WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:04.860 Gracious Father, we ask on this Easter Sunday that you might help us to see Jesus, 00:00:06.040 --> 00:00:10.660 that you would change our minds and our worldview, that you would change our hearts 00:00:10.660 --> 00:00:14.040 and that you would change the course and direction of our lives. 00:00:14.200 --> 00:00:16.120 And we ask it for your sake. Amen. 00:00:18.100 --> 00:00:26.519 On the 5th of October 1974, five people died, 65 were injured in IRA bombings 00:00:26.519 --> 00:00:28.280 in two pubs in Guildford in England. 00:00:29.140 --> 00:00:31.800 The public was outraged. 00:00:31.920 --> 00:00:34.920 The British police were pretty keen for an arrest. 00:00:35.679 --> 00:00:39.660 They quickly arrested a small-time Belfast criminal named Gerry Conlon. 00:00:40.420 --> 00:00:46.719 He was one of four people arrested and the four of them together became known as the Guildford Four. 00:00:47.579 --> 00:00:53.480 The police also arrested Gerry Conlon's father, Giuseppe, for conspiring in the bombing. 00:00:53.479 --> 00:01:03.879 With all their evidence, the police actually had no evidence to prove that Giuseppe or the Guildford Four were in fact guilty of the crime. 00:01:04.539 --> 00:01:10.900 In fact, they received evidence to the contrary, and particularly that Giuseppe Conlon was clearly innocent. 00:01:10.900 --> 00:01:15.900 But in spite of that, Giuseppe Conlon was sentenced to 12 years imprisonment, 00:01:16.620 --> 00:01:18.859 even though they knew he was innocent. 00:01:19.640 --> 00:01:23.700 And his son Gerry, along with the rest of them, were sentenced to life imprisonment. 00:01:24.540 --> 00:01:28.280 Gerry Conlon was released after 15 years imprisonment, 00:01:28.280 --> 00:01:33.159 and he went on to write a book about his innocence and his vindication. 00:01:33.900 --> 00:01:39.200 His father, Giuseppe, however, died in prison, an innocent man in January 1980, 00:01:39.840 --> 00:01:43.859 after roughly 10 years or a bit under 10 years in jail. 00:01:43.859 --> 00:01:51.200 It's another story of an innocent man being condemned for crimes that he didn't commit. 00:01:52.700 --> 00:01:57.659 It's a miscarriage of justice, not unlike the innocence of the death of Jesus. 00:01:59.140 --> 00:02:02.019 Of course, there are some significant detail differences, 00:02:02.719 --> 00:02:08.639 but the death of Jesus would be nothing without the resurrection. 00:02:08.639 --> 00:02:14.879 Without Jesus' Easter day, his Good Friday, 00:02:15.500 --> 00:02:19.419 would just be simply another travesty of justice in history. 00:02:20.000 --> 00:02:24.519 And Jesus would not get much of a mention in Wikipedia, 00:02:24.859 --> 00:02:28.599 just like Giuseppe Conlon gets virtually no mention in Wikipedia. 00:02:29.560 --> 00:02:34.079 Without the resurrection of Jesus, the death of Jesus would get a one-line mention, 00:02:34.219 --> 00:02:37.159 maybe a paragraph, in the history books. 00:02:37.159 --> 00:02:39.000 But that's about it. 00:02:40.939 --> 00:02:44.340 The resurrection of Jesus changes everything. 00:02:46.079 --> 00:02:49.400 There are three changes that I have in mind this morning from that passage 00:02:49.400 --> 00:02:53.479 that was read out to us, particularly verses 6 and 7 of Mark 16. 00:02:53.840 --> 00:02:59.199 Firstly, there is a word of challenge to change our minds and our worldview. 00:03:00.519 --> 00:03:05.340 Then there is a word of mercy to change our hearts and to give us hope. 00:03:05.340 --> 00:03:12.460 And finally, there is a word of mission to change the course and the direction of our lives. 00:03:13.699 --> 00:03:15.860 The first there is the word of challenge to our minds. 00:03:15.920 --> 00:03:16.840 It's there in verse 6. 00:03:17.680 --> 00:03:18.520 Don't be alarmed. 00:03:18.620 --> 00:03:19.199 He said, 00:03:19.740 --> 00:03:22.560 You are looking for Jesus, the Nazarene, who was crucified. 00:03:23.259 --> 00:03:24.080 He has risen. 00:03:24.219 --> 00:03:25.039 He is not here. 00:03:26.300 --> 00:03:28.000 See the place where they laid him. 00:03:28.000 --> 00:03:33.139 Now that is a challenge to our minds. 