The Men God Chooses and Uses: Matthew and Thomas

Let's pray together Lord, you are so good to allow us this one brief opportunity to examine your word And I pray Lord that what we hear today from you from your text would enable us to realize Your great and wonderful salvation and the ministry you have for all of us That Lord we might live for the glory and honor of our God. We pray in Jesus name Amen Turn with me in your Bible to Luke chapter 6 Luke chapter 6 is where we are in our study of this great gospel.

We have been at it for several weeks So we're gonna get back into it this morning. Let me read it to you Once again, it's a text that we've been covering for basically eight weeks Not the previous eight weeks, but eight total weeks up till this point It reads as follows Luke 6 verse number 12 And it was at this time that he went off to the mountain to pray And he spent the whole night in prayer to God and when day came he called his disciples to him and chose 12 of them whom he also named as apostles Simon whom he also named Peter and Andrew his brother and James and John and Philip and Bartholomew and Matthew and Thomas James the son of Alphaeus and Simon Who was called the zealot?

Judas son of James and Judas Iscariot who became a traitor This has been our text for several weeks. We have covered six of these Apostles We're going to continue with two more today three next week spend a couple of weeks on Judas Iscariot So we understand all about apostasy and what that means but we have been looking at the men that God specifically chooses for ministry and As we have studied these men we've come to realize that God Didn't choose any of the religious elite of his day There are no rabbis here.

There are no Sadducees. There are no Pharisees. There are no scribes These are just normal common everyday men That God would choose among the many that followed him Among the many so-called disciples he would choose Twelve of them and we have told you in our study that as you examine these men you begin to see your life in each Of them, maybe there are certain characteristics that stand out more to you than others But we will all see ourselves in one listen one of the twelve not just one of the eleven But one at least one of the twelve that includes Judas Iscariot, we'll talk more about that in a couple of weeks But you need to understand that these men men that God chose he called to himself and Men that would be the ones who would begin the Church of Jesus Christ men who have names written in the eternal city men whom we will always Know and remember throughout eternity because of their great sacrifice for the kingdom of God So these become our heroes the heroes of the faith These are the kind of people we need to emulate the kind of people we need to follow And so we try to look at the characteristics of each of them so that we can come to grips with what God did in Their life how God transformed their lives and made them into the kind of people he wants them to be Have you ever thought about the people of the Bible?

The people that God has chosen We think of certain characters. We think of men like Moses. Moses was the greatest leader in the history of Israel Moses to this day is Israel's national hero David's a hero but Moses is that national hero that great leader of the Israelites And yet this man was a man who thought he was qualified for ministry God had called him into ministry. God called him for from a bush that burned and spoke to him But you know when he first realized that he had the opportunity to lead Israel out of bondage He went to the nation and presented himself as their leader And they didn't accept him and it took God 40 years to break that man on the backside of the desert 40 years he was educated in the finest schools known to man The Egyptian culture was a wise culture This man was an expert leader.

He was nixed in line to be the Pharaoh This man had all the human characteristics of what it meant to be the greatest of all leaders And yet when it came time for him to be used for God's purposes he wasn't qualified Why Because in God's ministry, you can't go in with your own intellect You can't go in in your own power. You can't go in with your own ideas your Innovative creative means by which to accomplish what you believe are God's purposes God uses people who have been broken over their sin God uses people who have been shattered in their soul The Bible says that a broken and contrite heart God will not despise to this man Why look Isaiah 66 to to him who is broken and of a contrite spirit and who trembles at my word?

See Moses wasn't there yet So God took him to the back side of the desert and he broke his life he shattered his life and helped him realize that everything he had been he had learned and been trained in Although it was good. It would not be sufficient to lead God's people He needed to depend upon his God. He needed to wait upon his God. He needed to have a relationship with the Living God that would Affect his relationship with the people of God And so God caused him to realize on the backside of the desert what it would take to be the kind of leader So when God finally appears to him in the burning bush Moses says I'm not qualified.

I can't do it I can't speak. I can't lead. I'm not the guy there's got to be somebody else He gives all these excuses if you're with us in our study of Exodus, you know about all the excuses that that Moses gave But yet God used that man in a great in mighty way Folks God wants to use you. He wants to use me and He wants us to study the Apostles so we can begin to see how it is. God breaks men How he causes them to to rely upon him and to depend upon him. We've told you over and over again You know, the Christian life is unlike any other kind of life.

