Communion Message | Pastor William Hixson

And uh we will have prayer meeting after

the service. We'll have a meal uh for

those that will stay and pray and then

we will have our prayer meeting. We also

have prayer meeting on Wednesday night.

We have a Bible class every Wednesday

night and then we have Bible prayer

meeting as well. So you're welcome to

come for that as well.

Today we're going to have the Lord's

Supper.

And there are every Lord's Supper

service really we focus on Jesus and the

cross. That's the point. And to focus

our minds and hearts and prepare us for

the table of the Lord

and have our minds in the right place

and our hearts in the right place as we

think about that.

And so we're going to speak on Jesus.

We're going to talk about his death.

We're going to talk about what happened

there because that will help us

prepare ourselves for taking the bread

and the cup.

Um

it's very important that we know why we

do what we do.

We don't just do it.

It's very important that we grasp

who Jesus is and what he did. Very

simple thing, but it's a very profound,

deeply profound thing.

And singing about the cross and singing

about the death of Jesus and studying it

and thinking about it in the word of God

is very important. You don't just take

the bread and the cup. That pictures it

symbolically, his body and his blood.

But we want to think about it. We want

to think about it.

And I want you to think about something

very, very obvious. Very obvious.

Everybody knows it. We're not talking

about something we don't know.

the nail holes in his hands

and feet

inside.

That's what I want to focus on. We've

done it before. I'm going to do it

again.

Remember the himwriter said, "I shall

know him. I shall know him by the prince

of the nails

in his hands."

Obviously, Jesus has changed a lot from

when he was on the earth. He's now

glorified.

He's risen from the dead. He's

glorified.

But we'll know him by the prince

of the nails in his hands and of the

wound in his side by the spear.

So I love that chorus. I shall know him.

I shall know him by the prince of the

nails

in his hands. Now, the nails aren't in

his hands, but the scars of that are

still there.

Uh people have little forms, any any u

marks of identification,

uh scars or other kinds of things on a

person that helps you identify them. We

we have them. We have marks of

identification. We got five of them.

The hymn Arise My Soul Arise by Charles

Wesley.

In verse three says, "Five bleeding

wounds he bears received on Calvary.

They pour effectual prayers they

strongly plead for me. Forgive him. Oh,

forgive they cry. Nor let that ransom

sinner die."

Now, if you just count them out, Jesus

had five wounds, right?

one on each hand,

uh, one on each foot, and then with the

spear thrust, that makes five.

I've got five scars on my body.

And not because I was doing something

good to help somebody else,

some of them for me doing something

foolish or unthinking.

And I've got five wounds. They're not

bleeding, but they are scars.

And as a 77 year old man,

those things happened when I was a

teenager.

Scars on my chin I think are gone. Faded

after these years. My thumb is gone

pretty much. My foot gone. My leg gone.

So the five are almost gone. I have to

look for them. Know they're still there

faintly.

The Lord Jesus when he appeared risen

from the dead retained his scars. Now

you your body and my body will not

retain our scars.

When I'm risen, my scars are gone.

Uh when I'm risen, if I lost one arm,

I'll have two in heaven. Whatever things

happened down here, I'm going to get my

tonsils back, I guess,

and my adoids. It's the only surgery I

ever had.

So, we're going to get everything back

in a glorified body.

and Jesus did as well. But the scars

were retained as marks of

identification,

marks of identification.

And that's why the himmwriters sing

about it.

And five bleeding wounds he received.

They strongly they pour effectual

prayers. They strongly plea plead for

me. Forgive. Oh, forgive. They cry nor

let that ransom sinner die.

So I want us as a local body

this morning to prepare ourselves for

the Lord's supper to remember his death

until he comes. That's the purpose of

this whole message. It's one thing

and to review what we know. You say,

"Pastor, you're telling we all know

about that. I know about that."

Yeah, I know. I know about it, too, but

I need to know it better,

especially at the Lord's Supper.

I think of the hymn. He was wounded for

our transgressions. He bore the bore our

sin on the tree.

Wounded for me. Wounded for me.

