From Doubt to Deeper Faith: Embracing Grace in the Journey - Jeff Ryan - 3TC Podcast - 4/27/25

Jeff Ryan discusses the challenges of faith, using Romans 3:23 and the story of Thomas from John 20 as central themes. Pastor Jeff emphasizes the importance of grace, forgiveness, and confession. Doubt is not a negative but a natural part of faith, leading to questions, answers, and deeper understanding. Thomas' journey from doubt to belief illustrates how faith can grow through questioning and seeking answers. 

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Transcript

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Welcome to the three timbers podcast. We hope this will encourage and uplift you today. Probably for every one of us, there are certain passages in the Bible that are just tough to read, that are just really tough to hear, because they're they're convicting and they're confronting. One of those passages for me, at least, is Romans 323, which says, For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. And I don't know about you, I fall short a lot, and that's hard, because constantly falling short, constantly feeling like I'm failing God, I'm failing others. I'm failing myself. And I can kind of get caught up in just that whole concept of falling short, but then I remember what the Gospel says about grace and about forgiveness and about confession, and we're coming off of Easter, where we celebrated the resurrection of Jesus, and we can't lose what the point of Easter is, which is, for those of us who fall short, we can stand up because of Christ, and so we want to take time, as we do every service, and confess our sins. God already knows them. We can't do anything behind his back. He knows so let's confess our sins, and then let's read together the joyful Word of God that says we are forgiven. Let's go to the Lord in the confession you father, there's nothing that that we can do that you don't know, nothing that we can think that you don't know. And Lord, despite all that you love us because we all fall short. And Lord, that can be frustrating, that can be discouraging, that can be disappointing, but it is not the end. We do not have the final word on our life and eternity. You do, and Father, we sometimes forget, and I'm thankful for the reminder that I know you gave me this week, that your salvation is bigger than our sin. Our sin is not bigger than your salvation. So Father, we confess to you those things we did and did not do, those thoughts, those actions, we give them to you, Lord, because if we don't, then we believe that our sin is bigger than your salvation. So thank you, Lord for forgiveness. And I pray Lord that we would celebrate, that we would remember that Lord as we read responsibly from Proverbs, 2813, if you will join me by looking at the screen. Whoever conceals their sins does not prosper, but the one who confesses and renounces them finds mercy amen for the good news of God's word. One of the things that, if you know me a little bit, you know, is I love outer space. I love all things outer space. I will watch documentaries on outer space. I will read articles on outer space. I will talk about outer space. If I could go to outer space, I would go to outer space. Now, there was a time when we doubted that we could ever see space or go to space, but then when we had the moon landing, all of that change, and we knew that we could at least send astronauts to go up and to see and I would love to do that, because I want to see more of God's creation. I want to see what outer space looks like and planets and stars and suns. I'm I'm fascinated by that, and for a long time, we doubted that anybody could well, now there is a thing called Space tourism, and I think it was last week or the week before, there was something called Blue origins, and it's by the owner of Amazon, and he has a space tourism business, and he launched into space for the first time in history, an all female crew who went 65 miles above Earth. And I got to watch this thing from start to finish. And it was amazing to hear as as the rocket is going up, just the shrieks of joy and awe and astonishment by these women who are now astronauts, and when they came back down, I watched every single interview that every one of them gave, and they were, they were just awestruck. They couldn't believe what they saw. They said it was life changing to see the world from that perspective, and how that changed their outlook on how they need to live, and how we need to get along, and all these amazing things. So what once was maybe something that we all doubted, that you could go to space, that now you and I can. I mean, I think you have to have a couple of dollars, I think to do this. But no longer do we have to doubt, because we can go to space, and if you think about all the things that we take for granted now, at one point we're doubting. I mean, there are those of us that remember when your phone was on your wall and we doubted that that would ever change. And then they had really long cords. And we thought, well, never get better than this. And then we thought, wow, there's a portable phone in my house with an antenna. This is amazing. And then we had the cell phones that were in a bag that you used to carry around. And now we have computers on our phones. What once was doubted is now a reality. And there are those of us that remember when you used to have to get directions, and you would get the map and the highlighter out, and you would try to map your course, and we thought, Oh, we doubted it could ever get easier than this. And now all you have to do is ask your car to tell you where to go, and it goes. So one of the things is, we look at at doubts as a bad thing, and when it comes to issues of faith or the Bible or Jesus, people say, Oh no, no, no, no, you can't doubt. Don't Don't doubt. You cannot doubt, because doubt gets a really bad rap when it comes to that. But I want to say something to you that maybe, maybe you have not heard before from, at least from a pastor, doubt is good. If you have doubts about scripture, about Jesus, about everything, I'm here to tell you, that's good. And here's why, doubt leads to questions. Questions lead to answers. Answers lead to acceptance. Acceptance leads to application, and we see this illustrated in the story of Thomas. So I want to encourage you to open up your Bibles. We're going to be reading from the Gospel of John. I'm going to be reading from the NIV version, and we're going to be reading from verse 24 So John, chapter 20, verse 24 if you've got your Bibles, or if you've got your Bible app, I would encourage you to bring it up. So let me read here, starting at verse 20 Now Thomas, also called 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, I put my finger where the nails were and put my hand into his side, I will not believe. 