4-24-22 Grace-Tucson Sermon

Pastor Tim Patoka Witness Marches Victorious Over Restraint

April 24, 2022

God’s Written Witness for You John 20:19-31 1) To Believe that Jesus is the Risen Christ 2) To Have a Peaceful and Blessed Life When you watch a courtroom trial on TV or in a movie, there’s usually the search for that witness that conclusively proves your point while overcoming all opposition. You have the eyewitness account that speaks for itself. But this witness can also be object like a silent, smoking gun. It can also be the combination of circumstantial evidence like in the movie My Cousin Vinny where the skid marks, obstructed view, and magic grits proved the defense’s case. If you have the right witness, you can overcome any opposition.

These words from John chapter 20 are such a witness. In fact, they are God’s written witness for you for the purpose spelled out in our closing verse, “that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.” (John 20:31) As we review what happened in the locked room on the first Easter evening and the next week with Doubting Thomas, we’ll see how God’s written witness overcomes our doubting minds by clarifying who Jesus is so that we may believe in him as the Risen Christ. Then we’ll see how this written witness overcomes our hesitant hearts by giving to us the peaceful and blessed life we have because of our belief in Jesus.

To Believe That Jesus is the Risen Christ We first come across the disciples on that first Easter evening. The disciples initially doubted if it was truly Jesus in their midst. But once he showed them the witness of his nail-marked hands and spear-pierced side, Jesus overcame their doubts and the disciples rejoiced for they believed that Jesus is the Risen Christ.

For some reason, Thomas was not with the disciples on that first Easter evening.

When the disciples told him what he missed, Thomas refused to believe! Rather he would remain in unbelieving doubt unless he could physically examine Jesus’ nailmarked hands and spear-pierced side. Only then would Thomas cast his doubts aside and finally believe that Jesus is the Risen Christ.

Do you think Thomas was out of line – to demand proof before he would believe the impossible? While we may initially cast blame on Thomas, he was just being logical. It’s logical to demand proof when you doubt an unlikely truth before you’ll believe it. It’s probably safe to say that we all are praying for peace in 1

Pastor Tim Patoka Witness Marches Victorious Over Restraint

April 24, 2022

Ukraine and that it come in a peaceful way. If I were to tell you that as of this morning that peace came because Russia decided to just stop fighting, pack up their bags, and return home without demanding anything in return, would you believe me? Most likely no! You would doubt me and remain that way until you saw proof saying I’m right.

Did you experience any doubt during your Easter celebration last week? Did consider how impossible Jesus’ resurrection from the dead upon which all our joy comes from? Have you echoed Thomas and wanted to examine Jesus’ nail-marked hands and spear-pierced side so you could put away your doubts once and for all?

When our doubts go unanswered, they loom ever larger and play havoc with our faith.

Yet Jesus gives us the witness that overcomes our doubting minds. For Thomas and the disciples, it was his nail-marked hands and spear-pierced side.

While he haven’t seen Jesus’ actual body, we do have God’s written witness which is just as good. Our verses this morning were written by the Apostle John, an eyewitness to the events and whose character is credible. As he wrote these words, he was carried along by the Holy Spirit’s verbal inspiration to record God’s actual Word. And these words have since been vetted by countless scholars across the religious spectrum to assure us that what we have in our Bibles today is what was originally written down. Let there be no doubt in your mind about what happened to Jesus on Easter Sunday. He rose from the dead just as this written witness says.

This written witness also brings us to the purpose for which it was written – that we may believe that Jesus is the Risen Christ. Once Thomas’ doubts were cast aside, he gave his confession of faith by calling Jesus “My Lord and my God.” (John 20:28) In these verses, we also learn who to believe in. It’s Jesus who rose from the dead on Easter Sunday just as he said. He is the Christ, the Promised Savior, that sinners have been waiting for since the Garden of Eden. He is the Son of God who is right to be called both Lord and God by all people. And by the work of the Holy Spirit through this written witness, we join with Thomas and the disciples in calling Jesus my Lord, my God, my Risen Christ without a doubt in our mind.

From that belief in Jesus as the Risen Christ comes the second reason why God gave this written witness to us – to overcome our hesitant hearts with the peaceful and blessed life we now have through faith.

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Pastor Tim Patoka Witness Marches Victorious Over Restraint

April 24, 2022

To Have a Peaceful and Blessed Life When we come to faith in Jesus, we receive the victorious blessings he has won for us on Easter. Our verses this morning describe some of those blessings.

For one, we are alive in Christ rather than dead in our sins and have the promise of eternal life in heaven waiting for us. We also have peace in this life. When Jesus greeted Thomas and the disciples by saying, “Peace be with you” he was doing more than following the customs of his time. Jesus was giving them the peace that every repentant Christian has through the forgiveness of sins. That includes us too.

Because our sins of doubt and everything else have been taken away, we have peace with God. When Jesus told Thomas, “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” (John 20:29) he was not only referring those coming to faith without physically seeing Jesus, but also the full measure of blessings we have beyond our count or what we’ll talk about this morning.

Yet one blessing that Jesus did not promise us is immunity to hesitant hearts.

The disciples were hesitant to publicly proclaim their faith because they feared the Jewish leaders. We understand why they locked the doors that first Easter evening.

If the Jewish leaders had successfully orchestrated Jesus’ death 3 days earlier, what was stopping them from doing the same with his followers? Yet what did they do the following week with Doubting Thomas, after they saw and believed in the Risen Christ? Again the doors were locked for fear of the Jewish leaders! And so the disciples showed their hesitancy because of their less-than-complete trust in God for protection.

In what ways has your heart been hesitant to publicly proclaim your belief in Jesus as your Risen Christ? Thinking back to last week’s Easter celebrations, were there people you left off your “He is risen!” group text because you know how they would react? Did you purposefully stress the secular reasons for your Easter celebrations so you wouldn’t stick out as that religious person?

The peaceful and blessed life we have from believing in Jesus as our Risen Christ is not something we should be hesitant to share. For one, it can’t be taken away by anyone. It’s given to us by God through faith. And what is there to be hesitant about? Shouldn’t we publicly thank Jesus for the life he has given us both now and forevermore? Shouldn’t we tell others about the peace that Jesus gives us through repentance and forgiveness? Shouldn’t we have joy in our hearts because of all the blessings God has given us, even in the midst of fear and hardship? Of course we should! As this written witness tells us, these are all ours simply because we believe in Jesus. And from this peaceful and blessed life we have, the 3

Pastor Tim Patoka Witness Marches Victorious Over Restraint

April 24, 2022

hesitations in our heart are conquered so that may boldly share with others who rose from the dead on Easter Sunday and what his promises are.

Closing Encouragements A witness that overcomes all opposition. That’s what you look for in a courtroom trial and that’s what we have in these verses before us. These words are God’s written witness to you and me for the twofold purpose to believe that Jesus is the risen Christ and that, by believing, we have the peaceful and blessed life God promises.

When you find yourself doubting what happened on Easter or who Jesus is, go to these inspired and vetted words to know the truth – Jesus is your Lord, your God, your Risen Christ. While it is an impossible truth, this is what truly happened because of God’s miraculous power to secure your salvation.

When you find yourself hesitant to share the peaceful and blessed life we now have through faith, go to these words. Take heart in knowing that the disciples themselves struggled with this too. But also remember that you have nothing to be shameful for or to stay quiet about. Jesus rose so that all may believe in him and have the peaceful and blessed life that comes from it. And you and I have the privilege and the pleasure to share the Easter news that he is risen, he is risen indeed. Amen.

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