Address—C. Hendricks
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Please open to John's Gospel.
Chapter 20.
Verse one.
The first day of the week cometh Mary Magdalene early, when it was yet dark unto the sepulcher, and seeth the stone taken away from the sepulcher. Then she runneth and cometh to Simon Peter, and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved, and sayeth unto them. They have taken away the Lord out of the sepulchre, and we know not where they have laid him.
Peter therefore went forth and that other disciple and came to the sepulchre. So they ran both together, and the other disciple did outrun Peter, and came first to the sepulcher. And he's stooping down and looking in, saw the linen clothes lying yet when he not in.
Then cometh Simon Peter following him, and went into the sepulcher, and seeth the linen clothes lie, and the napkin that was about his head, not lying with the linen clothes, but wrapped together in a place by itself.
Then went in also that other disciple which came first to the sepulcher, and he saw and believed, for as yet they knew not the Scripture, that he must rise again from the dead. Then the disciples went away again unto their own home.
But Mary stood without at the sepulchre, weeping.
And as she wept, she stooped down and looked into the sepulchre. And seeth 2 angels in white sitting the one at the head and the other at the feet, were the body of Jesus had lain.
And they say unto her, Woman, Why weepest thou, She saith unto them, Because they have taken away my Lord.
And I know not where they have laid him. And when she had thus said, she turned herself back, and saw Jesus standing, and knew not that it was Jesus.
Jesus saith unto her, Woman, why weepest thou?
Whom seekest thou she, supposing him to be the gardener, saith unto him, Sir, if thou have borne him hence, tell me where thou hast laid him, laid him, and I will take him away.
Jesus saith unto her, Mary.
She turned herself, and saith unto him, Raboni, which is to say, master.
Jesus saith unto her, Touch me not, for I am not yet ascended to my Father, but go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father, and to my God and your God. Mary Magdalene came and told the disciples that she had seen the Lord, and that he had spoken these things unto her. 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.
Unto them peace be unto you. And when He had so said, He showed unto them his hands at 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 sayeth unto them, Receive you the Holy Ghost.
Whosoever sins ye remet, they are remitted unto them.
And whosoever sends you retain, they are retained.
And a few verses in Luke 8, verse 2.
And certain women which had been healed of evil spirits.
And infirmities.
Mary called Magdalene, out of whom went seven devils, and Joanna, the wife of Chuza, Herod, Stewart, and Susanna, and many others which ministered unto him.
Of their substance.
I read this passage so that we might appreciate.
A little more turning back to John 20 that Mary Magdalene.
One who had been completely under the power of Satan.
Possessed of seven demons.
And after she had been healed.
After the Lord had cast out thee the demons.
It was her privilege to minister to him of her substance. She was evidently a man, a woman of wealth and means.
And yet she had been under the power of Satan.
For that, that affects everyone, whether one is poor or rich.
She had an affection for the Lord.
That comes out here.
More than anyone else, it would seem, there was Mary of Bethany, characterized by intelligence in the Lord's mind, she seems to have been the only one that really entered into the truth of His resurrection.
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Mary Magdalene was drawn here to his tomb.
Because of her love and her affections for him.
Verse one, the first day of the week cometh Mary Magdalene early.
When it was yet dark unto the sepulcher, and seeth the stone taken away from the sepulcher.
This wasn't done to let the Lord out.
It was done to show those that would come that he was out.
That he was not there.
Nothing could contain him.
Death could not hold him, the sepulchre could not contain him.
He was risen.
And Mary Magdalene comes first.
And she saw this, that he was gone.
Then she runneth and cometh to Simon Peter and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved.
It's beautiful how John the writer of this gospel.
Hides himself under that expression, the disciple whom Jesus loved.
It's an expression that was true of him, but it can be true of each of us.
As we take the place of the disciple whom Jesus loved.
And she saith unto them, They have taken away the Lord out of the sepulchre.
Notice when she's speaking to Peter and John, she says they have taken away the Lord. He was their Lord as well as hers. And so she uses that expression. They have taken away the Lord out of the sepulchre. She had no idea, no thought yet of resurrection.
Didn't understand that truth.
Mary of Bethany evidently did, but not Mary of Magdala. But it was her affections for him that brought her there.
And she makes this announcement. They have taken away the Lord out of the sepulchre, and we know not where they laid him.
We don't get anything in John's gospel about the Roman guards that were set there.
