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Because He Lives (John 20:19-23)
26 Plays1 year ago
Sunday Message recorded 31 March 2024
by Pastor Victor Morrison
First Baptist Church -- Columbus TX
1700 Milam St.
Columbus, TX, USA 78934
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Transcript
Introduction and Worship
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you
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Wow, what a fantastic time of worship. Thank you so much, worship team, for leading us in that. Praising the Lord with you. It's so good to see you this morning. Thank you so much for being here. Already, I sense the joy that's in the room. We have hope in Christ, and it's so exciting to get together and to praise Him for the hope that He gives.
Study of John 20:19-23
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Well, would you open God's word, and let's look at the Gospel of John, the Gospel of John chapter 20,
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verses 19 down through verse 23.
Empower Conference Highlights
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You know, a month or so ago, Jody and I attended the Empower Conference of the Southern Baptist of Texas Convention. We heard Dr. David Jeremiah on his 83rd birthday deliver a message on how to live in these last days.
00:00:57
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But also, Bill Gaither was there, the Bill Gaither vocal band. Some of you know them.
The Creation of 'Because He Lives'
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But they had, it was Bill plus about four men, plus their worship team that was up there. And it was just all fantastic. The highlight for me was when they sang, The King is Coming. If you know that song, then you know what I'm talking about. But you know that I didn't realize this, but the Gaithers have written over 700 songs.
00:01:23
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And one of those songs is one of my favorites when it comes to Resurrection Day. It's called Because He Lives. Whenever I sing it, it's got a little country twang to it since I'm from Tennessee. But anyway, there's something about the song that I like. I love all the songs that we sang this morning too, by the way. But this song in the chorus says, because he lives, get this, I can face. I can face tomorrow because he lives,
00:01:52
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all fear is gone, because I know he holds the future and life is worth the living just because he lives.
The Impact of the Resurrection
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You know, the resurrection is an objective fact. You know, there were like over 518 eyewitnesses who saw Jesus after he died, after he was placed in the tomb, and after he rose from the dead. And so it's just an objective fact. But it doesn't erase the fact that, man, when you surrender your life,
00:02:24
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to Jesus Christ, everything changes. Someone was sharing their testimony with me just about a couple of weeks ago, and they were saying after they prayed to receive Christ, when they drove home, there was so much joy they could hardly contain it. That's what it's like.
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when you come to know Jesus. Not only does hope enter your soul, but peace enters your soul. The everlasting love of God enters your soul. And so maybe you would say, yeah, but it's easy for Bill Gaither and his crew to sing about the Lord's resurrection and how they have hope, but they don't know what I'm going through.
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And so I got to thinking about, can we still sing and praise the Lord when we don't feel like facing tomorrow? I got to thinking about that. So you know what I did? I thought, well, I wonder when God gave Bill and Gloria Gaither that song, what were they going through?
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Gloria Gaither went on a program and gave her testimony about because he lives. And she said, I was expecting my third child and I didn't know what this child was going to face whenever they were born.
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She said the United States was going through some very terrible times with the drug culture. She mentioned that. She mentioned racial tensions in the inner cities. But then there was also this movement that was going across the United States at the time that said, God is dead. God is dead. And so she said, I didn't know if people were going to embrace that movement or if they were going to reject that movement.
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But it all weighed so heavily upon Bill Gaither's heart that his health broke underneath the strain of what's going to happen to my country, what's going to happen to those that I know in my extended family. And so he was actually diagnosed with a prolonged illness called mononucleosis.
00:04:29
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But it resulted in Bill Gaither getting this mental block, or it's like sometimes writers who write songs or write stories, they get something called writer's block. And so when it came time for New Year's Eve, Gloria Gaither said her husband just didn't feel like celebrating the New Year, so he went on to bed.
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So he was sick, he had writer's block, he was discouraged. And Gloria Gaither said, I sat there on the couch as we approached the midnight hour and she said, I felt so alone sitting there in the dark. Maybe that's how you feel today, so alone. But she said, I began to think about all the problems that we're facing that we can't control. And she said, I was agonizing because here comes my new baby that's gonna be born pretty soon.
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But do you know what interrupted her thinking that night? She began to ponder the truth and the reality of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. She began to think, he's alive. And because he's alive, I can face tomorrow. My baby can face tomorrow. Bill can face tomorrow.
