Signs 8: The Resurrection of Jesus
Notes
Transcript
Bookmarks & Needs:
Bookmarks & Needs:
B: John 20:1-18
N:
Welcome
Welcome
Welcome to those in the room and those online. Thanks to the praise band for leading us in musical worship this morning.
Independence Celebration was a great success. Thanks to Deanna and everyone who worked together to make that night such a great time for our church family.
Announcements
Announcements
Prayer for Student Ministry this week:
Bounce: 8 students, 4 adults, doing roofing in Waco, TX
Youth Praise team attending Worship 4 Life camp
Rachel Brach attending YXL leadership conference for students
Kennan Adams attending Summit conference for students
Kyra, Anneleise, and Jeremiah Brasel attending AWANA Camp
Guiden Delaney is at Southwest Bible Camp
andrew Urquhart at ciy
World Hunger/Disaster Relief offering; Goal $5700. Given so far $1455. A little about how BCNM Disaster Relief served during the fires earlier this year.
Opening
Opening
We’re in the last two weeks of our series called “Signs,” and we’ve looked at the seven miraculous signs that were recorded by John that gave testimony to Jesus’ identity as Messiah and as God. Last week was our look at the seventh of these signs, the raising of Lazarus from the dead. So why do we have two more weeks in this series? I’m glad you asked. This week, we’re going to look at one last miraculous thing that Jesus did that proved His identity, and next week, we’ll look at one more ongoing thing that points to it as well. So let’s open our Bibles or Bible apps to the Gospel of John, chapter 20, and read the first 18 verses together:
1 On the first day of the week Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early, while it was still dark. She saw that the stone had been removed from the tomb. 2 So she went running to Simon Peter and to the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, and said to them, “They’ve taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they’ve put him!” 3 At that, Peter and the other disciple went out, heading for the tomb. 4 The two were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and got to the tomb first. 5 Stooping down, he saw the linen cloths lying there, but he did not go in. 6 Then, following him, Simon Peter also came. He entered the tomb and saw the linen cloths lying there. 7 The wrapping that had been on his head was not lying with the linen cloths but was folded up in a separate place by itself. 8 The other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, then also went in, saw, and believed. 9 For they did not yet understand the Scripture that he must rise from the dead. 10 Then the disciples returned to the place where they were staying. 11 But Mary stood outside the tomb, crying. As she was crying, she stooped to look into the tomb. 12 She saw two angels in white sitting where Jesus’s body had been lying, one at the head and the other at the feet. 13 They said to her, “Woman, why are you crying?” “Because they’ve taken away my Lord,” she told them, “and I don’t know where they’ve put him.” 14 Having said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not know it was Jesus. 15 “Woman,” Jesus said to her, “why are you crying? Who is it that you’re seeking?” Supposing he was the gardener, she replied, “Sir, if you’ve carried him away, tell me where you’ve put him, and I will take him away.” 16 Jesus said to her, “Mary.” Turning around, she said to him in Aramaic, “Rabboni!”—which means “Teacher.” 17 “Don’t cling to me,” Jesus told her, “since I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and tell them that I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.” 18 Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord!” And she told them what he had said to her.
PRAYER (CBA church: Del Norte Baptist Church, Michael Vallandingham pastor)
Have you ever predicted you would do something cool, and then it happened just the way you predicted it? I’m not saying that you’re clairvoyant or something, but you just correctly predict how something is going to turn out. It’s just cool when that happens, isn’t it?
Many of you might not know this, but Eastern Hills used to be big into church league softball. We had I think three men’s teams and one women’s team at one point. I was on the team kind of designated the “young guns” back in the 90’s. Several of the guys from that team are still around: Dave, Wayne, Eric… We’re not so young anymore. Anyway, I was always more a spray hitter than a power hitter, except for one year that I found my swing: 1999. I hit my first over-the-fence home run on July 9, 1999, 23 years ago yesterday. But that first one told me that I could hit the long ball.
I don’t remember how many homers I hit that year. It was several. But one in particular stands out to me. We were playing a game one night at Bullhead softball complex out at the end of Gibson. I was about to go up, and there were 2 guys on base. It was an exciting game, as I recall.
