So from our Bibles once again
to John chapter 20. I've entitled the message this morning
lessons at the tomb. Hope the Lord will enable us
this morning to look at and learn some lessons that we can learn
from people we meet outside the tomb of our Lord. Of course, pray that will be
to his glory. And I pray it will be helpful to God's children
experience the same faith that these folks have and the same
doubts and the same fears, same weaknesses that our brothers
and sisters experienced that we meet outside our Lord's tomb. So our first lesson is this.
Those who love the Lord will seek the Lord. Those who seek
the Lord in love will find him. Verse one. First day of the week
cometh Mary Magdalene early, when it was yet dark under the
sepulcher, and seeth the stone taken away from the sepulcher.
Now what we know about Mary Magdalene is she loved the Lord so much.
She had been forgiven so much. That's what the Lord said. Those
who are forgiven much will love much, and she loved much. The
Lord had set her free from seven devils. I mean, can you imagine?
The horror of life being possessed by seven devils. She'd been a
harlot. What life that she lived and
the Lord forgave her. Lord set her free, saved her
by his grace. And she loved the Lord so much.
She just couldn't bear to leave him. She couldn't bear to even
leave his dead body. Mary was one of the last ones
at the cross. She was the first one at the
tomb and she stayed at the tomb. You know, we'll see this in a
moment when Peter and John go back to their home. Mary didn't. She couldn't bear to leave the
Lord. She stayed at the tomb. She didn't know where her Lord
was, but she was going to keep looking for him. And she looked
for him in the place she felt like he was most likely to be
found. It was the last place that she saw him. And she was
going to be there looking for him. Now we know Mary's faith
is far from perfect. She doesn't, after as many times
as the Lord told her, I'm gonna rise again the third day, her
faith is far from imperfect. She doesn't automatically think
the Lord's risen. She thinks someone has stole
his body. But she loved the Lord much. Despite the weakness of
her faith, she loved the Lord much and she sought him. And
you know, she found him. Verse 16, he appeared to her
first. Jesus saith unto her, Mary, He
appeared to her and she turned herself and saith unto him, Rabboni,
which is to say master. If you look back at Proverbs
chapter eight, you'll see it's, it's not surprising that someone
like Mary who's seeking the Lord with the heart of love and out
of her great need for him found the Lord. It's not surprising
at all. The Lord promised that. Proverbs eight verse 17. I love them that love me, and
those that seek me early shall find me. Now we know Mary sought
the Lord early on that day, early on that Sunday morning, and she
found the Lord. But more than early in the day,
I would say this to all of our young people, seek the Lord early. Seek the Lord early in your life,
before your mind is gone and you can't understand anything,
you can't remember anything. Seek the Lord early. Our Lord
himself said, those that seek me early will find me. And we
see that fulfilled in Mary Magdalene, don't we? Well, Mary, she knew
where the bodily presence of the Lord last was. She sought
him at the tomb. Our Lord's arisen. It's not going
to do you any good to go there and try to find that tomb and
seek him there. You won't find him there. Well, where will I
find the Lord? If I'm going to seek him where
he's most likely to be found, where should I seek the Lord?
Well, the Lord's most likely to be found in His Word. He's
going to reveal Himself to His people in His Word. Then read
it. Read God's Word. And when you
read God's Word, read it seeking Him. Don't read God's Word seeking
law. Don't seek God's Word seeking
how you're supposed to live and how you're supposed to treat
your neighbor, how you're supposed to do this, how you're supposed to do that.
Seek God in his words. Read God's word seeking the Lord
Jesus Christ. If you find him, I promise you
those other things won't take care of themselves. You read
God's word seeking Christ. Our Lord is most likely to be
found in the preaching of his gospel. He promised he himself
is in the midst of his people when they're gathered together
to worship him. Then be here when the gospel
is preached. If you would seek the Lord, Be here when the gospel
is preached because he reveals himself to his people through
the preaching of the gospel. Don't just come here out of religious
habit, you know, that's what you always do. Don't come here
to be seen in man so everybody else can be impressed with how,
you know, you never miss a service. Be here to seek the Lord and
to worship him. It could be. If we seek the Lord
like that, if we seek the Lord out of a heart of love and out
of a need for him like Mary did, could be we'll find him. We should
all pray that the Lord would give us a heart like Mary Magdalene
that seeks the Lord because those that seek him out of love and
out of a great need for him, find him. Here's our second lesson. Believers have different personalities.
