In this sermon, the preacher shares two illustrations to emphasize the power and impact of the word of God. The first illustration is about a mathlete Christian who led a young princess from India to Christ many years ago. The preacher highlights the transformative effect of the word of God in the princess's life, as she is now married with two sons and testifies to the Lord's presence. The second illustration involves a visit by the Prince of Wales to a military hospital in London, where he interacts with wounded soldiers. The preacher draws attention to Thomas, who recognized Jesus as his Lord and God, and encourages the congregation to prostrate themselves before the Lord. The sermon concludes with a hymn and a reminder that every believer is sent by the risen Lord to represent Him and shine His light in the world.

So, John, it seems like the Lord is leading our minds along the same direction, this song, God Leads Us Along. I know many of you have experienced this, that it is God who leads us along. He's led some through the fire and some through the flood and some through the waters, but He's led us all through the blood. And in my young life, the Lord has never asked me to really suffer physically for Him, but He might someday. It's great comfort in knowing that each step we take, that the Lord is with us. And that's the title of the song, is Opinion, and I would like to sing for you tonight, Each Step I Take. Each step I take, my Savior goes before me, And with His loving hand, He leads the way. And with each breath I whisper, I adore Thee. Oh, what joy to walk with Him each day. Each step I take, my Savior goes before me, And with His loving hand, He leads the way. Each step I take, my Savior goes before me, And with each breath I whisper, I adore Thee. Oh, what joy to walk with Him each day. I know that He will guide me, Each step I take, just lead me to glory. Now, please open your Bible, will you, and John chapter 20, 20th chapter of the Gospel by John. We are looking last night at a very interesting character, Mary Magdalene, and our hearts are strangely moved as we saw the devotion and the love of that dear woman for the Lord Jesus Christ. She loved Him much because she'd been forgiven much, and she proved her love in her whole-hearted devotion and complete allegiance to His authority in our life. What a reward she got because of that whole-hearted devotion. We saw this picture in verse number 11, but Mary too, and because of her faithfulness and her fidelity and her love for Him, the Lord appeared first to Mary. Remember, she was last at the cross, she's first at the grave, she's first to see the Lord, first to and the first one to be commissioned by the risen Lord. Now, down to verse number 19, shall we? Verse 19. Then ascended in it in the Thursday of the week, when the doors were shut, for the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, came Jesus and stood in the midst and said unto them, Peace be unto you. When he so said, he showed unto them his hands and his sight. Then were the disciples glad when they saw the Lord. Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you, as my father sent me, even so send I you. This is a wonderful chapter, it's so very full of meaning. In fact, each word is pregnant with meaning, and here we've got the Lord Jesus now coming into the upper room. He told the disciples in Matthew that he would meet them at Galilee, and we find him right here now in the upper room, and the doors are shut, and the windows are bolted, and yet as they're gathered there in that upper room, the Lord himself appeared in the midst. Now, isn't that just wonderful? I'm so glad I got a Lord who can see in the dark, aren't you? I'm so glad I got a Lord who can come walking over the foaming billows through the bark of my life, aren't you? I'm so glad I got a Lord who's gone, and bolted windows and locked doors cannot keep him out. I got a Lord who is the Lord of the mountaintop, and he's the Lord of the valley. The Lord who leads you through the valley, leads you right through the fire, and goes right through with you. That's the Lord we've come to know, and because we know him a reality in all life, and proved now for many many years, we commend him to you. We want you to know him, not to become religious, or goody-goody, or sanctimonious, but we want you to come into living vital union with our living Lord, and we're going to look at him again tonight. I trust in the energy of the Holy Spirit himself. So he appeared here in the midst, and what happened? He just said, peace be unto you. Now isn't that just like the Lord Jesus? Maybe in this group tonight there's a heart that's at least palm top, a heart that's completely old topsy-turvy, a heart that we still longing a yearning a terrific age. No one knows anything about you and the Lord. You will never tell your nearest and dearest about it, not at all. But here is one who understands you perfectly, and come right into the little room of your own life, and he say tonight, peace be unto you. Thank God tonight he's the bringer