May it please God to bless us
together this evening as we meditate in his word. Let us turn to the
Gospel of John chapter 20 and we'll read verse 17. The 20th
chapter in the Gospel of John and reading verse 17. Jesus said unto her, touch me
not for I am 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. This account in this chapter
of course relates to the wonderful day of the resurrection And what
a wonderful day that was in the history of the world. And how
thankful we are today for it, at least I hope we are thankful
for it. Because without the resurrection
of the Lord Jesus Christ, there will be no hope for us. We can
bless God today that there is, there was a resurrection and
the Lord Jesus Christ is glorious. He conquered sin, death, hell
and the grave. And this verse refers to that
which was to follow and that which was of course the ascension. And the Ascension was in fact
40 days after the Resurrection. And in real terms that was a
couple of days ago if we take our Easter as we consider it
to be. And so we can be thankful, I
hope we are thankful then, not only for the Resurrection but
also for the Ascension. And as we look back at the things
that we read together in this chapter we'll see how the disciples
really were still quite ignorant and couldn't really understand
all that was going on. In the ninth verse we read, for
as yet they knew not the scripture that he must rise again from
the dead. Well they had been told The Lord
had told them, he had spoken about his resurrection, and they
had not believed, they had not received it, they did not understand
it. But now thankfully it was carried
out, it had come to fruition, and therefore they would be able
to rejoice in it. There is surely there a word
of instruction for us today, that we are blessed wonderfully,
wonderfully, never underestimate the great privilege which is
ours of having the Bible in our own language, that we can read
in that all that we need for our natural life and all that
we need for our spiritual life. It is a complete Word of God,
nothing needs to be added to it. Some people think they will
add further parts to it, but no, this is the complete Word
of God for which we should be indeed very, very thankful. But the great truth is that as
these disciples, and as we read about Thomas, you see, Thomas,
he'd been told the Lord had come, but he wouldn't believe. He wouldn't
believe. He said, no, I'm not going to
believe unless I thrust my fingers into his hands and my hand into
his side. And today we have so many people
in that situation who say, no, I will not believe. And my friends,
the vital thing for all of us is that God gives us grace to
believe. the glorious truth of the gospel. You see, all of us today are
without excuse. You can never say, well, of course,
I didn't really appreciate the necessity of these things. I
didn't really understand what it was all about. Well, you may
not understand what these things are all about. But my friends,
earnestly pray to God that your eyes might be spiritually open
so that you may understand the great plan of God, the glorious
truth of God, especially as it concerns our individual salvation. And that individual salvation
comes back surely to what the Lord spoke in the third chapter
of this same gospel, when he spoke to Nicodemus and he said,
you must be born again. Let's not think that is some
mere statement, my friends, it is a vital consideration for
every one of us. so that God might give us that
grace to believe the glorious truths of the Gospel. Now here in this verse we read
about Mary Magdalene, and she'd just been wonderfully blessed.
to realize that the Lord Jesus was her master, and he had appeared
to her. Initially, she didn't know who
he was, but when she was told her name, when Jesus spoke to
her, a simple word, Mary, it had a wonderful effect upon her.
