Would you turn back to John chapter
20 while you're turning there? This evening, we're going to
observe the Lord's table together. And I'm going to be preaching
from Ephesians chapter five, verse 18, where Paul says, be
not drunk with wine, but be filled with the Holy Spirit. I've entitled this morning's
message, Who with Thomas's twin. Thomas is Aramic for twin. Didymus is Greek for twin. Thomas was a twin. Who was his twin? Well, I can
tell you right now who his twin was, if you're a believer, me
and you. In word association, what is
the first word that comes to your mind when you hear the name
Thomas? You think, doubting Thomas, don't
you? That's what comes to our mind
when we think of this man, Thomas. Now we've been considering the
apostles, and we've been doing it every Wednesday night, and
we didn't have a Wednesday night service this week, so I've just
been thinking about it and thinking about it, and I wanted to bring
this message this morning on Thomas. Now, this is what Thomas is famous
for. Look in verse 24 once again,
but Thomas, the One of the 12 called Didymus was not with them
when Jesus came. The Lord appeared after his resurrection. And when he appeared to the disciples,
for whatever reason, Thomas was not there. The other disciples
therefore said unto him, we've seen the Lord. But look at Thomas'
response. 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. I need physical, I need empirical,
I need tangible evidence that lets me know that this is real
And until I see it, I will not believe. I have to have this
experience first. And until I have this experience,
I will not believe. Now let me remind you, unbelief
is a choice. Unbelief is a choice. You only believe when there is
no other option. You have no choice. You don't
choose to believe. You believe because you have
no choice. Isn't that so? You know that's so. That's the
only reason you believe. But if you do not believe, it's
because you choose not to believe. Unless I see this, unless I experience
this, I will not believe. Now, Thomas is listed in the
formal list of the apostles in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and Acts,
but John gives us some biographical information about Thomas that
the others do not, and that's what we're going to consider.
this morning, what is revealed about Thomas that we might learn
the gospel through this man. Now, first turn to John chapter
11, John chapter 11. Now, this is the story of the
resurrection of Lazarus when God raised Lazarus from the dead,
when Christ raised Lazarus from the dead. And upon this event,
The Pharisees got together and said, we need to kill him. And
from that time forward, they plotted and planned the death
of the Lord Jesus Christ after he raised Lazarus from the dead.
He said, this is, everybody's going to believe on him. We're
going to lose our place. We're going to lose our nation. We need to get
rid of him. Now, beginning in verse one of John chapter 11, Now, a certain man was sick,
named Lazarus of Bethany, the town of Mary and her sister Martha.
It was that Mary which anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped
his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick. Therefore,
his sister sent unto him, saying, Lord, behold, he whom thou lovest
is sick. When Jesus heard that, he said,
this sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that
the son of God might be glorified thereby. Now, Jesus loved Martha
and her sister and Lazarus. When he had heard, therefore,
that he was sick, he abode two days still in the same place
where he was. Then after that, saith he to
his disciples, let us go into Judea again. His disciples say
unto him, Master, the Jews sought of late to stone thee, and goest
thou thither again? Now they tried to kill him. Last
time he was there, he left. He says he's going back. They'll
try to kill you again. Is this really what you want
to do? Is this the direction we ought to be going? Verse nine,
Jesus answered, are there not 12 hours in the day? If any man
walk in the day, he stumbleth not, because he seeth the light
of this world. But if a man walk in the night,
he stumbles, because there's no light in him. These things
said he, and after that he saith unto them, Our friend Lazarus
sleepeth. But I go that I may awake him
out of sleep. Then said his disciples, Lord,
if he sleep, he shall do well. How be it Jesus spake of his
death? But they thought that he'd spoken
of taking of rest and sleep. 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, he said to all the other 11,
Let us also go that we may die with him. Thomas loved the Lord
Jesus Christ. He loved him. And he knew that
if the Lord went back to Jerusalem, he would be probably murdered. But he said, let's go take our
place with him and die with him. And he was utterly and completely
sincere when he made that statement. I love him. I want to die with
him. Let's go die with him. Do you remember somebody else
that said, Lord, I'm ready to go with thee both to prison and
to death? Remember that person? That's
Peter. And Peter meant every word he
was saying. I'm willing to go with thee into
prison and into death, such is the love that I have to thy person. And Peter did love his person. And Thomas did love his person. And Thomas at that time said,
I'm willing to go and die with you. Now we know what Peter did,
don't we? Peter denied that he even knew
him. And we know what Thomas did.
