Quote from Forum Archives on April 27, 2009, 11:31 am

Posted by: bhfbc <bhfbc@...>

 

ONCE LOST BUT NOW FOUND

April 26, 2009

 

 

TEXT:  John 20:24-31

 

After pulling into Norm and Anita’s drive last Wednesday afternoon, I paused before getting out of the vehicle.  I don’t know if they noticed and wondered why I sat there, but I had been listening to the radio, and Rush Limbaugh had just told his audience about an e-mail he received that said he left out two inventors that some despise: “…Marconi and Bell, because if it hadn't been for Marconi [who invented the radio], we wouldn't have you, Limbaugh, and if we hadn't had Bell invent the phone, there would be nobody to call you.”  Then Rush had gone on to say, “But without question on Earth Day and every day, we owe our deepest gratitude to one inventor who is without equal.  As long as men and women inhabit the earth, our very existence will be tied to his remarkable and unequaled creations, too numerous to mention, too complex to ever fully understand.”  I had pulled into the drive about the time that he was saying this, so I wanted to know who he was talking about.  The only name that was coming to my mind was Thomas Edison.

 

Well, when he gave his answer, I had to chuckle to myself and think, “Well, Rush got me on that one.”  “He is known by thousands of names, but we call him God, the sole creator of the heavens and the earth…  So today, on Earth Day, we here at the EIB Network thank God for Mother Earth and for allowing us to live in the greatest of nations on that earth, the United States of America.” (Rush Limbaugh radio program, 4/22/09)

 

The sad truth, though, is that all across America and around the world, there are an alarming number of men and women who not only do not thank God for anything; rather, they openly despise any notion the universe and our world originates from a Creator.  They not only deny any divine being, they openly attempt to silence all who do believe in God.

 

Jesus knew that this would happen.  He gives us plenty of predictions about his followers being mistreated because he, the Master, was mistreated, reviled, and rejected.  Even his closest friends failed to understand what had happened.  Having just celebrated our Easter Sunday a couple of weeks ago, we are once again very familiar with the events surrounding the crucifixion and resurrection.  Near the end of John’s Gospel is the familiar account of one of these close friends, Thomas.  “Now Thomas (called Didymus), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came.” (John 20:24)  We remember that after his resurrection, Jesus appeared to the Disciples in the room where they had gathered.  Just a few verses earlier, John describes this: “On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, ‘Peace be with you!’  After he said this, he showed them his hands and side.  The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord.” (John 20:19-20)  I think “overjoyed” is kind of an understatement.  Anyway, those who saw him in that room that evening were convinced beyond any doubt that this was the same Jesus they had seen crucified on a cross.  They were convinced beyond any shadow of a doubt that he was no hallucination or “ghost.”  There were convinced beyond any shadow of a doubt that the resurrected Jesus stood before in the flesh.

 

Beyond a shadow of a doubt.  Well… except for one – Thomas.  He missed the miraculous event.  And even though his close friends told him they had seen Jesus, Thomas would have nothing to do with it.  He didn’t believe their nonsensical talk.  How could he?  Jesus was dead!  “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand in his side, I will not believe it.” (John 20:23)  Thomas is quite specific about what it would take to turn his disbelief and skepticism around.  We can certainly understand how the term “Doubting Thomas” sprang into use.

 

Poor Thomas carried his doubt with him for a whole week.  We can just imagine how hard the others tried to convince Thomas of what they had seen and experienced.  It was probably a miserable week for Thomas, but he was going to have none of his friends’ nonsense.  That came to an abrupt end.  Meeting in the house once again, Jesus appeared to them.  Addressing Thomas, Jesus said, “Put your finger here; see my hands.  Reach out your hand and put it into my side.  Stop doubting and believe.” (John 20:27)  Well, that’s all it took to convince doubting Thomas.  “My Lord and my God!” (John 20:28)  Jesus then issued these well known words, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” (John20:29)

 

Similar scenes have been replayed over and over across the ages of the history of the Christian faith.  Over and over, men and women have rejected the testimony of faithful Christians and refused to believe in anything to do with God.  They do not believe in a Divine Lord.  They do not believe in a Creator.  They do not believe in the most precious gift of God’s love: salvation.  Thousands of doubting Thomases say, “I will not believe.”

 

Nevertheless, like Thomas the Disciple, some of these doubting Thomases are confronted with evidence of the Divine that is as real to them as the resurrected Lord was to Thomas.  One such skeptic who is beginning to question his atheism is Sir Antony Flew.  If you are like me, the name probably does not mean much to you, which is not a positive testimony on our part because we have been ignorant of a very influential man in our own lifetime.  Unfortunately, his influence has been to take people away from, not toward, God.  “In the world of academic philosophers, the British-born Flew was long considered a leading intellectual powerhouse.  He made his mark as an undergrad in 1950, when he presented a paper at a debating forum chaired by C. S. Lewis.  The paper, which criticized arguments for the existence of God, became the most widely reprinted work of philosophy for the next half century.  Flew expanded on his arguments in later books and other forums, and for decades he was hailed for his brilliance and insight.” (Matt Kaufman, “Irresistible Force,” Focus on the Family Citizen, February 2008, p. 12)

