Our scripture reading this morning is from the Gospel of John chapter 20, the first 18 verses. All of the Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, all describe the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is a fact which has been documented by the Gospels very clearly. Listen as I read from the Gospel of John. Now on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early, while it was still dark, and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb. So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, they have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him. So Peter went out with the other disciple and they were going toward the tomb. Both of them were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. And stooping to look in, he saw the linen cloths lying there, but he did not go in. Then Simon Peter came following him and went into the tomb. He saw the linen clothes lying there, and the face cloth that had been on Jesus' head, not lying with the linen cloths, but folded up in a place by itself. Then the other disciple who had reached the tomb first also went in, and he saw and believed. For as yet they did not understand the scripture that he must rise from the dead. Then the disciples went back to their homes, but Mary stood weeping outside the tomb. As she wept, she stooped to look into the tomb, and she saw two angels in white sitting where the body of Jesus had lain, one at the head and one at the feet. They said to her, woman, why are you weeping? And she said to them, They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him. Having said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing, but she did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, Woman, why are you weeping? Whom 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. Jesus said to her, Mary. She turned and said to him in Aramaic, Rabboni, which means teacher. 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. So far the reading of this precious word of God. Before we open this truth of God, let us seek his guidance in prayer. Our Lord in heaven, as we look at this great event on this resurrection day, Father, we pray for your presence and power for the Holy Spirit to grant the anointing and the wisdom to bring the word of God clearly, that the words of our mouth and the meditations of our heart may be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, our rock and our Redeemer. In Jesus' name, amen. The resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ stands at the very heart of the Christian religion. You recall how the Apostle Paul says, if Christ is not risen, we are yet in our sins. Remember how he says that in that great chapter on the resurrection, 1 Corinthians 15. He says, now Christ has been risen from the dead. But if that were not so, if it were not so, there would be no hope for anyone. If it were not so, if the resurrection didn't occur, we would be following a hero who gave his life, but who didn't have the strength or ability to overcome death. But we do not. We do not. Look at it that way at all. As Paul says, thou Christ is risen from the dead. He has become the first fruits of them that slept. For by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. And the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ is a great historical event that Jesus conquered death. And it is proved, it is proved in a many wonderful ways. One of the proofs of the resurrection of Christ is the empty tomb. The empty tomb. There is no other explanation for the empty tomb than for the resurrection of Christ. You recall that in the book of Matthew, and each one of the gospels has a little different emphasis on the resurrection, all proclaim the fact of the resurrection, but there are details in Matthew that are not in some of the others and in Mark and in Luke and in John that the others don't. I mean, when you put them all together, you get the whole picture. In Matthew's account of the gospel of the resurrection, you have the soldiers who were guarding the tomb coming into the city after the resurrection. And they are told to spread the news, spread the story that his disciples stole him from the grave. And that That false narrative was believed by a lot of people, and maybe it still is believed by some today, but that is simply not true. How could his disciples, who knew he was alive, who saw him, who saw him eat, who touched him, who heard him speak. How could they, over the years following that, give their lives for someone who didn't arise? Of course he arose from the dead. He is alive. He conquered death and he overcame the grave. On this first day of the week, we read about women coming to the tomb first. It's interesting that it's not the disciples that came first. It's women that came to the tomb first because they were devoted to Jesus. There was a warmth, there was a sense of real dependence and love that they had for the Lord Jesus Christ. So they come first to the tomb. We read in one of the gospels that there were at least three women. Here in Luke's and John's gospel, it's only Mary Magdalene, but there were others as well. So Mary comes to the tomb early while it was still dark. And she saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb. Now, as I said to the children, that stone was a circular stone. It was a heavy stone. It was not like a boulder. When I was growing up as a boy, I pictured it as a boulder, as a big boulder that was rolled in front of the tomb. And as I studied more about it, that's not the way it was. It's not a boulder. It was a slab of stone that was circular, and it was rolled in front of the open tomb. And it was in a track. And the bottom of