It's not normal You can't explain it in terms of the normal that's because it's a supernatural life It can only be explained in terms of the spiritual the abnormal because it's God at work in you both to will and to do of his Good pleasure and so God chooses men that he can mold Into the image that he wants them to be so that he can be used through them and in them so that others will hear the truth of the gospel and Today we come to that seventh Apostle Matthew and that eighth Apostle Thomas and we're gonna help you understand these men in a way that maybe you've never seen them before have we studied Matthew before Yes, we have and so we're not going to go into great details about him because we learned about Matthew in Luke chapter 5 But we're gonna help you understand a little bit about Thomas We're gonna help you see Thomas from a different perspective than what you normally look at Thomas And then when we leave here today, hopefully you'll leave saying you know what?

I know now how God wants to use me I know what God wants to do in my life so I can be used for his glory and for his honor Apostle number seven is Matthew gift of Jehovah Great man a great man and I want you to notice three things about Matthew Three things today that will help us understand this one individual Three things that once we begin to see we will understand what it is.

God wants from each of us today Think of with me about Matthew for a moment. He wrote the first book of the New Testament the gospel of Matthew Think about this he quotes the Old Testament 99 times in his gospel More than Mark Luke and John combined But you didn't know that did you 99 times he quotes the Old Testament more than Mark Luke and John Combined that's very important to understanding Matthew It's very important to understanding this man who is sitting at a tax table outside of Capernaum and the Lord walks by after healing a paralyzed man and says Matthew Follow me and he immediately gets up and follows Christ and never looks back again This man is an example of true conversion He's an example of what it means to follow Christ Listen and to forsake your former life a Lot of people today they they want to come to Christ, but they're not willing to forsake their present lifestyle Matthew was one who would forsake his present lifestyle Turn me your Bible to Matthew chapter 9 We're gonna look at this account because we looked at Luke's account when we studied Luke chapter 5 number of months ago So we're gonna go to Matthew chapter 9 this morning Help you understand three aspects of this man Matthew Number one and it says in verse number 9 and as Jesus passed on from there.

He saw a man called Matthew sitting in the tax office and he said to him follow me and he arose and Followed Him one verse is all Matthew comments About himself Just one verse It's all he says in that the only account we have of Matthew doing anything Is recorded in this story in Matthew chapter 9. It's also in Mark 2 Luke 5 That's the only story we have We have no other understanding of this man other than he was a tax collector Jesus called him And he followed him He wrote the first gospel and never talks about himself Never does in fact if you read the gospel account, he never says anything Never makes a comment Never asks his question And to me that speaks volumes about Matthew Three things I want you to see number one.

This man was broken Broken over sin This man was broken over sin How do we know that we know that by virtue of the fact that this man when called Immediately left everything and followed Christ You see Matthew knew the Old Testament, how do we know he knows knows the Old Testament Matthew's a tax gatherer tax gatherers cannot go to the temple That's why in Luke chapter 18 you read about the Pharisee and the publican and the Pharisee was at the temple And the publican was at a far distance from the temple Because they can't get to the temple because they are excluded from that life Matthew was a Jew we know that and yet he was excluded from life in the temple He was excluded from learning the truth about God he could not enter the synagogue You see it's important to realize that this man Matthew was a student of the Old Testament As a jew he knew about messiah He knew about messiah coming He knew about the characteristics of messiah.

He had heard the stories that everybody else had heard About this man jesus of nazareth Who had performed miracle after miracle after miracle after miracle? And here was matthew Sitting at his tax office and that tells us a little bit about matthew It tells us what kind of tax collector he was if you recall in our study of luke 5 we told you that there are two two Categories of tax gatherers one was a goodbye and the other was a mochus And the goodbye were the guys who enforced income tax property tax those kinds of things But the mochus they were the ones who were with you face to face and there were Great a great mochus and a little mochus Great mochus was because they had the money and the opportunity to hire the little mochus underneath them They didn't want to come face to face with the jewish people because a tax gatherer was bought by rome to take taxes from jewish people So the jews hated him Matthew was a despicable person Everybody hated matthew Nobody liked matthew You ever been there?

