Transcription
So as I think about forgiveness today, I wonder where you've been wounded. Jesus, it was in his hands. When they saw the hands, they realized this is not an impersonator, this is not an imposter. They had to see something. They had to see something that let them know what he went through.
And you keep trying to prove God's presence by your successes. But when it came time for Jesus Christ, the Son of God, to prove his presence, he said, "Look where the nails were. See my hands. See where they drove the spikes between the bones so they would not break, so that it would support the weight of my body long enough for me to suffocate. See, see, see. It killed me, but I didn't stay dead. It broke me, but I am now whole. I was dead, now I'm alive. See my scars. My scars tell a story. I'm not ashamed to show my scars. Christianity is not cosmetic surgery so you can hide what you've been through to try to get people to think you're perfect. Christianity, Jesus Christ didn't come to conceal the pain, he came to reveal his glory, and he showed it in his scars."
But there was one. God is always looking for the one who wasn't there. And the Bible tells us that even though the eleven minus Judas got to see him, there was one who wasn't there named Thomas. Can I talk about Thomas for one minute? Let me teach you about Thomas. Oh man, Thomas, he gets a bad rap. They call him in the church, they call him Doubting Thomas. Have you ever heard this before? Doubting Thomas, because church people will label you by one moment in your journey. Doubting Thomas, adultery, Annie. I'll stop right there. Something's going through my head that'll have to be edited out for YouTube. Because life will label you by what you did.
And the Bible gives us a little. Only John tells us this because John had this sensitivity to him. When you read his Gospel, he tells you things other people don't mention. He said, "Now Thomas, also known as Didymus." I mean, if we've just got to label Thomas a doubter, can we at least call him Doubting Didymus? Because the alliteration works much better. Doubting Didymus. The Bible says that doubting Diddy, one of the twelve, was not. Someone say he wasn't there. So now Jesus and Thomas got something in common. When they went to look for Jesus' dead body, he wasn't there. When Jesus showed up alive and resurrected, Thomas wasn't there. And Thomas wasn't there.
The Bible doesn't say why he wasn't there. I've always heard it preached like he wasn't there because he didn't have enough faith to be there. But the boys inside had the doors locked. They weren't any better. So if we're gonna give out nicknames, let's talk about Simon Peter inside with the doors locked. How about Scaredy-cat Simon Peter? Scaredy Simon. How about Locked-door Levi? Lock them up, Levi. And doubting Diddy. And we all have doubts. That's what I'm trying to say. We all have scars. We all have dysfunction. You might have long sleeves, but if I could roll up your sleeves, you've been through something. You struggle with something. Your wife may not know it, but God does.
I gotta hurry. I gotta hurry. I'm getting really indulgent. I got to get you out of here because the next crowds coming in. Somebody say, "Nails! Nails! Nails! Nails!"
So the other disciple told him, "We have seen the Lord." But Thomas said, "This is why they call him Doubting Thomas." I call him Honest Thomas. I don't call him Doubting Thomas. I call him Honest Thomas, truthful Thomas. Because Thomas is like, "I'm not buying it. I'm not buying off what you said. I need to see for myself. This has to be real to me." So hey, "Unless I see the nail marks in his hands, unless I see where he suffered, I will not believe in his glory. And unless I put my finger where the nails were and put my hand into his side, I won't believe."
Watch Jesus. Now I want to point out one thing in verse 26. Look at it. Seven days later. Seven, a week later. Seven, seven miles, seven days. God will leave you in a space where you don't understand to create faith in your heart. So Thomas says, "I need to see the scars." Jesus could have showed up on the spot. He waited seven days. Jesus could have walked up to Cleopas and said, "See my scars. It's me." But sometimes he wants to let you walk and wonder and walk and wonder. Not because he doesn't love you, but because if your faith needs an explanation, it cannot sustain the trials of life. So we wait seven days. Y'all help me preach this. He waits seven days. Have you ever had to wait seven days? Have you ever had to wait through a custody battle? Have you ever had to wait to see if this is ever gonna feel better? Have you ever had to wait through pain, wait through depression, wait through anxiety attacks, wait through bad reports, wait through a newscast? Have you ever had to wait? Awaiting, a waiting period.
And then when Jesus shows up a week later, seven. Everybody say, "Seven." Seven days, seven miles, seven days, seven miles. It's the number of completion. And then Jesus shows up, maybe just at that point where Thomas is tired of waiting. And the disciples were in the house again, and Thomas, this time, was there. And Jesus walks in. Look at the next part, though. The doors were locked. They still locked the doors. Still scared. But they stayed. Still scared, but they stayed. I still got some addictions, but I'm in church today. God can work with that. I'm still on the road. I don't get it, but I'm still. And this time, Thomas was there. He's not gonna miss it this time. And Jesus came in, stood among them, and said, "Peace."
Watch what comes next. "Yo, Tommy. Hey, Diddy. Hey, honest Thomas. I heard you wanted to see my scars. Now this is important. Put your finger here, where, where the nails were." Isn't that what you needed to see, Thomas? Where the nails were. Now notice something. He didn't say, "Where the nails are." Yo, Tommy, I'm back from the grave, and I need you to see something. Look, Thomas, no more nails. Look, Thomas, they're not here. Put your finger where the sin was. Put your finger where the shame was. Put your finger where they tried to crucify the Creator of the world. No more. Somebody shout, "No more nails! No more nails!" In other words, what held me doesn't hold me anymore. I came to declare today is the day of freedom. I wish you would push your neighbor till they almost fall over and say, "No more nails! No more nails!"
