after two weeks we've traveled about 2,600 miles preaching three different churches and we're back now and seem like some didn't uh care whether to come back or not but they still hadn't showed up we're glad to see you we that came And as you know, we candidated for one church up in Tennessee. And if they call us, I said, if, we'll go up there probably. We'll just wait on the Lord for that, though. We're not going to make no fast decision. I don't suppose they are either. just kind of wait on the lord and see what the lord does and like we're just wasting our time here we can't get folks to come and so if the lord called us up there we'll probably go all right if you look in john chapter 20 and uh We begin in verse 19. We've been discussing, you know, many weeks of the resurrection and the events that took place after that. And that's what we're still in this morning. We're in the time when Jesus appeared to the disciples, I think the last time, and showed you the other references in Luke and other Gospels where these things happen. Now, if you'll notice, it says in 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, came Jesus and stood in the midst. Settling it in peace be under you. I noticed this is on the first day of the week and that's Sunday. It's not Saturday and Notice that when Christ appeared he came through closed doors and And that's what we dealt with last time. We told you the glorified body can appear and disappear at will. It can go through solid objects. It has no restraints. It has no laws against it. And we made a tape on that, I think, the last time. So we won't deal with law that day, but just kind of remind you of that. Now, the Bible says he came through closed doors and he showed himself to disciples. But in one place, over in Luke, remember, the Bible says when he appeared, it scared them to death. But when he spoke to them and they recognized who he was, it says they were glad when they saw the Lord. Amen. And I believe that's something, too. I believe that all the saved are going to be glad when they see the Lord. I think a lot of them ain't gonna be too happy about it because the Lord's gonna catch them in a condition and some things they Shouldn't be doing I'd hate for the Lord to come right now for some of these folks that ought to be in church and you're Out running around doing something else. You found something more important Sunday morning than being Assembled and that's that's where you're supposed to be if you're saved you're supposed to be assembled and that's where they were and At least that's where most of them were. One of them wasn't there. We'll deal with that a little bit more later on. Alright, I noticed something else it says in there. It says when Jesus stood in the midst and said to them, peace be unto you. Now there's two kinds of peace that God gives, and you'll find this phrase in verse 19. You'll find it in verse 21. And you'll also find it in verse 26. Every time Jesus showed up, the first thing was, Peace be unto you. And any time the Lord shows up, He brings peace. He don't bring turmoil and confusion and unbelief and misery. He brings peace. Now there's two kinds of peace that God gives. He gives peace with God, and peace with God is based on the fact of what Jesus Christ did for us on the cross. When a man accepts Jesus Christ and his death on the cross as payment for his sins, that makes him have peace with God. Amen? Unsafe people don't have no peace with God because of their sin but when their sins taken care of they have peace with God and Then there's the peace of God Now that comes from the presence of God You see that When God is present in your life. You not only have peace with God you have peace of God and In other words, you're comfortable with God. A lot of folks have peace with God because they're saved. They don't have peace of God because God is not present with them in their life. You see that? Alright, notice verse 20 of the Bible says, When he had so said he showed himself He showed unto them his hands and his side Then were the disciples glad when they saw the Lord Lord. He showed them evidence that of who he was Amen Now, we don't have evidence like that today, but we have some evidence that we know the Lord, and that is the Word of God. The Bible said in Hebrews chapter 11 that faith is the evidence of things not seen, and yet things hoped for. In other words, when God asks you to believe something, He don't give you, He gives you evidence to know it's there and you can believe it. Somebody said faith is a leap in the dark. That's not what the Bible says. Faith is something that God gives you, and God gives you a reason to believe it. Right? So it says in verse 20, they were glad when they saw the Lord. Amen. And then notice verse 21, a great verse, and you ought to know this verse if you're saved. It says, Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you, as my Father has sent me Even so sinned I you Now you got to stop and think cause there's a lot in that verse and we won't have time to expound all of it But you ever read Why Jesus was sent He said he told those Jews a lot of time he said I came to bear witness of my father