Doubt and Faith (John 20:24-31)

WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.320 --> 00:00:06.240 A John Chapter Twenty, verses twenty four through thirty. We're considering this passage 2 00:00:06.839 --> 00:00:15.029 today because this is an account of the disciples meeting a week after Jesus arose 3 00:00:15.109 --> 00:00:21.190 from the dead, so a week after Easter. We will consider this passage 4 00:00:21.230 --> 00:00:27.539 this morning. John Chapter Twenty, a beginning of Verse Twenty Four. Now 5 00:00:27.739 --> 00:00:31.859 Thomas, one of the twelve called the twin, was not with them when 6 00:00:31.899 --> 00:00:36.969 Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, we have seen the Lord, 7 00:00:37.609 --> 00:00:41.409 but he said to them unless I see it his in his hands, 8 00:00:41.530 --> 00:00:44.969 the mark of the nails, and place my finger into the mark of the 9 00:00:45.049 --> 00:00:50.840 nails and place my hand into his side, I will never believe. Eight 10 00:00:50.880 --> 00:00:57.840 days later, his disciples were inside again and Thomas was with them, although 11 00:00:57.840 --> 00:01:02.479 the doors were locked. Jesus came and stood among them and said peace be 12 00:01:02.640 --> 00:01:07.549 with you. Then he said to Thomas, put your finger here and see 13 00:01:07.629 --> 00:01:11.390 my hands, and put out your hand and place it in my side. 14 00:01:11.310 --> 00:01:19.620 Do not disbelieve, but believe. Thomas answered him, my Lord and my 15 00:01:19.859 --> 00:01:25.420 God, Jesus said to him. Have you believed because you have seen me? 16 00:01:26.459 --> 00:01:32.459 Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed. Now Jesus 17 00:01:32.540 --> 00:01:34.969 did many other signs in the presence of the disciples which are not written in 18 00:01:36.049 --> 00:01:40.849 this book, but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is 19 00:01:41.129 --> 00:01:46.129 the Christ, the son of God, and that by believing you may have 20 00:01:46.370 --> 00:02:01.670 life in his name. You may be seated. Oh, I love this 21 00:02:01.829 --> 00:02:09.430 story. When you read a commentators on this passage, they'll often talk about 22 00:02:10.150 --> 00:02:20.259 how great it is that John recorded this for us, a reminder that doubt 23 00:02:20.379 --> 00:02:28.139 and faith are not like on off switches, where it's fully on and fully 24 00:02:28.219 --> 00:02:30.210 off all the time. Of course, there is such a thing as having 25 00:02:30.370 --> 00:02:37.169 faith or not having faith, but there are real struggles that we all have, 26 00:02:37.770 --> 00:02:43.729 and that this apostle of Jesus had them is is is a reminder to 27 00:02:43.849 --> 00:02:49.240 us. As I might say later on, Jesus doesn't honor doubt here, 28 00:02:49.560 --> 00:02:59.189 he he he honors His mercy. He shows us how far he goes to 29 00:02:59.389 --> 00:03:04.270 help us to know him, to see him. We want to consider a 30 00:03:04.310 --> 00:03:09.629 number of different things in in this account this morning, but for this man 31 00:03:09.870 --> 00:03:16.699 sometimes people called doubting Thomas, I want to begin with one one lesson, 32 00:03:16.979 --> 00:03:24.539 one moral of the story, you might say. It relates to this meeting 33 00:03:24.620 --> 00:03:29.810 in which the this meeting that they are are having. It comes out a 34 00:03:29.969 --> 00:03:32.289 couple times in a couple different ways and it reminds us, it's a good 35 00:03:32.330 --> 00:03:38.449 reminder why we meet together on what we call the Lord's Day. If you 36 00:03:38.569 --> 00:03:42.159 haven't grown up in reformed churches, one of the things you'll pick up here 37 00:03:42.360 --> 00:03:46.759 in our church and other similar churches is that we believe there's something special about 38 00:03:46.800 --> 00:03:53.039 about Sunday, something special about what we call the Lord's Day, and we 39 00:03:53.319 --> 00:03:59.349 try to value it and prioritize it to worship and to rest, in particular 40 00:03:59.590 --> 00:04:02.669 gathering, just as you have this morning, with other saints in worship. 