John chapter 20 as I think everyone here pretty much knows we've just been going
through chapter by chapter the Gospel of John and the Sunday night and we're
coming right towards the end now second last chapter John chapter 20 and it
starts in verse 1 with the first day of the week cometh Mary Magdalene early
when it was yet dark unto the sepulchre and seeth the stone taken away from the
sepulchre let's go to the Lord in the word of prayer father thank you for your
word I thank you for this great gospel I thank you for this great chapter please
please just help me to preach it accurately and boldly fill me with your
spirit please help people to listen to what you've got to say for them through
your word today and help us to be able to apply it to our lives well in peace
thank you pray amen okay so Mary Magdalene came while it was still dark it
makes a point of saying that doesn't it well it was still dark because remember
the Hebrew day starts at 6 p.m the previous evening doesn't it so Jesus has
risen at some point after 6 p.m to have made it three days and three nights in
the heart of the earth and by the time that Mary Magdalene and according to the
other gospels the other Mary have got there he's already risen okay so he's
already risen at some point in the night then verse 2 says then she runneth and
cometh to Simon Peter and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved and saith unto
them they have taken away the Lord out of the sepulchre and we know not where
they have laid him Peter therefore went forth and that other disciple and came
to sepulchre so the other disciple whom Jesus loved the other disciple is
obviously how John refers to himself in this gospel so we're talking about the
apostle John here so they ran both together and the other disciple did
outrun Peter and came first to the sepulchre and that other disciple he's
not only the one that Jesus loved but he seems to be the fastest runner as well
he's got it all isn't he i mean guys probably the rest of the
child see everything he touches turns to gold
oh joking right okay so okay so they both ran together didn't they so he's
unwrapped he's outrun Peter he came first sepulchre and he's stooping down looking
in saw the linen clothes lying yet went he not in it just keep that in your mind
the linen clothes are lying to one side then cometh Simon Peter following him
went into sepulchre and seeth the linen clothes lie he's obviously not in those
linen clothes and the napkin that was about his head not lying with the linen
clothes but wrapped together in a place by itself
there went also that other disciple which came first to sepulchre and he saw
and believed for as yet they knew not the scripture that he must rise again
from the dead so the scripture i don't know may be
referring to psalm 16 10 which reads for thou wilt not leave my soul
in hell neither wilt thou suffer thine holy one to see corruption
um that's for me it's probably as close as
as i've got with that i think that's probably referring to that
um and look that scripture again is clear isn't it that he was in hell
yeah it's pretty clear he was in hell um acts 231 makes that clear as well doesn't
it and um yeah we don't need to preach that
again but it's clear jesus christ went to hell his soul was not left in hell
and because it was there verse 10 then the disciples went
away again unto their own home but mary stood without at the sepulchre weeping
and as she wept she stooped down and looked into the sepulchre
and see two angels in white sitting the one at the head and the other at the
feet where the body of jesus had lain and they say unto a woman why weep is
ours she saith unto them because they have taken away my lord and i know not
where they have laid him and when she had thus said she turned
herself back and saw jesus standing and knew not that it was jesus
now obviously she's not expecting to see him is she but
there's definitely a difference with his resurrected his glorified body isn't
there um look at verse 15 jesus saith unto her
woman why weep is our whom seek is our she's supposing him to be the gardener i
mean he's speaking to her here she still doesn't
doesn't you know understand it's jesus saith unto him
so if thou have borne him hence tell me where thou has laid him and i will take
him away saying you know where have you put him
jesus said unto her mary she turned herself and saith unto him
rabboni which is to say master so in her sorrow she didn't recognize
that it was the lord speaking to her until he addresses her by name
we see here now look at verse 17 jesus said unto her
touch me not for i am not yet ascended to my father but go to my brethren and
say unto them i ascend unto my father and your father
and to my god and your god why touch me not so why touch me not
because after this point we do see the disciples handling him don't we
okay in fact thomas is told in this chapter to touch his hand and his side
soon after this event matthew's gospel records i'm just going to read it
matthew 28 9 the two marries touching him and as they went to tell his
disciples behold jesus met them saying all hell
and they came and held him by the feet and worshipped him
well turn to leviticus 16 and to help shed some light on this
so leviticus chapter 16
okay leviticus 16 and from verse
1 leviticus 16 one reads and the lord
spake unto moses after the death of the two sons of aaron when they offered
before the lord and died and the lord said unto moses speak
unto aaron thy brother that he come not at all times into the holy place
within the veil before the mercy seat which is upon the art
then he die not for i will appear in a cloud upon
the mercy seat thus shall aaron come into the holy place with a young bullock
for a sin offering and a ram for a burnt offering
he shall put on the holy linen coat and he shall have the linen breaches upon
his flesh and shall be girded with a linen girdle
and with the linen mitre shall he be attired
these are holy garments therefore shall he wash
his flesh in water and so put them on now if you're wondering what's going on
here basically the lord speaking to moses um aaron
sons here have just been killed for offering strange fire haven't they
before the lord um and here he's basically telling him
what to do here and he's and notice the instruction
here and this is talking about the sacrifices that he's about to perform
and which are obviously i think most people here will understand that
they're a picture of jesus christ aren't they and here he's he's
