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Would you please open your Bibles
as we turn our attention on the Word of God this morning to John
chapter 20 verse 1. John chapter 20 verse 1. My name got on the docket only
a few weeks ago for speaking here. And since that time, we
haven't slowed down much. But as I studied and prepared,
I thought, OK, well, I'll just do a big overview of the resurrection
and go through the chapter. The more I studied, the more
I realized there is so much about the resurrection in the Word
of God. So much validity, so many statements,
so much hallelujah! That's what the song we just
sang. There is a resurrection. He is risen. So I've decided
today to take with the storyline of chapter 20 to go through the
sections and see that the disciples struggled with their faith in
the resurrection. They struggled with the knowledge
that their Savior was alive from the dead. And secondly, I really
hope to get to 1 Corinthians 15, because Paul says, this resurrection
is valuable to you, Corinthians. And in so saying, he's saying
to you, he's saying to me, he's saying, this resurrection is
the game changer. When He rose from the dead, now
we are associated with that, we are new creations in Christ,
and we have freedom, and we have victory from everything Satan
throws at us, from everything that this world throws at us,
and we are completely dead positionally to our sin nature. And so, the
resurrection is a celebration, even though the disciples struggled
greatly with it. So when we think about it here,
turn with me at the end of the chapter, verse 30 and 31. I didn't give you an exact verse
to look at. So 20, 30, and 31. And if you didn't have a handout,
Bernie mentioned to me, one of the ushers, that there are handouts,
individual, if you would like one. And the ushers will give
you one. I was supposed to announce that. Just put your hand up,
and they'll do it as we're reading. In chapter 20, verse 30 and 31,
he says this, that truly, Jesus did many other signs in the presence
of his disciples, which are not written in this book. But these
are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the
Son of God, and that believing, you may have life in his name. He is saying right here that
everything that Jesus had done was so that we would believe.
We would see those signs. We would see what he had done. And there's a lot of other things
that haven't been written down of what he did. But there is
substantial plenty of reference and understanding that our Savior
is God and has power over everything. And through those miracles, signs,
teachings, demonstrations, we can say or make that choice I
believe that Jesus Christ is the Old Testament Messiah, He's
the Anointed One, He is the Savior of the world, the God who became
a man to be the mediator between man and God, the man Christ Jesus. That's what He's saying here,
and I hope that your faith is encouraged through our time opening
the Word of God together. So my first question is there
is, is the resurrection of Jesus Christ all that significant? Well, as I have been studying
and focusing and thinking and meditating upon it, its importance
has elevated my own thinking. And it's exciting to see. And
really, when you go to the scriptures, God is telling us from beginning
to end the resurrection is absolutely important, Old Testament and
New Testament. It is the heart of the gospel
we'll see in 1 Corinthians 15. It is the victory over death
and Satan. We are now identified with Jesus
Christ in death, burial, and resurrection through the baptism
of the Holy Spirit at the moment we believe, and now we are victorious
in position in Christ. It's our foundation of our daily
identification with Christ as we walk in newness of life, and
it is the guarantee of our future resurrection. And that's not
the full summation of it, but it gives you a good idea of the
absolute importance of it. I chose this passage just to
summarize for you, a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ and
myself, the importance of this resurrection. And Paul is teaching
the Colossians here how actually to orient themselves day by day. It's with a mental orientation
to heaven and a earthly orientation into walk, with our Savior. And he says in Colossians 3,
1 through 4, If then you were raised with Christ, seek those
things which are above, where Christ is sitting at the right
hand of God. Set your mind on things above,
not on things on the earth. For you died, and your life is
hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life,
appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory. We've been raised with Christ.
We died with Christ. He's saying it actually in different
order, but the emphasis is we've risen with Christ. Let us think
from heaven down rather than down, up, or over. Let us remember
we are God's risen new creations in Christ. And then he goes on
in the whole chapter to show us how to think about ourselves
and our actions, about how to have the Word of God dwell in
us richly, how to be husbands and wives and children and workers
and bosses, and how to pray, and it all is in an orientation
of our position in Christ, and included in that is the emphasis
of our risen with Christ. Now, if you would turn with me
to the beginning of John chapter 20, John chapter 20 verse 1. And I titled it this, Disciples
Learn of Jesus' Resurrection. They're going to learn of Jesus'
resurrection. Now, what I say about that is
Jesus repeatedly told them, I'm going to die, and in three days,
I'm going to rise again. He used the temple as the illustration. They're going to tear down this
temple, and in three days, it's going to rise up again. He's
told them specifically that he would be risen on several occasions. And yet, they struggle with believing
that. Mary Magdalene, John, and Peter
observed the empty tomb. Now, in other passages in the
Gospels, it tells of other people, but we're just going to focus
here from John's perspective, highlights in John. Please follow
along as I read John 20, verse 1. Now on the first day of the week,
Mary Magdalene went to the tomb early, while it was still dark,
and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb. Then
she ran and came to Simon Peter and to the other disciple, whom
Jesus loved, and said to them, They have taken away the Lord
out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him. Do you see that? She's not talking
about him alive, is she? Somebody else took him out of
the tomb. She's struggling with her faith. Verse 3, Peter therefore
went out and the other disciple, referring to John himself, and
went and were going to the tomb. So they both ran together, and
the other disciple outran Peter and came to the tomb first. And he, stooping down, looking
in, saw the linen clothes lying there, yet he did not go in. Then Simon Peter came, following
him, and went into the tomb, and he saw the linen clothes
lying there, and the handkerchief that had been around his head,
not lying, with the linen clothes, but folded together in a place
by itself." So you can see they take off running. The Lord's
body's not there? The Lord's not there? What happened? Who took it? That is what appears
their immediate thinking. They're not thinking immediately
that he has risen. Verse 8, then the other disciple
who came to the tomb first, went in also, he saw and he believed."
