Why do you doubt?
Question from Jesus • Sermon • Submitted
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· 22 viewsWe all have our doubts in life. Did you know even the closest followers of Jesus doubted Jesus at times? In this message, we will see how Jesus helped them overcome doubt.
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April 10th 2022
Series: Questions from Jesus
Sermon Title: Why do you doubt?
Topic: Major questions Jesus asks us and how knowing the answer can transform our lives.
Key Passages: Luke 24: 36-39, John 20: 24-28
Sermon Blurb: We all have our doubts in life. Did you know even the closest followers of Jesus doubted Jesus at times? In this message, we will see how Jesus helped them overcome doubt.
Sermon:
Family Moment
Happy Easter Morning Family Church!
He is Risen!!!!
Today we are in our third week of our series called, “Questions from Jesus.”
In this series we are not looking for answers……we are looking for good questions….
Because those questions will lead us to the answers we need!
In the Bible, we see something interesting about Jesus….. Does anyone remember what that was?????
Jesus asked lots of questions!!!
OVER and OVER and OVER again.
You can barely read one conversation before you see Jesus throwing a question back at those who were asking Him questions.
Jesus asked so many questions… But why?
Why questions and not just answers?
PAUSE
This month we are going to look at four of the most important questions that Jesus asked.
PAUSE
In our first week, we heard saw Jesus asks the question, “Why are you so afraid?”
If you ever struggle with fear let me encourage you to go listen to that message on our APP or website.
Last week we heard Jesus ask the question, “Do you believe I can do this?”
I mean if we are honest…..
The reason why we fear is because we do NOT believe God is going to get us through whatever is going on in our lives…..
If you ever struggle trusting God, go listen to last week’s message.
Now this week, we are going to see Jesus directly address one of those things a LOT of us struggle with at different points.
It is called doubt.
And I know it is Easter and some of are ONLY here because Momma said it is Easter and you are coming to church with me….
And we are super glad you came!
And I promise you in the message today we are not going to guilt you into anything or make you feel bad about anything.
We are simply going to see how Jesus approached someone who had doubts….
Just like some of you here today may have doubts about Jesus.
PAUSE
Then I want to invite you all back next weekend as we will hear Jesus as the question of, “Do you want to be get well?”
A lot of us have our issues…
We often talk all the time about wanting to be out of them…
But when the rubber hits to road….
Oftentimes….we stay….
We stay at the job we hate.
We stay in an abusive relationship.
We stay overweight.
Often….when we could change…..we don’t….because change is hard.
If you struggle with that make sure you are here next week.
PAUSE
Thank you for taking an hour to stop, and to celebrate the greatest news in human history.
The stone is rolled away, the tomb is empty, and our Savior, Christ the Lord, is risen from the dead!
Today we celebrate the Resurrection of Jesus Christ
PAUSE
Today we’re going to deal with a very important question that I believe hits home when it comes to faith.
And it is probably one of the least-talked-about subjects when it comes to faith.
We’re going to talk about spiritual doubts when Jesus asks the question, “Why do you doubt?”
Now, the good news is some of you would say you have no problem with doubting.
In fact, I know some people here believe, “The Bible says it, and I believe it, and that settles it!”
And if that’s you that is GREAT!
PAUSE
BUT many people, it’s just not that cut and dry. It’s not that clean. I know a lot of people who’d say:
“I really want to believe, but I just don’t see how that can be.”
“I’m analytical, and I need to see how this all adds up first.”
“I need to have God prove he is real before I can believe.”
You want to know something about me?
I am more like the second group!
If you asked my parents they would tell you I never just went with the book….I had to find it out on my own; no matter the pain it caused me.
I am naturally skeptical.
I am sure that surprise some of you because I’m a pastor…
But it’s very, very true.
I know many of you don’t know me; so, let me tell you something about me. My mother told me around the time I was in middle school or high school that I would be in ministry one day.
I told her there was no way that was going to happen!
Don’t get me wrong, I loved Jesus.
I just didn’t want to be doing what I am doing right now.
I doubted my mother!
But here I am, years later as a pastor and I’ll tell you right now…
Doubts come in all different shapes and sizes.
There are people who doubt the existence of God.
There are some who believe there is NO way that God exists and anyone who believes in that is just foolish.
There are other people who believe there’s probably some higher power, but I doubt it is NOT involved in human life.
Some people doubt if God could actually love them because of all the messed-up stuff they have done.
I know people who would say, “I wanted to believe in God, then I met some Christians. They are just crazzzzzaaaay!”
Doubt comes in all shapes and sizes.
Having spiritual doubts does not mean you do not have faith.
It doesn’t mean you’re not saved.
It doesn’t mean you’re not following Jesus.
What I want you to hear today is this…and it is our main point today:
Doubt can lead to DEEP faith!
Repeat!
I see some of those looks…..
I know some of you might say, “Doubt is the end of real faith.”
But today I’m going to show you that, for many people, doubt is the beginning of real faith!
To do that, we’re going to look at a guy who was branded as a doubter in the Bible.
His name is Doubting – what church if you know it, just say it aloud.
