 And the title of our sermon this morning is Living Faith and the Risen Lord. Living Faith and the Risen Lord. This is part three. As we've been working through John chapter 20 verses one through 18, we're going verse by verse through the Gospel of John. We've come to John chapter 20. We're nearing the end of the Gospel of John. After a long journey through this Gospel, it has been a blessing. So the closer we get to the end, a little sadder, you know, this has been such a glorious blessing to study the Gospel of John. But it's also our great joy to come to text like this and spend time in the text of Scripture understanding what the Lord intends to communicate here. So it's our blessing again to come to John chapter 20 verses one through 18. And John's account of the empty tomb. As we unpack the final verses here in our text this morning, it's important to remind ourselves of the primary purpose for which John's writes his primary purpose for including in this account in his narrative, the evidence of the empty tomb. John intends through the Spirit of God to cultivate a living, breathing, active faith in the Risen Lord through eyewitness testimony of the empty tomb and the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. John has said in his Gospel that he writes, so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, that he is the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in his name. So John wants to cultivate faith. By the Spirit of God, he wants to cultivate a living faith in the Risen Lord. And he does that through eyewitness testimony of the empty tomb and the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now what we've been doing over the last two weeks as we've been studying this text together is we've been considering now the nature and the character of the faith of the Lord's disciples revealed in this text. The Lord's disciples, that faith pictured here in the experience of Mary and the experience of Peter and John in this narrative before they understand the reality of the resurrection, right? We see their immature faith, so to speak, their uninformed faith, so to speak, the weakness of their faith, the defection of their faith. We see that in the text. And then with that understanding, we've been considering the impact of the empty tomb and the impact of the resurrection on their faith. And as we consider the impact of the resurrection on their faith, the impact of that evidence for the empty tomb on their faith, we need to consider the impact of the resurrection, the impact the empty tomb should have on our own faith. By way of application, it's important to understand that our faith should be impacted by the glorious reality of the resurrection, just as their faith was. The reality of the resurrection is critical to your faith. Christ has not risen, your faith is in vain. It's useless, it's worthless. Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians chapter 15, verse 3. Paul said, for I delivered to you, first of all, that which I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, and that he was buried, and that Jesus Christ rose again the third day according to the scriptures. Now what evidence, Paul, do you give, verse 5? That he was seen by Cephas, then by the twelve, after that, that he was seen by over 500 brethren at once, of whom the greater part remained to the present, but some have fallen asleep. And after that, he was seen by James, and then by all the apostles. Last of all, Paul says he was seen by me also, as one born out of due time. This is historical fact. This is incontrovertible, irrefutable evidence for our faith. Jesus Christ is risen from the dead. When you are in your own Christian life, when you're faced with faith-shaking hardship, when you're tempted to discouragement, when you're tempted to shrink back from preaching the gospel because of a fear of man or whatever it may be, when you're tempted to doubt, when you're tempted to despair, regardless of how you feel, you're to stand there with Mary, with Peter, with John, at the opening of the empty tomb and proclaim with all of his disciples, that he's not here, he's risen. And that is to embolden and to fuel your faith in Christ. Not just your belief about these things, but your life, the way that you think about the Lord, the way that you think about the Christian life, the way that you live, the way that you serve, the way that you obey, the way that you love the Lord, where to believe his promises. And part of believing his promises is standing there, if you will, at the opening of that empty grave and worshiping the Lord Jesus Christ that he has raised from the dead. If he's been raised, if you've turned from your sins and you've put your faith in him, that you are raised in him, you will be raised also in him. We're not to stand there. We're not to stand there in our circumstance at the opening of the empty tomb, so to speak, weeping as those who have no hope. You're not to stand in the face of your trial, in the face of persecution, you're not to stare at their scornful faces and fear and weep and despair as those who have no hope. Our service to Christ, our faith in him, our obedience, our love, is not the sprinkling anointing of a dead corpse. It is a living, hoping, obeying, maturing, serving, rejoicing, worshiping, spirit-filled faith in our risen and reigning prophet, priest, and king. Our faith at times can often be shamefully weak. And what the Spirit of God intends to do through this text