Now, I think it's John speaking of himself here. We see he's
in the second person, the one who ran. He's not referring to
himself directly, but he saw and he responded, he believed.
Now if you came into this tomb, it's the first early morning
light, and you see that the beautiful clothing or cloth that they wrapped
him in is all folded up, and the piece around his head is
laid down there. I think he recognized nobody
stole them because they would have taken that linen with them.
That's the value. It's not the body per se. Now
the Jews did after this try and conspire so that they gave money
to the soldiers and they would tell that somebody took them.
They tried to keep the truth from being said, but here He
believed, verse four, for as yet, excuse me, verse nine, for
as yet they did not know the scripture that he must rise again
from the dead. What was John's conclusion? How
did he conclude that Jesus was there? He saw and he believed. Now, I don't think this is the
very moment he got saved. I think he recognized he is resurrected. He is alive from the dead. Now, put his sandals on your
feet and go back and think, okay, I've walked with Jesus. I've
heard him teach a lot. I've seen him do a lot of miracles. I believe in him that he is the
Messiah. but he doesn't get a hold of
that fact that he's gonna rise from the dead right like that.
Do you struggle with God's word at times? What he says? Earlier
this summer, I had a struggle with my prayers. In a sense,
in my prayers, it was like, do I really believe that God is
going to answer my prayers? Now, I think it was partly because
of the overwhelming schedule and things. And I backed up a
little bit and taught for our devotions the character of God
being the all-powerful God in the word of Almighty God. the
God Almighty or Almighty or Almighty God, in the Old Testament it's
El Shaddai. And I saw that 31 times in Job
it talked about His Almighty power. Revelation nine times,
obviously it's not in the Hebrew there, but it refers to the Almighty. And as I focused on that, my
prayers changed because God can do anything. Jeremiah 31, 27. Is there anything too hard for
me? He says. It's rhetorical. No. So being a disciple with Sandals
in the first century, they struggled with the resurrected Jesus Christ.
And I struggle that what God says is absolutely true and I
can bank upon it. I can stand on it like a rock
and it will give me strength and wisdom and purpose and direction
and hope. So here he is, John. He looks,
he sees, and he believes. Now, do you think any of the
other disciples struggle? In the context of the resurrection,
Mark 16 says this, She, Mary Magdalene, went and told those
who had been with Him, as they mourned and weeped. And when
they heard that He was alive and had been seen by her, they
did not believe. She says, I've seen Him! I've
seen Jesus! Ah, we don't believe you. Wow. that after he appeared to another
form, excuse me, appeared in another form to the two of them
as they walked and went into the country on the road to Emmaus.
