WEBVTT 00:00:12.320 --> 00:00:14.000 Well, he is risen. 00:00:15.919 --> 00:00:16.559 Amen. 00:00:17.760 --> 00:00:21.519 And so we we celebrate a risen Christ. 00:00:22.000 --> 00:00:24.879 And so thankful all of you are here. 00:00:25.600 --> 00:00:30.000 I met some of you here that are visiting with family from out of state. 00:00:30.160 --> 00:00:35.439 And some of you may be here for the first time because somebody invited you. 00:00:35.600 --> 00:00:46.079 You might be here because you received a mailer in the mail, but whatever reason that you came, we are glad that you're here. 00:00:46.240 --> 00:00:48.880 My name is Russ, and I'm one of the pastors here. 00:00:49.119 --> 00:00:51.679 Excited to celebrate Easter with you. 00:00:52.159 --> 00:00:55.920 For those that are online with us, we say he is risen. 00:00:56.000 --> 00:01:02.880 We're excited that you are joining with us this special weekend as we celebrate the risen Savior. 00:01:03.840 --> 00:01:05.599 And it is so exciting. 00:01:06.959 --> 00:01:27.280 It's not uncommon in our family for a group of us, part of our family, to be watching a movie, and then halfway through the movie, a couple of other members of the family walk into the room. 00:01:28.719 --> 00:01:31.200 They have no idea what's going on. 00:01:32.079 --> 00:01:36.879 But they recognize, they feel it, they sense there is there is some tension. 00:01:43.599 --> 00:01:48.079 There's a good person and there's a bad person, and I can feel all of that. 00:01:48.480 --> 00:02:01.920 And rather than sitting quietly and watching the rest of the movie with us, they begin while the movie is playing to ask questions and to catch themselves up. 00:02:02.079 --> 00:02:04.480 So who is that person right there? 00:02:05.120 --> 00:02:06.560 What's the plot of the story? 00:02:06.640 --> 00:02:07.680 What's happening? 00:02:07.920 --> 00:02:09.120 What is going on? 00:02:09.360 --> 00:02:13.520 I mean, what what what is what is this person about? 00:02:15.120 --> 00:02:18.400 Is this the bad guy or the is this the good person? 00:02:18.639 --> 00:02:21.919 What's happening in the whole movie? 00:02:22.479 --> 00:02:28.960 And so, now what do those of us that are watching the movie, how do we respond? 00:02:29.120 --> 00:02:32.400 We respond with a Christ-like kindness. 00:02:35.199 --> 00:02:43.680 And we politely press pause and explain to them simply, right? 00:02:44.639 --> 00:02:46.000 Is that what we do? 00:02:47.199 --> 00:02:49.599 That may be what you do at your house. 00:02:50.319 --> 00:02:56.000 At my house, we say two words be quiet. 00:02:57.120 --> 00:02:57.759 Right? 00:02:58.639 --> 00:03:00.400 Does that ever happen at your house? 00:03:00.960 --> 00:03:02.240 We say be quiet. 00:03:02.400 --> 00:03:03.280 Hang on. 00:03:03.840 --> 00:03:06.000 Go watch the first part yourself. 00:03:06.080 --> 00:03:09.680 I mean, with just Christ comes out in all these ways. 00:03:10.800 --> 00:03:11.759 We're loving. 00:03:12.240 --> 00:03:13.840 No, it's be quiet. 00:03:14.000 --> 00:03:15.759 And you should have been here. 00:03:16.080 --> 00:03:17.120 You've missed it. 00:03:17.199 --> 00:03:19.360 Don't ruin it for the rest of us. 00:03:19.520 --> 00:03:43.439 And so I think that a lot of times we come to Easter, we come to this weekend, we come to Good Friday, we come to the celebration Sunday of the resurrection, and we come as if we are coming halfway into the movie. 00:03:44.560 --> 00:03:48.479 And listen, I think Easter stands on its own. 00:03:49.280 --> 00:03:52.080 Good Friday and Easter stand on its own. 00:03:52.240 --> 00:03:55.439 It is the centerpiece of the gospel. 00:03:55.680 --> 00:03:58.479 You don't have to know a bunch of Bible knowledge. 00:03:58.639 --> 00:04:00.560 You don't have to be a theologian. 00:04:00.800 --> 00:04:02.960 You don't have to be an expert. 00:04:03.280 --> 00:04:13.039 You simply need to know that Jesus died for you to provide the forgiveness for your sins and your shortcomings and your depravity. 00:04:13.280 --> 00:04:17.519 And there is hope for you, even in those sins. 00:04:17.600 --> 00:04:28.879 But not only did he die for you, two days, three days later, he bodily was resurrected to prove he had power over sin and death in the grave. 00:04:29.040 --> 00:04:33.120 And that's why Easter stands alone on its own. 00:04:33.279 --> 00:04:38.319 But I want to give you a bit of the macro story. 00:04:38.480 --> 00:04:57.040 The Easter story, the Easter weekend is a bit of a micro look at the whole at the story, where there is a macro story where we really understand the completeness and the significance in light of the whole story. 