The Victory

All right. Good morning. I'm glad you're here. Happy Resurrection Day. If you guys go ahead and stand with us, we'll pray and we'll get started.

Lord, we thank you for the day. Lord, we thank you for the rain. Father, we thank you so much for that, Lord, of what's needed badly. Lord, I thank you for your son, Jesus, Lord. And I thank you that he is risen, that he is alive today. And because of that, Lord, we have hope in you. We have hope for a new life. Hope that we have new life in you, Lord, victory over sin and death.

So, Lord, as we gather here this morning, Lord, help us to lift a sweet song to you. We bless your name. And praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. You guys can go and have a seat if you like, and we'll continue on.

Can you guys go ahead and stand with me for this last one? Cast my mind to Calvary when Jesus bled and died.

His hands, his feet, my Savior on that cursed tree, stone, Messiah still. We praise you this morning. We praise your holy name because you are worthy of all. Could begin the process of. Locating your seats. Grab a bulletin. We'll get ready to go over some announcements.

Welcome to Calvary Chapel. I'm so glad that you have joined us this morning as we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus. And a few things to take note of in your bulletin. As always, over on the left-hand side are the things that go on throughout the week, places to be plugged into. So take a look at that. In the middle section of your bulletin, two things to take note of. We have a National

Day of Prayer event coming up on Thursday, May the 1st. Wilson Park under the rotunda there from noon to 1. So please come join us for that. It's always a great time to gather together and pray and just be joined together as a community. And then the other thing is that our memory verse for the week is in there. It's 1 Corinthians 15 verses 20 and 21. So take note of that. Applied to memory has a lot to do with what we're celebrating today.

So those are the things that are going on. If you would make sure that your mobile device is silenced. And for our responsive reading this morning. We are going to be in Psalm. 16. Psalm 16 we'll be looking at the new American Standard for this part. So that hopefully we sound the same. If you need a copy, there should be one in a row around you. And as you are turning to Psalm 16,

if you are able, please stand in the honor of the reading of God's word. I will read the odd verses if you will follow along with pastor Allen and the Even versus Psalm 16 a mission of David preserve me. Oh, God, for I take ref your. Research in you. Any. As. Here. In there. the lord you are my lord i have no good beside you as for the saints who are in the earth they are

the majestic ones in whom is all my delight the sorrows of those who have bartered for another god will be multiplied i shall not pour out their drink offerings of blood nor will i take their names upon my lips the lord is the portion of my inheritance in my cup you support my lot the lines have fallen to me in pleasant places indeed my heritage is beautiful to me i will bless the lord who has counseled me indeed my mind instructs me in the night i have set the lord continually before me because he is at my right hand i will not be shaken therefore my heart is glad and my flesh rejoices my flesh also will dwell securely for you will not abandon my soul to shield nor will you allow your holy one to undergo to you

okay and read verse 11 with me you will make known to me the path of life in your presence is fullness of joy in your right hand there are pleasures forever and so father we do praise you for who you are praise you for the work of the cross and lord we praise you that you have overcome death and that you live to make intercession for us and so father as we take time to to look at that this morning i pray that you would move in our hearts by the power of your holy spirit that you would uh teach us what you would have to do in order for us to be able to live in the kingdom of god that you would have us to see lord that you would convict us where we need convicted that you would comfort us where we need comforted lord and instruct us where we need to

know which way to go and what to do is the father moved by the power of your holy spirit we pray in jesus name amen you may be seated if you would open up in your bibles to the gospel of john chapter 20. the gospel of john chapter 20. we finish up our series today about the resurrection and i entitled the series crushing spirit and the resurrection and the resurrection and the resurrection serpents taking us back to what what was promised uh in the book of genesis when sin first entered the world and so we looked at three different things well today's the third thing that we'll look at the first thing that we looked at is we looked at the battle of the cross and and we saw

that in the garden when jesus was praying there in the garden of gethsemane ultimately that's where the battle of the cross took place because it was it was in that battle it was in that time of prayer that ultimately in his humanity he surrendered his will to the will of the father and ultimately set his face for the sacrifice that had to be made and then the last time that we were together we looked at the sacrifice of the cross and as we looked at what jesus did for us on the cross how he endured the scourging how he was nailed to the cross and ultimately cried out it is finished because the payment had been made and salvation had been secured and then today we will look at the victory we will look at the story of the resurrection of

jesus and ultimately see what that means for us and so as we look at john chapter 20 there's three things that we're going to talk about this morning we're going to look at the discovery we're going to look at the encounters and then we're going to look at the risen jesus and so starting off in verse 1 of chapter 20 it says this now on the first day of the week mary magdalene came early to the tomb while it was still dark and she saw the stone already taken away from the tomb so she ran and came to simon peter and to the other disciples and to the other disciples and to the other disciples whom jesus loved and said to them they have taken away the lord out of the tomb and we do not know

