If you would, please be turning
to John 20. John 20. John 20, and I want to read verses
11 through 15. But Mary stood without at the
sepulcher, weeping. And as she wept, she stooped
down and looked into the sepulcher, and seeeth 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? And I'm gonna stop right there
for right now. The account we read here is given
in what they call the Synoptic Gospels, Matthew, Mark, and Luke,
as well as here in John. But this is a glorious account
that shows us the power of God raising Jesus Christ from the
dead. There were very few people, I
gather from reading these accounts, who witnessed this, that as far
as we know, were not believers. Most of them were believers that
seen this happen. There was those guards who fell
down and played dead, so to speak, in Matthew 28 forward. We also
know there were some of the Jews who hated Christ, that knew of
his raising, and they paid off the soldiers so that they would
lie about what really took place. This they did. They wanted to
keep their deeds covered in darkness so no one knew what they had
done. We read in this account, if you read all the passages
that give this account, we see fear and great joy. We see trembling
and amazement. We see mourning and weeping.
We see astonishment and holding eyes. We see slow hearts to believe
but burning hearts within. We see unbelief and hardness
of heart. We see terror and wonderment.
We see doubting. All of this being believers. I want to be clear, I did not
say this was believing, but all this was done by believers. What
do you know about God? What do I know about God? I know
some have said things like a believer would not do that. I've heard
men say that, but you know what else? I've said that myself,
about myself. How presumptuous is that of me?
I am a believer. I believe Jesus Christ. But I
can do anything that any other fallen son or daughter of Adam
would do. If I don't, the only reason I
don't is because God keeps me from it. We see quite a few different
people here involved. Mary Magdalene Jo, Mary the mother
of James and John, you have Peter, Cleopas, Thomas, Ordidamus, John,
11 apostles, and several others. I think in 1 Corinthians 15,
Paul says, Christ was seen above 500 of the brethren at once. There are those whom Christ causes
to search him out. They love the Lord. They know
he is their only hope. But all they can see is what
is right in front of them. Their hope was in Christ, but
all they know is this Jesus whom they loved died. And now he was
no longer there in the grave. He's gone. So let's look at a
few things here from this account. These three things. Let's look
at some of the things that believers do. I'll spend most of my time
here. Briefly look at the cause of
them doing these things. And last of all, the intended
end of all these things happening. Things that believers do. As
I said, we see fear in these passages. We see fear and great
joy and all these things. One example we have is Peter. Peter, as we know from testimony
of scripture, denied our Lord three times. Yet our Lord told
him that he would do this. He told Peter that he prayed
for him that his faith fail not. And his faith did not fail. How
do I know this? Christ prayed for it. So Peter
was a believer. A believer is one who has faith.
Is that not so? We know he had faith, but it
was not some faith he worked up himself. It was the faith
of Jesus Christ, that faith that we see here in this passage,
the result of Jesus Christ's faith that is being raised from
the dead. His faith did not fail, so Peter's
faith did not fail because this is the faith Peter had. Peter
is the same one that told Christ when he asked, when Christ asked
him, who does everybody else say that I am? And Peter said,
thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. Christ told
him, flesh and blood hath not revealed this to him, but the
Father from heaven, in Matthew 16, in verses 15 through 17. He saith unto him, but whom say
ye that I am? And Simon Peter answered and
said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus
answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona, for
flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which
is in heaven. Just after this, Christ tells
Peter he is going to die on the cross at the hand of the Pharisees,
and Peter tells him, Not so, Lord, be it far from thee. What
does our Lord tell him? Matthew 16, beginning in verse
21. From that time forth began Jesus
to show unto his disciples how that he must go unto Jerusalem
and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and
scribes, and be killed and be raised again the third day. Then
Peter took him and began to rebuke him, saying, Be it far from thee,
Lord, this shall not be unto thee. But he turned and said
unto Peter, get thee behind me Satan, thou art an offense unto
me, for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those
that be of me. Then it was this same Peter who
was willing to die for our Lord, we read. Christ told him that
he would deny him three times. Matthew 26 and verse 31. Then
saith Jesus unto them, all ye shall be offended because of
me this night. For it is written, I will smite
the shepherd and the sheep of the flock shall be scattered
abroad. But after I am risen again, I
will go before you into Galilee. Peter answered and said unto
him, though all men shall be offended because of thee, yet
will I never be offended. Jesus said unto him, verily I
say unto thee, that this night before the cock crow thou shalt
deny me thrice. We read in Luke that it was this
account where our Lord told him that Satan desired him to sift
him as wheat. in Luke 22 and verse 31. And
the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to
have you that he may sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for
thee that thy faith fail not. And when thou art converted,
strengthen thy brethren. And he said unto him, Lord, I
am ready to go with thee, both into prison and to death. And he said, I tell thee, Peter,
the cock shall not crow this day before that thou shalt, that
Christ deny that thou knowest me. This Peter who went out and
wept bitterly after Christ looked at him after the cock crew, you
would think by this time Peter would be one that would believe,
right? Certainly Peter has learned his
lesson to not be unbelieving as it concerns Jesus Christ.
