John 20 and verse 26. 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. And many other signs,
truly, did Jesus in the presence of his disciples, which are not
written in this book, but these are written that ye might believe
that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing
ye might have life through his name." May the Lord write his
word upon each of our hearts. We are continuing to look at
the appearances of the Lord Jesus Christ after his resurrection
from the dead, after he conquered death. We know that he appeared
at least 11 times during the 40 days between his resurrection
and his ascension to the Father's right hand. Peter tells us in
words that he spoke in the house of Cornelius that he appeared
not to all the people, but unto witnesses chosen before of God,
even to us who did eat and drink with Him after He rose from the
dead. Last Sunday morning you will
remember as we looked at that passage in Luke chapter 24 that
the Lord Jesus Christ did eat and drink with His chosen witnesses. Now this appearance that we are
reading about and studying today here in John chapter 20 is his
second appearance to the eleven. Now that term eleven is only
used in Luke's gospel, Luke chapter 24, but it simply means the apostles,
the eleven, the apostles of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now what does
the term apostle mean? Well, according to Mr. Strong, the word apostle means
a delegate specifically an ambassador of the gospel, a messenger, he
that is sent. There were 12 apostles. There
were 12 apostles, 12 men who were made ambassadors, special
ambassadors by the Lord Jesus Christ. Now you know that Judas
Iscariot was one of the 12. He was one of the twelve that
our Lord chose to accompany with Him during the time of His earthly
ministry, but Judas was never a child of God. He was an apostate. He was a reprobate. We know that,
and our Lord knew that. There never was a question in
our Lord's mind concerning this man who was numbered with the
other eleven apostles even though he had the power evidently to
work miracles, and yes, even to preach, but all the time he
was a reprobate. He was a non-elect person. And the Lord Jesus Christ knew
that. Let me show you that here in
the Gospel of John. If you turn back to John chapter
6, we'll look at three places here. in John's Gospel. But in John chapter 6, John chapter
6 and beginning with verse 66, the Scripture says, from that
time has been added by the translators, from that, that is the word of
the Lord Jesus Christ, His doctrine, His teaching, which these who
went away, they said, that's a hard saying. Who can hear it?
From that time Many of His disciples went back. They were called disciples,
yes, because they were learners. There were many at this particular
time. But they went back. They went
back. And we've all known people to
do that. We've all seen people do that.
It's always a very sad time. We've seen people walk with us
for a while, just like in the parable of the sower. Some seed
fell in good ground, but the other seed fell in ground that
did not bring forth fruit. And the plant may endure or last
for time, but eventually, because of persecution for the Word or
either enticements from the world, it withers and dies. And so these
went back, these disciples. From that time, many of His disciples
went back and walked no more with Him. Then said Jesus unto
the twelve, Will you also go away? Then Simon Peter answered
him, Lord, to whom shall we go? That's a good description of
a believer right there. We have nowhere else to go. There
is nowhere else to go. And thank God this morning those
of us who know him are able to say, There's nowhere else we
want to go. There's nowhere else we want
to go. We found Him who is the pearl
of great price. We believe and are sure that
that Christ, the Son of the living God, Jesus answered them, have
not I chosen you twelve? Chosen them to what? Not to salvation. For that is the work of God before
the foundation of the world. But these twelve, eleven of them,
of course, were chosen to salvation. But twelve were chosen to be
apostles. Have not I chosen you twelve
and one of you is a devil? Our Lord knew that from the very
beginning. And then John explains what he
meant by that. He spake of Judas Iscariot, the
son of Simon. For He it was that should betray
Him, being one of the twelve. And then, if you will, in John
chapter 13, when our Lord washed His disciples' feet, you remember
the story, how He came to Peter, what Peter had to say. Beginning
with verse 9 in John chapter 13, Simon Peter saith unto Him,
Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head. Jesus saith
to him, he that is washed needeth not save to wash his feet, but
is clean every whit. And you are clean, but not all. For he knew who should betray
him, therefore said he, you are not all clean." Judas was never
clean. He was never washed. And remember
this, there's only one agent that washes away sin, and that
is the blood of Jesus Christ, our Lord, who loved us and washed
us from our sins in His own blood. He was never clean. He was never
washed. And you, if you are here today
and your hope and your faith and your trust and your confidence
is not in Jesus Christ, and the Lamb of God slain from before
the foundation of the world in His blood, then you are not clean
before God. But everyone else, everyone here
who trusts in Him, what a wonderful truth. You are clean. You are clean. Every wit, clean. There's not a spot. When He washes,
when He cleanses, He washes away all sin, all transgressions,
all iniquities are taken away. Did you hear what Jesus said
to me? They're all taken away. Look
at one other place here in John chapter 17 in our Lord's Prayer. John chapter 17 and verse 12,
"...while I was with them in the world I kept them in thy
name. Those that thou gavest me I have
kept, and none of them is lost but the son of perdition that
the scripture might be fulfilled." So an apostle, there were 12
of these apostles. The term apostle means a delegate,
an ambassador of the gospel, a messenger, he that is sent.
