Easter Sunday, From John 20, Morning Praise (2)

March 31, 2013 · John

Series · John · Week 17 of 43

Scripture referenced 7 passages

The passage this message was preached from, in full, with every other passage it reached for.

Matthew 28:5-7 angel at the tomb telling the women Jesus is risen, read before opening worship

5 The angel answered the women, “Don’t be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus, who has been crucified.
6 He is not here, for he has risen, just like he said. Come, see the place where the Lord was lying.
7 Go quickly and tell his disciples, ‘He has risen from the dead, and behold, he goes before you into Galilee; there you will see him.’ Behold, I have told you.”

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Acts 2:24

it was impossible for death to keep its hold on Jesus

24 whom God raised up, having freed him from the agony of death, because it was not possible that he should be held by it.

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John 3:16-17

God so loved the world, read during worship

16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life.

17 For God didn’t send his Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world should be saved through him.

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Philippians 2

God exalted Jesus to the highest place, name above every name, every knee shall bow

1 If therefore there is any exhortation in Christ, if any consolation of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any tender mercies and compassion,

2 make my joy full, by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind;

3 doing nothing through rivalry or through conceit, but in humility, each counting others better than himself;

4 each of you not just looking to his own things, but each of you also to the things of others.

5 Have this in your mind, which was also in Christ Jesus,

6 who, existing in the form of God, didn’t consider equality with God a thing to be grasped,

7 but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men.

8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself, becoming obedient to death, yes, the death of the cross.

9 Therefore God also highly exalted him, and gave to him the name which is above every name;

10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, those on earth, and those under the earth,

11 and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

12 So then, my beloved, even as you have always obeyed, not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.

13 For it is God who works in you both to will and to work, for his good pleasure.

14 Do all things without murmurings and disputes,

15 that you may become blameless and harmless, children of God without defect in the middle of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you are seen as lights in the world,

16 holding up the word of life; that I may have something to boast in the day of Christ, that I didn’t run in vain nor labor in vain.

17 Yes, and if I am poured out on the sacrifice and service of your faith, I rejoice, and rejoice with you all.

18 In the same way, you also rejoice, and rejoice with me.

19 But I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you soon, that I also may be cheered up when I know how you are doing.

20 For I have no one else like-minded, who will truly care about you.

21 For they all seek their own, not the things of Jesus Christ.

22 But you know the proof of him, that, as a child serves a father, so he served with me in furtherance of the Good News.

23 Therefore I hope to send him at once, as soon as I see how it will go with me.

24 But I trust in the Lord that I myself also will come shortly.

25 But I counted it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus, my brother, fellow worker, fellow soldier, and your apostle and servant of my need;

26 since he longed for you all, and was very troubled, because you had heard that he was sick.

27 For indeed he was sick, nearly to death, but God had mercy on him; and not on him only, but on me also, that I might not have sorrow on sorrow.

28 I have sent him therefore the more diligently, that, when you see him again, you may rejoice, and that I may be the less sorrowful.

29 Receive him therefore in the Lord with all joy, and hold such in honor,

30 because for the work of Christ he came near to death, risking his life to supply that which was lacking in your service toward me.

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1 Corinthians 15

if there is no resurrection we are to be pitied

1 Now I declare to you, brothers, the Good News which I preached to you, which also you received, in which you also stand,

2 by which also you are saved, if you hold firmly the word which I preached to you—unless you believed in vain.

3 For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures,

4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,

5 and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve.

6 Then he appeared to over five hundred brothers at once, most of whom remain until now, but some have also fallen asleep.

7 Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles,

8 and last of all, as to the child born at the wrong time, he appeared to me also.

9 For I am the least of the apostles, who is not worthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the assembly of God.

10 But by the grace of God I am what I am. His grace which was given to me was not futile, but I worked more than all of them; yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.

11 Whether then it is I or they, so we preach, and so you believed.

12 Now if Christ is preached, that he has been raised from the dead, how do some among you say that there is no resurrection of the dead?

13 But if there is no resurrection of the dead, neither has Christ been raised.

14 If Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain, and your faith also is in vain.

15 Yes, we are also found false witnesses of God, because we testified about God that he raised up Christ, whom he didn’t raise up, if it is so that the dead are not raised.

16 For if the dead aren’t raised, neither has Christ been raised.

17 If Christ has not been raised, your faith is vain; you are still in your sins.

18 Then they also who are fallen asleep in Christ have perished.

19 If we have only hoped in Christ in this life, we are of all men most pitiable.

20 But now Christ has been raised from the dead. He became the first fruits of those who are asleep.

21 For since death came by man, the resurrection of the dead also came by man.

22 For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive.

23 But each in his own order: Christ the first fruits, then those who are Christ’s, at his coming.

24 Then the end comes, when he will deliver up the Kingdom to God, even the Father; when he will have abolished all rule and all authority and power.

25 For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet.

26 The last enemy that will be abolished is death.

27 For, “He put all things in subjection under his feet.” But when he says, “All things are put in subjection”, it is evident that he is excepted who subjected all things to him.

