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John chapter 20. It's a blessed 
thing for the church to be able to confess the resurrection of 
our Lord Jesus Christ from the dead. The gospel records record 
several instances where a person saw Jesus after He rose from 
the dead. He first of all appeared to the 
women who had left the tomb, and then to Mary Magdalene. He 
appeared to Cleopas and the unnamed disciple on the road to Emmaus. 
He then appeared to Peter sometime that same afternoon. He appeared 
to the twelve, the twelve obviously minus Judas, but as well minus 
Thomas on that day of resurrection in the upper room. He also invited 
His disciples to touch Him, and He ate broiled fish and honeycomb 
among them. And then He appeared a week later 
again to His disciples, and this time Thomas was present. And 
here Jesus invites Thomas to touch his wounds, and that's 
the section of Scripture we're going to focus on this morning, 
the doubter turned confessor. In John chapter 20, I'll read 
verses 24 to 31. Now Thomas, called the twin, 
one of the 12, 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 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 hands, 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. Well, let us 
pray. Our Father in heaven, we thank 
you for the written word. We thank you for the Lord Jesus 
Christ and what a gracious and a glorious and a wonderful Savior 
He is. We know that He lived a life 
of perfect obedience to the Father, that He was crucified in the 
most shameful and horrific way, that He was buried and that on 
the third day He rose again. And how we thank you that that 
tomb is in fact empty, that He is risen, and that He has ascended 
on high, and that His current session is marked by His continual 
intercession for the people of God. How we rejoice in these 
most blessed truths. And our Father, we know as well 
that He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead. 
And our heart's desire and earnest plea is that everyone here this 
morning would be prepared to meet Him on that day. May we 
see what the Spirit has given in these Scripture verses. May we receive them by your Spirit 
and by power from on high. May you illumine our minds and 
our understanding, and may you give us grace to receive with 
joyful hearts the written word of the living and true God. For 
certainly this passage extols and magnifies the glory of Jesus 
Christ, and that is a most blessed place for anyone and everyone 
to be. Do forgive us now for our sins 
and for our transgressions. Cleanse us in the blood of the 
Lamb, and it's in Jesus' name that we pray, amen. Well, in 
our studies in the Gospel of Matthew, I tried to encourage 
you to see and appreciate the two links between Matthew 1 and 
Matthew 28. Remember, in Matthew 1, Jesus 
is called Emmanuel, and that translated means God with us. 
And at the very end of Matthew's Gospel, Jesus promises, and lo, 
I will be with you always, even to the end of the age. So there's 
that sort of bookmark with Matthew's Gospel, that Jesus, God, is with 
us. Well, John bookmarks his gospel 
as well. He gives us in the very first 
verse an ascription of the glory and the majesty of Jesus Christ. In the beginning was the Word, 
and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. And here at 
the end of John's gospel, chapter 21 functions as an epilogue. So properly stated, John chapter 
20 is the end of John's gospel. Not that chapter 21 is unimportant 
or it's uninspired. The book as a book comes to a 
close here in chapter 20. We have that same confession 
concerning the deity of our Lord. And this time it comes from one 
of the chief doubters, the chief skeptic. In fact, we all know 
Thomas as Doubting Thomas. And yet he lays eyes on the risen 
Christ and he says what John says in John 1.1, my Lord and 
my God. You see, the New Testament authors 
are very filled with a specific purpose to get us to understand 
who Jesus Christ is. In fact, John highlights his 
purpose at the end of John 20 in verses 30 and 31. So I want 
to look at that as well. this morning, but in the first 
place, let's look at the post-resurrection appearance to the disciples with 
Thomas. That's in verses 24 to 29, and 
then we'll look secondly at the purpose of the fourth gospel 
as a whole in verses 30 and 31. You need to appreciate at the 
outset, John doesn't simply want to inform you or instruct you 
concerning who Jesus is. John wants you to believe. John 
wants you to taste and see that the Lord is good. John wants 
you to enter into eternal life. John wants you to know what it 
is to have your sins forgiven and to receive the righteousness 
of Jesus Christ, wherein you can stand before a thrice holy 
God and not only not be destroyed, but enter into eternal life. 
in the presence and fellowship of God Most High. John doesn't 
want to simply inform you, he wants you to believe. And that's 
what he says specifically in his purpose statement in verses 
30 and 31. So listen attentively. Listen 
to how Jesus deals with doubting Thomas. See and appreciate His 
great grace and His great mercy, and may you, with Thomas, confess 
that Jesus is, in fact, my Lord and my God. Now, Thomas is an 
interesting character. We meet him previously in John's 
Gospel, and there he's not so much a skeptic, but he does seem 
to have a melancholic spirit. He does seem to be a more sorrowful 
sort of a soul. He promises to attend Jesus' 
crucifixion, or to attend with Jesus into Jerusalem, and die 
with Jesus even if necessary. Of course, Thomas doesn't do 
that. In John 14, when Jesus is describing the way, Thomas 
asks a question specifically in verse 5, and that becomes 
the foil or the reason for which Jesus explains in John 14, 6, 
that I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to 
the Father except through me. And the same way this functions, 
Thomas denies the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. His 
arrogance and his obstinate spirit serves as the basis upon which 
this confession of faith is made. So Thomas needs to be appreciated, 
not only because he was an apostle, but because of a couple of things 
that he said in the gospel records, it has given us glorious truth 
concerning our Lord Jesus. So the character of Thomas in 
verses 24 and 25, notice that he was absent when the disciples 
met the previous week. Notice in verse 24, now Thomas 
called the twin, one of the twelve was not with them when Jesus 
came. Now the text doesn't specify 
Why? Perhaps he was sad that Jesus 
was now gone from them, perhaps he had some business to attend 
to, or perhaps he was fearful of the Jews and so he didn't 
want to be seen with these other disciples. But the fact is he 
was not present with the disciples when Jesus manifest himself to 
them. Now again, I don't want to moralize 
here, and I don't want to hyper-spiritualize or allegorize, but it's most 
important that the disciples are with one another in the worship 
of the living and true God. In other words, Thomas absented 
himself from a time when Christ manifests himself to the point 
where such disciples said, Thomas, we have seen the Lord. Brethren, 
you don't want to miss out on things like that. You don't want 
to miss out on the manifestation of Christ in the public worship 
of God. John Gill says, as it is of good 
consequence to attend the assemblies of Christ's disciples and followers, 
so it is of bad consequence to neglect or forsake them. In other 
words, be where the people of God are when they are worshiping 
the God who has saved them, the God who has delivered them, the 
God who has granted them grace and life. Now notice that Thomas 
was an obstinate fellow. This is what we find here in 
verse 25. 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 not believe. He dictates the terms by which 
he will believe. You need to understand that's 
wrong. You can't do that. If that's what you're doing today, 
you've got to stop. You're not God. God doesn't have 
to jump through your hoops. God is the creator of the cosmos. God is the creator of you. God 
sustains you. You have breath in your lungs 
because of God. You simply have no right as a 
creature, and a desperately sinful creature at that, to demand that 
God perform before you'll believe. And this is what Thomas does. Unless I see, unless I touch, 
unless I behold, I will not believe. Now brethren, the way that Thomas 
denies this, or the way that Thomas says this, is as adamant 
as could be. He says, I will certainly not 
believe. There is no way I will believe 
unless these preconditions are met. This is the wrong place 
to be. Thomas should submit not only 
to the Lord, the apostles, to the testimony of the Old Testament, 
everything. The disciple Thomas makes an 
emphatic denial of the resurrection. That's what he's doing here. 
