Then the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in the midst and said to them, Peace be with you. When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord. So Jesus said to them again, peace to you. As the Father has sent me, I also send you. Then when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them. If you retain the sins of any, they are retained. Now Thomas, called the twin, one of the 12, was not with them when Jesus came. The other disciples therefore 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 his side, I will not believe. And after eight days, his disciples were again inside, and Thomas with them. Jesus came, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, peace to you. 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. And Thomas answered and said to him, my Lord and my God. Jesus said to him, Thomas, because you have seen me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed. 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 believe that Jesus is the Christ the Son of God, and the believing, you may have life in his name. This is the word of the Lord. At this point in John, the Roman government has executed Jesus. Jesus died, Jesus was buried, and on the third day, one woman, Mary, saw him and saw that he was alive. She is the only one at this point to see him, and Jesus gives her a message for the others. This is just a pattern in the Bible, God giving a message to a person to take to the others. That's just one of the ways of God. And so Mary goes to the others and tells them that she saw Jesus, she heard Jesus, and Jesus was dead, but now Jesus is alive. That's the message she brings them. The question for those of us today is do you believe that? Do you believe that Jesus, this man, this son of God, is alive? Today, do you believe that? It's a core question in Christianity. Do you believe in the resurrection of Jesus? That Jesus died, that Jesus rose from the dead on the third day? Because if you do believe that, if you do believe that the resurrection of Jesus is real, the resurrection turns everything. around. The resurrection reverses everything bad. The resurrection reverses everything broken. So we're going to look at three resurrection reversals in the text before us. First of all, we see that the resurrection turns fear into joy. The resurrection turns fear into joy, first reversal. Second reversal, the resurrection sends us from the inside to the outside. Resurrection sends us from the inside to the outside. Thirdly, the resurrection makes the impossible true. So let's start with the first reversal. The resurrection turns fear into joy. This is in verses 19 and 20. So you have here in the setting the followers of Jesus, you could call them his interns. They last saw Jesus. When they last saw him, he was dead. He was a corpse on a cross. It was like he was a lifeless body strapped into the electric chair after they had pulled the switch. That was the last time that they had seen him. Now earlier that day, this woman, Mary, told them that she had seen Jesus. Now, they had not seen Jesus. They don't expect to see Jesus. So verse 19, it's the first day of the week. It's Sunday. It's evening. It's the end of the day. And note this. They weren't all excited and ready thinking, oh, it's about to happen. We knew this was going to happen. This is the day. We're all ready for it. That's not what their attitude was. They were afraid, it says. They were afraid when the doors were shut, where the disciples were assembled, for fear of the Jews. These disciples were Jews, but they feared the other Jews who hated Jesus. And so here they are, these disciples, these interns of Jesus that were handpicked, they're huddled in a room in the evening with the doors locked. They've locked the doors because they are afraid. They are afraid, now why? They're afraid because they're thinking this way, what they did to Jesus, They're gonna do it to us. They're gonna do it to me. His enemies hounded him. His enemies outnumbered him. His enemies plotted against him. His enemies pushed a lie about him, and it worked. The enemies of Jesus, they killed Jesus. And these disciples fear that they will be hounded. They fear that they will be outnumbered. They fear that they will be subject to plots, to lies, and even to being put to death. These disciples fear what will happen next to them. And so these disciples, they fear that, did we make the wrong career move, switching from being in tax collection, in being a fisherman, in being involved in my political cause? Did I make the wrong career move? I mean, some of them would be able to say, I left my day job to follow Jesus, and so they fear being targeted next. They fear being misrepresented in court. And so in their fear, they get together, and they lock the doors, and there they are, at the end of the day, locked in a