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Welcome to the Hope Community Church! Hope is a multi-site church community with locations around the Triangle in Raleigh, Apex, Northwest Cary, Garner, and Fuquay-Varina. We are here to love you where you are and encourage you to grow in your relationship with Jesus Christ! We strive to speak the truth of the Bible in a way that is easy to understand, helpful in your current life circumstances, and encouraging. No matter who you are or where you come from, you are welcome here!
There's a million reasons to trust you.
We just sang that together as a congregation,
but it doesn't take much for us to doubt.
Has that been your experience? It certainly has been mine over the years.
We can sing songs together in what, when we do that,
actually it's a wonderful time for us to solidify our faith together.
But when we walk out of here, sometimes Monday through Saturday,
we struggle when things go wrong,
we begin to doubt.
It's easy for us to begin to forget God's truth.
The songs that we sing, the things that we believe in the messes of life.
Maybe that's not your experience, but as I talk with people,
that's most people's experience.
And this is the last week of walking with ghosts.
And we are going to be talking about doubt and we're also going to be talking
about disbelief.
And I'd like you to turn in your Bibles if you have them with you to John
chapter 20. John chapter 20 gives us three vignettes.
One occurs on Easter Sunday morning, the very first Easter.
Then one occurs that evening in the very first Sunday evening church
service. And then one occurs the following Sunday night.
And it's in each one of these vignettes that we see both our human
response to uncertain times.
And then Jesus' response to us,
and hopefully it'll be encouraging to you as it's been encouraging to me as, uh,
I've looked through this this week. So John chapter 20,
it begins with Mary of Magdala, Mary Magdalene.
She was given that name because uh,
there were so many Marys in the New Testament, uh,
and that were following Jesus. She was became Mary of Magdala or Mary Magdalene.
She comes to the tomb on Sunday morning.
Of course Jesus had buried Friday afternoon. And uh,
now she comes and she comes probably to show respect.
And she shows up to the tomb and what does she see?
The stone that had sealed the tomb is rolled away.
And she immediately turns and she runs to get two of her favorite disciples,
Peter and John. So she goes to the respective home. She says, Hey, listen guys,
I was there. The stone has been rolled away.
They have taken him and I don't know where they've laid him.
So like any one of us we wanna see for ourselves.
So they take off John and Peter running to see the empty
tomb. John says, stoops and looks.
And he sees nobody.
Peter being the impetuous person he is, he goes right into the tomb.
He doesn't just stop to look in. He, he's going right in. He's investigating.
He goes in and what does he find?
He finds the linen clothes just lying there.
He finds the face cloth that was over.
Jesus wrapped up neatly and placed aside.
So he tells John,
John comes in and John looks and it says,
and John saw and believed,
but Luke 24 tells us that Peter went away
wondering. So what did John believe
and why was Peter wondering,
and why did Mary assume that somebody had taken the body of Jesus?
Those are good questions.
And this passage tells us the story
of how they found out what took,
took place and and what Jesus has to do with it and why he,
he sets it up the way he sets it up.
And I think it's instructive for us because each one of us,
well we have expressed or or hopefully all of us have expressed faith in Jesus.
Each one of us still struggle from time to time to remember
God's truth, to trust him no matter the cost or circumstances.
And so this is what we find in John chapter 20. So again, if you're not there,
please turn there this be on the side screen. So they come,
they, they see the empty tomb, they're checking it out. And uh,
they're wondering what in the world's going on?
Verse nine of chapter 20 says this, for as yet,
they did not understand the scriptures that he must rise again
from the dead.
But hadn't Jesus told them,
was this the first news about his death and resurrection?
Why were they so uncertain? Well, let's look at a few passages.
Matthew chapter 16, verse 21 says this,
from that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem,
suffer many things from the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be
killed and be raised up on the third day. That's pretty specific.
And he told them that. But that wasn't the only time he tells 'em again,
Jesus said to them,
the son of man is going to be delivered in the hands of men and they will kill
him and he'll be raised up on the third day.
And they were deeply grieved. They did understand
they had heard this before.
They felt the pit in their stomach when he talked about his death.
He tells 'em one more time, Matthew 17, Jesus said to them,
the son of man is going to be delivered into the hands of men.
Well they saw that. They just experienced that on Friday afternoon
it will kill him.
The chief priest as scribes condemn him death will hand him over to the Gentiles
to mock and squi and crucify him on the third day.
And he will be raised up three specific times.
They grieved. They had emotion over what he said.
And yet here it seems like they have no idea
that he was gonna raise from the dead.
Now, before we judge, I think we can identify
when the emotional bolt of electricity hits you or a family member
at the sound of the word cancer
or when a child is struggling tremendously with mental anguish and
depression.
