Please refer to John 20 with me. John 20. If you do not have a Bible, you can find it in the pew on page 906. I always want to encourage you to follow along, especially on a day like today. John 20. Now on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early, while it was still dark, and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb. So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to him, they have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him. So Peter went out with the other disciple, and they were going toward the tomb. Both of them were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. and stooping to look in, he saw the linen cloths lying there, but he did not go in. Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen cloths lying there, and the face cloth, which had been on Jesus' head, not lying with the linen cloths, but folded up in a place by itself. Then the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed. For as yet, they did not understand the scripture, that he must rise from the dead. Then the disciples went back to their homes. But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb, and as she wept, she stooped to look into the tomb, and she saw two angels in white sitting where the body of Jesus had lain, one at the head and one at the feet. 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. Having said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing, but she did not know that it was Jesus. She 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 have laid him, and I will take him away. Jesus said to her, Mary, she turned and said to him in Aramaic, Rabbi, which means teacher. Jesus said to her, do not cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and say to them, I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God. Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, I have seen the Lord, and that he had said these things to her. On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors being locked where the disciples were for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, peace be with you. When he had said this, he showed them his hands and sighed. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them, Peace be with you, as the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you. And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them. If you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld. Now Thomas, one of the twelve called the twin, was not with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, We have seen the Lord. But he said to them, Unless I see his hands, the mark of the nails, and place my finger into the mark of the nails, and place my hand into his side, I will never believe. Eight days later, his disciples were inside again, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, Peace be with you. Then he said to Thomas, Put your finger here and see my hands and put out your hand and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve, but believe. Thomas answered him, my Lord and my God. Jesus said to him, have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed. Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book, but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing, you may have life in his name. And as he has already mentioned it, I'm so glad that we're opening the word today. Don't let 31 verses scare you. We are going to work through this together and allow the Lord to use it. If you aren't here on a regular basis, what we do is we actually work through books of the Bible. And we've actually come to this point. We've been working in the book of John since Last year, January, we took a little time off in the summer, working through some prophets and Christmas time and other subjects that we were working through together. But we've come to this chapter, it's lined up perfectly with today as being Resurrection Sunday. And I'm so grateful for this church family and all the hard work. A thing like a breakfast that we've had today and the different aspects of the service doesn't happen accidentally. It's a lot of work and a lot of, service and time. And so it's a blessing. And I want to just pray once again, as we're opening the word here and looking at it together, that the Lord would do his thing in it. So let's pray. Father, thank you again for your goodness and grace and ask you God to use your word in a powerful way. We come to this story that we don't take lightly. We're floored by what has been accomplished. And as we've already said this morning, if you had not raised, if your son had not raised from the dead, then basically we're wasting our time. That we are of men most miserable, your word says. And so we're thankful for this truth and we ask you, God, to use that and the rest of this time together for your glory and our good. And it's in Jesus' name we pray, amen. Every Sunday for the last 2,000 years or so, Christians have gathered together. And they have gathered together on Sunday, the first day of the week, principally because of this verse here. Chapter 20 in verse 1. It was on the first day of the week that Jesus Christ rose from the dead. Previously, when the Jews were getting together pre-Christ, it was a Saturday thing. That's why you hear the words, remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy. It's a Saturday event. When I was in Israel, everything shut down and Orthodox Jews take it that way. But we as Christians celebrate the resurrection and by meeting on a Sunday, on a regular basis, it's that proclaiming that. And the resurrection is something we've heard about since we were kids. And you think about that. We've heard about this thing called the resurrection since we've been little. It's just something we've heard. something we believe in, almost flippantly when you think about it. Yeah, Jesus rose from the dead. But we must remember that it isn't just this thing that happened, like the sun rising in the morning. The sun, S-O-N, rising, is