Thank you, brother. You can take your Bible and turn to the book of John. John chapter 20. It's good to see many people here this morning. Let me say, we do have some sitting up front here now. The kids have gone out, so you need a little help over here. Okay? You can move on up. I don't mind, okay? Not while I'm preaching, at least. So, anyway. Y'all with me this morning? Okay. Okay. So, John chapter 20. We have been looking the past three or four weeks at the words of Christ from the cross, thinking, of course, about today and the the resurrection, amen? And so we've seen several things that the Lord said while He's on the cross. I mentioned three or four weeks ago that often the words that someone will say in his last moments are the most important words that they may say their entire life. And so we understand it was not the end of our Lord's life, but He was facing death, and He did die. And so what he said was vital, was very important. And we looked at several of those statements he made. We didn't look at all of them, but we looked at several of them. We saw how, even in that moment, he said, Father, forgive them. And he was pleading for our forgiveness, their forgiveness, even though he was in such great agony and pain. We looked at how he forgave one of the thieves that was on his side. He said, this day shall thou be with me in paradise. The Lord's compassion, how He loved people, even in that moment, it was supernatural. Amen? It was divine. His love is divine. We looked at last week, two statements He made. One, just kind of in passing, we saw He made the statement, I thirst. And it speaks of His humanity, that yes, He was fully God, but He was fully man. And that's something we can't fully comprehend, all right? but he never ceased to be God, but he was 100% man. And he thirsted and he endured all those things, the physical sufferings of the cross, but he also endured a spiritual suffering. He became sin for us. And then we looked in detail last week, the last statement he made, he said, it is finished. And he gave up the ghost. And that statement that he gave up the ghost, it was a command. He did not just suffer and endure to the end and then finally succumb to death. No, he ordered death to take him. He voluntarily gave his life. No man took it from him. He had power to take it, to give his life, to lay it down, and he said, I have power to take it again, amen? And that's what today is all about, amen? He took his life back, amen? Praise the Lord, he rose from the grave, amen? John chapter 20. And let's look at some verses here, and we're gonna look at another statement of the Lord. Really, we look at detail, just one word he said, amen? But we wanna look at a statement he made, okay? Let's start reading in verse 11, all right? Let's just read verse one, all right? Let's go all the way up here. It says, the first day of the week, come with Mary Magdalene early, when it was yet dark under the sepulchre. and seeth the stone taken away from the sepulcher. 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 sepulcher, and we know not where they have laid him. Peter therefore went forth, and the other disciple, and came to the sepulcher. So they ran both together, and the other disciple did outrun Peter, and came first to the sepulcher. And he stooping down, and looking in, saw the living clothes lying, yet went he not in. Then came Simon Peter, following him, and went into the sepulchre, and seeeth the linen clothes lying, and the napkin, and that was about his head, not lying with the linen clothes, but wrapped together in a place by itself. Then went in also the other disciple, which came first to the sepulchre, he saw and believed. For as yet they knew not, but the scripture, they must rise again from the dead. Then the disciples went away again unto their own home. But Mary stood without at the sepulchre, weeping, And as she wept, she stooped down and looked into the sepulcher, and she had two angels in white sitting, the one at the head and the other at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain. And they said to her, Woman, why weepest thou? She said unto them, Because they have taken away my Lord, and I know not where they have laid him. And when she had thus said, she turned herself back and saw Jesus standing, and knew not that it was Jesus. Jesus said unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? Whom seekest thou? She, supposing him to be the gardener, saith unto him, Sir, if thou have borne him hence, tell me where thou hast laid him, and I will take him away. Jesus saith unto her, Mary. She turned herself and saith unto him, Rabboni, which is to say, Master. And in that moment, she knew who he was. Amen. We'll look at a few more verses as we get into the message, Here we find this statement of the Lord at the resurrection, he called her name. And when she heard him speak her name, she knew it was him, amen. What a comfort and reassurance that must have been, amen. And we know it was, amen. There's several things that we wanna look at this morning. We see, first of all, her despair, Mary's despair. We see Mary's discovery of the empty tomb, and we see her delivery. Amen. And this morning, what I want us to hopefully learn from this is that Christ is alive. Amen. Christ is alive, and He's calling out to you today. If you've never received Christ as your Savior, He's calling out to you, inviting you to come and believe on His name. Amen. And child of God, He invites each one of us who have received Him as Savior to know him in a close and intimate relationship. Amen. He wants to have that close fellowship with us. That's