John chapter 20. That back row. We need you to just take that
pew out so you all sit towards the front. We're going to look at John 20,
verses 1-18. This section really blessed me,
and especially the latter end, which will be our main text.
Before we get into our main text, which is verses 16 and 17, I
want us to glean a few thoughts from verses 1 through 16. So
we'll read that and then stop at the end of verse 16. The first
day of the week cometh Mary Magdalene early, she's coming to the sepulcher,
when it was yet dark, unto the sepulcher and seeing the stone
taken away from the sepulcher. Then she ran and came to Simon
Peter and the other disciple, whom Jesus loved, that would
be John, and said unto them, They have taken away the Lord
out of the sepulcher, and we know not where they have laid
him. Peter therefore went forth and
the other disciple, and came to the sepulcher. They ran both
together, And the other disciple, that is John, did outrun Peter
and came first to the sepulcher. And he, stooping down and looking
in, saw the linen clothes lying, yet he went not in. Then comes
Peter, Simon Peter, following him, and he went into the sepulcher,
and seeth the linen clothes lie. And 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 sepulcher, and he saw and
believed. For as yet they, that would be
the two disciples, knew not the scripture that he must raise,
rise again from the dead. Then the disciples went away
again unto their own home. But Mary, stood without at the
sepulcher weeping and as she wept she stooped down and looked
into the sepulcher and seeing two angels in white sitting 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 and she
said 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. And Jesus said unto her, Woman,
why weepest thou? Whom seekest thou? And she, supposing
him to be the gardener, said unto him, Sir, if thou have borne
him hence, tell me where thou hast laid him, and I will take
him away. Then said Jesus unto her, Mary. She recognized that. Then she
turned herself and said unto him, Rabboni, which is to say,
Master. As I said, the next two verses
are the main texts I want to look at, but there's too much
in here that I can't skip. So we'll glean what we will,
and you may glean more or less, but I think these are worth talking
about. First, we look at Mary, and then
we look at Peter and John. Well, Mary was first at the sepulchre. The first day of the week cometh
Mary Magdalene early. When it was yet dark, she went
to the sepulchre. And in verse verse 11 after the
disciples two had left she Mary stood without supper so she was
the first one there and the last one to leave and I would say
that she was blessed in her staying or waiting at the tomb as God is pleased to reveal himself
And it's all by divine revelations. We heard that this morning in
the Bible class. It's all by divine revelation that we know
anything of the gospel of ourselves, sinful selves. However, I think
it's pretty clear that she loved much and Christ would reveal
himself much to her in return. Now remember Mary Magdalene was
the one in Luke chapter eight and Luke chapter seven, that
she had seven devils cast out of her. But only she could say
at this point, verse 16, Master. Now the other ones were not less
saved. I'm not saying that, what I'm
saying, the difference is that she stayed, she got there before
anybody and she left after everybody left. What I'm saying for us
here this morning is stay a while, stay a while. Fellowship more. Pray more. Commune more. Discuss the texts that were preached
or that were read or discuss them more. Dig deeper in this
book than you have before. Don't be content with the little. Stay, stay, stay. And in your staying, those who
seek the Lord's promise, they'll find. Seek more grace. Seek more grace. Yes, a lot was
saved. Yes, those two and a half tribes
that failed to go into the promised land, Manasseh and whoever they
were, it was promised. All the land was promised to
them. They didn't go in. They didn't go in and get the
promise. They stayed out. Why? Like Lot, they saw that
the area was good for cattle, and that's what they had. So
instead of sacrificing what they thought was a great sacrifice,
but you can never sacrifice and be a loser in God's court, I'm just pointing this out. Stay,
stay. Stay around. Stay and ask the
Lord to bless you in the message. You come here, that's good. Have
you come in preparation? Have you asked the Lord, God,
the Holy Spirit, to reveal this word as it's being preached,
as it's read? If I blow it, if I miss the mark,
but at least Matt reads out of the word, Do we, I guess, not that the
other two disciples weren't serious, but she's intent. She's intent on us hanging around.
