We are going to learn more about Matthew and Thomas in a few minutes. But I was thinking, even this morning, as I was spending time alone with the Lord, where would we be without His Word? We would be in complete darkness, wouldn't we? I'm sure you've all experienced complete darkness when you've been in a cave, and they turn out all the lights and you can't see anything. That's basically what we see in our culture today. It's an immoral freefall. People are gleefully frolicking in the sewage of woke ideology. We see the gross immoralities of the LGBTQIA agenda, the racist deceptions of critical race theory. These things that just mock God, mock his word, deceive people. The very foundations of our once great Republic are crumbling before our eyes. Of course, I believe all of this is part of God's wrath of abandonment on this country. As we see in Romans one in particular. Someone sent me some photos from San Francisco and also from Phoenix to show the massive tent cities of homeless people living in squalor. Feces all over the sidewalks, urine, needles, are a picture of human depravity. Of course, all of this is championed by Democrat politicians and their liberal sycophants in the media who gaslight Americans every day, telling us that what we see with our own eyes is not true. Friends, the sins of the United States of America really parallel those of ancient Judah described in Isaiah five. If we had time we would go there and we could see that their sins included greedy materialism, drunken dissipation, defiant debauchery. They called evil good and good evil, they substituted light for darkness and darkness for light. God said He was going to curse them for this. They were cursed because of their haughty humanism, where men were wise in their own eyes because of corrupt leadership. Isaiah Five, Verse 23, says that they "justify the wicked for a bribe, and take away the rights of the ones who are in the right." And in that passage, God describes how he planted Israel like a choice vine in the perfect place, and did all of these wonderful things for them to bless them. And in Isaiah five, seven, he says, "And the men of Judah His delightful plant " Then he said this, "Thus he looked for justice, but behold, bloodshed; for righteousness and behold, a cry of distress." In Hebrew, justice and bloodshed and righteousness and distress, sound very much alike. It's a play on words. He basically said I, I looked for "mispat" and I got "mishaps." I looked for "tzedaqah" and I got "tzeaqah." So God pronounces judgment upon them through Isaiah. Judgment that would come at the hands of the Assyrians in 722 BCE, and then again later at the hands of the Babylonians in 586. And he said in verse 29, of that text, concerning the judgment that was going to come upon them, "It's roaring as like a lioness and it roars like young lions, it growls as it seizes the prey and carries it off with no one to deliver it. And it will growl over it in that day like the roaring of the sea. If one looks to the land, behold, there is darkness and distress; Even the light is darkened by its clouds. “The imagery there is like a sailor who is hopelessly tossed about in an angry sea, longing to get to shore. The problem is when they get to shore, it's as bad there as it was in the sea. There's nothing but darkness and distress. You see, dear friends, when man has thoroughly rejected the light of God's grace, all that is left is darkness. And that's what we're seeing in our country. That's what we're seeing being perpetrated upon our children. Darkness and distress is all that is left. And of course, the light has gone out in America, and now we're experiencing just the beginnings of judgment that's going to be far worse. He has eliminated all light and he is allowing sinners to flounder, in the darkness of depravity, so that they will ultimately experience the consequences of their rebellion. But as in the case of Judah, against the dark backdrop of their sin, and that judgment, there still existed light beyond the darkness, there was still hope. And that light was that of Christ. For Judah and all sinners, the rejection of God's grace did not mean nor does it today that grace has been extinguished. You see, it still exists in Christ. In fact, Isaiah went on to point out to them, about the dawning of a great light that would blaze forth in the day's future, in the coming Messiah. Isaiah chapter nine, verse two, he said, "The people who walk in darkness will see a great light, those who live in a dark land, the light will shine on them." In chapter 42, in verse 16, he says, "I will lead the blind by a way they do not know, in paths they do not know I will guide them. I will make darkness into light before them and rugged places into plains. These are the things I will do and I will not leave them undone." Chapter 58 In verse 10, he says, "Then your light will rise in darkness, and your gloom will become like midday." And eventually Jesus came. And we read in John 8:12, when he said, "I am the light of the world, he who follows Me, will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life." Beloved, indeed, it is true today, as the Apostle Paul tells us in second Corinthians chapter four and following verse four, that, "the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving, so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who was the image of God." But then he added this, "For we do not preach ourselves, but Christ Jesus as Lord and ourselves as your bond servants for Jesus sake. For God who said, 'Light shall shine out of darkness,' is the One who has shone in our hearts, to give the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ." In other words, the very one that spoke light into existence is the one that has helped us to see the light, the light of the glory of Christ, and the Bible makes it clear that the nations are going to continue to rebel against the Most High, that the nations of the world will continually to march inexorably towards a day of divine judgment, known as the Day of the Lord. And of course, God will pour out His judgment during the pre-kingdom judgments, known also as the tribulation, just prior to his return. And we see this for example, in Isaiah 60, the first three verses where the Lord promises a future day of restoration even for Israel, and for Gentiles who have been grafted into the vine of Abrahamic blessing. There he describes the glory of Jerusalem that will come one day in the millennial kingdom. And I want to give you this hope in Isaiah 60, beginning in verse one, he says, "Arise, shine; for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you. For behold, darkness will cover the earth and deep darkness the peoples; but the Lord will rise upon you, and His glory will appear upon you. Nations will come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising. So again, a light will eventually cover the earth as the Lord returns, consistent with his promises. And we too as Gentiles, being, as Paul said, that "wild olive branch that was grafted in amongst the Jews to become partakers with them of the rich root of the olive tree", Romans 11:17, and following the rich tree of Abrahamic covenant of blessing, we too will enjoy that ultimate light one day.

