I invite you to turn in your Bibles this morning to John chapter 20, John chapter 20. Really, this ends the book proper today, and then we have sort of a postscript in chapter 21. So, there's only a few more sermons in this wonderful gospel that we have been able and privileged by the Lord to go through. And this morning, we'll be looking at verses 19. Last time, we looked at Mary Magdalene at the tomb and the garden, and now we come to 19, and we'll read to the end of the chapter of John chapter 20. 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. When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you. And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said, receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them. If you withhold the forgiveness from any, it is withheld. Now Thomas, one of the twelve, 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 in 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, the 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, 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 that by believing you may have life in his name. And there ends the reading of John 20. Of everything that we have studied and learned in the Gospel of John, we come to this great purpose statement of the book. I don't know how many times I've said it. You're probably annoyed with me saying it, but I have tried to over and over say this so that it would be understood that this is the driving point of this book. This is the heart of this book, the goal of this book, that summary statement that's given. Did you notice right at the end of chapter 20, Jesus did a lot of things that people saw. But all these things that we've studied are written for your sake. And they're written so that you would believe. Notice that beautiful statement there, That Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in his name. John's gospel is a gospel about eternal life and the principle of life being given to us by the Spirit. That's what he told Nicodemus. That's what you need. And John is saying, through believing in the Lord Jesus Christ's life, we have life in his name. So this is a beautiful moment here as what John is doing is, I think as we come to the end of this, He's putting together everything for you, teaching us really what is the whole purpose of Christian ministry today. Why we have a church. Why we have ministers. Some way I think we have to go back and help the generations today. And we need to stop a lot more and say, well, this is why we do what we do with worship and orders of worship and why we have this and that. And we also need to make sure that we're clear on why we need ministers today and why Jesus put in place a ministry. Because what we're finding is the younger generation see no real necessity for this. And that's our fault, if that's the case. That's our fault. And I think that's why the end of John is so incredibly helpful as Jesus is encouraging us and helping us to understand the furthering of the ministry of the gospel, how it continues to go forward. and that you would believe. You would see why this is so important, that this is for you, that you would believe, that you would have life. And that's important today as we look at this. Jesus said numerous times in this passage, I have peace that I leave with you. I say these things. He said throughout the ministry that you may have joy, that you may be a happy people, a blessed people. And John is saying, I think, at the very end here, something really important to all of us. Is there anyone here who still is doubting? Is there anyone here who still is not believing? I think the effect of this today is to say, it's time. It's time. It's time to believe these things. Is anyone still on the fence? It's time. That's the effect of the end of John here. And John is saying, come receive the life that he intends to give you. Come receive the life that he intends to give you. Well, where we are here after the resurrection is really a special moment to study because Jesus is doing something and showing us something about the restoration of his own disciples And helping them through this restoration so that they would be effective in the ministry that they're being called to. And it gives us a window into the whole design of it all. You know, it's just absolutely true that for any minister to be effective, he has to receive these things himself. We have to experience reconciliation. We have to be reconciled. We have to repent of sins. We have to be renewed in the promises. We have to have Jesus' hand of forgiveness come upon us. And that is really important for the effectiveness of the ministry. And I think that's what's being shown to us in these chapters right after the resurrection. How Jesus is coming and restoring his own and helping his disciples to continue to send them. He is, as I was sent, I'm sending you. They have to know his forgiving love. They have to understand the gospel themselves. And that's not always so easy for people, what we find. We can sit in church a long time and still not really grasp it. Because of that, we need this. So, what kind of ministry? This is crucial for the disciples to understand, and I think you could break this down simply today, that Jesus here emphasizes first a mission that he is giving them, that he ordains, and then a mandate, you'll notice, that Jesus gives, and then the ministry himself that Jesus performs to teach them. So we'll start here with this first emphasis here on this mission that Jesus is giving. We read in verse 19, you'll notice, in verse 19, that on the same day in the evening, being the first day of the week, the