All right, good morning, everyone.
It's good to be with you all again. I thought I would read
our text this morning and begin at the beginning of chapter 16
of Mark. Mark 16, and we're gonna read
down through verse 14 together, beginning in verse one. And when the Sabbath was passed,
Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James and Salome had bought
sweet spices that they might come and anoint him. And very
early in the morning, the first day of the week, they came unto
the sepulchre at the rising of the sun. And they said among
themselves, who shall roll us away the stone from the door
of the sepulchre? And when they looked, they saw
that the stone was rolled away, for it was very great. And entering
into the sepulcher, they saw a young man sitting on the right
side, clothed in a long white garment, and they were affrighted. And he said unto them, Be not
affrighted, ye seek Jesus of Nazareth, which was crucified.
He is risen, he is not here. behold the place where they laid
him but go your way tell his disciples and Peter that he goeth
before you into Galilee there shall he see him as he said unto
you and they went out quickly and fled from the sepulcher for
they trembled and were amazed neither said they anything to
any man for they were afraid Now, when Jesus was risen early,
the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene,
out of whom he had cast seven devils. This is our text, by
the way. And when she went and told them
that had been with him as they, or rather, and she went and told
them that had been with him as they mourned and wept. And they,
when they had heard that he was alive and had been seen of her,
believed not. 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. Afterward he appeared unto the
eleven as they sat at me, and upbraided them with their unbelief
and hardness of heart. because they believed not them
which had seen him after he was risen." Let's pray. Our gracious Holy
Heavenly Father, Lord, we thank you for the blessing of your
Son, the unspeakable gift of the righteousness of your people,
which is found and established in Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Lord, we thank you for your unspeakable
wisdom, for your tender love and great
kindness towards sinners, in sending your Son Jesus Christ
to do for us what we could never do for ourselves. Not then and
not now either. Lord, we are ever helpless sinners
in need of the grace, love, kindness, and mercy of our Savior. We are
so thankful, Lord, that you would provide for us so abundantly
so richly, so full, everything that we need as sinners, helpless
to keep your law, helpless to make ourselves righteous, that
you've provided everything in your precious Son, Jesus Christ. Lord, we thank you for the truths
which He declared. Lord, we especially thank you
for all that our Savior accomplished in His death. And we thank you,
Lord, for the testimony that you are satisfied in Him, and
that you have raised Him from the dead, testifying to all that
He said to us, to all that He declared concerning Himself.
Lord, it is true. And we know this. because you
have testified to it by raising him from the dead and showing
him unto many witnesses that to this day yet bear testimony
and witness that they have seen the Son that he has indeed arisen
again in body just as he said. Oh Lord pour out upon your people
that are hearing your words this morning, the true gospel, Lord,
pour out your Spirit, the same Spirit and power which raised
up our Savior from the grave. For it was not possible that
he should be holden by death. Lord, exalt him in our hearts. Glorify your Son in our hearts,
Lord. Make us to hear His voice. Make
us to see the witness of His resurrection. Lord, make us to
be witnesses of these things. For it's in Christ's name that
we pray this, giving you all the thanks, all the glory, all
the praise, for you and you alone are worthy. Alright, brethren. So, our text
this morning is Mark 16. We'll be looking at verses 9
through 14 specifically. Now, the Gospel. God has given
to us the Gospel of Jesus Christ that we may know Him. We may know Him, the Lord Jesus
Christ, who is the salvation that God has provided for His
people. He's not simply a pattern that
we are to follow. He's not simply one that we are
to look to, that we may know how to save ourselves or how
to be saved. But rather, he himself is the
very salvation that God has provided for his people. And he makes
us to know this. Them that are his, them that
are truly the chosen elect children. Children of God, adopted into
His family, God reveals this to us in Jesus Christ, by His
Spirit. And Christ reveals Himself to
us in that He says, He reveals to us, when He's making Himself
known to us, He tells us exactly what He told the disciples. I
am the resurrection and the life. He that believeth in me, though
he were dead, yet shall he live. And whosoever liveth and believeth
in me shall never die." And he asks this. This is the testimony. Believest thou this? Do you believe
him? Do you believe his words? Do
you believe the testimony that He's given of Himself, that He
is the resurrection? And we that believe in Him should
