Identified With Him (John 11:16; John 20:28)

The Shepherd's Church

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Hello everyone and welcome to our Lord's Day service. Today is Easter, which means that he has risen and he has arisen

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Indeed, I pray that as we declare the Word of God that you would be strengthened and encouraged in your faith

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God bless you know for good or center character and then they begin to make

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Categorizations about us based on the way that we act for instance Maybe you are at a job and you have a co -worker who's constantly angry and you and your friends have nicknamed him hot -head

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Harry Maybe you've got an aunt who loves to gossip and she's loose -lipped

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Linda Maybe in an argument a husband is trying to be helpful and he tells his wife.

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Why are you always so emotional? Don't ever say that Maybe It's a positive thing, maybe you've got a friend who you say wow, they're always so joyful They're always so happy.

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See we tend to be categorized by our behavior it's not uncommon for people who know us to make generalizations about us based off of the way that we behave and Generally speaking.

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It's our worst and ugliest moments that ending up that end up defining us

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There's nowhere where this is more true than in the case of Thomas Who has forever been?

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universally dubbed the doubter His ugliest scene in his life is what defines him even 2 ,000 years later how often is that the case for us that our ugliest moments end up defining us and Hopefully not for 2 ,000 years

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But what I want us to see today about Thomas Is that there's so much more to this man than one moment of his life actually today

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We're gonna look at five moments of his life five moments that could have defined him

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But what I want us to see today that there was only actually one moment that ends up defining Thomas and spoiler alert

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It's not as doubt So what I want us to do so I want us to look at this Man, we're gonna start in John 11 where we've been at in our current series and John We're gonna track with him through the gospel of John.

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We're gonna end in John 20 where he makes Perhaps the greatest declaration ever uttered So let's pray and then let's begin

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Lord it is true that we are often defined by our very ugly moments where people's opinion of us are shaped by moments of doubt moments of sin and failure selfishness and Yet Lord here we have an example

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Of a man who is trying to understand who you are and he has multiple different negative examples four of them in fact that Cast him in such a negative light and yet Lord in The light of your glory and your grace standing face to face with you

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He's redefined Lord I pray that today we would see how our

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Definition as a human doesn't come from our behavior if we're in Christ But it comes from the new creation

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That he's given us We ask that in Jesus name. Amen.

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The first time that we meet Thomas in the gospel. He's angry He's agitated and he's annoyed and if that were the moment that defined him 2 ,000 years later

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We would know him as the angry Thomas or the fussy Thomas or the agitated Thomas, but it wasn't he was known as the doubting

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Thomas, but he this moment he's angry in John 11 If you remember back a few weeks ago

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Jesus his ministry in John 10 was in pure Danger, the Pharisees had grabbed stones in order to kill

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Jesus and so they have to hightail it out of Jerusalem just in order for Jesus to to not die

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Then they go back to Jerusalem in John 11 after they've retreated they go back to Jerusalem in order to heal

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Lazarus now the disciples would have been thinking what in the world is Jesus doing? I imagine that when

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Jesus delayed and said we're not going to go back to Jerusalem. This sickness will not end in death

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I'm imagining Thomas who's also a pragmatist who also evaluate certain things. He was probably like hey, that's a good idea

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Jesus Why would you go back to the place that wants to kill you? That doesn't make any sense

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Thomas loved Jesus He enjoyed being in Jesus's ministry. He enjoyed seeing all of the things that Jesus was doing

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Why would Jesus go back and risk getting killed and all of them killed? for one guy

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So Thomas probably thought that that made sense, but when Jesus said, you know what we are going back

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Thomas was angry Thomas was frustrated and Thomas is the kind of guy that always likes to get the last word.

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I don't know if you've ever met anybody like that. I Can be like that Thomas is like that every time that he speaks in the gospel.

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He's trying to get the last word the final word He's trying to say something Thomas is so angry

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That Jesus is ready to go back to Jerusalem. He just can't stand it He's the one not Peter who pipes up and says well, let us go and die

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With Jesus no one says anything they all just kind of marching awkwardness towards Jerusalem Now I do want to be clear

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Thomas is not being sarcastic here He's not saying Yes I've been waiting to die

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This world things not working out for me. I don't like it. You don't like it. Let's all just go sacrifice ourself

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That's not what he's saying. He's angry because his expectation of what

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Jesus's ministry was going to be doesn't line up with what Jesus's Expectation was for his ministry.

