The Day Our World Changed Forever Part 3 - John 20:19-26

1:26Well, earlier this resurrection morn, we come back to That first day, that first Lord's Day. Already, there have been several appearances that have already taken place. There is the appearance to Mary Magdalene. We already looked at that in John's Gospel. But not recorded in John's Gospel is a second appearance to the women on the road. And then there is a third appearance to the men on the road to Emmaus, recorded in Luke 24. And then in Luke 24, verse 34, there is a statement that the Lord has also appeared to Peter. And that brings us to the fifth appearance, which is the one we encounter today.

2:14Jesus meets with the ten disciples. Also, associated with this is Luke's recount of this in Luke 24. But this is the key event of the new beginning. From this day forward, the Lord's Day is going to be the time of gathering for the Lord's people. It's on this day there's a new covenant. It's made in Christ's blood and the demonstration of its effectiveness by the resurrection, first day of the week. And it's been a time of gathering ever since, commemorating, remembering our Lord and his triumph. And all that that says about us and who we are and our relationship with God in a new covenant. Well, we come to this evening of the first Lord's Day in our text, and it's the key event for this new beginning. Now, up until this moment, the disciples had already heard good news. Some were struggling to believe it, of course, but they had heard good news that Jesus was alive again. Some of them, like those on the road to Emmaus, had met him and had their hearts excited.

3:41Their hearts had been excited. As we come to our text this morning, they were still very much afraid, still very much afraid. And in our passage this morning, we're going to relieve that moment when the disciples go from fear to peace, when joy comes in and when peace settles in. Because this is that moment when Christ actually gives his peace to his disciples. And it's this peace that is going to characterize these disciples going forward. In fact, it's going to be this kind of peace that characterizes God's people. This really isn't anything new. In fact, in Isaiah 30, verse 15, the Lord said this: Thus the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel, has said, In repentance and rest you will be saved. In quietness and trust is your strength. The strength of a strong people is in their quietness, in the stability of soul, in peace, quietness, and rest.

5:10You show me a mighty person, and I'll show you a person who has a calmed soul. The strong people are characterized by peace. God's people are to be characterized and quieted before the Lord. They are to trust him completely. And how is God going to bring about this peace in his people? Well, Isaiah 9 tells us that a child is going to be born whose very name is Prince of Peace, and to the end, and that there will be no end to the increase of his government.

6:01Or of his peace. His peace is going to increase deeply in people. It's going to go widely across the earth. And there's going to be no end to that increase. Zechariah 9:9 reads, Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion. Shout in triumph, O daughter of Jerusalem. Behold, your king is coming to you. He is just and endowed with salvation, humble and mounted on a donkey, even on a colt, the foal of a donkey. John, you remember in chapter 12, verse 13, cited this verse from Zechariah as Jesus entered into Jerusalem. It's a man of peace on a donkey.

7:00Let me read to you the very next verse in Zechariah, which also no doubt is in John's mind. Verse 10, I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim and the horse from Jerusalem, and the bow of war will be cut off. Wars are going to cease. And he will speak peace to the nations, and his dominion will be from sea to sea and from the river to the ends of the earth. So Zechariah sees the king of peace. Coming in on a donkey into Jerusalem, and that he's going to cut off wars. Wars are going to cease because the king of kings is the king of peace, the prince of peace, and he is going to speak peace to the nations.

7:50Peace that increases always deeply and always wider. Jerusalem and all nations. Wars will cease because the work of Christ is to bring about peace, lasting peace, true peace, deep peace. It'll happen in the nations. But before it happens in the nations, it's going to happen in individual souls. And that's going to be the work of Christ. Peace. Peace. What a wonderful word. Peace. So, what I want to talk to you this morning about is receiving this peace that Jesus gives. Peace that he gives. What a wonderful word.

