Life in the King

Well, good morning, everyone. Great to be in church with you this morning. If you've

just joined us, we have been working our way this year through John's Gospel and looking

at the Christian faith in terms of it being reasonable, relevant, and it being good for

us in this day and age. And so we're getting to that section in the last couple of weeks

in that section of John's Gospel, which really is the centre, the whole building up of the

main point of why Jesus came to live. There's a number of directions we could go on a message

like this. I've got to say that passage in John's Gospel has to be one of my favourite.

As someone who likes to run, I think it's unique that John, talking about the resurrection

of Jesus, he makes sure that four times in the first few verses, he makes it clear that

he beat Peter to the tomb. And so for the rest of the next 2,000 years, everyone's going

to know that John was a faster runner than Peter. I don't know why that's there, but he

emphasises it. But we're not going to focus on that this morning. Maybe a sermon on humility

might be useful. But each year, Easter time, which is what we're looking at around these

central Easter events, mainstream newspapers across our country, publish an opinion piece

on why it is that we're having this thing called a long weekend, an Easter long weekend. They

try to either explain it or explain it away. The central events of Easter day, namely the

resurrection of Jesus Christ from death, they often tend to water it down to a sentimental level,

if you like, a lesson about life beyond death or hardship or triumph over difficult circumstances,

something like that, turned into something like a nice life lesson. And so I was surprised to read a

couple of years ago in the Australian newspaper this in an opinion piece, which was not written by a

Christian. Easter provides hope because it shows us that death does not have the final victory.

But this works for a person, helps them only if they understand something of the whole supernatural

quality of human life. Modern Christians make a tremendous mistake if underplaying the essential

supernatural claims of Christianity and of Jesus and the Christian tradition. It is understandable that

modern Christians tend to emphasize Christianity's good works. It's hospitals, it's schools, it's shelters for

the homeless. But if in truth, Christianity stripped of its supernatural claims is not just an attractive

ethical system, it is literally nothing at all. Without its supernatural claims, it is at best delusional

and really a system of lies. Nothing of lasting good can come from a system of lies.

As St. Paul says in Ephesians, if Christ is not risen, our preaching is useless, our faith is useless.

We are all, of all people, the most to be pitied. Christianity is a powerful good because it is true.

And if it's not true, it's not a power for anything.

I may, I may, I'm pretty sure the guy wasn't a Christian who wrote that, but I'm prepared to be corrected.

Because it's profoundly true what they've written. Very insightful.

Christianity is not a powerful good unless it's true.

It is no power for anything unless it's true.

And so the resurrection of Jesus raises two big questions for us.

Two big questions of Christianity.

That is the truth question and the meaning question.

The truth question is, you know, did it actually happen?

And the meaning question, well, who cares if it did happen?

People will reject Christianity on both accounts.

On the truth question and the meaning question.

So both questions, the truth question and the so what question are important to address at the same time.

I'm going to do that fairly briefly.

I want to say three things this morning.

The truth question is a true.

The second one doesn't matter question.

What's its relevance?

And thirdly, what it might be to experience life, abundant life in King Jesus.

So first of all, is it true?

The great C.S. Lewis once wrote that in a world that was making rapid advancement like ours in scientific knowledge,

he said there was a danger of chronological snobbery.

Chronological snobbery is the assumption that people from generations past and particularly way past like around when Jesus was,

they were just a bunch of gullible peasants who did not know how the world worked.

But this is not the picture that you get from John 20.

Look at the first couple of verses with me.

And so she came running to Simon Peter and the other disciples, the one whom Jesus loved.

That's John talking about himself again.

And notice what she says here.

They have taken the Lord out of the tomb and we don't know where they have put him.

Now, Jesus had mentioned several times that he would come back to life after he was executed.

But Mary was in this moment not expecting an empty tomb.

The first assumption she had with the stone rolled away,

the first assumption was that the body of Jesus had been moved.

It's the same in verse 13.

And the assumption was that the enemies of Jesus, most likely the Jewish leaders, had taken his body away.

Even Peter and John, two of Jesus' key followers,

did not automatically jump to the conclusion that Jesus had resurrected.

Verses 8 and 9, down a bit further.

Finally, the other disciple who had reached the tomb first also went inside.

He saw and believed.

They still did not understand from scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead.

The early followers of Jesus were not gullible people falling for any conspiracy theory that might come up.

The fact remains, what they were confronted with on that morning was a bodiless tomb.

