Doubt: A Fabulous Gift (Thomas) | Dr. Ed Young

there was once a time on this earth in the Garden of Eden when Adam and Eve their minds were totally in tune with God their hearts totally in tune with God they thought God's thoughts they walked in perfect cadence with the Almighty their whole life their relationship with one another their relationship with God was filled with unspeakable inexpressible undescribable joy think about it that moment in time but we know the story something happened a beautiful colorful snake appeared evil appeared and spoke to Eve and said Eva can you and Adam do anything you want to do can you eat any of the fruit of this magnificent garden that you are stewards of that you're in charge of can you partake of everything in creation Eve said absolutely we can except there's one tree in the middle of this garden this paradise and God says don't touch that tree don't eat of the fruit of that tree or you will know good and evil and you will die and the beautiful scissoring snake so so appealing to the I said you know you won't die you see the almighty doesn't want you to eat of that fruit because he knows if you do too bad you will be God you will be like God you will no good and you'll no evil God is kind of pulling the wool over your eyes wouldn't that have been a wonderful time [Music] for Eve to use that one characteristic we as human beings have that God does not have it's doubt would have been fabulous Aviva thought wait a minute am I to believe you or am I to believe him who created this world and sustains life am I to believe you or am I to believe him would have been fabulous if you just exercise a scintilla of that fabulous gift that you and I have it's the gift of doubt to question to be ambivalent to not be clearly focused on what is right and what is wrong and what is proper and what is improper we have doubt and doubt can lead us into skepticism and unbelief or doubt can lead us into faith and to believe but one thing's for sure ladies and gentlemen all of us who disparage and says all I have all of these doubts doubt is a fabulous gift that God has given to every human being on this planet the ability of the question to ask and we read the New Testament it is just full of individuals who doubted and a lot of people who should have doubted take for example just Judas here is Judas the most infamous name in the Bible and he I think was trying to push Jesus into declaring his physical kingdom so we sold them thinking that surely he would exercise the power that Judas had seen him demonstrate but would Judas all that it would cost Jesus his life Judas and shamed threw the money back at the temple and went in out and took his own life hanged himself would it be great if Judas had just waited dista just a few days just a few days crucifixion Easter resurrection he would not be the traitor that we identify him with today if he'd only doubted himself what a different moment in history he would have enjoyed so we come to the New Testament and we wonder about those authors we wonder how they dealt with doubters we wonder how the Bible how Jesus Christ Himself dealt with people who did not just sell out and immediately believe by the way when you read the New Testament you've got to look at it and understand the background of those who wrote those inspired words Matthew Mark Luke and John let's say for example there was an automobile wreck crash at intersection and sitting on a porch was a grandma they're working with their computer by the way on the back of that computer was a sure probably a picture of that first fruit that Eve took a bite out of do you follow me am I not moving too fast for you but is a grandmother on the porch where your computer crashed and she happened to be looking up and see the wreck in the intersection also on the roof that day was a roofer who was putting a new roof on her house and and he was taking a break and he was reaching to get something from his canteen on top of the roof and he happened to be looking up and he saw the wreck in the intersection and there across the street was a teenage boy who was playing basketball and it hit the rim and it bounced out and he happened to be going out that direction to pick up his basketball and he saw the wreck at the intersection at the same time a bus was coming down the street and the bus had stopped and the driver looked at the window and happened at the same time to see that wreck at the intersection and someone went and asked those four individuals the grandmother write down what you saw ask the roofer write down what you saw that's a teenage boy write down what you saw ask the bus driver write down what you saw and they would have written four accounts had you read all four accounts you'd wonder was there one wreck of four right right right so we have the inspired Word of God telling us about Jesus and telling us how we can genuinely believe that he was God he was the incarnation he was Messiah how do we genuinely confidently believe a long time ago I began to doubt a lot of things about Christianity and I realized that the central truth of our faith is the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ that's what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15 he says if Jesus