never die, but have everlasting life in Him? This is the message
of Christ, that sinners who have no hope in themselves, that have
no hope in their good works, no hope in their ability to self-improve
and to work a righteousness for themselves that have no ability
to make themselves acceptable to God. The message to us is
as sinners that we should hope in Him and believe Him. The Word of God declares to us
over and over again our inability that we ourselves are sinners,
desperately in need of the grace and mercy of God, because He's
promised that He's going to destroy the wicked, He's going to judge
the earth, He's going to burn this earth and this world up,
and the sinners who worked iniquity in the earth, He's going to destroy
all of that. but he's provided a hiding place
in his son Jesus Christ. Isaiah came in Isaiah 64 6 saying,
we are all as an unclean thing and all our righteousnesses,
this is our good works, the good things that we do, all our righteousnesses
are as filthy rags. not our wicked deeds, not our
sins, our righteousnesses before God are filthy rags, and we all
do fade as a leaf, and our iniquities like the wind have taken us away. So, these sinners, sinners who
hear what God is saying and are made to know, I'm the sinner,
I'm the one who's guilty, God is just to judge me, we who are
shown these truths are made to hear the gospel, to hear the
good news that Christ the Savior came for this very purpose, to
save sinners, to die their death, which we could never satisfy
God in. Our dying would never satisfy
God. That's why it's an eternal death. But God has a people whom he
loved. And for them, he provided salvation. He provided deliverance from
the just condemnation due to us for our sins. He provided
that salvation in his starling son, Jesus Christ, who came to
save sinners in putting away their sin by the death of himself,
in bearing their iniquities, in bearing their punishment,
in dying their death to put away the wrath of God toward them,
to satisfy God. by making them righteous in himself. He is our very righteousness. And so before God, we ourselves
are righteousness. And so the Lord makes us to know
this gospel. He reveals this gospel to us.
In fact, even when Peter was called by Cornelius, the Gentile,
God had put it in Cornelius' heart so that in Acts 10, 38,
he tells us about the Christ, and this is what he says, God
anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power,
who went about doing good and healing all that were oppressed
of the devil, for God was with him. It was picturing that healing
of those oppressed with the devil was a picture of our salvation. We who labored in the flesh,
in darkness, and in bondage to sin and the devil, in that prison
of this dead flesh, which has no life in it and no knowledge
of the true and living God or how to worship him, Christ healed
those that were sick and afflicted with the devils. In that day,
picturing the deliverance that he brings to his people, in delivering
them from the bondage of sin and iniquity, where we labor
in fear that we ourselves are going to be punished and come
under the wrath of God if we don't do better or do good, he
delivers us from that fear. That's the bondage of the devil,
trying to work off your salvation, which we can never do in ourselves.
Christ delivers us from that. because when he reveals himself
to the heart of a sinner, he reveals himself as the successful
Savior. Why do we have such a hope? Well,
God made the apostles. In Acts 10 39, Peter went on
saying, we are witnesses of all things which Christ did both
in the land of the Jews and in Jerusalem, whom they slew and
hanged on a tree. That's his death, that's speaking
of his death. The apostles declared the death
of Christ. They showed that he was the promised
Christ in the prophets, in all that he did, and that he was
the promised Messiah, the promised Christ in that he died for his
people to put away their sins. Him, God raised up the third
day and showed him openly. so that we see, we are to hear
and to know why Christ came. He's not just a good man that
we're to listen to, to hear how we are to be good people to save
ourselves. We're to know through the witness
of Christ that we ourselves are guilty, condemned sinners, according
to the flesh, according to our attempts to work a righteousness,
according to our attempts to keep the law perfectly, We can't
do it. The law reveals what sinners
we are, but that Christ came for this very purpose, as the
substitute of his people, to die in their place, to put away
their sins, to make atonement, to make reconciliation for the
people, so thereby, by his death, making peace between holy God
and sinful men. who are delivered from that and
made righteous before God. But our hope, our hope of this
hinges upon Christ rising from the dead. Why is that? Why does our hope in this hinge
or hang upon Christ rising from the dead? Because this was the
testimony of Christ concerning himself. that he would rise from
the dead. This would be the proof to us
to know that he did what he came to do, that all that he said
is true and right, and that this is the will of God. This is what
God has determined, and what God has spoken concerning us.