Where was Thomas when the Lord was crucified? He was in hiding. While Thomas seems noble and
courageous at this time, and I believe he was very sincere
when he made this statement, He demonstrates at this time
he had far too high an opinion of himself. Just like Peter did. Peter had far too high an opinion
of himself and said, I'm willing both to go to prison with you
and die with you. Thomas is the same way. Let's go die with him. Now, in
Thomas, we have one of the great hindrances of faith, too high
an opinion of yourself. too high an opinion of yourself. Thomas thought, I'm going to
go die with him. Come on, fellas. And he was going to end up in
hiding. He's no different than Peter. People get on Peter. The
rest of the disciples were just as weak, just as cowardly, just
as sinful at this time. Now here's the point. He should
have said, if I am enabled by your grace, I will go and die
with you, but without your grace, I know what I will do. Now me and you ought to know
that about ourselves. Everybody in this room, you ought
to know about yourself that apart from his grace, you will deny
that you even know. When Paul spoke of proving that
good and acceptable and perfect will of God, the first thing
he said was for every man not to think of himself more highly
than he ought to think. Romans 12, 3. Now think of that.
That's the first thing he said when he's talking about proving
the good and acceptable and perfect will of God. First thing he says,
don't think of yourself more highly than you ought to think. You see, a high view of self
is founded on falsehood. I love what Paul said in Galatians
chapter 6 verse 3. He said, if a man thinketh himself
to be something when he is nothing. Did you hear that? If a man thinketh
himself to be something when he is nothing. He deceiveth himself. If we look upon ourselves in
any higher light right now, then sinful and weak. We have way too high an opinion
of ourself. You see, it's only when we are
nothing that Christ is all. Let me repeat
that. It's only when we are nothing
that Christ is all to us. It's only as we see ourselves
without strength and ungodly that we have any hope that Christ
died for us. Romans 5, 6 says, for when we were yet without
strength in due time, Christ died for the ungodly. Now it's
a high view of self that prevents us from relying on Christ. Thomas didn't say, I know I will fall
unless preserved. He said, let's go die with it. Now, a high view of self prevents
us from seeing the preciousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. And
this is how important this issue is. If I've got $100,000 in the bank, And somebody comes up and gives
me $20, it ain't going to mean that much to me. I'm glad to
have it, but it's $20. But if I am without anything
and starving, somebody gives me $20, that's life. I can buy a good meal with that.
That's going to preserve me. As long as I have a high opinion
of myself, I'm not gonna see the preciousness of the Lord
Jesus Christ. I'm not gonna see the preciousness
of His blood to make me clean before God. I'm not going to
see the preciousness of His righteousness. I've already got my own. Oh,
I might use it as kind of a patchwork to help me out, but when you
have nothing, when you have nothing to bring to the table, when you
in and of yourself are nothing but sin, How precious is the
Lord Jesus Christ. To you which believe, Peter said,
to you which believe, he is precious. Turn to John 14. I think the chapter division
of chapter 13 and 14, we know it's man-made, and I wish they
hadn't made it there. Because look in verse 38, Jesus
answered him, wilt thou lay down thy life for my sake? John 13,
38. Verily I say unto you that the
cock shall not crow till you've denied me three times. Let not your heart be troubled. That's amazing, isn't it? You're
gonna deny me three times. You better straighten up, stiffen
up, you. What'd he say? Let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also
in me. You believe God's sovereign,
I am too. You believe God's all powerful, I am too. You believe
God is, Omnipresent, I am too. Whatever you believe about God,
that's me. I am God. That's what he's saying.
