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Source: https://www.sermonindex.net/speakers/brandon-doll/the-person-of-christ/
Let me please go to the Gospel of John 20. John 20, I'd like to continue on looking at the person of Christ a little. John 20, verse 19,. 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, came Jesus and stood in the midst and saith 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. Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you. As My Father hath sent Me, even so send I you.
And when He had said this, He breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost. Whosoever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them. And whosoever sins ye retain, they are retained. Verse 24,.
But Thomas, one of the twelve, called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came. The other disciples therefore said unto him, We have seen the Lord. But he said unto 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 will not believe.
I'd like to very quickly, I won't be here very long, look at seven things that a discouraged disciple missed. Seven things that a discouraged disciple missed, but he absolutely needed them. So we're going to look at that and we're going to look at seven things concerning the person of Christ.
We come to verse 19 and we read that the Lord Jesus came into the midst. And you can take this and apply this message to your heart however you want, whether it's coming to the assembly meetings or coming to when Christians are gathered together.
That's how I've been enjoying it. Seven things that we miss when we're not there. You know, this man Thomas, quite a series of events in his life, didn't he? You think what stress will do to a person?
You think Thomas was stressed? Go through all the events leading up to Calvary. The Lord Jesus Christ laying down His life. The stress. Stress discourages him. And now we find him and he's doubting. And so this is something for each and every one of us here this morning.
Seven things that we need concerning the person of Christ. Not only at the assembly gatherings, but every day. First thing we notice is just this. He was in the midst. He was in the midst. He comes where the disciples are gathered.
They're there because of fear. And the Lord Jesus comes and He's in the midst. Isn't He in our midst today? He is. Something that we need. And a discouraged disciple missed it. He missed it. The very thing that he needed, the very thing that was lacking, the very cure for his stress, the very cure for his doubting, was a fresh glimpse of the presence of the Lord.
A real presence in his midst. He missed it. He missed it. We drop down a little further in the same verse. And what did he miss? He missed a word of encouragement from the connected Christ. You know, the first one is Christ in the center.
The centered Christ. Whether it's in the assembly or whether it's in our life, it's necessary. And he missed out on a word from the connected Christ. What do I mean by that? Well, the Lord Jesus knew exactly the fear that these disciples were going through.
He wasn't oblivious to their feelings. And He's not oblivious to yours and mine. He was connected. He understood exactly what they needed, when they needed it, how they needed it. He was connected. And I want to tell you, the Lord Jesus is connected to us today.
There's a lot of people in this auditorium. More than I thought when I had my back to you. But you know, He's connected to everyone. Every single one with every single need that we have, as varied as they might be.
The Lord Jesus is connected. And what is His word? His word is peace. Peace. Thomas missed out on it, and that's exactly what he needed. He needed to have a word of comfort. And you know, you can parallel these from verse 19, when he's talking to the disciples, you drop down to verse 26, when he's talking to Thomas, and he says the same thing, really.
Verse 26, Thomas is there now. Jesus stood in the midst. Verse 19, Thomas wasn't there. The Lord was in the midst. Verse 26, the Lord's in the midst again. Eight days later, Thomas is there. He says, peace be still.
And verse 19, what does he say to Thomas? Peace be unto you. The very things that he needed, he missed out on the week before. Now, I don't know about you, but if I could have one week of less stress and discouragement, what's it worth?
What's it worth? Honestly, no. What's it worth to you and I to put ourselves in the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ? This man suffered an awful long week because he missed it. He missed the reality of the Lord in the midst.
He missed a word from the connected Christ. He missed the comfort. Peace! Of all the tribulations that we have, peace! He's connected. I love that. God's still on the throne. God's connected. The Lord Jesus Christ is connected.
What else did the man miss? Drop down to verse 20. He showed unto Him His hands and His side. He showed unto them. He missed a fresh view of the crucified Christ. What does he get in verse 27? The Lord Jesus says, Reach hither thy finger.
Just what the man needed, he missed it before. A fresh view of the Lord Jesus Christ, the crucified Christ. The wounds through His hands and His feet and His side. Is that something we need today? Absolutely.
Absolutely. Are you discouraged today? A fresh view of the crucified Christ will change your day. Change everything. But he missed it. He wasn't there. The crucified Christ. You know, when you're preaching the Gospel or you're sitting in a Gospel series, and it's over and over and over, you know, it never gets old.
Does it ever get old? Never gets old. Well, sometimes our bodies get tired and our brains get fried. But it never gets old to listen to the Gospel preached. And you know what you see? Christians in assembly fellowship missing the meeting.
