Today, on the verdict with Pastor John Monroe. You say, John, I have my doubts. I'm wavering between belief and unbelief. I understand, I've had my doubts as well. But it's time to confront your doubts.
It's time today to deal with your doubts, to consider the evidence, to take that step of faith like Thomas, a step from the darkness, from your doubts, into the light and life of our Lord Jesus Christ. Welcome to the verdict, featuring the Bible teaching of Pastor John Monroe.
Some Christians are afraid to ask questions about their faith. They bury their doubts and avoid the subjects that really cause them trouble. but an untested and unexamined faith is likely shallow.
So today, we'll learn from a powerful biblical example about confronting our doubts and strengthening our faith. Let's join Pastor John Monroe for a message titled, Dealing with Doubt. Have you ever had doubts about the Christian faith? It may be difficult to admit, but many people have doubts. Today we met a man who had a lot of doubts.
and he was one of the disciples of Jesus. we call him Doubting Thomas. He doubted the resurrection of Jesus. and on one level we can understand his doubts. How can someone rise from the dead?
But then Thomas has a fresh encounter with the living resurrected Christ. Yes, Jesus is alive. and the response of Thomas is brilliant. My Lord, And my God, May your doubts lead you to that same conclusion.
So don't be devastated by your doubts. but deal with them honestly. Study the scriptures. Keep asking questions.
Now let's turn to John chapter 20. John chapter 20. Jesus has been raised from the dead. When therefore it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and when the doors were shut where the disciples were for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in their midst and said to them, Peace. Be with you.
And when he had said this, he showed them both his hands and his side. The disciples therefore rejoiced. When they saw The Lord. Verse 24. But Thomas, one of the twelve, called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came.
The other disciples, therefore, were saying to him, We have seen the Lord. But he said to them, Unless I shall see in his hands the imprint of the nails, and put my finger in the place of the nails, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe. And after eight days again his disciples were inside, and Thomas with them. Jesus came, the doors having been shut, and stood in their midst and said, Peace be with you. Then he said to Thomas, Reach here your finger.
And see my hands, and reach here your hand and put it into my side. And be not unbelieving. But believing. Stop doting. and believe.
Verse twenty eight. Thomas answered, and said to him, My Lord, And my God. Jesus said to him, Because you have seen me, have you believed? Blessed are those who do not see and yet believed. Many other signs, therefore, Jesus also performed in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book, but these have been written, that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God.
And that believing, you may have life in his name. What an intriguing! Yeah. Of Scripture, isn't it? Followers of Jesus, we want to learn first of all this morning, followers of Jesus do have doubts.
One of the twelve, the inner circle, the twelve disciples, Thomas, who had been with Jesus for over three years, he doubted the resurrection of Jesus. Thomas openly declares his skepticism and doubt in verse 25. The disciples were saying to him, We have seen the Lord. He's really saying to you, I don't believe you. Unless I shall see in his hands the imprint of the nail, and put my finger into the place of the nails, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.
Now there is a strong statement. After all, isn't it rather difficult to believe that a man who was nailed to a cross has in fact been raised From the dead. He doubted the resurrection of Jesus, even although Jesus had prophesied to Thomas. that he was going to be raised from the dead. Thomas also doubted the testimony of others.
That first Easter Sunday, it was Peter and John who had raced to the tomb. Although they didn't see the risen Christ first of all, they did see that the tomb was empty. And look what we read in verse 8. John 28.
So the other disciple who had come first, that's John, the writer of the gospel. This other disciple entered also and he saw. and believed. For John. Even before he saw the risen Christ, John believed that Jesus Christ was risen from the dead.
Why? He probably remembered the prophecies that Jesus had made, and he saw the empty tomb. He looks in, and he believes that Jesus is raised from the dead. A man of great faith. But Thomas It's not there.
Then there was Mary, who was standing weeping outside the tomb. She also earlier in the chapter had had a personal encounter with the risen Christ. She also believed and announced to the disciples, verse 18. Mary Magdalene came announcing to the disciples, presumably also to Thomas, I have seen the Lord. And that he had said these things.
to her. But Thomas doesn't believe. And then in verse twenty with the disciples gathered, with Thomas absent. They saw the Lord. In their midst.
Verse twenty. And when he had said this, he showed them. His hands. and his side. The disciples therefore rejoiced.
