They thus spake. Jesus Himself
stood in the midst of them, and saith unto them, Peace be unto
you. But they were terrified and affrighted,
and supposed that they had seen a spirit. And He said unto them,
Why are you troubled? Why do thoughts arise in your
hearts? Behold My hands and My feet,
that it is I Myself. Handle Me, see, for a spirit
hath not flesh and bones, as ye see Me have. And when he had
thus spoken, he showed them his hands and his feet. And while
they yet believed not for joy and wondered, he said unto them,
Have ye here any meat? And they gave him a piece of
a broiled fish and of a honeycomb, and he took it and did eat before
them. And he said unto them, These are the words which I spake
unto you while I was yet with you, that all things must be
fulfilled which were written in the law of Moses. and in the
prophets and in the Psalms concerning me. Then opened he their understanding,
that they might understand the Scriptures. And he said unto
them, Thus it is written, and thus it behoove Christ to suffer,
and to rise from the dead the third day, and that repentance
and remission of sins should be preached in his name among
all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. And ye are witnesses of these
things." that from verse 36, where the
Lord Jesus stood in the midst of them and saith unto them,
Peace be unto you. Peace be unto you. You all know
this chapter when the Lord Jesus had raised from the dead and
the disciples on the first day of the week, they went down there
to his tomb. Mary went down there and some
other ladies to just be with Him. And He wasn't there. He
was gone. The Lord had risen from the dead. And those angels told Him, He
said, He's going to go to Galilee, so you go to Galilee. And they
did, and then two disciples were walking, left that day, and they
walked on the Emmaus Road, and the Lord Jesus walked along with
them and conversed with them. You remember that. And then He
came into their house, it says there in verse 31, in verse 30,
it said, it came to pass, as he said would meet with them,
he took bread and blessed it and gave to them. And their eyes
were opened and they knew him. And he vanished out of their
sight. And they said one to another, did not our heart burn within
us? While he talked with us by the way, and while he opened
to us the scriptures, they rose up the same day and returned
to Jerusalem. They went right back where they
started, found the eleven together, and went with them, and they
said, The Lord is risen indeed, and hath appeared to Simon. They
told what things were done in the way, and how he's known of
them in breaking of bread. Now, he'd just had a conversation
with these two fellows, walked seven miles with them. They turned
around, went seven miles back to tell these fellows, We've
seen the Lord. We've seen Him. Simon Peter's
seen Him. And they were all there together again, and then all
of a sudden there the Lord Jesus stood right in the middle of
them while they were telling them this, and said unto them,
Peace be unto you. It's safe to say that what a
man has been is what he is. And this is especially true of
our Lord Jesus Christ. He's unchangeable. He's always
been what He was, and always will be what He is. He said,
Jesus Christ the same yesterday, today, and forever. Never changes. And what He was to His disciples
while He was on this earth with them, and when He was here in
the days of His flesh, that's what He'll be to His people now.
What He was to them, that's what He'll be to His people now. He
hasn't changed. and how he was with his people,
that's the way you'll be with us. He hasn't changed at all.