what John hopes to do through this text is to embolden and fuel your faith. Some of you here today have never turned from your sin. You've never trusted Christ. This is all foreign to you. You don't live your life this way. You don't think about these things. These things don't fill your heart and fill your mind. And John intends through this text for you. He intends through this text for you to be filled with the glories of the empty tomb and the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ from the dead. He intends to cultivate within you, to provoke within you by the Spirit of God a living faith in the risen Lord through eyewitness testimony of the empty tomb and the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ from the dead that you might believe and that believing you might have life in his name. Why will you die in your sin? Jesus Christ is risen. He does this through several means as we've talked about. He does this through historical eyewitness testimony and that through multiple credible eyewitnesses. He does that through historical evidence. The tomb was empty. And one of the leading stories of that time, it was still present even when John writes the gospel, was an acknowledgement on the part of Pilate and those soldiers who appeared as dead men before the angels of the tomb that night. Even at the time of John's writing, it was still acknowledged that the tomb was empty. But he does that even through the weak and immature faith of his own disciples that we see woven here into the fabric of the text. And that's what we've been looking at the last couple of weeks. So now as we've unpacked John chapter 20 verses one through 18 over the last two sermons, in point one on your notes, we first consider the tested faith of the disciples, the tested faith of the disciples. The Lord Jesus Christ was betrayed. The outspoken leader of the disciples has denied him. The disciples are scattered, right? And right now they're out hiding for fear of the Jews. The one in whom they placed all their hope has been beaten, scourged, crucified, and buried. So what you have here now is a discouraged, dispirited, defeated, dejected group of disciples. The reality of the resurrection would change all of that. Death is swallowed up as it were in the jaws of victory, right? We look at that in point one. Next we considered point two on your notes. The devoted faith of Mary from verses one and two, the Lord having saved her from seven demons and a life of sin and Luke eight, she now faithfully follows the Lord from that point forward. Her eternal destiny and her earthly life forever changed by grace. And the one who is forgiven much loves much and Mary now follows the Lord, follows him everywhere he goes. And she's seen there at the cross in John chapter 19 and she's here again at his tomb in John chapter 20. We see her in verse one. Early on Sunday morning, John chapter 20 verse one, the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene makes her way in the dark toward the garden tomb at Golgotha and where they had buried the Lord Jesus Christ. Proverbs eight just reminded of that. I love those who love me and those that seek me early will find me. Mary is out seeking the Lord early even before the sun comes up and she's going to find the Lord at the tomb. We're going to see that today. Matthew, Mark and Luke all make clear that she's not alone. She's walking with other women also who follow the Lord as she did and they were carrying the spices and the oils that they had lovingly prepared to anoint his body. As they walk together, they're having conversation and they begin to be concerned, right? Their focus begins to focus on the large stone that's been rolled over the opening to the tomb. Mark chapter 16 verse three, they ask one another, who will roll away the stone from the door of the tomb for us? In other words, they're not going to be able to do it themselves. It's a heavy, large stone. Now, as they reach the tomb, the sun is just beginning to rise and it becomes clear to them that the stone is already moved out of the way. Mary upon looking at the stone out of the way, looking at the opening immediately concludes that someone has stolen the body and despair once again grips Mary's heart. John chapter 20 verse two and she ran and she came to Simon Peter and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved and said to them, they've taken away the Lord out of the tomb and we do not know where they have laid him. On point three on your notes, we examine the responsive faith of both Peter and John in verses three through 10. Peter and John both come to differing conclusions about what they see. We saw later how the theology of the resurrection having been made clear by the spirit of God takes root and fuels their faith, fuels their faith. Once cowardly Peter and John, the other disciples become bold as lions. Once fearful, now they're full of faith and power and we see that in the text of scripture. The narrative now after verse 10, the narrative now turns back to its emphasis upon the experience of Mary in verse 11. As we look at point four on your notes and Mary's challenged faith, Mary's challenged faith in verses 11 through 15. Read with me at verse 11. But Mary stood outside by the tomb weeping and as she wept she stooped down and looked into the tomb and she saw two angels in white sitting one at the head and the other at the feet where the body of Jesus had lain. And then they said to her, woman, why