Most of you, I'm sure, are aware
we had memorial service for one of our dear sisters in Christ
yesterday, Sue Hume. We were singing that hymn just
now, Fade, Fade, Each Earthly's Joy. A number of years ago, Sue
agreed to sing a special in one of our services, and she was
scared to death. I can identify with that, I tell
you. But she chose that hymn, Fade,
Fade, Each Earthly Joy. And the Lord blessed that because
we came as a church, at least I'd never heard the hymn before.
And so we came to learn that hymn and sing it. And the other
morning, now two months ago at the hospital, When her life was
ending here in this world and she was going to be with the
Lord to experience the joy of being with Christ her Savior,
I couldn't help but think of this hymn, the words of this
hymn. And the last line says, farewell
mortality. That's all behind her, mortality,
that is death. Jesus is mine. Welcome, eternity. Jesus is mine. Welcome, O loved
and blessed. Welcome, sweet scenes of rest. Welcome, my Savior's breast,
Jesus is mine. What a wonderful, wonderful hope
and truth to die believing in Christ, knowing Christ as Lord
and Savior, and saying goodbye to this world, a scene of evil
and wickedness that sin has made this world to become, and going
to be with the Lord in that place where sin cannot enter. If you will, turn with me this
morning to John chapter 20. Going to look this morning at
verses 19 and 20. Then the same day at evening,
being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where
the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, came Jesus
and stood in the midst and saith unto them, peace be unto you. And when he had so said, he showed
unto them his hands and his side. Then were the disciples glad
when they saw the Lord. This morning we're looking at
another appearance of the Lord Jesus Christ after his resurrection. Everything that we read in the
Word of God about our Savior, about the Lord Jesus, is important. His birth, his life, his death,
his resurrection, his ascension, his session at God's right hand
even now and his future coming in glory. Everything about him
is important because of who he is. His importance makes everything
about him important. Last Sunday morning we looked
at our Lord's appearance to Mary Magdalene. He appeared unto her
first when he rose from the dead, and I pointed out and tried to
emphasize the fact that he arose bodily. His body, his resurrected
body was real. That is, flesh and bones. You
could touch his body. His body was immortal, is immortal. No more death can domineer or
reign over Christ and his resurrected body is glorious. Now, we're
going to look at these two verses this morning. And I like to think
of this as mining for gold, mining for gold. You know, our Lord
said, search the scriptures. And that word search is more
than just glance or just casually read the word of God. It means
to examine, examine the scriptures. And by God's blessing and God's
help this morning, that's what we're going to do as we look
at these two verses to examine them. And I have four divisions
in my message. First, the time he appeared. The scripture here says the same
day at evening being the first day of the week. The same day,
the same day that he arose, the same day that he had foretold
when he said destroy this body or this temple and in three days
I will raise it up. The same day that he appeared
to Mary Magdalene The same day that he appeared to the two women
with Mary Magdalene and they held him, worshipped him at his
feet. The same day that he walked with
those two disciples on the road to Emmaus. The same day. And many believe it was on this
same day that he appeared to Peter. In the list in 1 Corinthians
15, the Apostle Paul gives of his appearance after his resurrection. He tells us that he appeared
once to Peter, and many believe it was on this first day, on
the same day. Now, he appeared to the 11. That's what they're called now.
