Sermons from the Gospel of John

A CURE FOR DOUBTERS

JOHN 20:24-29

OCTOBER 19, 1997

Doubting Thomas. That descriptive name has endured the centuries in seemingly mock honor of the apostle who vocally expressed his doubt. Thomas was the lone apostle absent from the first post-resurrection appearance of Christ. All of the others believed. Thomas resisted believing and has for centuries exposed the doubt and unbelief that lurks in the human heart.

Many of us can identify with Thomas. While his partners in the apostolic band had already seen the risen Christ, Thomas would not accept their testimony. The things he looked for and insisted on in order to express faith are the same kinds of things that produce doubt in our own day. Pulling back the dirt to expose the roots of his doubt really exposes every doubter to the folly of his unbelief.

We cannot live with unbelief. It deprives a sinner of his desperately needed justification and right standing with God. When it creeps back in the thoughts of a believer, it paralyzes him in his witness, obedience, and service. Many people try to avoid owning up to the reality of their unbelief. They can masquerade as true believers or put on a plastic smile among the saints. But the agony of doubt and unbelief still rankles their souls.

We can castigate Thomas for his unbelief and doubt of the resurrection of our Lord, but we must not jump so fast. Perhaps doubt has lingered in our own hearts, depriving us of the joy of salvation or troubling us with uncertainties related to assurance of salvation. There is a cure for doubters in the revelation of Jesus Christ. We must give ourselves to seeing the cure for our doubts concerning the saving work of Jesus Christ.

How do we confront the doubt and unbelief in our own midst? Let's consider the singular cure for doubters.

I. Roots of doubt

A tree is no better than its roots. If its roots are decaying, then so will be the tree. One Sunday afternoon we were caught by surprise when a gust of wind toppled a 35 foot tree in our backyard. Upon examining the tree, which seemed to be healthy and full of foliage, I discovered that its roots had rotted, creating the easy toppling.

Multitudes of people seem to put on the outward look of a Christian on Sunday. But what is going on in their roots? Ultimately the reality of our spiritual roots will be exposed, either by the winds of persecution, the demands of the Word, or the finality of judgment. When our lives have never been anchored in the truth of the person and work of Christ, being united to Him in saving faith, then the day of eternal calamity looms before us.

Thomas was living in what could be aptly described as a 'dangerous and exciting time'. It was dangerous in that Christ had been crucified due to the fierce opposition of the Jewish leaders in Israel. It was exciting due to the teaching and promise of Christ concerning the days ahead. Thomas seemed to be stuck in-between. It may have been his fear of the danger that kept him from the first encounter with the risen Lord by the collective gathering of the disciples. It may have been the excitement of the ten disciples joyfully talking of the resurrection that brought Thomas into the assembly of the saints again. Whether danger or excitement, Thomas himself was stuck in doubt.

Leon Morris describes Thomas as "a robust doubter" [Expository Thoughts on the Gospel of John, 714]. In spite of the repeated explanation by the other disciples of the fact of the resurrection, Thomas would not believe. And he was almost arrogant in his unbelief! "Unless I shall 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." He was emphatic that he was going to believe only on his own terms. The language shows that the disciples kept telling him over and over "We have seen the Lord!" But to Thomas, that did not matter.

As we brush away the dirt that covers the roots of his life, we begin to see Thomas' roots of doubt. He was no alien to humanity. What we see in Thomas is precisely what we find in multitudes; perhaps some in our midst today.

1. Dissatisfaction with proclamation

"We have seen the Lord!" the disciples kept saying to Thomas. We can surely surmise that John is just giving us the thumb-nail sketch of what they had stated. It may have been over a period of several days, perhaps a whole week, that the disciples kept testifying to the reality of the risen Lord. Those things which they had learned concerning the redemptive work of Christ, the true meaning of the crucifixion, and the genuineness of the resurrection were surely topics of conversation. They were full of life and joy in knowing that Christ was alive. Their faith was firmly fixed upon Jesus Christ. They had enjoyed a bit of help in this, for Christ had appeared to them bodily (20:19-23). They were astonished that the grave could not hold Him. They were confident that He was the Messiah promised centuries before and that He had accomplished their redemption through His substitutionary death on the cross.

