And I want to get my subject
there in verse 13, where the angels ask Mary, and they say
unto her, woman, woman, why weepest thou? Why are you weeping? Why
are you crying so? What are you weeping so much
for? And she answered him, they've taken away my Lord, and I don't
know where they've laid him. And then in verse 15, the Lord
Jesus says to her, says to her, she's still weeping, she's still
crying. And it says, and then the Lord
himself asked her, woman, why weepest thou? And then he asked
this question, who are you looking for? Who are you looking for? And down in verse 11 it says
that Mary stood without at the sepulcher weeping and as she
wept. This woman spent hours weeping. She spent a long time weeping
and she is weeping at a grave. She is at a grave and she was
crying. And how many times over the course
of history Do you suppose God's people have wept? How many times over history you
reckon God's people have wept? In the Old Testament they call
them, said they wept sore. That means they just wept till
they couldn't weep anymore. Davis says, my tears run down
like rivers. But how many times do you suppose
God's people have wept? And there's lots and lots of
reasons that people weep. Sometimes you have tears of joy. You're just so full of joy. And
you see what's going on with somebody. And just like when,
I'm sure Houston and Aubrey, when they had their baby, they
wept tears of joy. Tears of joy. And then there's
tears of sorrow, when you got such sorrow. You're heavy, you've
just got such sorrow in your heart that you cannot help but
weep. You can't help but weep. And
then there's tears when somebody else is having trouble. You sympathize
with them and you weep tears of sympathy. You really have
sympathy for them. And this is the awfulest kind
of tears that anybody can have is tears of self-pity. they feel
sorry for themselves and they cry over their feeling sorry
for themselves. And then there's times that we
cry because we're so thankful. God blesses us to see something,
understand something, and we understand that everything we
have comes from Him. And so we sometimes weep just
over thankfulness. And then there's people that
have tears of bitterness. They're bitter over something
and they weep over their bitterness. And sometimes we cry just because
we're happy. We're just happy. And you know,
sometimes we weep because we hurt. We hurt. We hurt in our
heart, we hurt in our mind, we hurt in our situations. And you
know our Lord Jesus Christ, it says that He wept twice. Can
you imagine? This goes to show you what a
man the Lord Jesus Christ is. And what a man He was. And it
tells us he can still be touched with the feelings of our infirmities.
But our Lord Jesus Christ wept twice, stood and cried twice. Can you imagine? Now we have
lots to cry over. But our Lord Jesus Christ was
so identified and was such a man that he could be touched so much
with the feelings of others. You know, like when he stood
outside Lazarus' tomb, Mary and Martha had been crying and crying
and crying. And the Jews wept with her. And
our Lord Jesus Christ walked up to that tomb and tears started
going down his holy face. Tears started running out of
his eyes. He said, I gotta bring this man,
this dead man, I got to bring him back into this world. And
all they saw when he seen him weeping was that, oh, he must
have really loved him. Must have really loved him. And
the next time you find him weeping, he's looking out over the city
of Jerusalem. And he started crying over the
city of Jerusalem. And he began to weep. And he
said, oh, how oft, how oft. Well, I would have saved you.
I would have brought you like a hen brings her chicks under
her wing. But you would not. He wept. He wept. And so I want to look
here today, Mary Magdalene. She's weeping. She's weeping
for sorrow. She is so sad. She is so tore
up in her heart and soul because she can't find the Lord. She
can't find the Lord. She can't find His body. She
was so taken up with the Lord Jesus Christ that she was willing
to go into his grave and be where he was. She just wanted to go
out there and be where he was. She was so taken up with the
Lord Jesus Christ. And that disciple that come with
Peter was, of course, John, that disciple that leaned on Jesus.
