WEBVTT 00:00:00.560 --> 00:00:06.959 Welcome to Preaching from Bryanson Bible Church, located in the northern suburbs of Johannesburg, South Africa. 00:00:07.200 --> 00:00:13.599 It is our prayer that this teaching would bless you, deepen your love for God's word, and encourage you as you follow Jesus. 00:00:13.759 --> 00:00:19.600 And if you're not a Christian, we pray that this message would encourage you as you explore the Christian faith. 00:00:36.240 --> 00:00:42.240 So great to be uh able to worship together and actually dive into the word of God and see what He has to say to us. 00:00:42.399 --> 00:00:48.640 But before we do that, can we pray together and also the Lord by the power of His Spirit may minister to us this morning. 00:00:49.039 --> 00:00:49.520 So let's pray. 00:00:49.600 --> 00:01:01.920 Father, we thank you so much that we will be gathered here in this room and out there in the overflow and online, ready to really uh experience your goodness, your grace through the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. 00:01:02.079 --> 00:01:12.480 A gospel that we do not want to be ashamed of because of the life that He has brought to us uh at the cross and through the empty tomb and the resurrected Lord. 00:01:12.560 --> 00:01:36.879 And yet this morning we know uh we know, Lord, that our Easter is this uh old story that we know so well, but we ask by your grace, by your goodness, that you will give us just fresh insights in your word this morning, that we will meet with you and experience you in a way that we have yet yet to taste because we know that this gospel, time and time again, oh Lord, it is sweeter than honey, life to our soul. 00:01:36.959 --> 00:01:40.239 And so come, oh Lord, and bless us with it this morning. 00:01:40.319 --> 00:01:43.599 We pray, and all God's people say, Amen, amen. 00:01:43.760 --> 00:01:50.159 And so there are certain places in life uh where you just do not want to return to, right? 00:01:50.239 --> 00:02:04.959 Uh, and so maybe a place where you went to and you had a bad experience or memory, uh memory, like for example, maybe it was a hair stylist uh who didn't just cut your hair but gave you a whole new personality that you never asked for. 00:02:05.120 --> 00:02:12.400 Or maybe it was that one restaurant you went to where the food was so unforgettable for all the wrong reasons. 00:02:12.639 --> 00:02:20.400 Or maybe it was a mechanic who finally fixed that one problem you had, only for you to start to experience three new ones. 00:02:20.639 --> 00:02:30.719 Now, for me in particular, a a place that I do not want to go back to is a foreign government building that will remain nameless this morning. 00:02:30.879 --> 00:02:35.680 And so I had what was supposed to be a routine appointment there many years ago. 00:02:35.840 --> 00:02:39.199 And let me tell you, it was far from being routine. 00:02:39.360 --> 00:02:52.879 As I get there and I as I began to engage, uh engage there, and uh just to cut a long story short, let me just say, through a case of mistaken identity, they detained me. 00:02:54.800 --> 00:03:04.479 They took me to a sad dark room where they began to interrogate me, insisting that I was not who I said I was. 00:03:04.719 --> 00:03:06.319 True story, true story. 00:03:06.479 --> 00:03:18.159 And then at some point they started even uh putting on the whole good cop, bad cop routine, which at that point, uh right up to that point I thought only happened in the movies, but apparently not. 00:03:18.400 --> 00:03:29.360 And it was years before smartphones, and so they weren't share your location, you know, to friends and family, so that they will come looking for me, uh for me. 00:03:29.520 --> 00:03:33.759 And so at some point, as I sat there, as they were interrogating me, the thought crossed my mind. 00:03:33.840 --> 00:03:44.080 I'm like, hey, these guys can literally make me disappear, and I will become an announcement at the next prayer meeting. 00:03:45.439 --> 00:03:56.000 Now, just want to spare uh uh uh cut the story short by just saying, and one day I will tell you how I exited, uh uh I got myself out of that situation. 