Let's read together Mark chapter 16 verses 1 through 8. Mark 16 verse 1. When the Sabbath was passed, Mary Magdalene and Mary, the mother of James and Salome, had bought sweet spices that they might come and anoint him. And very early in the morning, the first day of the week, they came unto the sepulcher at the rising of the sun. And they said among themselves, Who shall roll us away the stone from the door of the sepulcher? And when they looked, they saw that the stone was rolled away, for it was very great. And entering into the sepulcher, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, clothed in a long white garment, and they were affrighted.

And he said unto them, Be not afraid, don't be afraid. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, which was crucified. He is risen. He is not here. Behold the place where they laid him. But go your way, tell his disciples and Peter that he goeth before you into Galilee. There shall you see him as he said unto you. They went out quickly and fled from the sepulcher, for they trembled and were amazed. Neither said they anything to any man, for they were afraid.

Now this paragraph of scripture is just bursting with rich gospel truth and practical, practical lessons So let's forego any introductory comment and just hold your Bibles open on your laps and let me show you six or seven things plainly taught us in these verses of scripture. The first thing to be learned is what is stated in the opening sentence of the chapter.

The Sabbath is now past. The Sabbath is now past. I say that with all the emphasis that I can, and I have chosen to say it from this particular text of Scripture because I am convinced that is the intent of this opening sentence. And when the Sabbath was passed, but pastor, you surely know that it's talking about the end of the Jewish Sabbath so that on Saturday, when it was over at midnight, as it began to dawn towards Sunday, they're talking about these women coming to the tomb of the Lord Jesus on that first day of the week. I'm pretty much aware of that. I'm pretty much aware of that.

But I know that it was no accident that our Lord Jesus was crucified on Saturday, or on Friday, rather, and that he was buried in the tomb for three days and three nights and rose again on early Sunday morning, the first day of the week. And it was intended and is written in the scriptures to teach us specifically that the resurrection of Christ from the dead declares the Old Testament law of the Sabbath is now past and the day of grace has dawned in its fullness.

Turn back to Matthew 28. Matthew chapter 28 in verse 1. This is a very remarkable verse of scripture. Matthew's saying the very same thing Mark is, but he states it slightly more clearly. I wish every one of you could read this particular verse in its original language. Listen carefully.

I'll give you the sentence as Matthew gives it in our English translation, then I'll tell you exactly what he's saying. in the end of the Sabbath. Isn't that interesting? In the end of the Sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, quite literally, in the end of the Sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the Sabbath, the very same word is used, came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulcher. Now this is what the verse reads like, in the end of the Sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the Sabbath. And I take that to mean this, when the Lord Jesus Christ died at Calvary and rose again, the old Sabbath was ended forever, and the new Sabbath began.

We do not observe any legal Sabbath day, not Saturday, as the Jews and the Seventh-day Baptists and the Seventh-day Adventists and others do. Nor do we observe a Sunday Sabbath, as many Reformed folks would teach us we must do. We observe no legal Sabbath day in any sense whatsoever because the scriptures strictly forbid us from doing so.

I don't mean this is an optional thing. I don't mean you can observe this day if you want to. Some folks say, well, this falls under the category of what Paul says in Romans 14 about some observing a day to the Lord and others observing it not. No, we are now past that transitional period.

What the scriptures teach us is that we who worship God in Christ must not observe any legal ceremony of any kind. We must not. We must not. This is what Paul says, that no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holy day, or of a new moon, or of Sabbath days, which are a shadow of things to come, but the body is Christ. I would no more keep a Sabbath day than I would practice circumcision, sacrifice a Passover lamb, or go to a priest at an earthly altar and call it worshiping God.

We do not live under the law. Christ has redeemed us from the law. We are dead to the law by the body of Christ. The language of the New Testament is so crystal clear that error in this regard is inexcusable. This is what the word of God says. Christ is the end of the law. Christ is the end.

Folks keep telling me, but there's some sense in which we're under the law. There's some sense in which we just can't say that. I wish somebody would find me one place, anywhere in the New Testament, just one place, just one place, where any apostle of our Lord or our Lord himself commands any believer in this gospel age to live under the law. Well, but there's some sense. Find me the sense. No, sir.

We live by grace. We live under grace and by the Spirit of God being taught of grace, we seek to honor our God living in grace. We keep no legal Sabbath day for this reason. We rest in Christ. He's our Sabbath. Oh, if you could learn that. Oh, if folks could learn that. What a blessed, blessed, blessed day it would be. Christ is our Sabbath. We rest in Him. That's what the Sabbath was all about. That's what it was all about.

