For the Scripture reading, we turn to John chapter 20. Actually, why don't we begin the Scripture reading at John 19 verse 31, where we ended the Scripture reading on Friday night, and read through John 20 verse 10. And the text will be those first 10 verses of John chapter 20. We will not reread that due to its length. John chapter 19, beginning at verse 31. The Jews, therefore, because it was the preparation that the bodies should not remain upon the cross on the Sabbath day, for that Sabbath day was an high day, besought Pilate that their legs might be broken and that they might be taken away. Then came the soldiers and break the legs of the first and of the other which was crucified with him. But when they came to Jesus and saw that he was dead already, they break not his legs. But one of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side, and forthwith came thereout blood and water. And he that saw it bear record, and his record is true. And he knoweth that he saith truth, that ye might believe. For these things were done that the scripture should be fulfilled, a bone of him shall not be broken. And again, another scripture saith, they shall look on him whom they pierced. And after this, Joseph of Arimathea, being a disciple of Jesus, but secretly for fear of the Jews, besought Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus. And Pilate gave him leave. He came therefore and took the body of Jesus. And there came also Nicodemus, which at the first came to Jesus by night and brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about 100-pound weight." And that's about 75 imperial pounds. Then took they the body of Jesus and wound it in linen cloths with the spices, or clothes with the spices, as the manner of the Jews is to bury. Now in the place where he was crucified, there was a garden. And in the garden, a new sepulchre, wherein was never man yet laid. There laid they Jesus, therefore, because of the Jews' preparation day. For the sepulchre was nigh at hand." And now the words of the text. 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. Then she runneth and cometh to Simon Peter and to the other disciple, whom Jesus loved, and saith unto them, They have taken away the Lord out of the sepulchre, and 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 did outrun Peter, and came first to the sepulchre. And he, stooping down and looking in, saw the linen clothes lying. Yet went he not in. Then cometh Simon Peter following him, and went into the sepulchre, and seeth the linen clothes lie, and the napkin that 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 sepulcher, and he saw and believed. For as yet they knew not the scripture, that he must rise again from the dead. Then the disciples went away again unto their own home. And so far, the reading of God's holy infallible word. May God place his blessing upon the reading of that word. The text, as I said, is the first 10 verses of John chapter 20. Beloved congregation, our Lord Jesus Christ is risen from the dead. Do you realize what that means? The one who was born into this world with the sins of all his people made his own responsibility. The one who was therefore guilty before the most high God with all our sins reckoned to his account And who for that very purpose went the way of the cross of Calvary and shed his own blood and endured the hell that we deserved for our sins. That same man has risen again from the dead. The very same one who cried out with amazement and astonishment as he suffered under the burning judgment of God. My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? And who subsequently died on the cross has risen from the dead. Do you realize what that means? What it means is that that man, Jesus of Nazareth, has made the complete covering for all our sins. Our sins can be and will be and have been forgiven. What it means is that Jesus has made a full payment for all those who hide themselves in him and who call on his name. What it means is that the church, the body of Christ, having Jesus as her head, the church has the victory over death and the grave and sin and the devil. And what it means is that we who are God's people who belong to Jesus Christ, we enjoy a life that cannot even be touched by death anymore because it's already gone through death and it's come up on the other side. And we are those who in Jesus Christ will enjoy the resurrection of the body and everlasting life. And we already enjoy it now in its beginning. What it means is that the way to the maker of heaven and earth, God triune, heavenly Father is forever made open to his people. What it means is that Jesus, who has conquered death in the grave, is the one who rules over everything. And what it means is that for you and me who are in Christ, we don't have to be anxious or worried or fearful about anything. We have nothing to fear anymore. No fear of death, no fear in life, no fear in death. Because Jesus has risen from the dead. Beloved, are you anxious about anything? Are you discouraged or fearful maybe about what you are presently going through? Beloved, Jesus has risen from the dead. This is really the truth that you can take and you should take to confront every single trial, every single anxiety that arises in