Oh ? Praise God's heavenly King ?
? Praise to Him above the earth and heaven ? ? Praise to the
Lord God of hosts ? ? And the life-giving King of kings ? ?
Surely through His goodness and mercy He came ? Praise to the Lord and all that
is in him. Okay, if you'd turn with me to
John chapter 14. John chapter 14. In speaking to his disciples,
Lord Jesus said this in John chapter 14 verse 1, let not your
heart be troubled. This world can be a very overwhelming
place with all its troubles, can't it? 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 go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place
for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself, that
where I am, there ye may be also. And whither I go, ye know, and
the way ye know. And Thomas said unto him, Lord,
we know not whither thou goest, and how can we know the way?
And Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father
but by me. Lord willing, this morning we'll
be looking at some very well known passages, some professions
of faith, in particular of Peter and Thomas. Now when I say a
profession, I'm not talking about what you do for a job. I'm talking
about what people say, what people profess to be the truth. Now
the Lord in scripture makes many professions about himself, doesn't
he? I am the good shepherd. I am the bread of life. I am
the true vine. I am the resurrection and the
life. all of them describing something of the offices of his
glorious person. But here in John chapter 14 he
says, I am the way, the truth and the life. Thomas had a good
question though, didn't he? How can we know the way? How
can we know the way? The Lord Jesus himself is that
way, isn't he? The way is a person. This world
peddles many ways to God, but the way to God is singular. Our Lord Jesus is that singular
way. No man cometh unto the Father
but by me. This way excludes all other ways. There is no other way. There is no other name under
heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. And the Lord
Jesus Christ is that singular truth, isn't he? He is the truth. In John 1, verse 14, we read,
The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory,
the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace
and truth. We desperately need to hear the
truth, don't we? It's only the truth will set
us free. And our Lord Jesus Christ is that singular life. I am the
way, the truth, and the life. A life that was lived perfectly
before the Father. A life lived on behalf of all
those the Father gave him before the foundation of the world.
So that everything he is, and that everything he did, we did
too. What does the scripture say?
As he is, so are we in this world. Let's pray. Heavenly Father,
we just thank and praise you for your mercy and your grace,
which is freely bestowed upon chosen sinners. Cause us to rest
in him for everything. We pray and thank you for the
Lord Jesus Christ. We thank you for his sin attaining
work. We thank you for all his achievements,
all his success on behalf of those he came to save. And we
pray that you'll give us ever increasing glimpses of his majesty
and glory here today. Be with us here, we pray. cause us to rest in Him, cause
us to hear what He has to say to us. We thank you, Father,
that Angus has had such a profitable visit in the United States. We
thank and praise you for that work of grace which you've brought
in his heart, and we thank you for the fellowship of the saints.
which are found in other places, Heavenly Father. Thank you for
the encouragement that they bring to us in faraway lands. Bless
us with your presence, Heavenly Father. Open our eyes and ears
to hear the word of the Lord. May you bless it to us. In Jesus'
precious name. Amen. Okay. Well, I think we're
going to sing another song, number 13. um Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia,
Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, So shall we, faithless and on
our feet, Sacrifice to His treasury. Alleluia! Our Saviour, He was lifted high. ? Bring me summertime ? My name is written on His wrist,
He's tried by grace and love. I'll be my Saviour's service,
Almighty to atone. And when I'm standing on my own,
I'll sing, I'll be free. I'll praise Him for His precious
blood, so please share it for me. I've titled this message, Believer's
Profession. And when I was thinking about
the believer's profession, the very first example that came
to my mind was Peter's confession in Matthew chapter 16. So if
you'd like to turn with me there, We'll have a look at that together. Matthew 16, verse 30. When Jesus came into the coasts
of Caesarea Philippi, He asked His disciples, saying, Whom do
men say that I, the Son of Man, am? And they said, Some say that
thou art John the Baptist, some say Elias, and others Jeremias,
or one of the prophets. He saith unto them, But whom
say ye that I am? And Simon Peter answered and
said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus
answered him and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona,
for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my
Father which is in heaven. Thou art the Christ, Peter said,
the Son of the living God. Notice in verse 17 the reply
of the Lord Jesus, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona, for flesh
and blood hath not revealed it to thee, but my Father which
is in heaven. And this is the very first thing
perhaps I'd want us to see, is that the believer's profession
is by divine revelation, not by flesh and blood, not by the
cleverness of men. It is a divine revelation of
God. But very importantly, it is always,
it is always according to the Word of God. In Isaiah 8, chapter
20, we read, to the law and to the testimony, that is, this
book, the testimony of God, if they speak not according to this
Word, it is because there is no light in them. God uses the
foolishness of preaching to save them that believes. God put his
gospel into earthen vessels. This is just one earthen vessel
talking to other earthen vessels. One sinner talking to other sinners.