 

Yet, after decades of leading students away from God, Flew began to have a change of heart and mind.  Finally, in 2004, he announced, “After more than six decades of atheism, I announced that I had changed teams, so to speak.”  In a 2007 book entitled There Is a God: How the world’s most notorious atheist changed his mind, he offers this conclusion, “I now believe that the universe was brought into being by an infinite Intelligence.  I believe that this universe’s intricate laws manifest what scientists have called the Mind of God.  I believe that life and reproduction originate in a divine Source.” (ibid., p. 13)  As of the time of the writing of my source for this, Focus on the Family Citizen magazine, February 2008, Sir Flew had not come to the point of finding a relationship with a personal God or confessing Christ as Savior, but God is certainly making Himself known.  Writes Sir Flew, “No one is as surprised as I am that my exploration of the Divine has turned from denial to discovery.” (ibid., p. 13)  Though he has not yet “seen” the resurrected Christ in his search for faith, he remains open to the possibility.  God may yet remove the doubting from this Thomas.

 

The testimony about another well-known doubting Thomas atheist was brought to my attention just a couple of weeks ago.  Anne Rice has been one of the most-read authors in America.  Her novels about vampires and witches have sold millions of books and subtly reflected her own confusion about true meaning in a world without of God.  She was raised as a Catholic but abandoned all faith at 18.  She later married a fervent atheist.  After thirty years of atheism, she delved into the Bible during bouts with depression.  In 2002, she committed herself "utterly to the task of trying to understand Jesus himself and how Christianity emerged."  Rice avidly researched her novels for historical accuracy and used those same skills to separate fact from fiction about Christ.  She fully expected to find strong evidence against the veracity of Christianity but discovered the exact opposite.  In the afterward to Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt, Rice wrote, "What gradually became clear to me was that many of the skeptical arguments - arguments that insisted most of the Gospels were suspect, for instance - lacked coherence."  She noted, "Some books were no more than assumptions piled upon assumptions.  Absurd conclusions were reached on the basis of little or no data at all."  Rice found that the conclusions of skeptics were based on "some of the worst and most biased scholarship I've ever read."  Her disillusionment with atheistic skeptics and their flimsy evidence resulted in Rice embracing the Lordship of Jesus Christ.  This former author of dark novels came to ironically understand what Notre Dame Professor John P. Meier has declared: "For decades now, the unsuspecting public has been subjected to dubious academic claims about the historical Jesus that hardly rise above the level of sensationalistic novels." (Outreach, September/October 2007, p.142)  Jesus has told Ms. Rice to “stop doubting and believe,” and she has.

 

My title for this morning’s sermon is probably familiar to you.  “I once was lost, but now am found, was blind but now I see.”  This sentence is from the most recognized hymn in the world, Amazing Grace, written by John Newton.  I am aware that many of us here this morning are familiar with the background of this man, but I want everyone to know.  John Newton left school at the age of 11 to begin life as a rough, worldly seaman.  He survived the rough life as an eighteenth century merchantman to become the master of his own merchant ship.  A cruel master, he captained a slave ship that hauled captured natives from West Africa to slave markets around the world.  Yet one day, a fierce storm arose that frightened Newton more than he had ever been frightened.  I cannot imagine how ferocious this storm must have been, because he would have survived many a storm on the high seas throughout his career.  As a result of this storm, though, and the alarm and fear he felt about being shipwrecked, Newton began to read The Imitation of Christ by Thomas a Kempis.  Through this book, God led John Newton to a genuine conversion and a dramatic change in his way of life.  Newton went on to become an ordained pastor in the Church of England and served in the little village of Olney.  In a book of stories about hymns, author Kenneth Osbeck writes, “Until the time of his death at the age of 82, John Newton never ceased to marvel at the grace of God that transformed him so completely.  Shortly before his death he is quoted as proclaiming with a loud voice during a message, ‘My memory is nearly gone, but I remember two things: That I am a great sinner and that Christ is a great Savior!’  What amazing grace!” (Kenneth Osbeck, Amazing Grace: 366 Inspiring Hymn Stories for Daily Devotions, Kregel Publications: Grand Rapids, MI, 1990, p. 170)  “I once was lost, but now am found, was blind but now I see.”

 

God has never stopped revealing Himself to His creation, even to those men and women who remain lost and blind.  I praise God every time I am given a testimony about one who has lived his or her life as a doubting Thomas, but then discovers that God has really been there all along revealing the scars in his hands, feet, and side.  Never give up hope, for many have set sail to prove that there is no God only to discover the nail prints in his hands.  “Stop doubting and believe.” (John 20:27)    “I once was lost but now am found, was blind but now I see.”

 

“Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” (John20:29)

 

 

 

 

Rev. Charles A. Layne

First Baptist Church

PO Box 515

179 W. Broadway

Bunker Hill, IN 46914

765-689-7987

[email protected]

www.bhfirstbaptist.com

 

 

 

 

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