Peace Be With You

I invite you to turn this morning in your Bibles in front of you to John chapter 20. John chapter 20, and you will find that this morning in those Bibles in front of you on page 1154, 1154, as we'll be reading at verse 19 through the end of the chapter of John chapter 20. Beginning at verse 19, this is the word of the Lord. me even so i am sending you and when he had said this he breathed on them and said to them receive the holy spirit if you forgive the sins of any they are forgiven them if you withhold forgiveness for many it is withheld now thomas one of the 12 called the twin was not with them when jesus came so the other disciples told him we have seen the lord but he said to them unless i see his hands the mark of the nails and place my finger into the mark of the nails and place my hand into his side i will never believe eight days later his disciples were inside again and thomas was with them although the doors were locked jesus came and stood among them and said peace be with you then he said to thomas put your finger here and see my hands and put out your hand and place it in my side do not disbelieve but believe thomas answered him my lord and my god jesus said to him have you believed because you have seen me blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed now jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples which are not written in this book but these are written so that you may believe that jesus is the christ the son of god and not by believing you may have life in his name and there will end the reading of god's word well today we celebrate the resurrection of jesus and i want us to think a little bit about today why this is so important and what this is all about what jesus is after from us as we celebrate the resurrection martin luther once said something that i think is so helpful in this question in this connection when he said, It is not enough to believe that Christ has risen from the dead because neither peace nor joy, power, nor might follow. But I must believe that the resurrection happened for me so that I delight that my own sin and death are overcome here. this is true faith that's a remarkable statement isn't it not just enough to be here today and say well i believe in the resurrection you have to believe in that resurrection that it is for you uh that is a very important truth and that is something that no doubt we see with thomas this was a great problem he did not believe in the resurrection period and certainly not that it was for him what we have here before us then is a description of of jesus's desire if you will that as his work is accomplished as he has come down to fulfill the work given to him by his father how ridiculous it is for people not to believe this just ridiculous and here particularly it's so ridiculous because they forfeit and i want you to see this here, they forfeit the happiness that is intended to be theirs in the resurrection. You see, we just go through this every year and we don't think about how blessed we are and what it really has done for us in making us a happy people. And I want you to think about that a little bit with me today. I doubt there are few here today who deny the resurrection, that say, I just don't believe in the resurrection. I bet there's few who would ever say that today. But that's a far different thing. To say that everyone here today, do you believe that the resurrection is for you? And do you believe that the gospel is for you? Do you believe that this was done for you? When you believe it's for you, there are real changes that happen and i don't think we should ever minimize that there are real changes that happen he desires today that you would believe the resurrection that jesus has accomplished this for you you have to understand it you have to understand what that means and all that comes with that but i'm praying that by the time we're done if you've ever struggled with whether jesus is really for you that this passage will be a great help to you today as we come and look at Thomas. Jesus is now appearing to his disciples after the resurrection and things have changed now that he has risen. You can't help but to see that here, that he now has a great purpose in appearing to them. He is making, in this particular text, their joy complete. It's really beautiful that the big purpose here, in light of that, as he is giving them great joy, he is really concerned that as he's about to leave and be seated on the throne in heaven, he is concerned that this ministry of joy, this ministry of gospel will continue in the earth. And that all, as we've been studying in Acts, all the priorities would be maintained. So here we are again, and you can't help but ask what kind of ministry was on Jesus' mind as he rose from the dead? What is he really thinking about and what does he care about? I think we have to answer that and look at that and think about that because it's a big moment then in the Gospels as he speaks to his disciples. It's crucial for his disciples to understand what he's after as he goes away. And it's crucial, right, why he explains it for us. We have three scenes in front of you here today in John's Gospel in that section that I read. The appearance first of Jesus to his disciples minus one, you'll notice. He is explaining to them what is the design of the ministry. You'll notice that here. The second scene is the disciples beginning to practice this ministry. And the third scene is Jesus confirming this ministry. So this is a wonderful section to understand and actually apply and think about everything that we've been studying. If you are a visitor here, we've been working through the books of Acts and