And they went and told it to the rest, but they did not believe
them either. Later he appeared to the eleven
as they sat at the table and he rebuked their unbelief and
hardness of heart because they did not believe those who had
seen him after he had risen. So in the evening of his resurrection
the disciples are gathering. Jesus in his new body walks right
through the wall and comes in and one of the things he does
is rebuked their unbelief and hardness of heart. Now, personally,
I don't want the Lord Jesus to rebuke me, but I have a hard
heart sometimes. Amen? I struggle with my believing
what he says. We were in the Olivet Discourse
as the pastors' conference, and it's like, oh my goodness. You've got to be the Almighty
God to fulfill these statements and future promises in the Word
of God. And so, I can relate to the disciples
in Luke 24, 10 and 11. It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna,
Mary the mother of James, and the other women with them, who
told these things to the apostles, and their words seemed to them
like idle tales, and they did not believe them. This is on
their way back from the tomb. Their first sightings of the
Lord Jesus Christ. Ladies, now Jews had a hard time
with women back then. These are idle words, idle tales. These seemed untrue. Now, my
encouragement to you, and I have tried to practice this over the
years, if I'm sitting in the pew and I'm being taught the
Word of God, or I'm sitting in my own devotions and reading
the Word of God, that in my heart I'd like to active voice say,
Amen, Lord, I believe this. This is true. It's being taught
me in a normal, grammatical, contextual, historical, plain
sense interpretation, and it's clear with grace and the dispensations
in the Word of God, Lord. Amen. I believe that, Lord. That's
mine right there. I believe that. It strengthens
your faith. You're reading the Word of God,
and you're going through a story of Daniel in the lion's den,
and the angel shuts up his mouth, that supernatural Almighty God
sending forth his mighty angel, and you say, Amen, I believe
that. In the Sunday school, we encourage those children early
to take that and believe it. They struggle with their unbelief. They observe the empty tomb,
and they believed it. Now Mary Magdalene meets her
risen Savior. Now we referred to that sighting
there, but let's go to chapter 20 and verse 11. But Mary stood outside by the
tomb weeping, and as she wept, she stooped down and looked into
the tomb, and she saw two angels in white sitting, one at the
head and the other at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain. Then they said to her, Woman,
why are you weeping? And she said to them, Because
they have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they
have laid Him. She has not seen him yet. She's
struggling that the empty tomb means a risen Savior and the
angels are speaking to her. What a scene! What a scene! Verse
14, Now when she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus
standing there and did not know that it was Jesus. And Jesus
said to her, Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking? And she, supposing him to be
the gardener, said to him, Sir, if you have carried him away,
tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away. She still thinks he's dead, the
tomb's empty. She's just spoke to angels, she
spoke to the Lord Jesus Christ, and she's still struggling. Not
until verse 16, Jesus said to her, Mary. Maybe it was his voice,
maybe it was how he said it, or maybe because he knew her.
She turned and said to him, Rabboni, which is to say teacher. And
Jesus said to her, do not cling to me, for I have not yet ascended
to my father, but go to my brethren and say to them, I am ascending
to my father and your father and my God and your God. Mary Magdalene came and told
the disciples that she had seen the Lord and that He had spoken
these things to her. Did she believe? Yes, she concluded. She saw her risen Savior and
she believed that He was alive. She saw him, she heard him, she
perceived him. In verse 18, she came and told
the disciples that she had seen the Lord and that he had spoken
these things to her. Now remember what we just read?
The disciples said, these sound like idle tales. You've got to
be kidding me. You saw Him. You talked to Him.
He hung on the cross. We saw Him die. We participated
in His burial. Every one of us has struggled
with different things in the Bible, in our own Christian walk,
in our own humanity and inconsistency, and here we see John, seen and
believing. We see Mary, seen and believing. And now we see the disciples
coming and seeing, or actually they see the resurrected Savior
come to them. So moving right along in the
storyline here, he says this in verse 19, Then, the same day
at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were
shut, where the disciples were assembled, that's very important,
he includes it, they were up, assembled, and the doors all
shut. For fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in the midst and
said to them, Peace be with you. Then he said to them, said this,
he showed them his hands and his feet. Then the disciples
were glad when they saw the Lord. The disciples were gathering
for fear of the Jews. Have you ever been fearful? Yes,
right from the garden all the way today and up until the end
of the millennial kingdom and before the new heavens and the
new earth, there will be fear in the hearts of man. But Jesus
is our antidote, fear. So what do you think they were
fearful of with the Jews? Probably their life, wouldn't
you think? Hebrews 2, 14 and 15 says this,
inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood,
he himself likewise shared in the same, that through death
he might destroy him who had power over death, that is the
devil, and release those who through fear of death were all
their lifetime subject to bondage. I remember before I was saved,
and even shortly after I was saved, because I doubted the
assurance of my salvation, or I struggled with the assurance
of my salvation. Fear was really a grip upon me,
fear of death. It wasn't until I understood
and believed the ramifications of the gospel that I was going
to live forever and ever because I had believed on the Lord Jesus
Christ and received eternal life and that nothing could separate
me from Him. from my salvation. I'm in the
Father's hand. I'm in the Son's hand. I'm sealed
with the Holy Spirit. I'm kept by the power of God.
Nothing ever can separate me. Now, I don't look forward to
how I'm going to die. That's up to my God Almighty. He'll determine that. But death
has lost its grip on this saint. Do I think about it? Of course.