And how that Matthew tells us they were struck dumb when the angels came. We don't get that detail.
But she says they have taken away the Lord.
And we don't know where they've laid him.
Peter therefore went forth, and that other disciple, and came to the sepulchre. So they ran both together, And the other disciple did outrun Peter, and came first to the sepulchre. And he stooping down and looking in, saw the linen clothes lying. Yet went he not in.
We will read.
Just a few verses later.
What he actually saw here it just says he saw the linen clothes lying, yet went he not in? Then cometh Simon Peter following him, and went into the sepulchre, and seeth the linen clothes lie.
And the napkin.
That was about his head, not lying with the linen clothes, but wrapped together in a place by itself. They saw a picture of complete order.
No haste.
No.
Emergency in stealing his body.
Now, if you know how the body was wrapped, it was wrapped.
With linen.
Many wrappings.
And it was mixed with.
Ointment.
Embalming fluid.
This is the way they wrap the bodies.
And he had risen out of that.
And they saw that.
And the napkin that was upon his head had been taken off, and he had folded it up and set it.
By itself.
It was a picture of order. No haste, nothing hurried, hurriedly done.
But uh.
A scene that was so convincing.
That he had risen.
For them to have unwrapped those clothes.
In the condition that they saw them.
And the napkin laid by itself, neatly folded.
In a separate place, for that to have been done by those that would come there, and with a hurried work.
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Remove his body.
They saw that evidence before their eyes.
Says in verse 8.
Then went in also that other disciple which came first to the sepulchre, and he saw and believed.
The evidence was compelling.
He was risen.
For as yet they knew not the scripture that he must rise again from the dead. He had told them repeatedly that he would suffer and be killed and the third day rise again. But they didn't understand that, saying it was hid from them.
Amazing that the Jews.
Who went to Pilate and said that? Deceiver said that at three days he would rise again. They seemed to have understood the Lord's words, but His own didn't.
Strikingly strange, but it's so it is recorded in scripture.
Then the disciples went away again unto their own home.
Now before I go on in this chapter, this chapter is the chapter of the resurrection. It records the second most mighty and wondrous event that's ever taken place in this world, the resurrection of Christ. The previous chapter records his death.
His death.
Death.
A death which at the end of his sufferings, he cries. It is finished with a loud voice. Finished one word.
Which is rendered in three in the English.
Word finished.
The work was finished. What was finished? Can you think of anything that wasn't finished? All that was necessary to bring your soul and mind into the very presence of God? Finished. God glorified our sins, put away the whole question of good and evil entered into between God and that blessed sufferer on the cross. That was finished.
Tremendous work.
Turning back for a moment to the 12TH chapter of this very gospel.
John 12.
The Lord Jesus says in verse 23.
Jesus answered them, saying the hour has come that the Son of Man should be glorified.
There's a theory.
That when Christ became a man, he united himself to humanity. Well, if that were true, then he would have united himself to sinful humanity. No, there's no union between God, between Christ and man in the incarnation.
It's striking, isn't it? That the incarnation or the birth of Christ is coming into this world is only recorded in two of the Gospels, but his death and his resurrection are recorded in all four, because it is that which forms the basis for our blessing, that which has brought glory to God. Of course, his coming into this world, his incarnation, recorded in Matthew and in Luke, not in Mark, not in John.
And especially not in John, because there he was the.
Eternal Son, the eternal Word, God manifest in the flesh. It speaks of it in John 114. The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, but the details of His coming are not given to us as we have it in Matthew and in Luke, but we have beautiful instruction as to His death now going on in John 12 he says.
The hour has come that the Son of Man should be glorified. Verse 24. Verily, verily, I say unto you.
Except the corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone, but if it die it bringeth forth much fruit.
Tremendous truth in that verse. If Christ had not died and gone into death and been raised from the dead, there would be no fruit for God.
There be no fruit there be. He couldn't bring us back with him.
But he came to bring us, and so that corn of wheat died.
He could have gone back to heaven without the cross, but He couldn't have taken us with Him, and He came. One of the purposes, of course, was to bring us with Him back to glory.
So the corn of wheat has died, and in that death there is much fruit.
For God. Now let's go back to John 20.
In verse 11.
Mary stood without it, the sepulcher weeping.
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Verse 10 says, Then the disciples went away again unto their own home.
They saw that he was gone. They still didn't know that he must rise again. Verse 9 says that for as yet they knew not the scripture that he must rise again from the dead.
