Please turn in your Bibles to John, Chapter 20. John, Chapter 20. A few men yesterday were discussing the issue or the situation of Thomas. Many have called him and referred to him as doubting Thomas.
So I wanted to take up that study this morning, specifically Jesus encounter with Thomas and verses 24 to 29 of John chapter 20. But I'll just pick up reading in verse one so we can see the larger context. Now, the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb early while it was still dark and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb. Then she ran and came to Simon Peter and to the other disciple, whom Jesus loved, and said to them, They have taken away the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.
Peter therefore went out, and the other disciple, and were going to the tomb. So they both ran together, and the other disciple outran Peter and came to the tomb first. And he, scooping down and looking in, saw the linen cloths lying there. Yet he did not go in.
Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen cloths lying there, and the handkerchief that had been around his head, not lying with the linen cloths, but folded together in a place by itself. Then the other disciple, who came to the tomb first, went in also. And he saw and believed.
For as yet they did not know the Scriptures that he must rise again from the dead. Then the disciples went away again to their own homes. But Mary stood outside by the tomb weeping. And as she wept, she stooped down and looked into the tomb.
And she saw two angels in white sitting, one at the head and the other at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain. Then they said to her, Woman, why are you weeping? She said to them, Because they have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid Him. Now, when she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there and did not know that it was Jesus.
Jesus said to her, Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking? She, supposing him to be the gardener, said to him, Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him and I will take him away. Jesus said to her, Mary.
She turned and said to him, Rabboni, which is to say teacher. Jesus said to her, Do not cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to my father, but go to my brethren and say to them, I am ascending to my father and your father and to my God and your God. Mary Magdalene came and told the disciples that she had seen the Lord and that he had spoken these things to her. Then the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut, where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in the midst and said to them, Peace be with you.
When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord. So Jesus said to them again, Peace to you. As the Father has sent me, I also send you.
And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them. If you retain the sins of any, they are retained. Now Thomas, called the twin, one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came.
The other disciples therefore said to him, We have seen the Lord. So he said to them, Unless I see in his hands the print of the nails and put my finger into the print of the nails and put my hand into his side, I will certainly not believe. And after eight days, his disciples were again inside and Thomas with them. Jesus came, the doors being shut and stood in the midst and said, peace to you.
Then he said to Thomas, reach your finger here and look at my hand. and reach your hand here and put it into my side. Do not be unbelieving, but believing. And Thomas answered and said to him, my Lord and my God. Jesus said to him, Thomas, because you have seen me, you have believed.
Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed. And truly, Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book. But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in his name. Amen.
Let us pray. Our Father, we come now to consider your holy scripture and we cry out to you for the aid of your Holy Spirit. We know that he illumines us, that he guides us, he leads us into all truth. We know that it is by inspiration of God that the scriptures were penned.
So we pray for your aid this morning. We pray that you would encourage our hearts, that you would strengthen us. God, for any and all here that do not believe the gospel. We pray that today would be the day of salvation.
That today men, women, boys and girls would believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and know the joy of everlasting life. Do forgive us now for all of our sins and all of our transgressions and anything that would darken our minds and our understanding. And grant us the grace to take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ. And it's in His name that we pray.
Amen. Well,
Introduction
John, in his gospel, has a very specific agenda. He wants to set forth Jesus Christ as the divine savior and to call men to faith. In this particular section, we have another assertion of Christ as God. Pastor Kim read from John chapter one, in the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God.
We know as we trace through the argument, the word there is the Lord Jesus Christ. And so the gospel of John starts with an assertion of the glory of Jesus, the God man. And it ends on that same note, calling us to believe on him. Now, the interaction between Jesus and Thomas, I believe, is most instructive for us.
It's instructive for believers. It's instructive for unbelievers. Just a little bit of background concerning this man, Thomas. He was one of the twelve.
But as we trace through the gospel, he had what the old boys called a melancholy spirit. He was given to a bit of a depressive, a depressed state. He was one of those, the glasses half empty sorts of guides. He seems to have this bent to his character.
