Let's turn in our Bibles now to John,
the Gospel according to John, chapter 20.
For our scripture reading today, I'll read the
first, the unnumbered verses.
Pastor Brian will lead the congregation through the
even-numbered verses through verse 18.
John 20, 1 through 18.
Shall we stand as we read the Word
of God?
The first day of the week cometh Mary
Magdalene early, when it was yet dark, unto
the sepulchre, and seeth the stone taken away
from the sepulchre.
Then she runneth and cometh to Simon Peter,
and to the other disciples whom Jesus loved,
and saith unto them, They have taken away
the Lord out of the sepulchre, and we
know not where they have laid him.
Peter therefore went forth, and that other disciple,
and they came to the sepulchre.
So they ran both together, and the other
disciple did outrun Peter, and came first to
the sepulchre.
And he, stooping down and looking in, saw
the linen clothes lying, yet went he not
in.
Then cometh Simon Peter following him, and went
into the sepulchre, and seeth the linen clothes
lie.
And the napkin that was about his head,
not lying with the linen clothes, but wrapped
together in a place by itself.
Then went in also that other disciple, which
came first to the sepulchre, and he saw
and believed.
For as yet they knew not the scripture,
that he must rise again from the dead.
Then the disciples went away again unto their
own home.
But Mary stood without at the sepulchre weeping,
and as she wept, she stooped down and
looked into the sepulchre, and seeth two angels
in white sitting, the one at the head,
and the other at the feet, where the
body of Jesus had lain.
And they said unto her, Woman, why weepest
thou?
And she said unto them, Because they have
taken away my Lord, and I know not
where they have laid him.
And when she had thus said, she turned
herself back, and saw Jesus standing, and knew
not that it was Jesus.
And Jesus saith unto her, Woman, why weepest
thou?
Whom seekest thou?
And she supposing him to be the gardener,
saith unto him, Sir, if you have borne
him hence, tell me where you have laid
him, and I will take him away.
Jesus saith unto her, Mary, she turned herself,
and saith unto him, Rabboni, which is to
say, Master.
Jesus saith unto her, Touch me not, for
I am not yet ascended to my Father.
But go to my brethren, and say unto
them, I ascend unto my Father, and to
your Father, and to my God, and your
God.
Mary Magdalene came, and told the disciples that
she had seen the Lord, and that he
had spoken these things unto her.
Let's pray.
Father, it's a story that never grows old,
but always fills us with excitement and with
hope.
The story of the conquering of death by
our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
And Lord, we thank you that you have
given to us the promise that because you
live, we too shall live.
And we thank you, Lord, that through the
power of your Spirit that dwells in us,
we too shall rise to immortality through our
Lord Jesus Christ.
Lord, we're so grateful that you have given
us this living hope today.
Speak now, Lord, to our hearts through your
Word.
Open our hearts to receive.
In Jesus' name we pray.
Amen.
You may be seated.
We'll turn back just a couple of chapters
to John chapter 16.
And in verse 20, Jesus is talking to
his disciples on the evening before his crucifixion.
They had observed the Passover supper in the
upper room, probably somewhere on Mount Zion.
They had left the upper room now and
were walking together to the Garden of Gethsemane
there at the Mount of Olives.
They had passed by the temple, had seen
the gates with the carved grapes on them,
which probably prompted Jesus to say in chapter
15, I am the true vine and my
Father is the husbandman.
In every branch in me that beareth fruit,
he washes it that it might bring forth
more fruit.
Now as they continue probably leaving the city
walls out either the East Gate or St.
Stephen's, entering into the Valley of the Kidron
and up the other side to the Garden,
Jesus continues to talk with them.
He's trying to prepare them for the next
morning when they are going to see him
hanging on a cross.
Their concept of the Messiah was so different.
They had believed that the Messiah was going
to overthrow the Roman government, that he would
sit upon the throne of David and that
he would rule over the world.
And the idea that he would be despised
and rejected, the thought that he would be
crucified was the furthest thing from their concept
of the Messiah.
And though Jesus had been trying to prepare
them for this, ever since they acknowledged that
he was the Messiah, somehow it just didn't
sink in.
