Well, in response to what Clay
said, it's been an absolute joy for us as a household to come
over here to visit with you, to visit with Clay, to visit
with the people here. We're the people who are one
with us in Jesus Christ. People whose eyes have been opened
to the truth of the gospel. to know that we're sinners before
a holy God, but to know that in Christ we are made the righteousness
of God because he gave himself for that people whom he loved. It's a joy to meet with Brethren
and to know that we are all alike wretches, rebels, unbelieving,
Haters of God, who if we have heard his truth by the Spirit
of God, quickened unto life, are brought to be new creatures
in Jesus Christ. We will be sad to go home, but
it's been a joy to be with you all. Now before we come to the
scriptures, let us just seek the Lord's blessing upon his
word. O Lord God and gracious Heavenly
Father, we thank and praise Thee that Thou art indeed a God who
delights in showing mercy. For we are a people, a needy
people, in need of mercy. And we would pray that Thou would
put that prayer upon our lips and in our hearts God have mercy
upon me, the sinner. And now, Lord, as we come to
thy word, we pray that thou would open our ears to hear Christ
speak and to hear of his mercy, his love, his grace, his peace,
his salvation. Give us ears, we pray, Pass us
not by, but speak unto us in our souls, that we may know Thee,
the one true and living God. Amen. Now if you turn in your Bibles
please to John's Gospel again, but a few chapters on in John
chapter 20. John's Gospel chapter 20. And we will read from verse 19.
In John 20 we read of Christ's resurrection, of him being met
in the garden by Mary, and of how she comes and tells
the disciples that she has seen the Lord. And then in verse 19 we read
the following. Then the same day at evening,
being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where
the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, came Jesus
and stood in the midst and saith unto them, peace be unto you. And when he had so said, he showed
unto them his hands and his side. Then were the disciples glad
when they saw the Lord. Then said Jesus to them again,
peace be unto you, as my father hath sent me, even so send I
you. And when he had said this, he
breathed on them and saith unto them, receive ye the Holy Ghost. Whosoever sins ye remit, they
are remitted unto them, and whosoever sins ye retain, they are retained. 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 shall 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 with them. Then came Jesus, the
doors being shut, and stood in the midst, 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, My Lord and my God. Jesus saith unto him, Thomas,
because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed. Blessed are they
that have not seen and yet have believed. Verse 19. Then the same day at
evening, being the first day of the week, When the doors were
shut, where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews,
came Jesus and stood in the midst and saith unto them, Peace be
unto you. Peace be unto you. Oh, how they needed to hear those
words of their Savior. and how much we today need to
hear personally within our hearts the very same words, peace be
unto you. By nature we are not at peace
We're not at peace with God. We're not at peace with our neighbour. We're not at peace within ourselves. We're ever tossed about in a
storm. Every wind that comes upon us
blows us left, right and centre. So easily are we troubled. So
easily do we doubt. So easily do we fear. We try to stand in our own strength
and in our own wisdom. But when the storms come, we
will so easily discover that we have no strength and we have
no wisdom. And before a holy God, we have
no righteousness. Our sins toss us about. Our unbelief tosses us about. We are wretched. We are not at peace. The world
speaks of peace. The world speaks of seeking peace.
The world speaks of loving our neighbours. But this world, as
we know, is not at peace and never has been at peace. And
those who speak of peace soon discover the very opposite is
true. And you may speak of peace, you
may speak of doing your best and loving your neighbours, but it takes so little to bring
you into a state of unrest, a state of trouble, a state of fear.
There's no peace. There's no peace in this world.
There's no peace in our hearts. The disciples here were gathered
in this room on the first day of the week. The doors were shut
where they were gathered because of their fear of the Jews. Outside were the very people
who had just put the Lord Jesus to death. The very people who
had hounded him throughout his ministry. The very people who
had opposed him each and every day, who had sought to trap him
in his words, who had sought to find something with which
they could condemn him. The very people who sought to
stone him, who reviled him, who rejected him. And the same people
who rejected Christ would do the same for these disciples. There was no peace outside this
room. Outside these doors. And these
disciples knew it. They were assembled for fear
of the Jews. They knew that if they went out
and they were known to be associated with Jesus Christ, you were with
that man. We heard you. We saw you. That they too could be slain. could be put to death. No wonder they were assembled
with the doors shut for fear of the Jews. There was no peace
outside. Outside this room were the Jews. Outside this room was the world. Outside this room was death. There was no peace outside. There is no peace outside. There's
no peace outside this room. There's no peace in the world.