00:03:56.319 --> 00:04:05.120 But enough just to say to you this morning that no one has ever seen me anywhere near that building ever again. 00:04:07.120 --> 00:04:16.000 Now, there are just many places right in our lives where we, because of a bad memory, because of a bad experience, we do not want to ever return to. 00:04:16.160 --> 00:04:23.600 But then there are also places, uh uh, some places in our lives where we would find it hard to return to. 00:04:23.920 --> 00:04:36.079 Not because they embarrassed us, not because they inconvenienced us, but because that place was a place where you had your heart broken. 00:04:38.000 --> 00:04:39.439 Where you had your heart broken. 00:04:39.839 --> 00:04:42.720 Now, those kind of places are hard to return to. 00:04:43.279 --> 00:04:56.800 Perhaps it was a hospital room where your loved one had just died, where it was maybe standing at the graveside trying to piece together, wondering, how did this all happen? 00:04:57.040 --> 00:05:02.879 Now, those kind of places, those kind of places are so difficult to go back to. 00:05:02.959 --> 00:05:03.199 Why? 00:05:03.360 --> 00:05:09.439 Because they carry, they hold within them so much grief and so much sorrow. 00:05:10.000 --> 00:05:14.959 Going back to a place like that takes a lot out of you. 00:05:15.920 --> 00:05:21.519 Now, why start there is because that's where John 20 begins. 00:05:22.160 --> 00:05:22.800 Right? 00:05:23.279 --> 00:05:25.759 The text that was read for us. 00:05:26.000 --> 00:05:33.360 It begins with Mary making her way to a tomb, heading to a tomb. 00:05:33.519 --> 00:05:36.639 In fact, we read as John captures the story. 00:05:36.800 --> 00:05:44.319 Now, on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early while it was still dark. 00:05:44.560 --> 00:05:45.680 While it was still dark. 00:05:45.759 --> 00:05:47.519 Now, that bit of detail matters. 00:05:47.680 --> 00:05:48.240 Why? 00:05:48.560 --> 00:05:58.800 Because John is not just setting up that it was somewhat dark outside, but he's also in many ways trying to point how dark it was inside too. 00:05:59.600 --> 00:06:06.560 Mary was not coming to that tomb as a triumphant believer, confidence in the truth of the resurrection. 00:06:06.639 --> 00:06:14.399 No, she was coming to that tomb as a grieving seeker, full of grief, full of sorrow. 00:06:14.800 --> 00:06:17.600 Jesus had been crucified. 00:06:17.839 --> 00:06:33.759 The Jesus whom she knew, whom she had loved, who had changed her love, whom she had followed, whom she had hoped for, had been crucified, died, buried, and sealed into that tomb. 00:06:34.079 --> 00:06:46.319 And so John is capturing these details for us to set up the reality, friends, of the heartbroken seeking Jesus. 00:06:47.199 --> 00:06:53.600 The heartbroken seeking Jesus, coming to Jesus, full of grief, full of sorrow. 00:06:53.839 --> 00:06:56.480 And so, by doing that, what is he setting up? 00:06:56.560 --> 00:07:16.639 He's setting up that this chapter, John 20, and the resurrection that it proclaims has got a lot to say, a lot to say to more uh to people that are not just cheerful or or confident this morning, but to those also who are grieving. 00:07:17.360 --> 00:07:25.600 You're full of sorrow, you're full of doubt, disappointment, weary, and spiritually seeking. 00:07:26.240 --> 00:07:31.199 And just maybe there might be some of you this morning. 00:07:32.079 --> 00:07:36.240 You've come here in that kind of state. 00:07:36.480 --> 00:07:55.360 And so then the question becomes this morning: what does the resurrection story that Jesus Christ who died was buried, and embodily raised to love, what does that story have to say to the state status in which he walked in this morning? 00:07:56.240 --> 00:08:02.720 Because the Christian claim of Easter Sunday is no small thing, friends. 00:08:03.040 --> 00:08:10.000 It must change everything if it is true, or change nothing if it is not. 00:08:11.839 --> 00:08:32.720 Now, before John unpacks this change through the life of Mary, what he wants to show us through the details he captures in his resurrection account is to show us some evidence for why the resurrection, that we can truly believe that the resurrection really happened. 