But what do we read of Peter? And if you read one of the accounts,
the angel specifically mentioned to tell Peter of Jesus' resurrection. But he was one of those who did
not believe when those who were telling them that he was alive.
It says, Jesus Christ himself appeared unto the eleven in Mark
16 verse 14. It says, afterward he appeared
unto the eleven as they sat at meat and upbraided them. with their unbelief and hardness
of heart, because they believed not them which had seen him after
he was risen." Would a believer do this? Would he not believe
what Christ had already told him previously that had come
to pass? Why would it be so hard for them
to believe? We read in verses 24 and 25 of
our text that Thomas defiantly did not believe. He said, unless
I see the print of the nails in his hands and touch them and
put my hand in his side, I will not believe. A believer would
not do this. These are apostles and disciples,
those who follow Jesus Christ. We then have the two disciples
on the road to Emmaus, who had Jesus Christ standing and talking
to them right in front of them, walking with them for some time.
They did not believe Jesus Christ. Not then, and they were also
a part of that group who were gathered and were told of being
seen of other believers, and they did not believe. They were
a part of that group that our Lord rebuked for unbelief and
hardness of heart. It says in one of the accounts
that the words of the women seem to be as idle tales to them and
they believe not. These were believers who were
not believing. To say that a believer will not
do this and not do that is to condemn us all, really. Because
not only can we do these things, but we do. We do do these things
from time to time. We must all be as the father
of a child who had a dumb spirit in him when Christ told him,
in Mark 9, 23, Jesus said unto him, if thou canst believe, all
things are possible to him that believeth. The man then responded
in 24, and straightway the father of the child cried out and said
with tears, Lord, I believe, help thou mine unbelief. Without
Jesus Christ helping our unbelief, we will be consumed with unbelief. There is another account that
I want to look at for a moment that men have said this kind
of thing about. A believer would not do that.
