Turn with me to 1 Corinthians,
1 Corinthians chapter 15. Paul reminds these believers
that he preached the gospel to them and that it's for their
salvation if they keep in memory that which he's preached. And
he says in verse 3, For I delivered unto you first of all that which
I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to
the Scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he rose again
the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he was seen
of Cephas, then of the twelve. Why is it that Paul preached
the gospel of grace? Why is it that Paul preached
salvation by the grace of God in Christ? Well, it's because
this is what Christ commissioned Paul to preach. He gave him this
gospel to declare. To commission means to grant
authority. It's to give power to do something
that you've been commanded to do. And Paul references the appearance
of Christ here to Cephas. That is, when Cephas was on the
road to Emmaus, and Christ appeared to him in another. And he references
his appearance to the disciples, calling them the Twelve, of which
Luke wrote and of which John also records in his gospel. And that's what we're going to
look at is John's recording of these things. Our text tonight
is in John 20. Let's go to John 20. And we'll
be looking at verses 17 through 31. And these verses here give
us an intimate account of our Lord's appearance to the Twelve
after His resurrection. Now at this time I realize there
was only 11 apostles. but he calls them here the twelve
because these were eleven of the original apostles that were
called by our Lord. Now when our Lord appeared to
these men, he gave them a commission. He gave them authority to carry
out a particular command the Lord, our Lord, and it was to
preach the gospel to the world. Matthew records this as the Great
Commission, which you can read of in Matthew 28 when he led
them out a little further after these events that John records
here for us. But this account is It happens
just a little before that and John was moved to record these,
to highlight this commission that the Lord gave to the church
where he instructs her of his commission to preach the gospel,
to preach this gospel. And what we're looking at here
tonight is not only an account of the commission that the Lord
gives to his church to preach this gospel, but we're shown
that it's through the preaching of the gospel that the Lord blesses
his people, that the Lord does for all his people what he does
for these disciples here in this text. This is the church's commission. So I want to begin reading verses
17 and 18. Jesus saith unto Mary, touch
me not for I am not yet ascended to my father, but go to my brethren
and say unto them, I ascend unto my father and your father and
to my God and your God. Mary Magdalene came and told
the disciples that she had seen the Lord and that He had spoken
these things unto her. Luke tells us of these things
that the Lord confirmed to the disciples. It regards His redemption
and resurrection, saying to them, when Luke recorded it, Ye are
witnesses of these things. these things concerning my death,
concerning my resurrection. But what I want to emphasize
to you about these two verses is that they're actually a summary
of what we're going to see tonight. These two verses are a summary
of exactly what we're going to see tonight regarding the commission
of our Lord to His Church. Jesus saith unto Mary, Touch
me not, for I am not yet ascended to my Father. Another way he
could have said this is, Mary, you can't hold me now. I know
you want to, but don't hold me now. I have to send to my father,
and I have something that I need you to do. I have a commission
for you. I'm sending you on an errand.
