NOVEMBER 17, 2024 "Perfect Peace" John 20:19-31

Welcome to DeSoto Hills Baptist Church.

Our Sunday morning services are weekly at 9 and 10 30 am.

You're listening to an audio recast of this past week's service.

We hope you enjoy.

God bless.

Tell your Bibles.

This morning will be in the gospel of John, chapter 20.

John 20 · chapter mention

John, chapter 20.

John 20 · chapter mention

We're going to start reading in verse 19.

As you turn there, years ago, when I was either in high school or college I can't remember exactly which one I heard this illustration that I've used since then, about peace, and it was written.

The illustration was actually.

It came out in a book by a lady named Barrett Chules.

Now it's spelled K-J-O-S, in case you ever want to go and look it up.

And how do you get Chules from K-J-O-S?

Just to be honest, I don't know.

I looked in Google and I said how do you say this?

And that's how Google told me to say it.

So I'm doing the told me to say it, so I'm doing the best I can with it.

But she wrote in 1988, she wrote a book entitled A Wardrobe from the King, and it was a.

It's a.

It's a eight studies on the armor of God.

Now again, I heard this illustration years ago.

It made such an impact on me that I wanted to share it with you this morning.

But I want to read it.

I want to read the excerpt from her book so you really hear it, because she does way better with words than I do, so she wrote this on peace.

Long ago, a man sought the perfect picture of peace.

Not finding one that satisfied, he announced a contest to produce this masterpiece.

The challenge stirred the imagination of artists everywhere, and paintings arrived from far and wide.

Finally, the day of revelation arrived.

The judges uncovered one peaceful scene after another.

While the reviewers clapped and cheered, the tensions grew.

Only two pictures remained veiled.

As a judge pulled the cover from one, a hush fell over the crowd.

A mirror-smooth lake reflected lacy green birches under the soft blush of the evening sky.

Along the grassy shore, a flock of sheep grazed undisturbed.

Surely this was the winner.

The man with the vision uncovered the second painting himself, and the crowd gasped in surprise Could this be peace?

A tumultuous waterfall cascaded down a rocky precipice.

The crowd could almost feel its cold penetrating spray.

Stormy gray clouds threatened to explode, with lightning, wind and rain.

In the midst of the thundering noises and bitter chilled, a spindly tree clung to the rocks at the edge of the falls.

One of its branches reached out in front of the torrential waters, as if foolishly seeking to experience its full power.

A little bird had built a nest in the elbow of that branch Content and undisturbed in her surroundings.

She rested on her eggs With her eyes closed and her wings ready to cover her little ones.

She manifested peace that transcends all earthly turmoil.

This is peace.

This is a peace that surpasses all understanding.

I'm convinced that this is the peace that, the kind of peace that you and I search for.

We want a peace that, when life is good, we can breathe, but we also want a peace and we desire a peace that, when the world is in chaos around us, when it feels like everything is closing in on us and it feels like our worlds everything is closing in on us and it feels like our worlds are tumbling in on us, we can find peace.

Today, in our passage, three times, jesus is going to say peace be with you.

Three times he's going to say, through peace, be with you.

And I believe he is pointing to the disciples and he is bringing them and declaring to them that he brings peace and for us.

Today, I need you to hear and I need you to understand that Jesus still brings peace.

He still brings peace in the midst of chaos.

He still brings peace in the midst of chaos.

He still brings peace in the midst of turmoil, he still brings peace.

In the midst of happy and good times, he brings peace.

So I hope, as we investigate this passage today, we can see Jesus as our Prince of Peace and we can trust Him as our Prince of Peace and we can trust him as our Prince of Peace.

So we answer the question this morning, though what peace did Jesus bring?

So we turn to our passage in John, chapter 20.

John 20 · chapter mention

If you are able, I'm going to ask you to stand with us this morning as we read John chapter 20, starting in verse 19.

John 20 · chapter mention

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 for many, 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 in the mark of the nails and place my hand into his side, I will never believe.

Eight 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 have seen me?

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

Let's pray together, god.

Thank you so much, jesus.

Thank you so much Jesus.

Thank you so much that you are our friend, that you have revealed yourself to us.

Spirit, as you are moving among us this morning, guiding us in all truth, we pray.

