Welcome to the Reign of Grace
radio broadcast. My name is Bill Parker. I'm the
pastor of the 13th Street Baptist Church in Ashland, Kentucky.
This program is sponsored by the members of Eager Avenue Grace
Church in Albany, Georgia, located at 1102 Eager Drive, Albany,
Georgia. I'll be bringing you a gospel
message of the sovereign grace and glory of God in the Lord
Jesus Christ from God's holy word. And now, the message. Welcome to our program. Now,
today I'll be preaching from the book of John, chapter 20.
The title of the message is Christ is Risen. And obviously we're
going to be talking about the resurrection of the Lord Jesus
Christ. I've preached on it before. It's
the gospel message, the gospel of the death, burial. Welcome to the Reign of Grace
radio broadcast. My name is Bill Parker. I'm the
pastor of the 13th Street Baptist Church in Ashland, Kentucky.
This program is sponsored by the members of Eager Avenue Grace
Church in Albany, Georgia, located at 1102 Eager Drive, Albany,
Georgia. I'll be bringing you a gospel
message of the sovereign grace and glory of God in the Lord
Jesus Christ from God's Holy Word. And now, the message. ...and resurrection of Christ,
not just the historical facts of his death and his burial and
his resurrection, But the gospel of God's grace that is told out
in the historical death, burial, and resurrection of Christ, the
Bible says that he died, he was buried, he arose again the third
day. And he did it because he finished
his work of salvation, he finished his work of redemption, of justifying
his people on the cross. And it sets Christianity, true
Christianity, apart from all the world's religions, all man's
religions, We preach the gospel, as one person said, the gospel
of an empty tomb, the gospel of a risen Savior, not a dead
martyr. People talk about finding his
tomb. Well, I don't think they'll be
able to find it, but even if they do, it doesn't matter. He's
not there. That's what they said here in
John chapter 20 and the other Gospels that related this story
in the historical way. He's not there. Our Savior, the
Redeemer of his people, is seated at the right hand of the Father,
ever living, to make intercession for his people. He's the risen
Savior. And what a glorious thing that
is. If you remove the resurrection of Christ from the scriptures,
from the gospel, you have no gospel. Paul wrote about that
in 1 Corinthians chapter 15. He said, if Christ be not risen,
he said, then our faith is vain, our faith in Christ. And that's
true. If we have faith in a dead martyr,
it will do us no good. We'll just end up being dead
followers of a dead martyr. But our faith is in the risen
Christ, who obeyed the Father completely, who satisfied law
and justice, and who brought forth life, everlasting, eternal
life, to his people. And his resurrection is the first
fruit. of his people. It ensures that
all who are in him, who trust in him and believe him, who die
physically in him, all who die in him will be resurrected in
glory. And that's a great and marvelous,
comforting truth. It's not just a pipe dream. It's
not pie-in-the-sky religion. It's not just wishful thinking.
It's reality, the resurrection of Christ. And so Paul said also
in 1 Corinthians 15, if Christ be not risen, we are of all men
most miserable because we are yet in our sins. He was resurrected,
and that was the declaration that he is the Son of God and
that he finished the work that he was given to do. Now let's
look at John's account of this, beginning in verse 1 of John
20. It says, the first day of the week cometh Mary Magdalene
early. when it was yet dark, unto the
sepulchre, and seeth the stone taken away from the sepulchre.
Now it was on the first day of the week that the Lord of glory
arose from the dead." That's why we meet together on the first
day of the week, because it is in commemoration of his resurrection,
but it's to worship the risen Lord who died for the sins of
his people. And here it says Mary Magdalene
was there. Now, a lot of people, when they want to discredit the
Bible, they make a big issue out of the variations that you'll
see in Matthew, Mark, Luke and John over these historical accounts. And they'll call them contradictions,
but that is not true. That's just man trying to discredit
the scriptures. These various accounts in history
that are given in Matthew, Mark, Luke and John are not contradictions. All of the facts of the Scriptures
that are related around the resurrection, the historical life of Christ
is related in the four Gospels. They all are true and they all
come out. These are just given from different
points of view. It's just like you and me. We might see the same happening,
like, for example, in an automobile wreck. You might see it, and
I might see it. We might see the same thing,
but we might describe it in certain ways, and there may be facts
about it that I didn't see and leave out, facts that you didn't
see and leave out. And so it's not that we're contradicting
each other if we tell it rightly, it's just that we've told it
from different points of view. And the reason that God put it
this way in the Scripture is to emphasize the glory of Christ. You see, Matthew relates the
glory of Christ in his kingship, the line of the tribe of Judah.