41 00:04:04.229 --> 00:04:06.389 One of the reasons for that, and there are many, but one of 42 00:04:06.430 --> 00:04:13.259 the reasons for that are the apostles themselves first, because we see them setting 43 00:04:13.340 --> 00:04:20.060 this pattern very early indeed, from day one, day one of Christ's resurrection, 44 00:04:20.100 --> 00:04:26.329 and they met together and then eight days later, a way of speaking 45 00:04:26.370 --> 00:04:35.170 about the next week in the New Testament, they met again, and we 46 00:04:35.209 --> 00:04:41.600 see this pattern continuing throughout acts and and beyond as well. This is why 47 00:04:41.639 --> 00:04:45.439 we call it the Lord's Day. Every day, every Sunday here, is 48 00:04:45.639 --> 00:04:48.959 Resurrection Day, every day that we come on, every Sunday that we come 49 00:04:49.079 --> 00:04:55.029 and worship. We Are we are settling ourselves on and in the fact that 50 00:04:55.149 --> 00:04:59.870 Jesus Christ has been raised from the dead, that our faith rests in him 51 00:04:59.910 --> 00:05:02.990 and that we know him. It's the day in which we meet together. 52 00:05:03.069 --> 00:05:06.699 It's the day in which the Lord meets with us, as he did on 53 00:05:06.819 --> 00:05:12.180 that first day, on that first Sunday, and on the second Sunday as 54 00:05:12.300 --> 00:05:15.779 well. So the apostle set this pattern for us. It's one reason we 55 00:05:15.860 --> 00:05:19.180 observe the Lord's Day. The second is that we don't want to be like 56 00:05:19.339 --> 00:05:27.250 Thomas. Let me explain. There's a couple reasons for this. The first 57 00:05:27.290 --> 00:05:31.769 is that Thomas Almost missed belonging to Christ. He almost missed it. Other 58 00:05:31.810 --> 00:05:36.480 scriptures say he wasn't with them on that first day that Jesus met with them, 59 00:05:36.519 --> 00:05:45.079 Jesus the resurrected savior, after promising that he would come, after promising 60 00:05:45.120 --> 00:05:47.879 and telling them, I will come and I will meet with you, wait 61 00:05:48.040 --> 00:05:56.069 here for me, Thomas wasn't there. The Lord promised. The other apostles 62 00:05:56.149 --> 00:05:59.629 were there. Thomas, I don't know. He had better things to do, 63 00:05:59.829 --> 00:06:05.860 he thought. And what happened? He missed being with the Lord. 64 00:06:08.139 --> 00:06:11.100 The other disciples told him. They said, we have seen the Lord. 65 00:06:11.100 --> 00:06:15.899 And what happened? Did Thomas get better for his missing this this meeting? 66 00:06:16.779 --> 00:06:25.129 No, he got more doubty. Unless I see his hands, the mark 67 00:06:25.209 --> 00:06:28.610 of the nails. It's really crass right the way. I want to put 68 00:06:28.689 --> 00:06:32.839 my hand into his side. This is a very extreme way of talking. 69 00:06:38.120 --> 00:06:41.639 Eight days later we read in Verse Twenty Six. His disciples were inside again 70 00:06:41.639 --> 00:06:46.399 and Thomas was with them. He was with them this time. And what 71 00:06:46.560 --> 00:06:51.310 happened? He met the Lord and good things happened. Matthew Henry comments those 72 00:06:51.589 --> 00:06:57.870 no, not, not, those know not what they lose, who carelessly 73 00:06:57.949 --> 00:07:04.500 absent themselves from stated, sombly solemn assemblies of Christians, but observed Christ did 74 00:07:04.540 --> 00:07:10.980 not appear to Thomas for his satisfaction till he found him in society with the 75 00:07:11.060 --> 00:07:15.769 rest of his disciples, for there he will be in the midst of them. 76 00:07:16.610 --> 00:07:21.930 Of course the Lord does and can meet US outside the stated worship services 77 00:07:23.009 --> 00:07:27.209 of the church, and of course there are also things which prohibit us from 78 00:07:27.209 --> 00:07:31.839 attending services on Sunday. But if your ox is in a ditch, you 79 00:07:32.000 --> 00:07:39.240 still miss the meeting. It's a bummer at least it's a disappointment and