They're on the cross. He was wounded for

me. Have you ever hurt somebody else?

Has anybody else been hurt because of

you?

Ever think about how bad it makes you

feel?

And I not only hurt myself as a young

man, sometimes I hurt others. And

sometimes it was on purpose.

That's what hurts me the most as I think

about it.

Sometimes accidental, sometimes it was

on purpose because I was angry with them

or whatever.

And

but my sins put Jesus on the cross.

That's what really ought to hurt me. But

those same wounds that I it's my fault.

He wouldn't had to die if it wasn't for

my sins. But he died because of my sins.

He poured out his life on the cross for

us. Now, we respect our parents who gave

so much to us. We respect our military

veterans who gave their health and

sometimes their limbs and sometimes

their uh mental health, sometimes their

lives for our country.

And we thank God for it. Thank God for

the veterans and the policemen and the

firemen that risk their lives and the

doctors that pour their life into

learning things so that they can help us

that we thank our Lord.

Are we really thankful? We just singing

about it or

is are we really giving we give him a

cold kiss or a warm kiss

when we worship?

Our

duty is to preach the gospel, but our

duty is also to celebrate the savior.

The church's job is to proclaim the good

news. But the church's job is also to

worship

to worship

to worship the one

who gave us the good news to proclaim.

I'm going to emphasize

the wombs of Jesus this morning. And I

know you know it all, but we're going to

go over it again. Turn with me to Psalm

22.

Psalm 22.

People,

we all tend after we've been a Christian

for a while to think, I know that stuff.

Well, how I already know it. Well, how

can you touch somebody, you teach

somebody something that they think they

already know it?

We need to know what we know and we need

to know it better.

And so, Psalm 22,

you know this psalm. We've taught this

psalm in this church and we can glance

at the whole psalm and get some ideas of

where it's going. I'll remind you of an

outline I preached here I think 10 years

ago on this psalm.

The first part is Messiah's trust in

trouble verses 1 to 10.

The Lord's in trouble and he's trusting

his father in the trouble. And we can

x-ray x-ray the Messiah's soul as he was

on the cross. Messiah's trust in trouble

1 to 10. And then 12 to 21 is Messiah's

trauma in trouble. This wasn't a little

thing.

It It was even worse than the nails and

the spear and the mocking.

It was our sins were laid on him and he

was separated from God taking our hell

at that point. Messiah's trauma in

trouble. And that's verses 12 to 21. And

then verses 23 to to the end of the

psalm is Messiah's triumph from trouble.

It doesn't stop with trauma.

It moves on to triumph. It moves on to

his resurrection. It moves on to the

gospel going out to the whole world. And

that's where you are and I am.

I see people from different countries

here. here this morning.

Guess what? 1,000 years before Jesus

died, this psalm was written.

And it was written.

One of the things that's written is that

the triumph of the good news about what

God the Father did for God the Son when

he wrote rose from the dead would travel

all over the world. The Gentile world.

That's us.

That's verse 23-37.

And this psalm is just filled with so

much trouble, so much trauma, and so

much trust in the triumph of the Lord.

And God predicted it because only God

can tell the future

3,000 years ago,

a thousand years before Jesus was born.

I can't even predict who's going to be

elected in the next election. Can you?

You say, "Well, I can guess." Yeah, but

sometimes you're right, sometimes you're

wrong.

I can't predict who's going to win the

ball game next week.

Even though if I think I might know,

which I don't, but

Jesus Jesus predicted his death. But

before Jesus predicted his death, the

Psalms did.

And he was in trouble.

And if you look in verse uh 11 in Psalm

22,

he's praying to his father. Be not far

from me for troubles near and there's

none to help. Many bulls have compassed

me. Strong bulls of Bashan have beset me

around. He's got these uh uh ferocious

bulls with horns that are all around

him, attacking him. They gaped on me

with their mouths like a ravening and

roaring lion. So now he brings the lion

into into it. He's talking about people

that are acting like wild animals.

I'm poured out like water. All my bones

are out of joint. My heart is like my

heart is like wax is melted within me.

