Doubt and Belief

John 20:24-31

Today, I want to talk about doubt and belief. I hope that this message will encourage those who
want to believe in Christianity but have doubts. In fact, most of us at one time or another face
doubts about God. We wonder, “Is God real? Am I just fooling myself?” Usually, we ask
ourselves these types of questions when we are going through challenges or uncertainty in life.

This was the situation the disciples were in after Jesus was crucified. They were discouraged,
afraid, and disappointed. They had seen Jesus whom they loved, arrested, tried, and crucified.
Mary Magdalene and two other women said that they had seen Jesus risen, but their words
sounded like nonsense. Peter had run to the tomb to see for himself, but only found the burial
linens lying there and wondered what could have happened. And then Jesus showed up.

Luke 24:36-49
36 While they were still talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them,
“Peace be with you.”

37 They were startled and frightened, thinking they saw a ghost. 38 He said to them, “Why are
you troubled, and why do doubts rise in your minds? 39 Look at my hands and my feet. It is I
myself! Touch me and see; a ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have.”

40 When he had said this, he showed them his hands and feet. 41 And while they still did not
believe it because of joy and amazement, he asked them, “Do you have anything here to eat?” 42
They gave him a piece of broiled fish, 43 and he took it and ate it in their presence.

44 He said to them, “This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must be
fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms.”

45 Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures. 46 He told them, “This
is what is written: The Messiah will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, 47 and
repentance for the forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at
Jerusalem. 48 You are witnesses of these things. 49 I am going to send you what my Father has
promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.”

The disciples could not believe their eyes. Here was Jesus, risen to life from the grave! But one
disciple, Thomas, was not with the others. Perhaps he was running an errand—we don’t know.
Thomas was an interesting guy. He was very loyal to Jesus but had a pretty dark outlook on life.
One time Jesus wanted to travel to Judea because His friend Lazarus had died, even though the
Jewish leaders wanted to kill Him. The disciples tried to dissuade Him, but when they couldn’t
Thomas finally said, “Let us go also so that we may die with Him.” This is recorded in John
11:16.

John 20:24-25
24 Now Thomas (also known as Didymus), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when
Jesus came. 25 So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord!”
But he said to them, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails
were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.”

Reading this now, it seems incredible that Thomas would not trust his closest friends. But belief
is hard sometimes. It is easy now for us to say that we believe in a good God, but when we are in
a difficult situation, those words don’t come as easily. It turns out that we might not really
believe as strongly as we thought. At these times, it is important to listen to what our good
friends have to say. And we should also remember to encourage others when they are going
through hard times. Jude 1:22 says “Be merciful to those who doubt.” And Paul writes in 2
Corinthians 1:4, we can comfort others with the comfort we ourselves have received from God.

John 20:26-27
26 A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the
doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” 27 Then
he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my
side. Stop doubting and believe.”

28 Thomas said to him, “My Lord and my God!”

29 Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who
have not seen and yet have believed.”

God had mercy on Thomas. He did not leave him in doubt, but revealed Himself to him again.
God does not hide Himself from us, but wants us to stop doubting and to believe. Many times,
throughout the Old and New Testament, God lets us know that He wants to be known to us.

Isaiah 65:1
“I revealed myself to those who did not ask for me;
I was found by those who did not seek me.
To a nation that did not call on my name,
I said, ‘Here am I, here am I.’”

Matthew 7:7-8
7 “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to
you. 8 For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the
door will be opened.

God did not leave Thomas to stew miserably in his own doubt. He had mercy on Him in the
same way that He has mercy on all of us. At one point or another, or at many points, God has
revealed Himself to us. Maybe not in the blunt way that He did for Thomas, but He is not hiding.
He has left many evidences that point to Him, both inside us and outside us.

Acts 17:24-28
24 “The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does
not live in temples built by human hands. 25 And he is not served by human hands, as if he
needed anything. Rather, he himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else. 26 From
one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out
their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands. 27 God did this so that they
would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of
us. 28 ‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said,
‘We are his offspring.’