he's telling him to wash his flesh in water before
he puts on the holy garments before he goes in
to the holiest of holies to offer the blood
okay so and he's making sure that he's completely clean first isn't he here now
look at verse five and he shall take of the congregation
of the children of israel two kids of the goats for a sin offering
and one ram for a burnt offering and aaron shall offer his bullock of the
sin offering which is for himself and make an atonement for himself
and for his house and he shall take the two goats and present them before the
lord at the door of the tabernacle of the
congregation and aaron shall cast lots upon the two goats one lot for the lord
and the other lot for the scapegoat and aaron shall bring the goat upon which
the lord's lot fell and offer him for sin offering
but the goat on which the lot fell to be the scapegoat shall be presented alive
before the lord to make an atonement for him and to let
him go for a scapegoat into the wilderness
makes you think of barabbas here doesn't it they make you think of barabbas
and and aaron shall bring the bullock of the sin offering which is for himself
and shall make an atonement for himself and for his house and shall kill the
bullock of the sin offering which is for himself
because unlike jesus aaron wasn't sinless was he
aaron wasn't sinless so he has to be be spiritually cleansed here as well
and he shall take a sensor full of burning coals of fire from off the altar
before the lord and his hands full of sweet incense beaten
small and bring it within the veil he shall put the incense upon the fire
before the lord that the cloud of the incense may cover the mercy seat that
is upon the testimony that he died not he shall take of the blood of the bullock
and sprinkle it with his finger upon the mercy seat eastward
and before the mercy seat shall he sprinkle of the blood with his finger
seven times then shall he kill the goat of the sin offering
that is for the people and bring his blood within the veil and do that with
do with that blood as he did with the blood of the bullock and sprinkle it
upon the mercy seat and before the mercy seat so the
physically washed and spiritually cleansed
high priest here sprinkles the blood over and in front of the mercy seat
you see that there okay verse 16 he shall make an atonement for the holy
place because of the uncleanness of the children of israel
and because of their transgressions in all their sins and so shall he do for the
tabernacle of the congregation that remaineth among them in the midst of
their uncleanness he's making atonement for people's sins
through this blood on the mercy seat and there shall be no man in the
tabernacle of the congregation when he goeth in to make an atonement in the
holy place until he come out and have made an atonement for himself and for
his household and for the congregation of israel
in verse 18 and he shall go out onto the altar that is before the lord and make
an atonement for it shall take the blood of the bullock and
of the blood of the goat and put it upon the horns of the altar round about
you shall sprinkle of the blood upon it with his finger
seven times and cleanse it and hallow it from the uncleanness
of the children of israel nearly done here guys and when he has made an end of
record son the holy place and the tabernacle of the congregation of the
altar he shall bring the live goat and Aaron shall lay both his hands upon
the head of the live guy and confess over him all the iniquities of the
children of israel and all their transgressions and all their sins
putting them upon the head of the goat and shall send them away by the hand of
a fit man in the wilderness and the goat shall bear upon him all the
all their iniquities and to a land not inhabited shall let go of the goats in
the wilderness and Aaron shall come into the tabernacle
of the congregation and shall put off the linen garments
which he put on when he went into the holy place and shall leave them there
okay so there he he's he's put on these he's
basically cleaned himself put on these holy garments to go into the holy place
and now he's now he's taken them off again because they have to be kept
there clean away from from being basically touch polluted by the unclean
outside there and for me that's maybe why there's a
point of the tainted grave clothes being left
for him to then put on basically that those holy garments
and the tainted grave clothes are left and they make a point of that don't they
in this gospel and so he makes a point being john
there and and jesus said wearing his holy garments
verse 24 and he shall wash his flesh with water in the holy place and put on
his garments and come forth and offer his burnt offering and a burnt offering
of the people make an atonement for himself for the
people the fact of the sin offering shall he burn upon the altar
and he that let go the goat for the scapegoat shall wash his clothes and
bathe his flesh in water and after come into the camp
and again that makes me think of pilot washing his hands before the multitude
verse 27 last one here and the bullock for the sin offering and the goat for
the sin offering whose blood was brought in to make atonement in the holy place
shall shall one carry forth without the camp and they shall burn in the fire
their skins and their flesh and their dung what's the burning a
picture of hell isn't it okay the burning is a picture
of that sacrifice being burned in hell otherwise why are they burning them
can't you tell us about burning them but jesus
jesus here is fulfilling these ordinances isn't it oh jesus fulfilled all these
ordinances um in matthew 2751 it says that when he
died and behold the veil of the temple was rented to
aim from the top to the bottom and the earth did quake and the rocks ran
so even though he's fulfilled all these ordinances where is he meant to sprinkle
the blood so where is he going to sprinkle the
blood because he's fulfilling all this and again it's just one of the amazing
things isn't it when you read through this you're looking at just seeing like
every aspect of jesus's sacrifice is fulfilling
the pictures of it thousands of years before
again clearly there's any doubt that the old testament you know
that it was written that you know those you know so so much longer i think the
last bit was probably four or five hundred years before
christ and and obviously up to sort of 1500 years before and we've just got
got no all of this has been fulfilled through jesus christ absolutely amazing