00:04:57.680 --> 00:05:09.439 It may not look like it, but but this story includes beauty and creation, and it includes catastrophe, catastrophe and ruin. 00:05:11.519 --> 00:05:12.639 It has all of that. 00:06:02.319 --> 00:06:04.800 Its fruit is delicious. 00:06:05.040 --> 00:06:15.360 But there's this one tree, and imagine the size of what God would have created in the beginning, but this one tree that God commands them not to eat from. 00:06:17.040 --> 00:06:20.639 Because if they eat from it, they will surely die. 00:06:21.920 --> 00:06:31.759 Genesis 2.17 tells us that God is He is instilling into Adam and Eve what he wants to instill into us. 00:06:33.279 --> 00:06:38.079 And it's this that God can be trusted. 00:06:39.120 --> 00:06:43.120 And if we trust him, we should obey him. 00:06:43.920 --> 00:06:49.120 And when we trust him and obey him, he's got the best things for us. 00:06:49.759 --> 00:06:51.360 But we know what happens, right? 00:06:51.600 --> 00:06:55.439 Alistair Begg says this about the next steps. 00:06:55.519 --> 00:06:59.600 He says the forbidden tree looked delicious as well as attractive. 00:06:59.839 --> 00:07:10.879 She has not grasped, talking about Eve, she's not grasped the divine principle is this believers see with their ears, not with their eyes. 00:07:11.199 --> 00:07:13.920 We see by listening to God's word. 00:07:14.480 --> 00:07:16.879 And this, of course, is the serpent's trick. 00:07:17.040 --> 00:07:28.240 In addition, what better way to bring about the fall of Adam, other than as Eve herself admitted, by deceiving her and then employing her? 00:07:29.600 --> 00:07:36.240 Satan used the very best of God's gift to Adam to gain leverage on him and to draw him into sin. 00:07:36.560 --> 00:07:42.319 And so, in turn, Adam brought the cosmos to ruin. 00:07:44.000 --> 00:07:46.399 And as a result, there's judgment. 00:07:46.879 --> 00:07:49.519 There's judgment to the disobedience. 00:07:49.759 --> 00:07:59.680 Now let's not sit here like they did in the garden and let's point fingers at Adam or let's point fingers and Eve. 00:07:59.839 --> 00:08:01.439 They did enough of that, right? 00:08:01.519 --> 00:08:03.519 They pointed fingers at each other. 00:08:03.759 --> 00:08:10.079 All we know is God said, Trust me, and if you trust me, you'll obey me. 00:08:10.319 --> 00:08:14.560 And they failed to trust, and as a result, they failed to obey. 00:08:14.800 --> 00:08:19.839 And when we don't trust, and when we don't obey, God brings judgment. 00:08:20.319 --> 00:08:24.079 Here's just a bit of a picture of the judgment. 00:08:24.319 --> 00:08:33.840 Judgment on Adam related to his task of gardening and his calling to turn the whole world into a garden for God. 00:08:34.320 --> 00:08:39.120 God had commissioned Adam to be the lead gardener. 00:08:40.159 --> 00:08:47.600 And as a result of that garden, that garden that they were given, it was meant to expand all over the earth. 00:08:47.759 --> 00:08:49.120 Take dominion. 00:08:49.600 --> 00:08:51.039 Take dominion. 00:08:51.759 --> 00:09:00.240 Number two, judgment on Eve related particularly to her to childbearing and her attitude toward her husband. 00:09:00.720 --> 00:09:06.240 Now, most of you wives have great attitudes toward your husbands. 00:09:10.080 --> 00:09:10.720 Right? 00:09:11.600 --> 00:09:13.200 Don't look at him. 00:09:13.919 --> 00:09:15.440 And don't look at her. 00:09:18.960 --> 00:09:22.000 And then finally, there's judgment on the serpent. 00:09:22.639 --> 00:09:23.679 Judgment on the serpent. 00:09:23.840 --> 00:09:25.440 The serpent is the devil. 00:09:25.679 --> 00:09:27.279 He's the evil one. 00:09:28.080 --> 00:09:32.080 But in the midst of this judgment, God gives a promise. 00:09:32.240 --> 00:09:34.320 So we're looking at the macro view. 00:09:34.559 --> 00:09:36.320 Here's the macro view. 00:09:36.639 --> 00:09:38.480 Rather than the micro view. 00:09:38.879 --> 00:09:40.480 The micro view stands alone. 00:09:40.639 --> 00:09:41.919 Resurrection weekend. 00:09:42.240 --> 00:09:43.360 Good Friday. 00:09:46.080 --> 00:09:47.120 Saturday. 00:09:48.000 --> 00:09:49.440 Easter Sunday stands alone. 00:09:49.519 --> 00:09:55.519 But it's really great to be able to understand the macro view and to be reminded if we've forgotten. 00:09:55.679 --> 00:09:58.559 Maybe to be taught if we've never heard it. 00:09:59.200 --> 00:10:04.960 In the midst of this judgment, God gives a promise of what has been ruined will be restored. 00:10:05.120 --> 00:10:06.559 Restored by whom? 00:10:06.960 --> 00:10:08.240 Restored by whom? 00:10:08.559 --> 00:10:17.200 Who is it that will restore all that has been lost, all that has been judged, all of the consequences of sin. 00:10:17.519 --> 00:10:22.240 The one who will restore it is the seed of the woman. 