Open your Bibles with me to the
book of John, chapter 20. While considering my message for tonight, my subject, and reading the Word, trying
to find the will of God concerning the message, I read the 20th
chapter of John, and it was such a blessing to
me that I determined to read it tonight and just speak from
all 31 verses of John chapter 20. And I believe it will be a blessing
to you. It was to me. And this afternoon, before I
came over for the service tonight, I read it again and read my favorite
commentary, John Gill's commentary, on all of these verses. And it
was a blessing again. So let's look at it together. I'll try not to tarry too long
on each verse. But it says 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." Now, this was Sunday morning. Our Lord was crucified. Everyone believes on Friday,
and that's fine. And He lay in the tomb Friday
night all day on the Sabbath. Saturday was the Sabbath. and
all night on the Sabbath. Now, don't spend a lot of time
trying to figure out how three days and three nights can be
gotten into that time space, because that's not the important
thing here. The important thing is He was
crucified for our sins, and He was buried as our scapegoat,
and He rose again as our justifier. And let's stay on that. Now Mary
Magdalene, who was this? In Luke 8, verse 2, it tells
us who she was. Mary Magdalene is the woman,
Luke 8, verse 2, and certain women which had been healed of
evil spirits and infirmities. Mary, called Magdalene, out of
whom went seven devils. Now, not only is that written
there, but also in, don't turn to it, Mark 16, it identifies
her as being the woman out of whom God cast seven evil spirits. She loved Christ, loved the Master. To whom much is forgiven, they
love much. And here she is. Now, she couldn't
come to the tomb on the Sabbath day. She's coming And many people
believe the other women were with her too, and probably they
were, but they're not mentioned. They are in another place. But
she's coming with spices and precious ointment to anoint the
body of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what they did. Usually
it was done the next morning after death, but they couldn't
do it on the Sabbath day. So she comes on Sunday morning,
first day of the week. Very early in the morning, yet
dark. The sun was not up yet, but she came just soon as she
could make her way through the gloom. And it says the stone
was taken away from the sepulchre, and our Lord could have moved
that stone. But I'll tell you what this is. Our Lord was our
substitute and sacrifice and sin offering, crucified and buried. And justice itself, God sent
an angel down and move that stone. He didn't move it. It was moved
rightly and justly so that he might come out. Justice moved
it, because he didn't belong there. He's risen, he said. The living's not among the dead.
He's risen. All right. She came, and she
saw the stone taken away, and evidently she looked in. Had
to look in to know that he wasn't there. Did she run it? And cometh to Simon Peter and
the other apostle whom Jesus loved, and said to them, Now,
who is this apostle whom Jesus loved? It's the writer of this
scripture. I had a letter from a man just
a few days ago, who had finally decided who this was, who this
disciple was. He'd been wrestling with it,
he said, for years. And he finally discovered that
John here is writing about himself, and every time he mentions himself,
he never calls his name. Am I right? He never calls his
name. He always says, the disciple
whom Jesus loved, or the disciple who leaned on his breast at the
Last Supper, he always humbly Humbly he just won't call his
name now you go through the book of John and you'll find that
but that's who it is and She came and found Peter and John
the disciple whom Jesus loved and said to them They've taken
away the Lord out of the sepulchre and we know we that's read we
believe the other women were with her We know not where they've
laid him Peter therefore went forth and that other disciple
John and they came to the sepulchre So they ran both of them together.
And John, being the younger, he was younger than the Apostle
Peter, he outran him and came first to the sepulchre. And John,
this is his nature. You know the Lord's people. They're
chosen generation and a holy nation and a royal priesthood,
but they're not all alike. They're not all alike. They're
different. They've got different personalities. They've got different
callings. They've got different places
of service. They're just different. And John
and Peter are totally different. In several ways. John's younger.
Peter's older. John is more humble. Peter's
more outspoken. John is more reserved. Peter's
more impulsive. So John comes to the sepulchre
and stops. And stoops down and looks in.
