Blessed Belief (John 20:19-31)

Let's stand for the reading of God's Word, which will be in

John's Gospel chapter 2019 to 31.

It's about a year ago that we launched into our study of the

Gospel of John, and this Sunday is the second to last sermon in

the series. Next Sunday will be our final

sermon in John, and then we will be moving in to the book of

Jonah, and we'll study Jonah up through the beginning of Advent.

As I read this story, it's very familiar to many people.

And because we know the end, it's sometimes difficult to

imagine what the disciples were experiencing.

So let me set the stage. There's ten of them.

Thomas is not with them, Judas betrayed Christ.

The ten of them are behind locked doors, terrified of what

the Jews might do to them. The man that they have followed

for three years, the only perfect man.

Jesus never sinned the way he taught them all that must happen

has died. His body has been placed in a

tomb. They're experiencing the shock

and the horror, this gruesome death, and wondering what does

this mean? What is the call when suddenly,

without announcement, the Lord Jesus himself appears in the

center, in the middle amongst them here.

Now how this unfolds according to the apostle John, as he was

carried along by the Holy Spirit to write these words.

Verse 19, John 20. On the evening of that day, the

first day of the week, the doors being locked where the disciples

were for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and

said to them, Peace be with you. When he had said this, he showed

them his hands and his side. Then the disciples were glad

when they saw the Lord Jesus said to them again, Peace be

with you. As the Father has sent me, Even

so I am sending you. And when he had said this, he

breathed on them and said to them, Receive the Holy Spirit.

If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them.

If you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld.

Now Thomas, one of the 12 called the twin, was not with them when

Jesus came. So the other disciples told him,

we have seen the Lord, but he said to them, Unless I see in

his hands the mark of the nails, and place my finger into the

mark of the nails, and place my hand into his side, I will never

believe. 8 days later his disciples were inside again and

Thomas was with them. Although the doors were locked,

Jesus came and stood among them and said, peace be with you.

Then he said to Thomas, Put your finger here and see my hands,

and put out your hand and place it in my side.

Do not disbelieve, but believe. Thomas answered him, My Lord and

my God, Jesus said to him, have you believed because you've seen

me? Blessed are those who have not

seen and yet have believed. Now Jesus did many other signs

in the presence of the disciples which are not written in this

book, but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus

is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may

have life in His name. This is the word of the Lord.

Thanks be to God. Please be seated.

This final verse of chapter 20 is where we began about a year

ago. John so clearly tells us the

purpose for his book. The Apostle John tells us that

he is writing these things, recording this narrative, that

those who hear it would believe that Jesus is the Christ, the

Son of God, and that by believing He would have life in

His name. John, carried along by the Holy

Spirit, wrote words that you and I have been studying for over a

year. Many of you have studied a lot

longer. Some of you are brand new to

these words. What happened in this account

that you just heard me read really happened.

There really were ten men who had followed Jesus when he said

come follow me, I will make you fishers.

The men, they laid down everything and they followed

Christ for three years. They saw Jesus do amazing things

and say amazing things. They saw him walk on water.

They saw him calm storms, They saw him turn water to wine.

They heard him say to a dead man in the tomb, Lazarus come out,

and he did. This is who they saw and who

they followed prior to the crucifixion.

He spent time with them in the upper room making promises to

them, telling them what was going to happen.

And it did. Jesus Christ, the only perfect

man, the spotless Lamb, was sacrificed, killed, murdered on

the cross. And the 10 or the 12, I should

say 1 betrayed him, one denied, and they all scattered.

This is the evening of the first day of the week, and these men

are hiding, and they're hiding in real fear.

They're hiding because they are afraid that the Jews, the

religious leaders, might come after them and do the same thing

to them that they did to Jesus. They're behind closed doors.

We're told the door is locked and they're simply together,

except for one, Thomas. We'll get to Thomas in a minute.

I want to spend some time looking at this in this way.

I want to focus on his appearance, the words he spoke,

and then the way he empowered them.

So go with me to verse 19. On the evening of that day, the

first day of the week, the doors being locked where the disciples

were for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them.