And when his people here were assembled on the Lord's Day,
and this was the Lord's Day, he loved to reveal himself to
them. And that's the way it is today. When we gather together
to worship him, he says, wherever two or three are gathered together
in thy name, thy I am in the midst. And what a blessing to
those who were gathered at this time right here, and our Lord
met with them. And also, you know, imagine what
it was like when men were sitting in a service like this in the
synagogue. Our Lord Jesus just turned 30 years old, and they
stood up and he opened the scroll of Isaiah. He came in his public
ministry, going to start preaching, going to start healing, going
to start doing his miracles. And he opened the scroll of Isaiah
and he said, The Spirit of the Lord hath anointed me. And this
is the first thing he told me to do, and in order for me to
do, to preach the gospel. Not just to preach the gospel,
but to preach the gospel to the poor. Now, he's not talking about
people poverty stricken and money. He's talking about people poor
of spirit, that have nothing to offer to God, nothing to give
to God. They have nothing at all. They're
empty. They know that. And he said,
he said, it's for me to bind up the brokenhearted, to set
in liberty, the captive, to loosen the prisoners, and to preach
the acceptable year of the Lord. Now, what would you have been
done if you had sat there and opened the Bible and started
reading from Isaiah? What a blessing it would have
been to have been there that day. What those folks heard that day when
our Lord started His public ministry. And I'll tell you what, when
those folks were there, they were greatly blessed to hear
Christ speak. And here our Lord again appears in the midst of
His disciples. They're all here. And there was
one of them missing. And the war said there was eleven
of them. You know what the one was missing? Thomas was the one
that was missing. And what Thomas missed by not
being with them that day. And he lived eight days. It was
eight days later that the Lord Jesus appeared again to him.
And he lived eight days in doubt and unbelief and fear and anxiety
because he wasn't with them the day the Lord Jesus met with them. And here we have our Lord Jesus
visiting, revealing Himself to His disciples. Now let me say
this about Him. He was uninvited. They didn't
invite Him. They didn't say, Lord, will you
come? Would you come over and be with
us? He was uninvited. And you know, I'll tell you what,
He didn't invite Him to come to you when He first came either.
When He called Zacchaeus down out of that tree, He said, Today
I must abide at your house." Zazakis didn't say, Lord, would
you please come? He said, Today I must. Salvation's
coming to you today. And so he was uninvited. Not
only was he uninvited, but he was unexpected. Do you expect
the Lord Jesus to be with you? Do you expect the Lord Jesus
to meet with us? Do you expect Him to come into
our presence? Well, these folks, they didn't
invite Him. He was unexpected. And I do know this. He was undeserved. His presence was undeserved.
Who deserves the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ? These
folks certainly did deserve it. But I tell you, when He came,
He was welcome. When he came, he was welcome.
And it says there in verse 36, and he stood, stood in the midst
of them. There they were meeting, gathering,
and all of a sudden there's the Lord Jesus Christ. They're gathered
around talking, and he's right there in the middle of them. Right in the middle of them.
I don't know if they're sitting on the floor. I don't know if
they're standing talking. I don't know what they were doing.
They had food there. And our Lord Jesus there, they
were standing talking. There was 11 of them. These two
came back from the mess. And there's 13 gathered together
here. And our Lord Jesus, they're standing down there talking.
And all of a sudden, there He is. There He is. And to be near them all, that
He might be the Lord of glory among them. that they might understand
that this is the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. Now let me say some
things about why He appeared or when He appeared. When He
stood in the midst of these people, these dear saints of God, these
disciples, thirteen of them, you know when He appeared? He
appeared to them after they had acted so unworthy. They were
so unworthy for the Lord Jesus to come. You know what had just
happened? He had been raised from the dead. This is when He
was raised from the dead. The first day of the week. This is
the first day of His resurrection. This is the first day. This was
on a Sunday. That was the first day of the
week for the Jews. And then Lord Jesus Christ, these fellows,
three days before this, when Judas betrayed Him, and they
was out in the garden. Well, you know what they all
did? Every one of them ran. Every one of them denied Him.
Ever one of them fled when he went on trial? When Judas betrayed
him, they always heard him at the trial. Not one of them has
stood up. Not one of them has said, this
is my master. Not one of them said, this is
my savior. Not one of them said, this is my redeemer. Not one
of them said, this is the Messiah. Not one of them said, this is
the person that I put all of my hope and trust in. Not one
of them stood up and said, this is my savior. Not one of them
stood up and said, this is God that you're fixing to crucify.