Yes, the Messiah shall reign.
Yes, the Messiah will be King of Kings
and Lord of Lords and rule over the
earth, but that awaits his second coming.
In his first coming, he was to be
despised and rejected by men, a man of
sorrows acquainted with grief.
In his first coming, he was to be
rejected by the builders, but later he would
become the chief cornerstone.
And though in the Old Testament there were
those predictions of his suffering, of his death,
wounded for our transgressions, bruised for our iniquities,
yet they didn't really conceive that that would
happen to the Messiah.
And so Jesus was trying to prepare them,
because he knew that his death would be
such a tremendous disappointment.
Not really understanding the Scriptures, it was to
be to them the end of all of
their hopes of the Kingdom of God.
From the first time that they acknowledged that
Jesus was the Messiah, the Son of living
God, there in Caesarea Philippi, when Jesus said,
who do people think I am?
And they told him all of the rumors
that were going about around the area about
him.
He said, but who do you say that
I am?
Peter answered and said, you're the Messiah, the
Son of the living God.
And from that time, Jesus began to talk
to his disciples, telling them that he would
have to go to Jerusalem.
He would suffer many things from the chief
priest and from the scribes, and he would
be killed.
But on the third day, he would rise
again.
Peter began to rebuke him, shame on you,
don't talk like that.
And Jesus had to rebuke Peter, saying, Peter,
you don't really understand the things that are
coming from God and the things that are
coming from man.
Peter was talking out of his own heart.
He had ambitions.
He was planning to have a great position.
The Lord had chosen him.
And surely when he sets up his kingdom,
Peter will be able to have a position
of authority and power in the kingdom.
And he was looking forward to this.
And when Jesus starts to talk about being
crucified, being killed, at that point, his mind
just shut off.
It was such a shocking revelation.
He didn't hear the rest of what Jesus
said.
He didn't hear him say, but on the
third day, I will rise again.
That just went over because the shock of
Jesus saying, they're going to crucify me.
That's all he heard.
In Matthew 17, he records that while they
were staying in Galilee, Jesus said to them,
the son of man shall be betrayed into
the hands of men.
They will kill him.
But the third day, he will rise again.
And they were exceeding sorry.
Again, they just didn't hear.
He will rise again.
In Matthew chapter 20, again, Jesus was going
to Jerusalem and he took the 12 disciples
apart in the way.
And he said to them, behold, we're going
to Jerusalem and the son of man shall
be betrayed unto the chief priest and unto
the scribes, and they shall condemn him to
death.
And they will deliver him to the Gentiles
to mock and to scourge and to crucify
him.
And the third day he shall rise again.
And then in verse 28 of chapter 20
of Matthew, even as the son of man
came not to be ministered unto, but to
minister and to give his life as a
ransom for many, trying to prepare them, trying
to prepare them for the shock that they're
going to have when they see him crucify.
Finally, in Matthew 26 verse 2, he said
to them, you know that after two days
is the feast of the Passover and the
son of man will be betrayed and will
be crucified.
Now they have come to the eve of
the crucifixion.
The last supper is over.
They're on the way to the garden of
Gethsemane where he will pray and later be
arrested, taken to the house of the high
priest, condemned by the spiritual court because he
claimed to be the son of God, brought
early in the morning to Pilate.
And there upon the insistence of the people,
Pilate succumbs to the pressure and delivers Jesus
to them to be crucified.
And at nine o'clock, he'll be hanging
upon the cross.
And around three o'clock in the afternoon,
his body will go limp as he bows
his head and dismisses his spirit.
And their hearts will be heavy with grief.
Their hopes will be dashed to pieces.
And so Jesus said to them in John
16 20, Verily, verily, I say unto you,
you shall weep and lament, but the world
will rejoice.
You will be sorrowful, but your sorrow shall
be turned into joy.
And in verse 22, And now will you
have sorrow, but I will see you again,
and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy
no man can take from you.
So now, just before he prays and is
arrested, he is saying to the disciples, you're
going to weep, you're going to lament.
The world around you will be rejoicing.
You're going to be sorrowful, but your sorrow
will be turned into joy.