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This man was invested. He believed in the ministry He supported the mission of the ministry and she felt like Jesus was being reckless

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Now Thomas actually was right about the outcome not about Jesus being reckless Jesus did go to Bethany the

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Pharisees Commissioned a group of people to arrest him and murder him They had to flee from Jerusalem in order for Jesus's life to be spared again and John 12

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They're coming back a second time Thomas is like, why are we doing this? he was angry and That emotion could have defined him

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That's the first emotion that we see in Thomas He's angry. The second emotion that we see is that he was thoroughly confused by Jesus Now if you remember

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John 10, they're fleeing Jerusalem John 11, they're back in Jerusalem John 11 They're back fleeing again. And then John 12, they're back.

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Thomas probably felt like he was on a roller coaster ride of emotions Jesus what are you doing to me? they were all confused as They head towards the city on Palm Sunday They're up early in the morning

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On the Mount of Olives with the Sun at Jesus's back Jesus is mounting the donkey that's gonna take him down the hill and into the city of Jerusalem and at that moment the disciples

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Seem to be in a worshipful place All of the frustration and stress and all of the anxiety that have occurred recently

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Seems to have passed Luke tells us that they were singing songs as they went down the hill which would have been a very

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Traditional thing for a Jew to do there's a section of Psalms Psalm 120 through Psalm 134

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That is called the songs of ascent as you are ascending up to Jerusalem during the

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Passover season Especially you are singing the Psalms just like we sing the Psalms every week

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Psalm 120 is about God's presence during times of distress Psalm 121 is joyful praise to the

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Lord Psalm 122 is praying for Jerusalem Psalm 134 is praising God in his temple there is all of these

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Psalms that they would be singing their songs of actual victory as They were walking up the hill to the place where God had chosen to manifest his glory

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So they were in a worshipful moon they've been angry they've been confused they've been upset now They're worshiping the gamut of their emotions was all over the place.

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You can imagine they're probably a little emotionally exhausted Then they come into the city The city's laying palm branches on the ground.

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They're shouting Hosanna in the highest Lord Jesus save us now They see Jesus Reenacting the psalm on ik ride up to the city as we talked about a few weeks ago in Kings Jesus is showing them that he is their coming

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King He's showcasing that he is the reality of Zechariah chapter 9.

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He is the king so the disciples are

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Probably now encouraged. They're probably thinking Jesus. Okay, he's gonna rain.

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He's gonna sit on the throne of his father David it's all gonna work out and Then Jesus as he is oft to do

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Throws them into confusion again Instead of letting well enough alone.

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Jesus cleanses the temple. He overturns the money changers he chases out the robbers and all of those people who were polluting the temple with whips and he says my house is a house of prayer not a house of robbery

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So now the Jews are infuriated with him. The city was just celebrating him and now they're infuriated

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You can imagine Thomas saying The next day

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Jesus comes back into the city and he verbally excoriates the Pharisees with parable after parable after parable saying that I'm going to take the kingdom of God away from you and I'm going to give it to the

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Gentiles the Pharisees were like what in the world is this man talking about but it doesn't stop there

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After he tells them these parables that they would have at a moment's notice killed him if they could then he pronounces seven

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Covenantal woes upon them. You can read that in Matthew 23 where he says woe to you

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Pharisees hypocrites Woe to you seven Covenantal curses upon these people who think that they're

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God's gift to the world You can imagine Thomas every single woe that Jesus pronounces

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They hightail it out of Jerusalem after that One of the disciples points to Jesus and says look at all these buildings and Jesus says don't worry about it

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They're all gonna be torn down So the spirits are high They go from there to the upper room and in the upper room

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We have that in John 13 through 17, so we'll be coming up on that soon in our time together

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But Jesus is teaching them now how they're going to live life without him and they have no idea what he's talking about They're all confused thoroughly

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They're thinking Okay, we've had a rough couple days We get through Passover. We'll re will rework it

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We'll draw up a new chart on how we're gonna take over Israel. Everything will be fine Jesus is trying to tell them

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I'm leaving and you are gonna abandon me And you're gonna forsake me

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During the meal Jesus predicts his betrayal and he says one of you is going to sell me out and then imagine all of them saying

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Jesus this is a happy time. This is Passover. Why are you talking like this? They're saying, you know,

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Jesus don't be that guy But no really they're all asking themselves Is it me?

