John – Believe in Jesus and live!
Part 11
“Stop doubting and follow me”
John 20:10-31
Fear
Fear
We all experience fear in our lives
And fear
Causes doubt
Many a time I can remember trying to get a kid on a sheep or a calf
They are first are excited
Then
Fear sets in
Soon that fear turns to doubt
Then they begin wondering
Can I do this?
Will I get hurt?
Will that big harry stinking thing eat me?
Ok
I know actually it goes
From I’m ready to an all out crying feat in less than ΒΌ of a second
But
The fear caused doubt
Which caused them to balk
Kids getting on sheep and calves is such a good analogy of us and our lives
In our worldly lives
New Job
Excitement
Then fear then doubt
Can I do it?
Will I like it?
Can I feed my family?
New Baby?
New marriage
Life changes
Excitement
Fear doubt
Today we want to focus on Doubt
Because it is most often doubt that causes us to falter
To not get done whatever it was that we wanted or needed to do
Doubt affects us in our spiritual life as well
Actually if truth be known doubt is the leading reason that many leave this world in a lost condition
Doubt is the reason many believers never receive the sweet rewards that Jesus has for them through their service
Doubt is often why people quit coming to church
Fail to engage
Fail to tithe
Fail to step up and step out
And like the army poster says
“Be all that you can be”
In Christ
It is doubt that causes us to fail to witness
Fail to tell our friends and family about the Pure Love of Jesus
It is doubt that causes us to watch as people we know and love
Leave this earth
Without Jesus
Death is always hard
But death without Jesus is a travesty
For eternity
And doubt often stops us and makes us fail our calling
Doubt can cause us to
Fail to show the love and the light of Christ in our lives
Doubt is a dream killer
And Old Slick loves to use doubt to hobble you and your walk
Doubt is one of his biggest tools
He causes our minds to think
Can I do this?
All those people looking at me while I show my obedience in baptism
All those people looking at me while I stand up here and be accepted as a member of this church or any church
Can I do this?
While sharing your faith
Can I do this?
While making a life changing decision to accept Christ and change your life
Excitement
Turns to
Fear
Fear turns to doubt
Then
Forward motion often stops
As we continue our study of John this morning
We come to a place where many of Jesus closest companions are experiencing doubt
Jesus has been
Betrayed
Arrested
Convicted
Torturedhope had turned to fear an
Murdered
And placed in a tomb
We know he did not stay there
We know the rest of the story
But on this Sunday morning so long ago
His closest friends and followers
We in a funk
The man they believe
The man they placed their hope in
The One called Jesus
The world changer
Was dead
Their excitement
Had turned to fear and
That fear quickly turned to doubt
Please open your bibles to John Chapter 20
I am going to read for you From Chapter 20 a large piece of scripture
Then as always
We will back track a bit and see what God’s word means for us and our lives
John Chapter 20
Beginning in verse 11
In this passage
Not only has their hope been killed
But now
They believe his body has been taken
They are in utter despair
John 20:11-29
But Doubt is fixing to take a back seat to Faith
And hopelessness
Will turn to hope
John 20:11-29
11 Mary was standing outside the tomb crying, and as she wept, she stooped and looked in. 12 She saw two white-robed angels, one sitting at the head and the other at the foot of the place where the body of Jesus had been lying. 13 “Dear woman, why are you crying?” the angels asked her.
“Because they have taken away my Lord,” she replied, “and I don’t know where they have put him.”
14 She turned to leave and saw someone standing there. It was Jesus, but she didn’t recognize him. 15 “Dear woman, why are you crying?” Jesus asked her. “Who are you looking for?”
She thought he was the gardener. “Sir,” she said, “if you have taken him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will go and get him.”
16 “Mary!” Jesus said.
She turned to him and cried out, “Rabboni!” (which is Hebrew for “Teacher”).
17 “Don’t cling to me,” Jesus said, “for I haven’t yet ascended to the Father. But go find my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’”
18 Mary Magdalene found the disciples and told them, “I have seen the Lord!” Then she gave them his message.
19 That Sunday evening[a] the disciples were meeting behind locked doors because they were afraid of the Jewish leaders. Suddenly, Jesus was standing there among them! “Peace be with you,” he said. 20 As he spoke, he showed them the wounds in his hands and his side. They were filled with joy when they saw the Lord! 21 Again he said, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I am sending you.” 22 Then he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive anyone’s sins, they are forgiven. If you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.”
24 One of the twelve disciples, Thomas (nicknamed the Twin),[b] was not with the others when Jesus came. 25 They told him, “We have seen the Lord!”
But he replied, “I won’t believe it unless I see the nail wounds in his hands, put my fingers into them, and place my hand into the wound in his side.”
26 Eight days later the disciples were together again, and this time Thomas was with them. The doors were locked; but suddenly, as before, Jesus was standing among them. “Peace be with you,” he said. 27 Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here, and look at my hands. Put your hand into the wound in my side. Don’t be faithless any longer. Believe!”
28 “My Lord and my God!” Thomas exclaimed.