And there were other apostles besides the 12. There were apostles
of the churches, but there were only 12 who were designated by
the Lord Jesus Christ as His special representatives. Listen to Paul's words concerning
the church in the letter of Ephesians when he said that the church
is built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets,
Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone. When the canon
of the New Testament was put together, when the church decided
upon these books, these letters that we have in the New Testament,
this was high on the criterion for a letter, for a book to be
received as the inspired Word of God. It was either written
by one of these apostles or by someone who was a close associate. of one of these twelve, because
it was upon them that the Lord Jesus Christ breathed upon them
and said, Receive ye the Holy Spirit. So that the Word which
they wrote, the written Word of God, Matthew, Mark, Luke,
John, Acts, on through the New Testament, is the very Word of
God. All Scripture is given by inspiration
of God. We also know the reason I say
that there were twelve apostles, that new Jerusalem that John
saw coming down out of heaven, which is the church, there's
no question about that. It is the church, and it had
twelve foundations, and in those twelve foundations are the names
of the twelve apostles. Each of the twelve had to be
able to witness of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Each of these
twelve apostles had to be able to say, I have seen the risen
Lord Jesus Christ. Someone said, well, what about
Paul? Well, his seeing the Lord was the last of all the appearances
that are given to us in the New Testament. Remember what he said
in 1 Corinthians 15, and last of all, when he names the various
appearances of Christ, and last of all, he says, he was seen
of me as of one born out of due time. So the 12 apostles, they
all were able to witness to the bodily resurrection of Jesus
Christ. In looking at these verses today,
here in John chapter 20, when he appeared the second time to
the apostles, they were not alone. There were others here, no doubt.
But the eleven were here. And I want to bring out four
things to us, if you will. First of all, the presence of
Thomas at this appearance. Now I mentioned last time that
Thomas was not with the others, even though it says They returned
to the 11. There were only 10 present. Thomas
was not there when our Lord appeared to the 11 on the day of His resurrection. Now it's hard to imagine that
there was a good reason. I know it's speculation. But
my friends, our Lord appeared to the 11 in the evening on the
day of His resurrection and his resurrection had already been
reported, you will remember, from early in the morning, it's
hard to imagine that there was a good reason why Thomas was
not among the eleven. I'm sure he had an excuse. I'm
sure he had a reason that satisfied his own conscience. But I say
unto you, it's hard to imagine that there really was a good
reason why Thomas was not with the other apostles of the Lord
on the day of our Lord's resurrection. And the very fact that John points
this out to us indicates that he should have been there. And
I would just remind all of us today the apostles' word, forsake
not the assembling of ourselves together as the manner of some
is. God has given us the opportunity
to gather together and worship the Lord, and we should avail
ourselves when possible. I know there are circumstances,
I know there are providences, but my friends, we shouldn't
trifle with the worship of God when we come together to honor
and glorify the Lord Jesus Christ. One thing is sure, Thomas missed
the blessing. One thing is sure, he missed
the blessing by not being among God's people. And how many times
maybe when you could have been here but you were not here, the
very question, the very subject, the very matter maybe that has
given you trouble and gives you trouble was dealt with from the
Word of God and you missed it. You missed the blessing. His
determination, As always, we can see how God is able to bring
good out of evil. And Thomas missing, he missed
the blessing, but we see how that God brings good out of this
evil. Thomas is determined. When the
other disciples reported to him, we have seen the Lord. He is
determined not to believe. not to believe. Look at his words
in verse 25. 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. He's determined not to believe. And all of this you see gives
us greater evidence of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now,
Thomas is mentioned in two other places here in the Gospel of
John besides this passage. And several of these places he's
called Didymus. Notice in verse 24, but Thomas,
one of the 12, called Didymus. And that means a twin. He was
a twin. I'm not sure if one of the other
apostles was his twin brother or not, but he was a twin. And
it's suggested by one writer that we may learn something about
this man's character if we look at the other places where he
is mentioned, something about this man's character. We all
refer to him as Doubting Thomas. As we look at these other places,
I believe we'll see that he earned that reputation. Look back to
chapter 11, John chapter 11. This is a chapter in John, of
course, that records the raising of the dead of Lazarus by our
Lord. Verse 16 we read, Then said Thomas,
which is called Didymus, unto his fellow disciples, Let us
also go, that we may die with him. When the Lord Jesus Christ
said, let us go, that is to where Lazarus was, to Bethany where
he had been buried, then this man, Thomas, he said, well, let
us also go that we may die with him. What is he thinking about?