We got things we gotta do. You know what? Sometimes it's
good to just to say no. Sometimes it's good to just say,
we'll be there after service. Sometimes it's good to say, you
know what? Ask for me in my house. We're
going to serve the Lord. I don't care what my neighbors
or friends or family, I don't care what they say. As for me
and my house, says Joshua, we're going to serve the Lord. This
is what she did. Secondly, for us to glean, you got Peter and
John. They believed the same Christ.
There's only one Christ. They believe the same gospel. There's only one gospel. They
both, as it says, look at verse four. So they both ran together. And I'll spiritualize a little
bit of this, but they ran together. And so our Amos chapter three,
three says, can two walk together except they'd be agreed. If you
completely disagree on whatever it may be, it's gonna be hard
to have a time together. I'm gonna call it fellowship.
A visit, a good visit. If you're a staunch this and
the other person's a staunch that. football teams, basketball,
it doesn't make any difference. It's a little bit hard to visit
with somebody if they're gonna keep bringing something up that
aggravates you. They both ran together because they believed
the same Christ, they believed the same gospel, they knew that
they were sinners only saved by grace, that the divine revelations
is the only way that God saves anybody and he saves whom he
will and whom he chooses. They both ran together which
tells me they are of one mind, they had one hope, one peace,
and one doctrine. Yet, look at verses four through
six, so they both ran together, and the other disciple, John,
he did outrun Peter, and came first to the sepulcher. He, John,
stooping down, he wouldn't go in. He looked in, saw the linen
clothes line, yet he didn't go in. Then, comes Simon Peter,
following him, went right in, went right down. Why? I never thought about this. Why?
Two different personalities. Same gospel, same doctrine, same
Lord, same peace, one baptism, yet they were two different personalities.
You know Pope Peter. He's kind of boisterous. John,
perhaps he had fear to go in. Maybe he was a little superstitious.
I don't know. He didn't go in. He just stopped.
Maybe he had fear of the unknown. Maybe he wasn't so curious as
Peter, but Peter ran right in to the unknown. Strange, uncertain,
maybe he was more curious. I don't know. What Bruce said
this morning and last Sundays, we must allow one another to
grow as the Lord shows us, gives us light. We must be of a forbearing
spirit, a long-suffering attitude, if every believer is not like
us. And I used the illustration last Sunday, Bible class. Every flower in the Lord's garden
is not the same color, doesn't even bloom the same. Some of
them, maybe believers are perennials, and that means they're not gonna
do anything the first year. Maybe their annuals are going
to come up and make a show all summer. We're all different. I'm not talking about a different
God. I'm not talking about a different religion. I'm not talking about
a different gospel. I'm talking about believing the gospel of the grace
of God. Ruined by the fall, redeemed
by the blood, and ransomed by the Spirit. But we must allow
that we're all different. We're all different, and there's
things to be done in order as the scriptures dictate. Another
thing I thought was very interesting, look at verse 9. They both went in. Finally, the
other disciple went in. Peter didn't start ragging on,
well, how come you didn't come in first? No, there was none
of that. There was unity. Look at verse nine, for as yet
they knew not the scripture that Christ must rise again from the
dead. Now let me ask you something. And this is mainly the commentator
or not commentator, the devotion I was reading on, he was hammering
on ministers, on preachers. So I'm like, okay, that's right.