If you look back in chapter 11 at verse 16, it tells us that Thomas, asserts or expresses his willingness to die with Jesus in John 11, 16. Then Thomas, who is called the twin, said to his fellow disciples, Let us also go that we may die with him. Of course, as you remember, all of the disciples fled from Christ. All of them forsook Christ.
Thomas did not carry through with this expressed declaration. In John 14, in verse 5, in the upper room discourse, we find Thomas is perplexed about the way that Jesus is speaking. Notice in John chapter 14, verse 5, Thomas said to Jesus, Lord, we do not know where you are going. And how can we know the way?
And it's on the basis of this question that Jesus then makes this great statement of verse six. Jesus said to him, I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the father except through me. So through Thomas's question, Jesus uses the opportunity to make this grand statement in John 14, six.
And what we find in John 20 is that through Thomas' skepticism, through Thomas' unbelief, through Thomas' obstinance, Jesus uses the opportunity not only to deal graciously and mercifully with Thomas, but also to declare something concerning his glory, concerning his majesty, concerning who he is in terms of redemptive history. Turning back to John 20, You'll notice the sections. The empty tomb is discovered in verses one to ten. The Lord then appears to Mary Magdalene, verses 11 to 18.
And then the Lord appears to the disciples without Thomas in verses 19 to 23. And so we pick up now on the Lord's appearance to the disciples. This time, Thomas is present. And we're going to take up this thing or this this section under four considerations.
First, the character of Thomas. We've sketched it a little bit, but we need to investigate a little bit more fully. What's up with this man, Thomas? Secondly, we'll notice the grace of Jesus Christ.
Thirdly, the lofty confession of faith. that Thomas makes, and then fourthly, the Lord's last beatitude. A beatitude is a statement of well-wishing, a statement of blessedness pronounced on a particular people group.
The Character of Thomas
But notice the character of Thomas in verses 24 and 25. I'm going to say some things this morning that will probably challenge what you know about Thomas. Again, we often categorize him as sort of this doubting Thomas. Well, he wasn't a doubter in this particular episode.
He was an obstinate man. He made that statement as I read it there. I will certainly not believe. Now, we don't want to neglect the fact that he was a hurting man.
I don't want to pick on him needlessly. He spent three years with the Lord Jesus. Certainly, when Jesus died, Thomas was hurting. Thomas was aching.
Thomas had some distress in his particular soul. John does not specifically tell us why Thomas was not with the ten when Jesus appeared to them on that first Lord's Day. Why wasn't Thomas there? the week prior? Well, we just don't know.
Maybe he was so hurt that he neglected the means of corporate worship. Maybe some other thing took his attention. I think by way of an aside, there's an implication here. We ought to be where the disciples of Christ gather.
We never know. We might see the Lord in a wonderful and powerful expression. But the second thing, not only was Thomas hurting, I will assert here that Thomas was obstinate.
Thomas's Obstinacy
Thomas stubbornly refused. This wasn't a bit of, you know, sort of a simple doubt that he entertained just for a fleeting moment. He stubbornly refused to believe what the apostles were telling him. Thomas dictates the terms by which he would believe.
Unless I see. Doesn't that sound like so many people in our own day? Unless I see, then I won't believe. We actually think that it's okay for us to enter into negotiations for grace.
God has promised to freely save. God has promised to freely redeem. God has promised to freely forgive and impute a perfect righteousness to all comers. And we have the gall, the Jews say, we have the chutzpah We have the guts to actually stand and face God and say, unless I, unless you meet my conditions, unless you meet me in this particular place, unless you negotiate God or you perform in a way or in a manner that I'm willing to accept, I'm not going to believe you.
He was obstinate. Again, I don't want to minimize his hurt. But he adopted the wrong posture. In your hurt, in your depression, in your melancholy, in your distress, the answer is never to raise the fist at God.
That is simply unacceptable for man the creature to call into contention God the Creator. You don't do it. That is simply unacceptable. Thomas makes an emphatic denial.
