Well, in the absence of our pastor,
we're thankful to have Luke Coffey here with us this morning to
preach the gospel to us. Luke, we appreciate you and Tracy
and the kids traveling all the way up here to preach. Thank
you for being here. Good morning. If you will, open
your Bibles to John 19. John 19. I want us to read one
verse. John 19. verse 30. When Jesus therefore had received
the vinegar, he said, it is finished. And he bowed his head and gave
up the ghost. It is finished. Every word in this book hinges
on the phrase, It is finished. I love the phrase, it is finished. For someone who has a house full
of things that aren't quite finished and gets asked the question,
have you blank? And I have to give the answer
of no. I love that salvation is finished. In the passage that our brother
read, the verse 11 in Isaiah 43 says, I, even I, am the Lord,
and beside me there is no Savior. And there are a lot of italicized
words in that, which means you could take them out. And I love
the way this reads that our Lord said this. I, I, the Lord, beside
me, no Savior. It's a definitive statement.
It is finished. Growing up, hearing that phrase
and knowing what it meant and how important it was, I never
understood that there were people who didn't believe that it was
finished. Now, you're not going to find
very many people who would look at this verse, John 19 verse
30, and it says, it is finished, and he bowed his head and gave
up the ghost, that are going to say, well, it's not finished.
Like nobody argues it in that regard. Yet the actions of so
many imply that they don't really think it is finished. Now, in what scenario would someone
not like the phrase, it is finished? Let me give you a couple. If
you were at work and the owner of your company decided they
were going to give a large sum of money to the community to
do something wonderful for some help, a bunch of children and
all these things. And that person thought, you know, what we'll
do is we'll have the newspaper come over and they'll take a
picture of everybody in the office. They'll put it in the newspaper
under the title of these people did this. They're helping everybody
out. So everybody at work is excited.
You're excited. You're going to be on the cover
of the newspaper getting all this credit. And one day, you get
asked, you know, hey, can you take the kids to school real
quick this morning? And so you do, and you're running a few
minutes late to work. And you go through the day, and the next
day at lunch, you're there, and you're sitting around with everybody,
and you're excited. You're like, I wonder when they're going to come. I
can't wait. You know, I need to know what to wear. I want to look good in
my picture. And they look at you and one of your co-workers
says, it's finished. You're like, what? Like, yeah,
they already took the picture. Like, it's in the newspaper today.
Like, you missed it. That frustrates us. That makes
us angry. We feel like, well, I deserve
some of the credit. How come everyone else got their
picture in the newspaper? They're going to look at all
this and they're going to think, well, you didn't do anything. How come I don't get
some glory for this? in a scenario where we didn't
do anything. It was someone else who did all
the work, someone else who provided everything, yet we feel like
we want some credit for it. And how about this one? When
I was in high school, there was a get together at my house and
the family came over and it was so important to me that I don't
even remember the occasion, but I had something going on, whether
it was required of me or I just felt like I needed to do something.
that I couldn't be there for the initial part of it. But I
had heard that my grandmother was making pecan pie. So I was
for sure going to make sure that I was there for that. So I timed
it perfectly. I came in, acted like I was really
excited to be there, and I said something to the person who it
was for them and everything, went through the emotions, and
then came around the corner and said, well, where's the pecan
pie? Looked at the table. to an empty container and someone
looked at me and said, oh, it's finished. And I deserve some of that pie. I'm
in this family. How come I didn't get any of
that pie? Why don't I get to take part in this? Everybody
else gets pie. I deserve some pie. I like pie more than everybody
else. Why don't I get it? And then another one, One day
I came home from work and one of the few projects that had
actually been finished the night before, but didn't put anything
away. And so I came in and said, I'm
going to put things away to which I got the response. Oh, it's
finished. All right. That's awesome. And
then the phrase that followed it is finished was the boys put
it away. Well, the boys at the time are
six and four. Which means that I don't like
it being finished. So I think to myself, all right,
I'm going to go down and do it. I didn't do it right. I didn't
put everything where I wanted it. I know it's not going to be done
right. So I'm frustrated. I'm going to have to do it over.
Whoever did it needs my help. It's not really finished. In
all three of these examples are ways that people in religion
in this world have a problem with a finished work of salvation
by the Lord Jesus Christ. We feel like we deserve some
credit for something, though we have no ability to do anything.
