't tell us. We just know that he was called his twin, was not with them when Jesus came. So we saw that last week. We don't know why. All sorts of people, by the way, try to speculate as to why Thomas was not there.
[00:09:53] We don't know. He could have been getting groceries or something. I don't know. Verse 25. So the other disciples, I.e. the ten of them, told him, we have seen the Lord. But he said to them, unless I see in his hands the mark of the nails and place my finger into the mark of the nails and place my hand into his sides, I will. What, Never? Or not. Some of your Bibles might say believe. And original language says this I will believe not is how the sentence is.
[00:10:30] The women, by the way, heard the same thing from the other disciples or similar thing from the other disciples when they saw Jesus. They ran over to the other disciples who were there, and they said, we've seen the Lord. And we saw this last week. The other disciples believed it to be an idle tale. They said, these women are making this up.
[00:10:48] So point A, you could write this in. The first thing that we see from Thomas, is this a stubborn decision? A stubborn decision.
[00:10:56] Stubborn being defined as this having or showing dogged determination not to change one's attitude or position on something. Do any of you know somebody that's stubborn?
[00:11:08] You're supposed to raise your hand, not nudge.
[00:11:13] Especially at times when there's a disagreement going on. This person, they're gonna hold their ground. They're gonna lock their feet in, and no matter what you say, no matter how true it is, they're going to be like, no, I am right. So here we see something about Thomas. He was very stubborn in this decision. I know what I'm going to believe and what it's going to take. For the other disciples, Jesus had to convince them of his resurrection. Quite clearly, he had to show up even though there was multiple women and even other people who saw him on the road to Emmaus. They said, we've seen the Lord. And did the other disciples believe?
[00:11:49] No.
[00:11:50] It took Jesus actually showing up in front of them. Now, in this passage, unlike the other disciples, we hear something from Thomas. Thomas says something that we don't see from the other disciples. He says this. I will never believe or I will believe not. This attitude of faith. We talked about believing earlier. I'm not going to demonstrate that this was a stubborn decision on his part. He didn't say, show me more proof. He didn't say, are there other people? He said, I am not believing unless he has a specific requirement met. You can write that on point B, on your outline. A specific requirement. Thomas was not, I believe, trying to be a jerk, but he was showing his clear and present resolve in the reality of Jesus death.
[00:12:40] Thomas believed that Jesus died, didn't he?
[00:12:43] He clearly believed that though he may not have been standing there at the cross, he may have been in a distance at some point in time. He knew that Jesus was buried. He knew the job. I mean, he had seen a crucifixion before, and he knew that when a Roman soldier crucified someone, they didn't sometimes let people off the cross alive. He knew that without a doubt. And so for them to say, Jesus is alive, he's like, wait a minute. For all the years that I've seen crucifixions happen, no one has ever said, oh, yeah, I was alive after that.
[00:13:12] But he has a specific requirement. Even after the others said, we've seen him, they like, I've walked with them. He's walked with them for years alongside Jesus. Does he think they're all lying to him?
[00:13:24] I don't know. Right. Like, why won't you believe?
[00:13:30] Now? Why does John tell us this? We'll get into that answer to that question in a minute. But why does John tell us about Thomas? I was asking that question as I was reading through this. Why does John bring Thomas's story to account for us? I think it's for this reason, because there would also be other people that John is writing this gospel to that might say the exact same thing.
[00:13:52] There were other people who saw Jesus alive, heard that he got crucified, and then said, I never saw him alive, so I'm not going to believe. And here's what John is doing for us. He's saying to these other people who might be reading his gospel, saying, you know what? There were other followers of Jesus who said the same thing.
[00:14:08] There were other people, maybe even you here today said, I don't know if I can believe that Jesus exists unless I physically see him. And here's what John is telling us. There's other disciples who said the exact same thing. And their minds were changed when they saw Jesus. It wasn't like all of the disciples were just hoping and thinking, oh, Jesus is probably alive. He's probably alive. Oh, it's probably him over there. And then they just thought, there he is, he's alive. And they just made it up.
