I hope you believe that. The gospel is true. Everything we read in the Bible, my heart is firmly fixed. There are things that I have believed for a long time to discover that wasn't true. But there is no chance, there is no danger that you get to the end of this life and discover that everything you have banked on is a lie. It is true. It is true. It is true. It is true. It is true. It is true. It is true. It is true. It is true. It is true. It is true. It is true. It is true. It is true. It is true. It is true. It is true. It is true. It is true. It is true. It is true. It is true. It is true. It is true. It is true. It is true. It is true. It is true. It is true. It is true. It is true. It is true. It is true. It is true. It is true. It is true. It is true. It is true. It is true. It is true. It is true. It is true. It is true. It is true. It is true. It is true. It is true. It is true. It is true. It is true. It is true. It is true. It is true. It is true. It is true. It is true. Praying about the next book that we go to and probably will not be a Sunday morning study, probably a Sunday night study. And I've got a couple of books on my mind and you pray with me, the Lord give me direction. If you would, I love preaching through books of the Bible. I had a pastor texting me this week, good preacher friend, I preach for him. And we were texting back and forth and he was asking, how much time do you normally spend in sermon preparation for a sermon? I told him and then he multiplied it by three and said, so this is how much time you're spending. He's just taken the pastorate of a new church, and I think the gist of the texting was, this is a lot of work. If I'm preaching three brand new sermons a week, this takes a lot of time, and it does, it does. But what helps is when you get up on Monday morning and you already know what the text is for next Sunday. You don't have to go looking for a text. We already know where we're headed, and that helps out a lot. And so I love preaching through books of the Bible and seeing how things flow together. So we're at the Gospel of John chapter 20, and I'll read one verse, and then we're gonna look at a passage of Matthew and a passage in 1 Corinthians and a passage in Mark, and so we'll be quite around the New Testament here. Well, the first day of the week come with Mary Magdalene early, when it was yet dark unto the sepulcher, and seeth the stone taken away from the sepulcher. You know, this is the story of the resurrection of our Lord. And I know that you don't typically preach on the resurrection until Easter Sunday, but I believe the resurrection is a good theme for any Sunday. It is the cornerstone of Christianity. There would be no Christianity if there were no resurrection. It is the single greatest day in the history of the world because the incarnation and the crucifixion would not have accomplished what it was meant to accomplish if there were no resurrection. If Christ be not raised from the dead, then the death of Christ is either the heroic death of a misguided martyr, or the pathetic death of a deranged madman, or the execution of a fraud. But if Christ be raised from the dead, then his death becomes an atoning death, which pays the penalty for our sin. Take away the resurrection and Christianity becomes an empty philosophy that is about as useless as every other human philosophy. But it was the resurrection that turned the broken hearted followers of a rabbi into the courageous martyrs of the early church. It was a resurrection that gave birth to the fellowship of the saints that became the church. And the enemies of Christ found in those early years that they could They could prison them. They could chastise them. They could beat them. They could put them in prison. They could persecute them. They could even put them to death, but they could not get them to deny the reality of the resurrection. It has always been the cornerstone of the Christian faith. Resurrection is the theme of apostolic preaching. It is mentioned 104 times in the New Testament, most prominently in the book of Acts. In fact, in Acts 1 and verse 22, a replacement for Judas is sought, and here's the requirement, that he be a witness with us of the resurrection. Every message recorded in the book of Acts mentions the resurrection as part of its theme. In fact, the first message that is recorded is on the day of Pentecost when Peter preaches in Acts 2, verse 23, he'll be delivered by the determinate counsel and the foreknowledge of God you have taken, and by wicked hands are crucified and slain. Here it is, whom God has raised up. The very next verse, verse 30, says he would raise up Christ to sit on his throne. The very next verse, verse 31, speak of the resurrection of Christ. The very next verse, verse 32 says, this Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we are all witnesses. Every sermon in the book of Acts mentions the resurrection. Then we have Romans 10 and verse 9. that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thy heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. There is no such thing as a Christian who does not believe in the resurrection. You can't be saved if you don't believe that Christ raised from the dead. Because believe in thine heart that God had raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. Now the