I am not Sure

Jn 20v19-29

Common Problems: I AM NOT SURE

Our subject is doubt. The passage of scripture I have in mind is John 20, verse 19, and there are three points. 1) They had no doubts, 2) but Thomas did, 3) until his pride was broken.

I. SOME HAVE NO DOUBTS

II. ONE WAS FULL OF DOUBTS

III. WE DOUBT UNTIL PRIDE IS BROKEN

I. SOME HAVE NO DOUBTS

It was the end of a long and tiring day. The day had begun very early. Several women had got up early to go to the tomb, which is more like a cave with a stone rolled at the entrance. And several women had been there at different times during the day. And different women had received different messages from angels saying that the reason that the tomb was empty was because Christ was risen indeed.

And it was a fact that when the other disciples went to the tomb, different disciples went at different times. In fact, they spent most of the day going to and fro to the sepulchre. They found that the seal which had been put across the tomb was broken. They found that the heavy stone which had been rolled over the entrance was rolled back. They found that the tomb in which Jesus had certainly been laid was empty. And they found that the grave clothes could be identified as exactly the grave clothes in which he had been wrapped. And they were undisturbed, but there was no body.

And then into the group of the disciples burst Mary Magdalene: “I have seen the Lord. I spoke to him in the garden near the tomb.” And then into the group of the disciples burst another group of women: “As we were coming back from the tomb, we met him. He spoke to us. We have a message from him.”And then in the afternoon, into the group of the disciples burst Simon Peter: “I've seen the Lord on my own.” There's tremendous excitement.

And then as evening wears on, two more people come rather breathlessly into the group of the disciples. One of them is Cleopas. The other one is most likely his wife and we don't know the name: “We walked seven miles to Emmaus. We got talking to this stranger. And suddenly when we got to Emmaus, it was clear to us that it was Christ. And we've run all the way back to tell you that Christ is risen.” And they said, well, he's already appeared to this and to Simon.

And now it's evening time. And the 11, Judas has committed suicide. The 11 are meeting behind locked doors. Jesus has told them to expect persecution and the world's hatred. And they are aware that that's going to happen. They're meeting behind locked doors for fear of the Jews. Funny, they are Jews themselves, now you see a distinction between ungodly, unbelieving Jews and God’s true people. Fear is very real to them. And then suddenly it's dispelled. The door didn't open. The window didn't open. There was no way in.

But into that little group of disciples, suddenly they're standing right amongst them, is the Lord Jesus Christ. And they knew it was him in three ways. (1) They knew from his voice. If you looked at John 20, verse 19, you'd see what the first word was that he said to them all. “Peace be unto you”. Jews say shalom. It means peace. It's the normal greeting. Hello. Our Lord says Peace be unto you.

It's the night after the Sabbath. It's only a few days before that he said to them, “Peace I leave with you. My peace give I unto you, not as the world giveth give I unto you.” Those words are still ringing in their ears. They're almost the last words he said to them before he went to the cross. And now here is again saying peace. They'd heard him say peace many times. Once crossing the lake together. There'd been a tremendous storm. And Jesus had stood up and he'd said to the wind and the waves, peace. Be still. So they knew.

They knew from his voice that it really was Christ.

And (2) they knew from his words. That's the second way they knew. They had stood and had seen him nailed to the cross. They had seen that when the other people who were crucified had had their legs broken. And the guard came to Jesus to do the same. He was already dead. But to check that he was dead, one of the soldiers had thrust a spear into his side and out had come blood and water. They had seen that.

And now standing amongst them is the Lord Jesus Christ with the voice that they knew before and the body that they had seen crucified. There was the mark of the nails. And he drew back his eastern robe and there in his side was the mark of the spear. It was not another Christ. Nor was it Christ in another body. It was the same Christ. They knew they had no doubts.

And it must have been tremendous excitement. We are told that the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord. This is an account full of excitement. “It's really you Lord”.

(3) And then the third reason they knew it was really him was from his authority. When he had preached the last three and a half years again and again and again and again people had said nobody ever spoke like that. And the same note of authority which had never been heard before or since was heard again in that room.

He said to them as the father had sent me even so send I you exactly the same sort of things as he had said before. God had sent him into the world. And now he was sending them. It was the same Christ. He breathed or He blew and they received a foretaste of what they were going to receive on the day of Pentecost. 50 days later the Holy Spirit.