Not one of them stood up and said, you're lying on Him. Not
one of them. Every one of them. In fact, Simon
Peter went over and stood and warned himself at the enemy's
fire. And look at the Lord Jesus Christ,
His men were lying on Him. And when they brought those false
witnesses and put him on trial, nobody stood up and declared
his generation, declared who he was, declared why he was here. Not one of them declared the
things that he had done. And while our Lord Jesus was
there, Peter was standing by the fire. And a woman said to
him, it's a woman, a little old woman, a maid, a maid, waiting
on the people that's around there. She said, oh, your speech betrays
you, one of them. Oh, no, no, I don't know that
fellow. Don't know him. Was they worthy of our Lord Jesus
appeared to them? Not only he appeared when they
had acted so unworthy, but they appeared to him when they unprepared.
They were unprepared and they were unbelieving. Look what it
says in verse 37. He met them when they were unprepared
and unbelieving. And they were terrified and affrighted,
and scared teetotaling in their suppose that there was a spirit
among them. There's a spirit here. Oh my, they were so unbelieving,
so unprepared. Look what back up here in verse
9 of this chapter. Look how unprepared they were.
They doubted His promise, doubted that He had rise the third day,
refused to believe the testimony of the witnesses. Look what it
said. And they returned from the sepulcher, from his grave,
and told all these things unto the eleven and to all the rest,
every disciple that was there, everyone who trusted Christ and
believed he was the Messiah. And it was Mary Magdalene and
Joanna and Mary the mother of James and other women that were
with them which told these things unto the apostles. And listen
to how they reacted. This is how they reacted. And
their words seemed to them as idle tales. Listen to it. They
believed them not. If you come and told me something,
any one of you all in here that I've known all these years, if
you told me something, do you think I wouldn't believe it? These folks had been together
for years, and they come and said, Christ is risen. They said,
you're fools. They don't believe a word of
it. Don't believe a word of it. Look
down verse 25. And look what he said after he
walked with them on the mass road. And he said of them all
fools, slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken
concerning Christ. Look in verse 41 here. Look what
these fellows are so unprepared, so unbelieving. And that's when
he appeared to them. When they acted so unworthy,
when they were unprepared, when they were full of unbelief. And
look what it says in verse 41. And while they yet believed not
for joy and wonderment, they were just full of wonder. And
then they said, boy, they believed not for joy. And I want to show
you something. Look over at Mark 16 with me
just a moment. Mark 16. You know, they were
so unprepared and unbelieving. Is that the way we are this morning?
Are we unprepared? Are we unprepared for the Lord's
presence? Are we prepared for the Lord's presence? Are we in our hearts prepared
for Christ to meet among us? Did we come here expecting Christ
to be here? Did we come here expecting to
hear from Christ? Or did we come here and say,
well, it's just Sunday morning, it's time to go to meeting. Are
we here out of habit? Are we here because it's just
our duty to do it? Are we here because we expect
Christ to be among us? Are we prepared? Did we come
here with unbelief? And that's what these folks,
they were unprepared. Look what it said here in Mark
6, in 16 and verse 6. This young man, this angel is
sitting on the right side of the tomb, sat under them. He
said to them, be not afraid. Don't be afraid. Don't be scared.
You see Jesus of Nazareth, which was crucified, He is risen. He's
not here. And they said, look here where
He was laying. Look in there and see for yourself that He's
not here. You saw them put Him in this grave. You saw them wrap
Him in those clothes. You saw them put the stone on
there. But look in there. He's not there. But now listen
to this. Go your way. and tell his disciples,
and Peter, that he goeth before you into Galilee, there shall
you see him as he said unto you. And they went out quickly, and
fled from the sepulchre, for they trembled, and were amazed,
and knew not that they any thing any man, but that they were now
frightened." Now, listen to what happens. Now, when Jesus was
risen early the first day of the week, He appeared first to
Mary Magdalene, out of whom He had cast seven devils. And she
went and told them that had been with him, and they warned him
well. And when they had heard that he was alive and had been
seen of her," listen to what it said here, "...believed not."
