Welcome to John's Gospel, chapter twenty again this
evening.
The Gospel by John, chapter twenty, and we're
going right to, from verse seventeen to verse
twenty-nine.
Not just exactly finishing the chapter, leaving two
very important verses to carry on with next
week.
Now we're going through from verse seventeen right
through to the end of verse twenty-nine.
And you will notice that we have three
scenes in this passage before us this evening.
The first scene, our Lord Jesus Christ with
Mary.
It's just a continuation of the scene that
began last week, when our Lord suddenly appeared
and spoke very tenderly and very lovingly and
very touchingly to Mary.
Now, we're going on with that scene this
evening, and you'll find that when our Lord
Jesus speaks to Mary and says, touch me
not, I believe that Mary was really mystified.
So that we have a mystified Mary here,
and then the Lord gave her a great
message to carry forth, and the mystified Mary
became the messenger of the Lord.
And what a message there is in this
first scene this evening.
Then we go on from the first scene
to the second one, and that is where
our Lord appears to His own disciples.
You will find that when He appeared, they
were distressed, and the moment He appeared and
made Himself known, they were delighted.
And then comes that great word from the
Lord when He delegated them as His representatives
to go into the world with a mighty
message.
That's a very deep part of the chapter,
and we'll need to take time with that
this evening.
Then we'll be finishing with the third scene,
that's Thomas.
We shall have to underline his transgressions, because
he did things and said things that he
should never have said or done.
We'll look at Thomas's transgressions, and then we'll
listen to Thomas's testimony.
My, what a word he brought forth from
the depths of his heart as he gave
to the risen Savior, my Lord and my
God.
Three scenes this evening.
Now, let's begin at verse seventeen.
Jesus said unto her, Touch me not, for
I am not yet attended to my Father.
And this has given many scholars many hours
of pondering to try to get the honest
sense from this very difficult saying.
But before we try to get the sense
this evening, let us try to get the
scene.
I believe for you younger ones, if you
ever get to a difficult passage, try to
picture the scene first.
Let your imagination get working before you let
your understanding get working, or you may get
muddled.
If you can picture the scene as it's
in the book, I think it will help
you to the sense.
So, let's begin with the scene.
You remember that Mary was standing at the
chapel, she was weeping last week, and that
the Lord Jesus came and very wonderfully revealed
Himself to her with just one word.
And she stood there.
My, I could never imitate this.
I should never really try.
She very lovingly and touchingly said, do you
remember how she responded?
My, her tears dried, her soul was alive,
she almost jumped.
She said, Master, Rabona.
And I believe as she awoke to the
fact that the Master was alive, that she
came forward and fell down, and was about,
was about, compassion by the feet.
It was something she had done many times.
Mary had been at His feet more than
one should know.
Why, Mary had done wonderful things at the
feet of Jesus, and she's just about to
catch Him by the feet, when there comes
this request, touch me not.
And there comes not only the request here,
but there comes the reason for the request.
For I am not yet ascended to my
Father.
Now, there are difficulties here.
Why did the Lord request Mary not to
touch Him?
I think if you go back to Matthew
27, you'll get something that surprises you.
Matthew 28.
Let's just have a look at this.
It's the very same day, and it's almost
in the very same place.
Matthew 28.
You remember last week that I pointed out
that Mary came very early to the sepulcher
while it was yet dark, and that other
Gospels teach us that other women came.
And here is one of these occasions.
Verse 5 will do us to start with.
Matthew 28, verse 5.
And the angel answered and said unto the
woman, Fear not ye, for I know that
ye seek Jesus which was crucified.
He is not here, for he is risen.
As he said, Come, see the place where
the Lord lay, and go quickly and tell
his disciples that he is risen from the
dead.
And behold, he goeth before you into Galilee.
There shall you see him, though I have
told you.
They departed quickly from the sepulcher with fear
and great joy, and did run to bring
his disciples worth.
And as they went to tell his disciples,
behold, Jesus met them, saying, All here.
And they came and held him by the
feet.
Worship Him.
It's the same day.
It can't be very many moments later.
And yet, on one occasion, the Lord said,
Touch me not.
And on the other occasion, the woman actually
holds him by the feet.
Now, why this difference?
Makes you think, doesn't it?
We shall be finding out in our own
chapter this evening that a week later he
actually invited Thomas to put his hand into
the side and feel the kneel-pierced hand
that had come back from the dead.
Now, why does he invite Thomas?
Why does he allow the other woman?
Why does he request merely, Touch me not?