And her instant reply was, Rabboni, which is to say, master. And
then it would seem perhaps that she was wanting then to go and
to embrace him, which we could think would be a quite normal
thing to do. But the Lord said, no, touch
me not. It wasn't like it had been before
he was crucified and risen the day. Therefore, she was not allowed
at this time to do that. And he said to her, no, touch
me not, for I'm not yet ascended to my father. Now we have the
great truth that was to be accomplished 40 days later. I am not yet ascended
to my father, but it was a gracious instruction to her. And this
was the instruction, but go to my brethren and say unto them, I ascend the
Lord unto my father. and your father and to my God
and to your God. She was to go and to tell them
of this good news. No one spoke to her very clearly,
but go to my brethren and say unto them, go and tell her brethren. Reminds us perhaps of that occasion
in the book of the Kings. when Israel were faced against
the Assyrians and they had a time of great need. And in the second
book of the Kings and the seventh chapter we read about four lepers. There were four lepers who were
found at the gate and Elisha was there at that time and these
lepers were in the situation And these four lepers ran at
the entry into the gates, and they said one to another, why
sit we here until we die? If we say we will enter into
the city, then the famine is in the city, and we shall die
there. And if we sit still here, we
die also. Now therefore come, let us fall
unto the host of the Syrians. If they save us, alive, we shall
live. And if they kill us, we shall
but die. It's really very similar words
to those which Esther spoke many years ago, when she was commanded
to go into King Ahasuerus, which wasn't according to the law,
but she came and said, she would go. And if I perish, I perish. And so here was the similar situation
here. And they rose at twilight to
go into the city. Now therefore come, let us fall
unto the host of the Assyrians. If they save us alive, we shall
live. And if they kill us, we shall but die. And they rose
up in the twilight to go into the camp of the Syrians. And
when they would come to the utmost part of the camp of Syria, behold,
there was no man there. You see, the Lord had arisen
and they had fled. And so what a mercy that was. And then as we read further on
in this chapter, with these leprous men. Wherefore they arose and
fled in the twilight. These are the Syrians. And when
these lepers came to the outermost part of the camp, they went into
one tent and did eat and drink, and carried then silver and gold
and raiment, and went out and hid it, and came again and entered
into another tent, and carried thence also, and went in and
hid it. And then they said one to another,
we do not well this day is a day of good tidings. we hold our
peace if we tarry till the morning light some mischief will come
upon us now therefore come that we may go and tell the king's
household well they did and of course it was a wonderful occasion
of rejoicing and here Mary Magdalene was also told to go and to tell
the king's household she was told But go to my brethren and
say unto them, I ascend unto my Father and your Father and
to my God and to my God. Now, we live in a day when the
devil, our great adversary, wants silence. He doesn't want anybody
to acknowledge what God has done, what God has said. He wants people
to close their mouths and to not say anything. Well, that's
not it. That is not clearly the way of God, because the Lord
tells us in Isaiah a very straight statement. Ye are my witnesses,
and our lives are for the honour and glory of God. Your life and
my life. And we should not think there
are any excuses. God does not accept excuses.
we should recognize the importance of these things. And this lady,
Mary Magdalene, she didn't stop, she obeyed. She came and told
the disciples that she had seen the Lord and that he had spoken
these things unto her. But what a good thing it is if
you and I, by faith, have seen the Lord Jesus Christ as our
Saviour, and He's spoken to us from His word, encouraging words,
so that we have the good hope that it is well with our soul. And therefore, as we read such
a word as this tonight, may it indeed have a blessed and a gracious
effect upon us, that we may go and tell the brethren the church
of God, those things which he has revealed to us. These things
were revealed to Mary Magdalene, they were glorious things. My
friends, any work of God is a glorious thing. Never despise the day
of small things. And so these were the words of
Jesus to her. And tell my brethren, and say unto them, and it's wonderful
to think the Lord here addresses them as my brethren. It's very humbling, isn't it,
to think the Lord speaks of that about his people. We are the
brethren, brothers and sisters of our great and glorious Saviour,
the Lord Jesus Christ. What a humbling thought that
is. We as vile sinners of the earth,
the Lord looks upon us as his brethren, those who are called
by grace and the darkness of this sinful world into the glorious
light of the everlasting gospel. Now the Lord here is then directing
them to think ahead, for this time I ascend unto my Father
and your Father and to my God. and your God. Well, the disciples
were going to see the Lord a few times before that occasion, those
40 days. The Acts of the Apostles tells
us when he did. He was revealed to his disciples
and to quite a lot of people at one time, but it would seem
that he was only revealed to believers. It would appear he
was not revealed to those who were unbelievers. what a blessing
therefore for us to receive the Lord as a believer and the Lord
comes and reveals himself unto us as he does not unto the world
indeed we might think of us as Paul the Apostle directs the
Ephesians in the second chapter when he tells them in the fifth
and sixth verses even when we were dead in sins and we were
all dead in sins at one time. We may still be dead in sins,
the Lord knows, but he says to these Ephesians, even when we
were dead in sins, hath quickened us, that means made us alive,
made us spiritually alive, together with Christ. It means united
to Christ. He tells us, by grace you are
saved and hath raised us up together. and made us sit together in heavenly
places in Christ Jesus. Well, that is a wonderful prospect,
isn't it? To think the church of God will
be raised together and to sit with Christ in heavenly places. What a mercy, what a blessing,
what a consideration that is as you and I journey on through
this sinful world. Well, the Lord was taken up.