we're almost done with Acts. We're in chapter 28. We're seeing here why the disciples, now apostles in Acts, were so committed to certain things in the ministry, and this is it. I want you to look at verse 19 today as we begin and look into this section. On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors being locked where the disciples were for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, Peace be with you. He stood in their midst. Rumors are everywhere, of course, that Jesus has been raised. And the disciples are in great fear about this. They are worried about the consequences of this. They're thinking about, could this be? They're having all these mixed emotions about everything. They're having a giant council meeting about this. And at this moment, Jesus enters the room. Notice here the doors were locked. He miraculously appears in the room. The beautiful thing to notice here is the first thing He does is pronounce peace. Jesus came and stood among them and He opens His mouth and the first words that we find here to them are, peace be with you. It's really beautiful. It really is. When he had said this, he then showed them his hands. Remember, boys and girls, the big nails that went there? And then he showed them his side. We looked at Friday night with the sword that pierced and water and blood came out. And immediately when the disciples saw this, we read, they were happy. Can you imagine this? The Lord was risen from the dead, and now standing in front of them, here he is pronouncing peace, and with a few words, all of their distresses, all of their pain, all of their agony is put out. Sorrow came in the night, but joy has come in the morning. This is the application of that. Peace be with you. This was a particular blessing that the Hebrews would give by saying, may you be cheerful. may you be happy may you be a prosperous people that was the intention of christ after after the resurrection that they would be a happy people a joyful people not a people who were always grumbling and not a people who were always having their face in the dirt but a people joyful and happy over what he's done for them i often think we struggle a little bit with the emotions of jesus we don't really read about emotions do we part of the reason we don't read about emotions is because jesus told us how distressed he was until his work was accomplished and all of what we study about jesus in the gospels was under the great weight of going to the cross we're not getting a lot of emotion but a very serious jesus because he has to die for you you think he's like that now? Do you think when he said peace, there was no emotion to that? Do you think there was real, on our Savior, our risen Savior, happiness to say to his disciples, look, look, look what I've done for you. It's done. I don't think about this. Peace. I want you to have peace. This world doesn't have peace who has peace you just need two minutes of the news to realize nobody has peace the resurrection meant a victory is accomplished everything that was needed to be done to bring them joy and happiness and and forgiveness and peace was done and notice that in a moment they are a happy bunch they're filled with happiness that's what the resurrection has done for you today. Really, this is an important section for you. I mean that. I don't know what you're facing in life and I'm sure many people are going through many things here and you carry many things in right now and many burdens and many hardships and I want you to know that the resurrection has answered them all. What has Christ's resurrection done for you? First, Heidelberg, by his resurrection he's overcome death how many people are trying to fight to hold on to this life and keep themselves alive at all costs because they fear death he's taken that sting away from you it's gone you don't have to fear it second by his power you're a brand new creature he set you free you're no longer under the condemnation of the law when the law says do this and live when you when you have to stand there on judgment day you have a perfect savior who's lived for you and died for you and rose for you and his whole life covers you and third it's a his resurrection and we're gonna look at this tonight i hope you'll all be here we're gonna look at lazarus i've never preached that here i don't believe such a glorious text of the resurrection of lazarus his resurrection is a guarantee of our glorious resurrection i find still christians don't understand that your bodies your very bodies you can grab it are getting out of the ground one day no matter what happened to you this is what it means and it's brand new raised with explosive power like his body so while you were yet sinners christ died for you he has reconciled you to god he's beat death for you he has given you a brand new life he's giving you new bodies you're assured of your future glory making everything new again. That's what you're celebrating. That's the resurrection. Peace. Peace. That's the greatest amount of happiness. But it even gets better. What Jesus is concerned about now that He's raised and going to be seated in the Spirit's coming is that people need to know this. The people in the world need to know this. It's as if we're in the locked room with him that day. This is a very private meeting and John is recording it for us to read. And who in the world today cares about this? Doors are locked, here we are. We get insight into what he cares about. He now turns to the whole design of Christian ministry. Shouldn't be unfamiliar to any of us who've been listening to Acts. I have to say, this is the most exciting moment after the resurrection, right here, right now. In verse 