WEBVTT

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 Please turn back to John chapter 20, page 906, as we continue this series in John's Gospel.

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 Lord willing, next two weeks we'll finish things out in chapter 21.

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! I wonder how you feel at the moment about all of the cultural shifts that are going on around us.

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 Cultural shifts that seem to have gathered speed. It feels like the thrust has been put down

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 as the secular project is growing and gaining ground as institutions, whether it's an education

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 or industry, airbrush Christianity out of their curricula and their culture.

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 How do you feel about that? How do you feel as Islam continues to grow in both size and influence?

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 Political leaders advance their policies that undermine the institutions that any

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 healthy society requires the institutions of marriage and family and local community.

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 And by the way, they tell us that it's going to cost us more in order for them to do that.

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 How do we feel about all of this?

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 The more important question actually is, how does God feel about this? It's His world.

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 How does God feel about these ways in which He is rejected?

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 The psalmist tells us the answer in Psalm 2. The nations rage, the peoples plot in vain,

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 the kings of the earth set themselves and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against His

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 anointed. He who sits in heaven laughs. The Lord holds them in derision. He laughs at all of this. He doesn't laugh at evil.

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 He doesn't laugh at evil. He is appalled by wickedness. But He does laugh at every attempt,

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 every opportunity that is taken to seek to overthrow Him. And He laughs because of what John tells us in chapter 20 this morning.

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 The kings of the earth, King Herod and the rulers, the Jewish ruling elite and the Roman governor Pilate,

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 took counsel together against the Lord Jesus and they killed Him. Crucified, dead and buried. No more Jesus, they thought.

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 No more of this man with his claims to be the Son of God. No more of this man who is gathering a

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 following that are a threat to political stability in the day. Crucified, dead, buried. Chapter 19, we saw that.

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 But we also saw that what that very wickedness managed to do was usher in the salvation of the world.

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 God laughed because the best His enemies can do in the greatest act of evil and suffering that the world has ever seen,

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 the cross of Christ, is arranged for your forgiveness.

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 And we know this because when Mary comes to the tomb on the first day of the week, the first Lord's Day,

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 the tomb is empty. Jesus has been raised. Death could not hold Him. And this is the point that John is

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 making in chapter 20 of his Gospel. And he does it by focusing us on two realities. Two points this

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 morning. The first is this. He focuses us on Christ's absence. His absence. Verses 1 to 10. John really wants

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 to get this across with the details that he includes. And he starts with the eyewitnesses.

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 Verse 1, there's Mary Magdalene who thinks, verse 2, that the grave has been robbed. They have taken the Lord out of the

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 tomb and we do not know where they have laid Him. Some heartless person has come along and robbed the grave.

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 And it's totally reasonable that she would think that. Jesus was dead. She saw that. He was in the tomb. She saw that.

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 She's back at that tomb and He's not there. Dead people don't get out of tombs. He must have been stolen.

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 She then runs to tell Peter and the other disciple, the beloved disciple who we know to be John, the author of the book.

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 She goes to tell them what she's seen or not seen as it is. And they then run to the tomb for themselves.

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 She runs to them. They then run to the tomb. There's a lot of running going on. Verse 3, Peter went out with the other

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 disciple and they were going toward the tomb. Both of them were running together. But the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb

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 He was going to tell them first. Why John needed the whole of Christian history to know that he was faster than Peter

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 we don't know. We don't know. I guess history belongs to the winners.

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 It's my book. I'll write what I want.

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 His point, however, is that Jesus is not there.

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 But He points us, do you notice, to what is there.

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 Have a look at verse 5.

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 He saw the linen cloths lying there, but he did not go in.

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 Then Simon Peter came following him and went into the tomb.

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 He saw the linen cloths lying there, and the face cloth, which had been on Jesus' head,

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 not lying with the linen cloth, but folded up in a place by itself.

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 Then the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, okay, John, let it go.

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 He also went in, and he saw and believed.

