I know that we all appreciate
those who play the musical instruments. What a blessing it is in our
congregation that these have these talents and they use them
for the Lord. If you will, this morning, let's
look in John chapter 20. John chapter 20. The first day
of the week cometh Mary Magdalene early, when it was yet dark unto
the sepulchre, and seeth the stone taken away from the sepulchre. Then she runneth, and cometh
to Simon Peter, and to the other disciple, whom Jesus loved, and
saith unto them, They have taken away the Lord out of the sepulchre,
and we know not where they have laid him. Peter therefore went
forth and that other disciple and came to the sepulchre. So
they ran both together, that is Peter and John. And the other
disciple did outrun Peter and came first to the sepulchre.
And he stooping down and looking in saw the linen clothes lying,
yet went he not in. Then cometh Simon Peter following
him and went in to the sepulchre, and seeth the linen clothes lie,
and the napkin that was about his head, not lying with the
linen clothes, but wrapped together in a place by itself. Then went
in also that other disciple, which came first to the sepulchre,
and he saw and believed. For as yet they knew not the
scripture, that he must rise from the dead. Then the disciples
went away again unto their own home. But Mary stood without
at the sepulchre, weeping. And as she wept, she stooped
down and looked into the sepulchre, and see of two angels in white
sitting, the one at the head and the other at the feet, where
the body of Jesus had lain. And they say unto her, Woman,
why weepest thou? She saith unto them, because
they have taken away my Lord, and I know not where they have
laid him. And when she had thus said, she
turned herself back and saw Jesus standing, and knew not that it
was Jesus. Jesus saith unto her, Woman,
why weepest thou? Whom seekest thou? She, supposing
him to be the gardener, saith unto him, Sir, If thou have borne
him hence, tell me where thou hast laid him, and I will take
him away. Jesus saith unto her, Mary. She turned herself and saith
unto him, Rabboni, which is to say, master. Jesus saith unto
her, touch me not, for I'm not yet ascended to my father. But
go to my brethren and say unto them, I ascend unto my father,
and your father, and to my God and your God. Mary Magdalene
came and told the disciples that she had seen the Lord and that
he had spoken these things unto her. Much of the world is hearing
today about the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. And
as we see here in verse one, it was on the first day of the
week, that is Sunday, that He rose from the dead. And that's
one of the reasons that God's people worship Him on the first
day of the week. The Lord's resurrection, just
like His death, was foretold and pictured in the Old Testament
scriptures. The Lord Jesus foretold His resurrection
several times during His earthly ministry. one of these times
in John chapter 2 and verse 19. And this happened after he had
brought his first miracle when he turned the water into wine.
Then he visited Jerusalem. And at that time he said, destroy
this temple. And he's speaking, of course,
of his body. Destroy this temple, and in three
days, I will raise it up. It's interesting to me that the
disciples, they forgot that. But his enemies, they remembered
that. And we see in the providence
of God, they remembered. So they required a pilot, a guard,
and the tomb being sealed. which all testify to the truth
of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Isn't it wonderful to
know that we serve and worship such a God who works all things
after the counsel of his own will? Known unto him are all
his works from the beginning of the world. But three times
we read in the Gospels that He told His disciples that He would
rise from the dead. And I want us to look at one
of those, if you will. Turn back with me to Matthew
chapter 16. Three times during the earthly
ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ, during those three and a half
years, we know that He told His disciples that he would rise
from the dead. If you notice here in Matthew
16 and verse 21, we read, from that time forth began Jesus to
show unto his disciples how that he must go unto Jerusalem and
suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes
and be killed and be raised again the third day. This is one of
those times when the Lord Jesus Christ told his disciples during
that three, three and a half years of ministry that he would
be crucified, he would be killed in Jerusalem, but he would rise
again from the dead. But you notice here in Matthew
chapter 16, when our Lord told his disciples this, their reaction
in verse 22, then Peter took him and began to rebuke him saying,
Be it far from thee, Lord, this shall not be unto thee. But he
turned and said unto Peter, get thee behind me, Satan, thou art