definitive chapter in all the Bible on the resurrection is 1 Corinthians chapter 15. I want you to turn there for just a minute and we'll come back to our text in just a second. But in the church at Corinth, there was a debate over their own resurrection. They believed that Christ was resurrected, There were some in the church debating if the believer would experience a bodily resurrection. There were certain philosophies that had crept into the church, and those philosophies had taken more precedence than the preaching of the apostles. And Paul spends an entire chapter defending the resurrection, and the way that he does it is he ties our future resurrection to his resurrection. Because he lives, we live. And Paul makes his argument on the reverse. What if there were no resurrection? You're in 1 Corinthians 15, look at verse 13. He says, but if there be no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not If dead men don't rise, then Christ didn't rise either. He was as much a man as any man who ever lived. And to say that there's no future resurrection of the body, then that eliminates the possibility of his own resurrection. He says in verse number 14, and if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching is vain. If Christ is not risen, then there is no gospel and all gospel preaching is pointless. Preaching the gospel is just empty blabber if there is no resurrection. There's nothing to say, there's nothing to preach to lost men if Christ didn't get out of that grave. Then in verse 14, if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain and your faith is also vain. We're here at church this morning, exercising our faith in Christ. But if there's no resurrection, then we're wasting our time because you believe in a lie if there's no resurrection. You're reaching out your hand to a God who isn't there, trying to touch a Savior that cannot save, believing in a gospel that did not happen. He says in verse 15, yea, and we are found false witnesses of God. because we have testified of God that he raised up Christ, whom he raised not up, if so be that the dead rise not." The apostles were the one that went out preaching the resurrection, but they're frauds if that didn't happen. In Acts 1.22, he said, we're all eyewitnesses of the resurrection, and that's the bottom line of their ministry. And if that's not true, then they're imposters. In verse 17, if Christ be not raised, your faith is in vain. He are yet in your sins. It was your sins that nailed Jesus to the cross. And if there's no resurrection, then sin wins. The only way that he conquers sin is for him to have the final triumph. Then in verse number 18, they also, which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished. That's it. If he didn't resurrect from the dead, then there's no way that anybody else is going to resurrect from the dead. His resurrection guarantees our resurrection. So Paul builds this case of what if, what if, what if, but then you get to verse 20, but now, Now is Christ risen from the dead? Now we ought to have a Baptist-Apostle fit and shouting fit right there. Now is Christ risen from the dead? And the resurrection proves that truth is stronger than the lie. enemies of Jesus put him to death, they did so because they wanted their lies to triumph over the truth. And if he had to stay dead, they would have triumph. But when he came out of the grave, it proved that truth is greater than a lie. The resurrection proves that good is stronger than evil. It is the forces of evil that crucified him. And if he stays dead, then they win. But when he comes out of the grave, the good triumphs over the evil plot of the wicked men. The resurrection proves that love is stronger than hate. He faced the world of hate. They hated him so bitterly that they nailed him to a tree. And if he stays dead, then hate wins. But now is Christ risen from the dead. We can thank God for that. So I say to you that the resurrection is the greatest event in history. When Jesus cried, it is finished and died. The resurrection is the Father's amen to his sacrifice. The resurrection demonstrates the Father's acceptance of Christ's sacrifice for sin, and there is no gospel without it. Believed by faith. Christ is accepted by faith. You are not saved by your logic. You are saved by faith. Again, take creation for example. I believe in creation. Here's why. I believe it because that's what the Bible says. I believe it because creation itself witnesses to a creator. I believe all the other options are unacceptable. You have to really check your brain at the door to believe in evolution or the Big Bang Theory, or it took 400 billion years for you to come from a monkey to the man that you are right now. I mean, you really gotta stretch the imagination. There is abundant evidence for creation, but you weren't there, so how do you know? How do you know that it happened like Genesis chapter one describes? Well, if you believe God, if you believe God's word, if you believe God is true, then your faith determines what you believe about creation. And if you believe God and his word by faith, then any other thread of evidence to support the creation is great, but I don't need it. I know nothing about science, all right? I could not pass a chemistry or biology test. I barely got through, but I don't need to know science to