Sermon for 4-7-24

Sermons, The Word

John 20: 19-31 (“Doubting” Thomas)

Second  Easter Sunday

Quasimodogeniti

Psalm 81

OT: Job 19: 25-27

Epistle: 1 John 5: 4-12

Gospel:   John: 20: 19-31

Hymns: 355, 208, 217, 198

 

Quasimodogeniti Introit: As newborn babies: desire the sincere milk of the Word.   Hear, O My people, and I will testify unto thee: O Israel, if thou wilt hearken unto Me.

Ps. Sing unto God, our Strength: make a joyful noise unto the God of Jacob.

 

Quasimodogeniti Collect: Lord God heavenly Father, we thank You, that of Your indescribable grace, for the sake of your Son, You have given us the holy Gospel, and have instituted the holy Sacraments, that through these we may have comfort and forgiveness of sin.   We beseech You, grant us Your Holy Spirit, that we may heartily believe Your Word; and through the holy Sacraments day by day establish our faith, until we at last obtain eternal salvation, through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one true God, now and forever. Amen.

 

 

God’s special Easter Blessing.

 

If I wrote any of you a check for one million, would you stake your life on the premise that the money would actually be in the bank?       If you know me, most of you, if not all of you, would doubt this to be true.     Most likely you would demand that we take a trip down to the bank.     Having satisfied yourselves that I indeed have a cool million in my checking account, you would be willing to try and cash the check knowing that if it could not be cashed for that amount, your life would be demanded in its place.    Knowing this you would have no reason to doubt.

 

How about your salvation?    Are you willing to stake your life, your life eternal on the story that Jesus has risen from the dead without any visible proof?    Praise God we need not do this.   On this second Sunday after Easter, God in His grace allows us to consider:

 

The wonderful proofs God gives to those who have not seen the Lord Jesus alive with their eyes!

 

 

  1. God give us His word.
  2. Jesus pronounces a special blessing.
  • Jesus bestows a glorious calling to all Christians.

 

  1. God gives us His word.

 

 

In our text we find the famous story of the “doubting Thomas.”    Here Thomas remains in obstinate unbelief unless and until he is shown the hands and wound of Jesus.    Jesus tolerates Thomas because of His infinite love and comes back and shows Himself to Thomas.    This stands as pure Gospel.   Please understand: Thomas did not merely and innocently question the Resurrection of Jesus, he outrightly denied it.   The Greek word used for the “doubt” of Thomas is “unbelief.”   Jesus should have condemned Thomas on the spot and sent him to hell.   Yet, Jesus shows Thomas what Thomas demands.   Thomas reacted with the famous but necessary confession, “My Lord, and MY God.”

 

But why, we might ask, was this account placed in the Bible, why the account of one who doubted.    It is not His unbelief that John wishes to stress, but Thomas confession.    John makes this clear when he writes, “But these are written that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God.”   This is the first of God’s wonderful proofs for sinners like us who have never actually seen the wounds of Jesus with our own eyes.    John wants to record the Words of Thomas’ coming to faith.  Why, so that as a result of God’s recorded word we may also have no reason to doubt.    As John says, we have God’s word that determines the deity or godhead of Jesus.    As a matter of fact, this was the entire aim or theme of St. John’s Gospel.    He wanted to prove that Jesus was and is essentially God.

 

However, we must keep in mind, who the author of this Gospel is.    True John wrote it, but God is the author.    Paul writes, “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God.”    If God wrote this, as He wrote all Scripture, then there is no reason to doubt, even if we cannot see the resurrected Christ or touch Him while we are here on this earth.    It is God who tells us that Jesus is God Himself.     Search the Scriptures; don’t take my word for it.     Carefully examine the Word God has given us and see that Jesus is God, indeed the resurrected Savior.   Remember, this is the very reason for which the Bible was written so that we might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God.   What a wonderful proof God has given in his word.

 

Yet, in connection with God’s Word itself proclaiming the deity of Christ, we must ask, “Why is it necessary that Jesus be God.”    Think about it for a moment: If someone bought your house, gave you check signed with Mickey Mouse, would you accept the check?    Only a fool would do such a thing.   In the same manner, If this man Jesus, our Brother according to the flesh, were not true God, there would be no comfort for us in regard to His death or in regard to our death.    But now there can be no doubt as to the complete and perfect redemption, for God in Christ, Christ as true God, was able to conquer all enemies, and to rise from the dead, and will live and reign through all eternity.     Jesus had to be God to conquer death and rise.    There is no reason to doubt the resurrection.    God Himself tells us in His holy Word that Jesus is God who was raised from the dead.    Jesus being God is our comfort.    His resurrection is not only a guarantee of our resurrection, but also of the fact that our vile bodies will be changed to confirm to His glorified body.

 

  1.   Jesus pronounces a special blessing.

 

In our text we find that the disciples had a rare privilege, which we don’t have.    They saw the resurrected Christ face to face, and to remove any doubt, he showed them the marks of the nails and the wound in the side.    Have any of you seen the risen Christ?    Have any of you seen the nail marks in the hands and feet of Jesus?    But we have something just as precious and just as valid.    In the second place this morning, we learn that God pronounces a special blessing on those who believe and have not yet seen.

