Prince of Peace

We need peace. We need peace. We can look into the world and there's war. We can look at the world, there's mindless shootings. We can look in our own county and see murders, theft. We can look in the world, we see disease. We see thousands dying from sickness. We see hunger. We need peace. It's undeniable. Everybody can look around and say we need peace from all of this trouble. Some will say peace will come when we get rid of all religion. Some say peace will come when we get rid of our own personal possessions and have everything in common. God says we will have peace when we stop rebelling against Him and worship Him. If you want to know what peace looks like, it's when all of His creatures stop fighting against Him and worship Him. The good news this morning is that Jesus Christ has come as the Prince of Peace to lead a new kind of people, a new creation, a new order of worshipers so that peace can come. Last week we read of the morning of the first day of the new creation. We're in John chapter 20. If you're using a Pew Bible, that can be found on page 906. If you need that Bible, please take it with you. Page 906, we're in chapter 20. Christ has been crucified. He's buried. Now on the first day of the week, Mary rose early. It's very important. He rose on the first day of the week. A new creation has begun. God created the world and we ruined it. That's why there's so much trouble. God chose to be merciful and patient and to recreate it. If we go back to Genesis 3, after man rebelled against God and refused His rule, God promised a son. He said that son will crush our enemies, sin and death. In Genesis 3, a child was promised that would reverse all the curse that is what we need peace from. And then all the Old Testament is anticipating this. Every time a child is born, is this the child? Abraham was promised a child. Is this the child? Until we finally see this child is more narrowed down into which line, and that's where we read Isaiah 11. Be from the stump of Jesse. Jesse's David's father. He'll be from the line of David. He'll be a king that God chooses. And that king will bring peace. Because that king will conquer our enemy. There's a new creation. It's quite beautiful. The first day of the week, Christ rises again so that He can give new life. That first day of the week, He breathed out on the disciples to bring about a new creation. Paul tells us, we were dead, but God made us alive. We were in death, but now we can be born again. That's what we're here to celebrate. Christ is risen. He has begun a new creation. If you were not here last week, Let me just walk through where we are, because it's fairly important that this is the evening session. Last week we looked at the morning. In the morning, Mary rose early. She went to the tomb. She saw the rock was rolled away, so she runs back. She has to tell the disciples. Two men come, John and Peter, we assume. John is the beloved disciple. And John tells us that when he saw the burial clothes, The barrel of cloth sitting there. The tomb empty. All of Scripture interested. And he believed. The tomb ended. They go back. Mary stays. She had some visitors. She's asking questions. She even sees Jesus, but she doesn't quite recognize Him until she hears Him call her name. As a sheep, she knows the voice of her shepherd. As soon as he calls her name, she clings to him, my Lord. And then Jesus says something fairly surprising. Do not cling to me. For I have not yet ascended to the Father, but go to my brothers and say to them, I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God. He's saying, I'm not just risen so you can cling to me here and now. Redemption isn't fully accomplished. I have to ride and be at the right hand of my Father to be the perfect mediator so the Holy Spirit will come down and completely renew you and start this new creation. That's what He says. He calls them brothers. A new identity has been created for those who follow Christ. They're not just disciples, they're brothers and He's going to His God and their God, to my God and your God. a new identity given, a new direction, a new alignment. This is the good news of Jesus Christ. He takes us from running away from God and turns us to know Him and His love. Now we're turning to the evening. In John this begins in verse 19. I first want to look at Luke 24. Luke 24 parallels our passage in verses 36 through 49 We also know from Luke that between the morning session with Mary and Jesus then appears on Emmaus road. And he's walking with two disciples and he's helping them understand how all the scripture has been pointing to him. But let's hear what Luke records in chapter 24 beginning in verse 36 so you can hear some of the parallels going on. As they were talking about these things, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, peace to you. But they were startled and frightened and thought they saw a spirit and he said to them, why are you troubled and why do doubts arise in your hearts? See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Touch me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bone as you see that I have. And when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet and while they were still disbelieved for joy and were marveling, he said to them, have you anything to eat? They gave him a piece of broiled fish and he took it and ate it before them. Then he said to them, these are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the law of Moses and the prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled. As John said, there's promises and God is a promise keeper. They must be fulfilled. Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures and he said to them, Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer, and on the third day arise from the dead, and that repentance and the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in His name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. And behold, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you. But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high." And that's important as we'll look at what John says that parallels and actually helps us inform what we're hearing in John and in Luke. Now, here, John's account. Again, page 906, beginning in verse 19. If you were with us last week, if you look back, there's two words that are repeated in that morning account. Tomb, which is kind of your setting, but the word tomb is intentionally repeated, I believe. More importantly, the word see, or sight, or look. The words for sight, because it's what they see. The tomb is empty. Jesus is not there! He's risen! That sight finds its climactic end here in Thomas. But also, here's a repetition. Peace be with you. Hear the word of the Lord. 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 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. Jesus said to them again, Peace be with you. As the Father has 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 he withhold forgiveness for many, it is withheld. Now Thomas, one of the twelve, called the twin, was not with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, We have seen the Lord, but he has said to them, Unless I see in his hands the marks of the nails, and place my finger into the mark of the nails, and place my hand into his thigh, I will never believe. Eight days later, his disciples were inside again. and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, peace be with you. Then he said to Thomas, put your finger here and see my hands and put out your hand and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve, but believe. Thomas answered him, my Lord and my God. Jesus said to him, have ye believed because ye have seen me. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed. Father, help our unbelief. Strengthen our faith. Correct us in our doubts. Change us, Almighty God. Help us, Lord, to be grounded in the truth of who Christ is and what He has done for us. Encourage us today by how you have renewed us in life. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Our message this morning is Jesus has risen to be our Prince of Peace. Jesus has risen to be our Prince of Peace. If you're looking for an order to the sermon, which sometimes I know folks like and I oftentimes don't deliver, You're welcome. If you want order, here's some outline. Jesus proclaims peace because he was pierced. Verses 19-20. Jesus proclaims peace because he was pierced. Second section. Jesus proclaims peace because they must proclaim him. Jesus proclaims peace because they must proclaim him. Verses 21-23. And third, Jesus proclaims peace because we must believe. Verses 24-29. He proclaims peace because He was pierced, because they must proclaim Him, and because we must believe. Look at verses 19-20. Because He was pierced. On the evening of the first day of the week, the doors being locked where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, now they're afraid. Probably should be. Jesus said, however they treat me, they're going to treat you. They just killed their master because of fear for what he was saying. It's logical for them to think they're going to start coming after the disciples. They knew that he had disciples and they're going to start coming after us. So, they're fearful of the kind of hate the Jews had for Jesus Because if they are known as his disciples, they're going to try to destroy this message altogether, so they've locked themselves in. While the doors are locked, there inside, Jesus appears. Jesus came and stood among them. He's God. More than that now, He's in His risen body. He is ascending to the Father. He's no longer bound in time and space like we are. He appears. More than that, He declares, Peace be with you. When He had said this, He showed them His hands and His side. The disciples were glad when they saw the Lord. He intrudes in as they've locked themselves in, and he says, peace. Now, at first they're fearful because the Jews are coming after them, but here the Prince of Peace comes, he's accomplished the peace they need, and he declares, peace be with you. Notice here, they see his hands on his feet while he's declaring peace. See, Jesus is the one who truly provides the peace that we need. He has destroyed death, he's crushed the evil one, he's freed us, from His power, He's risen to give us new life. The lack of peace that really should bother us is the lack of peace we have with God. He created us for Himself. He created us to be