and always talking about that disciple whom Jesus loved. But
Mary Magdalene, she was a disciple, and the Lord loved her, but she
has such great love for the Lord Jesus Christ. How come you reckon
she loved the Lord Jesus so much? I'll tell you why, because she
was given so much, she was forgiven so much. You keep John 20, look
in Luke chapter eight. Look what it says about her over
here. You're talking about somebody that loves the Lord Jesus Christ. It's like Mary, the other Mary, Martha's sister, when she went
into that Simon's house, look what it said
here. You know, it said, he that's
forgiven much loveth much. And look what it said in verse
one here. And it came to pass afterward that he went through
every city and village preaching and showing the glad tidings
of the kingdom of God. And the 12 were with him. And
certain women, which had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities,
now listen to this, Mary called Magdalene, out of whom went seven
dead. Do you imagine what an awful
woman she was? You cannot imagine. We cannot
imagine what an awful woman this was. I guess our mind can't grasp
somebody that's got seven devils. How mean she was. How cruel she
was. How overbearing she was. How
arrogant she was. How proud she was. How low down
she was. And oh my. And I'll tell you
what, and that's why it says here that Mary come weeping. And she was asked twice, why
weepest thou? Asked twice, asked twice. And
I'll tell you why, she loved much because she had been forgiven
of much. But I want you to look at several
things about Mary here and why she's weeping. First of all,
I want you to notice how anxious she was, how anxious she was.
Look up in verse one. She was anxious. The first day
of the week. This is Sunday morning now. Sunday
morning. That's the first day of the Jewish
calendar. Then first day of the week cometh Mary Magdalene early. Watch this. When it was yet dark,
she come to the grave. She was so anxious. And she came
so early that it's still dark. And this darkness of the morning
was just symbolic of the darkness she felt inside. Oh, she felt
so dark inside because she had seen the Lord Jesus Christ. Seen
what they had done to her blessed Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. Look over here at John 19 and
verse 25. Oh, this is why she was, she knowed what they had
done to the Lord Jesus Christ. Look what it said here now, verse
25. Now there stood by the cross
of Jesus his mother and his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Cleopas
and Mary Magdalene. Mary Magdalene sat right there,
stood by the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ and she saw what
they'd done to Him. She saw how they'd beat Him.
She saw the nails that crucified Him nailed to that cross. She
looked at Him and she saw all that blood all over His body.
She stood there and heard every cry that He made from the cross.
She was so anxious to even be with Christ in his death It was
hurt her so much and darkness gripped her heart so much in
her mind that she said I've got to go I've got to get over there
and be where he is It's got to go and be where he is And why
did she come so early? Why was she the first? Did she
just go there to see a grave and She went there because she
loved him so much. And she would rather be with
a dead Savior than not have a Savior at all. That's what I feel like
she was going on through here. And when she got there, look
what it says in verse one again. She sees the stone taken away.
She saw the stone taken away. Now how in the world can a stone
be gone? You see, the grave here was hewed
out in a rock. It's hewed out in a rock. There's
just a space there to hew it out in a rock, and they put him
in this rock, in this cave-like thing, and they'd had it hewed
out. A rich man had viewed this out, Joseph Arimathea. He had
the rich man have somebody view all that out, and they put Christ
in that, and then put a big stone over it. As we bury people, then
we put them in the ground, we put a stone over them. Well,
that's what they did. He was in a cave like that. And they put him in there. And
she comes up there, and there's the opening. There's the opening. I don't have a clue how big it
was. Big enough for a grave, big enough
for a man. And she saw that stone go. It's
a big stone, big stone. And not all were saints, but
look how disappointed she was. She was so disappointed. She
was dosed disappointed. Look what it said in verse two.
Then she runs. She runs. She's not walking now,
she's running. And she cometh to Simon Peter
and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved, and listen to what
she said. She saith unto them, they've
taken away the Lord out of the grave, and we don't know where
they've laid him. That's what was bothering her. He's gone. Where's he at? He's gone. Do you ever feel like the Lord's
left you alone and you don't say, Lord, where you at? Where
you at, Lord? And that's why she was saying,
they've taken away my Lord. She went to see her Lord, whom
she believed was dead. Instead, she finds an empty grave. And we know when it talks about
taking away the Lord, it's grievous, grievous, grievous to believers.