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. Thomas said to him, My Lord and my God. Then Jesus told him, because you have seen me, you have believed Blessed are those who have not seen me, and yet believe Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. But these are writings that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name, we have to understand what just happened. We just celebrated Resurrection Day. We celebrated that Jesus came back from then we celebrated that Jesus defeated sin and death, so that you and I don't have to fear sin and death because of our salvation in Christ. But that first Easter, that was not the case. The disciples of Jesus were overwhelmed. They were overwhelmed with fear, with shame and with doubt. They were riddled with anxiety and stress, the one that they had been with for three years, the one that had told them that he was the Son of God, the Messiah, they saw Him crucified on the cross. What was the last three years about it must be over. And so they became fearful and they were hiding. That's what we do, too. We can become so filled with fear and anxiety and worry and yes, doubt when circumstances seem to be unfolding a certain way, and that's what. He do. But then Jesus does what Jesus does. He shows up and what does he offer? He offers peace. He comes and he says, Peace. Be with you. He is the peace that is with them. He is in their presence. He was who He said He was. He did what he said he was going to do, and he says, Peace, be with you. He then showed him, showed them his hands, he showed them his sides. And you would think that this would be the most incredible moment, and it was all except for Thomas. Why? Because he wasn't there. Thomas was not with the disciples when Jesus appeared. But I want us to go back, and I want us to look specifically. And if you want to flip back just one chapter to John, chapter 20, verses 20 and 21 I want you to hear how this unfolded. After this, Jesus appearing, he showed them his hands inside. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord again. Jesus said, Peace, be with you, as the Father has sent me, I'm sending you. And with that, he breathed on them and said, Receive the Holy Spirit. So there are four things that I want you to get from this text, because they're going to help us understand something. The first thing that Jesus offers is peace, that when you are in the presence of Jesus, you will find peace. And we can be in the presence of Jesus through prayer. We can be in the presence of Jesus through Scripture. We can be in the presence of Jesus through worship, through Bible study, that when you are in the presence of Jesus, you'll find peace. That's what he offers. Secondly, he will give you proof. He showed them his hands and his side, that when you are in the presence of Jesus, you will have proof that Jesus is real, because you'll see it in other believers. You'll see it in the Word of God. You'll experience it through worship. Thirdly, Jesus gives them a purpose. And I talk to so many people who believe their purpose in life is their job, or their purpose in life is their kids, or their purpose in life is their hobby. Your purpose is different from your profession. And the purpose that Jesus says is as the Father has sent Me. I am sending you friends. Our purpose is to go and to make disciples. That is our purpose. Your job is not your purpose. Your children are not your purpose other than discipling them. Your hobbies are not your purpose. But when you are in the presence of Jesus, you will find purpose for your life. So many people go from job to job and feel like they have no purpose in their job, but when you're in the presence of Jesus, through worship, through prayer, through Bible study, through other believers, you will find your purpose. And then the last thing here that's so important that makes all of the other three work is Jesus gives them power by breathing on them, the Holy Spirit, without the Holy Spirit illuminating God's word to us without the Holy Spirit guiding us, we will never be able to understand the presence of God. We will never experience the purpose that God has for us. This is a powerful moment here that Jesus shows up and he offers peace and proof and purpose and power, and yet, where is Thomas? Thomas is our stubborn, devoted, despondent disciple. His whole world was around what he could see. His whole world was around, if I don't see it, I don't believe it. And so he left the group. He was not there when Jesus came. Have you ever had somebody call you a doubting Thomas? That's where we get that from. My middle name is Thomas. He called it Doubting Thomas a long time. But I think there's something bigger here that we can't miss about Thomas not being in the presence of Jesus to experience the peace, the proof, the purpose and the power. These are two things. Number one, if you are isolated or isolating from the community of faith, which Thomas was doing, is going to lead to doubts. If you are not actively in the presence of God the community of faith, you will find yourself doubting. Is Jesus real? Can the Bible be trusted? You. Don't isolate. Don't let your life isolate you from being a part of the community of worship. Number two, don't miss the experience that comes within