1 00:00:09,175 --> 00:00:12,178 John 20:24–29 2 00:00:12,812 --> 00:00:16,733 Now Thomas, one of the 12 called the twin, was not with him when Jesus came. 3 00:00:17,267 --> 00:00:20,220 So the other disciples told them, we have seen the Lord. 4 00:00:20,220 --> 00:00:22,939 But he said to them, unless I see in his hands 5 00:00:22,939 --> 00:00:26,059 the mark of the nails, and place my finger into the mark of the nails, 6 00:00:26,359 --> 00:00:29,662 and place my hand into his side, I will never believe. 7 00:00:30,230 --> 00:00:33,650 Eight days later, his disciples were inside again, and Thomas was with them. 8 00:00:34,100 --> 00:00:35,268 Although the doors were locked, 9 00:00:35,268 --> 00:00:39,139 Jesus came and stood among them and said, peace be with you. 10 00:00:39,589 --> 00:00:42,809 Then he said to Thomas, put your finger here and see my hands, 11 00:00:43,143 --> 00:00:45,745 and put out your hand and place it in my side. 12 00:00:45,745 --> 00:00:48,081 Do not disbelieve, but believe. 13 00:00:48,081 --> 00:00:50,700 Thomas answered him, my Lord and my God. 14 00:00:50,700 --> 00:00:53,686 Jesus said to him, have you believed because you have seen me? 15 00:00:53,686 --> 00:00:57,057 Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed. 16 00:01:00,560 --> 00:01:00,860 Well, good 17 00:01:00,860 --> 00:01:04,581 morning and welcome to Easter weekend here at Christ Community Chapel. 18 00:01:04,614 --> 00:01:05,515 My name is Zach. 19 00:01:05,515 --> 00:01:06,950 I'm one of the pastors here, 20 00:01:06,950 --> 00:01:10,620 and we are so glad we get to be part of your family's weekend. 21 00:01:10,620 --> 00:01:11,237 I hope it's 22 00:01:11,237 --> 00:01:15,258 already been an incredible week and I hope today will also be incredible. 23 00:01:15,258 --> 00:01:17,477 Thanks for making us part of it. 24 00:01:17,477 --> 00:01:22,382 You know, we gather, of course, at Easter to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus. 25 00:01:22,682 --> 00:01:26,186 And that's because the resurrection of Jesus 26 00:01:26,453 --> 00:01:28,888 is the center of the Christian faith. 27 00:01:28,888 --> 00:01:29,823 In fact, 28 00:01:29,823 --> 00:01:32,575 if you were to study the religions of the world, what you would 29 00:01:32,575 --> 00:01:37,280 find is Christianity is the only one that has at its center 30 00:01:37,280 --> 00:01:42,602 an event that happens in public in the middle, really, of human history, 31 00:01:42,602 --> 00:01:46,189 at least at the time, happening in the Roman Empire. 32 00:01:46,673 --> 00:01:49,976 If Jesus rose from the dead, then of course 33 00:01:49,976 --> 00:01:54,147 it validates everything else he said about himself. 34 00:01:54,380 --> 00:01:58,802 You know, when he told us that he was God, that he had come to live a sinless life 35 00:01:58,802 --> 00:02:04,040 in our place, to take our sin to the cross and to come up under the anger 36 00:02:04,040 --> 00:02:08,178 and judgment and wrath of God the Father as part of their plan 37 00:02:08,428 --> 00:02:11,247 to rescue us, and that in his resurrection 38 00:02:11,247 --> 00:02:15,902 we could find forgiveness and mercy and the hope of our own. 39 00:02:15,902 --> 00:02:17,904 If he raises from the dead. 40 00:02:17,904 --> 00:02:20,240 It affirms all of that. 41 00:02:20,240 --> 00:02:22,258 Of course, the opposite is also true. 42 00:02:22,258 --> 00:02:26,813 If he doesn't rise from the dead, then it means Christianity 43 00:02:26,813 --> 00:02:32,318 at best is delusional and at worst is deceptive. 44 00:02:32,335 --> 00:02:36,422 That's why the resurrection is so central to our faith. 45 00:02:36,422 --> 00:02:41,628 And so we gather every Easter to lean into it, to talk more about it. 46 00:02:41,628 --> 00:02:44,998 For some of us, that's celebratory and triumphant. 47 00:02:44,998 --> 00:02:46,282 And it should be. 48 00:02:46,282 --> 00:02:51,137 But for others, it's a reminder that at the center of the Christian faith 49 00:02:51,137 --> 00:02:54,541 is maybe the center of our own doubt, 50 00:02:55,041 --> 00:02:58,978 our own struggle to believe that Jesus Christ literally, 51 00:02:58,978 --> 00:03:03,900 physically, historically lived and died and rose from the dead. 52 00:03:03,900 --> 00:03:06,119 And if that's where you find yourself this Easter, 53 00:03:06,119 --> 00:03:09,472 it is doubt that we're talking about this weekend. 