When Isaiah the prophet was anointed by the
spirit of God and prophesying concerning the Messiah
that would be coming some 700 years later.
In speaking of the Messiah, Isaiah said, The
spirit of the Lord God is upon me,
because the Lord has anointed me to preach
good tidings unto the meek.
He has sent me to bind up the
brokenhearted and to proclaim liberty to the captives,
and the opening of the prison to those
that are bound, and to proclaim the acceptable
year of the Lord and the day of
the vengeance of our God, to comfort all
that mourn, to appoint unto them that mourn
in Zion to give them beauty for their
ashes, the oil of joy for their mourning,
and the garment of praise for the spirit
of heaviness, that they might be called the
trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord,
that he might be glorified.
As Isaiah sees the Messiah in this passage,
we realize that this is referring to Jesus.
When Jesus after his baptism came back to
his hometown of Nazareth, went into the synagogue,
and when they handed him the scriptures to
read, he turned in the Isaiah scroll to
this particular passage, and he read this passage
to those that were in the synagogue, and
then having read it, he said, This day
has this scripture been fulfilled in your eyes,
declaring that he was the promised Messiah.
Now, these are the things that Isaiah said
the Messiah would do.
First of all, he would bind up the
brokenhearted.
There are so many people today in the
world with broken hearts.
Many of them have hearts that are broken
over dashed relationships.
Many of them have hearts that are broken
because of the loss of loved ones, a
husband, a wife, a mother, a father, a
son, a daughter.
Many have broken hearts because of the serious
illness of close friends.
Jesus came to heal the brokenhearted.
He came, Isaiah said, to comfort those who
mourn.
And again, the sorrow of the world.
And how many people today are mourning because
of the loss of reputation, the loss of
a job, the loss of a friend, the
loss of a loved one.
He came to comfort those that mourn.
It says he came to bring beauty for
ashes.
It is to me a very tragic thing
to see a person whose life has been
burned out.
You see them pushing the market basket down
the street with all of their possessions in
that basket.
You see their eyes, the hopelessness that is
there.
My heart is always touched when I see
a burned out life and even more so
when it's a young person.
And I have seen so many young people,
even as early as their teens, whose lives
are already burned out.
They made a wrong turn.
They yielded to the pressures.
They started taking drugs and the drugs soon
took them.
And sometimes the overdosing, destroying their brains.
And you see them with their dirty clothes,
walking the streets with matted hair.
They try to look like they know where
they're going and they try to look like
they have purpose in life.
But you look at their eyes, they're vacant.
Nobody's home.
And your heart grieves.
You think you're so young.
You should be thinking about marriage, about a
family, about a career.
But your lives are already burned out.
We've seen so many.
But Jesus came to give beauty for ashes.
And we have also watched those whose lives
were burned out and we saw how the
Lord transformed them and has given them beauty
for the ashes.
I think of Mike McIntosh when he first
came to us.
Handsome young fellow, but burned out.
He had already taken so many drugs that
had destroyed his brain.
The psychiatrists had written him off.
They said, there's no hope for him.
He's destroyed too many of his brain cells.
And when he first came, he kept saying,
take a look at my brain.
Just at the back there, look at my
brain.
And he thought the skull was gone and
you could actually see his brain burned out,
talking incoherently.
But we saw Jesus touch his life.
We saw the transformation that only Jesus can
bring.
We saw Jesus restore his marriage.
I had the privilege of remarrying Mike and
Sandy.
Their two beautiful little girls were the flower
girls in that wedding.
And what a day that was, as we
were all of us crying over the wonderful
work of Jesus giving beauty for ashes.
And I look at the beautiful life today.
How God is using Mike to touch the
world.
His tremendous crusades, the festivals for life, and
just the many ministries that have actually sprung
out of his ministry.
And what beauty I see in that life
today.
You see, that's what Jesus came to bring.
Beauty for ashes.
He came to give us the oil of
joy for our mourning.
And he is able to turn our mourning
into joy.
He came to give us the garment of
praise for the spirit of heaviness.
And how many times people are going around
with heavy hearts, discouraged about life, sort of
given up hope.
And Jesus gives to us that garment of
praise for the spirit of heaviness.
