Open your Bibles with me, if
you will, tonight to John chapter 20. John chapter 20 and beginning
in verse 24. 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 a 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. 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, behold my hands. 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 to Jesus in the presence of his disciples, which are not
written in this book, but these 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. We're looking tonight at
the appearance of the Lord Jesus Christ, the resurrected Christ
to the 11, when Thomas was along with them. This time, at least,
rather than understand what John calls the many other signs that
are written in this book, in this gospel, I want us to consider
the fact that he may have reference to the many appearances of the
Lord Jesus Christ. Because if you look over just
a page or two to Acts chapter one and verse two, Luke writes to us and he says,
until the day in which he was taken up, after that he through
the Holy Ghost had given commandments unto the apostles whom he had
chosen, to whom also he showed himself alive after his passion
by many many infallible proofs. The Lord Jesus Christ, after
his passion, after his crucifixion, and then his resurrection, he
showed himself alive, as Luke tells us, by many infallible
proofs. But John, in this 20th chapter
that we have been looking at and are looking at again tonight,
he mentions only three. of these appearances. His first
mention is that of Mary Magdalene he appeared to, and then he appeared
to the eleven, and we find out tonight for the first time, and
the only time in the scripture, that Thomas was not with them
when he first appeared. And now, eight days later, the
following Sunday, as we would say, he appears to the eleven
again, and Thomas is among them. These things are written. Many,
he said, many other signs truly to Jesus in the presence of his
disciples. Many infallible proofs. But these
things, these three appearances, maybe as reference to all the
miracles in the Gospel of John, But these three appearances,
he records, and he's the only gospel writer who records two
of these appearances, and he does so that you might believe. Does that impress you, that God
Almighty, God Almighty, who holds everything in His hand, that
He wrote this word for you? for you, that you might believe
that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing
in His name, you might have everlasting life. If you received a letter,
a book, a writing from some famous person tonight, you would treasure
it. You would treasure it just because
of the importance of the man who wrote it. But here, God,
the Holy Spirit, through these inspired apostles, he wrote these
words to you. Receive that, to you, every person
here, to you, that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ,
the Son of God, and that believing you might have life through his
name. not just physical life, but eternal
life. Through faith in the Lord Jesus
Christ and his substitutionary work, his satisfaction, his giving
himself in the place of sinners, all that believe are justified
from all things, from which you could not be justified by the
law of Moses. That's what Paul preached, wasn't
it? That through this man, through this man, through the Lord Jesus
Christ, all that believe are justified, declared to be righteous
from all things from which you could not be justified by all
of your doing and keeping or trying to keep the law by faith
in Christ. Now, looking at this passage,
I want to point four things out to us. First, we have a missing
disciple. Verse 24. But Thomas, one of
the twelve, called Didymus. He was a twin, evidently. That's
what the word Didymus means. But Thomas, one of the twelve,
called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came. We have a missing disciple. Why? Why he was not with the
others when he appeared, when the Lord appeared first on that
day of his resurrection, we're not told. But this has left the
door open for much conjecture. And I made this point several
weeks ago, I believe, when we looked at the place where Mary
Magdalene saw the Lord. Remember when she went and told
Peter and John, and they both came running, and John outran
Peter evidently, but he didn't enter into the sepulchre. But
Peter, he didn't hardly slow down. He just went straight in.
And I tried to make the point that God's children, that all
of us as believers, we all have different temperaments. We're
not all the same. Every believer is not an exact
copy of every other believer. And some things, yes. But we
still have our personalities and our temperaments. And I know
that what is recorded here in the Gospel of John about Thomas,
if you look at these two other places, in John chapter 11, when word was sent by Mary and
Martha to the Lord Jesus that he whom he loved was sick. You
remember the Lord didn't immediately go to Bethany, but he remained
there and then Lazarus died. And the Lord said, let us go
into Judea again, verse seven, John chapter 11, verse seven.
