We welcome you to Trinity Bible Church, and I wish you a happy Resurrection Sunday. And we are looking forward to a wonderful day of worship together. Again, thank you for joining us. My name is Greg Mazak. I'm the pastor teacher at Trinity Bible Church. I want to welcome our church family. Thank you for gathering together electronically, even though we regret we can't be together physically. And I just want to remind you that this Wednesday we're going to return to having Wednesday night prayer meetings. They'll be by shepherd groups. We'll be using Zoom technology. And if you have any questions, just email our office. I want to give a special welcome to those of you that are visiting. Maybe you're not part of the Trinity Bible Church family, but you're watching with friends that have invited you or someone sent you a link. And I know it's a difficult time for all of us, and yet thank you that you would participate in our worship service today. I'm just looking forward to spending time, hopefully being encouraged by the word of God, and I'm praying that you'll be encouraged as well. Well, certainly one of the things we want to do is we want to pray for our country during the challenging times that we're facing. And so I invite you to join me in prayer. Father, we come to you in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and we pray that you would please help us. Help our President and Vice President, please help our Congress, please help our state government, our local government. Give them all wisdom in making decisions that would honor you. We pray, Father, that you would bless those in our church family that have been affected negatively, that are facing difficulties, whether with work or other challenges. We pray for those, Lord, not just in our community, but across the globe that are struggling with illness. that even during this difficult time, people would trust in you and that you would help them. We pray, Lord, for our health care workers who are in harm's way, being a blessing to those who need help. We pray that you would watch over them and bless them. And as we would come together this Resurrection Sunday, looking in your word, we ask for your help. In Jesus' name, amen. Well again, I want to just say thank you for coming out or logging on and joining our webcast this morning. You know, words can be encouraging. There are three words that my wife can say to me and they just immediately pick me up and help me smile. And those three simple words are, waffles with papa. No matter what's going on, if she says, hey honey, waffles with papa? She knows I'm gonna smile ear to ear and say yes. We have three grandchildren. And waffles with Papa means they come over, the two oldest help their Nana make the waffles, I get to hold the baby, and we just have a wonderful time together. Yet as wonderful as those three words are, they can't hold the candle to three other words that are even right now being said to one another in families around the globe. especially today, and those three words are Christ is Risen. This is an absolutely incredible greeting, and as many of you know, in many cultures, in many contexts, today especially, people would say Christ is Risen, and the response would be, you know, He is Risen indeed. That expresses faith in a resurrected Savior. That expresses belief that the story of Christmas is true. That God humbled himself, came in the flesh, became a man, entered this world, And not only did he, Jesus Christ, live a perfect life, but he went to a cross, he suffered and died, not for his sin, he never sinned, but for our sin. But he not only died and was buried, but the third day he rose again. That's the belief of the Bible. That's the core doctrine of Christianity. That's the resurrection we celebrate today. That's a message that Jesus Christ clearly communicated in his earthly ministry. For example, in Mark chapter 8 we read, And Jesus began to teach them that the Son of Man, that's his favorite way of referring to himself, must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed and after three days rise again. And he was stating that matter plainly. Notice that was recorded in Mark chapter 8. Just one chapter later, Mark chapter 9, For Jesus was teaching his disciples, and telling them, The Son of Man is to be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill him. And when he has been killed, he will rise three days later. And yet again, just one chapter later, Mark chapter 10 records, Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be delivered to the chief priests and the scribes, and they will condemn him to death, and will hand him over to the Gentiles. They will mock him, and spit on him, and scourge him, and kill him. And three days later, he will rise again. Now we read our Bibles, and we read these three predictions of Jesus' prophecies, that yes, he's going to suffer, die, and then he'll be raised from the dead. And we think it's obvious they must have believed it. Yet people who knew Jesus well, people who traveled with Jesus and helped Jesus, actually struggled with doubt. You know, you may be a person who struggles with doubt in the gospel, in the message of Jesus Christ, his perfect sinless life, in his bodily resurrection. That wouldn't be surprising to me if even people who knew him well also struggled with doubt. You say, what