John 20. John 20 is the story of the resurrection
of our Lord. Our Lord rising from the grave.
All the apostles preached a risen Lord every time. They preached
a crucified, buried, and risen Lord every time. Because it all
depends on this. This Bible depends on the fact
that Christ arose from the grave. Everything that Christ said depends
on that. If He didn't rise from the grave,
He's not God. What He came to do, that was
the end of it. Paul wrote that in 1 Corinthians
15. If in this life all we have is this vain notion that a man
came and lived and died and he didn't rise and we're getting
our sins and we have no hope, we're all men most miserable,
what are we doing here? And let's just eat and drink,
tomorrow we die. Forget this talk about. But he goes on to
say, but now he is risen. And it's the first thing He said
in Revelation 1, Behold, I live, I was dead, and I'm alive forevermore. So that means everything He said
is true. Everything He did is true. Chapter 20, verse 1, the first
day of the week cometh Mary Magdalene early when it was yet dark. The
first day. That's Sunday of today. Here
we are. The first day of the week. It was dark. She's about to see
light. She came in the dark looking
for Christ, looking for the light. And on her, one who sat in darkness,
the light shone. Crying. You know how this whole
book begins? You know how life began on planet
Earth? The world was in darkness. Genesis
1, okay? The first day it was dark and
God said, let there be light. And there was light. John 1,
the Gospel begins that way, doesn't it? And Him was light and the
light was the life of men. Light shone in darkness that
darkness comprehended it not. The first day of the week. The
first day is Sunday. The Lord told us to meet on this
day. It's called the Lord's Day. Why
is it called the Lord's Day? This is the Lord's Day. The Sabbath
Day is the Sabbath Day. Why is this called the first
day of the week, the Lord's Day? Because that's when He arose.
And that's when new life began. We were risen with Him to walk
in newness of life. He said, that's the day you're
to meet together, the Lord's Day. First day of the week. Our Lord laid in the grave on
the Sabbath, didn't He? He was dead. Why? Clearly showing us that we're
dead to the law by the body of Christ. Right? He rested on the
Sabbath. On the seventh day in Genesis,
God rested from His work. And Christ, when He finished,
the last thing He said was, It is finished. And what did He
do? Rested. On the Sabbath day. But there's
no day that gives anybody rest. You can't rest in a day. You
can't find any peace in a day. Christ is our Sabbath. See, we
rest from our works, and we rest in Christ. So He laid in the
grave on that day, on purpose, to show us that He finished the
work of the law, that He taketh away the first, that He may establish
the second. This is not a Christian Sabbath
either. A day of rest. No, no, no, no.
It's a day we meet together and assemble and hear the gospel
and all that. But Christ is our rest, you see. We don't make
something holy out of this day. Christ is our host. We do set
aside this day, though, to honor Him. It's the first day. It's the Lord's day. This is
when the church meets. The church. Here comes Mary Magdalene. Who's
going to meet the Lord and see the Lord and hear from the Lord
on the Lord's day? Sinners. Who's the first sinner to hear
from the Lord? The worst sinner. The chief of
sinners. You'd ask Mary. And there's no
argument about this. Because it says the Lord cast
out seven devils out of her. There was nobody worse than her.
Nobody worse than her. Nobody. Nobody had ever done
as badly as her. Nobody! But that's who the Lord
saves. Nobodies. You see your colleague
brethren? This is a faithful saint and
worthy of all acceptation. That Christ Jesus came into this
world to save sinners. But I'm the worst. Then you're
the first. That I'm the chief and you'll
be my servant from now on. Mary Magdalene. This is a sinner
seeking a Savior. This is one looking for the Lord.
You know what? Seek and you'll find. Look and
you'll see. Call and He'll answer you. Every
time. Keep coming as a sinner. Say,
I don't want to be a sinner. I know it. I don't either. There's
nothing we can do about that. But come. He said come. Keep coming. To whom coming?
As a sinner. Early. She came early. This can't wait. She lost sleep. She lost sleep. Didn't matter.
She woke like her Lord before her, a great while before day.
You know, the Lord said in Proverbs 8, I love them that love me. You know who will love Christ?
