Victory of the Cross

Welcome to this week's message from the church at Chelsea Westover.

Our core values are vibrant worship, intimate fellowship, fulfilling service, and clear biblical truth.

We pray that this message changes your life.

Let's tune in to today's message and see what God has in store for you.

Turn with me this morning in your Bibles to John chapter 20.

John 20 · chapter mention

You know, every so often and Rosamie, we talked about this here a while back.

We had a little saying when we first started.

And by the way, thank you for praying for Niva's little grandson, Cole.

He's doing a lot better.

His blood sugar's down to 124, I think.

So amen.

I meant, you don't understand when we put him in, when they put him in the hospital Friday, it was over 600.

Amen.

So uh let's give God a hand for answering that prayer.

Praise the Lord.

Really, praise the Lord.

And uh so amen.

God's, you know what's so great?

God is a prayer answering God.

Now that's gonna be our next Bible series in our Sunday school.

Let me encourage you.

If you've not tried our Sunday school, just try it.

You're gonna love it.

It is a way to get uh in a small group, uh, and as we add our next uh, in fact, our next project, and we'll be telling you more about that as as we finish our first project, and it's almost finished.

I believe, where's Bob?

Okay, am I right?

Next Sunday they'll be going in for the first service, possibly.

Okay.

Check with Linda, okay?

But I'm pretty sure uh have have any of you parents that have children in children's ministry, have you seen the new children's church area yet?

Yes.

Is it not phenomenal?

And I have not been in to see, I I think some of the paintings, since I can't pronounce that other word correctly, paintings on the wall are there, are they?

Mural, mural.

Did I get it right?

Mural.

Got it.

Thank you.

Thank you, teacher.

Mural.

But anyway, uh, it's gonna be exciting.

It really is.

Uh thank God for what he does.

What you don't realize on Wednesdays around here, we have 140 to 160, 70 sometimes people.

Uh our Wednesday nights just been really growing.

We're reaching a lot of teenagers and children that don't come to our church on Sundays.

Uh, and a lot of them aren't going to any church, but some of them are going to other churches that don't have the children's programs that we have.

So, and look, hey, would I want everyone to be here?

Now I'm gonna shock you.

Absolutely not.

Because that means if everyone's here, then everyone's just like us.

Can I tell you something?

Why do we plant churches?

Is because there's different personalities, different people, different styles, all of that is is involved.

Now, I sure want our share.

Can I get an amen?

And and we want the people that that agree with what we're doing, our philosophy, our our purpose statement, our core values, who we are in this community.

But we are a community church and we want to be a community church.

We want to be a blessing to our community.

And we have.

We've got a lot of good new people and visiting and and uh and here's what you need to do: two things.

Pray that God sends us the people He wants us to have.

Can I get an amen?

You know, I used to not, when I was young, I didn't pray that way.

I just said, God send us everybody.

I did.

I thought everybody.

In fact, I was very arrogant, very prideful.

And I used to make this statement our place is the only place anywhere near our place like our place, so you ought to be at our place.

Hello.

That's arrogant, that's prideful.

And over the years, as God's hopefully matured me, and uh not only that, after 35 years, I've seen a lot of church growth, studied church growth.

And what I've learned is, and what I'm seeing, and I've I've been visiting the last two times I've not been here.

I've been to other churches like The Journey and other stuff to see what they're doing and things.

But what I have learned, here's the key to any church, and that is that they exalt Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, and they preach the word of God.

And if they live what they preach, God will take care of the rest.

Amen.

I really believe.

And by the way, now we're to do our part.

We are to reach out, and everybody ought to be inviting somebody every week to come worship with them.

That's the way we do it.

And so now, Rick and I and a few other guys, and we're all out visiting regularly on Monday, Tuesday, sometimes Thursday, sometimes I'm even out on Wednesday.

But everybody's got to be reaching out into the community, inviting people, saying, We love you.

Would you please come join us?

And uh being a part of our family.

But um, anyway, uh it's exciting to see that our church is being such an influence in this community.

Uh, it really is, and I hear it everywhere I'm going now.