then All right, then you are sent to be a witness. Amen? If you're saved, you are sent out to be a witness for God. Amen? And there's two ways you witness. You witness, first of all, with your mouth, and you witness with your practical life. Now this morning, like I said, if you're saved and you're laying out of church, you're not a very good witness. You're not a witness for the Lord. You're a witness as a reproach to the Lord because I believe saved people ought to assemble. at the appointed time under the Word of God and do what the Bible says, learn to know the Lord, worship the Lord, grow in grace and knowledge of the Lord, be a servant of the Lord and be effective for the Lord. You can't do that staying away from the Word of God. Like I said, there's there's many reasons why Jesus was sent he was sent to bear witness he was sent to suffer he was sent to die and on and on on but in the sense of This the main sense that you're sent like he was sent is to be a witness of him if you know him all right now look at verse 22 and And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said unto them, receive ye the Holy Ghost. Now that's a verse that's controversial. You hear all kind of expositions on it. It depends on who you are, how you use that. The holiness, they teach it one way. The Baptists teach it another way. But if you're a Christian, just believe it. Amen? If you're dispensationalist, you'll teach it another way and on and on and on. And he said, receive them the Holy Ghost. And of course, that was a personal thing. And he said back there in John, I believe, chapter 14, he said, but when the comforter has come, and according to what Jesus said, the comforter wouldn't come till he was glorified. He's not here glorified. He hasn't ascended back yet. But he said, receive ye the Holy Ghost. And the reason for that is, is he had just told them in the previous verse, as my Father has sent me, even so send I you. Now God don't send you out just on your own. Amen? He said in Acts chapter 1, he said, carry ye in Jerusalem until ye be endued with power. And that power was the spirit of God. So if they were to be sent out like he was sent out, he had to give them something to go out with. And that's what's a lot of things today. You know, that's why that a lot of people are ineffective for God. They go out on their own power without the spirit of God, without the leadership of God and the power of God and the knowledge of God and the direction of God. And that's why they're so ineffective for the Lord. Amen. Jesus said, receive you the Holy Ghost. That means several things. Number one, it means this, that if you're not saved, you can't do anything for God. I mean, you know, these cooks and Different groups that don't know they're saved and many of them are not saved And yet they have a zeal trying to do something for God, but they'll never be effective for God Until God empowers them and God doesn't empower man with the spirit of God until that man is saved Amen so Jesus said them receive you the Holy Ghost and so then it says in verse 23 notice this verse here and It says, whosoever sin you remit, they are remitted unto them. And whosoever sins you retain, they are retained. Now the word remit means to be forgiven. And this is the verse that the Catholic used to try to prove to you that the priest can forgive sins. Now there's a few things wrong with that. Number one is no Catholic priest can forgive his own sin let alone anybody else's Number two this is given to Jewish apostles Amen We live in a time now when no man is holds no office that has power to forgive sins in the sense now of his sins against God. Now, let me explain this to you. As a Christian, you can forgive sins of other Christians that are committed against you. As a matter of fact, the Bible tells you to. But this commission here was not only given these years, this was also given to Paul. See? But I'm saying this, as far as a man forgiving another man's sin and justifying before God, there's no such thing. You see? Only God can forgive a sinner's sins and justify them. Now let me give you a couple of references to show you what I'm talking about. Then I'll apply this thing the way it should be in 2 Corinthians chapter 2. 2 Corinthians chapter 2. It's on page 1231. Listen to this. This is what Paul wrote in the second letter to the church at Corinth there. He said in verse 9, 2 Corinthians 2, 9, For to this end also did I write, that I might know the proof of you, whether you be obedient in all things. Now, I'll give you the context of this thing. Paul is writing about the man over in 1 Corinthians chapter 5 that was having an affair with his stepmother. And Paul told that church that I may not be there with you, But my spirit is there with your spirit. We'll come together and just turn this fellow over to Satan for destruction of the flesh. Amen? So apparently this man got his life right. He come before the church and confessed his sin and repented of it and got it right. So Paul is writing here in reference to that. Now you see this. Verse 10 he says, To whom you forgive all things, I forgive also. Paul said if you forgive him I forgive also