Well, all of that to say, Dear Christian, our only hope is in Christ. Without Christ, we would wander in the darkness, like so many of our friends, and loved ones that continue to break my heart and yours, and we must pray for them, that God would be merciful to them, as he has been to us. So once again, we come to the Word of God, it is a lamp unto our feet and what? A light unto our path. Every word of scripture is inspired by God. We're told that it is profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work and so forth. So we come to the word again after that little introduction to look at some of the characteristics of men that God chose to be his closest companions when Jesus was here on Earth. These emissaries of the kingdom, 12 common, unremarkable, ordinary men, each of them fraught with besetting sins. Let me remind you of the text, it's in Mark three. This is a good launching off place. Let me remind you of what we see in the gospel here, beginning of verse 13, Jesus, "Went up on the mountains and summoned those whom He Himself wanted, and they came to Him. And H appointed 12, so that they would be with Him and that He could send them out to preach and to have authority to cast out the demons. And He appointed the 12: Simon, (to whom he gave the name Peter), and James, the son of Zebedee, and John, the brother of James (to them, He gave the name Boanerges, which means 'Sons of Thunder'), and Andrew, and Philip and Bartholomew, and Matthew and Thomas, and James, the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus, and Simon, the Zealot, and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed Him." So we've been looking at each of these individually over the past several weeks. And now we come to Matthew and Thomas.