was not raised from the dead by the father everything you believe about him about Christ about church about God is totally invalid Paul said it is the historical truth of the resurrection it's Easter ladies and gentlemen that point around which all of our faith revolves so I looked at Easter I read skeptics and my goodness they're books piled higher than our ceiling I read from all people from all walks of life to see every question every avenue to determine for myself whether or not that fact is absolutely true and nailed down in history was there enough evidence forensic empirical personal test was there enough evidence that you could be sure totally absolutely sure of the truth of Easter and then you begin to look at the stories how do people believe how do you come to believe what you believe how do I come to believe what I believe and you read the four Gospels you discover one distinctive thing about John one two three John his epistles the book of John you see of all the writers he was clearer and more absolute in everything he did John said here is darkness and here is light no Twilight for John read read he said this is true and this is false he was sort of empiricists he he believed what he believed and he said it clearly and plainly where everybody could understand there's not a lot of ambiguity with John and therefore when you look at the book of John and you could read the passage he squeezed the story of Jesus back into just the last few weeks of his life and you look at that and I think we can take the 20th chapter of John and we can see how you and I and how people become to believe what they believe what are some of the factors involved let's look at the 20th chapter and we'll go through it like zigzag lighting the 20th chapter begins verse 1 on the first day of the week Mary Magdalene came early to the tomb and I'll tell you the story Mary went to the tomb of Jesus and discovered while it was still dark that the stone had been rolled away she looked in and the body was not there she thought kidnapping somebody has taken the body of Jesus and she runs back and she tells Peter and John what has happened and Peter and John get up and they're running there to look at the tomb for themselves I don't know where they were if they were back in Marion Martha's house that was about a two and a half a mile jog I don't know exactly where it was but they took off of the tomb and it's interesting the scripture tells us that John outran Peter maybe was younger I think he was in better shape he got there first John looked in the tomb and he saw the wrappings were rolled away and Peter got there a little later and he walked into the tomb he saw the head piece there folded up and he saw the other wrappings and they to witness that the body was no longer lying there and they went back home mystified thinking perhaps a kidnapping they had they have taken the body of Jesus outside the tomb now reappears Mary Mary Magdalene and she is weeping she's crying she doesn't understand it she doesn't get it she doesn't know what it all is going on and none of them did and so then we see how Mary came to believe Mary thought that feeling was believing that was his base their bases oblique if I could touch if I can feel that I can believe look how its developed in the account verse 11 chapter 20 John but Mary was standing outside the tomb weeping and so she wept and she stooped stooped and looked in the tomb and she saw there were two angels while sitting one at the head and one at the feet where the body of Jesus had been lying now it's interesting it didn't startle her there's two angels in the tomb evidently maybe they were disguised as human beings we don't know but there was no no fear with Mary and they said to her woman why are you weeping she said to them the Angels because they've taken away my Lord and I do not know where they have laid him when she had said this she turned around and saw Jesus standing there and did not know that it was Jesus why would she not know I've been in that very area of Jerusalem when it was her in the morning when I went that was a cold day it was windy heavy fog a mist in the air and you walked around something like this perhaps that was why she'd been crying perhaps she looked that she just saw the form of a man that she didn't know was Jesus verse 15 jesus said to her woman by the way the first word that the resurrected Jesus said when he came back from the dead was woman all of you Christian feminists ought to enjoy that I think it's terrific his first word woman why are you weeping whom are you seeking Mary supposed to him to be the gardener she said to him sir if you had carried him away tell me where you have laid him so I will take him away I want to handle the body I want to take the body and bury it properly I want to touch she believed by feeling jesus said to her Mary and she turned and said to him in Hebrew rabbi which means teacher jesus said to her stop clinging to me she she reached a grabbing to touch him for I have not yet ascended to the Father but go to my brethren say to them I ascend to the father and your father and my god in your God and Mary Magdalene came and now see the disciples I have seen the Lord and that he has said these things to her