John chapter number 20 John chapter number 20 We looking tonight at verses 19 through 29 of John chapter number 20 John chapter number 20 verses 19 through 29. If you found your place and if you're able, please stand as we reverence the reading of the word of God. John chapter 20 verse number 19. Then the same day at evening, being the first day of the week when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, came Jesus and stood in the midst, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you. And when he had so said, he showed unto them his hands and his side. Then were the disciples glad when they saw the Lord. Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you, as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you. And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost. whosoever cng remit they are remitted under them and whosoever cng retain they are retained but thomas one of the twelve called didymus was not with him when jesus came the other disciples therefore said unto him we have seen the lord said unto them except i see except i shall see in his hands the print of the nails and put my finger into the print of the nails and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe. And after eight days again his disciples were within, and Thomas with them. Then came Jesus, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, Peace be unto you. Then saith he to Thomas, Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands, and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side, and be not faithless, but believing. And Thomas answered and said unto them, My Lord and my God. Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed. Blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed. You can be seated tonight, we've already prayed. The Book of John, we've been on now for uh... ninety three messages this is message number ninety four on the book of john in the title of our series that's him the book of john of course was written with the uh... express purpose that you might believe over the last ninety three messages we've We've looked at the prologue, which was the first 18 verses of the book, and we looked at Jesus' personal ministry, we looked at his public ministry, we looked at his private ministry, and we looked at his propitiatory ministry. In the book of John here, his propitiatory ministry, which was him being crucified, him being buried and risen again, as he saith, has come to an end. And three weeks ago, we looked at John 20, verses 1 through 10, and what we entitled The Empty Tomb. Two weeks ago, we looked at verses 11 through 18 of John 20, with the title whom seekest thou and that was focused on mary magdalene and uh... we looked at her in looking at mary magdalene we looked uh... two weeks ago at the deliverance of mary uh... we don't know a lot about mary but we do know that in luke chapter number eight verses one through two it says this and it came to pass afterward that he went throughout every city and village preaching and showing the glad tidings of the kingdom of god and twelve were with him And certain women, which had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities, Mary called Magdalene, out of whom went seven devils." And so we saw the deliverance of Mary here when first of all we saw her horrible condition. Her horrible condition. The Bible said she had evil spirits. that evil spirits could mean anything out i've heard people say well she was a she was a prostitute and we can't prove that she might have will be in but i think it went much farther than that i think she was she was wicked she was sinful she was vile she was full of all kinds of inequities up things that you couldn't even imagine that she was controlled by those evil spirits up uh... she was a lot of what a horrible condition Not only a horrible condition, but she was a hopeless condition. It says the Bible says there she had infirmities. Those infirmities means that she was weak. It means that she was feeble. It means that she couldn't help herself. She couldn't do anything for herself and the ones that could help her because of her evil spirits and her vileness and wickedness and sinfulness probably didn't want anything to do with her. She was hopeless. What a hopeless condition. Not only was it a horrible condition and a hopeless condition, but it was a helpless condition. The Bible also said that she had seven doves. Now the seven in the Bible is the number of completion. And I think that that's telling us that she was completely, totally controlled by those devils. She was helpless to get to Jesus. She was totally controlled. No way to get to Him. And when you think about the deliverance of Mary, what a horrible, what a hopeless, what a helpless condition. And that's the same condition that every sinner finds them in. It's an impossibility to get to Jesus. It's an impossibility to be saved with man until Jesus passes by. When Jesus passes by, things will be different because we not only see her horrible condition, her helpless condition, her hopeless condition, but we saw the handling of her condition. Where we see the Lord's power in that verse when it says, out of whom went... They didn't go on their own. They didn't leave because they were through with Mary. They left because the Lord cast