[00:14:33] His point is, no, they were resolved. They were set. Jesus is dead. He's not alive. So by showing us this account, it shows all the readers. The disciples weren't just thinking Jesus was alive. They were sure he was dead. And it took quite a bit of proof to show them otherwise. Now, here's the problem with Thomas, as opposed to the other disciples, Thomas wasn't just doubting. He had chosen not to believe.
[00:15:05] Thomas said, jesus uses this term. In just a moment, we're going to see it. Jesus doesn't tell Thomas. I don't know if you've noticed and you noticed this in the past when you've read through this text. Jesus doesn't tell Thomas, stop doubting. Did you see that? He uses a different word. There's the word doubting in the Greek and there's the word believing. These are two different words. Which. Or disbelieving. Jesus says, stop disbelieving.
[00:15:29] Stop being a person who chooses not to have faith. Here's the problem with Thomas.
[00:15:35] He was choosing to reject anything that resembled faith. Here he wasn't. Write this down somewhere. He wasn't actually doubting Thomas. Here's the problem. He was faithless Thomas. He was not saying, all the proof isn't stacking up. I need a little bit more proof. He was saying, I am not gonna have anything to do with faith here. I. I want to touch and physically feel Jesus. He wasn't doubting Thomas. He was faithless Thomas. Now the problem is that he decided he would not believe unless he had 100% proof given to him. He wasn't trying to believe. He wasn't considering the evidence before him. He wasn't open to thinking a different way. It was only his way or nobody's way. Anybody know somebody like that?
[00:16:19] It's my way. Or the what do we say?
[00:16:22] Or the highway doubt says, this I can believe. Show me some more evidence.
[00:16:29] Unbelief says I will not believe. Now, a couple lessons from this point before we go to point two on your outline. It's this. Maybe write some of these things down. The disciples also didn't believe for hours.
[00:16:41] When the women told them that Jesus had risen from the dead, they had poor judgment, didn't they?
[00:16:48] But we don't call Peter denying Peter.
[00:16:52] We don't call James and John judgmental James and John because they wanted to call fire down from heaven. When the Samaritan town refused to welcome Jesus.
[00:17:03] Let's not, as people today, define others by their lowest point.
[00:17:08] Don't define yourself even by your lowest point.
[00:17:12] Rather define others and even yourself the way that God does.
[00:17:17] Thomas today is still known as what off of this one situation. If we might even say his lowest point, we still remember him, don't we do the same today.
[00:17:28] Remember that. Remember that one time when that one person did that one thing, it was their poor judgment Their error that they made the sin that occurred in their life. We remember them by that at times. And here's what we're called to, I think, remember here today is that Jesus we're gonna see was gracious in this as well. And so as God's people, let's not define others by their lowest point, secondly. And then we'll go to point 2. So firstly, don't define others by their lowest point, secondly, is this doubt is normal when we're considering the supernatural.
[00:18:03] When you can't put something in a test tube and it's not widely seen, doubt or skepticism is normal. Now, skepticism and doubt, two very similar words. And I would maybe, if you like to write some things down, consider this doubt. Some people who are doubting faith and some people who are skeptical. Doubt usually has more to do with someone's emotional state, their maybe emotional history. I doubt that about maybe Christianity. If someone says, I doubt that, ask why. Ask lots of questions. Where are you coming from? Maybe what happened in your past to impact the doubt that you have about maybe Christianity or about God?
[00:18:40] Skepticism, very similar.
[00:18:42] More to do with evidence.
[00:18:44] So I'm skeptical about that. Maybe the questions ask, maybe not so much what's happened in your past or what's happening in your life or what's emotionally going on. But can I show you more evidence? Does that make sense? Skepticism and doubt, very similar. But what we see from Thomas is that he had just chosen. It doesn't matter about proof other than I want to physically see Jesus. He was not someone who was willing to be a person of faith. Now, those types of questions with somebody with doubt or skepticism, they may not lead to immediate conversion, but it will lead to a healthy conversation.
[00:19:15] Point two on your outline, you can write this in with me.
