As the Lord may be pleased to
help us this morning, I would like to direct your prayerful
attention to the chapter we read, that is John chapter 20, and in the Bible box, it's page,
Bible in the box is page 1005 in the TBS Ruby Bible. Anyone tuning in to help you
to find your place in God's Word, 1005 is the page number. We'll take as our text, verse
20, and the last sentence in that verse, John chapter 20 and
verse 20, and the last sentence we read, them were the disciples
glad when they saw the Lord. Then were the disciples glad
when they saw the Lord. John 20 and verse 20. This is
again the first day of the week, reminding us of that first day
of the week when our Lord Jesus, having fulfilled all he came
to do, he uniquely had led a perfect life. he and he alone was worthy
of that word from heaven which came in the presence of him and
those around him, the voice of his father in heaven which said,
this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased, hear him.
And of course these disciples having been as we might say, bereft of their
Saviour for a few days, He did say to them, you now therefore
have sorrow, but I will see you again and you will rejoice. And now this promise is fulfilled. The Lord Jesus has risen again
from the dead. And the very fact that our Lord
Jesus rose again from the dead, dear friends, is a wonderful
foundation for believing in him. He who said, because I live,
you shall live also. He who gave his life a ransom
for many. He who rose again having conquered
sin and death and hell. When sin came into the world,
that sin had and added extra on it, which is death. Because
that one commandment that God gave to Adam and Eve, they could
not keep. Sin came into the world, and
death by sin. God said to Adam and Eve, he
said to Adam, and he no doubt had told Eve, that the day thou
eatest of that forbidden fruit, thou that day thou shalt surely
die. It's not as though they were struck dead straight away,
no, but their communion and their blessing of the nearness they
knew to God, they'd lost. It is God who in his wonderful
grace sent our Lord Jesus into this world that this blessing
might be restored. That's why we read verses like,
through this man is preached unto us the forgiveness of sin.
and therefore it is the Lord Jesus who is now, in this chapter,
straight away following the resurrection and meeting with his disciples,
his apostles, we read, he is laying the foundation of the
New Testament Church, the blessing that we enjoy and we rejoice
in even today. It's a fundamental truth that
the foundation of any building or any society or anything that
happens on this earth is so vital. Anyone that's been involved in
any form of building work knows that the foundation is so vital. If the foundation is wrong, out
of square, the wrong shape or the wrong size, the roof that
is designed to go on it will not fit. And now we have the
Lord Jesus here so clearly laying out the foundation of the New Testament church and
handing over to them by his power the responsibility of carrying
out his glorious truth And they will not be left alone in this,
no, because by his power and his Holy Spirit that he breathed
upon them, this power would still continue under the power of the
risen and ascended Lord Jesus Christ. These dear disciples were afraid. Why were they afraid? Well, because
of what had gone before. We read, following the burial of the Lord
Jesus in that borrowed tomb of Joseph of Arimathea, in Matthew's Gospel we have the
record of it. Now the next day, following the
day of the preparation, the chief priests and Pharisees came together
unto Pilate, saying, Sir, we remember, and we need to read
these words very feelingly, that that deceiver, what an awful
name to name our dear Saviour, they regarded him as the deceiver,
said, while he was yet alive, after three days I will rise
again. Command therefore that the sepulchre be made sure until
the third day, lest his disciples come by night and steal him away
and say unto the people that he is risen from the dead. So
the last error shall be worse than the first. Pilate said unto
them, ye have a watch, go your way, make it as sure as you can.
So they went and made the sepulchre sure. sealing the stone and setting
a watch. That is, an armed guard round
the tomb of a dead body. In the end of the Sabbath, as
it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, going back to
what we read in John, we have the record of it in Matthew with
an extra truth, came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the
sepulchre. And behold, there was a great earthquake. For the
angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back
the stone from the door and sat upon it. His countenance was
like lightning and his raiment white as snow. And for fear of
him, the keepers did shake and become as dead men. Notice, the
same angel which overpowered them is the same
angel that powered those who were seeking. The angel answered
and said unto the women, Fear not ye, for I know that ye seek
Jesus which was crucified. He is not here, for he is risen.