Now believers, I don't care where you find them, what age you find
them in, what nation you find them in, believers all have the
same Lord, they have the same Savior, they have the same faith,
they have the same gospel, but they have very different personalities.
Verse two, then she runneth and cometh to Simon Peter, to the
other disciple whom Jesus loved, that's John, and saith unto them,
they've taken away the Lord out of the sepulcher, and we know
not where they've laid him. Peter therefore went forth and
that other disciple and came to the sepulchre. So they ran
both together and the other disciple did outrun Peter and came first
to the sepulchre. And he stooping down and looking
in, saw the linen clothes lying. Yet when he nodded in, then come
Simon Peter following him and went into the sepulchre and see
if the linen clothes lie. The napkin that was about his
head, not lying with the linen clothes, but wrapped together
in a place by itself. Then went in also that other
disciple, which came first to the sepulchre, and he saw and
believed. Now Mary comes and tells John
and Peter, the Lord's body's gone out of the sepulchre, they
ran to the sepulchre. John, he's younger than Peter,
so he could outrun, he run faster, he outran Peter, and he got to
the sepulchre first. But John's personality, being
what it is, he stopped. He knelt down, he looked in the
sepulcher. He wouldn't go in. He's going
to study the situation before he does anything. That's John's
personality. Look, you know, before you leap.
Just be cautious, you know, before we do anything. We're going to
think about this for a minute, you know. That's John's personality.
That's not Peter's personality. Peter running that sepulcher,
but he didn't stop till he couldn't run no more. He didn't stop till
he got to the back wall of the sepulcher. I mean, and that's
Peter's personality. Just shoot first, ask questions
later, just barge straight ahead, you know, do something even if
it's wrong. That's Peter's personality. Now Mary, she followed Peter
and John to the sepulcher. Mary's personality, she stood
off to the side, silent, didn't say a thing. She just watched
and listened. And when Peter and John go back
home, Mary stayed there. That's her personality. Her personality
wouldn't let her leave. And you know what? All of them
were right. None of them were wrong in the
way they handled this situation. They all had different personalities
and couldn't do anything different. They couldn't. Peter could not,
to save his life, stopped outside that sepulcher and looked in
for, you know, gauge a situation. He couldn't do that. That's his
personality. John, you couldn't rush him in. That's just his
personality. You can't do it. Mary, she couldn't
leave. She couldn't go back home with
him. That's her personality. The lesson is believers all have
different personalities. And you know what? That's just
fine. It's just fine. The song of Solomon. We saw this in our study about
the beds of spices. Well, all those different beds
of spices are God's church. All those spices are God's people.
Now they all belong to God. Christ planted them all. He takes
care of them all. He waters them all. They all
belong to him. They're all in God's garden.
But now all those spices, they smell different, they taste different,
they look different, they serve different functions. That's God's
church. We all have different personalities.
And we need all those different personalities. I'm like Peter. If everybody's like me, we'd
have problems. Somebody's gotta be John and
be cautious, just not rush ahead. The church needs all those personalities.
When God saves a person, He didn't take the personality out of them.
Forty different men wrote the scriptures. They all wrote under
inspiration of the Holy Spirit. But as we read the scriptures,
we see the different personalities of the men who wrote the scriptures.
David and Ezekiel have very different personalities, and we see that
in how they wrote. John and Paul had very different
personalities, and we see their personalities in their writings.
It's easy to read and see, oh yeah, John wrote that, oh yeah,
Paul wrote that, and Paul couldn't have wrote that, because we see
their personalities in their writings. They have different
personalities, but they all have the same message. They all have
the same Savior. They all have the same Lord.