Oh, yeah, you're the and again, they keep saying you're the church with the ice cream truck.

But that ice cream truck has been a blessing to our community, reaching out, and how our our small groups reach out and minister to people and when they're sick and hurting.

And that's the local church, and that's the community church that we are.

So let me say from my heart to you, thank you.

Thank you the way you respond.

Uh, you know, I I really I don't have to worry.

Uh I don't, oh, oh, oh, I don't have to worry because I know once you know something, you know there's a need, you respond.

That's isn't that exciting to be a part of that?

Isn't it exciting to know that if you miss two or three Sundays, we're gonna call you, come by, see you, check on you.

Isn't that good?

Now, if you don't want to be checked on, this is not the place to be.

Sorry.

I just, I can't do that.

I cannot check on you.

I love you.

And that one day I'm gonna stand before the Lord, Hebrews 13, and I'm gonna give an account of how I've shepherds you.

And I take that, and I've been, Rick and I as we go out.

I'm kind of a little bit older than Rick, not much.

But uh, that's a joke.

But uh, as I've been mentoring Rick, I've been telling him, I said, Rick, you gotta catch this, you gotta catch this, you gotta be a shepherd, you gotta be a shepherd.

We got a lot of fantastic preachers, but we don't have a lot of fantastic shepherds.

And I'm seeing that more as this newer generation is growing.

It's not about shepherding.

And uh, I think the New Testament church is about shepherding.

And uh, and that's why the greatest shepherd of all was Jesus.

Amen.

And so, but I love you, I'm excited and how you respond.

I really am.

In John chapter 20, verse 19.

John 20:19

Here we see the great charter.

This is the charter to the church, no doubt about it.

Jesus in this setting appears before his disciples in the upper room after the resurrection.

It's Sunday evening, the first day of the week.

That's why we worship on Sunday because Jesus rose from the dead on the first day of the week.

What's the first day of the week?

Sunday.

And you, I was going through this past week all the references of the first day of the week.

The women at the tomb, the first day of the week.

Uh Mary at the tomb, the first day of the week.

And uh 1 Corinthians 16 says that we bring our tithes and our giving on the first day of the week.

So this is the first day of the week.

Jesus has risen from the dead.

He's now the disciples are having a pity party.

They're scared to death that they're gonna be crucified or killed or brought before the Sanhedrin or Pilate as Jesus was, Caiphus.

Uh, hey, there were four unjust trials with Jesus before they crucified him the next day.

We'll see that next week.

Unbelievable.

You won't believe what he went through before he was crucified.

We'll show you the different trials or actually mock trials is what they should be called.

There were four.

During the 24 hours before they crucified him.

But now he's been crucified, he's risen from the dead, and the reason I give you the title, the victory of the cross, when we look at the cross, we should not look at a wounded, beaten, almost bony, you can see there's ribs, uh defeated Savior.

When we look at the cross, church, we ought to see the risen master, the risen king, the risen conqueror, the risen conquest.

When you look at that cross, you don't see defeat, you see victory.

Can I get an amen?

And after today you'll see why.

Of the Jews came Jesus and stood in the midst and said unto them, the greatest words you will ever hear from Jesus your master.

And he said, Peace be unto you.

How can I get an amen, church?

When you got saved, he said, Peace be unto you.

And then we see verse 20.

When he had so said, he showed unto them his hands and his side, hey, and his side, and then in Luke 24, verse 40, Luke says, and he showed them his feet.

Luke 24:40

He showed them the nails, hey, the nail-pierced hands, he showed them the scar of the spear that pierced his side, and he showed them his feet that had been pierced with the nails as he's standing before him.

That's really the proposition of this whole message.

Is what do the scars mean?

What do the scars mean?

Folks, the scars mean everything.

Had there not been scars, there would be no savior.

If there were no scars in our savior's body, there would be no sacrifice.

If there was no sacrifice, there would be no salvation.

The scars mean everything.

And he stretched his hands out.

He showed them his side, his feed, and then said Jesus to them again.

Uh-oh, look at that phrase.

Peace be unto you.

That statement is pretty powerful.

Can I get an amen?

