What a sweet picture. What a
sweet picture. What a sweet gathering, the Lord
coming to his own. We know there are only 10 of
them, because the next verses go on to show us that Thomas
wasn't there. We know that Judas is gone. And we can only imagine
what sort of a day they had had. And despite all that Mary had
told them, and despite the visit to Simon from the Lord, there
are these men. Shut up. The doors are locked
and barred. And there they are in fear of
the Jews. And they had jolly good reason
to be in fear of the Jews. What a busy day the Lord had.
What a glorious picture His resurrection day is of redeeming the time. The Lord's given us just this
little time on this earth, this little time to love Him, this
little time to live for Him, this little time to serve Him,
this little time to look through the eyes of faith. One day we'll
be in heaven and we won't need the eyes of faith. But here he
gives the eyes of understanding to his people. What a busy day
he had. He rose from that tomb He met
Mary, he met the women, he met Simon, he walked on the road
to Emmaus, and now he's back in Jerusalem to visit the ten. And he comes in this glorious
way, doesn't he? People can speculate all they
like about how the Lord Jesus Christ came. Peter in Acts chapter
12 had the doors open for him. So anything in this physical
universe is no barrier to the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ.
And he makes it abundantly clear in Luke's account of this that
he was not a spirit. He says, you give me something
to eat. He's not a spirit, he's trying and he is declaring that
there is a real bodily physical resurrection, but it's a resurrection
to a new order of life all together. Peace. What an amazing word peace
is. The world has been searching
and never finding peace since the garden. And every time they
think they've found peace, There is something that comes and disturbs
that peace, whether that's nationally or personally or internationally. There's always something that
comes and disturbs that peace. What a wonderful word. Peace
means freedom from being disturbed. I've got grandchildren, and there
are times I love them being around, and there are times when I just
need some peace. It's freedom from being disturbed.
I love them disturbing me. Please don't, if they ever get
to hear this, don't misunderstand me. I love them. But it means
tranquility. The word means restfulness and
quietness. When the real Christ comes and
stands in the midst of his people, he is our peace, isn't he? He's
the God. It's the God of peace. In Isaiah
9, he's the prince of peace. He is our peace, and all of our
peace is through our blood. I love what he says, he says,
peace be unto you. Not peace that's owed or earned,
but peace that is bestowed in grace upon these people. With
the door shut, them in fear, what had been their history in
the previous three days of these people? They'd all abandoned
him, they'd all puffed themselves up and said, we're not like other
people, I'm not like those other, Peter saying, I'm not like those
other weak apostles, I'm strong. Were they worthy of him coming? Had they done anything? Were they even looking for him? If they've heard news of him
being around in Jerusalem and on the road to Emmaus, you'd
think that one place you would be, you'd be out finding, you'd
be searching for him. Were they expecting him at this
time? They weren't expecting him at
this time. Don't you love how the Lord comes to his people?
Don't you love how he comes in these extraordinarily special
times when we are troubled, the Lord comes, But I love what he goes on to
say, because this is where peace comes from. In verse 20, and
when he had said, he showed them his hands and his side. That's where peace comes from.
Peace comes from the wounds of the hands of the Lord Jesus Christ.