One of the best pieces of advice I ever got about preaching, I
got from Brother Henry, not surprising. And this is what he told me,
be yourself. Don't copy somebody else. He
said, if you copy me, you're going to copy all my worst habits
and none of the right ones. Just be yourself. And that's
good advice. And that advice applies to every
member of God's church. Brethren, be yourself. Just be
yourself. Don't try to copy somebody else.
Be yourself. Serve the Lord as you. You know,
some of us are more vocal. Some are more quiet. You know,
some people just, I mean, you couldn't twist their arm to get
them to come up here and pray or sing or do something that's
not their personality. Some people are more loving.
Some people are more lovable. Some people are less lovable.
Some people are shy and private and other people are more out
there. And none of those ways are wrong. So love all those different personalities.
I've got a different personality. You've got a different personality.
But the Lord loves us all. then love all these different
personalities and accept them for what they are. Let people
serve the Lord with their personalities themselves. The third lesson
is this, and this is so important. True believers, even true believers
who have been very well taught are still ignorant of many things.
Verse nine, for as yet they do not the scripture that he must
rise again from the dead. Now this is a reference to Psalm
16 verse 10. And John's telling us he and
Peter did not know this scripture. They certainly did not know the
meaning of the scripture at this time. Later on, all of the disciples
will be very familiar with this scripture. Look over in Luke
chapter 24. I'll show you why they became
so familiar with this scripture and why they clearly understood
the meaning of that scripture. They didn't right now, but later
on they do. In Luke 24, verse 45. Then opened he their understanding
that they might understand the scriptures. And he said unto
them, thus it's written and thus it behoove Christ to suffer and
to rise from the dead the third day. Now they understood the
scriptures. Now they weren't ignorant of
it because Christ opened it to them. And that very verse is
the verse that Peter used in his great message on the day
of Pentecost when 3,000 souls were saved. But right now, standing
outside of the tomb, they're ignorant of this verse and they're
ignorant of what it meant. Now, it says here that John,
when he finally did go in, saw and believed. Now, what did he
believe? I don't know. I don't know. Did
he believe Christ rose from the dead? It doesn't appear so, but
maybe, maybe he believed the body was gone. Maybe he believed
the Lord could have rose from the dead. Maybe, I told you this
last week, maybe he believed something in his head that wasn't
quite solved in his heart yet. You who believe know this. There's
a difference between what you know is true. I mean, what you
know is true, what you'd stake your life on. This is true. And
what you've really experienced as far as faith in the heart.
Maybe I think that's probably what's going on with John and
Peter both at this time. But the point of that is this.
There's still a whole lot of unbelief in believers in there. Whole lot of unbelief. And there's
a whole lot of ignorance too. Whole lot of ignorance. Of all
people, the disciples, the 11 disciples ought to have known
the Lord is going to rise again from the dead the third day.
Shouldn't they have known that? Absolutely, they should have
known that. Of all people, the disciples should have had a better
understanding of the scriptures. What have they been doing for
the past three years? They've been being taught by
the Lord himself. Of all people, they should have
had a better understanding of the scriptures. Look at Matthew
chapter 16. They should have remembered these
things that the Lord told them. He didn't tell them this just
once in passing. This truth that he's going to
rise again the third day was something he repeated so that
they should have known. Matthew 16 verse 21. From that
time forth began Jesus to show on his disciples how that he
must go on to Jerusalem and suffer many things of the elders. chief
priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third
day." Now I want you to look at verse 22. The last thing he
said was that he would be raised again the third day. Then Peter
took him and began to rebuke him, saying, being far from thee,
Lord, this shall not be unto thee. Peter, why on earth would
you say that? The Lord just said, I'm going
to rise again. Why would you say that? He wasn't listening, that's why.
He didn't listen to everything he said. Look over Matthew chapter
27, or I'm sorry, 17, 17, verse 22. And while they abode in Galilee,
Jesus said unto them, the son of man shall be betrayed into
the hands of men and they shall kill him. And the third day he
should be raised again. Well, that's cause for joy, isn't
it? He's going to be raised again. And they were exceeding sorry.