are you talking about? The message today I'm calling from doubt to faith And I want to look at three examples of individuals, in one example, a group of individuals, who make that journey from doubt to faith, beginning with a very well-known person, Mary Magdalene. Mary Magdalene, if you're familiar with the Bible at all, was actually demon-possessed by seven separate demons. And yet Jesus Christ wonderfully delivered her from those demons. No doubt she loved Jesus. She was part of a band of women who actually traveled with Jesus and provided and helped to provide for them financially. And what do we read about Mary Magdalene beginning in Mark chapter 16 and verse 1? It says, when the Sabbath was over, OK, that's Saturday. Remember, Jesus was crucified Friday. So when the Saturday was over, Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James and Salome bought spices so that they might come and anoint him. Notice what Mary Magdalene and the others are doing. They're coming to anoint the body of Jesus. They're coming to the tomb and they fully expect to find his body there. Verse two and three. Very early on the first day of the week, that would be Sunday, they came to the tomb when the sun had risen. They were saying to one another, who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance of the tomb? They want so desperately to get into the tomb. so they can provide for the body of the one whom they loved very much, the Lord Jesus. Now when you read Roll Away the Stone from the tomb, maybe you've seen something like this before. Here's a picture of what perhaps it looked like. There would be a tomb cut in rock. We would think of it as a cave. There would be a very large stone. Don't think of like a round boulder. Think of a disc. And notice how one side is flattened so they could roll that very large stone in place. And once it landed on that flattened edge, it would be very difficult for robbers or for other people to get in that tomb. And these women are thinking, how in the world are we going to be able to move it? We'll read more beginning in verse 4 of Mark 16. Looking up, they saw that the stone had been rolled away, although it was extremely large. Entering the tomb, they saw a young man sitting at the right, wearing a white robe, and they were amazed. He said to them, Do not be amazed. You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene who has been crucified. He has risen. He is not here. Behold, here is the place where they laid him. But go tell his disciples and Peter, he is going ahead of you to Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you." Now, what is Mary thinking at this time? Is she thinking, this is awesome, Jesus has been raised from the dead. It doesn't appear to be that way. Let me read verse eight. They went out and fled from the tomb, for trembling and astonishment had gripped them. And they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid. Now it says in John chapter 20 verse 2, so she ran and came to Simon Peter and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved, that's John, and said to them, notice her words, they have taken away the Lord out of the tomb and we do not know where they have laid him. She's still thinking, I have to care for the body of the one I loved who delivered me from the demons, Jesus. She's still thinking he's dead. Verse 11 of that same chapter continues, Mary now is standing again outside the tomb, weeping, And so as she wept, she stooped and looked into the tomb. And she saw two angels in white sitting, one at the head and one at the feet, where the body of Jesus had been lying. They said to her, Woman, why are you weeping? She said to them, They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him. This to me is one of the most touching accounts in all of Scripture. Here is a woman who loved Jesus, and all she wants to do is express her love. The fact that she's talking to angels doesn't even seem to impact her. The fact that Jesus has died is her focus. And the fact that he could be alive, it's just not there. She's so overcome with emotion. We continue, verse 14. When she said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there and did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, woman, Why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking? Supposing him to be the gardener? She said to him, Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you've laid him, and I will take him away. It doesn't matter what you have done, right? It's kind of, I think, the idea of, I won't tell anyone. I just love him. and I want to care for him, please tell me, have you taken him away?" She doesn't know she's talking to Jesus. And in the next verse, Jesus said to her one word, Mary. She turned and said to him in Hebrew, Rabboni, which means teacher. And she sees and she knows this is Jesus. Jesus said to her, stop clinging to me. That to me makes me smile. No doubt, in a moment's time, her arms are wrapped around the feet of the one she loves. Stop clinging to me, says Jesus. I have not yet ascended to the Father, but go to my brethren and say to them, I ascend to my Father, and your Father, and my God, and your God. And that's exactly what she does. According to verse 18, Mary Magdalene came announcing to the disciples, I have seen the Lord, and that he had said these things to