I please the Lord to bless us
together this morning as we consider his word. Let us turn to the
Gospel of Mark, chapter 16, and we'll read verse 2. The Gospel
of Mark, chapter 16, and reading verse 2. And very early in the morning,
the first day of the week, they came unto the sepulcher at the
rising of the Son. It is for us a great favour and
a great blessing to be able to remember the resurrection of
the Lord Jesus Christ. And we need of course to remember
it really every day throughout our life because it is so important
But it's wonderful that we are able to remember it perhaps in
a more specific way as we have this Easter day before us, this
Lord's Day, that we may think more specifically upon the wonder
and the greatness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. To
realise how absolutely fundamental it is that the Lord Jesus Christ
did rise from the dead. The Apostle spells out the reasons
really quite clearly when he wrote that letter to the Corinthians,
and we read that part in that 15th chapter in that first epistle,
to prove the necessity of Christ rising from the dead. Because
without the risen Christ, then there would be no purpose in
our preaching. There will be no purpose in believing. But the great blessing is that
we do know and we do believe that the Lord Jesus Christ has
risen from the dead and he is now seated on the throne in heaven
on the right hand of the Father. And so we pray that today we
may be given that living faith to believe in the risen Saviour. We read together in this chapter
in Mark how the message was spoken to the disciples and did they
believe? Initially they did not believe.
They doubted the truth which had been presented to them. And
when we think that the Lord Jesus Christ during his life on the
earth, especially during those last three years, he had spoken
on a number of occasions about his death and his resurrection. And now that had occurred and
yet the disciples did not believe. And so how important it is that
we realise the blessing of the Holy Spirit of God convincing
our heart that these truths are true and they are important Now,
not something that can just be assessed in our natural mind
and disputed with and cast away if we don't see fit to believe
them. It is so important that you and I receive that grace
to believe the true word of God, and especially concerning the
resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, on this occasion,
we read here this morning about Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother
of James and Salome. They come to the sepulchre and
as you probably know there are four gospels and there's four
accounts of the resurrection and four accounts of the women
coming to the sepulchre and they all vary a little in their content. But nonetheless the main thrust
remains the same. One of the great truths which
is so consistent is that they rose and came to the sepulchre
very early in the morning. And very early in the morning,
the first day of the week, they came unto the sepulchre at the
rising of the sun. Now, it's important to consider
these women. They got up very early. Indeed,
while it was still dark, as we can read in another account,
and they came to the sepulcher. They hadn't come the previous
day because the previous day was the Sabbath. And the Sabbath
was of course a day which the Jewish people kept very keenly
in accordance with the commands of God and didn't do anything
other really than worshipping God. And what a good example
that was and is still today for us. to consider the truth of
these things. And so they weren't able to do
anything on the Sabbath. But as soon as the Sabbath was
completed and finished, and as you probably know, the Jewish
days, the evening and the morning were the first day, and therefore
as soon as it was completed, they then began to get ready
to come to the sepulchre. And what was the moving force? Well, the moving force surely
was love to the Saviour. Surely that was the thing that
moved them. It moved them to get up early
in the morning. It moved them to come to the sepulcher. And
let us not forget that they had obstacles to overcome. As we
read, there was a great stone. They weren't sure how it was
going to be moved away. And they brought these spices to anoint
the body of the Saviour. How was it to be done? They obviously
weren't aware, but we observed that they'd gone forth really
in faith, and they'd gone in love to the Saviour. They'd gone
to see that One in whom their hope was. But of course, they
were, as we know the disciples were, they were mystified as
to what had occurred. They thought that the Saviour
would indeed be the Saviour, would be the Deliverer. And now
he died. And we can read that in the last
chapter of Luke's Gospel, where those two journeyed on the way
to Emmaus. And they were perplexed about
the things which had happened. They couldn't really understand
them. Well, we might take comfort from
that ourselves. And we might take comfort in
this respect. We may not always be able to understand things
clearly. We may have read the Word of
God, we may have heard the Word of God preached, but nonetheless,
we may still not be clear in our mind. Perhaps it's still
as though we're walking in rather a fog. We don't see things clearly,
and we may be still perplexed about certain situations with
regard to the great and glorious Gospel of our Lord and Saviour
Jesus Christ. Well, let us not be discouraged. It doesn't mean to say we want
to stay in that condition. Indeed, we want the light to
shine into our hearts. We need the Saviour to come and
displayed to us very clearly the great and glorious plan of
salvation, so that we can wonderfully rejoice in it. But nonetheless,
to think of the occasion here, the Lord had been with these
people, he'd spoken to them, and they hadn't really been able
to assimilate the truth of God. Well, I believe it's like this.