To whom much is forgiven. That's the only one that loves
this gospel. The only people who love this gospel and really
love the Lord Jesus Christ, I mean the Lord reigning in Judah, I
mean Jesus who put away the sin by the sacrifice of Himself,
of a Christ who keeps us and provides for us and is coming
again for us. The salvation is of the Lord
Jesus Christ, completely. You know who loves that? A sinner. That's a seeker, one looking
for the Lord to save her. She comes, verse 1, to the sepulcher. Remember where the sepulcher
was? You remember where this was? Where was it? In a garden. Remember that? I know you all
remember every point of my message on Wednesday. They were in a
garden, okay? That's where this happened. And
we saw clearly that that's where the Lord meets His people. That's
where He was. He prayed with them. That's where
He led them. That's where they find Him. In
the canticle, the Song of Solomon, the Lord was in His garden. That's
where He was. And she was looking for Him.
The Beloved was looking for Him. She said, tell me where my Beloved
is. And they said, He's in His garden. And he said in chapter 5, he
said, Come, my beloved, into my garden. I've prepared my spices.
I've got my spices. Come eat milk and wine and honey. So she comes looking for the
Lord in the garden. Do you reckon she'll find Him?
Oh, yeah. You know what she sees? She sees
something that amazes her that she doesn't really understand. The stone was taken away from
the sepulcher. Now these tombs, these sepulchers
that were caves, cleft of the rock, down in the earth but entombed
in rock, they would put a big stone that took several men.
Several stout, strong men to roll this stone over and cover
that door. And it took several men to roll
it away. Okay. And the reason they put
a covering over that door, because whoever was in there, you know,
they're going to corrupt. They're going to, they're going
to stink. And you've got to have something
that really covers the smell of that death. Well, she came and she found
this stone rolled away. In another gospel it says she
saw two angels sitting on a stone. They removed the stone. God sent
the work, rolled away the stone. The one that was in there sent
the work, rolled away the stone I'm coming at. Like he did at
Lazarus' tomb, rolled away the stone. But he's stinking. No
he doesn't. And you know what the first thing
I thought of when Mary, she came up to this, you know what, you
know, I'm certain of it. The first thing she, that struck
her was the smell coming out of that tomb. There was no stench. There was no scent of death.
I hate funeral homes. I hate them. I hate to go there. They smell like formaldehyde.
They smell like dead flowers. No sweet-smelling savor at all. I hate it. I know when they started
bringing flowers. Cain brought flowers. Dead flowers. This tomb had no corruption in
it. This tomb had no death in it.
This tomb, you roll back the stone, and a sweet-smelling savor
of life came out of there. Blasphemous tomb. No stench. Roll away the stone. Someone
rolled away this stone. This stone was covering that
door. And sin separates us from God. You know that? Your sins
have separated you from God. You know what? Somebody removed
it. Somebody removed it. You know, your stony heart keeps
you from hearing the Gospel. There's some in here right now
that's got a stony heart and they cannot hear this. Can't
wait for this to be over. There's only one that can remove
that stony heart. I know. I had one. And when God says, roll back
that stone, you know what you're going to see and hear and smell? And that's for the first. That's
for the seeker. This is the one that saw. This
is the one that heard. This is the one the Lord appeared
to. They that seek me early. Seek
and you'll find. Knock and it'll be open. Ask
and you'll receive. Have you called on the name of
the Lord? I can't call for you. Have you? Whosoever calleth the
Lord. And I'm not even going to repeat
that. Repeat after me the sinner's
prayer. The Lord didn't have to tell a thief on the cross.
Now repeat after me. God be merciful. Well, verse 2, she runneth and
cometh to Simon Peter and the other disciple whom Jesus loved.
I love the way John refers to himself, don't you? He never speaks his own name.
Never. As if my name is not worth hearing.
George Whitfield one time said this, he said, Let the name of
George Whitfield perish from the earth. He said, let the name
of Jesus Christ be praised and remembered forever. Our last
names are not going to be in glory. We bear the name of Christ. Our first names, yeah, Abraham,
Isaac, Jacob, Mary, and Sally, and Robin, and Anne, and Margaret. There's going to be several Margarets. We're His bride. We bear His
name. Well, she runneth cometh to Simon
Peter and the other disciple whom Jesus loved. I believe the
Lord loves me. I really do. And she said unto
them, they have taken away the Lord out of the sepulcher. We
know not where they've laid him. And later she said to the angels,
they have taken away my Lord. Look what they've done. They've
taken him and I don't know where they put him. You know what they say, don't
you? Let me tell you what they say on the internet. Let me tell you what Google says.
