Well, let's turn to that passage now that we read in John chapter 20.
! John chapter 20. We can read once again from verse 24.
Now Thomas, one of the twelve, called a twin, was not with them when Jesus came.
So the other disciples told him, We have seen the Lord.
But he said to them, Unless I see in his hands the mark of the nails,
and place my finger into the mark of the nails, and place my hand into his side, I will never believe.
Eight days later, his disciples were inside again, and Thomas was with them.
Although the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, Peace be with you.
Then he said to Thomas, Put your finger here and see my hands,
and put out your hand and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve, but believe.
Thomas answered him, My Lord and my God.
Jesus said to him, Have you believed because you have seen me?
Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.
Isn't it telling sometimes we think of people by what we see as the negatives,
or the things that maybe appear wrong in their lives,
and we think of them in such a way as gives them names according to that.
Thomas has come to be known in history as Doubting Thomas.
Most people today would relate to that,
because of the way that he said here, as we read,
that he refused to believe the testimony of the other disciples,
and would not believe unless he saw Jesus for himself.
So he's called Doubting Thomas.
But then he's also confessing Thomas.
Why don't we refer to him as confessing Thomas?
Why don't we focus on that more positive element in his life?
Because as we'll see this evening, there is no other confession really in the New Testament,
or even in the entire Scripture quite like it.
It's a confession that includes not only a personal testimony to his relationship with Jesus,
but a confession of Jesus as Lord and God.
Within the one confession, you find that wonderful expression,
my Lord and my God.
That is who we should think of when we think about Thomas.
Not that his doubting is something we just push aside as irrelevant,
but here is somebody who came through the instruction and leading of Jesus himself
to make this wonderful personal confession
that is now forever for the whole process of time before us in the words of Scripture.
And as we look at that this evening,
we can see two things, especially just to focus on them.
First of all, Christ's correction of Thomas,
and then Thomas' confession of Christ.
Christ's, first of all, Christ's correction of Thomas,
and then Thomas' confession of Christ.
Now, we read the previous event here from verse 19,
where we find that the first time that Jesus came into the midst of the disciples,
it's almost exactly the same words, and we'll refer to that in a minute,
that Jesus came and stood amongst them,
even with the doors being locked.
We shouldn't wonder about that.
This is the Jesus who performs miracles that people cannot completely fathom or understand,
and the fact that he himself is the greatest miracle
through his coming into the world as the Son of God,
taking our human nature to himself and living a sinless life.
In many respects, that is the great miracle.
And where you see that great miracle,
and where you think of this Jesus and who he is,
and what he was able to do at other times,
we should not be at all surprised or disbelieving
that he actually came into the presence of the disciples here,
even when the doors were locked.
He is there with them and speaks to them in a way that we find recorded there.
But Thomas was absent at that previous event.
He didn't appear with them for whatever reason.
Maybe he was tied up with something else.
We're not told.
We're just told that Thomas was not with them.
And when Jesus came to reveal to them his hands and his side,
and spoke to them in a way that said,
Peace be with you.
As the Father has sent me, even so I'm sending you.
He breathed on them, said,
We receive the Holy Spirit, and so on.
Thomas was absent.
Maybe he had good reason to be absent.
We don't know.
But from the whole tenor of the passage,
it seems that he could have been there,
but for some reason wasn't.
And certainly when Jesus spoke to him on the second occasion,
he didn't speak to him roughly,
but he did speak to him critically
for not having believed the testimony of the disciples
who had seen him on that first occasion
of his appearing amongst them.
And you know, that's something that,
in simple terms,
but yet profoundly important,
that you and I can say of ourselves.
The fact that Christ has promised
to be present in the gatherings of his people,
the fact that Christ is present
in the preaching of the gospel,
the fact that faith comes by hearing,
as Roman 10 puts it,
and hearing by the word of God,
or the word of Christ,
that means that every gathering of God's people
where Christ has promised to be present
is important.
It's significant.
It's somewhere we should always intend to be.
It's something we should always approach
with the opinion,
with the view,
with the desire
to actually meet with Jesus
as he has promised to be
in the midst of his people.
That his Holy Spirit would bring us
by his blessing,
once again,
to meet with Jesus spiritually.
If we're not there,
it's not likely to happen.
And that's one of the sad things,
isn't it really?
