Peace, Purpose, and Power in the Resurrection

March 27, 2016 · Romans

Series · Romans · Week 26 of 85

Scripture referenced 30 passages

The passage this message was preached from, in full, with every other passage it reached for.

John 11 covered the previous week on Palm Sunday, the raising of Lazarus

1 Now a certain man was sick, Lazarus from Bethany, of the village of Mary and her sister, Martha.
2 It was that Mary who had anointed the Lord with ointment, and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother, Lazarus, was sick.
3 The sisters therefore sent to him, saying, “Lord, behold, he for whom you have great affection is sick.”
4 But when Jesus heard it, he said, “This sickness is not to death, but for the glory of God, that God’s Son may be glorified by it.”
5 Now Jesus loved Martha, and her sister, and Lazarus.
6 When therefore he heard that he was sick, he stayed two days in the place where he was.
7 Then after this he said to the disciples, “Let’s go into Judea again.”
8 The disciples told him, “Rabbi, the Jews were just trying to stone you, and are you going there again?”
9 Jesus answered, “Aren’t there twelve hours of daylight? If a man walks in the day, he doesn’t stumble, because he sees the light of this world.
10 But if a man walks in the night, he stumbles, because the light isn’t in him.”
11 He said these things, and after that, he said to them, “Our friend, Lazarus, has fallen asleep, but I am going so that I may awake him out of sleep.”
12 The disciples therefore said, “Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will recover.”
13 Now Jesus had spoken of his death, but they thought that he spoke of taking rest in sleep.
14 So Jesus said to them plainly then, “Lazarus is dead.
15 I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, so that you may believe. Nevertheless, let’s go to him.”
16 Thomas therefore, who is called Didymus, said to his fellow disciples, “Let’s go also, that we may die with him.”
17 So when Jesus came, he found that he had been in the tomb four days already.
18 Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, about fifteen stadia away.
19 Many of the Jews had joined the women around Martha and Mary, to console them concerning their brother.
20 Then when Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, but Mary stayed in the house.
21 Therefore Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you would have been here, my brother wouldn’t have died.
22 Even now I know that, whatever you ask of God, God will give you.”
23 Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.”
24 Martha said to him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.”
25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will still live, even if he dies.
26 Whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?”
27 She said to him, “Yes, Lord. I have come to believe that you are the Christ, God’s Son, he who comes into the world.”
28 When she had said this, she went away, and called Mary, her sister, secretly, saying, “The Teacher is here, and is calling you.”
29 When she heard this, she arose quickly, and went to him.
30 Now Jesus had not yet come into the village, but was in the place where Martha met him.
31 Then the Jews who were with her in the house, and were consoling her, when they saw Mary, that she rose up quickly and went out, followed her, saying, “She is going to the tomb to weep there.”
32 Therefore when Mary came to where Jesus was, and saw him, she fell down at his feet, saying to him, “Lord, if you would have been here, my brother wouldn’t have died.”
33 When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews weeping who came with her, he groaned in the spirit, and was troubled,
34 and said, “Where have you laid him?” They told him, “Lord, come and see.”
35 Jesus wept.
36 The Jews therefore said, “See how much affection he had for him!”
37 Some of them said, “Couldn’t this man, who opened the eyes of him who was blind, have also kept this man from dying?”
38 Jesus therefore, again groaning in himself, came to the tomb. Now it was a cave, and a stone lay against it.
39 Jesus said, “Take away the stone.” Martha, the sister of him who was dead, said to him, “Lord, by this time there is a stench, for he has been dead four days.”
40 Jesus said to her, “Didn’t I tell you that if you believed, you would see God’s glory?”
41 So they took away the stone from the place where the dead man was lying. Jesus lifted up his eyes, and said, “Father, I thank you that you listened to me.
42 I know that you always listen to me, but because of the multitude standing around I said this, that they may believe that you sent me.”
43 When he had said this, he cried with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!”
44 He who was dead came out, bound hand and foot with wrappings, and his face was wrapped around with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Free him, and let him go.”
45 Therefore many of the Jews, who came to Mary and saw what Jesus did, believed in him.
46 But some of them went away to the Pharisees, and told them the things which Jesus had done.
47 The chief priests therefore and the Pharisees gathered a council, and said, “What are we doing? For this man does many signs.
48 If we leave him alone like this, everyone will believe in him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation.”
49 But a certain one of them, Caiaphas, being high priest that year, said to them, “You know nothing at all,
50 nor do you consider that it is advantageous for us that one man should die for the people, and that the whole nation not perish.”
51 Now he didn’t say this of himself, but being high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation,
52 and not for the nation only, but that he might also gather together into one the children of God who are scattered abroad.
53 So from that day forward they took counsel that they might put him to death.
54 Jesus therefore walked no more openly among the Jews, but departed from there into the country near the wilderness, to a city called Ephraim. He stayed there with his disciples.
55 Now the Passover of the Jews was at hand. Many went up from the country to Jerusalem before the Passover, to purify themselves.
56 Then they sought for Jesus and spoke one with another, as they stood in the temple, “What do you…

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John 12

covered the previous week, the triumphal entry

1 Then six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany, where Lazarus was, who had been dead, whom he raised from the dead.

2 So they made him a supper there. Martha served, but Lazarus was one of those who sat at the table with him.

3 Mary, therefore, took a pound of ointment of pure nard, very precious, and anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped his feet with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the ointment.

4 Then Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, one of his disciples, who would betray him, said,

5 “Why wasn’t this ointment sold for three hundred denarii, and given to the poor?”

6 Now he said this, not because he cared for the poor, but because he was a thief, and having the money box, used to steal what was put into it.

7 But Jesus said, “Leave her alone. She has kept this for the day of my burial.

8 For you always have the poor with you, but you don’t always have me.”

9 A large crowd therefore of the Jews learned that he was there, and they came, not for Jesus’ sake only, but that they might see Lazarus also, whom he had raised from the dead.

10 But the chief priests conspired to put Lazarus to death also,

11 because on account of him many of the Jews went away and believed in Jesus.

12 On the next day a great multitude had come to the feast. When they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem,

13 they took the branches of the palm trees, and went out to meet him, and cried out, “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, the King of Israel!”

14 Jesus, having found a young donkey, sat on it. As it is written,

15 “Don’t be afraid, daughter of Zion. Behold, your King comes, sitting on a donkey’s colt.”

16 His disciples didn’t understand these things at first, but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things were written about him, and that they had done these things to him.

17 The multitude therefore that was with him when he called Lazarus out of the tomb, and raised him from the dead, was testifying about it.

18 For this cause also the multitude went and met him, because they heard that he had done this sign.

19 The Pharisees therefore said among themselves, “See how you accomplish nothing. Behold, the world has gone after him.”

20 Now there were certain Greeks among those that went up to worship at the feast.

21 These, therefore, came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida of Galilee, and asked him, saying, “Sir, we want to see Jesus.”

22 Philip came and told Andrew, and in turn, Andrew came with Philip, and they told Jesus.

23 Jesus answered them, “The time has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.

24 Most certainly I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains by itself alone. But if it dies, it bears much fruit.

25 He who loves his life will lose it. He who hates his life in this world will keep it to eternal life.

26 If anyone serves me, let him follow me. Where I am, there will my servant also be. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him.

27 “Now my soul is troubled. What shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this time?’ But for this cause I came to this time.

