We live in a culture that says, “Live your truth,” but deep down, we know this isn’t how life, or spiritual truth, works. We all live based on certain objective truths. When it comes to questions about religion, we all need to ask two questions: (1) Is this true? and (2) Is this truth worthy of my life? In this message from John 14:1–6 from David Platt, we’re invited to respond to Jesus, who claimed to be the truth—and he rose from the dead to prove it. Our eternity hinges on our response. How will you respond?
We live in a culture that says, “Live your truth,” but deep down, we know this isn’t how life, or spiritual truth, works. We all live based on certain objective truths. When it comes to questions about religion, we all need to ask two questions: (1) Is this true? and (2) Is this truth worthy of my life? In this message from John 14:1–6 from David Platt, we’re invited to respond to Jesus, who claimed to be the truth—and he rose from the dead to prove it. Our eternity hinges on our response. How will you respond?
You are listening to Radical with David Platt, a weekly podcast with sermons and messages from pastor, author and teacher David Platt. Today is a day to celebrate the life change that Jesus brings, so I want to add my personal welcome to you. I'm David, one of the pastors here, and, whether you're in this room or online or in Overflow, can we give it a shout out to all those who are in Overflow right now? It's good to be together on this Easter Sunday and I want to let you know from the beginning where the next few minutes are headed. So today, I want to offer you two specific invitations. The first is an invitation for you to experience new life in relationship with God through faith in Jesus, and I want to be clear.
Speaker 1:This invitation is for everybody, whether this is your first time in church or you've grown up in church, or first time watching church online. It's an invitation for people who may have questions about God or Jesus. It's an invitation for people who may feel far from God because of your past or maybe your present. It's an invitation for people who may have been hurt by the church in the past. It's an invitation for people who may have felt close to God at some point in your life, but that was a long time ago and a lot's happened since then. It doesn't matter your past, your present, your personality, your age, your ethnicity, your history, however you might identify or describe yourself. The Bible teaches that we all have sin in our lives. We've turned from God in ways that have separated us from God, and I want to invite you to come back to God, either for the first time or maybe for the first time in a long time. If you have any questions about where you stand with God, I want to help you settle those today. And then the second invitation I want to invite you to make a decision today to be baptized as a follower of Jesus, similar to what Rimshad just did.
Speaker 1:So baptism is a powerful picture of life change. It's the first thing that followers of Jesus do. It's like a going, public celebration and declaration that Jesus has changed your life, and I know there are many people today who have not taken that step for a variety of reasons. Maybe because you've yet to become a follower of Jesus, or maybe you became a follower of Jesus recently or, however, many years ago, but for whatever reason, you've not done this yet. Or maybe you'd say I was baptized as a baby. Doesn't that count and I'll say more on this at the end but praise God that your parents, or whoever in your life, saw faith as important when you were a child and they expressed that faith on your behalf. But every time we see baptism in the Bible it's a profession of your own faith, not somebody else's faith. So today you have a chance to affirm personally what others wanted for you, however many years ago, in a way that doesn't reject what they did for you, but affirms of my own volition, I'm following Jesus. You're gonna have an opportunity to make a call today and say mom, dad or whoever you hoped that I would follow Jesus mom, dad or whoever you hoped that I would follow Jesus and I'm going to make it public that I've decided to follow him. Now, to clarify responding to that invitation today doesn't mean you're going to be baptized today. We actually have a big day coming up. We're going to celebrate baptisms outside a few weeks from now. So, whether on that day or another day, if that one doesn't work, I want to invite you to put a stake in the ground today and say I'm going to make it public that Jesus has changed my life. So two invitations on this Easter Sunday to come to God through faith in Jesus, either for the first time, or for the first time in a long time, or to be baptized publicly as a follower of Jesus. A few minutes from now, you're going to have an opportunity to respond to these invitations.