The Lord says the Sabbath wasn't made for, or man wasn't made for the Sabbath, Sabbath was made for man. It was made for your benefit, made for your good, made for your instruction. The Sabbath was a day when God required that no one do any work. by which he would get gain for himself, nor exercise any pleasure, by which he would labor in any degree for his own profit. Well, that kind of shows it up, doesn't it? What's a fellow supposed to do on Sabbath?

Nothing. Nothing. If you do, you're dead. That's the law. This is what God required, Merle, you break the Sabbath day, you go out and work on the Sabbath, God says kill him. God says kill him. How come? Because that Sabbath was not merely a day to observe. That Sabbath represented Christ our Savior and believers come to Him and pray. Quit working.

Now let me tell you something. If you go back to trying to pick up sticks, if you go back to trying to make your own way, If you go back to your circumcision, your works of righteousness by which you hope to gain acceptance, and God says, well, I'm going to worship Christ, I'm going to serve Christ, but I believe I've got to do this too just in case Christ didn't know. You're dead and God will kill you. God will kill you.

Well, preacher, are you saying then that we must rest in Christ alone? We must! And blessed be God, we get to. He's our Sabbath. We rest in Him. You can't rest in Him if you still try to keep a Sabbath day. And you cannot labor under the yoke of the law if you rest in Him.

Either you're working or you're resting. That's about as simple as it can get, isn't it? I believe I'm kind of working rested. No, no, either you're at rest and you quit working or you're working. That's all there is to it. Now, the believer is a man, a woman who sees the futility of working his way into God's favor and rests in Christ.

What's your hope? What's your hope? Don't answer me, Bob, answer yourself. Rex, what's your hope? What is it? What's your hope? I mean, be honest with yourself when you when you think, what's my hope before God? What's the first thing you say? Well, I, I trust Christ and. You missed it. I trust Christ, but you missed it. What's your hope? Christ. What about your feelings? They deceive me. What about your experiences? They can be a delusion. What about your works? My works aren't fit for God's acceptance. What about your good works? They're just stinking, filthy rags. Well, preacher, you mean Christ is all? Oh, that's it. That's it.

Your baptism doesn't mean anything? Not a thing, as far as acceptance with God concerned. Taking the Lord's table doesn't mean anything? Not a thing, as far as my salvation is concerned. You mean your faithfulness, your giving, your preaching, that doesn't mean anything? Oh, my soul, if you saw it like I see it, you'd know that my faithfulness is nothing. My giving is nothing. It amounts to nothing. Nothing. Just filthy rags. And I don't even see it like God does.

My only hope is Christ the Lord. Now, I've said all that because I want you to hear me now. Oh, God help you to hear me. You who are yet laboring under the load of guilt You who are yet without Christ, you who have not yet come to rest in Christ, come now to Jesus Christ and rest. Oh, God help you to come and rest. Right where you are, come to Christ and rest. He said, come unto me, all you that labor and are heavy laden, and I'll give you rest. He'll give you rest. How does he give you rest? You take your guilt away. How does he give you rest? He gives you righteousness. How does he give you rest? He quietens your conscience. How does he give you rest? He says, that's enough. I'm enough. You need no more. And then he says to you, my brothers and sisters, he said, take my yoke upon you.

Learn of me. going through some difficulty in God's providence, some trial, some heartache. It's the yoke of Christ, Lindsay. It's his yoke. And if we're his oxen, we're gonna walk in his yoke. Now, you can walk in his yoke kicking against the bricks, and we tend to, but you'll find rest when you stoop down and take the yoke.

Now, my father, your will is right and good. And it's what he says, when you take my yoke upon you and learn of me, you shall find rest unto your souls. He says, I'll give you rest, you come to me. And as you bow to me, continually bow to me, bow to me, bow to me, you'll find rest for yourself. There's no rest to be had. but believing on the Son of God and bowing to him as the Lord. Now then, here's the second thing.

There is no power in all the world like the power of love of Christ to make us bold and courageous. A mother's love will cause a timid little woman to throw herself violently in defense of her child against a huge man. A husband's love will cause a man to leap into death itself to protect his wife and family. Well did the wise men say, love is strong as death. Many waters cannot quench love, neither can the floods drown it. And yet our text sets before us a love that exceeds the love of a husband for his wife. It even exceeds the love of a mother for her child.