In many ways,
it's a tragedy,
how few people around us
and how few people
even of our congregations
regularly come
to every occasion
where Christ is present,
where they can meet with Jesus,
where Jesus can speak to them
and show them the evidences
of his love,
of his death,
of his resurrection.
That's what the gospel
sets out for us.
That's why it's important
that you're here tonight.
Yes, you're here to worship
along with others,
and that worship includes
so many things
that are precious to us.
But we're here to listen to God.
You've not come here
to listen to me,
I hope.
You've come here to listen
to God speaking to you
through his word.
God taking the scriptures
and opening up your mind
and opening up the scriptures
for your mind
to receive them.
This is an important occasion.
And it's made important
by the fact
that you're coming into
the presence of the King.
that Jesus,
through the gospel,
is being presented
to you once again.
Whether it's the case
that we've not yet come
to trust in him,
or whether we've been
trusting in him
for many years,
we're still needy
of meeting with Christ tonight.
Meeting with him
as our Savior,
maybe for the first time,
hopefully,
if we've not done that yet.
But meeting with him
for the umpteenth time,
perhaps.
because we're always in need
of being nurtured
and guided
and taught
by Christ
through his presence,
through his Holy Spirit
in the gatherings
of his people.
So he was missing.
And he missed out
on what had happened
on that occasion.
But then you see
they come to see
the disciples' testimony,
verse 25,
when he came,
the other disciples
told Thomas,
who wasn't with them
when Jesus came
the first time,
the other disciples
told him,
we have seen the Lord.
But then he said
to them firmly,
unless I see
in his hands
the mark of the nails
and place my finger
into the mark of the nails
and place my hand
into his side,
I will never believe.
Now some people would say,
well, Thomas was quite right
surely to say that.
He wasn't prepared
to take anybody else's word
for it.
He wanted to see
Christ for himself.
And if Christ was really
risen from the dead,
was it all that wrong
for him to say
that he would not believe
unless and until
he saw him for himself?
Yes, it was wrong.
You can see that
from the rebuke
Jesus gave him.
Don't be disbelieving,
but believe.
In other words,
he should have listened
and accepted
the testimony
of his fellow disciples.
Why should they
be unreliable?
Why should they have
told him other
than the truth?
Why should he insist
unless he saw him
for himself,
he would not believe
their testimony
as to his resurrection
from the dead?
it was wrong of him
not to accept
their testimony.
And we should always
ourselves be open
to the testimony
of other people
who know the Lord.
Maybe they're from
very different backgrounds
to ours,
very different churches
to ours,
very different congregations
to ours.
But those who genuinely
sincerely know the Lord
and present the Lord
through their lives,
let's not doubt
the veracity
of their life.
Let's not doubt
the genuineness
of their testimony
unless there are other
things that make
that possible.
Here are people
who had seen the Lord,
who had heard the Lord,
who had been spoken
to by the Lord,
who came to Thomas
and said,
we have seen the Lord.
Now, I'm sure they said
more than what you find
there in verse 25.
That's just as the Bible
often does.
It really summarizes
what happened
in a few words.
You can't believe
that it's all
that they said
was,
we have seen the Lord.
They would have undoubtedly
explained to Thomas
how it was
they had seen him,
what they had actually
witnessed,
what he had said
to them.
They wouldn't have just
left it at,
we have seen the Lord.
That's not their way.
But for all of that,
Thomas refused
their testimony.
Thomas did not believe.
Thomas insisted
that he would have
to prove this
for himself
despite the testimony
of his fellow believers.
And so what happened?
Well, verses 26 and 27,
what you find essentially
is Jesus recreating
the event.
It's the same emphasis
in different ways,
same emphasis in many ways,
though there are differences,
where you find
in verse 26
that they were again
together
eight days later
and Thomas
was with them.
That's emphasized.
And
though the doors
were locked,
same as previously,
Jesus came
and stood among them
and said,
peace be with you,
just as he had done before.
And then he turned
and spoke to Thomas.
And when he's saying here,
peace be with you,
we're not going to go
into that,
but it is important
and it's important
that Jesus re-emphasized that
as we'll see probably
for Thomas' benefit
as well as the others
because they had heard it before.
When he says,
peace be with you,
he's really speaking
about what he has himself
done in order to bring
peace between themselves
and God.