where they have laid him so peter and the other disciple went forth and they were going to the tomb and the two were running together and the other disciple ran ahead faster than peter and he came to the tomb first and stooping and looking in he saw the linen wrappings lying there but he did not go in and so simon peter also came following him and he entered the tomb and he was lying there and the face cloth which had been on his head not lying with the linen wrappings but rolled up in a place by itself so the other disciple who had first come to the tomb then also entered and he saw and he believed for as yet they did not understand the scripture that he must rise again from the dead so the disciples went away again to their own homes the discovery

so each gospel account tells a little bit of a different version of this story it's very easy to put all of the versions together and get a complete story out of it john specifically tells us about mary magdalene probably because mary magdalene is the one who first delivered the news to he and peter it would make sense that that perspective is the one that he tells the story from but from the other gospel accounts we'll put the whole story together early that morning early on the first day of the week there had been an earthquake and an angel had come and rolled the stone away and it was at that point in time that jesus was resurrected now we'll see this later but the stone was not rolled away because jesus needed to get out the stone was

rolled away because the disciples needed to get in we'll find that in his resurrected body doors and windows and walls weren't overly effective on jesus but the stone was rolled away and as the stone was rolled away and jesus was resurrected early that morning a group of women had come to the tomb remember jesus had been laid in the tomb very hurriedly and they did the best they could to to follow through with the normal burial processes but because of lack of time the women wanted to make sure that the body had been adorned and taken care of properly so they were going to go to the tomb and they were going to anoint the body of jesus with certain number of spices and oils they worth asking themselves how who's going to roll the

stone away when we get there but they figured they'd solve that problem when they needed to not realizing that the stone had already been rolled away but when mary magdalene looked and saw the stone rolled away and that there was nothing in the tomb she didn't take the time to stick around and hear the message that the other ladies heard he's not here for he is risen no in her distress in her brokenness in her grief thinking that now not only is her Lord dead but he also has been stolen she ran and told Peter and John what had taken place well the next thing that we see is we see Peter and John running to the tomb and I always appreciate the fact that John throws a little shade on Peter at this point in time and he's

like yeah and I ran faster than Peter too because uh because I can just appreciate that about him a we're having a conversation with a track kid the other day and we were talking about running and and he told us you know anybody could really run a five minute mile and my friend and I looked at each other and we said that is unequivocally not true like I cannot run a five minute mile no matter how hard I try right now of course he was 19 bear in mind John was younger than Peter and so John displays the fact that he was a little bit faster in Peter in this moment but John was the thinker John was the one who liked to take time to observe things it's interesting when you read the gospel of John it's always called

a simple gospel because he uses lots of really small words but though he uses lots of really small words he presents really big ideas because he was sort of the theologian he was the one who thought deeply about things and so so John arrives at the tomb and says he stooped down knelt down and he looked in now we probably think of a tomb as having this like giant doorway that anybody could walk through but that would not have been the way the tomb was probably about a three or four foot opening that you would almost have to stoop down to get into at that point in time so he stoops down right like Peter comes running along I always picture Peter as a large lumbering sort of guy

with a little bit of a fish belly right like just sort of lumbering along as he runs up to the tomb and he's like he finally arrives there and he takes no time to stop and look because that's not who Peter is Peter's not an observer Peter's not a thinker Peter's a talk first think later sort of a guy right shoot first ask questions later swing your sword first ask if there's ears later sort of a guy right and so so he comes barely into the tomb and once he knows what it is it's a tomb it says verse 6 and Simon Peter also came following him and he entered the tomb and he saw the linen wrappings lying there and the face cloth which had been on his head not lying with the linen wrappings but rolled up by itself I'm not a Greek scholar but I read them

sometimes and one of the Greek scholars that I read said that the indication of the way that it states the fact that the that the claws were lying there indicates that that they look like a body had been in them but they had shrunken in other words they were still wrapped up just like the body would have been wrapped up but there was no body inside of them they were very neatly laid there and of course the the cloth that would have been covering his face some of your uh versions may say it was folded up this one says it was rolled up whatever it is it was it was neatly placed off to the side it's a really good indication that nobody would have stolen the body of Jesus because if you would have stolen the body of Jesus you would have a unwrapped it

and left the linen cloths behind in a very hurried sort of a manner or B you would have just stolen everything all together but as they looked in there and they saw what should have been the shape of a body but was nothing but an empty shell of linen claws they looked in there I want you to notice how they respond it says so the other disciple who had first come to the tomb verse 8 entered and he saw and he believed the next verse is what I really want to point out to you for as yet they did not understand the scripture that he must rise again from the dead what scripture is he referring to referring to is the very scripture that we read in our responsive reading this morning in Psalm 16.

