In the sermon 'The Power of the Resurrection' by Scott Brown, the focus is on John chapter 20, where Jesus appears to his disciples after his resurrection. The resurrection is not just an intellectual doctrine but a transformative power in the life of believers. Jesus' resurrection restores the disciples' gladness and commissions them on a Spirit-empowered mission to proclaim the forgiveness of sins. This mission is reflective of Jesus' own mission from the Father, and it is marked by the power of the Holy Spirit. The peace that Jesus offers is distinct from worldly peace, providing comfort and fearlessness to believers. The sermon also emphasizes that belief in the resurrection is crucial, as it determines one's eternal state and relationship with God. The apostles' role in declaring forgiveness and the warning against retaining sins underscores the importance of the resurrection in the Christian faith.

Please open your Bibles to John chapter 20 and we'll be reading from verse 19 from God's verse 19 from God's inerrant, sufficient, and sweet word of truth. We'll be reading through verse 31. Verse 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, Jesus came and stood in the midst 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. So Jesus said to them again, Peace be to you. As the Father has sent me, I also send 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 retain the sins of any they are retained Now Thomas called the twin one of the twelve Was not with them when Jesus came The other disciples therefore said to him, we've seen the Lord.

So he said to them, unless I see his hands, in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe. And after eight days, his disciples were again inside and Thomas was with them. Jesus came, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst and said peace be to you then he said to Thomas reach your finger here and look at my hands and reach your hand here and put it into my side do not be unbelieving but believing and Thomas answered and said to him my Lord and my God Jesus said to him Thomas because you have seen me you have believed Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed. And truly Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book. But these are written, that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in his name.

Let's pray. Oh Lord we are so thankful for this testimony of your resurrection and its power and your love for your disciples. Pray that you would turn all of our hearts if there are any who are not believing to believe. Amen. Please be seated.

So as we've been lingering over the most important 48 hour period in the history of the world, which is the suffering, the death, the burial, and the resurrection of Jesus Christ. And in the text that we are in at the moment Christ was crucified and he died on Friday night and then on Sunday morning at 6 a.m. He rose from the grave verse 19 though marks a Sunday night at six o'clock in the evening of his resurrection at 6 a.m. In the morning the disciples discovered that he was risen and now at least 12 hours have passed and it's now the evening. Somebody once said this is the first Sunday night service in the history of the church.

But the events that are recorded here speak really of the effect of the resurrection on the eyewitnesses. We've talked about the doctrine of the resurrection from different angles. The last time we spoke about the eternal nature of the body, that your body will be resurrected. Your body is an eternal, it has an eternal function whether to be raised in glory or raised for everlasting torment. So the body matters and there are many things that we can say about the resurrection.

And of course the apostles are well known for elaborating on the doctrine of the resurrection. And one of the things that's very clear when you study the verses that are in the Word of God about the resurrection is that you cannot separate this doctrine from your life. It's not an intellectual proposition primarily because embracing the resurrection by faith and experiencing the power of the resurrected Jesus Christ transforms your life. And there's a power that is engaged and released in your life when you believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and you actually participate in the power of the resurrection. And of course the Bible makes it very clear that that true conversion always results in a transformed life.

And if your life has not been transformed, if your heart is not turned toward Jesus Christ, if you don't love the things that he has said and you want to do the things that he has commanded, then you have not really experienced the power of the resurrection. On the other hand if you think if you think oh lord help me I want to be more holy oh lord I want to follow you oh lord I am so dull oh Lord I need you well that's usually a sign that you have been converted and that you're walking in the truth I'd like to just talk before we dive into this text sequentially about the the apostolic witness of the power of the resurrection. It's very important that we understand what this narrative means and how it was treated by the Apostles after the resurrection. The Apostle Paul, who says he was an eyewitness of Jesus Christ, who appeared to him later, he spoke of what he called the surpassing value of knowing Jesus Christ. There is a value in knowing Jesus Christ.