[00:19:18] Do not. Jesus is saying this to Thomas. We're gonna see this in a minute. Do not disbelieve. That's the word we were just talking about a moment ago. Do not disbelieve. But what can we say that together? Believe. Believe, right. That's the key word here through today.
[00:19:34] Verse 26, Thomas has made his emphatic statement. I will never believe. Believe not. That is me, not a person of faith. There's not going to be faith involved in this. I need to physically touch and feel him. Look at point two with me. Verse 26, eight days later.
[00:19:52] Now, as soon as I read that, my question was this. Why so long?
[00:19:57] Like, why not? The next moment, you know, Thomas says, I will never believe. Poof, there's Jesus. I don't know if he poofs or something, but like, there's Jesus, but rather eight days later. So this is. That first one was. So this is now Monday is when this happened. A whole week has gone by. Now it's Monday. His disciples were inside again, and Thomas was with them. Thomas probably made sure he never left the other disciples until he saw Jesus. He's like, that's not gonna happen again. You're not gonna all see Jesus. And I'm gonna miss out.
[00:20:27] They were inside again.
[00:20:28] And although the doors were locked, John tells us very clearly about this. Jesus came and stood among them and said what?
[00:20:37] What did he say?
[00:20:39] Peace be with you.
[00:20:42] Then he said to Thomas, put your finger here and see my hands, and put out your hand and place it into my side. Do not disbelieve, but believe.
[00:20:49] Thomas answered, my Lord and my God. We're going to dive into this in more detail here in a moment. Jesus said to him, have you believed because you have seen me. Blessed are those who have not seen and have yet. What's the word?
[00:21:03] Believed.
[00:21:05] So Jesus waited a while.
[00:21:08] Then after this week or so has gone by, Jesus shows up again. Again, this locked room, showing that the disciples were probably still fearful of the Jews, what was gonna happen, protecting themselves. Let's step into this encounter a little bit deeper.
[00:21:23] Firstly, we see in point A on your outline. You could write this in. Jesus shows up to Thomas.
[00:21:29] Actually, the rest of them are in this room. However many other disciples there. But at least Thomas is there with the other disciples. And he then calls out Thomas specifically, and he calls him to test what he has, what he has laid out before just moments ago. So a call to test is what you could write in on your outline, particularly noting verse 27. I put it in bold on the screen. Here's what Jesus says. I would like you to test this. You said you're not gonna believe. Well, come here. Put your hands on my wrist. Come put your hands on my side. Jesus doesn't address the whole crowd, but he addresses faithless Thomas here. Then he calls Thomas to do exactly what he said we needed to do a week prior. Remember, was Jesus there a week earlier when Thomas said that?
[00:22:17] When he said, I won't believe unless I touch his hands and touch his side? Was Jesus there when that happened? No, he wasn't clearly, which is why he said that. Now Jesus shows up a week later and he repeats back to Thomas the very words of Thomas.
[00:22:31] Now, I don't know if Thomas remembered what he had said a week prior, but here's my guess, Thomas probably said it a lot that week.
[00:22:38] We read it once. He probably has said it multiple times. I'm never gonna believe Wednesday comes along. I'm never gonna believe Thursday, Friday, Saturday, I'm never gonna believe Sunday rolls along, I'm never gonna believe. And here's Monday. They're all together. And then who shows up?
[00:22:53] Jesus. And I could just imagine Thomas remembering those echoing words that he has said. And then here's Jesus before him and says, all right, you said unless.
[00:23:02] Here I am. Put it to the test. I love what Spurgeon says about this interaction. Listen, in Jesus, interaction with Thomas shows that the resurrected Jesus is full of love and graciousness and gentleness towards his people. That did not change. The whole conversation was indeed a rebuke, but so veiled with love that Thomas could scarcely think it. So here's what the call is for. Not just Thomas, the call to test, but the call for you and I. It's this. Come and investigate Jesus.
[00:23:38] He can withstand investigation.
