"These words are written that you may believe..." (April 11, 2010)
By Rev. Bert Thompson

"These are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing, you may have life in His name.” (John 20:31 NKJV)

How does one come to faith? The Word of God creates faith. Whether it was the Word of God spoken at your baptism or the Word of God preached to you when you were older, the Word of God does all the work. The explanation to the Third Article of the Apostles’ Creed in Luther’s Catechism says this “I believe that I cannot… believe: I believe that I cannot, but my own reason or strength, believe in Jesus Christ, my Lord, or come to Him, but the Holy Spirit has called me by the Gospel…” God creates faith only through the Gospel, the Good News of Jesus Christ.

Holy Scripture says: How shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? (Rom. 10:14). God sends His Word through His Church to work faith in His people. His Word is preached and faith is created.

However, God does not force us to believe. Even when the Word is preached, we can still refuse to believe it. Look at Thomas. There’s doubt and unbelief in the heart of Thomas. Even though 10 apostles preach the Word of God to him; even though they say, “We have seen the Lord!”, Thomas refuses to believe.

But the next Sunday, Thomas is present in the worshipping assembly. Once again, on that Sunday, Jesus comes to His little congregation. Jesus speaks. Thomas hears, sees and believes.

Jesus says, “Thomas, because you have seen Me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” (John 20:29) In these words, Jesus also speaks to you. You are those who have not seen and yet you have believed. The preached Word of God has created faith in each of you.

But the devil is constantly trying to destroy the faith of
you who believe and to prevent faith in those who do not yet believe. Scripture warns us to be alert. The devil is our enemy. Only God gives us the power of the Holy Spirit to resist the devil and to stand firm in the faith. (1 Pet. 5:8)

The devil wants us to doubt just like Thomas. That’s why Jesus calls us to be here in the worshipping assembly. This is where we are brought to faith and this is where we are kept in the faith. Jesus came to His disciples that first Easter evening and Jesus still comes where His people are assembled. Jesus says, “Where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them.” (Matt. 18:20) However, on that first Easter, someone skipped out. Thomas was absent when the church gathered together. He missed Jesus. Satan used Thomas’ absence as a wedge to separate Thomas from his faith.

We don’t want to be like Thomas. We are here to meet Jesus. because Jesus promises to be here. We are in worship because we want to be with Jesus. Jesus is our strength, our life and our salvation. We don’t want to miss these meetings with Jesus where He gives us His gift of forgiveness and strengthens our faith.

The Word of God given here in worship is the sword of the Holy Spirit, which fights our fears and doubts. That Word of God: “in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” (Matt. 28) is the Word in which we are baptized. That Word creates faith. That Word of God: “If you forgive anyone his sins, they are forgiven” (John 20) is the word of Absolution that forgives our sins. That Word of God “Take eat, this is My body” is that Word that joins Jesus’ sinless body to ours. The Word of God forgives our sins and drives out fears and doubts.

That is why Satan wants us to doubt the Word of God because without the Word of God, we have nothing. In the Garden of Eden, Satan said to Eve, “Did God really say?” Satan led Eve to doubt God’s Word. Now, Satan uses magazines and television to raise doubts about God’s Word. And it’s not just grownups whom Satan is targeting. A recent study reveals many children are overcome by faith-destroying doubts already in junior high school. Sadly, many grownups do not have answers to their children’s questions. We need to be ready with answers. Scripture tells us: “always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect…” (1 Pet 3:15 NIV) Your pastors are here to help. We have many resources to help you answer questions about God’s Word. Pastor Bagnall’s Sunday morning Bible class is learning how ancient history clearly demonstrates the accuracy of the Bible. The resurrection of Jesus Christ is the most provable event in ancient history. As far as the Old Testament, even the stones cry out as sedimentary rock shows a world-wide flood in Noah’s day. Archeological digs continue to uncover the accuracy of the Bible. The fingerprints of God are all over.

But how do we answer a question like this: Since the Bible has been copied so many times, how do you Christians know what the original writings really said? First, let’s look at other ancient writings. Julius Caesar, 50 years before Jesus was born, wrote a history of his Gallic Wars. No original of his writing remains but we do have ten copies written much later. The oldest of these ten copies was copied almost 1,000 years after Julius Caesar died. For Plato, we have seven copies, the oldest one copied 1,200 years after Plato died. Historians regard these copies as accurate. In contrast, we have over 5,000 ancient copies and fragments of the New Testament, as close as 30 years to the life of St. John, disciple of Jesus. That’s incredible! The Old Testament also has conclusive proof of its accuracy.

What about human errors in copying? Comparing all New Testament copies, we have over 99% accuracy. Almost 100%. Wow. And, just using Bible quotes from the early church, we could reconstruct the entire New Testament, except for a few verses.

What about so-called secret Gospels? Read them and laugh. In the so-called Gospel of Thomas, Jesus agrees that Mary must become a man before she can enter heaven. Totally bizarre. That’s why these false Gospels were never included in the Bible.

So, how do we know if our English translation is accurate? That’s why your pastors learn Hebrew and Greek so we can compare English translations with the ancient Hebrew and Greek copies.

God has given you His true Word. You can trust it. He has preserved it – all through the centuries. The Bible is true in everything. The Word of God does not lie. Jesus says, “Thy Word is truth.” (John 17:17 KJV) However, just knowing the Word of God is true is not the same as faith. Neither is truth the same as love. You can know the truth about someone, but not love them. The devil knows God’s Word is truth. Yet, he hates God.

But the Holy Spirit has come to us. He has worked faith, love and trust in Jesus. We love Christ because He first loved us. We say with Thomas: “My Lord and my God!” because Jesus is your Savior and my Savior. The facts only strengthen our faith. What is faith? Faith is love and trust in Jesus as our Savior.

We end, as we started, with the words of St. John: “These are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing, you may have life in His name.”

God grant that faith to each of us, for Jesus’ sake. Amen.