Just what their thoughts were, we're not told. Who would have taken away his body? Whatever their thoughts were, were not told. But they go to their own home. They still had a home here on earth.
But Mary didn't.
She had lost everything.
She was so attached to him.
That when he was gone, she had lost everything.
So she stood at the sepulchre, the last place that she had seen him being laid.
At the Sepulcher.
Weeping.
And as she wept, she stooped down and looked into the sepulchre.
And seeth something that Peter and John didn't see. She seeth 2 angels in white sitting, the one at the head and the other at the feet where the body of Jesus had lain. Peter and John had seen the evidence, the compelling evidence that he was risen out of that condition of death that he had been in. He had risen.
But she doesn't. She now sees these two angels.
And they say unto her, Woman, why weepest thou?
I don't know if there's another instance where someone sees angels and is not struck with fear.
But it were not recorded of any fear in Mary's heart here.
She was in such sorrow and such grief that.
The appearance of the angels, the presence of the angels did not really.
Draw her attention.
They say unto her, Woman, why weepest thou?
She saith unto them, Because they have taken away my Lord.
Have taken away my Lord, she had said to Peter and John.
The Lord, they've taken away the Lord, but now she says they've taken away my Lord.
And I know not where they have laid him.
Still no idea of the resurrection.
And when she had thus said, she turned herself back.
And saw Jesus standing and knew not that it was Jesus.
It may have still been dark.
May have been the beginning of dawn. It took some time. She first came there, it was dark so it took some time for her to go back and tell the the Peter and John that he wasn't there.
And they came to see, and they saw and believed.
But the tears are still streaming down her face.
And her vision is blurred.
And she didn't understand, she did not recognize him. She knew not that it was Jesus.
Jesus saith unto her woman.
Why weep this thou?
And all those tears, how they filled his heart with joy as he realized the love that she had for him.
Why weepest thou?
Whom seekest thou?
She's supposing him to be the gardener, saith unto him, Sir, if thou hast borne him hence, tell me where thou hast laid him, and I will take him away.
There's something extremely beautiful.
In her not naming his name.
Him. There's only one.
It reminds me of the Song of Solomon where the bride says let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth.
For thy love is better than wine.
Heaven, there's only one. And for her to have lost him.
Was to have lost everything. This world was now, to her, a graveyard.
Tell me where thou hast laid him, and I will take him away.
Jesus saith unto her.
Mary.
Again, that reminds us of John 10, where the Lord says He calleth his own sheep by name and leadeth them out. He leads them out of Judaism into the blessedness of Christianity. It's exactly what he's going to do here with Mary of Magdala.
To lead her out from her Jewish thoughts, she was looking for a Messiah to set up the Kingdom, to establish Israel as the head of the nations. She had lost him once, now she found him again, and she immediately is about to lay hold upon him to.
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Touch him to handle him.
And so he says immediately to her.
Touch me not.
For I am not yet ascended to my father.
But go unto my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father, and to my God, and your God. In Matthew 28 it says that the women held him by the feet.
An apparent contradiction to what we have here, where he says to Mary, touch me not.
Not yet ascended to my Father, Christianity begins on the other side of the cloud with this Blessed One ascending to the Father and seating himself at the right hand of the Majesty on high.
And then from that exalted place in heaven he sends down the Holy Spirit. But here, now he gives her a message, a message so wonderful, no more wonderful message has ever been given.
Go to my brethren.
Those that were his disciples, His Jewish disciples here below, when he was here, He now calls them my brethren. And tell them, I ascend unto my Father, and to your Father, to my God, and to your God. He puts them in his own place before God and before the Father.
So that they could know him.
Be in relationship to him.
Even as he was as the blessed man.
Touch me not, for I am not yet ascended to my father.
But go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my father, and your father to my God, and your God.
He had done the work.
That had removed their sins, that had removed everything that stood against His, bringing them into the blessedness of this nearness that He unfolds in this short message to Mary, which she then brings to the disciples. Go to my brethren and tell them this. He puts them in His place before God and before the Father.
My Father and my God.
He was always his father from all eternity. That was a relationship which he knew from all eternity. And now that he had become man, he could call him also my God. Thou art my God, even from my mother's belly, ever since he entered his creation and became a servant.
Blessed dependent man, he could address him as my God.
And we know the only time that he actually used those words was on the cross when he was forsaken of God. My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?
