THIS JESUS IS ALIVE!
John 20:19-20, 24-31
INTRODUCTION
A. HUMOR: Little Stinkers
1. Ms. Smith was assigned to be a monitor on the playground and caught little Johnny making ugly faces and scaring other kids.
2. Smiling sweetly, she said, “Johnny, when I was a child I was told that if I made ugly faces, my face would freeze and I would stay like that.”
3. Johnny looked up and replied, “Well, Ms. Smith, you can’t say you weren’t warned!”
B. TEXT
19 On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jewish leaders, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” 20 After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord. 24 Now Thomas (also known as Didymus), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came. 25 So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord!” But he said to them, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.” 26 A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” 27 Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.” 28 Thomas said to him, “My Lord and my God!” 29 Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” 30 Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. 31 But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name. John 20:1-8, 24-31.
C. THESIS
1. The Resurrection of Jesus is one of the most powerful events in history. But its power doesn’t depend on an event, but on the Person who transcends space and time.
2. If you encounter the Person of Jesus, you, like Thomas, will be transformed for the rest of your life.
3. The title of this message is, “This Jesus is Alive!”
I. THOMAS’ CHIEF CHARACTER TRAIT
A. JESUS CHOSE A SKEPTIC
1. When Jesus chose the 12, He chose different sorts of men. Some were like Peter – who had great faith. Others were like Andrew, who was socially attuned.
2. But Jesus also chose men with defects – imperfect men. He did this to show:
a. His love for imperfect people.
b. His ability to transform them into greatness.
3. One such man He chose was Thomas. He was an excellent example of a skeptic; a skeptic is…
a. A person who lives by the scientific method. Who says…
b. “If I can’t feel it, see it, hear it, taste it, or smell it – I won’t believe it!”
c. He probably responded to the first testimonies of Jesus’ resurrection with explanations such as, “Maybe they hallucinated;” or “Maybe they saw someone who looked like Jesus.”
4. He is often remembered as “Doubting Thomas,” but his doubts had a purpose – he wanted to know the Truth. He gladly believed when he was given concrete reasons for doing so.
B. THE PATIENCE OF JESUS
1. What do we know of Thomas?
a. He was a DEVOTED FOLLOWER of Jesus. In John 11:16, when Thomas learned that Jesus was going to Jerusalem and into danger, Thomas said, “Let us also go that we may die with Him.”
b. Thomas was also SLOW to understand spiritual truths, as showed when he said, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?” John 14:5.
c. But Thomas’ question led to one of the most important sayings of Jesus; “I am the way, the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but by Me” (Jn. 14:6)!
2. Christ was very patient with his slowness. Thomas should have known that Jesus would rise from the dead:
a. Numerous prophecies of the O.T. predicted Jesus would rise from the dead.
b. Jesus frequently told them He would be killed and rise on the third day.
c. The women & apostles testified of an empty tomb.
d. Hadn’t he heard the angel’s statement (thru the women) that Jesus had risen?
e. The 10 other apostles told Thomas they had seen Jesus alive; they declared it as a certainty.
3. Jesus was kind to Thomas; Thank God He is, because that means He’ll be patient with our slow faith too!
II. THOMAS’ BRAZEN DEMANDS OF PROOF
A. THE GALL OF THOMAS
1. How dare he dictate the terms on which he is going to believe! And to choose the terms most offensive to Christ!
2. Who was Thomas that he should put his hands into those wounds so recently healed? Would he reopen the wound to Christ’s heart? [He had seen Jesus’ torn & obliterated body when they took Him down from the cross.]
3. Was there no other way of believing but to poke his Lord’s wounds? He asks way-too-much; God doesn’t owe him anything!
B. A POLICE DETECTIVE’S TESTIMONY. I interviewed a senior Police Detective about Thomas. He said;
1. Detective Hyvl said, “Thomas would have made a good detective; he wouldn’t decide without the facts.”
2. “Fingerprints are better than an eye-witness. An eye-witness can get excited (& wrong). A criminal may have a twin brother, but no one else has your fingerprints.”
