Let's take our Bibles and turn
with me now back to the book of John, but now to John 20. John 20. We'll now pick up where we left off last time. I had started last week I was
going to deal with the first ten verses of John 20. That was my thought. And as I began to study, I began
to look at this first verse. I'm going to read the first verse,
but actually what I'm going to be preaching on is the first
few words of the first verse. I've entitled this message, The
First Day of the Week. The First Day of the Week. You know, the scriptures are God-breathed. Just think about this. The Spirit
of God He breathed those words. And this is what the Spirit of
God said the first day of the week. Our Lord was laid in the tomb
of a man named Joseph of Arimathea. And here the Lord having given
his life a ransom for his people after he had bowed his head first
and then gave up the ghost. Kind of opposite, you know, from
the way a man would normally die. Normally a man would give
up the ghost and then his head would flop. Not the Lord. He
bowed his head and then gave up the ghost. And he gave up
the ghost. The scripture says it was toward
the end of the sixth day and it was on Friday, the sixth day. It was the day before the Passover. The Passover was on the Sabbath
day. The Passover was on a Saturday.
And then Joseph and Nicodemus, the very one that we considered
just a few minutes ago, took the body of the Lord and he wrapped
it in a clean linen cloth with a mixture of myrrh and aloes,
about a hundred pounds weight, and placed the body of the Lord
in Joseph's tomb, his new tomb. There had never been a man laid
in that tomb. And then the scripture says in
Matthew 27, 59-60, Joseph rolled the stone to the
door of the sepulcher. And the Lord's body lay in that
tomb the rest of the night, Friday night, all day Saturday, on the
Sabbath, on the day of the Passover, and early on the Third day, it
was a Sunday morning, He rose from the dead on the first day
of the week. And this 20th chapter is concerning
the story, the account of the resurrection of the Lord. Now that resurrection, I want
to say a few things and then I want to look at those first
few verses. The resurrection, The coming out of the tomb by
the Lord Jesus Christ, He was, the scripture says, declared
to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness. How was that? How was He declared
to be that? By the resurrection from the
dead. That's what Romans 1-4 says. He was declared to be the
Son of God with power. according to the Spirit of holiness
by coming out of the tomb. Oh, what that resurrection declared. He came out of the tomb. His resurrection declared the
Father's acceptance of all that He had done. Because the Scripture says, Acts
17, 3, He hath appointed a day in the which He will judge the
world in righteousness by that man whom He hath ordained, whom
the Father hath ordained, whereof He hath given assurance unto
all men." What? That He's going to judge the
world in righteousness. God said you can be assured of
this fact. He's the judge. And all men will stand before
Him. And the books are all going to be opened. And whatever God
has said is going to be the standard. It's going to be judged according
to this Word. God has given the assurance of
that, right there. It's going to be a great day
of judgment, the great white throne judgment. Not but one. Everybody talks about the judgment
seat and the great one. One judgment. What's the assurance,
Lord, that you're going to be the judge of all men in that
He raised Him from the dead? That's the assurance right there.
When He came out of that ground, God confirmed the truth of what
the Lord has said about His Son. The resurrection of the Lord
Jesus Christ declares and assures that every believer Everyone
given the Son, everyone redeemed by the Son, everyone regenerated
by the Spirit, every one of them for whom Christ died. And that's
who He died for. I'm telling you what the Lord
said. I laid down my life for the sheep. Remember those Pharisees? Why don't you tell us plainly? The Lord said, I told you. I
told you plainly. You know when a man will believe
God. When God gives him a new heart. I told you, and you believe
not. Why? Because you're not my sheep. Can you imagine? I mean, hearing
that, hearing that statement. I mean, to a believer, to hear
that statement, and the Lord said that. John 10, read it. He said, you believe not because
you're not my sheep. He said, my sheep hear my voice. I know
them. They follow me. I give unto them
eternal life. That's where that passage is
found. The resurrection of the Lord
declares that every one of God's people are going to be raised
from the dead too. 1 Corinthians 15, 20, 23, But
now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits
of them that slept. For since by man came death,
by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all
die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. But every
man in his own order, Christ the firstfruits, afterwards they
that are Christ's at his coming. The Lord said, you're coming
out of the ground. All those that sleep in the Lord right
there, all those from this congregation that have died in the faith,
they're coming out. They're going to come out of
the ground. They're going to live again.
They're going to come out incorruptible now. They're going to come out
with a new body. They're going to be changed.
I don't understand all of it, but I can tell you this. 1 Thessalonians
4.16, For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout,
with the voice of the archangel, with the trump of God, and the
dead in Christ shall rise first. We're going to see them again. We'll be together with them again.
