Resurrection Faith - Easter Sermon

I want to ask you a question today. I

want to get right into it. I think you

guys will enjoy the sermon because we're

going to be surveying uh some of the

gospels on a question you may have never

asked yourself. But I want to ask you,

if you've heard this, the phrase seeing

is believing. And then in thinking about

that, is there anything that's ever

happened in your life that if you hadn't

seen it, you wouldn't believe it? Like

something that you witnessed, something

that you saw that you really if someone

told you, you wouldn't have believed it.

I was thinking about things in my life

that happened. I'll tell you one story

and then I'm going to show you two

pictures. So, three short stories about

things I might not have believed if I

hadn't seen them. Uh the first is a

fishing trip. I think it's the first

fishing trip that my boys had ever been

on. Um there were six of us on the trip.

It was Ben Johnson, an elder here, his

daughter Penelopey, and uh three of my

boys, Isaiah, Elijah, and Ezra and me.

So, I think it was six of us. And we

were on a small fishing boat.

I think it was a Clakamus Reservoir and

we fished like for the first hour didn't

catch anything and then we limited out

20 trout that we caught and we would

have caught more except the fish were

getting stuck on the rim of the net and

then flopping themselves off the hook

and then back into the water and every

time it happened there was some some

bigger fish maybe like 12 to 15 in

rainbow trout that had flopped

themselves off and that happened and

every time I was disappointed and the

kids were disappointed but we're having

a great time. Well, unbeknownst to me, I

think Ben's sitting right here, I'm

sitting here, Elijah's behind me, and

Elijah's one of my most athletic boys,

and they're all wearing uh life jackets,

and it's, you know, when something all

of a sudden slows down in life, like

you're watching it almost in slow

motion, and you can't feel like you

can't react in real time. That's what

was happening. Cuz I was watching, I

forget who was reeling the fish in. Um

might have actually even been me, but uh

someone was reeling in what seemed to be

the largest fish of the day. We saw it

thick body, just a big rainbow trout.

And you could tell the hook was barely

in there when it would come out of the

water. And then I think Ben was scooping

down and picking the fish up out of the

water and it was like rimchecking its

body on the rim. And all of a sudden, I

see the hook come out and I'm like,

"No." Like in slow motion, no. And out

of the corner of my eye, Elijah had

evidently found another smaller net, no

bigger than this. Superman jumping out

of the boat to catch the fish.

Fish is all the way out of the net just

above the water. We're talking this

happened in like 2 to 3 seconds time.

The entire episode of what I'm telling

you about. He catches the fish. There's

six witnesses, five other than me. This

actually happened. Catches the fish in

the net. And I'm like, and you know how

like uh the life jackets have those

those um what's it called? straps around

them. I just barely get one finger on

the strap and just rip him out of the

water and he's holding up the biggest

fish of the day. I wish I had pictures.

It all happened so fast, but it actually

happened. All right, let me let this

one's a little different. Let me ask you

if you would believe that their uh

blueberries grow as big as pingpong

balls if I told you. I'm not going to

tell you whether it's true or not. Let's

raise of hands. Do you think I'm Do you

think I'm trying to trick you? Or am I

about to truly show you a real picture

that you can go online and verify

yourself? Am I faking it? Is it true

that blueberries can get as big as

pingpong balls? If you think with if you

haven't seen I don't know if you've seen

it or not, maybe you've researched this

yourself. Uh, if you think blueberries

can get as big as ping pong balls, raise

your hand.

Okay, so that's mo I would say. Now

raise your hand if you don't think they

can get that big.

I think more more people raised their

hand saying it's not that big. All

right, show the picture.

>> Guinness book world record blueberry. I

made sure it wasn't AI. I looked on the

actual Guinness website. That's an

adult's hand, not a child's hand. That

is a gigantic blueberry. It's the uh

Eterna variety. Not I've seen

blueberries pretty big, like quarter

size. You can get them here in Oregon.

Um honey, what are they called? I'm

blanking now.

>> Captain Blueberry.

>> Chandler. Captain Blueberry. Yeah,

Chandler blueberry varieties is one of

the big blueberries. This is the eternal

blueberry variety. All right. So, to be

honest, I thought both I thought the

blueberry and the the uh trout story was

kind of cool, but I wanted a third one

of something that you probably wouldn't

believe unless you saw it. And I I just

couldn't come up with one from my old

life. I think some of the sports uh ones

that I tell you guys are sort of tired.