We have instantaneous reactions to brown bears in Alaska or the
cold of the ocean when you're out fishing or an accident on
the highway or something like that. But look at what he says
here. Release those who through fear
of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. The moment
you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, you will never die spiritually. As your Savior, you believe that
He died for your sins. He was buried and He arose again
the third day, and you put your faith in Him. At that moment,
you're born again. You will never see true death
again, spiritual death. You have eternal life. You will
live forever with Him. We will all die physically unless
we're raptured, which could happen today. It's not soon. It's imminent. Any time, that
will come. Now, do we struggle with the
fear of death? Yes. These disciples, I believe,
were there in the gathering, but they were fearful of their
death from the Jews, or persecution, or whatever that might be. But
Jesus greets them with this. Peace be with you. So they're sitting in fear, and
his first words out of his mouth, maybe because of the startling,
is, Peace be with you. He says it in 21. Peace be with you. As the Father
has sent me, I also send you. peace, tranquility of heart,
calmness of spirit, brought on by the presence of God. Number one distiller in the scriptures
of fear is the presence of God. Fear not, I am with you, or the
Lord is with you. You can go forth in courage and
strength because of that. I like even in Isaiah 41 13,
For I the Lord thy God shall hold your right hand, saying
to you, Fear not, I will help you. And many times I have squeezed
my right hand and assured myself, Okay Lord, you're with me. I'm
gonna step out by faith, though there's agitation, anxiety, difficulty
in my soul, I know you're with me, and so I step out by faith. Now, he had already told his
disciples a number of times. John 14, 27. Peace I leave with
you. My peace I give to you. Not as
the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled,
neither let it be afraid. That's John 14, 27. And John
16, 33. These things I have spoken to
you, that in me you may have peace. So the word of God put
into the heart of a saint by faith brings peace. Now it might
not be immediate because your emotions are all worked up, but
you step out by faith and Lord I trust you here. I trust you. I trust you. And I can say from
personal testimony, that as you step out and assure your mind,
in other words, you reaffirm, I believe, I'm trusting this,
the Spirit of God brings you peace. Love, joy, peace. The
Word of God brings you peace. And even Colossians 3, verse
15 says, let or allow the peace of God rule in your hearts. Colossians 3, verse 15. So the
Lord comes through the wall, startles them, and peace be with
you. They're in fear, they're waiting
there, and the Lord then Comforts them, shows them. What does he
do? He shows them his hands and his
feet. He gives them evidence. Verse
20. When he had said this, peace,
he showed them his hands and his side. Now, what were they struggling
with an empty tomb? They couldn't see anything. What
are they struggling here with him coming through the wall?
They're struggling and he says, come on, put it right here, baby.
Put it right here. And here, go all the way in.
Now, I'm being a little hyperbolic or emphatic or whatever. I don't
know what it's like. That to me, that scene is just
amazing to have disciples gathering. The risen Lord walks through
the wall. Peace. You're struggling? Come. I am Him. I am. Check it out. What is their response? What is their response at the
end of verse 20? Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord. It means they rejoiced. They
were joyous. They were celebrative. They were
ecstatic. This is He. He's not dead. Now I'm imagining for three days
they were sad. They were struggling. They were
mourning. They had such hopes in this great
rabbi, teacher, Messiah, Savior. They didn't know it all. I believe
they had faith. But they didn't understand this,
and they came to grips with it. And what I like about this scene,
too, is the Lord knows they're struggling with it, and He presents
them with absolute evidence. Now, this summer, we started
to pray for miracles. Does anybody here pray for miracles?
You know why we did? Because we got our focus on the
Almighty. When someone is born again, that
is miraculous. You go from the natural to the
supernatural. You go from death to life. You
go from darkness to light. You're ushered into the kingdom
of God. It is supernatural. Now, there
is a human element which must believe. We must make a choice
to put our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. But the evidence
is there. The evidence is clear, and when
we present it and someone believes on the Lord Jesus Christ and
is saved, that is a miracle. Have you seen that happen? Have
you heard it from the people that say, I can't believe it,
I'm going to heaven? It encourages you to share it
again. And I say, not miracles necessarily the blind are seeing,
or I'm walking on Resurrection Bay in Alaska on the water. But God supernaturally orchestrates
behind-the-scenes encounters with people who are struggling. At the fair last year in Alaska,
there were individuals that came in and that said, I considered
suicide because God would never love me because of my sexual
orientation. And they walked out of there
believers in the Lord Jesus Christ. We had a man at the end of the
season, three hours before we were absolutely done with the
mission, and he came in. And he came in because his co-worker
had been witnessed to by the director in 2019 and become a
believer in Christ. And in 2022, he brought his fiancee
to the mission to hear the gospel, and she got saved. And on the
ship, he tried to help his co-worker, who was so depressed and struggling,
and who had had tuberculosis on the ship three years previously,
and was in isolation, and came, ended up coming back on the ship.
It was the last day of the season, the last day that ship was there,
and it was the first time he'd ever been to the mission. And
his friend's name was Ross. And Ross knew he couldn't help
him. He gave him the promises of God
for the child of God earlier in the summer. And he came in
the mission and he said, my friend, A.C., it's his first time to
the mission. And Cassandra has her hands full
of food at the counter, and she goes, hey, Will, guess what? A.C.' 's first day at the mission. That's code word for come and
give him the gospel. And it works. Oh, really? Wow, nice to have you here. Let
me show you around. He shows him around. He ends
up at the rack with the diagram, says, do you have any idea about
God and the Bible, and do you think you're going to heaven?