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Am I the one who would betray my Lord? Jesus surely you're not talking about me and he gives them a sign of what he's talking about, but The emotions are all over the place

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You can imagine from the joy of the triumphal entry now to thinking that the whole thing's coming to a crashing end

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They're all over the place Jesus realizes this in John 14 and he takes a moment to encourage them.

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This is what he says Do not let your hearts be troubled Believe in God believe also in me in my father's house are many dwelling places

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If it were not so I would have told you For I go to prepare a place for you If I go and prepare a place for you

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I will come again and receive you to myself that where I am there you may also be and if you know

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The way where I am going and you know the way that I'm going No one else had the courage to say it, but Thomas did

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Thomas vocalizes their confusion Thomas is like I Don't know what you're talking about He says in verse 5 of chapter 14

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Lord. We do not know where you were going How do we know the way and that's a fair statement

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Lord, we don't know what you're doing. If it were up to me, we would have totally not went to hill Lazarus We would have not went in the way that we did in public fanfare into the city.

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We would have snuck into the city We'd have quietly ate Passover We went back to Galilee and we to figure out how to make all of this better You did this in a way that I would have never done

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God or he says Jesus. He didn't say God yet Jesus I don't know what you're doing. I don't know where you're going

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I don't know what's fueling the decisions that you were making. I trust you, but you're making it really hard He says

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Lord. We do not know where you were going. How do we know the way? It's here It's here

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Right in the midst of his confusion that he makes one of the greatest statements ever uttered in his entire ministry

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It's here And Jesus does this with Thomas a lot where he'll minister to Thomas in these beautiful ways

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But it's here Where Thomas says we don't know where you're going. We don't know the way that Jesus says

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I am the way And I am the truth and I am the life and no one comes to the father but by me

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He's saying Thomas you may be confused about what i'm doing But you don't have to understand where i'm going.

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What you have to understand is you have to follow me Step by step by step. You don't need to know if i'm making a left

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You don't need to know if i'm making a right you don't need to know all of the details what you need to know is you need to stay beside of me and follow me and walk with me because I am the way

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His response was to remind him That it's about me. It's not about you thomas

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Thomas was confused And if that moment defined thomas, we would know him now today as thomas the befuddled

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That's the second emotion that we see the third emotion Is that thomas was fearful?

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This is in john 16 Now john 14 and john 16 happen in the same room the upper room

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So you can imagine they've had the meal. Jesus said one of them was going to betray him He washes their feet and near the end of the night

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He looks at them in john 16 and he says this behold An hour is has is coming

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And has already come for you to be scattered each to his own home and to leave me alone

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And yet i'm not alone because the father is with me. He just comforted them

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He just said i'm the way i'm the truth, but none of you are going to follow me Again, can you imagine the emotions of this night?

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Can you imagine what the disciples must have been thinking? Jesus is talking to blue collar guys Several of them are fishermen's who own a fishing company.

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One of them is a tax collector who's hated By the israelites because he's in bed with rome one of them is a zealot who under normal circumstances would have killed matthew

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Because he was a traitor one of them is actually a betrayer and then the other one is the pragmatist thomas who's like I thought we were going to have you sit on the throne.

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Jesus Not all of us go to our own homes and scatter and defeat jesus Thomas is not signaled singled out in this passage

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Thomas is not labeled in this passage, but he's one of the 12 So if you're keeping score so far thomas is a hot -headed dim -witted yellow yellow -bellied man

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If that's the way he was known what a legacy now

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We know that he's also Known as the doubter. How did he get to that point?