Amen For if I forgave anything to whom I forgave it for your sake forgave it I in the person of Christ You see that he says he forgave it in the person of Christ you see Now now listen here That means this that if you're saved and You have the power to tell anybody, if they receive Christ, their sins are forgiven in Christ. You didn't have nothing to do with it. That's what he's saying here, see? He's, I forgave it for your sake, but he said in the person of Christ. You see that? Now here's how the devil gets a lot of people sometimes. And notice in that next verse, in verse 11, it says, lest Satan Should get an advantage of us for we are not ignorant of his devices Now, how does the devil get an advantage over a lot of saved people? Amen When you are unwilling to forgive something somebody's done against you see Now let me let me give you the reference on that Ephesians 4 Ephesians 4 page 1254 listen to this Ephesians 4 verse 30 Ephesians 4 30 and grieve not the Holy Spirit of God Whereby you are sealed until the day of redemption Let all and notice that let all and Bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and evil speaking be put away From you with all malice Now the context is talking about save people You see that's not talking about how you deal with the world how you relate it to the world how you get along the world the context is talking about save people you listen to that and Be kind one to another Amen tender-hearted Forgiving one another Reason even as God for Christ's sake has forgiven you In other words somebody does something to you. Well, you weren't such a sweet fellow yourself one time and God forgave you. Amen So then your place is to forgive others Now if people practice that would have a lot sweeter spirit and unity among saved people But most sapiens, instead of forgiving one another, they lay it on, boy. They lay it on and rub it in and step on it. Amen? And especially some of these preachers. Amen? That's what the context is talking about there. And when Jesus said, uh, whosoever sins you remit, they're remitted. You see that? Now, you gotta remember something else here. When Jesus said this, How much of the New Testament was written? Huh? How many know? Not one word. Amen? Not one word of the New Testament was written when he said this. You see that? So you see, in a sense, now don't misunderstand what I'm saying, in a sense, You're still under the law. This hadn't been, I mean, the dispensation we're in now hadn't took place then. I realize, you know, that's controversial and a lot of people disagree that, you know, you got some say the church began one place, some say another, some say another, and I'm not gonna get in that. Now, you know what, I've told you a thousand times already when I think the church started, when it was born, it actually started when Christ died on the cross, but it wasn't born until Pentecost, amen? because nobody was putting the body into Pentecost. See? John the Baptist didn't start the church. Amen? Well, I don't get a lot of people, you know, that's controversial, but like I said, you know, don't, you know. All right, so, then forgiveness is based on what we have in Christ. All right? In other words, it's like this. When you or I forgive somebody else, listen now, we forgive them on the basis of what he does with Jesus Christ. You see that? Huh? I'll take your Bible and turn to Acts chapter 13 just for a minute. Acts 13 and notice verse 38. That's on page 1167. Listen to this Acts 13 and verse 38 Be it known unto you therefore men and brethren That through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins You see that and by him All that believe are justified from all things from which you could not be justified by the law of Moses. You see? In other words, if you tell me that you receive Jesus Christ as your Savior, I have the authority by the Word of God to tell you that your sins are forgiven. It's not because of what I did or what I said, it's because of what I know that Jesus Christ did for you on the cross. Now do you see that? And no man has no authority to tell another man, I forgive you, therefore you're alright. And if a Catholic hears this tape and your priest tells you your sins are forgiven without you trusting Jesus Christ, he's a dirty low-down liar and you'll wind up in hell with him if you just listen to him. Alright, verse 24. John 20, 24. But Thomas, one of the twelve, called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came. Thomas was absent from the assembly. See? God's people should assemble. Now you know what Didymus means? It means a twin. In other words, there was two of him. Amen? And you know that's real significant because why is it, you suppose, that the Bible put this in here? Now you know why Thomas wasn't there? I'm going to show you something here now. I'll probably get some comebacks from this, but that's alright. I'll probably get a lot of that anyway. But you know why Thomas wasn't there? Thomas had got a lot of twins out there somewhere this morning. There was more than one Thomas. He wasn't the only one that didn't assemble. I'm going to tell you why he didn't assemble. Huh? Notice the last part