This is the second time that He uses them. He's not addressing Him now. He was on the cross, but here He's telling Mary to tell the disciples, called them my brethren, and that He puts them in His place before the Father and before God.
He was about to re enter the glory.
He says in John 17, Glorify thou me with thine own self, with the glory which I had with thee before the world was. But then he's asking to be reinstated into that glory that He had with the Father as the eternal Son, to be reinstated into it as man.
And here he's telling Mary, I'm going to bring multitudes with me as my brethren, those who are in my place before the Father and before God, so that they can call them, call him our Father and our God.
The Epistles.
None of them.
Use the expression Heavenly Father the Lord taught the disciples His Jewish disciples when He was here on earth.
To pray to our Father which art in heaven, or our heavenly Father. But this is something even more precious than that. The epistles address the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
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That's in keeping with what we have here.
He is to us as God what He was to that blessed man as God.
He is to us as Father what He was to Him, that blessed man, the Lord Jesus as Father.
He's put us in his own place, and in order for that to be accomplished, He has to give us of His own resurrection life.
When we're born again by the Spirit, we receive divine life.
Its eternal life, no question about it.
But the full character of it was never known in the Old Testament, couldn't be known until he who was the eternal Son, the eternal life that was with the Father and was manifested to us as man, came into the scene. And now we see what eternal life is in a man. We see it in Christ as he walked down here.
That eternal life that was with the Father and was manifested to us.
And he's going to give that life to us in the power of the Spirit of God.
Well, let's go on. Mary Magdalene came and told the disciples that she had seen the Lord, and that He had spoken these things unto her.
Then the same day now as a result of this.
Carrying the message that the Lord had told Mary Magdalene to take to the disciples.
That very same day, at evening, being the first day of the week, the same day he rose when he appeared to marry, she had come in the early morning, when it was still dark, had received this most blessed of messages.
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 as a result of this.
Message my brethren. Go to them. Tell them I ascend to my Father and to your Father, to my God and to your God. They're now assembled together.
They've been brought together by the reception of this wonderful message from the lips of the Lord Jesus, passed to them through Mary.
This one that had such affection for the Lord Jesus.
And now they're together, and now he stands in their midst, a little picture before the church was even formed of Christianity, the Christian company, these that he's in the midst of are the very ones that would compose the church when they received the Holy Spirit in Acts 2 on the day of Pentecost. They're the ones that would be brought into that blessedness.
But now he appears in their midst.
And they were there with the door shut, for fear of the Jews. Jesus stood in the midst, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you. He brings the fruit of his work, and that's peace.
Peace. When we enter into the work of Christ, we have peace. Therefore, being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. The sin question is settled. Peace with God. I'll never be called into judgment for my sins. Peace with God, that's the first message he proclaims.
And when he had so said, he showed unto them his hands in his side, and now they see him.
The fruit of His work proclaimed brings peace, and now they see Him, and then with the disciples glad when they saw the Lord joy. Peace as a result of His work, joy as a result of His person.
Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you. This is the second time he mentions it. This time not for themselves, but that they would carry that message of peace to others. 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.
Immediately when we read this, we think of let's turn back to Genesis chapter 1 and 2. I'll read a few verses from Genesis chapter 1.
We think of the creation of man.
In the creation of man as recorded in Genesis chapter 1 and verse 21, it says God created great whales and every living creature that moveth.
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Which the waters brought forth abundantly.
And so on.
And in verse.
25 God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and everything that creepeth upon the earth after his kind, and God saw that it was good. But now there's a change in verse 26.
God said, let us, God goes into conference with himself three Persons in the Trinity, the three Persons conferring together, as it were, taking counsel together at the creation of man. And God says, let us make man in our image after our likeness, And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.
So God created man in his own image, in the image of God that created him.
Majestic language. Man's origin comes directly from God, and that's why he's called the Son of God. The Son of God by creation, directly from the hand of God.
The Lord Jesus was the Son of God by eternal generation, never created, He was always that. But man was the Son of God by creation Adam was.
So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created him.
Male and female created he them and in the 2nd chapter we have an additional.
Additional comment I'll read verse 19 first. Out of the ground, the Lord God formed every beast of the field and every fowl of the air, and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them.
So the animals, the birds were created out of the dust of the ground. Verse 7 says the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground.
And and then now we read so, so Adam was also created out of the dust of the ground, just like the bird, just like the animals.
But there was something in addition to the birds and the animals.
