Disclaimer: This transcription is provided for informational purposes, reference, and convenience. Please note that it may contain errors, omissions, or spelling mistakes due to the nature of live audio transcriptions. While we strive for accuracy, this document should not be considered a fully authoritative record of the sermon. For clarification, we recommend referring to the original source. Thank you for your understanding and patience. 

We return once again to our examination of the Apostles Jesus chose. This is actually part seven of the series. We're looking this morning at Matthew and Thomas.

In Luke 6:15, we read that they are two of those that he chose. It simply says, “and Matthew and Thomas.” And as we continue to examine the men that Jesus chose and shaped by his power and his love to be his apostle, we see both their strengths and their weaknesses.

And we can see ourselves in each one of them. And certainly, we see the Spirit of God doing a magnificent work in their lives. I want to dwell on this for a few minutes before we look into their lives, because this is such a magnificent truth that I hope you understand.

The Spirit's role in sanctification is a magnificent reality in the life of every believer. I've witnessed this in most of your lives over the many years that I've been here. And it's for this reason that Paul even addressed the saints at Thessalonica in 2 Thessalonians 2, beginning in verse 13, saying,

“But we should always give thanks to God for you, brethren, beloved by the Lord, because God has chosen you from the beginning for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and faith in the truth.”

“It was for this He called you through our gospel, that you may gain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Beloved, do you realize that it was the sanctifying work of the Spirit that set you apart unto salvation to obedience to Christ? We read about that a few moments ago in 1 Peter 1, beginning in verse 1, we were chosen, he says, “according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, by the sanctifying work of the Spirit to obey Jesus Christ and be sprinkled with his blood. May grace and peace be yours in the fullest measure.”

Do you realize it is the indwelling Spirit that helps us put to death the deeds of the body, as we read in Romans 8? Moreover, it is the Spirit of God that prevents us from carrying out the deeds of the flesh, as we read, for example, in Galatians 5. It is the work of the Spirit that progressively transforms us into the image of the Lord “from glory to glory through the Spirit” (2 Corinthians 3:18), and he causes us to produce the fruit of the Spirit - love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control, as we read in Galatians 5. Beloved, these are the characteristics of the sanctified life.

And I trust you see these things in your life. It is the Spirit that mediates the presence and the power of Jesus Christ, that he might present us someday as his church, as a spotless and holy bride. In fact, our union with Christ that allows us that joy of communion is all through the power of the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit.

But sanctification involves not only divine empowerment, but also human cooperation. We are commanded, for example, in Philippians 2, beginning in verse 12, to “work out our salvation with fear and trembling.” Yet, he says, “God is at work in them both to will and to work for his good pleasure.” What a glorious reality that all who are being led by the Spirit of God are sons of God, as we read in Romans 8. And every believer is sealed by the Holy Spirit for the day of redemption that we await (Ephesians 4:30).

So I would ask you from the outset, what about you? Can you honestly assess the Spirit's work in your life? Can you see a change between last year and say this year? Is he shaping you as he did the apostles? If we were to have a progress report, what would the Holy Spirit say about you? Would he say, “Well, sadly, I must lament that there's very little progress here. With some of the young people, they continue to disobey their parents. They will cheat. They will lie. And some are lazy. They live on their phones and fill their minds with the things of this world. And some of the adults still find themselves ruled by life-dominating sins. They quench my power in their life. They have no real fellowship with other believers. They really have no desire to serve Christ. They have no hunger for his word, no burden for the lost. Their worship is superficial. They have an inflated opinion of their own spirituality.”

Would they say that of you? Would the Spirit of God say that of you? Would he say that, unfortunately, there are still those besetting sins of jealousy and pride, being self-absorbed, being the hero of every conversation? You get the idea. All of these things that we struggle with, no hungering and thirsting for righteousness, no desire to commune with the Lord in prayer, a poor steward of all that I have given them. Beloved, when we walk in the flesh, we forfeit the Spirit's work in our life - the blessings that he longs to give us.

