Latest / INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living / Not to Worry . . . He Is Risen! Msg 1620 - Pastor Chuck Swindoll Insight for Living
Transcript
- 0:01Speaker 1: I would like for us to read together from the Gospels,
- 0:04Speaker 1: first from Matthew chapter 27, and then if you'll place
- 0:10Speaker 1: your finger in John chapter 20, I want to read
- 0:13Speaker 1: a few of the first verses there in the 20th
- 0:16Speaker 1: chapter from the last part of Matthew 27, and then
- 0:21Speaker 1: the first few verses of John chapter 20. Matthew 27 says,
- 0:30Speaker 1: beginning at verse 55. And many women were looking on
- 0:35Speaker 1: from a distance who followed Jesus from Galilee, ministering to him,
- 0:41Speaker 1: among whom was Mary Magdalene, along with Mary, the mother
- 0:45Speaker 1: of James and Joseph, and the mother of the sons
- 0:49Speaker 1: of Zebedee. And when it was evening, there came a
- 0:54Speaker 1: rich man from Arimathea named Joseph, who himself had also
- 0:59Speaker 1: become a disciple of Jesus. This man came to Pilate
- 1:04Speaker 1: and asked for the body of Jesus. Then Pilate ordered
- 1:09Speaker 1: it to be given over to him. And Joseph took
- 1:13Speaker 1: the body and wrapped it in a clean linen cloth
- 1:18Speaker 1: and laid it in his own new tomb, which he
- 1:22Speaker 1: had hewn out in the rock. And he rolled a
- 1:26Speaker 1: large stone against the entrance of the tomb and went away.
- 1:31Speaker 1: And Mary Magdalene was there and the other Mary sitting
- 1:36Speaker 1: opposite the grave. Now on the next day, which is
- 1:42Speaker 1: the one after the preparation, the chief priests and the
- 1:46Speaker 1: Pharisees gathered together with Pilate and said, Sir, we remember
- 1:52Speaker 1: that when he was still alive, that deceiver said, after
- 1:57Speaker 1: three days, I am to rise again. Therefore, give orders
- 2:02Speaker 1: for the grave to be made secure until the third day,
- 2:06Speaker 1: lest the disciples come and steal him away and say
- 2:11Speaker 1: to the people, he has risen from the dead and
- 2:15Speaker 1: the last deception will be worse than the first. Pilate
- 2:21Speaker 1: said to them, you have a guard, go. Make it
- 2:24Speaker 1: as secure as you know how. And they went and
- 2:28Speaker 1: made the grave secure. And along with the guard, they
- 2:32Speaker 1: set a seal on the stone. Now, Matthew, I'm sorry,
- 2:38Speaker 1: John chapter 20, the first 10 verses. John 20, verse 1.
- 2:48Speaker 1: Now on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene
- 2:52Speaker 1: came early to the tomb while it was still dark
- 2:56Speaker 1: and saw the stone already taken away from the tomb.
- 3:02Speaker 1: And so she ran and came to Simon Peter and
- 3:05Speaker 1: to the other disciple whom Jesus loved and said to them,
- 3:11Speaker 1: they have taken away the Lord out of the tomb
- 3:13Speaker 1: and we do not know where they have laid him.
- 3:17Speaker 1: Peter therefore went forth and the other disciple and they
- 3:21Speaker 1: were going to the tomb. And the two were running
- 3:25Speaker 1: together and the other disciple ran ahead faster than Peter
- 3:29Speaker 1: and came to the tomb first. And stooping and looking in,
- 3:35Speaker 1: he saw the linen wrappings lying there, but he did
- 3:40Speaker 1: not go in. Simon Peter therefore also came following him
- 3:45Speaker 1: and entered the tomb and he beheld the linen wrappings
- 3:49Speaker 1: lying there and the face cloth which had been on
- 3:52Speaker 1: his head not lying with the linen wrappings but rolled
- 3:57Speaker 1: up in a place by itself. Then entered in therefore
- 4:02Speaker 1: the other disciple also who had first come to the
- 4:06Speaker 1: tomb and he saw and believed. For as yet they
- 4:12Speaker 1: did not understand the scripture that he must rise again
- 4:16Speaker 1: from the dead. So the disciples went away again to
- 4:22Speaker 1: their own homes. Whoever the artist was that drew the
- 4:31Speaker 1: picture that appears in the front piece of our bulletin,
- 4:34Speaker 1: you might take a glance at that, did a pretty
- 4:36Speaker 1: good job of Depicting the ancient tomb site, the stone
- 4:43Speaker 1: often weighed much more than a ton and was often
- 4:47Speaker 1: rolled uphill and with a cleat or a block held
- 4:52Speaker 1: in place until a body was placed in the tomb
- 4:56Speaker 1: and then the stone was allowed to slump into place,
- 4:59Speaker 1: if you will. And here you can see, as it
- 5:03Speaker 1: must have appeared, that early Easter morning. We're going to
- 5:09Speaker 1: enjoy the opportunity to worship our Lord further. As we
- 5:14Speaker 1: have often said, worship is a human response to a
- 5:19Speaker 1: divine revelation. When we sit quietly before our Lord in
- 5:24Speaker 1: our time of instruction, we worship Him in instruction. When
- 5:28Speaker 1: we sing to Him in praise, we often use the
- 5:31Speaker 1: word Alleluia, which is a Hebrew expression for Praise the Lord.
- 5:38Speaker 1: It's just been left in Hebrew. So you can leave
- 5:40Speaker 1: today and tell someone you know that you now know
- 5:43Speaker 1: Hebrew because you use the word a lot. Hallelujah. It
- 5:46Speaker 1: appears often in, or hallelujah often appears in the scriptures,
- 5:51Speaker 1: especially in the Psalms and in songs. We come together, however,
- 5:56Speaker 1: standing at the foot of the cross on level ground,
- 6:02Speaker 1: all without status, rank, our significance, but all come as
- 6:09Speaker 1: forgiven people to worship our God in song, in giving,
- 6:16Speaker 1: and now in prayer. Will you bow with me, please?