There's no peace in the world's religion. There's no peace in
the world's religion of works. and self-righteousness and seeking
to come unto God because of something that we are or something we have
done. There's no peace to be found
in our own will or our own wisdom. There's no peace to be found
in outward religion. There's no peace in the law.
These Jews who had the scriptures who had the law, who sought to
serve God and thought they were serving God when they put Christ
to death, had no peace from that law. That law simply condemned with that law they condemned
the very son of god that god sent unto them as their long-awaited
messiah the scriptures pointed them unto
him and when he came unto them they received him not they knew
him not they hated him they despised him they condemned him they used
the law against him though he was faultless, perfect, righteous,
though before them the very law giver stood, the very righteousness
of God stood, the only one who'd ever kept that law stood before
them and they condemned him. There's no peace outside. There's no peace in outward religion. There's no peace under the law. If you go to the law to perfect
yourself before a holy God, you'll never know peace. The law condemns. It works strife. It stirs up sin in the flesh. It sets us at enmity to God,
and enmity one with another. Though what it says is true,
though what it says is righteous, and though the believer would
love to be righteous according to that law, when he turns to
that law in his own strength, it stirs up strife. The flesh
reacts to it. It encourages the sin within
his flesh. He must be delivered from it.
He must be dead to it. Peace must come another way. There's no peace outside. But here, when the disciples
were assembled for fear of the Jews, the doors being shut, came
Jesus and stood in the midst and sayeth unto them peace be
unto you. The only peace that is ever to
be found is that peace which is found in Jesus Christ. We will only know peace in Christ. Whilst Christ was out of sight,
these disciples were gathered, hiding behind closed doors for
fear of the Jews. But when Christ came into their
presence and stood in the midst and said unto them, Peace be
unto you, then they knew peace. And it's only if Christ should
come unto us as we hide behind closed doors and come in by his
spirit into our hearts and say, peace be unto you. It's only
then that we will truly know peace. Because this Jesus that came
into their midst and said unto them, peace be unto you, had
made peace by the blood of his cross he could say peace be unto
you for he had made peace by the blood of his cross he'd gone
where they could not go he'd done what they could not do he'd
taken their sin their unbelief, their rebellion, their wretchedness,
their hatred. He'd taken it. He'd borne it
upon himself. And he stood before God as they
should stand, guilty, under the condemnation of the law. He stood
before God in their place. and suffered the outpouring of
God's righteousness, the outpouring of his wrath. He drank it to
the dregs. He suffered unto death. He went
into the darkness, into the abyss. He endured hell on the part of
this people in order that he should bring them to peace with
God and one another. He made peace, but at what price? He made peace by the blood of
his cross. It cost him his life to bring
peace to this people. It cost him his blood He gave himself for those he
loved. He gave his all in order that
he should come into their midst and say unto them, peace be unto
you. And if he should come into our
midst, or if he should come into your heart, and say peace be
unto you, it will be because he gave himself for you. He shed his blood, he suffered,
he died, he gave his all. Three times in this passage,
Do we read Christ say unto his disciples, peace be unto you
three times. He comes in this assembled room
amongst this people gathered behind closed doors and says,
peace be unto you. And then he showed them his hands
and his side. He showed them what that peace
cost him. See my hand that it's really
I. See where the nails nailed me
to the cross. See where the spear pierced me. Where blood and water float. Behold, it's me. And he said again, peace be unto
you. As my father hath sent me, even
so send I you. Then later on, when Thomas is
gathered, who would not believe except he saw, Christ again comes
into the room, the doors being shut, and says again, peace be
unto you. A three-fold witness to the peace
that Christ wrought through his death on behalf of his people. A triune witness as it were,
the Holy Spirit comes in this passage and through Father, Son
and Holy Ghost declares in power, Christ has made peace. The warfare is accomplished. The battle is over. There is
therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus.
The law has been fulfilled. Righteousness has been brought
in. Salvation has been wrought. Peace
be unto you. We need this peace. We need this peace. So often in the epistles, when
Paul or John or others write, they open with words along the
lines of grace, mercy and peace be unto you. Because we need
grace. And we need mercy and we need
peace. The church of God needs grace. It needs mercy and it needs peace. And it is the God of peace who
brings that peace to his people. These people were gathered in
this room with the door shut and Christ comes into their midst. They are in many ways like Noah
and his household, gathered in that ark as it went through the
storms of God's judgment. Outside was anything but peace. For Noah and his house, when
it passed through the waters, that ark, they heard the storm,
they heard the raging winds, they heard the tipping rain.