They're coming out of the ground. The resurrection of the Lord
Jesus Christ is the foundation of our hope. The resurrection
is the foundation of our faith. Without the resurrection, we
don't have a hope. We have no hope. 1 Corinthians
15, 13-19, But if there be no resurrection of the dead, then
is Christ not risen? And if Christ be not risen, then
is our preaching vain? We're just wasting time if there's
no resurrection. And your faith is also vain.
There's no sense in believing. You ain't coming out if there's
no resurrection. Yea, and we are found false witnesses of
God. I'm just lying to you. You're
just going through the motions if there's no resurrection. Because we have testified of
God that He raised up Christ, whom if there's no resurrection,
He raised not up, if so be that the dead rise not. For if the
dead rise not, then is not Christ raised? And if Christ be not
raised, your faith is vain, and you are yet in your sins. They
also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished. If in
this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most
miserable. If there is no resurrection,
we have no hope. So the resurrection of the Lord
Jesus Christ That's a proven fact. We've got the witnesses,
not only of those who saw Him, but we've got God's Word. Listen
to this, 1 Corinthians 15, 3-8, For I delivered unto you, first
of all, that which I received, how that Christ died for our
sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that
He rose again the third day, listen to this, according to
the Scriptures. The Scriptures says He came out. and that he was seen of Cephas,
then of the twelve, and after that he was seen of above five
hundred brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain
at this present, but some have fallen asleep, some have died,
that's what Paul was saying. After that he was seen of James,
then of all the apostles, and last of all he was seen of me
also, Paul said. As one born out of due time,
when did he see him? On the road to Damascus, that's
what Ananias told him. He said, the Lord that hath appeared
unto you sent me. But as we begin this blessed
chapter right here on the resurrection, and again I've said this before,
this is such precious territory here. The resurrection of the
Lord. The Lord was raised from the
dead. And we're going to be raised
also. But I want us to consider, instead
of continuing on in that resurrection, I want us to look at that first
verse, really the first few words. Here's what it says. The first
day of the week cometh Mary Magdalene early. when it was yet dark unto
the sepulcher, and seeth the stone taken away from the sepulcher."
Now, the Sabbath was now passed. And now, in this passage of Scripture
right here, it's Sunday morning. It's Sunday morning. Sabbath's
on Saturday. We know that. And now it's the
first day of the week. The Sabbath was the seventh day.
I'm going to show you that in just a second. And now here it
is, it's the first day of the week. Now before the resurrection,
the Sabbath was instituted from the dawn of creation by the hand
of Almighty God when He called into existence all things in
heaven and earth. The Sabbath was instituted in
the creation. Listen to this, Genesis 2, 1
to 3. and the earth were finished,
and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God ended
His work which He had made, and He rested on the seventh day
from all His work He had made. And God blessed the seventh day
and sanctified it, because that in it He had rested from all
His work which God had made." Now, what was it about the seventh
day? Well, first of all, on that 7th
day, God blessed that 7th day. It is He caused it to prosper. God blessed the 7th day. He blessed the Sabbath. He blessed Saturday. and sanctified
it, declared that day to be a holy day. That's what sanctified means,
sanct. And it was in that time, that
was the time declared to be the day. that God's people were going
to worship. Now, I want you to just turn
with me to Exodus 16. This is an amazing passage of
Scripture. Exodus 16. The Lord in the creation, He
blessed and sanctified the seventh day. Now, I want you to look
at Exodus 16. I'm going to read verses 16 to
30. It was when they would go out
and get manna. Remember when the Lord was feeding them manna
in the wilderness? This is the thing, Exodus 16,
16, which the Lord hath commanded, Gather of it every man according
to his eating, an omer for every man, according to the number
of your person. It was just a little over, I
think I read was a little over a pint. And every man, According
to the number of your persons, take every man for them which
are in his tents. And the children of Israel did
so, and gathered some more and some less. When they did meet,
they measured it out with an omer. He that gathered much had
nothing over. He got a lot, he picked up a
lot, but it was just enough. And he that gathered little had
no lack. He didn't pick up as much, but
it was still there. And they gathered every man according
to his eating. And Moses said, Let no man leave
it till the morning, notwithstanding They hearkened not unto Moses,
but some of them left of it until the morning, and it bred worms
and stank, and Moses was wroth with them. And they gathered
it every morning, and every man according to his eating, and
when the sun waxed hot, it melted. It came to pass that on the sixth
day they gathered twice as much bread, two omers for every man,
and all the rulers of the congregation came told Moses, and he said
unto them, This is that which the Lord has said, Tomorrow is
the rest of the holy Sabbath unto the Lord. Bake that which
you will bake today, seethe that which you will seethe, and that
which remaineth over it lay up for you to be kept until the
morning. And they laid it up till the
morning as Moses bade, and it did not stink. Neither was there
any worm therein. And Moses said, Eat that today. For today is a Sabbath unto the
Lord. Today you shall not find it in
the field. Six days you'll gather. But on
the seventh day, which is the Sabbath, in it there shall be
none. It came to pass that there went
out some of the people on the seventh day to gather and they
found none. And the Lord said unto Moses,
How long refuse ye to keep my commandments and my laws? See,
for that the Lord hath given you the Sabbath. Therefore he
giveth you on the sixth day the bread of two days. Abide ye every
man in his place. Let no man go out on his place
on the seventh day. So the people rested on the seventh
day. They had never known. They didn't
know. Look back in Verse 22, Moses
had told them, go out and get every day enough for one day.