your life. Jesus, my Jesus, has risen from the dead. He arose a victor from the dark domain and he lives forever with his saints to reign And though we can't see Him yet sitting on the throne in His heavenly glory ruling over all things, He is. He arose from the dead. He ascended into heaven as King of kings, Lord of lords. He's been bestowed with all authority and all power. And this is the center of all our hope and all our joy. It starts here. Jesus arose from the dead. And we know he rose from the dead because God's infallible word tells us very plainly with many infallible proofs that he's risen from the dead. We know he has risen from the dead because the Holy Spirit who dwells in us bears witness with our spirit that he is risen from the dead. And we know Jesus has risen from the dead. We know he lives because the whole of our salvation, the whole sum and substance of the whole scriptures rests on this point. that Jesus arose from the dead. And children, let me point out something to you. Children, do you know why we come to church for worship on Sundays? Do you know why Sunday is the day that we gather together for worship? The reason is this, what we are celebrating today, the fact that Jesus rose on Sunday. And Jesus's resurrection is the beginning of our new lives as Christians. And really, as we gather together for worship every Sunday, what we are doing every Sunday is celebrating Jesus's resurrection from the dead. Every Sunday again, we come together to enter more deeply, to enter again and enter more deeply into the new eternal life that Jesus has obtained for us through his death and resurrection. And every Sunday, we begin the week, the next week in our pilgrimage, reminded of the forgiveness of sins we have through Jesus' death and resurrection, reminded of the new identity we have, the new creation that we've been made, through the power of Jesus' own death and resurrection. And every Sunday, we worship God for what he accomplished through the death and resurrection of his son, Jesus Christ. And really every day, every day of our lives is a celebration of Jesus' resurrection from the dead as we live out of that new life that we have in his resurrection. Well, this morning, as we celebrate Jesus' resurrection, we want to consider it from the viewpoint of John and Peter in John chapter 20. Here in John chapter 20, John gives us a unique account of the resurrection. All four gospel accounts, of course, give us an account of Jesus' resurrection, but John gives us here a unique account because John, first of all, gives us a firsthand account. He gives us what he himself saw with his own eyes on that Easter Sunday morning. And then second, not only does John tell us about how the grave was empty, but John even takes us right into the sepulcher, right into the place where Jesus was laid so that we, as it were, might see it for ourselves. And as we walk with John through his experience of Easter Sunday morning, a unique feature that we learned from John's account is that while the grave is empty, and Jesus has risen from the dead, it's not quite entirely empty. Because as we read, there are those grave clothes that are still lying there in the sepulcher in the place where Jesus laid. And what the text proves this morning, what the text provides us this morning is not only a unique, infallible proof of the fact of Jesus' resurrection, but it also provides us a better insight into the actual nature of Jesus' resurrection. Those are the things we want to consider this morning. We take as our theme, John and Peter seeing the grave clothes. First, we look at the astonishing sight. Second, the deepening understanding and third, the inevitable joy. Let's begin by getting some of the background that leads up to this event in John chapter 20. In John chapter 19, we read that after Jesus endured the agonies of hell on the cross, he gave up the ghost and he died. His body was taken to a sepulcher belonging to Joseph of Arimathea. And there, Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus prepare Jesus' body for burial. They wrap his body with linen and with spices. They tuck the spices into the folds of the linen and they place him in that sepulcher that has never been used before. And now, it is Sunday morning. And according to the Jewish reckoning of time, three days have passed by. Jesus has been in the grave three days. Part of Friday, that counts as a day. The last two hours, maybe, or the last hour of Friday, that counts as a day. All day Saturday, and then part of Sunday, the evening part of Sunday, right? Jewish reckoning of time, the evening and the morning, first the night. And so Jesus was in the grave also for a little part of Sunday, the evening, we might say of Saturday night. And so he's been in the grave for three days. And we read from the gospel accounts that on that Sunday morning, the day after the Old Testament Sabbath, there were a few women that rose up early in the morning, while it is yet dark, to return to the sepulchre to finish preparing Jesus' body for burial. As the women approach the sepulchre of Jesus, they see, you can imagine, they pass over a little crest in the hill, and they see that the stone to the sepulchre has been moved away. Mary Magdalene immediately