Would you turn back to John chapter
20? While you're turning there, a few announcements tonight.
We're going to observe the Lord's table together. And we're going
to look at the book of Jonah. I've entitled the message The
Peebish Prophet. That is indeed what he was, but
he was prophet. And Also beginning next Sunday,
the TV program will be moved up to 730 instead of seven. I'm
real happy for that and I hope I can get it up a little bit
more eventually. But 730 instead of seven on WKYT. I have entitled this message. The glorified wounds. Of Christ. the glorified wounds of Christ. When Christ arose from the dead
and walked out of the tomb, there is something that he went in
there with that he came out without. My sin. But there is something he went
in there with that he came out with. His wounds. The holes in his hands and his
feet. The hole in his side. was and
is still there. Look in John, chapter 20, verse
26. Now, remember, this is our Lord's
glorified body. And after eight days again, his
disciples were within and Thomas with them. Then came Jesus, the
doors being shut and stood in the midst and said, Peace be
unto you. Now, at this time, a miracle
had taken place. The scripture points out that
the doors were barred and shut and the Lord passed through them.
How that happened, I don't know, but he's God. And they saw a
miracle take place at this time. He, in His glorified body, passed
through the doors. And I'm so thankful that He can
pass through the doors of my naturally closed heart and give
me life. Oh, the Son of God. Verse 26,
He said, Peace be unto you. Verse 27, Then saith He to Thomas,
Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands. And reach hither thy hand, and
thrust it into my side. And be not faithless, but believing."
Now, in his glorified body, we know there was no pain. There
was not bleeding. But he still has his wounds. And this means more than just
scars scarred over, because he said to Thomas, take your hand
and thrust it into the hole that's in my side. In his glorified body, even right
now, he still bears the marks of his suffering. Now, he could
have removed these holes, these scars, these gashes,
these prints, whatever they are. He could have removed them. You
know, when we're in heaven, we'll have completely glorified bodies.
The problems you have right now physically, you'll no longer
have. The scars you have physically, you'll no longer have. But He
still has His. He could have removed them, but
He didn't. And even now in heaven, He has them, the nail prints
in his hands, the gash in his side. When John saw him, he saw
the lion of the tribe of Judah which prevailed, but what did
he see when he saw that lion of the tribe of Judah? A lamb
as it had been slain. And I think that this is a reference
to seeing, I know this is a reference, to seeing the Lord Jesus Christ
with the marks of His suffering still upon Him, the Lamb as it
had been slain. When the Lord describes Himself,
He says, I am He that liveth and was dead. Behold, I am alive
evermore, and have the keys of hell and death." Now, why does
he still have these wounds? Why? There's great significance
to this. Why does he still possess his
wounds in heaven? Now, I want to give you five
or six reasons as to why he still possesses these wounds. Turn
to Luke 24. Luke 24. This is talking about
our Lord after the resurrection once again. And beginning in
verse 36. Luke 24, verse 36. And as they thus spake, Jesus himself stood in the midst
of them and saith unto them, Peace be unto you. Now this is
Luke's account of the same thing we read about John. Peace be
unto you. But they were terrified and affrighted
when they see him come walking through the barred doors. Can
you imagine how you would feel if you were hit with something
like that? They were terrified, they were frightened, and supposed
that they'd seen a spirit. And he said unto them, Why are
you troubled? And why do thoughts arise in
your hearts? Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Handle me and see, for a spirit
hath not flesh and bones, as you see me to have. Now, perhaps
because in his glorified state, they weren't even sure it was
him. You know how many times do we read of the times after
the resurrection where they couldn't recognize him? Mary didn't recognize
him. All the disciples didn't recognize
him. And you know, when he walked upon this earth as the man of
sorrows and acquainted with grief, when he is raised from the dead
with this glorified body, he's different. stress of being the man of sorrows
is no longer there, and perhaps he couldn't even be recognized,
and he's letting them know, I'm the same one that you followed
for three years. I'm the same one who was born
of the Virgin Mary. I'm the same one who suffered
and died on the cross, and I've been raised from the dead. I'm
the same one. Look at my hands and my feet. The same Jesus. The same one. Now, another thing that I see
from the fact that he keeps his wounds and does not let them
leave is the fact that it tells us that he is always the man,
Christ Jesus. Look in verse 39. Behold my hands
and my feet, that it is I myself handle me and see, for spirit
hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have. And when he had
thus spoken, he showed them his hands and his feet. He let them
see the holes in his hands and in his feet. And while they yet
believed not for joy and wondered, he said unto them, have ye any
meat? and they gave him a piece of broiled fish and of a honeycomb
and he took it and he did eat before them. Now he's letting
us know at all times he is the man Christ Jesus. Now did he have to eat? To satisfy
something that he didn't have? No, he had a glorified body,
but he ate to let us know he is the man Christ Jesus. Now, there was a time when the
Lord Jesus Christ was not a man. He's the eternal son, but there
was a time when he did not have flesh and bones. Listen to this
scripture from Isaiah 9 6. For unto us a child is born,
unto us a son is given. Now that son wasn't born. He's
the eternal son that was given, but there was a time when he
became flesh. And when he became flesh, it's
for eternity. He still is flesh. There is a
man in glory right now seated at the right hand of the Father
with these wounds in his hand and feet and this gash in his
side. But this man, the scripture says,
this man, this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for
sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God from henceforth
expected till his enemies be made his footstool, for by one
offering he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified. As
I speak, there is a man in glory. flesh and bones, with the gash
in his side and the holes in his hands and in his feet that
he received on the cross that he died on. When the four and twenty elders
and the heavenly host of angels sing that great song, they say,
worthy is the Lamb that was slain. Now, turn back to John 20. Why
does he have these wounds still? He didn't have to have them.
