Let's stand for the reading of God's Word, which will be in
John's Gospel chapter 2019 to 31.
It's about a year ago that we launched into our study of the
Gospel of John, and this Sunday is the second to last sermon in
the series. Next Sunday will be our final
sermon in John, and then we will be moving in to the book of
Jonah, and we'll study Jonah up through the beginning of Advent.
As I read this story, it's very familiar to many people.
And because we know the end, it's sometimes difficult to
imagine what the disciples were experiencing.
So let me set the stage. There's ten of them.
Thomas is not with them, Judas betrayed Christ.
The ten of them are behind locked doors, terrified of what
the Jews might do to them. The man that they have followed
for three years, the only perfect man.
Jesus never sinned the way he taught them all that must happen
has died. His body has been placed in a
tomb. They're experiencing the shock
and the horror, this gruesome death, and wondering what does
this mean? What is the call when suddenly,
without announcement, the Lord Jesus himself appears in the
center, in the middle amongst them here.
Now how this unfolds according to the apostle John, as he was
carried along by the Holy Spirit to write these words.
Verse 19, John 20. On the evening of that day, the
first day of the week, the doors being locked where the disciples
were for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and
said to them, Peace be with you. When he had said this, he showed
them his hands and his side. Then the disciples were glad
when they saw the Lord Jesus said to them again, Peace be
with you. As the Father has sent me, Even
so I am sending you. And when he had said this, he
breathed on them and said to them, Receive the Holy Spirit.
If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them.
If you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld.
Now Thomas, one of the 12 called the twin, was not with them when
Jesus came. So the other disciples told him,
we have seen the Lord, but he said to them, Unless I see in
his hands the mark of the nails, and place my finger into the
mark of the nails, and place my hand into his side, I will never
believe. 8 days later his disciples were inside again and
Thomas was with them. Although the doors were locked,
Jesus came and stood among them and said, peace be with you.
Then he said to Thomas, Put your finger here and see my hands,
and put out your hand and place it in my side.
Do not disbelieve, but believe. Thomas answered him, My Lord and
my God, Jesus said to him, have you believed because you've seen
me? Blessed are those who have not
seen and yet have believed. Now Jesus did many other signs
in the presence of the disciples which are not written in this
book, but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus
is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may
have life in His name. This is the word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God. Please be seated.
This final verse of chapter 20 is where we began about a year
ago. John so clearly tells us the
purpose for his book. The Apostle John tells us that
he is writing these things, recording this narrative, that
those who hear it would believe that Jesus is the Christ, the
Son of God, and that by believing He would have life in
His name. John, carried along by the Holy
Spirit, wrote words that you and I have been studying for over a
year. Many of you have studied a lot
longer. Some of you are brand new to
these words. What happened in this account
that you just heard me read really happened.
There really were ten men who had followed Jesus when he said
come follow me, I will make you fishers.
The men, they laid down everything and they followed
Christ for three years. They saw Jesus do amazing things
and say amazing things. They saw him walk on water.
They saw him calm storms, They saw him turn water to wine.
They heard him say to a dead man in the tomb, Lazarus come out,
and he did. This is who they saw and who
they followed prior to the crucifixion.
He spent time with them in the upper room making promises to
them, telling them what was going to happen.
And it did. Jesus Christ, the only perfect
man, the spotless Lamb, was sacrificed, killed, murdered on
the cross. And the 10 or the 12, I should
say 1 betrayed him, one denied, and they all scattered.
This is the evening of the first day of the week, and these men
are hiding, and they're hiding in real fear.
They're hiding because they are afraid that the Jews, the
religious leaders, might come after them and do the same thing
to them that they did to Jesus. They're behind closed doors.
We're told the door is locked and they're simply together,
except for one, Thomas. We'll get to Thomas in a minute.
I want to spend some time looking at this in this way.
I want to focus on his appearance, the words he spoke,
and then the way he empowered them.
So go with me to verse 19. On the evening of that day, the
first day of the week, the doors being locked where the disciples
were for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them.
This tells us a lot about the way our Lord works and who He
is. Jesus was not expected by them.