comes to the conclusion that the grave has been ransacked by thieves and that the body of Jesus has been stolen, and she decides that she needs to run back to Jerusalem to tell Peter and John about what the women have discovered. So that while the other women continue to go to the sepulcher and they eventually have their interaction with the two angels who meet them at the sepulcher, Mary Magdalene runs back to Jerusalem, not very far away, and goes to Peter and John and tells them what has happened. And this is what we read in John 20 verse 2. Now let's stop there for a moment, go off on a brief tangent, and let us know, notice that by way of the history, by how the history is recorded, it's clear that none of these people are looking actually for the resurrection. No one was expecting a resurrected Jesus. No one was even trying to fabricate a story that Jesus was resurrected from the dead. That's what many unbelievers will try to do with the biblical accounts of Jesus' resurrection. They will say that these stories of Jesus' resurrection were made up by the disciples in order that they might not completely fall into despair, in order that they might continue to hang on to what they were hoping for, even though it's all done and it's all lost. No, the reality is, none of the gospel accounts reads like a made-up story. Look at the women who are walking to the sepulcher. They weren't expecting a resurrected Jesus. They go to further prepare his body for burial. Their thinking is this, this is the end. Look at Mary Magdalene as she runs back to Peter and John. She doesn't run quickly to say, Jesus is risen, Jesus is risen. No, she goes back to say, they've stolen the dead body of our master. The way all this history is written, it's obvious that all the followers of Jesus were actually disbelieving the resurrection until Jesus himself provides them with many infallible proofs of it. Peter and John, Jesus gives them the grave clothes. Mary Magdalene, we read, we didn't read it, but we might read it tonight, she gets to have that face-to-face encounter with Jesus at the sepulcher. Thomas, Thomas, he wouldn't even believe it until he saw the scars on the hands and the side of Jesus for himself. And I think all of this history was designed by God exactly so that for us today, there really is no honest way to dispute the historicity of Jesus' resurrection. Yes, it can only be received by faith, but the record itself leaves everyone without excuse. That's kind of a tangent as we keep looking at what is recorded in John chapter 20. We read in verse 3, Peter and John, hearing from Mary that maybe the tomb, the sepulchre, has been ransacked, they go and investigate for themselves. So the three of them head back out to the sepulchre. And Peter and John, in their excitement, they run to the sepulchre, leaving Mary to trail them behind. We read in verses four and five that John is the first one to come to the sepulcher, but John doesn't enter the tomb. He's the younger of the two. He just looks inside from the outside. And then we read in verse six that when Peter finally catches up, Peter doesn't hesitate, but Peter walks right into the sepulcher to investigate. And then we read John follows him into the sepulcher. And what do they see? Well, they see that there is no body to be found in the sepulcher. But they also see that the sepulcher is not completely empty. First, they see the grave clothes that had been wrapped around Jesus' body. And the grave clothes were lying there in the place where Jesus' body had been placed. Now, we're not given the specific details on how those grave clothes were lying there. Some think that those grave clothes were lying flat, still in the general shape of Jesus' body. Others suggest that these grave clothes were properly folded or neatly folded. Still others think that perhaps the linen clothes were not just in the general shape of a body lying flat, but that they were actually still holding the shape of a body, almost as if it was paper mache or almost as if they were like a cocoon. Some people conjecture that perhaps because of all the ointment and the spices that were applied to Jesus' burial, Well, applied to Jesus by Joseph and Nicodemus, all of that ointment and those spices would have dried up and hardened so that the linen cloth would have held its shape after Jesus passed through those grave clothes. Well, we're not told the specific details. All we are told is that they see the grave clothes that had been wrapped around Jesus's body. And then second, specific mention is made of the napkin that was around Jesus's head. We read in verse seven, and the napkin that was about his head, not lying with the linen clothes, but wrapped together in a place by itself. And here it might be helpful to understand a little bit about how bodies were prepared for burial in the days of Jesus in Judea. In those days, bodies would have been prepared for burial like this. The body would have been wrapped in linen clothes in such a way that the face and the neck and the top part of the shoulders were left bare. The face and the neck would not have been wrapped by the linen clothes. However, then the upper part of the head would again have been wrapped with linen clothes, wrapped by a cloth