[00:23:41] Psalm 34. 8 David writing says, taste and anybody see that the Lord is good, come try him out. See that he is good. And then it says this. Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him. So there's a call to test that. Jesus lays out, Thomas, come test this. And then secondly, Jesus says something else. In verse 27, it says this point B on your outline. You can write this in. It's a command to respond. A command to respond.
[00:24:09] Here's what he says very clearly to Thomas. Do not disbelieve, but believe. Now, original language here, the way this is broken down, not pronouncing this right, but faith is like pistis is the way it is in Greek. Now, if you were to put an A in front of. Even today, if you put an A in front of a letter in front of a word, that usually makes it negative, right? So that's what we see. It's like a pistis is what we see here. And really, it's a similar word to the word apostate. What does that mean?
[00:24:38] Somebody who rejects the face Faith. And so here we see Jesus calling Thomas to what is it? Do not disbelieve, but believe. Jesus commands belief. He tells him to stop doubting and consider the reality of what's standing before him.
[00:24:57] For us today, even, it's not being content with doubting. It's not being content going, I'm not really sure. Let me just keep investigating and thinking and thinking and thinking. At some point in time, there's going to be an end to Our days isn't there.
[00:25:10] And we're not going to be able to stand before him and say, I was still thinking. I was still thinking. He's like, well, you've had decades to think, investigate. We don't know how long we're going to be able to take breath. Joshua 24 says this. Choose this day whom you will serve. Choose this day, because tomorrow is not promised to you.
[00:25:29] Now, as we think about this believing, there's a pitfall that many of us step into and I hope, encourage you to follow me here. Here's what happens. We believe, initially, I believe that Jesus is my Lord and Savior. That's a good thing to believe, right? Amen. Amen. Like, that's saving faith. I believe that he is the King of Kings, he's the Lord of Lords, he's the Creator of all. I believe that I'm a sinner. I believe that if I choose to. If you. If I repent of my sins, he will come and fill me. He will forgive me of my sins. I will move from a orphan to a child of God, be a part of the family of God. Believing that to occur so important, and we have to continue to be people of faith. We have to continue to be people who are believers. Not just this happened once in my life where I made this choice to believe, but also every day, I'm gonna continue to choose to. To believe in what God's word says. Not just I believe this one thing about faith. I also am going to choose to believe everything else. You with me so far? So if that's the case, and we've already established that belief that Jesus is talking about is not just cognitive understanding, but my actions will follow, right? That's the belief that Jesus desires from us. Just like if someone's hanging from a cliff, believing that that rope will hold them is not going to save the person, they have to do what?
[00:26:51] Grab onto the rope. That's the action that's going to bring about salvation. So as we consider ourselves as followers of Jesus, there are many times that you and I, myself included, trade the truth of God, the truth of God's word, for a lie.
[00:27:12] There are many times that we choose to say, I say, I believe this, but my actions show that I believe otherwise. Right? Just like if someone were hanging from the cliff and they said, do you believe the rope will hold you? The other person says, yes, I do. The natural response is to hold the rope. If they didn't, one might say, believe me, it will hold you. They're calling them to Believe because their actions aren't lining up with what they say. So in a sense, at times, even for us Christians, we can act like we are unbelievers of God's word.
[00:27:47] Here's what I mean. We say we don't believe his way of parenting is better than our way. Sometimes when we do it our way instead of his way. At times, we don't believe his way of marriage is better than our way, and so we choose to do it our way. We don't believe his way of sexuality is better than our way. We don't believe his way of relationships is better than our way. We don't believe that his way of handling money is better than our way. We don't believe that his way of handling our bodies is better than our way. We don't believe that his way of handling our enemies is better than our way. We don't believe that his way of handling addiction is better than our way. We don't believe that his way of handling conflict is better than our way. Because if we did believe that, would we not do it his way?
[00:28:28] Because at times, then we say, I believe that this is true. I believe this. And yet we'll take the word of God, we'll put it over here and say, I believe that that's good, and yet I still want to do it what, my way. Because we truly believe that our way is better. Now, how do I know that we have this problem? Because I know I have this problem. And I'm just gonna guess that you and I have this problem as well, right? We will sideline. We will say, I believe this, and yet my actions show otherwise. And here's what Jesus is calling to us, calling us to do, to believe that his way is better.