8:42Some metaphors for peace. You can think of peace as a calmed storm, like in Mark 4:36 or 438.9. A storm that has been hushed, water that is still. In Isaiah 54, 36. 10, you get the idea that peace that can transcend the shaking of mountains. We think of mountains as stable, right? Well, there's a peace that even transcends the stability of mountains. So you've got the idea of calm, the idea of stability. In Zechariah 8:12, it speaks of peace for the seed. Now, if you're a seed, you're going to be planted in the ground. What does peace look like? Well, favorable fruit-bearing conditions, right? Favorable conditions, free from competition, free from anything that would zap the energy or strangle out.

9:52So, as you start working your way and understanding peace, peace is about a calmed soul, a stable soul, a satisfied soul. It carries the idea of the whole concept of the Hebrew word shalom, which is not just the absence of conflict, though it's that, or apprehension, or the absence of turmoil, or troubled, but it carries the idea of soundness, completeness, and wholeness. We need peace, don't we? Strength of a people, strength of the Christian, is in the calm, in the stable, in the satisfaction, in the wholeness, in the soundness, the completeness.

10:57We need this. The world goes after peace, right? But they pursue a very different kind of peace. And all too often we do too. In fact, we can pursue a peace because we love ourselves. We can pursue a peace that is all about us. Sometimes we just want to be done with conflict. And in our mind, if we can just get rid of conflict, or if we could just change our circumstances for the better, but we're really not interested in the peace that is born out of righteousness and peace that comes with the right relationship with God.

11:45See, a worldly way of getting peace is to seize what you want, be aggressive. If you can get what you want, ah, then you shall be at peace. And maybe even eliminating any opposition. To getting what you want. Peace is often sought out by changing your circumstances. But inevitably, we run into frustration because we're not masters of our own soul. We're not masters of our circumstances. And so when we run into circumstances that we cannot change, what's the next way you deal with the turmoil? How do you get peace when you can't change your circumstances? Well, you run away in one shape or form or the other, right? Run away. If you can't change your circumstances, believe them, right?

12:40Check out. Or even more, sometimes we'll just get to a point where we don't care anymore. That's another way to find peace. It's just not care, right? Well, Christ wants his people to be characterized by a peace that transcends all of this. Sometimes our past might haunt us, past failures, past shortcomings, past sins, past wrongs, past whatever. And we need to have a peace about our past. Sometimes it's our present circumstances that terrorize us, whether it's relations, whether it's situations.

13:31Whether it's circumstances in our community, circumstances in our nation, circumstances in our world, circumstances in our financial situation, whatever circumstances we need to have peace in our present. But sometimes it's our future prospects that frighten us. God, I don't want, I'm not happy with the station I'm in. I'm not happy with the forecast for my life. In fact, God, I am very scared. You want me to love him? You want me to serve her? You want me to serve them? Submit to this, honor this, that?

14:28I can't do that. I'm inadequate. God? The future frightens me. So then the question becomes: how can we become calm people? How can we become stable? How can we be satisfied? How can we be sound? How can we be complete? How can we be whole as we face the issues of life, which Christ Himself has promised we will have tribulation and trials? How do we face our world characterized by such peace? Well, the answer is: we need to receive the peace that Jesus gives. This is what he gives, and we need to receive it, and we need to know how to receive it, or we are not going to be a people characterized by peace. In fact, going to our context, how could his disciples go forward after all that had happened? Think about what had happened at the crucifixion. How in the world are they going to go forward from that moment? Something new is going to happen, have to happen. They're like a bunch of dead bones, a husk of a man, a shell of a man.

15:55And they need Christ to breathe into them. They need the peace that Jesus gives. So that's what I want us to look at this morning. I want us to understand and receive the peace that Jesus gives. That's a very simple outline, but really what happens is there's two rounds of exhortation and action. First, Jesus is going to exhort them to have peace, and then he's going to do an action to promote peace. And he's going to do that again. He's going to give them an exhortation to peace, and then he's going to perform an action to promote peace. Exhortation, action, exhortation, action. That's where we're going. So, first, you're going to receive the peace that Jesus gives. The very first thing you're going to have to do is begin with Jesus Himself. You're going to have to have peace with Jesus.