Thomas just could not bring himself to believe what they proclaimed. The message of the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ was not sufficient for him, or so he thought. He wanted and even demanded that he must put his finger into the nail-pierced hands of Christ and put his hand into the wound in Christ's side before he would believe. Quite clearly, Thomas was establishing his own criteria for faith in Christ. "Unless I shall see...and put...I will not believe."

In his resolute insistence upon having it his way, Thomas was rejecting the means which God has given for sinners to come to faith in Jesus Christ. He was dissatisfied with the proclamation of the gospel and insisted on some type of physical evidence before he would acquiesce in belief. Yet it is the proclamation of the gospel, without outward physical signs, that God has promised to bless in the saving of sinners.

In Romans ten, that great chapter calling men to faith in Christ, Paul asks some searching questions. "How then shall they call upon Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach unless they are sent?" (Rom. 10:14-15a). The necessity of hearing the Word of the gospel is insisted upon by the apostle. He goes so far as to declare, "So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ" (Rom. 10:17). Obviously not all who hear believe, but only those who hear the Word (or read it!) have the possibility of believing.

I believe this puts a few important issues before us. First, we are the preachers, so we must use every means God has given us to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ. If men do not come to faith in Christ by osmosis or natural generation or by cultural amalgamation but only through the Word proclaimed, then we must be about the business of proclamation. It is in the proclamation of the gospel that the Holy Spirit gives grace to believe and be saved. Paul expressed this same thought in I Thessalonians 2:13, "And for this reason we also constantly thank God that when you received from us the word of God's message [that's proclamation], you accepted it not as the word of men, but for what it really is, the word of God, which also performs its work in you who believe." Something mysterious and dynamic occurred through the proclamation of the Word. The Holy Spirit united the truth of the Word with saving faith, so that these Thessalonians were brought to a saving relationship with Christ.

Second, if proclamation is this important and vital to the eternal salvation of men, then we must avail ourselves of every opportunity to hear the Word proclaimed. So many professing Christians attend the proclamation of the Word by convenience rather than out of a sense of need and even necessity. Thomas' own absence from the first post-resurrection assembly of the saints left him for a week in unbelief. We dare not forsake the assembling of ourselves together, as the writer of Hebrews warns us (Heb. 10:25).

Third, if the Word of God puts such a vital stress on the proclamation of the gospel, then it would be to the benefit of everyone gathered here today to pay heed to the truths proclaimed. We are not engaged in trying to fill up an hour on Sunday. We are proclaiming the gospel of Christ, which alone can save sinners from their sins and from the wrath of God.

2. Security in the senses

Rather than hearing the Word proclaimed through the other disciples and believing that word, Thomas insisted on trusting in the security of his own senses. He was willing to forfeit the truth proclaimed for what he could see and feel. "Unless I shall 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." Thomas opted to trust two of his five senses to bring him to faith in the risen Lord. If only he could "see" and "touch" then he would believe this gospel message which the disciples were proclaiming to him.

In what has to be one of the most forceful rebukes recorded in God's Word, our Lord called Thomas' hand upon his own self-made design for faith. Then He told Thomas, "Because you have seen Me, have you believed? Blessed are they who did not see, and yet believed." Earlier in John's Gospel, Jesus had encountered the sign-seeking Galileans who wanted some kind of physical manifestation before they would believe in Christ. Jesus told a royal official among them, "Unless you people see signs and wonders, you simply will not believe" (4:48). Thomas was partnering with this same mentality when he declared any kind of faith to be hostage to his senses.