I will not believe. No way. I could tell you on the 
way to church this morning, I saw a unicorn running in my neighbor's 
front yard. You'd probably say, there's no 
way. There's absolutely positively no way I would believe that. 
Why? Because I've never seen a unicorn 
running in my neighbor's yard. Unless you could pony up the 
proof, no pun intended, I will not believe. You see, that's 
what Thomas is doing. It's a double negative, which 
in English produces a positive, but in Greek makes it doubly 
negative. It's an emphatic denial. In many 
respects, it's a gift to call him Doubting Thomas. He's far 
more than a doubter at this particular instance. In fact, John Calvin 
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 also proud and contemptuous 
in his treatment of Christ. You see, brethren, what Thomas 
does here is deny a threefold witness concerning the very resurrection 
of Jesus himself. He denies Psalm 16. Pastor Porter 
chose a proper psalm to read at the outset of today's worship. 
Psalm 16 is a psalm of the resurrection of our Lord Jesus. When Peter 
is preaching on the day of Pentecost in order to prove or affirm or 
corroborate the resurrection of Jesus, guess where he goes? 
He goes to Psalm 16. You see, Thomas knew Psalm 16. Thomas knew that there was a 
resurrection from the dead, and it's not just Psalm 16. I would 
argue that Isaiah 53, Daniel 9, other prophetic testimonies 
concerning the mission of Messiah indicate resurrection, indicate 
triumph. And Thomas, understanding that, 
nevertheless says, I will not believe. He also dismisses the 
testimony of Jesus. What did Jesus say on several 
occasions to his disciples when he was amongst them? I must go 
to Jerusalem, I must be tried by wicked man, I must be crucified, 
and I must be raised the third day. Jesus had testified in their 
hearing repetitively that he would be raised from the dead. 
And Thomas, nevertheless, says, I will not believe. I will certainly 
not believe. There is no way I'm gonna believe. 
Well, he rejects the Apostolic Testimony. I mean, these are 
the disciples of the Lord, the closest ones to Jesus. These 
are the apostles that Christ had picked to go out and preach 
the Word. And they tell Thomas, we have 
seen the Lord. And he says, well, unless I see, 
unless I touch, unless I do, unless my preconditions are satisfied, 
then I will certainly not believe. You see, it's a gift to call 
Thomas doubting. He's far more than doubting at 
this particular time. He is obstinate. He is stubborn. He's hard-necked. He's hard-hearted. He is resisting the various testimonies 
concerning the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. Eyewitness 
testimony in the person of the disciples. Scripture testimony 
in the Old Testament. The rejection of the witness 
testimony of the Lord Jesus, who had said on several occasions 
that he would be raised from the dead. Thomas rejects, Thomas 
resists, Thomas is obstinate. As Calvin says, this was astonishing 
and monstrous. Now, notice the grace of Jesus 
Christ. in verses 26 and 27. Brethren, 
this is such a beautiful passage. If you're taking notes, I preached 
this last year. You could say, oh, he's preaching 
the same sermon again. No, it's the same text. I think 
the sermon will be a little bit differently, a little bit different, 
but I think that we could stand to hear this on a lot more of 
a regular basis. How would you respond to Thomas 
if you knew what he had been saying? What do you mean you dismiss 
my word? What do you mean you dismiss 
the testimony of the apostles? What do you mean you don't give 
heed to the Old Testament witness and testimony? What's the matter 
with you, Thomas? I mean, brethren, think about 
it for just a moment. If you were in this particular 
situation, how would you deal with obstinate Thomas? Would 
you be gracious and merciful and kind to him? Maybe, but probably 
not. Notice how Jesus deals. His pronouncement 
of peace in verse 26. Again, he's not just appearing 
to Thomas. So verse 26 says, 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. Now, there are times when people 
say, peace to you. Think of the 60s in the United 
States of America. Everybody said, peace to you, 
peace, man, that sort of thing. But very often, it takes on the 
characteristic of a cheap wish. It really doesn't mean anything. 
