Episode Transcript
WEBVTT
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Well, if you're able, please
remain standing and let's return our attention.
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Turn our attention to mark Chapter Fifteen, verse forty, to Mark Sixteen Verse
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Eight. So Mark Fifteen, verse
forty, this Mark Fifteen, verse forty.
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There were also women looking on from
a distance, among whom were Mary
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Magdalen and Mary, the mother of
James and the younger James, the younger
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and Josephs and Salome. When he
was in Galilee, they followed him and
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ministered to him, and there were
also many other women who came up with
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him to Jerusalem. And when evening
had come, since it was the day
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of preparation, that is, the
day before the Sabbath, Joseph of Arimathea,
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a respected member of the council who
was also himself looking for the Kingdom
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of God, took courage and went
to pilot and asked for the body of
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Jesus. Pilot was surprised to hear
that he should have died already and,
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someming, summoning the Centurion, he
asked him whether he had all ready.
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He was already dead, and when
he learned from the Centurion that he was
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dead, he granted the corpse to
Joseph and Joseph bought a linen shroud and,
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taking him down, wrapped him in
the linen shroud and laid him in
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a tomb that had been cut out
of the Rock, and he rolled a
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stone against the entrance of the Tomb. Mary Magdalen and Mary, the mother
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of Joseph, saw where he was
laid. When the Sabbath was past,
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Mary Magdalen and Mary, the mother
of James and Salam, brought spices so
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that they might go and annoint him. And very early on the first day
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of the week, when the sun
had risen, they went to the tomb
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and they were saying to one another, who will roll away the stone for
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us from the entrance of the Tomb
and looking up they saw that the stone
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of the the stone had been rolled
back. It was very large. And
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entering the tomb they saw a young
man sitting on the right side, dressed
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in a white robe, and they
were alarmed and he said to them,
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do not be alarmed, you seek
Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified.
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He has risen, he is not
here see the place where they laid him,
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but go tell his disciples and Peter
that he is going before you to
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Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you. And
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they went out and fled from the
tomb, for trembling in a astonishment had
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seized them, and they said nothing
to anyone, for they were afraid.
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It sends the Reading of God's word, I mean he bless it to us.
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You may be seated. The amazing
story that we're here to celebrate today
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is, of course, the resurrection
of Jesus Christ. We are here to
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remember this event in history in which
the son of God willingly laid down his
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life, suffered, died and was
buried so that three days later, he
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would arise from the dead as a
hero who conquered death. This is to
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say, then, that we come
to celebrate not the death of a hero,
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but of a hero over death.
And there are amazing things as we
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consider this, to consider Jesus Christ
risen from the dead, this thing which,
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from since Adams, since Adam fell
into sin, has captured and condemned
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us all, every single one of
us here, Jesus Christ rises, conquering
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over sin and death. And yet
this news, this news of a hero
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conquering death, does not affect everyone
the same way. Some laugh, some
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mock, some ignore, some belief, some have faith, others have fear,
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and we see some of these reactions
here in this passage. Among the
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many reactions you have, though,
in the reactions to the resurrection of Christ.
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Among them, among them all,
perhaps the most obnoxious one is the
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modern one, a kind of shrug
of the shoulders and a cool, I
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guess, this kind of nonchalant attitude
toward the resurrection of the Son of God.
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Even those who hated Jesus and did
not believe or did not want to
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believe didn't react this way. They
understood, and people have often and always
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understood this claim, the seriousness of
it, to claim that someone has risen
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from the dead, and not just
someone but Jesus Christ himself, the son
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of God. So what makes the
difference? Why do some hear one way
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and some hear another? The answer
has to do with sin and unbelief.
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Sin and unbelief. It's kind of
a double poison. That change is the
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constitution of the human heart. It
changes US spiritually in such a way that
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even the best news seems like bad
news. It's kind of the way a
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sick person who's has a illness,
might have good and nutritious food set before
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them, and yet they don't recognize
it as such. They say, take
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it away from me, I don't
feel like eating. The illness, the
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sickness inside, changes your perception of
things. That's what sin and unbelief do.