00:10:22.559 --> 00:10:24.399 Genesis 3.15. 00:10:26.320 --> 00:10:33.519 And I will cause hostility, God says, between you and the woman and between your offspring and her offspring. 00:10:33.759 --> 00:10:37.120 He will strike your head and you will strike his heel. 00:10:37.759 --> 00:10:41.360 And so the promise of God is given to us in Genesis 3.16. 00:10:41.600 --> 00:10:47.919 The promise of God is that the seed of the woman would crush the head of the serpent. 00:10:48.159 --> 00:10:51.679 Now the serpent will bruise the heel. 00:10:52.799 --> 00:10:55.919 Bruise the heel of the seed of the woman. 00:10:57.600 --> 00:11:02.320 But the seed of the woman will crush the head of the serpent. 00:11:02.480 --> 00:11:04.559 That's a good promise, isn't it? 00:11:05.519 --> 00:11:07.279 So who is the seed of the woman? 00:11:07.679 --> 00:11:12.240 Alistair Begg writes in his book, name that's titled Name Above All Names. 00:11:12.399 --> 00:11:19.120 He said the first name of Jesus in all the scriptures is the seed of the woman. 00:11:21.039 --> 00:11:21.200 D. 00:11:21.440 --> 00:11:29.440 Martin Lloyd Jones, one of the great preachers in all of history in the church, he says the real division of the Bible is this. 00:11:29.600 --> 00:11:38.879 First, everything you get from Genesis 1.1 to Genesis 3.14, and then everything from Genesis 3.15 to the very end of the Bible. 00:11:39.840 --> 00:11:43.440 Everything from Genesis 3.15 points forward. 00:11:43.600 --> 00:11:44.559 It's important. 00:11:45.679 --> 00:11:49.600 And here's what we see that happens after Genesis 3.15. 00:11:49.679 --> 00:11:50.960 We see the promise. 00:11:51.279 --> 00:11:53.600 The promise is given. 00:11:53.759 --> 00:12:01.440 And then we see these cycles that repeat themselves over and over. 00:12:02.159 --> 00:12:06.080 You'll see God's people experience great revival. 00:12:06.320 --> 00:12:07.759 The Holy Spirit will move. 00:12:07.840 --> 00:12:08.960 There will be a miracle. 00:12:09.039 --> 00:12:10.960 They'll defeat enemies. 00:12:12.000 --> 00:12:14.320 They'll walk around cities seven times. 00:12:14.480 --> 00:12:16.480 These miraculous things will happen. 00:12:16.799 --> 00:12:30.960 Revival will break out because they have seen the work of God, but then over a short period of time, they will have forgotten what good thing God has provided for them. 00:12:31.120 --> 00:12:34.080 They'll fall back into the cycles of sin. 00:12:35.759 --> 00:12:43.440 And you'll see over generations and generations there'll be disobedience, and then there'll be a revival. 00:12:44.399 --> 00:12:51.360 Somebody will find, they'll find um uh they'll find the word of God that has been lost, like King Josiah. 00:12:51.519 --> 00:12:59.120 He finds the word of God, and he begins to read it, and the people begin to revive. 00:12:59.200 --> 00:13:01.360 They turn their hearts back to God. 00:13:01.840 --> 00:13:05.279 But but then we know that the cycle continues over and over. 00:13:05.440 --> 00:13:16.159 They fall away later on and they enter into sin, and then there's the judgment of God, and these cycles happen over and over and over. 00:13:16.960 --> 00:13:20.559 We know it, and it's because of sin, it's because of depravity. 00:13:21.279 --> 00:13:23.519 Paul talks about this in Romans 5.12. 00:13:23.600 --> 00:13:28.000 He says, when Adam's sin, sin entered the world. 00:13:28.159 --> 00:13:34.399 Adam's sin brought death, so death spread to everyone, for everyone sinned. 00:13:38.159 --> 00:14:04.080 And so I can tell you the reason that there is brokenness in the world, the reason that there's pain in the world, the reason that there are natural disasters in the world, the reason that there are sicknesses and there is cancer, the reason that there are broken relationships in the world is because of depravity and sin and brokenness. 00:14:04.799 --> 00:14:08.960 And our human nature is to try to fill those voids. 00:14:09.120 --> 00:14:11.279 We try to fill brokenness up. 00:14:11.440 --> 00:14:16.559 We fill it up, we try to reach out to things like self-medication or some type of addiction. 00:14:16.720 --> 00:14:28.559 We try to, we try to think that we think this, if we find the right husband, or if we find the right wife, if we find the right relationship, and it's perfect, they will complete us. 00:14:29.679 --> 00:14:33.360 The words of Jerry Maguire, you complete me. 00:14:35.120 --> 00:14:40.720 But you're placing a lot of weight on another person that they just can't handle. 00:14:41.360 --> 00:14:56.399 The reason we we we sometimes we pursue money, we pursue ambition, we pursue, we pursue wealth, we pursue, listen, you could, the list goes on and on, but all those things snap back into more brokenness. 