28 Father, glorify your name!” Then there came a voice out of the sky, saying, “I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again.”

29 The multitude therefore, who stood by and heard it, said that it had thundered. Others said, “An angel has spoken to him.”

30 Jesus answered, “This voice hasn’t come for my sake, but for your sakes.

31 Now is the judgment of this world. Now the prince of this world will be cast out.

32 And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.”

33 But he said this, signifying by what kind of death he should die.

34 The multitude answered him, “We have heard out of the law that the Christ remains forever. How do you say, ‘The Son of Man must be lifted up?’ Who is this Son of Man?”

35 Jesus therefore said to them, “Yet a little while the light is with you. Walk while you have the light, that darkness doesn’t overtake you. He who walks in the darkness doesn’t know where he is going.

36 While you have the light, believe in the light, that you may become children of light.” Jesus said these things, and he departed and hid himself from them.

37 But though he had done so many signs before them, yet they didn’t believe in him,

38 that the word of Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled, which he spoke, “Lord, who has believed our report? To whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?”

39 For this cause they couldn’t believe, for Isaiah said again,

40 “He has blinded their eyes and he hardened their heart, lest they should see with their eyes, and perceive with their heart, and would turn, and I would heal them.”

41 Isaiah said these things when he saw his glory, and spoke of him.

42 Nevertheless even of the rulers many believed in him, but because of the Pharisees they didn’t confess it, so that they wouldn’t be put out of the synagogue,

43 for they loved men’s praise more than God’s praise.

44 Jesus cried out and said, “Whoever believes in me, believes not in me, but in him who sent me.

45 He who sees me sees him who sent me.

46 I have come as a light into the world, that whoever believes in me may not remain in the darkness.

47 If anyone listens to my sayings, and doesn’t believe, I don’t judge him. For I came not to judge the world, but to save the world.

48 He who rejects me, and doesn’t receive my sayings, has one who judges him. The word that I spoke, the same will judge him in the last day.

49 For I spoke not from myself, but the Father who sent me, he gave me a commandment, what I should say, and what I should speak.

50 I know that his commandment is eternal life. The things therefore which I speak, even as the Father has said to me, so I speak.”

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John 16

Jesus saying he has much more to tell the disciples but they cannot bear it yet

1 “I have said these things to you so that you wouldn’t be caused to stumble.

2 They will put you out of the synagogues. Yes, the time comes that whoever kills you will think that he offers service to God.

3 They will do these things because they have not known the Father, nor me.

4 But I have told you these things, so that when the time comes, you may remember that I told you about them. I didn’t tell you these things from the beginning, because I was with you.

5 But now I am going to him who sent me, and none of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?’

6 But because I have told you these things, sorrow has filled your heart.

7 Nevertheless I tell you the truth: It is to your advantage that I go away, for if I don’t go away, the Counselor won’t come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you.

8 When he has come, he will convict the world about sin, about righteousness, and about judgment;

9 about sin, because they don’t believe in me;

10 about righteousness, because I am going to my Father, and you won’t see me any more;

11 about judgment, because the prince of this world has been judged.

12 “I have yet many things to tell you, but you can’t bear them now.

13 However when he, the Spirit of truth, has come, he will guide you into all truth, for he will not speak from himself; but whatever he hears, he will speak. He will declare to you things that are coming.

14 He will glorify me, for he will take from what is mine, and will declare it to you.

15 All things whatever the Father has are mine; therefore I said that he takes of mine, and will declare it to you.

16 A little while, and you will not see me. Again a little while, and you will see me.”

17 Some of his disciples therefore said to one another, “What is this that he says to us, ‘A little while, and you won’t see me, and again a little while, and you will see me;’ and, ‘Because I go to the Father’?”

18 They said therefore, “What is this that he says, ‘A little while’? We don’t know what he is saying.”

19 Therefore Jesus perceived that they wanted to ask him, and he said to them, “Do you inquire among yourselves concerning this, that I said, ‘A little while, and you won’t see me, and again a little while, and you will see me?’

20 Most certainly I tell you, that you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice. You will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will be turned into joy.

21 A woman, when she gives birth, has sorrow, because her time has come. But when she has delivered the child, she doesn’t remember the anguish any more, for the joy that a human being is born into the world.

22 Therefore you now have sorrow, but I will see you again, and your heart will rejoice, and no one will take your joy away from you.

23 “In that day you will ask me no questions. Most certainly I tell you, whatever you may ask of the Father in my name, he will give it to you.

24 Until now, you have asked nothing in my name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be made full.

25 I have spoken these things to you in figures of speech. But the time is coming when I will no more speak to you in figures of speech, but will tell you plainly about the Father.

26 In that day you will ask in my name; and I don’t say to you, that I will pray to the Father for you,

27 for the Father himself loves you, because you have loved me, and have believed that I came from God.

28 I came from the Father, and have come into the world. Again, I leave the world, and go to the Father.”

29 His disciples said to him, “Behold, now you are speaking plainly, and using no figures of speech.

30 Now we know that you know all things, and don’t need for anyone to question you. By this we believe that you came from God.”

31 Jesus answered them, “Do you now believe?

32 Behold, the time is coming, yes, and has now come, that you will be scattered, everyone to his own place, and you will leave me alone. Yet I am not alone, because the Father is with me.

33 I have told you these things, that in me you may have peace. In the world you have oppression; but cheer up! I have overcome the world.”

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John 20:1

Mary Magdalene coming to the tomb early on the first day of the week

1 Now on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene went early, while it was still dark, to the tomb, and saw the stone taken away from the tomb.

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John 20:2

Mary running to tell Peter and the beloved disciple the stone had been taken away

2 Therefore she ran and came to Simon Peter, and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved, and said to them, “They have taken away the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have laid him!”

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John 20:3-4

Peter and John running to the tomb, John outrunning Peter

3 Therefore Peter and the other disciple went out, and they went toward the tomb.

4 They both ran together. The other disciple outran Peter, and came to the tomb first.

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John 20:5-7

the linen cloths and folded face cloth found in the empty tomb

5 Stooping and looking in, he saw the linen cloths lying, yet he didn’t enter in.

6 Then Simon Peter came, following him, and entered into the tomb. He saw the linen cloths lying,

7 and the cloth that had been on his head, not lying with the linen cloths, but rolled up in a place by itself.

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John 20:8-9

John saw and believed, though they did not yet understand the scripture that Jesus must rise

8 So then the other disciple who came first to the tomb also entered in, and he saw and believed.

9 For as yet they didn’t know the Scripture, that he must rise from the dead.

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John 20:10

the disciples went back to their own people

10 So the disciples went away again to their own homes.

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John 20:11-12

Mary weeping outside the tomb, seeing two angels where Jesus had lain

11 But Mary was standing outside at the tomb weeping. So, as she wept, she stooped and looked into the tomb,

12 and she saw two angels in white sitting, one at the head, and one at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain.

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John 20:13

angels asking Mary why she weeps, her saying they have taken her Lord away

13 They told her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “Because they have taken away my Lord, and I don’t know where they have laid him.”

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John 20:14-15

Mary seeing Jesus but not recognizing him, supposing him to be the gardener

14 When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing, and didn’t know that it was Jesus.

15 Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Who are you looking for?” She, supposing him to be the gardener, said to him, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.”