to go to my brethren and to tell them of the things that you have
heard from the angels and the things that you have seen in
me and heard me say unto you." Believers wonder, why are we
still here? Why is it after we hear the gospel
and believe the Lord leaves us here in this world with all these
trials and all these difficulties and all these things that are
just so hard and difficult to bear sometimes? Why am I still
here? Lord, why can't we go to be with
you more quickly? Why can't we go with you immediately
after we believe? I'm certain that if the Lord
said to Mary, Mary, take my hand. We're ascending up to the Father
right now. I have no doubt in my mind that Mary would have
said, let's go, let's go. She would not have said, wait,
let me go tell my family. Wait, I got a chore to do. She
would have said, yes, Lord, let's go. She would have gladly clung
to the Lord right then and there. But the Lord is saying, Mary,
I must first ascend to my Father and your Father and to my God
and your God. And what you must do as my church
here in the earth, here's my commission to you, Mary, go to
my brethren and tell them of the things you have seen and
heard. Tell them this good news, this
gospel. And what do we read? Mary Magdalene
in verse 18 came and told the disciples that she had seen the
Lord and that he had spoken these things unto her. And that brethren
is the commission that our Lord has given to the Church. That's
why we are yet in the earth, to declare this good news to
the Lord's brethren and to your brethren. to do all things for
the sake of the elect, to fulfill our Lord's commission to publish
this gospel to his people. That's why we're here. That's
exactly why we're here, so that the Lord would call and bless
his people just as he's called and blessed you with this same
gospel word. So the Church is to faithfully
preach the Gospel to a lost world. Mary came and told the disciples
that the Lord appeared to her and what he told her to say that
she repeated to them. And so it is that we too likewise
stand up. because we've experienced this
grace through faith, the Lord working his salvation in us,
having called us, having regenerated us, having given us faith in
the Lord Jesus Christ to know that this is the very salvation
of God, that Christ, that Jesus of Nazareth is the Christ of
God whom the Father sent into this world to save his people
from their sins. And therefore, we go and we preach
it to others. We preach it to others, others
that the Lord gathers together to hear this word. Paul told
the Corinthians in 2 Corinthians 4 13, we having the same spirit
of faith, according as it's written, I believed and therefore have
I spoken. We also believe and therefore
speak. We preach this gospel that the
Lord has convinced us of and taught us. We preach this gospel
in hope, knowing that the Lord is pleased to use this very word
to save his people, to deliver them out of death and darkness
into the kingdom of light, into that kingdom of salvation of
our God by grace through the Lord Jesus Christ. And the Lord
saves His people through this witness of Christ's salvation
on the cross and His resurrection from the dead. We declare these
things. And so Mary goes and she fulfills
her commission and we see something here that the Lord must do. The
rest of this text shows us how that the Lord must attend that
word and make it effectual to His people. It's one thing to
hear it. It's one thing to be called,
it's another thing to be chosen, chosen of God, to hear that word
effectually unto the saving of your soul. And that happens by
the Lord, by the Lord's visit, by him coming. He must reveal
himself to his people. Without this grace, without this
grace being wrought in the heart of his people, they will not
believe. And so Christ must come. He must
attend that word, give his spirit, regenerate his people, opening
their ear to hear this gospel word, to hear this good news. Our Lord told Nicodemus who came
to him by night, he said in John 3, 7, and 8, marvel not that
I said unto thee, ye must be born again. The wind bloweth
where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst
not tell whence it cometh. And whither it goeth, so is every
one that is born of the Spirit. We need the Spirit of God's grace,
the Holy Spirit, the Holy Ghost to come and to regenerate us,
to give us life, to bless us to hear this Word. So it's not
just the preaching of the Word, but the Spirit of God regenerating
the sinner, causing us to hear the voice of Christ, Christ who
is Himself the very Word of God. Peter said it this way in 1 Peter
1.23, being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible
by the word of God. Christ is that word of God. He
is the incorruptible seed. He makes this word, this word
of God, effectual in our hearts. so that it's heard in the new
man, the new man born of his grace, of his seed, that by the
word of God which liveth and abideth forever. And again, we're
told faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God. we need to hear the word of God
the Lord Jesus Christ to bless us to hear this word and to receive
this blessed gospel word and to believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ to the saving of our souls. So in our text now this visitation
of Christ to his people He gives them understanding and salvation,
and that's demonstrated for us here in this text. Mary, who
is a picture of the church, has declared the gospel to these
men. And it says now in verse 19,
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 that, brethren, is precisely
what the Lord does in our hearts through the hearing of faith. The doors of our heart are shut. We've got them closed, locked
up for fear of the enemy. We don't want anyone coming in
here and changing things and doing something different. We've
got it locked up, but Christ, by the power of God, He unlocks
the door, and He enters into the heart, and He reveals Himself
with power to the hearts of His disciples. He blesses them. He manifests His light, His grace,
His salvation in the sinner. in the sinner who was shut up
to these things, who was in prison, who was in darkness, who would
not hear, he does this and he's gracious to them. And he comes
in and he speaks peace into our hearts to assure us of the grace
of God. He says, peace be unto you. John 20, verse 20. And when they
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. Now this, of course, literally
happened. Our Lord was showing His disciples
His wounds. He was showing his disciples
his wounds. He showed them his hands and
his side. And when they saw that, they were glad. He was showing
them his wounds to convince them. This is me. This is my body.
