By five bleeding wounds He bared. Those are His hands, His feet,
and His side. Five bleeding wounds. My God
is reconciled by those five bleeding wounds. Sometimes, most of the time,
I pick the hymns. Sometimes John picks them. He
picked those this morning. I believe if he picked them every
time, he would pick that hymn every time. But that's fine with
me. I love it, don't you? Obviously.
John 20. John chapter 20. Our Lord had
just risen from the grave and appeared to Mary and now is going
to appear to his disciples. Let's hope he appears to us.
You know, everything we believe about God, about man, about life
and death, life after death, is based on Jesus Christ. Everything. Who He is, what He did, and everything
He said, we believe. And everything we believe about
Him, who He is, what He did, and what He said, everything
is based on the fact that He arose from the grave. He arose
from the dead. Paul wrote that in 1 Corinthians
15. If Christ is not risen, let's just eat and drink. Tomorrow
we die. There's nothing to that. But he said, but Christ is risen. He is alive. Turn with me to
Acts chapter 1 first. Acts chapter 1. Everything. Everything depends, everything
he said, who he is, what he did, what he said, depends on the
fact, based on the fact that he arose from the dead. And he's
the only man who ever did that. The only man who, there were
some who were raised from the dead. But the only man who, of
his own power, and he said, I have this power. Lay down my life
and pick it up again. And one day he said, according
to his words, he said, I'm going to be in a grave three days and
I'm going to walk out. And he did. He's alive. So everything we believe depends
on him who's alive. Acts chapter one, there was a
poll taken of so-called clergymen, preachers, so-called. back in
near the year 2000, 10,000 so-called preachers were told, surveyed,
and they asked them questions like, do you believe in the virgin
birth of Christ? Do you believe in the actual
creation of the world by God? And they asked them this question,
do you believe in the actual physical resurrection of Jesus
Christ from the dead? 10,000 preachers. 7,500 of them responded. And out of
those 7,500, 51% of Methodists said, no, we don't believe that
Christ actually arose from it. 33% of Presbyterians, you know
where Presbyterians came from? John Calvin. They said, no, we
don't believe in the physical resurrection of Christ. Thirty-three
percent of Baptists. Jeanette just went. That's what
I did. Baptists. Good old Bible-believing
Baptists. Blood, the Book, and the Blessed
Holy Spirit. No, we don't believe He arose from the ground. Well,
then you have no hope. And they really, you cannot know
the living God You cannot know the living God
and the living Christ and believe he didn't, he's dead. Acts 1 verse 2, now notice with
me. The day which he was taken up,
after that he threw the Holy Ghost, now every word is significant,
the Holy Ghost gave commandments unto the apostles whom he had
chosen. His chosen ones, the Holy Ghost
sent. To whom, verse 3, to whom He
showed Himself alive. He didn't show Himself to everybody.
When He arose from the grave, who was the first person He showed
Himself to? He didn't go into Jerusalem and stand in the temple
and say, I'm alive. No, no, no, no, no, no. He didn't
come to this earth to try to get anybody to believe on Him.
He came to die for His people. When He arose from the grave,
He went back to those people whom He lived and died for to
tell them, see, look, I'm alive. He didn't appear to everybody. And He doesn't today. He showed Himself alive after
His passion or crucifixion with many infallible proofs. There's not one thing that human
beings could give me, one shred of evidence, so-called, that
they could tell me, that anybody could come up with and make me
disbelieve that God created this planet, everything of it, and
controls every single thing in it. He showed me, I'm getting
way ahead of myself, He has showed me His hands. I see clearly. The heavens declare His glory.
The firmament showeth His what? Handiwork. And I'm way ahead
of myself now. I couldn't wait to get through
this. Showed Him His hands. I know for a fact from Scripture
and my own personal experience, I'm in His hands. I'm so glad
He showed me His hands. I'm so glad. that my God has
hands, and I'm in on the road. I'd live in a cave somewhere
if that weren't so. Well, I am living in a cave,
a cliff to the right. I just finished my whole message.
Anyway, it said in verse 3, He showed to them many infallible
proofs being seen of them. Who? Who saw Him? The world didn't
see Him. He did not go out in public and
show everybody. His disciples. Forty days. Speaking to them. He spoke to
them. He showed them. He spoke to them.
