Jesus Revives a Doubting Disciple’s Faith
Sermon #4 in After Easter Series: Close Encounters with the Risen Lord
Chuck Sligh
April 29, 2018
NOTE: A PowerPoint presentation is available for this sermon by request at chucksligh@hotmail.com.
TEXT: Please turn in your Bibles to John 20.
INTRODUCTION
Illus. – Kids are notorious for saying, “That’s not fair.” – For instance, here are some things my kids said were not fair when they were growing up:
• “It’s not fair that we have to shower every night because we smell if we showered last night.”
• “It’s not fair that we have to go bed at 8 o’clock and you and Mom get to stay up as late as you want to.”
• “It’s not fair that I have to brush my teeth every night.”
• “It’s not fair that we have to wash dishes; the Johnson kids don’t have to.”
• “It’s not fair that I got a B on my spelling test and Jenny, a GIRL, got a B+.”
There are a lot of things that kids say are unfair that really aren’t. But let me tell you something that I do think is unfair: That the apostle Thomas, the subject of today’s sermon, has been branded for 2,000 years plus with the name of “Doubting Thomas.” I’ll tell you why I think later.
We’ve been in a series called “Close Encounters with the Risen Lord” about Christ’s post-resurrection appearances to many of his disciples.
• The first sermon was, “Jesus Restores a Defeated Disciple” about when Peter was forgiven for his denial of Jesus and restored to Christ’s service.
• The second was titled “Jesus Enlightens Some Dim-sighted Disciples” about three appearances of Jesus in which those who saw Him did not recognize Him because of a number of distractions; and how we must look for Jesus in difficult times.
• Last week’s sermon was “Jesus Commissions His Fearful Followers,” which was about when Jesus appeared to the dispirited and discouraged disciples behind closed doors, and taught them how He was the central theme of the Old Testament, and explained to them the Gospel and then commissioned them to preach the Gospel to the world.
Today’s sermon, the last in the series, will deal with the person who has gone down in history as “Doubting Thomas.” Let’s look at this story as we wrap up our series on “Close Encounters with the Risen Lord.” In our text, we see three phases of Thomas’s journey to restored faith.
I. FIRST, WE SEE THOMAS THE POUTER – John 20:24 – “But Thomas, one of the twelve, called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came.”
All the Apostles and other disciples were present the day when Jesus appeared to the disciples behind closed doors…all except Thomas, that is. Why wasn’t Thomas there?
Well, the Bible doesn’t actually say, but I think we can surmise some things. Remember that the meeting with the disciples behind closed doors happened in the evening of the day of Jesus’s resurrection—on Sunday. The disciples were scared and grief-stricken and disappointed and disheartened, but they all stuck together…except Thomas. He may have had another engagement, but I find it hard to believe that anything was more important than being with the disciples during this stressful time. Why was he A.W.O.L.?—I think he was POUTING.
On this day in our text, Thomas’s worst fear has come true. His and the other disciples’ hopes had been crushed. From their perspective, all was lost! So, I think Thomas was heart-broken and disillusioned. And I think he was ashamed at how all the disciples had failed Jesus in His hour of greatest need. I mean, Thomas knew this was not been their finest hour.
So, I think he just wasn’t in the mood for socializing. He wanted to be alone to brood and mope. He didn’t want to be with others right then, even with his friend. So rather than attend the first ever Sunday service without Jesus, he wallowed in his sorrow and shame alone!
Do you ever feel like that? Maybe you’re going through some sad time in your life, or you feel the Lord has let you down, or maybe you know the Lord hasn’t let you down, but you don’t like what He’s allowing in your life anyway, and you just don’t feel like going to church or homegroup or Bible study. You’d rather brood and stay in your funk and feel sorry for yourself.
If you’re in that situation, that’s exactly what you should NOT do! I cannot tell you how many times as I preached a sermon, knowing what someone was going through, it occurred to me that what I was preaching or teaching was EXACTLY what someone needed to hear…but they had listened to the voice of negativity and defeat, or perhaps the enemy, who, knowing what the sermon was going to be about, whispered those words of negativity and defeat into that person’s ear. It’s usually the time you don’t come that you miss the greatest blessing…the very blessing you need for that moment in your misery.
Think of what Thomas missed by not being with the disciples:
First, he missed the Lord’s PRESENCE – Look at verse 19a – Then the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, came Jesus and stood in the midst…”
I know that we experience the Lord everywhere we go, and when we worship Him in our quiet time. But there’s something different about when we gather together for corporate worship, fellowship, prayer and the preaching and teaching of God’s Word.
