A Skeptic’s Dilemma

Have you ever had doubts about the resurrection of Jesus? Have you ever wrestled with the uncertainties of that event?  After all, you didn’t have the advantage of being there when Mary heard Jesus speak her name.  You never got to run to the tomb with John and Peter to discover Jesus’ body was gone and see his undisturbed burial linens. And you didn’t have the luxury of being in the upper room and seeing the risen Jesus, listening to His blessing, or examining the nail marks in his hands. In fact, the only evidence you have to believe Jesus rose from the dead, is the word of a few of followers whose stories are recorded in this book.

So, if you’ve ever struggled with doubts about the resurrection, then you’re in good company. Because this is where Thomas found himself in the week following the resurrection.  He hadn’t seen the risen Jesus. He hadn’t been to the empty tomb. And He wasn’t around when Jesus appeared to his pals and showed them his nail marked hands. Instead, he was stuck in his unbelief. He had doubts, questions, and He wanted answers before He would believe.  And who could blame him.

In fact, having doubts about a miracle of this magnitude is actually the definition of a skeptic.  A skeptic is driven by disbelief or doubt that something is true.  And because of this, Thomas has gotten a bad name as “doubting Thomas.”  But as we’re going to see today, having doubts about whether something is true or not is not necessarily a bad thing.  After all, those who go through life never asking the hard questions about why they believe what they believe often find their faith doesn’t hold up as well as the one who struggles with their doubts and eventually find the answers to their questions.

Now, why bring this up just a week after we’ve celebrated the greatest day in history?  Why talk about our struggles or doubts about the resurrection of Jesus Christ? The reason we need to talk about such things is that we live in a day of growing unbelief and skepticism. It’s no secret that the non-church going population in our culture has been on the rise for some time. In fact, the number of Americans answering “no religious preference” to poll questions has tripled in the past few decades.  And it is a well-known fact that almost all of our Universities have abandoned their religious foundations and have replaced them with secular humanism – so that the only truth that matters today, is the truth man teaches, not the truth found in God’s Word.

So, the struggle for faith in Jesus Christ is as real today as it has ever been.  And perhaps you came here this morning struggling with your own doubts, and wondering, like Thomas, if what you’ve been told is really true.  And if that’s you, then what we’re going to look at today in God’s Word should not only encourage you but help you stand firm in a culture that no longer holds to the truth.  So, if you brought your Bible with you this morning, let me encourage you to open it to John 20:24-31, where we’re going to look at the Skeptic’s Dilemma and what Jesus does to help us overcome it.

And I want to begin acknowledging the truth about Thomas’ struggle, by stating this: The Struggle is Real: Now Thomas (also known as Didymus), one of the Twelve, 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 his side, I will not believe.”

There’s two parts to Thomas’ struggle. First, Thomas was not in the upper room when Jesus first appeared to the disciples.  We don’t know why he wasn’t there. Perhaps he was like Mary, devastated by his grief.  Perhaps he was trying to work through the reality of Christ’s death on his own; or maybe he wasn’t with the disciples simply because he no longer felt like he could identify with what they represented. Perhaps he was losing his faith. The key to understanding Thomas struggle was this: He intentionally or unintentionally cut himself off from his community of faith. And when he did this – when Thomas isolated himself from his brothers, he missed out on the encouragement, the support and even the prayers he could have received from them to help him through this difficult time.

Here then is a challenge for us: We often forget that the evil one wants to cut you off from fellowship with other believers.  If he can isolate you, he can erode your faith. He can put doubts in your mind.  And if he can do that, he knows he can make you lose faith.  This is why God designed His Church for us to do life together as His people. There are going to be times when you will need the love, encouragement and prayers of others to keep you going. You need your Church family.  I need our church family. We all need this.  We don’t always have the strength and faith to make it on our own.  In fact, sometimes the very sermon you miss on a Sunday morning may contain the very message God wants to use to strengthen your soul. Sometimes the Journey Group gathering you chose to skip was the very gathering God wanted to encourage you by the love of your brothers or sisters.