room, scared. But it says, it's to these men, to these frightened men, Jesus came, and he stood in the midst of them. And it really is Jesus. The text puts in so many details to emphasize this. It really is Jesus, and it's really Jesus in the flesh. Verse 20, he speaks, he showed them his hands and his side, and he shows them the wounds from the crucifixion. It really is Jesus because who else, who else would have the wounds of the cross, the wounds from the spear run into his side, the wounds in his feet? And so look at the effect of Jesus coming, the effect of the resurrected Jesus. Here's this reversal, verse 20, then the disciples were glad. when they saw the Lord. They were so afraid, but now they are so glad. They're overjoyed because Jesus is alive again. The resurrection turns fear into joy. So do you believe, do you believe in the resurrection of Jesus? Because if you do, it means that you don't have to be so afraid. you don't have to be so afraid in life. The resurrection of Jesus means you don't have to be afraid that people will wreck your life. The resurrection of Jesus means that you don't have to be so afraid of what other people say about you or what they say to you. The resurrection of Jesus means you don't have to be so afraid about losing your job or running out of money. You don't have to be so afraid that maybe I made a mistake Maybe I made a mistake in following Jesus. Are you here tonight, though? Are you someone who's here tonight and you are afraid? There are things going on. There's so much going on and you're afraid. If your thoughts right now were just to divert and go down a certain alley, you start to get that nervous feeling in your stomach. I mean, I remember a time when I was living with a lot of fear. And for me at that time, it was fear of losing someone. There was this one time, it was a fear that my sister was moving to a new state. And every time I thought about her moving, she had, for about seven years, lived maybe two and a half blocks away from me. And I loved it. But then they were going to move. And every time it came to my mind, I was just flooded with anxiety. And I didn't even really understand it. Was it just fear of change? Was it fear of abandonment? If you believe in the reality of the resurrection, I invite you to take whatever it is that is the source of your fear and let the resurrection of Jesus come squarely into the middle of your locked room. How does the resurrection reverse fear and replace it with joy? It's because this, the resurrection reverses the worst. The resurrection reverses the worst. Those who outnumbered Jesus, those who controlled the court and crucified Jesus, it was the worst. That was the worst outcome. but the worst outcome was reversed by the resurrection. Jesus rose from that death. Jesus defeated death, and that is how the resurrection reverses fear into joy. The resurrection means, believer, that what you fear the most, the worst, the thing that you fear will wreck your life, Jesus can even turn death into life. You can lose your health. You can lose all your money, you could lose your housing, you could lose your spouse, but the resurrection means that Jesus can bring anything. Jesus can bring anyone back from the dead. And if Jesus rose from the dead, then Jesus can undo anything. So my question to you tonight, with whatever fear you've got that's gnawing at you, that's latched onto you like a tick, do you dare, do you dare to hope, to hope that the resurrection of Jesus can overcome what you now dread? Do you dare to hope that the thing that you dread is only temporary in light of the resurrection What is it that you fear? Do you fear losing residency in this country? Do you fear losing your child or your child losing their faith? Do you fear losing your mind? 1 Corinthians 15, but if there is no resurrection from the dead, then Christ is not risen. And if Christ is not risen, then our preaching is empty and your faith is also empty. And if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile. You're still in your sins. If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all people the most pitiable. But now Christ is risen from the dead and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since by man came death, by man, this man Jesus, also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam, all die, Even so, in Christ all shall be made alive. Do you dare hope that the thing that you dread is only temporary in the light of His resurrection? That's the first reversal. The resurrection turns fear into joy. The second reversal, the resurrection sends us from the inside to the outside. That's verses 20 through 23. And look at how this happens. Jesus has handpicked these 12 men to be his disciples, to be interns who just shadow him, who get trained up, and he's equipping them. These men, these remaining 10 who are there in that