Well, let's turn in our Bibles to page 1668, John chapter 20, verses 19 through 23. And we'll read these words together. John 20, 19 through 23. Let's begin. 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 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. That is the word of God. We're really picking up from where we stopped last year at this time for Resurrection Sunday, after the resurrection of Jesus. Brothers and sisters, in Jesus Christ, when someone dies, he might leave a legacy. Legacy usually means of good things. Some people leave a legacy of sin, but most people try to leave something good. You might remember that person. There's a legacy of laughter. That person made you laugh. Or maybe that person left a legacy of good family recipes and enjoyable meals. Maybe that family left a legacy in their children. Husband and wife working together to raise godly seed. And others may have left that other kind of inheritance, that other kind of legacy that people really, really like. The legacy of money and inheritance. Now those are nice legacies, but that's not all. They can't do any more than that. They're kind of stuck when they're dead. That's the end. You can't talk to them anymore. You can't eat their food anymore. You can't spend time with them anymore. And whatever they left will be used up. Maybe squandered, as Solomon said, if the children aren't good. When Jesus died, it was not the end. He rose triumphantly on the third day and continued to provide what his children needed. He left a lasting, or rather, an everlasting legacy. And listen to this everlasting legacy that he left. We'll see it under three headings. The proof of the resurrection, because you need that to show indeed he is alive. The peace of the resurrection. And then the power of the resurrection. And our goals are that you will rejoice that Jesus was raised from the dead for you and that you will proclaim the benefits of his resurrection. That's the legacy. So others can receive his benefits and bring glory to him also as you are doing. So let's look. at proof of the resurrection. We're not gonna deal with what we dealt with last year. You can listen back to those sermon and learn of so many other proofs. But just from this text, what do we find about the proof of the resurrection? Well, this was Sunday evening. As the disciples met together for worship, and with their doors locked because the Jews were threatening them, accusing them of having stolen the Lord's body, then Jesus appeared in their midst. He didn't walk through the door. He just appeared in the middle of them. His body was glorified. Not like the physical body. A physical body can't walk through a door. You try to do that and see what happens. Well, don't try to do that. You know what will happen. But he appeared in the midst of them. Proving that he was alive. When Jesus appeared, the disciples would have no doubt anymore. He was alive. And John, his closest friend, would have seen him and say, yes, and John is recording what he saw. We know Jesus had appeared to Mary, Mary Magdalene. He appeared to others later on. He appeared to the two men on the road to Emmaus. And now he appeared to his disciples. before he had sent them word saying, tell my disciples I'm alive. Now he said, I'll show you I'm alive. And then Jesus spoke to them. He looked at them and he said, peace be with you. This was a common Jewish greeting. Far better than our, hey, what's up? We're so bad in how we greet people. Howdy. What's up? Hey. When they greeted someone, it was with real concern for their welfare. And you would say, peace be to you. Even the Chinese have it better when they will say, have you eaten yet? At least they're showing some concern. Here Jesus says, peace be with you. So they not only saw him, they heard him talk. He is alive. This is not a figment of our imagination anymore. We all heard him. And then Jesus went further. He showed them his hands. He showed them his side. He showed them his feet. And they could see where the scars were. He was a real person. The scars reminded his people of what he had to do so that they might be forgiven. These were love scars. You know, somebody goes to war and they're injured, they're always willing to show you, look is where, here's where I have the shrapnel in my side. I did it for love of country and love of my family. Mothers will remind their children about what they did to their bodies, those children, to have them and to raise them, to take care of them. And those C-section marks and things, you know, look at what I endured. Jesus saying, look, look at the marks. But you know the difference is here? These marks continue forever. Now the saw him, they heard him, they touched him. What did that do for them? One, it made them happy. Their Lord who was dead is alive. And he was going to be with them. Now, they still didn't get the full answer here because they still thought that now he's alive, now he will set up his kingdom and establish himself and drive the Romans out and drive out Herod and make the Jewish nation a great nation, the Jewish people a great nation again. But at least they