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The Gospel of John Lesson 52 INTRODUCTION: 1. The Lord Jesus appeared on several occasions to His disciples after His resurrection from the dead. No one Gospel gives us all of the various appearances of our Lord after He rose from the dead. 2. John does not record all of the appearances. All the various accounts should be studied and diligently compared (cf. I Cor. 15:1-8). 3. On that first Resurrection Sunday, our Lord had already appeared to Mary Magdalene and the other women as they returned from the grave, then to Peter, and then to the two disciples on the Emmaus Road. 4. We are looking now at the first Sunday night service after the death and resurrection of our Lord (20:19). The Bible teaches that we should meet both Sunday morning and Sunday night (cf. Acts 20:7). 5. Remember, Sunday is “the Lord’s Day” (Rev. 1:10). 6. This is our Lord’s first message to the assembled disciples after He rose from the dead. My message this evening is entitled, “A Visit From the Risen Saviour.” If you are a born again child of God, I hope this message will be an encouragement to you. And if you are not saved, it is my hope and prayer that you repent of your sin and come to Christ tonight. I.
THE RISEN SAVIOUR GIVES
PEACE II.
THE RISEN SAVIOUR GIVES
PRIVILEGES III.
THE RISEN SAVIOUR GIVES
POWER I. THE RISEN SAVIOUR GIVES PEACE1. The first thing our Lord
said to His disciples was, “Peace be unto you” (20:19), and He said it twice
(cf. 20:21).
2. Whenever our Lord says
anything to us it is important. But
whenever He says something twice, it is very, very important. 3. For example, twice in John 3
our Lord says, “Ye must be born again.” 4. It is interesting to note
that after our Lord said, “Peace be unto you,” He “shewed unto them His hands
and His side” (20:20). 5. What does that
signify? He showed them
His wounds. The Bible says,
“But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised
for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon Him; and with
His stripes we are healed” (Isa. 53:5). 6. Our Lord said, “Peace be
unto you,” and the basis for that peace is the blood He shed on the cross
for your sins and mine (cf. Col. 1:20, 21; Rom.
5:1). 7. I read about a missionary
named Eric Barker, who had spent 50 years preaching the Gospel in Portugal. During WWII, he was advised to send his
wife and eight children back to England because the situation in Portugal was
getting dangerous. His sister and
her three children also boarded the same ship back to England. The next Sunday,
Eric Barker stood before his congregation and said, “I have just received word
that all my family have arrived safely home.” He then proceeded with the service as
usual. It wasn’t till later on that his congregation realized what he
meant. He had been handed a
telegram before the service notifying him that a submarine had torpedoed the
ship and everyone had drowned. Eric
Barker knew his wife and children and his sister and her children were all now
in heaven – they had indeed “arrived safely home.” This is the peace that only Jesus
gives. 8. “When peace, like a
river, attendeth my way, When sorrows like sea billows roll – Whatever my
lot, Thou hast taught me to say, It is well, it is well, with my
soul.” 9. Many of us are familiar with
the story behind that great hymn. Back in 1873, Horatio G. Spafford lost his
four daughters when their boat sank out at sea. His wife survived and cabled her husband
the sad news. He then wrote the
words to this great hymn, “It is Well With My Soul.” Please let me ask you, is it well with
your soul?
10. If you have no peace in your
heart, let me encourage you to turn to Jesus (cf. John
14:27). 11. John 20:20 says, “And when
he had so said, he shewed unto them his hands and his side. Then were the
disciples glad, when they saw the LORD.” 12. “There is a discerning of
the Lord’s Presence in the midst of His people which is essential to the power
of our assemblies. I pray that we may have this, even now, and if we do, we
shall not be a whit behind those who saw Jesus with their eyes and heard Him
with their ears! I do not think there is any privilege which the
actual bodily Presence of Christ could
bestow which we may not obtain at this moment by the actual spiritual
Presence of Christ, if we do but exercise faith in Him as being in the midst
of us. He has said, ‘Lo, I am with you always,’ and this is the pledge of every
conceivable good” (CHS, “Jesus In Our Midst”).
II. THE RISEN SAVIOUR GIVES PRIVILEGES1. First our Lord gives peace, then He gives privileges (the Great Commission, 20:21b; Matthew 28:18-20; Mark 16:15, 16; Luke 24:46-49; Acts 1:8). 2. I confess I am primarily
using this word “privileges” to keep the alliteration (Peace, Privileges,
Power), but I am also using it because it is indeed a privilege to be
sent out by the Lord as one of His ambassadors (II Cor.
5:17-21).
3. Unfortunately, too many
Christians just don’t see it that way.