Well, it's to let us know he's the same one, even in his glorified
body, and that he's always going to be man. Now, back to John
20, verse 19. Then the same day at evening,
evening being the first day of the week, When the doors were
shut, where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews,
the doors were locked, barred, came Jesus and stood in the midst
and saith unto them, Peace be unto you. Now, remember who he's
speaking to. He's speaking to some people
who had just denied him. He's speaking to some people
who had ran off and did not identify with him in his death. He was
speaking to some men who had played the coward. He's speaking
to some men who had been so unbelieving. He told them what would take
place. He told them, I'm going to be
crucified. And three days later, I'm going to be raised from the
dead. You know what? They didn't believe him. If they believed
him, they would have been there waiting at his tomb, waiting
for him to come out. But they didn't. These men are
scared to death, assembled there for fear of the Jews. And what's
the Lord say to them? Peace. Be unto you. Peace. Peace, be unto you. And what does he do next? He
shows them the only ground of that peace. He showed them the
hole in his side. He showed them the holes in his
hands and in his feet. And showing them that, they had
peace. They understood the ground of
peace. Now, right before he left, in
John chapter 16, verse 33, before he died, he said, These things
have I spoken unto you, that in me you might have peace. In the world, you're going to
have nothing but tribulation. In yourself, in the world, but
be of good cheer, I have overcome the world. In me, you have, you
possess peace. Here's the only, listen to me
real carefully, here is the only ground of peace. His death. No other ground. Turn to Colossians
chapter 1. While you're turning there, I
want to remind you. That hole in his side, do you
remember what came out of that hole in his side when the Roman
soldier thrust the spear in his side? The scripture says, blood
and water flowed out. This was a miracle. Blood and
water came out, and this is in answer to Zacharias' prophecy
of the fountain being opened for sin and for uncleanness. Blood and water flowed from his
side. Blood, justification, being justified
by his blood. Water, sanctification, cleansed
by his blood. Here is the only ground of peace. the death of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, in Colossians chapter 1,
Paul says, beginning in verse 20, ìAnd having made peace through
the blood of his cross.î You know, the Lord is called
by the Shulamite in the Song of Solomon, Behold, my beloved
is white and ruddy. He's white, he's innocent, he's
ruddy, blood red because of his sacrifice. Having made peace
Notice the language, having made peace. Somebody says, have you
made your peace with God? No, Christ made my peace with
God and he's already made it. It's a done deal. It's already
accomplished. Having made peace through the
blood of his cross by him. to reconcile all things unto
himself. By him I say, whether they be
things on earth, or things in heaven, and you that were sometimes
alienated, and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now
hath he reconciled in the body of his flesh through death, to
present you holy, and unblameable, and unreprovable in his sight."
Now here is the only ground of peace, and we're reminded of
that. His death. Peace be unto you. And He showed them His hands
and His side. Then were the disciples glad. Does that make you glad that
that's the only and sufficient ground of peace? The death of
the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, in Zechariah 13, verse 6,
we read, And one shall say unto him, What are these wounds in
thy hands? Now, this is obviously after
he has been glorified and come back to glory. And they say to
him, and I have no doubt that this is an angel saying this.