It's the peace
of reconciliation,
the peace that he has
effected through the cross
and through his resurrection
from the dead.
He has provided them
with the ground
of their acceptance
with God in himself.
And that's why he's able
to say,
peace be with you.
May this peace
be your experience.
And what an important point
that is for us tonight
as well.
Isn't that what
the Lord is saying
to you and to me
through the gospel tonight?
Isn't he addressing you
and addressing me
with these same terms,
with these same words,
peace be to you?
Isn't he emphasizing
through the gospel
what he has done,
why he has done it,
who it's for,
and how it's important
for us to receive it?
Peace be with you.
The peace of God,
the peace of Christ,
the peace that has come
to be given to his people
instead of condemnation.
There is therefore,
as Paul said to the Romans,
no condemnation
to those who are
in Christ Jesus
there is no condemnation
to them.
In other words,
there's peace for them.
They are at peace with God.
They're in a relationship
with God
where peace is the central
facet of it,
where the previous
relationship
has been replaced,
and where there is now
no condemnation.
They are forgiven their sins.
There's peace
between them
and their God.
But moving on from that,
it's important to notice
that this event
was recreated,
as we've put it,
specifically for the benefit
of Thomas.
The Lord came
into this gathering,
and it's emphasizing
that Thomas
was there at the time,
and then after Jesus
had said,
peace be to you,
peace be with you,
he turned to Thomas
and said,
put your finger here
and see my hands,
and put out your hand
and place it in my side,
and don't be disbelieving,
but believe.
In other words,
Jesus had specifically
arranged this meeting
for whatever benefit
the other disciples
got out of it,
I'm sure they did,
but it was specifically
for Thomas.
His target was Thomas.
He aimed his words
at Thomas.
It was for Thomas' benefit
especially
that he came to re-emphasize
his resurrection
from the dead
and the peace with God
that he mentioned.
Now, isn't that interesting?
Isn't that significant?
Jesus didn't say
about this Thomas
like we might have said,
well, you've had your chance, boy.
You've had your chance.
We were here before.
Jesus came here previously.
You missed out on it.
That was your fault.
No, Jesus didn't say to him,
you could have been here last time,
but you missed out
on a very important event.
And therefore,
I can't say anything more
to you at this point.
No, he didn't do that, did he?
Because this is
the loving, kind Jesus.
The Jesus who takes account
of his people's faults
and his people's failures.
The Jesus who's not content
to leave us
in our own reluctance.
The Jesus who comes before us
in the gospel
and addresses us
and says,
don't be disbelieving,
but believe.
He came here
for Thomas' benefit.
He didn't pass him off.
He didn't say to him,
you've had your chance.
And so there's nothing more
to be said about it.
No, he's following it up.
And that's the same
for everybody here tonight.
If you've not yet come
to accept Christ
and believe in him
and trust in him
for your salvation,
be thankful tonight
that he's not passed you off.
That he's not saying
to you tonight,
you've had previous chances,
so I'm not going to speak
to you again.
You should have done this
the last time,
so therefore this time
it's different.
I have nothing else for you.
That's not the Jesus
we meet with in the gospel.
Jesus has come
through the gospel tonight,
through his spirit
to this place tonight
to speak to you,
to speak to me.
You might have passed him away
reluctantly to believe in him,
reluctant to believe in him.
You might have many times
refused in the past
to give your life over to him,
to trust in him,
to deliver your life
over into his hands.
But he's not left you.
You're here tonight
and he's speaking to you.
And he has something
to say to you.
And the very fact
that you're here means
he's not abandoned you.
He's not saying to you,
your chance is gone.
Your opportunity is past.
Thanks be to God.
We are a patient God.
A patient Savior.
A long-suffering Redeemer.
A God who does not pass us off
despite our failures
or for our failures.
Now that,
no way does that actually
validate the kind of thought
that says,
well, I'll have many
other opportunities then.
That's not why we're saying this.
That's not why it's in the Bible.
It's not here so that we can conclude,
well, because he came back to Thomas,
he's bound to come back to me
if I refuse him tonight.
He's going to come back to me.
I'll be here next week.
You might not be.
And even if you are,
you might never hear his voice again.
Don't guarantee yourself
a hearing with Jesus
if you turn away from him
when he's speaking to you.
He came here for Thomas' benefit.
He's here in the Gospel tonight
for your benefit.
