 Mark chapter 16, we're going to look at as an opening, verse 14, but I'm going to turn you to John chapter 20 in a moment. And so let me read verse 14 of Mark chapter 16. It says, Later he appeared to the eleven as they sat at the table, and he rebuked their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they did not believe those who had seen him after he had risen. So as we have seen, Jesus appeared to the eleven on his resurrection day. John 2019 says that they were behind closed doors fearing the Jewish authorities. So they were having a meal when he appeared to them and he passed through the closed doors and in doing so startled them. It terrified them because they thought he was a ghost. So we're told in scripture that because of this, you rebuked their unbelief. He had said to them, Why you troubled, why do doubts arise in your hearts? You see, their unbelief revealed the callous condition of their hearts. They refused to totally believe in spite of the sufficient witnesses that had been provided. They were grappling. They were grappling with their own doubts. Now remember, there was doubt about Jesus vanishing and appearing, but here he is. How did he get in here? And there he is standing before them in a physical resurrected body. Now he has a glorified body giving him the ability to pass through any barrier. It is solid and real enough for them to touch. He's not a spirit. So he challenged them to look closely at him to see that it really was him. Now his resurrection body retained the wounds that he had received. He had wounds from the crown of thorns and the scourging he had received. They saw the two wounds on his wrist, the two wounds in his feet. They could see the wound on his side where the spear had pierced him. They could see that it was he, the lamb that had been slain. So to prove that it was really him, he had them give them something to eat. Not because the food would sustain his life, but to show that he was real because ghosts don't eat physical meals. But Jesus did to prove that it was really him. So with those words, let's turn to John 20. I want to pick up at verse 19. John 20 picking up at verse 19. Now this basically goes over what we had already looked at it. It says in John 20 verse 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, Jesus came and stood in the midst and said to them, Peace be with you. When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord. So Jesus said to them again, Peace to you. As the Father has sent me, I also send you. And when he had said this to them, he breathed on them and said to them, Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them. If you retain the sins of any, they are retained. And so verses 19 and 20 continue from the same event that we saw in Luke chapter 24. And so Jesus in verse 21 says to them again, Notice peace to you. And as the Father has sent me, so he goes on to share with them. Now verse 19 tells us that Jesus had greeted them by saying peace to you. Again, that's the same greeting that Luke had recorded in his gospel. He obviously knew that his appearing in this way would startle them. So peace to you. Now peace to you is a common greeting, but now it carries a deeper meaning. He had died and yet was alive, which is one reason for showing his wounds. He may have intended to show them peace comes through his resurrection. He's preparing them for a task. And the task that he's going to send them on is to proclaim the message called the gospel. They're going to need a deeper understanding of what peace is. They needed to understand that it's through his work that peace comes. They needed to know that through Christ they could have peace. You see through him you can have peace. You can have peace with God. There are a lot of people right now who don't have peace at all and they don't realize that peace comes first from a relationship with God through Jesus Christ. They don't understand that. So they're wondering what's wrong with them. Why don't I have peace in my heart when all the things that take place and things do take place as we've been experiencing in the recent years that can cause people to be afraid, to be nervous, to have anxiety. They don't understand that peace can come, but it comes through a relationship of faith with Jesus Christ. It comes through knowing God. In Romans 5 verse 1, Paul said it like this, he says, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God, through our Lord Jesus Christ. There's no longer combat between God and me. No longer am I in hostile opposition to him. No longer am I in rebellion to him. I have surrendered to him. The gospel of grace has been given to me. I've heard the terms of peace. I've received Christ as my Savior. My sins have been taken care of and now I can have my peace with my God. There's no longer a battle taking place. That's where it begins. But secondly, through Christ, they could have peace within themselves. Philippians 4 verse 7 says, the peace of God which transcends all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. When you have a