- 6:24Speaker 1: We cannot hear the report of the guns, our Father,
- 6:27Speaker 1: or the sigh and groan of an older man or
- 6:32Speaker 1: woman making his or her way to some away from home,
- 6:39Speaker 1: driven out by war and the ravages of war. There
- 6:46Speaker 1: are lonely soldiers and sailors and Marines today serving you
- 6:52Speaker 1: and airmen as well who are away from home as
- 6:57Speaker 1: another crisis has struck our world. And it is easy
- 7:01Speaker 1: in a place as comfortable and secure as this one
- 7:04Speaker 1: to forget that a few miles away from us, there
- 7:08Speaker 1: are those who are starving and those who are desperate
- 7:14Speaker 1: and those who are dying, lonely, confused, bewildered, baffled, angry,
- 7:23Speaker 1: and some hostile, loading weapons and firing them and determined
- 7:30Speaker 1: in their pursuit of for more and more and more
- 7:36Speaker 1: of their own way. In this enclave of peace and
- 7:44Speaker 1: temporary quiet, we pause to give you thanks for the
- 7:49Speaker 1: many things we have to enjoy. Many of us sitting
- 7:55Speaker 1: alongside family members and or friends who worship with us
- 8:00Speaker 1: today in this unusual place, a gymnasium that has been
- 8:08Speaker 1: turned into a worship center. As you find us continuing
- 8:14Speaker 1: our journey of forming a new church and learning what
- 8:21Speaker 1: that is like and what that includes and learning how
- 8:26Speaker 1: to live with each other and how to grow and
- 8:28Speaker 1: learn and and lead together. Our Father, we pray that
- 8:35Speaker 1: this time will be of special significance. Some will come
- 8:40Speaker 1: to faith this day, if not here, in some place
- 8:44Speaker 1: around the world. Perhaps a military man sitting under the
- 8:50Speaker 1: instruction of a chaplain. Perhaps some lost and bewildered young
- 8:56Speaker 1: woman sitting in a worship service. somewhere around this world,
- 9:02Speaker 1: hearing for the first time the claims of Jesus Christ.
- 9:07Speaker 1: We're grateful, our Father, to have our heritage that we have.
- 9:13Speaker 1: We come with our bruises and scars of the past
- 9:17Speaker 1: and all the things that we bring with us to
- 9:20Speaker 1: a place, this public, and we thank you for giving
- 9:25Speaker 1: a sense of relief and peace and joy in the
- 9:30Speaker 1: midst of our worship together. Look, I ask you, Father,
- 9:36Speaker 1: to use your word today to help us see afresh
- 9:40Speaker 1: and anew what it must have been like that first
- 9:43Speaker 1: Easter morning when a handful of women stumbled upon an
- 9:49Speaker 1: open tomb without a body. And all that that led
- 9:56Speaker 1: to in their lives and down through the centuries all
- 10:00Speaker 1: the way to ours we pray father that you will
- 10:05Speaker 1: remind us that there is no one who can satisfy
- 10:10Speaker 1: like you can no one on earth who can comfort
- 10:14Speaker 1: us like you do no one who will love us
- 10:19Speaker 1: Like you do. And so in the midst of all
- 10:23Speaker 1: of these things through the morning, may we not miss
- 10:25Speaker 1: the message that we come to focus on Christ who
- 10:31Speaker 1: loved us, gave himself for us, died, and rose again.
- 10:37Speaker 1: That is why we sing and that is why we
- 10:42Speaker 1: pray in his strong name. We ask this.
- 10:46Speaker 2: Amen.
- 10:51Speaker 1: Well, we may not look like it on a Sunday
- 10:52Speaker 1: morning when we gather for an Easter service, but the
- 10:55Speaker 1: truth is some of us are worriers. Worriers. I confess
- 11:01Speaker 1: I worried yesterday as I was driving through Coppell, one
- 11:04Speaker 1: of our little communities here not far away, and it
- 11:07Speaker 1: was hailing and raining and the thunder and the lightning
- 11:12Speaker 1: was everywhere and my heart went out to all of you.
- 11:15Speaker 1: going to, well, sunrise service tomorrow morning. At least it
- 11:20Speaker 1: was tomorrow then. And you were already setting your clocks ahead,
- 11:23Speaker 1: so you'd be one hour less, and I thought the
- 11:25Speaker 1: rain will be... But before the afternoon had come, it
- 11:28Speaker 1: was a wonderful, beautiful, glorious day. Worrying. This caused me
- 11:36Speaker 1: to do a little reading this past week in the
- 11:38Speaker 1: life of one of my favorite theologians, Irma Bombeck. Irma
- 11:42Speaker 1: has a way of saying things that we thought we
- 11:45Speaker 1: were the only ones who thought like that. She said,
- 11:48Speaker 1: I've always worried a lot, and frankly, I'm good at it.
- 11:51Speaker 1: I worry about introducing people and going blank when I
- 11:54Speaker 1: get to my mother. I worry about a shortage of
- 11:58Speaker 1: ball bearings, a snake coming up through the kitchen drain.
- 12:02Speaker 1: I worry about the world ending at midnight and getting
- 12:05Speaker 1: stuck with three hours on a 24-hour cold capsule. That
- 12:10Speaker 1: is hilarious. I worry about getting into the Guinness Book
- 12:13Speaker 1: of World Records under pregnancy, oldest on record. I worry
- 12:19Speaker 1: what the dog thinks when he sees me coming out
- 12:22Speaker 1: of the shower. Or that one of my children will
- 12:26Speaker 1: marry an Eskimo who will set me adrift on an
- 12:29Speaker 1: iceberg when I can no longer feed myself. I worry
- 12:34Speaker 1: about sales ladies following me into the fitting room. oil slicks,
- 12:39Speaker 1: Carol Channing going bald. I worry about scientists discovering someday
- 12:45Speaker 1: that lettuce has been fattening all along. Now, I'm going
- 12:52Speaker 1: to confess to you, since confession is good for the soul,
- 12:55Speaker 1: since I was a little boy, I've worried about three things.
- 12:59Speaker 1: And my worries come in three Ds that'll help you
- 13:02Speaker 1: remember me. Remember my worry list. First of all, I've
- 13:06Speaker 1: worried about the devil and his demons. I don't know why,
- 13:10Speaker 1: it just has worried me. It's bothered me. And I know,
- 13:13Speaker 1: I know we have power over the enemy. I know
- 13:18Speaker 1: that greater is he who is in us than he
- 13:19Speaker 1: who is in the world. I know that we have
- 13:23Speaker 1: nothing to fear, but every once in a while, I
- 13:25Speaker 1: worry about the impact and the influence those insidious, invisible
- 13:30Speaker 1: creatures have. have on God's people. I worry, for example,
- 13:36Speaker 1: when we are getting underway and starting a church, what
- 13:39Speaker 1: impact the demons can have on a work that's getting underway.
- 13:45Speaker 1: How they can infiltrate and have their way and move
- 13:49Speaker 1: through interesting situations that we would never have imagined before.
- 13:54Speaker 1: The devil and the demons. Second D, darkness. Darkness. Darkness.
- 14:03Speaker 1: You know, I still sing when I go out late
- 14:05Speaker 1: at night to get in my car. Jesus loves me.