00:08:34.799 --> 00:08:35.120 Why? 00:08:35.279 --> 00:08:40.799 Because before we can feel the comfort of Easter, we must face the fact of Easter. 00:08:41.120 --> 00:08:44.559 Before we can be comforted by Easter, we must face its facts. 00:08:44.720 --> 00:08:52.399 Meaning that the reassuring confidence that we draw from Easter only exists if it really did happen. 00:08:52.879 --> 00:09:02.399 And so then John gives us some arguments for the uh resurrection in how he has captured the story in his particular gospel. 00:09:02.480 --> 00:09:04.320 And so, yeah, a few arguments for it. 00:09:04.480 --> 00:09:09.200 One, the tomb was truly empty, it was truly empty. 00:09:09.360 --> 00:09:16.480 Jesus' body was truly missing from that tomb in which he was buried in on good father. 00:09:16.799 --> 00:09:17.440 Truly missing. 00:09:17.600 --> 00:09:27.919 In fact, the body was so truly gone that the most natural explanation for why it was missing was not the resurrection, friends. 00:09:28.159 --> 00:09:31.279 It was that someone must have taken the body. 00:09:31.600 --> 00:09:34.159 Because look at what Mary says, mid-verse two. 00:09:34.720 --> 00:09:41.039 They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him. 00:09:41.279 --> 00:09:50.159 When she relates that to the disciples, and so that's no language, friends, of some gullible person who wants to believe in the resurrection at all costs. 00:09:50.399 --> 00:10:03.919 No, when she's confronted with the reality that the body of Jesus Christ has disappeared, her conclusion, need a conclusion, is who took him, not he is alive. 00:10:04.240 --> 00:10:23.840 See that, and so therefore, what we're seeing, we're seeing that the first time witnesses of the resurrection were not so emotionally desperate to believe that Jesus said, Come alive, so that when they were confronted with the empty tomb, they concluded he is risen. 00:10:24.000 --> 00:10:26.480 That's not the case, uh, the case. 00:10:26.960 --> 00:10:47.440 Now, if his disciples were the very ones who are taking the body, then you've got to ask yourself the question then why is the inner circle, Mary, Peter, John, as we read on in this account, are not responding with coordination, but they are responding in confusion as to what has happened. 00:10:47.679 --> 00:10:53.440 And if it were his enemies who are taking the body, then it would have been the simplest thing to do. 00:10:54.240 --> 00:11:08.879 When claims that Jesus Christ has been uh uh arisen started to begin to spread, the simplest thing to do to crush those claims would have been to just produce the body of the Lord Jesus Christ, and yet that does not happen. 00:11:09.039 --> 00:11:17.120 And so listen, friends, the moment that tomb was empty, everybody had a problem to explain. 00:11:17.440 --> 00:11:34.879 Everybody had a problem to explain, and the fact that nobody ever produces a body tells you that the one who was laid in that tomb was no longer among the dead. 00:11:36.080 --> 00:11:42.480 The second argument is the details of the burial linen found inside the empty tomb. 00:11:42.559 --> 00:11:43.759 Look at what John writes. 00:11:43.840 --> 00:11:50.799 And so when Peter and John get there, verse 6 and 7, uh Peter then decides to go inside. 00:11:50.879 --> 00:11:52.879 And once he steps inside, what does he see? 00:11:53.039 --> 00:12:04.639 He saw the linen cloth lying there and the face cloth which had been on Jesus' head, not lying with the linen cloth, but folded up in a place by itself. 00:12:04.879 --> 00:12:10.639 Now, for those of us who have ever seen the aftermath of a robbery would know this, right? 00:12:11.360 --> 00:12:17.360 This kind of state, uh state a place is left in once robbers have been through, right? 00:12:18.159 --> 00:12:21.679 It is disorderly, chaotic, upside down. 00:12:22.480 --> 00:12:31.360 But John captures, captures, deliberately captures how strange that tomb looked once they stepped in there, right? 00:12:31.759 --> 00:12:36.559 So as to capture for us that something something something strange has happened, yeah. 00:12:36.639 --> 00:12:44.720 Because think about it, if you are going to steal a dead body, right, why leave the linen beyond and just take a bare corpse? 