Maybe that's you today Nobody likes you everybody hates you that that was matthew. I mean nobody wanted to associate with him except other tax gatherers other sinners other low life But normal kind sweet gentle people didn't want to be around matthew And he would set up his his tax office in the streets and he would tax people on anything. He would choose to tax them on And they'd have to pay because if they didn't then matthew had the money to hire the thugs to go To your home and pay you a visit So you had to pay They hated him all the more He was a little mochus.

We know that because the bible says Outside of capernaum according to mark's account. He was sitting at his tax table And only the little mochus would set their tax tables up in the streets And they would encounter people face to face and say what is it you have there? Oh, you know what? We're going to be taxed. You're going to be taxed on that This is how much money you owe because you're carrying that item And so people would would begin everybody like you're going to work and someone's stopping you say what are you carrying?

Oh, you can't carry that in the office. That'll cost you You'll get a little resentful after a while. That was matthew And yet this man when encountering jesus christ goes to him and says matthew Follow me This man was sick of his sin He was sick of his lifestyle He was sick of how he would abuse people He was sick and tired. He had all the money. He could possibly want. He was a rich man Why because in luke's account in mark's account? He throws a party right after this in his house So he's got a pretty big house.

He's got enough money to invite people to throw a party for christ. This man had money It wasn't like he was uh poor He had money because he would take money from people And yet he that money didn't buy him happiness Didn't give him joy Didn't offer him contentment And yet when christ came In the piercing eyes of the savior encountered his eyes. He says matthew I want you to follow me this man Was broken over sin How do we know that well, we know that in matthew 10 when he lists the apostles he is the only apostle listed With his occupation matthew the tax gatherer He reiterates the fact that he Is part of the low life And that's why I believe he never says anything You ever met those people who come to christ and they always have a testimony They're always talking about their life and it's always more about their life than it is god's life You ever met those kind of people they're on tv a lot They talk about their their former way of life and all the things they were in and what they did and where they went Yada, yada, yada, and then at the end they tack on the fact that jesus found them and jesus saved them But it's all about them and all about their life.

Matthew doesn't write about himself That's why there's no comment about matthew in the bible He was so overwhelmed that a savior Would come to him And rescue him from his low life his life of sin He knew he was a lost man He he was waiting for the coming of the messiah and and and when the messiah finally came He knew who jesus was because he had heard all about the messiah and christ says matthew I want you to follow me and matthew got up and luke's account says he forsook everything And followed christ folks That's genuine salvation That's conversion Conversion involves a forsaking of my former sinful life And that was matthew And because he is completely silent until one day the spirit of god Compels him to pick up a pen and to write the gospel That emphasizes the king of kings The gospel of matthew was not the monarchy the royalty of the king But he never says anything Until the spirit of god compels him to write the gospel of matthew See this was a man who was humble He was broken over his sin he knew That he was far from god and and he needed salvation And that's why he would leave his tax table behind which leads us to number two Not only was he broken over his sin, but he believed in christ as his savior He believed in christ as his savior He was he was serious about sin and He was strong in his belief about christ's savior That's what caused him to forsake everything I mean what causes a man to say?

You know what lord i'm done I'm gonna follow you I am done with my present lifestyle. I'm done with all the things I used to do I realize that everything i've tried Is not working I realize that I can't save myself. I realize that my good works mean absolutely nothing I realize that i'm wretched. I am a sinful person And I can't save myself lord. I need you And that's what compelled matthew to follow christ I mean when christ came He preached the gospel to the poor the blind the downtrodden and the prisoners Why Because those are the people who need a savior Now everybody needs a savior, but those are the only ones who recognize they need a savior And that's why when christ came people despised him.

I mean think about this You're a part of the religious elite and there's this great religious explosion taking place in your country And you're not a part of it You begin to get a little bit offended You begin to take issue with this one called jesus the messiah And then he chooses these 12 men and as a religious person, you're not a part of those 12. How would you feel? This can't be a true religious experience This can't be something that's really truly from god because we are god's people. We are the pharisees.