The disciples were glad when they saw. The Lord. Can you imagine the joy? Of these disciples, when they realized that the one who had been crucified. Is now raised from the dead.
And later, when the disciples come and tell Thomas. That they've seen the risen Lord. Thomas' scepticism, his doubts, his pessimism continues. Anyone here like that? Anyone identifying with Thomas?
Anyone who's gone through that in your own pilgrimage, I think many of you have. It's all right for others to say they know Jesus Christ and that He's transformed their life, but you're saying, I need more than your testimony. The fact is, Thomas A follower of Christ. does have doubts. Secondly, a fresh encounter With the risen Christ.
Dispels. our doubts. If you're here. And you have doubts this morning. What you need.
Is a fresh encounter with the risen Christ because Christianity is all about Jesus Christ. John in his Gospel has presented historical evidence and testimony to establish who Jesus is. He has demonstrated that Jesus turns water into wine. It gives sight to the blind. Walks on water, feeds a multitude, raises a man, Lazarus, who's been dead for four days.
And John is saying that this evidence Leads to the unmistakable belief that Jesus is no ordinary man. He's not just a great prophet. He's not just a Miracle worker. He's not just a philosopher or moral teacher. He's more than that.
He's the Christ. He is God in the flesh. John is presenting evidence that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing, you may have life in His name. and evidence which leads to faith as we confront our doubts. A faith which leads Look again at verse thirty.
John says many other signs. There are seven signs that we have studied. Jesus did more than the seven, but he selected seven. Many other signs Jesus performed in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book. You wonder what they are.
We know from some of the other Gospels, some of them. But these have been written. That you may believe. John is saying, Here is the evidence. I've given you these signs that you may believe.
You, the skeptic, you, the doubter. That Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God. Not only that, But that believing You may have life In Here's Name. How wonderful. The Christian faith.
Unlike so many other religions and beliefs, it is based on historical evidence. and it calls for a personal response from you and me. That personal response the theological word for that personal response is faith. Faith. Faith is responding to what God has done.
Faith is the response to the divine initiative. All of this has been done, John is saying. I've taken time. Uh to marshal all of the facts. You've listened to the teaching of Jesus.
I've asked you to look at Jesus Christ.
Now, as I come to the end of the gospel, I'm telling you this: it is time. to confront your doubts. And it is time to make a personal response. A personal response to who Jesus is and what He's done. A personal response.
and growing relationship. with Jesus Christ. Because Christianity is about a living. Christ. The reason that only Jesus Christ can give you eternal life and take you to heaven is that He is raised from the dead, He is alive.
Thomas doubts the resurrection of Jesus, but it is historical fact. That after the death and burial of Jesus Christ, the tomb is found empty. Not only do they find an empty tomb Thomas and the others, Mary, the disciples. Hundreds of others the Gospel the New Testament tells us. have personal encounters.
with the risen. Christ. So Jesus Christ not only died on the cross for our sins, But he rose again. And the amazing truth of the Bible is that Jesus Christ is alive. He's the same yesterday, today, and forever.
And that would be totally unbelievable. If Jesus were an ordinary person. I can understand the sceptic Saying this is incredible to think that a person who lived 2,000 years ago is the same today as he was then. That this person who lived and died can give me eternal life and take me to heaven. How absolutely ridiculous!
I choose not to believe. I can understand that. If there was no resurrection. But Jesus Christ. is raised From The day.
Having doubts? I say to you, I'm glad you're here. Look at the evidence. Look up this morning. See Jesus Christ risen from the dead.
And he says to you this morning what he says to Thomas at the end of verse 27: Be not unbelieving, but believing. Then IV says, Stop doubting. and believe. Deal. with your personal Doubts.
Doubts are good if you're going to deal with them. It's not good. If you just raise them as a kind of a smoke screen deal, with your personal doubts. Thomas Doubt with his doubts. When Jesus appeared to Thomas It's a very good idea.
that the Lord had heard the doubting words of Thomas as recorded in verse twenty five. Jesus knows all about your doubts. He knows all about your concerns, all of your spiritual struggles. He knows exactly all about them. But notice the gracious words as Jesus comes to Thomas.
Words not of rebuke, But he says, verse 27, he said to Thomas, Reach here your finger. And see my hands. And reach here your hands and Put it into my side. And be not unbelieving, but Believing. Thomas, the evidence is right in front of you.
