Episode Transcript
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Brothers and sisters. Let's turn to
God's Word in John Chapter Twenty. John
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Twenty, we've just sung this song
in which we celebrate the resurrection of the
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Lord. In John Chapter Twenty.
You have to sort of to borrow an
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image I read, sort of rotate
the earth back just a little bit to
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a time just before this great event
happened, this central point of all of
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history, when we when the world
did not yet know that Jesus had risen
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from the dead. John Chapter Twenty. Now it was the first day of
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the week and on that day,
on the first day of the week,
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Mary Magdalen came to the tomb early, while it was still dark, and
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saw that the stone had been taken
away from the tomb. So she ran
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and went to Simon Peter and the
other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved,
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and said to them they've taken the
lord out of the Tomb and we
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do not know where they have laid
him. So Peter went out with the
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other disciple and they were going to
the tomb. Both of them were running
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together, but the other disciple ran
Peter and reached the tomb first and,
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stooping to look in, he saw
the linen clothes lying there, but he
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did not go in. Then Simon
Peter came following him and went into the
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tomb. He saw the linen clothes
lying there and the face cloth which had
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been on Jesus's head not lying with
the linen clothes, but folded up in
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a place by itself. Then the
other disciple who had reached the tomb first,
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also went in and he saw and
believed, for as yet they did
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not understand the scripture, that he
must rise from the dead. Then the
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disciples went back to their homes,
but Mary stood weeping outside the Tomb and
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she wept. And as she wept
she stooped to look into the Tomb and
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she saw two angels in white sitting
where the body of Jesus had lain,
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one at the head and one at
the feet. They said to her,
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woman, why are you weeping?
She said to them, they have taken
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away my lord and I do not
know where they have laid him. Having
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said this, she turned around and
saw Jesus standing, but she did not
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know that it was Jesus. Jesus
said to her, woman, why are
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you weeping? Whom are you seeking? Supposing him to be the gardener.
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She said to him, sir,
if you have carried him away, tell
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me where you have laid him,
and I will take him and I will
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take him away. Jesus is said
to her. Mary. She turned and
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said to him in Aramaic Rabboni,
which means teacher. Jesus said to her,
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do not cling to me, for
I have not yet ascended to the
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father, but go to my brothers
and say to them I am ascending to
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my father and your father, to
my God and your God. Mary Magdalene
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went and announced to the disciples I
have seen the Lord and that he had
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said these things to her. On
the evening of that day, the first
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day of the week, the doors
being locked where the disciples were for fear
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of the Jews, Jesus came and
stood among them and said to them,
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peace be with you. When he
had said this, he showed them his
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hands and his side. Then the
disciples were glad when they saw the Lord.
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Jesus said to them again, peace
be with you, as the father
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has sent me. Even so I
am sending you. And when he said
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this, he breathed on them and
said to them, receive the Holy Spirit
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if you forgive the sins of any
they are forgiven them. If you withhold
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forgiveness from any it is withheld.
Now. Thomas, one of the twelve
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called the twin, was not with
them when Jesus came. So the other
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disciples told him, we have seen
the Lord, but he said to them
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unless I see in his hand ends
the mark of the nails and place my
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finger into the mark of the nails
and place my hand into his side,
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I will never believe. Eight days
later, his disciples were inside again and
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Thomas was with them, although the
doors were locked. Jesus came and stood
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among them and said peace be with
you. Then he said to Thomas,
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put your finger here and see my
hands, and put out your hand and
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place it in my side. Do
not disbelieve, but believe. Thomas answered
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him. My Lord and my God, Jesus said to him. Have you
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believed because you have seen me?
Blessed are those who have not seen and
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yet believed. Now Jesus did many
other signs and the presence of the disciples
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which are not written in this book, but these are written so that you
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may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the son of God, and that
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by believing, you may have life
in his name, then well, with
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the victory having been accomplished on the
cross, a new order begins on this
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day, this first day of the
week, Sunday, Resurrection Day, a
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day which we have come to call
now the Lord's Day because of these very
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things. This new order that Jesus
brings into existence is the new heavens and
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the new earth, that is newness
of life. But at the same time,
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this new order, this new world, this kingdom, that he comes
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out of the grave into now,
having conquered death and and no longer unheld
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under it, he comes into a
world that still exists, a world where
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there is still crying and sorrow and
disbelief and pain and suffering and confusion.
