{"id":18629,"date":"2015-04-26T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2015-04-26T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sugar-land-bible-church.local\/sermon\/his-peace\/"},"modified":"2015-04-26T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2015-04-26T05:00:00","slug":"his-peace","status":"publish","type":"sermon","link":"https:\/\/slbc.org\/es\/sermon\/his-peace\/","title":{"rendered":"His Peace"},"content":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","book":[88],"series_event":[434],"sermon_service_type":[472],"speaker":[6],"class_list":["post-18629","sermon","type-sermon","status-publish","hentry","book-john","series_event-john","sermon_service_type-main-service","speaker-dr-andy-woods","no-post-thumbnail"],"acf":{"sermon_title":"His Peace","sermon_date":"20150426","sermon_month":"4","sermon_year":"2015","sermon_notes":2661,"sermon_slides":2663,"sermon_mp3":2664,"sermon_id":"426151013350","series_or_event":434,"service_type":[472],"speaker":6,"books_of_the_bible":88,"chapter_and_verse":"20:19","sermon_transcript":"Andy Woods\nHis Peace\n4-26-15 John 20:19 Lesson 121\n\nGood morning everyone; if we could take our Bibles and open them to John 20:19, I don\u2019t anticipate us getting too far beyond verse 21 today but the title of our message this morning is His Peace. And of course, as you know we are continuing our study through John\u2019s Gospel, we are in that final section of the book recording the final days of Christ. And of course we\u2019ve looked at His death and chapters 20-21 is where we find ourselves as we\u2019re looking at His resurrection and the events following.\n\nWe have seen the empty tomb, John 20:1-10 and the way the book of John wraps up is it wraps up with the various post resurrection appearances of Jesus to various people or groups. Last week we saw His first post resurrection appearance to a woman named Mary Magdalene. And as we get into verses 19-23 we see His second post resurrection appearance and here He is appearing to His disciples minus Thomas. And of course, as you know, Judas has left the group a long time ago. So He\u2019s really appearing just to ten individuals and He will appear to this same group a little bit later, about eight days later, and Thomas will be involved beginning in verse 24.\n\nBut this appearance to the ten we can divide it up as follows; we have the fearful disciples, verse 19, and then after that we have the faithful Savior, the second half of verse 19 through verse 23. We have His appearance, His comfort and something that is very, very important, His commission because His commission explains what the church is supposed to be doing in His absence.\n\nLet\u2019s go ahead and start off with verse 19, His appearance. Well, first of all, before He appears in this room we have a description there of the fearful disciples and notice, if you will, John 20:19. It says, \u201cSo when it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and when the doors were shut where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in their midst and said to them, \u2018Peace be with you.\u2019\u201d\n\nYou\u2019ll notice verse 19, the first part of the verse, it says, \u201cSo when it was evening on that day,\u201d now what day are we talking about. We are talking about Sunday, the day that Jesus resurrected from the dead. This would be Easter Sunday evening, although I\u2019ve got to tell you something, I\u2019m not sure that we as Christians should be using the word \u201cEaster\u201d when you understand its roots. I didn\u2019t want to say this on Easter Sunday for fear of alienating everybody that came to visit us for the first time, but the fact of the matter is the word \u201cEaster\u201d is not found in the Bible. The proper name for this particular Sunday is Resurrection Sunday.\n\nWell, then, where do we get this idea of Easter? It actually goes back to the tower of Babel [pronounced with long A, b\u0101y-bel] or Babel [pronounced with short a, Baw-bel]. And it\u2019s there we learn by studying, not just the Scripture but extra biblical Babylonian tradition that there was a man named Nimrod. Now he is mentioned in the Bible, in Genesis 10:8-10. [Genesis 10:8-10, \u201cNow Cush became the father of Nimrod; he became a mighty one on the earth. [9] He was a mighty hunger before the LORD; therefore it is said, \u2018Like Nimrod a mighty hunger.\u2019 [10] The beginning of his kingdom was Babel and Erech and Accad and Calneh, in the land of Shinar.\u201d]\n\nHis name in Hebrew actually means revolt or rebellion. And he was married to a woman named Semiramis, and Nimrod and Semiramis had a child named Tammuz. Tammuz was killed by a wild animal according to Babylonian tradition and he was miraculously, it was like a fake resurrection, he was miraculously brought back to life under satanic power. And what started at the tower of Babel, or Babel, was what\u2019s called the mother-child cult, the worship of the mother and the worship of the child.\n\nAnd what we have to understand is according to early Genesis 11 there was only one language at that time and as you know the story from Sunday school, when God confounded the languages the different nations formed as a result of that. But every nation took with them into their culture a little piece of this mother-child cult or this worship of the mother and the worship of the son. And the book that explains all of this so well is a book called The Two Babylons by Alexander Hislop. And Hislop explains that in any culture you look at you will see remnants of this worship of the mother and the worship of the child; it\u2019s just the names get changed from culture to culture.\n\nSo in Assyria the mother was named Ishtar; the child was named Tammuz. In Phoenicia the mother was named Astarte, the child was named Ba\u2019al. In Egypt the mother is named Isis; the child is named Horus or Osiris. In Greece the mother is named Aphrodite; the child is named Eros. In Rome the mother is named Venus; the child is named Cupid. Hislop traces this; he didn\u2019t make a lot of friends with the Roman Catholics with this book because he traces this into Roman Catholicism. And his point is the Jesus and Mary of Roman Catholicism is not the Jesus of the Bible. Most people understand that because Mary, in that system, is venerated almost like a co-redemptress.\n\nAnd the point I\u2019m trying to make is when you look at that first one there, Assyria, the mother is named Ishtar. Now it\u2019s from Ishtar we get the word what? Easter! And so that is actually the origin of the word Easter; it\u2019s actually a pagan concept that goes back to the tower of Babel, or Babel, if Alexander Hislop and what he says is accurate.\n\nSo all of these things that we have in our culture, we have eggs, we have bunnies\u2026 it\u2019s funny, you read your Bible you don\u2019t find any eggs or bunnies. So why is all of this stuff in our living rooms? Why do we bring it into our churches? Well, we\u2019re influenced by, sadly, many times the culture of the day and we mix a pagan origin with a legitimate bona fide celebration within Christianity. We mix the two together and we end up calling it Easter when in reality the proper designation for it is Resurrection Sunday. So that\u2019s just a little background on that\u2026 no extra charge for that.