From Doubt to Faith: The Story of Doubting Thomas

In this message from John 20:24–29, we explore the powerful story of Doubting Thomas and what it teaches us about doubt, faith, and the resurrection of Jesus.

Even one of Jesus’ closest disciples struggled to believe that Jesus had risen from the dead. Thomas demanded proof before he would believe. But when Jesus appeared to him, everything changed.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

If you have a Bible, I want to invite you to turn with me to the Gospel of John. Specifically, we're going to look in John chapter 20 today. And if you're a guest, I want to welcome you. We are glad that you are here. Easter is always a special time. You know, two weeks ago, I was sitting in my office and upstairs here in, you know, River Oak Church. We have a daycare that happens in the mornings during the weekdays. And this was a special day two weeks ago because uh one of the classes was actually getting a little a little tour through the building. And my daughter is in the daycare, and so sure enough, uh my five-year-old daughter with her seven other peers comes strolling in unexpectedly uh into my office. Now, I don't know in your workplace if you've ever had like eight five-year-olds just pop into your office, but I had to think quick. And so I asked, I asked them as they're there, my daughter amongst them. I said, What is Easter all about? And wouldn't you know? My five-year-old jumps up and says, Easter eggs! I'll be resigning as teaching and family pastor from River Oak Church. Today is all about one thing, right? Jesus is alive. That's what it's all about. Really, the whole Christian faith all hinges on one question. Did Jesus walk out of the grave or not? If Jesus, yes, he did, somebody's listening over here. Amen, brother. He did. And because of that, we have hope. Because of that, we know that what we're looking at today as we dive into God's word, it's not just some old book, but it's the very word of God. It's trustworthy, it's true because Jesus lived, he died, and the grave is now empty. It's the root of our hope. You know, the Bible tells us in 1 Corinthians chapter 15 says, if Christ has not been raised, listen to this and think about this. If Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain, and your faith is in vain. In other words, if Jesus has not been raised, then every Sunday morning for the summer you go to the beach. If Jesus has not been raised, then I need to find a new career. If Jesus has not been raised, then our faith is in vain. And what's the whole point he's making? It all hinges on the resurrection. There is a reason we dress up, there is a reason we have joy, there's a reason we gather to celebrate on Easter Sunday. This is a special, special day. But Easter, really, it is only a celebration, and it's only a cause for joy to the extent that we can believe in it, to the extent that we can rejoice, to the extent that we can have faith in it. Today, in John chapter 20, if you're wondering where in John 20, we're gonna look at verses 24 to 29. And today we're gonna look at the story, a real story, of a man who could not believe that Jesus rose to life. Of a man who walked with Jesus, who was a disciple of Jesus, but couldn't believe it. Knowing Jesus was crucified just three days earlier, who could not believe that Jesus really had risen from the grave, we're gonna look at this story of Thomas, and Thomas's story is very relevant to us. You see, unbelief or doubt is a very real thing, not just for unbelievers, but even for believers. Between unbelief and belief. And so this morning we're gonna look at this passage today, and we're gonna see Thomas go from doubt to belief. Seeing that this is something that we go through as Christians, that we wrestle with. I think about the story of Peter, right? Picture Peter was a follower of Jesus. Peter left behind his old life, he turned to Jesus in repentance, became a follower, and then there was the day where the disciples are in the boat, Jesus was not, and there's a big storm that comes, and you remember what happens? They see Jesus walking on the water. And Peter seeing this, I want you to imagine how much faith would it have taken him to step out of the boat. That's great faith, isn't it? Peter steps out of the boat, walks on water for a few steps towards Jesus, but then what happens? He takes his eyes off Christ, he gets afraid, and he sinks. And just that moment, Jesus catches him by the hand, lifts him up. And you remember what Jesus said? You of little faith. There, in a one-minute time span, you have great faith and little faith. This is what we wrestle with as Christians, isn't it? Great faith and then little faith back and forth. And so my hope and my prayer for us is that God would supernaturally today increase our faith, increase our confidence, our assurance of who he is, on what he has done, what he has said, and what is to come. That's my prayer for you and for me as we look at this passage today. Picking up in John 20, just to give you the backstory, the Bible tells us that Jesus is the Son of God, and he entered into his own creation on a rescue mission to save sinners, to reconcile sinners, if you're wondering who they are, that is everybody, to reconcile sinners to God. To reconcile sinners to God. And so Jesus, fully God, fully man, he comes, born of the virgin, and for 30 years he lives a quiet life. And then around age 30, he begins his ministry and he begins to preach. And he goes out and he preaches about the kingdom of God. He's telling the world, repent and believe in the gospel. That was his message. And he called followers. He called 12 men specifically to be his special