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John 20:16

Jesus calling Mary by name, her responding Rabboni

16 Jesus said to her, “Mary.” She turned and said to him, “Rabboni!” which is to say, “Teacher!”

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John 20:17

Jesus telling Mary not to cling to him and to go tell the disciples he is ascending

17 Jesus said to her, “Don’t hold me, for I haven’t yet ascended to my Father; but go to my brothers, and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’”

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John 20:18

Mary announcing to the disciples that she had seen the Lord

18 Mary Magdalene came and told the disciples that she had seen the Lord, and that he had said these things to her.

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John 20:19

Jesus appearing to the ten disciples behind locked doors, saying peace be with you

19 When therefore it was evening, on that day, the first day of the week, and when the doors were locked where the disciples were assembled, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in the middle, and said to them, “Peace be to you.”

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John 20:20

Jesus showing his hands and side, disciples glad when they saw the Lord

20 When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. The disciples therefore were glad when they saw the Lord.

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John 20:21

Jesus saying as the Father sent me, so I am sending you

21 Jesus therefore said to them again, “Peace be to you. As the Father has sent me, even so I send you.”

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John 20:22

Jesus breathing on the disciples and saying receive the Holy Spirit

22 When he had said this, he breathed on them, and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit!

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John 20:23

if you forgive sins they are forgiven, if you withhold forgiveness it is withheld

23 If you forgive anyone’s sins, they have been forgiven them. If you retain anyone’s sins, they have been retained.”

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John 20:24

Thomas was not with them when Jesus came

24 But Thomas, one of the twelve, called Didymus, wasn’t with them when Jesus came.

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John 20:25

Thomas saying unless he sees and touches the nail marks and Jesus's side he will never believe

25 The other disciples therefore said to him, “We have seen the Lord!” But he said to them, “Unless I see in his hands the print of the nails, put my finger into the print of the nails, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.”

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John 20:26

eight days later Jesus appearing again behind locked doors, Thomas present this time

26 After eight days again his disciples were inside, and Thomas was with them. Jesus came, the doors being locked, and stood in the middle, and said, “Peace be to you.”

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John 20:27

Jesus inviting Thomas to touch his hands and side and not be unbelieving but believing

27 Then he said to Thomas, “Reach here your finger, and see my hands. Reach here your hand, and put it into my side. Don’t be unbelieving, but believing.”

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John 20:28

Thomas declaring my Lord and my God

28 Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!”

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John 20:29

Jesus saying blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed

29 Jesus said to him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen, and have believed.”

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John 20:30-31

John stating these signs were written so that you may believe Jesus is the Christ and have life in his name

30 Therefore Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book;

31 but these are written, that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in his name.

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Romans 8:11

if the Spirit who raised Jesus dwells in you he will give life to your mortal bodies

11 But if the Spirit of him who raised up Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised up Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.

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Acts 1:8

you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes and be witnesses to the ends of the earth

8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you. You will be witnesses to me in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the uttermost parts of the earth.”

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Ephesians 1:18-23

used as the benediction, the immeasurable greatness of God's power that raised Christ and put all things under his feet

18 having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope of his calling, and what are the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints,

19 and what is the exceeding greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to that working of the strength of his might

20 which he worked in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and made him to sit at his right hand in the heavenly places,

21 far above all rule, and authority, and power, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age, but also in that which is to come.

22 He put all things in subjection under his feet, and gave him to be head over all things for the assembly,

23 which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.

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Recap

The message in order, in a few minutes of reading.

Easter Sunday brought a resurrection message built around five scenarios drawn from John 20, asking everyone in the room to locate themselves in the story. Pastor Mark walked through the appearances of Jesus after the empty tomb was found, showing that the risen Christ met each person exactly where they were.

What was said

Pastor Mark opened with five scenarios meant to account for the range of people present. Some have known Jesus personally and feel distant from him now. Some were blindsided by something painful and find themselves locked down and purposeless. Some were once zealous but are sitting in honest doubt. Some grew up believing and have since watched that belief erode. And some have simply never had any encounter with Jesus at all. The whole sermon was an attempt to show that the resurrection narrative in John 20 speaks to every one of those situations.

Scenario one belongs to Mary Magdalene. Pastor Mark noted that centuries of bad teaching, beginning with a sermon by Gregory the Great around 500 AD, collapsed several different women in the gospels into one figure and gave Mary Magdalene a reputation the text does not support. What the text does say is that Jesus had set her free, that she came to the tomb while it was still dark, and that when Jesus simply said her name, she knew him immediately. He entrusted her, a woman in the first century, with the first announcement of the resurrection.

Scenario two belongs to the ten disciples locked in a room out of fear. Pastor Mark pressed on what it would have felt like to be Peter in that moment, having denied Jesus three times, waiting to see what happened when Jesus came back. What Jesus said when he walked through the locked door was not a rebuke. He said, peace be with you, and then said it again. That repetition was deliberate. The peace came first, and then immediately behind it came purpose: just as the Father sent me, I am sending you.

With the peace and the purpose came the power. Jesus breathed on them and said, receive the Holy Spirit. Pastor Mark connected this to the later outpouring at Pentecost and to Romans 8, where Paul writes that the same Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in believers. The order matters: peace, then purpose, then the power to carry it out.

Scenario three belongs to Thomas, who was not in the room for the first appearance. Pastor Mark resisted the familiar label of doubting Thomas, pointing out that Thomas had already shown real courage earlier in John's gospel. When Thomas came back and heard what the others had seen, he stated plainly what it would take to convince him. Eight days later, Jesus appeared again, addressed Thomas directly, and offered exactly what Thomas said he needed. Thomas answered, my Lord and my God. Pastor Mark noted that by tradition, Thomas carried the gospel east along the Silk Road all the way to India, and that communities of Thomasite Christians still exist there today.

Scenarios four and five are gathered under the words Jesus spoke to Thomas after that moment: blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed. That line reaches forward in time to cover everyone who has never had a bodily encounter with Jesus, whether they once believed and have grown uncertain or have never believed at all. Pastor Mark was direct that this includes everyone in the room, himself included, and that the purpose given to the disciples in that locked room, to offer the forgiveness of sins in Jesus' name, is the same purpose he was standing there to carry out.

Pastor Mark closed by reading John's own stated reason for writing his gospel: these things 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. That sentence, he said, is the purpose of the whole book and the purpose of the morning.

Doing a Bible study?

Here is a guide we have prepared for you: the passages in order, questions for the group, and room to write.

Pastor Nathan walked through five scenarios describing where someone might be in their relationship with Jesus right now. Which of those scenarios felt most honest to where you are, and why?
Mary Magdalene was the first person Jesus appeared to and the first one he sent to carry the news of the resurrection. What does it say to you that Jesus entrusted that message to her, given the way women were regarded in the first century?

and 3 more questions in the guide

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0:00 Speaker 1Amen. Would y'all stand with me and before anything comes up on the screen, we're going to sing one that I the last Thursday night on Maundy Thursday, we played The Passion of the Christ, the movie here and to end that, it was kinda, it's a brutal movie. Y'all know that. We closed with this and I want you to sing with me. This is not gonna be on the screen.

0:22 This is just

0:27 Speaker 2crucified my lord? You there when they crucified my lord? Sometimes it causes me to tremble. Tremble. Tremble.