One beggar telling other beggars where to get bread. but it takes
the intervention of God, doesn't it? It takes the intervention
of God to cause a sinner to behold his precious son. It's actually
a miracle. It's a miracle of God's grace.
Every time someone believes the gospel, every time any man or
woman receives the message and trusts Christ for everything,
it's a miracle. It truly is a miracle. Power
is not in the preacher. Paul said in 1 Corinthians chapter
2, when I came to you, I came not with excellency of speech
or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God. For
I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ
and him crucified. And I was with you in weakness
and in fear and in much trembling. and my speech and my preaching
was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration
of the Spirit and of power. And why? The chapter goes on to say that
your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the
power of God. Be sure that your faith stands
in the power of God and not in the wisdom of men. Everyone has
a profession, don't they? Everyone has belief, if you like,
of some type. Even non-religious people have
a profession. People who say, well, they don't
believe that God exists. That's their profession. It's
a foolish profession, but it is a profession. The fool says
in his heart, there is no God. And Romans 1 clearly says that
that which may be known of God is manifest to them. for God
hath shown it unto them. For the invisible things of him
from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood
by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead,
so that they are without excuse. Everyone has a profession of
faith, particularly in religion. But we ought not be naive to
think that everyone is telling the truth. Now, some people don't
like to hear preaching that is negative, especially when that
preaching is to do with false teaching. But the Lord Jesus
warns us time and time again that the Scriptures, and the
Scriptures, the Scriptures are saturated with these warnings.
And the Lord Jesus has no hesitation in warning us of false religion. That's the act of a loving God,
in warning His people. Look at verse 6 of Matthew chapter
16. Jesus said unto them, take heed
and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees. The leaven of the Pharisees and
the Sadducees. It's one of the reasons why we
don't have leaven in our bread when we take the bread and the
wine. A leaven of works-based religion. Just a little leaven
affects the whole lot. Just mix a tiny little bit of
works into grace and it affects everything. It becomes not the
gospel anymore. The Lord spoke harshly to them. In Matthew 23, let me just read
it to you. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees,
hypocrites, for you are like unto whited sepulchres, which
indeed appear beautiful on the outward. They're those tombs,
the sepulchres, which are the tombs they buried people in.
are beautiful on the outward, but are within, full of dead
man's bones and of all uncleanness. Even so, ye also outwardly appear
righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and
iniquity." Counterfeit notes aren't Well,
they don't have a fake stamp on a counterfeit note, do they?
They're designed to look like the real thing. And counterfeit
religion is just the same. And we need to understand who
it is that the Lord is speaking to here. He's not addressing
the cults and isms of this world. There are plenty of those. The
Lord is speaking to men who claim to believe the scriptures, the
same scriptures that we're reading today. But as with all things
counterfeit, the devil is in the detail. subtle distortions
of the truth is all it takes to send a man to the pit of hell.
The serpent was subtle, wasn't he, in the garden? The serpent
was subtle when he convinced Eve to take that fruit. Don't
believe the professions of religion without trying them. The apostle
says in 1 John 4, let me just read it, don't need to turn there.
Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they
are of God, because many false prophets are gone out into the
world. Hereby know ye the spirit of
God. Every spirit that confesseth
that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God, and every
spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh
is not of God. And this is that spirit of Antichrist,
whereof ye have heard that it should come. And even now, already,
is it in the world. How do we know the spirit of
Antichrist? We know from their confession.
Is their confession for Christ, or is it Antichrist? What do
men say of the Lord Jesus Christ? That's the question, isn't it?