relationship with God because there's no longer hostility and the peace of God now reigns within your heart, you have a peace that sometimes people think is just a way of just escaping reality. But the fact is, is we just have a deeper peace because we know who's in control of our situation. And so I'm not afraid any longer of what my future holds because I know who holds my future. That's how it works. And so because I have peace with God and I have peace within myself, I can also have peace with others. Romans 12, 18 says, if it's possible, as far as depends on you, live at peace with everyone. Now the immediate case is that they needed peace within because they're terrified. They needed to call to mind what he had recently said to them. In John 14 verse 27, Jesus had said, peace, I leave with you. My peace I give to you. Not as the world gives, do I give to you? Then he went on to say, let not your heart be troubled. Neither let it be afraid. You have control. You have control as to whether or not your heart will be troubled. You have control as to whether or not you will be afraid. So don't let that happen because why? Because you have a relationship with me and I'm leaving you my peace. You see, he's going to commission his men to go into the world to preach the gospel. They're going to need to walk in the peace that he's going to give to them. And so that's what he's saying. Notice in verse 21 how he speaks to them and Jesus said to them again, peace to you. As the Father has sent me, I also send you. I'm going to send you into a lost and very hostile world. You need to be prepared. You see, Jesus came and performed the work that he had been sent to perform. But they're going to go into the world to do what he has been teaching them to do. In John chapter 4, Jesus had sent them into what he called fields that are white for harvest. In John 4.35 he said, do you not say there are still four months and then comes the harvest? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes. Look at the fields. They are already white for harvest. And so as the Father has sent me, I also send you. In order for them to do the work that God has sent them to do, they need to have authority. They also need to have power. So they're receiving his authority because he's the one who is sending them out. The Father sent him, and now he is preparing for them to be sent out. They're going to be preaching the message that he's taught them for the last three years. The message is the gospel. A gospel message that proclaims Jesus Christ as our Savior. His Father had sent him to obtain salvation for mankind. And to do this, he had died on the cross. And so they're now being ready to go into the world as his ambassadors. They're going to take a message. They're going to proclaim it to the world. He's sending them out. In 2 Corinthians 5, 18 and 19, Paul said, all this is from God who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us a ministry of reconciliation, that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men's trespasses against him. And he's committed to us the message of reconciliation. The message of reconciliation is another way of speaking of the gospel. The word reconciliation speaks of bringing peace to two warring parties. God is at war with man. Man is at war with God. God has sent terms of peace. And the way that he secured it is that he sent his son Christ to die on a cross to take upon himself my sins. And in doing so, paid my penalty. God sends me a message saying the debt has been paid. But in order for you to have relationship with me, you need to accept my terms. My terms are unconditional surrender. That is declared through my gospel. No longer are you to be at rebellion with me. Now you can have relationship with me. But that comes through accepting the terms. And that term comes through again, the preaching of the gospel. And now you're reconciled to God. No longer are you hostily opposed to him. Now you are in unity with him. Now you're walking with him. And so that's what we have. When you go out and preach the gospel, you need to remember that when you're sharing the gospel with somebody, you're really speaking to somebody if he doesn't know the Lord or she doesn't know the Lord that is actually at war with God. If God says it's white, they say it's black. If he says it's sweet, they say it's sour. If he says it's north, they say it's south. They're at war with the Lord. They're constantly in opposition to him. They don't want to do what he says. That's our rebellious nature. Christ came in order to bridge the gap between us because sin made a separation. The message of the gospel declares how I can have a relationship with God. It's not by works of righteousness that I've done. It's that he sent his son Christ to die and across to do that which I can't do, to give me that which I don't have. And so that's what we're looking at here when Jesus is about to send them out. Now notice what he says in verse 22. It says, when he had said this to them, he breathed on them and said to them, receive