\n\nBut you\u2019ll notice that they were meeting here; it specifically says, \u201cwhen it was evening on that day,\u201d and then it says specifically, \u201cthe first day of the week.\u201d What we have to understand is the meeting of these Jews on the first day of the week is something that is profound. The Jews had not been having their Sabbath on the first day of the week, which is Sunday. For one thousand five hundred years they had been meeting on Saturday; not the first day of the week, the last day of the week. And they were to work six days and rest on the seventh day which would be Saturday. And they received those instructions from the Lord at Mount Sinai through what is called the Mosaic Law. And it\u2019s there at the bottom circle, as they came out of Egyptian bondage and were in route to enter Canaan. And so you have to understand that that law was given about 1445 B.C.\n\nSo the Jews, all they knew for 1,500 years, roughly, was this mindset that they had that we\u2019re going to have Sabbath on the last day of the week. And then all of a sudden you get to the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Jesus did not rise on Saturday, as you know, He rose on Sunday and that changed everything in the world of spirituality, at least as far as God is concerned. And so the church starts meeting on the first day of the week and it\u2019s not just here on this particular day that they\u2019re gathered but it is throughout the ages.\n\nIn Acts 20:7 it says, \u201cOn the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread\u2026.\u201d In 1 Corinthians 16:2 it says, Paul is raising money for an offering and he says, \u201cOn the first day of every week each one of you is to put aside and save\u2026\u201d speaking of this offering project. So everything shifts and that, in and of itself, I believe, is one of the great proofs that Jesus bodily rose from the dead. Why would Jews, and keep in mind the early church was all Jewish, why would they shift from Saturday to Sunday? Why would they shift from what they knew for one thousand five hundred years? Think about how long one thousand five hundred years is; America has only been here for what, two hundred thirty-eight years, something to that extent. Think about being under a system for one thousand five hundred years and all of a sudden shifting it from one day to the next.\n\nWhy would they do that unless something historic had happened on that particular Sunday\u2026 the bodily resurrection of Jesus from the dead? Michael Green, I\u2019ve used this quote before, but he makes this statement, he says: \u201cThe Jews original day of rest was on Saturday because it was said that God had finished His creation and rested on the seventh day. It was written into their laws. The Sabbath is one of the supporting columns of Judaism. One of the most reverent things in the life of the Jew was keeping the Sabbath. The Christians, though, met for worship on the first day of the Jewish week in acknowledgment of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. These Christians actually succeeded in changing this age-old and theologically backed day of rest and worship to Sunday, yet remember they were Jews themselves.\u201d\n\nOne of the things to understand about the early church is they are all comprised of Jews; all of the early believers in the Lord Jesus Christ were Jewish. When Peter gave the gospel on the day of Pentecost and three thousand people responded they were all Jews. You do not have a single Gentile convert in the church until Acts 10. One guy gets saved and they have to have a meeting amongst themselves, can you believe it\u2026 a Gentile got saved?\n\nNow what do we do, two thousand years later? If a Jew gets saved we all get together and we say can you believe it\u2026 a Jew got saved, because the church now, beginning probably with Paul\u2019s first missionary journey, starts to become primarily Gentile in Acts 13. But you see, the early church that made this decision to switch the day of worship, or rest, from Saturday to Sunday, those that made that decision were Jewish themselves. They had been steeped in the Mosaic Law which taught them to do the opposite for one thousand five hundred years. So Green says, \u201cremember they were Jews themselves, keeping in mind what they thought would happen if they were wrong we must recognize that this was probably one of the biggest decisions any religious body of men has ever made. How are we to explain the change from Saturday to Sunday worship without the resurrection of Jesus Christ?\u201d\n\nAnd so, you know, we read these things in our Bible, \u201con the first day of the week,\u201d and we just sort of rush right over it, and yet we need to understand that that is profoundly\u2026 profoundly significant. In fact, I would argue that it is unexplainable, it is inexplicable unless these early Christians, and they don\u2019t even get the name Christian, by the way, until Acts 11, but unless these early group of believers in Jesus, or Yeshua, which is the Jewish name for Jesus, or the Hebrew word for Jesus, they would not have made that shift unless something historical had happened, something as significant as the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ.\n\nBut any way you cut it what you discover is the Sabbath is rest; Saturday was the day of rest now Sunday becomes the day of rest. Is it not interesting that in the Sabbath, going all the way back to Genesis 2:1-3 God rested. Remember Genesis 2:1-3? \u201cThus the heavens and the earth were completed, and all their hosts. [2] By the seventh day God completed His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all of His work which He had done. [3] Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all of His work which God had created and made.\u201d\n\nWarren Wiersbe, the great Bible commentator, writes this: \u201cThe seventh day of the week, the Sabbath, commemorates God\u2019s finished work. The Lord\u2019s day, which is changed to Sunday,\u201d as we just said, \u201cThe Lord\u2019s day commemorates Christ\u2019s finished work of redemption, the new creation. For centuries the Jewish Sabbath had been associated with the Law; six days of work then you rest. But the Lord\u2019s Day, the first day of the week is associated with grace. First there is faith in the living Christ.\u201d\n\nSo this resurrection on the Sabbath, which has now been changed to Sunday, is supposed to bring up in our minds what God did and how He ceased from His labors; He ceased from His work. And we need to see the cross and the resurrection of Jesus Christ in that light because as you become a Christian you cease from your work, or you cease from your labor. Now why would we say that? Because of a very simple statement that Jesus made in John 19:30, this is the final words coming from the mouth of Christ just before He dies: \u201cTherefore when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, \u2018It is\u201d what? \u201cfinished! And He bowed His head and gave up His spirit.\u201d That\u2019s a euphemism for death.