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 We are shown the linen cloths in which Jesus had been wrapped,

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 those are in the tomb.

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 It's not an empty tomb.

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 It's a tomb with linen cloths in it.

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 And the headpiece is separate from the rest

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 because the head would have been wrapped with a different cloth, a face cloth.

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 So when the body comes through the cloths and there's nothing there,

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 they separate.

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 The head cloth rolls off, as it were, and is flat in another place.

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 The scene is entirely consistent with the body having been raised through whatever it was wrapped in.

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 Mary saw it.

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 Peter saw it.

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 John himself saw it.

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 Jesus is not there.

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 Now, they're not properly clear yet exactly where he is.

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 When it says that John went into the tomb and saw and believed,

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 the sense of that verb is better taken as,

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 he began to believe because, it says,

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 for as yet they did not understand the Scripture.

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 To say,

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 he went in,

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 he saw and believed,

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 because as yet he did not understand the Scripture that he must rise from the dead.

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 That doesn't follow.

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 He began to believe because he had not yet fully understood the Scripture about his resurrection.

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 His understanding was unfolding as he needed to grasp maybe the testimony of Psalm 16, verse 10,

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 you will not abandon my soul to shale or let your Holy One see corruption.

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 Or perhaps Hosea 6, 2,

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 after two days he will revive us on the third day,

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 he will raise us up that we may live before him.

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 1 Corinthians, the Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians chapter 15, verse 4,

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 says that Jesus was raised according to the Scripture.

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 This is what Peter and John had not yet fully grasped.

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 Now, we know, don't we, that the fact of the empty tomb

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 is often challenged by people who don't want to believe the Christian story.

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 Dead people don't rise from the dead.

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 Therefore, Jesus can't have risen from the dead.

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 Therefore, there must be an alternative explanation.

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 And all kinds of things have been proposed for the last 2,000 years.

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 Popular, the body was stolen by the authorities,

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 or stolen and hidden by the disciples.

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 Now, there is zero evidence to suggest that either of these are possible.

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 In fact, the evidence that we have suggests the opposite.

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 If the authorities had the body,

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 if they had stolen the body,

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 and that was what Mary thought, actually,

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 if they had stolen the body,

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 all they would have needed to have done would produce the corpse,

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 and the Christian faith would have stopped dead in its tracks there and then.

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 It would never have got off the ground.

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 I bet the authorities wished they had the body so that they could have done that.

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 But the whole thing stands or falls on whether Jesus was raised from the dead,

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 and if they can prove with his body that he wasn't,

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 it all evaporates.

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 The disciples clearly don't have the body.

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 They don't know what's going on.

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 They think the authorities might have stolen it.

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 They're looking around.

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 They don't come across as a very together group at this point,

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 that they've maybe hatched a plan.

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 And apart from anything else,

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 these disciples gave their lives for the message that Jesus was raised from the dead.

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 They're not going to do that for a lie.

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 They're simply not.

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 I wouldn't take a paper cut for something I knew was a lie.

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 Never mind.

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 Give my life for it.

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 And I don't think you would either if you're prepared to be honest.

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 Ricky Gervais, the British comedian,

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 is well known for his vocal atheism.

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 A number of years ago, I heard him criticizing Christianity

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 because it rested on the miracle of the empty tomb.

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 Dead people don't come back to life.

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 He said it in his kind of characteristic snare.

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 And he's right.

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 That's right.

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 Normally that's the case.

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 But Jesus, the Son of God, is no ordinary person.

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 And John has given eyewitness testimony that he did.

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 How else could we know if not for eyewitness testimony?

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 I would ask Ricky Gervais,

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 was there a comedy series in Britain called The Office?

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 Yes.

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 How should I know that?

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 Well, you can see it.

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 What about the people that haven't seen it?

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 That doesn't change the fact that The Office was a thing.

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 Whether they've seen it or not, it was a thing.

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 Oh, but they don't believe that David Brent was actually a character.

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 How could they be convinced?