You know what Peter did? Right on in. Read it here. Listen. And he stooping down and looking
in, saw the linen clothes lying, yet went he not in." That's his
nature. He didn't go in. He's standing
there, awestruck. Then comes Simon Peter following
him right into the sepulchre. He went. And I love them both,
don't you? And then the kingdom of God is
a place for both of them. And I remember one time having
a preacher here, and he preached. And somebody came by and shook
hands with him and said, well, you're the best preacher we've
ever had here. Instead of feeling complimented, he asked the man
if he would stop and let him say something to him. Called
him back. I was standing over there. He
said, brother, don't ever say that again. Don't ever say that
again, not to me or any other preacher. We're not competitors.
We're on the same team. We're on his team. We're in his
army. And you don't set one ever against
the other. That's carnality. That's what
Paul says in I Corinthians 3. One says, I'm of Paul, I'm of
Apollos, I'm of Cephas. Are you not carnal, he said?
Who is Paul? Who is Apollos? Who is Cephas?
We're just laborers in the vineyard. It's God's vineyard. You're God's
husbandmen, husbandry, and we're just servants, that's all. Don't
pit one servant against another. They're different, and I'm pointing
that out to you because it's so clear here. Peter ran in,
and he saw the linen clothes lie, and saw the nepkid that
was about to head. Now, listen to this. This napkin
is a handkerchief that was put around the head. And the linen
clothes, the Jews wrapped the body. Wrapped it. You don't you
remember when Lazarus came forth and the Lord said, Loose him.
Why? He was all wrapped up in this linen like they wrapped
the bodies. And when they came in to where
our Lord had lain and was gone, it was evident that he didn't
leave in a hurry. It was evident no one stole the
body, because the napkin was lying over here folded, and all
of those wrappings was over here somewhere else folded. That's
what it says, listen. And the napkin that was about
his head, not lying with the linen clothes, but wrapped together
in a place by itself, folded and laid down. He knew what he
was doing, he wasn't in any hurry. He's the king. He's going to
walk out of there. Just like you and I are going
to walk out some day. Not going to be snatched away, we're just
going to walk out. And then, then verse 8, went
in also that other disciple, here comes John, which came first
to the sepulchre, and he saw and believed. For as yet they
knew not the scriptures that he must rise again from the dead.
Isn't that something? Oh, how dull we are and they
are. You wonder, here John came into
the sepulchre, and the Lord was gone, and finally he said, I
believe. After all of this, you know the
Old Testament. Let me read just a couple of
scriptures. The Lord taught them these scriptures. Look at Psalm
16. You know, He quoted this. They
were familiar with this passage of Scripture, Psalm 16, verse
10. It says, this is the Messiah
talking, and they believed He was the Messiah. Thou wilt not
leave my soul in hell, that is, my body in the grave. Neither
wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to seek corruption. That's the
resurrection. In Isaiah, turn to Isaiah chapter
26, what I'm pointing out here, it says, as yet, they knew not the Scriptures
that he must rise from the dead. In Isaiah 26 verse 19, listen,
Thy dead men shall live, together with my dead body shall they
arise. Awake and sing ye that dwell
in the dust, for thy dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth
shall cast out the dead." He'll rise, and we'll rise with Him.
He'll be the firstborn from among the dead. And He told them that.
He said, they heard Him say that. They heard Him say, destroy this
temple, three days I'll raise it up. They heard Him say, as
Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the fish,
so shall the Son of Man be in the heart of the earth. They
were present when He raised Lazarus from the dead. It's just baffling. But yet, I'm baffled by my unbelief,
aren't you? And that's the point I'm making
here, is let's not be too critical of these godly men. Because we're... Oh, I pray all the time, Lord,
I do believe. I do. I do believe. I wouldn't
be up here if I didn't. But help thou mine unbelief. Help thou. Let's read on. Then
the disciples, verse 10, went away again into their own home.
But Mary, she wouldn't leave that place. She stood without
at the sepulchre, weeping. And as she wept, she stooped
down, and she looked into the sepulchre again. And she seeth
two angels in there, in white sitting, Two men. She still doesn't comprehend
all this. She really doesn't. One at the
head and the other at the feet where the body of Jesus had lain.