were happy. And what it also did was strengthen their faith because they knew what had happened. They had seen him die. They had seen him with at least John dead. They saw the blood and water from his side proving he was dead. His blood had clotted. They had tied him up. They had put him in a tomb. They had sealed it. Now this would have strengthened their faith. That's what miracles do. They strengthen the faith of those who believe. There's one more thing before we look at some lessons. This took place the same day of his resurrection, which was the first day of the week. And this is particularly emphasized in our text. This same day at evening being the first day of the week. To emphasize that it was. Nothing is mentioned in the scriptures to make it longer. There's a purpose, as you will see, behind that. First of all, Lessons. Don't forsake the assembling of yourselves together for worship and for mutual edification. Don't shoot yourself in the foot. You stay away from worship, you keep your children away from worship, it's like you're shooting them in the foot. They're not going to be able to receive what they need to do the work that God called them to do. And that expression means you can't walk, you can't do anything because you've been shot in the foot. That's what happens if you're careless about worship. You know, during the week, the sheep may endure storms that scatter them. But they must come together when the storm passes for mutual edification. Second, it is surprising that people hold to evolution when none of it has ever been observed as truth. And yet they deny the resurrection of Jesus Christ when there were so many witnesses of it. In fact, at one time Jesus appeared to 500 people. And you can imagine as he blessed them, as we would often do, you raise your hands over, they would see the scars in his hand. Now we believe it because the Bible said it. It's not just simply because there were so many eyewitnesses that that helps. But we do it because the Bible says so. What is it about evolution that we can see the difference in how it is so predominantly believed? No one has ever seen this two-celled organism. And we're supposed to come from the complex one cell, to two, to three, to four, to five, to six. They've never observed a two cell, or a three cell, or a four cell, or a five cell organism. There's no proof of that whatsoever. And yet so many people believe it. And here where hundreds and hundreds of people saw Jesus raised from the dead, some people say, oh no, we don't believe he was raised from the dead. It was all part of a trick. That's because they don't want to believe it. But he was absolutely raised from the dead for us. Third, you will see the marks on Jesus' hands and side one day in heaven. Now those who reject him will stand before him and be condemned. And I believe he'll probably show them the palm of his hands and say, you rejected it. Now I will reject you. It'll be too late for forgiveness then. but now know that he was scarred for you. Four, as you wait to see his body broken, as you wait to see the scars in his hand, in his feet, and in his side, take what he has given to you to remind you of that. What is that? The Lord's Supper. That's what we'll celebrate next week. You will have these tokens of his death for you. Five, your job now is to speak of this resurrection. This was the center of the preaching of the apostles. Jesus and him crucified, dead, buried, and resurrected for sinners. Don't stop at Christ's death. Preach to those who need to hear of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. If you deny the resurrection of Jesus, you are the most pitiful person in the world. The Apostle Paul said so, and he had good reason to say so, because unless Jesus was raised from the dead, you are dead as well, and you're wasting your time in church. But if you know and you believe in the resurrection, you need to tell others so they can receive the benefits of it too. And here's that last application, the sixth one, dealing with the day when Jesus appeared. On the first day of the week, emphasized. You see, there were three feasts in the Old Testament. The Feast of the Unleavened Bread, Feast of Pentecost, and the Feast of the In-Gatherings, picturing the work of the Son, the Spirit, and then the Father. All three of those feasts, which mark the work of Christ, were on Sunday. And this is what you see being fulfilled now. This is why the Lord is meeting with them on Sunday instead of on Saturday. The next Sunday, he will meet with them again. And that's the pattern we see after the resurrection. This was intended to highlight the new day of worship and rest. The first day of the week, Sunday. So we have proof of the resurrection. They saw it, they heard it, it touched him. What's the next thing? Peace, the peace of the resurrection. Jesus spoke peace to his disciples a second time. Remember he said when he came in, peace to you. He said that was a rich blessing. But now there's something even deeper in this greeting and you will see how. It's deeper than the first one, that's just meeting somebody, you would say, peace be to