Let's open our Bibles please to the Gospel of John chapter 20. The Gospel of John, the 20th chapter. We want to read together today verses 1-10. John chapter 20, verses 1-10. Now, as we concluded chapter 19 in our study together last Lord's Day, we looked at the death and burial of our Lord Jesus Christ. And now we pick up the reading at chapter 20 and verse 1. The first day of the week cometh Mary Magdalene early, when it was yet dark under 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 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 went he not in? Then cometh Simon Peter following him, and went into the sepulchre, 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 sepulchre, And he saw 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. Now, last Lord's Day, we concluded our study of chapter 19 in which we witnessed the crucifixion, the death and the burial of our Lord Jesus Christ. And between chapter 19 and chapter 20, for three days, Christ has been in the grave. Now, it's important for us to understand that the Jews reckoned any part of a day to properly be referred to as a day. And so, Jesus was in the grave part of Friday, He died at three o'clock in the afternoon on Friday. He was in the grave all day Saturday, and he was in the grave part of Sunday, from six o'clock Saturday evening until the early morning of Sunday, which was, of course, the third day. And so while he was not in the grave three 24-hour days, because he was crucified on Friday, which was the day before the Passover. Nevertheless, it is appropriate to speak of him as being in the grave for three days, because this is how the Jews reckon time that any part of a day was an entire day. So he's in there Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Now, this third day Sunday was the first day of the week, because for the Jews, Saturday was the seventh day, or the last day of the week. It was the Sabbath. It came at the end of the days of the week. Because you remember in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth, and day one, day two, day three, day four, day five, day six, and the seventh day was the Sabbath day. So the Sabbath day was the last day of the week. And so when it says in chapter 20 in verse 1, the first day of the week, this is speaking of Sunday. And it was on this day that Christ rose from the grave. Now, the resurrection of Christ is a crucial and pivotal event because it is the proof of Christ's triumph over death and over sin and over the grave. Death was always the penalty for sin. And when Jesus took our sins upon Himself, He must die in order to pay their penalty. But the fact that He arose from the dead was the proof that the penalty was fully paid. And therefore, death had no more claim upon Him. And therefore, no more claim upon them for whose sins He died. Now it is His resurrection that tells us that the penalty for our sins had been fully paid so that we too will one day arise from the dead to eternal life just as He did. And because our whole future and hope for deliverance from death hinges upon the resurrection of Christ, the biblical authors devote a great deal of time and effort to proving that the resurrection, in fact, actually did occur. Because they recognized, as Paul stated in 1 Corinthians 15-17, that if Christ be not raised from the dead, then their preaching was vain, their faith was vain, and they were yet subject to the penalty of their sins. And so Christianity either stands or it falls on the resurrection of Christ. And this is the reason why the proof of Christ's resurrection is dwelt on so extensively in the scriptures. Now, there are two lines of evidence offered for the resurrection of Christ. The first is that of the empty tomb, which is the subject of our passage today. After all, what happened to the body of Christ? There has to be an explanation for the fact that it is nowhere to be found. And the second line of evidence, which we shall consider in due course, is the post-resurrection appearances of Christ. Who is this person that is walking around declaring himself to be the same man who was crucified and buried? We see that Christ appeared to many different people over a long period of time, in a wide variety of circumstances, so much so that even those who did not want to believe were compelled to believe against their natural disposition. Now, today we want to look at this first evidence and proof of the resurrection, that of the empty tomb, which is the subject of our study today in verses 1 through 10. So, in the first place then, this morning, let us consider together the announcement of the resurrection. The announcement of the resurrection. Now, this is found in verses 1 and 2. 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. 