There is something deep.
I know there is something difficult.
The beginning of the answer is in the
reason he gave.
He said, Touch me not.
Now, watch it.
For I am not yet ascended to my
Father.
I am not yet ascended to my Father.
Would it make you think that between the
time that he saw Mary and the time
that he saw the other woman that he'd
gone to heaven and come back again?
You shouldn't hang your hat, you know, on
one or two nails.
You need more than that.
Let me take you way back into the
Old Testament.
The book of Leviticus, chapter 23.
Sometime, when you get time, maybe you would
go through this whole chapter.
It's a wonderful one.
It's the chapter that outlines all the feasts
of Jehovah that the Jews kept in Palestine
and still keep.
These feasts of Jehovah.
Do you see what it says at the
beginning of the chapter?
It says, in verse 4, These are the
feasts of the Lord.
That is, the feasts of Jehovah, even holy
convocations which he shall proclaim in the season.
And the first one, in verse 5, was
the Passover feast.
And there are seven of them in this
chapter.
And the last one is the feast of
double-deckers.
Now, in between there are five others.
But here's the one that I want you
to watch very carefully just now.
Verse 9 says, And the Lord speak unto
Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel,
and say unto them, When ye become into
the land which I give unto you, and
shall reap the harvest thereof, then ye shall
bring a sheaf of the first fruits of
your harvest unto the priest, and he shall
weigh the sheaf before the Lord, to be
accepted for you.
I want you to watch this reading.
On the morrow, after the Sabbath, the priest
shall weigh it.
This is called the feast of first fruits.
Very important feast in history.
Of course, you do know that our Lord
Jesus Christ is the center and substance of
all these feasts.
I didn't go into that.
Well, even the New Testament says that Christ,
our Passover, is sacrificed for us.
He was the antitype of the Passover, and
the day that Jesus died and said, It
is finished, then the Passover feast of the
feast was finished forever.
The antitype had met all the requirements.
And that brought redemption, and redemption shall eventually
bring us eternal rest.
And that will be the Feast of Carbon
Echoes, the seventh one, perfect rest.
But this one, this is the Feast of
First Fruits.
And when Israel was in the land, and
they began to reap their harvest, on the
day that they were reaping their harvest, they
brought a sheaf.
It is called the First Fruits of the
Harvest.
And they gave it to the priest.
I want you to watch that.
And the priest took this sheaf, and he
went in before the Lord.
That's the bit that's very important.
Do you see it all?
Watch it, and I'll try to get it
out for you.
See at the end of verse 10, Ye
shall bring a sheaf of the first fruits
of your harvest unto the priest.
That's what they were to do.
And he shall weigh the sheaf before the
Lord.
That's what he was to do.
Now, that meant this, that he received his
sheaf of the first fruits, and he went
into the double nettle, and he went in
before the Lord.
And a way of offering meant this, that
he weaved the sheaf to that side, then
he brought it right over, and he weaved
it to that side, and then he put
it right over to that side, and then
he put it right over here.
Which means that this, Lord, is the first
fruits of the harvest from the four ends
of the earth, was to do.
That's the way of offering.
But he was to do it before the
Lord.
Watch this wee bit.
Did you see it?
Verse 11, And he shall weave the sheaf
before the Lord to be accepted for you.
It doesn't only tell you what he was
to do, but it tells you who he
was to do it for.
He was to do it for the people
who brought it, the believers.
But it doesn't only tell you what he
was to do and who he was to
do it for.
It tells you when he was to do
it.
Did you notice that?
On the morrow, after the Sabbath.
When's the Sabbath?
Saturday, the seventh day.
When's the morrow after the Sabbath?
Sunday, the first day of the week, the
day of resurrection.
And the day of resurrection demanded that the
one who would be the firstfruits of the
earth.
And when we come to 1 Corinthians chapter
15, it says that our Lord Jesus Christ
is the firstfruits from the dead.
And it demanded that the one who would
be the firstfruits would go in before the
Lord.
Now, when you think that he stopped merely
from touching, and then a few moments later
he allowed the other woman to grasp his
feet, you are bound to see that he
meant something that was very important when he
said, Don't touch me, for I am not
yet ascendant to my Father.
And when I begin to get a deduction
from putting the word together, and I get
typology to back it up, and I hear
our Lord Jesus Christ saying, I have not
yet.
Yet.
Ascendant.
The deduction and the implication and the typology
would make me come to the conclusion that
our Lord Jesus Christ was ascendant from the
moment he spoke to Mary and came back
again to meet the others.