You're doubting my resurrection. Here it is. Stop doting. And Belief. Jesus is calling.
for a personal response from Thomas. just as he calls for a personal response from you and from me.
Now when confronted with the risen Christ, the doubts of Thomas disappear. And from the lips of Thomas we have the greatest confession in John's Gospel. That's why I rather like Thomas. Easy to criticise him. But here we have from his own lips The greatest confession.
In John's Gospel, in fact, the climax of John's Gospel. What is it? Verse twenty-eight. Thomas answered and said to him, My lord. And my God.
Thomas is acknowledging the Lordship of Jesus Christ. He's acknowledging the deity of Jesus Christ. I realize I've doubted, Lord. I realize I've been very skeptical. I realize I've discarded the testimony of others.
But now I realize who you are. The Messiah risen from the dead, my Lord and my God. He doesn't say just our Lord and our God. No, it is very, very personal because Jesus always calls for a personal response. He knew Thomas.
He revealed himself to Thomas personally. He comes to you. He works in your life. He brings circumstances and individuals and situations into your life to get your attention. God has been working over the years, over these months in your life, bringing you to this point.
You are then confronted with the evidence and the response. That God wants. is my lord. And my God. And Thomas is transformed.
And becomes an outstanding apostle of Jesus Christ. Church history says that Thomas brought the gospel to India. Here is a man, a disciple with doubts, had openly stated his doubts, but had dealt with his doubts, had confronted his doubts.
Now his doubts are behind him. And now he is a fearless witness for Jesus Christ, going to India with the gospel of Jesus Christ. And the man who said he wanted to put his hand into the spearprint in the Lord's side is himself martyred. We're told By being run through by A spear. What was the difference?
That life-changing experience when he saw the risen Christ and responded so humbly and powerfully in this great confession of faith, my Lord. And my God. Are you there? Can you say that from your heart? The fact that Jesus Christ is alive.
It's not only a matter of historical evidence, it's a matter of personal belief and experience. How can you know what God is like? How can you relate to God? You say I've got my doubts. encounter the living Christ.
During the last two thousand years, millions and millions of people, including many of us here, have come to realize, as Thomas did, that Jesus is none other than the sovereign Lord of the universe and demands our total loyalty, our total love, That we are His servants. Because he has transformed our life. He has placed us here on this world to live for his glory. And when we die, or when the Lord comes, we will be with Him for all of eternity. Meantime, we say, My Lord and my God, I'm going to serve you, I'm going to live for you in my home.
I want Christ there because apart from Christ we have Nothing. Considering the evidence, confronting your doubts, placing your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Have you done that? The evidence as the deity of Christ, that's why John writes his gospel. The evidence of the resurrection from the dead overwhelming.
Are you ready now to confront your doubts and to deal with your doubts? You see, the belief that John presents in his Gospel is a faith which places personal trust in Jesus Christ and His promises. Over and over again, we've read in John's Gospel, He wants us to believe. John 3:16, that whoever believes over and over again. Here at the end of verse 31 in our chapter, and that believing you may have life in his name.
This is a faith which unites us to the living Christ, a personal faith. Seeing the evidence, personally responding to the evidence, and being personally united with Jesus Christ. It's believing into Christ. This is a personal faith, it is a transforming faith. It's a life-changing Faith.
A faith which involves my head, yes, as I understand the evidence, but a faith which demands a response from my heart. Head and heart. My whole being. Committed. To the person of Jesus Christ, a personal, living, growing relationship with the living Christ.
In nineteen twenty eight, Alexander Fleming. A Scottish bacteriologist discovered the germ-killing power of a green mold. From the mold, the antibiotic penicillin was purified. That drug has been responsible for saving the lives of countless numbers of people who otherwise would have died from blood poisoning.
Now supposing your blood is poisoned. And I show you a bottle of penicillin. And I said, Do you believe that this bottle of penicillin exists? She said, Of course it is, there it is. I say to you Trust the ability of this antibiotic to cure your blood poisoning, and you say yes.
But nothing. will change the condition of your blood. unless that penicillin is personally applied to you. Believing it exists, believing in the power to heal you is necessary, but they are not sufficient. There needs to be a personal appropriation so this antibiotic becomes part of you, becomes part of your system.
Only then will it destroy the bacteria which is slowly killing. Yeah. And just as your faith in that bottle of penicillin. links you to the cure.