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. Now, this Mary Magdalene that is spoken of here in this passage had been at the cross when Jesus was crucified. She had watched Him die. And she had also observed His burial by Nicodemus and Joseph. And she has now come back to the grave on the third day. He being buried on Friday. Saturday was the Sabbath when she must rest. And then early on the morning, the first day of the week, she comes back to the grave to put the finishing touches on the hurry job that was done of embalming Christ's body. Joseph and Nicodemus had to exercise haste in the burial of Christ to complete it before sundown because of the approaching Sabbath evening on Friday. And she, feeling that something was yet lacking, came with spices in order to complete the task in a fitting manner. She loved the Lord Jesus, and she would not have Him buried in any way other than in a way that was entirely appropriate and fitting to His dignity, His honor, and His meaning to her. And so, it was dark when she started It says in verse 1, she came early when it was yet dark. And so it was dark when she started out on her journey to the tomb, but by the time she arrived, dawn was breaking, so that she could see when she arrived, that the tomb had been opened. Now when she came upon this scene and saw the tomb opened, it startled her. The stone was completely removed from the mouth of the tomb. The Greek word that is used here for taken away indicates that the stone was lifted up out of its track in front of the cave mouth and removed, perhaps lying flat on the ground several feet away. I know you see in all the pictures it's just rolled to the side. But the word here does not imply rolled to the side. It implies lifted up and thrown down. Now you can imagine, when the angel came to remove that stone, he didn't just roll it aside. But rather, when he got done with it, it could not possibly be covering the mouth of the cave again. It would not roll back into place. In any event, something was clearly wrong here as she came upon this scene. Approaching the tomb, She obviously looked and saw that the body was gone, because this, of course, is what she declared to Peter. She didn't run to Peter and say, the tomb has been opened. She ran to Peter and said, the body is gone. So obviously she had approached, even though the text does not specifically say it, close enough to see that the body was gone, because that is precisely the content of her declaration to Peter and to John, that the body had been taken away. And so, having looked and seen that the body was gone, filled with fear and dread, she did the only thing she knew to do. She ran to tell Peter and John what had happened. Verse 2, Then she runneth and cometh to Simon Peter and the other disciple whom Jesus loved, and saith to them, They have taken away the Lord out of the sepulcher, and we know not where they have laid Him. And so, she thought that the grave had been robbed. and that the body was taken by unknown persons to an unknown location. Now, the anguish of seeing Jesus die was great enough, but then to think that His tomb had been opened and His body had been taken and desecrated, this was completely overwhelming to her. Imagine how you would feel if one of your loved ones had died and you had gone through all the anguish and grief and you had buried them and you come back a few days later and the grave is open and the body is gone. This is how Mary felt. The anguish of seeing him die was great, but now she is completely overwhelmed and she draws the conclusion that somebody has come and stolen the body. Now we know that the conclusion she drew was completely wrong. And we know that the anguish that she felt was entirely unnecessary. She did not fully understand what had happened. And therefore, she came to entirely wrong conclusions. We often do this ourselves, do we not? We draw wrong conclusions about things that happen in our lives. that is going to prove a great blessing to us because we are hasty in our judgments and because we are ill-informed in our judgments. And we look at a circumstance and we instantly go, oh no, it's awful. And we jump to conclusions about what has happened. And oftentimes it is that something that seemed to be a great disaster initially in due time proves to have been a great blessing that has been brought by God. Therefore, we need to be careful about not drawing too hasty of a conclusion about what appears to be a very bad event. Because God has promised to work all things together for good. And in due time, that good will become apparent to us. And so she thought she was announcing a disaster. What she was really announcing was a resurrection. But notice then in the second place, not only the announcement, but the inquiry. The inquiry, verses three through four, it says, Peter therefore went forth and that 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 so having heard this news, Peter and John determined to make an inquiry. They are very concerned about what they have just heard. So they decide to investigate and to determine if there is anything they can do about the situation. In fact, they are so concerned and so alarmed that they run to the scene as rapidly as they possibly can. John apparently is the faster and he arrives first. We see in these two men that they were not indifferent. to the concern of their sister in the Lord. Nor were they indifferent to the cause of Christ. When Mary was in distress, they immediately got up and went to see what