Twice within a few words, he says, peace be unto you.

If you don't hear anything else, Jesus is telling you today, I don't care what you're going through, who you are, where you are, peace be unto you if you come to Christ.

Amen.

Peace be unto you.

And then he makes this real profound statement.

As my Father has sent me, even so send I you.

And when he had said this, he breathes on them and said unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost.

Baptists are scared of the Holy Ghost.

We don't even use the word ghost.

We call it a spirit.

I'd rather call it a ghost.

Call it what it is.

It's the Holy Spirit, the Holy Ghost.

And then what did he say?

Whoever, and I whosoever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them, and whosoever sins you retain, they're retained.

Now that can be a very confusing verse if you don't understand the context.

What he is saying is not that you and I have power to forgive sins.

There's only one person that has power to forgive sins, names Jesus.

He's going to get an amen.

But what he's saying is now that you're going to be endued with the power from on high, from God above the third person of the Trinity.

The Holy Spirit is coming in your life.

You're endued.

In fact, the Holy Spirit there was there, but now you're going to be endued with that same power.

In other words, you're going to release that Holy Spirit power so that when you present the gospel, people will be saved.

But also when you present the gospel, people will reject it.

And you can't see it any clearer than on that day that he died on the cross with the two thieves.

One received the gospel when he spoke the, hey, the word, when he spoke the gospel, one received, one rejected.

So what he is doing is he's commissioning the disciples right now, right now, after he has risen, he's commissioning them.

He's conditioning them and commissioning them.

He's conditioning them by giving them, hey, a double portion.

Woo! Can I get an amen?

A double portion of the power of God.

You are endued.

Now listen, there's a special endument of power when you start sharing your faith that you can get no other way.

I've lived that for 35 years.

Oh, you've got the Holy Spirit, but when you start sharing the Holy Spirit, hey, start sharing the gospel, the Holy Spirit infuses you with a power you get no other way.

And that's what he's talking about.

That's what he means when he's breathing.

Not that he's putting another spirit in him, but he's enduing them with that power that's within them.

Can I get an amen?

I want you to understand that before we go any further.

Don't want you to be confused.

So with that said, we don't, man.

We don't, listen, when we look at the cross and when we look at the scars of our savior, we should never think of a criminal that was weak and weary and dying.

We need to look at a savior, a king, the king of kings that has risen from the dead victoriously and has now shown the battle scars that he has over the redemption of death.

Wow.

What a difference.

What a difference.

Behold, I'm he that liveth and was dead, and behold, I'm alive for evermore, and behold, I hold the keys of death.

That's what the cross means.

That's the victory of the cross.

A risen Lord displaying the battle scars of his triumph over death.

Standing among his own.

Oh, I love this.

I wrote this to me.

Standing among us and commissioning us to service.

The last thing he did on the cross was turn to a thief and save him.

And the second thing he did to the disciples was turn and show who he was and commission them for service.

It is this kind of vision that John gives us here in this passage.

These scars of the Savior speak of three things.

It's gonna be good.

First of all, the Savior's personal identity.

Watch this.

Oh, this is so good.

In verse 20.

Then Jesus came and stood in the midst and said to them, Peace be with you.

Now when he said this, he showed them his hands and his side, and as Luke said, his feet.

Then the disciples were glad.

Look at what it says.

They were glad when they saw the Lord.

They were glad.

I guess so.

Can you imagine?

They thought it was all over.

They thought they were next.

They thought he was dead.

They, yes, you know, Peter and John had been to the tomb and Mary, but but they were still confused.

They were not sure.

You know, he's not here.

Oh, I saw, I saw him.

Mary says, I saw him.

Well, well, I didn't see him.

I don't know if that, yeah, you know, you you're you're seeing things.

And then you got old Doughton Thomas.

Remember Doughton Thomas?

What did Downton Thomas say?

Down Thomas said, if I can't see him, if I can't touch him, I'll not believe it.

Oh.

That's coming.

So, in a famous church in Copenhagen, Denmark, the visitors who pause to look at the statue of Jesus in the middle and six disciples on the right and six on the left, and one of the disciples being the Apostle Paul taking the place of the traitor Judas.