If you would turn with me to Acts chapter 10. Acts chapter
10. Acts chapter 10 and verse 25. Verses 10 and verse 25, I mean. And as Peter was coming in, Cornelius
met him and fell down at his feet and worshiped him. It has been said by some that
Cornelius in Acts 10 was one who was performing self-righteous
acts like unbelievers, or those who have no spiritual life. Their
proof they try to use is because of what is found in Acts 10 and
25, because he bowed down to Peter. We read in scripture that
God heareth the prayer of the righteous. In Proverbs 15, 29,
we read, the Lord is far from the wicked, but he heareth the
prayer of the righteous. We are certainly not righteous
in and of ourselves. We also know that even our righteousnesses
are as filthy rags in God's sight. We are only righteous in Jesus
Christ and we are made to be righteous by God when he creates
us a new creature in Christ. Yet we read in Acts 10, first
of all, that Cornelius feared God. Again, it was said that
this was not a godly fear, but just a fear that any fallen sinful
man would have. But we see that same word, fear,
used in many places. But it is used in a couple that
I wanna mention. In Revelations 19 it says, and
a voice came out of the throne saying, praise our God, all ye
his servants, and ye that fear him, both small and great. And then it also says in Acts
10 in verse two, about talking about Cornelius. a devout man,
and one that feared God with all his house, which gave much
alms to the people, and prayed to God always." Again, it has
been said that this was works of his own righteousness. Those
done in pride that he was doing something for God. But yet we
read that Cornelius' alms and prayers went up before God, a
memorial before God. Yes, sir. And when we looked
on him, he was afraid and said, what is it, Lord? And he said
unto him, thy prayers and thine alms are come up for a memorial
before God. And again in verse 31 it says
of Acts 10, and said, Cornelius, thy prayer is heard and thy alms
are had in remembrance in the sight of God. Was Cornelius's
filthy rags coming up before God as a memorial? Was God hearing
prayers of a wicked man? Was God accepting Cornelius's
works of prayers and alms of his own filthy rag deeds? These works Cornelius did were
of God because God ordained them. It is clear about what those
two verses say. Cornelius was one that had been
given life from God, who had fear before him, and God was
sending him the gospel. Did Cornelius know Christ? No,
he did not. Not yet, because he had not been
told. But he had life, because no man fears God like this, that
God has not done something for him. It was also said that this
was provenient grace, or that is, grace before grace. A preparatory
grace, if you will, to get him ready for real grace. I suppose
that's what it was meant. There is only one grace, and
any grace shown by God is a salvific grace, if that's a word. There
are not two or three graces, there is only one grace. There
is not saving grace and dying grace. There is not traveling
grace and resting grace. There is just grace. There may
be more grace given, but it is the same grace. The grace you
have when you die is the same grace you have when you live
or else it is not grace at all. We know Cornelius had life because
of what the scripture says to us in this passage. God tells
Peter in the vision that he had cleansed Cornelius. It has also
been said that this was talking about Jesus Christ cleansed us
on that tree. It certainly includes that because
we would never be clean without our Lord doing this for us. But
this is not what this is talking about specifically. This is specifically
talking about what God has done to an individual because that
is the complete context of Acts 10. Just as Christ does with
every believer, he cleanses them when he is ready to begin that
work of grace upon them. Matthew 8, verses two and three
we read. And behold, there came a leper
and worshiped him, saying, Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make
me clean. And Jesus put forth his hand
and touched him, saying, I will, be thou clean. and immediately
his leprosy was cleansed. So there is a cleansing that
Jesus Christ does for his people in time so that they might know
him. So would a believer do that?
That is, bow down to another believer to worship them? Yes,
they would, especially if they have not heard the gospel of
Jesus Christ before. Was him bowing down to Cornelius
believing? No, it was total unbelief. But
I want to be clear, we are not believers because we believe.
We believe because we are believers. Just as we are not sinners because
we sin, we sin because we are sinners. Scripture says this and this
is what we believe. Now the scripture also says this
in 1 Corinthians 1 21, very familiar. For after that in the wisdom
of God, the world by wisdom knew not God. It pleased God by the
foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. Was Cornelius
saved when he was doing alms? Was he saved when he was bowing
down to Peter? Not in this sense, not in the
sense of 1 Corinthians 1.21, not yet. He had not heard the
gospel yet, so he was not saved in his conscience. Are we saved
from the wrath of God by believing? Is that what makes Christ's death
effectual? Or does what he did on that tree
and then raising from the grave make what we read in Acts 10
possible? It is cause and effect. God does
things his way and what he tells us in his word of how he accomplishes
this is this. 2 Thessalonians 2 and verse 13. But we are bound to give thanks
always to God for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because
God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation. How? Through sanctification of the
spirit. That is the cleansing we see
here in Acts 10 before Cornelius hears the gospel. And what else? and belief of the truth. That
is him sending Peter to that one he has cleansed, as he told
Peter, so that they would hear and believe. So just what exactly
will a believer do? We have just seen a bunch of
examples of what believers will do. There are numerous other
examples in scriptures as to what believers will do. David,
Noah, Lot, and others. Now just to be clear, I'm not
talking about what believers will believe. What believers
believe is the truth of God when he opens their understanding.