Paul called it surpassing and he said that he knew the source of that surpassing value and he said that he might know him and the power of the resurrection and that I might share his sufferings becoming like him in his death. There is the power of the resurrection that we participate in And the apostles really can't get over the resurrection in Ephesians chapter 1 verse 16 Paul prays for that church in Ephesus it's a great prayer for every church and he prays that that they would know the greatness of the power of God that is demonstrated in the resurrection. And he writes, he prays that God may give you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened, that you may know what is the hope of his calling, what are the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his mighty power Which he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places far above all principality and power and might and dominion and Every name that is named not only in this age, but also in the age to come This is the power of the resurrection that is pictured here in this passage through these eyewitnesses.

And this passage that we're in illustrates elements of the power of the resurrection from the very beginning. And we see just glimpses of that power in this text. And I hope we can get a view of it and you can see it in the outline that you had before you. Their gladness was restored and then they were sent on a Spirit-empowered mission and they were engaged in a ministry of restoration and the meaning of it all is communicated in the last two verses of this text. So you know on the other hand if you if you deny that the resurrection happened if you are disbelieving in the historical Record the historical reality of the resurrection.

It makes it clear that What I'm doing right now is in vain it's worthless preaching is worthless But the apostles go further than that. They say if Jesus Christ was not resurrected, your life is worthless as well. And he spoke of that in 1 Corinthians 15. I'd like you to turn there. 1 Corinthians 15 is the flagship text on the doctrine of the resurrection.

Remarkable detail in illustrating the power of the resurrection and the meaning of it. And there in this passage, and I'd like you to find verse 12 because I'd like to read I'd like for us to read it together here makes it clear what it means to you if you do not believe that Jesus Christ was raised from the dead and so I ask you do you believe Do you believe that Jesus Christ was raised from the dead? But there's a second question as well. Have you experienced the power of the resurrection? There are many people who intellectually believe that Jesus was raised from the dead, but they haven't experienced the power of the resurrection.

And the Apostle Paul speaks of these kinds of people that they are most pitied. Now before we read this, I just want to, by way of introducing the main idea here, the idea here is if you don't believe in the resurrection, you're on your own. There is no God. There is no forgiveness of sin. We've been talking about expiation and redemption and propitiation.

There's none of that that you can have. There is no everlasting joy. There is no the raising of your body to everlasting life to experience the pleasures and the joys of God. And there is no reconciliation between you and God. God's wrath rests upon you.

So this matter of the resurrection is of tremendous significance. So in 1st Corinthians 12, this question is asked, well what if he wasn't raised from the dead? And now we read this, now if Christ is preached that he has been raised from the dead, how do some among you say there is no resurrection of the dead? And then he begins to illustrate what that means. And the first thing that it means is that Christ is not risen verse 13 But if there is no resurrection of the dead Christ is not risen.

This is all fake Christianity is a fraud all these people are just worshiping nothing That's what it means if he's not raised from the dead. But then he goes further and he says, your preaching is empty, verse 14. And if Christ is not risen, then our preaching is empty. Empty, empty words. And then he even goes further in the second part of verse 14 and he says, your faith is empty.

In other words, you're just believing in a lie. And you know, every person needs to just acknowledge that reality. Are you believing in a lie? Was Jesus Christ really raised from the dead? And then he even goes further in verse 15, and he says, if Christ isn't raised from the dead, The apostles are nothing but false teachers, they're false witnesses, they're liars.

Yes, and we are found false witnesses of God, because we have testified that God, that he raised up Christ, whom he did not raise up, if in fact the dead do not rise. For if the dead do not rise then Christ is not risen and if Christ is not risen your faith is futile. All your little prayers you know all the times you've cried out to God, you've cried out to God in vain, it was futile, it was worthless, there's nothing there. There's just air there. And then you die and then you become dust and you just get absorbed into the organic worm farm, okay?

That's it. And, But then he even gets, I think, even more terrifying in verse 17, you're still in your sins. You are still in your sins. In other words, all you have is your stupid life. All you have is yourself and all of your weaknesses that you're aware of and you know them.