00:12:45.279 --> 00:12:46.720 How would you do that? 00:12:46.960 --> 00:12:52.559 And if they did decide to deliberately leave the linen beyond, then why such orderliness? 00:12:52.639 --> 00:12:55.039 It is folded neatly in a corner. 00:12:56.720 --> 00:13:00.720 No sign of a rush job, yeah? 00:13:00.960 --> 00:13:04.559 No sign of torn linen or disarray. 00:13:05.039 --> 00:13:12.720 And so what is painted for us in the gospel is not a scene of someone quickly rushing and taking a body out of a tube. 00:13:13.840 --> 00:13:22.639 But what is being painted for us is a scene where somebody deliberately left beyond what was no longer necessary. 00:13:23.679 --> 00:13:28.480 Then the third argument we see is Jesus appeared in the flesh indeed. 00:13:28.879 --> 00:13:30.879 He appeared in the flesh indeed. 00:13:31.120 --> 00:13:46.000 And so, as we read on, John goes on to expand that the evidence for the resurrection was not just an empty tomb or neatly folded linen, but it is also in how Jesus was related to in the flesh. 00:13:46.320 --> 00:13:53.440 And so we read in verse 15 that Mary mistook Jesus at first, mistook Jesus for the Gardner. 00:13:54.320 --> 00:13:57.440 That is hugely significant, friends. 00:13:57.600 --> 00:13:58.000 Why? 00:13:58.159 --> 00:14:07.519 Because it's telling us that Jesus did not come back to life or raise from the dead in some kind of vague, abstract spirit or ghostly presence. 00:14:07.840 --> 00:14:08.159 No. 00:14:08.720 --> 00:14:19.440 In fact, Jesus sounded so human and looked so human that Mary mistook him for being just some ordinary guy standing nearby. 00:14:20.480 --> 00:14:22.799 That's what is it telling us? 00:14:23.200 --> 00:14:31.360 It's telling us that Jesus Christ was raised truly, bodily, in the flesh, real and physical. 00:14:31.600 --> 00:14:38.080 And then it goes on to say that once she recognizes Jesus in verse 17, what does she do? 00:14:38.399 --> 00:14:42.480 She clings on him, embraces him. 00:14:43.519 --> 00:14:48.480 That was her natural human response, is to cling on to him. 00:14:48.720 --> 00:14:52.399 Now, you and I are accustomed today, human instinct, right? 00:14:52.960 --> 00:15:01.360 When a loved one that we haven't seen for a while comes into our presence, we just stand there coldly taking notes, right? 00:15:02.159 --> 00:15:03.440 That's what we do. 00:15:03.759 --> 00:15:05.519 No, instead, what do we do? 00:15:05.759 --> 00:15:12.960 We move towards them, we embrace them, and so we've seen those kind of scenes everywhere in our lives, right? 00:15:13.120 --> 00:15:24.720 Maybe at the airport, as a loved one comes walking through after months of being away, or a young child running in full speed into the harm of someone they've missed terribly. 00:15:24.879 --> 00:15:25.759 What happens? 00:15:25.919 --> 00:15:28.879 They grab hold of them, they embrace them. 00:15:29.039 --> 00:15:38.080 Friends, those are moments, scenes where the body, body speaks long before words do. 00:15:39.360 --> 00:15:44.320 And that appears to be what happened between Mary and Jesus. 00:15:45.279 --> 00:16:03.519 And here's the thing the fact that Mary would cling on to Jesus the way that she did, must mean that he was physically present in the flesh for her to cling on to him in that way. 00:16:04.480 --> 00:16:12.720 That he had to have been there, alive, bodily present for you to cling on to him in that way. 00:16:12.960 --> 00:16:20.399 Now, friends, none of these arguments, three arguments, is a silver bullet on it on its own. 00:16:20.720 --> 00:16:34.799 But taken together alongside some other evidence that we find in the gospel beyond just our text, it paints a picture, a case for us of the truth of the resurrection. 00:16:35.200 --> 00:16:37.360 Then it must have happened. 00:16:39.120 --> 00:16:53.519 Now, John wants us to grasp with the fact of that truth that it happened, so that we can begin to see its effect, its impact through the life of Mary. 00:16:53.679 --> 00:17:05.039 Because you see, Mary in the story is not just serving as evidence for the resurrection, but she is one of the first people through whom we can see the effects of their resurrection. 