the track was indented so that it would stay there and not go either to the right or to the left. And these women were very concerned about how they were gonna move that heavy circular stone from the front of the tomb. It's very heavy. And they wondered how they would do that. So they come and behold, the stone is already rolled away. In Matthew's gospel, we read that the angel came and rolled the stone away. Now, why did the angel roll the stone away? When I was a little boy, I thought that he rolled the stone away so Jesus could get out. Now, as I have studied this later, no, I don't think so. I think Jesus was out of that tomb before the stone was rolled away. Jesus could go through doors that were shut. He went right out of that tomb. The angel came and rolled the stone away. Why? In order to prove that his body was not there. In order to prove that he was risen. in order to prove that the grave was empty and that his grave clothes were still there. And that's what's very interesting. And so Mary, Mary goes to Peter and John. She ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved and said to them, They have taken away the Lord out of the tomb and we don't know where they have laid him. That was the conclusion that she came to. She jumped to that conclusion that not that Jesus rose, but that someone had taken Jesus' body out of the tomb. That's what she thought. So she tells Peter and John that. So Peter went out with the other disciple and they were both going to the tomb. Both of them were running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. Now it's very, very interesting to note how they both looked at what they saw. To see, first of all, what they saw and then how they looked at it. The Greek language has very interesting words here for how Peter looked, how John looked, and then how John looked a second time. Peter, he was the impetuous one. John looked into the, he looked, first of them, you read, and stooping in, he looked, He saw the linen cloths lying there, but he didn't go in. John did not go in. The word perceived there is just an observation. He just saw it. He noticed it. He noticed it. And he didn't go in. And then Simon Peter came following him, and he went into the tomb. Simon Peter is impetuous, and so he goes into the tomb. John didn't at this time. He did later, but he didn't hear. And Simon Peter saw the linen cloths lying there, and the face cloth, which had been on Jesus' head, not lying with the linen cloths, but folded up in a place by himself. Now, what did Peter see? The word see for Peter is investigate. Investigate. He has got a lot at stake here. Peter is very concerned because he denied his Lord. And he knew that he had contributed toward Jesus' sorrow. He had gone out and wept bitterly when Jesus looked at him. And now he's very concerned about what has happened. He's just really concerned. And he goes into that tomb and he investigates. And he looks and he examines. All of that is found in that word which is describing how Peter saw it. He has a lot at stake. So what does Peter see? This is a very, very interesting thing what he sees. He sees the linen cloths all in order. Now for You remember when Lazarus was raised from the dead, Jesus said, unloose the claws around him so he can walk. That's the normal thing. Jesus' body was all wound up with those linen claws. And in order for him to get out of that out of the claws, they had to be either cut or unwound. And so you'd see them kind of messed up. But that's not what Peter saw. That's not what John saw either. They saw them all in perfect order. Only flat. No body in it. And there were about 100 pounds of spices that Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea had put into the folds of those linen cloths. And so that weight laid those cloths flat, but all in perfect order. You know what it reminded me of? A cocoon. You've all seen a cocoon made by a caterpillar and they weave, the caterpillar weaves a cocoon and then by and by out of that cocoon comes a butterfly. But the cocoon is still there. and you've seen a cocoon. It's in order. It is not torn apart. It is not messed up. It's just all in order. That's how those grave clothes were. Jesus came out of that tomb. He came out of the grave clothes and the grave clothes are undisturbed. They're still in perfect order. The only thing is, is that the napkin that was around his head was laying by itself. And so Peter examines all this. And while he is examining this, John comes in and he observes a second time. And we read that John, the other disciple, came in and he saw and believed. John saw it and he believed. He saw the same thing that Peter saw, but what he saw was the fact that Jesus arose from the grave. He is not here, he is risen, even as he said. And so John believed it. He believed immediately that Jesus had risen from the dead. That's the great, great truth. That Jesus is not here, he is risen. But Mary, she's still around there. Mary is still around, but Mary 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 lain, one at the head and one at the feet. And they said to her, woman, Why are you weeping? She said to them, they have taken away my Lord and I do not know where they have laid him. She does not understand what John understood. John saw and believed, she did not. It's still very fuzzy in her mind what happened. She doesn't know what happened. Having said that, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not know it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking? Supposing him to be the gardener, she said, sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him and I will take him away. Jesus said to her, Mary, how do you think Jesus said