0:56 Were you there when they crucified my lord? Were you there when they laid him in the tomb? Were you there when they laid him in the tomb? Sometimes it causes me to tremble. Tremble.

1:33 Tremble. Were you there when they laid him in the tomb? And this is why we're singing this. Were you there when he rose up from the grave? Were you there when he rose up from the grave?

2:04 Sometimes I feel like shouting glory glory glory were you there when he rose up from the grave

2:20 Speaker 1Amen. Amen. Amen. I told the folks who were here the other night, they sat through all that brutality. Y'all can stay standing.

2:28 We're going to sing again, alright? I don't mean to confuse you. I told him we would we would open with that this morning. Were you there when he rose up from the dead or grave or tomb, however you sing it. We're going to sing because he lives and that's why we are here today and Carl said this morning in the first service that that's why we're here.

2:43 Because he lived, that's why we're here. There'd be nothing to celebrate if he had not raised from that tomb. So, here we are. God sent his son and they called him Jesus. Hymn number three fifty eight, if you wanna sing your part.

2:59 Speaker 2God sent his son they call him Jesus he came to heal and forgive he lived and died to buy my pardon an empty grave is there to prove my savior lives because he lives I can face tomorrow because he lives all fear is gone because I know he holds the future and life is worth the living just because he lives how sweet to hold our newborn baby and feel the this child can face uncertain days because he lives I can face tomorrow

6:10 Speaker 1Amen. And if you need to sit down, sit down, but stay standing. If you will, we're going to sing Calvary Covers It All.

7:06 Speaker 2Jesus took on him there and Calvary covers it all. The stripes that he bore and the thorns that he wore told his mercy and love evermore and my heart bowed in shame as I called on his name and Calvary covers it all. Calvary covers it all. My past with its sin and shame my guilt and despair Jesus took on him there and Calvary covers it all how much less the grace when I looked on his face of the Jesus my crucified Lord Jesus took on him there and Calvary recovers it all. Last

8:48 Speaker 1verse while I cry.

9:08 Speaker 2And Calvary recovers it all. Calvary recovers it all. My past with its sin and sting my guilt and despair Jesus took on him there and Calvary covers

9:37 Speaker 1Amen. Y'all can have a seat. I have a few announcements this morning. They feel less important for some reason today. Announcements, my favorite part of the sermon.

9:48 No. I will say this, Awana because kids matter to God. We usually have Awana on Monday nights. I'm thankful for that program. I'm thankful for the volunteers but it's spring break.

9:57 We're not doing that during spring break. Okay, Awana is not happening because we have lots of kids gone and lots of volunteers gone and Monday nights at first beat. That happens down the hall, fellowship hall, meal music, and a message almost every Monday night but Carl's going out of town. Nobody's in town for spring break. So, not this Monday night or next.

10:17 We're gonna start back up again, April 11, right after spring break is over. Peak Children's Church did not happen this morning and is not happening next Sunday because it's spring break, okay? So, no Peak Children's Church during spring break and instead of the connect hour, if you didn't smell the bacon when you came in today, between services, we had a huge pancake breakfast. They made 35 pounds of bacon yesterday. I walked into the kitchen yesterday afternoon and did a James Brown split.

10:46 So we're we had breakfast. It was a pancake breakfast, a 100 year old sourdough, seal lambs old sourdough starter. Got that cranked up. This morning, we did it at eight and at ten. After spring break, we're doing family fun nights on Friday night starting April 15 and going to May 27.

11:04 You'll hear more about that as the weeks go on. And if you know any young adults and if you are a young adult, you can first be a young adult, okay? Together, we're doing these things. This is one a month, something to build around. We're doing stuff all summer long.

11:20 So, April 8 is dinner together and then an improv show, the laugh staff. We've got a couple of our guys that are on the laugh tab. So, they're doing that. April 8, May 14. It's an official town cleanup kinda called out by the town and we're gonna hope to be a part of that with our young folks and a mud season meal afterwards and a soiree, we'll call it.

11:38 Shadow Mountain camp out in June and then a string like picnic but you'll hear more the closer they get. I think that's all the announcements I care to share. There's more in the bulletin. If you wanna know what's going on, look at the bulletin but would you get up and greet one another and welcome somebody with a high five, a hug, a handshake, a holy kiss, or maybe a he is risen. Amen.

14:15 And Christ arose. Are the songs good

14:16 Speaker 2at Easter or what? Yes. Full of

14:19 Speaker 1theology, full of incredibly wide ranges of music from way low to way high. Thank you for helping out on the high end. We're going sing Christ arose.

14:40 Speaker 2The grave he lay Jesus my savior waiting the coming day he Vainly, they sealed the dead. Jesus, my lord. Up from the grave, he arose reign he arose he arose hallelujah Christ arose death cannot keep its prey Jesus, my savior, he tore the bars away. My lord. Up from the Amen.

17:01 Speaker 1Y'all can have a seat. Come forward. And while they do, I'm gonna pray. God, thank you. Death cannot keep its prey.

17:16 Death cannot keep its prey. Jesus, my savior. I thank you lord that by your spirit, by your might, you raised Jesus from the dead. I thank you that he took our sins away. He took them into that grave but when he came out, lord, they were conquered.

17:32 It was over. We can be alive just as he is alive to walk in newness of life. Lord, I pray that you would apply that message to our heart today and lord that that message that you've given would be our purpose and that we would spread it. That we'd spread your peace through your power, lord. Would you use these offerings?

17:51 Would you multiply em the way you do loaves and fish? The way you do your word, the way you do our life, abundant life. Would you multiply, lord, the tithes and offerings that are given here right now to spread your good gospel to the ends of the earth. In Jesus name, lord, we give back an acknowledgement of what you've given to us. Would you bless it?

18:14 Amen. Amen. Amen. It's been a good one already. It's been a good one for me.

20:24 I get text from the East Coast starting about 04:00 in the morning that say, he is risen. And I waited to say he is risen indeed until I actually got up out of bed this morning. I've got several things this morning that I wanna for you to consider. I've got actually five different scenarios to begin with that I want you to consider. Now, we're going this week.

20:44 Last week, you know, that we were in Romans and we took an excursus. I said, a detour out of Romans three into the gospels and we're gonna continue that. Mainly, last week, it was the gospel of John chapter 11, the whole chapter, and part of chapter 12 about the triumphal entry because it was Palm Sunday. We're gonna stay in John but we're piggybacking last week but we're also skipping. Leapfrogging is what I meant to say.

21:09 Leapfrogging, the upper room discourse. So, the whole of the upper room discourse, the trials of Jesus, all of that stuff. We're skipping. We're skipping the cross even. Thursday night on Maundy Thursday, we talked about the upper room discourse and we watched that movie of the passion.

21:27 So, we saw what happened on Friday and Good Friday was really, really rough and brutal and it was where Jesus nailed our sins to the cross where God had set that up and it's very very heavy and I had purposed in my own heart. This this year, I decided what I was gonna do is try to just go in the order that the story goes on the day. You know, so I'm thinking Monday. Jesus cursing that fig tree or Tuesday. No, whatever.

21:57 Jesus cursing that fig tree. Why did he do that? And kinda dwelling on that and thinking about that for a while and then, the next thing in line and then, four straight chapters of Jesus's instruction to the disciples about this is what life is gonna be like without me bodily present with you. I've been with you for three straight years. You've been learning all kinds of stuff but this is what it's gonna be like to have me not be here with you all the time.