them out. He has power to cast out those devils. He cast them out and he set her free. The Lord's power. But we also see the Lord's peace. Says she was healed. Healed. Peace. No longer under the control of those devils or those infirmities or those evil spirits. The deliverance of Mary. We also looked at the devotion of Mary two weeks ago. It says there in John chapter number 20, verse number 1 there, it says that when it was yet dark, Mary came to the tomb of Jesus. That was a dangerous time. Probably not the most opportune time for a woman to be going to the tomb in the darkness, when a time where all of the people would have been in Jerusalem, all these strangers, people she didn't know, but she didn't care about all that. She had a devotion to Jesus. It wasn't an empty duty. It wasn't a religious ceremony. She was totally and wholly devoted to Him. because of what he had done for her. He set her free. He helped her when nobody else could. He helped her when nobody else would. She was devoted to him. Not only deliverance of Mary, the devotion of Mary, the desperation of Mary. It was dark, and she's coming to the tomb, and she gets to see it afar off, and she looks, and that big, large stone that was rolled in front of the door, now it's been rolled back. And as soon as she sees it, she goes back to Peter and to John and says, they've taken his body. She was desperate. She thought she would go to find a dead body, but now she's going, and not only is he dead, but they've taken his body. She was desperate. She didn't know what to do, so she goes back, tells Peter and John. They go and they inspect. They didn't see him. They saw the belongings left in there, but then the Bible says in verse 11, it says that, verse number 10, they went back to their own home. Verse number 11 says Mary stayed. She leaned up against that sepulcher crying, thinking, where could he be? She stooped into the sepulcher and looked, and there was two angels sitting in there. And those two angels, they were talking to her, and they said, Why weepest thou? This was a joyous time. He's not here. But she weeped, and she turns away from them. And as she turns away, she hears a voice. Whom seekest thou? And she, thinking he was a gardener, said, if you just tell me where you've taken his body, I'll go get it. Just tell me. So then we see not only the desperation of Mary, but we see the delight of Mary. As she says, the question is, whom seekest thou? She says, just tell me and I'll go get the body. A voice says, Mary? Mary? And at that time, the Lord reveals Himself to her. She knows that voice. That voice called out to her. That boy's girl's Billy, that voice was to her. And she knew that voice. She had heard it before. It was the delight of Mary. She looks at him and says, Rabboni, which means my master, She knows who it was. So the delight of Mary. Now that was two weeks ago as we looked at that. And just a brief overview. But I want to go a little bit further tonight and look at this. And I'll admit, I have preconceived ideas too. When I sat down today, I thought, well, yeah, that's Thomas. He's all over this one. but I just couldn't get anywhere with it. But as I read it, there's a phrase that kept popping out to me that I couldn't get away from. So all I know is to deal with it, but I'm interested in this one phrase, three simple words found in verse number 26. It says, And after eight days again his disciples were within, and Thomas with them, Then came Jesus. Then came Jesus. And that would be my title tonight. Then came Jesus. Now, as those words there, that phrase jumped out at me, then came Jesus. I got to looking at this chapter in context, and as I look at this chapter, as I said in the past, John deals more than Matthew, more than Luke, more than Mark. John deals with individuals. Many times, other gospel writers, they saw two blind men. John just speaks of one. In John 3, it's Nicodemus. In John 5, it's the one, the paralytic man, although there was a bunch of them. He's individual. And as I look at this, there's three individuals here in this chapter that had problems with doubt. They had problems with unbelief. They had different circumstances. They had different problems. They had different issues going on. They had different backgrounds. They had different things going on. But all three of these people in one shape, form, or fashion had a problem with doubt. But each time their doubt was overcome, not by them, but it was overcome by one thing. Then came Jesus. Each time, their doubt, their concerns, their problems, their issues, their trials, their tribulations, every one of them, it was overcome when Jesus came. And I got to thinking about that. Then came Jesus. And so when I think about that, three individuals here, Let's look at them. The first one I want to look at, I want to look at the one we read about tonight, that way I'm kind of in the text at least, but I want to look at this man named Thomas. Thomas. Now, Thomas, one thing we can see and say about him in this text is that Thomas doubted because he didn't see the signs. Thomas doubted because he didn't see the signs. Now, in verses 19 through 23 in our text here, we see that Jesus, first of all, we see that it was on the first day of the week, and it was at evening. You say, well, I didn't think we