- 14:07Speaker 1: This I know for the Bible tells me so. I
- 14:10Speaker 1: hope adults don't hear me when I do that, but
- 14:12Speaker 1: I've been doing that since I was a little boy.
- 14:14Speaker 1: I just think if it's dark, something is around the
- 14:17Speaker 1: corner that's going to jump out at me. And usually
- 14:20Speaker 1: that doesn't happen. One of my kids has done that
- 14:22Speaker 1: from time to time, but usually that doesn't happen. And
- 14:25Speaker 1: another is death. Death. Death. It's not that I'm afraid
- 14:29Speaker 1: of death. I just don't want to be there when
- 14:30Speaker 1: it happens. You understand. My idea of the right time
- 14:34Speaker 1: to die is after a great evening with my wife.
- 14:37Speaker 1: I come home. We drop in bed. I fall sound asleep.
- 14:40Speaker 1: And while I'm asleep, I die. That's not very thoughtful
- 14:43Speaker 1: to put it that way, but that's a great night
- 14:45Speaker 1: to die. Another time would be when I'm in the
- 14:48Speaker 1: doctor's office and he's just gone out to get the
- 14:51Speaker 1: proctoscope and I'm standing there. And I die. And he
- 14:56Speaker 1: walks in and I have this smile on my face
- 14:58Speaker 1: when he comes back. That's a wonderful time for him
- 15:01Speaker 1: to find me dead and to live with the guilt
- 15:04Speaker 1: that the fear killed me as he was out coming
- 15:07Speaker 1: back in. Death. Isn't it interesting that all three of
- 15:13Speaker 1: those situations, all three were present shortly before the first
- 15:19Speaker 1: Easter morning? Stop and think about it. The devil and
- 15:23Speaker 1: his demons must have danced with glee when they drove
- 15:26Speaker 1: those spikes into Jesus' hands and feet. Finally, we've got
- 15:31Speaker 1: him where we want him. They had worked so hard
- 15:34Speaker 1: in the lives of the chief priests and the elders
- 15:36Speaker 1: and Judas, right up to the end, getting him to
- 15:39Speaker 1: that cross. They finally talked Pilate into it, and he
- 15:42Speaker 1: waffled and finally gave in. And he said, here, take
- 15:46Speaker 1: him and do with him as you please. And they
- 15:48Speaker 1: jammed that crown of thorns on him, and they They
- 15:51Speaker 1: scourged him and they drove him to the cross and
- 15:54Speaker 1: they dropped it in a hole. And there he hung
- 15:56Speaker 1: and there he died. How grateful they must have felt
- 16:00Speaker 1: when he said, It is finished. And he died. Ah,
- 16:05Speaker 1: that's it. We win. We have bruised his heel. They
- 16:10Speaker 1: remember the old prophecy. But like the devil and his
- 16:12Speaker 1: demons often do, they quote only half the verse. They
- 16:16Speaker 1: forget that the other side says, and he will crush
- 16:20Speaker 1: your head. Not realizing, having died on the cross and
- 16:26Speaker 1: paid the penalty for sins, it would only be a
- 16:29Speaker 1: matter of hours before he would rise triumphant over sin
- 16:34Speaker 1: and death and the grave. The devil and his demons
- 16:40Speaker 1: were not far away when he was nailed to that cross.
- 16:47Speaker 1: Nor was death. They didn't even have to break his legs, remember?
- 16:55Speaker 1: They came to one of the thieves and they broke
- 16:57Speaker 1: his leg so he couldn't move up any further to
- 16:59Speaker 1: breathe and he died. And they broke the other thief's
- 17:01Speaker 1: leg and then they came to Jesus and he was
- 17:04Speaker 1: already dead. In fact, the centurion, a seasoned soldier who
- 17:09Speaker 1: had seen death often, looked up and saw him hanging there.
- 17:15Speaker 1: Having watched one of his soldiers spear him in the
- 17:18Speaker 1: side and out came the blood and water. Physicians tell
- 17:21Speaker 1: us to this day that one of the physical proofs
- 17:24Speaker 1: of death is that the blood separates between the dark
- 17:27Speaker 1: red corpuscles and the whitish serum called in the scriptures water.
- 17:34Speaker 1: Proof of death. And the centurion looking up said, surely
- 17:37Speaker 1: this was the son of God. Emphasis on was. He's gone.
- 17:45Speaker 1: He's gone. And since his friends and followers pulled him
- 17:49Speaker 1: from the cross and wrapped him in the method of
- 17:53Speaker 1: burying in those days and prepared him for the grave,
- 17:58Speaker 1: surely they would have seen a sign of life and
- 18:02Speaker 1: released him if he had been alive. But he was dead. Limp, lifeless,
- 18:09Speaker 1: gray-white body. They laid in the tomb. And they rolled
- 18:17Speaker 1: the stone in front of it. And they walked away wondering,
- 18:25Speaker 1: will we ever be able to go on? And darkness.
- 18:33Speaker 1: Remember reading in John chapter 20, verse 1. Now on
- 18:38Speaker 1: the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene came early
- 18:43Speaker 1: to the tomb while it was still dark. Dark. I
- 18:55Speaker 1: don't know how early you get up in the mornings.
- 18:58Speaker 1: I tend to get up very early. There's no quieter
- 19:03Speaker 1: time of the day than the day before the sun
- 19:08Speaker 1: comes up. Busy merchants are not on the expressways and
- 19:12Speaker 1: tollway finding their way to work. The birds aren't even
- 19:17Speaker 1: up chirping and singing. It's silent. And it's dark. And
- 19:28Speaker 1: that's the way it was that morning. Perhaps a heavy
- 19:32Speaker 1: mist hung over that old out-of-the-way place in old Jerusalem.
- 19:39Speaker 1: I mean, it's a cemetery. It's a cemetery. The women
- 19:46Speaker 1: arose early that day. The men are never said to
- 19:51Speaker 1: have come to the tomb early. I don't criticize them.
- 19:56Speaker 1: I'll confess to you I wouldn't have gone. I don't
- 20:02Speaker 1: like darkness and demons and death. I don't like those things.