It's only when the Spirit of God opens our understanding What
was it when those two journeyed on that Emmaus road? It was when
the Lord Jesus drew near and he went with them and they rejoiced
in the words that he spoke. We read that their heart burned
within them as he talked to them about, through the scriptures,
all the things concerning himself. And then when he sat down with
them and blessed the food, Then their eyes were opened. Oh, and
they saw the wonder, the glory of that plan. And to think then
they hastily returned to Jerusalem to speak to the disciples of
what they had seen and what they had heard. And as we read together,
after that he appeared in another form unto two of them as they
walked and went into the country. And they went and told it unto
the residue. Neither believed they them." The disciples didn't
believe at that time either the great truth of God until the
Lord came and showed himself unto them. And really that's
the same today. It's not until the Lord comes
and reveals himself unto us as our Saviour that we really understand
and we really appreciate the great blessings of the Gospel. Well, we might just pause and
consider ourselves, because religion is always so very personal. It's not general, it's very personal
to each one of us. And to be able to come this morning,
as we might sit before God and examine our heart, to be able
to discern whether the Spirit of God has come and it reveals
to us the blessing of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. And do we rejoice in it today?
Is our heart warmed today as we think about the risen Saviour? Well, these women, they come,
they come to the sepulchre, they got up and it was early in the
morning, and they come because of their Love to the Saviour.
See, nothing had deterred them. What did they possess? I believe
they possessed two things. They possessed living faith,
and they possessed God-given zeal. And my friends, both of
those things are a great blessing. And it would be a great blessing
to us, you know, if in our lives today, The things of God are
so important that, like these women, they got up early in the
morning, early in the morning to come and go to the sepulcher. Perhaps putting it in our present
situation, whether we wake up early, perhaps on the first day
of the week, the Lord's Day, and whether we pray to God that
it might be a day of blessing for our souls. I suppose very
often the tendency is the opposite. We perhaps lay in bed and take
it easy. But you know, these women, they
wanted to come and find the Saviour. They wanted to come and do what
they could for Him in anointing His body with those spices. They
had love for the Lord Jesus. That influenced them, did it
not? In that attitude, love to the Saviour. Well, in our lives
today, does love to the Saviour influence our lives? If our love is true, if our love
is real, it won't just be a form of words. It will affect our
lives and it will show forth in our lives, that we do love
the Lord, and that we do deserve to serve him, and we do desire
that his name may be honoured and glorified. And so we have
this example here of these women very early in the morning, very
early in the morning. As I've said many times, real
religion is costly. We don't just obtain religion
by a lazy indolence in the things of God. We don't obtain the benefit. We don't obtain the blessing.
Generally speaking, I know the Lord is sovereign and sometimes
comes to us in an amazing way in his love and mercy. But nonetheless,
the word of God is clear to us that we are to seek and to find. We are to pray. We are to cry
to God. We are to truly desire that He
will bless us. He tells us He will be inquired
of by the House of Israel to do these things for them. You
know, we live, don't we, really, in a pretty lukewarm state in
the day and age in which we live. Christianity generally is a loeb. I'm not saying everywhere, because
there are those places, I'm sure, where Christianity is very costly. especially in places like the
Middle East. But anyway, generally speaking, today things are in
a low state, in a low ebb. And yet if you and I read the
history of the Church, especially in the times of the Puritans
and the Reformation, we have so many examples of the people
of God praying early, getting up early, praying urgently, that
the Lord would bless them, not just passing through a few familiar
phrases, but urgently praying to God that he would bless their
souls. And you know, what was the result? Well, it was the effectual fervent
prayer of righteous men and women, and the Lord came and greatly
blessed them. You only have to read the testimonies of such
people and to realise how near they lived to the Lord Jesus
Christ. The risen Saviour was very important
to them. My friends, today, is the risen
Saviour very important to us? Indeed is He, as we read in the
Song of Solomon, the chiefest among 10,000, and the altogether
lovely. Well, we may say, well, I don't
really know. We know again in that same book,
we read in the first chapter, these words. It was a prayer,
draw me and we will run after thee. And so may we know what
it is today to praise such a prayer as that, that the Spirit of God
may draw us to himself. And we've learned something very
special as we consider the risen Saviour. You see, if Christ had not risen
from the dead, then there would be no salvation, no blessing,
because death would have conquered. Yes, the devil would have won.
