Welcome to the Reign of Grace
radio broadcast. My name is Bill Parker. I'm the
pastor of the 13th Street Baptist Church in Ashland, Kentucky.
This program is sponsored by the members of Eager Avenue Grace
Church in Albany, Georgia, located at 1102 Eager Drive, Albany,
Georgia. I'll be bringing you a gospel
message of the sovereign grace and glory of God in the Lord
Jesus Christ from God's Holy Word. And now, the message. Welcome to our program. Now,
today I'm going to be preaching from John chapter 20, beginning
at verse 24, and the title of the message is Believing is Seeing. Believing is seeing. Now that
may sound kind of weird to you because the natural way of thinking
is just the opposite, which says seeing is believing. But what
I want you to see from this passage here is that the subject of faith,
the gift of faith, which is the gift of God to each one of his
people, is believing Christ, looking to Christ, and believing
the Word of God, not because you see something, but because
God says it so. Faith is believing the Word of
God. Now, many people look at this
passage here at the end of John chapter 20. It's the story of
Thomas. We call him Doubting Thomas.
And many people look at this passage as being the story of
Doubting Thomas. But today I want you to look
at it from another point of view, with another emphasis. Certainly
it is the story of doubting Thomas. And when we see Thomas and his
doubts and his misgivings, even his unbelief, we ought not look
down on Thomas as if we ourselves are any better. The Bible teaches
very plainly that God gives faith to his children. Faith is the
gift of God. The Bible says that in Ephesians
chapter 2, verses 8 through 9, for by grace are you saved, through
faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of
works, lest any man should boast. So the point is of that is that
if you have faith to receive Christ, faith to believe in Him
and trust Him and follow Him, that faith, my friend, is the
gift of God. It is not something that you
have naturally or had naturally. It is not the product of man's
goodness. It's not the product of anything
of yourself, of the flesh. It's not the works of man. The
Bible does not, now listen to me, the Bible does not teach
salvation conditioned on faith. The Bible teaches salvation conditioned
on Christ, who met and fulfilled all of the conditions, including
faith. Faith is the product, the fruit,
the effect of what Christ accomplished in fulfilling all the requirements
of salvation. It's the operation of the Holy
Spirit who proceeds from Christ in the new birth. to give us
faith to believe in Him and trust Him and to repent of our own
works, our dead works and our idolatry. So faith is not something
that the natural man has. If left to ourselves, none of
us would believe. So that if we have faith, it's
a gift of God's grace. It's to the praise of the glory
of His grace and we must thank Him for that faith. But even
having faith being born again by the Spirit
of God and believing in Him. We still, while in this life,
have in us unbelief and doubts and fears and misgivings. We
have to fight them all the days of our lives. Our faith, even
yet, is not perfect faith. And it's not that when God gives
it to us, He gives us something that is imperfect, for God cannot
give anything that is imperfect. But faith, when it comes through
us, it is contaminated even then with imperfections and unbelief,
even sin. And that's why we have to fight
the warfare of the flesh and the spirit so that, as one old
writer said it this way, the born-again sinner, the regenerate
sinner, is not in a state of unbelief. That is, the tenor
of his life is one of faith in Christ. And no matter how far
he gets away from it, he's constantly brought back to Christ by the
power of God and His grace. So that the regenerate born-again
sinner is not in a state of unbelief, but he still has unbelief in
him. That's the flesh. That's remaining
sin. And therefore we must continually,
while in this life, fight the fight of faith. We must fight
the warfare. of the flesh and the spirit.
And we can't win that fight. That's not a fight even by our
own power. It's by the power of God's grace
in Christ. And we'll be victorious, not
because of our power, not even because of our faith. We'll be
victorious because Christ is reigning victorious. Our faith
is in Him. Now, the disciples prayed this. They said, Lord, we believe.
Help thou our unbelief. And here we have an example of
it in this man Thomas, Doubting Thomas. But as I said before
at the beginning, this is not so much the story of Doubting
Thomas as it is the story of a gracious, powerful, forgiving
Savior. For even in spite of Thomas'
unbelief, God by His grace saved this sinner from his sin. And
when I look at Thomas, I see myself full of doubts and misgivings
and unbelief. And I thank God that it's by
His grace conditioned on Christ and not on me. But look at this
passage, verse 24. Now here the disciples are. They
had just seen the risen Christ. And what a blessing it was. That
one who was sent by God the Father into the world at that appointed
time. to become incarnate and to walk
the earth and obey the law for them, to go to the cross of Calvary
and suffer in a way that no man can imagine, suffered in his
very soul for the sins of his people, paid their debt in full,
drank damnation dry, and established righteousness based upon which
God is just to justify the ungodly. He redeemed them from their sins. He is risen from the dead. Why
did He die? To redeem them from their sins.