They were not saying to one another.
When do you think he's going to knock on the door and come in?
Jesus moves suddenly and shockingly.
While these men are having whatever conversation they're
having, lamenting whatever they're lamenting, fearful of
whatever they're afraid of, Jesus is suddenly present.
Just comprehend that if you can. A man who they saw die, a man
whose body they knew had been placed in the tomb, is now in
their presence. He's a man.
He's not a ghost. He is not a spirit in his flesh
He's present. And this matters.
How do we know? Because when he enters in, they
see him, and he shows them the wounds in his hand and the
piercing and his side. Why?
Because he's a man. And that man, the perfect
sacrifice, the spotless Lamb, truly was killed.
But he is now alive. He is resurrected.
He has been raised from the dead, and this man somehow
suddenly appears in their presence, reminding us that he
is fully God and fully man. Don't miss that.
He is in their midst. He is in the middle.
He is present suddenly and shockingly, the fact that he has
a body matters because it's a real man, the real man who is
alive. He has conquered death.
He's not just a ghost. He's not just the spirit.
It's really him. What does that teach us about
the resurrection? The Christ body was transformed.
It was no longer dead. It was transformed.
If you're in Christ, one day your body is going to be raised
as well. It's going to be transformed.
But we also see that Jesus's body was recognizable.
They knew it was him. This transformed body.
This raised body was recognizable, and they saw his
wounds. Jesus is still a man, He still
has a body. We will see him one day if we're
in Christ for all eternity. But now Jesus, his appearance
sudden, His appearance shocking. It's a transformed appearance,
but it's a recognizable appearance.
Jesus now speaks, standing among them.
It doesn't say that anyone else said anything.
First Jesus speaks, and what does he say?
4 words. Peace be with you.
Now that's an ordinary and common greeting in the Greek,
but there's more to it than that.
They were not at peace. They had coward.
Peter had denied 3 times that he even knew him.
The word tells us that all of them had scattered for fear.
It's understandable. But they were not at peace.
So Jesus speaks, Peace be with you.
When he'd said this, he showed them his hands on his side.
Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord.
Jesus said to them again, Peace be with you.
Already. On this first night of the week,
this day of resurrection, Jesus is fulfilling promises that he
made to them in the upper room. I will not leave you as orphans.
I will not forsake you. He is already present and it's
the real Lord. It's the man that was on the
cross. It's the man they saw walk on
water. It's the man they saw feed
thousands of people, It's the Lord.
He says, I'm going to give you my peace.
What does he speak first? He doesn't condemn them.
He doesn't rebuke them. He speaks his peace.
Peace be with you. He says it twice, recorded here
in verse 20 and 21. Jesus promised His presence.
He promised His peace. He said in his prayer to the
Father that he was sending them out.
And then he speaks these words as the Father has sent me.
Even so, I am sending you. Isn't that amazing, the way John
records those words? Jesus says as the Father has
sent me, as he, my Father, your Father has sent me on the
mission which I have accomplished this death and
resurrection. Even so, I am sending you.
The sent 1 is now sending the ones he called to follow him.
And it's the same mission. It's the same mission to go out
and proclaim the name of Christ, that there is only one who is
the Lord. There is only one who is God.
There is only one who can save you, and it's Jesus.
And so he says, peace be with you as the Father has sent me,
Even so I'm sending you. And then in verse 22, we see
another promise fulfilled. He promised that the Holy Spirit
would come. John is the only one who records
this in the Gospels, verse 22. And when Jesus had said this, he
breathed on them and said to them, receive the Holy Spirit.
That's really interesting. Sometimes we're prone to think
that the Holy Spirit really didn't come onto the scene until
Pentecost. The Holy Spirit is God eternal,
the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, that mystery.
Jesus said it is better for you that I go away, that the Spirit
might come. Many read this in John's gospel
and they wonder what actually was happening then.
John's the only one who records this.
It seems like he's talking about what happened at Pentecost.
Is this the same thing? Scholars have debated this.
I don't believe it was the same thing.