Speaker 1:And I want to be clear. Sometimes people say preachers play on people's emotions or bypass people's minds to get them to respond a certain way. In a crowd, that is certainly not my goal. I feel zero pressure to play on anything. I just want to show you Jesus. I want to show you who he is and what he has done for you, not just the person beside you or in front of you, behind you, but right where you are sitting. No, we all have different personalities. Some of us are more emotional, some of us more intellectual. But the beauty of Jesus, what I want to show you today, is that Jesus speaks to both our hearts and our minds in such a way that responding to him involves a supernatural blend of both affection and reason at the same time. So I want to invite you to listen with both your heart and your mind and in the end, I hope you'll hear that these two invitations are not ultimately coming from me, but from Jesus himself, and I pray in the next few minutes you will hear Jesus inviting you to either come to him for the first time or, for the first time in a long time, that you'll hear Jesus inviting you to publicly identify with him, with whatever your personality, type or age is, whether you're eight years old or 18 or 88 years old or anywhere in between, that you'll have the courage to say yes to Jesus today, as he's speaking to you. So let me show you him.
Speaker 1:If you have a Bible and want to follow along, we're going to be in John 20, but if not, no problem, I'm going to have the verses up here on the screen. I want to show you Jesus, realizing that we live in a day where religion and faith are seen merely as a matter of preference or opinion, and whatever you believe is just whatever works for you. And what works for you may not work for other people. What's true for you may not be true for other people. So live your truth. It's the mantra of our day Find what's true for you, what feels right to you, and live accordingly. The only problem with that is we don't actually live according to that mantra and we don't actually want to live according to it.
Speaker 1:I think about it. Who wants to go to the bank this week and say I need to withdraw money from my account, only to hear the teller say and say I need to withdraw money from my account, only to hear the teller say, well, I don't feel like you have money in your account? I think you'd say, hopefully with a respectful tone I don't care what you feel, I know I have money in my account and I want to withdraw it. You do not want that teller to look back at you and say that may be true for you, but it's not true for me. And we're living our truth around here. No, you know that you have money in your bank account. That's not a matter of somebody's personal, subjective experience of truth, but of actual, objective, real truth. The last thing we want banks doing today is doling out money based on how they feel. Well, that's a simple example, and there are thousands of others like it and the details of our lives every day.
Speaker 1:So why? Why? When it comes to the most important questions in life, questions that deal with the most significant realities in the world of life and death. Why would we all of a sudden decide to throw out actual, objective, real truth, like if we're honest enough to think and humble enough to care, in other words, we're not just living our lives with our arms crossed like we have it all figured out?
Speaker 1:I think that deep down, every single one of us comes to any religion and specifically to an Easter Sunday like this with two fundamental questions. The first question is is it true that the whole message of Easter is that Jesus died, that he was dead for three days and that, in his own power, came back to life, never to die again? That either happened or it didn't happen. That's not a matter of opinion or preference, but of truth. So it's a good question to ask Is this true? Did Jesus really rise from the dead? And then I think there's a second question, because it could be true and we could say okay and move on with our lives. We can see Jesus' resurrection from the dead as fairly ancillary to our lives. Maybe we go to church here or there to give a nod to God, but for the most part we move on with everything we have going on in our lives. So that's a whole.
Speaker 1:Other question that I think we all come with. Is this truth worthy of my life? Or maybe another way to put this what does this truth have to do with my life as a teenager, as a college student, with my studies, as an adult, with my career or my family or my retirement, with my hopes and plans and dreams for my life? And not just my life here in this world, but my life beyond this world and whatever I believe about life after death. Is this truth worthy of adjusting my whole life around it? And these two questions is this true and is this truth worthy of my life Are part of why I'm so thankful for a person in the Bible named Thomas. It gets kind of a bad rap because there's doubts and questions about Jesus doubting Thomas, but I for one am thankful. God put somebody in the story to ask these questions for all of us. So watch this.