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This good news that Jesus Christ has
conquered death and that those who believe
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in him will conquer death in him, is received as bad news or as
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no news, because of sin and
unbelief. It hasn't always been that way,
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though. God, when he made
man, we read in the book
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of Genesis, made man very good, made him very good, he made
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him holy and righteous. We know
this story how God made man in this
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Paradise Garden. But it wasn't just
the garden, not and just the flowers
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and the trees that were considered paradise. But there is a kind of spiritual
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paradise as well, something that's very
foreign, from a foreign to us,
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a paradise in the heart. What
do I mean by that? I mean
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that man didn't have sin, that
there was an unbelief, that there was
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close communion with the God who had
made him. But when Adam and Eve
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sinned and disbelieved, when sin and
in belief, that double poison came into
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the world and they disbelieved God's words
and they sinned against them. All that
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changed and instead of this paradise of
a heart, instead of a close communion
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and relationship with God, things fell
apart. We read in Genesis that when
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they heard God walking in the garden, they hid themselves from his presence.
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Adam says to God shortly after that, I heard the sound of you in
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the garden and I was afraid,
in a similar way to these women receiving
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this good news from this angel,
this good news about the resurrection of God,
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about the communion of God with man. They fled, they were afraid
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and, on top of that,
they disobeyed. You See, that sin
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and unbelief. The Angel specifically says
to them, go to Galilee, go
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tell disciples. And what does mark
say? Happens? They fled in fear
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and said nothing to anyone. It's
that same old sin and disbelief from early
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on that is characterizing on their reaction. It's sin and belief that has been
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passed at, Sin and unbelief that's
been passed down from generation to generation,
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and it's the same break with God
that has always been there. It's that
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same sin and belief that we recognize
in our own hearts. That we recognize.
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Why do I not react in a
positive way to the resurrection of the
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Son of God? Why do I
treat it with apathy or mockery or with
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fear? It's because of that same
old problem sin and unbelief. Example of
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that that we see here in this
garden is quite striking. Consider what happened.
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Consider these women. Put yourselves in
their shoes. First of all,
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back in at the end of Mark
Fifteen, we read that these women were,
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in a some of the most tenacious
among the disciples. If anyone ever
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doubts a sort of special strength in
women, let this example forever put that
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to rest. Among all the disciples, among all these men, men filled
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with much bravado and Peter Saying,
I will follow you to your death,
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and James and John Sang the same
thing. Don't worry, Lord, we
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can drink the cup of wrath that's
coming. They all fled. But here
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we see, at the end of
Mark Forty, this this kind of commendation
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of these women. There were these
women looking on at the crucifixion from a
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distance. And it even goes on
to say that in Verse Forty One,
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it gives this background about these women. It says that when he was in
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Galilee, they followed him and ministered
to him, and there were also many
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other women who came up with him
from Jerusalem. A close us into the
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fact that among the twelve disciples and
among the other followers that were following Jesus,
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there was a significant group, even
a core and even beyond that,
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of these women there were following Jesus, ministering to him from Galilee, traveling
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with him to Jerusalem and even here
at the Cross. A tenacity, a
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good tenacity, and following this this
Christ who had come into the world.
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Well, he followed him not only
from Galilee but to Jerusalem, and not
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only for Jerusalem to the cross,
but then even to the tomb. We
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read that, I'm after Jesus has
died. This man, Joseph of Arimathea,
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a respected member of the council who
himself was looking for the Kingdom of
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God, took courage and went to
pilot. Imagine that courage that that would
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take. Joseph goes to the one
who had just condemned Jesus, to the
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one who had just made this politically
expedient move to get rid of Jesus and
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subdue the Jews. And he goes
to him and he says, I want
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the body of Jesus. Pilot is
surprised. He's dead already. Why is
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he surprised? He's surprised because crucifixion
was meant to carry on to this torturous
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death as long as possible. It's
a perhaps a reminder that even his death,
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even in the means of his death, Jesus remained in control. He
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died at exactly the moment that he
wanted it to die. Pilot is surprised,
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but he asks for proof. Not
only he does he ask for proof,
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but he calls this Roman guard,
this Centurion, this one with command
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and rank, and he asks him
if he's already dead. The centurion certifies
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this the death of Jesus, and
he gramps grants the corpse to Joseph.
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It's getting close to the Sabbath.
Joseph Hurry's prepares the body puts him in
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a tomb. A tomb in these
times was they didn't bury under the ground
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as we do today, but often
these tombs would be carved out of rock.