they could do to resolve her problem and to bring her relief. And it seemed to them that Christ's honor had been violated. And they went to see what they could do to set that right. And in their ministry, both to their sister in the Lord, and in their ministry to their Master and their Lord, they showed intensity, they showed zeal, and they showed wholehearted effort. They didn't stroll and take their good old time about serving Mary or Christ. They got on it with all they had, and they got on it as soon as they could. and they got on it with all of the intensity they could muster. And the point is simply this, we need to be ready as well to meet the needs of our brothers and sisters in the Lord and respond to their cries for help. When people come to us and say, you know, I have a problem, don't say to them, well, look into it day after tomorrow. If at all possible, meet their need as soon as you become aware of it. Because to you, it might not be that big of a deal, but to them, it's a big deal. And so, when we're requested to help with something, when we see that there's a need, when someone's crying out, let us, with alacrity and with energy and with vigor, give ourselves as diligently and as energetically as we can to meeting that need. And not only do we need to be ready to meet the needs of our brothers and sisters in the Lord, we need to be quick in the cause of defending the honor of Christ when it appears that it has been desecrated. We live in a world that thinks nothing of blaspheming Christ, of mocking Christ, of speaking evil of Christ. And if we stand there in silence, we deny our loyalty to Christ and our commitment to Christ. It is imperative that we stand up for Christ in what seems that the world is attempting to desecrate His name and His person. We need to run as quickly as we can to His defense. If that means speaking up at work, if that means writing letters to the editor, if that means lobbying your congressman, whatever form it may take, We should never stand by while Christ's cause is desecrated and do nothing about it. We need to stand up for Him. We need to speak for Him. We need to act for Him at the moment it appears that His cause is under attack. And so these men were very zealous in responding to the need of their sister and responding to the cause of Christ. But having seen then the announcement, and having seen the inquiry, notice thirdly, the evidence. Now the evidence that they find is in verses 5-7. It says of John who got first to the sepulcher, and he stooping down and looking in saw the linen clothes lying, yet went he not in. Then cometh Simon Peter following him, and went into the sepulcher, and seeth the linen clothes lie in the napkin that was about his head, not lying with the linen clothes, but wrapped together in a place by itself. Now John had arrived first, but he did not go into the tomb. He merely stooped down, looked inside, and observed the grave close from the mouth of the tomb. It seems like he was fearful to go any further. Peter, however, is of a bolder spirit. Though not as fast as John, he has more boldness than John, and he goes right into the tomb himself. Do we not see here a picture of different gifts? One can run faster, one is bolder. And in their efforts, they encourage each other in the work of the Lord. But nevertheless, now inside the tomb, the situation is clear to be observed. The body is indeed gone. But what is of incredible significance is what is left and how it is left. Now, what is left is all the grave clothes that had been placed on Christ's body. Furthermore, the wrapping that was on His head had been neatly folded up and set down separately by itself. Now, how these things were left showed that some deliberate action was taken to place these things in order When Peter went into the tomb, this was no scene of wild disarray. It is an orderly scene. Not one of wild confusion. And the significance of it begins to sink into Peter's mind. And the significance is this. This body had obviously not been taken by grave robbers. Because they would have never left the clothes wrapped neatly, indeed they would have never left them at all. If they were going to take the body, they would have certainly taken the body, clothes and all. Or else, if they would have torn the clothes off to make him lighter to carry perhaps, though more difficult to carry, They would have scattered them about with no concern for their orderliness. And they certainly wouldn't have taken the time to fold them up and lay them neatly in order. Here, everything is neatly placed, even folded up. All is orderly. There is no disarray. Clearly, no criminal activity has gone on here. What has happened then? there is only one conclusion that can be drawn. And it is this, that Christ, having come back to life, calmly removed and carefully placed that which had covered Him in a neat and orderly fashion before leaving the tomb. Now, if we were to look in some of you children's bedrooms today, We would think criminal activity had gone on there. Such a disaster. Stuff scattered everywhere. It's like when a thief goes in a house, he pulls open the drawers