for the scripture reading this
morning would you please turn with me to Psalm 133 this expresses
what the Lord put on my heart last weekend and I'd like to
read this and share what he spoke to me about david says
behold i will tell you something really important how good and
how pleasant for brethren to dwell together in unity we didn't have any discussions or debates
did we? Let me tell you my point. We
dwelt in Christ. If you're in Christ, you'll be
in unity. It's like the precious ointment
upon the head that ran down upon the beard, even Aaron's beard,
that went down to the skirts of his garments, top of his head
all the way to the bottom. As the dew of Hermon, and as
the dew that descended upon the mountains of Zion, For there
the Lord commanded the blessing, even life forevermore. And I'd
like you to go down to 135 and just read a few verses. It says,
Praise ye the Lord. That's what we've come here for
this morning. Praise ye the name of the Lord.
Praise Him. O ye servants of the Lord. Ye that stand in the house of
the Lord, in the courts of the house of our God. Praise the
Lord, for the Lord is good. Sing praises unto his name, for
it is pleasant." We hear people often say, I can't
wait to get to heaven so I can see Grandma, Grandpa, Uncle,
Brothers and sisters, I fear when they say that, they don't
know the Lord. Last weekend is just a taste
in my eyes, and it pales. It can't be compared, but it's
the closest thing on this earth we'll get to what it will be
like in glory. And we'll stand before The Preacher,
and we'll dwell in unity with The Brethren. forevermore. Eternal. If last weekend warmed
your heart, brother, I can't tell you what glory. I just,
I can't even, words fail me. And I'm so thankful. The Word of God says Christ has always
dealt with his people with loving kindness. Always I wish I could say that
about my dealings with my own children. But I've dealt with
them, I know, in times of anger and frustration. But Christ never,
ever deals with you, if you're His child, any way but with love,
loving kindness towards His people. I pray, Lord, He'll give us the
ability this morning to praise Him. Would you join me as we
try to pray? Lord, we've gathered in your
house, and I pray that we never, ever,
Lord, take this for granted. What a great blessing it is to
gather with the brethren in unity. A unity that you have given us
because you're the one that has saved us all. And you're the
one that has taught us all. And you are the one that keeps
us all. What a great blessing it is. Lord, we pray this morning that
you would send your spirit to us and be with your church wherever
it meets. Speak to the hearts of your servants
that preach and their wives and bless them and comfort them and
encourage them. Give us a love for them. And
we pray as your people, Lord that you would give us the ability
to give you praise and glory from the heart and from our lips. We ask this in your name. We know that our God is the first
cause of all things. Everything that happens in time,
He has purposed in eternity. He ordained it in eternity. He is the first cause of all
things. All things that we call good,
He's the first cause of it. Every good and perfect gift comes
from our Father above, whom there is no bearableness, neither shadow
of turning. Everything that we experience
as bad in our experience, God says is good. I'll work all things
together for good, for them that love me and those that... He's
the first cause of all things. What hope and comfort we have
in resting in a God who is God. That having been said, you and
I live in time. And in time, there are secondary
causes for things. If we have faith, it's because
God gave it. For by grace are you saved through
faith, and that not of yourself, it's a gift of God, not of works,
lest any man should boast." Faith is a gift of God. He's got to
cause it. He's got to enable it in the area of secondary causes. There are things in you and in
me that cause our unbelief and things that cause faith. And that's what I want us to
look at this morning. I want us to compare and contrast two
characters in the scriptures. One, we have affectionately termed
doubting Thomas. What was the cause of his unbelief? I want to know what it was and
I want to avoid it. And the second character I want
us to look at is that centurion that the Lord said he marveled
for he had not seen such great faith, no, not in all of Israel. What would cause the Lord Jesus
Christ to marvel at a man's faith and say that it's the greatest
faith that he's seen? What caused the centurion to
have such great faith? And here are the causes. Thomas' unbelief was caused by
too high a view of himself. The centurion's great faith was
caused by a low view of himself. The cause of Thomas' unbelief
was too low a view of Christ. The cause of the centurion's
faith, great faith, was that he had a high view of Christ. The cause of Thomas' unbelief
was that he had too high a view of experience. And the cause
of the centurion's great faith is that he had a very low view
of experience. The cause of Thomas' unbelief
is that he had too low a view of the Word of God. And the cause
of the centurion's great faith is that he had a high view of
the word of God. The cause of Thomas' unbelief
is that he had too low a view of worship. And the cause of
the centurion's great faith is that he had a high view of worship. Now, to whatever degree we find
ourselves high and low in those areas, to that degree we will
enjoy faith. Faith. There's not a child of God. There's
not a child of God. that cannot say from the heart,
Lord I believe help thou mine unbelief. My hope for you and my hope for
me this morning is that the Lord will answer that prayer. That
he will take those of us that do believe and increase our faith. And that he will cause someone
who has yet to believe to understand that it's their high view of
themselves, their low view of Christ, their high view of experience,
their low view of the Word, and their low view of worship that
is the reason for their unbelief. Will you open your Bibles with
me to John chapter 11? Verse 16, the Lord had just gotten
word that Lazarus was sick. The messenger left when Lazarus
was sick. But on the way, Lazarus died.