You believe God, believe me. In my father's house are many
mansions. And that's not, you know, I've
got a mansion in the sky, you know, some big sprawling 10,000
square foot home and somebody else is going to have some little
hut, but I'm going to have a mansion. No. I'm talking about dwelling
places. Every believer has these dwelling
places. In my Father's house are many
dwelling places. If it were not so, I wouldn't
have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And he's talking about going
to the cross. I'm going to the cross to prepare that dwelling
place, that mansion for you. 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 whether I go, you know,
And the way you know, Thomas saith unto him, Lord, we know
not whether thou goest, and how can we know the way? Now I understand
that, don't you? The Lord made that statement
to it. Thomas mouthed or articulated what I would have been thinking
too. You know the way. No, I don't. I don't even know
what you're talking about. And that's what Thomas is saying.
I don't even know what you're talking about. I don't know the
way. Thomas said to him, Lord, we know not whether thou goest.
And how can we know the way? We don't, we don't know that
you're going back to your, you know, he didn't understand at
this time. He would, but right now he doesn't. I'm not going to get down on
Thomas at this time. He's only saying what I would
have been thinking or probably would have said too. I would
have been the one saying it, you know, and Thomas says this, but through
this stupid statement, and he was stupid. He should have done
the way the Lord had told him. It was a dull, kind of like,
Philip, show us the father and it sufficeth us. And what a dull
statement on Philip's part. Well, this was a dull statement
on Thomas's part. We're always, people are always
afraid, I'm afraid I'll say something stupid. You will. You will. You can, you can write that down.
You will. I will too. Thomas did here. Thomas saith
unto him, Lord, we know not whether thou goest, and how can we know
the way? And then through that question, we're given this glorious
statement. Jesus saith unto him, I am the
way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh to the Father,
but by me. Thomas demonstrated in the first
scripture we considered way too high an opinion of himself. And
here he demonstrates way too low a view of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Now, Thomas' twin, I have too
high an opinion of myself. You do too. Amen? You do. And the second problem
Well, the first problem arises out of the second. Me and you
and Thomas and everybody else has way too low a view of the
Lord Jesus Christ. Thomas shouldn't have thought
something like that, but I'm thankful he did, aren't you?
Because through this statement, we're given this glorious truth
regarding the Lord Jesus Christ. Not, I'll show you the way. Not,
I'll point you to the way. Not, I'll guide you along the
way. I am the way. What if I said I'm the way to
God? Cringe, wouldn't you? What blasphemy? What evil for a man to say that. But when he says it, every believer
in this place knows it so. He is the way to God. We don't come alongside him. We don't come behind him. We
don't come with him. we come by Him. Being in Him, we come by Him. No man cometh to the Father,
but by me. You see, He's God's way. He's God's way. He is the only
way. There are no other ways. He's the sure way. I love it
when the Lord said, I came down from heaven not to do my own
will, but the will of Him that sent me. And this is the Father's
will which has sent me. That of all which He hath given
me, I should lose nothing. Notice He puts all the burden
of salvation upon Himself. That's why He is the sure way.
If any of it's up to me or you, it's not sure. As a matter of
fact, it's for sure going to go bad. But oh, if He is the
way. And beloved, He's the free way. He that hath no money, let him
come by wine and milk without money and without price. He is
the free way. And what I just said, this is
the truth. I am the way is the truth. If ever the truth is spoken,
that's it. He is the way to the father,
not your works, not your efforts, not anything that has anything
to do with you. He is the way to the father. That's the truth.