why he saved us. That's why he died, that we might have our fellowship with him restored. Amen. Let's have a word of prayer, and we'll get into our message. Lord, we thank you for today, and we thank you, Lord, for every person that's here today. And Lord, we thank you for this message. Lord, it is a message that changes everything. The message, Lord, that the plan that you designed in eternity past or was fulfilled in this day. It is finished, and Lord, you rose from the grave to prove, Lord, that everything you said was true and that, Lord, everything you've promised, Lord, is true. And Lord, we know that one day you will come again because of this very fact. Lord, the fact you rose again proves, Lord, you will come back for us one day. Lord, I pray there's one here today who does not know you as Savior, that, Lord, they would Lord, realize they need to call upon your name. Lord, they can be saved. They can know you. Lord, you are seeking them. Lord, you desire for them to be saved. Lord, I pray for those of us who are saved this morning, that, Lord, we would desire, Lord, to know you and, Lord, to worship you just as Mary did. Lord, we would not be distant, but, Lord, we would, Lord, renew our fellowship with you and, Lord, love you and worship you, for you are worthy of all praise. We ask all this in Jesus' name. There are several events that happened in the morning of the resurrection, and I'm just going to read through them. There was a lot of activity at the tomb, and if you read all the four Gospels, read kind of a synopsis, a synchronization of them, you get the picture, all right? There was a lot of, we hear that the ladies are coming, that Peter and John came, there was another group of ladies who came, and they all seemed to kind of miss each other, all right? And so, I won't go through it all just for time's sake, all right? But there was a lot of different times that there was individuals at the tomb, and they all saw the empty tomb, different times, all right? And we see even different responses, all right? Just going back up here, verses we read here, where was it? Verse 8, okay? Peter and John, when they came in, all right? Peter arrived there first and was, you know, puzzled, you know, what's happened here, trying to figure it out. John arrived, and it says, verse 8, he saw and believed. He knew right away. He knew what had happened. He didn't understand it. He didn't have it all figured out, but he believed somehow Jesus was alive again, amen? It didn't take much for John to accept the truth, amen? They each had different responses. Maybe Peter was in fear, all right? Because he denied the Lord three times. We don't know, all right? We know from another Scripture that the resurrection morning, the Lord made an appearance to Peter, all right? It's not recorded in Scripture when that happened. If it was here in the garden, if it was somewhere else, all right, we don't know. The Lord appeared to two disciples on the road to Emmaus, and so that happened, again, this same day. And we know later in the day that He appeared to all the eleven there in the house where they were staying, all right? And so there was many different appearances of Christ, but the first appearance, the first one to see the Resurrected Christ was Mary. Wow. Here we find her, Peter and John have left, and she's here alone at the tomb. Early morning, she's come along with some of the other ladies, and they have simply come to honor their Lord. They knew who he was. They loved him. You know, Mary Magdalene, when we think of Mary Magdalene and think back to her background, you know, she was saved as a woman who'd been possessed of seven demons. Wow. Her name, Mary, is taken from the Hebrew word miriam. It would be Moses' sister, all right? And it means to rebel. Names are important in scripture, all right? Here was a woman that was known as a rebel. Not just a rebel, you know, that we might think of, oh, well, you know, she's, you know, doing her own thing and she's not listening to her parents. She's, you know, an obstinate person and, you know, just, you know, wants to be liberated and free or whatever. But she was possessed of a demon. And not just one demon. Seven demons. Seven. Can you imagine the type of life she had, if you would call it that? It was torture. It was probably horrific. It would be unimaginable to think of the things that the devil brought into her life and used against her and caused her to do. And yet, we understand that she had allowed these things in her life, all right? And then came that glorious day that she met Jesus, and Jesus cast out all seven of those demons. Yeah, I'm thankful that greater is he that is in me than he that is in the world. There is no power on this earth that is greater than the power of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen? He is able to deliver, whether it be sickness, whether it be physical ailments, whether it be life's hardships or trials, whatever, whether it be spiritual oppression, whether it be demons, Jesus is able to deliver, amen? And in here, that's exactly what Jesus had done for Mary. Notice her despair, all right? Go to verse 11 here. It says that she was weeping. She was weeping. The word weep is the same one that's used over in John chapter 11. We won't turn there for time's sake, but let's go over there. John, just a few pages back here in your Bible, John 11. and verse 31. This is when Lazarus had died. It says, the Jews, when they were with him, with her in the house, and comforted her when they saw Mary, that she rose up hastily and went out, followed her, saying, She goeth unto the grave to weep