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So she began to think, you know what, I believe there's a message. I believe there's a song that should be written. And so that's why they wrote that song because he lives. She said that suddenly it's like joy replaced all those gloomy, worried, fearful thoughts.
Jesus' Appearance to His Disciples
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The passage we're about to read is a lot like that.
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Jesus would help his disciples to find peace. When they were so captivated and struggling under fear and worry and so forth, what was it going to be like without Jesus there? They had seen him die on the cross. And so I want you to see with me now
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what is recorded in God's word in John chapter 20 beginning in verse 19 and going down through verse 23. Let's stand together. Let me read this. On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors being locked where the disciples were for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them.
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and said to them, peace be with you. And when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, peace be with you. As the father has sent me, even so I'm sending you. And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, receive the Holy Spirit.
00:07:14
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If you forgive the sins of any, they're forgiven them. If you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld. Let's go to the father and let's ask him to speak to us. I believe that Jesus is alive and he can say a word that you need right now, this time in this year. Let's pray. Lord, I thank you so much. Lord, we've already sang about it. Jesus is alive.
00:07:38
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Oh Lord, you're not still in the tomb. No, you've risen and we celebrate that today. But Lord, there could be someone here and they don't see the connection between Christ's resurrection and the way they're feeling. Perhaps things are really going south in their life. Maybe they're struggling with a lot of different things, but I pray today that you would speak a word to them. Just like you came into that room and you said to your disciples when they were so fearful,
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You said, peace be with you. And it turned all that fear into joy because everything changed just simply because you are alive. So Lord speak today as we listen. In Jesus name we pray. Amen. Thank you. You may be seated.
Understanding Fear and Peace
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In the book of James, the scripture is compared to a mirror. So this morning when we look in these five verses, I want you to remember that the Bible is gonna be like a mirror and it's gonna show me truths about my life. It's gonna show me truths about Jesus and so forth. And so I want you to be looking carefully into this mirror of God's word.
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You see, you're going to see how the disciples, what they were going through, but maybe when you look at it, you're going to say, that's what I'm going through. Wow, I can't believe God is connecting with me at what I'm facing in 2024.
00:09:08
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So the first thing that I noticed is found right there in the first verse that we read, verse 19. Would you look at verse 19? On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors being locked where the disciples were for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them
00:09:29
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and said to them, peace be with you. I want to talk about the padlock that we sometimes put on our hearts. We sometimes put on our homes. We put on our lives and we're saying, I'm so afraid. I'm so worried. I don't know what to do. And so I want to talk about that for just a moment. You know, actually, if you were to keep reading down in verse 26, it says once again, the room where the disciples were gathered
00:09:56
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They kept locking the door. Do you lock your door at night? I lock my door at night. I don't blame you. But listen, we should lock our heart. The door to our heart should not be locked. And so the same word for locked is used in Acts 5, verse 23. It talks about that the prison doors, the prison gates were locked securely. It's the same word. Why were they on lockdown?
00:10:26
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Well, they were on lockdown. This first tells us because of one thing, fear. Fear. The word there is fovon. We get our word phobia from it. It's used 15 times in the New Testament. If you struggle with fear, I encourage you to get into God's word. God will connect with you beyond this service.
00:10:46
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But I know that there are several times that the Lord talked about what fear does. For example, in John chapter seven, verse 13, it says, no one spoke openly of him. You know why? You know why people were not speaking openly of Jesus? Because they were afraid. They were afraid of what others would think. In John 19 and verse 38, it says that Joseph of Arimathea
00:11:12
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He was also afraid. And it says that's why He was a disciple, but He was a disciple secretly. Are you being a secret disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ? You know, Peter had enough of it by the time he wrote 1 Peter, and in 1 Peter 3, 14, he says, but even if
00:11:31
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You should suffer for righteousness' sake. You'll be blessed. Have no fear of them, nor be troubled." You see, God's got something higher and something better. He's got peace. He wants to guard the hearts of his disciples, not fear. But here they are. They have the doors locked because of fear. I want to ask you, friend, honestly, before God right now, this morning, is your heart locked down because of so many fears?
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You know, maybe your fear is like the disciples in verse 19.
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Maybe it's like Mary Magdalene. We didn't read these verses, but verses 11 through 18. Her heart was locked down, not with fear, but with sorrow. Maybe you're sad. There's something that is pulling you down these days. Or maybe like Peter in verses 8 through 10 of this same chapter. Peter goes into the empty tomb and looks at it. And you know what? He still, he doesn't understand. He doesn't get it.