And he said, I'm the life. You know what that means? It's
his life that is the way to the father. I'm not pleading my own
life, I'm pleading the life of the Lord Jesus Christ. His life
is my life before God. It's what the Bible calls justification.
Christ put away my sin, He gave me His righteousness, and I stand
before God without guilt. Now that's the way to God, His
life. That's the truth. I am the way,
I am the truth, I am the life. No man comes to the Father, but
by me. Now, to come any other way comes
from a low view of his person. But let me assure you this, you
can't get there, but by this way, the way of the Lord Jesus
Christ, the way of the cross. It's a low opinion of his person
that creates this high opinion of self. Now, here's how high
he is. Listen to this statement real
carefully. I love this. No matter how sinful you are
in yourself, if you come in him, you are completely
perfect, holy and without sin right now. That's how high he
is. And you can't think of him highly
enough. Somebody says, well, I'm so bad. What's that got to
do with anything? You think you're too bad for
him to save you? Well, that's a low view of him.
And really, when it comes right down to it, it's just another
form of self-righteousness, thinking about yourself. That's it. Oh,
how high he is. Now, the third time we read of
him is what I read in John chapter 20. John chapter 20, but Thomas, one of the 12 called
Didymus was not with them when Jesus came. The other disciples
therefore said unto him, we have seen the Lord, but he said unto
them, except I shall see in his hands. the print of the nails
and put my finger into the print of the nails and thrust my hand
into his side, I will not believe. If I don't have this experience,
I will not believe. Now, let me remind you, if you
don't believe, it's because you're choosing not to believe. That's
the only reason you're choosing not Somebody says, well, I could
believe I was saved if, if what? If Christ died? No, I'm straight
on that. I could believe I was saved if
I had a greater experience of grace in my life. And if I had
more victory over sin, and if I felt more of his presence,
then I could believe I was saved. That ain't believing in Christ,
that's believing in yourself. That's all that is. That's believing
in some silly little experience. You know, I don't trust any experience
I have. I really don't. And I've had some experiences,
but you know how much I trust him? Not at all. Not at all. All we trust is him. 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. You
see, he heard when Thomas said that. He's everywhere. He hears everything. He heard
exactly what Thomas had said, but the Lord loved Thomas. This
is one of his disciples. So what's he say to him? Then
saith he to Thomas, reach hither thy finger and behold my hands
and reach hither thy hand and thrust into my side and be not
faithless, but believing. And Thomas answered and said
unto him, my Lord, and my God. Now that is the response of everybody
who sees who he is. My Lord and my God. Can you say that concerning Christ?
My Lord and my God. Verse 29, Jesus saith unto him,
Because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed. Blessed are they
that have not seen and yet believed. Faith is not seeing, then believing. Faith is believing and then seeing. Didn't the Lord say, in John
chapter 11, saidest thou not, if thou wouldst believe, you
would see the glory of God. I cannot see, right now, while
I'm talking to you, I cannot see my justification before God.
I can't see that I stand before God without guilt. I can't look
at myself and say, yeah, look at me. Of course I am. No. I
can't see it at all, but I believe it. I believe I'm justified before
God. I cannot see my perfect sanctification. Can you? I can't see that at
all. That's imperfectly holy before
God. I can't see my holy nature. But I believe I have one. I can't
see my perfect holiness before God, but I believe I am. I can't
say I'm glorified. The scripture says you're glorified
in Romans chapter eight. I can't see that, but I believe
it. Faith is not what you see. Faith
is believing. Blessed are they who have not
seen and believe. Faith is the evidence of things
not seen. Now, the fourth thing that I
would point out about Thomas, first, he had too high an opinion
of himself. Second, he had too high an opinion or too low opinion
of the Lord Jesus Christ. And third, he had put too much
into experience. Except I see this, I won't believe.
I've got to experience this. I've got to experience that.
I wish we'd get that out of our thinking. I wish we would. And look to Christ only right
now. and forget everything about yourself.