Mark relates the glory of Christ in his servanthood. He's the
servant of the Father. He does the work of a servant. He became obedient unto death,
even the death of the cross. Luke emphasizes the glory of
Christ as the Son of Man, his humanity. He's both God and man
in one person. But that doesn't take away from
his sinless humanity. Nor does his sinless humanity
take away from his eternal, infinite deity. John relates the glory
of Christ in his deity. So we don't have contradictions
here. We just have different points of view. But here's Mary
Magdalene who came to the sepulcher while it was dark. And what did
she see? The stone was taken away. The stone that barred the entrance
to the tomb. wouldn't let anybody in or anybody
out. Of course, they didn't think
anybody would get out. But that stone was rolled away. And then
what did she do? Verse 2, Then she runneth and
cometh to Simon Peter, and to the other disciple, whom Jesus
loved. That was a way John had of referring
to himself in his humility. He's not saying that the Lord
didn't love Peter. He did love Peter. He loved all
his disciples. But John is just saying that this is one whom
Jesus loved. And she saith unto them, They
have taken away the Lord out of the sepulcher, and we know
not where they have laid him." So she actually was thinking
that it's time that they had stolen his body. There's no other
explanation given here. But one thing I do want to caution
you when you read passages like this, remember that these disciples,
these women, they were just sinful, human, weak beings. And they
had their problems, their faults, their doubts, their misgivings,
but Christ is the Savior of such sinners. And verse 3, it says,
Peter therefore went forth and that other disciple, Peter and
John, and they came to the sepulchre. So they ran both together and
the other disciple did outrun Peter and came first to the sepulchre. John says he outran Peter. This
is something that was amazing to them. They didn't know what
was going on exactly here. They had heard the Lord speak
of his resurrection, but they had not yet experienced this
in their own lives as to the seeing of it and experiencing
of it. And it says, And he, stooping down and looking in, saw the
linen-clothed line, yet went he not in. John looked in, he
saw the linen-clothed line where Peter went in, John went in rather,
and looked in, and they saw the linen clothes there, yet Christ
was not in the clothes, so the clothes were still there. And
it says, Then cometh Simon Peter, following him, and went into
the sepulcher, and seeth the linen clothes there. So John,
he just peeked in, Peter went on in. Now, you know, somebody
said, well, that might be the same as Peter's brashness, you
know, but he went on in. Verse 7 says, the napkin that
was about his head, not lined with the linen clothes, but wrapped
together in a place by itself. And then went in also the other
disciple, which came first to the sepulcher, and he saw and
believed. Now, he saw for himself that
the body of Jesus was taken out of the tomb, or was out of the
tomb, rather, And he believed what Mary Magdalene said, but
it says here in verse 9, For as yet they knew not the scripture,
that he must rise again from the dead. Then the disciples
went away again unto their own home. Now what does that mean?
Well, as I said, we've got to understand several things about
this passage. Number one, these were weak,
sinful human beings. They were in fear. They were
in fear of their own lives. They had not yet experienced
many of the things that the Lord had told them, Christ had told
them, he had preached to them, how he must go to Jerusalem,
how he must suffer, how he must be arrested, accused, how he
must bleed and die on the cross, and how he must be raised again
the third day. He had taught them that. But
they did not yet understand the full measure of this. They had
not yet experienced it. They were in fear, as we so often
are. Many times in fear we'll cower.