And the Lord knew that. And the Lord told the disciples,
he's not sick, he's dead. And he said, let's go. And the disciples said, but Lord,
the Jews sought to slay thee when you were there in Bethany
and in Jerusalem before. The Lord had stayed pretty much
away from Jerusalem for most of his earthly ministry, ministering
out on the highways and hedges and into Galilee. And now he's
about to go back to Jerusalem. And Thomas said in verse 16,
which is called Didymus. Now that's a redundancy because
Thomas in Didymus is the same thing. It means twin or double.
And Thomas is such a picture of me. I always have a problem
with that passage in James when it says, a double-minded man
is unstable in all of his ways. Because I feel most of the time
pretty much double-minded. And to whatever degree we are
double-minded, to that degree we're going to be unstable. Unstable. Lord, I want to be stable. I
don't want to be so double-minded. I don't want to be so much like
Thomas. What the Lord is saying to me in this verse is, then
don't have such a high view of yourself. Look what Thomas said
in verse 16. Then said Thomas, which is called
Didymus, unto his fellow disciples, let us go also that we may die
with him. Come on boys, let's go. Now was
Thomas sincere when he said that? I'm sure that he was. I'm sure
that Peter was sincere. when he told the Lord at the
Last Supper, they may deny you, but not me. I'm sure that he was very sincere
at the Garden of Gethsemane when he pulled out his sword and went
to hack off the soldier's head and the soldier duck just in
time for him to just catch his ear. Peter was very sincere. But it was that high view of
themselves that needed to be humbled, wasn't it? It was that
high view of themselves that left them without strength. Where do we get our strength
from? By having a low view of ourselves.
Paul said, when I am weak, then I am strong. His strength is
made perfect in my weakness. The cause of Thomas' unbelief
was that he had too high a view of himself. That's where the world is, isn't
it? Oh, confidence and bravado and strength and power and influence,
that's greatly valued in our world, isn't it? Greatly valued. And our flesh would so puff itself
up. Has the Lord made you to be a
nobody? Has He done for you what He did
for Saul of Tarsus and knocking you off your high horse and putting
you in the dirt and causing you to realize? Somebody said to
me recently, I always thought I was so strong and now I realize
how weak I am. I said, well that's a good thing.
That's a good place to be. That's a good place to be. It's
only in that weakness. Only in that weakness. Unbelief. Unbelief believes in its ability. It believes in its ability to
believe. The unbeliever says, well I can
believe that. I'll follow after Christ. I'll make that decision. I've
got the ability to follow Christ. I can decide. No, you can't. Faith only comes when you come
to the end of your ability to believe. Like I said Wednesday
night, you come to Christ for faith. You come to Christ for
a broken heart. You come to Christ for repentance. You don't bring those things
with you. You don't impress God with your
ability to have faith. Come to Him for those. Thomas,
the reason Thomas was so double-minded, and the reason why Thomas is
known as Doubting Thomas, and the reason Thomas' faith so faltered
is because he had too high a view of himself. How often that's
true of us. Unbelief believes that it's able
to choose God. It believes that it's able to
repent. Unbelief believes that it's able
to resist temptation. Lead us not into temptation.
Lord, if there's anything I've learned about myself over the
years, I know that if I'm tempted, I'm gonna fall. Don't even put
me in a position to be tempted. Like I said, I have no problem
with sin, that's all, I'm tempted. That's just where we are, isn't
it? It's where we are. Unbelief believes that it's able
to please God, it believes that it's able to perform good works. Unbelief says with that man,
what can I do to work the works of God? Unbelief says with the with the
man who said, well, I've made a covenant with death. God says,
I'll disannul your covenant. Unbelief does what Abel did.