disciples. Thomas, who we're going to look at today, was one of those special disciples. But even though these 12 had been around Jesus and seen him work, they've seen the miracles, they've seen what he's done, one of the things they couldn't grasp in their minds, was when Jesus would talk about him dying on a cross, but that he'd be raised to life. They couldn't wrap their minds around that. And so where we pick up in this scene in John chapter 20, we look back in John 19, that's where the crucifixion happens. Where what Jesus has said, the purpose of his coming, to die on the cross to save sinners, he did that in John 19, where he was crucified for sin, but the story wasn't over yet. In John 20, the beginning of John 20 is where we see he's resurrected. He appears to Mary Magdalene. And then we see the paragraph right before our text, we see how Jesus appears to the disciples, but in that moment, Thomas isn't with them. Eleven disciples, Judas is gone. Thomas is not with them here. And he appears to them. They see him. And we pick up now in 24, and we're gonna see in this passage Thomas go from doubt to faith. And the first thing I want us to look at this morning is the problem of doubt. The problem of doubt. Look at what the Bible says. In verse 24, it says, Now Thomas, one of the twelve, called the twin, was not with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, We have seen the Lord. But he 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. Thomas has a big problem. And if you're wondering where Thomas' problem is coming from, his problem of doubt, it's coming from his heart. He's in a dark place, a place that I'm sure many of you have been at in your own life at some point in your life. He's in a dark place. He's the only disciple here who is completely in doubt. Even though the others are telling him, Thomas, we've seen him. We've seen the Lord. You see his resolve. Unless I see his hands. Unless I touch his side where he was pierced, I will never believe, he says. Now it's it's sad because really when we see Thomas and when we think about Thomas, we always refer to him as doubting Thomas, right? But aside from this passage, in John chapter 11, you wouldn't have thought of him that way. In John chapter 11, you would have thought as Thomas as loyal Thomas. That was a passage where we see Jesus is ready to go to Judea, an area where the Pharisees reign, the area where the Pharisees wanted to kill him, the disciples fearful of that. Remember, they're following Jesus no matter the cost. And Thomas of all of them says, We're gonna go with him, even if it means dying with him. And yet here, Thomas is doubting. Not loyal like he was, but doubting, unless I see, I will never believe. It's one of the traits of unbelief. It's one of the traits of doubt. You see, doubt and unbelief, it demands to see, touch, and feel in order for it to believe, in order for it to trust. And this is completely contrary to what the Bible says. The Bible talks about doubt in very serious, in a very serious manner. Hebrews chapter 3, verse 12, we see where doubt comes from. He writes, Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart. Where does unbelief come from? It comes from the heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. Thomas is doubting. He says, I need to see. I need to touch it. And that's the opposite of real faith. Hebrews 11, verse 1, shows us what real faith looks like. Says, now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the convictions of things not seen. In other words, to have faith is to be confident and assured of something, even if you cannot see it, even if it's outside of the picture of your eyes. To be confident, to trust in it, to believe in it. It's just like you would trust in a parachute, or just like you would trust somebody to watch your children. It's a trust, it's a confidence. This is what belief is. And one of the dangers to the Christian, to a Christian, is when doubt creeps in. When doubt weighs on us, when the questions come into our mind and we give, we give room in our mind for the questions of is God really good? Is he really real? Is heaven real? Is he trustworthy? Is the Bible true? When these thoughts come into our mind, when doubt or unbelief creeps in to a believer's life, it weighs you. It slows you down. I remember about eight years ago, I was on a hunting trip and we were over on the eastern shore in a cold January, and we were there on the eastern shore, we were we were duck hunting, and I remember we didn't have anything, couldn't see anything, so by around 10 a.m. we get up and we decide to go into the marsh. We're gonna go to a different spot. And we get into this place in the marsh area, cold and wet, it was muddy, and at one point we decide to split and go our own ways to cover more ground, and you get to a spot in the marsh where you just sink. And so I remember finding myself trying to walk waist deep in thick mud, trying to take a step, right? It took a lot of energy to move. My mission that I was on, I wasn't fulfilling that mission at all. I was hindered from my mission. I was slowed down, and it was heavy and tiring. That is a lot like what doubt is when a Christian gives in to doubt. It makes our walk heavy. It feels like we're trudging through waste deep mud and it makes us not useful. You know, Thomas demanded to see. I need to see, I need to see, unless I see. You know, I feel like many Christians today, we're not so much demanding to see as much as we are demanding to feel. Isn't that true? I need to feel. If I don't feel, then he's not there. And so we have this faith that we try to root in something other than the truth, but rather we point it to either