Never Doubt The Resurrection at Easter

Never Doubt The Resurrection at Easter                               Kelly Durant   4-16-17

John 20:

24 But Thomas, one of the twelve, called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came.

25 The other disciples therefore said unto him, We have seen the Lord. But he said unto them, Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe.

26 And after eight days again his disciples were within, and Thomas with them: then came Jesus, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, Peace be unto you.

27 Then saith he to Thomas, Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side: and be not faithless, but believing.

28 And Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lord and my God.

29 Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.

2. Have you ever doubted something that someone told you? I recall about 15 years ago in Atlanta there was some big event where were at and a guy had on a backpack that was a thermos for passing out cups of coffee.  He said, “Have you ever heard of Starbucks coffee”? I told him no that I never knew of his coffee and of coffee shops everywhere like he described. This was before the time any shop had opened there and I had never seen one. He said, “Just wait and see, our shops are going to be everywhere!” I seriously doubted him. How could it be people would pay for all these specialized coffees? Well, he was right, they were a success, and shops appeared everywhere!  In Atlanta 50 or more shops is the latest count!

You and I get proven wrong all the time on matters. I suppose some of the things I have preached about have surprised some of you and you may have thought I was crazy or ignorant but then later after investigating, you discovered the same conclusion I did along with the rest of the Christian world. You and I have to rewire our thinking at times when proof abounds.

Today we are looking at Thomas who doubted, and there are many Christians that in my opinion, that even though they worship with us, still doubt the teachings. the power, the glory, and importance of our Lord Jesus Christ! When a person believes, everything changes! As Christians, we need to wake up the reality of the realness of Jesus presence in our lives today. He is here or He is not, which is it?

3. One example of how Christians have had to reshape their thinking, how they have had to get their doubts cleared, is concerning Jesus nail pierced hands, which is in the subject of today. All the paintings throughout history have shown Jesus hands pierced in the middle and most all of us thought that was where the nails pierced. Where did Thomas put his finger on Jesus?

About 20 years ago someone in Israel dug up a nail pierced through the wrist of a person and that changed everything. Then all the experts and doctors got involved to determine what was going on and they concluded that Jesus must have been pierced more towards the wrists instead of the middle of the hands. Why?

The reason for this is a nail in the middle of the hand would not hold with the body weight and the hand would rip through and physically it was not possible. Considering that in ancient terms the hand probably included the wrist, the picture of the ‘nail pierced hands’ took on a new view.

Like it or not we have to let go of our own ideas, and let go of the misconceptions that we may have learned. You and I must let go of our own ways of arguing with others because we think we ‘know we are right’ and stop being so dogmatic and fanatic over trivial things just because we want the ego boost that you won the argument.

4. Sometimes when you or I are arguing about our faith with the rebellious the best thing we can do is to just state the truth of God and then let it go. Don’t argue with condemned fools. We know the resurrection is a fact! The carnal people of the world who do not let the Holy Spirit illuminate them are punished to reap the results of what they believe. If they reject the resurrection, God will grant them the alternative to the resurrection unto life, a resurrection unto death. Revelation 21:8 But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death. I feel so bad for those who reject God and His love, if God is not your Father, then who is?

Just the other day Ricardo told me a story of a friend he had growing up who was a proud doubter, atheist, and mocker of those who had faith. A few years later he and his wife had a child and the child had a serious rare disease and no doctors could heal him despite how they spent millions on medical bills in the U.S.. This caused them to lose most all of their fortune. And after several years of waste and frustration it was recommended they try going to a church for prayer. They were told, try faith, maybe it will help!

That they did and they discovered that having faith and being in the environment of church near encouraging, praying, positive Christian people calmed the disease of the child even though the disease was not totally healed. Imagine, this proud doubter of God had to learn the hard way. Was God cruel in allowing his son to have a problem? I argue God was not, because this man did not want God in his life so God stayed out of it! So running with the devil cost him but the victory is he did get converted so a lost soul and his family became believers. Sometimes we just have to accept that God knows what He is doing. He wants the eternal salvation of our souls but we suffer here on earth in the meantime. But it will be worth it all when we see Jesus!

5. So Jesus with Thomas had a loving patience that most human beings would not ever show. Imagine, the greatest insult to God is to doubt His Son Jesus considering the sacrifice He did for all humanity to redeem their souls for eternal life! Thomas doubted that Jesus resurrected from the dead and yet still there are many doubting Thomas’ out there in the world today!

But what did Jesus do for Thomas? He supernaturally appeared and told Thomas to put his finger inside of the wounds. We all have had cuts and wounds before and we know how painful and sensitive open flesh wounds are, so Jesus was asking him to do something shocking, unpleasant, and humiliating in front of his believing brethren. 