Galatians 5 makes that very clear, doesn't it? If you walk by the Spirit, you will not carry out the desires of the flesh. The point is, if you don't, the desires of the flesh will rule you. And we are either going to grow in the grace and the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, or we're going to wither on the vine, and we're going to forfeit blessing in our life.

And how sad to see people who confess Christ but never grow in likeness to him. James 2:20 says, “Faith without works is dead.” Let me put it to you real clearly: If you claim to know and love Christ, and yet you, if you're really honest, can't see any change over the years in your life by the power of the Spirit, you have no basis to claim genuine saving faith. But what a joy it is if the progress report is different. Oh yes, he or she is still struggling but progressing, growing little by little, teachable, humble, committed.

The fruit of the Spirit is gradually growing on that vine. “And even though there are still besetting sins, I'm happy to report that the refining fires of adversity, burning those things off, we're seeing great progress.” Well, I hope that that is you.

I made myself a note as I thought about this. There are those people that I've encountered over the years that, for whatever reason, just never seem to grow. And yet they call themselves Christians. And when you look at their lives, you will see behind them just a string of corpses, broken relationships. The same things seem to dominate their lives.

And I've heard this over and over in various ways, somebody whose life is a train wreck say something to me like this: “You know, I just find myself constantly falling back into the same sins over and over again. I ask for repentance and I fall right back into the same sins over and over again.”

And my response is, “Well, of course, because you love them so. You love your sin more than you love Christ.”

And individuals like this will find themselves constantly cycling in and out of spiritual depression. They seem to never learn. And so, I would ask you from the outset this morning, how is your sanctification going? How is the work of the Spirit being manifested in your life? I trust it is there. I trust you're rejoicing because it is a glorious process whereby, He shapes us into the likeness of Christ.

In Philippians 2 verse 13, Paul says, for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good pleasure - his good purpose - I should say. That's what he wants for you. And as we honor him in our lives, according to the psalmist in chapter 5 verse 12, it says, “For surely, O Lord, you bless the righteous, you surround them with your favor as with a shield.”

So, dear friends, the passionate prayer of your heart needs to be that of the psalmist in Psalm 19, for example, at the end of verse 12, cleanse me,

“cleanse me from secret faults. Keep back your servant also from presumptuous sin.

Let them not have dominion over me.”

You see, this will always be the constant cry, the constant prayer, the constant passion of a maturing saint, one serious about the consequences of sin. Oh, how sad to forfeit divine blessing and to place yourself under the cloud of divine chastening. That we should pray, “Lord, cleanse me even from the unintentional sins that are there that I can't see. Because I want favor in your eyes. I desire your blessings in my life.”

Well, this was at the heart of the 11 apostles. Despite their faults with which we can identify, they all longed to know more of the Savior, to grow in love with him, and he shaped them to that end. And I pray that that is your prayer as well.

Now, with that little introduction, we see this at work, first of all, in Matthew. What a work of grace. He was a despised tax collector - and by the way, some of this will be review because you may recall we looked at these things when we were in Luke 5. Let me remind you of the context of his life and how God just kind of snatched him right out of a lot of wickedness. You will recall that tax collecting in the first century was tantamount to a cross between the IRS and the mafia. And sometimes I know we can't really see the difference ourselves, but essentially, tax collecting was legalized extortion. Tax collectors and the criminal element that protected them, like the corrupt politicians and businessmen and prostitutes that were all associated with them, were the most hated people in the society. And Herod Antipas was the Roman Tetrarch; Tetrarch means ruler of a quarter.

And he was the ruler over Galilee and Perea, which he was like a governor. And he collected taxes for Rome. He had a quota that he had to meet. But he also had the power to levy other taxes that he deemed important. And so naturally, when you give people that kind of power, you know what they're going to do. We see it all the time in our culture and our authorities.

And so they would, or he would, levy taxes as he saw fit. And he sold tax-collecting franchises to the highest bidder and then split the profits. That's how the whole scam worked. So it was a very lucrative business venture if you're a crook. And Herod employed thugs to physically threaten and even beat people who refused to pay, often beating them severely. And of course, they taxed everything.