because in Psalm 16 it says you will not allow your holy one to see decay you will not allow your holy one to undergo corruption but but you will reveal to him the path of life it's interesting we all remember which day Jesus rose on right he rose on the rose on the third day do you know when corruption do you know when decay begins to set into the body decay begins to set into the body on day four was raised on day three and so he did not allow his holy one to undergo decay nor did he allow him to remain in sheol he revealed to him the path of life but see they didn't understand that just yet they didn't fully grasp what the scripture had to say about Jesus and so so as they stood

there they believed but there was still a little bit of of work that needed done in their lives and so we see the discovery Mary had discovered that the tomb was empty but she hadn't seen the risen Jesus yet the disciples specifically Peter John had discovered that the tomb was empty but they had not seen Jesus yet and that brings us to our second part the encounters three specific encounters that we want to look at notice what it says in verse 11. but Mary was standing outside of the tomb weeping and so as she wept she stooped she looked into the tomb and she saw two angels in white sitting one at the head and one of the feet the body of Jesus had been lying and they said to her woman why are you weeping she said to them

because they have taken away my Lord and I do not know where they have laid him and when she had said this she turned around and she saw Jesus standing there and she did not know that it was Jesus and Jesus said to her woman why are you weeping whom are you seeking supposing him to be the gardener she said to him sir if you've carried away okay if you've carried him away tell me where you've laid him and I will take him away and Jesus said to her Mary and she turned and said to him in Hebrew Rabboni which means teacher and Jesus said to her stop clinging to me for I have not yet ascended to my father go to my brethren and say to them I ascend to my father and your father to my God and your God and Mary

Magdalene came announcing to the disciples I have seen the Lord and that he had said these things to her Mary Magdalene is kind of a fascinating character in Scripture in two other places in the Gospel accounts we read that Jesus had done Great Work in her life she had been possessed by seven demons and Jesus had had released her from all of those and and I always picture Mary Magdalene is somebody that probably had a little bit of assorted past because I don't think you end up in a place where you're possessed by seven Demons without a little bit of a sordid past maybe she had some sort of a bad reputation perhaps maybe an immoral woman in the way that she had lived at one point in time in

her life if nothing else she had the reputation to be a really ruthless and display she had got an else she had the reputation of being the crazy lady who babbled all the time, right? And Jesus delivered her from that. And so her love for Jesus was great. Her love for Jesus was intense. After all, Jesus did say, he who has been forgiven much also loves much. And so she had this intense

passion for her Lord because he had changed her identity. He had changed who she is. He had delivered her from so many things. And so when she's standing there in the garden, not yet having heard the news, not having talked to the disciples who said, no, no, it's really empty. That's crazy. I don't fully understand it yet, but he seems to be gone. Not having heard the message from the

angels who said, he's not here for he has risen. She's just distraught. She's broken. She's grieving. Her world had just fallen apart. And that not only was the person that she loved the most, who had given her the most hope in her life dead, but now somebody had stolen the body and it seemed like it just added insult to injury. And there she stood. In that broken state in the garden, weeping. And as she stood there, she decided she'd take a look

for herself to see what the tomb actually looked like. And she, she gently kneels down and looks inside of the tomb and she just sees two angels there. And the two angels ask her, what are you looking for? And she says, if you've taken him, show me what you've done with him. Now I find it fascinating because every time in the gospel accounts, somebody sees an angel, what do they do?

They freak out, right? And the angel has to be like, listen, chill out. Okay. They either try to worship them or they're scared of them. Mary does not care that two angels are standing right there. She's not scared that there's two angels standing there. She's not worried that there's two angels standing there. She's not in awe of the fact that two angels are standing there. She does not care that heavenly

beings are standing right in front of her in an empty tomb. It brings me to a quote that I read from Chuck Smith and I thought it was fascinating. He said, when your heart is longing for Jesus, even the appearance of an angel won't do. When your heart is longing for Jesus, even the appearance of an angel won't do. Because at this point in time in her life, nothing, nothing was going to bring her comfort besides Jesus. And so as she's standing there still in that state,

just weeping, she sees Jesus, only she doesn't realize it's Jesus. And again, can I just draw a quick point out of this? How many times in our lives has Jesus been right there? We just didn't see him. How many times in our lives has Jesus been right there? We just didn't realize that's who it was. You know, how many times has he been the one that's at work? But, but either because of grief or because of shame or because of guilt or because of the

distractions of the flesh or you named the thing, how many times has Jesus been right there? And we just don't realize it until he finally makes himself known to us. Maybe that's you this morning. Maybe Jesus has been there this entire time with everything that you've got you have going on your life. And finally, somebody drug you to a church and now here you are, Jesus is standing right in front of you. It's not me. Okay? But Jesus is right here.