Now how long he remained with them that evening we don't know. What we do know is that it was the first of many sessions which our Lord Jesus Christ spent with the disciples after his resurrection. He gave them instructions about the future. He told them about the kingdom of God. But they knew that the Lord Jesus Christ was alive. They had seen him. They had no doubts.

Our first point is they had no doubts.

II. ONE WAS FULL OF DOUBTS

If you look at verse 24 you'll see that Thomas wasn't there. Now why Thomas wasn't there we just don't know friends. And therefore it's totally useless to speculate.

But we do know what his reaction was when he met the 10 disciples there that night when he met up with them again. We know what his reaction was. “We've seen the Lord” they said “I won't believe it”. But we've all seen him. “I won't believe it unless I see. But I won't believe it unless I see the nail wounds in his hands and put my finger into them. I won't believe it unless I see the wound in his side and put my hand right into it. I won't believe.” Now he doubted.

The whole world has heard of doubting Thomas. He doubted but not because there was a lack of evidence. He was the only one of the 11 missing. 10 people had seen the Lord.

Imagine that next meeting with Thomas and the other 10. Imagine the babble of excited voices saying that they'd seen the Lord. Imagine the rejoicing. He's not dead. He's alive. He really is. We've all seen him. And they're all expecting Thomas to jump up and down and be filled with excitement himself. But instead there's a stony wall of doubt. Here are 10 witnesses in perfect agreement.

Here were 10 witnesses who agreed in every detail. But he doubted, not because there was any lack of evidence. 10 witnesses who agree in every detail would carry the day in any court in the world. There could be no possible doubt, you would have thought. But he doubted and he remained stubborn. It was obvious that there was no intellectual suicide in believing. All that he was hearing was perfectly evidenced. And besides there were women who had seen the Lord as well. But he would not believe. Doubts is not caused by a lack of evidence. He doubted. But not because he was being asked to believe the impossible.

For the last 18 months our Lord Jesus Christ had been gathering that little group of 12 and again and again and again and again he had told them the same thing. We are going to Jerusalem. When we get there I will be arrested by the chief priests and scribes. I will be put to death on a cross and after three days I will rise again. He hadn't told them that once or twice or three times but many times. He had set his face like a flint and was going to Jerusalem. He had reminded them that the Old Testament taught this. His death, his burial, his resurrection.

Now Thomas wasn't being asked to believe the impossible. The death had taken place. The burial had taken place and he was now only being asked to believe the third part of the story that the resurrection had taken place too. He had seen the death with his own eyes. He had seen the burial. But he wouldn't believe the resurrection. He wasn't being asked to believe the impossible.

Thomas had been there when Jesus walked up to a coffin outside the village of Nain and spoke to a dead young man and told him to get up. Thomas had been there then. Thomas hadn't been there but he was there shortly afterwards when the Lord Jesus Christ spoke to a 12 year old girl who was dead and told her to get up and she did. Thomas had been there when just a few days before Jesus had gone to Lazarus' tomb just outside Jerusalem who had been dead four days. His body was already rotting and Thomas had been there when Jesus stood outside the tomb and said Lazarus, come out.

So he knew that it was well within the power of Christ to raise the dead. So he wasn't being asked to believe the impossible but he didn't believe. Doubt is not caused by lack of evidence and doubt is not caused because you're being asked to believe the impossible.

He doubted because he wouldn't trust anything outside himself. That's why doubt happens because a man or a woman won't trust anything outside himself or herself.

Now look, here were 10 honest friends. He'd known them for years. 10 honest friends were assuring him that Christ was risen but he knew better because he wouldn't believe anything outside himself. He wilfully chose to disbelieve their testimony. He wilfully chose to discredit what they were saying, to refuse it and to reject it because he knew better. He wilfully chose.

Jesus himself had said that he would rise from the dead. Jesus himself had proved that he could raise the dead but Thomas knew better. He trusted his own judgment more than the one whom he had loved and followed for three and a half years. That's why he said his famous reply, I won't believe it. Unless I see the nail wounds in his hands and put my fingers into them and place my hand in his side, I won't believe. I won't trust anything outside myself. What I cannot test with my senses, I will not believe. What I cannot test with my senses, I will not accept. What I'm asked to believe must be no bigger than I am. What I'm asked to believe must be no bigger than my mind can cope with. My fingers, my hands must touch him. I must feel him. I must hear him. I must see him. Otherwise I won't believe. I must determine whether the thing is true. I must do it myself. I must do it with outside help. I won't trust anything outside myself of any sort. Unless I see, I won't believe.