We pray today, christ, that we come face to face with you, that we behold you and we find peace.

We love you, jesus.

It's in your wonderful name that we pray.

Amen, jesus, it's in your wonderful name that we pray amen.

So we come to the question this morning of of what peace did.

Did breathe Jesus bring what?

What peace did he bring to the disciples?

Well, first of all, I think what we see here is is Jesus brings peace from fear.

We see it in in the lives of the disciples in 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.

The disciples were fearful, and understandably so.

Understand what has just happened to the disciples.

There was a man who came and claimed to be the Messiah.

A man who came and he and in their eyes, in their view, what the Messiah was going to do is he was going to come and he was going to right every wrong.

He is going to make every curvy road straight.

He is going to free them from their physical oppressors.

He is going to make everything right and set everything in place.

And now this Messiah, whom they had chosen to follow, had been crucified.

Right, he was crucified as a traitor.

And while they understood, rome didn't necessarily, pilate, didn't necessarily want to do it he did it and he was betrayed by his own people.

So of course they were fearful, of course they were afraid.

They didn't understand that Jesus had to die.

Yet we see right there in the beginning, in verse 19, on the evening, remember when John talks about things like times of day and seasons and temperature and climate.

When he talks about things like those, we know that there's greater things.

Remember, just earlier in the chapter, it said that Mary went to the tomb while it was still dark, showing us that she still didn't understand and wrap her brain around what was going on in the resurrection.

And now we find the disciples, in the evening, still in the dark on the first day, and they were fearful.

And Jesus came and all of a sudden he was in their midst.

We don't know how he got there, just there he was, he was in their midst.

And here's what he said.

He said come, look.

He came and he showed up among them and he said peace, be with you.

And he showed them his hands, and he showed them his side.

And once he had done that, it said they were glad, they became glad.

So so, jesus, he, he revealed himself to them and showed them is this, and they found peace.

You know, fear is a very real thing, and while it was understandable that the disciples were in fear, you know we find ourselves fearful of a lot today.

There are things that we are afraid of and we find fear.

As I was researching and studying for today, I came across this quote that said fear not is a command that was given 365 times in scripture.

The thing said one for every day of the week.

Now, as I investigated further, I may not be exactly correct, but here's what we do know.

Throughout scripture, people lived in fear.

Throughout scripture, people were fearful of all kinds of things, and we still live in fear today.

So I was thinking about it.

I thought about one time when I was a, when I was a child, one of the one of the most fearful I've ever been came home from school one day and my brother and sister I don't know where they were they weren't with me, or especially, if Clay was there, he would have been with me because I wanted to go fishing and he was actually the fisherman of our family.

And so I went down to the little pond behind our house and started fishing.

And if you don't know this about me, I grew up, dad always had about 15 to 20 head of cows.

We had 40 acres behind the house and he always had a few cows back there.

And while I was fishing I thought I heard a calf in the gully behind the pond.

Now first service I had to ask do you know what a gully is?

I thought I heard a calf in the gully behind the pond and so I ran up to the house and got dad and he got on the three-wheeler and came down and we searched for this calf but didn't find it.

It's probably my imagination just hearing stuff.

And he said Grant, why don't you go get your stuff and come home for supper?

And this is where the story really gets interesting, because I decided that I wasn't going to walk to the pond and get my stuff, but I was going to run.

Now background to this story.

Dad was also a coach, one of the best running backs at South Pontotoc at that time.

His name was Willie Sisk and Willie had a very unique way of running.

When he ever broke a run out in the open he ran like this head back, just going.

And I thought I was convinced that the reason that Willie was so fast is because of his way of running.

So I was convinced, if I would lay my head back like that, I could run as fast too.

And so here I go with my head back running.

And so here I go with my head back running.

There's one problem with this, you don't see too good.

And while I was running and contemplating how fast I was running because I was thinking about it, I forgot all about that barbed wire fence between where I was and where I was going.

And I hit that thing full speed, threw me back to the ground, knocked the breath out of me.

I'm bleeding, can't breathe, I don't know what I'm going to do.

I don't.

I'm afraid I'm bleeding out.

I'm not Afraid.

I was, though, couldn't catch my breath, didn't know if I could get up, and the four-wheeler three-wheeler was driving away.

He didn't see me.

I was scared to death.

