Easter Week 2 • John 20:19-23

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Hey, well, good morning, Willow Ridge Church, and happy Easter.

You know, again, we wish that we could be with you face to face, but instead we're continuing to meet together virtually in our homes.

So thank you so much for being with us and worshiping the fact that the tomb is empty and that Jesus lives.

If you've got your Bibles with you, go ahead and open up to John chapter 20 is where we're going to be this morning.

John 20 · chapter mention

As you turn there, I want to remind you about our Red Cross Blood Drive.

We'd love for you to be a part of that.

There are still some spots for you to register online, and so you can go to the Red Cross' webpage, search Willow Ridge, and sign up to be a part of that day.

We need both donors and volunteers.

If you want to volunteer, email Pastor Dave so we can get you set up for that.

Also, as a quick reminder, at the end of the message, we're going to be partaking in the Lord's Supper together.

And so we hope that you've had time to plan for that and to get those items.

If you don't have them with you as we get started in the message, it would be a great time to make a break for your kitchen and to get those items.

So with that said, let's start reading in John chapter 20, starting in verse 19.

John 20 · chapter mention

It says that on 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, and 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.

So this is after the crucifixion of Christ.

Obviously, this is after the resurrection.

This is the first day, but later on in the evening, on the day, on that first Easter Sunday, when Jesus has been resurrected.

And here we find the disciples.

We find his core team.

We find these individuals closest to Christ.

And how do we find them?

We find them afraid.

They were there with the doors locked.

It said that they were in fear of the Jews.

So what exactly were they afraid of?

Well, let's be honest.

They were afraid of what happened to Jesus might also happen to them.

And as we look at that, we begin to think, well, maybe that's pretty logical.

You know, they had seen his arrest.

They had been a part of that when that had taken place.

They would have known of the trial.

They would have known of the crucifixion.

They would have known of the beating.

They would have known of all of the horror of what Jesus had gone through.

They would have known that he was dead.

And now that they were afraid that the very same thing would happen to them.

And so on the surface, as I process through this in my logic, that makes sense.

Someone they love had been arrested.

Someone that they love had been falsely accused.

Someone they love would have been beaten.

Someone they love would have been tortured.

Someone they love would have been crucified and killed.

And now, the last thing that they want to have happen to them is what had just happened to Jesus.

And that's what logic tells me.

And that's what logic told them.

But this morning, as we celebrate Easter, logic doesn't need to be our focus.

You see, when it comes to Christ and our relationship with him,

logic isn't the goal being faithful is.

And our faith is the goal of what we're working toward.

You know, oftentimes when we think of that, being logical is what keeps us from being faithful.

From trusting God when he wants to stretch us.

From believing in God when he says more than our minds could ever possibly imagine.

Being logical keeps us from growing in our faith and pursuing after him with all that we have.

And it was a battle for the followers of Jesus then.

It's why we find them hiding in the room.

And it's the battle for so many of us today.

We know what we believe.

We know what we claim to be true.

But living in that in faith is something completely different.

You see, they should have known that he would die.

They should have known, though, that he wouldn't stay dead.

You see, this hasn't been the big secret of Scripture.

And I want to show you where these disciples should have known and been able to put their faith in the fact that,

yes, he would die.

But yes, he would come back to life.

Yes, he would be crucified.

But yes, he would be resurrected as well.

I want to read a passage for you in Isaiah chapter 53, starting in verse 9.

Isaiah 53 · chapter mention

So the prophet Isaiah writes this about the life of Jesus, but he also writes about the death and the resurrection of Jesus.

So let's listen to these words.

He says this,

He's describing the perfect life of Christ.

Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him.

He has to put him to grief.

When his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring.

He shall prolong his days.

So Isaiah says right here in Isaiah 53 that this Messiah that I'm describing,

he will suffer death, but yet his days will be prolonged.

How does this happen without the resurrection?

Isaiah is pointing them toward this in the prophet Scripture.

It continues on.

It says,

Talking about the spiritual work of what Christ does on the cross of paying for my sin and for yours.

Verse 12,

Therefore, I will divide him a portion with the many, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong,

because he poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors.

Yet he bore the sins of many, the work that Jesus has done on the cross,

and makes intercession for the transgressors after his resurrection.

Do you see what Isaiah points to?

What Christ had done and what Christ would do through the cross.

You see, it's there in Scripture.