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You could kind of think something of
a tunnel. Joseph, being a
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member of the council, was likely
wealthy. It was also likely wealthy to
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be able to have a tomb already. I'm probably providing a space that had
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been designated for some kind of future
family member. These tombs were long and
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then sometimes had corridors in which various
bodies would be placed. And Joseph takes
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one of these, puts his Lord
this one, puts the body of Jesus
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into the Tomb. A stone is
rolled against the entrance of the Tomb,
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a great, huge stone. And
then we read in forty seven that these
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women who had follow Jesus from Galilee
to Jerusalem, to the cross, now
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followed Joseph to the tomb. And
Forty seven we read that Mary Magdalen and
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Mary, the mother of Josephs,
saw where he was laid. They weren't
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confused, they didn't know, they
knew where Jesus was. They saw his
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body, they saw where he was
laid. And then what happens? Well,
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once the Sabbath is passed, they
come to him again, perhaps to
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show him respect and finish the burial
preparations that were somewhat hurried because of the
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Sabbath. But now that the Sabbath
is over they come. We read in
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versus in Chapter Sixteen, early on
the first day of the week, they
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come to bring spices that they might
go and annoint him. As I said,
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in the discipleship of these women there's
a lot to commend their courage,
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their tenacity, the are sticking to
it even when many others had not.
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And yet we begin here, even
in the purpose of their visit to the
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tomb, we begin to see some
cracks in the discipleship, some weaknesses,
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underlying fundamental weaknesses that are going on. How so well, back in mark
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eight thirty one and then again in
mark ten thirty three, Jesus told his
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disciples some very specific things. So, several chapters ago, several days and
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weeks and months before, Jesus had
said to them, I'll read from Mark
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Ten thirty three. See, we
are going up to Jerusalem and the son
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of Man will be delivered over to
the chief priests and the scribes and they
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will condemn him to death and deliver
him over to the gentiles and they will
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mock him and spit on him and
flog him and kill him and after three
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days he will rise we read of
this twice specifically in mark, though the
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impression is given that Jesus said it
many more times than that, even just
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a few days before this moment that
we've read of to day, in Mark
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Fourteen, Jesus says, after I'm
raised up, I will go before you
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to Galilee. Exactly what the angel
has announced, announces to these women.
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The point is this that when these
women are coming to the tomb, they
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should be coming with a certain expectation. Right God, the one, the
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son of god, whom they have
been following, has told them something very
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specific. He's told them that they
will go to Jerusalem. He's told them
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that the son of men will be
delivered over to the chief priests and scribes,
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which happened. He told them that
these scribes and priests would condemn him
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to death, which happened. He
told them that he would be delivered over
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to the gentiles, ponscious pilot in
particular, which happened. He told them
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that he would be mocked, which
happened, and spit upon, which happened,
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and flogged, which happened, and
killed, which happened, and after
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three days he would rise. It's
the third day, but they're not going
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to the tomb to expect something which
happened. They're going to the tomb to
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expect to find a dead body and
they're bringing spices and perfumes to anoint it.
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So you see what I mean by
saying that. Already here, in
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the purpose of their going to visit
Jesus, you begin to see some cracks
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in the discipleships, some fundamental flaws
in where their hearts are at and how
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they believe and what they believe about
Jesus. There's this respect for his body,
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but but what about his words?
What about his promises? They're doubts
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that I'm highlighting here are confirmed in
their question in verse three. They're saying
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to one another, who will roll
away the stone for us from the entrance
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of the Tomb? If they had
believed that Jesus Christ had risen from the
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dead, surely they wouldn't have expected
a stone to be a problem. But
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they're not thinking along those lines.
They're not thinking about what Jesus said,
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or if they are, they don't
believe it. They're going to the tomb
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expecting to find a dead body.
And even if they were expecting to find
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a dead body and the hope for
the resurrection. You would expect them to
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say something like we'll go wait outside
the tomb for the resurrection, but that's
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not the case. Instead we find
them weeping and crying. In the other
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gospels we fear. We read of
them coming with spices to anoint worried about
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the stone. In this we see
that faith in Jesus is not only believing
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what he says is true, but
in trusting in it as well, in
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trusting is in it as well.