[00:29:02] And. And if we truly believe that his way is better, it won't be sitting over here, God's word, but rather it will be the lens by which we look at everything.
[00:29:10] When I look at the way parenting happens, or marriage happens, or friendship happens, or money happens, or my health happens, I look at it all through the lens of God's word. Because. And when people see that, they say, why are you doing your life that way? It's weird, it's strange. Why are you doing it like that? Because you're like, I'm doing it through the lens of God's word.
[00:29:27] It's not just, I believe that it's good, but I believe that it's better than my way. And so, yes, I see my way. But now we've had this great exchange happen in our life where it's my way, God's way, and I'm changing it out this way. And so I see my way. But this battle, this is real, isn't it?
[00:29:46] Here's my way. God's like, no, believe my way is better. But I like my way. It's easier. No, my way's better. Am I the only one who deals with this?
[00:29:55] And so here we see that yes, believing is important. And here's the call for us, call to us from Jesus is today choose to believe my way is better.
[00:30:08] Today choose to say, here's your way. Here's my way. Change them out. Now let's move on to the next point. Here we see here she was to not disbelieve. Thomas was called to stop disbelieving, rather believe. Make that transition occur. Now we see a great confession. You can write that word confession, point C on your outline. A great confession of belief.
[00:30:31] And here's what Thomas says very simply, my Lord and my what my God? This statement is Thomas realization of Jesus life and his Deity. This is what all Christians must be willing to proclaim in their life. And. And notice he did not say, I believe that you are alive. He also did not say, you know what, the other disciples, they were telling the truth. He didn't say that either. No, he made this proclamation personal.
[00:31:00] His realization of Jesus resurrection made him realize that his life must now be different.
[00:31:08] Notice what his words were. My what Lord? Not the Lord, not their Lord, My my Lord. And not the God. Not their God, but my God. Again, Spurgeon speaking about this. He says this about Thomas declaration. He says it was a devout expression of holy wonder. It was an expression of immeasurable delight. It indicates a measure of change of mind.
[00:31:34] I'm sorry, it indicates a complete change of mind. It was an enthusiastic profession of allegiance to Christ. And lastly, it was a distinct and direct act of adoration and worship.
[00:31:48] Let's look at point D on your outline. The last one in point two, the last C. They're all C's. Just to help you stay on track. Help me stay on track. Jesus then celebrates his faith. He celebrates his faith. Look with me. Verse 29. Jesus says to him, after this incredible declaration of faith, right, Thomas, moments ago, faithless Thomas. I'm never gonna have faith. He says, now I saw you.
[00:32:12] Jesus says, what have you believed? Have you had faith? Is the word there because you have seen me? And actually, original language that's not structured as a sentence, but a statement. You've believed because you saw. And then here's what he says. Blessed. That's the same. Blessed. Like Sermon on the Mount, right? The whole Beatitudes, same word there. Blessed means happy. It's celebrating. It's a good thing. Blessed are those who have not seen and have yet believed. Did you know? That includes you, if you believe in Jesus.
[00:32:45] Jesus here calls you blessed because of your faith in Him. You have not seen Jesus, and yet you believe. Jesus announces this special blessing. Hebrews chapter 11, verse 6 says this. Without faith, it is impossible to do. You know this. Please, God.
[00:33:04] First Peter on the screen, 1 Peter 1, 8, 9, says this, speaking about this kind of faith. Though you have not seen him, you love him. This is you and I, even here today. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your soul. God cares about true faith, doesn't He?
[00:33:29] He desires that in our lives and all through. As you and I read through the text of Scripture, as you and I read from Genesis, from the beginning.
[00:33:39] Adam. Right? Adam and Eve. When there's faith, there's reward. When there's faithlessness, there's often consequence. For example, Adam didn't believe God, but he believed the serpent's way. And so what did he do?