In John 16, Jesus is saying to the
disciples, you're going to be weeping and lamenting
while the world around you is rejoicing.
And when they watch him as he is
hanging on the cross, and they realize that
when he was talking about his being put
to death, he wasn't talking allegorically, but of
an actual experience that would take place.
Their hopes were dashed.
They have lost their will to live.
And don't you know, that Sabbath day as
they sat around, heads hanging low, their whole
lives have been disrupted, fractured.
Their hopes for the future have been shattered.
How do you begin again?
How do you go back and pick up
the broken pieces?
Where do you start?
As Jesus joined the two disciples that resurrection
day, as they were walking towards the village
of Emmaus, their heads are down.
I can see them as they're walking along
kicking rocks and just downhearted, downtrodden.
And Jesus sort of sits up besides them
and says, fellows, what kind of conversations do
you have as you're walking along here?
You look so dejected.
And they said, are you the only one
around here who doesn't know the things that
have been going on in Jerusalem in the
last few days?
He said, what things?
And they began to relate how there was
a man, Jesus, he was from Nazareth.
And he went around doing good, healing all
manner of sicknesses.
And then in the past tense, they said,
and we hoped in him for the salvation
of Israel.
But it was past tense.
We had hoped it's no longer, we don't,
he was crucified.
This is the third day.
Oh, some women came from the tomb this
morning and said that the stone was rolled
away.
But you know how women can get hysterical
and all of that.
Jesus said, oh, fools and slow of heart
to believe all that the scriptures say.
And he started with Moses.
And he began to unfold the scriptures that
spoke about the suffering of the Messiah.
He took them through the prophets and he
showed them how that this had to be.
And as he was talking to them out
of the scriptures later, they said, did not
our hearts burn within us as he spoke
to us in the way.
That hope that had been dashed, suddenly it
was reviving.
The fire that had been quenched is being
rekindled.
They're beginning to see.
And as he breaks bread with them, their
eyes are open.
Probably they saw the nail prints as he
broke the bread.
They realized it's Jesus.
Then he disappeared.
They went running back to Jerusalem.
They saw the disciples and they cried out,
he is risen.
And the disciples responded, he is risen indeed.
He appeared unto Mary and unto the women
and unto Peter.
And that became really one of the cries
of the early church.
As they would greet each other, they'd say,
he is risen.
And the other would respond, he is risen
indeed.
The hope that had been dashed is now
alive again.
Their sorrow has been turned into joy, even
as Jesus said, and the joy no one
will be able to take from you.
What a difference a day makes from the
Sabbath day of complete gloom and sorrow, to
the Sunday morning, to the day of joy
and blessing.
Your sorrow will be turned into joy.
When the women came to the tomb, the
angel almost was rebuking them.
He said, why are you seeking the living
among the dead?
What are you doing here?
Why would you seek for he that is
living among the dead?
He is not here.
He is risen just as he said.
He is telling them, look, this is what
he told you.
Don't you remember?
He is risen just as he said.
What a contrast of emotions, from deepest sorrow
to highest joy.
But what brought them the sorrow?
It was their failure to believe the words
of Jesus.
Had they listened and had they believed, they
would not have sorrowed.
Because over and over he said, they're going
to crucify me, but the third day I
will rise again.
Now it's interesting, they just seem not to
catch that.
But what's interesting to me is that the
enemies of Jesus caught that.
When Jesus had been placed into the tomb,
they came to Pilate and they said, look,
now this deceiver said he was going to
rise again the third day.
So make certain that that can't happen.
Seal the tomb.
And Pilate had enough of them.
He said, you've got your own, you know,
authority.
You go seal it.
But they could not keep him in the
tomb.
And so when they came, the sorrow, because
of their unbelief, when they saw the evidence
of the risen Lord, their sorrow was turned
into joy.
Unbelief will keep you weeping when you should
be rejoicing.
Not believing God's word can cause you great
anxiety and sorrow when you should have confidence
and hope.
The Bible tells us that Jesus Christ is
the same yesterday, today, and forever.
He came to give beauty for ashes.
And today he can give you beauty for
your ashes.
He came to give the oil of joy
to those who were mourning and he is
able to anoint you with that oil of
joy.