of verse 25. I will not believe. That's why he wasn't there. And folks don't get upset at me. I read it just in your Bible too. That's why he wasn't there. That's why people don't come around the Word of God. That's why people don't care to assemble when they ought to. Oh, I know there's reasons, I realize that. But I believe the Bible more than I do anything else, so I believe the reason people don't assemble around the Word of God when they ought to is they don't believe right. Then they believe something different, they assemble. There's a big crowd down at the first church this morning, you know why? They believe something different. Huh? There are a lot of people this morning that are named Didymus, you know, the twin of Thomas. See that? Then verse 25, notice what it says. The other disciples, therefore, said unto him, We have seen the Lord. He wasn't there. Amen? He wasn't in there, so he didn't see the Lord, right? The Lord appeared and he wasn't there, so he didn't see him. Right? And when they told him, they said, we've seen the Lord. And listen to what he said. But he said to them, except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and trust my hand his side, I'll not believe. He said, I don't believe you saw it. He called him a liar. Amen? Amen. You say, the Lord saved me. And people say, I don't believe it. Amen. That's right. You see that? I mean, Thomas, he would have been a good modernist today, you know. He said, if you can't prove it, I'm not going to believe it. What other proof you need? There was ten more men that said, we saw the Lord. I mean, ten people told him they saw the Lord. He said, I don't believe it. Unless I can see proof of it, I'm not going to believe it. Amen? verse 26 And after eight days, I know eight days is Sunday The verse 19 is the first Sunday and verse 26 is the second Sunday It said after eight days again his disciples were within and Thomas with them at this time Thomas showed up hmm Then came Jesus, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst and said, peace be unto you. All right, so he appeared the second time, you see. Doors being shut, you see, and he said the same thing, peace be unto you. Now like I said, if Christ comes, he brings peace. And I want to show you something here. There's three appearances that Christ made. He made one to Mary. And the issue He made to her was an issue of love. Mary loved the Lord because He's the one that cast seven demons out of her. And she was worried about Him and she was afraid they took the body. She wanted to find it and take care of it, you see. Then He appeared with the disciples and that was hope. And without Christ, all their hope was gone. And then he appeared again to Thomas, the third time with Thomas, the issue was faith. You see? So there are three Christian graces. It's faith, hope, and love. You see that? I meant, because Christ is alive this morning, our faith is secure. Amen, the Bible said in 1st Corinthians 15 17 says that if Christ be not raised your faith is vain But it did raise so it's not faith is not vain this morning. Amen, and we have a living hope From the dead or through the resurrection from the dead the Bible said in the same book 1st Corinthians 15 verse 19 says if in this life only we have hope and We, of all men, are most miserable. See? But we don't have hope in this life. See, that's what he's saying. And then in 1 Peter 1, verse 8, says, Whom, having not seen, you love. See? We haven't seen Christ, but we love Him. At least you should. You see that? Or look at verse 27, John 20, 27. Then said he to Thomas, reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands, and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side, and listen this, and be not faithless. In other words, don't run around not believing nothing. Amen? But, believing. You see that? Now look at this folks, look at something real close here. Jesus appeared and told Thomas, he says, Jesus knew what Thomas had said. He said, unless I can see the prince in his hand and put my hand in his side, I ain't gonna believe that. And Jesus told him, he said, do that, Thomas, and don't run around faithless, I mean, believe something. You see that? Now you notice it don't say Thomas ever did that. Huh? And what did Thomas say? Huh? I'll tell you what Thomas done, he hit the ground. Amen? And Thomas answered and said unto him, my Lord and my God. Huh? And that's the profession of every Christian. Jesus Christ is our Lord and our God. And if you're a Christian, you are not adulterer. Amen? Any of you worship idols? Yeah, you do. Because 2 Corinthians 4 verse 4 said, Jesus Christ is the image of God. Amen? And what Thomas said was, Thomas Thomas confessed, he said, you are my Lord and my God. See? And that's one verse that they hadn't changed yet in these new Bibles. They're trying to find a reason to, but every manuscript they ever found says my Lord and my God. Amen. Let me show you something here and Jesus would have been just a good man an ordinary man. He let Thomas Bowden and call him Lord and God if he were if he wasn't God he'd have been a low-class hypocrite wouldn't Amen Which proves he was God Right Then look