At the cross, at the cross, where I first saw the light, and the burden of my heart rolled away, it was there by faith I received my sight, and now I am happy all the day. Today, by the help of the Lord, I want to speak to you on this Father's Day on the subject, the man who was not there. There may have been times in your life that you were that man. You were not there. The evening of the first day of the week, the disciples had a meeting. Early that morning, Before daylight, they came to the tomb. They found that Jesus was already risen. The disciples were afraid and they wondered about all that had happened. They had met and closed and locked the doors. for fear of their enemies, good reason to consider this whole situation here. But Jesus appeared to them and it dissolved their fears, their doubts. But Thomas, One of the disciples was not present. He missed this meeting of the church. Whatever happened to you? Missed the meeting. Some folks who miss So many times, I miss so many meetings, I don't even think a thing about it. They go to church when they feel like it, or when they want to. Sometimes we have folks who, they miss about as much as they attend. Yet some folks who miss more than they attend. Thank God there's a few, however, attend almost every service. And it's an unusual thing for them to miss even one service. They're there every time. You know what? I encourage you, find yourself among those who are present every time. What does the Bible say? The Bible says, forsake not the assembling of yourselves together. When we're having service, unless you're sick or something, you've got no business being home in the bed. When we're having service, you're a member of this church and we're having a service, you've got no business being down at Walmart. You need to be here. Nothing wrong with going to Walmart. But when is it wrong for you to go to Walmart? It's wrong for you to go to Walmart when we're having a service. Look at it like that. You expect others to be there. Why not you? The Lord is looking upon every one of us, and He doesn't see one of us different from another. And God doesn't expect a thing more of me than He does you, and He doesn't expect anything more of you than He does me. We should be faithful to God. We serve the Lord. May God help us to be faithful to God. And when it's Bible reading time, Find yourself reading the Bible. When it's church going time, find yourself going to church. But be faithful to God. May God help us to do just that. I want us to consider this morning, just for a little bit, this man who wasn't there. First thing I want you to notice about him is his lost opportunity. Why was Thomas not there in the assembly on this first day of the week? I don't know. We can only guess why he wasn't there. But we know he lacked faith in verse 25. If I can find where I'm at. I'm looking in the wrong chapter. Except that he says here, this is a big part of the verse. This is John chapter 20 and verse 25. Except I shall see in his hands the prints of the nails. Notice that now. And put my fingers in the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe." Oh man, what a statement he's made here. I will not believe. He lacked faith. He said, I will not believe. Now, maybe He didn't believe it was important, like many of us, not important, to be in every service. I don't know about you, but I do. I believe it's important to be in every service. If you live here, close to this church building, when there's a service going on here, if you're a member of this church, you ought to be here. In every service. Now, certainly, Thomas knew that the disciples would meet there that evening. They didn't leave that one and tell the rest. They all knew they were having a service. And we all know the time of our services. We meet here on Sunday mornings. We meet at 10 o'clock, Sunday school. 11 o'clock, that's the service we're in right now. Meet on Sunday night. Meet on Wednesday night. We know the times of our services. We ought to be present every time that we possibly can. Actually, Thomas, actually, he probably had given up hope and said, what's the use? Don't we sometimes feel maybe the same way? Doesn't make any difference. So many people are cold and indifferent. They'd get along without me anyway. They don't need me. They wouldn't even miss me. I don't show up. It's bad to get like that. We find here that in his low spiritual state, he might have felt ashamed At any rate, he wasn't there. It's bad when the church meets, but you're not there. This morning, Kay Coker came to my mind. And I turned around and I looked back there where she generally sits. She wasn't there. I thought to myself, Kay's not here. I turned back around and when I turned around I looked over to my left and there stood Kay Coker. I thought to myself, I didn't think she was here, but Kay Coker, she's all over the place. I told her, I said, I saw her a little bit later, I said, I looked back where you're generally sitting, I noticed you were not here. Folks, let me tell you something. You'd be surprised, most of us generally sit in about the same place about every time. And when you're not where you generally sit, more than likely you're going to be missed. I hope that you'll not be missed. I hope