In the Bible, he’s known as Thomas, but we call him doubting Thomas.
Poor old Thomas.
There are only like 12 verses in the Bible that talk about Thomas, and in 12 verses, he’s branded, throughout history, as a doubter.
PAUSE
We all have our nic names right?
How awful would it be to have it be doubter?
You know I use to do a lot of missions work in Central America. And guess what my nic name was? El Pastor Guapo…..
See now I know most of you DON’T know Spanish or you would be laughing…that is the ETREMELY Handsome Pastor J…..
I am kidding it was Tio del Toro….Uncle bull rider…because I loved to wear this bull riding shirt and I was fun like an uncle…
PAUSE
Back to Thomas, what I love about Thomas is his life shows us that even the biggest doubters can one day have the strongest faith.
If you have your Bible with you, please open it up to the Luke 24
New Person Bible / App talk
As you are getting to Luke 24 let me give you some background
Jesus had recently been killed and buried.
Where we pick up the story in Luke 24 we see that Jesus had just risen from the dead!
He just appeared to two guys on the road, and after talking with Jesus for a while they found out it was Jesus!
They immediately went back to Jerusalem and found Jesus’ closest followers and told them what happened.
We pick up the story just after that.
We’ll start in verse 36. Here’s what Luke said.
Luke 24 “36 While they (the disciples) were still talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.” 37 They were startled and frightened, thinking they saw a ghost.
Pause there….
Why do they think they see a ghost?
Because many of them saw Jesus just be killed!
They KNOW Jesus is DEAD.
All the way dead.
Completely dead.
PAUSE
Most of us know people who have passed away….
If your loved one suddenly appeared with me on stage today….I KNOW there would be a lot of screams of shock…
And that’s what’s going on in the disciples’ minds!!! Jesus was dead, and now HOW is he HERE!
AHHHHH, it must be a ghost.
So, Jesus said to them, here’s the big question:
38 He said to them, “Why are you troubled, and why do doubts rise in your minds?
You can almost hear Jesus’ love and compassion..
Like, Come on, boys!
Why do doubts rise in your mind?”
Did you forget me promising you that I would give My life and, three days later, I would be back?
Did you forget that this was the plan?
Why were you not waiting here expecting me!
Today is day 3….. you should be here waiting in excitement!
I told you it was going to happen
Why do doubts arise in your mind?
Then, He says,
39 Look at my hands and my feet. It is I myself! Touch me and see; a ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have.”
Guess who was not here when all this happened?
Thomas.
How do we know?
Because John’s Gospel tells us. John 20, verse 24, says:
John 20:24 Now Thomas (also known as Didymus), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came.
Thomas was not – let’s all say this aloud – was not with the disciples when Jesus came.
Thomas was not with the disciples when Jesus came.
Now don’t miss this!!!!
Thomas skipped out on small group or church!
And so Thomas missed out on seeing God in a MAJOR way!
Do you see it?
Do you know you miss a lot, when you miss church?
You miss a LOT when you are not in a small group.
What did he miss?
He missed the presence of Jesus.
He missed the power of Jesus.
He missed the proof of Jesus was raised from the dead!
He missed out on KNOWING Jesus really did fo-fill His promise to raise from the dead!
You miss a lot when you miss church!
Let’s keep reading… Next verse:
John 20: 25 So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord!”
They say….Hey, we’ve seen Jesus!!
We were there… you missed church.
And how does Thomas respond?
Let’s finish verse 25:
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.”
What does Thomas say at the very end?
Read it out loud, I will….. not believe.”
He might be saying it like a lot of you today.
I want to believe, but unless I get to see and touch Jesus, then I can’t.
It may be that clean and simple for you but for me….it’s not.
I want more than just second-hand faith.
I want first-hand experience with the Risen Jesus.
PAUSE
I really believe one of the BIGGEST problems in our modern church is that SO many people just kind of believe because their parents believe or their grandparents or friends believe.
They just kind of believe because other people believe.
There are SO MANY just kind of Christian…. Which is why so many people walk away from faith when life gets hard….
Because they are like Thomas and do NOT really believe.
One day something happens, and it shakes what little bit of faith that we had, and one day we ask:
Do I really believe this, or is it just my parents’ faith?
Is Jesus really the only way to God?
I mean, this is a big world, and there are a lot of people that believe different stuff.
Can I really believe that narrow of a claim?
I mean, does God really exist?
And if Jesus did exist, did He really rise from the dead?
If that is you……
Do not miss the claim of the disciples.
They claimed that God loved us so much that He did not stay in heaven, but He became one of us in the person Jesus.
That Jesus lived without sin and, on the cross, Jesus willfully took on our sins…. And Jesus then died as the Perfect Sacrifice in our place.
But it didn’t end there!
They CLAIM Jesus didn’t stay dead!
That 3 days later the stone was rolled away!
That Jesus was not in there!
The disciples & other eyewitnesses CLAIM they SAW Jesus risen from the dead with their own eyes!
PAUSE
If that is true, you see, then it demands a response.
And if it is true…. the only reasonable response for a Savior who died for us is for us to live for Him.
