Touching truth. I wanna begin with a question. It’s a serious one. Have you ever been mad at God today? I kind of just want to get right after. The thrust of the whole message. Don’t have a cute story or an amusing anecdote to kind of get your attention. Instead, I wanna try to do so just by being honest and real, and because I’m gonna ask you in this sermon to believe something that is really impossible. We’re in this sermon series called Eyewitness News, examining eyewitness accounts of people who said they saw someone who had been dead back to life. The resurrected Jesus, and I’m gonna be asking you to believe in the resurrected Jesus, something that really is at face value. Unbelievable. And yet your Christian faith, our Christian faith rises or falls on the reality of the resurrection of Jesus. And I think it can be kind of easy for us in a church service, for example, to kind of say or feel like, yeah, we believe, and yet I think there can be moments if we’re honest for all of us moments when some doubt might creep in or maybe even a season of life where you’ve been ambushed by circumstance and doubt begins to crowd out faith. So I’ll ask the question again. Have you ever been mad at God or so sad, banged up and bruised by life that you doubt if God really knows, or if he does, does he care? And then you start wondering if he even exists. How does this happen? This kind of ping pong back and forth in our faith journey of rising or falling in faith or in doubt? Well, I think there’s at least a couple of reasons. First, to doubt in the resurrection. I mean, it’s incredible. It’s not credible. The dead coming back to life. I mean, truly not zombies. That’s the best that our culture can do. Truly back from the dead, even better, glorified, really? Nah, come on. It’s unnatural. It’s out of the ordinary and certainly the expected. So the incredulity of the resurrection can be, uh, a barrier to belief, but I think also life circumstances has a, a part that can play. They sometimes are so hard, they, they push us toward doubt, doubting if God really knows or if he does, does he care? And then we even may begin to doubt does he really exist? Or at the very least, that we don’t or can’t believe in a God who seems distant or absent and uncaring. It came upon a, a movie recently released through Angel Studios. It’s called Homestead. It’s kind of a, a, a battered post-apocalyptic world. A little spoiler if you, if you do wanna see it, a nuclear. Bomb has been detonated over la not a worldwide, uh, catastrophe yet there, but, but it starts, it sets off a series of events that actually would be like the worst case scenario of every prepper’s nightmare. I mean, food is scarce, enemies circle, round, morale, crumbles, and hope fades. And there’s a scene in the show. It’s actually a, a kind of a tense conversation between a, a, the a, a a trauma therapist. Who’s pregnant, whose husband had been killed in the chaos, and she’s talking with a young man who found young love during this apocalyptic experience and this girl that he loves, her family’s quite religious, he says, and then he ends up asking the therapist in a view of all that’s going on, does she believe in God?

And well watch this clip, find that that is what she needs. Religion is super important to her and her family. Jack, I don’t even know if I believe in God. It doesn’t matter. She needs you to believe in God or Mom needs you to believe in God. It doesn’t matter, Abe. You’re not sure. Nobody’s sure. What about you? What do you believe in? Do you believe in God? I don’t believe in God. Okay. No, I don’t, but I wish I did because then I would know that there was someone up there protecting us and that we’re not alone down here and, and that Tom still exists somewhere. And that my kids are gonna grow up happy and healthy, not an oral of hate and destruction. And if there is a God, I am absolutely furious at him because we need him. I need him. My kids need him. You need him. This whole place needs him. So where is he? How do we find him? Maybe you just look up in the sky and ask. Maybe it’s that easy.

Have you ever been there? Life crumbles, hope fades, anger or despair. Crowd in the test result comes back malignant. The marriage papers read disillusion, the pink slip lands on your desk Friday afternoon. These and many other kinds of time stopping encounters in life. It’s not some screenplay that’s written elsewhere. These are real life events that happen, and some have probably happened to you, or maybe you’re going through one right now. Real life events that can ambush our sense of security, can dash hope and critically challenge our faith, and suddenly kind of safe church cliches feel hollow and you end up kind of bracing yourself inside saying, God, if you’re real, you better show up because right now I can’t see you at all. Have you been there? Well, if so, I want you to take heart. ’cause listen, the Bible never scolds honest doubt. It records it. There’s Elijah under the broom tree. Read the psalms. There’s David In Psalm 13, for example, he cries out, how long, Lord will you forget me forever. But you see doubt. Doubt can actually become a doorway, not a dead end if we invite Christ into it. Today we are considering the eyewitness account of a person who didn’t see the resurrected Jesus, but others told him about it and he doubted. His name is Thomas. He’s actually kind of become known as doubting Thomas, but here’s a man. He trudged through a dark pathway of trauma and loss. His world crumbled underneath his feet, and it led to really a belligerent disbelief that Jesus would be back from the dead ’cause hey, he had seen him cruelly executed and crucified, and dead people don’t come back to life. Right. And yet for Thomas, we see as we’re gonna read a journey from faith to doubt, to faith again, and I pray that our time in God’s word together, that God would speak to your heart what you need to hear from him. I’m gonna be reading from John chapter 20, beginning at verse 24. Now, Thomas known as Demis, one of the 12 was not with the disciples when Jesus came. 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 a side. I will not believe 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. And 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 belief. Thomas said to him, my Lord and my God. Then Jesus told him, because you have seen me, you believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believed.