28 When all things have been subjected to him, then the Son will also himself be subjected to him who subjected all things to him, that God may be all in all.

29 Or else what will they do who are baptized for the dead? If the dead aren’t raised at all, why then are they baptized for the dead?

30 Why do we also stand in jeopardy every hour?

31 I affirm, by the boasting in you which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily.

32 If I fought with animals at Ephesus for human purposes, what does it profit me? If the dead are not raised, then “let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.”

33 Don’t be deceived! “Evil companionships corrupt good morals.”

34 Wake up righteously, and don’t sin, for some have no knowledge of God. I say this to your shame.

35 But someone will say, “How are the dead raised?” and, “With what kind of body do they come?”

36 You foolish one, that which you yourself sow is not made alive unless it dies.

37 That which you sow, you don’t sow the body that will be, but a bare grain, maybe of wheat, or of some other kind.

38 But God gives it a body even as it pleased him, and to each seed a body of its own.

39 All flesh is not the same flesh, but there is one flesh of men, another flesh of animals, another of fish, and another of birds.

40 There are also celestial bodies, and terrestrial bodies; but the glory of the celestial differs from that of the terrestrial.

41 There is one glory of the sun, another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for one star differs from another star in glory.

42 So also is the resurrection of the dead. The body is sown perishable; it is raised imperishable.

43 It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power.

44 It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body and there is also a spiritual body.

45 So also it is written, “The first man, Adam, became a living soul.” The last Adam became a life-giving spirit.

46 However that which is spiritual isn’t first, but that which is natural, then that which is spiritual.

47 The first man is of the earth, made of dust. The second man is the Lord from heaven.

48 As is the one made of dust, such are those who are also made of dust; and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly.

49 As we have borne the image of those made of dust, let’s also bear the image of the heavenly.

50 Now I say this, brothers, that flesh and blood can’t inherit God’s Kingdom; neither does the perishable inherit imperishable.

51 Behold, I tell you a mystery. We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed,

52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we will be changed.

53 For this perishable body must become imperishable, and this mortal must put on immortality.

54 But when this perishable body will have become imperishable, and this mortal will have put on immortality, then what is written will happen: “Death is swallowed up in victory.”

55 “Death, where is your sting? Hades, where is your victory?”

56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.

57 But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

58 Therefore, my beloved brothers,…

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John 20

the full chapter read as the sermon text: empty tomb, appearances to Mary and disciples, Thomas

1 Now on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene went early, while it was still dark, to the tomb, and saw the stone taken away from the tomb.

2 Therefore she ran and came to Simon Peter, and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved, and said to them, “They have taken away the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have laid him!”

3 Therefore Peter and the other disciple went out, and they went toward the tomb.

4 They both ran together. The other disciple outran Peter, and came to the tomb first.

5 Stooping and looking in, he saw the linen cloths lying, yet he didn’t enter in.

6 Then Simon Peter came, following him, and entered into the tomb. He saw the linen cloths lying,

7 and the cloth that had been on his head, not lying with the linen cloths, but rolled up in a place by itself.

8 So then the other disciple who came first to the tomb also entered in, and he saw and believed.

9 For as yet they didn’t know the Scripture, that he must rise from the dead.

10 So the disciples went away again to their own homes.

11 But Mary was standing outside at the tomb weeping. So, as she wept, she stooped and looked into the tomb,

12 and she saw two angels in white sitting, one at the head, and one at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain.

13 They told her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “Because they have taken away my Lord, and I don’t know where they have laid him.”

14 When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing, and didn’t know that it was Jesus.

15 Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Who are you looking for?” She, supposing him to be the gardener, said to him, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.”

16 Jesus said to her, “Mary.” She turned and said to him, “Rabboni!” which is to say, “Teacher!”

17 Jesus said to her, “Don’t hold me, for I haven’t yet ascended to my Father; but go to my brothers, and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’”

18 Mary Magdalene came and told the disciples that she had seen the Lord, and that he had said these things to her.

19 When therefore it was evening, on that day, the first day of the week, and when the doors were locked where the disciples were assembled, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in the middle, and said to them, “Peace be to you.”

20 When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. The disciples therefore were glad when they saw the Lord.

21 Jesus therefore said to them again, “Peace be to you. As the Father has sent me, even so I send you.”

22 When he had said this, he breathed on them, and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit!

23 If you forgive anyone’s sins, they have been forgiven them. If you retain anyone’s sins, they have been retained.”

24 But Thomas, one of the twelve, called Didymus, wasn’t with them when Jesus came.

25 The other disciples therefore said to him, “We have seen the Lord!” But he said to them, “Unless I see in his hands the print of the nails, put my finger into the print of the nails, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.”

26 After eight days again his disciples were inside, and Thomas was with them. Jesus came, the doors being locked, and stood in the middle, and said, “Peace be to you.”

27 Then he said to Thomas, “Reach here your finger, and see my hands. Reach here your hand, and put it into my side. Don’t be unbelieving, but believing.”