Why? They weren't listening, were
they? Look over Matthew chapter 20. Verse 17. And Jesus, going up
to Jerusalem, took the 12 disciples apart in the way. He took them
apart. You know, we're going to minimize
distractions here, just us in a quiet place. And he said unto
them, Behold, we go up to Jerusalem. And the Son of Man shall be betrayed
unto the chief priests and unto the scribes, and they shall condemn
him to death. And shall deliver him to the
Gentiles to mock and to scourge and to crucify him. And the third
day he shall rise again. Now that's just three times that's
recorded in Matthew. The Lord told the disciples,
I'm going to be crucified. And the third day I'm going to
rise again. Well, the Lord, sure enough, was taken and mistreated
by the Pharisees and the scribes and the elders. They turned him
over to the Gentiles to mock him and scourge him and beat
him and crucify him. Sure enough, they put his dead
body in the tomb. Three days later, the Lord's
body's not in the tomb. Why didn't they automatically
think, oh, the Lord's risen? How many times did he tell them?
You see, they should have known, but they didn't hear what the
Lord said. They must have just heard what they wanted to hear,
overcome with grief that they didn't hear the rest of what
he said. He's going to rise again the third day. You want to hear
something that'll really convict you? In Matthew 27, the disciples
did not remember what the Lord told them, but our Lord's enemies did. Matthew
27 verse 62. Now the next day, that followed
the day of the preparation, the chief priests and Pharisees came
together unto Pilate, saying, Sir, we remember that that deceiver
said, while he was yet alive, after three days I'll rise again.
They remembered. The disciples didn't. Command,
therefore, that the sepulcher be made sure until the third
day, lest his disciples come by night and steal him away,
and saying to the people, he's risen from the dead, so that
the last day shall be worse than the first. Pilate said unto them,
you have a watch, go your way. Make it as sure as you can. I
think Pilate already saw we're fighting a losing battle here.
Make it as sure as you can, but you're wasting your time. I think
even Pilate thought he's going to rise. If he said it, he's
going to rise again. The enemies of our Lord remembered
what he said. And the disciples who loved him
and believed him didn't. There's a lot of unbelief and
ignorance left in believers. Sometimes I, sometimes I often
wonder if people really bothered listening to Brother Henry. We
had opportunity in our lifetime to, in the past several hundred
years, listen to the greatest preacher of this generation. Do you remember what we were
taught? I wonder. I wonder, were people
not listening? Did they hear what they want
to hear? I don't know. Did they forget?
Maybe. But I tell you what, whatever
it is, just like these disciples, that same thing is going to happen
to every preacher of the gospel. If the disciples forgot what
the Lord himself taught, I promise you you're going to forget what
I said. I just promise you. Here's the point. good request
in prayer would be that the Lord enable his preacher to preach
in the power of the spirit. And y'all do that. And I thank
you. You don't know how much I appreciate
and I need your prayers. No man sufficient for these things.