54 00:03:09,472 --> 00:03:11,608 So if you have a Bible and you want to follow 55 00:03:11,608 --> 00:03:14,961 along in your Bible, you can turn to John chapter 20. 56 00:03:15,144 --> 00:03:15,445 Of course, 57 00:03:15,445 --> 00:03:18,898 it'll be on the screen behind me, so no problem if that's your preference. 58 00:03:19,098 --> 00:03:20,216 If you didn't bring a Bible 59 00:03:20,216 --> 00:03:23,786 and you'd like to use one, there's one in the pew in front of you. 60 00:03:23,836 --> 00:03:25,021 Same one I use. 61 00:03:25,021 --> 00:03:29,359 So John 20 is on page 864. 62 00:03:29,359 --> 00:03:33,112 But however you're going to get to the passage, let me hold out to you 63 00:03:33,112 --> 00:03:36,232 an outline that I'm going to use to guide our time together. 64 00:03:36,232 --> 00:03:37,283 Three points. 65 00:03:37,283 --> 00:03:37,917 Very simple. 66 00:03:37,917 --> 00:03:41,271 They go like this I want to talk about the reality of doubt, 67 00:03:41,688 --> 00:03:45,441 the response to doubt, and the rebuttal to doubt. 68 00:03:45,441 --> 00:03:48,294 Reality, response and rebuttal. 69 00:03:48,294 --> 00:03:48,511 All right. 70 00:03:48,511 --> 00:03:51,497 Let's start with the first one the reality of doubt. 71 00:03:51,598 --> 00:03:53,149 See if this makes sense to you. 72 00:03:53,149 --> 00:03:56,152 But the bigger the claim, 73 00:03:56,452 --> 00:03:59,672 the more natural it is to doubt it. 74 00:04:00,240 --> 00:04:04,794 The bigger the claim, the more natural it is to be cynical. 75 00:04:05,161 --> 00:04:06,913 Let me give you an illustration. 76 00:04:06,913 --> 00:04:09,499 My wife, Amy, and I have five children. 77 00:04:09,499 --> 00:04:12,468 They'll be here, a little later at one of the services. 78 00:04:12,468 --> 00:04:17,490 When they come, if I say to them, hey, it's been a long weekend for daddy. 79 00:04:17,490 --> 00:04:18,541 We've done a lot of preaching. 80 00:04:18,541 --> 00:04:21,077 I want to celebrate, after service. 81 00:04:21,077 --> 00:04:24,347 Let's all get in the van and go get some ice cream. 82 00:04:25,048 --> 00:04:26,249 They would be excited. 83 00:04:26,249 --> 00:04:29,485 I hate to say it, excited, but not surprised because 84 00:04:29,485 --> 00:04:32,488 I often suggest going to get, ice cream. 85 00:04:32,605 --> 00:04:33,139 They would be. 86 00:04:33,139 --> 00:04:37,160 They would be very excited and they wouldn't doubt me at all, because 87 00:04:37,160 --> 00:04:41,481 getting ice cream is a pretty normal way for my family to celebrate something. 88 00:04:41,664 --> 00:04:44,484 If I told them, hey, after the service, 89 00:04:44,484 --> 00:04:48,054 go home and pack a bag, grab the bag, throw it in the van. 90 00:04:48,054 --> 00:04:49,672 We're going to catch a flight tonight. 91 00:04:49,672 --> 00:04:51,557 We're going to Disneyworld. 92 00:04:51,557 --> 00:04:53,059 I don't even think they'd move. 93 00:04:54,360 --> 00:04:56,162 Okay, I have three teenagers. 94 00:04:56,162 --> 00:04:59,148 They would just roll their eyes and give me that teenage death stare. 95 00:04:59,749 --> 00:05:02,035 Say something like, you're not funny, dad. 96 00:05:02,035 --> 00:05:03,236 My my younger two would. 97 00:05:03,236 --> 00:05:05,938 They would want to believe me, but they would do what they always do. 98 00:05:05,938 --> 00:05:06,839 When they want the truth. 99 00:05:06,839 --> 00:05:09,592 They would look to their mother. 100 00:05:09,592 --> 00:05:11,277 Right now. I'll think about this. 101 00:05:11,277 --> 00:05:14,514 It's the same guy making both those promises, right? 102 00:05:14,514 --> 00:05:15,498 It's their dad. 103 00:05:15,498 --> 00:05:15,932 It's me. 104 00:05:15,932 --> 00:05:20,403 I mean, it's the same guy, but the difference is not the person 105 00:05:20,403 --> 00:05:21,688 making the promise. 106 00:05:21,688 --> 00:05:24,691 The difference is the size of the promise. 107 00:05:24,741 --> 00:05:27,860 Ice cream makes sense to them. Disneyworld? 108 00:05:27,860 --> 00:05:28,728 Not so much. 109 00:05:28,728 --> 00:05:32,215 So the bigger the claim, the easier it is to doubt it. 110 00:05:32,215 --> 00:05:36,085 The reason why I say that is because at the center of Christianity 111 00:05:36,085 --> 00:05:40,373 is not an ice cream level promise, it's a Disneyworld one. 112 00:05:41,240 --> 00:05:45,294 And what I mean by that is it's not just the idea that Jesus Christ 113 00:05:45,294 --> 00:05:49,999 literally, physically, historically lived and died and rose from the dead, 114 00:05:50,066 --> 00:05:54,270 that that would be hard enough in our experience, people, people die. 115 00:05:54,270 --> 00:05:56,389 They don't get back up. 116 00:05:56,389 --> 00:05:58,524 But but it's what that represents. 