I know what those wounds in his hands are. It's an angel saying
this as he comes back into glory. Remember, part of the gospel
is he was seen of angels. Don't you reckon the angels were
amazed when they saw the eternal Son of God become flesh? Don't
you think they were amazed when they saw God the Father allow
Him to be nailed to a cross? And they were ready to take vengeance,
just waiting for His command. They didn't know what He was
doing. They didn't really understand. They couldn't comprehend. Weren't
they amazed when they see Him ascend back to the Father still
with these wounds? And they say, what are these
wounds in your hands? And he replies, then shall he
answer those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends. Now, this is a reference to the
angels being astonished. You know, men aren't astonished. Angels are. Angels are astonished by this
mighty, glorious act. Now these wounds that he still
possesses, even now as I speak, seated at the right hand of the
Father, these wounds are his beauty and his glory. A soldier is not ashamed of the
wounds he received in battle. They're his glory as he was fighting
for his country. He's not ashamed of those wounds
and how the beauty of Christ is seen in His death. What beauty we see in His wounds. His obedience to His Father. The Scripture says He became
obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. God the Father
says, go let them nail you to a cross. And He said, yes, Father.
What faith He demonstrated. Though He slay me, yet will I
trust Him. How we see His love to His Father. How we see His holiness. How
He would rather die than let sin go unpunished. He would rather
die than let His Father's justice not be vindicated. Oh, His love
to His Father. How we see His love to His people. that He loved me so much He was
willing to go to the cross for me and bear my sin and put them
away. Oh, we see the beauty of the
Lord Jesus Christ in His wounds. These are His trophies, as it
were. His wounds tell us of His accomplishments. That's what the Reminders. Turn
with me to Romans chapter 8 for a moment. I wish, while I was
thinking, I'd like to just use this as A message by itself,
but I'm not. This shows us the accomplishments
of His wounds. Now, as He is seated in the right
hand of the Father right now with that hole in His side, and
with those holes in His hands and in His feet, that's a continual
declaration of the accomplishments of His death. Now, look in Romans
8, verse 31. What shall we say then to these
things? If God be for us, who can be against us? Now, the first question that
I need to deal with and that you need to deal with is who
is the us? If God be for us, who can be
against us? Well, that's determining the
context of this passage of scripture. He's talking about his elect.
He's talking about those the Father gave him before time began,
those he foreknew, those he justified, those he glorified, those who
were called according to his purpose. He's not talking about
everybody. The us is his elect. That's all he's referring to. Look in verse 28. And we know
that all things work together for good to them that love God,
to them who are the call according to his purpose, for whom he did
foreknow. He also did predestinate to be
conformed to the image of his son, that he might be the firstborn
among many brethren. Moreover, whom he did predestinate,
him he also called, and whom he called, him he also justified,
and whom he justified, him he also glorified. Now, what are
we going to say to these things if God be for us? Who can be
against us? Now, here's the first accomplishment
of his death. No intimidation. No intimidation. If God be for
us, absolutely nothing can be against us. There's absolutely
nothing to be intimidated by in me or outside of me. No intimidation
if God's for me. What it says next, verse 32.
He that spared not his own son, but delivered him up, for us
all, the us that he's for. How shall he not with him also
freely give us all things? No prevention. There's nothing
that can prevent him. Do you hear that? There is nothing
that can prevent him from freely giving us all things. And this is what he accomplished
by his death. Because of his death, there's nothing to intimidate
me. Nothing to prevent him from giving me all of his blessings. Nothing. I don't care. My sin? Not going to do it. The devil?
The law? No. He accomplished all things
by his death. Verse 33. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? It's God that justifies. There's
no prosecution. There's nothing to prosecute
me for. I have no guilt. Who's going to lay anything to
my charge? There is no prosecution. The books are clear. That is what he accomplished
by his death. He put away my sin to the point
that there is no sin to condemn me for. Look what he says next
in verse 34. Who is he that condemneth? It's Christ that died. That's the only answer I need.
Yea, rather this risen again. He accomplished what he intended
to accomplish in his death. There's no condemnation. Now
this is what he accomplished by his death on Calvary's tree.
No condemnation. No condemnation now, I dread.
I am my Lord's and he is mine. Alive in him, my living head,
and clothed in righteousness divine. No condemnation. And
look what it says next in verse 35. He shall separate us from
the love of Christ. No separation. No separation. Now what did he achieve? by his
death. And he has these wounds still
to show us these are the trophies of his death. No intimidation, no prevention,
no prosecution, no condemnation, and absolutely no separation,
all because of his death, his bloody death on Calvary's tree. You see, these wounds speak of
his advocacy and of his priesthood, when he arose, having finished
his work." He still has a work. You see, he's made a priest forever
after the order of Melchizedek, and he is always my high He's
always representing me. Wherefore, he is able to save
them to the uttermost that come to God by him, seeing he ever
liveth to make intercession for them. Now, how does he make intercession?