Naturally speaking, they'd have feared what was without. Very much as these disciples
feared what was without. Outside this room were gathered
the Jews, full of condemnation, full of the judgment and the
wrath of the law, out to slay any that they found guilty. There
was a storm outside, just as with Noah. and his house
in that ark. There was a storm of God's fury,
a storm of the judgment and wrath of God outside. But within that ark, there was
peace. Within that ark, there was peace. And here we have a people as
it were in an ark with the door shut and Christ enters in and
pronounces unto them peace. Peace. God closed the door of the ark. and brought Noah and his household
through the judgment safely the other side into rest, into peace. And here, in this room, with
shut doors, Christ comes unto his own and pronounces peace
unto them. Whatever's outside, whatever
the storm, whatever might come upon you, whatever you might
fear naturally, whatever troubles you might fear outside, if Christ
comes in to your heart, if he comes within into your soul and
says by his spirit, peace be unto you, then all is well. All is well. Outside were the Jews. Outside was condemnation. What
good would the law do this, people? The law can do us no good. It
shuts us up. It shuts our mouths before a
holy God. It shuts the mouths of all. That's
what Paul proves in Romans, that we're all guilty before a holy
God. We have no righteousness of our
own, it shuts us up. And it shuts us up if the Spirit
of God takes that law and uses it to convict us of our sin. It will shut us up unto Christ. We've nowhere else to go. We have no other refuge. Outside we're lost. Outside there's
a storm raging. But if God brings us into this
place and shuts the door and Christ comes into the midst and
speaks peace into our soul, then all is well. All is well. It will give you
peace in the midst of a storm. We're not promised an easy pathway
through this life as believers. We, as it were, go from storm
to storm, trouble to trouble, trial to trial. But in the midst
of the storm, If Christ comes unto us by his Spirit, we will
know peace in the midst of it. Not when we're brought out of
the trial, not when the trouble goes, not when the rain cease
to fall. We may look forward, we may pray
for deliverance, but even if that never comes, Even if the
Lord is pleased to keep us in the storm, to keep us in a trial,
to keep us broken, to keep us low, to keep reminding us that
we are nothing, that we have no strength, we have no wisdom,
we have nothing except that which He gives us by His grace, by
mercy. Even if He keeps us there in
the storm, If Christ comes in the midst, if he comes into our
hearts by his spirit and says, peace be unto you, we will be
calm. Let not your hearts be troubled. He is our peace. What a peace
he is. What peace to keep us in such
trouble. We read of this of course in
the gospel when we read of that boat upon which the disciples
were with Jesus and a storm comes upon the sea and the disciples
fear that the ship might sink and Christ slept in the midst
of the ship and they come unto him fearful and with a word he
calmed the storm. and rebuked them for their little
faith. But because he was in the ship,
all was well. The storm didn't worry him. The
storm didn't trouble Christ. He could stop it with a word.
He can bring it, he can take it away. He will send storms
to us to try our faith. to do us good, and he can bring
them to an end in a moment. But if he's there in the ship
with us, all is well, all is well. Where would you rather
be? Would you rather be on dry land
with sunny skies, no trouble, but on your own? Or would you rather be in a ship,
in an ark, in a room with the doors shut, with a storm raging
outside, but Christ in the midst? Speak in peace unto your soul. There's no better place to be. No better place. Yes, the doors
were shut, The doors were shut for fear of the Jews. What of you? What of your heart? Are the doors of your heart shut
to the gospel? Are the doors of your heart shut
to the word of God? Do you close your eyes and close
your ears and say, I'll be fine on my own? Are the doors of your heart shut? Well, the doors here were far
shut for fear of the Jews. And yet Christ entered in. There's no door that can prevent
Christ coming unto one of his own, however far off they may
be, however much a rebel they may be, however lost in sin they
may be, however full of hatred they may be. However apathetic
to the gospel they may be, there's no door that they can set up,
there's no barrier that they can build which will prevent
Christ coming in and saying unto them in the midst of their rebellion, peace be unto you. We need Christ to enter in. We need this peace within. Perhaps you're like Thomas. You've heard, you've seen, you've
heard the gospel many a time and yet you just cannot you will
not believe. But Thomas one of the twelve
called Didymus was not with them when Jesus came. The other disciples
said unto him we have seen the Lord For he said unto them, except
I shall 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. I will not believe. That is you and that is me by
nature. Every one of us is a Thomas by
nature. We will not believe unless we
say, he must come unto me, I must see him, I must see the wounds
in his hands, I must touch them, I must see this miraculous thing
of which you speak in the gospel. I cannot and I will not believe
unless I see. Never judge Thomas. because he's you and he's me. We've said the same. We've done