are you weeping? She said to them, because they've taken away my Lord and I do not know where they have laid him. Now when she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there and did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to her verse 15, woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking? And she, supposing him to be the gardener said to him, sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him and I will take him away. So Mary, Mary sets out before sunrise on Sunday, the first day of the week. It's a day that would come to be known as the Lord's day, this day. And that's in light of the resurrection. She sets out before sunrise on Sunday, the first day of the week in verse one. It's her love for the Lord, right? It's her love for him and it's the love that he had for her that drives her back to the tomb. She is bitterly grieving, bitterly grieving, sorrowing over what she believes to be the loss of the Lord Jesus Christ. On her first trip to the tomb that day, early in the morning, she finds the stone rolled away and then runs back to tell Peter and John in verse two. This then in verse 11 is Mary's second trip to the tomb. It's her second trip to the tomb. It's the profound sense of loss. If you've ever been in a circumstance like that where your heart is just sorrowing, you're grieving, you don't know what to do, but you must, you got to do something, right? The profound sense of loss, maybe unanswered questions, her love, devotion for the Lord. The sorrow that has filled her heart, not knowing what else to do at this point, she's back to the tomb now again a second time. There are three specific ways in verses 11 through 15 that we see Mary's faith here challenged. Hers is a challenged faith. First, Mary's faith is challenged by unbelief. It's challenged by unbelief. Secondly, it's challenged by reproof or rebuke. And thirdly, it's challenged by ignorance. Mary's faith here is a challenged faith. We're going to see Mary's faith pass the test though. First, I want you to see verse 11 challenged. Her faith is challenged by unbelief. In verse 11, she stands now outside by the tomb weeping. The word there, the Greek word is Clio. It means weeping loudly. She was wailing. She was wailing, crying aloud, sobbing. There's despair that has filled Mary's heart. Mary is a picture here of tremendous sorrow, grief, helpless, right? A despairing sorrow. She's there. She's there at the cross. Isn't she witnessing the Lord's death? And now she's there at the tomb and a final piercing, if it were, of Mary's heart is this realization that she's come to in her own mind that they've stolen his body away. They've stolen his body away. Now bear in mind again, bear in mind what fuels her grief? What fuels this again, this second trip back to the tomb? It's her love for the Lord Jesus Christ, right? She loves the Lord. It's love that fuels her devotion. It's her love for the Lord that drives her back to the tomb and it's love that is displayed in Mary's tears. Unlike many others that have and will, what's pictured here in the example of Mary is that Mary's not left her first love. Even in death, even after the Lord's death, Mary has not left her first love. The Lord in Mary's heart occupies a place of preeminence. He reigns supreme in Mary's heart. Because he reigns supreme in Mary's heart, the Lord reigns supreme in her affections, reigns supreme in her desires, reigns supreme in her life, in her faith. He has taken dominion over her heart. He rules there. And what's her ongoing response to that? When the Lord reigns supreme in your heart, when he fills your affections, when he fills your mind, what's your desire? Your desire is to seek him. Isn't it? Your desire is to be with him, to worship him, to love him, to praise him, to seek his presence. Mary, even after the Lord now has died, she believes his body to be in the tomb. She wants to be near him. She wants to seek him. She does so before the sun comes up because the Lord occupies a place of preeminence in Mary's heart. Is that you this morning? Does that describe your heart? Many, many, many say, they say that they love the Lord. But with many, those are empty and shallow and hypocritical words because the Lord doesn't occupy a place of preeminence in your heart or theirs. It's hypocritical to say that. Heart that truly loves the Lord is a heart that is wholly devoted to him. A heart that knows the Lord, has a knowledge of the Lord Christ in your heart. You know the Lord, you are devoted to the Lord. The person who isn't wholly devoted to the Lord, the one in whom has a heart where the Lord does not reign supreme is the person that does not love the Lord. Mary here is a picture of someone who loves the Lord. And listen, the Lord loved her. The Lord saved her. You know, Mary, Mary lingers here at the tomb. She's at the tomb because she loves the Lord. We're going to see as we work through the text of the Lord. The Lord now lingers at the tomb. Why? Because he loves Mary. He loves Mary. You know, a heartbreaking example of this is seen in the history of Old Testament Israel. Turn back to Jeremiah chapter two with me. Jeremiah chapter two. Have you lost your first love this morning? Maybe you're here this morning and you'll acknowledge you've never loved the Lord like that. You've never loved the Lord like that. Do you love the Lord? If you love the Lord, the Lord will occupy a place of preeminence in your heart, a place of preeminence in your desires, a