Now imagine the sorrow of that occasion. Here were his friends. They were rejoicing in the fact that Christ was alive. They were enjoying the truth. They had given him the evidence. They had pointed to the past. They had pointed to the scriptures. They had mentioned their own experience. But he, well it just seems that they couldn't get through. There was a wall of doubt which they couldn't seem, they couldn't break through. He would not believe. You see Thomas's problem and the problem of all who have doubt, Thomas's problem was not basically one of unbelief. It was one of pride. That was his problem. Fortunately something was going to happen to shatter his pride. But basically his problem was pride.

Now you doubt maybe now, maybe that's why you're here. You doubt whether God is. You doubt whether the Bible is true. You doubt whether sin matters. You doubt whether there's a heaven. You doubt whether there's a hell. You doubt whether the Christian life has any meaning. You doubt whether the Christian message has any relevance. You doubt. You doubt. You doubt.

Now if you doubt it's not because the evidence is lacking. There's plenty of evidence for the existence of God. We could give it to you now or you could read it up for yourself. But your own conscience knows anyway.

There's plenty of evidence for the truth of scripture. We could appeal to history and to archaeology and even to science and some of the most modern discoveries of recent years. Plenty of evidence. Evidence on every hand. Evidence all around us for the truth that God is and that the Bible is true. Plenty of evidence for the existence of Jesus Christ more than any other figure in history. There's plenty of evidence for the resurrection so much so that it's been described as the best attested fact in history. There's plenty of evidence that the gospel transforms people. You've only got to look into history and into the lives and experience of Christians that you know.

People don't doubt because there's a lack of evidence. People don't doubt because they're being asked to believe something which is impossible. People doubt because they will not trust anything bigger than themselves.

The problem with unbelief is not that it's all impossible to believe. The problem with unbelief is not because there's no evidence. The problem with unbelief is what you're like inside. Your problem is pride. Your problem is self-love. Your problem is me first. It's only when that is broken that you will believe and that's what Jesus meant when he said “except you be converted and become like little children you shall not see the kingdom of heaven.” Nobody ever came to believe who didn't come with the spirit of a child. That's what Jesus meant. So they had no doubts but Thomas did so. we come finally until his pride was broken.

III. WE DOUBT UNTIL PRIDE IS BROKEN

Here's Thomas, he'll trust nothing outside himself, and once you get into that position, you've eliminated every possibility of believing anything bigger than yourself. But the things of God are much bigger than ourselves. Once you get like Thomas and you won't trust anything except what your own senses tell you, you immediately put yourself in a tiny sphere, and the things of God are much more wonderful than that tiny sphere and much greater and majestic. But happily, the story of Thomas doesn't end with him doubting.

It's now next Sunday. It's Sunday evening. It's not 10 now who are together, it's 11, verse 26 because Thomas is with them, and there once more although the doors are bolted without any explanation as to how it happened there once more right amongst the 11 is the Lord Jesus Christ. "Peace be unto you," he says, just like he'd said before, just like they'd reported to Thomas.

Then he speaks to Thomas, and those words searched right down into his very heart because it made it plain that even when Thomas was expressing his doubts, Jesus Christ had been the unseen listener. He is when he had expressed his doubts he thought he was only expressing them to the 10, but now Jesus speaks to him and makes it plain that he heard when those doubts were expressed.

"Reach hither thy finger," he says, "and behold my hands. Here's my hands, Thomas, here's the hole. Put your finger in it like you said. And reach hither thy hand and thrust it into my side. Here's the wound, Thomas, that you didn't believe in, there's your hand. Put the hand into the side." But Thomas didn't bother with the proof. He didn't walk over to Christ and put his finger into the hole where the nails had been. He didn't walk over to the Son of God and put his hand into the wound in his side, that awful gash.

He didn't bother with the proof. His pride was broken. He makes that supreme confession which means we should stop calling him doubting Thomas. Some of the most wonderful things ever said in this world came from his lips.