Faith believes God. Scripture says God does not hear
the prayers of sinners. So who does he hear? Those for
whom he has done something for. Those for whom he has cleansed. Those whom he will send the gospel
and open their understanding. Some have also said that Cornelius
was a proselyte, as this being some kind of indication this
would make him void of life before God. Although it never says he
was a proselyte, so there is no need for me to speculate on
that. If it does not say it, then I will not say it. But be
that as it may, just for argument's sake, let's say he was a proselyte.
Reasoning from Scripture, being a proselyte makes no difference
one way or the other. Let's read some passages. Matthew
23 and verse 15 says, Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites,
for ye can pass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when
he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves. There is a proselyte that it
doesn't sound too good to be one, does it? But let's read
Acts 6, starting in verse 3. Wherefore, brethren, look ye
out among you seven men of honest report, full of the Holy Ghost
and wisdom, who we may appoint over this business. But we will
give ourselves continually to prayer and to the ministry of
the word. And the saying pleased the whole multitude, and they
chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Ghost,
and Philip, and Prochorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Promenius,
and Nicholas, a proselyte of Antioch, whom they set before
the apostles. And when they had prayed, they
laid their hands on them. Being a proselyte here sounds
like it might not be too bad of a thing in this case. So what's
my point? Since by these two verses we
see that being a proselyte makes no difference between people,
there has to be something else that makes the difference. There
is, and that difference is God in the face of Jesus Christ the
Lord. Whether someone is a proselyte
or not does not keep them from having favor before God, nor
does it produce favor before God. God produces favor before
himself in Jesus Christ alone. Christ has done something for
these people. This is the cause of them doing
this. Had he not, there was life in these believers, but yet they
did all these things. They believed not, even though
Christ was standing right in front of their face. Does that
not strike you as odd? Let's be honest, what do we think?
I would not have been like that. If that was Christ standing in
front of me, I would have told all them, don't you see him?
But God will let us know just what we will do. No matter how
long we have been a believer, whether it's before we have heard
the gospel and have actually believed or not, Does that surprise
you that I say that? Are we believers because we believe?
Or do we believe because we are believers? The thing about believers
is they must have something to believe. A believer will not
believe unless he has something that is believable. Believers,
by faith, that God-given faith of Jesus Christ, believe his
word. Until they hear that word, they
have nothing to believe. But that does not mean they are
not a believer. God works things out according
to the counsel of his own will. He gives life. Even when he has
something believable, he may not believe because of this flesh.
But also think of this. If God does not open your understanding
and has hold in your eyes so that you cannot see, you will
not believe. The power and the excellency
is all of him. He is in control of all of it
and it is all being worked out by him. That is why believers
do what they do. It is the purpose of God that
they do them. It will bring them low so that
they have no hope. All hope is lost until God brings
what was intended by all these things. So what is the intended
end of all these things? Our Lord is very personal with
us. Each one of his elect are precious
in his eyes. Do you believe that? Jesus Christ
comes to each of his personally to reveal himself to them. Our
Lord is very intimate with us. He bore our sins in his own body
on the tree. He knows us quite well. This
is the very reason why he came into this world. You know those
things that you have done that no one else knows about, at least
you hope so, other than God himself? Or what about those sins you
do not know about that are filthy rags in God's sight? I will confess
this before you all. I have them both. Both secret
sins I do not know about, and those sins I hope no one else
ever finds out about. I also have those sins that others
do know about as well. When it comes to sin, I am quite
diverse. I pray that not only were they
taken so far that God will not see them, I hope he is pleased
that no one else will see them either. Are you a Peter? What does our Lord do? He makes
sure, first of all, that Peter is told, it says in Mark 16 and
7. But he then purposes that he
should meet Peter on the shore, the one whom he told, when thou
art converted, feed my sheep. This same one who was built up
by Christ, that he encouraged when he said that Jesus was the
Christ, you know, Christ encouraged him. That same one who he told
to get behind him, Satan. That same one who said to Peter,
although Peter was willing to die for him, that he would deny
him three times. He met him to do what? Ask Peter
if he loved him. Christ did this three times.
