If you would take your bibles
and turn to Colossians chapter 3. Colossians chapter 3. We're going to read the whole
chapter here verses 1 through 25. If you then be risen with Christ,
seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right
hand of God. Set your affection on things
above, not on things on the earth. For you are dead, and your life
is here with Christ and God. When Christ, who is our life,
shall appear, then shall you also appear with him in glory. mortify therefore your members
which are upon the earth, fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection,
evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry, for which
things, sake the wrath of God, cometh on the children of disobedience,
and the which you also walked some time when you lived in them,
but now you also put off all these, anger, wrath, malice,
blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth. Lie not one to another, seeking
that you have put off the old man with his deeds, and have
put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the
image of him that created him. Where there is neither Greek
nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, barbarian Scythian, bond nor
free, but Christ is all and in all. Put on, therefore, as the
elect of God, holy and beloved, vows of mercies, kindness, humbleness
of mind, meekness, and long-suffering, forbearing one another and forgiving
one another. If any man have a quarrel against
any, even as Christ forgave you, so also do you. And above all
these things, put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness.
And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which
also you were called in one body, and be you thankful. Let the
word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing
one another, in psalms, in hymns, in spiritual songs, singing with
grace in your hearts to the Lord. and whatsoever you do in word
or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks
to God and the Father by Him. Wives, submit yourselves unto
your own husbands, as it is fit in the Lord. Husbands, love your
wives, and be not bitter against them. Children, obey your parents
in all things, for this is well-pleasing unto the Lord. Fathers, provoke
not your children to anger, lest they be discouraged. Servants,
obey in all things your masters, according to the flesh, not with
eye service, as men's pleasers, but in the singleness of heart,
fearing God. And whatsoever you do, do it
heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men, knowing that of
the Lord you shall receive the reward of the inheritance. for
you serve the Lord Christ. But he that doeth wrong shall
receive for the wrong which he hath done, and there is no respect
of persons. If you will turn with me to John
chapter 20. It is my sincere desire and continuing
prayer to God that he'll use me for what he's called me to
do. I have not been a self-promoter so that I know and have confidence
that I'm here by His will and by His hand and in His good providence. God's moved me to this place
to preach His gospel to you. And my prayer is that during
this hour He will enable me to preach in such a a way that,
like Paul said, you would see me as an ambassador of Christ,
as though God did beseech you by me. If you hear from God,
you're going to hear through a preacher. Be ye reconciled. That's my message. Be ye reconciled. Reconciled
to his reconciliation and reconciled by his reconciliation. That's
the heart of what I try to preach. I know that he'll burn every
word of the message today into your hearts, and let us leave
rejoicing in Christ. Here in John chapter 20 is the
account of what took place immediately after the resurrection of Christ. The first was a visit by Mary
Magdalene. You remember Mary Magdalene.
The Lord cast out seven devils. You know, in the scripture, I
don't know if you've ever noticed this, but when it talks about
devils, it normally talks about some impediment, some leprosy or madness or lunacy
or something attached to it. And she had seven And Mary Magdalene loved the
Lord and she got up early. I love what Spurgeon said. Faith
wakes up early to seek the Lord. That's the first object of the
day. That's the first activity of
the day is to seek the Lord. And it was dark outside. This
was before daylight. And faith is not scared of the
dark anymore. Oh, I remember as a real young
boy, I used to be afraid of the dark. Oh, I didn't like it. I didn't like it. And from town
back to my house was about two miles, and there was a railroad
track. If you didn't walk down those
tracks, it was a long way. It was like three miles back
to the house. It was only about a mile if I
took the tracks, but boy it was dark and you start thinking about
these old railroad bombs and you know, just a young boy. Oh, but faith's not scared of
the dark anymore. There was a time when it become
afraid. You need to be afraid of darkness. We're in darkness. You, Hathi Quicken, who were
dead in trespasses and sins, we walked in darkness, didn't
we? We walked according to the prince of the power of the air,
the spirit that now dwells in unbelievers. And she went to this tomb early,
and she found an empty tomb. She didn't know it at the time,
but that's what we want to find, an empty tomb. And that was the
good news. The Lord led her there to see
an empty tomb. I want you to see him this morning,
but I also want you to see what he accomplished. And the empty
tomb declares what he accomplished. And then he appeared to his disciples.