[00:33:52] He ate. And we're all still experiencing the consequences of that, aren't we?
[00:33:57] Noah had faith and he saved his family. Abraham believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness. But a little while later, Abraham didn't believe all of what God said. And so he took things into his own hands in regards to his first son. You remember that? And we're still feeling the consequences of that today, aren't we?
[00:34:13] Moses had faith when God called him to lead the Hebrews out of Egypt. Israelites, they didn't have faith as they wandered through the wilderness. And God, there was punishment for that. For their lack of faith, their lack of belief in God. Peter had faith. And then he gets out of the boat. And what does he do?
[00:34:30] Walks on water at first. And then he looks around. He takes his eyes off Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith. And what starts happening? He starts sinking.
[00:34:41] When you and I have faith that doing life, God's way, is better than doing it our way, that is when we choose to make this exchange. Here's my way. Here's God's way. When we make this exchange, we experience blessing from that, don't we?
[00:34:58] We choose to do it his way.
[00:35:00] Two things to take Away from this. And then we're gonna look at point three really briefly, just those last few verses. If you wanna write things down, write this down. First point kind of takeaway application from point 2 is this. Be honest with God about your doubts.
[00:35:13] Be honest with God about your doubts. He can handle it and he won't get mad at you. If others in church, even family and friends invite like share with you doubts that they have, handle it like Jesus graciously.
[00:35:27] Because doubts are a part of having faith. I can't see it. Is it real? Right. Isn't that a doubt? I'm not sure.
[00:35:35] Come alongside God's word and God's people. If you're struggling with doubt, step out of isolation. Isolation. Be honest with God about your doubts. Secondly, ask yourself this question, something to write down, question for you to think about, for me to think about. What promises or commands of Jesus do you struggle to believe?
[00:35:54] What promises or commands of Jesus do you struggle to believe? And write that down somewhere because that's something that God cares about. If it's something that you're struggling with disbelief and belief. And disbelief and belief. It's like lay that before you. Be honest with yourself about that. Be honest with the Lord about that and be honest with the Lord's people about that. And let's walk alongside one another in grace. And in truth, let's look at point three on your outline and then we'll look at the last kind of sub points under that. Look at verses 31, 30 and 31. This is the culmination really or the summary of the entire Gospel of John in just our whole purpose really of the Gospel of John. The reason John is writing this in two verses so, so that you may believe. That's what you could write in on point three so that you may. What's the last word?
[00:36:42] Believe. Right. That's the key word that we're running with today.
[00:36:45] Verse 30 now.
[00:36:46] And so now we've shifted out. That's the reason this now is here, is we've shifted out of John describing what's happening in this room. The door's locked and the disciples are there and Thomas is there and this interaction has occurred. Now John, the writer of this book, he steps away from that and, and he says now. So that's where we are right now. Now Jesus did many other signs and John uses this word. We'll get into that in just a moment. Instead of miracles a lot of the time, many other signs in the presence of the disciples which are not written in this book, but these are written so that you may what, believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in. In his name. So let's look at just two things briefly here before we close. Point A, you can write this in particular signs recorded. Now, when you look at verse 30, it says this. Now, Jesus did many other signs. There's a few questions that might. Will hopefully come to mind as you read through God's word and you ask questions.
[00:37:50] Firstly, what are the signs in this book? These are the questions I asked at least. Why did John pick these signs?
[00:37:57] He picked seven main signs in the Gospel of John to record. And third question is, what is the purpose of a sign?
[00:38:03] Let's take those kind of backwards actually. What's the purpose of a sign? Anybody? What's the purpose of a sign?
[00:38:10] Direction, information, show Israel. Yes.
[00:38:17] In this case, just in our. Well, first off, in our world, the purpose of a sign is to tell you something and hopefully it should change your action. You're driving down the street, in the distance, you see a stop sign. And as you approach the stop sign, I know we're in California.
[00:38:31] What should you do when you get to the stop sign? Stop, stop. All right, cool. So I know all of you, none of you are rolling through stop signs. That's great. It was funny yesterday I was at.