dawn of the Sabbaths, as Matthew would say, when the doors were, and this is an important section here to study, when the doors were shut, where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in their midst. So rumors are everywhere. All of the disciples are really scared right now. They have just put to death their Messiah. And now there is rumors everywhere that he's risen. And they know the Jews and the Romans are going to come after them, they think. It's a scary moment for them. So they have a council meeting. That's what you do. You call a meeting. We love calling meetings, don't we? We love meetings. I think it was Thomas Sowell who once said, this is off the top of my head, anyone who loves a meeting should never be in charge of it. The first thing he does is pronounce peace on them. Jesus came and stood in their midst and said to them, peace be with you. When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. And the disciples were glad, it says. Their sorrow immediately seemed to be turned to joy. They were immediately happy. They were a glad people. They saw the Lord. Can you imagine that moment? The Lord had risen from the dead. And now he's standing there. And all their distresses and all their problems seem to go away for a minute. I think it's something like the last day, you know, when we see the risen Christ and all these burdens and all these stresses and everything, all those tears are wiped and we're immediately calmed down and we're happy. Peace, Jesus says. The Hebrew, it was a Hebrew way of saying, may you be well, blessed, happy, prosperous, cheerful. Jesus is pronouncing this blessing on them. The first thing he desired after the resurrection was that they would live in peace and happiness. Isn't that wonderful? Isn't that wonderful that our Lord desires that of us? Isn't that wonderful? He doesn't want his work, all that he went through and all that he did, To leave us in a state of sadness and misery. He beat death. He forgave your sins. In the resurrection, a great victory was accomplished. Everything that was needed to be done to bring peace with God has happened. I mean, this is what we announce. This is what we do in the forgiveness when we announce the forgiveness of sins, like Jeremiah 31 today. This is what Romans 5 says. Listen, having been justified by faith, you have peace with God. That's the real peace that matters. That's the real peace that you need. The relationship now is a reconciled one. This is what the cross accomplished for you. This is what the cross gave to you. You're no longer, as believers, dead in trespasses and sins and under wrath. You're not there. Your state has changed. You are in a reconciled place. Jesus is showing here that his work doesn't leave us in despair. Now, why does the Lord want us to see this? Well, it's as if he locks us in the room there to give us insight as to what he cared about now that he's going away. How are we going to know about this peace? How's the world going to know about the possibility of this peace? And so Jesus, as soon as he says, he says it again, peace to you. And he makes a remarkable statement, doesn't he? As the Father sent me, so I am sending you. Now, this is a bigger moment than we realize in the Gospel of John. What has just happened here is he's commissioned the ministry. As the Father sent me, I'm sending you. What did the Father send Jesus to do? Well, the disciples aren't going to, they're going to lay down their lives in certain ways, but they're not going to have to go and lay down their lives to pay for sin, are they? They're going to have to go do something very fundamental and very important that they're being sent with. What did Jesus say was the heart of his ministry when he came? What did Jesus say? Think of Mark chapter 1, right out of the gates. Mark chapter 1 said something remarkable. Mark chapter 1 said, Jesus said, I'm not just here to heal diseases. Let us go to all the towns and villages to preach the gospel because that's why I came. That's why I came. Now, this is a big moment here. He just, in a sense, ordained them to be preachers of the gospel, preachers of the good news. Jesus gives this reason. It's beautiful here. To give glad tidings, to give a message of peace to the ends of the earth. You know, that's what we do today. Remember when we celebrate in the birth of Jesus, the angels were announced this. We were announcing peace between God and man. That's what they were singing about at his birth. Now, the beauty here is that Jesus is really connecting and making a passing here of the ministry, the apostolic ministry to continue until he comes again. He's passing that. He looks at his disciples and he says, I'm sending you. This is how the church, of course, we look at what we looked at last night when Austin preached. He gave some to be apostles and pastors. He explains here the importance of that. But I'm already in the second point. Did you know that? Because it's a longer second point. Now you're discouraged. Don't be discouraged. Now we're in the mandate. The mandate. Verse 23. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them. That is quite a statement, isn't it? If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them. If you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld. that's a big moment that's a big statement such an important verse such an important verse jesus laid out for us right now in john's gospel the goal of christian ministry why are we doing this you know what it is the goal of christian ministry is the unconditional now conditioned upon Jesus' work, forgiveness of all your sins. He just stated the single great purpose of Christian ministry. The single great purpose of Christian ministry is the fulfillment of what I read from Jeremiah 31. There's a day coming where he will remember your sins no more. That's today. That's the day we live. This is the day of the new covenant, and the Lord is passing to his disciples a ministry of reconciliation. The Lord is commissioning there, sending them. He's saying, you go into the whole world and you preach the gospel of the kingdom and I want you always, this is what we saw in Acts, I want you to keep the main goal, the main aim in front of you that what I have done for you in coming and forgiving your sins, announcing peace to you, that you would do to the ends of the earth, that you would make known to the ends of the earth. The goal of everything that we're doing as I preach, the goal of coming together every Lord's Day, the goal for the people who gather around the Lord's worship is to enjoy the forgiveness of your sins. That's awesome. If you know what you've done. Calvin's my favorite quote from Calvin. I've used it probably a dozen times here. Many other things undoubtedly are contained in the gospel. But the principal object which God intends to accomplish by it is to receive people into his favor by not imputing their sins to them. If we, therefore, he's talking about pastors, wish to show that we're faithful ministers of the gospel, we must give our most earnest attention to this subject for the chief point of difference between the gospel and all heathen philosophy lies in this, that the gospel makes the salvation of men to consist in the forgiveness of sins through free grace. That's right out of his commentary on John 20 right here. That's the heart of this. That is the best statement penned by Calvin. All other heathen religion, all other wrong religion is concerned about one thing, he says. Just about telling you how to live to please some God. Some God who you can never make happy. Who's angry. But that's not the goal of the gospel. What makes this ministry different, what makes Christianity different, what makes Christianity Christian, is that it's telling you not to work, but believe on the one who died for you. That's the object of ministry, says Jesus. That's the heart of what I'm sending you to accomplish. To break down the hardness of people's hearts. Oh, they're hard. To shatter pride. Now you stop and you say, what an impossible mission. What an impossible mission, it seems. This is why ministry is so difficult. I said to my wife, Darcy, I said to her, I think it was just yesterday, there's no glory in this. She said, did you think there'd be? Stop complaining, you know. She's not that mean. But I need her. We live in an age when we refuse to tell anyone anyone's doing anything wrong anymore. That's where we live. That's our time. And we're doing nobody any favors. Most of our conversations are so superficial in nature, we get all offended all the time. We're all offended. We're always offended. This is why I love old immigrants who came over from another country. I just, I love them because they're going to tell you exactly what's on their mind and they don't really care if they offend you. Opposed to phony smiles of nobody who says anything but you know are saying things behind your back. At least the old immigrants are going to say it to your face. We don't go to people today with a single great concern. I love you. You're my brother and sister. And I'm concerned about the choices you're making. We don't expect the pulpit to confront sins either. You know when your brother or sister is one that way, the relationship right then and there moves beyond the superficial to something really meaningful. The nature of the relationship just changed when you won your brother and sister. Got somewhere. We're in a culture of hiding. We want everyone to know that we're all doing great and everything is superficial and we live in a superficial environment and we don't know how to bear burdens because of it. Bear one another's burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ. We don't know what Jude is even talking about when he says, save others by snatching them out of the fire to others show mercy with fear, hating even the garment stained by the flesh. That sounds way too serious for me. Ministry is not about maintaining our own righteousness. See why this passage is so crucial. Put it in terms of ordained ministry now. That's really the focus of this passage. Isn't it amazing, he says, if you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven. If not, they're not. That's an amazing statement because no man has the ability to forgive sins. We don't believe like Rome that I can go to a priest who puts up his hand and says, son, forgiven are your sins. He has the power in himself to do that. We don't believe that. We've rejected that a long time ago. Jesus only does that. This is really remarkable because that power is what Jesus is saying. Through the faithful ministry of the word, when you announce the truth and you announce forgiveness, that people who believe the gospel and repent, I want you to know in heaven, they're forgiven. But when you announce, and this is why ministry is important, when we announce publicly here in church and we say, listen, if you don't repent of your sin and you want to live in darkness and reject the Lord, I make a statement. You are under the wrath of God. That's not mine. Jesus is saying, that's what I recognize. What Jesus is doing here upon the apostles, to the apostles, is impressing upon them the use of the keys of the kingdom. You know, our Heidelberg is so helpful. Jesus said in Matthew 16, I'll give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven. Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven. whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. Jesus is saying, keys work. So think about what our Heidelberg says. How is the kingdom of heaven opened and shut by the preaching of the holy gospel? In this way, that according to the command of Christ, it is proclaimed and openly witnessed to believers, one and all, that as often as they accept with true faith the promise of the gospel, listen, all their sins are really forgiven them of God. There it is. For the sake of Christ's merits. On the contrary, to all unbelievers and hypocrites, that the wrath of God and eternal condemnation abide on them so long as they are not converted. According to the testimony of the gospel, God will judge men both in this life and in that which is to come. This is how amazing the gift of the ministry is, is that we're declaring to the ends of the earth the consequences of Jesus's work. To all who believe your sins, Jesus is saying through the ministry of the gospel, I've cast as far as the east is from the west. I'm not going to ever hold them against you. And we just melt. That is so wonderful. But equally serious, we're proclaiming that those who do not believe heaven is closed. But what a foreign message today where every Hollywood star is told they get a new star in heaven. The church has the ministry and the responsibility to administer both keys. Think of how great the Lord's assurance is to you here, you know. It's a beautiful thing. We had at the Young Adults the other night, Young Peoples, Gil and I were able to give both of our stories. And most of you know Gil's story, you know, grew up in hardship. And lived a life of unbelief. Ended up in prison. And some minister preached the gospel to him. And he was converted. And overwhelmed by the gospel now. And now is an office bearer in the URC. Put my story right side by side. Grow up in a Christian church. Everything handed to me on a silver platter. Thought I was good. Did whatever I wanted to do. Lived in blindness and darkness myself, despite all these covenant blessings. Really, who was in a worse place unconverted? Had a pastor preach the gospel to me? Converted. In college. Overwhelmed by the gift of Christ on the cross. Now an office bearer in the EURC. So Gil and I are in the same place. But it was the ministry of the gospel brought to us. And God pulled us both out. God pulled us both out. We all need to be pulled out. That's how amazing the ministry is. And we have a responsibility. He never wanted us to think that in his absence, without seeing Jesus, we can't be sure that this ministry is being effective and that's happening. It's happening. Here's our problem, our confidence in this ministry. Do we really believe God's doing anything? Do you really think discipline works? Here's a good question. What do we do with discipline? We leave it alone. We leave it alone. I'm not touching that. So that people can harden their hearts and do whatever they want to do. And we say to them effectively, be warm and well fed. Good job. Go on your way. Because we're so nice. None of this works. Does that work? Imagine the hardest of hearts today that rejects the gospel, that hates the church. Picture such a person. Does whatever he wants, does whatever he's going to do, refuses to believe. Ever met anyone like that? Well, Jesus, right then at that moment, does something remarkable. You think you're on your own? Verse 22. This is a remarkable moment. And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said, Receive the Holy Spirit. Wow. Whose ministry is this? It's not mine. This is the Spirit's ministry. He put together the sending of them with the coming of the Spirit. It anticipated it, of course, at Pentecost. But he's making a point for us that it is the Spirit who's doing this work. So he's confirming for them what he promised that the ministry of the new covenant would be a ministry of the Holy Spirit. This is his ministry. He wants you to believe that it's not Chris Gordon. It's not any pastor ultimately offering this forgiveness. It's that the Spirit is ministering this forgiveness right from heaven where Jesus is reigning. That's what ordained ministry does. Now, this is why Paul said we are ambassadors for Christ as though God were pleading through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. We say this, come to Jesus, believe. Here's my question today, and we're going to close on this brief point. Does this work? That's what we've got to get to. And that's where I say we miss the connection to Thomas. There's one guy missing here. It's as if Jesus says, Let me show you if this works. I'm going to take the hardest heart among my disciples. I'm going to take the greatest, hardest, difficult person you could ever have. And watch what happens. So Jesus now, in this third point, performs the ministry himself to show them this. Look at verse 24. But Thomas, one of the twelve 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, now just listen to the arrogancy of this. I mean, you know, in common language, what a punk. Unless I see the hands, in his hands the mark of the nails, and I place my finger into the mark of the nails and place my hands into his side, I will never believe. Never say never. Never say never. I want to know how difficult the ministry is. Everything today flows from what is exposed in this problem of Thomas. If you want to ever get to the real issue of why we have unbelief, this is the single great passage to show why we have it and where it all originates