John 20, we're looking at verses 11 through 18 today as our text as we continue our study together of John's Gospel. Some of the ladies had come to the tomb. They knew that Jesus was risen. The angels had given them that information. They ran. They told the disciples. Peter and John ran to the tomb. John believed, Peter went home a bit confused, but Mary, verse 11, stood weeping outside the tomb, and as she wept, she stooped to look into the tomb, and she saw two angels in white sitting where the body of Jesus had laid, one at the head, one at the feet. They said to her, woman, why are you weeping? She said to them, they've taken away my Lord and I do not know where they've laid him. Having said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing, but she did not know it was Jesus. And Jesus said to her, woman, why are you weeping? Who are you seeking? Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him and I will take him away. And Jesus said to her, Mary, And she turned and said to him, in Aramaic, Rabona, which means teacher. And Jesus said to her, do not cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and say to them, I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God. Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, I have seen the Lord. And that he had said these things to her. Father, what a wonderful story this is and how much it is like our own story. So I just pray this morning that you would encourage our hearts. Help us respond like Mary finally did. Rejoice that our Lord is alive, that He is our Savior, our Master. Help us to be quick to tell others this wonderful news. We pray in His name. Amen. Well, I never tire of hearing people tell me the story of how it was that they came to know Jesus Christ as their own Savior from sin. And many of the stories that I've heard, I have to admit, are unique regarding the circumstances that brought a particular sinner to Christ. And yet, at the same time, there's this common thread that runs through so many of the stories about salvation. Very, very often, God has orchestrated events by bringing other people across the path of someone who needs Christ. And sometimes it's a family member, or sometimes it's a friend, and sometimes it's just a complete stranger who comes along and introduces someone to Jesus Christ. But always there is this idea of someone who's willing to tell the good news about Jesus, and that's how people are born again. You know, the New Testament has a lot of stories like that. We're familiar with the stories as we studied through John. We're familiar with the story about John himself, how he came to know Christ early on. And then there was Andrew and Peter and Nathanael and Philip. You remember, they were among the earliest followers of Jesus, having been introduced to him by John the Baptist. We remember the great story of Matthew, the tax collector, who, upon meeting Jesus, stood up immediately from the tax table and followed after him. Or Zacchaeus, who was born again in the sycamore tree. Or Mary Magdalene, from whom Jesus had cast out seven demons. And this Mary is the person in focus in this text here in John chapter 20. She met Jesus. She knew Jesus. She loved Jesus. She followed Jesus all the way to the cross. And yet, we cannot help but wonder this morning what she believed about Jesus. You know, it appears that she, like most of Jesus' followers, were quite earthbound in their belief and understanding By that, we mean that she, like the disciples, really, really did expect Jesus to be the Messiah, but they really expected the Messiah to simply restore the nation of Israel to a nation of grandeur. Then, as it worked out, when the Romans killed Jesus and two very kind men buried Him in a tomb, that little faith of theirs was shattered, completely. You know, the story of our text is just full of this wonderful news that Mary, like so many other people in the New Testament, finally came to understand, fully understand who Jesus really was. And when she got it, she went and told some other people about it. She just had to tell the good news. In fact, it's rather instructive to watch Jesus' method of revealing himself to individuals and then to select groups of people. You know, really, after he rose from the dead, Jesus could have made an announcement, sent word around that we're going to have one big assembly, one big convention over at the Colosseum in Caesarea. Y'all show up and I'm just going to reveal myself in my glorified body with all my glory. He didn't do it that way, did he? Instead, Jesus systematically revealed Himself to individuals, a few at a time, because He knew who would believe Him, how they would believe Him, when they would believe Him. For example, you follow that pattern through the Gospel accounts and also in Acts. And what you notice is on the first day, for example, the first day, the day of His resurrection, He showed himself to those women. I don't know how many there were, but some of them were on their way