isn't it now turn to hebrews chapter 9 like i
said where where is he meant to sprinkle the blood
then the temples rent
or the lisa curtains rent in twain now hebrews 9 1
so hebrews chapter 9 of verse 1 says then verily hebrews 9 1 says then
verily the first covenant had also ordinances of divine service
and a worldly sanctuary it was a worldly sanctuary in the first covenant now jump
forward to verse 6 now when these things were thus ordained
the priests went always into the first tabernacle accomplishing the service of
god but into the second went the high priest
alone once every year not without blood which he offered for
himself and for the areas of the people the holy ghost is signifying that the
way into the holiest of all was not yet made manifest what is the
first tabernacle was yet standing which was a figure for the time then
present in which were offered both gifts and sacrifice that could not make him
that did the service perfect as pertaining to the conscience which
stood only in meats and drinks and divers washings and carnal ordinances
imposed on them until the time of reformation
right look at verse 11 but christ being come and high priest of good things to
come so he's a sacrifice and the high priest isn't he
by a greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands
that is to say not of this building neither by the blood of goats and calves
but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place having obtained
eternal redemption for us so where was this holy place that
jesus christ entered in verse 22 jump forward to verse 22
and almost all things are by the law purged with blood and without shedding
of blood is no remission that's the rules there isn't it without
showing your blood is no remission and we see how important the blood is
isn't it so important the blood verse 23 it was therefore necessary that
the patterns of things in the heavens should be purified with these
but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these
so it's a pattern of things in the heavens isn't it and if you remember
i've been reading just on my daily reading just just the the you know the
setting up of that whole tabernacle and and just how how important every minute
detail that god gave exactly how and it's basically a pattern
of the things in the heavens isn't it that's why i was like oh just shove an
altar somewhere and you can do some sacrifices and stuff it was a pattern of
things in the heavens wasn't it um the worldly sanctuary wasn't a pattern
of things in heaven now look at verse 24 for christ is not entered into the holy
places made with hands which are the figures of the true but
into heaven itself now to appear in the presence
of god for us that's what jesus christ was doing wasn't it
verse 25 nor yet that he should offer himself often there's a high priest
entered into the holy place every year with blood of others
for them must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world but
now once in the end of the world have he appeared to put away sin by the
sacrifice of himself he died once a fool didn't he just as it
appointed unto men once to die but after this the judgment
so christ was once offered to bear the sins of many
and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time
without sin unto salvation so like i said jesus christ was the sacrifice he
was a high priest and he went up into heaven to sprinkle
his holy blood on and before the most and if you've literally just switched
off for the last five minutes and just go
what is all that about basically all you really need to know is that jesus christ
when he died he went up into heaven before he was touched while he had the
untainted blood of his eternal sacrifice and he
sprinkled it upon the mercy seat in heaven to make
atonement for every sin everyone sins once a fool
whosoever wants to wants to you know take that gift freely
uh and jesus christ when he did that in heaven and that's why he said in john
20 verse 17 touch me not okay touch me not because in the same
way he didn't it was you know he was that perfect sacrifice it
was not to be tainted he went to do that then he came back then it
was okay for them to touch him and handle him after that
um and afterwards you know he does return doesn't he and then the handling
is fine we see they see them eating with him they're touching the handling him
he's showing them at that point he's gone up into heaven
now look at verse 18 here back to where we are um so back in john
20 but uh so mary magdalene came and told the
disciples that she had seen the lord and that he had spoken these things unto
her so john's gospel now jumps forward to
the evening does it record the meeting with the two
disciples going to Emmaus that we see in luke's gospel
then the same day evening being the first day of the week when the doors
were shut when the disciples were assembled for
fear of the jews came jesus and stood in the midst
and saith unto them peace be unto you right so there's a few interesting
points from this verse aren't there number one is that jesus seems to just
walk through some locked doors okay then makes a point there of the
doors being shut he's just walked through some locked doors so was he just
a spirit or a ghost no he wasn't verse 26 27 clears that up
where the same happens and and then he's having his you know his hands touched
and everything else this is a glorified spiritual body of
the resurrected christ isn't it yeah and and what's really cool about
this is that it seems that we're possibly going to have the same
i'm looking forward to this okay so uh philippians chapter three
um in fact turn to first corinthians well i'm
well i'm uh reading philippians 3 21 talking about christ
philippians 3 21 says who shall change our
vile body that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body
according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue
all things unto himself and first corinthians chapter 15 talking about
the resurrection of the dead says it is so the natural body it is raised
the spiritual body there is a natural body and there is a spiritual body
and so it is written the first man adam was made a living soul the last adam
was made a quickening spirit how being that how be it that was not
first which is spiritual but that which is natural and after that which is
spiritual the first man is of the earth earthy
the second man is the lord from heaven as is the earthy
such are they also that are earthy and as is the heavenly