So I did the only thing I knew to do and just screamed at the top of my lungs.

You can't imagine that, while I was still bleeding, the calm that came over me when I heard that three wheeler turn around.

You can't imagine that, even though I was still hurting Because I had cuts All over me From the barbed wire, you can't imagine, even in the midst of that pain, the calm that I felt when my dad picked me up in his arms and put me on that three-wheeler and took me home and doctored my wounds.

Man, I was still hurting, but I had peace, but I had peace.

Jesus comes in the midst of disciples whose world was in chaos.

They were hurting, they were confused, they didn't know what was going to go on and what was going to happen.

From here and here comes Jesus and he says peace, be with you.

See, jesus brings peace in the midst of our fear.

And if today you're living in a place where fear is overwhelming you, I want to introduce you to my Jesus, who brings peace.

Not only does Jesus bring peace in the midst of fear.

Second, what we find here is Jesus brings peace for the mission.

Twice in three verses, twice in four verses, jesus says peace, be with you.

We find right here, in verse 21, that Jesus said to them again peace, be with you.

But he didn't end with just peace, be with you.

He goes on a little bit further and he says peace, be with you as the Father has sent me.

Even so, I am sending you as the Father has sent me.

Even so I am sending you, as the Father sent me.

Even so, I am sending you Now.

We know and we've seen throughout this gospel, and we've seen Jesus say over and over that he had come with a mission in mind.

We had seen him do things and we had seen him him talk and teach the disciples.

Even from from chapter 12 until the, until right before the crucifixion, jesus had pulled the disciples aside and he was.

He was teaching them.

He was preparing them for his departure, he was preparing them for when he was going to go away, and so we see him on mission all the time.

But even while he was teaching them, he kept saying that my time is at hand, my time is at hand.

He had come with a mission in mind and his mission was to come and die on the cross and offer to us salvation.

His mission was to come and die so that God's wrath could be poured out on him and not us.

He had come to die to offer forgiveness to the disciples.

He had come to die to offer forgiveness to you and to me.

Jesus was on mission, but now he comes to the disciples and he says Peace, be with you.

As the Father sent me.

So I am sending you Now.

Is he telling us that we've got to die on the cross?

No, he's done that.

So what is he telling us?

Well, if you go back just a few chapters in John, chapter 15, again, when Jesus had pulled the disciples aside and was teaching them and preparing them for his departure, he tells us, he tells us, he tells us what he's sending us to do.

John 15 · chapter mention

In John, chapter 15.

John 15 · chapter mention

, verse 26.

He says this but when the helper comes Jesus was teaching them about the Holy Spirit and that he was going away and he was going to send the Spirit to them.

It says when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father.

That's what it says.

He will bear witness about me.

But then he goes on and you also will bear witness Because you have been with me from the beginning.

So here's what he's sending the disciples to do.

He's sending the disciples to bear witness about him.

We see it again in Acts, chapter 1, verse 8.

Acts 1:8

In Acts, chapter 1, verse 8.

Acts 1:8

Jesus has ascended to the Father and is about to ascend to the Father, and he's talking to disciples and he says this and you shall receive power after that.

The Holy Spirit has come upon you and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, judea, samaria and to the uttermost parts of the earth, he has said you will be my witnesses, and to the uttermost parts of the earth he has said you will be my witnesses.

So Jesus came and, as the Father sent him to fulfill a mission, now he is telling us to go and fulfill the mission.

And here's what he says I'm going to be with you.

Peace Us going and bearing witness.

It shouldn't be nerve-wracking for us, because he brings us peace.

You say well, grant, he was talking to his apostles, he wasn't talking to everybody.

Well, you understand what happens in chapter 2 of verse Acts.

Right In chapter 2 of verse Acts, the apostles and many other believers are gathered together in a room and the Holy Spirit is sent.

And it says the Holy Spirit comes upon Not just the apostles but all believers.

And that same Holy Spirit that was sent to all believers On the day of Pentecost To bear witness about what the father has done, so that they can bear witness About what Jesus has done, that same Holy Spirit Is the same Holy Spirit that comes to believers today, that comes to you and me, who gives us peace so that we as well can bear witness about what the father has done.

Even back in John, chapter 16, he tells us how he does that.