Here we see a band of three women, a small little band of three women, coming early in the morning before the break of day. They've left their home. And they're going now to a cemetery at the breaking of day to go to prepare themselves to minister to the body, the dead body of him whom they trusted and still trust as their Messiah, Redeemer, and Savior. They go to take care of one who had been just the day before publicly condemned as a malfactor, despised and rejected by the entire nation, one who was buried now in the tomb, and buried in that tomb with a sealed rock placed on the tomb, a huge rock placed there and sealed by the Roman governor with a Roman soldier, probably at least two Roman soldiers sitting beside the tomb. And they're going there to anoint his body. Where did they get such courage?

Look at the verses one and two. When the Sabbath was passed Mary Magdalene, you remember her? That old gal out of whom the Lord had cast seven devils. Probably the same one, I believe, that's described in Luke chapter seven. That one who was known as a harlot. That one, Simon the Pharisee said, when she came and anointed the Lord for his burying, he said, if this man were a prophet, he would know that woman was a sinner. Everybody else does. Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James and Salome.

They had already bought sweet spices and now they did this that they might come and anoint him. And very early in the morning, the first day of the week, they came to the sepulcher at the rising of the sun. What gave these women such courage, such boldness? I'll tell you what. They had tasted the Lord's pardon and mercy. They had their hearts filled with love for Him who died for them. They felt a great sense of gratitude to Him. They felt that they owed Him a great debt of love, a debt they could never pay. They believed the Lord and believing Him, they loved Him. For Christ, they were willing to hazard their lives. They were willing to do so not because the Lord commanded them to.

Nowhere in the scriptures is it written, the Lord said, now you come and knock my body. Nowhere is it written that the Lord commanded these women to come in the face of opposition, in the face of the Roman soldiers guarding the tomb, in the face of darkness to this tomb, and here do this. Oh no, no law required it. Nothing.

But it was required because of the law of love for him that ruled their hearts. I could almost picture them. These old gals got together and they said, girls, what can we do for the master now? What can we do? Don't know much to do. And one of them says, I'll tell you what we could do. We don't have time to get everything prepared now for his burying. Sabbath is breaking. It's coming on us. But I'll tell you what we could do. We could go down to the market and buy some spices. And just as soon as the Sabbath is over, we can go to the tomb and prepare his body properly, give him the best we can give him. All right, we'll do that. But don't you know how to set a Roman guard by his tomb? That's all I've got to take care of that. But don't you know the rock is by the tomb? Yeah. Maybe we can get in there and take care of his body.

And so they came to the Lord's tomb. I can't help but to ask, why do we see so little of this strong love for Christ today? Why do we meet so few today who are moved by such strong love for Christ that they're willing to hazard their lives for Him? So few who are willing to face any danger, make any sacrifice, and walk into raging storms and roaring fires for Christ's sake.

I know the answer. I know the answer. Those whose sins are many, having been forgiven, love much. But to whom little is forgiven, the same loves little. You see, when we have a low sense of sin, we're sure to have a low sense of grace. When we have a low sense of our debt, we'll always have a low sense of our duty. When we have a low sense of forgiveness, we'll have a low sense of love. Great sin forgiven by great grace through the blood of the great Savior causes forgiven sinners to love Christ. It is the love of Christ which constrains believers to serve Him and honor Him.

Men preach up law and duty and all of the silly stuff involved in religious nonsense. And I'm telling you, I'm telling you what I've told you so many times before. If the grace of God, if the love of God will not cause you to do that which law will cause you to do, you've never known God's grace. You've never experienced his love.

The love of Christ rules the believer in his giving and in his forgiving, in his worship and in his service, in his secret and in his public life. The love of Christ rules. Grace experienced causes gratitude to be exercised. Trusting the love of Christ makes people loyal to Christ. makes men and women faithful. A sure hope in Christ will cause you to live for the honor of Christ. You might have said, but Pastor, that just doesn't work. With the love of God's known, it does. With the grace of God's experience, it does. Oh, yeah. Look at this third thing, verse 3.

They said among themselves, Who shall roll away the stone from the door of the sepulchre? And when they looked, they saw that the stone was rolled away, for it was great. Here's the lesson. Most of our field, are needless fears. They're walking along the way, coming there with a great motive, to anoint the body of the Son of God. And as they come along, James, they start thinking about what they might meet with, what trouble they might face, what difficulties might lie in front of them. You know, we're good at inventing little things. We're wonderful at inventing trouble.