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He comes into that world, he
comes into our world, and he shows
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us how things will go from now
until he comes again. Let's consider these
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things this morning, and do so
at with in a prayerful mind, Sir
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Mindset, frame of mind. I'm
with our hearts keenly on this particular task
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of believing that Jesus is the Christ, the son of God, and,
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as John says, that by believing
we may have life in his name.
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That is John's goal, that is
the Holy Spirit's goal, who inspired these
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words. Let that be our objective
as well, to believe what is said
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here so that we may have life, resurrection, life in Christ. The
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first thing to know is that,
as I said, this new order,
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this new age, is begun well, we have here on this first day
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of the week is is very much
like we have when the very first day
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of all the world, the darkness
is mentioned at the very beginning of this
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chapter, Mary Magdalen coming to the
tomb while it was still dark. There
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is emptiness and with sin in the
world there is now also deep sorrow and
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loss and fear and anger. When
Mary comes to the tomb she sees that
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the the stone had been taken away. I'm John doesn't focus on this in
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the Gospel, in his Gospel,
but in the other gospels we see,
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we are told that a great heavy
stone was laid in front of the tomb
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so that it couldn't just be rolled
away simply. It was sealed and in
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fact a seal was placed on it
as well, so that if it were
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rolled away it would be it would
be known. There were guards that were
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placed at the tomb to protect this
from from the body disappearing from his disciples
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perhaps dealing it or something else happening. But when she comes there, she
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finds that the stone is gone,
and this is a fearful thing. Something
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is wrong, something's not right,
and her first assumption is that they have,
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as she says in verse too,
taken the Lord out of the Tomb
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and we don't know where they've laid
him. You can hear the panic in
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her voice. Notice how so,
however, how she is still relating to
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Jesus, though she does not yet
understand what has happened. She doesn't yet
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believe in the resurrection. She still
is believing in the Lord, her Lord.
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She is there because she loves him
and she is not deserted him.
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This amazing woman has come to still
be with the Lord in a way,
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to somehow try to find in him, I'm solace. And when she doesn't
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find him there, she is concerned
because that's where her hope is, is
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in him. Not Knowing what to
do about these things, she goes and
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she tells the other disciples, the
disciples Peter and the other disciple who is
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the author of our Gospel, John. They come running, they're going to
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see what's going on, and there's
this this very interesting and detailed scene in
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which one is sort of outrunning the
other and one peeks in and then the
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other runs in and the other comes
in after them. It's all it's all
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very clear Um what's happening. They're
various ideas, and too, why John
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Records these things. One possible reason
is that he's wanting us to understand his
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testimony is true as well as Peters, that he was there, that he
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was seeing these things, that he
witnessed these things, that he was in
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a way on par with Peter in
his observations, in his presence. There
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another possibility that could be going on
here is the author John is simply describing
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to us the confusion in the the
the stress of the situation and, of
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course, the details of what they
see. And what do they see?
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They see his clothes lying there,
clothes which, if Jesus had been taken,
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would likely not have been there.
If you wanted to rob a tomb
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in the middle of the night,
of course you'd have to overpower Roman guards,
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you'd have to move a stone,
you'd have to get in and take
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the body. You probably wouldn't then
undress the body neatly fold the clothes separating
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them all neatly on the table and
then take now a naked person out with
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you, hoping to be, you
know, undetected. Now this is not
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what happened. Something else has happened
and that and they see the evidence of
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that something else. There in verse
seven, the face cloth which had been
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on Jesus head not lying with the
linen clothes, but folded up in a
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place by itself. They didn't understand
yet. There was confusion, there was
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chaos, there was fear and emptiness. What is going on? The disciples
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go back to their homes and then
we read in Verse Eleven, Mary who
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stands there weeping, crying and crying
outside the tomb, and then she looks
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in and she sees there this amazing
site. Not only does she see the
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clothes, but she sees these two
angels. Now this detail that John gives
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of one at the head and one
at the feet. Many commentators for a
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long time, I'm back into the
first commentators on these scriptures, mark how
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similar this is to the mercy seat
in the in the in the temple of
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old. The mercy seat was that
place where, in the holy of holies,
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there was a box, a box
in which the commandments, the covenant
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was placed, and then on either
side of that what sometimes called the arc
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of the Covenant, I'm where these
two angels, one on one side and
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one on the other. And here, remarkably, at this place of sacrifice,
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at this place, this where,
place where God has met with man
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in the forgiveness of sins, we
find that very same image of these two
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angels on one side and one on
the other side, with, of course,
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no image of God in between them, and empty place in a way,
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but but not empty in another way, empty because God has accomplished something.