When your marriage is falter, faltering, when your relationships go sour,
when your your finances go south,
we understand what it's like to forget.
And when we forget God's truth, just like Mary,
just like Peter, we doubt,
we become uncertain. Our faith gets shaky.
Maybe that's where you are tonight.
Maybe you have felt that emotional bolt of electricity
recently. You've heard bad news,
something bad is going on and you are struggling.
Well there's some instruction here for us.
But before we get there, this is what happens.
Peter and John returned home. They saw what they had to see.
They left Mary having run and got them has now come back to the tomb.
And she's there weeping. She's weeping.
Verse 13, she looks into the tomb,
what she sees in the tomb, not the linen wrappings. She sees two angels.
Can you imagine that? Okay, this is no ordinary situation now.
And they say, why are you weeping? Well,
her response is the same. They have taken away, my Lord,
I do not know where they have laid 'em. So
then she turns because she heard some noise and she sees a gardener
or someone she thinks is a gardener. It actually turns out to be Jesus himself.
But she doesn't recognize him. And we know after his resurrection,
the people did not recognize him until he opened their eyes to recognize him.
And so she basically assumes the gardener would know what happened to Jesus'
body. So she says, uh, if you have taken him away, tell me sir,
where you have laid him and I'll take him away from you.
So this is the third time she has said the same thing to Peter and John to the
angels. Now to Jesus, they have taken him away. I don't know where he is.
I want his body. I want to take care of him. Mary's clear on one thing,
her Lord is dead. He's gone.
The rec resurrection of the Lord is not in her mind,
but Jesus does something beautiful here. And this anytime Jesus speaks,
of course, especially in a context like this, we have to lean in.
'cause not only did he ask her, why are you weeping,
but he says something very simply, very beautifully.
He said, Mary, see that verse 16,
Mary,
in the midst of her emotion
being distraught, not only over her lord's death but now can't find
his body, he simply says Mary,
immediately she says,
teacher,
I recall John chapter 10, three and four,
Jesus is speaking and he says this,
and the sheep hear his voice and he calls
his own sheep by name.
And the sheep follow him because they know his voice isn't that beautiful
Mary.
And immediately it's the teacher.
You see, Mary's lack of understanding,
her uncertainty did not change the fact that Jesus had risen from the dead.
Nor do our doubts.
Our doubts or our lack of faith does not change truth. What is true?
Her uncertainty,
her distraughtness did not change the reality of Jesus being
alive. But she didn't see it until he says,
Mary,
are you struggling with whether or not the Lord is present in your life
struggling with whether he's for you, he's on your side.
He's your good shepherd,
then know the same Jesus who called out to Mary by name is the
same one that wants to call out to you in
your time of anxiousness and uncertainty.
He's the same Lord. The risen Lord,
you're one of a sheep. So he calls you by name
and he wants your uncertainty and your lack of clarity
to be matched with his truth,
his voice, his word.
Jesus doesn't want us to walk around unaware of his presence,
unaware of his goodness, unaware of his kindness towards us.
But notice something about Mary. What was Mary doing?
Mary was searching. Mary was looking.
Now she was not looking for the resurrected Lord. We know that clearly.
But she was looking,
I think of the Lord's words to his people Israel in Jeremiah
29 13, where he says, if you seek me,
you'll find me If you seek me with all of your heart,
our search is the act of faith that is met by the voice of God.
And this is what Mary found.
She was looking for a dead teacher
who she heard from was her risen Lord.
And everything was good again.
Well, the scriptures go on to tell us that he told Mary,
now go back and tell the rest of the disciples. Tell 'em I'm alive.
Tell 'em we've talked. Tell 'em what you've seen.
And so she goes and she finds the disciples meeting
in a room that is closed. It seems by the use of the word,
it's probably locked because it says for fear of the Jews,
they were afraid of the temple police that had arrested Jesus.
And they're fearful because it was just a couple days ago that they did.
And if they find that these people still love Jesus are
still his followers, they might get arrested too. So out of fear,
not uncertainty, now fear,
they're gathered together in a locked room.
Mary is telling them all that she has experienced
when she saw her Lord.
Now Luke tells us that when Mary explained these things
to them, they said it was to them nonsense,
idle talk and they didn't believe. But John doesn't really deal with that here.
He goes on and he just deals with the fact that Jesus
appears in their midst. Can you imagine that you're fearful,
maybe you are tonight and
Jesus just appears through locked doors.
You know John's probably thinking, you know what?
When I looked into that grave and I saw those grave clothes laying there,
Jesus just came right through those. You know,
when he called Lazarus out of the tomb, Lazarus had to be unwrapped.
Not so with Jesus. He just came up out of those clothes and they just lay there.