an offense unto me, for thou savest not the things that be
of God, but those that be of men. Now just before this, Just
before, our Lord told His disciples that He would go to Jerusalem
and be killed, and rise again the third day, and then Peter
takes Him aside and rebukes Him. But just before this, if you
look back in the same chapter, verse 13, we read, when Jesus
came into the coast of Caesarea Philippi, He asked His disciples,
saying, Whom do men say that I, the Son of man am? And they
said, some say that thou art John the Baptist, some, Elias,
and others, Jeremias, are one of the prophets. He saith unto
them, but whom say ye that I am? And Simon Peter answered and
said, thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. Now watch
this. And Jesus answered and said unto
him, blessed art thou Simon Barjona, For flesh and blood hath not
revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven." At
this point, at this point in the ministry of Christ and in
the lives of these twelve disciples, it had been revealed unto them
by the Father who He was. Thou art the Christ, the Son
of the living God. But the Christ that they had
been taught to expect was a Christ who would come into this world
and set up an earthly kingdom and make Israel the top nation
of all the nations of the world. It had been revealed unto them
that He was the Christ, that He was the Son of God, but at
this point it had not been revealed unto them how he would suffer
and die and rise again from the graves. And this just reminds us, and
this is the reason I point this out to all of us here today,
salvation comes by revelation. God revealed this unto Peter. And after the Holy Spirit came
upon the disciples on the day of Pentecost, and during that
time that our Lord carried here from His resurrection to His
ascension. He was teaching the disciples,
and then it was revealed unto them how that Christ would rise
from the dead. Because on the day of Pentecost,
Peter stood up with the eleven and said, Him, that is Christ,
being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of
God, you by wicked hands have crucified and slain, whom God
raised up, having loosed the pains of death." Now listen,
because it just has to be so. Why? Because He's the Lord of
glory. Because He's the Lord of life.
In Him is life. And Peter said, because it was
not possible that He, that is Christ, the God-man, should be
held by it. Death could not hold to Him who
is King of kings and Lord of lords. Salvation comes by revelation. And what a wonderful revelation
it is. When God teaches us, reveals
to us in our heart, in our soul, who He is and what He has done,
what He has accomplished, that is salvation, my friends. When
we look away from ourselves and everything else that men would
tell us that we must do to be saved and look only at the Christ,
the Son of the living God, who suffered and died and rose from
the dead for us and is ascended back unto the Father. That is
salvation. When you know Him, that's what
He said, this is life eternal, that you might know Thee, the
only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. There's
only one way to know the true God, and that is through the
true Savior, Jesus Christ. God manifests in the flesh. Now I would like for us this
morning to consider the first words The very first words that
the Lord Jesus Christ spoke after his resurrection. You see them
in verse 15. And I know these were his first
words because in the Gospel of Mark, we are told, now when Jesus
was risen early the first day of the week, he appeared first,
he appeared first to Mary. Now his first words are spoken
to Mary Magdalene. Woman, why weepest thou? Woman, why weepest thou? I have three points for us this
morning. I trust God will bless this word
to all of us here today, maybe today, in this place someone
will have salvation revealed unto you through the preaching
of the gospel. That's my prayer. My first point
is, who was Mary Magdalene? He appeared first to Mary Magdalene. He spoke first to Mary Magdalene. Woman, why weepest thou? Who
was Mary Magdalene? She's mentioned in 12 scriptures. If you take your concordance,
And look up Mary Magdalene, you will find that 12 verses of scripture
contain her name. And all of these scriptures but
one, 11 of these 12, all but one refer to three specific points. They refer to the death at the
cross. She was there. She witnessed
it. They refer to His burial. She followed along. She saw where
they laid His body. And third, the day of His resurrection. And isn't it interesting when
you think about that, how that those are the three things that
the Apostle Paul declared was the gospel which he preached. In 1 Corinthians 15, He said,
For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received,
how that Christ died for our sins according to the Scripture.