from the tomb, and he met them along the way, Matthew 28. He reveals himself to Mary Magdalene that day, early in the morning. We read in our text here today. And then to Simon, according to Luke 24, and also to those two disciples who were on the road to Emmaus. We read that also in Luke chapter 24. And finally, he meets with ten apostles who were hiding behind locked doors, John chapter 20, verse 19. That we read about a week later. Jesus met with 11 apostles. Thomas was there that time, John 20, verse 26. Probably that was about the same time that Jesus had breakfast with seven disciples who were fishing on the Sea of Galilee, John 21. And then within the next 40 days, Jesus reveals himself again to 11 apostles, Matthew 28, 500 believers all at one time, 1 Corinthians 15. And finally to those 11 apostles, and I'm not too sure, but what there might've been a lot more followers with Jesus at that point, on the Mount of Olives when he ascended back to heaven, Acts chapter 1. But that's the way Jesus revealed himself to particular individuals in small groups. One of them was Mary. And this meeting with Jesus demonstrates many of the common experiences that we people have when the truth about Jesus finally breaks in on us. And we get it. Wasn't that a great day in your life? What do we do about that? You know, often that day is accompanied by contrition, according to verse 11 through 13. Because at the outset, when we start reading this story in verse 11, we find that Mary is weeping, and obviously weeping is going to indicate a certain amount of sadness. Verse 11, Mary stood weeping outside the tomb, and as she wept, she stooped to look in the tomb. Now, weeping in this particular case is a really, really bad situation because there was really no reason for Mary to weep, was there? Of course, we have the advantage of looking back with hindsight. She didn't. But she was weeping because the tomb was empty. And that's the amazing part of the story. That's the very reason why she should not have been weeping, is because the tomb was empty. She should have been excited that there was no body in the tomb, that the body was gone. She should weep. If the body is still there, if she sees the body of Jesus and He's still dead, that'd be cause for weeping. She ought to weep. We'd weep with her. Because if the body of Jesus was still in the tomb, all of Christ's promises failed and He's not trustworthy. His sacrifice for sin failed if His body was in the tomb. We have no Savior, there's no atonement for sin, and we're still in our sins, and we're still unreconciled to God, and we are His enemies by nature. We would weep with Mary if the body was in the tomb. You know, it's so easy for us to look back from the 21st century and criticize Mary for weeping, even while her reason for joy is at hand, right in her presence. She doesn't know it. But are we not often blind just like that? I mean, how often have we faced certain times in our life when the questions just mount but there are never any answers? Or the answers seem to be all the wrong answers. And not only does life not seem to improve day after day, but sometimes it actually seems to get worse just when we thought it couldn't get any worse. And what do we conclude in times like that? When we are distressed and we find ourselves in difficulty, and as it were, the tomb was empty and we don't know where the body is. The presence of Jesus is right there, but how do we respond? We say, where are you, God? Don't you care? Come on, God, are you unconcerned, Lord? Are you unaware? Is it that I've misunderstood? You're really unjust. You're unfair. You're unkind. Haven't you ever felt like that? Yet none of those things are true at all. And the reason they're not true is because God is there. God's presence is with us in our circumstances, and he is working them out for his glory and for our benefit and for our good. That's what was happening to Mary, and she didn't understand it. She was blind and that kind of spiritual blindness offers no hope in difficult circumstances. She was simply weeping because, very practically, she could not see Jesus. She demonstrated that kind of spiritual blindness that always renders us to be what Jesus titled, little faiths. Have you ever been guilty of being a little faith kind of a person? Like Jacob. Jacob was such a little faith person when he had no reason. I mean, he had all the reasons to be a man of great faith. Here God was in the process, in the very process of leading Jacob's sons. To safety? To security? To prosperity? How? Through Joseph who he had already put down in Egypt? And Jacob was distraught. He was very discouraged. I mean, really, he concluded life is unfair. He says to his sons, even while God is clearing the road for Jacob and his whole family to go to Egypt, where Jacob would be restored to his wonderful son, Joseph. Jacob says to his sons, I'm miserable. I'm absolutely convinced. that God doesn't care and I'll never see Joseph, even while God was