if 80 00:07:39.279 --> 00:07:44.829 it happens a long time, it can be a dangerous even there should be 81 00:07:44.870 --> 00:07:47.870 something in us that long to meet with God's people. Hebrews says, do 82 00:07:47.990 --> 00:07:55.189 not neglect the meeting together, encouraging one another. It is the Lord's Day. 83 00:07:55.310 --> 00:07:58.149 It is a day in which he promises to meet with us, he 84 00:07:58.269 --> 00:08:03.220 promises to bless us, he promises to encourage us. I meet Christians all 85 00:08:03.300 --> 00:08:05.500 the time who say, I wish I had more time for Bible Study, 86 00:08:05.699 --> 00:08:09.100 I wish I had more time for fellowship, I wish I had more time 87 00:08:09.339 --> 00:08:13.769 to care about the things of the Lord and not get caught up like the 88 00:08:13.810 --> 00:08:18.370 rich young man. Well, good news. God has given you one day 89 00:08:18.529 --> 00:08:22.529 out of every seven to do exactly that. He's given this to you and 90 00:08:22.649 --> 00:08:26.810 he's said he's as a gift and he says, here you go, here's 91 00:08:26.850 --> 00:08:31.680 some time to do these things, here's some time to worship and to rest, 92 00:08:31.399 --> 00:08:37.080 and on is on this day in particular that God pours out an abundance 93 00:08:37.120 --> 00:08:43.509 of blessings, some of which Thomas himself receive. Use these this next week 94 00:08:43.830 --> 00:08:50.429 when he comes and he meets with the apostles. This is the external reason, 95 00:08:50.509 --> 00:08:54.029 and we might say Thomas missed the Lord. He he wasn't at Church, 96 00:08:54.070 --> 00:08:58.500 if we could put it that way, church, of course, being 97 00:08:58.580 --> 00:09:01.860 just referring to those who are called out, to those who call out and 98 00:09:01.980 --> 00:09:07.220 meet together in Christ. The second reason Thomas almost missed the Lords. It 99 00:09:07.299 --> 00:09:13.370 was an internal struggle and internal and internal reason. He refused to believe the 100 00:09:13.529 --> 00:09:20.649 testimony of his fellow disciples of Christ when they said to him, Thomas, 101 00:09:20.490 --> 00:09:26.960 we have seen the Lord. They were not tricking him, they were not 102 00:09:26.919 --> 00:09:33.240 pulling a fast one or trying to trying to manipulate him into something. They 103 00:09:33.279 --> 00:09:37.870 were just being open and honest about their experiences. You remember what happened right 104 00:09:37.990 --> 00:09:45.269 they Mary and the others go out to the Tomb Peter later and it's empty 105 00:09:46.789 --> 00:09:52.549 and it's empty and they meet the Lord and the Lord meets with them and 106 00:09:54.100 --> 00:09:58.340 they've seen the Lord and they tell Thomas this. They say, Thomas, 107 00:09:58.100 --> 00:10:03.379 we've seen him. He's alive, the one that we saw crucified, the 108 00:10:03.460 --> 00:10:07.850 one that we all scattered from under this when he was taken and when he 109 00:10:07.929 --> 00:10:11.250 was beaten, when he was crucified, he is now alive and we have 110 00:10:11.450 --> 00:10:16.809 seen him. But he but Thomas refused to believe. He says, I 111 00:10:18.090 --> 00:10:26.799 will never believe unless these stipulations are met. Now, in that the Lord 112 00:10:26.879 --> 00:10:31.519 had, of course, every right to simply leave Thomas there. You want 113 00:10:31.559 --> 00:10:35.309 to be in your unbelief, despite all the proof I've already given, despite 114 00:10:35.350 --> 00:10:39.909 the fact that he's resurrected from the dead, despite the fact that Thomas is 115 00:10:39.029 --> 00:10:43.269 receiving testimony of these things, the Lord would have been perfectly done just to 116 00:10:43.350 --> 00:10:48.070 leave Thomas Right there. The Lord does not owe it to Thomas or to 117 00:10:48.309 --> 00:10:54.299 anyone to give this proof for that proof, especially when we have right here, 118 00:10:54.019 --> 00:10:58.860 as John puts it, all of these signs that Jesus did in the 119 00:11:00.019 --> 00:11:03.769 presence of his disciples, many which