And he's addressing you
as he did Thomas.
Oh, the kindness of Jesus,
friends,
is so amazing, isn't it?
He is so much
above ourselves
and different to ourselves.
How patient are we
with our fellow human beings?
How patient are we
even with our pets?
We get annoyed.
We're easily put off.
But Christ comes back
for Thomas' benefit.
And that's what's emphasized
for you tonight as well
through the Gospel.
So what does he say?
Jesus, first of all,
you see, he knew
what Thomas had said
or thought.
Thomas had said
before Jesus came in
the second time,
there was Thomas
with the other disciples
and Thomas saying to him,
unless I actually see
for myself
the mark of the nails
in his hands
and so on,
I will never believe.
Now, Jesus wasn't
physically present with them.
He came moments after that
into their company,
but he knew
what he had said.
He knew what Thomas'
mind had thought.
And he addressed him
exactly in accordance
with Thomas'
own words.
It was Thomas'
reluctance and refusal
to accept the testimony
of the disciples.
This is what he said.
Thomas,
put your finger here
and see my hands
and put your hand out
and place it in my sight.
These were the terms
that Thomas had refused him on,
refused the testimony on.
He said,
unless I see in his hands
the mark of the nails,
put my finger
into the mark of the nails,
place my hand into his side,
I will never believe.
And here is Jesus saying to him,
I heard you.
I heard what you said.
I know what you said.
And here I am.
And I am now commanding you
to do this.
You refuse to accept
the testimony
of your brother's disciples
on the previous occasion.
And you said,
well,
unless I happen to see his hand,
the mark of the nails,
I will never believe.
Well,
Thomas,
now you're seeing it.
What are you going to do now?
You see,
Jesus addresses exactly
the situation
Thomas himself
had brought about,
the words
that Thomas
had actually spoken of.
It's a marvelous thing
in the Bible,
isn't it,
to realize,
as it often says,
that nothing of our lives
is hidden from God.
None of our words
are hidden from God.
God,
whatever you're thinking
in your mind tonight
as this message goes forth,
God knows what you're thinking.
God knows your conclusions.
God knows what you're saying,
what you're thinking to yourself.
Nobody else knows it.
Nobody else sees
your words floating
above your head.
But God knows it.
Christ knows it.
He knows it exactly.
And while that,
in some ways,
might be disturbing to us,
and indeed,
there's a reason why
it should be disturbing to us
that God sees into our hearts
and sees the very processes
of our mind
and the words that we're using,
it's also immensely comforting,
isn't it,
when you come to actually
see your need
and express your need to God,
you're not coming to a God
who is ignorant
of your situation.
You're not coming to God
as one who has not read
your situation
and who needs to be told
by you what it's about.
He's ahead of you there.
And because He's ahead of you there,
He's more than able
to deal with the situation
you're in
and the condition of your soul.
Remember the woman
who had the hemorrhage of blood
in the Gospels,
Matthew chapter 5,
one version of it,
Matthew chapter 5,
verse 30.
She reached out
and she said to herself,
if I just touch the hem
of His garment,
I will be healed.
And so she reached out
and there was a huge crowd
jostling around
trying to see Jesus
and she reached out
amongst that crowd
and she touched
the hem of His garment
and immediately
she was cured
of the hemorrhage.
She knew in herself
that the hemorrhage of blood
had been cured,
had been stemmed.
And then remarkably,
Jesus said,
who touched me?
His disciples were amazed.
They saw the crowd around Him
and yet there He is asking,
who touched you?
Who touched me?
Well, the disciples
could have said to Him,
what do you mean
who touched you?
There are dozens of people
here who would have touched you.
Why do you want to know
who touched you?
Most of the people here
might have touched you,
those around you.
But Jesus, you see,
was thinking of
the one specific touch
that had touched Him
in a way no other touch
had at that moment.
the touch of faith,
the touch of trusting,
the touch of looking
for an answer
to her predicament.
And Jesus felt it.
Jesus knew it.
He knew it in Himself.
And that's still the case today.
But it's also the case
on the other side of the issue.
Your unbelief touches Him as well.
He's not unaware
of that unbelief,
as it were,
touching Him
as you express that unbelief,
as you live out
an unbelief in your life,
if that's the case.
Hopefully not.
But if it is,
that's registered with Jesus.