So your faith Links you to Jesus Christ and all of the wonderful benefits of salvation. Forgiveness of sins, peace with God, eternal life, adoption into his family, being part of the family of God, being commissioned now to serve him. It all begins not with joining a church, not with baptism. Not with being dedicated as a child, but by a personal commitment to Jesus Christ. And so the New Testament says, believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved.
Moving from doubt to belief. But notice Jesus says here in verse 29 that there's a special blessing. to those who don't see but yet have believed. And that's where we are. None of us have seen the risen Christ.
Peter writes, Whom having not seen, we love. We have never seen the risen Christ with our own eyes, but with the eye of faith, we do believe. And Jesus says, Now there's a special blessing. To those who have not seen. but yet have believed.
You say, John, I have my doubts. I'm wavering between belief and unbelief. I understand. I've had my doubts as well. But it's time to confront your doubts.
It's time today to deal with your doubts, to consider the evidence, to take that step of faith like Thomas, a step from the darkness, from your doubts. From your confusion into the light and life of the blessing of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Some of you are doubting God. You're followers of Christ, but you're doubting God. You're doubting God's love. How could God love me and allow this to happen to me? You're doubting His power to do the impossible.
I'm in this situation, God, and it's absolutely hopeless.
Some of you are doubting God's forgiveness. You've sinned, you've blown it, and you're saying, Well, I still don't feel forgiven. You're doubting the forgiveness of God.
Some of you are doubting his care over you. God no longer cares for me, he's abandoned me. Let me say, don't allow your doubts. to harden into unbelief. Today It's time afresh to say I do believe.
My Lord. And my God. It's time afresh to encounter the risen Christ and to say, I love you with all of my heart. And I'm going to trust you with all of my life, in the darkness, in the difficulties, yes, with some of these doubts, but I'm still going to trust you, Lord. Because I realize you are my Lord.
And my God. Remember when Goliath came to the Israelites? The Israeli soldiers all thought This guy is so big We could never kill him. When David saw the giant, he thought, He's so big I can't miss. What's the difference between David and his brothers?
They were looking at the problem. A huge problem. a giant of a problem in their life. No way can we deal with that. David, the man of faith, was looking at the Lord.
And you, with the Lord's help. The Giants. Which fall? Look again. At Christ.
You see I've got giants. I've got problems. I've got difficulties. I understand that. Look afresh at Christ.
And listen once again to Jesus. Stop. Doting. And Belief. Will you do that?
Today will you stop doubting? and believe. This is the verdict with Pastor Jean Monroe. Today we're concluding a message titled, Dealing with Doubt. Be sure to keep listening because John will be right back with his closing remarks.
Scripture teaches us to put our full trust in Jesus Christ. But have you ever wondered, can I really rely on God? with all of the pain and real problems of this life, does it really make a difference to trust in Jesus Christ?
Well, John has written a helpful guidebook to provide you with very practical, straightforward biblical answers. It's titled Trusting God in Tough Times. Understand why God can be trusted and discover why having a God-centered perspective will change your life. To request your free copy of Trusting God in Tough Times, visit theverdict.org. And while you're on our website, you'll have the opportunity to play a part in what God is doing through the verdict with a simple one-time donation of any amount.
Your support will help us share God's word with new listeners in your community and across the world. You can easily give whatever amount you feel led to by visiting theverdict.org. The verdict is a ministry of Calvary Church in South Charlotte. We're located on the corner of Highway 51 and Ray Road. If you've been looking for a church home or a community to help you grow in your walk with Christ, We invite you to join us this coming Sunday.
We'd love to meet you and learn more about you. For more details about Calvary and our current service times, visit theverdict.org.
Now, here's Pastor John Monroe.
Well, what's your verdict? How are you going to deal with your doubts? Don't ignore them. Don't suppress them. there are answers to the questions you have about the Christian faith.
Remember Jesus is alive. He loves you. He knows your struggles. Today call out to him. and ask him to reveal himself to you.
If you've never done so, start reading the Gospel according to John. May your doubts lead you. to place your faith in Jesus Christ. And do join me again next time. as we look at Peter's restoration.
Thanks for joining us today on The Verdict. I'm Michelle Davies. Today's program with Pastor John Monroe was produced and sponsored by Calvary Church in Charlotte, North Carolina.