Everything that Christ said hinges upon him rising from the dead,
We read in Matthew 16, 21, that from that time forth, after they
were shown by the Spirit of God to confess and to see that this
is the Christ, Jesus of Nazareth is the promised seed by God to
come and to save his people, that 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." And he repeated this numerous
times. He said it again in chapter 17 of Matthew, and again in chapter
20, and there's many accounts where Christ spoke of not only
his death, but of his resurrection. so that if one part didn't come
to pass, it would make him a liar, and we wouldn't be able to trust
his words. We wouldn't be able to believe
all that he said. And this is so that we understand
that without the resurrection, there's no redemption. There's
no atonement. There's no forgiveness of our
sins. There's no grace of God toward us. There's no peace. There's no fellowship between
us and the Father. Without the resurrection, we
are yet in our sins. And as Paul said of all men most
miserable, that we should lay down our lives
and not pursue the things of this world and the things that
delight the flesh for the sake of Christ, if the dead be not
raised again. But our Savior did rise, just
as he said he would. He rose from the dead. And therefore
we have much to be thankful for, brethren, much to rejoice in
regarding our Lord's resurrection. And so I've titled this morning's
message, Rejoicing in the Resurrection. Rejoicing in the Resurrection.
And first we're gonna look at those to whom Christ revealed
himself when he rose again, as we see in Mark. This is because
Christ made sure that we would know without a doubt, that we
would know that his resurrection is undeniable, that he really
did rise from the dead. It's an established fact that
Christ rose from the dead and he gave witnesses. His resurrection
means that he was successful in doing everything he said that
he came to do. That this indeed is the Christ,
the promised seed from God. John the Baptist's testimony
concerning him was, behold, the Lamb of God which taketh away
the sin of the world. We know that that testimony is
true because God raised him from the dead. That's how we know
that he's the Lamb of God come to take away the sin of the world.
So, our sins were put away by his sacrifice and his resurrection
assures us of this redemption that he shall indeed return again,
just as he said, to take his people to be forever with himself. His resurrection is proof that
we are, even now, justified before God. And so, our God has publicly
declared this resurrection to us by exalting His Son, glorifying
Him before our eyes, that this man, Jesus Christ, is the first
man ever to be raised from the dead, never to die again. Some were raised from the dead
for a temporary time to live a little longer. There was a
few, but Christ and Christ alone was raised from the dead never
to die again. He rose up to the Father. Now,
we are told that the first person that Christ revealed himself
to after his resurrection was Mary Magdalene. Look at verse
nine, Mark 16, nine. And when Jesus was risen early
the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene,
out of whom he had cast seven devils." So, of all the people
that Christ could have revealed himself to, he revealed himself
to a woman out of whom he cast seven devils. Now, I don't know
about you, but this gives me hope. that Christ should visit
someone who appears to be the lowest and meanest among us,
the one who was least esteemed of all the brethren, the one
who wiped his feet with the hairs of her head, the one who poured
out all that she had, all her living, to anoint his body for
his burial. this one this this one Christ
revealed himself to and that's the testimony that's the testimony
even of the enemies of Christ when they said this man eateth
and drinketh with publicans and sinners and that's our hope and
and you who know what you are in your heart in the thoughts
that you have and the deeds and actions that you do, and the
things you think about doing, even if you don't do them, you
know what we are in ourselves. We are the publicans and the
sinners, if we're made honest. If you're not a sinner, if you
have some righteousness, then you have no part in Christ, just
like the Jews, just like the Jews that rejected Him. They
trusted in their own righteousness. And that's why they didn't receive
Christ, because as far as they were concerned, they were doing
pretty good on their own. But those to whom the Lord reveals
himself to, he prepares us in making us to know what filthy,
vile, despicable sinners we are in ourselves. And so our hope
is that just as he revealed himself to this sinful woman, out of
whom he cast seven devils, that he might reveal himself to me
and to you that are sinners, to you that have no hope and
are like this helpless sinner, Mary Magdalene." Now, what we
see in this, in the salvation of Christ for this Mary Magdalene,
we see his free unconditional grace toward helpless sinners. That we've not chosen Him, but
He has chosen us. That we ourselves are darkness
and clueless and have no knowledge of how to worship the true and
living God and far often think far too highly of ourselves than
to be humbled and confess that we are nothing before God. but that's the ones to whom Christ
comes. And so, Christ came to Mary Magdalene
freely, without her having done anything first. He revealed himself
to her freely, and he made her his own redeemed possession. And that's how we're all gonna
come. We're gonna see our nothingness before the Savior. You know,
turn over to Titus 3. Titus 3. I want us to see how that the
Lord God is gracious to us, just as He is gracious to Mary Magdalene. Titus 3, look at verse 3. He begins with saying, for we
ourselves, that's everyone in that day, and us to this day
as well, us in the church, we ourselves also were sometimes
at one time filled with seven devils as it were. Watch this,
sometimes count foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving diverse lusts
and pleasures, living in malice and envy, that's five, hateful,
hating one another. Seven things, right? The Lord
saved us from those things. That's what we are in ourselves.
