The Resurrection of Jesus Christ

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  The Resurrection of Jesus Christ

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  Well. It is a privilege and joy to open God's Word with you this morning. Turn to John chapter 20. Uh, this is a particularly special Sunday as we look at the resurrection of Jesus. It was our own, I guess we'll call him a local legend down in Charlotte, Billy Graham, who said, if I did not believe that Christ rose bodily from the grave, I would quit preaching. Amen. Kurtis mentioned it earlier because Paul said it If Christ is not raised, our preaching is in vain. Your faith is worthless because you're still in your sin. That's where we left off Friday night when Jesus said, it is finished on the cross. What is the last proof of evidence that that actually went through? That it was paid in full. And if Christ is not raised, we're not convinced by the text in front of us today, then what are we actually doing here? If there ever is a time and a place to be reminded of the wonderful Catechism, what is our only hope in life and death? It's Christ. That he lived and he died, and he rose again. It's found in John 20. So if you have a Bible, follow along. If you don't, check the seat back in the chair in front of you for a copy. This is arguably the most important chapter in the Bible. The resurrection of Jesus Christ. It holds it all together, and it deserves our full attention today. And I will read it in its entirety starting in verse one.
  "Now, on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene came early to the tomb while it was still dark, and saw the stone already taken away from the tomb. So she ran and came to Simon Peter and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved, and said to them, they have taken away the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him. So Peter and the other disciple went forth, and they were going to the tomb. The two were running together, and the other disciple ran ahead faster than Peter and came to the tomb first. And stooping and looking in, he saw the linen wrappings lying there, but he did not go in. And so Simon Peter also came following him and entered the tomb. And he saw the linen wrappings lying there, and the face cloth which had been on his head, not lying with the linen wrappings, but rolled up in a place by itself. So the other disciple, who had first come to the tomb, then also entered, and he saw and believed. For as yet they did not understand the scripture, that he must rise again from the dead. So the disciples went away again to their homes. But Mary was standing outside the tomb weeping. And so as she wept, she stooped and looked into the tomb, and she saw two angels in white sitting, one at the head and one at the feet, where the body of Jesus had been lying. And they said to her, woman, why are you weeping? And she said to them, because they have taken away my lord, and I do not know where they have laid him. When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, and did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking? 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 Hebrew, Rabboni, which means teacher. Jesus said to her, stop clinging to me, for I have not yet ascended to the father, but go to my brethren, and say to them, I ascend to my father, and your father, and my God, and your God. Mary Magdalene came announcing to the disciples, I have seen the Lord, and that he had said these things to her. So when it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and when the doors were shut where the disciples were for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in their midst and said to them, peace be with you. And when he had said this, he showed them both his hands in his side. The disciples then rejoiced when they saw the Lord. So Jesus said to them again, peace be with you, as the Father has sent me, I also send you. And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, their sins have been forgiven them. If you retain the sins of any, they have been retained. But Thomas, one of the 12 called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples were saying to him, we have seen the Lord. But he said to them, unless I see in his hands the imprint of the nails, and put my finger into the place of the nails, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe. After eight days his disciples were again inside, and Thomas with them. Jesus came, and the doors, having been shut, stood in their midst and said, peace be with you. Then he said to Thomas, reach here with your finger, and see my hands. And reach here your hand and put it into my side. And do not be unbelieving but believing. Thomas answered and said to him, my Lord and my God. Jesus said to him, because you have seen me, have you believed? Blessed are they who did not see and yet believed. Therefore, many other signs Jesus also performed in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book. But these have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in his name."
  Thus reads the Word of God. The grass withers and we are like grass, and the flower fades, but the Word of God endures forever. Amen.  