That's the emotional pain be beyond the

that's behind the uh physical pain. My

strength is dried up like a potard. A

potard's an old dried up piece of

pottery that's busted and laying in the

dust.

My tongue cleaves to my jaws and thou

hast brought me into the dust of death.

The dogs have compassed me. The assembly

of the wicked have implosed me. They

pierced my hands and my feet. That's

what we're going to look at.

They go beyond it. I may count all my

bones. They look and stare upon me. They

part my garments among them and cast

lots for my vesture. But be not thou far

from me, oh Lord, oh my strength. Haste

thee to help me. Deliver my soul from

the sword. My only one from the power of

the dog. Save me from the lion's mouth.

Save me from the lion's mouth. Brings in

the lion again. for you've heard me from

the horns of the wild oxen.

So if you're impaled on the horn, you're

in the place of death. If you're in the

lion's mouth, you're in the place of

death.

That's the psalm.

It's a fascinating, amazing psalm. And

he's going to go into the resurrection

part later of how he was heard.

Now the early church grasped the fact

that Psalm 22 pictured and prophesied

the death of the Lord Jesus.

Jesus himself referred to it in his in

in his uh saying from the cross, "My

God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"

It's the first verse of this psalm.

And often uh uh Bible teachers would

recur recur rec would say one verse or

write one verse but it was mentioned to

think of all the verses in that chapter.

So our lord quoted the first verse of

this psalm from the cross.

Eli Eli laki

my god my god why have you forsaken?

Now,

Alfred Plameumber calls Psalm 22 the

gospel according to David.

David lived a thousand years before

Jesus was born. He was the progenitor of

Jesus. He is a prophet. He's predicting

it before it happens.

And the savior turns, Alfred Plamer

said, 'The savior turns his eyes from

the sufferings to the glory which

followed and anticipated the extensive

and permanent permanently blessed

effects of his passion. It have

worldwide effect.

My Hebrew professor in seminary was John

Davis, Dr. John Davis.

He just passed away and went to heaven

just recently, last couple of months.

But I had the book of Psalms from him

and he had outlined Psalm 22 in two

points, not three. There there's both

ways you can do it. The terror of God's

forsakenness 1-21 and the testimony of

his deliverance 22

and 31.

That's a pretty good outline.

So the psalm pick pictures a widening

circle of thanksgiving and praise around

the world.

In the last section is a prophecy of the

proclamation and universal significance

of the death and resurrection of the

Messiah.

This is going to go worldwide.

That was predicted a thousand years

before Jesus was born that the gospel

about the cross would go worldwide.

Just read that last section.

Here's where Gentile evangelism comes

in. Here's where the death of Jesus is

the basis of the gospel around the

world. This is what the church is doing

now. Giving the gospel around the world.

We have more reason to believe Christ

died for our sins according to the

scriptures and was raised again the

third day according was buried and

raised again the third day according to

the scriptures than the Corinthians did

2,000 years ago when Paul wrote this

these kind of things to them.

We we've discovered all kinds of things

that validate what the psalmist said and

that the psalmist really said it and

that Psalm 22 was written by David back

then. It's an amazing validation. It

shocks me that people there's more

unbelievers today than ever and the

evidence is archaeological evidence and

textual evidence is stronger than ever.

It's bizarre. God's giving more evidence

and people have more unbelief.

When we were in Israel a few year a few

years ago, a rabbi asked

our Jewish Jewish guide said a rabbi was

asked, "What do you think of Jesus?" And

he and this rabbi, Jewish rabbi, not a

Christian, said he was certainly the

most popular Jew

because there's buses. You go to Israel,

just buses busing in all over the world

from people pouring out from India and

Africa and and Europe and every this bus

has another group of people

and they're there because they're

Christians and they're wanting to see

where Jesus lived and died. So that

rabbi had it right. He certainly was the

most popular.

So may God help us to just think and

focus on these verses and the poetry of

this. Now, this is poetry. It's

prophetic poetry.

So, what is the prophetic? This is

important for you. Why you say, "Pastor,

you're telling me this. I know this."