00:14:58.799 --> 00:15:03.279 And the reality is that God had a master plan. 00:15:03.519 --> 00:15:05.519 He had a macro plan. 00:15:05.600 --> 00:15:11.200 And part of his macro plan is that the seed of the woman would be born. 00:15:12.320 --> 00:15:26.399 And what we celebrate every Christmas is the human birth of the seed of the woman, and he's given the name Jesus. 00:15:28.480 --> 00:15:32.000 And we don't know a lot about Jesus' life during the first 30 years. 00:15:32.080 --> 00:15:34.639 There's just not a lot of record. 00:15:35.919 --> 00:15:36.559 There's not. 00:15:37.120 --> 00:15:56.639 But I know this when he steps out into public, and John the Baptist, who is the one preparing the way, he says, as Jesus walks through the crowd there at the Jordan River, and he says, Here comes the Lamb of God who will take away the sins of the world. 00:15:57.679 --> 00:16:00.399 And he baptizes Jesus. 00:16:01.840 --> 00:16:05.200 And you hear there's two specific things that happen. 00:16:05.600 --> 00:16:09.200 The Holy Spirit comes upon him in the form of a dove. 00:16:09.519 --> 00:16:13.120 But it's the Spirit, it's not the bird, it's the Spirit of God. 00:16:14.399 --> 00:16:21.519 But God says, I want everybody to see this, I want everybody to understand the Spirit is coming, and then the word of God. 00:16:21.840 --> 00:16:26.879 God says, This is my son in whom I am well pleased. 00:16:28.399 --> 00:16:30.879 What is God pleased with? 00:16:34.080 --> 00:16:36.879 Because we don't know much about his 30 years. 00:16:38.639 --> 00:16:40.879 But I can tell you this, I know this. 00:16:42.720 --> 00:16:57.039 He was a young boy that was trained to read the word of God, and he was trained to have disciplines where he would grow in his faith. 00:16:58.399 --> 00:17:07.039 Earthly practices where he would have the word of God hidden in his human heart. 00:17:07.200 --> 00:17:10.480 Now, now there's this mystery, he is fully God, he is fully man. 00:17:10.559 --> 00:17:13.759 And you say, well, Russ, he had a little bit of advantage over us. 00:17:14.400 --> 00:17:20.160 And maybe he did, but he practiced those disciplines. 00:17:20.400 --> 00:17:24.799 He took those steps to model for us. 00:17:26.880 --> 00:17:28.799 He obeyed his parents. 00:17:29.599 --> 00:17:31.279 You know why God was pleased with him? 00:17:31.359 --> 00:17:33.200 Because he honored the law. 00:17:33.359 --> 00:17:34.640 He honored the law. 00:17:34.880 --> 00:17:36.000 He obeyed his parents. 00:17:36.160 --> 00:17:37.680 He did what was right. 00:17:37.839 --> 00:17:43.279 And so Jesus enters into the picture and he spends the next three years doing ministry. 00:17:43.359 --> 00:17:47.519 He speaks and teaches with an authority that has never been heard before. 00:17:47.680 --> 00:17:51.039 He begins to heal people with the touch of his hands. 00:17:51.200 --> 00:17:58.640 He begins to deliver and reach out to people that are oppressed and possessed by demons. 00:17:58.799 --> 00:18:01.680 And he casts the demons out of them. 00:18:02.160 --> 00:18:07.680 He begins to take 12 men and not just 12 men. 00:18:07.839 --> 00:18:18.160 There were many more disciples, and many among them were women that would walk with him and follow him and learn the way of Jesus. 00:18:21.519 --> 00:18:30.319 And so what I want to do is I want to zone in just for the last part of this message on one of those followers. 00:18:31.039 --> 00:18:32.480 Can we do that just for a second? 00:18:32.640 --> 00:18:35.039 Her name was Mary Magdalene. 00:18:36.880 --> 00:18:42.319 And she was probably from a town called Magdala, that's on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee. 00:18:43.680 --> 00:18:48.559 She had seven demons cast out of her. 00:18:49.359 --> 00:18:52.480 I wonder, were they all cast out at one time? 00:18:52.960 --> 00:18:56.640 Or did it take longer to cast them out individually over time? 00:18:56.720 --> 00:18:57.200 We don't know. 00:18:57.279 --> 00:19:00.960 That's just an interesting question I had as I looked into this story. 00:19:01.039 --> 00:19:04.720 I mean, it's just a uh, you know, you wonder about these kind of things. 00:19:04.799 --> 00:19:18.319 And so she is um uh Mark 16, 9 and Mark 8.2 both give us understandings that she had a rough life up to the point that she has these demons cast out of her. 00:19:18.559 --> 00:19:29.680 Um, and and so we see that that she follows Jesus, she learns the way of Jesus, she listens to what he teaches. 00:19:32.400 --> 00:19:38.480 She begins to practice and model how he lives his life. 00:19:39.920 --> 00:19:53.599 And she is said to be one of among several women who had the financial means to support the work of Jesus and the rest of the disciples. 