And that He made them righteous in the sight of God. He justified
them by His obedience unto death, charged to their account. And
they had seen the risen Christ. But Thomas wasn't there. Thomas
missed a blessing. Now we're going to see Thomas
didn't miss salvation, but he sure missed a blessing. And that's
the way it is in the lives of God's children here on earth
sometimes. They won't miss salvation because they're saved by the
grace of God. But sometimes because of their
neglect, sometimes because of bad behavior, they'll sure miss
a blessing. And it's not the blessings that we earn, we can't
earn anything from God, but it's the blessings of God's grace
through the means that He has appointed. And here's Thomas,
he was missing, and it says in verse 24, When Christ appeared
to his disciples again, it says, But Thomas, one of the twelve,
called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came. And it
says in verse 25, The other disciples therefore said unto him, We have
seen the Lord. Now that's salvation, when you
see the Lord. The Bible says in many passages,
one that I can think of right offhand is the book of Isaiah,
chapter 45, when it speaks of those who are looking to, looking
to with the eyes of their natural bent and thinking, to an idol,
a God who cannot save. But then God steps in and identifies
Himself by revelation. And He says He's a just God and
a Savior. He's one who is both just to
punish sins and who is gracious and merciful to save sinners
from sins. But He must be both. He must
be a righteous judge as well as a merciful, loving, and gracious
father. A God who is not both righteous
and gracious is no God at all. But the God of salvation, the
God of the Bible, the God who reveals Himself through the Lord
Jesus Christ is both a just God and a Savior. Well, He says unto
them in the Old Testament through the prophet Isaiah, He says,
look unto me and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth, for
I am God and there is none else. Salvation is looking to Christ. And what he accomplished at Calvary
for the salvation of his people, knowing that he accomplished
it for me. Salvation is resting in Christ. And when you see with the eyes
of God-given faith, When you see that, based on God's testimony
in His Word, by the power of the Spirit. You see, by nature
you don't have eyes to see. Spiritual eyes, that is. By nature
you don't have spiritual ears to hear. You may hear the words,
but they don't mean anything to you until the Spirit of God
gives you a saving view of Christ. And when you see, with the eyes
of God-given faith, the glory of Christ, What the Bible says
is the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. You'll look
unto Him and be saved. And then you'll continue looking.
The Bible says we run the race of grace looking unto Jesus,
the author and the finisher of our faith. In other words, Christ
is all in all. Christ is everything. His blood
means the total and complete forgiveness of all my sins. His
righteousness means the total and complete justification, fitness,
qualification, meekness for the presence and fellowship of God. You see, that's what it is. They
said, we have seen the Lord. We've seen him. We've seen the
risen Lord. You mean the one who died on
that cross? Didn't he die? Yes, he did. He
actually died. He shed his blood unto death.
Wasn't he placed within a tomb, buried in a tomb? Yes, he was. But you see, the Bible teaches
that it was not possible for God's Holy One, the Messiah,
to see corruption. His body would not lay there
and corrupt because He had established righteousness that demands life.
And because He had finished the work, because He was victorious
in all that He accomplished to reconcile God to sinners, and
sinners to God, he was raised from the dead the third day.
The grave couldn't hold him. You see, he's the victorious
Savior. What men tried to do in murdering the Son of God,
what we by nature tried to do in murdering the Son of God,
we were not successful. He died. He was slaughtered.
The Scripture literally means, back in the Old Testament, when
it talks about him being killed or him delivering up his own
body unto death. He was slaughtered just like
the sacrifices of the Old Testament that pictured him. And he actually
died. That was a real death, you see.
It wasn't just some sort of legal fiction. It was a real death.
And he arose from the dead. And they said, we've seen him.
When you see him, whom to know is life eternal, when you see
what he accomplished at Calvary for the salvation of his people,
then you've seen salvation. I think about that passage in
the book of Luke, chapter 2, I think it is, where it speaks
of Simeon, a man named Simeon. Simeon was an older man. He must
have been one of the priests of the temple or somebody who
was associated with the temple. And the Holy Spirit had revealed
to Simeon that he would not die and leave this world before he
had actually seen the coming Messiah, the Christ. And when
Joseph and Mary brought the baby Jesus to the temple to go through
the ceremonies and to be circumcised, they brought him to Simeon and
Simeon took the baby in his arms and he said, mine eye, he said,
now thy servant, prayed to God, now thy servant is ready to depart
for mine eyes have seen Thy salvation. And that's what the significance
of this is. They told Thomas, we've seen the Lord. We've seen
salvation. We've seen the risen Christ. The grave couldn't hold him.