He's not only declaring to them in absolute no doubt whatsoever
that this is the same Jesus that was crucified, now resurrected,
is in their place. See, in his wounds there is peace,
isn't it? All peace is found in his wounds. Peace with God, peace with each
other. We forgive one another. If we're
going to mess things up in our lives and you're going to mess
things up with me and I'm going to mess things up with you, why
do we forgive? Our forgiveness of our brothers
and sisters is the result of us being forgiven far much more
than they've ever done to us. Christ's words of peace and his
wounds of peace are always one. They can never be separated. The wounds speak of the blood
which flowed from his hands and his feet and his heart and his
head and it says when he shows the wounds The disciples were glad. Glad's
not a good enough word to describe what it means. When they saw
this, when they saw his wounds, then the disciples were rejoicing
exceedingly, is what it means. When he meets the women in Matthew
chapter 28, he says the same word we've translated it all
hail, but it means to rejoice exceedingly. If God gives us
the eyes of Ephesians 1.18 to behold the Lord Jesus Christ,
we will be glad. That's what John the Baptist
said, didn't he? He hears the voice of the bridegroom, And
he's rejoicing. He went into death and into the
tomb with the sins of all his people, and now he's come out
as a triumphant saviour. The sins have gone, they're put
away, but he came out with these words. Forever there is the token
in his body of the redemption and the salvation of his people. He didn't show them scars. He
showed them his wounds. He showed them his hands and
his side. Sitting on the throne of glory
is the most glorious, glorious being of all. But in part of
what he is there, he is the lamb as it had been slain. I love what Romans 5, I know we
quote it often, but it's so amazingly beautiful. You can turn there
if you like, but I love what Romans 4.25 says he was delivered
for our offences. He was delivered because of our
offences against him. And he was raised again for or
because of our justification. Therefore, being justified by
faith, We have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. His coming to them is showing
what this next verse says, by whom also we have access. He has access to us and we have
access to him because of his wounds and because of the words
that he speaks to us. He says, we have access by faith
into this grace wherein we stand and rejoice in hope of the glory
of God. And we rejoice in tribulations,
it goes on to say, it talks about the love of God being spread
out abroad in our hearts. Why do his wounds bring gladness? Why does the sight of his wounds
bring gladness? Well, firstly, It's the promise
fulfilled. He promised his disciples. In John 14 verse 28 he says,
If you love me, you would rejoice that I'm going away to the Father.
In John chapter 16 verses 21 he says, Verily, verily, I say
unto you, that you shall weep and lament, but the world shall
rejoice. But the world shall rejoice.
The world rejoiced at the death of the Lord Jesus Christ. And
you shall be sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy. But I will see you again, and
your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man taketh from you. I like that sort of joy. I like
that sort of joy. I like the fact that no man includes
this man, this old man of the flesh. No man, no man can take
this joy away from you. He is risen, he is risen. He's come as the resurrected
Christ into our midst and he just speaks peace. The very first
words he says to his gathered assembly. Peace be unto you. I know something of troubles,
and the troubles that all of Adam's children have are common
to all people, aren't they? We all suffer in various ways
the same ways. And the children of God have
particular sufferings that the rest of the world don't have.
We have sufferings about the souls, the eternal souls of those
that we love and care for. We have all sorts of trials and
tribulations which is why the word peace is so precious to
us. It's so precious to us. God's children have trials in
this world that the world knows nothing of. I'll shed stacks
of tears. I don't try and ever do it publicly. I'll shed stacks of tears because
of the work of the Lord in my heart and what I feel about those
that I love and I care for. Peace, peace, peace. When they saw the Lord, the disciples
were glad when they saw the Lord. If he comes through the barred
doors of your heart and speaks peace to you, you'll be glad. You'll be glad when you see him.
They'd seen him for three years, didn't they? They'd seen him
betrayed, abused. They'd seen him crucified. And
here he is clearly identifying himself by those wounds. Those wounds. Luke says that
these disciples were terrified and frightened and thought they'd
seen a spirit. He needs to speak peace to them. Listen to what he goes on to
say to these disciples in verse 21. His resurrection appearances
were to embolden the church to go forth and declare this risen
Lord, and it's the Blessed Holy Spirit's task to bring that to
pass on the day of Pentecost. But also the Church is said to
declare the wounds of the Lord Jesus Christ, to declare this
Lord Jesus Christ, to declare this peace and this peace only
in the wounds of the Lord Jesus Christ. As the Father has sent me, even
so send I you. Don't you love what Isaiah said?