Now, Dave had this bat. It was a green DiMarini triple wall, and I’m sure he paid a pretty penny for it. No one but Dave used that bat. That night, when I was about to go up with guys on base in a close game, I asked Dave if I could use his bat. “If you let me use it, I promise I’ll hit it out,” I told him. Dave said ok, and I went up to the plate with that impressive piece of softball swatting technology. I had a rule not to swing at the first pitch, so I let that one go. Next one was a ball, outside. The third pitch was just what I liked.
And I crushed it. Over the left field fence. We went on to win the game. It’s one of my favorite personal sports memories.
There’s just something so neat about predicting a result, and then stepping up and having it happen. In reality, though...I had no real control over what happened. I had to hit the ball, sure. But I couldn’t predict if I would get good pitches. I couldn’t really predict if I would hit the ball over the fence. Regardless, moments before it happened, I predicted it.
Now, what about two years prior? Could I have predicted during our season of 1997, when I had never hit a homer before, that I would hit one out in 1999? Of course not! I couldn’t know what was going to happen. I mean, I could have taken some steps to make something like that more likely, like practicing, lifting weights, going to the batting cages (I didn’t really do any of those things). Maybe I could have then accurately predicted that I was going to hit a homer sometime. But could I have predicted something as specific as what happened? No way. Or even more to the point: could I have accurately predicted that I was going to hit a home run in a game that I wasn’t even playing in? Not a chance.
And this is just talking about home runs in softball games. Hardly miraculous stuff. But what we’re going to find this morning is that Jesus predicted way more than a slow-pitch homer. He predicted His death and resurrection, the central event in the Christian faith, and in fact, the central event of all time.
1) The sign predicted
1) The sign predicted
We’re going to rewind WAY back in the Gospel of John this morning before we get to our focal passage. Does anyone remember Jesus’ first sign? Turning water into wine at the wedding in Cana. I said in that first message that Jesus always kept the end in mind: He knew that His path led directly to the cross.
Something that’s really interesting about the Gospel of John is that it can be hard to maintain a clear perspective on the passage of time in its narrative. I’ve created a graphic to help us visualize this. See, from the end of the first chapter through chapter 11 is almost the entirety of Jesus’ earthly ministry. Chapters 12 through almost the end of 20 cover the span of just 8 days, with chapters 13-19 only covering a single day’s time. The end of 20 through 21 are the post-resurrection appearances, which we know from Acts 1:3 to have occurred over a period of 40 days. Because of the time compression of the first 11 chapters, we might find it difficult to remember how much time is passing.
So how do we know how long Jesus’ earthly ministry was? Well, we use the Passovers mentioned to determine that. Passover happens once a year, and three Passovers are mentioned in the Gospel of John: in John 2, John 6, and then at the end of John 11 (continuing into 12). So we can infer that Jesus’ earthly ministry was more than TWO years long—Jesus’ baptism and then the miracle in Cana took place somewhat before the Passover in John 2, and the Resurrection took place just after the Passover at least two years later.
So notice what happened in Jerusalem at that first Passover mentioned by John:
13 The Jewish Passover was near, and so Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 14 In the temple he found people selling oxen, sheep, and doves, and he also found the money changers sitting there. 15 After making a whip out of cords, he drove everyone out of the temple with their sheep and oxen. He also poured out the money changers’ coins and overturned the tables. 16 He told those who were selling doves, “Get these things out of here! Stop turning my Father’s house into a marketplace!” 17 And his disciples remembered that it is written: Zeal for your house will consume me. 18 So the Jews replied to him, “What sign will you show us for doing these things?” 19 Jesus answered, “Destroy this temple, and I will raise it up in three days.” 20 Therefore the Jews said, “This temple took forty-six years to build, and will you raise it up in three days?” 21 But he was speaking about the temple of his body. 22 So when he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they believed the Scripture and the statement Jesus had made.
The beginning of Jesus’ public ministry included His attendance at the Passover festival, where He drove the money changers and sacrifice sellers out of the temple courts. This is an authoritative move, and shows His passion for the purity that should accompany the worship of God. Notice what the Jews asked Him in response to this act in verse 18:
18 So the Jews replied to him, “What sign will you show us for doing these things?”
“What SIGN…?” They wanted Him to do something that would prove, beyond a doubt, that He had the authority to clear the profiteers out of the temple. His response baffled them, because He said:
19 Jesus answered, “Destroy this temple, and I will raise it up in three days.”
They didn’t get it, thinking He was speaking of the temple building surrounding them at that moment. Even His disciples didn’t get it until much later. But Jesus was predicting that His body would be destroyed—that He would willingly die—and would be raised up in three days’ time.