Speaker 1:The Bible tells us about how Jesus appeared to his followers after he rose from the dead. He came into this room where they had huddled together, but Thomas wasn't there. The Bible tells us Thomas, one of the 12, called the twin, was not with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him we have seen the Lord. But Thomas said to them unless I see in his hands the mark of the nails and place my finger into the mark of the nails and place my hand into his side, I will never believe. And when you read that statement, you see both these questions that we all have. Like one, thomas is asking is this true? Like, is Jesus really alive? And second, thomas is asking can I really trust my life? With this news? Because you put yourself in Thomas's shoes At this point you feel pretty let down, like you were all in with Jesus. You hitched your life to him. Not long before this in the Bible, thomas had said I'm ready to die with Jesus. But then Jesus didn't just die, he died the most embarrassing, shameful way you could possibly die in that day stripped on a cross with criminals. And now he was gone and Thomas had no idea what to do. He was at his lowest point, totally let down, thinking I got my hopes up following Jesus the first time. I need to see something has actually changed before I get my hopes up again.
Speaker 1:Don't you think there's a sense in which Thomas represents all of us? Think about it. We all want to live our lives based on truth. None of us wants to live our lives based on a lie? Who of us wants to build our lives on ideas that, when we get to the end, we realize it was all bogus? We all live based on truth and we all know what it's like to be let down, to be disappointed or hurt. We all know and you can picture it in different ways in your life how things don't always turn out the way we'd hoped for in this world, whether in our lives, our relationships, our marriage, our kids, our parents, maybe in school, our career and our health. So many different ways, so many different stories. Life in this world doesn't always work out the way we'd hoped. In this world doesn't always work out the way we'd hoped. So here's the way I would summarize it.
Speaker 1:Every one of us wants truth and love that's worthy of our life. Now, you've talked about it. We're all trying to find our truth, but the problem with our truth is that whatever we find that works for us, whatever the bottom line is that we decide to build our lives on, the problem is our truths can't love us. Truths can't forgive us when we fail to live up to it. Truths can't pick us up when we fall. Truths can't put the broken pieces in our lives back together. So we turn to our loves, to people we put our hope in them. But even the best people at some point let us down or aren't there anymore, and we find that our loves aren't perfectly true. So we find ourselves looking for what Thomas is looking for. We're all looking for truth and love that's worthy of our life.
Speaker 1:Enter Jesus on the scene and listen to how the Bible describes his encounter with Thomas. Eight days later, his disciples were inside again. This time Thomas was with them. Although 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 and see my hands, put out your hand and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve, but believe. And Thomas answered him my Lord and my God, I want you to see how everything just came together for Thomas. He realized for the first time that Jesus is love. That is absolutely true. In this moment Thomas realized it's actually true. Jesus really is alive. And this truth changes everything Now.
Speaker 1:Thomas was an eyewitness to the resurrected Jesus in a way that 2,000 years later we're obviously not and, as a result, all kinds of people for the last 2,000 years have tried to disprove Jesus' resurrection. Islam, for example, teaches that Jesus didn't even die on a cross, much less rise from the grave this, with all due respect, by the way, a theory invented by Muhammad six centuries after the crucifixion occurred. Others have claimed that Jesus' tomb wasn't actually empty. The disciples just went to the wrong tomb and ever since that day everybody's been going to the wrong tomb. If only somebody would check next door.
Speaker 1:Others have said the disciples were just delusional, hallucinatory at best, when they claimed they'd seen Jesus alive after he died. But even the thought of resurrection from the grave was virtually inconceivable in both Greco-Roman and Jewish thought in the first century. Yet all of a sudden, hundreds of people suddenly started claiming to have seen Jesus alive, some of whom ate, drank and talked with him. Hallucinations don't normally eat and drink. In addition to all of that, it was not in these disciples' best interest for them to be saying that Jesus was alive, knowing that they would, and did, lose their lives for it.
