I've entitled this message, Where
Was Thomas? Where Was Thomas? Now, in this
message, I don't have any question that I'm going to be giving what
my greatest problem, sin would probably be a better word, is,
and it will be the same with you. I've used this outline I'm going
to use twice in the last 25 years, and like I said, it was through
reading these four accounts, and it just hit me that Thomas
was there when the Lord said, after that I'm risen. This was
the night of his betrayal, the night of his betrayal. He said,
after that I'm risen, I'll go before you into Galilee. That was very clear. And we read
that the women who had the angels say, he's not here, he's risen. Why seek ye him that lives among
the dead? You go tell the disciples that he is risen. And we know
from Luke's account, turn to Luke chapter 24 for just a second. Verse six, he's not here, but
he's risen. Remember how he's spoken to you when he was yet
in Galilee saying that the son of man must be delivered in the
hands of sinful men and be crucified in the third day, rise again.
And they remembered his words and returned from the sepulcher
and told all these things unto the 11 and to all the rest. Now, Thomas was there at that
time. It was Mary Magdalene and Joanna
and Mary, the mother of James and the other women that were
there with him, which told these things under the apostles verse
11. And their word seemed to them
as idle tales and they believed them not. That's all 11 disciples. It seemed to be nothing more
than an idle tale. and they believed them NOT. Turn to John, chapter 20, verse 16. This is what I'm going to be
preaching on, Lord willing, next week. Jesus saith unto her, Mary. Put your name there. How would
you feel if the Lord called you by name at this time? Well, he does, every believer.
He knows his own sheep and he calls them by name. And he says
at this time, Mary. Now when he speaks, you'll know
who's speaking. You'll know. She turned herself and saith
unto him, Rabboni, which is to say, Master. Jesus saith unto
her, Touch me not. And he's not talking about her
not being allowed to touch his glorified body, but I don't have
any doubt that she was holding on to him. She didn't want him
to leave. She was so thrilled with seeing him. I can almost
see her at his feet with her arms around his feet, not wanting
him to leave. She was clinging to him. Touch
me not, for I'm not yet ascended unto my father, but go to my
brethren. These same people who didn't
believe the report, what does the Lord call them? My brethren. What a special privilege of grace. Go to my brethren and say unto
them, I send unto my father and your father and to my God and
your God. Mary Magdalene came and told
the disciples that she'd seen the Lord. and that he had spoken
these things unto her. Then the same day and 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 said unto them, peace be unto you.
Now that's the thing he said when he appeared when Thomas
was there, peace. Oh, the peace of having all your
sins put away. Now that's peace, isn't it? The
only thing that causes turmoil is not having some understanding
that your sins are gone. But what peace there is when
you know, because of his word, you know, if he says peace, if
I say peace unto you, doesn't mean anything. But if he says
it, it means something, doesn't it? It means you have peace. Peace be unto you, and when he
had so said, he showed them his hands and his side. That's where your peace comes
from. 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. Now this is the first time the
Lord appeared to the apostles all at once. And when he had said this, he
breathed on them and saith unto him, receive ye the Holy Ghost,
whosoever sins you remit, they are remitted unto them, and whosoever
sins you retain, they are retained. Now, does that mean we have the
ability to make someone's sins stay on them and make somebody
else's sins leave them? Of course not. The gospel you
preach, the gospel you preach, some are gonna find their sins
are remitted. And those who reject the gospel, their sins will be
retained. It depends on their response
to the gospel. Now I realize this has been used
to teach that the Pope has power to take away your sins or power
to make them stay. It doesn't have anything to do
with that, you know that. But, verse 24, Thomas, one of
the 12 called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came. He was there and heard when the
Lord told them before he died, he would be raised from the dead
and go before them. He was there, he heard that.
He heard the testimony of the women who went to the empty tomb
and had heard the message from the angels. And he heard Mary's
report, who was an eyewitness, heard him call her name. But he was not there with the
rest of the disciples when the Lord appeared. Now you think
of that. He wasn't there. Well maybe he just didn't believe.
That could probably, that probably is the reason. I will not believe
he said that. He could have been sick. He could
have been incapacitated to where he couldn't get there. Maybe he had other commitments
that made him think he couldn't be there. But this I know, he
was told the Lord would be there. And he was not there. Question, should he have been
there? You know he should. The Lord
was there. If the Lord has promised to be
in a place, we should be there. If he has promised to be in a
place, doesn't he say where two or three are gathered together
in my name, there I am in their midst. When somebody says, I
can't feel him, he's still here. He's promised. Wherever two or three are gathered
together in his name, there he is in their midst. He identifies
himself as the one who walketh in the midst of the seven golden
candlesticks, the seven churches. He's here. The gospel is preached. Now, I've heard people say, I
don't want to be legalistic about church attendance. I don't either. I don't either. And I have no
doubt that can be. Somebody gets some kind of insurance
because they're in church every time the doors open, that's legalism.