We don't have the spiritual backbone to stand for the truth. It's
by the grace of God that we do, when we do. And they did not
know how to associate this with the Old Testament. It says they
yet did not know the Scripture. how it said he must rise again
the third day. And so they didn't know how these
things worked out in the Old Testament. You remember later
on, as Luke records in Luke chapter 24, how Christ set them down
and he opened their understanding to the Scriptures. He taught
them how to preach the gospel of God's grace in him, his death,
burial and resurrection out of the Old Testament. So there are
things they didn't understand here, but it says in verse 11,
But Mary stood without at the sepulchre weeping, and as she
wept she stooped down and looked into the sepulchre. And it says
in verse 12, And she saw two angels in white sitting, the
one at the head and the other at the feet, where the body of
Jesus had lain. What a vision. And it was literal
now. When I say vision, I don't mean
that Mary was just seeing things. These two angels actually appeared.
These were angels of the Lord, messengers of God. And they spoke
to her, verse 13, and they say unto her, Woman, why weepest
thou? She saith unto them, Because
they have taken away my Lord, and I know not where they have
laid him. And when she had thus said, she
turned herself back, and saw Jesus standing, and knew not
that it was Jesus. Now the question The angels asked,
why do you weep? Why do you cry? Now Christ had
told them that he was going away. He told his disciples, I go away,
why do you sorrow? You ought to be rejoicing. The
fact that his body was not in that tomb was to be a matter
of rejoicing. I think about this when our Lord
was carrying the cross, his own cross, through the streets of
Jerusalem. And some of the women were weeping, and he stopped,
and he said, don't weep for me, weep for yourselves. You see,
his death was to be a victory. He knew that when he died on
that cross, having experienced in his very soul that suffering,
that pain and agony, that upon his dying and finishing the work,
he would be raised again the third day. So the angel said,
why are you weeping? And she said, well, it says in
verse 16, now she saw him, but she didn't realize exactly who
it was. She knew not that it was Jesus.
In verse 15, it says, Jesus saith unto her, Woman, why weepest
thou? In other words, he asked the
same question that the angel answered. He wasn't seeking information
now. He was just making a point. And
it says, He said, Whom seekest thou? And she, supposing him
to be the gardener, saith unto him, Sir, if thou have borne
him hence, tell me where thou hast laid him, and I will take
him away. If you've taken him somewhere, then tell me where
he is so I can go get him. I'll take him away. Now, somebody
might ask, why didn't Mary recognize him? Well, he was in his glorified
body. And there are many things, the
Bible teaches many things about this, and there are many things
that are left untaught, unrevealed. And we must not speculate where
God has not revealed his truth. But the glorified, resurrected
body of Christ, there were many recognizable traits about him
that were known in his humanity. We'll see that in just a moment.
But his body was so glorious that he was different. It was
changed, it was a resurrected spiritual body. We don't know
exactly everything about that, we can't really define it, but
it must be something so glorious. John said of the glorious resurrected
bodies of Christ's people, he said, Beloved, it does not yet
appear what we shall see. But we know that when he comes
again, we'll see him as he is. We'll be like him, in the sense
that our bodies will be glorified and resurrected spiritual bodies.
But you couple that with the fact that Mary Magdalene was
not expecting to see him, so she didn't recognize him right
off. But it says in verse 16, Jesus says unto her, And she
turned herself and said unto him, Rabboni, which is to say,
Master. She recognized him. Now, when
did she recognize him? When he revealed himself to her.