00:12:36
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But John goes in there and he said, John believed. He said, he's alive. He believed. What about you? Do you still have some lingering doubts?
00:12:45
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Maybe you're like the two disciples that were on the road to Emmaus, not in this chapter, but in the last chapter of Luke. It says in Luke 24 verses 17 through 24, there were two disciples and they were so disappointed because they had put all their hope in Jesus and now he died. And so they were feeling so discouraged.
00:13:06
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What about you? Can you see yourself in the mirror of God's word here? Well, let's move to verse, the last part of verse 19. What happened when they had the doors locked and they were all in there afraid of the Jews? What happened next? Well, you might see someone in your life in this image or this perception of God's word. You see, if the doors were locked,
00:13:34
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then tell me, how did Jesus enter the room? You see, he can either walk through the door, he can knock on the door, or he could just knock the door down. I mean, he's got all the power in heaven and earth, so it's not a big deal for him to just totally destroy the door.
00:13:54
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But you know, John 20 verse one tells us that there was a one to two ton rock, a stone disc that was rolled in front of tombs back then. Well, it says in John chapter one, John chapter 20 verse one, now on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early while it was still day and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb.
00:14:22
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So the question is, who rolled away the stone? Who rolled away the stone? These ladies couldn't roll away the stone. The guards wouldn't have rolled away the stone. God rolled away the stone. But God rolled away the stone, not so Jesus could get out. Remember, he can go through locked doors. I don't know molecularly how that happens, but I just know it happened. His bodily resurrection, it's just, there's so many new changes that are there.
00:14:49
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But he could go through that stone rock that was over the tomb. Now, I believe God rolled the stone away so we would know he's alive. So we would know that the tomb is empty. That's why God rolled it away. If you were to keep reading in the gospels and go to Luke 24, 31, you would see that those two that were on the road to Emmaus that had a conversation with Jesus, and I mean, they thought he was dead.
00:15:16
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So emotionally, they're down. But Jesus thought, why do you got so down? What's happening here? So then they began to tell him. So they invited this guest who had started walking with them along the road to join them for a meal in their home. And so he graciously said, OK. So he joined them for the meal. And when he broke the bread and blessed the bread, it says he vanished from their sight. Why did he do that? He vanished from their sight.
00:15:46
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You can do that whenever you have that glorified body that's been raised from the dead. It says here in this verse that we're looking at, Jesus came and stood among them. I want to ask you, when you look at your life, do you see Jesus in your life? Do you see Jesus in the room? Is he in your life? He's in your life.
00:16:12
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You know, like I said, if he wanted to, he could blow down the door and let you know I'm in your life. I'll never forget as a teenager, one day I was wrestling with all this. And so I thought, I'm gonna walk out in my grandfather's pasture, and I'm gonna go way out there where nobody else is, and I'm just gonna ask God. And I went out there and I said, Lord, if you're really there, then let the wind blow really strong on me.
00:16:39
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and nothing happened. I said, that's what I thought. And so I walked away. I mean, what would I have done if God would have knocked me down with a strong gust of wind? I'd have probably run anyway. But I still said, that's what I thought. You see, if that's the way we're going to be with God, then you know what he's going to have to do over and over in your life and my life?
00:16:58
Speaker
He's going to have to prove Himself. He's going to have to prove it that He's with us over and over again. But do you know what He's got? He's got something better than that. Oh, proving it over and over. It's the promises. I'll never leave you nor forsake you. I'll be with you to the end of the world. The Lord is going to be with you. And so I thought to myself, thank you God that Romans 8
God's Love and Presence
00:17:23
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verses 35 down to 39, the apostle Paul under the inspiration of God's Spirit, he says, you know what, I'm sure of this. And he lists a whole bunch of circumstances, maybe some of those circumstances, maybe it's what you're going through. But he said, I'm sure of this, that God is going to be with me and that nothing will be able to separate us
00:17:49
Speaker
from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus, our Lord. When we commit our life to Christ, nothing can change the presence of God. I'm guaranteeing He'll be with you this afternoon when this church dismisses and people go home after Sunday school and people go back home. I want you to know God's going to be with you. When you face problems on Monday or Tuesday or Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, He's going to be with you.