And then he even goes further in verse 18 and he talks about those who've died you know you know people who've died well here's what happened to them then those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished they've gone to the worm farm as well and then verse 19 he says that if in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the most pitiable. In other words, If you're a Christian, you should just be pitied. You know, the world does pity Christians. Many people in the world pity Christians. But it's because they don't believe that Jesus Christ rose again and is seated at the right hand of God.

And so they pity you. They ought to be pitying themselves. So if you reject the resurrection you're left with yourself. You're left with what you can do for yourself and you're actually in many ways you're relegated to the status of an animal or just some a blob of you know randomly you know coagulated cells you're just matter you just matter that's gonna just dissipate away and be absorbed into the eternal nothingness yeah And Jesus is not your Savior and there is no God and you're not held in the palm of his hand. He does not put, he is not hem you in behind him before.

He does not care about you, he is not there. There is nothing. You are on your own. There's no eternal joy. There's no afterlife.

When you die, you're dead. That is the end of it. But what the apostle Paul is also saying is that if you believe in the resurrection of the dead, you actually know who you are. And you know that life matters. And you know that you have a way of living in this world and and you believe that what you do in this world matters for all eternity.

And you believe that what you do here and now actually determines what you will do for all eternity. And so your Life has a completely different meaning. You have a set of ways of living, and thinking and feeling, and God is at the center of all that. But the reality is, is if there's no resurrection, you're kind of like a hamster on a hamster wheel. You're just running.

You're just running in vain. And there's no purpose. And there's really no purpose even in your own moral progress. And I think to me, one of the greatest tragedies of rejecting the reality of the resurrection of the dead, it really is seen when disaster hits you. When something so massively disappointing happens to you?

And what do you do? Well, all you can do is bite the bullet. All you can do is suck it up and find your own inner strength somehow. And there's no transcendent meaning to the calamities that come into your life. And you just have to make the best of it.

Just do what you want. Because it doesn't really matter anyway. So, it really matters whether you believe that Jesus Christ was raised from the dead or not. And it really determines your whole disposition toward yourself, toward your body, toward all the people around you, and all the things that happen to you. And the Apostles make this very, very clear.

If you read the apostolic testimony about the resurrection, they're always talking about the power of God in your life to move you, to make you, to make you happy to give you peace to help you to care for you They the doctrine of the resurrection is such a blessed doctrine so the words before us here in John bear witness to the power of the resurrected Lord Jesus Christ. And John's illustrations of the power of the resurrection on these eyewitnesses are recorded here. But it's very interesting that when we encounter the apostles in verse 19, not just the apostles, but there were others there in the room. We know the names of some of them. There were several women and Clopas and some others.

But the text here, it begins with fearful disciples and they're locked inside of a room. They're afraid actually. The Romans had just killed their leader and they feared that they might be next. That would be a logical thing to do. They were correct actually and they were in the same boat with Jesus and all followers of Jesus are also in that same boat.

So when we meet the disciples in verse 19 they're afraid and so that the but it's very interesting to me this this section begins with fear and unbelief, and it ends with gladness and belief, And even Thomas saying, my Lord and my God. So, and of course also, just for context, The chapter begins that way, but this marks a 40-day period after the resurrection where Jesus Christ revealed himself to many. And it begins in fear and it ends in boldness, which is the power of the resurrection. Everybody understands what it means to be paralyzed by fear. And that's what we find here.

They are fearful and locked into a room, and they did not believe that Jesus had risen from the dead, at least most of them. And so Jesus meets with them in that locked room and he shows them his body and then he he commissions them to bring a message to the world. So that's what this is all about. Okay, let's begin in verses 19 through 20. The first thing I want us to recognize here, among the many things that are here, is that their gladness was restored.

Verse 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, Jesus came and stood in the midst of them and said to them, peace be with you. So these are a group of people who are in need of comfort and Jesus says, peace be to you. You would think, as many of the commentators that I read, thought that you would most likely hear him say, shame on you, shame on you for not believing, shame on you for running away, shame on you. But he doesn't do that. He comes to his fearful disciples and he says, peace to you.

Shalom. It's that he uses that that word that really reflects inner peace. Peace from the tip of your head down to the down to the tip of your toe. Peace. Peace like a river.

