[0:00] Good morning guys. Good morning.
[1:00] Good morning.
[1:30] Good morning. Good morning.
[2:05] me where you have laid him and I will take him away. And Jesus said to her, Mary. She turned and said to him in Hebrew, Rabbani, which means translator, which means teacher.
[2:15] And Jesus said to her, stop claiming to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father, but go to my brethren. And say to them, I ascend to my Father, your Father, my God, your God. And Mary Magdalene came announcing to the disciples, I have seen the Lord, and that he had said these things to her.
[2:31] Verse 19. So when it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were from here of the Jews, Jesus came into their midst and said to them, Peace and be with you.
[2:42] And when he had said this, he showed them both his hands and his side. The disciples then rejoiced when they saw the Lord. So Jesus said to them, Again, Peace and be with you. As the Father has sent me, I also send you.
[2:54] And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any of their sins, have been forgiven them. If you retain the sins of any of them, they have been retained. But Thomas, one of the twelve, called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came.
[3:08] So the other disciples were saying to him, We have seen the Lord. But he said to them, Unless I see in his hands the imprint of the nails and put my finger into the place of the nails and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.
[3:20] After eight days, his disciples were again and signed Thomas with them. And Jesus came, the doors having been shut, and stood in the fence and said, Peace be with you. And he said to Thomas, Reach here with your finger and see my hands.
[3:33] Reach here with your hand and put it into my side. Do not be unbelieving but believing. Thomas answered, And said, Give me my Lord and my God. Jesus said to come, Because you have seen me, have you believed.
[3:45] Lest are they who did not see and yet believe. Therefore, many other signs Jesus also performed in the presence of the disciples that are not written in this book. These have been written so that you may believe in Jesus Christ, the Son of God, and believing you may have life in his name.
[4:02] Let's pray. Lord, we thank you so much for this word. We thank you for your testimony. We thank you for this day. Lord, we pray that the truth of this day would captivate our heart. And Lord, we continue to encourage us in our walk.
[4:15] And we thank you for each promise and each benefit that is given to us as a result of the resurrection. And may you be the focus of all of our attention. We ask it in Christ's name.
[4:26] Amen. You know, there's so much there in John chapter 20 from the way in which the stoners wrote away to the first testimonial eyewitnesses to all of the things that take place and so many apologetics that are there for a defense of the resurrection.
[4:39] But I want us just to look at some realizations that we get because of the resurrection. Some truths that come to us as a result of that. The very first thing we notice is the resurrection led to a revelation of scripture.
[4:52] It says that when Mary, and we know from the other gospel accounts, the other Mary was also there, came to the tomb, the stone was already taken away. That word taken means like a major earthquake, quake, or an explosion, or dynamite, is really the word we use.
[5:08] It had been blown away from the tomb. And she came and she saw this in amazement. And she went back and she told Peter and John, the other disciple whom Jesus loved. And they went to the tomb. And yet they're there.
[5:18] And John stops outside. We know historically he's younger, so he's a little bit faster than the old fisherman Peter. And he gets there and he stops. And Peter goes on in, as is often the case with Peter.
[5:28] He just barges on in. And then there's this phrase there that says, and seeing he believed. For as yet they did not understand that according to the scriptures, he must be raised again.
[5:40] The resurrection is a testified event all throughout scripture. It is something that we see in the Old Testament. It is something that we see being realized in the New Testament. But what we understand is we don't get a full revelation of scripture.
[5:52] We don't really come to an understanding of everything that the word of God is telling us apart from the resurrection. It is in the resurrection that we can understand that according to Isaiah, the suffering servant must die for the sins of man.
[6:05] Yet he will be counted blessed. And yet there will be added to him a multitude who will believe. We understand that all the hopes and the dreams and the anticipations of the Messiah in the Old Testament is not fully realized until we see the full deliverance that comes from the resurrection that we have recorded for us in the gospel.
[6:25] So anytime that we open up scripture, if we try to read it apart from the resurrection itself, we do not come to a full picture of it. Because just a suffering servant or just a Messiah to come and deliver his people temporarily or just one to come to reign on this earth really is not sufficient for the need of man.
[6:45] And a multitude of people are like Peter. They did not yet in Eden John. They did not yet understand scripture because they had not yet come to the realization of the resurrection. And we see that it is there that we get a full revelation.