are not written in this book which Thomas 120 00:11:03.809 --> 00:11:11.570 had himself received, and yet they are enough for us to believe. This 121 00:11:11.690 --> 00:11:16.009 reminds me of a point that Michael Krueger, are TS president, recently made 122 00:11:16.129 --> 00:11:20.399 on his website. I thought it was a very good one and relevant to 123 00:11:22.159 --> 00:11:26.919 what we see Thomas saying here. Dr Krueger says that there are many ways 124 00:11:28.200 --> 00:11:30.679 in which we, of course, can know the Bible is the word of 125 00:11:30.799 --> 00:11:33.750 God, that Jesus is the son of God, the Christ to his calm 126 00:11:33.830 --> 00:11:39.710 are our savior. There is the self authenticating nature of scripture. There is 127 00:11:39.710 --> 00:11:48.059 all kinds of historical reasons. But Kruger writes, there is also another way 128 00:11:48.139 --> 00:11:50.779 in which we can know that the Bible is the word of God, and 129 00:11:52.019 --> 00:11:58.700 it's this on the testimony of others that we trust. As strange as it 130 00:11:58.779 --> 00:12:03.330 sounds, he writes, we are justified by believing God's Word is true because 131 00:12:03.370 --> 00:12:07.889 those we trust have told us it's true. Indeed, Paul Hints at this 132 00:12:07.009 --> 00:12:11.370 very reason when he exhorts timothy to trust God's word. You might remember this 133 00:12:11.490 --> 00:12:16.120 from Second Timothy Three, fourteen and fifteen. Paul says to Timothy, continue 134 00:12:18.000 --> 00:12:22.159 in the faith you have received that you have learned and firmly believed, knowing 135 00:12:22.279 --> 00:12:26.919 that you learned it and firm and knowing that you learned it from childhood, 136 00:12:28.759 --> 00:12:31.509 which is able to make you wise for salvation. Well, how did Timothy 137 00:12:31.549 --> 00:12:35.990 Learn it from childhood? Well, Paul tells us, in Second Timothy one 138 00:12:37.190 --> 00:12:43.070 five, his mom eunice, and his grandma Lois told him about it. 139 00:12:43.820 --> 00:12:50.500 They told him, his parents and his grandparents told him about the word of 140 00:12:50.580 --> 00:12:54.860 God. And Paul says to Timothy, you heard to this trustworthy word from 141 00:12:54.899 --> 00:13:03.730 these trustworthy women continue to believe it. A Kruger then deals with four objections, 142 00:13:03.090 --> 00:13:07.889 on two of which I'll mention here, some of which you might be 143 00:13:07.009 --> 00:13:13.120 thinking about. The first one is the testimony of others is not valid grounds 144 00:13:13.200 --> 00:13:16.679 for our beliefs. Why? Because we have to check it out for ourselves. 145 00:13:16.720 --> 00:13:22.159 Right. Well, of course it's always good to go check things out 146 00:13:22.200 --> 00:13:26.950 for yourself. It's good to evaluate the evidence. Paul commends the Bourrians for 147 00:13:28.110 --> 00:13:33.509 testing what he says are based on the word of God. But does it 148 00:13:33.710 --> 00:13:39.909 make sense to only believe things that you have checked out for yourself, as 149 00:13:39.950 --> 00:13:45.659 it makes sense to only believe those things which you have yourself collected and evaluated 150 00:13:45.779 --> 00:13:50.059 the evidence? It doesn't. And the truth is is that people are very 151 00:13:50.139 --> 00:13:56.370 inconsistent on this point. Just as Thomas Has Thomas wants the evidence. Thomas 152 00:13:56.490 --> 00:14:01.769 wants to experience this for himself, and that is the only way in which 153 00:14:01.769 --> 00:14:05.570 he will believe. This is the only evidence on which he will rest his 154 00:14:05.809 --> 00:14:11.120 faith. Sometimes people say they have to test things for themselves when it comes 155 00:14:11.159 --> 00:14:16.200 to Christ, but yet they don't do this for other things. For example, 156 00:14:16.240 --> 00:14:22.080 I am blessed to have a good and trustworthy mechanic for my car, 157 00:14:22.279 --> 00:14:26.029 and when he tells me that I need to pay five hundred dollars to fix 158 00:14:26.149 --> 00:14:31.870 something, something I've never heard of before, in order from my car to 159 00:14:31.950 --> 00:14:37.909 work, if I have the money, I pay it now. Of course, 160 00:14:37.950 --> 00:14:41.139 if he's lying, I'm going to lose my money and continue having a 161 00:14:41.259 --> 00:14:46.500 broken car. But I know he's not. I trust him, I trust 162 00:14:46.580 --> 00:14:50.659 his testimony about the car and I pay the money. And if I don't, 163 00:14:50.740 --> 00:14:56.970 there's consequences. If I don't trust his testimony and my car goes from 164 00:14:56.970 --> 00:15:00.649 bad to worse, I might end up with even bigger and more expensive problems. 165 00:15:00.769 --> 00:15:05.690 And this is true of all kinds of knowledge. We are constantly relying 166 00:15:05.730 --> 00:15:11.559 on the testimony of other people. Imagine if you only believed those things for 167 00:15:11.639 --> 00:15:16.919 which you yourself have evaluated all the evidence, and only those things you would 168 00:15:16.919 --> 00:15:22.190 believe a very, very tiny portion of things. You would be in doubt 169 00:15:22.230 --> 00:15:31.350 about everything. Is JK rolling really the author of Harry Potter? How do 170 00:15:31.429 --> 00:15:33.710 you know? Have you examined the evidence? Have you met her in person? 171 00:15:35.940 --> 00:15:43.580 did C S Lewis ever really live? Is the rainbow always in the 172 00:15:43.659 --> 00:15:48.580 same order of colors? Perhaps that is something you've examined for yourself. Perhaps 173 00:15:48.820 --> 00:15:56.649 not. The truth is is we are constantly dependent on the testimony of others 174 00:15:56.929 --> 00:16:07.759 for most of what we know, almost everything. Number two, my parents 175 00:16:07.799 --> 00:16:11.919 could be wrong, the disciples could be wrong. Right, Thomas could go 176 00:16:11.240 --> 00:16:17.200 to these other ten people that he's known and walked with and trusted, who 177 00:16:17.200 --> 00:16:22.750 are speaking to him now truthfully and believably, and say you could be wrong, 178 00:16:22.990 --> 00:16:27.549 maybe you saw it wrong. Maybe all ten of you and the women 179 00:16:27.710 --> 00:16:34.620 and the other disciples, maybe all of you just mass hallucinated something. Okay, 180 00:16:34.740 --> 00:16:40.820 Thomas, right, of course. Well, mass hallucination isn't possible, 181 00:16:40.860 --> 00:16:45.659 but just the general fact of the testimony of someone else. Right, could 182 00:16:45.659 --> 00:16:48.009 be wrong. Right, that is a possibility. No one would would deny 183 00:16:48.210 --> 00:16:52.370 that. But, as Krueger says, this miss is the point. The 184 00:16:52.570 --> 00:16:57.009 issue is, is it reasonable? Is it reasonable to believe those we trust 185 00:16:57.450 --> 00:17:02.120 and have good reasons to trust, when they tell us certain things are true? 186 00:17:03.559 --> 00:17:07.759 The only alternative, he writes, is to doubt all sources of knowledge 187 00:17:07.799 --> 00:17:12.000 merely because they could be wrong. And in such a case you would then 188 00:17:12.079 --> 00:17:18.150 have to doubt even your own sense of self perception and accept nothing that you 189 00:17:18.349 --> 00:17:22.349 see touch or here. After all, maybe your own sense perception could be 190 00:17:22.509 --> 00:17:32.140 deceiving you. But you see, then, is that Thomas's desire to not 191 00:17:32.420 --> 00:17:36.660 trust anything else but what his own eyes and his own hands and ears and 192 00:17:36.819 --> 00:17:45.089 his own senses perceive is an unreasonable request. To say I will never believe 193 00:17:45.769 --> 00:17:51.089 except on this one thing. It's just unreasonable. We don't operate that in 194 00:17:51.170 --> 00:17:53.609 any other way in other areas of our lives. And if, even if 195 00:17:53.650 --> 00:18:00.000 we do that, we might be wrong. Going back to the car mechanic 196 00:18:00.079 --> 00:18:03.039 example again, let maybe I'd let's say I didn't trust my mechanic and I 197 00:18:03.119 --> 00:18:04.960 go to him