They were all gathered together. God's people gathered together
to worship. Everybody was there but Thomas.
And then he appeared to them a third time some eight days
later. And this time Thomas was in the
midst. And the Lord did the same thing
He did on the first time when they gathered together. He just
suddenly appeared in their midst. Where two or more gathered together
in His name, there am I in the midst. That's what He says. But what happens when you miss? You've missed something. You've
missed the message of the Lord. You've missed something. Something
that's vitally important to your life and to your soul. You miss
out. Thomas missed out. It didn't
mean that he's an unbeliever. It didn't mean that he's a rebel. But he wasn't there for whatever
reason. He might have had a good reason.
I don't know. It doesn't say. It just says he wasn't there.
But then Thomas begins. He sees the disciples and they
start telling him the good news. And Thomas said, no, I ain't
believing that. Why? Because he mixed what they said
with natural reasoning. When the Lord don't fill in the
blanks, you're left to natural reasoning. And Thomas said, no,
he said, I'd have to stick my fingers in the nail holes in
his hand and thrust my hand inside the spear hole in his side. Then
I'll believe. Well, let me tell you something.
You don't dictate to the Lord what it takes for you to believe.
He dictates to you. And for whatever reason, he was
absent and missed something vital to his soul. But the Lord's not
willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
And so he arranged another meeting eight days later, and this time
Thomas was there. And the Lord said nothing to
the rest of them, but he looked at Thomas, and he said, here's
the hole. Stick your finger in it. Here's
my side. Thrust your fist into my side.
But don't be unbelieving. Oh, don't be faithless. And in summing all these things
up, the Holy Ghost moved John to write these words. And many
other signs did Jesus in the presence of His disciples which
are not written in this book. But these, what we're going to
consider this morning, these are written that you might believe
that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing,
you might have life through His name. My message this morning
is things written of God. I sit at my desk and I prepare
a message. I picture this congregation in
my mind as best I can and what you're going through, at least
what I know that you're going through, and knowing something
of your needs I write out some notes on whatever passage I feel
God has led me to preach on to help you. I write out my message
not because I don't know my subject, but for time's sake and for our limited attention
span. Our Lord told His disciples,
You sit right here. I'm going yonder to pray. You
sit here. Oh, what a privilege it would
have been to sit and listen to our Lord pray. They wasn't there five minutes.
They was sawing logs. Sound sleep. Our Lord come back,
woke them up, went back again. Again, they went to sleep. Our
attention span is so short, isn't it? So short. Well, I sit down
and prepare and sometimes write through these messages over and
over and over to whittle these things down to just a few things.
And I do it because we don't have much of an attention span.
What I've studied all week, I'm going to give you in 45 minutes.
That's hard to retain. And you that have tried to preach,
you keep this in your mind if you preach again. We have such
a short attention span. God's in heaven. We're on earth.
Let your words be few. That's what he said. These are written that you might
believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. Now, I write
these things down. Are they important? They are
to me, and they ought to be to you. When God saves sinners, He does
it through the preaching of the gospel. Don't expect it to just
fall out of the air into your head someplace. It's not going
to happen. Those things which he teaches men, those things
which he does in men, it comes through the preaching of the
gospel. I can show it to you page after page after page and
have shown you. These things are important. I'm
careful how I write them out. But now listen to me. When God
writes a thing, that's it. There's no going over it. He
don't go over his notes. When he writes a thing, that's
it. I've heard people say, God said
it, I believe it, and that settles it. But that's not true. God
said it, and that settles it whether you believe it or not.
