JESUS STOOD IN THE MIDST (Jn. 20:19-23)

Transcription

1 JESUS STOOD IN THE MIDST (Jn. 20:19-23) We return to the first Lord s Day It is the evening and the disciples are hiding because they are frightened the Jewish leaders will come and search them out and do away with this sect belonging to Jesus of Nazareth, - once and for all. It is the day after the Sabbath; the Sabbath was and always has been the Saturday, - the Sabbath is uniquely a Jewish term, and I know some wellmeaning Christian folk refer to the Lord s Day as the Christian Sabbath, but really such a term is an anomaly. The Sabbath is the seventh day of the week, the Saturday, and it commemorates God s finished work of Creation (Gen. 2:1-3), and it was uniquely for the Jews; the Lord s Day, on the other hand, commemorates Christ s work of redemption, or the new creation, and is the one day in seven for the Christians. God the Father worked for six days and then rested God the Son suffered on the cross for six hours and then rested. There were at least five resurrection appearances of our Lord on that first day of the week: 1. to Mary Magdalene (Jn. 20:11-18) 2. to the other women (Mt. 28:9-10) 3. to Peter (I Cor. 15:5 & Lk.24:34) 4. to the two disciples on the road to Emmaus (Lk. 24:13-32) 5. to the ten disciples (i.e. minus Thomas and Judas Iscariot) (Jn. 20:26-31). It seems the believers from the very first met on the evening of the Lord s Day, and it appears that the early Church met on the first day of the week to worship the Lord and to commemorate His death and resurrection (Acts 20:7; I Cor. 16:1,2). It was the Lord s Day John the Apostle met with the Lord in the vision of Rev. 1:10ff and it was the day Christ arose from the tomb. Going on from there what do we see here in this passage? THE FEAR OF MAN Isn t it absolutely remarkable the disciples were hiding away somewhere in Jerusalem? They were afraid to show their faces in case someone recognised them for having been with Jesus.

2 2 They were all too happy to be seen with Him when He rode into Jerusalem in what we call the Triumphal Entry but they ran away when the Jewish authorities came to arrest Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane they were scattered when Jesus hung on the cross. They were afraid of what might be done to them if they had been arrested, - they were not willing to follow Jesus when it meant standing out against the crowd! The Gospel they were preaching was tantamount to heresy; to preach Christ crucified was inviting the opposition of the religious leaders and they saw at first hand the cruelty that would be meted out. Run away and hide was the choice they opted for Lock the door behind you and keep the world out! But what would have happened if God had not intervened? They would not have mentioned the Name of Christ; none of us here today would have been saved! Rom. 10:14 How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher? The carrying of the Gospel message is the responsibility of the people God calls, saves and sends. What more life-changing message is there than the message that Jesus Christ died on the cross to save sinners! The responsibility of these disciples hiding away was to tell others about Christ the Christ they knew and loved! Jesus was just an ordinary man who was perceived as leading insurrection and an uprising, - to have identified with him could have brought the same sentence upon any of His followers! No matter how much good Jesus did, the people forgot it and rejected Him, - Jn. 1:11 He came unto his own, and his own received him not. I suppose we must commend them for staying together, -... it is good to see they were afraid together, rather than straying away from each other It is good to read that they stayed together even if it was to be afraid. Do you ever be afraid that our witness might come to an end in this place? Do you ever fear the expenses might become so great that the necessary income cannot be achieved? Do you ever fear that the message you preach is a message no one wants to hear anymore and people, - especially young people, - will stop coming in? Do you ever fear those sorts of things? I m sure they cross your mind from time to time!

3 3 Here is how not to help the predicament become fearful and shut yourself away! The disciples had turned into a frightened holy huddle and they had no intention of going into the streets of Jerusalem, or anywhere else, with the message about Jesus. Something else they had not listened to Jesus when He spoke about how He must die and then become alive again or else if they had listened, they didn t believe Him! They had not taken in God s Word and God s promises. They shut God s Word outside and they shut themselves inside with their doubts and fears Something we must often remember is that the church is not our business it is God s business! We cannot manufacture results, it is God Who chooses to cause the anxious thoughts and to bring sinners to salvation. We cannot cause one sinner to repent, - that is a work all of God s grace... but God does call us and expect us to work towards that end, believing He will reward our faithfulness. It doesn t matter what size of a church God calls you too, - it might be small or it might be large but wherever it is, that is the place where He has for you to serve. It might look promising or it might not but where God calls you, you ought to be nowhere else and these disciples should not have been hiding away because of the fear of man! Their Saviour and Lord had risen from the dead, He had promised them the Holy Spirit and He had promised them the Gospel would spread from land to land through their witness. It is not right to be hidden away, it is not what God wanted for His disciples, - nothing was getting done and they were becoming more and more ineffective. They were frightened, and they were shut in Who shut them in? Nobody on the outside shut them in, they shut their own selves in! It is not what God had in mind for them. If they would not go out and tell the world about Christ, no one else would! God s people are God s partners in the work of the Gospel! As long as these disciples were locked away, nothing would get done! I wonder how long they intended staying there. Would they have stayed there and began to pray about strength to go out and meet the opposition in Jerusalem? There is no mention of prayer.