Took the time to fold his faith cloth and put it aside.
Now he just goes right through walls, doors he just appears.
And what does he say to them in the midst of their fear?
Peace be with you.
Verse 19. Peace be with you.
And then what does he do out of grace? He says, look at my hands.
Check out my side.
I'm the one that crucified. I'm alive, just like I said.
And it says they rejoice. No, I mean that's an understatement. What'd you say?
And you're in that room. It's electric. You're ecstatic,
you're rejoicing, you're high fiving,
you're hugging because he who is dead is now alive
and now things begin to click in their minds.
All that he had said to them, a lot of what they had forgot is coming back.
Hope is being restored.
Joy is feeling their fearful hearts once again.
He is with them and he has defeated death. Now,
that was Easter Sunday evening
and the test goes on to say that, that something happened that uh,
shouldn't have happened. Thomas wasn't there, verse 24. But Thomas,
one of the 12 called Diddys, which is just a word for twin. He was a twin,
was not with them. When Jesus came, that would be my luck.
When Jesus shows up, I wouldn't be there.
But what goes on to say is this his best friends,
the people he has walked with with Jesus for three years,
spend a week from that first Easter Sunday night
to the next Sunday night, a full eight days.
They're telling him
this is what Jesus has done. He's alive.
We saw the nail prince in his hands.
We saw the spear scar in his side.
Thomas, believe him.
No verse 25.
Unless this is Thomas, I actually don't believe Thomas was a doubter.
I think he was a disbeliever. You see,
doubt is is a a place of suspension
between faith and lack of it. You're just not sure.
You're uncertain Where Mary was, where Peter was, where these disciples were.
But not Thomas, he wasn't. He was on the side of doubt.
He was on the side of cold hard disbelief. Listen to his words, verse 25.
Unless I see his hands,
the imprint of the nails and listen to what he does and put my
finger into the place of the nails and put my hand
into his side, I will not be leave.
That's not doubt he had made up his mind.
Can you imagine that? That's kind of gross.
As soon as Jesus came into the presence of,
of the disciples who said peace be with you,
they didn't care about seeing his hands in his side. They were rejoicing.
But Thomas, I don't believe you guys at all.
You're a bunch of gullible people
until I not only see,
but I take his hand in my hand and I put my finger in that nail scar until I
lift up his garment and I put my hand inside that scar.
I will not believe recalcitrant, he's just, he's obstinate.
So his issue was not doubt, it was disbelief.
Jesus graciously called Mary by name Mary,
he graciously showed up to the disciples and said,
peace be with you. So what's he gonna do with this guy?
What's he gonna say to this guy? I mean
shows no faith, no interest other than his conditions being met.
What's he say? Verse 26, peace be with you. Thomas,
reach here. Take your finger.
Go ahead, put it in my scars.
See my side. Go ahead. Put your, put your hand in where you wanted to.
Thomas is now fully aware
that Jesus has known all along what he was thinking.
How would you feel in a circumstance like that?
What was Thomas's response? Yeah, let me, give me your hand. I wanna check.
Pull your garment aside. I wanna see the side. No,
what Thomas does is he goes from an obstinate skeptic
to giving us the most credible confession of faith in Jesus Christ in the
scriptures. My Lord and my God,
the circumstances were all the same for each one of these. Weren't they?
The person they had followed for three years,
they saw die on a cross.
He was buried.
None of them really understood that he was gonna rise again.
John is clear to point that out, I think for our sake.
'cause we understand what it is like to forget to not remember God's
promises. To not remember God's truth in the midst of our fear,
in the midst of our anxieties, in the midst of our doubts and uncertainties,
and even in the midst of disbelief. Like Thomas,
this reveals so much about our Lord.
And that's what really John wants to get across. God is infinite,
we are finite, we're frail.
And he has infinite patience for us.
He never said, what is wrong with you people?
Why can't you remember now He doesn't say that in other passages of the Bible,
right? But not in this case, in these tender moments.
But he does say this verse 29, because you have seen me. You believe
all of 'em saw him. Mary saw him. All the disciples saw him. Thomas saw him.
But blessed or happy are those
who not seeing are believing.
You know who that is? You, me,
everyone since Jesus left this earth are those who
do not see physical Jesus with physical eyes.
Would you put yourself more in the uncertain struggle with remembering God's
promises? Or would you put yourself in the place of,
I don't believe my conditions for faith have not been met?
You know the beauty is
if you are a believer and you just struggle with uncertainty,
you struggle in the times of of distress to remember God's promises.
Or if you are a disbeliever, God comes to you the same way
with grace and with patience.
For those of us who are our believers, he says Mary
Gary, and search your name there
to those who just believe. He says,
stop unbelieving and believe.