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Well from there the disciples sang some songs To try to encourage them. This was traditional in the passover meal

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Jesus says all of you are going to scatter but let's sing and then after they sang they left for the garden

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Jesus goes off by himself to pray right after that judas and a company of Of evil men descend upon them and grab jesus and peter finally shows up Grabs his sword and cuts the ear off of the high priest servant.

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His name is malchus Jesus has to correct peter But good for peter at least default

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I mean what a legacy that is right? At least he did something I'd rather be the one to do something and jesus correct me than not do anything at all

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But what I found fascinating is You don't hear thomas mentioned here The one who said in john 11

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Let us go with him and die with him now. He's not even willing to stay with him And he scatters

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And he goes home He fulfills jesus's prophecy an hour later an hour later

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Jesus is taken to the home of caiaphas Where they will smack him in the face.

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They will blindfold him. They will mistreat him They will bring false witnesses against him and they will arrest him

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And then they will take him to herod the puppet king of israel And herod will look for jesus to do magic tricks and when jesus doesn't entertain him in the way that herod wants to be entertained

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Then he mocks him And he sends him back to pilot and then when he gets in front of pilot and the jews are screaming crucify him crucify him

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Crucify him and pilot realizes that the city is out of control and his political career is in jeopardy pilot acquiesces to their demands

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He flogs jesus with 40 whips with the cat of nine tails it was a

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Awful whip with glass and bone attached to the ends of the strap so that when it wrapped around the body

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It would dig into the flesh and when they would pull it away it would rip pieces of meat off of the body 40 lashes was enough to kill most people 41 definitely would kill everyone

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Jesus would have had bones exposed in his back If you ever watched the passion of the christ and i'm not recommending it because of a couple different reasons

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But if you've ever watched it, it is light It is not accurate on the brutality that jesus would

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Would have went through he was beaten he was flogged

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He was spit upon they put a crown of thorns and shoved the thorns on top of his head

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These aren't rosebush thorns in the united states. These are like little daggers in that region

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Mocking him the entire way they put a scepter In his hand, they put a purple robe on top of him and said you are the king

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What a mockery that they put him through where was thomas Thomas wasn't there thomas didn't see it thomas didn't experience any of that He was back at home afraid they pronounced jesus guilty

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Shortly after they released a murderer named barabbas and then they sent jesus up the hill think about the passion

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Of the jews the passion for their passover They're marching heaven's true lamb up the hill to slaughter him and they don't even know it he carries his cross

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He's dehydrated to the point of exhaustion and dizziness The blood loss is causing him to be weak.

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His muscles are failing. He's stumbling. They had to get Another man to carry the rest of the cross all the way up the hill.

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His name is simon of serene jesus Was not a european hair model sissy that you see on the commercials

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That's funny You can you can give yourself permission to laugh at that I know it's intense but Jesus was a carpenter

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A lot of studies have actually shown that that word means stone mason as well He would have been used to picking up very heavy things.

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Jesus was not a scrawny man, jesus was was a man

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And the brutality of this he couldn't even carry his own cross Where was thomas?

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Where was thomas when the nails went into his wrist, where was thomas when the nails went into his feet where was thomas

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When the cross was lifted up and dropped down into the hole and all of the weight of jesus's body

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Went down with it. Where was thomas? Where was he when his eyes grew weary?

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Where was thomas when jesus's tongue was sticking to the roof of his mouth? Where was thomas when jesus's body was out of joint?

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Where was thomas when his body was hanging there and your diaphragm was crushing at this point so that you couldn't breathe

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That is how you die In a crucifixion. You don't die from the wounds and the beatings You actually die from suffocation because when your body is hanging there like that you can't breathe so you have to push up with your feet against the nails and against the the

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The splintered cross 12 inches up that cross just to take a breath 12 inches back down Until you suffocate and die.

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Where was thomas? Where was thomas when the jews mocked him when they gave him vinegar instead of water to drink

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Where was thomas when jesus pushed up and said my god, my god, why have you forsaken me?