There is no other way out of it.
No other way.
I believe he kept to the text, and
I believe that he was trying to impress
the yet-upon-her.
And yet I believe this, that there is
not only the interpretation of this thing, there's
the interpretation of the passage, but there is
the illumination of the woman.
I think that's very important, too.
You see, we must always remember this.
I think I've tried to teach the younger
ones this before.
When you come to any passage, any phrase,
any verse, any paragraph, there is only one
interpretation.
Well, there can't be a whole lot if
there would be five or six interpretations of
a phrase.
Where would we be?
No, there can only be one interpretation.
Now, of the same phrase, there may be
a thousand applications.
It can be applied in different ways.
It can be used as an illustration in
quite a number of ways.
There is only one interpretation, there are many
applications, and there can be a thousand illustrations.
Now, I believe that while the interpretation is
the one I've given, it's the only one
that's honest.
Our Lord Jesus Christ went in as the
first fruit, and was acceptable before God, and
came back to earth, and then the woman
were allowed to touch Him.
I believe that while that is the interpretation,
I believe there was an illumination that He
was trying to bring to Mary.
And I think it's this one.
You see, our Lord Jesus Christ is out
on resurrection ground, and here is Mary just
seeing Him for the first time.
And she runs to bow before Him and
grasp His feet, and He says, Don't touch!
You see, she thought she was going to
hold Him with the same old hands that
she'd always done.
And so did the other.
But you know, it's going to be different
now.
This is a new position altogether.
I'm not out of the grave to remain
on earth to be cuddled by you, Mary.
I'm going up higher, and if you're going
to touch me, it will have to be
with a hand of faith.
You touch Him today, you know, teaching Mary
about a new position.
And she would need to reach Him with
the hands of faith.
Do you ever touch Him?
Because that's what He was really bringing to
her mind in illumination.
The old position is over, Mary.
I'm not out of here, you know, to
wait on me.
I'm going to ascend.
And if you want to draw near and
touch me, it will have to be with
the hands of faith.
It was a great lesson.
It's a believer getting to know Him in
a new way.
But then He goes on.
Not only did He say, Touch me not,
I am not yet ascended, but He went
on to make this mystified woman His messenger.
Verse 17 says, But go to my brethren
and say unto them, I ascend unto my
Father and your Father, and to my gods
and your gods.
You know, I think this is a very
lovely thing.
You know, you can see two things here.
You can see the uniqueness of Christ.
He kept Himself out from the rest, you
know.
He said, I'm going on to my Father
and your Father.
He didn't put us all in one bunch
and say, our Father, or not, or not.
He keeps Himself out, because God was His
Father in a very special sense.
And we mustn't get these senses mixed up.
God was Her Father in quite a different
sense.
And so He keeps the uniqueness of His
own Sonship and the blessedness of Her Sonship
or Daughtership, He keeps them all together separated.
And He does the same with God.
Yes, He says, I'm the servant of God,
He's my God, but all through the Scriptures
He's called THE servant of Jehovah.
And He's keeping that quite distinct from yourselves.
My God and your God.
They were learning about a new position, and
they were learning about a new way to
know Him.
But look, here's a lovely thing, and I
mustn't forget this, when He said, but go
to my brethren.
I suppose I shall shock some of you
who don't really read the Scriptures when I
say that this is the first time in
the New Testament that the Lord Jesus has
called His disciples brethren at the first time.
Always before this He called them disciples, He
called them friends, He called them servants, never
until this moment did He call them brethren.
You see, this wonderful relationship is only ours
on resurrection ground.
Yet being raised from the dead, He's not
ashamed to call them brethren.
And it's only on resurrection ground that that
wonderful relationship comes.
Can you see this from the notes?
When He said, touch me not, believers are
getting to know Him in a new way.
When He said, my Father and your Father,
believers are beginning to see their new position.
When He said, my brethren, believers are getting
to know the new relationship, it was a
wonderful message that this mystified messenger had to
carry to the disciples.
And Mary carried it out.
In verse 18, Mary Magdalene came and told
the disciples that she had seen the Lord,
and that He had spoken these things unto
her.
That'll do it for the first scene.
It's hard to get the second one.
Then the same day of evening.
Now, it's the same day, it's the first
day of the week, resurrection day.
Being the first day of the week, when
the doors were shut, where the disciples were
assembled for fear of the deuce.
Now, you can see they're distressed, can't you?
You know, it almost amazes you, and yet
when you know your own heart, it really
doesn't.
Remember, these men had mighty power.