And they said to her, Woman, why weepest thou? Why are you
unhappy? And she said unto him, I am unhappy
because they have taken away my Lord, and I know not where
they have laid him. My, my. And when she had thus
said, she turned herself back. Now, she's here stooping, looking
into this sepulchre, this cave. It was a cave evidently in the
rocks. So the stone was rolled up. It
wasn't down this way. It was straight in like a sloped
mine or something open. She was looking in. And these
angels are sitting there. Two men, they're dressed in white,
and I don't know why she didn't know they were angels. Evidently
she didn't. But they said, why are you weeping? And then for
some reason, she turned herself this way. And Mr. Gill suggested
several things. She heard something behind her,
or one of the angels might have beckoned to her to look behind
her. But for some reason, she turned.
and looked behind her and saw the Lord Jesus standing and knew
not that it was Jesus. Her eyes were holding, as several
things might be suggested. She cried so much. Her eyes were
swollen, filled with tears. It was early morning and dim,
a mist about the place. Then she didn't expect to see
Him. A lot of things, but she didn't
know it was Christ. Maybe her eyes were holding like those
two disciples on the road to Maias, but she didn't know Him. And I'll tell you another thing
about this. Last time she saw Him, His body was hardly recognizable. He said His visage was marred
like no other man. Crucified, bloated, torn to pieces. And here stands a glorified person. Perfect. Perfect. And she didn't know it was...
And he said to her, Woman, why weepest thou? Why are you weeping? Whom seekest thou? And she, supposing him to be
the gardener, the keeper of the place, said unto him, Sir, If
you have borne him hence, tell me where you have laid him, and
I'll come take his body away." Telling me where he is. And Jesus said unto her, Mary,
she'd heard that. Our Lord knows His sheep. He calls them by name. And she'd been so much in His presence, And I'm
sure she'd heard that voice say, Mary, many times. Mary, Mary. And she turned herself again,
and she said unto him, Rabboni, which is to say, my master. Isn't that precious? My master. And I know what she did next.
She just fell at his feet. These Marys found themselves
always at His feet, kissing His feet or anointing them with precious
perfume or sitting at His feet learning. But she evidently,
she was so thrilled and so happy, so beside herself to know that
her Lord lives. And she just reached and grabbed
Him by the feet and fell at His feet. And He said, Now, change
this in the margin of your Bible. I heard a fellow preach one time
that built a whole doctrine on this. Touch me not, for I am
not yet ascended to my Father. And he says when the Lord said
that, that meant he hadn't gone up there with the blood offering
yet and the sacrifice. And that's not what he's saying,
believe me. That's not it. That's not it. What he's saying
here is, Mary, don't cling to me. You don't have to cling to
me. I'm not yet gone back to the
Father to stay. It'll be 40 days before I go
back to the Father. You'll see me plenty of times.
I'll be around some more. You don't have to cling to me.
I want you to do something. I want you to go to my brethren
and say to them, I am ascending. I am going back to my Father,
your Father, my God, and your God. Go to my disciples and give
them some comfort and assurance." She was the first one to see
him and talk to him after he arose. And she just grabbed him
by the feet. She wasn't going to leave him.
He said, no, don't cling to me. Don't cling to me. You don't
have to. I'm not leaving now. I'm going back to the Father,
but I want you to go tell my disciples that I'm going back
to my Father and your Father, my God and your God. There's
the good news. Somebody said this. Somebody
said, this is our comfort of life eternal. This is our assurance that the
same relationship that He has with the Father, now in Him we
have with the Father. He's my God. Just like He's this
God and Father, my Lord Jesus Christ. He's my Father, I cry,
Abba Father. You see, our Lord appeared here
to Mary. He appeared to the women. He
appeared to those two fellows on the road to Emmaus. This is
what He said, don't cling to me. You don't have to cling to
me. I'm not going back to the Father yet. I'm going back to
my God and your God, my Father and your Father, same relationship.