believe in creation. Thank God for scientists that are able to study that and talk about archeology and all of that. But I believe it, catch this, I believe it because it is in God's Word. If all that I have is Genesis chapter number one, that is enough because you believe it by faith. And when it comes to salvation, you must accept Christ by faith. I cannot give you empirical evidence that anything recorded in the Gospels actually happened the way that it says. I can point you to evidence and a lot of extra biblical writings, but if you're a committed skeptic, that's not going to help you either. So in the end, you have to decide, do I believe God or do I not believe God? Can I accept this by faith? I don't need to see an empty tomb. because I read about it in God's Word. Salvation comes by faith, and if you don't have faith, then you simply cannot be saved. Now, I'm at the resurrection in John 20, and we've preached the resurrection a lot of times, every preacher has. And whenever we preach it, we always preach the theology of the resurrection because that's important. But this morning what I want to do is I don't want to preach the theology of it. I just want to preach the actual happening of it. I want to walk through the text with you and I just want to describe to you what happened. And I want to give you some evidences for the resurrection. This is why I believe in the resurrection and my evidences are all found in the Word of God. Are you ready? Are you ready? All right, here we go. Evidence number one is the empty tomb. Look at verse one. The first day of the week, cometh Mary Magdalene early, when it was yet dark, unto the sepulchre, and seeth the stone taken away from the sepulchre." Now, if you put all the Gospels together, you'll learn that the first person that came to the tomb that Sunday morning was Mary Magdalene. She came early in the morning, just before daylight, while it was yet dark. And she did not come alone. She came with another Mary. That's called Mary, the mother of James and John. Now, very interesting to me. That Mary, very little is said about her, but she's mentioned seven times in the Gospels. Mary, the mother of James is John, is mentioned more times than some of the disciples. And twice she's called the other Mary. the other Mary. It's also interesting to me that Mary, the mother of Jesus, does not appear at the empty tomb that Sunday morning. I'll let you figure out why that is. So early on Sunday morning, before dawn, Mary Magdalene and Mary, the mother of James and John, this other Mary, come to the tomb. Mary Magdalene is anxious in her heart. I'll show you why here in just a minute. She gets there a little ahead of the other Mary. And so she is the first person to the tomb. Now, when she gets there, the first thing that she sees is the stone taken away from the sepulcher. The stone was rolled away and that becomes the first evidence. By the way, the stone is not rolled away to let Jesus out. The stone was rolled away to let the witnesses in. Now Mary Magdalene is not going to go in right yet. She sees her from a distance. And Mary Magdalene immediately turns around and she runs to find Peter and John and tell them what she has just seen. Verse 2. She runneth, cometh to Simon Peter and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved, that's John, and saith unto them, watch this, they have taken away the Lord out of the sepulcher, and we know not where they have laid them. She immediately goes to find Peter and John, and she is not thinking of a resurrection. Now later on, the Jewish elders are going to concoct a story that the disciples have stolen the body. This is clear evidence that that is a lie. There is no plot to fake the resurrection. Two, the apostles are going to go out and they are going to preach the resurrection and some of them will be martyred for it. Why would you be martyred for something that you know is not true? So she immediately goes and she finds Peter and John. Now, hold your finger here, come to Matthew chapter 28. I'll show you what happened during the night to get us to an empty tomb. Matthew chapter 28, he's gonna fill in some details for us in verse number one. In the end of the Sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulcher. Behold, there was a great earthquake. For the angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came, rolled back the stone from the door and sat upon it. His countenance was like lightning and his raiment white as snow. And for fear of him, the keepers did shake and became as dead men. The Sanhedrin, for some reason, feared that the disciples would steal the body and they had hired a Roman guard to guard the tomb. They had put a seal to the door, to the stone, which simply means it would be a crime to break the seal. They're making sure that nothing could happen. But sometime in the middle of the night, God sent a very localized earthquake and an angel to roll the stone away. The Bible says the soldiers became as dead men. I don't know if that means they fainted, if they fell asleep, God knocked them out, but they became unconscious basically and when they woke up the stone was rolled away and Jesus was not there. So now they go back to the Sanhedrin to report on what had happened And while they are away, this is when the angels, or when the women now come to the tomb. Nobody mentions the soldiers that come, so they're already off the scene. Come back to chapter 20 with me again, if you would. And again in verse number two. 