Mary Magdalene her idea was feeling his believing a feeling that that's how you believe you have you have to feel that's the reason a lot of us who are Christians some people have to have all those little do around to touch with pictures and and images and crucifixes and we feel that we we hang on to things we believe feeling is believing and that's how a lot of people operate in the church the icons all part of the figments of the cross are carried here and that your feeling we feeling comes by believing if you operate your life like that I'll tell you your life will always be shallow as a Christian we read mark chapter 4 remember Jesus telling the story of their parable they're throwing seed the seed is the word and the truth of God it falls on different ground the second time kind of ground it falls on is the ground in the road and the seed falls there and it germinates it comes up and it's begin to bloom and blossom and their leaves but problems and difficulties come and it shrivels away it doesn't stand the truths the Word of God in that parable if your element of belief is primarily based on how you feel you'll spend your whole Christian life as an adolescent you'll be all I feel that I feel it today oh I didn't feel it today oh the presence of God I feel him now oh I do not feel the presence of God you go on the basis of feeling you got in the morning and you say you know I don't feel like going to work that's alright you may operate your life like that but I can tell you one thing you don't have a lot of jobs you have a lot of different vocations if we base on feeling it's sad to see a Christian who is 50 years old and still an adolescent Mary thought of feeling Oh grab is believing and then we come to the disciples and they their basis of belief is seeing they believe that seeing is believing look at verse 19 so when it was evening on that day by the way that was Easter morn now it's Easter night when it was evening on that the first day of the week and when the doors were shut where the disciples were for fear of the Jews fear doors shut disciples inside for fear of the Jews Jesus came and stood in the midst and said peace be with you Shalom you're afraid I've come there's peace and his whole body had been changed he had the resurrection body there was no barriers he just walked right through walls there was no dimension there he stood in the middle of them he said you're afraid you're inside you're locked in I'm in the middle peace be with you and when he had said this he showed them both his hands and his side and the disciples then rejoiced when they saw the Lord they believed that seeing is believing Mary feeling disbelief they believed seeing is believing and when he had said this he breathed on them and said to them receive the Holy Spirit a little taste of what was going to come at Pentecost and if you forgive the sins of many of their sins have been forgiven them if you retain the sins of any they have been retained what is he saying he gave them an assignment he gave merit assignment he said go and tell them that I have risen he gave them an assignment and he said I want you to take this assignment that you're in the forgiveness business we are to present Christ who forgives people on this earth and when that happens they are forgiven in heaven he was saying those disciples we have a dual partnership one with heaven and one with the earth you've introduced Christ as a forgiver and then heaven will do the forgiving they had the idea that seeing is believing a lot of us are like that we have to see it we're in church in which they Lord if we could we could see you oh Jesus if we could see you now I would believe like I've never believed before let me tell you something he is here he is here in that hospital room Oh Lord if if I could just see you to know you're at a part of this time of suffering and perhaps death Lord if I could just see you here in this room he's there he's there I've got this conflict in my family I've got this challenge with my child my son my daughter with my wife Lord if I could just see you involved in my family life if I could just see you there Jesus metalia he's there he's present but some people see is believing and now we come to the third way that somebody believe and this is demonstrated by doubting doubting well we all knew that didn't that interesting he is known as a great doubter oh and we have criticized him heavily for doubting I think he gives us a fabulous lesson and I had a doubt Thomas appears by the way we've dealt with Thomas if you read the Gospels before in John we met him in John 11 maybe you'll remember the word came out Lazarus was sick and and they sent word for Jesus and Jesus said finally I'm going and and the disciples said look you we're up here safe the other side of the Jordan and in Decapolis and the northern part of Israel if you go back to Judea they've almost told you twice they'll kill you and Jesus said we're going and then here is old doubting Thomases then we'll all go with you and I know people I'm well if you're going we're gonna go and die with you Jesus you shouldn't go but you're going oh I'll go die right with you John 11 we also meet this same doubter in John chapter 14 we're so familiar that I go to prepare