Speaker 1:Pascal once said I believe the witnesses that get their throats cut for their testimony. The reality is, when you look at all the evidence for Jesus's resurrection, you realize that to not believe in the resurrection of Jesus actually requires a significant leap of faith. Because there's no question, even among the most secular of scholars, that 2,000 years ago an entirely new religious community and movement was formed virtually overnight, and immediately hundreds of people started claiming that Jesus had risen from the dead, even when it cost them their lives. So how else do you explain that the physical resurrection of Jesus is the most historically plausible explanation when you actually look at the facts? And not only is it true that Jesus rose from the dead, it's the greatest truth in all the world Death has been defeated, death has been defeated, death conquered.
Speaker 1:Jesus is not just one option among many. Who else has defeated death? The Canadian scientist GB already put it best. He said when I looked at religion, I said I have two questions One has anybody ever conquered death? And two if they have, did they make a way for me to conquer death? I checked the tomb of Buddha and it was occupied. And I checked the tomb of Confucius and it was occupied. And I checked the tomb of Muhammad and it was occupied. And I came to the tomb of Jesus and it was empty. And I said there is one who conquered death. And I asked the second question did he make a way for me to do it? And I opened the Bible and discovered that he said because I live, you also shall live. Follow this. Jesus is love. That is absolutely true. And at the same time, jesus is truth that will absolutely love you.
Speaker 1:So don't miss the wonder of this encounter with Thomas. Jesus isn't just saying, thomas, look at the proof in my hands and my side, as if this was merely a question of the intellect. Jesus looks at him in the eye and essentially says Thomas, I know your doubts, I know your questions, I know your fears, I know all your flaws, I know all your hurts, I know all the ways you've been let down. I've seen you at the bottom, but I still love you and I'm still here for you and I always will be. And the wounds in Jesus' hands and side were not just evidence of Jesus' supernatural power over death. They were evidence of Jesus' sacrificial love for Thomas. Jesus had not just died on a cross, he died on a cross for Thomas' sins. And Jesus hadn't just risen from the dead, he'd risen from the dead for Thomas, for Thomas to have life. And I can't help but to think in that moment Thomas remembered something Jesus had told him just days before he went to the cross.
Speaker 1:Jesus was talking with his disciples about how he was going to prepare an eternal home for them, and Thomas asked Lord, we do not know where you're going. How can we know the way? And Jesus said to him I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. And now it's coming full circle for Thomas. Jesus hadn't just said I point you to the way, I point you to truth. I point you to the way. I point you to truth, I point you to life, just what every other religious teacher in the world would say. No, jesus said I am the way, I am the truth, I am the life. Jesus didn't just point to life.
Speaker 1:Thomas is realizing Jesus is actually Lord over life and death, which means he alone is able to give life. He alone is the way to the God who is the author of life, and it's hitting Thomas. Jesus alone is truth and love that is worthy of all your life. There is literally no other truth and love like him in the world, which leads Thomas to make one of the most climactic declarations of faith in all the Bible, as he goes from doubts and questions and fears and let down to looking at Jesus and saying my Lord and my God, because he knows that Jesus is the only one who can give him life and the whole reason Jesus came was to give him life.
Speaker 1:Now, as soon as you hear that, you might think wait a minute, how's that loving For Jesus alone to be the way to eternal life with God? Like are you really saying in a world of all kinds of religions, there's only one way to life and that's through Jesus alone? It doesn't feel loving. That feels narrow, even offensive. Like only one way. Surely, if there is a God, he's more creative than that. Surely God provides more options than that. But think about that with me, because Jesus says this statement at this point in the Bible.
Speaker 1:But there's a whole lot of story before this. Have you ever been in a conversation with somebody for a long time and you work through all kinds of issues. Then someone decides to insert themselves in that conversation without all that context, starts asking questions about things you've already covered and you want to say who invited you into this conversation? So we need to realize the context behind this statement. It doesn't just come out of nowhere.