amazing. He rose from the dead. When you stop and think about that, you do realize that doesn't happen all the time. And yet, yeah, Jesus rose from the dead, and I'll just go on with my life. No, no, He rose from the dead. When Paul was preaching this, when it first happened, after it first had happened, and Paul is preaching to the Greeks, the center of learning, Mars Hill, they're in Athens, these listeners were floored by this. And they wanted to hear more about it. Jesus conquered death. And we rest in that. We're blessed by that. That should change our lives. That should make a difference. And so if you're taking notes, on the back of a bulletin there, you can fill in some blanks as we work through this together. But point number one, note the message. Note the message. Look at verses one and two again. Now on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early, while it was still dark, and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb. So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved and said to them, they've taken the Lord out of the tomb and we do not know where they have laid him. Something that you and I need to remember, of all the religions in the world, you need to know that most religions, most religious philosophies, are based on the actual philosophical teaching of the founders of those religions. In most of the religions, it's about a belief system. the principles of faith that are passed down from that person to each and everybody else, it's considered that of all the world religions, only four of them are based on personalities. Judaism, the personality of Moses, the lawgiver, Christianity, Christ, Buddhism on Buddha, and Islam on Muhammad. But of all the four, Only one makes the claim of resurrection. So Christianity is very unique in that way. And so we have a story here, and there's three people who see something. They see the same thing, but they interpret it differently. We have Mary Magdalene. She sees something, but she does not really get it. You see how she doesn't, she must not necessarily understand resurrection at all or locked into this because she's thinking somebody stole the body. And so she reports something, it isn't true accurately biblically, but it's what her observation is saying. And so there's other women there, other gospels tell us that, but John only speaks of her in this gospel. There's four gospels, this is one of them. And so they got there when it's dark, they probably couldn't sleep. And isn't that interesting that love gets you up early? Some of you are like, yeah, amen. Love and duty do that. And she remembers what the Lord Jesus had done for her. He had forgiven her. The Jewish Talmud talks about where she's from. She's from a town called Magdala. It is tied, there was prostitution that was known for in that section of the town. But we're never told that she's a prostitute. It's interesting how things take on a new life and meaning sometimes. Contextually, it can happen. There's a story in Luke where this woman comes in and she's crying and she's washing Jesus' feet and there are tears and the Pharisee's sitting there in his house. And he goes, in his mind, he says, if Jesus knew how bad this woman was, he wouldn't be doing this. And I love how Jesus confronts him because Jesus knows what we're thinking. And he says, basically, Simon, you, he starts asking about forgiveness and basically explaining the fact that the person that's been forgiven much, loves much. Isn't that true? Hasn't that been the case for you? It's been the case for me. When you know you're forgiven. And so that story is tied to later in Luke, probably the next chapter, it talks about Mary Magdalene. And it does explain that Jesus cast out seven demons from her. And one demon would be bad enough, seven. And so she is somebody that is hurting and went through something difficult, and she's been freed of it. And so because of that, getting up early, showing love for her Savior, wouldn't be hard. And that's what happens when Christ changed your life. When Christ changed your life, and you know, man's forgiven me so much. I was deserving of hell. I was deserving of a destructive life. And because of what he's done, I'll get up early. I'll do whatever. It's Jesus. He rose from the dead. And so that's what's happened. Well, point number two, note the mission. Note the mission. Look at verse three. So Peter went out with the other disciple. The other disciple, by the way, is John, for those of you that don't know. He never says his name in the story. He always says the other disciple or the disciple that Jesus loved or those different things that that somebody would say when they feel very loved, okay? So Peter went out with the other disciple, and they were going toward the tomb. Now, I want you to notice something about John, typical guy. Both of them were riding together, but the other disciple outran Peter. Isn't that something? I've got a bigger fish. You know, all those different things, you know. So we know he's the athlete of the group. John's the athlete of the group. He outran Peter and reached the tomb first. Look what happens, verse five. And stooping down to look in, he saw the linen cloths lying there, but he did not go in. Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. And doesn't that sound like Peter, those of you that have done studies of this over the years, Peter's like, I'll go. You don't want to go in? I know you beat me, but I'll go in. He saw the linen cloths lying there, and the face cloth, which had been on Jesus's head, not lined with the linen cloths, but folded up in a place by itself. So he doesn't go in first, but he does see some things. Look at verse eight. Then the other disciple who had reached the tomb first, okay, John, we get it, all right, also went in and he saw and believed. For as yet they did not understand the scripture that he must rise from the dead. So for three years, Jesus is teaching them, talking to them. Parents, I hope this encourages you, that you'll say things over and over and over again. And still it's right there. He's said it a bunch of times to them, what's going to happen. And they still don't get it. Then the disciples went back to their homes. And so after seeing those things, he believed. I want you to notice something here quickly. Three different words are all translated saw. You do know that our English language is very limited in many ways. We'll say certain words and they could mean a bunch of different things. The word saw, there's actually three different Greek words just in this little segment here. The first one is a word called blepo, verse five, and it means to notice or look at something. The second word is thereo, that's in verse six, Saul, translated Saul. We get that word theater from that, okay? And that's to look in the same direction or study closely. He's studying, but there's no conclusion. And then when this last word, third word is idon, and that's in verse eight. And that's seeing with comprehension and to understand. And that leads to belief. And so today you're here, and I think pretty much every one of you can see me. My prayer is that it wouldn't be a bleppo or a thoretto, but that it would be an idon type of seeing today. That it would be, oh, I get that. And if there's never been a time where in your heart you've bowed the knee that you said, Rose from the dead? I'm in. That's the person I'm following. That's what we're presenting you today. And so they have these things happen, and verse 10, they went back home. Let's keep going. Point number three, note the manifestations. Look at verse 11. But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb. And as she wept, she stooped to look into the tomb, and she saw two angels in white sitting where the body of Jesus had lain, one at the head and one at the feet. And so Mary's hurting. And angels appear, by the way, angels appear in 34 books of the Bible, 17 in the Old Testament, 17 times in the New Testament. And in this place, and sometimes in other places, they take on a human form. By the way, we believe in angels because the Bible speaks of angels. We believe what the Bible says, okay? And so this is what's happened. And so they've come here and we come to verse 13. And they said to her, woman, why are you weeping? And she said to them, they have taken away my Lord. And I do not know where they have laid him. And so these angels, they've shown up around Jesus. They've shown up at his birth. They've shown up at his temptation and now at his resurrection. And they ask her this question and she answers them. And having said this, verse 14, She turned around and saw Jesus standing, but she did not know that it was Jesus. There's something in, by the way, there's something in literature called dramatic irony. I don't know if you've ever heard that term, dramatic irony, but what dramatic irony is, when the reader knows something that the people in the story don't know. So we're kind of let in on this. This is pretty cool. It's Jesus, we know it's Jesus, but she doesn't know that. And Jesus said to her, woman, why are you weeping? He asks her the same question. Whom are you seeking? Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, sir, if you've carried him away, tell me where you have laid him and I will take him away. So this woman, Jesus is in light, he's a man. In her mind, he's dead. Somebody has gone in there, broken open the tomb, gone in there and take this body, and she's going, well, maybe this guy who's standing here talking to me right now, maybe he has done this, and she's willing, out of love, I'll find a way. So she's all in. She's whatever it takes. And I want you to see, after asking that question, verse 16, Jesus said to her, Mary, Just her name. And she turned and said to him in Aramaic, Rabboni, which means teacher. And so she hears him call her name and it changes everything. Isn't that beautiful? God sometimes works in the sight that we just got done, seeing those words in the Greek of seeing, but he also works in hearing. Look at this in Romans 10, verse 17. So faith comes through hearing. and hearing through the word of Christ. And so you're here today. I don't know where you stand with God. I don't know what your relationship with God is like. But we're presenting you today in song, in scripture that's read, as we're working through this together, we're presenting to you this gift, which is a person named Jesus Christ. And I don't think you're here by accident. I don't think this is all, yeah, we'll just show up. And truth is handed to you today. And what will you do with that today? Because what do we do with a gift? We receive it. And that's offered to you today in the person of Jesus Christ. Verse 17, he says, Jesus said, or do not cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to the father, but go to my brothers and say to them, I am ascending to my father and to your father, to my God and your God. And Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, I have seen the Lord, and that he had said these things to her. Don't cling to me. I've got some other things I need to do. And then we move to another scene. Look at this, verse 19. On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, so he wants us to know, this is that Sunday thing again, the door's being locked, so get the picture, where the disciples were for fear of the Jews. So when it says Jews throughout the book of John, it's talking about the Jewish leadership, the ones, if you've ever seen the Passion of the Christ, those other ones, crucify him. Those ones that were screaming out for the death of Christ, they're still in charge in Israel. How they look at life can create fear. This is a new thing happening with the person of God in the person of Jesus Christ. And so they're still fearful. Their friend has died. Could you imagine what Saturday was like for them? They had invested all of their life in this. They've left everything. They're fishing