00:17:05.200 --> 00:17:10.160 And so John goes on then in the rest of the text to describe those effects. 00:17:10.319 --> 00:17:11.839 And so let's look at them one by one. 00:17:11.920 --> 00:17:16.319 The first, the risen Jesus calls grieving seekers. 00:17:16.640 --> 00:17:20.400 The risen Jesus calls grieving seekers. 00:17:20.559 --> 00:17:37.920 And so after Peter and John had returned home, confused as to what had happened, and before she had encountered the resurrected Jesus, and he had revealed himself to her, we read Mary, verse 11, stood weeping outside the tomb, weeping outside the tomb. 00:17:38.240 --> 00:17:44.000 Now she's standing at the footsteps, right, of the greatest event in human history. 00:17:44.960 --> 00:17:47.359 And yet she's gripped by sorrow. 00:17:47.839 --> 00:17:55.119 She's weeping at the sight of an empty tomb, as if death has one. 00:17:55.839 --> 00:17:59.920 And friends, isn't that the nature of grief in life? 00:18:00.559 --> 00:18:11.839 That it has this ability to blind us, to cause us, cause us to focus on what we have lost, even when God has already begun something new. 00:18:13.519 --> 00:18:21.920 Now, before we look down on Mary and this, we have we've got to appreciate her sincerity because why is she weeping? 00:18:22.400 --> 00:18:31.359 It's because she longs for Jesus, whose body is missing, and so she's seeking him with tears. 00:18:32.160 --> 00:18:37.599 Hence the repeated questions that are asked of her in the text. 00:18:37.680 --> 00:18:44.720 And so in verse 13, we read that the angels that were there asked her, Woman, why are you weeping? 00:18:45.039 --> 00:18:46.400 Why are you weeping? 00:18:46.640 --> 00:18:53.440 And then later on, before she's recognized the Lord Jesus, he asked of her, verse 15, Woman, why are you weeping? 00:18:53.759 --> 00:18:55.599 Whom are you seeking? 00:18:55.759 --> 00:19:05.359 Now Jesus is not asking that question because he doesn't know the answer, but he's asking the question to expose the irony of the moment, right? 00:19:06.000 --> 00:19:11.440 Mary is weeping, seeking for the one whom she longs for among the dead. 00:19:11.680 --> 00:19:17.039 And yet standing right before her among the living is the one whom she seeks. 00:19:17.359 --> 00:19:19.920 And so he's highlighting that factor. 00:19:20.400 --> 00:19:31.200 In fact, the text tells us in verse 14, she turned, she even turned around and saw Jesus standing, but she did not know that it was Jesus. 00:19:31.359 --> 00:19:43.119 Now we are the text does not explain why, but Mary is looking right at Jesus, and yet grief bars her sight. 00:19:43.680 --> 00:19:49.440 She's standing so close to the truth, and yet she cannot grasp it. 00:19:51.519 --> 00:19:54.960 And maybe there might be some of us here today. 00:19:56.960 --> 00:20:01.279 But you're standing so close to Jesus, he's right there before you. 00:20:02.400 --> 00:20:04.160 And yet you cannot see him. 00:20:05.200 --> 00:20:07.279 You cannot grasp him. 00:20:08.000 --> 00:20:24.559 Not because he's so unclear or absent, no, because some kind of grief or sorrow, disappointment, doubts, spiritual blindness is making it difficult for you to see. 00:20:26.000 --> 00:20:30.319 But he has got good news that it takes it gives us. 00:20:30.559 --> 00:20:39.039 And it is that Mary's sight or uh or hope did not depend on the strength of her search, right? 00:20:39.440 --> 00:20:41.279 Or on the strength of her sight. 00:20:41.599 --> 00:20:48.720 No, instead, it depended on the kindness and grace of her God. 00:20:49.440 --> 00:20:51.119 That's what it rested upon. 00:20:51.680 --> 00:20:52.160 Why? 00:20:52.400 --> 00:20:59.359 Because we read in verse 16 that it is he, Jesus, who opens her eyes. 00:20:59.920 --> 00:21:06.079 Verse 16 tells us Jesus said, Mary, Mary, as she weeps. 00:21:06.960 --> 00:21:16.880 One word, one word, her name on the lips of the risen Christ, and everything changes. 00:21:17.440 --> 00:21:43.119 Her weeping is turned into sight, and she cannot see clearly, which then is revealing this to us, friends, and it's so important that a resurrection, friends, the resurrection of the uh of Jesus Christ is not this abstract, impersonal truth or reality, it is deeply personal, deeply personal. 