They're referred to as the 11 because one of the apostles,
of course, was Judas Iscariot. He betrayed the Lord and hanged
himself. So they're referred to as the
11 now, but on this day he appeared only to 10. One was not with
them. We all know about Thomas, don't
we? And he got that name, Doubting
Thomas, because he was not with them when the Lord appeared to
them this first day. Second, the place he appeared. It says here, then the same day
at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were
shut, where the disciples were assembled. Where the disciples
were assembled. That's where he appeared. Now
we know from Luke 24 that they were in Jerusalem. We know that. where the place
he appeared, where the disciples were assembled. We know, as I
said from Luke 24, that they were in Jerusalem. And we know
from Acts chapter 1, when he ascended, this would be 40 days
later after this, when the Lord Jesus ascended bodily into heaven,
we know that The scriptures tell us his disciples who were there
when he ascended on Mount Olivet that they returned to Jerusalem
and went into an upper room. And many believe it was the same
upper room. Our Lord now appears to them
in the same upper room when just, what, four days before he had
observed the Passover, the last Passover. the last Passover with
his disciples and instituted the Lord's Table, the Lord's
Supper in that upper room. And then, of course, they went
to the Garden of Gethsemane and they arrested him in the garden. He was taken before the priest
and then before Pilate, and then he was crucified. And then three
days later, he arose from the dead, from among the dead, and
this is where he appeared to his disciples, where they were
assembled. God's people assemble. From the very beginning, we see
this. The church of the Lord Jesus
Christ, we assemble together. You know, of all the animals,
the many different animals that God has created, He chose one
especially as a picture of His people. Sheep. Sheep, right? Not goats. Sheep. And there's a big difference,
many differences between sheep and goats. But sheep, they live
in a flock. They assemble, in other words.
They gather together. And as I have heard a sheep rancher
say one time years ago, that if you saw a sheep by itself,
it was either sick or lost. One or the other. Sheep are an
animal that they assemble together. They live in a flock. And God's
people assemble, just like we are assembled here this morning. And I'm thankful that we have
time, we have days and times set apart to assemble, to worship
the Lord, to come together. And think about this when we
assemble. This is what I pray for when
we come together, that God will be glorified. That's the whole
purpose. It's not that I'll feel better
or you'll feel better or we'll get to see somebody we love to
see. All those things are true. But
our purpose here is that God will be glorified. That the hymns
that we sing will glorify him, will praise him, will exalt him. And our prayers when we call
upon God will be effectual. because we go to him in the name
of his son, Jesus Christ, and the preaching and the teaching
of the word of God. That's how God has ordained that
we grow. In Ephesians chapter four, Paul
tells us that God has given apostles and apostles apostles and prophets and evangelists
and pastor teachers for the edifying of the saints. That word evangelist. Now, most of us believe that
an evangelist today would be a missionary. And I agree with
that. But I do believe that there have
been men that God has raised up as an evangelist. An evangelist. I believe that
I knew one one time. I believe that I heard one one
time. I'm not talking about these men who surrendered to be evangelists
and they go from church to church and preach the same sermons over
and over, you know, two weeks here, one week there, you know,
same sermon. I believe I met and heard an
evangelist one time in my life. His name was Rolf Barnard. When he came to a church or when
he came to a town, things happen. Things happen. And people, they
either got mad or they got glad. And that's the way it ought to
be when the gospel is preached. Some are going to be offended.
Some are going to be offended because the gospel is offensive. It's offensive to the natural
man. It doesn't lift man up. It's not trying to make you feel
better about yourself, not at all. In fact, you've got to hear
the bad news before you ever hear the good news. And Ralph
Barnett and I, I was listening just recently to the sermon that
Brother Henry Mahan preached at Ralph's funeral. And Brother
Mahan said he was the bravest man I've ever known. And he was. I mean, evidently
he had no fear of men. And God used him in so many different
ways, so many different places. And I'm not saying there haven't
been other men like that during this same period, but I'm just
saying I knew one. I heard one one time, an evangelist. There are a lot of pastors. And
pastors are teachers. We teach the Word of God. And
when we assemble here together, that's our purpose. These disciples
here, they were assembled on the same day that the Lord Jesus
Christ rose from the dead. And since that time, now over
2,000 years ago, his people have been assembling, assembling. Some of us have assembled with
people out under a tree. We worshiped outside. That's
a wonderful experience, you know, if it's not too hot and if the
bugs are not too bad. I tell you, when you're preaching
and a bug flies in your mouth, there's nothing good about that.