It really isn't valid. We really don't mean peace upon 
that person that we're wishing peace. It's kind of like when 
you say to somebody, how are you doing? And you really don't 
care how they're doing. And if they started to tell you, 
you'd look at your watch and say, well, I didn't really want 
that kind of an answer. Not that I ever do that, but 
that's what people do. Or we say, fine, when life is 
miserable. We just don't always mean what 
we say. And I think at times we're tempted 
to take Jesus in that same way and say, well, you know, this 
is just a typical greeting. This is just the way that things 
were done. This was just common courtesy. No, when Jesus says, 
peace to you, Jesus means it. And the peace in view is the 
same sort of peace that he commends to them in the gospel at John 
14. My peace I leave with you, my peace I give to you, not as 
the world gives do I give. In other words, not the kind 
that comes out of a bottle, not the kind that comes out of a 
syringe, not the kind that comes out of a sexual encounter, not 
that kind of fleeting peace, but what Christ gives is peace 
as a result of the cross. Isn't this Paul's point in Romans 
chapter 5? Therefore, having been justified 
by faith, we have what with God? We have peace with God. Say what 
you want about Christian people, but this much is true, they have 
peace with God. For those of you who are not 
Christian people, those of you who perhaps are still unbelievers, 
those of you who have not come to Jesus Christ, you are missing 
peace with God. Is there anything better? We're 
gonna look at Romans chapter eight tonight and the believer's 
security as a result of God's liberality. And what does Paul 
say in Romans 8, 31? If God is for us, who can be 
against us? Isn't that beautiful? You got 
God, you got everything. You don't have God, you got nothing. 
You see, brethren, Jesus wishes peace upon his disciples that 
is a peace that is blood bought. Now note his grace expressed 
to Thomas specifically. Verse 27, then he said to Thomas, 
just think for a moment. We hadn't been present when Thomas 
said this to the disciples. I can't imagine Jesus was within 
earshot when Thomas was denying that he had risen from the dead. 
So Jesus was not present when Thomas made this demand, and 
yet Jesus answers this demand specifically. So that when we 
see predicated of Jesus that He is God, that He is the Son 
of God, we ought not to say, I wonder what that means? It 
means that He knows what men are saying, even when He's not 
present with that. He answers Thomas' statement 
very specifically, very particularly, and it answers to the demand 
made by Thomas. Notice as well that he removes 
all grounds of unbelief. See, that's grace, isn't it? 
That's mercy. Calvin calls him, you know, monstrous, 
and it's astonishing. I've said that calling Thomas 
a doubter is quite, you know, letting him off easy. He was 
an obstinate man. But what does Christ do? Christ 
answers the specific demand. Now, that's not validating, go 
ahead and make demands. It's not confirming or affirming 
that it's okay for you to make conditions upon which God has 
to perform, but it is showing rather how gracious and how merciful 
and how kind our God really is. It's like that scene in 1 Kings, 
when Ahab steals Naboth's vineyard. It's a terrible situation, isn't 
it? At the very end of the chapter, though, there is this appearance 
of repentance on the part of Ahab. I say appearance because 
it's difficult to believe that it was legit and that Ahab's 
going to sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom 
of God. But even at that humbling of himself, God says to Elijah, 
did you see that? He humbled himself before me. You see, God is gracious and 
God is merciful. I don't know all of your backgrounds, 
I don't know from whence you've come, but very often in churches 
we don't get this view of God as he is the father of the prodigal. The father of the prodigal, when 
the son was a long way off, ran to meet the prodigal. Not to 
throw rocks at him and not to kick him and not to discipline 
him, but to fall on him and to kiss him and to order the slaying 
of the fatted calf and the placement of a ring on his finger. That's 
the God of Scripture. That's the God of this passage. He accommodates Himself. He submits, 
or rather, condescends Himself, even to a doubter like Thomas. 
Reach your finger here, and look at my hands, and reach your hand 
here, and put it into my side, and here it is, do not be unbelieving, 
but believing. Jesus is merciful, Jesus is gracious. Again, I do not tell you to go 
out and test God, I do not tell you to make demands of God, but 
I do show you that Christ, even when a man does that, is gracious 
and merciful. See, that's the take-home message. 
Don't say, okay, now I'm loaded for bear, I'm gonna go and I'm 
gonna make these demands of God, he's gotta jump through my hoops, 
and when he does that, then I'll believe. No, no, no, don't do 
that. but do see here the grace and the mercy of our Lord Jesus 
Christ. And may I just say as well, all 
of the books of Kings and all of the books of 1 and 2 Samuel, 
so full of grace, so full of kindness, so full of God's mercy. Those persons who say the Old 
Testament is just filled with wrath and barbarity and bloodshed 
are persons who evidence the fact that they've never read 
the Old Testament. The longsuffering of God, the 
kindness of God, the mercy of God, the goodness of God, the 
grace of God comes through page after page after page in the 
way that God deals with His people. The fact that there was a prophetic 
ministry is an act of God's grace. Men in Israel at that time, men 
in Judah at that time, were rejecting God, they were rebellious against 
God, and yet God nevertheless dispatches prophets to call them 
to repentance and faith. That's grace, that's kindness, 
that's mercy, and that's the God that we serve. And he's revealed 
himself in this particular passage by chiding Thomas, but as well, 
answering to Thomas in a way that is most wonderful. Now note, 
Now, if any of you are familiar with Jehovah's Witnesses, they 
have a little book on how to answer people that object to 
them. So if you get a hold of that book, it's like having the 
opposite team's playbook. It really is, and I think they 
have to give it to you if you ask for it. It's called Reasoning 
from the Scriptures. And they tell you in that book how to 
counter somebody who goes to John 20, 28 to prove the deity 
of Jesus. And that's one of their chief 
doctrines that they oppose vehemently is the deity of our Lord Jesus 
Christ. And they suggest that it's sort of like an exclamation 
that Thomas does here. You know, if you're pounding 
nails and you happen to hit your thumb and you say, my word, or 
my whatever. That's how, one of the ways they 
would explain this. It was an exclamation. It wasn't 
directed to Jesus, it was just kind of that. Wow, you know, 
that's sort of an exclamation. But it's directed to Jesus. Thomas 
says, my Lord, my God. He's talking specifically to 
Jesus. As well, some suggest that it's 
just blasphemy. You know, the way people do that, 
they use God or they use Jesus or they use my Lord in a blasphemous 
sort of way. Well, it'd be very hard to convince 
anyone that a pious, devout, first century Jew would blaspheme 
in such a carnal and callous manner. Again, it's probably 
not unheard of, but it's certainly, certainly not the norm. As well, 
some suggest that he is saying that Jesus is my Lord and my 
little g-God. Again, Jehovah's Witnesses fit 
this in with their wicked translation of John 1.1. In the beginning 
was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was a 
God, little g-God. That's blasphemy. It's not the 
work of scholarship, it's the work of God-hating rebels. It is the work of those who deny 
the glory of Jesus Christ. I think John Owen speaks well 
to those who deny the glory of Jesus Christ. He says, but 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 unto them. It is not a want of understanding 
to comprehend doctrines, but hatred unto the things themselves 
whereby such persons are seduced." It's not just a minor, minuscule 
thing. To deny the deity of our Lord 
Jesus Christ is to deny God, to deny the gospel. It is to 
deny there's any hope whatsoever for the forgiveness of sins. 
