John Chapter 20:24-31

The power of Jesus changes lives. We watch this beautiful transformation of a man going from doubt to a man being convinced. And that's the thing that we all need to be on our path of being convinced. And as we're convinced, go from doubting to believing the faith to following the servant.

To walk that path and following Jesus. The power of God can change anybody. God can change lives. God can change our lives. Let's make it a little more personal. God can change my life. God can change your life. Well, how did he do it?

Well, in part, look what happened. Jesus showed up and Thomas saw his wounds. Thomas saw his wounds. May I encourage you this morning to consider the wounds of the Savior?

Welcome to Cross the Bridge with David Magee. David is a senior pastor of The Bridge in Kernersville, North Carolina. Jesus is not simply a historical figure that we memorize facts about. Jesus has the power to change our lives. Today, Pastor David explains this life-giving power as he continues in the Gospel of John, chapter 20, with part two of his teaching that you might believe. Verse 24. Now Thomas, called a twin, one of the 12, was not with them when Jesus came. At this point, Jesus has already shown up. He showed up to the upper room. Well, we think it was the upper room. And Thomas wasn't there.

Don't read quickly past this. He wasn't with them. Why was that? Because the disciples at this point were a fractured group. They were afraid.

We would say freaked out in today's terms. They were worried. Some of them weren't there anymore. The Sacred College of the Twelve, if you will, as it's been called, had disbanded. They thought it was done. So Thomas wasn't there. And notice, too, that what was their condition when Jesus showed up the first time?

Don't miss this. They're scared. They're huddled. They're worried. And Jesus comes right in the midst of them.

Loved one, let that bring you comfort. You know, so often we tell, well, you got to fly right. You got to straighten up. You got to do this.

You got to do that. When you get it all sorted out, you can come to God. Or when, you know, when you get it all together or when you clean up your act or, you know, we use all these things. Oh, when did that become part of our relationship with the Lord? Oh, God begins to change us after we come to Him. But see, we've introduced this concept into the church that this is what good people do on Sunday morning. We all get together.

We talk about the people who were bad. That's not, that's not Bible. And we tell people, we, you know, whenever you quit doing this and quit doing that, and then you get in church and then that, and then, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.

If you're struggling, it's the place to be. You come to God, God begins to clean you up. Sometimes it happens all at once.

Usually it takes a little more time. It's a process. And Jesus invites us on that process. He doesn't wait till we get it all together. Just like He appeared to these guys when they were shaken up. The life lesson here, Jesus will come to us right where we are as we are.

And I am so glad. You can be in the middle of the silliest, stupidest thing you've ever done. And say, Jesus, help me, please. And He'll help you.

He'll be there. What a comfort that is and how different that is than our thinking. Because so many of us have tried to change ourselves.

It didn't work, did it? I'll never forget, I was a backslidden Christian. I came back to the Lord. And when I came back to the Lord, a couple of things fell away real quickly.

I'd been involved in rock and roll music and stuff. And so I immediately quit a lot of those things, the drinking and the doing cocaine and various other and the sundry drugs. And I still struggled with smoking marijuana, to be honest. I don't struggle with it anymore.

Some people are, oh, no. But I had just got back in the church and I asked a guy, and I just knew when I shared this with him that he was just going to hammer me and yell at me and stuff. And so I shared it. I said, dude, look, I got a problem. And he said, what's going on? I said, you know, on weekends and stuff, I still smoke dope sometimes. And he said, nope, just keep coming to church, keep fellowship.

And God will change you. I did not expect that answer. I thought the guy was, you know, well, you center, you need to fall on your knees and repent because you're going to go to hell when you're going to smell like it.

Cause you've been smoking that dope. You know, I'm sorry if I just frightened some of you, I never do. I don't raise my voice that some of you just totally freaked out. But see, I didn't have it together. I needed help. And guess what? He was right. Just a few weeks after that, man, I said, you know what?

I don't need to do this anymore. I've already found what I was looking for. And God did a work in my heart and in my life. He came to me right where I was and in that dark time. And when you have those dark times and those uncertain moments and in that darkest hour, hope will walk into your life. And his name is Jesus.

And I'm so glad that he walks in right where we are. Verse 25, the other disciples said to him, we have seen the Lord. So he said to them, unless I see in his hands, the print of the nails and put my finger into the print of the nails and put my hand into a sign, I will not believe.

Man is an interesting study, isn't he? I mean, you can tell him that the Milky Way contains all these stars and planets and all these different things and he'll believe you. But you put up a sign that says wet paint and he's got to touch it.

That's wet. I mean, there's something in us that thinks like this. And it's kind of sad that we now label Thomas doubting Thomas. We'll get to that in a moment. But let's take a real quick look at Thomas. Let's understand who this Thomas guy is because most of us really don't, I don't think we understand Thomas exactly.