  There is such an extraordinary nature to John 20. After spending time in it this last week, I could close my eyes and I could see it play out. It is arguably the most beautiful depiction of all the depictions of the resurrection, the movement between the different witnesses and then where it ends. The power of it is so much so it feels rather electric, which we should expect it to feel that way. If it is a true story about a man rising from the dead. It's beyond imagination. We have those moments in our lives where something so amazing happens to us, or that we are part of that we witness an unforgettable event and nothing can take it from our memory. There's some electricity still left in that moment when we conjured up in our minds, maybe as a child, some amazing experience of being the hero of the game. Maybe it was the time you met eyes across the room or the first date. Maybe it was graduating from high school or college being the first one in your family to do so. Maybe it was the engagement day or the wedding day. Maybe it was the birth of your first child. Maybe it was when the Steelers beat the Cardinals in Super Bowl 43. February 1st, 2009. Those moments are unforgettable. When we read John 20, it has such an amazing appeal that nothing and no one can take it away from us. Even a communist naysayer like Nikolai Ivanovich Bukharin couldn't stop it one day in 1930. At the time, he was one of the most influential men on earth. A Russian revolutionary. A contemporary serving under Lenin and then Stalin, who took part in the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917. It was in 1930 he went on a trip from Moscow to Kiev to address a massive crowd on the topic of atheism and its merits. Inevitably, it quickly turned into an all out assault on Christianity, and he, a genius in his own right, argued against the faith skillfully. At the end of his talk, he was confident that he had convinced the crowd that they should embrace atheism. So he turned to the audience and boldly opened it up to any questions. Deafening silence filled the auditorium. That is, until an Orthodox priest went up to the platform. He looked at the crowd and then shouted the ancient greeting. Well known in the Russian Orthodox Church, Christ is risen! And at once the crowd stood up and responded, he is risen indeed! What can give a beleaguered people like that such deep rooted conviction in such an unexpected situation? The New Testament has a clear and simple answer. It’s true. Those people, just like disciples and just like you today, believed with all their heart that the tomb was empty and that Jesus had risen from the dead. And people for two millennia have believed Jesus has risen from the dead for the simple fact that he did. My prayer today is that as we walk through this account from John the Apostle, the writer of this gospel, and eye witness to these historical events of seeing the risen Lord, it will have the same encouraging, convicting, invigorating effect that has had for all the ages who are disciples of Jesus. And we will look at the resurrection of Jesus from the eyes of four sets of people today. And I believe if we simply observe what they heard, saw, felt, and responded, we will find ourselves overwhelmed in joy with the most amazing day in history that changed all of humanity.
  So first, let's first talk about John and Peter and what they experienced as they race to the tomb that day in verses 1 to 10. The full title of this painting, the disciples Peter and John running to the sepulchre on the morning of the resurrection, was by a little known Swiss artist named Eugene Burnand, 1898 it was his best known work. I love how one Christian art critic put it. The picture crackles with kinetic energy. It is a study in desperate anticipation. Surely is also the posture with which we should approach Easter leaning in, wringing our hands, clutching our chests, desperate for it to be true. Verse one. It was the first day of the week, and Mary Magdalene came early to the tomb while it was still dark, and saw the stone rolled away. John brings us into his energized testimony that morning with a quick survey of the action. It's the first day of the week in Jewish counting of days. They don't name them, but it would be Sunday for us. And by the way, in case you've ever wondered, why is today the day we gather? It's this reason established in early church tradition. The Lord's Day is the first day, and from that time till now, Sunday is the day we gather. Mary comes early to the tomb, and you're wondering if you know the other gospels, where are the other women? John doesn't mention them by name. Mind you, he is telling this account. 