This is not a case of doubting, but a willful act of rebellion against the living God. Unless I see, he says, in his hands, unless I see in his hands the print of the nails and put my finger into the print of the nails and put my hand into his side, I will not believe. I will certainly not. He uses two negatives.
See, in English, we can't do that. Two negatives make a positive. In Greek, you can string together two negatives to make it that much more of a denial, to make it that much more of a negation. To say umme meant to say, I will certainly not believe this.
John Calvin comments on Thomas here. He says the stupidity of Thomas was astonishing and monstrous, for he was not satisfied with merely beholding Christ, but wished to have his hands also as witnesses of Christ's resurrection. Thus, he was not only obstinate, but was also proud and contemptuous in his treatment of Christ. I'm kind of pouring this on. in a very specific way, citing this passage from Calvin, highlighting my own opinion that he was obstinate, not because I'm not, not because you're not, not because we're not like Thomas, but it will illustrate something of the graciousness and the compassionateness of our Lord Jesus.
But we do need to appreciate this about Thomas.
What Thomas Rejected
What did Thomas reject in this assertion? He didn't believe the Old Testament. She wasn't just simply New Testament teaching that Jesus would rise from the dead. In fact, we saw that in John chapter 20.
If you look back at verse 9, for as yet they did not know the scripture that he must rise again from the dead. The Old Testament foretold the resurrection. Psalm 16 is that passage that David quotes on the day of Pentecost to highlight the fact of the empty tomb. The prophets highlight the reality that this suffering servant would rise again.
There would be a resurrection from the dead. There would be a champion sent to Israel. There would be a victor over the grave. There would be one who rendered death and the grave powerless to sting the people of God.
So he rejected that teaching. He also rejected the teaching of the Lord Jesus. What's Jesus say in John chapter 3 verse 14? As Moses lifted up the Son of Man in the wilderness, so also what must the Son of Man be lifted up?
John, Chapter 12, the Lord Jesus says, And if I am lifted up, I will draw all men to myself in the synoptics, Matthew, Mark and Luke. Jesus tells about the fact that he's going to go to Jerusalem. He will be tried. He will be executed and he will raise on the third day.
Thomas had that information. And then Thomas resists apostolic testimony. Remember, Thomas is, as we've seen, one of the twelve. Who are the twelve?
They are the apostles of our Lord. Those men hand chosen by our Lord for the task of propagating the gospel, for the task of preaching and disciple making and planting churches. Some of them would take pen to paper and inscripturate the very word of God. Those men come to Thomas and they say, we have seen the Lord.
What's he doing? What does he do, brethren? Think about this. He says, that's not good enough.
That isn't enough for me. Unless I see. Unless I touch. Unless I verify.
Unless I put Jesus under the microscope. Unless I take the sovereign God and put Him under my scrutiny. You see what Thomas has done here? He has done what C.S.
Lewis called putting God in the dock. See, the reality is God is the throne or on his throne. God is the judge presiding over all the earth. We are the center in the dock, in the stand.
And yet, man in his reversal of roles says, you know what, God? I want you to testify. I want you to impress me. I want you to satisfy my requirements.
I want things turned around. Man sets himself up as judge and jury, and he makes the parameters for which he will believe. That's unacceptable. Again, it's crazy.
Imagine if you were convicted of a capital crime. You're called before the judge, and the judge says, I'm going to give you a pardon. Well, unless you do this, judge, or unless you do this, or unless you do this, I'm not going to accept your pardon. You'd be thought mad.
People on TV, because everybody watches a good court case nowadays, would say, did you see that? The guy's nuts. The judge told him, I'm going to give you a pardon. And you know what he actually had the goal to do was put the judge in the witness stand and make him have to perform before he would accept the pardon.
The guy's crazy. He deserves to be thrown away. He deserves to go to the chair. He deserves to be hung.
He deserves to spend his life in prison because he's mad. He's out of his mind. And yet every single day, and I suspect right in this very room, there are sinners who are saying the exact thing to God. Unless you do this.