He came to give a garment of praise
for the spirit of heaviness and he can
turn your heaviness into rejoicing.
It is the resurrection that changed everything.
Resurrection Sunday is more than just the resurrection
of Jesus.
It was a resurrection of their joy.
It was a resurrection of their hope.
To some people today, Jesus is still in
the grave.
They have no hope for the future.
They have no hope of life after death.
They have put their whole life in this
world.
And now this world is falling apart.
There are millions of Muslims throughout the world
today who are dedicated to your destruction.
Israel is really the front line of defense
in this war that has been declared by
the militant Muslims against the world.
And the militant Muslims have declared first the
Sabbath keepers and then the Sunday keepers.
What they're saying is that after they have
destroyed Israel, they plan to destroy the Christians.
They plan to destroy America.
They have declared war against you.
Millions of them are devoted to the destruction
of Christianity, your world.
They're called terrorists because they can inspire terror
in the hearts of people by their indiscriminate
killing of innocent people.
Several years ago when we were in Israel,
we were staying at a kibbutz right up
on the northern border next to Lebanon.
And as we were eating in the kibbutz,
we had these young girls that were serving
us.
And I noticed that they were wearing a
cross.
And I said to them, I don't quite
understand.
You're in a Jewish kibbutz, but you are
wearing a cross.
And they said, oh well, we are from
Lebanon.
We are here for our own safety.
The Hezbollah and all have infiltrated.
Our parents were shot by them.
And they told us of the atrocities that
they saw.
How that the terrorist, these Hezbollah, would throw
a baby into the air and then shoot
it and try to keep it hanging in
the air with their shots.
And these girls, as they would tell us
these stories of the things that they had
seen, our hearts went out to them.
They know the type of people who are
dedicated to the destruction of the Western world.
And those who have put everything into this
world, it's falling apart at the seams.
And if your hope is in this world
only, you've got to be the most miserable
of all people.
Our hope is in a better world.
Jesus, who died and rose again, is going
to come.
He is going to stop the oppression.
He is going to establish the kingdom of
God.
This is my father's world.
The battle isn't over yet.
Jesus, who died and was crucified, shall be
the ruler yet.
And our hope and our joy is in
Jesus Christ.
A joy that no man can take from
us.
Resurrection Sunday.
What a glorious day.
The day that brought hope.
The day that assured of life.
For our Lord is risen from the dead.
Let's pray.
Father, how grateful we are for another Resurrection
Sunday in which we can rejoice in the
triumph of Jesus over the grave, over death,
over hell.
And Lord, we thank you for turning our
sorrow into joy, our ashes into something beautiful,
our mourning into rejoicing.
Lord, there are those here today living in
this dark world as Paul describes them, without
hope, without God, without Christ.
We pray, Father, that though they may have
come in that condition, as they leave, they
will leave transformed by the Spirit of God.
Their ashes turned into beauty, their hopelessness into
a glorious hope, a living hope because of
the resurrection of Jesus from the dead.
These things we pray, Father, in the lovely
name of Jesus our Lord.
Amen.
Shall we stand?
The pastors are down here at the front
this morning.
If you'd like to really know what living
is all about, real living, Jesus died to
give you life, true life.
And I would encourage you as soon as
we're dismissed, come on forward.
Maybe you're going through a heavy time in
life.
Maybe there's a lot of confusion.
Maybe there's a lot of sorrow.
But your sorrow can be turned into joy.
Jesus wants to transform your life today.
All he needs is just the invitation.
Just for you to say, Lord, come into
my life.
Be the Lord of my life.
I give myself to you today.
And you can know that transforming power of
God.
For if that same Spirit that raised Jesus
from the dead dwells in you, he will
make you alive to the things of the
Spirit, a whole new dimension of life, life
in the Spirit.
These men are down here to pray with
you and to pray for you, to answer
questions, and to help you to discover the
real joy of Resurrection Sunday by discovering Jesus
Christ and the life that he brings.
May the Lord be with you.
May you have a blessed day of fellowship
with him as you live and walk with
our living Savior, Jesus Christ.
The Lord lift up his countenance
upon thee and give thee peace.