a place for you and I go to prepare a place for you I will come again and receive you unto myself that where I am there you will be also and then Thomas says Lord we don't know where you're going Lord we don't know where you're going how in the world can we know the way Jesus said Tom I'm the way I'm the truth I'm the life and by the way he just told them that I'm going away and you will go away and I'm gonna come and get you when it's your time to go away but old doubting Thomas we don't know where you're going we don't know the way and Jesus says I am the way he just said I'll come and get you when you're ready to go and he does ladies gentleman and I am the truth and I'm the life old Thomas but we come to this scripture and it's the classic scripture about someone who say proving is believing some people say feeling is believing Mary seeing is believing the disciples Thomas says proving is believing and look what happens here it's beautifully related by John beautiful lady so Thomas one of the twelve didymus twins were not with them when Jesus came so the other disciples were saying to him Lord we have we have seen the Lord Thomas wasn't there when Jesus appeared the others said we've seen him he's back but Thomas says unless get that prove it to me unless I see in his hands the imprint of the nails and put my finger into the place of the nails and put my hand into his side I will not believe proving his belief prove it to me anybody here like that sure and all this thing about God cries that boy I find you absolutely that he was the Christ and God raised him from the dead man that would nail down I want you to prove this is Thomas and then though does the next phrase look at in your Bibles it says after eight days how do we handle friends who say you know I believe in God and all that business with Church and I don't believe in organized religion I love people tell me that you believe in this organized religion okay all those doubters win count we go and say man I've got four books I want you to read and here they are between heaven and hell CS Lewis and Schaefer and we've given those books man you read these books so that we handle the skeptics and atheists the doubters many times and what if a son or daughter comes back University and they've had some hotshot course in biochemistry and their professor who was so brilliant and was nominated for some kind of Nobel Prize and he says old there is not a god and they come home say you know I don't know if I believe in God anymore mama what do we do but I said I'm gonna get you here or 36 reasons that you have to believe there's a god look at all of this bang bang bang bang bang get your act together is that how we conduct ourselves usually Thomas says unless I see some empirical evidence and Thomas was an empiricist unless I see some empirical evidence I'm not going to believe and eight days went by eight days and all of his co-workers all of these other apostles had been with Jesus three and a half years we're telling we've seen him we seen him by the way the word seen there they use in the Greek means there's been many times many times they said they witness atomic but we see neat piece of life but Thomas kept saying unless unless and then eight days went by and understand we run into skeptics a agnostic sin atheist and they give their little song and dance about why they are seekers and why they do not believe usually they come at us intellectually but the problem inevitably is morally don't ever forget that don't think that intellectual barrier questions they can't understand it's not the primary reason usually it's a moral reason underneath it because they know to believe and receive indicates a brand new style of living a brand new dimension of morality and so therefore I'm going to keep all this skepticism out there and I'm going to be an eternal doubter and hide behind my doubt sort of a pseudo intellectual ISM eight days went by we have to understand with friends and genuine doubters and the many numbers of pseudo-intellectual doubt or something that's very very important when you're sharing the truth of God in Christ you've got God the Father on your side you have God the Sun on your side you have God the Holy Spirit on your side and God the Father Son and Holy Spirit are well able to defend and the witness to themselves in an infinite number of ways we just hope they're open their eyes their heart first split second and begin to get it and then I believe genuine people who are looking for truth and whether or not to believe in the resurrection and the whole gauntlet of the Christianity I believe that if they're truly open God is that Hound of heaven and will capture and bring them home God will answer those questions if they're genuine questions open questions honest questions of doubt look how he operated with Thomas after eight days verse 26 chapter 20 John his disciples were again inside and Thomas with them and Jesus came The Doors having been shut and stood in their midst that Jesus said peace Shalom be with you then he said to Thomas he said Tom well I'm gonna show you what he said look at the 27th he said Tom reach here with your finger that's feely and then jesus said and reach and see here he said and see my hands let's see