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This is the way in the Old
Testament that God symbolized his presence with
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man. It was the place that
he called man to come into, to
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meet with him through the high priest, and it is here now, in
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this place of death, that God
is meeting with Mary, that God is
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meeting with her. I'm not with
a high priest there, but with the
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high priest, Jesus himself, having
risen from the dead, beginning to anticipate
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these things. The angels asked Mary, why are you weeping, and she
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says they've taken away my Lord.
I do not know where they've laid him.
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I'm she is clear and to the
points. And when Jesus himself says
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to her these same things, she
again gets right to the point. She
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doesn't say why she's weeping. She
just says, Sir, if you've carried
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him away, tell me where you've
laid him. She wants only one thing,
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Jesus, and of course he's right
there. And when he says her
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name, Mary, more Miriam,
she turns and says to him Rabboni,
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or teacher. She uses this same
word that she likely used day after day
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after day after day, this term
that she referred to her Lord. As
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she says teacher, and she clings
to him. Jesus says, don't cling
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to me, for I have not
yet ascended to the father, but now
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go, and that's what she does. He tells her to go to the
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disciples. Some of the early church
fathers called her, rightly, an apostle
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to the apostles, a sent one
to the ones who are sent, to
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the scent one to the Senden sent
ones. And that's what he does.
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He tells her to go. And
this pattern that we see here we are
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going to see repeated with the decide
other disciples in a moment and ultimately with
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us as well. And the pattern
is this. We see Jesus, we
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believe in Jesus and then we are
sent by Jesus to share him with others.
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This is the pattern that God is
establishing right here in the garden of
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his own death, and it is
the pattern which we are following, even
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here to this Lord's Day today,
to see Jesus, to believe in Jesus
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and to share him with the world. He tells her to go, and
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she does and she says, I
have seen the Lord and he tells her
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the other things that he told her, namely that he is ascending to my
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father, your father, and to
my God, your God. These words
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remind us, I hope, if
you've been attending to these sermons, all
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of those passages in which Jesus spoke
about his unity with them being similar to
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his unity with God. Now it
is happening. That friendship, that Brotherhood,
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that family, that body, all
of this language of union with Christ
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as is happening. He is ascending
not just to a God but his God
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and our God as well. So
now we see the pattern repeat as we
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come from Mary, I'm now to
the disciples. On that same day,
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the evening. Now this is Jesus
is second meeting on the Lord's Day with
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them. He comes, amends them
and he says these words that are so
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common to us, but it's important
that you hear them, how remarkable they
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are. He says to them,
peace be with you. This is something
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I often announce in the name of
the Lord at the end of our services.
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Peace be with you. These are
the these are the words of the
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Lord Jesus to his people, and
these are remarkable words. Imagine you were
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in some situation where you had your
friends gather around you, people that had
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professed their loyalty to you, people
who had said that they'd be with you
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to the bitter end. You came
under trial and they all deserted you.
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They scattered away, lying even about
who they were. And now you come
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back and you see him face to
face. It a lot of kingdoms,
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with a lot of kings. This
would be the moment of reckoning you dirty,
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rotten traitors. Death to all of
you. Right. This is the
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reaction of a king who is now
established his kingdom. Those who did not
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stick with him, those who were
not there, those who had failed him,
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would now find a day of reckoning
and instead what Jesus says to them
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is peace be with you. How
could this be? It is this way
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because Jesus had chosen, before the
foundation of the world, that these disciples
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would be his disciples and that when
he said peace, there would be peace.