But here’s my point: it was at least two years between John 2 and John 20 (some scholars think John just didn’t mention one Passover between John 2 and John 6, but we can’t prove that). So here in John 2, we have Jesus’ first prediction of what was going to happen to Him, and eventually did happen at least two years later.
I suppose that it’s possible that Jesus could have orchestrated His death in order to fulfill the prediction that He had made two years earlier. I mean, there’s any number of things that Jesus could have done to get the Jews so angry at Him that they’s want to kill Him. Just in the Gospel of John, they plotted to kill Jesus as early as the fifth chapter… But there’s no way that a dead person can orchestrate their own resurrection! Dead people, by definition, can’t actually DO anything.
This is why I said what I said at the end of my opening illustration: Imagine accurately predicting that you would hit a home run in a game two years from now that you weren’t even going to be playing in. That’s what Jesus did: He predicted that He would rise again following His death when: 1) He wasn’t dead yet; and 2) Dead people can’t raise themselves from the grave. The only way Jesus could accurately predict that He was going to rise again was if He knew that He would rise again.
So at least two years before, Jesus said what was going to happen to Him. All that remained was for the things to take place so that the predicted sign would be accomplished. And to prepare for the sign, Jesus needed to die.
2) The sign prepared
2) The sign prepared
It may sound kind of crass and hard to say it this way, but that’s the reality of it: Jesus needed to die in order for the sign of His resurrection to be fulfilled, because without dying, He certainly could not be raised from the dead. The reality of the crucifixion is that Jesus was accomplishing the work that He came to earth to accomplish—taking on Himself the wrath of God that we deserve because of our sins, so that we could be justified (or given a right standing) before the holy, just, and righteous God.
It turns out that Jesus’ prediction in John 2 was one of things that helped pave the way for His crucifixion later on. Matthew records:
59 The chief priests and the whole Sanhedrin were looking for false testimony against Jesus so that they could put him to death, 60 but they could not find any, even though many false witnesses came forward. Finally, two who came forward 61 stated, “This man said, ‘I can destroy the temple of God and rebuild it in three days.’ ”
This testimony of what Jesus said wasn’t punishable by death. Taken in the context of the Temple itself (the way they took it), it would have made Jesus sound more like a madman than the Messiah, and madmen didn’t deserve death no matter what they said. But the high priest followed it up with a very pointed question:
62 The high priest stood up and said to him, “Don’t you have an answer to what these men are testifying against you?” 63 But Jesus kept silent. The high priest said to him, “I charge you under oath by the living God: Tell us if you are the Messiah, the Son of God.”
When Jesus affirmed His identity in response to this question, none of the testimony mattered any more:
64 “You have said it,” Jesus told him. “But I tell you, in the future you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power and coming on the clouds of heaven.” 65 Then the high priest tore his robes and said, “He has blasphemed! Why do we still need witnesses? See, now you’ve heard the blasphemy. 66 What is your decision?” They answered, “He deserves death!”
He had made Himself equal to God by saying that He is the Son of God, and that He will sit at the right hand of God… the place of honor and authority. To them, this being true was impossible, so they accused Him of blasphemy against God, and decreed that He should die.
Jesus was led away, ultimately to be tried before Pontius Pilate, who tried to release Him. But the Jews cried for His death, and eventually Pilate agreed to their demands. And even though He had done nothing wrong and had spoken the complete truth, Jesus was nailed to a cross at Golgotha, the “Place of the Skull,” put to death for the sins of mankind:
28 After this, when Jesus knew that everything was now finished that the Scripture might be fulfilled, he said, “I’m thirsty.” 29 A jar full of sour wine was sitting there; so they fixed a sponge full of sour wine on a hyssop branch and held it up to his mouth. 30 When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, “It is finished.” Then bowing his head, he gave up his spirit.