00:18:18
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You remember a problem that there was three men that knew Daniel the prophet and they heard, they were told, you're gonna have to bow down. When the king plays the music, you're gonna have to bow down to that idol. And these three men said, I don't bow down to idols. I serve the true and the living God. And so these three men, when the music played, the whole place in Babylon went down and they were standing up.
00:18:45
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In Japan they got this saying, the nail that sticks up gets hammered down. You don't do something different than the crowd.
00:18:55
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It's a little bit like that here, isn't it? Peer pressure is big, but I'm just telling you these three guys had something stronger than peer pressure. And so these three men stayed standing up and they said, don't you guys know that if you stand up, when he says bow down, you're going to be thrown into the lion's den. You're going to be thrown in a fiery furnace.
00:19:16
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So they said, well, God, He can let us burn up or He can rescue us from the fiery furnace. But one thing's for sure, we serve Him and we're not going to bow down to your idol. And so they were thrown into the fiery furnace. The king looks in there and there was something he didn't expect.
00:19:35
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It didn't happen with a lot of lights and so forth. You know what happened? He says to his servants, I see four men unbounded walking in the midst of the fire and they are not hurt. The fourth man, he said, is like, he's like a son of God.
00:19:56
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I want you to know that the Son of God, He's walking with you in no circumstance, no problem that you're facing will ever separate you from God's presence. Whatever we face, we face together with Him.
00:20:13
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There's a third reflection that I want you to see in this passage. It's in verse 20. It says, when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. And then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord.
Trust in Jesus' Finished Work
00:20:28
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When you look into the mirror of God's word, do you see somebody that's still striving? Or do you see somebody that's settled? It's like your trust is in the finished work of Jesus Christ. Or are you still striving, thinking, I'm not sure I've done enough to merit God's love. I'm not sure I've done enough to be accepted by him. I'm not sure I'll ever do enough to be in his family or to make it to heaven. There's something better than all that's striving.
00:20:58
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There's something way better, it's trusting. But in order to have faith, like the Bible's talking about faith, we need to have something that is substantial we can rest on. God's not asking you to take a blind leap into the dark. That's why Jesus stood there, and you know what he did? He showed them his hands and his side. Do you know Mary Magdalene, Peter, and John already in this chapter, if you were to scan verses one through eight,
00:21:28
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already they saw that the tomb was empty. So that's one thing. But then in verse nine, it says all these Old Testament prophecies and promises of Jesus, you know, Jesus told them 17 times, they're going to mistreat me. I'm going to suffer. I'm going to die. But I'm telling you three days later, I'm going to rise from the dead. But you know what? They did it. They couldn't believe it. There were two angels that were sitting in there too. And these two angels were telling them their testimony.
00:21:57
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And so Mary Magdalene has a personal encounter, I mean a one-on-one conversation with the risen Lord just outside the tomb. She thought he was the gardener until he had to explain it. And now here you've got these 10 disciples. They've already heard the other reports, but it's still not enough. I want to ask you
00:22:20
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If you don't believe that God raised his son from the dead, what's it gonna take to convince you? What do you need in order for God to show you this is real? My son is real.
00:22:34
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Maybe you're thinking, well, I don't understand what it proves anyway. Let's say that Jesus did rise from the dead. Let's say the father raised him up three days later. Why does that affect me and my problems? Maybe that's where you are. I'm just saying where somebody might be today.
00:22:52
Speaker
Well, let me give you three things that the resurrection of Christ, three things it proves. Number one, it proves the father's acceptance of his son's sacrifice for our sins. If Jesus had not have raised, then you know what? There's no forgiveness of your sins or my sins. There's no one else. But the father said, my son perfectly obeyed me.
00:23:14
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He did everything I've ever asked of him. And so that's why he, you know, the Bible says the wages of sin is death. That's what you get for a whole life of sin. But Jesus didn't deserve the wages of sin being death.
00:23:30
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He never sinned. That's why his death was accepted by the father. The father said, my son doesn't deserve death. He deserves life. And he raised him from the dead. That's what one thing it proves is the acceptance of the sacrifice for your sins and my sins.