The Gospel of our Lord. Thank you Lord Christ, us. Let me pray for us as we continue. Lord Jesus I I thank you for these recordings of people who’ve seen you and their different reactions, including that of Thomas. He believed when he saw, help us to believe even though we don’t see you physically, give us the eyes of faith by the Holy Spirit through your word. To believe that he died and rose again for us and is for us, and we’ll one day return and we’ll see him till then, give us the faith we need for this day. And each I ask in Jesus’ name. Amen. Amen. Dear friends, grace to you and peace from God, our Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. You see, I think in the life of a Christian, doubt at times can feel safer than faith. Thomas wasn’t in the upper room that first Easter evening when Jesus appeared to the other 10. Where was he? We, we don’t know. Scripture doesn’t say, but what we do know is this, is that the moment that hope appeared for the others, Thomas missed it. So the others announced to him, Hey, we’ve seen the Lord, and he just fires back. Yeah, right. Sure. I’ll believe it when I see it. Literally in the Greek, he says, I will absolutely never believe it’s a double negative. In other words, Thomas slams the door and locks it with the deadbolt. Now. Let’s not criticize him so quickly and try to climb into his sands a little bit. First, for Thomas, his world had imploded. I mean, the rabbi he had seen heal lepers, steal storms, raise the dead, was publicly humiliated and executed like a criminal and put in a tomb. Second, fear was tangible. I mean, they could be next. Those same authorities who killed their rabbi could be coming off to them to haul them off next. And John actually tells us that the doors were locked for fear of the Jewish leaders. And third trauma hijacked reason. You know, psychologists today say that unresolved grief can actually narrow our capacity to trust. So Thomas’s cynicism. It was just a wounded hearts survival strategy. I think there’s at least a couple of ways, almost a couple of different ditches that we can fall into when life gets hard first. We can get mad at God. We can fight, we lash out. How could you let this happen and anger feel safer than surrender? We can fight or we can flee. We get sad, we withdraw. We retreat into ourself. We bottle up the pain. We quit praying. We stop gathering with other Christians. Why? Because it just hurts too much to hold on to hope. Thomas leans toward fight. He says, show me, or just forget it guys. But notice that even despite his blunt honesty, he still keeps connected. To his Christian friends. He’s still with the disciples a week later, and sometimes, perhaps the most courageous thing a believer can do when your faith feels thin is just to stay in the room. Hebrews 11, one says, now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. That’s what we are called to in our journey of faith. Because you see faith, it’s not the absence of doubt. Rather, even with the doubt, it’s moving toward Jesus with your questions. Because doubt can feel safer than faith until Jesus walks through our locked doors. Fast forward one week, same house, same locked doors, but this time Thomas is there. Maybe others begged him and said, brother, just kind of give community one more chance. Or maybe it was the Sabbath readings tugging at his heart. Whatever the reason he’s there and that decision, it changes everything. For Thomas John writes, though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, peace be with you. There’s no creaking of hinges. No rattle of a latch, just suddenly Jesus is present and the first word out of his mouth, peace.

Shalom, the, the fullness of wellbeing before answers. There’s a blessing before correction, comfort, and then Jesus turns his gaze. Unto Thomas and Jesus says, an un utter, some sarcastic, really Thomas, but rather he just graciously quotes Thomas’s own demands word for word. Put your finger here, see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. And then the shoe drops. Stop doubting and believe. There’s a famous picture of Thomas and Jesus that’s just stunning to look at and imagine that moment when Jesus displays his wounds. Let’s show that. Can we show that on the screen? Thank you. Jesus displays his wounds that are simultaneously proof of death and proof of victory. You know, in the ancient world, scars of a warrior, they validated his courage. Jesus scars. Validate both his suffering and his triumph. It’s as if he’s saying, Thomas, the evidence you’re demanding. It’s right here in my skin. It’s been beating in the center of my heart all along. And then Thomas, he just erupts my Lord and my God. These five brief words, yet they may be the the highest christological confession in all the gospels in the Greek structure of that saying, it literally translates the Lord of me and the God of me. In other words, for Thomas, doubt doesn’t just melt, it transforms into worship. So what does Jesus’ appearance say to us today? Well, first, and praise God. Jesus is relentless in pursuing doubters. He waits a whole week, but then walks through walls just to reach one wounded heart. Second, Jesus welcomes scrutiny, but he commands surrender. Jesus says, touch my wounds. Then stop doubting and believe, in other words, investigation. It’s welcome, but perpetual indecision is not. And third physical resurrection matters because Christianity rises or falls on an empty tomb and a scar bearing savior. The Apostle Paul says in one Corinthians 15, if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless, and so is your faith. So you see the resurrection, it’s not just a metaphor, it needs to be history. But then what about you? Think about your own locked doors. What doors might be bolted in your own life? A shame so deep you think Christ would never stoop that low. A secret addiction barricaded behind self-loathing, intellectual objections that you fear if you express them and get you labeled the doubter in a Bible study. If that’s you or whatever your locked door might be, take heart because our risen Lord specializes in walking through walls and locked doors, and he carries peace in his voice and proof in his hands, and he will meet you where you are. And yet he loves you too much to leave you there. Doubt can feel safer than faith until Jesus. Walks through our locked doors, and then faith propels us into living hope. Jesus said this in our text because you’ve seen me, you’ve believed. He says to Thomas, and then he talks about you and me. He says, blessed are those who have not seen and yet believed. Isn’t that wonderful? This beatitude, the statement of blessing.