But after that, the kindness and love of God our Savior toward
man appeared, not by works of righteousness, which we have
done, but according to his mercy, he saved us by the washing of
regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost. There's no place
for our works in that. This is all the free grace of
God, shown to us out of the riches of God in Christ Jesus, which
He shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior, that
being justified by His grace. We should be made heirs according
to the hope of eternal life. You can see why Paul said, I
don't want to be found having mine own righteousness. I don't
want any of my works to be brought up before the holy and living
righteous God of heaven and earth. I don't want him to see any of
my works. I want to be found in the righteousness of Jesus
Christ alone. So that we are no different than
Mary Magdalene. We're no better than her. We
can't compare ourselves to her and think that we're any better
than she is, because God has revealed himself that he is no
respecter of persons. He doesn't look upon the flesh,
because if he looked upon the works of the flesh and counted
these things that we do, we would all rightfully find our place
in hell for all eternity, dying under the wrath of God. But in
Christ we see how that He's the Savior of needy sinners, and
none of us ever rises above that, a needy sinner, that no flesh
should glory in His presence, but of Him are ye in Christ Jesus. It's of God's work, it's of His
power, it's of His grace that we are in Christ Jesus, who of
God is made unto us wisdom and righteousness, and sanctification
and redemption, that according as it's written, he that glorieth,
let him glory in the Lord." That's growing in the grace and knowledge
of our Lord and Savior. To know that we really don't
deserve any of this, but His wrath, and yet He is merciful
and kind and gracious to us in His Son, Jesus Christ. And the
more we see that, the more we understand that, the less judging
and condemning we'll be of our own brethren. We'll just be thankful
that God should call us brethren and be merciful to sinners like
us. Next we read in our text, after
he revealed himself to Mary, that in verse 10, she went and
told them that I'd been with him, as they were mourned and
wept. They were afraid, they'd forgotten
everything that Christ said to them. And so they're mourning
and weeping. And they, when they had heard
that he was alive and had been seen of her, believed not. All right, but the Lord, he gave
himself other witnesses besides Mary Magdalene. After this, verse
12, we're told, after that he appeared in another form unto
two of them. Another form likely meaning that
to Mary Magdalene, he appeared as a gardener. But when he appeared
to these men, more like in that, the appearance of a scribe, someone
who was learned in the letter, someone who knew what he was
speaking of. And he appeared to them in another
form as they walked and went into the country. And Luke records
this in great detail. If you turn over there to Luke
24. Luke 24. One of the clearest passages this chapter declaring to us what we have
been made witnesses of by the Lord Jesus Christ. He has revealed
to us that we might reveal this truth to others. And we're told
in Luke 24, in verse 14, of these two men that they talked together
of all these things which had happened, and of Christ's death,
and most recently, of what they had heard Mary Magdalene declare
to them. Verse 15, and it came to pass
that while they communed together and reasoned, Jesus himself drew
near and went with them, but their eyes were holding that
they should not know him. Right, so this revelation here
of Christ to these men, it proves to us that we as well are ever
so foolish and in darkness and not seeing all the workings of
our God. I really believe that when we
pray, we're not changing or altering God's mind. We're not causing
things to happen that wouldn't have otherwise happened according
to the will of God. But when we pray, the Lord is
opening our eyes and revealing to us the things which our Father
is doing. the things which Christ is doing
as he opens the book, opens the seals of the book, implementing
the will and purpose of God in his kingdom here on earth and
in heaven. And he makes us to see and to
know these things so that we're not just walking through this
life being confused and wounded by every hurtful thing in this
world, but that we see the subtle, details right it's like it's
like walking out into your yard and noticing the beautiful little
wildflowers that are out there that you don't usually see or
notice but that you see the yellows and the pinks and the whites
and the purples and the blues and and you see these details
right and you hear the birds singing and the variety of the
birds and you can go through without ever noticing it and
it's the same way in our walk as believers, right? You can
go through just dumb and deaf and hard-hearted, or you can
go through hearing all the beauties and everything that the Lord
is doing and looking for his hand in it all and his voice,
because it's all there. We just don't usually see it
because we're hard-hearted like these disciples in our text. We're hard-hearted, slow of heart
to believe all that the Father has told us concerning the Son
and everything that He's told us concerning Himself. So they
didn't know Him, and yet we see His mercy toward them. And we see how that it's Him
that must reveal Himself to us. Otherwise, we will continue to