known by Him, to know Him, to be loved by Him, and to love Him. We were created to receive the greatest love. We say we think there's something better. He created us to know Him, the greatest being, Almighty God, the Creator. We said, there must be something better. That means there is no more peace with us because we looked at God, who deserves our worship, we said, you don't deserve it. I think there must be something out there better for you to worship than, quite frankly, that's us. We think we're worthy of the kind of worship that God desires. We don't have peace with God because of our sins. That's why Jesus Christ was pierced for our transgression. He was pierced on our behalf so that those of us who have sinned, everyone who has sinned, when we look at Him, when we believe in Him, our sin is no longer counted against us so that we're far from God and under His wrath and judged by God. No, when we look to Him and believe in Him, we're forgiven. We're no longer called sinners, we're called saints. We're no longer far off in orphans where sons brought in with love. We have peace because Christ was pierced. He came to give us rest from the labor of trying to earn favor with God, from the labor of trying to make life for ourselves. He presents himself to the disciples and they were glad. That is the foundation of the Gospel message. We did not have peace and Christ died to give us peace with God. Let's look at our second section, which is a little more complicated and a little less straightforward. Jesus proclaims peace because they must go and proclaim Him. Look at verse 21. He says, Peace be with you. They see his hands and the piercings. It's important, actually, that They mention the side because not everyone crucified was pierced in the side. That is an important point. Usually they had their legs broken. But in order to fulfill the promise that the perfect Lamb would not have blemish, they didn't break His legs. They pierced His side. That makes Him unique in terms of the resurrection and what kind of marks He would have. Verse 21, He says to them again, Peace be with you. So, his first declaration is a powerful one. The second one, he starts adding to it. He's starting to add to the message. He's progressing in what he wants them to hear. Peace be with you. Now, peace be with you as the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you. That first part is very important. You need to have peace because as I have been sent and you saw what they did to me, I am sending you. As I have been sent, Jesus already prayed this in John 17, 18. Father, as I have been sent by you, I am sending them. Now He's commanding them to go. They're fearful of the Jews. They're locked in. Jesus appears and says, you've got to go out. I'm sending you just as I've been sent. The Father sent me. I'm going to send you. Let's continue because this is all connected together, these three verses. Peace be with you, the Father sent me. And when He had said this, He wants to make sure this is tightly connected. He breathed on them and said to them, receive the Holy Spirit. This is kind of the high point of the text here. This is a very important event that John is drawing all things together. He's been saying all along, the hour must come, the Son must be exalted, He will send the Holy Spirit when He's exalted. All of this is coming together. There's a bit of a quandary here. Because, and follow me, Jesus breathes on them and He says, receive the Holy Spirit. We have to make sure we're understanding this text in light of Luke's account that says the Holy Spirit didn't come down for 49 more days. Everybody with me? Sorry, I'm going to get in the teacher mode here because there's a difficult issue here. Jesus breathes out, says he received the Holy Spirit. We know the Spirit doesn't truly descend until 49 days later. So what did Jesus accomplish? What was he doing when he breathed when he breathed on them and said, receive the Holy Spirit. In Luke 24, as we just read, Jesus promises there, stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high, when the promise of the Father is given. Now I think Luke 24, Jesus is clearly referring to the Holy Spirit. Stay here until you're clothed with power on high, the promise of the Father. That's the Holy Spirit. So in Luke 24, I think recording the same event, Luke is saying it's still to come. I think Luke is recorded in Acts. It doesn't happen until Pentecost. We have to understand what Jesus accomplishes with breathing and saying receive the Holy Spirit in light of this, because Scripture doesn't contradict itself. It's inspired by the same Spirit Jesus sends to us. So what did Jesus do when He breathed on the disciples? Our answer has to assume that the Spirit has already been in them at some level because they're regenerate, they're believing. You don't believe without the Holy Spirit, so John has believed, therefore the Holy Spirit has already given him new life at some level. On the other hand, we also know the Spirit doesn't descend till 49 more days, so what happened? In light of this, I think we must conclude that Jesus is symbolically preparing them for the Spirit. I believe the breathing out and the declaration of the Spirit, it isn't depositing the Spirit