there. And so here, that they were weeping for Lazarus So this is a term that means to wail, all right? She was in deep sorrow, all right? She had watched him die, and we remember, you know, from the past few weeks, we've seen Jesus on the cross, and the crucifixion, it was a horrendous death, a death that is really unimaginable. Hollywood cannot portray what Jesus went through. I'm sorry. I understand that different ones have tried to portray that. I've seen passion plays and dramas growing up and things. Different churches and denominations try to do plays and such and all that. There's no way to accurately describe what the Son of God endured on the cross for our sufferings. But Mary was an eyewitness to all that. Mary Magdalene watched as He suffered, as He died. Not only the physical sufferings, but she heard him cry out, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? All those things, and now she feels forsaken. Everything she'd ever hoped for, the power to deliver her from those seven demons is gone. Are they gonna come back? The life that she's lived the past few years, following the Lord Jesus, living by faith, trusting him as he fed them, bread, and fish, and fed thousands, and on and on it went. And watch all these miracles. He's gone. He's in the ground. She is heartbroken. She is weeping. Notice not only her weeping, but then notice she looks down, okay? Again, verse 11, it says that she looked into the sepulcher, okay? She's doing the same thing that Peter did. She's pondering. She peers back into the tomb as if to consider the facts again. It's like she's just, I wonder, could it be? She's, as one song, one hymn writer has said, almost persuaded. You know, as Peter would stand before, I believe it was Felix, there in a trial several decades later, and he would say, almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian. Here, Mary Magdalene, she is considering all this. She's here alone, and she's thinking about this now. She's not having the quick response like Peter did. Oh, no, they've stolen the body. Where is it? Oh, no. And Peter is denying that a miracle could have happened. She's not as quick to believe like John was that he's alive, he's alive. Yeah, no, she is carefully considering this. Again, her whole life was changed because of Jesus. Jesus is gone, then her whole life may possibly change again. Everything that he said could be a lie. The power that he gave her victory in her life may be coming to an end. Could it be true that he really is alive? She's pondering all these things. And then she sees a witness, verse 12. She said, two angels in white sitting, the one at the head, the other at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain. They said to her, woman, why weepest thou? And she said to them, because they have taken away my Lord. I know not where they have laid him. Why was she weeping? You know, if we were to see two angels, people talk about seeing angels all the time, spiritual experiences, you think that would satisfy. If you came to church today and you had some great experience, and by the way, we're not just about experience, amen, we're about receiving something from the word of God, all right? Now, I hope the word of God thrills you and excites you and feeds your soul, amen? But if you came and you didn't have to come to church, maybe you were just out and about and you had some kind of experience and you saw angels. Now, I actually, I believe I may have, I encountered an angel one time, all right? By the way, they weren't in white wings and halos, all right? I didn't know until after the fact, and to this day, I don't know if it really was, all right? That's another story for another time. But here, Mary encountered two angels. We've seen other people encounter angels in the scriptures, and they bow down to worship them. They run in fear. It's a great experience. terrifying and glorious all at the same time. But here Mary is unfazed by the presence of two angels because that's not what she wants. She's not looking for a spiritual experience. She's not looking for some great encounter with some divinity that some supernatural being might say. In fact, she's had that before. She's encountered the supernatural powers of seven demons in her life. She's not moved at all by just seeing the supernatural. What she wants is Jesus. All she wants is Jesus. Why was she weeping? She said, because they have taken away my Lord. Wow. You know, here is a devoted follower of the Lord. All she wants is Him. You know, child of God, how many times do we get distracted with the things of this life? How many times do we get distracted even with good things? These angels, anything wrong with these angels? No, they were sent by God. In fact, I think it's interesting, we don't know how much time passed here, but Peter and John didn't see these angels. They didn't need angels. But the Lord sent angels for Mary Magdalene. He was let out and sent them there to comfort her. Yet that was not sufficient. It didn't do the job. Some encounter with some supernatural being wasn't going to fix what she needed. She needed Jesus. And here I'm telling you today, child of God, you are not going to get satisfied with things in this world. Nothing is going to satisfy what's in your heart, what's missing in your heart and in your life except Jesus. If you're here today and you've never been saved, I'm telling you that you can try to put anything you want in that gothic hole in your soul and nothing is going to fit. Nothing is going to work except Jesus Christ. He is the way, the truth, and the life. No man come from the Father but by me. If you're