But I love to preach outside, to worship outside when It's
just God's temple. I mean, it's beautiful. God's
creation. Even after sin has marred this
creation, it's still beautiful, isn't it? So many beautiful things. The flowers. We have beautiful
flowers here today. Just so many things. The birds.
I was looking at a magazine this past week, different birds, and
my, some of them are so beautiful, the colors. There's no way man
could have ever made or created a bird that color, and God did. Don't you love God's creation?
This is my Father's world, amen? This is His world. That's what
that first verse in that psalm we read said. This is God's world,
God's creation, and all that is in it, were His. And why did
God create? To begin with, for His glory,
His own glory. And that's what we come together
to assemble for, that He might be glorified in our thoughts
and in our singing, our praying, and our teaching and preaching
the Word of God. But these Disciples at this particular
time, in this verse we're looking at today, they were assembled
and the scripture says the doors were shut for fear of the Jews. Several years ago, someone that
was a part of our church said, preacher, I believe we need to
lock all the doors when we meet here to have service. I said,
that ain't gonna happen. Now I know things happen in churches. But I tell you, we're going to
trust God to protect us, to keep us. We lock the back door in
the evening when it's dark, the father's door back. That's true. But our God is in control of
all men. Someone told me a couple of weeks
ago, right before the service, they said words out that they've
given Hamas those cells in our country to do everything they
can to disrupt Christian services today. I believe that was on
Easter Sunday. And I'm thankful, aren't you,
that God has kept us and he preserves us. But we're not going to lock
the doors for fear of man. These people, they locked the
doors, these disciples did. They locked the door, the scripture
says, for fear of the Jews. And then we read here in our
text, then the same day at evening, being the first day of the week,
when the doors were shut, where the disciples were assembled
for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in the midst. And people
like to speculate as to how he came into that room. The doors
were shut. Did he open the door and come
through the door? I heard a preacher one time trying
to explain it by different molecules and stuff like that, the body
breaking down and atoms and, and the wood and all. And you
know, I got real confused about that. I don't know how all that
works. I know he had a real body, a
body that could be touched, but listen, The secret things belong
unto God. That's what Deuteronomy 29 and
verse 29 tells us. The things that are revealed
belong unto us and unto our children. And I'm just satisfied with what
God's revealed. And he hasn't revealed how God
came into that room. He didn't reveal how God walked
on the water. Did he? Can you explain that
other than just admit it was a miracle? It was a miracle. And I don't know how he appeared.
The scriptures do indicate that it was sudden. His appearance
in this room this day was sudden, but how he came in, I'll just
say God knows and leave it at that. Third, the people to whom
he appeared. Well, it was to his fearful disciples. One of the old writers pointed
out that it is usually, it is his usual course, rather, to
appear to men and women who are full of fears, full of griefs,
and most in danger. Remember that verse in Isaiah
43, when thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee. Not when you're on the bank.
He's with you there too. But no, especially when you go
through the waters, when there's trials and problems and fears
and difficulties. I spoke with a man this past
week who's going through a severe trial. And he told me, one of
the first things he told me when we started talking, he said,
you know, the Lord's been so sweet and so near to us in this. And I know many of you today,
you could stand and testify and say the same thing, that in the
midst of some of your greatest trials and griefs, the Lord has
been the nearest, the closest. Now, he hasn't really been any
closer, but you perceive him to be closer. He makes himself
real to you in those times. Yea, the psalmist said yea, though
I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear
no evil, for thou art with me, thou art with me. You know, he
was with Joseph, Remember when Joseph was sold by his brothers
and ended up in a prison in Egypt? He was there with Joseph in that
prison. When Jonah was thrown overboard
that ship and swallowed by that fish, he was with Jonah in that
fish. When Daniel spent the night in
the lion's den, he was with Daniel. And I want to read you this.