here. Now he wants to reveal himself to you, because that's what happens to Mary. So she thinks he's the gardener. She says, listen, if you've done something with him, can you just tell me? I'll take him. I'll take him off of your hands. And Jesus just says one thing to her, and I love this, because Jesus just says, Mary. Now, in our English translation, there's an exclamation point at the end indicating that it was somewhat of an emphatic statement that

he made. It's like, Mary, right? And somehow, the way that he said her name let her know that it was Jesus. And it reminds me of what Jesus had told his disciples. He said, I am the good shepherd. My sheep, they hear my voice, and I know them all by name. And in that moment, that's what Mary experienced. She experienced Jesus knowing her by name. Now, you know what's

kind of interesting about this? There was at least three Marys in the life of Jesus. There was Mary, the mother of Jesus. There was the other Mary, who I always feel bad for. And then there was Mary Magdalene, right? And she's just, who's that? Well, that's the other Mary. Like, that's it? That's all you got for her? Come on, gospel writers, you know, step up. Anyway, so in all of those Marys,

she knew that it was her that he was talking to. Why? Because somehow he said her name differently. I don't know how it works, but somehow she knew he's talking to me. That's Jesus, because she knows his voice. And so he says, Mary. And we don't read about it here, but we know how she responds. She cries out, Rabboni, which means teacher. And then Jesus says, stop clinging to me. Now, we're not told

that this is what happens, but I'm drawing an inference based on what I've just read, that I think as soon as she realized it was Jesus, she was like, right? I mean, she went bear hug on him like no one's ever seen before. He's like, yeah, okay, great. Yeah. Yes, I know. I'm so glad to see you too. Okay. Yes, I know. This is, yes. Oh, I know. Yep. There it is. Let's sway. Okay. Yep. That's good. Okay. Yeah. Okay. One more. There it is. All right. Hey,

stop clinging to me. Okay. And it wasn't because he didn't want to give her a hug. It was because he knew that she was holding onto him in such a way that she was never going to let him go. And I know that because of the way that Jesus responded. He said, hey, listen, I have to go. I'm going to my father and your father. You need to go tell my brethren. You need to go tell

my boys that I'm going to meet them. I'm going to be there with them, but you got to let me go right now. And I love this moment. And so Mary, she goes and she tells him, I have seen the Lord and he said these things to me. Now, now I don't know if Mary was like a valley girl, but that's how I picture her. I picture her going back and being like, oh my gosh, guys, I just saw Jesus. And he

said my name. He didn't say Mary. Like it was his mom, Mary. He didn't say Mary. Like it was the other Mary. He said, Mary. And I knew it was me. That's exactly who it was. He was talking to me and I knew it was my, it's the way he says my name. And everybody's like, Mary, just chill out, calm down a little bit. She's like, you'll see, you're going to see him.

It's amazing what a real encounter the risen Jesus did for Mary. Well, John doesn't give us the gospel account, but Luke does. After Jesus sees Mary, the next time that we see him, according to the book of Luke, is he's on the road to Emmaus. And he's walking with these two disciples and he's sort of just like, hey, so what's going on, and they're like, have you been living under a rock? Jesus, the guy that we thought was the

Messiah, has been crucified. And there's some girls saying that he rose from the dead. And as a sidebar, girls were not really reliable witnesses at that point in time. Women weren't reliable witnesses. I'm not saying they were correct in that. I'm saying that that's how they viewed it, which is kind of fascinating that the first people that delivered the message of the resurrection

were the women. Because if you were going to spread a lie, I would make sure I told the most credible witnesses possible. And Jesus tells the women, one of whom had a pretty bad reputation previously. He said, women said that he's a lie, but none of us have seen him. And Jesus says, yeah, don't say. And as they're walking, it says that Jesus, beginning in the book of Genesis,

from the beginning, reveals to them all of the place of the sufferings of the Messiah. He goes, you guys want to have a Torah study? Let's do it. Let's start going through the word together. Fascinating what it must have been like to have Jesus explain it. So they arrive at their home. And as they arrive at their home, they're like, why don't you come in and eat dinner with us? And he's like, that's a fantastic idea. And so they sit down and they

say, will you bless the meal? So he blesses the meal and he breaks the bread. And you know, they had to have gone, oh, that's gotta be him. And immediately Jesus is gone, right? Just out. Well, that brings us to where we are in John chapter 20, because the next encounter that we see, the next encounter I want us to pay attention to is the disciples in the upper room. Notice what

it says in verse 19. So it was the evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the first day of the week, and when the doors were shut, where the disciples were for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in their midst. And he said to them, peace be with you. And when he had said this, he showed them both his hands and his side. And the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. And Jesus said

to them, peace be with you. As the father has sent me, I also send you. And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, leave the Holy Spirit. Such a fascinating scene that's given to us. I love where the disciples find themselves. They find themselves locked in the upper room because they are scared of the Jews, because they're fearful for their lives at this point in time. And I can imagine there was a

litany of emotions and feelings going on up in that upper room at that point in time. All of the disciples felt like they had failed because they'd all abandoned Jesus. John was the one that stayed the closest, and even he sort of stayed back. Peter had denied that he even knew Jesus. They weren't sure if any of them knew Jesus. They weren't sure if any of them knew Jesus. They weren't sure