And we need to understand to do this, you're going to have to take off your religious glasses, if you will. Let's see what the Bible has to say about Thomas because we paint these pictures of the disciples that sometimes aren't very accurate, to be honest. We think of them as superhuman men. No, they were men who were gifted supernaturally.

They were men with struggles, just like us. Scripture paints a picture of Thomas. If you remember, we're going to go back to the story of Lazarus for just a moment. If you remember, the disciples in Jesus heard that Lazarus was sick. Jesus said something about him sleeping.

Everybody got kind of confused on that. And John 11 verse seven and eight says, then after this, he said to the disciples, let us go to Judea again. Lazarus was in Judea.

In verse eight, the disciples said to him, rabbi, lately the Jews sought to stone you. And are you going there again? So they, you know, thinking Jesus is suffering from short-term memory or something, and he's got to be reminded, that's the place they wanted to kill you, Jesus.

Let's not go back there. So, you know, they feel like they got to remind him of that. A few verses later, John 11, 14, then Jesus said to them plainly, Lazarus is dead. And I am glad for your sakes that I was not there that you may believe. Nevertheless, let us go to him. Then Thomas, who was called a twin, said to his fellow disciples, let us also go that we may die with him. Now, I've read some in commentaries that said, oh, what a noble thing Thomas said there.

But wait a minute. Let's look to the character of Thomas as we have this passage we're in now and understand that was probably not the concept behind that statement. They said, you know, Jesus wanted to go back to Judea and say, Judea, stone's bad. Stone's bad. They want to stone you.

They want to, you know. And then in the midst of that, Jesus said, no, no, no, we're going back to Judea. And I think Thomas said something like this, oh, great, well, let's just all go die. I mean, that is more of the statement behind this than thinking it was a noble thing. Now again, you know, if you've, you've got to take off your religious glasses and see the reality. So no, Thomas was this man who was always certain of what the Lord was doing and why. Really? Okay, that concept is not scriptural.

Let me show you another example. John 14, verse 1. This is the upper room. This is at the end of the three years of time with Jesus. And Jesus is laying everything out. This is, this is the end. John 14, 1.

Don't be troubled. You trust God, now trust in me. There are many rooms in my Father's home and I'm going to prepare a place for you.

If this were not so, I would tell you plainly. When everything is ready, I will come and get you so that you will always be with me where I am. And you know where I'm going and how to get there. In verse 5. No, we don't know, Lord. Thomas said, we haven't any idea where you're going, so how can we know the way? So Thomas was always certain of what God was doing and where he was going.

I don't think so. That's inconsistent with scripture. Now, yes, I take a twisted form of encouragement in this because I sometimes don't know what God is doing and where he's going. And I have to ask him, just like Thomas did. But Thomas, I like this, about Thomas wasn't afraid to be real. He just said what everybody else was thinking.

They were all probably sitting there going, we have no idea what you're talking about. And it was Thomas who spoke up and said, we don't know where you're going, we can't follow you. And that is a reality that, you know what, we need in our lives. It's a weird dynamic that in the church today, it's a place where you can't be real.

I think we've lost something. Because this, of all places, should be the place where we can be real. Where we can be honest and say, I don't know what's going on, I'm not sure. And understand, in the world, boy, it's helpful to keep your guard up. And here, it's helpful to let your guard down in your relationship with the Lord. Why? Because see, somebody else is probably struggling with the same thing you're struggling with. And somehow, they'll take encouragement if you say, well, you know what, I had the same problem, or I used to have the same problem, that we're more open and transparent before one another. I think we can learn a lesson from Thomas in that.

Because see, the world looks on, and to a sad degree, they think, well, you're a Christian, you're a believer, you've been doing this for a while, you got it all together. No. No. One day in heaven, I'll have it all together. Until then, I'm walking this road just like you. But see, Thomas wanted to believe. He wanted to know that the last three years hadn't been wasted. He wanted to know that Jesus was resurrected again.

And you know what? We know that from one word in this verse. Thomas says, unless, I see, unless.

King James, I think it's accept. He wanted to believe, like the man in Mark 9. Lord, I do believe.

Help my doubt. I want to believe. And if I can see these things, I'll believe. We need that same help, don't we? We need to believe.

We need to believe as individuals, and we need to believe as a body about Jesus. We'll be right back with more from David Magee on Cross the Bridge. Right now, here's a word from associate pastor D.A.