And my friend, that's the only way that you or me or any other
sinner is going to recognize the Lord of Glory when he reveals
himself unto his people. How does he reveal himself unto
his people in the gospel, in salvation? It's through the preaching
of the gospel of the glory of God in Christ by the power of
the Spirit. And here he stood before Mary
Magdalene and she said, Master. She knew who it was and she bowed
to him. Verse 17, it says, Jesus saith
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." Now,
he said, don't touch me. Now, there's been a lot of undue
speculation and myth revolve around those three words in the
King James Version of the Bible, touch me not. There are some
who say, well, He couldn't be touched at that time because
Mary Magdalene was a sinner and Christ was in His holiness. Now,
let me tell you something. When Christ walked this earth
as God-man, He was and is and always was holy. He touched people. The woman with the issue of blood
touched the hem of His garment. He embraced His people. He embraced
children. It wasn't because He was holy
and they were sinners. He's always holy. When he was
on the cross, dying for the sins of his people, he still was holy
within himself. He was guilty based on sin imputed,
but he was holy and pure within himself, never had an unholy
thought, never had an unholy motive. He remained sinlessly
perfect within himself. He was made sin. by a divine
act of the Father to charge sins to him. He was made under the
law, the scripture says. But he was always holy. And then
some people say that he couldn't be touched because he had not
yet appeared before his Father in the holiest of all. Not so. You see, he was about to ascend
unto the Father in his glorified body. But Christ and the Father
are one. And all that he did, he did in
the presence of his Father, and when he finished the work, he
presented himself before the Father. What we have here is,
I believe, a poor translation in the King James Version when
he says, touch me not. What he's telling Mary is this. When Mary recognized him, the
first thing she wanted to do was cling to him and grab hold
of him and not let him go. And that's what he's saying.
Don't cling to my physical presence here. Don't grab hold on to me. I've got things to do. I've got
some places I've got to go. And you've got to do some things
as I command you. You go to my brethren. And you
tell them what you're saying. You tell them that I'm risen.
He said, you go to my brethren and say that I ascended to my
Father and your Father and to my God and your God. Don't cling
to my physical presence. I've got to ascend unto the Father. You see, not only is the gospel,
the gospel tells us who Christ is. He's the Lord of Glory, He's
the God-man, He's the Savior of sinners. It tells us what
He accomplished on Calvary. He accomplished the redemption
and the justification of His people on the cross. It tells
us why He did it. He did it for His people, for
the glory of the Father, and it tells us where he is now. He is raised from the dead and
he is ascended unto the Father ever living to make intercession
for his people. So he says, don't cling to my
physical presence. You see, salvation was accomplished
by the Lord of Glory who is now seated at the right hand of the
Father. He's the resurrected Lord of Glory. He's risen. It's
not just in his physical presence. And then again, you've got to
understand, when he said, touch me not, later on he told Thomas
to touch him. Remember, he said, Thomas, look
at the prints in my hand and in my feet. And he said, thrust
your hand into my thigh. He said, touch. So we know what
he's talking about there is literally, and that's what it would translate
out literally, don't cling to me. Don't try to hold on to me. I have a task to do. I've got
to ascend unto the Father to make intercession for my people.
My friend, Jesus Christ, the righteous, John said in 1 John
chapter 2, is our advocate before the Father. He stands in our
place even now, ever living, to plead our cause before the
Father based on the shed blood and imputed righteousness of
Christ. Well, verse 19 says, then, or verse 18 says, Mary
Magdalene came and told the disciples that she had seen the Lord and
that he had spoken these things unto her. They were overwhelmed.
In one of the Gospels it says they looked at it as an old wives'
tale. What simple thoughts they had.
Even now. But they're about to be shown
the Lord of glory and his resurrected glory, and it says in verse 19,
Then the same day at evening, being the first day of the week,
when the doors were shut, where the disciples were assembled
for fear of the Jews, came Jesus and stood in the midst, and saith
unto them, Peace be unto you." You remember earlier he said,
My peace I leave with you. And here he comes, standing in
the midst of them, and he said, Peace be unto you. The Lord Jesus
Christ is our peace. He is the Prince of Peace. He
is the one who made peace between God and sinners. He is the great
reconciler of God to his people and his people to God. On the
cross of Calvary, he reconciled his Father to his sheep. That's what the Bible teaches.
It says God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing
their trespasses unto them. God took those sins and laid
them on Christ, charged them to him. All the sins of his elect,
all the sins of his church, all the sins of Christ's redeemed
ones, all the sins of those who would come to see and know and
believe in him. and he reconciled the Father
to them. And then in time he sends his Holy Spirit to bring
them under the preaching of the gospel of peace, peace made between
God and sinners by the blood of Christ, by the cross of Christ. Peace established based on his
righteousness alone and by the power of the Spirit in the new
birth and regeneration and conversion, they hear that message and it
reconciles them to God. then they in their minds and
in their consciences and in their hearts, they laid down their
shotguns of rebellion against God, they laid down their works
and their efforts and repent, and they cling to Christ, the
resurrected Savior, who is at the right hand of the Father.