She witnessed. She witnessed Him on the cross
dying. And then Paul said and was buried.
She witnessed His burial. And that He rose again the third
day according to the Scripture. She was there that morning. And
He appeared unto her first of all. But I want you to look with
me at the one verse of Scripture in the Gospels where she is mentioned
that doesn't concern either his death, his burial, or his resurrection. Turn back with me, if you will,
to Matthew chapter 8. Matthew chapter 8, and this was
early on in the ministry of our Savior, His earthly ministry. This was early on during these
three and a half years. When He was come down from the
mountain, great multitudes followed Him. And behold, there came a
leper, I'm sorry that's That's not the verse that I want. Oh, I'm in Matthew, no wonder.
I said Luke, right? I hope. Luke chapter 8. Luke chapter 8 in verse 1. And
it came to pass afterward that he went throughout every city
and village, preaching and showing the glad tidings of the kingdom
of God. and the 12 were with him. And
certain women, which had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities,
Mary called Magdalene, out of whom went seven devils, and Joanna,
the wife of Chusa, Herod's steward, and Susanna, and many others,
which ministered unto him of their substance. Mary Magdalene,
who was she? She was one of these women, certain
women, the scripture here says, who he had healed of evil spirits. Out of her went seven devils. Now what should we learn from
this? In the scripture, the number seven means completeness, completeness. And so I'm going to use that
to picture the truth to us. that men are not partially dead
in trespasses and sins. Men do not partially walk according
to the course of this world, follow the God of this world,
rather. But we are completely, when we
come into this world, we are completely, that is, spiritually
dead. And we completely are under the
power of the God of this world. Mary was completely lost. She was completely delivered. And that's what salvation is.
She was a woman possessed of seven devils, completely under
the control of demon spirits. And that's all of us by nature.
That's all of us. And only God can really teach
us what depravity means. Depravity, my friends, means
that every part of us suffered in the fall. Our understanding,
our affections, our will, and we need a savior. We need a savior
who can save us because we cannot save ourselves. We cannot participate
in the salvation that we need other than to receive it. It's
the work of God. And the fact that these devils
are mentioned, seven devils, what is a devil? A devil from
the word of God is a spirit being that was created holy, perfectly
holy, and yet fell into sin. And here's the point I want to
make, every devil, Everyone, we don't know how many there
are that fell. We know there are the elect angels
that did not fall. But every angel that fell is
going to spend eternity in hell. God provided no savior for the
fallen angels. But just suppose with me this
morning for sake of illustration. that if we could see into hell
and all the demon spirits that are there suffering, and they
will be there forever, if God decided to save some of those
fallen angels, let's say he decided to save a hundred, would it be
necessary for him to save all of those angels? If he just decided
to save a hundred, would it be necessary that he save all of
them? But if, if he saved seven, what
would that be? Grace, grace, grace. That's what it would be. And
that's what salvation is. God did not provide a savior
for the angels. There's none of them that fell
who are going to be saved. But if God were to save any of
them, it would be by grace. It wouldn't be by merit. Wouldn't
be because they deserve to be saved. And that's the same thing
that is true about you and I. All men, we all fell in our father
Adam. And yet God chose to save some. Some people think, well, if He
chose to save some, He has to save all of them. No, no. No,
this is what we call grace. This is what the Word of God
calls grace. For by grace are you saved through
faith, and that not of yourselves. It is the gift of God, not of
works, lest any man should boast. Who was Mary Magdalene? Mary
Magdalene was like you and me and every other child of God. She was a trophy, a trophy of
God's amazing grace. Heaven is populated with trophies,
trophies of God's amazing grace. Everyone who is saved is a trophy
of His grace. And we're told here that she
was one of those who ministered unto him, one of these women
who ministered unto him out of their substance. So who was Mary
Magdalene? She was a trophy of God's saving,
amazing grace. That's what I want to be. That's
what I am, by the grace of God, that's all. I want him to have
all the glory, don't you? Amen. I wouldn't want it any
other way. Well, second, why was she weeping? Our Lord asked her, woman, why
weepest thou? Why was she weeping? Well, without
doubt, she wept because she loved the Lord Jesus Christ. I know
that. However, she wept because she
did not understand what the empty tomb meant. She looked in there
and she saw that it was empty of his body. She did not understand
what that meant. She knew that he had been crucified,
he had been put to death because of the hatred and the evil of
the religious leaders, and she assumed that they had come and
stolen away his body, that they had come and taken his body out
of that tomb and carried it somewhere else. That's the reason, she
said two times in this passage, we know not where they have taken
him. He was crucified at Calvary. Do you know what Calvary means?