00:03:34.060 --> 00:03:38.180 Jesus came back to life after he was executed. 00:03:39.000 --> 00:03:44.039 The fact that Jesus was crucified is not an unusual fact. 00:03:44.039 --> 00:03:52.239 Around the time of Jesus' life and around that place, there were dozens, dozens of little movements 00:03:52.239 --> 00:03:58.139 where the leader of those movements declared themselves to be the Messiah of the world. 00:04:00.060 --> 00:04:01.699 As Jesus himself did. 00:04:02.060 --> 00:04:05.479 And in almost every case, the leader of these movements was killed. 00:04:05.620 --> 00:04:06.560 They were executed. 00:04:06.560 --> 00:04:09.819 And the movement just simply collapsed. 00:04:10.420 --> 00:04:11.460 The leader's dead. 00:04:12.240 --> 00:04:13.400 People just went home. 00:04:14.319 --> 00:04:15.020 That's it. 00:04:16.220 --> 00:04:17.079 It's done. 00:04:18.600 --> 00:04:20.620 Except for this one, led by Jesus. 00:04:21.720 --> 00:04:25.980 Only one movement didn't collapse after the death of its leader. 00:04:26.079 --> 00:04:27.420 In fact, it exploded. 00:04:27.540 --> 00:04:30.040 Within 200 years, it dominated the Roman Empire. 00:04:30.040 --> 00:04:38.040 And today is the largest and most widespread culturally and geographically of all religious faiths. 00:04:38.800 --> 00:04:42.520 And so, what made that difference? 00:04:44.160 --> 00:04:51.780 Well, the Bible says, the Christian church says, that after Jesus was killed, he came back to life 00:04:51.780 --> 00:04:53.740 and appeared to his followers. 00:04:54.520 --> 00:04:57.980 That is, the resurrection of Jesus changes everything. 00:04:57.980 --> 00:05:04.000 The Bible says, that is why Jesus' followers didn't pack up and go home. 00:05:04.819 --> 00:05:07.280 That is why Christianity exploded. 00:05:09.420 --> 00:05:11.860 But this is Chatswood in 2014. 00:05:12.980 --> 00:05:17.060 We are one of the major centres in the secular city of Sydney. 00:05:17.200 --> 00:05:21.819 And most people around us just, frankly, don't believe that. 00:05:22.259 --> 00:05:24.900 That the resurrection of Jesus is literal. 00:05:25.900 --> 00:05:27.780 And I get it. 00:05:27.980 --> 00:05:29.480 I understand that. 00:05:30.759 --> 00:05:34.759 This is a significant challenge to our minds. 00:05:34.759 --> 00:05:45.339 And so, in challenging our minds, or our thinking and our worldview, if you like, 00:05:45.779 --> 00:05:50.379 it is important, I think, to not be intellectually lazy. 00:05:51.539 --> 00:05:57.819 If you want to jettison the resurrection, then you have to come up with an alternative explanation 00:05:57.819 --> 00:06:02.180 as to how this one little movement exploded like it did. 00:06:02.240 --> 00:06:10.839 And I fear that too many are prepared to jettison the resurrection without much thought 00:06:10.839 --> 00:06:14.539 or without genuine alternative explanations. 00:06:14.540 --> 00:06:18.960 The one thing that they know is that they don't know. 00:06:18.960 --> 00:06:21.720 And it just seems that they can be comfortable with that. 00:06:21.720 --> 00:06:29.620 And so, rather than looking at the evidence, what tends to follow is accusations that the texts 00:06:29.620 --> 00:06:33.060 like Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, you know, Mark, which we've got in front of us now, 00:06:33.260 --> 00:06:34.840 are just frankly not reliable. 00:06:34.839 --> 00:06:42.479 To justify ignorance, there is a temptation to call the historical documents legends. 00:06:42.759 --> 00:06:46.899 And Mark challenges that view for us here in front of us again. 00:06:47.299 --> 00:06:53.839 Three times in eight verses, Mark 15 verse 40, in 15 verse 47, and in 16 verse 1, 00:06:53.839 --> 00:06:59.599 Mark writes down the names of the eyewitnesses who saw it all. 00:07:00.379 --> 00:07:05.339 Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome. 00:07:07.219 --> 00:07:10.479 Why three times in eight verses? 00:07:12.059 --> 00:07:16.719 The answer of one New Testament scholar who understands a whole lot more than I do about 00:07:16.719 --> 00:07:23.739 ancient histography is that this has all the marks of the way that historians 00:07:23.740 --> 00:07:26.019 did history in those days. 00:07:27.340 --> 00:07:29.680 These are the marks of history, not legend. 