The first day of the week cometh
Mary Magdalene early when it was yet dark unto the sepulchre,
and seeth the stone taken away from the sepulchre. Then she
runneth and cometh to Simon Peter and to the other disciple, whom
Jesus loved, and saith unto them, They have taken away the Lord
out of the sepulchre, and we know not where they have laid
him. Peter therefore went fourth and the other disciple, and came
to the sepulcher. So they ran both together, and
the other disciple did outrun Peter, and came first to the
sepulcher. And he stooping down, and he
stooping down, and looking in, saw the linen cloths lying, yet
went he not in. Then cometh Simon Peter following
him, and went into the sepulcher, and seeth the linen cloths lie.
and the napkin that was about his head not lying with the linen
cloths, but wrapped together and placed by itself. Then went
in also that other disciple, which came first to the sepulchre,
and he saw, believed, and believed. For as yet they knew not the
scripture that he must rise again from the dead, Then the disciples
went away again unto their own home. But Mary stood at the sepulcher
weeping. And as she wept, she stooped
down and looked into the sepulcher, and seeth two angels in white
sitting, the one at the head and the other at the feet, where
the body of Jesus had lain. And they say unto her, Woman,
why weepest thou? She saith unto them, Because
they have taken away my Lord, and I know not where they have
laid Him. And when she had thus said, she turned herself back,
and saw Jesus standing, and knew not that it was Jesus. Jesus
saith unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? Whom seekest thou? She,
supposing him to be the gardener, said unto him, Sir, if thou have
borne him hence, tell me where thou hast laid him, and I will
take him away. Jesus saith unto her, Mary, she
turned herself, and saith unto him, Rabbani, which is to say,
Master. Jesus saith unto her, touch me
not, for I am 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." Mary Magdalene
came and told the disciples that she had seen the Lord and that
He had spoken these things to her. Then the same day at evening,
being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut, where
the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, came Jesus
and stood in the midst. and said unto them, Peace be
unto you. And when he had so said, he showed unto them his
hands and his side. Them were the disciples glad
when they saw the Lord. Then said Jesus to them again,
Peace be unto you, as my Father hath sent me, even so I send
you. And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and saith
unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost, whosoever sins ye remit,
they are remitted unto them, and whosoever sins ye retain,
they are retained. But Thomas, one of the twelve,
called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came. The other
disciples therefore saith unto him, We have seen the Lord, but
he said unto them, Accept. I shall see in his hands the
prints of the nails, and put my fingers into the print of
the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe.
And after eight days again his disciples were within, and Thomas
with them. Then came Jesus, the doors being
shut, and stood in the midst, and said, Peace be unto you.
Then saith he to Thomas, Reach hither thy finger, and behold
my hands, and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side,
and be not faithless, but be believing. And Thomas answered
and said unto him, My Lord and my God, Jesus saith unto him,
Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed. Blessed
are they that have not seen, and yet have believed. And many
other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples,
which are not written in this book. But these are written,
that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God,
and that believing ye might have life through his name. Dear Lord, we just thank you
for being able to all come together today and be able to worship
publicly and open without fear. We thank you so much for everything
you do for us that we may not see or may not acknowledge all
the time, but we know it is always done by you and for the best.
We just thank you for all the safe travels you've given us
and keeping us all from evil. And we just pray for those here
that they'll be able to still hear your word and be able to
praise you. We thank you so much for family,
keeping all of them safe and keeping them with you. We just
pray that the ones who have not come to you yet, you have not
brought to yourself, that you may, if it is your will. We thank
you so much for being able to just come together and praise
your name. Thank you for everything you do and everything you will
do in your precious name. Amen. That's my subject this morning,
is the physical resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. Of
course, Remy read to us John's account, the Apostle John's account
of the resurrection of our Lord. And all four Gospels, as Brother
Larry said this morning, mention the resurrection of the Lord
Jesus Christ. And let me begin by saying that
you may have had problems with this as your pastor has. It's
not always easy to make these four Gospels correspond. You
have four witnesses of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, and
anytime you have a multitude of witnesses, it's difficult
sometimes to understand and to bring together and make these
witnesses correspond, because all of these four witnesses,
Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, Look at the resurrection of our
Lord Jesus Christ from their own perspective. But just because
one of these witnesses left out something that the other added,
doesn't mean that they contradict one another. When the police
are investigating an accident or incident, you know what they
often do? They want to seek out a multitude
of eyewitnesses. The more eyewitnesses they have,
And sometimes it's not easy to bring all of these eyewitnesses
together and make their eyewitness correspond with one another.