[6:57] We get a full picture. And it is often the case we don't get a revelation without an experience. And they had to go to the tomb. And we think about it. For three and a half years they've hung out with Christ. And they've seen the testimonies.
[7:08] They've seen the works. They've seen everything that he's done. Peter himself has walked on water. I mean they've seen Lazarus raised from the tomb. They've seen all these things. They've been on the Mount of Transfiguration.
[7:18] But they didn't believe until they came to the empty tomb and realized the beauty and the glory of the resurrection. Because apart from the resurrection event the rest of scripture doesn't make any sense.
[7:32] It really doesn't. And as we will look at a little bit later this morning as Paul says if we have hope in this world is only and we are of all men most to be pitied. Because apart from the resurrection nothing else really makes sense.
[7:43] It is the revelation of scripture. We see this reassuring hope of his presence that is there because Mary stays at the tomb. And as in all gospel accounts a woman is the first one to see the risen Lord.
[7:56] And she is there in her brokenness. And she's there in her darkness. And she's there in her despair. And she's weeping because she didn't go into the tomb. We know that Peter and John went to the tomb. And she's there. And she's broken.
[8:07] And she's downcast. And she's weeping. And she sees the angels. The others did not. They saw the linen cloths and the face cloth folded and set to the side. And she sees the appearance of the angels. And she hears the testimony.
[8:18] But she's still broken. And it says she turns and sees Jesus. But she's supposed to be the gardener. And it wasn't until he called her by name. Now we can't really explain all of that. We know that even on the road to Emmaus there are some who see Jesus.
[8:33] And they didn't understand. And they walked with him for a long time. And it wasn't until the breaking of the bread. There's something about the resurrected Savior that is unrecognizable to man. We don't know. But again there's just this revelation.
[8:44] When he calls her by name. She says to him. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. All of a sudden that despair. That darkness. That mourning. That weeping. That all of that thing.
[8:55] It is completely erased. Because he's there. Right? His presence. She was looking for a body. And he came as a resurrected Savior. She was looking for something to do with. And he came to do something for her.
[9:08] What we see is just this reassuring hope that comes from his presence. You know when Jesus makes a declaration in the end of Matthew. That I know I'm with you always. That is a literal declaration.
[9:18] That I am with you always. Because the one thing that could ever take him away has now already been defeated. And in the resurrection we have the reassuring hope of his eternal presence with his people.
[9:30] And someday our eternal presence with him. And that is reassuring. In a world of darkness. In a world of pain. In a world of brokenness. In a world of misery. We see this.
[9:41] And this is exactly what Mary wasn't looking for. But it's the very thing that was given to her. Well not only reassured by his presence. We also have a poor realization of the power.
[9:54] Because as she goes back. The disciples all went through their own homes. And now later on that evening. They gather together. And they're eating a meal together. And they're inside of a building. They have the doors locked. For fear of the Jews.
[10:05] Because you know they weren't very popular people at that time. It was just three days prior. Their leader had been arrested and executed. And they're here and they're together. And with the doors locked it says. And Jesus appeared in their presence.
[10:17] That's something I think is one of the coolest things that we see in all eternity. I think it was David Jeremiah. I was listening to him one time many years ago. He said one of the coolest things you see is just walk through locked doors. Or walk through buildings.
[10:27] And you know I can't really understand it. And I don't think that I'm getting extra biblical here. So what we see when Paul says we will be like him. Lock doors don't stop him. Right. And that's just one little tip of the iceberg of his power.
[10:42] And not only is he there. But he says look at my hands. And look at my side. And really the power is in the wounds that he bore for our sins. And they began to realize that.
[10:52] Because they were following a teacher. They were following a rabbi. They were following a who it was. The son of God. They testified to that. They followed all of this thing. But now all of a sudden they really begin to realize his power.
[11:04] Because he has overcome everything. Man's greatest fear. Man's greatest dread. Man's greatest despair. The thing that seems to cast all hope aside. He has overcome every bit of it.
[11:15] And now he is present with them. And we really don't realize the full weight of his power. Until we come to an empty tomb. And we see the glory of his resurrection.
[11:28] And then there's this last thing. There's this repeated promise. We see this repeated promise of peace be with you. When he shows up he just says peace be with you.
[11:41] Peace be with you. And he says it eight days later when he shows up again. And he tells them as the father has sent me so I send you. Receive you the Holy Spirit.
[11:51] There's all these things of the promise that he gives. This peace that is a result of the resurrection. This peace that is a result of his power.