So I was like, eh, I won't tell a sports

one. And so I just prayed, God, uh bring

one to mind of something that maybe in

my life, you know, personal examples are

kind of relevant or uh uh relatable. And

so this morning, and I'm I'm not going

to tell you whether this is actually

true or not, but you have to guess.

Something happened this morning. I

forgot my phone. My wife forgot her

phone. We were already halfway down the

road. And so we turned around and and

drove home and uh to get the phone. I

use the phone for like notes or like

scripture references for sermons. So I

needed it. And I walked to the front

door. Um we live in Oregon City and we

kind of live in the country now. And uh

the front door is wide open, right? And

I walk in and here's what you have to

ask yourself. Is this true or not? I

caught a bird in my hand

this morning. Did I catch a bird in my

hand this morning? Now, some of you know

me thinking, "Oh, he's just talking

about his chickens." I'm currently

raising 14 baby chickens cuz I couldn't

stop buying them. I mostly bought them

based on how many eggs they lay and how

cool they look. And so, I just had to

keep buying more variet. So, we right

now have 14 chickens in an indoor light

coupe. So, is that the chicken that I'm

talking about or am I talking about a

sparrow? Okay, here's what I'm going to

tell you. I'm telling you today, I

caught a sparrow in my hand

when I walked in to find to find my my

phone. Is that true or not? Would you

believe me? A sparrow?

>> Yes.

>> I've never caught a sparrow in my hand

before. Let's show the picture.

>> You can tell it was this morning or 365

days ago cuz this is my Easter shirt.

I wear once a year.

Even my boys just thought it was one of

the chicks. They're like, "Wait, no,

that's a chicken." I was like, "No,

that's a sparrow." And so I flew threw

it and it flew off. Yeah. And I was

like, "We're going to be late to church.

I don't want this thing flying around. I

don't know if they mix well with

chickens cuz the chickens are in the

house." And so I prayed and asked God,

"Help me catch this sparrow." And I

caught it in my hand.

So there's a reason why I'm telling you

these things because I've got another

question for you. This one, not not a

show of ra uh you don't need a show of

hands, but I know we have some Bible

nerds. I'm a Bible nerd myself. And so

this is kind of a Bible trivia question.

I think some of you will love this. Um

the question is this. How many of the 11

disciples, I could say 12, but Judas had

already died at this point in the story

when I'm asking this. How many of the 11

disciples believed that Jesus was

resurrected from the dead without having

seen them with their own eyes? You don't

need to shout it out. Just think about

it. How many believed?

Okay, I'll give you, this isn't that

helpful of a hint, but I'll give you a

hint. Um, you know, famously that one of

them didn't. His name was Thomas, right?

But he didn't believe until he saw it

and he said, "I want to place my hands

in the nail scars." Like he wanted he

wanted absolute visual proof. How many

of the other disciples believed that

Jesus was resurrected without seeing it?

How many? Okay, I see I see some

numbers. I've already seen one person

get it right, which I'm actually kind of

surprised about um because it took me a

while to research this question. So,

part of what we're going to do today is

look at all the endings of the gospels

and see if we can find any evidence uh

of how many disciples believed in the

resurrection without seeing it. You

might be surprised at the number. I

think Thomas gets a kind of bad rap

sometimes, almost unfairly in a way.

Okay, we're going to start today. I'll

start with prayer, then we'll get into

Luke 24. Heavenly Father, thank you so

much uh for

helping us to believe in the

resurrection. Uh none of us saw it and

yet we believed and you said that's even

more blessed than to see it and believe.

Lord, I pray that we would hear from

your word today that you would confirm

it as true in our hearts. Even

Christians sometimes struggle with doubt

and even doubt in the resurrection. And

Lord, unless you confirm that through

your word by your Holy Spirit, um we

can't overcome our unbelief. And so we

want to uh hand our doubt to you. And

Lord, for those that have not yet

believed and not placed their faith yet,

have not confessed their sin yet. I pray

that you would work in such a way that

you would confirm in their hearts that

what your word is saying about your son,

who he is, what he did, and how he was

resurrected is true. that they would

know truly in an undeniable way that

this is true and that this is eternal

life. I pray these things in Jesus name.

Amen. All right, back to the question.

