Let's read from 1 Timothy. 1
Timothy 6. 1 Timothy 6. First Timothy 6, let as many
servants as are under the yoke count their own masters worthy
of all honor, that the name of God and his doctrines be not
blasphemed. And they that have believing
masters, let them not despise them because they are brethren,
but rather do them service because they are faithful and beloved
partakers of the benefit. These things teach and exhort.
If any man teach otherwise and consent not to wholesome words,
even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which
is according to godliness, he is proud, knowing nothing, but
doting about questions and strifes of words, whereof cometh envy,
strife, railings, evil surmisings, perverse disputings of men of
corrupt minds and destitute of the truth. Supposing that gain
is godliness, from such withdraw thyself. But godliness with contentment
is great gain. For you brought nothing into
this world and is certain that we can carry nothing out. And
having food and raiment, let us be therewith content. But
they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into
many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction
and perdition. For the love of money is the
root of all evil, which while some coveted after, they have
erred from the faith and pierced themselves through with many
sorrows. But thou, O man of God, Flee
these things and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith,
love, patience, meekness. Fight the good fight of faith,
lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called, and hast
professed a good profession before many witnesses. I give thee charge
in the sight of God, who quickeneth all things, and before Christ
Jesus, who before Pontius Pilate witnessed a good confession,
that thou keep this commandment without spot, unrebukable, until
the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, which in his times he
shall show, who is the blessed and only potentate, the King
of kings and Lord of lords, who only hath immortality dwelling
in the light, which no man can approach unto, whom no man hath
seen nor can see, to whom be honor and power everlasting. Amen. Charge them that are rich
in this world, that they be not high-minded, nor trust in uncertain
riches, but in the living God, who giveth us richly all things
to enjoy. that they do good, that they
be rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to communicate,
laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against the
time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life. O Timothy,
keep that which is committed to thy trust, avoiding profane
and vain babblings and oppositions of science falsely so-called.
which some professing have erred concerning the faith. Grace be
with thee. Amen. Our Lord, our God, our maker,
creator, giver and sustainer of life. In the name of your only begotten
son, the Lord Jesus himself, we bow before you with thankful
hearts. We thank you for this day you've
blessed us with, a day of worship, a day of joy
and peace. Lord, we thank you for this word
that we've just read, your holy word. We pray that we lay it
to heart. Lord, cause us to see your son
tonight, cause us to worship you in one mind, in one accord,
in spirit and in truth. Lord, we thank you for this gospel,
this gospel of grace. Surely and truly, we don't deserve
the least of your mercies. Lord, we pray that you cause
us to lay hold on eternal life, to obtain mercy, Lord, we pray for our families,
our friends, our neighbors. Pray for ourselves that you would
save us. Lord, cause us to give you the
praise and the honor and glory tonight to extol your name. Forgive
us of our sins. Keep us mindful of you. For we
ask these things in the name of your son, Jesus Christ, our
Lord. Amen. Hope your Bible's with me, if
you will, to John chapter 20. John chapter 20. Let's read verses 11 through 21. But Mary stood without at the
sepulcher weeping, And as she wept, she stooped down and looked
into the sepulcher, and seeth two angels in white sitting,
the one at the head and the other at the feet where the body of
Jesus had lain. 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. Jesus saith unto her, Woman,
why weepest thou? Whom seekest thou? 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. And our Lord said unto her, Mary, She turned herself
and saith unto him, Rabboni, which is to say, Master. Jesus saith unto her, touch me
not, for I'm not yet ascended to my father. But go to my brethren,
say unto them, I ascend unto my father and your father, to
my God and your God. Mary Magdalene came and told
the disciples that she had seen the Lord and that he had spoken
these things to her. Then the same day, that evening
being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where
the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in the midst
and saith unto them, peace be unto you. And when he had so
said, he showed unto him his hands and his side. Then were
the disciples glad when they saw Jesus the Lord. Then said
Jesus to them, peace be unto you. As my father has sent me,
so send I you. It's a first appearing of our
Lord Jesus Christ to anybody after his resurrection. And there's several things about
this. I think it'd be interesting as
we look at it, but I'll tell you, uh, the first thing I want
us to look at is down in verse nine, where it says, for as yet,
they knew not the scriptures that he must rise again from
the dead. It's a sad commentary on human
nature, especially on believers, when they said, for as yet they
knew not, for as yet they knew not the scriptures. And there
really is now no excuse or reason for us not knowing the scriptures.