I have physically risen from the dead and stand before you.
Just as I said, I have risen from the dead. And he's showing
them that the testimony of Mary, a picture of the church who came
and told you these things, her words are true, and they're to
be heard, and they're to be believed, because she's testifying to you
the very truth of God, that I am the Christ. I am who I said I
am. And the Father has testified
to all my works in raising me from the dead, declaring He's
satisfied. I've obtained your eternal redemption. And that's what He's showing.
By showing them His hands, His side, and His feet, He's showing
them the tokens of His love, how that the Lamb of God laid
down His life for them. Sinners who forsook Him, who
abandoned Him, who ran away, who denied him, who forsook him
that very night, leaving him alone. Yet He laid down His life
willingly for them, and for all His sheep, all His people. These
wounds speak of the full, free redemption, the full, free salvation
of God in Christ. These wounds speak of the finished
salvation of our Lord. His wounds speak of the satisfaction
of the Father who raised Him from the dead. Turn over to Isaiah
53 with me. Isaiah 53, and we're gonna look
at verses four through six. The wounds of Christ testify
what He did for me, you that believe. You that believe Christ,
these wounds testify what He did in redeeming you with His
own blood on the cross. Isaiah 53 verse 4 Surely he hath
borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows. Yet we did esteem
him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. That was our assessment. We have nothing to boast in of
ourselves. Verse 5 But he was wounded for
our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement
of our peace was upon him, and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray,
we have turned everyone to his own way. and the Lord hath laid
on him the iniquity of us all. And so these wounds plead for
the salvation of all you that believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
for your righteousness. You that have no confidence in
this flesh, in your works, but believe him, look to him. These wounds plead for you with
the Father. Everything you need is given
to you. Everything that happens is for
your good. It's according to your God's
purpose of grace for you. To show you your need of Him
and to show you His sufficiency for you in all things. Everything
we need is given to us for Christ's sake who redeemed us. Who was
delivered for our offenses and raised again for our justification. Luke tells us that Christ said,
Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Handle me
and see, for spirit hath not flesh and bones as ye see me
have. And you know, to preach the gospel,
is to preach Christ crucified, who was raised from the dead
by God. It's to declare that full free
salvation of God in Christ who laid down his life for sinners,
given to him by the Father before the foundation of the world.
And he did that, and he accomplished their salvation. He accomplished
the deliverance of all who believe in him, all who come to the Father
through Jesus Christ, he did this gracious work for. And Paul,
he rebuked the Galatians because they too had seen Christ crucified. They saw his wounds. They saw
Christ crucified. How? Through the preaching of
the gospel. He said in Galatians 3.1, O foolish
Galatians, who hath bewitched you that ye should not obey the
truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set
forth crucified among you? How? How is that possible? Through the preaching of the
Gospel we do show and declare the wounds of Christ and what
he did in redemption for his people. Those wounds that were
given to him, not for his own sins, but for our sins. The stripes and the beatings
he took weren't for something he did, but for us, our sins
and our iniquities, our trespasses. It was to pay our wages of sin,
to bear the death that we earned. And so Paul, through the preaching
of the gospel, shows the wounds, declared the wounds of Christ
that he took to show the sinner that he bore those wounds for
you personally who believe him. They're your wounds that he bore
for you. And that's why the church declares
her Lord. Ephesians 5.30 saying, for we
are members of his body, of his flesh, of his bones. And this is who the people see.