When God writes a thing, that's it. I don't go home and juggle
some tennis balls and sit there and think about whether or not
This is it. If God said it, that's it. It's
not going to change. It's not going to vary. Time
has nothing to do with it. Oh, that was for those old generations
way back there. He's the same yesterday, today,
and forever. They're not even a shadow of
turning with God. Not even a shadow. Listen to this verse over in
Isaiah 55, verse 10. You can turn over there if you like. Isaiah 55, verse 10. Talking
about His Word. Things God has written. He's
written these things that we might believe. For as the rain
cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither,
but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth, and bud, that
it may give seed to the sower and bread to the eater. Now watch
this. So shall my word be that goeth
forth out of my mouth. It shall not return unto me void,
but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall
prosper in the thing whereunto I sent it. Paul said, Timothy,
what did he say? Preach the word. The pulpit's not the place for
your opinions or your speculation. The pulpit's the place for His
Word. If you've got something to say, back it up with the Word
of God. If you can't back it up, throw
it away. It's no good. God's Word is an amazing thing. It says the Word of God is quick.
Does that mean it's fast? No. That means it's alive. It's
a living word. And it's powerful. Oh, sometimes
I preach and my words just go out here and fall on the floor.
Not his words. His words are powerful. And sharper than any two-edged
sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit. Oh,
lost soul. That sword of God, his gospel,
can divide between that lost soul and his spirit. What a sword! And all the joints and marrow. Now listen, and as a discerner
of your thoughts and deeds, I used to listen to Henry Mahan. I still
go to an Armenian church. And I used to accuse him of sitting
outside the window and listening because he'd quote us word for
word. It wasn't him. It's the Word
of God. It's a discerner of the thoughts
and intents of your heart. It exposes what I can't see and
what you can't see. It exposes. And when God writes
a thing, it's forever. It's forever. I have four things in our text
this morning that God says he's written that we might believe
that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. The first is the
fact of his appearance. And the second is how he appeared. And then thirdly, what his appearance
meant or means to us yet today. And then finally, this question,
has he appeared to you? Or how has he appeared to you?
So let's begin here with the fact of his appearance. Jesus
Christ came into this world through the womb of a virgin. Herod sought
to kill him on many occasions. The Jewish hierarchy would have
tossed him off a cliff or stoned him, but he passed through their
midst because his time was not yet come. John the Baptist preached
about his coming, identified him, baptized him, and saw the
Spirit of God come down like a dove and light on him. Saw
our Lord receive the Spirit without measure. He read a passage out of Isaiah
and he said to those assembled, this day is this scripture fulfilled
in your ears. The Lord, the Holy Spirit has
sent me. sent me to preach his gospel. And for three and a half years
he preached the gospel, God bearing him witness with signs and wonders
and divers miracles and gifts of the Holy Ghost. I cannot imagine
the gifts that he gave anybody doing that except someone who
had received the Spirit without measure. You know on occasion
the disciples tried to cast out a demon, a demon possessed possession,
and they couldn't do it. But our Lord did. Our Lord did. He had no trouble, no difficulty,
when it came to doing those things. God accompanied him with all
of these things. He was a man filled with the
Spirit of God. He was the God-man. And he claimed
by the Word of God to be the promised Messiah, the Christ,
the Redeemer of Israel. And then on a certain day, he
was betrayed by Judas, led into a kangaroo court, judged, beaten,
nailed to a cross, and finally, after hours of agonizing pain
that he suffered, gave up the ghost and was carried to a rich
man's tomb. And by request of the Jews, a
Roman guard came, set a great stone up, sealed that tomb, and
set a guard there. I can only imagine the confusion
and disappointment they must have felt as they went home after
that awful night, the disciples. Those who loved him and followed
him. Those who had received the benefits of his preaching, of
his ministry. The two men on the road to Emmaus
summed it up. They were walking along talking
to our Lord, but they didn't know it was our Lord. And they told Him the whole sad
story, and they said, But we trusted that it had been He which
should have redeemed Israel. And beside all that, this day,
the third day, some things were done. Yea, and certain women
also of our own company made us astonished when they were
early at the sepulcher and talked about his body being taken away
and a vision of angels telling them that he was alive. Oh, the confusion. There was
no need for confusion. Our Lord had told them he was
going to Jerusalem, that he was going to be tortured, suffer
many things, and die. And on the third day, he was
going to be raised from the dead. He told them that in plain language.