The devil would have gained the victory. But we bless God today
that death could not hold the Saviour. He completed his work
the Lord had given him to do. That work was complete and now
he was laid in the grave and then he rose from the dead and
he rose from the dead a conqueror over sin, death, hell and the
grave. My friends do we bless God today
that we have Such a Saviour, a Saviour who conquered on our
behalf. He stood in our place. He paid
the price for all our sins. And what a price it was. The
ransom required for our salvation. A price that you and I could
never rise to. We could never achieve the cost
of our salvation. But the Lord Jesus Christ, the
Saviour of sinners, He came and He paid that price, the price
of blood, His blood, His precious blood. He rose then on this resurrection
morn, a conqueror. And the Word of God tells us,
wonderful it is, and we are more than conquerors through Him,
through Him. that loved us, my friends, today,
do we recognize and do we know and do we appreciate the wonderful
conquering of the Lord Jesus Christ. Yes, He is risen from
the dead. Very early in the morning, the
first day of the week, they came unto the sepulcher at the rising
of the sun. Remember when John, the Apostle
John was an old man and he was on the isle of Patmos and the
Lord came to him and the Lord spoke to him and the Lord instructed
John what to write and he wrote these things and in the first
chapter, the fourth verse, John to the seven churches which are
in Asia, grace be unto you and peace from him which is and which
was and which is to come." We see here the eternity, the eternal
condition of the Lord Jesus Christ. And from Jesus Christ who is
the faithful witness and the first begotten of the dead, and
the prince and the kings of the earth unto him that loved us
and washed us from our sins in his own blood." What a great
introduction here given by the Lord for John to write to the
seven churches in Asia at that time. What glorious words they
were, my friends. Surely today they are great and
glorious words to us. Or they might come to us today
with divine power from on high. These words, grace be unto you
and peace. Yes, how we need that, do we
not? The favour, the unmerited favour of God. His grace, it
may come to us, that may reveal to us the glory of the resurrection
Grace be unto you, and peace. You know, it's a wonderful thing
to be blessed with peace, and how do we receive that peace?
The hymn writer tells us, peace by his cross, as Jesus made. Yes, you see, we receive peace
because of what Christ has done. There's no peace outside of Christ,
no true peace outside of Christ, but we receive that peace through
his death, peace by his cross as Jesus made. Grace be unto
you and peace from him which is and which was and which is
to come and from the seven spirits which are before his throne and
from Jesus Christ who is the faithful witness." The Lord was
faithful, wasn't he? Faithful unto death. What a life
he had to live. How obedient he was in that life. Obedient to his father's will.
Always concerned to bring honour and glory to his father. Always
concerned to do the will of his father. How important it is for
us to recognise the great and glorious example of the Lord
Jesus Christ, who was this faithful witness. And as we think of him,
And we think of ourselves, that you and I today, in the age in
which we live, might also be concerned that we might also
be faithful witnesses to the revelation, to the salvation
which we may have received in love for our God, His grace,
His favour. Faithful witness. and the first
begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth,
unto him that loved us and washed us in his blood. And hath made
us kings and priests unto God and his Father. To him be glory
and dominion for ever and ever. Amen. Is that not true? That
we desire today to praise God and to say to him, To Him be
glory and dominion for ever and ever. Now you know, if that is
our real desire, if that is our real prayer, we'll rejoice today
in the risen Saviour. We'll desire that His name might
be lifted up and honoured and glorified because of His love
toward us, because of His mercy, because of His favour, because
of His grace, that He's not dealt with us as our sins deserved,
but he's revealed to us the blessed plan of salvation and shown to
us the need of the resurrection. And so we have these great statements,
I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending saith the Lord,
which is and which was and which is to come, the Almighty. My friends, today we deal with
the Almighty God, not a little God. Do we treat God as a little
God? Or do we treat God as the Almighty
God? He is the Almighty God. He ever
has been and He ever will be. So to think of these great and
glorious truths, this great description of Almighty God, Oh my friends,
you know, the greater the blessings we receive, the greater the revelations
you and I receive of the truth of the Word of God, the greater
will God appear in our estimation. And the more we will desire that
His Name may be lifted up and honoured and glorified, and the
more we may be concerned to be found growing in grace and in
the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. And so we have then this example
here this morning of these women getting up early and coming to
the sepulchre to find the Saviour. Now you see, there was this hindrance. The hindrance was this great
stone. This great stone which had been
put over the entrance to the sepulchre. How was it to be moved
away? Well, perhaps it might be a similar
situation in our lives today. There may be a hindrance, as
it were. How are we to come and find the
Saviour? How are we to see the Saviour? How are we to view the Saviour?