They handle, they see the church, and the church declares Christ. exalts the Lord Jesus Christ
in his crucifixion and his resurrection through this gospel that we're
commissioned to preach because this is how the lost sheep see
Christ risen from the dead. This is how they hear the voice
of Christ who calls his sheep. This is how they handle him,
and behold, he's risen from the dead. He's really raised from
the dead. The Father raised Him from the
dead. This is where the sinner learns of His love for them who
gave His body for their sins, to atone for their sins, to obtain
eternal redemption for the sinner. For the sinner who has no confidence
in their works, but has every confidence in the Lord Jesus
Christ. And so having believed Him, therefore He repeats Now
he repeats this commission to these men. First to Mary, now
to these men. Verse 21, John 20, 21. Then said Jesus to them again,
peace be unto you. As my father hath sent me, even
so send I you. He's commissioning them. He's
saying the same divine authority which sent me, I'm sending you
with that same divine authority. Just as Christ was sent into
the world by the Father, so Christ sends his church into the world. And just as Christ was hated
and rejected by this world that despised him and his gospel,
they'll despise and hate and reject the church and that message. But it's not for them. It's for
the elect. It's for the sheep to hear. And they'll love them. They'll
love them for it. They'll love the gospel, and they'll rejoice
in it. And our ministry, just like Christ's
ministry, was confirmed with miracles and wonders. So our
gospel is confirmed with miracles and wonders. You know, back then
it was attended with miracles just as Christ did. And sometimes
we ask and wonder, why don't we see those healings and those
deliverances from devils and people being raised from the
dead? But to be honest with you, you know, the more time that
passes between that time when our Lord was crucified and raised
again, the more time that passes, you know, and I understand, once
this word was finished, those miracles that testify that this
is indeed the very Word of God, those miracles ceased when this
Word was finished. And so the Church is now established
in the earth. We don't need those miracles.
We know this is the Word of God. We testify that this is the Word
of God. That which was unfinished is
now finished. And so those things are done.
But when you think about it, the more time that passes, What
a miracle of grace that through the preaching of the gospel,
though more and more time has passed, yet the Lord blesses
His people by His grace and power. He delivers dead sinners out
of darkness to hear this glorious good news. His gospel still heals
and delivers and sets men free, just as it did back then. He's
still doing exactly what Christ came to do for the hearts of
His people, to bless them. He's still doing it. Turn over
to Luke 4. Luke 4, we saw this a couple
months back, but it goes nicely here. Luke 4, in verse 18, Our Lord
says, the Spirit of the Lord is upon me. He's quoting Isaiah. The Spirit of the Lord is upon
me because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor. He hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted,
to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight
to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised. to preach
the acceptable year of the Lord. And he closed the book and he
gave it again to the minister and sat down. What we see there
is our Lord having accomplished his redemption work, having accomplished
that work which he came to do. to redeem his people, to obtain
eternal life for all his people, to bless them, he gave that book
to the minister. Which is, he commissioned his
church to preach and declare this gospel word to the world. And then he ascended to the Father,
and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. He
sat down, just like he sat down here, he sits down now and we
go forth preaching Christ crucified because he's still declaring
this good news to the poor and the needy sinner. To heal the
brokenhearted, to give sight to the blind, to open the ear
of the deaf, to strengthen the legs of the lame so that they
can walk, that they can go forth carrying shod with the the gospel
of peace declaring this good news to sinners telling others
of what Christ has done for them and it says there at the very
end of verse 20 and the eyes of all them that were in the
synagogue were fastened on Him and that's what preaching the
Word of God faithfully that's what preaching the Lord Jesus
Christ in this gospel does it puts all eyes on Believers and
non-believers, it fastens their eyes on the Lord Jesus Christ
and His glory. It sets the eyes of the sinner
on Christ, and that's where they need to be, away from us and
looking to Him, because He saves sinners. He draws sinners to
Himself. Now, we read back in John 20,
verse 22 and 23, and when He had said this, He breathed on them, and saith
unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost. Whosoever sins ye remit,
they are remitted unto them. And whosoever sins ye retain,
they are retained. Now these men were already believers. They were believers. They were
saved. They were born-again believers.