walk through this life dumb and hardened to what he's doing and
forgetting that we are called to be witnesses of him and not
just to do our own things and build our own kingdom for our
own pleasures as though this was an end in and of itself. But here we see the grace of
our Lord revealed to these brethren and they didn't recognize him,
but we learn here what Christ did in revealing the truth to
them. we see here how that Christ preached
Christ. Christ preached himself to these
brethren, Luke 24, 27, and beginning at Moses and all the prophets,
he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning
himself. And then we're told that it wasn't
until Christ broke bread and gave it to them that their eyes
were opened, because it pictured his death for them, when his
body was broken on the tree, for bearing the sins of his people,
to make reconciliation for the people, for his chosen sinners. When he did that, then their
eyes were open, right, because it came to pass as he sat at
meat with them, he took bread and blessed it and break and
gave to them, and then revealing it to them by his spirit, their
eyes were opened and they knew him and he vanished out of their
sight. And they said one to another,
did not our heart burn within us while he talked with us by
the way and while he opened to us the scriptures? And so we
see there that our God saves us through regeneration. He gives, he births us, gives
us He creates us anew by His seed, His spiritual seed, so
that we no longer have our part in Adam's dead, corrupt seed,
though we yet remain in this dying, corrupt, weak, impotent
flesh. But now we have our new, we are
a new creature, alive from the dead, born of His Spirit, whereby
we know Him and rejoice in Him. All right, now hold your place
in Luke, but looking back on our text, verse 13, and they went and told it unto
the residue. These two which knew him, they
were there in Emmaus, walked there, I think it's about seven
miles, and they hurry on back that very night. And they told
the residue what they had seen concerning Christ. Neither believed
they them. And so we see next that the love
and grace of our God towards sinners never changes. We see
ourselves in these men and women. It never changes. Verse 14, afterward,
he appeared unto the 11 as they sat at meat, and upbraided them
with their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they believed
not them which had seen him after he was risen. Here they knew
that the Savior was risen when he appeared to them, right? Then
they knew he revealed himself, not he didn't hide himself this
time, but he reveals himself to them so that they knew who
he was. And yet they still were stumbling
in unbelief, still just amazed at what they were seeing in beholding
Christ. Even though they had heard it
numerous times, but now they saw with their own eyes that
this is indeed the Christ risen from the dead. And so he begins
to speak to them, to settle them in their hearts, the same way
that he speaks to us who believe him today. He declares the gospel
to us to settle us in our hearts, to put our hearts and our thoughts
and our minds upon the things that are profitable. the things
that we are to think of, those things that are pure and lovely
and just and right. He preaches to them, just as
he preaches to us, the things concerning himself. He preaches
Christ to them again. Look at verse 44 back in Luke
24. And he said unto them, These are the words which I spake
unto you while I was yet with you, that all things must be
fulfilled which were written in the law of Moses and in the
prophets and in the Psalms concerning me." And then he gave him his
spirit to receive the things which he had spoken. Verse 45
says, then opened he their understanding that they might understand the
scriptures. And so having this understanding,
he then commissioned them to be witnesses of Christ, which
things we'll look at next time when we come back to Mark. But
we see here that God called sinful, unbelieving men, right, of his
12 disciples, one betrayed him, one denied him, and the rest
all forsook him. And yet here he comes revealing
Himself to the one who denied Him and they that forsook Him,
and makes Himself known to them, and blesses them, and opening
their understanding to understand the Scriptures, and to know that
this is the Savior. to witness that this Christ,
this same Jesus of Nazareth, is testified to and glorified
by His Father, in that He exalted Him, raising Him from the dead,
making them to know these things, and making them witnesses of
these things." Alright, so, the very fact that these men believed
Now, the very fact that they believe that they saw Christ
is testified to in that they believe, that they became witnesses
of Christ. It shows us that Christ really
did rise from the dead, because they knew now, they saw what
was done to their Lord. They saw what was done to Him
who controlled the winds and the waves. They saw what man
is willing to do against the truth of God, both Jews and Gentiles. And so for them to risk so much
to give up their lives, to preach and declare Christ, if he did
not rise from the dead, was a foolish thing. It was a foolish thing. It wasn't going to profit them
any. But they believed Christ, because
they saw him. They saw him. and were made witnesses,
so they went about witnessing and declaring this gospel. And so it shows us that beyond
the shadow of the doubt, the Lord really did rise from the
dead. Otherwise they would not have
done these things. They would have continued to