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. We know not where they have laid him. Peter therefore went forth and that other disciple and came to the sepulchre. So they ran both together and the other disciple, that's John, did outrun Peter and came first to the sepulchre. And he's stepping down and looking in, saw the linen clothes lying, yet he went, he not in. Then come a Simon Peter following him and went into the sepulchre and see if the linen clothes lie and the napkin, which was about his head, not lying with the linen clothes, but wrapped together in a place by itself. Then went in also that other disciple, which came first to the sepulchre, and he saw and believed, for as yet they knew not the scripture, that it must rise again from the dead. Mary Magdalene comes first, sees the stone roll away, runs to get Peter and John, and says, the body must have been stolen. They rush immediately to the sepulchre. John outruns Peter. He gets there first. He looks in, but he doesn't go in. He sees the body is not there. Peter comes right up behind him. Peter's more impetuous. And so Peter goes into the tomb. And when he goes into the tomb, then John follows him. Now it's very important. At this point, nobody is thinking of a resurrection. In fact, in verse number eight, John says that he saw and believed. I'm not sure exactly what he believed because verse 9 says, as yet they knew not the scripture that he must rise again from the dead. So they're not thinking of any time that Jesus promised that he would resurrect that body. Nobody came to the tomb on Sunday morning to see if a resurrection had taken place. That talk about raising the temple up in three days, they totally missed that. Now, watch this, verse six. Then came Simon Peter following him and went into the sepulcher and seeing the linen clothes lie and the napkin It was about his head not lying with the linen clothes, but wrapped together in a place by itself. They already know they did not embalm bodies. They wrapped them like mummies in these grave clothes and they would fold spices in between the folds to keep the stench of corruption down. They would wrap the body, sprinkle it with spices, wrap it some more, more spices, wrap it some more. We know that Nicodemus had brought a hundred pounds of spices to the burial three days ahead that he just read. The cloth that covered his face is separate, it's lying. I don't know how they missed it, to be honest with you. They should have consulted me or something, but it just proves that that is a fraud is what it is. Empty tomb, empty tomb. It screams, all the evidence screams something supernatural has taken place here. There is a second evidence and that's the exchange with angels. Look at Mark chapter 16 with me. Mark chapter 16. This is Mark's version. And look at verse number one. When the Sabbath was passed, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Salome, here's the third woman, had brought sweet spices that they might come and anoint him. Very early in the week, early in the morning, the first day of the week, they came unto the sepulchre at the rising of the sun. And they said among themselves, who shall roll us away the stone from the door of the sepulchre? And when they looked, they saw that the stone was rolled away for it was very great. And entering into the sepulchre, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, clothed in a long white garment, and they were affrighted. He saith unto them, be not affrighted. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, which was crucified. He is risen. He is not here. Behold the place where they laid him. Go your way to his disciples and Peter, that he goeth before you into Galilee. There shall you see him as he said unto you. Here's Mary Magdalene. Here's Mary, the mother of James and John. And now here's this other woman, Sloane. They're the first ones to arrive. They're gonna be the first ones to go into the sepulcher. They're gonna be the first ones to spread the news. And Mark, Luke, and John say that when they went into the sepulcher, they saw an angel. They saw two angels, one of the gospels says, and they appeared as young men dressed in white. Now look what they said in verse six. This young man, this angel. He said unto them, be not afraid. Ye seek Jesus of Nazareth, which was crucified, He is risen, he is not here. Now, all I'm doing this morning is I'm pointing to evidences of the resurrection. And the Bible says there's an angel sitting there and he said, he is risen, he is not here. Either he said that or he didn't. Right? And if he said it, it's either true or it's a lie. Is that pretty simple for you? I've got an empty tomb. I've got grave clothes left lying in its place. I've got soldiers that's been knocked out. I've got an angel that is saying he ain't here. He is risen. That's pretty good testimony. There is no stolen body. There is no foul play afoot. There is no use to dabble in the rumors that's going to start pretty soon. Here it is. Here it is. He is risen. He is not here. He either said it or he didn't say it. It's either true or it's not true. There's a third evidence that I wanna give you this morning. And