Brown. We want to take just a minute to pray for a few cities in our listening audience, specifically Gallup, New Mexico, and Las Cruces, Portales, Roswell, Tularosa, and Binghamton, New York, and Oswego. God, we thank you for these listening in these cities right now. We pray that you would pour your Spirit out on them. Lord, that they would have faith to trust you and what you're wanting to do in their life. We pray if there's people, Father, who have yet to put their trust in you, that today would be the day, that they would say yes to the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ for them. Lord, we pray for those in leadership positions, that you would anoint them, that you would give them wisdom and discernment.

Lord, that they would look to your Bible for answers and form their conclusions accordingly. Lord, we pray that you would pour your Spirit out on these cities. In Jesus' name, amen. Amen.

Thank you, brother. And now, let's get back to David Magee as he continues teaching verse by verse. Verse 26, and after eight days, his disciples were again inside and Thomas with them. So why was Thomas with them now? Thomas wanted to believe. Jesus came, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst and said, peace to you.

So again, the peace thing was important to him. Then he said to Thomas, reach your finger here and look at my hands and reach your hand here and put it into my side. Do not be unbelieving, but believing.

I want you to know this. When Thomas said this in verse 25, Jesus wasn't there. But he knew exactly what Thomas had said. You understand that God is everywhere? He's everywhere. He hears you. He sees you.

It's called omnipresent, is the big theological term, but it just means God is everywhere. And he shows up. And notice what he did.

He doesn't show up and go, where's that Thomas? I got to talk to him. He didn't say that. I got a new name for him.

He didn't do that. We've done that. Kind of sad. Yet another commentary on what we name the people in the Bible, Doubting Thomas. It's just like we call the forgiven woman, the adulterous woman.

We come up with all these weird names. Doubting Thomas. No. Thomas wanted to believe. He wanted to believe. He wanted to see.

He wanted to know. He wanted to experience the reality of Jesus. And perhaps you look at this and you go, wow, I wish I could experience the reality of Jesus.

Just look around you right now and you can see the reality of Jesus and the lives of the people here. There's so many awesome God stories. You start talking to people and asking them where they came from and what God has done. And you're going to hear all kinds of awesome stories. People who were bound up in religion for 40 years and never knew Jesus as their savior.

People who were addicted to crack for 15 years and now are drug free. There's all these God stories right here. The face of Jesus and the faces of his people. So you do have some proof around you. Don't wish for the proof you don't have. Examine the proof you do have. Examine the claims of Jesus in the Bible.

Examine the lives, not just a few. That's a God thing. It's what the Lord is doing. And he says don't be unbelieving but believing. Verse 28, Thomas answered and said to him, my Lord and my God. Thomas wanted to believe and he did believe. And he said my Lord and my God. For all his struggles, Thomas hit a home run on that one, Thomas was changed.

What changed Thomas? Well Jesus showed up and he handed him a track and he let him know that he was, no, that's not what happened. It was the presence of Jesus. He just showed up. He just showed up. Jesus showed up. Thomas was changed. You understand God can do the impossible. God can change any situation and any person and anybody. Do you really understand that? Do we really grab a hold of that? Do you understand that family members and friends and the people who, man, are just so whacked out and troubled right now and you look at them and you go, oh, there's just no way.

Guess what? There is a way. There is a way. God can change people. The life lesson here, the power of Jesus changes lives. The power of Jesus changes lives.

We watch this beautiful transformation of a man going from doubt to a man being convinced and that's the thing that we all need to be on our path of being convinced and as we're convinced, go from doubting to believing the faith to following the serving and to make, to walk that path and following Jesus. Power of God can change anybody. God can change lives. God can change our lives. Let's make it a little more personal. God can change my life.

Why don't you say that with me? God can change my life. Yeah, believe it. Believe it. I've seen it in you guys.

I've seen it in my own life and people around me. God can change your life. How did he do it?

Well, in part, look what happened. Jesus showed up and Thomas saw his wounds. Thomas saw his wounds. May I encourage you this morning to consider the wounds of the Savior? See, there's no real answer that we have for what happened on the cross except what Jesus told us, that he came to die for our sins. He came to die for your sins. He made such a graphic demonstration of his love for you and I that it becomes irresistible. He showed you.

He's proven his love towards you and that kind of love begs a response. Verse 29, Jesus said to him, Thomas, because you have seen me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed. We're blessed this morning.

Why? Because many of us have believed Jesus and I don't know if any of you ever thought that you saw a physical manifestation of Jesus. If you have, we'd love to hear from you, but I think for most of us, I can say that we've not seen a physical manifestation of Jesus, yet many of us believe. You know what that means? We're blessed. We're blessed according to the words of Jesus. Please notice what Jesus didn't say. Thomas said, my Lord and my God.

Jesus didn't say, oh, Thomas, get up from there. You're just getting carried away with this whole thing. I'm just a good man. I'm just a good teacher. I'm just a man.

