Here in John chapter 20, there's
a lot, I mean a lot, of bad doctrine that comes from this chapter.
But I don't want to look at a lot of bad doctrine. I want to run
to the good things. So that's what I'm going to look
at. But I want to give you the 100,000 foot view, John 20, John
chapter 20. I want to give you the 100,000
foot view and just tell you what happens in this whole chapter
real quick. And then I want to look at the whole chapter. We're
going to go back through it, Lord will, in each little section. But it was just such a comfort
to me to go through the whole thing. And I hope it's a comfort
to you. And so there in John 20, Let me tell you, put in shoe
leather for you, what happens, okay? Here's what happened in
this chapter. Mary is gonna come to the Lord's tomb, where he
was, and she's gonna see that that stone's been moved, and
right then, she's gonna turn around and run back to the others,
and she's gonna run back to where Peter and John is and say, the
stone's been moved, and they're gonna run back to the tomb, all
three of them. John's gonna get there first,
and they're gonna see that that tomb's empty, that there's garments
in there, And then them boys are gonna leave. They're gonna
go home. But Mary's gonna stay there. She's been crying, she's
gonna keep crying. An angel's gonna speak to her.
Two of them. She's gonna turn around, she's
gonna see the Lord. And she won't know it's Him. And then He's
gonna speak to her personally. And reveal Himself to her. And
she's gonna rejoice. And they was having a church
house meeting. Without her there. It was the first day of the week. She's gonna run there to the
church house. where the saints are gathered and tell them what
she saw. And then Christ is going to appear to them. But somebody
wasn't there. And so they're going to wait a whole week. And
they're going to have another church service. Christ is going
to be there too, and that one that wasn't there at first is
going to see him at the end. The Lord's going to appear to
them, and then he's going to acquit them. He's going to tell
them something, and he's going to send them out. This is really
sweet. The Lord preserved this whole
chapter, and I think it's going to be a good blessing to you
too. I hope the Lord will make us attentive tonight. I know it's been a long
day, and it's warm in here and cold outside, but I think this
will be a blessing. Here in John 20 verse 1, It says, The first day of the
week cometh, Mary Magdalene, early, when it was yet dark,
unto the sepulcher, and seeth the stone taken away from the
sepulcher. I want to touch on this first
verse just for a second. It's agreed the Lord was crucified
on a Friday, and they took him off the cross. for the preparation
on Saturday, what's the Sabbath, and this is Sunday morning. Now
there's an evening, a night, a whole day, a night, and then
this day. And the Lord was in the ground for three days and
three nights. Don't get tied up in that math problem. Was
it three days and three nights? Yes, it was. Well, I don't understand
that. You don't understand how Jonah got swallowed by a whale
either, but you believe it, don't you? So until the Lord teaches
us his math, don't get tied up in these numbers, you'll miss
Christ, okay? But it was the first day of the
week. That's when the apostles met. That's when we meet. We
meet on the first day of the week, on a Sunday. And there's
nowhere in the scriptures it's recorded that the Lord's, in
the New Testament, that the New Testament church ever met on
a Sabbath day. Now we also meet on a Wednesday. Every day's the
Lord's day, isn't it? But when we meet, we meet on
a Sunday. And it says there early in the morning, when it was yet
dark, it was real early. I told you this before, it's
good to get up early, isn't it? You know, God says so. It's good
to get up. I wake up every morning and I
walk in the living room and I see somebody reading the scriptures.
She gets up before I do. That's a good time. It's good
to get up early. It ain't good to be lazy and
sleep in. It's good to get up early and
read the word and look for the Lord right then, early, when
it's dark. You know, David said that, he
said, oh God, thou art my God. Early will I seek thee. Does
that mean early in your life? We hope so. That's good when
children seek the Lord. But does that mean early in the
day? That makes for a good day, too. He said, my souls thirsteth
for thee. My flesh longeth for thee in
a dry and thirsty land where there's no water, to see thy
power and thy glory. So as I have seen thee in the
sanctuary, just as I do on Wednesdays and Sundays, I want to see you
on a Tuesday morning, Lord, bright and early, while it's still dark.