But it didn't get in here. Fact is, it didn't even lodge
in here. It just went in there and went around. Same thing,
a lot of times I get up here and preach and it goes in here
and it goes in and it just goes around, around, around. But this is where our text begins.
Mary Magdalene getting up early to go to his grave. And truly, two angels were there
and spake of his resurrection. They found nothing in the tomb
but the linen that he was wrapped in and a napkin laying over by
itself. Boy, that's what you want to
find. Believe me, when you start searching for a salvation accomplished,
for redemption accomplished, for a good hope through grace,
that's what you want to see, an empty tomb. I'm going to tell you something.
There's nothing more fully documented than the birth, life, death,
and resurrection of Jesus Christ, but especially his resurrection. In 1 Corinthians 15, 5, it says,
He was seen of Cephas, that is Peter, then of the twelve, and
then of about five hundred brethren, all at once. has to be established in the
mouth of two or three witnesses. He's got more than that. Mary heard a man speak, supposed
him to be a gardener, and then he spoke again and he said, Mary. And she immediately addressed
him as Master Rabboni, I think is the is the word, but it means
master. The fact that his resurrection
is established beyond question. Anyone who denies his resurrection
makes God a liar. This evidence was given of God.
This testimony of this book, given of God. One man come to
hear me preach down at the old church. And when I was done,
he wanted to discuss what I preached, and I said, I'll talk to you
about it if we can agree to use the Word of God as the basis
of our discussion." And he said, no, I'm not going to use that
Jewish book of... how did he say that? Anyway, he's talking about just
a figment of your imagination. That's what he was talking about.
Mythology. That's what he said. That Jewish
book of mythology. My friend, this was established
not by a private conversation between an angel and a person.
Christ Himself revealed Himself to hundreds. He was here 40 days
before He went back to glory. 40 days. You think it was important
that He establish this? It's important for those He died
for, for Him to establish this. This is really part of the foundation
of our hope. All right, here's the second
thing I want you to see, how he appeared. Mary saw him and
supposed him to be a gardener. The two disciples on the road
to Emmaus, they saw him, but all they saw was a man. When Mary saw Christ, it says
she saw Jesus. He spoke to her, spoke her name,
and she turned to see Jesus. The Word of God said there is
one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, the
man. Was he a man? He had to become
a man. There's no other way for him
to redeem his people than to take their place as a man. He
took not on him the nature of angels, he took on him the seed
of Abraham, the promised seed. Mary didn't see some glorious
apparition or some blinding aura around this man attending her
vision. It says she turned and saw Jesus. And seeing him, she said, Master,
what about this man, Jesus? Can you call him Master and mean
it? Do you see him in such a light
by faith that you call him master? This man. There's a man. It's
hard to believe, I know, but there's a man in glory. And Mary
saw him. When Paul preached to the saints
at Antioch, this is what he said, Be it known unto you therefore,
men and brethren. Now, he'd just gone through the
entire Old Testament showing them not only the types of Christ,
but these men that were prophets and so on and what they had to
say about the Christ. And he gets done with all this
and he said, Be it known unto you therefore, men and brethren,
through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins,
and by him, by this man, all that believe are justified from
all things from which you could not be justified by the law of
Moses. Salvation is in a person. Not
just any person, but Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of Man, the
Son of God, the promised Redeemer. Thou shalt call His name Jesus,
for He shall save His people from their sins. So what have we learned so far?