00:21:43.359 --> 00:21:59.759 Jesus Christ did not raise from the grave in some kind of just theological sense out there, no, but the risen Christ moves towards you personally, seeks you personally, calls you out. 00:22:02.160 --> 00:22:16.960 And so then this morning we're seeing that Jesus Christ does not just simply find people where they are supposed to be, but he seeks them where even they least expect him to be. 00:22:17.279 --> 00:22:20.079 And finds him and engages with them. 00:22:20.480 --> 00:22:30.480 And so then this morning, maybe you have walked in and you're feeling broken, grieving, sorrowful, full of guilt, shame. 00:22:32.079 --> 00:22:38.559 The resurrection tells you that Jesus wants to be known by you even in the midst of that. 00:22:40.160 --> 00:22:44.880 That he's calling your name in the midst of that. 00:22:45.359 --> 00:22:51.599 And maybe this morning is an opportunity for you to respond to his call. 00:22:52.480 --> 00:23:05.519 As he's calling by surrendering your soul to him as Lord and Savior, your life and your offer to him as he calls you. 00:23:35.039 --> 00:23:47.519 That after Mary has had her grief turned into joy, and she wants to cling on Jesus with everything she has, does not want to allow that moment to slip away, Jesus prevents her. 00:23:48.480 --> 00:23:52.480 That's not rejection, it is redirection. 00:23:53.200 --> 00:24:04.720 What Jesus is doing in that moment, he wants to help her see that his resurrection has ushered in a new phase in God's redemption. 00:24:04.960 --> 00:24:05.680 New phase. 00:24:05.839 --> 00:24:11.759 In a sense, he's saying to her, Mary, you can no longer relate to me like you did before. 00:24:13.440 --> 00:24:16.480 Something new has begun. 00:24:16.880 --> 00:24:23.680 Because you see, when Jesus Christ rose from the grave, he moved steadily to his ascension. 00:24:23.920 --> 00:24:24.480 Why? 00:24:24.799 --> 00:24:33.200 Where he would regain the place at the right hand of the Father as the triumphant savior and Lord over sin and death. 00:24:33.359 --> 00:24:43.279 Which then means that Mary and his disciples can no longer relate to him in the old mode that they were accustomed to. 00:24:43.519 --> 00:24:45.039 Can no longer relate to him. 00:24:45.519 --> 00:24:45.839 Why? 00:24:46.000 --> 00:24:55.599 Because through his resurrection, Jesus Christ was ushering in a new relational reality. 00:24:56.000 --> 00:25:02.640 And that relational reality will be characterized by a familial relationship. 00:25:02.960 --> 00:25:06.880 Notice how he now addresses his disciples. 00:25:07.119 --> 00:25:09.359 He calls them my brothers. 00:25:09.680 --> 00:25:10.559 My brothers. 00:25:10.720 --> 00:25:14.079 I'm returning to my father and by the way, your father. 00:25:14.559 --> 00:25:15.279 Your father. 00:26:01.279 --> 00:26:06.000 Because holy living is meant to grow from resurrection reality. 00:26:06.799 --> 00:26:13.519 It is precisely because we are now part of the family of God that we pursue holiness. 00:26:13.680 --> 00:26:17.680 Holiness in our lives is not the way in which we enter into the family of God. 00:26:17.839 --> 00:26:20.160 We're not so desperate to try to keep our possession. 00:26:20.400 --> 00:26:23.839 It is because Christ Jesus has paved the way into the family of God. 00:26:23.920 --> 00:26:27.680 That's why we choose to lead holy lives before God. 00:26:28.160 --> 00:26:41.839 And Christ Jesus, as he moves towards his ascension, is doing so deliberately, because as we've been called to lead this sanctifying life, we will need the power of the Holy Spirit to empower us. 00:26:42.000 --> 00:26:51.039 And so he must ascend, and the Spirit must descend, so that we will lead the sanctified, resurrected life that he has run for us. 00:26:51.200 --> 00:27:04.880 And that's where we will be going next week, beginning to see, looking at how the work of the Holy Spirit in us leads us to lead wholly sanctified life, lives in the Yarana. 