117 00:05:58,524 --> 00:06:02,628 The idea that because of that, we can be forgiven, 118 00:06:03,413 --> 00:06:07,767 that we can be made new, that we can have relationship with God, that 119 00:06:07,767 --> 00:06:13,022 that relationship with God will extend not just through this life, but past death 120 00:06:13,439 --> 00:06:18,361 into the next one, that we also will die and raised from the dead. 121 00:06:18,361 --> 00:06:22,698 Which is why it's natural to doubt it. 122 00:06:23,483 --> 00:06:24,917 It's so big. 123 00:06:24,917 --> 00:06:25,852 I mean, I mean, think about this. 124 00:06:25,852 --> 00:06:29,989 If Jesus Christ literally, physically, historically lived and died 125 00:06:30,139 --> 00:06:33,476 and rose from the dead, it wouldn't just change the world. 126 00:06:33,476 --> 00:06:35,328 It would change your world. 127 00:06:36,863 --> 00:06:37,613 It would mean some 128 00:06:37,613 --> 00:06:41,717 things that you thought were possible are now possible. 129 00:06:41,717 --> 00:06:45,021 So of course it's natural to be cynical. 130 00:06:45,021 --> 00:06:48,357 And if you if you don't think that's true, consider this. 131 00:06:48,357 --> 00:06:54,714 This story is about Thomas, one of Jesus's handpicked 12 disciples. 132 00:06:54,714 --> 00:07:00,736 Thomas is one of Jesus's closest friends, closest confidants, fiercest followers. 133 00:07:00,736 --> 00:07:05,308 In fact, I feel sorry for Thomas because this story is what defines him. 134 00:07:05,308 --> 00:07:09,779 He's been known for generations as Doubting Thomas, but people forget that 135 00:07:09,779 --> 00:07:14,817 a few chapters ago Jesus says to his disciples, let's go to Jerusalem. 136 00:07:15,118 --> 00:07:18,321 And somebody says, well, no, Jesus, we can't go to Jerusalem 137 00:07:18,321 --> 00:07:19,322 because they're going to kill you. 138 00:07:19,322 --> 00:07:23,042 And Thomas says, well, then we'll die with him. 139 00:07:24,060 --> 00:07:25,978 Like Thomas is a real one. 140 00:07:25,978 --> 00:07:28,080 He's serious about Jesus, 141 00:07:29,098 --> 00:07:30,600 but he doubts. 142 00:07:30,600 --> 00:07:33,352 Look with me at John chapter 20, verse 24. 143 00:07:33,352 --> 00:07:34,787 Here's what it says. 144 00:07:34,787 --> 00:07:37,824 Now Thomas, one of the 12 called 145 00:07:37,824 --> 00:07:41,010 the twin, was not with them when Jesus came. 146 00:07:41,544 --> 00:07:44,547 So the other disciples told him, we have seen the Lord. 147 00:07:45,231 --> 00:07:48,234 But he said to them, unless I see in his hands 148 00:07:48,451 --> 00:07:52,188 the mark of the nails, and place my finger into the mark of the nails, 149 00:07:52,338 --> 00:07:55,158 and place my hand into his side, 150 00:07:55,158 --> 00:07:59,629 I will never believe you see what Thomas is saying. 151 00:07:59,762 --> 00:08:02,748 Dying for Jesus is ice cream. 152 00:08:03,149 --> 00:08:04,367 He gets that. 153 00:08:04,367 --> 00:08:07,970 He understands that sometimes in this world, if you take a stand 154 00:08:07,970 --> 00:08:11,274 and if you chase hard enough after something, there are consequences. 155 00:08:11,307 --> 00:08:14,310 He understands that resurrection. 156 00:08:15,178 --> 00:08:17,280 Resurrection is Disneyworld. 157 00:08:17,280 --> 00:08:18,781 He says it's too big. 158 00:08:18,781 --> 00:08:20,750 It's two wonderful. 159 00:08:20,750 --> 00:08:22,735 It's too amazing. 160 00:08:22,735 --> 00:08:23,870 I have to see it. 161 00:08:23,870 --> 00:08:27,173 I have to know for sure or I'll never believe you. 162 00:08:27,173 --> 00:08:28,457 See what Thomas is showing us? 163 00:08:28,457 --> 00:08:33,896 Is this that doubting the resurrection of Jesus, doubting the claims 164 00:08:33,896 --> 00:08:38,217 that come with the resurrection of Jesus is not a sign you don't understand it. 165 00:08:39,302 --> 00:08:42,288 It's a sign that you do. 166 00:08:42,505 --> 00:08:44,340 It's a sign that your your head 167 00:08:44,340 --> 00:08:47,994 and your heart are wrestling with the implications. 