Well, we've learned that the resurrection of Jesus Christ
is documented. It's documented. It's the fact. an undeniable
fact, He raised from the dead. Paul said He died for our sins
according to the Scriptures, and He was buried and rose again
the third day according to the Scriptures. If you don't believe
this, you're not a believer. That's what Paul said. This is
what we stand in. Read 1 Corinthians 15. This is
what was preached to me, he said, and this is what I'm preaching
to you. And he was seen of those who
knew him. They knew who they were looking
at. Let no man leave you in doubt
concerning the resurrection of Jesus Christ. God himself has
put it in writing. That's what we're talking about,
things that God has written. And he appeared as a man. Since
by man came death, Paul said, by man came also the resurrection
of the dead. Now here's the third thing. What
does his appearance mean? What does all this mean? Well, his appearance is one of
the highlights of the gospel. In 1 Corinthians 15, Paul makes
four bold declarations concerning the resurrection of Christ. And
in these four declarations, he pretty much tells us that the
whole of the ministry is just a wash if Christ be not risen. First of all, verse 14, he said,
If Christ be not written, then our preaching is vain. We're
just up here beating the air, so to speak. We're not accomplishing
anything and never will accomplish anything if he be not risen.
But oh, if he be risen, and he's the one that told us to go preach,
and he said all power is given unto me in heaven and earth,
and then he ascended up and sat down at the right hand of God,
Oh, now that's a whole new deal now, isn't it? Huh? If he wants
to use something foolish as a preacher, he can do it. Religion would have you believe
that God's trying to save everybody any way He can. It'd have you
believe that God's willing to compromise His character to do
it. The resurrection declares that God spared not his own son,
but delivered him up for us all, and there's no doubt about your
salvation. Every man for whom Christ died is going to be attended
by God's providence and his preacher, and they're going to hear the
gospel. And they're going to be born of God. It's guaranteed.
What guaranteed it? His death. His resurrection. And that his work was sufficient.
and accepted of God. No resurrection, my friend, no
gospel. Verse 17, and if Christ be not
raised, your faith is vain. Oh, I believe. Do you? If you don't believe in His resurrection,
if you can't rest in His resurrection, you don't believe. And you're yet in your sins.
And He's yet in the grave. All Israel stood outside the
linen fence surrounding the tabernacle on the day of atonement. What
were they looking for? They were looking for that high
priest who went in there with the blood, the atonement blood. They were looking for him to
come back out. That's a picture of Christ being buried and then
being raised and appearing to his people. Raised his hands
and blessed them. All Israel stood outside that
fence waiting for that, I can't imagine, waiting for that high
priest to come out. And then thirdly, Paul says this
about the resurrection, verse 18, And they also which are fallen
asleep in Christ are perished, if Christ be not risen. Oh, how
many souls have laid their souls to rest on the pillow of his
resurrection. But if he be raised not, that's
vain. They're all gone. And then fourthly, it says in
1 Corinthians 15, 15, If Christ be not raised, we who preach
the gospel are false witnesses of God. Oh, what a thought. What a thought. Stand here week
after week after week and spend a lifetime preaching the gospel.
just to be found false witnesses of God. I tell you, you better
be sure about his resurrection if you have any hankering whatsoever
to be a preacher. Better be sure what you're preaching.
But Paul goes on to write, and he says, If in this life only
we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable. If
all he is is an inspiration for you to walk, You're going to be miserable
when it comes time to die. What are you going to do then?
If this world is all you have and you see it slipping from
your hands, where's your hope? Of all men, you're most miserable.
He died for nothing. He lived for nothing. He appeared
for nothing. If in this life only we have
hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable. But now is
Christ risen from the dead and become the first fruits of them
that slept. So what about this resurrection?