And you tell them that. But he appeared to Simon. He
appeared to the disciples. Over here I'll tell you in a
minute about it. Thomas wasn't there. He appeared
to him again and Thomas was there. He appeared to the seven disciples
in John 21 on the Sea of Galilee. He appeared to 500 brethren at
once. Paul said most of whom were still
living at that time. He appeared to James, his brother,
the Lord's brother, James. He appeared to the eleven on
the mountain. And he appeared to Paul on the
road to Damascus. He made several appearances.
So you don't have to cling to me, Mary. And so she came, verse
18, and told his disciples, I've seen the Lord. And He's spoken
these things unto me." That's a good message, isn't it? And
a good testimony. I've seen the Lord. And you can
say that, and I can say that. I've seen Him in His Word. I've
seen Him in His Gospel. I've seen Him in His promises.
And He's spoken these precious things to me. Comfort my shepherds. All right. Look at verse 19. Then the same day at evening
being the first day of the week. And let me pause there just a
moment. These disciples, and you're going to read this a couple
of times in this chapter, met on the first day of the week.
We do not find in the New Testament ever any congregation of believers
assembling on the Sabbath. Don't find it. They met on the
first day of the week. The apostles preached to the
Jews on the Sabbath in the synagogue, in the temple, but the believers
met on the Lord's Day, on the first day of the week. Let me
show you that in Acts 20. Turn over there a moment. You
say, why do we meet on the Lord's Day? Why do we meet on the first
day of the week? That's the day the disciples met. They assembled
together on the first day of the week, and they kept doing
it thereafter, on the first day of the week. In Acts 20, verse
7. And upon the first day of the
week when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul
preached to them, ready to depart on the morrow and continued his
speech until midnight. They met on the first day. Now,
turn to 1 Corinthians 16. 1 Corinthians chapter 16. Talking here about the collection,
the offerings for other churches and other ministers and missionaries
1 Corinthians 16, 1, Now concerning the collection for the saints,
as I have given orders to the churches of Galatia, even so
do ye, upon the first day of the week, that every one of you
lay by and store, as God has prospered him, that there be
no gatherings when I come. I don't, we'll meet any day. Any day is the Lord's day. We'll
meet on Wednesday. We'll meet on Monday. I'm going
to preach this week on Thursday and Friday and Saturday. But
I find in the New Testament that the disciples met on the first
day of the week. That was the day when they were
together. And it says here, that same evening,
the first day of the week, when the doors were shut and the disciples
were assembled for fear of the Jews. They were afraid they'd
crucified their Lord. They were afraid they were going
to do the same thing to them. Came Jesus and stood in the midst
and said unto them, Peace be unto you. Now let me shatter
another. another, I don't know what to call it,
an old saying or something, that the door was shut and bolted
and locked and he walked through it. No, I don't believe so. That would have encouraged their
fear that he was a ghost, if he'd have done that. That door
just opened for him. He didn't walk through the stone.
that was on the mouth of the tomb, and He didn't walk through
that door. It opened, and He came in. Now
let me show you in Luke 24. It says, "...and as they thus
spake, Jesus Himself stood in the midst of them." He didn't
have to walk through a wall. He came through the door and
stood there in the middle of their group. and said to them, Peace be unto
you. And they were terrified and affrighted and supposed they'd
seen a spirit. And it's just positive that's
exactly what they would have thought for you to come through
that wall. But He came, He's resurrected,
He has a body now of flesh and bone. Now read on, listen. He
said, While you trouble, while thoughts arise in your heart,
behold, my hands and feet It's, I myself handle me and see a
spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see me have. And
flesh and bones don't walk through walls either. No, it doesn't
walk through walls. It comes in the door. And that's,
you've heard all this. You've heard, you've heard, it's
just shattering some of those. And what they do is they really,
it's basically error. And what error does, you say,
well it doesn't matter, but it leads to other errors. Because
we're going to be like Him. We're not going to walk through
walls. We're going to have flesh and bones in our resurrected
body. This body is going to be raised.