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Where was thomas when jesus pushed up the final time? It says that he breathed his last and he said to tell us die it is finished

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Thomas was still in hiding Thomas didn't see a moment of the crucifixion

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Thomas was the hot -headed dim -witted yellow -bellied man. That was his legacy He didn't see joseph of arimathea nicodemus come get the body

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He didn't see the women anoint him and wrap him with linen cloths in a hurry, by the way, because the passover was happening and You can't leave a body hanging on the cross deuteronomy 21, so they had to get him off the cross quickly

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They had to do a rush job just to anoint him for burial Thomas wasn't there when they sealed the tomb thomas wasn't there when the forces of hell were singing because they thought that they had victory

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Thomas wasn't there when the romans had forgotten his name thomas wasn't there when the jews were gloating

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Thomas wasn't there on sunday morning when the earth started trembling thomas wasn't there when the rock started moving out of its place

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Thomas wasn't there when the soldiers started fainting because they saw an angel of god Thomas wasn't there when jesus his body was coming back to life and thomas was not there when jesus stood up Defied death rose from the dead and walked out of the tomb

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Thomas wasn't there when the eyewitnesses came back when the when mary came back and said where's he at?

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Thomas wasn't there when john and peter ran towards the tomb to find out and john or thomas wasn't there when they

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Locked the door. They were all afraid they were sitting inside the upper room and jesus appeared to them and he said peace

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Thomas is the only one Who missed everything? He missed everything

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He didn't see anything the hot -headed Dim -witted yellow -bellied missing in action blind as a bat man and by far his doubt was what he was most famous for He doubted it says in the text

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That the disciples were the ones who confronted him and told him we've seen him. He's alive and thomas

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Like a scientific analytic minded person that he is said this Unless I see in his wrist the imprint of the nails

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And put my finger into the place of the nails and put my hand into his side. I will not believe four moments in thomas's life

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Four moments of failure four moments that he deserved to have define him He was a doubter

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He was confused. He was bitter. He was angry He was us He was us

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But I want you to see something here because jesus could have let thomas go

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Jesus could have written thomas off. Jesus could have said That one is not worth saving

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Jesus didn't say that about thomas and he doesn't say that about you either Jesus not only is going to save thomas

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He's going to redefine his identity Let's see how it plays out in john 20

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So it was evening on that day the first day of the week And when the doors were shut where the disciples were for fear of the jews

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That's an interesting fact Jesus has rose from the dead and they're still hiding and afraid they have not figured out yet.

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How how important the resurrection is And jesus came and stood in their midst and said to them peace be with you

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And when he said this he showed them both his hands and his side and his disciples rejoiced That they had saw the lord

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So jesus said to them again. Peace be with you as the father has sent me. I also send you

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They didn't get that part either not yet And then he said to them receive the holy spirit

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If you forgive the sins of any their sins will be forgiven them if you retain the sins of any they have been retained

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That's a ecclesiological verse that's talking about the church As the apostles are the foundation of the church christ is the cornerstone of the church the church

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Will have dominion on earth and jesus is even pointing to this here also in matthew In matthew's gospel where he says whatever you bind on earth.

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We bow down on earth Whatever you bind in heaven will be bound in heaven. This is an example of that. It's a tough verse It's a whole sermon in and of itself

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But trust me for a moment But thomas 1 of the 12 called didymus was not with them when jesus came

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So the other disciples were saying We have seen the lord But he said unless I see his hands in the imprint of the nails and put my finger into the place of the nails

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And put my hand into his side. I will not believe I will not believe

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Thomas the skeptic the doubter the analytic the one who says there is no way on earth that I could ever believe in this

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And jesus lets him sit in that for eight days. Do you want to know why that's important? Seven days is the original creation week eighth day is new creation

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Eighth day is new creation He lets him sit in his old created self For seven days in his depression in his frustration in his unbelief.

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He lets him sit in that old creation that old man He lets him sit there for seven days, but in the eighth day, he's going to make him a new creation

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On the eighth day. Jesus is going to do something to thomas that thomas will be struggling to figure out for the rest of his life

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He will no longer be defined as the hothead He will no longer be defined as the dimwit

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He will no longer be defined as the yellow -bellied coward who abandoned his disciple and the one who doubted that Jesus could rise from the dead in john chapter 20.