Thomas makes a lofty confession of faith to our Lord Jesus. He says, my Lord and my God. Owen Elsewhere calls this a gracious 
discovery of Christ. Again, it comes on the heels 
of a gospel record that is filled with references to the deity 
of Jesus. In the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God, 
and the Word was God. 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. We see Jesus assert 
His equality with the Father to the point where the Jews actually 
want to destroy Him in John chapter 8. They pick up stones to stone 
Him with. Why? Because He made Himself 
equal with God. So this is the capstone on an 
otherwise record of consistent testimony concerning the glory 
of the Lord Jesus Christ. There's no reason not to take 
it the way it's written. It is an ascription of who Jesus 
is, in the mouth of one of his greatest doubters or one of the 
greatest skeptics. In fact, George 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. His utterance does not simply 
acknowledge the reality of the resurrection of Jesus, but expresses 
its ultimate meaning, i.e. as revelation of who Jesus is. You see, it's not just the fact 
that the tomb is empty, but it's what that communicates. He was 
declared to be the Son of God with power by the resurrection 
from the dead. You see, Thomas sees now. Thomas has a clear field of vision, 
not just carnally, not just through the eyes, but by faith he's laid 
hold. Now, this confession in the mouth 
of Thomas is not what's called abstract theology. It's not just 
something to be batted around and played with and thought about 
over there. What's he say? He says, my Lord 
and my God. Ask any Christian you know, what's 
one of the most blessed things that you're able to say concerning 
God? That He's mine. that we can sing hymn number 
432, I am his and he is mine. Jesus, what a friend for sinners. 
Can you say my Lord and my God today? Can you own Him as your 
Lord and God? See, this is what grace through 
faith produces. It produces a people who get 
to employ that personal pronoun, who get to look at Jesus and 
say, He is mine and I am His. And there's every reason why 
I should want Him. I'm still trying to figure out 
why He should want me. other than the sovereign grace 
of Almighty God, wherein He chose us in Him before the foundation 
of the world, that we should be holy and blameless. He didn't 
choose us because we were holy and blameless. He chose us unto 
holiness and blamelessness. But that is the most blessed 
thing, to be able to confess with Thomas here, my Lord and 
my God. Or consider the Apostle Paul 
in Galatians chapter two. Let me just read it because my 
head is not on Galatians 2.20. I don't want to mess it up. I 
find the older I get, the more tempted I am to mess up texts, 
and I don't want to mess up texts. Galatians 2.20, I have been crucified 
with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but 
Christ lives in me. And the life that I now live 
in the flesh, I live by faith in what? and the Son of God who 
loved me and who gave Himself for me. Paul's not being proud. Paul understands the application 
of redemptive benefit. Paul understands the beauty of 
personal pronouns in the Christian religion. Paul understands what 
is the pinnacle and the apex of our blessed experience, that 
Christ is ours, that He gave Himself for us, that He delivered 
Himself for us, that He secured our salvation. The Creed confesses 
He came down for us men and for our salvation. It's not out there. It's not abstract. It's not far 
removed. Brethren, this is the blessedness 
of your confession of faith. Enjoy it. Utilize it. Praise God as a result of it. 
And if you are not a believer here this morning, come to Jesus. Believe on Him. Confess with 
Thomas, my Lord and my God. Why will you die in your sins? 
Why will you continue to perish? This was the language of the 
prophet Ezekiel. God says to the nation, why? Why, why, why will you perish? Why will you die in your sins? 
Turn ye unto me, the Lord God says, and I will heal your backsliding. Don't continue in penitent. Don't 
continue in your unbelief. Don't continue to resist and 
reject sermons. The beauty and glory of the gospel 
is the reality that God made Christ, who knew no sin, to be 
sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. 
The glory of the gospel is that whosoever believeth in Him shall 
not perish but have everlasting life. Isn't that glorious? Isn't that wonderful? I mean, 
it's okay to smile if you can say, my Lord and my God. At times 
like these, you think people are going to do backflips out 
of their pews, because we've been saved. We have a Lord. We have a God who not only loves 
us, but He delivered Himself for us. He gave Himself for us. Now notice Jesus' response. Christ receives this ascription 
without rebuke. Thomas answered and said to Him, 
My Lord and my God. Notice that Jesus doesn't correct 
him for blasphemy. Jesus doesn't correct him for 
saying an exclamatory word that happened to utilize the name 
of the Lord and God. Jesus doesn't reprove him. Jesus doesn't stop 
him. Jesus rather accepts what he 
says. You compare like instances throughout 
the New Testament, and you'll see that when men are worshipped 
by others, the men resist it and they reject it. Now, Jesus, 
of course, is a man, but he is God and man. He is one person, 
two natures. He is, in fact, theanthropic. That simply means God-man. But 
when Paul and Silas are bowed down to, what do they say? We're 
men of like passions. Don't do that. When the angel 
is bowed down to by the seer in the book of Revelation, what 
does he do? No, don't do that. When the creature 
is bowed down to, he rejects it, he resists it, he says no. 