You may have missed some of this. So,

I'm giving it to you because you need to

use Psalm 22 when you witness to people.

When they say, "I don't believe the

gospel. Why should I believe that?" You

got to give them some reasons.

Now, you don't have to be a big scholar

to witness or to proclaim the gospel,

not argue for it. But it's it's good to

be uh in uh in uh well informed so that

we don't let people off the hook and

they try to wiggle away from the truth.

And so yes, this is poetry. It's Jesus

on the cross. It's quoted in Matthew

Matthew 27:35

27:35.

It's quoted in John 19:23 and 24

John 19:23

and and verse 18. This is good stuff.

It's there. Psalm 22 is there. Uh John

19 describes him dividing up his

clothes. Matthew 23:27

Matthew 23:27

and 35 talks about as being forsaken by

God. The one part of Psalm 22 that the

New Testament writers don't quote

is the part about their piercing

my hands and my feet.

They don't quote that.

Now, it is there there's other passages

about the piercing of Jesus's hands and

feet in the Bible, and those are

referred to, but this one's not.

Very interesting fact.

Now, when we when we look at Psalm 22

and we read from our King James Bible or

other Bibles, they pierce my hands and

your feet, we think, well, that's

obvious. That's a real clear prophecy of

the crucifixion.

But, you know, there's Jews that object

to that.

They say it doesn't predict that. They

say the reading, the real reading is

like a lion, my hands and my feet.

Did you know that?

So they would debate that. There's

people that debate that. And people that

say, "Oh, the King James people

perverted everything when they

translated it pierced. It should be

translated like a lion." You think,

"Well, don't the Jews know Hebrew better

than anybody else? Don't they know what

the Hebrew says?

Well, we need to understand some of this

stuff.

And if you think they don't take it that

way, uh, I've got two books in my

library written by Jews. They're on the

Hebrew text and they're in the Psalms.

One's from a Hillel Foundation. You I'm

not sure how it got into my hands, but

it was written in 1972. And they

translated, "Dogs surround me. A pack of

evil ones closes in on me. Like a lion,

my hands and feet.

And they But then they imply something

like a lion.

This is not in the text and they know

it. They maul my hands and my feet.

So they add something

like a lion parenthesis to be

understood. They maul my hands and my

feet. The book of Psalms by Da uh by

Cohen, a Jewish Jewish Hebrew scholar in

1945. I've worn the covers off of that

book. It translates it, "A company of

evildoers have enclosed me like a lion.

They are at my hands and feet."

Now, they are at is not in the text.

it's added.

Um,

like a lion is not in the text. They

they they

uh interpret it differently.

The Hebrew is difficult and it deals

with the it deals with one letter being

a little longer or shorter,

a wobb and a yod.

They're very much alike.

So it's easy to make a mistake.

And so

the Hebrew is difficult. Even this

writer says the Hebrew is difficult.

There being nothing to correspond with

they are at.

And the Targum has biting like a lion.

My hands and feet. Biting like a lion.

My hands and feet.

But the uh the King James and the uh

Revised Version translated piercing my

hands and feet. But guess what? The

Jewish interpretation, the Jewish, not

the Christian, the Jewish interpretation

of the Hebrew text

in the year about 200 BC

was they pierced my hands and my feet.

The Jews interpreted the Hebrew text

into Greek language. And the Jews that

did it interpret it as piercing,

not like a lion, my hands and feet.

Now, that should be that should interest

you, right? When the Christians had

changed the Septuagent, now that's what

they blame us on. But it's their Bibles.

It's not ours. They're the ones that

translate.

It's called the Septuagent because 70

Jews were involved in interpreting the

Hebrew text, the Jewish Bible into

Greek.

So they say the sense would be like a

lion. They gnarled my hands and feet.

They just paraphrase it that way.

Now,

I want to say something about what

they're doing. There's a lot of

desperation there.

A lot of desperation there.

And

like a lion, they gnawled my hands and

feet. They they don't like the word

pierced.

Now it's poetry

and it's good poetry and he is talking

about a bunch of animals right bulls,

lions and dogs,

right? It's poetry. It's poetry about

being attacked by these animals. That is

the poetry.