This is a blessing. He gives the Holy Ghost here.
in attendance with his great commission, that where this gospel
is preached, the Holy Ghost will attend that word, making it effectual
to the hearts of all his chosen people. He'll work that salvation
in them. And that's what this blessing
is. Luke said it this way, then opened he their understanding
that they might understand the scriptures. He gave them that
gift, that gift. And so they had that gift, that
understanding of the gospel now. And then they waited till Pentecost
when he came in. And at that time, they were praying.
Here, when he came in, they're just commiserating. But at that
time, they were praying because he had given them that blessing
of the spirit to understand the scriptures and to wait for the
Lord's next command to them. And so we need the Holy Ghost
to enable us both as a church to preach this gospel faithfully
and for his people to hear this gospel with faith, in faith,
and to be blessed by it, to be regenerated and blessed under
the preaching of the gospel. And wheresoever this gospel is
faithfully preached, God is going to discover his elect. He's going
to manifest faith in them, calling them out of darkness, calling
them out of death, bringing them into the light of Christ, regenerating
them by His Holy Spirit. And so, one other thing, God
alone can forgive sins. I know that the false church
thinks that they have the power to forgive sins or to withhold
forgiveness. That's not what Christ is saying.
He's commissioning the church, preach the gospel to every creature. Go and preach the gospel to every
creature because this is how I save my people. Mark said it this way in Mark
16, verse 15 and 16. To clarify this remitting and
retaining, he said unto them, go ye into all the world and
preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized
shall be saved, but he that believeth not shall be damned. And that's
the commission. Just like the Apostle John said
in 1 John 5, 12, he that hath the Son hath life. He that hath
not the Son of God hath not life. And the way that you have the
Son is through the preaching of the gospel made effectually
to your heart by the gift of the Holy Ghost that gives you
faith to believe that word that you're hearing, to believe, to
hear the word of God, the eternal word of God, the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, we're given another detail
here in verse 24 and 25. It says, but Thomas, one of the
12, called Didymus, or twin, was not with them when Jesus
came. The other disciples, therefore,
here they are. They're fulfilling the commission
to preach the gospel. They said unto him, we've seen
the Lord. But he said unto them, except
I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my
finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into
his side, I will not believe. And so what the Lord's showing
us here is one of his elect was not present. at that original
time, that time when the other disciples were there. But he's
a child of God and he must be visited. He's heard the gospel.
We've seen the Lord. He's heard the good news, but
he needs to be visited by the Lord. And therefore, this whole
thing, John records this detail showing us this whole thing.
Luke doesn't have this, but he puts it here to show us this,
that everything is repeated for Thomas. The whole thing's repeated
for Thomas. Why does the Lord do this? Well,
we know when the Lord repeats things, it's to get our attention.
It's to show us this is important. Hear this. Pay attention to what's
being said here. This is very important. This
is a truth here. And so he does for Thomas exactly
what he did for the other disciples. Look at verses 26 through 28.
And after eight days, again, his disciples were with him and
Thomas with them. Then came Jesus, the doors being
shut. and stood in the midst and said,
Peace be unto you. He did the exact same thing as
was done with the other disciples. Their door was shut and locked.
Thomas' door was shut and locked. And then Christ came in and said,
Peace be unto you. Then saith he to Thomas, reach
hither thy finger, and behold my hands, and reach hither thy
hand, and thrust it into my side, and be not faithless, but believing. He showed him his wounds, just
like he showed the other disciples. He showed him his wounds. And Thomas, seeing this, answered
and said unto him, My Lord and my God, he believed. He was visited. Now he heard
the word and he was visited by Christ and saw his wounds. He saw what Christ did for him
personally as his Lord and Savior. He believed. And Christ didn't
have to say, receive ye the Holy Ghost, because that blessing
was already pronounced and given as a promise forever, that he
does this. This is how he saves his people.