If you want a lovely passage of scripture, Isaiah chapter
6. He saw the Lord and he heard those angels declaring, holy,
holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty. And even the inanimate objects
of the temple had the good sense to quiver and shake in the presence
of God Almighty. And John 12 says that that was
the Lord Jesus Christ Isaiah saw there. And what was Isaiah's
first words? Woe is me. If you read the previous
chapters, he was woeing all the world around him. All of a sudden,
there's only one woe that matters. You see, the wounds for God's
children are wounds that we inflicted upon him, which is why the peace
is so special, and why seeing him again is so incredibly special
to us. These ones, only the cleansed
were sent of God. Isaiah was cleansed. What was
Isaiah cleansed by? What in the temple represented
the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ? He took a live coal from
the altar. The altar where the blood of
the Lord Jesus Christ was shed for the sin that Isaiah committed
and for the sin that Isaiah was. He didn't say, woe is what I
have done. He said, woe is me. That's the
confession of a sinner, isn't it? That's the confession of
a real sinner. If sin is just what you do, then
you can fix it by not doing it. If sin is what you are, you need
a saviour. And only God makes sinners to
be sinners. Those who are sent are those
who see his wounds. Those who are sent are those
who hear him declare peace. Peace be unto you. That's the
gospel, isn't it? We're declaring peace with God
through the body and blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Verse
22, and when he had said this, he breathed on them and said
unto them, receive ye the Holy Ghost. There are several pictures
in this that are so special, aren't they? The Holy Ghost is
so closely bound to the risen Christ that his breath is the
means for the Spirit being sent and received. Listen to what
he says, receive you the Holy Ghost, receive you. And I think there's a beautiful
picture in all of this that when the Lord Jesus Christ breathes
out, All of those in his company get to breathe a bit of the same
air in. It's Christ in you, it's the
Spirit in you. In Genesis chapter 2, God breathed
into Adam and he breathed the Spirit of life into him. So the Holy Spirit breathes life,
the life of Christ, into all of his children. It's a glorious
picture of union, isn't it, and communion. In John 17, he spoke
so much of union and communion. There's one source, there's one
life, there's one spirit, there's one faith, there's one baptism,
there's one Lord over all, and in all, in all. We have a union with his body.
We have a union in his blood. We have a union with him in eternity. We have a union with him in his
words. We have a union, an eternal,
infinite union that can never, ever be divided. The father sent
the son, and the son sent the spirit, and God's children are
sent out into this world to say peace. The Gospel is the Gospel
of peace, isn't it? It's a message from the God of
peace. Then he says, Receive ye the
Holy Ghost. These people were already declared
to be cleansed by the Lord Jesus Christ. They were now to wait
for nearly seven weeks until they were sent out by the Holy
Spirit specifically to preach. And here in this interim time,
they are there to rest in the finished work of the Lord Jesus
Christ in peace. I love that he says it twice, peace
be unto you. See, we in this world, in this
body of flesh, are going through, like the apostles, times of darkness
and times of doubting and times when we're shut away and we're
fearful of what's going on. And when we go through those
times of darkness, you who have known the Lord for some time
know what I'm talking about. There are times when you just
feel His absence and you feel the weight of the world around
you and you feel the weight of His sin. And the Lord comes and
he speaks peace and he shows you his wounds. And it feels, to me it feels
like being born again, again. Have any of you been born again,
again? When peace like a river just
flows over us and the presence of the Lord comes in such power,
It's like being refreshed again and again and again. When we
have breaches in all sorts of fellowships and then the Lord
brings this word to us, peace. and the peace is always a peace
in his words. Listen to what he goes on to
say in verse 23. Whosoever sins you remit, they
are remitted. And whosoever sins you retain,
they are retained. The religious world has taken those words and similar words
that the Lord spoke to Peter in Matthew chapter 16 to create
a whole world of priestcraft. which God abhors. There is no
evidence of these apostles ever declaring the forgiveness of
sins. The remittance of sins is in
the gospel they proclaim. The remittance of sins is tied
up in the fact that God the Father sent the Son, and God the Son