the same. Perhaps we still are. Except I shall 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. how blind we are by nature how
hard our hearts are thomas had been with jesus the man he'd
seen his miracles he'd heard his speech he knew what christ
said concerning his death that he must die and he must rise
again He'd heard the disciples' reports that he's alive, we've
seen the Lord, Thomas. And yet still, I will not believe. You may have heard believers
come in the gospel and say, I've seen the Lord. I believe in Christ because he's
come unto me in power. The Holy Ghost caused me to see
I was like you once I was blind I could not see and God came
in the gospel and touched my eyes and I saw I was like you
too I heard and I thought this cannot be and there came a day
when God in power came unto me and made me live and gave me
faith I have seen the Lord and yet you say I cannot believe
and I will not believe and yet we read and after eight
days again his disciples were within and Thomas with them Then
came Jesus, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, 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, My Lord, am I God? Jesus saith unto him, Thomas,
because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed. Blessed are they
that have not seen, and yet have believed. And after eight days again his
disciples were within. It was miraculous enough that
Jesus came into that room with the doors shut and appeared under
his disciples on the first day of the week. But here he comes again. And Thomas though unbelieving,
so unbelieving, is shown great mercy, long-suffering
and grace. How many times have you said,
I will not believe? And how many times in grace and
mercy has God given you the opportunity to hear his gospel again? He's not left you to the storm
of the world outside. He's kept you from it. You've
gone out in the midst of it. You've gone off seeking pleasure
and wealth and riches and all that you can gain from the world.
You've turned your back on the Savior and yet God's kept you
and preserved you and brought you again and brought you in
the midst and preached Christ unto you. Thomas could well have been lost
But Christ will lose none of his own. And Thomas was one for
whom Christ died. And eight days after, Christ
came again unto him and said unto Thomas, peace be unto you. And Thomas, broken at last, falls
down and says, my Lord and my God, Oh that God would be long-suffering
with us and not leave us to ourselves and our own unbelief and our
own desires. There's a way that seems right
unto a man but the end thereof is death, destruction. We'll go our own way. will go
to our own death. But if God would save us, he
will bring us into a place where though the doors of our heart
may be shut, he will still come within and say, peace be unto
you. Note this happens after eight
days. After eight days, why does it
mention How many days later this happens and what does this mean?
Well, there are a few places in the scripture where you will
read of events that occur after eight days and I would put it
to you that they all have a connection here. In the law in 2 Chronicles
7, 9 you may read that the people of God under the law would have
a feast for seven days. And then on the eighth day, the
people were gathered in a solemn assembly. A solemn assembly. Here we have with Thomas, a solemn
assembly. His saviour stood before him
and showed him the wounds in his hand and in his side. And all Thomas's unbelief slipped
away. He was broken, brought to nothing,
but God gave him life, gave him faith to believe. Elsewhere in the scriptures we
read with a similar record of those solemn assemblies. We read
in passage in Nehemiah, I believe, that after eight days the priest
would offer sin offerings for the people and would offer peace
offerings. And here after eight days Christ,
the great high priest, comes unto Thomas and on this eighth
day says unto him, peace be unto you. He'd given himself as Thomas'
sin offering. He presented himself as his peace
offering. We've considered Noah and the
ark and the connection here with this room and the storm outside
and the disciples gathered within. And of course we know of Noah that
there were eight souls gathered in that ark. And we read in one
passage of scripture that Noah, those eight souls were saved
by water. They were brought through the
storm unto peace. Now obviously the water without
is water that brought judgment upon the world without. And there's
a sense in which they were saved by that water because that water
delivered them from sin, it delivered them from wrath. But it was also
that water that brought that judgment. But there's another water which
Noah and his house knew of spiritually. And that is that water of the
spirit of God, of Christ coming unto them in that ark in the
midst of the storm and saying, peace be unto you. Peace be unto
you. Christ in the scripture speaks
of himself as the water of life. It's Christ by which we are saved. He's the water which delivers. Here in this passage we see the
wounds in Christ's hands. And the wound caused by the spear
thrust into his side. When that spear was thrust into
Christ's side upon the cross, there flowed out blood and water. That blood pointing to the blood
by which he brought peace, the blood by which he cleansed his
people, the blood by which he redeemed them. And that water
speaking of the life. the life of the application of
that blood by the Spirit of God, that water of life that God brings