were supposed to have evening church on Sunday afternoon. Well, they did there. I guess it's okay to have Sunday afternoon church, because they did. But anyway, it was the first day of the week, and they came there, and Jesus showed up. Now, in context, this is the fifth time that Jesus has appeared to people after his resurrection. The first one, Mary Magdalene. The second one was the women that were coming back from the tomb. The third one, according to 1 Corinthians 15, verse number 5, is Peter. The fourth one, we'll see, was on the road to Emmaus. Then this is the fifth one. The fifth appearance here. And we see that the doors were shut. The Lord appears to all of them. He says, Peace be unto you. But there was one problem. There was one that wasn't there. His name is Thomas. His name is Thomas. He wasn't there. Now the Bible doesn't say he went fishing. It doesn't say he went to the football game. It doesn't say he went to the beauty pageant. We don't know what, but he was not there. But does it really matter? It don't matter what he was doing. He wasn't there. What could have been more important than seeing the resurrected Jesus? You could have put anything in there. It didn't matter. He made the wrong choice. He wasn't there. Jesus showed up, and Thomas wasn't there. The disciples see him, and they go back, and of course, first thing they do is they go back to Thomas and say, Hey, Thomas! Or Didymus, whatever they called him. Thomas! Hey! Jesus showed up. And he showed us his hands, and he showed us his side. And Thomas, you missed out, buddy. You shouldn't have been at that football game. It would have been a lot more exciting to be where we was at. He didn't believe him. He said, except I see the nail prints in his hand, and except I thrust my hand in his side, I will not believe that he was there. I won't believe you, boys. You can tell me whatever you want to, but I don't believe you. Now, we see that Thomas was more focused on sight and on feelings. He said, unless I see the prince, and unless I thrust my hand in his side, I will not believe. He was focused on those things. Now, people have called Thomas Doubting Thomas. Nowhere in the Bible does it say his name was Doubting Thomas. In fact, his name was Didymus, which Didymus, it means he was a twin. I don't know who he was a twin with, but he was a twin. And so, sometimes I kind of wish I had a twin, but then I thought, no, I don't want that. But it would kind of be fun to have somebody that looks like you. But anyway, instead I just got an older sister. But anyway, Adenimus means a twin. And so, we see here that nowhere in the Bible does it call him Doubting Thomas. They say this because he did not believe the witness of his brethren. They came and they said, Thomas, we've seen him. He said, I don't believe you. I don't believe you. I don't believe you've seen that. He didn't believe the witness that they had seen. And I got to thinking about that. Many times we doubt Because we haven't seen the Lord do certain things for us. Answered prayers, salvation, healing, whatever it is. Many times we think He either can't do it or He won't do it because He hadn't done it for us. But He had done it. It's just that Thomas wasn't there and he hadn't seen it. But we have seen it. The Lord has done those things. He saved people. He's healed people. He's answered prayers. He's done all of that. It's just that at this time, He hadn't chosen to do it for us. But that doesn't mean just because Thomas didn't believe it, Thomas didn't see it, it didn't make the truth any less true just because he hadn't seen it. The Lord showed up. And the Lord has showed up here before. But just because it's not for you or it hadn't yet been for you don't mean He can't and it doesn't mean He don't want to. It just means that the time's not right yet. It just means that it's not time. And the lesson that I think we get out of that is don't focus on what you haven't seen. Focus on what you have seen. You say, well, he hadn't done it for me. No, but he's done it for others. That means he can. He didn't answer this prayer. No, but he answered that one. And that proves that he can. Don't focus on what you haven't seen, like Thomas. Focus on what you have seen. Thomas, he doubted. He doubted. He didn't believe it because he hadn't seen the signs. But exactly one week later, Thomas, his doubts are turned into faith. You say, what happened? Then came Jesus. In verse number 26, we just read it. Then came Jesus. So much grace. It was grace that the Lord showed up to him on that resurrection Sunday. Thomas missed out. It was real grace that he came back the second time just for Thomas. You know that it's grace if the Lord does anything. But I think about all the times He brings it around the second time. He's good. He's good to us. It's grace for Him to even tell us anything one time. But for us to forsake it and push it away and act wrongfully? And then in grace He brings it back the second time. He came back that week later. Jesus showed up. And it made all the difference. He spoke words to Thomas. Peace be unto you. He spoke words. He showed his wounds. He said, look here, Thomas. You say you ain't gonna believe unless you can see it or you can thrust your hands in. Well, look here, buddy, and put your hand in my side. Then