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 People that saw The Office tell them about it.

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 And some will write it down that they've seen it.

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 And people will read their testimony in years to come.

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 The fact of The Office will only be a reality to people in 2,000 years.

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 People will not be watching The Office in 2,000 years.

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 Whatever YouTube thing we have 2,000 years from now, they won't be watching The Office.

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 So people that have written about it, it will still have happened.

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 And the people that hear about it then will know because it was written down by eyewitnesses.

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 That is how it happens.

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 John wants us to see here, he writes as he does because he wants us to see that Christ is absent.

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 That is, when Jesus cried, it is finished.

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 Three days earlier, it was really finished.

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 Jesus has completed his mission from the Father.

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 And as we said last week, as the second Adam in the second garden, verse 1,

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 on the first day of the new week, he has inaugurated the new world, the new creation.

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 What we need to see is that his absence, the fact of the empty tomb, declares the truth of the gospel.

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 Death really is defeated.

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 If you go to the place of death, looking for death, you won't find it.

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 John is saying, it's not there.

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 He's not there.

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 Death is dead.

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 Love has won.

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 Christ has conquered.

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 That's what we sing.

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 That's the first thing John wants us to see.

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 Christ's absence.

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 But then he draws our attention.

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 Second point, to Christ's presence.

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 Christ's presence.

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 Mary has taken up with Christ's location.

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 Where is he?

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 The disciples go home, but she won't leave the tomb.

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 She's overwhelmed.

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 She's weeping.

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 She's worrying.

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 And then verse 12, she saw two angels in white sitting where the body of Jesus had lain, one at the head and one at the feet.

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 They said to her, woman, why are you weeping?

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 She said to them, they have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.

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 Still taken up with location.

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 Where is he?

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 I don't know where he is.

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 And then she turns around, and John tells us Jesus is standing in front of her.

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 But verse 14, she doesn't know it's him.

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 He then asks the same question as the angels.

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 Verse 15, woman, why are you weeping?

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 Whom are you seeking?

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 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.

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 Think of the great distress.

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 If you've ever lost someone dear to you, someone close to you, and those days after the funeral, when you haven't slept, your head is spinning, it's emotionally been terrible.

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 There have been people coming and going, there have been plans to try and get the funeral and the burial sorted out.

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 And the day after the funeral, the next couple of days after the funeral, you're thinking to yourself, did that really happen?

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 Was that really real?

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 Are they really gone?

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 And you think, I don't want to see anybody.

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 I just want to go to the grave.

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 And she goes in all of this distress.

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 And he's not there.

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 Some heartless soul, as I say, has taken the body.

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 It's ramped up many times the sadness, the frustration, the grief.

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 And here she is face to face with Jesus.

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 Face to face with the Lord that she thinks is absent.

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 And she thinks he's the gardener.

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 Perhaps he's taken the body, put it somewhere.

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 And then he speaks, verse 16.

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 Mary.

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 Now, we don't know what Tony took, but we can assume it was warm and tender.

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 And immediately Mary knows it's Jesus.

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 His sheep hear his voice.

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 Immediately she knows it's him.

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 And she cries out, what must that have felt like?

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 The shock, the wonder, the delight, the joy.

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 Rabboni.

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 I imagine it's a bit like, you know those videos that we see of dads who return from military service.

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 And they come to surprise their children.

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 Whether it's at their school or something like that.

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 And some, obviously, their wife knows.

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 And there are other people that know.

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 And they're filming.

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 And they come in.

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 And they call their child's name.

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 The child knows instantly.

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 They stop.

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 They turn around.

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 And they run.

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 And grab them.

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 They know instantly their voice.

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 And they go in for the embrace.

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 Well, John has shifted here from absence to presence.

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 And what we're supposed to see in this personal meeting in the garden is an enacting of what the empty tomb has achieved.

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 You see, Mary's fixation with the physical location misunderstood that his absence was actually a sign that he was closer than he had ever been.