John goes on to write really the purpose of his,
his whole gospel. He says, these things have been written.
Verse 31,
so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the son of God,
and that by believing you may have life in his name. What does God want for you?
What does he want for every human being walking this planet?
He wants them to experience life.
He described it earlier in John as abundant life.
That's what he wants. So in our distresses,
in our anxieties and our uncertainties and our doubts and our disbeliefs,
he comes to us because he wants us to experience all that he has for us.
But it requires on our part,
a listening ear, a searching heart,
a heart that's ready to trust when we see him face to face in pages of
scripture, you know, uh,
Paul writes Romans chapter 10,
he says that if you confess with your mouth Jesus' Lord,
and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
This is what we're talking about here in John chapter 20, especially for,
for Thomas, for with the heart,
not with eyes, but with the heart.
A person believes resulting in righteousness and with the mouth he confesses
resulting in this salvation, whoever believes in him will not be disappointed.
So faith belief comes from hearing and hearing by
the word of Christ. We don't see anymore
not with physical eyes. We hear
and we read the doubter and the disbeliever, the uncertain,
the unconvinced. We all need the same thing. We need to be in the word of God.
We need to hear from the word of God. It is his voice to us, his sheep.
And for those who are not yet his sheep, it's his voice to call them to believe.
That's the message. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you'll be saved.
So if you're a believer tonight
and you're struggling, and even if you're not,
his voice is found in his word. It's a precious treasure to us.
It's something that we must must search for, is Mary search for her lord's body,
for in searching we will find 'cause.
He wants to be known by us and he wants us to know him.
I'm believing take all of your questions, all of your conditions,
all your demands, and with intellectual integrity.
Go to the scriptures
and search for him and you'll find him.
But none of us should expect to find him in our uncertainty or in our disbelief
if we don't listen to him.
I'm gonna stand and I'm gonna pray now, but um,
you know, some of you're struggling right now and for good reason.
Some of you are walking the valley of the shadow of death and you have forgotten
that God is the good shepherd that leads you to quiet waters and green
pastures and that he's with you
and his goodness and mercy will surely follow you all of your days.
You've forgotten that. I encourage you to get back into God's word,
be part of a one of our small groups,
or get together with friends and begin sharing what's going on in your life and,
and get together to, for the purpose of searching,
listening for God's voice to you.
If you're an believer and this has challenged you to believe or challenged you
to even search more,
I encourage you to find one of us and talk to us.
'cause we'd love to chat with you about that. Help answer any questions,
point you to the right resources that help explain God's truth even more.
But don't leave uncertain and don't leave just disbelieving.
Take care of it. Listen for his still small voice.
Let's pray. Father,
we are grateful to you for your grace to us in Jesus, thank you for John 20.
Thank you for all your word.
But John 20 is written so that we might believe and in believing have
life. And sometimes in that life there are uncertainties,
there are ups and downs and all arounds, and we lose sight, we lose perspective.
So Lord, I pray that each one of us would encourage one another
to listen to your voice.
For those who are not yet believers in this room,
I pray that you might work in their heart to allow them to take all their
demands, all their conditions that have not yet been met,
to lay 'em before you and to search for you and find you
'cause they search with you, with all their heart.
Thank you for your word.
Thank you for the fact that it's truth and that truth sets us free.
Jesus' name, amen.
Lets stand.
Respond to what we just.
Heard.
You're here working in
promise.
And
miracle
is
miracle.
When I don't, when I don't.
You never stop. Never stop working. Even when I don't,
even when I don't, you stop.
You never stop you.
When I don't even when I don't
never stop, you never stop working. You never stop,
stop. I don't
even when I don't never stop,
you never stop working. You never stop
miracle.
That is who you, you're.
We make miracle promise
the darkness that
safe. That is who,
that who, that who you,
that who,
who you who,
who you come church sing way.
Take than
and
call me and take deeper
my
walk upon
wherever you would call me
and take me deep
and be stronger in the presence
upon the
wherever you would call me and take
presence
I call upon
and keep my eyes above the ways
when oceans rise my soul, rest, and your
for I am.
We make miracle promise,
light in the darkness. That is who
and say miracle.
That is who.
You're.
Come on, speak to your soul. You're
in
miracle.
Let's take a moment and pray together. Father, thank you for this time together.
Thank you for your grace and mercy.
Thank you for the message that was shared today.
Thank you for how the word reaches into our heart and transforms our lives.
Father, we pray that you, um, by your power, by your spirit,
would do a work in our hearts and allow us to walk in
the truth and the hope that is shared from your word.
We need to be much more than just hearers of the word. We need to live it out.
Empower us, father God, to do exactly that.
We'll be very careful to give you glory, honor and praise
for you deserve it and you alone.
In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.