The Apostle Paul, as we read before, declared, for I determined
not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ and him crucified. And there's an article in your
bulletin entitled, Here We Stand. It's actually on the front page
of our website as well. We have a number of declarations
on our website, and I encourage you to read it. And so we need
to be clear, don't we? That's the purpose. We need to
be clear about these things. What is the believer's profession? That's what I want to know. I
want us to consider some foundational truths that believers delight
to profess. And the very first is that believers
delight to profess His deity and His sovereignty. Eternal
Son, the second person of the Holy Trinity, in every way equal
with the Father and the Spirit, Jesus Christ is God, manifest
in the flesh. the Creator of all things, the
Sustainer of all things, the Ruler of all things, and the
Disposer of all things. He reigns supreme over all flesh. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
revelation of God, reigning and ruling and sustaining all things
by the power of His Word. In Colossians 1 it says, he is
before all things and by him all things consist. And he is
the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn
from the dead, that in all things he might have the preeminence.
For it pleased the Father that in him should all fullness dwell. Does he have the preeminence?
Believers love every glorious attribute of their God, don't
they? And they love the fact that He
is absolutely sovereign in all things, and especially in the
salvation of sinners. Believers delight to profess
they are sinners by nature. Believers have a high view of
God and a low view of themselves. Sin is to our shame, isn't it?
But we never are shameful to declare the reality of it in
our lives. We know that as a result of our
fall and our father Adam, that everyone is conceived in sin
and shaped in iniquity. Our entire being is totally deprived. We have no righteousness, we
have no goodness, unable to do anything for ourselves, to merit
ourselves to God. And as such we are justly under
the sentence of God, under the sentence of sin. For the wages
of sin is death. That is the just end for everyone
born into this world. That's the default position.
All of us are born rebels with our fists facing God. And here's
the good news. Here's the good news of the Gospel.
The wages of sin are death, but the gift of God is eternal life
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Believers love to declare their
election of God. I spoke to a man recently who
goes to church every week. And he admitted to me that their
pastor has never spoken about election. Friends, there is no
salvation without election. It's the believer's delight.
Believers are not ashamed to talk about election. The elect
love talking about their own election. The Lord God chose some of Adam's
race to be objects of his grace and predestined them unto eternal
salvation in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ before the
world began. There is no condition to be performed
by the sinner. Election is an unconditional
work of God. Scripture says the purpose of
God is according to election. the whole purpose of God, according
to election, not of works, but of him that calleth. And believers
love to profess the sin-attaining work of the Saviour, the Lord
Jesus Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
sinner's substitute. He stood before God as the substitute
for a particular people before the world began. The Word was
made flesh and dwelt among us. Matthew 1.21 tells us the purpose
for which he came, and that is, he shall save his people from
their sins. God the Son came with a particular
purpose. To do a specific thing, he is
on a specific mission, if you like. This was the stipulation
of the covenant which he came to fulfil. This was the commandment
of God which he came to obey, that he would condescend and
be born into his own creation to save a people for himself. That he would take upon himself
the form of a servant, despised and rejected of men, a man of
sorrows and acquainted with grief. And in the fullness of time,
he would die the painful and shameful death of the cross as
a propitiation, that is, as an appeasement on behalf of chosen
sinners. An appeasement to God for all
the sins of all his people for all time. He came to save a people
who were his. He saved them. Our great Redeemer
was just simply redeeming back that which belonged to Him in
the first place. We do not believe that Christ
died for everyone. I know full well that many people,
when you say that, are offended by that statement. Most people
believe the opposite, don't they? But a lie is still a lie, even
if everyone believes it. The Father accepted all His works.
The Father accepted all the works of the Son. And if He died for
all, and if any are not saved, then God has not accepted the
sacrifice of His Son. And even worse, the Son has failed
to save those for whom He died. But we know, don't we? We know
that the Father accepted all His works, the Lord Jesus Christ,
There's no failure. The Lord Jesus came to save his
people. He came to save his church. They are his seed, Isaiah 53.