168 00:08:48,511 --> 00:08:53,432 And the reason I say this is because I think for some people who doubt, 169 00:08:53,583 --> 00:08:59,388 they think the world is divided into those who find faith easy and those who don't. 170 00:08:59,388 --> 00:09:02,508 And and because they put themselves in the latter category, 171 00:09:02,508 --> 00:09:05,011 they assume there must be something wrong with them. 172 00:09:05,011 --> 00:09:10,016 Friends, what if your doubt is not evidence you're moving away from God? 173 00:09:10,166 --> 00:09:13,769 What if doubt is the evidence that your heart and your head 174 00:09:13,769 --> 00:09:16,772 want desperately to move towards God? 175 00:09:18,441 --> 00:09:21,894 Thomas wants to be where God is moving. 176 00:09:21,894 --> 00:09:27,083 Thomas is at the center of what God is doing, and he's still doubts 177 00:09:27,083 --> 00:09:32,221 because the resurrection is a Disney World kind of promise. 178 00:09:32,221 --> 00:09:35,808 It's a Disney World kind of claim. 179 00:09:36,092 --> 00:09:38,961 So if you're doubting it, it's not because you're defective. 180 00:09:38,961 --> 00:09:43,199 It's not because you're inferior, it's because you're taking it seriously. 181 00:09:44,550 --> 00:09:45,001 But of course, 182 00:09:45,001 --> 00:09:48,437 that begs the question if doubt is natural, 183 00:09:49,338 --> 00:09:52,858 then how does God feel about doubters? 184 00:09:53,192 --> 00:09:54,477 That's actually my second point. 185 00:09:54,477 --> 00:09:58,648 Not just the reality of doubt, but the response to doubt. 186 00:09:59,332 --> 00:10:04,704 You know, how might you imagine Jesus would respond to Thomas in the story? 187 00:10:05,388 --> 00:10:10,526 I mean, Jesus is the Son of God, who over the course of his life and ministry 188 00:10:10,526 --> 00:10:16,549 repeatedly said, I am going to die, and then I'm going to raise from the dead. 189 00:10:16,549 --> 00:10:18,167 I am going to die. 190 00:10:18,167 --> 00:10:20,903 And then three days later I'm going to get back up. 191 00:10:20,903 --> 00:10:23,422 He said it over and over again. 192 00:10:23,422 --> 00:10:25,408 Then he does it okay. 193 00:10:25,408 --> 00:10:27,860 Appears to ten of his disciples. 194 00:10:27,860 --> 00:10:31,497 They celebrate Thomas's, I don't know, in the bathroom or something. 195 00:10:31,681 --> 00:10:32,815 He misses it. 196 00:10:32,815 --> 00:10:35,418 He comes back and Thomas goes, I'll never believe. 197 00:10:35,418 --> 00:10:38,421 I mean, if I were, Jesus doesn't make me mad. 198 00:10:38,688 --> 00:10:40,189 And you can judge me if you want it. 199 00:10:40,189 --> 00:10:42,241 Make you mad too. 200 00:10:42,241 --> 00:10:45,661 And depending on how your anger manifests, 201 00:10:45,811 --> 00:10:48,748 that's probably how you would imagine Jesus would respond. 202 00:10:48,748 --> 00:10:52,518 Like, if your anger burns hot, you would imagine that Jesus 203 00:10:52,518 --> 00:10:55,938 shows up in the room and everybody goes, oh Jesus, I can't believe you're alive. 204 00:10:55,938 --> 00:10:58,758 It's so great to see you. And Jesus says, oh, it's great to see you. 205 00:10:58,758 --> 00:11:00,109 And I have so much to tell you. 206 00:11:00,109 --> 00:11:03,112 And I will tell you right after Thomas leaves. 207 00:11:04,680 --> 00:11:07,667 Right, Thomas, get out of here. 208 00:11:07,667 --> 00:11:09,602 Right. You're dead to me, Thomas. 209 00:11:09,602 --> 00:11:10,886 That would make sense to me. 210 00:11:10,886 --> 00:11:13,923 Or if Jesus were more like me and his anger burns 211 00:11:13,923 --> 00:11:17,309 cold, then the passage would read Jesus shows up in the room 212 00:11:17,393 --> 00:11:20,396 and makes eye contact with everyone but Thomas, 213 00:11:21,630 --> 00:11:25,401 because he wants Thomas to know just how upset with him he is. 214 00:11:25,701 --> 00:11:26,485 Right? 215 00:11:26,485 --> 00:11:31,440 Okay, my point is this what we imagine Thomas will get from Jesus, listen. 216 00:11:31,440 --> 00:11:35,911 Listen is what we imagine we will get from God when we go to him 217 00:11:35,911 --> 00:11:38,898 with our doubt. 218 00:11:39,865 --> 00:11:42,618 You see, for some people, doubt is intellectual. 219 00:11:42,618 --> 00:11:44,687 And I'll say more about that in a minute. 220 00:11:44,687 --> 00:11:47,690 But for other people it's emotional. 221 00:11:48,290 --> 00:11:53,162 The idea is that if I doubt God could never love me, I'm 222 00:11:53,162 --> 00:11:57,917 not one of those people who find it so easy to believe God would never want me. 223 00:11:57,917 --> 00:12:01,787 He he wants the people who just believe he doesn't want the doubters. 