As he said, Come, see the place where the Lord lay. and go quickly
and tell his disciples that he is risen from the dead, and behold,
he goeth before you into Galilee. There shall you see him, lo,
I have told you." That wonderful truth is the setting of what
is before us now. When Jesus came, he came to his
disciples. those to whom he had made that
wonderful promise, I will see you again and your hearts shall
rejoice. Oh no, this day, they are rejoicing. That 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 said unto them, peace be unto you. The doors were shut. Is a closed
door any barrier to a risen Lord Jesus? Was a sealed tomb any
barrier to our Lord Jesus? No. By divine power, the stone
which no one could easily move on their own, by God's power
and authority, That stone was rolled away, and we read the
angel sat on it, so it must have been laying down flat. And also,
think dear friends, before ever we came to a saving knowledge
of our Lord Jesus, our hearts were like a closed door. And
a closed door is no barrier to God. I only read recently about
a young lady who, just started a new line of work. She was not
long married. She and her husband were quite
happily married and where she worked was a Christian comrade
in the same place of work. And in her lunch break, she started
opening up to this young lady about what the Lord had done
for her. And she gained her ear. This young lady was interested.
She said, I've got a soul. And through the witness of this
other young lady who gave her a Bible to read, she was aware
of her need. And through reading the scriptures,
she came to realized that she needed to worship
God, meet with his people and so on. What a blessing. But her
husband was so opposed to it. He loved her, yes, but he didn't
love the way she was going in her life. And he said to her,
you give me that Bible and I'll prove that it's not true. And
if that's the case, I'll forbid you to read it. Well, with she
was quite hesitant to do this because she'd come to love what
she was reading in God's holy word by his spirit he was applying
it to her personally this man did start to read the holy scriptures
i don't know where the uh what i was reading didn't say where
but God spoke to him he was awakened and you can understand the rest
of it quite easily, that the very words that he was hoping
to disprove so overpowered him that he carried on reading. God's
Holy Spirit was gripping him to the awareness that he had
a soul, a soul in need of salvation. And so, he who had a closed door
and was trying to close the door for his dear wife, God have broken
through that closed door. Now here the disciples had a
closed door because of their fear. The Jews and the Sadducees
did not believe in the resurrection. The Pharisees were doing all
they could to sideline any teaching of the Lord Jesus. But here we
have a clear account that the doors were shut where the disciples
were assembled, but Jesus came in. Came Jesus and stood in the
midst and said, peace be unto you. Now we have three or four headings here of what the Lord
Jesus came with and the blessings he gave them in this crucial
meeting of Him blessing them and empowering them to go forth
in the formation of the early New Testament Church that He
had planned before the foundation of the world. The risen Saviour, what a greeting
He gave. Peace be unto you. He is the
Prince of Peace. And we have a hymn that begins,
Peace by his cross as Jesus made, The church's everlasting head. For hell and sin has victory
won, And with a shout to glory gone. When o'er my head the billows
roll, And shades of sin obscure my soul, when thou canst no deliverance
see, yet still this man thy peace shall be. Peace. The Lord Jesus himself is the
Prince of Peace. He has created peace between
sinful man and a perfect and righteous and just Lord God in
heaven above. And that peace was brought about
by the suffering and death of our Lord Jesus. The Lord in the day of His anger
did place on our Lord Jesus Christ the sin of all who would come
to trust in Him. And while our dear Savior was
hanging on that cross, He cried out to His Father, My God, my
God, why hast thou forsaken me? God the Father could not look
upon sin with any degree of allowance. And it took even the separating
of Father, our Heavenly Father, from our Lord Jesus Christ. That's
why it's quite correct, those first few words to the Hebrews
in that epistle, redevelopment Jesus, that when he had by himself,
by himself, purged our sin, sat down at the right hand of the
Majesty on high. And this piece is a remarkable
blessing, isn't it? This piece is that which we read