paving the way. Are we ever like that? Little faith causes sadness. That's what happened to Mary when she looked in the tomb. She sees these messengers and the messengers wonder what's wrong with her. Verse 12, verse 13, she saw two angels in white sitting where the body of Jesus had lain, one at the head, one at the feet. They said to her, woman, why are you weeping? Now, folks, understand, when the angels asked Mary why she was weeping, they weren't looking for an answer. This wasn't a question saying inform us. In fact, their question was really a rebuke. Because by this time, considering all that had happened, and especially what had happened to the other women, by this time the evidence was really clear and Mary really should have understood that Jesus was risen from the dead. That's why they say, why are you weeping? You have no reason to be weeping. More than that, even before any of this took place, before the crucifixion, before the burial, before the resurrection, Jesus had taught Mary She just didn't get it. Jesus had clearly taught that this is exactly what was going to happen, that He was going to rise from the grave. Matthew 12-39, Jesus said to the Pharisees, just like Jonah, three days, three nights in the belly of the fish. And He came to the land and said, I am going to rise from the earth. Why didn't Mary get it? She was on a picnic over at the lake that day. I don't know. But she forgot. Little faith has a hard time recalling God's promises. In response to the angel's question, why are you weeping? Mary said, they've taken away my Lord. I do not know where they've laid Him. She was just so earth-focused, so life-focused, like us. That's kind of how we live our lives. You know, in real life, this happens. People die, they're buried. That's the end. It's over. That's real life. That's what happened to Jesus, according to Mary. In real life, you want to do something nice. You want to honor the people. And so Mary goes to honor Jesus by anointing His body with more spices. That's real life. That's earth focus. That's being confined to the temporary earthly life. The folks in eternity, the sphere in which God operates, none of that stuff matters. God's way is so superior. So who or what is going to shake Mary out of this funk? I mean, what's going to happen? She just needed to have a really, really good, serious meeting with the author of life. And she did in this confrontation. Verse 14, she's so confused. This is a touching scene, guys, really. I know you women all get it, but guys are so obtuse. But this is just a touching scene. She just doesn't know Jesus. She loves Jesus. She had faith in Jesus. She followed Jesus all the way to the cross, and all of a sudden she doesn't know him. Verse 14, how sad. Having said this, she turns around and saw Jesus standing, but she did not know that it was Jesus. Why? Have you ever wondered about that? Well, you know, it might have been very difficult for her to recognize Jesus who had a glorified body. I don't really know what I'm talking about there, but it's a speculation, okay? Maybe that's the problem. We do know that after Jesus rose from the dead, he had a glorified body. It was a new body. And because of that, you have these two disciples on the road to Emmaus this very same day, and he's walking right along with them for quite some time, but they don't know who he is. You have the disciples next week, they're up fishing at Lake Galilee, Jesus is on the shore and they look out there and there's some bit of discussion among themselves. Who is it? We don't know for sure, they didn't recognize Him. And yet at the same time when He enters into this locked room and there's ten and eleven disciples, two different times, they knew exactly who He was. We know that His body bore the marks, the wounds of the nails and the spear. Yet in that glorified body he could cook and he could eat fish just like we do. And yet at the same time, unlike us, he could rise out of the grave clothes and leave them undisturbed, walk out of a tomb. He could walk through locked doors, enter a room where frightened disciples were meeting together. You know, all that really proves is exactly what God said through the Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 15 when he talks about the glorified body, the new body that we will have. We don't know the extent, but here's the principle. So it is with the resurrection of the body or of the dead. What is sown is perishable. What is raised is imperishable. It is sown in dishonor. It's raised in glory. It's sown in weakness, raised in power, sown a natural body, raised a spiritual body. There's a natural body. There's also a spiritual body. There it is. That's what Jesus had, one of those. What did it look like? Somewhat like Him. Mary didn't recognize Him, and yet at the same time I think it might be entirely possible, maybe even more probable, that the reason she did not recognize who Jesus was is because of the trauma, emotional upheaval that she had gone