of peace. He's made peace by the blood of his cross. He is our peace. He's the prince of peace, and he's right here tonight in this little room, and it's closer to you than your neighbor, and it's whispering peace be unto you. Oh, as a result may you know that palm top little hobbyer come into deep tranquility, into such a wonderful serenity, you look up and say, thank you, Lord, that all this stage would be peace be unto you. And those of you the bringer of peace, I say to you, and I don't like this too, he shows them his hand, he shows them his side. Then were the disciples glad when? When they had seen the Lord. Beloved, our Lord is here tonight not only as the bringer of peace, he's here as the inspirer of all true joy. Psalm 16 11, in thy presence fullness of joy, thy right hand pleasures forevermore. And the Lord is here tonight as the inspirer of all true joy. When they had seen the Lord, their hearts were made glad. That whom we want you to see tonight is my own prayer, and I pray it many times during the course of the day. May thy beauty rest upon me as I seek the lost to win, and may they forget the channel, seeing only him. That's the desire of my heart, and I trust the desire of your heart, dear Kamia, for one purpose alone, to see him. And the Lord is here tonight, very deftly here, as the bringer of peace, and as the inspirer of all true joy. But something more. In the very next verse, it says here now, As my father sent me, even so send I you. Now all are saved by his magnet grain, claimed by the efficacy of his precious blood, known the joy of the indwelling holy earth, it's saying to you, and it's saying to me tonight, as my father sent me, even so send I you. And there's not one of us here who's come into personal contact with him, but who's been sent by the risen Lord, as risen men, and risen women, and boys and girls. We've been taken out of the world, sent back into this world, and we're here for one purpose alone, that your life and my life, day by day, may be an outshining, a reproduction of the life of Jesus Christ. We're here to represent him, that his life again may be relived in us, and through us, the glory of God the Father, that men and women will lose sight of us, but see him, in all his glory and beauty, and be attracted unto himself. Oh, to be saved from myself, dear Lord! Oh, to be lost indeed! Oh, to be no more I, but Christ who lives in me! Oh, the joy of recognizing we've been born to reproduce, that your life and my life may be a reproduction in the power of the Spirit of God, of the life of the Lord Jesus Christ. And he said, as my Father sent me, he came to manifest, to declare, to show of course, the Father. Do we not sometimes sing, thou art the everlasting Word, the Father's only Son, God manifested to inherit and heaven's beloved one? Little women can know God the Father is through the Son, and God revealed himself to us through his Son. How can the Son be revealed to the world through you, and through me, and in no other way? He's got two ways of revealing himself to the world. One is through the Word of God, the other through his people. Oh, may your life and my life, day by day, be so yielded, and controlled, and dominated by the Holy Spirit, that there will be an outshining of the indwelling Christ, that our very demeanor, our deportment, our manner, our tone of voice will reveal the beauty and the virtue of the Lord Jesus Christ. As my Father sent me, so send I you. We've been sent, brothers and sisters. There is an interesting character here, but he's not present at this particular gathering when the Lord appeared on that first Lord's Day. His name is Thomas, and during the week I hear the others saying to Thomas, Thomas, you missed yourself on Lord's Day. We had a wonderful time. The Lord appeared in our midst. We've seen him, Thomas. We've heard his voice. Thomas said, I will not believe it. I will not believe it until I see the nail prints in his hands and feet. So, I put my finger into the nail print, so I thrust my hand into his thigh. I will not believe it. Now, I don't blame Thomas. I admire Thomas. Thomas is not going to be put off by any imposter. He wants to see the Lord. He wants to see the passion, the wounds of the passion, at a place called Golgotha, way beyond in India. We were there just recently. There was a dear lady in one of the villages who had been prevailed upon, or asked to go to another village. They say the Messiah has come. He brings fire from heaven. He's healing the sick. He's raising the dead. He's doing many miraculous things. Oh, come over. The dear lady in her simplicity said, has he got the marks of the nails in his hand? And that's it. Has he got the marks of the nails in his hand? She will not be put off by any imposter, and neither will Thomas. May I suggest something? Thomas learned his lesson. We always miss out when we absent ourselves from the gathering together of the Lord's people. We're always the loser. As Thomas proved it that day. May I suggest something else? And Thomas is there first next Lord's Day. Oh, he's