00:07:30.480 --> 00:07:34.139 These women are clearly described as eyewitnesses. 00:07:34.220 --> 00:07:37.740 Notice it there in chapter 15 verse 40, some women were watching. 00:07:38.480 --> 00:07:45.139 And again in verse 47, Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joseph saw where he was laid. 00:07:45.220 --> 00:07:50.100 Then in chapter 16 verse 4, when they looked up, they saw that the stone, 00:07:50.199 --> 00:07:51.759 which was very large, had been rolled away. 00:07:51.759 --> 00:07:55.319 Then in verse 5, as they entered the tomb, they saw. 00:07:55.420 --> 00:07:59.259 Then again in verse 6, see the place where they laid him. 00:08:00.480 --> 00:08:03.099 It's pretty obvious the way that Mark has written this here, 00:08:03.139 --> 00:08:07.860 that he wants us to see that these women are eyewitnesses of the facts. 00:08:07.860 --> 00:08:10.460 They were there. 00:08:10.460 --> 00:08:15.180 They saw the death and the burial and the resurrection of Jesus. 00:08:15.240 --> 00:08:16.680 They saw the empty tomb. 00:08:16.680 --> 00:08:32.560 Now this in itself is slam dunk proof that the resurrection is history and not legend. 00:08:34.299 --> 00:08:38.500 Because one of the earliest arguments against Christianity, 00:08:38.720 --> 00:08:42.100 and particularly against the resurrection of Jesus, 00:08:42.100 --> 00:08:50.139 is that the accounts of the resurrection of Jesus is based on the testimony of women. 00:08:51.980 --> 00:08:55.259 Second century Greek philosopher named Kelsus 00:08:55.259 --> 00:09:01.580 was one of the first and most savage opponents of Christianity. 00:09:01.580 --> 00:09:09.639 He wrote that the resurrection was clearly a lie because women were the eyewitnesses 00:09:09.639 --> 00:09:16.680 and women were regarded as not historical but hysterical and unreliable. 00:09:16.679 --> 00:09:20.659 And people in the second century went, 00:09:21.179 --> 00:09:23.479 hmm, good point, Kelsus. 00:09:24.000 --> 00:09:25.159 Good point. 00:09:26.199 --> 00:09:28.459 That is a real problem. 00:09:30.179 --> 00:09:33.079 It was an incredibly strong argument 00:09:33.079 --> 00:09:35.399 because in that ancient culture, 00:09:35.739 --> 00:09:40.019 women were marginalised and you could not believe their testimony. 00:09:40.019 --> 00:09:45.419 And this is the very culture that Mark was writing into. 00:09:47.120 --> 00:09:50.879 And so if Mark was making this all up, 00:09:51.579 --> 00:09:53.199 if this was a legend, 00:09:54.220 --> 00:10:00.960 then they would never have put women in as the only eyewitnesses to Jesus' empty tomb. 00:10:02.000 --> 00:10:05.500 The only way to account for the women being recorded 00:10:05.500 --> 00:10:09.960 as the eyewitnesses of Jesus' resurrection is that they in fact were. 00:10:11.360 --> 00:10:12.600 It can't be legend. 00:10:14.340 --> 00:10:18.059 And so what Mark is doing for us here is he's challenging our minds, 00:10:18.600 --> 00:10:19.759 challenging our worldview. 00:10:20.399 --> 00:10:25.519 He has written this as historical documentation of actual events, 00:10:25.679 --> 00:10:29.059 events that challenge the way that we see the world. 00:10:30.500 --> 00:10:32.279 And at this point, it'd be easy for us to say, 00:10:32.279 --> 00:10:34.319 okay, this stuff, written as history, 00:10:35.439 --> 00:10:39.000 but they got the facts muddled up a bit. 00:10:39.679 --> 00:10:44.259 Ancient people were just a little bit gullible about miracles. 00:10:44.939 --> 00:10:47.519 They don't have our modern developed minds. 00:10:47.699 --> 00:10:50.879 We've learned a thing or two in the past 2,000 years. 00:10:52.799 --> 00:10:56.919 You see, it's easy to assume that their worldview is different than ours. 00:10:57.819 --> 00:10:59.679 And in some aspects, it was. 00:10:59.679 --> 00:11:06.719 Like, for instance, they in those ancient days were open to the idea of a resurrection. 00:11:07.620 --> 00:11:10.099 But we ourselves in our modern mind are not. 00:11:10.979 --> 00:11:13.559 We can assume that they approach the tomb. 00:11:15.179 --> 00:11:16.679 The stone is rolled away. 00:11:17.799 --> 00:11:18.779 The tomb's empty. 