00:19:56.160 --> 00:20:01.759 And so we get to Good Friday. 00:20:03.359 --> 00:20:06.400 And Jesus has already been arrested. 00:20:10.400 --> 00:20:27.519 He's been flogged, he's been beaten, he's been mocked, they placed a crown of thorns on his head, they wrapped him in a purple cloth and gave him a scepter and made fun of him and said, Are you the king of kings? 00:20:31.759 --> 00:20:37.599 And they give him a cross and they tell him to take it to a place called Golgotha. 00:20:39.119 --> 00:20:48.319 And he and he was he had he had been beaten within an inch of his life, and so he just couldn't quite carry the cross all the way, and so they had somebody else help him. 00:20:48.400 --> 00:20:53.119 And so I want you to imagine what this would have been like for Mary and the other disciples. 00:20:53.359 --> 00:21:02.559 How discouraging this would have been, how, how, how just how just absolutely defeated they were. 00:21:02.960 --> 00:21:05.279 Because they didn't they didn't really get it. 00:21:05.839 --> 00:21:09.200 They didn't quite get it, they didn't understand the macro story. 00:21:09.279 --> 00:21:17.200 They didn't, they didn't, they're there, they have a very narrow perspective like many of us do in our own lives. 00:21:20.079 --> 00:21:32.880 And so Jesus is nailed to a cross, and and many of his disciples have scattered, but but Mary, along with a few other women, have stayed right with him the whole way. 00:21:33.759 --> 00:21:36.240 And she's at the foot of the cross. 00:21:37.440 --> 00:21:39.039 His mother is there. 00:21:41.279 --> 00:21:42.960 A few others. 00:21:45.519 --> 00:21:52.559 And after he's breathed his last breath, he has proclaimed it is finished. 00:21:52.799 --> 00:21:53.599 It is finished. 00:21:53.759 --> 00:21:59.440 The veil in the temple has been torn in two, there has been an earthquake, there has been three hours of total darkness. 00:21:59.519 --> 00:21:59.759 I mean. 00:22:00.160 --> 00:22:04.079 There is something obvious and significant that has happened. 00:22:04.880 --> 00:22:14.880 But she is among those with Joseph of Arimathea that take his body off the cross and they prepare it and they go lay it in a tomb. 00:22:16.240 --> 00:22:31.759 And then three days later, on Sunday morning, probably discouraged, certainly not understanding the whole story. 00:22:32.000 --> 00:22:35.680 John 20, verses, starting with verse 1. 00:22:35.920 --> 00:22:44.240 Early on Sunday morning, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and found that the stone had been rolled away from the entrance. 00:22:45.440 --> 00:22:49.279 She ran and found Simon Peter and the other disciple. 00:22:49.680 --> 00:22:51.200 The one whom Jesus loved. 00:22:51.359 --> 00:22:59.680 By the way, John is writing this, and I love the way John writes because he's saying the one whom Jesus loved, he's talking about himself. 00:23:00.319 --> 00:23:02.400 The one that I know that Jesus loved. 00:23:02.640 --> 00:23:04.240 The one I'm the favorite. 00:23:04.319 --> 00:23:06.079 That's basically what he's saying. 00:23:07.680 --> 00:23:12.240 She said, They have taken the Lord's body out of the tomb, and we don't know where they have put him. 00:23:12.400 --> 00:23:15.599 Peter and the other disciple started out for the tomb. 00:23:15.680 --> 00:23:19.359 They were both running, but the other disciple outran Peter. 00:23:19.599 --> 00:23:22.319 John wrote this, and so he was first. 00:23:23.200 --> 00:23:25.119 And he reached the tomb first. 00:23:26.400 --> 00:23:27.359 Verse 11. 00:23:27.519 --> 00:23:28.319 Verse 11. 00:23:28.720 --> 00:23:30.400 Let's get forward to verse 11. 00:23:30.720 --> 00:23:40.880 Mary was standing outside the tomb crying, and as she wept, she stooped and looked into the tomb. 00:23:41.599 --> 00:23:43.119 Why is she weeping? 00:23:44.000 --> 00:23:45.119 Why is she weeping? 00:23:45.200 --> 00:23:47.200 She's one of his true disciples. 00:23:48.079 --> 00:24:00.000 She's mentioned 12 times in the gospels as she follows Jesus almost more than any of the other apostles and disciples. 00:24:00.559 --> 00:24:02.880 She plays a significant role. 00:24:21.680 --> 00:24:42.160 And so when you hear in our 21st century culture that Christianity is oppressive to women, there may be pockets and churches, specific churches that do have a bit of an oppressive mindset about women and a place that they should kind of stay in. 00:24:42.319 --> 00:24:45.759 I'm telling you, Jesus elevates women. 00:24:58.079 --> 00:24:59.680 She's one of the true disciples. 