[0:00] Now we're going to read that passage that I was just referring to in John chapter 8, as some of the children go out to the Sunday school. John chapter 20, rather, reading the first 21 verses.
[0:15] John 20, reading from the beginning. Now on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early, while it was still dark, and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb.
[0:33] So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, We have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.
[0:46] So Peter went out with the other disciple, and they were going towards the tomb. Both of them were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first.
[0:58] The other disciple we take to understand is John, who wrote this gospel. So both of them were running together. The other disciple, John, outran Peter and reached the tomb first.
[1:09] And stooping to look in, he saw the linen cloths lying there, but he did not go in. Then Simon Peter came following him and went into the tomb.
[1:21] He saw the linen cloths lying there, and the face cloth, which had been in Jesus' head, not lying with the linen cloths, but folded up in a place by itself.
[1:34] Then the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed. For as yet they did not understand the scripture that he, that Jesus, must rise from the dead.
[1:48] Then the disciples went back to their homes. But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb. And as she wept, she stooped to look into the tomb. And she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had lain, one at the head and one at the feet.
[2:06] They said to her, Woman, why are you weeping? She said to them, They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they uplaid him. Having said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing.
[2:22] But she did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking? Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me.
[2:38] Tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away. Jesus said to her, Mary. She turned and said to him in Aramaic, Rabboni, which means teacher.
[2:51] Jesus said to her, Do not cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and say to them, I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.
[3:05] Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, I have seen the Lord. And that he had said these things to her. On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors being locked where the disciples were for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, Peace be with you.
[3:27] When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then his disciples were glad when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, Peace be with you.
[3:38] As the Father has sent me, even so, I am sending you. And particularly that verse that we read just a few seconds ago, Then the disciples were glad when they saw Jesus.
[3:52] Three things that I want to draw out from this passage this morning. You see on the screen there, The seeing of Jesus, The disciples seeing Jesus.
[4:03] The gladness, The rejoicing in their hearts when they saw Jesus. And then, As we read in the next verse, The sending by Jesus. Jesus sending these disciples Who've seen him, Who are glad to see him.
[4:17] Jesus sending these disciples into the world To tell the risen Lord Jesus. So, What makes a relatively young couple And their children, What makes them leave the relative comfort Of a North Glasgow home To travel thousands of miles to Southeast Asia To go and mission work for the Lord?
[4:45] What makes one of our own couples Have an active heart for mission In South West Africa? What motivates an ex-solde To work full time And sharing the gospel With serving military personnel?
[5:00] Women leave their lucrative jobs Maybe not so young men Women leave their lucrative jobs To go to train in a seminary in Edinburgh To train to tell others the good news of Jesus.
[5:18] What motivates you to tell your neighbour Of your faith in the Lord Jesus? What's the answer to these questions? The answer is The risen Lord Jesus.
[5:32] It's that living faith In a resurrected Jesus. The faith that you have To rejoice in him, To serve him. Your faith in Jesus Who defeated sin and Satan on the cross And three days later Defeated death itself When he rose from the grave.