That's good, get up. Because thy loving kindness is
better than life, my lips shall praise thee. Ain't that a good
way to start a day? That's a good way to start a
day, isn't it? The Lord tells us that. And it says there was
a stone there. It's been moved. Mark 16, in
all four Gospels, this is recorded, and there's a beautiful connection
there, but it's just too complicated. I'm gonna have to keep working
on it. I'll make it simple. It looks like they're different,
and they're not. But they were talking as they come up, and
it says there was a great earthquake. An angel came and rolled that
stone away. Then women said, how are we going
to move that stone? Ain't no men here. That thing's heavy. And
there was a great earthquake. You're going to keep folks from
attending services? Well, we had an earthquake. We
had a natural event. I just can't make it today. It's
windy. You going to miss Christ for that? Something else is windy,
isn't it? So they came, and a stone was
rolled back from the door, and an angel just sat upon it. You
remember what we just saw on Sunday with Daniel? Remember
that? Remember Daniel 6? Said a stone
was brought and laid upon the mouth of the den, and the king
sealed it with his own signet. And then he stayed up all night
worrying and pacing, and he couldn't listen to no music. And the next
morning, here come King Darius. And he came down to see if Daniel's
still alive, and to see if God's, or if Daniel's God was able to
deliver him. He said, you still hittin' there? And they said,
oh king, live forever. He said, my God hath sent his
angel, and hath shut the lion's mouth, that they have no hurt
over me. For as much as before him, innocency was found in me.
Innocency was found in this tomb. Here in John 20, wasn't it? And
also before thee, O king, have I done no hurt. And the king
was exceedingly glad for him. This is good news. This made
people happy. It was exceedingly glad, not
just kind of glad, exceedingly glad. And he commanded that they
should take Daniel out of the lions' den. How are you going
to get him out of the lions' den? Well, you're going to have to
move a stone. Somebody had to move it. There's work to be done. Somebody's got to do some work.
They had to move a stone. Well, when was this? This was
the first day of the week. What was there? It was a stone
there and it had been moved. Who was it that saw the stone?
Mary Magdalene. In all four Gospels, it's recorded
that Mary was the first one there at the tomb. Who was this Mary? We read over in Luke 8, a certain
woman. That's always a good thing. A certain woman which had been
healed of evil spirits and infirmities. called Mary Magdalene, out of
whom went seven devils. She was infirmed. She was sick. Seven devils were in her. Well,
I only have six now. She was perfectly consumed with
demons. She was perfectly not Christ. You understand? And she
is sick. And the Lord took that out of
her and made her a new creation. Now, that was still housed in
this old body. There's a new creation in her. We read just
before that, just before Mary was mentioned in Luke 7 about
that woman with the alabaster box, she's not named. Many think
it was her. But you know what? If it wasn't
Mary Magdalene, that's Mary Magdalene. If that wasn't a woman there
at the Lord's feet doing an alabaster box, it was this fella. That's
my story. Is that your story? That's what
happened. A woman came. She was called
a sinner. And it was in a Pharisee's house
named Simon. And she washed the Lord's feet
with her tears. She anointed him with that alabaster
box that was worth a whole year's salary. And they got upset. They got mad about it. And they
said, now, if he was a prophet, he would know she is a sinner,
and he wouldn't let her touch him. Why, you know, you keep
some bad company. Did you know there's a time when
people kept bad company if I hung around them? I was the bad company. You ever been to bad company?
Jesus said, Simon, I've got something to say to you. And he said, Master,
say on. Oh, you should have hushed. There
was a certain creditor who had two debtors and one owed 500
pence and the other 50. And when they had nothing to
pay, he frankly forgave them both. Tell me therefore, which
of them will love him most? And Simon answered, I suppose
he whom for he forgave most. And the Lord said unto him, thou
hast rightly judged. You got that one right, buddy.
Those that have been forgave much, they love much. If it's
all right, you ain't been forgiven much, have you? You don't need
forgiveness so much. It don't matter to you. You can just take
it, leave it, and forget all about it all the other days of
the week. But if God's forgave you and you're a great sinner,
you're gonna love much. He told him, he goes on, he said
to Simon, he goes, you didn't wash my feet when I came here
and she ain't quit washing my feet with her tears. She wept
over sin, over joy. We looked at that Sunday too,
didn't we? She always ties together. These scriptures compare to scriptures,
don't they? And he said, you didn't kiss
me. You didn't greet me when I come in. You didn't give me
a holy kiss. She ain't stopped kissing my feet. You didn't anoint
my head. She brought something that was
worth a whole year's worth and just spilled it on me. There
was one person that had a problem with that. Said, you're wasting
the church's money. Who was it? Judas, wasn't it? And he said, her sins, and there's
a whole bunch of them, they're forgiven, and she loves me a
bunch. And he said, thy sins are forgiven, woman. And they
said, who is this that forgives sins? God did. He said, go in peace. And you
know where she went? With him. Chapter eight, verse
two, I'm convinced. Why was she there at the cross?