They they they stand amazed because they see a risen Savior displaying the scars of his hand and his feet and his side as a risen Savior who has conquered, hey, sin, Satan, and death.

Oh.

What a picture.

The wounds meant much to the group on that first Sunday evening.

Let's look at what the wounds meant to those disciples.

First of all, it meant the Christ of Calvary.

Number one.

The Christ of Calvary.

Look at verse 20.

He showed them his hands and his side, and again his feet too.

And while the disciples had deserted him, now remember, the disciples have deserted him.

Probably Peter and John are looking afar as they're crucifying Jesus up on a hill.

A lot of people left, and because of, first of all, except for Mary, the mother, and you know, being there at the feet, but all the people had gone, and what they would do, because they were on a uh a hill there on Galgotha, but what also they'd do, they would go and stand on the other sides of the hill and still watch the crucifixion.

I meant hundreds and hundreds of people.

So possibly Peter and John probably were afar watching it.

They watched as their Lord and Savior and friend were nailed to the cross.

They had observed as, can you imagine standing there watching Jesus, your best friend, your friend, your savior, all that he had told you as that Roman took that sword.

In fact, as he went and the Roman soldier took the, because they would not allow the bodies to stay up on the Sabbath, and this was on Friday, and and six o'clock Friday afternoon started the Sabbath, so they had to make sure that those thieves, I meant the criminals were dead.

Normally they'd let them stay up three, four, or five days, and sometimes it would last that long.

Torture would it take them four or five days to die.

It was the most horrible torture you could present to people.

It was so horrible that the Romans would not allow Roman citizens to be crucified.

That's how bad it was.

And so here they are, watching.

As the Romans take this hammer and they go back and crush the knees of the two thieves.

Because the only way they could live, live, would be they'd push up every so often and breathe.

And once the knees were crushed, they go down, they suffocate, they're dead.

And you know, why in the world did they not go over and crucify, I mean, and crush uh Jesus' knees there in him being in the middle of those two, is because prophecy literally said, not one bone in his body will be broken.

Man, that's good.

Now they all were out of joint, Psalms 22, but none of them were broken.

That's the validity and the verification of how real the word of God is, church.

Can I get an amen?

That's good.

The soldier to crush his knees.

He said one took his life.

He willingly gave it.

The Roman said, okay.

But just to be sure, it's his spear.

Underneath the ribs.

Begins to come out, and that's important.

See the Christ of Calvary.

They had seen him die.

Now that Jesus of Calvary was standing among them in his risen power, showing them his hands and feet.

Can you imagine?

They knew he was standing.

They tall him repierced with the spear that killed him in the Romans echoing his buttons.

All of a sudden, he's standing in front of him with his hands stretched, his feet, and his side.

Ladies and gentlemen, I bet you they had you they had a spirit.

And there he is.

He describes him in Revelation 5, 6.

Listen what he says later if he's writing about this incident.

He says, as a lamb, as though he had been playing.

As though he had been fine.

The cries of the cross.

Not slain him.

Not killed him.

Killed him for a little bit.

Come on.

Great.

And now he's standing alive.

Phrase the lamb as though it had been slain.

The pigs the lamb now alive.

What?

Watch, don't miss this.

Now he's alive.

But with what?

The scars mean everything.

Take this with me, Church.

The scars mean everything.

Scars mean everything.

The Christ of Catholic.

Exactly.

We see that the scars express the Christ of victory.

Jesus came and stood in the midst and said to them, peace be with you.

But a conquer could say such words.

And indeed, we see twice over he declared peace to you.

Verse 2126.

It was now watch this.

Oh, this don't miss what I'm about to teach you.

And maybe I'm so excited about it because it's so smoke to me.

Here it is.

When he said peach, it was the peach.

Oh, are you ready?

They were expensive because they had deserted him in his most daring time.

Ladies and gentlemen, oh I had a Pentecostal spell here in my office.

Oh, the times that I have felt guilty of that, I have failed him.

And the times that I have heard him and done things I shouldn't have done.