Unless you do this. Unless you do this. I will not believe. Oh really?
Is that the case?
The Grace of Christ
Notice the grace of Christ. This ought to blow our minds. Notice what He says here in verse 26. Peace to you.
This isn't a cheap wish, the way you and I might say, hey, peace, brother. When Jesus says, my peace I give to you, it expresses something of His kindness, His grace, His compassion, and His mercy. Is it any wonder that peace makes it into every greeting in just about every letter in the New Testament? We need that peace.
Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. We as Christians ought to relish in that peace. We ought to delight in the fact that God and sinners are reconciled. We ought to delight in the fact that there is not enmity between us and heaven anymore.
That God has taken it away. Jesus comes to his disciples and again he wishes peace through them. And
Christ's Gracious Condescension to Thomas
then he deals very graciously with Thomas. Notice in verse 27. Then he said to Thomas, reach your finger here and look at my hands and reach your hand here and look into my side. Do not be unbelieving, but believing.
Excuse me. Jesus hears his disciples when he is not physically present. It's interesting, he uses the exact same language that Thomas does. Well, where was Jesus at the time?
He wasn't there. Now he's there and he addresses Thomas in the exact language. Why? Because he's God.
Because the eyes of the Lord are in every place. And then Jesus removes all the grounds of unbelief here. He says, reach your finger here and look at my hands and reach your hand here and put it into my side. Do not be unbelieving, but believing.
Calvin said that Thomas was stupid. Calvin said that he was obstinate. Calvin said he was proud and contemptuous in his treatment of Christ. I basically echo Calvin all along the way, not suggesting again for a moment that I wouldn't be there. doing the same exact thing that you wouldn't be doing the exact same thing.
But look at how Jesus deals. Praise God, Calvin and Jim aren't Jesus. What does Jesus do? He removes all of the ground of unbelief.
He answers Thomas according to Thomas Thomas's expression. Again, I don't believe that we should therefore challenge God and put him in the witness stand and scrutinize him and put him under the microscope. But it is important for us to see just how gracious our Lord Jesus Christ is in this particular instance. You have to marvel at the way Christ deals with his people.
He doesn't say, you dirty, rotten, contemptuous wretch. You didn't listen to the scriptures. You didn't listen to my earthly ministry. You didn't listen to my apostles.
So away with you. Depart from me into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels. That's not what he does. So I'm here to tell you this morning, if you've challenged God, repent.
There's hope for you. If you've said, unless, repent. There's hope for you. You've raised your fist.
Put it down. There's hope for you. Jesus is a Savior full of grace, full of compassion, full of mercy, full of kindness. He comes to Thomas and deals gently with him.
And then
Thomas's Confession of Faith
that brings upon this lofty confession of faith. What does Thomas do at this point? He does what faith does. He says, my Lord and my God.
It's very important for us to understand that Thomas says this to Jesus. He's not cursing. He's not saying something like, my word, or oh my whatever. Some teach, Jehovah's Witnesses especially teach, that this is just an exclamation.
Much like if you stubbed your toe, you'd say, oh my, and whatever might follow. That's not what Thomas is doing. He says it to Jesus. My Lord.
And my God, this wasn't an acknowledgment either that Jesus was a God, one among the many, a little G God, one who takes his place among the others in the pantheon. That's not it at all. He says that you are God. This is a gracious discovery of Christ, as John Owen says.
It was the appropriate worshipful response. It is consistent with the prologue. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, John says, and we beheld His glory.
Thomas has had the veil pulled away. Thomas, by God's grace, is now seeing Jesus for who he is. And all he can respond to him is my Lord and my God. Beasley Murray says it comes about that the most outrageous doubter of the resurrection of Jesus utters the greatest confession of the Lord who rose from the dead.
No accident, John has constructed his gospel in a most beautiful way. It is all leading to that purpose statement in verses 30 and 31. He has taken his reader by the hand at the very beginning and set forth Jesus as God. And all along the way, he is showing us Jesus as God.