So to remind him of what had happened, no doubt. What do you
think was in Peter's mind? How could I be a believer and
do that? What does our Lord cause him
to say? Lord, thou knowest all things. Thou knowest that I love
thee. God help me to come to this place.
He brings us to this place where we are weak. We have no power
of ourselves and it forces us to look to Him. When we are weak,
then we are strong. Why? Because God comes to be
all in our life. His power is made perfect through
weakness is what the scripture says. What does that really mean?
It means we are weak and we have no other place to run. That His
strength completes us. It is God Almighty in the face
of Jesus Christ that becomes all to us. I mean to us, not
to God. God does not need anything. We
do, and this is salvation when this comes. What else? We have some more examples, but
I will mention one more. Mary Magdalene. I do not know
much more about this woman from Scripture other than she had
seven devils, as Joe read a minute ago at one time, and Christ cast
them out. But it also says, as Joe read,
that the woman ministered unto him, that's Christ, and some
of the others that were with her. They gave of their sustenance,
of things that they had. That means they gave Christ what
they had to help him as he went alone. I figured from this they
followed Christ and helped him out. Just think about that a
minute. This woman loved Jesus Christ. This is one who Christ did something
for previously and she followed our Lord. She helped our Lord
as he traveled alone. She did this by his power and
grace. Maybe you have a better way to
say it, but she waited upon our Lord when he needed something,
she did for him. She loved the Lord Jesus Christ.
She was coming to the grave to anoint the Lord's body with ointment. She seen two angels in her text,
and then once Mary asked why she wept, she gave them an answer. She began to turn around toward
the Lord. And in John 20, in verse 14,
we read, 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? Christ meant
to come face to face with one of his to make her confess and
to know that one. whom he knew she was seeking. She, supposing him to be the
gardener, saith, Undo him. Sir, if thou have borne him hence,
tell me where thou hast laid him, and I will take him away.
She still did not know him. She evidently turned back around
again. So what happens next? John 20
and verse 16. Jesus saith unto her, He calls her by name. This is
that time of love in which those who are His hear His voice and
they follow Him. What does it say next? She turned
herself and saith unto Him, Rabbani, which is to say, Master. When Christ makes Himself known
to us by calling us by name, He then will bring us the gospel
and tell us the truth about what it is that He has done. This
causes his to fall and worship at his feet in Matthew 28 9 of
this account. And as they went to tell his
disciples, behold, Jesus met them saying, all hail. And they
came and held him by the feet and worshiped him. When Jesus
Christ is revealed to you, it will cause you to submit, to
bow down at his feet. Once Christ is made known to
one of his believers, there will be worship, and praising, blessing,
and joy. When Jesus Christ reveals himself
living, a risen Lord from the grave to a sinner, a believer
saved by grace, it will cause worship to God. There's no effort
for you to exert. The stone's already rolled away.
He is risen. All that is left is for you to
believe. We can see in Scripture his hands and his feet, the print
of the nails in his hands and his feet. We know this because
Scripture tells us they are there. We can see his side where the
sword was raised against the man that is my fellow because
Scripture tells us it was. Christ says to Thomas, blessed
are they that have not seen me, that is Christ. Christ is saying
that they have not seen him physically and yet they believe. Jesus Christ
in his own time will come to you in his word and by his spirit
if you are one of his and he will open your understanding
and you will believe. So what do believers do? They
believe. They do a great many other things
in their flesh. But one thing intended by God
for a believer to do by his power and that is to believe him. Are you seeking? If so, who are
you seeking? Amen. Our sovereign, holy, righteous
God, thank you for all things that you've done in Christ to
make us righteous in your Son, clothed with his righteousness.
Cause us to see him constantly, dear Lord. It is a comfort to
see Christ. Allow us to see him. All these
things we ask in Christ's name, amen.