She was there at the cross. She loved the Lord. She'd been
forgiven much, she'd been loved much, so she loved much. Why
was she there at that tomb a couple days later? Still, she loved
much. Let me tell you something, love
does something. Love ain't full of hot air that
just yik yaks about doing something, it does it. It does it. You can be a mute and prove your
love. I heard a lot of people talk
about being men nowadays. A man ain't gotta tell you nothing,
they just are. and they do what they say they're going to do.
Love does something. And she was clinging to where
last place she saw the Lord, and that's where she is hanging
out. She wasn't going nowhere. There verse one. John 20, verse
1. The first day of the week cometh
Mary Magdalene early, early, when it was yet dark, real early,
unto the sepulchre, and seeing the stone taken away from the
sepulchre, then she runneth and cometh to Simon Peter and to
the other disciple, whom Jesus loved. That's John who's writing
to us. And saith unto them, They have taken away the Lord out
of the sepulchre, and we know not where they have laid him.
Peter therefore went forth, and that other disciple, and came
to the sepulcher. So they ran both together, and
the other disciple did outrun Peter, and came first to the
sepulcher." There's three believers here. That's who we're talking
about, right? These are the characters. Mary came and told what facts
she had. She didn't tell what she thought.
She didn't paint up some extra stuff. She saw the stone and
went and told them. Stone's been moved. And here
come Peter and John. They're running. And John outran
Peter. Does that mean that he just loved
the Lord more? No. He was younger. He was fitter. He was in better shape than Peter
was. But his character is about to be shown a little bit. We're
going to learn something about him. He was more reserved. Peter
was more outspoken. John was more patient. And all
the piping off, he'd say, well, we waited a little while, didn't
we? Well, you're jumping to conclusions. Well, I waited about six months
to jump to conclusions. He's a little more calm. What
was Peter? He's more likely to pop off right then. Pop off,
wouldn't he? Look here, verse five, and he's
stooping down, this is John, he got there first, and looking
in, he saw the linen clothes lying, yet he went not in, he
got there first, and he looked inside that tomb, but he didn't
go inside that tomb, he stopped with reverence. He stopped with
patience. He stopped to observe and gain
some facts before he made a decision. What about Peter? He just ran
right in. Verse 6. Then come Simon Peter. He's catching
up, winded, following him. And he went into the sepulcher.
He just went all the way in. Why is that recorded that way?
Mary didn't even go look in the first time. John runs up to it
faster than anybody and looks in. Peter finally catches up
and goes all the way in. Hmm. Why did it happen? That's three very different actions,
isn't it? That teaches us something. Every child of God, not just
everybody, every true believer, people born again, they all have
different gifts. They all have a different capacity
to serve. They all have a different timeframe.
Ain't nothing cookie cutter. A timeframe it pleases the Lord
to operate in. And you know what? We love Mary
and we love John. And we love Peter, don't we? Believers are peculiar people.
And some's a little more peculiar than others. They say, just quirky.
I'm quirky. I'm easy to get along with if
you're around me. But there are some folks that are just different.
And that don't bother us one bit. We love them all the more.
We love them all. I love them just the way the
Lord made them. I do. You with me? Now, there's a good
lesson in this. The Holy Ghost moved Paul to
teach us a lesson in this. I want you to hear me. Hear me good, okay? God's preachers
are not in competition. God's preachers are not in competition. I've heard people say before,
I wished I would have corrected it, and I didn't. I hope Lord's
wounded me on this enough where I'll do something about it next
time. He'll be with me, but people say, I'll be at a conference. That's my favorite message of
this whole conference. Or, you know, that's my favorite preacher.
I just love listening to that preacher. Oh, they're there? Oh, that's my favorite one. I'm human, too. There's people
I got to get up after. They preach, I got to preach
after them. I don't want to. I'm speaking on behalf of the
Lord. And we ought not to esteem one over the other or one message
over the other. That's a bad spirit. And the
Lord ain't going to bless that way of thinking. You hear me? God ain't gonna bless it. Can
I make good on that, or is that my opinion? Let's turn to it. 1
Corinthians chapter 3. 1 Corinthians chapter 3. Now these three believers running
to that tomb, very different. Very different. But they're the
Lord's people. They're not in competition. They're
laboring together for the cause of Christ. 1 Corinthians 3, look
here at verse 4. Says for while one saith I am
of Paul and another I am of Apollos. Are you not carnal? Isn't that
fleshly? That's fleshly, isn't it? Who
then is Paul and who is Apollos? But ministers by whom ye believe. All they did was come preach
to you a Christ you believe in. Even as the Lord gave to every
man. Everyone on earth? No. Every
one of his people God sent a preacher to. They didn't figure it out on
their own in their basement. Every one of them. God sent somebody
to preach to them. And he does that for every one of his licks.