the Holy Spirit. Along with the authority to preach comes the power. Without the power of the Spirit, there is no ministry success. You can gather people into a room. It's not difficult to gather a crowd if you just find out what appeals to them. And when you find out what appeals to them, they'll show up to hear it. But that doesn't mean they're embracing a message. It simply means they're agreeing with what you're saying because they already were predisposed to do that. So it's not difficult to have a large group of people if you know what they want to hear, you simply say that. But what happens is when the church does that, is we begin to entertain goats and no longer feed the sheep. And so you can have a crowd but you don't have a body of believers. You can have a crowd but not a church. And so if you're gonna preach the gospel, if you're gonna have people who are converted, you're gonna need to have the authority to do that. Jesus gave the authority, but you're also gonna have to have a message and you're gonna have to have the power. And so the spiritual message is what God intends to communicate to people that they might have relationship with him. And so they're giving a spiritual message and they need spiritual power to deliver it. It's like what Paul said in 1 Corinthians 2, 4 and 5 when he said to the church of Corinth, my speech, my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom. I wasn't trying to sell you something. I wasn't trying to convince you using human understanding. It was not with persuasive words of human wisdom but in demonstration of the spirit and of power that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God. You see, that's what the gospel intends to do. It intends to bring to us a message that God can transform through the power of the Holy Spirit. And so Jesus is sending them out and he's giving them authority. He breathes on them, verse 22. He says receive the Holy Spirit. Now what's interesting, the word breathe is the same word used in the Greek translation of the Old Testament using Genesis 2.7 when it says the Lord God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of air, of life rather, and the man became a living being. That word breathe speaks of divine life. He was saying receive the Holy Spirit. That word receive, take it. It's not something that just automatically he's saying receive, this is something you open your hand if you will, you lay hold of and you take to yourself. It speaks of being an active participant, not a passive kind of receptacle if you will. He's saying receive it, this is for you, you need to have a desire. It's a picture of a gift that's being offered and willingly received. It's a gift that they greatly desire, they willingly take for themselves. This has been called a pre-Pentecost empowering and commissioning. This is something they receive at that time but it's a foretaste of the day of Pentecost. It's a foretaste of the future. And he says in verse 23, he says to them, if you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them. If you retain the sins of any, they are retained. Now they're being sent by Jesus. They're empowered by the Spirit. They're gonna have a spiritual work that they're gonna perform. They are given the authority of declaring that sins are forgiven. Now this occurs when someone receives or rejects the message of the gospel. This is like what Jesus said to the apostle Peter at Caesarea Philippi when he said in Matthew 1619, I'm gonna give you, I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven. Whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven. Whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. So he said that to the apostle Peter, but he also said that to the rest of the apostles. In Matthew 18 verse 18, he said, truly I tell you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven. Whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. And so he's giving to them a commission. Let me develop this for just a moment. They are not being given, and I'll say this as slowly as I can because I get caught up with things and I talk rapidly. They are not being given the power of absolution. They are not being given the power of absolution. They are given the power of declarations. Those are two different things. They're not saying that I have the power to forgive you. What he's saying is you will have the power to declare that sins are forgiven. And sins are forgiven based on the reception of the gospel. They are retained based on the rejection of the gospel. Only God forgives sins. Man does not. In Mark chapter two, verse five, Jesus declared a crippled man forgiven of his sins and it caused the religious authorities to react passionately. And in Mark two, verse seven, they said, why does this fellow talk like that? He's blaspheming. Who can forgive sins but God alone? And that's true. God is the one who forgives sins. In the book of Isaiah chapter one, verse 18, God said, come now, let us reason together, saith the Lord. Though your sins are like scarlet, they'll be as white