40 to 50 years after it happened and he's not getting into the minutia. But we do know the other women were there in accordance with the other accounts because of Mary's response in verse two. Do you see what she says? They have taken away the Lord out of the tomb, and we. The other women were with her. It's just in John's retelling of this event. He wants the focus to be on Mary, because he's going to return to her eyewitness testimony later. She sees the stone rolled away and hotfoots it in verse two to John and Peter to break the bad news. And so then in verses 3 to 5, John humbly recounts he is the other disciple in this story with Peter. He recounts that he outruns Peter in verse four. We don't know why he ran ahead faster, whether it was excitement or it was his age. Some believe he was younger than the older Peter, but for whatever reason, he gets there first and he stoops and looks in. It's the vision they want to give you. He wants to give you that. James 125 uses the same phrase when it says, we are to look intently into the law of Christ, the law of liberty, and by looking into it, you are blessed by it. That's this word. It's a close examination. And he saw the linen wrappings lying there, but he did not go in. In bursts peter. Right by him. Verse six. I actually picture Pastor Kurtis and John Crick. Kurtis, of course, would outrun John to the tomb. Speed wins. But you know, our former All-American D lineman would blitz right past Kurtis and burst his way into that tomb, excited, taking in everything around him. That's how I picture this. I actually was trying to figure out, could I with the use of AI or something, get Kurtis and John's face on that picture so young people figure it out. We would love to see a recreation of that wonderful painting with our beloved elders. The detail that John keeps repeating that he wants us all not to miss is what changed it for him. It was three times repeated. Seeing the linen wrappings, he writes that he saw them in verse five. But then Peter who gave a closer examination by busting right in and getting up close, sees not just those linen wrappings. He sees the head wrapping rolled up in a place by itself. The detail gets mentioned because John wants us to know this was it for him. Maybe Peter at first or John at first missed that detail, and then Peter's close examination made him see it and believe it. Believe what? That Christ had risen. He saw and believed. That's the most important line in this first account, that the linen wrappings and the head covering did something to trigger in John his latent faith. The faith that, yes, has been dulled in the three days since Jesus died. Dulled to what? Christ's words. His prediction. John, of course, believed in Jesus. We know this. Just looking back to Thursday night because Jesus says it about he and the other disciples when he is washing Peter's feet. And he says to all of them, he who has bathed needs only to wash his feet, but is completely clean. And you speaking to the disciples, except not all of you, not the one who would betray me. But he says, all of you are clean. And then he repeats it in John 15. Verse three, you speaking to those 11 who were still there, Judas has left the building. You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. So John is not speaking here of his saving faith, but there was something in his faith that had been dulled since the death of Christ. And what's the reason for it? Well, he tells you in verse nine, speaking as himself and Peter, as yet they did not understand the Scripture that he must rise again from the dead. That was the missing piece. But when he saw it, it all came together for him. Alluding back to John 2:22 when Jesus and the first Passover goes to the temple, and he clears the temple out, and the Jews say to him, what sign do you show to us as your authority for doing these things? And he says, destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. And the Jews said, it took 46 years to build this temple, and you will raise it up in three days. But he was speaking of the temple of his body. And listen to this John 2:22. This is when it clicks for Peter or for John when he remembers this in The Empty Tomb. John 2:22. So when Jesus was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he said this, and they believed the Scripture and the word which Jesus had spoken. This is the moment it all came together for John. It was held together by believing in the word of Christ without even seeing the body of Christ. What does Romans 10 tell us? Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of Christ. It was the scripture John had to recall. The events of the last two days, had yes, put a little bit of a fog in front of his thinking. Just the same was true with Peter. Luke 24:12 says that he went away from this occasion wondering what happened. But here is the wonder and amazement of John's reinvigorated belief he hadn't seen the risen Lord. He is actually unique in all the eyewitness accounts. He's the only disciple that didn't need to see him in order to believe. He just needed the words to come back. And all it took was the empty tomb and linen cloths to trigger that. Friends, true believer, what is it that enlightens your dull heart the most. Is it not the Word of Christ, the living and active Word of God, used by the spirit, his sword, to divide us up to the most intimate part of us, soul and spirit, when we have grown dull in the faith and our affections for Christ, and even believing. Is it all true? It's the Word of God. Psalm 19 says it's pure. It enlightens the eyes. It allows us to see again. That's the first eyewitness account we get. We need God's word to wake us up, even this morning, do we not? And the true believer knows that. The times where we are most glazed over to the glory of God and the work of Christ in our lives. Go back to His word and trust him to do it.  
