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Bob Davis: No one can take your testimony away from you. They can mock you, they can say I don't believe God's word, but they can never take your testimony of Jesus Christ. That's why it's always good when you have an opportunity to give someone your testimony. It's not all about you; it's about Jesus Christ, him crucified and risen from the dead.

Announcer (Male): Welcome to Apply Within, a verse-by-verse study of the word of God with Pastor Bob Davis of North Country Chapel. We invite you to join with us as we, by the power of God's Holy Spirit, apply His word within our own hearts as we study line upon line, precept upon precept, verse by verse through the Bible.

Jesus's disciples are afraid and are in hiding behind locked doors as our study of John continues in chapter 20, verse 19. Here's Pastor Bob.

Bob Davis: Peter and John went to the tomb and saw for themselves that it was empty. The disciples are certainly talking about it. They're hiding, but they're talking about it. They don't quite understand what's happened. John believed a miracle and he's believing it, but you've been with other Christians where you're sitting around sharing your brilliance about God's word and just speculating about all kinds of things because you're not quite sure. Speculating isn't a sin, so we say, well, maybe this, maybe that. But that's what they were doing.

It was the talk all day long among the disciples. It was the talk all day long among the Roman soldiers, some that had been guarding the tomb and others that said, now tell us again, what happened? It was the talk around town. Remember, it's the first day of the week. The Passover is over and the Sabbath has ended, and now everybody's headed back to work. So it's the talk all around the city of Jerusalem. The Jewish people were talking about it. There was a rumor. Did you guys hear what people are saying?

This is kind of strange. It was also the talk in the Supreme Court, in the Sanhedrin, with the high priests and the teachers of the law. All day, that's been going on. Nobody's quite sure what to think. It's just that all of us who are brilliant know the dead don't stand up and walk out. But Jesus did. But he didn't do it dead; he rose from the dead. No one, and I mean no one, expected Jesus to rise from the dead.

Remember Mary Magdalene? Those ladies, four or five of them, they came to the tomb early. They weren't expecting anything except they were discussing how they were going to get this stone rolled away. They didn't even know that there had been a Roman guard and a seal set. So they're trying to figure that out. That tells me they did not expect Jesus to rise from the dead. They're there to finish preparing his body. They felt like it was done too quickly. He's our Lord, and we want this done right.

He rose on the first day of the week, Sunday. Not the Sabbath. The Sabbath was the day of rest. That's what scripture shows you, and that's what the Jews still practice. That's a day of rest because God worked six days and on the seventh, he rested. The church gets us all confused. The Lord's day, that's Sunday. He rose from the dead, commemorating God's finished work of redemption. Sunday is the eighth day because on the seventh day is the Sabbath. The eighth day is called new beginnings.

The Lord's day commemorates Christ's finished work of redemption, and it's called the new creation. God showed us what was going to happen on the cross and that his son would rise right there in the book of Genesis, right at the beginning. In verse 19, then the same day at evening, Jesus rose from the dead early in the morning. Now it's still the first day of the week, still the same day in the evening. When the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in the midst, in the very middle of the room, and he said unto them, "Peace be unto you."

And when he had so said, he showed unto them his hands and his side. Then were the disciples glad when they saw the Lord. The disciples are now hiding. They're hiding from the authorities and the Jews. Of course, the Jews used the Roman soldiers as their police officers, so they're hiding. They feared for their own lives. They were afraid that they were going to die. Jesus died and they were his followers. The crowd pretty much knew who the apostles were.

That young lady, the third time she saw Peter, she said, "I know you were. I know it was you." That was the third time. He called a curse upon himself, saying "I've never met the guy. If I've even ever met the guy, then maybe I be cursed to the lowest hell." So the disciples are hiding because they know that somebody's going to want to be talking to them about all of this. They're afraid and they're hiding. The Greek word used here is kleio. It means to be tightly closed, to be locked and barred.

Same day, evening, verse 19: being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut. That word is kleio in the Greek, and it means locked and barred. Nobody's coming in and nobody's getting out. They're in there hiding. They do not want anybody, if somebody knocks on the door, they're going to try and find another way out because it's locked. If it's the soldiers, it's going to take them a little while to get in. They are meeting in secret, afraid that they may be found and arrested.

Does that sound like the ten guys that stole the body? No, they're still hiding. They didn't steal the body. You know they didn't. That's a lie because they're in there scared to death someone may see them or find them. They're hoping to not be found out. We learn that there are only ten of them there. Judas had foolishly taken his own life. Thomas, Didymus, means the twin. So Thomas had a twin brother or sister somewhere but was not with them in that room that evening. We're not told why or where. We just know he wasn't there.