that. What do you think Mary heard? Was it a scolding? No, no, no. It was love. It was compassion. It was intimacy. Jesus said, Mary. And she said, Rabboni, in Aramaic, which means teacher. What did she see? Mary still did not get it, that he arose from the grave and that this is a, that Jesus came up out of the other side of the grave, that Jesus is no longer what he was. He's much more than what he was. When Mary said, Rabboni, she is thinking He is like he was before. My teacher, my loving teacher, Jesus says to her, no, no, no. Do not cling to me. Do not cling to me. She had to see that Jesus had conquered death and arose out of the grave and is on the other side of death. Jesus is on the other side of death. Death is fast. The grave has been conquered. So he says 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. So Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, I have seen the Lord, and that she had said these things to her. Now, Jesus wants Mary to understand that it isn't like it used to be, that the relationship between her and our Lord Jesus is now on a new level. It's not the way it was. It's new now. And that's how it is with us, too. Our Lord Jesus Christ has risen. He is victorious. He is no longer to be seen as the suffering servant who is weak, but he is to be seen as the glorious Son of God who has conquered death. who was victorious, who came and he conquered and he arose gloriously from the dead. What he left in the grave are the grave clothes. He didn't have to have clothes on when he arose, not those. When Jesus was born, he was wrapped in swaddling clothes. That was part of his humiliation. It was part of the weakness, part of the fact that he was like us in all things except sin, but he had to be clothed. Now he arose and he leaves the swaddling bands that he was wrapped in at his birth, not the same ones of course, but still the wrapping that he was wrapped in as a baby, he leaves them in the grave. Because he is now victorious. He arose, he conquered death. The grave clothes are in the grave. He is now seated at the right hand of God in glory and power. And he's coming again. And we're going to see him on the clouds of heaven. And every eye will see him. And Jesus says to you and me today, Trust in me. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved. He said, I am the resurrection and the life. In this beautiful passage in Revelation chapter one, he speaks to John. And he speaks about this, the resurrection, and he speaks about that in a beautiful way. And he says, fear not for I am the first and the last, the living one. I died and behold, I am alive forevermore. And I have the keys of death and of Hades right there for the things which you have seen, those which are and those which are to take place after this. Jesus is the first and the last and the living one. He is the source of life. He is the way, the truth, and the life. He is the one who has overcome the power of death. He was raised, as Paul says in Romans 1, he was raised by the power of the Spirit. He was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead. Jesus Christ, our Lord. And as the Apostle Paul speaks in 1 Corinthians 15 about us, it also is true of Jesus. He says, that which is sown in weakness was raised in power. That which is sown in dishonor is raised in glory. That which is sown in corruption is raised in incorruption. That which is sown a physical body is raised a spiritual body. And that is what we have to look forward to too. When our loved one dies or when we die, our body is laid in a grave But that's temporary. That's temporary because when Jesus is gonna come again, because he arose, we will rise too with a brand new body. That which is sown in corruption will be raised in incorruption. That which is sown in mortality will be raised in immortality. There is victory. We do not have to look at all this in a discouraged, in a despairing way because we have the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ as a proof that life, that life is victorious, that Christ is victorious over the grave and that we may now stand in victory. What a great truth that is. This is the message of the church. The church has to give this message throughout the world. That's why we worship on Sunday. In the fourth commandment, remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy, the seventh day. That's the way it was in the old covenant. But in the new covenant, it's no longer the seventh day. It's the first day of the week. Why is it the first day of the week? Because Jesus arose on the first day of the week. He fulfilled the law totally. And he arose on the first day of the week so that now we worship on that first day. It's a day of victory. It's a day of celebration. So we look back at the open tomb, at the risen Christ, and we gather together on the first day of the week to praise the Lord. He is the one to whom we owe everything. We serve a risen Savior, and everyone said, Amen. Lord, bless this word today to us and bless this word all over the world that many may come to know the saving grace of Jesus Christ, our Lord. Oh, Heavenly Father, may we trust in Jesus Christ. May we turn away from sin and believe with all our heart that Jesus gave his life for sin. and he arose, that sin was conquered. I will sing of my Redeemer and his wondrous love to me. On the cruel cross he suffered from the sin to set me free. Oh Lord, we thank you for the freedom which we have in Jesus Christ, and that we have a victory that is Wonderful! We have an inheritance that can never perish, spoil, or fade—reserved in heaven for us. Bless that word, O Lord. Fill us with your Spirit. May we have a blessed day today. In Jesus' name, amen.