Why wouldn't they believe Mary? Why wouldn't they not believe
Mary? You reckon we'd get like that? Huh? How much Do you believe? Do you believe? And, oh, I tell you, not only
did he appear to them when they were so unworthy, when they were
unprepared and so full of unbelief, he appeared when they desperately,
desperately needed his presence. You know why they needed his
presence? Because they were like sheep without a shepherd. And
when people are like sheep without a shepherd, the shepherd is going
to come and clear his people. And then the Scriptures tell
us back over here in our text, when they were assembled together.
They were assembled together. And oh my, they all got together
and they was all assembled together. You know, I'll tell you something
about this being assembled together. They felt the need to be together. Oh, they were mourning. They
were mourning. They were weeping. They were
frightened. They were terrified. They were
afraid of the Jews. They were afraid of what the
Jews was going to do to them because they were identified
with Christ. They thought they were going
to come and get us and do us what they did to Him because
we walked with Him and talked with Him and saw Him and confessed
Him and followed Him and we done works in His holy name. We cast
out death so they're going to come get us too. And they were mourning, they
were weeping, they were afraid, but they still felt the need
to be together. And I tell you what, that's why
we know how we need to be together. Oh, how we need to be. If we're
not together in bodily presence, we need to be together by our
hearts. We need to be together by spirit. We need to be together
in our minds. We need to be in one accord in
this business of the gospel and the church and the causing and
praying for the church and for one another. And that's what
they, they were together. Simon Peter, he's scared to death.
There's old John, whom the disciple whom Jesus loved, he's scared
to death. He was there too. And they were mourning his absence. But, oh, he come among them when
they were assembled together. And I'll tell you what, and look
what happens now. When certain came among them to testify of
him, and I've done very bad things, they came and said, Oh, listen,
the Lord walked with us and talked with us. And oh, He opened our
hearts to the Scriptures, He opened our hearts, and He sat
at the table, and He blessed the bread, and He gave it to
us, and our eyes saw it, and we understood who He was, and
they run right back, and they said, listen, the Lord Jesus
has appeared! He's risen indeed! And while
they were yet talking, ain't that what it says? And as they
thus spake, He was telling them about it. And while they were yet speaking
and talking, there was the Lord Jesus. The one they was talking
about showed up. The one they was thinking about
showed up. About the time you get so scared,
and you get terrified, and you get to thinking the Lord ain't
going to be here, I'll tell you what, you get this
irony, like this fellow said, oh listen, listen, listen, I
gotta tell you this, and about the time they start talking,
that was the Lord Jesus. You talk about Him, you start
talking about Him, and He'll show up. How many times has He
done that where you've been thinking about Him or talking about Him
to somebody else, and the Lord Jesus be right there with you? Huh? Oh, do you reckon He'd appear
to us right now? Would He appear to us and be
among us after our disloyalty? After our unbelief? After all of our failing to assemble? Would you reckon He would appear
to us and stand in our midst after we find so many other things
that seem to be so much more important? Oh, He appeared to them and they
acted so unworthy. When they were so full of unbelief, He appeared to them when they
were scared to death. Do you know what He said when He
appeared to them? I know what I'm saying. What's the matter
with you? I'm sorry about you. That's what
I'm saying. Because it wasn't me talking. That's what I say. As a man has
been, that's what he is. And as the Lord Jesus has been,
that's what he is. And what he is now will always
be what he is. He's the same. And as He treated
these people, these disciples, He treats us the same way. You
got unbelief? He still appears. You get terrified? He still appears. acts unworthy,
he still appears. You reckon he's here now? Look what he's saying. Look what
he's saying. After all the things they had
done, their unbelief, their ridicule, and he stood in the midst of
them and saith unto them, Peace be unto you. I know you fellows. They needed
peace. They needed to hear peace. They
had just forsaken the Lord. They had just denied the Lord. all the things that they had
done. They didn't believe the testimony of the folks that had
come and told them. So their souls was in an uproar. Their heart was in an uproar.