How long were the disciples with our Lord? Three years. They had a front row seat to
witness His miracles, His words. They saw Him face to face, yet
they knew not the Scriptures. It's to their shame. But how lenient How merciful
was our Lord? How merciful has the Lord been
to me, your pastor, for 30-something years, some of you, now one. We won't go into my many faults
that we could do that. But the writer was saying, therefore
ministers ought to learn this, that it's gotta be, and I was
reading something Spurgeon this morning and Grace Jim's really
good. He said, it doesn't make any difference how clear, how
articulate, how forceful the word is you preached. If God,
the Holy Spirit does not reveal it to us, we will not understand
it. And I can get exhausted, you
can get exhausted, we can get exhausted with one another, but
still we should be as tolerant and tender as our Lord. The third point and the main
point, this is above my pay grade, but this took me out of my seat
when I was looking at this. Turn over to verses 17, 16 and
17. Okay, Jesus said unto Mary, He
called her by name. Not woman, by name. And that's
what He does when He reveals Himself to us. And I'm not saying
audibly. I'm saying through the Holy Spirit,
He will call you by name. Salvation is personal. He's gonna
call you by name. And if he calls you by name,
he's got you. Yes, we do resist the Holy Spirit,
but you're not gonna resist the sovereign majestic God of all
the heaven and the earth. She turned herself and said unto
him, Rabboni, which is said to say master. Look at verse 17,
and there's three thoughts I wanna have out of this verse right
here. Jesus said unto her, touch me not. For oftentimes when Mary,
this Mary, when she was with Christ, she would go to his feet,
And then, you know, that kind of thing in Eastern tradition,
but he's like, don't touch me. And he could be rebuking the
fact that she wanted to touch him and not receive him by faith. I don't know about that. For I am not yet ascended to
my father. Look at these last three points, but go to my brethren
and say unto them, I ascend unto my father and your father. Whoa. And my God and your God. That, I just had to get up and
walk around. And then I looked at commentaries
and it's just like, whatever, this is just, this is meat on
the bone. This is meat on the bone. This
exchange between Mary and our Lord is absolutely heartwarming. It literally got me up off my
chair, Let me read the very words which astounded me and humbled
me greatly. But go to my brethren, my father, your father, my God,
your God. These three truths, as they are
recorded by inspiration in this book, should do three things.
Assist our faith, if rightly understood, grow us in grace,
and increase our contrition and humility. The first one, my brethren. Go to my brethren. Now a couple commentators too
said this is the first time, and I looked at it and I believe
this is correct, he called them brethren, he called them disciples,
but this is the first time he said my brethren. my brethren. Our Lord used my
disciples often but here is noted the first time he says my brethren
and it's also recorded in Matthew 28 the same situation that we
have here also records these words. Turn to Hebrews chapter
2. Hebrews chapter 2 he calls us
my brethren. Hebrews chapter 2 verse 11 for
both he That sanctifies, that's Christ,
and they who are sanctified, that's us, are all of one. For
which cause he, Christ, is not ashamed to call them brethren. There you have it right there.
Turn to Song of Solomon if you want to really get teary-eyed
about this. Song of Solomon, the love relationship
between the church The living God or
you can take this as Martha's or Mary's words, but it's every
believer's words Every believer's words songs of Solomon chapter
3 verses 1 through 4 by night on my bed I sought the church
or the believer sought him whom my soul loves. That's Christ.
I sought him, but I found him not Mary went into the tomb. She didn't see him. She didn't
find him at first and I will rise now and go about the city
in the streets, and in broad ways I will seek him whom my
soul loves. I sought him, but I found him
not. The watchman that goes about the city found me, to whom I
said, saw ye him whom my soul loves. It's just constant, whom
my soul loves. It was but a little that I passed from them, but
I found him whom my soul loves. I held him and would not let
him go. until I had brought him into
my mother's house and into the chamber of her that conceived
me." That's what I'm talking about. Dig deeper. Stay longer.
Read more. There's plenty in this world
that glitters but is not gold. There's plenty of things on TV.
Turn it off. Open the scriptures. Do these
things. Be like, let us be as Mary, to
seek Him whom our soul loves and not rest until we find Him. My brethren, oh, can tongue fully
describe the union, the communion, our fellowship we have with our
elder brother. Touch me not, go tell my brethren. Go tell my brethren. You and
I, go to my brethren. Such tender language for an ever
merciful and tender Redeemer. It was not. This is, this is,
it was not. Our Lord says, go tell my brethren,
the very brethren who didn't understand that Christ must rise
raised from the grave, the very brethren. He didn't say rebuke
them for leaving me in the garden all alone with Caiaphas, the
soldiers to take me away. He didn't say that. He didn't
say, don't tell Peter who denied me three times. He didn't say,
these ignorant and unlearned men, slow to trust all that the
prophets have spoken. No, he said, go tell my brethren,
Selah. In Psalms, David uses that word,
that means to pause and think about it. If you don't get anything
any further than this, go tell my brethren, go tell my brethren,
Selah. Think about it. The second thing,
Tell them I go to my father and your father, our father. He's
our father, the very God of gods who will receive me and you when
it's your time to die. Christ, in the context, he's
raising from the dead, and so will we raise together with him.