He's thinking about death and he's thinking about dying. He's
doubting. He's doubting that the Lord Jesus
Christ has the power to preserve not only Himself but all of His
disciples until the time that is appointed by God. They were not going to do anything,
the enemies of the Lord Jesus Christ were not going to do anything
unto Him until His hour came. The hour which was fixed in old
eternity by God, the hour in which He would die. for the sins of His people. And
until that hour came, no one was going to do Him any harm. But what does Thomas say? Let
us go. Let us go too. And we'll just
die with Him. All right, look at the other
place in John chapter 14. And I have to admit, I'm thankful
for Thomas. Because here he asked one of
the questions that allowed our Lord to respond. with such a
clear declaration. Verse 5, or verse 4, it says,
And whither I go, you know, and the way you know, Thomas saith
unto him, Lord. Now remember, they've been with
him for three years. They've heard him teach. They've
heard him speak about his death and about his resurrection. Our
Lord said, Whither I go, you know, and the way you know, Thomas
saith unto him, Lord. We know not whither thou goest.
And how can we know the way? Jesus saith unto him, I am the
way, I am the truth, I am the life. No man cometh unto the
Father but by me. So, he appears, at least to one
writer that I read, he appeared, this Thomas, he appears to be
one of these people who always sees the dark side. who always
sees the gloomy side of everything. He can never see a bit of blue
in the sky. It's always cloudy. It's always
dark to him. And so Thomas may well serve
as a type of some true believers, and yes they are true believers,
who are never able to escape their doubts and their fears
so as to truly enjoy the salvation that the Lord Jesus Christ has
accomplished for them. And I would remind us in John
Bunyan's allegory, Pilgrim's Progress, you will remember he
had some characters in there. One was named Mr. Despondency
and Mr. Much Afraid. And Thomas seems
to have been one of those individuals, always doubting always seeing
the dark side. Now back in our text, was Thomas
convinced? Was he convinced? He said, unless
I see, unless I put my fingers into the print of the nails and
thrust my hand into his side, I'm not going to believe. Was
Thomas convinced? Was it necessary? Was it necessary
that he put his finger in the print of the nails and thrust
his hand into the side before he believed? It doesn't appear
to me that he did either. It appears to me that all it
took for Thomas to believe was to hear the voice of Jesus Christ. He saith unto Thomas, and Thomas
said, My Lord and my God. All that was necessary, not to
put his finger in the print of the nail or his hand into the
side of the risen body, glorified body of Jesus Christ, but just
to hear the voice of Jesus Christ. He said unto Thomas. The voice
of the Lord Jesus Christ. When John exiled on the Isle
of Patmos, had that vision of the resurrected Christ. You remember
his voice was described as the sound of many waters. We visited Niagara Falls once
many, many years ago. And one of the things that impressed
me was how you could hear the sound of that water a long time
before you could see the waterfall. I mean, water is loud, isn't
it? Rushing, mighty water like that
is loud. And the voice of the Lord Jesus
Christ, I wouldn't say necessarily it is loud. He spoke to Elijah
in the still, small voice. Not in the whirlwind, not through
the fire, but in a still, small voice. But saying that, His voice
is powerful. when He speaks those to whom
He speaks here. Look back with me to John chapter
5. John chapter 5 and beginning with verse 24. These are His
words. Verily, verily, or truly, truly,
I say unto you, He that heareth My word, and believeth on Him
that sent Me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into
condemnation, shall not come into judgment, but is passed
from death unto life." Now notice, "...verily, verily, I say unto
you, the hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear
the voice of the Son of God, and they that hear shall live."