- 20:11Speaker 1: They've been spooky to me. I don't think anybody hangs
- 20:17Speaker 1: around a grave site once night falls. But they had
- 20:23Speaker 1: a task to do. Now, we don't bury people today
- 20:27Speaker 1: like they did then. We tend to leave that to
- 20:31Speaker 1: the mortuary. The undertaker does that. We have a brief
- 20:37Speaker 1: viewing of the body, and some of us aren't even
- 20:39Speaker 1: comfortable with that. The lid is sealed. The coffin is
- 20:44Speaker 1: treated with dignity and lowered into a hole even without
- 20:48Speaker 1: our being there. And it's not even an American custom
- 20:51Speaker 1: we watch them put dirt on the coffin. We're away
- 20:56Speaker 1: from all that. The last several funerals I've been at,
- 21:00Speaker 1: you couldn't even see the dirt. It was covered over
- 21:02Speaker 1: with a phony grass. So you don't have to think
- 21:06Speaker 1: about that. Not then. Not then. You've all seen pictures
- 21:14Speaker 1: of and perhaps even examples of mummy-like wrappings around a body.
- 21:19Speaker 1: That's the way they prepared bodies back then. Joseph of
- 21:24Speaker 1: Arimathea and Nicodemus, disciples and followers of Christ, had taken
- 21:30Speaker 1: the body down and had carefully rolled it in the
- 21:36Speaker 1: linen wrappings. And it was the custom of that day
- 21:39Speaker 1: for The stench would soon accompany a body after a
- 21:43Speaker 1: few days in the grave for there to be spices
- 21:46Speaker 1: brought to the grave site, like we would bring flowers
- 21:50Speaker 1: to a fresh grave. These women had for these days
- 21:54Speaker 1: and hours prepared the spices, the aloes, the myrrh, and
- 22:01Speaker 1: they came. Matthew tells us it was Mary Magdalene and
- 22:05Speaker 1: the other Mary. Mark adds the name Salome. Luke simply
- 22:09Speaker 1: says the women. John only names Mary Magdalene. It's a
- 22:13Speaker 1: very small group. Remember in the reading of Matthew, the
- 22:17Speaker 1: women were sitting there when he was entombed. They knew
- 22:20Speaker 1: exactly where the site was. So they returned in the
- 22:25Speaker 1: darkness of the morning and stumbled along only to find
- 22:30Speaker 1: a shocking realization that this This hole is open. They
- 22:37Speaker 1: could see it in the dimlit scene in front of them.
- 22:44Speaker 1: Somehow the stone had been rolled uphill and pushed aside.
- 22:49Speaker 1: Matthew tells us it was an angel. And coming to
- 22:57Speaker 1: the grave site itself and walking inside, you see they
- 23:01Speaker 1: buried them in hillsides then and still do in some
- 23:04Speaker 1: places in the east today and they came into the
- 23:08Speaker 1: little ante room and they looked across and they squinted
- 23:11Speaker 1: and they blinked and they couldn't believe their eyes he
- 23:14Speaker 1: was gone now it all seems so right because we
- 23:20Speaker 1: know the end of the story where many of us
- 23:23Speaker 1: are very familiar with this setting we've been raised with
- 23:25Speaker 1: it but imagine having buried your friend three days ago
- 23:31Speaker 1: And you decide to drop by with flowers out of
- 23:34Speaker 1: respect for your friend today. And you come upon the
- 23:37Speaker 1: scene early in the morning, this Sunday morning, only to
- 23:42Speaker 1: find the dirt is now back on the ground and
- 23:45Speaker 1: the hole is empty and the coffin is open. What
- 23:50Speaker 1: would be your first thought? Somebody took the body. That's
- 23:57Speaker 1: exactly what they thought. They have taken away our Lord
- 24:01Speaker 1: and we don't know where they have laid him. We
- 24:03Speaker 1: don't know where he is. It's their first thought. Go
- 24:08Speaker 1: from John 20 back to Luke 24. You have to
- 24:15Speaker 1: just take various gospel accounts to sort of piece the
- 24:19Speaker 1: story together. They find the stone rolled away. They find
- 24:27Speaker 1: the body gone. Grave clothes are still in there, the wrappings.
- 24:36Speaker 1: Verse four tells us it happened that while they were perplexed,
- 24:40Speaker 1: the word means without a way. Without a way, they
- 24:46Speaker 1: were baffled. They were puzzled. We have the word in
- 24:50Speaker 1: our day, it's a colloquialism of our day, clueless. They
- 24:53Speaker 1: were clueless. What in the world has happened? To our Lord.
- 25:03Speaker 1: Who would have the audacity to steal the body? And why?
- 25:10Speaker 1: What good is a dead body out somewhere in this
- 25:15Speaker 1: old city of Jerusalem or wherever they have taken him? Perplexed.
- 25:21Speaker 1: It's silent. It's dark. It's now mysterious. In fact, it's disquieting.
- 25:28Speaker 1: Verse 5 intensifies it. By saying they were terrified. What
- 25:33Speaker 1: changed them from perplexity to terror? Well, before you get
- 25:39Speaker 1: to terrified, we read that two men, we know from
- 25:42Speaker 1: the other gospel writers, they were angels. Two men suddenly
- 25:47Speaker 1: stood near them in dazzling apparel. The darkness is now light.
- 25:55Speaker 1: And the silence is now filled with the words of
- 25:58Speaker 1: these angelic creatures. I'm telling you, this is a frightening moment.
- 26:04Speaker 1: We sit in this comfortable place, knowing the story and
- 26:07Speaker 1: knowing how it ends, or continues to say it better,
- 26:12Speaker 1: and none of it shocks us. But suddenly there's no
- 26:16Speaker 1: longer darkness. There's this resplendent light from these heavenly creatures
- 26:20Speaker 1: that And no longer is it silent because they begin
- 26:25Speaker 1: to speak and tell us things that we can hardly believe.
- 26:28Speaker 1: They ask, why are you seeking someone who is alive
- 26:34Speaker 1: at a cemetery? Why do you seek the living one
- 26:39Speaker 1: among the dead? Now, how would you like to come
- 26:43Speaker 1: to that site where your friend had been laid to rest?
- 26:46Speaker 1: And you've got flowers in your hands. And in the
- 26:49Speaker 1: darkness of the morning, out of the blue come two creatures,
- 26:53Speaker 1: angelic creatures who tell you this one is now living
- 26:57Speaker 1: who had been earlier dead. Asking you, why are you
- 27:01Speaker 1: coming to a cemetery to meet with someone who is
- 27:04Speaker 1: in fact alive? It doesn't register. Until they say, verse 6, remember...
- 27:16Speaker 1: how he spoke to you while he was still in Galilee, saying,
- 27:21Speaker 1: the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands
- 27:23Speaker 1: of sinful men and be crucified, and the third day
- 27:27Speaker 1: rise again. Remember that? And they're standing, these women are
- 27:30Speaker 1: standing there, spices in hands, trying to remember, and it clicks.