I believe that as Jesus is meeting with these ten that
night, as he says I'm bringing you peace, This is me, I'm
present. Look at my hands, look at my
side. He commissions them, means he
sends them and in order to do that, he's empowering them.
And what I believe is happening here is that as Jesus is
breathing on them, just picture that scene.
He's in the midst of them. As he's breathing on them, he
says receive the Holy Spirit. I believe that there is a
picture here of what is about to happen, the symbolism about what
is about to happen 50 days from now when the true outpouring of
the Holy Spirit will take place at Pentecost.
I believe this is a picture looking forward where they're
already tasting some element of that power and presence that's
going to be with them, but not yet full.
It's coming. But I also think that John, in
the crafty way, the beautiful way that he was carried along by
the Spirit to right, is taking us way back, all the way to the
beginning. I love what Andreas Kostenberger
says about this part of John's narrative.
He says there is creation symbolism.
This should not surprise us in a book that opens with the same
words as Genesis in the beginning.
John constantly grounds his narrative in the soil of the
creation chapters of Genesis. So while we can sense that he's
looking forward to what will happen in 50 days, he's also
looking back. This breathing by Jesus is
merely to a symbolic gesture connoting Jesus creation of a
new covenant community in a way analogous to the creation of
man, where God breathed into man's nostrils the breath of
life and the man became a living being.
Genesis 27. Christ is breathing on them.
He's showing them the responsibility that we have as
his followers. He says receive the Spirit.
Luke tells us in the book of Acts, you will receive power
when the Holy Spirit comes on you and you will be my witnesses
in in Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria into the ends of the
earth. Jesus in this moment with these
10 is pointing them to what's going to happen in the future,
but also taking them back to the beginning because this is the
beginning. This is the beginning of a new
covenant community, the Church of Jesus Christ, in which He is
the head, and He is sending them out with the message to proclaim
Christ. It's interesting that he says in
verse 23, if you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven
them. If you withhold forgiveness from
any, it is withheld. We need to be careful her not to
misunderstand that forgiveness lies in the power of human
beings. That is not what's taking place
here. This is a decorative power and
not an originating power. This is the disciples
proclaiming the truth that only in Christ can we be forgiven.
Only in Christ, the spotless Lamb who died for us, who is now
risen. That is where forgiveness lies,
and that's what they are to declare.
And for those who would reject that, it must be told that it
will be withheld if you reject it.
Now let's move to Thomas. We talked about Jesus's
appearance. We talked about what Jesus said,
and we talked about how Jesus empowered the ten.
Well, the same thing is about to happen.
One week later we moved to verse 24 because Thomas was not with
them. John tells us what he said
boldly. He says if I don't put my hand
in the mark of the nails and place my hand into his side, I
will never believe. But what I don't want you to
miss is what he's refusing to believe.
What he is refusing to believe is the Apostolic testimony.
He is refusing to believe what the 10 apostles have said has
just happened because he wasn't there, because he wasn't in that
room. And I don't know where he was.
We're not told when he returned. Those 10 told him what he
missed. Can you imagine?
Thomas the Lord was here. He didn't knock.
He just showed up. He wasn't a ghost because we saw
his side, we saw his hands. He was transformed.
He's alive. We recognized him.
He spoke to us. He said peace, and we felt peace
because of his presence. And then he reminded us of why
he called us to begin with. The one who was sent from the
Father is now sending out us. Thomas, I'm so sorry you missed
it. And they all agreed.
But Thomas, how could he doubt? Well, maybe it's because what
happened to Jesus, what he witnessed, how those last three
days unfolded, it was very difficult to imagine.
And probably he had a little fear to trust because what if it
isn't true? Everything he put his hope and
it ended. Christ was dead and now they're
saying he's not dead, he's alive.
But Thomas in his doubt and you know what it's like to doubt
says unless I see and touch, I will never believe.
So what does Jesus do? Jesus appears once again.
Suddenly God is going to surprise his children when he
calls them to himself. God is the one who initiates.
God is the one who pursues. God is the one who chooses.
And for any who are going to be saved by Christ in history,
there will be a collision course.
Woman at the well, there's going to be a collision course.