And he breathed into his nostrils the breath of life. Jehovah God breathed into man's nostrils the breath of life. And man became a living soul, a living soul, a soul that would never die, a living soul. We call that immortality. The soul that will never die. Man has an immortal soul. It will not die. His body dies, but not his soul, not his spirit, because he received it directly from the in breathing.
God, so man is a unique creation.
He came about as a result of God conferring among himself as the three Persons of the Trinity and.
He was created in the image and likeness of God. The 3rd chapter of Genesis tells us how that he fell and lost that likeness and the image has been marred. Man is a poor representation of God today because he's fallen into sin.
And he certainly no longer in his likeness.
Is not pure any longer. He is a wretched, guilty, wicked Sinner.
But here we have now.
The head of a new creation. Christ in resurrection going to John 20 again. Christ in resurrection.
A quickening spirit.
And he appears to his disciples, stands in their midst, pronounces peace to them twice, the first time for themselves, the second time with a message that they should go forth to others and bear this message of peace to the lost.
And then he communicates his own resurrection life to them.
In the power of the Holy Spirit.
Verse 23 again, verse 22. And when he had said this, he breathed on them or into them, just like Jehovah, just like he had done, for it's the same person that breathed into Adam's nostrils the breath of life.
That now breathes into the disciples nostrils, as it were, the breath of his resurrection life.
And our whole portion.
With him is in resurrection.
When he had said this, he breathed on them, and sayeth unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost. Now we know that the Holy Spirit was not actually given as a divine person until the 2nd chapter of Acts.
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But we have these two mentions of the Spirit being given first here in John 20 from the risen Christ, the one who was, who is the Head now of a new creation.
Communicating His own resurrection life to His disciples so that they might be able to know God as as He knew Him, know the Father as He knew Him, that they might become His brethren in an intimacy of relationship never known before as a result of the work that He did on the cross. John 19 is the work of the cross. The putting away of everything that stood against us, the removing of the history of.
The judgment against the flesh and all that we were.
In our sins and all that we were in our nature, were dealt with at the cross.
And now Christ is risen.
The only connection that we have with Christ is in resurrection, except the corn of wheat fall into the ground and die to bite it alone. But if it diet bringeth forth much fruit.
We have no connection with him in his life before death.
He was born of a woman born under the law, but now he is no longer under the law. Now he is no longer subject to having, I don't want to say subject to because he wasn't subject to death, but he and Grace did die. But now that he's risen, he's in a new order, a new condition of things as the Risen 1 And he communicates to you and to me that.
In those conditions, in that character by the Spirit of God, the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus.
If any man be in Christ.
He is a new creature. Though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet we know Him thus no longer. Mary knew him after the flesh. She knew him as her Messiah, and she wanted him back in that way. And she goes to grab him, to lay hold upon him, and he says, touch me not.
I've not yet ascended to my father. You're going to be brought into relationship with me, Mary, in a way that will never end.
It will go on for all eternity. You lost me once. You don't want to lose me a second time, but you'll never lose me again.
I am going to give you my own resurrection life, a life which is beyond death.
A life which is beyond the law and the curse of the law. A life which is beyond suffering. A life which is beyond sin. Life which is in resurrection, a new position before God.
Quickened together with him of his own resurrection life.
Raised up together with him.
And finally, Ephesians 2 Says seated in him.
In the heavenlies. We're not with him there yet, we're not seated with him there yet, but we are quickened with him and risen with Him.
Even now.
The life that we have in our souls is resurrection life, a life that is beyond the reach of sin and death and the curse and the law.
And condemnation.
There is then now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus. You cannot attach condemnation to the risen life of Christ. And we stand before God in Christ, risen, exalted, and seated at the right hand of God.
Blessed truth. We can point to the man that's in the glory and say my life is there.
Christ, who is our life, When he shall appear, then shall we also appear with Him in glory. He's also our righteousness. He's also our sanctification. He's also our redemption.
Indeed, we have it all in Him. It's our wisdom too.
God has made him to be that to us, and here we have him.
Breathing his own resurrection life in the power of the Holy Spirit. What characterizes Christianity is that we are now risen.
Risen, not just quickened, not just have a new life.
But a resurrection life? Life in resurrection conditions.
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Heavenly people.
Now turn to Romans. Well, before I leave this passage, I want to touch on verse 23.
Having communicated resurrection life, the risen Christ as the head of a new creation.