But when they have a multitude of eyewitnesses and they finally
dig up all the information that they have, they come to see exactly
how an incident took place. And that's what we see in the
resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. The police don't deny
an accident happened. because they have difficulty
making all the eyewitnesses correspond. I used to secretly wish that
we had only one gospel. You ever had any silly thoughts
like that? And the reason I wish that, not because I believed
for an instant they contradicted each other, but I had difficulty
showing to my own heart and understanding how all four of these Gospels
corresponded with each other. I looked at Matthew's Gospel.
He left out some things that Mark added. Mark added some things
that Luke left out. And John left out much of what
the other three Gospels added. I knew they didn't contradict
each other, but boy did I ever have a difficult time bringing
these four Gospels to correspond with each other, especially in
the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. But you know something?
If we had all of these witnesses here this morning, Matthew, Mark,
Luke, and John, and we could set them down and let them bear
witness of the resurrection, all of our difficulty in understanding
All the different aspects of the resurrection wouldn't be
made so plain. And those things that we think
are so difficult to understand, then we'd say, wow, that wasn't
difficult at all. Everything just cleared right
up. I'm convinced of this, brothers and sisters, that the Scriptures
are written in such a way with seemingly difficult passages
to give the unbelieving and hard-hearted something to stumble over to
their own eternal ruin and misery. There are some who would never
believe any evidence, no matter how plain it is, concerning the
truth of God. The rich man said if one went
unto them from the dead, then they would believe. Would they? Would that convince men of the
truth? Well, listen, one has risen from the dead, and how
few believe the truth. of this infallible evidence that
he's given of his resurrection. There have been atheists and
other critics who have attempted to explain away the physical
resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. But you know, that's
nothing new. Critics have always tried to
explain away the resurrection of Jesus Christ. When he raised,
just the day after he raised, the very day that he raised on
the first day of the week, The soldiers came and told the chief
priest in the Sanhedrin what had happened. And what did they
do? They gave them large sums of money to lie. And here was
the rumor that they spread. Go and tell everybody that while
you slept, the soldiers came and stole his body away. And
the Bible says that false rumor was spread even in that day. How many have perished? in that
day believe in such a false rumor. We have our modern critics, don't
we, of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Modern critics have told
us that the disciples of Jesus Christ, even His apostles, were
so anxious to believe in the resurrection of Jesus Christ,
they lived for three days fully expecting Him to rise. So it
took little or no evidence to convince them of the resurrection
of Christ. But such critics have never read
their Bibles with any understanding. It's evident as we read the Word
of God that not a single apostle, not a single disciple of Jesus
Christ expected Him to rise from the dead. The thought never entered
their minds, and not one of them could be convinced of it apart
from a first-hand and personal and eyewitness evidence to prove
it. They all doubted it. They all
lived in disbelief of it. Let me give you some examples
of this. When the angels appeared to the women and announced to
them that Jesus had risen from the dead and said, Go tell your
brethren that He's risen. And they did just that, and they
went and told the apostles and other disciples. And what was
the respond from the apostles? Luke 24, 11 tells us. Their words
seemed to them as idle tales, and they believed not. When the
Lord Jesus had first appeared to Mary Magdalene after He rose
from the dead, He told her to go tell My disciples. that I'm
risen from the dead, and you've seen me." She went and found
the apostles as they wept and mourned, and she said unto them,
I have seen the Lord. And when they heard that he was
alive and had been seen of her, what did they do? They believed
not. You'll find that in Mark chapter 16 and verse 11. The
risen Lord appeared to two disciples on the road to Emmaus, and they
went back to Jerusalem and told the disciples that they had seen
the Lord, and what was their response? Neither believed they
them. That's in Mark chapter 16 and
verse 13. When the risen Lord had appeared here in our text
to these ten apostles, and He showed them His side and His
hands, They were glad when they saw the Lord. And when Thomas
came in, they said, Thomas, we saw the Lord. And what did he
say? I believe it? I believe it on
your testimony? Why, no. He said, except I put
my hands into those prints and thrust my hand into his side,
I will not believe. Now you find that here in John
chapter 20 and verse 16. And in Mark chapter 16 and verse
14, it said that Christ appeared unto the eleven as they said
it meet, and rebuked them for their unbelief and hardness of
heart, because they believed not them that had seen them after
His resurrection. They refused to believe the testimony
of their own brothers and sisters. They had to be convinced by seeing
Him for themselves. And you know something? I'm glad.