When your heart that is locked, when your heart that is dead is
going to suddenly be unlocked and come alive and you're going
to say, I believe Jesus knew that Thomas wasn't there.
That first appearance that was ordained by God so that 2000
years later, in the time between then and now, until Christ
returns, we'll be telling the story about how he went after
one of his own who was in the midst of doubt so deep that he
said to his companions, his fellow apostles, I will not
believe Jesus appears. It's sudden, He doesn't knock,
they don't unlock the door. He's just there standing among
them. What does he say?
Once again, the greeting. But the greeting means more than
hello. And how are you?
It's peace be with you. The promise that he had made to
give. And then he speaks directly to
Thomas. The Church of Jesus Christ is
made-up of individual people who have been saved by God.
We are a collective body, but he moves individually to make us
come to saving faith. Thomas, put your finger here.
Wouldn't you just love to have seen the scene?
Thomas, put your finger here. See my hands?
Put out your hand. Place it in my side.
He's a man. He was the man that was on the
cross. He's a man transformed by the
resurrection. He's alive.
He's transformed, but recognizable.
And then he gives this exhortation to Thomas.
Do not disbelieve, but believe. Do not disbelieve, but believe.
And then Thomas gives us the greatest declaration of who
Christ is in the whole gospel, my Lord and my God.
Now think about this for a minute.
Why did John tell us what his purpose in writing this book
was? It comes just a couple of verses
later. You heard it a minute ago.
Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples
which are not written in his book, but these are written so
that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God,
and that by believing you may have life in his name.
Right before that statement, John the Apostle was carried
along to write about doubting Thomas.
God knew and ordained that he wouldn't be present in that
first appearance. In the second appearance, Jesus
shows up and says, Peace be with you, Thomas.
He calls him by name. Put your finger here, Put your
hand here. Stop disbelieving and believe.
He says what all who come to Christ say in one way or
another, my Lord and my God. Then Jesus says something,
something that should bring you great encouragement.
Thomas is the one he's speaking to.
Have you believed because you have seen me?
He said he wouldn't believe unless he saw him, unless he
touched him. Christ met him in that.
That's amazing. But then Jesus says this.
Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.
If you're in Christ Jesus like I am in Christ Jesus, we have
never seen him. We will.
And Jesus says blessed are we who haven't seen, but we have
believed. And what have we believed?
We have believed the apostles testimony that went from this
place in the power of the Holy Spirit and continues to go.
If you're in Christ, there was a day or a season of your life
when suddenly who He said He was made sense to you match with
your knowledge that you needed Him and you needed him alone.
And one way or another, you cried out.
Jesus, my Lord and my God, if that's happened to you, we
should pray that we never get over the gift of belief, that we
would never get over the blessing of belief.
You believe because He caused you to believe.
Grace, grace, grace. It's very possible that today or
if you're listening to this, even weeks or months or years
from now, that it's the moment when you're on a collision
course with the Lord and the Lord is calling you to Himself,
showing you who He is through His Word and Spirit.
That same Spirit that He breathed and said receive, that
same Spirit that was poured out at Pentecost, that same Spirit
that was promised who lives in all who are in Christ.
It's the Spirit who illuminates your heart and mind.
That might be happening this morning.
And if it is, please talk to us. All you need to do is cry out to
the Lord and say, I trust you. You are the Lord, I trust you.
I want you to be my God, I trust you.
There is no other name in which I can be saved.
I am a Sinner. I need forgiveness.
You've heard it now though. So then hear these words of
Christ to Thomas. He said, stop your disbelief and
believe. This is why John wrote these
words, and the work that he sent the disciples to do when he
appeared to them in that room is still continuing.
And it's going to until the very last child that belongs to the
Father is chosen, is saved. Father in Heaven, so much took
place behind this closed door. You appeared, you spoke, you
showed yourself, you're alive, you commissioned, and you
empowered. You continue to do the same
thing. Lord, as we close in singing,
for some this is a new song. Let us think deeply about what
we are saying about the mission you've called us to.
And God make us eager to go out into the world and to proclaim
that there is only one who is the Lord God, our Savior Jesus,
and whose name we pray. Amen.
Please stand.