It's not enough to simply follow after him
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and and see what he says and
believe what he says to a certain extent,
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but it's to put your whole heart
in it, to trust Jesus with
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everything, even something like resurrection from
the dead, from from from death.
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Well, they come to the Tomb
and what happens? They find that the
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stone has been rolled away. Here
we don't read about it, but in
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one of the other gospels we read
that when the angel, and there are
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one angels mentioned here in Mark Too
and other places on, when these angels
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come, the guards, these guards
that are guarding the tomb, faint as
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dead men, says, they fall
like dead men. They faint and fear
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at the sight of these angels.
So these women come, they see an
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open tomb, they see guards on
the ground and they see this, this
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angel. How do we know he's
an angel? He's called so in other
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gospels, but there's ways that we
know here from Mark Fifteen as well,
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few different ways. One he's seated. I'm this is a position of authority
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in that culture, a way in
which you would sit down in to speak
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or to teach and be received with
authority. A second thing is their reaction.
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They see this young man and they're
terrified. You don't typically see a
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young man and flee in fear unless
there's something particularly special, and that's definitely
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what's going on here. But it's
not only the his seated posture, it's
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not only their reaction of being terrified, but it's also his clothes. It
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perhaps it doesn't signal the exactly this
way when you read it, that he's
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clothed in white, but consider two
things. First, consider that these white
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garments are often spoken of and of
heavenly beings being expressed to humans in a
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visual way. We read about it
this way and revelation, when Jesus was
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transfigured. You remember, back earlier
in mark, he appeared in white,
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this glorious white, the white garment
of this young man is described in Luke
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is being dazzling in apparel, of
having dazzling apparel. And remember also,
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finally, how I described the tomb. This is not a hole in the
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ground, this is something of a
kind of a cave. Caves are dark.
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You don't have electricity at this time. They're going into a cave,
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they're moving into the dark and what
do they see? This young man in
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dazzling white, shining clothes, haps
lighting up the space. It would be
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a fearful thing, wouldn't it?
And so this angel recognizes these things and
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says what angels often do when they
announce the good news of God throughout the
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Scriptures. He says, do not
be alarmed, do not be alarmed,
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I bring good news. Right,
this is what the messengers of God say
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when they come to talk and announce
the good news of the Glory of God
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in Jesus Christ. Do not be
alarmed, this is good news. You
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seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was
crucified, which is the same to say
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is dead, but he has risen
just as he promised. He is not
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here. See the place where they
laid him. Now go tell his disciples,
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and Peter in particular, that he
is going before you to Galilee.
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There you will see him, just
as he told you. This is good
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angelic news. Do you remember what
happened at Jesus Birth? Good Angelic News,
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the angels in a heaven declaring the
glories of God that the Messiah has
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come. The same thing as here
happening at his death. But they don't
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do what the shepherds do. The
shepherds that Jesus's birth do what. They
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go to Jesus, they they make
their way toward him. But these women,
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they they flee. They flee away
from the Gospel, they flee away
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from this Messenger and they disobey as
well. It's a strange thing and it's
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a strange ending too. You see
in your bibles that there's these most of
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you probably have in your bibles these
brackets from verse nine to the end of
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the chapter. These here are to
give you what is in some of the
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later manuscripts but not in in any
of the early ones, and for a
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variety of reasons, scholars, a
virtualist very unanimously basically agree that these last
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verses nine to the end are not
part of the original text, partly because
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of their lateness, partly because of
their content, partly because of the way
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that they appear. I'm so it's
very it's a very settled thing that these
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things are are not what mark wrote, but we're written later on. Why
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were they written later on? Is
An interesting question to ask. The answer,
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I think, is pretty obvious.
Verse Eight's a really Weird Way to
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end the Gospel. To End,
if direct disobedience on the part of the
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disciples, to end with the glorious
resurrection and then people running afraid and scared.
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It's hard to say why mark ended
here. Perhaps he meant to,
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perhaps he died, perhaps there was
an ending that got lost somewhere along the
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way. We really don't know and
we can only speculate about that. But
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what we do know is that there
is this reaction here that God has told
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us about. We also know from
the other gospels that this isn't the end
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of the story. We also know
from our own lives that this end isn't
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the end of the story. The
good news of Jesus Christ didn't end with
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these women. It wasn't a telephone
game that cut got cut short at the
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beginning, the message got passed on. In fact, we even read that
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it this fear and astonishment and covering
of the mouths, so to speak.
