But the point is that these men were saved and yet Thomas, look what he said in John
chapter 20, John chapter number 20, I'll finish up with this, John chapter number 20 the Bible
says this, verse 24, "But Thomas one of the twelve called Didymus was not with them when
Jesus came."
Jesus came, he showed himself in his resurrected form, Thomas was not there.
"The other disciples therefore said unto him, We have seen the Lord, but he said unto them,
Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print
of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe."
And after eight days, so he couldn't believe that he actually rose from the dead.
The Bible also talks about that they didn't know that scripture, that he should rise from
the dead.
Okay, so it's not that Thomas didn't believe that Jesus was the Christ, he just didn't
believe the part about rising from the dead, he didn't understand that, he didn't know
that scripture.
He was saved by calling upon the name of the Lord, as men have always been saved, but he
did not yet know that scripture because Jesus was not yet risen from the dead.
He hears about it, at first, he's in a time of doubt, and he says, "I want to see it to
believe it."
Okay?
Watch what it says in verse 26, "And after eight days again his disciples were within
and Thomas with them.
Then came Jesus, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst and said, 'Peace be unto
you.'
Then saith he to Thomas, 'Reach hither thy finger and behold my hands, and reach hither
thy hand and thrust it into my side, and be not faithless but believing.'
And Thomas answered and said to him, 'My Lord and my God,'" by the way, that's who Jesus
is.
And that's why Jesus then blesses him for saying that.
He said, "Jesus said to him, 'Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed, blessed
are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.'"
Because let me tell you something, if you're waiting to see the evidence, if you're not
saved, you're going to be waiting a long time.
You say, "Well, Pastor, I said we're all saved."
And that's probably true.
Now who knows?
Maybe there's somebody here that's not saved, but chances are most people, or all people
here that are in church, that's why you're in church, is because you are a believer.
That's why you come to Faithful Word Baptist Church.
You know, you're saved.
But you know what?
If you're saved and you're going out and getting people saved and giving people the Gospel,
if you're trying to show them evidence, you know, you're missing the boat.
It's not Paul's.
It wasn't Paul's method.
It wasn't Jesus' method.
It wasn't Paul's method.
He said, "You know what?
It's the preaching of the cross.
I'm not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation.
It's the words of God that say, 'Faith cometh by hearing, not by seeing.
Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God."
If you see it, you don't have to believe it.
You don't have to hope for it.
"Oh, wow, I hope you'll be in church."
No, I see you in church.
I believe that you were there this morning.
I saw you.
Understand that it was between knowing and believing you'll be a better soul winner.
When you get to the point where you teach people that they're saved by faith, they've
got to believe.
And if they say, "Well, I'm not sure," because have you ever got to this point where you get
done with the whole Gospel, and they say, "I'm just not sure."
I mean, doesn't that happen a lot?
Most people who don't get saved, that's what they say, "Well, I just don't know.
I'm not sure.
I'm going to think about it."
I always tell them this.
I say, "You know, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved."
That's a command.
God wouldn't tell you to do something that you're incapable of doing.
He's given us all faith.
Given to every man the measure of faith, I say, "You know what?
You are capable of believing.
You just need to choose to believe on Christ, because if you're waiting until you know for
sure, you will never be saved."
And sometimes you can convince people to step out of faith and be saved.
But many times they'll still just say, "No, no, I just don't know for sure yet.
I'm still searching."
That's why down at ASU, have fun trying to get those students saved.
You know, and thank God we've had many of them saved.
But you know what?
Have fun trying to get them saved, because that's the hardest place if you want to go
soul winning.
If you want to pick a hard place to go soul winning, go to Tempe, Arizona, ASU University
on that campus, because they're just so smart and they have to know everything.
They don't need faith.