The Apostles and risen Savior- Pt. II
So that you may believe - Gospel of John • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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· 2 viewsAim: To look at the proof of resurrection to Thomas, and the purpose of Gospel of John
Notes
Transcript
Handout
Handout
He is risen!
He is risen!
Early Mary and other women went to discover empty tomb
Mary of Magdelene rushed to tell Simon/John
They ran, stooped, Peter enters, John when enters believes (return home)
Mary meets the risen Savior and is given a message to give to Peter and the apostles
Same day, Jesus appears in the midst of the apostles, minus instructs them and breaths on them the Holy Spirit.
I think for context, for flow that we should read the appearance passage all the way through
19 So when it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and when the doors were shut where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in their midst and said to them, “Peace be with you.” 20 And when He had said this, He showed them both His hands and His side. The disciples then rejoiced when they saw the Lord.
21 So Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you; as the Father has sent Me, I also send you.” 22 And when He had said this, He breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit.
23 “If you forgive the sins of any, their sins have been forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they have been retained.” 24 But Thomas, one of the twelve, called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came.
25 So the other disciples were saying to him, “We have seen the Lord!” But he said to them, “Unless I see in His hands the imprint of the nails, and put my finger into the place of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe.” 26 After eight days His disciples were again inside, and Thomas with them. Jesus came, the doors having been shut, and stood in their midst and said, “Peace be with you.”
27 Then He said to Thomas, “Reach here with your finger, and see My hands; and reach here your hand and put it into My side; and do not be unbelieving, but believing.” 28 Thomas answered and said to Him, “My Lord and my God!”
29 Jesus said to him, “Because you have seen Me, have you believed? Blessed are they who did not see, and yet believed.”
30 Therefore many other signs Jesus also performed in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; 31 but these have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name.
Last week we saw and were able to draw some conclusions
This all transpired on first day of the week, resurrection Sunday in the evening.
Jesus proved he was a person by showing his wounds
Jesus gave them a task that As the Father had sent Him, He was going to send them.
Jesus breathed life, the Holy Spirit on them.
That is where we stopped last week and we want to pick up with looking at the rest of the passage.
Forgiving sins
Forgiving sins
23 If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.”
In looking at this verse it is vitally important to use good biblical interpretation
“When we come to a difficult passage, we should interpret it in light of other more obvious and plain passages.”
Consider Mk2:1-12; Mt9:4-8 as texts stating only God can forgive sins. Note down Ps103:1-3 too.
If this text is used alone as a “proof text” that the apostles and maybe the 120 in the room were given authority to forgive sins, then there truly is a contradiction in scripture.
This can lead to the fallacy of the Catholic church that the priests can forgive sins.
Also may you consider Jesus command regarding forgiving sins (Lk17:4)
4 “And if he sins against you seven times a day, and returns to you seven times, saying, ‘I repent,’ forgive him.”
Or even Mt18:21-35 (v.21, 35), but let’s look just at a couple of those verses
21 Then Peter came and said to Him, “Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him? Up to seven times?”
and then
35 “My heavenly Father will also do the same to you, if each of you does not forgive his brother from your heart.”
Is this not forgiveness of sins? What sins? Sins against man, or sins against God?
Man can forgive man; God forgives sin.
Wiersbe commentary says
“We must not take this verse to be interpreted to mean that Jesus gave to a select group of peoples the right to forgive sins and let people into heaven.
In one article it says by Dr. Julius Mantey, “whosoever sins you remit (Forgive) shall have already been forgiven them, and whosoever sins you retain (do not forgive) shall have already not been forgiven them, in other words, the disciples did not provide forgiveness; they proclaimed forgiveness on the basis of the message of the Gospel.”
Remember the gospel message, “Repent and believe the gospel” that is what was preached by John, by Jesus and holds true today.
Tenney on this links to the Holy Spirit and then the responsibility of the church which was to come.