seeing or even trying to feel. And this weighs us down. You see, it's a very frustrating thing, and you are setting yourself up, Christian, to be very frustrated and to go swaying back and forth, very confused in your day-to-day life. If you try to root your faith in your feelings, you know, there's mornings, and I'm sure you can attest to this, some of you, where you will spend time in God's Word, be in God's Word, and you feel his presence in such an amazing way that it leads you to fall on your knees, to sing to him, to be tearful in repentance, in adoration of who he is. Some mornings it's like that, isn't it? But there's other mornings where it's dry. There's seasons even, not just days, but isn't it true that there are seasons of dryness? Well, you know, a lot of people think, well, God's not with me anymore. Well, that's not true. We're being like Thomas in that moment, aren't we? We're trying to root our faith in something other than the truth of God's word, that he's alive. And so we as Christians, we have to root our faith in the truth of who he is, knowing that he's with us, knowing that he has promised to be with us. We see the problem of doubt, number one. As we go on in verse 26, we see the second big thing that I want you to see in this passage. Number two is the blessing of faith. The blessing of faith. Look at verse 26 in your Bible. We read, eight days later, so a week's gone by, it's the following Sunday. His disciples were inside again, and 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, and put out your hand and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve, but believe. Thomas answered him, My Lord and my God. Jesus said to him, Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed. So a week has gone by, and now when the disciples are there together, Thomas is in fact with them. And I want you to see the compassion of Christ in this moment. Also his divinity. Jesus just appears in the room, doesn't he? They're in a room, the doors are locked, and yet in the room, Jesus appears to them. And you may be wondering, what would Jesus say to Thomas? Or what would Jesus say to the disciples? First, he shows up and he says, Peace, peace be with you. And then he goes straight to Thomas. And if you were another disciple in the room watching the scene, you'd probably be on your toes. You know, you know where Thomas is at. You know his doubts. You know what he has said just a week before. What is Jesus gonna say? What is Jesus gonna do? You know, a lot of people have a wrong understanding of God because perhaps you grew up in a legalistic church, or perhaps you grew up with an unloving father or mother, and that skewed your understanding of who God really is, of how God really deals with his children specifically. Look at how Jesus approaches the doubter, how he approaches Thomas. He doesn't come to him with a whip in his hand, he comes to him in compassion. He comes to him, we read what he says to him in verse 27. It says, Then he said to Thomas, put your finger here. In other words, Jesus looking at Thomas, he says, Look, Thomas. Jesus wasn't there a week ago. Jesus wasn't there physically to hear what Thomas said. He's God, he knows our thoughts, he knows every doubt in your mind. Do you see that? He says, Put your hands here, Thomas. You want to touch my side? Where they put the spear? Touch my side, Thomas. He comes to him in compassion. He comes to him in love. Christ doesn't leave the weak behind. He doesn't. You know, one of the attributes of God that is that most amazes me is the patience of God. God is so patient. I mean, look at our life. Even as we repent and believe in the gospel, we set out on this journey of being a disciple of Jesus and following him with our life. We see his amazing patience with us. Does it not amaze you? Or am I the only one that God hasn't just struck me down? He is so patient. He's the God of love and peace. And he proves to Thomas that he's alive. That he is alive indeed. He shows him the marks in his hands. He says, look, touch the marks. The resurrection, y'all, is the linchpin of our faith. It's everything for us. If Christ rose to life indeed, then we can trust this. If he did not, we cannot trust this. He gives him proof. And he shows him. You know, those nail-scarred hands are still on Jesus after he's ascended. You know that those nail-scarred hands are never gonna go away. But those nail-scarred hands, if you're in this room and if you're a follower of Jesus, you're gonna see those very hands. And you know what that's gonna show you? It is a forever picture of God's amazing love for you. Of his love for you. It's a walking picture of the cost for your soul, of the high price that was paid to redeem you, to set you free. And we get to see it. We get to see it with our own eyes. Jesus is alive and he's risen and he commands Thomas. Verse 27, at the very end, what does he say? Do not disbelieve. Don't disbelieve, but believe. If you're wondering, what is God calling us to today? What is God speaking to you today? Look at the word. It's very simple. This is what God's word is not just for them back then, but for you and I today. What is God telling us today? Don't disbelieve. On this resurrection Sunday, that we celebrate Jesus' resurrection, that he's risen and alive. What is God's word for us today? Don't disbelieve. Don't doubt. Don't give in to doubt, but rather believe. Have faith. Have full confidence. This is what he is telling us. Don't doubt, but be confident. Walk by faith, not by sight. We live in the world. What is the message of the world? Seeing is believing. That's not the truth of God's word. Rather, we believe, and then we know one day we will see. That