  So we start with our look into the resurrection, with a word on an empty tomb and the faith that can ensue, but from a dulled disciple now to a discouraged disciple, let's see how faith comes alive in Mary and what she experienced as she waited around for answers. Another depiction of this is by Rembrandt called Christ and Saint Mary Magdalene at the tomb from 1638. Surprisingly enough, he sticks close to the passage with some of the detail. Critics of it noting Christ's appearance as purposely vague. And I could see it in all your eyes. You're like, what? Who in the...why is Jesus wearing a sombrero? That clearly would have thrown Mary and all of us off? But it's her twisted posture, symbolic of the painful view she had of the reality and the darkness right before the dawn, Half in the light, half in the dark. When her faith comes alive. And that is the shift of the scene we have in verse 11, the disciples go away on somewhat of an excited high. Even though Peter was wondering, he was amazed, according to Luke account, John believed. So we leave off on something good to go to something dark. Verse 11. Mary, we don't know how long she was standing outside the tomb weeping, and as she wept she, same language of John, same language of Peter, stooped and looked into the tomb. She doesn't notice the clothes. It says she saw two angels sitting, one at the head and one at the feet, where the body of Jesus was lying, had been lying. Quite different what people can notice in their times of despair and dullness, isn't it? Had the angels been there when Peter and John ran in? We don't know. But they were there for when Mary goes in, and that's what she sees. They ask a question, woman, why are you weeping? And she says to them, because they've taken away, my lord, and I do not know where they have laid him. Her answer reveals very clearly her hope at that moment was not in a risen Lord. Zero. Was she a woman of faith? Yes. But like Peter and John, she did not understand the piece of the puzzle that was the resurrection. She was in despair. She was despondent. She turns around. She senses someone is in the room, and she sees Jesus standing. But she doesn't know it's him. She got a good look at him. Some sense of sentimentalism would carry on that she couldn't see him through her tears, maybe. I don't think the focus anymore is on her tears. When she sees him and doesn't recognize him. She was in her right mind enough to keep her mind on the same thing, right? She just wanted to know one thing. Where is the body? She sticks to that. That's the first thing she's worried about when she's told the disciples back in verse two. It's what she tells the angels, and it's what she says back to Jesus in verse 15 when he asks, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking? You know, I wonder, in whom are you seeking? Is that Jesus trying to kind of wake her up a little bit? But she sticks to her guns. Sir. She's honorable in that response. If you've carried him away, tell me where you've laid him. She thinks he's the gardener. I think that's why Rembrandt in the picture had him holding a shovel. And the sombrero. It's likely that she did not recognize him because of his glorified state. It seemed to be the same case for the disciples on the Emmaus Road in Luke 24. All that said, like John, something else, even beyond the appearance of the risen Christ, would have to break the spell of despair. Mary broke the spell of despair. He called her name. The beauty of the narrative at this point is that John doesn't overexplain the tone of his voice or the familiar sound. Whatever it was about Jesus saying, Mary, it worked. And you can draw so many soul encouraging implications from that, can't you, believer? Yes. The personal call of Jesus to the brokenhearted is everything. I hope some of you can latch on to that today, because some of you are brokenhearted. You are in despair. You're depressed. You're despondent. There are many things that can help you in that. But there is only one who can heal you of that. It's Christ. It's Christ himself. All the work we do laboring in discipleship and counseling and pointing people to hope there isn't anything better that we can do for you this morning than point you to Jesus Christ Himself. We see the change it makes in Mary. Right away she responds back Rabboni, which is an honorable title of master and teacher and Lord. And then she calls to him, and then she clings to him. I can relate. When I'm gone for a little amount of time, one of the best things about coming home is Shannon coming and giving me a hug. And she just doesn't let go. And then the kids come and jump up on Dad, and they jump up on dad now just to get something from me, but they used to jump up on dad. Just wanted to hold me for a little bit. So we get what's going on here and we know what's going on here because Jesus says, stop clinging to me. And it's not a harsh rebuke because of what he says after. Here's why you can't stay with me, Mary. The moment this is okay, but I haven't yet ascended to the Father. What's he saying there?  