16:58Before the disciples could experience true peace in their souls, they had to come to peace with Jesus. And after the last few days, they were in need of some. There's a lot of loose ends, a lot going on in their own souls. Look at verse 19. So, when it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and when the doors were shut where the disciples were for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in their midst and said to them, Peace be with you. So, perhaps they're in that same place that they were with the Lord's Supper. They celebrated the Lord's Supper just a few days before, the Thursday night or Wednesday night, if you have a different perspective on the order of the crucifixion.

17:48But they are shut up in this room for fear of the Jews. Notice that there are doors, not just one door, we're shut up. Shut and the word, they're locked, short. It could be shut, barred, bolted. And it's not just one door, it's layers of doors. Okay, so they are secured and they're locked up in this place because of fear of the Jews. And if you think about it, this is very legitimate, something to expect, right?

18:30The Jewish mafia that had crucified Christ were brutal men. And they're ready to silence anyone else, step in or be part of condemning their religion. And what's more, the chief priests knew about the body being taken away and they blamed the disciples for taking the body. Matthew 28, verse 11 and following. So these men were marked men. And no doubt they're afraid for their own lives, but they're also afraid for the lives of their families and those with them. But this is what fear does. Fear is a prison, it shuts people in, it confines, it reduces you down to a very small living space. When you start playing, Into your fears, and you start letting them have control, all of a sudden your world becomes very small and it shuts you in and incarcerates you, it stifles you, and it's not a place for those whom the Son sets free.

19:49He came to set the captives free, and he's certainly going to show up here to set his disciples free. So Jesus came and he stood. Look, doors are locked, and he comes and he stood in their midst. He just passed through somehow. Doesn't say how. Maybe his body can go through walls, as some say. Whatever it was, you can certainly know for certain, know for sure, is that these locked doors were unable to hinder his access to his disciples. And what does he do? He comes into their midst and says to them, peace with you. It's really a simple greeting, two words. We would translate it here in Texas: peace, y'all.

20:43Peace, y'all. Peace with you. And it's more than just a simple greeting. He's going to say it again. He's not just giving a simple little greeting. He is giving them something. In fact, he came. To promise to give his peace. In fact, in John chapter 14, verse 27, what he just said in the upper room that Thursday night, peace I leave with you, my peace I give to you. I am giving you, he came to give them something that belonged to him. That something that belonged to him was his peace, something that he was a personal possession. Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you. Not as the world gives, do I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful. And that fear had characterized them from the moment he said, I'm leaving. Wait a minute, you're going up there to Messiah? They're going to crucify. You're leaving? And that fear took hold in their heart, and it stays with them all the way through the crucifixion. They have not been at peace from the moment in that upper room all the way to this first evening of the Lord's Day, that first Lord's Day, here they're going to finally experience that peace.

22:06And we get to step into it and just watch how it unfolds. But here he comes. After absorbing in himself all the hostilities that the world could deliver, after receiving in himself the full punishment demanded by God's holy law, he comes to them as a victor. Not only as a victor, but one who comes to fulfill the promise which he made to them. They certainly had not experienced peace, but then here he is, and that's his exhortation. Peace with you. Peace be with you all.

22:48Now, so that's his exhortation. Now, I want you to see the action that he does to promote peace in them. Verse 20. And when he had said this, he showed them both his hands and his side. And that's what he does. He shows them both his hands and his side. You see, the disciples needed proof that Jesus was Jesus. In fact, Luke's Gospel, as you pick up the narrative here, remember you've got the two guys that have been on the road to Emmaus. They come back, they come to this meeting, and they're telling them all what had happened. They're excited. They're relaying the message. And then all of a sudden, this is what happens. They were telling these things, and Jesus himself stood in their midst. Luke 24, verse 36. But they were startled and frightened and thought they were seeing a spirit. And he said to them, Why are you troubled? And why do doubts arise in your hearts? See my hands, see my feet, that it is I myself. Touch me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones, as you see that I have. And when he had said this, he showed him his hands and feet, while they still could not believe. It because of their joy and amazement, he said to them, Have you anything here to eat? They gave him a piece of broiled fish, and he took it and ate before their eyes. So here he is. He shows up, and you can imagine they're afraid of the Jews. Then all of a sudden, Jesus shows up. That'll probably wig you out pretty good, too, right? How did you get in here? And who are you, right? And what is this I'm seeing? You know, they're trying to certainly he wants to go to great lengths to show them and to convince them it's him.