Grievous to believers when they take away the Lord. You know
the Lord's been taken away. There's very few places you can
go where the Lord's at. They've taken Him away. They've
taken away His glory. They've taken away His glory.
They've taken away His power. He's become so weak. He has become
so weak. He's a little blonde-headed effeminate
somebody. They love his mother and worship
his mother more than they worship him. They worship saints, they're
interested in saints and angels and they're not interested in
him. Take away his power. When our Lord said, all power
in heaven and earth is given unto me. They take away his preciousness. He's not valuable to most people,
but all to believers he is precious. Everything about him is precious.
Oh my, he's precious in his person. Precious in his blood. Precious
in his death. Precious in the faith he gives.
Everything about him's precious. Valuable to us. He's more valuable
to us than anything I've ever owned in my life. And every will
he's more valuable and more precious. He's more precious, and I tell
you to a believer, he's more precious than anything you'll
ever have in this world. Because one of these days you're
going to part with them people you love. You're going to leave
your house. You're going to leave your cars.
You're going to leave your money. You're going to leave everything
behind. And then you'll find out how
precious He is. If He's not precious here, He
won't be precious there. And oh, they take away his precious.
Then they bring his person down. Oh, they make man weep here. He's got all the power. He's
got all the strength. He's got all the will. He's got
all the rights. Christ's way down here. He ain't
got nothing unless we give it to him. Oh, I don't wonder she's weeping.
I'd cause anybody to weep when they take away the Lord. And
oh, they take away the power of his blood. Oh, take away the
power of his blood. Oh, over in Hebrews 9, you know
what it says over there? They counted the blood of the
covenant and the whole holy thing. You know what that means? That
they count the blood of Christ as something that's common. Common. It's just common. It ain't no
different than anybody else's blood. It's common. It's common. Oh, my. And they make little
of his righteousness. Steve was telling me the other
day that he heard a fella preach about two hours on righteousness,
and they asked him, after his brother asked him, or somebody
asked him after the end of the service, said, do you like that
message? He says, no, didn't like it at
all. Well, what's wrong with it? He
said, he mentioned righteousness, but never mentioned Christ's
righteousness not one time. And there ain't no righteousness
worth talking about except His. Because we ain't got none. We
never have had one, we never will have one. All of our righteousnesses
are as filthy rags. We're like a leaf that fades. Shiny bright and up there on
that tree and next thing you know it comes down there and
it fades and it's dead. That's all we got. I'll tell
you what, they take away His voice, take away His work, But
I tell you, no wonder she's upset. I'm upset because they take away
the Lord. Oh my. I tell you, they take
away the love of Christ. They take away the love of Christ.
What do you mean? They say Jesus loves everybody.
And down in the world, is that going to do me any good if He
loves everybody the same? That'd be like me telling every
woman in this place, I love you just like I love Shirley. You
say, boy, that man's got, he got problems. And I tell you
what, the Jesus that just loves everybody, he's got problems. And oh my. But I tell you what
Mary didn't do, she didn't quit. She didn't quit. What happens now? Oh. Her sorrow, her sorrow. Look
back up here now. And them disciples, they went.
She said, they've taken away my Lord. Let's start down here
in verse three now. Therefore Peter and that other
disciple went forth. They ran together. They just,
oh my goodness, they're in a hurry. And the other disciple, John
outrun Peter and he came first to the sepulcher and stooping
down. He never went in yet. He just
stooped down and looked in. He just looked in. And he saw
the clothes that Christ was buried in laying there. He saw the clothes,
yet he went not in. Then come a Simon Peter following
him, and Simon Peter says, listen to this now, he went in to the
grave. He got down and went into that
grave. Big enough for him to get in
there. He went in that grave. And he saw the linen clothes
lying there, and listen to this now, and the napkin And the napkin that was about
his head, not lying with the linen clothes, were wrapped together
in a place by itself. Now what do you reckon this means?