\n\nWhy is the transaction of Christ, why should it bring into our minds the Sabbath? Because in the Sabbath works cease; in Christ works cease. Why do works cease? Works cease because He has finished it all. Sadly, many, many people do not think this way. They look at Jesus as if He\u2019s done most of the work but we need to chip in a few good works ourselves. Religion says Christ did 90% but who makes up the difference? I do. How do I do that? Well, I pay, I pray, I obey would be one example; I try hard, I work hard, I try to be a good person. And so many people are caught in that mantra and may I just say to you, if that describes you then you are not a Christian. You have never entered into the grace of God whereby you cease from your work. God says Jesus did 100%; that is salvation by grace. Grace, of course, is unmerited favor. And the only way to receive something that has already been done for us is to receive it as a gift.\n\nThe only way to receive something by grace is to receive it as a gift and the only way to receive it as a gift, according to Romans 4:4-5 is by faith. [Romans 4:4-5, \u201cNow to the one who works, his wage is not credited as a favor, but as what is due. [5] But to the one who does not work, but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is credited as righteousness.\u201d] So the Christian message is not Jesus bought lunch, now let me leave the tip. The Christian message is it\u2019s all been paid for, everything: past, present and future! In fact, that is what that phase translated \u201cIt is finished\u201d means; it\u2019s the Greek word tetelestai; tetelestai is one of the most beautiful words in the Greek language, it means paid in full. That\u2019s what\u2019s translated there, \u201cIt is finished.\u201d In fact, it\u2019s very interesting that tetelestai itself, in John 19:30, is in the perfect tense. The perfect tense represents, in the Greek language (see, grammar means things because God chose to express Himself in verbal form) it means in the perfect tense a one-time action in the past with ongoing benefits. What is the death of Jesus Christ? It is a one-time action in the past that already took place with ongoing benefits for whoever will receive it by way of faith.\n\nSo what is the gospel? The gospel is Christ alone, faith alone, grace alone as revealed by the Scripture alone to the glory of God alone. And anybody that would add anything to that is teaching what Galatians 1 would call a false gospel. Now you may ask, well then where do good works come from? Aren\u2019t we a peculiar people? Aren\u2019t we called to produce good works? And the answer to that is we produce good works as God\u2019s people as a response to what He\u2019s done. We see \u201ctetelestai\u201d and we see \u201csabbath\u201d and we see \u201cpaid in full\u201d and we just can\u2019t believe we\u2019ve received this package from God. And we are so blown away by it that we want to express gratitude towards Him; we want to worship Him.\n\nNow we do not do good works to somehow make up the deficit for what Christ did but we do good works, not to pay God back, we do good works not to earn our salvation. We do good works out of a response of gratitude and worship for what God has done for us. And that is the proper motivation for good works. And yet so many people don\u2019t think that way. They think, and I know this for a fact because I thought this way for many, many years, until I finally understood the gospel, by God\u2019s grace, at the age of 16. Prior to the age of 16 I was up in that top category there, Jesus did most of it but I need to pick up the difference. That\u2019s not the gospel.\n\nIn fact, the book of Isaiah, chapter 64 and verse 6 specifically calls works that we do to somehow add to what Christ has done, it calls them \u201cfilthy rags.\u201d [Isaiah 64:6, \u201cBut we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags\u2026.\u201d KJV] God is not interested in them; God will not receive them. Why? Because Christ did it all. But upon hearing the gospel I shifted my whole thought process, away from me contributing a little sliver here to simply desiring to do good works because of this gift that I have received from God.\n\nAnd I know to some of you this sounds elementary, it sounds basic, why don\u2019t you move on to something more in depth. But beloved, this is the number 1 reason in the world that separates a saved person from an unsaved person. It separates a Christian from a non-Christian, because every other ism out there has man performing to do such and such, to somehow earn his acceptance before God. That mindset that people have is related to pride. People like to earn things from God because if I earn something from God guess who can boast? I can; yeah, Jesus, I\u2019m glad You did a lot of it but look at me\u2026 look at ME, look at MY contribution.\n\nBut you see, God has designed salvation in such a way, according to Romans 3:27, Ephesians 2:8-9, so that no man can boast. To receive the grace of God means an abasement of pride and pride is abased, pride is always attacked. This is why Paul, in Galatians 5:11 calls the gospel an offense. [Romans 3:27, \u201cWhere is boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? Of works? No, but by a law of faith. [28] For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from the works of the Law.\u201d Ephesians 2:8-9, \u201cFor by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; [9] not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.\u201d Galatians 5:11, \u201cBut I, brethren, if I still preach circumcision, why am I still persecuted? Then the stumbling block of the cross has been abolished.\u201d]\n\nPride is always abased, pride is always attacked in a grace system because it does not allow man to contribute to his salvation; it does not allow him to pull himself up by his own bootstraps. But aren\u2019t we the self-made culture, the American says. Don\u2019t we venerate and assign and ascribe accolades to people who make something of themselves, who somehow pull themselves up by their own bootstraps. And this is the culture that we\u2019re living in; it is a works oriented culture and the gospel comes along and says you know what? All of your good works to God are as filthy rags; they mean absolutely nothing because Jesus did it all and that is an assault on man\u2019s pride. And many people would rather persist in works to accommodate pride than they would simply to receive something from God as a free gift.\n\nSo of course, the question I have for you is which category are you in? Are you in the top category there or the bottom? In this case the bottom category is the right category. And it is so easy to become sloppy in our thinking on this and yet we cannot get this point wrong because this is the gospel and that is the significance of \u201csabbath\u201d and so forth.\n\nWe continue on here in verse 19, it says, \u201cSo when it was evening on that day, the first day of the week,\u201d now notice what this says, \u201cwhen the doors were shut \u2026 for fear of the Jews.\u201d \u201cwhen the doors were shut where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews,\u201d so these disciples that are in this particular room, I would guess it would be the Upper Room, are in a state of fear. And as I mentioned before, there\u2019s ten of them. Judas took an early exit, John 13:29-30, and if you drop down to verse 26 you\u2019ll discover that Thomas doesn\u2019t show up until about eight day s later. [John 13:29-30, \u201cFor some were supposing, because Judas had the money box, that Jesus was saying to him, \u2018buy the things we have need of for the feast\u2019; or else, that he should give something to the poor. [30] So after receiving the morsel he went out immediately; and it was night.