He looked at this crucified, buried, resurrected Christ. He took the two words for God which are used in the Old Testament and put both of them on his lips at the same time. He put the word "my" in front and he said to this crucified, buried, resurrected Christ, "my Lord, and my God, the one who I will obey, the one whom I will worship, my Lord, my God." Jesus said to him, " 29 … Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed. " And with one exception, friends, everyone who's become a believer from that day to this has come a believer without seeing. Paul was the exception as he went angry with the Christians up the Damascus road and he saw Christ and was stopped in his way and transformed.

But everybody else who became a believer from Thomas's day till now, with the exception of Paul, came the better way. Jesus says, "You've only believed because you've seen, but there's a better way. That is, those who believe who haven't seen.” People are still brought to say 'my Lord, my God.' People are still brought to turn their back on their doubts and to face Christ and to use those exalted titles of him. People are still brought to spend their lives following him and worshiping him. It comes about through the word which we've read and explained. It comes about through the Holy Spirit who works through the message of the Bible in people's consciences and intellect and affections and hearts. And their faith doesn't stand in the wisdom of men. It doesn't stand in proofs, nor did Thomas's. Their faith stands in the power of God.

I'll tell you how it happens, and I want you to think about yourself as I say this. A person scoffs, but then he's exposed to the message of the Bible and he knows in his conscience it's true. He hears that God is and he knows that's true. He hears that his life is offensive to God and he knows that that's true. He hears that the life he could never live has been lived by Christ. He hears that the death he deserves to die has been died by Christ.

He hears that he could never get right with God himself, this angry God who loves him. But the punishment which would fall on sinners has fallen on a Saviour and the life he could never live has been lived out on earth. He sees that if there is any hope at all for him to be accepted by God, it must be because of Christ. He sees Christ as his Lord and his God. He hates his sin. He turns his back on his unbelief. He finishes with his doubts. They lurk there from time to time, but he no longer likes them.

He turns to God in Jesus Christ. He says, "my Lord and my God," and he comes a better way of not seeing and yet believing, but it's no less sure. They experience the Holy Spirit, He bears witness with their spirit that they are the children of God. Such people, when they hear in the Bible what are Christians like, they know it's true of themselves. When they hear what happens to Christians at the grave, their heart wells up within them in terms of excitement and hope. When they hear what happens to Christians at the resurrection, they thankfully look back to Christ's resurrection and know that that took place and that this other resurrection will take place too. When they read of the judgment, everything in their conscience tells them that it is true.

It's like that scales have been taken off their mind and off their eyes. They see things so clearly, whereas before they hardly saw them at all. But they're not being persuaded by proofs, but by the power of God in their lives working through the scriptures. The LJC says "we must be born again"; it's like what they've been made right over again, born from above. It's as if there was a whole dimension missing from their life before, it's like as if there was a whole sense which had gone, but it's now been restored, and they see and are sure. Now the evidence for the Christian life and faith is all convincing, but they don't come the way of the evidence. They come because there's a change in their heart.

And some of you as I speak to you now, you know that God is, and you know that your life is offensive to him. You've heard of Christ and how he lived and died and rose again. You know the facts, and you know them to be true in your heart of hearts. You know that the life you're living is displeasing to God and must be forsaken, and you know that only Jesus Christ has ever pleased God. And therefore, if you're accepted by God, you must come the way of Christ. I call upon you now not to forsake your doubt because doubt isn't your problem, but to forsake your pride and to live your life under the lordship and sovereignty and command of Christ.

Some of you, in all honesty, are not sure. But if you're that honest, I also call upon you to abandon your pride and to go out of this service now and to your home and to say, "God, I don't even know if you're there or not, but if you are, I ask you to speak to me through the Bible.” Have a word with us after the service is over. Then I ask you to keep coming and listening to the Bible explained and reading it on your own. Before long, your own conscience will be convinced that God is, that your life is displeasing to him, that the facts of Christ are true, that he accepts sinners. That you may come to know God even in this life and enjoy him in the next. You will see it true not because it's been proved to you, but because spiritual enlightenment has brought you to believe and to be sure. Now where are you? The language of doubt is, "unless I believe, unless I see, unless I see, unless I see, I will not believe." The language of faith is, "my Lord and my God."

I. SOME HAVE NO DOUBTS

II. ONE WAS FULL OF DOUBTS

III. WE DOUBT UNTIL PRIDE IS BROKEN

AMEN

Let's pray.