For as the Father hath life in Himself, so hath He given to
the Son to have life in Himself, and hath given Him authority
to execute judgment also, because He is the Son of Man. Marvel
not at this, for the hour is coming in the which all that
are in the grave shall hear His voice and shall come forth. They
that have done good unto the resurrection of life, and they
that have done evil unto the resurrection of damnation. Did you notice the one difference
between verse 25 and verse 28 when he speaks about the hour
coming? The first time he said, and now
is. It's already come. That first
hour has already come when the dead, those who are spiritually
dead, and all of us as we come into this world are spiritually
dead in trespasses and sins. And He must speak to us. And
He speaks to us by His Spirit through the Gospel, through His
Word. And they that hear shall live. Shall live. There's no question. There's no maybe. There's no
if. There's no pretty please. If
you will now, just let Jesus come into your heart. No. They
that hear His voice live. His voice. is powerful. And that's the reason you've
heard preachers many times make the statement, if the only voice
you hear today is my voice, then you'll go out of this building
just like you came in. But if in God's grace and mercy
you hear the voice of the Son of God, you will live. That's what we pray for, isn't
it, when we come together. that He will speak. Speak through
the preacher, yes, but He will speak. And men will hear His
voice and live. And yes, thank God, one day there's
coming another day, another hour, when all the dead, those who
are in the tombs, those in the graves, those that are in the
sea, wherever their dust may be, will hear the voice at the
shout when he comes again of the archangel, the trump of God,
and the dead shall rise. Those who have done good are
those who are in Christ, the resurrection of life. Those that
have done evil are those who are not in Christ, the resurrection
of damnation. So the presence of Thomas. Now
let's move on to the second thing, the confession of Thomas at this
appearance. What about his confession when
he heard and saw the Lord Jesus? His confession was, my Lord and
my God. Now every honest person, and
I know everyone here today is an honest person. Every honest
person here must recognize this fact, fact, that either Jesus
Christ is God or He is the worst of men. You must, if you are
an honest person, you must recognize that fact. When Thomas said,
My Lord and my God, either He is God as He said He is, or He
is the worst of persons. The worst of persons that we
have ever read about. Many people there are who will
say, Well, I believe that He was a good man. And many, yes,
will even say, He was one of the best, if not the best, of
all men. But they say nothing more. But I say unto you today, when
He allowed Thomas to call Him God and He accepted that praise
and that worship and that testimony from Thomas, if He's not God,
He's the worst of men. He is the great imposter. But you know better, don't you?
He is God. My Lord. And what gives relish
and sweetness to that statement is My, My Lord and My God. Can you say that today? Are you
able to say to Him, My Lord and My God? He's Lord and He's God,
but can you call Him My Lord and My God? For Christ to be
the one mediator between God and man, He must be God. When
we speak of His blood, as I did just a few minutes ago, when
we speak of His blood, of His death, of His redemption, of
His priesthood, and His ongoing advocacy at the Father's right
hand, all of these things are meaningless. They have no meaning
whatsoever. His blood, His death, His redemption,
His priesthood, His ongoing intercession for us, they mean nothing, nothing,
nothing, nothing unless He is God. The writer of Hebrews said,
wherefore He, not just any He, wherefore He, the Lord Jesus
Christ, is able also to save them to the uttermost that come
unto God by Him. Seeing He, ever liveth to make
intercession for them." When Thomas confessed Him to be his
Lord, he acknowledged that he was Lord over death and over
the grave. He had seen Him die. He had witnessed
that from afar, yes, but he had seen Him breathe His last there
upon the cross and now he sees Him alive and confesses, My Lord,
You have conquered Think of all of the people who had lived before
the Lord came into this world. None had ever conquered death.
All who had passed over. None ever returned back. None
ever came back. Those who were raised, they soon
died. But He's the only one, isn't
He, who went out and came back with these words we'll look at
in just a moment. Now notice the blessing pronounced
at this appearance. The blessing of our Lord in speaking
to Thomas, He said, Blessed are they that have not seen and yet
have believed. Let that soak in. Let that filter
through. Blessed are they that have not
seen and yet have believed. Now let me ask you something.