We think that if someone else accomplished something, we should
be able to get some glory for that or credit for it. Some people
think that they can just show up in the end and they get to
take part. They show up and they get all
the rewards for it. Then others think that they can
do it better, that if they don't do their part, it won't actually
be any good. They think that God needs help
finishing it. As Spurgeon, I believe it was,
who wrote that if I was put, I was placed at the threshold
of glory, at the place where all I had to do was take a step,
all I had to do was fall forward, I would never get in. That's
how incapable we are. So this morning, I want to take
a few minutes and I want to look through the events that our Lord
went through leading up to the cross and His death. And I want
to look at the different aspects of it being finished and what
He did. And so often I've been guilty
of just thinking of all the things that the Lord gave us. But it's
important to realize that for everything the Lord gave us,
He had to take something. We're so bad that we're like
a canvas that is covered in paint and we try to paint on top of
it. But it just messes everything up. The canvas has to be cleared. All the bad stuff has to be taken
off before a new painting can be made. We have to be given
a new heart. But the old heart has to be taken
away. We have to be punished for that. So in everything that
the Lord did, He took and He gave. So turn with me to Matthew
26. Matthew chapter 26. And we'll read through a lot of these
verses and I'll just make quick comments of the things that the
Lord took and what He gave. Matthew 26, look at verse 47. This is in the garden where Judas
brought the soldiers to take the Lord. And while he yet spake,
lo, Judas, one of the twelve, came, and with him a great multitude
with swords and staves from the chief priests and elders of the
people. Now he that betrayed him gave them a sign, saying,
Whosoever I shall kiss, that same as he, hold him fast. And
forthwith he came to Jesus and said, Hail, Master, and kissed
him. And Jesus said unto him, Friend,
wherefore art thou come? Then came they and laid hands
on Jesus and took him. The Lord Jesus Christ took our
place. We're the ones who needed to
be arrested. We're the guilty ones who needed to go where He
went. Instead, He took our place. And
look at verse 52. Well, in verse 51, Peter takes
out a sword and tries to cut off the head of one of the soldiers
and hits his ear. In verse 52, then said Jesus unto him, Put
up again thy sword into its place. For all they that take the sword
shall perish with the sword. Thinkest thou that I cannot now
pray to my Father, and He shall presently give me more than twelve
legions of angels? But how then shall the Scriptures
be fulfilled, that thus it must be? And look at verse 56. But
all this was done, that the Scriptures of the prophets might be fulfilled,
then all the disciples forsook Him and fled. The Lord Jesus
Christ took our place and He told us, it's not your fight.
Put your sword away. I'm going to be the one who fights.
And then verse 56, it tells us that we were free to go. All
of us forsook Him. But guess what we still did?
We had our freedom. These soldiers here, they fled. The Lord took our place and He
gives us our freedom. We're free to go because of what
He did. Look at chapter 27, verse 1. When the morning was come, all
the chief priests and elders of the people took counsel against
Jesus to put Him to death. And when they had bound Him,
they led Him away and delivered Him to Pontius Pilate, the governor.
The Lord Jesus Christ took our bondage, our chains, and He gave
us a substitute. He took our place in everything. We are the ones who deserve to
be taken away, taken to the cross. But He was our substitute. Look
at verse 11 in chapter 27. And Jesus stood before the governor,
and the governor asked him, saying, Art thou the king of the Jews? And Jesus said unto him, Thou
sayest. And when he was accused of the
chief priests and the elders, he said nothing. He took our
accusations, and continue in verse 13, He said nothing, then
said Pilate unto him, Hearest thou not how many things they
witness against thee? And he answered him to never
a word, insomuch that the governor marveled greatly. He took our
accusations, and he gave no reply. I don't know about you, but I
don't think I've ever been accused of something falsely and not
spoken up. I cannot keep my mouth shut.
I've actually been accused of things rightly and spoken up
and argued with it. I don't know how many times as
a kid I was caught by my parents red hand doing something with
the evidence right there in the first immediate responses. That
wasn't me. I didn't do it. You got the wrong person. And
we stand by that. But the Lord Jesus Christ in
our place, he took all our accusations and he gave no reply. We'll see
in a minute why he gave no reply. Look at verse 15 of Matthew 27.
Now at that feast, the governor was wont to release unto the
people a prisoner whom they would. And they had then a notable prisoner
called Barnabas. Therefore, when they were gathered
together, Pilate said unto them, Whom will ye that I release unto
you? Barabbas or Jesus which is called
Christ? Go down to verse 20. But the
chief priests and elders persuaded the multitude that they should
ask Barabbas and destroy Jesus. The governor answered and said
to them, whether of the twain will ye that I release unto you?