This tells us a lot about the way our Lord works and who He

is. Jesus was not expected by them.

They were not saying to one another.

When do you think he's going to knock on the door and come in?

Jesus moves suddenly and shockingly.

While these men are having whatever conversation they're

having, lamenting whatever they're lamenting, fearful of

whatever they're afraid of, Jesus is suddenly present.

Just comprehend that if you can. A man who they saw die, a man

whose body they knew had been placed in the tomb, is now in

their presence. He's a man.

He's not a ghost. He is not a spirit in his flesh

He's present. And this matters.

How do we know? Because when he enters in, they

see him, and he shows them the wounds in his hand and the

piercing and his side. Why?

Because he's a man. And that man, the perfect

sacrifice, the spotless Lamb, truly was killed.

But he is now alive. He is resurrected.

He has been raised from the dead, and this man somehow

suddenly appears in their presence, reminding us that he

is fully God and fully man. Don't miss that.

He is in their midst. He is in the middle.

He is present suddenly and shockingly, the fact that he has

a body matters because it's a real man, the real man who is

alive. He has conquered death.

He's not just a ghost. He's not just the spirit.

It's really him. What does that teach us about

the resurrection? The Christ body was transformed.

It was no longer dead. It was transformed.

If you're in Christ, one day your body is going to be raised

as well. It's going to be transformed.

But we also see that Jesus's body was recognizable.

They knew it was him. This transformed body.

This raised body was recognizable, and they saw his

wounds. Jesus is still a man, He still

has a body. We will see him one day if we're

in Christ for all eternity. But now Jesus, his appearance

sudden, His appearance shocking. It's a transformed appearance,

but it's a recognizable appearance.

Jesus now speaks, standing among them.

It doesn't say that anyone else said anything.

First Jesus speaks, and what does he say?

4 words. Peace be with you.

Now that's an ordinary and common greeting in the Greek,

but there's more to it than that.

They were not at peace. They had coward.

Peter had denied 3 times that he even knew him.

The word tells us that all of them had scattered for fear.

It's understandable. But they were not at peace.

So Jesus speaks, Peace be with you.

When he'd said this, he showed them his hands on his side.

Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord.

Jesus said to them again, Peace be with you.

Already. On this first night of the week,

this day of resurrection, Jesus is fulfilling promises that he

made to them in the upper room. I will not leave you as orphans.

I will not forsake you. He is already present and it's

the real Lord. It's the man that was on the

cross. It's the man they saw walk on

water. It's the man they saw feed

thousands of people, It's the Lord.

He says, I'm going to give you my peace.

What does he speak first? He doesn't condemn them.

He doesn't rebuke them. He speaks his peace.

Peace be with you. He says it twice, recorded here

in verse 20 and 21. Jesus promised His presence.

He promised His peace. He said in his prayer to the

Father that he was sending them out.

And then he speaks these words as the Father has sent me.

Even so, I am sending you. Isn't that amazing, the way John

records those words? Jesus says as the Father has

sent me, as he, my Father, your Father has sent me on the

mission which I have accomplished this death and

resurrection. Even so, I am sending you.

The sent 1 is now sending the ones he called to follow him.

And it's the same mission. It's the same mission to go out

and proclaim the name of Christ, that there is only one who is

the Lord. There is only one who is God.

There is only one who can save you, and it's Jesus.

And so he says, peace be with you as the Father has sent me,

Even so I'm sending you. And then in verse 22, we see

another promise fulfilled. He promised that the Holy Spirit

would come. John is the only one who records

this in the Gospels, verse 22. And when Jesus had said this, he

breathed on them and said to them, receive the Holy Spirit.

That's really interesting. Sometimes we're prone to think

that the Holy Spirit really didn't come onto the scene until

Pentecost. The Holy Spirit is God eternal,

the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, that mystery.

Jesus said it is better for you that I go away, that the Spirit

might come. Many read this in John's gospel

and they wonder what actually was happening then.

John's the only one who records this.

It seems like he's talking about what happened at Pentecost.

Is this the same thing? Scholars have debated this.

I don't believe it was the same thing.