That's wrong. Nobody should feel that way.
If you would have some kind of hope because you come to church,
I hope you get rid of that hope. But the point is, He is here. He is here. That's the point. He is here. Now, Thomas was the one disciple
who was not there. He was a true disciple. He loved
Christ and he was not there and it affected him in a negative
way in this life. Look in verse 25 of John chapter
20, but the other disciples Therefore said unto him, we've seen the
Lord. Remember he wasn't there when the Lord appeared. But he
said unto them, except I shall see in his hands the print of
his nails and put my finger into the print of the nails and thrust
my hand into his side. I will not believe. You know, you can almost feel
the cockiness that he had at this time when he makes this
statement. He thought he was totally justified in making this
statement. And after eight days again his
disciples were within and Thomas with them. Then came Jesus, the
door being shut and stood in the midst and said, peace be
unto you. There he says it again. And he's
talking to Thomas too. Peace be unto you. Every time
I hear the gospel, this is the message, peace. Peace by Jesus
Christ. He is Lord of all. Now, when you hear preaching
and you don't feel peace, either the gospel's not being preached
or you're not hearing it right. Now, that's just so. The gospel
brings peace. Yes, it convicts. Yes, it inspires.
But the gospel brings peace. If I preach in such a way, I'll
tell you what I hate. I hate this as bad as anything
I know of when I hear preaching that I leave thinking maybe I'm
not saved. He's saying something that I
think maybe I'm not measuring up, maybe I'm missing. I hate
preaching like that and I know this, when I hear preaching like
that, that's not the gospel, either that or I'm hearing in
such a way as I'm not hearing what's being said and I'm looking
at myself. I want peace, comfort ye, comfort ye my people. Every time the gospel's preached,
there's to be comfort. The comfort of the gospel, the
comfort of Christ being all. Peace be unto you. Then saith
he to Thomas, reacheth at thy finger. You know, I love the
way that when Thomas was speaking to the disciples like this, Lord
heard every word, didn't he? All things are naked and open
unto him with whom we have to do. He heard every word. You see, his presence is everywhere. Yes, his presence is special
in the gathering of God's saints in his name, but he's omnipresent
too. You can't go anywhere where he
doesn't hear, he doesn't see. And I love the way he says this
to Thomas. He said, 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 believe him. 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,
but here's the distinction, blessed are they that have not seen and
yet believed. And he makes a distinction, doesn't
he? Kind of like Mary. She sat at the Lord's feet and
heard his word. While Martha was cumbered about
with much serving. You remember that passage of
scripture? I love that. She says, Lord, tell her to help me. This isn't right. She's just
sitting there listening while I'm doing all the work. Lord said, Martha, Martha, you're
careful and troubled about many things, but one thing is needful.
And Mary has chosen that better part. And that's not going to
be taken from her. Now, did Mary have a higher award
in heaven than Martha did? Of course not. Martha and Mary
had the same righteousness, the righteousness of Jesus Christ.
And what else is there? But in Mary's choice, I think
she probably enjoyed life a little bit more than Martha did. Martha
was cumbered about, cumbered about. Now it would be profitable
for us to consider, Thomas, I love his confession, my Lord and my
God, but the Lord still makes this distinction. And I got four
points to this message. Like I said, I preached this
message first time. I think I got more light on it now than I did
the first time. I preached this message twice in the last 25
years, and I didn't go back to look at my notes. I just remembered
the outline. Here's what we can learn about
Thomas. He had too high opinion of himself, and he had too low opinion of
the Lord Jesus Christ. Would you not agree that that's
your biggest problem? Too high an opinion of yourself. And what motivates a high opinion of yourself
is having too low a view of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's where
that comes from. And Thomas had way too much emphasis
on experience. Unless I can stick my hand in
His side and feel it and experience it, I will not believe. I have to experience something.