through. It's so difficult for her to just make sense of anything. You know, we generally draw conclusions about life based on presuppositions. I know you're not like that, but I'm a lot like that. Mary presupposed Jesus was dead. End of conversation. Whoever this is, it can't be Jesus then. And that will make it so we can't recognize, you know. Mary presupposed Jesus being dead. His body was missing. Therefore, whoever this is. Must be the gardener or someone. Do you realize that most people in the world have presuppositions about Jesus, like, for example, OK, there's Jesus, but he's not God. Or, OK, there's Jesus and he's not God, but he was really, really, really, really special prophet from God, and therefore he could not have died on the cross, so he didn't die. Or others would say, well, no, He wasn't God and He wasn't really all that special and He did die and He's still dead. He never rose from the grave. And none of those people can possibly have Jesus as their Savior because they don't recognize Him. They don't know who He is. He might as well be the gardener who can do nothing for us eternally. Mary was so focused on the explainable Earthly things that she just could not even imagine the blessing who was standing right beside her. Verse 15, last part of the verse. Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, Sir, if you've carried him away, tell me where you have laid him and I will take him away. What sad words. This is Jesus. God the Son. Ever living. Author of life. Judge of eternity. Supposing him to be the gardener. Those words betray the fact that Mary just could not conceive of a risen Savior. To her, there just really wasn't any possibility that Jesus was not dead. She was still focusing on meeting the needs of anointing the body, or if necessary, reburying the body, putting the body in another tomb. Why does she make that such an important part of her life? Folks, you have to understand, here's something we generally don't think about, but Mary Magdalene probably had the financial wherewithal to do that. If you don't take that into consideration, you won't understand why she was thinking the way she was thinking. I suppose she was somewhat wealthy. Luke helps us understand that Luke chapter 8 verse 2 there are also some women who were with Jesus who had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities Mary called Magdalene from whom he cast seven demons out Joanna the wife of Kuza, Herod's household manager and Susanna and many others notice who provided for them out of their means Not only want to get into a discussion about how Mary got that money, but she had money And sometimes, or maybe all the time, financial plenty is seldom good when it makes us independent of our master. Just tell me where he is. I'll take care of it. I have more spices. I can anoint the body. I can get another tomb. Not a problem. I've got the money. And Mary's like so many religious people. They find themselves sad because they're caught up in circumstances that are beyond their control. Or they are sad because they are facing personal loss. They are distraught because what they really, really, really wanted is gone or unavailable, unachievable. And yet they are determined they are going to get control of this situation. No, thank you, I don't need your help. I can handle this. I have the ability. I have the wherewithal. I can take care of this problem. How terribly sad that we're so independent. And an untrusting of our master. That we really do feel like we can just take matters into our own hands and solve the problems. That don't even exist. That's Mary. Yeah, I love her. But she was pretty human. Pretty earth-focused. Pretty little-faithed. Jesus loved her. In spite of this attitude, He shows great concern for her. Jesus said to her, Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking? Now, listen to those questions very carefully because Jesus also was not looking for information. He knows everything. The first question, like the angel's question, is a rebuke. Mary, you shouldn't be weeping. Your friend's alive. The Redeemer who paid for your sins, He's alive. He validated the sacrifice. It's sufficient. He is your Savior. He wants to give you eternal life. Why are you weeping? The second question presses Mary for an explanation. Whom are you seeking? Really, the question Jesus is asking is this, what kind of Messiah are you looking for, Mary? You know, really, who do you want? What kind? You want a dead body of a mere man? I mean, is that kind of really what you had in mind? Did you really think Messiah was here to restore the nation of Israel and his quest failed? And that's why you're so sad. Is that the kind of Messiah you want? And we ask ourselves today, what kind of savior do I want, really? Do I want a savior? who will forgive my sins and then let me live any way I choose? What kind of a Savior is that? Do I want a teacher who really doesn't care what I know about Him, who really doesn't care if I read His