It's not hidden from Him.
And that's one of the reasons
you can be confident
in coming to Him.
Nothing is hidden from Him.
Every aspect of our life
is known to Him.
Every part of our need,
every element of our need,
from the smallest to the greatest,
registers with Him.
Whether it's faith
or unbelief,
but it touches the Savior.
He knows it.
He's aware of it.
And He speaks accordingly.
So Christ knew
what Thomas had said
and what he had thought.
And secondly,
in this recreation of the event,
Christ commanded Thomas
to touch Him
and to touch the evidences.
That's what He said,
as we read,
Reach out your hand.
Come and put your hand
into the mark of the nails.
And see my hands
and put your hand
and place it in my side.
Do not be disbelieving,
but believe.
He commands him
to touch the evidences
of Christ's own resurrection.
This is the very person,
the very Jesus who died
and was crucified on the cross
and whose body was buried.
And now He's saying to Thomas,
These are the evidences
of my death.
The evidences now
that I am risen from the dead
because they are the marks
of the death I died.
Now reach out and touch them.
And don't be disbelieving,
but believe.
It's a wonderful thing
that God provides us
with evidence
in order that we should believe.
Don't go by the ways
of the world
or the atheistic philosophies
of the world
that says,
you know,
you're telling us
you believe in Jesus.
You've never seen Jesus.
How can you believe
in somebody you've never seen?
How can you speak to somebody
and yet you've never seen Him
with your own eyes?
How can you trust in somebody
and trust your life to somebody
when you don't even know
that He exists physically?
You've never seen Him.
Well, we do see Him.
We do see the evidences
because the Bible
recreates them for us.
And because the Bible
is the Bible
and the Bible
is God's Word,
as you read this passage
and every other passage
in the Word of God
and every other passage
that gives you
such details as this,
it's bringing you
into that occasion
and is placing you there
as surely as if you had been
physically there
on the first occasion.
And so you can see
that tonight
God is presenting you
with the evidences
because they are there
written for you
in His Word.
And the evidences
that are there
are there for our believing
so that we will reach out
and touch the evidences
if you like
through receiving
the testimony
of the Word of God itself.
God doesn't lie.
Don't go along
with the idea
that the Bible
is just far,
far too old
for you nowadays
to believe in it
when the world
has moved on
in such a long way
so many ways
from the days
of the disciples.
You know,
when you come to ask,
well,
what does the Bible
say about this?
People say to you,
what does the Bible
have to say about this?
What does the Bible
have to say about that?
And before you actually
come to that question,
there's another question
that you need to ask
before that.
What is it?
What is the Bible?
Before you even ask,
what does the Bible say?
You have to begin
by saying,
what is the Bible?
What's the nature
of this book?
Who's the author
of this book?
Who wrote it?
Whose authority
is behind it?
Is it a reliable book?
Is it a book
you can trust in?
What is the Bible?
It is the Word of God.
It is God's testimony
to himself.
Then you can ask,
well,
what does it say?
And when you begin
with what the Bible is,
and then you go to
what does it say,
you're coming to a book
then that's authoritative
in what it says to you.
And it remains authoritative.
It remains a reliable book
and always will be
to the end of time.
It is God's Word.
It's God's revelation
of himself.
And I think in this day
and generation
that we belong to,
that's where we have to begin
our testimony to the world,
not in what the Bible says
so much as what the Bible is.
And why the Bible?
Why we believe the Bible
to be what it is.
The world's not going to
accept that testimony
without the blessing of God,
without hearts being open
to receive it,
but you can't leave that
out of it.
Well, here is tonight
what we're looking at
in this passage.
It is recreating it for us
and the Bible is reliable
in doing that.
And it's just as if
you are standing there
with the disciples
and with Thomas,
with the Lord before you
and the Lord speaking to you
and the Lord addressing you
and taking you out
from amongst the other disciples
and saying,
this is what I have to say to you.
And what did he say to him?
He said,
don't be disbelieving,
but believe.
Now, literally,
in the language that's used
in the New Testament,
literally we could translate
that as stop disbelieving
and believe.
In other words,
Jesus was instructing Thomas,
commanding Thomas,
to stop what he was doing,
which was disbelieving,
not accepting the truth
of what he had been presented
with by the disciples.
Stop disbelieving
and believe.