- 27:36Speaker 1: They get it. He's alive. He's alive. No one has
- 27:45Speaker 1: taken the body. He has, in the power of the
- 27:49Speaker 1: living God, been raised from the dead. He is alive. Now,
- 27:58Speaker 1: just as you would have done, they respond predictably. Verse 8,
- 28:05Speaker 1: they remembered his words. Verse 9, they returned from the
- 28:10Speaker 1: tomb and they reported... All these things to the eleven
- 28:16Speaker 1: and to all the rest. Now don't you wonder what
- 28:19Speaker 1: the eleven thought when they heard that? You got to
- 28:22Speaker 1: go back to John 20 to see what the eleven thought.
- 28:29Speaker 1: These great men of faith. Trained by Jesus. Living on
- 28:35Speaker 1: the edge of confidence. Verse 20. That's the wrong passage.
- 28:49Speaker 1: What's the matter with me? Luke 24 again. Sorry. Should
- 28:54Speaker 1: have stayed where I was. There it is, verse 11.
- 28:57Speaker 1: Luke 24, 11. When they heard what the women said,
- 29:02Speaker 1: these apostles responded, nonsense. Now, isn't that reassuring? Nonsense. In fact,
- 29:11Speaker 1: one of my resources said, The term that is used here,
- 29:16Speaker 1: and by the way, it's used nowhere else in the scriptures.
- 29:20Speaker 1: It was a term used by medical writers of that
- 29:23Speaker 1: day to describe the baffling words of fevered patients who
- 29:28Speaker 1: were insane. They saw these women and they say, you
- 29:33Speaker 1: speak as insane people. What do you mean telling us
- 29:37Speaker 1: that he has been raised He's been raised from the dead.
- 29:40Speaker 1: This is nonsense. Get a life. You have been, you know,
- 29:46Speaker 1: you got up too early. You're seeing things. You're imagining things.
- 29:51Speaker 1: That's the idea. Nonsense. They would not believe them. Now
- 29:58Speaker 1: it's time. Now. Thank you. John chapter 20. Having said that,
- 30:04Speaker 1: two of them had their curiosity get ahead of them,
- 30:09Speaker 1: and they decided they needed to go and check it
- 30:11Speaker 1: out for themselves. Understand why they would say it was nonsense.
- 30:18Speaker 1: In the passage I read earlier in Matthew, in the
- 30:20Speaker 1: scripture reading, I was the choosing that on purpose because
- 30:26Speaker 1: pilot had been visited by the chief priests and the
- 30:29Speaker 1: elders who had said we understand he's made this prediction
- 30:34Speaker 1: that he will rise from the dead and it will
- 30:37Speaker 1: be just like one of his disciples to come and
- 30:39Speaker 1: steal him away and then announce there's been a resurrection
- 30:42Speaker 1: and the deception will be worse now than it was
- 30:45Speaker 1: when he came and claimed to be messiah So would
- 30:49Speaker 1: you please send a guard and seal the tomb? Pilate,
- 30:52Speaker 1: with a wave of his hand, says, you've got your
- 30:54Speaker 1: own guard. You make it. You make it secure. I've
- 30:57Speaker 1: done all for you. I'm going to do. And so
- 30:58Speaker 1: they probably chose the temple police who would be determined
- 31:02Speaker 1: no one would get into that tomb. And they sealed
- 31:05Speaker 1: the tomb and they set a guard day and night,
- 31:08Speaker 1: only to be overwhelmed by the angelic appearance. And the
- 31:12Speaker 1: body is gone. By the way, let me make this
- 31:15Speaker 1: real clear. The tomb was not removed to let Jesus,
- 31:18Speaker 1: the stone was not removed to let Jesus out. It
- 31:21Speaker 1: was removed to let people in. When you're in a
- 31:25Speaker 1: resurrected body, you don't need to have stones removed to
- 31:28Speaker 1: pass through them. You see, the whole molecular structure of
- 31:32Speaker 1: the body is changed in a glorified state. That's why
- 31:36Speaker 1: when you want to know what your resurrection body will
- 31:38Speaker 1: be like, you need to study the resurrection body of Jesus.
- 31:42Speaker 1: As we'll see before this study is over, he passed
- 31:45Speaker 1: through a closed door and went through space quickly. In
- 31:49Speaker 1: his glorified state, space and matter were not obstacles. He
- 31:55Speaker 1: had come out before the stone was removed. The stone
- 31:59Speaker 1: was removed to let them see in. Which brings us
- 32:02Speaker 1: to this case in John chapter 20. Verse 3. Peter
- 32:11Speaker 1: therefore went forth and the other disciple and they were
- 32:14Speaker 1: going to the tomb. There's kind of a foot race.
- 32:19Speaker 1: I think it's a little bit humorous that John wants
- 32:21Speaker 1: to make it real clear he outran Peter. There's just
- 32:25Speaker 1: something about men that just want to make it clear
- 32:27Speaker 1: who got there first. Three times he makes that clear
- 32:31Speaker 1: in a quick record here. Verse four, the two were
- 32:34Speaker 1: running together. The other disciple ran ahead faster than Peter.
- 32:40Speaker 1: and came to the tomb first. Now he's John the writer,
- 32:44Speaker 1: the man whose name appears at the top of this book.
- 32:48Speaker 1: John the apostle. He comes first. I want you to
- 32:52Speaker 1: see three different sights, that is, sights from the eye.
- 32:59Speaker 1: John arrives first, and verse 5 says, stooping and looking in,
- 33:09Speaker 1: He saw the linen wrappings lying there, but he didn't
- 33:15Speaker 1: go in. Blepo is the Greek word, and it's the
- 33:19Speaker 1: word for just casual but not an inaccurate sighting. You'll
- 33:24Speaker 1: be driving home from church, and you'll come to a
- 33:26Speaker 1: red light. You'll see it. You'll blepo the light. You'll stop.
- 33:31Speaker 1: You'll wait until the light turns green. Then you'll go on.
- 33:34Speaker 1: It's accurate. It's casual. You've done it a hundred or
- 33:37Speaker 1: more times before. It's there. You know what color it is.
- 33:41Speaker 1: And you go on when it changes to green. That's
- 33:43Speaker 1: the way this word is used. John looks in, sees
- 33:47Speaker 1: the grave clothes. Doesn't register. He sees that obviously the
- 33:52Speaker 1: body is gone, but he can't put it together. Now
- 33:55Speaker 1: notice the next verse. Verse 6. Simon Peter therefore also
- 34:01Speaker 1: came following him. Note that. and entered the tomb, and
- 34:06Speaker 1: he beheld the linen wrappings lying there. Get out of
- 34:09Speaker 1: the way, John. Peter comes up. Move. This is so
- 34:12Speaker 1: like Peter. And he kind of barges in, and he beholds.