I was thinking about this, by the way, and I'll digress for just a moment to express my frustration. According to research from USA Facts, the average family in the middle 20% of income pays a combined total of roughly $17,902 per year across all direct and indirect federal, state, and local taxes, because we're all aware of that, it's like we get taxed on everything. And according to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, overall effective tax rates, combining all taxes, average around 34.8% for the richest 1% of earners compared to about 17.1% for the lowest 20. And it's interesting, the top 50% of income people pay 91.7% of all of the taxes, and the top 10% of income earners pay 72% of all of our taxes.

Well, so there's not a whole lot of difference, maybe a little bit of difference, but you get the idea. And there existed in the first century a network of tax collectors that were essentially divided into two categories according to the Talmud. You had the Gabbai and the Mokhes.

The Gabbai were tantamount to an IRS agent. They collected the basic taxes like the poll tax, they had a land tax, an income tax, and so forth. And the Mokhes collected all the specialized taxes.

And there were two types of the Mokhes. You had the great Mokhes who owned a tax booth at a specific location, and then you would have the little Mokhes who worked for them, who literally manned the tax booth. And this is what Levi did.

Also, we know him by Matthew, which was his Greek name. And of course, therefore, everyone in the region knew who he was and hated him. He was in constant contact with them.

And we know that his booth was near the shore, so he collected tolls and tariffs related to the fishing industry in Capernaum. One commentator that I read, David Garland, said this about the whole scene, quote, “Levi is no tax baron, but one who is stationed at an intersection of trade routes to collect tolls, tariffs, imposts, which are compulsory payment, and customs, probably for Herod Antipas. Toll collectors were renowned for their dishonesty and extortion. They habitually collected more than they were due, did not always post up the regulations, and made false valuations and accusations, (see Luke 3, 12 through 13).” He went on to add, “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”

Now, you add to this the fact that the Pharisees were especially resentful of the tax collectors for a couple of reasons. One, because they cut into their profits because they had their own scam going. But also, they saw them as traitors who worked for Rome and who took money from their kinsmen to be used against them, not to mention they lined their own pockets with money that they stole, shall we say. So naturally, for Jesus and his disciples, and here's where I'm going with all of this, for Jesus and his disciples to have anything to do with a scumbag like this, is utterly reprehensible.

This is hideously offensive. And yet, Jesus saved him. Jesus saved him and then called this despised, corrupt, traitorous, immoral, wealthy man to leave everything and follow him. In fact, we read in Luke 5, verse 27, it says, “After that…” by the way, the context there is the public healing of the paralytic, “After that, Jesus went out and noticed a tax collector.” The term “notice” literally means to fix your gaze upon something. It's not like a little glance; it's like he sees him and fixes his gaze upon him.

“He noticed a tax collector named Levi.” Again, this is Matthew who wrote the gospel…”saw him sitting at the tax booth and He said to him, follow Me.” Mark gives us some more insight in Mark 2, beginning in verse 13,

“And Jesus went out again by the seashore and all the people were coming to Him and He was teaching them.

“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.”

Again, this would have been utterly reprehensible to the Jewish people, especially the Jewish leaders. And yet in the providence of God, we see Jesus coming by, fixing his eyes on Matthew, knowing his sin, knowing his wretchedness. And he did so because his name was written in the Lamb's Book of Life before the foundation of the world. What an amazing thought.

And because of his repentant faith, we see that Jesus forgave his sins, called him to be a disciple. And then later on in Luke 6 in verse 15, where we're at, Jesus called him to be an apostle. So Matthew becomes really the fourth individual that Jesus called to follow him. We see that in Luke's gospel. He followed Peter, James, and John. And again, the text says in Luke 5:28, I love this, it says, “And he left everything behind and got up and began to follow Him.” What an amazing statement.