21, Jesus said to them, peace to you as, notice this, as the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you. Now what did he just do? Well, he just commissioned, if you will, the entire Christian ministry. As the Father sent me, so I'm sending you to do what? What did the Father send Jesus to do? The Father sent Jesus to go out, of course, and lay down his life and die and rise again. And we don't do that to pay for people's sins because it's already been done. That's what Jesus did. So what are we doing? We're doing and making that known. Jesus went to preach the gospel of the kingdom, and you'll remember in Mark 5, he said, let us go into the next towns that I may preach there also, because that's why I've come. I've come. I've got to preach. I've got to go through all the villages and all the places and preach the glad tidings of the kingdom of God. That's what we're doing today. It's still going on after all these years. With all the social media and technology, with all the passion of Christ's movies, this is where the power is and we're still doing it nobody would come listen to a fool like me if i had made this up i promise you you should be laughing this is the lord's ministry all across this earth today our church is set up preaching the gospel you don't just do that in this world when you've got the best technology glad tidings to you through a spoken word now the beauty of this before you is that jesus just made that same purpose something he would always continue until he comes again this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness then the end will come when it reaches everywhere and all my people here and are saved he looks at his disciples and he says after the resurrection now in the power of my resurrection i'm sending you to do what it seems verse 23 is the heart of it isn't it if you forgive the sins of any they are forgiven if you withhold forgiveness for many it is withheld what a verse jesus just laid out the goal of gospel ministry you know their goal was to bring about forgiveness of sins the main purpose of why we're here and what we're doing is the unconditional, conditioned on Jesus' work but not on our work, unconditional on our part. We don't do anything to deserve it. Forgiveness of all of your sins in life. Think about that. We just hear it so much. Do you know what you've done? And what the Lord is commissioning here by sending them was saying as you go throughout all the world preaching the gospel of the kingdom, I want you to have this one great aim always in front of you. It is to pronounce forgiveness in my name. It is to have the root there of that great goal, the purpose of bringing forgiveness so that you would know that as Jesus has, as I have given you peace, that you would give this peace to all who believe. And you'd announce it. I don't know what you've done in the course of your life. I don't really care to know. But I know this, if God ran a video of it, and all that was brought out into the public sphere. There's no Instagram where things disappear or whatever it is. I probably have the wrong one. I'm already old on this stuff. He doesn't lose track of anything. If he had played a video of your life up to this point, you'd be mortified and horrified. And so would everyone else. All those hidden things and those things that haunt you still and that you feel great guilt over. And I know it's for boys and girls too right now. I know you experience it, the guilt. Here's the sad truth. Here's the really sad truth today. There are countless people, not only in the world, but sitting in churches who still don't have forgiveness. And the reason they are is they're not content with the kind of peace Jesus is offering them. And you see, at this moment, Jesus breathes on them. Really taking us back to creation and all the creative works that have ever been done by God. He breathes on them and says, receive the Holy Spirit, all in anticipation of what is to come at Pentecost. But he puts together the sending of the Spirit and then the forgiveness of sins so that nobody would ever think that when pastors stand up and declare this stuff, it's just a human word. It's just Chris Gordon up here today with his little fine insights and I could just go home and yawn. That's not what this is. The heart of this, notice, and what I'm sending you to accomplish is the breaking down of hard hearts to shatter pride, to conquer unbelief so that people can have peace. You know that's why ministry is so difficult, right? Some people just don't want to hear, and they'll do anything they can to avoid hearing. they avoid hearing the message at the heart of this that their sins can be forgiven. And to do it rightly, you have to preach with conviction, right? To do it rightly, there has to be at times real confrontation. Nobody wants that today. There has to be told that you need to turn from things, that there's an end to you, that you have to die to yourself. Sometimes people get angry when they're confronted about sin. Isn't it amazing what Jesus says here? If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven. Now this is apostolic. If not, they are not. That truth, though, still stands. In other words, I declare as a pastor that anyone who believes the Gospel and looks to Jesus, this truth the Holy Spirit declares through His servants, all of your sins are forgiven. But the opposite is true. If you harden your heart and you refuse to hear it and you hate the Lord and you don't want this peace and you want to do your own thing and you want to go live it up to the full and you want to go on living in sin and you want to reject the Gospel, your sins are retained. I don't want that for anyone. And