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Today is such a special day when we get to remember and celebrate that our Lord Jesus rose from the dead. And we're gonna be in John chapter 20 today. John chapter 20. And I was thinking about the uh the empty tomb of Jesus, and it made me think about when's the when's the last time you visited a loved one's gravestone? What did you think about? Maybe memories of the past, how much you miss them, maybe inspired to live a little better. I was reading about some of the most visited gravestones around the world. Uh Elvis Presley gets about half a million people every year to his grave. Jim Morrison of the Doors is buried in Paris. He gets one to three million people to his, and a couple million to JFK's in Arlington, in Arlington Cemetery. I was just thinking about today we're gonna visit a different tomb, obviously. Visit in air quotes. The greatest tomb ever. And it's not just great because of who went into it, it's great because of the fact that he came out of it alive. So we're gonna visit the empty tomb of Jesus, and like those first tomb visitors that we're gonna read about, I want us to go with urgency. Understanding it's the most important thing you could ever consider. It's also the most important event to keep coming back to. And I want us to also go with open eyes to see what God would have us see. And also go with a soft or tender heart. Ask God to transform you, not to leave here the same as the way you came in. And to go with open ears, ready to hear whatever it is that God has to say to you, so that we can go forth from here with confidence and joy in our risen Lord Jesus. You go to any other tomb, you're gonna find death, maybe sadness, and a past. You go to Jesus' tomb, his empty tomb, you're gonna find life, hope, and a future. So let's read uh just the first ten verses of chapter twenty. So John chapter twenty. 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 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 cloth 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. Let's pray and just ask that God would bless this time. Lord Jesus, we thank you for this account of your empty tomb. We thank you for all that it represents and entails, and I just thank you that you would love us sinners, that you would take our penalty on the cross and rise from the dead, and that we get to have a relationship with you. I pray that you would uh guide and bless our time this morning and that you would be worshipped and glorified. I pray that in Jesus' name. Amen. Okay, so just a couple quick things about tombs back in Jesus' day. So Jesus' tomb is of the type where they'd have a large stone rolled in the front entrance. A deep groove would be at the base, so that the circular stone would sit there, would rest there, and those stones would usually weigh several tons. And why are they doing this? Why are they putting a stone in front? It's because back then tombs would be raided, they'd be plundered. Tombs were often sealed and special for important people, maybe the seal of the emperor on the walls of the entrance. Jesus' tomb had a special extra level of protection. He had guards. Guards were patrolling his tomb. And the reason being so that no one could go in, steal his body, his disciples couldn't steal his body, and then pretend like he rose from the dead. But here we are. So let's visit this tomb with urgency. We see it from the people in Scripture, but why urgent today? It's because the empty tomb changes everything. If you remember, Jesus said he's the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through him. So Christianity is inclusive in that all invited, but it's exclusive in that there's one way, and that one way is Jesus. If Jesus did not rise from the dead, if his tomb was not empty, then he's not the way, the truth, or the life. And the Apostle Paul said it pretty simply in 1 Corinthians 15. He said, If Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. If Jesus didn't actually rise from the dead, it's kind of pointless. I mean, you guys look nice. You guys look great today. Have some good snacks after, but then it just becomes a social club. The fact is he did rise from the dead. And I'm not gonna lay out for you all the reasons and evidence for why I believe that Jesus actually did rise from the dead. I do want to refer you to some good books. There's a little book, it's not very long, out there. I can show you if you if you really want to read it, that you can take, keep, keep, read it over. It's called The Case for Easter, and that gives some more in-depth for evidence for why we believe Jesus did rise from the dead. But go urgently. It's a matter of life or death, eternal life or death. Like if I told you, hey, go look at this sunset tonight, you know, with urgency, you know, hey, if you go, great, you get to experience a sunset. If you don't go, is it going to ruin your life? No. But there's an urgency with this. Because visiting the empty tomb of Jesus rightly can bring you eternal life. Now, for those of you here that are saying, you don't need to persuade me about Jesus, I'm with you. I've given him my heart. Turn in repentance and with faith. I'm following him. You and I still need to visit that tomb often. I don't know about you, but I need the reminder every day that my life is not going to go on forever. My heart's not going to beat on forever. And what's most important? I need the reminders that Jesus' empty tomb is the greatest moment in history. And am I, are you living in light of that, in light of his resurrection, with that in mind? I don't know about you, but even this week, it's like the one week I probably shouldn't be distracted. I found myself pretty distracted. So I've been preaching this to myself. What's most important? Why do I get so consumed by these little things? Come back to what's most important. Maybe you're having a bad attitude. Maybe someone forced you to be here today. You're apathetic, bored, already. Give me a