28 Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!”

29 Jesus said to him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen, and have believed.”

30 Therefore Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book;

31 but these are written, that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in his name.

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John 20:30-31

the stated purpose of the book, that you may believe Jesus is the Christ and have life in his name

30 Therefore Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book;

31 but these are written, that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in his name.

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Recap

The message in order, in a few minutes of reading.

Easter Sunday this year fell on the fifth Sunday of the month, which at First Baptist Jackson means an all-worship service. Pastor Steve leaned into that, letting the songs carry the celebration and then preaching one focused message from John 20: the tomb is empty, and that fact changes everything about who we are and what we are sent to do.

What was said

Pastor Steve opened with the Paschal controversies, the recurring fights in church history over which day Easter should fall on. His point was not to settle the argument but to notice the absurdity of it. Both sides wanted to celebrate the risen Savior, and yet they managed to divide over the calendar. He used that as a way in to say that Easter is not about the traditions layered on top of it, whether those are plastic eggs in Wyoming or drum processions in Spain. It is about Jesus, and that is what the morning would stay fixed on.

He read all of John 20 straight through, pausing only briefly, before coming back to three things he wanted the congregation to see: the empty tomb as evidence, the mandate Jesus gave his disciples, and John's stated reason for writing the book.

On the evidence, he noted that the details in the text argue against a manufactured story. Grave robbers do not leave burial clothes behind, and they certainly do not fold the head cloth and set it aside. Different people encountered the same evidence and responded differently. Mary assumed the body had been moved. Peter went in and was uncertain. John saw and believed. The disciples were hiding behind locked doors. Thomas refused to believe without physical proof.

What Pastor Steve wanted the congregation to sit with was the effect the evidence had on each of them afterward. Mary the mourner became Mary the missionary. Peter, whose last face-to-face moment with Jesus before the resurrection was the night he denied Him three times in a courtyard, was turned from a penitent into a preacher. The cowering group behind the locked doors became the people who spread the gospel across the world. Thomas, the one we call the doubter, made the strongest confession of Jesus' deity in the entire New Testament: "My Lord and my God." Church tradition holds that Thomas carried the gospel all the way to India on foot.

The mandate Jesus gave, "as the Father has sent Me, I also am sending you," was not addressed only to the eleven in that room. Pastor Steve was direct: every believer is plan A for getting the message of God's love and forgiveness to the rest of the world. There is no plan B.

He closed by coming back to the end of John 20, verses 30 and 31, the passage he said he had quoted repeatedly since the series began in October. John did not write down everything Jesus did. He chose these specific signs and wrote them so that readers would believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that in believing they would have life in His name. That is the whole point of the book, and Pastor Steve said it is also the whole point of Easter: God's love and forgiveness, available to anyone who will receive it.

Doing a Bible study?

Here is a guide we have prepared for you: the passages in order, questions for the group, and room to write.

Pastor Steve brought up the Paschal controversies, where Christians fought repeatedly over when to celebrate Easter rather than focusing on the resurrection itself. What are some ways we do something similar today, getting divided over things that sit alongside the gospel rather than the gospel itself?
Pastor Steve described a 'hermeneutic of goodwill,' reading scripture with a strong belief that God loves us and wants good for us. How does the lens you bring to scripture shape what you find there, and what has shaped your own lens?

and 3 more questions in the guide

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Find in this transcript

0:00 He is risen.

0:01 He is risen.

0:03 Amen. Ain't that awesome? Amen. I mean, I I really I woke up with just so much joy knowing this morning that our lord is risen, that the tomb is empty, and and that Jesus lives. We we serve, we believe in a risen lord, a a risen savior.

0:25 Isn't that great? And so we're here to we're here to celebrate that. So if you'd stand up, let's sing together, and check out this from Matthew. It's Matthew twenty eight five to seven. When the women went to the tomb where Jesus was was buried and they were sad, and they see this angel.

0:44 And the angel says, don't be afraid for I know that you're looking for Jesus who was crucified. He is not here. Isn't that great news? He is not here. He is risen just as he said.

0:57 Come and see the place where he lay, and then go quickly tell his disciples he's risen from the dead. That's what we're celebrating this morning. And so let me pray. We'll worship. Lord, I thank you.

1:08 Thank you, risen savior, wonderful lord, powerful one. Death could not hold you. The grave could not keep you, and so we're here to celebrate you. Thank you God, for power over sin and death. Thank you God for your righteousness.

1:25 Amen. Here we go. Low in the grave.

1:39 Low in the gravely. Jesus, my savior, waiting on a coming day. Jesus, I know the word up from the grave. He With a mighty triumph for his foes. He rose our victor from the He rose.

2:22 Hallelujah. Christ rose.

4:05 Amen. Can we hear it for the Lord? From acts two twenty four, it says, but God raised Jesus from the dead because it was impossible for death to keep his hold on him. Think about that. It was impossible.

4:26 It couldn't. There was no way that Jesus could have stayed dead. He was raised by the power of God.