room, this first part, they've locked themselves in for fear inside a room. Then their resurrected leader, Jesus, appears, and he tells them this. He says, I am sending you out. I'm sending you out of this locked room, out from this hiding room. I'm sending you out, verse 21. As the Father has sent me, I also am sending you. You see what that means? The resurrection is sending us from the inside to the outside. A living Jesus means this. A living Jesus means you have a mission. A living Jesus means he is sending us out from our safe, locked rooms. He is sending us to the dangerous outside. You've heard me say many times that there are three dimensions to the purpose, the mission of the church. The church is a community of worship. The church is a community of family formation. And the church is a community of witness. This is speaking about how we are a community of witness. Jesus is sending us out into the world to tell. Look at the charter that he gives us for our community. In verses 21 through 23, Jesus says, as the Father has sent me, I also send you. He's talking to us like this. Jesus is saying to us, he's saying, baby birds. Baby birds, you have been safe in the nest. You've been nourished in the nest, and now, baby birds, you're growing up, and it's time to fly. I'm sending you out of the nest, baby birds. It's time to launch. So my question for you is, do you want to imitate Jesus? Jesus says here, just as the Father sent me out from the halls of heaven, I am also sending you out from this locked room that feels so safe to you, but I want you to do what I did. Now, why does Jesus send them out? Why is Jesus sending us out? He's sending them out to do what Mary did for them, to tell people that Jesus is alive, to tell people that not only is Jesus alive, but by his death, he brokered peace with God, and he brokered the forgiveness of sins from God. And so three times in this text, that's what is sounding from Jesus when he appears. Verses 19, 21, 26, Jesus, the resurrection, Jesus appears, and this is what he tells them, and it's what we're to tell others, peace to you. It's peace with God that was not possible before, but now it is. Now, how did the cross and how did the resurrection bring this peace with God that is the content of our mission? Verse 23, it's the forgiveness of sin. Because of the cross, God now forgives sin. It's saying, Jesus has paid my fines. Jesus was punished, so God will not punish me. Justice and mercy, both of them simultaneously accomplished on the cross and in the resurrection. Now, why does Jesus send us out with this message of the brokered peace that Jesus achieved? It's because the world, the people where you live, the people around whom you shop and play and work, There's one thing that's true about all of them. They lack peace. They do not have this peace with God. And so Jesus is sending these disciples out and he's sending us out. He's sending us out, church, to tell the world the resurrection of Jesus means that your mistakes don't matter. Your mistakes no longer matter. Whatever, whatever you have done, whether it's lies, whether it's lusts, whether it's loveless treatment of key people in your life, whatever you've done, even if it was criminal, even if it ruined your reputation or ruined a family, The resurrection means that your mistakes no longer matter. Jesus took your place and Jesus put you in his good place with the Father before God. And so the mission of our community is to spread this peace message. And so, church, whatever people you touch in the circles that you inhabit, I'm asking you, inside you, Do you have this underlying urge, this inner desire that the people in your little constellation of contact that they might know the resurrection and the peace of Jesus Christ. It is not a coincidence that you live, work, or play wherever you are in proximity to the specific people where God has placed you. It's not a coincidence. And so we could be talking about that little kid who lives in your same apartment complex who keeps ringing your doorbell. We could be talking about the contractor that you just were looking for good ratings and you hired this person and it could be the contractor who fixes your property and needs some refreshment and maybe needs some human contact and a listening ear. Maybe it's the person who sits by herself in the break room. Jesus is sending us out from our safe, locked rooms and the question for them and for us is, are you afraid? Are you afraid of being sent out like this baby bird being sent out from the nest? Are you afraid to open your mouth? Are you afraid to enter into good works that Jesus has prepared for you in this world? Are you afraid to bring good to a world that is just groaning? Well, let me ask a different but related question. Let me also ask this. Are you stuck? Are you stuck? Not just stuck about going out