So let's think about Matthew. I've talked about him before, in our exposition through the Gospel of Mark. Matthew was his Greek name, his Hebrew name was Levi. And were first introduced to him, you may recall and Mark chapter two in verse 13, we read, "And H went out again by the seashore;" referring to Jesus, "and all the people were coming to Him, and He was teaching them." So let's get this in our mind. He's at Capernaum, on the north end of the Sea of Galilee, where much of his ministry was conducted when he was in Galilee, that was the main thoroughfare through that whole region. In fact, Josephus, the ancient historian tells us that there were villages all along the shore. So Jesus was doing open air preaching, and people were coming to faith in him. The Sermon on the Mount took place in this region. And we read a little snippet of what he was preaching in Mark one, beginning in verse 14, "Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God, and saying, 'The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand, repent and believe in the gospel.'" So that's the scene here. That's what's going on. You've got Jesus preaching crowds everywhere. And in verse 14, back to Mark three, we read, or Mark two, we read, "As He passed by, He saw Levi, the son of Alphaeus, sitting in the tax booth, and He said to him, 'Follow Me!' and he got up and followed Him." Now, you may recall when we discussed this before, the context here with respect to tax collecting, in the first century, first of all, you must think of tax collectors in those days as a cross between the IRS and the mafia. I don't think things have changed all that much. Right? It was basically legalized extortion, tax collectors and the criminal elements that protected them, included people like corrupt politicians, businessmen, prostitutes associated with them; it was the underworld. And the tax collectors were the most hated people in the whole society. Herod Antipas was the Roman Tetrarch. Tetrarch means a ruler of a quarter. And he was over Galilee and Perea, he was like the governor at that time, and he collected taxes for Rome. And he had to meet a quota for Rome. But he also had the authority to levy other taxes as he saw fit. We all smile because we know exactly what that's like. And he had the power to do whatever he wanted to do to get that to happen. And so what he did is he sold tax collecting franchises to the highest bidder, and then he would split the profits. And so this was a very lucrative business to buy into a tax franchise. Now, there was a customary poll tax, they also had an income tax that was about 1%, they had property tax, which was 1/10 of all their grain, and then 1/5 of all their wine and fruit and so forth. Fish processors, and distributors, which was the main industry there, we're required to pay taxes on the fish that they caught and sold, and for transporting them. And we know historically that they had taxes on roads, taxes on crossing bridges, they had assortments of duties and tariffs on imports, exports, merchants that would come to buy and to sell there in Israel. And of course, it was easily to inflate the taxes. And if you didn't comply, there was the threat of bodily harm. They were also willing to make loans...haha. They were loan sharks. And that was very common. Now there existed a network of tax collectors in that day, but they were essentially divided into two categories. The Jewish Talmud helps us understand this, there were the "Gabba'i," and the "Mokhes." The Gabba'i were kind of like the IRS agents today. And they collected the basic taxes like the poll and the land and income tax and so forth. And then the Mokhes collected all of the specialized taxes. But there were two kinds of Mokhes tax collectors. There were the Great Mokhes who owned a taxed booth in a specific location. And then the Little Mokhes that worked for them. And they were actually the people, people that manned the toll booths. That's what Levi did. I should say, That's what Matthew did. And everyone in the region would have known him, they would have had constant contact with him. They would have hated them with every corpuscle in their body. I'm not sure what a corpuscle is, but I've heard that term and you all get the idea. His booth was near the shore because he's collecting tolls and tariffs relating to the fishing industry there in Capernaum. One commentator, David Garland, describe the scene this way. Quote, "Levi is no tax baron but one who is stationed at an intersection of trade routes to collect tolls, tariffs, imposts, which is compulsory payment and customs probably for Herod Antipas. Toll collectors were renowned for their dishonesty and extortion. They habitually collected more than were due, did not always post up the regulations and may spread false valuations and accusations (see Luke 3:12 through 13.)" He went on to say, "Tax officials were hardly choice candidates for discipleship since most Jews in Jesus day would dismiss them as those who craved money more than respectability or righteousness." If you look into the Mishnah, and the Talmud that was written later, you'll see all kinds of scathing judgments against these people, lumping them together with thieves and murderers.

Those who collected taxes weren't allowed to be a witness in court, they couldn't judge in a court. They brought disgrace to their family, they couldn't go into the synagogue. They were basically the lowest of the low life. That's what Matthew was. But guess what? God sent his love upon Matthew, and saved him by his grace. In fact, there are three tax collectors that are specifically mentioned in the gospels, and each of them were saved by God's grace, I might add that there were many others that evidently came to Christ as well. But the three that are mentioned, there's first the Publican described in the parable of Luke 18, that was probably a real person, then you have little Zacchaeus in Luke 19. And then, of course, Matthew that we see here. Jesus tells us in Luke seven, he's extolling the character of John the Baptist. And in that context, he says this, beginning in verse 28, "I say to you, among those more, among those born of women, there is no one greater than John, yet he who is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he." And then there's this phrase, "When all the people and the tax collectors heard this, they acknowledged God's justice, having been baptized with the baptism of John." So there must have been a revival amongst the IRS agents of that day. You may recall Jesus attack on the Pharisees in Matthew chapter 21, beginning in verse 31. He says, "'Which of the two did the will of his father?' and they said, 'The first.' and Jesus said to them, 'Truly I say to you that the tax collectors and prostitutes will get into the kingdom of God before you. For John came to you in the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him; but the tax collectors and prostitutes did believe him; and you, seeing this, did not even feel remorse afterwards, so as to believe him.'" So there must have been a number of tax collectors and others of that ilk that came to saving faith in Christ.