It's plain as day.

But let's cut the disciples some slack.

Like, maybe they've missed this in the Old Testament prophets.

Maybe they hadn't heard about it.

Maybe they're like us sometimes, so they don't understand exactly what's being said.

But here's the problem.

Here's the hard part for them to not really dig in at their faith in the battle that they're going with.

Jesus had told them that this would happen.

In Mark chapter 8, verse 31, Scripture tells us,

Mark 8:31

You see, Jesus doesn't hold anything back.

There's no secrets that he's keeping away from this group that he finds hiding.

He tells them, look, here's what's going to happen.

I have to suffer.

And so as they saw the arrest happen, as the beating took place,

they should have known this is what must take place.

He tells them, I have to be rejected.

And I have to be rejected by the religious authorities.

And they see it happen time and time again of who brings the charges before on Christ.

He says to them that he has to be killed.

And there's no way to change the meaning of this word.

It's not symbolic.

Jesus says, I must die.

And he does.

And if Jesus ended there in Mark 8, then maybe there's some slack for him.

But he doesn't.

Jesus says, but I'm going to rise.

I'm going to rise.

He tells him, I will die.

But then Jesus says specifically, church, three days later, I will rise again.

And so this is where we define the disciples.

We find them with all this information.

We find them hiding.

We find them afraid.

We find them lost in their faith.

Not because Jesus had failed them, but because their faith was weak and they had failed.

And we see this is the moment where we're brought into this story.

And unfortunately for so many of us, as we struggle with our faith, this Easter morning,

in spite of what we know has taken place, in fact, of what we know that Christ died on the cross

and the fact that we know that the tomb is empty, we find ourselves, spiritually speaking,

in the exact same spot where the disciples find themselves.

We believe all that Jesus said.

We know all that took place.

We understand it in our mind and in our heart.

We know that he suffered.

We know that he was rejected.

We believe that he was killed and we believe that he lives again.

But yet our faith isn't reflective of that.

Our faith as if Christ is still today in the tomb.

And here's what I mean.

That we believe, what we believe, it hasn't changed anything about us.

What we believe hasn't changed the way we live.

What we know hasn't changed the way we think.

What we understand about Christ hasn't changed who we are.

And when our beliefs, what we know, what we understand, are all manifest in us and grow through us,

what we see coming from us is a people who live in, who walk in, and who grow in their faith in Christ.

But that's not where we find the disciples.

But Jesus steps into the moment.

Jesus enters in the midst of their fear.

And he points them through what he's going to give them so that they can live in this life of faith.

So we want to look at this morning the four things that Jesus gives them as he steps into that room on that Easter evening.

The first thing that Jesus gives them is he gives them grace.

I want us to notice this.

Jesus comes to them.

The Bible tells us that Jesus came and he stood among them.

Now here's why this is significant.

The word is getting out about the resurrection.

This isn't the first appearing of Christ in the resurrection that we even see in Scripture.

John's account alone tells us that Mary Magdalene already knows.

She was the first to get to the tomb and see the stone rolled away.

And she runs off and she tells Peter and John,

hey, somebody has taken Jesus.

And then she goes back to the tomb.

And who does she find there when she returns to the tomb?

She finds Jesus.

And Jesus, he speaks to her.

He comforts her.

And he calls her by name.

And Scripture tells us that she goes away and tells the other disciples,

the ones who we find hiding, what she saw, what she experienced, who she talked to.

You see, they should have known.

Peter and John knew.

Mary had told them that the tomb was empty.

And so they took off and they saw the tomb and they saw the emptiness.

And they knew as well what was going on there.

So the disciples that were gathered in the room,

they had heard Jesus tell them what would take place.

They had heard from others whom they trust that this is what they had seen.

This is who they would talk to.

And so you would think that they would go look for him.

You would think they would go and seek him out.

Their loved rabbi, their loved Messiah, their loved Jesus is now alive.

And that they would go looking for him.

But they don't.

They don't.

And so Jesus, in his grace, just as the humble king that rode in on the donkey,

goes and seeks after them.

And church, this is the picture of grace that we need to see this Easter morning.

It's the Jesus who seeks after those of weak faith.

It's Jesus who seeks after those who don't understand.

It's Jesus who seeks after those who are afraid.

What do they deserve?

They deserve to be left alone.

They deserve to be left there in their fear.

Because they didn't listen.