No. And so Will said, can I sit down and talk to you? Sure. Well,
I think Ross had primed him even before that. And he sat down
with Will, and Will shared the gospel with him, and he finds
out all this information about him, and that he had tuberculosis,
and that he was struggling. He even contemplated suicide,
and he had just struggling, and Ross couldn't help him, and he
finally came to the mission because his schedule was so bad with
his job on the ship. And he got there, and he trusted
in Christ as his Savior. He went out with a smile on his
face. That was a miracle. So, we are
going to our Lord and we are glad because He's a risen Savior. We are rejoicing that He is a
risen Savior. And we are going out with confidence
because we are one with Him in newness of life. But they're
just learning about it here. And it's exciting to see that
these disciples are coming to understand the resurrection,
though we've been preached it, and taught it, and read it, and
this is the first time they're coming to grips with it. Verse
24 says this, Now Thomas called the twin. One of the twelve was
not with them when Jesus came. And the other disciples therefore
said to him, We have seen the Lord. So he said to them, Unless
I see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my fingers
into the print of the nails, and put my hand into his side,
I will not believe. Ha! Does that sound like anybody
you've witnessed to in the recent past? I want some evidence. Show me some evidence there's
a God. Oh my goodness. Go to creation, go to the word
of God, go to all these. God has given us lots of evidence,
even in our conscience. Here, Thomas is struggling. He's struggling. What? What? Unless I see, I will not
believe. This guy's stubborn. I was meditating
on Thomas just, I don't know if it was yesterday or the day
before, and I was thinking, Thomas, why was he like this? I think he's like that because
he's got an analytical mind. He's one of these science guys
that, unless they can come to the formula and or conclusion,
they want all these things. There's nothing wrong with that.
But at this point, he's just like saying, hey boys, I know
you say you saw it. I know you, but not until I see
it am I going to believe it. Now, I'm that unbeliever sometimes,
aren't you? You read it in the scriptures,
it's like, how can this happen? That's why at the moment you
believe it, it's revealed in the Word of God, you active voice
say, yes. When I do that, my faith is affirmed. My foundation is strengthened.
That mortar sets in our hearts that says, This is the truth. I can build my life upon this. And over time, if you haven't
been saved for very long, and you haven't heard or read and
understood a lot of the Word of God, you're trying to fit
all these things together. But after four decades, I have
no excuse. It fits so clearly. The principles
are so systematic and simple. God wants us to succeed. And what do we struggle with?
Unbelief. That's my greatest struggle.
But I have to keep going back because faith comes by hearing
and hearing by the Word of God. And when I open up the Word of
God, it's like God says, here I am. Why are you doubting me? I'm in the Old Testament with
Israel. I was so consistent. I'm going
to be forever and ever and throughout the new ages coming. Don't do
anything but trust me and go forward. So, we keep hearing
the word of God, and Hebrews 11, 6 says, without faith, it
is impossible to please God. And in the chapter of 11 of Hebrews,
I'll read that on occasion, just to encourage me, because these
people struggled with their faith, yet they were willing to build
their future and their life on it. So, what does Thomas conclude? Look at what he says. Verse 26
and following. And after eight days, his disciples
were again to get inside, and Thomas was with them. And Jesus
came, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said,
Peace to you. Oh Lord, you are so consistent,
thank you. Then he said to Thomas, Now,
do you think there was any pause in between that? Peace to you
guys, peace. Okay, Thomas, your turn. We don't
have any pause in there, but I'm just trying to visualize
or be there in the corner and watch this take place. But he
says, Thomas, here's your evidence. Verse 27, then he said to Thomas,
reach your finger here and look at my hands and reach your hand
here and put it into my side. Do not be unbelieving, but believing. What does the Lord want from
us? To trust him. Everyone in this room has a different
situation in their life, a different level of maturity, a different
level of trial issue and situation. And yet the Lord says what? Do
not be unbelieving but believing. That's our responsibility. God
will give you the evidence in the scriptures, in the answered
prayer, in His faithfulness in your heart, through the power
of the Holy Spirit. You just keep trusting Him, and
you step that out in your work situation, in your marriage,
in wherever you are having a trial, and God will provide sufficient
grace. Now, in 40 plus years of being
a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, I can testify the Lord
is faithful. This last summer, the Lord was
faithful, and I had anxious heart at times. I don't know if I had
had clinical depression, but there was times where I was a
little bit down, and your emotions aren't there, and you just turn
right back to the Almighty, and, Lord, I'm throwing myself on
you, and I'm going to trust you through the process. We studied
Job this summer in the mission, and the two conclusions I come
with at the end of Job are this. He wanted Job. to see his God. He wanted Job to see him. And
he sees him in the last chapter. He also wanted him to spiritually
mature. And we see that in 1 Peter 1
and James 1. He wants us to be fully equipped
and mature by a lot of trials over time. Because oftentimes
we don't go to him except in those trials. Walking on the
water, Peter learned to trust the Lord more. I give him credit,
he stepped out and the Lord gave him grace to hold his hand and
bring him back in. All these different occurrences,
the Lord is faithful. So verse 27 again. Then he said