It means a place of a skull, a place of a skull. And some of the writers believe
it was called that. Some say because it actually,
the hill looks like a skull, cranium. But others say, no,
it's because that malefactors were crucified there, and most
of them were buried very close by in a common grave, a shallow
grave, and animals would come and dig up those bodies and bones,
and so there were skulls that were around that hill that's
called Mount Calvary, place of a skull. And she assumed, no
doubt, because of the hatred of the religious leaders, they
had taken his body and probably had taken it to that place of
a skull to just receive the burial of a common criminal. In their
mind, he was not worthy of being buried in this garden, in this
tomb of Joseph. Where have they taken my Lord? So that's why she was weeping. That's the reason she was weeping.
Woman, why weepest thou? Because she did not understand
what it meant when she looked in that tomb and it was empty.
And that brings me to my third point. What does the empty tomb
mean? What does it mean? And I have
seven things I'm going to give us quickly this morning that
the empty tomb means. And each and every one of these
will cause God's people to rejoice. Number one, it means that Jesus
Christ is the son of God and he has conquered death. That's
what the empty tomb means. It means that Jesus, who was
born of the Virgin Mary, called Jesus of Nazareth, that He is
the Son of God, and that He conquered death. I want you to look over
in Romans with me. First, Romans chapter 1. First. Romans chapter 1. Verses 1 through
4, Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ,
called to be an apostle separated under the gospel of God, which
he had promised to for by his prophets in the Holy Scriptures,
Now notice, concerning his son, Jesus Christ our Lord, which
was made of the seed of David according to the flesh and declared
to be the son of God with power according to the spirit of holiness
by the resurrection from the dead. He was made of the seed
of David. He was a man, but he was not
made the son of God. He is the eternal son of God.
And He was declared to be the Son of God by the resurrection,
by His resurrection, He was declared to be the Son of God. God, as I mentioned a few minutes
ago, has a people in this world that He has chosen to save. And
to save them, He did not send someone else. But God himself
came to save his people. God came into this world. You
know, you hear these Jehovah's Witnesses that go from door to
door, and the Jesus that they speak about, he is a created
being. In other words, I guess they
would think that God would save His people, but He wouldn't do
it Himself. He would create another being
to do that work of salvation. That's not the Jehovah of the
Bible. The Jehovah that we worship,
the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, He didn't delegate
this to someone else, my friends. He Himself came in the flesh. And by his resurrection, he is
declared manifested to be the son of God. He said, destroy
this temple and in three days I will raise it up. He did. He conquered death. He is who
he said that he is. I and my father are one. Yes,
the empty tomb means that Jesus Christ is the son of God and
that he has conquered death. Number two, it means that God's
justice, he has fully satisfied. Look at Romans four and verse
25. The empty tomb means that God's
justice is fully satisfied because, you see, when He was there on
the cross, He bore in His body the sins of His people. If you're
one of His people, know this, my friends, your sins were laid
upon Him, made to meet upon Him when He was hanging there on
the tree. But by his resurrection, the empty tomb declares unto
us that God's justice is fully satisfied. Verse 25 of Romans
4, who was delivered for our offenses, that is for our sins,
he was crucified and raised again for our justification. He would not have come out of
that tomb. That tomb would not have been
empty if there was one sin. Praise God, if there was one
sin. One little sin, one big sin,
all in between. If there was one sin of His people
that He did not satisfy God's justice, He would not have come
out of that tomb. He's, by His resurrection, justified. He has the surety of God's covenant
people. He had fully paid the debt. When
we look into that tomb and see that it's empty, we know that
our sin debt is paid. It's paid. I'm not trying to
pay anything. I'm not trying to earn anything.