you. But now look at what he talks about. The promise of peace was not just forgiving them for running away from him and denying him or denying that they knew him. This was a deeper, stronger peace, a peace he made with God the Father through his resurrection for them. And then Jesus sent his disciples to be the agents of this peace, this peace between God and man. So we know this was not just the regular greeting. And this means two important things. First of all, just as Jesus came under direction of the Father to bring peace and spread peace throughout the world, so he was commissioning his children to do. They had to go and spread this peace in the world. As the Father has sent me, he said, I also send you. That's the peace that is going to spread. Not telling people to greet each other and say the nice things to each other, but to make peace on behalf of the Savior. The other thing to note here is that the disciples were to assume that there were many enemies of God, and that's why they needed peace. So they had to learn that life was not going to be easy because some of the people they would go to were enemies of God. They hated God and everything that God stood for. You know, the Muslims have the greeting, As-salamu alaykum. Their greeting is a good greeting, but it's not a lasting peace. It is a getting along and wishing people well kind of peace. And why is it that this peace is not the best type of peace? Because it's not a peace that comes through Jesus. He is the peacemaker, because peace came at a price. When God says, I will make peace with you through the Prince of Peace, He wasn't saying, I'll wish away your sins. That's what Muslims believe that Allah will do for them. He'll just ignore their bad things. and forgiven without any satisfaction of his justice. But the price of peace for the Christian is that someone had to die and take the full punishment for God to make peace with man. Look at John chapter 14 verse 27 in your sermon notes together. Peace I leave with you, my peace I give to you, not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid, because I have made real peace with God the Father for you." And Jesus would not only send out his disciples to make peace, but he would also strengthen them by the work of the Holy Spirit, whom they needed because the work was beyond their ability. Now you'll see more in the last point. But here he blesses them with his Holy Spirit. This confirms, of course, that Jesus is God and he's claiming equality to God because he's sending them out with the same creation ordinance, multiply, fill the earth, have dominion over it. So he was not like the prophets and priests and kings of the Old Testament. They were all dead. He's alive. He had power to change their hearts and to give them what they needed to go out and make peace in his resurrected name. Let's look at some lessons. We have the proof of the resurrection. Now we have the peace of the resurrection. You have peace because Jesus made peace for you. It is a peace that passes all understanding. It is a peace that guarantees eternal life in heaven. So you have that peace. Second, the peace the world offers. Think about that for a moment. When they say we have peace, they mean an absence of war. But true peace with God, a permanent peace accord can never fall apart. I'm old enough to learn, remember there were peace accord between Israel and Egypt between Begin and Sadat, the president of Egypt. Back in 1979 or 78 or something long ago. And then they started fighting again, and then we're at peace. They're always doing battle. Now that peace accord is under scrutiny again, because they don't always honor them. There was the Mutual Assured Destruction Treaty between United States and Russia, but now that's gone and you have trouble. And you look through, there's so many, even within countries, a small country like Burma, they have so many peace accords and they keep breaking them and breaking them and breaking them. They can't last. The world's treaties always fall apart. Why? Because you've got sinners on both sides. Our peace treaty is with the Holy One, Jesus Christ, and His Father. And there's no sin there. When they promise there's peace, there's peace that no one can take away. You can make a mess of your life from time to time, but the peace is guaranteed for you. What does this peace bring? This peace brings joy, third lesson. You have it now and you will have it in fullness in eternity. Though sometimes we have troubles in this world and the joy can't be fully enjoyed like we want to, it will be there. It will be there and it will come in its fullness. John 16.22 says, together, Therefore, you now have sorrow, but I will see you again, and your heart will rejoice, and your joy no one will take from you." Think about that. The joy unspeakable will come. And the disciples were kind of mourning, what do you mean you're going to go? He says, I'm here and I'll be gone and eventually I'll come back. And we don't want you to go. We want you here. You love us. You take care of us. You teach us. And he's saying, one, I'm always going to be with you. Two, I'll send