Jesus is the exclusive way, truth, and life to the Father, as demonstrated through the dialogue with Thomas in John 14. The sermon explores Thomas's skepticism, contrasting it with the faith of other disciples, and highlights Jesus's patient reappearance to address Thomas's doubt. The core lesson emphasizes that true faith believes without seeing, as evidenced by Thomas's eventual confession, "My Lord and my God." The message concludes by urging listeners to embrace this faith, finding peace and assurance in Christ.
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unto him. I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father but by me. If he had known me, he should have known my Father also, and from henceforth ye know him, and have seen him. Last two Sundays we have been speaking on this chapter. First of all we were speaking on the Father's house. Last week the dialogue between the Lord Jesus and Peter. because you have four dialogues in this chapter. You have a dialogue between Christ and Peter, another dialogue between Christ and Thomas. Next Sunday you'll have a dialogue between Christ and Philip, beginning in verse eight, and then later on you have a dialogue between Christ and Jude.
So you have four dialogues, and each one is different. The one last week concerning Christ and Peter was a dialogue about the father's house. Today we have something else. It's the pathway to that house, the dialogue between Thomas and the Lord Jesus. Very little said in the Gospels about Thomas. Matthew, Mark, and Luke just mention his call. They relate the incident when Christ called his disciples, his apostles. And that's the only time Matthew, Mark, or Luke make any reference to Thomas. how the Lord called him.
By the way, he's called Thomas Didymus. In other words, he was a twin. And the Lord called him to be a disciple, to be an apostle. That's very interesting to think that Christ should see something in this man to make him one of his inner cabinet. For that's exactly what he was, as well as a foundation stone in the church, because the church is built upon the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone. So if we didn't have anything more than what Matthew, Mark, and Luke have to say, it would be sufficient, just his call.
But John, the fourth gospel, seems to rescue Thomas from almost oblivion as to his life or his actions or his words are concerned. And John refers to Thomas three times. He refers to him in Chapter XI, and again here in Chapter XIV, and also in Chapter XX. Thomas is referred to. In other words, it seemed, as far as we can gather, that John was a pessimistic kind of individual. He was a skeptic. We know he was a doubter. That label has been attached to him because of the way he does of the Lord in chapter twenty that we'll see something about a little later on.
It's quite evident he was zealous, he was inquisitive, but there's one thing about him. When Thomas was sure of something, nothing held him back. When he was convinced, that's it. Although up until the time he was convinced, he seemed quite pessimistic, quite skeptical. John chapter eleven and sixteen, he was even willing to die for the Lord, although there was a little doubt in his mind as to what the Lord meant. Thomas didn't know, neither did the rest of the disciples, whether the Lord was referring to Lazarus being actually physically dead or asleep. Nevertheless, Thomas says, well, let's go, whatever it is, let's go.
We'll die with him. Yet there was a little skepticism in his remark. But in chapter twenty, and I think this is the passage that brings out some wonderful things about Thomas. You may read it at your leisure. Here is the Lord Jesus, and he's listened from the dead. And up in the upper room we find his disciples huddled, couched in fear, because they were afraid of the Jews. why they had now condemned and put to death the one they had followed, the Lord Jesus? Would it be, could it be that they were next in line, that the authorities, especially the Jews, would seek out his followers and put them to death?
Was this the reason they were in that upper room, huddled in fear? Because fear gripped their hearts. It tells you that if you read that passage, for fear of the Jews. But all of a sudden, something happened, the Lord Jesus appeared in their midst, the doors being shut. Isn't that amazing? Simply meaning this, that material things, petitions, walls of any kind, no barrier to the new resurrected body of the Lord Jesus Christ. He appeared right in their midst, the doors being shut. And that's true of Christ, it will be true of all those who are saved, When we get our resurrected bodies, we'll be able to be here in one minute and there the next, material barriers or obstacles will not stand in our way.
And the Lord Jesus appears in the midst of the disciples in the upper room. And the first thing he says was, peace be unto you. He knew the fear that was in their heart. He says, peace be unto you. And he showed unto them his hands and his sons. The Bible says, Then were the disciples glad when they saw the Lord. I wonder why Thomas was absent. We don't know why Thomas was absent on this occasion. But he was absent when the Lord thus appeared to his disciples. And you know, that's when all the other disciples got blessed because they saw the Lord and they received his peace and his blessings.