We all have Bibles and you can get Bible on cassette. I got
one on my phone and I could play it through my radio going down
the road. and come through the speaker.
So I mean, you can listen to the scriptures so many ways now,
so many obvious ways. But here it says, they knew not,
they knew not the scriptures. And we should want to. We who
are God's blessed people should want to and desire to know them,
know the scriptures because they testify of our Lord and Savior
Jesus Christ. They testify of Him, they speak
of Him. That's why Moses and Elijah appeared
with our Lord Jesus Christ to speak of what His death would
accomplish. Now our Lord had risen from the
dead and the tomb was empty. And all that was left in it was
his grave clothes. You read the first ten verses
and that's what happens. They run, they look in there,
Christ not in there, and they see his grave clothes laying
in there. And they all went back to the house. They all turned
around and went home. And now our Lord is to appear in his
person, in his person, in his resurrected body to his own. And I tell you, one thing he
didn't do, he didn't appear to them suddenly. He didn't appear
to them suddenly. He didn't appear to them all
at once. He appeared to them by degrees. He prepared their
minds gradually, according to their minds, according to their
temperaments. You know, like Thomas. Thomas
said, I'm not, you know, he was a doubting Thomas. He was doubtful.
He wasn't there. Then there was disciples on the
mass road. He walked with them for seven miles and they didn't
know he was the Lord Jesus Christ until he revealed himself to
them. And then when he entered into the chamber with them, he
didn't appear to them all at one time. It says in fact he
first appeared to Mary and then Simon Peter and then to all the
other disciples and then above 500 brethren, which many are
alive unto this day. But he appeared to him not all
at once, and this is his first appearing after his resurrection. And who was the first one he
appeared to? Who was the very first one that our Lord Jesus
Christ revealed himself to and made himself known to? It wasn't
the 11. It wasn't Peter, James, and John,
the ones that were the inner circle everywhere he went. Peter,
James, and John went with him. In fact, they were the ones that
went with him into the garden and he told them, he says, can't
you watch just one hour? It wasn't the 11, it wasn't John,
that disciple whom Jesus loved, who received this glorious honor
of being the first to look upon the Lord Jesus Christ after his
resurrection. It was a woman. It was a woman. And you know there's something
about this woman that made her different from any other person
in the scripture. This woman was the one that our
Lord cast out seven devils out of her. Seven devils. Seven devils. We can't imagine
how, what kind of woman she was. We just can't imagine. And she's
the one who sat at his feet and washed him with her tears and
wiped him with the hairs of her head. This is Mary. This is Mary. And he revealed
himself, first of all, as the Son of God. Look down in verse
17. And this woman that he revealed
himself, he revealed himself to as God's Son. Jesus saith
unto her, touch me not, for I'm not yet ascended to my Father.
To my Father, your Father, my God, your God. So he revealed
himself as the Son of God. Now here's Mary's condition.
Here's the condition she's in. The state of mind, she said.
All the disciples, it said in verse 10, then the disciples
went away again unto their own home. They come there, the tomb
was empty. They came there, wasn't nothing
going on. Grave clothes left in the tomb. And they looked
on in there and looked around and looked around. There wasn't
nobody there. So they thought, boy, this is over. This is it. So they all went back to the
house. Mary didn't go. Mary stayed. She stayed. She stayed at the grave of our
Lord Jesus Christ. And this is the one where our
Lord said, To whom much is forgiven loveth much. And she was forgiven
of very much and she loved much. And look what it says in verse
11. She stood without at the sepulcher. That means at the
grave. She stood without at the grave.