Did any of the disciples believe that

Jesus was resurrected from the dead

without having to see it with their own

eyes? I think it's an interesting

question. Let's go to Luke chapter 24 to

Luke 24 · chapter mention

start off. Okay. And I should you can go

there in your Bible or um follow along

uh on the screen. Okay. here and these

are accounts of the resurrection or just

little snippets of evidence about the

disciples and their reaction um be

before they actually saw him. So this is

Luke 24 starting in verse 10-2. Now it

was Mary Magdalene and Joanna and Mary

the mother of James and other women with

them who told these things to the

apostles.

Okay, I'll back up one verse just to

pick up the word 11 because all the 11

are there. and returning from the tomb.

Verse nine, they told all these things

to the 11 and to the rest. Okay, so

they're witnessing of of the empty tomb

of the resurrection uh to these 11

disciples, all of them except for Judas.

And 11 says, "But these words seemed to

them an idle tale, and they did not

believe them. But Peter rose and ran to

the tomb, stooping and looking in. He

saw the linen cloths by themselves, and

he went home marveling at what

happened."

So, the only evidence we get from that

is that they did not believe based just

on eyewitness testimony.

Um, and it seemed like them to them an

idol tale. But that's still not yet an

answer because maybe there was a

disciple that did believe after at first

dismissing it as an idol tale. But as

you just saw, all 11 of the disciples,

even though they were told in advance by

Jesus himself multiple times, it's

shocking how many times Jesus says in

the Gospels directly that he's going to

be put to death and that he's going to

rise again. He tells them, he tells them

it's going to happen on the third day.

And yet they think it's an idle tell

when they hear about this. Okay, all 11

still doesn't answer the question cuz

what if there's evidence that maybe some

of them did end up believing before

seeing him? Okay, either way, they

didn't believe just based on eyewitness

testimony. Let's go to Mark 16. Okay,

we'll go 9 through 16 here. Still asking

ourselves the question, can we find any

evidence that any of the 11 disciples

believed uh that Jesus had risen from

the dead without having to see it for

themselves?

Verse 9. Now when he rose early on the

first day of the week, he appeared first

to Mary Magdalene, from whom he had cast

out seven demons. She went and told

those who had been with him as they

mourned and wept. But when they heard

that he was alive and had been seen by

her, they would not believe it.

So again, an evidence that they it

didn't just say that they did not

believe it. They would not believe it.

Okay. Verse 12. After these things, he

appeared in another form to two of them

as they were walking into the country,

and they went back and told the rest,

but they did not believe them.

So now it sounds like two of the 11 to

me saw him in another form. I don't know

exactly what that means. It seems that

Jesus uh disguised himself in terms of

appearance. And so maybe that's what it

means, but I'm not exactly certain what

it means. Either way, they recognized

him and they told the rest. They went

back and told the rest, but they did not

believe them. So 11 saw it uh or two two

extra saw it and believed it. So now we

already know two that only believed once

they saw it. They tell the rest. Even

once it's guys they were close buddies

with and spent a lot of time with Jesus

telling him, "No, it's really true."

Still, they didn't believe it. Verse 14.

Afterward, he Jesus appeared to the 11

themselves as they reclining a table and

rebuked them for their unbelief and

hardness of heart because they had not

believed those who saw him after he had

risen.

Okay? So Jesus actually tells them that

their unbelief in not believing without

saying shows their hardness of heart. He

rebukes them for that. And you might

think, well, that's the answer then

because Jesus said that uh none of them

believed based on testimony. However,

there's one more passage we have to go

to. Uh there is evidence that there was

one of the 11 disciples who believed

without having seen him. Okay, he seems

to be getting rebuked here along with

all the rest of them. There's some

evidence for maybe why, but basically

that's your answer. Let's go to John.

John chapter 20

John 20 · chapter mention

actually um

I have the wrong verse written down. I'm

going to have to find it here for a

second. It might be earlier in John.