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Jesus redefines him Look at what it says in verse 26 after eight days new creation his disciples were again inside and thomas was with them

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Misery loves company thomas was like there's no jesus, but these are the only friends i've got So i'm going to sit with them even though they annoy me and they always talk about jesus

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And then jesus came The doors were shut And he stood in their midst and he said peace be with you.

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You can imagine thomas saying are my eyes deceiving me Am I taking the same medication that you've all been taking when you say that you see the risen christ are we having a corporate shared delusion

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My mind must be playing tricks on me what is going on here and thomas When he looks in the face of jesus, you know, the old testament blessing is that god will shine his face on you

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That's the old testament blessing when thomas looks in the face of jesus You can imagine this man who's impulsive who always has to have the last word who can't hold his tongue in that moment

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When jesus said reach here with your finger and see my hands and reach here with your fist and put it in my side

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But do not go unbelieving any longer. None of that was necessary any longer thomas didn't need a finger

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He didn't need a fist. He could not stop his tongue from saying my lord and my god

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His doubt no longer vexed him his anger no longer boiled up inside of him his fear was gone

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His confusion had been turned into conviction thomas saw the risen christ In the revelation of jesus's presence.

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He could not help but saying the greatest statement ever uttered by man my lord and my god

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Not not just lord not just god my lord and my god. He is god in the flesh.

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He is. Yahweh He's the same god who who parted the red sea. He's the same god who chose israel for himself and yet he's in the flesh

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He's my lord. He's my lord He doesn't say their lord and their god.

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Jesus is in the room face -to -face with thomas and he says my god my lord

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We've got to stop calling thomas the doubter Thomas went on that day from doubter to believer thomas went on that day from angry to worshiper thomas went on that day from confused to convicted

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He went on that day from coward to conqueror thomas would take the gospel all the way to india

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And he would die a martyr's death with not a hesitation in his heart because he's seen the risen christ

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We've got to stop calling him thomas the doubter. This man is thomas the believer and the same reality

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That changed him on that day Can change you too How many times?

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Have you been defined by your sin? I'm the angry one.

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I just can't keep my peace I just I have to whenever a situation comes up. I get anxious and I i'm an angry person.

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We say that You're bullheaded. You always do what you want to do.

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You never do this. You always do that I'm the one who abandoned my family

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I'm the one who left I'm the one who is a coward. I'm the one who abdicated my responsibility.

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I'm the one who's addicted I'm the one who's lustful and can't stop looking at pornography.

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I'm the one who's a liar and an avoider I'm the one who's an abuser. I'm the one who's an enabler all these secret sins

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How many sins has satan tried to convince you that are your identity you say

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I am this I am that no, you're not If you are in jesus christ, you are not your sin if you're in jesus christ

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You are not your failure if you're in jesus christ You are not the stumbles that you've had in your life.

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You are You have one name And it's not sin and idolatry and not anger and not everything else

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You have the name that is above every name written on your heart. If you're a christian you are known by the name stop calling yourself by these identities

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Remember that your identity is in jesus christ If you're a christian stop letting the world the flesh and the devil define you

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And start remembering that you have been redefined remade recreated by jesus christ

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Say with paul in galatians 2 20 I have been crucified with christ and it is no longer

33:36

I who live But christ who lives in me And the life which I now live

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Is not my old life I live by faith in the son of god who loved me And who gave himself up for me dear christian?

33:53

You've been made new You are not your failure and you are not your sin You've been crucified with christ

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Remember that if you're not a believer You are those things If you've told a single lie, you're a liar

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If you've looked at someone lustfully, you're an adulterer If you've been angry at someone you're a murderer a murderer of heart

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If you're not a christian, you will be defined by your sin So turn to jesus christ

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He will redefine you just like he did for thomas he'll make you new let's pray lord jesus

34:36

Every single person in this room Has been lied to by someone

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It's either by satan the world Someone else or themselves

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And we've adopted identities like loser and failure broken abandoned

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Those things are not true for us jesus I pray that as we look at the empty tomb that we would see those identities left there on the bench

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Right beside the grave clothes Because when christ rose You gave us a new identity lord.