But when Jesus Christ is bowed down to, he receives it. Why? Because he's worthy. In the language 
of the bridegroom, in the Song of Solomon, he is altogether 
lovely, chief among ten thousand. Of course he is worthy of such 
praise. Of course he is worthy of such adoration. Of course 
he is worthy of all the blessings and the honor that the creature 
has to give to him. This is fit and appropriate and 
right and true. This is what Christ heard before 
He entered into this world. You know, Isaiah chapter 6, we 
read a meditation this morning in our prayer meeting from Spurgeon 
on that text, and he points out rightly, John points out rightly, 
that what Isaiah saw when he saw that vision in Isaiah 6 was 
Christ. Christ was being praised by the 
angelic hosts. Holy, holy, holy is the Lord 
of hosts. The whole earth is filled with 
His glory. So that when Christ comes into 
this world and persons do bow, persons do confess, persons do 
honor His person and His work, He doesn't reject it. He doesn't 
resist it. He receives it because it is 
fit. It is the legitimate response 
of the creature to confess the lordship and the godhood of Jesus 
Christ. Now notice, then Jesus gives 
him this last beatitude. A beatitude is one of those blessed 
are you sayings, and that's what Jesus does here in verse 29. Notice that he affirms Thomas' 
faith, verse 29. Thomas, because you have seen 
me, you have believed. He affirms it. He's not suggesting 
that Thomas is a God-hating wretch and that his monstrosities are 
going to land him in hell. He is dealing with him as a saved 
sinner. He is dealing with him as a man 
who has believed gospel truth, as a confessor, a chief confessor 
of the Christian faith, a doubter-turned-confessor, and Christ acknowledges the presence 
of his faith. The notice that he goes on to 
pronounce this beatitude, he says, blessed are those who have 
not seen and yet have believed. Now, the Lord is not putting 
Thomas' faith in a lower category. He's not suggesting that somehow 
Thomas, because he asked to see or had to see, is somehow a second-class 
citizen. He's making a pronouncement that 
is very uniquely fitted to the particular context that persons 
beyond Thomas are going to need to hear. There's no accident 
that this particular account is the last one prior to John's 
purpose statement. The themes are overlapping, right? We have this confessor confessing 
that Jesus is Lord and God, we have Jesus commending faith, 
and then John ends the letter, ends the gospel by saying, you 
know, my purpose is that you'll believe. We'd be fools not to 
see the connection and the way that John tailored the narrative 
to serve his purposes. The purpose specifically that 
you stop rejecting and resisting and that you believe. See, everybody 
in this narrative is telling you this morning to believe. 
Everybody in your life should be telling you to believe if 
you have heretofore believed. Every preacher and every pulpit 
and every church on this Lord's day ought to be telling everybody 
to believe. That's the purpose for which 
we exist. What does Jesus say in Mark 16? 
Go preach the gospel to every creature. And to some creatures, 
not to creatures with ease on their back, not to sensible creatures 
or prepared creatures, but to creatures, preach the gospel 
to them. That's what Jesus says. Now notice, blessed are those 
who have not seen and yet have believed. The Lord speaks concerning 
man's response to the preaching of the gospel when he would no 
longer be physically present on earth. It's a beatitude that 
transcends the present. In other words, these apostles 
are going to go out and preach the gospel to every creature. 
History or tradition tells us that Thomas went to India. Isn't 
that appropriate? Isn't that appropriate? Jesus 
says in John 14, 6, to Thomas, I am the way, the truth, and 
the life. No one comes to the Father except 
through me. Thomas goes to a polytheistic 
culture to press the crown rights of Jesus Christ and the exclusivity 
of him as God alone. It really is beautiful, the way 
that the Lord works in this. Calvin says, here Christ commends 
faith on this ground, that it acquiesces in the bare word and 
does not depend on carnal views or human reason. In other words, 
what Calvin just said is you need to believe. The bare word. You are not in a position to 
ask for proofs. That's the thing, you know, when 
we try to prove God, there's an abundance of proof. The problem 
isn't a lack of proof. The problem is a sinful repression 
or suppression of that truth. That's what Paul says in Romans 
chapter 1. God is manifest. God has made himself known through 
the created order and in the fact that we are image bearers 
of the living and true God. There is not a shred of evidence 
lacking in this regard. Paul addresses the problem thus. 
It's they suppress the truth in unrighteousness. They hold 
it down. They dig holes and they bury 
it. You ever see dogs, kids, they like to dig a hole and put 
their bone in it and then they bury that. That's what sinners 
do with the knowledge of God. They're like dogs digging up 
holes, burying their bones and then covering it. See, the dog 
does it probably to save the food for later, to save the bone 
for later. Man's more wicked than that. Not that dogs are 
wicked doing that. I'm trying to stress the point 
here that man has a diabolical end. It's not the preservation 
of a bone, it's the rejection of God Himself. Calvin says what 
we need is to ascent to the Word preached. Believe, believe what 
the Bible says. So that's Thomas. Let's look 
finally quickly at this purpose of the fourth gospel. Notice 
in verse 30, John says, truly Jesus did many other signs in 
the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this 
book. The entirety of the gospel, could be the post-resurrection 
signs, might just be best. Say whatever Jesus did, did all 
these things. He was a man who went about doing 
good, as Peter says in Acts chapter 10. He did many other signs in 
the presence of his disciples which are not written in this 
book. Now note his purpose. 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 see how this serves 
or how this jives with or goes along with the beatitude of Jesus 
at the end of verse 29? Blessed are those who have not 
seen and yet have believed. You get this pronouncement of 
blessing upon you, and then you're given this purpose, and John 
is saying, I want you to believe. Whatever you may have heard about 
faith in the past, whatever you have heard about, you know, misery 
in the past, whatever you have heard about predestination in 
the past, all that stuff may be true, but right now, the time 
is to believe. That's what John says. Notice the emphasis on faith. I think John wants to evangelize 
unbelievers, but certainly John's gospel is calculated to strengthen 
and to fortify believers. But he says here that you may 
believe that Jesus is the Christ. Isn't that beautiful? That's 
what God calls on us. That's the response to the gospel. 