He brings us now into association with Himself in resurrection.
Having removed in his death all that hindered the establishment of this blessedness.
That's all been taken out of the way. Our sins, the very nature.
That we can never enter heaven with has been condemned and judged and put away.
At the cross.
God condemned sin in the flesh, foretold and romancing.
That was at the cross, and now he's risen into a new order.
Of things altogether. And he's given us the same life.
So that we also are united with him now by the Spirit in resurrection life.
One with him.
To be in the enjoyment of our portion.
In the Spirit.
He says in verse 23, Whosoever sins you remit, they are remitted unto them.
He says this to this company of risen, quickened and risen.
Quickened with the life that is in Christ and risen with Him. He says it to this company that are in that position.
He says whosoever sends you remit, they are remitted, and whosoever sends you retain, they are retained. And it's important to remark that in John 20 he's not addressing the apostles exclusively, he's addressing the disciples.
Verse 19 the same day at evening being the first day of the week, where the doors were shut, where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews. There wasn't just the apostles there, there were other disciples. It's the, it's, it's that which speaks of the Christian company.
That which would become the Christian Church.
This company of Jews here.
Were now being instructed in the highest truth.
And the Lord is going through in His instruction here, that they are being brought into an altogether new order of blessedness, never known before in the power of the Spirit, and they are given administrative authority to remit and to retain sins.
Administrative authority.
Look at Acts chapter 2 for a moment.
Acts Chapter 2.
Peter preaches on the day of Pentecost.
And.
He says to them, to these Jews.
In verse 37 Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their hearts and said unto Peter, and to the rest of the apostles, men and brethren, what should we do? Then Peter said unto them, Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for their remission of sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. For the promise is unto you and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call.
And with many other words did, he testified exhort, saying, save yourselves from that, from this untoward generation.
There were 120 that were baptized by the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost and now he's preaching and now there are 3000 souls that are received into that Christian community whose sins are administratively remitted them and they're received as Christians.
Then they had gladly received His word, were baptized in the same day they were added unto them about 3000 souls, and they continued steadfastly in the apostles doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking your bread and in prayers. There is such a thing as being.
Within and without.
Do not ye judge them that are within? Paul says to the Corinthians. But them that are without God judgeth.
And so there's such a thing as being admitted administratively into the Christian community, and the Lord confers that privilege upon these that had his own resurrection life.
In Acts chapter 8.
We have another illustration of this.
Verse 18 And when Simon saw that through laying on of the apostles hands the Holy Ghost was given, he offered them money.
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Saying, Give me also this power, that on whomsoever I lay hands he may receive the Holy Ghost. Now Simon had been baptized, it says in verse 13. And Simon himself believed also. And when he was baptized, he continued with Philip, and wondered, beholding the miracles and the signs which were done. So he was a baptized soul.
But now Simon.
Peter says to him in verse 20.
Thy money perish with thee, because thou hast thought that the gift of God may be purchased with money.
Thou hast neither part nor lot in this matter, for thy heart is not right in the sight of God. He retains his sins, and the Christian community did the same.
Repent therefore of this thy wickedness, and pray, God, of perhaps the thought of thine heart may be forgiven thee.
For I perceive that thou art in the gall of bitterness, and in the bond of iniquity. That answered Simon, and said, Pray ye to the Lord for me, that none of these things which thou hast spoken come upon thee.
Though as a result of this, I don't believe there's any doubt that.
He was not received into the Christian community, not acknowledged as being one of them. He was false, and he was exposed immediately, even though he had been outwardly identified with them first by baptism, and yet he was not received by them administratively. They retained.
His sins.
Has nothing to do with eternal forgiveness, but its administrative.
Forgiveness or retaining of sins.
Acts Chapter 9 is another illustration of what we have in our chapter in John 20.
Acts Chapter 9. Saul of Tarsus is converted in verse 22. Saul increased the more in strength, and confounded the Jews which dwelt at Damascus, proving that this is very Christ.
And after that many days were fulfilled. The Jews took counsel to kill him. But they are lying. Await was known of Saul, and they watched the gates day and night to kill him. Then the disciples took him by night and let him down by the wall in a basket. And when Saul was come to Jerusalem, he assayed to join himself to the disciples. Again. It's the disciples.
But they were all afraid of Him, and believed not that he was a disciple. They refused to receive him.
They retained his sins.
They did not remit them administratively, they refused to grant him fellowship.