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 Why?

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 Because he had just on the cross destroyed every barrier that separated them.

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 The gardener has come to tend the garden of his new world.

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 He is here.

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 He is present with his disciples.

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 And as with last week, the details that John includes here mean that he wants us to know that he is present in a particular way.

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 And he's present, in fact, in three particular ways I want to highlight this morning.

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 The first is we're supposed to see here that he is present to save.

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 Present to save.

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 That's why we're told about the angels in verse 12.

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 Do you notice that?

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 It's a strange reference, isn't it?

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 Because the angels just simply ask a question that Jesus also asks a moment or two later.

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 And yet we're given this detailed description about their location in the tomb.

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 And he, she saw two angels, verse 12, in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had lain.

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 One at his head and one at his feet.

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 One at the head, one at the feet.

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 Now, why is that there?

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 Well, it's because we've heard about angelic beings taking their position at either side of something significant in God's arrangement before.

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 Remember Moses in the Ark of the Covenant.

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 Exodus 25, make two cherubim out of hammered gold at the ends of the cover.

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 Make one cherub on one end and the second cherub on the other.

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 Make the cherubim of one piece with the cover at the two ends.

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 The place between the two angels, the cherubim, was the place of propitiation.

00:16:43.679 --> 00:16:46.340
 To be specific, it is the mercy seat.

00:16:46.480 --> 00:16:48.639
 The place where God atones for sin.

00:16:49.039 --> 00:16:50.879
 The place where sin is dealt with.

00:16:52.580 --> 00:16:55.879
 And so the careful description here of the place of the angels at the head and the feet,

00:16:55.940 --> 00:16:57.879
 of the place where Jesus had been lying,

00:16:58.259 --> 00:17:01.580
 is designed to portray the tomb as the Ark of the New Covenant.

00:17:01.580 --> 00:17:04.799
 Where Jesus has atoned for sin.

00:17:06.299 --> 00:17:08.860
 And is now present in power to save.

00:17:09.920 --> 00:17:14.000
 It's a picture of what he's just done on the cross.

00:17:15.920 --> 00:17:17.319
 The rulers killed him.

00:17:18.079 --> 00:17:20.920
 But in that death, the sin of the world was being dealt with.

00:17:21.019 --> 00:17:22.539
 That's why the Lord laughs.

00:17:22.539 --> 00:17:30.500
 The question for us is, have you received that forgiveness that he offers?

00:17:32.099 --> 00:17:35.779
 Have you put your faith in the risen Christ who is present to save?

00:17:35.819 --> 00:17:38.319
 You can do that in your seat this morning.

00:17:38.319 --> 00:17:44.359
 If you recognize that you have sinned against God and his world.

00:17:45.039 --> 00:17:48.179
 That you've lived your life on your terms in his world.

00:17:50.339 --> 00:17:54.759
 And that he doesn't approve of that.

00:17:55.659 --> 00:17:57.899
 That incurs his anger, righteous anger.

00:17:58.839 --> 00:18:01.579
 But that actually he has made a way for you to be reconciled.

00:18:01.659 --> 00:18:05.159
 And it is through the work of his son.

00:18:05.160 --> 00:18:09.880
 The one who died on the cross for our sins and who is raised for our justification.

00:18:10.259 --> 00:18:14.420
 He is present in power to save.

00:18:16.279 --> 00:18:20.420
 Second thing John wants us to see here is that he is present by the Holy Spirit.

00:18:22.680 --> 00:18:25.960
 When Mary realizes the Lord is in front of her, she wants to hold on to him.

00:18:26.019 --> 00:18:30.940
 But Jesus tells her, verse 17, not to cling to him because he had to return to his father.

00:18:31.140 --> 00:18:32.240
 He's promised that already.

00:18:32.320 --> 00:18:33.779
 Do you remember in the farewell discourse?

00:18:33.779 --> 00:18:36.660
 He must return to the father in order to send his spirit.