Paul was preaching to the philosophers in Athens and said that God is not far from us, and then
quoted two Greek poets. He wanted to show that there are things common to all people that point
to our Creator, including clues within ourselves. One of these is our moral understanding. Isn’t it
amazing that across all ages and cultures, there are some moral truths that are almost universally
accepted? That you should not steal someone else’s property, that you should not lie, that you
should show kindness to the weak, and that you should judge with impartiality.

When animals want something, they take it if they can. You would never hear an animal argue,
“You shouldn’t have done that because it’s not right.” But people everywhere assume this basic,
objective morality. This is one evidence that God leaves for us so that we might seek Him and
find Him.

Another evidence we have is in the physical world. Science tells us that our existence here is
miraculous. That our planet is perfect for life and that life on earth is so complex and beautiful—
we struggle to explain how all of this is possible.

Romans 1:20
For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine
nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are
without excuse.

Have you considered that the universe is ordered and majestic because it was designed to be that
way? The Bible says that we can understand from the creation that there is a Creator. This was
the primary motivation for Isaac Newton to develop his physics. He wanted to show that God
had created an ordered universe that obeyed consistent physical laws, such as gravity.

Many scientists are also believers for these reasons. Francis Collins is currently the Director of
the U.S. National Institutes of Health, the national medical research organization, and also was
the leader of the Human Genome Project, which mapped out the human genome for the first
time. Collins wrote a book called The Language of God that briefly explains how he changed
from an atheist to a Christian because of the evidences he found that point to God’s existence.

What I mean to say is that God is not far from you. He wants to reveal Himself to you! Already,
you have some evidences, but He can give you more. What’s required from you is a willingness
to believe.

John 20:29
29 Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who
have not seen and yet have believed.”
Jesus said that it is commendable if people believe without seeing. This does not mean that these
people require no proof, but that they are open to considering the evidences. Actually, Thomas
had reasons to believe—his close friends testified to Jesus’ resurrection and likely explained
what they had learned about the prophesy in scripture. But Thomas did not want to open his
mind and insisted on seeing it firsthand.

The problem is that we believe many things without experiencing them firsthand. Honestly, can
you say that you require firsthand experience for everything that you believe? Or do you accept
the accounts and evidences that are presented to you?

When it comes to Christianity, you must be willing to consider the possibility that it might be
true. Sometimes I do have doubts, but for me there are two main pieces of evidence that I cannot
disregard. I cannot dismiss these things. First is the historicity of the Bible and especially the
New Testament. My family can tell you that I love to read books and one of the things I love to
read about is the origins of Christianity. So please consider my conclusion: The evidence that the
gospels and the rest of the New Testament are accurate records of what happened is incredibly
strong.

The second evidence is tied to the first, which is that the disciples of Jesus and many others after
them attested to what they had seen, and were willing to die for their testimony. The word martyr
actually means “witness” in Greek. These people were witnesses to Jesus’ resurrection.

I want you to imagine what it was like at the end of the first century. The first generation of
disciples had passed away, but their followers were still around. When someone who had known
Peter or John came to your town, you would sit at their feet and ask them about what they taught
and their experiences with Jesus.

The following is from Papias, a bishop who lived in the early part of the second century: “… if
by chance anyone who had been in attendance on the elders arrived, I made enquiries about the
words of the elders—what Andrew or Peter had said, or Philip or Thomas or James or John or
Matthew or any other of the Lord’s disciples, and whatever Aristion and John the Elder, the
Lord’s disciples, were saying. For I did not think that information from the books would profit
me as much as information from a living and surviving voice.”

The reason I’m bringing this up is because we have many writings and evidences that the
disciples and eyewitnesses to Jesus’ resurrection continued to testify to what they had seen and
heard, and that most of them died for their testimony. These are not the actions of liars or crazy
people.

John 20:30-31
30 Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in
this book. 31 But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of
God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.

I am not trying to convince you that an idea is true. I am trying to introduce you to a person.