[00:38:42] I took a picture of it because I just thought it was so funny. I was at the farmer's market for just a moment and as I'm there, I'm looking around and all the tent things and stuff are set up and I see this a frame that says. I think it says like, no, I don't. If you've even been to there, it says like no dogs and no outside food or something like that. I took a picture of it, but I'm not looking at it now. Something like that. But clearly on there, I think it said no outside food and no dogs or something, or no smoking and no dogs. And literally next to the A frame, there's the A frame. Here's this person holding her dog.
[00:39:16] It was the. I mean, I literally, I was there for just a minute, like a couple minutes, and I look over and I was like, no dog.
[00:39:23] And I double taked on the sign. I was like, am I reading that right? Like that does say no dogs. Not just some dogs, not small dogs, not loud like it said no dogs very, very clearly. And right in front of it was somebody with a dog. Now here's why I say that is because sometimes signs are ignored.
[00:39:41] Some of you are really emotionally invested in this.
[00:39:44] Signs are ignored. Now here's the reality with Jesus as well, that John says, all right, I'm gonna lay out at least seven different signs for you. And they're all pointing towards Jesus being the Christ, the Son of God. Now some people will look at all of these signs, very clearly printed, and say, eh, I'm gonna do what I'm gonna do and completely ignore the signs. Plenty of people in Jesus life did exactly that.
[00:40:12] They saw all the signs of Jesus and they completely ignored it. Now, so what's the purpose of a sign? To show us something, to tell us something, to call us, to change our actions. Why did John pick these signs and what are the signs? Let me just briefly run through these signs for you. In chapter two, he turned water into wine. This is to show that the Lord, that Jesus is the Lord of nature, able to change one substance into another.
[00:40:38] Second one, Jesus healing this nobleman's son. In chapter four, Jesus is the Lord of life.
[00:40:44] Thirdly, Jesus healed the paralyzed man. He is the restorer of lost power. In chapter five, chapter six, he fed the 5,000. Jesus is the food by which we live. He is the one who sustains our life. He is the bread of life. Chapter 6 also Jesus walks on water. He is our guide. He is our helper. He's able to have complete control over all of creation.
[00:41:08] The sixth healing of the blind man. Jesus is our light and he enables us to be able to see around us. And lastly, the seventh of them, in chapter 11, he raises somebody from the dead. Who was that?
[00:41:23] After four days of being in the tomb, Jesus is the Lord of life.
[00:41:28] There's all of these signs that are pointing towards him. In control of all of nature, in control of life, in control of creation, in control of spiritual substance, a physical substance. He is the Lord of all.
[00:41:41] That's all the signs of John saying, I'm gonna pick these because I want people to see that this is so important. Why? Because I want people to believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. And that by believing you may have what?
[00:41:55] Life. Say life together.
[00:41:57] Life. So the purpose of this book is your life and my life.
[00:42:03] Last thing you can write in the purpose for this book is life.
[00:42:07] Now, the word believe is a key word in the Gospel of John. It's used 98 times in the Book of John. The word believe is now here we see. He wants people to believe that Jesus is the Christ. The Christ means the anointed one. The Hebrews have been waiting for a Messiah. Someone to save them from their sin. He is the long awaited one. Jesus is. And so he's saying, I'm writing so that you will believe, that you will not just know, but you will hold on to Jesus as the one who has been promised for thousands of years to save you from the problem of sin that you are dealing with. And not just that, that he is the Son of God. That's what he wants people to believe. What does that mean? Well, even in Jesus life, when he says I'm the Son of God, here's what the Jewish leaders said. They said, when you say you're the Son of God, the that's blasphemy. What does that mean? It means that you're saying you're equal with God. So by believing that Jesus is the Son of God, we're saying not just that he's a great teacher, which is true. Not just that he's come as the Lamb of God to take away the sins of the world, which is also true. But thirdly, that he is coming in the very nature of God.
[00:43:13] He is God. And so by believing in this, you may have what life in his name. John cares deeply about people having abundant life. Not just that one day they will go to heaven. That's not what John's talking about here alone, but rather by implying that you can't have life apart from his name. Here's what he's saying. You're dead apart from Jesus.