And it's poetry about the people

crucifying Jesus pictured as wild

animals. holes goring him and lions

biting him and dogs uh uh doing what

dogs do.

Um

when was the last time you got dog bit?

Happens.

If dogs bite you, they usually bite you

on the ankle or the hand,

right? So, there's some legitimacy to

reading it that way. Biting my hands and

my feet. What do lions do?

Lions go for you. Somebody said, "Lions

aren't into biting you. They're into

suffocating you." Now, they might knock

you down, chase you, and knock you down

with their pawn, and then they then they

go, suffocate you till you're out, then

they eat you.

But, uh, lions

clamp down on the neck till you

suffocate, then they eat you. Lions go

for the neck. Lions don't go for the

feet. Lions don't go for the hands.

They're not into that.

Um,

and if they were going for the hands or

feet, they wouldn't be licking them.

Think about this.

If they did happen to go for the hands

or feet, they wouldn't be licking them.

The lion's not interested in licking

your hand. Is not a cat.

Not a pet cat.

they're going to bite your hands and

your feet. So, even if you say a lack a

like a lion hands and feet,

>> [snorts]

>> uh uh you know, the lion's not going to

lick you. The lion's going to bite you,

even though that's not what he usually

does.

So, the Jewish translation to avoid what

the their own septuagent says is a big

mistake.

It doesn't work. It only works for

people that won't see what the text is

really saying, don't want to know what

the text is saying. Obviously, biting is

piercing.

You ever been bit

or by a person?

You know, biting is per is piercing. It

can be if they get good enough hold on.

I don't want to get in the weeds on this

anymore on Psalm 22, but we need to know

that there is a textual issue. There's

an argument, especially the Jewish

people use. And uh uh their argument

won't work. It won't even it doesn't

even make sense. Like a lion, they

gnawled my hands and feet. That's still

piercing. You can't get around it. It's

poetry. It's still p piercing.

And it was the Jews that translated the

LXX into Greek, 70 of them. It was Jews,

not Christians, that wrote the

Septuagent. So the Jews that say these

things are saying the Christians somehow

corrupted the Septuagent,

which is our Bible.

And the Christians did use the

Septuagent. We know that. But that

argument doesn't really work. Dale Ralph

Davis, a good Presbyterian, conservative

Presbyterian, Hebrew scholar, said the

assault is fatal. They pierced my hands

and feet. That translation has been

debated. You may have a footnote in your

Bible indicating the traditional Hebrew

text reads, "Like a lion, my hands and

my feet." Like a lion translates one

Hebrew form, but if the last letter of

that form is slightly extended, it

becomes a verb, they have pierced.

And he says in 1997 a Hebrew text, not a

Greek text of the Hebrew, a Hebrew text

from Nahal He was published which

actually reads they have pierced.

So now we know there's Hebrew texts, not

just the Septuagent that said they

pierced. And this Hebrew text is a

thousand years earlier than our

traditional Hebrew text.

The Greek translation from about 200 BC

also took it this way.

And I think we have good grounds for

translating they have pierced.

And I think that's absolutely right.

This Dale Ralph Davis

and then another Hebrew scholar Michael

Brown

mentions this. If I can

u go to his writings on this just for a

moment.

He says as for Psalm 22:16 almost all

Psalms 22:16

the standard medieval manuscripts known

as maseritic readi

following the words my hands and feet

according to Rashi the meaning is as

though they crushed they're crushed in a

lion's mouth. Rashi was their expert

guy. Remember, it's poetry.

So, it doesn't do anything to help them

out of the problem. While the commentary

uh uh Mitsudat Avid say states, "They

crushed my hands and feet as a lion

which crushes the bones of prey in its

mouth." Thus, the imagery is clear. The

lions are not licking the psalmist feet.

They're tearing and ripping at them.

That is if it's the lion.

If it's the lion.

Given the metaphorical language of the

surrounding verses, this vivid image of

mauling lions graphically conveys the

great physical agony of the sufferer. So

forth and so on. So pierce my hands and

feet are pretty good translation and I

think we can rest in it.