and he dumps them out and he's looking for stuff. When he gets done, what's the house look like? It's a mess. But when Jesus left His room, He left it orderly and neat. That's a little aside for you parents. It was obvious. There have been many instances in which grave robbers have entered the Egyptian king's tombs in order to rob those tombs of their treasures. And when they leave there, they are a mess. And it's inconceivable that if the Romans came and stole the body, that they would do so because they had the thing locked up and they wanted it left there. The Jews wouldn't steal the body. They wanted it locked up and left there. And if some disciple had stolen the body, he certainly wouldn't have taken the time to neatly unwrap it, lay the grave clothes there while the soldiers are standing outside saying, hmm, I wonder why that stone is open. But rather they would have gotten the body out of there as fast as they could and not unwrapped it at all. Or if they had unwrapped it, stuff would have been scattered everywhere. But the seeing and the evidence declares that none of this occurred. And so we see the outcome. Having seen the announcement and the inquiry and the evidence, now the outcome. This is listed in verses 8 through 10. Then when and also that other disciple which came first to the sepulcher, and he saw and believed. For as yet they knew not the scripture that he must rise again from the dead." Now, the outcome is simply this. Against all of their doubts and ignorance and unbelief, they were forced by the evidence alone to believe that Christ had risen from the grave. These men, in fact, were convinced against their wills by the condition of the empty tomb and by the fact of the empty tomb that Christ had risen from the dead. The body wasn't there. There had to be an explanation as to where it went. The Romans wouldn't have stolen it and the Jews wouldn't have stolen it. And if the believers had stolen it, They would have not only had to overcome a whole Roman guard of 16 soldiers, but they certainly would have carried it out of their lock, stock and barrel wrapped up in all of its grave clothes. And so these men were convinced by the condition of the empty tomb and by the fact of the empty tomb that Christ had risen from the dead. Now, at this point in time, These disciples were ignorant of the meaning of the Old Testament Scriptures that prophesied of the resurrection of Christ. In verse 9 it says, for as yet they knew not the Scripture that He must rise again from the dead. That is, they did not understand from the Old Testament that Jesus would rise. They therefore had no clear expectation that He would. Even though he had pointedly told them so and had done so repeatedly, yet all of their expectations of the Messiah were formed by the Old Testament prophecies concerning him. And up to this point in time, they did not understand anything in the Old Testament to declare that the resurrection of the Messiah would occur. Now, it is not that the passages weren't there. Two of the most notable ones are Psalm 16, verses 10 through 11. And Isaiah 53, verses 11-12. And there are others that point to this fact. But they did not yet understand them. And we see this condition in the two disciples who were on the road to Emmaus when Jesus appeared to them after the resurrection. They're all puzzled about the fact that the Messiah died. and they're really puzzled about the fact that the body's gone and they just can't figure it out. And Jesus says to them, O fools and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken. Ought not Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into His glory? And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, He expounded unto them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself, including His resurrection, because they were ignorant." So it was not like When Mary ran to them and said, they've stolen the body of the Lord and I don't know where they put it. It's not like they looked knowingly at each other and nudged each other and said, oh, yes, we know what happened here. We've been expecting this. It was prophesied. I remember such and such passage. There was none of that. None of it. Instead, it was the physical evidence alone that caused them to believe and hope that Christ had indeed risen as He had promised. And Peter speaks of this hope and belief that he had in 1 Peter 1 and verse 3 when he says, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again unto a living hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. It was when he saw that Jesus had risen from the dead that he began to be filled with hope. They saw, they believed, they were filled with a living hope. And it says in verse 8, Then when in that other disciple, which came in first to the sepulcher, and he saw, And he believed. And what did he believe? More than that there was no body there, that required no belief. That was just a matter of observation. He believed that Jesus had risen from the grave. And so, he and Peter together at this point in time began to be filled with hope and belief in the resurrection of Christ. You see, these were