Thomas was absent, he missed the blessing. And I don't know why he was absent. Maybe some of you could inform me why you're absent on some Sunday morning. Always an excuse. And you know, quite often, when the Lord blesses is when certain people are away. Thomas missed the blessing. He stayed away. The others were blessed, and it's something we can't deny there are some Sundays when the Lord blesses more than other Sundays. We have seen some Sundays at the chapel. One Sunday in particular, when five came up and confessed Christ as Savior.
You don't see that every Sunday. Sometimes two or three, four Sundays pass, and no one does. Then there seems to be a time of blessing. Ah, yes, and maybe the very Sunday you stay home. be the Sunday you would have been blessed but you missed it and so when this wonderful Lord's day was spent and the disciples were blessed that is all but Thomas for it says then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord so during the week may have been on the Monday they said Thomas you know we've seen the Lord he really is a lot we saw his hands we saw his feet we saw his signs He blessed us.
Thomas says, except I see in his hands the print of the nail and put my finger into the print of the nail and thrust my hand into its side, I will not believe. You mean you won't believe all of us? We did. We saw we were there. I don't care if you did. I've got to see it myself. And he added something. Not only do I want to see, I want to feel, even if he stood in front of me, and I saw those scarred hands and those scarred feet.
I've got to feel to see if it's true. I've got to put my finger into the print of the nails, and I've got to thrust my fist into his side with a spear. And so you have doubting thought. not enough to see he's got to feel he's a chap hard to convince you know that's like a lot of people today not enough to just believe the word only they've got to see something phenomenal they've got to see something fantastic supernatural and even go further they're so given to unbelief they've got to feel something I want a thrill.
I want something like an electric shock that comes in my head and goes out of my feet. The walls have got a rattle. I've got to have something like this. Well, you're not going to get it. I'll tell you that right now. But that was Thomas. And so we see him on these occasions displaying skepticism, rank unbelief. You know, skeptical people are generally pessimistic. You know the difference between a pessimist and an optimist? Well, I suppose when I had a glass up here you could see through, and it was half full of water. And on my left I had a pessimist.
On my right I had an optimist. And they both looked the same glass, half full of water. You know what the optimist would say? It's half full of water. What would the pessimist say? It's half empty. The optimist sees something. It's half full. The pessimist sees nothing. He says it's half empty. That's the difference between a pessimist and an optimist. And that's like a lot of people. They're just pessimistic. Skeptics, you know, usually, are self-opinionated. They've got their self-opinions.
Self-opinionated. Why, here's Thomas. I don't care if you fell and did see. You say you did. And the Lord blessed you. But I've got to see it myself. I've got an opinion of my own. I've got to feel it, too. That's a skeptic. You know, sometimes when you read about court cases, there are men like Thomas who hold out. All the jury, eleven of them, convinced for the evidence, The man's guilty, but there's one fellow sitting there, and he really knows at heart they're right, the leaven are right. He just wants to be different. He just wants to be different. And there the jury's heart.
It's not unanimous because one fellow, he knows what the other fellows have decided on is true, but he just wants to be different. He has an opinion of his own. I've got a right to have an opinion, self-opinionated. These are skeptics, pessimistic characters. You know what the Bible has to say? It's very unreasonable to give too much weight to our own understanding. Trust in the Lord with all thine heart, but lean not unto thine own understanding. The Bible says some very remarkable things that be not wise in your own conceits.
Take my word for it. Never mind your opinion. Never mind anything concerning what you think. Will you take my word for it? Just my word? Be not wise in your own conceit. You know, Oliver Cromwell wrote to Scottish elders one time, and he said this, I beseech you in the vows of Jesus Christ that you consider you may be wrong. And to an overconfident modernist, It was widely said he is in danger of overestimating his own ignorance. Skeptics. Skeptics. Thomas said, I will not believe.
Skeptics are also often self-willed, just like Thomas. He says, I will not believe. Did he mean I cannot believe? Or was he unconsciously telling the truth? I will not believe. I won't do it. I don't care what the evidence is. I've got to see them myself. I've got to put my finger in the print of the nails. I've got to feel this thing. I won't believe. Oftentimes, too, these characters are proud self-will, skeptics. And let me say that pride and self-will are the root of unbelief, unbelief. You boil it right down to unbelief.