They are his sheep, John 10. They are his chosen bride, Ephesians
5. They are those for whom God the
Son shed his precious blood. Effectual atonement. Efficacious
atonement. Successful atonement is the clear
teaching of Holy Scripture. And the question is, is that
a truth that you love? Is that a truth that you love,
or are you offended by it? His blood is precious, isn't
it? It was not shed commonly. And believers profess the irresistible
grace of God. There are some in this world
for whom God will not take no for an answer. And he makes them
willing. He makes them willing. Blessed
is the man whom thou choosest and causes to approach unto thee. He causes his people to come
to him. and believers profess that the
Lord will keep his people to the end, no matter how difficult
this life becomes. The Lord will cause his people
to stand till the end. He gives them eternal life. Eternal
life is a gift of God. He gives them eternal life and
they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out
of my hand, and the words of the Lord, Believers delight to
declare the Lord Jesus is the surety of the everlasting covenant. Before the foundation of the
world, God the Father entrusted to God the Son to be the surety
of all his elect. I trust that delights you. Lord
Jesus is the sinner's surety. He is our surety. He pledged
to fulfil all the requirements necessary to redeem his people
according to the everlasting covenant, the covenant of grace.
And in that covenant of grace, God the Father ceased looking
to us, ceased looking to his people for satisfaction. And then he looked to Christ
for satisfaction for all our debts. These are the things believers
believe. This is the believer's profession.
This question of the believer's profession is very important,
isn't it? Does your profession of Christ
preach Christ high and man low? Truth is we can't preach him
high enough, can we? We can't preach man low enough. This message actually has been
accumulating in my mind since I saw a large banner in a church
yard coming home one day from Sydney. and it was advertising
a campaign called the Jesus is campaign. Some of you will know
the campaign I'm talking of. I've spoken to some of you about
it. The banner reads the words Jesus is and then just a blank. Of course the idea is that you're
left to fill in the blank. 88 churches involved. stretching
from Sydney down to the south coast of New South Wales, and there are about 50 articles
on their website, mostly written by church ministers, suggesting
some of the answers for that question, Jesus is. Now, I struggled
with this, but in the end I chose not to read them here, And I promise you, the answers
I read were the most shocking and dishonouring and blasphemous
representations of the Lord Jesus Christ from a so-called Bible-believing
denomination that I have ever read, such that it would be inappropriate,
I felt, for me to even speak of them. There was a verse that
came to my attention just recently. If you just turn to Psalm 62, Psalm 62. Psalm 62 verse 4. They only consult to cast him
down from his excellency. Preach Christ low and they preach
man high. They only consult to cast him
down from his excellency. They delight in lies. They delight
in lies. They delight to tell men that
God loves them and that Jesus died for them. And they bless with their mouth.
They're blessed with the mouth. They talk about Jesus and they
talk about grace and they talk about faith. They use the same
terminology, don't they? But they curse inwardly. Selah. That word selah is to
pause and contemplate these words deeply. This is no Joking matter. If you went to the website and
read what I read there, you would think, well, surely this is a
joke. But it's not a joke. Friends, when the Lord Jesus
asked that question of Peter, who do men say that I am? He wasn't canvassing for the
opinions of the world. He was not instructing his disciples
to go and take a survey and just ask everybody what they thought.
He asked that question of his disciples to make good their
profession. So we'll have a look at Luke
5. Can you turn with me there to Luke 5 to a very familiar,
another familiar passage? Luke 5, Luke 5 verse 1. And it came to pass that as the
people pressed upon him to hear the word of God, he stood by
the lake of Gennesaret and saw two ships standing by the lake.
But the fishermen were gone out of them and were washing their
nets. And he entered into one of the ships, which was Simon's,
and prayed him that he would thrust out a little from the
land. And he sat down and taught the people out of the ship. Now,
when he had left speaking, he said unto Simon, launch out into
the deep and let down your nets for a draft. And Simon answered,
saying unto him, Master, we have toiled all night and have taken
nothing. Nevertheless, if thy would, I
will let down the net. And when they had done this,
they enclosed a great number of fishes, and their net break. And they beckoned unto their
partners, which were in the other ship, that they should come and
help them. And they came and filled both ships so that they
began to sink. And here is Simon's profession. When Simon Peter saw it, he fell
down at Jesus' knees, saying, Depart from me, for I am a sinful
man, O Lord. For he was astonished at all
that were with him, at the draft of the ships which they had taken. He was astonished. Astonished
at the greatness of the miracle, but then the shocking reality,
he glimpsed the glory of God in the person of the Lord Jesus.
You know, I've heard men boast about when they're going to stand
before God and they're going to argue this and argue that.
Perhaps they should read Isaiah's account. When he saw the Lord
lifted high up in the throne of his temple, what did he say?