And this is the thing that gives the credit to these invisible
people that are sitting around on clouds up in the air, you
know, floating around plucking on harps. We're going to be people,
people that eat. He said, you got anything
to eat? And he ate. Alright. He stood
there and he said, Peace be unto you. And when he had so said,
he showed them his hands and his side. Then were the disciples
glad when they saw the Lord. What was there about his hands
and side that convinced them? The nail prints. The nail prints
in his hand. And the spear mark in his side.
That's right. article in our bulletin by Morris
Montgomery today. I'll just read you part of it.
When all the redeemed of the Lord are assembled in glory with
their great Redeemer, perfected and glorified, the only visible
evidence of the consequences of sin will be seen not on us,
but on Him. The scars. That's right. The marks in His side. and in
his hands and in his feet. And that's what he said, just
reach hither and touch my hands. You see those scars? And they
said, well, it's got to be the Lord. It's got to be the Lord. You see, even in heaven, there's
a Lamb as if it were slain in the midst of the throne. We're
going to worship the Lamb. You have those scars. All right,
let's move on. Verse 21, Then said Jesus to them, Again, peace
be unto you. He's getting their attention,
and he says, As my father hath sent me, even so send I you. His father sent him to preach
the gospel to the poor, to declare liberty to the captive, to set
at liberty those that are bruised, sight to the blind. And that's
what we do. We're carrying the gospel that
does that. We don't do it, but the gospel
does. And you'll say, now we don't.
Watch this here. And when he had said this, he breathed on
them and said unto them, Receive ye the Holy Spirit." Not the
grace of the Holy Spirit. They already had the grace of
the Holy Spirit. A man can't call Jesus Lord but
by the Holy Spirit. If any man has not the Spirit
of Christ, he's none of His. These were regenerated men. These
were believers. They had the Holy Spirit. He
breathed on them. And they receive the gifts of
the Holy Spirit, special gifts. You know, our Lord had the Holy
Spirit without measure. We have the Spirit of God definitely
with measure. And what He's doing is breathing
on them, and they receive gifts to preach in other languages,
gifts to heal, even to raise the dead. They receive the gifts
of the Holy Spirit. And I'll tell you, only the Lord
can do that. You turn your television on,
you see these fellas going, blowing on people, that's blasphemy.
About all you can get when they'll blow on you is a whiff of bad
breath, or a clorette, but you're not going to get anything else.
My Lord breathes on men, and they receive the Holy Spirit.
He breathed into Adam the breath of life, and he became a living
soul. And here He's breathing on these disciples and they receive
the Holy Ghost. Why? The preceding verse said,
as my Father sent me. And He came in the power of the
Spirit. He came in the power of the Spirit.
What He did? He did by the Spirit of God upon
Him. He's a man, Christ Jesus, God-man. He had the Spirit without measure.
The Holy Spirit descended in the form of a dove, you remember?
So he says to his disciples as he breathed on them, now watch,
whosoever sins you forgive or remit, they are remitted unto
them. And whosoever sins you retain,
they are retained. Now this has led to a terrible
error. You see, these men had great
gifts and great power and great authority and great discernment.
But no man has the power to forgive anybody's sins. That's foolishness. Only God can forgive sin. Peter
didn't have the power. This is what has led to this
vicar of Christ, and the Pope, and the confessional, and the
priest, this very verse right here. These men claim to have
the power to forgive sin. If they remit sins, they're remitted
if they If they retain them, they're retained. That's not
so. Peter never had any power like
that, nor the disciples. Only God can forgive sin. What
he's saying here is this gospel you preach has the power to set
men free. See that? Go ye into all the
world and preach the gospel. He that believeth and is baptized
shall be saved. He that believeth not shall be
damned. Yes, we've got a powerful thing here. This is the gospel
of God's grace that saves, it cleanses, it redeems, it gives
life, the gospel. For man believes it, receives
it, his sins are remitted. If he refuses it and will not
receive it, his sins are retained. So who brought this gospel? God's
servant did. You see that? Peter, James, John,
This preacher here, any other preacher, if God's with him,
is bringing the gospel. And the gospel is the power of
God unto salvation. See that? That's what Scripture
says. And that's what that means. Don't you know, and I know, as
well as we're standing here, that no man can forgive another
man's sin. When our Lord said that, Thy
sins be forgiven thee, well, they said, What manner of man
is this that says he can forgive sin? He can. But I can't. And nobody else can. But I tell
you, my gospel can. My gospel can. My gospel will
set you free. If you believe it. If you don't,
my gospel will be death under death. It's either life under
life or death under death. But it's a critical time when
a man hears the gospel. That's what that's talking about.