00:18:36.859 --> 00:18:43.039
 And he, his spirit, is the means by which Christ will be present in the new family that he is gathering, the church.

00:18:44.720 --> 00:18:47.839
 So Jesus shows himself to his disciples and says, verse 22,

00:18:48.019 --> 00:18:48.879
 Peace be with you.

00:18:49.180 --> 00:18:51.779
 As the father has sent me, even so I am sending you.

00:18:52.099 --> 00:18:55.279
 And when he said this, he breathed on them and said to them,

00:18:55.680 --> 00:18:56.779
 Receive the Holy Spirit.

00:18:56.779 --> 00:19:03.519
 Now given all that John has been telling us, chapter 19, chapter 20, this makes perfect sense.

00:19:06.339 --> 00:19:11.480
 At the beginning of creation in Genesis 1 and 2, it is the Spirit of God who directs his activity in the world.

00:19:11.579 --> 00:19:13.059
 He breathes and things happen.

00:19:13.700 --> 00:19:15.779
 And here we are at the beginning of the new creation.

00:19:15.779 --> 00:19:22.180
 So it is no surprise that the ongoing activity of God in the new world would be carried out through that same Holy Spirit.

00:19:23.859 --> 00:19:29.200
 The last Adam, as the Apostle Paul calls Jesus, comes to his church as the life-giving Spirit.

00:19:29.720 --> 00:19:31.119
 1 Corinthians 15, 45.

00:19:31.119 --> 00:19:37.899
 All that Christ has won for his people comes to us through the Spirit.

00:19:39.799 --> 00:19:44.079
 But it is important for us to see here that the Spirit is not an extra gift to us from God,

00:19:44.159 --> 00:19:48.479
 but a continuation and an expansion of the gift of the Son from the Father.

00:19:48.639 --> 00:19:51.519
 God so loved the world that he sent his Son,

00:19:52.359 --> 00:19:56.739
 and he also sent his Spirit as an expression of that same love.

00:20:01.119 --> 00:20:03.500
 The Spirit is the Spirit of Christ.

00:20:04.759 --> 00:20:08.439
 And Christ's command is that we receive his Spirit.

00:20:08.839 --> 00:20:14.019
 Now this command came first to these Apostles and their foundational role as the newly created people of God,

00:20:14.099 --> 00:20:16.579
 the new Israel, who are commissioned to declare the peace of God,

00:20:17.359 --> 00:20:21.519
 verses 19 and 21, and the forgiveness of sins, verse 23.

00:20:22.239 --> 00:20:23.919
 But it also comes to us.

00:20:25.239 --> 00:20:29.919
 And we receive the Spirit not by seeking out a particular experience,

00:20:29.920 --> 00:20:33.300
 or by manifesting certain spiritual phenomena,

00:20:33.440 --> 00:20:38.000
 whether that's falling over or speaking in tongues,

00:20:38.200 --> 00:20:43.380
 or whatever manifestation is required by the people that say it is.

00:20:43.960 --> 00:20:47.560
 We receive the Spirit by surrendering our lives to God.

00:20:49.360 --> 00:20:51.840
 To receive the Spirit is to receive Christ.

00:20:53.279 --> 00:20:55.820
 Indeed, it is to receive the fullness of God the Holy Trinity

00:20:55.820 --> 00:20:57.900
 in repentance for sin and faith in Him.

00:20:57.900 --> 00:21:02.940
 The risen Christ, who is present to save,

00:21:02.980 --> 00:21:04.740
 is present now by the Holy Spirit,

00:21:04.820 --> 00:21:06.460
 who is the Spirit of the Father and the Son.

00:21:09.420 --> 00:21:11.820
 He is present to save.

00:21:11.920 --> 00:21:13.860
 He is present by the Holy Spirit.

00:21:14.060 --> 00:21:16.140
 And thirdly, He is present for mission.

00:21:17.460 --> 00:21:18.160
 For mission.

00:21:18.259 --> 00:21:19.700
 This is why we're told about Thomas.