Speaker 1:Because a long, long time before this, a long time before Jesus said those words, this story began when God created a universe full of beauty, a sun and moon and stars, and a world full of grandeur, with mountains and hills and seas and trees and plants and birds and animals of all kinds. And after all that, god made his prized creation a man and a woman. All that God made his prized creation a man and a woman in his image, unlike anything else in all the world, with the capacity to experience life in a relationship with God, with the ability to walk and talk with God, to love and be loved by God. And God said to this man and woman I want you to experience life forever with me. Just trust me and follow me and you will experience eternal satisfaction in me. And God said if you disobey me, you'll experience death, but I don't want that. I want you to live forever with me. And this man and woman said yes, we'll follow you Until one day, for no just reason, this man and woman decided their creator didn't know what he was talking about, that they knew better than him what was good for them and they deliberately did what he told them not to do.
Speaker 1:And God said I told you that if you did that you would experience death, but I still want you to experience life. And God set in motion a plan for them to still be able to live with him forever. As humanity expanded, he called a group of people to himself and said I'm going to enter into a covenant relationship with you and you're going to spread my love to everyone in the world. And this group of people said yes, we'll do that. But before the seal on that covenant had even set, they did the same thing that the man and woman had done. They turned aside from God and started worshiping other gods instead that they made with their own hands and bowed down and worshiped. And they did this over and over and over again, from generation to generation. But God did not give up on them. God sent them messengers they're called prophets all throughout the Bible to tell his people how much he loved them, that if they would just turn back to him, he would forgive them and welcome them back. But these people took those messengers and beat them and killed them.
Speaker 1:And then, after all of that, for generation after generation, god did the unthinkable, the unimaginable, and God came to the world himself. He came in the flesh, born in a humble manger, in the person of Jesus, god among his creation, god among his creation. And Jesus loved and served and helped the poor and healed the sick and taught them good news that if anyone from any nation would turn back to God, then God would receive them. But what did they do with Jesus? With God in the flesh? They mocked him and scourged him and spit in his face and nailed him to a cross in the most cruel form of death they could contrive. And then, after all of that, god said to anyone in the world, no matter who you are, no matter what you've done, if you will just believe that I love you so much that I gave my only son to die on the cross for you to rise from the dead, for you, if you will just trust in me and my love for you, I will forgive you of all your sin against me and I will give you eternal life with me.
Speaker 1:So after all of that, are you really going to look in the face of God and say it's kind of narrow, isn't it? Couldn't you be more creative than that? When you realize the whole story, you realize the question is not why is there only one way? You realize the question is why is there any way at all? And you realize it's not about how many ways there are, because if there were a thousand ways, we would want a thousand and one. That's the issue. It's our autonomy, our pride. From the very beginning, we want to make our own way. We want to do it ourselves. And God is saying I love you, I've done it for you, I've made the way to you.
Speaker 1:So this story is not just about Thomas or these disciples. This story is about you, right where you're sitting right now. This story is about Jesus looking at you Again, not just the person beside you in front of you, but just hear him saying to you, looking at you in the eye, with all your built-in longing for truth and longing for love. And Jesus is saying to you I know your doubts, I know your questions. I know your questions, I know your fears, I know your flaws, I know your hurts, I know all the ways that you've been let down. I've seen you at the bottom, but I still love you and I am here for you. See the wounds in his hands and side and realize they're for you.
Speaker 1:Jesus is saying to you. It's true, you have sin in your life that separates you from God, and your sin is keeping you from life with God now and will keep you from life with God forever, when you die. But Jesus is saying I died on a cross to pay the price for you for your sin. And Jesus is saying to you it's true, I didn't just die, I conquered death. I rose from the grave for you so that you might have a life forever with God, so you might have truth that you can stand on, so you might have love that will not let you down, so you might have hope that sin, suffering and death will not be the end of your story. This is Jesus inviting you today to receive life in him, not based on what you do, but based on his love for you.