Nobody can preach the gospel unless the spirit upholding,
but I'll tell you another very good request in prayer that goes
hand in hand with that one. Pray that the Lord give us a
hearing ear. A hearing ear. Wednesday night in a study, Brother
Eric Floyd had to scripture reading in prayer and the Lord laid it
on his heart to very eloquently and powerfully, pray that the
Lord give us a hearing ear. That's a good prayer. Just like
nobody can preach without the spirit enabling, Nobody can hear
without the Spirit enabling us to. We can't hear unless the
Spirit enables us and opens the scriptures to our heart. So let's
seek Christ. Seek Him. Don't seek knowledge
because Christ is salvation. Knowledge is not salvation. Christ
is salvation. In this example, the people had
the facts right, hated the Lord and didn't know Him. They weren't
saved were they? The people who had the facts wrong, remembered
things wrong, they knew Christ. He knew them and they were saved,
even though they were ignorant of many things. Let's ask God
for a heart of faith and maybe, maybe some knowledge of Him will
sink in and be able to carry it with us. Because unless he
enables us, we're going to forget everything. There's still a whole
lot of ignorance and unbelief in believers. The fourth lesson
is this. Believers have no real reason
to weep. And when we do weep, it's almost
always because of unbelief and ignorance. Look at verse 11 in
our text. 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 said unto them, because they
have taken away my Lord and I know not where they've laid him. Now
Mary's personality was such that she couldn't go back home with
Peter and John. She stayed at the tomb. To someone with her
personality, it was comforting to her to stay at the tomb and
weep. And sometimes that just makes
people feel better. There's people with this personality,
it makes them feel better to go to the cemetery where their
loved one's buried and be there and weep. Maybe they talk to,
you know, they're talking to the air, but you know what I
mean, it makes them feel better. It makes them feel better to go there
and remember and weep. Some people, that's just their
personality. It makes them feel better to do that. And that's
what Mary was doing. But as she stayed there weeping, maybe she should have realized
she had no reason to weep. Now think about this. If on that
Sunday morning, Mary had gone to the tomb and the Lord's body
still lay there in that tomb, Mary wouldn't have wept as much
as she did, would she? Mary would have found some comfort
in putting those spices that she'd prepared on the body of
the Lord And she did what she came to do, and she would have
found some comfort in that, and she wouldn't have wept near as
much as what she did. But if Mary got to the tomb, and the
Lord's body still lay in that tomb, Mary should have wept without
ever stopping, because that's reason for great sorrow. But
since the Lord's body's not in the tomb, Mary should have rejoiced. The sacrifice for her sin was
accepted. Her sin debts paid. She justified
in Christ. He rose again for a justification.
This is cause for great rejoicing. But instead she wept because
of ignorance and unbelief. Mary is so overcome with grief
that even talking to angels doesn't make her stop crying. I've never
seen an angel. I'm confident I never will, but
you'd think. If you saw an angel, you'd think,
this is special. This is something that doesn't
happen every day. You'd think when Mary saw those angels, it
might would have dawned on her, something extraordinary is happening
here. But she's so overcome with grief.
Even carrying on a conversation with angels doesn't make her
stop her weeping and realize she's got no real reason to weep.
And while she's speaking to these angels, Maybe they looked past
her or maybe she heard something behind her because she turned. Verse 14. And when she had thus
said, she turned herself back and she 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'll take him
away. Now, Mary is still weeping. And certainly by now she ought
to see she's got no reason to weep. She's in the presence of
the Lord himself. What reason does she have to
weep when she's with the Lord? Look at 1 Thessalonians 5. You
know, often when a believer thinks that we have real reason to weep,
if we could see things as they really are, we'd see we have
reason to rejoice. First Thessalonians five, verse
16. Rejoice evermore. Pray without
ceasing. In everything, give thanks for
this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. In everything,
give thanks. A believer always has real reason
to rejoice. and never a real reason to weep.
I suppose the times that we weep the most are in times of loss
of a loved one. If that dear departed loved one
knew the Lord, why are we weeping? Well, it's
because we can't see things as they really are, right? I mean,
This helped me so much. Dale, you said this at Cecil
Roach's funeral. We were standing there at the
graveside. And we were talking about what must it be like. What
does Cecil see now, my soul? It's just beyond our comprehension.
And Dale said it's good that we don't know what he's seeing
now. Because if we did, we'd all be
lined up on that bridge over there and jump off. You know,
we just, we don't see. That's why we weep. But if we
could see things as they are, we'd rejoice. How quick, this
is something else we don't see. How quickly we'll join them in
the presence of our Lord. No reason to weep. Not really.
Well, here's our fifth lesson. Here's why we have no real reason
to weep. Christ our Savior is always near his people. Especially
in those times when we're sorrowing and in such pain, and we don't
know he's near. Christ was so near to Mary. She's
talking to him. She's so near to him. She could
touch him. Christ is always near his sheep. Now we may not sense
his presence, but he's always near his sheep. The Lord Jesus
Christ in his wisdom and in his grace has never left his sheep
to their own devices. If he did, we'd fall off the
cliff. He never left us to our own devices. He's always near. We're so near, we're in his hand.