And so what's the Lord teaching us in these examples about his
commission? We saw Mary preach the word to
the disciples, and then Christ came and they received the Holy
Ghost. Then he gave this commission to the disciples, and then they
went and preached it to Thomas who wasn't there and then Christ
came and visited and he believed on the Lord Jesus Christ. And
like Thomas, we too were not there that first time when Christ
came to the disciples. We need the same visit from the
Lord. Our Lord's repeating this example
for us to show us this is what I do for all my people. I send you the gospel, You'll
hear that gospel, and I will attend that gospel in the day
of grace, making it effectual in your heart to deliver you
from death, to give you an expected end in me for your healing, for
your comfort, for your salvation, for your all me and so The only
difference is he says as we'll see in the next verse He says
they just won't see a physical appearance for me, but they'll
believe I'll visit them I'll give them my spirit and they
shall hear and believe I'll bless them, but it's gonna be spiritual
and look at verse 29 Jesus saith unto him Thomas and because thou
hast seen me, thou hast believed. Blessed are they that have not
seen and yet have believed. And so every one of us is saved
the exact same way through the gospel of God's grace being proclaimed
to us by his church, by someone in his church. And he attends
that word, making it effectual unto us through regeneration. whereunto Paul said, he called
you by our gospel to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus
Christ. Now in closing, verses 30 and
31, and many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of
his disciples, which are not written in this book, but these
are written. You see, the Lord does many wonderful
things in the lives of his people. Some people, they have a disease
or something sanctified to them for their good. Sometimes he
delivers them, sometimes he blesses them through that disease. Some
people have this trial, other people have that trial, and we
have these things that we see, how the Lord visited us, and
answered our prayers, and taught us, and blessed us. But they're
not all the same for everyone. They're different. And John tells
us, but these are written, these are recorded here, what I put
here for you is accomplished alike in every believer, that
ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and
that believing ye might have life through his name. This gospel
preached is a constant for every believer. And the visit of Christ
is a constant for every believer. Being regenerated, born again,
is a constant for every believer. And faith is wrought in the heart
of every believer. Those things don't change. And
that's why it's written here, right here, for you. Because
this is what the Lord does in every case. In every case for
His child. The particular details may vary,
but this commission is fulfilled unto every one of you by the
grace, by the authority, by the power of our Lord. And that's
why the church is yet in the earth. Like Mary, we here and
now have a commission, but soon our Lord will come again and
will forever be in his embrace and we shall be with the Lord
forever. When that commission is fulfilled,
we'll be with him forever. And that's a joy. That's a joy.
And I pray the Lord bless that word to your hearts, brother.
Amen. Let's pray. Our gracious Lord,
we thank you for this grace. We thank you for your commission
to us to preach this word, to support this word being declared
and proclaimed from this pulpit in this dark corner of the world. Lord, we pray that you would
indeed bless us to be faithful with it, that you would be pleased
to gather in your sheep, your precious sheep, to cause them
to hear this word. And we pray that each time we
proclaim it, you would visit and attend this word, making
it effectual to the hearts of your people, some being regenerated
and delivered from death, others being comforted and helped and
blessed by your grace. being strengthened and reminded
of your goodness, of your power, of your grace, of why you have
put us here on the earth to this day. Lord, we pray that you would
indeed be with your people. You know our struggles and our
trials. You know the difficulties and
the sad things that happen to us and the hardships we go through.
Lord, help your people, bless them, fill them with your spirit.
Give us your grace and peace, Lord. Peace be unto you, you
say. Lord, indeed, let us feel and know that peace which passeth
all understanding, that exceeds what the sight of this flesh
sees, that beholds the Lord Jesus Christ and looks to him rather
than the things of this earth. Help us, Lord, to do what we
need to do, but keep our eyes on the Lord Jesus Christ. Bless
us in Him always. Heal us of our sicknesses and
diseases. Heal us of our broken heart. Deliver us from the prison and the hardships brought on
us by sin. and stubbornness and hardness. Lord, please bless
your people. It's in Christ's name we pray
and give thanks. Amen.