to Thomas, reach your finger here and look at my hands. and
reach your hand here and put it into my side. Do not be unbelieving,
but believing. And Thomas answered and said
to him, My Lord and my God. And Jesus said to him, Thomas,
because you have seen me, you have believed, blessed are those
who have not seen and yet have believed. I don't see the Lord Jesus Christ
today, except in the scriptures. And I can see him by faith and
trust him. Don't be unbelieving, but believing. He's telling me through this
occasion here. Now the context of resurrection
here, and they're struggling with it, And he presents himself
and Thomas becomes a believer right there in the resurrection
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, I think he was a believer
in the Lord before this, but he'd struggled with that resurrection. My Lord and my God. And then the Lord says here,
you have believed. You have believed. You know, I think oftentimes
we want the emotions to go with our faith. Then I'm sure that
I have faith. But oftentimes they don't go
right away and sometimes never come. So he wants us simply to
respond directly to him upon what he has said and trust him
implicitly. I believe you, Lord." Now, here's
the passage in 1 Peter 1, 7-9, he says that the genuineness
of your faith being much more precious than gold that perishes,
though it is testified by fire, may be found to praise and honor
and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ. That's that trial
of our faith. It's precious. Whom having not
seen you love. Now these believers were losing
their houses, losing their businesses, losing their lives, losing their
families. They were being scattered abroad.
Dispersia. And yet he says, your faith is
tested and it's precious, and while you're going through this,
hold on to your Savior and the Word of God by faith. Though now you do not see Him,
yet believing, you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of
glory, receiving the end of your faith, the salvation of your
souls. Now, in the context, it appears
that it's the second tense salvation, the salvation of their souls.
They're delivered from the struggles and the difficulties. We, as
believers, the moment we believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, we
are delivered from hell to heaven, from our guilt to righteousness
in Jesus Christ. Here they're going through trials.
Here they're Here, their faith is being tested. They can't see
the Lord, and they're being admonished. You love Him, though you don't
see Him, and you believe Him, yet you don't see Him, but you
rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory. To me, that's
the Spirit of God thriving in the hearts of a believer in a
major trial. that joy they can have through
faith in their present Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. Now we get here to the end of
the chapter and he has verse 30. Truly, and truly, Jesus did
many other signs in the presence of his disciples which are not
written in this book, but these are written that you may believe
that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing
you may have life in his name. Now, we can see here that he
is referring back to everything that he said right up to this
point, the signs. And there's many others that
were done he's referring to. Truly, Jesus did many other signs. than these, but these are written
that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. Now today, if you have never
believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, God who became a man and hung
on the cross as your substitute to die for your sins, you are
a sinner. The Bible declares all have sinned
and fall short of the glory of God. You must respond to that
message by faith. Put your trust, confidence in
Him. And He is saying here that Christ,
that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. He is the Messiah
of the Old Testament. He is the Savior who hung on
the cross. And here He's the one who rose
from the dead. And the Scriptures declared that.
And He is saying that believing, you may have life, eternal life
in His name. So I appeal to you to believe
on Him today, if you've never believed on Him. Mostly I've
been talking to you who have believed on Him. But this really
isn't for you till you've made a personal conscience decision
to trust in the Savior who died for you, was buried, and arose
again the third day according to the Scriptures. If you do,
you will have here life, eternal life, repeated multiple times. in this book, for God so loved
the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever,
that's you, believes in the name of the Son of God, you will not
perish, but have everlasting life. His only begotten Son. Now, we don't have a lot of time,
but I just want to appeal to you here to see that in 1 Corinthians
15, we're going to make a quick shift and I had to make a decision. Please turn to 1 Corinthians
15. what to emphasize in this sermon,
in this message. And in 1 Corinthians 15, Paul
is making a defense and a claim that the resurrection is so important. It's the paramount message. It's in the paramount message
of the gospel, integral part. And I want to emphasize the fact
that we become a new creation in Christ the moment we believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ. 2 Corinthians 5.17 says this.
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature. Old things
have passed away. Behold, all things have become
new. So, the moment you are born again,
you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, positionally all things
become new. Your relationship with God, your
dwelt with the Holy Spirit, it's a positional thing. And over
time, your mind is renewed and you can then walk in the Spirit
and not fulfill the lusts of the flesh. The new creation in
Christ is how we are associated with the baptism of the Holy
Spirit and he places us into the body of the Lord Jesus Christ,
the spiritual church of Jesus Christ. And Romans 6, 1 through
4 says this, What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin
that grace may abound? Certainly not. This is to believers.