Notice what he doesn't say, that you believe and work. that you 
believe and obey, that you believe and do, to believe and sell everything 
you own, shave your head, wear orange robes, go shake tambourines 
down at the airport. That's not what John says. Salvation is by grace alone through 
what? Faith alone. Now, certainly the 
faith that saves or justifies is always accompanied by all 
other saving graces. Those who are justified freely 
by His grace will then pursue those things that God has said 
in His Word for us to live by. The way that we get to heaven, 
brethren, is not by our doing. It's not by our works. This is 
the great Protestant emphasis on justification by faith alone. It's not by faith plus works. 
It's faith alone. And that's what John says. These 
things or these are written that you may believe. Matthew Poole 
says, faith is properly innocent given to a proposition upon the 
testimony of revelation. In other words, God said it, 
believe it. Our confession of faith says 
much the same thing. By this saving faith, a Christian 
believes to be true whatsoever is revealed in the Word for the 
authority of God Himself. In other words, what the Bible 
says about Joshua, the son of Nun, what the Bible says about 
Moses, what the Bible says about Isaiah, what the Bible says about 
Ezekiel and about Jeremiah, what it says about Paul, what it says 
about Peter, what it says about James, what it says about John. 
All those who believe, believe all that. But our confession 
goes on. It moves from sort of the outward 
or the external or the perimeters in terms of the word, and then 
highlights the primary or principal acts of saving faith. But the 
principal acts of saving faith have immediate relation to Christ. In other words, you do need to 
believe everything the Bible says about Moses, but that's 
not what saves you. The principal acts of saving 
faith have immediate relation to Christ. And now the confession 
does what the Bible does and uses figurative expressions to 
illustrate or to explain further what faith is. Have you ever 
wondered that? Well, what's faith? I know at 
the most fundamental level it means to believe, yeah. It means 
to believe the Bible. If there's got to be something 
more, believe the Bible. But I have to do something. Believe 
the Bible. Believe what it says concerning 
Jesus. than the confession. As I said, accurately reflecting 
scripture usage uses these figures to sort of illustrate for us 
what faith is. Accepting, receiving, and resting 
upon Him alone for justification, sanctification, and eternal life 
by virtue of the covenant of grace. See, what does it mean 
to believe? Well, John chapter three, look 
to Jesus Christ. What does it mean to believe? 
John chapter six, eat his flesh, drink his blood. Not physically, 
but rather that is a figure showing us what it means to believe in 
Christ. In other words, we feed on him. 
He is our sustenance. He is the one that gives us life. 
He is the one that keeps us whole. So, you see, the Bible uses these 
figures of speech to illustrate for us, in a real practical, 
concrete sort of way, what it means to believe, to receive 
Christ, to rest upon Christ. See, John the Apostle was able 
to lay his head upon the bosom of the Savior. We do that by 
faith, don't we? We rest upon Jesus Christ by 
faith. That's what the confession says. 
That's what the scriptures say. These are figures of speech to 
tell us and educate us. Something about, dare I say it, 
the simplicity of faith. We sometimes make it so hard. 
What's it mean to believe on Jesus? Well, we're gonna have 
to take you through a three-part course. You don't need a three-part course 
to know how to eat a burrito and drink a glass of juice. You 
eat it and you drink it. Same with bread and wine. You 
eat it, you drink it. It's something quite simple. 
Now, faith is one of those interesting things. On the one hand, it's 
the most difficult thing in the whole wide world, but on the other 
hand, it's the most simple thing in the whole wide world. It's 
a grace given by God. We can't make God give faith, 
but it's simple. Believe what the Bible says concerning 
Jesus. He lived, He died, He was raised, 
and He saves all those who come to Him in faith. Notice the object 
that John presents, that you believe, and he mentions Jesus 
is the Christ, the Son of God. This whole idea of Christ, this 
is the Messiah prophesied in the Old Testament, and John Gill 
says, and takes in all his offices of prophet, priest and king to 
which he was anointed." In other words, you need to believe that 
Jesus is the Christ, the one revealed to us in the Old Testament, 
the Messiah there, the anointed one, the one who comes under 
God's direction to do what God the Father gave him to do. Then 
he goes on to say, not only the Christ, but he's the Son of God. Now that's an interesting statement. 
Didn't Thomas just confess him as my Lord and my God? How can 
he be both God and Son of God? The doctrine of the Blessed Trinity. The three persons each have the 
divine essence, yet they are distinguished from one another 
by personal properties and relative, or relative properties and personal 
relations. The Father sends the Son. Father begets the Son. The Son 
is begotten by the Father. But they are one God, the same 
in substance, equal in power and glory, distinguished from 
one another through these properties. The Son of God is God Most High. Now notice, what's the end game, 
the end result? And that believing, you may have 
life in his name. See end of verse 31. What should 
we infer from that? If you do not believe, you don't 
have life in his name. That's a desperate condition 
to be in. It's a terrible place to be. Jesus in John chapter 
eight speaks of spiritual bondage. Whoever commits sin is a what? He's a slave to sin. It's an 
amazing thing how that's more obvious with certain sins than 
with others. It's more obvious, say, when 
you drive downtown and you see persons that look like they've 
been addicted to drugs for some period of time. It's pretty obvious 
to see that those persons are slaves to sin. It's pretty obvious 
to see the slave master driving that subject right into the ground. But with reference to our slavery, 
with reference to our sins, with reference to those things that 
don't land us on the street looking, you know, that sort of a way, 
it's more difficult to ascertain. But if you're not a believer 
here this morning, you're a slave to sin. If you're not a believer 
here this morning, you are dead in your trespasses and sins. 