let's see then he says and reach here your hand and put into my side that's proving so Jesus came and said Tom I want you to touch Tom I want you to see and Tom I want you to take your hand and put it there whether spear was in my side and that is proving is that magnificent that's how God deals with those who are struggling with belief but he gets even richer as far as we know Thomas didn't touch her put his hand in his side we don't know Thomas just fell down look at it in the 28 first Thomas answered and said to Jesus Lord and God that is the loftiest profession of faith that you find in the entire Bible Lord run my life God the God of the universe and on top of that he put some personal pronouns in there he said my Lord and my god and he fell at his feet and worshiped my my my what a story now I want us to skip verse 29 just for a moment and look at verse 30 John answered the question as well why did you write the book of John he says therefore many of the signs Jesus also performed the president the disciples which are written in this book but John says this is why I have written this but those who have been but these have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ that's the first reason he's written this the Son of God and that believing you may have life in his name John says I have written this in this book that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ the Son of God and that you might believe so that you will have abundant life here and now and forever now notice something now go to that 29th verse interesting interesting jesus said to thomas life he made my Lord and my God profession because you have seen me you have believed blessed are they who did not see and yet believe who is the they who did not see and yet believe you know that is that's you that's me on what basis do we believe we can't feel we can't see we do not have empirical proof on what basis do we believe we believe on the basis of the Word of God written by the gospel writer John he had those experience therefore we believe John and therefore our unbelief becomes belief that this is God in flesh and we receive him in our life and we have life now here and forever we believe on the basis of the Word of God on the basis of John's clear clean witness to the truth hold on to that if you're still confused a little lady and Chantilly France 90 years old was moving from a little flat to a retirement community she was selling everything she had in her little flat and she got someone who handled estates to come and and administer that and and the woman came and looked at what she had in her flat and she noticed a picture there right over a little flat iron grill it was a little tin each picture just teenagers high ten inches wide it was entitled mocking Jesus mocking Christ and this appraiser said you know that little picture there might be worth something she said oh I've had that for 60 years she said I look at every every morning at coffee and and I look at every night I'm over my little grill and she said you know my grandchildren call it that picture of that crazy Jesus and and then the estate woman said you know I think that might be worth something I don't know but are you willing to sell it and she said well I'm sure my grandkids you know think anything about that picture and she said I'm gonna get it appraised and she got it appraised and discovered that it was by a very prominent well-known pre-reformation artist Italian and she discovered it was a very very valuable work of art dating back to 12 eighty thirteenth century and so they took that little piece of Ark and they all cheated off the basis of the worth was decided by the world's foremost art critic someone who would evaluate art and the artistic world took his word that this was indeed a very valuable painting nobody doubted it because they knew he knew the real from the phony he knew what you could believe and what you did not believe about art now I could take that little teeny 10-inch painting and pass it out to all of you here all of us and we could touch it we could see it we could try to find proof as to what this thing really is and I don't believe there's a single person here after touching and seeing and trying to prove it would have any basis to which determine what is this word I would have said by looking at it and it's not worth hardly anything right you would have said the same thing but the person who knew validated it just like John validated in his book the truth about God and what to believe about Jesus Christ the world believed that art evaluator in John says you take my word for it how much did the world believe that art evaluator an auction took place this past Sunday in France and that little King each he sold for twenty six point eight million dollars parenthesis only like the French a man wrote into the newspaper and said by chance could that madam now be single John says man we have touched we have seen we have proven you take my word for it Jesus is the real God in human flesh believe in him he'll come into your life and live forever and forever and forever

Channel: Second Baptist Church, Houston

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Length: 42min 15sec (2535 seconds)

Published: Mon Nov 04 2019