learned his lesson. There they are gathered in the upper room, and Thomas is there, and once more the Lord appears in the midst and says, peace be unto you. And you know something? He had a personal word with Thomas. A personal word with Thomas, and it may be he's having a personal word with someone right here tonight. Yeah, with all of us, because the Lord is here, and he understands us perfectly. Looks right down deep into your heart, down deep into my heart, and tonight he said, Thomas behold the nail prints. Behold my sight. But then he came close, and he said, Thomas come close to me. Come close to me. Thomas could behold the nail print from the distance, behold the sight from the distance, but the Lord had heard Thomas say, lest I put my finger into the nail print, thrust my hand into his sign, I will not believe. And the Lord is now taking Thomas in his own word, and he says, Thomas come near to me. Is he saying that to someone here tonight? You really profess to love him, don't you? You profess to really know him, but in heart you're far away from him. Externally things are all right, but deep down in your heart you know things are all wrong. Isn't that true? And the Lord is right here this very evening, closer to you than your neighbor, looking right down deep into your heart, and calling you by your own special name. He's saying, come near to me, come close to me. Thomas put your finger into the nail print, thrust your hand into my side, be not faced with but believing. Who's there for him comes flashing to my mind, gazing there I seem so near thee, close to me, his heart is full of pain. Thomas could be whole from the distance, but to touch those nail prints, to touch that spirit inside, he had to be very near. And just as Joseph said to his brethren, come near to me, our lovely Lord is saying to your heart this very night, come near to me, and by faith just put your finger again upon that nail print, thrust your hand into my side. Thomas never did that, oh no. Thomas threw himself before the Lord and he cried, my Lord and my God. Thomas rose to masses heights that day, masses heights. He had seen the Lord, he recognized him as his own spiritual Lord. He said, my Lord and my God, the Lord is here tonight. We want him to fill your vision, occupy your heart's affection, and we want each one of us to prostrate ourselves before him, nod and cry, oh precious Lord Jesus, how lovely thou art. Come and abiding rule in my heart, break every fetter thy faith let me see, then thou shalt ever be precious to me. Thy wounds, thy wounds, Lord Jesus, those deep, deep wounds will tell the sacrifice that frees us from sin and death and hell. We were in Honolulu earlier this year for the crusade. God was building a very, very vast way, the extended crusade for next week, that was the fifth week. God was working very deftly, many nights they couldn't get the crowds into the building at all, more outside than inside, the ocean beach chapel. This particular night, and I'll never forget in all my life, I was preaching as I am preaching now. There was a young man in that particular congregation, I didn't know him, he was a complete stranger to me, and I said there may be another Thomas here tonight, another Thomas, and the door of the Savior, Thomas, come close to me, come close to me. That young man was the son of a godly mother and a godly sister, so I prayed much for that boy, his name was Thomas, and I didn't know. But the Lord spoke to Thomas that night, he dropped his head in his hands and began to sob. While I was waiting behind to be dealt with, he went off, breaking his heart. I believe the next day he's gone to Los Angeles to start eating there, and on the Wednesday I got word from him telling me that Tom had been shot and killed on the Sunday afternoon. He was a member of the underground gang, he was a leader of drug traffic. We are convinced, his loved ones are convinced, God met Tom that night and God saved his precious soul. They went and told the gang, they shot him, he knew too much. A young girl going out with her dog found his body there in San Luci. The Lord is calling someone here tonight, he's calling you by your own special name. I trust you'll respond to that entreaty. With all your heart you'll come right through for him, and even as a believer you'll prostrate yourself before him and cry, you'll be wandering far away in heart, growing cold in heart. In John 21 the Lord says, lovest thou me more than we've been professing with our lips to love him. But do I really love him with all my heart? Do I really? The Lord is here tonight. Amidst us our beloved stands, and bids us give his pierced hand. Holy spirit, world need feed and sigh, blessed emblems of the crucified. Your heart said, Lord, follow those wounds in thine hand. What was that wound in thy side, me Lord? These the wounds I received in the heart of my friend. I came, but they would not receive me. They rejected me, and they put me upon a cross. They cried, away with him, let him be crucified. My friend, I rejoice the cross is empty. The tomb is