How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it? Or do
you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Jesus
Christ were baptized first into his death? Therefore, we are
buried with him through baptism into death, that just as Christ
was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so
we also should walk in newness of life. Our association with
death, burial, and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ through
the baptism of the Holy Spirit places us into the body of Christ,
the universal Church of Christ, and now that is our new position
whereby we serve. and we walk and we live. This is the place of victory.
So the physical baptism is simply a picture of the spiritual baptism. Pastor Dennis years ago wrote
seven key questions to water or to baptism and You can get
that up in the bookstore. But my point here is this, is
that the gospel of Jesus Christ must proclaim the resurrection. It's included here. Look at verse
1 and following. Moreover, brethren, I declare
to you the gospel which I preach to you, which also you receive
and in which you stand. So he's preaching to those who
have received this message. by which also you have are saved
if you hold fast the word which I preached to you unless you
believed in vain for I delivered to you first of all that which
I also received that Christ died for our sins according the scriptures
that he was buried and that he arose again the third day according
to the scriptures here's our Explanation of the gospel, that
God Almighty, Jesus Christ, died for our sins. The wages of sin
is death, so somebody has to pay that penalty. If you pay
for it, you go to hell for eternity to pay for your sins. But God
loves us and says, I will make the payment for you, I will send
the Savior to redeem you. And that means we're bought with
a price. The Lord paid it all. We saw yesterday. It is finished
by Pastor Tom. Completely done. Now our responsibility
is to respond to that message. And in that message he's saying
here in verse 4 that he was buried and that he rose again the third
day according to the scriptures. And so the evidence is there
that he died and he is now alive from the dead. His Resurrection
is the, in a sense, canceled check that God says, finished. I am pleased. He raises him from
the dead. And it's according to the scriptures.
So we see in the Old Testament a number of occurrences. Some
of them are a little bit shadowy or they're implied, but Psalm
1610 says, For you will not leave my soul in hell, referring to
the Messiah, nor will you allow your Holy One to see corruption. And so, repeatedly, God has referenced
a life after death. Job said, for I know that my
Redeemer lives, and He shall stand at last on the earth. And
after my skin is destroyed, we're heading there, aren't we? I feel
that destroying happening more and more all the time. This I
know, that in my flesh I shall see God. again. So we're encouraged, and the
references are over and over in the Gospels, in the New Testament
when the Gospel is preached in Acts and in the epistles associated
with the Gospel, the risen Savior, the Savior who is alive from
the dead. And then he was seen. 5 through
10. I'm not going to read all that
but he was seen by hundreds and look what he says in verse 11.
Therefore whether it was I or they so we preached and so you
believed. They made a deliberate choice
The Corinthians to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and they
were beneficiaries of it. But they were carnal. They were
called saints in verse 2 of chapter 1. They struggled and he took
in a sense 27 chapters with first and second Corinthians to try
and point them and encourage them to get back on the right
road and serve the Lord and in the middle or At the end of this,
he's using the example of the gospel and the resurrection,
and it makes it worthwhile to serve him. So here he says, preach
the gospel, and I've already filled in all your handout because
I knew this is just an overview here, but you can go back and
read it. So when we share, we should emphasize we have a living
Savior. It's in the gospel. Preach the
resurrection. Share the resurrection to your
neighbors or wherever you have that miraculous opportunity to
share Jesus Christ. What hit me in this is it is
so logical and so significant, the resurrection. It's logical. I just have to read this in verse
12. Look at what he says here. Now if Christ is preached that
he has been raised from the dead, how do some among you say that
there is no resurrection of the dead? So people were saying,
no, he didn't really rise. But if there is no resurrection
of the dead, then Christ is not risen. And if Christ is not risen,
then our preaching is empty and your faith is empty. We have
no true object to preach or to believe. Verse 15, yes, and we
are found false witnesses of God because we have testified
of God that he raised up Christ whom we did not raise up. So
we're lying. if in fact the dead do not rise
for if the dead do not rise then Christ is not risen if Christ
is not risen your faith is futile you are still in your sins do
you see how logical he approaches this how reasonable verse 18
then also those who have fallen asleep those are believers who
have died in Christ have perished. Without the resurrection there's
no hope. Verse 19, if in this life only
we have hope in Christ we are of all men the most pitiable. Ha! You guys preach somebody
who's dead. Ha! There is no resurrection.
Your faith is empty. Your message is empty. That's
what is the conclusion. So our preaching is empty. Our
faith is empty. We're liars. We're false witnesses.
Our faith is worthless. And we are still in our sins.