We face this same sort of security in the senses in our day by the masses who clamor for signs and wonders. They will travel thousands of miles to see someone blow upon a person and make them fall or touch them and cause them to begin strutting like a chicken, but they will not walk across the street to hear the glorious gospel of grace proclaimed. Their focus is on the physical not on the spiritual. I remind you of what Christ said, "Blessed are they who did not see, and yet believed." It is not the sight of physical manifestations that brings faith to a sinner. It is hearing the saving Word proclaimed and embraced by faith that brings a man out of darkness into the light of Christ.

3. Stubbornness in the face of truth

Thomas was stubborn even in the face of ten witnesses who kept telling him the liberating truth of the gospel. "I will not believe," Thomas insisted, unless he could have it his own way. Thankfully, we see the mercy of our Lord, though accompanied with a stern rebuke, shown to Thomas. But we must not think that every time a person tries to come up with his own terms for salvation that the Lord will coalesce. He will not! He demands faith in sinners upon the facts of gospel truth. Salvation comes His way and His way alone. We cannot create our own saving criteria along the way and expect that the Eternal God will follow our plans!

May I pry just a little? Have you been trying to set your own plans for God to work savingly in your life? Have you been saying, 'Oh, I will believe, but first, the Lord must do...'? Have you been attaching strings to your faith? 'I will believe, but only if the Lord will provide this or that for me'. Have you created your own obstacles and barriers to true faith in Christ? 'I want to believe, but first I must have a certain feeling or a particular experience to verify that the Lord will truly save me'.

Enough with all such stubbornness! Jesus Christ is sufficient to save you without your strings and addendums if you will but flee to Him.

II. Uprooting of doubt

Thomas had everything all mapped out on how things must go for him to believe. But Jesus Christ uprooted all of it! Notice what Christ did.

1. Divine confrontation

First He confronted Thomas with the very wounds that Thomas had proudly stated he must see and touch. "Reach here your finger, and see My hands; and reach here your hand, and put it into My side; and be not unbelieving, but believing." The verbs used in this sentence are in the imperative mood. We cannot get the idea that Jesus was quietly making suggestions to Thomas! No! He was confronting the arrogance of Thomas to the message proclaimed to him. He was exposing the unbelieving mind that Thomas persisted to maintain, even in light of constant explanation by the other disciples. "Reach...see...reach...put...be not unbelieving," all imply a strong sense of confrontation by Jesus Christ to Thomas.

Can you imagine for a moment the foolishness that Thomas felt? What grief must have smitten him when he realized how he had doubted the resurrection of Jesus Christ! This confrontation was painful, convicting, and convincing. It resulted in Thomas' immediate confession of Jesus as Lord and God.

Thomas had created his own barriers to faith, just as some of you may have done. You have stacked one thing upon another that you insist upon being removed before you will truly come to faith in Christ. My friend, look at the wounds of Jesus Christ for your sins! Look at the penalty He bore in His own body at the cross! Quit your unbelief! See the stubbornness and folly of your own heart that would dare to make excuses for faith or attach strings to faith in Christ.

The confrontation by Christ shows us the great lengths He goes in the saving of sinners, even stubborn sinners. There was no whispering voice that came to Thomas in his sleep, but this strong confrontation by the Suffering Servant. Thomas needed to understand the weight of Christ's suffering on his behalf. He needed to see that the death of Jesus was purposeful in the saving of sinners. He demonstrated this in His resurrection.

I know of nothing more important that I can point to any of you today than the truth of the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ on behalf of sinners. Look at Him as He is proclaimed in the gospel! See the reality of His suffering, not because of sin on His part for He had none. See that He bore the shame of your own sin and separation from God. Through His wounds you have been healed from the wretchedness of lostness and eternal damnation. Why would you make excuses or impose your own barriers to faith in Him? Flee to Him who died for you and rose from the dead to give you life. Look to Christ crucified and risen to be free from your unbelief.

2. Divine imperative

The strongest term found in this passage is very simple: "be not unbelieving, but believing." It could be literally expressed, 'You yourself stop the unbelief you are living in and begin believing'. Thomas was persisting in unbelief. Now Christ commanded him to stop. Stop your unbelief. How could He make such a demand of Thomas?