yet. It's foreshadowing what's going to happen. And this really fits everything Jesus has been doing throughout the Gospel. He's constantly preparing them for what's going to happen next. He's constantly preparing them, constantly preparing them. He's still teaching them because they're still very slow to learn. A couple reasons from the Gospel of John to think that this wasn't the giving of the Spirit yet. Look at the next chapter. When the Spirit comes down, they will be a different kind of people with a different kind of power to proclaim Christ. Peter goes back to fishing. The Spirit hasn't come down like Jesus has promised. Peter is going back to being a fisherman. Jesus has to prepare him to be the shepherd he's supposed to. He still needs to be taught. One of the clear things here is that his preparation was to come as we understand all of Scripture. Breathing on them is very important as to what's really taking place in the big picture. Breathing on them takes us back to creation. If you go back to Genesis 2, look back to how God created us. He took man. He took dirt and He formed it with His own hands. He formed it personally. And if that weren't enough, in order to make that molded clay alive, He breathed life into it. We're created personally to know God and to have life from God. To have life with God. It's a beautiful picture if you're wondering, do I have worth? Do I have value? God sanctifies every human life. Every life has worth and value because it's created by God. Life is from Him. Now notice, on the first day of the week, Christ rises from the dead and He breathes on the disciples. This is pointing us to the fact that there is a new creation. He doesn't hand-make a new humanity. There's not a different race, but He creates a whole different kind of human being. He renews us internally, so that our hearts are no longer turned against God, but with God. When He sends the Holy Spirit, He's going to make us a new kind of people, with a new citizenship and a new direction. He becomes the head of a new humanity, as the risen Prince of Peace. So, the breathing, at first, it has to remind us of Genesis 2-7. God breathing life into humanity. It's also foreshadowing. It's pointing us to the fact that His work is not yet complete because He's not yet ascended. All throughout the final discourse, John 13-17, John has been connecting, Jesus has been connecting, His death, His Resurrection, His Ascension. These three things are connected. And I believe John records this for us here, not because the Holy Spirit was breathed on them at this instant, but because he has been setting up and building up to show there's a fourth thing that's connected here. Jesus' death, His Resurrection, His Ascension, and the Holy Spirit coming. These things are all connected. And what He's doing by showing that Jesus Christ is breathing on them and saying, receive the Holy Spirit, He's connecting all these things together. When He finally ascends, that is Christ, He will send down the Spirit, the power from on high. Now this doesn't make the message any less powerful. The fact that it's merely foreshadowing. In fact, it's showing us He's teaching them. He's preparing them. The Spirit does come down, that Spirit of adoption that gives them a new identity, that Spirit of power that gives them a proclamation that changes the world to go out in every nation. The Spirit gives new life, the very life of the risen Christ. Now, as we think about the Son in relation to the Spirit, I want to remind you of something that we talked about weeks ago in John 14 and 16. Jesus says the Spirit will lead His people into the truth. The Spirit is being sent to lead the people into the truth. He's going to remind them of what Jesus said. He's going to be the Spirit of truth that leads God's people into truth. We have to remember that the Spirit led those disciples to write down these words. This is the truth handed over to God's people for all time for us to follow. He has not left us without instruction. He has not left us without a clear word to tell us who He is, who we are now in Him, and how to follow Him. His truth is what calls us together to submit together to that one Word. Remember that the Spirit never draws attention to Himself. Throughout the New Testament, the Spirit is never drawing attention to Himself. The Spirit's ministry is to spotlight Jesus Christ, the Head of the Church. It's the spotlight, Jesus Christ, the Risen Light Giver, the Prince of Peace. When we look at the Spirit, and we look to the Word, we're asking Spirit, illuminate our hearts and our minds so that we can see Christ. So that we can see our Great Shepherd and follow Him. This is why we are told to test the Spirit, the spirits. There is one Holy Spirit and He speaks the one truth of the Father and of the Son. He speaks the truth and there's never contradiction. However, there are many spirits who seek to deceive. Jesus made it clear. He is the light who has come down to shine the truth of God in the darkness. Darkness is all around us. It's constantly seeking to deceive us, to question God, to doubt God, to question His Word, to doubt His Word. But the Spirit, it leads us to His Word. It leads us to see Christ in His Word and to trust it. This is why