If you are not a believer here this morning, you do not possess 
eternal life. For God so loved the world that 
he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him 
should not perish but have everlasting life. Now, the converse is true 
as well, that whoever does not believe in him shall not see 
life, but the wrath of God abides on him, John 3.36. You see, you're 
in a desperate position this morning apart from Jesus Christ. But the good news is, is that 
John says, I wrote the entirety of my book, the gospel that bears 
my name as its author, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. 
I took pains to do this in a situation where it could have cost me a 
whole lot. In fact, it does cost John because 
he ends up on a little rock in the Aegean Sea for the testimony 
of God, or for the Word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ. 
It did cost him to get there, to produce this. So his purpose 
is that you believe. not resist, not reject, not argue 
it away, and not say, well, you know, you don't know my situation. 
I don't have to. I know enough to know that God 
is holy. You're not. You're a sinner. You're a rebel. 
You have violated the law. You have transgressed every one 
of the Ten Commandments. You have not conformed to those 
particular words as well, and you stand under the judgment 
of God Most High. But Christ, in the word, offers 
himself to sinners. So come to me, he says, in Matthew 
chapter 11, all you who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give 
you rest. Don't continue to resist or reject 
or refuse, but rather come. Receive him, rest upon him, accept 
him, not in some, you know, altar college way with every eye bow 
or every eye closed and every head bowed and we accept Jesus 
into our heart. That acceptance there is a figurative way of 
saying faith. Accept the mercy of God in Jesus 
Christ as proffered in the gospel for the salvation of sinners. Don't resist, don't reject, don't 
refuse. Thus the exposition. A couple 
of concluding thoughts and then we'll close. First, and we rehearsed 
some of this a few weeks ago or a couple of months ago when 
we were in Matthew's gospel, so I will not here, but the historical 
reality of the resurrection, it did happen. The tomb is empty. The statement, He is risen, is 
accurate. And that right there tells us 
everything testified to us by our Lord Jesus Christ, by His 
apostles, by the prophets in the Old Testament, is worth believing. In other words, with our confession 
of faith. We ought to believe everything 
the scripture says. The principal acts of saving 
faith have relation to Christ, to his life, to his death, and 
to his resurrection. Now, secondly, beware of placing 
conditions upon God. These are the sorts of conditions 
that I think we hear at times. Some say, well, if God would 
provide me a certain amount of evidence, then I would believe. 
That's the Thomas mistake, isn't it? Or the Thomas obstinance. 
Unless I see, unless I touch. Unless I'm empirically satisfied 
with the evidence, then I will not believe. That's pretty much 
life as we know it outside of the church, isn't it? Well, I 
didn't see it. He didn't make it an appearance 
to me. It's like Greg Bonson said in 
the great debate against Gordon Stein. The student, at the very 
end, they have a Q&A section. The student asks, Dr. Stein, 
what would it take to convince you that God does exist? Stein 
was the atheist. Stein was the skeptic. And Stein 
said, well, if he, A, put in a personal appearance, We have 
our skeptic meetings on Tuesday afternoon. If he shows up at 
one of those, then I would believe, or B, if this lectern or pulpit 
or whatever it was they were using, you know, just started 
to lift in the air and there was no evidence of any wires 
or cords or machines or motors or anything that was making it 
lift up in the air. Those would be things that I 
would take to believe in the existence of God. And Greg Bonson 
rightly responded and said, no, you would not. No, you would 
not. There is no shortage of evidence. There is no lack of evidence. The problem is your worldview, 
Dr. Stein. You need to be born again. You exclude at the outset the 
very possibility of God, and that then controls how you interpret 
the evidence. You see, be cautious and beware 
that you as creature, sinful creature, have no right to demand 
that God perform before you believe. A second thing I think we hear 
at times is that the folly of demanding temporal blessings. You know, unless God blesses 
me with a good wife and kids, I'm not going to believe. Unless 
God satisfies some basic requirements that I think I have coming to 
me, then I'm not going to believe. Kind of this idea that God has 
to convince you of his goodness before you'll actually side with 
him. And by the way, God, you can 
convince me of your goodness with a nice car, a nice house, 
a nice wife, and wonderful, well-behaved children. And when you do that, 
then I'll throw in my lot with you. That should be pretty apparent 
how wicked that is, right? We're not supposed to use God 
to get stuff that we want on the condition that then we'll 
side with him. We'll do you the favor, God, 
if you please bring us swag first. No, no, don't do that. Thirdly, 
the idea of the folly of demanding comprehensive understanding. 
You meet this sometimes. Well, I don't understand why 
the children of Israel, at the behest of Yahweh, went in and 
utterly destroyed, or at least commanded to utterly destroy 
all the Canaanites in the land. I just don't understand that. 