[5:50] It's that living, active faith In the risen Lord Jesus That drives all who love him To tell others about him To tell others of Jesus And whether that telling others Is going to involve Travelling halfway around the world Or whether it's just going to be In your doorstep And certainly through the technology That God has given us To share the good news Even in this past year That's the motivation That the Lord's people have To tell the good news Of the living Lord Jesus But in addition to that faith The faith that the Lord's people have The faith of the Christian There's joy There's joy That the Christian has The believer has In the Lord Jesus And it's that joy In the Lord That rejoicing That Jesus has saved sinners That's what you'll show
[6:52] When you tell others Of the Lord Jesus When you gossip the gospel When you tell others The good news When you tell others What Jesus has done for you Whether you're telling that In this country Or other countries Or indeed halfway around the world And it's that joy That we see here In the first disciples These first witnesses To the risen Lord Jesus This event that happened What, 2,000 years ago But a resurrection joy That we still know today And will continue to know Until Jesus returns It's that rejoicing In the good news Of salvation In the risen Lord Jesus And that's what motivates You and me And all who serve To tell To tell others Of the joy in your heart Because Of the Lord Jesus Christ In your life And yes, I know So much of this time of year Is lost in the
[7:53] Various diversions That accompany Easter But let's get our priorities Right today In all days Let's, first of all See Jesus Do it as exactly As the disciples did They saw Jesus You see Jesus And that in seeing Jesus That you worship Him That you worship the living Lord Jesus Christ Our Savior But let's just think Of the background First of all Before we look more Particularly At the seeing Of Jesus And the gladness Of the disciples' hearts And the sending of Jesus Let's just think Let's remind ourselves What John is telling us here And in being reminded of this To give thanks This is God's Word And As we're reminded Of this great event Of this first Easter morning Well As we again Recall these events May there be joy in your heart Lifted up In praise to God
[8:53] Because as we read In the passage there It's the first day of the week It's Our Sunday We could say The events of the Well Just a few days before The Friday Well of course These events Have loomed large Over the Well Over all Who Follow Jesus For these Eleven remaining disciples Well They'd fled From the crucifixion Although well John himself Had certainly stayed there With the grieving Female onlookers On the cross Those women Who'd followed Accompanied Jesus In Jesus' ministry And one of these women Was Mary Magdalene Mary Who'd accompanied Jesus In Jesus' ministry But The disciples The women themselves The The horror of that Crucifixion Well Jesus himself They knew that Jesus had been Put to death And put to death In such a brutal fashion He'd been put to death As a criminal
[9:54] He died And been buried In a large Caved room Well these women These women Had waited Until The The Jewish Sabbath The Saturday Was over Before they went To the tomb To anoint Jesus His body So they So they So they So they So they Expected to do It's what They were going To do They were going To honor Jesus They thought That he was Still dead But then Alarm Shock Bewilderment Mary Magdalene She goes to the tomb She goes with her Companion She goes Very early That That first day Of the week And what does she Notice She notices That the big stone The stone seal Had been removed And Mary runs To tell Peter And Peter Along with the other Disciple Whom we Suggest Is John They run To the tomb And they look inside But the tomb's empty And John remains Outside the tomb But Peter
[10:55] Peter being Peter He goes into the tomb And what does he notice He notices That the burial cloth They're They're still there But Jesus Isn't inside them And then John Enters the tomb And as John Would write Many years later I've never left him Many years later He writes That he saw And believed He hadn't yet grasped That Jesus Must rise from the dead But he believed That Jesus Had risen from the dead So there he was A witness To the living Jesus A witness To the Dead Jesus Now a witness To the evidence Of the risen Lord Jesus He saw And believed And then what do we read We read that the two disciples Go back to their Their hiding place But Mary Magdalene Remains at the tomb And in her crying The profuse tears Crying Crying in distress She sees an angel
[11:56] In fact two angels And I tell her Woman why are you weeping? She doesn't answer Well she does She says that They've taken away My Lord She turns and sees Jesus She thinks he's The gardener Jesus tells her Ask her Why are you weeping?