00:23:48
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It also proves the son's victory over dad. I remember one day sitting at the table, I was so shocked because I'd never heard my dad say he was afraid of anything. And I don't even know the context of the conversation. But one day my dad said, you know, Helen, that's my mom's name. He said, I'm afraid to die. And my mom looked at him and said, but James,
00:24:10
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You're a Christian. You don't have to be afraid to die. Jesus rose from the dead. Jesus shares his victory with us. You don't have to be afraid to die. And he said, thanks for telling me that. You ever listened to your wife, husband? I'm just telling you, sometimes it's not a bad idea.
00:24:29
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But I think it proved the son's victory over death. Death's claim. You see, death has a claim on you and me.
Promise of Resurrection Bodies
00:24:36
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If you're not going to trust in the finished work of Christ on the cross who didn't ever sin, then you're going to have to pay the price for your sins. And I would as well. But I've already said, I don't want to do that. I don't want to go to hell. I don't want to be killed. I don't want to die for eternity. I want to be separated from the Lord for all eternity. I want to be with God.
00:24:59
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So I said, no, I believe Jesus gained the victory when he was raised from the dead. But here's the third thing. I want you to think about him going through those doors. And I'm not saying you'll be going through those doors today, but I'm just saying whenever we go to heaven, you know what we get? We get a new body.
00:25:18
Speaker
Hey, listen, at 64 years of age, a new body's a good idea for me. I'm looking forward to that. But you know what? I believe it also proves the scripture's promises, the promises of a better life, a better life than our sins. I think those promises, they came true because Jesus proved it. And when it came time to go back to the Father, it says that all those disciples were there, and he just ascended back to the Father.
00:25:46
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I'm telling you, that's a better body than I have. I've tried to jump and dunk a basketball down in the gym and I can't do it. But let me tell you.
00:25:56
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God can take away the sadness and look what it did. When he showed them his hands, when he showed them his side, what does it say in the scriptural record happened? He said, man, they were glad. They were so glad. Listen, there's joy in Christ. Don't let anybody tell you it's boring to know Christ, to follow Christ. That's not true.
00:26:16
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No, I've followed Him ever since I was 18 years of age. I've tasted the other side of darkness. It's not worth it. That joy burns off really quick. But the joy that Christ gives, it's still with me, 64 years later.
00:26:32
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You know, I want you to also look with me at verse 19 and verse 21 because Jesus said something twice. He actually said it three times if you keep on looking down in the scriptures, but he said, peace be with you. Peace be with you. You know, I think that pertains to anyone who is either
00:26:55
Speaker
in Christ or someone who's saying, I'm not in Christ, but I'm convinced I want to be in Christ. So it's either true of you now, or it's going to be true if you will trust Christ and surrender to Him and say, I want to follow you, Lord, I believe you died on the cross for me.
00:27:11
Speaker
And that is that, you know, your identity in Christ, it's already settled. Who you are, do you know who you are? You know, sometimes I think we, until we look into scripture, we look in the mirror and we say, well, I'm not as strong as that one. Well, I'm not as beautiful as that one.
00:27:29
Speaker
You know, but here's the thing. Look in the mirror of God's Word and look at who you are in Christ. I believe it'll give you peace. I mean, the Word of God does not reflect a fearful you. The Word of God does not reflect an anxious you. The Word of God does not reflect a depressed you. You know what it shows us in Scripture? We have peace in Christ.
00:27:53
Speaker
We can be faithful in Christ. We have joy in Christ. The Holy Spirit comes to dwell within us when we trust Christ. When I looked at these three words for peace, I thought, yep. Verse 19, when he said, peace be with you, he was giving them peace for the trauma. They saw him die. It wasn't pretty. It was not a pretty sight when they saw him die.
00:28:18
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And so they had been traumatized, but the Lord comes in there, shows them his hands and his side, and then he says, peace be with you.
Peace and Purpose in Mission
00:28:27
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And it's like, they're like, you know what? He's alive. It doesn't matter that he suffered those things. Peace for the trauma. But in verse 21, if you'll notice, he said it again. Why did he say it again?
00:28:39
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Well, I believe he said it again so we'd have peace for the mission because he's about to send them out. And he's saying, you know what? You can have peace. I know Jacob's over here. He's about to head to Japan in just another day or two. And so we're going to be praying for you. But you can go out with peace in your heart. You don't have to worry.