her." What an incredible account. And here is this journey that Mary Magdalene takes from doubt to faith in the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. You may be thinking, she must have been a great woman of faith. That may well be the case. But can I just bring up for a second that maybe having great faith is not as important as we think. And maybe, guys, what really matters is the object of our faith. Have you ever thought of it this way? You may have great faith in something that's not true. That's of no value. You may have weak faith in that which is true, and that could change your life, not only in this life, but for all eternity. I was trying to think of a way to illustrate that. Let's say that there's a boy and he has great faith that there's a pond and it's frozen and he can walk on it. And it's fine. He'll be fine. He has great faith that the ice will hold him. And you look at a picture like this and all of a sudden he crashes through the ice and he begins to go into the pond. This young boy had great faith. But what good was it? He believed in something that wasn't true. Now, let's say that there's someone or maybe something that had a weak faith, but their faith was in something that was strong. Example, here's a picture of a couple ducks children. I thought maybe he'd enjoy seeing that. Look at those ducks. They don't look confident to me, especially that one towards the back, kind of sticking out their webbed foot like, oh no, I'm not sure this can hold me. Weak faith, questioning faith. Yet faith, faith in something that was true, that there was enough ice to hold their little duck bodies. That boy had strong faith in something that was not true, that ice was not strong enough to hold them. These ducks have weak faith in something that was true. I know that's maybe not the most perfect illustration, but I hope to some degree that would encourage you to maybe think about the reality that maybe what matters is not how strong your faith is, but the object of your faith. And is it in that which is true? Now we looked at the journey of Mary Magdalene who doubted then believed, and we certainly wouldn't want you to think, well that's just one person, one woman, was that true of other people? And the answer of course was yes. Not only did Mary Magdalene doubt and then believe, that was true of the apostles themselves. Let me show you. We'll read from Luke chapter 24 beginning in verse 10. Now, they were marrying Magdalene and Joanna and Mary, the mother of James. Also, the other women with them were telling these things, what they were told, that Jesus was not there but had been raised. They were telling these things to the apostles. But these words appeared to them, to the apostles, as nonsense. And they would not believe them. I pick up now John's account, chapter 20, verse 19. So here are the disciples of Jesus Christ, and it says, when it was evening on that day, the first day of the week. So this is Sunday. This is now Sunday evening. Remember, Jesus was raised from the dead that morning. And here they are when the doors were shut where the disciples were for fear of the Jews, fear of persecution, the same Jews who had Christ crucified. Jesus came and stood in their midst and said, peace be with you. They were startled and frightened and thought that they were seeing a spirit. And Jesus said to them, Why are you troubled? And why do doubts arise in your hearts? They're looking at Jesus. They're thinking maybe he's some kind of spirit. We today might say a ghost. Jesus continues, see my hands and my feet, right? They would recognize the holes that were there from the nails. That it is I myself, touch me and see. For a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have. And when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. And no doubt they continued to struggle with this. So while they still could not believe it, because of their joy and amazement, he said to them, have you anything here to eat? And no, I don't think Jesus was hungry. He was helping them to believe. they gave him a piece of broiled fish, and he took it and ate it before them." Right? A spirit, a ghost, if you will, can't eat a piece of fish. But here's the Lord Jesus in a body, a resurrected body, and he takes the piece of fish and he eats it before them to help them believe. Now, he said to them, it continues in Luke 24, 44, These are my words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all the things which are written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled. Now when it says Moses, prophets, Psalms, those are the three parts of the Hebrew Old Testament. This is just Jesus' way of saying the Bible. Jesus is saying that everything in the Old Testament, everything in the Bible that prophesied about me must be fulfilled. Then he opened their minds, verse 45, to understand the scriptures and he said to them, Thus it is written that Christ would suffer and rise again from the dead the third day and that repentance for forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed in his name to all the nations beginning from Jerusalem. I want to slow down and help us to understand the importance of this text. Notice Jesus opened their minds to understand the scriptures. You know guys, understanding the Bible, it's not natural, it's supernatural. Oh, I understand it's partially