I believe that as Jesus is meeting with these ten that

night, as he says I'm bringing you peace, This is me, I'm

present. Look at my hands, look at my

side. He commissions them, means he

sends them and in order to do that, he's empowering them.

And what I believe is happening here is that as Jesus is

breathing on them, just picture that scene.

He's in the midst of them. As he's breathing on them, he

says receive the Holy Spirit. I believe that there is a

picture here of what is about to happen, the symbolism about what

is about to happen 50 days from now when the true outpouring of

the Holy Spirit will take place at Pentecost.

I believe this is a picture looking forward where they're

already tasting some element of that power and presence that's

going to be with them, but not yet full.

It's coming. But I also think that John, in

the crafty way, the beautiful way that he was carried along by

the Spirit to right, is taking us way back, all the way to the

beginning. I love what Andreas Kostenberger

says about this part of John's narrative.

He says there is creation symbolism.

This should not surprise us in a book that opens with the same

words as Genesis in the beginning.

John constantly grounds his narrative in the soil of the

creation chapters of Genesis. So while we can sense that he's

looking forward to what will happen in 50 days, he's also

looking back. This breathing by Jesus is

merely to a symbolic gesture connoting Jesus creation of a

new covenant community in a way analogous to the creation of

man, where God breathed into man's nostrils the breath of

life and the man became a living being.

Genesis 27. Christ is breathing on them.

He's showing them the responsibility that we have as

his followers. He says receive the Spirit.

Luke tells us in the book of Acts, you will receive power

when the Holy Spirit comes on you and you will be my witnesses

in in Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria into the ends of the

earth. Jesus in this moment with these

10 is pointing them to what's going to happen in the future,

but also taking them back to the beginning because this is the

beginning. This is the beginning of a new

covenant community, the Church of Jesus Christ, in which He is

the head, and He is sending them out with the message to proclaim

Christ. It's interesting that he says in

verse 23, if you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven

them. If you withhold forgiveness from

any, it is withheld. We need to be careful her not to

misunderstand that forgiveness lies in the power of human

beings. That is not what's taking place

here. This is a decorative power and

not an originating power. This is the disciples

proclaiming the truth that only in Christ can we be forgiven.

Only in Christ, the spotless Lamb who died for us, who is now

risen. That is where forgiveness lies,

and that's what they are to declare.

And for those who would reject that, it must be told that it

will be withheld if you reject it.

Now let's move to Thomas. We talked about Jesus's

appearance. We talked about what Jesus said,

and we talked about how Jesus empowered the ten.

Well, the same thing is about to happen.

One week later we moved to verse 24 because Thomas was not with

them. John tells us what he said

boldly. He says if I don't put my hand

in the mark of the nails and place my hand into his side, I

will never believe. But what I don't want you to

miss is what he's refusing to believe.

What he is refusing to believe is the Apostolic testimony.

He is refusing to believe what the 10 apostles have said has

just happened because he wasn't there, because he wasn't in that

room. And I don't know where he was.

We're not told when he returned. Those 10 told him what he

missed. Can you imagine?

Thomas the Lord was here. He didn't knock.

He just showed up. He wasn't a ghost because we saw

his side, we saw his hands. He was transformed.

He's alive. We recognized him.

He spoke to us. He said peace, and we felt peace

because of his presence. And then he reminded us of why

he called us to begin with. The one who was sent from the

Father is now sending out us. Thomas, I'm so sorry you missed

it. And they all agreed.

But Thomas, how could he doubt? Well, maybe it's because what

happened to Jesus, what he witnessed, how those last three

days unfolded, it was very difficult to imagine.

And probably he had a little fear to trust because what if it

isn't true? Everything he put his hope and

it ended. Christ was dead and now they're

saying he's not dead, he's alive.

But Thomas in his doubt and you know what it's like to doubt

says unless I see and touch, I will never believe.

So what does Jesus do? Jesus appears once again.

Suddenly God is going to surprise his children when he

calls them to himself. God is the one who initiates.

God is the one who pursues. God is the one who chooses.

And for any who are going to be saved by Christ in history,

there will be a collision course.

Woman at the well, there's going to be a collision course.