Word and learn about Him? Do I want that kind of teacher? Do I want a master who really doesn't care if I serve Him? I mean, it just really doesn't matter to Him if I'm His servant or what kind of servant. Do I want the kind of teacher, master who doesn't really care if I become like Him? Is that the kind of Messiah I want? You know, Jesus' question implied, are you looking for the person The person who taught you that he is God having come from God and is going back to God. Is that who you're looking for? Well, Mary, stop and think about it. You're looking in the wrong place if you're looking in the tomb. I'm not that kind of God, not that kind of safe. And still, the master really does, I think, delight in reminding us of the things that he has already taught us. And that's what church is for, folks. So Bible studies are for us, what small groups are for. The master delighting to teach us the things to remind us of the things that he's already taught us. Well, Mary was convinced. Verse 16. Convinced because Jesus knows exactly who she is, Jesus said to her, Mary. It's over. One word. He speaks one word and all her doubts are gone. Her little faith is evaporated. One word and she understands. Her spiritual blindness just disappears. Why? Because Mary really was one of this shepherd's sheep. Do you remember what he taught about that relationship? To him the gatekeeper opens, the sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. And when he has brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice." Mary, that's all it took. She heard the shepherd. She knew his voice. He speaks, and the sound of His voice is all it takes. And she turned, and she said to Him in Aramaic, Rabboni, which means teacher. This is great. She didn't address Him as a miracle worker, though He was a great miracle worker. He cast seven demons out of her. She didn't address him as the provider of free food, the healer. It's as though all of the teaching that Jesus had given to Mary over those three years or whatever it was that she followed, suddenly exploded in her mind and it just all made sense. I get it. I get it. I know who you are. I know what you have been teaching all these years. Do you really, Mary? Do you know? Then go tell somebody. And that's the commission. Because as soon as Mary responds in faith, Jesus says, well, go and tell. Verse 17, Jesus said, Do not cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. Go to my brothers and say to them, I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God. Now folks, it really, really is good for us to desire the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ just like Mary did here, but it's not good for us to cling to Him. You say, well wait, I know the Bible pretty well and I've got a little bit of a dilemma here, Pastor, because that kind of isn't what Jesus said to Thomas. Yeah, there is a bit of a situation there. When Jesus said, here are the nail prints, my hands, spear scar in my side. But you see, here was the difference. Thomas vowed that he would never ever believe that Jesus was risen from the dead unless he could see the prince in his hand, feel the prince in his hand, the scar on his side. And Jesus shows up and simply calls Thomas's bluff. What a great Lord. I love it when he does that to us. He said that Thomas, put your finger here, see my hands, put your hand, your hand in place, put out your hand and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve. Believe. Handle me! Touch me! Believe!" That's not the situation in our text here this morning. Jesus is commanding Mary with different words to stop clinging to Him. Continually touching. He's using a syntax here in the Greek language. You have a continual verb with a negative. And that almost always is translated, stop doing whatever it is you're doing. So she was doing this and he says, stop. I know you love me, Mary. I know you're giving evidence that you don't ever want me to leave again. I realize that you're just like the other disciples. I understand that. You lost me once. You can understand how she feels. Surely we can sympathize with that. She was distraught over the Lord's death. Distraught that He was buried. Distraught that the tomb was empty. Somebody stole His body. But now he says, stop, stop clinging. Why? There's a job to do. There is work that needs to be done and we can't do it like this because I'm on my way back to the heavenly father. There are things we need to do before that happens. So he essentially says to Mary, stop hanging on to me. As if you're afraid that I'm about to disappear. I'm going to, but that's going to come later. Now's the time for us to go and tell the good news. And so it's right for the person who finally has come to grips with who the Lord Jesus Christ is, having been confronted by him and with faith, understands he is the true Savior. He is what John said, the lamb who takes away the sin of the world. Now. What are you going to do with that good news? Jesus instructed Mary