that's why as a pastor's goal is always to say, whosoever believes on the Lord Jesus Christ will be saved. That's the Gospel. It's not Chris Gordon offering that to you. It's really not. It's the Lord. It's the Lord. This is what ordained ministry is. This is why we have a church. I know it's being lost today and that's why the churches are emptying. We'll get to that reason in a moment. But think about this. We are ambassadors. We are ambassadors for Christ, Paul said, as though God were pleading through us. God's pleading through us. You need to be reconciled to God. You need to have your life reconciled. Now that's the amazing gift of the ministry that when you believe the gospel, you are. That's the first scene. The second scenes are shorter, I promise. Listen to the second one. The disciples begin to practice this in a small form. There's been one guy missing. one disciple missing thomas look at verse 24 now thomas one of the 12 called the twin was not with them when jesus came he missed the whole thing what a tragedy he didn't come to church on resurrection sunday you know he really didn't so the other disciples told him we've seen the Lord tell us you're not going to believe this he's risen, he's risen indeed but he said to them unless I see in his hands the marks of the nails the mark of the nails and I place my finger into the mark of the nails and place my hand into his side I will never believe they go out and they're already doing what jesus told them to do you're my witnesses they're already practicing he's alive he's risen he's you need to believe this you are my witnesses said jesus that's what we're doing we're telling people he's risen and that has everything to do with the fact that we should come to him today because he's lord over all he's ruling over all he's the king of kings and lord of lords thomas should have said praise the lord nope i will never believe this listen let me tell you what needs to happen i want to feel and i want to grab then that's a problem you see what Jesus just showed us John just showed us he showed us how hard the unbelieving heart is it's not just slow to believe disciples on the road to Emmaus this is not just slow to believe or confused or I just don't know or I'm considering this is I won't completely obstinate fellow and a disciple i won't unless conditions are met this is your ultimate skeptic he rolls his eyes at all of this so what then this shows us is how difficult it is really what we're doing and i mean that i mean this is super difficult it really is difficult to get into the human heart and it is difficult to to really really actually i should say it's impossible unless I see not only that my hands have to be witnesses my hands have to be witnesses I find it significant that the Lord takes the most obstinate hard-hearted disciple right after the commissioning don't you I won't believe and the Lord had just said here's what you're going to go do you're going to go pronounce peace and people you're going to pronounce the resurrection that people should believe this. I won't. Right after. I better have it all validated. Now let me just press this home for just a minute today. Doesn't this show how difficult ministry is? Stay with me on this. It's not as far removed as you think. The fact is, everyone's looking for more than this. The whole, and I could go through a list of things, the whole Signs and Wonders movement, the whole modern worship movement, the whole entertainment-driven style church, everything today flows from this Thomas problem. Namely, I'm not accepting things at the bare word. That proves nothing for me. I will not believe it unless I see something. And it better be good. And it better really make me feel good in the process. Give me something that shows me Jesus in a powerful way. Then I'll believe it. Right? I mean, I felt the pressure today. Somebody said to me recently, yeah, you preach Sunday. You better be on your game. Right? What does that mean? How do I get on my game when I preach? You need to help me with that. The pressure is I better make this something today for you. The pressure is that I better really step up today. This is really big performance time. And this is what pastors feel. And I know it because it becomes all across this land a show. This is the great day that everyone finally shows up in church too. we better see something. We want to feel it. I want to feel it, the ministry. I may not have to feel here, but I want to feel it. I like feeling. I'm not against emotions. But this is why it's like pulling people to get to church. Pulling teeth. Because we're conditioned on sensual experience. But you see, what is faith? Faith has never been about what we see with our eyes. It's about trusting Jesus at what He declares to us in His bare Word. That's why ministry's hard. And I think this is meant to encourage us that Christ's goal, that Jesus' goal for this hard-hearted Thomas was belief. What an example here. Here's the most obstinate I've seen among the followers of Christ. And you ask the question, does Jesus desire to retain his sins or forgive them? Which one? Thomas earlier said to Jesus, Jesus was pronouncing everywhere, I'm the way, the truth, and the life. And Thomas would butt in, Lord, we don't know where you're going. How can we know the way? I really think this is frustrating statements to Jesus. Frustrated in his demeanor. I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except me, Thomas. If you had known me, you would have known my Father. You ever dealt with obstinate people in your life? Never. Everything's an excuse, everything's bitter, everything is in their life, no peace. It's really this, I don't do well