But look once again at verse 24, but Thomas, one of the 12
called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came. Now this is God, the Holy Spirit,
who points this out. He was not with them. Everybody
else was there, but he wasn't. Thomas had, now maybe he had,
I guess he thought he had a good excuse, good reason to not being
there. I don't know, maybe he did. But
I know he wasn't there. And he's the one who did not
believe. Thomas, and listen to this real
carefully, Thomas had too low a view of public worship. The Lord said, where two are
three, are gathered together in my name. There am I in the
midst of them. He's promised. He's here. He's
here. Somebody says, well, I don't
feel it. So what? He's still promised. I'm here.
That's what counts. He said, I'm here. He still dwells
and walks in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks, which
are the churches. Christ promises his presence
wherever his people gather together. And Thomas was not there. Now, faith comes by hearing.
You can't hear when you're not here, can you? Faith cometh by
hearing. The best thing I can do for me
or my family is to bring us to hear the gospel. It pleased God
by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. Now, I love to think about what
Gene Rutledge said. He said, I'm afraid to miss church
because I'm afraid what I'll miss out on. Two things he said
that always struck me, I like to think of. He said, I got far
too many sins of my own to worry about somebody else's. Me too.
Me too. May the Lord impress that on
my heart. And he said, I'm prayed to miss
because I'm prayed what I miss out on. That is, Thomas didn't have
that attitude at this time. What was his reason? I don't
know, but for some reason he wasn't there. Public worship.
Now listen to me. Public worship ought to have
the highest priority in my life. Not me trying to fit worship
into life's busy schedule, but it ought to have the highest
priority in my life. Now here is Thomas, the one known
as the doubting disciple, the one that's my twin, the one that's
your twin. He had too high an opinion of himself, He had too
low a view of Christ. He had too high an opinion of
experience. And he had too low a view of the public assembly
of God's saints, public worship. Now I want to contrast that.
Turn with me to Matthew chapter eight. Verse 10. When Jesus heard, he marveled. Now that ought to catch our attention. The Lord marveling at something?
When Jesus heard, he marveled and said to them that followed,
verily I say unto you, I have not found so great faith. No, not in Israel. Now the Lord
Jesus says concerning this man's faith, this is the greatest faith
I have ever seen. So much so that he actually marveled
at it. Now, what is it about this man's
faith? And he's the only one who can really judge what great
faith is. Somebody says he's a man of great faith. Well, maybe
he is, maybe he's not. I don't know. But the Lord knows.
You'd agree with that, wouldn't you? The Lord knows what great
faith is. Matter of fact, he's the only one able to make this
judgment concerning great faith. And this is what he says concerning
this man's faith. What is it about this man that
was so great? Verse five. And when Jesus was entered into
Capernaum, there came unto him a centurion, beseeching him and
saying, Lord, my servant lieth 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 am not worthy that thou should
come under my roof. This man had a low opinion of
himself. Now, what a thing to have the
Lord come to your home, to come under your roof. Wouldn't you
be honored? Wouldn't you be just ecstatic over that? This man
said, no, I'm not worried that have you even come under my roof.
This man had a very low opinion of himself. Now, somebody might
think, well, he needs to have his self-esteem pumped up. No,
he doesn't. He's right where he should be.
And this is what the Lord says concerning him. Remember, he
has the greatest faith in Israel. But what did he think about himself?