Why? Because Christ paid it all. He
paid it all. Amen. The third thing, this empty
tomb, means that no one can condemn one for whom he died. Look in
Romans chapter 8. No one can condemn one for whom
he died. In chapter 8, in verse 34, the apostle said, who is he that
condemneth? It is Christ that died. Yea,
rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand
of God, who also maketh intercession for us. No one No one can condemn
one for whom Christ died. And we see that as we look into
the tomb and see that it's empty. And number four, it means that
we have an advocate with the Father. John writes in his first letter,
1 John 2, little children, these things
write unto thee that you sin not. But if any man sin, we have
an advocate with the Father. And we do sin, we know that.
We don't do it on purpose, but we do sin. But even when we sin,
Christ, who was dead, who rose, who's at the Father's right hand,
he is our advocate. He is the propitiation, the appeasement
for our sins. That's what the Apostle John
tells us. Number five, the empty tomb means
that all men are given assurance of the coming day of judgment.
In Acts chapter 17, Paul said, God hath appointed a day in which
he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained,
whereof he hath given assurance unto all men. Men doubt, men
question, That there's going to be a judgment? No, God has
given assurance unto all men that there shall be, and that
He raised Him from the dead. And He's the judge. He's the
judge. All judgment has been committed
unto Him. And number six, it means that
whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
Look at that in Romans 10. And that's what the empty tomb
means. One of the things, it means that whosoever shall call
upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. In Romans 10 and verse
12, Paul said, For there is no difference between the Jew and
the Greek. For the same Lord over all is rich, and He is the
Lord, Lord of lords and King of kings. The same Lord over
all is rich unto all them that call upon Him for whosoever. Whosoever shall call upon the
name of the Lord shall be saved. If you're not saved, my friends,
and you go out into eternity, hell awaits you, but you will
not be able to blame God. No, the responsibility, the culpability
is all upon you. The scripture is very clear.
Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. You say, well, I just, no. If
you call in faith, believe him, you shall be saved. How then
shall they call upon him in whom they have not believed? And how
shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? But
you have heard. You've heard this morning, I've
heard. We have heard, whosoever shall call upon the
name, he's mighty to save. On the day of his resurrection,
you remember there was an earthquake and angels came from heaven to
speak to us, to witness to us that he has all power, both in
heaven and in earth, to give eternal life to as many as the
Father has given him. The seventh thing, it means that
He has prepared a place for us and will bring us to it where
none will ever weep again. Woman, why weepest thou? This
world is called a veil of tears, but my friends, the empty tomb
testifies to us that He has prepared a place where tears shall never
come, where weeping shall never Take place. He said, I go to
prepare a place for you. How did he prepare that place?
He went to the cross. He went to the grave. He rose
and ascended back to the Father. He's prepared a place, and he
will come for his people. Weeping. I thought about this,
this verse of scripture in the Psalms. Weeping may endure for
a night, but joy cometh in the morning. Someone told me several
years ago about a missionary's young daughter who one morning
went out to play and experienced what the world calls an accident. She fell out of the tree, fell
on her head, and went out into eternity. And her parents looked
in her room, and that morning she had written this verse of
scripture, weeping. may endure for a night, but joy
cometh in the morning. And there's a day coming, my
friends, the resurrection day. Joy is coming for God's people. He's prepared a place for us.
He conquered death. He defeated Satan. He answered
for our sins. And we look forward to that day
when he comes again, when there shall be no more weeping, no
more night. We shall meet our Savior first
of all, but also those loved ones that have gone on before
us. What a day of rejoicing that
will be. Amen. Praise God. Woman, why
weepest thou? Weeping may last a few days here,
but joy, eternal joy, is prepared for God's people. We're going
to sing a hymn, number 297. Number two.