One of the great historical evidences of the resurrection of Jesus Christ was that the tomb where the Romans and the Jews put Jesus was empty on the third day.

It's historical fact.

The enemies of Jesus, they themselves could not produce the body of Jesus.

And if they could have produced the body of Jesus, they would have killed this thing called the Christian movement, dead in its tracks, within three days.

Overnight, it would have been done.

So what's the possible explanations for the empty tomb?

Some suggest that Jesus didn't really die.

Put him in the dark tomb and he revived in the coolness of the tomb.

He then moved the stone away by himself.

The stone that took four burly soldiers to put into place.

I mean, that's just incomprehensible.

But it's been a view that's been circulated for some time.

It's certainly a view that doesn't come to grips with the horrible realities of crucifixion.

Nor the rigorous steps that Pilate and the leaders themselves took to make sure that he was dead.

And the further steps that they took to make sure that no one got in or out of the tomb.

Others have suggested that the disciples themselves stole the body.

Which means that if they did, the same disciples gave themselves over to death for what is nothing more than an April Fool's joke.

Again, incomprehensible.

What we do know about these disciples is that they were utterly dejected.

They were terrified of losing their own lives after the crucifixion of Jesus.

They were hiding in a secluded room and were unwilling to believe the first reports that Jesus had risen from the dead.

And yet within weeks, the same disciples, overflowed with joy and courage, suffered for the resurrected Jesus.

This little band of ordinary believers changed the course of human history.

They and those who came to believe through them loved and served their enemies across the Roman Empire in such a way

that within three centuries, the world was changed.

What happened to them?

Their own explanation was that they had seen Jesus alive after he was dead.

Now there is a heap more historical evidence than just that.

But doubting the resurrection is not uncommon.

It is a worldview changer.

The resurrection of Jesus.

John 20 is in fact a worldview changer and a step too far for many despite its evidence.

And if that's you, that's okay.

After all, the first person to doubt the resurrection of Jesus was one of his closest supporters.

Thomas, we read there in chapter 20, is the most famous of doubters.

We even have a saying in our culture for the skeptic.

We call them doubting Thomas.

I mean, the poor guy.

He's never let it down.

I mean, John's known as the runner and Thomas is known as the doubter forever since then.

And so for those who are struggling to understand or accept the resurrection,

we have to wonder if Thomas can help us here.

Thomas was absent, we are told, when Jesus first appeared to his followers after he'd risen from the dead.

Verse 24,

Notice Thomas says there,

Hands,

Hands,

Hands,

Side,

All the marks of Jesus being fully, completely dead.

And I will only believe if God turns up, Jesus turns up and shows me himself.

His response to the news is absolute.

He makes his demands in absolute terms.

Unless I see and I place my hands, I will not believe.

So what he demands here is what you might call exhaustive proof rather than sufficient evidence.

He rejects the witness of 10 or more of his trusted friends.

And he dictates absolute terms to God about believing.

Now we don't know, because the text doesn't tell us, why it was that Thomas, of all of them, was particularly sceptical.

There could be many reasons for that.

Maybe his issue was an intellectual problem.

You know, dead things don't come back to life again.

You know, that sort of stuff.

Or maybe it was more personal.

Could have been much more personal.

Imagine, for instance, someone who is close to you.

They are in the process of dying.

This may not be imagination too hard for some of us gathered in the room or on screen this morning.

Maybe you've come to the point where you have accepted it.

That all hope of recovery is lost.

And your one is going to die.

You've been through the journey with them over a long time.

And then all of a sudden, someone makes contact with you and says,

I've just been reading online that there's a possible cure for your loved one's disease on the other side of the world,

in some clinic.

And you hear that news and you go,

there was a time when you had hope for recovery and you did everything you could to bring about that healing.

However, your hopes have been dashed.

And you've finally come to the point of realizing that your loved one is going to die.

When you receive news like that, this brand new piece of information,

very few people in that moment will go,

fantastic, pull out all stops.

I'm now buoyant again.

Most people cannot, once they get to their hopes being dashed and come to the realization of that,

most people cannot bear to get back out of that place again and to have their hopes up in order to be dashed again.

Most people in that scenario will be the skeptic on the new piece of news.

We have no, and I think it's potential.

This is what's happening for Thomas.

He loved Jesus just like all the other disciples.

He would have been just as devastated as all the other disciples at the crucifixion of Jesus.

And now they come along and say, hey, Thomas, no worry.

Good news.

We've seen him.

He's alive.

Thomas is like the other disciples had put all their hope of a new future in Jesus.