such are they also that are heavenly and as we have borne the image of the earthy
we shall also bear the image of the heavenly
okay we shall bear the image of the heavenly now this i say brethren that
flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of god neither does corruption
inherit incorruption behold i show you a mystery we shall not
all sleep but we shall all be changed in a moment in the twinkling of a night
the last trump for the trumpet shall sound and the dead shall be raised
incorruptible and we shall be changed for this
corruptible must put on incorruption and this mortal must put on immortality
so when this corrupt will shall have put on incorruption this mortal shall have
put on immortality then shall be brought to pass
the saying that is written death is swallowed up in victory
so that that resurrected body that that christ body that will happen in the
rapture that sounds amazing doesn't it doesn't
that sound amazing death is swallowed up in victory we
will put on the corrupt or must put on incorruption this mortal must
put on immortality and you know i just seem to just one great thing
imagine soul winning in the millennium when they try and shut the door in your
face
what do you do here well tough i will bully you to believe you can
have some real fun with it couldn't you but um yeah um because look here it
does say it you know we we bear the image don't we
bear the image there's going to be some amazing things
there and and i don't know exactly how it's going to work in every way but
there's some we're giving at least some clues here
aren't we i believe now uh back to john 20 and verse 19
then the same day evening being the first day of the week when the jews
sorry when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled for fear of the
jews came jesus and stood in the midst and
saith unto them peace be unto you so number two there
the same disciples who soon after as a preaching boldly from house to house as
we see in the book of acts are hiding out aren't they okay they're
hiding out and these are the same disciples that are
standing with peter as he preached the multitude in jerusalem
as soon as acts two isn't he and it's not long after it seems
that they're just standing there they're up for preaching they're not just a
case sneaking around a quick you know soul win here and there and ducking and
diving in the back alleys and just standing there preaching you
know or with him while he's preaching boldly here it's the opposite isn't it
and look with that there's been over time there've been people you know
tried to criticize i think churches over time and
churches maybe with i mean maybe you could someone could try and go oh what
about our church we we have a locked door yeah but we do have a buzzer
and i don't think they had a buzzer we do have a big massive great banner on
the front window saying our service times we do
stream live stream on youtube we just decide that it's probably sensible to
actually have someone answer the door here
for a few reasons that we've explained before but here this is a bit different
isn't it here i don't think they got a banner out there and i advertise that
area now hiding out um and i don't think if the door did
buzz they'd be too up for opening it hence jesus just walks through it okay
and you could argue that they have good reason couldn't you
you could argue that you could say look they've just witnessed what jesus went
through jesus has just been beaten he's just
just been absolutely just just well abused isn't he
really mocked and and nailed to a cross which
leads on to point number three from this verse
jesus first words to them together is what peace be unto you
isn't it peace be unto you in fact it's also a second statement too in this
gospel in verse 21 he's telling them not to
fear isn't he he's telling them to have peace
not to fear to have peace and why well you could say because he
suddenly appeared out of out of nowhere maybe because they're
hiding from the jews because his resurrection means that
they can have peace with god probably all three uh you could probably
say all three of those would count wouldn't they
but he has he's he's just you know suddenly jesus just turned up in the
middle you know you can understand him saying look relax yeah peace
um but but they are hiding out aren't they
and and again his resurrection is kind of the icing on the cake isn't it and
they can have peace with god but um look he's saying peace be unto you
now look at verse 20 and when he had so said he showed unto
them his hands and his side then were the disciples glad when they
saw the lord okay so that's a bodily resurrection but it's also this
spiritual body it's a glorified immortal body but
there's still evidence of the crucifixion and spearing isn't there
there and look they they seem to need to recognize him don't
they see that here they he's having to show
that look no it is me and think about mary magdalene we just
saw earlier as well she didn't seem to recognize him
even when he's speaking to her um and i think it's going to be
look i think it's going to be the same for us
because we're going to have a body fashion like under his no we're not all
going to be 33 year old men and i don't know anyone heard is it
peter ruckman that apparently was preaching this
and thought that even women were going to come back as a 33 year old man
their body he preached some weird stuff but no because it's like our new bodies
will be fashioned like unto his glorious body
okay so we're going to have some of the similarities of this glorious spiritual
body in the resurrection aren't we we will
bear the image of the heavenly so it will be a different spiritual
body though won't it okay and i think we will still be
recognizable i think we're still gonna be able to
recognize each other but i do think we're gonna have it's gonna be a
different body i hope it is anyway because i can think of a few things in
my body i'd like to be different you know
and especially as i get older i'm thinking okay
sort out this bit at least and look and you know and i'm joking i'm
joking here like not really for vanity reasons but really
look we're going to have an immortal body and that's going to be amazing
isn't it but i don't think we're all going to look
identical to jesus christ but i do think that we're going to have something like
unto his glorious body in my opinion verse 21 then said jesus to them again
peace be unto you as my father have sent me even so