There were only ten of them because Peter's now back with them. Jesus came in his resurrected body. I don't know exactly what those bodies are like. I wasn't there to see, but his body is a solid, physical body like we have. Except it was different. He walked through the doors without unlocking them or having them unchained in any way. He just walked on through and stood in the middle of the group. That would freak you out, wouldn't it?

How did he do that? How did his body go through that? I don't know, but it did. And you say, do you believe that? Yes, I do. Eyewitnesses were standing there and said he did. He came right into the room. He didn't open the door; he just walked through it. It was still locked. We're all in there locked in together safe. That's amazing to me. He walked right in. No one let him in, and he walked in on his own. He didn't knock, he just walked on in.

Those are his boys, the ones that he loves, and he's going in there. He walked right into that room and the Bible says that he stood in the middle of the group of disciples and he just said, "Peace be with you." He's said it before. It is a common greeting, peace. Those that speak Hebrew in Israel or in their community will say "Shalom." It was a common greeting in the Roman empire. The Jews would say "Shalom," and the Greeks would say "Grace."

Peace be with you. Those words had brand new meaning that night. When he said to those men in that room, peace be with you, it was a totally different thing than just a regular old greeting. It meant so much more. Jesus made peace by his shed blood on the cross. When he had paid in full, he gave up the ghost, his spirit, and he died. He was buried and on the third day, he rose again from the dead. God had accepted that sacrifice. It was acceptable to God, so the price was, as he cried out, paid in full.

Those of you and me, anybody who belongs to Jesus Christ, those who are justified by faith have peace, not just from God, but now peace with God. And that's what Jesus was saying. "Peace be with you." Not only am I greeting you because I love you, but you have peace from God now and you have peace with God. You are now his own children. And you say, I don't believe it. Well, then he's not your father in heaven because it is by grace through faith alone in Jesus Christ alone.

You can have all the answers, but if you don't surrender your heart and say I believe, Lord, you know, because a fool can ask more questions than a wise man can answer. You can always come up with something to stump the band. You can always ask a question. If you ask enough questions, an honest Christian's going to finally go, "I don't know the answer to that." But it doesn't change anything. It is a heart thing, not a cerebral mind thing. I think that's what people don't understand.

What was it about his body? Was he a spirit? No. He walked through the walls and said "Peace be with you." He walked into the middle of this whole group and they watched him. They heard a noise, they turned around and he's walking in with the doors locked. They were bolted down, chained, and locked. Was he a spirit? No. His body was a solid body. It was resurrected, but it was his body, the same body that was crucified. There are nail prints in his hands and feet.

There's a hole in his side where they ran a spear up through his ribs into his heart and pulled it back out to make sure he was dead. So he's not a spirit. It's the solid body of Jesus Christ. Jesus shows them his hands. He lets them touch him if they want to. He shows them his hands, his side, and his feet. And he allowed them to touch him. No, feel, see. It's me, it's really me. There's where the nails went in. There's where the spear went, he says.

In Luke 24, he ate some fish to show them, "I am not a spirit. It's me, it's Jesus. I've risen from the dead exactly as I promised you." He ate fish to show that he wasn't a spirit. It's really him, his resurrected body. Then the disciples believed and they were so happy. The language says they were filled with gladness and joy. That's got to be freaky. Now, we've got ten eyewitnesses in a room. If you ever get in trouble with the law and you're innocent and you could come up with two eyewitnesses, you would be thrilled.

But ten? You're home free. You've got ten witnesses that will say he was with me, as long as they're telling the truth. And these men went to their graves. They were put to death for their faith and they never changed their story. Why? Because they knew what they knew. They saw what they had seen, and you're not going to change their minds. You say, I don't believe it. Well, that doesn't change what Peter saw. No one can take your testimony away from you.

They can mock you, they can say I don't believe God's word, but they can never take your testimony of Jesus Christ. That's why it's always good when you have an opportunity to give someone your testimony. It's not all about you; it's about Jesus Christ, him crucified and risen from the dead. And those boys in that room, they saw him, they touched him, they hugged him. They were thrilled.

Verse 21 says this: "Then said Jesus to them again, peace be unto you. As my father has sent me, even so I send you." I want you to go and tell people what I've told you. I want you to go and show people what I've shown you. And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, "Receive ye the Holy Ghost. Whosesoever sins you remit, they are remitted unto them; and whosesoever sins you retain, they are retained."

There's a big misunderstanding here. He did not give the apostles the ability to tell someone, "your sins are forgiven," or if they just didn't like their looks, "your sins aren't forgiven." That's not what the language says. That's what a lot of people teach, but that's not what the language says at all. Jesus reminds them once again that this peace is to you. He said it already, and it took on a whole new meaning. But it's not just for the ten in the room. Who's it for?