00:11:19.179 --> 00:11:20.659 And they immediately go, 00:11:21.059 --> 00:11:22.179 resurrection. 00:11:22.179 --> 00:11:22.459 Resurrection. 00:11:22.460 --> 00:11:31.400 And Mark challenges here not to be so quick to make assumptions that they were ignorant and that they were gullible. 00:11:31.860 --> 00:11:34.280 One thing you'll notice as you read through Mark's gospel, 00:11:34.420 --> 00:11:36.300 as we've done here as a church in the last little while, 00:11:36.800 --> 00:11:43.820 is that Jesus tells his disciples quite clearly that he will die and that he will rise again on the third day. 00:11:43.900 --> 00:11:45.920 It's there in chapter 8 and it's there in chapter 9. 00:11:45.919 --> 00:11:50.959 Now, Mark's an economist and he wasn't sort of, he was running out of ink, so he did the shortened version. 00:11:51.079 --> 00:11:55.899 So when Mark repeats something, says it twice, it's like he says it over and over and over again. 00:11:56.659 --> 00:11:58.679 He's making a very significant point here. 00:11:59.019 --> 00:12:02.599 I'm going to die, going to rise again, going to die, going to rise again, going to die, going to rise again. 00:12:03.559 --> 00:12:04.799 Disciples, do you get it? 00:12:04.799 --> 00:12:15.759 And the weird thing is that the third day after his death arrives and it seems that no one's expecting the resurrection. 00:12:18.199 --> 00:12:19.620 The blokes are gone. 00:12:21.219 --> 00:12:25.419 The women had bought spices to anoint a dead body. 00:12:25.419 --> 00:12:35.379 As they wheeled their trolleys, you know, past the spice rack at Woolies, they didn't go, ah, spices are on sale. 00:12:36.479 --> 00:12:38.839 Unfortunately, we're not going to need that this time. 00:12:39.959 --> 00:12:43.779 They bought the spices to anoint a dead body. 00:12:45.819 --> 00:12:49.360 They didn't think, ah, Jesus is just going to borrow the tomb for a few days. 00:12:49.360 --> 00:13:00.779 And the disciples on the third day weren't sitting around with brunch and thinking, hey, guys, it's the third day. 00:13:01.980 --> 00:13:04.060 Do you think we should go and check? 00:13:05.639 --> 00:13:06.620 Just in case. 00:13:09.240 --> 00:13:10.340 No one does it. 00:13:11.600 --> 00:13:13.740 No one's expecting the resurrection. 00:13:13.740 --> 00:13:26.220 And what's more, those who did go to the tomb, these women, these three women, it says they're wondering as they go there, who's going to roll away the stone for us? 00:13:26.940 --> 00:13:31.259 It's like we've prepared everything except that one fact. 00:13:31.519 --> 00:13:32.580 How are we going to get in? 00:13:32.580 --> 00:13:44.400 And their first thought of seeing the empty tomb was not that Jesus had come back to life, but that someone had stolen his body. 00:13:44.879 --> 00:13:47.180 A fair assumption back in those days. 00:13:48.220 --> 00:13:50.580 Grave robbing was a pretty common practice. 00:13:51.620 --> 00:13:58.860 You either went and stole things out of people's tombs, or you went and got the bodies and threw them out of the tomb so you can bury your own relative in the tomb. 00:13:58.860 --> 00:14:06.639 The point is that if you have doubts about the resurrection, so did they. 00:14:07.680 --> 00:14:08.779 So did they. 00:14:09.919 --> 00:14:13.399 But they let the evidence challenge their worldview. 00:14:15.180 --> 00:14:19.139 We need to be careful of what C.S. Lewis called chronological snobbery. 00:14:19.139 --> 00:14:30.559 It's where we think that those who have gone before us, especially those who have gone before us a long time ago, are naive, that they are gullible, and they are stupid. 00:14:32.259 --> 00:14:40.139 We need to be careful that our chronological snobbery isn't in actual fact an excuse for intellectual laziness. 00:14:41.879 --> 00:14:43.379 Are those people just stupid? 00:14:43.919 --> 00:14:45.299 And therefore I don't need to think. 00:14:46.319 --> 00:14:46.980 A little ironic. 00:14:46.980 --> 00:14:47.039 A little ironic. 00:14:49.139 --> 00:14:59.980 The worldview of these early believers didn't allow for resurrection either, but they had the intellectual integrity to allow the evidence to challenge their worldview. 