I know that you have never seen the Lord Jesus Christ like Thomas
did. I know that. Right? You've never seen him like Thomas
did, where he said to Thomas, reach hither thy finger and thy
hand. You've never seen that. But do you believe? Do you believe? You might say, well, believe
what? Well, look at verse 31. John said, these things 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. Do
you believe that Jesus is the Christ? The word Christ, of course,
means Messiah or anointed. Do you believe? Do you believe
this morning? Do you believe this morning that
Jesus is the Christ? That He is the one that God,
God Almighty, the Creator of all things, that He is the one
that God appointed to be the Savior. Do you believe that? The Son of God. Do you believe that? If you do,
then isn't it wonderful this morning to hear the Lord Jesus
Christ saying, blessed? If I could come to each one of
you today who is a child of God and I could say, blessed, blessed,
blessed. I remember Years ago, this happened
to me when I was in Mexico and I was very sick at one time. And one of the doctors who attended,
he told me something. He said, I received the last
blessing of the bishop. He blessed me. I was the last
one to receive a blessing from him before he got on that ship
and the ship went down on his way to Rome. And he was so proud,
he was so thankful, he was so excited that he had been blessed
by the bishop. My friends, here is the bishop
of our souls. Blessed, blessed are they that
have not seen and yet have believed. When you find yourself in the
midst of troubles, in the midst of doubts, in the midst of trials,
in the midst of sorrows, Think about this. The Lord Jesus Christ
said, Blessed are you. Blessed are you. That's what
He said. It's good for us to keep this
in mind. And remember also, not only has
He pronounced this blessing upon us, but He also prayed for us. In John chapter 17, He said,
Neither pray I for these alone, but for them which shall believe
on me through their word. And we have come to believe on
him through the word of the apostles. He prayed for you. He prays for
you. He blessed you. He blesses you. No matter what the circumstance,
no matter how bad things may be, don't lose sight of the fact. that you are blessed of the Lord,
if you're one of His. It's kind of like that verse
in Isaiah, say ye to the righteous, it is well with him. No matter
what the situation is, no matter what the circumstances are, if
you are one of the righteous, if you've been made righteous
through the blood of Jesus Christ, God said, say ye unto the righteous,
it is well with you. It's well. It's well. Now here's
the last thing. The time of this appearance.
The time of this appearance. When you compare verse 26 with
verse 19, his first appearance to the apostles and now his second
appearance to the apostles, you see some similarities. Verse
26 we read, and after I'm sorry, verse 19. We read, 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. Verse 26, 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." Both times was on the first day of the week,
that is Sunday. Both times. Both times He stood
in their midst. And both times He spoke the same
words, Peace be unto you. We meet on Sundays. And we meet on Sundays, the first
day of the week, not because some Pope Sometimes you'll hear
someone say, well, some Pope changed the day from Saturday
to Sunday. We don't meet on Sunday, my friends,
because some Pope changed the day. We meet on Sunday because
our Lord appeared to His apostles when they were gathered together
on the first day of the week, and we come together to serve
and worship and adore a risen Savior. The first day of the
week. And we find in the epistles that
they assembled on the first day of the week. They collected their
offerings on the first day of the week. We come with His promise. He appeared on the first day
of the week, both appearances. He stood in their midst. So we
come together with His promise, for where two or three are gathered
together in My name, there am I in the midst of them. He's
here, my friends. He's here today. He's here. You say, I don't believe
he's here. Well, you're calling him a liar.
He's here. He's here. And if he's here,
I want to be here. I want to be where he is. Don't
you? And number three, he said the
same words, peace be unto you. We come together on the first
day of the week with the presence, with the promise rather of his
presence and we come every time to hear his word. We don't come
together to hear a comment on current events in the world.
Someone told me recently about visiting a church and all they
heard about was the current events, the news events of the week.
My friends, these things come and go. God's Word never changes. It is settled forever in heaven. And we come every time to hear
His Word. And His Word to us as it was
to these disciples of old, peace be unto you. If you're one of
His, peace be unto you. I made peace for you. Isn't that
what he's saying? I made peace for you with the
blood of my cross. Be not afraid. Have no fear. 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. And I go to prepare a place for
you that where I am, there you may be also." So much in God's
Word, isn't there? I mean, it's full. It is THE
book. There's no book like this book.
I trust the Lord would bless these words to all of us today.