And then on the sixth day, on Friday, I want you to go out
and get enough for two. Two days. But Moses had never told them
what God said concerning the seventh day being the Sabbath.
They didn't know. He told them not to do it, not
to get more other days and go ahead and get two days' worth
on the sixth day. And they tried to put some up and it started
stinking and they didn't understand. And verse 22 says, It came to
pass that on the sixth day they gathered twice as much, two homers
for one man. And all the rulers of the congregation
came and told Moses, Here's what they did. They came to Moses
and said, Moses, we know what you said, but we don't understand. Why are we doing this? Why? It stank all this other time
if we kept it till the morning. Why is it not stinking on the
seventh day? And that's when Moses told them,
verse 26, He says, six days you'll gather, but on the seventh day
it's a Sabbath. That's a special day, a blessed
day of the Lord. It's a sanctified day. Now there's the first place that
we ever find the mention of the Sabbath. There was a divine worship
before this Sabbath. Moses, at the burning bush, he
saw the bush burning and God spoke to him and told him, He
said, You take your shoes off, Moses, where you're standing
is holy ground. You take your shoes off. They
went through the Red Sea after the Lord delivered them out of
the land of Egypt and they sang the song of Moses and they praised
and blessed the Lord. Before they left Egypt, they
had the Passover. You kill the lamb and there was
worship. There was a divine worship, but
it was not until here that God told them the Sabbath is the
day of worship. It's that day that you were not
going to go out. It was a picture of the rest
that we have in Christ. That was the Sabbath day. But,
something happened back in John 20. Something happened when the
Lord came out of the tomb. The scripture reveals that since
the resurrection There was a change in the days. The first day of
the week was, according to the assembling of the apostles, and
I'm going to show you God's blessing on this day, on this first day. Not the seventh anymore. Now
it's the first day. There was a significance that
was on the first day according to the Scriptures concerning
worship. Why are we here today? Why Sunday? You say, well, Sunday's just...
No, there's a reason for us being here today. The Scriptures sets
forth that the first day of the week, the day in which our Lord
was raised, now is the time that God's people meet in worship. Acts 20 in verse 7. And here's
the apostles. Upon the first day of the week,
when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul preached
unto them, ready to depart on the morrow, and continued his
speech until midnight. Now that day was obviously a
day that the Spirit of God moved upon the apostles to begin Meeting
to worship. Now I understand something. We
meet on Wednesday during the week. I know Don Fortner and
some of the others meet on Tuesday. Clay Curtis, some of the others,
they meet on Thursday. There is a day during the week
that the assemblies meet together during the week. But all the
assemblies meet together on the Lord's day. They meet together
on the first day. Now, 1 Corinthians 16, 2, upon
the first day of the week, let every one of you lay by him in
store as God has prospered him that there be no gatherings when
I come. So the significance of us meeting
on Sunday is that in honor of the Lord's resurrection, We come
together today to remember the Lord was raised on this day. This was the day that God Almighty
came out of the tomb. Somebody said, well, it's just
another day. No, it's not. No, it's not. This is a day that
is blessed, sanctified. This is the day that God Almighty
has ordained that God's people meet together. This whole world
is working together for the good of God's people. Everything that
God is doing in this world right now is for the glory of God Almighty,
the good of His people, and the condemnation of those that God
has left to themselves. Everything. You and I are meeting
together by the good pleasure of God, Sunday morning. Secondly, Scripture reveals that
it's a day especially blessed of God in the meeting together
of God's people. What I mean is this, Scripture
bears out that God himself has blessed this day, especially
in the remembrance of the resurrection of our Lord. Listen to this,
John the Apostle on the Isle of Patmos, he said, I was in
the spirit on the Lord's Day, and heard behind me a great voice
as of a trumpet, and this is what the voice said, I am Alpha
and Omega, the first and the last. The Lord met with John
on the Lord's Day. You say that was coincidental.