as snow. Though they are as red as crimson, they will become like wool. God says, let us reason together how your sins can be forgiven. So when the religious leader said, who can forgive sins but God alone, they were right. So only God forgives sins. So what do we as Christians, what are these apostles as believers, what power are they given? They're given the power of declaration. If you're talking to somebody, you're sharing with them the gospel. I'm gonna assume everyone here who's a believer has had the opportunity to do that, hopefully more than once, to share the gospel. And as you're speaking to them, they say to you, you know, I really need the Lord. I really do. I need to be forgiven. And what you do is you say, well, are you repentant? Yeah, are you turning from your sin? Yeah. Well, then you want Christ? Yes, I do. You know you're a sinner. Yeah, I do. Well, pray with me. And so they pray with you. And you can say this, though you're not going to, but you can say your sins are forgiving you. Not as if you absolved them, but because God did when they received Christ. But when you're speaking to somebody will say, and they say, I don't want any part of that. I mean, it's good for you and your fantasy world. You know, you're invisible, somebody up there who controls you, but I don't want that. At that point, it's not that you'll say this, my mom did, but it's not, you'll say, my mom did that and she said, okay, then go to hell. That was not how you're supposed to do that, mama. But, because she told me that. She said, David, I was telling someone about Jesus and they rejected him. So I said, then go to hell. I said, no, mom, that's not what you do, mama. What's your grace? No, mama. But in effect, that's what happens. Your sins are retained. What do you mean? Well, because you didn't turn from them and receive Christ and become washed by the blood, you still have them. And so Jesus is telling his men in what is called a pre-Pentecost fashion, they're receiving the Holy Spirit. He's breathing on them. They have power, but he's also given them authority. This is pre, it's kind of a foretaste because later on in the day of Pentecost, they're gonna receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit. This is a pre-Pentecost thing, but he's telling them what the commission is going to be. When you go out and preach my message and someone receives it, they're forgiven. But when you're preaching the message and someone rejects it, they retain their sins. So he's sharing with them what is gonna take place. That's how it happens. So it's through reception or rejection of the gospel, either sins are forgiven or they're retained. And that again, isn't what is called an apostolic privilege. It's the one that is enjoyed by Christians in general. So Jesus says, if you forgive the sins of any, they're forgiven them. By God's authority, by His word, we can declare what God has done. So as this is taking place, we pick up at verse 24. Now Thomas called the twin. One of the 12 was not with them when Jesus came. The other disciples therefore said to him, we've seen the Lord. So he said to them, unless I see in his hands the print of the nails and put my finger into the print of the nails and put my hand into his side, I will not believe. Now, as we look at this, Thomas is one of the apostles that little is written of. We see him in John chapter 11 when Jesus is told that Lazarus is about to die. He's aware of the authorities and Thomas is aware that the authorities wanted to put Jesus to death. And so when Jesus said that he was gonna go to Bethany where Lazarus was, Thomas knew that he could be taken. So in John 11, 16, Thomas who's called Dynamos, meaning the twin, said to his fellow disciples, let us also go that we may die with him. Now that could be courage, but it can also be pessimism. You see in John 14, Jesus said that he was going to prepare a place for them and he went on to say, where I go, you know, and the way you know. And then in John 14, 5, Thomas said to him, Lord, we don't know where you're going, so how can we know the way? So we see something in the character and the personality of Thomas. Maybe he's a bit of a pessimist. Thomas was not there when Jesus came. Thomas had found a place to grieve privately. He left the company of the apostles. So when Jesus had shown up, he wasn't there to be blessed by it. And I was thinking about that. Sometimes we miss special times with the Lord when we don't show up. The men were there. The Lord appeared to them. They had this incredible conversation. They saw things, their hearts were lifted, but he wasn't there. And because he wasn't there, he missed the opportunity of seeing the risen Lord. I think that one of the worst things I've ever done is withdrawn myself from the fellowship of believers when I've been hurt by something. And Thomas did that. You see, he wasn't there and he missed the opportunity of seeing Christ. His friends had doubts. Remember that, we already saw that. Jesus had rebuked, corrected, and even had given to them proof of his