Yeah, it's early in chapter 20. Uh so I

won't have this one up. AV team. All

right. This is John chapter 20 and uh

John 20 · chapter mention

I'll read starting

um in verse three maybe. So Peter went

out with other disciple. Remember that

first verse that I gave you. Even though

they thought it was an idol tale

including Peter, Peter wanted to verify

it. So he runs the tomb. This is that

story. So Peter went out with the other

disciple. Uh when the gospel of John uh

when the author of the gospel of John,

who we believe to be John, um calls

himself the other, he won't identify

himself by name. We do believe it's

John, but he says the other disciple or

the disciple whom Jesus loved or the guy

that's faster than Peter. You'll see

that in a second. So Peter went out with

the other disciples and they were going

towards the tomb. Both of them were

running together. But the other disciple

outran the other disciple outran Peter

and reached the tomb first and stooped

and stooping to look in. He saw the

linen cloth lying there. But he did not

go in. Then Simon Peter came following

and went into the tomb and he saw the

linen cloth lying there and the face of

the cloth which had been on Jesus' head

not lying with the linen cloth but

folded up in a place by itself. Then the

other disciple who had reached the tomb

first also went in and he saw and

believed.

Okay, he's seen the empty tomb. The

question was, how many of the disciples

believed without having seen Jesus

personally before the resurrection? It

seems like John the other disciple is

the only one. However, verse 9, for as

yet they did not understand the

scripture that he must rise from the

dead. Then the disciples went back to

their homes.

And as I already said, it seems like all

11 are getting rebuked for their

unbelief based just on eyewitness

testimony. Jesus said that it was a sign

of hardness of their heart that they

would not believe in his resurrection

based exclusively on eyewitness

testimony. Okay. Now for the main

passage of today, the famous passage

about Thomas. However, like I said, I

think you can probably agree with me now

that he somewhat gets an unfair

treatment calling him doubting Thomas.

When the evidence we just looked at, and

all I could find, I'm I'm basically

certain this is right, there's only one

disciple that had any form of belief

about the resurrection,

and it's most likely John,

you know.

So, and I I really think it was John.

So, let's go to John 20 starting in

verse 24 and let's read the famous

verses about Thomas and how he insisted

that he would not believe unless he saw.

24 of John 20. Now Thomas, one of the 12

called the twin was not with them when

Jesus came. So the other disciples told

him, "We have seen the Lord." But he

said to them, "Unless I see in his hands

the mark and of the nails and place my

finger into the mark of the nails and

place my hand into his side, I will

never believe."

Pretty bold statement what he's saying.

Unless you give me absolute visible

eyewitness proof and I get to

investigate the nail scars, I will never

believe. I want to stop there for a

second and ask those of you and I don't

know so I'm not assuming but those of

you who in your own own heart uh would

say right now no I do not believe that

Jesus was resurrected from the dead and

maybe you believe that he died as a

martyr but you don't believe that he

died as the son of God or that his death

on the cross atones for sin or that your

sin actually needs to be atoned for

maybe you don't believe that I want to

ask you about your heart attitude

towards being willing willing to

believe. Um,

if God made it absolutely certain to you

that it was true and you just knew that

you knew in your heart, would you be

willing to believe? Would you be willing

to ask him to make it absolutely certain

to you in your heart?

Now, what he's not going to do, and what

he hasn't done for anyone in this room

who believes is

allow us to witness with our eyes the

resurrection of Jesus Christ. None of us

actually saw that. None of us are

eyewitnesses. In fact, if you think

about it,

the overwhelming vast majority of all

people who are saved throughout all

history and and time in the world did

not see that.

Okay, there's 500 maybe 500 plus people

that witnessed Jesus resurrected. He

appeared to that many people or more.

Uh let's say that I I have it very hard

to guess how many people believed this

or how many Old Testament saints were

saved by faith as well in whatever God

had revealed to them at that time about

his son.

Let's say it was a 100 million. That

would I think be unbelievably low guess

that it's onlyund 100 million people

throughout all of history. There's I

would think more than a 100red million

saved Christians on earth right now. But

let's just say it was that okay

uh 500 of a 100red million is like what

0.00005%

of people.

Have you ever wished that you were one

of those 500 people? And have you ever

thought you know I believe my faith

would be different. I'd be more certain.

I would be more bold in my witness. You

may have friends here today that you

invited, hoping that they come to faith

because you love them and you want to

spend eternity with them with God. You

may be here totally disinterested in the

gospel. It's more of a tradition than

anything else, but maybe willing, okay,

if it's really true, I'm willing to

investigate it. I'm willing to think

about it. Here's here's the thing. I

think that's the only honest attitude to

have because

you may say, "I don't even know if God

exists." But would you be willing to ask

him if he does? And would you be willing

to ask him this is true? And at least

presumably hypothetically, if you're

sort of hypothetically thinking maybe

God exists, you might be willing to

hypothetically believe that he has the

ability to make you certain of something

that you haven't seen,

right? Can God do that? Can God make

people certain? He's made me certain. I

didn't become certain from him myself. I

came certain became certain in a ve very

straightforward but still miraculous

way. I read his word and the Holy Spirit

helped me to believe it and I believe

it. And whether you believe me or not on

this next statement, this is really true

from the heart. I believe in the

resurrection more than I believe in

gravity. And I still don't jump off

roofs.