They heard His Word. The world didn't. They believed. They knew. And they went out
there. He's alive. No, He's not. Yes,
He is. How do you know? He spoke to
me. Oh, I don't believe that. Oh, if He spoke to you, He would.
He showed me. His hands, His side. So, and
this is what Revelation 1 says. You know, in the end He says, turn there, Revelation 1. This
is it. This is the end. In the end when
He's going to show all His people, all His people are going to see
Him who was dead and yet He's alive. I love this. Don't you? Revelation 1 verse
1. The revelation of Jesus Christ
which God gave to him to show unto whom? His servants. Things that must shortly come
to pass and all that he wrote concerning Christ. Down in verse
18 now, and he says, you know, John turned, he heard a voice.
John heard the voice. And he turned and he saw someone
sitting on the front. And verse 18, here's what he
said, ìI am he that liveth and was dead. Behold, I am alive
forevermore, O Lord. Amen. And have the keys of hell
and death. Write these things which thou
had seen. The things which are and the
things which shall be hereafter. And it goes on to say, tell it
to the churches. Didn't it? Now John 20. Now go to John 20. So He lives. Our Lord lives.
Living God. Living Christ. And you know,
it's just like when He was crucified. It says that the graves opened
and many came out. Many of the dead saints came
out of the graves and walked into town. They were quickened. Those who were dead were quickened
by the cross of Christ. You know that? Why didn't people
believe that? Look, he was dead. He's alive.
Look at me. They won't believe you. The one
rose from the dead. That's not going to do it. He's
going to have to speak to you. He's going to tell every one
of these disciples, peace be unto you. I'm talking to you. Oh, that he would. The first
day, John 20, verse 19. The same day at evening. The
first day of the week. Here we go again. The Lord came
on the first day of the week. The doors were shut. The disciples
were there. Who was assembled? Who was meeting
together on the first day? His disciples. Why were they
his disciples? Who were these men and where
did they come from? The Lord chose them. The Lord
went out rounding them up. The Lord went out calling them.
Disciples means a follower, a student of Christ. And the Lord went
out and He chose them one by one and said, follow me, follow
me, follow me. And He walked and they followed
Him. They dropped everybody and everything. And they sat with
Him. And they heard His voice. And
they saw His person, His glory. The first day of the week, the
disciples were assembled. Why? Well, the Lord told them
to. And the Lord tells us to do,
to meet together then. The mighty God has spoken from
the rising of the sun to the going down of the same. Gather
my people together. Forsake not the assembling of
yourselves together. Gather together. Why? I'm going
to be in the middle of you. And brothers and sisters, I'm
afraid not to. I'm afraid not to meet. I'll miss him. And no
telling what I'll do if I don't come here. Where I'll be and
how I'll end up. He said meet. Can't get here
fast enough. My command, it's a command to
assemble together. It's out of desire. God's people
desire. Verse 19 says the doors were
shut. The doors were shut. Well, then
Christ came in, didn't He? How many times do you hear
it in religion? He's outside your heart's door
and He can't come in. There's no knob on the outside.
There's no knob on the outside. I keep repeating this because
this is what all religion believes today. Without exception, Methodist,
Baptist, the ones that say he didn't ride, believe he's outside,
it's up to you to let him in. Brother John, our Christ is the
door, isn't He? He comes and goes, He's pleasing.
And I'm so thankful, because I've barred the door all my life. No, you're not coming. The story
of David. who represents the Lord Jesus
Christ so clearly. David was coming into Jerusalem. That's his city. He's going to
take it like he takes his people. All right? It was full of heathen.
It was full of idols. The Jebusites lived in that town. It was not the city of David
yet. It's going to be. It's a city of idols, idolaters,
unbelievers. All right? You know what they
said? They're all hanging over the walls saying, David can't
come in here. He can't come in here. You know what the next
verse says? He took it. He can't come in here unless
we open the door. He broke it down. He came in. John and I changed the words
of that chorus we sing all the time. It said, Lord Jesus came
by my heart's door one day. He broke down my heart's door.
Like the woman, the beloved, our Lord stuck His hand through
the door. Just tell her, I've been here.
Now you come beg at my door. I might let you in. So the Lord came. They're assembled
together on the first day of the week. So are we. Aren't we?
The church, this is the door. And Christ was in the midst of
them. He was in the middle of them.