I'm glad for that. I'm glad that they received not
one another's testimony. They need personal, they need
eyewitness, they need infallible proof to convince them of the
resurrection of Jesus Christ. Not a single one of them, as
you read, received the testimony of the other. They said, I've
got to see Him for myself. Now why was there such unbelief?
Why didn't they believe that He had risen again? Well, let's
just be honest about it. He was dead. Jesus Christ was
dead. Christ had died. Not only had
He died a most painful and devastating death, all the apostles saw Him. They were with Him in the garden
as the soldiers came and bound Him and led Him away. And Peter
and John especially saw Him as they began to falsely accuse
Him and smack Him and beat Him. John was following Him up the
road to Calvary and maybe some of them was coming out through
the alleys and watching Jesus as He fell beneath His cross.
They saw all those furrows in his back so deep that the white
of the bones appeared. They saw him in utter weakness.
Thereupon the cross of Calvary, John was there. John saw his
face was so marred more than any man, and his farm more than
the sons of men. He saw his eyes was black and
blue. He saw how his face was smoke
swollen. His beard was plucked from his
face. This was a devastating death
that this man was dying. And I just wonder sometimes if
Thomas didn't slip close enough through the crowd that he saw
the gaping hole in the side of the Son of God. And saw all of
His blood as it had run out beneath the cross. All of them heard
the soldiers say, Jesus of Nazareth, He's dead! He's dead! Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea. They took him down from the cross.
They examined him. They knew that he was dead. They
wrapped his body in all of this tight linen and they put this
napkin around his face and the women saw them as they laid his
body out in this tomb. And all of them left that tomb
and went home sobbing and weeping and in utter despair. Why? He was dead. Christ had died. And brothers and sisters, it
would have been unreasonable to believe that a man who had
died such a devastating death could rise again. That this body,
especially after three days, could rise again from the dead.
It would have been unreasonable to believe it, would it not?
It would have been unreasonable. He that had gone about doing
good and healing all that was oppressed of the devil was now
dead. He that had cleansed the leper, opened the eyes of the
blind, and he who had raised the dead was now dead himself. He that said, I am the resurrection
and the life was now dead himself. And he was sealed away in this
tomb. And it would have been unnatural
and unreasonable and hopeless to have entertained the thought
that this body could have raised again from the dead. They all doubted. None of them
entertained the thought of the resurrection. Doesn't all this
suggest to us, brothers and sisters, that the resurrection of Jesus
Christ was not a natural event? But it was a supernatural event? Neither could it be grasped or
believed by the natural mind, because it was brought to pass
by a power above nature. And how could a man come to believe
it? Not by natural power, but by
supernatural power. None of these men and none of
these women believed in the supernatural physical resurrection of Jesus
Christ, the Son of God, until they had been supernaturally
convinced of it. And you know something? You and
I will never believe it either, to the saving of our souls, until
we're convinced. It took the mighty power to raise
Christ from the dead and it takes the same mighty power to bring
us to faith in that resurrection of the Son of God. You will find
that in Ephesians chapter 1 and verse 18 and verse 19. These
poor women and these despairing apostles and these unbelieving
disciples could not be convinced of what took place supernaturally
apart from the supernatural power working in them to believe it. You and I are not at all amazed
at their unbelief. I'm not amazed at their unbelief.