of In the prophecies we read in Micah and also in Zechariah,
they are known as the minor prophets, yes, but they hold forth major
truths, don't they? We read these words. And speak unto him, saying, thus
speaketh the Lord of hosts, saying, behold, the man whose name is the branch,
and he shall grow up out of his place, and he shall build the
temple of the Lord, that is, his church in the New Testament,
even he shall build the temple of the Lord, and he shall bear
the glory, and he shall sit and rule upon his throne, and he
shall be a priest upon his throne, and the counsel of peace shall
be between them both. And what a wonderful peace this
is. It's a peace between God the
Father and his people through our Lord Jesus Christ. And it's
a peace which shall be known to all believers, that peace
of God which passes all understanding. Both Jews and Gentiles are brought
together through our Lord Jesus Christ. And this peace is an everlasting
peace. If we go to the New Testament,
we read in the Epistle to the Ephesians,
and that's a wonderful chapter, Ephesians chapter two, and we
read these precious words. But knowing Christ Jesus, ye
who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ. For he is our peace, who hath
made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition
between us, that is, between the Jews and the Gentiles, having
abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments
contained in ordinances, for to make of in himself of Twain,
one new man, so making peace, and that he might reconcile both
unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby,
and came and preached peace to you which were far off, and to
them that are nigh. For through him we both have
access by one spirit unto the Father. And these precious truths
all emphasize and teach us of the peace of God which passes
all understanding to keep our hearts and minds through Jesus
Christ our Lord. What a greeting he came with.
There they were assembled, no doubt disturbed in their hearts
and minds, afraid What's going to happen? If the Pharisees have
their way, they will put us to silence, they will imprison us. Yes, they will, and they did.
But the glorious good news of the Gospel is still proclaimed
today, and our prayer is that God will bless
it and own it. and perform all His will through
the preaching and teaching of His Word. He came and said, Peace. And
then secondly, He showed unto them His hands and His side. Now if ever they needed unmistakable
proof that this is Jesus Himself, This would have identified him
so clearly. When he had so said, he showed
unto them his hands and his side. Then were the disciples glad
when they saw the Lord. The last time they saw him, where
was he? He was hanging on that cruel
cross. His hands were still showing the injuries of the way he was
fixed to the cross. It was his love that held him
there. There wasn't another good enough to pay the price for sin.
He only could unlock the gate of heaven and let us in. Yes, and he suffered in his own
body on the cross. But also we need to keep in mind
that he said, no man taketh my life from me, I have power to
lay it down, I have power to take it again. This have I received
from my Father. And so may we rejoice in the
wondrous love of our Lord Jesus, He who gave His life, a ransom for many, He who said to his disciples,
you now therefore have sorrow because the Lord Jesus was going
away from them. Yes, he was. He went alone to
the cross. But now they're rejoicing because
he is with them. And by purging his sin, by purging
our sin, by himself, the price of his suffering, he who endured
the hiding of his father's face, these wonderful blessings, we
read that our Lord Jesus will give them and he promised it
to them even before he went to the cross and before he prayed
that high priestly prayer In John 17, these wonderful words, he said, how be it the spirit
of truth is come, when he is come, he will guide you into
all truth. For he shall not speak of himself, but whatsoever he
shall hear, that shall he speak, and he will show you things to
come. And he said, that you now therefore
have sorrow, but I will see you again. Yes, and he comes with
peace, and he comes with that knowledge that he has suffered,
he has endured all that he had to endure to put away sin. And to think that their savior
was back with them, in a body, a resurrected body, a body that
can enter in, even through a closed door. And we give thanks that
these things can be done. And no doubt, they still are. There are many brought out of
darkness into light because our Lord Jesus has the ability, whatever
the door is, to enter in. All power is given to him in