We are the scribes We're the rabbis and we're the teachers of the law and we are not chosen But those fishermen from galilee They're chosen this task gatherer He was chosen this zealot simon He was chosen But we're not And when christ preached he preached the gospel to the poor and the blind the broken Because those are the ones who needed and knew they needed a savior And so there was great animosity against christ in his ministry and matthew was the one who believed strongly That jesus was the messiah That's what caused him to get up and forsake everything because you see it wasn't like a fisherman wasn't like peter philip nathaniel Guys who who could go back to their fishing business james and john their their dad zebedee He he he had a great fishing business If it didn't work out for jesus They could always go back to dad And they could always go back and have a job, right?

But matthew if he left his tax table He could not go back the next day to the tax table Because rome would have another person sitting there and matthew would not be allowed to come back So when he left He was serious He was serious about following christ That's why he forsook everything and the bible emphasizes that he forsook all and followed christ because when you follow christ You have to forsake all or you're not truly following christ You might say you're following christ But you're not You're going to forsake that sinful past You're going to leave it behind because you know that all it did was cause you to be at enmity with god And matthew he realized wow jesus Is calling me And and this man had a tremendous tremendous burden For souls, that's point number three.

He was broken over sin He believed in christ a savior And he had a burden for the lost souls of man How do we know that? Well over in in luke's account in luke 5 it says these words about this man matthew Verse 29 and levi which is another name for matthew Most of the apostles had two names most jewish people have two names And levi gave a big reception for him in his house And there was a great count of tax gatherers and other people who were reclining at the table with him The pharisees and their scribes began grumbling at his disciples saying why do you eat and drink with tax gatherers and sinners?

And jesus answered and said to them it is not those who are well who need a physician But those who are sick I have not come to call the righteous but sinners To repentance You see that was an indictment against the religious establishment He goes I didn't come to call the righteous person I didn't come to call people who think they are right with me I came to call people who know They are not right with me and they need a savior Those are sinners They recognize they're far from god They recognize that their sin has separated from them from their god and they cry out to me Those are the ones I have come to call And it's it's not you who are righteous who Think you're righteous christ speaks in sarcasm.

He's saying, you know, you think you're righteous, but you're not You're just not In order to be righteous. You got to see yourself as a sinner Because once you see yourself as a sinner, I will impute my righteousness to you and then you will be righteous before me But if you don't see yourself as a sinner, you'll never be right before god And that's where the apostles were and that's why they were right with god That's why matthew was right for god, but you see imagine you had a burden for souls That's how you know, he was genuinely saved.

He wanted to introduce other people to jesus Now think about that He was the man who was broken over his sin Because he would immediately respond to the call of christ. He was tired of his life And he had a belief that christ was a savior or he wouldn't have followed him and forsaken everything else And the immediately he he gathers all of his thugs together all of his his his low life together all the riffraff together has a party Because he's got all this money, but he's got to introduce him to jesus He's got a burden for the lost souls of man That's how you know.

Matthew was truly converted. He had a burden for those who didn't know christ And if christ can save him He can save anybody So he invites all of his friends who are far from god and says let me talk to you about this man jesus Let him talk to you.

Let him see you hear what he has to say Folks one of the things that we need to realize is that when we are truly converting converted We have a burden for the souls the lost souls of men And I got to ask you do you have that kind of burden Are you telling your family about christ? Are you telling your your friends about christ? Are you telling those closest to you about christ those you work with about christ? Do you have a burden for their soul? Matthew did because you see he had been redeemed from so much He had given his life to christ christ was all he had see christ was all he had And when christ is all you have he is so valuable to you you want to introduce him to other people Are you do you have a burden for people you say listen, I need you to come and invite you to hear about my savior I want you to come to church with me.

I want you to hear about christ my savior because he saved my soul from sin He can save your soul from sin as well. I want you to come and I want you to hear about jesus my lord I want to introduce him to you a burden for the souls the lost souls Of men, you know, I marvel at the the people in our church who go door to door every saturday I have high respect for them Because they take time away from the family They take time away from the things they would normally do on a saturday And go door to door to tell people about christ That's a very valuable ministry Before Or when I first came to california, I was an associate pastor in a church called calvary church of santa anna It's in orange county And uh, I was asked to come and be an associate pastor there In the area of discipleship and evangelism and ultimately family ministries.