He did ascend. And we can read about that in
the Acts of the Apostles, and also in Luke and in Mark. And
in the Acts of the Apostles, we have a reasonably full account
in the first chapter, and the ninth to 11th verses. And this
is what it says. And when he has spoken these
things, while they beheld, he was taken up, and the cloud received
him out of their sight. And while they looked steadfastly
toward heaven, as he went up, behold, two men stood by them
in white apparel, which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why
stand ye gazing up into heaven? This saying Jesus, which is taken
up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye
have seen him go into heaven. the true, sacred Word of God,
and realise that that will come to pass. We know not when it
will, but we do know it will come to pass because the Word
of God tells us, and every Word of God is true. And may we be
amongst those who are looking, looking for the appearing, the
glorious appearing of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. as we get up every day to wonder
perhaps will this be the day when the Lord will return and
then in Luke we have a similar statement in the last chapter
24th of Luke and verse 15 and 51 and he led them out as far
as to Bethany he lifted up his hands and blessed them and came
to pass while he blessed them he was parted from them and carried
up into heaven Well we believe today the Lord Jesus Christ is
seated in glory on the right hand of the Father. It's good
sometimes to meditate upon these things and to realize there sits
our Saviour and our Saviour never tires, he never sleeps, He is
always alert. Think of the whole Church of
God, never sleeping, always alert. We can think of our brother Graham,
in glory now for some 24 hours, and never tired, there rejoicing
in his Saviour. That's a wonderful blessing,
isn't it? To realize that the Lord Jesus
Christ is there in glory and is there to intercede for us
today. As we pray unto our Father in
heaven, that great and holy God, we as sinners of the earth cannot
approach unto our Father without an intercessor. our great and
glorious High Priest, the Lord Jesus Christ. And in the Hebrews
in the 7th chapter and the 25th verse we read about that, he
says, wherefore he is able to save them to the uttermost. It's a good verse, isn't it?
That means that nobody is beyond an uttermost situation. He is
able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God
by him, the Lord Jesus Christ, seeing he ever liveth to make
intercession for them. It's a wonderful truth. It's
an amazing truth. We may ponder it and think of
the billions of people in the earth and we don't know how many
true Christians there are in the earth, but no doubt there
are very many who are praying unto God and the glorious Saviour
intercedes for every one of us. It's a great truth which is beyond
our natural ability to comprehend. But it's good when God gives
us faith to believe the gospel. We need faith to believe everything.
God gives the gracious and glorious gift of faith to believe. And so we have the Savior ascended
up on high. I ascend, I ascend, he has now
ascended up. and it's wonderful to understand
that. And the Apostle again when he
writes to the Romans, and there's some beautiful these verses which
are so strengthening really to our faith. And in the eighth
chapter, a familiar chapter to most people, in the 31st 34th
verse we read, Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that
died. Rather rather that is risen again. The devil no doubt thought he
conquered when the Saviour died, but you see he was conquered
because the Lord rose again, who is even at the right hand
of God, who also maketh intercession for us. Well is that not a wonderful
favour and a wonderful blessing to realize that we have a God
and Savior, Jesus Christ, who intercedes for sinners like you
and me. And that's why the Word of God
is so confirming and encouraging. because it comes to the uttermost
sinner. No one is beyond the reach of
Almighty God. No one is too bad. Indeed we
have the wonderful examples, don't we, in the Word of God
of Mary Magdalene, a base sinner that she was. And then we also
have the case of Manasseh, who of course was a most wicked king,
until the Lord caused him to turn and to call upon the name
of the Lord. Surely in these situations we
see the grace of God and we understand perhaps what John Newton said,
amazing grace, how sweet the sound of that saved a wretch
like me. You see we won't be then people
who are looking around and saying well I'm not as bad as that person.
That's what the unbelievers say. I'm not as bad as that person.
