This morning we read a passage of scripture, concerning the appearance of Jesus after His resurrection. The disciples had followed Jesus during His ministry, the were with Him when the large multitudes followed and rejoiced over the miracles, they were with Him when most turned their backs on Him. They were expecting Jesus to set up His kingdom here insomuch as a couple of the even asked to sit on His right hand and one on His left in the kingdom. However Jesus did not come to set up His kingdom this time. He had came to die, and when He did die the apostles faith hit rock bottom, and they are sitting in the upper room hopeless and afraid. It is at this point, in the upper room with the door locked that Jesus appears to His disciples. (I will just go ahead and throw this in: it was not their faith that brought Jesus presence, because they had none Jesus just chose to show up and reaffirm their faith.) Once they see the wounds in His hand the get their fire back and are ready for the next work. However there is a statement here that catches our attention "But Thomas, one of the twelve, called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came." Where was Thomas? I don't know but he wasn't there. It stands to reason based on the statements he made, that he had such a lapse of faith that he quit, almost to the point of being inconsolable. Imagine the disciples coming to Thomas they are excited, they are rejoicing they had just spent some time with Jesus in the upper room. They are trying to convey this same excitement to Thomas, but it is no good. Have you ever tried to share the excitement with someone over what the Lord has done but it does not seem that they get it, or have you ever been the one that is hearing the exciting news, but no matter how you try you just cannot get as excited about as they are. It is an excitement that you have to be there to enjoy. Thomas won't hear it, I don't care what you say, I don't care how excited you are I won't believe unless.... It is important for us to notice somethings about Thomas. The name Thomas means in the Aramaic means twin, The name Didymus in Greek means twin. Now the Bible never tells that Thomas has a twin brother, (even though he could have) But the Bible does show us a man with twin personalities. Thats what I want to preach on today "The Twin" I feel with a little better understanding of this we can glean some help. I want to look first at
I. Thomas, one of the twelve- This is the spiritual Thomas his inner man
A. He associated himself with Jesus, He was never ashamed of Jesus like we read of Peter, He wasn't a devil like Judas, He wasn't self righteous like Nathaniel, as a matter of fact we call him doubting Thomas but Jesus never referred to him by that name. As a matter of fact He never wanted to leave the side of Jesus. Jesus said He was leaving and Thomas was not about to let Him leave without finding out how to get back to Him "Lord, we know not whither thou goest; and how can we know the way?"
B. He aligned himself with the twelve- He wasn't ashamed of His church. These twelve was his brethern, and even for a period of time after Jesus died he remained with his brethern.
C. He applied himself to the work- When going to Bethany to raise Lazarus, Phillip made the comment to Jesus that The jews had tied to stone them last time they was in town, and was Jesus sure he wanted to go back. Thomas made the statement Let us go that we may die with him. This wasn't a statement that inspired hope into the hearts of the others, but was certianly a staement to show he was willing to die for the cause.
II. Thomas which is called Didymus- This is the physical outer man of Thomas. Didymus was the name that everone referred to him. The Bible says 3 times his name was Thomas but he was called Didymus. Didymus was the one that:
A. Fled in the garden-All the disciples fled, but where was the courage that Thomas had in Bethany, that we are ready to die with Him. It was true only 3 disciple were allowed to go into the inner sanctum of the garden the others were outside the garden, I figure the view of the vast Roman guard on the horizon, caused those on the outside to leave pretty quickly.
B. Failed to show up at church-I figure the fear in the garden, and watching Jesus crucified, made Thomas feel like a failure, left him thinking if he could have done something to stop all of this. I guess he figured whats the point in going to church now.
C. Faith bottomed out-Fear and failure leads us all to a lapse in our faith. His faith was gone, faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. All of Thomas faith was gone because he would not believe without seeing. He wouldn't even believe those he was closest to. Thomas was not a doubter, he had exhausted all his faith. It is easy to just say people are doubting, it is not doubt when you are not able to believe. They only way at this point to restore faith is to physically see once again. But you will never see unless you are willing to look.
III. Thomas and Didymus were twins- yes they were the same person, but one being the spiritual man, one being the physical man. The greatest opposition he had was the difference in Thomas and Didymus.
A. It was easy to be Didymus- That was who he was that was who everyone knew him as, he didn't have to do much work to be Didymus. That was exactally who everyone expected him to be, when they seen him, they would say there goes ole slow to believe Didymus. I don't know why he is trying to follow Jesus. It will take Jesus forever to get Didymus to believe anything he says.
B. Being Thomas one of the twelve was hard- This was new to him, how to be a disciple, how to live a life surrendered to Christ. To believe without question. To try to change from the man people knew him as to the new man that Christ made out of Him. It took a great deal of work. People were watching him and people are always the same. They were thinking he won't never change he will always be the same. But Thomas was determined, but then herein lies the problem.
C. Being both people caused a conflict-Didymus didn't want to be Thomas "For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I. 16 If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good. 17 Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. 18 For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not. 19 For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do. 20 Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. 21 I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me. 22 For I delight in the law of God after the inward man: 23 But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. 24 O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?"
D. Thomas and Didymus could not coexist- After 8 days Jesus appeared again. Now lets look at this eight day period of time, there would be some that would say 8 means New Beginnings but I want to look a little deeper than that, you see we read of eight days in the Bible somewhere else...Gen 17:12 God commanded Abraham he that is 8 days old shall be circumcised Luke 2:21 And when the 8 days were accomplished for the circumcising of the child, His name was called Jesus...what does this mean? well circumcision represented the cutting away of the flesh. In order for Thomas to just be Thomas, Didymus had to be cut away. They way that people have always known you has to be done away with. You see it is not what people call you, but what you answer to.
Through Christ, Thomas learned how to cut away Didymus, as a matter of fact in the book of Acts it tells of Thomas being there but Didymus no longer follows him. Jesus called him Thomas, and from that day forward he was Thomas one of the twelve, and devoted his life to God, and gave his life for the cause of Christ. Thomas was stabbed with a spear in India, while trying to set up a church there. History bears no records of Didymus only Thomas.
IV. You have a twin inside you- we must be very careful. You see Thomas worked very hard to be Thomas one of the twelve, but he didn't put as much effort into getting Didymus to the place of submission. You see that is the problem in our churches today we work so hard getting our spiritual man tuned in but we do no work on our twin. Until your outer man lines up with your inner man, you too like Thomas will find yourself, without any faith to do anything for God. "But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway." 1 Cor 9:27 Rom 12:1
Do you have your twin under control have you been trying to wrestle your spiritual man into subjection, while at the same time letting you twin run free? It will not work. We need to lay both on the alter and say God help me to strengthen my inner man while at the same time cutting away my outer man. Your twin must be restrained or you'll never get passed the battle with self to fight the real battle. It is time to become the man or woman God wants you to be.