\u201d John 20:26, \u201cAfter eight days His disciples were again inside, and Thomas with them.\u201d]\n\nSo these people are intimidated; these people are scared. Why are they scared? Why are they insecure? They are insecure because their teacher had been killed by the unbelieving Jews. Their Rabbi had been killed. And (this is before Christ had bodily appeared to them) it they can kill our teacher, if they can kill our Rabbi then they can kill us too, so let\u2019s kind of barricade ourselves in this room, let\u2019s lock the doors so no one can get in and out, and let\u2019s just hide in a state of fear.\n\nNow you contrast that with what these ten, and then Thomas included, these eleven became. When you get into Acts 2 and beyond you see a totally different transformed group. How do people move from fear of their own lives into a scenario where they\u2019re willing to preach Christ with great boldness at peril to their own lives? The only answer to that is (1) they saw the resurrected Christ, which they are about to see in a moment, but number 2, they are going to get an endowment or an empowerment from on high called the Holy Spirit. In fact, down in verse 23 there\u2019s a reference to the coming Holy Spirit, a verse we probably won\u2019t get to today. But Luke 24:49 says this: Jesus says this, \u201cAnd behold, I am sending forth the promise of My Father upon you; but you are to stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.\u201d\n\nSomething is about to happen where they are about to receive an empowerment that they didn\u2019t have before; they are about to be clothed\u2026 now \u201cclothed\u201d would refer to all of us, right? And it\u2019s a power not within themselves but it is a power from on high. And this, of course is, as we will see in Acts 2 when we get down to verse 23, probably next week, the empowerment of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit in the lives of these ten, and then eleven, made all the difference in the world.\n\nThe fact of the matter is God\u2026, and we all have different callings in God, but God never calls us to do anything that He does not empower us to do first. And so many times we step out in what we think is some sort of calling of God in our life and we try to manipulate circumstances and we try to pull off that calling through human power. But the fact of the matter is, we\u2019re never called to live the Christian life through human power; we are called to live the Christian life through divine power. Someone has said well, the Christian life is difficult and I will disagree with that; the Christian life is not difficult, the Christian life is impossible!\n\nWe simply cannot live out the Christian life through human power. God never designed it that way; we live out the Christian life through a chronic and constant and perpetual dependence upon the Holy Spirit. If you are trying to live out the requirements of God on your life through human power you are going to be one very frustrated, anxiety ridden, burnt out individual. And yet if we do what the Apostle Paul tells us to do in Galatians 5:16, where he says, \u201cBut I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not fulfill the lusts of the flesh,\u201d suddenly we are going to discover that we have an ability to live out the Christian life. So you are seeing here a dramatic transformation that is happening in the lives of these individuals.\n\nNow one of the things that\u2019s very interesting to note is Thomas doesn\u2019t show up until about eight days later. It says in verse 26, \u201cAfter eight days His disciples were again inside and Thomas was with them.\u201d So the scenario we\u2019re reading about is eight days earlier. Why is that significant? Because it\u2019s on this day that we\u2019re reading about, in verse 19-23, that Jesus is going to appear to these ten. Thomas, because he was not meeting regularly with the brethren was cheated of that blessing. Thomas, simply because he was not present spent a week there in fear and in doubt and in anxiety.\n\nIn other words, if Thomas had been where he was supposed to be he would have been illuminated and he would have been enlightened as were these other ten. So simply because of a lack of presence he was forfeited or short-changed, if you could, on a spiritual blessing. He spent all of this time in fear and doubt when the whole matter could have been cleared up eight days earlier had he just been present.\n\nAnd you see, that is a very important principle to understand; the principle of do not forsake for yourselves, amongst yourselves, your gathering together. Hebrews 10:25 puts it this way: \u201cnot forsaking your own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near.\u201d\n\nThomas Constable, in his Online Notes writes this: \u201cHow much Thomas missed because he did not meet with the other disciples on the Lord\u2019s Day. He had to endure a whole week of fear and unbelief unnecessarily.\u201d\n\nThe fact of the matter is when the Holy Spirit puts it in your mind to attend church you will be immediately under attack not to do so. Doubts will come into your mind, I think I\u2019ll just skip this Sunday, I can always watch it online, I\u2019m too busy, something has come up in the family, you know, we\u2019ve got some kind of vacation plans or we\u2019ve got something for the kids, I need a week off. And those kinds of things come into our mind. Now why do those things come into our mind? They come into our mind because Satan knows the spiritual encouragement\u2026 did not Hebrews 10:25 talk about encouragement, \u201cBut encouraging one another\u201d as you see the day approaching. Satan knows the encouragement that you\u2019re going to get by simply being present. And so he is trying to rob you of that blessing. So he is trying to keep you away from a regularly assembling of yourselves together.\n\nThe fact of the matter is when we skip church, we miss church, we don\u2019t think church is much of a priority we think we\u2019re cheating God but the reality of the situation is we\u2019re cheating ourselves. And God has designed the church in such a way that it\u2019s the place where we come and we receive nourishment, we receive fellowship, we receive the Lord\u2019s table and many other things we do at church; sometimes we receive prayer, which we desperately need to make it through an entire week on Satan\u2019s turf.\n\nAnd yet when church is not a priority what begins to take place? We become lethargic, we become fatigued, and consequently we cannot live for God in this fallen world. You think of all of the things Thomas could have been up to speed on a week ahead of time, but he lost out because he was not present with the others. That\u2019s why there\u2019s ten in this room and not eleven.\n\nWhy do people treat church completely different than they would treat any other part of their lives? I would never show up at the job that I\u2019m paid for and I would never say to my boss, well, I\u2019ll show up if it\u2019s convenient, I\u2019ll show up when I feel like it, I\u2019ll show up when I\u2019m in a good mood. And we would never pay our taxes way. April 15th just came and went; well, gee, United States government, this year I just didn\u2019t feel like paying my taxes but I\u2019ll make up for it next year. And we have this mentality that we exhibit through diligence in all other areas of life but somehow when it comes to the house of God we can become very casual about it; we can become very cavalier about it, we can even begin to look like church is just kind of a casual option that maybe I\u2019ll enter into this week, maybe I won\u2019t, depending on if something better comes up or something more expedient comes up or not.