that had been twirled around it almost like a turban. That was the napkin, that was the cloth that was wrapped around Jesus' head that is being mentioned in verse 7. And the fact that, as verse 7 says, the napkin was wrapped together in a place by itself would lead some to say that the napkin was still wrapped in its shape that it had around Jesus' head. Or alternately, some say that it was rolled up, it was wrapped up nicely in a nice little tight roll in the same way that you would wrap up a strap, kind of like a roll of tape. Either way, that's what John and Peter see. What's the significance? What's the significance of these details that the Holy Spirit shares with us? I think the significance is twofold. First, the significance is this, this is clear evidence that Jesus has risen from the dead. It's very obvious that Mary Magdalene's original speculation that Jesus was stolen was wrong. The dead body of Jesus had not been stolen. In fact, there's the clear evidence here that the body of Jesus had not been tampered with in any way. And that's obvious because, just think, if Jesus' body had been stolen from the sepulcher, would the robbers really have bothered to unwrap all those pieces of linen cloth and then set them again neatly in the place where Jesus had laid as they're robbing the sepulcher? No, if robbers had stolen the body, they would have not bothered to unwrap the linen clothes from Jesus. They would have just snatched up the body and ran with it, taking it out of the sepulcher. with the grave clothes still on. So that's the first point. This is clear evidence that Jesus has risen from the dead. Something else has happened here. And then second, the significance is this. This is also clear evidence that Jesus' resurrection from the dead was a special kind of resurrection, a unique resurrection. This is no ordinary resurrection. This is not the same kind of a resurrection as, say, you had with Lazarus, when Lazarus was raised from the dead. Remember when Lazarus was raised from the dead, what happened? Jesus had to tell the people, loose him, unwrap those grave clothes, so that he can stand once again on his own two feet. But that doesn't happen here, obviously not, because not only because no one else has been with Jesus in the sepulcher to help him get unwrapped, but also because as I would understand the passage, these grave clothes are still in the position in which Jesus has been laid. There's something being communicated here through that. When Jesus rose from the dead, it was not as if Jesus had to awkwardly try to unwrap the grave clothes and free himself from them with his hands still bound up. No, because if that had been the case, then not only would have the grave clothes have been piled up in a pile off to the side, but then even think about this, all the spices, all the ointment that had been carefully inserted into the folds of the linen clothes when his body was prepared, it would have been all scattered throughout the sepulcher, making a big mess. I think that makes sense. If Jesus' resurrection was like Lazarus' resurrection, and Jesus had to get himself out of his own grave clothes, the sepulcher would have looked differently. What these verses are communicating is that when Peter and John saw the sepulcher, there was no evidence of that. tampering at all. Quite the contrary, no mess in the sepulcher, nothing out of place. They see the grave closed and the only conclusion they can come to, and we'll look at that more in the second point of the sermon, the only conclusion they can come to is that something special and unique must have happened. And all of this helps us to understand what the resurrection of Jesus was. The resurrection of Jesus was unique. It was special. It was more than just a bodily, physical resurrection. A change took place as well. It was a transformation. It was, in fact, the first step of Jesus' glorification. Because what must have happened is that Jesus' own physical body must have passed through those grave clothes. Just as even that very same night when the disciples are huddled up in the upper room and the door is locked and no one can get in and Jesus passes through and he appears right before them. So Jesus here must have been able to pass right through the grave clothes. If we had been there at the moment when Jesus was raised from the dead, what would we have seen? Right, if you saw that change take place. Well, perhaps the fact that no eyewitnesses were there is God telling us that this is beyond what unclean eyes can see. But if we had been there, I think we can still ask the question, when Jesus was raised from the dead, what would we have seen? Would we have seen Jesus stir, open his eyes, try to stand up and then try to struggle out of the bandages or the linen cloth? No. But what the grave clothes also are communicating to us is this, what must have happened was that some kind of change took place so that that physical, natural body of Jesus, same body, but now it's changed. In the twinkling of an eye, in a moment, that physical, natural body of Jesus has changed. And it has now become a spiritual body. Same body, but changed. That body which had been corruptible, which was subject to death, that body was now suddenly changed