The Messiah was physically pierced and

emotionally crushed.

That's what the poetry says in Psalm 22.

They pierced my hands and feet. And it

says

they they may count on my bones. They

look and stare on me. They part my

garments among them. Cast lots from my

vesture. If not far from me, oh Lord, my

strength. Hasten to help me. Deliver my

soul from the sword, my only one, from

the power of the dog. Save me from the

lion's mouth. You've heard me from the

horns of the wild oxen. He's emotionally

[clears throat] crushed and as well as

physically pierced.

Now,

that's one verse in the Old Testament

that I believe says they pierced my

hands and feet.

Let's go to another one. Isaiah 53.

Please go there with me. Isaiah 53.

You know these verses. This is a

different Hebrew word for pierced, but

it definitely is pierced. Isaiah 53:4-6.

Isaiah 53:4–6

You know the prophecy. This is another

prophecy after the Psalms that predicts

that the servant of the Lord, the

Messiah, will be

executed and raised from the dead. As

Psalm 22 says the same us and it's so

it's talking about that. He says in

Isaiah 53:4

Isaiah 53:4

and following surely he's borne our

griefs. He's carried our sorrows yet we

esteem him stricken, smitten of God and

afflicted. He was wounded for our

transgressions. He was bruised for our

iniquities. The bruising is the

emotional bruise. The wounding is a

pierce,

physically pierced. Wounded is how the

King James translates it. Uh EJ Young in

his commentary on Isaiah translates

wounded, pierced through. Oswalt

translates it typically used in uh uh in

Acts dealing with death. Dich the st

strongest term for violent and

excruciating death. Baltimore. There's

no other chapter in scripture that

emphasizes Christ merited suffering to

extent that one does. In this verse

alone, the substitutionary

uh death of Christ and suffering is

mentioned pointed out four times.

Alcure it usually means pierce fatally.

So pierced for transgressions is an

excellent term translation for it. Now

another Hebrew word pierced is used in

Zechariah 12:10. Look at that. A

Zechariah 12:10

different word for pierced. It

definitely means pierced.

If if you're dealing with a Jew in

evangelism, it's better to just go to

Isaiah 53 and Zechariah 12 and stay away

from Psalm 22 so you don't get in the

weeds about that argument.

And in Zechariah 12:10, speaking of the

Zechariah 12:10

future, and I'll pour on the house of

David, and will pour on the inhabitants

of Jerusalem the spirit of grace and

supplications, and they'll look on me

whom they've pierced

whom they pierced, and they'll mourn for

him as one mourns for his only son, and

it'll be in bitterness for him as one

that comes, bitterness for his

firstborn.

Now this word is dar and it's used of

being stabbed with a sword or spear in

uh numbers 258 and other places. In this

word it means to be fatally stabbed

a deep wound put to death

thrust into

pierced.

Now, that brings us

to John 19.

Turn with me to John 19.

We're almost done.

John 19:37.

John 19:37

John 19:34. John was at the cross.

John 19:34

John was at the cross.

All this happened

1934. But one of the soldiers with a

spear pierced his side.

Immediately there came out blood and

water. He that saw it bore witness and

his witness is true. And he knows what

he says is true. That you might believe.

And the these were done that the

scripture should be fulfilled. A bone of

him shall not be broken. That's the

Passover bone of the Passover lamb. And

again, another scripture, they'll look

on him whom they pierce. That's our

Zechariah chapter. So that's how John

saw it. And why is he so significant?

Because it was very typical to break the

legs of people who were crucified so

they'd die faster

because you can't breathe. If you can't

push up with your legs, you suffocate.

And so they would break those legs to

make death happen. Remember, they were

going to break Jesus's legs, but he was

dead already. So they broke the legs of

the guy over here and the guy over here,

and they didn't break his leg. And so

that's that fulfills the Passover

prophecy. A bone of the Passover lamb

will not be broken. But it also fulfills

when they stabbed him, they'll look on

him whom they pierced.

So John's talking about that future look

when Jesus returns. Now go to John

John 20 · chapter mention

chapter 20 24.