Thomas says, my Lord and my God. It made a difference. His doubts Turned into faith. He overcome those doubts. Not by anything that he done. But it was overcome when Jesus came. Jesus came. He didn't have to. But he did. Thomas. He doubted because he didn't see the signs. I go back to the first of the chapter. I want to look at this Mary Magdalene. Mary Magdalene. She doubted. because she didn't sense the Savior. Verse number 13 there, 12 and 13, as she's laid up beside the tomb, she didn't know where he was at. He's gone. He's not here. And because of that, verse number 13, and they say unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? She saith unto him, because they have taken away my Lord, and I know not where they have laid him. She doubted. She doubted. She had doubt because she didn't know where the Lord was. Now lest we be critical of Mary, there's not one of us that at some point in time has never said, where's God? We've all done it. We've all done it. Job did it. Job, in Job chapter number 23. Verse 8 through 10, he said this, he said, Behold, I go forward, but he is not there, and backward, but I cannot perceive him. Verse 9, On the left hand, where he doeth work, but I cannot behold him, he hideth himself on the right hand, that I cannot see him. Basically, what Job is saying here, he says, Where is God? I look all around and I can't find him anywhere. And in verse number 10, he says this, But he knoweth the path that I take. When he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold. Job said, I've looked all around. Where's God? I don't know where he's at. Mary doubted because she couldn't sense him. She couldn't see him. But just because she couldn't sense him, because she couldn't see him, didn't mean he wasn't near. Job said, I looked and I don't see him, but I know he knoweth the path that I take. I may not see him, but he sees me. Another one that doubted was Mary of Bethany. John 11, verse number 32, she had sent word to Jesus and said, the one thou lovest, Lazarus, is nigh unto death. Jesus stayed longer. And then he came, and in John 11, 32, Mary met him and said, Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died. Basically, what she was saying was, is, where was you at? You wasn't here. If you would have been here, you would have healed my brother and he wouldn't die. Where's God? Mary and Martha thought that Lazarus' death was because Jesus wasn't there, yet he had already said that it was his will that he wouldn't be there. John 11, 15, he said, I'm glad for your sakes that I was not there to the intent that ye may believe. The same is true here with Mary Magdalene. She doesn't see him. She doesn't sense his presence. As she lays up next to that tomb, she says, where is he? I don't know. But little does she know that he's been there the whole time. He's been there the whole time. And as he speaks to her and says, Mary, she turns and says, Rabboni, my master, or that's him. He was there the whole time. Just because you don't sense him, Just because you don't see Him, that doesn't mean that He isn't near, for He is near. The Bible says He's nigh unto them that call unto Him. You may not sense Him. You may not see Him. But He's near. He's near. Mary doubted because she didn't sense the Savior. Thomas doubted because he didn't see the signs. He didn't see the hands in the side the first time. But now we go on to the third one. A man by the name of Peter. Peter. Verses 6 through 9. We see that Peter, he doubted. because he didn't search the Scriptures. He didn't search the Scriptures. In John chapter number 20, verse number 8, we see here that, of course, John and Peter, they ran to the tomb after Mary said they'd taken his body. And, of course, John got there first, but he didn't go in. But when Peter got there, he went on in. Verse number 8 says, it says, Then went in also that other disciple, which came first to the sepulcher, and he saw and believed. Now that was John that went in and saw and believed. And then it says this, verse number 9, For as yet they knew not the scripture that he must rise again from the dead. Now it says there that the second one, John, went in and believed, but it doesn't say anything about Peter. but it does say in verse 9, for as yet they knew not they understood not the scripture that he must rise again from the dead Peter didn't understand it. It was not yet familiar with him. The Lord had left his belongings. He looked in and he saw the cocoon, the shape of those grave clothes. He looked over and he saw the napkin that was on the face folded and in another spot. That was the Lord letting John and Peter know that, hey, I've arisen from the grave. It was not a sign of a robbery. It was the sign of the resurrection. It was evidence that was left that he ain't here no more and he's resurrected. John believed, but Peter just didn't understand yet. He doubted because he hadn't searched the Scriptures. There were Scriptures written about that. The Lord had told him that he would rise in three days and three nights. He told them while he was with them that, you destroy this temple and I'll raise it up in three days. Others thought he was talking about the temple, but he was talking about his body. In Psalm 16, the psalmist writes this, that the Holy One shall not see