You know, when a sinner is truly converted, everything in life takes a backseat to following Christ. Maybe you remember that. Maybe you should remember that when you were saved. And if you think about it, unlike the fishermen that Jesus saved, who knew they could always fall back on fishing if everything went south, which they kind of did, as you will recall, Matthew walked away from a very lucrative business, knowing that once you left, you were done. He had no idea what lay ahead. Matthew even says that again, that he left everything - I should say, Luke said that Matthew left everything behind to follow him.

You know, this is the problem many times with non-believers. They don't want to follow Jesus; they want Jesus to follow them. There's a big difference. And I'll keep living the way I have, and you can stay close to me to help out in case I run into any trouble. But, you know, otherwise, just let me do my thing. See, that's not genuine saving faith.

Back to Luke, Luke 5, verse 29, we also learn it says, “And Levi gave a big reception for Him in his house; and there was a great crowd of tax collectors and other people who were reclining at the table with them.” So he must have had a huge home.

Mark says, quote, “many tax collectors and sinners.” Now, what did genuine converts want to do when they truly come to saving faith in Christ? They want to tell other people. They want to share the gospel. Plus, he's going to, shall we say, announce his retirement. You know, he's got a career change now. I'm leaving this to follow Jesus. He's going to tell them all that. And just imagine the guests there. I mean, he's got the whole mafia crew, right? He's got the other tax collectors. There would have been politicians in Herod's court. There would have been hit men, thugs, shakedown artists, prostitutes, every kind of low life that would have been a part of that criminal world. And of course, they're thrilled to be there because all of them are going to want to see Jesus. They'd all heard about him and seen his miracles. And of course, Jesus orchestrated all of this because he came to seek and to save the lost. And in his great love, Jesus pursues even the lowest of the low, the social outcast, even those that were there in that house, the criminal element, the prostitute, the unclean reprobates considered to be worse than dogs by the religious elite.

Well, obviously, the Pharisees didn't like this. In verse 30, he goes on to say, this is Luke 5, “The Pharisees and other scribes began grumbling at His disciples, saying, ‘Why do you eat and drink with the tax collectors and sinners?’” You see, eating and drinking were especially defiling because he was eating the wrong foods in the wrong place with the wrong people.

So they were defiled. And self-righteous legalists always have their own code of conduct, although it's all external. It gives them kind of the illusion of spirituality because they got all these rules that they keep.

Verse 31 goes on to say, “And Jesus answered and said to them, ‘It is not those who are well who need a physician, but those who are sick.’” Then he says, sarcastically, “’I've not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentant.’”

Friends, please understand only those who are broken over their sin and long for forgiveness can be saved. Only those who recognize that they are, shall we say, sick, will see their need for a physician. And this is what obviously happened with Matthew. He would have been very aware of who Jesus was. So he left everything to follow Jesus. Isn't it amazing? There's no heart too hard to resist the Spirit's work of regenerating grace. I rejoice in that.

Well, as an interesting note here, Matthew fades from the scenes of history after this. We have his gospel, but we know nothing really for certain about his life after this, his ministry after Pentecost. We really know nothing. There are various historical accounts that indicate that he preached primarily to Jewish people. And then he focused later on the Gentiles in the vicinity of the Caspian Sea, perhaps even in Persia, Macedonia, or Syria. And there's no agreement regarding his death.

Some accounts say that he was burned at the stake. Others say that he was beheaded. Another account said he was stoned to death.

But what we can say for sure is that first Jesus chose him, and then he chose Jesus even over a lucrative career, and he followed him all the way to heaven, and we will meet him one day.

Well, Jesus also chose Thomas. And we can see perhaps four characteristics that I have in the life of Thomas. Some are good, some not so good. Like all of us, right, if we were to look at our life? Thomas is only listed in the Synoptic Gospels, and the only info is really in the Gospel of John. We really don't know much about him.

He's also called Didymus; it means “twin.” So as we would see in John 11:16, according to the King James Version; so he had a twin brother, maybe a sister. And the first time we get a snapshot of his character in his life is in John 11. Now, you will remember John 11, the context there, you've got the story of Lazarus who lived in Bethany, which was a suburb of Jerusalem.