Sends them somebody. He could make stones rise up
and preach the gospel, but he chose not to. He chose to find
the chief harlot in every town, the head harlot, and use that
one. He did this for everybody. It says in verse six, I have
planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase. Ain't
nothing changed, has it? I know men that labor for 20
years preaching to somebody, and then they go to the next
town over, and then the Lord saves them and they're baptized
over there in another faithful church. It'd be sad to labor, sow and
seed that long, and see it spring up somewhere else for that preacher.
They didn't care. I wouldn't have cared either.
It ain't us, the Lord gave the increase, so then neither, verse
7, so then neither is he that planteth anything. They ain't
nothing. Somebody loves me, Kevin ain't
nothing. Neither he that watereth, but God that giveth the increase.
Now he that planteth and he that watereth are one. We ain't competition,
we're not trying to outdo each other, we're not trying to keep
up with the other one, we're working together, we're on the
same team. Okay? And so are all believers. We're
not trying to outdo one another. We're not trying to out-give
one another. We're not trying to under-give and undercut nobody
neither. We're one. There's unity there. Now back
in our text, we're in John 20, verse 6. John 20, verse 6. Then cometh Simon Peter following
him, and went into the sepulcher, and seeth the linen clothes lie."
Lie. You can trace that word all the
way back to destined. It's wholly appointed. Folded
in perfection. Put right there. We'll look at
that in a couple of weeks, Lord will. And the napkin. that was
about to head, not lying with the linen clothes, but wrapped
together in a place by itself. It was rolled up over here. The
linens was over there, neatly folded. You know what that shows
us? This is beautiful. I know you've heard this before.
I won't tell it again. There was no hurry in the Lord leaving
that tomb. He was not in a hurry. This is
the king and he operates on his own timeline. He's not rushed. And I tell you what else, it
was orderly. Our God's a God of order. He kept his house in
order, and he kept them linens in order, and he folded them
neatly. And I thought, too, if you was busting out of jail,
you was getting away with something, would you make you bad? No, you'd
just climb out the window and run, wouldn't you? He wasn't
busting out of jail. The payment had been accepted,
and he patiently, with purpose and intent, he prepared for that
moment for him to leave when the stones rolled away. Purposely. He didn't walk through the stone.
The stone was moved. And he was ready for it when
it came. Right on time. That's the king. That's the king.
Verse 8. Then went and also that other
disciple, which came first to the sepulcher, and he saw and
believed. John looked in and believed.
Did he believe that the Lord had risen? No. He believed the
Lord's body wasn't there. Mary said, they took him. I just
saw a stone rolled, but why would it be rolled? John looked in
there and there wasn't nobody. He believed that there wasn't
nobody. It says in verse 9, For as yet they knew not the scripture,
that he must rise again from the dead. It didn't occur to
John that the Lord had risen from the dead on the third day.
Can we fault him for that? You reckon he ought to know?
Well, I know that. There's an apostle. He was just scared. We ought not fault the apostles
or anybody else for not seeing what we should see, for not knowing
the scriptures like we ought to know the scriptures. This
man standing here, Peter standing there, Mary, they heard the master
say, when them men said, we want a sign, said, you're an adulterous
generation, you ain't getting no sign. except for just as Jonah
was three days and three nights in a whale's belly, so shall
the Son of Man be there three days and three nights in the
heart of the earth. And just like that serpent in the wilderness,
whenever I'm lifted up, when I'm exalted, all men's gonna
look to me. All my people's gonna come to me. And they had heard
him tell Martha, He said, Martha, I am the resurrection. This ain't
just a doctrine. This ain't just something that's
going to happen way off in the future. You're looking at him.
They heard him say that to Martha. And then they saw him raise Lazarus
from the dead. And yet they still did not see,
and yet they still did not rejoice in what was happening right in
front of them. They didn't see. They didn't see his word. They
didn't recall it, did they? The Lord has to reveal that.
Look in verse 10. Then the disciples went away
unto their own home. They went home. What are we going
to do? I don't know. Go to the house.
But Mary stood without at the sepulcher weeping, and she wept
and stooped down and looked into the sepulcher. She finally looked
in. She hadn't even looked in yet. And seeth two angels in
white sitting, the one at the head and the other at the feet,
where the body of Jesus had lain. This is a precious verse. Do
you see that? It's all clicking now. Remember that lead to the
ark that held the covenant, the testimony the Lord shall give?