I was there for about five years When I got there, I was reporting it to a man who was a an associate pastor. His name was don richardson And he was a man who had an absolutely incredible testimony Don richardson worked with the italian mob in chicago And one day on a saturday There were two old ladies who came knocking on his door And an apartment complex in the inner city of chicago Two old ladies who were visiting someone who had visited their church but went to the wrong door They went to don's door instead And they knocked on the door and said hey we are So and so and I am so and so and we're from this church and we just want to thank you for coming and visiting our church last sunday Don was irate He was a staunch roman catholic He would never enter the doors of a protestant church And he was irritated that people would come to visit him at his door He began to swear he began to curse and ran those two old ladies off But they came back next saturday They knocked on his door again And they said, you know, we were here last week and we know that you weren't really pleased with us and and yet We want to tell you about christ Want to tell you about jesus our lord We we felt burdened for your soul And they began to present the gospel to him and when don tells a story Don tells a story don has now gone home to be with the lord.

He died in the in the mid-90s Uh, but he told he told the story with tears in his eyes how the gospel would penetrate his hard heart And as they talked about sin And as they talked about him being separated from god, he could not believe That these two old ladies Would stand there face to face with him unafraid You see don had killed several people for the mob He was a hitman He was in the gambling ring He wasn't afraid of anybody But everybody was afraid of him except these two old ladies Who were unafraid?

They had no idea who don richardson was But they wanted to tell him about christ He was taken back by their boldness By their strength and as he began to share the gospel god shattered his heart He gave his life to christ And god turned his life around You see it doesn't make any difference what your background is. It doesn't make any difference what sin you have committed God will save your soul God will save the sinner because that's what saviors do and god is a savior And matthew was a was a terrible sinner But like all of us we're all Terrible sinners we tend to categorize certain sins and and categorize certain people say well i'm not that bad In fact, i'm pretty good compared to those people over there, but in the eyes of god, you're all in the same boat And that's the boat going to hell Because you're a sinner And your sins separate you from god and yet like don matthew realized That boat Was destined to hell He gave his life to the messiah Forsook all And followed him don richardson forsook all And followed christ He couldn't remain in his present lifestyle the lifestyle of of of the gambling casinos and how he would Abuse people and how he would murder people and how he would rob people of their of their money.

He couldn't do that anymore He had to turn his life around But he couldn't do it himself God did it in him That's what god does I can do with matthew. He turns your life around Ask yourself Are you broken over your sin? Do you believe that jesus is the only savior of your soul? Do you have a burden for the lost souls of men? That's what matthew teaches us In just one simple little story the only story we know about matthew. That's it But it tells us it unfolds for us a whole life of commitment Next man thomas Turn me in your bible to john chapter 11 thomas most of us have a Misperception of thomas You will all say we call people today Doubting thomas's And i'm afraid that thomas has gotten a bad reputation over the years, you know Sometimes we get bad reputations because when people speak about us, they don't speak about us truthfully They don't speak about us in the context In which we are truly portrayed You've been there people have determined something about you.

They they maybe spread a rumor about you. That might not be true because they They don't bring in the whole context of your discussion or your situation And people then begin to get a whole different view of you than what is really true. That's that's thomas That's thomas because you see all 12 of the apostles were doubters Every one of them All of them forsook him and fled So i'm going to show you thomas in a whole different light I'm going to show you thomas How john explains him to us because john is the only gospel writer who explains thomas to us?

You know, I love john john tells us about philip Tells us about andrew tells us about nathaniel and tells us about himself as well as thomas John gives us a pretty good idea of at least five of the apostles That without john's gospel, we'd have no idea about these men and what they did But but but john opens a door for us and unveils to us the character of thomas that once you see You will change your view on thomas once you see You'll want to name your children thomas Watch john 11 Now a certain man was sick lazarus bethany the village of mary and her sister martha And it was the mary who anointed the lord with ointment and wiped his feet with her hair whose brother lazarus was sick The sisters therefore sent to him saying lord behold he whom you love is sick But when jesus heard it, he said the sickness is not unto death But for the glory of god that the son of god may be glorified by it now jesus loved martha and her sister and lazarus When therefore he heard That he was sick He stayed then two days longer in the place Where he was Stop right there The whole story of john 11 and the resurrection of lazarus is is quite a story It gives you a whole new perspective on what god thinks Of death We we tend to look at death from the wrong view.