4:57 But fix our eyes upon the cross and run to them to show great love. And then before us,

8:06 Our hope, guys. Right there. There's our hope. If he has not risen, we're pathetic. We're we're we're done with.

8:12 But he has risen. The tomb is empty. The grave is empty, and that's our hope. It's not in us. It's not in what we do.

8:18 It's in Jesus Christ. I think of that verse, it says, I was alive. I the beginning from the end and he holds the keys of death and Hades and praise the Lord for that. Well, Sandy and I have just returned. We wanna first off, we wanna welcome you all here today.

8:33 Thank you for coming to our resurrection Sunday morning and those of you of you who are visitors, we especially want to welcome you and trust that you'll find Jesus this morning. Sandy and I are fresh out of Africa. We landed Monday night and we just had a wonderful time there following Melissa around in in the community there in Owasini. We had the privilege to spend a lot of time with her, do some little honey do things around the house, and follow her in the community and the schools to the soccer field and it is really really exciting to see what God's doing there and through many of your prayers, we got to sit and visit with many of the people that you guys have been praying for. I know on the Wednesday morning group, thank you for your prayers.

9:16 Melissa always says, thank you. Tell the church thank you for the prayers because without them, she could not be doing that. We got to see Angel and visit and have tea with her and she's doing great. Thank you for your prayers for her. Peser Nolani was fun to sit and be with him for two Sundays ago at the church on the hill.

9:37 Also, the soccer boys, Boniso and Shloney, who you have been praying for, new converts, young men, teenagers, in the Lord there. Pray for them. Shloney apparently preached this morning. Sorry. He preached this morning in front of his church there.

9:53 17 years old and so pray pray for them. They need godly men in that community. It was just it was just a joy. Sandy's description is, it was amazing. It was eye opening.

10:06 It was life changing for her and for me. It was good to have her along and many new things and experiences were there for her. The Lard had it that while we were there, the Smith family, Zoe was in the hospital for much of the time that we were there. Thank you for your prayers for her. She is home.

10:25 She's doing better and they look forward to being here and seeing you all here in in July. So, we're we're good to be, it's good to be home and thank you for all your prayers. We want to give a shout out also to those who are on the native American mission trip to New Mexico. Oh, or were. The Galpers are back.

10:43 I see them over here. So, you'll be hearing from their adventures also probably in the near future. We want to praise God for his his provisions for us individually, collectively, as a church, and we're just grateful to him. In between the services are is a panc there will be a pancake breakfast. I went down there and threw the smoke.

11:06 It looked like the fiery furnace in there through the smoke of the bacon. We will be having pancakes and you can smell it. So, please go down there and enjoy some food and fellowship in between the services this morning. Right now, we just want to stand up and greet each other with a holy handshake and, say howdy.

12:38 Alright. Let's continue to worship. Just gonna read a verse here. Maybe one we all know. John three sixteen.

12:53 For God so loved the world that he gave his only and his one and only son that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world but save the world through him.

13:20 And everyone needs compassion, love that's never failing. Let mercy So take me as you find All my fears fill yours and fill my life again. I killed my life for everything I believed in. Now I surrender. Say you're the king of the mountains.

15:36 My God is mighty to say. He's mighty to say forever. Author of salvation, heroes

15:47 can and conquer the grave. Jesus conquered the grave. Shine your light. Shine your light and let the whole world see. We're singing for the glory of the risen king.

16:52 Lord, we give you thanks. You truly are mighty to save, and, there's no one like you. No one will ever be like you. No one has the power over sin and death. You and you alone have that power, Lord.

17:06 And that's power that's available to us through your son Jesus through our faith in him, not by our works. So no one no one can boast but through your work on the cross, Jesus. And so we give you thanks for that this morning, that we can come to you, receive this free gift of grace and salvation. And how else can we thank you, Lord? So we sing.

18:11 There's none like you. You're greater. I got us greater. I got us stronger. God, you are higher than any other.

18:27 Our God is healer on some power. Our God, our God. There's no one like you, there's none like you. And our God is greater, our God is stronger. Got you higher than any other.

19:16 Our God is healer. Awesome power. Our God, higher than any other. I got a sealer. Awesome and power.

20:15 Our God our God our God God. Let's sing just our voices. Our God is greater. Our God is stronger. God, you are higher than any other.

20:48 Our God is healer. Awesome and power. Our God. Our God.

21:02 From Philippians two, therefore, God exalted Jesus to the highest place, and he gave him the name that is above every name. That at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow in heaven, on earth, and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is lord to the glory of God the father.

21:36 And he became sin, knew no sin that we might become his righteousness. He humbled himself and carried the cross. Love's so amazing. Names. Blessed redeemer, and you will

23:26 the name above all names.

23:32 Blessed redeemer,

23:36 we're

23:37 And you will. Thank you, God, you're with us. Your rescue for sand nerds, the ransom from heaven found. Jesus, Messiah, Lord of all. Now our hope is in you.