It comes to this blessed climax in the statement of Thomas, who sees Christ and he says, my Lord and my God. He goes on to say his utterance does not simply acknowledge the reality of the resurrection of Jesus, but expresses its ultimate meaning as revelation of who Jesus is. D.A. Carson said the most unyielding skeptic has bequeathed to us the most profound confession.
You see what God's grace does. Take this man who was saying, unless I see, unless I touch, unless I verify, unless I exercise my empirical observation abilities, I will certainly not believe God's grace comes. And what does he say now? My Lord and my God.
And don't you love that as well? This is an abstract theology. This is personal salvation. Do you say that Jesus is Lord?
Jesus is God? But you can't own him as my Lord and my God. You acknowledge that amongst the world's religions, Christianity makes the best sense of them? Out of all the various philosophies out there, Christianity answers the most questions in terms of being or existence, in terms of knowledge, in terms of ethics.
Do you nod your head in assent and say, well, yes, Christianity is consistent as a system? You come to the place with doubting Thomas to bow before Jesus and confess him as my Lord and my God. That is a gracious discovery of the glory of Jesus Christ. Not enough just to acknowledge him as a great religious teacher.
It's not enough to acknowledge Him as just the founder of Christianity. It's not enough just to see Him as the One who came in the manger to save the world from their sins. It must be the confession of faith. My Lord and my God.
Have you made that gracious discovery? Is He your Lord and your God? Is He your Savior? Can you sing with the hymn writer, He is mine and I And yes, the grace of God took this skeptic and made him the great confessor in the Christian church.
Christ Accepts the Confession
Notice the Lord's response here. What does he do? We'll get on to his his discussion with Thomas in just a moment, but it's very interesting to notice what he didn't do. There's an account in the book of Acts and Acts 14, when Paul and Silas go amongst some heathen people.
And these heathen people see Paul and Silas do some amazing things. And so these heathen fall down before Paul and Silas and begin to worship them. It's interesting because Paul and Silas do what I hope any of us would do. No, don't worship me.
Don't worship me. I'm just a servant of the living God here. Remember John, who was exiled. He was on the island of Patmos for the word of God and the testimony of Jesus.
Remember that on a couple of occasions there, he saw the angel and he fell down before the angel. He wanted to give honor and homage to the angel. What did the angel say? Don't do that.
I'm a fellow servant of the apostles and of the prophets. I am not to be worshipped. I am not to be exalted. I am not to be glorified.
Notice the absence of such a response in Jesus. Notice that he doesn't reprove Thomas for making this statement, my Lord and my God. Notice that Jesus doesn't deflect this. Jesus doesn't say, look, Thomas, this is only religious language and verbiage that is directed to God most high, who is in heaven.
Jesus accepts it. Jesus receives it. In various instances in the gospel accounts, men fall down and worship the Lord Jesus and he receives it. They weren't misdirected.
They weren't misguided. They understood all too well that this Jesus was God. This is why the disciples were afraid when Jesus told the wind and the waves to settle down. When the wind and the waves actually obeyed Him, it says the disciples were exceedingly afraid.
They asked, what manner of man is this? When they saw Jesus walking on the water, they were amazed by this because God is the ruler of the waves. They were amazed by this when Jesus would raise people from the dead. The point is, is that Jesus receives this confession.
It attributes or highlights what Christ is. He is Lord and he is God. We are not serving a little g-god. We are not serving one among many.
Jesus Christ is the way, the truth, and the life. He is the second person of the blessed God, Ed, the triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The Father chose. The Son redeems.
The Spirit brings it to pass. We worship a triune God in glorious beauty and in glorious unity.
The Lord's Last Beatitude
That brings us to consider the Lord's last beatitude. Notice in verses 29, Verse 29, it says, Jesus said to him, Thomas, because you have seen me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed. I think he's saying, Thomas, you're on a lower rung.