22:20 Still with you. By my spirit, I'll be with you and this is what that's gonna be like but not gonna be here bodily the way that I have been. So, he's preparing him. I love one of the ending things in John 16. Jesus says, I have much more to tell you but you can't bear it right now.

22:35 I feel like that as a preacher a lot. I have a lot more to tell you but I could see the look. You know, y'all can't handle it right now. Scenarios to consider. I'm gonna start with these and then we'll go into the first three of these scenarios.

22:46 I feel like the Bible does a really really good job of explaining. Four and five, it does too but it's more open. So, we're gonna go through five scenarios. First one is this, in the distant past, at some point, you have or had gained your freedom by Jesus' direct intervention in your life. You have experienced Jesus setting you free from whatever it was that was holding you down, okay?

23:08 This is scenario one and also, maybe you are brought up on Jesus. You're brought up in a family that believes in Jesus. You spent time with his followers. Church was a normal home for you. You even consider yourself one of his followers.

23:23 Those Jesus people offered you real community and still scenario number one. Maybe you are here today spending your time mourning Jesus's passing in your own life. You, he was there with you for a long time and now you feel like he's not. You may have come today to remember him but just for the sake of tradition because it's Easter, we get together and we dress up in our bright colors and our linen pants. Even if it's just to lament his own passing in your own life.

23:52 Not really expecting or believing that he would ever really be there for you again. The way he might have been for your mom or your dad or your grandparents or whatever. Scenario number one, and the Bible has a has something to say about that. Scenario number two, maybe you're, I said this this morning, something totally, you're something totally expected. No.

24:12 There's a typo and it was totally unexpected this morning. Maybe something totally unexpected came to pass like that typo. You felt you were left high and dry unexpectedly. All of a sudden, what you had believed and what you had stood for and what you had held as dear and true. All of the sudden ended in a very sad way.

24:35 For some of you, it was a church split or a painful divorce that you didn't expect your husband or wife cheated on you or you cheated on them? Something unexpected and terrible, dastardly, worldly, underhanded, horrible, happened, an act of condemnation from somebody that you trusted and loved. Maybe now, because of that, you feel afraid, purposeless, or weak. You're in a real pickle. Emotionally, spiritually, mentally, you're stymied, you can't get out of your own way, you're unable to do anything about it, and all of your friends might even feel like they're caught in the same situation.

25:15 You're locked in, you're closed off, and you don't wanna do, don't know what to do next. If that sounds like you, that's scenario number two. Scenario number three is this, maybe you've been quite faithful in the past, zealous even for Jesus but lately, your hopes have been completely dashed. You're disappointed and so disappointed and though everyone around you seems really jazzed about things like the folks in this room singing from the bottoms of their hearts. All these words of these songs, incredibly jazzed about Jesus being alive.

25:46 You think it's going to take a personal miracle to convince you and you haven't seen that miracle yet and you're sitting in a place where, yeah, I know they all believe it but I don't believe it. I can't get there. That's number three and that one's covered very well in this passage. Scenario four, this week, as a part of wanting to let the message of Jesus's death on the cross sit in, I did something which I don't do normally. Now, I've studied philosophy quite a bit in the past but I don't open up my philosophy books very often.

26:15 Not a whole lot of hope in John Paul Sart, you know? Not a whole whole lot of hope in Renee Descartes. Not a whole lot of hope in the philosophers going forward and you know the guy who is famous for saying God is dead, Friedrich Nietzsche, the nihilist. I decided I was gonna read a book by Nietzsche on Good Friday. That God is dead.

26:35 How incredibly sad a philosophy is that? Sorry. It was some of you may have experienced the death of God in college where you believed it, everything that you've been taught and held true was suddenly mocked or scorned or ridiculed to the point that you, like Peter, began to deny Jesus. Little bit here and there, time after time though, and it starts to fall away. Maybe in words or maybe just indeed, your belief began to feel stupid to you.

27:11 Like you started to feel like, what am I doing? Nobody else around me believes this anyway. And you just felt dumb for having believed it in the first place. So you began to doubt, you stopped living, contented in him, and soon you are readjusting your own priorities and before long, self had moved to the top of your list, others had become less important, and Jesus was way down below that. If that sounds like you, the death of God is a very, very hard thing to deal with and and think about it as we go through this passage.

27:40 For all of these people, think about the death of Jesus being what was weighing on him. We came here because it's Easter. It's resurrection Sunday and by the way, if you wanna stay here because it's Easter resurrection Sunday, we have a service at 02:00 that Chuck from the Good Samaritan Missions do and his is gonna be mostly testimonies of people talking about the power of Jesus in their life. And the resurrection. Resurrection Sunday.

28:05 So, scenario four. Now, scenario five is completely different from all of those. You have never had any first hand experience of Jesus at all. None. At this point, you and Jesus are perfect strangers.

28:16 Of course, you've heard about him because you can't help but hear about Jesus. There are people that will talk about him, right? You don't know him though and therefore, you don't believe in him because you just don't know him. So, today, the message title, I guess, is believing in the resurrection brings peace and purpose and power and it's in that order. The peace has to come first.

28:38 The peace of God has to come first and then the purpose will be obvious and then his power is what carries it forth. He said, I'm going to build my church. So, scenario number one, if you're in scenario number one, Mary Magdalene in this story covers your experience pretty well. If you look at this picture up here, that is Donatello's sculpture of Mary Magdalene, fourteen fifty three, fifty five somewhere. It probably started in '53 and finished in '55.

29:07 It is carved from white poplar. If you've been here a lot, you know that I was an art major in college and I just love sculpture. This is probably my favorite sculpture in the world. It is called the Penitent Magdala or the Penitent Mary Magdalene. It's interesting for a lot of reasons but it survived for one thing for this long, five hundred something years in Florence and she is pictured as covered in hair all the way down to below her knees and she is penitent and she's bowing in honor of Jesus but penitent, repenting, asking for forgiveness of sins.

29:48 Now, Mary Magdalene has gotten a pretty bad rap over the years. In the New Testament, she is presented as nothing but a faithful servant of God from the moment that he set her free from her seven demons. So, she was set free completely liberated by Jesus and he told her flatly her sins were forgiven and so Mary Magdalene, no more a sinner than any of us here. We're all sinners. But in about five hundred AD, a great preacher, Gregory the Great actually, preached that Mary Magdalene and Mary, the one who anointed Jesus' feet and the woman who anointed Jesus' feet, the adulteress, the one who was a great sinner, were all three the same people that Mary, Lazarus' sister was all the same person.

30:33 So, Mary Magdalene, instead of being a good follower of Jesus that he had set free from seven demons, became all three of these things in one and so often in art, she's mentioned as somebody. She's always bowing before him. She always looks although beautiful, pretty pitiful, quite honestly and this is the most pitiful I've ever seen actually of her. That's not the Mary that we see in scripture. Mary Magdalene, at least it's not the one we see.

31:01 That lady who had washed his feet with her tears and the Pharisees house was unnamed. It wasn't Mary Magdalene but if you see movies, there's always always this beautiful lady, Mary Magdalene and she's always bowing and always penitent which she was. She believed in him. Her sins have been forgiven by her. Lord, but he based his claim on the forgiveness of forgiveness of sin on his resurrection, on the fact that he was Christ, that he was the God man and could do that.