if any of them knew Jesus. They weren't sure if any of them knew Jesus. They weren't sure if any of them were going to be able to ever see Jesus again or even show their faces again, because perhaps if they started with Jesus, they would clear out all the rest of his followers. And there they are, fearful, discouraged, depressed, ashamed, there in the upper room. And as they're there in the

upper room, all we read is that Jesus came and stood in the midst. Sidebar, I want to know how it happened. Things I want to see when I get to heaven, right? Like, did Jesus just sort of like, through the like, here I am, through the wall? And like, all of a sudden, like, you just see him start to appear like he's some sort of a ghost? Did Jesus just like appear out of nowhere? He's like, ta-da. I don't know how it happened, but it's a fascinating thing

because the doors were closed, locked for fear of the Jews, and Jesus shows up in the middle of the room. And you know what the first thing he says to him is? Peace be with you. Probably for a couple of reasons. One, because they were probably freaked out, like, oh my gosh, right? Like, they saw him walking on the water, they thought he was a ghost. I can only imagine what happens when he shows up

after he's supposed to be dead in the middle of a locked room. He says, peace be with you. Why does he say peace? Well, because they were fearful at that point in time. Sure, it was the typical Jewish greeting. Any Jewish person, when they arrived in a room, would say shalom. But there was more to it than that. I think Jesus was saying, peace has been made because of my blood that was

shed for you. You were at war with the Father, but now there's peace. Your sins have been forgiven. Now there's peace. I'm not holding anything against you. Now there's peace. Peace be with you. And as he does so, he shows him his hands. He shows him his side. I always imagine what that moment must have been like for the disciples. 72 hours before this, they watched Jesus hurt more than they'd ever seen any human being hurt in their entire lives.

They'd seen him in pain that they had never realized before. And I'm here to tell you right now, when you see somebody you love in pain, that's the hardest thing in the world, especially if there's nothing that you can do about it, right? As a parent, the hardest thing that you can do is see your child in pain and know that there's nothing that you can do about it. As a son, the hardest thing you can do is see your dad in pain and know there's nothing you can do about it. And as they stood there and watched that, it had to have been so hard for them. And so when he

shows them the nails in his hand or the scars in his hands and the scar on his side, it had to have been like, oh my gosh, I remember the pain he went through. Probably still in shock from all of that. I can imagine him kind of reaching out and touching it, saying, man, he's real. And that's the fascinating thing about this. And this is why it's so important, because he was real. He wasn't an

apparition. He wasn't a ghost. He was a real resurrected body. So as he stood there, he reminded them again, notice what it says, peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, I also send you. He has a commission for them. We'll deal with that in just a moment. But I want you to notice what he does next. In verse 22, it says, and when he had said this, he breathed on them. And he said, receive the Holy Spirit.

Next, it is finished. This is probably the most important statement in all of the book of John, because this statement reveals to us true spiritual life. If we were to go all the way back to Genesis, chapter 2, we would find that in Genesis, chapter 2, God created man. We're told he fashioned him out of the dust of the earth, like a potter would fashion clay. He fashions Adam, just like one of

these pieces of clay sitting right down here that my good friend Steve Fry over there fashioned with his own hands. He fashioned man. Only when he fashioned man, he was just a being made out of all of the things that were made out of him, but he didn't have life in him. Now, in Genesis, chapter 2, what we're told is that God breathed, the breath of life into his nostrils, and man became a living being. Direct quote from Genesis,

chapter 2. Well, if you go into the next chapter, Genesis, chapter 3, you know that God had given him a command. Don't eat from the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. In the day you eat of it, you will die. And that's exactly what happened to humanity. Adam and Eve ate of the fruit they weren't supposed to, and so they died. The life that God had breathed into

them, not only physical, but spiritual life, was snuffed out because of sin. He refused to live, because they até the incorrect definition of that. Now, God período is structurally bad and chaotic, wasn't he. And since the time when we get to the end of the world, what we've seen is so many prices that the trout prices, like the brands galore and and it's so marry, but the size of the go to bread are so moldy is everything that God bought hunters may get, a living being here in in john chapter 20 the word pneuma is used he breathes on he knew pneuma right it's air well there's a greek translation of the old testament that was produced about 100 years before jesus was alive and it was produced by 70 scholars they took the hebrew old testament they

translated it into greek and when they translated the hebrew old testament into greek the word that they used in genesis chapter 2 to say that god breathed life into into adam is the exact same word that's used in john chapter 20 when it says that jesus breathed on them you see this is why this is so cool because in this moment humanity was given brand new life the disciples were given brand new life because god breathed on them again because the head of the serpent had been crushed humanity had been set free humanity had been saved and now for everyone who invites jesus to be their savior he breathes the breath of life in them you see this is the moment when the disciples became born again