He came into where they were. Didn't our Lord say, where two
or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the
midst of them? Didn't He say that? Do you want
the Lord to be with you? Do you need the Lord to speak
to you this morning? Do you? All you got to do is show up
in His name for His glory, you know. Do you need a refuge? Do
you need strength? Do you need peace? Do you need
Him to speak peace to your heart? Got any war? Any turmoil going
on? Any inward and outward conflict
going on? Any doubts and fears and worries
and trouble? The disciples were assembled
for fear. They feared for their lives.
You need some peace? Well, He speaks peace to His
people that gathered together in His name. He's in the midst
of it and He speaks. He kept saying this over and
over again, didn't He? Peace be unto you. Peace be unto
you. God is our refuge and our strength,
a very present help in trouble. Therefore, will not we fear?
Listen, though the earth be removed. I got to holler this. Though
the mountains be carried away. Oh, look, global warming. Good. It means Christ is coming. Though
the waters roar. Look, tsunami. Wash us away. Wash us on into glory. The river,
there's a river, the streams thereof make glad the city of
God, the holy place, the church, the tabernacles of the Most High,
where God is in the midst of her. She shall not be moved. God shall help her. And that, write early. You come
early like Mary Magdalene. You know what's going to happen?
He's going to appear to you. And He's going to speak peace
to you. Me? Mary Magdalene? Yes, that's
who He came for. So it says, Our Lord stood in
the midst of them. And here's what He said in our text. He
stood in the midst of them and saith unto them, His disciples,
Peace be unto you. Each one of them. He's looking at all of them.
You know, the Lord must look at us, in us. A preacher can't
do it. Nobody can do it. But when the
Lord looks at you, like old Simon Peter, when he denied the Lord,
you know, did it three times. And he turned and the Lord looked
at him. Just killed him. Just killed him. And a little while later he heard
that they were all meeting together and he, I got to go. Because
the Lord looked at him. And now he's looking to Him for
mercy. for peace, he's so troubled.
Well, he came and he said, peace be unto you. Peace. And then
in verse 20, when he had so said, he showed unto them his hands
and his side. Then were the disciples glad
when they saw the Lord. Oh, they were so glad when they
saw His hands and His side. They saw Him. See, that's Him. That's His body. That's the Lord. They saw the Lord. It says, when
they saw the Lord, they were so glad. Aren't you glad that
the Lord has shown you that He is Lord? That He's not just Jesus? Aren't you glad? If He's really shown you that
He's Lord, you know what you'll call Him? Lord. Thomas, my Lord and my God. And he saw those hands in the
sand. He showed them that he's Lord.
And he showed us that he's Lord. We see it clearly. Over all,
Lord over life and death. Lord over us and them. Lord over all. Lord our shepherd.
If you're a sheep, boy, you need a shepherd. Prone to wonder.
Lord, our righteousness, Jehovah Sidkenu. Does it matter that
you know that name? No. You need to know Him who
is your righteousness. You don't have Him. Oh, the Lord,
our peace, Jehovah Shalom. That's His name. The Lord, our
peace. Thou only makest me to dwell
safely. Salvation is of the Lord, Jehovah
Shalom, and He comes to them again and says, peace. And you that know my name, Psalm
19, I love it, it says, great peace have those who love thy
law. Psalm 119, great peace have they
who love thy law and nothing shall offend them. Those who love the Lord His Word,
nothing is going to upset them too much. Okay? There was one
person that was not with them, and we'll look at that maybe
Wednesday night. Thomas. Thomas. You just had to bear
his name, Thomas. But there have been times I haven't
been with him. There have been times I've been
where he is and wasn't there. Anybody? You didn't hear a thing
he said. He hadn't come in his name. He hadn't come to be blessed.
And other things were, you know, taking up your mind. And then
when you left, you got nothing. He didn't speak to you. Anybody?
Happens all the time. Thomas was not with them. What
was he doing? Whatever it was, it wasn't worth
it. Whatever it was, he wished he hadn't done it. Who was he
with? He went with the disciples and
with the Lord. Oh, he regretted that. He was
full of so much doubt, so much fear. He said, I will not believe. But the Lord had to show him
the same thing. The Lord had to say to him the same thing.