resurrection. His friends had doubts, just like he did, except his friends had gathered together and as they were together, Christ appeared to them and their doubts were answered. In a group of people, their doubts were all answered, but Thomas' was not. Thomas was not there. He refused to believe. So they knew that Jesus was alive, was too good to be true. He refused to believe. Even though his friends had told him what had happened. Someone had said, Jesus' death was brutal. It left him so shocked that it would take more than their testimony to convince him after all. He saw the wounds of Jesus. He saw how he had died. He was hurt. He was disappointed. And this led to a great mistake. The mistake was he withdrew from them and he left himself isolated from encouragement. Let me share with you something about that very briefly. That is one of the tactics that the enemy uses on believers. I've said this before, I'll say it quickly. The first thing that you read in scripture that God says is not good is that the man should be alone. God created us to have companions, to have fellowship, to have relationship. Those who have been in prison know that solitary confinement is one of the worst things that they can go through. Because you are created by God to have relationship. So being alone, being isolated is great punishment. And yet sometimes when people are hurt or disappointed, they withdraw. And when they withdraw from fellowship, that's when they become most vulnerable. If you ever take the moment to, and some have, some don't care to, but if you ever take the moment to, see any of these television shows of animals and kinds of things that animals do, you'll see that oftentimes the lion or a wolf or a hyena or whatever, when it's going after prey, what they'll do is they look for the weakest and they try to isolate it. We all know that and once it's isolated, then it's their victim, they eat it and that's how it ends, right? Do you think that the enemy who is a roaring lion doesn't try to isolate you? Do you think that the enemy doesn't use a tactic like that on you? Do you think that? He does. He's a roaring lion. He's seeking whom he may devour. What is he gonna do? We're sheep. What does he want to do? He wants to separate us. He wants us to move off into a direction on our own to be by ourselves. Why is that? Because you're easier to get to. Because you're easier to get to when you're alone. You're alone with your thoughts, with your doubts, with your disappointments, with your grief, with your pain, with your sorrow, with all of those things, you're alone. And then somebody tries to speak to you and somebody says, yeah, I'm thinking of you. And you don't want to hear it. And then after a little while you'll say, well, nobody loves me. Everybody first shook me. Nobody cares about me. The enemy helps to drive you in that direction. Why? Because when you're with others, you can be on fire. Take a piece of coal that you're using for a barbecue, remove that coal, put it by itself, even though it was in the center in red hot, when you move it to itself, be by itself, it doesn't take that long for it to go out. And what do we do? We voluntarily abandon fellowship when we're hurting. I understand that I've done that. I've done it more than once. I'm speaking from experience. I'm telling you that when I have abandoned fellowship, when I've been hurt deeply and I've abandoned fellowship, it's when I've been most vulnerable to doubts and hurt. It's when somebody who is a friend of mine who has spoken to me and prayed for me and encouraged me and let me know, it's that kind of person that's helped me to get my feet back up underneath me and to walk with the Lord. And yes, when I was younger in the Lord, that happened more than once. Now, I'm kind of aware of those things and I try to be aware of those. There are things that happen in your own church that you could be part of that you don't do. Why? Because you've got other things to do and you miss out on blessings. You ought to be aware of those things. You ought to be aware of that. It is in fellowship that you're strong. Thomas had voluntarily abandoned that. The others were in doubt, Jesus rebuked them. We saw that in verse 14 of Mark 16. Jesus rebuked them, demonstrated who he is in Luke 24, but Thomas wasn't there. So when Thomas comes back and speaks to them a week later and they had said, the Lord was with us, he says, I don't believe that. I have to touch the wounds in his body for me to believe. Well, wait a minute, Jesus had already said that. He said, touch me, handle me, see that it is I, not a spirit. He had already done that with the others, but Thomas, no, he was not there. And what happens is we will fall prey to the enemy as he isolates us and discourages us. And by the way, I believe that was one of the tactics the enemy used with this COVID thing. Let's destroy the church. Let's keep people from gathering together. If they want a tattoo, they can do that. If they want to go to a bar, they can do that. But don't let them get together to worship and to