send our youth so now he's saying look peace relax
or whatever you want to look at it don't fear don't stress
but i'm sending you out to preach the gospel in a place where they've just
strung me up and and basically butchered me um
how are they going to have that peace said so he's saying peace is that enough
well jesus told you peace so that's fine well
look at verse 22 when he had said this he breathed on them and saith unto them
receive ye the holy ghost it's a holy ghost a comforter
isn't it um this is this is when the when the
disciples receive the holy ghost not pentecost isn't it
this is it and it's the holy ghost that gives us that boldness doesn't it gives
us a boldness to go forth and preach the gospel to every creature
and any of you that have been soul winning for a while now will know those
times and you're more in the spirit of those times when you're bolder aren't
they okay and those times when you're in the
flesh a bit more those times you're probably not so bold
and when you're in the spirit and when you're feeling in the spirit and you
feel like you you know you you know your walk's going
right at that time look and i know we all have peaks and troughs
everything else you have that boldness don't you okay and when we say in the
spirit for those of you that that may be unsure about this look
when you're saved when you're saved you are indwelt by the holy spirit you have
the holy spirit in you okay but to be what what the Bible
might call filled with the spirit to be in the spirit is when basically
you're resisting the flesh and the and the spirit is what's leading you more
and that's that's a battle that we have daily
and that's a battle that we want to win daily because when we're in the spirit
spirit we're being led by the holy spirit not by our own sinful flesh
that's when we can do great things for god that's when we can be bolder that's
when we can understand things more that's when we
can go out and get more done isn't it um then he says here whosoever sins you
remit they are remitted unto them and
whosoever sins you retain they are retained and that's the power
that all of us indwelt believe is holding our hands
not because we've become some judges of the world not because we decide
in that way but because there's only one way that people get saved
isn't there like i preached this morning there's one way that people get saved by
spirit-filled christians going out preaching the gospel
that's the only way people are getting saved by someone who's saved
therefore has the holy spirit preaching the gospel to them
and there's and but that's but it's not it's not well that's a hundred percent
it then if you preach the gospel and you're saved you're gonna get no it's
not like that is it because sadly the sad truth is that the
vast majority of people will reject the gospel because broad is
the way that leads to destruction and many there be which go in there at
and because straight is the gate and narrows the path that leads them to life
and few there be that find it and it's sad isn't it that you can have
someone can actually be in front of you as a
spiritful christ you preach them you shine them the word of god and they will
reject a lot of the time and sometimes you think
right i've got it now right i've breached them and then you get a bit
shocked don't you you got it you got the word of god there
you're preaching to them and then they reject it
wow but they have the choice to reject don't they many people do and look at
the people in in you know we're seeing it throughout
the gospels so many people rejecting the word of god
for whatever reason and there are a few different reasons they reject aren't
there um but we still got to do it don't we
still go out and preach the gospel and that holy spirit gives us that boldness
to do it doesn't it we're talking about that this morning
that boldness and and you know maybe i could have touched on that as well that
obviously we want to be bold and being prepared will make us bold and praying
for boldness will make us bold but being in the spirit will make us bold
as well won't it being in the spirit and resisting the
flesh and trying to live right and get right for god will help us have that
boldness to go out and preach the gospel to go
out and knock on people's doors to go out and pull people to one side of the
street and tell them they get to heaven and
you need some boldness for that don't you
and i'll tell you what the disciples needed some boldness for that didn't
they because we're not in those conditions
right now in this country although sometimes it feels like it with a few
doors a couple this afternoon which are a
bit funny and one and this one's what i've just got to share this with you
because this is probably worse than the kind of rudeness and the door
slab was the curtain above the door just got
lifted up and this hand just went
that was it i just got waved away and i've you know what the only other place
i've had this is south end i've had it on front door front window on those bay
windows they just opened up and just went
it's like get away get out it's like you're a bad smell
how bad is that hey yeah that was a bit annoying wasn't it
it was all with brother david as well yeah that was
anyway so yeah but we still have the boldness even though we're gonna get
you know wafted away we we you know the spirit will give us that boldness one
and still put up with that um and look we all have this power though
we all have this power he says here whosoever sins you admit they're admitted
unto them whosoever sins you attain they're attained by preaching the gospel
and look the world might think we're fools because a lot of them do don't they
they think we're absolute fools how could we
what we believe believe this book you know what absolute fools well
you know i've told you but first corinthians 1 21 says for after that in
the wisdom of god the world by wisdom knew not god
so wise aren't they it pleased god by the foolishness of preaching to save
them that believe it's foolishness in their eyes but
people get saved don't they and and we're all every single person
here who's been so winning for a while is seeing people getting saved aren't
they see people getting saved by the foolishness of preaching
the foolishness to the world but but but it pleased god by the foolishness of
preaching to save them that believe and that is the only way they're getting
saved from hell by having a gospel preached to them