Our father, the one in whom is no variableness, no shadow of
turning, which means that he doesn't change. There's no change
in our God. So if he's once loved us, You're
always loved. If he has once given us faith,
he will always keep that faith that he's given us. Our father,
that great covenant producer, ratifier, and keeper for all
his darling sheep, to hear these words come from another saint,
or a brother and sister, come, you know, come, a father, or,
you know, come, my, ours, to hear us talk about communing
with him, our father, but to hear it from the, This is unerring
scripture. If you've got a problem with
the inspiration of scripture, why not right here? You just
have no comfort, you have no peace. But to read them in this
unerring book from the Son of God is staggering and it's breathtaking. My Father, your Father. Oh, what
free grace, what peace afforded. Believe it, brethren. Selah,
our Father. Thirdly, I go to my God and your
God. All the persons in the sacred
trinity are ours. Father, Son, the Holy Spirit.
Who says so? God. That sweet and holy, majestic,
all-powerful, all-knowing, everything this book describes Him to be
is the believers. God who is so holy and pure that
even the heavens, it says, are not clean in his sight or presence. God whose ways are so high above
our ways and our thoughts. God who cannot begin or end. The Ancient of Days, he's called,
the everlasting deity, light, and in him is no darkness, and
that's all we are is darkness. But he still says, tell my brethren,
I go to my father, your father,
And to my God, your God. Blessed be Jehovah God. He has
made the way to himself. No longer a mystery. It's the
Christ child. That's how you get to the Father
is through Christ and what he's done. Born of a virgin, sinless
life, sacrificial death. And now in our text, he is risen
and we have fellowship with him. Our God, Selah, pause and think
about such grace to sinners as we are. But as every message
should have somewhat of an application, what do we do now? Verse 18. Mary Magdalene came and told
the disciples what she had seen and what she had heard. That's
what he told her to do. Has the Lord blessed you with
revelation of His truth? Tell the brethren. Let us rejoice
with you. Let us honor and glorify Him. Oh, I desire to see sinners saved,
but I desire to see God glorified. He will be glorified in the way
He is, and in the way He is, He will save some sinners. So firstly, tell the disciples.
She went to the disciples. Are you a disciple of Christ?
Do you understand what I'm saying? Revel in the fact that He calls,
not ashamed to call us brethren, that He's your Father and that
He's your God. Let us revel in that. Secondly,
secondly, don't keep it under a bushel. If you hide the light,
it's not really good for much. But blaze the good news, like
Matthew 5 says, to the neighbors, to your friends, to your family,
to any who will listen. Our Christ, who is sovereign,
death could not hold Him, Satan could not hold Him, the law could
not hold Him. I heard this the other day and
I thought it was really good. On the cross was probably one
of the greatest worship services ever known a man. Well, in order
to have worship service, you've got to have certain things. You've
got to have a prophet, a priest, a king. They're all hanging right
there. And I thought, well, you've got
to have a servant. And he is. You've got to have a law keeper.
There he is. He's everything. That's why we talk about Him
so much. That's why we wait around in the tomb for Him to reveal
Himself to us. She thought He was a gardener.
That's okay. If I make a mistake like that,
but at the end I see my Lord, that's fine. That's fine. Humiliation and contrition is
good. Because the Lord gives those.
And He will not repent if He gives those to us. for grace,
to see him as our brother, to see him as our father, and to
see him as our God. Bruce, would you close us?