my spirit to take care of you. Remember, after this is the high priestly prayer where the Lord prays for them. And he said, you'll have joy now and you will have joy in fullness in the future. Four, since your job is to bring peace, You have to also understand there will be opposition to what you say. You know, the government wouldn't have liked a lot of things that I said here today in this pulpit. And many people in this world wouldn't like what I said from this pulpit. And they will oppose. You see the brother in Pakistan? They accuse him of blasphemy because he would not become a Muslim. They're not going to like what we have to say. But you have to understand that that's part of life. Don't be upset when people are mad at you and they threaten you. You only need peace if there's war, and there's war. There's opposition. The devil is a roaring lion seeking whom he may play nice kitty with. No. wants to destroy you. So plan on troubles, but know that Jesus will help you as you promote the message of peace. Third point, the proof of the resurrection, the peace of the resurrection. Well, we learned that we're going to be involved in fights, right? What do you need if you're going to be involved in battles? You need power. And that's the next thing the Lord points out to us here when he blesses them. He breathed on them and said, receive the Holy Spirit. So Jesus then breathed on the disciples. Why would he do that? This was a picture of creation. In other words, recreation. You're gonna get the power now to go out and multiply and fill the earth and have dominion for Jesus Christ. It's really a restoring of Eden. They could have already had children biologically and raised them in the covenant, but now he wanted them to have spiritual children and to help with dominion over the earth. Let me give you a couple of passages for this. Back in Genesis chapter 2 verse 7, together, And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground and breathe into his nostrils the breath of life. And man became a living being. You see the picture there? That's why the Lord is breathing over them. He's been raised now and they have new life. And he's saying, look, I'll give you new life to go out and do this work. There's an older picture of this in Ezekiel 37 verse 9. Together. Also, he said to me, prophesy to the breath, prophesy, son of man, and say to the breath, thus says the Lord God, come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe on these slain that they may live. So now they're getting the breath of life, and they have to go out and put this breath of life on others so that they may live. And then Jesus showed him how peace would come then. And he uses this expression, verse 23, if you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them. So they would preach the gospel of Jesus Christ. And those who repented will be forgiven of their sins. You see the breath, what it is? It's the gospel. The breath that will come from their mouth will be the message of life. They would live through the message of Jesus Christ. The gospel is powerful when preached with the Holy Spirit of God. And by the way, the word for breath is spirit. Same word. And then they will be able to forgive or declare people are forgiven when they hear the message and believe it. And that's what we do, right? The elders would examine people for membership, see if they truly believe in Jesus. and will declare them to be believers and they're accepted as members of the church. On the other hand, the Roman Catholics say the church itself and the Pope its head, they have the authority to send men to hell. That's what they used to do. Men like John Huss. They were declared, I commend you to hell, Mr. Huss. They were declaring men in hell. And how do they come to that? Well, they misuse a passage in the Bible, as they often do. Look at this, Matthew 18, 18, together. Surely I say to you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. But no church has the power to send men to hell. No preacher has that power either. The gospel does. The words that come from your mouth will bring life or condemnation. Remember what the catechism says, those of you who have gone through it recently. The preaching of the gospel and Christian discipline open and close the kingdom of God. The Lord never gave Peter the power over the other apostles. The Lord didn't make Peter Pope. All were of equal authority and the church simply declares what heaven declares. The church does not make anyone go to hell. We declare the fact that without Jesus, you would go to hell. Look at Jesus' words from Luke 24, 46 through 48. Together. Thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day, and that repentance and remission of sin should be preached in his name to all nations beginning at Jerusalem, and you are witnesses of these things." Not witnesses in the fact of simply seeing it, but witnesses in the sense of speaking it. That's the breath of life. Men reject it. It becomes the breath of death to them. They go to hell for rejecting the words from our lips. What can we learn here? From the power of the resurrection. Don't tell