I want you to turn to 2 Timothy 4, if you will. Turn to 2 Timothy
4. And while you're turning there,
I'll just read you this from Daniel chapter 3. We're all familiar with Shadrach,
Meshach, and Abednego. They wouldn't bend, they wouldn't
bow, and they wouldn't burn. The scripture here says in Daniel
3 verse 23, And these three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego,
fell down bound into the midst of the burning fiery furnace.
And we know that Those guards that threw them in, they were
burned. They were destroyed themselves.
Just throwing those three men into the furnace. Then Nebuchadnezzar
the king was astonished and rose up in haste and spake and said
unto his counselors, did not we cast three men bound into
the midst of the fire? Hey, didn't we just cast three
men into that fire? They answered and said unto the
king, true, absolutely right, true, that we cast three men
in. Well, then he said, lo, I see four men. I see four men loose. We cast them in bound. I see
four men loose walking in the midst of the fire, and they have
no hurt. And the form of the fourth is
like the Son of God. Doesn't he especially appear
to his people when in the midst of difficulties and trials? I ask you to turn here to 2 Timothy
chapter 4. Paul gives his experience when
he stood before Nero, the Roman emperor. 2 Timothy 4 and verse
16. At my first answer, no man stood
with me, but all men forsook me. I pray God that it may not
be laid to their charge. Notwithstanding, the Lord stood
with me. Everyone else forsook him, but
notwithstanding, the Lord stood with me and strengthened me that
by me the preaching might be fully known and that all the
Gentiles might hear. and I was delivered out of the
mouth of the lion. So the time, the place, and the
people. And lastly, the manner of his
appearance. Back in our text here in John
chapter 20. Three things I'll point out.
First of all, he stood in their midst. It's easy to read that, not think
much about it. Let's look at that. He stood
in their midst. In other words, he was equally
near to each one of them. He was in their midst. He stood
in their midst as a common savior of them all. Our faith is called a common
faith. Now that word common, sometimes
people have a problem with that. You know, something very common,
minor, very trivial. That's not what he's saying when
he says our faith. When he wrote to Titus and said,
to Titus, my son, after the common faith, we all, all believers
have the same faith. There is, there's only one gospel.
When we read faith here, we're talking about the gospel that
saves sinners. There's one common faith, one
Lord, one baptism, one faith. Now I know in Galatians 1, Paul
says, if any man bring any other gospel to you, but then he goes
on to show that there really is no other gospel. There are
messages which claim to be gospel messages or the gospel, but they're
not gospel because they're not good news. They all tell you what you've
got to do in order to be justified, in order to know God and be one
of his children. All these other messages, what
you've got to do. And the problem with that is
man is dead. He's dead in trespasses and sins. And the Lord Jesus Christ said
no man can. He didn't say no man may come
to me. No man can. It has to do with
ability, doesn't it? No man can come unto me except
the Father which hath sent me. Draw him, and I will raise him
up at the last day. For I came down from heaven,
not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me.
And the will of him that sent me is that I lose nothing, nothing. He's not going to lose one of
those that the Father gave him. A comment was made. by someone
yesterday, I don't see why Sue came to church so far. I don't see why she drove so
far to come to this church. Well, of course, that tells us,
told me he doesn't know the truth. You pass by a dozen churches
on your way here, no doubt. Maybe more. And most of them
will tell you they're preaching the gospel, and they'll talk
about grace, and talk about faith, and talk about the Lord Jesus
Christ. And yet, they deny the truth
of the gospel, that God saves sinners. He does the work. But they all have a Something
for you to do your part you do your part and God will do his
part. We used to hear years ago when
Sad to say I was in churches that believed and preached that
and had those invitations and you know one more verse One more
verse Just as I am without what without one plea one more verse. I know someone's here God's calling
someone You know you take the first step And God will take
the second. The only problem with that is
man is dead. God has to do something for us. He stood in the midst of them,
speaking to us of our common faith. They all had the same
faith. That is, they believed in Christ.