break. It's only been 10 minutes. All right. Whatever you came in here with, whatever baggage you came in here with, we all need to be reminded of what Jesus did on the cross, why he did it, and why his empty tomb matters. But let's go back and look at verse 1 of this. So it says that Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early. In Mark 16, we we hear that she's with two other women. They're going to the tomb early. They're talking amongst themselves. Who can we get to roll the stone away? They've brought spices to anoint Jesus' body. So if you remember, he's crucified and hastily buried because the Sabbath is the next day. And in their culture, they're going to anoint his, they would anoint the body with spices to help manage the stench that a decomposing body produces. It would also show love, honor, and dedication to that person who died. So here they are, they're getting up early. They're not waiting around. Mary Magdalene is such a fascinating lady. We'll get to her later. But they go expecting to complete the burial preparations, maybe get some closure. Mary, she watched Jesus get killed. A lot of Jesus' disciples did not. She stayed, she watched, she saw her Lord crucified in front of her. And now she's getting up early with these other women. They're going to anoint his body. And they find the stone's already been taken away. So what's the natural response? Go get help. She runs and gets Peter. So she ran and went to Simon Peter and John. It says they've taken the Lord out of the tomb. I love that she still calls him the Lord. As far as she knows, he's dead. She watched him die, he's dead. But he's still her Lord. The one of supreme authority in her life. So even though she can't currently talk to him, walk with him, ask him any questions, he's still Lord. How about you? Even when it feels like God, when Jesus is not speaking to you, is he still Lord? Even when my feelings I can't feel his presence, is he still my Lord? Like Mary. So Peter and John, they they race to the tomb. Again, urgency. What happened to Jesus' body? Where'd he go? What happened? Who took him? And I love the detail that John puts in here. He got there first. Which maybe he's just stating the facts. Or I like to think maybe he was a little competitive. Let the record show. I, John, was faster than Peter. He gets there first. It's urgent. So they go with urgency, but it's also important to go there with open eyes. Open eyes. Go to look what's actually there, not what do I want to see or what do I don't want to see and just kind of create my own narrative. I want to encourage you today, come to it with open eyes. It can be very easy to approach things of the Lord, Jesus, with a confirmation bias. I've already made up my mind. I know what's true. Now I just want to look and affirm what I already know. Look what's there. These guys, they do the natural thing, they investigate, they look in. And I want to encourage you, if you're here today on the fence about Jesus or maybe obstinate and don't want to know about Jesus, look what's there. We see when they go in, it says that, so stooping to look in, he, John, saw the linen cloths lying there, but he did not go in. So even though he got there first, he didn't go in. Peter, however, comes along and it says he went into the tomb. He saw. They're looking. He saw not only the linen cloths that were there, but he saw the cloth that was around Jesus' head. And these are some important details, because if somebody had taken the body, they're not going to take the time to unwrap all these cloths, these nasty cloths. They're going to just take them and go. So the fact that they're seeing the cloths, not only that, but the head cloth is folded up, tells us something important. You notice they saw, they saw, but then it led to belief. Belief. That was enough for John and Peter. Keep in mind, they still haven't seen the risen Lord Jesus. But they saw and believed. And I want to ask you today, what's enough for you? What would be enough to get you to say, yeah, I believe. My trust is in Jesus. Because I think too often maybe you come to Jesus, we can come to Jesus with an attitude of show me something. Show me. With an arrogant attitude. Or come to Him humbly and, God, please show me something. Because it's there. Or maybe you're approaching Jesus' tomb with an attitude of, I've seen it all before. This is like, you know, the thousandth time I've heard this account. I read my Bible all the time, I've heard it all before. What a shame when this becomes boring. Are your eyes open to what God is currently doing today? Are you and I, are we seeking him daily? Are we asking him to show us the way? Are you looking to him to lead you daily? Or is it, nah, I've seen enough. I got it from here. Because unfortunately, in our day and age, I think too often we uh we don't see what God is has done or is doing because we're too busy looking at what we're doing. Listen, each week I write out a to-do list. Each week my goal is to get through that to-do list, check those things off. It can be so easy to make life just one big checklist of get this done, experience this, do this, and miss what God is doing. Distracted by things that they don't matter as much. So John and Peter, they run there, they see the evidence, they believe, but then they go home. And how about you? But I think if in that day and age a man's testimony would be weighted more than a woman's testimony, if he was going to show himself first to anybody, probably be those guys. But he doesn't. So let's read on and see who he shows himself to. So this is verse 11 through 18. It says, 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. Jesus said to her, Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking? Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away. Jesus said to her, Mary. She turned and said to him in Aramaic, Raboni, 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. So Mary's there. Everyone else has left, apparently. The two ladies she went there with with the spices, John and Peter, they've gone. I don't know how much time has elapsed, but I love that she's still there, and she's there with a soft heart. Will you go to Jesus' empty tomb with a soft heart? With a tender heart, able to admit, I don't have all the answers. I don't have everything figured out. Or are we coming at it from a hard heart, a stubborn heart? I'm right. I've got it covered. You know, I've got to change my mind. Mary waits there with a soft or broken heart. How do we know that? She stood there weeping. It's breaking her heart to not know where her Lord's body is. Jesus certainly softens heart. Is that something you desire for yourself? Something you pray for yourself? God, please soften my heart to your word, to what you're saying, to what you're doing. Do we pray it for those around us? Because nothing hardens sin, or nothing hardens a heart quite like sin. Where we start to drift and drift and drift, and your heart gets harder and harder. Examine your heart each day. Is your heart closed off? Are you bitter about something? The wall's gone up. We are in chapter 20. Sorry, that used to happen to my dad all the time, and I that made me think of him. So whoever did that makes me think of him, so appreciate it. Is your heart softened to what God's showing us with this empty tomb? You're not gonna adequately examine this empty tomb if you're here with a hard heart. Also, wait. If you notice, Mary's waiting. She hasn't gone home. Everyone's left, she's waiting. Are you gonna wait for the Lord? Or maybe like me, you pray and then expect God to, you know, come on, God, we live in New York. Let's move this along. Wait for the Lord. The angels say to her, Woman, why are you weeping? Her response is pretty telling. She says, They've taken away my Lord. My Lord. And I do not know where they've laid him. As far as she knows, Jesus is dead, but he's still her Lord. I know I've said this before. I'll say it again. I think if you can get behind the reality of heaven and hell, a lot of people want Jesus as Savior. I think less people want Jesus as Lord in charge of my life. Commander. She's saying, my Lord. And her love is evident. She's standing there weeping. How much do you and I love Jesus? If he was removed from your life, how different would your life look? How broken up would you be? Or would your life look exactly the same? Mary's at the tomb, so she's got a soft heart, but she's also there with open ears. It might not seem like it at first, because she doesn't recognize Jesus and his glorified body. But you've got to keep in mind, last time she saw him, he must have been just a bloody mess, and now here he is healed and alive. But are you listening for Jesus? Are you listening for Jesus with open ears? Do we even want to hear what he has to say? And he speaks to us right here in his word. And yet, how often do we trade this for something else? Take time to listen to him. Think about someone who, when they talk, you lean in, or maybe you click on that video, or you listen to that podcast, or you buy a ticket to whatever they're talking, or you know, you want to hear them. So I think I told you guys I was gonna not give any more sermon illustrations with my son Luke anymore. Okay? Good thing I have a second son. His name is Toby. Toby's a year and a half, but he's still not talking much. To the point where we went to the doctor the other day and we were a little concerned. He's got three words basically, please, no, and mama, which are really important, but the doctor said it's fine, kids are different, all that good stuff. But every time it sounds like he's forming a word, like it's gonna come out, I find myself stop what I'm doing and listen and lean in. And usually it's still some gibberish, but that's okay. He's he's trying. With God, with Jesus, are we stopping what we're doing and leaning in? Because my fear is that it's not that God is so silent, but it's that we fill our ears with so much else. Are we half listening? Are we do we have stuff stuck in our ears where we're we're not hearing from him? So Jesus is talking to her and she hasn't recognized him yet, talking to Mary, and says, Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking? Why are you weeping and whom are you seeking? Which is a great question. Who are you seeking today? Who or what are you seeking? Is it Jesus? She thinks he's the gardener. She says, Sir, if you've carried him away, tell me where you've laid him and I will take him, take him away, take him away. And then all Jesus says to her is Mary. So I don't know if it was just the tone of voice or what. He says one word and it's her name. And that's enough. Where she then recognizes him and calls him teacher. Jesus knows you by name. I'm terrible with names. If I met you already this morning, there's a chance I forgot your name by the end of the service, and I apologize. Jesus knows you intimately. He knows your name, he knows your faults, your failures, your triumphs, your dreams, your hopes, all that. And he still went to the cross for you. Why would we not listen to him? So are we seeking him? Are we listening to him? And I know Easter is such a special day where we get to celebrate and remember Jesus, going to the cross and rising from the dead. When the memory of today fades away, like two weeks from now, May, June, July, are we going to keep coming back to him and listening? So she heard from him, Mary heard from Jesus, but then now what? We see her go with confidence. And what Jesus says is pretty interesting because we get her recognizing Jesus and then Jesus talking. But what he says is interesting in verse 17. He says, Do not cling to me, which tells us that Mary in between then, hug him. This is you can't quite imagine your world getting turned upside down like this. You're going to this grave, expecting to find your dead, your dead Messiah, your dead Lord, and now here he is talking to her. It's not about you, but I, like Mary, would want to cling to him