You know, they'd gone out, and even the
devil would subject unto them.
Why, these fellows had such slippers, and they'd
been healed.
And they'd had great experiences of mighty, powerful
intrusion.
And yet here they are, you know, sitting
behind the closed doors, neither afraid.
It just tells you, you know, that the
servants of God, no matter how much blessing
and gift they may have, at the end
they're only men.
Never see them as anything else.
The best of men are only men.
Never get any other idea.
Here they are, they're afraid.
And I suppose had we been there, we
would have just been behind the doors in
the same way, maybe more by the kids
up than ever.
They were afraid of Caiaphas and his crowd
coming and arresting them, and they too being
tried and crucified.
And they were afraid.
But God sometimes takes these things to make
glory come to his name.
Now, there are some lovely things here.
You can see their distress.
The doors were shut where the disciples were
assembled for fear of the Jews.
The same Jesus and stood in the midst.
Now, it's lovely to see him in his
own place, isn't it?
Because the midst really belongs to him.
He was in the midst of Calvary.
And when we get to eternity, we shall
see the Lamb in the midst of the
throne.
And this is his rightful position.
It's lovely when the meeting takes time to
let Jesus get his rightful position.
It's lovely.
It's not only nice to see him in
his right position, but it's lovely to mark
the power that put him there.
He didn't need to open the doors, you
know.
This is really something that staggers for.
You see, this mighty resurrection body of his,
he was raised from the dead, and it
was a bodily resurrection.
There were flesh and bones, no blood.
Spirit was now the animating force of that
body.
But the powers that that body had, we
don't perfectly understand them.
It could pass through the wall, just like
that.
And you know, if Jesus came now, just
now, if the Lord himself descended from heaven
with a shout and the voice of the
archangel, every born-again believer would rise and
go through that roof to meet him.
I just don't know how you go through
the roof, and you needn't ask me about
it, but I believe.
I believe.
You know, it's only recently that scientists have
found out that this thing is not solid
at all.
It's made of atoms.
They're all packed in together.
And this thing is made of atoms, too.
And if we could really control the thing,
the one can pass through the other.
Now, I shall shock this meeting, and I
think I'll shock it more on Sunday night,
because I intend to bring this into the
message on Sunday night.
In 1906 days, in September, Khrushchev went to
America to the great conference there, and I
think you remember something about it.
He got outrageous, and he hammered the table
with his shoe, and he ate the food
like he always does.
Now, there were some things behind all this.
You see, the Russians determined at that very
time, in that very month, to block out
three of the states, of the United States.
And they had a mighty thing called antimatter.
And they have it tonight.
And I've just been reading all about it
all this week.
And an egg cup full of antimatter turned
onto a car.
In a split second, you can't find the
car anymore.
It disappeared.
Now, they tried this antimatter out.
And away at the back of the Siberian
desert, there were mountains.
And they took a plane over, and tumbled
out some antimatter, and where two mountain peaks
used to be, tonight, now, there are two
lakes.
Mountains are gone.
And the American spy of the U.S.
who, you remember, he was captured, he had
gone over time and again to take pictures.
And he had pictures of these mountains before
they were removed.
And for two or three times afterwards, he
couldn't find them.
He said, I'm on the course, I'm dead
on the beam, but they're not there.
And the American intelligence wouldn't believe him.
But the Russians had used antimatter and taken
the two hills away.
And old Khrushchev, when he went to that
meeting in America, didn't live in a hotel,
you remember.
He lived in the Baltiga, the Russian boat
that was well barricaded on every side.
And on the night that the Russians were
to come over, he was to slip away
out to sea.
And they were going to blot out three
states with antimatter and let the Americans know
the power they had.
Now, when Russians have mighty power like this,
you won't sit and quibble about the power
that our Lord has.
There were no difficulties at all in getting
in through the wall.
Not at all.
I don't let anybody hear you talking like
that as if there were problems.
There were no problems from the Lord.
It was mighty power that put them in
the midst.
And I want you to notice what he
said.
This is very lovely.
He just suddenly appeared in the midst of
these frightened disciples, and he said, My peace
be unto you.
It's very lovely to notice that our Lord,
just before his death, as he was walking
out to Gethsemane, you remember we had it
in John's Gospel, to Sweden, he said, My
peace be unto you.
So that yesterday and today, and I believe,
I believe for all eternity, his great heart
is going out to us that we might
have peace, because he is the same yesterday
and today and forever.