Are you? What amazes me is that they finally
were brought to believe it. That's the amazing part of it.
And you know something, brothers and sisters, they were so convinced
of it, they went out and preached it. That he had raised from the
dead. And not a one of them that we
know of ever denied it. And many of them gave their life
rather than deny the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. These
were honest men and they were honest women. Nothing is hid
from us about these people. When it said that they were hard-hearted,
that they doubted, that they did not believe, they were being
honest in that. But when they were brought to
faith in Christ, When they handled Him, when they saw Him with their
eyes, they were convinced beyond doubt that this was the Son of
God. They said, we believe it. And
they wrote down their report and their witness here. And you
know something? I believe what they've said. These were honest
people. And they saw the Christ, that
He had risen indeed from the dead, and they reported that
to us. And I believe them, don't you?
I believe them. I've never seen the Son of God.
I've never felt Him with my hands. I've never heard His audible
voice with my ear. But you know something? He's
living. He's living. There were almost 600 people
that verified that after His resurrection, that they saw Him.
Here's what I want to do quickly this morning. I want to give
you some things that these verses suggest to our mind in chapter
20. Give you some thoughts that these
verses suggested, at least to my mind, as I read these. And
five or six or seven of them, as we have time to give them
to you. What these verses suggest to our mind. First of all, the
resurrection of Jesus Christ suggests to our mind that God
was doing something new and wonderful. Something new and wonderful was
taking place. Verse 1 suggests this to our
mind. He said, the first day of the
week. He was risen the very first day
of the week. You know, the only time you read
this phrase in the New Testament is concerning the resurrection
of Jesus Christ. The first day of the week. The
first time it's mentioned in the New Testament is the resurrection
of Jesus Christ. It was the first day of the week. Now why did I mention that? For
this reason. The first time we find this word,
first day, is in Genesis chapter 1 and verses 1 through 5, where
the scripture says, In the beginning God created the heavens and the
earth, And the earth was without form and void, and darkness was
upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon
the face of the water. And God said, Let there be light,
and there was light. And God saw that the light was
good, and He divided the light from the darkness. And the evening
and the morning were the first day. In Genesis 1, we have the
first day, and God said, let there be light, and He separated
the light from the darkness. This was the beginning of something
new, wasn't it? And I'm just saying this morning
that the first day of the week when Jesus Christ raised from
the dead, this was the beginning of something new. When the Lord
Jesus raised from the dead on the first day of the week, there
was a new light that had never been given before. There was
a new light that shone upon the Old Testament that no one had
ever seen before. All of those old dark sayings,
all of those prophecies, all of those promises, all of those
shadows and pictures and types and ceremonies, all of the law
and the holy days and the new moons that most people could
not understand. When the Lord Jesus raised from
the dead, He shed light upon the Old Testament that made it
so plain to understand. What is the Old Testament about?
It is about the person of Jesus Christ. Is it not? One preacher got together had
a friend of mine, a pastor friend of mine, they wanted to meet
for him for lunch, and they were very anxious to talk to him about
something. And they said, we want to ask
you one thing. How do you preach Christ from
the Old Testament? These were preachers. How do
you preach Christ from the Old Testament? You remember when
the Lord Jesus, after His resurrection, He met these two on the road
to Emmaus, and he said, you poor fools who slow apart to believe
all that the prophets have written concerning me. And then he opened
their understanding and he preached unto them from the book of Moses
and from the Psalms and the prophets all the things concerning himself. And when Jesus Christ raised
from the dead, He shed light. He sent light. on the Old Testament
Scripture. Don't you see Christ everywhere
in the Old Testament? Do you just read, and you're
like the poor Jews today, you see all the ceremonies, and you
see the holy days that need to be kept, and the new moons, and
the Sabbath days? We see Christ there, don't we?