Now, I've heard so many sermons about forgiveness because we've all been wounded. Raise your hand if life hasn't wounded you yet. I want to see where the liars are in the church because I want to have a special prayer for all the liars who would have the audacity to lie in the presence of God and act like you haven't been wounded. We've all been wounded. Rock Hill, Gaston County, it doesn't matter. Toronto, Canada. You can't, you can't walk the road without being wounded. You can't go to church without being wounded. "He didn't speak to me. That's why I left. He didn't speak to me." I was in a church one time and the preacher got on this thing about wounds, and it was so weird, y'all, because he was like, he was preaching about wounds. His thing was trying to get everybody to go back and remember all the ways they've been wounded throughout their whole life. He had me thinking of stuff in the third grade. Just the craziest stuff like that was gonna bring healing.
Look at this. Jesus didn't show Thomas his wounds. He showed him his scars. There is a difference between being wounded and being scarred. So when I prayed about this first word of forgiveness, the Lord told me to talk to you about the nails. Whatever has wounded you, whatever you hide, whatever happened. See, when Jesus shows Thomas his scars, I'm glad he kept his scars. I'm glad he kept that part. I'm glad he didn't stay dead, but I'm also glad that he came out scarred because that gives me hope. And that's how I try to preach. I don't want to preach wounded, because if I preach wounded, I'm gonna inflict my pain on you. And I don't want to be a wounded parent. I don't want to be a wounded spouse. I don't want to walk around.
God spoke to me a couple months ago and he said, "If I've really healed you like you claim I have, why are you still so touchy?" Thomas said, "I want to see where the wounds were." And when I teach preachers, Jonathan can tell you, I tell them, "Don't you get up and tell the church all the ways that you woke up at 5:30 AM and you know, if I put you in my pulpit, show the church some of your scars." You can show them the stones that God has rolled away. That's fine. That's a part of it. He is a God of miracles. He is a God who makes dreams come true. And we've all got some stones that he's rolled away, but we've all got some scars too. So show them your scars. Show them where you didn't get up at 5:30. In fact, show them where you pretended like you didn't hear the baby crying at 5:30 and Anna got up. Tell them that story. Tell them how you almost quit. Tell them how you wanted to throw up the first week you went out to preach after the news media ran a story about you for four days straight saying things about you. Tell them that. Tell them how you were in the bathroom and you came out smiling. Show them where the wounds were, and it'll give them hope. What wounded me doesn't have to hold me forever. Come on, it's time to be free. It's been long enough. It's been seven days.
Forgiveness doesn't mean it didn't happen. The scars show it happened. Jesus didn't show up and say, "What cross? Cross? I don't remember cross." I heard a preacher say one time, "This guy's an idiot. He should have his credentials revoked." He said, "If you've really..." Let's get a preacher voice going. "If you've really forgiven someone in your heart, you will not even remember the offense." There is a word that comes to my mind to describe what he said, but I'm gonna just say it's inaccurate. It's not denial when I say forgiveness. Because I got to be careful because I'm a pastor, right? I'm not just passing through, preaching one week, leaving. I'm not trying to just get something. I'm trying to go on a journey with you and to let you know that when you let go of whatever wounded you so that you can be free and go into the future God has for you, it doesn't mean that you pretend it never happened. This is not denial. The nails were there. My dad walked out on me. Not, not my dad. I'm saying that you could say my mom had an impossible standard that I could never live up to, and I believe that part of my eating disorder today has to do with that. I'm not saying it didn't happen, but I can't let it hold me. I cannot blame her forever. Not if I'm a Christian. Not if I am a Christian. Not if I worship the one who was wounded for my transgression.
See, I need to let you know something. Because the hardest person you'll ever forgive is not your ex. It's not your mom. It's not your dad. It's not your neighbor who came over your fence on your property line. The hardest person you will ever have to forgive is yourself. See, the truth be told, it is myself-inflicted nails that I have the hardest time letting go of. But I want the devil to know when he comes to hammer at me with accusation, "I don't know where you go when that starts to happen. How worthless you are." Have you noticed the devil loves to hammer you? And he's got a big hammer. But let me tell you a little secret. He ain't got no more nails. Somebody shout, "No more nails!" The next time the devil hammers you with accusations, shout back in his face, "You ain't got no nails! All my nails are in that cross! All my shame is on that cross!" Somebody shout, "No more nails!"
"Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life has set me free from the law of sin and death." The devil might have a hammer, but he doesn't have any nails. Reach out and touch the place where the nails were. Where they were. It doesn't mean it didn't happen. It happened. I fell short. It happened. I ruined the relationship. It happened. They abused me and wasted. I don't even want to tell my own spouse. It happened. I deal with the traumatic memory. See, it's not that it didn't happen, and it's not that it doesn't hurt. That's not what forgiveness is. Forgiveness doesn't mean it doesn't hurt. I mean, the nails might be gone, but the memory is still there. And it's really easy to forgive sometimes when the person that you're forgiving is gone. But when you still have to work out shared custody, when you still have to live with the memory, when you still can't be touched without recalling the shame of when you were touched the wrong way, and now you're trying to learn how to love the right way, when you're trying to learn how to trust. It doesn't mean it won't hurt. Away with the preaching that will teach you that the pain will go away when you forgive the offense. It's not that the pain goes away. I'm helping somebody. I'm setting somebody free. You keep waiting for the feeling of forgiveness to come. It's not a feeling. It takes faith. I said it takes faith. I said it takes faith. I said it takes faith. It takes faith to believe that the same place where the nails were is the same place where the healing is.
They saw it in his scars. Jesus needed those nails. If they hadn't nailed him to that cross, if they hadn't, if they hadn't punctured, if the blood didn't flow from that place, the power wouldn't be released. I'm saying not that God's gonna take the scar away, but that he is going to release the greatest strength in your life from the place where the nails were. Come on, shout, "No more nails!"
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