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When he says, as he said
earlier, my peace I live with,
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leave with you, my peace is
what you will have, that is
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what they will have, that is
the relationship they will have with God,
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because he has determined it to be
so, which means that God will overcome
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their disobedience, God will overcome their
doubting, God will overcome their wilful desertion
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of him. Do you hear what
I'm saying? Do you hear what he
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does? When he says peace be
with you? He comes among these people
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who have left him and he says
peace, we with you. And more
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than that, he says, as
the father has sent me, so I
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am sending you receive the Holy Spirit. And then, with this action,
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very much like again at the beginning
of the world, he breathes the Holy
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Spirit. The word goes out and
just as God breathed into man and when
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he created man and brought life into
him, he breathed that breath of God,
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that wind of God, that spirit
of God. Now he breathes the
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spirit of God on them as well, and new creation is beginning. And
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he says to them, if you
forgive the sins of any they are forgiven.
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If you withhold this forgiveness, forgiveness
from any, it is withheld.
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What do you think of that?
God has given forth in the sun the
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promise of life, the promise of
life in such a way that those who
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believe will not just have a better
life, but eternal life. The cut,
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the the flip side of this is
also true. Those who receive the
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promise or refuse the promise of God, those who turn away from eternal life,
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will have what they turn away from
and turn towards, which is death.
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Remember John's record, when John Records
in John Thirty six, a Jesus's
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words, and he says whoever believes
in the sun has eternal life. Whoever
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does not obey the son shall not
see life, but the wrath of God
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remains on him. Listen again,
John Thirty six. Whoever believes in the
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sun has eternal life. Whoever does
not obey the sun shall not see life,
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but the wrath of God remains on
him. This is the message that
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Jesus is as the word of God
who comes into the world, he is
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this message. He embodies this message
literally, and on him, when we
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believe, we find eternal life and
when from him we turn away, as
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Jesus did, we find condemnation and
death and the wrath of God remains on
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us. And that word that came
into the world, that word that died
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and brought to life, this the
reality of that message. Who secured it
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forever now takes that word and gives
it to his disciples and says say this,
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proclaim this. Few forgive the sins
of any they are forgiven in them.
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If you withhold the forgiveness from any
it is withheld. And how do
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they forgive sin is do they forgive
sins from their own power? Know,
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they give it as it has been
given to them. They say, as
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I said to even today, in
the name of Jesus Christ, if you
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believe these things, you are forgiven, and if you refuse these things,
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then you remain under the wrath of
God. This is the message, the
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most important thing in all the world. This is what John has been writing
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about, this is what the other
gospels are writing about. This is why
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Jesus came, and Jesus now in
trusts that message to his disciples, who
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have been empowered by the very spirit
of God to keep and to hold that
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message. And this will be God's
work going forth. It is God's work
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even now. This is the work
that is the wind, the word that
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is proclaimed in the world, this
is the work that the church does.
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And so we see the pattern again. They see Jesus, they believe Jesus
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and then he sends them the last
time. We see this in this chapter.
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The way this is emphasized this with
Thomas. Thomas made a bad decision.
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He wasn't with the disciples. You
should have been worshiping with them on
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the Lord's Day and he missed Jesus
an important lesson for us all. They
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came to him, though, doing
the thing that they had been called to
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do. They came to their brother. There's a brother. We have seen
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the Lord, Jesus. You should
have been there. Thomas fulge's arms and
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says I'm not going to believe and
then he says this thing that has strikes
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me and you perhaps as rather crass. But this, this thing he says,
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unless I see the hands in the
mark of his nails and place my
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finger to the mark of his nails, of the nails, and place my
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hand into his side. I will
never believe. Here, in this statement,
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we see a lot of things.
One is the hardness of heart.
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And despite all that Jesus and said, despite all that Jesus has done,
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despite the testimony of these very people
that Thomas had been with, right Mary
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and others and the disciples, we've
seen the Lord. We've seen the Lord
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was no Thomas is being grumpy,
Thomas is being Thomas is demanding a level
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of proof that is not necessary.
And a lot of people still do this
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today. Say, unless I see
it in my way and on my terms
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and hear it exactly like I to
hear it, and hear it from the
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right person and hear it at the
right time, and Yada, Yada,
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Yada, I'm not going to believe
it. But who are we to judge
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God and the Word of God?