Now back to the scene of Matthew's conversion. Imagine this now, hundreds of people were swarming around Jesus. And in Mark two, verse 14, we read, "As He passed by He saw Levi, the son of Alphaeus, sitting in the tax booth, and said to him, 'Follow me!'" That's an imperative. It's a command. You follow me. "And he got up and followed Him." Now, obviously, this would have left the people speechless. Not only because Jesus spoke to him, but he asked him to follow him. And if that isn't bad enough, Matthew actually gets up and follows him. So you can imagine they're just shaking their head in absolute dismay, oh, what a scene, the power of saving grace. Now, obviously, Matthew had already been under conviction. It wasn't like he didn't know who this guy was. He knew who Jesus was. He was a student of Old Testament scripture. In fact, he quotes the Old Testament 99 times in his Gospel, more than Mark, Luke and John combined. And so he was very aware of the promises of a coming Messiah, and the forgiveness that would come through him and the restoration and so forth. In fact, if you go to Matthew nine, and read his description of his conversion, you will see all manner of things that he describes with respect to forgiveness. So the Holy Spirit had already been working in his heart. And in the miracle of regeneration, the Spirit of God convicts him and helps him to see who Jesus really is in light of his own sin. And then supernaturally he imparts to him, the imputed righteousness of Christ makes him a new creature in Christ and so forth, forgives his sin, and he follows Jesus. In fact, Luke 5:28 says that Matthew, quote, "Left everything behind to follow Jesus."

Now back to Mark Two beginning of verse 15. "And it happened, that He was reclining at the table in his house, and many tax collectors and sinners were dining with Jesus and his disciples, for there were many of them and they were following Him." That's pretty exciting to see what's going on here; this is an incredible scene. I mean, Levi, "Matthew" was a wealthy tax collector. He had a big house. lots of friends, Mark says that many tax collectors and sinners were with him. Now stop and think about it. When a person truly comes to saving faith in Christ, and you understand what God has done for you in his infinite mercy, that he has forgiven your sins and imputed unto you a righteousness that is foreign to your own so that now you are declared righteous and treated as such, what do you want to do? You want to go tell other people. And that's what Matthew has done. He's basically sent out the word to all of his outcasts, loser friends, hey, come over to my place. Come over to my place, I need to announce a career change here. I want to introduce you to this Jesus that everyone was aware of. And they're thrilled to be there. They want to see who Jesus is. By this time, if you can think of it in, in our present context, by this time, what Jesus had been doing was all over the internet, right? Okay. I mean, the fact t that Matthew was following Jesus, that's all over Facebook. All right, so everybody is aware of this. And of course, the Pharisees are all over this story because they're trying to find a reason to condemn Jesus. And this is exactly what Jesus wants to see happen. So they learn about the Capernaum mafia meeting at Levi's house with Jesus. And they're thinking, we've got him now and the paparazzi is everywhere. The story has gone viral all over fake news. And so Jesus is in big trouble. Now, let's go inside verse 15 again, "And it happened, that Jesus was reclining at the table in his house." Now in that culture that was a sign of friendship, or being in relationship with someone as it is in our house, or in our culture, and in our houses when people come. This is appalling to the Pharisees. But what they didn't realize is they were witnessing the pursuit of saving grace upon sinners, something they could not understand. Now, imagine if you had been there. And I can't wait to see the Lord face to face someday, but wouldn't it have been amazing to be able to talk with him, to hear him? And that's what's going on here. And in his great love, now he has, he has pursued the lowest of the low, the social outcast, the criminal element, the prostitutes, the unclean reprobates, that were considered the dogs of society, and he offers himself to them. Now, of course, to the Pharisees, this is a scandalous display of impropriety. This is this is high handed defilement, no self-respecting rabbi would commit such wickedness, such blasphemy. In verse 16, we read, "When the scribes of the Pharisees saw that He was eating with the sinners and tax collectors. They said to His disciples, 'Why is He eating and drinking with tax collectors and sinners?'" You see, self righteous legalists always have their own code of conduct, and they expect everybody else to follow along with them. Moralism, legalism, those types of things give, give these people the illusion of spirituality. And if you don't do what they say, then you're not as spiritual as me, but you need to do what I do and so forth. And that's what's going on here. And of course, the Pharisees were world class at rulemaking, and world class when it came to ostentatious displays of religiosity and they expected Jesus and the disciples to obey their rules and their tradition. So again, verse 16, "They said to his disciples," let me pause there.

Jesus is probably still inside, the disciples may be outside, they probably don't want to talk with Jesus face to face a little bit intimidated with this guy that can raise the dead and read your mind and do all these other things. So they talk with the disciples, and they say, "Why is He eating and drinking with the tax collectors and sinners?" Again, they're eating and drinking. They're defiling themselves. You're eating the wrong foods, you're in the wrong place. Verse 17, "And hearing this," Isn't that great? Jesus hears this whole thing, he knows what's going on. "And hearing this, Jesus said to them," and here he has a proverb in the third person, he says, "It is not those who are healthy who need a physician but those who are sick;" Sick being a metaphor for sin. He said, "I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners." Luke adds in Luke 5:32, "sinners to repentance." So Jesus defends his involvement here with these people because of their spiritual need. This is something the Pharisees could not see, even in themselves.