too. Like Jesus, I'll go where you want to go. Where are you going tonight? Where are you spending the night? Let's go. What are you going to do now? Let's go show yourself to everybody. Instead, he says, Go. And Mary obeys him, which is pretty amazing. And he says, Don't cling to me, 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. So he's given her a mission here. Go talk to the disciples, the guys who abandoned Jesus. And notice he's still saying, tell them, My Father and your Father, my God and your God. These are the guys that abandoned him. Peter denied Jesus three times. He's not saying they got to get back in my good graces, and then they're back with me. He just gives her this message, and I think that's just an amazing thing. And I want to think about Mary Magdalene is an interesting choice for the very first witness to the resurrection of Jesus. First of all, like I said, she's a woman. In that culture, that testimony is not going to be as weighty as a man. So if you're making this up, she's not the ideal choice. Plus, she's got a past. Elsewhere in Scripture, we're told that Jesus healed her of demon possession, seven demons. So if you're going to choose anybody, you're probably not going to pick the lady that used to be possessed by demons. So man's idea, my idea would be this is not a great choice for the first witness. In the kingdom of God, this is the greatest choice. Someone who's a sinner saved by God's grace, can you relate to that? You got a past? Maybe you're ashamed of? Don't want to talk about? God's healed her, he's redeemed her. And this is not, hey, you know, preface it with, I used to be demon-possessed. Here's the message. It's she's been redeemed by Christ already. So if you and I, when you and I feel like unworthy witnesses for Jesus, I hope you come back to Mary Magdalene. And this is not like looking down on Mary, but it's just you don't need to let your past define you. If you have a relationship with Jesus, go be a witness like Mary. So Mary, she goes. And the message is pretty simple. I have seen the Lord. He's risen. It's the same message we're given today. He's risen, the tomb is empty. I have seen the Lord. So 2,000 years ago, these people who visited the tomb, they found it to be empty, and that empty tomb, it changed everything. Jesus' bones are not on display in some museum. He rose from the dead and is alive to this day, and he promised he would return. Does that excite you? Does that give you a little fear? We can talk about that later. But being serious, go visit that tomb often. Be reminded often of what Jesus' death, his burial, and his resurrection accomplished. Why he went there, why he did what he did, and how it affects you and the people around you. Just to be clear, Jesus went to the cross not just for those disciples and not just because he was a good guy. He went there as the perfect sinless sacrifice. The only one who did not deserve any punishment willingly took that punishment from God the Father on. That holy, righteous judgment that belongs to sinners like you and me, Jesus took that on the cross. He swallowed that cup so you and I don't have to. He was buried, but rose again, and he's offering you life. Have you received that? Will you? I want to encourage you, there's no time like today. Just some things happened in the last couple weeks where, man, I'm reminded that life is short. You never know. And this is not to coerce you or manipulate you into doing something. It's just to get you to think about for the majority of the world, a gravestone is their future. Okay? Thanks, Tim, for the Easter message, but that's what you got to look forward to. You're gonna die someday, somebody's gonna put up a gravestone or maybe put you on their shelf, and that's it. What Jesus did, that doesn't have to be it. And the reality when I read the Bible is that's not it. You don't just sit there on a shelf or in the ground. Your soul either goes with God in heaven or apart from him in hell. And the only thing that makes a difference between those is Jesus. Is your trust in the risen Lord Jesus? If not, I want to encourage you, make today the day. If you're sitting here and saying, yes, that is, I'm with you, great. Let's keep being reminded of his empty tomb. Let's keep reminding one another. That's why we gather on Sundays. That's why the early church started gathering on Sundays to remember the Lord Jesus. He's not dead, he rose. Tombs or gravestones, those are reminders of death. This empty tomb is a reminder of life. You might look at the grave as that's depressing, makes me anxious, makes me feel helpless. You look at Jesus' empty tomb, that can lead you to peace, joy, hope, and life. That's only found in Jesus. I just want to close with 1 Corinthians 15. The Apostle Paul put it pretty simply and clearly, I think, and I want to encourage you. Um afterwards, there's quite a bit of food out there. Please stick around. But if you have any questions or want to talk about Jesus, I know I would be more than happy to. I know Adam would. Pete, please don't walk out of here if you've got questions. So 1 Corinthians 15, verse 19 says, If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied. But in fact, Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. Are you in Christ? If so, go from here and rejoice. If not, I'm begging you, I'd love to talk with you and talk more about Jesus with you. But join me in prayer, and then we'll turn back to the Lord. Lord Jesus, I thank you again for what you did on the cross, what you accomplished, and that you didn't stay dead. Lord, I thank you that you would go there out of love, not duty or obligation, but that you would so loved us that you would take our punishment for us. I pray that we would live in light of what you did on the cross and what the empty tomb shows. God, I pray that you would be glorified today, that we would worship you and praise you, and that like Mary, we would go and tell the good news and uh pray this all in Jesus' name. Amen.