00:15:01.379 --> 00:15:04.539 It's normal to question the validity of the resurrection. 00:15:04.539 --> 00:15:28.319 But if you do for integrity's sake, then we have to come up with an alternative, historically plausible reason why this ragtag group exploded to all the four corners of the globe and changed the world for over 20 centuries rather than dying out of the crucifixion of their leader. 00:15:28.320 --> 00:15:29.320 If we reject the resurrection. 00:15:29.320 --> 00:15:53.480 If we reject the resurrection, then we have to come up with an alternative, historically plausible reason why hundreds of people claim to have seen him resurrected. 00:15:53.480 --> 00:16:08.960 And why the opponents of Christianity couldn't produce a body and why these early Christians joyfully gave their lives to see this message of the resurrected Jesus spread through all the globe. 00:16:08.960 --> 00:16:12.840 That's the first challenge. 00:16:12.840 --> 00:16:14.360 The challenges to our mind and our worldview. 00:16:15.060 --> 00:16:24.639 And if you allow this word of challenge from Mark 16 to change your mind and to change your worldview, then it will be a word of mercy and grace to your hearts. 00:16:25.440 --> 00:16:26.620 That's the second change. 00:16:27.560 --> 00:16:31.560 A word of mercy and grace to change our hearts. 00:16:31.559 --> 00:16:36.279 Look at this wonderful word in chapter 16, verse 7. 00:16:36.839 --> 00:16:38.919 Go tell his disciples and Peter. 00:16:39.399 --> 00:16:44.059 He is going ahead of you into Galilee and there you will see him just as he told you. 00:16:44.739 --> 00:16:51.799 To understand what an incredible word of grace this is, let's consider what wasn't said. 00:16:51.799 --> 00:17:09.200 He didn't say to these women gathered, you go and you tell those faithless, backstabbing cowards that I might see them in Galilee if they come to me and they grovel. 00:17:10.599 --> 00:17:11.779 And they'd better grovel. 00:17:11.779 --> 00:17:22.480 If they have any hope of me reinstating them as part of my crew and into this movement, then they'd better grovel. 00:17:25.180 --> 00:17:28.599 Now, of course, that would have been warranted given what they did to him. 00:17:31.180 --> 00:17:33.879 But Jesus doesn't work the way that you and I work. 00:17:34.139 --> 00:17:38.940 He's forgiving them and calling them back to himself even before they have repented. 00:17:38.940 --> 00:17:43.600 This is a word of mercy and grace and forgiveness. 00:17:44.160 --> 00:17:49.120 But the biggest word of grace is simply in the name Peter. 00:17:52.019 --> 00:17:54.860 There is a whole bunch of disciples. 00:17:56.880 --> 00:17:58.799 But Peter gets a special mention. 00:17:58.940 --> 00:18:02.320 Go and tell the disciples and Peter. 00:18:03.400 --> 00:18:04.500 I'll meet you in Galilee. 00:18:04.500 --> 00:18:05.539 Why? 00:18:05.720 --> 00:18:07.059 Why is Peter singled out? 00:18:07.319 --> 00:18:09.200 The end of chapter 14. 00:18:09.339 --> 00:18:17.519 Peter disowns Jesus three times after having earlier declared that he would never abandon Jesus. 00:18:18.059 --> 00:18:21.640 When the pressure came on, he says, I know nothing about Jesus. 00:18:21.839 --> 00:18:24.119 And he runs to save his own skin. 00:18:24.119 --> 00:18:34.619 And so if this word to the women was simply go and tell the disciples, they would have relayed that message to the disciples. 00:18:34.859 --> 00:18:38.500 And Peter may have been sitting there and he would have said, you guys go. 00:18:41.459 --> 00:18:43.479 Jesus can't mean me. 00:18:43.480 --> 00:18:47.240 Not after what I've done. 00:18:49.319 --> 00:18:56.019 But here Jesus specifically says to the woman through this angel, I have plans for my disciples, even Peter. 00:18:56.599 --> 00:18:58.779 Even Peter, who was the biggest screw up. 00:18:59.900 --> 00:19:04.259 He became the biggest of the leaders in the early days of the church. 00:19:05.079 --> 00:19:06.420 His screw up was the biggest. 00:19:06.940 --> 00:19:09.700 His repentance, the deepest. 00:19:09.700 --> 00:19:13.019 And his grasp of the grace of the Lord Jesus the greatest. 00:19:14.360 --> 00:19:22.660 The good news of the Christianity is that salvation is by grace, not by our works and by effort or by our strength. 