4 4 Would they have been comparing notes and trying to work out if they had enough evidence to prove Jesus was the Messiah? Maybe, but there is no mention of it. Were they encouraging each other cheering each other up persuading each other of the power of the Gospel of Christ? Maybe, but again there is no mention of it! But I don t think it would have been likely; probably, they would have been huddled together like a defeated people, not knowing where to go next. They had shut themselves in, and shut the world out. They were simply shut away because of the fear of man! Then look what happened next THE PRESENCE OF CHRIST Christ entered in! When they did not go searching for Him, He came searching for them. A locked door was no obstacle to the Lord. He simply stood in their midst! Without warning, without invitation, and without announcement Jesus was there! To confound the fear of men the presence of Christ entered the proceedings. The risen, glorified Son of God made Himself known to them once again as He stood in their midst. How often is this phrase used concerning the Lord? Lk. 2:46 And it came to pass, that after three days they found him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the doctors, both hearing them, and asking them questions; Mt. 18:20 where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them; re the two on the road to Emmaus, Lk. 24:36 as they thus spake, Jesus himself stood in the midst of them, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you; Jn. 19:18 they crucified him, and two others with him, on either side one, and Jesus in the midst. Jn. 20:19 Then the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, came Jesus and stood in the midst, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you; 20:26 And after eight days again his disciples were within, and Thomas with them: then came Jesus, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, Peace be unto you. As Jesus stood in their midst, the peace of God cast away their fears. He caused them to slow down and to remember Who they belonged to, - He held them in the palm of His hand and no one could pluck them from His grip. They belonged to God and Christ appeared in their midst, - the Man of Galilee, the Man of Calvary, the Redeemer, the Saviour, the Risen Lord, - He appeared, and with Him His peace!

5 5 With that peace came a new confidence, and with that confidence came a fresh boldness. He showed them His hands and His side, - evidence of the pain He suffered for them, and He stood before them as the victorious Christ! When they realised again what He had achieved on the cross their fears evaporated the fear of man was soon dispelled by the presence of Christ, and finally we see THE BREATH OF GOD v.21 Peace be unto you: as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you. 22 And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost He was identifying them with the privilege His Father had placed upon Him, as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you. He was not asking them to do something He had not been prepared to do Himself, - He has gone ahead of them. And then He breathed the breath of God upon them; yes, He was alive, they felt His breath it was the precursor to the Day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit would come in His mighty power and fill all God s people with strength and vigour and an intensity to preach the Gospel. They were deflated, they had been fearful and yet now Christ appeared in their midst and they experienced the living breath of God! What does this verse 23 mean? Does it mean what it seems to mean? that you can forgive sin, or choose not to forgive sin? No, this does not support the blasphemous claim that someone other than God can forgive sins. What the original language means is this, Whosoever sins you remit (forgive) shall have already been forgiven them, and whosesoever sins you retain (do not forgive) shall have already not been forgiven them. In other words, the disciples did not provide forgiveness from sin, they proclaimed forgiveness on the basis of the message of the Gospel. (i.e. When someone comes to a personal faith in Christ, I can tell them their sins are all forgiven.) The presence of Christ and the promise of the Holy Spirit, - the work is all of God we need a burden again for God to work amongst us and to take away from us the fear of man.

6 6 CONCLUSION By now, their fears had vanished. The living Lord was a reality in their midst. They had peace with God and they also enjoyed the peace of God. They were in the Lord s service, He had commissioned them and He empowered them to carry out His work and they had been given the greatest privilege of bearing the Good News of forgiveness. Never give up working for Christ. Sometimes it might feel as if you are getting nowhere but trust you are in the place where He has called you and placed you, - you ought to be nowhere else. When the fear of man threatens to take a hold of you, remember you serve One Who is altogether greater Prov. 29:25 The fear of man bringeth a snare: but whoso putteth his trust in the LORD shall be safe. As a believer, you own the presence of Christ, and you can say with Paul, II Tim. 1:12 I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day. And, in His presence, we are enjoying and living with the power of Pentecost, Rom. 8:15 ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. 16 The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: 17 And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; 31 What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? 32 He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? 33 Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth. 34 Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us. 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 37 Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. 38 For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, 39 Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. In the midst of the presence of Christ, the fear of man evaporates and the breath of God becomes the air that keeps our Christian experience alive. May God encourage us today, and keep us from becoming locked away.