You can go there and you are within eyesight of the Temple Mount. And you remember the story - Jesus' dear friend Lazarus dies, and his sisters Mary and Martha, while he was sick, they summoned Jesus' help, you know, “Come to Bethany.” Which, by the way, would have put Jesus in the lion's lair because of the enormous hostility in Jerusalem towards Jesus.

Jesus and his apostles knew this, and Thomas knew this. And so Jesus gets the word, and we know from the passages of Scripture that he's about 60 miles away. He's enjoying a fruitful ministry. But Jesus knew, according to John 10, beginning in verse 39, that the religious leaders, the Jewish leaders, were furious with him.

And so it says,

“Therefore they were seeking again 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 that's where he is now.

Then Lazarus dies, and later then in John 11, verse 14, we read that Jesus said to his disciples very plainly, “’Lazarus is dead.’” And then he made this interesting statement, “and I'm glad for your sakes that I was not there, so that you may believe.’” That's interesting.

You must understand that Jesus was not glad because Lazarus died, but he was glad because of the profound effect that he knew Lazarus' resurrection would have on the faith of the disciples. To be sure, they're going to need confidence in who the Lord is. They're going to need to be strengthened in order to endure all of the persecution in the days ahead when Jesus ascends back into heaven.

And I have to say, my, my, my, what a premium the Lord places on our faith. And it is out of his love for us that he will go to unimaginable lengths to strengthen our faith. Well, anyway, he says “’Lazarus is dead, and I'm glad for your sakes that I was not there, so that you may believe.’”

But then we read this,

“’but let us go to him.’

And then Thomas, therefore, who was called Didymus, said to his fellow disciples, ‘Let us also go that we may die with Him.’”

This statement, combined with others that we'll see, helps us understand a little bit more, probably, about Thomas.

The first thing I would surmise as I look at the life of Thomas is he was a bit of a pessimist. You know the type; expect the worse. The cynical person that's distrustful, typically dejected and depressed, fatalistic, foreboding. They're not fun to be around. They're kind of morbid, morose, sullen, troubled, worried about everything.

And we're going to see this again, by the way, later on when he received the word of the risen Christ. Thomas knew there was potential danger, and that's OK. I mean, that's realism.

We would all agree with that. But he jumped to the automatic conclusion that we just need to go, we're just going to die. You know, that's what he's saying here. His knee-jerk response was basically assume the worst. His favorite Bible verse was Murphy's law. You know, if something bad can go wrong, it will. By the way, that's not in the Bible.

But, you know, my mom, and I can still see her sitting over here. She's with the Lord now. But I used to tease her about this because she was like that. I remember the first time I was going to Kenya to train pastors to seminary there. Mom immediately said in on me, “Oh, honey, aren't you afraid of all those diseases?” And she had looked up the various diseases that were there. And then she talked about Al-Qaeda is there in Kenya. “Remember all those folks that were blown up in that building?” And she knew all about that. She was doing all this research for me.

And then she started warning me, I remember, about the water. “Oh, you got to be careful with the water.” And then she got off on the snakes. She did not like snakes. We had missionaries in our home when I was growing up, and one of them, I just remembered her name this morning when we were singing. I was talking with Nancy earlier… “What was her name?” And we couldn't remember, but I did when we were singing. Isn't that funny how your mind works? It's all of a sudden, oh, there it is. Her name was Arlene Peterson. She was a missionary to India.

She stayed in our house when I was a little boy. And she did that on a number of occasions because when missionaries would come, they would often stay in our home. And she had told the story of how a cobra; they saw a cobra going into her little bungalow where she lived. And the men went in to find it, and they couldn't find it. And they looked, and they looked, and they looked. And a few weeks later, she opened up one of her drawers, and it was there, and it spit venom at her face. But fortunately, she had glasses on, and so she survived. Well, naturally, as a little boy, you know, and she had other stories, too. I won't get off on all that, but my mom remembered that.