vacated, and tonight the throne is filled, and he by his blade, holy spirit, is right here in our very midst. May our eyes be anointed tonight with eye salve. We shall lose sight of each other, and see only Christ, and hear him saying, do not age. Come nearer to me, come nearer to me. I like the way Thomas throws himself completely unreservedly, unconditionally, in whole hearty contrition before the Lord, and says, my Lord and my God. Oh, I pray all of us will have that sight tonight. Not hard to, a bit strange to move, but we cry with all sincerity, reign over me, Lord Jesus, reign over all within. Make me a loyal subject to thee in everything. Read these words, he was wounded for our transgressions. Isaiah 53, verse number five, he was wounded for our transgressions, bruised for our iniquity. Chastisement of our peace was upon him, and with his stripes we are healed. Years ago in the borders of England and Scotland, this bosom I was cycling through the British Isles, going from door to door, from village to village, from town to town, having open air meetings, and preaching the word, doing threat distribution. This day we're standing outside a paper mill, rather, yonder between England and Scotland. A man came out, I handed him a gospel by John, and said, sir, this gospel by John will show you God's way of salvation. Will you please receive it? He stopped. He said, if you can show me how to be saved, I'll be the happiest man in the world. My wife's saved, my family's saved, my in-laws are saved. They've all been trying to talk to me about being saved and being preached, but I can't see it. Now, please don't ask me that Sunday school stuff to come to Jesus. Then I was just a youngster in my twenties, and I never get this. I stood there and inwardly prayed, Lord, show us. We quoted all the verses. We could think of John 3, 16, John 5, 24, Romans 10 and on and so on. Just like a flash, it's pretty God said, Isaiah 53, 5, which I did. He was wounded for our transgression, bruised for our iniquity. The chastisement of our peace was upon him, and where they strike, we are healed. I said, sir, I want to change a word there. A little word, our. I want to put in the word, my. He was wounded for my transgression. He was bruised for my iniquity. The chastisement of my peace was upon him, and where they strike, I am healed. Oh, he said, I see it. I see it. As if Christ was hanging right there before me now, I see it. He took my place. He bore the penalty for me. He bore the penalty against my sin, and the tears began to flow down that manly face. Oh, I see it. I say, sir, do you really see it? I do. Do you really believe he died for you first? Yes, I believe Christ died for all mankind, but never until now do I realize he died for me personally. Now, I must personally put in my claim, personally receive him into my life, and I do it right now. He clasped his hand, my hand in his. Together we pray, that very day that man passed from death unto life, gloriously converted, he realized the truth. Christ did not only die for all mankind, he died for him personally. Many sometimes nod in this auditorium, and you really believe Christ died for all mankind, including you? But you don't realize he died for you personally. He was wounded for my transgression, bruised for my iniquity, bearing shame and scoffing in my place. Condemned, he stood, and you have not yet put in your personal claim, and transgressed him by faith into your heart. If not, why not this very night? For remember, he was wounded, wounded. According to the surgeon, there are five distinct wounds. There, they're classified thus. There is the contused wound caused by blow from a blunt instrument. There is a lancet wound caused by a sharp tearing instrument. There is a perforated wound. It comes from the latin root, it means to pierce right through. And, there's a penetrating wound caused by a sharp pointed instrument, and lastly, there is the incised wound caused by a sharp two-edged instrument. Beloved, do you realize when you sing, or when you repeat, he was wounded? All these five wounds are included in that one word, he was wounded. And, for my transgression, the contused wound that took that blunt instrument, the reed, and the smirking with that reed, the means that lash, made of goat hair intertwined the hair of the goat. And, every time that lash came down, it was tearing the tissues, making long furrows in his holy back, right there. He gave his back to the smiter, there was a plump of hair from his lovely face. He turned, and on his side, he, my friend, when the lashing came there with that lash, he never said, you've gone far enough, go no farther. No, he's standing surely for the stranger. He's standing surely for you, surely for me. He's bearing, my friend, the lash for you, and for me. And, he never opened his mouth. Oh, friend, because I'm more of me, at the power that God's Son held back, more than the power that displayed while he was on earth. He could have whittled the hands raised against him, and lashing him. You could have called the twelve