24:37Jesus says, It's me. Give me some food to eat. I want to show. He is going, he wants to show them. He's not concealing himself. And the question that I ask is, why didn't they recognize him? Well, there's probably several reasons, but one of them, you've heard me comment on it before, I believe the reason they didn't recognize him is because he had the scars from the crucifixion. I believe he was severely disfigured. I believe his scars are on his body.

25:17I believe that if he had one scar, he had them all. I don't think God pulls out a little brush and say, well, let's get rid of these few scars. They're too ugly. I think that would diminish the work of the Son. I think if he has one scar, he has them all. And when you look at what happens in a crucifixion, it's brutal. It touches the whole body. I mean, that he was marred. Isaiah tells us he was marred more than any other man.

25:49John in Revelation, when he sees him, he describes him as a lamb who looked like he was slain. And so I think therein is a problem of why they can't recognize him. And these are glorious scars. They're ugly scars. They're horrifying scars. But there's also a beauty in them. And when we see them, I believe at an instance, we're going to know what Christ has done for us. And we're going to see the depth of his love because it's going to be displayed. And that's the body prepared for him.

26:32And I don't think it goes away in eternity. It's an ugly, terrifying beauty. But he's trying to make himself known. And so he shows them his hands and his side. And John records that it convinced them. It convinced them. He showed them this to remove their fears. Afraid. You see, if you're going to receive the peace that Jesus gives, guess what? You're going to have to believe the testimony of the scars. The disciples had to believe the testimony of the scars. And do you know what those scars said?

27:24They testified, number one, that Jesus was alive. Jesus is alive. Number two, they testified that Jesus was greater than sin and death. Number three, they testified that Jesus was greater than his adversaries. Number four, they testified that he indeed was God's Son, revealed in the power of the resurrection. Glorious. And yet, just if left alone, this would be frightening. He's alive, stronger than death. Sin, greater than all of his adversaries. He is God's most favored one, unquestionably. He's standing in our midst, and that in itself could be very frightening. If you are unsettled in your relationship with him, if you think all is not right with you and him, and you understand he has all this power, all this might, all this glory, then all of a sudden you want to know, what's my relationship like with him?

28:31Well, the scars also give proof that he forgives. To see the one standing before them was indeed Jesus, and the one announcing peace, the one speaking peace to the nations, beginning with the Jewish nation, right? The first words were peace. He did not come to chastise them, frown upon them, reprimand them, or condemn them for their sins, their defection, their denial, or their shortcomings. Isn't that a wonderful way to start that Jesus himself? You get a picture of Jesus, he comes. Why? Because he loves his people, because he wants them to grow strong. His grace is what makes people strong.

29:24And they needed proof that he forgives. And that's the testimony of the scars. They needed proof that all was right between them and him. We need to have peace with Jesus. We need to know that we have a right relationship with him and therefore with his father. We need to have that proof, and that proof is in the scars. So, peace. You can think at that moment. He removed that, and they were going through a lot, right?

30:09There was turmoil. There was conflict. There was fear. There was division. All that. And he gave them an inner rest. He gave them soundness, wholeness through a right relationship with himself. As they saw Jesus, they began to come alive, right? And look at what happens. Look at what happens. Verse 20, after he showed them both his hands and his side, the disciples then rejoiced when they saw the Lord. It was the presence of the Lord that brought about the rejoicing. And this, too, was something that he had promised. And this is a passive. They saw him. They saw the scars. And all of a sudden, it hit them.