the community of faith of the peace and presence of Jesus. You will not get the peace and presence of Jesus outside being with the community of faith on a consistent basis. You may have moments here and there, but this is where you will feel the peace and the presence of Jesus when we are together. And Thomas missed that. He absolutely missed that he was he was despondent. Now look, we vilified Thomas like we vilified doubt, but let's be real for a minute. Thomas was a realist, and there's nothing wrong with being a realist. Thomas asked the hard question. He asked this question, Did Jesus really rise from the dead? Has he actually come back from the grave and appeared to disciples, as they said, And has he offered them peace and proof and purpose and power. So let me be clear on something, having doubts doesn't disqualify you from seeking and following Jesus. Let me be clear on that, having doubts doesn't disqualify you from seeking and following Jesus. There is a difference between doubt and unbelief. There are two very different things. Let me tell you how doubt is defined. Doubt says I can't believe because of obstacles. There were obstacles to believe that we could go to space. There were obstacles that believe that we could have space tourism, that you could take seven people who are not trained as astronauts, and send them up and down their space and they can see the heavens. They can see the Earth. They can see the moon and the stars. Yes, there were obstacles, that's doubt. Unbelief. Says I won't believe unless you give me the exact evidence I'm looking for. There's a difference between doubt and unbelief. Doubt is okay when you bring it to Jesus. When you doubt and you bring it to Jesus, that's good. Doubt is a natural thing. Doubt leads to spiritual growth, and when we approach our doubts and it's okay to have doubts openly and honestly and seeking answers through God's word. That's a good thing. Doubt is not a sign of weakness. Doubt is an opportunity to grow. Do you know what doubt really means? It took me a long time to figure this out. Doubt means that God is working in your heart right now. That means he is stirring you to think about things, to wrestle with things, to question things. I used to think that doubt meant, Oh, I must not really believe. Doubt means God is working in you right now. So if you're sitting out here and you say, I got some doubts about the Bible, I got the doubts that God really is going to forgive me, that's good. That's really good. That's a blessing, because that means God is stirring in your heart, stirring in your soul. I think one of the things we can learn about Thomas is that he was not afraid to say, here's where I'm at in this moment, Thomas says, I didn't see it. I don't believe it. He was real. He didn't he didn't put on fake airs to make everybody think, no, no, no, no, I'm good. I'm good. Thomas says this is where I'm at. He was real in evaluating where he was. And it brings up the question, are you Where are you? Do you believe everything with no doubts? Because if you do, I'm happy to hand you this microphone and you can lead us. There are things I still go okay. And so we have to ask ourselves, where are we on that journey? I want you to think about this. Thomas was with Jesus for three years. Now we know what Scripture says, but there was so much more that Thomas and the disciples experienced with Jesus. I mean, they were physically with Jesus, and Thomas still doubting. We can doubt and doubt is good. Why? Because doubt leads to questions. Questions lead to answers. Answers lead to acceptance, and acceptance leads to application. Thomas missed out. He wasn't there, but Jesus appears a second time, and I love when we can talk about Jesus as a second. Chance Savior, and a third chance and a fourth chance and a fifth chance and on and on, because Jesus wasn't done yet. He wasn't done with Thomas, and he's not done with you, and he's not done with me. So the second time that Jesus appears, Thomas is there, what changed? Probably his friends, probably other disciples, who just couldn't stop talking about how Jesus appeared and gave them a peace and gave them proof, gave them purpose and power. His friends kept saying, here's what's going on in my heart, in my life, because of what God did, how Jesus appeared, and through that, and probably because Thomas had nowhere else to go, he may have had no other outlets that now he is present. And so when Jesus appears the second time, he is not unaware, not only of Thomas's doubt, but the litmus test that Thomas has set up. Basically, Thomas has said, I'll believe on my terms. But when you look at the words of Thomas and the words of Jesus, it's astounding. I think we have this gravel. Thomas said, Unless I see his hands and nail marks, I won't believe Jesus says, see my hands. Thomas says, Unless I put my finger in place of the nails. I won't believe. Thomas says, bring your finger here. Thomas says, Unless I put my hands in his side. Jesus says, Bring your hand and put it in my side. Thomas says, I definitely won't believe Jesus says, Don't be unbelieving, but believe Thomas answered, or Jesus answered all of Thomas's doubts and questions. And just as a as a side note, I find fascinating. We should get into this sometime when Jesus rose from the dead, he had a physical body. When you and I are resurrected, we will have physical bodies. Praise God for that. Thomas went from disbelief to belief. Why? Because he had doubts. Doubts can be a blessing, and because Thomas sought answers to those questions that he had, he received proof. He received purpose, he received power. Doubts played an integral part in Thomas coming to understand not only who Jesus is, but who he is, and it shows you that Jesus will meet you right where you are, wherever you are in your journey, whatever doubts that you may have, Jesus will meet you there ask the questions, because when you ask the questions, it will lead you to answers, and those answers will lead you to acceptance, And that acceptance will lead you to application of God's