Missing the Gospel meeting. Where they could every night get a fresh view of a crucified Christ. Just the very thing they need. No, they don't need salvation. But they need a view of the crucified Christ just like Thomas.
What's it worth to you? A fresh view of the crucified Christ. What else did we learn in verse 20? It says this, "...then were the disciples glad when they saw the Lord. He missed out on the joy of a caring Christ.".
They were glad. Can you imagine in just a few moments, all of the fear, all of the anxiety, all of the wonder, all of the what-ifs of their life. And they're in fear. The door was shut. They're in there.
And it goes from fear to joy. What opposite extremes in just a matter of moments. What did it? You know, sometimes we think that maybe restoration needs to take three years. Or to enjoy our salvation needs to take a process of weeks.
Maybe three weeks of confessing our sin in prayer and all of our doubting whatsoever not of faith is sin. And in just a matter of moments, they went from complete fear to complete gladness. Why? It was Christ.
It was Christ. Thomas missed it. Oh, but a week later, look what he got. Thomas answered and said unto Him, My Lord and my God. You know, that's what the disciples, when they were by themselves there, when Thomas wasn't there, they saw the Lord.
That's who they saw. They saw the Lord. Thomas, eight days later, My Lord and my God. Missed out on the joy of the Lord. What's that worth to me? Counting the cost this morning a little bit. What's it worth to me?
The joy of the Lord. Well, we know what it's worth when we don't have it. The joy of the Lord. What else did we learn? Verse 21, Then said Jesus unto them again. So He's repeating Himself. He says, peace be unto you.
So, in my mind, I thought of verse 19 as the Lord Jesus is connected. The connected Christ. Here, He's repeating it. He's emphasizing it. And to me, it's just revealing His comfort. His care. You know, this isn't just a one-time thing.
Peace be unto you. Now go your way. No, peace be unto you again. Do we need to be reminded of things? I can't remember yesterday. Just ask Murray. I can't remember hardly anything. It's terrible. But what about to be reminded of the care of Christ?
As we've been hearing, when we look inside, when the flesh gets a hold of us, we lose sight of His care. It's amazing how that takes over. We get taken up with the circumstances of the day and all the things and all the distress, all the discouragement, all the doubting.
We need to be reminded again today of the comfort of Christ for His people. He missed it. He missed it. Is there anything to be compared to the Lord Jesus Christ? Absolutely nothing. The Lord Jesus in the midst.
The centered Christ. The connected Christ. The crucified Christ. The caring Christ. But that's only four. There's three more. Three more. They get in verse 21. It's a word of assurance, isn't it? Peace be unto you, as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you.
So He's got comfort in the first part of that. He's given Him strength to go on because He's going to send them. Even so send I you. He gets a word from the commanding Christ. They've got a purpose. He's given the disciples purpose now.
He's starting to tell them what's going to happen. He's going to send them out. Just like the Father sent Him, He's going to send them. And so, He's given them direction for the day. Direction in life.
And when I'm discouraged and when you're discouraged, you know what takes over in our thoughts? What do we do from here? Where am I supposed to go from here? This whole thing's a mess. Oh no, to get a word from the commanding Christ to organize everything.
That's half of our anxiety. What's going to happen from here? Oh, the Lord knows all about it. He knows it all. So we've got a word from the commanding Christ. What's that worth? What's that worth? How many times do we not want to know?
Have you ever missed a meeting because you didn't want to hear the Word of God? Honestly, no. It happens. It's a real thing. Maybe I'm the only one it's real for. I'll confess. You wonder what's the Lord going to say today?
Stress? Discouragement? Doubting? A word from the One in charge. The commanding Christ. What else here? He says this in verse 22, He breathed on them and said unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost. He missed out on the Holy Ghost at that time.
We know He got it later. But a week without the Holy Spirit of God? We can't lose the Holy Spirit. We know we've been in doubt with the Spirit of God. But can you just imagine this whole change and this whole scene?
To go from being in fear, to seeing Christ, to experiencing Him in His comforts, and now to have the Comforter that He's promised. Remember the dark days when we're not in touch with God? Can you imagine this week Thomas went through?
You can imagine you've been there. So have I. What a discouraged disciple missed out. You know, we're here at the conference today, and every one of these things that we need, every one, we can get at this conference.
Every one. The Lord in the midst. Is He here? He's here. He's promised it. We're going to go away with gladness. We're going to get a word from Him. We're going to understand that He's connected to all of our needs and all of our issues of life.
All of our joys. Oh, He's connected in joyous times too. And all of our trials. The crucified Savior. The caring Christ. The comforting Christ. The Commander-in-Chief. And the Comforter. From Him.