31:10It is Jesus. He is speaking peace. Sins are forgiven. Jesus is alive. My relationship with him is fine. And they rejoiced. In fact, he told them. In John chapter 16, verse 20, just said that Thursday. Night before, truly, truly I say to you that you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice. You will grieve, but your grief will be turned into joy. Therefore, verse 22: you too have grief now, but I will see you again, and your heart will rejoice, and no one will take your joy away from you. That's when that joy set in, that inner peace, that inner strength, that joy took hold in the disciples' heart because from that day on, they knew no matter what happened on planet Earth, Jesus was alive, Jesus was in control, Jesus was God's Son.

32:17They were forgiven. Their relationship with God was secure. That's the testimony of the scars. And that's something to rejoice over. Let me ask you guys a personal question today, and I want everybody listening, young, old, everybody, listen. Do you have peace with Jesus? Are you at peace with Jesus? If you do not have peace with Jesus, you do not have peace with God. Have you put your faith in Him? Have you surrendered your life to Him? If you believe there are many other ways to help him, Heaven, you're not at peace with Jesus. You're in conflict with him. He said there is only one way. If you dismiss what the Bible calls sin, you're not at peace with Jesus, not the Christ revealed in the Bible.

33:16He came to die for that sin, he came to remove that guilt and to remove that disposition from you. And if you are protecting your sin, you're at conflict with him. You're not at peace with him. If you will not confess your sin and bow your knee before him and accept his forgiveness, you are not at peace with him. You remain condemned. Do you want peace with him today? And believe the testimony of the scars. They are an invitation for you to have your sins forgiven and to have your soul set right with Christ and with your heavenly Father. That's the testimony, and that's the invitation to everyone here.

34:10And let us continue reminding ourselves the testimony of the scars. So, receiving the peace of Jesus begins with being at peace with him. Begins with peace with Jesus. Receiving the peace that Jesus gives begins by being at peace with Jesus. But second, second, receiving the peace of Jesus involves you being at peace about your calling, peace about your calling. You need to be at peace with Jesus, and you need to be at peace with the tasks and the station of life that he has placed you in.

35:07So, again, we're going to look at these exhortation and action pattern. We looked at the first round, exhortation and action. Now, we're going to look at the second round of exhortation and action. Look at the first exhortation to have peace. So, verse 21. So, Jesus said to them again, peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, I also send you. Now, that's a very profound comparison, right? You see the comparison? As the Father has sent me, I'm sending you.

35:41Now, that being sent is a major theme in John's Gospel. And so, if I just give you a quick survey, I want you to understand what it meant for Jesus to have been sent by his Father and how that shaped him and his life. And then, likewise, what Life will be like for us having been sent by Jesus because the comparison that Jesus makes. Now, first of all, it's clear that Jesus was sent to do his Father's will. John 4:34, my food is to do the will of him who sent me. John 5:30, I can do nothing on my own initiative. I do not seek my own will, but the will of him who sent me. John 6:38, I have come down from heaven not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me. It's also clear that Jesus was sent to speak the Father's words. He says in John 7:16, My teaching is not my own, but his who sent me. John 12:49, for I did not speak on my own initiative, but the Father Himself who sent me has given me a commandment as to what to say and what to speak. John 14, 24, the word which you hear is not mine, but the Father's who sent me. It's clear that Jesus came to speak the Father's word. It's also clear that Jesus was sent to perform the Father's works. John 9:44, we must work the works of him who sent me as long as it is day. Night is coming when no one can work.

37:21In all this, Jesus was sent to do the Father's will. He was sent to speak the Father's words. He was sent to perform the Father's works. And all this for the purpose of making the Father known. John 12, 44, Jesus says, He who believes in me does not believe in me, but in him who sent me. John 12:45, he who sees me sees the one who sent me. So all this was done. Jesus did the Father's will, spoke the Father's word, performed the Father's works so that others would see his Father.