the Sword of Truth is essential. When we think about what this book is, it's given to us by God so that we can know Him. Is that how we approach this? This is God's Word to us. sent down to us, inspired by the Holy Spirit, so that we can worship Christ, the King of Truth. Do we consume it like that? Because if we really recognize it like this, we're going to consume this more than we're going to consume food. We're going to desire to consume this more than we're going to desire to fill our fleshly appetite. Because we see here, this is helping us be worshipers. This is helping bring us peace. These are the words of life. If you're not a Christian, take the Bible in front of you and read it. If you're not a Christian, take that book and read it. That's where you're going to see and learn and discover God. If you are a Christian, do you seek to let this Word have free reign over your life? Do we submit to it? He says, after these things, in verse 23, it's still connected. And when He said this, He breathed on them, He said to them, receive the Holy Spirit. Notice the thought continues. Jesus is still speaking. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them. If you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld. It's a lot of authority, a lot of responsibility given to these disciples. Receive the Holy Spirit, if you forgive the sins of any, they're forgiven. Do the apostles have the power to forgive sins? What kind of power do the disciples receive here? This text has a lot of questions to it. We need to go back and remember that Jesus has just said, peace be with you, as I have been sent, I'm sending you. Jesus just said, The Holy Spirit is going to come upon you, I believe, by breathing on them. We have to remember that Jesus Christ is the One Son of God, who is the Lamb of God, who truly takes away the sins of the world. Only Jesus can truly forgive sins. So, what is He telling the disciples here? What is He giving them authority to do? I believe He's giving them the mission. He's telling them You have to go out in the power of the Spirit and proclaim Me, Jesus Christ. That's the only way the sins of the world can be forgiven. I believe this is a great commission. This is Him telling the disciples, you now know what the world has to hear. The forgiveness of sins is available in the name of Jesus Christ. The Lamb of God took away the sins of the world. They have to hear it. That's why you can't stay locked up here. That's why you need the Holy Spirit to come down and empower that message. Jesus is the Lamb of God. He came to take away the sins of the world. John 3.16, believe in Jesus and you shall live forever and not perish. Believing in Him, it's not believing in the disciples. It's believing in Jesus. They're being called to proclaim that one message of forgiveness. We can think of this as they've been deputized. They've been deputized by Almighty God to share that one message of hope. They are being sent out to proclaim the Prince of Peace. This is actually very similar to the language we hear in Matthew 16 and Matthew 18, where after Christ has confessed, He says, you have the keys of the kingdom to bind and to loose. I believe that parallels the forgiving and not forgiving. When he's telling the churches, you have the message that changes the world. You have the message that changes people's identity. The church has the authority with the keys to bind and to loose, to forgive and to withhold. We are called to give that assurance to everyone who comes to the professor's faith. That assurance is what the church proclaims. We see the marks of grace in you. The church has the power of the gospel. Church We must see the power of our message that it will actually bring peace to this world if we proclaim it. We must see the responsibility we have to the world. The world needs to hear this. The world must hear the only message that can truly bring peace, that can truly take away their sin, that can truly draw them back to God. It is the Gospel of Jesus Christ that He died and rose again for sinners. We must see the responsibility we have to the world. We also have to see the responsibility we have to one another. If you're a Christian, you still need the Gospel. We have to constantly be reminding one another of the hope we have in Christ. That's what we meet every week. That's what we meet the first day of the week. To remember Christ rose for a new creation. That's what we gather. This is a responsibility we have to one another to affirm. To one another. Friend. Christ. He's died for your sin. No longer being trapped and ensnared with a guilt. You're free! Christ is risen! You have a new life! Whether to be watchful for it or not, there's a message we have to God. He saved us to serve Him. He saved us to be sent out. This is a command. He says you have to go out. It's a command that Let's just think about the privilege it is. God bought us with His precious blood. God washed away all our sins with the blood of Christ. God forgave us, gave us a new identity, took us from being far off, running away, and drew us near. That's what we receive from God. And then, He commissions us to be part of that by sending us out and being part of proclaiming that same message that saved us so