00:19:23.039 --> 00:19:27.200 Salvation comes to us by the weakness of Jesus dying on the cross. 00:19:27.600 --> 00:19:35.640 Salvation comes to us by Jesus when we admit our inability, our weakness, our failure. 00:19:35.640 --> 00:19:37.640 Salvation comes to us by the Lord Jesus the greatest. 00:19:37.640 --> 00:19:39.140 When we admit that we need a savior. 00:19:40.160 --> 00:19:42.040 Jesus is the savior that we need. 00:19:42.180 --> 00:19:47.400 Forgiveness is offered to Peter and to us through the resurrection of Jesus. 00:19:49.000 --> 00:20:00.320 You see, when a criminal completes their jail sentence, they fully, completely, totally satisfy the sentence. 00:20:00.319 --> 00:20:07.139 And when they walk out of prison, the law has no more claim on them. 00:20:08.039 --> 00:20:09.179 They are free. 00:20:10.859 --> 00:20:13.419 Can't be charged again for the same crime. 00:20:16.419 --> 00:20:20.679 And Jesus came to pay the penalty for our crimes against God. 00:20:20.759 --> 00:20:21.740 It was a huge penalty. 00:20:22.200 --> 00:20:23.319 It was a huge sentence. 00:20:23.460 --> 00:20:24.700 The sentence was death. 00:20:24.700 --> 00:20:31.240 Death, but he must have satisfied it fully because Easter day, he walked out free. 00:20:33.440 --> 00:20:35.240 Death could not hold him down. 00:20:36.019 --> 00:20:44.000 In Jesus, God has stamped paid in full right across history so that we cannot miss it. 00:20:44.960 --> 00:20:49.580 And because Jesus was raised from the dead, God can come to us with a word of grace saying, 00:20:49.579 --> 00:20:56.799 Peter, oh Peter, you foul up. 00:20:58.460 --> 00:20:59.939 You're a screw up. 00:21:02.720 --> 00:21:07.119 You've got the biggest debt, but it will lead to the greatest resurrection. 00:21:07.119 --> 00:21:14.500 And so if we take this word to our minds and let it change our worldview, 00:21:16.099 --> 00:21:21.899 we open ourselves up to a word of mercy and grace and forgiveness that will transform and change our hearts. 00:21:23.819 --> 00:21:29.199 And then finally, there's a word of mission that will reshape the way we live our life. 00:21:29.739 --> 00:21:31.759 And this mission is really simple. 00:21:31.859 --> 00:21:33.459 It's just there in that word go. 00:21:33.460 --> 00:21:40.120 Go and tell people about the resurrected Jesus. 00:21:40.299 --> 00:21:43.460 Go and communicate in every way about the resurrected Jesus. 00:21:44.000 --> 00:21:50.319 And I think that's why verse 8 is such a shocking way for Mark to end his gospel account. 00:21:50.880 --> 00:21:55.039 Trembling and bewildered, the women went out and fled from the tomb. 00:21:55.720 --> 00:21:59.579 They said nothing to anyone because they were afraid. 00:22:00.420 --> 00:22:02.400 Now, I'm not down on the women here. 00:22:02.400 --> 00:22:03.900 It's been a big few days. 00:22:05.380 --> 00:22:07.100 But Mark does make a pretty clear point. 00:22:07.240 --> 00:22:09.400 This is not how it's meant to end. 00:22:10.940 --> 00:22:19.100 Right at the beginning, we are told in Mark's gospel about the good news of the proclamation of Jesus Christ for the world. 00:22:20.060 --> 00:22:22.340 And yet it ends with trembling and bewildered. 00:22:22.440 --> 00:22:23.840 They walked out and they said nothing. 00:22:24.820 --> 00:22:26.519 This is not how it's meant to end. 00:22:26.820 --> 00:22:28.800 The resurrection of Jesus is such good news. 00:22:29.040 --> 00:22:31.360 How could you do anything but shout it out? 00:22:31.359 --> 00:22:42.119 The resurrection is the answer to the deepest longing of every person sitting in this room to live life well forever. 00:22:42.119 --> 00:22:44.679 That's what you want. 00:22:45.679 --> 00:22:48.319 You want to live life well forever. 00:22:48.859 --> 00:22:51.159 That's why the beauty industry is booming. 00:22:51.439 --> 00:22:53.819 Because you don't want to look like you're dying. 00:22:54.279 --> 00:22:56.259 That's why baby boomers wear jeans. 00:22:56.339 --> 00:22:59.179 Because they're trying to live out their teenage lives again. 00:23:00.539 --> 00:23:01.399 And again. 00:23:01.939 --> 00:23:02.899 And again. 