37:59Now, think about what when he makes this comparison to his disciples. Just as the Father sent me, I am sending you. The disciples, Jesus sent the disciples to do Jesus' will, to speak Jesus' words, to perform Jesus' works, so that Jesus would be known. That's how he's going to continue his work. And as his disciples go forward to make him known, Jesus is making his Father known. You see how he involves us in his work. And even today, we, like disciples, are to do Jesus' will, speak Jesus' words, do the kinds of works that Jesus wants us to do, all for the purpose of.

39:00Making him known. Now, think about that. What a great commission, right? Now, go back to that locked room and think about the moment. Here's this scarred figure. Takes a while to even recognize him. He comes in their midst and he says, Oh, just like the father sent me, I'm sending you. Just as the father sent me on collision with the false religions of this world, I'm sending you on a collision course. And it's going to start here in Jerusalem.

39:52In other words, those doors you have locked, they're going to have to become unlocked. And you're going to go out those doors. And here's this scarred figure. I don't know about you, but that might scare me more than any of it, right? Peace be with you. Because I'm sending you out like the Father sent me out. I remember, remember Clyde Wilton? Some of you don't know him, he was the pastor here for 40 years. To keep bees, and one day I went out to learn how to keep bees with him. Well, he did it without any equipment and hardly even had a smoker that worked. So I'm over there trying to get a smoker working. He said, Well, let's go work on the bees. No, no protective gear at all. And the smoker wasn't even working. And he takes off to go start pulling the beehive apart. And I said, Clyde, you're going to get stung. Yeah, you will too.

40:59Like, oh, I don't know if I want to play this game with you. And sure enough, we got over there, stung after sting after sting. And he just pulled it out and see, it hurt him a lot worse than it hurt me. And I said, Well, I don't know, it hurt me pretty bad. Well, in a imagine the disciples, they just watched Christ be crucified. And now here's this figure. And he said, I'm sending you. They need a little peace, right? The reserves aren't in them to carry out this task.

41:41What a task. So that's why his second exhortation to have peace is followed up with another action to give them peace. Look at verse 22. And when he said this, he breathed on them. Said to them, receive the Holy Spirit. Yeah, you're going to need the Holy Spirit for this one. So, the need for the Holy Spirit to carry out such a commission is evident. They're still very much like dead men before the Great Commission. They need a new spirit, they need something unearthly.

42:26They didn't have the spiritual reserves. And so, he breathed upon him. Certainly, a metaphor for the giving of his spirit. And it's the only time this word is used in the New Testament. It is used, translated in Genesis 2:7 to speak of God breathing into Adam. We read it earlier. He was just a pile of dust, and then God breathed his spirit. Adam became a living soul, a living being. 1 Corinthians 15:45, Paul cites this verse, and he says, So it is written, the first man, Adam, became a living soul. The last Adam became a life-giving spirit. And you see that happening right here: giving the Spirit. The same word is used in Ezekiel 37, which we also read. How can Israel possibly live again? How can the promises made to Israel possibly live? How can Israel recover from its religious apostolic? Apostasy that crucified its own Messiah. How does it happen?

43:35Well, in Ezekiel, you see the picture of God breathing on the slain in verse 9. And they came to life. And by the way, as Christ comes in and he breathes his spirit into his disciples, that is the beginning of the healing for the nation of Israel. That testimony will be proclaimed there in Jerusalem. It will also go around the whole earth. Nations will hear the message of peace, true peace, and even in time, Gentiles themselves will carry that message back to Jerusalem and speak to the Jews and tell them just how wonderful their Savior is.

44:24He breathed. And his command, and the only command in this passage is to receive the Holy Spirit. Receive. It's the idea of receiving, like they, in John 6:21, receiving Jesus into the boat. Like John 12, 48, receiving the words he speaks. In John 19, 27, it's John talking to his, it's Jesus talking to John and saying, Behold your mother. And from that hour, he took her into his own household. He welcomed with. Joy. And it's an active verb. It's see, take in, receive, grasp, take in.