place of preeminence in your actions. If you love the Lord, it's going to show up. Look at Jeremiah chapter two and look, beginning with me at verse one. Again, this is an example of Old Testament Israel and what does the Lord say about their affections and about their departure from him? Look at verse one. Moreover, the word of the Lord came to me saying, he's saying to Jeremiah. Jeremiah has been called as a prophet and he's going to bear witness to the people of Israel. He says to them verse two, the Lord says to Jeremiah, go and cry in the hearing of Jerusalem saying, thus says the Lord. He says, I remember you. I remember the kindness of your youth. I remember the love of your betrothal when you went after me in the wilderness in a land not sown. Israel was holiness separated to the Lord. The fruits of his increase, all that devour him will offend, disaster will come upon them, says the Lord. In other words, I remember when you loved me. I remember what it was like when you first set out following the Lord, right? When your heart was on fire for me, when you sought me, when you came after me, when you loved me. I remember that espousal, the love of your betrothal to me. Make the application, right? I remember when you first said you wanted to follow the Lord. I remember when you first came, confessing your sin, weeping and mourning over your offenses against God. I remember when you came and you pleaded my forgiveness for your rebellion. I remember when you set out. I remember that love that you professed and now your heart has grown cold. Now it's distant. I remember when you were wedded to me. I remember when I occupied a place of preeminence in your heart, a place of preeminence in your affections. You were separated to me, God said. You were a holiness to the Lord. You had consecrated yourself to me. Look at verse four. Hear the word of the Lord, O house of Jacob. Hear the word of the Lord, all the families of the house of Israel. Thus says the Lord. What injustice have your fathers found in me that they have gone far from me, have followed idols and have become idolaters? Neither did they say where is the Lord who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, who led us through the wilderness, through a land of deserts and pits, through a land of drought, the shadow of death. In other words, have I not done good to you? Has it not have been a blessing to you? This is a picture, this is a picture of someone who has left their first love, of someone who has taken the goodness and kindness and grace and mercy of our God for granted. Now in taking it for granted, they just depart Israel in this chapter, departs, and God asked them, listen, what fault have you found in me that you would leave me that way? What injustice have you seen in me? They used to say, they used to say, this is the Lord our God who brought us up out of bondage in Egypt. They don't say that anymore. Their heart has grown cold. Look at verse 13. My people, God says, my people have committed two evils. They have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters. They have hewn themselves, cisterns, broken cisterns that can hold no water. They're putting their faith, their trust, their love, their affections on those things which are empty and worthless. Back in John chapter 20, Mary is not forsaken the Lord. She's not forsaken the Lord, even in death, she's there at his tomb, right? And Mary's love, Mary's devotion is emphasized here. We also have to note from the text that Mary's faith is plagued here by unbelief. As much as she loves the Lord, as much as she is devoted to the Lord, her faith is plagued by unbelief. Jesus had told the disciples on several occasions that he would rise from the dead, and yet Mary is here at the tomb weeping as those who have no hope. She's weeping like Mary and Martha after the death of Lazarus, right? Mary is seen following the Lord after her salvation in Luke chapter eight. By Luke chapter nine, the Lord tells them, Mary included, right? The Son of man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes and be killed and be raised the third day. Lord tells them clearly. You see here, in the text, Mary fully expects the worst. She certainly doesn't expect the resurrection and this isn't, this isn't damning unbelief. At this point, she's like the father of the possessed son in Mark chapter nine, right? Lord, I believe, help my unbelief, right? She needs, she has a faith that needs to be informed, a faith that needs to grow, a faith that needs to mature. That's going to come through the realization of the resurrection. So verse 11, John chapter 20 verse 11, Mary stood outside by the tomb weeping and as she wept, she stooped down and looked into the tomb. Apparently here in verse 11, for the first time, Mary stooped down and looks inside the tomb. What does she see? Verse 12, she saw two angels in white sitting, one at the head and the other at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain. Mark and Luke both describe these two angels as young men in white, right? Young men, Mary's eyes filled with tears. It's likely she couldn't tell who they were or what they were, but it's apparent that along with the disciples, God bears witness to the risen Lord through the words of these angels. God is bearing witness at the tomb. The book of Hebrews describes angels as ministering spirits, sent forth the minister to those who will inherit salvation and hear these two angels in verse 12 ministering to Mary