31:31 So, if he had forgiven her sin and set her free from the demons and now he's dead, where does that leave your sin? Where does that leave you? So, here we are. This is what we're coming into. John chapter 20 verse one says, now, on the first day of the week, that's Sunday, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early while it was still dark and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb.

31:58 So, she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved. Now, this is from the gospel of John and John always calls himself in this gospel, the one whom Jesus loved. He'd experienced a very close personal relationship with Jesus and he knew that he was beloved by God but it's funny to me every time it shows up, he doesn't say in me or in John. He says, I'm the one Jesus loved. So, she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved and said to them, they have taken their lord out of the tomb and we do not know where they have laid him.

32:31 So, Peter went out with the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, Peter and John and they were going towards the tomb. They were going towards the tomb. Both of them were running together but the other disciple outrun Peter and reached the tomb first. Ain't that great? John, it's play by play, right?

32:49 They're from John. We're running together but the other disciple, that's me, John, outran Peter and reached the tomb first and stooping to look in, he, that's me, John, saw the linen cloths lying there but he did not go in. Then, Simon Peter came, he's catching up and following him and went into the tomb and he saw the linen cloths lying there and the face cloth. Actually, in Greek, that reads sweat rag, the sweat rag for his face which had been on Jesus' head, not lying with the linen cloths but folded up, organized in a place all by itself. Then the other disciple whom who had reached the tomb first, he says it again, John.

33:34 Another disciple who had reached the tomb first also went in and he saw and he believed. Now, the word believed in John's gospel, the verb believed is 98 times. It's used 98 times. It's not used that many times in the rest of the whole New Testament and it's always a verb. Paul uses it a lot as faith or trust or belief in a noun form but he doesn't use it the way John uses it.

33:58 John is writing this gospel after the other gospels have been written and he is centering in on the most important thing for you to do with the story of Jesus and that's to believe. So, he says that from the time he saw the empty tomb and the organized little sweat rack that he saw and he believed. For as yet, they did not understand the scripture that he must rise from the dead. Now, Jesus has already forecasted over and over for them, told him he was gonna do it but they didn't know how to take that still but when John saw, he believed. For as yet, they did not understand that scripture that he must rise from the dead.

34:34 Then, the disciples went back to their homes. Now, all the disciples were from Galilee and some people have a problem with this and they say, oh the Bible is not true because XYZ, whatever excuse but this place right here, it looks like, well, the disciples went back to their homes. They all live in Galilee. This happened just outside Jerusalem. In just a few minutes, we're going have all the disciples together in Jerusalem.

34:56 Well, did they went back to their homes? How'd they get back to Jerusalem so fast? No, no, no, no, no. This to their homes, I don't know how that snuck in there. To their own, to theirs, technically.

35:07 Then, the disciples went back to theirs, their own, their own people. When they came down for Jerusalem, it wasn't like the disciples just came by themselves. They came with their whole families. Peter, Peter's wife, Peter's mother-in-law, everybody came because they were all celebrating the Passover together. It was a normal family thing to do.

35:26 So, they went back to their own. The disciples went back, gathered with the people that they love. But Mary, who had caught up with them by this point, stood, weeping outside the tomb. And as she wept, she stooped to look into the tomb. Peter and John apparently had already run off by then and she saw two angels in white sitting where the body of Jesus had lain, one at the head and one at the feet.

35:51 You know, the Mary's were with Jesus's body when it was laid in that tomb. They were there. They knew where he was and knew exactly how he'd been situated and Mary saw that one angel was sitting at his head and one at where they had laid his feet. This is Peter Paul Rubin's picture from the 16 hundreds of Mary Magdalene, and they didn't read the text. Apparently, that the angels were clothed in white.

36:20 They have red and blue on, but Saint Mary Magdalene in ecstasy. Like I said, a lot of bad teaching snuck in about Mary Magdalene and she got a bad rap. She got a bad reputation after the fact in a lot of cases. It doesn't say that she passed out. It doesn't say that she wept for that for that reason.

36:39 Some people call this the death of Mary Magdalene. This painting. They weren't really paying attention to the details. If we go beyond scripture and we don't pay attention to the details, there's trouble there. You get into a lot of heresy and a lot of confusion.

36:55 So, let's stick with what's written. That's I keep the screen up there with the scripture on it to keep me honest. I wanna just say what it says, you know. So, they said to her woman, why are you weeping? And she said to them, now this is angel speaking to her now.

37:11 They said to her, woman, why are you weeping? And she said to them, they have taken away my lord and I do not know where they have laid him. Exactly the same thing she had told Peter and John. She's confused by the whole situation but she sees these two guys in resplendent way. Having said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing.

37:31 But she did not know that it was Jesus. Now, if you came to anoint somebody's body that had died on Friday, Cal Matthew died last Friday if y'all know Cal. Cal Matthew, if I were to see Cal walking down this aisle right now, I wouldn't first off think that's Cal, right? Because he died Friday. When she saw him standing, it says, upright, she didn't know that was Jesus.

37:56 It wouldn't make any sense at all for that to be Jesus because Jesus died Friday. I saw him. I was there when it happened. Having said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing but she did not know that it was Jesus. And Jesus said to her woman, why are you weeping?

38:11 Whom are you seeking? And supposing him to be the gardener because that would make sense. She said to him, sir, if you've carried him away, tell me where you have laid him and I will take him away and Jesus said to her, can you imagine how many times in the last three years in this woman's life, she's heard this sweet sound from Jesus's voice, Mary. Mary, and as soon as she heard Mary, she turned and said to him in Aramaic, Rabboni or Rabbi, which means teacher. And that's what she called him and Jesus said to her, do not cling to me for I've not ascended yet to the father but go to my brothers and say to them, I am ascending to my father and your father, to my God, and your God and Mary Magdalene heard a direct order and went immediately and announced to the disciples, I have seen the Lord and that he said these things to her.

39:04 So, she carried the message that he gave. Are you with me? Everybody with me? So, if you're category number one, scenario number one, Mary Magdalene is your rep, okay? Scenario number one, Mary Magdalene.

39:16 This is actually by Pietro da Cortona. Tanya and I, if you all know, we were art majors like I said, and we lived in Cortona, Italy for a while. This is one of our guys from our hometown over there. Pietro de Cortona in the sixteen forties painted this, and it is Christ appearing to Mary Magdalene according to his title, but most of the time, people call this particular pose, is do not cling to me. Don't touch me.

39:44 And it's a common thing for this type of painting and there are probably 50 of these from the renaissance period. This one is Fry Angelico and it has Jesus in white and Mary down bowing towards his feet and she's gonna cling to him and he says, don't no man, no, know, don't don't cling to me in Latin. It's funny because not only for Angelico, it's been done a lot of times. That's very early renaissance, fourteen forties right there. In the early fifteen hundreds, Frabarta Lomeo did the same one.

40:14 No Limanton Gator but he read his Bible. Look at this. So, this is Jesus and this is Mary and these are angels clothed in white. And these are Roman soldiers. He, not just John, he read the other gospels too.

40:27 The soldiers are knocked out asleep and they recognized that in John, Mary shows up first but then she's with all of the other ladies in a little while. The other ladies are afar off walking on their way in. Ain't that cool? I like Friar Bartolomeo. I like him.