All this pessimism, all this skepticism, All this doubting like Thomas, the root cause of all, unbelief. They just will not take God with His word. The Bible speaks about willful ignorance being a guilty thing in Second Peter three five. Willful ignorance. Some people glory in their ignorance. Willful ignorance. And it's a guilty thing before God. You know, seeing is not necessary to believing. Christ makes that plain. He says, Thomas, because you've seen it, you believe. But blessed are they which have not seen, yet they have believed.
And that's where we come in. We haven't seen the Lord Jesus, let alone feel him. Yet we believe. Christ says, blessed are such people. Blessed are such people. Faith is the evidence of things not seen, the Bible says, Hebrews eleven. Faith is the evidence of things not seen. I don't have to have any faith to believe a piano sitting there. I can see it. If I want to, I can touch it. But if you tell me about something I can't see and something I can't touch because of distance, I've got to exercise faith. That's where faith comes in.
The Lord Jesus all over in the epistle of John, the Spirit of God, gives us this word. Ye believe the witness of men. The witness of God is greater. That's an amazing statement. It says, God, you believe the witness of men. The witness of God is greater. Let me ask how many saw the civil war. Will you put up your hand? How do you know there was a civil war? Well, you say the historians record it. There's evidence of the civil war. The South is still suffering from it.
Yet you believe there was a civil war just because historians wrote it down. You didn't see it. You weren't there to experience it. Yet you believe it. That's true. How many of you met Columbus? The man who discovered America. You didn't meet him. How do you know such a man lived? How do you know he discovered a man? Well, historians record it. We have the evidence of it. He discovered the new world. Oh, you're willing to believe the witness of men. You're willing to believe what men say about things that you haven't seen, nor have you experienced.
Yet you believe. Why, yes, you would argue to the last inch There was a civil war, and Columbus did discover America. Have you been to Moscow? Have you been to Vietnam? Have you been to Congo? Have you experienced what's been going on in these places? Have you met Winston Churchill? He died this morning. How do you know these things exist? You take men's word for them. You read in the newspaper, you see it on TV, or hear it over the radio. God says you believe the witness of men.
I've got greater witness than men, and you won't believe me. Quite a startling thing, isn't it? It is honoring to God to believe his word without physical attestations of it. People today, they want evidence. They say, I'm from Missouri. Show me. I believe everybody in the United States came from Missouri. They've got to be shown something to see. And I might brawn that out. Everybody in the world is just the same. The unbelief of the human heart. They will not believe God's word.
Oh, how startling that is. And how saddening to the heart of God, he says, you'll believe the witness of men. about places, about persons, about things that happened two or three or four hundred years ago. You weren't there. You didn't meet the individuals. You didn't experience anything. Places thousands and thousands of miles away, and you believe every word of it. You pass it on to your friends what you hear and read. Yet I give you a witness about my son came into this world nineteen hundred years ago who was born in a little place in Palestine a place called Bethlehem who tabernacle here for thirty-three years the end of that life he went to the cross he laid down his life for sinners he shed his precious blood to put away sin he was raised again the third day from the dead and forty days later I brought him back up here with me He's sitting at my right hand.
He's a prince. He's a savior. When he was on that cross, I made your sins on him. I punished him for you. And now if you believe that, if you accept my word for it, if you trust what I say for your soul's eternal salvation, that I made your sins on Jesus, I punished him in your stead. God says, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Thou shalt be saved. you won't do it yet you'll believe the witness of men what men tell you about places of things you won't believe what God tells you about a place in Palestine a place called hell where Jesus died and he died for you thus God charged against the human race unbelief unbelief We believe the witness of men, the witness of God is with us.
When the Spirit has come, you read in chapter sixteen, says the Lord Jesus, he will convince the world of sin. What's the sin? Of sin, he says, because they believe not on me. That's the sin. Many of them have got to be convicted of. Tomases. Doubting Tomases. Skeptical, pessimistic Tomases. We have plenty of them. You know, faith accepts without feeling, and faith believes without seeing. Faith rejoices without realizing. Faith trusts without tracing. It says, the Bible says, whom having not seen we love, and though as yet we see them not, yet believing we rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of love.
Isn't it wonderful? that an unseen man should give us his word. Millions have believed his word. It was my believing his word when I was nineteen years of age that changed my heart and changed my life. He just turned me right around. And since then I've been trying to please him, trying to preach him. I haven't seen him yet, but strangely I love him. That's true of millions. We love him because he first loved us, whom having not seen, we love him. Someone has won our hearts.