\n\nI\u2019m not even saying which church to go to. Sugar Land Bible Church we think is a pretty good church but there are churches all over this Houston area. Whatever church you\u2019re going to go to, make it a priority. Now you might say to yourself, I don\u2019t like church; I don\u2019t like that church over there. Well, why don\u2019t you like it? Well, there\u2019s a bunch of hypocrites in that church. And my response is well, we\u2019ve always got room for one more hypocrite, come on and join the crowd.\n\nAnd it is interesting to me that Sunday morning is always the time period when families run into the greatest distress. That\u2019s when the arguments start, that\u2019s when the car won\u2019t start, that\u2019s when oh, did you remember to put gas in the car\u2026no, I forgot. The pancakes got burned. I mean, why is it that we have all of these problems when we\u2019re ready to get out the door on Sunday morning to come to church? Because it\u2019s the devil doing it; the devil totally understands what church is in the plan of God. He knows the encouragement that you\u2019re going to receive and the feeding you\u2019re going to receive once you\u2019re here and so he\u2019s trying to defeat you that week. And the best way to defeat you is to deprive you of the basic nourishment that you need.\n\nYou know, it\u2019s interesting, when you put out fires, you\u2019re at a campfire and you want the fire to go out quickly because you\u2019re leaving and the weekend is over, other than throw water on the fire how do you put out those coals that are still burning? You just separate them, if the coals are separated, guess what? Individually they go out faster than they would as a group and as a unit. And you see, that\u2019s what it is like in the spiritual life. If we are involved in what\u2019s called \u201cLone Ranger\u201d Christianity with no real connection and diligence to the people of God or to the house of God, then we, in that Lone Ranger capacity will go out spiritually faster than when we\u2019re regularly gathering together. And so it\u2019s a fascinating thing here that is happening to this man, Thomas.\n\nWe move away from the fearful disciples and now we get a glimpse of the faithful Savior. Jesus does not leave these individuals gathered here, these ten, He does not leave them in the dark or in fear very long. It says, \u201cSo when it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and when the doors were shut,\u201d that\u2019s an interesting idea there, \u201cwhere the disciples were, for fear of the Jews,\u201d watch this, \u201cJesus came and stood in their midst and said to them, \u2018Peace be with you.\u2019\u201d\n\nJesus \u201cstood in their midst\u201d despite the fact that the doors were shut. In fact, the NIV uses the translation \u201clocked.\u201d The doors were shut, the doors are locked and Jesus, in His resurrected body, \u201cstood in their midst.\u201d In this resurrected body that Jesus was in He passed through grave clothes, a rocky tomb, and keep in mind that the giant stone that was placed in front of the tomb was just that, a giant stone to prevent any attempt that the disciples might manufacture to fake the resurrection. Yet Jesus, in His resurrected body, passed right through that stone and that rock and here is Jesus once again, that evening, in His body, passing through these doors. It would seem that Jesus, in His resurrected body, was not bound by the normal laws of nature.\n\nDr. Constable writes this: \u201cHis resurrection body also possessed properties of immortality that enabled him to pass through solid objects and to materialize and dematerialize at will, though it was not ethereal or ghostly.\u201d Jesus exhibited things in His resurrected body that He didn\u2019t exhibit before. Why is this significant? Why is it interesting to us? It\u2019s interesting to me because Jesus\u2019 resurrection is \u201cthe first fruits.\u201d 1 Corinthians 15:20 says this, \u201cBut now Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who are asleep.\u201d 1 Corinthians 15:23 says, \u201cBut each in his own order:\u201d speaking of our resurrection, \u201cChrist the first fruits, after that those who are Christ\u2019s at His coming.\u201d\n\nIn Jewish harvest cycle the cycle or the harvest did not come in all at once. It came in in waves. In the Old Testament there are essentially three harvests for the nation of Israel. The first is the first fruits; the initial crop comes in and everybody rejoices because if the first fruits came in the general harvest will come in. And then later comes the general harvest. And then after that, around Leviticus 19:9-10 God specifically told the Jews not to harvest everything, but to leave some for the poor. [Leviticus 19:9-10, \u201cNow when you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap to the very corners of your field, nor shall you gather the gleanings of your harvest. [10] Nor shall you glean your vineyard, nor shall you gather the fallen fruit of your vineyard; you shall leave them for the needy and for the stranger. I am the LORD your God.\u201d]\n\nAnd this is where we read in the story of Ruth, she was there in that third harvest at what\u2019s called the \u201cgleanings.\u201d It\u2019s interesting that the Lord provided dignity for the poor; He looked out for the poor but He didn\u2019t just hand them things, He allowed them to work for it just like everybody else. That\u2019s an elevation of the poor; that is ascribing to the poor basic worth and dignity. But what triggered those three harvests was Christ\u2019s bodily resurrection from the dead; because the first fruits came in the rest of the harvest was guaranteed.\n\nPaul call\u2019s Christ\u2019s resurrection first fruits because His resurrection is a virtual guarantee of my resurrection, and your resurrection, and everybody else\u2019s resurrection in the course of time. And when we receive those resurrected bodies, which we desperately need, if you don\u2019t believe me just look in the mirror, you\u2019ll see why, when we receive those resurrected bodies which we desperately need, they will be like His resurrected body.\n\n1 John 3:2 says, \u201cBeloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him\u2026.\u201d Philippians 3:21 says this, \u201cwho will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory\u2026.\u201d If you want to get a caricature, or a picture, if you will, of what we will actually be like in our resurrected bodies you study Jesus Christ\u2019s body in His resurrection because His resurrected body is called \u201cfirst fruits.\u201d So it would seem to me that the body we will be in will still be us, I\u2019ll be able to recognize you, you\u2019ll be able to recognize me, but I\u2019ll look a lot better and you\u2019ll look a lot better because it\u2019s the body as God intended it, without the curse of sin wearing it down.\n\nAnd apparently that body, just like Christ\u2019s body, will not be bound by the normal laws of nature that we experience today. His resurrection body also possessed properties of immortality that enabled Him to pass through solid objects and to materialize and dematerialize at will, though it was not ghostly.