He's done something new. Paul said, that which decayeth
and waxeth old is ready to vanish away. And he said, Jesus Christ
has made a new way. He's made a new way. This is
a new way. Now you and I, without a sacrifice
in our hands, without keeping of the holy day, without being
worried about taste not, handle not, and drink not, We can come
right into the presence of God and address Him as our God and
our Father through this new and living way, Jesus Christ, our
Lord and our Savior. Listen to how Paul says it in
2 Timothy 1.9. He said, God has saved us and
called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but
according to His own purpose and grace which was given us
in Christ Jesus before the world began," but listen, "...but is
now made manifest by the appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ, who
hath abolished death and hath brought life and immortality
to light through the gospel." And what did John say about it
when he's talking about the resurrection of Christ? He said the darkness
is past and the true light now shines. And when you believed
in the resurrected Lord, when Jesus Christ was revealed to
your heart, didn't the light shine in? It shined in, didn't
it? Oh, this was something new. This
was the first day of the week. Verses 5 through 7 suggest something
else to us. Look at this. in our text in
verse 5 through verse 7. And he stooped down and looked
and saw the linen clothes laying, yet when he nodded in. Then came
Simon Peter, followed him, and went into the sepulchre, and
seeth the linen clothes lie, and the napium that was about
his head, not lined with the linen clothes, but wrapped together
in the place by itself. What does this suggest to our
mind? It suggests that there is something real about the physical
resurrection. What will it be to be raised
from the dead? The body of our Lord Jesus Christ
was laid in this tomb, but you know something? The body that
came out was vastly different than the one that went in. The
one that went in was dead, absolutely lifeless. The one that came out
was alive forevermore. The one that went in the grave
was subject to infirmities, to utter weakness, to pain, to fears,
to tears. The one that came out was not
subject to anything that could hurt him or harm him. The one
who went in the grave was so limited, the one that came out
was unlimited. And he went into the grave with
these grave clothes upon him. They wove him in these linen
clothes and put this napkin on his face, and it was very thick
and very tight. But you know something? When
he came out, he left the grave clothes in the tomb. Now what
does that suggest to you and I? That suggests to us something
of the reality of a resurrection. I don't think the Lord Jesus
would have raised and had this different body, this glorious
body, without His grave clothes, and then someday raise His saints,
and them not be the same as He is now. What will the physical resurrection
be like? Well, look at us now. Would you
look at us now? What are we now? We're headed
to the grave, aren't we? We're full of these infirmities.
We can't do anything that sin's not mixed with it. We're sick.
We're dying. And we'll lay these cold dead
bodies in the ground. But you know something, brothers
and sisters? The body that comes out will never be subject to
suffering, death, or pain, or tears again. We'll lay our dead
bodies in the ground, but when they come forth, they'll be bodies
that shall never die again. This mortal will put on immortality,
and this corruptible will put on incorruption. And then shall
be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed
up. In what? In victory. You remember
when the Lord Jesus raised Lazarus from the grave? Brother Larry's
talking about this morning, he don't know how he got out of
the grave, if he floated or walked out. Don't matter, he got out,
didn't he? I doubt if he could walk. He
was bound tightly in those grave clothes, and this thick napkin
was about his head. He couldn't breathe or see. He
brought His grave clothes out with Him. And what did the Lord
Jesus say? Loose Him and let Him go. Give that man his freedom. What
will it be, brothers and sisters, to be raised from the dead? It
will be a freedom. It will be a loosening from all
the earthbound infirmities and sorrows and weaknesses and death. We'll be unbound. Aren't there
things now that you want to do that you can't do? Wouldn't you
love to worship the Lord and be unhindered? You can't, can
you? You have these gray clothes on.
Why can't you understand the Lord Jesus? Why can't you see
the beauty that's in His glorious person? We've got this gray napkin
over our face. We have to see through a glass
darkly. Oh, but thank God there's coming a day that that'll all
be left behind. That'll be left in the grave.
That's not coming out with a resurrected body. It'll be different in that
day, won't it? John said it like this. He said,
Brother, now we're the sons of God. It don't yet appear what
we shall be, but we know when He shall appear, we shall be
like Him, for we shall see Him. The Naphthene's gone, isn't it?
It's gone. That napkin that was over the
face, it's gone. And we see Him as He is. We'll see His face, John said.