24:04 And all our hope for sinners, the ransom from heaven. Jesus,

25:15 While the offering team's coming, you may sit down. Let's just bow our heads and contemplate a moment the provision of our lord to the his death and his burial and his resurrection. Father, thank you for loving us. Thank you, Jesus, for the obedience, your obedience to the father and going to the cross for our sins and lord, we're reminded that as you breathe your last last breath, and you died. Lord, that curtain, the dividing wall of separation between God and man was torn not from the bottom to the top but the top to the bottom.

26:04 Thank you Jesus for being the paying the penalty for our sin, for being righteousness for us. Lord, and you didn't stay in the grave. You rose in power and in glory. And today you're seated at the right hand of the father. And Lord during that time you went and you preached to those who were in chains.

26:28 Those spirits, disobedient spirits and lord, you led them in procession. You lead us in victorious procession and you took the the keys of death and hell. For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous that he might bring us to God. Being put to death in the flesh but he was made alive in the spirit and we too, lord, now are heirs in that being aliveness. Thank you.

26:58 Lord, it's because of this that we give. Lord, we really want to give back to you. Thank you. Lord, break our hearts. Continue to break our hearts.

27:08 We're a mess. We're a people, Lord, who trample in the Holy of Holies. Forgive us. Make us alive today. And Lord, out of thankful hearts, we give to you.

27:21 In Jesus name, amen.

29:02 Amen. Oh, this is the thirty first of this month. That means this is the fifth Sunday of this month. Not only is it Easter but it's the fifth Sunday and we've been doing for the past well, nine months or so. Every time there's a fifth Sunday, we've been doing an all all service praise and so this week, I was looking at that going, but I'm a first year preacher and this is Easter.

29:26 You got to bring it on Easter. Come on. If you can't preach on Easter, this is pitiful. So, as I've been thinking about this, those songs have preached this message. They've said it over and over and the one we'll sing when this message is over is another one that does the same thing.

29:42 I love Easter. Christmas is great. Don't get me wrong but I love Easter because it's it we must be an Easter people. Like Steve said, if there is no resurrection, Paul says in first Corinthians 15, he said, if there is no resurrection, then we are to be pitied indeed, pathetic but there is and so therefore, he's the first fruits and that is what we can hope fully in. So, I'm going to start in a weird place right now.

30:14 I don't have any slides today. The Paschal controversies. Do you all know what that is? Anybody have any idea at all? Any church historians here, theologians?

30:21 No. Anybody? Paschal controversies. It doesn't have anything to do with our little girl, Paschal, right here. Paschal was her due date was April 16 of the year she was born which was Easter that year.

30:35 So Paschal actually means child born at Easter but it also means the Paschal lamb back in Judaism was the sacrificial lamb. The type of which Jesus fulfilled being our Paschal Lamb. Her name is Paschal Grace. It's sacrificial grace. That's what God has given to us and his son, Jesus Christ but the Paschal controversies crack me up.

31:04 I think that they're funny and so I'm going to bring em up. I I hesitate to do it because in church history, there have been four major times where Paschal controversies have come up and they have gotten to the point of comedic violence almost over when should we celebrate Easter? Is that silly? When should we celebrate Easter? On one side of the controversy, there's one group that believes that the resurrection holiday that we now know as Easter should always be celebrated on a Sunday, the Lord's day.

31:36 Must be on a Sunday, the Lord's day, preferably after the second full moon, after the vernal equinox. Why? That's just silly. Why shouldn't it be exactly that? And that's what we celebrated as normally.

31:48 So, you can tell who won in the but they were verses the quarto decimanians. The quarto decimanians, really. Yes. The quarto decimanians believe that it should always be on the fourteenth of the Jewish month of Nissan which is based on the vernal equidox and that full moon. It's so crazy that this got to the point.

32:11 Four different times in church history where people fought over. Really, it was a cultural thing. It was a cultural thing. The Jewish Passover was going to be when it was going to be but the Christian calendar had to be based upon the Jewish calendar and at certain points in church history, that just drove people nuts. They didn't want to do it.

32:32 This was in one generation after or even during a generation that knew the apostle John, Polycarp, the bishop of Smyrna. He believed that it he was a quarto decimanian and Anticinus was the guy that was on the other side at that time and he believed that it should always be on a Sunday. The argument goes something like this. Well, we celebrate Sunday every single week because that's the day Jesus was raised from the dead. That's why we do it on Sunday, not Saturday now.

33:03 The other side said, yeah, but I really really don't want to do this according to anything except for the way we've always done things. The traditionalist. I look at that and I think of Paschal controversies and besides Paschal, my daughter, I think of how the ways that we can divide ourselves over the silliest notions. Both sides wanted to celebrate the resurrection of the risen savior. Today, it might be plastic Easter eggs, white shiny shoes, a polyester suit from JCPenney is what I seem to remember.

33:37 The traditions of our past that go along with Easter, bright colors, and that sort of stuff and then people wanna just say, no, it should be about Jesus, only about Jesus, resurrection day. We're going to bow our heads humbly and this is going to be all about this. I want to give credit where it's due but recognizing that we're in a culture that does not know Jesus. Bunnies, chocolates, plastic eggs, white shiny shoes. All of those things are cultural to this place.