You know, they keep looking for the Shroud of Terran, the thing
he was buried in, the cloth he was buried in. They wrapped him
up in linen clothes, so listen, he come out of that grave as
a man. And his clothes were lying just
exactly like he'd been wrapped in them. right where he lay. The only thing that wasn't right
where he lay was that they put a napkin over their face. And
he reached up and took that napkin off and laid it over here and
got out of that grave and never bothered his grave cloth. That's why they were so astonished.
That's why when John went in there, he said, I believe. I said, I see where he laid.
I see his clothes exactly where he was at. But he's not there. And that's what he said. And
it said there then in verse nine, for as yet they knew not the
scripture. Verse eight, then when also that other disciple
which came first and second, he saw and he believed and believed. For as yet they knew not the
scripture that he must rise from the dead. Now look what these
fellas did. They turned around and went home.
They said, I've seen enough. I've seen enough. I went to where
he laid. He's not there. I've seen him
dead. I saw him crucified. I saw him
put in that grave. I saw the whole thing. And they
said, well, there's nothing here. So they turned around and went
back to the house. They said, I'm going home. And their disciples
went away again to their home. But look what Mary done. Mary
didn't go home. You fellas can go home if you
want to. Mary stood without at that grave. She stood without
that grave. Weeping, weeping, weeping, weeping. And she stooped down and looked
into the sepulcher. Now she saw something that hadn't
been there before. Then if Peter went in there,
they wasn't there when Peter went in there. And they wasn't
there when John went in there. But when Mary looked in there,
because of her weeping, look what happened. She saw two angels. Her disappointment is God's disappointment. I've disappointed you to do something
special for you, Mary. And look what it said here now.
Oh my. and she see two angels in white
and guess where they sat? One was sitting down where his
feet had been and the other sat where the head of Jesus had been
and the body of Jesus had laid. One at the head and one at the
feet. She looked in there and them
other fellows hadn't seen Oh my, her sorrow, oh Mary stood
by that tomb and you know what kept her there? Faith and love
kept her there. Her desire for her Lord was so
great, her eyes were so blinded by sorrow and by grief, and oh
her heart was so broken that she saw the angels when she stooped
down, and they didn't see them, and she was so grieving, tears
were just running down her eyes, and those angels talked to her,
talked to her. And they say unto her, woman,
why weepest thou? Why weepest thou? And she said again, she said
of them because they've taken away my Lord and I know not where
they've laid him. She still does not know that
Christ's risen from the dead. She said somebody just come got
his body and took him someplace else. I just wanna know where
he's at. Wouldn't you like some folks
to understand? I'd like to know where Christ is. I can tell you
exactly where he is. sitting at the right hand of
God on his throne. That's where he's at, ain't he,
James? Sitting in his glory, that's where he's at. But Mary
was looking for him. Oh my. Here, here, she was so
taken up with her own grief. She was taken up with her own
sorrow and her own sadness. And I tell you what, and with
her own troubles, have you ever, let me ask you this, I know I've
done it. We've been so taken up with our
own grief and our own troubles that we sometimes fail to see
God's great, great blessings. We're just so dark in our mind,
so deep in our grief, so deep in our own sorrow and our own
sadness. Oh my, they fail to seek God's
greatest blessings. And for her the great blessing
was an empty tomb. Mary she had her grief and so
sad so sorrowful and so heartbroken she couldn't see she couldn't
see grasp the Lord being risen she just couldn't grasp that
the Lord had risen from the dead she is take so taken up with
her sorrow that she she wasn't even suspicious she didn't even
think that maybe he had risen from the dead You ever been so taken up with
grief and sorrow that you can't see the Lord? But oh, look what a mistake she
made. Look in verse 14 and 15. And when she had thus said, answer
the angels, she turned herself back. She turned, she was walking
away from the grave. She was walking away. She got
up, she turned herself, she's turning to leave. And look what
happens. As she turned herself back and
saw Jesus standing. And knew not that it was Jesus. Our Lord said unto her, Woman,
that's the same question. Why weepest thou? And this is
the key right here, not only weeping, but who are you looking
for? Why are you weeping? You got
something, you're looking for somebody. You're around here,
you're looking for somebody. And look what she said. She's
supposing him to be the gardener, taking care of that garden, where
all those graves were, taking care, it's like people, you know,
it's like taking care of a graveyard. That's what somebody there was
taking care of those graves, taking care of that garden there.