[12:17] She says They've taken away My Lord I don't know Where you've laid Him Where you've placed Him And then Jesus Gives That wonderful One word Affirmation Of His being risen He says Mary Mariam In the original Mariam Mary And that tells Mary of course This can only be The Lord Jesus The Saviour And Jesus Goes to his disciples He shows them His nail pierced hands He shows them His spear pierced side And then we're told The disciples were glad When they saw Jesus Now I make no apology For recounting that Passage that we read From God's word We've been looking again At the world changing events On that first Easter morning And so we need to hear them Again and again And be reminded of that Great truth of the resurrection The resurrection that is fact That is true And that is so important
[13:18] For your faith In following the Lord Jesus One of our senior ministers I think it was about six years ago He said something That stayed with me Ever since He said this The empty tomb Is where I always go When I need to be assured Of the unique truth Of the Christian faith And my security in Christ Once for all When You need that Affirmation of Your faith in the Lord Jesus As my colleague said Go to the empty tomb Go where you Find that assurance Of faith In the Lord Jesus Christ I pray that even As we've been recounting This eyewitness account Of the risen Lord Jesus That your faith in Jesus Has been strengthened That you have that Assurance that Yes Christ is risen Your saviour is risen And that you have That eternal security
[14:19] In the Lord Jesus Once and for all But what about The response Of the disciples There On that That Easter day Well Think of it The seeing The seeing of Jesus When these disciples Had last seen Jesus Well certainly When all of them Had last seen Jesus It was a dark evening A Thursday evening The Thursday evening Of Jesus' arrest They'd seen Jesus Being arrested They'd seen that One of their own Judas Iscariot Had betrayed Jesus And in seeing All these men All these armed men Around Jesus To arrest him In seeing Jesus Then They fled They abandoned Jesus They left him They left the man The saviour Whom they'd been with For three years And that Thursday evening They saw What they thought They saw
[15:19] They saw What they thought Was a greater power A power Greater than the Lord Jesus When in fact If their eyes Had truly Been true To what they'd seen They would have seen That Jesus Had the greater Infinitely greater power Yes they saw What they thought They saw But they didn't see Accurately Remember Jesus said Even in his arrest Don't you think I can call On my heavenly father And he'll send me More than twelve Legions of angels But all that the disciples Could see that evening Was Jesus In his apparent weakness In his apparent helplessness Jesus in his Apparent powerlessness In the face of that Brutal force of Men who'd come To arrest him When in fact They should have seen Jesus in all his glory All his power Jesus who'd come To give his life For many Jesus who'd Told them before That yes That he was about
[16:22] To be delivered About to be handed Over to men And be killed And be raised To life Three days later But on that Thursday evening All that these people All that these disciples Saw Was a vision of Helplessness And lostness What they saw Was what they thought They saw They thought They saw the end But now move on A few days later Move on to that Sunday evening And you see this Wonderful change And before They saw what They thought They saw Was a helpless Christ Now they see The risen Living All powerful Lord Jesus Yes They're seeing him Physically And yes They've got much More to see In growing in faith Faith in the The risen Lord Jesus And faith in the Consequences of Jesus' resurrection But they saw What Jesus had Promised they would See They saw Jesus
[17:22] Having been Raised to life And in your Seeing Jesus You're seeing him By faith But in seeing him I pray that you Will know A true blessing A blessing In seeing him Who's been Raised to life For you You know Jesus in that Room Jesus sent his Disciples Who saw him There He said Have you believed Because you've Seen me Blessed are those Who have not Seen And yet Have believed And in this Particular day When the risen Lord Jesus Is remembered Yes When he's Worshipped And glorified It's this First day Of the week What we call The Christian Sabbath This Lord's day Well Of course See Jesus See him Every day But as you're Gathered with The Lord's People As you're Gathered Together In worship Whether physically Here in the Building Or from home See him