224 00:12:01,787 --> 00:12:03,139 And you know where that comes from. 225 00:12:03,139 --> 00:12:05,207 It comes from relationships. 226 00:12:05,207 --> 00:12:07,610 You have with religious people 227 00:12:08,994 --> 00:12:11,063 who have responded to your doubt that way. 228 00:12:11,063 --> 00:12:15,117 And if I could be so bold, maybe even the person who brought you this weekend. 229 00:12:16,402 --> 00:12:18,921 It's natural to think that if they respond 230 00:12:18,921 --> 00:12:22,074 to your doubt that way, then maybe God will too. 231 00:12:22,408 --> 00:12:25,578 That's why I want you to see how Jesus actually responds to Thomas. 232 00:12:25,578 --> 00:12:28,197 In a story you can find in beginning in verse 26. 233 00:12:28,197 --> 00:12:29,131 Here's what it says. 234 00:12:29,131 --> 00:12:33,903 Eight days later, his disciples were inside again, and Thomas was with them. 235 00:12:34,403 --> 00:12:37,740 Although the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, 236 00:12:38,274 --> 00:12:39,592 peace be with you. 237 00:12:39,592 --> 00:12:42,328 And then he said to Thomas, put your finger here 238 00:12:42,328 --> 00:12:46,165 and see my hands, and put out your hand and place it in my side. 239 00:12:46,315 --> 00:12:50,820 Do not disbelieve, but believe there's so much wonderful here. 240 00:12:50,820 --> 00:12:54,924 Let's just start with this Jesus shows up in the room, and the only person 241 00:12:54,924 --> 00:12:57,927 he looks to make eye contact with is Thomas. 242 00:12:58,127 --> 00:13:03,232 And it's not to yell at him, or to remove him, or to exclude him. 243 00:13:03,382 --> 00:13:06,535 It's to say to him, Thomas, I know, I know, it's 244 00:13:06,535 --> 00:13:10,523 so big, it's so spectacular, it's hard to believe. So. 245 00:13:10,523 --> 00:13:13,142 Thomas here, I know what you said you need. 246 00:13:13,142 --> 00:13:14,310 Here are my hands. 247 00:13:14,310 --> 00:13:16,612 Here's my side. Come, Thomas. 248 00:13:16,612 --> 00:13:19,982 I do not want the story of my resurrection 249 00:13:19,982 --> 00:13:23,219 to go another inch before it includes you. 250 00:13:24,587 --> 00:13:25,738 That's the heart of Jesus. 251 00:13:25,738 --> 00:13:27,723 The doubters. 252 00:13:27,723 --> 00:13:29,358 That's the heart of Jesus. 253 00:13:29,358 --> 00:13:30,593 To doubters. 254 00:13:30,593 --> 00:13:33,662 Jesus doesn't remove Thomas, exclude him, 255 00:13:33,662 --> 00:13:36,899 single him out, yell at him, embarrass him. 256 00:13:36,899 --> 00:13:40,886 Jesus doesn't see questions as the same thing as antagonism. 257 00:13:40,970 --> 00:13:43,072 He says to Thomas, I totally get it. 258 00:13:43,072 --> 00:13:46,759 I see you, I hear you, I want to include you. 259 00:13:47,343 --> 00:13:47,543 Here. 260 00:13:47,543 --> 00:13:50,546 I am. 261 00:13:50,913 --> 00:13:53,899 And I want you to know he's not just saying that to Thomas. 262 00:13:53,933 --> 00:13:56,936 He's saying it to you. Okay? Consider this. 263 00:13:56,936 --> 00:14:00,422 There is no reason for this story to be in the Bible. 264 00:14:02,191 --> 00:14:06,378 I mean, if all the Bible is doing is hyping the resurrection of Jesus, 265 00:14:06,378 --> 00:14:11,116 you wouldn't do that by acknowledging that one of his closest followers doubted. 266 00:14:11,784 --> 00:14:15,204 That does not add to the mythos, and 267 00:14:15,204 --> 00:14:18,557 I don't think if I'm honest, I don't think Thomas probably appreciated it either. 268 00:14:20,192 --> 00:14:23,162 Now, the story isn't there for Thomas. 269 00:14:23,162 --> 00:14:24,864 It's there for you. 270 00:14:24,864 --> 00:14:27,199 It's there for generations of Thomas's. 271 00:14:27,199 --> 00:14:33,472 You see, God doesn't want the story of Jesus to be told without doubters, 272 00:14:33,472 --> 00:14:36,592 without the cynical, without the wrestlers 273 00:14:36,859 --> 00:14:39,862 knowing he wants to include them. 274 00:14:40,412 --> 00:14:43,649 Friends, do not let doubt keep you from going to God. 275 00:14:44,550 --> 00:14:46,669 Do not let struggle 276 00:14:46,669 --> 00:14:51,390 questions wrestling cynicism keep you from saying 277 00:14:51,407 --> 00:14:54,393 to God, God, there's so much I don't understand. 278 00:14:54,393 --> 00:14:56,428 There's so much I don't believe. 