Now you have in your lap there
the Word of God, John chapter 20. John chapter 20, our message
will be taken from John chapter 20. We're going to look at verse
24 down to verse 31. And I'm entitling the message
from what the Lord declares unto Thomas in verse 27. The last part of verse 27. Let's
read verse 27. The Lord addresses this disciple
and apostle of the Lord, one who was chosen from all eternity,
one who is redeemed by the blood of Christ, and yet he was the
unbelieving believer, wasn't he? He said to Thomas, rich,
rich, reach hither thy finger, behold my hands. reach into thy
hand and thrust it into my side." Now here's the title. Be not
faithless, but believing. But believing. Now I can personally identify
with Thomas. He's also known as Doubting Thomas,
isn't he? I can identify with Thomas. We not only have the same name,
you know what his name means? Twin. Twin. Both his Hebrew name,
Thomas, and that Greek name, Didymus, both mean the same thing. Twin! I have a twin and he has
a twin. We both have the same fallen
nature as Thomas. So prone to unbelief, Don't you
have the same problem I have? You're my twin too, aren't you?
Akin to Thomas. So prone to unbelief, fears and
doubts, in Hebrews 12 we are encouraged to lay aside this
sin which does so easily beset us and let us run the race of
faith with patience. What is that sin that does so
easily beset us? Unbelief. We read a moment ago
from Mark chapter 9, where the Lord said to that man, the father
of that demon-possessed child, all things are possible to those
who believe. And the father said, Lord, Lord,
it's a good place to start right there, isn't it? Lord, I believe. Help thou my unbelief. I can identify with that father.
I can certainly identify with Thomas. Now let's take a good look at
these verses, beginning at verse 24, and let us learn how saving
faith honors the Lord Jesus Christ. Abraham was strong in faith,
giving glory unto God, being fully persuaded all that God
had promised. He's able, isn't he? He's able
to do all that he has promised. So saving faith honors the Lord. How about unbelief? Unbelief
doesn't. Unbelief dishonors him. Dishonors
him. Now, think about this. All these
apostles, every one of them, Peter, John, James, every one
of them, all these apostles had much doubt, fear, and unbelief. When the women came and said,
the tomb is empty. When the angel said to them,
he's not here, he's risen. And when they declared that message
unto the apostles, do you remember what the word says of those women,
that story? They said, it seemed to be an
idle tale. You see, they were plagued with
the same problem we are, unbelief. Peter, James, and John, they
did not believe the report of the women, not at first, did
they? Not at all. Even when Mary came and said,
we have seen the Lord, they did not believe as well. Now, let's
look at verse 24. But Thomas, one of the 12, called
Didymus, was not with them when the Lord Jesus Christ came and
met with these men on that first Sunday evening, that first day
that he was raised from the dead, they were meeting together and
the Lord appeared with them, but Thomas, one of the 12, he
was not with them, was not with them. Thomas was not there on
that first evening worship to worship the resurrected Lord.
Why was he absent? Why was he not there? I don't
know. But by the Lord's good providence,
that happened to teach us a lesson. Why he wasn't there, we don't
know. The secret things belong unto the Lord. But we do know
this. He should have been there. being
one of the twelve. Thomas missed a great blessing
and a gift from the mouth of the Lord Jesus Christ when the
Lord breathed on them and gave those special apostolic gifts. He missed hearing the Lord speak,
peace be unto you. He missed hearing the charge
he gave to the apostles in declaring the gospel. And then in the gospel,
we see that message declared whose sins are remitted and whose
sins are retained. Thomas missed all that. He missed
the blessing, didn't he? He missed the joy of seeing his
risen Lord. He missed the blessed assurance
of hearing the Lord's words. You remember in Matthew 18, he
said, where two or three are gathered together in my name,
where two or three are gathered together in my name, I'm in your
midst. Now we're gathered in the name
of our Lord Jesus Christ. We're gathered in his name. You
know the Lord's when the church of the Lord Jesus Christ assembles
together whether it's two or three Think about this The Lord
is with us. He's in our midst Say well, I
don't seem I don't feel him. I Believe his word he is in our
midst now the obvious lesson for us is here is this the obvious
lesson for us is Paul exhorts us in Hebrews 10.23, neglect
not the assembling of ourselves together as a manner of some
is. Even early church had that problem. Such neglect of public
worship. Public worship now. Say, well
I'm gonna stay home and I'm gonna worship at home. The Lord demands
public worship. Such neglect leads to spiritual
leanness, snares, traps, and great temptation and missed blessings. Now I know there's some times
we cannot be here providentially and we're sick or other things,
but even when we're not here, Isn't your mind always here when
you're not here? I know it is that way with me.