When Jesus said, “It is finished,” He was saying that He had done everything that was necessary for our justification. His mission was complete. He took our sins on Himself on the cross, trading His life for ours as a ransom, because it was the only way that both the love and the justice of God could be upheld at the same time. Jesus, God in the flesh, suffered what we should have suffered, died the death we deserved to die, so that we could be made right with God:
22 He did not commit sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth; 23 when he was insulted, he did not insult in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten but entrusted himself to the one who judges justly. 24 He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree; so that, having died to sins, we might live for righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. 25 For you were like sheep going astray, but you have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.
We are stray sheep apart from Jesus. We are lost, helpless, and in terrible danger because our sin has separated us from Him. But as a shepherd calls out to his lost sheep, Jesus calls us to a relationship with Him where we belong. Through surrendering to Jesus in faith, turning from our going astray in sin and trusting in His death for our forgiveness, we are healed of our brokenness. In John 10, we have this same picture of the Shepherd and the sheep. Jesus referred to Himself as the Good Shepherd, again predicting His death and resurrection on behalf of His sheep:
14 “I am the good shepherd. I know my own, and my own know me, 15 just as the Father knows me, and I know the Father. I lay down my life for the sheep. 16 But I have other sheep that are not from this sheep pen; I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. Then there will be one flock, one shepherd. 17 This is why the Father loves me, because I lay down my life so that I may take it up again. 18 No one takes it from me, but I lay it down on my own. I have the right to lay it down, and I have the right to take it up again. I have received this command from my Father.”
Jesus lays down His life for us, the sheep. But that’s not the end of the story. Jesus lays it down, and He has the right to take it up again. It’s the resurrection of Jesus that provides us with the promise of eternal life and is itself the single greatest proof of Jesus’ identity as Messiah and God.
3) The sign performed
3) The sign performed
Last week, when I was preaching on the sign of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead, I was kind of thunderstruck as I read verses 33-38 of John 11. In that passage, Jesus was speaking to Mary of Bethany and to the people who were there to help her mourn her brother’s death. Jesus was greatly troubled by the lack of faith that He saw around Him, and then He asked, “Where have you put him?” and the people answered “Come and see.” They took Jesus to Lazarus’ tomb, which was a cave with a stone lying against it.
In that moment last Sunday, I knew where this morning’s sermon was going to go. Our focal passage today has another Mary: Mary Magdalene; another tomb; another stone; another dead man; another question of “where have you put him?”; another answer of “come and see” (if you include Matthew’s and Mark’s accounts); and another defeat of death as the dead man comes out of the grave. What grabbed me so powerfully last week was that the resurrection of Lazarus was, in a way, Jesus’ preview for us of His own resurrection, predicted years before:
1 On the first day of the week Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early, while it was still dark. She saw that the stone had been removed from the tomb. 2 So she went running to Simon Peter and to the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, and said to them, “They’ve taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they’ve put him!”
We’re skipping the Peter and John part this morning, because their part isn’t where our focus is today.
11 But Mary stood outside the tomb, crying. As she was crying, she stooped to look into the tomb. 12 She saw two angels in white sitting where Jesus’s body had been lying, one at the head and the other at the feet. 13 They said to her, “Woman, why are you crying?” “Because they’ve taken away my Lord,” she told them, “and I don’t know where they’ve put him.” 14 Having said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not know it was Jesus. 15 “Woman,” Jesus said to her, “why are you crying? Who is it that you’re seeking?” Supposing he was the gardener, she replied, “Sir, if you’ve carried him away, tell me where you’ve put him, and I will take him away.” 16 Jesus said to her, “Mary.” Turning around, she said to him in Aramaic, “Rabboni!”—which means “Teacher.” 17 “Don’t cling to me,” Jesus told her, “since I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and tell them that I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.” 18 Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord!” And she told them what he had said to her.
When Jesus raised Lazarus, He gave a glimpse of what was coming—something that He had already predicted would happen. And then, Jesus really died as He said He would. Jesus really rose as He said He would. In doing so, He proved once and for all time who He is. He is Messiah. He is God. And that isn’t simply a religious belief that some special few hold on to. It’s an objective statement about the reality of life based upon actual events that were recorded and which prove that Jesus is precisely who the Bible shows Him to be. He is Messiah. He is God. And He is the only way to eternal life.