by a man or woman of god with the holy ghost inside them preaching
the gospel to them um and secretary's 43 don't turn it says but if our gospel be
hid it is hid to them that are lost that's
what it comes down to isn't it if our gospel is here if we don't preach
the gospel if we don't go out and preach the gospel to people
then it's hid to them that are lost and they're not hearing it and
where they're going they're going to hell and that's why the power to admit
or pardon people's sins and the power to retain or keep their sins
is in our hands every single saved christian it's in your hands isn't it
and and you can choose to let things get in the way you can choose to
to make excuses you could choose not to go out
or you could think no the power is in my hands to go and get people saved
i don't care if i'm going to get wafted away i don't care if i'm going to get
people you know being rude to me slamming
doors because the disciples put up with a lot
worse than that didn't they what a responsibility though verse 24
but thomas one of the 12 called didymus was not with them when jesus came
the other disciples therefore said unto him we have seen the lord but he said
unto them except i shall see in his hands a print of the nails
and put my finger into the print of the nails and thrust my hand into his side
i will not believe and this is why thomas is nicknamed doubting thomas
isn't he and after eight days again his disciples
were within and thomas with them then came jesus the doors being shut and
stood in the midst and said peace be unto you so eight days later and it
seems like here they're still hiding out doesn't it
because jesus has just said eight days before he's just sent them out isn't he
he's told them to go and preach and jesus is having to walk through the
closed doors again isn't he and i think i don't think that's just an accident
it's telling us that clearly for a reason
and the third time he says peace be unto you now because you could look at this
and go well they've got the holy ghost in them
but but haven't they got the holy ghost so they'll just automatically fulfill
god's will for them won't they they're Christians they're just going to do
exactly what god says now aren't they because that's what you hear some of
this rubbish sometimes don't you which is absolutely ridiculous
because so much of the bible is trying to exhort encourage us
to do the things it's telling us to do not otherwise it just half the
the vast majority of the Bible wouldn't even be there it's be like you know
tick the box you know you're saved there you go you'll just do it automatically
but that's not the case is it because we they're obviously still battling the
flesh if they just had jesus come and save
them peace be unto you he's just given them the holy ghost the comforter
that the way you can be bold he's told them to go forth
at eight days later they're still hiding behind closed doors and
can't we all be the same we know what god wants us to we know what he tells us
through we read it and he's telling us to do something
and we still choose not to don't we and and and again you you you sympathize
with them don't you and you can understand why but really
when god tells us to do something we should do it shouldn't we
okay and god tells it god says to go ye into all the world and preach the gospel
to every creature isn't it a little bit of a soul winning day today isn't it
anyone who didn't watch this morning's service watch it and uh yeah we're
you know we're look it's it's important though isn't it and that's like i said
this morning it's our number one job that's our job that's our role that's
why we're still here that's why we're not just up in heaven
okay we're here to win people we're here to get people say we're here to preach
the gospel that's how it's pleased god excuse me by the foolishness of
preaching who preaches us that's every single christian here that's
our job our role to go preach gospel to people and get people saved
okay and we don't have an excuse there are no excuses yeah we need to get out
there and do it um okay so you could say couldn't you
they've got the holy ghost in them they'll just automatically fulfill god's
will no no they don't jesus has to come and tell
them again to stop worrying doesn't it he has to come and tell them
and often we need jesus's words to to stop us worrying don't we
yeah aren't we because there's many worries in life it's not just about
preaching there they have some pretty good reasons
to worry and we can all have reasons to worry in life can't we
um turn to philippians chapter 4
because as much as god tells us not to we can still worry a lot can't we
he tells us not to but we do and you know the flesh the flesh
likes us worrying
philippians chapter 4 verse 6 says be careful for nothing but in
everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving
let your requests be made known unto god and the peace of god which passeth all
understandings shall keep your hearts and minds through christ jesus
so that basically means don't worry about anything
yeah but pray make petitions so requests you know you
kind of more than requests isn't it you're kind of pressing with that aren't
you as well ask don't forget the thank yous you know
we like a bit of manners don't we don't forget to thank god
and you can rely on god can't you yeah don't
that's what that's what it says here doesn't it it says be careful for
nothing basically saying careful being you know
having a lot of care being worried but in everything by prayer and supplication
let your requests be known unto god and the peace of god
which passeth all understanding shall keep your hearts
and minds through christ jesus then the peace should come and that's what
we want don't we doesn't i mean so many people they spend a lot
so many people spend most days on different drugs and
everything else to try and get the peace that will only come from god won't it so
many people whether it's drugs i mean how many people just just you
know walk around smoking weed and going peace to people
and really are they that peaceful no they're not really are they
and like anything as soon as it's kind of the morning time
and before before they're stoned again the peace is gone isn't it
and you start to rely on whatever it is whatever it is that you're using to
bring that worldly peace you're going to rely on aren't you
you're going to you have to rely on it because you haven't found the real way
where's the peace the peace of god which passeth