it'll be so that you'll be present. You need to be present. Especially if you're a member of this church. You've been saved by the grace of God And God has let you become a member of this church. You ought to be faithful and be in your place by the help of the Lord. So he found that old Thomas, he lost an opportunity by not being present. And you lose an opportunity any time you're not present. You need to be present. Now I don't know about you, I've personally not missed a lot of services when I'm supposed to be there. But I found that times that I missed a service, lo and behold, something happened and I wished I had been there. Few of those times. I don't want things happening to me. I want to be there every time. And number two, I want you to notice his emphatic denial here in verse 25. He says here in verse 25, 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." Now, it's true today that people who have never experienced the realness of Christ The greatness of the Lord, the inner peace and joy of real Christian and church fellowship say, I don't believe there's any such thing as this. Well, you can't deny it. We thank God for the fellowship of the Lord, the nearness of the Lord, the inner peace of knowing the Lord. We find His heart is against the truth of the resurrection He said, I will not believe in verse 25. That reveals to me his rebellion against the truth. I will not believe. Reveals an antagonism of a stubborn nature. I'm not going to believe that. He's going to walk beside and not by faith. He would not believe what he couldn't see. No need in denying the reality of the Lord. The Lord's presence. The Lord is with us by His grace. I remember years ago hearing my father-in-law, Brother T.B. Freeman, this was back when I was a teenage boy, Brother Freeman standing before the church, greeting the church, and he would say something of this nature, The Lord is with us today, and He is. The Lord is with us today. He's here now. He doesn't leave us. We assemble, He assembles with us. The Lord is here today with us. No need in denying the presence of the Lord. He's here with us now. Then I want you to notice the humbling rebuke that we received in verse 27, 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. Thomas, he went to church the next Sunday. Jesus met with him again. And this time He spoke to Thomas. Let me tell you something folks. The Lord knows what you say. The Lord said to Thomas, reach hither thy hand, Be not faithless, but believing. I'll tell you right now, when the Lord said that to Thomas, Thomas knew that the Lord Jesus knew what He had said about him before. What a stinging rebuke from the Lord! You won't believe without touching then touch me, if that's what it takes. If you've got to touch, then touch. Boys, I tell you, you're talking about rebuke. Thomas was greatly rebuked. Thomas gained nothing but sadness from missing church. Missing church doesn't help you at all. In fact, you do yourself more harm than good when you could have been in church, but you just didn't. I encourage you, make it your business. Let's be in church. Questions should never be asked at your house. Are we going to go to church today? You don't ask a dumb question like that. If it's Sunday, well of course we're going to church. Of course we're going to church. Yes, we're going to church. You be faithful to God in every area of your life. I mentioned a while ago, About reading your Bible? There are certain things in your life that you just do. You don't have to question, think about it. Are we going to church? You don't ask the right question. Yes, we're going to church. Should I read my Bible today? You don't have to ask a dumb question like that. Of course you read your Bible. Just do it. Just do it. By the way, when is the best time to read your Bible? Everybody's life is just a little bit different one way or another. But I'll be honest with you, I'm going to tell you the way it is with this old boy. When it comes to Bible reading and prayer, that's the first thing out of the hat. You don't even go and eat breakfast. You go ahead and you read the Holy Scriptures and you pray. And then you do the other things. Before you even leave the bedroom, go ahead and read the Scriptures and pray. Start your day off with the Lord. And when I say read the Scripture and pray, what I mean is reading the Holy Scriptures, let God talk to you. Then after God has talked to you in His Word, then pray. You talk to the Lord. That's the way you should begin your day. Why do I say that? That's the way I do it. That's the way I do it by the grace of God. I'm married to Ramona. Ramona is a fine, fine lady. But I'll tell you right now, folks, she's not my Lord. She's my wife. She's a very good woman. And the Lord comes first with me. I get up in the morning and my first communication is with the Lord. I talk to Ramona after she wakes up. I find it a lot better to let her go ahead and sleep when she wants to. But I go ahead and have communion with the Lord. I encourage you to do the same thing. Seek ye first the Kingdom of God. Talk to the Lord. First thing in the morning. First thing. Before you get on the telephone. Boy, I'll tell you one thing. There's plenty of people keeping you busy on the telephone, doing