His resurrection is the heavenly declaration of your justification. The trial's over. The judge has
brought in his verdict. Justified, he said. Clear of
all charges. Unapprovable in my sight. Justified. Oh, but there's people out there
who are going to charge you. Let them charge. Listen to this. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? It's God that justifies. There's
no higher court than that. There's not another voice. That
was it. It's God that justifies. Who
is he that condemneth? It's Christ that died, oh yea,
but rather is risen again. Who's even at the right hand
of God, who also maketh intercession for us. Does that mean he's up
there saying, don't burn them up Father, don't, don't, wait
a minute, wait a minute. Let me plead for him. No, that
means he's sitting there with the scars in his hands, in his
side, in his feet. He's there. He's sitting next,
that's our intercessor. And that is the intercession. Beloved, there's a man in glory.
I wish you could have heard that message I heard years ago. And he is the reason that a numberless
multitude will dwell there in his own time. He was delivered for our offenses,
raised again for our justification. Oh, this has been years and years
long before I was born. Old Sam Houston led the battle
that brought defeat to Santa Ana and his Mexican army at the
Battle of San Jacinto. And later on, after Texas become
a republic, Sam Houston become their president. President of
the Republic of Texas. And he made it a law that any
man that fought with him at the Battle of Ascenta was entitled
to free land in Texas. Well, some time went by, and
an occasion arose concerning a man of very poor reputation. And it was concerning some farmers
who accused him of stealing their land. Nobby Horsham. Nobby Horsham,
I'm sorry. And on the day of his trial,
the farmers took him to court. And boy, having his reputation,
he was sure to go down. But on the day of his trial,
the whole courtroom was in shock to see President Sam Houston
sitting at the table of the defendant. As the trial began, Sam Houston
stood up before the judge, turned to old Nobby, and he said, where
were you on the afternoon of April 21st, 1836? Old Nobby said, well, sir, I
was with you on the front line. It's innocent. Where were you
when Christ died? In Him. With Him. His name is Emmanuel, God with
us. Having said these things, Old
Sam turned to the judge and he said, I rest my case. That was
it. Let me quote you a scripture. Of God are you in Christ Jesus,
who of God is made unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification,
and redemption. Alright, here's my last point.
You've heard again the gospel of Christ in a manner of speaking. He's been set before you. He's
been made to appear before you in a gospel of words. I pray
by the power of His Spirit. How does He appear to you? How
do you see Him? He appeared to His disciples
with scars in His hands. He suffered on their account, a hole in His side. He appeared
to them a crucified, risen Savior. He appeared as a man with no
burden. You know, before, He said, I'm
not going to talk to you anymore. The ruler of this world, He's
going to come to me, and I have nothing in Him. There were some
serious burdens. burden of his elect, bearing
the judgment of God the Father. Oh, let this pass, if it be thy
will. Nevertheless, thy will be done.
But he appears now, he has no burden. He's victorious. He's paid the bill. Now, there's
two things that declares God's acceptance of the sacrifice of
Christ. Do you know what they are? First
of all, his suffering ended. It ended. It would never have ended if
he did not satisfy God. That's why unbelievers, when
they're judged at that last day and cast into that lake of fire,
it's forever. They'll never, by their suffering,
be able to satisfy God. But he did. How do I know that? His suffering ended. Into thy hands I commit my spirit. And he gave up the ghost. And his resurrection itself,
he's not still in the tomb. He rose from the dead. He no longer lay in a tomb. He said, O death, where is thy
sting? O grave, where is thy victim?
And Paul writes, O thanks be unto God which giveth us the
victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Mary turned and saw Jesus. How did she see Him? She saw
Him as the Lord doing for her what she could never do for herself. And I'll tell you something else.
Why did she turn? She heard her name. He may be speaking your name
this morning. I don't know. He spoke mine. There was no doubt in my mind
that day I heard the gospel. That man was preaching to me.
He didn't know it, but God did, and he made me know it. Oh, that he'd be Please today
to close in the heart of some poor sinner here as he did in
me. Make some doubting Thomas to know that he's risen. Make
some troubled soul a trophy of his grace. O precious Spirit of God, will
you be pleased today to put that balm of Gilead on the daughter of your people.
And precious Father, we beg you this morning to use this message
to that end for Christ's sake. Amen.