Sermon Tone Analysis

Announcements

Please don’t forget that there is no Bible Study & Prayer this Wednesday April 4.27.22.

We’ll return to our regular worship service schedule on May 1st, 2022.

Please be aware that Natalie and I will be out of town this week from this afternoon until Saturday night.

We will still have our cell phones on us, so please don’t hesitate to contact us in the case of emergencies.

Next Sunday, May 1st, please be prepared to partake in the Lord’s Supper.

On Friday, May 20th at 7pm, we’ll be showing the movie Sabina in the auditorium—free admittance, popcorn, and drinks.

Let me remind you to continue worshiping the Lord through your giving.

To help you give, we have three ways to do so, (1) cash and checks can be given at the offering box.

Checks should be written to Grace & Peace; debit, credit, and ACH transfers can be done either by (2) texting 84321 with your $[amount] and following the text prompts or (3) by visiting us online at www.gapb.church.

Of course, everything you give goes to the building up of our local church and the spread of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Prayer of Repentance and Adoration

Call to Worship (Psalm 49:14-20)

Our Call to Worship is Psalm 49:14-20 this morning.

Remember that the previous section of Psalm 49 was a lament that focused on the age-old problem of the apparent prosperity of wicked people.

The psalmist takes the first section of the psalm to observe the wickedness of wicked people.

In our section of the text, he focuses on encouragement in abiding hope.

Please stand and join me in reading Psalm 49:14-20: I’ll read the even-numbered verses; please join me in reading the odd-numbered verses.

Congregational Singing

Come Behold the Wondrous Mystery (184)

Grace Greater than Our Sin (78)

Wonderful, Merciful Savior (162)

Scripture Reading (Hebrews 11:1-6)

Our Scripture Reading this morning will be read by Tara and is from Hebrews 11:1-6.

You’ll probably recognize the passage, it’s referred to by some as the “hall of fame of faith.”

It is a potent, but encouraging part of Scripture that emphasizes the need of genuine belief and trust in God.

The author goes as far as to claim that without faith it is impossible to please God.

Tara can you read Hebrews 11:1-6?

Sermon (John 20:19-31)

Introduction

Just for your own information, let me just give you an update on where we’re going over the next few months for sermons, so that you know what to expect on Sundays--we’ll finish John towards the end of May and then we’ll have a six-week series concerning Spiritual Gifts—what they are, where they come from, and their purpose.

After that series, we’ll have another summer series working through the book of Malachi together.

By the time we make it through Malachi, time-wise, we’ll be right around the fall and we’ll start on our next long-term expository series through the Acts of the Apostles.

Of course, on Wednesdays, we’re still working through book one of the Psalms, which should continue into the summer and maybe even into the fall months, after which we’ll have a short series on the Pastoral Epistles (1 and 2 Timothy and Titus) before continuing with book two of the Psalms.

If you have your Bible, please turn it to John 20:19-31.

This morning, we’re continuing in our series through the Gospel according to John.

We have about three weeks (not including this week) left in this series, which means we’ll start our summer series at the end of May.

Some of you might think that it’s a relief that we’re almost done in John, but I’ve found it rather enjoyable to work through the life of Jesus every week over the past year and a half, which is something that you may not have ever done before.

What we have in the remaining two chapters are essentially responses from the disciples concerning the resurrected Jesus—or in other words, John takes the remaining two chapters to validate the resurrection by recording the fact that there were many people who witnesses Jesus in his resurrected form—people saw him and touched him and spoke with him and believed in him.

Where we are in the text comes just shortly after Jesus speaks with Mary Magdalene, Simon Peter, and John.

The first part of our text for this morning actually happens on the same day that Jesus saw Mary, Peter, and John.

The second part of our text happens just over a week later and they both focus in on how the second set of disciples to see his resurrected body respond to him.

Let’s read John 20:19-31 together.

As we study this passage together, we’re going to take it in two parts: (1) Jesus and the Disciples (19-23), which occurs during the same day that Mary, Peter, and John sees Jesus; and (2) Jesus and Thomas (24-31), which occurs just over a week later.

Both of these sections show us how this group of witnesses to Jesus’ resurrection responded.

Through the text, we’ll also have to tackle a couple of interpretational difficulties, but the primary focus in this text is how the first witnesses of Jesus’ resurrection respond and the commissioning that he gives those witnesses.

Our message will focus on what our response to the resurrection ought to be as well (in light of this passage).

Prayer for Illumination

Jesus and the Disciples (19-23)

Our text starts in vs. 19 by giving us an idea of the setting.

“On the evening of that day, the first day of the week,” tells us the time frame of when this all occurred.

When we read, “On the evening of that day” we really have to take a moment to ask ourselves “what day does that mean?”

We can postulate all sorts of answers, but the reality is that the truth is in the context itself.