Anybody who will say, "I believe." That peace is for them too, and that's what he's saying. He reminds them, this peace is to you, but not to you alone. "As my father sent me to do what he called me to do, I am now sending you to go do that. You go tell everybody." Jesus came preaching repentance. John the Baptist was arrested and Jesus came out preaching repentance. Repent means to turn back to God. That's what Jesus came out preaching just like John the Baptist.

Just as God breathed life into Adam there when man was created on that sixth day, Jesus Christ breathed spiritual life into his own. Whosesoever sins you remit shall have already been forgiven in heaven. Whosesoever sins you retain, they have been there in heaven already. In other words, the disciple, you and me and an apostle, does not provide the forgiveness; they proclaim the forgiveness. We're not providing it; we're telling them that's what Jesus said.

That's the gospel. And you say, I don't want Jesus. Then the gospel is this: if you won't have Jesus Christ, you will die in your sins. Your sins are not forgiven. All of us are sinners. We all are, and we need to be saved by grace through faith. That's the message. So that's our commission. We're commanded by Jesus Christ to offer his remission to anyone. Just go to the highways and byways and invite all.

When they do, we can say: if you receive Jesus today from your heart, you are completely forgiven. Your sins are washed away. What gives us the authority? Jesus Christ himself. He says, "You go out there and you tell them. If they don't believe, what then? We say to them, your sins are still your own responsibility. They're still on you." How do we know? Because Jesus Christ said so. It's the gospel message, everybody.

So no, he's not giving them some kind of supernatural privilege. A lot of people say, "Well, Peter was the leader and therefore Peter could say to you, I don't forgive you. I don't like your attitude, you're not forgiven. But I like you, you're forgiven." That's not how it works. That's not the authority he's been given. Verse 24, "But Thomas, one of the twelve called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came. The other disciples therefore said to him, we've seen the Lord."

He must have showed up later after Jesus was gone. He said to them, "Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails and put my finger into the print of the nails and thrust my hand into his side, I refuse to believe. I will not believe. I'm going to have to see it to believe it." Thomas, I don't know where he was, but when Jesus came in there were just ten of the guys. Judas is gone. When the disciples told him, "Jesus is alive," he says this: "That's impossible. There's no way I'm going to believe that. It can't happen."

"I will never believe it unless I see him with my own eyes, unless I put my fingers in the nail prints and my hand in his side, I refuse to believe it. You guys are crazy." Haven't you met people like that? That was probably most of us at one time, right? "If you could answer every one of my questions, then maybe in my head I'll believe." This is a heart thing. This is going to go way past your head because there are some things you can't explain.

God's working in your life now and you'll tell people God is working and they'll say, "How's he doing it?" and you'll go, "I have no clue. I just see it going on in my own life. I've seen it for years and he is working in my heart. I know he lives." Anybody that's truly born again will tell you that. The trouble is, once you're born again, it makes sense. But if you choose not to believe, well then you're not going to know. And that's what they're saying right here.

Verse 26: after eight days, disciples were within and Thomas was with them. Jesus came, the doors being chained, barred, and locked. They were still afraid. Jesus stood in the midst and said, "Peace be unto you." It's getting to be a habit. Then Jesus spoke to Thomas immediately. Jesus wouldn't treat him like most of us would have. Jesus is so patient with that guy. He is so calm. That should make you feel better about everything in the whole world.

Aren't there times you catch yourself going, "I know the word says that, but I don't know if I can believe that." Right? And you think God's mad at you. Jesus isn't mad at you. He says, "Peace be unto you." Then he said to Thomas, "Thomas." He didn't say, "How's it going, doubting baby Thomas?" Jesus never called him that. He says, "Thomas, stretch your finger over here and behold my hand. You said you needed to put your finger in that; do it. Just do it."

"And then reach here your hand and thrust it into my side." I could see him just lift up his shirt a little bit or open it up and say, "There you go. Put your hand in there. If that's all it's going to take, my friend, I love you. Do it. Because I want you to believe." Notice that. And he says, "Be faithless no more. Instead, believe." It's going to take faith to believe. Thomas answered and said to him, "My Lord and my God." Jesus said to him, "Thomas, because you have seen me, you believe. Blessed are they that have not seen and yet believe anyway."

Announcer (Male): Thank you for listening to Apply Within with Pastor Bob Davis. Apply Within is a radio outreach ministry of North Country Chapel. Our Sunday morning Bible studies are at 9:00 and 11:00 AM. We also have a Friday evening Bible study at 7:00 PM and a Monday evening Bible study at 7:00 PM.

You can download today's message in its entirety at NorthCountryChapel.com/studies. If you would like a copy of today's message, write to us and ask for the message with today's date. The address is: Apply Within, 2281 West Seltice, Post Falls, Idaho 83854. Or call us at 1-800-572-8851. That number again: 1-800-572-8851.

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