pray. We even had a governor who said to us, don't be singing. Are you kidding me? Are you that powerful in your own mind? Unbelievable. And yet the church kind of waffled back and forth, even after it had been opened. You know, when we were going to open up again, I had told John and the other guys, I had said, oh, I'm looking forward to the opening again where we're actually inviting people in again. We didn't stop for maybe three weeks or so. We had followed the regulations, but people were showing up. And I started holding church services. I didn't advertise it. I didn't put it in the newspaper. I didn't put it on social media so everybody could see how brave we were. I just did it. And so I'm thinking, man, all right, you know, and I said to them, I'm gonna just walk up and down the aisle, slap any hands with people. Nope, nobody showed up. I was amazed. I still see people today in the cars with windows rolled up with their masks on. It trips me. You see them walking in a field with a mask on, walking with a person that they live with in the house, they don't have their mask, but when they're walking down the sidewalk, they do. It's interesting. And that's what the enemy did. And the church even went along with that. We all did. In one form or another until we said, no, wait a minute, what is happening here? Oh, you're forsaking the fellowship together with others? Hmm, so we became aware of that. We have to be aware because the enemy likes to isolate and discourage. Fellow believers are a source of encouragement. In Galatians 6 verse two, it says, carry each other's burdens. And in this way, you'll fulfill the law of Christ, what carry each other's burdens and fulfill the law of Christ. What law are you speaking about? John 13, 34, a new command I give you, love one another as I've loved you. So you must love one another. Fulfilling the law of Christ is loving each other. Believers don't isolate ourselves from other believers. We have to come to realize that we are better together and we need one another. So be careful that you don't withdraw from those who love you when you're going through hard times. Now, Thomas in verse 25 demanded physical proof. John had said that Jesus showed them the wounds on his hands and side. In Luke 24, 39, Luke had said that the Lord said, behold, my hands and my feet that design myself, handle me and see. A spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see I have. So Thomas wanted to see the prince of the nails. He wanted to touch the wounds. If this did not happen, he said, I will by no means ever believe. I want complete and full evidence. Now, this is an apostle saying this. An apostle. Think about that for a moment. When you have doubts, when I have doubts, when we can have our times of discouragement, Thomas walked with Jesus for three years. Thomas heard his teachings. Thomas saw him when he cleansed lepers, when he cast out demons, when he healed the blind, when he walked on water. He was there when he multiplied the fish and the loaves. He saw Jesus raise the dead to life. As an apostle, he himself even performed miracles. In Mark 3.15, well, that verse tells us the apostles had power to heal sickness and cast out demons. With all of those advantages, he still was able to experience great doubt. So, if someone of this stature can struggle with faith, why can't I? What's keeping me from having my times? What I have found and what we can find, the answer to my doubt is found in the promises of God. In Romans 15.4, Paul said whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instruction so that through perseverance and the encouragement of the scriptures, we might have hope. Thomas had doubts, but Jesus will erase them. Notice verse 26, after eight days, his disciples were again inside and Thomas with them. Jesus came, the doors being shut and stood in the midst and said, peace to you. Now, this is obviously the same place as that of his first appearance to them. Once again, he says peace into you. This time, he's including Thomas. In verse 27, he said to Thomas, reach your finger here and look at my hands. Reach your hand here and put it into my side. Do not be unbelieving, but believing. And so this reveals that though he wasn't present, he knew what Thomas had said. He even quotes Thomas repeating Thomas' own words back to him. Jesus was fully aware of what had been said in secret. The Psalmist in Psalm 139 verse four says, there is not a word on my tongue, but behold, oh Lord, you know it altogether. Now, Jesus didn't rebuke him for doubt. I want you to see that, but he offers him proof. Thomas had doubts. That's why he's referred to today as doubting Thomas. But Jesus wouldn't leave him in unbelief. Once again, Jesus met Thomas at his deepest point of weakness, and that's where he meets us. You can't go so low that Jesus can't go deeper still. You're never alone. You may think that you are, you may isolate yourself, you may feel abandoned, but you aren't. He said, I will never, never leave you nor forsake you. Thomas felt abandoned. Thomas was in