How does he represent me? Does it work like this? I sin,
and he says, Father, forgive him. And then I commit the same
sin, and he once again says, Oh, Father, forgive him again.
And then I commit the same sin again, and he says, Father, forgive
him again. Is that the way his advocacy works? No! All he does
is show the Father his wounds. And nothing else needs to be
said. As my great high priest, his
wounds tell me he still is at the right hand of the Father
making intercession for his people. Now, his wounds speak of judgment. If you die without Christ, if
I die without Christ, here is what we will be guilty of on
Judgment Day. And his wounds are the hard evidence. Now, you may have been guilty
of heinous crimes and sins. No doubt you are guilty of heinous
sin, evil sin, but do you know that it doesn't even compare
to what you're truly guilty of in murdering the Son of God? And here's the evidence against
you. If you die without Christ, the scripture says, they shall
look upon him whom they pierced. When he comes, they that pierced
him shall wail. The wounds of the Lord Jesus
Christ, now what this means is, is that you are guilty, if you're
outside of Christ, you are guilty of murdering the Son of God. That's what God has against you. What if somebody murdered one
of your children? And this is infinitely more. Somebody says,
now wait a minute, I wasn't even there when it happened. How can
I be held responsible for that? You do it right now if you could. And God knows it. God knows it. That's what every man is guilty
of. And this is what you'll be judged for on Judgment Day. This
is why God sends men to hell. Because they hate His Son and
put Him to death when they got their will. The scripture says
that he delivered Jesus to their will. And here was my will. Here's
your will. If God left you to yourself,
and if God took away all the restraints, here's what you'd
do. You'd kill his son. Now, these wounds are the hard
evidence of what God has against everybody outside of the Lord
Jesus Christ. And when he returns, his wounds
will be your will or your woe. Behold, he cometh with the clouds,
and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him,
and all the kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. When
he returns, his wounds will either be your comfort or your terror." Now I want to give you what I
believe the main reason is. The main reason that he keeps
his wounds, that he still has the hole in his side and the
print of the nails is still there in his hands and in his feet. Here's the chief reason so we
will never forget. You see, his death is the subject
of the eternities. What was the subject before time
began? Christ, the Lamb slain from the
foundation of the world. And what will be the subject
after time is no more? Worthy is the Lamb that was slain. And as we see him in glory, his
wounds will always be before us. Now, when I'm in heaven,
I'm no longer going to have a guilty conscience. Can you imagine being
without guilt? I'm no longer going to have sin. I'm no longer going to have unbelief. My sins put away. Well, how will
you be conscious of what he's done for you? If you don't have
guilt, you know, it's easy to look to Christ when you know
He's all you've got, and when you're nothing but sin in and
of yourself, and you know His righteousness is the only righteousness.
Right now, when He gives you the grace to look to Him, it's
easy to look to Him as everything, isn't it? When you know you have
nothing. But at that point, you'll be without sin. But you know
what? His wounds will be a continual
reminder that the only reason we're there is because of his
death. No other reason. And every time
I look at him, I'm going to see those wounds. And I'm going to
be reminded that there's one reason why I'm there. His death
on Calvary Street. Not because of anything I've
done. Wholly because of what he has done. He still has his
wounds in his hands. and in his feet. And you know,
his wounds make it so he can't forget us. Every time he looks at that hole
in his hand, you know who he thinks about? Everybody he died
for. And let me make that more particular. Me. Put your name there. Are you
a believer? Every time he looks at his hands and his feet, he
says their names are engraven on the palms of my hands. And let this be a reminder to
you right now as he sits at the right hand of his father with
the wounds in his hands and in his feet. Who did he die for?
Who did he die for? He didn't die for everybody.
That's blasphemous to think that he could shed his blood for somebody
and they wind up in hell. Somebody that preaches that does
not preach the gospel. Amen. He didn't die for everybody. Who did he die for? Can they
be identified? This is a faithful saying, and
it's worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the
world to save sinners, of whom I am the chief. And the fact
that He right now sits at the right hand of the Father with
His wounds reminds us that He still is the Savior of sinners. And if you come to God by Him,
He'll receive you. He is the Savior of sinners. And His visible wounds tell us
that He still receives sinners. You know, there's a passage in
Luke chapter 15 where the Pharisees were criticizing it. And they
said, this man receives sinners. And he eats with them. And they
didn't know in this criticism that they were giving his glory.
This man receiveth sinners and eats with them. Those fellows
didn't know they praised him. And his wounds right now say
this man, this God-man, This glorious Son of God receiveth
sinners, and even eats with them. Thank
God for the Lord Jesus Christ. Let's pray together.