Now, Thomas said this. Now, listen to Thomas's reply
here. You say, well, this is an amazing
thing, but it's not so amazing when you consider what we are
in ourselves. We're still sinners. 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." Now there is a
great picture of the natural man. Unless I see it, I won't
believe it. I've got to have living physical
evidence and proof, you see. And Thomas is expressing there
the unbelief that is in us all. Oh, thank God that he didn't
leave me in my unbelief. Thank God. Now listen. Thank
God that he didn't leave me to myself. Thank God he didn't leave
me to what men call my own free will. Because based upon my own
free will, which my will's not free, you see, man is a sinner.
And he's by nature a sinner. Man is not a sinner because he
sins. He sins because he's a sinner.
We're born in trespasses and sins. And that's why I say, if
you do believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, you have nothing to boast
of. And Christ is not merely a pedestal upon which you can
stand and boast and crow loudly about your free will and what
you've done. You see, God didn't save you
because you're less obstinate and less rebellious than another
sinner. If God saves any of us, it's by His sovereign grace alone. if any of us believe. So here
Thomas is expressing unbelief, but that's what we are by nature.
He says in verse 26, he says, And after eight days again his
disciples were within, and now Thomas was with them. Now eight
days later, they were within the room there again, and Thomas
was with them. And listen to this, Then came
Jesus, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst. Now the
implication here is he just appeared in the midst. Didn't open the
door, the physical door. So we know that here's Christ
in his spiritual body. And he came and he appeared to
the disciples again. Here's Thomas with him. He stood
in the midst. He's in the middle. I love that
because that's just a great picture of how Christ is the center of
all things. You know, I love this whole revelation
of Christ in the church. The Bible says he is the head. of the body, the church. Christ
is the head, the church is his body, made up of many members,
but we're the body of Christ. And then he's the heart of the
church. He's the life of the church,
the center of the church. He said, where two or three are
gathered in my name, there I'll be in the midst of them. And
then not only that, he's the foundation of the church. He
is the rock upon which the church is built. That passage in Matthew
chapter 16 where Peter confessed that he's the Christ, the son
of the living God. And Christ said, Blessed art
thou, Simon Bar-Jonah, among men for flesh and blood have
not revealed this unto you, but my Father which is in heaven.
And he said, And I say unto you, Peter, that upon this rock I
will build my church. Peter was not the rock upon which
Christ built his church. The church of Christ, not talking
about that denomination, but I'm talking about the literal
body of Christ. is not built upon any man. It's not centered around any
man. And there's no man who is the
head of the church. Christ is all of that for His
church. And any church that is built
upon the foundation of a man will fall. Any church who is
built around a man will fall. And any church of whom man is
the head of it will fall. is our foundation. He is our
heart. He is our head. And so what did
he speak to the disciples there in verse 26? It says, and he
said, peace be unto you. The words of the Savior, the
words of the Redeemer, the words of the Lord, peace be unto you.
Now my friend, you know, we spend our lives speaking peace. to ourselves and to others. Many
say, well, I'm saved. I know I'm all right with God.
Many can say that with confidence if it's based on the Word of
God. Some people speak peace to others. In the book of Jeremiah,
there were false preachers who soothed over the trouble of Israel
by speaking peace to the people when there was no peace. But,
my friend, the only The only real peace to be spoken to the
heart of a sinner is when Christ says, Peace be unto you. And
what is our peace with God? It's not our works. It's not
anything done in us or by us. Our peace with God is Christ
and Him crucified. He's the Prince of Peace. The
Bible says when it identifies Him, In Isaiah chapter 9 and
verses 5, 6, and 7, that he's the prince of peace and the government
was upon his shoulders, all the responsibility of the salvation
of his people to reconcile God to them and them to God was squarely
upon his shoulders and he made peace. He's the great reconciler,
the Scripture teaches, of God and sinners, for God was in Christ. bringing all things unto Himself,
not imputing their trespasses unto them. He charged their sins
to Christ. He charges Christ's righteousness
to them. And in time, He sends the Holy
Spirit to let them in on it, inform them, give them life,
and speak peace to them in their hearts. And Christ said, Peace
be unto you. Don't be troubled. You know,
one time He said in John 14, Let not your heart be troubled.
You see, He said that right after He told Peter, you're going to
deny me. Now what a troubling word that
would be for a disciple of Christ like Peter. You mean I'm going
to deny you three times? And Peter, you remember what
he said? He said, I'll not make it. Well, he did. But Christ
told him, and you just know that these words rang in Peter's mind
after he sorrowed, after he denied the Lord three times. Peace be
unto you. Don't let your heart be troubled.