Thomas, you're going to be sort of in between heaven and hell. Thomas, there's a special place for God. That's not what he's saying. He's saying there's a transition period in place.
The disciples had seen Jesus. The apostles had witnessed with their eyes. In fact, that was one of the requirements of apostleship, is that one see Jesus, see Him resurrected from the dead. There's a transition, though.
The gospel is going to be preached. And it's blessings pronounced upon those who believe that gospel. Jesus is at the right hand of the Father right now. And Jesus is calling all men everywhere to repent and believe his truth.
And he says, those who believe, those who have not seen and yet have believed, blessed are they. They're the happy ones. They're the encouraged ones. They're the ones that don't have to make demands of God.
Brethren, he is describing, in a real sense, us. The apostles operated based on what they had seen. However, the time was soon coming when the risen Lord would be the ascended Lord and his gospel would be preached without his physical presence. Sometimes people struggle with this.
Why doesn't he just give me a sign? He has. It's called the Bible. Why doesn't he just speak to me?
He has. It's in the Bible.
Scripture as Sufficient Testimony
People looking for signs and extras usually don't know the scriptures. That bothers me. I don't know about you. People that want extra who aren't familiar with what Jesus has said.
You know, we might say something like, wow, we haven't seen God part the Red Sea like he did back in, you know, in liberating Israel out of Egypt. But it's written there for us. It's for our instruction, it's for our admonition, it's no less true because we read it instead of having viewed it. Who do we think we are?
God has to make an appearance before we'll believe. God has to raise this pulpit before we'll believe. I shared with a few of the brothers yesterday, there's a famous debate. It's called the Great Debate.
It was conducted in the 1980s by Dr. Greg Bonson and by Dr. Gordon Stein. The proposition under consideration was this statement, does God exist?
Dr. Bonson favored the position that there is a God, the God of Christian theism, the God revealed in Holy Scripture. Dr. Gordon Stein rejected that.
He was an atheist. Well, after all the debate, there was a period of question and answer. And somebody raised their hand and asked Dr. Stein, Dr.
Stein, what would it take for you to believe in the existence of God? Dr. Stein's answer was very informative, and I think very characteristic of modern man. Dr.
Stein jokingly said, well, you know, we meet together as the free thinkers, as the atheists. We have a meeting on Tuesday night. If God put in an appearance there, then I'd believe in him. Ha, ha, ha.
Chuckle, chuckle, chuckle out in the audience. Or if God caused this podium to rise up into the air, and it was obvious that it wasn't attached to cables, there was no motor, there was no smoke and mirrors. If this podium rose up in the air, then I would believe in the existence of God. You know what Dr.
Bonson reported? He said, neither of those things would convince you. Neither of those things would convince you. People saw Jesus during his earthly ministry.
People saw his mighty miracles during his earthly ministry. He said, Dr. Stein, if this podium raised up, you would just retreat back to your study and you would scratch your head and you would think and try to explain in a naturalistic way how strange things happen in this world. It is not miracles.
It is not necessarily the presence of God that make men Christians. You must be born again. You must be regenerate. Your worldview must change.
You must be saved. You must believe. You must come to Christ and say, my Lord and my God. And yet on this side, we have become the judge and the jury.
God doesn't satisfy me, then I will certainly not believe. If that's your attitude this morning, I pray that God will root it right out of your heart. that you'll go from skeptic or obstinate to confessor. My Lord and my God.
John's Purpose Statement
John ends his gospel with his purpose. Verses 30 and 31. And truly, Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book. Why did John write verse 31?
But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name. You ever wonder why John the Apostle, the one referred to in this passage as the disciple whom Jesus loved, why he took up his pen and wrote this account? There it is. That's his thesis.
That's his purpose. That's why John chapters 1 to 21 are existent. It's so that you may believe, that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing in this, you will have everlasting life. That's his purpose in this.
This is why ultimately he ended up on Patmos, for the word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ, so that God would be glorified and sinners would be saved. This is what the Bible exists for. So you see, it's a real affront when we demand more from God, when we don't come to the scriptures and believe what he said.