It's lovely to see him in his position,
it's lovely to notice the power, it's lovely
to draw the line under the peace, but
I want you to notice the proof.
There's plenty.
And when he had shown death, he showed
unto them his hand and his side.
Now, this is where I have arguments with
the Russellites, the Jehovah's Witnesses, the Millennial Donalds.
They don't believe that Jesus rose bodily from
the grave.
Old Russell said in one of his books
that Christ's body dissolved into gases.
That was poison gas, all right.
Then, when the Lord Jesus came through the
wall, he showed them his hand.
What would be the use of showing them
his hand if it's not the same body?
Would you like to come round and tell
me?
In one of the other Gospels he said,
Handle me and see, a spirit hath not
flesh and bones as you see me have.
And here he's showing them his hand and
his side.
It's the same body.
He has been brought out from the dead.
Last week we saw him rising out through
the foam of the linen cloth.
Bodily resurrection.
But there's no blood, it's only flesh and
bones.
Friends, the spirit was the unemitting force.
And what a mighty body it is.
And one day we shall be like him,
made unto his glorious body.
Now, these distressed disciples, when they saw the
Lord and were absolutely sure, this little phrase
comes in, Then were the disciples glad when
they saw the Lord.
You know, their distress was being changed to
delight.
Now, I'll be showing you in a moment
or two that Thomas wasn't there.
You know, I would love to take time
tonight to talk to all the believers who
ought to be out at God's house on
Lord's Day morning, because if you miss the
message on the first day of the week,
mind you, you might go on your whole
week in distress.
How many of God's people have come to
God's house on the first day of the
week, many times come, distressed, depressed, despondent, and
as the message was presented, Christ appeared.
And they got a glimpse, and they saw
his face, and they heard his voice, and
they felt his touch, and they left the
meeting absolutely refreshed.
And you lose all that, mind you, if
you're not on the Lord's Day morning, because
Thomas lost it.
He went on a whole week down in
the dumps, because he wasn't out on Lord's
Day morning.
Rather, it was evening here.
Now, we come to the type of rejection.
I want you to get this whole scene
again.
Verse 21, Then said Jesus to them again,
and no wonder he said it again, Peace
be unto you.
Now, he looks at each one of them,
they're absolutely sure now that he's alive, and
it's the same Jesus, and he starts commissioning
them again.
As my Father hath sent me, even so
send I you.
Now, he was putting a pathway before them.
He had been sent into the world, now
he was sending them into the world.
He was sending them into the world to
proclaim something.
There was a pathway, but there was a
proclamation that they've got to make to proclaim
the gospel.
Go ye into all the world and preach
the gospel, is what we heard in the
other gospel this evening.
Now, if they were going into the world
to preach this message, well might he say
again and again, Peace be unto you, for
the devil will try to disturb it.
My, you only want to try to preach
this book honestly, till you find out how
the devil gets up against you.
He doesn't like this book.
Men would stand up for idols, yet plaster
casts in the Roman Catholic churches, before they
would bow to the truth and God's word.
And there ain't a problem if you preach
the truth.
Well might he say, Peace be unto you.
And then something else happened.
Not only did he send them out on
a new pathway with a new proclamation with
Peace, verse 22.
And when he had said this, when he
had said this, now this connects this with
what he had said, when he had said
this, he breathed on them and said unto
them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost.
Because he knew if they were going out
into the world to proclaim the gospel, they'd
need power.
Oh yes, he knew that all right.
You see, you can't really preach the gospel
without the power of the Holy Ghost.
Can't do that.
Many of our evangelical meetings while the gospel
is being preached in word only.
How horrible this is.
Some of the great meetings in the country.
Yes, they're all fundamental.
They're all said.
Most of them are God's side.
But the gospel is being preached in word
only.
And it doesn't bear any fruit.
You never see anybody say that.
You go around and question them.
I could rattle them off with my fingers.
But Paul said, Oh, God spoke him not
unto you in word only, but in power.
And in the Holy Ghost.
Oh, that's the way we like to see
it preached.
And when it's preached in power and in
the Holy Ghost, things begin to happen.
So he knew that they would need power.
Now, I believe that he's speaking here just
the way he prayed in John 17.
He prayed in John 17, I have finished
the work that thou gavest me to do.
Now, the work wasn't just finished then.
In fact, it hadn't been to Gethsemane or
the cross.
But he was anticipating.
He was praying, anticipating the wonderful finish.
And I believe that he's anticipating the day
of Pentecost here.
I don't think that he gives them the
Holy Ghost right there and then.
Now, there are arguments about it.