He said to him,
you have the testimony,
you see my side,
you've touched my side,
you see the marks
of my suffering,
my death,
the evidence of my resurrection,
I'm here myself.
Stop disbelieving.
are you here tonight unsaved?
Are you here tonight
and you've not yet accepted Christ?
Are you here tonight
and you're still lost,
as you were
when you came into the world?
Are you here tonight saying,
if only I had more evidence?
If only I had more to go on.
If only Jesus
were actually physically present
in front of me.
He is,
in a sense,
in the words of the Bible.
Because they're recreating for you
the very occasion
in which he spoke
these words to Thomas.
you have the evidences.
You have the evidence
of his resurrection.
The Bible
produces it for you.
And if you haven't come
to believe,
to believe trustingly
and savingly in Christ,
he is gently
but firmly
saying to you tonight,
stop disbelieving.
Stop what you're doing.
The evidence is there.
Why should you go on
disbelieving?
Why should you go on
not trusting in me?
Why should you not come
to give yourself over to me?
To be your Savior?
That's how he spoke to Thomas.
And for us,
the evidence is all laid out
for us in Scripture,
as we've said.
And so here is
his wonderful instruction
to us tonight as well.
And
he's not just speaking
to people who have not
yet come to trust in him
who are still unsaved.
He's speaking to you
and to me
as Christian believers.
Because there are many times
in our life
when we're guilty
of disbelieving
or reluctantly
accepting his word.
And he's saying to us as well,
stop disbelieving.
Trust me.
Trust in my word.
Trust what I'm saying to you.
And move on.
Don't stop where you are.
Don't stop as if there's nothing else
but just to stand there
questioning
and wondering.
Stop disbelieving
and believe.
And it's the same.
You're coming to have
another communion.
God willing,
next Lord's Day.
And as I've mentioned
many times
from this pulpit
and elsewhere,
we find many people saying,
as I said myself
at one time,
if only I had more evidence.
If only I had more
to go on.
If only I were living
back in the days
of the disciples,
it'd be much easier for me.
I could be much more
persuaded then
to come
and take my place
at the Lord's table.
It's not that I denounce him.
It's not that I don't believe
that he existed.
It's not that I refuse his word
or anything like that.
But I just wish
there was something else.
Well, what more do you want?
Don't you have him
speaking to you tonight
in the Bible?
Is that not word of Christ
in the Bible
as sure
as if he stood here
and you saw him
physically speaking to you
as he was with these disciples?
If the Bible is,
as we say it is,
the word of God,
he is speaking to you
and the word that he's
giving to you
to come and take communion
if you haven't done that before.
And I hope I'm presenting this
lovingly and not harshly.
But Jesus is saying,
here is my word to you.
Do this
in remembrance of me.
Do it.
Stop being disbelieving
and believe.
Do it
on the basis
of the truth
of my word.
So Christ knew him
and Christ commanded
and the time is gone.
But we're going to
just briefly look at
Thomas' confession of Christ.
My Lord
and my God
was his response.
Where you find
the deity of Christ
so clearly set out
and it's the clearest
as we said
really in the New Testament.
The lordship
that's confessed
there by Thomas
is a lordship
using these two words
my Lord
and my God.
Words that express
the way in which
God is
God,
the creator,
the sustainer
of the whole universe
but also the Lord,
the covenant Lord
of his people.
My Lord
and my God.
It is the complete
absolute lordship
lordship of Christ.
And how thankful
you and I should be
for that tonight.
That our saviour
is the master
of the whole universe.
That our saviour
is the Lord,
the God of his people,
the Lord of his people.
What does that mean?
It means
that there's no one else
that can look after
your life
the way he does.
And that's
for example
how Samuel Rutherford
put it at one time
one of Scotland's
greatest theologians.
When he was answering
in so many of his letters
the ways in which
people were asking
for advice
and so on
and confounded
sometimes
by what was happening
in the country.
He said
my faith
has no other bed
to rest upon
than omnipotence.
God the almighty,
the power,
the authority of God.
my faith
has no other bed
to rest upon
than omnipotence.
And isn't that
how it is
for you and I tonight?
Where is your faith
going to rest?
In omnipotence.
In the mastery
of Christ.
In the lordship
of Christ.
In the person
of Jesus
as Lord
and God.
and
you see
how personal
this is as well
to Thomas.