here today and you've never been saved, He is a missing piece to your puzzle. He's the answer. And that's what Mary knew. Mary Magdalene, she said, I don't want to be bothered by you. I'm not looking for angels. I don't need some just experience. I want Him. I want to see Jesus. Verse 13, they say unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? Verse 14, when she had thus said, she turned herself back. Can you imagine that? Again, she turned her back on the angels. There's some that would say, oh, that's sufficient. That's enough. Wow, there's angels here. Peter and John didn't see the angels. But no, she says, that's not what I came here for. I came to see my Lord. And then, verse 14, she saw Jesus standing and knew not that it was Jesus. Her grief has so overcome her, she does not recognize him. Jodah, God, have you been there before? I'll think of this. I didn't write the verse down, but it reminds me of Job. In the Old Testament, Job, he was going through such hard times, and there, I didn't write the reference down, but he says, I look to my left hand, I look to my right, I look before and I look behind, and I cannot see him, I cannot find him. He could not find the hand of God in this life. And sometimes, life overwhelms us. We feel such grief, such sorrow, we feel such fear and such emotion, we feel like there is no way out, and Jesus is right there. Child of God, He's promised I'll never leave you, nor forsake me. But sometimes we are so overwhelmed with the pressures of this life that we can't see Him standing right in front of us. That's where Mary is. She's forgotten what He said. He told the disciples, and she was there. She followed Him every day. She heard all of His teachings. She heard Him say, who needs go to Jerusalem, and there you'll see the Son of Man betrayed to the hands of the Gentiles, and there they'll crucify me, and in three days I'll rise again." She heard that. She knew that. Oh, she forgot. In this moment, the events of the past three days, it had overwhelmed her. And now she's wondering, is He really gone? And what? I can't even honor Him. Now someone has taken the body, I can't even pay reverence and respect to the man that changed my life. The man that was more than man, the man that was God. She's so overcome with her grief. Notice in verse 15, then Jesus speaks to her. Jesus said that her, woman, why we miss thou? Whom seekest thou? Jesus asked her, what do you seek? Who do you seek? And of course, she was seeking him, and she didn't recognize him. She's supposing him to be the gardener, says unto him, sir, if thou hast borne him hence, tell me where thou hast laid him, and I will take him away. Again, she says, all I want is Jesus. If you just tell me where you put him, if you, for some reason, you have taken him out of the tomb to do maintenance or whatever, if you know, maybe you saw who has stolen the body, if you can tell me where he's at, you let me know. I just want to honor him, I just want to reverence, I just want to worship him, I came to pay respects to my Savior. Verse 16, Jesus said to her, Mary. And then she turned. And she said unto him, Robo, which is to say, Master. You know, if you're a parent, you know, there are different ways you speak to your children. It's kind of like sometimes you have to give them the look. You know, you can be across the room. Sometimes you get looks at church. All the kids are out, so they're not going to testify. But sometimes you have to, as parents, you have to give the look at church. You see one of them acting up, and you cut that. And boy, they know, don't they? They know. Hey, it's time to straighten up. Hey, Dad's seen us. Mom's watching. You've got to straighten up. And it's the same thing. Sometimes it's a little more forceful when you can actually verbalize that, right? You can't do that so much in a crowd, because you've got to be a little more discreet. But there's a certain way you say, their name, that boy gets their attention. Maybe she used her middle name, all right? Sometimes I forget that Sarah doesn't have a middle name. Sarah has a middle name? Because we have to use her middle name so often? All right. Yeah. She's not just Sarah. She's Sarah Holana. And normally it comes out like that. Sarah Holana? Yeah. There's a little more force behind it because she's being caught being naughty, all right? But you know, there's not just a forceful name or a negative name. I'm picking on her, all right? She does have goodness in her every now and then, but she's more like her daddy than her mama. But anyway, there's also a pleasant name, a pleasant way to say their name. And here, I believe that's exactly what Jesus did with Mary. It wasn't a tone of scorn or rebuke. It wasn't like, Mary, Mary, it's me, Mary. It wasn't that kind of tone at all. It was very loving and affectionate. It was one that she'd heard many times before. Mary. Just that soft, gentle voice, just like Elijah in the wilderness. There, he was seeking for the comfort of God. He was running from Jezebel, and he saw the wind, he saw the earthquake, all those things, and that didn't bring any comfort to him. But what was it that comforted him? It was the still, small voice of God. I believe that's exactly how God spoke to her when he said her name, Mary, Mary. And she knew right away. She knew exactly who he was. She turned and said unto him, which is to say, Master. Notice here, it was personal. It was personal. Jesus came to seek and to save that which is lost. He came to save every lost individual, every person ever born, ever will be born. He came to save you and them, every individual. But you know