angels in any moment, but in love for you, and in love for me, he never said a word. He suffered silently, because he loves you, because he loves you, and because he loves me. But, I thanked him, that you, if not we do it tonight, do it tonight, right now, and thank him for being wounded for you. Remember how they took that crown of thorns, they placed it down upon his kingly brow. Then, they smote him with that rod, until the very spikes penetrated into that kingly brow, and the blood spurred out. They come down at faith once calmly, so beautiful. Now, forward rows of grief. Those rows of grief are now crimson with that rich royal blood. There we see him taking that cross, and they praised those nails. They knocked those nails, those spikes, for those lovely hands had done so much good. Those lovely feet, for he meant to be glad of hardings and peas. The nail grew into that Roman gibbet. He lived it up there upon that cross. He was laid down in the shrug, and prepared for such a thud, that every one of his bones would rain out of jaundice. One bone dislocated caused him terrible pain, but all his bones were dislocated. All my bones tear me in the face. All my bones, they can be numbered, he said. He suffered for you, and for me. You know, this was the first time nails were ever used in crucifixion. The first time. As a matter of fact, did you hang up my cords like you always did in crucifixion? Crucifixion was not something new. My friend, those lovely hands were nailed through, spiked through. Not the Roman, not the Roman manufacturers. No, no. The first time nails were used were right there. And the Jews will never be able to understand, as they cry, what are those wounds in thine hands? In Guelph, Ontario, where Mr. Woodhouse has just been, in a cathedral there, we were allowed, the students were, it was out of bounds for the students at Bible school, but they could go with some of the faculty. They came one day and said, Uncle Jim, will you please take us down to the cathedral? I won't tell you why, it was out of bounds for them, by the way. They said, yes. Went down there, and the tapestry is the life of the Lord Jesus. And there you could see Joseph Amaltheus taking the body down from the cross, removing those spikes from his lovely hands. And they looked, said, Uncle Jim, that's what you said last night. Look, the manufacturers had bound up by cord. But there Christ was taking the nails out of his hands and feet, not the manufacturers. And friend, those nails were nailed through for you and for me. The good of hastened dead, as you so well remember in the story, they came to the manufacturer, the robber, the brave blade, went to the other brave blade. But when they came to Christ, they marveled, they wondered, they were amazed. He's dead already. See, he's death's champion, he's death's victor. And when he died, he did not become obedient unto death as an enemy. He became obedient to the will of God, the Father which made dead. And he was obedient to the Father's will through love for you and for me, voluntarily, willingly. He died as he willed to die, and when he willed to die, he said, Father, in thy hands I commend my spirit. And he bowed his head, and he off the dome. They're so startled with it, they take, they'll act like knights and spear, the two-edged instrument, and they find that spear right into his side. And from that side flowed the blood, and the water proved conclusively that he had died. Because the very spear that pierced his side drew forth the blood to save him. Aren't you glad about that tonight? Aren't you glad about that? Aren't you glad my friend, that precious rich God's blood was shed upon that cross, and shed for you, and shed for me? I'm so glad about that. Let us again just sit for one moment, no longer at the cross, because the cross is empty. No longer at the grave, because the grave is vacated. Arrive here in the delightful little chapel tonight, down here at part of the palm, in the quiet part of this evening. All the Lord is right here, and he's near to you, your neighbor, and he's saying, come close to me. Behold the nail print, it was for you. Beloved, it was for you. Wounded for me, wounded for me, there on the cross he was wounded for me, gone my transgressions, and now I am free, all because Jesus was wounded for me. Thy wounds, thy wounds, Lord Jesus, those deep, deep wounds will tell the sacrifice that frees us from sin, and death, and hell. See from his head, his hands his feet. Sorrow and love will mingle down, that airs its love and sorrow meet, and sorrow comes closer to the crown, where the whole realm of nature lies, that with an offering far too small, love so amazing, so divine, shall have my heart, my life, my all. Oh, I pray your heart is in the name of the Lord. Seek of that story I told you about that math electrician at that mill that day. Some man said where we were down in Dartford, in Kent, just outside of London, England. It was an upper room, and we preached the word of God, and he told a story about that math electrician. Sitting in that congregation