They shall see His face. Oh, this is what this suggests
to us. When the Lord Jesus raised from the dead, He left His grave
clothes in the grave. And so will we. And so will we. And that's the hope, Peter said,
we have, didn't he? Oh, he said, blessed be the God
and Father of our Lord Jesus. who hath blessed us and through
His tender mercy hath given us a lively hope. How? Through the resurrection of our
Lord Jesus Christ. Through the resurrection of Jesus
Christ. Thirdly, think of this, here in verse 12. This is a wonderful
thought, suggested to our minds. These angels, these holy beings,
these elect creatures, You know they lived to serve Jesus Christ.
They lived to adore Him and worship Him. Look what He said in verse
12. And she saith these two angels in white setting, the one at
the head and the other at the feet, where the body of Jesus
had lain. Angels keeping vigil over the
dead body of the Son of God. You know everywhere He went,
the Bible said God gave His angels charge over Him. They watched
over Him in His manhood. There in His conception, an angel
came down from heaven and said, Mary, you're going to conceive
in your womb and bring forth a son. And an angel said that. And then at His birth, there
was a heavenly host of angels announcing His birth to these
shepherds on the hillside. Glory to God in the highest.
and on earth peace, goodwill to man. In the desert of temptation,
when our Master had fasted for forty days and forty nights and
the devil had ended his awful temptation, the Bible says an
angel came and ministered unto him. In the garden of Gethsemane,
when he was sweating great drops of blood, an angel came down
and strengthened him and enabled him to pray more earnestly. And
now here they are. at His resurrection. And they're
announcing, He's not here, He's risen. Your Lord and our Lord,
He's risen from the grave. Our Lord went out to Jerusalem
up on the hill of Mount Olives, and He lifted up His hands and
blessed His disciples, and He descended up into heaven, and
the angels were there watching, weren't they? and told the disciples,
why are you standing gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus
who went away is coming again. And you know the angels are there
with Him now, doing His bidding, obeying His command. They love
Him. And the Bible says when He comes
again in the clouds of glory, His holy angels are coming with
Him. And He's going to tell them and
they're going to bind the wicked and cast them into a lake of
fire. What am I saying? The angels live. They exist to
love and serve and worship and obey Jesus Christ, the Son of
God. And somebody might say, I have
no interest in Him. I have no interest in the Son
of God. Well, that's bad, isn't it? That's
an awful thing. It's an awful thing to truly
have no interest in Him and an awful thing to have to admit
it. When all of these mighty beings With all of these shining
angels, those who are wiser than we are, live to do nothing but
to serve and love and obey the Son of God. And you, you sit
with no interest. Oh, angels. They love Him, don't
they? They love Him. Look in verses
13. See what this suggests to us.
And they said unto Mary, Woman, why weepest thou? She said unto
them, Because they have taken away my Lord, and I know not
where they have laid him. And when she had said this, she
turned herself back, and saw Jesus standing, and knew not
that it was Jesus. 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 you have laid him. and I will take
him away." Jesus said unto her, Mary. She turned herself and
said unto him, Rabona, which is to say, Master. What does
this suggest to us, brothers and sisters? Well, it suggests
this, that nothing will comfort a broken-hearted, gracious soul
but the voice of this risen Savior. Nothing would comfort this weeping
woman But hearing the voice of her risen Lord, isn't this amazing
that she saw angels and turned away from them? You won't help
me. There's one that can help my
bleeding heart and dry my weeping eyes, and that's my Lord. And until I find Him and hear
His voice, I can't be comforted. As I was reading and studying
on this this week, I thought of the little Shulamite woman
over in the Songs of Solomon chapter 5. Remember that account? Where the Shulamite woman was
sleeping. She said, I sleep, but my heart
awakes. It's the voice of my beloved
that knocks. And He's saying unto me, open
my sister, my love, my dove, my undefiled. Open unto me. And what does she say? No. I
put off my coat. I can't put it back on. I put
off my shoes and I don't want to get my feet dirty again. And
He put His hand through the hole of the door and the sweet myrrh
was dripping from His fingers. And I smelled it, she said, and
I got up and I realized it was the voice of my Beloved. Then
I opened the door, but my Beloved was gone. And what did she do? She said, Oh, I fainted. My heart
fainted. I went about the streets, and
I said, Have you seen Him whom my soul loveth? I can't find
Him. I've called, but He won't answer
me. If you see Him, tell Him that I'm sick of love. I'm lovesick. And you know what? She never
did stop seeking until she heard again the voice of her Beloved.