Peace that just fills your whole heart. He speaks to them that way. He does it three times in verse 19 and verse 21 and in verse 26, he says the same thing, peace be to you. That's a theme by the way of this text you got that Hermeneutical principle when something is repeated over and over again check it out You know it's it might mean sort of the heart of the text and so I think that that is probably true here but they were fearful and you know fear is what was one of the greatest things that we struggle with you know I've said this many times before but the most often repeated command the direct command in the Bible is do not fear and there's a reason for that and that is because our hearts are often gripped with fear. We're afraid of almost everything.

And frankly, I just want to say, I just want to go on record that fearfulness is one of the characteristics of the American Church. We have a fearful church, a paralyzed church, and what the government might say or do, we live in the midst of a fear of meeting, fear of speaking, fear of condemnation, fear of rejection by unbelievers, fear of rejection by believers, fear of a damaged reputation, fear of getting canceled, fear of censure in the community, fear of losing your reputation, fear of financial disaster, fear of losing your job, fear of whatever. And I prayed that we're not a fearful church, that God would fortify us, that we'd be a fearless church. Are we a fearless church? Well only you can answer that question in your heart, but I pray that God would forge in this place a fearless church, a church that feared God alone and that we would fear no man.

One of the things they used to say about John Knox is that he feared not the face of man and I prayed that that becomes a characteristic of this church. That we do what God has commanded us to do and we do not fear man. It's one of the great, great maladies of the church. Now these who were gathered, they were afraid of the authorities. We read earlier in John that Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea were afraid of being thrown out of the synagogue.

They were being they were afraid of being canceled they were afraid of losing all their relationships because they actually put into practice the things that Jesus was saying and they did they did fear but you know when you when you read about the the doctrine of the resurrection in the Bible, it's very clear that this matter is addressed. One of the powers of the resurrection is fearlessness. And this really begins with forgiveness of sin. In Isaiah chapter 53, we learn that the resurrection is a means of filling our hearts with peace, not fear. In fact, Jesus Christ was punished for our sins so that we would not fear.

And I'll just I'll just read Isaiah 53 5 for you. He was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities, the chastisement for our peace was upon him and by his stripes we are healed. Well that's why he's called the Prince of Peace. That's why we read in Isaiah that his government of peace will have no end and he's really talking about the peace that exists in the heart of the believer, the forgiven believer, set free from the law of sin and death, set free from condemnation. The person who believes in their heart, there is therefore not no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

There's no peace like that. You can hold your head up. The world can give you a form of peace. You know, there are all kinds of ways that you can console yourself in this world, but Jesus gives a completely different kind of peace. And that's why in John 14 verse 27 he said peace I give to you my peace I give to you not as the world gives do I give to you and then he said let not your heart be troubled neither let it be afraid The peace of Jesus Christ is different.

It's a different kind of peace than when you get that car that you always wanted. It's a peace that actually lasts as your car oxidizes and finally falls apart. This peace doesn't, as long as you feed it particularly But but Jesus Jesus actually spoke much of what he spoke To increase their peace. He said in in John 16 33 these things I have spoken unto you that in me you might have peace in the world you'll have tribulation but be of good cheer I have overcome the world in other words the kind of peace that he's talking about doesn't exempt you from tribulation it actually assumes tribulation So expect tribulation and ride on the high hills of the earth, you know You know live in the bubble of the grace of Jesus Christ knowing that he is your peace You know peace is a fruit of the Spirit as well. The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace.

On the contrary though, Isaiah makes it very clear in Isaiah 57 verse 21, there is no peace for the wicked. They're like a stormy sea, churning about, pushed around, jerked around by all the things that are happening around them. So the question is are you at peace? Are you at peace? Jesus calls his disciples to peace three times in this text and his message is everything's gonna work out okay.

I'm in control. So you can be in peace. You can ride fearlessly before me. Now, this is the peace that of those who know that their Redeemer lives, who know that God is in control, who believe that everything that God does is good and that he's summing up all things in Christ. That's the kind of piece he's talking about.