00:23:02.900 --> 00:23:03.900 We want to live. 00:23:03.900 --> 00:23:04.900 We want to live. 00:23:04.900 --> 00:23:06.900 We want to live well. 00:23:06.900 --> 00:23:07.900 And we want to live well. 00:23:07.900 --> 00:23:13.120 Because those were the days before emotional pain and responsibility and frailty. 00:23:13.240 --> 00:23:14.120 We want to live. 00:23:14.280 --> 00:23:15.680 And we want to live well. 00:23:16.860 --> 00:23:23.519 And one of the reasons it's so hard for us to suffer is that we think that this physical world is it. 00:23:23.519 --> 00:23:30.660 And when you lose it, you lose the best and the most precious thing. 00:23:31.339 --> 00:23:33.859 And the resurrection means that this is not it. 00:23:34.740 --> 00:23:35.980 This is not it. 00:23:36.200 --> 00:23:37.440 There is more to come. 00:23:37.519 --> 00:23:42.139 The resurrection means that God is going to perfectly remake this world. 00:23:42.140 --> 00:23:51.840 You see, right now, for me, a headache can severely mess with the quality of my day. 00:23:56.500 --> 00:24:03.380 But with a resurrection body, not even holes in my hands or in my feet or in my side will impact the quality of my day. 00:24:04.140 --> 00:24:05.220 That is good. 00:24:06.740 --> 00:24:07.840 That is good. 00:24:09.080 --> 00:24:10.960 The resurrection changes everything. 00:24:10.960 --> 00:24:16.880 There is hope for the wheelchair bound and the person with crippling emotional pain. 00:24:17.480 --> 00:24:24.680 No religion in the world except biblical faith promises us new and perfect minds, hearts and bodies. 00:24:25.100 --> 00:24:26.680 No one else even dares to do that. 00:24:28.140 --> 00:24:34.360 Only in the gospel of Jesus Christ do people find so much hope for life now. 00:24:34.880 --> 00:24:36.860 Because it's not just now. 00:24:40.960 --> 00:24:46.059 And so when people in an attempt to being helpful, and I acknowledge they're trying to be helpful, 00:24:46.680 --> 00:24:52.380 they turn the resurrection into a metaphor of new life and growth through suffering. 00:24:52.380 --> 00:24:56.220 They gut Easter of its hope. 00:24:56.220 --> 00:25:08.680 Can you imagine the first preachers of this resurrection of Jesus going out to the poor and the slaves and the outcasts of society as they did, 00:25:10.160 --> 00:25:12.700 and saying, let me tell you about the resurrection. 00:25:12.700 --> 00:25:20.920 It didn't really happen, but it's a great symbol of how good triumphs over evil. 00:25:21.440 --> 00:25:23.940 So go and be nice to one another. 00:25:25.519 --> 00:25:30.420 Can you imagine the crippled, the poverty stricken, the tormented, the outcasts, 00:25:30.420 --> 00:25:40.640 listening to that sort of a message and going, oh man, that's just the message I needed to help me cope day by day with my crippling pain and my loneliness and my hunger. 00:25:40.640 --> 00:25:43.820 There's no hope in that. 00:25:46.660 --> 00:25:50.800 The resurrection as a nice symbol has no power to change anything. 00:25:50.920 --> 00:25:52.020 It doesn't offer us hope. 00:25:52.360 --> 00:25:57.860 But the actual historical physical resurrection of Jesus changes everything. 00:25:59.560 --> 00:26:05.620 If you know that this is not the only tangible, concrete life, 00:26:06.480 --> 00:26:08.940 who cares what people do to you? 00:26:10.640 --> 00:26:18.740 The resurrection makes you free from this life enough to be brave and courageous and sacrificial and generous and patient and be joyful. 00:26:19.360 --> 00:26:25.100 The resurrection means that you can face the worst things in this life with joy and with hope. 00:26:25.480 --> 00:26:29.020 The resurrection means that you can give yourself to serving God in this world, 00:26:29.580 --> 00:26:31.020 the world that he loves, 00:26:31.019 --> 00:26:38.099 the world that he is redeeming and transforming and rebuilding and remaking through the Lord Jesus. 00:26:38.099 --> 00:26:44.279 You see, if Jesus didn't rise from the dead, 00:26:44.359 --> 00:26:47.619 that he wouldn't have hardly got a mention in the history books. 00:26:48.899 --> 00:26:51.379 The resurrection changes everything. 