not gullible men who wanted to believe, and were therefore convinced upon the most tenuous of evidence. But rather, these were men who were skeptical men, who had no intentions of believing. but were forced by the evidence in the empty tomb to acknowledge the truth so powerful, so clear, and so compelling was the evidence that Christ had left the tomb all by himself and had arisen from the grave. And so we have here the first proof of the resurrection of Christ. It is the nature and the condition and the fact of the empty tomb. And you see, the resurrection of Christ is the pivot upon which all of Christianity turns. It is the foundation upon which all of Christianity rests. It is something which is essential to saving faith. Because if Christ did not rise from the dead, then there is no victory over sin. And if there is no victory over sin and its consequences, then there is no salvation. And if there is no salvation, then we are yet in our sins, and of all men most miserable. But it says in Romans 10, verses 9-10, that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God has raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. With the mouth, confession is made unto salvation, and with the heart, man believeth unto righteousness." And so belief in the resurrection of Christ is an essential element of saving faith. A Christianity that does not have a resurrected Christ is no Christianity at all. And it is the nature of every Christian that he believes that Christ died according to the scripture, that he was buried, and on the third day he was raised again according to the scripture. Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 15 and verse 3 that that is the gospel. And so the wonderful news is that we are not following cunningly devised fables. when we declare the resurrection of Christ. This is not some mystical event in far distant history that has no objective historical verifiable proof. A multitude of witnesses saw the condition of this tomb, testified to that condition, and in that testimony made it abundantly clear that Christ had risen from the dead. Now, of course, if he had risen from the dead, we would expect that we should see him. And in fact, that's precisely what occurred over the next 40 days. There was no less than 15 separate occurrences of Jesus Christ manifesting himself to his disciples in the flesh over extended periods of time in different circumstances and situations with different groups of people. And once appeared to over 500 at once. with the result that the resurrection of Christ is the most well-established historical fact that there is in the annals of history. And so the good news is that Jesus did rise from the grave. The proof for that resurrection is abundant, and the implications of that resurrection is because of it, we too can be delivered from sin and its consequences, which are death in the grave, And when we lie our bodies in the grave, we lie ourselves in a bed of rest, waiting for that great and final day when Christ shall resurrect us all at once. He could do it piecemeal, one at a time, but he has chosen to wait and do it all at once. And when he does, what a glorious day that will be. Well, I call upon you, if you have not believed in Jesus Christ as your Savior, If you have not seen him as the resurrected Lord, confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus. Believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead and you will be saved. And what will you be saved from? From the wrath of God that is due to your sins. That's the good and glorious news of the Sabbath, of the resurrection of Christ the day after the Sabbath. Shall we pray together? Father, Thank you for our Savior, that he has triumphed over the grave and that we shall triumph as well. Father, help us not to be hasty in drawing wrong conclusions about your providential works, but help us to wait and see that indeed this too shall work together for good. And help us, Father, to be hasty in running to the needs of our brethren and to the cause of Christ, to strive to defend it and to remedy the distress. And our Father, we pray that as we provoke one another to ministry, that we might encourage one another to go forward faster and more diligently and deeper and further in our service to God and in our inquiry after the things of God, as Peter and John did to one another. And our Father, I pray that as we look upon this evidence of the resurrection of Christ, that we will realize that what happened here is that Christ came to life, calmly took off the grave clothes, neatly laid them in order and majestically walked out of the tomb. Thank you, Father, for such a Savior who triumphed over death and was not in confusion, was not in hurry, was not an uncertainty. but who left ample evidence behind to his disciples who had come, that he had left his place in triumph, in order, and in majesty. Father, I pray that we all might believe here today, that we might believe in the resurrected Christ and rest and rely on him agoned for the forgiveness of our sins. As John saw and believed, May we see today and may we believe. We ask it in Jesus name. Amen.