Let me tell you what Alexa says. That solves it. This is the most ridiculous generation
ever in the history of the planet. Ain't nobody listening to Jesus
Christ more than they listen to Alexa. artificial. I hate it. I use it, but I hate it. I really
do. Wish it had never been invented.
Maybe some people start reading this book. You know what they
say, don't you? You know what they did? You know
what they say is going to happen? Look what they did. They didn't
do nothing. They can't do a thing. It doesn't
matter what they say. Who did this? Who's doing this?
Who is the one here? Who reigns and rules? Who speaks
and stands? Who did all things, worketh all
things? He did. Not they. He. Let's quit listening
to the them and the they and start listening to the Lord.
You know what it would do? It would give us peace. It would
give us joy. It would make us free from so
much doubt and fear and worry. Mary comes to it and she's worried
sick, you know. If you'd have listened to what
the Lord said, Mary, you wouldn't be weeping like this. You'd know He said it time and
time again, I'm coming out of that grave. Did you forget? Yes,
you did. Do you? We're going to walk out this
door. We're sorry, believers of it. Aren't we sorry, saints?
We're going to walk out this door and act like we've never
heard a word that the Lord said this morning. And be worried
sick. And be doubtful and fearful and
worried. They said, look what they're
doing! It's the Lord. It's the Lord. Whatever it is, it is the Lord. You know what they did, Simon,
John? Well, Peter heard this and he
went forth and that other disciple came to the sepulcher. They ran. Verse 5, verse 4 says, they ran
both together. Now, hold on a minute. Peter. It's with John, and Thomas,
and Matthew, and Bartholomew, and Thaddeus, and Peter, Simon
Peter. Just a few days ago, he denied
that he knew the Lord Jesus Christ. But where do you find him? Where
is he? He's right back there with them.
He denied the Lord, but he didn't desert his people. He didn't
desert his brethren. He has no other place to go.
He has no one else to meet with. And you know what? They received him. Oh, brethren,
if any brother be overtaken in fault, you that are spiritual,
restore such a one in the spirit of meekness. Why? Considering
yourself. We've all denied Him, haven't
we? We've all played the coward. They all fled from Him. So have
we. We're all a bunch of sinners.
Look, He left. He's coming back. Hallelujah. Come on in, Simon. To homecoming. So he was with
them, old Simon Peter. Couldn't leave. You know, you
can't drive God's people away, sheep away. They sin, they get
offended, they get mad at me. But if they're sheep and they
need Christ and there's one place to hear it, you're not going
to drive them away. I try not to drive people away. I try not
to make people mad. But you know what? I'm a sinner.
You know what? I'm just like you. And I'm sorry. I can't quit being me. I wish
I could. But we're here for Christ. We're here for him. So Peter
was with them. And look, what did they both
do? They ran together. They ran together. This was urgent.
This was immediate. This was urgent. They ran together. Who are you running with? Who
are you running with? I used to run with the crowd. You know it? Peter said, they
think it's strange that you don't run together with them anymore. That's not the crowd you're running
with. This is the crowd I run with.
I'm a companion to them that fear God. David said, they that
fear thee be glad when they see me, and I'm glad when I see them.
And we're all going to go into the congregation. We're all going
to go into the tabernacle, into the sanctuary, because that's
where God's way is. That's where God's people is.
This is who I run with, thank God. I did run and walk according
to the course of this world, but God. Yeah, I run with God's
people. Where you running? They can run
by. Where you guys going? Where y'all
going? Who looked for Christ? Why'd you come here? Were you
in a hurry to get here? Well, they didn't seek me early. They ran. The other disciple,
John, the other... You know, when I graduated from
high school, There were, I don't know, 450 or 60, nearly 500 graduates
in my senior class. They had magna cum laude, summa
cum laude, big daddy laude, second in charge laude, you know, somebody
somewhere. You know what I was? Other graduates, in alphabetical order. I'm glad
it wasn't in GPA order. But I graduated. Other graduate. The other disciple. I don't care if you outrun me. I don't care if you have more
faith than I. I don't care if you have more talents. What difference
does it make? People have more talents. People have more give.
Boy, he reads good. Boy, he prays good. Boy, he preaches
good. Boy, she's this, she's that. Do you believe Christ? Do you need Christ? Little faith
is saving faith. There are no rewards in heaven.
The reward is to see Christ, to be with Him. John outran Peter. We've got to have people run
fast. We need people to run fast. We need people to hold back.