There are some great scholars, and they believe
that the moment he breathed here and said,
Receive ye the Holy Ghost, that there and
then they were indwelled by the Spirit of
God, but the next chapter will prove it's
all nonsense, because there's about seven of them
running away into the night, and they never
were sent at all, and they couldn't be
led by the Spirit of God.
I know he's only talking in anticipation of
the day of Pentecost.
He knows they're going out into the world.
He knows the problems that are ahead.
And he knows that they'll need power.
Now, when he had said all this, when
he said As my Father hath sent me,
even so send I you.
And he spoke about them having this power.
Now we come to this tremendous verse.
He said, Whosoever sins, ye remit.
They are remitted unto them.
And whosoever sins, ye retain.
They are retained.
Now, this is very deep, and admittedly very
difficult.
And it wants to be faced honestly.
You never dodge verses like this, but you'll
never get anywhere if you do.
Now, we want to ask the simple question,
Is our Lord Jesus Christ here in this
first day of the week with these disciples,
commissioning them to go out into the world?
Is he giving them his own power to
forgive or otherwise?
Do you remember that when our Lord Jesus
was working yonder in Mark chapter 2?
Have a look at it.
Mark's Gospel, chapter 2.
Remember, the man brought the sick of the
palsy and let them down through the roof
of Christ's seat.
Verse 5 will do us.
Now, watch this carefully, because this is very
fundamental.
When Jesus saw their face, he said unto
the sick of the palsy, Son, thy sins
be forgiven thee.
But there were a second of the scribes
sitting there and reasoning in their hearts, Why
doth this man thus speak blasphemies?
Who can forgive sins but God only?
But they were right, you know, only God
can forgive sins, but they didn't know that
Jesus was God.
Now, we can see this, that right down
through the ages, this has been God's prerogative.
Only God can forgive.
And God will only forgive on the grounds
of atonement.
There are no quibbles about that bit after
that.
Now, the point of this is, our Lord
Jesus taking this great power, this prerogative that
was his, and he's handing it out to
men and saying, go on, and whom you
forgive you, they'll be forgiven, and whom you
don't forgive, my, he's doing nothing of the
kind.
Do you think that he'll have this power
in the hands of men?
And unless you come and be a slave
in my feet, and do exactly as you're
told, and let me drive you further and
further, do you think that he'll give me
power to make you a slave to get
forgiveness?
Well, that's what the Roman Catholic Church teaches.
The Roman Catholic Church teaches that the Lord
Jesus gave his apostles this power in this
place at this time, and that power has
been handed down through the ages from one
to the other.
I say no, they say yes.
I've got to prove my faith, haven't I?
And that will be very simple.
If I start at the Acts of the
Apostles, and I go through every verse and
every chapter, will you ever find these men
exercising such a power?
Is this?
Number one, if the Lord Jesus didn't give
them power here, what has he given them?
You see, let me put it so you'll
always remember it.
The Roman Catholic Church says he gave them
might that they could forgive or otherwise.
I say that he gave them a message,
and it's the proclamation of that message in
power, and your acceptance of it, that will
allow me to say whether you're forgiven or
not.
You know, I'll preach this message, and I've
seen men in this very place break down
and weep.
My eye can remember as I look down
these faces now the night when some of
you were there, and I can see the
very men now kneeling at my side and
weeping and saying, Mr. Mone, I know that
this is the truth, that the Lord Jesus
came and died for me and shed his
blood and rose again to be my Savior,
and tonight and now I accept him as
my own and personal Savior by simple faith.
And I can look into their face and
say they're forgiven.
I can, because I've got that authority.
And there's some of you who go out
of this place every night rejecting the Christ
that I have preached my heart out to
you with.
And you're going out unforgiven, going out in
your sin.
The Lord didn't give them might to make
men cringe at their feet.
The Lord only gave them a message, and
the proclamation of that message and your attitude
to it determined whether you're forgiven or whether
you're not.
Now, I've got to prove that.
That's only talk up to now.
I must make this watertight tonight, because I
wouldn't let the Roman Catholic Church get an
inch here.
Now, let's get over to the Acts of
the Apostles, and we'll start at chapter 10.
The Acts of the Apostles, and we're at
chapter 10.
And the reason that I'm starting at chapter
10 is because it's here that Peter, here
that Peter, oh yes, we'll take Peter, as
he was supposed to have all the power,
he is preaching to the Gentiles, and we
are Gentiles, so that we're making the thing
absolutely dead on this evening.