in the garden. Verse 13, they said to her, woman, why are you weeping? She said to them, because they have taken away my Lord and I do not know where they have laid him. So in Mary's mind, in her heart right now, no thought of the resurrection, she doesn't remember his words at this point. From verse 9, we know that Mary, nor the other disciples, know the scriptures that he must rise again. She simply doesn't believe it. She doesn't believe that Jesus Christ has risen from the dead. She expects the worst. The only thing in her mind that can explain the empty tomb is that someone has stolen the body. In other words, she doesn't understand anything yet. His death, his burial now is missing body and this despair, this sorrow that fills her heart now is the fruit of unbelief. She needs her faith informed, her faith needs to be strengthened. It's going to be strengthened by the resurrection. So we see point one, Mary's faith is challenged by unbelief, but secondly, Mary's faith is then challenged by reproof, by reproof. Look at verse 13. Verse 13, then they, the angels, they said to her, woman, why are you weeping? Look at verse 14. And when she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there and did not know that it was Jesus. You know, her tears have blinded her, her despair has blinded her, her doubts have blinded her, her unbelief has blinded her, and she doesn't realize that it's him. But Jesus said to her, verse 15, the same questions, right? With an added one, woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking? And notice the two questions asked of Mary. Woman, why are you weeping? And then Jesus adds in verse 15, whom are you seeking? Now you have to ask ourselves, right? Is that because the angels or Jesus didn't know why she was weeping? Were they asking because they were confused by her crying? No. It wasn't a request for information, right? The questions aren't a request for an explanation. The questions are subtle and gentle reproofs of Mary's unbelief. It's a subtle reproof, a subtle rebuke. Her sorrow here, her grief, they're irrational. Jesus has been raised from the dead. We read that last week in the account of Luke, right? That the disciples hiding in the room, Jesus appears to them and rebukes them for their unbelief. Here, we have a gentle, a loving, a faithful, but a gentle rebuke of Mary's unbelief. Why are you weeping as if he's dead? Are you seeking the Lord in a grave? He's not here. He's risen. We often require gentle rebukes, sometimes not so gentle. We require not so gentle rebukes. Why are you discouraged? The brother comes alongside, right? Why are you discouraged? Why are you apathetic? Why don't you love the brothers? Why aren't you committed to the church? Why don't you love the Lord more? Why aren't you more committed to Christ than his cause? Why aren't you more faithful in evangelism? It's a rebuke of your unbelief. It's a gentle, sometimes not so gentle, loving, patient and necessary rebuke. You and I need that, right? You and I need that. Many of you, and I have the same experience with churches in our past. Some of you may come from churches where you're absolutely not used to that, never experienced that before. But listen, we need that. And the Lord in his wisdom, in his grace and in his mercy has orchestrated all the pieces and parts of the body together, such that we get the exhortation and the reproof and the rebuke and the correction that we need to live the Christian life and persevere to the end and be saved. Some run from correction and they go to a church where that correction is not offered, or it's not part of the life and health and vitality of the body of Christ. It's like going to a doctor, right? Well, listen, I choose that doctor because that doctor always tells me exactly what I want to hear. That's a recipe for disaster, right? Don't worry about that large lump in your abdomen. It's just swelling with joy or, you know, you had too much cotton candy. No, you need to go somewhere where there is a loving willingness on the part of the people from the word of God to sometimes tell you difficult things, tell you what you need to hear, not only always what you want to hear. I pray by the grace of God that it doesn't come out of the pulpit in this church and it doesn't come out of the pew in this church, so to speak, where that's the case and we just with sort of cotton candy brush over those things which need to be, we don't want to be superficial with you and we don't want you to be superficial with us. We're talking about heaven and hell here, eternal destinies. In the text, this unbelief, Mary's unbelief becomes even more clear in verse 15. In verse 15, verse 15 continues, she supposing him to be the gardener said to him, sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him and I will take him away. So one, Mary's faith challenged by unbelief, Mary's faith number two challenged by reproof. Here, Mary's faith challenged by ignorance. Mary supposes him to be the gardener. Now, incidentally, and very interesting, if you're interested in biblical theology and I hope you are, it's interesting to me that he's buried in a garden. Interesting that his first appearance as the resurrected second atom is in a garden. He's mistaken by one of his most devoted disciples to be the gardener. All these connections coming to fruition here. He is the first fruits and through his redemptive plans and purposes. The Lord, the Lord is leading us back. It's the whole plan