Their mind was in an uproar. But what He says to them when
He appears in terms of peace be unto you. He did not come and chide them.
He didn't come and get angry with them. Let me show you something.
I just thought of this. I believe it's in Psalm 103,
I think that's where it's at. I mean, I'll look and see, but
I believe this is where it's at. Yes, that's where it's at, yes.
Look what it says here. Look what it says here in verse
9, Psalm 103. Well, look at verse 8. The Lord
is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy.
Now, listen to this. He will not always chide, neither
will He keep His anger forever. And this is what I love. He hath
not dealt with us after our sins. He didn't deal with these fellows
after their sins. You know why He didn't deal with
them after their sins? Because he had died and didn't
have any sins. He couldn't go in there and chide
them for what they'd done. He surely couldn't deal with
them after their sins, because he died, and when he died, he
put away all their sins. They didn't have any sin for
him to chide them over. And then look what else it says,
"...nor rewarded us according to our iniquities." Oh my, He
didn't reward them according to how they acted, didn't reward
them according to their unbelief, He didn't reward them because
of all the things that they doubted and all that. No, no. You know
what He did? He just come among them and said, peace be unto
you. What this is, it's a blessing
pronounced upon them. He says, peace. And how many
times you go through the epistles, and when Paul would write, he'd
always say, Grace and peace be unto you from God our Father
and the Lord Jesus Christ. It was a blessing. It was a benediction. Peace be unto you. You all know that high priestly
blessing, wouldn't you? Aaron, God said, this is the
way that you'll do. This is how you'll bless Israel. Lift up
your hands and say, The Lord bless thee. The Lord keep thee. The Lord calls his face to shine
upon thee. Oh my, that's what he did here.
He lifted up his hands and said, peace, peace be unto you. Not only was it a blessing that
he pronounced upon them, but it was also a declaration. You
said they were, what he's saying here, you're at peace with God.
You don't need to be upset. You don't need to be frightened.
You're at peace with God. God's not angry with you. God's
not mad at you because of what you've done. I've died on the
cross. I put your sin away. God's not
angry with you. God's not mad at you. I've made
peace to the blood of my cross. Now, I know they didn't fully
understand this yet. I know they didn't. Oh my, they
thought they was looking at a spirit. They didn't fully understand
what it meant of what the Lord Jesus Christ had accomplished
for them and the peace that they had with God. Huh? And look, he showed them evidence.
Look here in verse 37. And they were terrified, and
the Father supposed to test him in the spirit, and he said to
them, Why are you troubled? Why do thoughts arise in your
hearts? Actually, he said, Peace be unto
them. And then he says, You want to
see evidence? That it's me, look at my hands,
look at my feet. Do you know why He said, this
is how your peace was obtained? Look at my hands. Why in the world would you think
you have peace with God? Look at my hands. Handle me. Reach out and touch
me. And oh, beloved, He gave them
evidence of how their peace was obtained. And I tell you what,
this is that peace of God that passes understanding to how in
the world that God could make peace through the blood of Christ's
cross, and God never, ever, ever, ever come back and deal with
me over one sin I've ever committed. Now that peace passes understanding.
Can you understand that God, since Christ has died, when He
says, look at my hands, look at my feet, it's me? And there's
the evidence that you have peace with God. There's the evidence
that your sins are gone. There's the evidence that God's
wrath has been poured out on me. There's the evidence of my
death. There's the evidence of justice
fulfilled. There's the evidence of the law
being honored and magnified. There's the evidence of God's
justice and your sins put away on my own body. And do you think
that God can never ever come and deal with you over one sin
that you've committed? He can't come and punish you?