They think of soulwinning as an inconvenience or some difficult
chore. Beloved, it is a
privilege to tell others the Gospel! It is a great privilege to be an
“ambassador for Christ” (II Cor. 5:20). 4. Please allow me to
illustrate this “ministry of reconciliation” (II Cor. 5:18). Suppose President Bush was to call me on
the phone and say, “Pastor Barker, I did not get too many votes in the Elmont
area. I would like for you to be my
‘ambassador’ to Elmont. I would
like for you to carry out a ‘ministry of reconciliation’ for me. Tell the good people of Elmont that I
would appreciate it if they would pray for me, and I promise to pray for
them.”
5. That would be a great
honor. But you and I have a far
greater ministry – far more honorable, far more important, far more glorious,
far more wonderful, and far more exciting! We are ambassadors for Christ! (II
Cor. 5:20). 6. Our ministry of
reconciliation can change dirty rotten, hell-bound sinners into godly born-again
children of God. 7. Our ministry of
reconciliation can sober up drunkards, clean up adulterers, patch up broken
homes, and deliver hopeless sinners from lives of wickedness and despair. 8. The government spends
(wastes) billions of dollars on these useless programs, but as Lester Roloff
used to say, the only pill a dopehead needs is the
“Gos-pill.” 9. No government program can
redeem a lost sinner. No religion can save a soul from hell. Only the Gospel can do that. This is indeed a great privilege – to
carry the Gospel message all over this sin-cursed land (John
20:21). 10. Something this important
should be taken very seriously! And
yet it is a fact that the vast majority of born-again Christians in America
never win souls. 11. Margaret Clarkson was born
in 1915. She was a teacher in a
gold-mining camp in northern Ontario, Canada. Hers was a lonely life, but she
knew that this is where God wanted her to serve Him. She had a great desire to
be a missionary on a foreign field but because of her health was unable to go.
One day she was reading again the verse John 20:21, “Peace be unto you: as my
Father hath sent me, even so send I you.” 12. While meditating on this
verse she wrote the words to the well-known hymn, “So Send I You.”
III. THE RISEN SAVIOUR GIVES
POWER 1. Years
ago, a minister asked the duke of Wellington if he thought it was necessary to
bring the Gospel to the heathen in India.
The “Iron Duke” responded by asking this question, “Sir, what are your
marching orders?” The minister
replied, “What do you mean by that?”
The duke of Wellington said, “Sir, these are your marching orders:
‘Go ye into all the world, and preach the Gospel to every
creature.’” 2.
Not only
has our Lord given us our marching orders, this great privilege to carry the
Gospel around the world, He has given us the power to do it. The Bible says He breathed on them, and
saith unto them, “Receive ye the Holy Ghost” (John
20:22). 3.
The Lord
would never tell us to do something we were not able to do. He has given us the Holy
Spirit. 4.
If you
and I try and win souls in our own strength we will certainly fail. We may get a few professions but we
probably won’t get too many real conversions. Beloved, we need the power of God (John
20:22; cf. Luke 24:49; Acts 1:8). 5.
The
Bible says, “Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and today, and forever” (Heb.
13:8). He is with us tonight,
because He said, “Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there
am I in the midst of them” (Matt. 18:20). 6.
Spurgeon
was right: “I do not think there is any privilege which the actual bodily
Presence of Christ could bestow which we may not obtain at this moment by the
actual spiritual Presence of Christ, if we do but exercise faith in Him as being
in the midst of us.” 7.
The
risen Christ is with us this evening, and He is showing us His pierced hands,
and His wounded side, and He is saying, “Peace be unto you” (John 20:19,
20). 8.
Unsaved
friend: Do you want the peace that only Jesus brings? Christ has for sin
atonement made. He’s a wonderful
Saviour. He will save you and
pardon you and give you peace but you will have repent and turn from your sin
and ask Him to save you. 9.
Once a
sinner is reconciled to God, he must go out and tell others what God has done
for him (John 20:21). 10.
On the
basis of Christ’s death on the cross, the life which is in God becomes the life
that is in us! We have received the Spirit of God! (John
20:20-22). 11.
We see
this quite clearly in the book of Acts. Acts 17:6 says the apostles “turned the
world upside down.” They couldn’t
do that in their own strength. They
could not do that without the Holy Spirit. CONCLUSION: 1. John 20:22 reminds me a
little of Genesis 2:7 when God breathed life into Adam, the first
man. 2. In both Hebrew (OT) and
Greek (NT), the word for “breath” also means “spirit.” 3. The breath of God in the
first creation meant physical life; and the breath of God in the new
creation meant spiritual life. 4.
Do you
have that spiritual life? You can
have it today if you will just receive it.
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