And so this is the effect of the resurrection on these eyewitnesses. And there are many eyewitnesses that are listed that heard this kind of messaging. Peter and John and Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus and the women in over 500 over a period of 40 days and then you have in the book of Acts testimony after testimony 3, 000, 5, 000, this family, that family, this individual, you know, this crippled person, you know, they received this gospel of peace. And Notice what he did though, he showed them his hands in his side, verse 20. Look at this, this is very remarkable.

When he had said this, he showed them his hands in his side. And what happened? The disciples were glad when they saw the Lord. Their mourning turned to dancing. That's the power of the resurrection.

Christ is that source of gladness. But it was a gladness in what Jesus had done. It was a gladness in a historical reality that Jesus Christ actually rose from the dead and they saw his hands and his side. It was what he did and that they believed that made them glad. That is the beginning of the power of the resurrection.

And you know gladness is definitely one of the manifestations of the power of the resurrection. And you see this in the eyewitnesses. You see this power of gladness unleashed in their lives because they saw the risen Lord. And what was happening at this time is everything was flooding back into their minds about what he had said earlier. So gladness is restored through the power of the resurrection and there's also secondly a Spirit empowered mission that they're sent on verses 21 to 23 a spirit empowered Mission this is another power the resurrection God sends you on a mission not your own.

So Jesus said to them again, peace be to you, as the Father has sent me, I also send you. I also send you. There's a hymn that we've sung from time to time. So send I you. Well that's what that's based on here.

And so here in this section in these verses 21 to 23 is a commission of Jesus Christ. Jesus is sending his disciples out in the same way that he was sent by his father. This is a commission. You're familiar with the Great Commission. This is a little bit like it.

It's kind of a precursor to the Great Commission, but has very, very many of the same elements. Webster's dictionary defines commission in following terms. And I want us to think about our commission. I want us to just set everything aside in our minds right now and think about what kind of mission we have been commissioned. And what are we doing about it?

And what Webster defines commission like this, a formal warrant or authority granting certain powers or privileges and authorizing or commanding the performance of certain acts or duties, a warrant conferring authority to raise and command a body of troops. Now that really is reflective of the great commission that God has given us. He has commissioned us to raise an army of troops and send them out into the world. To send them out in the highways and the byways, to send them out in the workplaces, to send them to foreign countries, to send them into harm's way, to send them where the gospel is not being preached. And this is a commission.

And what God has commissioned the church to do, literally, is to raise up an army of preachers of the gospel from little children onto the oldest. That all of us would be commissioned by Jesus Christ. All of us have this mission and he is communicating this to these disciples. Notice that Jesus gives them an example to follow. As the Father has sent me, so send I you.

Now in the book of Hebrews, there's some very interesting language about the sending of Jesus Christ into the world. It says there that he passed through the heavens. Can you imagine that? Jesus Christ was sent from his father's throne, passed through the heavens and dropped into earth. How about that?

And that's what we do too. We pass through the heavens, we leave our heavenly abode, and we go to that mission field that God has defined for us. And that mission field really is defined by where you live and your family and your job, that's your mission field. You don't have to look somewhere else most of the time for a mission field, it's right in front of you. And notice that we're sent by His authority.

The Father sends the Son and the Son sends his disciples. You know when the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us that was an example. God sent his Son to inflesh his truth in a person, the person of Jesus Christ, and we look at the life of Jesus Christ and we do what Jesus did. That's what disciples of Jesus want to do. They just want to do the stuff that Jesus did and they want to do the thing that God did in sending his son.

And what were they doing? Well, Jesus said that he came to seek and save the lost. And what that means, many things, one thing it means is that Christians should not be cloistered in their little Christian subcultures. They need to be finding their way among sinners and speaking to sinners. That's our mission.

Now, by the way, it's very important in a world where everybody's writing up their own mission statement, their own purpose statement, that we actually have already been given a mission. We have already been commissioned. You know, I think it's nice and I think it's interesting, and It's sometimes very helpful and centering to have kind of your own mission statement, but you better read it and compare it with this one. Does it comport with this one? Or is it just one that you made up for your own glory?