Weeping. Oh my. She is desolate. Her heart is sorrowful. Her heart
is heavy. She is grieving over the Lord
Jesus Christ. She's grieving over his death.
She's grieving because his body is not there. And so she's standing
there weeping because the tomb was empty. But she should have
been rejoicing and had a great rejoicing because if he had still
been in the tomb, If he had still been in the tomb, if they had
went to that grave and our Lord Jesus' body was still laying
there, then I tell you what, then we have reason to weep,
all of us do, because His promise had failed that He would be buried
and that He would die and that He would rise again from the
dead on the third day. His death on the cross had been
in vain and we would still yet be in our sins. And she was standing
outside that grave and instead of rejoicing, she was weeping.
grieving over our Lord Jesus Christ. And she wept because
she loved Him. That's why she was weeping. She
loved the Lord Jesus Christ. She wanted to see the Lord Jesus
Christ. She would take Him under any
circumstances she could get in. But it also revealed her unbelief
that she stood weeping after He had told her that He would
rise again from the dead. And she wept because she loved. And as she wept, look what it
says, she stooped down, she stooped down and looked into
the sepulchre, looked into the grave. She stooped down, looked
into the grave. What it was, they had a rock,
they had rocks there, and they hewed out graves in those rocks. And they put our Lord in there
on the ground, And they put a stone over it, and our Lord was laying
in there in this bewn out grave, and they laid Him in there. And
she stooped down and she looked in there, and what her problem
was, she was walking by sight instead of faith. She was moved
by her flesh instead of the Spirit of God. And when she stooped
down, what that tells us with, she is occupied with things below.
And no, it's when she instead of lifting up her eyes and looking
under the Lord to the hills from which she comes, she looked down
and looked into the sepulcher. Let me show you something. You
know, when we're not occupied with our Lord Jesus Christ, look
with me in Luke 21, 26. And this is, and especially those
of us that have an interest in economy and politics and those
kinds of things, and she was occupied With things below, she
was walking by sight instead of faith, moved by the flesh
instead of the spirit. And look what he said here in
Luke 21, 26. Men's hearts failing them for
fear and for looking after those things which are coming on the
earth for the powers of heaven shall be shaken. When we take
a morbid interest in the things of this world in such a way that
we feel like it has such a great effect on our lives, and it's
gonna move our lives in such a dramatic way, and we just take
such an interest in them, after a while, we get our eyes off
the Lord Jesus Christ, we're walking by sight, we're not walking
by faith, we're walking according to the flesh. And I do know this,
whatever happens in this world, God's will's gonna be done. God,
he raises up, every man in this world is a pot, is clay. Every soul in this world is clay. That's what the scripture says,
and the Lord is the potter. And he takes the clay, and he
puts it on the wheel, and he shapes that thing, some he makes
vessels under honor, makes great vessels under honor. And just
like in the tabernacle, they had lots of vessels in the tabernacle,
some made out of gold, some made out of silver, some made out
of wood, some made out of brass. And thy Lord has lots of vessels,
and He makes all these vessels. He's the potter, and He makes
some unto honor and some unto dishonor. And I know this, beloved,
that God's the potter. And He can do anything He will
in this world, and if I could just keep my eyes there on Him
and His will and His power and His glory and say, ìWhatever
you do in this world, oh Lord God, it will be alright with
me, no matter what it costs me, no matter what it costs my family.î Is that not right? And that's
why she wept and she stooped down. So when we have this occupation
with the world and the more we're occupied with this flesh and
the evil around us, the more our hearts will fail. Now back
over here in John 20. Look what she saw. She stooped
down and look what she saw. She looked into the sepulcher. And look what she saw while she
was looking into that grave, looking into that tomb. She saw two angels. And these angels were sitting.
This is the only place in the scriptures where angels sit.
Every place else they're laboring. Every place else they're going.