We don't look at it from god's view and and you know Jesus wanted lazarus to die I know we have a hard time with that The bible says precious in the sight of the lord are the death of the saints folks news for you.

Sometimes god wants you dead He wants you home with him He wanted lazarus to die Because he wanted to be able to show to his disciples something very unique And yet the bible says he would wait until lazarus died Now, where was jesus?

Jesus was down by the jordan in the judean wilderness When we go to israel, it takes us about 45 minutes to go up from the judean wilderness to jerusalem in a bus Okay, so jesus is down by the jordan In the judean wilderness, how do we know that? Well chapter 10 says Verse 40 and he went away again beyond the jordan to the place where john was first baptizing and he was staying there Now, where's that?

Well, we know that john baptized in the judean wilderness And and so we realized that christ was down by the jordan. That's where he was in the wilderness He got word that lazarus was sick I'm painting i'm painting for you the context so you understand it now Why was christ in the judean wilderness? Well read up a little earlier in chapter 10 It says therefore in verse number 39 Therefore they were seeking again to seize him and he eluded their grasp It says up earlier that they wanted to stone christ the religious establishment wanted to kill him Why because he claimed to be god and he was god Well to them that was blasphemy They wanted to stone him And and so he would talk to them about his works and what he did and who he was They verified his credentials at messiah and they all the more wanted to seize him yet He would elude them because it wasn't his time And he eluded them by going to the judean wilderness.

That's where he is and he hears word that lazarus is sick But he doesn't go to where lazarus is because lazarus is in bethany Bethany is two miles east of jerusalem Very significant why read on? So it says These words verse 7 then after he Then after this he said to his disciples. Let us go to judaea again The disciples said to him rabbi The jews were just now seeking to stone you And are you going there? Again jesus says I hear lazarus is sick Well This is for the glory of god But he doesn't go to lazarus He waits And then he says two days later.

You know what? Let's go back to judea Let's go back to bethany Let's go see lazarus and the disciples say wait a minute teacher rabbi Don't you understand Those are the people who wanted to kill you. It's not very wise for us to go back to the place Where they are so angry with you Because all they're going to do is try to get a hold of you and kill you so jesus says these words Are there not 12 hours in the day if anyone walks in the day?

He does not stumble because he sees the light of this world But if anyone walks in the night he stumbles because the light is not in him This he said And after that he said to them our friend lazarus has fallen asleep But I go that I may wake him out of sleep Disciples therefore said to him lord if he has fallen asleep, he will recover Now jesus had spoken of his death, but they thought That he was speaking of literal sleep Then jesus therefore said to them plainly lazarus is dead And i'm glad for your sakes that I was not there So that you may believe But let us go to him jesus says look guys We need to go to judea We need to go to bethany We need to go back to lazarus because lazarus Has fallen asleep If he's asleep, he's gonna wake up.

No big deal. Jesus says guys. Look lazarus is dead And i've waited for him to die It's time for us to go back Now the disciples you gotta understand the disciples, you know, they're with the lord. They they know The animosity toward him. They know the jewish mindset against him They know that they were just seeking to sown him a few days earlier now he wants to go back to that same region Not a good idea But we have our first encounter with thomas verse 60 thomas therefore who was called didymus or twin So thomas was a twin.

He had either twin brother or twin sister. We don't know but he had he was a twin Said to his fellow disciples let us also go that we may die with him What a statement Let's go so we can die with jesus now think about that nobody else said that Nobody else was too willing to die die with jesus but thomas was Thomas says guys look If jesus is going to bethany I'm, not going to stay by the jordan I'm going to bethany with him And if he's going to be stoned and be killed then let us go and die with him thomas takes the initiative He takes the lead Peter doesn't He's the leader of the 12.