John 16 · chapter mention

In John chapter 16, verse 13,.

John 16:13

Jesus said when the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you in all truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears, he will speak and he will declare to you the things that are to come.

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

The Holy Spirit is going to come and he is going to guide them on all truth, that same Holy Spirit that guided the disciples in all truth.

And what Jesus has said is the same Holy Spirit that comes to us and guides us in all truth so that we can bear witness about what Jesus has done.

He does not speak on his own authority, he speaks with the authority of God.

So when we hear the Holy Spirit guiding us in all truth, do you know what that means for us?

We are not speaking on our own authority, we are speaking with the authority of God.

Peace be with you.

As the Father sent me, so I am sending you Jesus brings.

He brought peace from fear so they didn't have to be fearful.

Jesus brought peace to fulfill the mission.

But Jesus also brought peace to believe.

The third time in this passage I said he said peace, be with you.

Three times in this passage.

The third time is down in verse 26.

Eight 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.

Understand what's happening this third time.

The first time Jesus came to the disciples, thomas wasn't there.

Thomas was a disciple.

We've seen him.

Thomas is sometimes called doubting Thomas.

I'm not real sure that that's fair.

Gerald Borchert, who is one of the commentators that I read as I study.

He calls Thomas not a doubter but a realist.

Because here's what happens when we've seen Thomas before In chapter 11, when Lazarus died and Jesus has decided to go to Bethany, where people are looking to kill him.

He's going to Bethany and it's Thomas that says, hey, let's go so we can die with him.

Now you could say that's pessimism, or you could say it's realism to say you know what Jesus is going and he's probably going to die, but I don't care, I'm going with him.

We see Thomas again in John, chapter 14, when Jesus comes to the disciples and he says I'm going to prepare a place for you, and if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to myself.

John 14 · chapter mention

That where I am there, you may be also, and I'm going, and the way I'm where I'm going, you know and the way you know.

And it's Thomas that says Jesus, we don't know where you're going.

How can we know the way?

You can call that pessimism, or you could call it realism, because Thomas is saying Jesus, look, I hear you, I hear you you're going somewhere and guess what?

I want to be there, I'm just not sure how to get there.

Can you tell me?

It's Thomas.

He wasn't there the first time when Jesus appeared after the resurrection.

And he gets back and the disciples say Thomas, we've seen Jesus, we've seen the Lord.

And he says oh, are you sure?

Somebody pointed out to me after the first service.

You see how it describes Thomas here as the twin.

Know what that means?

He's got a twin.

You think twins know about other people looking like somebody else?

He knows that somebody else could look like Jesus.

He's like look, I hear you say you saw him, but until I see the nails, till I see where they were, until I put my hand in his side, I'm not.

I can't believe.

And we give him again.

We say Dad and Thomas, but did you hear what happened to the disciples when Jesus came to them the first time?

He showed up in the room and said peace, be with you.

And then it says this he showed them his hands and he showed them his side, and then they were glad to see him.

Thomas said I'm not sure about this, guys.

So here we are, eight days later.

Imagine what it would be like for Thomas for those eight days.

Can you imagine that?

Oh, here's the others.

They've seen him.

They're crazy.

Or am I crazy?

Wait, jesus, you showed yourself to them.

Is something wrong with me?

Do I stink Like Jesus?

What's going on?

Why did you show yourself to them and not me?

Jesus?

Oh my stars, what have I done wrong?

You don't love me, jesus.

What's going on here?

Can you imagine that week?

And then Jesus shows up again in their midst and he says peace, be with you.

And he looks at Thomas.

He looks at him, he makes eye contact and he says Thomas, come here, touch him, Touch him, touch, see.

He gave evidence to Thomas.

He said Thomas, believe, don't disbelieve, but believe.

And Thomas declares my Lord and my God, jesus gave him what he needed to believe.

But then Jesus does something interesting.

He says Thomas, do you believe?

Because you've seen?

He says blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.

It's because here's the thing, there are a lot of people in the New Testament that didn't see the resurrected Jesus and I hear people all the time say stuff to me like Grant, if I could just see him, if I could just see him, then I would know and listen.

I'm not telling you and I don't think Jesus is telling you here to have blind faith.

That's not looking without investigation.

But can I help you investigate a little bit?

Can I help you see it?