First, Thomas was doubting the reality of the resurrection, which in itself was also a doubting of the sufficiency and effectual work of the death of Christ. Thomas was doubting everything that Jesus Christ came to do on behalf of sinners. That is really what unbelief expresses, it is a doubting or even a denying of the effectiveness of the work of Christ. It is tantamount to saying that Jesus Christ fulfilled no purpose and that His death had no value. You who persist in unbelief are joining ranks with such denial of the eternal purposes of God through Christ.

Second, Jesus Christ has the right to demand that we stop our unbelief and begin believing in Him. He is the Creator and Lord of Creation. He reigns as Sovereign over the universe. We 'live and move and exist' in Him (Acts 17:28). He is also the only "name under heaven that has been given among men, by which we must be saved" (Acts 4:12). Paul went as far as stating that "God is now declaring to men that all everywhere should repent" (Acts 17:30). All men have the responsibility to follow wholly what God the Creator has demanded. And He demands our repentance and faith in His Son. What Jesus demanded of Thomas was nothing different from what He demands of all men. If you think that the gospel demands apply to everyone but you, then you are mistaken about the Scriptures and the being of God.

Third, God has no pleasure in our unbelief. It is sin of the highest degree, an offense against the character of the Almighty. The writer of Hebrews warns, "Take care, brethren, lest there should be in any one of you an evil, unbelieving heart, in falling away from the living God" (3:12). Our Lord tells us, "He who believes in Him is not judged, but he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God" (John 3:18).

Finally, the only hope that Thomas had for eternity was to leave his unbelief behind and cast himself in obedient faith upon Jesus Christ. Eternity was at stake. The command of Christ to quit his unbelief and begin believing was not to bring harm on Thomas or to deprive him of some great pleasure in life or to keep him from enjoying life in its fullest. Faith in Jesus Christ and Him crucified is the only hope for sinners.

The call to quit unbelief also comes with the demand to believe. "Be not unbelieving, but believing," our Lord demanded. Faith rests securely in Jesus Christ and His finished work for the redemption of sinners. The faith that Jesus demanded was in light of His death and resurrection. He demands not that we merely believe that God exists. Even the demons of Hell do that much (James 2:19). Instead, He calls for our faith to leave behind all of the things to which we cling in order to commend ourselves to God. Leave behind our good works and service and acts of charity which we think will put us into a right position with God. That is mere folly, even "filthy rags" in the eyes of God (Isa. 64:6). Then we are to cast ourselves upon the Person of Jesus Christ as God of very God who became a man for us. We are to rest securely in the sufficiency of His righteousness for us both in His obedience to the Law on our behalf and His bearing the judgment of God against us at the cross. We are to cling to Him as the One who died for us and was buried, then on the third day rose forever over all the conquering power of death, sin, and hell. "Be not unbelieving, but believing." Do you believe? Again, the best cure I know for doubters is to look deeply and closely at Jesus Christ and His finished work. What can you add to what He has already done? Rest in Him and leave your unbelief behind.

III. Embrace of faith

Thomas was never the same after this uprooting of his doubts and his response to the demand of Christ. He was pictured as a serious minded, perhaps even morbid type, in the Gospel of John. It was Thomas who woefully declared that the apostolic band should go to Jerusalem to die with Jesus: "Let us also go, that we may die with Him" (John 11:16). It was Thomas who said on behalf of the disciples that he did not know where Christ was going nor how to follow: "Lord, we do not know where You are going, how do we know the way?" (John 14:5). Now Thomas is liberated by the embrace of faith in the risen Christ and Lord!