Keep the trees trimmed, keep the grass, all the things that
they had to do for a graveyard. As she supposed him to be the
gardener, saith unto him, look what she said, sir, if you've borne him is, if you's
the one that caught Christ and took him out of the tomb, tell
me where you've laid him and I'll take him away. Oh my. Let me tell you something. Even in the resurrection, Even
in the resurrection power of our Lord, he still had a body
that could be saved. And she saw that body. And if he'd been lying in the
tomb, she'd have recognized him. But it says, she saw Jesus standing. She looked in that grave, she
said, that's Jesus right there. But when she turned around, she
saw him standing. That's what happened to Stephen.
When they stole Stephen to death, he lifted up his eyes and he
saw Jesus standing at the right end of the throne of God. And
you know what he said? Lord, forgive them, they know
not what they do. I see Jesus standing up there.
And oh my. But she saw him standing. Oh
my. Sometimes our conception of our
Lord is so low that if He appeared in any degree, His glory, we
wouldn't hardly recognize it. But He sees her, and He knows
her, and He sees her fears, and He asks her. He's concerned about
her. He's concerned about her. You think our Lord ain't concerned
about us? You know what the scripture said? There's two things that
God's interested in about us. Not over the heads of our head,
but in glory. He puts our tears in a bottle, And He keeps our prayers around
the throne. That's two things that Christ
talks about in glory. Our tears, He said, these are
the tears of the saints. And our prayers, He said, these
are the prayers of the saints kept under that altar in glory. Ain't that something? And our
Lord here, he had these angels. They weren't there before, but
he said, they asked the question, why in the world are you crying
so? And then our Lord asked her, woman, why weepest thou? Oh,
he fills our sorrows. And then he says, who are you
looking for? He would learn from our own lips why we're weeping
and who we're looking for. But her soul is determined to
find her Lord, and she's willing to bear any burden. And look
how she addresses him. She says, sir, sir, sir. But oh, look what a revelation
she gets. Look what a revelation it gets. And look what it says now. And
she turned herself, she's fixing to turn away from the gardener. She run into him, she's fixing
to turn away from him and leave again. And listen to what he
says, Mary, our Lord knows every name of
every child that he's got. You know he said, Zacchaeus, Lazarus? Martha, you're worried
about a lot of things. Mary's sitting at his feet. Leave
Mary alone. She sought that good part. Oh, my sheep hear my voice, and
I know them, and they follow me. Oh, my. Mary? Mary? He calls his people by name.
Look in Isaiah 43 with me. Look in Isaiah 43, oh my. To hear the Lord Jesus Christ,
I'll never forget. I'll never forget unless I lose
my mind. When Herman made his confession
of faith, he's 75 years old. And it was in May. And I remember preaching because
of the way he reacted. The hour is coming, and now is,
when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and
they that hear shall live. I got through preaching. Herman
stood up. He said, Brother Don, I was already
on the step. He said, Brother Donnie. Or he
said Donnie. He didn't call me brother. He
said, Donnie. He said, I heard his voice today. We all in this
place just fell apart. Remember that. We're 75 years
old. You think God can't save you?