You know, when we start writing mission statements, we often are kind of calibrating off our own glory, not the glory of Jesus Christ. So make sure if you write your mission statement or when you write your mission statement, check it out with the Great Commission and see if it fits because that is the commission of Jesus Christ. And so the mission is not our mission. In fact, in the Great Commission, in Matthew 28, our mission, our commission is to teach everything that Jesus commanded. That's what it means to make disciples of all the nations is to teach everyone to obey Jesus Christ.

That's the Great Commission. The Great Commission begins with the sharing of the gospel but isn't in there. It continues on with teaching people how to obey. Well, that's what we're doing right here in our church. That's what we're hoping to do, is to teach how to obey.

We want you to be obedient people, obedient to Jesus Christ. Yes, we're preaching obedience. Preaching obedience is not legalism, it's actually fulfilling the great commission that Jesus Christ communicated in Matthew chapter 28. Obedience comes hard though, we get off course, we find that we aren't listening. You know, I had a remarkable experience the other day.

I was in another state and there was this, we were in some people's homes and there was this delightful little boy, I think he was probably nine years old, and he wanted to show me everything. And I knew he didn't have a dad around that much. And I mean he was like glue, you know, and he, Mr. Brown, show, I want, Can I show you how I can get on top of the roof? Absolutely.

So he got up on the roof, you know, he came down and he was showing me all kinds of things. And then he brought his dog in and he said, could I show you some of the tricks my dog can do? I've been teaching my dog tricks. I said, yeah, I'd love to see. I love dogs.

You know, I have a dog too. I try to teach him tricks. So he says to the dog, sit. Sit. Sit.

And then he said, one, two, and then the dog sat down. Well, we're often like that, you know, God has actually already told us what to do but we're God's counting to three you know for us thankfully he doesn't he doesn't kill us you know on number two or number one but he has it has actually called us to first-time obedience you know we do need to be reminded. Maybe this is a reminder to you today, Fulfill the great commission. Don't be cloistered in your own little Christian subculture. You know, preach the gospel to sinners.

After all, you have the peace of God. You have nothing to lose and everything is secured for you. So Jesus is illustrating what would characterize this mission and it is a spirit empowered mission. That's what's very clear from these verses and it would be the breath of God that would empower them. It is the breath of God that empowers the church and the power will not be of yourselves, but it is his breath of life And so the Lord Jesus Christ illustrates what it will mean to fulfill that commission.

What kind of commission is it? Well, it's a commission where the power is from God and not of ourselves. It's from the breath of God. It's from literally the words of God breathed. The Bible is God breathed and it's His word breathed upon you by the power of the Spirit.

Jesus said that these words are spirit and they are life. In other words, they're breath and they are life. And so in verse 22, the Lord Jesus illustrates this for them. And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, receive the Holy Spirit. Now what is this?

What is this? Is this an early outpouring of the Spirit? What is it? Is it a foretaste? Is it an object lesson?

Is it an illustration? And I want to submit that it's much like the imagery in Genesis where God breathed life into Adam in the same way God breathes his life into us by his breath. And I think this is a foretaste of the day of Pentecost in Acts chapter 2. I'll quote J.C. Ryle on this.

I believe our Lord taught the disciples by this action of breathing on them that the beginning of all ministerial qualification is to have the Holy Spirit breathed into us and that until the Holy Ghost is planted in our hearts we are not rightly commissioned for the work of the ministry. Now I believe that this was a symbolic communication of the power, the kind of power and the method of the power, that they would live by the breath of God. They would live by the living words of God. His words that are spirit and that they are life and that it is inaugurated in Acts chapter 2 on the day of Pentecost when they were filled with the Holy Spirit and Jesus life was literally breathed into them and there he's he's he's informing them of the nature of the Christian life, that it's actually life. It's something real that comes from God.

The life of God, the words of God are breathed into you. It's not fake. It's something, it's not even your own. You take from him and you live for him out of his word and your life is not your own. You are actually moved by something real that's connected to everlasting life.