And so the point is, “oh, honey…” and I remember she got off on the army of man-eating ants that are there, too, and, you know, just on and on. Well, rather than saying, “You know, honey, there's gonna be dangers, but I'm gonna trust the Lord to take care of you. My, what a wonderful opportunity for the gospel…” So it's easy for some people to go to the negative first rather than the positive. I think Thomas was a bit like this, a bit of a pessimist.

But secondly, he was courageous. “Let us also go that we may die with Him.” I mean, he addresses his fellow disciples with this passionate, fearless attitude. He was no coward. He had a resolve. He was a courageous man, and courage is always bred from the stock of conviction. He knew that what they were doing was a noble thing.

And whenever I see cowardly Christians unwilling to stand up for the truth, unwilling to speak the truth of the gospel, I know their faith is weak because their convictions are weak and so forth. You know, sometimes we can be like the spies, remember, that went in and feared the giants in Canaan more than the omnipotent God who created them. And many Christians are like that.

Remember the story there in Numbers chapter 13, “We are not able to go up against the people for they are stronger than we are.” He said that we are like grasshoppers. You remember that story? And there are always sheepish Christians who hear the report of something bad and they all get nervous.

By the way, if you've been around sheep - and horses, by the way, are the same way - if one of them gets nervous about something, the others will see them getting nervous and they think, well, I guess we need to be scared too. So they all get nervous and run off the cliff.

And sometimes we are the same way. Remember the Israelites, “Oh, let us return to Egypt for our comfort. Oh, this is such a terrible thing.”

But Thomas would have been kind of like Joshua and Caleb. Remember, they tore their clothes in the presence of the cowering assembly and said in Numbers 14, beginning in verse eight,

“’If the Lord delights in us, then He will bring us into this land and give it to us - the land 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 from them, and the Lord is with us; do not fear them.’”

May I pause for a moment? Dear friends, ask yourself, do I fear God more than I fear man? As someone well said, “We fear man so much because we fear God so little.”

Well, Thomas turned to his brothers in Christ and he really echoed the battle cry of the hymnist that came to mind

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.

By the way, you will remember that Joshua later reminded the men of Israel that courage was necessary in obeying the Lord and there would be great reward in that.

And he said in Joshua 1:7, I love this passage, “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.”

Well, back to Thomas. He was probably a bit of a pessimist, but he was courageous. He was also thirdly devoted. You know, we will never offer our lives for Christ unless we have an undying devotion to Him because of our great love for Him and because we worship Him as our Savior and Lord.

And Thomas was committed to the Lord knowing that it could cost him his life. He was consecrated, shall we say, to the Lord our God. You know, Paul reminds us in 2 Timothy 2 and verse 21 that we can be useful to the Lord regardless of who we are as long as we are devoted to His holiness, as long as there's purity of heart and so forth. And he says that that person, quote, “will be a vessel for honor, sanctified and useful for the master prepared for every good work.” So we see this with Thomas. He was devoted.

And we see another example of his devotion in John chapter 14. The context there, Jesus is speaking about His leaving and He says,

“’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.

“If I go and 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.’

“Thomas said to Him, ‘Lord, we do not know where You are going, how do we know the way?’”

Obviously, there's a sense of desperation in his voice here. He loves the Lord, doesn't understand what's going on, doesn't want Him to leave. And we can understand that. By the way, he was still, like the rest of them, convinced that Jesus was the Messiah, that at this point was going to establish the kingdom. And they're still fussing over who gets to be first in the kingdom.

So this whole thing about Him leaving, I mean, it's really messing up their theology. They're still fighting over all of this. So in effect, Thomas is saying, “Lord, what's this talk about you leaving? I mean, that doesn't fit with what we think needs to happen here.”

You know, ask yourself, when was the last time you desperately wanted to see the Lord and your heart ached to see Him? That's what was going on with Thomas. And perhaps his loving devotion to Jesus, combined even with his pessimism, fueled the fire of another characteristic that we see in a final scene in John 20. And that characteristic would be melancholy.