Listen, I'm telling you to investigate.

I'm telling you to search.

I'm telling you to search scripture and ask your questions, because I am convinced of this If you search for Jesus truthfully, he will reveal himself to you.

I'm convinced that if we look for him and try to find him and we investigate him, we will find him, much like Chuck Colson that we talked about last week.

Remember Chuck Colson who was involved in Watergate.

Chuck Colson said he knows the resurrection is real because of Watergate.

He said 12 men for 40 years claimed that they had seen Jesus.

They were beaten, they were imprisoned.

All these terrible things happened to them.

Yet they didn't deny once.

But when Watergate happened, 12 of the most powerful men in the world couldn't keep alive for three weeks.

The most powerful men in the world couldn't keep alive for three weeks.

There's no way that if the resurrection was not real, that these guys would have went for 40 years.

He said it's impossible.

Investigate, ask.

I think Jesus will show himself to you.

But as you investigate, look, we've seen it already this morning.

God has promised us that he will never forsake us.

Through Jesus, he has revealed himself to us from the beginning.

In Genesis, he is the ram On Abraham's altar.

In Exodus, he is the Passover lamb.

In Leviticus, he is our high priest In Numbers he is the cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night.

In Deuteronomy, he is our city Of refuge.

In Judomy, he is our city of refuge In Judges, he is our judge.

In Joshua, he is the scarlet Got those out of order In Joshua, he is the scarlet thread Out Rahab's window.

In Ezra, he is the faithful scribe and you go throughout scripture and you see how scripture points to Jesus, that he is faithful and God has never left us nor forsaken us.

I pray that this morning Jesus says peace to you and he gives you the peace that you need to believe.

We're about to enter into a time of invitation.

As we enter into this time, here's what's going to happen I'm going to pray for us and the musicians are going to come forward and we're going to sing a hymn and the musicians are going to come forward and we're going to sing a hymn.

That invitation time was we are inviting you to make a decision for Christ.

Listen, if you have never trusted Christ, if you have not found that peace that he brings to you in the midst of a chaotic world, we invite you to come forward this morning and let us share with you.

I'll pray for you.

Counselors will take you.

Let us share with you.

I'll pray for you.

Counselors will take you out and share with you how you can trust and place your faith in christ and find peace in the midst of chaos.

Or if you have trusted in christ but you still find that your world is in chaos, but and you are trying your best to get out of it.

We encourage you this morning, I encourage you this morning, to stop trusting yourself.

Trust Jesus.

Maybe this morning you have trusted him for your salvation but you are trying to hold on to everything that you can and you are not at peace.

I encourage you this morning to repent and trust him.

If you are making that decision, we will be here.

We would love to pray for you, talk with you.

Counselors can share with you more.

Maybe this morning you're looking for a church home.

We would love to have you here at DeSoto Hills.

We encourage you to come forward and we would love to share with you how you can become part of our church.

Or this morning, god may be calling you with a special call.

He may be calling you to the mission field.

He may be calling you to ministry.

But he may be calling you to ministry.

But he may be calling you to share the gospel with that person you know you just thought of them that person that you know, that doesn't know Christ.

He may be calling you to share the gospel with them.

I want to pray for you and encourage you.

Don't put that off.

Peace be with you, as the Father sent me, so I am sending you to bear witness about me.

Whatever decision you need to make as we sing in just a moment, I encourage you to make that decision now.

Let's pray together.

God, we love you.

We thank you for how you love us and we thank you for all you've done for us.

Jesus, we thank you for meeting us here today.

We pray that in all that we do and all that we say here in this moment, that will bring honor and glory for you.

God.

I pray for those who need to make a decision to follow you.

God, I pray that you will give them peace to believe God.

I pray for those who need to share the gospel, who need to surrender to a special call.

God.

I pray for those who need to share the gospel, who need to surrender to a special call.

God, I pray that you will give them peace as you came and then you sent us out.

God, I pray for all those who are here this morning who life is just overwhelming.

God, I pray that you will give them peace in the midst of their fear.

Help them to make decisions that you need them to make.

Give them the faith.

We love you so much, jesus.

It's in your name we pray, amen.

Thanks for listening to this week's sermon.

If you have any questions for our pastor, feel free to reach out at desotohillscom.