Now, here's how he preached in the House
of Canaesus to the Gentiles.
Verse 34.
Acts 10.34 Then Peter opened his mouth
and said, Of a truth I perceive that
God is no respecter of persons.
He'd only learned this truth just a moment
ago.
But in every nation he that seareth him,
and worketh righteousness, is accepted with them.
The word which God sent unto the children
of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ, he
is Lord of all, that word, I say
ye know, which was published throughout all Judea
and began from Galilee up to the baptism
which John preached.
How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the
Holy Ghost and with power, who went about
doing good and healing all that were oppressed
of the devil, for God was with him.
And we are witnesses of all things which
he did, both in the land of the
Jews and in Jerusalem, whom they slew and
hanged on a tree.
Him God raised up the third day and
showed him openly, not to all the people,
but unto witnesses chosen before of God, even
to us, who did eat and drink with
him after he rose from the dead.
And he commanded us to preach unto the
people.
Preach what unto the people?
Now watch this.
And to testify that it is he which
was ordained of God to be judge of
quick and dead, to him give all the
prophets witness that through his name whosoever believeth
in him shall receive remission of sin.
Is he preaching a message or exercising waste?
I hope you can see he's preaching a
message.
And it's the same old message we preach
here every Sunday.
The birth, the life, the death, the resurrection
of Christ, the wonderful Savior, and if you
put your faith in him, you'll get forgiveness
of sin.
You'll get remission.
Is it a message that we're entrusted with
or might?
Well, if it was might, he's not using
it.
All right, we'll not just hang it there.
We'll go further.
Let's go to chapter 8.
Chapter 8.
We'll go to chapter 13 first.
This is Paul.
Chapter 13.
And Paul is preaching here.
Preaching at Antioch.
It's a long reading.
I wonder can I leave it out and
yet get the sense.
Verse 14.
Chapter 13 verse 14.
And when they departed from Parga, they came
to Antioch in Pisidia, and went into the
synagogue on the Sabbath day and sat down.
And after the reading of the law and
the prophets, the rulers of the synagogue sent
unto them, saying, Ye men and brethren, if
ye have any word of exhortation for the
people, stay on.
Then Paul stood up and beckoned with his
hand and said, Men of Israel, and ye
that fear God, give audience.
And he begins to talk now about the
history of the Jews.
And he talks right down to David the
king in verse 22, and not the verse
23.
He said, Of this man said David, of
God, according to his promise, raised unto Israel
a Saviour, Jesus.
When John had first preached before his coming,
the baptism of repentance to all the people
of Israel.
And as John fulfilled this course, he said,
Whom think ye that I am?
I am not he.
But behold, there cometh one after me, whose
shoes in his feet I am not worthy
to loose.
Men and brethren, children of the stock of
Abraham, unto Israel among you fear God.
To you is the word of this salvation
sent.
This is the word of salvation, so you
want to listen.
For they that dwelt in Jerusalem and are
rulers, because they knew him not, nor yet
the voices of the prophets, which are read
every Sabbath day, they have fulfilled them in
condemning him.
And though they found no cause of death
in him, yet desired they private that he
should be slain.
And when they had fulfilled all that was
written of him, they took him down from
the tree and laid him in a sepulcher,
but God raised him from the dead.
It's the same story anyway.
But he was seen many days of them
which came up with him from Galilee to
Jerusalem, who are as witnesses unto the people.
And we declare unto you glad tidings, for
that the promise which was made unto the
fathers, God hath fulfilled the same unto us,
the children, in that he hath raised up
Jesus again, as it is also written in
the second psalm, Thou art my son, this
day have I begotten thee.
And as concerning that you raised him up
from the dead, thou know more to return
to corruption, he said, On this wise I
give you the sure mercies of David.
Wherefore he saith also in another psalm, Thou
shalt not suffer thine Holy One to see
corruption.
For David, after that he had served his
own generation by the will of God, fell
and shrieked, and was laid unto his fathers,
and saw corruption.
But he whom God raised again saw no
corruption.
Be it known unto you therefore, men and
brethren, that through this man is preached unto
you the forgiveness of sins.
That's the message.
How do you get this forgiveness of sins?
How do you get this remission of sins?
By cringing at the feet of a foolish
priest.
Never!
You get remission of sins when you listen
to the old-fashioned message that the Lord
gave them to proclaim, and when you believe
in the Christ that proclaimed.
And when you turn your back on the
message, I have the authority to say you're
going out in your sin.
And I'm not afraid to say it to
you.
The men that trust the Savior get saved.