that others can be saved. Friends, it's a privilege to have this message. Are we sharing it? We've been enlisted to serve as His sons. It is an honor to be saved and be able to proclaim that message. If we're not talking about it, what are we talking about? If we're not talking about the Gospel with one another, what are we talking about? And is it really more important? If we're not talking about the Gospel with one another in this church, what are we talking about? What are we talking about with our neighbors, with our friends and our co-workers? Is it really more important than the Gospel of Jesus Christ? It's good news. be bold in proclaiming it, trusting the power of the Spirit to change hearts. Third, Jesus proclaims peace because we must believe. Eight days later, now Thomas, one of the twelve, called the twin, was not with them when Jesus came, so the other disciples told him, we have seen the Lord. Thomas, well, quite a nickname, Doubting Thomas, That's how he's forever known throughout church history. He's a skeptic. He said to them, unless I see in his hands the mark of the nails and place my finger in the mark of the nails and place my hand into his side, I will never believe. He says that then, eight days later, his disciples were inside again and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them. Very similar. Doors are locked, they're still afraid. Jesus miraculously appears. Same message. Peace. be with you. He said to Thomas, put your finger here and see my hands. Put out your hand and place it on my side. Do not disbelieve, but believe. Thomas answered him, my Lord and my God. Jesus comes and he proclaims the same message, but here he's going to approach Thomas who has very specific questions. He has very specific intellectual questions that Notice here, Christianity isn't for the superstitious. The resurrection isn't a superstition. It had to be a historical reality. There were skeptics. There were those who doubted. Thomas being here saying, I can't believe unless I see. Jesus meets him right where he is. He shows up. Here's my hands. You see where the nails were. He turns to Thomas specifically. Do not disbelieve, but believe. Thomas sees, and he believes. I want to challenge you with a way of looking at this passage in that I don't think Thomas' primary problem was an intellectual one. I don't think seeing is always believing. Thomas walked with Jesus for three years. He heard the words of God come out of his mouth. He saw Him heal the blind, the lame, the paralyzed. He saw Him raise Lazarus from the dead. He's seen a lot. He still did not believe. He had heard a lot. He had heard all the prophecies of Jesus Himself, saying, I'm going to die. I'm going to rise again. He still didn't believe. When he heard the eyewitness account, he still doesn't believe. His problem isn't an intellectual one, it's a sin problem. All doubting of God ultimately is a sin problem. As John's been talking about throughout the book, the light came into the world and his own people did not recognize him because they loved the darkness. Thomas was still in the darkness. Thomas was still wrapped in his own sin. It wasn't until Jesus appears to him that he sees faith was given to him. I want to challenge you that if you have intellectual questions, there are plenty of good intellectual questions, but that is not what is keeping you from faith if you're not a Christian. What keeps us all from trusting God is our own idolatry. It's our own love for our sin. It's our love for our comfort. It's our love for our own control. Notice Thomas' confession. My Lord and my God. If you confess that, it changes everything. If you confess, My Lord and my God, it changes everything. Because God has the right to tell you to do whatever He wants to do. And this is the good news. He tells you to do what's best for you. But us, in our darkness and our foolishness, we refuse His wisdom. Thomas receives a new direction, a new destination. Jesus answers him where he is. And where he is, he's a sinner who needs confronted. I encourage you to question this this morning. There's eyewitness accounts. There's all the evidence you could ever want that Jesus is risen. All the evidence in the world will not convince you. Unless you actually ask God, help me see that I'm a sinner in need of a Savior. Help me see Jesus Christ who has died and risen so that I might believe in Him and receive new life. Notice what Jesus says, Blessed are they that have not seen, but believe. That's us. Lord willing, it'll be you if you're not a Christian. But church, that's why we come together to encourage one another in the faith. to proclaim this message so that others will be saved. He must be our Lord and our God who redirects us and redefines us. Will you pray with me? Father, we praise You and we thank You that You are a good and holy and loving God. That You've been merciful. You've been patient. You brought Your peace so that we may know You and we may rejoice in that peace with one another. Help us, Lord, to know that peace from Your Word and from Your Spirit. Help us, Lord, to proclaim that peace faithfully. May we see the fruit, the fruit of the Gospel proclaimed as lives are changed. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.