So indeed, Matthew left everything to follow Christ, what a magnificent picture of God's saving grace. We know obviously, that he became one of the 12 apostles and in his own list of the 12, when he described himself with the others, he explicitly called himself a tax collector. As we would see, for example, in Matthew 10 three, one a marvelous picture of humility. Well, God inspired Matthew to write the gospel that bears his name and tradition indicates that he, he ministered primarily to the Jews in Israel. There is no reliable record of how he died. But earliest traditions indicate that he was burned at the stake because of his faith in Christ. And someday we will be able to talk with him.

So that's a little bit about Matthew, what about Thomas? He was nicknamed "Doubting Thomas." I don't think that is totally fair as I will demonstrate to you even though I don't want to start a new denomination based on that. We don't know a whole lot about Thomas. He was also called Didymus in John 11:16, Didymus means "double" or "twin." So he had a twin brother or twin sister. And the first time we get a snapshot of his character is in John 11. Let me give you the background there, you probably remember it. It's the context of Lazarus who lived in Bethany, that that is a suburb of Jerusalem. In fact, from that region, even to this day, you're within eyesight of the Temple Mount. And so Jesus is now in this context. He's about 60 miles away, he's enjoying a fruitful time of ministry. But according to John 10:39, we know that the Jewish leaders are furious with him. We read in in that text, John 10:39, "Therefore they were seeking to seize Him, and He eluded their grasp, and He went away again, beyond the Jordan to the place where John was baptizing at first and there He stayed." So this is where Jesus is, about 60 miles away, and during this time his dear friend Lazarus dies and Mary and Martha summon the Lord's help, wants him to come to Bethany, but obviously, Jesus and his disciples know that that is the lion's lair. So there's enormous hostility in Jerusalem and, and Jesus and the apostles obviously knew this, including Thomas. Now let's pick it up.

Let me just read you a little bit of the, of the narrative here in John 11, beginning in verse one. "Now a certain man was sick, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister, Martha. It was the Mary who anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped His feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick. So the sisters sent word to Him, saying, 'Lord, behold, he whom You love is sick.' But when Jesus heard this, He said, 'This sickness is not to end in death, but for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified by it.' Now, Jesus loved Martha and her sister, and Lazarus. So when He heard that he was sick, He then stayed two days longer in the place where He was." It seems like it doesn't fit right? Why would he do that? "Then after this, He said to the disciples, 'Let us go to Judea again.' The disciples said to Him, 'Rabbi, the Jews were just now seeking to stone You, and you're going there again?' Jesus answered, 'Are there not 12 hours in the day? If anyone walks in the day, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world. But if anyone walks in the night, he stumbles because the light is not in him.'" That's just a way of him saying, Look, I'm doing the Father's will, it's like, nothing's going to happen to me until it's time so we're doing things in the day. Eventually, though, we know that his death would be his stumbling into darkness and so forth. So that's, in essence what he's saying there. "This He said, and after that, He said to them, 'Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I go so that I may awaken him out of sleep.' The disciples said to Him, 'Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will recover.' Now Jesus had spoken of his death, but they thought that he was speaking of literal sleep. So Jesus then said to them plainly, 'Lazarus is dead, and I am glad for your sakes that I was not there. So that you may believe; but let us go to him.'"