into that which was incorruptible. And what was earthly is now suddenly changed into what is heavenly, and what is mortal is now suddenly changed into what is immortal, to use the language of 1 Corinthians 15. And as Jesus' soul came back down from paradise, and it rejoined with his earthly body, and his earthly body, his earthly being, body and soul, was now glorified, Jesus must have, in that glorified body, passed right through the grave clothes. As Peter and John look at the grave clothes, that's what Peter and John saw. And all of this is meant to communicate to us that Jesus' resurrection was more than just a physical resurrection. No, Jesus has actually passed on to glory. His body is glorified. When Jesus died, Yes, Jesus died, he entered the grave on the side of death, the side of corruption, the side of dishonor. But when Jesus arose from the dead and he left the grave, Jesus with his body left the grave on the other side, on the side of immortality and incorruption and honor. Jesus, this is so helpful, it was so helpful for me. Jesus did not go into the grave on one side and then come back forth from the grave on the same side. No, but Jesus went into the grave and he went through the grave. And he went through the grave exactly because that's what his death, his suffering on the cross has accomplished. It's accomplished a way through the grave. Right there on the cross, he defeated death, he defeated the grave, and he arose then from the dead as the victor over death and the grave. And so he arises from the dead, not on the side of mortality, but he goes through the grave, and to showcase what he has done for us through his suffering and death, he comes forth on the other side, the side of immortality, the side of everlasting life. Jesus is not just taking to himself this earthly life once again, but Jesus is taking to himself a different life, eternal life, heavenly life, the life of God in his human body, in his human soul. His resurrection from the dead was a resurrection into glory, into glory, so that Jesus, Jesus of Nazareth, the man, has now the life of God himself pervading and dwelling through and through his entire body. And at the same time, his body is changed. It's fitted for that life. It's transformed, it's changed so that the life of God can and does pervade that entire body. And that's what Peter and John saw in the tomb. That's what these grave clothes are showing us. That's the astonishing sight of the grave clothes. Well, that's what Peter and John saw in the tomb. And now as we move on, this is also what Peter and John came to understand. At least, that's what John tells us about himself. Remember, John is writing this as an eyewitness. And he says, this is what he came to understand. It must have been an interesting moment when Peter and John were there in the sepulcher and they were looking at the grave clothes and looking at everything and just trying to absorb everything that they were taking in. And we don't read that Peter and John were talking with each other, discussing these things. They just were looking and taking in what they were seeing. But it's right there that you also notice that the passage says more. They saw the grave closed, that's what the passage says, but when you look at the passage more closely, you come to see that there's actually more in the text, more in the language here than what we can really notice in our English translations. Because in the passage, John actually gives us three different words for see. Notice these words with me. First of all, notice in verse five. And he, this is John, stooping down and looking in, saw the linen clothes lying, yet went he not in." And that word for see or that word saw in verse 5 is just the ordinary word for to see, to look and to see something. But then second notice verse 6, Then cometh Simon Peter, following him, and went into the sepulcher, and seeth the linen clothes lie. Now that word see, seeth, in verse 6 is a different word in the original. It's the word from which we get the word theory or theorize. It means to wonder about the meaning of something. And here in verse 6, it means that Peter was looking at all these things in the tomb, and he was putting the pieces together, and he was thinking about everything and what it all meant. That's how Peter's looking at things. We might say he's examining it. Verse 5, John was looking at things. Verse 6, Peter comes in and he starts examining things with his eyes. And then verse 8, you have another word for C, which is a third, a different word. Verse 8, then went in also that other disciple which came first to the sepulcher and he saw and believed. And that word saw in verse 8 is a third different word that means this, to see with comprehension, to see with understanding. We might use the English word perceive. So John looked into the sepulcher and saw, Peter entered the sepulcher and examined, and then John himself walked into the sepulcher and he perceived and he believed. That's what these verses are communicating to us. Looking at the linen clothes lying so neatly and so remarkably undisturbed where Jesus' body had rested, John perceived. He reached the only reasonable conclusion. Jesus' body must have been raised in glory so that it passed