00:25:00.480 --> 00:25:04.400 She was swept up into the message of Jesus' grace. 00:25:04.559 --> 00:25:11.279 She's a single woman, probably felt less than acceptable as a formerly demon-possessed woman. 00:25:11.440 --> 00:25:18.240 She has found mercy and grace through the person of Jesus. 00:25:18.480 --> 00:25:20.160 Why is she weeping? 00:25:20.799 --> 00:25:24.240 Because her rabbi has been killed. 00:25:24.559 --> 00:25:28.240 And now she looks and he's not in the tomb. 00:25:28.960 --> 00:25:31.519 She's struggling to make sense of what is happening here. 00:25:31.680 --> 00:25:36.319 She was supposed to be moving toward taking the kingdom. 00:25:36.720 --> 00:25:40.880 He's supposed to be establishing his earthly kingdom. 00:25:41.200 --> 00:25:50.799 He goes from being loved, and they shout Hosanna on Sunday to he is now a week later being crucified and put in a tomb. 00:25:51.519 --> 00:26:03.119 Verse 12, chapter 20, verse 12, she saw two white-robed angels, one sitting at the head and the other at the foot of the place where the body of Jesus had been lying. 00:26:03.359 --> 00:26:05.039 Dear woman, why are you crying? 00:26:05.200 --> 00:26:08.480 The angels asked her, because they have taken away my Lord. 00:26:09.759 --> 00:26:14.000 She replied, and I don't know where they have put him. 00:26:14.960 --> 00:26:17.440 She turned to leave and saw someone standing there. 00:26:17.519 --> 00:26:18.799 It was Jesus. 00:26:19.599 --> 00:26:21.680 But she didn't recognize him. 00:26:23.519 --> 00:26:24.400 Let me say it again. 00:26:24.480 --> 00:26:28.240 It was Jesus, but she didn't recognize him. 00:26:30.319 --> 00:26:33.599 Can we go from micro back to macro? 00:26:35.119 --> 00:26:52.240 So there in the beginning of the story, everything God created, the plan that God had created, the garden and the inhabitants, Adam and Eve, disobeyed God, and everything God had set in plan was ruined. 00:26:52.799 --> 00:26:54.400 It was a catastrophe. 00:26:55.680 --> 00:26:57.279 It was a catastrophe. 00:26:58.559 --> 00:27:00.400 It led to brokenness. 00:27:01.359 --> 00:27:03.279 It felt like a catastrophe. 00:27:06.240 --> 00:27:08.000 There's this sense of ruin. 00:27:08.400 --> 00:27:10.960 She didn't understand the resurrection. 00:27:12.559 --> 00:27:18.480 Most Jews that believed in the resurrection, the resurrection was going to happen at the end of all times. 00:27:19.119 --> 00:27:22.799 There's no resurrection in the middle of history. 00:27:24.160 --> 00:27:25.519 That's what she thought. 00:27:26.960 --> 00:27:31.279 They believed in the resurrection at the end, but not like this in the middle of the story. 00:27:32.400 --> 00:27:34.079 But they kind of give you an idea. 00:27:39.680 --> 00:27:41.519 He says this, he says, J.R.R. 00:27:41.680 --> 00:27:49.039 Tolkien, the author of The Lord of the Rings, often employed a storytelling device that he called a U catastrophe. 00:27:50.079 --> 00:27:58.079 He takes the word catastrophe and he adds a prefix, you, and that you means good, so it means a good catastrophe. 00:27:59.920 --> 00:28:09.359 A catastrophe is an unexpected evil, but Tolkien added the Greek prefix meaning good to express the unexpected appearance of goodness. 00:28:09.839 --> 00:28:11.759 The unexpected appearance of goodness. 00:28:11.920 --> 00:28:20.240 He defined it as the sudden happy turn in a story, which pierces you with a joy that could bring you to tears. 00:28:20.400 --> 00:28:34.400 It has this effect on us because it's a sudden glimpse of truth in which we feel a sudden relief as if a major limb out of joint had suddenly snapped back. 00:28:35.359 --> 00:28:45.599 Repeatedly in his story, he's talking about Tolkien, the eukatastrophe occurs just as all hope appears to be lost. 00:28:45.839 --> 00:28:49.200 By the way, do you know that Tolkien was a believer? 00:28:49.519 --> 00:28:51.519 He's a believer in Jesus. 00:28:54.240 --> 00:28:59.359 It is the moment the eagles swoop in for the rescue. 00:29:00.319 --> 00:29:10.880 The riders of Rohan arrive at the battle, or Gandalf the White, appears with the breaking of the day. 00:29:14.640 --> 00:29:31.599 And if you've never watched the Lord of the Rings or read Tolkien, it's like the interception at the end of the national championship game. 00:29:34.559 --> 00:29:35.839 That's what he means. 00:29:36.160 --> 00:29:39.119 Maybe that, maybe all of us can understand that. 00:29:39.440 --> 00:29:45.680 Mary feels this catastrophe has happened, but God is working. 00:29:46.480 --> 00:29:54.400 God is working to bring his good out of something that seems so devastating. 00:29:57.759 --> 00:29:58.880 Take a second. 00:30:01.759 --> 00:30:03.279 Let's go back to the beginning. 