at verse 29 John 20 29 Jesus said unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed. Blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed. You see this now? In other words, does it say this? All that believe are blessed. Does it say that? That's not what it says, is it? It said, blessed are those that have not seen and yet have believed. In other words, those that are blessed are those that trust God and take God's word as an act of faith. You see? It don't say Thomas was blessed. Thomas believed because of what he saw. Amen? I mean, I believe this morning I have a Bible in front of me that's without error. I believe that this Bible is the truth. I believe this Bible's what God said. But I've never seen nothing to prove that except see what it's done to nations and lives and those that believe it and stand for it. What about this crowd that don't believe it? You think a man is going to be blessed by God for standing up and changing what God said and denying what God said and not agreeing what God said and turning people's faith against what God said? Do you think God will bless that kind of a man, that kind of a school, that kind of a church? I don't believe it one bit. Alright verse 30 verse 30 and verse 31 two great verse now. These are the last two The last two verses in the in the gospel of John Verse 30 And many other signs truly Did Jesus in the presence of his disciples would are not written in this book? In other words, they're not written in the book of John They're written in Matthew and Luke Alright? Now verse 31 gives the reason why John's gospel was written. You see it? But these are written. What is written? The things that Jesus done in this book. You see that? Now when we started the book of John, I told you and I gave you what they were and what they meant. The seven miracles that Jesus performed in the Gospel of John, and I told you their relation to salvation, how it meant. Some of the miracles show how a man is saved, and some miracles show the results of being saved. And I went through all that and started the book. But it said, but these are written that you might believe that Jesus is to Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you might have life through his name. Now, look at this real close. So the purpose of John's gospel is to get people saved. See? See? So one book you can always refer people to to be saved is the Gospel of John. Amen? And that explains why the modernists have no use for it. You see? They like Luke. You know, Luke explains the humanity of Jesus. And they like the Sermon on the Mount. You know, that's real sweet, you know. Over in Matthew. But... And you take this modernist crowd, they say what John wrote was just his opinion of what Christ was. And boy, you talk about these new Bibles, they work on the Gospel of John. You pick one up and start reading it, boy, from start to word go, they attack this thing. You know, they try to make it match Luke. And I told you we started the book that John recorded Jesus as God. In the beginning was the Word. Matthew records Jesus as the King of the Jews. Amen? And Mark records him as a servant. See? And Luke records him as the son of man. But John records him as God. And that's what they don't like. You know what upset them old Pharisees and Sadducees all through the book? He said, I'm God. They didn't like that. They said, you blaspheme. See? And that's what upsets these people today, you know, that want to be the final authority and everything with the Word of God. That's why they don't like the Word of God. That's why I don't like the Gospel of John. You see that? Now, in the Gospel of John, there's a few that believed on him and were saved. I'm going to give them to you, just kind of brief you. Back then, chapter 1, verse 50, Nathalon, he believed. In chapter 2, verse 11, the disciples believed. In chapter 4, verse 39, the Samaritans believed. In chapter 4, verse 50, the noblemen believed. Chapter 9, verse 38, the blind man believed. In John 11, 27, Martha believed. The Jews that saw Lazarus in chapter 12 verse 11 they believed and then in chapter 20 verse 28 Thomas believed and all of these gave the same witness I believe Amen now you see The Bible says that these were written that you might believe That Jesus is the Christ and that believing you might have life through his name So the purpose of John is so you can believe and be saved. You see that? Now, if you believe on him, there's a lot of things you get. I mean, you get everything else. You see that? There's a lot of things that you can believe after you believe on him. You see? But the point is, unless you believe on him and get saved, nothing else you believe has no meaning and no price, don't mean nothing. Amen? You can be religious as you want to and believe anything you want to believe, but if you don't believe on his name and have life through his name, what you believe don't mean nothing. You see that? So the book was written that you might believe Jesus is the Christ Amen Now folks, I don't have time to discuss that but you know, you know I preach this on the radio this Sunday and summer next Sunday. The idea is today, you know, if you