He said, woe is me, for I am undone. I am a man of unclean
lips, and I dwell in the midst of the people of unclean lips.
For my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts. He saw the
King, albeit in a vision, fully expecting to be cut down. That's what that word undone
means. It means to be cut down. But
the sins of Uzziah had been atoned by another. Let me just read
a few more verses on there. And it was on our sixth day.
Then flew one of the seraphims unto me, having a live coal in
his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar. And he laid it upon my mouth
and said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips, and thine iniquity
is taken away, and thy sin purged. And Peter's words are sinners'
confession, aren't they? When the sinner is made to see
something of his own vileness in the light of the glory of
God. And Peter said there, depart
from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord. And I guess there is
a question. Has God made you a sinner? Has
God made you a sinner? Now that might seem like a odd
question, I suppose. Why would he do that? I thought
God was against sin. Well, he is. But until he's pleased
to make you know something of your own sin, you won't know
your need of a saviour. Sinners are made sinners by the
grace of God. a miracle of grace that the Holy
Spirit does in the hearts of His people. When God causes them
to see that is in them, that is in their flesh dwelleth no
good thing. All people, without exception,
come into this world at enmity with God. And yet only those
for whom God has done a work of grace in the heart believe
themselves to be sinners. Everyone's a sinner, but not
everybody believes themselves to be a sinner. If you turn with
me to Luke chapter 18. Luke chapter 18, the Lord graciously
gives us this parable of the Pharisee and the publican. And
again we see the profession of every believer Luke 18, verse 9. And he spake this parable unto
certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous and
despised others. Two men went up into the temple
to pray, the one a Pharisee and the other a publican. The Pharisee
stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee that I am not
as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even this
publican. I fast twice in the week, I give
tithes of all I possess, and the publican standing afar off. would not lift up so much as
his eyes under heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God,
be merciful to me, a sinner." God, be merciful to me, a sinner. There are only two types of people
in this world. There are those who justify themselves,
and there are those that are justified by God. Are you a mercy
beggar? Or do you have some merit to
bring to God? The fact is that sinners know,
only sinners know, that they've never kept one single law of
God even one time. That's what the sinner knows
about himself. He's never ever kept one of God's laws. He's
never been able to satisfy its demand. And so he approaches God with
this one plea. God, be merciful to me, a sinner. And the Lord says, I tell you,
this man went down to his house justified rather than the other. For everyone that exalteth himself
shall be abased, and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted. In Luke chapter 7, the Lord Jesus
is described to be a friend of publicans and sinners, a friend
of publicans and sinners. We need a friend to represent
us before God, a friend that will present himself on our behalf
before a holy God. In Proverbs 17, 17, We read this, a friend loveth at all times
and a brother is born for adversity. A friend loveth at all times
and a brother is born for adversity. You know, even the best friendships
in this life can easily sour, can't they? But this friend,
The Lord Jesus loveth at all times. Yea, I have loved thee
with everlasting love, therefore with loving kindness have I drawn
thee. And this is a brother who is
born for adversity, delivered by the determinate
counsel and foreknowledge of God, taken by wicked hands, crucified
and slain. Proverbs 18, 24 says, a man that
hath friends must show himself friendly. But that proverb is
much, well, that proverb is most true as it applies to the Lord
Jesus. And there is a friend. The rest
of that proverb goes on. There is a friend that stickers
closer than a brother. What proofs has the Lord Jesus
Christ given us of his friendship? Well, from the beginning of time,
in the covenant of grace, he committed himself to the Father
to be the surety for his friends. He committed himself to pay the
dowry price for the salvation of his bride. Husbands love your
wives, Ephesians 5, even as Christ also loved the church and gave
himself for it. He took on our nature. He was
born of a woman, born in the likeness of sinful flesh, born
under the law to satisfy its demands so that the law would
be silenced against us. There is now, therefore, no condemnation
for those which are in Christ Jesus. Believers are not under
the law in any way, shape, nor form. Why? Because our friend
has satisfied the demands of the law. He took us, brethren,
for his bride. You know, he did what Hosea did
for Goma. What did he say? Take for yourself
a harlot. That's what God told Hosea to
do, and Gamma played the harlot, didn't she? And Hosea continued
to provide for her, even though she was living that life, and
he ended up purchasing her. Hosea is that beautiful picture
of the Lord Jesus, isn't he? He paid all our debt, all the
debts that we could not pay ourselves, every single one of them, all
the debt we owed God. How would we pay for that? God requires the death penalty.