This passage does not stand in isolation, it’s part of a larger passage and if we just look at the beginning of chapter 20, we can see what day the Bible is talking about.

In vs. 1 of chapter 20, we read “now on the first day of the week Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early.”

It’s the first day of the week, it’s the same day that Mary went to the tomb, it’s the same day that John finally realized the truth and believed.

It’s also the same day that Mary speaks to angels and then speaks to Jesus himself, which means, it’s the same day that Mary went and announced to the disciples “I have seen the Lord” in vs. 18.

Vs. 19, from our text today, reiterates that it is the same exact day, “on the evening of that day, the first day of the week.”

So the timing is abundantly clear—it is the day that our Lord was resurrected, but it’s no longer morning, it’s now evening.

John doesn’t tell us where exactly this occurs, but Luke gives us a little bit of details in Luke 24:33 “33 And they got up that very hour and returned to Jerusalem, and found the eleven gathered together and those who were with them,”

The fact that they returned to Jerusalem is telling because remember none of the disciples were actually from Jerusalem, they were from Galilee.

Which means they would’ve had to have found somewhere to stay—I’m going to suggest that it’s probably the same room that they utilized for the passover supper in which Jesus initiated the Lord’s Supper for the first time.

I’m suggesting this for two reasons:

First, it was in the first century, they didn’t have massive hotel chains like we do now.

They wouldn’t have been able to call up the nearest hotel and asked for a room, they would’ve had to have prearranged their arrangements—thus, they probably would’ve asked to utilize the room that they were just in just a few days before.

Second, it would’ve made a good location for everyone to return after Jesus’ crucifixion.

They already knew where it was and they had already been there before.

Regardless of the exact location of this room, we see that these disciples were hiding in this room.

We know that they’re hiding from the very next phrase, “the doors being locked where the disciples were for fear of the Jews.”

I think we can understand why they would be fearful after witnessing the death and burial of Jesus, but you might be wondering why John and Peter didn’t bother telling them about their belief in the tomb.

Vs. 10 says that after leaving the empty tomb, Peter and John didn’t return to the disciples, they went each to their own home.

But you might counter, what about Mary Magdalene?

Didn’t she tell them that she had seen Jesus?

Well, yes, vs. 18 tells us this, but what John doesn’t mention is a detail that makes sense of their actions.

Mark 16:9-11 “9 Now after He had risen early on the first day of the week, He first appeared to Mary Magdalene, from whom He had cast out seven demons. 10 She went and reported to those who had been with Him, while they were mourning and weeping.

11 And when they heard that He was alive and had been seen by her, they refused to believe it.”

John and Peter returned home, but Mary goes and tells the disciples that Jesus had been raised from the grave, but the disciples don’t believe her, which let’s be honest, if we were in the same situation, would we have believed her? Probably not.

Before vs. 19 ends, we see that despite the locked door, “Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, ‘Peace be with you.’

Now, we aren’t even going to focus on the fact that Jesus suddenly appears out of no where—we don’t know if he opened the lock door or if he just materialized in front of them.

I do get the impression that he might have just appeared in front of them because vs. 20 says that he showed them his hands and his side—maybe to prove that he was physically there.

Regardless, what John tells us is that while the disciples were fearful of the Jewish people, they hid and they locked themselves in a room thinking that no one could get in, but Jesus still manages to get into the room.

And he reveals himself to them by saying “Peace be with you.”

Now this could just be a play on the typical Jewish greeting shalom; the wish or hope of peace from one person to another.

Or it could be that Jesus realized that his presence would cause them great fear because they were already afraid, so just like the angelic beings who appeared elsewhere in Scripture and said “be not afraid” he was simply trying to alleviate fear.

It could be a combination of both those ideas—what is clear is that Jesus appeared to his disciples in a physical way.

They physically saw him face to face.

Jesus reveals himself physically to them, he greets them with “peace be with you” and then the Bible tells us in vs. 20, that he “showed them his hands and his side.

Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord.”

Up to this point in the text, the disciples have been described as being in fear.

They were fearful of what the Jews would do to them so they locked their doors.

They were afraid of what would happen after the crucifixion of Jesus, so they ran and hid.

It took Jesus calming them with his greeting and showing them his hands and his side for the disciples to calm down enough from their fear and express gladness in seeing the Lord.

They witnessed the resurrected Lord Jesus and when they realized who he was, they were no longer filled with fear, but rather gladness.

Once his disciples calm down, Jesus then gives them a commission, but the wording is a tad confusing and has caused some people to misunderstand what the commission itself is.

Jesus in vss.

21-23 says, “Jesus said to them again, ‘Peace be with you.

As the Father sent me, even so I am sending 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 withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld.’”

Again, the wording is a little unusual, so let me walk us through these different ideas.