40:44 So, the scenario to consider, Mary Magdalene's scenario number one. She was entrusted with the news of a risen, resurrected Christ by him. Now, in the first century, for a lady to carry that news, that's an elevation for women. He entrusted her and he entrust women with the news of the resurrection. He reassured her and he loved her and there was no doubt about it and she said it, I have seen the Lord.

41:14 She's the first one. Praise God. When he appeared, that has got to be an amazing experience to be Mary Magdalene. Scenario to consider number two is disciples of Jesus. We'll call him the 10 disciples instead of the 12.

41:30 Judas is gone by this point. He hanged himself. And Thomas is not there. We'll see in a minute. On the evening of that day, this is resurrection day till Sunday, first day of the week.

41:43 The doors being locked where the disciples were for fear of the Jews, doors being locked, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them. Wow. Wait a second. That's not the way my body works but apparently, the glorified body was able to stand among them, to get into that room without coming through the locked door. Maybe that's why I said, no, know, I don't know.

42:10 Jesus came and stood among them. Now, think about this if you had been one of those 10 disciples. The only one that was still with him named at the cross was John, the one he loved. He was there with the Marys, mother of Jesus, and Mary Magdalene but the rest of them had abandoned him, had deserted him. Some of them in the garden and some of them thereafter.

42:30 Some of them after his trials. Peter denied him three times. Before the cock crowed. So, Jesus came in and stood among them. Now, what would you be thinking if you were Peter?

42:42 Last thing I told this guy was I was with him to the death and then the next thing I did was deny him three times and now he's back. Wow. And he said to them, peace be with you. Now, knowing that by all rights, when you abandon the guy that you tell, that doesn't seem like a peaceful situation. When he gets back, you'd expect to be smited.

43:09 You expect to be immediately dismissed from your post, right? But what he said to them, when he came and stood among them was, peace be with you. Praise God. Peace. Peace.

43:22 That's the message that he brings. Actually, that's the message that he brings from God. Love and forgiveness. God loves you and wants to forgive you. I'm here to make peace and he'd been teaching him that for three straight years but in his resurrection, when he comes back and he speaks to them directly in their confused state, peace be with you.

43:40 And when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. He displayed the marks received on the cross and then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord. So, when they recognized it was him, they were happy. They were filled with his peace because he was extending to them his peace and he was not there to smite them. He was not there to to hurt them.

44:03 He wasn't there for divine retribution. He was there and they were glad when they saw him and he said it again. He said, peace be with you. He doubled up on the peace. Praise God.

44:16 Just as the father has sent me, even so I'm sending you. So, wait a second, God had sent him to offer peace to the world and Jesus says to his disciples, the 10 of them in that room, just in the same way that God sent me, I'm sending you. I'm sending you to offer peace to the world. Purpose. So, once you've experienced the peace of God and you know what that's like and you know what it's like to live without it.

44:42 Extending that is your purpose and that's what he says and when he had said this, he breathed on him. He said to them, receive the Holy Spirit. Breathe on them and said, receive the Holy Spirit and that is the power. Now, they had the word. They knew that.

44:59 They were confused about what the scripture said. John's already admitted that a couple of times but Jesus had told them in that upper room discourse that we stopped that the spirit would be with you to illumine scripture, to convince you of God's righteousness, to convict you of your own sin. He gave them the power to carry forth the message of peace from God and that was to be their purpose. Acts one eight, but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth. Now, in that room, there are only 10 of em present but in the upper room, on the day of Pentecost, there were probably hundreds of them present.

45:39 His disciples, those who put their trust in him and that's where he outpoured the Holy Spirit and they did receive power. And they were his witnesses in Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria and to the uttermost parts. I love this. Romans eight. So, we're in a study of Romans.

45:56 We're up to three right now and it's been deep mud for a long time about how all of us are in the same boat. We're all sinners. Don't matter if you're religious person, sinner, or a profligate lifestyle sinner, we're all in the same bucket as as Lorraine says. But listen to this, if the spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his spirit who dwells in you. Amen.

46:25 I'm gonna skip verse 23. I'll come back to it, okay? There's a little bit of confusion about that. I wanna clear it up but I wanna do it at the end instead of the beginning. So, if you forgive the sins of any, they're forgiven.

46:35 If you withhold forgiveness from any, it's withheld. For now, we'll skip that. So, the scenario to consider with the disciples and that's those of you who have been devoted but for some reason, you're in a place where you're confused and you feel fearful, weak, and pointless or powerless, purposeless. Jesus blessed them with his peace. Now, what did they deserve?

46:58 I mean, really, the way they treated him but he extended grace and love and mercy, forgiveness, and peace. He reassured them and he gave them a purpose. You keep on spreading this message and he said, I'm going to give you the power to do it. He breathed on them the power of the gift of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

47:16 So, next one is doubting Thomas. We call him doubting Thomas. I I don't like that. That's why I put it in parenthesis. I just like to call him Thomas or the twin.

47:24 Now, Thomas, one of the 12, called the twin, was not with them when Jesus came. That's important. It's not like Thomas was in the room with all of them and saw the same thing and still had this reaction. No, he was not with them when Jesus came. Now, can you imagine being Thomas?

47:40 So, Thomas is one of the 12 disciples. Judas has betrayed Jesus and he's gone away and then Jesus reappears on resurrection Sunday. He's appeared to the woman first and then to the other 10 disciples and Thomas, who knows what he was doing? He was in the town getting food or something. But he wasn't there.

48:01 Now, he comes back and this is what happened. So, the other disciples told him, we have seen the Lord. Hey, we're excited. This is Easter Sunday, first one ever. We're on the front side of this phenomena, this happening and Thomas is like, great.

48:15 What about me? I wasn't even there but he said to them, because it's so hard to believe something like somebody coming back from the dead. He said, unless I see in his hands the mark of the nails and place my finger into the mark of his of those nails and place my hand in his side, I will never believe. That's tough. So, eight days later, it says, his disciples were inside again and Thomas was with them and although the doors were locked, they're in exactly the same state a week later and Thomas is with them this time.

48:53 Jesus came and he stood among them and he said, peace be with you. His message was still the same. Peace be with you. That's what I'm bringing. Peace be with you because that's what God sent him to bring was peace.

49:08 Peace with Jesus, peace with God, peace with one another, and peace with the world. Jesus came and stood among them and said, peace be with you and look at this, then he said and it's directly to Thomas. This is Caravaggio's painting. I used it a couple weeks ago. I love the painting.

49:27 Carvaggio from the sixteen hundreds. Then, he said to Thomas, reach your finger here and look at my hands and reach your hand here and put it into my side and do not be, Thomas, unbelieving but believing and Thomas, you see his finger there in his side. He answered and said to him, my lord and my God, it's sorry, it's so dark. It's kinda dark. The Carvagios are almost always dark.

49:54 Kinda like Rembrandt. The incredulity of Saint Thomas is the name of that painting. I think it needs to be called the end of the incredulity of Saint Thomas because that was proof. That's what he needed. He immediately declared, my lord and my God.

50:09 He experienced the peace of Jesus knowing that he was there and you know what? And this is by tradition. It's not specifically outlined in scripture but there are Thomasite Christians in India. Thomas, after having placed his hands in the side of Jesus and seeing his marks on his hands, Thomas walked from Jerusalem to India spreading the gospel and left all along the Silk Road, little bands of Christians because Christ was building his church and he was using Thomas to do it. Purpose, power, and he was spreading the peace of Jesus and there's still Thomasite Christians today and there's no doubt about that lineage.