00:30:03.519 --> 00:30:08.880 Adam and Eve were given this command: take dominion. 00:30:09.599 --> 00:30:11.599 I'm giving you a garden. 00:30:13.680 --> 00:30:16.079 And Adam is the gardener. 00:30:17.359 --> 00:30:25.759 And their mission is to take dominion and to spread this garden all over the earth. 00:30:26.480 --> 00:30:31.920 Everything that God made was good, but everything was not yet gardened. 00:30:32.240 --> 00:30:40.400 God wanted Adam to exercise his dominion by expanding the garden, having given him a garden to begin with, God was saying, Now, Adam, I have given you a start. 00:30:40.559 --> 00:30:44.079 Of course, we know that sin entered the equation, the picture. 00:30:44.240 --> 00:30:45.119 There was failure. 00:30:45.279 --> 00:30:53.039 The Garden of Eden became the Eden of this world and brokenness and hurt and pain. 00:30:53.279 --> 00:30:59.200 But do you also remember how John's gospel records what happened on the morning of Jesus' resurrection? 00:30:59.680 --> 00:31:04.160 Jesus is said by Paul to be beginning. 00:31:04.400 --> 00:31:09.279 He is the beginning of the new creation, the firstborn from the dead. 00:31:13.039 --> 00:31:21.440 In verse 15 of chapter 20 of John, Jesus said to her, Woman, why are you weeping? 00:31:22.480 --> 00:31:25.359 Whom are you seeking? 00:31:28.960 --> 00:31:34.559 And it says, Supposing him to be the gardener. 00:31:38.720 --> 00:31:45.759 She said to him, Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you've laid him, and I will take him away. 00:31:47.359 --> 00:31:51.359 Supposing him to be the gardener, who is she talking to? 00:31:52.640 --> 00:31:53.519 Jesus. 00:32:09.519 --> 00:32:15.359 So when Adam and Eve walked with God in the cool of the day, who were they walking with? 00:32:15.839 --> 00:32:26.559 Is it quite possible they could have been walking with the second person of the Trinity, the physical manifestation of God, Jesus Himself in the garden in the very beginning? 00:32:30.400 --> 00:32:40.480 Whatever the answer to some of these questions are, I think it's interesting that she mistakes him for the gardeners, because what has he come to do? 00:32:40.720 --> 00:32:52.000 He has come to restore what was lost, to restore what was ruined, to take a catastrophe and turn it into something good. 00:32:59.759 --> 00:33:13.599 And so Jesus is recognized as the gardener, the one who's been resurrected to begin his process of restoration from ruin and catastrophe to what is good again. 00:33:16.640 --> 00:33:21.599 And it makes me think about the Lord's prayer. 00:33:44.799 --> 00:33:46.640 As it is in heaven. 00:33:52.319 --> 00:34:01.599 If we wanted to talk about heaven and we wanted to talk about how when Jesus comes, he will restore, he will bring, he will create a new heaven and a new earth. 00:34:01.759 --> 00:34:06.880 And it will be a full, complete restoration of everything that was lost. 00:34:07.279 --> 00:34:12.079 Until then, you and I are given the same commission. 00:34:12.559 --> 00:34:15.679 Go and make disciples of all nations. 00:34:18.559 --> 00:34:22.320 Go teach people about me, about my plan. 00:34:22.559 --> 00:34:26.079 Go teach them to follow the way of Jesus. 00:34:26.239 --> 00:34:44.239 All nations, all people groups, all people, every neighborhood, every country, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I've commanded, and I will be with you until the end of the ages. 00:34:44.559 --> 00:34:51.519 And so, what does this mean to you here as we celebrate the resurrection? 00:34:51.599 --> 00:34:53.199 What does it mean to you? 00:34:54.239 --> 00:35:14.239 For some of you, you need to be willing to say yes to God and to step into his grace for the very first time, like Mary did once all of those demons had been exercised out of her. 00:35:14.800 --> 00:35:19.280 And listen, if you have any demons, we'll exercise them tonight. 00:35:19.440 --> 00:35:21.920 But but a lot of you, it's not that you have demons. 00:35:22.079 --> 00:35:37.519 You are simply, listen, you have simply bought into the idea that what everybody else in this world is pursuing is simply what I should pursue when God says, Why don't you come and follow me? 00:35:37.679 --> 00:35:39.679 Jesus says, Come follow me. 00:35:40.719 --> 00:35:43.440 And as you follow me, you'll find hope. 00:35:43.679 --> 00:35:51.679 You'll find everything that transcends what the world wants to offer. 00:35:53.199 --> 00:35:57.840 Some of us need forgiveness. 00:35:58.719 --> 00:36:02.000 We need forgiveness for the first time from Jesus. 00:36:02.159 --> 00:36:06.559 Some of us need to forgive. 00:36:07.760 --> 00:36:12.239 You come in here tonight and there's some bitterness and there's some hurt. 00:36:13.280 --> 00:36:15.599 And you need to forgive. 