I'm going to the Father, I'm going to prepare a place for
you, to build many mansions for you. And then it goes on in verse
27, it says, Then saith he to Thomas, now you remember what
Thomas said. Thomas said, unless I see the prints of the nails
in his hands and thrust my hand into his side where the spear
was put, he said, I will not believe. Well, Christ said to
Thomas, reach hither thy finger and behold my hand. Look at the
side, Thomas. Look at my hands. And he says,
Reach hither thy hand and thrust it into my side, and be not faithless,
but believing. Be not faithless, Thomas, but
believe. Now, look at how gently our Lord
dealt with Thomas. Now, here's Thomas, doubting
Thomas, as they say. And here he said, I won't believe
until I see it. And here the Lord appears, and
he says, peace be unto you. And he said, look here, Thomas.
Here I am. Here's my hand. Look at the nail
print. Here's my side. Look at where the spear was thrust
in. Reach your hand, your finger hither. And then he said, now
don't be faithless, but be believing. You know, it would have been
easy for our Lord to have been angry here. And he said, now,
Thomas, you just get on out. We're not going to deal with
you anymore. We're not going to You faithless being, just
get on out. It could have been easy for him
to just snap his finger or spoke a word and just killed Thomas.
But no, this was one of his sheep. This was one of his sheep, now,
and he laid down his life for the sheep. The Scripture says
he loved his own until the end, to the finishing of the world.
This is one for whom he died. This is one whom he redeemed
on the cross. This is one whom He justified
on the cross. This is one whom He adopted into
the family. And I'll tell you, He loves His
sheep. He loved them so much that He gave His life. He cares
for His sheep. He's going to bring them into
the sheepfold. They're lost sheep by nature. They're dumb sheep
by nature. They don't know what they're
doing, what they're saying. My friend, without Christ, we
can do nothing. And yet he deals gently, even
in the face of our obstinance and our rebelliousness and our
unbelief. He says, Be not faithless, but
believe. And Thomas, look at verse 28,
says, And Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lord and my
God. What a declaration. Thomas sees
the reality now. And oh, was his faith strengthened.
You say, My Lord. He bowed to the Lord of glory.
My Lord. and my God. This one who died
on the cross, who was raised from the dead, is my Lord and
my God. Verse 29, Jesus saith unto him,
Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed. Blessed
are they that have not seen, yet have believed. Now that's
where I got the title from, Believing is Seen. Thomas had seen his
believing, and he missed a great blessing. But the Lord said,
believing is seeing. Now, believing, there's not just
wishful thinking. It's not just a pipe dream. It's
the hope of the gospel. It's the faith of God's elect.
My friend, it's the love of Christ shed abroad in the heart. And
we believe not because we see with the physical eye. We believe
because God said it. Faith is believing God's word.
Now verse 30 says, it says, And many other signs truly did Jesus
in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this
book. He performed many miracles. He spoke of many words, which
we have in the meaning written out. But He spoke many other
things and did many other things which are not written in this
book. But look at verse 31. He says, But these are written,
that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God,
and that believing you might have life through his name."
This Bible was not written to condemn sinners. Now listen to
me. Sinners by nature are condemned
in Adam. And all God would have had to
have done to leave us in a condemned state was just to be silent.
He didn't have to send Christ into the world to condemn the
world. He didn't have to bring together His written Word given
by inspiration of the Spirit to condemn us. All He would have
had to do was keep silent. But these things are written
concerning Christ and who He is. He's the Messiah. He's the
Son of God. He's the Son of Man. He's very
God and very man. He's the Savior of His people.
He's the Redeemer. He's the Lord our righteousness.
All these things are written not to condemn us, but that you
might hear and believe. Now, granted, you won't believe
without the power of God the Holy Spirit, but these things
are written that by means of the power of the Spirit, sinners
might come to saving faith and believing you might have life
through His name. If you believe, what does that
tell you? That's the evidence that you have life through Christ. You don't get life by believing. You believe because He's given
you life. Life is through His name, not through your belief.
Life is through Christ. He is the way, the truth, and
the life. No man cometh unto the Father
but by Him. So in God's Word, believing is
sin. Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ
and you shall be saved, the Scripture says. All who believe in Him
have all the blessings of grace, all the blessings of glory. The
power of the Spirit is working in their lives. They've been
born again by the Spirit of God. How do you know? They believe
in His name. And that's the evidence of life.
Well, I hope this message has been helpful to your understanding
of the truth. I hope you'll get a copy of it. The title of the message is Believing
and Seeing. The announcer will give you the
details about how to order. And I hope you'll join us next
week for another message from God's Word. We're glad you could join us
for today's message. If you would like to receive
a copy of this message, or if you would like more information
about Eager Avenue Grace Church, remember we are located at 1102
Eager Drive in Albany, Georgia. You can call us at 229-833-9000. 432-6969 or visit our Reign of
Grace website at www.rofgrace.com. Thank you and may the Lord be
with you.