He's always held us in his hand. One of the names of the Savior
is Jehovah Shema. The Lord is present. Now we know
that God's omnipresent. That's a great big word, simply
means this. God's everywhere at the same
time. Well, if God's everywhere at the same time, of course he's
here. Of course he's present. But this
name Jehovah Shammah means something a whole lot more than that. It
means that the Lord is there in a special way with his people.
He's there with his people in a way of grace. He's there with
his people in a way of mercy and love. and salvation and protection. In those times of our sorrowing
and our pain, Jehovah Shema, the Lord is present in a way of compassion that cares,
that can comfort and encourage his people, especially in those
times, the Lord is there. What does scripture say? The
Lord is nigh unto them that have a broken heart. In those times
of suffering and sorrow, the Lord's there. And because he
died and came out of that tomb, he rose again. The Lord will
be there forever with his people in glory. We have no reason to
weep, do we? Our Lord told his disciples,
I'm going to rise again the third day. You know, sure enough, he
did. He rose again the third day.
What's our Lord promised to you and me? Our Lord's promise to
us is I'm coming again to receive unto myself all my people that
they'll be with me forever. You know, sure enough, he will.
Now he's coming back. Well, let's look for him. Wait
for him expectantly. He'll be back before you know
it. So even now in our time of suffering and sorrow and pain,
he's near. coming back soon. We've got no
reason to weep, do we? He's near. Here's the sixth lesson,
something very, very important. The Lord must make Himself known
to us or we'll never know Him. Verse 15, Jesus saith unto her
woman, Why weepest thou? Whom seekest thou? She, supposing
him to be the gardener, saith unto him, Sir, if thou hast borne
him hence, Tell me where thou hast laid him and I'll take him
away. Mary had a lot of confidence she's going to be able to take
the body of a full grown man away by herself, didn't she? I like
her confidence. At 16, Jesus saith unto her, Mary, Mary. And she turned herself and said
unto him, Rabboni, which is to say master. Now I'm convinced
of this. It was not tears clouding Mary's
vision that made it where she didn't know the Lord. She couldn't
recognize him, not because tears were in her eyes. I'm convinced
of this. Look in Luke chapter 24. I'm
convinced that she didn't recognize the Lord because the Lord had
hold in her eyes. So she couldn't recognize him.
Just like these other disciples that our Lord came to on the
road to Emmaus. They had the same issue in Luke 24 verse 13. And behold, two of them went
that same day to a village called Emmaus, which was from Jerusalem,
about three score furlongs. And they talked together of all
these things which had happened. And it came to pass while they
communed together and reasoned, well, we get in trouble then,
don't we, when we reason. Jesus himself drew near and went
with them, but their eyes were holding that they should not
know him. See, they had different personalities
than Mary, didn't they? but that same nature, that same
problem, their eyes were holding that they didn't know him. They
didn't recognize the Lord. Now you'd think after three years
of being with the Lord, serving him, you'd think she'd recognize
his voice. How often did Mary Magdalene
sit and listen to the Lord teach? You'd think she'd recognize his
voice, but she didn't. And just like, Her eyes, I'm
convinced the Lord was not disguising His voice so she couldn't recognize
Him. He was speaking the same as He
always did. It's just that her ears were like her eyes. They
were holding that she couldn't hear. But when the Lord spoke
to her, when He spoke to Mary's heart, she saw. Oh, now she heard. And do you
know why she heard? Because the Lord said, my sheep,
hear my voice. I call them by name and they
follow me. He called Mary by name. And she
heard, she saw, now she recognized the Lord. But why? Only because
the Lord revealed himself to her. He opened her understanding
so she'd see him. And spiritually, all of us are
just like Mary. We're just like those disciples
on the road to Emmaus. Our eyes are blind. So we cannot
see. Friend of mine told me just this
week about when he was a young man, how he'd walk around college
campus trying to believe. I'm just going to make myself
believe. And he couldn't. He had to come to the point that
he saw. I'm dependent on Christ. God
save me, Lord save me or I perish. We've got eyes that are blind
so we can't see, we can't understand. Our ears are deaf so we cannot
hear. Not with faith we can't. We're
born with a fallen nature that can't see Christ, that can't
understand who he is, that can't love him. A fallen nature can't
believe him. That's why we must be born again.