I'll tell you what I've experienced. Thus far in nearly 49 years, I cannot remember a single time that anything came to pass about which I paced the floor and tossed and turned in bed and anticipated it coming to pass. I can't remember a single time when I ever spent an hour worrying about what might happen that it actually happened. You see, we all have a terrible tendency to carry tomorrow's troubles as well as today's.

And our Lord said, don't do that. He said, sufficient to the day's trouble thereof. I've got enough trouble today, don't have to need to invent some for tomorrow. So don't take needless fears with you, but rather cast your care upon the Lord Jesus. How foolish our worrying, our fretting, our nail biting, our floor pacing is. It's utter unbelief.

The hymn writer said, be not dismayed, whate'er be tide, Beneath his wings of love abide, God will take care of you, and he will. Through days of toil when heart doth fail, when dangers fierce your path assail, God will take care of you. Here's a fourth lesson. The angels of God are all our friends.

In verses 5 and 6, entering into the sepulcher, they saw a young man sitting on the right hand, clothed in a long white garment, and they were afraid. And he said to them, be not afraid. When Mary Magdalene and her friends came into the tomb, they saw this man and were, I expect I'd have been kind of like him.

I was walking in a cemetery just at the crack of dawn, nobody around but just me and a couple other fellows, and I'm expecting to see the dead corpse of a man there. No matter how dearly I loved that man. And I walked into the tomb, stone cold. Curiosity just gets best of me. I stoop in there, I go in. And there's a man sitting there in long, white garments. And he speaks to me. I don't imagine I'd stayed long enough to hear the second grunt. They were frightened. He said, don't be afraid. Don't be afraid. You see, the angels of God, now this may seem insignificant to you because angels, God doesn't speak to men by angels anymore. He speaks to us by his son through his word. Hebrews 1, verses 1 through 3 say so.

The Lord God doesn't send his angels to appear in visible form again. But one of these days, Bob, we're going to see them. When the Lord Jesus comes the second time in his glory, he will come with hordes of angels with him. The angels of God are our companions and our friends in the kingdom of God. Hebrews chapter 12 tells us that there's an intimate connection between us, who are God's elect, and God's elect angels. We're in that general assembly, the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven. An innumerable company of angels are joining us there. These angels of God, they're created by God to be ministering spirits, sent forth to minister to those who shall be the heirs of salvation. The angels of God, Paul tells us in Ephesians 3, visit our assembly.

They come with us here today and they meet with us to listen as we sing his praise and speak forth our words of prayer and praise to him as we speak the gospel of his grace, learning the wonders of redeeming love and saving grace. And the angels of God rejoice in heaven in the presence of God. Every time the good shepherd picks up one of his lost sheep, lays it on his shoulders, and carries it home. Fifthly, the stone that is rolled away from the tomb tells us that the justice of God has been manifestly satisfied by the sacrificial, sin-atoning death of the Lord Jesus Christ, our all-glorious substitute.

Look what the angel said. And he saith unto them, be not afraid. You seek Jesus. Oh, what a name. What a name. Jesus, Jehovah who saves. That's it. Have you come seeking him? Oh, God give you a heart to seek him. If you seek him, you have no reason to be afraid, not even of God. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, this man who is himself Jehovah. He is a real man. Jesus of Nazareth, a historic figure. Jesus of Nazareth who was crucified, slain under the curse of God's holy law, slain as a sacrifice, a just sacrifice for sin.

He's not here. He's risen from the dead. raised again for our justification. Not in order to accomplish it, it was accomplished when he died. He was raised again to declare that we're justified. Now, he who bore our sins to the tomb has been raised from the dead and the empty tomb declares our sins are gone. And look at this grace of God that is immutable.

Verse seven, go your way and tell his disciples And Peter, he goes before them to Galilee as he said unto them, tell my disciples who pursue me, tell Peter who denied me, tell them all that I go before them, tell them I'll meet them in Galilee just like I said I would. Tell them they're all pardoned. Tell them they're all forgiven. Tell them for me, tell them for me, There's no breach between us.

Wonder of wonders. Will you hear me? God's grace is absolutely unconditional. His forgiveness of sin is free forgiveness. It even anticipates the sins that are yet to be performed by us. His forgiveness of sin is full forgiveness. and His forgiveness of sins, listen now, listen now, is forever forgiveness. Amen.