34:06 You know how I know that? Because in Spain, they beat drums for three days in a row and we've exported some bunnies to em too and in Bulgaria, they do other things and in Ukraine, they do other things. There are cultural celebrations of springtime and Easter and when it looks like this outside, it's hard not to celebrate that but what we're going to do today is celebrate Jesus. I hope that it will be and Dave Coffin makes fun of me every time I use this, a hermeneutical bridge for you. Your hermeneutics are the way that you understand scripture.

34:39 If you have a hermeneutic of skepticism, you read scripture with a skeptical eye, you're going to start to pick out every single little thing that looks like an inconsistency. And if you look at the resurrection narratives from John and Matthew, Mark, and Luke, you look at things and say, well, there was one angel in this and there were two in that one. There are a whole bunch of people telling this story. The story is true. We're going to look at it from John today.

35:04 I'm looking at it with a with a hermeneutic of goodwill. I believe very very strongly that God loves us and that he wishes our good. He wants good for us. He has provided a way for us to get away from the one thing that we cannot rid ourselves of and that is true guilt. It actually exists.

35:25 There's such a thing as true guilt. So what we need to escape true guilt is forgiveness. It is forgiveness from the only one that can give it and the whole story of Easter is a story of God's message of love and forgiveness available in Jesus Christ. Now, we've been studying in John for months now and we're coming up to this is the absolute climax of the book. Chapter 20 of John.

35:54 I asked you last week to read chapter eighteen and nineteen. Chapter eighteen and nineteen were very dark. Last week, I talked about suffering under the sovereignty of God. In chapter eighteen and nineteen, if you just go through it in straight order, eighteen and nineteen go through Jesus's betrayal. This is a loving man with a following.

36:17 He's helped people all throughout this gospel. He's presented God's message of love and forgiveness available through belief in him. He's presented it over and over and then at the last because he was not the political leader that one of his disciples believed that he should be, he was betrayed, which is for our good. He was arrested, which is for our good. He was tried and found innocent over and over and over.

36:50 Pilate declared him innocent four times. The other guy is Herod. He sent him to they sent him to Herod and Herod says, he's not in my jurisdiction. I don't see anything wrong with him. He was found innocent six times in a row and still crucified.

37:09 He was declared, he was mocked, and he was scorned, and he was beaten. That's last week's. He was declared the king of the Jews and written on a sign in three languages so that everybody passing by could see it. He fulfilled prophecy after prophecy in chapters eighteen and nineteen. He looked down from the cross at his beloved disciple and his beloved mother and he took care of his mother before.

37:37 He breathed his last and said, it is finished and when he said it is finished, he meant it. He had paid the penalty. He had suffered all that was necessary in order to secure for us God's love and forgiveness, reconciliation. And then, he breathed his last. He gave up his spirit and he was buried in a borrowed tomb.

38:04 If you're going to borrow something, he borrowed a tomb. He knew he wouldn't be needing it for very long. God's message of love and forgiveness from John 20. I'm going read the whole chapter because it's too good to skip. I'll come back.

38:24 I may stop and pause here and there and clarify a couple of things. And I'm going to come back to three main points. The empty tomb, the risen Lord's mandate, and the reason for writing this book. We've covered over and over and over the reason for writing this book. I've quoted John twenty thirty one over and over and over since October.

38:45 But I want you to look at it in a new light this week. So, we're going to go to John 20. I'm reading for the New King James Version of the Bible. If you're using the Red Pew Bible, I think it's on page 1,074. 1,074 in the NIV Red Pew Bibles.

39:03 Chapter 20 says, now on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb early while it was still dark and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb. Then, she ran and came to Simon Peter and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved. John, the apostle, John, the disciple, wrote this book and he never refers to himself as John. He always refers to himself as the disciple whom Jesus loved. And said to them, they've taken away the Lord out of the tomb and we don't know where they've placed him and Peter therefore went out and the other disciple and were going to the tomb.

39:43 So, this is Peter and John. So, they ran both together and the other disciple, that's John, outrun Peter. Ain't that great? John was probably the youngest disciple about 17 or 18 years old. Peter was probably an older guy.

40:02 Little older than me, probably 40, maybe 50. And I guarantee every 18 year old in here could outrun me and he's stooping so they ran both together and the older disciple outrun Peter and came to the tomb first and he stooping down and looking in saw the linen cloths lying there yet he did not go in so John didn't go in Then, Simon Peter came following him and went on into the tomb. Doesn't that sound just like Peter? Impetuous Peter. He went on into the tomb and he saw the linen clothes lying there and the handkerchief for you Greek fans that really says sweat rag or do rag.

40:46 The handkerchief that had been around his head was not lying with the linen claws but folded together in a place by itself. Then the other disciple, John, whom came to the tomb first, went in also and he saw and he believed. All he needed was the empty tomb to know what happened. He saw and he believed. For as yet, they did not know the scripture that he must rise again from the dead.