When you're meeting together and I'm out of town somewhere,
I'm thinking, okay, 10 o'clock, people coming in, 10.30, Bible
study start. My mind's with you. But it's
a great blessing to be among the Lord's people and to fellowship
and to hear the gospel preached. Thomas, that first meeting, that
first special resurrection day meeting, wasn't there? Now look
at verse 25. The other disciples therefore
said unto him, the other 10 men, remember Judas is out of the
picture now, the other 10 men who were assembled who met with
the Lord and the Lord met with them, they said to Thomas, we
have seen the Lord. Now that's a pretty definite
statement, isn't it? I mean, that's a pretty powerful
witness. 10 men said, We've seen the Lord. But he said unto them, I don't
believe you. He dishonored them, his own friends. You know, when someone speaks
a word to you, just naturally speaking, when someone speaks
a word to you and you don't believe him, you dishonor him. Don't
you? Sure you do. But he said unto
his 10 friends, except I see. I don't believe you, I don't
take your word for it. I don't trust you. John, I don't trust
you. James, I don't trust you. But Thomas, we've seen the Lord. Oh, except I see. See what he's
saying there? Except I see in his hands, the
print of the nails. Remember he showed them his scars?
Except I see the primonels and put my finger into the print. It's just not enough to see them,
I want to feel them. And thrust my hand into his side,
I will not believe." Now what a terrible statement. And yet
we're all plagued with the same problem. The other disciples
were so anxious to tell Thomas, weren't they? You know they were.
Oh, they were. Thomas wasn't there with them.
You know they're so anxious to find him. Tell him the good news. We've seen the Lord. He's risen. We've got good news. He's alive. He's well. And you know what?
He's not mad at us. He didn't scold us, he didn't
rebuke us because we all forsook him and fled. You know what he
spoke unto us, Thomas? He said, unto us, peace be unto
you. What does Thomas do? Except I say, I will not believe. Thomas throws cold water on their
heated zealous, excited message. He said, you fellows are liars. That's what he's saying, is it
not? John, you're a liar. Peter, you're a liar. You've not seen the Lord. You
see how unbelief dishonors everybody? And believe does, except I see,
I will not believe. Now, you know what we have in
that statement? That's the philosophy of this
fallen sinful flesh. They say seeing is believing,
don't they? But true faith is just the opposite. We believe to see. You know that? We believe to
see. We believe to see. Verse 29,
the Lord said, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast
believed, but blessed are they that have not seen with these
eyes, but yet do believe. Hold your place here, let me
show you a scripture you need to mark in your Bible. Psalm
27. Psalm 27. Look at verse 13. Psalm 27, verse
13. I had fainted unless I had believed
to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. That's
believing to see. Now remember from our Bible study
in the book of Hebrews the definition of what faith is. Faith is the
substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Things not seen, the evidence
of things not seen. True faith is not born of signs,
feelings, but rather from the Word of God, by the Spirit of
God. Look down at verse 31 of John
20. These things are written, let's
read verse 30 and 31, many other signs truly did Jesus in the
presence of his disciples, which are not written in the book. Look over just across the page
in John 21 verse 25. And there are also many other
things which Jesus did, the which if they should be written everyone,
I suppose that the world itself could not contain the book that
should be written. But these are written, John 20
verse 31, that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the
Son of God, and that believing he might have life, might have
life through his name. True faith is not born of signs
and feelings, but with the word of truth. Faith comes by hearing,
and hearing by the word of God. You remember old Martin Luther
said, feelings come and feelings go, Feelings are deceiving. My warrant is a word of God.