to go and tell his brothers. These words just pack full of important information. Go to my brothers, say to them, verse 17, I'm ascending to my Father, your Father, to my God, your God. He identifies the frightened, confused, forsaken, denying apostles as his brothers. We have a word for that. It's called grace. They were hardly dependable. You even kind of wonder how you can have such a relationship. Why would he even want to be reconciled? Well, because he had provided the sacrifice by shedding his own blood that provided for this reconciliation. And Jesus said, I'm actually going to heaven where I'm going to intercede for you. I'm going to plead my blood for you all the time. Of course, you're my brothers. Yeah, you were failures just like Whitcomb and everybody else at Community Baptist Church, which are my brothers. Because my blood has opened the door for reconciliation and my resurrection and ascension confirms the work of reconciliation. Therefore, this is our condition, Romans chapter 8, you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear. You've received the spirit of adoption as sons by whom we cry, Abba, Father. The spirit of self bears witness with our spirit. We are children of God. Isn't that amazing? Hebrews 2 verse 11, for he who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one origin. That is why he's not ashamed to call them brothers, saying, I will tell you of your name. I will tell of your name to my brothers in the midst of the congregation. I will sing your praise. What an amazing God, what an amazing savior. And that astonishingly good news is for someone. Who realizes. His or her sins have been Offensive to God. Folks, that's great news to us. So how is Mary going to respond to Jesus' gentle rebuke? Stop clinging to me. I'm going to the Father and there's work that needs to be done. Well, how would you respond? You know, the text literally says this. She is telling. Well, that's kind of the way it's written. Verse 18, Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, I've seen the Lord and that He has said these things to her. She came, she announced. And yet, I'm going to tell you something, those words are written as present tense verbs in the original text. And you say, wait a minute, they can't be present tense verbs because John is writing this story 50 years after it really took place. These have to be past tense verbs like Mary went and Mary announced. That's kind of what you're reading if you're reading the ESV version here today. That's the way it's written. Past tense. She went, she announced. This is called the historical present. It is a present tense verb. It's something that's ongoing, even though it's seen as a past event. It draws us into the action of something that had taken place there. Now, this is the beauty of it. Because of the experience that so impacted Mary's life from that point on, the characteristic of her life was she was always going, always telling. That's the beauty of the historical present there. What a great picture. And in fact, that same picture is expressed very well for us with a perfect tense verb. A perfect tense verb says this is something that happened and it has continuing results for the rest of the time. You know where you find that? I have seen. Is that what happened in your life? When you finally came to the point that you have seen who Jesus is, does it have continuing results? so that you do what she did. You see, to see, having seen the Lord, it's way more than observe. The word that's used there means to perceive, it means to understand, it means to experience. It involves all of your senses. It is your whole life that is involved. And this is likely Mary's confession that she now understood who Jesus really is. I have seen, I've perceived, I've grasped it, I've comprehended. He is the promised Messiah, but more than just the one who is going to sit on the throne of David being born in the line of David. He's so much more than that. Overshadowing all of that is how John introduced Him to us. Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. I know, Mary says, that's who He is. I have seen Him. And the resurrection shed all the light necessary on all of Jesus' teaching about what really constitutes righteousness. What He really meant when He said to us, if you're going to follow Me, take up your cross and follow after Me. His whole explanation of the seed that must fall on the ground and die first before it will ever bring forth fruit, all encompassed in this idea. I understand. I get it. And Mary now understood this wasn't just general teaching intended for the masses. This is the eternal truth about Jesus Christ for me. Do you see? You know, Mary understood. and she experienced. Notice the Master, the Lord. I have seen the Lord. He's more than a great teacher. He's more than a miracle worker. He's more than that wonderful man who cast seven demons out of me. More than a great leader, more than a friend. He is the One who has purchased my