The Gospel, according to John, is not written as some sort of a clinical, factual biography, merely. It is written as an urgent appeal to the reader to understand what God has done in human history and to appropriate that, to claim that for oneself. And so I would point out, if you're not familiar with these verses, John 20 and verses 30, two verses that really are the purpose statement of this book that I hope will be even more today read in their context. Jesus did many other signs. Remember, John has given us seven signs, and then the great eighth sign, which is the death and resurrection of Christ himself. many other signs in the presence of the disciples which are not written in this book. But these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing, you may have life in his name. So that's where we're going today. But I want us to see the context here. And so once again, we'll go back to chapter 20, verse 1. Now on the first day of the week, that is the first Sunday when Jesus was resurrected from the dead. And then I want to jump over to verse 24, sorry, verse 26, where it then says, eight days later, his disciples were inside again. And so this is the time when the disciples are gathering. 2nd Sabbath of the New Covenant. So I want to remind us today that from the very beginning, God's people gathered together. They did that in the beginning of Chapter 20, and then 8 days later they were back together. They were once again meeting together. Lo and behold, Jesus calls. So let's read this account of what happened here. John 20, beginning at verse 24. Hear the word of God. Now Thomas, one of the twelve, called the 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. Put your hand, 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. Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples which are not written in this book, but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in His name. This is the Word of God. We come today to this Second Lord's Day of the New Covenant, the second day of worship in light of the Resurrection of Christ. We have the Apostles gathered together, the Disciples, let me be precise, there in verse 26. And it says that Jesus came and stood among His disciples once again. There was another God sighting. Depending on how you count them, I think there are 12 unique events in the New Testament, some described from different perspectives, but where Jesus and was physically present as the resurrected Christ among His disciples. To grasp the significance of this day, we need to see our doubting selves in the life of the Apostle Thomas. This man would go on to faithfully proclaim the Gospel, Early tradition is to be believed in places including Arabia and India, possibly as far as Indonesia. But on this day, God graciously accommodated his seeing-is-believing mindset. I want to challenge us today to hear and believe Christ's promise, blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed. We'll look at this passage today in terms of the different people involved. First of all, I want us to see that the disciples were blessed to see. Jesus says this in verse 29. Blessed are, because you have seen me, there is a blessing to those who saw. I want you to just kind of let your eye wander back over this text. In verse 27, Jesus says to Thomas, see by hands. I want you to see back in verse 25, we have seen the Lord. This event that they're testifying to is described then back in verse 20. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord. And you can, in fact, just go backwards all the way through chapter 20 and see at least 12 times that there is seeing involved. It's amazing. Mary saw the stone roll away. She knew something was up in the garden. Peter saw the linen cloths. John saw the details, he describes it in greater detail in the early part of this chapter, and he says, and he believed. Mary saw two angels, then she saw Jesus standing, but without knowing Him. Then Mary testifies, first, I witnessed the resurrection, I have seen the Lord. The disciples that saw Jesus and were glad, And then we have this very interesting little tidbit in verse 24. Now Thomas on the twelfth, called the twin, was not with them when Jesus came. Thomas, I'm pretty sure this is your God. Now you're not a twin, but this is your God. I want you to think about, what, where was Thomas? Why did Thomas miss church on the first Lord's Day of the New Covenant? What was going on? I don't know. Could this be a deed of necessity that was entirely appropriate for Thomas to be gone? It could be. Could it be that Thomas was struggling deeply with his faith and needed some time by himself? pulled away from the body of Christ when we really, really need in times of grief and sorrow and confusion. He missed the opportunity to experience the real-time ministry of Christ. So on one hand today, I want us to see the parallel between what is happening in this place, at this time, and our worship today. First day of the week, the disciples gather together, and there is a sense in which we see Jesus and are glad. But I also want to stress the discontinuity. This is something that would be terrifying. It took a little