It reaches out of the pages of scripture across 20 plus centuries. It’s as if Jesus cannot pierce over Thomas’s shoulder and sees every believer, every disciple in Mesa and Phoenix, and Gilbert, the valley indeed to the ends of the earth. He sees all who will trust him without physical sight. Jesus sees you. And invite you. John the Apostle, who authored this gospel writes at the end of this chapter why he recorded the scene. Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of his disciples, but these are written that you may know, that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name. Because get this belief births life, new life, everlasting life, both qualitatively and quantitatively. Uh, the Apostle Peter fleshes this out, which is what Ted just read for us earlier. Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. In his great mercy, he’s given us new birth into a living hope, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. Though now for a little while, you may have had to suffer grief of all kinds of trials. These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith of greater worth than gold, which peres, even though refined by fire, may result in praise, glory, and honor. When Jesus Christ is revealed, Jesus resurrection leads you into faith that grants you this living hope. What are some of the marks of this living hope? First, there’s confession, believing with the heart, declaring with your mouth, as the Bible says in Romans 10, if you declare with your mouth, Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart, God raised him from the dead, you’ll be saved. You see Christianity, it’s personal, but it was never meant to be private. We are saved into a declaring and confessing community. A second mark of Living Hope is courage. As we read and we’ll discover in this series ahead, we notice how locked door disciples, they become fearless witnesses. Church history tells us that Thomas carried the gospel as far as India where he was martyred. In other words, the skeptic became a missionary and third. Third mark of a living. Hope is compassion, resurrection people become wound tenders. We enter hospital corridors, grief stricken living rooms, cubicles, humming with anxiety, and we whisper what we’ve heard from our re resurrected savior. Peace. Peace be with you. I just met this past week in the home of a member from our church. Who’s soon going home to be with Jesus? And that’s what we talked about the whole visit, her passing from this life into everlasting life, and we could do that with peace in our hearts and a smile on her face because of the resurrected Jesus. That’s what sustains her even in her last days on this, in this life. So what is it that sustains for you hope when the ground shakes in your own life? The Apostle Paul makes this bold assertion in Romans eight for I’m convinced that neither death nor life and just goes on with a whole list of things, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Because you see the truth is that Jesus grip, it outlasts any tremor in life or tear deep down in your soul. So what might be some ways God is inviting you to step toward him in faith? This week might be to name your door. Be specific. Write down where the doubt or fear is that’s got you locked in and locked up.

Our life notes. They’re print on the back of your pulse. There’s some available out there. Some of our Bible studies and small groups use them. This is part of the exercise for this coming week. Name your door. Hey, it might be to invite Jesus to enter. Maybe you’ve never really settled it in your heart. Do you believe in the resurrected? Jesus, today’s your day, day of salvation. Pray. Lord, you may come through the walls in my life. Anytime. Please come in. I invite you. I’m listening. I’m ready. Grant me faith to believe. Invite Jesus to enter or just stay in the room Maybe. Maybe you’re not ready to leave. Doubt behind you. That’s okay. God is patient and like Thomas. Keep gathering with other believers because faith often gets rekindled in community long before answers arise, stay in the room. Or it might be to extend peace to another person who might be one person that you can visit or call or even text a word of Christ’s peace this week. My mother passed from this life into paradise over 13 years ago, and our text today, the chapter, it ends with her life verse. I love this verse. John writes, 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. That’s my hope and prayer for you, for all of us. So if you’re weary, if you’re burdened, if you’re troubled by headlines or a diagnosis, or bank statements, or whatever it might be, I believe Jesus invites you today, even right now, to move from doubt to worship, to saving faith, and ultimately to rest for Jesus’. Invitation still stands today. Come to me. He says, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me. For I am gentle and humble and heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light. Be because Jesus Christ lives anxiety or doubt That is not your final destination. Faith is. And in Jesus’ name, there is life now and forever. And today the resurrected savior stands among us, scars visible, arms open. And he says to you, peace be with you. Stop doubting and believe. So will you like Thomas respond, my Lord and my God. If so, lift up your heart in prayer with me as I lead us. Lord Jesus, we bring you our doubts and fears. Thank you for dying, for our sin and for rising. Again, thank you for not leaving us, but hanging in there with us, pursuing us every day. Grant us faith to believe that Jesus is our resurrected Lord and God and come through every locked door of our life. Forgive us, fill us with your spirit and lead us into living hope. In Jesus’ name I pray, amen.