So I I really I think you all believe in

gravity, right? Like you've watched it

happen so many times. You've seen its

effects with your own eyes. You believe

that. But I I I would sooner disbelieve

that gravity exists than I would

disbelieve in the resurrection. In fact,

I think the maybe the greatest

compliment I've ever gotten in my life,

the more that I think about it was a

young guy that I was mentoring and he

said, "Mate, I've noticed something

about you. You've built your whole life

around the resurrection." And I'd been

the prodigal, so this isn't to my uh

like I don't get any credit for this. I

I lived a wild and rebellious life. Uh,

honestly, I doubt there's anybody in

this room that did worse things than

I've done. And I'm not exaggerating.

Those of you who know me know. Um,

but he said, "You've built your life

around the resurrection so much." And he

said, "You know, I play this video game

and when you kill the final boss, all

the effects of that final boss are gone

from the world." So, it's like a gloomy

dark world and then you kill the final

boss and it becomes a light world and

all his evil effects are gone. And that

made me think, you live your life in

such a way that you would have no reason

for anything in life if the resurrection

wasn't true.

Never heard anybody say that to anybody.

And I looked at my life, I'm like,

"Yeah, I didn't didn't before." God did

something. It it's a both simple and

impossible thing. And he made

me in my heart believe that I was a

sinner, that Jesus died for that sin and

that I could be forgiven. And I

experienced in my heart genuine

forgiveness.

I every day that I would wake up,

especially towards the end of high

school and in college, I would wake up

feeling guilty. The more bad things that

I did, and I was also very angry at God.

So I was doing bad things to hurt him. I

was doing them on purpose. I was even at

times in prayer challenging him. You say

that you're just, but you're not even

going to give me any consequences for

doing these terrible things. So, I'm

going to do them even worse just to

prove to you you don't even do anything

that you say you do. Was that angry at

him?

So, I did a bunch of really evil things.

And

then he communicated through Matthew 13

uh that I was a counterfeit Christian.

And I was so so convicted. It felt like

a knife, white hot knife to the heart.

And I just knew I needed to repent of

all of the evil things I had done. And

now I was actually afraid of being

condemned. I was afraid of all the guilt

cuz he brought it to the surface. I

would suppress it. A lot of the things

that I did uh like alcohol and

everything. I see a lot of young kids

here, so I'm just not I'm going to leave

everything basically PG. But a lot of

things I did were to anesthetize and

suppress my sense of overwhelming guilt.

Just felt so guilty. more and more every

year as a bad man. And

and and then I repented of that because

God caused me to showed me in his word

that this is what you deserve for all of

that sin. And I repented of it. And I

don't know how else to describe it. And

you could say, well, that's just your

experience. But I

had lost any sensation of the crushing

weight of guilt. I had lost any

sensation of the crushing. It was gone.

And then I told my roommate, mind you,

I've never seen Jesus resurrected from

the dead. I have only heard about it in

the word

and I believe it. I believe it with

certainty in my heart. I based my whole

life on it. I told a friend and he'd

seen a dramatic change in my life and

within a week he had come to faith. And

then he told me, "You know what? My dad

was an alcoholic. I lost him because of

alcoholism. And when I drank with you

and binge drank, I would wake up in the

mornings in tears because I was walking

down the very same road that cost me my

relationship to my dad. Sin he he was

committing with alcoholism I was

committing and I cannot no matter what I

do, I can't get rid of the guilt. And

now it's gone

and I believe.

His name is Cole Smith and he's still a

good friend of mine and he's a deacon in

a church in uh Springfield, Oregon.

So, do you experience guilt? I

experience guilt. I don't believe anyone

doesn't. We can suppress it. We can

repress it. We can try to anestize it.

Take some powerful things to neest it.

Those don't make it any better. They

always make it worse.

But

is your attitude like Thomas's? Unless I

see absolute proof, I will never

believe. Let's continue. Verse 26. 8

days later, his disciples were inside

again, and Thomas was with them.