And Mary's heart never was bound up, and her tears never was dried,
until Jesus, who she thought was the gardener, said unto her,
Mary, Mary. Now Peter could have said
that, and it wouldn't have helped her at all. John could have said
that. These angels could have said
that. It wouldn't have helped her at all. But when Jesus Christ
the Shepherd speaks your name, Boy, it does something to your
heart, doesn't it? Mary. And she looks up and the
tears are gone. Her countenance has changed.
Her heart is filled with joy. She's thrilled. And what does
she say? My Lord and my Master. They tell us that this word is
broken down in three parts. Rabboni. Rab was the lowest kind
of a master. You may think of him as being
your boss in the fact that you are a group leader. Rabbi. Rabbi
was the masters and the teachers of that day. The Jews loved to
be called Rabbi, didn't they? The Lord Jesus said, don't you
call me by Rabbi, you have one master. But then there was that
name that was above all of these, Rabona. Rabona. It's only mentioned two times
in the entire Bible. Here where Mary said Rabona,
And when the blind man Barnabas was called to the Lord Jesus,
and he said, What will you that I should do unto you? And he
said, Lord, that I might receive my sight. Is your heart heavy
this morning? Do you have doubts and fears?
Do you want it all to be settled? I'll tell you probably what will
settle it. His voice. His voice. I'm telling you, when
He speaks, when He speaks, The mist is gone, isn't it? The sorrow's
ended. The weeping's over with. The
night of darkness. And the sun is risen when the
shepherd speaks. Mary. Mary. Verse 17. Look at this. Here's fifthly
something else that's suggested to us. And I'm almost finished.
Jesus said unto her, Touch me not, for I am not yet descended
to my Father. But go to my brethren, and say
unto them, I send unto my Father, and your Father, and to my God,
and to your God. Now what does this suggest to
us? When the Lord Jesus says here that God is not only my
God, He's now your God. And He's not only my Father,
but He's your Father. Doesn't this suggest to us that
Jesus Christ, by His dying and by His raising again, has so
reconciled His people to His Heavenly Father that God is as
much their God and their Father as He is the God and Father of
the Lord Jesus Christ. He has removed every obstacle
in God's way from receiving us and being a Father to us. Justice
has been perfectly satisfied. The law of God has been perfectly
satisfied. Sin has been perfectly atoned
for. There's nothing standing in God's
way from receiving every life's believer and saying, you're my
son and you're my daughter. I know that Jesus Christ is the
Son of God, like you and I never could be the Son of God. He is
the eternal, only begotten of the Father. But you know something?
His people are as much God's children as He is. And He said, Father, you've loved
them with the same love wherewith you have loved Me. Can I show you a passage right
quick? You ought to read a good passage. Look over in Ephesians
chapter 2. Old John 20. And look over in
Ephesians right quickly in chapter 2. And look here in verse 11. When Peter went down to preach to Cornelius the Gentiles,
what's one of the first things that he said to them? He went
down and saw those Gentile dogs all gathered together. And one
of the first things he said to them, I've come preaching peace.
through Jesus Christ. He's Lord of all. Peace with
God. Peace with God. You notice three
times when He appeared to these apostles in our text, every time
He said this, peace be unto you, peace be unto you, peace be unto
you. I'm telling you, brothers and
sisters, God is not angry anymore. God sent His Son to satisfy His
own justice and law and to remove everything. God is not angry. He's not angry with His people.