and purpose of God in redeeming his people to lead us back to unfettered, glorious communion with God in the garden, in a garden paradise. That's where we're headed, brother and sister, and I am looking forward to that day. Mary though, Mary would have understood nothing of the significance of her circumstances. As she stands there at the tomb, she doesn't understand any of these things, certainly not the resurrection, certainly not the theological significance of the resurrection. She mistakes Jesus here for the gardener. She's so preoccupied by her sense of loss, right? She's completely ignorant to what she has gained. She's sorrowing over what she believes she has lost and she's ignorant to what she has gained in the Lord Jesus Christ being risen from the dead. The empty tomb, the empty tomb here, a place for sorrow in the heart and mind of Mary. You and I on this side of all that glorious revelation, it's a place of rejoicing. It's a cause for worship, a cause for praise. What was an object of sorrow and despair for Mary and those disciples now becomes an object of glory for you and I. So Mary's faith at this point is weak. Mary's faith is insufficient. It's defective. And Mary, having followed the Lord Jesus Christ over the years, now presuming Jesus to be someone other than he is presuming him to be the gardener. That's true of many today. Many presume Jesus Christ to be someone other than he is, not that Jesus Christ described in the scriptures. And many have claimed to follow him and they're following some other Christ. They presume that the Lord Jesus Christ is forgiving and all forgiving with absolutely no consideration given for his holiness or his justice. They live in their sin and think to themselves, the Lord Jesus Christ is just going to forgive me, right? The Lord Jesus Christ is simply going to forgive me. Even that statement is inconsistent. If you're living in your sin, consider both the goodness and the severity of God, right? They presume him to be loving with absolutely no respect to his wrath or his hatred for everything that offends. They don't consider the obvious implications of the cross, right? Or justice and mercy, kiss. It's a fearful thing. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. There's so many with these weak, high in the sky platitudes that think that somehow, because Jesus Christ is all loving that despite the cross, despite his holiness, despite his justice, despite his wrath, despite his promised future judgment, they're okay to live as they want to live. No, he is the Lord Jesus Christ and it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. Our God is a consuming fire, not a simple gardener. Our God is a consuming fire. If you think that way, right, and there are many, we encounter many who do, I'm a sinner, but God forgives, right? He's just going to forgive. He might as well be the gardener to you. You're not worshiping the Lord Jesus Christ. You're worshiping a genie in a bottle. You're worshiping some empty wish, some empty hope. But he's not your Lord and Savior unless you turn from your sin and trust yourself to him with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. Submit yourself to him as Lord and follow him by faith. Let no one deceive you. God is not mocked. Whatever a man sows, that will he also reap. As Mary's ignorance here in John chapter 20 is replaced by understanding. As her understanding and her knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ grows, as it matures, so does her love, so does her devotion, and so does her faith. Her faith grows and matures. Seek the Lord while he may be found, right? Seek him diligently and you'll find him and your faith will be matured. So we've seen Mary's challenged faith. Point five on your notes. Let's take a look at Mary's fueled faith, a fueled faith beginning in verse 16. Her faith is fueled in light of the resurrection. Verse 16, Jesus said to her, Mary, she turned to him and said, Roboni, which is to say teacher. Jesus said to her, verse 17, do not cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to my father, but go to my brethren and say to them, I am ascending to my father and your father and to my God and your God. I want you to see now how Mary's encounter with the risen Lord fuels Mary's faith. And that comes through two things. It comes through revelation and it comes through response. Revelation of himself to Mary and the response of Mary. Let's take a look first at Revelation verse 16. Mary lingers at the tomb because she loves the Lord Jesus Christ. As we've already said, the Lord Jesus Christ is lingering there at the tomb because he loves Mary and intends to reveal himself to her. She was there in hopelessness. The Lord Jesus Christ is there to give her hope. She was there seeking the dead body of her Lord. He was risen and living and there to reveal himself to her in his resurrection. One word makes all the difference in Mary's heart and mind. One word. One word brought her from sorrow to joy, from despair to hope, and that was her name on the lips of the Lord Jesus Christ. He says to her in verse 16, Mary, Mary, right? John chapter 10, verse three, Jesus says to him, the doorkeeper opens and the sheep hear his voice and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. And when he brings out his own sheep, he goes before them and the sheep follow him. Why? Because they know his voice. They know his voice. Verse 27, the same chapter, John chapter 10. My sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me. You can imagine, right? Mary's heard her name from the mouth of the Lord Jesus Christ many times before. He's called her by name, Mary. This time, just like all the others, he states her name. And you can imagine, right? The tenderness, the warmth, the love with which the Lord Jesus Christ said her name, Mary. Just like he had called Lazarus out of the tomb. States Lazarus' name at the tomb to bring him from death to life. Now at his empty tomb, he calls Mary by name, brings her from darkness to light. A genuine Christian, a genuine Christian understands here what the Lord means in John chapter 10 by that statement, my sheep hear my voice. This is simply in John chapter 20, a good picture of that principle. His sheep hear his voice and they respond to him in faith. They follow him. Those sheep that are not his pay no heed to his voice and they don't follow him. So what's Mary's response here? We looked at the revelation. What's her response? Verse 16, Rabboni, which is to say teacher. And then she falls at his feet, clinging to him. And we remember from Luke's account of this that after Jesus, Lord Jesus Christ appears to Mary at the empty tomb, he appears to the women who are now on their way back to tell the disciples. What was the response of those women in Luke, Luke 24? They fell at his feet and they clung to his feet. They grabbed him by the feet, would let him go. This is what Mary is doing here. She falls at his feet. She clings to him. To the one who is not his sheep, he might as well be the gardener. His voice is one of many others. In fact, his voice generally only serves to provoke in them rebellion in their natural heart. Paul says that the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God for they are foolishness to him. They can't know them because those things are spiritually discerned. The genuine believer, again, looking at this principle, the genuine believer hears his voice revealed in the pages of Scripture. And the genuine believer falls at his feet, clinging to Christ. You see? Clinging to his teaching, clinging to his truth. His words are like apples of gold in settings of silver. They're devoted to him. His word is the joy and rejoicing of their heart, just like that word was the joy and rejoicing of Mary's heart at the empty tomb. And the genuine believer follows the Lord, follows the Lord. If you're here today, and these things just sound like foolishness to you, you need a new heart. If these things don't make sense to you, listen, they're not going to. They are spiritually discerned and you need the Spirit of God. If your heart is rebellious, if you're arguing with me in your mind right now, you're not arguing with me, you're arguing with the Word of God. And listen, you will perish unless you submit that stiff-necked, hard-hearted rebellion and you submit yourself to the Lord Jesus Christ and follow him. Turn from your sin. Turn from your sin. This is the Lord Jesus Christ. You see Mary's love, Mary's devotion. You see here Mary's loving, devoted, faith-filled response to the Word of the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus said to her, verse 17, Do not cling to me, for I've not yet ascended to my Father. There are several different explanations given for this statement. Let me give you the one that carries the most weight, right? Just simple, straightforward, practical. Some translations say, stop touching me. Clinging is a better translation, right? She is clinging to him. Mary clings to him and she doesn't let go, as if she doesn't want him to ever leave again, right? He has left her in death at the cross. He is buried. So when Mary sees him again, she clings to him. She doesn't want him to go anywhere. She doesn't want to lose him again. The Lord Jesus Christ essentially says to her, okay, Mary, listen, you can stop clinging to me. I haven't left yet. I'm not leaving again yet. I'm not disappearing again right away because I've not yet ascended to my Father. Besides now is not the time to cling to me around the feet. You've got a job to do. Look at verse 17, the second half of verse 17 there. Mary, you're to go to my brethren and say to them, I am ascending to my Father and your Father and to my God and to your God. Now isn't the time, Mary, for sentimental clinging this, you know, we've got work to do. And the first thing that she is called to do, the first thing she is called to do is to be a herald for the risen Christ. Her first responsibility, go to, and notice that he says here, my brethren, my brethren. That's interesting, isn't it? Mary knows that he doesn't mean his physical brothers. Mary knows what he means. He means the disciples. And what the Lord is calling to here, making reference to, is a new family relationship that arises as a result of his finished work on the cross and his resurrection from the dead. Mary might have said, right, go to those who are hiding in a faithless fear, right, in a room somewhere right now. Yes, Mary, those are my brothers, Lord would say, to those who fled in unbelief in the garden when you were arrested. Yes, Mary, those same disciples, those are my brothers. To those who often fail, will continue to fail. Those who are born in sin under the law, born in Adam. Yes, Mary, those are the ones I've redeemed by my blood. Those are my brothers. And I'm not ashamed to call them brothers, go to them. Hebrews 2, 11, right? I'm not ashamed to call them brethren, not ashamed to call us brethren. We