into the world, not just about being a witness, but is there some area in your life, in your Christian development where you've realized, I'm stuck? Some area where you need change in your character so that your character is more like Christ's character. Some area where your personal habits need to more directly align with the pattern of Jesus. And so we could be talking about the things that you choose to put in front of your eyes for entertainment. We could be talking about the priorities you make for your spending. We could be talking about this area of change. Maybe you've got a key relationship in your life, but there's tension in it. There's a snippy tone between you and the other person that you live with. Maybe the place where you feel stuck is your overly loose tongue. Why did I say what I said? I regret it. I shouldn't have said it. It was so stupid. It was so hurtful. You know that it needs to change, but it's not changing. You feel stuck. Jesus is coming to you in your locked room and he brings hope that you can change. Change is possible. The resurrection reversal for where we are stuck. How does he do that? Verse 22, Jesus breathes on them and said to them, receive the Holy Spirit. The resurrection means, for you if you're a believer, Jesus takes the spirit, the spirit that raised Jesus from the dead, Romans 8, 11, and Jesus breathes him, breathes the spirit upon we who believe. That spirit is the ultimate force in getting things unstuck. Now, maybe some of you know of another very powerful force for getting things unstuck. I am talking about WD-40. WD-40 can loosen stuck nuts and bolts. You've got some old, rusted bolt, and you just cannot get it to loosen. You spray WD-40 on it, you wait, you let it soak in, and then that amazing liquid, some people say there's fish oil in it, they just don't know, it's a secret. The liquid so penetrates the nut and the bolt and it releases what was stuck that you could not loosen. In the same way, the Spirit of God can penetrate any area of your life that needs to change, especially if we're talking about your character problems, especially if we're talking about sin patterns and sin habits, and the Holy Spirit can get you unstuck, get you moving forward in the right direction towards Christ's likeness. Think about that. The Spirit who made the biggest change Raising Christ from the dead, if the Spirit can do that, the Spirit can get you unstuck from whatever, whatever has power over you. Whether we're talking about too much substance, too many videos, too much self-pity, the Spirit can get you unstuck from any of that. Your timidity, your disabling timidity in life, your overly cautious, overly careful calculating outlook Your cynical outlook that nothing, no one, can improve. The Spirit can get you unstuck from all of that. So three resurrection reversals in our text. The resurrection turns fear into joy. The resurrection sends us from the inside to the outside. And then next, the resurrection makes the impossible true. The resurrection is able to convince the unconvinced. The resurrection overcomes skepticism. The resurrection overcomes cynicism. In verses 24 through 29, we read about a third resurrection appearance of Jesus. In the second appearance, he appeared to 10, of the disciples, but Thomas was not present at the time. Thomas was out, but when Thomas returns, the others tell Thomas the same thing that Mary said, we've seen the Lord, we've seen Jesus, he's alive. Now, how does Thomas respond to the report? that these 10 other fellow interns give him, he says, I don't believe it. I don't believe it. Verse 25, Thomas says, unless I see in his hands the mark, the scar, the wound of the nails, and place my finger into the wound, the mark of the nails, and place my hand into the side, he says, I will never believe. Thomas is saying, the words of Mary are not enough. The 10 of you men aren't enough to make me believe. Thomas is saying, unless I see it for myself, and even further, unless I can touch him. So that's going beyond what the 10 had. He's saying, unless I can touch him, I won't believe that Jesus is alive, I won't believe in the resurrection of Christ. For these 10 men, the other 10 men, seeing the hands, seeing the side, just with sight, hearing his voice with their ears, that was sufficient. But Thomas says, if I can't also touch him. It's not real. It's just an image. Maybe it's just a ghost. It's just an illusion. It's not truly a resurrection. Thomas does not believe that Jesus is alive. Thomas does not believe in the resurrection. Now, if you're listening to this, and you're someone who is exploring the claims of Christianity, this is perhaps one of the three places to start. Is Jesus real? Is Jesus alive? Is the resurrection of Christ a historic fact? Now, if you're a person who's hearing this and you're exploring, maybe you're even skeptical. Thomas