41:17 Then, the disciples went away again to their own homes but Mary, you know, Mary came and got them. Mary stood outside by the tomb weeping and as she wept, she stooped down and looked into the tomb and she saw two angels in white sitting. One at the head, another at the feet where the body of Jesus had lain. Then, they said to her, woman, why are you weeping? And she said to them, because they've taken away my lord and I I don't know where they've laid him.

41:47 Now, when she had 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? And she, supposing him to be the gardener, said to him, sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you've laid him and I will take him away. Jesus said to her, Mary, she turned and said to him, Raboni, which is to say, teacher, and Jesus said to her, do not cling to me, for I've not yet ascended to my father.

42:21 That's a confusing one. You can look it up and look the language up and look up every different translation. You look at that and there are tons of paintings in Renaissance art of people taking this notion because she's so drawn to him and she's mourning and she grabs on and the the verbiage is don't cling to me. She is apparently clinging at his feet. And he says, don't cling to me.

42:46 I have not yet. The yet in there is the thing. He's been telling all of his disciples and Mary would have been among them. He's been telling him all along that he is going to ascend to the father. He's going to the father.

42:57 He's going where they can't go and now she's got the second chance. He died and he's back and she don't want him to go anywhere. So, she is at his feet holding on to him and he says, I'm not going yet. It's alright. You can let go.

43:10 It's going to be alright. You'll see me again. Because I'm not yet ascended to my father but go to my brothers and my brethren and say to them, I'm ascending to my father and your father and to my God and your God. Mary Magdalene came and told the disciples that she had seen the Lord and that he had spoken these things to her. Then, the same day, at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut, where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in the midst and said to them, peace be with you.

43:44 Shalom alaikum. Peace be with you. When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then his the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord. So, Jesus said to them again, peace to you.

44:02 Just as the father has sent me, I also 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're forgiven them. If you retain the sins of any, they're retained. Now, Thomas called the twin, one of the 12, was not one, what was not with them when Jesus came.

44:24 The other disciples therefore said to him, we have seen the Lord. So, he said to them, oh doubting Thomas, unless I see the hands in his hands, the print of the nails, and put the finger on the print of the nails, and put the hand into his side, I will not believe. And after eight days, his disciples were again inside, and Thomas was with them, and Jesus came, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst and said, peace be unto you. Then he said to Thomas, reach your finger here and look at my hands and reach your hand here and put it into my side. Do not be unbelieving but believing.

45:05 And Thomas answered and said to him, my lord and my God. And Jesus said to him, Thomas, because you have seen me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed. And truly Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples which are not written in the book. But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the son of God, and that believing you may have life in his name.

45:34 Amen. God, I just pray that you would illuminate your word, that we would see the things that you want us to see this morning. Thank you God that that tomb was empty. Thank you lord that it didn't just have to be speculation. You didn't just leave the tomb empty and ascend back to your father and leave us wondering what happened.

45:52 But lord, you appeared and you showed your disciples and you told them what to do to get the job done that you wanted done, to secure for them and for us, God's love and forgiveness. God, I pray that we would faithfully always stick close to the word and preach it. Thank you, lord. For your mandate and thank you for John in this book. In Jesus name, we pray.

46:25 Amen. So, the three things I wanted to see is the empty tomb. This is the evidence. There's evidence and effect and then the purpose. John's purpose for writing the book and I I want to say that that's one of the effects.

46:39 So, the evidence is the tomb's empty. That's great. That's wonderful. Interesting little bit of evidence is Mary's going distraught. She's a mourner.

46:53 She goes back and gets Peter and John who run there which is not done in that culture. It's very seldom do you see an older guy run ever? That the prodigal son story, that's amazing when he did that. They run back, they look in, when he sees grave robbers don't steal bodies and leave the clothes behind. And if they do, they don't take the time to fold them up.

47:16 There are all these little details. Tanya might throw in that God is a god of order. He actually folded the durag and put it down. Set it away from the others. The angels gave her the message and then Jesus gave her the message directly.

47:33 All of those things are evidence. This is eyewitness testimony by John who knew he was at the scene. He knew what was going on. This is evidence but the effect I want you to look at too. The evidence is different for different people.

47:48 Mary saw an empty tomb and assumed what? That somebody moved him. Somebody had taken him out of there. She didn't think he got out on his own. She didn't think the spirit of God had raised him.

48:02 Peter saw and didn't know what to do exactly with it was not sure. John, it says, he saw evidence and believed. The disciples were cowering, cowering behind locked doors for fear of the Jews. Well, they just crucified the Lord couple days back, you know. And Thomas Doubting Thomas, we call him.

48:32 Although, the effect of the evidence on Thomas, he had a stronger confession about Jesus' deity than anybody else in the New Testament. When Jesus appeared to him and he put his hands in those prints and he put his hands in the side, Thomas, the evidence had the effect of him crying out, my lord and my God. To a man standing right there in front of him. What I wanted to show the scripture is sufficient without any explanation. What I wanted to show this morning though is the evidence is real and the effect he has here.

