Welcome back.
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So we just finished reading
the first part of Chapter 20
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and we have read here
that the tomb is empty.
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So, Dr. Paulien, what else?
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Well, I'd just mention that
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Peter is
definitely bolder in action
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as you see you know, he
runs right into the tomb
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but John is deeper in thought.
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And the interesting piece
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I want people to
notice in these nine verses
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is that neither John nor Peter
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believed on the
basis of scripture
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that Jesus would be
raised from the dead.
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They were not
expecting the resurrection.
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And that's another
piece to this whole thing.
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The resurrection
is surprise to them.
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Later on Christian saw
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evidence of the resurrection
in the Old Testament
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but at this point they had
not come to that conclusion.
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However, looking
at the empty tomb
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John nevertheless
draws to conclusion
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that Jesus is risen
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as it says here in,
where is it verse 9.
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It says that
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"He saw and believed"
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but they had not drawn that
conclusion from the scripture.
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So when John sees the
empty tomb, he believes.
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So he is the first
to believe in Jesus
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and he is the only one
to believe without seeing.
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Mary doesn't believe
until she sees Jesus.
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The 10 don't believe
until Jesus comes in the room.
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Thomas doesn't believe
until he gets to touch Jesus
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and contact Him and so on.
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So John, the beloved disciple
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is the only one in
this gospel who sees--
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I mean, excuse me, he
believes without seeing.
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And in that
reality, John becomes
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the ideal of the
second generation.
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He shows them,
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you don't need to have
the physical presence of Jesus
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to believe that
He is truly here,
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that He has been
raised, that He can do for you
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everything that
Jesus is capable of doing.
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So we see then John as
the representative of--
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the representative character
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for the second generation
for the true believers.
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Why don't we move on
because in the second scene,
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Mary comes to the
tomb or stays nearby
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and she sees some angels
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and then after
she sees the angels
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something else happens?
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Why don't we start with verse 13
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and read it through verse 15.
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"Then they said to her,
'Woman, why are you weeping?'
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She said to them,
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'Because they have
taken my Lord away,
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and I do not know
where they have laid Him.'"
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Clearly she doesn't believe
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in this
resurrection, right? Right.
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She thinks he's
still a body somewhere
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and that this
gardener knows where He is.
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Right. Okay. Well,
let's continue here.
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"Now when she had said this,
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she turned around and
saw Jesus standing there,
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and did not know
that it was Jesus.
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Jesus said to her,
'Woman, why are you weeping?
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Whom are you seeking?'
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She, supposing Him
to be the gardener,
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said to Him, 'Sir, if
You have carried Him away,
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tell me where You have laid Him,
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and I will take Him away."
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You notice, she is in the
physical presence of Jesus.
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He is right there, she
can see Him, she can hear Him.
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You and I've never
had that experience
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and yet it doesn't
bring her to faith.
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Again, it's making this point
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that John hammers
home all through the gospel
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that to have the
literal physical presence
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of Jesus is no advantage.
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If anything
through the Holy Spirit,
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the word gives us advantages
that they did not have.
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They seemed slower to
believe and slower to grasp.
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Now why didn't
Mary recognize Jesus?
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Well, in this story her
eyes are so blinded with tears
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that she just--Did she
not see physically Jesus?
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Maybe there was a voice just
behind her and she was just--
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she thought it was
a gardener or what--
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She was definitely in
great distress, you know.
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She was in anguish and I--
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you know,
literally I don't know why
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but John includes
that little detail simply
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because she is a representative
of that first generation
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that needed the physical
presence of Jesus to believe.
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Peter needed it, the rest
of the disciples needed it,
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Thomas needed it.
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That's the whole point
in this section. Right.
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And verse 16 says that,
"Jesus said to her, 'Mary!'
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She turned and
said to Him, 'Rabboni!'
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which is to say, Teacher."
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So it seems that when
Jesus said, Mary-- The voice.
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Then obviously she
doesn't know the gardener
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or let just
assume that she doesn't
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so then when hears that
Mary from the voice of Jesus
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then that was something
that caught her attention.
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It's possible, she
wasn't even looking at His face.
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She just sees a
figure approaching
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and you know, bow down
on the ground or something.
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She just says,
"Are you, you know,
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do you know where he is?"
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Verse 17.
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"Jesus said to her,
'Do not cling to Me,
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for I have not yet
ascended to My Father,
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but go to My
brethren and say to them,
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I am ascending to My
Father and your Father,
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and to My God and
your God.'" All right.
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So, you know, we can
think of the big picture here,
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why doesn't Jesus
want here to hang on to Him
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but for John I think
the picture is very clear.
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He is saying to the
readers of this gospel,
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"Don't hang on to the tokens
of a physical presence of Jesus.
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Don't hang on to
relics, solid things,
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you know, mini
idols, whatever it is."
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The real thing is
the word and the spirit.
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And it's through
the word and the spirit
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that Jesus becomes real
and that's the things you want.
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Not to hang on to some image.
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It's interesting, one
other pieces of this is
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He says, "Go instead to--"
What does He call to disciples?
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Go instead, verse 17.
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"To My
brothers." "To My brothers."
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You know, He
starts with servants
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and then He moves to friends
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and now He moves to brothers.
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So it's like the
terms get more endearing.
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It's more intimate.
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He calls His
disciples, brothers.
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And I guess that indicates to us
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that there are
stages of relationship
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that we can grow
closer and closer.
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And the idea is a relationship
of friends, brothers
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not the
relationship of servants.