Although the doors were locked, Jesus

came and stood among them and said,

"Peace be with you."

Do you believe that?

>> I believe that.

But the way that it's written makes it

sound impossible, cuz it is. Cuz you

don't just walk through doors and don't

just walk through walls and there's no

other way into the house. And he just

stands among them.

Resurrection. Jesus doesn't follow the

rules anymore, does he? I love him for

it. Eight days later, his disciples were

inside again and Thomas was with them.

And although the doors were locked,

Jesus came and stood among them and

said, "Peace be with you."

It's a humble flex, isn't it? Just,

"Hey, I'm here." And he knows exactly

what he's doing. And then he said to

Thomas, first person he addresses after

just appearing in the room with locked

doors. People didn't walk through walls

back then either.

Put your finger here and see my hands

and put out your hand and place it in my

side. Do not disbelieve but believe.

Thomas said, "I will never believe."

Jesus said, "Do not disbelieve but

believe."

Thomas answered him, "My Lord and my

God." And Jesus said to him, "Have you

believed because you have seen me?

Blessed are those who have not seen me

and yet have believed."

Thomas was blessed for getting to see

Jesus and see his nail scars.

Jesus saying, "The blessing for

believing without absolute proof is even

greater."

So, just to the Christians in the room,

I know you already have a celebratory

attitude. I know not everything in life

is good. I know some things in life have

been really hard, especially lately in

our church, especially

we lost someone we love very much.

But

there's still this room to celebrate. I

want you to I want you to think about

this. I want you to think about

you're more blessed than Thomas for

believing without seeing.

So that ought to show you right there

that the Lord of all the universe, the

God who died for you, Jesus Christ is

his name,

said and and therefore it is certain

that it's better to not be one of the

500 people

among whom it seems at least among the

11 who were closest to him, who spent

the most time with him, who heard him

say most often and could even ask

real-time questions that he would die

and rise Again, only one believed or had

some kind of form of belief and didn't

doubt. And even he did not believe based

on it just being reported to and

reported to him. And yet everyone here

who's saved has believed solely based on

the reporting of those apostles and

disciples and the men who wrote

scripture. How blessed are you for

believing that? And search your heart.

Are is it not exactly like me? You know

that you know that it's true.

You know that you know that it's true.

You just know that he was resurrected.

You know that he can walk through walls.

It's not hard for you to believe that.

It's impossible for you not to cuz it's

just you would like be denying the main

thing that's true. Now, I do know that

sometimes Christians struggle with doubt

about the resurrection. And what should

you do with that? Well, let's go to one

of the very last piece uh pieces of

evidence from scripture. This is and you

may have never seen this. It's kind of

wild because the first question was did

any of the disciples believe uh without

seeing? Let me ask you my last question

for the day. Did any of them not believe

or have doubt even after seeing?

Cuz if that's the case, if I can show

you even one verse where one of the 11

or more did not believe, even after

seeing him alive, appear, eat with them,

talk with them, let somebody else put

their hands in his nail scars and the

side in his hands,

didn't believe, then seeing Jesus alone

must not be fully effective to cause you

to

Also going back to the story about uh

Thomas,

he saw that it was Jesus. He believed

that it was Jesus. But what does he say?

He says, "My Lord and my God."

Was it by sight that Christ's divinity

was revealed to him? Cuz Christ is not

yet glorified. He has a resurrection

body, but it doesn't say anything about

him looking like Revelation Jesus where

he's just face shining as bright as the

sun. You see him, you fall dead cuz

there's no more veiling of his glory.

So, how exactly did Thomas know that

Jesus was God? Well, we know exactly

according to Jesus that that is only

revealed to you by the father. That's

what he says to Peter when Peter has the

confession.

You're the Christ, son of the living

God. You're the Messiah. Everyone else

says, "Oh, he's Elijah, some prophet,

this and that. He's John the Baptist."

No, you're the Christ.

So, that according to Jesus is only

revealed to you by the Father.

Now, but what if what if there were some

of the 11 that didn't even believe after

seeing it? Let's go to Matthew 28:16.