\n\nThe current body that we\u2019re in is perishable; the heavenly body will be imperishable. And I\u2019m getting all of this right out of 1 Corinthians 15:42-44. In fact, Bob Draper is teaching a class, I believe, just on this subject. As a matter of fact, do you want to come up here and finish this? You might do a better job. [1 Corinthians 15:42-44, \u201cSo also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown a perishable body, it is raised an imperishable body; [43] it is won in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; [44] it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body.\u201d]\n\nThe earthly body is perishable; the heavenly body is imperishable. The earthly body is lowly, the heavenly body is honorable. The earthly body is weak. I remember one year after graduating from college we had kind of a reunion with the basketball team, and so the coach is getting us all back together, put on the same jerseys and let\u2019s go out and play. And I remembered what I was like a year earlier, how I could run swiftly, how I could dunk the basketball and I\u2019d been away from athletics for about a year and I thought in my mind I\u2019d just be able to come right back on the court and do the exact same thing. The first thing I noticed was that the jersey was a little tighter than what I remembered, a few pounds got stacked on there in just one year. And I remember going out there and running around and my mind wanted to do X, Y and Z, but my body was tired and winded and fatigued and limited. And that\u2019s just one year away from the game of basketball, when I was in my early 20\u2019s. Think what\u2019s happened in the interim. I\u2019ve been away for decades. I couldn\u2019t even begin to do the things I used to do on the basketball court.\n\nWhy is that? Because the body that we\u2019re in is weak but the next body will be powerful. This body is natural; the heavenly body will be spiritual. In other words, it won\u2019t be limited by the basic physical laws and properties that we are limited to today. The current body is its condition because it\u2019s a physical, earthly body proceeding from Adam. But the spiritual body, the future body will be spiritual and heavenly because it does not proceed from the first Adam but it proceeds from the last Adam. And I believe that all of the promises that God gives us, think of all our inheritance in God, to me this is one of the most glorious promises because as we watch people age, as we watch ourselves age, and die, and wear down, just like an automobile, once it gets a certain number of miles on it it breaks down, it has to be taken in to the mechanic. You put a certain number of miles on this body and breakdowns start to happen, it needs more attention.\n\nAnd as we go through this very difficult process of aging, living in a fallen world, out the Scripture comes and holds out to us this future that we have in God. And there are so many people that live their lives and they go through the aging process and the process of sometimes sickness and cancer and disease, and think of all of the things that can go wrong with the physical body. They go through those experiences without the light of the Word of God. And if you do not have the light of the Word of God you have no hope in the midst of those circumstances, do you? And it\u2019s difficult to endure trials when you have no hope but the Scripture, through this tremendous revelation of the future, in terms of our resurrected body, holds out hope to us in the midst of a fallen world.\n\nI like the title of the book that Hal Lindsey wrote a few years back; the title of it is There\u2019s a New World Coming. And thank God for that. As we look at Nepal and what happened there, and as we look at our Supreme Court that doesn\u2019t even understand that marriage is between a man and a woman anymore, and we look at the state of our nation and the things that are going wrong, how fortifying it is, how rewarding it is to understand that there\u2019s a better world coming, the world as God intended it, the world as God designed it.\n\nAnd so we have the appearance now of Jesus Christ. And then also in verse 19 and into verse 20 we don\u2019t just have his appearance but we have His words of comfort. Notice, if you will, the last part of verse 19, and He \u201csaid to them,\u201d this is His first words to the ten in His resurrected body, He \u201csaid to them, \u2018Peace be with you;\u2019\u201d now Jesus is a Jew; do we all know Jesus was not a Southern Baptist? Or a Presbyterian? Or an Episcopalian? Or a Metho-Catho-Bapti-terian? Or a Bapti-costal-fundamatic or whatever, He was Jewish.\n\nI mean, He was a Jew from the top of His head to the sole of His feet; He went through all of the preparations that young Jewish people went through up until the age of 12. So He is a Jew and these ten in the Upper Room are also Jews and He is speaking to them the way one Jew would speak to another. He says, \u201cPeace be with you.\u201d\n\nNow in Hebrew that\u2019s the word Shalom, which means peace. And many people say well, that\u2019s all He meant; He just wanted to give them a nice greeting. But there is so much more to this expression, \u201cPeace be with you\u201d than wanting to give them a nice greeting. How do I know that? Because as you go down to verse 21 He says it again, \u201cPeace be with you.\u201d And if that weren\u2019t enough as you go down to verse 26 He says it a third time, \u201cPeace be with you.\u201d\n\nWhen you\u2019re just giving someone a nice greeting you don\u2019t say shalom three times, you just say peace. But here He says it three times, and I believe that what He\u2019s doing here is He\u2019s revealing the content of His ministry. Christ\u2019s whole ministry and why he came into this world revolves around this subject of peace. If we do not understand the subject of peace, eirenes, is the way it reads in the Greek, from eirenes we get the word irenic, as in peaceful, the opposite of being polemical, polemos means war, if someone is polemical they are war-like. Jesus was irenic, peace-like.\n\nBut if we don\u2019t understand this we miss the whole point of why He came. Peace obviously is a very important subject to Him because back in the Upper Room, in John 14:27 Jesus said, \u201cPeace I leave with you; My peace I give to you,\u201d watch this, \u201cnot as the world gives do I give to you.\u201d So He is offering peace that is inaccessible in any other source. \u201cDo not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful.\u201d I think I just read that verse.\n\nI meant to read this one, John 16:33, \u201cThese things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have\u201d what? \u201cpeace.\u201d In the world you have tribulation, [but take courage; I have overcome the world.]\u201d Ever gone into a Christian bookstore and read one of those books about God\u2019s promises, promises from God, they\u2019re usually happy promises. I never read this promise though in one of those books. \u201cIn the world you will have tribulation,\u201d amen? It\u2019s a promise from God. \u201cThese things I have spoken to you so that in Me you may have peace.\u201d Why do we need peace? Because \u201cIn the world you have tribulation, but take courage; for I have overcome the world.