all understanding shall keep your hearts and minds through christ jesus
and the first step on the road to that is getting saved isn't it
getting saved but we're not getting saved because we want peace
in terms of in our minds we're getting saved because we don't want to go to
hell and that's why you should be getting
saved but there is a piece that comes from knowing that you're not going to
hell isn't it okay a great piece verse 27
then saith theta thomas reach hither thy finger
and behold my hands and reach hither thy hand and thrust it into my side and be
not faithless but believing definitely not a ghost
yeah definitely not a ghost here um so he's part he's just kind of
well i don't know whether he walked through the door he just suddenly
appeared in the room but now they're handling him and
touching him and that's pretty amazing isn't it thomas answers said unto him my
lord and my god that's right thomas isn't it
no thomas god my lord and my god jesus christ
is god yeah and thomas and and jesus doesn't rebuke him does he
jesus saith under him thomas because thou has seen me thou has believed
yeah there's no doubt is there there's no doubt in the bible when you read
through the gospel of john there is no doubt is there
that jesus christ is god in the flesh jesus christ
is god the son of the trinity jesus christ is god
okay and yeah what you know what a great truth that thomas just comes out with
him my lord and my god okay so he says thomas because
thy see me thou has believed blessed are they
that have not seen and yet have believed who's that us us that's every single
christian from this time onwards pretty much
isn't it and and i would say as well you could say
maybe those before as well but but definitely every every single person
afterwards that has believed and has not seen
jesus christ and how blessed are we thomas has seen and believed but how
many saw him and didn't believe how many saw him throughout we've seen
chapter after chapter after chapter that saw him heard him
heard him telling them how how to get saved and they rejected
and they said no and they and when they did it but
thomas here he's seen him and and he's believed but blessed are they
that have not seen yet believed and i like that i like to hear how blessed we
are hey because we are how blessed are we
you know how blessed is everyone in here and look
i'm sure everyone's got their own stuff going on in their lives and everyone's
got some some struggles and tests and everything
else but and i've said this before would anyone here change it
would anyone here go back to not being saved
no i'll just go back to the sinful life no way would you
and i don't care even if you're suffering for christ at this point or
maybe it's not for christ maybe you're suffering anyway
maybe you're being chastised maybe you're not but
you wouldn't change it would you you wouldn't change it that peace of god
which passeth all understanding and we have that and you you know and you
know in your heart don't you and look you'll have times of course you
know like doubting thomas here you'll have times
you'll have times where where you know whether it's the devil or the flesh he's
trying to just put a bit of doubt but deep down your heart you know don't
you you know because you haven't believed in vain like we saw in first
Corinthians 15 this morning because you believed because and you do
believe and because you believed you still believe
don't you and and and what a truth it is what a great thing it is and
you know you look over a church like this you see people from all different
walks of life you see people from all different
backgrounds you see people from all different nations
and and we all have in common this one thing that we've all put our faith in
jesus christ and the world would like to say well
you've all been brainwashed oh no you will be by who who brainwashed
like we're all just from all these different areas
backgrounds languages countries and and that's the same for most
churches around the world isn't it but if and we've all had we've all
grown up with the tv brainwashing us but i'll tell you what it was brainwashing
us to put our faith in jesus christ christ alone was it
no we've all grown up with all these different we've all grown up with the
school system at least in this country but did they once tell you that it was
faith alone that it was grace through faith
no way they're they're kind of christianity is about keeping the
commandments or something else isn't it while they're telling you you know
they're they're perverted version of it we've all grown up with
various forms of brainwash some of which by by our parents and families
trying to tell us their version of life but when we heard the word of god when
we heard the truth we knew it was the truth didn't we we
knew it was the truth and yeah amen to that
but that's every single one of us blessed and many other signs truly
did jesus in the presence of his disciples which are not written
in this book but these are written that you might believe that jesus is the
christ the son of god and that believing you
might have life through his name now turn to acts
chapter one
acts chapter one
this is talking of the apostles in verse three it says in acts one three
to whom also talking of the apostles to whom also he showed himself alive after
his passion by many infallible proofs being seen
of them 40 days and speaking of the things
pertaining to the kingdom of god and we just read
in verse 30 of john 20 there are many other signs truly did jesus in the
presence of his of his disciples which are not
written in this book and i think he's possibly talking about
in this 40 days here maybe um there's a lot of stuff that jesus did
because here in acts one verse three it's talking about
after his passion many infallible proofs being seen of them 40 days
speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of god there's a lot of stuff
that jesus did isn't there a lot of stuff that jesus did and we know
that there's a lot of stuff he did in his life that which wasn't recorded as
well fact that the whole you know all the
books in the world could not could not contain all the things he did
but i think in those 40 days he did a lot of stuff
but we're given what we need to know aren't we
okay we're given the stuff we need to know and we've got everything we need
here to know that jesus is what it says here
that jesus is the christ the son of god and what that means is not you know it
doesn't mean oh okay well okay jesus has got many people say jesus is the christ