[18:22] See the one Who is Crucified For you See the one Who is Dead for you See the one Who is Raised for you So I'm Asking you Do you See Jesus And are you Seeing him With your Eyes of Faith And looking On Jesus Do you see His beauty Do you see The one Who suffered For you Who died For you Who died That sinner's Death In order To give Sinners Life And do you See him Even now Reaching out To you With that Loving Embrace Reaching out Even with These nail Pierced hands And calling To you Come to me Come to me And find rest In me Well if you Are seeing Jesus Albeit Faintly As it were Through a Glass Darkly We'll know And remember This That in the Glory of Heaven You'll see Him clearly You'll see Him face To face
[19:23] And doesn't That in itself Bring you Joy Even joy This morning Joy Yes the joy That you know Now but the The fullness Of that joy To be there In the glory Of heaven Because his Being raised From the dead Guarantees You're being Raised Raised with Christ And to be With him Forever That surely Should bring you That joy That gladness That the disciples Had when When they saw Jesus The gladness Of Jesus Disciples As we Right Then the Disciples Were glad When they Saw Jesus Literally The words Literally Are The disciples Rejoiced When they Saw Jesus So in Seeing him There was True joy In their Hearts So from Fear To joy From Dejection To Exaltation I mean These hearts That just a Few days Before Had been So utterly Despondent They're
[20:23] Now Transformed Because They're Seeing Jesus And shouldn't That be Your reaction And my Reaction Today When By faith You gaze On the Risen Lord Jesus It's that Gladness Of heart That you Can echo From the Words of Psalm 30 For example When David Was dedicating The temple To God And he Spoke of The joy That he Had in His heart You've Turned For me My Mourning Into Dancing You've Loosed My Sackcloth And clothed Me With Gladness Well The Disciples Certainly Could echo These words That at One point They were In mourning But now In their Hearts They're Dancing For joy Clothed With Gladness And another One of David's Psalms Again Well Some We'll be Finishing With this This morning Psalm 16 Another One of David's Psalms Again The disciples Could echo That Psalm And I Pray You Too David
[21:24] Said You'll Make me Full of Gladness With your Presence See the Presence Of the Risen Lord Jesus Had filled The disciples Heart With gladness They've been Rescued As it were From The depression Of sin They've been Delivered From the Despair Of thinking That they were Separated From Jesus Forever But now They've been Brought back Into Jesus Abiding Presence His Presence His Presence Of peace And love And sacrificial Love For all For whom Jesus Came to Save What about You This Easter Sunday Morning I'm going to Give another Psalm Psalm 118 This is The day That the Lord Has Made Let us Rejoice And be Glad in It And can You join Even with The angels In heaven And their Rejoicing These are Angels who Long to Look into The whole
[22:24] Story of Salvation Everything About salvation They long To look Into These angels That rejoiced At the Birth of Jesus And now We're rejoicing Forever Along with All who Are in the Glory of Heaven Rejoicing Because of The risen Lord Jesus And you Know Each one Of us I need To You need To We all Need to Take time To examine Our hearts And to Explore Whether indeed There is that Joy in our Hearts When we See Jesus You know When you See him Yes when you See him In all his Glory Is there Joy in your Heart That you Know this Jesus This Lord Jesus As you Know him As the Eternal Son of God Is there Joy when You see Him See him As the God's Word tells Us of Him Even before He came To To earth In his Eternal Glory Is there Joy in your
[23:24] Heart when You think Of Jesus Even before The creation Of the World Or when You see Jesus Born in A manger Born as King Born to Save Sinners Is there Joy in your Heart when You remember The birth Of Jesus And when You see Jesus in His In his Teaching and His preaching And his Miracle Making So join Your heart When you Read of him In the Pages of Scripture And yes When you See Jesus On the Cross Is there Joy that's Mingled with Your tears When you See the Suffering Servant Dying For you Taking Your Place And being The curse Of God Is there Joy in Your Heart When you See Jesus Now in The glory Of heaven Seated at The right Hand of The father Reigning There in Glory Is there Joy in Your heart When you Know that Yes even Now he's Interceding For you Well I pray That there Truly is