\u201d\n\nWhat characterizes the ministry of Jesus Christ is peace. Now there are two kinds of peace. Most people take this word \u201cpeace,\u201d eirenes and conflate it in their minds into one definition, but there are at least two definitions of the word \u201cpeace.\u201d The first is positional peace; positional peace is a right standing before God, Romans 5:1 says, \u201cTherefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.\u201d In other words, in the past, because of what Christ has done and because we have received it as a free gift it says we have, past tense, \u201cbeen justified.\u201d We don\u2019t justify ourselves before God, our justification has already happened. And because we have \u201cbeen justified\u201d or right standing before God \u201cwe have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.\u201d\n\nWhat is justification anyway? Justification is a verbal announcement from heaven that we\u2019re innocent; in fact, we\u2019re not just innocent we\u2019re perfect in Christ\u2019s righteousness. It\u2019s very similar to a jury verdict being read. When an acquittal or condemnation comes in from a jury the jury has made up its mind and made its decision, someone will read the verdict and as that verdict is being read there is, if the person is not guilty, there is a verbal declaration of their innocence. In essence what happened to you in the past, the moment you placed your trust in Jesus Christ is a heavenly jury verdict was read that you are righteous before God.\n\nNow watch this very carefully; justification does not make you righteous. Justification is the announcement of righteousness. What made you righteous? A totally different word in the New Testament called imputation. Imputation means transfer; the moment you trusted in Jesus Christ, in essence what happened is the righteousness of Jesus Christ was transferred to you. You are not just \u201cnot guilty;\u201d you are clothed in the very righteousness of His Son. It is the best deal in the universe.\n\nAnd when justification happens that is the announcement of righteousness. So these are things, imputation and justification which are always portrayed for the New Testament Christian in the past tense, because of a result of imputation and justification Romans 5:1 says, I \u201chave peace with God.\u201d Now why do I need peace with God? Very simply, if you do not have those things you are God\u2019s enemy. You say does the Bible say that? Yes it does, Romans 5:10, \u201cFor if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son\u2026.\u201d Prior to imputation and justification the state of the natural man, without these divine resources, is at odds with God. We are at enmity with God.\n\nAnd I very much like the title of Jonathan Edwards famous sermon that started the great awakening in the United States of America. In fact, there was such a profound movement of the Holy Spirit on this sermon that it scared Jonathan Edwards to death and he put that at the bottom of his file drawer and said I\u2019m never preaching that one again. Do you know the title of that sermon? It is called Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God. Jonathan Edwards, who became eventually the President of Princeton, is regarded as one of evangelicalism\u2019s greatest intellects. Read through that sermon sometime. That is the sermon that the Spirit of God used to start the first great awakening in the United States of America. It is a description of what it\u2019s like as people are \u201csinners in the hands of an angry God.\u201d It is a description of people that are on a collision course with the judgment of God. Now I don\u2019t like the teaching any more than you do but that is just plain Bible. This is what the Scripture says, without imputation and justification I am at enmity with God; in fact, I am a \u201cSinner in the Hands of an Angry God.\u201d In fact, if you really want to be technical about it, John 3 says I\u2019m already condemned, it\u2019s just judgment hasn\u2019t fallen yet. But without these resources in the first Adam, which is what I\u2019m naturally born into, I am in this position already condemned.\n\nJohn 3:36 says this, \u201cHe who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides,\u201d that would be present tense, or remains \u201con him.\u201d The wrath of God to the unbeliever is much like the sword of Damocles; it hangs over their head and can fall at any moment. This was the things that Jonathan Edwards was teaching back at the beginning of colonial America, even prior to that. This is what the first great awakening was all about. You can find that sermon for free on the internet and you can read it.\n\nAnd this is why the peace of God, this is why Jesus comes in and says \u201cPeace be with you,\u201d that\u2019s why that\u2019s such a significant word. It is the ministry of Christ that came to give us this peace or this right standing before God, something that apparently we desperately need.\n\nAnd then the word \u201cpeace\u201d can go a little bit deeper than that. There is something called experiential peace. This is peace that I can experience through the resources of the Holy Spirit as I walk through the valleys and the difficulties of life. I am reminded very much of Mark 4:36-38, it\u2019s the story of Jesus on the Sea of Galilee with His disciples. It says this, \u201cLeaving the crowd, they took Him along with them in the boat, just as He was; and other boats were with Him. [37] And there arose a fierce gale of wind, and the waves were breaking over the boat so much so that the boat was filling up\u201d with water. Apparently it looked like it was about to sink. Does that describe your life? That can describe all of our lives at times, can\u2019t it? A fierce gale, waves, perhaps not literal but certainly metaphorical. And what was Jesus doing in the midst of this. Do you remember the story? Verse 38, \u201cJesus Himself was in the stern, asleep on the cushion;\u201d got to throw the cushion in there so at least he was comfortable, but the fact of the matter is this storm is breaking out and here\u2019s the Messiah, their Savior, sound asleep, \u201cand they woke Him up and said to Him, \u2018Teacher,\u201d don\u2019t you care? Isn\u2019t that what we say to God all the time when the storms of life break out, \u201cdo You not care\u201d about me, don\u2019t You care \u201cthat we are perishing?\u201d\n\nOf course He cared, but He has something, at this point, that they don\u2019t have. He has experiential peace. Now let me ask you a question. Where does Jesus live right now? Inside of us, doesn\u2019t He. Paul says in Galatians 2:20, \u201cI have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives\u201d where, \u201cin me.\u201d So the storms and the gale and the winds break forth in our lives, Jesus is living inside of us, the exact same Jesus that was asleep in the midst of a storm and as we draw upon His resources what do we have an ability to do? We have an ability to experience calmness and tranquility in the midst of adversity. That, beloved, is what the world is looking for.