He's not angry with His children. Peace, peace, peace. And look
how He says it here in verse 11 of Ephesians, chapter 2. Wherefore remember that ye being
in time past, Gentiles in the flesh, who are called uncircumcision
by that which is called the circumcision and the flesh made by hands,
that at that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the
commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenant of promise,
having no hope and without God in the world. But now, in Christ
Jesus, you who sometimes were for all, are made nigh by the
blood of Christ, for He is our peace. who hath made both one,
and hath broken down the middle wall of petition between us,
having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments
contained in ordinances, for to make in himself of two one
new man, so make in peace. and that He might reconcile both
Jew and Gentile unto God in one body, His body, by the cross,
having slain the enmity thereby, and came and preached peace to
you which were afar off, and to them which were nigh." Brother Larry was talking about
death this morning. You know what? All my young life in the fear
of death. Many, many years I lived in the fear of death. I mean,
it was a horror, a torment for me. But you know something? That's gone. That's gone. And it should be gone. I'm a
believer in a resurrected Christ, the Son of God. And every believer
should feel just like this. that you have no more fear about
ascending to your God and Father that Jesus Christ had of ascending
to His God and His Father. God's children, His people, are
as welcome in heaven as Christ Himself. They are as near and
dear to the Father as Christ is. Now, I know that's a wonderful
thing, but that's what our Master here said. I ascend to your Father. and my Father, and to your God,
and my God. Sixthly, look back in our text
again. Two more quick things and we'll close. In verses 27
and verse 28, this suggests something to us.
When the Lord Jesus said in verse 27 to Thomas, Reach here your
fingers, and behold my hands, and reach here your hand, and
thrust it into my side. Be not faithless, but believe
us. And Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lord and my God. What does this suggest to us?
Doesn't it suggest to us that the early church, these apostles,
these disciples of the Lord, really and honestly worshipped
Jesus Christ as God? This is not just a doctrine,
a bare doctrine that we want to defend in our day. Jesus Christ
is God. I had a Jehovah Witness to tell
me that Thomas was just confused. He saw this risen Lord and he
said he just got confused. I said, wouldn't this have been
a good time, Dick, to unconfuse him and to tell him, Thomas,
wait. You don't worship me as God.
I'm not God. But he didn't, did he? He put his approbation on it.
Because you have seen me. You have believed. What do you
believe about me, Thomas? You believe I'm God. And I am. I am. He's God. I worship Him as God today, don't
you? The church, the true church still worshiped Him as God today. And lastly and seventhly is this. Verses 30 and verse 31 suggest
something to our minds. And many other signs truly did
Jesus in the presence of His disciples. which are not written
in this book. But these are written. These
words are written. These testimonies are written
that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. And that believing, you might
have life through His name. Doesn't this tell us how we're
saved? Doesn't this tell us how we're
forgiven of sin? Doesn't this tell us how eternal
life comes to us? It's not by dreams. It's not
by seeing visions. It's not by feelings. It's by
believing the infallible Word of God. Now that's simple, isn't
it? These things are written that
you might believe. We've never seen Him, and we
won't in this life. Then how can we be saved? By
believing the testimony. Paul said this in Romans 10,
didn't he? He said, if you will confess with your mouth the Lord
Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from
the dead, you're blessed. You're blessed. I believe it,
brothers and sisters. Really and honestly, I'm staking
all my salvation upon the testimony of God's Word. I'll be honest
with you, I haven't felt anything in a long time. I haven't felt
anything in a long time. But bad, I've been feeling bad,
sneezing, coughing, and hacking. But you know something? My confidence
don't come from my feelings. I believe God's Word. There was
a centurion that came and wanted the Lord Jesus to come and heal
his servant. He said, Lord, he's ready to
die. The Lord said, I'll come and
heal him. And then the centurion said, wait a minute, wait a minute.
He said, you don't have to come to my house. You don't have to
see my servant. You don't have to lay hands on
him. Speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed. And
you know what the Lord Jesus said about that man's faith?
I have not found so great a faith, do not in Israel. What was his
faith in? The word of Christ. This is the
Word of Christ that I read to you. If He stood up here in my
stead this morning, what would He say? Nothing any more than
He's already said. What more can He say to you He
has said? To you who for refuge to Jesus
have fled. He's said enough, hasn't He?
And no man will be lost that puts his absolute trust in the
Word of God. He won't. He won't. Let us pray.