Matthew 28:16

Now the 11 disciples disciples went to

Galilee to the mountain to which Jesus

had directed them. This is likely the

mount of ascension. Um where Jesus

ascended into heaven just

in front of their eyes right

that ascension doesn't appear in the

gospel gospel of Matthew. You have to

find it somewhere else. But that's in

general what we believe is happening

here. But this is what Jesus said. And

when they had when they saw him, they

worshiped him. But some doubted. Let me

read those two verses again. Now the 11

disciples went to Galilee to the

mountain to which Jesus had directed

them. And when they saw him, they

worshiped him. But some doubt it.

Now, put your student of the Bible hat

on. And you probably can't say this with

absolute certainty before you get to

study it yourself. Um, but just

intuitively, do you believe from all

your knowledge from the New Testament

that the apostles, the 11 disciples

became apostles, that every one of them

was saved? It's not a trick question. I

think they all were, but at this point,

some of them doubted,

right? I have no reason to believe that

they weren't. And my best evidence would

be from Acts chapter 2, where they're

Acts 2 · chapter mention

all indwelt with the Holy Spirit. You

cannot be indwwellled with the Holy

Spirit without truly believing. But at

this point, sometime before the

ascension, some of the 11 disciples who

have definitely see them seen him and

are looking at him right now, who

witnessed the crucifixion, know that he

was put in a tomb and was actually dead

are they're looking at him still

doubted.

So that shows you that actually faith,

faith itself must not be a thing that

can just be accomplished by sight. There

must be something wrong with us where

seeing isn't even believing.

I believe I caught a bird this morning.

I remember it. I was an eyewitness to

the happening. I have picture evidence

of it. I believe that there's

blueberries as big as ping pongs. And I

believe that my son can jump out of a

boat and catch a big trout. I saw it

with my eyes. I I find it hard to

believe that you could see something and

just not believe it. But here it is.

Here it is. Okay. So, what I've proven

so far is that basically almost none of

the disciples sans one believed without

seeing and even some didn't really fully

believe after seeing. Okay? And that's

the men who became the apostles. So, if

you're here today and you're already a

Christian, but you have some doubt in

the resurrection, what should you do?

Last verse and we'll conclude.

Um, this is from Acts 1:8.

Acts 1:8

Jesus says this,

Acts 1:8, "But you will receive power

Acts 1:8

when the Holy Spirit has come upon you,

and you will be my witnesses in

Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria

and to the end of the earth."

Being Christ's witnesses to the ends of

the earth was not just about the 11

disciples, wasn't it? Was it? It's also

about us. From the perspective of the

ancient near east in Jerusalem, we're at

the ends of the earth in Oregon,

right? And yes, I know how to say it

properly.

I'm not going to prove it though. You

just have to believe it by faith.

So,

what is this saying about the power to

be a witness? Which obviously means you

you believe cuz you have this power to

be a witness. If you fast forward it to

Acts 4, the believers pray that they

would have a bolder witness and be

filled with boldness and they're asking

the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit

shows up and they all become bold.

Did you ever think, I'm not assuming you

did, did you ever think that the reason

why the apostles are so bold is because

they saw it? Some of them saw and doubt

it. Doubters aren't bold.

Doubt will undermine your boldness and

witness. So seeing isn't even where our

boldness comes from. And Jesus said,

"It's more blessed to believe and not

see." And you you believe, don't you? I

know many of you. I believe you believe

and you didn't see. So you have a

greater revelation.

And it's not going to help you to see

because we already saw that those that

saw still doubted. And yet what Jesus is

saying here is that the power to be

witnesses and in this case I'm just

speaking to Christians comes from the

Holy Spirit. So if you mix in Romans 10

and I was to answer the question, how

does someone come to faith? I would say

Paul and God's word very clearly says by

hearing God's word preached. And then I

would add to that as mediated by the

Holy Spirit. And if you're asking how

come I I want to be bold. I have a

friend at work that's not saved. I have

a friend here that I want to tell the

gospel, but I've never told the gospel.

I want to show them. I want to give them

my testimony, but I'm afraid. How can I

become bolder? The ministry of the word

of God mediated in the power of the

spirit. It is a function directly of the

Holy Spirit of God who is God living in

you that you would have a bold witness.

It's something he shows to the eyes of

your heart that even sometimes if the

eyes of your head see it will still

disbelieve. But then if he shows it to

the eyes of your heart, if he makes it

clear to your inner person, if if he's

living in you, it's called the inner

witness of the Holy Spirit, then you

just know that you know that you know

and you can understand what I mean that

we believe that he has risen more than

we believe in gravity.