It's the life of God in the soul of man and and it's manifested in many different ways. We could launch into a whole doctrine of the Holy Spirit. We won't do that. We've done that before. But the public manifestation of this would be experienced on the day of Pentecost.

I don't think this is like a two-stage outpouring, but it's just an illustration of how they will live life in this world. And how do Christians live their life? Well, they live their life upon what Jesus said, apart from me, you can do nothing. Apart from me, you can do nothing. You know, what is your life?

Is it the life of Jesus? Or are you just working out your own cool mission statement for your own glory? Because what it means to be a Christian is you say, I'm done with myself. I am so tired of my stupid sinful self and my blindness and I need Jesus. I need a savior.

I need a Lord. And When a person becomes a Christian, they say what Thomas says later in this text, my Lord and my God, my Lord and my God. So they're instructed to wait for the Holy Spirit in Luke chapter 24. Behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you, but tarry in the city of Jerusalem until you are endued with power from on high. They are waiting for that, and this is not that.

And then Jesus reveals to them, really the powerhouse of their message as they are commissioned by him. Verse 23. And what we learn here is that they're on a mission to declare the forgiveness of sins. Is that your mission? They're on a mission to declare that you can be forgiven of your sins.

A friend of mine was in a restaurant the other day and the waitress came by and he just blurted it out, are your sins forgiven? And she burst into tears. This is the heart of our message. And so verse 23, if you forgive the sins of any they are forgiven them. If you retain the sins of any they are retained.

Now there are two words here that I want us to dial in on. First word forgiven and then retained. This is the grace of God and the forgiveness of sin and the wrath of God for the unrepentant. It's both here in this. The word that he uses for forgiven means to release, to let go, to let off the hook, to cast away.

It means liberty, remission, release from legal obligation. It means pardon. You know, we've seen our president, pardon people who have been in prison for years. And the tears that came when they were pardoned, they were finally let loose, they were taken off the hook and all their charges were revoked. That's what it's like to receive the forgiveness of Jesus Christ.

All of the condemnation is nailed to the cross. It's buried in the bottom of the ocean. It's thrown behind the back. It's stomped on the feet and buried in the bottom of the sea. Praise God for that.

Well That's what this word means, forgiven. So this is the heart of our message. Now the unbelieving heart says, I don't need to be forgiven. Well, what do I need to repent of? You know, if that's your disposition, You're probably not a believer.

The true Christian is sensitive to his sin and hates it. He doesn't want to do it anymore. The non-Christian keeps running toward it and says, c'est la vie. Now we're being taught here that we're sent out with a message, just to bring us back to the context, and the message is you can be forgiven. Now let's be really clear about this.

Jesus Christ is not giving his disciples power of absolution of sin for other people. Jesus Christ is not telling his disciples, if you forgive anybody, they're forgiven. That can't be the message, and I'm gonna give you four reasons why that can't be what he's saying, and why it is actually clear what he's saying. First, the Bible teaches that only God can forgive sins. In Daniel 9, 9, we learn, to the Lord our God belong mercy and forgiveness only God can forgive in the way that he forgives only the in the sense of absolution in the sense of wiping out your transgressions now we do forgive one another we do let one and author hook off the hook after the pattern of Jesus.

That's what Christians do. But it's not the same thing of absolving you of sin. Second, Jesus is not just talking to the apostles. This is not just an apostolic confirmant, like the Pope, you know, who has powers of absolution. This is not only to the apostles.

There are other people in the room here. These are these are other believers that are there too. Clopas and his wife Mary and the others are there. So Jesus is not just talking to the Apostles. This is not just an apostolic wave your hand you are absolved of your sin.

Thirdly there's only one mediator between God and man and you are not it. Jesus Christ is the mediator between God and man. He and he alone forgives transgressions self-defically. Fourth, there's no record of the apostles granting forgiveness like this. The apostles never personally absolved anyone of sin or forgave anyone in that sense.

In other words, wiping out all of their sins. The apostles do not do that. But what do the apostles do? Well, here's what they didn't do. They didn't build confessional booths.