- 34:16Speaker 1: Theoreo is this word. It's the word from which we
- 34:19Speaker 1: get the word theorize. Peter stands there, and he studies
- 34:28Speaker 1: what he didn't expect to see. He's intrigued by it.
- 34:34Speaker 1: Perhaps it would be used for a physician who is
- 34:37Speaker 1: doing surgery and comes upon a tumor he didn't realize
- 34:40Speaker 1: was there. And he theorizes. He looks closely. And before
- 34:47Speaker 1: the excising of it, if in fact he chooses to
- 34:49Speaker 1: do that, he examines with great care. He theorizes this tumor.
- 34:59Speaker 1: He takes his time. He examines it. He didn't expect
- 35:05Speaker 1: to see what he saw. Several years ago, Dallas Seminary's
- 35:12Speaker 1: Mount Hermon conference included a couple of our faculty members,
- 35:17Speaker 1: which we always do at our August conference there. And
- 35:21Speaker 1: we invited Dr. Bob Pine, who was a part of
- 35:24Speaker 1: our theology department. And Bob has a house full of kiddos,
- 35:28Speaker 1: and they were looking forward to the trip, especially Bob's
- 35:30Speaker 1: little boy, who heard that they were going to drive
- 35:33Speaker 1: from Texas to Northern California, and en route they would
- 35:37Speaker 1: see the Grand Canyon. The little kid was thrilled with
- 35:40Speaker 1: the thought of seeing the biggest canyon in the country.
- 35:45Speaker 1: Parents built it up, you know how you'll do to
- 35:47Speaker 1: keep kids from killing each other in the backseat of
- 35:50Speaker 1: the car on a long trip, and they kept talking
- 35:53Speaker 1: about this Grand Canyon. You've just never seen anything like it.
- 35:56Speaker 1: So when they get there, they stop, and they all
- 35:57Speaker 1: get out, and they look. And the little kid's saying,
- 36:03Speaker 1: where is the gun? Where are the bullets? And they said, what?
- 36:08Speaker 1: We're going to see the Grand Canyon. I thought we
- 36:11Speaker 1: were going to see this big, big canyon. Where is it?
- 36:14Speaker 1: He did not see what he expected to see. Pretty
- 36:18Speaker 1: disappointed little kiddo. Peter isn't disappointed. He's intrigued as he
- 36:26Speaker 1: theorizes what he's looking at. What was it that held
- 36:30Speaker 1: his attention? I have Meryl Tenney to thank for these
- 36:38Speaker 1: very insightful observations. Listen to these few words. Why should
- 36:43Speaker 1: the condition of the grave clothes excite Peter's amazement? There's
- 36:49Speaker 1: a strong hint that the clothes were not folded as
- 36:52Speaker 1: if Jesus had unwound them and then deposited them in
- 36:57Speaker 1: two neat piles on the shelf. The word used to
- 37:02Speaker 1: describe the napkin or the head cloth does not connote
- 37:08Speaker 1: a flat folded square like a table napkin, but a
- 37:13Speaker 1: ball of cloth. Now picture this. A ball of cloth
- 37:18Speaker 1: bearing the appearance of being rolled around an object that
- 37:22Speaker 1: was no longer there. The wrappings were in position where
- 37:29Speaker 1: the body had lain and the head cloth where the
- 37:32Speaker 1: head had been separated from the others by the distance
- 37:35Speaker 1: from the armpits to the neck. The shape of the
- 37:40Speaker 1: body was still apparent in them, but the flesh and
- 37:43Speaker 1: bone had disappeared. It was as if you expected to
- 37:50Speaker 1: see a hand in a glove and all you saw
- 37:52Speaker 1: was a glove still looking as though it was filled
- 37:55Speaker 1: with the hand. He's standing there imagining if someone stole
- 38:02Speaker 1: the body, it would have been impossible for them to
- 38:05Speaker 1: have rewrapped the shape of a body and left it
- 38:08Speaker 1: intact like a cocoon. That's what he saw. He saw
- 38:15Speaker 1: the mummy-like wrappings of He saw the headpiece as if
- 38:23Speaker 1: it were still around the head, tied beneath the chin
- 38:27Speaker 1: to keep in skeletal form the body from, that jaw
- 38:32Speaker 1: from opening and leaving an ugly appearance. He saw the headpiece,
- 38:37Speaker 1: he saw the mummy wrappings, but there was no body.
- 38:42Speaker 1: Tinney continues, if the hypothesis be correct, And it seems
- 38:46Speaker 1: to follow the facts. How was the corpse extricated from
- 38:52Speaker 1: the wrapping since they would not slip over the curves
- 38:55Speaker 1: of the body when tightly wound around it? No robbers
- 38:59Speaker 1: would ever have rewound the wrappings in their original shape
- 39:02Speaker 1: for there would not have been time to do so.
- 39:06Speaker 1: They would have flung the clothes down in disorder and
- 39:08Speaker 1: fled with the body. Fear of detection would have made
- 39:12Speaker 1: them act as hastily as possible. You got the picture?
- 39:16Speaker 1: He's standing here looking at what was once a body
- 39:22Speaker 1: with wrappings and now there is wrappings with no body.
- 39:26Speaker 1: And he cannot figure it out. So John comes, verse 8.
- 39:32Speaker 1: Then entered in therefore the other disciple also who had
- 39:36Speaker 1: first come to the tomb. And he saw, here's a
- 39:39Speaker 1: third word. Here's a different word entirely. Look at this word.
- 39:46Speaker 1: He saw And he believed. This term means to reason.
- 40:03Speaker 1: To reason something out. Mental perception or realization as well
- 40:10Speaker 1: as physical sight. In other words, it all fell into place.
- 40:15Speaker 1: He stood there standing by Peter and it clicked. Peter. Peter.
- 40:29Speaker 1: He's been raised from the dead. He's alive. You know
- 40:38Speaker 1: what I think those men did? They probably turned around
- 40:43Speaker 1: to see if he was there. Happened to Mary. That's
- 40:46Speaker 1: another story. When she thought he was the gardener in
- 40:50Speaker 1: the tomb area and he called her by name, and
- 40:54Speaker 1: she knew his voice and knew that it was he.
- 41:00Speaker 1: Peter and John are standing, staring at the greatest record
- 41:03Speaker 1: of a miracle in all the New Testament. And when
- 41:07Speaker 1: you stand in places like that, you don't say much.
- 41:12Speaker 1: You breathe a little heavier, and your head swims a little.
- 41:19Speaker 1: As John must have whispered to Peter, He is alive.