But it did the trick! Thomas’ doubt was instantly cured. And I believe, as it has happened to me, that when you doubt Jesus and you pray for a sign for Him to show He is real, Jesus will take you up on the offer! Having the doubt about serving Jesus as a missionary I prayed and asked God to show me what to do as I had many doubts and what did God do? He revealed to me to serve him in some very vivid dreams, and it was so real to me it caused me to say yes to God immediately.

6. I’ll share with you how in one dream I was in the middle of the audience in a rock concert waiting on Bob Dylan and he was many hours late as usual. In the meantime, I was getting so high by the second-hand marijuana smoke from everyone around that I could not move my body. I was frozen stuck on the chair and I was freaking out! I felt as if my body was dead.

I cried for God to help me so I could escape the building. Then, as I was going up the aisle some drugged young people were doing a mock play of crucifying Jesus and one of them told me to grab the hammer and he put it in my hand. The other one yelled at me to bang the nail on the hand of the guy they were carrying on the cross. I panicked, threw down the hammer and kept running towards the door.

When I got outside to my surprise it was daylight and there were hundreds of police cars ready to bust all the ones inside getting high but they just looked at me doing nothing as I walked past them and on down the street getting away. The interpretation is obvious, the police are like the angels of God who will return with Jesus to bring judgment on the world. God showed me I could escape on my own as I was almost dead by the evil ones around me intoxicated to the point I could almost not escape. Thank God I did escape and God gave me a new start, a new life, new languages, new countries, new depths and ways of understanding. I have never regretted the decision to serve Him!

7. So on this Easter Sunday, you are here to praise and jump up and down because you believe in Jesus and His resurrection! And you and I take it by faith. Vs. 29 Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.

For over 2,000 years all the billions of Christians have had to believe all by faith and not by sight or touch. The original idea of God is that we believe in Him by faith and He reveals Himself to us as we act on our faith. And how do you prove faith? By obedience to Him! This began with Abraham.  Hebrews 11:8 By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went.

How many Christians really obey Jesus to “go into all the world to preach the gospel”, Mark 16:5 today? Very few! It takes real belief, conviction, and the boldness of the holy Spirit for a person to put God’s will above everything. Do others hear you tell of the story of Jesus’ life?

8. Christians celebrate Easter according to all the various traditions of each branch of Christiandom but ask yourself, does this day really impact the world and you and me as it should? Easter was a supernatural game a changing event as Jesus became the master commander over all life and death, not just of His own life, but over all of creation! This tradition of remembering Easter is very important, but as Christians we must make it into an opportunity to win lost souls to Him.    

We are blessed because we believe but are you and I going to go on to do the mighty works that Thomas did? ‘Doubting Thomas’, as he as remembered as, did not continue in his doubt because according to history he travelled to India as a missionary and he converted souls many there. But he was martyred there! All the other apostles who obeyed also paid with their lives.

Christianity has come to us with a price. It cost Jesus His own death in the prime of His life, but His death and resurrection was so supernaturally impressive that He provoked the total obedience of His followers and they went on to preach the ‘good news’ as He did. Even today dozens of thousands of Christians are martyred proving Jesus still lives on in the hearts of His followers.

 9. Thank God for Thomas life as he proved to all Christians of all time that God is merciful and patient to reveal Himself when there are doubts. Most people are very headstrong and only believe what they can see, hear, and touch but God loves them despite their carnality, lack of faith, and thickheadedness. Look how patient God was with me in my doubts.  And you, how much do you doubt? How long will it be before you start living in the way God wants?   

Jesus is still appearing to many throughout the world supernaturally in dreams, or by divine revelation from the reading of the Word of God. How can we explain the existence of Christianity today when many dozens of cruel Roman rulers tried to wipe it out by killing all the Christians they could by fire, the sword, and wild beasts? The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church! Christians after 2 millennia are here to stay for eternity and the devils who hate us will one day reap the hell they have sewn for all their murders and evil doings!

Today horrific murderers still carry out their barbaric acts of killing Christians as the Romans did and few news minutes are even given to reveal this injustice from hell upon the innocents. Yet Easter brings us hope and celebration as a new day will dawn when Jesus returns. But never forget what it cost Jesus, His followers, and the martyred Christians of today. How real is Easter to you? Will you prove that obey Jesus? Does your life, words, example, and prayers reveal that you have experience the touching of Jesus? If not and you want affirmation, just ask God for it and it will come and you will be radically changed!