Now, this brings us to verse 16, where we can understand a little bit more about Thomas. There we read "Thomas, therefore, who is called Didymus said to his fellow disciples, 'Let us also go that we may die with Him.'" I love the guy. This statement combined with others that we're going to examine, give us a little sense of who Thomas may have been, and we can surmise, I think, four character traits that would perhaps give us an idea about this brother. First, we can surmise that Thomas was a pessimist. You know, the type, they expect the worst, they're bleak, they're cynical. They're often dark and dejected and depressed and their attitude is typically fatalistic, foreboding, gloomy, hopeless. They're not a lot of fun to be around because they tend to be a bit morose and morbid, sullen, troubled, worried. We will see this again in his attitude when he received word of the risen Christ. Now, Thomas knew of the potential danger, okay? Now that's being realistic, not pessimistic. But he jumped to the automatic conclusion that well, we're all going to die. All right? So that's what's going to happen here. And his knee jerk response to life was probably like many people, maybe some of you... that we just need to always assume the worst. My wife tends to tell me I'm a bit that way. I always tell her I'm a realist, not a pessimist. And so, but his favorite Bible verse was Murphy's Law, right? If anything bad might happen, it will happen. Now these kinds of folks are, can be hard to be around. I used to tease my mother about this, I'll never forget, first time I went to Africa, all she started giving me all these articles about all of the diseases that you can get, and Africa and how al Qaeda cells were there in Kenya, where I was going, I get, you know, articles on this and she warned me about the water and then about the snakes. We had missionaries in our house all the time when I was growing up and one of these dear ladies, I forget her name, but I remember she was from Assam, India, and a cobra went into their house, her little cabin and she saw it and they went in they couldn't find it. And so my mom's relaying "remember that story." And it was about three weeks later, she opened up a drawer, and it was there and it spit venom in her face. And fortunately, she had her glasses on. So I'm getting this story, you know, from my pessimistic mother, and armies of man eating ants, you know, and lions and water buffalo and crocodiles. And, of course, for me, I'm thinking, Man, that's exciting. I can't wait to go on an adventure. I love that kind of thing. Well, Thomas may have been a pessimist. But friends he was also secondly, courageous. "Let us go that we may die with Him." I mean he's addressing his fellow apostles here. And he may have been a pessimist but he was no coward. And how pathetic to see people scared to death of everything. Even Christians today, scared to death of cancel culture, really. I mean, these poor people are dead and lost in their sins and you're going to be afraid of them. We worship the Most High God. I mean, I know a lot of pastors that have the courage of a fainting goat. You know, as soon as anybody says something bad about them, they panic. Oh my goodness. That's not how we need to be. But friends courage is bred from the stock of conviction and he knew the stakes were high but he trusted in Jesus. Cowards trust in themselves, not the Almighty. A lot of times people are like, remember the spies that went into Canaan and they feared the Giants more than the omnipotent God who created them" Many Christians are that way. We're not able to go up against the people for they are stronger than we read about a Numbers 1. We are like grasshoppers. And they fear the lunatics that are out there like many people fear cancel culture and the woke dung beetles that constantly are attacking everybody. I mean come on, but not Thomas. He, the people in the day of Joshua says, Oh, let us let us return to Egypt, where we can find comfort. You remember, Joshua and Caleb tore their clothes in the presence of the assembly in Numbers 14 eight we read, "If the Lord delights in us, then He will bring us into this land and give it to us--a land that which flows with milk and honey, only do not rebel against the Lord, nor fear the people of the land for they are our prey. Their protection has departed for them. And the Lord is with us do not fear them." It's like an old statement that I learned from my cowboy buddies years ago. I eat people like you for breakfast. That's the attitude.

Beloved, let me pause for a second do you fear man more than you fear God? It's easy to be that way. And we typically fear man so much because we fear God so little. Well, not Thomas, Thomas turns to his brothers. And as I think about it, he echoes the battle cry of the of the great hymn that says "Rise up, Oh men of God have done with lesser things, Give heart and mind and soul and strength to serve the King of kings." So come on, guys, let's go with Jesus, even though we're gonna die. By the way, thinking of Joshua, later, he reminded the men of Israel to be courageous. And the key to that was obeying God. And then that was great reward Joshua one seven, he says, "Only be strong and very courageous, that you may observe to do according to all the law which Moses my servant commanded you. Do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may prosper wherever you go." That was Thomas.

So he was probably a pessimist, certainly courageous, but also thirdly, he was devoted, he was devoted to the Lord whom he loved. Beloved, we will never offer ourselves for Christ unless we love Him with an undying devotion. And that's what we see with Thomas. He was committed to the Lord, even if it cost him his life, he was loyal to the end. Paul reminds us in Second Timothy 2:21, that we can be useful to the Lord, as His servants, regardless of who we are, as long as we are pursuing holiness, purity of heart. And he says that person, quote, "will be a vessel for honor, sanctified and useful for the master prepared for every good work." Does that describe you? Are you devoted to the Lord because you love him, and you trust him? And you fear God more than you fear man? I think of Second Chronicles 16 nine, it's not, I didn't give this to the people to put on the board. But it says that, “the eyes of the Lord move to and fro throughout the earth, that He might strongly support those whose heart are completely His." That's the people that we need to be and that's who Thomas was. We see another example of Thomas's loving devotion in John 14, beginning in verse one, we read the words of Jesus, "Do not let your heart be troubled, believe in God, believe also in Me, In my Father's house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you, for I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go to prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am there you may be also. And you know the way where I am going." And this brings us to Thomas once again. "Thomas said to him, 'Lord, we do not know where you are going, how do we know the way?' Jesus said to him, 'I am the Way and the Truth and the Life. No one comes to the Father but through Me." I mean, you get a sense of his loving devotion as you read this. It's almost like his voice is quivering and his eyes are filling with tears. Don't talk about leaving us. We don't know where you're going. We don't want you to leave. We don't understand what's going on here. And you know, they didn't fully understand as you will recall. Like all of us, people today tend to believe what they want to believe. That's what was going on. Then they were convinced that the Messiah had come, he was getting ready to establish his kingdom on earth, that he was going to whip up on Rome, that all was going to be well, my goodness, they were still fighting over who's going to be first in the kingdom at this point. So this was their mindset. But Thomas has developed such a deep love for Jesus, what's all this talk about you leaving.