[00:43:39] That's what he's saying. Without Jesus, you're dead.
[00:43:42] And so by believing in Jesus, you can be moved from someone who is dead and to someone who is alive.
[00:43:49] The word life is used 36 times in this book and it means absolute fullness of life.
[00:43:58] John's purpose is not. I put this on the screen. John's purpose is not academic.
[00:44:04] He writes so that men and women, you and I, children, middle aged people, older people, he desires that men and women would be transformed first on the inside, having realized the reality of their sin as defined by Jesus, that is.
[00:44:24] And in the same decision that they might turn or repent and depend on Jesus, that is. I'm realizing that I'm hanging on this cliff. If I try to do it any longer, I'm gonna fall to my death. I need help. Jesus is the one that we cling to, that we hold onto. He is the Lamb of God, as John says at the beginning of his book. And even John the Baptist says, behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. He says, I want you to believe on the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world. That is why I'm writing this book. Go on a little bit further.
[00:44:55] This realization, this realization that much of humanity is broken is wide. This realization that humanity is broken is widespread. And that this brokenness, this separation from that which is whole and good cannot be solved by our own efforts. And this is what religions try to do over and over and over again. Be good enough, try harder, do this many prayers, do this many acts, be a good person, and you will be able to hang on a little longer. And here's what Jesus says. Nope, it's not going to work. You will never be good enough by yourself. None of your own efforts will save you. Jesus alone provides the way for the fullness of life to be realized. Not just when I die that I'll go to heaven, but here's what he promises. You're dead now, and when you trust in Me, you will have life. Even now.
[00:45:46] I love this picture. Not thinking about death as something necessarily that's in the ground or out of the ground, if you will. But rather death is separation, really. That's what we're talking about when we talk about somebody dying. It's their soul, their life being, and has separated from their physical body.
[00:46:02] Jesus says this, I promise you life. And if death is separation, separation from God, then life is in relationship with God.
[00:46:11] Life then can be realized only by giving him ourselves completely to Giving ourselves completely to Jesus Christ.
[00:46:19] So why is John writing this book? Because he wants you and I to experience full life in Jesus.
[00:46:24] Not just to know. I believe that He's God. I believe that he has the power to do some things, but rather I my life is changed. I'm going to stop trying myself and hold on to Him. I said this at the beginning. Here's the thesis statement for it all. Believing in the risen Jesus will transform you. Not just the first time you believed in him as Lord and Savior, but continuing to believe that his way is better than our way. Continuing to believe that his instructions, his will, his desires is better than our way. And continuing to say, I'm going to take his way instead of my way. When we do that, our life will be transformed. Do you believe that?
[00:47:03] Two things you can do. And I'll pray. If you have doubts, deal with them now. Jesus will help you with them.
[00:47:09] And if you believe in Jesus as your Lord and Savior, always be watching your life to see where you're not treating him as Lord and Master.
[00:47:20] Because that's who we say we believe.
[00:47:23] And so let's check ourselves regularly. Am I treating you as my Lord? As my king? Let's pray together.
[00:47:30] Lord Jesus, we are grateful for your incredible love for us, your profound grace for us. And even as we look at this account of you interacting with a faithless person, you come in grace and you come in truth.
[00:47:43] You come clearly calling us to believe deeply the things that you have said, the things that you have done. And so today, as your people here today, Lord, I pray that we would approach you with boldness, with confidence. Not because of our own good works, because we have none, but because of your good works, because of your powerful works, your redeeming work.
[00:48:03] And as we trust in you, not just one time back in our life, but that we would continually be trusting you, we would continually be believing, proclaiming to ourselves, to you, to others, that your way is better, your way is better.
[00:48:22] Help us to be people that deeply love, deeply cherish the life that we now have with you, and that you would give us courage, boldness to come alongside others who might be skeptical, who might be doubting, who might be disbelieving even, and showing them your beauty and your love. In Jesus name, amen.