It says that John came and stopped and stooped and looked in. He
wouldn't go in. Peter came, didn't even stop. We need both, don't we? Don't
we? We need people, let's wait, hold
on, let's stop before we make a decision. Right? In the Army, you need all kinds. You need somebody to say, let's
plot the course in general, the strategy and all that. And you
need men to say, let's go! There was some waiting back,
and David came running up, young strapping man, and he looked
and said, he said, what's going on? He said, that's the enemy
of God. Let's go! We need them both, don't we? We need them both. And it says
that John stooped down. Boy, if you're going to see Christ,
you know what you're going to have to do? Stoop down. You know what he saw? And you
know what Simon Peter saw? Linen clothes. Lying. Listen to this now. It doesn't
get any better than this. They both saw linen clothes lying
folded up neatly right there in the tomb. Linen clothes. What's that? That's the high
priest's garment. Linen clothes. That's what Christ wore. The
high priest, he came. The high priest wore these linen
clothes, undergarment and other linen garments, okay? To do a
work, do a sacrifice of a lamb of blood to put away the sins
of God's people, okay? And when he finished that work,
the priest didn't wear those clothes all the time. When he
finished that work, he'd take those clothes off. Our Lord Jesus
Christ took a body of a man. Our high priest, this man, came
to offer the sacrifice of himself. One sacrifice for sin forever.
He was God. He wore a glorified body. He
was the Son of God long before he came. A glorified body. Then
he assumed a robe of flesh, a veil. an average-looking body like
you and I, the same body and the likeness of sinful flesh,
just like you and me. Tempted in all points of view.
Isn't that a blessing? How'd he do it? This is the second
man. This is a man of flesh, bone
of our bones and flesh of our flesh, just like that. He's come
to do a work for us. Did he finish it? He said so.
What happened? They stripped him on the cross.
Took his clothes off. He's done with those clothes.
He finished the work. He folded them up. In the tomb,
they came, stone rolled away, the barrier between them, the
clothes of Christ wore. In John 13, you remember the
story where the Lord was going to wash, cleanse the feet of
those disciples? As He arose from the table, and
stooped down where they were, and took a towel and girded himself,
stripped himself, took a towel and girded himself, took a garment,
I'm sure it was linen, and robed himself with that towel and washed
their feet and dried them with that towel. And when he was finished,
you know what he did with that towel? He took it off, folded
it up, and threw it in the floor. God doesn't throw these bodies
away. Every hair is going to be back in your head. He folded
that up, put it to the side. Done. I'm finished. And he assumed
his glorified body. This tells us, what this tells
us, these clothes that were laid to the side, what it tells us,
number one, is nobody stole that body away. That's what they said. That's the rumor. They came and
stole his body. They wouldn't have folded his
clothes down. Put the clothes right over here in a special
place, at the feet, and took the head covering, folded it
up nice and neat, put that over here. Nobody stole that body. Christ arose. He said, no man
taketh my life from me and nobody takes my body from me. And this
tells us, too, that somebody's not in a hurry. Not in a hurry. The old undergod always worked
from the beginning of the time, from the beginning of the world,
and he came to do this work. He's not in a hurry, all according
to his divine schedule. He lays them down there, not
in a hurry. When it's finished, the work,
through with those clothes, I'm through. And then look at this,
verse 7, the napkin. There was a napkin about his
head, that covered his head, that veiled his face. It was
over there laying by itself, wrapped together in a place by
itself. The napkin, the covering, the veil over his face was removed
and laying all by itself over here. What's that all about? Well,
you know the scripture says that the Lord rose robed in majesty
and clothed with honor and majesty. And the heavens declare His glory,
the firmament showeth His handiwork, but nothing declares His glory. Nothing is more wonderful and
stands by itself than the veil of Christ removed in the reading
of the Old Testament. This is how you know that you
belong to Christ, that He's come for you and appeared to you and
revealed to you who He is. The light of the knowledge of
the glory of God in the face of Christ. He's removed the covering. He's removed the veil. He rent
the veil. He took off that covering and
now you see clearly the face of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is a work all by itself. You can see creation. You can
see His robe with majesty. You know, the heavens are clear.
But boy, the chief glory of God is when He removes that covering,
a God who hides Himself. And you see the glory of God
in a person, in a work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Well, verse 9, they knew not
the Scriptures. They came. They saw, says John,
verse 8, believe. He's really beginning to believe
now that Christ did rose because they didn't know. They just didn't
know. They just didn't remember what
He said. That He must rise again from
the grave. Then the disciples went away
again unto their own home. Okay? They left. And you know, many come here.