while for the people to get used to Jesus showing up, following, and to realize that Jesus is still carrying into His body the marks of His passion. Notice what it says here. Thomas is very specific. Unless I see into His hands and place my finger into the mark of the nails, and place my hand into His side, I will never believe. In fact, that's the second point this morning. Thomas would never believe unless he saw. Thomas would never believe unless he saw. It's interesting for us to think about how Thomas turns the tables. He reframes the question. Notice that Jesus has been quietly, in surprising ways, in times that the apostles are not. Trying to create some pious fraud. He keeps showing up. And they have to tell him, hey, guess what? He showed up to be over here. And he showed up to be over here. Well, maybe those were hallucinations. Maybe those were people because we really felt the spiritual presence of Jesus. And you need to deal with some of those things that are going on in this passage, and even more so, I think, Luke is writing with attention given to the skeptic of Luke 24. But Jesus is coming near. He's coming near to those who will be His witnesses, who will testify morally, and maybe even more importantly, in the big picture of what God is doing, who will write. Do you see that those who could see, that group was limited. Jesus showed up a finite number of times, and he's always telling them, I have to return to my father. The reason we don't get to see him is for the same reason we don't get to see, with our eyes, the president of the United States very often. He lives far away. He's protected. He has things to do. It's interesting. Though to see now Thomas, in verse 25, reframe things. No longer is he a believer, a disciple of Jesus struggling and longing to see, but now he takes the whole faith into his own hands. And he says, unless I see in his hands the marks of the nails, unless I am, and now it's on his terms, and then notice that general statement at the end of verse 25, I will never believe. Friends, this is where something cracks in us. This is where, now, instead of the creature crying out for life from God, for sight of God, now the creature decrees to the Creator. But notice that Christ does not leave him there. In fact, it's somewhere between the first Lord's Day of the New Covenant and eight days later, verse 26, the second Lord's Day, that that conversation took place. Thomas said he would never believe unless he saw. This is not faith-seeking sight. This is human demand decreeing the mission. Thomas would never believe unless he saw. Now, think with me for a second. Who is Thomas? Who is Thomas? He's one of those twelve. According to Acts chapter 1, there is a very specific criteria for who could be one of those twelve. Now, they're not thinking in these terms right now, but they're going to be very soon. In order To be one of those witnesses, you had to be physically present in Jesus' ministry from the baptism of John until, one more part here, in Acts chapter 1 we see the ascension. And so unless you saw that whole ministry of Christ, you were not qualified to be a apostle. Thomas is one of those guys. So first we have to ask the question, Thomas, where did you go? What was so important that you missed meeting your Messiah? The one that you have been set apart to testify to. The second one, I want you to notice, that God accommodates Thomas' struggles. Lest 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. So eight days later, notice they're inside again, they're gathered together, and Thomas was with them. Something had changed over the course of this week. Was it the testimony of the disciples? We have seen the Lord. Maybe, just maybe, He'll come again. But whatever it was, suddenly, they're gathered together. Notice it says again, the doors were locked. And Jesus came and stood among them. This is now point number three. Jesus accommodated Thomas' skepticism. What I find humorous about this point is that there's really only one thing that is talked about at this meeting. Now I'm sure many other things happened. I don't know how long Jesus was in the room with them. But what I know is that it seems things went very quickly. He stood among them and said, peace be with you. Now probably that's a way of describing a service of worship, describing things and him telling them in things. But verse 27 talks pretty quick. Peace be with you now, Thomas. And suddenly, Jesus is on a mission. Can you imagine this? I'm going to do this. I don't do this very often, but since we have one Thomas here today. Thomas, I didn't warn you of this. I just want you to imagine Jesus, the point is the bodily presence of Christ. And here's Thomas, not expecting Jesus to show up. And so, Jesus comes near to Thomas. And then what does he do? Okay? You won. Kind of close. Kind of weird. And here, probably his wrist, right? Remember? The nails probably did not go through the palms of his hands. That's Hollywood. Probably went through his wrist and then is stuck between the two bones that come together in the wrist. And so probably pulling back the robes of his... the sleeves of his robe, he says. Go