45:13And this breathing out of the Holy Spirit has been very much anticipated in John's gospel. In fact, he starts it at the very beginning. You get in John chapter 1, you see John the Baptist identifying Jesus as the one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit. In his conversation with Nicodemus in John chapter 3, we learn that the Holy Spirit, what man needs, is a spiritual work on the inside. He needs to be born of the Spirit. In John 3:34, there's a close association between the words and the Spirit. John 3:34 says this, For he whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for he gives the Spirit without measure. The one speaking the words is also giving the Spirit. John 6:63, Jesus said, It is the Spirit who gives life. The flesh profits nothing. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life. The words themselves are spiritual entities that go in when taken in, and they give spiritual life. The word, the truth spoken by the spirit, taken in, gives life. This is how. John puts it all together. And then in John 7, verse 39, you remember that great day at the last day of the feast of the Jesus stands up and says, This, but this, speaking of the living water, he spoke of the Spirit, whom those who believed in were to receive. For the Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified. Now, in John's gospel, when is Jesus glorified? I can tell you, a lot of people try to connect this to Acts chapter 2 and Pentecost. John's not writing about Acts chapter 2, he lived through Pentecost. If he wanted us to think about Pentecost, he would have taken us there. He doesn't take us there, he takes us to this event. And when in John's gospel is Jesus glorified, he is glorified on the cross and resurrection and the fact that he is ascending. But John relates it: the hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. He's talking about his crucifixion when the Son of Man will be lifted up.

47:46After that, after his resurrection, then I believe he gives the Spirit. What you're witnessing here is the disciples taking in. What was promised, this living water, receiving that spirit and satisfying their souls. And what does Jesus say? The one who drinks in this living water will be out of him, rivers of living water will come. In other words, that soul that has been watered by Christ becomes a soul that Jesus uses to communicate his saving grace and his satisfying stream to others. The satisfied soul becomes the soul that waters others.

48:36John 14:17, Jesus says, It's the Spirit of truth whom the world cannot receive because it does not see him or know him, but you know him because he abides with you and he will be in you. He will be in you, and this is the moment where you see them taking in. And I love this. Before Jesus uses these men in power, he gives them peace. The peace comes before the power, the indwelling peace. The soul is satisfied. He doesn't just use us, he satisfies us so that we can take delight in his program because we have experienced who he is and his marvelous goodness and his soul. Soul-satisfying supply.

49:34So peace comes. And then the power is going to come to others. Future. Acts 2, preview. What's going to happen on a much larger scale? But here it is, satisfying the souls. You see, they couldn't envision, desire, or get excited about their mission, let alone stand the persecution that was sure to come without the Holy Spirit. And boy, they did, didn't they? Peter's going to be crucified upside down. What these apostles went through is horrific. And they did it with joy in their hearts and love for Christ.

50:20They were at peace with the calling that God had placed upon them. And they went forward. Look at the statement. Interesting statement. Verse 33: If you forgive the sins of any, their sins have been forgiven them. If you retain the sins of any, they have been retained. Now, some have seen this: Jesus is granting the ability to forgive sins to his apostles and then the apostolic successors. That is not what I believe. Believes happening here at all. You don't see any instruction in the New Testament about how to absolve people of their sins.

51:10There's no other instruction about it, no other detail about it, because that's not what Jesus is intending to communicate here or what John is trying to communicate. So, what is he trying to communicate? Well, it's clear that the mission is about forgiveness. In fact, as you read Luke 24 and you make this parallel understanding, it's written that repentance for the forgiveness of sins is going to be proclaimed around the whole world. And so, there's clear the mission involves forgiveness. It's, and keep in mind here, Jesus has just sent them to do to continue his father's work in the same way Jesus had been sent, right? They were to do Jesus' will, they were to speak Jesus' words, they were to perform the works that Jesus did, and they were, having done all, they received the Spirit, having gone out with that, they're to make Jesus known, and inevitably they're going to be able to tell the difference between true and false converts. They themselves know what it's like to really fully embrace. And so, it's simply saying, If you should, and this is a subjunctive, he's saying, if anyone, if you should forgive, if say in the future, you should forgive, or you should let their sins go, or declare their sins let go, they have been forgiven. They already have been forgiven. Perfect tense. If you should hold on, they have already been held on. Same idea, perfect tense. They have been retained. They have been forgiven.