word to your life. But if you have the doubts, don't just let them be doubts. Seek answers to the questions that have led to your doubt through scripture, through Bible study, through pastors, through other believers, seek those answers. It'll change you. It'll absolutely change you. Notice what Thomas says here, look at your text. He says, My Lord, my God. Thomas just said, Unless I see it, I won't believe it. And after Jesus gives him peace and proof and purpose and power. Thomas says, My Lord, my God. Thomas says, I now understand. I understand that you are who you said you were, and you did what you said that you would do. But what we see with Thomas is it's okay to wrestle with doubt. It's okay because when you seek answers to that doubt, it will absolutely change you, because it's a gateway to a deeper understanding of who Jesus is and what Jesus has done, Thomas thought he could make demands, says, Unless I see this, unless I see that, Thomas understood very quickly who was in charge, and it wasn't him, it was Jesus. He was affirming the divinity of Jesus by saying, My Lord and my God. He had what I like to call a desperate dependence on Jesus. And I think we need that. I think we need a desperate dependence on Jesus, not a casual dependence, not a situational dependence, not a once in a while depend. Confidence, but a desperate dependence on Jesus to make sure that we're living the way that we're called to, that our marriages are strong, that we're the best parent and grandparent and spouse and child that we can be to make sure we're the best citizens that we can be, to make sure we're the best church that we can be, we need a desperate dependence on Jesus, because if you and I are depending on other people, we'll be let down. If you and I are depending on ourselves, we will be let down. If you and I are depending on institutions, we will be let down. It is only through the desperate dependence of crying out, my Lord, my God, will we experience peace in our life? Will we understand our greater Kingdom purpose? We will receive the power to carry out that purpose? Jesus loves doubters. He welcomes doubters. He accepts doubters. Jesus doesn't need you to have a PhD in theology to come to Him. In fact, he would prefer it not the Pharisees thought they knew more than Jesus they didn't. Jesus wants us to come to Him, to cry out to Him with our questions and ask why. And that encounter with Jesus cannot be religious, it cannot be seasonal, it cannot be based on circumstances. It needs to be daily. We need to be coming to Jesus daily. Say, I don't understand why. Lord, help me understand why, and we'll get answers to those questions. Thomas was told by Jesus, you are blessed because you have seen me, But blessed are those who have believed and who have not seen me. We fall into that category. We have not seen the physical resurrected Jesus, but we believe? Why? Because faith is greater than empirical evidence. Faith is greater than what we can see. And we have faith every day. We have faith that when we turn the water, out in the shower. It comes on when the key goes in the car. We don't see it, but we believe it. But let's define faith. Hebrews 11. One says faith is this. Faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. We can have faith in the hope of Easter faith, in the hope of our doubt. This gospel, and the Gospel of John is kind of summarized at the end here, in these last couple of verses that John says, here's why I want you guys to know this. There are two reasons. Number one, he says, I want you to believe. I want you to believe that Jesus is who he said he is. He did what he said he was going to do. He is the Messiah. He is the Savior. He is coming back. And then secondly, and I think this is so important, he wants people to have life in the name of Jesus. What does that mean? We can't really have life if it's not in Jesus. Everybody wants to live a good life. Our state is called the good life. But what is a good life? Is a good life. A lot of money is a good life. A lot of possessions is a good life, a fancy title, a nice car. Is that really a good life, or is that a temporary life? See, a good life can't be found in anything this world has to offer. Even the Bible said, What does he gain? A man, if he gains the whole world that forfeits his soul, you can gain the whole world however you want to define the world to you, you can have it all. But is that a good life? No, a good life is in Jesus. You ever have somebody say, man, you gotta get a life. You got you gotta get a life. We do. We need to get a life. And that life is in Jesus. And if you've got doubts, that's okay. If you're wrestling with belief, that's okay, because doubts do not disqualify you from being a follower of Jesus. Doubts mean that God is working in your heart. He's stirring in you. He's getting you to think about things, and that is how God's going to bring you into a deeper relationship with Him. The blessings of doubt is that doubts lead to questions. Questions lead to answers. Answers lead to acceptance. Acceptance leads to application. So I want to encourage. You. If you have doubts, don't let them be doubts. Turn them into questions. Take those questions to Scripture. Take those questions to worship, to elders, to deacons, to pastors, and when you get those answers, it's going to be empowering to you, because you'll experience the peace, the proof, the purpose and the power that Jesus offers. Amen, let's pray, Father, God, I thank you for just this reminder that you want our doubts. You want us to bring all of this to you. So, Father, I pray that, and I know everybody wrestles with doubt that we wouldn't just stay there, that we would say, what are my questions? And that people would seek answers, acceptance and application, Father, we love you, but never close to being the amount that you love us. We ask this in the name of Jesus. Amen. Thank you for joining us. For more information about three timbers, church ministries and services, visit three timbers.org. We would love for you to join us in person. You.