The Christians Hour

Guest (Male): You are listening to The Christians Hour. Thank you for joining us today. It is a joy to welcome you to our program. The Christians Hour is a ministry of Gospel Broadcasting Mission, where we use radio and media to proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ to the ends of the Earth until all have heard.

Can I ask you, have you ever struggled with doubt in your life? Maybe you have wrestled with questions about your faith, or even questioned the goodness of God? Perhaps there are questions you have about Jesus that you have carried quietly, unsure where to find answers, or hesitant to ask others out of fear that your faith might be misunderstood.

Many people wrestle with these same doubts. In today's message, Rick Atchley, teaching pastor of The Hills Church in Fort Worth, Texas, shares a powerful lesson drawn from the struggles of one of Jesus's 12 disciples. We will see how Jesus responds to doubt and explore if it may actually strengthen one's faith when it is brought to Him.

Here's Rick.

Rick Atchley: You never reach a stage in life where you do not need to exercise your faith.

Now, I have walked with Jesus a long time. And I am full of faith most of the time. But I do struggle with the occasional bout of doubt.

It tends to occur most regularly when I am praying for a miracle. I am praying for someone to be healed, someone to receive deliverance, a prodigal to come home, and I believe God can do all those things. I struggle to believe He is going to do it because I prayed.

I do not think confessing that I struggle sometimes with doubt makes me bad. I think it makes me human.

We will see more of what I mean in a moment. But doubt is going to come. When doubt appears, what we need and what we should expect is that Jesus appears, even for those who doubt.

And so, we pick up in John 20, verse 19. "On the evening of the first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jewish leaders, Jesus came and stood among them and said, 'Peace be with you.' After He said this, He showed them His hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord." Of course they were.

But keep reading in verse 24. "Now Thomas, also known as Didymus, one of the 12, was not with the disciples when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, 'We have seen the Lord!'" But he said to them, "Unless I see the nail marks in His hands and put my finger where the nails were and put my hand into His side, I will not believe."

Now, you may never have read a Bible, but I bet you have heard the phrase "doubting Thomas." Does anyone in history have more right to complain about a nickname than Thomas?

I mean, James and John wanted the best seats in the kingdom, they wanted to call down fire on Samaritans, we do not call them prideful James and vengeful John. Peter denied Jesus within hours of swearing he would never do it. We do not call him denying Peter.

But we all know of doubting Thomas, and we assume by the nickname he was a man that had a weak backbone, he was flimsy, he was a waffler. Wrong. Thomas was not a man of weak conviction.

We know this because in John 11, when Jesus said, "Let us go to Bethany," the disciples said, "Lord, they tried to kill You the last time You went there." And Thomas said, "Let us go that we can die with Him." In other words, Thomas said, "If they are going to kill Him, they are going to have to kill me too." This was not a man of weak conviction.

By the way, it should be remembered that when the disciples got the first reports from the women that Jesus was alive, they all doubted too. Do not forget this, that first Sunday night when Jesus showed up and Thomas was gone, He showed all the disciples His hands and His side.

So, Thomas gets this report. He is not asking for special favor, he is asking for equal treatment. He is just asking for what they got. The fact that he said, "I cannot believe it till I see that," it speaks to the horror of what he saw. You and I have never seen a man flogged and crucified.

Thomas did. And his last memory of what Jesus looked like made it hard to believe they could be telling the truth.

Thomas was not a hardened skeptic. He was a disappointed believer. It is not that he is unwilling to believe, he is just in his current situation unable to believe. He had legitimate questions.

Acknowledging real questions is crucial to exercising and developing real faith. I am going to give you three big ideas today, and here is the first: God wants to be loved with your mind. Jesus said, "Love God with all your heart, your soul, your mind, and your strength." You do not turn your brain off to be a disciple of Jesus. God is not afraid of hard, authentic conversations.

He will acknowledge that faith is a struggle, even when we are afraid to, and He welcomes the dialogue. We have this all through the Bible. Read the Psalms. A lot of doubt surfaces in the Psalms. Read the book of Habakkuk. "Why, God? How long, God? What are You doing, God?" Read the book of Job, as one doubt after another pours out. But at the end of the book of Job, God pushes back, and it is an interesting tension in the Bible that God welcomes hard questions. He does not welcome questioning His character.

Every parent knows this. There is a time when you want your child to do something, and they do not understand, it makes no sense. They are asking, "Why? Why? Why?" But it is an authentic search for understanding. Then there is the child that says, "Why?" because the spirit of rebellion has reared its head. They do not want to do what you want, even if they understand. God knows the difference of why you are asking why.

If it is sincere, if it is authentic, He always welcomes the prayer, "God, I do believe, but help my unbelief."