He requires absolute justice. Not one sin will be overlooked.
Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his
life for his friends. I need a friend like that. Has
God made you a sinner? God only saves sinners. He doesn't
save anyone else. Only those who are ill need a
physician. And in closing, I'd like us just
to finish with the profession of Thomas. Would you turn with
me to John chapter 20. John chapter 20. The disciples. had been together
when the doors were shut and the Lord Jesus appeared to them,
but Thomas was not present. And from verse 24 of John chapter
20 we read, But Thomas, one of the twelve called Didymus, was
not with them when Jesus came. The other disciples therefore
said unto him, We have seen the Lord. But he said unto them, Except
I see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger
into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side,
I will not believe. And after eight days again his
disciples were within, and Thomas was with them. Then came Jesus. the doors being shut, and stood
in the midst of it and said, Peace be unto you. Then saith
he to Thomas, Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands,
and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side, and be
not faithless, but believing. And Thomas answered and said
unto him, and this is his profession, my Lord and my God, my Lord and
my God. And Jesus saith unto him, Thomas,
because thou hast seen me thou hast believed. Blessed are they
that have not seen and yet have believed. So the question is,
what lesson do we take from this experience of Thomas. The others
had seen the Lord, but Thomas was doubtful about their testimony,
wasn't he? Thomas was there when Lazarus
was raised from the dead. He saw the power of the Lord
over death. Surely he would understand. Surely he would believe that
the Lord could raise himself. Do you frown upon his unbelief
and say, well, I wouldn't have done that? Or do you say, put me in his
shoes and I would have done exactly the same thing? Here's the point
that I want to make. Each one, each one of us must
see the Lord Jesus Christ for himself. At the time of his choosing,
he reveals himself to chosen sinners. When he removes that
veil by the preaching of the Gospel, each one must see Christ for
himself. You remember those disciples
when they were walking along the Mayas Road and the Lord Jesus
joined in with them along the way and it wasn't until they
invited him in to eat with them that they actually recognised
him. and their eyes were opened, it says, and they knew him. Some of us were in churches for
many years, weren't we? We learnt the story of Jesus,
didn't we? We knew the story, we learnt
what had happened. We knew the historical facts
about the Lord Jesus, didn't we? But our eyes were shut to
him, we couldn't recognise him. And then at just the right time,
by the preaching of the truth, the Lord Jesus suddenly appears.
Now, I recently saw a couple of videos of people with profound
colour blindness. And their friends get together
and chip in for these special glasses called Enchroma glasses. And they're very expensive glasses,
of course. But they wouldn't tell the person that they're
buying them. They'd just say, oh, we're buying
you a pair of sunglasses. And so they'd take the person
outside and say, try on your new glasses. And these people,
some of them young, some of them old. hadn't seen, some of them
were 50, 60 years old, had never seen colour, the colour of this
world as we see it. Never seen a rainbow, probably
never seen a sunset, never seen a beautiful flower bed of all
its vivid colours. And they tell them to put on
their glasses. And can you imagine, can you imagine the reaction
when they put on those glasses? and they see the world lit up
before their very eyes, overwhelmed and seeing something they've
never seen before. Isn't that the experience of
some of us? The scriptures that we've read for all those years
suddenly became alive with the Lord Jesus. You remember when
Andrew first discovered the Lord Jesus and ran and got Peter,
he said, we've found the Messiah. And the scripture says, he brought
him to Jesus, and when Jesus beheld him, he said, Thou art
Simon, the son of Jonah. Thou shalt be called Cephas,
which is by interpretation, a stone. Each one must see Jesus for himself. The Lord said to Thomas, reach
hither thy finger, and behold my hands, and reach hither thy
hand, and thrust it into my side, and be not faithless, but believing. The Lord must make you see him
as a substitute. He was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. And the chastisement of our peace
was upon him. And with his stripes, we are
healed. And Thomas makes his good profession,
doesn't he? My Lord and my God, may that
be our profession today. May the Lord take away the veil. and make us see. That's all we
want to do. We just want to see the Lord.
Let's pray.