They trusted in Christ. And then we talk about, we read
about common salvation, Jude chapter, or Jude verse three,
I give all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation. Everyone who is saved is saved
in the same way and has the same salvation. One person doesn't
have one kind of salvation and another person, another kind
of salvation. No, it's common to all of God's
elect. all of those whom God saves. He stood in the midst. How many
times when you look at the life of the Lord Jesus Christ do you
see him in the midst? At his birth, a babe lying in
the manger, he was in the midst of farm animals. In his youth,
at 12 years of age, in the temple, He was in the midst of doctors,
doctors of the law, speaking with them. When he became a man
and was baptized, John said, in your midst, there standeth
one in the midst of you whom you know not. He came unto his
own and his own They saved him, Lord. They didn't know him, his
own, but he was in their midst. On the cross, he died in the
midst of thieves. And he is the only one mediator
in the midst or between God and men, the man, Christ Jesus. He stood in their midst. Second,
he spoke words of peace. Peace be unto you. When we think
about peace, I want to hurriedly mention four things. Peace. First
of all, peace with God. The Bible tells us, you say,
well, I've never heard that before. That doesn't change what the
Bible says, just because you haven't heard it. The Bible tells
us that man is enmity with God. Enmity with God. What was it that causes enmity
between God and man? It was sin. Sin, obviously. It was your sin, my sin, that
made us enemies of God. But the Bible tells us that Christ
has removed that enmity by his sacrifice. In Ephesians chapter
2 we read, and that he might reconcile both to God. that the
Lord Jesus Christ might reconcile both, both Jew and Gentile to
God. Reconcile, bring into peace with
God in one body on the cross, having slain the enmity thereby. And again, in Ephesians, the
apostle tells us, or Colossians rather, that he made peace by
the blood of his cross. We have peace. These disciples,
they had peace with God through the blood of his cross. Peace
be unto you. Second, when we think about peace,
peace with everyone. Peace with everyone. It should
be your goal. It should be my goal. All of
us, we should have this same goal as much as possible. as much as life in us to live
peaceably with all men." God's people, God's Savior, peaceable
people. We're not looking for fights. Peaceable. God's people will
go the second mile to have peace. And third, peace among brethren. No doubt that was included here.
Among these 10 disciples, peace be unto you, peace among brethren. And the psalmist said, behold
how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together
in unity. What a blessing it is to be a
part of a church where we love one another, first of all, and
we have peace. Right? Peace with one another.
Unity. And lastly, peace of conscience.
Now think about who he said this to. Peter. He was one of those. He had denied with oaths. I don't
know that man. All of the others with Peter,
they had left him, run away. Don't you think their conscience
was somewhat troubled now? at what they had done, but what
did she say? Peace, peace be unto you. Before they ever asked for forgiveness
or they ever asked for mercy, he's first, right? He's always
first with us. Peace be unto you. And then the scripture says he
showed them his hands and his eyes. His hands, when you think
about his hands, where the nails were driven through his hands
to hang him, hang him on that cross. He showed them his hands. We don't know. Here's another
one of those things that really isn't revealed to us. Will he
still have those marks when we see him in heaven? Willie, some
people say yes, the Bible doesn't say one way or the other, does
it? What do you think? If you had your rathers, that
he still has those marks when you see him or he doesn't, his
body is more fully glorified than it was at this particular
time. Would you like to see those marks?
Would you? Oh, my, when you looked at those
marks, how there's not going to be any tears
in heaven. But oh, don't you know your heart
would just overflow with joy and love? He suffered that for me. He was nailed on the, it was
my sins that put him there on the cross. I don't know, but
I know this, that when the disciples, they saw the marks in his hands
and his sides, they were glad. That's what the scripture says,
isn't it? And when he had so said, he showed
them his hands and his side, and then were the disciples glad
when they saw the Lord. There's coming a day when we too shall see the Lord
face to face. We'll be glad, we'll be glad. Let's sing a hymn.