And those hopes were dashed when he saw Jesus nailed to a cross.

And so with this new piece of news, maybe he is simply saying to them,

don't you dare get my hopes up.

Maybe Thomas was afraid to hope again in the same way that many are afraid to hope nowadays in a glorious new future.

It might be a narrow, secular, materialistic worldview that says resurrection of Jesus just can't happen.

It might be a personality that needs a little bit more evidence.

It might be a personality that needs a little bit more evidence.

But it also might be a heart that is afraid to be drawn into something so good,

so remarkable, so excellent, so brilliant,

that you don't want to be disappointed.

In the end, Thomas was able to overcome his scepticism and believe in joy.

Verse 26,

A week later, his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them.

And though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said,

Peace be with you.

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.

Thomas said to him,

My Lord and my God.

That's a remarkable statement.

My Lord and my God.

For a Jewish man to call another human being not just his Lord,

but his God,

is incomprehensible to Jewish culture.

There is, what we see here with Thomas,

the movement from scepticism to a deep face.

In fact, I would probably argue that there is no greater confession of faith in Jesus Christ,

in all of the Bible,

than the words of Thomas,

My Lord and my God.

The biggest doubter to the greatest trust and joy.

Now that brings me to the who,

you know, doesn't matter question,

you know, the who cares question.

Thomas' declaration is broadly the meaning of the resurrection.

My Lord and my God.

His first words,

noticeably,

when Jesus appears to him,

were not about the facts of the resurrection,

but what the resurrection meant.

My Lord and my God.

The whole issue for Thomas was,

I want to see him for myself,

and I'm not going to believe unless I touch his wounds.

Jesus shows up into the room,

and Thomas doesn't even touch him.

Doesn't even touch him.

You see, the wounds on Jesus were so much more than evidence of resurrection.

They were evidence for Thomas of something significantly more,

something much more powerful.

The evidence of Jesus' resurrection

is that every single thing that Jesus said about himself

is absolutely fundamentally true.

He is God.

He is the king of the universe.

He is the creator of all things.

He is my lord, my king, my boss.

He's my ruler.

He is my God.

He is my savior.

He is my friend.

It means that Jesus promises all of them have been delivered.

He is the one who guarantees my own resurrection.

The wounds of the cross on Jesus,

the things that Thomas thought had ruined his life,

had in fact, in reality, saved his life.

The resurrection means everything Jesus said about himself

is absolutely true.

Jesus is the way for humanity to be reunited with our creator God.

The resurrection means human guilt and shame

has been finally dealt with, fully, completely dealt with,

totally satisfied in God's justice on the cross.

As I said last week, it is finished.

The resurrection guarantees it's finished.

Death has not only been confronted,

death's been conquered.

It means that new and true life can be experienced before death

and eternal life after death.

It means that there is a new heaven and a new earth

where those who put their trust in Christ will live forever

like he right now lives forever.

It's what Jesus offers us today.

Several chapters earlier in John's account

of the good news of Jesus,

we have Jesus declaring the life-changing news of the resurrection

and his own resurrection guarantees this for us.

I am the resurrection and the life.

The one who believes in me will live even though they die.

And whoever lives by believing in me will never die.

Something incredibly unique and life-changing

and worldview-shaving has happened

with the resurrection of Jesus.

And so here's the implication

from that article a couple of years ago

from the Australian newspaper.

There is really no halfway house with Christianity.

Either Jesus is God

and we are immortal beings

fueled with eternal destiny, moral choice,

divine status, irreducible human dignity

and moral responsibility

and loved as though an only child of God.

It's either that or lies.

And I'd rather be at the beach.

There's no halfway house

with the Christian faith.

So I want to ask you,

is that how you treat it?

Like a halfway house?

Yes.

We pick and choose the bits of the Bible

that we want to believe

and want to affirm in our life

and bits that don't suit we don't.

How do we discover full and complete life in the King?

That's my final point.

The first thing we need to do

is it's so crucial to him

that we listen to the eyewitness accounts.

We are told that Thomas wasn't there

when Jesus first appeared to the disciples.

One week later,

Jesus showed up again with Thomas present.

During that week,

during that week in between,

we are told in verse 25

that the other disciples kept telling him

that they had seen the Lord.

What that means is

that every single one of us

on the face of the earth right now

who are still breathing,

we're in the same position as Thomas.

We have access

to the same people

who saw Jesus raised from the dead.

And that's what we've been doing

as we go through John's account.