Every place else they're speaking. Every place else they're appearing
to sit. And this time they're sitting. One up here at the top
where they laid the Lord Jesus Christ's head. One down here
at the foot with our Lord Jesus Christ. They're sitting down. And they had to be sitting on
the ground. Or maybe there's rocks in there, I don't know,
but they were sitting down. And she looked there and there
was two angels sitting and look what it says. One sitting at
the head and the other at the feet where the body of Jesus
had lain. She looked there and said, what?
Two angels. Two messengers from heaven. What
are they doing there? To reassure Mary. to give some
strength and comfort and encouragement to Mary. And the only other person
that sits in the scripture, and that's other than angels, our
Lord Jesus Christ sits at the right hand of God. And the only
time he stood up was to welcome Stephen, the first martyr of
the New Testament, as he went into glory as they beat him to
death. And he said, Lord Jesus, Forgive them, they don't know
what they do. Said exactly what our Lord said. And our Lord stood
up and welcomed him as the forerunner into glory. And all beloved,
and I tell you now, and we sit, we're not angels by no stretch,
but we sit in our Lord Jesus Christ. We rest in him. We're
seated together in heavenly places in him. And because we do that,
and the empty grave is proof that he's sitting at the right
hand of God. And that we're seated with him there. And we rest in
him. And I'll tell you something about
these angels. I don't believe when they got there, they argued
about where one of them's going to sit. Oh, listen, I won't sit
at the head. No, no, no, no. I don't want
to sit at the foot. No. Old John Newton said this,
if there was two angels that God sent to earth, one of them
to sit on the throne, the other to sweep the streets. He said
it wouldn't make a bit of difference which one of them done it. Wouldn't
make any difference to either one of them. Just the fact that
the Father sent them, that God sent them to do it, it made any
difference to them. Whether they swept the streets
or whether they sat on a throne. And oh my, and that's the way
they were. The angels, one was at the feet,
was as content as one at the head. There was no striving over
to position between these two angels. And then they asked her
a question. They began to speak. These men
could speak. These angels could speak. And they say unto her,
Woman, why weepest thou? Why are you
crying? Why are you crying? Do you have
a reason for these tears coming out of your eyes? Do you have
a reason that you're crying? A reason that you're weeping?
And you know the words to our disciples at the Lord Jesus Christ's
ascension. As the same thing the angels
asked the disciples, why stands ye gazing up into heaven? And
these angels said here, why are you weeping? Why are you weeping? Why are you crying? Why are you
so troubled? And her answer was this, because
they've taken away my Lord and I know not where they've laid
him. Somebody's come and taken him away. She said, taking, you
know, taking away the Lord. No, that's not what she said.
Here she says, taking away my Lord. He's my Lord. The Lord is my shepherd. And that's what she says is they've
taken away my Lord. He's my savior. He's my redeemer. He's my Lord. And oh, beloved,
and that's why the psalmist said this, my beloved is mine and
I am his. This is the one that Mary said,
oh, this is the one who loved me. This is the one who cleansed
me. This is the one who met all the needs of my heart. This is
the one who made me, saved me by his grace and washed me in
his blood and made me understand and let me sit at his feet, spoke
to me, cared for me. Oh, and look what it says next
what she did. And when she had thus said that
they have taken away my Lord, she wasn't interested in these
angels. I'm gonna tell you something. She never had a conversation
with these angels. They asked her. She just replied to the
question they asked her. Them angels didn't impress her.
Those angels never moved her. Look what she said. And when
she had thus said, she turned around and started back. She
turned around and was gonna walk away from the tomb. It said it
didn't say what it says. Yes, she stood and turned herself
back. She turned around like this there.