with people like this, because of course I'm never obstinate, right? We write people like this off. How many of you have sons and daughters who are like this? Obstinate. Some are sitting next to you right now, obstinate. now jesus had just commissioned the apostolic ministry that is passed to us third scene after eight days verse 26 eight days later his disciples were inside again and thomas was with them although the doors were locked jesus came and stood among them and said lo and behold Thomas, peace be with you. Then he said to Thomas, now by the way, he knows everything, he sees everything, he hears everything. Then he said to Thomas, put your finger here and see my hands and put out your hand and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve, but believe. What I'm moved with is how compassionate Jesus is to him. I really am. I'm really moved with it. He has no place for unbelief. I mean, Jesus has no place for unbelief. This is what lands people outside of the kingdom. But notice here, here's a tough cookie. Here, right after the commissioning is a tough cookie. Here's a hard heart, and Jesus is bringing to him a message of peace. Was he harsh on Thomas? Was he rough with him? I learned from this. This is what makes the ministry of reconciliation so wonderful. How patient God is with His sheep. Not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. And that kind of love, do you know what it does? It shatters hard hearts. It softens hard hearts. It makes people fall at His feet. The most difficult case after the resurrection is Thomas. And the Lord had the goal to shatter that hard heart and save him and He would prevail. And He puts the most difficult case before the disciples when they're watching this whole thing right after the commissioning of somebody like this, Thomas, do not be unbelieving, but believing. We never read that Thomas had to inspect, by the way. We never read, he said, let me see, let me see. I'm convinced it really wasn't the evidence that totally changed his heart. Jesus will say, you saw me and you believed, but I really do believe it was the voice of the good shepherd commanding him. My sheep hear my voice and they come and they believe. Did you notice what he did to illustrate the design of ministry here though? Thomas, because you have seen me, you believe, but notice this. Blessed are those who have not seen verse 29 and yet have believed. Who's that? You. He pronounced a blessing on you today and says, you will be the blessed ones by not having to touch holes and sides and believing. Faith is not created by some miracle from heaven this way, by the signs that we desire, or a rockin' out ministry that'll make us feel good. Never create it. Secular reasoning, scientific proof, human deductions, calculations, criticisms, higher criticisms. You want a sign, says Jesus? I'll give you a sign. No sign will be given to them except the sign of Jonah. What sign was that? As he was in the heart of the earth, right? In the heart of the ocean three days. So the Son of Man will be in the heart of the earth and he will rise. The sign is the resurrection. And if you need to know that somebody saw it, all these guys saw it for your sake. They're saying, we saw it, and that's the apostolic witness, and he's saying, trust us. We were there. We saw it. That's our sign. I'm so thankful for the presence of the Holy Spirit in this. For he takes this word today and he powerfully applies it to you so that faith is created in your hearts when you hear this. I believe today in this word so strongly that I believe and I may never know it in this life that someone right now faith was just created in the heart through this message. I believe it's that possible. And I believe he did it. And Thomas' response follows. What was it? My Lord and my God. Who is Jesus? He's God. in the beginning was the Word. The Word was with God. The Word was God. Here's the other bookend. Yep. My God. You've come. You've died for me. Isn't it interesting today that right after this, we follow up with the purpose of the book? In verse 30, now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of His disciples which are not written in this book. but these are written, you've got signs, they're written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the son of God. Now listen, and that by believing you may have life in his name, you're saved. You're going to glory with him. Here are your signs. I stated at the beginning of the sermon, It's not enough just to believe the fact of this. You have to believe that Jesus died for you and rose for you and paid for your sins. If you believe this today, I've got really good news for you. Your sins are forgiven. If not, they are retained. This is what the resurrection is all about. Don't be unbelieving, but be believing. And receive through believing today the happy life He intends for you. You hear it in the change of Thomas. He's no longer a bitter, unhappy, complaining, miserable, trying to find His way person. He has found. And He's been found. And now He has life and life abundantly. I pray all of that for you today. And I'm thankful for this day I was able to proclaim the resurrection to you. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, You are good to us. You are kind to us. And we don't deserve any of this. But You have given life through the name of Your Son. And today we believe these gospel truths that Jesus is risen indeed and that all that flows from that brings us a happy, confident life for we have glory held out for us. Thank You for forgiving all of our sins. And thank You for being so faithful to Your promises, which are all yes and amen in Jesus. In His name we pray. Amen.