There's no victory. And we're the most Pitiable of
all people look at their devoting their lives going to church all
the time They study that book that says there's a there's a
Savior, but he didn't really rise Do you see the significance? And Paul is logically and reasonably
going through this Look at the switch right here in verse 20,
but now Christ is risen from the dead You know, I imagine
if that's what they're chanting there in the upper room after
Christ comes through the wall, He is risen from the dead. Whose turn is it? My turn. I
want to touch your hand again, Lord. Now, I don't know what
it's like, but I do know this. This is celebratory. This is
exciting. This is what we want. He has
conquered death. by bringing life. He says in
this passage, our service and sacrifice is reasonable. I'll
tell you what, every pastor who came to that conference this
week has sacrificed hours and hours and hours of their lives
to study and to serve. And if there is no resurrection,
What pitiable people, right? But if Christ is risen again,
it is reasonable to come and to serve in the nursery here
and go and be a fool to your neighbor because you opened your
mouth to them. Or at the grocery store, you lovingly share Jesus
Christ. It's worth it. we shall receive
a heavenly body. This is so encouraging. Don't
think that this old frail body's going into heaven. He's going
to give us a new one. And when is it going to happen?
In the twinkling of an eye. Look at verse 51. Okay? I wish
I could teach it all, but I just want you to see the gist of it.
And for devotions tonight, you can read it again. Behold, I
tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we
shall all be changed. In a moment, in a twinkling of
an eye, at the last trump. For the trump will sound, and
the dead will be raised, and we shall be changed. No ifs, ands, or buts. We shall
be changed. And he finishes off in verse
54. So when this corruptible has
put on incorruption and this mortal has put on immortality,
then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, death
is swallowed up in victory. Oh, death, where is your sting? Oh, Hades, where is your victory? Because The sting of death is
the sin and the strength of sin is the law, but thanks be to
God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Every single day of a Christian's life, he is victorious because
his Savior has raised and you are one with him and you do not
have to let your sin nature control you. You do not have to have
the world lie to you and say anything and everything other
than Jesus Christ is worth it. And you do not have to have Satan
dominate you with fear of death or with his lies and devices. But instead, I am one with Christ. I have the armor of Christ. I
am a new creation in Christ. I am indwelt by the Holy Spirit.
And by the grace of God, I am what I am. And I can do all things
through Christ who strengthens me. One more time, 57. But thanks
be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Now, we sang that song and it
was at the end of the chorus. Hallelujah! That's what he's saying here.
Now, I'm being emphatic because I'm the preacher today. Some
of you would say, I wish you would quiet down a little bit.
But at least I don't have Poochie sleeping through this session
here. The Lord is our awesome victory. If you haven't decided
to serve the Lord Jesus Christ as a believer, I'm going to use
the passage, you are of the most pitiable. Because you are switching
the lies and the garbage and the crap of this world for Jesus
Christ. I'm convinced of it. Now, do
I struggle with it? Yeah! I get distracted. I allow my sin nature. But I'll
tell you what, that conviction is here. And I want the Lord's
will. Verse 58. Most of you probably
even memorized this. Therefore, my beloved brethren,
be steadfast and movable, always abounding in the work of the
Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord. They labored in the kitchen this
week. They labored in the nursery this week. They're laboring for
Jesus Christ up in the audio and we're laboring together and
we go to the ends of the earth for missions. Is it in vain? The resurrection says no. In that gospel message is a freedom
that is beyond our imagination and must be revealed in the Word
of God so that we can grasp it, take a hold of it by faith, and
live the best possible life on earth after the curse. Walking
in newness of life. Personal testimony. Fullness? No. I've tasted it. And I want all of you to experience
that. If you're holding back, don't.
Lord, I want thy will to be done. It'll prove to give you the absolute
best possible human existence on earth, that you walk with
Jesus Christ in newness of life. He is such an awesome Savior.
He wants to abide with you. He wants to shepherd you. He
wants to empower you. He wants to glorify His name
through you. And one day, when we get to heaven,
He says, I will reward you for it. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual
blessing in heavenly places in our new resurrected position
in Christ. And all God's people said, Amen. Please pray with me. Heavenly
Father, what a delight to open your word today. What a reality
to open the scriptures. Thank you for our Savior, his
humiliation, And thank you that you have exalted and given him
a name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus Christ,
you want us to bow. So thank you, Lord, for your
work on our behalf. May you receive the honor and
the glory in our hearts, in our words, in our lives, in this
local church, and through this conference that we've been delighted
to be a part of. We love you, even though we don't
see you. In your name, I pray. Amen.
09 - The Resurrection of Christ
Series FBC 2024 - Highlights in John
| Sermon ID | 10724115633419 |
| Duration | 1:03:03 |
| Date | |
| Category | Conference |
| Bible Text | John 20 |
| Language | English |
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