through the clothes proving that he arose from the dead. This is simply what John saw. He saw, he perceived, and he believed. And maybe this was the difference between John and Peter. Peter is looking at everything and Peter is asking himself, what are we to make of this? It's clearly the case that Jesus' body wasn't stolen. Mary's speculation is wrong, but it doesn't appear like a normal resurrection either. We saw Lazarus' resurrection and what that looked like. This looks different. And then John walks in and he sees, he understands, This is not just any resurrection, this is the resurrection of the one who is the Christ. And we read, he understood and believed. He understood and believed the resurrection of Jesus Christ. But now maybe we can ask the question, how much did John understand? And what does it mean that John now believed? Well, here we go on in the passage and look at verse nine. Notice verse nine, for as yet, Up to this point, they knew not the Scripture that he must rise again from the dead." Notice a few things about verse 9. First, here in verse 9, John is not actually commending himself for the fact that he so quickly believed that Jesus has risen from the dead. In fact, he's really communicating the opposite. This is John's style, isn't it? He doesn't mention his name in this gospel, and now here too, he's really reproving himself and reproving the other disciples with him for just how slow they actually were in believing. John is saying, look, I first had to see the grave clothes before I believed. I didn't believe at first. I first had to see the grave clothes and then I believed. Remember, it's John himself writing this verse. John is really rebuking his own slowness to believe. In addition, what does John actually say in this verse? He says, up to this point, we didn't know the scriptures. The Old Testament, Bible, plainly reveal the resurrection of the Messiah from the dead. Psalm 16, thou wilt not suffer thine holy one to see corruption, which means he's first going to die. then he's going to be raised again. The scriptures clearly reveal the resurrection. Jesus himself had taught this directly to his disciples, and yet they didn't know it. They didn't understand it. It didn't make sense to them. It didn't fit with their thinking. Their faith wasn't grasping it. But now after seeing the grave clothes, it begins to make a little sense. Here, here is clear evidence of something extraordinary. Something that is now matching up with what Jesus said about himself. Right? We've been through Good Friday. We saw all these things that confused us and we were offended at Jesus and we ran away from him. It didn't make sense to us and now, Now we're starting to see how these things might all fit together. And John says, God was using this evidence of the grave clothes to work faith in me. I saw, I perceived, and I believed. And ultimately it was not me, it was God strengthening my faith. And we should understand even at this point, this is only the beginning of John's understanding. John still doesn't understand everything clearly. John and Peter and the other disciples still need Jesus to appear before them personally that same night and instruct them more fully. He shows them his side. He shows them his hands. And John probably didn't understand at this time why Jesus' resurrection was necessary. or why this resurrection was the inevitable result of what happened on Good Friday. They don't understand yet what Jesus was doing through His agony and suffering, making the payment for sin. And the fact is, until the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost, 40 days from now, John and Peter and the other disciples were simply not equipped to fully understand and appreciate the resurrection of Jesus like we can today. But nevertheless, John did understand, he did believe, he saw and believed. And then Jesus is going to say at the end of this chapter to Thomas, we'll look at that tonight, blessed are they who haven't seen and yet do believe. And that makes this applicable to us, although we haven't seen the grave clothes, although we weren't physically at the sepulcher of Jesus on that Easter Sunday morning, nevertheless, by God's grace and God's grace alone, we also believe. And with the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, we do understand why all these things had to be the way that they are. We understand Jesus' resurrection the third day was a necessity. It was a necessity precisely because of what he accomplished through his death on Good Friday. On the cross, Jesus made the covering for all the sins of his people. He made the sacrifice. He served the sentence that all our crimes deserved. He bore the curse of God until that curse was entirely fully spoken upon Jesus so that there's no more curse left to be spoken on us. And even before Jesus died, Jesus could cry, it is finished. So that he himself could give up the ghost, even in the awareness that the work of the redemption of his people had been completed. And therefore, though He died and though He needed to experience all the aspects of death, all the experience of death, nevertheless, as Acts 2 verse 24 says, it was simply not possible that Jesus should remain dead in the grave. because he defeated