sends the Holy Spirit, and God's people are sent out in this world
to declare peace in the wounds of the Lord Jesus Christ. God
has given Peter and these other apostles, and Paul later on,
the power to write the words of God. When John sat down at
his desk and penned these words, John wrote the words, but God
the Holy Spirit wrote them. And these words declare who God
is, who you are, and how God saves sinners. And quite simply, remittance
of sins is declared in the Gospel that they declare. By his wounds
we are healed and forgiven. The preaching of the Gospel declares
sins put away by Christ and received by faith. To not believe the
apostles is to declare to God that your sins still remain. They are retained. What a horrible
thought that is. I get shocked by John 8 where
the Lord said to those Pharisees, He said, you will die in your
sins. You will die with a constant. Those who don't believe this
gospel and don't believe what these words are declaring, don't
believe the words that this resurrected Christ has given his apostles
to send out. They never ever cease from those
sins being attached to them and around them, and their mouths
are shut in darkness forever and ever. He says in Acts 30,
Peter will say in Acts 3.9, repent ye therefore and be converted
that your sins may be blotted out when the times of refreshing
shall come from the presence of the Lord, peace beyond These
wounds are the only ground of my peace. with God. People are
looking for so many other things and religion is telling people
to look at so many other things in them and around them and what
they've done and what they haven't done. Our peace with God is in
the wounds of the Lord Jesus Christ. Our peace with God is
in the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ who shows his wounds. He has made peace, Colossians
1.20, having made peace through the blood of his cross. No wonder
Peter says repeatedly it's precious blood. It's precious blood saves
a sinner like him. The wounds of the Lord Jesus
Christ are shown to me. And they show me my sin, and
they show me my salvation, and they make me to see that sin
is all tied up, and forgiveness of sin, sorry, is all tied up,
and the reality of sin is all tied up with the wounds of the
Lord Jesus Christ. What are these wounds? That's
a good question. Zechariah asked that question in Zechariah 13
verse 6. And one shall say unto him, Zechariah
13 verse 6, What are these wounds in thy hands? It's the second
last book of the Old Testament. What are these wounds in thy
hands? Then shall he answer, Zechariah
13, verse 6. Those with which I was wounded
in the house of my friends. He said to Judas, friend, people
are born in enmity against God, and all the reason and all the
fault of their enmity is in themselves. He is the friend of sinners. And he goes on in verse seven
of Zechariah to talk about these words. Away goes sword against
my shepherd, against the man that is my fellow, my equal,
my companion. saith the Lord of hosts, smite
the shepherd. Smite the shepherd. Who smote
the Lord Jesus Christ? God the Father crushed him. It
pleased the Father to crush him. Smite the shepherd and the sheep
shall be scattered. And then this is exactly what
we're seeing in this. And I will turn my hand, my hand
of grace and love upon the little one. And he says, I'll bring
a third part through the fire, verse 9, and I'll refine them
as silver is refined and try them as gold is tried. What will
they do? What will these ones do that
he turns his hand upon? They shall call upon my name,
and I will hear them. I will say, it is my people,
and they shall say, the Lord is my God. The Lord is my God. and the glory of the Lord Jesus
Christ. I pray that he might come and
show us his Word and speak peace to our hearts. A soldier is not
ashamed of his battle scars. The Lord Jesus Christ went into
battle with Satan and sin and death and hell. And under the
law of God, he suffered these wounds by the hand of a righteous
God, punishing sins perfectly and completely in honor of his
holiness. Peace. Peace be unto you. Let's pray. Heavenly Father,
we thank you again that we have a gospel of peace from the Prince
of Peace. from the God of Peace to declare
to this world, to declare to each other, Heavenly Father,
it is finished. Our surety has triumphed. And we praise you, Heavenly Father,
that now on the throne of glory and for all eternity, all of
your people will know why they are there with you in the presence
of our dear and precious Saviour. Because those wounds, those wounds,
Speak peace to the hearts of our people. May you come through
closed hearts and stony hearts, Heavenly Father, and reveal yourself. Reveal your dear and precious
Son by the blessed Holy Spirit to our hearts, that we might
see His wounds, that we might see Him in that and be glad and
rejoice. For we pray in your dear and
precious Son's name, we thank you, our Father. Amen.