When your heart that is locked, when your heart that is dead is

going to suddenly be unlocked and come alive and you're going

to say, I believe Jesus knew that Thomas wasn't there.

That first appearance that was ordained by God so that 2000

years later, in the time between then and now, until Christ

returns, we'll be telling the story about how he went after

one of his own who was in the midst of doubt so deep that he

said to his companions, his fellow apostles, I will not

believe Jesus appears. It's sudden, He doesn't knock,

they don't unlock the door. He's just there standing among

them. What does he say?

Once again, the greeting. But the greeting means more than

hello. And how are you?

It's peace be with you. The promise that he had made to

give. And then he speaks directly to

Thomas. The Church of Jesus Christ is

made-up of individual people who have been saved by God.

We are a collective body, but he moves individually to make us

come to saving faith. Thomas, put your finger here.

Wouldn't you just love to have seen the scene?

Thomas, put your finger here. See my hands?

Put out your hand. Place it in my side.

He's a man. He was the man that was on the

cross. He's a man transformed by the

resurrection. He's alive.

He's transformed, but recognizable.

And then he gives this exhortation to Thomas.

Do not disbelieve, but believe. Do not disbelieve, but believe.

And then Thomas gives us the greatest declaration of who

Christ is in the whole gospel, my Lord and my God.

Now think about this for a minute.

Why did John tell us what his purpose in writing this book

was? It comes just a couple of verses

later. You heard it a minute ago.

Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples

which are not written in his book, but these are written so

that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God,

and that by believing you may have life in his name.

Right before that statement, John the Apostle was carried

along to write about doubting Thomas.

God knew and ordained that he wouldn't be present in that

first appearance. In the second appearance, Jesus

shows up and says, Peace be with you, Thomas.

He calls him by name. Put your finger here, Put your

hand here. Stop disbelieving and believe.

He says what all who come to Christ say in one way or

another, my Lord and my God. Then Jesus says something,

something that should bring you great encouragement.

Thomas is the one he's speaking to.

Have you believed because you have seen me?

He said he wouldn't believe unless he saw him, unless he

touched him. Christ met him in that.

That's amazing. But then Jesus says this.

Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.

If you're in Christ Jesus like I am in Christ Jesus, we have

never seen him. We will.

And Jesus says blessed are we who haven't seen, but we have

believed. And what have we believed?

We have believed the apostles testimony that went from this

place in the power of the Holy Spirit and continues to go.

If you're in Christ, there was a day or a season of your life

when suddenly who He said He was made sense to you match with

your knowledge that you needed Him and you needed him alone.

And one way or another, you cried out.

Jesus, my Lord and my God, if that's happened to you, we

should pray that we never get over the gift of belief, that we

would never get over the blessing of belief.

You believe because He caused you to believe.

Grace, grace, grace. It's very possible that today or

if you're listening to this, even weeks or months or years

from now, that it's the moment when you're on a collision

course with the Lord and the Lord is calling you to Himself,

showing you who He is through His Word and Spirit.

That same Spirit that He breathed and said receive, that

same Spirit that was poured out at Pentecost, that same Spirit

that was promised who lives in all who are in Christ.

It's the Spirit who illuminates your heart and mind.

That might be happening this morning.

And if it is, please talk to us. All you need to do is cry out to

the Lord and say, I trust you. You are the Lord, I trust you.

I want you to be my God, I trust you.

There is no other name in which I can be saved.

I am a Sinner. I need forgiveness.

You've heard it now though. So then hear these words of

Christ to Thomas. He said, stop your disbelief and

believe. This is why John wrote these

words, and the work that he sent the disciples to do when he

appeared to them in that room is still continuing.

And it's going to until the very last child that belongs to the

Father is chosen, is saved. Father in Heaven, so much took

place behind this closed door. You appeared, you spoke, you

showed yourself, you're alive, you commissioned, and you

empowered. You continue to do the same

thing. Lord, as we close in singing,

for some this is a new song. Let us think deeply about what

we are saying about the mission you've called us to.

And God make us eager to go out into the world and to proclaim

that there is only one who is the Lord God, our Savior Jesus,

and whose name we pray. Amen.

Please stand.