“The words of Jesus emphasize that the Holy Spirit is not bestowed on the church as an ornament but to empower an effective application of the work of Christ to all men, It lays down the duly of the church to proclaim forgiveness to the repentant believer and the duty of the church to warn the unrepentant and the unbeliever who are in danger of forfeiting the mercy of God. We do not create the forgiveness, we announce it; all by the power of the Spirit.”
This goes with a similar passage that can be difficult too, but when looked at the same way makes perfect sense
19 “I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven.”
Like the church announced the disfellowship of the man in 1Cor5; there was the restoration and Paul reminded the church that in 2Cor5:5-11 that they need to go with the forgiveness now too since there was a repentance. If God forgives, we must forgive.
I will not believe
I will not believe
24 Now Thomas, called the Twin, one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. 25 The other disciples therefore said to him, “We have seen the Lord.” So he said to them, “Unless I see 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.”
What facts do you learn in these verses?
Thomas, called the twin, was not there, but now is there.
He will not believe their testimony unless he sees and touches Jesus himself.
We do not know why Thomas was not there, anything we say would be speculation, but we know he had a refusal to believe.
Thomas would have heard the testimony of the women, the testimony of the pilgrims from road to Emmaus. Yet he had a faith problem, to him seeing was believing. This is the same problem many suffer with today.
Thomas was not with those who were bound together, and were to love one another and missed out of the special appearance of Jesus, but hold on for Jesus was going to make a way for Thomas to go from doubt to courageous faith.
Thomas words show the difference between doubt and unbelief.
Doubt says “I cannot believe.”
Unbelief says “I will not believe.”
Just as a reminder, what day is this all taking place?
First day of the week (Jn20:1, 19)
(Transition) this brings us to next part of Thomas story
My Lord, My God!
My Lord, My God!
26 And after eight days His disciples were again inside, and Thomas with them. Jesus came, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, “Peace to you!” 27 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.”
28 And Thomas answered and said to Him, “My Lord and my God!” 29 Jesus said to him, “Thomas, because you have seen Me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”
As we looked at earlier, and mentioned last week, it is now a week later, on the first day of the week when they were gathered together, now Thomas is with them.
Again, like before the Lord appears in their midst and gives the greetings of peace.
Again, like before behind shut (locked) door.
While they believed in the resurrection they did not understand the significance of it to them yet
FF Bruce said:
“There is significance in that these two important meetings with Jesus and His assembled disciples took place on Sundays; this is the first indication we have of Sunday meetings of the disciples. The memory of this coming of the Lord to his disciples may well be something to do with the church’s early practice of meeting together on the evening of the first day of the week and bespeaking his presence with them in the words Maranatha, ‘Our Lord, come.”
Jesus speaks to Thomas not rebuking but inviting with a purpose, to bring belief from unbelief.
Jesus granted Thomas demand for proof, not out of obligation, but out of love and to bring belief.
Jesus words demonstrate His love and His grace, as well as His gentleness in not giving a strong rebuke, but a loving invitation.
Spurgeon said “While the whole conversation was indeed a rebuke, but so veiled with love that Thomas could scarcely think it so.”
Thomas words go from declared unbelief to radical courageous belief.
Thomas words of radical belief did not come from touching the Lord, but from seeing the Lord. The latest of those who have made that claim of Jesus deity before.
John the Baptist (Jn1:34)
Nathanael (Jn1:49)
Jesus (Jn4:25, 10:36)
Peter (Jn6:69)
The blind man (Jn9:35)
Martha (Jn11:27) and in just two verses from now John himself (Jn20:30-31)
In closing this tonight, we will not get to the purpose of the gospel tonight, that will have to wait, one more comment.
In paraphrasing an alongaited quote by Guzik- Thomas was honest, bold when said willing to go and die with Jesus (Jn11:16) here in (Jn20:25) he refused to belief without proof. Now after examining the evidence boldly proclaims the conclusion (Jn20:28) My Lord, My God.
There is much more than can be said on this, but this is where we are going to stop tonight.
(Prayer) (Close)