and that's their experience of their encounter with the risen savior and so after they receive this encounter they are given a commission now go into all the world notice he says peace be with you as the father has sent me i also send you he gives them purpose now you need to take this peace now you need to take this life now you need to take this message that as i brought it into the world for you you're now to take it into the world for everyone else that was the disciples encounter with jesus well there's one more encounter that we want to look at and it's a guy by the name of thomas it says but thomas verse 24 one of the twelve called didymus was not with them when jesus came so the other disciples were saying to him

we have seen the lord but he said to them unless i see in his hands the imprint of the nails and put my finger into the place of his nails and put my hand into his side i will not believe after eight days his disciples were again inside and thomas with them and jesus came the doors having been shut and stood in their midst and said peace be with you he said to thomas reach your finger and see my hands and reach your hand and put it to my side don't be unbelieving but believing thomas answered and said to him my lord and my god jesus said because you've seen me have you believed blessed are they who did not see and yet believed all right so this is always a moment where i defend thomas just a little bit i think thomas gets a bad rap sometimes

like like of all of the disciples he's the only one that gets the doubting tag right like mary agdalene didn't believe right peter and john didn't believe at first none of them did they're still locked in an upper room they all doubted thomas is the only guy that gets the tag right thomas is kind of a fascinating guy to me because because thomas is a pessimist right or he's a realist at least he's the eeyore of the group right like like john's the thinker peter's the doer thomas is the okay sort of the guy right like there's this story about thomas um when when uh when lazarus had died jesus said hey we need to go down to judea and we need to see lazarus thomas goes dude by last time we went there they tried

to kill you like does it seem like a good idea to travel to judea right now and jesus goes we have to go down there as long as we travel in the day get like a philosophical thing those who do their work in the day are safe and thomas goes okay we'll go and die with you right like i just love thomas he's just a realist and i think that's important because sometimes i think in the church today we think that there's no room for a pessimist we think that there's no room for unless you're like suzzysonOOOO I get disappointed when i scream it looks like bonsheim's when you're not sunshine all the time. You must not really be a Christian. And listen, some of y'all are pessimistic

people, and that's okay. That's how we balance each other out. If everybody was Susie Sunshine, the church would be obnoxious, right? I love y'all Susie Sunshines. You bring a little balance to the church, but so do the pessimists, right? Like there's room for everybody. God uses all the personalities. And so there's Thomas. Thomas wasn't there when everybody else saw Jesus, right?

And so the disciples are like, Thomas, you're not gonna believe this. Thomas was like, I bet you're right. And he's like, you're not gonna believe this. We saw Jesus. He's alive. And Thomas is like, listen, nobody fools the tea man, right? Nobody fools Thomas. Unless I can actually touch the scars in his hand and touch the hole in his side, I am not gonna believe in that. Like, all right,

Thomas, whatever. I hope Jesus comes around again sometime soon. So eight days later, and I love this. I love that Thomas took a little bit longer because some people take a little while to come to faith, right? Eight days later. Eight days later. Eight days later. Eight days later, they're in the upper room. And what happens? Same scene. They're in the upper

room. Doors are closed. John's sure to point that out. And there Jesus shows up in the midst of them. You know, Thomas had to have been like, and all the disciples had to have been like, and Peter was like, I told you, right? Because that's what they all did. And John's like, this is what I thought was gonna happen. Because it's the moment with all of the disciples. And he looks

at him and Jesus looks at Thomas and looks at him specifically and says, Thomas, it's okay. Go ahead. Go ahead and put your finger in here. Go ahead and see what's going on with that. Go ahead and feel my side. It's okay. Thomas, it's okay to have doubts. Just let, just let belief dispel them. Don't be unbelieving, but believing. And I want to point something out to you. We believe,

we think in the church that if you have doubts, you, you're not a Christian. That, that, that if you have doubts, there's something wrong with you. I'm here to tell you right now, Jesus, you're not scared of your doubts. Jesus is not scared that you're going to figure out that maybe he didn't rise from the dead because he really did. Jesus is completely content to have you bring all of

your doubts to him and let him take care of that situation. He's not scared of all that. And just because you have doubts sometimes doesn't mean that you're not a believer. It just means you need another work of Jesus Christ in your life. And so Thomas sees, and I love his response. Again, you may notice in our English translation, exclamation point at the end, indicating that it was a very imperative, emphatic way that he said

it. He says, my Lord and my God. I think kind of broken because he allowed the doubts to win, but also broken because his savior's there in front of him and his savior still loves him and pretty well blown away by the fact that he's alive. And in this encounter with Jesus, a beautiful moment happens. And he says, Thomas, you believe me because you can see blessed are all those who have never seen and yet believe.