heaven and in earth. And we are told, go therefore
and teach all nations. Having showed them his unmistakable
proof of identity that this is Jesus, he calls them to rejoice. And then, thirdly, he repeated Peace be unto you. In verse 21, then said Jesus to
them again, peace be unto you. As my father has sent me, even
so send I you. Now the Lord Jesus is he who
is reminding them that he came by the command of his father to
this world and he came not to do his own will but the will
of him that sent him and to finish his work and these words in the
epistle to the Corinthians chapter 15 we so often hear them read
at funeral services And we can read them now because the Word
of God is before us and we trust that these things will establish
a wonderful truth in our hearts and minds and refresh us with
such a glorious hope. We read from verse 19 in 1 Corinthians
15, verse 19, if in this life only we have hope in Christ,
we are of all men most miserable. But now is Christ risen from
the dead and become the firstfruits of them that slept. For since
by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the
dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be
made alive. Now, that word even so is very
important in the truth of the scripture and God says here through
our Lord Jesus Christ as my father has sent me even
so send I you even so the Lord Jesus came because he is
the anointed one the sent one one who came to do love's redeeming
work and in the same way even so He is now sending his apostles
to make known the glorious good news of the gospel of our Lord
Jesus Christ. Even so, he says, send I you. And how did he do this? How did
he empower them? Well, fourthly, we read, he breathed
on them. He breathed on them. He said, peace be unto you, as
my father has sent me, even so send I you. And when he had said
this, he breathed on them and saith unto them, receive you
the Holy Ghost. And through divine power, he
gave them power to remit sins. He said, who? Whosoever sins he remit, they
are remitted unto them, and whosoever sins he retain, they are retained. And also they have power to heal
the sick. What a blessing this is. And
we have so much to establish this truth as we read on in the
New Testament of those who were raised up and healed. by the
power of the Holy Spirit of God through our Lord Jesus in the
working out of his purposes in the New Testament Church. Here
we read that our Lord Jesus to whom all power is given in heaven
and on earth causes these disciples to receive by the Holy Ghost
and he breathed on them. Divine breath, a creation, we
read of it in the second chapter in Genesis, that God created
man of the dust of the earth, yes, he created him, but what
about life? We read that the Lord God, and
it's worth remembering, the first chapter in the Bible, in Genesis,
we read of what God did, God spake, I think ten times we read,
and God said, and every time God said, another section of
creation came about. In the second chapter we read,
and the Lord God, that is God, the Lord God, Jehovah, in relation
to his people. The Lord God came and he breathed
into man the breath of life. Man became a living soul. He made man in his own image.
Yes, he made man for his glory. The fall of mankind did not take
God by surprise. No, he still had eternally a
plan of salvation in place whereby he could preached the gospel
of His grace even in the Garden of Eden before Adam and Eve were
cast out. So dear friends, as we look at
these things this morning, may we rejoice because in the name of our Lord
Jesus, even today, these God-given powers to remit, cancel the death
of sin and punishment of those who come to him pleading for
his mercy. So as Jesus met with his disciples
on that first day of the week, God still meets with his people
when they gather for worship, when they gather for prayer,
or when they pray in their own homes or even privately alone. He meets with them. He meets
with his people as they read his holy word. And he meets with
them when they're blessed with a spirit of meditation on himself
and his wondrous truth. And so may we rejoice in that
hymn that we sometimes sing, Jesus, my all, to heaven is gone.
He whom I fix my hopes upon, his track I see, and I'll pursue
the narrow way till him I view. So may the Lord bless his word
to us this morning, and may he bless his word to us as we hope
to continue, God willing, this evening. I have in my mind a
development from this wonderful truth of the empowering he has
given in the New Testament age to his praise and glory. So may
the Lord bless his word to us and to him be all the praise,
the honour and the glory.