is faith. This is what we're called to, and we have reason to do this. So, as followers of Christ, this is what we're called to fight against doubt. Fight against doubt. And fight for faith, a confidence in who God is. How do you do that? How do we do that? I want to give you three things today, real quick. How can we fight against doubt and be Christians who are full of faith, confident, useful to the Master who saved us? How do we do that? Number one, read and memorize Scripture. Store up God's word in your heart. Give yourself to that. The Bible says in Romans 10, faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ. If doubt is sin, which we know that it is, according to Hebrews 3, we just read it. Well, how do we fight against sin? Psalm 119, what does it say? I have stored up your word in my heart that I might not sin against you. Store up God's word in your heart. Number two, take your thoughts captive. Take your thoughts captive. You know, you and I, we can't control just every thought that pops into our mind, right? We can't control that. But you can control what you do with it. You can control how you respond to that thought. You can. How do you respond? When that thought comes into your mind of, is heaven real? Or that thought comes into your mind of, is God's word really true? Or that thought comes into your mind of, can I really be forgiven of my sins even though I've done all these things? How do you respond to that? Take your thoughts captive. You know what you say? Christ is alive, so yes. How can I be assured heaven is real? Because Jesus is alive. He walked out of the grave. How can I be sure that his promise that we can be forgiven of our sins and enter into a right relationship with God through faith in him? Because Jesus is alive. We stand on the truth. We take our thoughts captive. And then number three, be with God's people. Be with God's people. You know, it is not a coincidence. I don't believe it's a coincidence that Thomas was not with the disciples just a week before, just earlier. He wasn't with them when Jesus first appeared to the disciples. We don't know why. But what we do know is that Thomas is the only one now doubting. Whatever you do, give yourself to God's people, to be with God's people. Do we want strong faith? Then we must be with God's people. Speaking for myself, my faith is too weak not to gather with God's people every Lord's day. It's too weak. And so do what you will do every Sunday. You do what you will do. But as for me in my house, we will be with God's people every Sunday because we need each other. Our faith depends on it. As a Christian, we need one another. Verse 28, Thomas makes one of the greatest professions that we see in all the Bible. In verse 28, after Jesus speaks to him, he says, Look here. And then he says, Don't disbelieve but believe. Now we see Thomas' response. And this is the big moment. This is where Thomas has crossed from doubt to faith, where he believes. Look at what he says, verse 28. Thomas answered him, My Lord and my God. My Lord and my God. I imagine what that was like for him. What joy filled the room when Thomas proclaimed that. And you know that shows you and I something. That shows us what real faith really looks like. What is really entailed with real faith. We see it in Thomas's profession. My Lord and my God. First, Jesus is not just a good teacher. Jesus is not just a miracle worker. Listen, Jesus is not just a good example to follow. The world is fine with that. The Pharisees would have been fine with that. Jesus is Lord and Jesus is God. He's Lord and He's God. But look closer what Thomas says. Look closer at it. Thomas doesn't say you are Lord and God. What does he say? My Lord and my God. Thomas clings to Christ. He clings to him. You know, to be a Christian is not just that you belong to God. That is true. But he belongs to you. That's why we say that this is not about a religion, but it's about a relationship. God came to reconcile us back to himself. That's the good news of the gospel. It's reconciliation. We're separated because of our sin, and he comes and reconciles us back to himself in relationship. This is the biggest question, the most important question that you could ever answer in your life. And I want every individual in this room to think about this question for your own soul. Is Jesus your Lord and your God? Could you say, my Lord and my God? Could you say that and it be true? Is he your Lord and is he your God? If you will be saved, if you will go to heaven, this must be our relationship with Christ. He must be your Lord. He must be your God. Never mind the fact that you grew up in church. Never mind the fact that you got baptized once upon a time. Is he your Lord and is he your God? That's the question. Is he Lord and is He your God? Jesus can't be a sliver of the pie. He must be the center of your life. The center of it. The core of it, the foundation of your life. Millions, this breaks my heart that there are millions of people just in our country alone who are living each day of their lives thinking that I can have Jesus as Savior, my get out of hell card, but not have him as Lord. To be a Christian is to trust in Christ alone for the forgiveness of your sins. And also to embrace him as Lord and as God. Is Christ your Lord and is he your God? Verse 29. We see his profession. And Jesus responds, Jesus said to him, Have you believed because you've seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed. What is it gonna stand on? We see, blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed. You're blessed. If you believe in Christ, though you don't see Christ, you're blessed. That word blessed is this happy