and they don't believe do they but jesus is the christ means he's the
anointed he's a messiah he's a son of god means he is god in the flesh
and what it means is that there is only one way you can be saved and that's through
jesus christ he was the one that came to pay for all our sins
but what's in the gospel of john is written so that we might believe and get
saved yeah and what a great book and obviously
i think most people have probably heard preachy on that before
and it's a great answer isn't it and then nothing wrong with just reminding
people here this it's a great answer to the repent of your sins crowd isn't it
the repent of your sins crowd that love to add of your sins when they see the
word repent yet the word repent isn't in the gospel
of john once okay we've just read a book which says
these are written that you might believe that jesus is the christ the son of god
and that believe you might have life through his name so
everything in the gospel of john and you could get someone saved from the gospel
of john no doubt you could we choose most
people here choose to go to different chapters different i think i said this
before this is some jack hull's um guidance on
soul winning over the years and he he for whatever
reason believes he should stay in one book of the bible
and you could stay in the gospel of john he's he actually stayed in the book of
romans so his romans road was actually only romans
he only used scriptures for romans and look i
my theory with that is i believe maybe at the time with a not so godless
usa where at least there was a lot more knowledge of god maybe
we we would feel that nowadays in this country you kind of need to go and
actually explain exactly what hell is and what better way of doing it than to
show them from the bible and that's why we go to places like
revelation and whereas and and again explaining the trinity
and showing you know who jesus christ is again maybe there wasn't so much of a
need for that when he was preaching in his heyday
in the states i don't know but he you know he was a successful soul winner
he got a lot of people saved but i do believe that that you could and
there's no reason why not because that's why these things are written in the book
of john and the book of john does not use the word repent once does it
because when you believe you are repenting okay
what are you repenting of you're repenting of your unbelief
yeah you're changing your mind from what you did believe to the faith of jesus
christ okay but when you're when there he's
literally preaching to the false religious
in the book of acts and other places he's saying to them you've got to stop
worshiping idols and make your faith in jesus christ
here in the gospel of john he's just saying believe believe believe and he's
hammering home that point because it's the same thing isn't it
because when you believe you trust jesus christ and that's that's why you could
go through this whole gospel you go through all 21 chapters and not see the
word repent once yet this book was written so you might believe
and how frustrating is that repenting your sins it's it's frustrating i
suppose it's frustrating because it's a more subtle sorry it's the most
subtle one isn't it because they can really appear to be a
baptist can't they they can appear to be bible believing
they can dress in the suit they can have a church pretty soon they can sing old
classic hymns of the faith they can have the king james bible they
can do everything as you think that a real church should do it
and and then it's just that little repent of your sins that little bit of
poison and all that truth is used to wash down
the poison isn't it and it's the most subtle and it's
probably the you could say the most dangerous isn't it
because how many people we've all most people here have been at churches
where those people believe they're safe don't they and they believe that they're
doing things right they believe they're the one they believe yeah we're doing
right we've got the king james doing it all really
they they believe though that they have to repent of their sins or have to
continue repenting of their sins or some sort of turning from sin some
sort of stopping sin some sort of continuing not to sin to
be saved and where are they going when they die
hell if they believe that they're going to hell because there is only one way
isn't there there's one way jesus said i am the way
the truth and life and and him being the way is not about
well you gotta you gotta stop saying that's not that's not jesus being away
he's been away is it he paid for all your sins didn't he past present and
future that's the truth and that's why this
gospel is so great isn't it because it just makes it so clear
makes salvation so clear and i think most people here probably when they're
trying to preach the gospel the people will go to
just clear scripture from the gospel of john because it's just got so much clear
scripture especially about belief isn't it
whosoever believeth in him shall not perish but have ever lasted life you know
he that believeth not is condemned already because he had not believed in
the name of the only begotten son of god and so much more isn't there and what a
great gospel and we're nearly done with it
so um i better hurry up and decide what we're gonna do next um but
in the meantime um we've got one more chapter to go
which is you know gonna be great to get this finished um but i've enjoyed it i
hope you've all enjoyed it as well and and that's a great chapter of the bible
isn't it to just see those truths and on that let's
father i thank you for your word i thank you um thank you for this church thank
you for a great group of people here um thank you for all your many blessings
blessings with this church i pray that you'll just help all of us
this week to want to live for you to want to to get that worry out of our
lives by just being in prayer and supplication
petition to you and just just wanting to live for you and
trying to get right with you trying to live in the spirit we can
resist the flesh help us all do that this week and to get
out preach your gospel to people to make sure we're in our bible reading
them we each and every one of us reading our
bibles praying to you making sure that we we return back
here next week for you know to be enough to be here
another day in the house of the lord and we thank
you for all that you do for us and we ask all these things in the deepest name