00:27:05.440 --> 00:27:25.200 But for now, simply take comfort that it is because of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ that you have not been ushered into the family of God when you get to call him Abba Father, and he gets to call you son and daughter, and that you get to live in the hustle of God as a true son and daughter of the house. 00:27:25.359 --> 00:27:33.599 And because of that new identity and reality, it empowers a new way of life in and through you. 00:27:34.240 --> 00:27:41.200 Then the third effect we see is this that the resurrection, uh, the risen Jesus sends out believing witnesses. 00:27:41.359 --> 00:27:43.839 And so the text ends ends on verse 18. 00:27:44.000 --> 00:27:54.559 Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, I have seen the Lord, and that he had said these things to her. 00:27:54.720 --> 00:27:59.200 What a beautiful story end of the story from where it began, right? 00:28:00.079 --> 00:28:01.200 How beautiful. 00:28:01.519 --> 00:28:18.799 The Mary, Mary, having now encountered, having had her name on the lips of the risen Jesus Christ, has been transformed, going from a grieving seeker to a believing witness. 00:28:19.599 --> 00:28:23.920 And that's what the resurrected uh resurrected Jesus does. 00:28:24.240 --> 00:28:29.920 He transforms grieving uh seekers and sinners into believing witnesses. 00:28:30.480 --> 00:28:31.599 That's what he does. 00:28:31.839 --> 00:28:42.240 Establishing then for us this morning, friends, that Easter Sunday, resurrection day is more than just a day we get to enjoy, friends. 00:28:43.200 --> 00:28:46.240 It is a day that we must announce. 00:28:46.960 --> 00:28:56.960 That we must announce the people, the clear or the goodness of our God that what he has accomplished through the Lord Jesus Christ. 00:28:57.200 --> 00:29:00.480 Now don't miss this in the text, right? 00:29:00.720 --> 00:29:06.319 That the first witness, our witness of the resurrection was not a polished hero. 00:29:07.039 --> 00:29:08.559 She was a broken woman. 00:29:09.839 --> 00:29:18.400 Broken woman who had her grief transformed through the risen Lord Jesus Christ. 00:29:18.640 --> 00:29:19.680 That's who she was. 00:29:19.920 --> 00:29:24.160 And that friends is deeply encouraging to each and every single one of us this morning. 00:29:24.400 --> 00:29:24.720 Why? 00:29:24.880 --> 00:29:38.640 Because it means that our Lord Jesus Christ continues to build his witness through transformed people, not perfected or embellished people. 00:29:39.119 --> 00:29:47.359 And so Jesus does not wait for Mary to get herself all together, to compose herself. 00:29:47.839 --> 00:29:48.400 Right? 00:29:48.720 --> 00:29:55.200 He does not wait for Mary to have the right kind of theology while the scriptures had proclaimed out here until you've understood that. 00:29:55.359 --> 00:29:56.559 Then we can talk. 00:29:59.039 --> 00:30:05.440 He doesn't wait for her life, your life, to be polished in every angle. 00:30:05.680 --> 00:30:07.920 That's not our Lord Jesus Christ. 00:30:08.240 --> 00:30:12.480 He meets you in your sorrow, meets you in your brokenness. 00:30:12.720 --> 00:30:19.839 He meets you in a place of confusion and despair and transforms you by his grace. 00:30:20.079 --> 00:30:22.319 That's what our Lord does. 00:30:22.799 --> 00:30:24.640 That's what our Lord does. 00:30:24.960 --> 00:30:30.079 And that point begins to connect to what we saw last week, right? 00:30:30.240 --> 00:30:31.599 What did we see last week? 00:30:31.759 --> 00:30:47.680 We saw that the Father's will is to sanctify us, not so that then we would isolate ourselves from the world, no, so that we will be sanctified in the world, so that then we will be sent to the world. 00:30:47.839 --> 00:30:48.720 That's what he does. 00:30:48.799 --> 00:30:54.160 And now in John 20, we're seeing the Lord Jesus Christ do the very same thing. 00:30:54.559 --> 00:31:02.799 He calls, he changes, and then he says, Mary into the world and sends us. 00:31:03.519 --> 00:31:14.880 And so then, friends, as people who will claim to believe in the resurrection, if you do this morning, said I believe that the Lord Jesus Christ has been raised from the dead. 00:31:15.119 --> 00:31:17.680 Then let me ask you, leave you with this question. 