through His Gospel when He comes unto His people, when He comes
into their hearts by His Spirit, when He comes within their closed
hearts and says by the Spirit of God, unto them in particular,
peace be unto you. Elsewhere in the scriptures in
Luke chapter 9 we read of the transfiguration of Christ. They took three of his disciples
up the mount and was transfigured before them. And this happened
after eight days. He took them after eight days
and they saw his glory. And here after eight days Christ
comes unto Thomas. and shows him his glory. Thomas, because thou hast seen
me, thou hast believed. Blessed are they that have not
seen, and yet have believed. Why did Thomas not believe? Because like you and I, he was
uncircumcised by nature. He had an uncircumcised heart. His heart was fleshly. It was evil continually. He could not believe if he wanted
to. He could not see if he tried
to. He was full of the flesh. He
was uncircumcised by nature and he needed a circumcised heart. He needed that heart to be cut
open and the light of God to shine within. He needed God to
come unto him in the gospel, to come unto him in Christ and
circumcise him. And after eight days again his
disciples were within, and Thomas with them. Then came Jesus, the
doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, Peace be
unto you. Jesus, born in Bethlehem, was
taken at eight days and according to the law. was circumcised at
eight days. Here was Thomas' circumcision. And we all need to be brought
to the same point where the flesh is cut off and the spirit enters
in. We need God to come into our
hard hearts and break them and enter in and cause us to see
by faith Jesus Christ crucified for us. As Thomas is you and I, the doors
of his heart were shut fast, just like you and just like I. And he was brought to see the
wounds in Christ's hands and the wound in his side. Because he had said, except I
shall see in the 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. I will not That unbelief is what put those
nails in Jesus' hands. Your unbelief, my unbelief, Thomas'
unbelief is what drove the spear into Christ's side. We pierced
him. We cause those wounds. We read elsewhere in the scriptures
that the time would come when we would look upon him whom we
have pierced. This day, Thomas was brought
to look upon him whom he had pierced. Has God brought you by faith
to look upon him whom your sins have pierced. Pierced by our unbelief. The
very wound in Christ's side which brought peace, from which the
blood and the water flowed, was the very wound that Thomas' unbelief
pierced Christ with. And if ever we receive peace
from Christ because of this shed blood and the water that flowed
from his side, it will be because we pierced his side with our
hatred and our unbelief of him. Thomas is like you and I. We
don't believe by nature, we can't believe by nature, we won't believe
by nature. We say, except I see the proof,
except God come unto me, except I see the wounds, I will not
believe. As if we need to see the very
wounds that we have caused. We caused them. And yet we say
we won't believe unless we see them. What fools we are in our blindness
and unbelief. We put him to death. And yet we say, except I see
the evidence, I will not believe. We made the very wounds, we pierced
him. We caused his death. we caused his death. And Thomas would not believe
like you and I will not believe until Christ comes unto us through
his gospel in power comes into our hard heart though we've shut
the doors fast and stands in the midst and says peace be unto
you. We need to be pierced by the
gospel. We will not believe until God
comes and takes as it were the sword of the gospel and pierces
our side, our heart that we might hear. that this peace might enter
in, that the blood of God, the blood of Jesus Christ might be
applied within our hearts by the Spirit. We need to be pierced,
we need to hear, we need to see by faith. Has God come unto you and pierced
you? or are you yet saying, except
I see, I will not, I will not believe. Elsewhere we read in
John's Gospel, Christ said, whoso eateth my flesh and drinketh
my blood have eternal life and I will raise him up at the last
day. We need by faith to eat his flesh
and to drink his blood. We need him to come within. We heard of Noah. We heard of
that ark which is Christ. We heard of how Noah and his
household were put in the ark and God shut the doors. They
were in Christ and Christ bore the judgment on their behalf.
Christ brought them through the wrath, the judgment, the torments
of God. They were in Christ and saved
by him as he endured that which came from the storm without.
But here we see an ark as it were. a closed room with a door
shut and Christ enters in. And here we see Christ in them. We need to be both in him and
we need him to be in us. We need to see him in the gospel. And we need for God to bring
him into our hearts by that gospel. We need to be one in him and
he in us. And here, this people with whom
he had dwelt, this people who had followed him, who'd left
all and followed him, this people who had seen him betrayed, This
people who had seen Him nailed to a cross, this people who saw
Him die, this day saw Him come in their
midst, within, and speak by the Spirit of God unto them in power. Peace be unto you. Oh, that God
should come unto each of us in power that he should come within
and by his gospel speak effectually boldly powerfully everlastingly
unto our souls peace be unto you