You see, doubt is a part of living in a fallen world trying to follow a risen Savior. It can come from all kinds of places. There can be intellectual doubt. Think about John the Baptist. No one knew Jesus better. But when they throw John in prison, he starts to struggle, and he sends messengers to Jesus, "Are You the one?"

And we can have intellectual doubt. Who is Jesus? Can we trust this book we call the Bible? Where did it come from? Is there evidence that He actually came back from the dead? These are good questions and there are good answers. Some doubts are intellectual. Some are more relational. In other words, we get hurt by people.

That father that prayed that prayer, "I believe, but help my unbelief," he had brought a boy, a very sick boy, filled with a demon, to the disciples, and they could not cast him out because they did not have enough faith. And sometimes people doubt God and His goodness because the people of God have failed them. They see the hypocrisy, they see the duplicity, and they wonder, "If this is what God's people are like, then what is God like?"

But I think most of us, most of us find our doubt is rooted in a circumstantial situation. Life is hard. Life kicks you in the gut. Storms come, and sufferings come, and you do not have answers, and you wonder if God cares.

Remember Peter. He is out walking on that water toward Jesus, and he sees that storm, and he sees that wind, and he sees those waves, and he starts to sink. Jesus reaches and says, "Why did you doubt?" Now, He is not addressing a skeptic. Peter left everything to follow Jesus. Peter got out on the water because of Jesus. When Peter started to sink, he said, "Help me, Lord." Peter is not a skeptic. Peter is a believer that in the moment does not have as much faith as he needs.

Jesus gets that. For most of us, it is not faith or doubt, it is faith and doubt.

A clear example of this is in Matthew 28. Jesus is about to ascend. He is commissioning the disciples, and it reads, "The 11 disciples went to Galilee to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. When they saw Him, they worshiped Him, but some doubted."

Now, let us be honest. Some doubt is not honest. Some doubt is a dodge. I have talked with people who talk about, "I cannot follow Jesus, I have too many doubts." Well, your problem is not the legitimacy of Jesus, your problem is surrender to Jesus calls on you to live a life you do not want to live. And your doubt is just a dodge.

But for many, many people, doubt is not an excuse. It is exercise. The church needs to be a safe place for them to give their faith a workout. Jesus had a little brother who wrote a little book. In that book there is a little verse that is really important. It simply says, "Be merciful to those who doubt."

The message says, "Go easy on those who hesitate in the faith." And that is exactly what Jesus does. We are going to see Jesus appear, and He is going to show such incredible mercy to someone with questions.

So, verse 26, "A week later." Okay, stop right there. Why did Jesus wait a week? I do not know. Why did He just show up the next day, Jesus? Why do You give Thomas a whole week to wrestle? I do not know, but evidently Jesus knows that sometimes we need some time to get honest with our doubts.

"A week later, His disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, 'Peace be with you.' 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.'"

See, there can be no doubt that Jesus cares about people who doubt. He shows up and just like He said a week before, "Peace be with you." He did not say, "Peace to you, except for Thomas. What are you doing here?"

You see, what Jesus knows is Thomas is not using doubt as a dodge. After all, why was Thomas still hanging out with the disciples one week later? What is he doing among the believers if he has trouble believing?

See, deep down he wanted to believe, or he would not have been in their company. What is significant is that the other disciples gave Thomas a place and a space to wrestle with his questions. They did not say, "Thomas, you have no place at our table until you get it figured out, and until you believe what we told you." They gave him that place and they gave him that space.

When it is hard to hold on to faith, put yourself in a place where people of faith can hold on to you. Here is the second big idea. You do not have to remove all your doubts to move in Jesus' direction. Just show up unsure and wait for Jesus to show up.

See, it appears that the chief reason that Jesus appears the second time is for Thomas. Jesus is willing to meet Thomas's demands, which is an incredibly humble thing to do. Okay, Thomas, is that what you need? Then go ahead. Touch My hands. Get closer, put your hand in My side. If that is what you need.

Jesus lets Thomas take a few steps by sight to help him get to the place where he can walk by faith.

I believe Jesus still appears today, ready to show mercy to those that are authentically struggling to believe. Because the truth is, for most people, doubt is not overcome by a rational argument. It is overcome by a personal encounter. They have a dynamic meeting with the risen Christ.

Jesus will meet you where you are to move you where He wants you to be. He says, "Thomas, stop doubting and believe." Look how Thomas responds. Thomas said to Him, "My Lord and my God!" Do you understand the entire Gospel of John was written to elicit that one statement? Right after that, John says, "Now, I could not put in all the books in the world all the things I saw Jesus do. But the things in this book that I put, I put for one reason, so that you would believe that He is the Son of God, and that believing you will have life in His name." He wrote the whole book so that you would say, "My Lord and my God!"