It brings the fruits of its own labors to God and expects to
be accepted. What about that centurion? Turn
with me to Matthew chapter 8. Verse 8, now this is the man,
and don't miss this, I've told you this before, you didn't enlist
in the Roman Army. You didn't go down to the local
enlistment officer and say I want to become a soldier in the Roman
Army. You had to be chosen to be in the Roman Army. It was
very choice individuals that became chosen for that. And the
Romans, the Roman army, they were intimidators. They dressed
the part and played the part. And now this man is a centurion. That means that he's the commander
of 100 Roman soldiers. It's a Roman soldier who's commanding
100 Roman soldiers. I mean, if there was anyone in
that culture that had reason to be proud, anyone in that culture
that had reason to show bravado and power and intimidate people,
surely a centurion could do it. And look what the Lord says,
look what the scripture says. And verse 8, and the centurion
answered and said, Lord, I am not worthy. that thou shouldest
come under my roof." The world would have given him
every reason to believe that he had reason to think highly
of himself. But when confronted with the
Lord Jesus Christ, what was the first words out of his mouth?
I'm not worthy. I'm not worthy. I'm not able,
I'm completely dependent upon your grace. Well the first words
out of Isaiah's mouth when he saw the Lord, woe is me. The
first words out of Joe's mouth when the Lord revealed himself,
behold I am vile. What did Paul say? All wretched
man that I am. Here's faith isn't it? Faith
is having a low view of yourself when in the presence of God. You've practiced all your life
to be good at something. There's no reason why you ought
not to be confident in what you do before men. But you just put all that aside
when you come in the presence of the Lord. I'm not worthy. I'm not worthy. Let's go with
him, we'll just die with him. Where was Thomas when it came
time for the Lord to die? No mention, it all says the disciples
scattered. They ran, didn't they? Lord, if you're going to bless
me, Here's what a low view of yourself is. Number one, you're
taking sides with God against yourself and you're saying to
the Lord, if you're going to bless me, it's going to have
to be based on something outside of me. It's going to have to be based
on something outside of me. There's nothing in me that would
cause you to bless me. I'm not worthy. I'm not able. It's going to have to be in spite
of me. It's going to have to be all
of grace. All of grace. The second reason for Thomas'
lack of faith is found in John chapter 14 verse 5. Will you
turn with me there? I love this passage. Our Lord
starts out by telling the disciples. He tells them in chapter 13 that
he's going to the cross. And they understood some of what
he was saying. And he starts out in chapter
14 with, let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God,
believe also in me. In my father's house are many
mansions. If it were not so, I would have told you. I'd go
and prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place
for you, I will come again, and I'll receive you unto myself,
so that where I am, there you may be also." I mean, how much
clearer could the Lord be to the disciples about... He had
just told them He was going to die, but now He's telling them,
My death is not going to be in vain. My death is going to accomplish
the purpose of providing for you a place in eternity. Look
what He says in verse 4, And whither I go, You know, and the way, you know. You know where I'm going, I just
told you I'm going to my father's house. And you know the way,
I just told you the way is going to be through my death on Calvary's
cross. You know the way, and you know
where I'm going. And Thomas said unto him, Lord,
we know not whither thou goest, and how can we know the way? What is our reason for unbelief?
What's the cause for unbelief? It's just a low view of Christ,
isn't it? It's a low view of Christ. Truth
is, you can't make a believer low enough, and you can't make
Christ high enough, can you? But we're like Thomas, aren't
we? Lord, we don't know. We want more information. And
our Lord Verse 6 says, Thomas, I am the way, the truth, and
the life. No man come to the Father. That's
where I'm going. I'm going to the Father. I'm
going to prepare a place for you. And I am the way, the truth,
and the life. He just had a low view of Christ,
didn't he? We question the Lord's work,
we question His ability, question His deity, question His sovereignty. That's what unbelief does. That's
what unbelief does. Lord, why is this happening?
Lord, why? I don't understand. We just have
a low view of Christ. or we don't we don't know the
way we don't know where you're going we don't know what you're
doing and we want to know more no it's okay it's okay I'm in
control and just trust me what about what about that centurion
go back with me to Matthew chapter 8 He had a high view of Christ,
didn't he? He had a high view of Christ.
Look what he says. The centurion answered in verse
8, Lord I'm not worried thou shalt come unto my root, but
speak the word only and my servant shall be healed. For I am a man
under authority. I'm a centurion, but I've got
a commanding officer. And when he tells me to go, I
go. And when he tells me to come,
I come. And when he tells me to do, I do. And I have men working
under me. Look at what he says. Having
soldiers under me, I say to this man, go, and he goeth. And to
another, come, and he cometh. And to my servant, do this, and
he doeth it. And when Jesus heard this, what was the centurion saying?