Nothing else is worth believing Hold your place there and find
Matthew chapter 12 Matthew chapter 12 the scribes and Pharisees
in verse 38 of Matthew 12 The scribes and Pharisees said to
the master the Lord Jesus show us a sign just show us a sign
just come down from the cross and we'll believe you and You reckon they would have? No. But he answered and said unto
them, this is Matthew 12, 39, An evil and adulterous generation
seeketh after a sign, for there shall no sign be given it, but
the sign of the prophet Jonah." What is it? The Word of God?
"...concerning the Lord Jesus Christ and His glorious resurrection.
For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the whale's belly,
so shall the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the
heart of the earth. And the men of Nineveh shall rise in judgment
with this generation, and shall condemn them, because they repented
at the preaching of Jonah." Jonah. Behold, one greater than Jonah
is here. One greater. You see, true faith
is not born of signs and feelings, is it? Are you seeking some gooey,
ooey, gooey feeling? I just feel that I'm saved. Well,
most of the time I feel I'm not. I'm not trusting my feelings.
I'm trusting him who said he'll never leave us and never forsake
us. You know, think about this. Thomas
had much reason to believe, didn't he? Didn't he have much reason
to believe? Thomas had recorded scripture
that the Messiah would be raised from the dead. In Psalm 16, thou
wilt not leave my soul in the grave, nor suffer thy holy one
to see corruption. Thomas had the written word. Thomas had heard the Lord say
on many other occasions that he must go to Jerusalem, he must
be betrayed, he must be beaten, he must be crucified, he must
be raised again from the dead. He heard the Lord say that on
more than one occasion. Thomas was present when the Lord
raised Lazarus from the dead, was he not? Lazarus come forth. Thomas saw a dead man walk out
of the grave. Thomas, we've seen the Lord.
He's risen from the dead. Ah, no, no. You see how unbelief is so dishonoring? Thomas heard the testimony of
the women. that the Lord has risen from
the dead. He heard the testimony of Mary that she had seen the
Lord. And yet these ten friends said, Thomas, we've seen the
Lord. Yet he says, except I see, I
will not believe. He must not only see, but he
demands that he must also feel the Lord's nail-scarred hands. And his side that had the spear
thrust through it, he said, I'm going to examine that wound and
see if it's really the Lord. How stubborn and wicked is our
unbelieving heart. You remember what the Lord said
to those two men on the road to Emmaus, O fool, slow of heart,
O fool, slow of heart, to believe all that the prophets have spoken,
ought not Christ to have suffered and enter into His glory? You
remember the warning from the book of Hebrews chapter 3, Take
heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of
unbelief, an evil heart of unbelief. Unbelief is evil. God said, this
is my beloved son in whom I'm well pleased, hear him and believe
him. You see, an evil heart of unbelief,
an unbelieving heart is evil. We have seen the actions and
words of Thomas on two other occasions. Do you remember in
the book of John? Let me show you. John chapter
11, turn over there. We've seen the words and actions
of Thomas on two other occasions. And he seems to be a fellow that
plagued with pessimism. Look what it says in John chapter
11. The Lord Jesus said plainly unto
them, in verse 14, John 11, Lazarus is dead. Lazarus is dead. And I'm glad for your sake that
I was not there, to the intent you may believe. Nevertheless, let us go unto
Lazarus. Then said Thomas, which is called
Didymus, unto his fellow disciples, well, let us go too, that we
may die. He's thinking if we go down there,
they're gonna kill us. Well, let's just go and we'll
die too. Well, he's got a terrible attitude, doesn't he? We run
into Thomas one other time. You remember John chapter 14?
Turn over there. See, I can identify with this
man. I'm his twin. I have that same sinful, doubting
nature that God has to overrule by his grace and cause me to
believe him. Our Lord said in John 14, 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, where I go, you know, and the way you know. Uh-oh, here's
Thomas. We know not where you're going.