In Matthew 18:20, Jesus said, “For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.” Wait a minute: God is everywhere, right? Yes, but He’s present in a unique and powerful way when we gather together with other believers in Jesus’s name than you will find anywhere else! When you’re down and disappointed or defeated, if there ever is a time when you need to experience the presence of the Lord in a dynamic and powerful way, it’s in worship and prayer and study with other believers.
Second, Thomas missed the Lord’s POWER. – Verse 19 said that the doors were shut and Jesus just POOF!—appears in their midst.
Thomas missed a wonderful exhibition of God’s power! How often God’s wants to work in power in our lives…but we miss out because we’re A.W.O.L. from church?
Third, Thomas missed the Lord’s PEACE. – Look at the end of verse 19 – “…and saith unto them, ‘Peace be unto you.’”
After showing the disciples His hands and side, in verse 21 we read, “Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you.” Jesus was trying to give peace to their troubled hearts.
I cannot count the times I’ve been troubled or filled with doubts or fears, or felt defeated, or was without joy: but then I came to the House of the Lord and was encouraged by others there, and heard words of comfort or guidance from God’s Word and left church feeling what Paul described as “the peace that passes all understanding.”
Fourth, Thomas missed the PROOF that Jesus was alive.
Verse 20 begins, “And when he had so said, he shewed unto them his hands and his side….” It took another 8 days before he got his chance to see the risen Lord. In the intermittent time, he just couldn’t believe it. Had he been with his fellow believers, he’d have had proof of the living Lord!
Finally, Thomas missed out on PRAISE – When they had seen Jesus’s hands and side, Verse 20 goes on to say “Then were the disciples glad, when they saw the Lord.”
I cannot count the number of times I came to church all down in the dumps and left with joy and praise in my heart. What made the difference?—The LORD was there and I experienced Him afresh in worship and praise!
It’s no wonder therefore that Hebrews 10:25 says: “Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.”
II. NOTICE WITH ME NEXT THAT THOMAS THE POUTER BECOMES THOMAS THE DOUBTER. – John 20:25 – “The other disciples therefore said unto him, We have seen the Lord. But he said unto them, Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe.”
I love how real the Bible is. You know, if the Bible were the work of men, the writers would cover up all the flaws of the disciples. They’d portray themselves as always faithful; they wouldn’t record their prideful squabbling among themselves; they’d always show themselves as bold and fearless, they would have left Peter’s denial or the disciples’ abandonment of Jesus out of the story. And they certainly would never have represented themselves as having doubts. But the Bible, being the very Word of God, portrays the disciples as they truly were...warts and all.
John is the Gospel that mentions believing more than any other Gospel. In fact, he uses the Greek word pisteuo, which means “to believe” nearly twice as much as the other three Gospels COMBINED!
So why does John mention this story of Thomas’s doubt, the opposite of belief? Well, because the Bible is just real. The Bible never shied away from the faithless actions of believers:
• Genesis 15:6 says that Abraham believed God and because of that, God credited him with righteousness, that is, his faith saved him…yet Abraham doubted God when he went in and had relations with Hagar to produce a son after waiting for many years for God to fulfill His promise to give him an heir.
• John the Baptist preached that Jesus was the Messiah his whole ministry, and yet shortly before his death, from prison, he sent someone to ask Jesus, “Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?”
I also think John wasn’t averse to recording Thomas’s doubt because doubts are not always bad.
Doubts which are left unattended can fester and grow. But it is in the wrestling with our doubts that our faith gets stronger. It causes you to examine your faith and various things you have been taught by others and settle them in your heart and mind.
It can be difficult and scary, but in the end, your faith will be stronger. Then you not only will believe what you believe, but you’ll know WHY you believe what you believe. So, doubt can serve to make your faith stronger and healthier and more balanced. It can help put a shaky faith on a firmer foundation.
That’s why I think it’s not fair that Thomas is known throughout history as “Doubting Thomas”—because, you see, he was not any worse than the others. They didn’t believe Jesus had risen from the dead either until they, like Thomas, saw Jesus and His scars on His hands and side. They just got to see the risen Lord 8 days earlier than Thomas did.
Well, how did Jesus restore this doubting disciple’s faith?—He met his exact need. Remember that in verse 25, Thomas made it clear that he WOULD NOT believe unless he saw the print of the nails in Jesus’s hands, and put his finger into those scars and thrust his hand into Jesus’s side.