ahead. Now one thing the text specifically does not tell us is whether or not Thomas did it. I'm not giving you the chance because there's nothing there anyway. But I want you to think about what Jesus is in fact doing here. He is in fact building right before our eyes. He's saying, Thomas, I've chosen you to be an eyewitness to the reality of my Gospel. You were AWOL, but now I'm catching you up. Let's get on with it. You know, I think Thomas was probably going through a crisis of man. I think that the plan that he had seen in his mind of Jesus now, you know, shooting fire out of his eyeballs and suddenly being mighty and destroying the Romans, hadn't come to pass. He hadn't counted on Jesus on a cross, Jesus in a tomb. and therefore he missed Jesus' risen from the dead. But on subject number two, Jesus accommodates Thomas' skepticism. Now, this is unique. There were a very small number who were his designated representatives in the world. They are called apostles. There were certain things that you had to be committed to in order to be an apostle. Apostles are not for today. Do you see how Jesus is equipping Thomas with what he needs to be an eyewitness? Don't you see what Jesus says to Thomas? He says, do not disbelieve, but believe. That is, Jesus understands that disbelieving is just as much of a choice as believing. Those who have doubts, who have not seen And yet will take the step of faith, or less, according to Jesus. Okay, you struggled to believe some of the claims of the Bible. Struggling faith, rather than hardening your heart and taking to yourself the prerogatives of the Creator. Do you see how Jesus is appealing to Thomas? Do not disbelieve, but believe. Okay, I understand you don't see it all yet. And you don't see it, again, for us in our day, we don't see it the way we would like to see it. Do not disbelieve. Thomas' overwhelming answer that simply blows the theologian's mind. He says, my Lord and my God. Not only is Thomas persuaded of the resurrection of the Christ, not only is Thomas persuaded of the marks In his body from the cross, he's persuaded of the divinity of Christ. Notice, Thomas is not just saying to heaven, my Lord and my God. Thomas answered him. He's speaking to Jesus. My Lord, my God. Thomas was privileged to see Him. He did believe. Again, it's been touching for me, as I've interacted with Pakistani Christians, to hear them talk with great fondness and reverence about the Thomas Christians in southwestern India, even to this day, who treasure and are loved to share with anyone who will listen The evidence they have that Thomas did, in fact, come to India in the first century. In fact, my friend Nani, he came to our church a number of years ago. He's in the church plant in Bangalore. He grew up in Chennai, on the southeastern coast of India, which is a place where, according to tradition, Thomas was killed for the same crimes. He was buried. A number of years ago, there was forensic work that was done in Chennai on the veracity of this claim. And it seems there's no solid proof, but it seems to check out circumstantially. It's very interesting. to consider that this man, who was such a doubter, there's a reason we call him Doubting Thomas. Thomas, don't doubt, but believe. Don't disbelieve, but believe. But that this man went on because Jesus needed him to be an eyewitness. John was there. Peter was there. These who would serve for the rest of their natural lives as eyewitnesses, telling the news to anyone who listened. That brings us then to verses 29 through 31, point number four. We cannot see, yet we believe. I want to ask the question, why? Why are we in the same place, we who believe, why are we in the same place as Thomas, but we have not seen him? Look again at verse 29. Hear the heart of Christ. He says to Thomas, but he's saying to all of his listeners that we believe because you have seen me. Blessed are those who have not seen, and yet have believed. Blessed are those who don't have the advantage that you have of sight, the evidence of the resurrection, and yet have believed. And you see how John is using this. This is the wind-up. Before the home run is hit, this is the wind-up. He's stepping back on his back foot and he's ready because now he has something he wants to tell the reader in verse 30. Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples. What does he have in mind here? Well, he describes eight specific miracles in the Gospel of John. It's not that there's nine or ten. He's going to tell us in a little bit. I suppose the whole world wouldn't be able to contain the books that would need to be written. Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book. These are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing, you may have life in His name. See, friends, God gave us two eyes to see the things that are in front of our faces. But God gave us two ears to hear things that happen far from us, either far away physically, or far away in time. Notice that God gave you two of your eyes. He also gave you two of your ears. The demand to see is the demand, you must do this in my presence. The demand to hear is the message must be spoken. Blessed are those who have not seen, but have heard, and so can believe. By the way, the irony is, if you're reading, not hearing orally, as you are right now, but those of you who have your Bible open in front of you, you're seeing, not the event itself, but verse 31. These are written so that you may believe. Can you see Christ? in His Word. Can you see the beauty and the glory of a Christ who can't stay dead? There is a need to see. I understand that. I'm sympathetic to that. But what we can't do is what Thomas did, unless you come onto my turf and fulfill my arbitrary demand for physical evidence that I can see and touch. Jesus doesn't do that as far as I know. He did for Thomas, one of the twelve apostles. But friends, there is a need for us to seek. with a knowledge that's deeper than our eyeballs. We need to see by hearing. We need to see by reading. The church is built on the foundation of the apostles who were there and who testify in a whole variety of ways to the reality of the things that they saw and that they heard. So why have we not seen it yet after we leave? The answer is, because others have seen it. Jesus has reclaimed Thomas as one of his eyewitnesses, tasked to bear witness to the reality of what he had seen by telling about it with his words. I want you to notice that John is beginning to land the plane here. He has one other big historical event. Again, no one else had written about this. We're going to see seven disciples in chapter 21. John is really focused on this number seven and has used it again and again throughout his gospel. But I want you to see that even as John is describing these apostles, he's using the term that he's used throughout this whole book. John is not emphasizing, oh, there were these 12 special guys in a category all by themselves, and you'll never be one of those. No, he's lumping them in with the disciples. We'll learn in Acts chapter 1, just a page over, that at this time, After the resurrection of Christ, after the ascension of Christ, in the whole world, there were about the same number of disciples as there are on the walls of this church. Think about that. There were 120 disciples in Jerusalem. Now, there were probably others scattered around. But in terms of those who were now organized, who were now committed to bearing witness to the resurrected Christ. There were 120 of them in the world. Yet they had been given a task by their Master. It was their delight to bear witness. And in fact, even as I studied this week, I thought, verse 28, Thomas was like, now Peter, I want you to quote me right. I didn't just say, my Lord who has been raised from the dead, oh Jesus, you will live forever. No, I said that day, my Lord and my God. Get that right, John, when you tell this story. That was a blazing on the mind of an eyewitness. Someone came to grips with the fact. That what he longed for was in fact true. That God had come near to his people. That he had touched them from heaven. That there was a hope that lasted, not only in his life, but also in the life of God. You have a need to see, I get it. You have a need to see with your eyeballs, but understand that there is a deeper knowledge. If I could give you the access to the eyewitness stuff, I happily would, but Jesus clearly hasn't. He wants us to believe through the testimony of the eyewitnesses, because they are the foundation of the Church. Acts 2.42, they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching. The apostles are now a central role. They play a central role. And I would remind us that that's the role that Protestants honor when we faithfully read and preach the Word of God. This message has been entrusted to the Church generation after generation, the Bible has been reviewed, it's been analyzed and evaluated in light of the original documents, in light of the earliest copies that we have. We need to see that it is through the testimony of the apostles that Jesus' resurrection, and indeed, in just a few pages, is essential. are seen and testified to. With conviction. With conviction leading to confession. With hope resulting in evangelism. The church growing. Being loud at some level about the message that Jesus is alive. He is risen. He saw last week, He is risen indeed. Let's pray. Father in heaven, how do we thank you for accommodating the need for Thomas to see you. And Lord, some of us here long to see you. But Lord, there are many things that are true that we cannot see. Lord, it seems that in your wisdom you have submitted this message to the world in the form of eyewitnesses who have then proclaimed that message. Lord, it's through the foolishness of preaching to the foolishness of writing that people discover who Jesus really is. Thank you, Lord, that here believers are, in fact, part of Jesus' Kingdom. It's already here, but it's not yet here in its fullness. We have been given a down payment, a guarantee of the inheritance that makes in heaven for us, and yetward we must retain to Him. It's not an easy belief, is it? It's a call to walk by faith. Lord, someday I'll faithful myself. And I've heard this provocation. It's with you today. This faith is set. I would call all sinners together.