mourn and weep for a while until they went back to their former
lifestyles. All right, so the Lord has shown
and testified to us that he is the Savior, that he is risen
from the dead. And when we look at the resurrection
of Christ, we see sinners just like ourselves, right, who are
hard-hearted, slow to believe all that our God has testified
to us concerning His Son, and that we too need Christ to ever
open the Scriptures to us, that we might understand the Scriptures,
and that we need His Spirit. to refresh us again, to revive
us again, to renew us by his spirit and bringing to our view
the witness that Jesus Christ is risen from the dead. And so
that all these things that we see in this life and whatever
troubles we go through have nothing on the very fact that our savior
is returning again, just as he promised. As he walked the earth,
and promised that he should suffer and die and that he would rise
again, he did that very thing. He suffered, died, and rose again
so that we know that just as he said further, I'm going to
come again and receive you unto myself and take you to be with
me. Brethren, believe it. Don't doubt
it. Believe Him. Trust Him. Trust Him. He's more dependable
and trustworthy than anyone you know, including yourselves. There's none more dependable
than our Savior. And we'll never be ashamed for
believing Him. The only ones that will be ashamed
in that day are those that refused and rejected and mocked and ridiculed
Christ. and those that believe him and
trust him. We will never be ashamed for trusting in Christ. Now the
resurrection of Christ assures us of our justification. Paul
asked in Romans 8.34, 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. Christ knew
all those for whom he died. We were in him. He was bearing
each one up for whom he died to put away their sins so that
now he prays for his sheep and is gathering them together into
his fold so that none of his sheep will ever be lost. 1 Peter 1.3 Blessed be the God
and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his
abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope,
how so? By the resurrection of Jesus
Christ from the dead. We have this hope, brethren,
knowing that Christ was raised from the dead. We know that God's
word to us is true and sure, right? made to know these things,
being born again of His Spirit. And so this blessed fruit of
Christ is born in us, and all the fruits and works that we
do in the name of Christ are born in us out of the hope of
the resurrection which He has fixed in us by His Spirit to
know these things. And this being the case, our
Lord reveals to us now, as we're growing in the knowledge of Him,
and our understanding of these things, what He's done for us,
apart from our works, apart from our boasting, apart from anything
that we could look to in the flesh, He reveals to us that
the same power which raised Him from the dead, that same spirit
and power that raised Him up from the grave because He could
not be held by death, that is the same power that works in
each child of God, whereby we believe, whereby we are assured
of these things. Hebrews 13, 20 and 21 telling
us, now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our
Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep through the blood
of the everlasting covenant, make you perfect in every good
work, to do his will, working in you that which is well-pleasing
in his sight through Jesus Christ to whom be glory forever and
ever amen so that by that same power that's where we rejoice
and glory in Christ by that same power in us in the new man which
is the creation of Christ not this dead flesh this flesh doesn't
know the truth and refuses the truth and will not believe, but
in the new man, that creation of Christ, that's where we believe
and trust him and sin not, loving our God and our brethren, believing
him so that our rejoicing is ever in him alone. So I pray
that the Lord would make our hearts to rejoice in the resurrection
of Jesus Christ, that we would remember him, and be thankful
for His resurrection and all that God is testifying to us
concerning ourselves and our ever-present need of the Savior. That you may know Him and the
power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings
being made conformable unto His death. That is, until He comes,
remember that you who are His, are made witnesses of these things. Bear witness to testify that
Jesus Christ is risen again. Remember that each day that you
wake up and get out of bed, that Christ is risen. He's risen indeed,
and that He's coming again for us, just as He said. I pray the
Lord to bless that word to your hearts. Amen. All right, let's close in prayer.
Our gracious Lord, Father, we thank you for your mercy, your tenderness, your care for us, your patience
with us, Lord. Lord, how we need you. How we must have your Spirit
revealing to us the truth of our Savior. Lord, fix our hearts
in Him. Help us indeed to be a witness
of the resurrection of Christ, that You would bear witness of
these truths in our hearts, that You would make us to know our
salvation is assured in Christ, and Lord, that You would keep
us ever looking to You, waiting longing for you
to return. But while we do, Lord, let us
live indeed by the power of the resurrection, which raised our
Savior from the dead. Lord, that you would raise us
up from the deadness of this flesh, and cause us to see our
Savior, to hear his voice, and to walk in this truth, being
witnesses of these things. It's in Christ's name that we
pray and give thanks. Amen.