You know, our Lord said in Isaiah 48 and 57, no peace to the wicked. There is no peace to the wicked. Who are the wicked? He said in
Isaiah, He said, Say ye to the righteous, it shall be well with
them. Didn't it? Say ye to the righteous, it shall
be well with them. Say unto the wicked, Woe is unto them. Who's
righteous? Somebody give me one word now
that is our righteousness before God. Just one word, anybody,
male or female. Louder. You really believe that? Do you
really believe that? There's nothing you do or have
done or don't do that is your hope of heaven? Do you really
believe that hope? Hell and hope? Hope? Elizabeth? Joseph? Do you? John? Do you?
Karen? Do you really believe that? Do
you really trust Christ alone, do you? He's behind you. He's talking to you. He's talking
to you. He said, Lord, your righteousness.
Ah, boy. Where am I? Oh, that's Psalm
119. Great peace of those who love.
Nothing shall offend them. And he said, he showed them his
hands and his side. All right, look at this. He showed
them his hands and his side. And he still does. He showed
them the hands of our Creator, and I quoted Psalm 8 a while
ago. It says, O Lord, our Lord, how
excellent is Thy name in all the earth, who set Thy glory
above the heavens out of the mouth of babes and sucklings.
When I consider the heavens the work of Thy fingers, The moon,
the stars which thou hast ordained, the heavens are the work of his
hands. It says he made Christ to have dominion over the work
of his hands. This God who created all things
became a man. God was manifest in the flesh. He had hands. Once again, all who say He has
no hands but your hands, they haven't seen His hands. Huh? That's very simple, isn't
it? If a man stands up and tells you God has no hands but your
hands, get up quick and walk out. You need to go where a man is
telling you about the God who has hands. That maybe the Lord
will show you His hands. That He created all things by
the work of His hands. He upholds all things by His
hands. Everything is in His hands. The
God in whose hands your breath is. Everybody was so fearful
of germs and this and that just a few years ago. The God in whose hands your breath
is. Whatever you get, God gave it
to you. Whatever you don't get, God kept
you from it. Is that right? The God in whose
hand you have no peace. There is no peace to those that
don't believe this God in whose hands everything is. No peace.
How could you have anything? God didn't want that to happen.
Then why did he let it? But he shows his people his hands.
You're in my hands. You're in my hand. Oh, they're
good hands, aren't they? They're loving hands. They're
merciful hands. You know, hands are very unique. Hands, human
beings only want, God created human beings with hands. You
say monkeys have hands. No, they don't. They got a thumb
that long. They can't write a symphony.
They can't play a piano. They can hold a banana. That's right. For God made man
with his hands. Think of that. And they're all
unique. Every single one's different.
All the fingerprint. That's proof. Your thumbprint's
proof God is. What a fool. What a fool this
world is. These things. Do brain surgery. Play an instrument. You see people play a piano,
you say, that's not human. That's not possible for them
to do that. Who did that? Them. God made
His hands. Well, God is the one whose hands
made the hands. His hands made our hands. Okay? He's our Creator, and it says
that Christ is our Creator. By Him were all things created.
Without Him was nothing created. It wasn't when it was created.
He is the hands of God. He showed them His hands, a sovereign
Lord. Oh, what peace to know that we're
in His hands. Everything is in His hands. Us,
our children, our lives, our death, germs, everything. Your hair on your head is in
His hands. The world says, I don't believe
that. I do. And I have peace that they don't
have. He showed them His hands because
there was something in His hands that they needed to see that
proved, proved Who He was. Proved that He was alive. Proved
what He did on Calvary's tree. Proved that God accepted it.
Proved their salvation. What? Scars. Scars. Nail scarred hands. Start smiling. Peace be unto
you. How do we have peace with God?
By the blood of His cross. Why doesn't the law that's against
us hold everything against us? Why, you know, who's either condemning? Why has God justified? Because
He nailed the handwriting of ordinances that were against
us to the cross. Are you with me? All right? The soul that sinneth
must surely die. Without the shedding of blood,
there's no remission of sin. How do I know? How can I know
that I'm one of His? How can I know that He paid for
my sin? How can I know for a fact that
Jesus Christ died for me and God accepts me in the blood?