They don't cling to his physical presence, but they cling to the
Lord of glory, who died for their sins. Peace be unto you, he says. And then in verse 20, it says
that when he had said so, He showed unto them his hands and
his side. Then were the disciples glad
when they saw the Lord." He showed them his hands and his side,
his wounded hands and his side. Somebody might ask, well, is
Christ in his resurrected, glorified body? Does he still have the
vestiges of those wounds, the nail prints in his hands and
his feet, the spear in his side? Is that the way he will exist
in eternity? I believe so. That's the indication
of scripture. The book of Revelation says that
when the Lamb, who is worthy, appeared to open the book and
read therein the accomplishments of God through him, that he appeared
as a lamb as it had been slain. And that will ever be a reminder
of his people in glory that our glorification, our eternal life,
our eternal blessedness and bliss is based upon the work, the accomplishments
of the Lord Jesus Christ in whom the glory of God resides. Now,
how we will think like that in glory and not have any recognition
of sin, I don't know. I cannot tell you because the
Bible doesn't. But I'll tell you what, isn't
it a glorious thought to know that we'll have a new body, we
who die in the Lord, and that we'll be made like Him? Well,
it says the disciples were glad. Oh, they were so glad to see
their Lord. Not lying dead in a tomb. but
among them as the resurrected Lord. And it says, Then said
Jesus to them, again, Peace be unto you, as my Father hath sent
me, even so send I you. So he spoke peace to them. Our only hope is that God will
speak peace to us. Now men will speak peace to you. Men who like you or love you,
who are related to you. Mama will speak peace to you.
But does God speak peace to you? Now let me tell you something
right now. The only ones to whom God speaks peace are those who
are in His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. The Bible says, who shall
lay anything to the charge of God's elect. It is God that justifies. Who can condemn us? It is Christ
that died, yea rather is risen again, and seated at the right
hand of the Father, ever living to make intercession for us."
There is no peace with God outside of Christ. And he says, as my
Father hath sent me. Now that word sent there, when
Christ refers to the Father sending him, is a word that is sometimes
translated apostle. One who is sent of the Father.
And Christ is the Apostle and High Priest of our calling. He
was sent of the Father to be made under the law, to be made
a woman, to redeem us. And then he said, even so send
I you. Now the word send, when he talks
about sending the disciples, is the word that means thrust
out like seed that is sown. So he was sent to do the work,
and he sends forth his disciples to preach the gospel. And when
he hath said this, he breathed on them, and saith unto them,
Receive ye the Holy Ghost, and whosoever sins you remit, they
are remitted unto them, and whosoever sins you retain, they are retained.
He's speaking of the preaching of the gospel there. Man doesn't
have any authority to forgive sins or not forgive sins. Only
Christ can forgive sins. Only God can forgive sins. But
when we preach the gospel, we're preaching the gospel of forgiveness
of sins in Christ. And when those who do not believe
it walk away, they walk away unforgiven because they don't
have Christ. He's risen. And I hope this message
has been helpful to your understanding of the gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ. If you would like to get a copy
of this message, listen to the announcer. who will give you
the details in just a moment. The title of this message is
Christ is Risen. And I hope you'll join us next
week for another message from God's Word. We're glad you could join us
for today's message. If you would like to receive
a copy of this message, or if you would like more information
about Eager Avenue Grace Church, remember we are located at 1102
Eager Drive in Albany, Georgia. You can call us at 229-422-4222.
432-6969, or visit our Reign of Grace website
at www.rofgrace.com. Thank you and may the Lord be
with you. We're glad you could join us
for today's message. If you would like to receive
a copy of this message, or if you would like more information
about Eager Avenue Grace Church, remember we are located at 1102
Eager Drive in Albany, Georgia. You can call us at 229-833-9000.
432-6969, or visit our Reign of Grace website
at www.rofgrace.com. Thank you, and may the Lord be
with you.