It said he make one cherubim on the one end and the other
cherubim on the other end of the mercy seat. So you make the
cherubims on the two ends thereof. And they're going to stretch
forth their wings. And they're gonna shadow that mercy seat,
and they're gonna cover the mercy seat with their wings, and their
faces are gonna face, they're gonna look at one another towards
the mercy seat. There's gonna be one on one end,
and one on the other end, one on the head, one on the foot,
looking in the middle. And the Lord said there in Exodus 25,
22, He said, right there is where I'm gonna meet you. Right there. I will commune with thee. I don't want to just bump into
the Lord, I want to commune with him. From above the mercy seat,
from between the two cherubims, which are upon the ark of the
testimony of all things, which I will give thee in commandment
to the children of Israel. I'm going to command everything
for my children. It's going to take place right between them two cherubims.
He keeps saying it over and over. Well, what's Mary looking at?
Two angels dressed in white. One at the head, one at the foot
where Christ was laid. Christ our mercy seat. Where's
Paul gonna meet us? In Christ. Ain't no man gonna
see him and live. We have to be in him. We have
to be right there. Paul said here in his love, not
that we love God, not that you was looking for him, he wasn't
lost. He looked for me because he loved me, and he found us. And he sent his son to be a propitiation,
a mercy seat, a blood-covered accepted sacrifice. How do we
know that mercy seat was accepted? It wasn't there. He offered himself
to God, and he went to God. It was accepted. Christ is risen,
isn't it? Christ is risen. He offered himself
a propitiation for our sins. Look at verse 12. and see if
the two angels in white setting and one at the head, the other
feet where the body had Jesus had lain. And they say unto her,
woman, why weepest thou? What you crying for? I'm so upset. Why? I hope next time I'm bellyache
and say how tore up I am, she might look me dead in the eye
and say, why? Oh, I'm so sad. Why? Why are you weeping? What's
wrong with you? They said to her, woman, why
weepest thou? She saith unto them, because they have taken
away my Lord, and I know not where they have laid him. And
when she had thus said, She turned herself back. There's a lot of
speculation on that. It don't matter. That she was
just so greedy and that what she just said was shameful. So
she turned her head and Gil said that they might have motioned
to her to turn around like, hey, look over there. It's a good message
of the Lord. It doesn't matter. She turns,
she turned around and saw Jesus standing and knew not that it
was Jesus. Who is this? Who is this? Mary
Magdalene. What'd she do? Wash the Lord's
feet. You reckon she knew what he looked like? She didn't know
it was him, did she? And he saith unto her, Woman,
why weepest thou? He said the same thing those
angels said. What you crying for? Whom seekest thou? She,
supposing him to be the gardener, saith unto him, Sir, if thou
hath borne him hence, tell me where they've laid him, and I'll
take him away. Mister, whoever you are, if you know where they
took my lord, tell me, I'm gonna go get him. I'm gonna be where
he is. where he is. Why didn't Mary
know that this was the Lord? A lot of beautiful things come
to mind. One, she was weeping and had
been weeping for three days. Her eyes probably about swelled
shut. You ever cried for three days over your sin? Over wanting
to be in the presence of your God? Just take a long weekend
and just sit around and weep over your sin, over your joy,
happy that he's on his throne. We ever just take a whole day
off and just cry hard because God's on his throne out of joy? Christ, you've been crying a
long time. And like those two on the road
to Maedus, maybe her eyes was holding. Maybe the Lord made
it where he didn't reveal himself to her. Or the last time she
had saw him, when she'd been with him for a while, his visage
was marred more than any other man. And here he is in his glorified
body. She didn't know it was him. She
didn't know it was him, but where was he? Right there with her.
Right there with her. She didn't see him, she didn't
recognize that as Lord, yet he was with her. You get that? He didn't see, she didn't see
him, he saw her. That's what's important. You
know, on the latitude, longitude goes up and down, latitude goes
this way. You go far south, you got the roaring 40s. Start getting
down to Drake Passage in the southern seas. You got the furious
50s and the screaming 60s. You don't want to be on a boat
down there. Sailors, they created sayings for these severe winds
that come through and these massive waves and these rogue waves.
They say, you go below 40 degrees south, there's no law. Ain't
no law out here. You go below 50 degrees south,
there is no God. That's a lie. That's not so. He's everywhere, isn't he? But
how often do we feel that way? We cry out like David, Lord,
are your mercies clean gone forever? Have you left me? Are you gone?
I don't see you. He's standing right there. Don't
matter if you see him, matters if he sees you. She thought he was a gardener.