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Do many people
serve Jesus as slaves?
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Yes, many people do.
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You know,
miserably going through,
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following the rules,
trying somehow to please Him
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and the reality is
He was pleased already
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and we can rejoice
to be friends with Him
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and being friends
with Him will do more
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for obedience than
anything else could.
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Why don't we go on to the
next incident, verses 19-23.
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"Then, the same day at evening,
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being the first day of the
week, when the doors were shut
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where the
disciples were assembled,
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for fear of the Jews,
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Jesus came and
stood in the midst,
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and said to them,
"Peace be with you."
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When He had said this,
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He showed them His
hands and His side.
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Then the disciples were
glad when they saw the Lord.
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So Jesus said to
them again, "Peace to you!
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As the Father has sent Me,
I also send you." All right.
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So the disciples are
fearful and perplexed
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even though Jesus is
beginning to appear among them.
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Even the
physical presence of Jesus
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wasn't enough to
save them from perplexity.
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So the story once again
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is part of John's
hammering home the thing.
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Look, those who met Him
at that time, that's good,
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we are glad that
they came to faith,
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we are glad that
they came to peace.
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I mean, He has to say
twice, "Peace be to you."
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Even after they know it's Him,
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He still has to
say, "Peace be to you."
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It's John making the point
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that first
generation came to faith
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through the literal Jesus
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but there's something
even better than that.
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And then you come to Thomas
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and we won't take
time to read that story
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but because we have
gone through it before
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but Thomas of course
is the ultimate example
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of those who have to see,
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who have to touch
in order to believe
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and if that
were truly mandatory,
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there would be no
hope for any of us I think.
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So I am glad that
this gospel is written.
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I am glad that this option
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of believing without
seeing is available to us
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because if it were not
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we would be in
great trouble. Right.
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And
unfortunately there are people
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who don't want to follow Christ
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because they are like Thomas
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you know, where
they don't believe
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in the
resurrection, they don't--
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they have this belief
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that they must see
before they believe.
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And as you said, you know,
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thankful that we can believe
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even though
we've never seen Jesus.
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Well, in the couple
minutes we have left,
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I want to emphasize four things
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that I think come through
in this chapter pretty clearly.
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First of all, the slowness
of the disciples to believe.
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It's a point we've
been making all along
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but they really, their
advantage was no advantage.
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The physical presence
of Jesus was no advantage.
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They were slow to come to it.
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The second
generation is often faster
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to accept everything
that Jesus is than the first.
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So John is
really bringing it home.
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You are at no disadvantage,
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His word is as
good as His presence.
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So the second generation
is not inferior at all,
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if anything their
faith exceeds the faith
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of the original disciples
and that should be encouraging.
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You know, we sometime feel like
we are at some disadvantage.
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Not necessary at all.
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Another thing I
see in this chapter,
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Jesus doesn't reject
people who have doubts.
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In fact He even plays
with Thomas just a little bit.
00:10:31.23\00:10:33.79
"Oh, Thomas, hey,
haven't seen you in a while.
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Hey, guess what.
00:10:37.44\00:10:38.50
Look what I got here for
you, stick your finger in there,
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you know and oh, let me
show you something else."
00:10:41.51\00:10:44.17
I mean it's like, He
is not condemning him.
00:10:44.20\00:10:46.88
He is not giving a hard time.
00:10:46.91\00:10:49.26
Thomas was genuine in his
doubts and Jesus accepts him.
00:10:49.29\00:10:54.06
So the beautiful thing
is He doesn't reject people
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who have doubts but
he goes as far as He can
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to take their doubts
away as much as possible.
00:11:01.71\00:11:04.62
And that's encouragement to me.
00:11:04.65\00:11:06.48
You know whenever I feel like
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I don't deserve to be
with Jesus or whatever.
00:11:07.66\00:11:11.53
For me that's also a lesson
for dealing with secular people.
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People take time to
believe these things.
00:11:15.59\00:11:18.40
Don't expect you know,
00:11:18.43\00:11:19.46
you're going to preach a
sermon and a secular person.
00:11:19.49\00:11:21.69
"Well, that settles it. I
am going to go follow Jesus."
00:11:21.72\00:11:24.81
No, it takes time.
00:11:24.84\00:11:26.40
These disciples
had walked with Him
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for three and half years
and it still took a long time,
00:11:27.90\00:11:31.64
with the
physical Jesus presence.
00:11:31.67\00:11:33.81
So give secular people
time and give them a chance.
00:11:33.84\00:11:37.62
And finally, I think
we see in this chapter
00:11:37.65\00:11:40.26
the fulfillment of
the farewell discourser
00:11:40.29\00:11:43.30
where Jesus
promises, I will go away
00:11:43.33\00:11:45.97
but soon I will return to you
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and your sorrow
will be turned to joy.
00:11:48.52\00:11:51.85
So in this chapter we see
the fulfillment of the things
00:11:51.88\00:11:54.74
that Jesus
promised in the upper room.
00:11:54.77\00:11:57.99
So as we close, I
think we can rejoice
00:11:58.02\00:12:02.34
at the kind of Jesus
we see portrayer here.
00:12:02.37\00:12:04.98
Well, Dr. Paulien, I think
we all had moments of doubt
00:12:05.01\00:12:07.71
and I have
doubted God several times
00:12:07.74\00:12:09.82
and I also have to
ask for forgiveness.
00:12:09.85\00:12:11.91
Well friends, till
next time I pray that
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you too can trust in the
Lord with all of your heart.
00:12:13.62\00:12:16.48