that's what I call an exaggerated story. Look at Matthew chapter 28 with me. Are you still with me this morning? Matthew chapter 28 and look at verse number 11. Matthew 28 and verse number 11. Now when they were going, behold, some of the watch, these are the guards now, came into the city and showed unto the chief priests all the things that were done. When they were assembled with the elders and had taken counsel, they gave large money unto the soldiers, saying, say ye, his disciples came by night and stole him away while we slept. There's the rumor. And if this come to the governor's ears, Pilate, we will persuade him and secure you. So they took the money and did as they were taught. Now, if I forget to say something about liberal Bible colleges right there, remind me so I can say it. but they took the money and did as they were taught. And this saying is commonly reported among the Jews under this day. There've been all kinds of rumors concocted to debunk the resurrection, the Sloan theory, the wrong doom theory, all kinds of crazy things. But here's the first lie that's made up by the Jewish elders. Within hours of the resurrection being discovered, Satan is already beginning to spread lies to spread the world, to deceive the world. And it's not infidels, it's not heathens that's lying. It's the religious leaders of the nation of Israel who fabricate the lie. In fact, if you'll hold your finger right here, back up to chapter 27, and look at this in verse 62. Now the next day that followed the day of the preparation, the chief priests and Pharisees came together in the Pilate saying, sir, we remember that that deceiver said while I was yet alive after three days, I will rise again. The people that remembered him saying that were not the disciples, it's the Jewish elders. They said, command therefore, that the sepulcher be made sure until the third day, lest his disciples come by night and steal him away, and say unto the people, he's risen from the dead, so the last hour shall be worse than the first. The Jews, the day after the crucifixion, go to Pilate, they make up this wild story, not that we're afraid of the resurrection, but we're afraid the disciples are gonna come, steal the body, and fake a resurrection. Well, why would the disciples do that? Well, nobody knows. Is there any clue, is there any threat that they're gonna do that? Well, no. Well, they ask Pilate for some guards to guard the tomb. These are the soldiers that fall asleep as if they are dead. And when they wake up, the tomb is open and the body's gone. So now they come and they report to the Jewish elders because that's who they work for. Now watch this, verse 11. Chapter 28, verse 11. When they were going, behold, someone on the watch came into the city and showed unto the chief priest all the things that were done. The earthquake, rolling away of the stone, blazing angels sitting there on the stone. They described the empty tomb. It is obvious to the soldiers, so this is important, that the disciples did not come and steal the body. We can't explain what happened, but we're pretty sure the disciples didn't cause the earthquake, and the disciples wasn't that angel sitting on that stone. No, in fact, if you had told the soldiers, they would have said something supernatural happened, like a resurrection, something like that has happened. It's interesting to me in verse number 12. when they were assembled with the elders. That's the Sanhedrin. So the Sanhedrin has an emergency council to deal with the fact that something supernatural has happened at the grave and the body of Christ is gone. If we allow men to think that Jesus is alive, then we have a worse situation on our hands than if we had not crucified him. We cannot let them believe in a resurrection, so we had to make up a lie about the resurrection. And the lie that they came up with, I suppose to propose to you, is the most preposterous lie. The disciples stole the body. So here's what they did. They bribed the soldiers, gave them a piece of money and said, you go tell the story that the soldiers have stolen the body even though you know that's not what happened. You don't bribe somebody to tell the truth. You bribe somebody to tell a lie. So do you see what happened in verse number 15? So they took the money and did as they were taught. They took the money, they accepted the position, the salary, whatever you want to call it. They took the money and spread the word, a lie about the resurrection. And they did such a good job that when Matthew wrote it, he said in verse 15, this saying is commonly reported among the Jews until this day. Years later, that was still the prevailing story among the Jews. There was no resurrection, the body was taken. Now, here's my contention, all right? Stay with me. It is my contention. that the lie did the exact opposite of what it was intended to do. It actually proves the resurrection to me. You see, the theory is unbelievable. For one, the disciples were cowards. Peter cowed before a little maiden. They all ran away at the cross. So now they have courage to come and overcome these guards and steal the body? Something doesn't hold water for me. And then, why did they take time to unwrap the body? Lay the grave clothes all out like they could. They had to pick up that body and ran just as fast as they could. Furthermore, they