eternal life by the shedding of His blood. I see. And He has validated that purchase by His resurrection. I have seen. And now I understand because He said these things to her. Because Mary experienced Jesus as her Master, her immediate response was to come and be announcing that He is risen. That word in your text, announce, you'll like this. It's essentially the same word. It comes from the same Greek root as the word angel. Do you know why? That's what angels do. Angels, God created them specifically to go about taking His messages whenever He needed to send a message to mere humans. And so you have people like Gabriel and like Michael, and you have all these special messengers of God all through the Bible, and they're dependable and they're faithful because they are His messengers. And now Mary's one of them. She is announcing, delivering His message. The Bible's just full of examples. of people like Mary, who is like what we should be. So as we close, I just want to ask three simple questions by way of application. Have you come face to face with the resurrected Jesus, like Mary? You know, most people are just so busy living life accomplishing their desired goals, accomplishing everything that everybody says they ought to, that they just really don't have much time to think about Jesus. Yeah, I mean, sometimes they'll think about Jesus on Easter as we approach this holiday where we're supposed to be remembering an empty tomb and Jesus of Nazareth. Yeah, they'll kind of think about that. For the most part, people have their intellect, their will, their emotions all fixed on mundane, passing, earthly matters. And yet, the passing stuff is all that matters to them. It's everything. And we need to come to grips with the reality that Jesus is the Lamb of God who was chosen in eternity to pay for all the sins of the world with His own sacrifice, And folks, we're just not going to come to grips with that. We're not even going to think about that until we realize that we have the need in our own lives, because our sins have offended God, they need to be paid for. And that's the payment. We're just not going to come to grips with it until we understand that Jesus is the only Savior, the only payment. for our sins? And He is also our eternal Judge. How will you plead when you stand before Him? Second, does the experience with the Master cause you to go and announce the good news? If our salvation, that is the release from our sins so that we are reconciled with Jesus Christ, if that's real to us, Wouldn't we really like for someone else to know about it so they can be released? There's great danger in thinking that that all I really, really need to do, I mean, all that this amounts to is I have to admit sin of some sort, say a simple prayer. Then just go through the rest of my life assuming I'm OK with the master. You know, a real face-to-face confrontation with the Master will virtually change the essence of your life. Paul wrote it like this, he says, If anyone's in Christ, he's a new creation. The old has passed away. Behold, the new has come. New creations are distinct from old creations because of that change. And when the old is passed away, we experience such joy and such release that we like to talk about it. We like to discuss it. We like to get people engaged in discussions. And often we don't because we're so distracted. Third, what does your love for the gospel or your unconcern for the gospel say about your meeting with Jesus? Was it real? Was it genuine? Did it change your life? Did you become a new creation so that everything is different? Are you going? Are you telling? Are you announcing the good news? If not, why not? Well, maybe you haven't met Jesus. Maybe He's still in the grave, in your thinking. Maybe somebody stole Him. But you haven't met the risen Savior. I invite you today to come and meet Jesus. He'll change your life. Confess your sins to Him and accept Him as the payment for your offenses against God. It will change your life and you'll just want to go tell somebody about that. So go and tell. Go and tell. That's why he left us here. Otherwise, we'd be in heaven already. So let's go and tell. All right. Thank you so much for being here with us today. Again, if you're able to make it out tonight, we will have our service. Psalm 22 tonight. Great, great, great psalm. It's all about Jesus hanging on the cross. Amazing things that he said that were prophesied a thousand years before he ever hung on the cross. I think we'll be greatly encouraged. Be safe going home and enjoy your nice warm house, okay? Father, thank you for this time together. Work in our hearts now as we go. Lord, help us not soon to forget the words of your text. I hope it's not soon to forget this story of Mary. Lord, help us to compare ourselves and try to ascertain what happened to us when we finally understood, comprehended who Jesus is. Father, I pray that You continue to use this text to shape us and make us more like Him. We pray in His name, Amen.