His eyewitness account of Jesus.

It's written down in the four Gospels

of the New Testament.

There is an enormous amount of scholarship

that supports the Gospel accounts

as having the marks of oral history

and eyewitness testimony

rather than being myths or fables.

John, who wrote this biography

that we've been working through for months now,

was one of those eyewitnesses.

This is what he says

about how we,

in 2024,

in Sydney,

how we

come to see

and believe

as Thomas came to see

and believe.

Verse 30.

Jesus did many other miraculous signs

in the presence of his disciples

which are not recorded in this book.

But these are written

that you may believe

that Jesus is the Christ,

the Son of God,

and that by believing

you may have life in his name.

He says that what is written

in this biography of Jesus' life,

his ministry,

his death,

his resurrection,

by an eyewitness

is absolutely everything

that you need

to have certainty

of the hope

of eternal life.

you need

nothing more.

All I'm suggesting

is to operate

with the news

of the resurrection

of Jesus

in the same way

you operate

with the rest

of your life.

I mean,

think about this.

How many

of the things

that you believe

happened in history

did you actually see?

I mean,

come on.

How many of them

were you there

as an eyewitness?

We believe

eyewitness

a testimony

that has been

written down

by historically

reliable authors.

All I'm suggesting

is you do the same

with Jesus.

It's as simple as that.

Do the same

with Jesus.

We don't need

to know anything

more than what

is written

in John's gospel

to see and believe.

And so read

John's gospel.

Read one of the gospels.

And just pray

a simple prayer.

God,

if you are

true,

if you are real,

if Jesus did

rise from the dead,

help me see

and believe.

You see,

the Christian faith

is no mere

philosophy,

even though

it is a

philosophically

viable worldview.

It is not

merely subjective,

even though

there are

emotional,

satisfying experiences

for followers

of Jesus.

The Christian faith

is not merely

sentimental.

It's not just

uplifting,

like a piece of art,

even though there

is lots of beauty

to behold

in the Christian faith.

faith.

The Christian faith

is absolutely

nothing.

It is nothing

if Jesus Christ

did not actually

rise bodily

from the dead.

the truth of his

resurrection

is not based

on experiential

methods of

natural science.

It's not

verifiable by

test tubes

or empirical

data,

nor is it based

only on the

arguments of

logic.

It is based

on history,

on eyewitness

accounts.

And so read a

gospel if you

haven't done one

yet.

read it

as if it is

eyewitness

account

and think.

The second

thing to do,

to see and

believe here,

to move from

doubt to

receiving certain

hope,

is to drop

your conditions.

Every one

of us,

every single

one of us

is like Thomas

in this.

Every single

one of us

moves towards

Jesus with

a set of

conditions.

they might

be different

for all of

us,

but none

of us

moves towards

him without

a set of

conditions.

No one

just goes to

him purely

on his

terms,

because he's

great and

he's glorious

and he's

majestic.

No one

ever moves

towards him

just for his

sake.

We always

move towards

him because

we want

something,

which means

we have

conditions.

I've known

of people

who refused

to move

towards Jesus

because it

would mean

that they

would need

to repair

a relationship,

it would mean

that they

would have to

change a

habit,

it would mean

that they

wouldn't be

able to go

to the

beach on a

Sunday

morning,

for instance.

we need

to drop

our

conditions

because

every time

we have

a condition

they say

I will

love you

God

and I

will accept

your hope

if,

if.

The great

news of

Christianity

is that

Jesus did

not love

for us,

he has

loved us

unconditionally.

the death

of Jesus

was no

accident

in history.

He said

last week

Jesus died

and rose

to redeem

us and

to reclaim

us to

God.

It is a

plan that

is historically

reliable

and experientially

satisfying as

we navigate

life.

And so

friends,

Jesus has

brought you

here this

morning,

he has

tuned you

in online

for this

message.

for this

little bit

of the

Bible,

for this

story of

the resurrection

of Jesus,

for this

eyewitness

account of

John so

that you

too might

believe in

Jesus and

have certain

hope,

life forever

with joy as

Jesus himself

is alive

forever in

the joy of

his presence

of his

father.

Friends,

I would

encourage you

if you are

someone who

is unsure

or you're

that person

needs a

little bit

more

evidence,

I've got

a couple

of books

called

Is Easter

Unbelievable?

It's really

short,

really simple

to read.

I've got

three of

these,

if you like

one of

these,

if you're

online,

send us a

message and

we can post

one to you

as well.

Sample

the

Let's

see

the