I must go back to heaven. I've told you this all along, but go to my brothers and say to them. So here's your mission, Mary. I ascend to my Father and your Father and my God. Your God. What's he saying there? Why this response? There's a lot of speculation, but the most simple is that he's reminding her of what he's been saying all along. I must return to my Father in heaven. I promised I would send you something even greater, the indwelling Holy Spirit, to fill all of you to fulfill my mission. Same God, same team. For the sake of the gospel. To the ends of the earth. Ready? Break! That's what he's doing there. ?. This is what you do from this point on. Just like it was in Acts. We're not standing around looking into heaven. We're activated and empowered to do what? Go tell the world about Christ that he's risen. So she's the first one with that mission. And Mary. So awesome. She does it right away. Verse 18, no break in the action. She comes announcing to the disciples, I've seen the Lord. He's risen and all that he had said to her. Unlike John, she did need to see the risen Lord for her faith to come alive again. But even seeing him, she needed. What? The Word, the reminder. The call. Mary, you know me. Come on. Get out of that funk that you're in and get to work. Get to work. The same courageous drive that had kept her at the cross. That had kept her coming back to the tomb, now sends her from brokenhearted to bold faith. It's the call of Christ. It's the Word again. Seeing him and hearing him, and that doing something in her despondency breaks the spell and off she goes. Christ does that for you, believer.  
  Last person to note today the infamous Doubting Thomas, part of a group of doubters to boot. Now, you probably knew this picture was coming. Um, my personal favorite was the first one of Peter and John. But this is probably the most well-known of the three. The goat of the resurrection paintings done by Michelangelo Caravaggio in 1603, called The Incredulity of Saint Thomas. The. The poignancy of the image itself takes us back. But what is noted about this painting is the contrasts, the contrasts. The shadows of doubt that sweep over Thomas. But the closer he is to Christ, he's not drawn back into the light of faith. Well, that basically exegeted this last section so we can move on. Just kidding. The truth is, this whole scene, 19 to 29, isn't just about Doubting Thomas, it's the whole group. He gets singled out from the group only because he wasn't there. That first Sunday, verse 19, when Jesus appears, we don't know why he wasn't there. We know from earlier appearances in the Gospel of John. Back in chapter 11. When Jesus finds out that Lazarus is dead and, it's amazing what Thomas of all the disciples says in response to. I'm glad for your sakes that I was not there so that you may believe. Let's go to him, the dead one. And, Thomas, in some loyal expression of I don't know what. Says to the other disciples, let us also go so that we may die with him. He doesn't quite know what he's even saying there. What he's getting into there. He's just going, hey, if this is what Christ says, I'm with him. That's the. Uniqueness of Thomas. Also, we hear from him in John 14 when Jesus says, don't let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God. Believe in me. I'm going away to prepare a place for you. And when I go, I'll come again and receive you to myself. And you know the way where I am going. And Thomas says to Jesus, Lord, we do not know where you are going. How bold. He just says, you know the way I'm going. No we don't. But this is the heart of Thomas. How will we know the way? Like he wants to stay close to you. Do you get that about Thomas? So maybe that broadens our view of this doubter. That when he isn't there in the upper room that night, the other disciples are. Maybe it's because he was the most devastated of them all. He's gone and I'm gone. And he's some lone wolf howling at the moon by himself. Because he just wanted to be with his Lord still. But my guess would be, judging by his response in 24 to 29, that had he been there that night, he would have responded the same way as them. So hence, I think it's a bunch of doubting disciples. They had the door shut for fear of the Jews. I mean, they had been told earlier in the day by Mary. The disciples had heard, he's risen. And do you see any of those other disciples running out into the streets looking for the risen Christ? No, there was doubt in all of them. So he comes and says, peace to you, but let's move forward