1. In confession

We see this in his immediate confession of Christ: "My Lord and my God!" Though the other disciples expressed their belief in the risen Christ first, none offered a more dramatic and clear testimony to the nature and saving power of Jesus Christ than did Thomas. There is no doubt that He saw Jesus Christ as he had never seen Him in those moments of new-found faith. He finally understood that Jesus was not a political messiah waiting around to sit upon a limited kingdom. Instead, He is Lord of all, Sovereign over all creation! He is not just the best man that ever lived, no--much more. He is God Himself! The reality that God came to redeem him from his sin overwhelmed Thomas in that moment, so that he cried out, "My Lord and my God!"

The embrace of faith has a way of bringing out the exclamations from the depths of our hearts. We see this best, I suppose, in the wonderful hymns which have become a legacy of the grace of God shown to sinners. Here are some examples:

"Arise, my soul, arise. Shake off thy guilty fears.

The bleeding Sacrifice In my behalf appears.

Before the throne my Surety stands,

My name is written on His hands" [Charles Wesley, Arise, My Soul, Arise]

"What can wash away my sin?

Nothing but the blood of Jesus;

What can make me whole again?

Nothing but the blood of Jesus." [Robert Lowry, Nothing But the Blood]

"Jesus, Thy blood and righteousness

My beauty are, my glorious dress;

'Midst flaming worlds, in these arrayed,

With joy shall I lift up my head.

Bold shall I stand in Thy great day,

For who aught to my charge shall lay?

Fully absolved through these I am,

From sin and fear, from guilt and shame." [Nicolaus von Zinzendorf, Jesus, Thy Blood and Righteousness]

"Forbid it, Lord, that I should boast,

Save in the death of Christ, my God;

All the vain things that charm me most--

I sacrifice them to His blood." [Isaac Watts, When I Survey the Wondrous Cross]

What is your confession of Christ?

2. Faith becomes sight

Thomas "saw" and believed. But that kind of faith is not blessed by Jesus Christ. "Because you have seen Me, have you believed?" In other words, 'Thomas, was it only because you could physically see the wounds that caused you to believe, yet you would not believe the truth proclaimed about Me and the truth the Scriptures spoke of Me?' We find in these words a clear indication that faith does not need props. Faith is not to rely upon some scene to outwardly affect the mind. Instead, faith finds its foundation in the truth of the gospel proclaimed.

I recall a number of years ago visiting again and again with a family whose 24-year old daughter was dying of liver cancer. Her parents had not demonstrated a vital faith in Christ and her brothers gave every reason to believe their lostness. This young lady had a wonderful assurance of faith in Christ. I prayed with her and her family many times. They were always glad to have my visits and glad to have me praying. I thought, surely these brothers will see her suffering and the radiance of her faith and believe the gospel! But it did not happen. I have since witnessed many different type external circumstances that would seem to be enough impetus to cause a person to believe, but to no avail.

Look at this hidden beatitude, "Blessed are they who did not see, and yet believed." The blessing of peace with God through Jesus Christ the Lord belongs to those who do not cling to some kind of outward, physical manifestation. Instead, they look to Jesus Christ and Him crucified and raised from the dead. They look with the eyes of faith upon hearing the saving word proclaimed. Faith becomes sight.

The man in Hell wanted Abraham to send the poor beggar Lazarus from heaven to earth to warn his brothers of the torment which they were facing. Abraham told the man, "They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them." The man argued, "No, Father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent!" He wanted the spectacular to catch their attention; physical sight to initiate a spiritual response. The reply of Abraham applies clearly to our present text: "If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be persuaded if someone rises from the dead" (Luke 16:19-31). The message is clear: "Faith comes by hearing; and hearing by the word of Christ." Faith upon the revelation of the gospel of Christ as proclaimed in the Word of God brings a helpless, unconcerned sinner into the joyful relationship of a child of God.

Conclusion

Are you unbelieving? Then look with the eyes of faith to Jesus Christ as He is revealed in the gospel. See Him as the only Mediator between God and men. See Him as the only King and Lord before whom you must bow. See Him as your righteousness before God. Look to Jesus Christ as revealed in the gospel and have your doubts washed away.

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