00:21:19.700 --> 00:21:27.460
 See, we've just seen how Jesus chose the disciples to be eyewitnesses of His resurrection.

00:21:29.500 --> 00:21:33.000
 The purpose of that is that they would become witnesses for the church.

00:21:33.759 --> 00:21:36.480
 And then the first person that they tell about the Lord,

00:21:36.660 --> 00:21:39.559
 who hadn't seen Him in His risen state, refuses to believe.

00:21:40.160 --> 00:21:41.220
 They say, verse 25,

00:21:41.220 --> 00:21:57.380
 Now, the eyewitness testimony from the disciples should have been enough for him to believe.

00:21:57.500 --> 00:21:58.000
 But it isn't.

00:21:58.000 --> 00:22:04.319
 He refuses to believe on that basis and insists instead on this remarkably detailed list of requirements

00:22:04.319 --> 00:22:08.119
 in order for him to believe that Christ was raised.

00:22:10.880 --> 00:22:12.140
 But then verse 26,

00:22:12.220 --> 00:22:13.480
 The following Lord's Day,

00:22:14.779 --> 00:22:17.240
 in Jewish way of reckoning time,

00:22:17.339 --> 00:22:19.240
 both the first and last days are included.

00:22:19.359 --> 00:22:20.240
 That's why it's eight days.

00:22:20.380 --> 00:22:22.680
 It's the following Lord's Day.

00:22:22.680 --> 00:22:26.900
 Jesus appears to Thomas and insists he does exactly what he had demanded.

00:22:27.940 --> 00:22:29.019
 Verse 27, have a look.

00:22:29.080 --> 00:22:29.539
 It's like he says,

00:22:29.640 --> 00:22:30.080
 Go on then.

00:22:30.779 --> 00:22:31.720
 Put your finger here.

00:22:32.120 --> 00:22:32.860
 See my hands.

00:22:33.680 --> 00:22:34.420
 Put out your hand.

00:22:34.519 --> 00:22:35.440
 Place it in my side.

00:22:36.440 --> 00:22:37.560
 And then Jesus rebukes him.

00:22:37.660 --> 00:22:38.680
 Do not disbelieve,

00:22:39.240 --> 00:22:39.940
 but believe.

00:22:42.000 --> 00:22:43.759
 Now, this phrase is a cumbersome phrase.

00:22:43.860 --> 00:22:44.560
 It's hard to translate

00:22:44.560 --> 00:22:47.799
 because it's not that Thomas doesn't believe that Jesus is the Son of God.

00:22:48.080 --> 00:22:51.279
 We're told back in chapter 11 that he would be prepared to die for Jesus.

00:22:51.279 --> 00:22:56.200
 Rather, what's going on here is he's acting in an unbelieving way.

00:22:57.379 --> 00:22:59.740
 He wants Jesus on his terms.

00:23:00.460 --> 00:23:03.519
 He wants Jesus in the flesh, present with him.

00:23:03.839 --> 00:23:07.099
 He doesn't want Jesus by faith in the power of the Holy Spirit.

00:23:07.259 --> 00:23:10.139
 Thomas doesn't need to be converted from an unbeliever to a believer.

00:23:10.500 --> 00:23:13.500
 He needs to shift his understanding from the old to the new covenant.

00:23:14.759 --> 00:23:17.539
 A shift to the life of faith

00:23:17.539 --> 00:23:21.119
 in the crucified Lord that has lived in the power of the Spirit.

00:23:21.279 --> 00:23:24.259
 That's why he gets rebuked.

00:23:25.220 --> 00:23:27.039
 He wants Jesus on his terms.

00:23:27.200 --> 00:23:28.700
 But the penny drops, verse 28,

00:23:29.420 --> 00:23:31.359
 My Lord and my God.

00:23:32.660 --> 00:23:34.220
 Now, how do we know that the penny drops?