He was probably given to melancholy. Remember the scene, Jesus has been taken from the disciples; He's been tortured, He's been crucified. The Holy Spirit hadn't come upon them yet at Pentecost, so they lacked the comfort of the Comforter. Power of boldness was not really in them yet. They lacked doctrinal clarity because they didn't have a resident truth teacher yet. They're in a state of mourning. They're grief stricken.

And in John 20, verse 19, we read that, “it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, the doors were shut where the disciples were for fear of the Jews…” So they're hiding in their house here. And of course, this is Thomas' worst nightmare. Jesus is gone. He feels alone. He's abandoned. He's concerned. He's afraid, confused.

And the natural proclivity of a pessimist is to think everything is downhill from here on out. This is it. We're toast. My life is ruined. All hope is gone. Never going to see Jesus again.

So this would have been going through his mind. And while the disciples were sequestered there, back to verse 19, it says, “Jesus came and stood in their midst and said to them, ‘Peace be with you.’” Can you imagine what that would have been like? But notice who was not there in verse 24.

“But Thomas, one of the 12 called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came.” Now, I wonder where Thomas was; you know, the scripture doesn't say, but knowing his pessimism combined with his devotion to Christ, he's probably mourning somewhere. He may be in the Garden of Gethsemane. He may have been at Golgotha. He may be just wandering alone and no mood to be around his friends.

It's so easy if you're that kind of a person to allow your emotions to rule your mind instead of searching the scriptures and being encouraged by what God has said in his word. For example, wouldn't it have been great if he had been looking at Isaiah 26, verse 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 the dew of herbs and the earth shall cast out the dead.”

I was thinking about people prone to melancholy. I've dealt with them many times over the years. They're kind of chronically sour, sullen, depressed, moody, glum, whatever word you want to use. And there's typically a progression with all of this in terms of their thinking that I've noticed.

The first thing that you will always see is they have a superficial understanding of God. They really don't understand and relax in his great sovereign care. They don't understand that.

They then will secondly have weak faith. Their faith is unexercised and therefore untested. And so God's resources are insufficient in their mind.

And then thirdly, they will have a sullen, kind of quiet pride about them that they don't see themselves. They kind of think life is all about me and my happiness. And God's supposed to make all of that happen. And I'm angry with God for treating me unfairly. I deserve better with this and life stinks and I'm sick of it. Everybody needs to just leave me alone. That's kind of what happens.

And then there's therefore that angry arrogance that says nobody's going to comfort me or teach me or admonish me. There is nothing you can do that will change me. Please just leave me alone and don't even think about rebuking me, because frankly, I like this little world that I've created for myself. I'm not happy unless I can find something to complain about.

And then that turns, fifthly, into selfish manipulation to become masters of making everybody feel sorry for them. They've polish up their victim's badge and it gets bigger and bigger and bigger. They've been given a raw deal. And you think, well, what causes a person to be this way? You know, you see people like this in the Bible. And maybe you're there.

I think back of Cain. Remember with Cain and Abel? Cain had his own self-styled worship and he resented God's will. Remember God rejected his worship. And in Genesis 4, 5 it says, “Cain was very angry and his countenance fell.” And of course that led to murder and judgment.

Remember Elijah after the great victory? God bringing down fire on the altar. All the guys there with Baal, all that incredible story. The next thing you know, he's so depressed. He's weeping under a juniper tree, praying to die. Afraid of Jezebel and so forth. So God had to remind him of truth.

Remember David? He was so depressed that he said that “my body is wasting away.” And all of that was due to sin. Of course, the remedy was confession, as you will recall.

Job was overwhelmed with grief. He had lost everything due to God's testing. God had to teach him to learn to ask “what” rather than “why.” “God, what do you want me to do to honor you in the midst of all of this? I don't understand it. But certainly you don't owe me an explanation.”