Thomas’ struggle with his own unbelief is a great reminder to us how we need one another.  For being isolated from his community fed his doubts.  So much so, that he refused to listen when they told him of the risen Jesus. So don’t let that happen to you. Keep coming to worship even when you don’t feel like it.  Stay committed to your Journey Group or get into one.  You never know when Jesus will show up and give you the encouragement you need to keep going. That’s the first part of Thomas’ struggle.

Now, the second part: This has to do with his refusal to listen to the good news. When John writes, So, the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord!” the nature of this verb ‘told” tells us that they didn’t tell him once, they kept telling him this good news over and over again.  And every time he refused to listen. So, you may call him “Doubting Thomas” all you want, but this verse tells me his real name is “Stubborn Thomas.”  It didn’t matter what the disciples kept telling him.  He wasn’t going to believe on the basis of their testimony. They could tell him until they were blue in the face, but he wasn’t going to believe unless he saw Jesus for himself.

He didn’t want words.  He wanted proof.  And can you blame him? After all, when Mary came to the disciples proclaiming, “I’ve seen the Lord” none of them believed on the basis of her story. Neither did they believe when Peter told them he had seen the Lord.  And neither did they believe when the two disciples who were on the road to Emmaus came back that night and told them, “We’ve seen the Lord.”  These same disciples who kept telling Thomas about “seeing the Lord,” they had three opportunities to believe on the basis of someone’s eyewitness testimony, but they didn’t believe.  In fact, when Jesus first appeared to them, and said, “Peace be with you” they were freaked out, thinking they were seeing a ghost. So, the reality is this: they didn’t come to faith in the risen Jesus, until Jesus showed them his hand and side.

So, as far as Thomas is concerned, he wanted no less evidence then was afforded 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.”  So, yes, the struggle was real. He needed more than their word. He wanted their experience… He wanted to see for himself.  And you can’t blame him for wanting that.  If you were there, I’m pretty certain you’d want that too.

So, why share all this with you?  To remind us that it’s not easy for people to put their trust in Jesus.  It’s not easy for people to believe Jesus rose from the grave.  We can tell them over and over again.  We can be confident in our message.  We can be clear in our message.  But sometimes our best efforts won’t work. That’s what was going on with Thomas. He was even predisposed to believe in the resurrection. He’d witnessed the other miracles of Jesus.  He’d left everything to follow Him.  You’d think, if anyone was ready to hear the good news that Jesus was alive, it would be Thomas. So, why did God give us a glance into this stubborn Jew?

To remind us that the struggle to believe is real.  For some people faith won’t ever come easy.  And what this teaches me, and I hope teaches you, is this:  Without God’s help, we are powerless to help others believe. We can share the gospel.  We can be as enthusiastic and clear as possible, but without God’s help, our words can fall on deaf ears… We can’t make anyone believe in Jesus.  But He can.  That’s what we see next:

Jesus Knows Your Struggle Let’s pick up the text in verse 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!” 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.” John 20:26-27  How cool is this?  Jesus comes again to the upper room a week later. This time Thomas is there.  Again, Jesus greets them, saying, “Peace be with you!”  Then notice what happens. Jesus turns to Thomas and says, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.”

Do you see what’s happening here? Jesus wasn’t there when Thomas told the disciples “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.”  But Jesus knew exactly what Thomas had said even though He wasn’t there.  He knew Thomas’ doubts. He knew Thomas struggle to believe.  And He knew Thomas’ demand. And He wasn’t the slightest bit put off by it. Instead, Jesus came to Thomas and answered his request.

Now, Jesus may not come to you face to face like He did with Thomas, but He knows your struggles. He knows what your doubts. In fact, He knows everything about you. David tells us as much in Psalm 139, You have searched me, Lord, and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways.

Before a word is on my tongue you, Lord, know it completely. You hem me in behind and before, and you lay your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain.  Psalm 139:1-6

Don’t miss this.  In coming directly to Thomas, we see the wonderful grace of Jesus.  Jesus didn’t have to prove himself to Thomas.  Jesus doesn’t have to prove himself to anyone. But Jesus knew Thomas was wrestling with unbelief.  In his stubborn refusal to listen to his friends, Thomas was moving further away from faith. He was in a bad place.  So, Jesus came to him directly and gave him the evidence he wanted. And then Jesus said something directly to him: “stop doubting and believe.”  Literally Jesus commanded Thomas to: “Stop becoming unbelieving but believing.”