279 00:14:56,428 --> 00:15:00,199 But if you have a place for me, if you would 280 00:15:00,199 --> 00:15:03,669 welcome me, I want to be included through Jesus. 281 00:15:03,669 --> 00:15:09,208 See, Jesus is the evidence that God loves doubters. 282 00:15:11,460 --> 00:15:14,463 But for others, of course, doubt is intellectual. 283 00:15:14,730 --> 00:15:16,615 And that's actually my third point. 284 00:15:16,615 --> 00:15:20,819 Not just the reality of doubt or the response to doubt, but the rebuttal 285 00:15:20,819 --> 00:15:21,437 to doubt. 286 00:15:21,437 --> 00:15:24,556 I want you to see that Jesus does show up with evidence. 287 00:15:24,556 --> 00:15:26,425 Look, let's read those same two verses again. 288 00:15:26,425 --> 00:15:30,629 Verse 26, eight days later, his disciples were inside again, 289 00:15:30,629 --> 00:15:31,647 and Thomas was with them. 290 00:15:32,848 --> 00:15:33,949 Although the doors were locked, 291 00:15:33,949 --> 00:15:37,136 Jesus came and stood among them and said, peace be with you. 292 00:15:37,886 --> 00:15:41,657 And then he said to Thomas, put your finger here and see my hands, 293 00:15:42,257 --> 00:15:45,444 and put out your hand, and place it in my side. 294 00:15:45,978 --> 00:15:48,347 Do not disbelieve, but believe. 295 00:15:48,347 --> 00:15:49,798 You see what Jesus does. 296 00:15:49,798 --> 00:15:53,335 He comes with the exact thing that Thomas needed. 297 00:15:53,335 --> 00:15:57,539 Thomas said, unless I touch his hands, unless I touch his side. 298 00:15:57,539 --> 00:16:02,578 Jesus says, here I am, Thomas, I know you have questions, I have answers. 299 00:16:02,578 --> 00:16:06,298 And then he says this Thomas, will you cross the room 300 00:16:06,932 --> 00:16:09,752 and investigate? 301 00:16:09,752 --> 00:16:11,603 And that is the same thing 302 00:16:11,603 --> 00:16:14,640 he's saying 2000 years later to you. 303 00:16:14,790 --> 00:16:17,543 I know some of you have not heard anything that I've said, 304 00:16:17,543 --> 00:16:19,161 because I haven't talked about this yet. 305 00:16:24,299 --> 00:16:27,052 I get that. 306 00:16:27,052 --> 00:16:29,488 Listen, I've told you that 307 00:16:29,488 --> 00:16:34,376 at the center of Christianity is a literal, physical, historical event. 308 00:16:34,376 --> 00:16:38,030 There there is no other religion like that, no other religion like that. 309 00:16:38,597 --> 00:16:43,052 And that invites investigation, and you should investigate it. 310 00:16:43,052 --> 00:16:46,622 What's so interesting to me is I, I sit with so many young people in particular, 311 00:16:46,638 --> 00:16:47,539 and I remember one time 312 00:16:47,539 --> 00:16:51,110 sitting with a medical student, a young lady at Case Western Reserve 313 00:16:51,110 --> 00:16:55,014 University, very, very bright young woman who had just given her life to Jesus. 314 00:16:55,014 --> 00:16:57,232 And I asked her, hey, before you became a Christian, 315 00:16:57,232 --> 00:16:58,701 what did you think about Jesus? 316 00:16:58,701 --> 00:17:01,336 And she said, I thought he was make believe. 317 00:17:01,336 --> 00:17:04,523 You know, the schools they're not talking about Jesus for. 318 00:17:04,523 --> 00:17:06,542 I'm sure all of the obvious reasons, 319 00:17:06,542 --> 00:17:10,763 which gives people the mistaken idea that he wasn't an actual person. 320 00:17:10,763 --> 00:17:13,732 Jesus was a literal historical person. 321 00:17:13,732 --> 00:17:16,885 There is far more evidence for the existence of Jesus, 322 00:17:16,885 --> 00:17:20,939 for his crucifixion and his resurrection than many of the things you take 323 00:17:21,123 --> 00:17:22,641 as historical fact. 324 00:17:22,641 --> 00:17:27,379 In fact, on this wheel I have written ten different evidences or arguments 325 00:17:27,529 --> 00:17:28,997 for the resurrection of Jesus. 326 00:17:28,997 --> 00:17:31,366 I don't have time to go through them all. 327 00:17:31,366 --> 00:17:33,452 I just want you to see how much there is. 328 00:17:33,452 --> 00:17:34,553 And the wheel could have been bigger, 329 00:17:34,553 --> 00:17:36,922 but this is the biggest one we could find, right? 330 00:17:36,922 --> 00:17:39,541 So I have ten things on it and I can't get to them. 331 00:17:39,541 --> 00:17:42,778 Although I will say this on the Thursday night service, we recorded 332 00:17:42,778 --> 00:17:45,781 a podcast Beyond the Message that will come out tomorrow, 333 00:17:45,898 --> 00:17:48,901 which involves a Q&A session in which I do talk about most of these. 