Now, there's no doubt knowing Christ is an experience, isn't
it? Being saved by His grace is an experience. I wouldn't
take away from that. It is an experience and there's
no experience like it. But what was Thomas doing? He
was putting too much emphasis on his personal experience, what
he experienced. And consequently, he had too
low a view of being where Christ said he would be. Now, let's
look at the first time Thomas is mentioned. We're gonna look
at these briefly. John chapter 11. Verse 14, then said Jesus unto
them plainly, Lazarus is dead. And I'm glad for your sakes that
I was not there, to the intent that you may believe, nevertheless
let us go unto him. Then said Thomas, which is called
Didymus, unto his fellow disciples, let us go, that we may die with
him. Now, Thomas understood that the
animosity of the Jews toward the Lord was such that if he
went back to Jerusalem, he would be killed. And he was. He was. This is on the way to the cross. And Thomas said, fellas, let's
go with him. And he meant this. He loved the
Redeemer. Let's go with him and die with
him. You say, what's wrong with that?
Well, I remember somebody else who said, I'll die with you. I will not deny you. I'll die
with you. The rest of these fellows may
deny you. I'll never deny you. I will die with you. I will die for you. Thomas was sincere when he said
that, he meant it. Peter was sincere when he said
that, and he meant it. But my dear friend, Peter and Thomas at this time,
demonstrate extremely high opinions of themselves and their courage
and their faithfulness. Now, the fact of the matter is, me and you will chicken out for
sure and deny that we even know him unless he causes us to not
do that. The very foundation of what Thomas
was saying, although yes, he did love Christ. I love his noble
confession, my Lord and my God. Yes, he did love Christ, but
he had way too high opinion of himself. Now, wouldn't that be
true with regard to me and you? Sure is. Sure is. Romans chapter 12. I want you to look at this. I beseech you therefore by the
mercies of God that you present your bodies a living sacrifice,
holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. Isn't that just reasonable? That
you present everything you are as a living sacrifice. Is there
anything less reasonable than me or you not doing that? He
said, this is your reasonable service. It's the only thing
that makes sense. And be not conformed to this world, but
be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove
what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God for I
say through the grace given unto me to every man that's among
you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to
think. That's the first thing he says
when he tells us to prove that good and acceptable and perfect
will of God, to not think of yourself more highly than you
ought to think. John 14, here's the second time
we run into Thomas. John 14. The Lord said in verse 3, and
if I go and prepare a place for you, I'll come again and receive
you unto myself, that where I am, there you may be also. And whither
I go, you know, and the way you know, Thomas saith unto him,
Lord, we know not whither thou goest. How can we know the way? Now Thomas at this time demonstrates
way too low a view of Christ. That's what's going on here. Now through his dull question,
this is no less dull than Philip a few verses down there saying,
show us the Father and we'll be satisfied. What a dull question,
what a dumb question. And the Lord says, I've been
so long with you, Philip, and yet hast thou not known me? He
that has seen me, what, has seen the Father. Now there is the
high view of the Lord Jesus Christ. And Thomas says, Lord, we don't
know the way. The Lord replied, You know, the
Lord brought good out of this dullness of Thomas' part because
we're given one of the most glorious statements Christ ever made. Jesus saith unto him, I am the
way and the truth and the life. No man cometh unto the father,
but by me. Now, Thomas, you're asking the
way I'm in. To this extent, if you're in
me, you're already at the desired destination. You're in the very
presence of the Father in my person. That's how glorious I
am. I am the truth. Not I'll tell
you the truth. Not I'll try to teach you the
truth. I am the truth. Nothing is understood apart from
my person and my work. No doctrine is understood if
I'm not all in it. No preaching is real unless it's
I'm all in it. I am the truth. Thomas, I'm the
life. I am the only life that God accepts,
my life. The only way you'll be saved
is if my life is your life. No man comes to the Father but
by me. I love thinking about this when
the Lord ascended back to the Father, somebody else ascended
with him. all the hosts of the people he
died for." The next thing we see about Thomas,
look in John Thomas had too high an opinion
of himself, and there's one thing that causes too high an opinion
of yourself, too low of you of Christ. Is there anybody in here
that sees him as high as you ought to? Is there anybody in
here that sees his glory as you ought to? Of course not. Of course
not. That's where our high opinions
come from, our not seeing him as he is. But verse 25, the other
disciples therefore said unto him, we've seen the Lord. But
he saith unto them, except I shall see in his hand 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." Thomas had
too high an opinion of himself. Thomas had too low a view of
the Lord Jesus Christ. And Thomas put way too much emphasis
on his own personal experience. I could believe If, if what? If what? If Christ died? If Christ was raised from the
dead? If it really, if, could you believe
because Christ said it's finished, would that give you assurance?