PAUSE
So I believe this was LESS of Thomas doubting and MORE of Thomas saying…..
Guys….This is important to me.
I want to know, is this true….
Because if it’s true, it changes everything.
PAUSE
Like I said earlier… Sometimes the GREATEST faith comes through seasons of INTENSE doubt!
Sometimes you can’t have real faith unless you press through some sincere doubts.
Doubts are not the end of real faith.
For so many people, doubt is the beginning of a solidified, rock-solid faith.
PAUSE
Thomas said, “I want to believe, but I need just a little bit more.”
Some of you want to believe, but perhaps you need just a little bit more too.
And if that is you….check out what Jesus’ does next!
That’s exactly what Jesus did for Thomas.
We read on. Verse 26:
John 20: 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!”
Every now and then, you just have to appreciate the power of Jesus.
Every now and again I love how Jesus doesn’t just show up in my life but how he SHOWS OFF in my life!
Note that the doors were locked.
The stone didn’t keep Him in the tomb and a locked door didn’t keep Him out of the room.
Why?
Because He’s Jesus.
He didn’t have to go all David Copperfield style with smoke and lights to distract everyone…He just pops in like no big deal; I am just here to show you something!
And He knows this is going to catch everyone off guard so he leads off with “Peace.”
Verse 27
John 20: 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.”
Notice something here!
Jesus didn’t talk to any of the other disciples!
They’re all there, but Jesus cares about the one who wants to believe!
Jesus goes straight to Thomas, and Jesus says, “Thomas, put your finger here; see My hands. Reach out your hand and put it into My side.”
And then, what does He say? You can feel the love in His heart. Say it aloud with me, “Stop doubting and believe.”
PAUSE
Jesus gave Thomas exactly what he needed to believe.
Notice what He didn’t do… Jesus didn’t do what a lot of think God will do with us!
Jesus didn’t say, “Thomas, you’re in time out!
Thomas, you have no faith so you can’t be My disciple anymore.
Thomas, you failed me.
Thomas, you not as good as the rest of these people who believed. ”
NO!!!!!!
Jesus met Thomas where he was in his doubt!
And Jesus did for Thomas what he needed!
THEN he said now stop doubt and believe.
PAUSE
And I believe that, somehow, on this Easter week, that the presence of God, for some of you, is going to give you what you need to believe!
PAUSE
And in verse 28, this is what Thomas said to Jesus.
28 Thomas said to him, “My Lord and my God!”
He wasn’t just believing in Jesus.
He was believing Jesus.
There’s a difference between believing in, and believing.
The Bible tells us that demons believe in Jesus, and they shudder.
But for Thomas…it became personal.
And that’s what I’m just crazy enough to believe will happen to many of you on this Easter season!
That somehow, something bigger than me is going to get into your heart, and you’re going to stop doubting, and start believing.
PAUSE
Peter was another close friend of Jesus; but also three different times he denied even knowing Jesus! He denied and failed Jesus. But Jesus did not stop loving him! Jesus did not stop speaking life into him!
Jesus does not give up on us because we fail!
Jesus does not give up on us because we doubt!
Jesus forgave Peter and one day Peter preached one of the most powerful sermons in the history of the world, and 3,000 people accepted Christ and were baptized in ONE DAY!
PAUSE
Do you see that no matter your doubt…..God has INCREDIBLE plans for your life! The question is
“Why do you doubt?”
PAUSE
James was Jesus little brother….Ask yourself sometime, what would your brother have to do to convince you that he is the Son of God?
My brothers are still amazed I am a pastor….and I can tell you there is nothing I could do to convince them I was the Son of God!
James believed Jesus was God and died for that belief!
That builds my faith.
PAUSE
There was another guy named Saul, who hated Christians. Some of you, you might hate some Christians.
But you don’t hate them as much as he did.
He killed them.
Then one day Jesus met Saul where he was….. just like Jesus did with Thomas and Saul was transformed into the leader of the people he hated!!!!
Saul comes over to team Jesus!
Saul becomes a preacher!
Saul becomes a missionary!
And Saul ends up being beat and left him for dead, again and again!
You don’t endure that if you don’t believe.
Later on Paul gets put in prison and tortured and he never loses faith in Jesus.
The one who hunted and KILLED Christians….ends up willing to die for Christ!
That builds my faith.
PAUSE
Doubt is not the end of real faith.
For many people, it’s only the beginning.
Once Thomas got what he needed, he traveled farther than any other disciple, going to Iraq and Iran and then all the way to India to preach the Gospel!!
He believed everyone needed to know about Jesus so much he traveled endlessly spreading the gospel!
Thomas doubted but that was not the end of his story!
Thomas’s story ends with him traveling further than any other disciple to spread the truth of Jesus resurrection!
That build’s my faith!
PAUSE
God created our world….and created it free from sin.
In the beginning of time man walked in perfect relationship with God….
Then we feel into sin; and that relationship was broken.
Jesus came to restore that connection!
The Son of God came to take on our sin and die as a perfect sacrifice for our sin.
Through Jesus, we can be restored to our relationship with God!
Let’s Pray…..