and I say, I don't believe you, I want to 198 00:18:04.960 --> 00:18:08.920 see if you're a much myself, and he says mine with me. It 199 00:18:10.000 --> 00:18:12.670 would take me a year, two, three, I don't know how long 200 00:18:14.190 --> 00:18:17.990 to discover what he was able to discover in half an hour or forty five 201 00:18:18.029 --> 00:18:22.470 minutes. Even if I had, in other words, the evidence right in 202 00:18:22.630 --> 00:18:29.859 front of me, my ability to evaluate my car is very, very low, 203 00:18:30.619 --> 00:18:33.900 and that's true of a lot of things, a lot of things in 204 00:18:34.019 --> 00:18:38.019 life. Just because we have the evidence right in front of us doesn't necessarily 205 00:18:38.099 --> 00:18:48.250 mean that we are equipped to evaluate it. Of course, Jesus does not 206 00:18:48.410 --> 00:18:53.250 throw Thomas out for his doubt and miss is of this is truly the great 207 00:18:53.609 --> 00:19:00.119 message of this passage. We ought not to follow Thomas for his doubt, 208 00:19:00.720 --> 00:19:04.640 but we ought to follow the Lord for His mercy. We ought to rest 209 00:19:04.680 --> 00:19:10.549 ourselves in him and be thankful for to him that, even in our unreasonableness, 210 00:19:11.309 --> 00:19:17.990 Jesus still does come to us. He does in fact show himself to 211 00:19:18.109 --> 00:19:21.069 Thomas, not, as I say, to honor Thomas's doubt, but to 212 00:19:21.150 --> 00:19:25.819 show his own mercy and to bring about faith. To go back to where 213 00:19:25.819 --> 00:19:30.579 I started, we want to remember that doubt is a problem. Doubt is 214 00:19:30.859 --> 00:19:37.730 dangerous. Remember faith is how we receive the blessings of Christ. DOUBT, 215 00:19:37.809 --> 00:19:42.089 we might say, blocks up the plumbing. It Sends US away from Christ, 216 00:19:42.130 --> 00:19:48.609 it sends us back into the world riches, passions, divisions, loneliness, 217 00:19:48.769 --> 00:19:52.609 brokenness. That's what we have in the world. In Christ, as 218 00:19:52.690 --> 00:19:56.640 we've seen here and we've been seeing in John, we have the resurrection life, 219 00:19:57.200 --> 00:20:00.240 we have glory, we have healing, we have transformation, we have 220 00:20:00.359 --> 00:20:07.470 glory. That's not something you want to walk away from. Doubt is dangerous, 221 00:20:08.470 --> 00:20:11.349 and so, while we ought not to follow Thomas's doubt, we certainly 222 00:20:11.430 --> 00:20:15.910 ought to follow his faith. The Lord comes to Thomas and His mercy, 223 00:20:17.470 --> 00:20:25.859 as he comes to you today and reveals himself to you today. Thomas, 224 00:20:25.980 --> 00:20:30.420 the doubter, as we see in this passage, ends up making one of 225 00:20:30.460 --> 00:20:34.299 the greatest, if not the greatest, and most exalted confessions we have in 226 00:20:34.660 --> 00:20:41.690 all of the Gospels. My Lord and my God. In these words we 227 00:20:41.849 --> 00:20:47.970 see fulfilled what Jesus said in John Five, twenty feet twenty three, that 228 00:20:48.089 --> 00:20:52.039 it was the will of the father that all may honor the son just as 229 00:20:52.079 --> 00:20:56.799 they honor the father. That's what Thomas is doing. He is honoring the 230 00:20:56.960 --> 00:21:02.680 Son, the son of God, Jesus, just as he honors the Father. 231 00:21:02.839 --> 00:21:10.309 He calls Jesus my God, not just his Lord. Jesus proticted, 232 00:21:10.349 --> 00:21:12.710 predicted that this would happen. In John Twenty eight, he said, when 233 00:21:12.750 --> 00:21:18.779 you lift up the son of man, you will realize that I am using 234 00:21:18.819 --> 00:21:23.420 those great words that Yahwah used with Moses when he said when he gave him 235 00:21:23.500 --> 00:21:33.210 his name in the Wilderness, they had come to see. The disciples had 236 00:21:33.250 --> 00:21:37.170 come to see. Thomas had now come to see what was true. In 237 00:21:37.210 --> 00:21:41.089 John Fourteen, ten that Jesus is in the father and the father is in 238 00:21:41.250 --> 00:21:49.720 him, and unbelieving, a man in the named plenty. Of the younger 239 00:21:52.079 --> 00:21:59.680 writes around the time of the early Church of the Christians, and he says 240 00:22:00.240 --> 00:22:03.990 of these early Christians, they sing songs to Christ as to a God. 241 00:22:04.230 --> 00:22:10.470 Is How he describes the Christians. They sing songs to Christ as to a 242 00:22:10.589 --> 00:22:18.660 God. Yep, you got your listening plenty. Listen a little more right. 