I do this and I do that. I may have sinned here and there
but when the Holy Spirit comes and convinces us we should understand
precisely what John Newton said when he said, amazing grace,
how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. What a blessing
it is to know and have the evidence that we are saved, that the Lord
Jesus Christ has saved us. And the cost of saving us was
the life of the Lord Jesus Christ. And never, therefore, lose sight
of the fact that our being saved cost the Lord Jesus Christ, God
himself, his life. gave his life so that you and
I might receive life. Surely that is a wonderful favour
and a wonderful blessing. And so this verse tells us, but
go to my brethren and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father
and your Father and to my God and your God. That's a very wonderful
statement, isn't it? The words of the Saviour. He
is speaking here about his brethren, speaking about you and me by
the grace of God. And I think this word is true,
that he ascends unto our Father, his Father, my Father, your Father. I think that we do have a Father
in heaven. We only have a Father in heaven
if we are amongst those who the Lord Jesus Christ has died for
to take away all their sins. But if they do, we have a father
in heaven, a heavenly father, a glorious father, who looks
upon his children and watches after them and over them and
guides them and directs them. We don't always realize it. Where
we are in this sinful world, we think we're doing what we
want to do. No. The blessed Lord is over
us. He restrains and he constrains. What a blessing it is then to
have a father like this. A father who does not deal with
us as our sins deserve. And this is the father that we
read of here in this verse. I ascend unto my father and your
father. Well, perhaps we know a little
of a natural father. But you see, a heavenly Father
is so much greater, so glorious, and how often we lose sight of
the wonderful blessing which is ours to have a heavenly Father,
one who is so loving toward us, so gracious toward us. Indeed,
those words in John 3,16 are so true. For God so loved the
world, he sent his only beloved Son into the world, Whosoever
believeth on him should not perish, but have eternal life. That, my friends, is a great
favour and that indeed is the great blessing of the Church
of God, to realise that there in glory there sits our Father. And we can come to him through
the merits now today of our ascended saviour. Oh, what a glorious
truth the gospel sets before us. This same Jesus ascended
up into glory. There he sits today for all these
many years since he ascended there. And there he remains until
that great day when he will return and every eye shall see him.
He turns in the clouds and the Lord will return. The Lord will
judge the earth. The Lord will come in all his
glory. We are told so in the word of God on a number of occasions.
We should not think that it is not a true statement. Every word
of God is true. The Lord Jesus Christ himself
said when he prayed to his father, thy word his truth or that you
and I might truly believe it and take it at heart because
surely it would influence us more and more in our lives day
by day. As you recognize we have this
great blessed God who rules and reigns. What a mercy if he rules
and reigns in each of our hearts and not left to ourselves. We're
left to truly give thanks to God and to praise God for all
that he's done in redeeming our soul. Well, do we do that? Have we done that? Can we thank
God for his great salvation? Are we the recipients of that
great salvation? Have we the evidence that Lord
Jesus Christ has died to take away our sins? We do need the
evidence, my friends. We do need to know that we are
redeemed with the precious blood of Christ. We don't want it to
be just a theory in our heads. We need the glorious and precious
application by the Holy Spirit into our souls to have the evidence
the Lord has indeed condescended to redeem us and to take away
all our sins so that by his grace one day we shall come into that
place of glory. It's a wonderful thought, isn't
it? To think of the apostle John when he was on that isle of Patmos
he had a little view really of what it was like. It's only just
a little view but it nonetheless is a little indication of the
glory of what it would be. We can read in the seventh chapter
to the revelation where he had this view and we're told and
after this I beheld and lo a great multitude which no man could
number. Of all nations and kindreds and
people and tongues stood before the throne and before the Lamb,
clothed with white robes and palms in their hands. They had
received the gift of these white robes, the gift of the righteousness
of Christ. They were clothed, they were
not naked, and they cried with a loud voice saying, Salvation
to our God, which sitteth upon the throne and unto the Lamb. You see it wasn't a whisper,
it was a loud voice. They had something to shout about,
didn't they? And saved sinners have something to shout about. And all the angels stood round
about the throne, and about the elders, and the four beasts fell
before the throne on their faces, and worshipped God saying, Amen. Blessing, and glory, and wisdom,
and thanksgiving, and honour, and power, and might be unto
our God for ever and ever. Amen. one of the elders answers
saying unto me what are these which are arrayed in white robes
and whence came they and i said unto him sir thou knowest and
he said to me these are they which came out of great tribulation
and have washed their robes and made them white in the blood
of the lamb see how valuable the blood of Christ is. Without
it there is no washing, without it there is no forgiveness, without
it there is no pureness. That's why so gloriously and
wonderfully we need to have the evidence that we are washed,
we are indeed under the blood. Therefore are they before the
throne of God and serve him day and night in his temple and he
that sits on the throne shall dwell among them They shall hunger
no more, neither thirst any more, neither shall the sun light on
them, nor any heat. Now what a blessing it is for
us today. See if we are going to be found
in this position of no hunger and no thirst, it will be because
in this life The Lord has given us a spiritual hunger and thirst
after the bread and water of life, and that we have hunger,
and that we have thirst, and God has come to us and blessed
us with partaking of this bread and the flesh and blood of the
Saviour. You see, the Lord Jesus tells
us in the sixth chapter of John, except you eat the flesh and
drink the blood of the Son of Man, there is no life in you. Fellowship with the Saviour,
union with the Saviour. Let us not belittle the great
truths of the Gospel. Let us not think they are irrelevant
to us. Let us not think they are not
true. They are true, and they're wonderful, and they're a blessing.