Lord, I know that you're a man of authority. What did the Lord
Jesus Christ say just before he ascended into glory? He said,
all authority has been given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go, go into all the world. Preach the gospel, make disciples,
baptizing men in the name of the Father and the Son and the
Holy Spirit. And lo, wherever you go, I'll be with you always.
I'm with you. I'll never leave you or forsake
you. I've got authority. I've got authority over you.
I've got authority over your circumstances. I've got authority
over your friends. I've got authority over your
family. I've got authority over all things. Nothing happens outside
of my authority. If I say go, they go. If I say
come, they come. If I say do, they do. He had
a high view of Christ, didn't he? What is faith? Faith is having a low view of
self and faith is having a high view of the Lord Jesus Christ. Faith is believing that He is
sovereign over the armies of heaven and all the inhabitants
of the earth and that He hath done whatsoever He wills and
that no man can stay his hand and say unto him, what doest
thou? Faith is believing that all the nations are nothing before
him. A low view of self, a high view
of Christ. Thomas didn't have it, and he
fell. The centurion had it, and the
Lord said, I've not seen such great faith, no, not in all of
Israel. Don't you want the Lord to say
that about you? I'm not seeing such great... The Lord, if it's
going to happen, He's going to have to give us a low view of
ourselves and a high view of Christ. Thomas had a high view of experience,
didn't he? He wasn't there when the Lord
first appeared to the disciples in the upper room, and when he
showed up, The scripture says in John chapter 20 that the disciples
told him the Lord was here. You missed it. And what did Thomas
say? Unless I can put my finger into
the nail prints of his hand and thrust my hand into the wound
of his side, I will not believe. unless I can physically put my
finger right into that hole and shove my hand into his side I
will not believe they told him everything the Lord had said
they told him that when the Lord appeared they said that he said
fear not they told him but he didn't believe, why? because
he didn't have the experience oh don't have too high a view
of experience Feelings come and feelings go. Feelings are deceiving. My warrant is the Word of God. None else is worth believing. Yet how many times people hear
the gospel and they think, well, I've got to have a feeling. I've
got to have an experience. I can have a warm fuzzy come
over me. I've got to get struck from heaven
with a lightning bolt. I've got to, you know, whatever.
I've got to experience a miracle. Don't have such a high view of
experience. Don't you love that passage?
Turn to me in 1 Peter. I know I've shown you this many
times, but I want us to see it again. Because it's so clear
on this point. First Peter, chapter 1. Second Peter, chapter 1. I'm
sorry. Second Peter, chapter 1. Verse 16. For we have not followed cunningly
devised fables when we made known unto you the power and coming
of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his majesty."
Now Peter is about to recount that experience that Peter, James,
and John had on the Mount of Transfiguration. I mean, you
talk about an experience, a mountaintop experience. The veil of his humanity
was taken away. The brightness of his deity shined
forth so that Peter, James, and John could not so much as look
at him. They buried their face in the
dirt. They heard the voice of God. It was one of those times
when God Almighty spoke audibly from heaven and said to Peter,
James, and John, this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. Hear ye him. What an experience!
What an experience! But look what Peter said. Peter
had that experience. He was there. Look what he says. For he, verse 17, received from
the Father honor and glory, when there came such a voice to him
from the excellent glory, This is my beloved Son, in whom I
am well pleased. And this voice, which came from
heaven, we heard when we were with him in the holy mount. We're
not bringing you cunningly devised fables. We handled the Word of
God. We heard the voice of God. We were there. Look at the next verse. We have also a more sure, a more
sure, a more sure word of experience. Is it possible that that experience,
as glorious as it was, may have been misinterpreted? Is it possible
that it may have been so subjective that it really didn't happen? Is it possible? You know, one
of the problems with eyewitnesses at a crime is that they don't
always account what actually happened. Eyewitness is not a
valid... I mean, people remember things
that didn't really happen, they create images of stuff, they
hear things and it gets confusing. That's the way our experiences
are, isn't it? We have a more sure word of prophecy. Oh, don't overestimate experience. Don't say like Thomas, unless
I put my finger into his nail print and thrust my hand into
his side. Now I love when the Lord did
appear when Thomas was there and the Lord said, said, uh,
Thomas, stick your fingers into my, into my nail prints. And
the Lord said, Thomas, thrust your hand into my side. And what'd
Thomas do? He didn't do that, did he? He
fell at the feet of the Lord Jesus Christ and he said, Oh
my Lord and my God. Don't overestimate experiences. You know, God gives you an experience,
He gives you a warm feeling, He gives you a moment of time
when you just feel His presence, enjoy it while it lasts. It's
not going to last. It's not going to last. Does that mean that when you
don't feel His presence, that He's not near? Does that mean
when you don't feel saved, you're not saved? Let me ask you this,
before you ever heard the gospel, did you wake up every day thinking
you were lost? Did you feel lost? No, you didn't. You didn't feel lost until you
heard the gospel, did you? Feelings come and feelings go. And if you overestimate the value
of feelings, it will keep you from believing God. Thomas had a low view of the
Word. The Lord Jesus Christ, in Acts chapter 1, told all the
disciples on the Mount of Olives, He said, you go back into the...