is for you. Thomas is here for you. Thomas is a materialist. Thomas is saying only the tangible can be trusted. I've got to see it. I've got to sense it. I've got to hear it. I have to be able to touch it. As you weigh the claims of Christianity, the truth of it, I offer you this. Jesus didn't die, rise directly to heaven, and then from heaven just send a long distance message. Just send a message from there saying, hey y'all, I made it, I'm still alive. And it was just a message from him. Over and over, Jesus appeared. He appeared to people in multiple interactions, in multiple situations, with multiple witnesses. At one point, even 500 people saw him. The encounters are recorded, they're preserved, but apart from the number of it, Consider this, this compelling evidence for the truth of it. Jesus, of the people that Jesus appeared to, some of them, Jesus appeared to cowards. He appeared to cowards. These 11 who were skeptical, who were huddled in fear behind locked doors because of the death of their leader, the resurrection of Jesus turned these cowards into courageous men. people who stopped being afraid and instead they went out into the world and they led, they became leaders of an international movement. They became people who ultimately would be martyred and die for the message of Jesus. Now think about that. He appeared to cowards. A lie, if the resurrection is not true, if it's a lie, a lie doesn't make a fearful person bold. If they did not see Jesus, if Jesus was not raised, if Jesus didn't really come to them, that would not make them bold. That would not compel them to go out and publicize it and be martyred ultimately. If the resurrection was made up, if it was a lie, it would not have the power to make fearful people into brave people. You don't die for a lie. You die for something that's true and something that's worthy of your life. So consider that. Another thing to consider here is this. Notice that Jesus meets us where we are. To Mary and to the 10, his appearance, visually, and his voice, that was enough. For Thomas, he needed more. Thomas was in a different place. For Thomas, it's gonna take more to convince him, and so verse 26, eight days later, excuse me, they're in the closed room with Thomas and now Jesus appears again and he's going to meet Thomas where he is. And Jesus focuses on this one unbelieving person and he says to Thomas, look. And he says, touch, touch the wound. And he says, put your hand, place your hand into the spear wound. Stop unbelieving and start believing. I want you to see here how patient Jesus is. how Jesus is patient and Jesus bears with us, and Jesus meets us where we are. Thomas needed to have his own encounter. Thomas needed to touch, and Jesus graciously gives to Thomas the evidence that he needed. And so one thing to take from this, wherever you are, wherever your point of unbelief, wherever you're struggling to access God or to trust God, pray it. Pray your unbelief. In some ways, that's what Thomas was doing. He was saying, unless you do this, God, unless Jesus, you do this, I'm not gonna believe. Now, was that a good place for him to be in? No, but it was good that he was saying it. And whether or not Jesus would fulfill it, Jesus is going to take his words and he's gonna work with it and meet him where he's at. What I wanna tell you tonight is that you don't need that though. You don't need to hear an audible voice and you don't need to see with your physical eyes and you don't need to physically put your hands on Jesus in order to believe. I'm here to tell you tonight that what is written in the Bible is enough. The personal witnesses of others who have seen, who know Jesus, the personal witness of others is enough. Verse 31, these things were written that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ the Son of God, and that believing, you may have life in his name. The things that are written in this book are enough. The content of the Bible is simple but complex. It's easy for a child to understand peace with God, and some of you kids who are here, I ask you, do you know how to have peace with God? But though it's easy enough for a child to understand how to be saved, there are depths of mysteries that the wisest person on earth cannot grasp fully, but its contents are sufficient for salvation. The resurrection demands a response from each of us. You can't just find it interesting. You can't just read it, but then turn the page and move on to something else. Jesus is asking for a decision. Do not be unbelieving, but believing. Do you believe? And perhaps today you are a believer, but tonight maybe you're struggling to trust God in some area. if you're struggling to trust God, to trust that he won't abandon you, if you take the hard step that you know he's telling you to do, that he won't abandon you and let you fall flat on your face