334 00:17:48,901 --> 00:17:50,302 So check that out if you want to know. 335 00:17:50,302 --> 00:17:51,170 But what I thought we'd do in 336 00:17:51,170 --> 00:17:54,857 each service is spin it a couple times and talk about the ones that it lands on. 337 00:17:55,040 --> 00:17:56,575 Plus, you get to hear this really cool sound. 338 00:17:58,494 --> 00:18:01,113 No whammies, no enemies, no whammies. 339 00:18:01,113 --> 00:18:02,898 Game show humor. 340 00:18:02,898 --> 00:18:04,349 All right, 341 00:18:04,349 --> 00:18:05,217 all right. This one. 342 00:18:05,217 --> 00:18:08,036 The failure of alternative explanations. 343 00:18:08,036 --> 00:18:08,687 This is a great one. 344 00:18:08,687 --> 00:18:13,525 Consider this Christianity after the crucifixion of Jesus 345 00:18:14,059 --> 00:18:16,712 is down to about 100 people. 346 00:18:16,712 --> 00:18:17,479 Okay. That's it. 347 00:18:17,479 --> 00:18:18,947 In all the world, there are a hundred people. 348 00:18:18,947 --> 00:18:19,765 These 100 people. 349 00:18:19,765 --> 00:18:23,635 They have no political power, no military power, no influence. 350 00:18:23,635 --> 00:18:27,055 In fact, they've lost all that because their leader has just been crucified. 351 00:18:27,055 --> 00:18:29,942 It is the worst time to identify as a Christian. 352 00:18:29,942 --> 00:18:30,709 Consider. 353 00:18:30,709 --> 00:18:31,760 Consider, by the way, that 354 00:18:31,760 --> 00:18:35,514 the rise of Islam, for example, happens when Muhammad goes into a cave 355 00:18:35,597 --> 00:18:38,851 by himself, receives the Koran from God, 356 00:18:38,851 --> 00:18:42,171 allegedly comes out and says, Here's God's book, just believe me. 357 00:18:42,287 --> 00:18:47,459 And through military and political power, eventually says balcony or die. 358 00:18:47,509 --> 00:18:49,878 Pretty easy to see why Islam spread. 359 00:18:51,597 --> 00:18:53,966 Christianity, though, has none of that. 360 00:18:53,966 --> 00:18:56,902 And yet within months there will be thousands of Christians. 361 00:18:56,902 --> 00:18:58,937 Within a year, it'll be all over the known world. 362 00:18:58,937 --> 00:19:00,205 Within three centuries, 363 00:19:00,205 --> 00:19:04,259 it will be the single shaping influence of the Roman Empire itself. 364 00:19:04,259 --> 00:19:05,177 How did you get there? 365 00:19:05,177 --> 00:19:05,928 Here's the problem. 366 00:19:05,928 --> 00:19:08,931 People will say, well, Jesus didn't really raised from the dead. 367 00:19:09,031 --> 00:19:10,732 He just didn't die. 368 00:19:10,732 --> 00:19:12,801 He faked his death on the cross. 369 00:19:12,801 --> 00:19:13,418 Listen to us. 370 00:19:13,418 --> 00:19:18,056 To believe that is to is to struggle with the historicity of the crucifixion. 371 00:19:18,390 --> 00:19:22,978 The Jewish historian Josephus, who wrote about Jesus's crucifixion. 372 00:19:22,978 --> 00:19:25,314 By the way, not a believer, not in the Bible. 373 00:19:25,314 --> 00:19:29,551 An outside historical writer, same as Tacitus, who wrote about Jesus 374 00:19:29,718 --> 00:19:31,436 as a Roman in the first century. 375 00:19:31,436 --> 00:19:35,641 Josephus had three friends who were crucified at one time. 376 00:19:35,757 --> 00:19:39,077 He actually went to the emperor and interceded for them. 377 00:19:39,077 --> 00:19:43,999 Two of them were taken down off the cross only hours after being put up there. 378 00:19:43,999 --> 00:19:44,583 They both died. 379 00:19:45,767 --> 00:19:47,002 The crucifixion was a 380 00:19:47,002 --> 00:19:50,322 professional execution at the hands of professional executions. 381 00:19:50,339 --> 00:19:53,425 If they hadn't killed Jesus, they would have died. 382 00:19:55,494 --> 00:19:58,463 So it's not not likely that he faked his death. 383 00:19:58,463 --> 00:20:00,949 Then you could say, well, maybe he didn't raise from the dead. 384 00:20:00,949 --> 00:20:03,018 Maybe his disciples stole him. 385 00:20:03,018 --> 00:20:05,520 That's what the Jewish religious leaders said at the time. 386 00:20:05,520 --> 00:20:06,772 The problem with that, of course, 387 00:20:06,772 --> 00:20:10,459 is that almost all of Jesus's disciples will die for him. 388 00:20:10,826 --> 00:20:13,829 You know, Charles Colson, who a Christian writer who was involved 389 00:20:13,829 --> 00:20:16,982 in the Nixon Watergate scandal before he knew Jesus, 390 00:20:16,982 --> 00:20:20,369 once said, there were 12 of us, and all we had to do to stay out of 391 00:20:20,369 --> 00:20:24,273 prison was maintain a lie, and we couldn't do it, he said. 392 00:20:24,273 --> 00:20:28,977 There's no way these guys maintained a lie to the point of death. 