I'm not worthy for you to come under my roof. What always lets me know how
far off I am here is I think if the Lord was going to come
into somebody's house, I'd let him come to my house. That lets
me know how little I enter in to this. Well, I think I'm the
pastor. I'm the preacher. Seems like
you come to my house. Well, that shows how stupid and dull I am. But not this man. This man had
the greatest faith in all of Israel. Now, look what it says
next. Sir Durian said, Lord, I'm not
worthy that thou should come under my roof, but speak the
word only, and my servant shall be healed. For I am a man under
authority. I understand authority. Having
soldiers under me, I say to this man, go, he goes. And to another,
come, and he comes. And to my servant, do this, and
he doeth it. I understand that you have absolute
sovereign authority. Whatever you will, it takes place. This man had a high view of the
Lord Jesus Christ. Whatever you will must take place. He was like that leper. Lord,
if you will, you can make me clean. He understood the sovereign authority
of Jesus Christ. Now, if you don't see that concerning
him, you don't have a high opinion of him. You've humanized him
in a way that you make him like yourself. He's not like you at
all. He has absolute sovereign control of everything. Aren't
you glad it's that way? This is who he is. He had a high view of the Lord
Jesus Christ. And I love what it says in verse
seven, Jesus saith unto him, I'll come and heal him. The centurion
answered and said, Lord, I'm not worthy that I should come
under my roof. Speak the word only. Speak the word only. I don't need an experience. Now
it would be quite an experience to have the Lord Jesus Christ
come under your roof, wouldn't it? Some of you women, think
of what you do to your homes, how you get it ready. Oh, what
an honor. This fellow said, I don't need
an experience. All I need is your word. Speak
the word only, and my servant shall be healed. Now, all these experiences and feelings
that we're looking for do, is prevent us from looking to Christ. That's it. Quit looking for a
feeling. Quit looking for an experience.
Quit looking for something to happen to you where you feel
something. Well, God must be touching me.
No, look to his word only. Don't wait for anything. Believe
on Christ. I'm saying this to everybody
in this room. Believe on Christ right now. Don't wait till you
get your life better. Don't wait till you finish this
sin and quit this sin and start doing it. No. Believe on Christ
now. Now. Now. Don't look for an experience. You know, as far as that goes,
I hope I can say this right. The only experience I trust is
Christ's experience. That's it. I don't trust anything
else. I love that passage of Scripture where the Lord says,
I'll acknowledge my sin. Now, I know the Lord never sinned,
but my sin became His sin. When He acknowledged His sin,
it was because it was mine and it became His. But He's the only
one who ever really truly confessed sin. He's the only one to, he
said, I'll be sorry for my sin. That's how truly my sin became
his. He said, I'll be sorry for my
sin. But who's the only one to ever
express true sorrow for sin? Oh, you and I have been caught,
exposed and humiliated, but I mean sorrow before God. He's the only
one who really knew what sin was. I'm looking at his face.
His faithful, the only thing I experienced, the only experience
I trust is His experience. His, remember, He is the life. He is the life, His life. His
life is my life before God. And look in verse five once again.
And when Jesus was entered into Capernaum, there came unto Him
a centurion. beseeching him. He came to where
the Lord was. And that's what coming to public
worship is. The Lord has promised his presence. He came to where the Lord was. And the scripture says the Lord
marveled at this man's faith. That's amazing, isn't it? You
know, there's only two things he said to marvel at. One time it
says, He marveled at their unbelief. You know, unbelief is an amazing
thing. Not believing Him? Not believing His glory? Not
believing the excellency and majesty of His person? Not believing
in His sufficiency? That is something to marvel at.
That any of us would be that way, yet we all have been. And
He marveled at this man's faith. Palmus divinus. Who was his twin? Well, we don't know if he had
a female twin or a male twin, but he had both. Me and you.
Me and you. Oh, may the Lord give us the
grace to have a low view of ourself and a high view of the Lord Jesus
Christ. And let's trash all of our thoughts
of experience. and have a high view of where
two or three are gathered together, there He is in their midst. May the Lord bless this to our
hearts. Let's pray together. Lord, we confess our high and
haughty views of ourself. Lord, it's so unjustified and
so sinful. We confess that we don't highly
enough view of the glory of thy son. We have a tendency to look
to our own stupid and silly experiences. The Lord calls us to look to
thy son only and to have a high view of his presence. Now bless
this message for your glory and our good. In Christ's name we
pray. Amen.