And that was the Lord Jesus standing there. She turned around from
the tomb and was walking away. And look what it says. And turned
herself back and saw Jesus standing. And here's another one of them
and knew not. I thought it was Jesus. Oh, my. Oh, my. Her love for a master is about
to reap a rich, rich and blessed reward. Oh, she was the first
to see him, the first to hear his voice. And why was our Savior
standing here beside his own grave? You know, he's standing
here at his own grave. He's standing outside his own
tomb. Standing outside his grave. Huh? Oh my, why did he do that? Look what he says here. Woman, why weepest thou? Woman,
why do you weep? Why do you weep? Why are you
crying? Why are you crying? Why are you crying so? And why
was he there outside this grave? He has a soul whom he loved. And this soul needs needing comfort. He come here to dry her eyes,
comfort her heart, heal her soul, and to meet the needs of a broken,
broken heart. And she saw Jesus standing and
knew not. Why? It said over in Luke 24
when those disciples on the Emmaus road, their eyes were holed in
that they could not see Jesus. And she saw Him standing there.
Why? And I'll tell you why she didn't know who he was. And this
is something which is very important for us to understand. It's because
our Lord would never, ever be known again after the flesh.
There'd be no earthly relationship with the man, the Lord Jesus
Christ, again on this earth. There'd be no more physical touching
after this. This becomes a strictly spiritual
relationship. Those fellas could touch him,
lean on his breast, Mary could cry on his feet, dry his feet
with her hair. She could stand there and weep
at his tomb. And now, beloved, he's gonna only be known, not
after the flesh, but only by revelation. And here's the keeping
of that blessed promise. I'll never leave you and I'll
never forsake you. Look what happens now. And our
Lord, he called her woman, just like the angels did. He says
unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? Why are you crying? Ask her the same question. Why
are you crying? And she's supposing him to be
the gardener, one that worked in that garden, tended the graves,
I guess. And she said, sir, if you took
him out of the grave and you took him somewhere and laid him,
tell me where you've laid him. I'll go and get him and I'll
take him. I want him so, I want him so that I'll take him anywhere. I'd take him in a body if that's
all I could get. And that's what she said. She
said, tell me where and I'll take him away. Now what? What's
what happens now? Our Lord Jesus fixed to call
one of his sheep by name. He says, Mary, Mary, oh my. She turned herself and saith,
oh rabbi, oh master, master, master. She recognized him. When
he spoke, my sheep hear my voice, and I know them. Oh, just one
word, just one word. Turns this woman, dries her tears
and turns her to be a worshiper of the Lord Jesus Christ and
causes her to be just rejoicing so and so thankful. Oh, the power
of his word, just speaking the name, just hearing his voice
and just knowing that that's who it is that's speaking to
her. That was enough for her. And oh my. And oh, master, master. And so evidently she's fixing
to fall at his feet. She's fixing to embrace him or
something. And he stands back and says, don't touch me. Don't
touch me. Don't touch me now. And this
telling us there's a new relationship. It's a spiritual sight, not only
by revelation. No touching here, nothing physical
about it. Nothing to do with the flesh.
This is all spiritual now. This is a spiritual thing. This
is something now that you don't get touch him like they did before
he was resurrected. And she said, don't touch me.
I've not yet ascended to my father. And he said, I want you to go
tell my brethren something. I'm ascending to my father and
your father, to my God and your God. And I'll tell you something.
This is the first time he called his disciples brethren. He said,
go to my brethren. First time he called them brethren.
And she was the very, very first one to witness the resurrection
of our Lord Jesus Christ. And oh, listen, that's why I
said he's the firstborn among many brethren. There's going
to be a whole lot of brethren. He is the firstborn from the
dead, firstborn that came out by his own power. And look what
he told them to do. He said, go to my brethren, say
unto them, I sinned. unto my Father and your Father,
to my God and your God." We're one. We're together. The same
Father that sent me is your Father. The same God that I called on,
looked to, and obeyed while I was here, that's your God. And oh, look what happens. You
see, He's the forerunner. He went behind the veil as a
forerunner for us. And look what happens now. She
obeyed. In verse 18, Mary Magdalene came to and told the disciples
that she had seen the Lord. That's the first thing, I saw
the Lord. Oh my. Have you ever seen Him? I've seen Him. Look what she
goes on to say. and that he had spoken these
things unto her." She just told just exactly what our Lord told
them to say. She said, didn't say any more,
she said, she told the things that Christ had spoken unto her.