death and the grave. Sin was dealt with exactly the way that God demanded. Jesus made the complete payment. And so death, death had no claim on Jesus anymore. Sin, Satan, had nothing to say anymore. It was necessary. It was logical that Jesus should rise from the dead. And even if John didn't understand this clearly or fully at this moment, we should. But now here too, we are reminded once again, it is only by God's grace that a person can believe in the resurrection of Jesus Christ. It's not for lack of evidence. I already said that earlier. This is not for lack of evidence. It's because of a lack of faith. A person could even be at the sepulcher with Peter and John and see the grave clothes. A person could see the obvious evidence, and yet unless God gives the faith to believe and works that faith in a person, that person cannot and will not believe the resurrection of Jesus Christ. And I will even say this. Even today, As believing children of God, and I would have to say this first for myself before I say it for anyone else, but it's for you to consider. Even today, we still don't understand Jesus' resurrection and all its implications like we ought. We still don't. Because if we did, if I did, I would be characterized by more peace, more joy, more confidence, and more boldness. Because I would know, with everything that comes in my life, Jesus, my Savior, has risen from the dead. I have the victory over death in the grave. All things are for me. I'm more than a conqueror. Jesus has entered His glory, and I with Him, even right now, I have the beginning of sitting in heavenly places with Jesus Christ. This is our salvation. Oh, to know it more, right? To appropriate these truths more, so that I know the peace, and I know the confidence, and I know the joy of Jesus' resurrection. Well, the text itself does not go into the joy that these disciples felt, but that was the inevitable result of everything they had seen at the cross. They had great joy. And the more that they were understanding, the more their joy increased. the resurrection of Jesus Christ is great joy for us today too. For those unto whom God has given the faith to believe the resurrection of Jesus Christ is the wellspring of all our joy. It's the reason we have any joy at all. Knowing the resurrection, we know we have the forgiveness of sins. Knowing the resurrection, we know That God has no more reason to punish Jesus, our head, and therefore there's nothing for us, who are hidden Jesus, to bear either. Knowing the resurrection, we know that in Jesus Christ we have a spiritual life that is not from here below. It's from above. It is the same spiritual life, the same heavenly life that Jesus took to himself in his resurrection. This life that I am now living in Christ is a life that has gone through death, that has obtained the victory over death, and therefore this life will never die. It cannot be touched by death. That's what Jesus says to Mary. He that believeth in me, Though he were dead, yet shall he live. And he that believeth in me shall never die. We shall never die because this life is an immortal life. We live no longer under the bondage of sin, we live unto Christ, we live new and godly lives. And knowing the resurrection, we know that one day our bodies, our bodies will be raised up and our bodies will be made partakers of that heavenly life. Death is not the end. Even for Jesus, right? Good Friday, He gives up the ghost. You can see it in Jesus, your head. Death was not the end for Him. In His soul, He went to paradise to be with that thief on the cross. And then for us and for our salvation, His soul came down again to the earth on Easter Sunday. And His body was resurrected. His body and soul were united. And He goes on living. Living. living in eternal glory, and where he is, what has happened to him, that's where we will be, and that's what will happen to us. After death, there is everlasting life to enjoy with Jesus, who holds the keys of the grave and death. And knowing the resurrection, we know already in this life we are more than conquerors, we have peace, we have rest, we have joy. Beloved, Your mediator, your head, your high priest has risen from the dead. Your savior has conquered the grave. Even in difficult circumstances, even when the threat of death surrounds you, take joy. This is Sunday. This is the day we celebrate Jesus' resurrection. This is the day we celebrate the gift of eternal life. In a sense, every day is Sunday. Every day we enjoy living out of the life that Jesus has obtained for us. This is the day that the Lord has made, and every day as we live out of Christ, that's the day that the Lord has made for us in Jesus Christ. This is the day that the Lord has made. We will rejoice and be glad in it every day again. Amen. Let us pray. Our Father in heaven, we thank Thee for Thy word so clear and so rich. Help us to see it, to perceive it and to understand, strengthen our faith that we might also know the joy and that we might rejoice in it, what thou hast done. Bless this preaching to our hearts and to our lives and give us joy in this day and going forward, Father, may we rest in the death and resurrection of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. In his name we pray, amen.