00:23:34.319 --> 00:23:35.879
 We know that the penny drops because

00:23:35.879 --> 00:23:37.879
 he doesn't reach for Jesus physically.

00:23:38.740 --> 00:23:39.799
 He does it verbally.

00:23:39.799 --> 00:23:43.819
 He does it by a declaration, a confession of faith,

00:23:44.419 --> 00:23:47.960
 a declaration of his adoration for the Lord.

00:23:49.579 --> 00:23:52.960
 The fact that Thomas was absent when Jesus appeared to the disciples

00:23:52.960 --> 00:23:58.099
 enables John to use him as an example of how future disciples will come to believe.

00:23:58.099 --> 00:24:01.179
 They won't see Jesus in the flesh,

00:24:01.179 --> 00:24:07.379
 but would believe in Jesus on the basis of the testimony of the eyewitnesses.

00:24:08.339 --> 00:24:10.459
 Thomas failed in this regard at first,

00:24:10.539 --> 00:24:13.699
 but then showed what faith looks like in his declaration of faith.

00:24:14.480 --> 00:24:17.179
 Thomas is a model for us.

00:24:17.180 --> 00:24:23.279
 And it shows us here how the mission of the church will advance.

00:24:23.840 --> 00:24:26.700
 Just as Jesus mediates the presence of the Father

00:24:26.700 --> 00:24:28.560
 and is the one through whom the Father is known,

00:24:28.680 --> 00:24:31.660
 so the disciples mediate the presence of the Lord through their testimony,

00:24:32.160 --> 00:24:34.240
 which brings about faith through the work of the Spirit.

00:24:35.600 --> 00:24:37.259
 The Lord who is present to save

00:24:37.259 --> 00:24:39.200
 makes himself known through the Spirit

00:24:39.200 --> 00:24:42.820
 and the testimony of the church proclaiming the gospel.

00:24:42.819 --> 00:24:48.059
 That is how he becomes present in the world.

00:24:49.279 --> 00:24:50.700
 And that is how, verse 31,

00:24:51.939 --> 00:24:54.539
 people believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God,

00:24:54.599 --> 00:24:58.319
 and by believing may have life in his name.

00:25:00.720 --> 00:25:03.779
 The absence of Christ, the empty tomb,

00:25:04.539 --> 00:25:08.259
 proves that everything that he's just accomplished on the cross has worked.

00:25:09.019 --> 00:25:12.639
 But he comes and is present with his people as the risen Christ,

00:25:12.819 --> 00:25:15.720
 in power to save by his Holy Spirit,

00:25:16.619 --> 00:25:17.480
 for the sake of the world.

00:25:20.039 --> 00:25:21.019
 So here's the thing.

00:25:21.119 --> 00:25:24.700
 John's gospel is an invitation to you and to me

00:25:24.700 --> 00:25:27.099
 to do what he says in verse 31,

00:25:27.240 --> 00:25:30.519
 to believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God,

00:25:31.359 --> 00:25:34.359
 and therefore to receive life in his name.

00:25:35.159 --> 00:25:37.720
 To give yourself over to Christ in all things,

00:25:38.000 --> 00:25:39.480
 every corner of your life,

00:25:39.480 --> 00:25:40.579
 and in doing so,

00:25:40.860 --> 00:25:44.259
 to participate in the victory that he has accomplished.

00:25:44.460 --> 00:25:46.539
 To receive life that is truly life.

00:25:46.819 --> 00:25:47.980
 Life in all its fullness.

00:25:49.140 --> 00:25:50.900
 And when you have life in all its fullness,

00:25:51.099 --> 00:25:53.880
 you can face what is going on in our culture,

00:25:54.099 --> 00:25:54.860
 in our world,

00:25:55.000 --> 00:25:57.980
 and join the Lord in laughing at his enemies.

00:25:58.420 --> 00:25:59.180
 Let's pray.

00:25:59.180 --> 00:25:59.180


00:25:59.180 --> 00:25:59.220
 Let's pray.

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