50:47 But Thomas needed a personal experience of his own 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 at his side. I'll never believe. He said that but you know what? Jesus was willing to give him that experience. Isn't that great?

51:02 That Jesus meets us at the point of our need? He understands what it's like because he's experienced this life. He knows. He's been tempted and tested in all the ways that we're tempted and tested but he was without sin but he knows how hard it is and so, put your finger here and see my hands and put on put out your hand and place it in my side and do not disbelieve, Thomas, but believe. Go on believing.

51:24 That's another one of those 98 times that John uses it. He's saying, it's all about belief, people. What you believe is what gives you the peace. What you believe matters. And then in the New American Standard Version of Bible, it says, Jesus said to him, Thomas, because you have seen me, you have believed.

51:45 Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed. What about all those folks on the way to India and in India and all those folks that are here? We did not physically see Jesus. None of us that are believers in here. None of us who have experienced the peace of God and are proclaiming that peace of God to others.

52:05 None of us have seen Jesus but even more blessed. Blessed are those. Some translations say, even more blessed. I think this is probably closer. Blessed are you because you saw and blessed are they because they did.

52:18 He's not really getting on to him. He's just making it clear who he is. So, Thomas, Jesus bid him peace just like the other disciples exactly the same way and he also offered to meet Thomas at his own point of need. He offers that still. He offers to meet you there.

52:35 So, the scenarios to consider as far as the Bible's concerned, it looks like those three are pretty covered. We're almost to the end of the chapter. We're up to verse 29 right now but 29 actually covers not just Thomas. Blessed are you because you have seen but it covers those next two too. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe.

52:54 So, that covers either one scenario four or scenario five. You who knew Jesus but now struggle with your faith, with your belief, or you have never known him. You haven't seen him physically, bodily. You've heard the story now. Heard it pretty directly now.

53:14 John twenty twenty nine, this is the ESB. We've been in ESB for most of the morning. Just that slide with the Caravaggio was in ASB. Jesus said to him, have you believed because you have seen me? I think what Jesus was pointing out right there is you already believe, buddy.

53:29 I'm just making it real for you again. You already believe this. In fact, remember last week in the end of chapter 11, he said, hey, Jesus is going back up to Jerusalem they're gonna kill him. They've already said they were going to but let's go with him and they can kill us too. He was zealous for God.

53:46 Just a few chapters back and he has sat in the upper room and knew this was coming. Have you believed because you've seen me? No, you already believed but I'm showing you anyway and blessed are those who have not seen and yet they still have believed. That's us. That's all of us in this room.

54:04 If we believe. So, those are the scenarios to consider and I'll go back to verse 23 now. Now, verse 23 says, if you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them and if you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld. That's a hard one and it's been badly translated a lot. It's been badly preached a lot.

54:24 In fact, if any of y'all, I doubt you have but if any of you seen the movie Dogma, it's a terrible movie but it's about this verse and the other parallels and the other synoptic gospels where whatever we bind on the Earth is bound in heaven and whatever we lose on earth is loosed in heaven and it's about the traditions of men and the traditions of churches and how one gets into heaven. This is talking about offering the forgiveness of sins. That is the purpose that Jesus gave. He came to love, heal, and forgive as the first song said. He came to love, heal, and forgive.

55:02 And he said to them in the same manner that my father has sent me, I'm sending you. If you forgive the sins of any, they're forgiven them. So, offer the forgiveness of sins in my name. You have my authority. You have my power.

55:15 You have it. That's your purpose. Now, if you forgive the sins of any, they're forgiven. So, you're offering it and if they accept it on earth as it is in heaven, that's the way it is. On earth, they accept the forgiveness of sins that you're offering with my power and with my authority, then, that's the way it will be for them in heaven but if you offer forgiveness of sin in my name and they reject it, It's withheld.

55:45 There's no forgiveness there. If they reject it but it's yours to give, to offer that forgiveness. So, I'm going to just say, I had to write this up here so that I would not forget to say it. Even now, y'all know, if you know me, that I don't like standing up and talking in front of people. I have horrible stage fright but I don't have a problem doing that here at all.

56:08 None at all. Doesn't bother me one single bit here. You know why? Because I've experienced the peace of God about this. I have the purpose of God and my purpose is to extend the peace of God to you, to offer the forgiveness of sins in Jesus name, not because I said it but because it's true.

56:24 What you believe matters. What you believe about Jesus matters. I'm offering to you the peace of knowing that you are forgiven. I am not perfect. I sin.

56:35 But I am forgiven and I know it. I'm deeply conscious of my own sin and I'm deeply conscious of the forgiveness that God offers and I'm so conscious of it. I've experienced that peace. I'm offering it to you. It's good.

56:48 I promise. I've been given that purpose and that is extending the power of the Holy Spirit, the forgiveness of sin in Jesus name. Now, I wanna show why John wrote the whole book of John. You know, he got 27 books in the New Testament. Four of em are historical about the life of Jesus.

57:06 One of em is historical about the life of the early church. 21 of em are epistles and there's one prophecy, okay? Not all of em say exactly the same thing but they're all exactly about Jesus, okay? Every single one of em affirms this message but John nails it down right here. This is why this book is written and if you haven't read the gospel of John lately, it's about 24 pages.

57:29 It's fantastic. If you come away from a reading of the whole gospel of John and you aren't in love with Jesus, something's wrong with you. Now, Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples and a lot of were written in Matthew, Mark, and Luke. Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples which are not written in this book, this book of John, this gospel of belief but these things have been written. These are written so that you may believe and that that Jesus is the Christ, the son of God, and that by believing, you may have life in his name.

58:05 Amen. That's the whole purpose for John's gospel. That's the whole purpose for this celebratory Easter sermon right here is so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the son of God, and believing have life in his name. I think that's it. He lives.

58:21 Would you stand with me? And if you should feel because you're from the South, that you want to come on down the aisle, you are welcome to pray up here at the altar. I'll be glad to talk to you. I'll stop leading the music and Blake will turn off the microphone, okay? But if y'all will stand, we're gonna sing He Lives.

58:37 We Serve a Risen Savior. Hymn number three sixty eight if you want your part.

58:47 Speaker 2I serve a risen savior he's in the world today I know that he is living whatever men may say I see his hand of mercy I hear his voice of cheer, and just the time I need him, he's always near. He lives, he lives, Christ Jesus lives today. He walks with me and talks with me along life's narrow way. He lives. He lives.

59:24 Salvation to impart. You ask me how I know he lives he lives within my

59:37 Speaker 1heart we're going to the last

59:38 Speaker 2verse rejoice rejoice oh Christian lift up your voice and sing. Eternal hallelujahs to Jesus Christ, the king, the hope of all who seek him, the help of all who find, none other is so loving so good and kind he lives he lives Christ Jesus lives today he walks with me and talks with me along life's narrow way he lives he lives salvation to impart you ask me how know he lives he lives within heart Amen. And for

1:00:34 Speaker 1the benediction, I'm going to Ephesians 118 through twenty two twenty three And having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he's called you, that's the purpose, right? What are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe according to the working of his great might that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him in his right hand in the heavenly places far above all rule and authority and power and dominion and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. That's peace. He put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all. Amen.

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