So I was thinking about this, I thought, My what a wonderful thing it is to desperately long to be with the Lord, I hope that is your heart. Don't you just long to be with him. That's what was going on. But beloved, our love and devotion to Christ is directly proportional to our perspective of our own sin, and therefore what Christ has done on our behalf. Thomas was aware of this. Most love Christ little because they love their sin so much. We fail to grasp the infinite horrors of our sin, and the consequences that it deserves. Then our gratitude for our Savior sacrifice will be abated. But when you really see what Christ has done for you, then you can sing full, with a full throat "Amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me." He who loves little has no sense of being loved so greatly. Charles Spurgeon said, quote, "When our thoughts of Jesus are expanded and elevated, we obtained right ideas about other matters. In the light of His love and atoning sacrifice, we see the depth of the degradation from which such a redeemer has uplifted us, and we hate with all our hearts, the sins, which pierced such an altogether lovely one, and made it needful for the Lord of life to die. Forming some adequate estimate of what Jesus has done for us. Our gratitude grows, and with our gratitude, our love, while love compels us to consecration and consecration suggests heroic self denying actions." He went on to say, "Then are we bold to speak for him, and ready if need be to suffer for him. While we feel we could give up all we have to increase his glory without so much as dreaming that it would have been a sacrifice. But our thoughts of Christ be high," Spurgeon says, "and your delight in him will be high too, your sense of security will be strong, and with that sense of security will come the sacred joy and peace, which always keeps the heart which confidently reposes in the mediators hands."

So indeed, Thomas loved the Lord and his devotion to him, could not bear the thought of separation. But he was also probably prone to what we would call melancholy, to depression, John 20, gives us a hint of this. Remember the scene, Jesus has been taken from the disciples, he has been tortured, he's been crucified. I might also add at this point, there was no indwelling Holy Spirit, they lacked the comforter, therefore they lacked comfort, they lacked boldness, the source of power was not in them. They lack the clarity that comes from the indwelling work of the Spirit. So they're in a state of mourning, they are grief stricken. John 20 and verse 19. We read, "It was evening on that day, the first day of the week, goes on to say the doors were shut where the disciples were for fear of the Jews." And let me pause here this was Thomas's worst nightmare. Jesus has gone, he feels alone, he feels abandoned, confused, and he's probably thinking to himself, my life is over. I'm ruined. All is last. So while the disciples were sequestered in this home back to verse 19, we read, "Jesus came and stood in their midst and said to them, 'Peace be with you.'" Can you imagine that scene? But notice who was not there with them? Verse 24, we read "But Thomas, one of the 12, called Didymus was not with them when Jesus came." Now, where was he? Scripture doesn't say, but knowing his pessimism, knowing his devotion to Christ. He's probably alone somewhere. Who knows he may have gone to the Garden of Gethsemane to Golgotha, he might be wandering around somewhere. But he's in no mood to be around his friends. Now I understand some of this is personality. We don't want to make too much about this. I know when great difficulties come into my life. I don't want people around me, I want to be left alone. Or I want to be with my wife, maybe my family. Other people are much more multi-relational, and they want to be around a lot of people. But I would imagine that he was overwhelmed with grief. And instead of searching the scriptures and being encouraged by prophetic truth, he's probably mourning someplace. For example, He could have read in Isaiah 26:19 "Your dead shall live together with my dead body they shall arise awake and sing. You who dwell in dust for your dew is like to dew of herbs and the earth shall cast out the dead," and so forth. People can be prone to melancholy and be sad, depressed, dejected. To use a word you don't hear much they can be lugubrious; down in the dumps a lot, despondent, dismal. Sometimes this is because they don't know Christ. Many people are that way. And the suicide rates today are going through the roof, especially among young people. You read all of this stuff about fentanyl? Why do people take that stuff? They're trying to escape from the reality of life? You remember Cain in the Bible due to self styled worship and his resentment of God of God's revealed will? Remember how God rejected him in Genesis four five we read, "Cain was very angry, and his countenance fell." And of course, that led to murder and judgment. Remember Elijah after great victory, what did he do? He ran and hid under a juniper tree and prayed to die. Sometimes melancholy is due to fear. We can become overwhelmed with exaggerated fears. I think of David, his depression was so great that he said that his body was wasting away. Why, due to unconfessed sin. Job was overwhelmed with grief. He lost everything. Why was he down? Well, it was due to testing. Habakkuk was burdened. Remember how he complained against God, manner of judgment against his covenant people by bringing the wicked to judge them. He had to learn to trust in God's goodness and His sovereignty and his ultimate justice. I think of the apostle Paul, we read how he had no rest for his spirit due to great sorrows associated with ministry. But what did he choose to do? He chooses, he chose to focus on the eternal, not to the temporal, to look beyond what was going on here into what God was ultimately up to. And in Second Corinthians 2:13, he said, Thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ. So he chose to change his perspective, which changed his emotions.