My lord
and my God.
It's personal
because
this Jesus
belongs
to Thomas
through the faith
that Thomas
is placing in him
and has placed
in him before now
but is now
being once again
registering with him
as a believer
where he says
my lord
and my God.
that possessive
pronoun
is so important.
My lord
and my God.
And how important
that is
for you
as well
as for me
tonight.
It's not just
that we believe
in the lordship
of Christ
in a general sense.
It's not just
that we believe
that Jesus
is lord
over the whole
universe
because that's
what the bible
says.
That's going
quite far
in the extent
of what you believe.
but it's further
and it's more
precious to say
my lord
and my God.
Can you say
that tonight?
Is he your lord?
Is he your god?
Does he belong
to you
as god
and lord
in your life?
Can you use
this expression
meaningfully
tonight of him?
My lord
and my God.
How precious
that is
that we can
see
of this
great
gigantic
enormous
authoritative
omniscient
all knowing
all powerful
God
lord
tonight
I'm thankful
I can say
you are
my god
you are
my lord
I possess
you by
faith
I've availed
myself of all
that is in you
and brought it
home to myself
it belongs
to me
as the song
of Solomon
puts it
where the
expression is
so often used
or was used
certainly in the
past
my beloved
is mine
and I
am his
and every
believer
tonight
can say
that
my beloved
is mine
Jesus
belongs
to me
and I
am his
I belong
to him
and
the passage
ends by
Thomas saying
my lord
my god
Jesus said
have you
believed
because you
have seen
me
blessed
are those
who have
not seen
and yet
believed
who are
they
who are
these people
Jesus refers
to as
those who
have not
seen
and yet
have believed
and so
are blessed
well they
are
everybody
who's
come to
believe
and trust
in him
from the
time that
he went
back to
heaven
to this
present
day
blessed
are those
who have
not seen
who have
not laid
physical
eyes
upon
Christ
but yet
believe
and Jesus
says
blessed
are they
they're
blessed
because
they've
come
to
trust
in me
they've
never
seen
me
physically
but they
know me
and I
know them
they are
my sheep
I am
their shepherd
and there's
a sense
in which
that's being
recreated
now here
in this
building
tonight
where
through
the gospel
Jesus
is addressing
us of
our need
to trust
in him
and
emphasizing
his own
qualities
for us
to do
that
and where
we are
here
in this
room
with
Thomas
as this
scene is
created
for us
the risen
Jesus
is standing
before us
in the words
of scripture
he's real
what is
our response
are you
tonight
saying
my
Lord
and my
God
let's
pray
Lord our
God
we give
thanks for
the gospel
and we give
thanks for
the gospel
and its
contents
and we
thank you
for especially
the way
it provides
us
with these
wonderful
truths
about
yourself
about
your
relationship
with your
people
the privileges
that they
have
the blessing
that is
theirs
even now
and the
blessings
that are
laid up
in store
for them
in the
heaven
that is
awaiting
them
we thank
you Lord
tonight
for all
that that
means
to your
people
we pray
for everyone
in this
building
tonight
oh Lord
you know
every heart
here
you know
the thoughts
of every
soul
you know
our relationship
with you
you know
our need
and we pray
that each of us
may come to
leave this place
tonight
trusting in the
Lord and
thankful
for the trust
that you have
given us
receive us
in our worship
cleanse us
from our sin
for Jesus
sake
Amen
our closing
psalm tonight
is psalm
145
the second
version of
psalm 145
page
444
we'll sing
verses 1
to 6
O Lord
thou art
my God
and King
thee will
I magnify
and praise
I will
they bless
and gladly
sing
unto
thy holy
name
always
psalm 145
on page
444
and these
verses 1
to 6
O Lord
thou art
my God
and King
O Lord
thou art
my God
and King
they will
magnify
and praise
who have
!
Each day I rise, I will be blessed, and praise thy name, thy will come, dare to be praised, and great for this.
His greatness, dark and complete end.
Great shall thy words face unto race, the mighty act sure done by thee.
I will speak of thy glorious grace, and honor of thy majesty.
Thy wondrous works I will report, I let the light shall be extol.
Of all thy dreadful acts, O Lord, and I thy greatness will unfold.
If you could kindly let me get to the main door, please, after the benediction.
Now may the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God the Father, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you now and evermore.
Amen.