He doesn't stand up and say you're right guys. You know, we got to go This is what jesus wants to do. Let's go. Let's go do it It's thomas who speaks. It's thomas who says let us go and if need be We'll die with jesus Nobody else spoke up But thomas did Because thomas was a man of great courage great faith and intense love for his master He wasn't about to be left behind He wanted to be a part of the ministry of jesus even if it cost him his life Let us go And if need be we'll die right beside jesus This was a man of great courage great faith This was a man who said look guys if it's going to cost us our life What better way to go?

Than right beside jesus Let's do this thing. Let's go back to bethany. Well, you know the story they go back to bethany and Lazarus, of course is raised from the dead It's a great story, but we begin to learn from this story in john 11 as john opens it up to us that this man Lazarus thomas was truly a leader of men And he was unafraid to die For the sake of jesus christ He was in love With his lord. How do we know that to john 14? John 14 opens up to us another aspect of this man thomas You know the story a very familiar story verse number one Let not your heart be troubled believe in god believe also in me in my father's house So in many dwelling places if it were not so I would have told you For I go to prepare a place for you And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to myself that where I am there You may be also and you know the way where i'm going thomas said to him lord We do not know where you are going How?

Do we know? the way Thomas is saying wait a minute lord. You're you're going to leave where are you going? We don't know where you're going and we don't know the way and lord We want to know where you're going because we want to know the way Why? See no one else spoke up, but thomas did philip then would speak about show us the father But thomas was one who wanted to be with his lord. You see this is what you learn about thomas Thomas loved christ so much. He never wanted to be out of the presence of christ Where were you going We don't know where you're going and how are we supposed to know the way and christ made that infamous statement thomas i'm the way I'm the truth I am the life no man comes into the father, but by me Well, what a great statement, you know Just in case you forget about this the great the late great adrian rogers used to say everybody Gets to god Everybody does you want to see god guess what you're going to see him But only christians get to the father Big difference only christians get to the father and that's only through jesus you'll get to god, but you'll see him as judge Or do you get to god and see him as father christ says I'm the way I am the truth.

I am the life. No man comes unto the father, but by me, but this was thomas Thomas was so in love with christ. He could not even imagine being outside the presence of his lord Lord, where are you going? What's what's going on here? How do we know the way we want to go to we want to be with you again? He takes the initiative. Let me tell you something about thomas I believe that of all the apostles He loved christ more than anybody else did I firmly believe that because every time he speaks up he speaks up because he doesn't want to be outside of the presence of his master Nobody else is like that But thomas is Where you going?

I want to go there too. How do we know the way show us the way christ says thomas? Trust me. I'm the way I'm i'm the truth. I'm you can't get to the father But by me now turn to john 20 John 20 we'll close here christ dies now He is so in love with the lord He is so in love with the lord That when his lord dies He has a hard time coping Hard time So hard he doesn't even want to be around anybody else You know people like that. Maybe you're one of them You go through a real hard Difficult depressing time and you kind of want to be left alone.

That was thomas All the other apostles were gathered together in the upper room But thomas was not there Why? Because he couldn't believe that his lord died and he didn't He couldn't believe that his lord would leave him All alone Because he loved him so much Listen to this john 20 verse 19 When therefore it was evening on that day the first day of the week And when the doors were shut where the disciples were for fear of the jews Jesus came and stood in their midst and said to them peace Be with you now when the doors are shut and christ shows up.

That means he didn't open the door He just walked through the walls And he has to say peace be with you Because they're terrified Now I want you to notice the next thing that happens And when he said this, what did he do?

He showed them both his hands and his side. Why did he do that? Because they doubted it was jesus They doubted it was truly jesus. He had to show them his hands and his side So they would know for certain that this is jesus christ the messiah their savior the one they loved that walked through that door He showed him his hands He showed them his side And then it says The disciples therefore rejoiced when they saw the lord They didn't rejoice when he said peace be unto you They rejoiced when they saw the nail prints in his hands And the hole in his side Folks that's important to understand Because you read on the story what to say in verse number 24 but thomas 1 of the 12 called didymus was not with them when jesus came The other disciples therefore were saying to him we have seen the lord We saw the lord, but he said to them.