That's us, right? Well, each of these had their own encounter. After they made their discovery of the empty tomb, they each had their own encounter and their own encounter did something fascinating. And so what I want to do now is I want to spend the next few minutes looking at the risen Jesus, because what each of them had is they each had a real encounter with the risen Jesus, and it made a huge difference in their life. And so in each of these encounters, I want to point

out how the real encounter with the risen Jesus changed their lives. And maybe you'll see that perhaps you continue to need a real encounter with the risen Jesus in your life. So first of all, let's look at Mary Magdalene. Mary Magdalene came to a place where I think she forgot her identity. I think she came to a place where she wasn't sure who she was anymore. She was the one who

was set free by Jesus. She was the one who had been healed by Jesus. She was the one who had seen Jesus do so much work in her life. Only now the person that she put all her faith in was dead. And I think she started to question her identity. Was all of this was this a real thing what is my identity now if I'm not a follower of Jesus what is my identity now if I don't belong to him who am I now and in the

process of all of it I think she started to lose her identity and in that one moment where Jesus said Mary she was reminded of her identity because again his sheep know his voice and he knows their name her real encounter with the risen Jesus restored her understanding of who her identity is in Christ I think there's some people in here this morning that maybe don't know what their identity is maybe you're a believer you're still struggling with what your identity is you still have an identity of all of your past sins you still have an identity of all of your past shame or you still have an identity of your own self-righteousness and you're having an identity crisis right now because maybe

that identity is destroying you maybe you're here this morning you've never come to Jesus is your Lord and Savior and you're struggling with your identity maybe even your sexual identity and you don't know who you are you don't know who you are in Christ and I'm here to tell you right now the only thing that will seal in your heart who you really are the only thing that will really seal in your heart what your identity is is a real encounter with the risen Jesus where he calls you out by name because remember sometimes he's standing right in front of you you just don't see him and maybe that's why you're here this morning and you can't see him and saying where are you one minute to this that because

your soul node that you are going it's bigger than you and he calls you out it's bigger than you and you're being wrong you are being wrong here this time don't men in the flesh have sympathy as we now is because he's been there the whole time but you didn't realize it and today's the day he wants to open your eyes to the reality of who he is so that you can be reminded of the reality of who knew of who you now are in Christ you now are in Christ They were living in discouragement. They were living in shame. That's where they were. So fearful that they had the doors locked so that no one can get in. You can imagine the feeling in the

upper room. Every set of footsteps that they heard had them nervous. Every time they heard a knock at the door, they were fearful. Every moment that they heard a noise outside, they were afraid it was someone coming after them. And these guys were so scared that they couldn't move until Jesus showed up. And when Jesus showed up, he not only confirmed for them the fact that he was alive,

but their encounter with the risen Jesus instilled in them so much confidence, so much boldness, and so much purpose that they became the greatest witnesses for Jesus Christ the world has ever seen. And all of them, oh, but one of them went on to die a martyr's death. They just couldn't kill John. They tried, but they couldn't. All of them went on to suffer greatly for Jesus,

Christ. Why? Because they had a real encounter with the real Jesus. What are you living in fear of today? What has you so fearful that you can't move on? You have nothing but fear, nothing but discouragement, nothing but depression, nothing but shame in your life. And you have no boldness, no confidence, and you feel like you have no purpose. I'm here to tell you right now,

the only thing that will change that is a real encounter with the risen Jesus. Because once you really encounter the risen Jesus, it fills you with a boldness that cannot be described. I only know because I'm standing up here in front of you right now. And it's all because of a real encounter with the risen Jesus, who restored my boldness, who restored my confidence, and who gave me a purpose for who I am in life. And it came because one day I finally opened my eyes to who

he really is. Is that you this morning? What are you scared of? Another measles outbreak, another plane crash, a stock market crash, you name it. What are you scared of today? Jesus wants to strip the earth of you. That fear from you and replace it with boldness and confidence. But it only comes with a real encounter with the risen Jesus. The third one is Thomas. Thomas had all of his doubts

dispelled and replaced with faith by a real encounter with the risen Jesus. You see, there's no problem with somebody having doubts. There's no problem with somebody trying to put Jesus to the test and even trying to put to the test the fact that Jesus was resurrected. God is not scared of that. There's a fear of God. There's a fear of God. There's a fear of God. There's a fear of God.

There's a fear of that. There's a fantastic book and even a movie about it. I've shared it with you before. It's called the case for Christ. It's about Lee Strobel. Lee Strobel did not believe in God. And he certainly didn't believe that Jesus was the son of God. And so he said about to disprove faith. And somebody, one of his friends told him, if you really want to disprove the