We've got a nature that's dead in sins and that dead nature
doesn't have the capacity to do anything. See, hear, feel,
or think. Can't do anything. But I'm telling
you what, when the Lord Jesus Christ calls you in power and
grace, He makes Himself known to you so that we see, so that
we hear, so that we believe, so that we love. The only way
any son of Adam ever knows Christ is Christ reveals Himself to
us. Now, more than anything, that's
what I want. I want to know Christ. I want
to be like Him. I want Him to reveal Himself
to me and I want Him to reveal Himself to you so you know Him. Well, how will Christ reveal
Himself to you and me? Not like He did to Mary. Not in a bodily
form. Will not see the Lord in a bodily
form to glory. Then how will Christ reveal Himself
to you and me? Look at Romans chapter 10. The
Lord reveals Himself to His people through preaching. Through the
preaching of His Word. Romans 10 verse 13. For whosoever, I don't care where
they come from, what personality they have, what background they
have, whosoever, shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be
saved. How then shall they call on him in whom they've not believed?
And how shall they believe in him of whom they've not heard?
And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they
preach except they be sinned? God reveals himself to his people
through preaching. Look over a few pages of 1 Corinthians
1. The Apostle Paul says the same thing to the church at Corinth. 1 Corinthians 1 verse 21. Right after that, in the wisdom of
God, the world by wisdom, the world by its fleshly wisdom,
knew not God. It pleased God by the foolishness
of preaching to save them that believe. It pleased God by what
the world calls foolishness. of preaching the gospel, the
foolishness of preaching Christ. The world calls that foolishness.
That's the way God has chosen to reveal himself to his people
through the preaching of the gospel. How did the rest of the
disciples first hear the Lord's risen? Somebody else came and
told him, how are you going to ever hear the gospel? Somebody
else is going to preach it to you. Look back in our text, verse
17. When the Lord revealed Himself
to Mary, she felt His feet in worship and grabbed hold of His
feet. Oh, how she wanted to hang on
to that precious body of her Savior. But verse 17, Jesus said
unto her, touch me not. You don't have to hang on to
me, cling to me, for I'm not yet ascended to my Father. But
go to my brethren and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father
and your Father, and to my God and your God. He's not telling
Mary, you're not allowed to touch me. Just in a little while, he's
going to command Thomas to touch him, isn't he? So he's not telling
Mary, you're not allowed to touch me. What he's telling her is
you don't have to hang on to me right now. I'm not ascending.
And I know you like to sit at my feet and just worship and
love me, but don't do that right now. I've got something else
for you to do. I've got a job for you to do. You go tell my
brethren I've risen. You go tell him. And that's what
she did. Now, when the Lord revealed himself
to Mary. Oh, well, let me go back here
for a second. Like I said, I it's my heart's
desire that Christ would reveal himself to us. Well, if that's
your desire, if you desire for Christ to reveal himself to your
heart, I tell you what, Be where the gospel is preached. If you
desire a blessing from the Lord, be where the gospel is preached.
We'll see this in the coming weeks. Thomas missed a blessing,
didn't he? He went with the other 11 when
Mary came and told him. And when the Lord then appears
to him, Thomas wasn't there. He missed out on a blessing.
Maybe he would have got that blessing if he'd been there.
Maybe. But the point of all that is this, the only way we can
know Christ is if He reveals Himself to us. If Christ ever
reveals Himself to you, you'll know it. This is not a mystery
to figure out. If Christ reveals Himself to
you, you'll know it. Your reaction will be the same as Mary's. You
will fall at His feet and call Him Rabboni. John says, this
is his, which is to say my master, but I've read this week that
that word literally translated. It's a, it's a plural. My great
master, my great master, my Lord, and my God, if Christ ever reveals
himself to you, you'll know it because suddenly he'll be your
heart's desire. Your desire is to be where he
is. Well, seventh lesson is this.