natural. You can read your Bible, you can learn the names of the followers of Jesus, you can chart geographically his ministry, you can even be a biblical scholar, but not truly put faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. to really understand the truth of the scripture. Your mind has to be opened. It's supernatural. It's through the power of the Holy Spirit, Christ doing it. And that's what happens here. He opened their minds to understand the scriptures. And he said to them, thus it is written that Christ would suffer and rise again from the dead in the third day, and that repentance for forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed in his name to all the nations beginning from Jerusalem. You say, what is that like? Again, I like to think of illustrations. Here's a young girl, after dark, enjoying reading a book, maybe a school book. And what does she do? She has to have light. And apart from the illumination of the light, she won't understand what she's reading. In the same way, when you open up a Bible and read, it's not enough just to read. I would encourage all of us to pray before we read, Oh Lord, show me what is true. Lord, help me to believe exactly what is true. You say, okay, Greg, well, what would I believe if I understood the story of Jesus and I knew it was true? Well, let's just go back to the previous slide and look again at this text. He opened their minds to understand the scriptures and he said to them, thus it is written in the Bible that the Christ would notice, suffer and rise again from the dead the third day and that repentance for forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed in his name. That there's forgiveness of sins, and that we can be forgiven of our sin. But for that to take place, notice a key word, that there must be repentance. Now, repentance might sound like a theological word, but repentance is the word turning. So when a person believes in Jesus Christ, what he does is he turns from his sin. He turns from living his own life. He turns from wanting everything his own way. And he confesses his sin. And he asks for Jesus to forgive him of sin. And he receives forgiveness as a gift. And how is it that Jesus forgives us our sin? Because he suffered and died on a cross and paid the price of our sin. And you say, how do we know that's true? Because he was raised from the dead the third day. When the Lord opens our minds to understand the scriptures. then it's not just that we believe this as a historical account, but we turn from our sin, we repent of our sin, and we put faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Just like a young girl reading a book after dark. We open the scriptures and we see, yes, this is true. This is what I want. I want forgiveness of my sin. and you turn from your sin, and you put your faith in the person and work of Jesus Christ, who alone can give you forgiveness. That is what the apostles came to believe, but not all of them. because there's one more person we need to talk about. A person who initially doubted, and I think many of you already know his name, his name is Thomas. Thomas doubted, then believed. Let's get back to our story. Remember the disciples are hiding from the Jews, and they're frightened, and Jesus appears to them. But Thomas wasn't there at that time. I read from John chapter 20 and verse 24. But Thomas, one of the twelve called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples were saying to him, We've seen the Lord. But he said to them, Unless I see in his hands the imprint of the nails, and put my finger into the place of the nails, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe. Well, verse 26 says, After eight days his disciples were again inside, and Thomas was with them. Jesus came, the doors having been shut, he came supernaturally, and stood in their midst and said, Peace be with you. And then he said to Thomas, Reach here with your finger and see my hands, and reach here your hand and put it into my side, and do not be unbelieving, but believing. And Thomas answered, as recorded in John chapter 20 and verse 28, my Lord and my God. And Thomas joined the others in believing that the Lord Jesus Christ was God. He is Lord. That yes, he went to a cross. He suffered and died for their sins. He rose from the dead the third day. and that here he is looking at the resurrected Christ and proclaiming what is true, my Lord and my God. Jesus said to him, because you have seen me, have you believed? Blessed are they who did not see and yet believed. Jesus is saying to you, If you have read these accounts, if you've heard this message, this Easter message, whether for the first time or many times, if you believe it without having physically seen Jesus, then you are blessed. We've looked at three accounts from doubt to faith. Mary Magdalene doubted then believed. The apostles doubted then believed. Thomas doubted then believed. So here's our question this morning. Do you believe in Jesus? That He is God? That the story of Christmas is true? That He literally came into this world as a man? That He lived a sinless life, something no man could do because He was God in the flesh? That He went to a cross, He suffered and died in your place for your sin, and yes was buried, but then rose from the dead the third day? What we celebrate today Do you believe