00:36:16.320 --> 00:36:25.280 I can't say for sure what your greatest need is, but I would like for us just to pray for a moment and for you to consider. 00:36:26.719 --> 00:36:31.119 Let's lean into what the Holy Spirit, how He would speak to us. 00:36:31.280 --> 00:36:39.119 So would you just pray with me and let's just spend a moment asking what God wants to do in our hearts right now. 00:36:39.679 --> 00:36:52.159 Father, God, we pray right now, through the power of your Holy Spirit, God, that you would you would do a work in the hearts of every single person sitting here. 00:36:52.320 --> 00:37:00.559 And I pray specifically for the people that are watching online, for whatever reason, that are that are that are at home. 00:37:01.199 --> 00:37:03.039 God, would you work in their heart? 00:37:03.119 --> 00:37:07.599 Would you bring the Holy Spirit to work powerfully in their life? 00:37:08.880 --> 00:37:12.880 God, would you reveal right now what is our greatest need? 00:37:13.119 --> 00:37:16.000 Reveal to each one of us what is our greatest need. 00:37:16.159 --> 00:37:20.239 And for some of us, our greatest need is a relationship with Jesus. 00:37:20.480 --> 00:37:26.639 And we need to say yes to Jesus, and we need to repent, and we need to believe the good news. 00:37:28.480 --> 00:38:02.400 For others of us, it needs to, it might be to let go of bitterness, let go of the catastrophe or the ruin that has happened in our life up to this point, and realize that God is working a plan, and we are looking at the micro view rather than able being able to see the macro view, and we trust what your word says that you will take and you will work together all things for the good of those who love you and are called according to your purpose. 00:38:04.480 --> 00:38:11.679 And some of us have held bitterness against against the Lord, some of us have held bitterness against another person. 00:38:18.000 --> 00:38:20.000 So let's just give it a moment. 00:38:26.320 --> 00:38:28.559 Can I just ask you a question? 00:38:30.719 --> 00:38:33.039 Eyes are closed, heads are bowed. 00:38:33.519 --> 00:38:41.119 You would say, right now, right now, Russ, I need to repent. 00:38:41.199 --> 00:38:43.360 I need to put my faith in Jesus. 00:38:44.400 --> 00:38:47.840 I need to trust Jesus for the first time. 00:38:48.000 --> 00:38:49.760 Would you just lift your hand up? 00:38:50.239 --> 00:38:51.440 If that's you. 00:38:51.760 --> 00:38:54.480 Say, I need to trust Jesus for the first time. 00:38:54.800 --> 00:38:58.880 I'm gonna cross the line of faith and make Jesus Lord of my life. 00:38:59.039 --> 00:39:00.639 If that's you, raise your hand up. 00:39:00.800 --> 00:39:02.239 Raise it up where I can see it. 00:39:02.400 --> 00:39:02.800 Thank you. 00:39:03.039 --> 00:39:03.840 Thank you. 00:39:04.159 --> 00:39:04.960 Over here. 00:39:05.840 --> 00:39:07.119 Anyone else? 00:39:08.880 --> 00:39:10.000 Anybody? 00:39:13.119 --> 00:39:14.159 Raise your hand up. 00:39:14.320 --> 00:39:16.480 Say, I need to trust Jesus. 00:39:19.679 --> 00:39:26.079 How many of you would say, you know what, I rush, I've got another issue. 00:39:26.400 --> 00:39:33.679 I've got hurt, I've got pain, I've got bitterness, and I need to turn it over to the Lord. 00:39:34.159 --> 00:39:43.920 And I need to trust that He has a master plan, He has a macro plan, and that plan is to take what was seemed to be ruined. 00:39:45.360 --> 00:39:50.079 And that He we and I trust, I need to trust that He will restore it. 00:39:50.239 --> 00:39:52.719 If that's you, would you just lift your hand up? 00:39:53.039 --> 00:39:54.719 I want to pray for you. 00:39:55.199 --> 00:39:56.719 All over the room. 00:39:57.119 --> 00:39:58.559 All over the room. 00:40:02.320 --> 00:40:06.320 And so I want to um ask the team just to kind of lead us. 00:40:06.400 --> 00:40:10.480 And I you know, some of some of you might need some specific prayer. 00:40:13.199 --> 00:40:14.880 Just for a moment this morning. 00:40:15.039 --> 00:40:28.559 We're just gonna get to a second, but if you would like for a specific prayer to be prayed over you, I'm gonna ask you to get out of your chair and to walk down to one of these side areas. 00:40:28.960 --> 00:40:31.840 And I'm just gonna ask one of our leaders to pray for you. 00:40:32.000 --> 00:40:35.840 There's something about having somebody pray specifically over you. 00:40:36.000 --> 00:40:38.639 If that's you, let's just take a second. 00:40:40.000 --> 00:40:48.880 And step up, stand up, and walk down to these side areas, and we'll have somebody pray for you. 00:40:50.000 --> 00:40:50.960 Is that you? 00:40:53.119 --> 00:40:54.880