But that's not what they get.

What they get is Jesus coming to them.

What they get is Jesus that died on the cross.

What they get is Jesus that's resurrected from the grave.

And that's grace.

And that's what we get.

And that's where we find ourselves this morning.

That when our faith is beginning to weaken,

when we begin to doubt,

when we begin to struggle,

when we begin to live in fear,

what we find is Jesus extending his grace.

You see, we didn't deserve the work of the cross.

We didn't deserve the work of the empty tomb.

But Jesus died on our behalf.

He extended us grace.

And so in our coming to Jesus,

church, let's understand that he first came to us.

The second thing that we see that Jesus gives them is he gives them peace.

Jesus is going to speak directly to their fear.

And the grace of Jesus is given as he comes to the disciples.

The grace of Jesus is going to be shown to them as he continues now with the words that he says to them.

Now put yourselves in the disciples' shoes for a moment.

The door is closed.

The door is locked.

You're afraid.

You're hiding.

You know who's in the room.

And then all of a sudden,

someone who wasn't there is now there.

Jesus has appeared.

He's appeared in the flesh.

He shows them his hands.

He shows them his side.

This isn't a ghost.

This is the physical manifestation of Christ there.

You can touch him.

You can smell him.

You can see him.

He is there.

But in the way that only God can do,

he simply appears in that moment.

And I can imagine they're a little thrown off.

And Jesus comes to them.

And he looks at them with all the words he could have said.

And he looks at their afraid eyes,

at their hearts that are filled with fear.

And he says,

Peace be with you.

You see,

because what Jesus knows

is if they stay in their fear,

they cannot do what Jesus is calling them to do.

If they stay in their fear,

they cannot be what Jesus calls them to be.

I was reading a book this week.

And I read this quote.

And it talks about fear and faith.

And here's what the author said.

He says this.

He says,

And that's exactly what Jesus does in the moment.

He knows that fear will wreck them,

but peace will guide them through the storm.

And so Jesus brings them something.

What they again cannot do for themselves,

what they again cannot provide for themselves,

he provides for them and says,

Peace be with you.

Church,

if you're going to move out of your position of fear

and move into a position of faith,

it has to be grounded and rooted in the peace of God.

Twice Jesus says that to him.

And here's what we know about peace.

Peace is not a result of what you and I do,

but peace is instead a gift initiated by God in you.

And this is what we see through the work of the cross.

Look out in our world today.

Peace is not common.

We live in a world of tension.

We live in a world of suffering.

We live in a world of grief.

We are not in a world of peace.

We're in a world of sickness.

We're in a world of politics that fight and tear and divide.

We're in a world of war.

We're in a world of being torn apart by drugs

and broken families and broken relationships and abortion.

And so we have to find peace.

And the peace that this world could never give

can only come from Christ.

Paul talks about this in Ephesians 2.

And he says this,

for he being Jesus himself,

he says,

is our peace.

So our peace is Jesus.

And that through him,

we've been reconciled to the Father.

The ultimate peace that has taken place.

And so now what we get,

now what Jesus is speaking to

in the life of the disciples,

and what Jesus is speaking to us this morning

in our living rooms on this Easter,

is this,

that he brings peace,

peace between us and him.

That he steps into the room as a friend.

He steps into the room as a helper.

He steps into the room as a compassionate,

loving Messiah for us.

Jesus brings peace between us and God.

He solves the battle that is there.

He fills the void that we can no longer fill.

And he takes the wrath of God

that would be aimed at us.

And he absorbed all of it.

It's what Isaiah wrote about.

He absorbed all of it on the cross.

Becoming our substitution on Calvary.

And so now for us,

God is not a God of wrath.

But he's the loving Father

who sent his Son to save us.

Jesus sends us peace between us

and others who are in Christ.

So just as we talked about

a few weeks ago in Galatians, right?

There's now between us,

neither Jew nor Greek,

slave nor free,

male or female,

we are one and unified

in the body of Christ.

And Jesus brings peace between us

and our own souls.

So we now no longer have to live

with the wrestle of guilt.

We now no longer have to live

with the shame of what we've done

because he's given us peace

and he set us free.

These last two of what Jesus brings

are going to be connected together.

And the first of the connection

is that Jesus gives power.

So Jesus steps into the room.

He says,

peace be with you.

And then scripture tells us

that he breathed on them

and said,

receive the Holy Spirit.

