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*Faith That Doesn’t Have to Touch *

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John 20:24-20:31 (NIV, NIRV, TNIV, KJV)

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Introduction: \\ \\ I want to begin the lesson by reading a passage from John 20 that will introduce the topic I want us to explore this morning, namely this: Can reasonable people believe the things that are crucial to Christian faith?

\\ \\ “Now Thomas, called the Twin, one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came.

The other disciples therefore said to him, ‘We have seen the Lord.’

So he said to them, ‘Unless I see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.’

And after eight days his disciples were again inside, and Thomas with them.

Jesus came, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, ‘Peace to you!’ Then he said to Thomas, ‘Reach your finger here, and look at my hands; and reach your hand here, and put it into my side.

Do not be unbelieving, but believing.’

And Thomas answered and said to him, ‘My Lord and my God!’ Jesus said to him, ‘Thomas, because you have seen me, you have believed.

Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

(John 20:24-29) \\ \\ I would imagine that only Judas among the twelve apostles has been subjected to more critical and unkind judgments than Thomas.

Though his nickname within that group was "Didymus," or “the Twin”, we know him better known as "Doubting Thomas" because of his reaction to the first reports brought to him about Jesus’ resurrection from the dead.

He insisted that he would have to have hard proof before believing it was so.

To the other ten, he said, "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."

Because of that statement, Thomas has been reproached across the centuries.

\\ \\ But I would be among the first to speak up in his behalf.

Because I believe that in Thomas’ demand for proof, he is to be admired rather than ridiculed.

In fact, Jesus himself said back in Matthew 24:26, “If they say to you, ‘There he is!’, don’t believe it.”

And there are too many people today who believe too much on the basis of too little.

I am appalled at how much irrational garbage people are willing to swallow without a particle of solid evidence to back it up.

\\ \\ People read horoscopes, lay out Tarot cards, and call 900-numbers to learn their futures.

A few will even follow David Koresh to Waco, give their 12-year-old daughters to him as sexual partners, and proclaim him to be Jesus Christ come back to teach again.

Thirty-eight people followed their so-called "spiritual leader" in drinking a fatal cocktail in order to leave this earth and hop a ride to paradise on a UFO that was following the Hale-Bopp comet.

\\ \\ Call me a Doubting Thomas, too, if you please.

But I’m not about to believe Dionne Warwick, David Koresh, or Marshall Applewhite without some proof — some good, solid proof.

Too much is at stake for me to accept just any claim someone makes.

Not the least of the things at stake is my intention to be a discerning and responsible human being.

\\ \\ Even God’s Word tells us, "Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen."

(Hebrews 11:1).

\\ \\ I don’t want to be such a radical skeptic that I set standards of proof so high they can never be met.

Neither do I want to be so gullible that any sort of alleged proof will count as an actual one.

Fair and reasonable standards, however, ought to be imposed on every proof offered for any point of view.

\\ \\ Jesus must not have been offended by Thomas’ request, because he invited him to see the evidence he had requested.

He said, "Put your finger here; look at my hands.

Reach out your hand and put it into my side.

Stop doubting and believe."

\\ \\ Someone might say, "That’s my problem!

If I could see and touch God, I would believe in him.

If I could see and touch the risen Christ, I could accept the claims you Christians make for your religion.

But until I have that sort of evidence, well . .

.I just refuse to believe.”

\\ \\ The existence of God is the most basic of all religious considerations.

If there is no God, then the Bible is worthless, Jesus Christ was a deceiver, our soul is not immortal, and no one should be at all concerned about their actions.

But if there is a God, our hope is not in vain and man does have a purpose upon this earth.

\\ \\ But can we prove that God exists?

Certainly not the same way that you would prove a book weighs 2 pounds or that a truck is blue, because God can’t be seen, heard, or touched with human senses.

We can’t see him in a microscope or a telescope.

The Russian cosmonauts went into space and when they came back to earth they said, "There is no God.

We didn’t see him."

\\ \\ We can’t prove God by any test of the human senses.

But, on the other hand, we shouldn’t believe anything without evidence.

There are proofs of God’s existence, what I like to call the "fingerprints of God".

I’m sure you’re aware that every human being has a unique swirl of lines on the tips of his fingers, a pattern not found on the finger of any other person on the face of this earth.

We leave minute traces of oil in the pattern of these swirls on everything that we touch.

When I was a chaplain for the sheriff’s department, I often saw the investigators pull out their little kits and dust for fingerprints.

Someone who is trained in this field can not only detect these prints, but he can determine who those prints belong to.

\\ \\ Those fingerprints are proof of where someone has been.

In the courtroom, even if there is no eye-witness, the fingerprints can be proof enough to find someone guilty.

Even though no one saw you at the scene of the crime and even though no one heard you at the scene, they can be certain that you were there because your fingerprints were left behind.

\\ \\ In a similar fashion, I would suggest that our God has left his fingerprints all over this world.

Listen again to what Paul said in Romans 1:18-22.

"For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in righteousness, because what may be known of God is manifest in them.

For since the creation of the world his invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse, because, although they knew God, they did not glorify him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened.

Professing to be wise, they became fools..." \\ \\ This passage tells us that God’s existence can be known through his creation, through his fingerprints.

But this passage also teaches us that some people have closed their eyes to this evidence.

We need to realize that the fingerprints that point to God are sufficient to prove his existence, but they are not coercive.

\\ \\ The fact that God has left his fingerprints clearly for all to see doesn’t mean that everyone will accept his existence.

The pagan world that Paul described didn’t want to recognize God.

But in doing so, Paul wants us to know that they were without excuse because the fingerprints are there.

\\ \\ \\ I.

The Argument From Existence \\ \\ Let me share with you an analogy: Suppose you are walking in a forest and come to a clearing.

There is a tent, hot coffee over a fire, and other evidences of human presence.

As you look around, though, no one is in view.

You call loudly, and apparently no one hears you.

At least, no one answers.

How would you react?

\\ \\ It is in the nature of our human thought processes to assume that the site belongs to someone who has been present before you arrived.

You might look around to find the person or persons who made the campsite.

You could decide to wait around for a while to see who returns to the site.

Or you might simply go on your way.

But I dare say it would not occur to you to say: "Well, fancy this!

What a stroke of luck, what a coincidence, that I came upon a site so perfectly suited to my needs!" \\ \\ I doubt you would walk in, claim the camp as your own, and never entertain the possibility that you were encroaching on what belonged to someone else.

When we see such things, we don’t assume they just somehow happened.

We know somebody set it up.

\\ \\ By investigating the camp, looking at clothes drying on a line, and seeing footprints near the fire, you might even have a good idea about the number of persons and why they are in the woods.

\\ \\ The apostle Paul asserted that men and women have some knowledge of God simply by seeing the world he has created.

In the first-century city of Lystra, Paul told a group of its citizens: “We…preach to you that you should turn from these useless things to the living God, who made the heaven, the earth, the sea, and all things that are in them, who in bygone generations allowed all nations to walk in their own ways.

Nevertheless He did not leave Himself without witness, in that he did good, gave us rain from heaven and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness.”

(Acts 14:15-17).

\\ \\ This sort of reasoning is sometimes called "natural theology."

It is theology (that is, thinking about God) that results from our reflections on the natural world in which we find ourselves.

The universe we inhabit either (1) popped into existence from nothing or (2) was called into existence by some Eternal Force that pre-existed it.

Philosophers from at least as early as the time of Plato have reasoned from nature to nature’s Creator, from a habitable world to a world-arranger.

\\ \\ That’s the point of the campsite analogy.

We know campsites don’t just pop into forest clearings.