29 Then Jesus told him, “You believe because you have seen me. Blessed are those who believe without seeing me.”
As we began reading today’ scripture
Mary
The boys
And all of Jesus’ followers
Were in as I said earlier
In Utter despair
They had watched as the man
That they trusted
The man they had followed
The man they had placed their faith in
Had been broken
Had been beaten
Had been killed
Their hopes had crashed on the rocks that were so similar to the one which was rolled over the opening of the tomb
In this passage we see the despair
Imagine how they must have felt
Everyone here has lost someone
But think whit me now how much it would add to your pain
If you were to go to the grave yard a couple of days later
And the one you loved
The one you had seen them bury
Was gone
The empty hole starring back at you
Just emptiness
Oh
The pain
Oh
The fear
And now doubt
But as I said
Doubt soon turned to belief
Turn back to Chapter 20
Let’s look at Verses 16-18
16 “Mary!” Jesus said.
She turned to him and cried out, “Rabboni!” (which is Hebrew for “Teacher”).
17 “Don’t cling to me,” Jesus said, “for I haven’t yet ascended to the Father. But go find my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’”
18 Mary Magdalene found the disciples and told them, “I have seen the Lord!” Then she gave them his message.
Jesus spoke to Mary
He called her name
And instantly
She recognized him
She cried out
Rabboni- Teacher – Master
Doubt turned to belief
She had seen him die
She had seen them bury him
And Now
\Now
He was alive
Stranding Right there
Talking to her
Comforting her
Reassuring her
And she
Instantly replaced despair with joy
He is alive
He’s alive
And she ran and told the others
Look again at verses 19 and 20
Jesus’ boy’s
All except Thomas
And Judas who was now dead and in hell
Had gathered up and we walling in their despair
Mary had told them that Jesus was alive
They had heard the excitement in her voice
‘Seen the joy in her eyes
They wanted to believe
They had tried to believe’
But Fear
\And
Doubt
Were clouding their vision
Muddying their minds
Is she right they must have asked
How can this be one might have said
And then Verse 19 second half
Suddenly, Jesus was standing there among them! “Peace be with you,” he said.
20 As he spoke, he showed them the wounds in his hands and his side.
They were filled with joy when they saw the Lord!
Like Mary earlier
Fear was displaced by Joy
Oh
What Joy
He is alive
We have hope
Their doubt is gone
Satan’s hate has backfired and turned to love
Doubt is replaced with belief
We believe
We believe
And then later Thomas
Showed back up
We don’t know where he had been when the others had seen Jesus
But he came back and they told him about what they had seen
And
Thomas was filled with doubt
Old Slick was really working on him
He must have said in his mind
“I know these guys”
“I’ve spent the last three years with them”
“I’ve never known then to lie”
But
But
How can it be”
I saw them arrest Jesus
I saw them torture my Lord
I saw him carry his cross
I saw his body
I know he is dead
I know he is dead
So he says’
From verse 24
“I won’t believe it unless I see the nail wounds in his hands, put my fingers into them, and place my hand into the wound in his side.
Unless I touch him
Unless I seen him myself
Unless he shows himself to me
Then I won’t believe
I won’t accept
Doubt will rule in my life
Then 8 days later
8 days filled with doubt
Continued despair
Jesus showed up
Verses 26b
The doors were locked; but suddenly, as before, Jesus was standing among them. “Peace be with you,” he said.
Peace be with you
Have peace
He said
Then he looked right at Thomas and said to him
“Put your finger here, and look at my hands.
Put your hand into the wound in my side.
You want proof Thomas
Look at me!
Look at me!
I’m here
I am alive
Then he said
Don’t be faithless any longer.
Believe!”
Believe
Believe
Just believe!
Thomas
Believe in Me and live!
And Thomas
Doubting Thomas
Exclaimed
Shouted
“My Lord and my God!”
“My Lord and my God!”
You see belief replaced doubt
Love replaced hate
Joy replaced Despair
Doubt had hobbled mary
Doubt had hobbled Thomas
Doubt had hobbled Jesus’ disciples
But Belief
Ushered doubt out!
Like Wyatt Earp hauling Billy Tyler out of The Original in Tombstones
Grabbed it by the ear and drug it right out
Belief said
And stay out!
What is doubt doing to you this morning?
Is doubt stopping you from making a decision to accept the truth?
Is doubt hobbling you?
Making you miss the boat?
Doubt only wins when you embrace it
Fear only remains when you let it
Have you let belief?
Belief in Jesus
Run off doubt
Are or you still sitting on the back of this stinking beast called life
Like the kids on those sheep
Take control
Letting the stinking things in this life take control
Make the decisions
Make the rules
Driven by Fear and doubt
Controlled by them
Or
Are you sitting here this morning?
And you have believed
You have place your faith in Jesus
But
But
You still tend to say me and Jesus got our own thing going
I want it my way
Then doubt is hobbling you to my friend
Turn loose
Step out
Go from
I believe
Go from I believe
But
“To My Lord and my God!
Jesus told Thomas
In verse 29
29 Then Jesus told him, “You believe because you have seen me.
“ Blessed are those who believe without seeing me.”
We have not seen Jesus
But he says those who believe without seeing him will be blessed
Blessed
Believe
Don’t doubt
Believe
Don’t let doubt steal your Joy
Don’t let doubt steal the blessings you get
From serving
From tithing
Giving to the Lord
Don’t let doubt and fear stop you from telling people about Jesus
He will give you the words
And he will prepare the way
God has a plan for each of you
No matter what you think you are
In his eyes you are Custom made
One of a kind
By the master craftsman
Close from the heart
Pray