He can't be angry with you? And I'll tell you, you say, well,
you just don't know me, because I know God, and I know what Christ
said. Now this, that's what I'm telling
you, that's why he says, peace be unto you. Here's the evidence
of your peace obtained. Now I tell you, people, I heard
Don say the other night, said, when he was a young man, Bruce
Cratchit went through the same thing. When they were young men,
they couldn't sleep at night. They've done everything in their
power for years to try to get right with God. They went to
altars, they went to pray, they read their Bibles, they'd go
to bed at night and cry and get up and do everything they could
trying to get you conscious to get quiet. Until one day God
brought them the gospel. And what it takes to satisfy
God is what it will take to satisfy your conscience. And when Christ,
who God accepted, and Christ satisfied God, then if you have
Christ, your conscience will never ask for anything else once
you get Him. Ain't that right? You say, well,
I've got unbelief. These fellas did too, but He
still said peace. I'm so unworthy. They have was
too, but He still gave them peace. These fellows were terrified,
but he still gave them peace. They denied the Lord, but he
still gave them peace. Peter went out and cursed Bentley,
but he still gave them peace. I'll tell you why. Here's what
Scripture says. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? Paul comes back and said, Christ
had died. So if Christ died and bore their
sins in his own body on the tree, if Christ bore the wrath of God
in their place, who's going to lay... and who's
he that's going to condemn us? Who's going to bring judgment
on us? And the next thing he says, it's God that justifies. That's the peace of God that
tests understanding. When you are wrong, and act wrong,
and act ugly, and say things you ought not to do, and be places
you ought not to do, and act ways you ought not to act, I'll
tell you what, you say, well, I just wanted to ask about that.
Listen, God ain't going to come and sneak up behind you and knock
you in the head like these people said. Well, if you walk worthy,
then the Lord will make you acceptable. If you walk unworthy, then you
become unacceptable. I've never walked worthy of Christ
in my life. I'm not worthy of Christ at my
best preaching I've ever done. I'm not worthy of Christ at the
best prayer I've ever prayed. I've never done anything to make
myself worthy of Christ. People say you've got to walk
this way and that way to get Christ. Listen, if we have to
walk and God help us, we want to, we want to, we desire to.
We don't want to dishonor him. We want to have a character and
a conduct that will honor him. But I'll tell you what, the minute
you think you've walking worthy of him, you've got a problem.
The minute you think you've done something to make yourself just
a little better in the sight of God, you've got a real problem.
God made Christ unto us wisdom, righteousness,
sanctification, and redemption. It was God, Christ, the Scripture
said, He hath made us accepted unto Him to be loved. For whom? He foreknew. Everything
starts with Him. And the only reason that God,
our Lord, appeared in the midst of these people, because they
were His, and He did not look at what they did, He did not
look at what they didn't do, only thing He looked at was that
they're mine, and here's the evidence that I can say peace
to you. Oh my, I'll tell you, no wonder
it's a peace that passes understanding. Not only was it a blessing pronounced,
it was a declaration, peace be unto you. But oh, how it inspired
him. How it inspired him. He inspired him with peace. He
inspired him with peace. When his Word comes, when he's
present, his Word comes with his presence. And when he's present,
he brings his Word with him. And Mary just said, last Wednesday
night, you know, I'll tell you all a little secret. Before we
left to come to service Wednesday night, I said, when you bring
me over, we just ought to just go to bed. The boy said, ain't
no sense going to meet and I ain't got nothing to say. You know,
I just, I just, you know, we just, it ain't no use. We ought
to just lay down and sleep, go to bed. They'll show up up there
and they'll figure out I won't be there after all. But we came on the meeting anyway. And then I was blessed from the
Word. Mary left and she was really
high. She said, Oh, the Word. How the Word inspires us. How
the Word gives us peace. You can come feeling physically
bad and leave feeling physically good. You can come leaving spiritually
empty and leave spiritually filled. You can come full of doubt and
leave full of faith. You can come full of fear and
leave with peace in your heart. And that's wherever Christ is,
he brings his word, and wherever his word is, he's there. And
the Word does something for us that nothing else does on the
face of this earth. It inspires our minds. When Christ
speaks to us, it stirs our minds up. When Christ speaks to us,
it gives us peace in our hearts. When Christ is present, our consciences,
everything about us is calm and quiet and peaceful. And then
let me tell you this quickly. It was a word of forgiveness.