his doubts, but the Lord had heard what he said and still ministered to him. And when he does so, I want you to see something here in verse 28. When Jesus is saying, here's your proof, Thomas answered and said to him, my Lord and my God, it's an emotional, it's a passionate outburst. He's worshiply recognizing him. And in a moment, his broken and doubting heart has been healed. Thomas didn't make use of the offer that Jesus made to see him was enough to convince him that Jesus was alive. Now, I want you to see something in verse 28. Thomas said to Jesus, my Lord and my God, there are those who say they're Christian, but don't believe that Jesus is God. Thomas certainly recognized Jesus as his God. You see, if Jesus were not God in the flesh, he was a rabbi, as a rabbi, he would have rebuked him. Exodus 20 verses one through three says that God spoke all these words. He said, I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. You shall have no other gods before me. In Israel, to have any other God was to blaspheme the true and the living God. Blasphemy in mosaic law and the law of Moses was a capital, it was a death offense, a capital offense. Deuteronomy 17, three through five says it is punishable by death. So as a rabbi, Jesus would have rebuked Thomas for saying such a thing. But instead, I want you to see this, Jesus saw this as a declaration of faith and not only did he see it and hear it, he affirmed it. It's interesting in this affirmation is a rebuke. Jesus said, verse 29, Thomas, because you have seen, seen me, you've believed, blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed. You required physical proof, but you didn't see with the eye of faith. And in this, you revealed the weakness of your faith. So Jesus receives his statement of faith as lacking as it was, but he pronounces a blessing on those who believe it without seeing him. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed. That includes us. I haven't seen him face to face yet. I will one day. I haven't, have you? I don't think so. I remember a guy telling John MacArthur, he had said to John, he said, you know, John, every morning when I'm shaving, Jesus comes and stands next to me and we have a conversation. Do you believe it? And John MacArthur says, no, I don't, but what makes me afraid is I think you do. He doesn't come and stand next to us when we're shaving or whatever. We have what is called the eye of faith. The Bible tells us in 2 Corinthians 5 verse 7, we walk by faith and not by sight. One day we will see, but right now we don't. Blessed is the one who doesn't see and yet believes. This is a blessing on you. This is a blessing on me. Thomas, you've seen and you believe. You went so far as to call me your Lord and your God, which is true, because that's what I am. But you had to see to believe. There are those in the future who have not seen and yet they will believe. Peter said something like that in 1 Peter 1 verse 8, where he said, Jesus, whom you have, whom having not seen, you love, though now you do not see him, yet believing, you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory. No, I haven't seen him face to face. But one day I will. I haven't heard his voice necessarily as a daily thing outside of the word of God. The day comes when we all will. And so we walk by faith. So we trust him. And the interesting thing to me is that Thomas, Thomas had asked for proof and Christ gave it to him, but he pronounces blessings on those who don't require such things. In verse 30 he goes on to say, truly Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book. But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in his name. Well, John in his gospel begins to close by saying Jesus did many more signs. There were works that John was led to record and others that he didn't. But there's a reason these things he says were written down in verse 31, it's to declare the truth and convince us to believe in Christ without seeing. Jesus lived, Jesus died, Jesus was buried, Jesus rose from the dead, he is the Lord of life, and he is to be trusted in order to be saved. Thomas needed proof. He needed to see, but blessed is the one who doesn't see and yet believes. Blessed is the one who trusts that God is telling us the truth. And that would be us. We wouldn't gather on a Sunday morning to read a book that made no sense and had no reality to it. We gather together because we are not to forsake the assembling of ourselves together. We gather together so as a corporate group, we can receive encouragement and direction from the word of God. We gather together because he gathered us together. We are the ecclesia, we are the called out ones. We are the ones who are gathered in a community to worship Jesus Christ. And why do we do that? Because he loved us, he gave himself for us, and he rose from the dead so that we might be justified for giving of our sins and have eternal life. And that's why we gather on a Sunday for fellowship with Christ and one another. What a good thing that is every Sunday to yield together like that.