certainly deserve the shame, don't we? But he says he's not ashamed, not ashamed to call us brothers. And he communicates that, the closeness of that relationship in verse 17, where he says, my father and your father, to my God and your God. What a glorious thought, right? He's at the same time, listen, verse 17, at the same time he's communicating that closeness, we are brothers of the Lord Jesus Christ. And he's not ashamed to call us brothers. At the same time, he's also referencing a distance, isn't he? He doesn't say our father and our God. He says, my father and your father, my God and your God. It clarifies, doesn't it, our understanding of the way in which we are brothers and the way in which we are related to him. Christ is eternally begotten of the Father, the eternal generation of the Son. Christ is one for whom equality with God is not a thing to be grasped, right? Philippians chapter two. We are adopted sons. We're born again in time, not eternally generated, born again in time. There's a, there's a qualitative difference, a qualitative difference. And the Lord Jesus Christ in verse 17 is very careful to communicate that difference, my father and your father, my God and your God. They would now, right after the resurrection, they would now look back on the cross, not as defeat, but as victory. And Jesus Christ would ascend to the Father, sit at his right hand, intercede there for his own, having accomplished the, the finished work of atoning for our sins on the cross. He is there now, his living presence there now is the security that you and I have that all the promised benefits of salvation to his people, to you and I are yes and amen in him. He intercedes for his own. And lastly, point six on your notes. We see then Mary's living faith in verse 18, Mary's living faith in verse 18. Mary Magdalene came and she told the disciples that she had seen the Lord and that he had spoken these things to her from mourner to missionary, right? From a dying virtually lifeless, sorrowful, despairing faith prior to the resurrection to a living, vibrant, bold, courageous faith after the resurrection. You have to think about and contrast, if you're considering these things, the direction their lives were taking prior to the resurrection, after the death of Christ and prior to the resurrection. Again, the disciples are hiding, huddled in houses, fear, fearing the Jews. The trajectory of their lives after the resurrection takes them on a course of bold, courageous, uncompromising witness to the Lord Jesus Christ. They're preaching the gospel. They're preaching the resurrection, the implications of the resurrection, and they preach that to their deaths. They die for what they preach. They die for the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the impact the resurrection had on their life, on their faith and on their witness. And listen, this is coincident with the duty of every genuine believer. It is in verse 18, both the duty of and the natural response of Mary, who has now encountered the risen Christ, it's both her duty and natural response to make that known. You know, it's interesting in verse 18, would Mary, apart from the command of Christ in verse 18, would Mary have gone and told the disciples everything that she had seen? Yes, it was just, she would have run, run back as fast as she could and told everybody that she saw what she had saw, what the Lord had said. It was her natural response. It's also her duty, given by command in verse 18. He's not ashamed to call us brethren, but there are many who profess to be a brother of his that are ashamed to preach his name, to serve him as Lord, to preach him as Lord. It's our responsibility, just like Mary's in verse 18, our responsibility to be heralds for Christ, be heralds for Christ. We see their transformed faith, right? Again, two things that work here in John chapter 20. There's evidence for the empty tomb. There's evidence for the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. There are eyewitnesses that are brought to bear. There's history that is brought to bear. Our faith is not an empty faith. It's not founded or grounded in air. It's grounded on the bedrock of historical events, the bedrock of the work of the Lord Jesus Christ, the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. Our faith is not an empty faith. All that evidence is brought to bear. And with that then, we are to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, who himself was risen from the dead and the one whom raises from the dead were to believe on him and believing we are to follow him in faith. You see the impact of all that historical evidence? Then you see the impact, the spirit of God at work in the heart of the believer, applying the truths of the gospel, the truth, the reality of the resurrection, applying that to the heart and the mind of the believer such that their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ is transformed. Their faith is matured. Their faith is fueled. Their faith is emboldened. The spirit of God through the word of God making sure to give us the fuel that we need for our faith to live faithfully for him. You trust him. You trust him. We have every reason to. When you feel weak, when you are tempted to despair, look upon Christ, the resurrected Lord. Stand there at the empty tomb with all the disciples throughout the centuries who've done so and proclaim he is risen. Amen. All glory, praise, and honor worship be to the risen Christ.