At that moment, Thomas makes one of the most profound confessions of faith ever recorded. He says to Jesus, “My Lord and my God.”

This encounter reveals to us far more than just the physical evidence of Jesus’ hands and side that led to Thomas’ confession of faith. It shows us that Jesus knew Thomas’s struggle. Jesus knew he had doubts. Jesus knew he was losing his faith and going the wrong direction. That’s why when Jesus said, “Stop becoming unbelieving but believing.”  that Thomas knew that Jesus had not just risen from the grave, but that Jesus was God.

This is the miracle of the resurrection! Because Jesus lives, Jesus knows your struggle.  Only a living Savior could know what you’re going through.  He knows your heart.  He understands your doubts.  He knows your battles with unbelief.  And He hears you.

And if you can recognize that Jesus doesn’t have to be right here to show you his nail scared hands or the piercing in his side, then what Jesus said to Thomas that night, he says to you: “Stop becoming unbelieving but believing.”  Don’t be led astray by your doubts.  Don’t drift away from the good news.  Instead, be believing! Put your trust in the living Savior who died for you to bring you to God.

You see, at the end of the day, Thomas did see Jesus face to face, but he never did have to put his fingers in the nail marks in order to believe.  He believed because Jesus heard the cry of his heart in the midst of his struggle and loved him enough to come to Him reveal Himself to him.  And he believed.  He worshiped Him, calling Him, “My Lord and my God.”  But what about you?

Are you becoming unbelieving or believing?  You see, there’s no middle ground with Jesus.  You are either believing in Jesus or you’re becoming someone who isn’t trusting in Him at all.  That’s the skeptic’s Dilemma.  You can’t be both.  You must either believe Jesus has risen and follow Him as your Lord and God, or you don’t.  Jesus didn’t leave us any other options.

But he did leave us with this: The Blessings of Believing Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”   Jesus says you are blessed if you’ve never seen him, but you’ve chosen to trust in Him.  Why?  Why are you blessed?  How are you blessed?

Well, John gives us the answer in this concluding statement.  He writes: Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. But these are written that you may believethat Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in His name.

In these two sentences John tells us the purpose of his gospel: that we would read of his signs: His turning water into wine, His healing of the paralytic, His feeding of the Five Thousand, His walking on the water, His raising of Lazarus, and His walking out of that tomb… that we would read of His miracles or listen to His exploits… and we would come to one conclusion:  that we would come to believe that Jesus is worthy of our allegiance as our King, and that Jesus is worthy of our worship as God’s Son… and arriving at those conclusions, we might put our trust in Him.  And that by believing in Him, receive the blessing of life He has come to give us.

That is why Jesus has come.  Jesus has come to give you life in His name. Jesus has come to give you eternal life.  A life where you can know God as your Father.  A life where you can rest in His love and be free of fear.  A life where you can learn from Jesus how to live and love like Him.  And a life where you can believe that if He walked out of that tomb for you, there’s nothing now that He can’t do for you.  That’s why this book was written: So, you might live in the blessing of God’s Son who gave His life for you.

So, if you came here today, still struggling with doubts about believing in Jesus; if you’ve been stuck between belief and unbelief; then, let me encourage you today.  If Jesus rose from the grave, He knows you just like He knows Thomas. He knows your doubts. He knows your stubbornness.  He knows your struggles. That’s why the record of His life is written in these pages.  For He knows all of our struggles.  He knows all of our sins. And He came anyway, to die for you so He could give you life with Him.

And all you need to do to receive this life, is to get off the fence and move from unbelief to belief. Stop doubting and be believing.  And Jesus will give you His life – a life where now anything is possible with Him. So, let me ask you: Do you want this life with Jesus?  If so, are you ready to believe in Him. Then turn from your unbelief and put your trust in Him today.