- 41:28Speaker 1: And he believed. Now, I would love to tell you
- 41:33Speaker 1: that verse 10, the disciples went away again to their
- 41:39Speaker 1: own homes. I'd love to say that every one of
- 41:42Speaker 1: them became immediately convinced. Now, later they were. And when
- 41:49Speaker 1: they became convinced, let me announce today, their entire personality
- 41:53Speaker 1: was transformed. No longer fearful, no longer intimidated, no longer
- 41:59Speaker 1: reluctant or unsure or insecure. Now they were ready to
- 42:03Speaker 1: make the proclamation to the world. And in fact, they
- 42:07Speaker 1: died as martyrs in doing so. This resurrection changed their
- 42:12Speaker 1: whole life, but it took some time for some of them.
- 42:16Speaker 1: One example is Thomas. Verse 24. John 20, verse 24. Thomas,
- 42:24Speaker 1: one of the twelve, called twin, here it's rendered Didymus,
- 42:29Speaker 1: he was a twin, was not with them when Jesus came.
- 42:33Speaker 1: Jesus has made an appearance and Thomas wasn't there. He
- 42:35Speaker 1: had not been to the tomb. Thomas was convinced it
- 42:38Speaker 1: was over. The other disciples, therefore, were saying to him,
- 42:42Speaker 1: we have seen the Lord. We have seen the Lord.
- 42:44Speaker 1: The way it's written, it means they repeated it. We
- 42:46Speaker 1: have actually seen him. I mean, Peter and John said,
- 42:49Speaker 1: we saw the grave clothes and the cloth around the head.
- 42:53Speaker 1: And now the others say, we've seen him. He's been
- 42:55Speaker 1: with us. Thomas says, wait, wait, stop. Unless I see
- 43:02Speaker 1: in his hands the imprint of the nails and put
- 43:04Speaker 1: my finger into the place of the nails and put
- 43:07Speaker 1: my hand into his side, I will not believe. You
- 43:14Speaker 1: have a friend like that? It's okay. So do I.
- 43:21Speaker 1: Not only do you have a friend like that, some
- 43:25Speaker 1: of you are like that. Uh, Not everybody is like
- 43:31Speaker 1: the women who heard it announced, didn't even need to
- 43:35Speaker 1: investigate the evidence. They left and they told the disciples,
- 43:38Speaker 1: he is risen, he is alive. Not everybody has to
- 43:43Speaker 1: be like Peter and John who have to examine the
- 43:46Speaker 1: evidence and come to terms for themselves having looked through
- 43:50Speaker 1: the record and seen it. Some are like Thomas who say,
- 43:54Speaker 1: I need empirical proof. I need tangible evidence. And so
- 44:01Speaker 1: Thomas staunchly stands in his stubborn resistance saying, I'm not there.
- 44:12Speaker 1: Let's not be too hard on Thomas. He's had a
- 44:15Speaker 1: lot of preachers beat up on him over the centuries.
- 44:18Speaker 1: Every time you're asked to speak on doubt, Thomas is
- 44:21Speaker 1: the guy you choose. I've often felt sorry for the guy.
- 44:24Speaker 1: He couldn't even speak for himself as we take him
- 44:26Speaker 1: to task. Wait a minute. Why wouldn't he? Because he
- 44:35Speaker 1: is of that personality. That's just the way he's put together.
- 44:40Speaker 1: And I love it that not here or later does
- 44:42Speaker 1: Jesus ever rebuke him. We would. I mean, what would
- 44:47Speaker 1: be our response if somebody said, I will not believe.
- 44:51Speaker 1: We unload the truck on them. We give them books.
- 44:56Speaker 1: We give them tapes. We give them music. We quote verses.
- 45:01Speaker 1: We pray in front of them. I mean, how can
- 45:04Speaker 1: you possibly live in such unbelief? Look at all these
- 45:07Speaker 1: changed lives that worship on Easter Sunday morning. Wait, wait, wait. Wait.
- 45:14Speaker 1: Thomas had seen from a distance and heard the crack
- 45:17Speaker 1: of the mallet against the Roman spike that drove him
- 45:21Speaker 1: to the cross. He heard him groan, my God, why
- 45:26Speaker 1: have you forsaken me? He heard that. He believed that.
- 45:30Speaker 1: And then he saw him die. And he turned tail
- 45:33Speaker 1: and ran. Confident he had believed in a hoax. Don't
- 45:39Speaker 1: give me this faith stuff. I walked in that for
- 45:42Speaker 1: three and a half years and I wound up with
- 45:45Speaker 1: a dead Savior. Now, you say, well, Chuck, you sound
- 45:51Speaker 1: pretty defensive of Thomas. Look at verse 26. I love this.
- 46:03Speaker 1: After eight days, his disciples were inside and Thomas was
- 46:09Speaker 1: with them. Jesus came and The doors having been shut
- 46:13Speaker 1: and he stood in their midst. There's a case where
- 46:14Speaker 1: he came through a closed door. He stood in their
- 46:17Speaker 1: midst and he said, shalom. Peace be to you. And
- 46:27Speaker 1: then he looks at Thomas. He said to Thomas, shame
- 46:32Speaker 1: on you. No, no. That's what we say. He says
- 46:38Speaker 1: to Thomas here. Reach. Touch. Touch my hand. Touch my side.
- 46:54Speaker 1: Put your hand in my side and don't be unbelieving.
- 47:00Speaker 1: And Thomas said, my Lord and my God. I don't
- 47:03Speaker 1: even think he reached. Isn't that gracious of our Lord?
- 47:07Speaker 1: Eight days. Eight days. Will you give your friend eight
- 47:15Speaker 1: days to doubt? Will you let him struggle for eight months?
- 47:24Speaker 1: Will you let God do his work in his heart?
- 47:28Speaker 1: Or do you intensify the pressure? Leave little notes on
- 47:32Speaker 1: his dashboard. Write him little unsigned letters. Drag him to church.
- 47:45Speaker 1: Or do you let some days pass and let them
- 47:47Speaker 1: hammer through their struggle? There's a great lesson here for
- 47:53Speaker 1: the Thomases, isn't there? And for all of you Thomases, relax.
- 47:59Speaker 1: No pressure. No pressure today. If you can walk into
- 48:06Speaker 1: this tomb as we have done and seen the grave
- 48:09Speaker 1: clothes wrapped like cocoons with no body, If you can
- 48:13Speaker 1: see the changed lives of the women and then these
- 48:16Speaker 1: disciples who believe, and if you can examine the evidence
- 48:20Speaker 1: as we've examined it and still said, I need more,
- 48:23Speaker 1: I need more, then God has a way of giving
- 48:27Speaker 1: you more. He's never met his match and he's not
- 48:32Speaker 1: stuttering around you. You don't keep him awake at night.