Well, that’s what Thomas said he needed, in order to believe so that’s what Thomas got – Look at verses 26-27 – “And after eight days again his disciples were within, and Thomas with them: then came Jesus, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, Peace be unto you. 27 Then saith he to Thomas, Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side: and be not faithless, but believing.”
In each of the close encounters with the risen Lord we have examined over the last few weeks, we’ve seen how Jesus met specific needs in people’s lives. Jesus loves to meet us in our point of need.
What is your need this morning?
• Is it COMFORT?—Jesus wants to comfort your heart today. Will you cry out to Him for comfort and solace?
• Is it FORGIVENESS?—Jesus wants you to leave forgiven and restored to fellowship with Him; Will you confess your sin to Him as John tell us to do in 1 John 1:9.
• Is it WISDOM to handle a big problem in your life?—Jesus wants you to have the wisdom to handle life’s problems. Will you follow James 1:4 and ask God for wisdom who gives to all of His children wisdom liberally if we ask in faith?
• Is your need GREATER FAITH?—Jesus wants to increase your faith. Will you ask God for greater faith like the man who came to Jesus for healing for his son. When Jesus said, “All things are possible to him who believes” the boy’s father prayed, “Lord, help my unbelief.” And then the Lord healed him.
See, the key is to recognize your need and verbalize it to God. God may not deliver you from all your troubles, but He will meet your REAL need. We have seen Thomas the POUTER and Thomas the DOUBTER….
III. NOW NOTICE WITH ME THOMAS THE SHOUTER – We read in verse 28-29 – “And Thomas answered and said unto him, ‘My Lord and my God.” 29 Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.”
Thomas literally shouts out one of the most important statements in all Scripture, but I’ll come back to that in a moment.
Jesus said to Thomas that because he had seen Jesus, he believed; but those who have not seen Jesus, yet believe, are especially blessed. When the Word of God was completed, the need for supernatural appearances of Jesus was not necessary any longer. We have the witness of the apostles in the Gospels and in the rest of the New Testament—that is, the completion of the Word of God.
And Paul says clearly that “faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God.” in Romans 10:17. It is God’s Word which has the power to convince and convict and save the lost.
But I want us now to return to Thomas’s declaration in verse 28 where he declares “My Lord and my God!” We must not miss the significance of this statement! Thomas is the first person in the Gospel of John to look at Jesus of Nazareth and call Him God!
Simon Rundell said, “We will always remember Thomas as the one who dared to question the reports of his fellow apostles—“Doubting Thomas.” However, his one definitive statement is the finest example of New Testament Christology [which means the doctrine of Christ]—“My Lord and My God”. How dare we call him Doubting Thomas after that: “Professing Thomas,” perhaps, “Confessing Thomas,” and now, most undoubtedly, “Believing Thomas.”
This statement, that Jesus Christ is the Lord God, that He was not just a man, but was God in the flesh and that those who believed in this God-man would be saved is what John had been driving at throughout his entire Gospel. The whole purpose of John’s Gospel was to prove the deity of Jesus Christ and to proclaim that it is through faith in Jesus that we can be saved.
He begins his gospel with this clear declaration of Christ’s divinity in John 1:1-3: “In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 The same was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. 4 In him was life; and the life was the light of men.”
See how clear it is? All of these statements tell us that “the Word” was God. So who was “the Word.” Verse 14 tells us that the Word became flesh and lived with us and he was seen by the disciples—in other words, “the Word” is Jesus Christ. Later John records verse after verse after verse that says stating whoever believes in Jesus would have eternal life and their sins forgiven.
This is what John is reiterating in verse 30-31 of our text – “And many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book: 31 But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name.”
It is by accepting Thomas’s bold declaration of who Jesus is and placing our faith in Him that we can have life through His name.
CONCLUSION
Let me close by asking you three questions:
1) First, have you come to that place in your life where you recognized that you are a sinner in need of God’s grace; that Jesus—who was very God Himself—came to earth to die in your place; and that you needed to put your faith in Jesus Christ to save you from your sins?
If not, I invite you to do that this morning. Stop trusting in anything except what the Son of God did for you on the cross, and you will be saved and be given eternal life.
2) If you’ve already done that, do you struggle with doubt sometimes?
That’s not necessarily a bad thing. When you have doubts, GET THE ANSWERS TO THEM! Research it; ask your pastor or other believers about them; and most importantly, read God’s Word and see what GOD says about them.
3) Lastly, do you have a spiritual need this morning that only God can meet? Then ask God to meet that need and trust Him to meet it.