3. “Before fingerprinting, people used old scars, wounds, tattoos or birthmarks to identify people. Thomas’ technique for identifying Christ would have been normal for his time.”
4. Another Police Detective told me that small variations in the witness accounts actually verify the truthfulness of the accounts. He said, “If everyone’s story lines up exactly, then you know they got together and agreed on it. But if the witnesses remember different aspects that some others don’t recall, this actually shows their genuineness!”
C. JESUS’ LOVING ACCOMMODATION
1. Acts 1:3 says that Jesus “showed Himself alive by many infallible proofs.”
2. Jesus gave each person what they needed to convince them.
a. For some, a head-wrapping, still intact.
b. For others, the message thru an Angel.
c. For others, to touch His hands to see He’s solid.
d. For others He ate fish & honeycomb before them.
d. For Thomas, the chance to touch His wounds. Thomas & Jesus knew that NAILPRINTS DON’T LIE!
III. THOMAS’ TRANSFORMATION
A. A REVOLUTION OCCURRED IN THOMAS
Imagine the shock when Jesus appeared and commanded Thomas to inspect His wounds! Every doubt was answered with in-your-face reality! In Thomas’ statement “My Lord & My God” we see:
1. An INCREDIBLY STRONG FAITH. His strong doubt was now replaced with a faith stronger than most. Thomas now knew Jesus was divine.
2. A NEW HUMILITY. In his expression we sense:
a. “How could I ever have doubted You?”
b. “What have I been thinking of?”
c. “How could I have been so arrogant?”
d. “I wandered so far…further than all! My Lord & my God!”
3. A SURPRISE OF COMPLETE JOY!
a. Intense pleasure; holy wonder.
b. Like he’d found one he’d loved intensely, but lost until now.
4. RENEWAL OF ALLEGIANCE TO CHRIST; “My Lord & my God!” Consecration to His service.
B. IMPACT ON HIS LIFE
1. He became one of the most courageous of the apostles.
2. Tradition says he labored in Parthia, Persia, and India – suffering martyrdom near Madras, at Mount St. Thomas.
CONCLUSION
A. ILLUSTRATION: The God Who Couldn’t Save Himself
1. Hideyoshi, a Japanese warlord who ruled over Japan in the late 1500s, commissioned a colossal statue of Buddha for a shrine in Kyoto.
2. It took 50,000 men five years to build, but the work had scarcely been completed when the earthquake of 1596 brought the roof of the shrine crashing down and wrecked the statue.
3. In a rage Hideyoshi shot an arrow at the fallen colossus. “I put you here at great expense,” he shouted, “and you can’t even look after your own temple.” Today in the Word, MBI, August, 1991, p. 23
4. Aren’t you glad we serve an All-powerful, Infinite, Eternal God -- who has no problem taking care of an endless universe and 8 billion people besides?
B. ILLUSTRATION
1. Malcolm Muggeridge was a Marxist before he found Christ. His journalistic talent eventually led him to write some masterpieces for Christ, but he first wrote for Stalin.
2. During the Cold War he went to Russia to do a story on the Communist Party and the dying of religion in that atheistic empire. After completing his interviews with people in the Kremlin, he went to a Russian orthodox service on Easter.
3. The church was packed. At the end of the service a priest shouted, "Christ is risen!" The people yelled back, "He is risen indeed!"
4. Muggeridge looked into their faces and instantly realized that they were right and Stalin was wrong. He said it was the reality of their joy that tipped the scales of his soul toward Christ. The reality of Christian joy is most compelling!
C. THE CALL
1. There’s only one Savior who died for the sins of the entire world. There’s only one sacrifice that God found acceptable to atone for sin – and that one is Jesus Christ. He’s the “way, the truth and the life; no one comes to the Father accept through Him.”
2. Will you accept Jesus as your sacrifice for sins today? Will you trust Him as your Savior? Will you surrender your life to Him and let Him wash you from your sins? Let’s prayer and trust Him right now. PRAYER.
3. LORD’S SUPPER