They're at the gospels praying. The gospels. They come and they
go. They go home. I told someone
the other day, if all the people that ever came here would stay,
we'd have to rent the Roanoke Cemetery. That's a fact. There'd be a lot more going to
go than stay. Two men left, one woman staying. I'm not leaving
until I know This is what she said. Are you with me? She said,
I am not leaving this place until I find out. Is he alive or is
he dead? Because he's my Lord. He's my Lord. That's my husband. So she stayed. She stood at the
sepulcher, weeping. Weeping. Oh, how much is said
in the scripture about weeping. Those that come weeping shall
doubtless go away with joy. Weeping endures for a night.
Those that weep over sin, those that weep over what they've done
to their Lord shall doubtless come again with
joy. Her weeping is going to end real soon. She stood without,
and as she wept, she stooped down. You see that? You've got
to stoop down. When you come to hear the gospel, this gospel is not for the wise
and the mighty. Humble yourself under the mighty
hand of God. And looked. This is for those who are looking. This is for those who seek. So
you know what the Lord did? The Lord showed her two angels. Verse 12, in white, sitting,
the one at the head, the other at the feet, with the body of
Jesus at length. Two angels. Two messengers of the covenant. Two preachers. The Lord sent
her two preachers. He's going to dispel her doubts
and fears. He's going to open her blind
eyes. Two preachers. He's going to tell her. It's
good news. Why weepest thou? That's the
first thing they said. Woman, why weepest thou? What
are you weeping over? Do you weep? We all weep. Everybody weeps over something.
What do you weep over? Huh? What do you weep over? The whole world weeps over trouble,
and I wouldn't diminish anybody's sadness and sorrow. It's mournful
to watch these things that happen to people's loved ones and all. It's sad. But what are you really
weeping over? You know what Mary's weeping
over? The Lord. The crucified Lord. And she can't
find Him. Can't find him whom her soul
loveth. That's what the woman in Solomon
said, I can't find him. I was sleeping when he came and
I didn't get up and now I can't find him. I don't know. I don't
know if he's alive or dead. I don't know. I don't know. I
just don't know. Can you please tell me where
he's at? You know what? The whole time
this is happening. Peter and John running and looking
in the tomb. Mary coming looking in stupid
and standing out there and weeping. You know what? Somebody's standing
over there. Somebody is standing over there listening and watching
everything that's going on. Observing. Calmly observing. They don't see Him. They don't
know He's there. He's there. The whole time. The whole time. He heard their doubts. He heard
their fears. He heard her weeping. Every tear.
He saw every tear fall from her eyes. Touch! And He has come to comfort her. She's weeping. Two angels said,
why are you weeping? They knew. Then the Lord Himself. The Lord Himself. Look at verse
14. She turned herself back and saw Jesus standing and didn't
know it was Him. He said unto her, Woman, why
weepest thou? What are you weeping over? Here's the question. Whom seekest thou? Everybody
wake up. Okay? Who are you looking for? What are you looking for? Who
are you looking for? Are you looking for happiness? Are you looking for some contentment
in this world? Are you looking for it in things?
Are you looking for pleasure? Are you looking for a good relationship?
Are you looking for another whatever? Husband? Wife? Are you looking?
That woman at the well looked and looked and looked and never
found until Christ came. Then she quit looking. Whom seeketh
that? Who are you looking for? She said, she's supposing, I like verse
50, she thought he was a gardener. He is. It's the same one that
spoke to the woman in the garden. Woman, what have you done? Same
one. It's her Lord. Woman, whom you
seek. Who are you looking for? She
thought he was a gardener. He is. He's the one that planted
everything. Sir, if thou hast borne him hence,
I'm looking for him. I'm looking for Christ. Tell
me where you've laid him. Tell me I'm looking for him.
Tell me where he is and I'll lay hold of him and I'll take
him away and never let go of him. Where is he whom my soul
loveth? Would you tell me where he is?"