They didn't sit there hearing people's sins and saying, you're forgiven, my son. They didn't say that. They didn't do that. That's a manifestation of man's religion. But they did nothing of the kind.

The heart of the power of the resurrection in the life of the believer fulfilling the great commission is the declaration of forgiveness, that there is forgiveness with God. And Luke chapter 24 verse 36 makes this very clear. Jesus said to his disciples, it was necessary that Christ suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name to all nations beginning at Jerusalem and you are witnesses of these things." This is what he is speaking of. This is the sending out of people who will announce, who will declare that there is forgiveness in Jesus Christ. And so Jesus is giving his disciples authority to proclaim that there's forgiveness for those who believe and there's condemnation for those who reject him.

Jesus forgives sin And what Jesus is saying here is, I commission you to declare that sins can be forgiven and I'm commissioning you to say that sins can be retained and sins can fall upon you for everlasting torment. Both of those things must be proclaimed. I'll give you a couple of examples. In Acts chapter 10 verse 43 Peter said to Cornelius and his friends, everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name, everyone. Paul, when he was at Antioch, in Pasidian Antioch, he said, we declare unto you glad tidings, Let it be known to you therefore brethren that though this man's forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you and By him everyone who believes is freed.

That's in Acts chapter 13. So this commission is to proclaim the forgiveness of sins and Jesus is sending his disciples to proclaim that sinners can be forgiven and have relief from their guilt and be set free. And this is the refreshing power of the gospel of Jesus Christ. He is living water to the hot-hearted sinner, clear water that flows from the throne of God and it bears fruit but it forgives. So by the way the Lord Jesus Christ records the gospel, records John writing in Revelation, Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, the ruler of the kings of the earth, to him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood.

And what God has done is he gives us that ministry. Paul called it the ministry of reconciliation. We have the ministry of reconciliation and that ministry of reconciliation is to reconcile God and man through the forgiveness of sins by the proclamation of the resurrected Lord Jesus Christ. So that's what that means. We have authority to say, if you believe and repent, your sins are forgiven on the authority of God.

Now I have said to people, you're free, you're forgiven. You're free from the law of sin and death. But it's because they repented of their sins and they say they believe in Jesus Christ. So you have that authority to say that, but you don't have personal authority to pronounce absolution and perform some kind of magic on somebody's soul and wipe out all their sins. You cannot do that.

This is given only to God alone. And it is also a message of impending judgment. Sins are retained. Now in the next in the next verses we come to Thomas and people have called him Doubting Thomas. I've never really liked that name for Thomas.

All the disciples doubted. None of them believed that Jesus Christ was resurrected at the very beginning. It took some time, like Thomas. By the way, there are two people in this room who have the middle name Thomas. So this is your patron saint.

But in this next section we find this powerful illustration of embracing the resurrection and that is this, a brother is pursued and he's restored. Now in the next session in the Gospel of John I'm going to take Thomas on. We'll spend the entire time this afternoon on Thomas in the next section. But All of this is spoken for one life-giving purpose, verse 30 and 31. And truly Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book, but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in his name.

All of these things are written down so that you might believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and that you might have life in his name. And that's why I named these verses a life-giving purpose, because there's life in Jesus Christ. In him was life, And the life was the light of men. And so the question is, do you believe? Do you have peace with God?

Are you fulfilling the Great Commission? Are you a minister of the reconciliation by proclaiming that sins can be forgiven? Are you proclaiming the danger of retained sins and everlasting punishment? So these are the questions that are raised here. And this is the power of the resurrection.

And that's why it's very clear from the Bible that you cannot separate doctrine from life. To embrace the resurrection is to have a transformed life, a new power that's engaged, and it's peace, and it's gladness, and it's being commissioned for a great commission proclaiming the forgiveness of sins to everyone who listened. So I pray that is the manifestation of a fearless church believing in the power of the resurrection. Would you pray with me? Lord, we are amazed at these astounding details that you've revealed to us, that we might know the power of the resurrection, that we might feel the transformations that take place.

Lord, I pray that you would give us such a heart for this commission that you've delivered to us. Amen.