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I didn't even last for that long. In John's Gospel we read this I'm
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Jesus after hearing well, I'll read
to you from Verse Eleven, in Chapter
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Twenty of John. Mary stood weeping
outside the Tomb. And she wept and
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stooped to look into the Tomb and
she saw two angels in white sitting where
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the body of Jesus had lain,
one at the head and want at the
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feet. They said to her,
woman, why are you weeping? She
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said to them, why have you
taken away my Lord? I do not
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know where they have laid him.
Having said this, she turned around and
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saw Jesus standing, but she didn't
know it was Jesus. Jesus said to
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her, woman, why are you
weeping? Whom are you seeking? Supposing
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him to be the gardener, she
said to him, Sir, if you've
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carried him away, tell me where
have you laid him, and I will
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take him away. Jesus said to
her Mary. She turned and he said
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to her, and she turned and
said to him in Aramaic Rabboni, which
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means teacher. She recognized him,
and then we read that they go on
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to tell and to tell the disciples. So what changes? What do we
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learn from this fearful reaction and the
corresponding turn? Well, the first thing
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we learned is that faith in Jesus, of course, is not running from
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the news, but running to it. Faith in Jesus is not disobeying him,
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but obeying Him. It's not being
silent, but speaking when he's called
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us to speak. But where does
that come from? Where does the later
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courage that these women have come from? Where do we get it when it's
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obviously not inside ourselves, when our
hearts have been poisoned and by sin and
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disbelief? It comes from the only
place it can come, not inside us,
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but outside of us, from God. Faith is a gift of God,
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we are told in Effhesians, and
it comes when God himself speaks to
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us, as he does to marry. She turns, not seeing the savior
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for who he is, not hearing
the savior from him, who he is
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or his Messenger. But he speaks
to her, he says her name and
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calls her in a way that reaches
to her heart and cures her inside,
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takes away that heart that's been poisoned
by by sin and and unbelief, and
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gives her faith. Why are you
weeping? And then she's weeping no more.
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There's this dramatic change that we see
not only in the women but in
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the disciples as well. They too, running afraid from their lives, denying
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the Lord, even calling curses upon
themselves, as Peter did just a little
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while later, giving up their very
lives for the sake of the Lord Jesus.
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They're changed. They're changed by God. When we consider our own reactions,
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when we consider our own struggles of
faith, sometimes it's easy to be
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overwhelmed by them, to be overwhelmed
by our fears. Our doubts are struggles.
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But what do we see in this
story? What do we see in
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this good news that mark has been
telling us from verse one all the way
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to the very end? We see
that, despite our doubts, our sin
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and disbelief, this one, this
Jesus Christ, has come into the world
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to conquer not only death, but
death in us, not just sin in
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a general way, but sin particularly
in his people. God has come in
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a way that is powerful. We
saw it in his miracles. We see
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it in his words and we've seen
it in many striking ways all through the
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end. When you consider your own
weaknesses, your own lack of faith,
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your own fears about Jesus, about
the world, I want you to consider
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the things that mark has been telling
us. Consider the things he's been telling
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us about the power of God.
Consider the things that he has overcome.
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The soldiers, the government's the great
stone, the guards, death it's self.
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The risen Lord Jesus, who can
overcome all these things and bring the
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Kingdom of God into the world,
can change our hearts as well. He's
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powerful to do this. He can
change stony hearts into hot into soft hearts,
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unbelieving, sinful hearts into living,
breathing, believing ones. In Him,
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we are brought to life, and
true life. So, as you
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consider and celebrate the resurrection of our
Lord Jesus, consider who he is.
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Consider not just that a great hero
has come into the world and done some
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wonderful things. Consider not only that
he is a hero and a conqueror over
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death, but he does it for
us, for you who believe in him,
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and when your fears and when your
doubts creep over you and threaten you
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and and take away that communion and
assurance you have from God. Turn again
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to him, turn again to Jesus, who calls your name and calls you
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to faith in him. He's powerful
to save, he's victorious in all he
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does. Remember that and celebrate it. Let us pray.