nets. They've left everything to follow this person and he's dead. So all of Saturday, he's in the grave. But Sunday comes and this is what's happening, but they're fearful. And so the doors are locked. Get the picture. Jesus came and stood among them. It doesn't say the doors were open to let him in. He just shows up, okay? And he says, peace be with you. That's what happens, by the way, a lot of times in the Bible. Something scary happens and they go, easy. Okay, peace. Shalom. It's offered to you today also. The glorified body, this gives us an understanding of the glorified body for even us as believers after the resurrection, what that would be like. But the doors are shut, they're fearful. Let's keep going, verse 20. When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. And the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, peace be with you. As the father has sent me, even so I am sending you. And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, then you're forgiven them. If you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld. Isn't that interesting that that's the, that is an emphasis with Jesus after he rise from the dead. He wants people to know forgiveness is huge. You may be even here today and there's somebody in your life. I can't forgive him. Maybe you can't, but God, because people, people hurt people and hurting people hurt people. And so in the midst of this, we're given this word, but I want you to understand that he breathes life into him. Doesn't it sound like something that happened earlier in the world? A thing called creation, where the breath of life was given, and now this is a breath of new life that's given. We come to a story that's very, very famous. Verse 24, now Thomas, one of the 12, called the twin. His name means twin. He's also called Didymus. Some people, by the way, just a side thing for a moment, I know some of you like these little tidbits you hear every now and then, but James and John were brothers. Many believe that Thomas and Matthew were brothers. Matthew is the tax collector, Thomas, and they were twins. That's what many people believe because you'll see in the list of the names that they always seem to show up together. It's interesting, you got a tax collector and then you got this doubting guy, I don't know. They must have been interesting growing up if that was the case, okay? So Thomas, one of the 12, called the twin, was not with them when Jesus came. Now understand, because remember what Thomas is a lot of times called blank Thomas, you know what it is? Doubting Thomas. But understand, what he will experience, they've already experienced. They've seen the scars. They've seen the hole in the side. And so he just hasn't seen it yet. And you see, For eight days this goes on, look at verse 25. So the other disciples told him, we've seen the Lord. They're fired up, they've seen him. But he said to them, unless I see in his hands the mark of the nails and place my finger into the mark of the nails and place my hand into his side, I will, look at this, this is bold. I will never believe. You ever meet those guys? All right. And look at this, eight days they got to hear this. Every time they show up with Thomas, they just say, you know, I know you guys are talking a big game, but until I say, eight days of that. Look at verse 26, eight days later, his disciples were inside again and Thomas was with them, although the doors were locked. God's trying to get a point across to us. Jesus came and stood among them and said, peace be with you. He shows up again. Quit doing that, Jesus, you know. Then he said to Thomas, put your finger here and see my hands and put out your hand and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve, but believe. Could you imagine what the other disciples told you? You don't believe me? Thomas answered him, my Lord, And my God, I love this because so many people, you ask people about Jesus, they go, yeah, he's Lord, he's God, but this is making it personal. Is he today, is he today your Lord, your God? That's what he demands of us. He's the only way. Jesus said to him, have you believed because you've seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed. Last point, point number four, note the motivation. Note the motivation. Verse 30, now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book. Imagine all the different things that they saw. But these, so this is why this book is written, this book of John is written. These are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, which is the Messiah, the one that's been promised, the Son of God, and that by believing, you may have life in His name. So we've been studying, talking about Grace Bible Church. If you're here today, it's so good to have you here. But we as a church family have been studying this book for a while now. And this is the purpose in why this book was written. It should lead to belief. So this is my question for you this morning. What are you believing in? What's your book? What's your Bible? Is it your experiences? Is it, and I could start listing other things that you follow. Maybe it's a favorite singer, a favorite philosopher, a great podcaster, a great influencer. What is it? What are you banking on? The reason we here at Grace, it's our middle name, Grace Bible Church, is we're looking to this book that has pointed us to a person, the person of Jesus Christ who saves. We've got a sin problem. We've got an issue. And if that sin problem isn't taken care of, the Bible says it leads to hell. And there's a lot of different voices out there. A few days back, I came home for lunch and my wife was out on the patio working out in the yard and she's listening to some country music. We've moved to Warrington, we now listen to country music, okay? That's just part of the deal. I grew up with Motown, now I've been converted. Well, I still like Motown, but anyways. But this song was playing, and it just came out. And I was like, man, that is a powerful song. It's