00:31:18.000 --> 00:31:19.440 Then who, friend? 00:31:20.559 --> 00:31:32.480 Who by your words and through your deeds, will you then proclaim and share that Christ Jesus is risen indeed? 00:31:32.880 --> 00:31:34.799 Because there's a world out there. 00:31:35.440 --> 00:31:36.480 A world out there. 00:31:46.079 --> 00:31:57.039 And so if we are people of the resurrection, it empowers us to go and be witness of the resurrection to those who need it. 00:31:57.279 --> 00:32:09.279 And so who needs to hear of the hope that you have found in Jesus Christ today. 00:32:12.000 --> 00:32:19.599 And so there's a worship team comes up, and those who will be baptized can go uh go get changed now. 00:32:19.839 --> 00:32:30.240 We all this morning have got the opportunity, the blessing to witness baptisms as part of our service, uh service this morning. 00:32:30.319 --> 00:32:34.559 And so we'll be baptizing 16 people across both services. 00:32:39.440 --> 00:32:57.279 And if you're here this morning and wondering what is that all about, well, baptism is a public proclamation, declaration that the Lord Jesus Christ transforms people today, just as we have seen in John 20. 00:32:57.440 --> 00:33:01.440 That's what those who will be getting baptized are doing this morning. 00:33:01.599 --> 00:33:26.720 And so then, as we sit and witness, or stand as stand and witness these baptisms, if you're here this morning and you're somebody who does not yet believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, then I want to invite you that through these baptisms, it is bearing a testimony that each and every single person who is getting baptized is saying, I have seen the Lord and He has transformed my life. 00:33:27.359 --> 00:33:34.960 Allow that, allow that to extend the invitation of Christ to you this morning. 00:33:35.279 --> 00:33:36.799 He is calling your name. 00:33:37.759 --> 00:33:38.720 Calling your name. 00:33:47.759 --> 00:33:48.720 For your soul. 00:33:49.599 --> 00:33:50.559 We will love. 00:33:51.759 --> 00:33:52.240 Love. 00:33:52.400 --> 00:33:57.359 In fact, we want nothing more than to speak to you this morning if that's you. 00:33:58.079 --> 00:34:03.440 And so after the service, some of our elders and prayer team members will be here, friend. 00:34:03.519 --> 00:34:12.480 I want to urge you if you're here this morning and you're yearing, Christ call your name. 00:34:12.880 --> 00:34:16.000 Don't leave, don't leave. 00:34:16.320 --> 00:34:30.159 Come forward, allow a team up front to lead you to a place where you can surrender your life to the Lord Jesus. 00:34:30.480 --> 00:34:55.039 And then for those of us who are here this morning, and we say that we believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and are about to witness people go through the waters of baptism, allow that testimony, friend, to propel you forward, to be someone who goes and proclaims that Christ Jesus is risen as these people will be testifying this morning. 00:34:55.760 --> 00:34:57.360 And so, will you go? 00:34:57.920 --> 00:34:59.760 Will you share Christ? 00:35:00.639 --> 00:35:13.920 The hope that is Christ and the empty two has given your soul and has given us soul as a church, and that keeps on rescuing people. 00:35:14.079 --> 00:35:17.679 Will you go as He sends you? 00:35:17.840 --> 00:35:31.519 And so the children are going to join us, may not come up front because it is a whole family affair, and as people will be going through the waters of baptism, they get in not just standing, taking notes probably, not celebrate it, right? 00:35:31.840 --> 00:35:35.360 Because it's the work of God in a community of faith. 00:35:35.440 --> 00:35:41.280 And so let's stand, they sing, they celebrate the work of God in a mix together. 00:35:47.039 --> 00:35:49.840 Thanks for listening to this sermon from BBC. 00:35:50.000 --> 00:35:56.079 If you have questions about what you've heard or would like to find out more about the Christian faith, we'd love to hear from you. 00:35:56.239 --> 00:36:00.239 You can visit our website or reach out using the contact details below. 00:36:00.480 --> 00:36:01.599 God bless you.