Did it say gardener in your Bible? She thought he was the gardener.
Our Lord's in his glorified body, wasn't it? He was glorified. The only thing wrong with him
that would identify him was the scars on his hands and his feet
and his side. And he still looked like a servant.
That was precious to me. He's not some, looks like a cover
of a romance novel with long, abominable hair. It's an abomination
for a man to have long hair. And looking like some movie star. He looked like a gardener. You
bet he was a gardener. Here's the very one that plows,
that plants, that waters, that gives the increase. This is the
servant and the gardener right there. Looking right at her.
How's she gonna know it's him? Let me ask you something. How
you gonna know it's him? How you gonna know it's him?
We don't see the Lord most of the time, do we? We walk through
this world just dumber than a box of rocks, and so selfish and
self-righteous, we can't, ain't got no time to look to him, but
he's there. And just like Mary, she's sitting
there weeping over everything she didn't understand until the
Lord speaks to us personally. I ain't beating the air. As the prophets of old even have
felt that way, that, well, there's no response. Oh, there's a response.
That word don't return void. It'll either kill or make alive. It's going to do one or the other. But how are we going to know
it's him? He has to speak to us personally. He has to speak
to us. Look at verse 16. And Jesus saith unto her, Mary. That's a whole sentence. It's
got its own period. Mary. What does the Lord have
to do to wake somebody up and give them life? Call them by
name. There was a day a man was preaching
and the Lord spoke to me through that man, which it doesn't matter
which man that was, And he said, Kevin, that wasn't that fellow
talking to me no more. I'll tell you what, I cherished
that man. I would do whatever I could to take care of him.
Jesus saith unto her, Mary. She turned herself and saith
unto him, Rabboni, which is to say, master, master. There's so many mean Pharisees
called him master. And I can just, it's not really
what you say, it's how you say it, master. Well, hello, master. Just sarcastic and ought to have
the taste slapped out of their mouth. Why is she calling him
that, same as the apostles did? Like a pet name is what my pastor
told us. My name's Kevin, but certain members of my family
call me something else. Tenderness, master, master. What do you think she did? Do
you think she just met him eye to eye? Think she crossed her arms like
this and said, where you been? She went to the same place where
she was before she hit his feet, didn't she? right down, clung
to him. I ain't letting you go. It's
like Jacob had a good hold. She does too, don't she? Look
at verse 17. And Jesus saith unto her, touch
me not, for I'm 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. What did he say to her? He said,
I'm gonna go to the Father, your Father. I'm gonna go to my God,
that's your God. That's unity, isn't it? That's
sonship to the King. That's a good message. That's
a good message. The Lord said, I'm yours and
you're mine, and I'm gonna go to our Father. right now, my
father and your father. Verse 19, on the same day in
the evening, being the first day of the week when the doors
were shut, when the disciples were assembled for fear of the
Jews, they were gathered together, first day of the week, not forsaking
the assembly of ourselves together as the manner of some is. That's
where they were, because they were God's people. Came Jesus
and stood in the midst and said to them, peace be unto you. Not peace, peace where there
is no peace. They were gathered together. God met with them and
spoke peace to them. Anything changed? Same thing. And when he had said so, he showed
unto them his hands and his side. He didn't just come in giving
them ice cream and cake. He showed them the hard work
that had been finished. The pain that it took. Then were the disciples
glad when they saw the Lord. Peace was declared, the evidence
was presented, and the saints were glad. The saints were glad. Talking to my friend of mine
the other day, a fellow preacher, and he said, I preached the message,
a person came up and told me that was the harshest, meanest
thing they ever heard. He said, and about five saints come up
to him and said, that was the sweetest message? That was just such comfort?
He said, how could the thing, he knows how, but you think,
how could that happen? Lord, they were happy about it.
They were happy about it, they were glad. Then Jesus said unto
them again, verse 21, peace be unto you as my father has sent
me, even so I send you. I came to you, he spoke peace,
evidence has been accepted, we're happy about it. And I says, just
as the father sent me, I'm gonna send you out. You got to go in
all the world, preach the gospel. There's a place I was trying
to check out the other day to see if they was preaching the
gospel there and there ain't no evidence of nothing I could find.
There ain't a website, there ain't a sermon audio, there ain't
a podcast, there ain't a nothing. Not even a Yelp review. Nothing. They ain't trying to get whatever
they got to say. I just want to know what they had to say.