 

Jesus said to Thomas who had the experience of seeing Jesus and actually touching Him, “Thomas because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.”    Jesus is stressing the aspect of faith without sight.    As the writer to the Hebrews says: “Faith is being sure of things we hope for, being convinced of the things we cannot see.”   HEB 11:1    The question we must ask now is, “Of what does the blessing of which Jesus spoke consist?”    The evangelist John gives us the answer to that in the last verse of our text. “And that believing ye might have life through his name.”    As I said earlier, we have no reason to doubt the resurrection because we have God’s word.   But John established the deity of Christ, not to show that Jesus was superior over everyone else, but he wrote he’s entire Gospel with one result in mind: That these words might engender faith, and that faith might bring eternal life.    John states earlier in his Gospel, “And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.” (John17:3)

 

However, all of this, the blessing, life eternal, will be gobbledygook to us unless we understand the concept of sin.         It is easy for us to stand here in the years 2000 safely separated from the crucifixion of Jesus by nearly that same amount of time and snub our noses at Thomas.  “Thomas, why did you not believe?   You spent three years with Jesus observing everything He did.   What greater proof do you want?”   Thomas, you disgusting, sinful unbelieving heathen.  You surely deserve hell.”   Dear fellow Thomases, Are we really any different in our reaction to Jesus than Thomas?

 

Please understand that any reaction other than actions done in faith are sin.   Do not be deceived, the Bible speaks very precisely about sin.    Every human being is born in sin.    Paul describes this in His letter to the Roman Church, “By one man (Adam) sin entered into the world.” (Rom. 5:12)    Now we may simply try to shrug this off and say, “So what, at least I am not alone.”  That is true.   But before we smugly exonerate ourselves and pronounce self-acquittal, we must remember that there is more to the concept of sin than who is less guilty or more guilty on Judgment Day.    God not only precisely describes thse actions tht violate His law but He delineates the result of those violations.    Paul writes, “The wages of sin is death,” Rom 6:23.    Paul does not say, “The wages of only the really bad sinners brings death.   It is an across the board condemnation: all sin, each iniquity, every single lie, every unkind word, each time we are angry with another, each lustful thought that we allow to run through our mind, every greedy desire, each time we snap at our parents, earns death.   This death means that sinners like you and me should rightly and justly be sentenced to an eternity of bitter suffering in a furnace of fire.   Don’t be fooled by shysters of this age.  Dear Christians and precious souls of the Lamb of God, the torments of hell abide forever.   The Bible tells us, “The smoke of their torments ascendeth up forever and ever.” Rev. 14:11.    Time cannot bring it to an end,  and tears cannot quench it.

 

In spite of all this God pronounces a special blessing on the Thomases of the year 2000.  Let me ask a question: Do you wish to believe just as strongly as Thomas after he had seen and touched the wounds of Jesus and seen Him alive?   Take comfort in this:

  • You have been baptized
  • Baptism is the “washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit.” God has bestowed on you the gift of faith.
  • God’s Word leads you to believe that Jesus is our Savior,
  • that he has endured hell itself for us,
  • that he allowed Himself to be a human blood sacrifice for us,
  • we trust that His resurrection causes our resurrection,
  • therefore we are blessed just as surely as Thomas, because we receive instead of hell, the promise and gift of eternal life just as completely as Thomas. We will live forever, without time, in the mansions which our Savior has prepared for us, just as surely as Thomas.   Jesus gives us the blessed assurance; “I go to prepare a place for you.”     No, there is no reason to doubt.   We have the comforting words from our Savior, “Blessed are they that have not seen and yet have believed.”

 

  1. God bestows a glorious commission to all Christians.

 

Thus far, we have seen and observed that there is no reason to doubt the resurrection and of course the forgiveness of sins and eternal life that goes with it, because we have the assurance of God’s word and Christ’s blessing.    But we also have no reason to doubt about the resurrection of Jesus because we have Christ’s commission.    Let’s pursue this and see the final wonderful proof god gives to those who have not seen the resurrected Jesus with their eyes.

 

In the account before us this day we earlier read, “As my Father hath sent me, even so send I you. Whosoever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them, and whosoever sins ye retain, they are retained.” These words are the Gospel for us.   Please understand that they mean that the redemption work of Jesus is now finished for us and for all sinners!    Now, the evangelizing mission on the part of all the disciples of Jesus begins.   This same Commission Jesus speaks on the day of His ascension. “Go ye therefore and teach all nations.”    Rejoice, there is just no reason to doubt, First God tells us in His word Jesus is risen, then Jesus proclaims blessed anyone who believes and finally the crucified but risen and glorious Jesus gives us a job to do just before He goes back to His heavenly Home. And what a glorious and wonderful Job it is.    All His disciples, you and I are to carry the message of His redemptive work of that first Easter into the

 

world.    We have the same authority as the first disciples regardless of the degree of our greed, and lust and anger and hatred and malice.    If we remit the sins of any, they are remitted to them, if we retain those of any they are retained.    Does everyone fully comprehend what is being said in the commission Jesus gives us?  You and I have received the power to pronounce forgiveness of sin.  What a glorious proof of the resurrection message.   Jesus could not give us this awesome authority unless He had truly risen from the grave.  The Commission would be meaningless Jesus had not died for your sins and my sins; all this would not be possible if your forgiveness were not perfectly complete.

 

 

In the command to pronounce forgiveness, we have the wonderful proof that all sin, even our own is complete.   This is Gospel.   Please understand that this forgiveness of sins, which Jesus earned by His suffering and death, should be imparted and given to men through the announcement of the Gospel.   This is the absolution of sins.  That is Christ’s will and commission.    The Gospel is not merely a report of the salvation earned by Jesus, but it is the application of this message, the imparting of the forgiveness of sins.    Only he that will not accept this forgiveness, this mercy, this salvation, thereby excludes himself from the grace of God.    If such a one is told this fact, his sins are thereby retained.

 

Oh, what wonderful proofs God gives to those of us who have not seen the resurrected Jesus with our own eyes.

  • God Himself proclaims the resurrection in His word.
  • Jesus Himself calls those blessed who receive this proclamation of forgiveness by faith without first hand sight of His wounds, and
  • Jesus has commanded His people to proclaim this message on the basis of His glorious resurrection.

 

Dear Christian, Go in peace.