what? You can't experience that salvation until you've received him personally. Knowing Christ is not just something that we do as a family. It's not something that, well, I've always, I grew up in church, I've always been saved. That's not salvation, okay? Salvation through faith in Christ is a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. John 1 12 says, as many as received him, to them gave you power to become the sons of God, even to believe on his name. It's not something that, well, we've always gone to church. We've always been a part of church. We've always done good things and Christian things. It's what our family does. No, it's something you have to make that decision. You have to receive him. It was personal. I've already mentioned how her name means rebellion, and he had changed that. He had changed that. She's known as Mary Magdalene. The name Magdalene speaks of where she's from. It was a town off the Sea of Galilee. And Magdalene stands as a tower, or elevated. And here, now this woman that was once possessed by seven demons, and her life was so controlled and such a disaster, Jesus has changed her life. And she's become an ardent follower of the Lord. And that devotion has drawn her to the tomb. And she's there to worship him. And in that moment, she goes to seek him, and he's apparently gone. But he's not gone, he's not too far away. He's right there. And the moment he speaks her name, she knows who he is. And she acknowledges who he is. She says to him, master. And notice what Jesus said in verse 17. Then he says, Jesus said to her, touch me not, for I am not yet ascended to my father. But go to my brethren and say unto them, I ascend unto my father and your father and your father and to my God, and you're gone. The idea in the words here, and I'm not going into great detail here, but in verse seven he says, touch me not. The Greek wording there is as if she had already grabbed him. It was just like a natural response, okay? When he said her name, she lunged for him. She would never let him go. She said, I thought you were gone forever. I thought you were dead, but now you're alive. I'm never gonna let you go. How much affection and love do we share with Jesus Christ? Shout of God. How easy is it for us to let him go? To set him aside for our plans, for somebody else. How easy is it for us to neglect him, to neglect his words, to neglect the time that we have that He gives us to talk to Him. That's not Mary. Mary said, I'll never let you go. He says, I'm not yet ascended to my Father. And that's a whole other message, really, all right? But we believe that this was actually, there was two different ascensions. And here, He ascended to offer the first fruits, first fruits of the resurrection. Brian was reading in 1 Corinthians 15 this morning, and there he talks about that Christ is the firstfruits of the resurrection. And here, that's probably when the Lord Jesus presented that to God in heaven, that he presented his sacrifice as the firstfruits of the resurrection. And so he did that, but notice that he says, I ascend unto my Father and your Father. The resurrection brought about a new relationship, not only with Jesus Christ, but with God Almighty. Never before. Now Jesus had told them, he had taught them to pray, Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, but that's not how they knew God until now. They knew God as Jesus' Father, but now he's your Father. He's our Father. And Christ is our brother. A whole new relationship that we have because of the Resurrection. Amen. We see her given a task to do. We see her delivery, what she is to deliver. He says, touch me not, I have not yet ascended, but go to my brethren and say unto them, I ascend to my Father. is given this privilege, she's the first one to see the resurrected Christ, and she's the first one commissioned to go and share the message. Wow. You know, the closer we get to the Lord, the more He'll want to use us, and the more usable we are. The first one that was given the responsibility of sharing this great message was the one that was closest to Him, the one that saw Him first. Christian, what's your love for the Lord like this morning? Is your love waning? Are you like that church in the book of Revelation, church deficits? And the Lord Jesus himself would say, I have someone against me because you've left your first love. If your commitment and your love for the Lord is less than what it is, he's not the one that left. He's not the one that moved, because He changes none. You're the one that moved, and you need to draw close to Him. You need to abide in Christ, amen? It needs to be an ardent affection. It needs to be a total commitment, a total surrender, amen? If you're here today and you've never been saved, He's calling your name, just like He called out to Mary. He's calling out in that loving, tender, affectionate voice. He longs. for you to be saved. God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. There will come a time when that voice will change. The book of Revelation talks about, the books shall be opened, Revelation 20, and the names shall be read. And that won't be, that won't be a roster of gentleness and affection, it'll be one of judgment. But my friend, God is delaying His judgment. And this morning, if you've never been saved, He's giving you one more opportunity to be saved today. He's calling your name. He wants you to receive Him. If that's you, well, I hope you'll speak to one of us today. And let us show you how you can be saved. Amen. Jesus is alive. Amen. And He desires to save whosoever will. Amen. he desires for Christians to know him.