And they said, Barabbas. Pilate said unto them, what shall
I do then with Jesus, which is called Christ? They all said
unto him, let him be crucified. The Lord Jesus Christ took our
punishment. He took what we deserved. And
in verse 26, what did he give us? Then released he Barabbas
unto them. Barabbas was a notorious prisoner. Everyone knew who bad Barabbas
was. They knew what he'd done. They
knew he was guilty. There was no doubt in that. Yet
all the people wanted him to be free so that the Lord would
be punished. This is what the Lord did for
us on the cross. We're the ones who are guilty, but He took our
stead. He took our place and He gave
us our freedom, our release. Barabbas here got a full pardon.
He was not just let go and we'll come back and get him for that
later. We know he's guilty. We'll get him. We'll figure this
out later. No, he was given a complete pardon for anything he had done
in the past. The Lord Jesus Christ pardons
our sin because He paid for them. He gave us our freedom. He set
us at liberty. Look at verse 18. For he knew,
Pilate knew, that for envy they had delivered him. Verse 23. And the governor said, Why? What
evil hath he done? But they cried out the more,
saying, Let him be crucified. When Pilate saw that he could
prevail nothing, but that rather a tumult was made, he took water
and washed his hands before the multitude, saying, I am innocent
of the blood of this just person, see ye to it. Then answered all
the people and said, His blood be on us and on our children."
They wanted him to be punished. They wanted to kill him so bad
that Pilate here says, what did he do? He didn't do anything. He even goes through the process
of getting water and symbolically washing his hands, saying that
you need to see this. I don't see anything. This is
not on me. I'm not punishing an innocent
person. The Lord Jesus Christ took all
the envy and anger from what we deserved. He took it all. Now, why did Pilate not see any
sin on him? Why did he think that he was
innocent? Well, because to the man's eyes, he was. It couldn't
be seen that He was bearing our sin. It couldn't be seen what
He was doing for us. And in our stead, look at verse
19. When He had sat down on the judgment
seat, His wife, Pilate's wife, sent unto Him, saying, Have thou
nothing to do with that just man? For I have suffered many
things this day in a dream because of him. And look at the end of
verse 24. I am innocent of this of the
blood of this just person. The Lord took the envy and anger
and He gave us His holiness. Everyone could see that He was
holy. Everyone could see that He was
perfect. And He gave that to us. Because of what He did, bearing
our sins, He gave us His righteousness. The trading places, the substitute.
It's not just that He gave us salvation. He took what we had
coming. He took what we deserved and
He gave us His holiness. And that's a scary word to even
say for myself. To say that we're holy in Him,
that just doesn't even feel right. But that's what He gave us. Look
in verse 27. Then the soldiers of the governor
took Jesus into the common hall, and gathered unto Him the whole
band of soldiers. And they stripped Him, and put
on Him a scarlet robe. And when they had plaited a crown
of thorns, they put it upon His head, and a reed in His right
hand, and they bowed the knee before Him, and mocked Him, saying,
Hail, King of the Jews. And they spit on Him, and they
took the reed, and they smote Him on the head. And after that
they had mocked Him, they took the robe off from Him, and put
His own raiment on, and led Him away to crucify Him." We deserve
such a horrendous punishment that this is symbolic to show
that he was being taken to his death to be crucified. And these
soldiers got together and said, come on, let's go. Let's take
him in the back room here and let's do even more. It's not
enough that we're going to kill him, but they took him back here
and they gave him and treated him with the shame that we deserve.
They spit on Him. They beat Him. They mocked Him
in every way that we deserve. In Psalm 69 it says, Thou hast
known my reproach and my shame and my dishonor. The Lord Jesus
Christ took our reproach. He took our shame and our dishonor
upon Him. And He gave us His dignity and
His honor. He endured all of this and didn't
do anything. We'll see again here in a minute.
I get ahead of myself with these things, but the Lord could have
done anything He wanted in a moment. And He sat there and took it
because He was there in our place. That's what we deserve. All these
things that are happening to Him because He is bearing our
sins, He took it. because our sin deserved it. That's what we deserved. It wasn't
enough for our Lord just to do this and not really go through
what we deserve. He had to take the punishment
for our sin. Alright, look at verse 39. And they that passed by reviled
Him, wagging their heads and saying, Thou that destroyest
the temple and buildest it in three days, save thyself. If
thou be the Son of God, come down from the cross." They're
using his words against him here. He said, to destroy the temple
and build it in three days. They keep mocking him like, you
couldn't do that either. Verse 41, likewise, also the chief
priests mocking him with the scribes and elders said, he saved
others, himself he cannot save. If He be the King of Israel,
let Him now come down from the cross, and we will believe Him.