When our Lord said, Peace be unto you, When he said that,
those fellows, not one of them said, Lord, I'm sorry for what
I said. Not one of them said, Lord, please
forgive me. Because just the very fact that
he was there and he said, peace be unto you, let them know that
everything's taken care of. Oh, my. Oh, everything that has
spoiled their peace, he brought it right back. Brought it right
back. And our Lord, by the Holy Ghost,
can calm our perturbed minds, He can relieve us of our worries,
He forgives of all sin, and saves us from all the spiritual conflict
that goes on within us sometimes. and give to each and every one
of us an immediate peace. Just like that. Just like that. Just like that. Now let me show
you some things that happened here after he appeared. First of all, their doubts just
left. Even Thomas. Look over in John
chapter 20 with me just a moment. Even Thomas' unbelief was gone. Look what Thomas said up here
in verse 24. He destroyed their doubts, just banished their doubts.
Their unbelief was put away. It said here in John 20, 24. But Thomas, being one of the
twelve, called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came. The
other disciples said therefore unto them, We have seen the Lord.
We've seen the Lord, haven't we? This is eight days later.
He said unto them, Except I shall see in his hands the print of
the nails, put my finger in the print of the nails, and thrust
my hand into his sight, I will not believe. So evidently those
were awful big spikes that went through there where you can take
a finger and put in the hole. Had to be an awful big hole in
that Lord's hand that you can put a finger in. And that's what
he said. And after eight days again when
the disciples, this is eight days later, and after eight days
again the disciples were within, and Thomas was with them this
time. See what he missed? Because he wasn't assembled with
them. Then came the Lord Jesus, the doors being shut, and stood
in the midst, and look what he said again. Peace be unto you. Can you imagine how Thomas felt? Said the same thing all over
again. Oh my, you know, I heard a fella said the other day, he
said, you know, you fellas say the same thing over and over
and over again. You don't never change. I said,
boy, what a compliment. And our Lord Jesus, same way,
said the same thing over and over and over and over again.
Peace be unto you. You got it? Peace be unto you.
You got that yet? Well, I'm going to say it again.
Peace be unto you. And oh, look what he said. Then
he said, this said, he's a Thomas. You think the Lord don't know
what goes on in your mind and what you say when When you're,
you know, you don't think he's around, you're just a, you know,
a bunch of you get together. These men were just men, they're
just gathering together. Thomas had done told, he only
told those fellows that told him that. And you reckon the
Lord Jesus don't know what we say, what we think, and what
we do? He said to Thomas, Thomas, I was there when you
said that I ain't going to believe except I could touch you, take
you as hands, stick my finger in. I'm just not going to believe
in that type and take my hand and reach and stick it in his
side with that fellow, that soldier, split his side open with that
spear. I'm just not going to believe. You fellas can tell
me all you want to about him being risen from the dead. I'm
not going to believe. He said, Thomas, he said, you know, if that's what it's going to
take for you to have peace and have faith, he said, go ahead. Go ahead. Here's my hand. Reach
here and stick your finger in." And he pulled back his robe and
said, Here, stick your hand in my side. And then look what he said, And
be not faithless, but believe him. Oh, you know what, Thomas? He never rested out of hand.
He never said, Here, I'm going to do it. I'm going to do it.
No, no. You know what he did? My Lord, my God, My Lord, my
God. And our Lord said unto him, O
Thomas, because you see me, you believe. Blessed are they that
have not seen, and yet believe. I believe. I believe. So he banished
their doubts. He revealed to them his love
for them. Sealed it upon their hearts. Back over in Luke 24.