didn't believe in the resurrection. So why fake something that you don't believe in? Why go out and preach a resurrection and lose your life over it if you knew that you had stolen the body? Am I making any sense to you? I mean, the lie itself and the fact that they felt like they needed to make one up to me is evidence a resurrection has taken place. There's another evidence I give to you, and that is the eyewitness account. Now come back to John chapter 20, all right? Watch this. If you put it all together, Jesus makes about 10 appearances between the resurrection and the ascension. He appears to these women. He appears to Peter and John. He appears to the disciples on Emmaus Road. He's gonna appear to the disciples in the upper room this evening. Then a week later, he's gonna appear with Thomas there. The Bible says he appears about 500 at one time up in Galilee. But the first appearance is the one that interests me and it's to Mary Magdalene. Look at John 20 and look at verse 10. This is amazing. Then the disciples, Peter and John, they've gone into the tomb. He's not there. Then the disciples went away again unto their own home. That's remarkable to me. They just saw the empty tomb and they go home. That's it. They're sorry. They're confused. They just go home. Everybody leaves except Mary. She was the first one to get there and she's gonna be the last one to leave. And she's gonna be the first pure person to see Jesus after the resurrection. Now, who is Mary Magdalene? Magdalene is not her last name. Magdalene is where she's from. She's from Magdalene, Mary of Magdalene, Mary Magdalene. And I won't take the time to look at the passages because time's running out, but in Luke chapter eight, there was a company of women that followed the Lord around, and one of them was Mary. And Luke 8 says that Jesus had healed her of seven devils. She had a rough life, evidently a life of sin. She was possessed of seven devils. Sometimes she's called a part-hearted or prostitute in commentaries. The Bible never says that. but she's lived a wicked life. Seven devils have invited themselves into her. They possess her, they control her, they exacerbate her wickedness and her wretchedness. And it's remarkable to me that a woman with such a wicked past, with no religious experience, is gonna be the first person to see the risen Christ. Now, I'll tell you something about the Bible and women. That is that the Bible, the gospel honors women. The Bible elevates women. Do you remember in John chapter four, Jesus sitting down by the well? And the woman of Samaria there, married five times, shacking up with a man that's not her husband, you remember that? And Jesus approaches her and witnesses to her, and that woman at the well becomes the first person in the gospel that Jesus directly tells he is the Messiah. Now we have a woman at the tomb, and she's going to be the first person that Jesus speaks to as the resurrected Christ. Here is the reason why. In the Jewish court system, women were not allowed to testify in a court of law. That's how much they looked down at women as inferior. So Jesus let a woman be the first witness of his Messiahship, and he let a woman be the first eyewitness to the resurrection. Everybody's gone home. Mary Magdalene has stayed behind. There is nowhere else to go. She is sobbing uncontrollably, which means she doesn't expect the resurrection. She believes that the body has been stolen. She stoops down, looks again into the sepulcher, and this time there are two young men sitting in the place where Jesus' body had been laid. Look at verse number 11. Jesus stood with Mary, stood without the sepulcher weeping. And as she wept, she stooped down and looked into the sepulchre. She had two angels in white sitting, the one at the head, the other at the feet, where the body of Jesus had been laying. I've been to the garden too, and I have walked into the sepulchre that they say is the sepulchre of the Lord. I don't know if it is or not. But when you walk in, it's just a small room, and there is a ledge that is carved on the side wall, kind of like a bench, but it's carved into the side of the wall. They say that's where the body of the Lord was laid. Mary doesn't know that there are angels, but there are two men dressed in white, and they are sitting there. So in verse number 13, They say unto her, woman, why weepest thou? She saith unto them, watch this, because they have taken away my Lord, and I know not where they have laid him. No other explanation. She is grieving over a dead body. She does not expect a resurrection. She probably loved the Lord more than any person in the Bible except his own mother. She has been rescued from seven devils. She has followed the Lord with the other women and now he's gone. Verse 14, when she had thus said, she turned herself back and saw Jesus standing and knew not that it was Jesus. Jesus said to 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. She turns around, and there stands Jesus, but she does not recognize him. That's Jesus. The Bible says that she supposed that he was the gardener. And so she asked him, sir, if you know where they've taken him, would you tell me? So I can go and get his body. I love this. She lingered at the tomb for a dead body. He lingered at the tomb to show himself alive. Now here's a question for you, all