That brings us to a week after Easter.

The women have saw ge have seen Jesus.

The apostles have seen Jesus.

Everybody's seen Jesus but Thomas.

and they tell him he's risen and he

doesn't believe it. Now, he's not the

only doubting one. The apostles wouldn't

believe it until Jesus appeared. He

wouldn't believe the women. Thomas

wouldn't believe the men.

We call him doubting Thomas. He's really

unbelieving Thomas.

But in verse 24, Thomas, one of the 12

called Ditimus, that's the twin, was not

with them when Jesus came. The other

disciples therefore said to him, "We've

seen the Lord." But he said to them,

"Except I see except I shall see in his

hands the print of the nails and put my

finger into the print of the nails and

thrust my hand into his side, I'll not

believe." You can believe you want to,

but I'm not.

I think it was a Jesus lookalike. I'm a

twin. That's what ditimus means. People

mistake me for my twin and my twin for

me. You got a Jesus lookalike running

around posing as Jesus. I'm not going to

be conned.

And after eight days again, his

disciples are inside and Thomas with

them. Then came Jesus, the doors being

shut, and stood in the midst and said,

"Peace be to you." Then said he to

Thomas, "I heard what you said last

week, Thomas. You didn't see me, but I

saw you.

Reach Hear your finger and behold my

hands and reach here my hand and thrust

it into my side and be not faithless but

believing.

And all Thomas's doubts and unbelief

totally evaporated

at that moment.

Thomas answered and said, "My Lord,

my God."

That was a 180 if there ever was one.

Jesus said to him, "Thomas, because

you've seen me, you believe. Blessed are

those that have not seen and yet

believed."

Incredible moment.

Now, why was that and so important that

Jesus have these scars in his hands and

feet? They're identifying marks uh he

was crucified.

They're identifying marks more than

that. They're identifying marks that he

is the one that Psalm 22, Isaiah 53, and

Zechariah 12, all written hundreds of

years before he was born,

predicted.

The evidence

was overwhelming,

Thomas.

The evidence should be overwhelming

for everyone.

But you and I know there are some people

that are farther hardened in unbelief

than Thomas was. No amount of evidence

is going to convict them.

My mind's made up.

My mind's made up. Don't confuse me with

the facts is their motto.

But still, we need to know those things

for our own sake and for others.

Turn with me to Revelation chapter 1.

Revelation 1 · chapter mention

And we're just about done.

Revelation chapter 1.

Revelation 1 · chapter mention

I'm not dogmatic about what I'm going to

say now.

But look with me in Revelation 1 verse4.

This is 60 years after Jesus arose from

the dead approximately.

John's still alive.

Jesus appears to him. It says, "John, to

the seven John's writing about it. John,

to the seven churches which are in Asia,

grace be to you and peace from him who

is and who was and is to come, even the

seven spirits who before the throne, and

from Jesus Christ, who's the faithful

witness, the first begotten from the

dead, and the prince of the kings of the

earth. Unto him who loves us and washed

us from our sins in his own blood, and

has made us a kingdom, a priest, to God

and his father. To him be glory forever

and dominion forever and ever. Behold,

he comes with clouds, and every eye will

see him, and they also pierced him, and

all the kindreds of the earth shall wail

because of him. Even so, amen. John

mentions the piercing.

And he mentions that the scars from the

piercing will still be visible when

Jesus comes again.

Now your resurrection body and my

resurrection body, we will lose our

scars.

Whatever limbs got chopped off or

whatever body part is now was now

missing will be back.

But apparently

for [clears throat] the purposes of our

Lord being recognized and for the

purposes of our Lord being celebrated,

he retains the scars

in his resurrection body.

And when we see him in Revelation 5 6,

this is the last one.

Again, this is poetry.

And I beheld, and lo, in the midst of

the throne of the four living creatures,

in the midst of the elders stood a lamb

as though it had been slain,

having seven horns and seven eyes, which

are the seven spirits of God sent forth

into all the earth. And he came and took

the scroll out of the right hand of him

that sat upon the throne. Now, this is

apocalyptic writing. It's symbolic.