Alright, but Thomas. Poor Thomas. Ah, Thomas. He wasn't
there. Thomas called Didymus. What is
this Didymus? That's his Greek name. Thomas
is a Jewish name. These men worked among Gentiles
and Greeks and they took their name too, Didymus. He was not
with them when Christ came. And the other disciples therefore
said to him, we've seen the Lord. But poor Thomas, he said, except
I see in his hand the print of the nails. and put my finger
in the print of the nails and thrust my hand in His side, I'll
not believe." Oh, my. Think about that. Except I see, I'll not believe. That is the very opposite of
faith. Faith is the evidence of things
not seen. It's the substance of things
hoped for. We don't walk by sight, we walk
by faith. And the thing is the opposite,
believe, God said, and I'll show you. Thomas just said, show me,
and then I'll believe. But I tell you, this is encouraging
to me. My Lord is gracious even to that. That's our hope. I mean, we can talk like a stupid
pagan, and yet He keeps on loving us. We'd quit each other over
that. But thank God, listen, after
eight days, see, that's Sunday again, Because this is Sunday
when there's a meeting. It's Sunday, Monday, Tuesday,
Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday morning. They
assembled again. They were within, and Thomas
was with them. And then came Jesus. The door was being shut.
He came, stood in their midst. They were still afraid. Up there
where the door was locked, and said, Peace be unto you. And
then said he, Thomas, reach hither your finger, and behold my hands,
and reach hither your hand, thrust it into my side. Be not faithless,
but believe in." And Thomas answered and said, My Lord, my God, He
is, He's our Lord, our Savior, our Redeemer, and our God. My
Lord and my God. Oh my, we've had those, he says
in verse 29, he says, Thomas, because you've seen me, you believe.
Blessed are they that have not seen and yet have believed. Blessed
are they. And many other signs did the
Lord Jesus in the presence of His disciples. You see, these
men needed so much confirmation. They needed so much strength
for what they're about to do. They're going out into a pagan
world without the New Testament. They're going out and facing
just untold hardship. Let me tell you something about
these twelve men, or eleven now. What happened to them? Peter
was crucified upside down at Rome. James the Less was stoned
to death. John, the writer here, was exiled
to the isle of Patmos, away from everybody. Andrew was crucified. Philip was stoned and then his
body hanged on a cross. Thomas was killed with a spear.
This man with his doubts and fears, but he knew what was ahead. He was killed with a spear. Bartholomew was beaten and then
crucified. Matthew was slain with a halberd. That's a combination spear and
axe. It's one of those long spears
with that big axe on top. He was cut to death. James the Great
was beheaded. Simon Zalotes was crucified and
the disciple named Jude Was crucified And so our Lord showed them many
other signs None of these men ever turned back None of them
ever denied his resurrection none of them And then he said
this he did many many things that are not written in this
book that But these are written that you and I might believe
that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing,
we might have life through His name. These things are written
that we might hear. Faith comes by hearing, and hearing
by the Word of God. Not only that we might hear,
but we might believe. May God enable us to believe. and that we might believe unto
life eternal. He that believeth on the Son
hath everlasting life. Well, I pray that it be as great
a blessing to you as it was to me preparing it for you. Let's
sing a closing hymn. I believe 228, Mike, is that
our number? 228. We'll sing this as our benediction.