But Barnabas took him, and brought him to the apostles, and declared unto them how he had seen the Lord in the way, and that he had spoken to him, and how he had preached boldly at Damascus in the name of Jesus.
And he was with them coming in and going out at Jerusalem. Now they remit his sins.
Administratively, and now he can move among the disciples.
Those that name the name of the Lord Jesus and he was received.
The last instance I want to bring your attention to is 1 Corinthians 5.
1St Corinthians 5 We know the story. We know the chapter.
Umm, verse 12. I've already quoted this, I'll read it.
What have I to do to judge them also that are without those that aren't Christians?
Do not ye judge them that are within. That's the responsibility of the Christian community we have been given in because we have resurrection life with Christ administrative responsibilities to retain or remit sins.
Do not ye judge them that are within them that are without God judgeth.
Therefore put away from among yourselves that wicked person. So they retained this man's sins, Put him out.
Now in the 2nd chapter of the second epistle.
We'll see that.
They exercise that administrative function.
In a different way.
In chapter 2 of Second Corinthians.
Verse 6 He says sufficient to such a man is this punishment which was inflicted of many.
They had retained his sins. They had fixed his sins upon him and put him out.
And now Paul says his punishment is enough.
Evidently he had repented, and he showed evidence of his true repentance. So that contrary wise, you ought rather to forgive him and comfort him, lest perhaps such a one should be swallowed up with excessive sorrow. Wherefore I beseech you that you would confirm your love toward him.
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And they received him back, and so they remitted his sins.
And I believe that's what we have in John 20.
It's for the whole Christian community.
There is a within and a without.
People don't just come and put themselves into fellowship on their own. That's irregular.
I know there's one instance, we were talking about it today when one did that. Very irregular.
It's the Christian community's responsibility to retain and remit sins administratively.
And that's what we have in John 20.
Well, time is up. I just want to call your attention to Romans 8, please, for a moment.
We started a bit late so I haven't gone over yet.
Romans 8.
There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in.
Christ Jesus, we have his life, His resurrection life.
No condemnation can be attached to that life. We have it in a new position.
Before God we are as he is before God. There is therefore now no condemnation.
To them which are in Christ Jesus. And notice verse 2. For the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. These first.
Um 11 verses of Romans 8.
Are examples of the Spirit in the character of John 20.
Receive you, the Holy Ghost.
As characterizing the risen life that we have in Christ, to which no condemnation can be attached.
It's the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus.
The Spirit of God characterizing and associating himself with that resurrection life.
Of Christ.
And it has. It is the power of deliverance. Notice we'll read it again. The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. Go back to verse 23 in Chapter 7 and see the contrast to one who who had life but not the Spirit. I see another law in my members warring against the law of my mind and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.
So there he's a captive to the law of sin, which is in his members. But the man in Romans 8 who has the Spirit of God as life is delivered from that law, sin and death, the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus, that made me free from the law of sin and death.
Well, we don't have time to go through the rest of these verses in Romans 8, but we have in these first 11 verses what answers to John 20 when we receive the Spirit of God today, when someone believes the gospel receives Christ for the forgiveness of his sins, he's sealed with the Holy Spirit. The Spirit is given. He has the Spirit both as life and as a person indwelling him, which is what you get in Acts 2 when the Spirit of God actually was poured out.
Upon the discipled and baptized them into one body. So both the John 20 aspect of the Spirit as the power of risen life with Christ and also as a divine person indwelling us. Acts 2 are given to us when we believe the gospel today they are separated in scripture so that we can see.
The different character of the of the Spirit as life and characterizing the risen life we have in Christ.
John 20 And also as an indwelling person, making these bodies the temple of the Holy Spirit. Both are true in Christianity, and both are most blessedly wonderful.
Bringing us into an order of blessedness never never known before. And that couldn't be until.
Christ became a man, and as a man he died and put away all that stood against us.
Ended the history of the first man.
God judged sin in the flesh. All that we were was judged and set aside, as well as all that we have done. And now we stand before God in the risen life of Christ. No condemnation.
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In Christ Jesus, how can there be any condemnation attaching to that risen life? Impossible.
And that's what we have in him.
And so we are new creatures in Christ, brought into a new creation, one with Him in resurrection. Could not be united to him in incarnation. Impossible.
He would have partaken of our sinfulness. That's impossible. Instead, now we partake of His Holiness, and that's what we've been brought into in resurrection life.