Christians: the resurrection of Jesus isn’t simply an idea that sounds good. It’s the single most important doctrine of Christianity. It’s not just a part of what we believe. It’s vital to the whole thing. Without the actual bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ, Christianity is eternally pointless. Paul said so in 1 Corinthians:
13 If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised; 14 and if Christ has not been raised, then our proclamation is in vain, and so is your faith. 15 Moreover, we are found to be false witnesses about God, because we have testified wrongly about God that he raised up Christ—whom he did not raise up, if in fact the dead are not raised. 16 For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. 17 And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins. 18 Those, then, who have fallen asleep in Christ have also perished.
If Jesus didn’t rise, He can’t be God, because He said He would rise, which would thus be a lie. God doesn’t lie. If Jesus didn’t rise, then the Gospel isn’t good news at all: it’s a farce, and Christians who share the Gospel are peddling lies as well. If Jesus didn’t rise, those who believe in Him are just as hopeless as the rest of humanity.
But He DID rise. And that changes everything else. Because if Jesus rose, then He is God, because He told us exactly what would happen, and it was true. If Jesus rose, then the Gospel is not just good news, but the greatest news of all time: that God loved us so much that He provided a way for us to be forgiven of our sin, to be made righteous, and to live forever with Him in a place Jesus called “paradise!” If Jesus rose, then we who have trusted in Jesus have hope beyond hope, because this life is not all that there is. We will live forever because Jesus lives forever. And if we have surrendered to Him in faith as our Savior and Lord, trusting in His death for our forgiveness, then we receive the gift of His Spirit, and we will also be raised just as Jesus was.
5 For those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit have their minds set on the things of the Spirit. 6 Now the mindset of the flesh is death, but the mindset of the Spirit is life and peace. 7 The mindset of the flesh is hostile to God because it does not submit to God’s law. Indeed, it is unable to do so. 8 Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. 9 You, however, are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. If anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to him. 10 Now if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit gives life because of righteousness. 11 And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead lives in you, then he who raised Christ from the dead will also bring your mortal bodies to life through his Spirit who lives in you.
And His Spirit is working in this place right now, calling, drawing, convicting, challenging us. Are you in the flesh: do you have your mind set on the things of the flesh? The Bible says that that mindset is death. The one in the flesh cannot please God. The one in the flesh is hostile to God. The only way to life and peace is Jesus. He gives eternal life by His Spirit. He makes us righteous, not ourselves.
You can’t save yourself. You need Jesus. Submit to the work of the Spirit today, surrender and cry out to Jesus and trust Him to save you. He died so that you could have life and peace. He died so that you could have hope. He died so that you could be raised to new life now, a life that honors God, and so that you could be raised to eternal life later.
Closing
Closing
Brothers and sisters in Christ: It’s all about the Gospel. Mary Magdalene saw Jesus, and immediately began to testify, “I have seen the Lord!” He rose, and she declared it. Have we experienced the saving grace of the risen Lord? If so, do we declare it? Do we share it with others? Do we live lives that testify to the fact that Jesus is alive? This is our calling, church. We must tell the world that Jesus is Messiah. We must tell the world that Jesus is God. He said it. He proved it. We know it. We must share it.
I pray that the message of the Gospel has been clear this morning. Jesus is Messiah, and Jesus is God. And I’m sure that there is someone listening to this right now who hasn’t believed that, and who right now is lost. Scripture says that all who call upon the name of the Lord will be saved. Call upon Jesus as Savior and Lord, surrendering yourself to Him and turning away from your sin. If this is you, then I’m going to ask you to respond while the band is playing in just a moment. Come and tell me or Trevor that you have surrendered to Jesus this morning. We want to celebrate your new life with you, and to help you on your faith journey. If you’re online and you’ve surrendered to Jesus this morning, please let me know by email at bill@ehbc.org so that I can get you some resources and help you or connect you with a church in your area where they can walk with you.
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PRAYER
Closing Remarks
Closing Remarks
Bible reading: Ezekiel 9
Instructions for guests
Benediction
Benediction
20 Our citizenship is in heaven, and we eagerly wait for a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ. 21 He will transform the body of our humble condition into the likeness of his glorious body, by the power that enables him to subject everything to himself. 1 So then, my dearly loved and longed for brothers and sisters, my joy and crown, in this manner stand firm in the Lord, dear friends.
We are sent. Share the truth.