from and what the issue is, what the big issue is. Notice what he says, I will not accept something at the bare word. That proves nothing for me. I have to take these hands, and I've got to feel those holes that I saw. And I've got to grab that side, or I will not believe. so here we are. The word promises to all who believe the gospel that their sins are forgiven, so this is what Jesus just said, and the word says those who do not believe the gospel, their sins are retained. Should Jesus have just said, oh, what a difficult guy. Let's get this guy out. We're out of here. We're not going to deal with him. We're not going to talk to him. Too difficult a person. Let him go do what he wants to do. Jesus goes after him. He went after the 99 go after his wandering sheep, didn't he? He's getting his sheep. Faith is believing and trusting what Jesus said in his word. Here's the most obstinate I've seen among the followers of Jesus, and now Jesus works him. After eight days, his disciples were inside. Thomas was with them. Jesus came through the doors. You'll notice there in verse 26, the doors were locked. Jesus came and stood among them and said, peace be with you. And knowing everything that had been said by Thomas, he looks at Thomas, zeroes in in front of all of them. Put your finger here, Thomas, and see my hands. And put out your hand and place it in my side. And notice the command here. Do not disbelieve, but believe. I am moved by the compassions of Christ here. Look at how compassionate. Look at how he went after his sheep. Thomas was a tough cookie. Hard heart. And Jesus brings a message of peace to him. I think this was intended for us to look at throughout history and say, with man all things are impossible, but not with God. With God all things are possible. Look at how patient and full of love that with words he shatters hard hearts and softens them so that they fall at his feet. And it's as if he put the most difficult case in front of us to say, this is the ministry. This is the ministry. We don't run from this. Take them forgiveness. Take them forgiveness. Thomas, don't be unbelieving but believing. When Jesus speaks and that gets into the heart, it crushes and shatters hard hearts. That's how powerful that voice is. You have to have confidence in that. Jesus didn't coddle people. But Jesus spoke the truth in love. Thomas, your life shows that you're being unbelieving. It's time to be believing. I think we could say this to many people in our day. Maybe we need to say it to a child. Maybe we need to say it to a friend. Maybe you'll win your brother or sister. In 28, Thomas answered him. Want to see how powerful those words were? My Lord and my God. That's the ultimate confession in the gospel of John of who has come to us. God in human flesh. this is God standing in front of him this is God's ministry that's the power of God that gets into our hearts through that word this is what the gospel of John's all about Thomas because you've seen me you believed blessed now he's looking at all you here's the here's the way. Blessed are those who believe and do not see. Notice Jesus says, there is a real blessedness given to you when you believe this gospel and didn't have to go touch hands and sides. Because that's the ministry of the Spirit. That's the ministry of the Holy Spirit, a powerful ministry. And John closes here by saying right then and there, John says, okay, let's get to the heart of this now. Let's get to the heart of this. Jesus did a lot of signs in the presence of his disciples, which we didn't even write down everything. The books couldn't even have contained all the things that Jesus did. He probably went into leper colonies and healed them all. But these are written. Now listen to this. These are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and believing that you may have life in his name. You have all you need in what's written, Jesus is saying, what John is saying. You have it. Here are your signs. Here are your miracles. Here's the story, and God inspired it and handed it to you in a book. So that you could study it endlessly. You don't need to see a hands inside. This is a greater testimony. The world couldn't record it, but these are enough right here. These are enough that you would believe that Jesus is your Lord and your God. the eternal son, and believing, listen, this beautiful statement today, that you may have life in his name. You. This was not written for Thomas. This was written for you. What a wonderful gospel. What a God we have. Is there anyone here still unbelieving? believe. Trust him. He loves you. He's come to you today the same way he came to Thomas in the preaching of the gospel. And his voice says, I am your God. You are my people. I will remember your sins no more. That's the promise of this covenant work of the Spirit. Let us all be believing. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, thank you for this wonderful text and thank you for bringing it to a climax and showing us your wonderful work. You work in the hardest of hearts and it's right here, the man standing in this pulpit. Thank you for being merciful and gracious and long-suffering. Help those who have wandered. May we, Lord, as a church, have confidence in the keys of the kingdom. May the leadership have great confidence in the keys of the kingdom. May we have the same compassionate demonstration of going after the wandering sheep the way we should. This text encourages us today, and it gives us great hope. Thank you for giving us life through the power of the gospel, through Jesus' work. In his name, wonderful name, we pray today. Amen. Thank you.