You can't find out and tried calling and didn't even know
I answered the phone. The Lord's gonna send his people out, get
that message out. They had a lot of work ahead
of them, a lot of pain, a lot of struggle, and they're gonna
need some strength, they're gonna need some power and ability to
do this, and it's a nerve-wracking thing to handle preaching the
gospel. I thought of Colonel Tibbets, you know who that was?
His mom was named Enola Gay, and he named his plane after
her. It was a B-29, and they put a bomb called Little Boy
on it, and they flew it, and they dropped it on Japan. First
atomic bomb dropped. You reckon what time they was
flying, they had a little bit of turbulence, do you think?
They were pretty sure it wouldn't ignite all the oxygen on Earth
and destroy the whole world. They were pretty confident it
wouldn't do that, but they weren't, eh, well, we'll find out in a
minute. Do you think whenever they had to get up, do you think
they checked the straps on that thing? Do you think they prepared
for it? Is it tied down? They didn't put a timer on that
thing, did they? How fast are we flying? I bet they were pretty
attentive, weren't they? Paul said, so as much as in me
I am ready to preach the gospel to you that are at Rome also.
For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, which is the power
of God. Dunamis. That's where we get
dynamite from. The power blows up. Unto salvation
to everyone that believeth to the Jew first and also to the
Greek. You think Paul was prepared to preach? You think he took
time to check his notes, his straps, and be ready? In season
and out of season? Verse 22. And when he had said
this, he breathed on them and said to them, Receive ye the
Holy Ghost. Whosoever's sins ye remit, they
are remitted unto them, and whosoever's sins ye retain, they are retained. Christ had the Holy Ghost without
measure, but these boys had it measured to them. We have it
measured to us, don't we? But he breathed it into them.
They needed it. They needed it. They didn't have
the New Testament with them. They just had the Old Testament,
and most people didn't have that, and they had to write the New
Testament. What time? That's teaching and preaching everywhere.
and baptizing, evangelizing, doing the work the Lord gave
them to do. And that was dangerous work.
They needed a lot of comfort. Did you know that? I got to thinking,
I was working on an article. Would the Lord bring me to a
place where you or somebody else, just to get you out there like
them children is, will starve you to death? He just might. And
it ain't a question of me starving to death, it's a question of
me being willing to serve him to be starved to death. These 11 that
he breathed on, I wrote this down. You know, I wonder how
they died. They ain't alive. They had to die somehow. You
reckon they got cancer? They have diabetes? Andrew was crucified. Simon Zalote is crucified. Jude,
crucified. Philip, he was stoned and then
they hung his body on a cross. Bartholomew, they beat him and
then they crucified him. Peter, crucified. Upside down
at Rome, wasn't he? Thomas, they killed him with
a spear. Matthew, they killed him with a halberd. That's a
spear with an axe on the end of it, and they mauled him and
cut him all to pieces. James the Great, beheaded. You don't
reckon they'll cut your head off. They just might. We're gonna
go anyway. Everybody wants to be an Isby,
so it's time to do Isby stuff, isn't it? James the Less, stoned
to death. And John, the one that's writing
to us, may have been the worst. exiled to an isle of Patmos that
was uninhabited until hundreds of years later because people
were worshiping him and not Christ. Alone, all by himself, without
worldly companions, until he died of old age alone on rocks. They needed the Holy Ghost, didn't
they? They needed Christ to reveal himself to them and to comfort
them and to be there with them. That's what they needed. There's
one thing needful, and it's a person. So he breathed the Holy Ghost
to them. Verse 23, this is when I was like, the Lord said, don't
touch my body. She's just hugging his feet. He said, hold on now,
Mary. They said, well, he hasn't ascended
yet. The offering hadn't been accepted. No, it had been. He
is still going to be there for 40 more days. And he said, I'm
gonna come see the brethren several times. You ever had a little
child run up and grab you? Okay, hold on now, buddy. I'm
gonna be here all week. Just calm down. Here, no man can forgive
another man's sins. Only God can. But we're sent
out just as Christ was sent out by the Father to preach all flesh
as grass. Behold your God. And all those
that believe on Christ and are baptized in his name shall be
saved. And that's forever. It ain't
gonna be undone. That's it. Poor Thomas. That's his name. I named my children, y'all have
names, Grace and Faith and Josiah, On Purpose. I knew the Lord when
I named you. And sometimes whenever we have,
David Evans said he loved stories about David, probably because
his name was David. Thomas missed the church service
one week, verse 24. But Thomas, one of the 12 called
Didymus, that was his Greek name, was not with them when Jesus
came. You see that in verse 24? He wasn't there. Verse 25, the
other disciples therefore said unto him, we've seen the Lord.