How can we know the way? Boy, this fella's something,
isn't he? He seemed to be a character full of doubts, skepticism, and
he's very pessimistic, isn't he? He's always negative. Aren't
you glad the Lord said to him in long-suffering mercy, Thomas,
I'm the way, I'm the truth, I'm the life, and yet here we see
this man right in the same condition. Unbelief. Unbelief. Unbelief. Look back at the text
again. Verse 26, the Lord in long-suffering
mercy, after eight days again, His disciples were within, and
this time, Thomas was with them. He cut tail and run. Maybe he
ran so far away from Jerusalem he couldn't get back in time
for that first Sunday evening meeting. But now he's back. Thomas
with them, then came the Savior, the Lord Jesus. And the doors
being shut again, remember they were shut, locked and bolt for
fear of the Jews, and the Lord unlatched the door and walked
in and said, here I am. He stood in the midst of them
with the same message he declares, peace, peace, peace be unto you. Thanks be unto God that through
His goodness and mercy, He overrules our own wicked heart by giving
and granting unto us saving faith. No wonder faith is called precious. Aren't you glad He overrules
our unbelief? Aren't you glad that He doesn't
leave us to our own wicked thoughts, our own wicked hearts? Now look
at verse 27. Then the Lord singles out Thomas
from the other ten men, and he said, Thomas, can you imagine
what he's thinking about now? Thomas, you reach hither thy
finger, and you put it right here in my scar, my nail print
hand. Reach hither thy hand, and you thrust it into my side,
and be not faithless. But, believe me, believe me,
Thomas, the Lord gently and graciously deals with the unbelief of Thomas. Someone called Thomas
the unbelieving believer. Now, he was a believer. He was
regenerated by the Spirit of God, but yet we see him oftentimes
acting like someone who doesn't know the Lord. Sound like a contradiction
in terms, the unbelieving believer, but it's so. Makes me to cry
out as the father did in Mark 9, Lord, I do believe, I believe,
help thou my unbelief. Now the Lord Jesus Christ, we
see again, is omniscient God. He knows exactly what Thomas
had said unto the other disciples and the Lord deals with him on
that very issue, that very ground of his unbelief. You see, the
Lord knows our thoughts afar off. This is a God with whom
we have to do. He knows us better than we know
ourselves. He knows our thoughts, our hearts,
what we're thinking. is evidence of what he says right
here to Thomas. And with compassion toward the weakness of Thomas,
in a kind and tender way, the Lord says, Okay. Okay, Thomas. You need more evidence. You need
more evidence that indeed it is me, that I am risen from the
dead. Okay. Here I am. Come on, Thomas. Come on. You touch me. And you look at me and you see
that it is the Lord. It is I, myself. Be not faithless,
but believing. What a blessed word from our
blessed, loving Redeemer. Be not faithless. What an encouragement
to believe. Be not faithless, but rather
believing, honoring God. Now, several things we know about
saving and genuine real faith. First of all, as I mentioned
earlier, it glorifies and honors God, doesn't it? Abraham was
strong in faith, giving honor and glory unto God. Saving faith
acknowledges, the saving faith of God's elect acknowledges the
truth, while on the other hand, unbelief is very dishonoring
to the Lord. Saving faith is pleasing unto
the Lord. I mean, true saving faith, the
faith of God's elect is pleasing unto the Lord. You remember Hebrews
11 verse six? Without faith, it is impossible
to please the Lord. Something also we know about
saving faith, it doesn't come naturally to our wicked heart,
is the sovereign gift of God. It's given unto you on the behalf
of Christ to believe on Him. Philippians 1 29. Faith is a
sovereign gift of God. Men by nature love darkness not
to light. The natural man receive it not
to cling to the Spirit of God. The carnal mind has enmity against
God. Saving faith doesn't come to
us naturally. Unbelief does. Saving faith is
a gift of God, not of work, lest any man should boast. Fourthly,
saving faith is received or salvation is received by God-given faith. Salvation is received by God-given
faith. Faith being justified by faith
we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Fifthly,
Saving faith is a means God has ordained to receive blessings
from His hand. No wonder the apostles cried
out, Lord, increase our faith. Faith is a hand that reaches
out. Faith is the feet that run to the Lord Jesus Christ. Faith
is a means that God has ordained to receive Him who accomplished
our salvation. What did Thomas say? He hears
the Lord say to him, Thomas, you need more? Okay. Here I am. Don't be faithless, but believing. And immediately Thomas confesses
full confidence and assurance in his Lord. Look what it says
in verse 28. Thomas answered and said unto
him, said unto him, Oh, you are the Lord. You are the true and
living God. Now, he'd have been correct in
saying that. But he says, you're my Lord.