They shall hunger no more. neither thirst any more, neither
shall the sun light on them, nor any heat. And the reason? For the lamb which is in the
midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto
living penance of waters. And God shall wipe away all tears
from their eyes, no tears no crying in glory. What a wonderful
thing it is then to be found in that position and in that
situation. So the Lord spoke then to Mary
Magdalene, I ascend unto my father and your father. And then these
great words, and to my God, and to your God. well this is a great
truth isn't he and you might say the lord is really saying
as he is my god and hath therefore raised me did raise the blessed
savior didn't he the savior was dead laid in the tomb the lord
god raised him and therefore raised me so he is your god and will therefore raise you. What a blessing that is, to know
that there is a God who will raise us. And if so, he will
be indeed our God, our God, he will be our God. The Lord tells
us in Revelation 21 and verse three, because I live, ye shall
live also. I now send honour my God, and
you shall ascend to him as your God. Isn't that humbling to think
of that, this great and blessed and glorious truth here. The
Lord speaks to Mary Magdalene, a very favoured person, a very
blessed person. And my friends, all the saints
of God are favoured, all the saints of God are blessed. And
I'm sure we would all be wonderfully thankful to arrive safe home
in glory and be very happy to take the very meanest, the very
lowest place in heaven, but to be found there with the Lamb,
blessed forever and ever, and to recognize the great truth
that we have before us here in these words, when the Lord says,
but go to my brethren and say unto them, I send them to my
Father, your Father, and to my God, and your God." Well, to
think that this is true, our Father and our God. What a mercy
then to have the evidence of it, to have the good hope through
the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, to realize that although he was
rich, for our sakes he became poor, that we through his poverty,
might be rich, and you see this is eternally rich, it's not rich
in the things of time, it's rich in the things of grace, it's
rich in the things of glory, and of course the riches of time
fade and peter out and disappear, but the riches of glory are eternal,
they are forever, And so may God give us that grace to set
our hearts and our affections upon things above and to look
forward to that day when by his grace we shall be with the Father
and the Son and the Holy Spirit. mystery of godliness will be
revealed. We should indeed then be in that
inheritance which is incorruptible and undefiled, and that fate
is not away, and that place which is reserved for us in heaven,
who are kept by the power of God, through grace unto salvation
ready to be revealed in the last time. Well in this chapter that
we read we came down to towards the end where it was given that
great and wonderful truth set before us and he tells us and
many other signs truly that Jesus in the presence of his disciples
which are not written in this book, but these are written,
what we meditated on, these are written, that ye might believe
that Jesus is the Christ of tonight. May we be amongst those who are
given that grace to believe that ye might believe that Jesus is
the Christ, the Son of God, the second person in the Trinity,
and that believing ye might have life through his name. Without my friends that blessing
of belief there will be no eternal life for us, we shall be found
in that place of hell in eternal death. May God give us that grace,
Give us that blessed ability to believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ, whosoever believeth on him shall be saved. Oh Lord,
may we each then be blessed with this and be able to rejoice in
the goodness, the mercy, the grace, and the love of God for
such unworthy sinners. Because there's nothing in us
naturally can merit any esteem. It is because he set his love
upon us in eternity past, not that we loved God, but he loved
us. Well may we have the evidence
of it by the revelation of these truths to our souls so that we
rejoice in them and we rejoice in them because God has loved
us with that everlasting love and with loving kindness has
drawn us. Well may we know As I mentioned
this morning, a blessing of being drawn to the Saviour. It's a
wonderful privilege. And my friend, it's something
which you and I will not be able to resist, and we won't want
to resist it, because it is an eternal drawing to be drawn to
the Saviour and seeing in the Lord Jesus Christ that which
is so glorious and attractive, because there in the Saviour
is all our hope of salvation through his sin-atoning death,
to the great and glorious mercy which he has for all his people. But today may we rejoice then
in what he's done and be thankful for a statement like this in
this 20th chapter of the Gospel of John where Jesus said unto
Mary Magdalene touch me not for I am 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. Amen.