Well, regardless of the cause, the effect of melancholy can be devastating. Notice John 20, verse 25, "So the other disciples were saying to him, 'We have seen the Lord!' but he said to them, 'Unless I see in His hands, the imprint of the nails and put my finger into the place of the nails, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe."" So the disciples tell him the good news. But the truth wasn't able to penetrate his pessimism, his bent for depression. And here's where he gets the nickname "Doubting Thomas." And I don't necessarily agree with that appellation, as I mentioned to you earlier, I don't think it was so much that he didn't believe and that he needed more proof, and he was basically saying to the guys that, Listen, you've been deceived. I believe that it was more because of certainly his pessimism, his melancholy combined with his overwhelming love and devotion to Christ. All of that had exploded to a point where he was now in despair, you know, if somebody were to tell me that, after I have lost my precious wife in death, that she has been risen from the dead. I think my reaction would be driven more by grief than it would doubt. I think that's probably what was going on. But notice the love of Jesus. I mean, Jesus knows. He knows all of the workings of our imagination, our personalities, our sins, all of those types of things. Here's what he says to Thomas in John 20, beginning in verse 26, "After eight days, his disciples were again inside, and Thomas with them. Jesus came, the doors having been shut and stood in their midst and said, 'Peace be with you.'" And I love this, he says, "Then He said to Thomas, 'Reach here with your finger, and see My hands and reach here, your hand and put it into My side; and do not be unbelieving, but believing.'" In other words, Jesus knew what Peter or what Thomas had said. And he's addressing that here, I want you to do exactly what you said, you would do before you would believe. So here's your chance. And, "Thomas answered and said to Him, 'My Lord, and my God!'" "My Lord, and my God!" Which by the way, is a statement that underscores the deity of Christ. And if anyone wants to deny the deity of Christ, I would like for you to explain that text to me, along with hundreds of others, what a tender act of love from the Savior to once again reveal himself to the one who needed such an encounter.

Well, history documents Thomas's ministry in the land of India, in fact, he's buried on a small hill near the airport in Chennai, and Madras, India. And evidently, he did die for the Master. It is said that he was impaled by a spear, As one writer put it, quote, "a fitting form of martyrdom for one whose faith came of age when he saw the spear mark in his master's side, and for one who longed to be reunited with his Lord," end quote. Folks, I hope you long to be reunited with the Lord. And I trust that you will rejoice knowing that he knows everything about you. All of our little quirks, all of our besetting sins, but his grace has covered them all. Despite of who we are he can use us mightily for his sake, as he did Matthew, and as he did, Thomas, isn't that encouraging? Indeed it is. Let's pray. Father, thank you for your great love for us. Thank you for your saving grace, for the transforming work of regeneration that changes everything about us, how we long to see you but until that time, encourage our hearts strengthen our resolve to serve you come what may. And Father there'll be one here within the sound of my voice that does not know you as Savior, how I pray that you will overwhelm them with conviction that they will have no sleep until they humble themselves before you and cry out for the mercy that you will give them so rich and so free. We thank you We give you praise in Jesus name. Amen.