There seems this great obstacle before us. We perhaps seem to
lack faith to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. Well, these
women, they asked the question, who shall roll us away? The stone
from the door of the sepulcher. And, well, the great blessing
was, the stone had been rolled away. The Lord had rolled the
stone away. And they looked, they saw that the
stone was rolled away, for it was very great. Perhaps there
may be a great stone in your life and my life, but you see
the Lord is able to roll it away. Roll it away. What was the blessing
when the stone was rolled away? What could they see? They could
see into the sepulcher. What could they see? Christ was
risen. Christ was risen. Now then, if
there's a stone in our spiritual life perhaps, which as it were
is blinding our eyes, we can't really see clearly. If the Lord
comes and gives us that spiritual sight, we shall then be able
to behold the empty tomb. And the empty tomb is the proof
that the Lord Jesus Christ rose from the dead. Yes, and He is
alive forevermore. forevermore, no more to die,
no more to pay a sacrifice for sin, because he paid that price
once upon Calvary. It satisfied all the holy law
of God, all the demands of that law, which was a holy law, which
you and I have been so utterly unable to keep, because of our
sinful nature, which we've inherited from our forefather Adam, Yes,
we cannot keep naturally the law of God, but bless God, we
have such a saviour, a risen saviour, who kept the law and
he made it honourable. It was an honourable law, it
was a righteous law, and the Lord kept it on our behalf. The thing today, therefore, that
our hope is built on what Christ has done. Yes, his finished work
and to have the realization that that work was done for you and
done for me. How very humbling as the Spirit
of God may reveal to us something of our true nature, that we're
not a good person, we're a bad person, and in fact we're very
bad people, as the Spirit of God shows us the sin within. You know, when we first, the
light first shines in our heart, we may not always realise, perhaps
we very seldom realise, anything of the depth of the sin which
is within us. To realise how bad our nature
is, how fallen our spirit is. And as we grow in spiritual stature,
it is that the Lord reveals to us more of our true nature. And we see their sins, which
we never realised existed. And what does it do? It must
drive us and direct us to the Lord Jesus Christ. And it must
direct us to his atoning blood, because there is the only hope
of our sins being taken away, being washed away. It's only
in that death of the Lord Jesus Christ. So, as we come this morning,
is our hope based on that? To think that the Lord has shown
us our nature, and is showing us our nature, is something which
we will never fully learn. The Spirit of God is ever teaching
us in ever showing us more and more of ourselves and, bless
God, more of himself and more of his wonderful salvation and
how he bore the cost for us. He bore the punishment instead. Just think of that punishment
the Lord Jesus Christ bore for us. Wasn't it a great punishment? My friends, the punishment had
to be exceeding hard because sin is exceeding bad. The punishment
was so severe that the Lord Jesus Christ had to suffer the worst
possible death. Crucifixion is acknowledged to
be the most painful death and therefore no one can say, well
the Saviour, he didn't suffer very much. The hymn writer tells
us, he suffered all incarnate God, that means God-born, incarnate
God could bear with strength enough, but none to spare. The punishment was so great,
the agony was so fearful, that Lord Jesus Christ did it for
his church. He bore the punishment instead. And so, my friends, this morning
we may think as we think of the Risen Saviour, to realise what
He endured, the punishment for us. What a great blessing it
was to know that today we're able to come and to worship the
Risen Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ. Very early in the morning,
the first day of the week, they came unto the sepulchre at the
rising of the sun. Nothing was too hard for them,
Nothing stopped them. They were blessed with faith
and blessed with godly zeal. And how important it is that
we might realise the example that we have before us. There
are many examples in the Word of God. We read the accounts
very often and we very seldom lay to heart the great truths
that the Word of God gives to us, and the importance of the
illustrations of the Church of God as they lived on this earth,
and the examples that they had. And so the Apostle, when he wrote
that chapter, or that epistle rather, to the Corinthians, he
tells us that he delivered unto them, first of all, that which
I also 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 according to the Scriptures. It's good, isn't
it, for us to read the confirmation of such great truths as they
are concisely put by the Apostle under the influence of the Spirit
of God. We see it so clearly placed before us here and how
important it is that we understand the truth and how he then goes
on to explain how the Lord appears to people, disciples, and to
500 people, and then also to the Apostle Paul. And you may
remember, the Apostle Paul was caught up spiritually into the
third heaven to have that personal acquaintance of the Lord Jesus
Christ. That's why he was able to say
that he was that one that the Lord had called to be the Apostle. And he says, therefore, whether
it were I or they, so we preach, and so ye believed. Now he's
writing to the Church of God at Corinth. And my friends, the
word of God is speaking to us today. And what a great blessing
it will be if we are able to understand this truth and come
within these words. Therefore, whether it were I
or they, so we preach, and so ye believed. What an important
consideration it is to know today that we have been blessed with
faith to believe this great and glorious gospel. And he goes
on to tell us the importance of it. I just want to ponder
here for a moment because it is so important. Now if Christ
be preached and he rose from the dead, how say some among
you that there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there be
no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen? Christ
is still dead. There would be no advocate with
the Father. There would be no high priest.