Heaven is a real place. And every believer will spend
eternity with Christ there. When our Savior said, I ascend,
what he means there is more than just I'm going to ascend. He
means I'm going to ascend to glory where I will sit on the
throne of glory, ruling and reigning. I will soon, not right now, but
soon I will ascend to heaven. And while I'm there, I'm going
to prepare a place for my people. So my people can be with me there
forever. The man Christ Jesus, God's son,
became a man, took on him flesh. And a man in flesh, risen flesh,
glorified flesh, but a man in flesh ascended to glory. He ascended to heaven, opening
the way for many more men and women of the flesh to follow
him there to a real place. Now the blessing of heaven is
not what the place looks like. The blessing of heaven is not
what your house is going to look like when you live there. The
blessing of heaven is that Christ is there. And this is a place
where Christ is there with his people, face to face with every
one of them at the same time. That's the blessing of heaven.
The blessing of heaven is not what the place looks like. The
blessing of heaven is the nature of everyone who's there. Everyone
who's in heaven is going to be made just like Christ. Now that's
a blessing beyond our human comprehension to be made just like Christ. That's the glory of heaven. And
everyone in heaven is going to be the Lord's brethren. He told
Mary, you go tell my brethren that I've risen. Where is brethren? Now brothers have the same nature.
They're just alike. Everyone in heaven is going to
be the Lord's brethren. We're going to be given his nature.
We're going to be raised in a body just like the body of our Lord's
because he arose. Our resurrection is guaranteed
to be raised in a body just like his and to be taken to a real
place to be with him forever. And the last lesson we see at
the tomb is this. Everything that belongs to Christ
is yours. if you belong to him. See what
he said in verse 17. Touch me not, for I'm not yet
ascended to my father, but go to my brethren and say unto them,
I ascend unto my father and your father, unto my God and your
God. While our savior is telling Mary
is, you go tell my brethren, everything belongs to me belongs
to them. My father is your father. My God is your God. My righteousness
is your righteousness. My dwelling place is your dwelling
place. I love the way John phrases this
about, you know, they went to that tomb. They didn't actually
find a completely empty tomb, did they? And he doesn't say
they found grave clothes in the tomb. It says they found linen
clothes in the tomb. That's the righteousness of Christ.
My righteousness is your righteousness. Look at Hebrews chapter 2. Christ
is our head. He's the head of the church and
everything that belongs to the head belongs to the body. Everything that's his is yours
if you belong to him. Hebrews 2 verse 11. For both he that sanctifyeth
and they who are sanctified are all of one for which cause he's
not ashamed to call them brethren. Everything that belongs to him
belongs to his brethren because they're one flesh. So all these
troubles, all the troubles this life make us weep and make us
afraid, make us sorrowing. Those things are nothing compared
to the glory of Christ. They're nothing compared to what
we have in Christ. This will soon be over. It's a veil of tears. There's
no question about it. It's a veil of tears. But this
will soon be over. What we have with Him is eternal.
This is going to soon be over. And we're going to spend eternity
with the Lord and being made just like the Lord. His resurrection
coming out of the tomb guarantees it. Now since those things are
true, Those are good lessons to learn, aren't they? Since
those things are true, let's set our affection, our heart
on things above. And seek those things which are
above first. Seek Him first. That's a good
lesson we can take away from the two. All right, let's bow
in prayer. Our Father, how we thank you
for your word. How we thank you for this Glorious
passage of scripture that we've looked into this morning. Father,
I pray you'd bless your word as it's been preached to the
glory of your name and to the hearts of your people. Oh, God. Please don't let us forget. The glory and majesty of our
Lord Jesus Christ. Apply these things to our hearts
that we might believe Him and rest in Him and find our joy
in Him. How we thank you for a Savior,
your own beloved Son who became a man to establish righteousness
for your people, for sinful men and women, that He'd suffer and
bleed and die, that He'd be made sin for His people and put that
sin away through the sufferings of His sacrifice, by His death,
the blood of His death, and that He would rise again for our justification. Cause us to rejoice. Oh, what reason we have for rejoicing
in God our Savior. It's in His blessed name and
for the glory of His name we pray and we give thanks. Amen.