393 00:20:29,211 --> 00:20:33,982 The question is, if Jesus Christ we know lived and we know he was crucified, 394 00:20:34,166 --> 00:20:39,204 then what happened to lead to the spread of Christianity around the world? 395 00:20:39,204 --> 00:20:42,241 What happened to cause such a cataclysmic event? 396 00:20:42,241 --> 00:20:45,627 If it wasn't the resurrection, then when was it? 397 00:20:45,777 --> 00:20:51,617 Especially when the Christian message wasn't live better, love harder, do more. 398 00:20:51,617 --> 00:20:56,238 It was Jesus Christ, the Son of God lived and died and rose 399 00:20:56,238 --> 00:20:59,958 from the dead, a claim that the Romans and the Jewish leaders 400 00:20:59,958 --> 00:21:04,012 had every reason to want to disprove and couldn't do it. 401 00:21:04,830 --> 00:21:08,267 Now, I don't suggest that one spin of this wheel is going to move you 402 00:21:08,267 --> 00:21:09,985 from an atheist to a believer. 403 00:21:09,985 --> 00:21:14,222 I simply say this if Christianity, if the claim of Christianity 404 00:21:14,222 --> 00:21:17,392 is that the Son of God came and lived and died 405 00:21:17,492 --> 00:21:21,380 and rose from the dead, and because of that, you can be forgiven. 406 00:21:21,563 --> 00:21:23,432 You can have a relationship with God. 407 00:21:23,432 --> 00:21:26,969 You two will die and one day rise from the dead. 408 00:21:27,085 --> 00:21:30,088 Then isn't it at least worth the room? 409 00:21:30,422 --> 00:21:32,424 We were always crossing the room and investigating. 410 00:21:32,424 --> 00:21:36,228 Can you imagine the story of Jesus shows up and says, Thomas, put your hands here, 411 00:21:36,228 --> 00:21:38,730 put your hands here. And Thomas says, I know I'm okay. 412 00:21:41,850 --> 00:21:44,853 And yet, isn't that what so many of us do? 413 00:21:45,620 --> 00:21:47,939 We disbelieve the claim of the resurrection. 414 00:21:47,939 --> 00:21:50,459 We've never even investigated. 415 00:21:50,459 --> 00:21:54,413 So if you're here and you're one of those people of intellectual objections 416 00:21:54,529 --> 00:21:57,716 and you want to investigate, would you stop by our guest service desk 417 00:21:57,716 --> 00:22:00,719 on the way out and I'm taking your name or your email or any of that. 418 00:22:00,769 --> 00:22:02,070 We're just going to give you some resources 419 00:22:02,070 --> 00:22:05,240 totally free to aid you in your investigation. 420 00:22:05,490 --> 00:22:09,528 Listen, whatever keeps you from God, the emotion of doubt 421 00:22:09,528 --> 00:22:15,300 or the intellectual side of doubt, Jesus Christ has come to be your answer. 422 00:22:15,300 --> 00:22:16,551 And he was Thomas's. 423 00:22:16,551 --> 00:22:20,672 Look at how the story ends in verse 28, Thomas says this Thomas answered 424 00:22:20,672 --> 00:22:23,658 him, my Lord and my God. 425 00:22:24,326 --> 00:22:28,547 God's desire is that in Jesus your doubts would be answered, 426 00:22:30,499 --> 00:22:31,199 and that you 427 00:22:31,199 --> 00:22:35,387 also might come to know him as your Lord and your God. 428 00:22:35,387 --> 00:22:38,907 Let me pray for you, father God, thank you so much for the story of Thomas 429 00:22:39,207 --> 00:22:42,210 and that you refuse to leave doubters out. 430 00:22:42,294 --> 00:22:44,930 You refuse to move forward without the cynical, 431 00:22:44,930 --> 00:22:47,933 without the skeptical, without the wrestlers. 432 00:22:48,717 --> 00:22:50,419 You want to include them in the story of Jesus. 433 00:22:50,419 --> 00:22:53,839 I pray through the power of your Holy Spirit that you might help us 434 00:22:53,839 --> 00:22:57,059 to realize the world is not divided between those who doubt 435 00:22:57,142 --> 00:22:58,143 and those who believe. 436 00:22:58,143 --> 00:23:02,364 The world is full of those who doubt, and those who used to doubt 437 00:23:03,331 --> 00:23:05,033 but have met Jesus. 438 00:23:05,033 --> 00:23:08,754 Would you move so many this weekend from one group to the other? 439 00:23:09,204 --> 00:23:11,022 In his name we pray. Amen.