believe you're alright But there's a far cry from just believing there's a God and believing in Jesus Christ and being saved You see, believing is a condition of the heart. And like we said, I mentioned this so many times already, you can't believe in Jesus and not receive Jesus Christ. That's what believing means. Believing means to receive Jesus Christ. A lot of people believe in Jesus, but they don't receive him. You know why? Because they got a hidden knowledge and a hidden belief. And like I told you many times in 2 Corinthians 5.17 says, Therefore if any man be in Christ, he's a new creature. Behold, all things become new, all things are passed away. But in that verse, it's not talking about changing something. It's talking about, therefore, henceforth, know we no man after the flesh, though we had known Christ after the flesh. Now you, let me show you something. I'm going to give you an illustration, something you can understand real simple. You think the world don't know Christ after the flesh this morning? You wait until Christmas time. Huh? I mean, uh, that's why I said, and I always get folks upset on this, you know, but if I didn't know it, Christmas don't have nothing to do with Christianity or the Bible because who cashes in on Christmas? What does the world do? See? It's after the flesh. You see, we know Christ through salvation, by a blood relationship, by a new birth, by a power that we never had before. The world don't know him that way. You know why? They never believed on his name. See? I mean, like I said, you know, many times, I remember before I got saved, there never been a time in my life when I didn't believe Jesus was Christ. I never had a time in my life when I didn't believe He died on the cross. Amen? But today, you know, they say, well, if you believe in Jesus, you're saved. So I believe in Jesus, I'm saved. And you live like hell. You can't stand the Bible. You can't stand and get on the Bible preaching. You know why? You know him after the flesh. That's right. You don't know him through a new birth. You never believed on him. Your heart's never been changed. Amen. That's what's going on today. The church is filled with them kind of people. Amen. That's it. But the Bible said these are written. Now what are we talking about? The Bible said many of the signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples. He did a lot of things before them to prove to them He was who he claimed to be Amen, and the Bible said these things are written They're written that you might believe You see that that you might believe Not that you might get baptized Not that you might join the church Amen? Not that you might take the sacraments. There ain't nowhere in that verse where it says anything is required to be saved but believe on his name. Show it to me. You see that? But these are written that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and listen, And that believing, you might have life through His name. Now if you believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and you believe that He's the one that came into the world and paid your sin debt, and He's the only hope you got, and that's all you're trusting, when you believe that in your heart, you receive Jesus Christ. And that's Bible salvation. Anything else will send you to hell. See? Any other belief, any other act, Anything else besides trusting Jesus Christ? You see, like I said, when you believe on his name, there are a lot of other things that come with that. You see? A lot of folks want to believe certain things. But they don't want to believe what it takes to be saved. You see? And man is so self-righteous. And he's so ungodly. So, he wants to be a part of that. Well, I believe you've got to believe and get baptized. You're not saved. Amen? I believe you gotta believe and take the sacraments. You're not saved. So you're judging. Yeah, I am. Yeah, I am. And I'm right, too. So I said, boy, you are so right. Yeah, I sure am. I sure am. I'm 100% right. Right now, I'm 100% right. Wouldn't make no apology for it. Nobody. Wouldn't back up for nobody for it. Now, if I didn't believe the Bible, I might. Amen. But I believe this. I believe this, you see. The only way you can be saved this morning is through the name of Jesus Christ. And apart from that, you'll go to hell believing anything you want to believe about your religion, about your preacher, or anything else without Jesus Christ. Well, That concludes John chapter 20. Now we've got one chapter left. And our time is just about up, so I'm not going to start chapter 21. But chapter 21 is the last chapter, and I'll tell you what it deals with. It deals mainly with Christ and Peter. Amen? Now you remember that Peter denied the Lord three times. Did the Lord let him get away with it? What did the Lord do about it? What did the Lord say about it? Chapter 21 is where the Lord, Jesus Christ, deal with Peter about this thing, see? And there's some great things. Now, the Bible says that one time Peter went out and wept bitterly. Amen? But, Peter still ain't got right. Hmm, he don't get right left this chapter. Well, you're gonna see that in the beginning verses of a chapter 21 Amen