So let's talk a little bit

about what's happening here.

Now the coming of the Holy Spirit

is not happening now.

This will happen in the early part of Acts

that Jesus tells them

that'll happen in Acts chapter one.

But instead,

Jesus is pointing toward

what will happen,

but more importantly,

where the power will come from.

The power that Jesus gives them

is the power of the God

through the Holy Spirit.

And this is being passed on

from Christ to them.

That's why it says,

he breathed onto them,

coming from his person

of who he is,

breathing the Holy Spirit

of God onto them.

So what does that mean?

What does that mean

that the disciples

and that you and I,

that the gift that he gives us

is the power of God?

What does that mean

that we have the power of God in us, right?

We can't part the sea.

We can't call the dead to rise.

We can't calm the storm.

We can't cause the blind to see.

So what can we do?

What is this power

that is within us?

And what we'll see,

it's the power

that Jesus has in him

to fulfill the purpose of God.

And so what Jesus does

is he gives the power.

The last thing is that

Jesus gives them purpose.

Jesus says to them,

as he breathes on them,

as the Father has sent me,

even so I am sending you.

Jesus didn't say,

that he's just sending us.

He says,

just as the Father has sent him.

And Jesus gives us power within that.

He gives us purpose within that

and the understanding

that just as he is

the ambassador of God,

fulfilling what God has called him

to do on this earth,

that Jesus is giving you and I

the same power and ability

through the power of the Holy Spirit

to fulfill the purpose of God

that he has for your life

and for my life.

That's the power of God in us.

That's what Christ did here on this earth.

Everything that he did

was for the will of the Father.

And that's why when we think back

to right before,

Jesus was going to be arrested.

And Jesus is in the garden.

Jesus fully God

and fully man,

but he understands

what will happen.

Jesus says,

Father,

if you are willing,

remove this cup from me.

He's saying,

God,

if there's any,

Father,

if there's any way else,

remove it.

but not my will,

but yours be done.

You see,

above what Jesus even wanted

in that moment

was to,

he wanted to fulfill

the will of his Father

who sent him.

And how did he do that?

Through the power of God.

The same power

that he breathes on us.

Church,

I want to ask you,

as we gather this Easter morning,

have you experienced

the grace of God?

The undeserved forgiveness

that God gives you.

That you can be forgiven

for your sins

that separates you from God.

We want you to know

that Jesus gives that to you.

It's found in him,

in him alone.

Have you experienced

the peace of God?

The peace between you and him,

the peace between you

and the family of God,

the peace between you

and your soul

of what's been made right,

of what the world

can't provide,

but what is found

in Christ

and in Christ alone.

And if you have,

church,

then can you join me together

as we commit to live

in the fullness

of the power

and the purpose of God?

Not for me to try

to be you

or for you to try

to be me,

but for all of us

to say,

this is who God's made me.

This is what he's gifted me with.

This is what he's entrusted me with.

And so I go from here

in the power

of the resurrection

to be obedient

to the Father

in all that he calls me to do.

In every moment of it.

Because he,

above all things,

is my heart's desire.

Would you pray with me?

God, this morning,

we thank you

for the work

that Christ did on the cross.

Lord, we thank you

for his beautiful sacrifice,

the horrific sacrifice,

the painful sacrifice,

but the sacrifice

that brings joy

and it brings peace

and it brings hope.

Lord, I pray

for those of us today

that are here.

Lord, I pray for us

as we gather

in our living rooms,

as we watch on our TVs

or on our phones

or on our computers.

Lord, that the realness,

Lord, that you would step

into the room

where we are.

Lord, as we battle

our fears,

as we battle

our struggles,

Lord, as we battle

our anxieties

of what's there,

of whatever is coming at us.

Lord, you step in.

Lord, and when you

step in and find us,

you don't yell at us.

You don't scold us.

You give us grace.

You give us power.

You give us purpose.

Jesus, may we live in that.

May we honor you

and celebrate you

by fulfilling the purpose

that your Father

has given to us.

And it's in Jesus' name

we pray.

Amen.

If you'd like to talk

to one of us

about a relationship

with Christ,

we would love for you

to email us.

And so please feel free

to email me,

bow.bradbury

at willowridgechurch.org.

We would love to connect

with you this week

of talking more

about a relationship

with Jesus

and what that looks like.

Thanks again for listening

to the Willow Ridge Church

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