And our Lord said, right here. He said unto her one word. that only Christ can speak to
every single one that belongs to Him. And you know He's talking
to you. He called her name. You know
how many Marys there were? You know how many Marys there
were? A bunch of them. Mary Magdalene, chief of senate. My sheep hear my voice, he said. I call them all by name. And this is the way it is. When Christ wakes you up from
the dead, when Christ comes to comfort you through the gospel,
when Christ comes to make Himself known to you, you think, I'm
the only one in this room. He's talking to me. There may
be a bunch of Pauls in here, but He's talking to me. And that's
what I hope and pray the Lord to do. One word, and only he
could say it to her. He'd said it many times. He'd
spoken her name many times. She knew that voice well. A stranger's
voice she didn't know. Mary. Mary, can anybody speak
your name like your beloved husband? Can you tell the difference? Does he love you? Would He lay
down His life for you? He has. He left His Father and
His Mother to cleave unto you. He loves you. All these years
He's been with you, hasn't He? When He says your name, what
does that mean to you? Married. Well, there's another. You're
married to another. And one day He did speak to you,
didn't He? Through the Gospel. And He'll
never leave you. He won't forsake you. And he
keeps through the gospel, he keeps saying this to his beloved. You hear your name every time.
And though there are a bunch of sinners in here, when he says,
sinner, it's me. Come. Come. Well, you come running to me.
You know what she did? You know what she said? One word. One word. Master. Like a sheep. It's my Master. My Master. Is He your Master?
Rabbi, no. And what she did, our Lord in
verse 17 said, Touch me not. I have not yet ascended to my
Father. What she did, she's been doing this for years. Falling
at His feet. When he found her, she was at
his feet, washing his feet with the tears of her eyes and her
tears. She's still crying, but she falls
at his feet. I think, Brother Kelly, like
you and me, she's still crying, but now it's happy tears. They say there's not going to
be tears in heaven. I don't know how that's going to be, because
I cry when I'm happy. There was one time we were going
on vacation, and Hannah was about three years old, two or three
years old. our only well-beloved child,
you know, we were taking her to a place she was so looking
forward to. We promised her, we're taking you there, honey.
We're going there. And she kept saying, how long,
how long? Are we there yet? No, we're not here yet. And finally
he said, honey, we're here. And he looked back and she, what's
wrong? She said, I'm so happy I got
tears in my eyes. Mary, I'm here. I told you. I told you. I've come for you. I'm not dead. I'm alive. I finished the work. You're mine. I've come for you. I'm taking
you home. Have you ever heard such good
news? She's hanging on to his feet.
She's hanging on to his feet. Man, she doesn't want to lose
sight of him again. She stayed there. Some of you hang around
after the service is over. Like you like what you heard.
Like you don't want to leave. You don't want to go out there
where they are. My dad used to say if the food's
good, people will hang around the table. They'll sit around
and talk about it. What's for dessert? It's true, isn't it? People don't
like the taste. Get out. She's hanging on his
feet like, I don't want to let go. I don't want to let go. He says, you have to. You have
to. He said, touch me not. That is,
let go of me. I'm not yet ascended to my father. I asked the question, and I got
to quit. Ask the question, Wednesday,
where was Christ when he laid in that tomb? Scriptures doesn't tell us. But
right here it says he had not yet ascended to the Father. Doesn't
it? So he, when he was put in that grave, he did not go back
to the Father. Did he? That's what it says.
You read it with me? I believe. That our Lord, for 33 years,
the equivalent of Thousands of years of toil and
labor and suffering and pain and sorrow. Enduring hell in
six hours, which was the equivalent of eternity in hell. He worked so hard. The second
Adam, the labor of his body and the toil and the sweat. He sweat
blood. Nobody ever toiled as hard as
he did. And the Heavenly Father said,
rest. Just lie here and rest. He giveth His beloved sleep. And there's a scripture that
says that He awoke. Upon this I awoke. My sleep was
sweet. Rest. And then he said this, and I
close. He said, go back to my brethren. And you can't say any
of that. I ascend. This is the one, the
one who ascended is the one who first descended. The one who
descended is he that ascended. Where did he ascend to? After
he had offered that sacrifice. After he put away sin by the
sacrifice of himself. What did he do, John? He ascended
to where? The right hand of the majesty
on high. You tell my disciples, I ascend. I'm going up. I'm going to sit
at the right hand of God with my feet on a circle of the earth,
reigning and ruling until it's time for me to come again. He
said, I ascend unto my Father, my Father, and your Father. Tell every one of them, my disciple,
that he's your Father. I'm going to see your Father. Would you like to see your Father
again? Did you love Him? Your Father. To my God and your
God. Is this your God? So Mary Magdalene
came as she ran. You know she did. And told the
disciples she'd seen the Lord and spoken these things unto
her. Amen. And that's all I want to try
to do this morning. Tell you what he said and whom
I've seen. All right, John, you come. What
number?