to the but Thomas moment in verse 24. An inauspicious start. Like with Mary. He is pessimistic and obtuse to a degree, as one commentator called him. And I can resonate with that. I think I would have had a similar response. If I wasn't there to see it and believe it. Partly because it could be too good to be true. And you didn't want to get your hopes up too high, right? I want to see him for myself. So verse 25, he makes the claim, the famous claim heard round the Christian world. Until I see in his hands the imprint of the nails. And put my finger into the place of the nails, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe. So Eight days later, Sunday to Sunday. Counting those days, it's the Lord's day. They're inside again. The door is still shut. You know. Bold faith, right? No, they're still scared. But he's there this time and in repetitious style. The disciples are inside. The door is shut. Jesus appears in their midst and he repeats, peace be to you. It's interesting to note the repetitioncost of first classstamp 2025 of the peace be with you. Third time it's mentioned. The peace be to you coming after the "it is finished". Romans 5:1. Having been justified, you have what? What do you have? You have peace with God through the Lord Jesus Christ. Justification by the atoning work of Christ on your behalf. Finishing it on the cross. Your sins paid for in full. First thing, you get out of that. Peace with God. Do you see the connection? So the great last words at the cross it is finished. Lead into the first words to the disciples. Peace to you. Verse 27. And then he goes right to Thomas. Hey, Guy, were you the one that wanted to see me in person? Go ahead. Reach here with your finger and see my hands. And reach here your hand and put it into my side. He's saying it word for word. You know, it never says that. Thomas did it. Sorry, Caravaggio. We don't get that detail in the text. I think that this was enough for Thomas just to know that the Lord knew. The Lord knew his doubt. The Lord knew his doubt, word for word. And he invites him. Bring me your doubts. I'm right here. What is it you need from me? You know I'm still with you. Just like I said I would be. His words again. Producing faith. Faith that had doubts. You know, it reminds me of a passage in the beginning of John. If you turn to John 1, there's a similar dialogue between a doubting disciple and Jesus. But it's at the beginning of the story, not the end. It's when a disciple named Nathaniel, also a pessimistic and obtuse disciple, if you want to call him them that. And Jesus has revealed himself as the Lamb of God sent to take away the sin of the world, he's invited disciples to hang out with him. And then Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, goes, we have found the Messiah and brings him to Jesus. And the next day they go into Galilee and Jesus says, follow me. And Philip finds Nathaniel and says, we found him who Moses in the law and the prophets wrote Jesus of Nazareth, Nazareth. And Nathaniel says, in that cynical, doubting attitude, can any good thing come out of Nazareth? So Jesus looks at him and commends him, hey, there's an Israelite indeed. In who? There's no deceit, no guile. You're a straight ahead guy, Nathaniel. You want the facts? You're not here for the fluff. And so Nathaniel calls him on it. How do you know me? And Jesus answers and says, before Philip called you when you were under the fig tree, I saw you. Oh. How did you see me? So he answers him. And it's the one of the first great confessions. Rabbi, you are the Son of God. You are the king of Israel. See the connection here. See what John is doing masterfully in his story. Doubts at the beginning that all Jesus had to do was meet Nathaniel right in those doubts and bring them to the forefront. What is he doing here at the end? He's meeting Thomas right in those doubts, and he's drawing them out, not shaming him for them. And then he says, and so don't be unbelieving. But believing in Thomas answers, just like Nathaniel's great confession, he has a great confession, my Lord and my God. Amazing. Another disciple goes from a weak faith, a flickering and smothered faith where the fires seem to be dying out. But in a blaze of Christ's revealed glory, he reignites Thomas's heart to burn until you pull all these things together. In all three cases, each one was different. Dulled faith. Despondent faith and doubting faith. All it took was the word of Christ. All it took was him appearing to them, two of them out of the three, and speaking to them. And then he, that is, John captures this amazing line in verse 29, Jesus said to him, because you have seen me, have you believed? Blessed are they who did not see and yet believed. He uses this moment, this line of Christ, to summarize not just this amazing