The 4 Points: #4: I Need To Make A Choice. Story: Thomas & The Resurrection

• Thomas’ fourth demand: "I will not believe!”

• Jesus’ fourth command: "Stop doubting and believe!"

Notice: Thomas’ response (vs 28).

• “Thomas said to him, “My Lord and my God!"”

• Thomas becomes the first person after the resurrection to call Jesus God.

• The first person to publicly acknowledge his deity!

• And in doing so he brings John’s gospel full circle.

• It starts and finish with an acknowledgement that Jesus Christ is God!

i.e. John chapter 1 verses 1&14:

• “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”

• “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.”

• And here at the end of the gospel, that same truth is repeated.

• “Thomas said to him, “My Lord and my God!"”

I love the fact that after the resurrection Jesus gives special attention to two people.

• Who is Peter the denier, and Thomas the doubter.

• He could have dismissed both of them as failures,

• But he doesn’t! He restores their faith and recommissions them into service.

Quote:

"Failure should be our teacher, not our undertaker.

Failure is delay, not defeat.

It is a temporary detour, not a dead-end street."

AND FINALLY…

• Thomas made a big mistake and he found reconciliation.

• Question: What about you?

Remember the four points.

• FIRST: God loves you!

• Each one of us are valued by God,

• Therefore, each one of us has the chance to be a friend of God, to be reconciled!

• SECOND; WE have sinned (messed up, got things wrong).

• Thomas’ problem was unbelief and pride.

• What is your problem? Bible says, “All have sinned and fallen short…”

• (Romans chapter 3 verse 23).

• THIRD: Cross is where we find forgiveness!

• Sin cannot be ignored it will be punished for God is just,

• But God is also loving and in Christ we see both the love and justice of God.

Ill:

• Suppose you go to the doctors with red spots all over your body,

• You get examined and the doctor diagnoses measles.

• Imagine he then tried to cure you by covering all the spots with band aids or plasters.

• You’d say, ‘Hang on a minute, that’s no solution.

• The spots are only the symptoms – the real disease is within; it’s in the blood stream!’

• So it is with our sin,

• It’s a heart issue and we can’t fix the problem ourselves,

• By covering up. Or by trying and impress God or cancel out the bad stuff!

• FOURTH: Choice – the question mark.

• By being baptised this morning Lacie has demonstrated her choice to follow Jesus.

• What will you do with Jesus?

Quote: C.S. Lewis.

• 80 years ago this year C.S. Lewis wrote the book,, 'Mere Christianity.'

I• n that book he made this very insight quotation.

“I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him [that is, Christ]: ‘I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept His claim to be God.’ That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic–on a level with the man who says he is a poached egg–or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse…. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come up with any patronising nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.”

SERMON AUDIO:

https://surf.pxwave.com/wl/?id=9buGhGI5sgolEABNpI7QrvkddhIulKwB

SERMON VIDEO:

https://youtu.be/Q3w3UnkR06U