He trusted in God, let Him deliver Him now, if He will have Him,
for He said, I am the Son of God. The thieves also, which
were crucified with Him, cast the same in their teeth." The
Lord Jesus Christ took our mocking. These people were using all of
His words, all of the things that He had said that were truth
and were correct, and things that He had done or was going
to do, and they were mocking Him. They were making fun of
Him. In the first part of verse 42, one of my favorite man-said
things that we say in one way, and it just tells the whole story
for us. Verse 42, they mocked Him and
said, He saved others, Himself He cannot save." The Lord Jesus
Christ had the ability, and it said there in the first thing
we read, do you not think I could call upon God and have just legions
of angels here? In a matter of seconds, before
anyone would have known what could have happened, He could
have just ended the whole thing for everyone if that's what He
needed to do. But He couldn't. It said He saved others, Himself
He cannot save. He could not save Himself because
He was at that very moment saving others. In that moment, He was
providing salvation. He was dying for His sheep. So when we say He saved others,
He was at that moment saving us. He was saving His sheep at
that moment. In Himself, He cannot save. If
He had saved Himself, He couldn't have saved us. What love He had
for His children. that He would endure all of this
to save them. He, before time began, had guaranteed
their salvation. Chosen elect, and He was going
to do this. Look at verse 45, And from the sixth hour there
was darkness over all the land until the ninth hour. And about
the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli,
lama sabachthanah. That is to say, My God, My God,
Why hast thou forsaken Me? Our Lord took our darkness. He took our sin. He was forsaken
for us. Turn over to Luke 23. So remember, He took our sin.
He took our darkness. He was forsaken for us. Luke
23, look at verse 34. Then said Jesus, Father, forgive
them. He took our sin and He gave us
forgiveness. In judgment, everyone will have
to stand before a holy God who must punish sin. The only hope
for anyone is to stand before God holy and innocent and forgiven. And the only way we can do this
is because the Lord Jesus Christ paid for our sin. He took the
punishment. He took all these things for
us that we can be forgiven. Look here in Luke 23 verse 39. And one of the malefactors which
were hanged railed on him saying, If thou be Christ, save thyselves
and us." But the other answering rebuked him, saying, Does not
thou fear God, seeing thou art in the same condemnation? And
we indeed justly, for we receive the due reward of our deeds,
but this man hath done nothing amiss." The Lord Jesus Christ
took our condemnation, our judgment. I love that these two thieves
were on the cross, and in Matthew we see that it says the thieves
that were with him likewise railed on him. These two men that were
being hung for crimes they committed were both mocking our Lord. And
at some point in a matter of moments later, one of them said,
We indeed justly, for we receive the due rewards of our deeds,
but this man has done nothing amiss. The Lord in a moment just
opened his eyes and showed him. The Lord took our judgment And
look what he gave us in verse 42. And he said unto Jesus, Lord,
remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom. That's he's
crying out to our Lord. Verse 43, And Jesus said unto
him, Verily I say unto thee, Today shalt thou be with me in
paradise. The Lord takes our judgment and
gives us paradise. Now when you say paradise, we
think of a place. Earthly speaking, we think of
a beach or some vacation or some place we love to go. And even
spiritually, we oftentimes consider paradise as going to glory or
heaven. But if we look at the phrasing of this verse, in verse
43, it says, Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee,
Today shalt thou be with me in paradise. This is saying, you
will be with me and that's paradise. If you are with the Lord Jesus
Christ, that's paradise. We have a little glimpse of that.