when you make the sacrifice that he requests. Maybe he's asking you to tell the truth, even if it risks the odds of your application succeeding. Maybe he's telling you to stop sleeping with someone even though you might lose them. Maybe he's telling you to start a relationship even though you hate taking risks. Jesus is asking us to trust that the sacrifice that he requests that you make, to trust that the thing he asks you to give up will be for your good, not for your harm, to trust that when the Father disciplines you, that he's disciplined you in love, and it's going to produce in you peaceable fruits of righteousness. He's asking you to trust him with this relationship that you find so important, to trust him with your immigration status, to trust him with your life when the whole world feels like it's falling apart and going crazy. I was reading recently this article that described the different questions that the different generations in our Western culture asks. It said that baby boomers ask this question. Baby boomers ask, what is true? Things like, are the witnesses of the resurrection reliable? Are the scriptures trustworthy and authentic? What are the arguments, the logical information assembled, and what are the arguments, and are they convincing, and are they valid? What is true? The question of the baby boomer generation. Following the Baby Boomers is Generation X. That's my generation. The Gen X question is, what is real? That's Thomas' question. Is Jesus real? Is the resurrection real? Can I meet him? Can I interact with him? Well, following Generation X, we have the Millennials, Gen Y. The Gen Y question is, what is good? Does Jesus bring benefit and wellness and wholeness to people and to the world? Is Jesus good? Yes. Jesus brings peace with God. Jesus is kind. Jesus meets us where we are. That's good. Jesus comes to frightened people and makes them brave. Jesus binds what is broken Jesus is good. Well, following Gen Y is Gen Z, and their question is not so much what is true, what is real, or what is good. Their question, this article says, is what is beautiful? Look at the beauty of Jesus. Specifically, look here at the beauty of his wounds. The two scars that were on his arms where they were nailed to the cross, the scars where they spiked his feet to the cross, the fifth wound from the spear piercing his side. Jesus got wounds. Jesus was punctured by violence so that we will never be pierced with the punishment that our sins deserve. Jesus got pierced so that we can get peace with God. Jesus was ripped open so that you who believe can be made whole. And the unblemished lamb, Jesus, the unblemished lamb is forever blemished and marked with those marks on his body. And those of you who believe find his wounds to be the most beautiful of markings. For it is by his wounds that we are healed. And so Jesus, what is beautiful? Jesus is beautiful. His scars are beautiful. And notice this final thing also. His scars, it's his scars in this text. His scars, the wounds, the markings on his skin, his scars are compelling. His scars are convincing for people. When Jesus shows his wounds, it convinces people. It convinces his people. And so, believer, if you're someone who struggles with talking about Jesus, you just feel like a bumbler, like you mess it up, like it comes out too fast, or you don't know what to say, or you feel like you've got some script that you're trying to memorize and you can't hold it together. You struggle to share what you believe. Well, here's something. Just put all that stuff on the side and try something else. Share your scars. Show your scars. Lead with your wounds. Tell people about your depression. Tell people about your divorce. Tell people about the pain that left for you, left a permanent mark on you. Isn't it compelling? People have told me over the years about their psychiatric diagnosis. People have told me about how they would cut themselves. People have told me about how they blew up their lives, how they were locked up, how they lost their family, and it was all their fault. And tell about how Jesus showed himself to you. Wounds speak. Wounds persuade. And Jesus makes our wounds beautiful. Let's pray. Lord Jesus, we come before you and you are the lovely one. And Lord, we pray that what we've seen of the beauty of Christ would blossom and grow and increase day by day in our lives and our walk. And we pray it would put in us both a sweetness and a love and a sense that we're treasured and it would also push out our fear and make us to be bold and brave because of Jesus and to be tellers, tellers of Jesus. Lord, would you come to us and with the words that you've told us, be enough for us and convince us. And would you give us opportunity to tell others about the resurrection and bring them to you. Be glorified in that we ask in Jesus name, amen. We're going to finish