Oh, I'd be better to save you when you're real young so you
don't have to deal with this awful world and all the sin that's
in it. But oh my, I tell you what, that's
why the Lord said, Mary? If he would have said to the
dead, said, I want the graves emptied here right now. He said,
I want every grave in Jerusalem emptied. Oh, the dead come forth.
Every grave in Jerusalem would have emptied that day. But he
called Lazarus one. And he calls his people one by
one by one by one, and he calls every single one of them out
of the same place he did Lazarus, out of deadness and corruption,
don't he? Huh? Look what he said here in
Isaiah 43. But now thus saith the Lord that
created thee. Oh, bless his name. He created
us, made us new creatures in Christ. Oh, Jacob, listen to
this, and he that formed thee. Oh, Israel, fear not, I've redeemed
thee. Oh, listen now, I've called thee
by thy name. Look what else he says, thou
art mine. Thou art mine. Oh, bless his
name. And he said, listen to this,
because you're mine, I call you by name, ain't nothing going
to hurt you. When you pass through the waters,
I'm going to be with you. And when you go through the rivers,
especially that River Jordan, ain't gonna overflow. You're
not gonna drown. When you go through the fire,
you're not gonna be burned. And the flame ain't even gonna
kindle upon you. For I am the Lord, thy God, the
Holy One of Israel, thy Savior. And look what he said in verse
four, since thou was precious in my sight. I gave people for
you. And oh, he said, Mary, look back
over here now. And when he said that, when he
said, unto her, Mary, she turned herself, looked right back at
him. And she says, Ramona, I? That means, you know what? You're
my master. You're the master. You're my
master. Huh? She turned herself by His Word. And that's when we turn. When
He speaks to us, that's when we turn from ourself and turn
to Him. Oh my. She turned herself from
the grave. She turned herself from the sorrow.
She turned herself from all of her sadness. She recognized His
voice that quick. And oh, you hear people say,
I don't know which way to turn. I do. Turn to the Lord. You can't turn. That's the most precious place
you can turn. Turn to the Lord. Where am I going to turn? Turn
to the Lord. Turn to the Lord. She was seeking a dead Savior,
a dead Lord, but found a risen Savior. She was looking for somebody
in a grave and she found someone standing. Oh my, and I tell you
what, no one, no one truly seeks the Lord that'll ever find him
dead, never find him dead. You'll never find a powerless
Savior. You'll find a risen, living, saving, all-powerful,
glorious Savior sitting at God's right hand. And you know why
he says, Master, She said, you're my Lord. You're my authority. He knows me and I know Him. He's
the one that's got the authority. Oh my. Guess what she wanted
to do? The first thing she wanted to
do, she wanted to hug Him. That's the first thing she wanted
to do. She wanted to reach out and hug Him. Watch what happened. She turned around, and this is
why the Lord said what he did. He was fixing to grab her. She
was fixing to grab him. Oh, I've got to embrace him. Oh, she was bold. And yet look
what the Lord said to her. Touch me not, for I'm not yet
ascended to my Father. but go to my brethren and say
unto them I send unto my father and your father to my God and
your God now why did he say touch me not I'm not yet ascended and
you know as far as I can tell you'll not find any place after
his resurrection where anybody touched him he ate but nobody
touched him Simon you know what he had he told he told Thomas
said look here Thomas go ahead go ahead Thomas never laid a
hand on him Thomas never stuck a finger in his stuck his finger
in his hand never done it. He never touched him You know
all he did he said my lord and my God fell on his face before No don't touch me don't touch
me oh my No doubt she was so glad to see him, so anxious to
embrace him. And how many times do we want
to embrace? And I've said this time and again.