So, the greatest statement of faith by a disciple was made by the man that was the latest to believe. Thomas is not an example of how to doubt. He is an example of how to press through doubt. And it appears that even when he doubted Jesus, Jesus never doubted him.

I have got to tell you, I like Thomas. In fact, I relate to Thomas. Because I am full of faith most of the time. But even in my unsure moments, I have lived long enough to be sure of this, I would rather wrestle with Jesus than do life without Him.

Rick Atchley: So, I was greatly influenced, especially in the first 20 years of my ministry, by an author, writer named John Stott from England.

About 20 years ago, The New York Times did an article on him, and a well-known musician, songwriter named Paul Simon read it. He was intrigued, and the next time he was in London, he requested to meet John Stott. They met in his modest little two-room apartment. Simon went off on all the problems he has with Christianity and all the problems he has with the hypocrisy in the church, and all the duplicity in church leaders. Stott interrupted him politely and said, "Excuse me, but what I am really interested in is what you think of Jesus."

That is the real question. Who is Jesus? I have come to a place in my life where I can say, "Jesus is my God." Not someone else's. He is mine. If Jesus is God, it makes total sense to me that He will never make total sense to me.

A God that is small enough to explain is not big enough to worship. I am not saying I have settled for an anti-intellectual faith. I cannot turn off my brain. I am saying I have put my faith in a God who is beyond finite intellect. I do not question the wisdom of following Jesus, even if some of my questions may never get resolved.

Here is what I have learned, it is my last big idea. When you know that Jesus is risen from the dead, you can live with what you may never know. That is where you have got to come. That is what you have got to decide. Did He come back from the dead?

Some of you have heard the name Rick Warren, many years pastor of the well-known church in California called Saddleback. You may know his wife, Kay, had a really tough battle with breast cancer, and then soon after that, his 27-year-old son Matthew took his life after years of battling with mental health struggles.

Rick has been asked many times, "How do you handle it? How do you cope with all that suffering?" He said, "The answer is Easter." On Friday there was pain and there was suffering. On Saturday there was just doubt and confusion. On Sunday there was triumph and victory. He says, "Every single person lives those three days over and over and over. You are going to have days full of suffering and pain. You are going to have days full of doubt and question. And you are going to have days where there is clarity and there is joy."

How are you going to deal with those days? How are you going to cope when the pain is so real, it is sucking your breath away? How are you going to deal with the things that you do not understand and you may never understand? How are you going to get to the place where there is joy? The answer is Easter.

When you know that Jesus is risen from the dead, you can live with what you may never know. He has risen from the dead, and He appears to those that have questions to raise. And maybe when He appears, He is going to give you the answers you want, or maybe He is just going to say, "Look at My hands."

Dr. Paul Brand is a well-known author and Christian physician. He served many years in leper colonies in India. If you know anything about leprosy, one of the first ways you see the signs are your hands. You can lose your digits and you can just have a stub on your arm.

So, he was asked one night to attend a fellowship, and they asked him to speak. He did not know he was going to be asked to speak, he was not prepared. The Lord gave him a word. He said, "I am a hand surgeon. Whenever I meet someone, almost without being able to stop, I look at their hands." He said, "I would have loved to have examined the hands of Jesus." No doubt they were gnarled, scarred. Jesus had crippled hands.

When he said that, the lepers, they started raising their arms up to heaven. He did not give them any rational explanation for their suffering. He just reminded them the risen Christ had scars.

Those scars tell us He knows about our pain, and those scars tell us He has got mercy on people that struggle. But most of all, those scars tell us something we can never doubt. We are loved to death.

Stop doubting and believe. I have learned that when Jesus appears, faith reappears. You can raise questions to a God that was raised. When the struggle is real, He will make Himself real.

I believe Jesus is now appearing to people that would rather wrestle with Him than do life without Him. So, show up, and I believe He will too.

Guest (Male): So, how about you? Are there unanswered questions or doubts that are holding your faith back from growing? Have you been keeping Jesus at a distance because you are wrestling with uncertainty about who He is? Friends, is it possible that the very thing you are doubting is the very thing Jesus wants to use to strengthen your faith? He is simply waiting for you to bring it to Him.

Listen, just because you may have doubts about Jesus, it does not mean He has doubts about you. His love for you does not change. He already knows what you are going through. So, it is time to bring those doubts to Him. Be honest, ask those questions. Wrestle with them in His presence. He would rather you come to Him with your doubts than to keep your distance and try to live without Him. You can raise your question to a God who has been raised.

Our thanks to Rick for this powerful message today. And our thanks as well to Acappella Ministries for providing today's song of worship. If you are new to our program or discovered us through one of our streaming platforms, we are so glad you are here. The Christians Hour exists to proclaim the truth of Jesus straight from the Bible with clarity and boldness. Our desire is for all to hear of His love and the salvation that comes through Him.

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