Someone has strangely and mysteriously taken up his abode within our soul. He changed our life. He gives us peace and joy and assurance. He talks to us each day. He comforts us in sorrow. He encourages us when discouraged. This invisible, yet real person is Jesus Christ. He wants you to believe him. The Lord manifested himself as the risen Son of God by five actions. He spake peace unto them. He appeared in the upper room. He says, peace be unto them.
Then he showed them the evidences of his death. He showed them the scar. There they are. They couldn't deny that evidence. Furthermore, he set them forth as witnesses. Then again he gave them the power to the Holy Spirit in verse twenty two. Then he commissioned them to declare remission of sin in the proclamation of the gospel. And it's very noticeable to those who give Peter and delegate all this power, forgive sin, delegate it all to Peter. You read me that passage in John twenty. He said this to all of the disciples, not Peter. Peter doesn't have any special privilege.
Yet some say Peter was the first pope. Well, I think what Peter said should be the language of every pope who claims that ox. Peter says, depart from me for I am a sinful man, O Lord. The first pope said that. Every both sins. They're sinful men. They need a save. So unbelief is the sin. It is a sin. It's an outrage to heaven where they close its eyes to facts. Biblical facts. Here they are. When you close your eyes to thee, facts, then you're guilty of the most heinous, painful sin in the eyes of God.
Because sin of unbelief, the sin of unbelief is the parent of all other sins. I wonder if the Lord made this special visit to help Thomas. Why was Thomas not there, we don't know. Why do you miss some reading? You know, I hope. But here's the Lord. Because Thomas missed, did he come on the next occasion? just to see Thomas, just to try and straighten Thomas out. He heavenly knew what Thomas had said. Some of the other disciples told him, they didn't run to the Lord and say, Lord, do you know what Thomas said? We told him we had seen you last Sunday.
Do you know what he said? Said I see in his hands the print of the nails and put my finger in the front of the nails. I won't believe it. So they didn't have to go and tell the Lord that the Lord knew all about it. The Lord knew what Thomas had said. and he knows your cost during the week every month he knows the excuses you put up he knows you know even when sunday morning and you know you ought to get up and go to church no you're too late and the lord knows the lord knows and here he is he comes back and poor tom His face must have turned red.
He must have been embarrassed on this occasion. For he's here on this second occasion. The Lord walks in. He comes into the room. And the first one he addresses is Thomas. You look right at him. Thomas! Here you are. Be tither thy finger, put into my hand. Be thither your hand, trusted in my sight. The moment he entered, he singled Thomas out. He counts. All right, you unbeliever. You skeptic. You pessimist. You goger. Here's your check. You said that you saw me. If you felt my wounds, you'd believe.
All right, here you are. Oh, says somebody. I'm just like Thomas. Just like Thomas. Full of doubts, full of unbelief. Are you? You're like Thomas. in his bad point, how they are being like him in this good part. When he saw the Buddha, he didn't reach out his finger. He fell at the feet of the Lord's feet. He says, my Lord and my God. I don't want anything. This is enough. And although Tom's father doesn't, a skeptic and a peasant, Yes, when Jesus said, here's your chance, he didn't want to.
That's enough. You tell it the people, the Lord Jesus, say, My Lord, and my Lord. You have used Thomas' shoes and walked in his footsteps long enough, as I know them, as an unbeliever, as a skeptic. Will you fill Thomas' shoes this morning as a believer? Yes. and call at the feet of the Lord Jesus and say, my Lord and my God. If so, you can say, I'm a true prophet. I will obey the Lord. You know, this is the Lord's last beatitude. We have a lot of beatitudes over in the early chapters of Matthew and some of the Gospels.
But here's the Lord's last beatitude. Mr. Thomas, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed. Blessed, hear them. Blessed are they who have not seen me yet have believed. What a wonderful gift. That's the Lord's life. What a blessing will be yours this morning if you just believe this word. Peace will replace fear. Certainly will replace doubt. You'll notice in verse twenty-one you have peace. In verse twenty-two you have power. He gave them the Holy Spirit. In verse twenty-three he gave them authority. Then our wonderful text in John chapter fourteen six.
When Thomas put the question to the Lord, the Lord says, Come, find the way. You're asking me what the way of the Father is. Evidently he had become interested when he heard the dialogue between Peter and the Lord about the many mansions and how he was going and they could go. The Lord, he said, how do we know the way? Here it is held again. God has survived in so long time with you.