53:04And inevitably, as they carry out their tasks, they're going to deal with true and false conversions. You remember Simon, the sorcerer, in Acts chapter 8. You remember, even after he made this profession, he was of faith, he was baptized, and he got all excited. And he's like, I want to buy the Holy Spirit's power. Can I give you money and you give me that power? And this is what Peter said in Acts 8:20. He said, May your silver perish with you, because you thought you could obtain the gift of God with money. You have no part or portion in this matter, for your heart is not right before God. Peter's just making a declaration. He says, I can tell what you're doing. I can tell things are not right before God. Therefore, repent of this wickedness of yours and pray the Lord that, if possible, the intention of your heart may be forgiven. Peter is saying, Pray to him. It may be possible. It may not be. You ask him to forgive you. He's not absolving him. For I see that you're in the gall of bitterness and in the bondage of iniquity.

54:14So we can, and I don't want to spend any more time dealing with the issue here because I don't want you to miss what is really monumental here. Jesus is commissioning his disciples to go with the message of forgiveness to those who had murdered him. That's what's happening. Go. Go with the message of forgiveness. Go out these doors. Take these bars off. You're going to go out and you are going to witness. You're going to go with the message of forgiveness to those who murdered, to those who wronged.

54:57You're going to need a spirit to do that, right? Because that's not in us to do that. And yet that's his commission. Well, the testimony of the scars had to be proclaimed. The peace that Jesus gave had to be given to his disciples. And the peace that he gave was not to be retained. They were to become conduits to communicate that peace to others. It was not the gift. Or it was the gift, I'm sorry, it was the gift that made them conduits of the gift. Living water becomes the river. The gift of the Holy Spirit is not a gift that the Holy Spirit gives, the Holy Spirit is the gift, He is the living water that He, that Jesus gives, the one who baptizes the Holy Spirit.

56:03And so, this day that changed our world forever was when this small band of beaten-down and discouraged and fearful disciples received the peace of God. And that set them at a calm, that set them at stable at soul, that made them sound, that made them whole, and that prepared the way for the Spirit to use them in power. But listen, strength is in quietness, strength is in rest. How do you receive the peace that Jesus gives? Number one, you need to be at peace with Jesus, you need to believe the testimony. Of the scars. Second, you need to be at peace with your calling in life. He knows where he puts you, he knows what he's given you.

57:10And in order to be at peace with your calling in life, you need to receive the internal supply of the Spirit, His Spirit. You see, we need the peace of God for our past. We need to know that we have His good favor in our present, and we need His peace as we embrace the future. One last thought I want to leave you with: that the picture of humanity that Jesus presents for us is very different than what we see in Adam. Adam had paradise, but he was also soft in paradise. He had everything. But Jesus shows us another image of humanity. He shows us this rugged figure who is completely able to overcome any challenges, whether they're internal challenges or external challenges. He shows us one who can truly exercise dominion in a godly way. He shows us one who jealously loves his own, loves his father.

58:23He shows us one who is diligent to take care of all that God has placed under his care. No, this is a picture of somebody very different than what we saw in the first Adam. He had to be coddled and protected in Eden. But this one, this Jesus, he can turn a wilderness into an Eden. That's who we follow. And he is active in transforming us to be like him. Humanity that bears his image is far more rugged, far more beautifully rugged than we could ever imagine. But we begin to see it as we see Christ emerging from the grave, speaking peace to his disciples and speaking peace to the nations. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, help us to receive this peace this morning in Jesus' name.