How? Has He showed you His hands? He showed his disciples. Everyone
of them saw his hand. Old Brother Ed Hale, John and
I sing this chorus. I'll be looking for scars up
in heaven, scars that love held on the tree, scars that turned
judgment to mercy for a hell-deserving sinner like me. I know I'll see
Moses and Elijah Oh, Daniel and Samson I'll see, but I don't
have much time to linger. I'm looking for the one that
died for me. And I'll be looking for scars
up in heaven, scars that love held on the tree. That's who
we're going to be looking for. That's the first thing he's going
to show all his people. Look, I'm alive. I was dead. I lived for you. I died for you. I paid for you. I wrote your names on my palms. And I was pierced by you, as
He showed you His hand. I used to get great comfort looking
at my dad's hands. You know, everybody's hands are
different. You remember looking at your dad's hands, sitting
in his lap and looking at his hands? And I look down now and
I say, these are my dad's hands. Don't you? That's my dad's hand.
But I remember looking at his hands, and I thought those hands
were the strongest hands on earth. I thought those hands could do
anything. Those hands were my protection. Those hands were
my father. I took great peace from looking
at my dad's hands. One of the last things I saw
Stephen, I held his hand, his feet. Nobody has hands like your dad's
hand did. Hands that worked hard for you. Hands that provided
for you. Hands you love. Hands that loved you. You've
got great peace from the Lord. Has He showed you His hands? Oh, my Lord has shown me. He's
got hands. I'm in them. There's only going
to be one person in glory that has any scars. Only one human
person flesh that's scarred. He came here without spot, without
blemish, perfect, dew of youth on His brow, but in glory He's
going to have scars and we're going to think He's the most
beautiful person in all of heaven because we all got there because
of those scars. And then He showed them His side.
Look at this in our text. He showed them His side Do you
remember John 19 where the soldier came by and took the spear and
pierced his side? What came out? Blood and water. Do you remember that? One of
our ladies said, I loved what you said about that. Love, sanctification,
justification and sanctification. Justification by his blood, sanctification
by the water, by his Word. That came out of Christ's side.
Well, you know what else came out? You remember that? You remember
what else came out of His side? Like Eve came out of Adam's side,
we came out of His side. Our Lord prevailed in birth to
give us life, didn't He? He died to give us life. And
our Lord said this. He said to Moses, and He says
it to you, Behold, there's a place by me, and I'm going to put you
on the rock. You're going to stand on the
rock. What's that rock? Come on. All right, you're going to stand
on the rock, he said. He said, I'm going to come by,
and when I pass by, I'm going to put you in the rock, in the
cliff of the rock. I'm going to wound this rock
and open up this rock and put you in it, beside the cliff of
this rock. And I'm going to cover you. I'm going to roll the stone over
you. And you're going to see my backbone.
You're going to see my glory. That's Christ. The rock of ages
cleft for me. Have you seen Christ as the rock
of ages cleft for you? His wounded side. And then he
says in closing, here's what he said. Peace be unto you. When they saw his disciples,
or disciples saw him, they were so glad when they saw his hand,
they saw his side, they were so glad, they saw it's the Lord.
their Creator, their righteousness, their peace, then said unto them
again, one more time, verse 21, Peace be unto you. Peace be unto
you. Peace be unto you. And you, whoever
heard this, whoever the Lord spoke to, I hope he spoke, I
believe he did. I see it on some of your pages.
Peace be unto you. Don't be faithless. Stop being
faithless. Okay? Be not troubled, but believing. Be not fearful, but believing.
It's peace by believing. How can we have this peace? And you know, they had this peace
from then on that passeth understanding, that gave them all the grace
and the strength and the courage to die in the faith, to die for
Christ. How? How can we have this peace? Well, we've got to hear His voice.
This peace that passeth understanding. Here's what Philippians said.
Don't be full of care for anything, but let everything by prayer
and supplication with thanksgiving call upon the Lord. And the peace
of God which passeth understanding shall keep your hearts and your
minds through Christ Jesus. And he went on to say, think
on these things. Think on these things. And the
God of peace shall be with you. Think on him. Stayed upon Jehovah. That's perfect peace. And then
he said this in Colossians. He said this. He said, Let the
peace of God rule in your heart, to which you're called in one
body. Be thankful, whatever it is God sent. Let the word of
Christ dwell in you richly. teaching and admonishing one
another in psalms and hymns, spiritual songs, singing with
grace in your hearts unto the Lord and the peace of God. Amen. Today, if you'll hear his voice,
he says, Peace be with you. Okay. John, you come.