Until I can understand that, I'm not gonna believe. I just 
can't fully understand, I can't understand, I can't even get 
my mind wrapped around the doctrine of the Trinity. Once God makes 
that clear to me, then I'll believe. Again, who are we, creatures, 
sinful creatures, that have the right to say we want to exhaust 
God before we'll believe on God? We need to know everything before 
we'll believe on the Lord? One of the beauties of our religion 
is that degree of not knowing certain things. I wouldn't want 
a God I could figure out. I wouldn't want a God I could 
domesticate. I wouldn't want a God I could 
fully explain. Now I'm not saying he's not explainable, 
he's not understandable, he has revealed himself in about 31,000 
propositions called the Old and the New Testaments. There's a 
lot of data, it's a lot of things for us to consider and to contemplate, 
but is it one of the blessed things to be able to say, man, 
I just don't know. If I could exhaust God, then 
I could tame God, I could control God, I could domesticate God. In other words, it might be more 
interesting to own a lion than a kitty cat. You see, brethren, 
you'll never, the best intellects in the Christian church have 
never exhausted all there is to know about God. It's one of 
the beauties of Christianity. It's one of the glories of our 
religion. The thought that when we enter into His presence, it'll 
be breathtaking experience after breathtaking experience. It will 
be that constant admiration, that constant wowing in the presence 
of the Most High. So don't think that you have 
to explain or know everything before you'll believe what is 
absolutely certain and true, that Christ was crucified for 
sinners, was raised the third day, and everyone who believes 
in Him will be saved. Those are some common objections 
or ways that we try to put God into a box and make him perform 
before we'll believe. And I want to end on the high 
note where Thomas's confession ended, the beauty of that confession 
of faith, the clarity of the text. There's no way around John 
20, 28, is there? Well, I guess if you're a Russellite, 
you can say, well, it was an exclamation, it was blasphemy, 
or he was pronouncing, you know, praise to a little g God. That's 
just not grammatically correct. You know, you hear about political 
correctness, there's grammatical correctness. There's certain 
ways, grammar, revealed by the Holy Spirit in the Scripture 
on how we're supposed to understand text. And you don't need to know 
the Greek to know that this is translated properly. My Lord 
and my God. John Calvin, commenting on the 
clarity of the text, said, You don't deserve that. If you reject 
the deity of Jesus Christ, you don't even get that, because 
you're blind. as well the propriety of the 
text. He is called God in verse 28, 
the Son of God in verse 31. The Son is distinguished from 
the Father by the peculiar relative property of begottenness and 
his personal relation to the Father as Son. The Son, however, 
has the whole divine essence. Again, you might say, well, I 
just don't get that. Come to the confession study. Read a book. I marvel, I just 
can't understand the Trinity. Pick up a book. I don't know how to do this task 
in my kitchen, so I'm going to watch YouTube videos. I don't 
know how to do this at work, so I'm going to ask my boss. 
And yet, how many Christians have no inkling whatsoever with 
reference to the Trinity, but haven't ever attended a theology 
study, haven't ever attended anything that the church sponsors, 
haven't asked the elders of the church to say, what are some 
good guides, because not everything on YouTube or Sermon Audio is 
necessarily a good guide. Who are some good guides that 
can steer me in the right direction so that I can understand one 
of the most cardinal doctrines of the Christian faith? Why are 
we so lazy when Jesus defines the knowledge of God as eternal 
life in John 17 3? Why won't we use our heads? Why 
will we never go beyond a kindergarten understanding of the doctrine 
of the Trinity? There's no excuse. If you feel 
bad or guilty right now, there might be a good reason why. Perhaps 
it's because you're lazy. Perhaps it's because you don't 
read. Perhaps it's because you never come to theology or confession 
study. You don't avail yourself of the 
means that are available so that you can move beyond kindergarten 
and start living like a mature believer in Jesus Christ that 
is able to articulate, at least at a basic level, the doctrine 
of the Trinity to shut the mouths of the Russellites that you bump 
into on Yale Road. Why should they best true believers 
in an argument on the doctrine of the Trinity? How is that possible? Because for 20 years, they've 
been perfecting their arguments against the doctrine, and for 
20 years, for some reason, true believers haven't read Birkhoff 
on the Trinity, which I don't know is how many pages. It's 
a big, fat book, but the section on the Trinity ain't. The Confession 
of Faith is one chapter. Again, you may not get your mind 
wrapped around every jot and diddle and every particular, 
but you'll know the language that's been employed in the history 
of the church, and it will open up, hopefully, some vistas for 
further research. There's no reason why we shouldn't 
have an understanding of these things. And then the certainty 
of the text. Ryle said this, let us settle 
it firmly in our minds that the divinity of Christ, that means 
that He's God, is one of the grand foundation truths of Christianity 
and let us be willing to go to the stake rather than let it 
go. Let us be willing to go to the 
stake. That means to be burned to death. 
That means to be stoned to death. It could mean to be shot to death, 
to be beheaded to death. You could obviously be dead. 
It means to die for this confession of faith in Jesus Christ. I don't know a whole lot about 
Leah, but we just prayed for Leah in Nigeria who was taken 
captive by Boko Haram. Many others of these girls that 
were taken captive by Boko Haram were let go. Leah has not been 
let go because she's a believer in Jesus. They won't let her 
go if she doesn't renounce her faith in Jesus Christ and confess 
his law. She hasn't done it. When Leah's 
parents were talked to, they're sad because their daughter isn't 
with them, but her father's pleased that she will not renounce Jesus 
Christ. You see, when, with the bride, 
you see the bridegroom, I said bridegroom earlier, that was 
incorrect, when you see Jesus as altogether lovely and chief 
among 10,000, you'll go to the stake for him. You'll take Islamic 
oppression for Him. You'll take prison for Him. You'll 
take whatever it is, because you know that in the midst of 
that, Christ is your Lord. Christ is your Savior. Christ 
is your friend, and Christ is ever present with His people. 
So don't continue to resist, reject, and refuse, but rather 
come, believe on Christ, and you shall be saved. Well, let 
us pray. Our Father, we thank You for 
Your Word and the clarity of this particular section of Scripture. 
May it be the confession of all our hearts with reference to 
Jesus Christ that He is our Lord and our God. We pray that you'd 
pour out grace upon hearers today, here and elsewhere. We pray that 
the knowledge of the gospel would go forth and that sinners would 
come to know Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. We do pray for 
Leah and for her family, that you would grant them grace and 
comfort in the midst of this hardship, in the midst of this 
suffering and distress, and keep her faith solid and strong, and 
may she never renounce the Lord Jesus. And may this speak volumes 
to others, those in the Western world, us in particular, that 
Christ is altogether lovely and chief among 10,000. He is that 
pearl of great price. May we ever own Him, may we ever 
confess Him, may we ever believe and love and adore Him. And may 
you go with us now and help us to have a blessed Lord's Day. 
Bring us together tonight as we gather for the supper. May 
you feed us and may you strengthen us and may you help us by your 
word and spirit. And we pray these things through 
Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen. We'll close with a brief 
time of meditation and then be dismissed.