right? And I'm trying to hurry, I really am. Why did she not recognize him? In fact, every time that he appears to somebody after the resurrection, he has to identify himself. They don't recognize him. So why did they not recognize him? He's in his glorified body, and that's always the explanation given. And it's never been an explanation that satisfied me. So I've been pondering that. And I wanna thank my good friend, Brother James Knox, for this suggestion. I'll throw it out to you, and if you don't think it's right, he's the one that first came up with this. The suggestion is, is it because he is in his glorified state. It's different. But if he appeared in a glorified body, bright expression, dressed in all white, why would she have supposed him to be the gardener? That's a very finely dressed gardener. So that doesn't hold weight. Here's what Bullenock said. The last time that they saw him, he was beaten and battered on a cross. The Bible says that his visage was so marred, he wasn't even recognized as a man. Now we know, we know that his body still bears the marks of the crucifixion because he's going to tell Thomas, reach your hands into the wounds of my hand to my side and see the desire. That song that talks about the scars in the hands of Jesus, not biblical. He doesn't have scars, that's where the wound healed up. He still has wounds, they shall look upon him whom they pierced. The resurrected body had the marks of the crucifixion. I believe that, I can't go there, I believe I can prove that his body still has those marks and we will see those marks when we meet him. Now, if his body bears the marks, then what if his face does as well? What if he is not the fair-skinned, blue-eyed, auburn long-haired painting that you've always seen? Perfect features. What if that's not actually him? What if he actually bears the marks in his body and his face of the price that he paid for our sin? In Revelation 1, it's the only description of the resurrected Christ that we have when John saw him. In Revelation 1, he describes his feet, he describes his hair. He does not describe his facial features. In Revelation 5, John says, we beheld him as the lamb slain from before the foundation of the world. When he looked at him, he saw him as a lamb slain. So what if we get to heaven and his visage is still marred? What if instead of seeing beauty, we see the beauty of what he'd suffered so that you and I could be in his presence. And maybe they didn't recognize him because he was still marred and he was still battered and his face bore the marks of the crucifixion just like his body did. They had never seen him like that. By the way, what would inspire more worship in your heart? To see him with perfect facial features, or to see him with the marks that he bore for your sin. Well, verse number 16, Jesus said unto her, Mary. And when he called her name, something sprang up in her. She had heard that voice before. She had heard him call his name. He said, my sheep, hear my voice and hear me and know my voice. And if you'll think about it, in just a moment, she goes from the shock of the most intense sorrow of the human heart to the most exhilarating, explosive joy that has ever known. They'll all hear the news, but she is first. She is the first witness of the resurrection. She is the first person to know the greatest truth of the world has ever known, and that is he's not here, he is risen. Hallelujah for that. Well, verse number 17. Jesus said unto her, touch me not, for I am not yet ascended to my father. One of the most difficult verses in all the Bible. Why did he tell Mary not to touch him? Because later on that evening, there are some women that are gonna touch him. In fact, 11 verses down, he's gonna tell Thomas, touch me. So why does he say, touch me not? For I am not yet ascended to my father. What does that have to do with her not touching him? The most common explanation is that he is telling her to stop touching him. You're clinging to me, you've got to let go. I've got other things to do. So see, here's what you do when you don't understand a verse of the Bible. You just change a word or two and just, if you'll just add a verse, take a word, just change a couple of words and then it'll all suddenly become clear. So she's clinging to him. She's on his feet. She's got it. She's wrapped him up. And he is saying, Mary, Mary, you gotta stop. Stop holding on to me. We gotta go tell the other disciples. And that's exactly what it means if you're making it up. But that's not what it says. Touch me not, for I have not yet ascended to my father. I'll tell you what it could be. Can we do a Bible study? Real shortly. Well, what it could be. During this week, there are three Jewish feasts that are observed. Passover, always on the 14th day of the first month. This week, it's on a Wednesday. That's the day of the crucifixion. As I said last week, if you believe in a Thursday crucifixion, we can still fellowship. If you believe in a Friday crucifixion, we probably can. The day after the Passover begins the seven day feast of unleavened bread. And read about that in Leviticus chapter 21. Little known detail about that feast is that on one day of that feast, the priest was to take a sheaf of the first fruits from the field and wave it to the Lord as a wave offering. First fruits, what is