Spoken unto her. And then look what happens then.
Oh, we sometimes think we're so full of faith, but look what
happens here. These are apostles now. These are apostles. 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, see, afraid of the Jews, came Jesus and stood in the midst,
and saith unto them, Peace be unto you. Now they're in there
and behind the door, and our Lord Jesus, they're all gathered
around, sitting at tables, sitting down, doing whatever they's doing.
And all of a sudden, the Lord Jesus was right in the middle
of all of them. He just was there. They looked up and there was
somebody there who hadn't been there before. He didn't say, it's Jesus, let
me in. Hey fellas, I'm resurrected from
the dead, open the door and I'll come in. No, no, no, no. Doors don't keep out the Lord
Jesus Christ, the conqueror of death. the king of kings, the
one that made the worlds and upholds them by the word of his
power. He don't have to ask for admission. He don't have to beg. He don't, no, he didn't, he didn't
just peck on the door and say, now folks, I'm resurrected from
the dead. If you don't believe me, open the door and I'll show
you. No, he was just there. You know, sometimes he appears
in our midst like that. Just shows up. Sometimes you
don't. But when he does, that's a wonderful,
wonderful day. And he didn't say, when he got
in the midst of these fellas, in the midst of these brethren,
his brethren, he didn't say, well, shame on you. You're a
sorry bunch. You're the sorriest bunch I've
ever known. He didn't say, you all are so
ignorant. I told you, and I told you, and
I told you, and I told you, and you still didn't believe. No,
no. What's the first thing he says
unto them? Peace. Peace. Be quiet in your heart. Be still. Have peace in your
heart. Peace from God. Peace be unto
you. Huh? I know you're upset. I know you're
afraid. I know you're here because you're
afraid of the Jews and I know you didn't know, you didn't understand
I was going to resurrect again. And the first thing he said,
just peace be unto you. That's what you need right now.
You need peace. Peace from your fear, peace from
your anxiety, peace from your trouble, peace from your weary,
peace from what's going to happen in the future. You need peace.
And this is words from the Prince of Peace. And then look what
a blessed sight he gave them. And when he had so said, he showed
unto them his hands, then he showed them his side, and then
how do you think those fellows reacted? He says, then were the
disciples glad when they saw the Lord. Oh, Scott brought a whole message
here one time. Y'all may remember it years and
years and years and years ago. What would make you glad? And
he used that verse of scripture right there. What would make
you glad? And this says, these fellows saw, then were the disciples
glad when they saw the Lord. Here you see it's me, the marks
of my death, and I stand here before you alive. And beloved,
then were the disciples glad. And ain't that the way we are
when we see our Lord Jesus Christ? Aren't you glad? Aren't you glad
when Christ comes and reveals himself to you? Speaks to your
heart. Speaks to your fears. Speaks
to your anxieties. Speaks to your troubles. Oh,
what a wonderful Savior is Jesus our Lord. What a wonderful Savior
to me. Our Father, we thank you for
allowing us again to speak of you, blessed son. Lord, we, in
this flesh and this old body, with what we have to deal with
in our minds and our flesh, and Lord, we fail so miserably in
honoring you and bringing glory to you. But Lord, just because
we can't do it like we want to doesn't mean we're going to stop.
We're going to keep on talking about you, keep on honoring you,
keep on speaking of you, keep on trying to find you in your
word, keep on trying to be a blessing to your people, to build them
up in the most holy faith. Lord, thank you for this blessed,
blessed privilege to stand here and take the things of Christ
and speak about them, talk about them, to think about them. And Lord, I pray you continue
to bless, bring glory to yourself through this body of believers,
those who are sick and are not with us. Oh Lord, strengthen
them, touch their bodies, touch their spirits. And oh Lord, we
pray for those who are weak in faith that you strengthen their
faith. And oh Lord, we ask for your
help and your guidance and your strength and your love. to be
manifest in all our hearts for Christ's sake. Amen. Amen.