contentment, this joy of the heart that comes from being in a right relationship with God. That's what it means to be blessed. We see it in verse 30 and 31 that those who believe, these are written, verse 31, these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name. Why is a Christian blessed? It's not because a Christian is better than anybody. Why is a Christian blessed? A Christian is blessed because that individual has life in his name. Life. The Bible tells us from beginning to end the story of the Bible is that God is a good, loving, holy, and righteous God, and he created the world, and he created you. And he created the world good. But we, as people, we broke God's law. Adam and Eve rebelled against God in the garden, and all of us have simply followed in their footsteps, disobeying God with a sinful heart. And the problem is we can't fix our own sin problem. Our sins have separated us from God, and there's no way that a person can get back to God. Good works will not do it. Religious activity will not do it, no matter how devoted you are. Doesn't save. The good news of the gospel is that God came to us. That Jesus, the Son of God, fully God and fully man, he lived the perfect life in our stead. Where Adam and Eve failed, Jesus was perfect, he was righteous, and then he went to the cross. This was the plan all along, before the foundation of the world, that God would save his people by sending his son to pay the price for our sins upon the cross. He endured the punishment. Sin has to be punished. Why? Because God is holy. He is holy. And Jesus took the punishment on himself in our stead. Why? What did the nails, what do the scars show us? It shows us his love for us, his love for undeserving people. And three days later, why are we here today? He rose to life. And what is the message of the gospel? Repent and believe in the gospel, and you too will have eternal life. This is the invitation. Come to Christ. If you're not a follower of Jesus, come to him, embrace him, trust in him alone for the forgiveness of your sins. The Bible says that Jesus is the only way. There is salvation in no one else. But you may say, I'll come once I clean my life up. Friend, it is in your coming to Jesus that he cleans you up. Only he can clean you. Or you may be in here and you may say, Well, I'm a pretty good person. Like I should I should be good. I should get into heaven. I'm a pretty good person, right? I'm an upstanding citizen. Friend, God does not grade on a curve. There is only one way. And that way involves abandoning self-righteousness and clinging to Christ. Don't leave here today thinking I'm a good person. That should be enough. It will not. You may be here and you may say to yourself, I can't have Jesus. You have no idea what I have done. I have broken so much. I have done so much wrong. He would never take me. Friend, Jesus did not come for the righteous. He came for sinners. He is the way, he is the truth. He is the life. He says, Come to me, all who are weary and heavy laden, and he will give you rest. Come to Jesus and tell somebody. Find somebody today and tell somebody that you are trusting in Christ alone and turning away from being your own ruler and submitting to him as your king. And for the believers here, what is this passage calling us to? To be a faith-filled church, to be a people who fight against doubt and believe in the risen Christ as our Lord and as our God. This is what we're called to do. And the in the resurrection of Christ is our foundation for this. How can we be a faith-filled people? We remind ourselves that Jesus is alive, He's risen. So go out. Don't be content with little faith, Christians. Don't be content with little faith. Let's go out with strong faith by the grace of God and by the power of the Holy Spirit. With strong faith. You know what strong faith will do? It will weaken your fear of death. It will. So that you say with Paul, for me to live is Christ, but to die is gain. Strong faith will lead you to make sacrifices because you'll know that this world is a snap of a finger and it's gone. What would it, what does it do to pursue money and wealth, all things that perish? Strong faith will lead some Christians to adopt little children in need. Strong faith will lead some Christians to go overseas with the gospel, just like the Toddy family right now, sacrificing so much in the mountains of Lesotho. What's the root of that? Strong faith in the grace of God. Strong faith will lead young people to go against the current. Strong faith will make us a useful church. And we have reason because Jesus is alive. As we close, this uh this last song that I that we're gonna sing, it points to the coming of Christ. And we look to the coming of Christ. We hope in the coming of Christ. But there's another song I heard that encouraged me. And the lyrics end like this says, What is our hope in life and death? What will we sing unto the grave? Christ He lives. Christ He lives. That's our song to the grave. Christ He lives. Would y'all pray with me? Father in heaven, we worship you and we bow down before you, Lord. You are so good. You are so wonderful because you made a way for us to have life. And that life is in Christ alone. Father, I pray for every individual in this room, for those who don't know Jesus as their Lord and Savior, who cannot say with Thomas, my Lord and my God, Father, draw them to yourself. Bring them to repentance by your grace and by your mercy, Lord, and may they tell somebody today. And for your people, help us, God, to be a faith-filled people. Help us to go out with faith that moves mountains because of what you've done. Lord, thank you. We love you. It's in Christ's name we pray. Amen.