- 48:36Speaker 1: In fact, he never slumbers or sleeps. But one of
- 48:41Speaker 1: these days, It'll dawn on you. And you will say,
- 48:49Speaker 1: my Lord and my God. And like Thomas, you'll live
- 48:58Speaker 1: your life for him. I often love the way... Peter
- 49:16Speaker 1: Marshall puts things so vividly. No tabloid will ever print
- 49:23Speaker 1: the startling news that the mummified body of Jesus of
- 49:27Speaker 1: Nazareth has been discovered in old Jerusalem. Christians have no
- 49:34Speaker 1: carefully embalmed body enclosed in a glass case to worship.
- 49:40Speaker 1: Thank God. We have an empty tomb. The glorious fact
- 49:48Speaker 1: that the empty tomb proclaims to us is that life
- 49:52Speaker 1: for us does not stop when death comes. Death is
- 49:57Speaker 1: not a wall, but a door. Isn't that a wonderful statement?
- 50:01Speaker 2: Why?
- 50:01Speaker 1: Because he lives. He lives. Because when I come to
- 50:05Speaker 1: death's door and I breathe my last, I move through
- 50:08Speaker 1: a door from time to eternity with God. And I
- 50:13Speaker 1: could never have done that had he not been raised
- 50:16Speaker 1: from the dead. And as he lives, so we will
- 50:20Speaker 1: live also. That is why Easter is to celebrate. Perhaps
- 50:27Speaker 1: it will take a number of funerals for our Thomas
- 50:30Speaker 1: friends to see it. Maybe it will take some series
- 50:35Speaker 1: of disasters or heartbreaking circumstances or quiet moments of solitude
- 50:42Speaker 1: where their world is coming apart. Or they breathe close
- 50:47Speaker 1: to death and they then hear his words, reach here
- 50:53Speaker 1: your finger and your hand and believe.
- 50:56Speaker 2: Believe.
- 51:01Speaker 1: Marshall concludes there is no death to those who have
- 51:04Speaker 1: entered into fellowship with him who emerged from the tomb.
- 51:09Speaker 1: Because the resurrection is true, it is the most significant
- 51:12Speaker 1: thing in our world today. Because he lives, we shall
- 51:17Speaker 1: live also. Not to worry. He is risen. He is risen.
- 51:30Speaker 1: He is risen indeed. Let's bow our heads together. Close
- 51:43Speaker 1: your eyes. That's the message. Because he lives, I can
- 52:03Speaker 1: face tomorrow. Because he lives, all fears and worries are gone.
- 52:12Speaker 1: Because I know who holds the future. Life is now
- 52:18Speaker 1: worth living. Just because he lives. If you've never made
- 52:28Speaker 1: the journey from darkness to light, if you've never in
- 52:33Speaker 1: your life said yes to these things you've been saying
- 52:38Speaker 1: no to, today would be a great day to change
- 52:43Speaker 1: it to yes. Today would be the day. No one
- 52:52Speaker 1: in this place will tap you on the shoulder and
- 52:55Speaker 1: ask if you've come to Christ. though we couldn't care
- 52:58Speaker 1: more that you do. But this is a personal journey
- 53:04Speaker 1: that you must make. Interesting, it was in small groups,
- 53:08Speaker 1: often with individuals Jesus met. Just a few women. Just
- 53:15Speaker 1: Peter and John. Just Thomas all alone. And that's the
- 53:23Speaker 1: way it must be. Scripture states the Lord himself will
- 53:29Speaker 1: descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of
- 53:32Speaker 1: the archangel, with the trumpet of God, and the dead
- 53:36Speaker 1: in Christ shall rise first. Then we who are alive
- 53:40Speaker 1: and remain will be caught up together with them in
- 53:42Speaker 1: the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and
- 53:44Speaker 1: so shall we ever be with the Lord. Because he lives,
- 53:53Speaker 1: we'll be forever with him. Where will you be then?
- 54:01Speaker 1: How will you face that future without him? Him who
- 54:09Speaker 1: died that you might live. It would be wonderful today
- 54:17Speaker 1: if you believe that you just tell the person next
- 54:21Speaker 1: to you when we are dismissed, today I turn my
- 54:26Speaker 1: life over to Christ. If you don't want to tell them,
- 54:31Speaker 1: tell one of us down front. We would love to
- 54:33Speaker 1: talk further with you about your walk with Christ, what
- 54:37Speaker 1: it involves, how we can help you get there. You
- 54:46Speaker 1: are Lord, our Father. Your Son has risen from the dead,
- 54:50Speaker 1: and He is Lord. And we praise His name. We say, Alleluia, Alleluia.
- 55:00Speaker 1: We lift our voice in praise to Him who reigns
- 55:03Speaker 1: above us, who transcends all of life, who takes us
- 55:07Speaker 1: on this journey from earth to heaven without wasting one day,
- 55:13Speaker 1: one effort. Everything is calculated to bring us to Him.
- 55:22Speaker 1: Many of us have come that way. Many have not.
- 55:26Speaker 1: And today I pray, Father, that you will sovereignly move
- 55:30Speaker 1: in the hearts of those who have not yet believed.
- 55:35Speaker 1: May we treat them with gentleness and grace and kindness
- 55:39Speaker 1: as Jesus did waiting eight days before convincing Thomas. Give
- 55:46Speaker 1: us the love and the patience and the faith to
- 55:50Speaker 1: trust you to convince those who do not yet believe.
- 55:56Speaker 1: but find us waiting our Father each day for that
- 56:02Speaker 1: catching up in the clouds when we meet the Lord
- 56:05Speaker 1: in the air. And now unto him who is able
- 56:11Speaker 1: to guard you from stumbling and to present you without
- 56:14Speaker 1: a fault, without a fault, before the presence of his
- 56:20Speaker 1: glory with exceeding joy. to the only wise God and
- 56:25Speaker 1: our Savior, Jesus Christ, be glory and majesty, dominion and power,
- 56:32Speaker 1: now and forevermore. And all the people said, Amen. He
- 56:43Speaker 1: is risen. Risen indeed.
- 56:46Speaker 2: The preceding message, not to worry.
- 56:52Speaker 1: He is risen.
- 56:53Speaker 2: Was copyrighted in 1999, 2000, and 2008, and the sound
- 56:59Speaker 2: recording was copyrighted in 2008 by Charles R. Swindoll, Inc.
- 57:04Speaker 1: All rights are reserved worldwide.
- 57:06Speaker 2: Duplication of copyrighted material for commercial use is strictly prohibited.