When the word of God comes to you,
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listen. I think of Balem is
donkey talking to him the word of
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the Lord. Strange, but you
better listen. If an angel comes to
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you and speaks the word of the
Lord, you listen. If the word
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of God comes to you in strange
ways, in the strange places, you
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listen. Well, the Bible tells
us that it God spoken many times and
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in many ways, but in these
last days he has spoken by his son
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and the message of that son is
proclaimed in his people. And here are
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the people, here's the Church of
God saying Thomas, Thomas, you're supposed
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to be with us. You weren't
with us, but it's okay, here's
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the word of the Lord. But
he doubles down, but not fully,
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because eight days later, on the
next Lord's Day, Thomas is with them.
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Maybe something in his heart was beginning
to stir, maybe something in him
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new that he was needed to be
with the people of God. Hard to
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say, but there he was,
and good thing he was, because here
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again comes Jesus, as he does
every Lord's Day ever since. Here comes
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Jesus and he comes to them and
again and he says to them, even
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to Thomas, peace be with you. Oh those words, those are good,
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good words to sinners who struggle,
sinners who, like Thomas, struggle,
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sinners who doubt. We all are
like these people, aren't we?
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We all have been just like them, weeping sorrowful, running, confused,
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wondering, doubtful. We're just like
them. We're human. and Jesus says
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to him, in both an act
of grace and maybe an act of discipline
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as well, Rod and the staff
of the Lord comforting his disciples, put
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your finger here and see my hands, and put out your hand and place
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it in my side. Do not
disbelieve, but believe. Thomas answered him
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and said my Lord and my God. He confesses his faith. This is
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what we are all called to do
when we come to hear the Lord,
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when we hear the promise, when
we hear we say my Lord and my
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God. Again, is even as
we have done by God's grace here this
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morning. And then Jesus says to
him, and I believe also to us,
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have you believed because you have seen
me? Blessed are those who have
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not seen and yet have believed.
Do you know who he's talking about there?
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He's talking about you. Are you, those who have not seen and
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yet believed? You are? You
are, and Jesus says to you,
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you are blessed. You are not
lacking something, you are not in need
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of something else. You are blessed
by God. You have not seen,
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and yet you have believed, you
have heard the word of the Lord from
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his disciples. The spirit joined with
that word to create new life in you
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so that you too would believe.
And this, of course, is the
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very reason why John has written these
things and why I have confidence in saying
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that this word is for you,
because the Holy Spirit says it in verses
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thirty and thirty one. Jesus did
many other signs in the presence of the
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stiples, which are not written in
this book. You don't know about them,
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I don't know about them. They
knew about them, but it doesn't
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matter. Those were God gave those
signs to them and for that purpose and
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in that time, and that was
good for them and that was right for
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them, and God will. Similarly, has given the signs and the words
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to us in our time and in
our ways. That's good for us.
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That's exactly what we need. Those
things are written in this book so that
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you may believe that Jesus is the
Christ, the son of God, and
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that, believing, you may have
life in his name. And having life
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in his name, can you guess
what we're supposed to do? To share
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it with our children, with our
sons, with our daughters, with our
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other family members, as we come
to Christ with our neighbors, to announce
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that the work of God has been
done, that peace with God is now
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possible, that the joy of all
the earth has come, that Jesus Christ
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has risen from the dead and instead
of wiping us all off the face of
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this earth, he has waited to
come in his glory. He has postponed
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the consummation and the coming judgment of
the Kingdom of God. It will come.
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It's not as though that is something
that Jesus doesn't care about. Holiness
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and righteousness is him. Those who
rebel against him will face his wrath.
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But you know what he's doing right
now? He's waiting. He's waiting so
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that that word would go out to
more and more people until the full number
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of all his sons and daughters are
brought in. And so, if you
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hear this word this morning, believe. Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ,
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and you will be saved. And
if you doubt, if you're not sure,
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believe, look at the way that
the Lord has risen from the dead.
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Look at the evidences that are presented
to you. Hear the voice of
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Your Shepherd speaking. Jesus tells us
in John Ten that when the shepherd speaks,
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his sheep recognizes voice and if you
hear his voice, respond to it
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and share it with others. Let's
pray