Application
A couple of lessons and then we close. First, we see here the deity of Jesus Christ, my Lord and my God. Contrary to what others may teach, the Bible clearly asserts the deity, the Godhood of the Lord Jesus. Calvin again says, and indeed he who After having received those striking proofs which are to be found in the gospel, does not perceive Christ to be God, does not deserve to look even at the sun and the earth, for he is blind amidst the brightness of noonday.
If you miss this, you're not going to get the sun. If you miss the deity of Christ, you've missed everything. If you come through John's gospel and conclude, scratch your head and say, yeah, this Jesus seems like he was all right. He had some good lessons.
I'm going to go down and do likewise. You've missed the point. It's unfortunate. That's how a lot of people interpret the Good Samaritan, too.
I just got to go down and do likewise. I'm good to people. I'm nice to people. And God will save me.
Now, that came on the heels of his reproof of a man who sought to justify himself. How could he bring that man to an end in himself by telling a story like that, so that he could see how far short he falls? He speaks the law to that man, to humble him under his mighty hand, so that he would look to grace, he would look to mercy, he would look to full, free forgiveness. The Lord Christ is God.
John Owen takes a bit of a different tack. He says, many men, so far as I can observe, are fallen into such a dislike of the Christ of God that everything concerning his person, spirit, grace, is an abomination to them. It is not want of understanding to comprehend doctrines, but hatred unto the things themselves, whereby such persons are seduced. See, Jesus, as a regular, everyday, normal guy, is no threat.
Is he? Didn't bother us. I've often suspected that's why people are so favorable to him at Christmas. He's a little baby, a little manger.
I could pick him up. He's no threat. He's not the Jesus revealed in Revelation 19, riding his white horse with that sword proceeding from his mouth. He's a little helpless babe that we can control, that we can domesticate, that we can keep down, that is dependent on his mother's milk.
That's no threat. You see, the Jesus of the Bible is a threat. So men go for the throat. They go for the throat of deity.
He's not God. He's just a man. What's Owen say? It's not because the Bible isn't clear, it's because they hate him.
They hate him. Owen doesn't pull punches. You've ever heard the story about how Jews were so afraid to pronounce the sacred name of Yahweh? Owen says it's not anything to do with that.
They knew they rejected Yahweh. They were under God's curse. They were afraid and ashamed to take that blessed name upon his lips. Owen kind of puts things a little bit blacker and whiter than many of us are willing to do.
We need to appreciate in this passage the deity of Jesus Christ.
The Compassion of Christ
But secondly, we do need to see the compassion of Jesus Christ. He is full of grace, full of truth. Isn't that what Pastor Cam read in John chapter one when he speaks about the bit of a contrast between old and new covenants? He's not saying there was no grace, there was no truth in the old covenant.
He is simply saying that as mediator of the old covenant, Moses represented primarily law. As mediator of the new covenant, Jesus represents primarily truth. Grace and truth. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.
Verse 16, and of His fullness we have all received. And grace, notice, for grace. One grace isn't enough. When we talk about Jesus who is God and compassionate, we have to heap grace upon grace.
For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. Verse 18, no one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son who is in the bosom of the Father. He has declared Him.
He has exegeted Him. He has explained Him. In His earthly ministry, He taught us some things about the Father. God is Spirit.
He told us God is holy. God is righteous. God is true. But God is full of grace and full of compassion.
We need to understand that in Jesus dealing with Thomas. He doesn't yell at him. He doesn't cast him off. There is a simple rebuke, a simple chiding.
But all in all, Jesus holds out grace and mercy and kindness to this man, Thomas. J.C. Ryle has a good comment here I'll read. I think it's instructive for us.
I think that's why Ryle wrote it. I mean, not just for us, Free Grace Baptist and 21st Century Chilliwack, but for the church. His point here is that we need to be like Jesus. What would Jesus do?