00:26:52.759 --> 00:26:53.939 And because of the resurrection, 00:26:54.619 --> 00:26:57.299 we have plastered everywhere here at St. Paul's 00:26:57.299 --> 00:27:00.919 that we exist to know Jesus, 00:27:01.579 --> 00:27:02.879 to treasure Jesus, 00:27:03.079 --> 00:27:05.919 and to represent Jesus for God's glory and the joy of all people. 00:27:06.019 --> 00:27:06.980 That's why we exist. 00:27:07.399 --> 00:27:09.399 Because of the resurrection of Jesus. 00:27:09.400 --> 00:27:13.860 And so there are three words of challenge for us today. 00:27:14.360 --> 00:27:15.880 A word of challenge for our minds, 00:27:16.000 --> 00:27:17.160 a word of challenge for our hearts, 00:27:17.200 --> 00:27:19.740 and a word of challenge for the course of our lives. 00:27:20.440 --> 00:27:23.860 This is a life-changing message. 00:27:25.060 --> 00:27:26.180 And if you're not a believer, 00:27:27.180 --> 00:27:29.000 you're someone who's struggling, 00:27:29.780 --> 00:27:31.180 doubting about the resurrection, 00:27:31.180 --> 00:27:36.180 I suppose my call to you is the call of what is out there on the banner, 00:27:36.279 --> 00:27:38.259 out the front of church here on Fuller's Road, 00:27:38.600 --> 00:27:40.900 is come to life this Easter. 00:27:41.039 --> 00:27:43.440 This is a life-changing message. 00:27:44.680 --> 00:27:46.279 Let your mind be challenged 00:27:46.279 --> 00:27:49.480 so that you can receive this word of grace 00:27:49.480 --> 00:27:51.900 and have your heart changed. 00:27:53.220 --> 00:27:54.880 Let me say, if I was better prepared, 00:27:54.960 --> 00:27:57.820 I'd have something to give you right now to help you to think, 00:27:58.940 --> 00:28:00.600 to not be intellectually lazy. 00:28:01.180 --> 00:28:03.500 I think the best thing I can do right now 00:28:03.500 --> 00:28:07.500 is to offer you a communication card at the back of church 00:28:07.500 --> 00:28:09.080 where on the way out, 00:28:09.160 --> 00:28:10.519 just stick your name, address, 00:28:10.820 --> 00:28:13.440 and just put right something under there like Easter resource 00:28:13.440 --> 00:28:16.060 and we'll post you something to help you. 00:28:16.259 --> 00:28:16.700 Unconditional. 00:28:16.900 --> 00:28:17.600 This is unconditional, 00:28:18.039 --> 00:28:19.360 just like the grace of Jesus, 00:28:19.600 --> 00:28:20.539 unconditional to you, 00:28:20.940 --> 00:28:23.240 so that you can actually start thinking 00:28:23.240 --> 00:28:25.360 about the resurrection of Jesus. 00:28:25.480 --> 00:28:26.279 I'd love to do that. 00:28:26.340 --> 00:28:27.279 That's the first thing. 00:28:28.539 --> 00:28:31.080 If you are a believer in the Lord Jesus, 00:28:31.180 --> 00:28:36.019 then I think my word to you is just the word of this angel here 00:28:36.019 --> 00:28:37.100 is don't be afraid. 00:28:38.640 --> 00:28:39.620 Know Jesus, 00:28:40.500 --> 00:28:41.400 treasure Jesus, 00:28:41.740 --> 00:28:43.900 and represent Jesus for God's glory 00:28:43.900 --> 00:28:45.140 and the joy of all people. 00:28:45.900 --> 00:28:46.140 Amen. 00:28:46.140 --> 00:28:46.640 Amen. 00:28:46.640 --> 00:28:48.000 Amen. 00:28:50.140 --> 00:28:50.840 Amen. 00:28:53.340 --> 00:28:53.720 Amen. 00:28:53.720 --> 00:28:54.420 Amen. 00:28:54.880 --> 00:28:55.440 Amen. 00:28:55.460 --> 00:28:56.040 Amen. 00:28:56.040 --> 00:28:56.540 Amen. 00:28:57.540 --> 00:28:57.560 Amen. 00:28:57.560 --> 00:28:57.920 Amen. 00:28:57.960 --> 00:28:58.040 Amen. 00:28:58.040 --> 00:28:58.460 Amen. 00:28:58.460 --> 00:28:58.940 Amen. 00:28:59.000 --> 00:28:59.220 Amen. 00:28:59.780 --> 00:29:00.080 Amen. 00:29:00.080 --> 00:29:00.120 Amen. 00:29:01.040 --> 00:29:06.440 Amen. 00:29:06.640 --> 00:29:07.180 Amen. 00:29:08.000 --> 00:29:08.380 Amen. 00:29:08.380 --> 00:29:08.720 Amen. 00:29:09.140 --> 00:29:09.280 Amen. 00:29:09.280 --> 00:29:09.540 Amen. 00:29:09.540 --> 00:29:10.320 Amen. 00:29:10.320 --> 00:29:10.880 Amen. 00:29:10.880 --> 00:29:11.100 Amen. 00:29:11.100 --> 00:29:11.740 Amen. 00:29:11.740 --> 00:29:11.880 Amen. 00:29:11.880 --> 00:29:12.000 Amen. 00:29:12.000 --> 00:29:13.080 Amen. 00:29:13.080 --> 00:29:13.940 Amen. 00:29:13.940 --> 00:29:13.980 Amen. 00:29:13.980 --> 00:29:14.000 Amen. 00:29:14.000 --> 00:29:15.580 Amen. 00:29:15.580 --> 00:29:15.940 Amen.