We see a few things and we think, boy, it will be amazing to see
Him. But when we truly see Him, all the thoughts in our mind
of wondrous places, people, events, all of it will just fade away. The greatest memory moment of
our lives, it doesn't even matter anymore. He is paradise. When we see him in his glory
and his righteousness and what he's done for us, it's everything. It's the place that if we could,
we would spend every moment at. That's paradise. If we could,
we'd spend every moment there. Well, because of what he did,
we get to spend every moment in paradise. All of his children
do. Now, let me read something to
you here in Romans. So it says, Look at Luke 23 verse 46. And when Jesus had cried with
a loud voice, He said, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit,
and having said thus, He gave up the ghost. The Lord Jesus
Christ took our death. He died on the cross in our stead,
where we should have been. And in return, He gave us life. We live because He died. And
listen to these verses in Romans. For if, when we were enemies,
we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more
being reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. For if by
one man's offense death reigned by one, much more they which
receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness
shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ. that as sin hath reigned
unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto
eternal life by the Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, we are buried
with Him by baptism into death, that like as Christ was raised
up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also
should walk in newness of life. And finally, for the wages of
sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus
Christ our Lord. He took our death and gave us
life. He just took our death and gave
us life. All right, let me read one to
you here. In John 19, it says, After this, Jesus, knowing that
all things were now accomplished, that the Scripture might be fulfilled,
saith, I thirst. Now there was set a vessel full
of vinegar and they filled a sponge with vinegar and put it upon
hyssop and put it to his mouth. When Jesus therefore had received
the vinegar, he said, It is finished. And he bowed his head and gave
up the ghost. The Lord Jesus Christ took our
iniquity and he drank it. The wages of sin is death. Because
He took this, He had to do this so the Scriptures could be fulfilled.
And what did He give us? He gave us nothing to do. The
Lord Jesus Christ, by finishing the work, it is finished. He
gave us nothing to do. We have nothing to do. How about
a gift from someone that we don't have to do anything? Salvation
is finished. It's done. It's over. The work
is complete. anything to do. In Luke here, chapter 24, look
at verse 13. Luke 24, verse 13. And behold, two of them went
that same day to a village called Emmaus. which was from Jerusalem,
about three score furlongs. This is just after the Lord had
died. And they talked together of all these things which had
happened. And it came to pass that while they communed together
and reasoned, Jesus himself drew near and went with them. But
their eyes were holding that they should not know him. Verse
19, And he said unto them, What things? And they said unto Him,
Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, which was a prophet, mighty in
deed and word before God and all the people, and how the chief
priests and our rulers delivered Him to be condemned to death,
and have crucified Him, but we trusted that it had been He which
should have redeemed Israel. And beside all this, today is
the third day since these things were done." They're saying these
things. How do you not know this? Everybody's talking about it.
Look at verse 25. Then He said unto them, O fools, and slow
of heart, to believe all that the prophets have spoken. Ought
not Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into glory?
And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, He expounded unto
them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself." The
Lord Jesus Christ took the time to teach us, to teach us of Him. These men were with Him. They knew him days before they
were with him. And yet from the words they say,
it's just like us. We can hear a wonderful message
explaining the truth and then we just. I don't understand,
I don't get it. The Lord takes the time to teach
us. We can't see it ourselves. He
also then gives us belief in him. We will not believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ unless he teaches us And he gives us belief. Even
after he's opened our eyes and give us an understanding, don't
we have a crazy problem with unbelief? So many things that
happen that we have so many issues with God's providence. We constantly
and we don't mean to do it. Usually we just not even directly.
We complain about things and we just struggle to believe in
his providence and what he's doing. But the Lord Jesus Christ
teaches us, and He gives us belief. And we must cry out to Him to
help our unbelief. What's the line there? I believe,
help my unbelief. Look in verse 28 of Luke 24. And they drew nigh unto the village,
and wither they went. And He made as though He would
have gone further. But they constrained Him, saying,
Abide with us, for it is toward evening, And the day is far spent. And he went in to tarry with
them. These men, the Lord says, I love that it says he made it
as though he would have gone farther. He acted like he was
going to leave them. And then they asked him, they
constrained him. They said, please abide with
us. And then they started giving excuses. I love the excuses that
the Lord makes us to come up with to ask him these questions.
They say, abide with us. It's toward evening. It's getting
late. I don't think you can make it to where you're going. They
said it's far spent. They're saying anything they
can to get Him to stay with us. The Lord took their prayers to
heart. He went in with them. And look
at verse 30. And it came to pass as He sat
at meat with them, He took bread and blessed it and break and
gave to them. And their eyes were opened, they
knew Him, and He vanished out of their sight. And they said
one to another, did not our heart burn within us while He talked
with us by the way, and while He opened to us the Scriptures?
And they rose up the same hour and returned to Jerusalem, and
found the eleven gathered together, and them that were with them,
saying, The Lord is risen indeed." The Lord Jesus Christ not only
took our prayers to heart, but He gives us the blessing. The
Lord Jesus Christ teaches us and He makes us to understand.