And the men that go out turning their
back on the Christ that God sent are
not saved.
It's a message they have.
Watch again.
We'll go back to Acts 8 now.
You'll notice I dealt with one to the
Jews, and one to the Gentiles.
Now here we're back at Samaria.
And there was a certain man in Samaria.
He was a sorcerer.
And he saw many things happening.
Look at verse 18.
He's called Simon.
I'm only trying to save time.
You can read the whole story for yourself.
And when Simon saw that through the laying
on of the apostles' hands the Holy Ghost
was given, and remember they were apostles that
laid their hands on, and we haven't got
any tonight.
He offered them money, saying, Give me also
this power that on whomsoever I lay hands
he may receive the Holy Ghost.
And Peter said unto him, Thy money perish
with thee, because thou hast thought that the
gift of God made the purchase with money.
Thou hast need a partner not in this
matter, for thy heart is not right in
the sight of God.
Repent therefore of this thy wickedness, and pray
God, and pray God, if perhaps the thought
of thine heart may be forgiven thee.
Why didn't Peter use his prerogatives if he
ever had any?
But he didn't, because he never had any.
If he's so anxious for this fellow to
get forgiveness, and he's got the power, why
doesn't he do it?
I tell you, you can go right through
the book, and you'll never once find a
servant of God exercising this popish, pagan, babble
-roomy, cursed, damnable thing.
You'll find that the men of God preach
the message unto people that believe God forgives
them.
Unto people that didn't, they die in their
sin.
Be very careful.
There is no trouble with the text.
I can go on, you know, forever so
long.
Let's have a go at another one.
Here's Ephesians.
And we're at the first chapter, talking about
our Lord Jesus Christ.
Paul is writing about Christ.
And in verse 7 he says, In whom
chapter 1 verse 7 In whom we have
redemption through his blood the forgiveness of sin
according to the riches of his grace.
Where did they get this forgiveness of sin?
In Christ.
In whom?
Or as the Greek would allow you, through
whom?
Or it would even allow you by whom?
You get forgiveness of sins in Christ, by
Christ, through Christ, and only Christ can forgive.
Have you accepted Christ?
No, I've taken nearly all the time.
I think I'll keep the next scene for
next week.
I'm at half past nine.
I mustn't overdo it.
I want you to just keep your notes
preserved.
And we'll go on with the next scene
next week.
Now let's bow together.
Choose loving Father.
We come into thy holy presence and we
come to thank thee tonight that our Lord
Jesus Christ so satisfied the claims of thy
divine holiness and every righteous demand of thy
throne that thou didst bring him back again
from the dead.
We thank thee that we are perfectly sure
that he rose again.
And we believe tonight that that moment when
Mary met him, oh, he stopped on his
way to heaven to dry her tears.
And when he had dried her tears and
gave her joy in her heart, we believe
that of the fresh fruits of this great
resurrected multitude that shall come from the four
quarters of the earth, he appeared before thy
throne and was perfectly accepted of thee.
We see him coming back to earth and
entering into this room on this the first
day of the week.
Lord, we thank thee for thy presence with
thy disciples.
We thank thee for the peace that thou
hast proclaimed over their heads.
We thank thee for the commission that thou
hast sent us, Lord, into this wonderful world
to proclaim this wonderful message.
Lord, we bless thee that thou hast given
us power to proclaim it.
And we know tonight that thou hast not
taken thy prerogative and given it into the
hands of a sinful man or even a
religious man.
It is still thine own prerogative.
And only through thee is preached the forgiveness
of sin.
And only in thee and by thee is
found the forgiveness of sin.
And this preacher preached to the Gentiles and
said that all the prophets give thee witness.
Lord, we cry that sinners in this place
tonight may repent and turn to thee and
leave this place with the remission of sins.
Lord, we were listening to thy gospel on
Sunday and the old unalterable, impregnable, unchangeable eternal
truth is without shedding of blood.
There is no remission.
Lord, because thou didst come and go to
the cross and shed thy blood and defeat
death and meet every requirement of God's throne,
thou art a Savior tonight, and the man
who accepts thee as his Savior will get
forgiveness of sin.
We thank thee for the message, and we
thank thee for the power that accompanies it.
Lord, bless thy saints, draw them near to
thee by faith tonight to hold on to
thy holy feet, even as thou art seated
upon the throne.
And, O God, for every preacher going into
the world, give us new power to proclaim
the old, old story.
Part us in thy fear, and with thy
blessing, for thy name's sake.
Amen.