that? Did you know the very reason we have this wonderful Bible filled with these wonderful accounts of the Lord Jesus is so that you might believe Let me read John chapter 20 beginning in verse 30. Therefore many other signs Jesus also performed in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book. Here is John coming to the end of the gospel that he wrote. But he says, but these have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in his name. That's why John wrote his account. that you would believe and experience eternal life. The question is, do you believe? Now that's a challenging question, because what does it mean to believe? You know, for many people, they would say, well, I believe. And what that means is they give mental assent. So for example, I believe that George Washington was a historical figure. And I believe that he was a great general and that he did those things we were taught in grade school. I believe that. And I believe that Jesus Christ literally went to a cross and he suffered, died, and he rose again. Yeah, I believe that. A historical fact. That's believing, but that's not trusting. You say, what do you mean? Well, maybe a picture here will help. Many of you I think are familiar with Niagara Falls. You may not be familiar with the picture of this gentleman who lived in the late 1800s, Charles Blondin. And in Charles Blondin, he was a famous Frenchman who was noted at the time for frequently crossing the Niagara River right above the Niagara Falls. And he would not only cross the river on a tightrope, he would do it in ways that were just fun to watch. And he drew great crowds. So after crossing the river, he would do something like take a small desk and a chair, and then have lunch. Or he would get, these are actual pictures, to the middle of the rope, and he would stand on his head. It's said that one of the things he enjoyed doing was pushing a wheelbarrow. And once in 1860, he took a wheelbarrow and he got ready to go across the rope. And a large crowd of people had gathered and he said to the crowd, do you believe that I can take this wheelbarrow and get it across the rope safely? And the people cheered, yes, we believe. And he said, do you believe that I could put a person in this wheelbarrow and get him safely across this rope? And the people said, yes, we believe. And he said, OK, which of you will want to do that with me? Which of you trust me? Come forward now. And the crowd went silent. And no one volunteered. Do you see the difference? The crowd said, yes, we believe that you can do that, Charles. But when he said, do you trust me, they did not. Many people believe in Jesus Christ as a historical figure. They may even believe his miracles. They may even believe that he literally rose from the dead. but they have not trusted in him. They have not repented of their sin, turned from their sin, and put their faith in Jesus Christ. Have you done that? As Jesus himself said, John chapter three, verse 36, our last verse today. He who believes in the Son has eternal life, but he who does not obey the Son will not see life. But the wrath of God abides on him. Wrath is another word for anger. The anger of God is real and you don't want to face it. God is angry with every person because every one of us, be honest, admit it, every one of us has sinned. We all have done things that are wrong. We all have done things that we're ashamed of. I don't have to tell you that. Because of our sin against the Holy God, God is angry with us, deservedly so. But it doesn't have to be that way. The Lord Jesus Christ went to a cross, suffered, and died so that you can be forgiven of your sin. And if you believe in Jesus, if you put your faith in Him, not just believing in the sense of, yeah, I believe in George Washington, I'll believe in Jesus too, but trusting in Him, then you can experience the gift of eternal life. If I can help you with that at all, please contact me through our website. If someone invited you to a meeting this morning, talk to them. But you don't need me. You don't even need a friend. All you need to do is to say to the Lord Jesus, I recognize I'm a sinner. I believe that you are God. I believe that you not only lived a sinless life, but I believe you suffered and died on that cross in my place. And I believe you not only died, but you rose again the third day. And right now, Jesus, I turn from my sin and I trust in you. I put my faith in you. You can do that right now. And that would be your journey from doubt to faith. I hope if you have not trusted in Christ that this Easter Sunday, this Resurrection Sunday, would be the day. Thank you for listening. God bless you. Let's pray. Father, we thank you. for the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ declaring clearly that he truly was God, for all who are trusting in you with faith, we pray that you would bless them, encourage them, and for those who are still struggling with doubt, We pray that you would bring them successfully to the end of this journey, where they would join us in truly trusting in Jesus. In his name we pray, amen. Those of you from our Trinity family, you have a worship guide. I encourage you to get that worship guide now and work through it together. And again, I wish you a happy Easter. I wish you a happy Resurrection Sunday. God bless you. Thank you for joining us.