I doubt that. This was the day that Almighty
God was pleased to begin that revelation to the Apostle. I was in the Spirit on the Lord's
day. When the Spirit of God fell on
the day of Pentecost, listen to this. This was the day the
Holy Ghost made his first public descent, Acts 2.1. And when the
day of Pentecost was fully come, now the day of Pentecost was
on what day? Saturday. Saturday. When the
day of Pentecost was fully come, what does fully come mean? Here's
what it is. Filled completely, completed
entirely in time, accomplished. The day of Pentecost is over,
is what it said. When the day of Pentecost was
fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. Here's
what the literal says. And in the fulfilling of the
day of Pentecost, they were all with one mind in the same place. It was Sunday morning. The Sabbath
day, Pentecost, Saturday, was over. And the apostles, the disciples
gathered together at the appointed time to worship. They were there
on the first day of the week. And it was in that day that the
Spirit of God fell in power and moved upon those that were preaching. and gave them the ability to
speak with other languages, other tongues. It's not this unintelligible
gibberish that people, you know, they speak and nobody's understanding
what you... Oh, no. No, no, no, no. It means
languages. They were preaching in languages
that some people knew, but they themselves have never learned
them. I've told you before, I can't speak Russian. I can hear it,
and I say, well, that's Russian. But I don't understand what you're
saying. But these men were able to preach in languages. And all those that were there,
you know, from Mesopotamia and all those different places, they
said, we hear the wonderful works of God in our own tongue. We understand what you're saying. And the Spirit of God moved on
that day, and the Lord The Spirit of God blessed it on a Sunday
morning. We have the promise from the
mouth of our Lord. We assemble ourselves together
in His name. Where two or three are gathered
together in my name, there am I in the midst of them. We are meeting today. together on the first day of
the week. Somebody says, you're making
a big deal over the first day of the week. Yeah, I really am. I sure am. Why? Because the Lord did. The Spirit
of God came on the first day of the week. The Lord Jesus says,
two or three gathered together, I'm in the midst of you. The
Lord Jesus Christ came to John on the Isle of Patmos and met
on the Lord's Day? We have the Holy Spirit's revelation
of the significance of this being a day of memorial and worship
concerning the Lord's Resurrection. Thirdly, and in closing, what is the reverence of this
day? Here's what it is. It's the Lord's Day. It's the
Lord's day. Listen, I know a lot of times
it's so easy and we're all prone to think this. I know that. I'm
just talking to you concerning myself too. Man, I tell you what,
I've worked all week. I just need a day to unwind. We've got so much going on. I've
just got to have a day to catch up. I mean, I've got to hit it
in the morning again. I've got to, you know, I just
have to have some time to relax. No. For God's people, this is the day that the Lord
hath made. Let us rejoice and be glad in
it. We have a privilege to hear the
gospel of God's grace. We assemble ourselves together,
and as I said, we meet other days. I know that. But there
is a day that the Lord met with His people, that the apostles
met together, that the Spirit of God descended. There's a day
that is especially set forth according to this Word. I mean,
was it not significant? that the Scriptures began the
first day of the week. The first day of the week. That
the Spirit of God would move upon John to write that. Then I'll just say a couple of
words about the rest of it. Then cometh Mary Magdalene early,
it was yet dark, unto the sepulcher, and seeth a stone taken away
from the sepulcher. Here's Mary. She came early on
a Sunday morning. I think about that scripture
that says, Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. All these things are going to
be added unto you. She may have been tired, I don't
know. Maybe she could have slept in Sunday morning. She got up. And she came back to the place
that was the place that she last saw Him. This last place that
He was as far as she was concerned. This woman was a woman that had
been so greatly blessed of God. The Lord, first of all, had healed
her. demon possession. This was a
certain woman which had been healed of evil spirits, infirmities,
Mary, called Magdalene. Out of whom went seven devils. But here was the evidence of
her love. She came to the place on the
Lord's Day. First day of the week. Didn't
even know, you know, I thought about it when it was yet dark.
She didn't even know the significance of that day. They'd never met
on Sunday before. But the Spirit of God was pleased
to give a revelation of this woman. I wonder why I wasn't
one of the apostles. I wonder why I wasn't one. The
Lord has chosen the weak things of this world to confound the
wise. He allowed this woman, blessed of God, to come to that
place where the Lord had lain. and now was risen, and the stone
was moved away. We'll look at that next time.
But the significance, this is the Lord's day. The Spirit of
God has evidenced His blessing upon it. The Lord has evidenced
His blessing upon it. The Spirit of God has moved the
apostles, disciples of Christ, to meet on this day. This is
the Lord's day. May the Lord give us grace to
look upon the first day of the week with a blessed remembrance
of the resurrection of our Savior. For Christ's sake we pray. Amen.