I could have assurance I was saved if I, if you put an I in
there, it's no good. Now you can write that down if
your assurance is because of an I. I this, I that. It's no
good. That's looking within, that's
contrary, that is anti-Christ. That's what I want to say, that
is anti-Christ. If you find anything in you that
makes you think you're saved, you're missing the Lord Jesus
Christ. That's wrong. Thomas put way
too much emphasis on what he could feel, what he could see,
what he could tangibly, oh, I could believe I was saved if I was
more tender, if my heart wasn't so hard, if I had more of a view
of the excellency of Christ, if I had more love to him, if
I didn't have to struggle with sin so much, then I could believe. That's believing in yourself.
That's not believing in Jesus Christ, period. You look to Christ
alone. And the last thing that I would
notice about Thomas is that he didn't see, for whatever reason,
like I said, the Bible doesn't tell us why he wasn't there,
but he did not see the importance of the presence of Christ. Christ
promised to be there and he was not there. Now, turn to Matthew,
and I'm gonna be real brief with this, Matthew chapter eight.
Thomas is associated with unbelief. What do you think of when you
think of Thomas? Doubting Thomas. First thing anybody thinks of
when they think of Thomas, doubting Thomas. Now look what the Lord
says in verse 10. When Jesus heard, he marveled. Isn't that amazing? What he heard
made him marvel. And he said to them that followed,
his disciples, verily I say unto you, I've not found so great in faith,
no, not in Israel. Now, this is the testimony of
him who knows what great faith is. I mean, you don't. He's a man of great faith. How
do you know? Somebody says, well, I'm a man
of great faith. Well, that lets me know right
off the bat that you're not. Uh, we, uh, are not competent
to make this judgment, but here the one who is competent makes
the judgment. And he says, regarding this man's
faith, this is the greatest faith I've ever seen. And he marveled
at it. Now, what is this faith made
of? Well, look in verse five. And
when Jesus was entered into Capernaum, there came unto him a centurion
beseeching him and saying, Lord, my servant, life at home, sick
of the palsy, grievously tormented. And Jesus saith unto him, I will
come and heal him. The centurion answered and said,
Lord, I'm not worthy. that thou shouldst enter my roof."
Now, I try to put myself in that fellow's place. I doubt that
that would have been my response. Matter of fact, I know it wouldn't
have been. All right, let's be honest. He said, I'll come and
heal him. Well, come on, let's go. I'd
be following him. I'd be excited. I think this
is going to happen to me. What does this fellow say? I'm not worthy for you to come
into my home. I'm not worthy. Now, his low
view of himself didn't come from low self-esteem. It didn't come
from insecurity. You can have all of those things,
low self-esteem and insecurity, and be proud as a devil, and
you're totally self-focused. This is not talking about low
self-esteem. This low view of himself came
from a high and exalted view of the Lord Jesus Christ. That
is why he saw himself in this light. Look what he says. The
centurion answered and said, Lord, I'm not worthy that thou
should come under my roof. Speak the word only. And my servant. shall be healed. I'm a man under authority. He
was somebody. He was a Roman centurion. He
had 100 soldiers under him. I say, did this man go? And he
goes. I say, did another come? And he comes. And did my servant
do this? And he doeth it. I understand
authority. And I know that all you have
to do is will it. And it takes place. That's it. He believed the same thing. The
thief did. Lord, if you remember me, if
you just say, he's one of mine, I represent him, nothing else
needs to be said. He was like that leper, Lord,
if you will, you can make me clean. Now, the Lord said regarding
this man's faith, this is the greatest faith in Israel. He
marveled at it. Why? This man had such high and
exalted views of the Lord Jesus Christ. And this man had a real
low view of experience. He said, you don't need to come
to my house. All you gotta do is say it. I don't need to see
you do anything. All you gotta do is say it and
it's done. I don't need any kind of experience
other than your word. Your word is enough. Nothing
else is needed And look what he did in verse 5 and when jesus
was in entered into capernaum there came unto him a centurion
beseeching him He came where he was he did do that he came
where he was now Thomas' problem, my problem, too high a view of
yourself, too high a view of himself. Not a high enough view
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Way too much looking on the inside,
experience. He wasn't there. where the Lord
said he'd be. This centurion, he had a low,
low, low opinion of himself. And the reason he had such a
low opinion of himself is because he had such a high view of the
Lord Jesus Christ. And he had such a high view of
Christ that experience became nothing to him. Speak the word
only. May the Lord teach us to have
a low view of ourselves, a high view of Him. Quit looking within. Just quit doing it. It's an exercise
in futility. It's contrary to the gospel.
I know it's part of the flesh. It's part of the flesh, and you're
going to struggle with it till you die, but oh, wouldn't it
be a blessing to just... What's in there to look? And,
oh, I want to be where He has promised He is. Let's pray.