sung by a guy named Blake Shelton. And it's a very moving song. And I'd like you to sit back and just listen to the words here and think about what Mr. Shelton is singing. And then we'll talk a little bit more, and then we'll be done. Take a listen to Let Him In Anyway. ["Let Him In Anyway"] That's a scary thing Somebody's time here is Laying flowers on their grave One of them were there so wet I tried and I tried and you started to listen I brought him to church, he was feeling conviction But you took him away before I could convince him So I'm here on my knees Say, hey God, how do you know what I'm about to break? God, I just had to suck it up and say goodbye to my best friend. I don't ever want to ever see him again. And I know that all that I gave was to you and me. What am I, a Christian, supposed to be? Lord, it ain't my place. Could you let him in anyway? I can't imagine a day on my heart's last beat When I walk through those gates and he is waiting on me All I need was a little more time, I swear I'm so damn close it ain't fair So take a look I know you don't want me back to pray, God. I just had to suck it up and say goodbye to my best friend. I don't ever want to never see him again. I'm lonely. Only way to get in is for you to leave. I wouldn't find the Christian he was supposed to be. And, Lord, it ain't my place. But could you let me in? I just had to suck it and say goodbye to my best friend. Isn't that powerful? Don't you appreciate Blake Shelton's heart for his friend? I think it reminds me of Moses in the Old Testament, where the people of Israel were just being so disobedient, and basically God was gonna wipe them out. He goes, no, God, take me, take me. That's what it comes down to. Or Paul, when he was talking, and he says, if it meant all of my countrymen going to heaven, I'll go to hell so that all of them could go. What an amazing heart. And some of the things that Blake Shelton is talking about here are accurate biblically, but I see the heart, and one of the writers is a guy named Hardy, and I went through a song with you a couple years back talking about heaven and Hardy's twist on things. And so I can tell that these men have spiritual roots. They must have done church back in the day. And they may have this idea that you pray a prayer, and by praying that prayer, it's kind of like your ticket in. I can pray that prayer, and then I can go on with life, but as long as I said some sort of formula, and I go from there, and nothing changes in my life, he isn't Lord, he isn't really master, the fact that he rose from the dead doesn't change anything, but I prayed the prayer. And God, throughout the word, is constantly saying, no, no, no, no, no, it doesn't work that way. If you prayed the prayer and you meant it, you truly meant it, then you're my child. And so if you were being disobedient, I would discipline you. If you go on in your life and nothing changes, there's a concern. And I also appreciate his heart, but it can't work that way. It cannot work that way where somebody that we love dies and they never bowed the knee of their heart and said, I'm asking Christ to change my life, forgive my sins, make me a new person. And they take on that spirit of God because of what he does. There's no second chances. There's no purgatory. And you may be here today, yeah, but I like Blake Shelton's Jesus better. If Blake Shelton's Jesus is the Jesus, that one that we just got done hearing about, then this doesn't matter because that would get covered. If heaven and hell are real and there is a payday someday, Here's the thing, don't wait. Don't have your friend have to say that or sing that later. Today is the day of salvation. You're the one putting it off. And it's presented to you and me as a gift. And he's God if he's God. And so that has bearing on my life if he's God. So we do this today. because we believe this is the truth. And so I say, once again, what are you banking on? What are you banking on? Because you're banking on something. And if you put all your faith into it, amen, if that's your thing. But we're banking on this, something that for thousands of years, people have held on to and leads to hope and leads to life change. Would you bow your head and close your eyes with me? Maybe you're here today and you, this isn't, some of it may even be new, but here's the gospel in a nutshell, the good news in a nutshell. We're all born sinners. You know that you don't have to teach somebody how to sin. They're born that way. He says, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. And then we hear in Romans 6, 23, for the wages of sin is death. And so every one of us die. The percentages are high. For every life, there's a death. And that's a result of sin. For the wages of sin is death. But, I love that conjunction, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ, our Lord. And so there's a gift and what do you do with a gift? And you're offered that today, a gift by faith that you receive. And then Romans 10 says this, it says, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead, you will be saved. And so it moves from a head knowledge to a heart knowledge, which leads to a changed life because what he's done. And so I offer that to you today. So please nail that down between you and the Lord. If you need to talk to somebody, somebody that invited you here today, talk to me, whatever, this is eternal business. So that later, when that Blake Shelton song comes on, or just that whole idea crosses somebody else's mind, you know that you know. because you put your faith and trust in the only one that saves. Jesus says, I am the way, the truth, and life. No one comes to the Father, but by me. That's given to you as a gift. Let's pray. Father, thank you again for your gracious goodness. Thank you so much for the hope that is because of what Christ has done. And I ask you, God, if there's someone here that doesn't know you, that today would be the day of salvation. And it's in his name we pray, amen.