You see, it's quite personal, isn't it? Thomas said, you're
my God. You're my Redeemer. You're my
Lord. You see, true saving faith confesses Jesus Christ to be God our Savior. Thomas, ashamed of his unbelief
and in total confidence and assurance of faith given by the spoken
word of the Lord, owned and confessed that the Lord Jesus Christ is
his God. You're my Lord and you're my
God. Is that your confession? That
is a confession of true saving faith. The Lord Jesus Christ
is not just the Lord, although He is, He's mine. He's my Lord. He's my God. You know what He's
saying here? The Lord Jesus Christ is everything. He's everything
to me. He's my all and my in all. He's
my Lord and He is my God. Let me show you another scripture.
Back to the book of Psalms, find Psalm 27. David says this on
many occasions, the Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. But notice, if you will, Psalm
27, Psalm 27, verse one, where it says, the Lord is, you see
that? Psalm 27, verse one, the Lord
is my light. Oh, the Lord is light, God is
light, right? He is the light, right? But He's
my light. He's my revelation. He is the
Savior, but David said, He's my salvation. Whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my
life. Of whom shall I be afraid? Now
let me show you another reference on that, and we could turn to
many, but find the book of Philippians chapter four. I had this as a
radio method last Sunday, flipped in chapter 4, verse 19. The apostle says, as he sits
in prison, looking and rejoicing in the Lord Jesus Christ. He
said, My God, but My God shall supply all your need according
to His riches in glory by Jesus Christ. He's my God. He's my
Lord and He's my God. Now saving faith doesn't make
Him Lord. or make Him God, but saving faith
readily acknowledge and own that confesses that the Lord Jesus
Christ is everything in our salvation. Saving faith loves His Lordship. He's my Lord and He's my God. We gladly own His deity as Lord
of Lords and King of Kings. We say, is this really an important
issue? He is deity. He is Godhead. Is it really vital to our salvation?
Well, let's find out. Turn to John chapter 8. John chapter 8, verse 24. Is His deity really an important
issue? Should we trust Him as our God
and Savior? As the Lord of all things? John 8, 24, I said therefore unto you that
you shall die in your sins if you believe not that I am, I
am that I am, you shall die in your sins. I say that's a pretty
important issue. He is deity. Now, is He your
Lord? Is He your Savior? Is He your
God? Now, I can identify with Thomas
right now. He is my Lord, and He is my God. The Lord Jesus Christ, if He
is not God, if the Lord Jesus Christ is not God, He's the greatest
imposter that ever lived, and His soul is in hell, if He's
not God. If Jesus Christ is not God, his
atonement is worthless, his blood atonement is worthless and shed
in vain, his intercession is useless, his representation of
his people is rubbish, and his covenant of grace is a mere sham. I know that's strong language,
but if he's not God, he's an imposter. Thank God that he is. God bought the church with His
own blood. We do rejoice that He is God. You remember what Peter preached
at Pentecost? This same Jesus whom you crucified,
He is both Lord and Christ. We rejoice in His Lordship. He
is the Lord, Jehovah, our righteousness. He's all of our righteousness
before God. He is God, our Savior. There
is salvation in none other. than the Lord Jesus Christ. Now,
let's close with this. Turn back to the book of Philippians,
chapter two. One day very soon, every knee's
gonna bow in heaven, earth, and hell, and every tongue gonna
confess that he is Lord. Read it right there. Verse 9,
wherefore God also, Philippians 2, 9, hath highly exalted him,
and given him a name which is above every name, that at that
name, that name, Lord Jesus Christ, God Almighty, God manifest in
the flesh, every knee shall bow of things in heaven, in earth,
under the earth, heaven, earth, and hell, and that every tongue
should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. through the glory of
God the Father. Can you say with Thomas, in your
heart before God, He's my Lord and He's my God. I pray that
it's so, that He is your Lord and He is your God. Saving faith
looks unto Him. Our Lord said, look unto Me,
look unto Me and be ye saved. I am God, the only just God and
Savior. Look unto Me and be ye saved.
Look to Him always, always, always, always.