00:28:57
Speaker
The Lord's with you. The Lord's with us. Whatever assignment God has given to you, you can have peace for that assignment. But there's also verses 27, 28, and 29, a man named Thomas, and he was like he had all kind of questions. You know what? The Lord may never answer all your questions. He may not answer my questions on this earth. There was a man named Job, and he had a lot of terrible things happen in his life. And he was living for God with everything he had.
00:29:24
Speaker
But you know what the book of Job tells me? The book of Job tells me that I answer to God. He doesn't answer to me. God doesn't owe me an answer for everything, every question that I have. When I get to heaven, I can ask Him anything I want. But while I'm here, He's given us a whole book full of answers, full of wisdom to know who we are in the Lord.
00:29:49
Speaker
You know, I believe that God can give you peace for whatever it is you're struggling with. The reason I know is because six years ago in 2018, I don't know if some of you were here at that time, 2018, I couldn't preach the Easter message. I was recovering from having a heart procedure. And so it's just amazing to me how when I went in there, I didn't have any problems at all that I thought. So they wheeled me into the operating room. They said, you're aware that we're gonna do a heart catheterization.
00:30:19
Speaker
I said, yes, sir, I am. He said, are you aware that your heart rate right now is skyrocketing? He said, Mr. Morrison, you got to calm down. And I said, oh, really? He said, yeah. And I said, well, it's just seeing that big jumbotron, seeing everybody with mask on and gowns and gloves, seeing all those tools over there. I said, seeing those lights in this operating room, just to be quite frank and honest, it's just freaking me out.
00:30:45
Speaker
And so anyway, he said, I understand, but he said, Mr. Warsaw, we need you to calm down so we can do this procedure. He said, we got a little more prep work we're gonna do and then we'll come back and we're gonna see where we are. When he came back.
00:30:59
Speaker
He said, I can't believe it. He said, your heart rate is way down. It is right where it needs to be. He said, what have you done, Mr. Morrison? I said, I've been quoting every verse I know. I've been singing every song I know. I said, I've been asking the Lord, please have mercy on me. Don't let this be the end unless you're ready for it to be the end. And you know what? God just gave me peace about it.
00:31:22
Speaker
And right now I have six stints in my heart, but I still have peace. That's six years ago. Six stints, six years. But I'm so thankful that the Lord is that real. If you've not discovered he's that real, he is that real. And so just call upon him. He's got peace that he wants to share with the faithful and he's got a purpose. There's a purpose for your life. I think sometimes people get really stressed out because they don't think there's a reason for their life.
00:31:50
Speaker
But he says to them, peace be with you as the father has sent me, even so I'm sending you. I believe that your purpose in life is to glorify God. I don't care what you are. I mean, you can be anything carpenter, a plumber, you can be an attorney, you can be a nurse, you can be a flight attendant, you can be a homemaker, whatever you are, I want you to know, do it for God's glory.
00:32:15
Speaker
When I was out there mowing yesterday, I was like, okay, Lord, I want to glorify you by the way I'm on my yard. And I want my neighbors to say, you know what? He's a good witness. And you know what God said? God said to me, well, he said, you're going to have to be a witness to them.
00:32:32
Speaker
But I am going to help you mow the yard. But anyway, I just wanted to say everything I do. Do you ever do that? Do you ever just say, God, I just want to glorify you? When he says, as the Father sent me, that was Jesus' default saying. I just want to glorify you, God. That's our purpose.
The Great Commission and Holy Spirit
00:32:49
Speaker
But also our purpose is to fulfill the Great Commission. That's why he said, even so, I'm sending you. You see, he didn't send us out to improve people's financial success.
00:33:01
Speaker
He did not send Christians out so we could increase our social media followers. How many likes you got? He didn't send us out to bring social justice. He didn't send us out to raise educational status. He sent us out to glorify the Father and to share the gospel. That's it. That's what our calling is. That's who we are.
00:33:22
Speaker
And so I thank the Lord so much that he was there in that room, and he said, this is where we're going with this. Is that what you're wondering today? Can you see yourself glorifying God, called of him? There's also power. There's power to fulfill whatever God's called you to do. There's power instead of frailty. You know, if you were to interview them, they would have said, are you kidding? Us go out there in the streets and tell people about the Lord? Us tell other people? No way.
00:33:51
Speaker
But you see, when Jesus breathed on them, it was kind of like when God breathed on Adam. You know, Adam was just a dust man. I would say a dust bunny, but he was a dust man. Anyway, he breathed on him, you know, he formed him, but he still wasn't living. And then God breathed on him and life came into him. Ezekiel 37 verses one through 10 is how God breathed on dry bones and they became a great army.