There would be no way that you and I could pray, because there
would be no sacrifice for sin. And if Christ be not risen, then
is your preaching vain. And your faith is also vain. Unless we have faith in the Lord
Jesus Christ, in a risen Saviour, our faith is vain. It's not faith. It's just a mere thought. No
faith. And if Christ be not risen, then
is your preaching vain, and your faith is also vain. Yea, and
we are found false witnesses of God. You see, without faith
in Christ, we are a false witness. Because we have testified of
God, that he raised up Christ, whom 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, ye are yet in your sins. What a terrible
condition to be found in. You see, if we are still in our
sins, if our sins are not washed away in the blood of the Saviour,
then there'll be no heaven, no eternal blessing for us. We'll
be cast off, cast into hell forever and ever. Then they which also
are fallen asleep in Christ are perished. 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. Christ is become the first fruits
of them that slept. And so this morning, my friends,
do we come, do we believe in the risen Christ? Has the Spirit
of God come and blessed you and me with faith to believe? If that is so, what a great blessing
it is. Because, my friends, if we have
faith to believe this, you know the result is eternal life is
ours. Eternal happiness is ours. one day be found in heaven, in
glory, with the saints of God. What a prospect there is for
those who are blessed with living faith to believe in the resurrection
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Well, the Lord gives this great
and glorious commission. Those who believe in this truth,
those who are called to preach the everlasting gospel, And he
says they are to go into all the world. And what are they
to do? What are they to do? And preach
the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized
shall be saved. But he that believeth not shall
be damned. And these signs shall follow
them. that believe. You see, the Lord lays it very
clearly before us. There are those who are blessed
with faith to believe, that shall be eternally blessed, saved with
everlasting salvation. Those who believe in this great
and glorious doctrine of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus
Christ. On the other hand, my friends,
the solemn truth is, and those that believe not, shall be damned."
Yes, shall be damned. It's a very solemn situation,
isn't it? And we come this morning, you
know, and it's a blessing to be able to come and hear the
Gospel preached, the Word of God read, the truth of it set
before us. But may we look into our hearts
this morning. and pray, and again we are, the
word of God encourages us to examine ourselves, whether we
are in the faith or not, and it's a good thing to do, it's
not a morbid thing to do, it's a good thing to do, to examine
ourselves to see whether God's work is in our heart, whether
we be in the faith or not, whether the Lord has given us that living
faith to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and then to look
forward to eternal glory, or to be amongst those that believe
not, who are damned. Well, may the Spirit of God so
clearly show to us each that we possess the life of God in
the soul, and that we rejoice today because of the great blessings
that Christ's work has brought to us, and the wonder of that
resurrection, and that we have therefore today the Lord Jesus
Christ lifted up, and there he is seated in the right hand of
the Father, and we can approach unto him, we can call upon his
name, We can seek for His favour, we can seek for His mercy, and
He would take our prayers and present them to our Father. Oh, this morning, my friends,
do we rejoice. It's our heart filled with joy
and thanksgiving that we do have a risen Saviour. One who is sat
at the Father's right hand, and He rules and reigns for evermore. And therefore, can we come this
morning and say, yes, my hope, my friends, may we all have a
good hope, is built, a good foundation on that rock, on nothing less
than Jesus' blood and his righteousness. And remember, these women, they
came very early in the morning, the first day of the week, they
came under the sepulchre, the rising of the sun, they were
blessed with living faith, blessed with godly zeal, Blessed with
love to the Saviour, may we follow such an example for His honour
and His glory. Amen.