someone to go to hell. You have no such declarative role. The church may only say, unless you repent of this sin, you will go to hell. And you notice at the beginning of our service when we have the confession of sins. I declare you to be free of your sins if you've confessed your sins through Christ alone. I have no power to pardon your sins. The Roman Catholic Church asserts that right. We don't have it. I don't have it. Only the one sinned against can forgive sins, and I'm only delegated to declare his will. The words that the Lord breathe on me is what I have to breathe to you, which you have to breathe to others. I can declare the price of God's pardon. Second, if Jesus had just died and was buried, but never rose from the dead, and you believed in him, you would have your sins forgiven, but you would have no life to enjoy. His resurrection gives you life. Remember that. So don't only focus on his death, but on his resurrection also. Third, having been filled with the Holy Spirit of God, then you have to do that work. You have to tell men, you have to breathe out that message of life. Tell them of the death, burial, resurrection of Jesus Christ, so they can be adopted as God's children and have their sins forgiven. Two passages before we close. Acts 1.8 says, together, but you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you and you shall be my witnesses to me in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth. You see the witnesses there? It's not just people who see, but people who speak as they're empowered by the Holy Spirit. message, Luke 24 verse 47, together and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name to all nations beginning at Jerusalem. Repentance and remission, the words of life. Let's conclude. The resurrection was the glorious completing of the benefits of Jesus' work. Jesus rose triumphantly and proved it to many. Even so much so that the Jewish leaders and the Roman leaders were conspiring to try to cover it up. Jesus then declared peace to them. Peace with God and peace with each other. And finally, he showed them the power of the resurrection, a Holy Spirit working through the words of their mouths, the gospel. And Jesus came and lived and died for men. And they were to go and proclaim that message. And if people received Jesus's work, they would have peace with God and their sins would be forgiven. So, brothers and sisters in Jesus, One, rejoice. Jesus was raised from the dead for you. All his benefits continue and will continue forever. Not like the legacy that your parents left you or someone you love or a friend. This is a lasting legacy and the joy will be forever. Second, reproduce. Let the world know that They too can have peace with God. Invite them into the adopted family of God. Put more chairs out. Let them come and hear and live. Tell them that Jesus was raised from the dead. Put it in a nice way. Have beautiful feet. What do beautiful feet do? Isaiah 52 verse 7 says, How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaims peace, who brings glad tidings of good things, who proclaims salvation, who says the sign, Your God reigns. You must also do one more thing. Reject those who try to promote self-help or imitation salvation. You know, you go to some churches, they don't really want to get to the heart of the matter. Just do what we do. Act like we do and you're a Christian. I'm just positive. I do good things. I go to church. I give money sometimes to the poor. I'm a Christian. I believe. Someone told me this this past week at a funeral. They were confident that their lives were pleasing, their life was pleasing God because they were good. How do you know what is good? Well, I believe in the Ten Commandments. But you don't know that's the word of God. The Ten Commandments pointed to Christ. Well, they didn't want to hear that. No, those are self-help The type of salvation doesn't work. Imitation salvation doesn't work. People who say these things have no idea what they're talking about. Satan has deceived them into thinking that they are self-supporting and self-sustaining. They're not. They're lost without Jesus. Reject them. And finally, do you scoff at the resurrection? If you think the dead can't be raised to life, then you're still in your sins and you will die for your own sins. But you won't be annihilated like many people believe. You will not cease to exist. You will be separated from God for eternity and deal with the guilt of rejection of Jesus Christ. But if you want the covenant keeper's death, to be counted as yours, ask for it. Jesus offers his life. He says, come to me, all who weary and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Let us pray. Thank you, Father, that Jesus Christ was so gloriously raised from the dead for us, that in turn now we can have hope but more than hope, Lord, that we can promote what he has done. We can enjoy this, but we can work to preach the gospel, empowered by the Holy Spirit, to bring this message of peace to those who are yet in darkness. Give us strength for this task. Give us passion for this task. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.