His disciples say unto him, Master, the Jews of late sought to stone
thee, and goest thou thither again? Jesus answered, Are there
not twelve 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 stumbleth, because there is no
light in him. These things said he, and after
that he saith unto them, Our friend Lazarus is dead, or 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. Now be it Jesus spake of his
death, but they thought that he had spoken of taking of rest
in sleep. Now notice, then said Jesus unto
them plainly, Lazarus is dead. And I go, and I'm glad for your
sakes that I was not there, to the intent you may believe. Nevertheless,
let us go unto him. Then said Thomas, which is called
Didymus. Here he is again. The only other
two times, we'll look at the other in a moment, the first
time he's mentioned in the Gospel of John, Thomas, which is called
Didymus, saith unto the fellow disciples, let us go, let us
also go, that we may die with him. Let's go. Let's go with
him, that we may also die. And then in John chapter 14, We have this recorded that Thomas
said, our Lord said, in verse 4, John 14 in verse 4, and whither
I go you know, and the way you know. Thomas, there he is, Thomas
saith unto him, Lord, we know not the way. We know not whither
thou goest, and how can we know the way? These verses led Bishop
J.C. Ryle to write this following
statement about Thomas. He always seems to be one of
those desponding, fearful, gloomy-minded Christians who look on the dark
side of every subject and condition and can never see a bit of blue
sky. We've all known believers like
that, haven't we? And I pray that none of us fall
into that category. Always seem to be those despondent,
fearful, gloomy-minded Christians who look on the dark side of
every subject in every condition and can never see a bit of blue
sky. I'm sure all of us are aware
in John Bunyan's classic Pilgrim's Progress, he had some men named
Mr. Fearing, Mr. Fearing, Mr. Despondency, and
Mr. Much Afraid. God's people are
not all the same. Why he was not present when our
Lord first appeared, we're not told. But we are told this about
all of the disciples in general on that first day. Those two
disciples that were walking on the road to Emmaus, our Lord
asked them, why are you sad? So we know they were sad. Why
are you sad? And then we were told also here,
John, when he appeared that first time, the scripture says they
had the doors locked and bolted. Why? For fear, for fear of the
Jews. It could have been because Thomas
was afraid. It could have been because he
was overwhelmed with sadness. But it could have been he was
just one of these people who's always late. Because it does appear to me
that he did come among them after on that first day the Lord appeared
to the eleven after the Lord had left them, it appears to
me that's when Thomas comes on the scene. And I say that because
if you look in verse 24 it says, But Thomas, one of the twelve
called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came. The other
disciples therefore said unto him, We've seen the Lord. We've
seen the Lord. And then notice verse 26, And
after eight days again, It seems to me that it was on that same
first day of the week after the Lord had appeared to the eleven
and then departed that Thomas comes among them and they said
unto him, we've seen the Lord. We've seen the Lord. At least
indirectly, at least indirectly, his example in this matter teaches
that we should not, we should not, if at all possible, absent
ourselves from the assembly of God's people. Remember, we have
the apostle's precept, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together. So that's the first thing we
see. We have a missing disciple. I started to put down, we have
a disciple who went AWOL. You know what that means, don't
you? Absence without leave. AWOL. He was missing. And for seven days at least,
he missed the blessing. He missed the blessing that the
others had received in knowing and being assured that the Lord
was alive. had been raised from the dead.