Bible, if you want to disprove God, you got to start with the resurrection. Prove that that never happened. And it absolutely strips all the power out of everything else in the Bible. And so that's what he tried to do. He said about to disprove the fact that Jesus had resurrected from the dead. Only you know what the real problem was? There was too much evidence for the fact that Jesus

had been raised from the dead. Do you realize there is more historical evidence for the resurrection of Jesus Christ than there is the existence of George Washington? That's how much evidence there is for the resurrection of Jesus Christ. You can't disprove it. But listen, all of the evidence kept pointing to the fact that Jesus was alive. All of the evidence kept pointing to the fact that Jesus

is really God. But it wasn't until he finally gave up. It wasn't until he had a real encounter with the risen Jesus that he said, I give up. You're real. I'm tired of running. I'm tired of fighting. I'll put my faith in you. That's when his life changed. Because he had a real encounter with the risen Jesus. And he went from a guy who was trying to disprove the Bible to a guy who has

written multiple books in defense of Jesus and everything that he claimed. How does that difference happen? A real encounter with the risen Jesus. Because once you meet him, he'll change of life forever. Well, then we come to just the disciples in general. And the disciples in general were all given brand new life, right? That's what happened when Jesus breathed on them. They were

given new life. He breathed new life in them. They received the Holy Spirit. They were born again, spiritually dead to spiritually alive. That's their experience, which is why they could take a message of life, which is why they could take a message of the gospel, which is why they could take the message of Jesus to the world that was around them. Matter of fact, you know what the

theme of every message taught in the book of Acts is, especially by Peter? The resurrection. Every message that he taught always came back to the same theme, but Jesus, who you tried to kill, is alive, and all he wants you to do is to repent. I just summed up every message in the book of Acts because that's the message of the gospel. Jesus died for your sins. He rose from the dead. He's

alive, and he wants you to repent because he wants you to know that he's alive. know him in a real sort of way and that always brings me to one last question what about you what's what's going on with you this morning where do you where do you stand with everything this morning some of you in this room i better go into a little bit of an identity crisis and you you got to figure out what your identity is and and and you just wanted to go to church on easter sunday because you wanted to make your family happy and now you're here and and now you're feeling a little bit uncomfortable because the pastor just hit on something that was true about you and and now it may be decision time because you don't know what your identity is and it's

time for you to find that identity in christ some of you are here this morning and and and you're living in so much fear you're you're living in fear of everything but mainly you're living in fear that your sins are going to catch up with you and you're going to have to come to a place eventually where where you deal with it and maybe today is that day you where you have that real encounter with jesus maybe maybe some of you in here this morning are like the disciples and and you just need a new life you're you're walking in spiritual darkness you're walking in spiritual death and the only thing that can change you is really getting to know jesus and maybe some of you came in here with a lot of doubts this morning you don't even know

if you believe that there is a god or why you're even at this church but jesus wants to take all of those doubts and turn them into faith but only you can know that there is a god and you're walking in spiritual darkness and that you can make that decision only you know what's really going on on the inside of you only you know what god's doing in your heart right now so i'm going to invite the worship team to come up so we're going to do one last song and as they come up i just want to ask that you would allow the lord to do whatever he's going to do in your heart would y'all just stand with me let the lord do whatever he wants to do inside of your heart i'm going to close this in

prayer and so if you'd bow with me father we come to you now and lord i thank you for the work of Jesus Christ that was done on the cross for us. Lord, I thank you for the fact that Jesus is alive. Lord, I thank you for the examples of these men and women who found themselves in a place where everything was full of doubt, but it ended full of joy and confidence. So Lord, I just want to lift up the hearts of every person that's here this morning and just pray that you would do the work that only you can do in their hearts and lives.

Father, if they're a believer here this morning that just needs to simply have their confidence in you restored, maybe they've walked away from you. Maybe it's just been a really hard week and they found themselves going, Lord, are you still there? Are you still real? And they need to hear from you. They need a fresh encounter with the real Jesus. And Lord,

there's some here that have never come to know you as their Lord and Savior. Lord, they've been walking. They've been walking with no true identity. They've been walking with no true understanding. They've been walking in death and they need to come to know you this morning. And so I'm going to offer it up to all of us that are here. Where are you this morning? If you've never put your faith in Jesus before,

you don't know what that identity is. I just want to ask you to do something really simple for me. I'm not going to make you come forward. I just want you to put your hand in the air. If you need to come to know Jesus as your Lord and Savior for the first time, I just want you to raise your hand this morning and we'll just pray together. So let's all just say this prayer together, shall we? Dear God, I know that I have sinned.

I need a Savior in my life. Come into my heart. Forgive me of my sins and make me brand new. In Jesus' name, amen. And Lord, I lift up everyone that's got things going on in their lives and just ask that this Easter Sunday, they would be reminded that there is a very real Jesus who is very much alive, very much wants to make a difference in their lives. Father, we just thank you and praise you in Jesus' name. Amen. Be blessed.

Jesus, we thank you. For another day, thank you for your word. Thank you for the fact that you are alive.

We leave here today, Lord, as we pray that your Holy Spirit go with us. Let us have a real, tangible experience with you, Lord Jesus. Change our lives because that's what you do. You change our lives. Just bless us as we leave here today and we bless you in your name. And all God's people said, amen. You guys have a wonderful week. God bless you.