243 00:22:18.819 --> 00:22:23.539 That's exactly right. That is what we do. Jesus is not just 244 00:22:23.779 --> 00:22:30.650 our Lord, he is not just our teacher, he is God. This 245 00:22:30.809 --> 00:22:33.410 is how the gospel of John Begins. In the beginning was the word, 246 00:22:33.410 --> 00:22:38.609 and the word was with God and the word was God. Thomas now gets 247 00:22:38.690 --> 00:22:44.170 that. But what makes that so, it makes this particular confession so wonderful, 248 00:22:45.119 --> 00:22:49.440 is that, as Michael Horton puts it, the doctrine has led to 249 00:22:49.720 --> 00:22:57.319 doxology. Right. He's not only confessing that Jesus is Lord and Jesus is 250 00:22:57.670 --> 00:23:03.630 God, which is great and I hope every single one of you confesses that, 251 00:23:03.430 --> 00:23:07.349 but I hope even more that you confess it in the way Thomas puts 252 00:23:07.390 --> 00:23:15.180 it. Jesus is my Lord and Jesus is my God, as one commentator 253 00:23:15.259 --> 00:23:21.980 put it. Thomas's knowledge reminds not that not just no, of not just 254 00:23:22.180 --> 00:23:27.609 knowledge, but how knowledge becomes faith. Thomas, doubting, Thomas, who 255 00:23:27.609 --> 00:23:37.690 has received this nickname in in in church history, is also believing. Thomas, 256 00:23:37.730 --> 00:23:42.920 isn't he very, very strongly, he puts it this way, and 257 00:23:44.160 --> 00:23:55.559 that is the goal of God for you. This experience Thomas is having is 258 00:23:55.640 --> 00:24:00.710 very unique, of course, but it is in many ways more similar to 259 00:24:00.789 --> 00:24:07.150 the experience you are having right now. Then it is different because we too 260 00:24:07.230 --> 00:24:12.099 are here meeting on the Lord's Day. We too are here meeting because God 261 00:24:12.259 --> 00:24:18.700 has called us to meet. We also are meeting here with Christ in our 262 00:24:18.819 --> 00:24:23.220 midst. Indeed, as he's promised us, in both the preaching of the 263 00:24:23.329 --> 00:24:27.690 word and in the sacrament, he says, this is my body right, 264 00:24:29.569 --> 00:24:36.769 I am present here with you and the water, the bread in the word. 265 00:24:38.759 --> 00:24:42.319 And not only is he present, but he reveals himself in a way 266 00:24:42.519 --> 00:24:51.039 that we can know him and believe him. Notice that this experience that Thomas 267 00:24:51.079 --> 00:24:57.670 had is not coming from some ancient tale a long time ago. It was 268 00:24:57.789 --> 00:25:04.150 recorded here in the cannon of scripture by the Holy Spirit so that you would 269 00:25:04.150 --> 00:25:10.900 know that it happened. This experience that Thomas had is an experience, then, 270 00:25:10.940 --> 00:25:15.059 that you have through the testimony not just of others but of God himself. 271 00:25:15.099 --> 00:25:22.650 John, his apostle, records these words. Why? Verse Thirty One 272 00:25:22.690 --> 00:25:27.690 tells us that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the son of 273 00:25:27.809 --> 00:25:33.130 God, and that by believing, you may have life in his name. 274 00:25:33.849 --> 00:25:40.400 So if you have questions, if you have doubts, express them, talk 275 00:25:40.519 --> 00:25:48.599 about them, but don't rest in them. The goal is exactly what Jesus 276 00:25:48.759 --> 00:25:56.549 says. Do not disbelieve, but believe. Trust what the Lord has said, 277 00:25:56.309 --> 00:26:03.190 trust with his witnesses have said, and you will have eternal life in 278 00:26:03.380 --> 00:26:06.940 his name. Amen.