Well, the second thing we see here is an unbelieving disciple. An unbelieving disciple in verse
25, when the other disciples said unto him, we have seen the
Lord. Then he says, except I shall
see in his hands the print of the nails and put my finger into
the print of the the nails and thrust my hand into his side,
I will not, I will not believe. I'm convinced that unbelief is
the sin that the apostle in writing Hebrews chapter 12 and verse
1 especially warned us against, unbelief. He said, wherefore
seeing we also are encompassed about with so great a cloud of
witnesses. And he had named many of them
Old Testament saints. We are encompassed about by so
great a cloud of witnesses. And we are told over and over
and over by their examples, how that by faith, by believing God,
how they had been successful against fire, against lions,
against all sorts of persecutions and things. They had overcome
by their faith. Therefore saying we are compassed
about by so great a cloud of witnesses. It's like if you can't
imagine a stadium and all of these Old Testament saints are
sitting around in the stadium and here we are on the track. We're compassed about by so great
a cloud of witnesses Paul says, let us lay aside every weight
and the sin, the sin which does so easily beset us. And let us run with patience
the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author
and the finisher of our faith. The sin that does so easily beset
all of God's children. The old writers, for the most
part, they believed that every child of God has one particular
besetting sin. But I believe there's one sin
that affects all of God's children, and it is the sin of unbelief. Consider Moses. Consider Moses. He was a prophet like no other
prophet. God spoke to him, the scripture
says, face to face. Never spoke to any other prophet
like he spoke to Moses. And yet, Moses himself was beset
by the sin of unbelief. Let me show us that in Numbers,
if you turn back with me to Numbers chapter 11. In Numbers chapter 11, beginning in verse 18, the Lord
said, and say thou unto the people, God's instructing Moses, say
thou unto the people, sanctify yourselves against tomorrow,
and you shall eat flesh. For you have wept in the ears
of the Lord, saying, who shall give us flesh to eat? For it
was well with us in Egypt, therefore the Lord will give you flesh,
and you shall eat. You shall not eat one day, nor
two days, nor five days, neither ten days, nor twenty days, but
even a whole month, until it come out of your nostrils, and
it be loathsome unto you. because that you have despised
the Lord which is among you, and have wept before him, saying,
Why came we forth out of Egypt? And Moses said, Now listen, God
told Moses, you tell the people, they've been crying for flesh,
I'm going to give them flesh. Not one day, not two days, not
five days, 20 days, but for a whole month they're going to have flesh
until it comes out of their nostrils. until it becomes loathsome to
them. Now notice Moses' reaction. And Moses said, the people among
whom I am are 600,000 footmen. Now that doesn't count the women
and children. 600,000 footmen. And you have
said, now he's speaking to the Lord. You have said, I will give
them flesh that they may eat a whole month. Shall the flocks
and the herds be slain for them? All of the cattle that we brought
with us out of Egypt? Does it mean we've got to kill
each and every one of them to suffice them? Or shall all the
fish of the sea be gathered together for them to suffice them? And
the Lord said unto Moses, Is the Lord's hand whacked short? Moses said, you know what you're
saying, how is that possible? That can't be so. If we kill
all the cattle and all the fish in the sea are gathered together
in one place, it's not going to be enough to do what you just
told me that you're going to do. You're going to feed this
nation with flesh, not for a few days, but for a whole month.
In other words, Moses, he didn't believe God. He didn't believe. And the Lord said, is the Lord's
hand waxed short? Is my hand waxed short? Have
I overextended my power in what I said? Have I promised more
than I can perform? Thou shalt see now whether my
word shall come to pass unto thee or not. Unbelief. This man of God, Moses, a prophet
like no other, and yet he too was beset with the sin of unbelief. And not just once. And think
about Aaron, Moses' brother, the first great high priest Did
not he also fall? Wasn't he also beset by the sin
of unbelief when he, along with his sister Miriam, said to Moses,
Hath the Lord indeed spoken only by Moses? Are you telling us
that God only speaks by you, Moses? And consider David, the king
that God raised up. He was beset by this sin, the
sin of unbelief. I say that because after he had
been anointed by Samuel to be the king, and after he had experienced
very unusual providential deliverances from King Saul, yet there came
a day when he said, I'm going to Paris now, I'm going I shall
now perish one day by the hand of Saul. What was that? That was nothing but unbelief,
and because of that unbelief, you remember, he fled into the
land of the Philistines. Now what about Abraham, the father
of the faith? What was it that when he took
his wife Sarah and went down into Egypt, Because of a famine
in the land of Canaan, he told Sarah, you tell these people
you're my sister. What was it? It was unbelief,
wasn't it? The sin which does so easily
beset us. The Lord Jesus Christ who is
the one mediator between God and man, who fills all these
three offices, prophet, priest, and king. He's the only person,
only person, who never was beset by the sin of unbelief. He was
tested, tempted in all points, like as unto us, yet without
sin. And here's the greatest demonstration
that I can think of, at least, to show us that the Lord Jesus
Christ, that He never was beset by the sin of unbelief. And that
is when hanging upon the cross, and somehow deserted by God. He still believed. My God, my
God. He's the only man, the only person. Now we have an unbelieving disciple. Thomas on three occasions along
with all the others had heard the Lord Jesus Christ tell them,
we're going up to Jerusalem, son of man, speaking of himself,
he's going to be betrayed, he's going to be crucified, and he's
going to rise from the dead. Three times he heard that. But
now, when the disciples said, he's alive, we've seen the Lord. It's almost like he makes a conscious
choice, isn't it? I will not believe. I will not believe unless I put
my fingers in the hands and my hand in the side. The third thing,
and I'm so thankful I can come to this third point, we have
a gracious Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. Verses 26 and 27. 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, behold my hands, and reach hither thy hand,
and thrust it into my side, and be not faithless, but believing. Do you notice that once again
he greets the disciples Thomas now included with the same words,
peace be unto you. Peace be unto you. Someone might
say, but Thomas, Thomas and preacher, you've just pointed this out.