[24:24] That gladness Of heart As you Know you Do take Time to See Jesus And as you Rest in His love For you That love That took Him to The cross That love That kept Jesus on The cross That love That yes Kept Jesus Even in The grave For three Days And that Love that Raised Jesus to Life There in That first Lord's Day Morning Well if There is That joy In your Heart Then give Him Worship Give Him Praise Be Glad Rejoice And lift Your heart Yes Perhaps weary Hearts But lift Your hearts And praise To him Because Because he's Made you Glad But remember This Seeing Jesus Being glad And seeing Jesus That's not the Final word In the narrative Of the Easter Story And the Easter Sunday morning Story anyway And it's not The It's not the
[25:25] End of the Matter as far As you're Concerned Who Followed Jesus There's Another Element To be To be Considered And that Sending The Sending By Jesus As we Read in Verse 21 Jesus Said to Them Again Peace Be With You As The Father Has Sent Me Even So I'm Sending You Those Who Saw Jesus Those Who Rejoiced In Seeing Jesus They Were Been Sent But Jesus They Were Sent On A Mission They Were Sent To Tell Others The Good News Of The Good News Of The Risen Living Lord Jesus And Having Seen Him Having Rejoiced In Them Jesus Sends Them And You See That Amazing Connection In This Whole Matter Of Sending As Jesus Says God The Father Sent His Son Jesus His Son And Jesus The Son Is Sending
[26:26] His Disciples His Followers To Tell The Good News You See That Eternal Link That Link In Sending If You Like It's An Eternal Line Of Sending From Heaven To Earth And Continuing On Earth Until The Resurrected Jesus Returns From Heaven To Earth So Just Think On That The Mission Every Believer Has A Mission To Go On That Mission Whether It's A Mission To Southeast Asia Or To West Africa Or To The Ends Of The Earth Or To The Place Where You Stay Your Locality Whether It's The Neighbor Well Now Lockdown Has Been Lifting The Neighbor That Sees You Go To Church On Sunday Morning Certainly So You Go To Church Before Lockdown Whether It's Your Family Who Family Member Who Knows That You're A Christian You're Being Sent Well Remember That Eternal
[27:26] Connection From God The Father Himself And Rejoice That You Are Being Sent That You Are That Witness To Tell Others The Good News Of The Glorious Gospel Of The Lord Jesus In Time Each Of These Disciples These Of These Disciples Who Saw Jesus They Would Go Out From Jerusalem They Saw Jesus That Sunday Morning They Would Leave Jerusalem And They Would Go Out With The Good News If You Like They Were The Pioneers Of Church Mission And They Were Sent Because They Saw Jesus Because They Were Glad To Have Seen Jesus And Because It Was Their Heart's Desire To Tell Others Of Jesus I Pray That Yes This Easter Time That You Will Be Given That Same Conviction That You'll Have That Same Conviction To Go And Tell Go Go And Tell Of Jesus He's
[28:27] Sending You He's Sending You With The Gifts That You Have The Personality You Have The Character You Have But He's Sending You Sending You A Mission To Be His Witnesses So Don't Hold Back Don't Hide That Light That Is In Your Heart But Go With The Peace Of Jesus In Your Heart And Go To Serve Him And Go With That Resurrection Joy In Your Heart And See No One Else Except Jesus Only And Know This There's Nothing More Important In Your Life To Do Than To Be His Witnesses But Have You Not Yet Seen Jesus If You Not Yet Seen Him As Living Saviour Where's Your Joy Today I pray That At This Easter Time That This Will Be The Time When You Turn Your Eyes To Jesus When You'll See Him When You'll See Him As Lord As Saviour As You'll See Him
[29:27] In All His Glory And That You'll Give Your Life To Him That You'll Trust Him That You'll See The One Who Was Raised From The Dead And That You'll See Him Who Came For You To Die For You On The Cross And Is Now Raised For You Won't You Receive Him As Your Lord As Your Saviour Won't You Give Your Life To Him And Be Glad Be Be Glad With A Joy That The World Can't Give You But Be Glad With The Joy That Only God Can Give You As You Look To Jesus And Don't Look Back But Submit Your Life To Him And Give Him Your All Amen Let us Pray Lord May All Who Are Gathered In Worship Here Today May They See Jesus See Him In All His Love All His
[30:27] Beauty All His Glory May They See Him And Be Glad Rejoicing Rejoicing To Go Out And To Sow That Seed And May There Truly Be A Harvest A Harvest Reaped Because Of Those Who Do Go Out Sowing That Seed Of Truth Hear As Lord As We Continue And Worship Before You Now And We Pray These Things In Jesus Name Amen