\n\nThe problem is they\u2019re looking for it in all the wrong places. They\u2019re looking for it in financial security, as if there is such a thing anymore. They\u2019re looking for it in relationships; they are looking for it in substances, if I can\u2019t get it in my mind then I\u2019ll artificially put it into my brain through chemicals, alcohol, drugs, and this is what the world is seeking. And yet they are seeking for it in the wrong place because it\u2019s only available in Jesus Christ. It\u2019s only available in Christ who said threefold, \u201cPeace be with you.\u201d\n\nPaul talked about it, didn\u2019t he? Philippians 4:6-7. By the way, did you all know Paul didn\u2019t write the book of Philippians from the penthouse suite of the Hilton? Philippians 4:6-7, a prison epistle; why do we call it a prison epistle? Because he was in prison. What does he write in Philippians 4:6-7? \u201cBe anxious for\u2026\u201d 95% of things, not 95% of things but you can worry about your mortgage, NO! \u201cBe anxious for nothing,\u201d in other words, that\u2019s an imperative in Greek, that\u2019s a command. So when I am anxious guess what, I\u2019m rebelling against the command of God which makes me in sin. Did you know anxiety is a sin? Worry is a sin. Why is that? Because \u201cwithout faith it is\u201d what? \u201cimpossible to please God.\u201d When I\u2019m in worry I\u2019m not walking in faith.\n\n\u201cBe anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving,\u201d Pastor, I don\u2019t know what to pray about, and I get together with God in my quiet time and I don\u2019t know how to pray. Here\u2019s how you pray, present your \u201csupplication\u201d to Him. Supplication, from that word supplication we get the word supply; ask Him whatever is troubling you to supply in His way and His timing. \u201cBe anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanks\u00acgiving let your requests be made known to God.\u201d Do you know why God\u2019s people are eaten away by anxiety? Because they are not taking the time to present the circumstances of their life to God.\n\nNow what\u2019s the result of presenting our supplications to God? Verse 7, \u201cAnd the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension,\u201d meaning you can\u2019t figure out the peace of God. The world says you can have peace if your circumstances are right. Jesus says you can have peace when your circumstances are unfavorable. That is a totally different way of thinking than what the world is grasping after. That\u2019s why the disciples are saying to Jesus, save us, don\u2019t you care? They are looking at circumstances and as a result they\u2019re in turmoil. Jesus and Paul, by extension, are speaking of a peace that defies circumstances; that\u2019s why it \u201csurpasses all comprehension.\u201d It \u201cwill guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.\u201d\n\nBeasley-Murray in his commentary on John says this, \u201cNot surprisingly it,\u201d or peace, \u201cis included along with grace in the greeting of every epistle of Paul in the New Testament. Whenever Paul mentions peace in a greeting that word, \u2018peace\u2019 is always accompanied with the word grace.\u201d In other words, you can\u2019t have the peace that we\u2019re talking about, both positionally and experientially without God\u2019s grace. What is grace? Grace is the opposite of justice. Justice is getting what you deserve. Ever see people pray God, I want justice. I usually move away because the lightning bolt is about to hit. Justice is getting what you deserve; mercy is not getting what you deserve. Grace is even beyond mercy; it\u2019s receiving unmerited favor from God. It\u2019s a concept that\u2019s even further and richer than ever mercy itself. Not only are we not going to hell because of what Jesus did, we have received mercy; as if that weren\u2019t enough, we have received grace. We have received eternal riches. That\u2019s not just mercy, that is grace.\n\nSo when Paul talks about peace it\u2019s always accompanied with grace. In other words, you cannot experience this peace, either positionally or experientially without receiving Jesus Christ and His grace, or unmerited favor that he offers to humanity. Jesus, therefore, in verse 19 is not wishing peace on these individuals. It\u2019s not just shalom, it\u2019s not just \u201cI hope things are going well,\u201d it\u2019s not well-wishing. Three-fold repetition of \u201cpeace be with you\u201d is imparting, He is imparting it to them because it\u2019s not available in any other source and if we miss out on what the subject of peace is we\u2019ve failed to understand the ministry of Jesus Christ.\n\nWe made it through a verse today but this is a very easy Segway into the gospel, isn\u2019t it. I don\u2019t even know how I could botch this one up, and I\u2019ve botched up a lot of things in my life. But not this one because grace is unmerited favor. It\u2019s possible that people can be here today that have never received the unmerited favor of God; they\u2019ve never received what Jesus has done for them as a free gift. And according to the Scripture there is only one way to receive a free gift, and that\u2019s by faith. You can, and we just celebrated my daughter\u2019s birthday, her birthday was earlier in the month but we actually celebrated it, finally, yesterday, with all of her friends at a place I\u2019ve never heard of before and I got educated, called Sweet & Sassy. I\u2019m not a regular hanger-out-there, but I learned about it. So all of these presents are there for her to open and sadly we ran out of time and everybody went home and these presents remained unopened. The present is for her to receive, the present is there for her to take, but it has no value to her personally until she receives it.\n\nGod has done everything He can do to restore humanity back to God but all it is is a present wrapped up in a package; that\u2019s all it is, it has no value to any human being or person until they actually receive it, take it, open it. The Bible says there\u2019s only one response that we can have to receive this present, which is faith. Faith means to trust; it means to rely upon, it means to depend upon, it means to have confidence in. At some point we stop trusting in other things that we were banking our eternity on and we shift our trust exclusively into the promise of Jesus Christ. We trust Him and Him alone for our eternity and the safekeeping of our souls.\n\nThat\u2019s something you can do right now as I\u2019m speaking; it\u2019s a private moment between you and God. It requires no action on your part, you do not have to raise your hand, you do not have to walk an aisle, you don\u2019t have to join a church, you don\u2019t have to give money, you simply respond by faith to what Jesus has done for you. And if it\u2019s something that you\u2019ve already done or something that you are now doing then on the authority of the Word of God your whole eternal destiny before God is changed. If it\u2019s something that you need more explanation I\u2019m available after the service to talk. Shall we pray.\n\nFather, we\u2019re grateful for this revelation of Your post resurrection appearance and these wonderful statements that You made here, \u201cpeace be with you.\u201d We ask, Father, that we would take these things to heart; we would walk with You this week and we would live the types of lives that you would have us to live as we bask in the great riches that You have given us. We will be careful to give you all the praise and glory. And God\u2019s people said\u2026.","series_sermon_number":""},"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t