resurrection account, but his entire gospel to this moment. When he says in verse 29, because you have seen me, you believe. He's not saying that's a bad thing. Why does John want to highlight this? It's because it's the whole point of which he wrote his gospel. It's the Book of signs. The Apostolic Witness was built on the evidence of Jesus' life, death and resurrection. They saw it. They were the ones who witnessed the risen Lord, the apostles. So seeing to believe was a big part, the biggest part of these men taking the gospel message all over the world. Most of them were willing to die for it. So there's nothing wrong for them to have to see to believe. It's what the Apostolic Witness was we saw. What does John say at the beginning of his epistle? What does he start with? That which was from the beginning, which I saw with my own eyes and touched with my hands the Word of life that never got away from him. The reality, the fact that he saw Jesus Christ risen from the dead. But here's the remarkable thing John does in this moment, in verse 29, He takes that last line. Blessed are they who did not see and yet believe. And the camera zooms out on that last line in the upper room, and it starts to turn. And it's no longer on the disciples. It's on you and it's on me. He pulls you in to this discussion. Blessed are they who did not see and yet believe. That's talking about us 2000 years later, sitting in a comfy chair in Hickory. We are those who will hear and believe. Even though we didn't see. And he says you are blessed. What does that mean? Doesn't mean you got a great parking spot this morning. So blessed. Or that if I end early, you will beat the crowds to Golden Corral. Double blessed. The word blessed means. You are favored by God and that you have saving faith. That's the ultimate blessing to be favored by God in his grace, to find you and call you and bring you out of darkness and into the light. That's the blessing that those who would not see and yet believe would have eternal life. This is the brilliant way John ends this gospel. He's thinking of you. Someone in the future with the opportunity to hear about Jesus, the Son of God, who came to take away the sin of the world. So that's why, way back in chapter one, he started telling Jesus' story as the Word that was with God and that was God. And now we get to the end and he ties it together with a disciple who confesses what, my Lord and my God. This is what he was moving up to. This point is to turn it on you, the reader. And in verse 30 he says it. This is what I was trying to do. All the other signs Jesus performed in the presence of the disciples. I couldn't fit them all in here. I gave you a bunch of them. I didn't give you all of them, but that's why I wrote this witness, this account. I wanted you to see and believe he did everything that God would do coming to earth. But the miracles, all of the wonderful things he did, the turning the water into wine and to the healing the sick, and to helping the blind to see and to raising Lazarus from the dead. They were all signs to point to what? To point to him? That he was Lord. That he was God. But he saved the greatest sign for last, didn't he? Right here. The resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. The empty tomb, the folded linens, the transformed disciples. All of it. A sign all remembered and recorded for you to see. Verse 31. Friend, put yourself in it. Read your name here. These have been written so that Adam would believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. Put your name in it. These were written so Dave would believe, and he did. And that Tom would believe, and Tim would believe. Is your name in there because you've believed? That's why this is here. It's not just a history story today. It is fact. But it's to produce what faith that you would believe that Jesus is everything he said he was, the Son of God. And by believing you'd have life in his name. Do you have life in his name today? It's not something I could give you. I can plead. And that's all I'm called to do, is to be a proclaimer of it. But I can't show you Christ. I can't make him appear. He's got to speak to you through his Word right now, where you sit and you believe the word of Christ being preached to you or you don't. And if you don't believe the opposite is true in verse 31, you will not have life in his name. There is only one name by which men or women may be saved. It's Jesus Christ. To believe in the name is to believe everything about him today. You may not know everything about him today. I mean, you saw it in the lives of Peter and John and Mary and Thomas. They had faith, but they just didn't know the whole story. But it was enough to save, you know, enough of Christ to be saved. Today, sitting there where you are, the only thing