that? First fruits is the beginning of the harvest. It says there's more to come. They offered the first as an offering to the Lord in anticipation of a full harvest that was about to come. Now, if the Feast of Unleavened Bread is a seven-day feast, then there is a Sabbath in there somewhere. Would you agree? One of those seven days is a Saturday. So in the same passage, you got to go check it, Leviticus 23. It says, he shall wave the sheaf before the Lord to be accepted for you. On the morrow after the Sabbath, the priest shall wave it. In the same passage, the high priest is to stand in the presence of the Lord and offer a trespass offering. So you have this seven day feast of unleavened bread and somewhere in there, there is a Sabbath. And it's always on a Saturday. And Leviticus 23 says that on the day after the Sabbath, whatever the heck happens, on the day after the Sabbath, that's when that priest is to wave the first fruits to the Lord. Oh, that's good. You missed it. You missed it. Mary comes to the tomb on Sunday. That would be the day after the Sabbath, wouldn't it? And she sees Jesus. First Corinthians, by the way, says he is the first fruits of the resurrection. He's first, but there's more to come. And here's why she couldn't touch him. Because Leviticus 7 says that if anything unclean touches the trespass offering before it's offered to the Lord, it becomes unclean. Jesus has offered himself as a sin offering on the cross. He's been in the grave and resurrected to fulfill the tithe. He must stand in the presence of God, offer the trespass offering, and then present the first fruits to the Lord. He's the high priest. He's also the first fruits of the resurrection. And he says, don't touch me. I've not yet ascended to my father. And here's what I believe. You can differ with me. I believe that sometime that day between morning and evening, Jesus somehow fulfilled that. Did he ascend bodily to heaven and come back down? I don't know, but I believe that's the reason why he said, don't touch me. I've still got some typology I gotta fulfill. By the way, by the way, one day we'll preach on all of this maybe. By the way, the same law of feasts said that when he waves that first fruit, seven Sabbaths and the day after which will be 50 days is the feast of Pentecost. So 50 days after the resurrection is Pentecost. And if you go to Acts chapter two, you'll find out the Pentecost and the birth of the church took place 50 days after. Now I've got to wrap it up. There's going to be a lot of more appearances of Jesus to disciples. He doesn't appear to any unbelievers, only to believers. And these eyewitnesses account, I'm watching Mary and that's evidence of a resurrection. I'll give you one more, one more and I'm done. Why do I believe in the resurrection? Because of an exalted relationship. Look at verse number 17, watch this. Jesus said unto her, touch me not. If I'm not yet ascended to my father, watch this, but go to my brethren. It is the first time he's ever called his disciples brethren. He did it indirectly one time, but now directly he says, these are my brethren. That's a family term. How did they become brethren? The cross made it possible for them to be united as one family with him. Hebrews 2 and verse 9, we see Jesus was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death. And verse 11, for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren. Because of the cross and the empty tomb, he has brought them into a new relationship with him. You are now my family. He prayed in John chapter 17 to the Father that you would make us one as you and I are one, and this is the answer to that prayer. There is a union that you cannot explain, but you cannot live the Christian life without, and Romans 8, 29 says he is the firstborn among many brethren. Isaiah 53 and verse 10, it pleases the Lord to bruise him, he hath put him to grief, but yet thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed. His seed is a family term, that's a family relationship. And Peter says we have been born of God and we are born of incorruptible seed. Now here's how I believe in the resurrection, are you ready? It's more than Bible evidence and external evidence that I believe. You believe it by faith. It's not blind faith. There's evidences. But the greatest reason I believe in the resurrection is because of the relationship that I have with Jesus Christ. This salvation, this kinship, this welcoming into the family of God would not have been possible with a dead savior. I know he's living. because he's living in me. It's not an emotion. It's not a feeling. It's not a creed that I had memorized. It is the living Lord living inside of me. He has brought me into a new relationship and nothing can ever take that out of my heart. I tell you again, if you don't believe in the resurrection, you can't be a Christian. There's no salvation without it. There's no Christianity without it. You have to believe that you weren't there. I wasn't there, but reading the Bible and there's enough evidence for any man to believe. If we just take God at his word, but the greatest evidence, the greatest evidence is what I have inside my heart. It's the relationship that I have with him, the kinship that I have with him. And that tells me that he is living because he's living inside of me. I want you to bow your head.