Would he scream at him? Would he yell at him? No, Jesus would extend mercy to him. Ryle says, it is impossible to imagine anything more patient and compassionate than our Lord's treatment of this weak disciple.
He does not reject him or dismiss him or excommunicate him. He comes again at the end of a week and apparently for the special benefit of Thomas. He deals with him according to his weakness, like a gentle nurse dealing with a froward child. Reach here your finger and behold my hands.
Reach here your hand and thrust it into my side. If nothing but the grossest, coarsest, most material evidence could satisfy him, even that evidence was supplied. Surely this was a love that passes knowledge and a patience that passes understanding. A passage of scripture like this, we need no doubt, was written for the special comfort of all true believers.
The Holy Spirit well knew that the dull and the slow and the stupid and the doubting are by far the commonest type of disciples in this evil world. Please listen to that statement. We need more Riles. We need more Owens.
We need guys who just tell us the truth. Listen to what he says. A passage of Scripture like this, we need not doubt, was written for the special comfort of all true believers. The Holy Spirit knew well that the dull and the slow and the stupid and the doubting are by far the commonest type of disciples in this evil world.
You're in good company. I'm in good company. He goes on to say, let us take care that we drink into our Lord's spirit and copy his example, let us never set down men in a low place as graceless and godless because their faith is feeble and their love is cold. Let us remember the case of Thomas and be very compassionate and of tender mercy.
Our Lord has many weak children in his family, many dull pupils in his school, many raw soldiers in his army, many lame sheep in his flock. Yet he bears with them all and casts none away. Happy is that Christian who has learned to deal likewise with his brethren. There are many in the church who, like Thomas, are dull and slow.
But for all that, like Thomas, are real and true believers. It's a great reminder, a great encouragement, and hopefully a great help to us as we move our way through this world onto Emmanuel's land. And finally, if you are here and you are not a believer like Thomas, you're not struggling with a particular instance, you're not You've fallen into some pattern of sin or some backslidden state, but you're an unbeliever. There is a special message in this passage to you.
The gospel is really quite simple. It really is. I mean, look at verse 31. These things are written.
What things? Things about Jesus' life, things about Jesus' death, things about Jesus' resurrection. These things are written. What?
That you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in his name. Christ lived, died, and rose again for sinners. Believe on him and you will have everlasting life. Beware.
Beware of inserting your unless. Unless. This is the whole process of the scientific mind, unless I see, unless I'm satisfied, unless the evidence that demands my verdict is presented, I will certainly not believe. But it's not just those unlesses that men employ.
How about this? Unless you change my poverty into riches, I will certainly not believe. So unfortunately, there's a wing of evangelicalism, not even evangelicalism, a wing of the professing church that says, OK, we'll change your poverty into riches. You don't do that.
You may stay poor. You may never strike it rich. You may not drive the nicest car or have the nicest home or the nicest jewelry. Beware of stipulating that as a reason not to believe the gospel.
What about this one? Unless you answer all my questions, I will certainly not believe. What? You got to have every question answered until you cast your your gaze upon Jesus.
Where is that in the scripture? These things are written so that you may believe. Beware of this. Or what about the unless?
Unless you alleviate the suffering of everybody else, I will certainly not believe. These are things that happen. These are things that people say outside of the church. We need to be on guard against such things.
The Bible is complete. The answer is here. These are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ. If God is offering you salvation for your sins, believe.
Believe. And you will be saved. And blessed be God, you will learn all the things that you have questions about. You will come to the Scriptures.
You will be teachable. You will be humble. You will listen to the Lord. But first, say, My Lord and My God.
Confess Christ as your Savior.
Closing Prayer
Well, let us pray. Father, we thank You for this passage of Holy Scripture. We thank You for our Lord's dealing with Thomas in grace and in compassion. And father, we just pray that any and all who would say unless they would be brought to Christ this morning, not only here, God, but throughout Chilliwack and the churches that are preaching the gospel throughout Canada.
We pray that your word would run swiftly and be glorified and that you would be praised and honored among your saints. And we pray through Christ the Lord. Amen.