that night was a young girl, a princess from India, strikingly charming, good-looking young lady. Then the service, she went to the elder and said, I've been saved tonight. He said, saved? What do you mean? He said, when the preacher told the story about that math electrician, and seeing the first time Christ had died for him personally, I was just there. That was my problem. I believed Christ died for all mankind, but I never realized the night he died for me personally, and I just personally put in my claim, and personally received Christ into my heart. It's a personal matter, and tonight I've done that three things. I received Christ, and tonight I'm saved. Five years ago, back yonder in London, England, I was speaking at a rally for women. I've never seen so many women in all my life at one time, as I did at that particular rally, and thinking the preliminaries would be all over, I moved in toward the main auditorium, just to hear the chair lady saying something like this, It is possible I know Mr. Barnes for longer than any other lady in this great congregation today. 34 years ago in Kent, in Dartford, he led me to Christ. Who was it? The young princess. Now, I married to a druggist back in London, England. Our two sons, their two sons, have just left university within these years. Isn't it wonderful, and all in Christ Jesus. The Lord is here tonight, right here, and he's saying beloved, it was for you. One more illustration. I'm going to read two verses of scripture, and I'm going to give it the closing hymn. There's a place called Tooting, again in part of England, London, Greater London. There's a great military hospital there. The late Duke of Windsor, when he was Prince of Wales, went to visit that particular hospital. There were 25 soldiers there, again critically wounded, and very ill. They showed him 20 of the soldiers. He spoke kindly to them, words of comfort, words of encouragement. He asked to see the other five. They said, you're a mess, you'd rather you didn't see them. They were very badly marred, and disfigured. He said, I insist on seeing them. They showed him three. Again he thanked them, and spoke kindly to them. He said, I'd like to see the other two. He said, your majesty, for your own sake, we'd rather you didn't. He said, I insist on seeing them. They took him to one. His heart was strangely moved, and he insisted on seeing the last one. They said, your majesty, we'd rather you didn't. He's so badly mutilated. The prince said, I do long to see him. They took him in. There was a trunk, arms, legs, everything amputated. He's blind, terribly disfigured. The prince wailed, whatever you can, whatever you think of, has thought about it. He had a heart. Tears rolled down that man's face. He bent over, and he kissed that soldier, and said, thank you for being wounded for me. You were wounded for me. You did it all for me. Tonight I present one to you, the Lord Jesus Christ, who was wounded for you. Thank God he's alive from the dead. A living, glorious Lord, is able to come into your life, and I transform the life, give you that peace, and that joy. My Lord, not only the bringer of peace, the inspirer of joy, the commissioner of his people, it dispels all your doubts. Oh, and Thomas had seen the Lord, my Lord and my God, and what the Lord Jesus said in the two closing verses of the chapter. I wish I were just beginning now. Verse 29. Jesus says unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen, thou hast believed. Now get this, get this, blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed. You're believing by the eye of faith tonight. Thomas saw, and he believed, and Christ is very real to you tonight, isn't he? And look at the two verses. Many other signs are true of Jesus in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book. But, get this now, notice that but. But these are written that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing ye might have life through his name. How do you have it? You've listened to the testament tonight, haven't you? You've listened to the record God's given concerning his son. If it's worthy for you, do you believe it? Do you believe it? Do you believe it in your heart? What does the Bible say? Look, what does the last verse say? But these are written that ye might believe. Believe what? That Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. And now know this, and that oh because Jesus was worthy for me. Now there's no but in holding or in due pressing that if tonight you believe in your heart, you want to tell us about it, you're going to say, Jim, I received Christ tonight. I realize he died for me personally upon that cross, and I received him in my very own role as Savior. If you're not too sure what it means, you're right to tell me. I'll tell us about it. There are many willing to have me to help you tonight. And if you're a Christian, and you have the living in a back-stood-in condition, if you've seen the Lord having you, he's calling you back to him. Will you tell him? God bless you, and thank you so much for coming.