this, that, and the other. Talking about this, that, and the other. Think about this. You need to be talking to the Lord. God help us to do it. Talk to the Lord. So we find that Thomas didn't gain a thing by missing church. We don't gain anything by missing church. Then I want you to notice he said here in verse 28, My Lord and my God, He had seen and he had believed when he saw the Lord. He had seen the Lord and he believed. But Jesus said, there is a blessedness for those who have not seen and yet have believed. If you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, you are among that crowd. You've not seen the Lord through the eyes of your flesh, but you've seen Him through the eyes of faith, and you have believed on the Lord Jesus. I thank God I'm one of those. I have not seen Him with the eyes of my flesh, but by faith I have seen the Lord. I trust Him as my Savior. I believe that God the Son came into this world. The Son of God came into this world and died on the cross. I believe that just as sure as if I could have seen it. I believe that Jesus Christ died on the cross of Calvary and they took His dead body down and they buried it. I believe that just as sure as if I could have seen it with the eyes of my flesh. Jesus died for me, was buried. Three days later, He rose again from the dead. I thank my God. I have seen that by faith, that Jesus Christ He died for me. He died for the likes of me. He died for sinners. But He died for me! God gave me faith to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Have you believed on the Lord Jesus Christ? Has God given you faith to believe on the Lord Jesus? Oh, if you haven't come to that place, you might even pray, Lord, give me faith to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. I need to be saved. If you're not saved, it's good to pray that way. Oh God, I need to be saved. Save me, oh God, save my soul. You'd be surprised how the Lord may answer your prayer and save your soul. Thank God for the blessedness of those who have not seen, but yet have believed. I tell you what, I could never be His without believing in Him. Those who haven't believed, they miss this blessing. His words, that's Thomas's words, My Lord and my God, they're but few words, but they're a confession from the depths of a heart and soul that has been rebuked in unbelief. Thomason confessed the deity of Jesus Christ. He said, My God! He confessed His authority over him. He said, My Lord! And he confessed his personal surrender to Him. My Lord and my God. That's what he said. Have you confessed Jesus Christ as your Lord and your God? Have you believed on Him as your Savior? Nothing is more important than believing on the Lord Jesus Christ. Can you imagine living in this life and dying without believing on the Lord Jesus Christ? Sad when a man lives in this life and then dies not knowing Jesus Christ as his Savior. Oh, may God help us. Come to a place of repentance toward God and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Surrender to Jesus Christ and receive Him as your Lord and your God. That way you can say, My Lord and my God. Are you waiting to see something? Are you waiting to touch something? Are you waiting to feel something? Are you willing to be among the blessed? Be not faithless, but believing. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. Believe because the Bible says it so. Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so. I sang that song first time back in World War II. We lived in Baltimore, Maryland at the time. We went to church, but somebody there in the community, the head Bible study, Bible class or something in a hall. I was invited. At that time, I was probably five, six years old. I had not started school yet. But I remember hearing that song. I guess it was probably the first time. Jesus loves me, this I know. For the Bible tells me so. Little ones to Him belong. They are weak, but He is strong. Yes, Jesus loves me. Yes, Jesus loves me. Yes, Jesus loves me. The Bible tells me so. That song was good when I was a little boy. And I'm an old man. And I still love that song. Jesus loves this old man. Folks, it must be by faith, not by sight or feeling. The question is, will you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ? Are you willing to trust Christ as your Savior? Well, I know most of you to be professors of faith in Christ. But if there are any in this room who get you've not come to trust Christ as your Savior, may God open your heart to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Questions asked, what must I do to be saved? What must I do to be saved? The answer to that question is believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. God should be saved. If you have a trust in Christ, may God open your heart. I say God open your heart. May God open your heart. Now you can't do it. You can't do it. But may God open your heart to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Trust Him as your Savior. Let's all stand, please. Father, thank You for being my Father. Thank You that You love me. Thank You that You sent Your Son to die for me. Thank You that You sent Your Holy Spirit to draw me. Thank you for loving me. Thank you for my natural father. Please help me to be a good father.