Christ is ascending now. But we by faith, we can embrace
him. Oh, how we embrace him. Oh, Maurice
Montgomery used to say all the time, said, hug up, get up close
to the Lord Jesus Christ. Hug up to him, hug up to him
real close. Your kids get up to you, they
get real close to you, and they just hug up to you. And then
that's what he said, hug up to the Lord Jesus Christ. And oh
my, since she can't touch him, she says now I have to walk by
faith and not by sight. And then look what he tells her
to do. In verse 17. But go tell my brethren, I've got a multitude of brethren,
and no man can number. I mean, he can go call my brethren. You know, he calls us brothers
in Hebrews 2, and we have a brother, we have a friend that's closer
than a brother. Tell my brethren, and this is
what he said, you go tell them that denied me. Go tell them
that fled from me. Go tell them that forsook me.
Go tell my brethren. And you go tell them we're one.
You said, I've not yet said to my father and your father. He
said, my father and your father's one and the same. You know that's
right. We both have the same father.
And he says, my God and your God. We're so united with Christ
that his father is our father, his God is our God. We're one. We're one with him. And oh my. He said, I'm going
to ascend. Touch me not till I ascend. What
are you going to ascend to? Oh, I'm going to ascend back
to glory where I come from. Oh my. And then he told her in
verse 18, Mary Magdalene, he said, you go and tell my brethren
and say unto them, I'm going up. I'm going to leave here.
but it's not yet. And you go tell the disciples
that she has seen, Mary Magdalene came and she was so obedient. She did exactly what our Lord
said, go and tell. You know what she did? She went. Mary Magdalene came and told
the disciples that she has seen the Lord. I've seen the Lord.
You fellas didn't see him, but I've seen him. I've seen him.
And that he has spoken these things unto her. What a story
she had to tell. What good news she had for these
poor pitiful disciples. Huh? I've seen the Lord. And
this is the things that she's spoken unto me. Here's the things
he said to me. Oh my. When a soul is seeking
the Lord Jesus Christ, there's no obstacle will stop them. Nothing will. A garden won't
stop them. A grave won't stop them. Burdens
won't stop them. They're willing to do, willing
to be, willing to do anything until they close with Christ.
I believe that with all my heart. A seeking soul, I'm telling you
something, a seeking soul will not be satisfied with angels. They'll only be satisfied with
the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh my. Now look what it says
there in verse 19. Then the same day at evening,
Remember, she started before dark. She started early, and
it's still dark. Now it's in the evening. Being
the first day of the week, when the doors were shut, when the
disciples, listen to this, now were assembled for fear of the
Jews. Mary had done come and told them
she had seen the Lord. For fear of the Jews, and listen
to this, and our Lord came and stood in the mist, and this is
the first thing he said to them, peace be unto you. You felt scared to death? He
said, I want that. You got just peace. Just calm
down, you know. Let your heart be still. You
ain't got nothing to be afraid of. Huh? And look what happened. And when he had so said, he showed
unto them his hands and his side. Listen to this. Then were the
disciples glad. God made them glad when they
saw the Lord. Bless His Holy Name. That makes
me glad. That fills me with such joy to
see the Lord. Oh, to hear His voice, to see
His Word. The only place we're going to see is in His Word and
by faith. But oh my, I tell you that will
make you glad. How many times have you come
to a service and you just feel like, well, I just barely did
drag it here today. But when you leave, you feel
like you're walking on air. That's because you heard his
voice and you saw him. That's what happens when you
see him and hear his voice. Our Father, thank you for allowing
us to meet here today. Thank you for your precious,
precious, precious work. But thank you most of all for
our Lord Jesus Christ that he's appeared in our midst. And we've
seen him. We have seen him. And we have
heard his voice. Oh, we've heard his voice. Oh, you gave us such peace of
heart. And Lord, you fill us with such
joy. Fill our hearts. Oh, what you did for Mary, you've
done for us time and time and time and time and time and time
again. Oh, bless your name. Bless your
holy name. Lord, save your people in this
place for Christ's sake. And Lord, bless our time together
this afternoon as we go into these waters of baptism. We ask
for your blessings and mercy for Christ's sake. Amen. Brad,
you come up and lead a couple of hymns while we go change clothes.