holding you back is your unbelief. And those who don't believe. He who believes in the Son has eternal life, but he who does not obey the Son will not see life. This gospel call this proclamation that Jesus Christ is Lord is not just an idea. It's an imperative. It's a command. You must believe on the Lord Jesus Christ to be saved. And if you do not obey the call of the gospel on you this morning, you will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on you. That's a very sobering reality. Do you believe in Jesus Christ, the Son of God, sent to take away the sin of the world? Christ right now offers himself to you through the gospel for you to receive him by faith. How do you do that? Confess two things. That you're a sinner. And you call on him a savior. So wonderfully put by Thomas, my Lord and my God. Do you know him as your Lord and your God? He said, my sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. It's not about me calling you to faith today. It's about Christ's call on you to faith. Look to the Lord and be saved. Now for all y'all who know him as Lord today. It is true the Gospel of John has, of all the Gospels, the most evangelistic aim. But there is something for you, the believer today, not just for your faith to be reinvigorated. I want to remind you of your job by a section I skipped over verses 21 to 23. They looked like the most difficult verses in this chapter because they are. But what do they mean? We shouldn't overcomplicate it. He comes in, he says, peace to you as the Father has sent me, I also sent you. So anything you're going to try to understand after that, you got to understand through this. This is the first fruits of the great commission of the great Activation of Acts where he's saying, look, the father sent me on a mission I send you. What was Jesusmission? John 4:34. My food is due to the will of him who sent me to accomplish his work. Did he do it? He accomplished it. He died on the cross. It was finished. He rose again for our justification. It's time he goes back. So after that, then here's where everybody's. What is going on in verse 22 to 23, when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, Receive the Holy Spirit. He's doing something symbolic in this moment. The Holy Spirit, Word itself. The idea was wind, breath. So he breathes on him and he says, Receive the Holy Spirit. It's a first fruit of what the fullness was going to be at Pentecost. And clearly they were not filled to the full because they didn't really get after it until Pentecost, did they? The boldness, the activity, the preaching. It didn't happen here. It happened there. And then verse 23, he says, not only am I going to empower you, but here's your message forgiveness of sin, verse 23, that's what that's about. You are proclaimers of the gospel. And at the heart of the gospel is a simple message the Son of God who came into the world to save sinners. You can have your sins forgiven. That's verse 23. He's not saying you personally will forgive people's sins. You will, on behalf of Christ, proclaim the gospel. And people could say, my sin. Yes, your sins could be forgiven. How could you possibly say that you don't have the ability to forgive sins? No, I don't have the ability to forgive sins. But I can tell you who does. I'm a proclaimer. So are you. So he basically says to those disciples, there, you got one job. Preach the gospel. Tell people they can be forgiven. You know what, friends? That's the mission of all of us, though. It just doesn't rest on those first disciples. It's our job, and it's more than a mission. What is it? It's a privilege, isn't it? It's an honor. It's a joy that we get to tell others the greatest news there is that sinners can be saved. You have the power of the resurrection life of Christ in you. You have the presence of the Holy Spirit in you with all of his graces and gifts. You have the perfect and inspired Word of God to instruct you. You have the partnership of the Body of Christ to go with you. If you think of what we have today with what the disciples had then, you know there's only one thing we do not have. The excuse not to do it.  
  Let's pray. Father, we thank you that we have been saved and set apart and sent even if we stay here. We have the greatest news in the world. And we pray this morning that by the work of your Spirit and the Word, that the resurrection of Christ reinvigorates in our own lives, in our own hearts, a passion to tell, to not stand around. To not cling, but to go and to preach and to teach and to start a Bible study on our streets or in our school, or start within our own home with our kids, that we would be invigorated by the truth of the resurrection that Christ you live. And so we live as well, and we live for you. Help us to do that today. We ask in your name, Christ. Amen.