00:34:18
Speaker
So the breath of God brings life, but also the spirit of God brings power.
00:34:24
Speaker
Do you need power? You ever feel just completely defeated, worn down? That's why the Holy Spirit comes to live within us so that we'll have the power that we need. Those same guys, whenever it became Pentecost, they went out there and they started telling people about Jesus and they were not captivated by the fear of the Jews anymore. They wanted to tell others.
00:34:50
Speaker
I want to close with one last reflection. Can you see yourself proclaiming forgiveness in Jesus name?
00:34:56
Speaker
I think verse 23 is all about that. If you forgive the sins of any, they're forgiven them. If you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld. How do we offer or how do we withhold forgiveness from people? I've been thinking about that a lot this week. You know what I think it is? If I share the gospel with people, then I'm telling them forgiveness is available to you.
00:35:20
Speaker
If I say, I don't owe anybody anything, I got Jesus and that's all I need. Me and Jesus got our own thing going. There used to be a song about that. But if I do that, then they might not ever know that the Lord can forgive their sins. You know, I just want to tell you that Romans eight one says there is now no condemnation, no condemnation.
00:35:46
Speaker
to those who are in Christ Jesus. You ever just feel like you're still carrying it around? Why are you carrying around guilt? Why are you carrying around all of that when your sins can be washed away? Your sins can be forgiven. And we got good news here. You know, as a matter of fact, John couldn't pass up the opportunity in chapter 20, verse 30 and 31. He said, you know why I've written? He said, this is why I've written.
00:36:13
Speaker
Now, Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book, but these are written, why? So that you, that's us, so that you, that's beyond us, that's other people as well, so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing, you may have life in his name. It's really not that hard to say, okay,
00:36:42
Speaker
Jesus died for me, so I want to put my trust in Him. Romans 10 9 and 10 and verse 13 describes three important steps we must make.
Steps to Salvation
00:36:53
Speaker
The first one is we have to believe in our heart that God has raised Jesus from the dead.
00:37:00
Speaker
Is that nailed down in your life right now, in your heart? Do you believe that God raised his son from the dead? Second thing we have to do though is we have to personally, not your mom, not your dad, not your grandfather, not your grandmother, no one else, you personally have to call upon the Lord in prayer and just say, Lord, please save me, please save me.
00:37:22
Speaker
brings me back to when I was 18 years of age and all I said was, Lord, just please save me. Man, I had so much, I had wrecked my life, but you know what? He came and he saved me because I asked him. Have you even asked him? The other thing is if we ask him, then we should publicly confess with our mouth that Jesus is Lord. That's right there in scripture. It's right there in Romans 10, nine and 10 in verse 13. It's not that hard.
00:37:50
Speaker
We want to give an invitation so that if there's anyone here that would like to make such a decision, you could do that. We may not finish the conversation today, but we could start it. We could set up an appointment for later. Let's all stand together.
00:38:04
Speaker
And I want to lead us in a prayer and I'm going to stand right down front and I'll receive anybody that wants to pray to receive Christ or you just want to set up an appointment, we can talk more, whatever it is. But I want you to know, during this time, don't just zone out. If you want to sing this song, that's great. But if you want to pray, that's great. If you want to respond in some way in faith.
00:38:28
Speaker
That's great. Let's
Invitation to Faith
00:38:30
Speaker
pray together. Lord, thank you so much for the fact that we serve a risen Savior. Wow, it's just so good following you. But I know that despite how good it feels for me and maybe for everybody in this room, I just don't know everyone personally. But there could be someone in this room and they would say, I don't have that joy. It doesn't feel good to me. Life has been brutal. I'm hurting.
00:38:57
Speaker
And maybe they don't feel like there's any reason why they should face tomorrow. But here's the thing, because Jesus is alive, I believe they can face tomorrow. Because He lives, I can face tomorrow. So Lord, we just want to give an opportunity and we want to extend an invitation in Jesus name that they could
00:39:20
Speaker
turn in repentance from sin, put their faith and trust in Christ, believing that you died on the cross, you were placed in the tomb, and you rose again. So bless us as we enter into this time of invitation. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. This is a ministry of First Baptist Church, located at 1700 Milam Street, Columbus, Texas.