This is through the week. But he said to them, except I
shall see in his hands the prints of the nails and put my finger
into the prints of the nails and thrust my hand into his side,
I will not believe. What happened to him in such
a short period of time? That's the opposite of faith, isn't
it? Faith's believing something that you ain't seen. He said,
if I don't see, I ain't gonna believe. That's the exact opposite.
And after eight days again, there's an inclusive day, so it's Sunday
again. The disciples went therein, and Thomas with them. Then came
Jesus, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said,
peace be unto you. Peace be, he went a whole week
in misery. He wasn't there whenever they gathered together, and then
Christ was there with them, and Christ spoke peace, and the evidence
was presented, and everybody was glad. Thomas wasn't there.
He is now. Christ is there. I wrote this
down. He didn't just miss a church
service one week. He didn't just miss a message.
He didn't just miss a sermon. He didn't just miss glorifying
God and the singing of our lovely voices. He missed Christ that
week. How important is it, is a Wednesday
different than a Sunday? My children asked me that one
time, I said it three times, I said it four, hopefully 40 over the
years, as Lord will keep me. My children asked me one time,
we come through on a Thursday service in New Jersey, and I
didn't have a tie on, didn't have a jacket on, and they said,
why come tonight's not as important as Sunday? And I said, why would
you say that, what do you mean? This is as important as Sunday?
They said, yeah, but you dress up nice for Sunday, you don't
dress up nice on Thursday. This is important. This is important. Christ be with us. What's that
word? I don't care if you've got flip-flops on. If he's with
us, you know what I mean? That's important, isn't it? He
didn't just miss a sermon, he missed Christ. And what did that
quickly lead to? Unbelief, lack of faith, being
disgruntled with his brethren, his brothers and sisters, and
demanding a sign and an experience. That's a death sentence. The
Lord told him, he said, a wicked and adulterous generation seek
after a sign. You ain't gonna get no sign but the sign of the
prophet Jonas, the one that was buried for three days and come
out again. And he left them and departed. He left them people
that wanted those things. But Thomas is still there. What's
this prove to us? Despite our failures, despite
our inability, despite our fears and our false demands, our ignorant
demands, the Redeemer is faithful. Now we gotta be brought pretty
low before we have to lean on his faithfulness instead of our
own. Well, I'm doing pretty good now, but, but, but, but, but,
quit butting and bow. He has to make us get that low,
that's where Thomas was, so we can see. And boy, it's precious
when we see. He's the one that's faithful.
Look at verse 27. Then he said, saith he to Thomas, reach hither
thy finger. He didn't depart and say, get
out of here, you wickedness adulterers. He said, come here, son, give
me a hand. That's the difference between sonship and heathens.
Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands. Reach hither
thy hand, and thrust it into my side. And be not faithless,
but believe him." Believe me, son. Grabbed him by the wrist,
I bet. Pulled that hand. Believe. You
think he's going to believe God commands belief? Bet he will.
And Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lord and my God,
And Jesus said to him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou
hast believed. Blessed were they that have not
seen, and yet have believed. We believe, we profess Him. And
many other signs, truly, did Jesus, in the presence of His
disciples, which are not written in this book, but these are written. John, see everything I just wrote
to you? This is written, that ye might believe. Somebody's
gonna hear this and believe on it. that Jesus is the Christ,
the Son of God. And that believing, you might
have life through his name. That's something. The word gets
bigger and bigger and bigger and bigger and bigger the more
I read it. And he gets more amazing and more awesome, worthy of all. And his faithfulness is the same,
but he proves himself to me over and over and over again. And
I need it. I don't, I don't, I want it.
I don't just want it. I need it. I need that. I need
to be kept just as he's promised he would. And just as he has
done, so shall he do. And I'm thankful for that. I
hope this chapter was a blessing to you. I look forward to, as
the Lord allows, going back through it. I hope it blessed you like
it blessed me. So let's pray together. Father, thank you for your word.
Thank you for your promises. Thank you for the faithfulness
of our King, our Lord, and our God. Worthy is the Lamb. Oh, forgive us our unbelief.
Forgive us of our pride, our self-righteousness. As painful as the trials may
be, Lord, humble us and keep us as you promised you will.
Teach us, Lord. Make Christ all to us. You've promised these things
and we still petition. We inquire of them Lord. Thank
you for this. Thank you for the revelation
you have gave us. Thank you that you've made us witnesses. Such
a great salvation of great sinners. We're in need. Be with our brethren
that aren't able to be with us. Give them that need and provide
Christ the one thing needful. It's because of Him, Lord, that
we ask it. Amen.