I'm just a man who died and didn't stay dead. He didn't say that. He accepted the adoration and the worship of Thomas as my Lord and my God. Why is that important? Because some people say that we came up with the fact that Jesus is God.

No, no, no, no, no, no. It's all throughout the Bible. Here, Thomas proclaims it and Jesus accepts it. He says, my Lord and my God, and Jesus doesn't correct him. Verse 30, and truly Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book, but these are written that you may all argue about. Oh, no, I'm sorry. That's the wrong version. But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in his name.

Now, understand. Let's talk about Jesus and Christ for a moment, because some people, we think Jesus Christ is his name. His name is Jesus. That's a Greek form. Jesus is a Greek word. We take from the Hebrew word, Yahshua, which you might hear me pray sometimes in the name of Yahshua. Our English word for Yahshua is Joshua. It's the same name. Joshua in the English, Yahshua in the Hebrew, Jesus in the Greek.

That's his name. Christ is his title. It's from the Greek word Christos, or the anointed one. So it would be Christ in English, Christo in Greek, or Mashiach, the Messiah in Hebrew. So that's why the scriptures sometimes say Jesus the Christ, Jesus the anointed one, Jesus the Messiah. That's why it says so that you could know Jesus is the Christ. He is the Christos. He is the Mashiach, the Messiah, the Son of God. That believing, you may have life in his name.

Do you have life? I'll never forget when I had our first child, Ashley. We thought, well, we'll take her to the beach. This will be really cool. She'll get to play in the ocean.

This is going to be awesome. We love the beach. We love the waves.

She's going to love them too. Big to do. For some reason we decided to go to the Outer Banks, which is like five or six hours away, so probably not a thing to do with a two-year-old. But anyway, so we get down there. There's a big moment and put her out on the beach, and she goes up to the water and just barely puts her toe in, and about time a wave came in. She turned around, and she ran the other way and never wanted to see the ocean again for like a year or two. What's your experience with the Lord like?

Did you put your toe in and then bail? Then you don't have life. It's not just the sense of eternal life. That's not just what Jesus is talking about. He's talking about a fullness of life happens here, an abundant life that happens here and now.

Do you have that? If you're just existing, you don't have it. If you don't get excited about the aspect of coming to worship and coming to hear about the Bible, something's a little wrong. We get excited about the Lord.

We get excited about learning about Him, and you know what? That's biblical. David said, I will enter His gates with things giving in my heart and enter His courts with praise. Do you have this life? If not, you need to go a little deeper with the Lord.

He doesn't say here that this is presented, the Bible's presented so that you can get things sorted out and figured out and start flying right. No, no, no, no, no. You have life. In living that life, guess what's going to happen? Your life's going to change. Do you have life? Friend, do you know for sure that your sins have been forgiven?

You can know right now. I want to lead you in a short, simple prayer simply telling God you're sorry and asking Him to help you to live for Him. God wants you to pray this prayer so much that He died to give you the opportunity and the ability to ask Him to forgive you.

Please pray this prayer with me out loud right now. Dear Jesus, I believe you died for me, that I could be forgiven. And I believe you were raised from the dead, that I could have a new life. And I've done wrong things. I have sinned, and I'm sorry. Please forgive me of all those things.

Please give me the power to live for you all of my days. In Jesus' name, amen. Friend, if you prayed that prayer, according to the Bible, you've been forgiven. You've been born again. Jesus said He would not turn anybody away who comes to Him. And He came for those people who knew they needed forgiveness, those who were sick, not the righteous. So congratulations, friend.

You just made the greatest decision that you will ever make. God bless you. If you prayed that prayer with David for the first time, we'd love to hear from you. You can visit crossthebridge.com to receive our First Steps package with helpful resources to help you begin your walk with Christ. Or you can write to Cross the Bridge at PO Box 12515, Winston-Salem, North Carolina, 27117, and share how God is working in your life.

You know, the Bible tells us that the free gift of God is eternal life in Jesus Christ our Lord. But it does cost for us to come and bring that message to you and to others in your neighborhood, through radio, through the internet, and through the mobile technologies that God has gifted us to be able to use. So if you'd like to support this ministry, please go to crossthebridge.com, click on the donate button, and ask God how much He would have you give, either on a one-time basis or a continuing basis each month to help ensure that the teaching of God's Word continues to go out through Cross the Bridge.

Thank you so much. Well, DA, before we go, what are some ways that we can bless our listeners? Each day you can wake up with encouragement from Pastor David through the Word of God, with his email devotional, life lessons to consider, a daily reading plan, and a thought to meditate on throughout your day from the heart of David McGee. Those are terrific, and it's easy and it's free. So folks, sign up today at crossthebridge.com. Thanks again for listening, and join us next time as David McGee continues teaching verse by verse in the Gospel of John.