One of the greatest blessings that He gives us is the knowledge
and the understanding of who He is and what He has done. These
men had heard all the words and they were amazed by them. They
knew Him. They knew what He looked like.
They knew all this, but they couldn't see Him. He was right there.
But He opened their eyes and He blessed them. Okay, in closing,
let's go to John chapter 20. John chapter 20. Look at verse 11. But Mary stood without at the
sepulcher weeping. And as she wept, she stooped
down and looked into the sepulcher, and seeth two angels in white
sitting, the one at the head and the other at the feet, where
the body of Jesus had lain. And they say unto her, Woman,
why weepest thou? She said unto them, Because they
have taken away my Lord, and I know not where they have laid
Him. And when she had thus said, she turned herself back and saw
Jesus standing and knew not that it was Jesus. Jesus saith unto
her, Woman, why weepest thou? Whom seekest thou? She, supposing
him to be the gardener, said unto him, Sir, if thou have borne
him hence, tell me where thou hast laid him, and I will take
him away. Jesus said unto her, Mary. She turned herself and
saith unto him, Rabboni, which is to say, Master, Jesus said
unto her, Touch me not, for I am not yet ascended to my Father.
But go to my brethren and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father,
and your Father, and to my God, and your God. The Lord Jesus
Christ ascended and took His place on the throne. He took
His rightful place in glory, victorious over sin and death. And in taking His place on the
throne, He has given us an eternal home. We have a place. He says
here, I am not yet as ascended to my
father, but go to my brethren and say unto them, I ascend unto
my father and your father, my God and your God. He says to
them, I'm going to glory and it's your father and it's your
God. You will be there with me. He
has given us an eternal home. And the last one here in John
20 verse 24. 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
Thomas 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."
This verse here has given Thomas the nickname Doubting Thomas.
And it seems I feel bad for Thomas in this moment. He has been told all these things.
He has heard the Lord. He has been under the Lord. all
these things, these experiences he has. And yet at the same time,
he can't take anyone else's word for it. He must see it from the
Lord. I have always had that same opinion
of Thomas, yet at some point. Every child of God comes to the
realization, especially us now in this day. I have an entire
book of evidence. I have had so many years of seeing
this. And yet, I'm in the same position,
actually worse than Thomas. Thomas wanted to have proof from
our Lord. And the Lord Jesus Christ here,
He takes our unbelief because we are full of it. We are just
like Thomas here. Every time the Lord shows us
something, our response inevitably turns to, I don't know about
that. I don't know if I believe that.
I need to be proven. I need to be shown that again.
So what does our Lord do? Look in verse 26. Thomas said
all these things. 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 and said, Peace
be unto you. He appeared to them and said,
Peace be unto you. And then what did he do immediately?
Verse 27. Then said he to Thomas, Reach
hither thy finger and behold my hands. Reach hither thy hand
and thrust it into my side, and be not faithless, but believing."
In the Lord Jesus Christ's mercy and kindness and love, because
he has to have all of those things to respond in that manner to
Thomas here. He died for Thomas, and yet Thomas'
reaction is, I don't believe it. I don't believe that that's
him. In His mercy, He comes to Thomas,
doesn't rebuke him, doesn't say anything mean. He just literally
says, Thomas, come here and feel. Come here. I'll give you the
proof. And in verse 28, And Thomas answered and said unto him, My
Lord and my God, the Lord Jesus Christ takes our unbelief. He
takes our unbelief from us and he gives us faith. He gives us
belief. What an exchange. All of these
things the Lord Jesus Christ took from us and all the things
He gave us are all just completely unfair trade. Everything He takes
from us is stuff we want to get rid of. I don't want my unbelief. I don't want to be mocked. I
don't want the shame. I don't want my sin. I don't
want any of this stuff. And He willingly took it all.
And instead, He gave me everything I want. He gave me every single
thing I need. He gave me an eternal home. He
gave me salvation. He gave me the blessing. He gave
me paradise. He gave me belief in Him. And
He gives me faith. He gives us all of these things
because that's who He is. That's what He is. And as I said
earlier about crying out unto the Lord, This is what we will
be crying out for. One day we will understand the
exchange, the price He paid, what He truly gave us, and what
He took from us. And in that moment, in our likeness,
in His image, I can't imagine looking like Him or in His image. But because of all these things
He did for us, that's what we'll have. Because of all that, We'll
spend all our days giving Him glory, saying, thank you, Lord,
for what you've done for us. And praise God, may we be there
one day. All right, Sean.