When they asked Him, is it time now for you to set up your kingdom?
They were still waiting for a worldly kingdom, an earthly kingdom,
weren't they? They still had much to learn. And the Lord said,
no. He said, it's not for you to
know the times or the seasons. You go back into Jerusalem. Here's
what the Lord told them. You go back into Jerusalem. And
the Holy Spirit will come upon you and you'll be my witnesses
in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and the uttermost parts of the
world." And they all went back and they huddled together in
an upper room and they waited. They believed. Where was Thomas? Where was he? I don't know. Scripture doesn't
say. Maybe he was out buying lunch. Maybe he was out tending
to the sheep. Maybe he was out doing something.
I don't know. But he wasn't where all the other
disciples were. He underestimated the Word of
God. And when the disciples told him
when he came back, we've seen the Lord. And here's what he
said. That he didn't believe it. He
just didn't believe it. What about the centurion? We don't pick and choose what
we're going to believe and what we're not going to believe in
the Word of God, do we? Someone asked, well, how much of the
Bible does one have to believe to be a believer? You know the
answer to that question. If you're a believer, you believe
it all. You just believe it all. and
the centurion, what did he say? I'm not worthy that thou should
come into my house under my roof, but what? What did he say? Only
speak the word and my servant shall be healed. Lord, all you've
got to do is speak. Lord, would you speak to me?
Would you take your word and speak to me? Faith comes by hearing
and hearing comes by the word of God and God can't speak a
word without that word being accomplished. He can't do it. You and I, we speak so many things
that are just empty words, aren't they? My word will not return
unto me void, it will accomplish the purpose for which I sent
it. Every word he speaks must be fulfilled. My ways are not
your ways. When God spoke, it is finished. Was that word fulfilled? The
very first words out of our Lord's lips, David preached a message
on this last weekend about missing Christ and that were the very
first words that are recorded in God's word that the Lord Jesus
Christ said, did you not know that I must be about my father's
business? What was his father's business?
It was to redeem his people. That's why he came, isn't it?
He came into the world in order to purchase to himself a particular
people that God chose in the covenant of grace. And what did
he say? What's the last words? It is
finished. Father, into thy hands I commend
my spirit. He finished the work. Finally, Thomas had a low view
of worship. He had a low view of worship. He wasn't there. All the other disciples were
there. He should have been there. But something else was more pressing. Something else was more important.
He just didn't see the necessity of being there. What did he miss
by not being there? What the Lord say, where two
or three are gathered together in my name, there I am in the
midst of them. He does walk among the candlesticks. He does speak to his people in
Zion. This is where he's pleased to
make himself known. He gathers the sheep together
and he speaks to their hearts through the preaching of the
gospel. The centurion, on the other hand,
he went to where the Lord Jesus Christ was, didn't he? He went
to where he was and where the people were gathered together.
And if you read this account over in Luke chapter 7 about
the centurion, the Jews pleaded with the Lord to listen to the
centurion for they said he is a friend of Israel he has funded
the building of our synagogue. This Roman centurion built for
that town in Capernaum the synagogue. He was a wealthy man but he believed
in the worship of God and the necessity of worship. You still have your Bibles open
to Matthew chapter 8? When Jesus heard it, verse 10,
He marveled. Secondary causes. Matthew chapter
8, verse 10. We're not going to have faith
if the Lord doesn't give it to us. But for the Lord to marvel? Oh, I'd like for the Lord to
marvel at my faith. Wouldn't you? Wouldn't you like
the Lord to marvel at your faith? If He does, like the centurion
and unlike Thomas, you'll have a low view of yourself, you'll
have a high view of Christ, you'll have a low view of experience,
you'll have a high view of the Word of God, and you'll have
a high view of worship. And the Lord said He marveled
for such great faith He's not seen, no, not in all of Israel. Our Heavenly Father, we ask that
you would use your word and use the example
of these two men to put into the hearts of your children great
faith. For we ask it in Christ's name.
Amen. Alright, let's stand together.
We're going to close with number 475. in the hardbacked hymnal number
475. Redeemed I love to proclaim it, redeemed by the blood of