corruption. What'd that mean? That means that he wasn't going to stay in that grave. He was going to rise again. John got a hold of it. And John believed. Peter didn't. He doubted because he hadn't searched the Scriptures. He didn't fully know. He didn't fully know the Word. He didn't fully understand it. He couldn't fully put it all together. So he doubted. But we see there in verse number 19, Says, then the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, came Jesus. Now if you look in verse number 26 when it said, Then came Jesus, that word then is in italics, which means in the original that word wasn't there, but the translators put it there for a smooth reading. It helps us to make more sense out of it. But it's the same thing in verse number 19, For fear of the Jews came Jesus. You see, all of Peter's doubts became faith. He overcame all of that. Not anything that he did in and of itself. Not because he struggled and strutted and strained enough to get there. No, he overcame because then came Jesus. Many times we do the same thing. If we don't understand the Scripture, we say, it can't be true. I don't believe that. Many that have come by this way, they came and they heard the truth and they said, uh-uh, that ain't what I've been taught. That ain't what I think the Bible says. That can't be true. And they've left because they didn't search the Scriptures. If we're not careful, we do the same thing. We don't understand So we think it can't be true. I heard of a story one time about a music teacher. This music teacher, for a senior trip, she was going to take her class as a reward to Italy to see one of the world famous operas. I mean, not for me, but for them it was glorious. Going to Italy to see the world famous opera. She said, there's one thing, though. Before we go, I want all of y'all to read the script, the manuscript of that opera. All of the kids, they were excited to go, but they said, teacher, that's going to ruin it. If we read the book, we're going to know what's going to happen before we get there, and it's going to ruin it. She said, no, it won't. She said, what you don't understand is, is the opera is gonna be in Italian. And unless you read the book, you're not gonna know when it happens. You're not gonna know what they're saying. You're not gonna understand it unless you read the book. The same is true with the Bible. We don't understand the things that we're going through. There are things that I can say I do not understand. But you know what? I don't get paid to understand. The Lord ain't asked my opinion on nothing. He's sovereign. He's supreme. He's above all others. And all I'm to do is to say, yes, sir, I'll do what you want me to. And I'm not to understand. But if you read the book, and if you read the past, and if you read the things that He has done, or you look at the future, the things that He will do, Maybe you'll understand what you're going through a little bit better." Those kids read that book. They got there. They saw the play. They saw the opera. They couldn't understand what the people were saying. But they had read the book. So even though they didn't fully understand what they were saying, they had read the book and they got the point of the story. They had gotten the point. May we read what has been done, what the Lord has done. May we read what He can do, and that'll help us to go through trials and tribulations when we don't understand. Thomas doubted because he didn't see the signs. Mary doubted because she didn't sense the Savior. Peter doubted because he didn't search the Scriptures. But in every case, in every situation, their doubts, their unbelief, their fears, their trials, their circumstances, their concerns, all of that was overcome. Not by anything they did, but because then came Jesus. And I don't know what you're going through tonight. I don't know what's in your heart. I don't know what doubts, what fears, what concerns, what issues you've got. I don't know. But I do know that whatever it is, that can be overcome. Not by you, not by me, not by any other person. It'll only be overcome when then came Jesus. You say, well, when is it? That word then there, then came Jesus is a specific time. It's God's perfect time. Galatians 4.14 or 4.4 says, when the fullness of time was come. Basically in our English vocabulary, when the time was right, God sent forth his son born of a woman. Then came Jesus to Didymus, to Thomas. When was it? When the time was right. Then came Jesus to Mary. When? When the time was right. After Peter and John had already left, when she was there by herself. Peter had his doubts, but then came Jesus. When? At the right time. And all your fears, all of your faults, all of your concerns, your unbelief, all of that, it'll be overcome. Then came Jesus in His time. And when it comes, you'll say, that's Him. He's right on time. I thought He was late. I thought it should have happened two days ago, or two years ago, or twenty years ago. But had it happened then, it wouldn't have been on time. Then came Jesus. And when it happens to you, it'll be right on time. You might think it's 11-59-59-59, but in God's eyes and God's mind, it'll be right on time. Then came Jesus. Lord, I thank you for the day. Lord, I thank you for your blessings. and lord i just pray that lord you'll come