49:15 The evidence of the empty tomb showed Mary the mourner became Mary the missionary. He followed up on what he asked her to do. You go tell them this and she did. Peter, the impetuous Peter. Think about the last time that Peter had seen Jesus.

49:40 He was standing in the courtyard and he denied him three times. And when the rooster crowed, he knew that he had done exactly what Jesus told him he would do. And he felt extreme remorse. But he ran and he turned the penitent into a preacher. The mourner is a missionary, the penitent is a preacher.

50:02 He turned a cowering group of guys hiding behind closed doors. They were listening to what Jesus told him to do. He told him to stay in Jerusalem until the Holy Spirit came. So, they were listening to him but they were cowering and he turned that little band into the folks who have spread the gospel all over the whole world. Jesus when he said to them, my peace I give to you, peace be to you.

50:34 Just as the father sent me, I'm sending you when he said that he meant it and they understood it and they did it. When he said that about, this is one that always throws people to. If you forgive the sins of any, they're forgiven and if you retain the sins of any, they're retained. What Jesus gave them, if you read that all together, Jesus said to them, peace be to you as the father has sent me, so I send you and when he had said this, he breathed on them and he said, receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, what he has given us is the message of God's love and forgiveness.

51:12 He gave to his disciples the message of God's love and forgiveness and he said, if you proclaim this message, if they accept it, their sins have already been according to the grammar, have already been. When they accept it, their sins have already been washed away. If they deny it, they're not denying you. They're denying the message and if they deny it, their sins will be retained. It's not you.

51:36 You don't make that a human decision. That guy seems worthy. I think he gets it. Not so good. Fell again.

51:44 I'm going to retain that sin. No. It's not our human purpose. God provides forgiveness of sins through Jesus Christ and Christ gave to us that message. So, we've got the message of God's love and forgiveness and Thomas.

52:02 Thomas had turned a doubter into the greatest confessor and if you pay attention to church tradition, Thomas carried the gospel further than anyone else. He walked the gospel to India. There are tons of Thomasite Christians now in India because of Thomas's ministry because he did put his hands in those prints. To wrap all of this up today, I want to look at John. John was the one that I did not say.

52:36 I said he believed but what John did was take the holy, divine word of God, the logos, the one from the very prologue of this book and the word became flesh and dwelt among us. John took this message that Jesus said, I want you to tell my message of love and forgiveness. Just as the father sent me, I'm sending you in the way that John chose to do it was literally. He says, in twenty, thirty, and 31, he says, and truly, Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples which are not written in this book but these are written in order that so that my favorite, you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the son of God, and that believing, you may have life in his name. He is offering and has offered through the last 20 chapters.

53:31 He's offering the message of God's love and forgiveness to any who will embrace the son of God. Absolutely anyone. The vilest offender who truly believes that moment from Jesus receives. A pardon receives. So, my message for you this morning is one of God's love and forgiveness.

53:51 That's it. That's what Easter is all about. The empty tomb is the evidence. The mandate from Christ is to his disciples and it's to us. As Christians, it's to all of us.

54:03 You are plan A. You are God's plan A for how to get his message of God's love and forgiveness to the rest of the world and the second point to that is, there's no plan B. You're it. You're it. Tag, you're it.

54:22 Go tag others. Carl, will you get back up here and we'll sing about a glorious day? I am amazed by the way that God works, by the people that he brings into our lives, by the people that he touches through simple acts of love and kindness. If you're here this morning and you are not a believer, you never have been but you're here because somebody asked you to come. I would say, please reach out.

54:45 Reach out to someone and try to figure out more. If you want to know more about Jesus, you don't have to study this as long as we have but the book of John is a great place to start and if you don't have one, we'll give you one. If you would like to pray with somebody or if you'd like for somebody to pray for you or with you, my office is down this hall on the way to the pancakes. Diane's office is the first one on the hall down the way to the pancakes. If you would just come in there, we'll have a couple of elders go in and pray with you but no threatening anything today.

55:18 There's a message of God's love and forgiveness that's available to all. Amen.

55:23 Now, let's stand and sing this last song. This year is a gospel message. Our sin, Jesus' righteousness, and then our being justified made right with God through our faith in Jesus. That's all it is. And the great news too, not just the the power of the resurrection, but he's coming back.

55:43 He's coming back for his believers.

55:58 And one day when heaven was filled with his praises, one day when sin was black as could be, Jesus came forth to be born of a virgin, dwelt among men, and my example is healed. The word became flesh sham, the light shined among And one day the grave could conceal him no longer. One day the stone rolled away from the door. And then he arose my singing. Living, he loved me.

59:31 Dying, he saved me. Buried, he carried my sins far away. Rising, he justified

1:00:02 Now, may the God of peace, who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep by the blood of the eternal covenant. This Jesus equip you with everything good that you may do his will. Working in us that which is pleasing in his sight through Jesus Christ to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen. Go in peace.

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Doubting Thomas Easter Meaning Empty Tomb Forgiveness Of Sins Resurrection Evidence

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