[12:03] This peace that is a result of his presence. This peace that comes as a result of understanding scripture in light of the resurrection. This peace that comes to us in no other way.
[12:14] But through who he is and all that he was talking to us. Again, you know. Good Friday. The message out of this Friday.
[12:26] The only Friday. That is the reason we again watch the passion of Christ. And I'll be honest with you. I have a hard time watching it. When I realize that's my chastisement. And that's my sin.
[12:36] And that's my punishment. But if I had to look at those things. Apart from the peace that's on the other side. The scripture says. Who for the joy set before him. He endured the cross. The cross is not the joy.
[12:50] It's the glory of the resurrection. That's the joy. There's peace that is given through promise. And it's repeated all throughout scripture.
[13:03] It's repeated. So we have to at least confess. When God repeats himself he means it. When Jesus tells us multiple times. That peace is with us as a result of his resurrection.
[13:16] And just as he says. Prior to the crucifixion. My peace I give unto you. Not as the world gives. My peace. And as a peace that has overcome the world. Because the power of the world is death.
[13:26] But the peace of Christ is resurrection. We understand these things. Lord we thank you so much. Lord we thank you that. We stand in a world of brokenness.
[13:39] And we stand in a world of times of darkness. And we also stand in light of the glory of the empty tomb. And we thank you that we can gather and rejoice in that.
[13:49] Lord we thank you that we do not have hope as this world has hope. But we have hope that is found in your resurrection. We have hope that is found in your presence. Lord we thank you for all that means to us.
[14:01] Lord we pray that the truth of that reality would just wash over us again. That we as your people would rejoice. That we as your people would just confess to the world around us.
[14:13] That we are not without hope in this world. That even in our darkest of moments you come to us. And as the disciples witness in the most unlikely of ways. But Lord your resurrection has overcome everything that suits you.
[14:27] Cast us down. Lord we thank you for the testimony of scripture. But we thank you more for the realization of your presence. We ask that you would be with us as we go through the remainder of this morning.
[14:37] Our time together. Lord may our fellowship be sweet. May our time together be encouraging. Lord may we be just refreshed through your presence. We ask it all in Christ's name.
[14:50] Amen. Let's do one more. God said his son.
[15:21] He asked, They call Him Jesus. He came to us. He healed and forgave.
[15:35] He lived and died. You are my father. An empty grave is empty.
[15:48] My Savior lives. Because He lives. And He fakes tomorrow.
[16:02] Because He lives. All fear is lost. Because I know.
[16:14] He holds the future. And life is worth the living. Just because He lives.
[16:29] How sweet to own. A newborn baby. Can't feel the pride.
[16:41] And joy He gives. But greater still. The calm of children.
[16:52] This child can't face uncertain days. Because He lives. Because He lives.
[17:05] I can't face tomorrow. Because He lives. Because He lives. All fear is gone.
[17:19] And life is worth the living. Because I know. He holds the future. And life is worth the living. And life is worth the living.
[17:33] Just because He lives. And life is worth the living. And life is worth the living. And then one day. I'll cross the river.
[17:46] I'll find life's fight. No more with faith. And then that star.
[17:57] gives way to victory. I'll see the light of glory. And I'll know He lives.
[18:09] Because He lives. Because He lives. Have you face tomorrow? Because He lives.
[18:22] All fear is gone. Because I know. He holds the future. And life is worth the living. Just because He lives. Guys, I want to thank you for being here this morning. I know these gentlemen. and a number of those, carried out in chairs, so I want to thank you all, so I asked, so I asked, so I asked, so I asked, so I asked, so I asked, so I asked, so I asked, so I asked, I don't thank you for being here this morning.
[18:51] I know these gentlemen, a number of carried out chairs. I want to thank y'all for getting it set up for us. I can ask some of the guys if you'd help us grab some chairs and take them in. I'm not 100% sure where they all go.
[19:02] I know some of them across the hall, some in the fellowship hall, and then some were just right here in the hallway. But thank you for being here and look forward to some fellowship together and we'll continue on just a little bit. Thank you guys.
[19:16] Good morning. Thank you.
[20:16] Thank you. Thank you.
[21:16] Thank you. Thank you.
[22:16] Thank you. Thank you.
[23:16] Thank you. Thank you.
[24:16] Thank you. Thank you.
[25:16] Thank you. Thank you.
[26:16] Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.