What did he say? Unless I shall see in his hands The imprint of the nails and put my finger into the place of the nails and put my hand into a side. I Will not believe folks the other didn't believe either Until they saw the holes in his hands and the holes in his side See thomas gets a bad reputation he didn't doubt any more than anybody else did But jesus knowing their doubts jesus knowing that they'd have a hard time believing walks through the door Says peace be unto you shows them his hands Shows them their his side so they would believe that he was the lord and they rejoiced So they go back to thomas and say hey thomas Guess what man if you'd have been with us you'd have seen the lord We saw the lord as if they you know, they were real true believers in christ.

They all forsook him They all fled they all ran like cowards And now they say thomas say thomas look man. We saw the christ We saw the lord if he'd been with us you'd have seen him, too What's thomas saying i'm not going to believe unless I see What you saw There's no doubt there no more than the other disciples had right And so what happens Verse 26 and after eight days again His disciples were inside and thomas with them Jesus came the doors having been shut and stood in their midst and said peace Be with you.

Same thing. He said eight days earlier, right? same thing Went through the door said the exact same thing same scenario Then he said to thomas Reach here your finger See my hands And reach here your hand and put it into my side and be not unbelieving but believing thomas answered and said to him my lord and my god The bible never says that he reached forth his hand to touch anything he saw He believed you see he wasn't like anybody else Except for the fact that his intense love for the master His intense love demonstrated by the fact that he was willing to die with him He's willing to go wherever he goes lord.

Where are you going? We want to go too. How do we know the way? We want to be there too wherever you're going to be lord. We want to be there and when he fled And forsook his lord. He was so distraught. He was so depressed He was just he just wanted to be left alone And then when he realized that the others The other disciples saw the lord He wanted to be able to believe and see as well Remember on the road to emmaus There were two disciples And jesus appeared to them and they didn't recognize jesus.

Did they? And they talked about how depressed they were because their messiah had died And christ says to them Don't you remember what the old testament says?

about how the christ must suffer and must die It's all in the law of moses. It's all in the prophet. It's all right there And as they began to walk on that road to emmaus He talked with them about the prophecies about the messiah And then it got late into the night and they were at the house and they sat down and the bible says in luke 24 That christ began to break bread and as he broke the bread and he handed it to the men Their eyes were open to what?

the nail prints in his hands They didn't believe either Until they saw the nail prints in his hands See that Don't look at thomas as oh, you know, he just he's just a doubter.

He's a pessimist. No, he was a man who loved the lord He loved the lord So much so he wanted to die with him how much when I read about thomas I ask myself How much do I love the lord will I die for the lord? Do I want to be with the lord so much I will go anywhere he goes I will go anywhere. He asks me to go because I love him that much You know, most of us can't say that can we we love the lord up to a certain point But we don't love him to the point where we will go all the way and need be we will die for him That's what peter I think had in mind when peter said these words He says this Verse number eight of first peter one.

He says And though you have not seen him You love him And though you do not see him now But believe in him You greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory I told you a story before I think it's so so neat in my house growing up. We had a little picture frame by the door and on that picture frame was just uh, the frame and in it was nothing an empty picture And on the bottom was in small print having not seen Ye love And that picture meant so much to me because every day I went to school every day I left my house I know and knew That although I didn't see the lord I loved the lord I Loved him and that's what christ said to thomas.

Oh thomas you seen And believe but blessed are those who have not seen And yet believe Not seen what? the nail scarred hands the pierced side All those who haven't seen that yet believe They're truly blessed Peter says although You have not seen him You love him And you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory. Why because you truly are the blessed people Why because we love the one we have not seen but we believe what the word of god says about who he is Do you do that?

Do you love the lord jesus christ like thomas? Are you the kind of person like matthew broken over your sin Yet a strong belief that jesus christ is the only savior Thus leading to a great burden for the lost souls of men. Let's pray father. We thank you for today What a joy it is to study the bible to see the truth that's there Your word unveils to us the greatness of your character These two men both sinners both saved Both having a relationship with the living god Both modeling to us the way our life should be today In my prayer for me for all who are here for all who will listen one day on cd or tape and Lord willing one day all who hear by way of radio That lord they would have a life That would follow these men in their example And they would see the greatness of god And thus serve you with a whole heart you pray in jesus name amen