I'll wind this thing up here if I can. He revealed to them
his love for them, silted upon their hearts by showing them
his hands and his feet. Oh, when he showed them his hands
and his feet, he said, Behold my hands and feet in verse 39.
Handle me and see. Handle me. Go on, touch me. Feel
me. Spirit don't have flesh and bones
as you see me have. And then he showed him his hands. In verse 40, he showed him his
hands and his feet. Oh, I can see Him standing there.
He just, look here. Look here. Look, man. It's really me. Look at my feet. Look at my feet. And you know
what we'll see when we get to glory? Revelation 5 tells us
that we'll see Him as a Lamb as it had been slain. We'll recognize
Christ. First of all, because we'll see
Him as He is. God will let us see Him as He
is. But he'll still have those hand prints, those nail prints,
and that side that was split open with a spear. When we get
there, he'll still have evidence of being on this earth and that
cross. And not only that, but he stirred
up their memories. Look what he said in verse 44. He said unto them, These are
the words which I spake unto you, I told you this, I preached
this to you all for three years, that all things must be fulfilled
which were written in the law of Moses and in the prophets
and the Psalms concerning me. I spoke these things unto you
all the time that I was with you." He said, I go away, where
are we going? He told them. He said, my hour
has not yet come. I'm going up to Jerusalem. It
must be delivered into the hands of sinful men. He told them over
and over and over again. And he stirred them up their
minds and said, remember, I told you, I told you, and I told you.
And then look what else happened then. Then, then, he opened their
understanding that they might understand the Scriptures. You
going to understand the Scriptures? God take your mind. And open
it. Just like taking a key. Turning
the key. Light goes on. It's open. It's understanding is open. And
then look what He said. He showed them what they were
to do. And He says down in verse 47, He said, I want you to go
and preach that repentance and sins should be preached in My
name among all nations beginning at Jerusalem. And He said, you
know what? You're going to be witnesses of me. You're going
to witness of me. You're going to go around and
tell everybody that you know who I am and what I did. You're
going to tell them about you saw me. You're going to tell
them about my death. You're going to tell them about
my blood. You're going to tell them about my righteousness. You're going
to tell them about my suffering. You're going to take the Psalms.
You're going to take the Law. You're going to take Moses. You're
going to take the Prophets. You're going to take the Psalms.
And you're going to tell men from the Scriptures what I've
done. And then let me show you this,
and I'm done. John 20, 20. Again, don't go over that with
me. Just a minute. 20, 20. And he filled them with joy.
Scott Richardson preached from this one the first time he came
down here to be with us. And when he had so said, he showed
unto them his hands and his side, Listen to this. Then were the
disciples glad when they saw the Lord. What makes you glad? I'll tell you what makes me glad
when the Lord appears. Oh, does it make you glad? Has
the Lord appeared to us today? I certainly hope He's appeared
to you. Has He breathed into our souls
that peace that He said to them? And let me ask you this. If He
hasn't appeared to you and spoke peace to you, why? If He hasn't appeared to you
and spoke peace to you, why? Why? Are you afraid? You have unbelief? Huh? I know this, that the only
place that you'll ever have peace and get any peace is through
the Lord Jesus Christ. And He's got to appear to you.
He won't appear to you because you're worthy. He won't appear
to you because you've got the strongest faith, because these
fellows didn't have any. They were full of underling.
He won't appear to you When you're scared to death,
because you're scared, if He appears to you, He'll appear
for one reason, to grant peace to your heart, grant peace to
your soul. You'll never do anything to cause
Him to do it. He just got to come, and He's
got to appear, and He's got to say, peace be unto you. Has He
ever come to you and said to your heart and your soul, peace
be unto you? Have you got that peace that
only Christ can give? I do. If I go home tonight and
the Lord takes me home or takes any of you home, my peace will
not change one hour. I have peace. I have peace in
my heart. I have peace with God. And I
have Christ who is our peace. Do you have Him? You ready?