But the lamb is standing

And yet it's standing as a lamb that had

been slain. So it means in the vision

the throat of the lamb had been cut and

the marks of that was still on him.

Everybody following me.

Normally when your throat's cut you're

standing it.

So this is a picture of the Lord Jesus

risen from the dead. He is called the

lamb over 20 times in the book of

Revelation. And here he's identified

this is an endtime event. This is an end

time event. This is not event at that

moment for John. This is a prediction of

things to come. He will retain those

scars forever as marks of

identification.

So I shall know him. I shall know him by

the prints of the nails in his hands.

The himbriter

is right.

Um,

fascinating stuff.

Have you ever really even stopped and

thought

about the Lord Jesus's resurrection

body?

Your scars, my scars

will be removed, but his scars will

remain.

When we go to the marriage supper of the

lamb,

we will marry the one who died for us

and rose again.

And it will be impossible for us to

forget,

ignore that.

We will be reminded of that

for all

eternity.

And for all eternity, we'll say, "He did

that for me.

He did that

for my loved ones."

and we'll remember that it was our sins

that gave him those scars.

That part's not going to be so much fun.

But the worship part will be incredible.

Um,

by his stripes were healed.

He suffered the just for the unjust that

he might bring us to God.

We're bought with a price.

The blood of Christ is more precious

than silver or gold.

Blood was shed.

Cars are there. They were there 60 years

after the cross when John saw him. He'll

be there

whenever Jesus comes and we're in his

presence.

We will see the nail pierced hand and

feet

and wounded side of our blessed Lord.

And we will sing worthy is the lamb

slain.

10,000 years a million centuries later

will still

still

praise the lamb

for what he who he is and what he did.

Those scars are badges of honor as well

as of identification

and we will know them and see them

forever.

Now that has a very practical

application in Num.

Where's your loyalty?

Who's first in your life?

What's more to you than anyone or

anybody?

Who do you follow? Who are you listening

to? Who has your ear? Who has your

heart?

You've heard me quote this poem before.

I'm quoting it because it's always moved

me.

It's by Amy Carmichael

who has wrote all kinds of wonderful

poems. She was a missionary in South

India in the early 20th century. She was

born in 1867 in Northern Ireland

and uh spent her life in southern India.

She wrote this poem,

Have You No Scar.

I'm sure 90% of the people here have

heard me quote this poem before.

But for those who haven't,

even for those who have,

hast thou no scar,

no hidden scar on foot or side or hand?

I hear thee sung as mighty in the land.

I hear they hail thy bright ascendant

star.

Hast thou no scar?

Hast thou no womb?

Yes, I was wounded by the archers spent.

Leaned me against the tree to die and

rent by ravening beast that compassed

me. I swoon.

Hast thou no wound?

No wound,

no scar. Yet as the master shall the

servant be, and pierced are the feet

that follow me,

but thine are whole.

Can he have followed

me far?

Who has no womb?

No scone.

It's given to us. Paul said not only to

believe on the Lord Jesus Christ

but to suffer

for his sake.

He suffered

our sin.

It's given to us not only to believe on

him

but to suffer

for his sake.

As we come to the Lord's table, we are

confronted with the bread and the cup

that our Lord was wounded for us.

As we think about our life, let's think

about

what have I done for him

who died for me.

confess not just our sins of commission

but our sins of omission

to him today.

Father, we thank you for our blessed

Lord and Savior. Thank you for his death

on the cross.

Thank you that we can remember him

this Lord's day.

So many people want our allegiance.

So many people want our time.

So many people want us to put them

first.

There's only one that should always be

first every day of our life.

And that's the one

who died for us and rose again.

And we'll know him. We'll know him

by the prince of the nails in his hands.

and may it be soon.

And until that day, we remember his

death

as we take the bread and the cup

together in Jesus name. Amen.

Do you beg our Lord for

[singing]

[music] this place

loving you [singing] more,

trusting you more.

May the power of your [singing] love and

the light of your word shine

to a sin darkened [singing and music]

world as we go from this place.

[singing and music]