Speaker 1:Some of you for the first time, to place your faith in Jesus. Others of you to come back to Jesus. I want to ask every single person, within the sound of my voice are you trusting in Jesus as your life right now, in such a way that you know beyond the shadow of a doubt that if you were to die today, you would live forever with God? Like what question in your life is more important than this. Take a moment, lift your eyes from the trivial and the temporal things of this world. What matters most is not how successful you are, how much money you make, or what you achieve or what others think or say about you. In an instant and it could be in any instant for any one of us all of those things are going to be gone and the only question that will matter is were you trusting in Jesus as your life? Your life now and for eternity hinges on the answer to that question. And for some maybe many of you again this may be your first time in church, or you may have grown up in church, maybe even called yourself a Christian. But, truth be told, if you were to stand before God right now, it would be clear that Jesus is not your life.
Speaker 1:And for many, you have all kinds of excuses for not making Jesus your life. You say I've still got questions. That's great. Today you can start to get them answered. Bring those questions like Thomas did before Jesus. Start that conversation now, don't put it off. You say well, I've been hurt by the church, and if that's you, I want you to know that I hate that you've been hurt by the church and, far more important, jesus hates that you've been hurt by the church because he loves you so much. And yes, people say the church has too many hypocrites, and that's true. At the same time, just because the medical profession has some crazy people, you don't ignore all medicine. Besides, you've probably had a few hypocritical moments in your life. So be glad. Jesus loves hypocrites Means there's hope for you too. That's the whole point.
Speaker 1:Jesus didn't come for the perfect, because none of us are. He came for the imperfect which qualifies every single one of us. And you might say, well, I'll do this later. But I want to warn you there may not be a later. I want to say as plainly as possible none of us today is guaranteed tomorrow. You or I could die at any moment in your home, on your way home, and this opportunity will be gone forever. And even if you live for many more years, you don't want to harden your heart toward God, to hear the voice of God's spirit speaking to you like he is right now and you say maybe later, later, and your heart hardens all the more in a way that you never come back to this moment. I say to some of you this moment could be your last opportunity.
Speaker 1:Don't make excuses. Today's excuses will be tomorrow's regrets, five minutes into eternity. What are you going to be glad that you held onto? That kept you from Jesus? See him, he's the way, the truth and the life. And he is inviting you today to trust in him or to come back to him as Lord and God in your life. And then the second invitation is for you to be baptized as a follower of Jesus.
Speaker 1:And again, people make a variety of excuses here, some of them the same. You say I'm gonna wait until this or that, I'm just not ready, when the reality is, if you've trusted in Jesus, you are ready. It's time. You don't need to have everything perfect or figured out. Besides, when is that actually going to happen?
Speaker 1:Today's, the day Now, is the time to publicly say Jesus is my life. And some people say baptism's not really that important, it doesn't make a big difference when or whether I do this or not. Are you serious? Are you really saying Jesus's first command to you is not that important to you, not really a big deal whether or not you do that? If you won't obey Jesus's initial clear command to you, is he really your life? And again you might say well, I was baptized as a baby and we mentioned this earlier.
Speaker 1:Your baptism as a baby was a profession of someone else's faith, not your own, and praise God for that. We honor you. Honor that faith in your parents or whoever, but today is the day to profess your faith. You have a chance today not to reject what they did, but to affirm what they wanted for your life. Here's the deal. When it comes down to it, the question is do you trust in Jesus as your life or are you turning from Jesus in your life? Those are the only two options for all of us, and this is a defining moment. Today is a defining day for you to do what God is speaking to your heart to do, to set aside your pride and say I'm ready to publicly declare that Jesus is worthy of my life. So two invitations it's time to respond. We hope you've enjoyed this week's episode of Radical with David Platt. For more resources from David Platt, we invite you to visit Radicalnet.