Thomas was guilty of unbelief, the sin of unbelief. He was,
and I dare say all of those other disciples in those seven days,
they too, were guilty of some sin or the other. Because the
scripture says there's not a just man upon the earth that doeth
good and sinneth not. And all of us, God's people I'm
speaking of, God's children, we all sin. Sometimes we commit
sins even of ignorance. We don't even know we sin. Anytime
we do anything that's not for God's glory, it's sin. Yes. Yes, Thomas was guilty,
and so were the other disciples. But the peace, here's the point,
the peace of God that the Lord Jesus Christ purchased for His
church, for His people on the cross, it doesn't change. It doesn't fluctuate. It's always
the same. Now, our reception of that peace
and our resting in that peace, it may go up and down. Some days
we may be on the mountaintop rejoicing in our Savior, and
other days we may be in the valley. But my friends, our peace never
changes. Why? Because we are accepted
in the Beloved. He's the same today as he was
yesterday and shall be forever. In verse 27, again, we see that
our Lord is both God and man. That scripture I mentioned a
moment ago, there's one God and one mediator between God and
man, the man Christ Jesus. We see the Lord Jesus Christ
is both God and man. In verse 27, when he told Thomas,
reach hither thy finger and behold my hands, reach hither thy hand
and thrust it into my side. Those are the very words that
Thomas said. Those are the very words he said
a week before, but the Lord wasn't there. Oh yes, he was. Yeah,
we see his omniscience, do we not? We see that as God, he knows
everything. He knows every thought that I
have ever thought, every word that we ever speak. He's known
it from old eternity. He is omniscient. He's God. He's God. But he's also man. Reach here. Handle me. Touch
me. Got a body. He's both God and
man. And immediately, and we're not
told whether Thomas did put forth his finger or his hand, I tend
to believe he didn't. He was so overwhelmed with the
presence of the Lord, all he could say is, my Lord and my
God. And the fourth thing we have,
we have a blessing for each of us tonight who believe. Our Lord said, Thomas, because
thou hast seen me, thou hast believed. Blessed, happy, happy
are they that have not seen. We've never seen the Lord Jesus
Christ in the flesh. We've never seen it. I speak for myself. I'm sure
I speak for all of us. I do my best to put out of my
mind these images that artists have painted and and things of
that nature, because I'm confident that those pictures, they say
pictures of Jesus. If you want to know what he doesn't
look like, just look at one of those pictures. We've never seen
him, but we believe. We believe, don't we? And the
Lord Jesus Christ said, blessed, happy are they that have not
seen and yet have believed." We're blessed. We're blessed
because flesh and blood has not revealed this unto us, but His
Father. You believe that Jesus is the
Christ, the Son of God? You do so because the Father
has revealed that unto you. That's what He told Peter, wasn't
it? Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-Jonah. Flesh and blood hath not revealed
this unto you, but my Father which is in heaven. You're blessed
because this has been revealed unto you. You're blessed because
you have eternal life through His name. You're blessed because
He says you're blessed. Blessed are they. This is what
he said, blessed are they that have not seen and yet have believed. I pray the Lord will bless this
word to all of us here this evening. I'll ask the man, if you will,
to come at this time.