So don't say to yourself, "If only God

had done more than I would believe."

God's already done more for you than he

did for the 500 eyewitnesses because you

believe without seeing. And some of them

didn't even believe was seeing. And if

you're here and you're not sure,

are you in that place that I consider

dishonest? Because why would you not

want to believe something that's true?

And why would you say for certain that

it's not true without asking God if it

is? And if he can do what I just said,

why not why not find out? Why not ask

him? And the way that you would do that,

even if it doesn't happen for you today,

and I hope it happens for you today, I

want to pray a prayer with you and then

conclude.

The reason, the way you would do that is

the very same thing. Ask God to show you

it to be true to the eyes of your heart,

that inner person, that epicenter of

where you make decisions about what

you're going to believe, whether you've

seen it or not. Ask him to make it

clear, absolutely certain in your heart

through his word.

So don't say I don't believe without

even investigating his word because God

has chosen that only his word as

mediated by the Holy Spirit brings

faith. Not even sight brings faith.

That's not where it comes from. That's

not even what revealed to Thomas that

Jesus is God.

Right? It just overcame his

unwillingness to believe. And maybe

there was a part of Thomas that didn't

want to be tricked. And it's like, I

want to believe, but I got to see it.

You got to prove it. Maybe you feel that

way, too. As someone who doesn't yet

believe, maybe you feel like, well, can

you just prove it to me? He's not going

to do that by sight. And that's not

where faith comes from, but he will do

it through his word, by the power of the

Holy Spirit. And why not ask for him to

make that clear to you even right now?

As I pray for you, I want to pray a

prayer for both Christians who may be

struggling with doubt of any kind, maybe

even doubt as deep as doubt in the

resurrection. I want to pray a prayer

that the Holy Spirit would fill you with

boldness this Easter. And I want to

challenge you, especially if God's

already put it in your heart, to share

the gospel clearly without mincing

words, without removing the offense that

people need to be forgiven for their sin

or they cannot be saved. What did Jesus

him sayself say? repent and believe.

One of the reasons I think one of the

reasons scripture says that people would

not believe is it requires the humility

of admitting that you don't deserve to

be saved. That you need to confess your

sin, that you are guilty, that God's

right, and that you need to be forgiven

and that he's just, and he can't just

leave the sin unpunished. And so, he

punished his son instead of you. And if

you believe that, you get his

righteousness even though all he got was

your sin and the consequence for it.

Believe that and you're saved. For if

you confess with your mouth that Jesus

is Lord and believe in your heart, your

heart doesn't have eyes. But if you

believe in your heart

that he raised God raised him from the

dead, you will be saved. It is that

simple. There's nothing you have to do,

nothing you have to accomplish. Just as

you are right now, confess with your

mouth.

Say, "I believe that Jesus is Lord."

Make him the Lord of your life. And then

believe in your heart that God raised

him from the dead. If God has done that

for you today, you are saved. And so I

want to lead us in a prayer both for

those who are doubting and those who

have never yet believed.

Heavenly Father,

I pray that you would help us in your

unbelief.

I pray that you would make us willing to

believe more deeply as Christians.

I pray that you would settle our doubts

and turn them into certainties by the

power of your word, through the

mediation of your Holy Spirit. And for

those who are not yet saved, it is not

complicated to be saved. It is not

simple in the sense that it's not just

something we can just say, well, I got

to see it and then I'll believe it. If

you show me, I'll believe. It's

something that you have to make clear to

our hearts by your Holy Spirit.

It's something that takes your

supernatural power. And so this prayer

that you could follow along here and

that people could surrender in their

hearts to you, Lord. I pray that they

would be willing to pray it and that

this Easter 2026 would be the day of

their salvation.

Here's the prayer.

Lord,

I admit that I'm a sinner.

I ask for forgiveness for all my sin.

I believe that Jesus died on the cross

and I believed that you raised him back

to life.

Lord, please save me.

Even as we continue praying and speaking

to the Lord, if if you made that

commitment in your heart, if you find

yourself believing today, we want to

know.

We want to help you. We want to come

come alongside of you and be of use to

you in your continued growth, but also

just encouraging you in your newfound

faith and salvation. So, please let us

know,

Father. Now, as we continue in worship,

we continue as those who have been

redeemed. Those who, though they die,

will have everlasting life with you. We

celebrate you because you are the author

of life, conqueror of death, and you are

the resurrection.

Amen.