Habakkuk, remember he was burdened. He complained against God because of the manner of judgment that God was bringing against his covenant people. And he had to learn to trust in God's goodness and sovereignty and ultimate justice.

Paul had no rest for his spirit, remember, due to the great sorrows associated with ministry. Sometimes they can be so overwhelming you'll pray to die. And of course, the remedy was to choose to focus on the eternal, not the temporal. First Corinthians 2:13, “Therefore,” he says, “Thanks be to God who always leads us in his triumph in Christ.”

So God had to help him learn to change his perspective, even when the circumstances don't change. And regardless of the cause, the effect of melancholy can be very devastating.

Notice going back to John 20 and verse 25, it says, “So the other disciples were saying to him, ‘We have seen the Lord!’” They're telling Thomas that we've 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.’”

In other words, truth is not going to penetrate the walls of pessimism, especially one that is bent to depression. “I don't even want to hear the good news. I don't care. I've already found a place where I can survive in the vault of my own misery. But just leave me here”

Sound familiar? Well, many have nicknamed him “Doubting Thomas.” I really don't think that's necessarily accurate. I don't think the issue was so much that he didn't believe, that he doubted, that he needed more proof; it's not like he was saying, at least I don't think, that, “Well, you guys are deceiving me here,” I don't believe any of that. See, I don't think the issue was unbelief - a deliberate refusal to believe what they were saying - I mean, Thomas had more than enough evidence to believe. I mean, he'd been with the Lord for three and a half years. He'd seen him, you know, raise the dead. He'd seen him perform miracles, heard him speak, and he's heard him predict his death and resurrection in three days. He had heard all that. Yet he refused to believe.

You see, I think the issue was his heart more than his mind. I think he was driven more by grief than by doubt. Notice the love of Jesus, knowing exactly Thomas' besetting sins, in verse 26, we read,

“And after eight days His disciples were again inside, and Thomas with them. And Jesus came, the doors having been shut, and stood in their midst, and said, ‘Peace be with you.’

“Then He said to Thomas…”

Let me stop there for a second. The Lord knows what's going on. “Ah, there's Thomas. I knew he would be here, and I know his heart.” And he says to him, “’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.’”

You know, the text doesn't say that Thomas did any of that. I think he probably didn't do any of that. I think he was so overwhelmed by the voice of Jesus that his heart was softened and his faith was strengthened. And it says in verse 28, “Thomas answered and said to him, ‘My Lord and my God!’” My, what a tender act of love from the Savior to once again reveal himself to this very one who needed such an encounter.

By the way, for those of you that struggle with a lot of these things that I've talked about today, please know that the Lord wants to reveal himself to you. He wants to prove himself powerful on your behalf. And you will find out how by looking into the word of God and allowing the Spirit to use his word to minister to your heart.

Well, in conclusion, history well documents Thomas' ministry in the land of India. He's evidently buried on a small hill near the airport in Chennai, Madras, India.

And it is said that he eventually, he did eventually die for the Master; 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.”

Well, dear friends, I trust that these two lives that we've examined today will cause you to examine your own life and to rejoice in the Spirit's work in your life and that you will pray that he will help you be more conformed to Christ and show you those ways that you are walking far from him. That perhaps your heart has gone in search of another lover rather than Christ.

And then pray that he would bring conviction to your heart and shape you into one of his choice servants that you might enjoy the fullness that is yours because you are united to Christ. So let's remember these things, shall we? Let's pray.

Father, thank you for the great truths of your Word that reveal so much to us. My, where would we be without it? And I pray that what has been said here today will penetrate every heart. Lord, we all need the truths of your Word to help us see where we can find ourselves wanting and lacking that we might repent and walk in a new direction and thus bring glory and honor to you and great joy to ourselves. May that be the passion of every heart here today.

And Lord, for those that do not know you as Savior, I pray that you will bring such conviction to their heart that today will be the day that they will fall on their face before you, the living Christ, and be saved. So we commit that to you for your glory. In Jesus' name, amen.